AlisonY Randomly Rambles on in 2021

Happy New Year folk! I'm back for another year of reading, ambling along in whatever direction the fair book winds take me. I've got a nice little stack of new reads ahead of me in Q1 from a Christmas book haul, but beyond that I've no plans except to keep enjoying reading and learning along the way.

I'm starting the year feeling very grateful. 2020 wasn't the best year for any of us, but certainly for myself and my family it could have been a whole lot worse, so we can't complain.

Last year I got a bit distracted with life and only managed 43 books (although 2 were over 1,000 pages, so in my head I feel like I hit 50...:)). My 2020 thread can be found here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/314545

I tend to enjoy a bit of a random mix of books, from modern and mid-century literary fiction to classics and non-fiction which is highly eclectic on anything from popular science to history to travelogues.

2021 Reading Track

January
1. Life Under Fire by Jason Fox - read (3.5 stars)
2. Trick of the Light by Jill Dawson - read (3.5 stars)
3. All That Remains: A Life in Death by Sue Black - read (4.5 stars)
4. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel - read (4.5 stars)

February
5. Hunger by Knut Hansum - read (3.5 stars)
6. The Salt Path by Raynor Winn - read (4 stars)

March
7. Running for the Hills by Horatio Claire - read (4 stars)
8. Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel - read (5 stars)
9. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell - read (4 stars)
10. Touching the Void by Joe Simpson - read (5 stars)
11. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco - read (4 stars)

April
12. A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor - read (2.5 stars)
13. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey - read (4.5 stars)
14. The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs - read (3.5 stars)

May
15. The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel - read (4.5 stars)
16. Yang Sheng: The Chinese Art of Self-Healing by Katie Brindle - read (4 stars)

June
17. The Wedding by Dorothy West - read (3 stars)
18. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston - read (4 stars)
19. The End of the World is a Cul de Sac by Louise Kennedy - read (3 stars)
20. Mr Mac and Me by Esther Freud - read (3.5 stars)

July
21. Amo, Amas, Amat and All That by Harry Mount - read (3.5 stars)
22. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell - - currently reading

Non-fiction: 9
Fiction: 12

Happy New Year Alison!

>3 dchaikin: Happy new year Dan! Looking forward to another year of good book chinwagging.

Happy New Year Alison. I look forward to keeping up with this year's reading.

Welcome Caroline! Look forward to your comments.

Happy New Year, Allison. I love the sign in your topper. I look forward to following your reading this year.

Happy 2021, Alison!

>7 BLBera:, >8 ELiz_M: Happy new year folks! Here's to another great reading year.

Happy 2021, and here's to good reading and better times.

Happy 2021, Lisa. I'm feeling glass half full. Still plans and mischief to make.

I love your opening picture :) Happy New Year! Hopefully this one will be a lot less distracting life-wise.

Happy New Year and all the best for 2021! :)

Happy New Year, Alison! I'll stick a container of Hoppin' John and mustard greens in the mail for you for good luck in 2021.

>12 AnnieMod: That opening picture feels especially relevant when so many other fun avenues are cut off just now!

>13 OscarWilde87:, >14 kidzdoc: Happy New Year to you both too. Darryl - I'm keeping an eye out for the postman in the morning now...

Happy new year Alison! I know I’m mostly lurking here but know that I love to follow your reading choices and reviews as well as your personal thoughts so I am dropping my star again!

>16 Simone2: Always glad to have you lurking, Barbara!

1. Life Under Fire by Jason Fox

Jason Fox (for those outside the UK) has become most well known for the reality quasi-military training programme 'SAS: Who Dares Wins', and has since capitalised on this with a couple of other TV programmes and inevitable books. Whilst his first book focused on his career in the Marines and elite Special Boat Service, this book is more about taking life lessons from both his military training and combat experience, focusing on resilience and how to cope when the proverbial hits the fan.

Although this book was a gift and probably not what I'd have chosen myself, it still ticked a few boxes. Firstly, I've always had an interest in the military. Whilst this may have begun from the most shallow of starting points (seeing lots of cute chaps in army fatigues in NI during the Troubles when I was a teenager with raging hormones), it developed into a serious interest to the point where I almost considered the RAF as a career. Naturally I was totally self-deluded and it would have been like Goldie Hawn in the movie 'Private Benjamin' had I stuck with it, but thankfully unlike Private Benjamin I was able to go to an open day before signing up where I discovered that they required you to do actual exercise outside at all times of day and night for many weeks, and that was the end of that. The military interest is still there, however, and I particularly enjoy army documentaries where they show recruits experiencing hell on earth during initial training whilst I sit in my slippers eating Pringles and thanking my lucky stars I went to that open day.

The other reason this was an interesting gift is that I enjoy books on business leadership (although I've a strict rule these days of only reading them occasionally, otherwise it feels like work never stops), and in this book Fox tries to create some lessons for the workplace or simply for every day life.

The first part of the book on resilience interested me more than the second part, which was a lot about mental toolkits when you're seriously up against it. I went through some hugely difficult stuff in work a few years ago which left me pretty traumatised for a long time afterwards, and I was hoping for some enlightenment around how I could have avoided that but I'm not sure Foxy delivered much with his toolkits beyond what already feels like common sense when you're not in a stress situation.

The chapter on Commando spirit interested me the most, and I can see how it could be really effective if you got your team committed to the same principles within the workplace - courage, determination, unselfishness (team first, self last) and cheerfulness in the face of adversity. That being said, I've a feeling my team might think I've totally lost the plot if I try to introduce it in my work.

All in all, there were some interesting learnings from the techniques the British army use to keep their elite soldiers at the peak of their capabilities at all times, and I enjoyed this more than expected. It's not life-changing stuff and it feels like Fox is pedalling a lot of what he's been told in therapy over the years, but it's an interesting enough read given his unique career.

3.5 stars - some particularly good nuggets to take away on teamwork and lesson learning.

>18 AlisonY: Whenever someone starts talking about applying military techniques to business management, I remember that TV spoof where a group of estate agents are sent on a survival course and end up cooking and eating the instructor (was it one of the “Comic strip presents” shows?).

Rather you than me...

>19 thorold: Ha - sounds exactly like something off that show.

There were some excellent principles which I thoroughly agree with in the book. However, I've come across a number of ex-military folks who've moved into the private sector, and it usually hasn't worked out well when they've tried to apply ideas that work well in a military setting to the workplace. I don't think I'll sign my guys up for a boot camp just yet...

Private Benjamin brings back memories. And now I want Pringles. 🙂

>21 dchaikin: Once you pop you can't stop (do you get that ad for them in the US too? Are they even sold in the US?).

Chiming in to say that Pringles are sold in the US. I got a can of salt and vinegar ones for Christmas.

>22 AlisonY: Also, we (at least my parts of the US) definitely got the "once you pop you can't stop" commercials.

>22 AlisonY: My favorites are the jalepeno flavor, then cheddar cheese.

Ooh, Pringles...

>23 shadrach_anki:, >24 ELiz_M:, >25 markon:, >26 kidzdoc: It's bad that Pringles got more interest than my Foxy book!!!!

One thing humans are good at is making irresistible snacks which are bad for you. This might be the quintessence right now.

Sorry, I'm not interested in the book, but the Pringles....

>28 sallypursell: Thank God for the Pringles... I'll have to think of another irresistible snack next time I review something that's not got mass appeal.

No Pringles for me, but I do like your opening image. Now for shortbread.

I'm not big on Pringles, either. When it comes to potato chips, I'm more of a traditionalist. Lays or Wise. Happy New Year!

>29 AlisonY: I'd go for brownies.

2. Trick of the Light by Jill Dawson

This review comes without any mention of Pringles, brownies or shortbread, and it's definitely not the greatest novel I ever read, so I'm afraid I have nothing to entice you to linger.

This is my fifth Dawson book, and the first of her novels. I've always felt her writing doesn't achieve the wider acclaim it deserves, but that's been based on her later books. In Trick of the Light Dawson takes us to a remote mountainous area in Washington State in the 1990s, where the protagonist is having a fresh start away from the hustle and bustle of London with her young daughter and partner. Whilst the cabin is extremely basic, our narrator quickly embraces a newfound love of nature, but despite the fresh start her partner seems unable to shake his demons and control of his anger.

This is a very obvious first novel, particularly in the first third or so, to the point where I wasn't sure I'd be able to endure it to the end. Classic tell rather than show mistakes, with every physical part of the cabin, characters and environment detailed to the nth degree, and a number of cliches that irked me. Surprisingly, though, once she got that out of her system and satisfied herself that her readers could picture the scene, the rest of the novel improved greatly and I actually started to enjoy it. There's an underlying tension that works well in the remote setting, not only between the narrator and her unpredictable parter, but also in relation to the narrator's short fuse with her toddler daughter, who bears the brunt of her fear and anxiety and own lack of anger control.

If you've not read any of Dawson's novels before this is definitely not a recommended starting place, but I'm glad that it wasn't an entirely wasted few hours.

3.5 stars - I don't agree with the plaudits from The Times and the likes of Margaret Forster on the jacket, but it was enjoyable enough once we got the dreadful first part out of the way.

Great comments on both the Fox and Dawson books. I am not particularly interested in the military, so the Fox book probably wouldn't work for me. I'm not sure about the Dawson; it sounds like maybe there are other books by her that are better?

>34 BLBera: Beth I really enjoyed her book The Great Lover, which was a fictionalised account of Rupert Brooke's life. Also Wild Boy, in which she takes the true story of the feral 'Wild boy of Aveyron' from around 1800 in rural France. Fred and Edie was also enjoyable. Watch Me Disappear didn't grab me so much.

Although it's not what she did in Trick of the Light, in many of her novels she takes true events which were big at the time but have been largely forgotten in history and fictionalises a retelling of the story. Some people don't like that and prefer their fact and fiction to be kept separate, but I've enjoyed her novels where she's done this. She really gets you into the vibe of the Bloomsbury set in The Great Lover, and Brooke was such a big character in real life he inevitably makes a great character in that book.

>35 AlisonY: Alison, I have long been interested in feral children, and the little we can conclude from their histories. I think it stems from my emotional involvement with The Jungle Books, which had to have hit me at the perfect, receptive moment. I feel I absorbed so much of my innermost values from the Mowgli stories. Childhood Development has also long been an interest, and your reference to Dawson's Wild Boy, has truly piqued my interest. I don't believe I have been exposed to her as a writer.

>36 sallypursell: It's at least 15 years since I read it, Sally. I hope I'd enjoy it as much now if I was to reread it, but certainly I really enjoyed it back then. I also thought it was a really interesting storyline.

>33 AlisonY: your perspective on this, in light of having read her later books, is really interesting in terms of writer development. She may have had the same analysis you had and then changed her approach. I mean, it’s possible. Anyway. Interesting.

>27 AlisonY: well, next time I have Pringles I might think if Fox and also be grateful i’m not in any variation of boot camp (well, there was Ducks last year)

>29 AlisonY: I think you have hit on a theme. 🙂

>38 dchaikin: Too late for this thread but next year's theme is in the bag....

The Great Lover sounds like one I would like, Alison. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Trick of the Light may not be the book by Dawson that you recommend starting with, but it was set in Washington state where we lived for 35 years, and right now it's only $2.99 on Kindle, so that's where it has ended up--on my Kindle. Not sure when I'll get to it though!

>41 arubabookwoman: Oh I wonder how accurate you'll think the setting is - will be interesting. Enjoy it when you get to it, and remember to grit your teeth through the first few pages!

3. All That Remains: a Life in Death by Professor Sue Black

I'm very over-emotional around the subject of death, so in recent years I've been pulling up my big girl pants and doing more reading around the subject in the hope that this helps. So far it's had zero effect, but I'm remaining positive, and learning lots of interesting things along the way.

Professor Dame Sue Black is one of the world's leading forensic pathologists (I'm not sure if that's a fact or her publisher's spin - I like to think the former), clearly not a job that the majority of the population could stomach but a fascinating one nonetheless.

While Black just pipped Dr. Richard Shepherd to the publishing post on this type of forensic pathology book for the masses (he wrote the equally fascinating Unnatural Causes), both authors took different approaches to their writing on their rather gruesome careers. Shepherd's book focuses on high-profile cases that he's been involved with and how he went about establishing the cause of death, interspersed with personal reflections on how his job detrimentally affected his own family life and marriage. Black's book is more a miss-mash of genres; partly a science overview on a grizzly subject (yet one that comes to us all), partly a memoir on her career and partly reflections on death itself (which is particularly interesting given the non-emotional approach she must bring to her day-to-day job). If the two books were TV shows, Shepherd's book would be more Channel 4 sensationalist reality TV whereas Black's would be a BBC Two science show (in fact I believe they both have actually done independent TV shows that probably don't fall too far from this).

This book by Black was fantastic. Superbly well written, it was informative yet extremely accessible to those from a non-science background and gripped me from the get-go, covering so many different aspects of death. Black brings us behind the scenes of university anatomy classes, providing some insight into why people choose to donate their bodies to medical science (as well as what actually happens when they do) and what it's like for students doing their first cadaver dissections. Holding our hand she explains the bodily process of death from dying to decomposition, her experience of facing death within her own family, the differing approaches certain countries have on handling of bodies after death, and the ethical decisions that come into forensic pathology. From a science perspective she focuses less on stories about how she established the cause of death (although there is a little of that) and more on the science around the information that can be taken from bones and tissue to try to identify remains. She takes us through her work on the back of a number of atrocities (such as Kosovo and the 2004 Tsunami), but throughout it's with utter respect to the deceased, and on these she talks more about the logistical difficulties of trying to do a forensic pathology job in foreign disaster or atrocity sites, keeping opportunities for sensationalism in check.

Black is clearly a no-nonsense Scot with a great sense of humour, and the writing in this memoir was terrific from start to finish. She perfects the balance between not dumbing down the science yet making it accessible, and lifts the curtain on this unusual yet fascinating career without taking her eye off her code of ethics along the way. There's more than a glimpse of ego along the way, but not enough to be off-putting.

4.5 stars - hugely interesting without in any way being macabre (well maybe just a little in places).

>43 AlisonY: I remember this from when Lois (avaland) read this a couple of years ago but for some unknown reason I didn't add it to my wishlist. It's on there now!

>44 rhian_of_oz: Yes, I think Lois put it on my radar originally. Definitely recommended.

>43 AlisonY: I've got All That Remains on a shelf in my bedroom saved for books to read soon. It's been there awhile and I'm not sure why.

>46 RidgewayGirl: That happens me too. Sometimes the longer they're on there the more I get a psychological aversion to them for no reason at all.

I've read quite a few of the Skeleton Detective books - Gideon is a forensic anthropologist who keeps ending up dealing with mysteries and murders and trying to extract information from dead bodies (he's much happier when it's bones...). This sounds like the real-world counterpart. Definite book bullet.

>48 jjmcgaffey: It definitely would, Jennifer. I really enjoyed Shepherd's book too, but they're different in style and focus, with Black's book more of a wider memoir on death and academia's role in anthropology, whereas Shepherd takes a case-by-case approach.

>43 AlisonY: ooo, that nudges it up the mountain a bit, thanks Alison.

>50 Caroline_McElwee: My pleasure Caroline!

Happy New Year, Alison. I’ll be following along to see what you are up to. It looks like you are off to a good start. I’m looking forward to your comments on Wolf Hall. I loved it. I still haven’t read the newest one.

>52 NanaCC: Welcome, Colleen! Good to have you dropping by.

Great review of All That Remains, Alison! That is right up my alley, even though I did not enjoy Anatomy class during my first year of medical school (hint: it's hard to have an intimate relationship with a classmate when you both smell of formaldehyde), and Unnatural Causes seems just as good after reading your review of it. Both books are added to my wish list, and hopefully the bookshop in the Wellcome Collection in London will have them in stock.

>54 kidzdoc: Thanks Darryl. Both were very enjoyable.

Anatomy class must be very difficult. Black talks about a new method of preserving bodies in tanks that they brought in which got rid of the need for formaldehyde. I don't think they're using it 100% at her university (Dundee), but she did mention the unforgettable formaldehyde smell. I must say I'm slightly curious for a one-off sniff - I've never smelt it.

>55 AlisonY: It really is unforgettable, and gets in your nose, and in any skin exposed, and then you can't smell much of anything else. It always gave me a headache and made my nose run, and my eyes would sting, and my lips would feel tingly. I hated it, and I'm glad I didn't have the strong exposure kidzdoc et al. had. I'm not a physician, but I have a degree in Biology, with a concentration in Human Anatomy and Physiology, and I am a nurse.

>55 AlisonY: Sounds horrendous! I'm still a little curious....

>55 AlisonY: My Anatomy and Neurosciences courses were my toughest ones, as I barely passed both of them; I did vastly better in my other classes, though, and quite well on my clinical rotations (except for OB/GYN, which I and many of my classmates hated). I couldn't stand to be in Anatomy lab one minute longer than I had to, due to the nauseating and ever present smell of formaldehyde, and even the Anatomy textbook smelled of that pungent molecule, whereas most of my classmates (including my girlfriend) spent many more hours in the lab than I did. I was good at memorization back then (until the 🤬 formaldehyde permanently fried half of my brain cells), but doing well in the class required identifying structures on your cadaver and those of your classmates (dead bodies did, and still do, make me a bit squeamish).

I'm glad that the use of formaldehyde isn't as common as it was 25+ years ago! If there is a medical school in your town you might be able to visit its medical library, which should have specimens preserved in formaldehyde. I refuse to accept any blame if you get sick smelling it! 🤢

>56 sallypursell: Yes! That's a great description of how I felt when I was in Anatomy lab. Unforgettable, indeed.

>57 AlisonY: Sigh. Don't say that we didn't warn you...

>58 kidzdoc: That's really interesting that dead bodies still make you squeamish. It sounds perfectly normal to me to be squeamish about that, but somehow you develop an impression that doctors are completely used to seeing dead bodies and it doesn't phase them.

I'll try to curb my curiosity on the formaldehyde.....!

As soon as you mentioned it I could smell it again - unforgettable is a good descriptor. It never bothered me much - not a scent I like, but not one I hate either, and I never had the physical effects from it. Of course, the only exposure I had was a couple biology classes in high school - an hour or so at a time, once a day, for a couple of weeks over two years. Not the intense exposure others have had.

>59 AlisonY: You might think of a scent like nail-polish remover, but much, much, much, stronger, and it never dissipates. Strong enough to make your eyes sting, and make you feel a little woozy.

Dead bodies don't make me squeamish, although I always think the person is going to wake up, and sit up and say, "Just kidding!" , especially if I was talking to this person when he or she died. Other than my brother-in-law, though, I haven't had much to do with cadavers in some years.

Caution! Graphic Image coming!

What did make me squeamish, though, was one time when I helped a doctor remove eyeballs almost immediately after death, in a person I was speaking to just 30 minutes or less before. It was to remove the corneas for transplant. When the last eye muscles were snipped the eye rolled around in the socket freely, and that gave me a turn.

>61 sallypursell: Yes, I can see how that wouldn't have been the most pleasant of jobs. There's something about eyes that makes me faintly squeamish at the best of times, although I've had several bouts of laser work done on mine so you think I'd be used to it by now.

>33 AlisonY: I have no regrets that for the longest time of my life my adagio has always been to finish any book once started, but these few years I have started abandoning very disappointing books, and Trick of the light falls into that categorie. I also ditched all other books by the same author.

>63 edwinbcn: I can see why you ditched, Edwin, although I felt she got more into her stride in the second half. Shame you ditched everything else by her; I think she's written some really great books - this just wasn't one of them. However, I tend to do exactly the same when an author disappoints with a first or second reading.

>33 AlisonY: Meant to say great cover. I agree she can be uneven, but usually worth a go.

>65 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks Caroline. Yes she's very uneven at times, but when she's good she's written some terrific titles.

4. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Well, at long last I'm in the Cromwell trilogy club. It took longer than most to persuade me to pick up this first book, but now I have I get it.

What did I fear? Pages and pages of detail overkill on the minutiae of everything that went on in this era of British history. What did I find? Pages and pages of detail on the minutiae of everything that went on that era of British history, but it was very far from dull. Much as I love history (and studied it up to age 18 in school), my eyes can start to glaze over when presented with excessive political detail, endless names and dates. I need a strong human interest story to really light my fire, hence Henry VIII was always interesting at school (how could he not be with those six wives?), but the likes of the War of the Roses not so much (or at least not in the way it was presented to me for learning first time around).

Hilary Mantel takes a part of royal and political history which is already well known but elevates it to an entirely new dimension. We don't just read facts about the royal court; we are there, in the chambers, rolling our eyes at Anne Boleyn, listening in quiet corners to juicy gossip from the queen's courtiers and weaving together for ourselves the threads of this complex but colourful part of Tudor tapestry. Better still, we're not there just as a fly on the wall; we're there looking through Thomas Cromwell's eyes, so hitherto 2D perspectives of characters such as Thomas More (venerated as Saint Thomas in the Catholic church) and Cardinal Wolsey suddenly become alive in glorious 3D technicolour.

Whilst this is ultimately a book of historical fiction, the wealth of factual detail that Mantel weaves into this story is widely regarded as standing up to factual scrutiny, and indeed of perhaps being more even handed in terms of the full 360 view of the main characters than many historical publications. As our protagonist in this book, there is none more interesting than Thomas Cromwell himself, who Mantel treats with a deft hand. A dark horse throughout, he keeps his cards so close to his chest that even by the end of this first book I'm still not exactly sure who he is. A kind and generous master and friend? A loyal subject to the king? A laser-focused entrepreneur who cleverly plays all at court and Westminster into his hand with the single aim of feathering his own nest and advancing his own position? Ultimately he's probably all of these things, and Mantel gives the space for him to be all sides of a human being and not just the sum product of his actions which have gone down in history. Indeed, what is so clever about her writing in this book is that although we encounter other characters such as More through Cromwell's eyes, she still gives the reader room to come to our own conclusions and to question Cromwell's perspective.

4.5 stars - If Carlsberg did secondary school history lessons they'd be based on Mantel's writing.

Really enjoyed your take. She handles all this detail and the need for narrative drive so smoothly. I agree she leaves the reader freedom to evaluate (even maybe to disagree).

>67 AlisonY: Great review, Alison. You touched all the things that made me enjoy this book when it came out.

>67 AlisonY: Yay, you've joined the club Alison. I want to reread the first two, before getting to the third.

>67 AlisonY: Excellent comments, Alison. I had much the same idea when I first read it last year -- what took me so long? I also read Bring Up the Bodies, which I didn't think was quite as great but still very good. I hope to finish with The Mirror and the Light this year.

>68 dchaikin:, >69 NanaCC:, >70 Caroline_McElwee:, >71 BLBera: thanks folks. A bit of a ramble (what's new?), and more me making sense of my journey with it in my own head than a coherent review.

Looking forward to Bring Up the Bodies, but I'm also looking forward to a month's break in between as per our group read schedule.

>72 AlisonY: I actually enjoyed Bring Up The Bodies more than Wolf Hall, and that’s saying something. I loved Wolf Hall. I hope you enjoy it when you get there.

>67 AlisonY: Alright, already. I will pull out my copy of Wolf Hall to reread. If I don't start now, the final book will live unread on my shelf forever.

>73 NanaCC: Oh that's good to know. I was worried it would be blighted by curse of the sequels.

>74 RidgewayGirl: Great. Are you going to join the group read, Kay?

>74 RidgewayGirl: Nerdy peer pressure. I love it :)

>75 AlisonY: That is the intention. So far, I've moved it into the pile of books currently being read.

>77 RidgewayGirl: Excellent. I've found the group read great with this book - lots of historical musings.

>72 AlisonY: >73 NanaCC: I'm another one who found Bring up the Bodies even better than Wolf Hall. It was more interior and darker, both things I like.

>67 AlisonY: Wonderful review of Wolf Hall, Alison! I really enjoyed it too. I've since added Bring up the Bodies and The Mirror and the Light that I hope to get around to reading soon. I like history in general (one of my favourite jobs was in a university history library) but the Tudors are fascinating and Mantel does such a great job.

>79 SassyLassy: Great - that's encouraging (especially since it's not exactly slimline).

>80 VivienneR: You're more than welcome to join the Bring up the Bodies group read in March in CR, Vivienne, if it helps encourage you to pick it up sooner rather than later.

I remember so little of Bring Up the Bodies, despite the fact that I know I enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to the reread.

And yes, great review of Wolf Hall!

>82 lisapeet: I really struggle to remember most books I read, Lisa. I really wish I had better memory retention for detail.

>83 AlisonY: Oh, me too. Every so often something in a book will ping a synapse in my brain and gets stored in there forever, but it's usually a pretty random detail, scene, or character. I was going to say above that I remember Wolf Hall surprisingly well, but then realized that I just reread it last year, heh.

>84 lisapeet: Last year is long term memory in my book!

I also have a hard time remembering books. I find that writing comments about them helps a bit. And, let's face it, some books are more memorable than others!

>86 BLBera: Even if I have only entered very brief comments in the review field, it helps me instantly remember a book.

>86 BLBera:, >87 VivienneR: Well if I go back and read my original comments then it helps me remember, but I must admit I still don't retain the detail for very long, unless it's a book that's particularly memorable.

Great review of Wolf Hall, Alison! Your comments make me want to drop everything and start rereading it again immediately. I'll wait until March, though, reread Bring Up the Bodies in April, and start The Mirror & the Light in May.

>Oh you're too kind, Darryl. Glad you're joining the group read of BUTB.

5. Hunger by Knut Hamsun

I'm working ridiculously long hours at the moment so my reading time has all but disappeared. Nonetheless, I still made heavy work of getting through this short novel.

Set in 1890 when Hamsun wrote it, the writing bears little of the hallmarks of the writing of this era. There is little plot to speak of and few characters. Our protagonist narrator believes himself to wear the noble title of 'writer' as his occupation, but in reality he is at best a hugely unproductive author of unsolicited newspaper articles. As a result he lives mostly with perpetual hunger, often on the brink of starvation, at which point he regularly cannot keep food down even when he's able to buy some. His hunger drives him to bouts of mania and erratic behaviour, but he's clearly not of sound mind anyway. When he has a little money - which is very much the exception rather than the norm - he is quick to find reason to give part or all of it away. He turns down opportunities for food when he's desperately hungry, and avoids pursuing other avenues for employment where he could receive regular pay.

This is a bleak, bleak novel, and certainly not one I could have continued with had it been longer. The depth of the narrator's poverty is difficult to read about at times. All he possesses in life are the clothes he's standing up on, and even some of those he has to pawn. But it is the mix of this extreme poverty with his crazy behaviour that makes his story so desperately frustrating to read about, as he passes over small kindnesses that would make huge differences to his situation.

It is not an enjoyable novel, but there is a certain experience to reading it. It's narrated as bouts of despair bouncing into periods of mania; this mental instability can be exhausting to read (although it's not difficult prose).

3.5 stars - I'm glad I read it, but I certainly won't rush back for a re-read.

Interested to read your review of Hunger It has been sitting on my bookshelf since I retired, someone had included it with my leaving present from work. I think it can stay on the shelf a bit longer.

>92 baswood: In an odd way it's probably worth getting to eventually. I'm finding myself thinking about it a lot afterwards, so although not pleasant it's certainly thought-provoking.

Nice review of Hunger, Alison. I've had my copy on my bookshelf for years, and your comments have encouraged me to read it sooner.

>94 kidzdoc: It's worth reading, Darryl, although I suspect you'll be glad when you get to the end.

>91 AlisonY: This is one that has been on my TBR pile for years as well. I, again, have plans to get to it this year. We'll see . . .

>96 japaul22: Will look forward to hearing your thoughts on it, Jennifer.

>91 AlisonY: This reminds me of some chronically homeless patrons I see at the library (when we're open.)

Also, if you're still looking for books on Native Americans, I ran across a relatively new one recently: Unworthy republic by Claudio Saunt. Subtitle is "The dispossession of Native Americans and the road to Indian territory," and it was shortlisted for the National Book Award.

Re: Hunger. I think I mentioned to you somewhere that I read Hamsun's Growth of the Soil last year. It was less bleak than you're describing Hunger, but still not a particularly cheery story. At the time, I looked up Hamsun's bio, which is not particularly enticing, as he was a Nazi sympathizer. Still, the works live on their own.

>98 markon: Thanks Ardene - I'll check that one out.

I'll reciprocate with another one I saw reviewed in the weekend's papers: 'The Warrior and the Prophet: The Shawnee Brothers Who Defied a Nation' by Peter Cozzens. The touchstones aren't working for some reason, but it's a non-fiction about a Native American leader (the warrior) and his brother (who became known as a prophet after appearing to come back to life after death). The reviews in The Times were very positive.

>91 AlisonY: It is donkey's years since I read this Alison. I remember reading some of it out in the park, bundled up in a big coat, on a cold Spring day.

Sorry to hear work is manic. Hope you get some down time soon.

>101 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks Caroline. It's a bit relentless at the moment. I think we're just at that stage many young companies reach where we need more staff but can't quite afford them yet. Today I just had to take time out as I've been putting in 12-14 days for the past few weeks and the stress is starting to catch up with me.

>91 AlisonY: Nice review of Hunger Alison. I have it on my shelf, but never seem to be in the mood for it. Maybe you will have at least prompted me to make it visible.

>100 AlisonY: Looks interesting. Onto the pile it goes!

>103 NanaCC: I'm finding it hard to recommend it, Colleen, yet in a weird way it's got under my skin.

Hamsun's books are hard to find in this part of the world. I did read Wayfarers, and it to was bleak, but does have me on the search for more of his work.

>106 SassyLassy: I felt a bit like a moth to the flame with Hunger. It was bleak and the plot was non-existent, but still....

>91 AlisonY: I almost bought this one last week. Can’t remember why I didn’t in the end. Maybe because I’m not in the mood for such bleak books at the moment. Great review though. As is one about Wolf Hall. I enjoyed that book too and yet never made it to the second one.

>108 Simone2: On Wolf Hall, that's exactly the sort of thing I would do (enjoy the first and never get to the second). You'd be most welcome on the Bring Up the Bodies group read in March :)

If you're not in the mood for bleak then I would suggest now isn't the time for Hunger. There's little joy between the covers. Still, worth a read sometime when the world is looking rosier.

Hopelessly behind on everyone's threads - I'll do my best to catch up this week. Work remains frantic, and last week I was on a course with Queen's University for 3 days which put me even further behind. I'm also in a bit of a decorating frenzy at the moment, so have been busy creating mood boards and trying to source bits and pieces for my new house projects with the little spare time I've had. Very much looking forward to saying goodbye to my 1980s bathroom in April, all being well.

Anyway, on to the next review.



6. Salt Path by Raynor Winn

This one has been on my radar since reading a very positive review in the papers last year about her follow up title The Wild Silence. After gifting it to my friend for her birthday back in October, I couldn't get it out of my head and it ended up on my own Christmas self-book gifting list.

Raynor Winn had never written anything for publication before this book, and boy was she hiding her light under a bushel. Her turn of phrase is exquisite in this first book, and she nails that fine line of writing sublimely about nature without falling into the wordsmith trap of over-baking her descriptions.

This is her tale of a journey living with nature borne out of necessity. A country girl all her life, she and her husband Moth lived in their remote Welsh farm for decades, raising their children there, literally making the house habitable with their own two hands and enjoying a modest income from holidaymakers who came to stay in their barn conversion. When an investment in a good friend's business goes wrong, they find themselves on the hook for outstanding payments to creditors, and in the blink of an eye their house and their business is recovered by the bailiffs. In that same week, Winn's husband Moth is diagnosed with a terminal wasting disease. With no home, no income and a devastating prognosis for her husband, despite his deteriorating health they decide to take themselves off to walk and wild camp the Salt Path, a 600 odd mile path around Britain's south west coast.

This is a beautifully written book about finding one's self in the midst of the most terrible circumstances simply by being at one with nature and the elements. With only £40 in Government money coming in every few weeks, they subsist on the bare minimum of food with woefully sub-standard kit for the conditions, yet somewhere along this journey as two newly homeless people in their 50s they find a reason to go on, a reason to wake up in the morning. It's what lies beyond their journey on the path that becomes most terrifying in all senses.

I love this kind of book that's part travelogue, part homage to nature, and will be making a point of seeking out more titles from the Wainright prize shortlist. If you enjoy Robert Macfarlane type of books, The Salt Path is highly recommended. I'll be keeping an eye out for the follow up The Wild Silence. This is an author who deserves on so many fronts the success she's now carving out as an author.

4 stars - surprisingly beautiful writing.

Here's an interview with the author for anyone who's interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuABZ2p9s50

>110 AlisonY: I've wanted to read that for a while. Nice review, and now I'm even more interested.

>110 AlisonY: I'd forgotten about that book: now you mention it I remember reading about it in the Guardian. Even bookmarking the article, I think. Thanks for confirming my suspicion that it's worth reading!

>111 lisapeet:, >112 thorold: I enjoyed this more than I even expected to - the quality of the writing was a real surprise and delight

Enjoyed your review of The Salt Path, which is new me - book and path.

>110 AlisonY: I loved The Salt Path too. And I’ve walked along various (shortish) sections of the South-West Coastal path at times. It’s an area I love and so it was nice to read about it, as well as the human story.

>115 SandDune: It's a lovely part of the world. These kind of books are no good for me as I end up getting itchy feet about doing something like this (although I'd prefer to walk hotel to hotel than wild camping....!).

>110 AlisonY: This book sounds interesting, Alison. Onto the wishlist it goes. Your comment about preferring to walk hotel to hotel made me laugh, and reminded me of a comment a friend made many years ago. He said “my idea of camping is not having to tip the bellboy”.

>117 NanaCC: I am on the same page as your friend, Colleen! I have no rose-tinted glasses where camping's concerned - give me a private bathroom and a comfortable bed any day.

>116 AlisonY: Definitely hotel to hotel for me too. I like walking, but I’m not very keen on camping and definitely not keen on carrying stuff. Going up and down those coastal paths can be hard enough as it is without heavy rucksacks!

>116 AlisonY: >117 NanaCC: >118 AlisonY: >119 SandDune:

Walking is fine - I walk everywhere. But camping never appealed to me - I need a guaranteed shower, bed and access to coffee in the morning that does not require too much effort - otherwise I am not going anywhere :)

>110 AlisonY: I went and checked out the preview and I'm torn between wanting to read their story and grinding my teeth at the injustice of their situation. I do love reading stories about people taking long hikes which tips the scales in favour of adding this to my wishlist.

>121 rhian_of_oz: Indeed. I'm conscious that there are always two sides to every story, and I'm sure the friend whose business they invested in has a very different take on it. Still, to end up losing your home and business like that is utterly horrific.

It's worth reading if you like books on long hikes. She doesn't overly dwell on their situation.

7. Running for the Hills by Horatio Clare

Horatio Clare writes across several genres but is perhaps best known for his travel writing. This memoir is his first book and also the first book of his I've read, and wow - what a talent.

Clare's parents were working for newspapers in London when they decided to buy a country bolt-hole to get away from the city at the weekends. Not one for doing things by half measures, his mother Jenny fell in love with a decrepit farm house high up in the Welsh mountains and their second jobs as part-time sheep farmers began. This is not farming for the faint-hearted; the elevation up to the house is so steep it can be impossible to get even deliveries of oil at times, the weather is severe in winter and all year round there are heavy, intensive jobs to do with the animals, from lambing to sheering and dipping and moving the flock around the mountain. It quickly becomes obvious to Clare's father that they have bitten off more than they can chew, yet Jenny falls in love with the mountain solitude and before long they have drifted apart and Jenny is left single-handedly raising their two boys whilst managing the farm.

Part memoir, part fictional dramatisation from his parents' diaries, this book was more than I expected. Clare writes with unflinching honesty about the highs and lows of their extraordinary setting, not just from his childhood memories but also with an adult perspective of his mother's steely determination to hold onto her life on the mountain. Whilst he pays homage to the idyll of his wild, outdoorsy childhood he equally doesn't hold back from facing square on the utter madness of his mother's decision to stick it out despite the financial and physical hardships they faced. She's a wonderful character under Clare's penmanship - eccentric, funny, wilful and brave, and he recognises that really hers is the true story to be told.

A wonderfully written book, and highly recommended to those who enjoy books set in nature.

4 stars - I'm looking forward to reading more by this author.

** Disclaimer - utter rambling that's absolutely nothing to do with reading coming up. **

I follow a number of interiors groups on Facebook, and a debate surfaced on one about why British people have their washing machines in their kitchens (answer - because if they don't have the space for a utility room this is the considered the only other go-to room option). An American mentioned in the thread that Americans don't hang their washing out on a line and this was a complete revelation to me. I lost the post before I had time to ask burning questions on this so I need my US LT buddies to help me out here:

Q1 - Why, when you have fantastic weather for much of the year, would you not want to hang your washing out to get that lovely air dried smell for zero cost?

Q2 - Given that loads of clothes can't go into the tumble drier because they'd shrink, how do you dry your washing then when your heat's not on?

I know - fascinating stuff on my thread, right?

** Disclaimer 2 - more rambling that's nothing to do with reading coming up. **

North American friends - after you've put me straight on the washing line conundrum, I'd love to know your thoughts about tonight's Oprah interview with Harry and Meghan (or, let's face it, Meghan and Harry). I read in yesterday's Times that they think it might pull in even more viewers than the Super Bowl.

There's a lot of people in the UK pretty disgusted with the whole nonsense and disinterested in Meghan's continual broken bird stance. For two people who apparently left because of the media they've done nothing but continually court it to line their pockets, and there's not a whole lot of sympathy for Meghan's supposed struggles with 'the firm' and not being able to 'talk freely'. There's a reason why we don't see the Queen doing Oprah interviews.

Is there sympathy for them in the US / Canada, or is there a feeling that this interview's going to come back and bite them?

>124 AlisonY: There's an old laundry line pulley embedded in one of the trees in my back yard.I'm sure quite a few people in this house's almost 125-year-old history hung their laundry out to dry. I'm a bit suspicious of the fact that no matter how suburban-sized a back yard we have here, we're still in the 21st-century Bronx with a lot of car and truck traffic in the area, if not on this little street. The gritty deposits in the corners of the windowsills make me reluctant to put my clothes out there, even though yeah, sun-warmed and -dried is really nice. I'm also lazy—it's a lot easier to move clothes from the bottom washer to the top dryer (I have them stacked) than to carry everything outside and then bring it in.

I can't speak to your second question, though I'm sure it'll be all over Twitter eventually.

>124 AlisonY: Many neighborhoods have rules set to maintain a certain look for their neighborhood and often putting up a clothesline is not allowed. Although, it's so out of the norm for us now that I think many places don't have a rule on the books anymore. I would feel odd putting my clothes out on a line. Plus, our yard is small and I'm not sure where I'd put it. I imagine our dog thinking the clothes were toys and pulling everything down! I air dry a lot of things. I have a laundry room in our basement where I have room for a drying rack and also a shower curtain bar installed where I can hang things. It's the same temp as the rest of my house, so I'm not sure why it matters if the heat is on?

I do kind of like the idea of a clothes line for energy saving purposes, but I don't think I'd like the look of it in my backyard. Also, I guess I'm lazy, cause throwing it all in the dryer that is right there seems so easy. I think, also, we tend to have larger washers and dryers here. I'd need A LOT of clothesline to hang even one load of wash and I often do 5-6 loads for our family of four every weekend.

It all sounds embarrassingly wasteful, but there it is!

>125 AlisonY: I have no opinion on the Harry and Meghan interview. I knew it was happening, kind of, but don't follow that sort of thing at all. Not for American "stars" either.

>124 AlisonY: The few NYC apartments I've seen that have a washer/dryer in the apartment (as opposed to shared machines in the basement) all have had them in, or immediately next to, the kitchen. I assume is has to do with the location of the water lines.

I agree with Jennifer & Lisa -- the lack of laundry lines has to do with the convenience of having a dryer right there. I do air dry most of my unmentionables and wool socks/base layers. Those go on hangers on the shower curtain rod, on door knobs, on over the door hooks.... In the before times when I left the apartment, wool socks would take longer to dry in the winter, since I turned the heat off when not home. But it didn't matter, as I am incredibly lazy and live alone and even in the summer they stay hanging much longer than they should!

>126 lisapeet:, >127 japaul22:, >128 ELiz_M: Thank you - now I know! I definitely agree that a tumble drier is convenient, but there's something very satisfying about air-dried washing in the better weather. Plus tumble driers are quite expensive to run in the UK - perhaps not so much in the US.

Cheers - I was just curious!

>124 AlisonY:

Canadian here (West Coast) but I can jump in because I think on this topic, Canadians are similar to USians.

Q1 - I don't actually find that my clothes smell better if I dry them outside. I like the softness from drying in the machine. I DO dry my delicates outside when the weather allows, on my deck with a portable drying rack. If I have more than will fit on the rack, I also drape things over the deck chairs.

I don't have a clothes line, although we did think of it for about 5 minutes. Just never got to it. I grew up in a house where my mom used a clothes line, and my mother-in-law still uses one, but she's from Italy (and also, even though she's a multi-millionaire, she aims to spend $0.00 at all times).

Q2 - I think the above mostly answers this -- in the winter months, I have various Ikea hanging do-hickies set up in my laundry room, which is beside the furnace.
The tricky time of year is a couple of weeks in spring and autumn when neither option works.

>124 AlisonY: Funny to see this question here as I just hung up a load of laundry on the line this morning. Outside of a few years of apartment living, I have always used clotheslines. Every house has had a clothes line ready and waiting for me. Yes it is more inconvenient than just tossing the stuff into the dryer, but here in the Atlantic Provinces clothes hanging is a minor art form. Different people arrange things differently: by article, by colour, toned across the line and so on. It makes me happy to drive along the road on a beautiful day and see a line of sheets or work clothes in other people's yards. This is reflected in folk art from the region too: in quilts, rugs and even wooden pieces. Going to bed in fresh line dried sheets is wonderful. I refrain from hanging out smalls, but that's about it.

I'm not a fan of washers and dryers in the kitchen. There's enough noisy machinery there as it is, however, I understand space constraints in the UK. I don't like stacked models either, also because of noise, but again, I know space can be at a premium.

I am a huge fan of separate laundry rooms, with laundry sinks, counters for folding and so on.

>123 AlisonY: Love the sound of this book. It reminds me of an aunt on an island off Scotland. I will have to check it out.

>124 AlisonY: Don't get me going on the Sussexes, although I do love your description of Meghan's continual broken bird stance. Although there would be huge constitutional ramifications, I'm one who would just like to see the whole family fade into the sunset.

>124 AlisonY: "Why, when you have fantastic weather for much of the year, would you not want to hang your washing out to get that lovely air dried smell for zero cost?"

Because my lease agreement specifically says that I cannot have clothes hung to dry on my terrace, in front of my windows or anywhere else outside my apartment. And that is pretty common in Phoenix - everyone I know who is renting an apartment has the same provision (despite the fact that in August that will be much faster than the dryer). :)

I tumble dry everything - varied temperatures (one of the settings is just air - no heating at all) but everything goes into the dryer. In 10 years, I had not had anything shrink more than expected.

>130 Nickelini:, >131 SassyLassy:, >132 AnnieMod: Great insights! It just tickled me as I figured this was something people universally do and it never occurred to me that it might not be so much of a thing across the pond. In apartments I get it - there are similar restrictions here.

>131 SassyLassy: Washing hung out by colour tone - I LOVE that! I almost love the idea of the people wanting to do it even more than the thought of how glorious it must look. What a cool, arty bunch the Atlantic Province folk sound.

I think you'll enjoy the Horatio Claire book. It's slow in pace but if you're happy enough with a good journey rather than a great destination then you'll like it.

We hung our laundry in the living room when my first child was very young. Cloth diapers, you know. It was dirty in the city, and I would have worried about having stuff stolen--it wasn't the best area. When we moved to our little house, the one we still live in, there was a fitting in the back yard for hanging a retractable laundry line, and we did use it some. Now we tumble everything dry. It's so much easier. Our gas dryer is not expensive, and works well. This is a really nice area. We are on the "wrong side of the tracks", but it is still really nice.

I always thought putting the laundry in the kitchen was for the convenience of the lady of the house. She could keep the laundry going without running stairs, and all the time while she was cooking or packing lunches, etc. In our house there is a "househusband" not a "housewife", and our laundry is in the basement, where it is not really convenient. I would so much rather have it upstairs with us.

>135 AlisonY: Basements are great, though. Somewhere to house all the nonsense you don't want in the house. Very few houses here have them.

Tumble driers are one of the most expensive appliances to run in British homes, so that definitely encourages our love of a good washing line.

Now I rely must get off my self-started topic of domesticity!

I do have a clothesline but don't hang things out in winter.

Frankly I could care less about Meghan and Harry, but I imagine the interview was widely watched.

>123 AlisonY: The Clare book does sound good. I'll look for a copy.

I think a lot of where people want their washing machine is nothing more than culture and habit. Our washing machine is in our utility room, but if we didn’t have one I would definitely want it in the kitchen, because ... that’s where washing machines are put. I know some countries put washing machines in the bathroom but to me that seems downmarket (no logical reason I know) and I would never put a washing machine there. I’ve never really wanted a basement so definitely would not put a washing machine there. Tumble drying things is my worst anti-environmental habit and I am trying to cure myself of it.

in Germany, the washing machine is usually located in the bathroom.

Many housing developments here in the US have HOAs - Homeowner Associations, which often have rules against drying laundry outside. There is a small side porch off of our bedroom where I keep a drying rack and use it in the summer months. It seems ridiculous to run the air conditioner to cool the house and then heat it up with a dryer.

Regarding the Royal Family, my only knowledge of it comes from an acquaintance who is, well, racist and hates Meghan for lowering the tone of the Royal Family, so between her and the British tabloids, I've just assumed that’s the story. I hadn't known about the interview thing. I don't understand anyone's interest in a bunch of rich people, but I guess they fuel the tea towel and biscuit tin industry.

>133 AlisonY: I grew up in an apartment in Bulgaria - lived in one for the almost 30 years I lived there. Outside of a few buildings in the city centers (you know - next to the Mayor's building and so on), there are no restriction - literally every terrace has drying laundry on it most of the time unless it is very cold and it is on drying wracks in the living room/bedroom (My Mom still does not own a dryer...).

One of the unexpected things when I moved (but then both the apartments I lived in here had had laundry machine and a dryer in the kitchen so it worked out). My mom's laundry machine is also in the kitchen. When I was renting my last apartment in Sofia, it was in the bathroom and that was weird - I am used to it being in the kitchen :)

One more comment on laundry, because why not? I used to not have a dryer and did all my laundry on the clothesline, but I finally got tired of not being able to do wash when it was too cold or wet outside, and I broke down and bought one. Now I do all my laundry in the dryer, mostly out of force of newly acquired habit, and because it is incredibly convenient, and because my clothesline broke and I never bothered to repair it. But I have to say, it also does give much better results. If nothing else, my clothes actually stay more or less the color they were when I bought them! No more rapid and extreme fading under the merciless New Mexico sun! Which just goes to show you that "fantastic weather" is entirely relative. You can actually have too much sunshine.

>136 BLBera:, >137 SandDune:, >138 RidgewayGirl:, >139 AnnieMod:, >140 bragan: Well thank you all - now I'm truly well informed!

I grew up with a clothesline, and was quite happy when the house I bought already had one in the yard. I do dry towels & jeans & polyester & underwear in the dryer, but love having my clothes & sheets smell fresh.

Meghan & Harry? Meh. I'd be much happier seeing them work for a cause they're committed to than position themselves for more celebrity interviews when they complain about the media.

>142 markon: Meh is kind!

Hi! I enjoyed reading through your thread. The only book I've read here, though, is the Hamsun... ages ago and I was extremely taken with it, as I recall. (On the chance you might pick him up again, I'd recommend the short glimmering wonder that is Pan: From Lieutenant Thomas Glahn's Papers.)

Clotheslines: very much FOR, although currently having to do without (I do drape some washing around, both for the superior olfactory experience and to humidify my strangely dry air--the books DRINK!)

On the, ugh, "royals" thing... setting aside my "Off With Their Heads" party card for a mo'... I think this segment--has to be seen to the finish--on the Amber Ruffin show expresses an important perspective (please forgive the typo in "duchess"; Amber has a bias to "Dutch"):

Calling Meghan Markle “Uppity” Is Just Another Dog Whistle | The Amber Ruffin Show

I don't think there's any doubt that, whatever Meghan Markle's faults may be (and who even cares?), she was subject to racist insults in the British media and wider. In fact it's still going on unabated (as even people who, like myself, don't participate in social media but only get echoes of it, are made aware of this hounding).

Living in various European countries over the years, I have lost track of the number of times I have been accosted by someone demanding to know WHY in the UK washing machines are 'always' in the kitchen. Actually the only place I've ever had a washing machine in the kitchen was Spain, and that I took to be purely down to space rather than anything else. As for clothes lines, I'm a fan, and I dry clothes outside whenever I can (they really do smell different, and that smell makes me happy). Using the clothes line was what broke the ice between the lovely elderly lady across the road and me, almost 10 years ago when we moved in, as she was delighted to encounter a 'young' person who used one (an even younger clothes line-user has since moved in next door).

I bet you didn't think your question of a few weeks ago would give rise to so much interest, did you?

>144 LolaWalser: I'm actually getting so weary of the 'Meghan and Harry show' at the moment that I'm not even going to get started on, even though I asked the question to begin with!

>145 rachbxl: Exactly - who knew washing lines would spark so much interest!

Apologies in advance, but I couldn’t resist adding two more snippets of washing-line:

— The house where I grew up had ridiculously high ceilings, and there was a wonderful device in the back-kitchen that you could use to hoist a rack loaded with washing up into the stratosphere, where it would find the only warm air in the house and drip on the heads of passers-by.

— German apartment buildings often used to have a communal drying area in the loft (Trockenboden) or sometimes the cellar. Sometimes even a communal washing-machine(*). With the inevitable rota defining who got to do their washing on which day, and the inevitable grumbles about the neighbours who hung up more than their fair share of washing, or didn’t wash it to the standard of whiteness approved by the men in the washing-powder commercials...

(*) If the drying area was in the loft, the washing-machine would of course be in the basement.

>147 thorold: I've seen those devices over stoves in kitchens in Scotland, and always loved them. They intrigued me when I was little. I'd love to have one.

You make me think of ads for Persil and another one with a detergent I don't remember, but that featured sheep jumping fences (woolly jumpers).

Trockenboden what a great sounding word. It might be difficult to slip it into a conversation though, outside this thread of course.

>148 SassyLassy: "Trockenboden what a great sounding word. It might be difficult to slip it into a conversation though, . . . "

How about, "Make sure to hang your trockenbodens on the clothes line to the right of the trockentops so they can be folded and put away more easily later."

Sorry. Self-restraint doesn't seem to be in my astrological trockenboden today. :(

>124 AlisonY: I'm a bit late to the party but I have to admit that I've been using a dryer for everything for the last 50 years. Even when we were farming part-time, I took all the laundry back to the city to wash and dry. I have a lovely neighbour who is a hippie-type and uses a clothes line. It's the only one I've seen since I came to Canada.

My son and his wife are energy-conscious and have a drying rack inside for winter (the surface of our snow would be on the same level as the clothes line). They use a line outside the rest of the time.

>125 AlisonY: I was in hospital when Harry and Meghan's interview was on but I read all about it when I came home and was very disappointed in the pair. They complained about being in the public eye, then they go on Oprah!! I am not racist in any way but I too was curious about the colour of baby's skin, with the same curiosity about whether it would be a boy or a girl. I know she was subjected to unpleasant news stories but so has every other royal bride, even the minor ones like Edward's wife. I have crossed Harry and Meghan off my Christmas card list!

Your comments, as well as everyone else's are entertaining (on both topics). I'm not sure if I own any trockenbodens but I'm certainly not putting them on the washing line!

>147 thorold:, >148 SassyLassy: My business partner has recently moved into a Victorian house and has installed one of those high drier things. I think the UK favourite is called PulleyMaid? He's so taken with it he took his laptop on a journey into his utility room on a recent Zoom call with me just so I could admire it.

>150 VivienneR: Vivienne, with your NI roots I can't believe you're not using a clothes line! I hope you're feeling a good bit better.

On Megxit the whole interview annoyed me. Despite Oprah's opening statement that no questions were off limits (and they weren't getting paid - not convinced on that...), she never challenged them on anything, such as the fact they were receiving exactly the same royal protection as Harry's cousins and that such protection is paid for by the UK taxpayer and so if they chose to step away from being royal then that protection would end. I think Harry actually irritated me most - he came across as a whining brat who wants to live in the real world with his old world privileges still intact. A 36 year old moaning that his family were no longer supporting him when he got around £10m from his mother's will - please!!!!

See, I knew I shouldn't have started on that topic. It makes my blood boil.

>151 AlisonY: I'm not convinced either that there was no payment involved. The part that annoyed me most was when she complained about Archie not being given a title "they don't have a right to do that" (i.e. withhold a title). The information is freely available that only the monarch's grandchildren are given titles, not great-grandchildren.

Yes, it'a blood-boiler!

Right - pardon the pun but I'll have to draw a line under the clothes hanging discussion as I'm back to books.



8. Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

I'm so delighted that this even surpassed Wolf Hall in terms of my utter reading enjoyment. Yes, a big part of that is that our court story is getting to the really gripping part with Anne Boleyn getting her alleged comeuppance, but also as the characters were now familiar it was easier to immediately sink into the story and get back to feeling like a fly on the wall again.

Tension is ripe throughout this second novel. Henry isn't happy, and that pervades the air in every nook and cranny of court, but this feels different to the crisis with Katherine of Aragon. Henry feels different. Cromwell is up to his neck now in terms of responsibility for making things happen for the king, but even after everything has been achieved in terms of doing away with Anne Boleyn there is a sense that nothing is over; it is all just beginning. A line has been crossed (although most of Europe seem to think this is child's play compared to Katherine being ousted), and the game feels acutely more dangerous now.

Utterly superb visualisation of this classic time in history.

5 stars - I'm clutching at straws to find any fault with this wonderful book.

So glad you’re reading and loving Mantel’s series. It’s an all time favorite for me!

>151 AlisonY: I think you need to live in an old house for a ceiling rack to make sense. In anything built in the last fifty or sixty years the ceilings are so low that you'd be constantly bumping your head on it. You also need floors that can stand being dripped on.

But it's good to see that those people in Shropshire have relaunched them: I didn't know about that. Looks like a nice reproduction of the original, complete with cast iron brackets and authentic cotton sash-cord. They are in the right part of the world for cast iron, after all. (And they have a splendidly amateurish website, they can't even make their minds up about whether or not there should be a space in the name of the product!)

>154 japaul22: I'm so glad you all convinced me, Jennifer. Its excellent.

>155 thorold: Do we think there's a home counties market for mangles and clothes scrubbing boards too?!

>153 AlisonY: I had planned to read Bring up the bodies this month but found I'd already read it last year. I loved Wolf Hall so much that I immediately followed it up with the next one in the series. Now I can go straight to The Mirror and the Light that I also own. I was sorry that Mantel didn't make it a hat trick with a third Booker prize for the series because I'm sure it is in the same league as the other two.

I also loved the first two Cromwell books, Alison. Since The Mirror and the Light is such a tome, I'm saving it for my vacation.

>153 AlisonY: I also enjoyed Bring Up the Bodies more than Wolf Hall, Alison, and I did love WH. I couldn’t believe how terrific it was. I haven’t picked up book three yet, but I will get to it this year at some point. Great comments. If I hadn’t already read it, you would have pushed me to it.

>157 VivienneR:, >158 BLBera:, >159 NanaCC: I'm a bit nervous that The Mirror and the Light will be a little disappointing after Bring Up the Bodies. BUTB was so good it'll be hard to follow it up.

9. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell

A colleague recommended this book to me many years ago but you know how it goes - it was ages before I spotted it one day in a secondhand bookshop and bought it, and even longer before I decided to dust it off the TBR shelf. It's now 20 years old, which makes me wish I'd picked it up earlier so the content would have felt a little more 'now', but nonetheless it makes for a very interesting read.

In this book Gladwell investigates why small things can hit tipping points which have a big impact, and he determines that at least one of three rules must apply: The Law of the Few, The Stickiness Factor and the Power of Context.

The Law of the Few focuses on connectors and the notion that a small percentage of people who are serial connectors are pivotal in creating change and tipping points. If Gladwell was writing this book today there's no doubt that his example mavens would include social media influencers, but back in 2000 Instagram and Facebook were yet to be thought up so Gladwell's examples includes the good old days of street trends when a handful of cool kids in East Village and Soho were responsible for transforming the almost dead Hush Puppies brand into the new must have footwear of choice with annual sales of over 1 million pairs. I liked that example - it made me feel nostalgic for my youth when we were influenced by the cool kids rather than some Botoxed tanorexic off some crap reality TV show.

The Stickiness Factor says that there are specific ways of making a contagious message memorable through relatively small changes in presentation and structuring of information. This chapter focused on what made Sesame Street work a game-changer in the world of children's education via TV in its day, and also the new learnings from child psychology that eventually made it redundant. This chapter I found less engaging than the others - there's only so much Sesame Street talk I can handle before I glaze over.

Finally, the Power of Context looks at how people's behaviour is a lot more sensitive to their environment that most of us realise. An example given is the murder of Kitty Genovese when 38 people watched her being attacked from their windows yet not a single one called the police. The argument of the Power of Context is that it is because 38 people were watching that no one called the police. Everyone assumed that someone else would, and ironically if only 1 or 2 people had witnessed her attack the chances of the police being called would have been much higher.

Another fascinating example was the sharp decrease in crime in New York in the 1990s, which resulted from a number of small changes. One theory which resulted in a massive drop in crime was the law of broken windows, which states that if one broken window is left unreplaced this will create an environment that makes it more acceptable to break further windows. The New York subway was transformed by implementing policies on the back of this theory, replacing graffiti covered cars with new carriages which were inspected each time they reached the end of the line and taken out of service until every piece of new graffiti had been removed. Other changes were implemented in the subway as well (such as cracking down on fare dodgers), and collectively a new message of zero tolerance resulted in a rapid decrease in subway crime.

I really enjoyed this book, probably especially at the moment as our company is soon launching a new long COVID support app and it was interesting to read about why new ideas do or don't become contagious. Although Gladwell's examples are not current, the principles behind them are still sound, and his case studies were still hugely interesting.

4 stars - informative and thought-provoking analysis that is well researched and thought out.

>161 AlisonY: I'm glad - no pun intended - that you had gotten a great book on your hands. Personally I didn't like Outliers, and that sealed the vow not to read Gladwell ever again. For someone around 55 or more, he looks remarkably young. Some people get all the luck. Hope you don't imagine that I rant all the time. Oh wait, I probably do.

>162 Jiraiya: I've not read Outliers, but I've read a few of the concepts from it which are interesting. I've obviously given one of my children a huge academic advantage with their birthday month and hugely let the other one down with theirs!

What was it you didn't enjoy about it - the content, his approach, his writing style, all of the above?

>163 AlisonY: I read it around 2012. On my very first e-reader. Maybe the novelty allowed me to bear a book that nowadays I would have put down. I don't remember much of the content. But I didn't like the author's dissemination of his data through Hockey, on which he laid more emphasis than his example with the Beatles. I'm a huge Beatles fan. I left the book feeling disappointed and none the wiser.

Next up:

10. Touching the Void by Joe Simpson

Set 10 years before Jon Krakauer's account of the Everest disaster in Into Thin Air, the setting of this mountaineering disaster memoir is Siula Grande in Peru.

The premise of these mountaineering disaster books is generally familiar - a group of total nut jobs decide to scale some utterly impossible mountain face, weather closes in, horrific accident happens. Nonetheless, these climbing books draw me in every time. The mountains are my happy place, and when I watched serious climbers going up and down the Mont Blanc cable car in Chamonix a couple of years ago I had a stab of envy at their nerve, their freedom of not being held back by their fears. I could never take the risks they take (I worry about the ski lifts holding), but I'm quite happy to join in their adventures from my armchair. It's interesting that so many mountaineers are truly excellent writers as well, and Joe Simpson is no exception.

Touching the Void is famous for recounting the disaster where Simpson's climbing mate Simon Yates ends up cutting the rope that Simpson is dangling from over the side of a cliff to save himself. The subsequent documentary film that followed the book left Yates feeling angry that it was a one-sided portrayal of the accident, with the film leaving out the extensive hours he'd spent trying to save Simpson's life before he made that fateful decision. In this memoir, Simpson is unequivocal in his support for Yates' actions. Having fallen and badly broken his leg, Yates spent hours lowering Simpson down the mountain before unwittingly lowering him over a cliff in the dark. With Simpson tangling in mid air, when the rope ran out Yates was unable to pull Simpson back up, and as Simpson's weight would ultimately pull him off the mountain too he eventually took the decision to cut Simpson away.

This is the ultimate story of survival against the odds, and despite falling many feet down a crevasse Simpson somehow survives and manages to literally crawl back to camp three days later (I hope this isn't a spoiler, but as he wrote the book I think it's fairly obvious that he didn't die).

My own perspective on Yates' action is that yes, he had no other choice if he wanted to stay alive, and Simpson was likely to die anyway either way. However, I did find myself questioning his actions after he got down the mountain and regained some strength. He automatically assumed that Simpson was dead and made no attempt to go back to the lower slopes of the mountain to check, or to see if the body could be recovered for his family. The two climbers had no radios and were climbing in a very remote area without any rescue helicopters on speed dial, so I was surprised that he was so quick to assume the worst and not clutch on to any chance of survival and rescue. He was only 21 at the time, and part of me wonders if he feared Simpson giving a more damning perspective of his actions if he survived. Some sections were Yates' account (written by Simpson but with Yates' input and blessing), and I was surprised by his cool mental ability after a day or so to try to already put the accident behind him. The two are no longer friends today, with Yates stating that they "no longer have anything in common", and I'm not overly surprised.

The fact that Simpson carried on climbing after two years of rehabilitation, and went on to have another accident in a serious mountain climb tells you everything about the mentality of mountaineers. They know the risks are very real, but the pull of the mountain and the climbing experience transcends everything.

5 stars - I was totally gripped by this book and would have read it in one sitting if circumstances had allowed. The quality of writing was excellent, and I'll definitely be seeking out some of Simpson's other titles.

Next up:

>167 AlisonY: I went through a huge Eco phase about a decade ago. I have to be in the right mood for him. His books are (unnecessarily? interestingly?) complicated and he likes to throw in all his knowledge and references. But I love his use of language and how he uses all this knowledge to create a compelling story. I'll be interested to see what you think. I haven't read anything by him in years, but this was my first of his novels and I loved it.

>167 AlisonY: That book has been on my shelves unread probably the longest of anything. I keep thinking "One of these days"... so I'm interested to hear how you like it (or don't).

>168 japaul22: Hmm - this is what I'm slightly anxious about. Complication I can do in a shortish book, but this is fairly chunky with very small writing. I hope I don't glaze over too often.

>169 lisapeet: Same, for the reason above. I'll let you know...

>166 AlisonY: Just remembered something. In the play Joe Simpson’s thoughts are narrated by the character of his sister. At the end it was mentioned that in reality his sister did not find out about the events until several months later as she had been kidnapped in Kashmir at the same time! (I think it was Kashmir - might have been Afghanistan - anyway somewhere in that region). I remember thinking that I was so, so glad I was not their mother and then feeling very old!

I've also had The Tipping Point on my shelf for years, Alison. Maybe you will inspire me to finally pick it up.

Loved The Name of the Rose; I've been thinking about a reread.

>167 AlisonY: Among all the books to which I gave 2/5 stars this is probably the best of them. Umberto Eco deliberately made the opening chapters mind numbing, but I have forgotten the reason for this kind of jeopardy.

>166 AlisonY: The premise of these mountaineering disaster books is generally familiar - a group of total nut jobs decide to scale some utterly impossible mountain face, weather closes in, horrific accident happens. Nonetheless, these climbing books draw me in every time. The mountains are my happy place, and when I watched serious climbers going up and down the Mont Blanc cable car in Chamonix a couple of years ago I had a stab of envy at their nerve, their freedom of not being held back by their fears. I could never take the risks they take (I worry about the ski lifts holding), but I'm quite happy to join in their adventures from my armchair.

That's a great paragraph and captures my thoughts too (although if I have to choose between forests and mountains, I probably will choose forests. Luckily they are often found in the same spot.)

>167 AlisonY:

When I read The Name of the Rose I was given the helpful advice of using the companion book Key to the Name of the Rose, which I found at the library.

Irrelevant, but the thing that sticks in my mind about Touching the void is the way it was lent to me years ago by a colleague I'd always thought of as rather frivolous and superficial. She told me "you've simply got to read these two books". The other one in the parcel was one of Paul Monette's AIDS memoirs (Borrowed time or Becoming a man, I'm not sure which any more). I stopped thinking of her as superficial very quickly, and we actually got to know each other quite well after that...

Catching up after my sojourn at the new baby's house. I like The Name of the Rose a lot, but in general I find Umberto Eco annoying.

>171 SandDune: his sister did not find out about the events until several months later as she had been kidnapped in Kashmir at the same time!

Oh my word! That is parent abuse! I desperately hope neither of my kids have crazy adventure streaks like that (with my genes, doubt it).

>172 BLBera: I enjoyed The Tipping Point. We're in a start-up, so I find these kind of books interesting. Glad to get a thumbs up for The Name of the Rose.

>173 Jiraiya: Hoping it ends up more than a 2 star read for me! It's a long book to give that low a rating.

>174 Nickelini: I'm really missing the mountains. We have a decent mountain range about 20 miles away, but in the last year with no one going away they've been rammed every weekend. The last time we tried to go we spent an hour trying to find a parking spot and then came home again. Very frustrating.

>175 Nickelini: That accompanying book would have been useful. I'll probably not bother buying it now I'm already into it, but that's a good prompt to dig out some online freebie notes that might be useful.

>176 thorold: A classic case of don't judge a book by its cover! (Sorry - couldn't resist).

>177 sallypursell: Hey Sally! Congratulations on the new arrival in your extended family. Good to hear another positive response to The Name of the Rose. I'm finding it requires very close reading, so it may take me a while.

>178 AlisonY: Most chunky books to which I give a low rating get so precisely because they are big books and have indeed outstayed their welcome. But The Name of the Rose is not of that kind. It is a good book that sins by being a bit pontificating and having subdued resolutions to its various threads. I would have come up with more impressions, but I've forgotten a lot about it. The translation, as you might attest, is fine, so at least that aspect has been done right.

>166 AlisonY: Great review, Alison. I love books like that, so taking note. Mountains — I love looking at them, but I have such a fear of heights. The thought of even going on a ski lift makes my skin crawl. I don’t know why. I don’t remember being like that as a child.

If you like true life adventure, I read a book several years ago, when I first joined LT, called Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World. I really enjoyed it.

>180 NanaCC: Noting that book.

>180 NanaCC: Thanks Colleen. Adding that to the towering wish list.

>166 AlisonY: Wonderful review! Touching the Void is one of the books my son lent me and made me promise to read it. He's a climber and I have a serious fear of heights (falling from a clifftop will do that) so I started reading with some apprehension. Of course, I enjoyed it thoroughly although it probably caused a few nightmares.

>183 VivienneR: It's so vividly written, Vivienne, that I actually had some scary mountain top dreams one night when I was in the middle it.

Hang on - are you saying you actually fell off a clifftop? Have I read that right? If so I wouldn't blame you for not wanting to climb on top of a chair after that.

Also, given your son is a climber, probably not the best book to recommend your parent reads!

Yes, you read it right! My son is even more adventurous than I was but keeps assuring me that he is careful. And he is definitely not the klutz that I was (am). If there is some solace, it is that I know he's not one of the crazy climbers I've read about.

Of the pile of books he brought me to make up for closed libraries I have two on climbing still to read. I figure that if I read enough to be able to mention one or two details it will satisfy him.

The remaining books are on British naval history. Don't know how to avoid them. :) Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have a daughter.

Hi Alison, You did read Bring Up the Bodies and I envy you for it!
I am sorry I missed the buddy read (it might have helped me!) and I am also sorry to have missed the clothes drying discussion. So many insights for me too! I didn't know drying clothes outside is kind of off limits in the US, neither did I know the British have their washing machine in the kitchen. When we don't have a separate space for it I think most people in the Netherlands have their washing machine in the bathroom. How interesting. And we do hang our clothes outside to dry, whenever possible. Even in the city! But mostly in our backyards, not in front of the house for anyone to see (like those characteristic images of Italian cities).

Last but not least, Harry and Meghan! Sorry to bring them up again but I am sooooo with you on this one. They are being so hypocrite! Complaining about the media while seeking them out every other day. Claiming they want a private life, while choosing a house (palace?!) to live in in LA. Claiming they don't want to be a part of the Royal Family, while wanting their money.
I have no doubt British tabloids are horrible and that they had to suffer from them, I can understand why they left, but their next steps are completely beyond me. Okay, I admit I have not really followed them, and am not very interested but this is what I picked up from the things I saw and read about them - there was no escaping them!

>186 Simone2: About the Meghan and Harry interview by Oprah, the latter interviews celebrities about stuff that everybody knows. What a surprise, people who live in a castle in England are racists? I've been to England and it's super easy for even a person like me to get a girlfriend who is white, but the men are mostly bigots and yes racists.

>186 Simone2: I really enjoyed Bring Up the Bodies, Barbara. The buddy read is still going until the end of April if you fancy it.

And yes, I feel the same way about Harry and Meghan. I hope they disappear into their preposterously expensive mansion and enjoy their lives 'away from the limelight'. I think we all know that's not going to happen, though, through their choice.

>187 Jiraiya: Only the royal family know if they are indeed racists; there are two sides to every story, but this is never going to become Jerry Springer style tit for tat TV.

I don't think it's at all fair to say that English men are mostly bigots and racists - that's an inflammatory sweeping statement and generalisation. Do racists exist in England? Yes, absolutely they do, but it's grossly unfair to tarnish the majority of the men of the country with that brush. I think we have to take each man (or woman) on their own merit. Certainly when I lived in England for many years that was not the impression I picked up from the majority of men and women in my social and work circles.

>188 AlisonY: Who am I to tarnish most men in England. According to you I'm being unreasonable and making inflammatory statements. Oh woe are the poor victimised English men! Will they be able to sleep? Will they be docked fines? What a dastardly thing to do, to be so malicious towards poor innocent men who only want the best beer and the best cheer.

11. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

Woo hoo - I'm on a reading roll this week. Two books in a week including a fairly chunky 500 pager. This is what happens when we come to the end of binge watching a series on Amazon Prime in our house!

I have to admit I was a bit reluctant to pick this title off my TBR shelf. Somewhere along the way I'd gathered that it's not the most straightforward of reads, and I wasn't sure if the setting of a 14th century Italian abbey and divisions within the Catholic church would grab me enough to keep me ploughing through the more challenging sections. I am, however, delighted to have found this a really worthwhile and enjoyable read.

A young novice monk named Adso accompanies his mentor, Brother William of Baskerville, to an Italian abbey famous throughout Christendom for its superlative library. Here, William will be attending a theological meeting to discuss two contentious points which have been splitting orders within the Catholic Church, namely whether Christ was poor or not and whether the pope or the Holy Roman Emperor should hold political authority in Europe. Upon arriving, the abbott tells the visitors about the recent tragedy of a young monk falling to his death from a tower at the abbey, and as William was previously an inquisitor he is asked to discretely investigate how the death occurred so the matter can be quietly put to bed before the controversial delegation arrives. In the week that is to follow more suspicious deaths occur amongst the monks, and the young novice has the learning experience of a lifetime as he observes Brother William's enhanced powers of deduction as he deciphers the secret codes and symbols of the library to find the root of the malevolence within the abbey.

This is exactly the type of subject matter I would run a mile from in a book, so I was surprised at how quickly I became hooked by the story. The setting of the ancient abbey in the Middle Ages was a superb backdrop for the "whodunnit" aspect of the plot, and with a complex cast of pious characters it wasn't obvious who the perpetrator was until close to the end. The famed library of the abbey was so mysterious it almost became a character in its own right, and I thoroughly enjoyed the many scenes that took place within it.

Heavily woven into the story are the themes of the interpretation of signs and the political fallouts within the orders within the Catholic church at that time. Eco was a professor of semiotics, and I would argue that in some passages he loses himself in the joys of his own academic specialism to the detriment of the reading experience for the average reader who may not share the same depth of joy and understanding of this complex area. Similarly, I glazed over a little as some parts of the religious divides were expounded in much lengthier detail than I needed (or wanted). However, in fairness this was the exception rather than the norm, and although The Name of the Rose required close reading to keep track with everything that was going on, I found it hugely interesting and galloped through it accordingly at a fair pace.

I loved that Eco included peppered many lines of Latin throughout the narrative. I studied Latin for GCSE back in the 1980s, and as they say education is wasted on the young as now I desperately wish I could remember more of what I so reluctantly learned for five years. It's a while since I've come across so much of it in a book, and I thoroughly enjoyed drinking in the beauty of every word. It's a language that rolls so beautifully around the tongue, and no doubt my family will be glad to hear I've finished this book as for the last few nights I've been randomly reading aloud the Latin sections just for the sheer delight of saying them. It's not often you can give the last line of a book without giving away any spoilers, but as this requires some interpretation even beyond the Latin I think I'm safe in letting you enjoy it: Stat rosa pristina nomine; nomina nuda tenemus.

4 stars - a book richly rewarding in so many ways. Dropping half a star for the sections in which Eco got carried away with his own ego, and spoilt by Mantel's Cromwell trilogy I really wish the publishers had created a similar list of who's who at the beginning of this novel as the cast of characters and religious political persuasions got complicated at times.

>189 Jiraiya: Again, I think those are sweeping statements, but let's agree to disagree and move on.

You make me want to reread the Name of the Rose

>192 Nickelini: It would make a great group read.

Next up:



A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor.

>191 AlisonY: Sure. Agreed.

>190 AlisonY: I’ve just added this to my wishlist, thank you (I think).

>194 AlisonY: I can’t see the book cover, so don’t know what’s next up. I don’t know why I sometimes can’t see the covers. I’m on my iPad. I wonder if that makes a difference?

>196 NanaCC: I hope you enjoy it Colleen. The bits that made me glaze over a bit were few and far between.

Sorry you can't see the image - is anyone else having the same issue? I don't see why viewing on a tablet should affect it.

Next up is A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor.

>197 AlisonY: I can see the image chust fine.

>198 Jiraiya: Many thanks.

Sorry Colleen - must be a tablet thing after all.

>190 AlisonY: Fab review. I now want to reread it too!

I can never see covers on my iPhone so maybe it’s an iThing

I see the cover on my ipad and on my iphone.

>201 Nickelini:, >202 dianeham: The mysteries of technology yet again!

I can see the cover in >190 AlisonY:, so whatever the reason, it isn’t consistent.... I’ll live. ;-)

>192 Nickelini: Agreed.

>193 AlisonY: Great idea.

Regarding the covers, I have found the covers hosted by Amazon can be hit or miss when it comes to showing up in threads. A permissions issue of some sort, I think (possibly at the browser level?). The image in >194 AlisonY: is an Amazon-sourced image, while the one in >190 AlisonY: is not.

>190 AlisonY: Great comments, Alison. You do make me want to reread it.

I usually choose the covers added by members to be sure they will show up on most devices. I haven't had complaints on my thread for missing images recently.

>205 SassyLassy: A group read would have really helped me I think. Ah well - too late for me now, but maybe something others would be interested in.

>206 shadrach_anki: Ah ha! Thanks for the tip - I'll try to avoid the Amazon ones then.

>207 BLBera: Thanks Beth. Good point - I just tend to Google for a cover, but no reason why I can't just use the ones from LT.

Colleen et al - I've updated the previous Amazon pic in post 194 above. Would be interested if this means anyone who couldn't see it before can see it now.

>209 AlisonY: still not seeing it on my iPhone. This is a relatively new problem—maybe the last 6 months

>210 Nickelini: hmmmm - that's annoying. I must see if anyone's posted it in the issues thread on LT.

>211 AlisonY:

Well, let me know if you find anything out. I've been on LT since 2007 and something has clearly changed with covers. I used to come across a dropped cover in my library now and again, but in the last 6-8 months I'm constantly losing covers. I try and set a member-up loaded cover when I can in hopes to stabilize it. Books that had the correct cover for years and years now don't have a cover available. It's annoying but I've given up.

I am still unable to see that cover, Alison. It isn’t a big deal as long as you put the book title in your post. As Joyce says, it is a more current problem.

>212 Nickelini:, >213 NanaCC: Someone was asking on the help thread do you see a red cover instead of the proper cover? I've not had any issues so wasn't sure.

I see a blank square. I can see that you’ve posted a cover, but it is blank.

>215 NanaCC:

see a blank square. I can see that you’ve posted a cover, but it is blank.

Me also

This is a test on the images thing. First up, the exact image in >194 AlisonY:


This image, looking at the image URL, is still coming from an Amazon source.

Second, a member uploaded version of the same cover:


Looking at the image URL, this second image is hosted directly here on LibraryThing, like all member uploaded covers.

I can see both images myself, but how do they appear to everyone else?

Edit: fixing the post referenced.

>217 shadrach_anki: Blank square at the top. Can see the bottom image. I always load my photos into my junk drawer, then put them in my posts, which has worked so far.

I can see both images. I'm on Chrome on a Windows 10 machine.

I’m on my iPad at the moment using a current version of Safari and I can only see the second image, not the first, which is a blank square.

I’m also on an iPad using safari and I see all fine (the original and the two tests). Safari just updated yesterday for me. Covers are hit or miss for me usually.

I’m on an iPad using safari and I can only see the second image. The first is a blank square.

I can’t see the first image in my iPhone

I can see both images on my iPhone using Safari.

I'm on my desktop now, running Chrome, and can see both of them.

I can see both on my Android phone. How curious - must be an ios issue.

>217 shadrach_anki: I'm on a Macbook Air (laptop) using Google chrome as my browser and can't see the first image but can see the second. Same on my iPhone using safari as my browser.

>226 AlisonY: I should have mentioned that my desktop is a Mac running iOS and I can see them fine, so... I don't know.

>227 japaul22:, >228 lisapeet: Oddly enough I have two different Macs and I can see both images on both laptops. One is through Chrome and the other Safari. Weird that it's the Amazon image that seems to be throwing things, and strange that it's not consistent where people can / can't see it.

Oh, and I just realised that the main cover I took the second time from LT had an Amazon reference too - didn't notice that when I updated the code.

>217 shadrach_anki: I can see both on my IPhone (plus the original one) but until 2 days ago I could not see the one in the original (and I suspect I would not have seen the Amazon one here either).

I wonder if this is not cross-domain protection on the browser level kicking in - basically the browser tries to protect you. I am in non-secure LT (http vs https) on my phone at the moment. Can the people who see/do not see check what they are using? I can also see it on secure now BUT I opened the image on its own which tends to convince the browser to let me see things when they get snarled.

Or a combination of LTE (it had been trying to protect me too much lately) vs WiFi and cross domain protection (would also explain why I always see it now - the browser knows I want to load that one). :)

>230 AnnieMod: On my phone I'm on https and I've never had issues seeing anyone's images.

I think this started when Tim et al did something with images - put them on a separate server so that they could be secure? I forget the details. But yeah, I suspect it's HTTP vs HTTPS for at least part of the problem - and browsers being "helpful" for the rest.

>232 jjmcgaffey:
I've kinda given up on images on LT. If I wasn't a visual person, I'd just skip doing them altogether. But I AM visual, and I love art as much as text, so I do still like them. When they work. But if they're not going to work, I'll revert to a text environment. Because I'm from the pre-everything-picture-world, and that's okay.

>233 Nickelini: I wonder why none of the reviews I've read here doesn't contain gifs.

12. A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor

The premise of this short Pulitzer Prize winning novel sounded appealing - a grown up son is summoned back to Memphis by his two spinster sisters to stop his widowed father is planning to get married to a younger (read gold digger) woman. So far, so me - I love a well executed family drama. However, Pulitzer Prize or not, I found this novel to be really lacking, and can't for the life of me figure out why it was considered prize-worthy.

It's a short novel (just over 200 pages - thank God for small mercies), yet it was over two-thirds of the way into the story before our narrator got anywhere near the plane to bring him back to Memphis (and then it took him quite a few pages to even get off the damn plane once it landed). I could easily forgive that if Taylor was busy building wonderful characters, but I cared even less about the characters when I finally (with relief) shut the cover for the last time than I did at the beginning. More to the point, I was annoyed that I was wasting precious hours of my life being abjectly bored by them. He spent most of the book going around and around a loop telling us about his spinster sisters and his father like some painful literary Groundhog Day, and that's exactly what it was - telling. .

2.5 stars - utterly snooze-inducing narration with one dimensional characters. Did Taylor have a secret family member on the Pulitzer panel that year?

Next up:



One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey.

I've been reading your thread off and on for the last few days and enjoying it very much. I hope to stay current now.

>91 AlisonY: I think I liked Hunger by Knut Hamsun more than you did, perhaps because I found the psychological dimensions more interesting. It was certainly not a light-hearted read, but then many of the books I read are not. I haven't read anything else by him.

>124 AlisonY: Yes, beating a dead dog, re: laundry. I haven't seen a clothesline since my grandmother died. I've lived in the Midwest, Seattle, Florida, and now Maine. Location preference: 1. Basement 2. Bathroom 3. Um, closet?

>161 AlisonY: I too enjoyed the Tipping Point when I read it years ago. If I were to read another of his books, it would be Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking. Despite having been written in 2005, it seems like it would still be relevant given how people need to make decisions faster all the time as information blows past us more and more quickly.

I am very curious to know about the app your company is developing to support Covid long-haulers. Would it be possible to share about it, possibly on the Covid thread or in a pm to me? Both my daughter and I have long-term effects from Covid a year later.

>166 AlisonY: After reading Touching the Void, I sympathized with his climbing partner. The decision to cut the rope was not an easy one, and yet I can't imagine what Simpson felt when the cut, not frayed, rope fell beside him.

>190 AlisonY: I read The Name of the Rose many, many years ago and remember having a tepid liking for it. On the other hand, I thought My Name is Red was fantastic. Have you read it? If interested, my review is here.

>237 labfs39: Yes, I sympathised with him too about cutting the rope, but I felt his attitude afterwards was a bit strange. Maybe these climbing guys just have to have that 'move on' attitude to do what they do, given they'd both already witnessed some terrible accidents.

On our long COVID app, I'll just write about it here as it would feel self-promoting to put it in the COVID thread. It's not launched yet (hopefully in the next few weeks), but it's called COVID Note and is designed to help people with long COVID diarise their symptoms and create trend views to support their discussions with clinicians. It will be launched in the UK first, but I'd love to release it in the US once we do some more work on US data protection regulations.

Our research with the long COVID community was so eye-opening - so many people suffering with such a myriad of life impacting symptoms, and a common thread of little medical support. I've found what I'm reading in the long COVID Facebook groups so sad - everything from extreme fatigue to severe hair loss to gut problems to cardiac issues and so much more besides. We've got some interest from a research body that's working on long COVID, so we're hoping that anonymised data can be used to give a voice to what the long COVID community is actually going through in relative silence.

Noting My Name is Red - your review sells it!

>238 AlisonY: To be honest, I don't remember much about Simson's climbing partner's attitudes after the accident. Quite the gripping tale though.

Thank you for sharing about your app. Long covid was dismissed by the medical community for a long time (and still is), but I was happy that our National Institute of Health was granted 1.15 billion dollars over the next four years to study long covid. And I read an article on NPR the other day that anecdotally the vaccine seems to be helping some long haulers, perhaps by resetting their immune response. That would be nice.

There will be a group read of My Name is Read over on the 75 Book Challenge in April. PersephonesLibrary posted some gorgeous photos of illuminated miniatures, if you are interested.

Great review of The Name of the Rose. I enjoyed it when I read it 20 years ago but I have inevitably forgotten much of it - thanks for reminding me.

>237 labfs39: seconding Lisa’s recommendation of My Name is Red, which I thought was fabulous.

>239 labfs39: I had a book buying splurge recently so doubt I'll make the April group read but I have it on my wish list now.

>240 rachbxl: Not a book I would have gravitated towards naturally, but as ever the CR recommendations were spot on.

13. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

I've never seen the movie adaptation of this book, which I think was a good thing going into it - I could enjoy it for what it was without Jack Nicholson's portrayal of the main character constantly popping into my head.

Nurse Ratched, psychopathic bully and evil control freak, rules her ward of chronic and acute mental patients with an iron fist, never loosening her grip on their fragile mental states lest they should show any kind of improvement in their mental health and develop independent thinking. Dampened by a toxic mixture of pills, electric shock treatment and Ratched's daily mind games, the patients exist in a perpetual fog of mental and physical exhaustion until one day they are joined by McMurphy, a larger than life hustler and petty criminal who has declared himself insane to get out of completing his sentence at a work farm. Cocky, loud and used to ruling the roost, McMurphy sets about shaking up life on the ward, but before long he locks horns with Nurse Ratched and a dangerous battle for domination on the ward ensues.

Funny and desperately sad in equal measure, this was a terrific read, a crazy, out of control ride with the most wonderful characters. It shows it's age in terms of its sexist and racist commentary in places, but that aside it's an absolute joy to read.

4.5 stars - one that will stay with me for a long time, I suspect. (And now I will have to watch the movie).

Next up:



The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League by Jeff Hobbs.

>242 AlisonY: cool to get a perspective on the book. I have a hazy memory of the movie, a few scenes left striking memories

I’m catching up from so far. I loved the laundry conversation. (I’ve never line-dried. Not once.)

>153 AlisonY: Bring Up the Bodies - your review was fun to read. I’m sitting on mine, unsure what to say...if anything(!!)

>161 AlisonY: Tipping Point Gladwell is a magnificent speaker. His audiobooks are wonderful and it doesn’t matter what he’s actually talking about, it becomes fun. If you ever want to try audio, he’s a great place to start. I’m not sure his ideas hold up, though.

>166 AlisonY: touching the void - terrific review. Wow.

The Name of the Rose - glad you enjoyed. I read this in 1992 (?) so my memory is not clear, but I remember the serious/fun mixture.

>244 dchaikin: Thanks Dan. I'm not sure that many folks here have read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I was surprised by it - although it sounds a bit of a silly premise it was well executed, and was a sad insight into horrendous mental health treatments 60 years ago when severe electric shock treatments and lobotomies were all the rage and the authorities were quick to institutionalise people for life.

>245 AlisonY: I read One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest decades ago, but I remember being frightened by it; the setting and of course Nurse Ratched were so vividly portrayed. Like Nellie Bly's exposé on steroids. Then I watched the movie and now can't separate Jack Nicholson's performance from the original character. I'll be curious to see what you think of the movie, if you watch it.

>245 AlisonY: When I was in high school and college during the 1970s, just about all of my friends who were readers read Cuckoo's Nest, either on their own or in some class or other. I think I read it twice in college, once in a literature class and once for a non-compulsory suggested reading list for Sociology 101. (Did I mention this was the 70s?)

I also highly recommend Kesey's novel Sometimes a Great Notion. I actually enjoyed this one better than Cuckoo's Nest, though I am obviously in the minority on that.

>242 AlisonY: I loved this novel when I read a gazillion years ago. It is one of a few books I've given 5-stars to, but I've since wondered if the high rating was more due to my reading naivete than the work itself. I'm glad to see that it holds up.

>247 rocketjk: I liked both of them. I think I liked Notion better, too, but Cukoos is so powerful....

>245 AlisonY: just to be clear, I have not read the book, and only seen the movie. The book suddenly has great appeal.

>246 labfs39:, >247 rocketjk:, >248 ELiz_M:, >249 sallypursell: Well I take it back - seems like plenty of you have read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest! Will look out for the Notion title from Kesey.

>250 dchaikin: I would recommend it - I enjoyed it more than I expected.

>251 AlisonY: One thing to remember about Kesey is that he was a counter-cultural hero in the late 60s/early 70s, having been one of the heroes of Tom Wolfe's popular memoir (for lack of a better word), The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. So Cuckoo's Nest, with its anti-establishment hero, resonated strongly then, in addition to being well written. Well, apologies if you already knew that. Just trying to add some context as to why so many folks here, at least those of us "of a certain age," would have read the book.

>252 rocketjk: No I didn't know that, Jerry. Thanks for that - it's interesting to get that context.

>242 AlisonY: I haven’t read the book, Alison, although I did see the movie many many years ago. I’m tempted, but there are just so many books....

Anyone know Jerzy Kosinski's The Painted Bird?

>255 sallypursell: I read it years (decades!) ago. Kosinski was another author who was influential during the 60s and 70s (at least as per my own memory). If I remember right, I found it somewhat disturbing but definitely thought provoking.

>256 rocketjk: It was a favorite of a boyfriend of mine from that period. I agree, it was disturbing. It was thought provoking, too. I didn't like it, but it was powerful. It reminded me of A Clockwork Orange, which was more of the same.

14. The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League by Jeff Hobbs

A sad, emotional and frustrating true story.

Robert Peace fitted into the common stereotype in his Newark neighbourhood in many ways - father in prison for murder, single mother doing her best to make ends meet, drink and weed consumed from an early age. But where Rob differed from his peers was his exceptional intelligence and thirst for learning, which combined with the steely determination of his mother to give him a better than average standard of education resulted in him achieving a degree from Yale. However, as the title gives away, unfortunately all did not end well for Robert Peace.

This book is exceptionally sad for so many reasons. With his Yale studies paid for by a wealthy benefactor who saw unique potential in Peace, this should have been a turning point in his life, one that opened up a whole world of opportunity. Unfortunately, however, Rob couldn't help but get in the way of himself. Discomfited by his Ivy League attainment, it was a world he felt he never fitted into, despite his immense intelligence. Whilst his peers used the opportunity as a springboard to new careers, Rob quickly succumbed to the rhythm of his old neighbourhood, finding comfort in the familiarity of menial jobs, childhood friends and easy drug dealing.

A low level dealer who generally tended to stay keep his moral compass closer to right than wrong, Peace unfortunately took a wrong turning gamble that he would ultimately pay for with his life.

It's an imperfect book that took some time to draw me in at first. Written by his white room mate from Yale, for the first part of the book it felt very obviously a privileged white person trying to write a poor black man's story, but eventually it somehow found its rhythm and a more vivid depiction of Rob and his background developed (perhaps as Hobbs was writing more about present times rather than trying to narrate his parents' back story, with better sources for detail through Rob's friends). It fell short of the journalistic authenticity that came across in Adrian Nicole LeBlanc's Random Family, but Hobbs develops the reader's interest in Peace as a person, and although I was ultimately frustrated and disappointed by Rob's choices, the close of the book still felt very emotional.

In a number of places Hobbs comments that he was failing as an author. I'm not sure it sits well with me that he took the tragedy of his friend's death as his next book writing opportunity, and whilst he tries to make the book a eulogy of sort to his friend, it seemed that Rob and he hadn't seen much of each other in the years leading up to his death, so I'm not quite sure how sincere the motives behind the book are.

Nonetheless, an interesting, tragic read.

3.5 stars - a story that pulls you in, but still.... not convinced that it's the mournful story of friendship that it purports to be.

Next up:



The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel

>110 AlisonY: Finally getting to some of the threads in this group, and getting to know people. Re: The Salt Path - I add all of the Wainwright nominees to my TBR every year, but this one gets a bump up because I have a "thing" for Wales. Hope to actually read it some day!

>123 AlisonY: Re: Running for the Hills - Wonderful! Another Welsh book to add to my TBR. This one wasn't on my radar.

>260 WelshBookworm: >261 WelshBookworm: Welcome! I really liked The Salt Path, but I think Running for the Hills has stuck with me more.

>133 AlisonY: Re: the laundry thread - I know this is an old topic, but I can't resist chiming in. I live on a dairy farm in the country, on a dirt road. I rent the lower part of the house - sort of a walk-out basement apartment. There is nothing to hang clothes on out in the yard. I would have to put something up. And while it sounds great, and I have fond memories of my mother hanging out clothes 50 years ago, there is often a very stiff wind here. Anything not well secured, would be found several farms over... Also the fact that I am on a dirt road. I keep my windows closed all year round because of the amount of dust that would accumulate. Anyway, there is a washer and dryer here (a separate area off the kitchen), and I do not have to pay for electricity or water, so basically it is free to use it! I have rigged up a hanging rod, so that I can air dry things that shouldn't go in the dryer.

Fun digression!

>263 WelshBookworm: No, dust and washing on the line aren't a great combination!

Just a wee note to say sorry I'm not getting round many people's threads at the moment. Work is incredibly tough at the moment and is not leaving much time for fun things

Wish you well Alison. Enjoying your posts on TM&tL in the group read thread.

>258 AlisonY: I’m not familiar with this book (The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace) or story. Interesting. If my freshman year roommate had had such a tragic life, I could see wanting to write a book about him, even though I barely knew him. (He was a nice guy.). So I can kind of understand both where the author is coming from and what his limitations might be. These are just very formative in years.

>266 dchaikin: Perhaps I'm being too harsh on him, Dan. However, he was clearly a struggling author looking for a subject, and something about profiteering from his friend's death in this way didn't sit well with me. But having said that, the way the author described Robert Peace he probably would have been cool with it and glad to see his friend succeeding.

15. The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel

Wow - what a superlative conclusion to this trilogy. I'm almost tempted to end my review there as it's hard not to repeat much of the enthusing from my reviews of the first two books, but I'll have a go.

This third instalment was much chunkier, and Mantel perhaps overindulged herself in the plot here and there where she didn't need to, but mostly once again this was tight as a drum narration that had me totally invested in the novel, beyond hooked. Of course, the fact that this is a story based around a fascinatingly gruesome period in English history could be hook enough, but in the wrong hands the numerous characters at court could easily become staid at times. Instead, 'living' it through Mantel's handling of Cromwell as narrator is as close as I think we can come through a book to being truly immersed in a period in history. How much more vivid it becomes in our minds, how much easier it is to remember details that would often be quickly forgotten from a non-fiction read.

Mantel has proven herself to be an author that is simply on another level with this trilogy. The historical research on its own is simply mind-blowing, but she also handles that research with such a deft hand, avoiding the temptation to include what is not pertinent to Cromwell's story yet using detail and emotion with the cleverest of brush strokes to invoke all our senses as readers.

As we have lived inside Cromwell's head for almost 2,000 pages it was difficult not to feel saddened by his demise at the end of The Mirror and the Light. That I need to think about some more. Has Mantel gone too far in invoking my sympathy for him? History often has it that Cromwell was ambitious, unscrupulous, brutal and corrupt, yet Mantel very much left me feeling of him less as a monster and more as a man who yes, was undeniably ruthlessly fixated on advancing his own position, but who was also playing a game where only dirty tactics win. He was a man also prepared to take much personal risk for the advancement of the knowledge of the gospel, and ultimately a person of great guile, which for a long time protected the interests of Henry.

My ultimate conclusion of Cromwell (thanks to Mantel) is that he was all these things: brutal when he needed to be (especially with his personal enemies), power-hungry, loyal, sympathetic and, above all else, rather brilliant in terms of how he manoeuvred himself and spun so many plates for the king.

4.5 stars - I feel almost cruel for knocking off half a star (for those moments when the plot meandered without needing to), but a fantastic end to a trilogy that has simply astounded me.

>268 AlisonY: wow. Well stated. I’m dragging along (i mean happily but slowly), well behind you, and thoroughly enjoyed your comments.

>268 AlisonY: very well done! I agree everything, including questioning myself how I could still feel sympathy for this man, and yet how could I not. Mantel is indeed a brillant writer (discounting some of the slogs in the book) brought the man and his time alive for me and as you say, made Crumb to be complex and 3 dimensional. Was never a big fan of Tudor books but Im so glad. Its just so dang good! I took a chance and read them. Ive reread them several times, and will probably be rereading this one as well,

Have on order The Rise & Fall of Thomas Cromwell: Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant by Jon Schofield, who Ive read before. Be interesting what comes of this story afterwards (love the cover picture)

Rise & Fall of Thomas Cromwell: Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant

and now after discoving your thread, need to go to the beginning and see what I missed!

>36 sallypursell: from waaaaaay back - re feral children, I read Green Child in HS, and reread a few years back and it still holds up. also Knowledge of Angels> an excellent book regardless of the curious feral child involved in the story.

>268 AlisonY: I'll come back to your review in a week or so, I've just got a few hundred pages left in this myself and I'm already slowing down because once it's done, I'll never be able to read it again for the first time.

>269 dchaikin: Look forward to hearing your thoughts, Dan.

>270 cindydavid4: The Cromwell book sounds interesting. Am I missing your thread somewhere on CR?

>273 RidgewayGirl: I know - I felt really sad when I finished it. I haven't felt like that since I finished the Knausgaard 'My Struggle' series.

>274 AlisonY: no I don't have one; Im on several threads and groups in LT Like Reading Globally and Reading through time as well as Club Read and I don't feel the need to put in one more thread and double post (and keep track of all the replies!) plus I enjoy reading reviews more than writing them! But I could probably be pursuaded.....:)

>275 cindydavid4: Shame - I think your reviews would be really interesting to read!

Next up:



The Wedding by Dorothy West

>268 AlisonY: Great review Alison. I’ll get to this book at some point this year. I just finished listening to Wolf Hall. I read the first two books when they first came out, so felt a reread was in order.

>278 NanaCC: I think that's sensible, Colleen. I'm sure it would be easy enough to pick up the last book with a big gap, but I imagine the reading enjoyment is enhanced by reading them close together.

>268 AlisonY: I'm saving this for Autumn/Winter. I want to reread the first two before picking this up Alison.

I'm skimming over your comments on The Mirror and the Light, Alison. I will revisit them after I read it. That is on my summer reading list.

>276 AlisonY: Thanks, thing is, tne reason I have trouble reviewing books, is because of the incredible power of some that just leaves me speechless and cannot put it to words. I prefer to read those who can manage to, and find bits of those reviews to help me think of what I mean and use that for my own book journaling. Does that make sense? Actually I love discussing books rather than reviewing - its give and take and finding out more from a group read that I could have other wise.

>280 Caroline_McElwee:, >281 BLBera: - You'll both love it.

>282 cindydavid4: Absolutely. You'll find no pressure here! :)

>283 AlisonY: thanks Alison, tbh I was feeling a bit of pressure not just from you but from others on the discussion thread.' but no worries! Appreciate it, and intend to do what I am doing!

Hi Alison, I'm enjoying catching up on your thread and reading your excellent reviews.

I acquired Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey after reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest but the print is so small it's unreadable (for me). I'm looking for another copy that was published more recently.

Wasn't Touching the Void excellent? Another one of those vertigo-inducing books my son talked me into reading.

I hope work has settled down a bit and you can have some fun again.

>285 VivienneR: I'll look forward to hearing your views on the other Kesey book when you get your hands on a better copy, Vivienne. I really enjoyed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I hate those cheap editions of classic books too that have the tiny, condensed print.

Touching the Void was brilliant. I noticed on Amazon that his other books have excellent reviews too, so I'm going to keep an eye out for them.

Work's calmed down a bit, thanks. Actually I decided to hand in my notice a month ago as the stress has been pretty relentless for 6 years and I decided it's time for a change. Slightly nervous about my work future, but I think it's just the fear of change. I've got another 5 months of my notice to work out, which is giving me some time to figure out my next steps.

>286 AlisonY: Congrats on giving notice! That is a big, scary step and it's good you have some time to sort out what's next.

>287 ELiz_M: Thanks. Hoping it's the right decision!

Change is always a bit scary, Alison, but sometimes necessary for our peace of mind. Being brave enough to do something about it isn’t easy.

Good for you! Leaps of faith are pretty much always very positive things.

>289 NanaCC: & >290 lisapeet: I agree. Taking the leap can be tough to make yourself do, but making the decision to kick yourself free of an over-stressful situation is often liberating in and of itself. Good for you, and here's looking forward to that grand "I landed on my feet" celebration!

>289 NanaCC:, >290 lisapeet:, >291 rocketjk: Thanks all. It was a difficult decision as I feel very responsible for the company's future, which was keeping me there way beyond the point when the fun stopped. I'm hoping things will fall into place with a new role. Life's too short to keep living for Friday evenings!

Alison I remember being petrified as a young teacher deciding to go to back to school for my masters full time.. I wanted to but was terrified as change of failure. When I told someone by the time Ill finish I'll be 30. He said to me how old will you be if you dont. I did, and have never regretted it and had the most amazing career for 30 years And yes, when it stops being fun, find somewhere that is!

>286 AlisonY: Congratulations for making the leap! Be assured, you will be glad you did it. I too have one of those stories and it was the best thing I ever did (career-wise). We are too often discouraged from making change by the fear of the unknown. Wishing you all the best.

I'll try to get a copy of Kesey's book soon, I'm looking forward to it as a reminder of what life was like when I first came here. The counterculture had a big influence on this part of British Columbia. Many hippies and draft-dodgers came to this area which still has a laid back lifestyle and small hippie communities. Once in a blue moon a draft-dodger is identified or gives himself up but mostly they are well-established and happy.

>286 AlisonY: I imagine your job in particular was stressful this past year. Stay well during this last stretch.

Good luck on your future work, whatever it is. It is hard to leave, but much healthier.

>293 cindydavid4:, >294 VivienneR:, >295 labfs39:, >296 BLBera: Appreciate all the words of support. I'm probably most worried about 2 aspects of the change: (1) My current role works around my kids well - I can jump out and lift them from school / the bus stop without any issue. A new role is likely to mean that will change - I'm hoping it all fits into place somehow. (2) It's really hard to tell what a job / company is going to be like from an interview. I definitely don't want to jump out of the frying pan into the fire.

Fingers crossed. I'm definitely looking ahead rather than back, though - even if the next role isn't the job for me for the next 10 years, I'll have broken out of that "I can't escape from this" feeling that I've had with my current job for quite some time.

>286 AlisonY: Good luck with your new adventure Alison.

>298 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks Caroline.

16. Yang Sheng: The Art of Chinese Self Healing by Katie Brindle

Katie Brindle has made a name for herself in the UK as the face behind the brand Ha'You which sells various tools centred around the Chinese massage art of Gua Sha. Katie is a Chinese medicine practitioner, and I enjoy her videos on Instagram in which she pummels herself whilst chatting about various aspects of TCM. I'm not a total convert to TCM, but I do believe in aspects of Chinese medicine, particularly the linkage between different parts of the body and the focus on prevention rather than cure as per Western medicine.

This book is a light touch introduction to some TCM principles such as breathing techniques, digestion, sleep and exercise (primarily Qi Gong), all with a purpose of positively 'feeding' certain organs in the body. I'm not sure it's necessarily going to change my life, and I would have enjoyed some more detailed text on healing different aspects of the body, but it's an enjoyable quick read and introduction into this fascinating area of medicine which I personally feel has a place alongside Western medicine.

4 stars - an interesting beginner's book with some useful self-healing tips.

17. The Wedding by Dorothy West

Boy, I laboured over this short novel. I kept thinking 'Dorothy - is it you or is it me?', and I think the answer is a bit of both as I've been preoccupied over the past few weeks, but still - this novel ended up disappointing, so Dorothy I'm afraid it's you as well.

The premise and characters were really promising - The Oval is a prestigious hidden gem of houses on Martha's Vineyard belonging to the East Coast's black bourgeoisie, and its owners are getting ready for a wedding amidst their set. However, an unwelcome Lothario renting in their exclusive community has other plans where the bride's concerned.

Tick, tick, tick, I thought. What a great setting of place (Martha's Vineyard) and characters (how many other books can I name on the topic of upper middle class African American characters struggling with the issues of race and class within their own families?). And all from a much revered writer. This novel had winner written all over it.

Except, despite being a short novel it meandered all over the place. The plot of the wedding and the unwanted philanderer got parked until the last 25 pages of the book, and West mostly took us away from Martha's Vineyard and back through a detailed synopsis of who had married who across four generations, and who was black, who was white and who was mixed race until my head was spinning with which line of the family she was referring to and who was what colour. It was a baffling number of characters to introduce given the length of the book, and had West spent another 200 pages developing out the relevancy of the back-story to the characters' current day conflicts about race and class it might have worked, but instead she galloped to the finish line and a dramatic conclusion in a scant number of pages, with the back-story dominating so much there was no time to sufficiently develop any main group of characters or to allow time for the relevancy of their ancestral history to be explored.

All in all I found this to be a frustrating disappointment. There was great potential in the writing style and the premise, but too much was squeezed in without sufficient space for the story to breathe.

3 stars - wonderful potential but reached its point with too much haste.

>300 AlisonY: Im partial to Emotional Freedom Therapy, or tapping, which is based on what that book is talking about.

Alison - Wish you well in your professional life. Admiring your courage.

And bummer about The Wedding. I’m intrigued by the setting too.

>302 cindydavid4: Yes, she's big on tapping, although she doesn't refer to it as EFT - she's not tied to that trapped emotions aspect of it, but more the overall benefits of waking up the whole body system and getting everything moving.

>303 dchaikin: Thanks Dan. At this stage I'm hoping it's bravery and not stupidity - time will tell. Most people seem to love The Wedding, but I'm surprised by that as the pace just doesn't fit the story she's trying to tell. Great writing style, though.

Next up:



Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

>305 AlisonY: I'm going to be reading this in the next month or so, as well. Have you read it before? I never, but I'm very much looking forward to finally getting to it.

>306 rocketjk: No Jerry - first time for me too. I'm looking forward to it, and it will be great to exchange thoughts.

Interestingly, Zora Neale Hurston and Dorothy West were both key figures in the Harlem Renaissance, but it's just coincidence I'm reading them back-to-back.

>305 AlisonY: >306 rocketjk: You might want to find an audio version as the dialect takes some parsing.

>308 ELiz_M: Thanks, but speaking for myself only, of course, I've never gotten friendly with audio books.

>310 cindydavid4: Not sure you meant to post that here, Cindy?

OMG I was sending that to my sister have no idea how it got here!!!thanks for letting me know :)

I'll watch for your comments on the Hurston novel, Alison. I loved it!

18. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Coincidentally, Zora Neale Hurston was also a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance, along with Dorothy West, writer of the previous book I read. The two couldn't be more different in terms of writing style and characters, however. Whilst The Wedding focused on bourgeoise black characters with literary form, Hurston (in this novel) writes of those at the complete other end of the class system in their natural dialect.

Whilst it takes a page or two to get one's head into the swing of the language in this novel, it ultimately makes the story sing with vibrancy and authenticity. At its heart this is a book about love and happiness above materiality and security in that first generation after the abolition of slavery. It's an important context which I found required further thought once the book was finished, as it was easy to just get swept up in the story itself. Here was a generation whose ancestors had been enslaved, with no one permitted to own anything of their own, and for the first time families had a chance to "better" their children by marrying them into better prospects. The desperation (and pressure) to follow opportunity must have been significant for many young women of that era, but our protagonist Janie comes to know money without love and love without money and ultimately learns the truth about real happiness.

One of the quotes on this jacket (from Oprah) calls this 'my favourite love story of all time'. I wouldn't go that far, mainly for the reason that Hurston planted early doubt about Tea Cake's trustworthiness and I struggled to shake that off no matter how the relationship developed between the two. There was an honesty to that portrayal - people are flawed, even those we love - but it prevented me from relaxing into buying into their love story in the way I would have liked to.

Otherwise a most enjoyable read, and I wish that Zora Neale Hurston had got to enjoy her day in the sun as she so deserved.

4 stars - understandably now a classic.

Up next:



The End of the World is a Cul de Sac by Louise Kennedy

>314 AlisonY: I read Their Eyes were Watching God years ago, and although I would need to refresh myself on the plot, I still remember the language and how important it was to the story. A book that deserves a reread.

>314 AlisonY: I read this so many years ago, that I remember nothing about it. I’m sure that I liked it, but that’s it.I may try to get to a reread at some point.

>316 labfs39:, >317 NanaCC: I enjoyed it (and loved what the language added to the story). I'm not sure I'll overly remember the storyline in the future, though.

Not sure how much I remember the story line either, but I remember it as a wonderful novel. And i love that the hurricane description came from her interviews of people that experienced that storm (and the man-made catastrophic flooding when Lake Okeechobee overflowed its dikes).

Neale had a difficult life, and was probably a difficult personality (with some strange views). But she was a special writer. This reminds me I should read more of her work.

Hi! Just starting to read messages again after a pause of a few weeks. I wish you good fortune with your job change. I admire your courage in that decision, and I am sure it will work for you. It is hard to figure out the culture at a job interview, just as it is hard to figure out an employee from an interview.

Your reading is always interesting, and I love hearing your comments. Bonne chance!

>320 sallypursell: Thank you, Sally - I hope you are feeling a little better.

Feeling the fear a little about my job move, but hoping things figure themselves out. Taking my time, and trying to stay focused on chasing happiness rather than salary.

19. The End of the World is a Cul de Sac by Louise Kennedy

Louise Kennedy is a new writer from N. Ireland, and this is her first collection of short stories. The various plaudits people have used for this collection include words like 'visceral', 'fierce' and 'brutal'. Hmmm. I don't know about that. I'd sum it up as a collection of stories about various disappointed women and their various disappointing men. With weed. Lots and lots of weed and the odd bit of coke thrown in for good measure.

I really hope Louise Kennedy hasn't drawn on her own life as inspiration for these stories, as this is seriously glass half empty territory with bleak, shattered women leading desperately sh*tty lives with some really pretty terrible blokes.

I think the (im)maturity of her writing showed through in many places in these stories; over-describing of characters and a sense of trying-too-hard in many of them. (And too much weed). That said, read independently some of the stories weren't bad, but read as a collection it enters pass the Prozac territory.

3 stars - this writer has potential, but she needs to work on her current formulaic style.

>322 AlisonY: That’s too bad, Alison. I won’t add to my list, but appreciate your review.

Up next:



Mr Mac and Me by Esther Freud

>324 AlisonY: I'm looking forward to your review of this one. Sounds interesting

>324 AlisonY: I've always been interested in Charles Rennie Mackintosh. This is a must-read for me.

>322 AlisonY: Thanks for the review of Louise Kennedy's book. It doesn't sound like something I'd enjoy but I'm always tempted by Northern Ireland authors.

>324 AlisonY: Mr Mac and Me is one of my favourite books. I've always admired the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh and this story is beautiful.

I love Their Eyes Are Watching God as well, Alison. Hurston's short stories are also great. Mr. Mac and Me does sound interesting. I'll watch for your comments.

I think I'll wait for Kennedy's next work.

20. Mr Mac and Me by Esther Freud

I love Esther Freud's writing - she has such a sense of place and atmosphere that is so quintessentially English (or quintessentially English home counties, at least).

Mr Mac and Me is set in an English seaside village just as WWI develops. Our narrator, a curious young boy, befriends Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his artist wife Margaret Macdonald, who are staying in the area to put some distance between themselves and issues Mackintosh has been having around recognition of his work. It feels natural to add some kind of 'and' to that, i.e. 'and the point is', but.... I'm not sure that part was well executed. Freud rushed into the last 10 or 15 pages some attempt at a twist and reason for Mackintosh and Macdonald being in the book, but it felt an unconvincing plot turn, and one contrived to try to justify putting these names into the story to begin with.

As it's Esther Freud I enjoyed it anyway - she develops great characters, and it's nice just to go along on a jaunt with her regardless of where she takes us, but the sinister developments that the jacket blurb pushes are really a misnomer and inconsequential to the big picture.

If you're a reader who's happy enough to meander along with fantastic prose without any big plot then this is a beautifully written book, but somehow I felt a little unsettled that it tried to be more plot driven without following through fully on the intention.

3.5 stars - I'm still very much in the Esther Freud fan club, but somehow this book felt a little confused in terms of what it was trying to be.

Up next:



Amo, Amas, Amat and All That by Harry Mount

As a reading aside, who knew that job hunting could be so exhausting? Between my own work and looking for a new role I feel totally shattered. Hardly anyone wants a CV / resume these days - I've completed several application forms that have run to 15 pages + with scenario questions (and they're all different so there's not much opportunity for cutting and pasting).

There's a recurring theme in most job ads of 'we'd like you to squeeze in 80 hours of work into 40 so that we can make ourselves feel good talking about work/life balance whilst minimising our head count at all costs'. I'm having to dig deep for my enthusiasm. Seems you can't be relatively well paid these days without selling your soul to the company in return.

Moan over.

*enters softly humming* *Arise ye workers from your slumbers, ariiiiise ye prisoners of want...* :)

Job hunting's really the pits these days. Good luck!

Interested in your upcoming Latin read--is that some new or old enthusiasm? I'm following on YouTube a chap who gathers around him people interested in spoken Latin (and Greek here and there), it's marvellously refreshing to see such passion. And they are not above the occasional glorious silliness, like this Hellfire 🔥 in LATIN | Hunchback of Notre Dame | Gibbus Dominae Nostrae | lyrics by Stefano Vittori

>331 AlisonY: Ugh, that's tough. I was job hunting a few years ago and it was extremely painful. Every time I turned around, somebody would tell me there are no jobs and what I needed was to be an entrepreneur and create my own job. (They were wrong). Sending you virtual hugs.

>332 LolaWalser: Business has really changed in the last 15 years. Everyone expects every last ounce of energy out of their employees these days.

I would say my Latin read is new enthusiasm for something barely tolerated as a teenager. All the Latin extracts in The Name of the Rose reminded me that I do enjoy the sound of Latin, and I felt irritated that I've gone from being able to read and translate texts like the Aeneid* to forgetting most of it now. I'm not up for full on dedication to the task of getting back up to speed on it, but this book appealed as a light refresher. Hopefully I'll be closer to translating some of that video by the end!

* Correcting myself as I was getting confused - it was this Virgil text that we studied, along with some Cicero.

>333 Nickelini: Thanks for the moral support. I feel like I'm pretty much at total burnout, which isn't a great jumping off place into a new role.

I'm sorry to hear about the job hunting, Alison, and SO happy that is behind me.

Great comments on Mr. Mac and Me; meandering doesn't bother me, so I will give it a try. I've not yet read anything by Freud.

Oof, Alison. I still remember my hardcore job search seven years ago... it was exhausting and demoralizing until I found the one that clicked. You're coming straight out of your last job, right? Do you have some time to put the search on hold for a few weeks and just recharge your batteries—maybe take an online course in something that interests you or is tangential to what you're looking for, just to get off the treadmill for a little time? It's hard going from one grind right into the next, though I totally get that times and needs often demand it.

I have Mr. Mac and Me on my shelves, one of those books that I was so delighted to find at a library sale and then never got to. Maybe this is its year...

I can completely relate to and sympathize with your job hunting travails. It's the pits, definitely. I once spend a year and a half unemployed (well, working only temp jobs and such) in San Francisco during the height of the mid 1990's recession. I hope you'll consider it appropriate if I offer a couple of suggestions from those days of strategies that worked for me.

* If it is at all possible for you, volunteer at a non-profit doing the thing you would like to be hired to do. The job I eventually did get I was able to land because of a newsletter I'd produced as a volunteer and was able to show as an add-on to my resume. Also, I got the interview through the sister of a person I met while doing other volunteer work. Plus, during those frustrating times, I found the two or three days a week I went in to my volunteer jobs to be restorative to my frame of mind.

* Informational interviews: You find a likely person, maybe a work acquaintance of a friend or colleague, and invite that person to lunch or coffee, being entirely up front about your goal, which is to get insights into possible openings or strategies for your job hunt. I was told not to bring a resume to such a meeting, as you don't want it to look like you had an ulterior motive for the invitation. (Covid may of course make this one difficult, depending on the current situation in Belfast.)

Sincere apologies if I'm telling you stuff you already know. Also, the above ideas may or may not be appropriate to the work you're looking for. And, of course, as we are in different countries, I'm aware that differences in workplace culture may or may not make the those strategies irrelevant.

Anyway, all best wishes for a quick and rewarding conclusion to your hunt.

And on another topic, I am going to be reading Their Eyes Were Watching God soon, as promised a bit ago. I had two books lined up to get to first. A camping trip slowed down my completion of the first of those, and now, added in, it turns out I have until July 18 to read Barack Obama's recent 900 page memoir for my reading group. So I may be a while getting to Hurston, but I will get there!

>336 BLBera: There are other Esther Freud books I'd read above this one, Beth, but I definitely recommend her. Great writer.

>337 lisapeet: I really do feel like I need time to decompress from my current role, Lisa, but family circumstances mean I'll be the main breadwinner soon so I'm feeling the pressure to get something lined up before my notice period runs out. I'd dearly love to do something else and get out of business completely, but I'm kicking the ass of 50 and I can't afford to retrain and start at the bottom of the salary ladder now. I'm hoping that a change of company will be enough to bring positive change. I've 3.5 months left so no immediate panic just yet, but certain opportunities don't come up that regularly so if I see job ads that might be a smart move I feel compelled to go for them.

>338 rocketjk: Thanks Jerry. I'm still working out my notice until late October so hoping I can find something rewarding and decently paid without having to work ridiculous hours like I have been doing for the past few years. I haven't got time to do any pro bono work given my own job is full on, but I totally agree on the networking discussions and have been doing plenty of those. My biggest issue is with the current trend of companies using lengthy situational application forms - they're so time consuming so feels like extra stress on top of my stressy day job.

Anyway, I'm whining so back to books. Looking forward to your review of Their Eyes Were Watching God.

>338 rocketjk: olunteer at a non-profit doing the thing you would like to be hired to do. The job I eventually did get I was able to land because of a newsletter I'd produced as a volunteer and was able to show as an add-on to my resume.

this is exactly what happeded to me

>340 AlisonY: ouch. hang in there

Alison, thanks for the push to read Esther Freud. I'm reading I Couldn't Love You More and enjoying it so much.

good luck with the job hunting Allison. Sometimes perhaps less is more. If you have the time to step back and figure out what you want from your working life and can afford to take a drop in financial reward then you may be able to target something in which you would be more happy.

There's a recurring theme in most job ads of 'we'd like you to squeeze in 80 hours of work into 40 so that we can make ourselves feel good talking about work/life balance whilst minimising our head count at all costs'.

Ouch. I'm glad that I'm in the last decade of my working life.

Good luck on your job search, Alison. I completely agree with Barry's comments in >345 baswood:. I may choose to decide to resign from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta in the next couple of years, in order to move closer to my parents and help care for them in their remaining years. If so, I would probably choose a nonclinical position, and consider a teaching position at a far lower salary than what I'm making now, but I would want to do something different, more enjoyable, and less stressful than what I'm doing now. I like my job, but hospital medicine in the midst of this pandemic is a tough gig for an old guy like me.

Good luck with the job-hunt!

There seem to be waves of fashion in recruiting — when I was last involved in recruitment boards it was the other way round, the process was so easy that people were just sending in applications without reading the advert carefully, and we ended up with a huge pile of candidates who didn’t even (claim to) have the qualifications we specified. And then a lot of people turned up for interview without even the most basic preparation, like looking at the website to see what we did. In one case someone admitted during the interview that they had another offer in hand and had only come for the free trip to Holland. But that was before the financial crisis.

Thoroughly agree with what Bas and Darryl said, not working — or doing something you enjoy — is far better than sticking to a job that is demanding things from you that you don’t want to put in any more. But that’s not so easy if you’ve still got mortgages and college fees and things to cope with.

>344 RidgewayGirl: Oh I'll be looking out for your review on I Couldn't Love You More, Kay - I've not read that one of hers.

>342 cindydavid4:, >345 baswood:, >346 kidzdoc:, >347 thorold: Thanks all. I'd love to step off the treadmill and accept a lower salary, but our kids still have to go through the uni / first car, etc. stage, so it just doesn't feel financially possible at the moment. Maybe in 10 years time (without wishing one's life away!).

21. Amo, Amas, Amat and All That by Harry Mount

Harry Mount is what my daughter would call a 'try hard'. In this book, he tries very hard to shake off the patched-elbows-on-Harris-tweed stereotype of the classicist and make enjoying Latin cool. In many places this works and it's refreshingly light and humorous, with Mount translating very modern phrases into Latin, but in other places it got my goat as it felt teenager-esque cruel at certain celebrities' expense, e.g. Paulus Gasconius uxorem suam Sherylam percusit - Paul Gascoigne beat his wife Sheryl (the book was written in 2006), and some translations around Princess Diana saying the MI6 were trying to kill her. Whilst I don't condone Paul Gasgoigne beating his wife (90s England soccer player for those not in the know), alcohol addiction has pretty much destroyed his life (more bad taste examples referring to that later in the book), and the reference to Princess Diana barb felt similarly school-boyish and unnecessary.

Mount also devotes an entire chapter to picking up on some work by Kingsley Amis where he divided English language pedants into Berks and Wankers, and again, like a spotty 15 year old boy, he delights in using the word 'wanker' prolifically throughout the rest of the book to describe the Latin language equivalents. I'm not a language prude - it just felt a bit wearingly juvenile after a while.

So what about the Latin? Well, that was interesting, and I enjoyed revision of many aspects of the language (I studied Latin to GCSE at school) interspersed with interesting facts about the Romans and modern day use of Latin). Mount seems to expect that if you've studied Latin at some point in the distant past then by the end of the book you'll be translating as if you've never stepped away from it, but unfortunately my brain matter felt rather 'closed cell' when it came to absorbing much, and it would take many, many more reads of this text and others before I'd be able to write a single sentence unaided again (by the end of the book I decided the 15 year old me must have been some kind of child genius to figure this stuff out first time around).

All in all interesting enough (and Boris Johnson got a mention - who knew back in 2006 where he'd be now), and I may refer back to it again in the future when I've got more head space for properly brushing up on Latin.

3.5 stars - an interesting and light-hearted approach, but definitely too 'try hard' where the humour was concerned.

Up next:



Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

(Very excited to see this out in paperback when I was doing my shopping last week at the bargain price of £4.50).

This thread's getting a bit long, so time for a new one for the second half of the year. Hopefully see you there.

>156 AlisonY: Alison, I still remember using a mangle and a scrubbing board at my Mom's house. I was the only daughter old enough to be allowed to use the mangle, but I had to do the non-permanent-press sheets and pillowcases for the privilege.