kidzdoc's Third Assault on Mount TBR in 2012

Currently reading:



The Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans by Lawrence N. Powell
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

Completed books:

January:
1. Volcano by Shusaku Endo (review)
2. False Friends: Book Two by Ellie Malet Spradbery (review)
3. A Disease Apart: Leprosy in the Modern World by Tony Gould (review)
4. Best Mets: Fifty Years of Highs and Lows from New York's Most Agonizingly Amazin' Team by Matthew Silverman (review)
5. Walkabout by James Vance Marshall (review)
6. Swamplandia! by Karen Russell (review)
7. Letter from the Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr.
8. Mister Blue by Jacques Poulin (review)
9. Stained Glass Elegies by Shusaku Endo (review)
10. Botchan (Master Darling) by Natsume Soseki (review)
11. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
12. Guadalajara by Quim Monzó (review)

February:
13. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
14. Erasure by Percival Everett
15. Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness?: What It Means to Be Black Now by Touré
16. Memed, My Hawk by Yashar Kemal
17. India Becoming: A Portrait of Life in Modern India by Akash Kapur (review)
18. The Three-Cornered World by Natsume Soseki
19. Angel by Elizabeth Taylor
20. Kokoro by Natsume Soseki
21. The Golden Country by Shusaku Endo
22. The Patience Stone by Atiq Rahimi

March:
23. Professor Andersen's Night by Dag Solstad
24. Amsterdam Stories by Nescio
25. Your New Baby: A Guide to Newborn Care by Roy Benaroch, MD (review)
26. Fragile Beginnings: Discoveries and Triumphs in the Newborn ICU by Adam Wolfberg, MD (review)
27. There but for the by Ali Smith
28. The Deportees and Other Stories by Roddy Doyle
29. When the Garden Was Eden: Clyde, the Captain, Dollar Bill, and the Glory Days of the New York Knicks by Harvey Araton (review)
30. Walk on Water: Inside an Elite Pediatric Surgical Unit by Michael Rudman (review)
31. Suffer the Children: Flaws, Foibles, Fallacies and the Grave Shortcomings of Pediatric Care by Peter Palmieri (review)
32. Tonight No Poetry Will Serve by Adrienne Rich

April:
33. Little Misunderstandings of No Importance by Antonio Tabucchi
34. One with Others by C.D. Wright (review)
35. The Missing Head of Damasceno Monteiro by Antonio Tabucchi (review)
36. Boundaries by Elizabeth Nunez (review)
37. Panther Baby by Jamal Joseph (review)
38. The Map and the Territory by Michel Houellebecq
39. Waifs and Strays by Micah Ballard (review)
40. Gillespie and I by Jane Harris (review)
41. Natural Birth by Toi Derricotte (review)
42. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (review)
43. Thirst by Andrei Gelasimov (review)
44. When I Was a Poet by David Meltzer (review)
45. Book of My Mother by Albert Cohen (review)
46. The Lepers of Molokai by Charles Warren Stoddard

May:
47. Colonoscopy for Dummies ~ Special Edition by Kathleen A. Doble
48. Map of the Invisible World by Tash Aw
49. A Planet of Viruses by Carl Zimmer
50. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
51. The Leopard by Giuseppe Di Lampedusa (review)
52. The Line by Olga Grushin
53. What Is Amazing by Heather Christle
54. Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding
55. The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright
56. The Treasures of Destiny by Laurie Harman Wilson
57. Confusion by Stefan Zweig
58. Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick
59. The Undertaker's Daughter by Toi Derricotte

June:
60. Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable
61. The Patient Survival Guide: 8 Simple Solutions to Prevent Hospital- and Healthcare-Associated Infections by Dr. Maryanne McGuckin
62. Three Strong Women by Marie NDiaye
63. Scenes from Early Life by Philip Hensher (review)
64. The Loss of El Dorado: A Colonial History by V.S. Naipaul

July:
65. God's Hotel: A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine by Victoria Sweet (review)
66. Being Sam Frears: A Life Less Ordinary by Mary Mount (review)
67. Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (review)
68. The Making of Modern Medicine: Turning Points in the Treatment of Disease by Michael Bliss (review)
69. The Earth in the Attic by Fady Joudah
70. Pure by Timothy Mo (review)
71. Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast by Natasha Trethewey (review)
72. My Michael by Amos Oz
73. Popular Hits of the Showa Era by Ryu Murakami (review)
74. Subduction by Todd Shimoda
75. Like a Straw Bird It Follows Me, and Other Poems by Ghassan Zaqtan
76. Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz (review)
77. The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God and Other Stories by Etgar Keret (review)
78. Memoirs of a Porcupine by Alain Mabanckou
79. I Was an Elephant Salesman by Pap Khouma

August:
80. Palace of Desire by Naguib Mahfouz (review)
81. Head Off & Split by Nikky Finney
82. Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil
83. The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle (review)
84. Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley
85. Swimming Home by Deborah Levy
86. Sugar Street by Naguib Mahfouz
87. The Yips by Nicola Barker
88. Silence by Shusaku Endo (review)
89. Lucretia and the Kroons by Victor LaValle (review)
90. The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng (review)
91. Friendly Fire by A.B. Yehoshua

September:
92. The Empty Family by Colm
93. The Same Sea by Amos Oz
94. Circulation: William Harvey's Revolutionary Idea by Thomas Wright
95. The Lighthouse by Alison Moore
96. Another London by Helen Delaney
97. London's Overthrow by China Miéville
98. Philida by André Brink
99. The Guardians by Sarah Manguso (review)
100. As Though She Were Sleeping by Elias Khoury
101. Thrall by Natasha Trethewey
102. Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie

October:
103. Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima
104. Indian Nocturne by Antonio Tabucchi

November:
105. NW by Zadie Smith
106. The Cage: The Fight for Sri Lanka and the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers by Gordon Weiss
107. A Possible Life by Sebastian Faulks

December:
108. Foreign Studies by Shusaku Endo
109. The Colour of Milk by Nell Leyshon
110. Tough Heaven: Poems of Pittsburgh by Jack Gilbert
111. The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima
112. Mo said she was quirky by James Kelman
113. Before the End, After the Beginning by Dagoberto Gilb
114. Divorce Islamic Style by Amara Lakhous
115. The Trees The Trees by Heather Christle
116. Going to the Dogs: The Story of a Moralist by Erich Kästner
117. Young Man with a Horn by Dorothy Baker
118. Zoned Industrial by Patric Pepper
119. San Francisco Chinatown: A Guide to Its History & Architecture by Philip P. Choy
120. Shifu, You'll Do Anything for a Laugh by Mo Yan
121. The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition by Carol V. Aebersold and Claudia A. Bell
122. When I Whistle by Shusaku Endo
123. Win These Posters and Other Unrelated Prizes Inside by Norma Cole
124. This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz
125. The Land at the End of the World by António Lobo Antunes
126. 2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake by the quakebook community

TBR books read in 2012 (books on my shelf for ≥6 months):

1. A Disease Apart: Leprosy in the Modern World by Tony Gould
2. Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
3. Botchan (Master Darling) by Natsume Soseki
4. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
5. Guadalajara by Quim Monzó
6. Memed, My Hawk by Yashar Kemal
7. The Three-Cornered World by Natsume Soseki
8. Kokoro by Natsume Soseki
9. The Patience Stone by Atiq Rahimi
10. The Deportees and Other Stories by Roddy Doyle
11. Little Misunderstandings of No Importance by Antonio Tabucchi
12. One with Others by C.D. Wright
13. The Missing Head of Damasceno Monteiro by Antonio Tabucchi
14. Waifs and Strays by Micah Ballard
15. Gillespie and I by Jane Harris
16. When I Was a Poet by David Meltzer
17. Map of the Invisible World by Tash Aw
18. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
19. The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa
20. The Line by Olga Grushin
21. Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable
22. The Loss of El Dorado: A Colonial History by V.S. Naipaul
23. My Michael by Amos Oz
24. Popular Hits of the Showa Era by Ryu Murakami
25. Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
26. Palace of Desire by Naguib Mahfouz
27. Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley
28. Sugar Street by Naguib Mahfouz
29. Silence by Shusaku Endo
30. Friendly Fire by A.B. Yehoshua
31. The Empty Family by Colm Tóibín

Books purchased in 2012:

1. The Map and the Territory by Michel Houellebecq √
2. Fragile Beginnings: Discoveries and Triumphs in the Newborn ICU by Adam Wolfberg, MD √
3. The Irish Americans: A History by Jay P. Dolan
4. The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God and Other Stories by Etgar Keret √
5. The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright √
6. Suffer the Children: Flaws, Foibles, Fallacies and the Grave Shortcomings of Pediatric Care by Peter Palmieri √
7. The King of Kahel by Tierno Monénembo
8. The Secret Piano: From Mao's Labor Camps to Bach's Goldberg Variations by Zhu Xiao-Mei
9. The Greenhouse by Audur Ava Olafsdottir
10. Thirst by Andrei Gelasimov √
11. Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick √
12. Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding √
13. Three Strong Women by Marie NDiaye √
14. Foreign Studies by Shusaku Endo
15. The Enormity of the Tragedy by Quim Monzó
16. Hitch-22 by Christopher Hitchens
17. The Coward's Tale by Vanessa Gebbie
18. Trapeze by Simon Mawer
19. HHhH by Laurent Binet
20. The Undertaker's Daughter by Toi Derricotte √
21. What Is Amazing by Heather Christle √
22. Scenes from Early Life by Philip Hensler √
23. Pure by Timothy Mo √
24. Capital by John Lanchester
25. The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro
26. Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by Mohammed Hanif
27. Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel √
28. London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets by Peter Ackroyd
29. Divorce Islamic Style by Amara Lakhous
30. Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast by Natasha Trethewey √
31. Memoirs of a Porcupine by Alain Mabanckou √
32. Is Just a Movie by Earl Lovelace
33. Like a Straw Bird It Follows Me, and Other Poems by Ghassan Zaqtan √
34. The Making of Modern Medicine: Turning Points in the Treatment of Disease by Michael Bliss √
35. The Dream of the Celt by Mario Vargas Llosa
36.. God's Hotel: A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine by Victoria Sweet √
37. The Earth in the Attic by Fady Joudah √
38. Massacre River by René Philoctète
39. Manual of Painting and Calligraphy by José Saramago
40. I Was an Elephant Salesman by Pap Khouma √
41. I Am a Japanese Writer by Dany Laferrière
42. Jim and Jap Crow: A Cultural History of 1940s Interracial America by Matthew M. Briones
43. Being Sam Frears: A Life Less Ordinary by Mary Mount √
44. Head Off & Split by Nikky Finney
45. Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith
46. Confessions of a Young Novelist by Umberto Eco
47. Missing Soluch by Mahmoud Dowlatabadi
48. Why Niebuhr Matters by Charles Lemert
49. Globalectics by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
50. Black in Latin America by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
51. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
52. Always in Trouble: An Oral History of ESP-Disk', the Most Outrageous Record Label in America by Jason Weiss
53. Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror, and Deliverance in the City of Love by David Talbot
54. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo
55. Inside by Alix Ohlin
56. The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova
57. Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil
58. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
59. Skios by Michael Frayn
60. The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
61. The Yips by Nicola Barker
62. The Teleportation Accident by Ned Bauman
63. Swimming Home by Deborah Levy
64. A Word Child by Iris Murdoch
65. Swimming Home by Deborah Levy
66. The Teleportation Accident by Ned Bauman
67. The Yips by Nicola Barker
68. The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
69. Lucretia and the Kroons by Victor LaValle
70. Blooms of Darkness by Aharon Appelfeld
71. The Hour Between Dog and Wolf by John Coates
72. sic by Joshua Cody
73. No Time to Lose: A Life in Pursuit of Deadly Viruses by Peter Piot
74. The Believing Brain by Michael Shermer
75. The Moral Molecule by Paul Zak
76. Merivel: A Man of His Time by Rose Tremain
77. NW by Zadie Smith
78. Philida by André Brink
79. London's Overthrow by China Miéville
80. The Lighthouse by Alison Moore
81. Circulation: William Harvey, A Man in Motion by Thomas Wright
82. Umbrella by Will Self
83. Another London by Helen Delaney
84. Life! Death! Prizes! by Stephen May
85. Hawthorn and Child by Keith Ridgway
86. Subhuman Redneck Poems by Les Murray
87. The Tree of Man by Patrick White
88. Voss by Patrick White
89. The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China by Julia Lovell
90. The Guardians: An Elegy by Sarah Manguso
91. Lionel Asbo: State of England by Martin Amis
92. Communion Town by Sam Thompson
93. Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie
94. The Colour of Milk by Nell Leyshon
95. District and Circle by Seamus Heaney
96. Restoration by Rose Tremain
97. Mo Said She Was Quirky by James Kelman
98. The Chip-Chip Gatherers by Shiva Naipaul
99. Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria by Noo Saro-Wiwa
100. Domestic Work by Natasha Trethewey
101. Thrall by Natasha Trethewey
102. Frommer's New Orleans by Diana K. Schwam
103. Indian Nocturne by Antonio Tabucchi
104. No Place Like Home: A Black Briton's Journey through the American South by Gary Younge
105. The Garlic Ballads by Mo Yan
106. The Republic of Wine by Mo Yan
107. Shifu, You'll Do Anything for a Laugh by Mo Yan
108. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain
109. San Francisco Chinatown: A Guide to Its History and Architecture by Philip P. Choy
110. The Polish Boxer by Eduardo Halfon
111. Of Africa by Wole Soyinka
112. This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz
113. The Human Right to Health by Jonathan Wolff
114. Brooklyn Heights: A Modern Arabic Novel by Miral al-Tahawy
115. Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon
116. The Trees The Trees by Heather Christle
117. Win These Posters and Other Unrelated Prizes Inside by Norma Cole
118. Health Care for Some: Rights and Rationing in the United States since 1930 by Beatrix Hoffman
119. The Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans by Lawrence N. Powell
120. A Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers
121. Nine Lives: Mystery, Magic, Death, and Life in New Orleans by Dan Baum
122. The Killer of Little Shepherds: A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science by Douglas Starr
123. An Anatomy of Addiction: Sigmund Freud, William Halsted, and the Miracle Drug, Cocaine by Howard Markel
124. In the House of the Interpreter: A Memoir by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
125. The Investigation by Philippe Claudel
126. Power, Politics, and Universal Health Care by Stuart Altman and David Shactman

Books acquired in 2012:

January:
1. Best Mets: Fifty Years of Highs and Lows from New York's Most Agonizingly Amazin' Team by Matthew Silverman (2 Jan; LT Early Reviewer book) √
2. The Map and the Territory by Michel Houellebecq (3 Jan; Kindle purchase) √
3. The Lepers of Molokai by Charles Warren Stoddard (7 Jan; free Kindle download) √
4. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt (8 Jan; gift book)
5. Walkabout by James Vance Marshall (8 Jan; NYRB Book Club) √
6. There but for the by Ali Smith (9 Jan; ordered from Alibris 30 Jan) √
7. I Am a Cat by Natsume Soseki (9 Jan; ordered from Alibris 30 Jan)
8. The Samurai by Shusaku Endo (9 Jan; ordered from Alibris 30 Jan)
9. Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima ((9 Jan; ordered from Alibris 30 Jan)
10. Coin Locker Babies by Ryu Murakami (9 Jan; ordered from Alibris 30 Jan)
11. Black Talk, Blue Thoughts, and Walking the Color Line: Dispatches from a Black Journalista by Erin Aubry Kaplan (10 Jan; LT Early Reviewer book)
12. Up in the Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell (11 Jan; ordered from Strand Book Store on 27 Dec)
13. Runaway Horses by Yukio Mishima (11 Jan; ordered from Strand Book Store on 27 Dec)
14. The Temple of Dawn by Yukio Mishima (11 Jan; ordered from Strand Book Store on 27 Dec)
15. The Golden Country by Shusaku Endo (11 Jan; ordered from Strand Book Store on 27 Dec) √
16. Deep River by Shusaku Endo (11 Jan; ordered from Strand Book Store on 27 Dec)
17. Letter from the Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr. (15 Jan; free download) √

February:
18. Panther Baby by Jamal Joseph (2 Feb; free ARC) √
19. Angel by Elizabeth Taylor (4 Feb; NYRB Book Club) √
20. Class War?: What Americans Really Think about Economic Inequality by Benjamin I. Page (10 Feb; free e-book from U of Chicago Press)
21. India Becoming: A Portrait of Life in Modern India by Akash Kapur (15 Feb; LT Early Reviewer book) √
22. Amsterdam Stories by Nescio (29 Feb; NYRB Book Club) √

March:
23. Your new baby: A guide to newborn care by Roy Benaroch (6 Mar; free Kindle download) √
24. Fragile Beginnings: Discoveries and Triumphs in the Newborn ICU by Adam Wolfberg, MD (11 Mar; Kindle purchase) √
25. The Irish Americans: A History by Jay P. Dolan (17 Mar; Kindle purchase)
26. The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God & Other Stories by Etgar Keret (17 Mar; partial book purchase from Barnes & Noble gift order)
27. The Grief of Others by Leah Hager Cohen (17 Mar; Barnes & Noble gift order)
28. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (17 Mar; Barnes & Noble gift order) √
29. Londoners: The Days and Nights of London Now--As Told by Those Who Love It, Hate It, Live It, Left It, and Long for It by Craig Taylor (17 Mar; Barnes & Noble gift order)
30. The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright (17 Mar; iBooks order) √
31. When the Garden Was Eden: Clyde, the Captain, Dollar Bill, and the Glory Days of the New York Knicks by Harvey Araton (20 Mar; Kindle gift book) √
32. Assumption by Percival Everett (20 Mar; Kindle gift book)
33. The Barbarian Nurseries by Héctor Tobar (20 Mar; Kindle gift book)
34. A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters by Julian Barnes (22 Mar; Kindle gift book)
35. The Man Within My Head by Pico Iyer (25 Mar; Kindle gift book)
36. Walk on Water: Inside an Elite Pediatric Surgical Unit by Michael Rudman (25 Mar; borrowed book) √
37. Knickerbocker's History of New York, Complete by Washington Irving (26 Mar; free Kindle download)
38. Suffer the Children: Flaws, Foibles, Fallacies and the Grave Shortcomings of Pediatric Care by Peter Palmieri (26 Mar; Kindle purchase) √

April:
39. Store of the Worlds: The Stories of Robert Sheckley (3 Apr; NYRB Book Club)
40. The King of Kahel by Tierno Monénembo (15 Apr; Kindle e-book)
41. The Secret Piano: From Mao's Labor Camps to Bach's Goldberg Variations by Zhu Xiao-Mei (15 Apr; Kindle e-book)
42. The Greenhouse by Audur Ava Olafsdottir (15 Apr; Kindle e-book)
43. Thirst by Andrei Gelasimov (15 Apr; Kindle e-book) √
44. Book of My Mother by Albert Cohen (16 Apr; Archipelago Books 2011 subscription) √
45. My Struggle: Book One by Karl Ove Knausgaard (16 Apr; Archipelago Books 2011 subscription)
46. As Though She Were Sleeping by Elias Khoury (16 Apr; Archipelago Books 2011 subscription)
47. Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick (17 Apr; Kindle e-book) √
48. Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding (17 Apr; Kindle e-book) √
49. Bleak House by Charles Dickens (22 Apr; free Kindle e-book)
50. Three Strong Women by Marie NDiaye (28 Apr; Amazon UK order)

May:
51. A Planet of Viruses by Carl Zimmer (3 May; free e-book from the University of Chicago Press) √
52. Colonoscopy for Dummies ~ Special Edition by Kathleen A. Doble (3 May; free e-book) √
53. Foreign Studies by Shusaku Endo (6 May; Strand Book Store)
54. The Enormity of the Tragedy by Quim Monzó (6 May; Strand Book Store)
55. Hitch-22 by Christopher Hitchens (6 May; Strand Book Store)
56. The Coward's Tale by Vanessa Gebbie (6 May; Strand Book Store)
57. Trapeze by Simon Mawer (6 May; Strand Book Store)
58. HHhH by Laurent Binet (6 May; Strand Book Store)
59. The Undertaker's Daughter by Toi Derricotte (6 May; Strand Book Store) √
60. What Is Amazing by Heather Christle (6 May; Strand Book Store) √
61. Confusion by Stefan Zweig (8 May; NYRB Book Club) √
62. Scenes from Early Life by Philip Hensler (8 May; The Book Depository)
63. Pure by Timothy Mo (8 May; The Book Depository)
64. Capital by John Lanchester (19 May; The Book Depository)
65. A Mind of Winter by Shira Nayman (19 May; LibraryThing Early Reviewer book)
66. The Treasures of Destiny by Laurie Harman Wilson (20 May; ARC e-book) √
67. The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro (21 May; History Book Club)
68. The Complete 2012 User's Guide to the Amazing Amazon Kindle by Stephen Windwalker and Bruce Grubbs (29 May; free Kindle e-book)
69. Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by Mohammed Hanif (30 May; Kindle e-book)
70. Last Orders by Graham Swift (30 May; gift book (J.N.))
71. The Patient Survival Guide: 8 Simple Solutions to Prevent Hospital- and Healthcare-Associated Infections by Dr. Maryanne McGuckin (31 May; LT Early Reviewer book)
72. Subduction by Todd Shimoda (31 May; LT Early Reviewer book)
73. Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (31 May; Amazon UK)

June:
74. Ride a Cockhorse by Raymond Kennedy (4 June; NYRB Book Club)
75. London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets by Peter Ackroyd (26 June; City Lights Books)
76. Divorce Islamic Style by Amara Lakhous (26 June; City Lights Books)
77. Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast by Natasha Trethewey (26 June; City Lights Books)
78. Memoirs of a Porcupine by Alain Mabanckou (26 June; City Lights Books)
79. Is Just a Movie by Earl Lovelace (26 June; City Lights Books)
80. Like a Straw Bird It Follows Me, and Other Poems by Ghassan Zaqtan (26 June; City Lights Books)
81. The Making of Modern Medicine: Turning Points in the Treatment of Disease by Michael Bliss (26 June; City Lights Books)
82. The Dream of the Celt by Mario Vargas Llosa (26 June; City Lights Books)
83. God's Hotel: A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine by Victoria Sweet (26 June; City Lights Books)
84. The Earth in the Attic by Fady Joudah (26 June; City Lights Books)
85. Massacre River by René Philoctète (28 June; City Lights Books)
86. Manual of Painting and Calligraphy by José Saramago (28 June; City Lights Books)
87. I Was an Elephant Salesman by Pap Khouma (28 June; City Lights Books)
88. I Am a Japanese Writer by Dany Laferrière (28 June; City Lights Books)
89. Jim and Jap Crow: A Cultural History of 1940s Interracial America by Matthew M. Briones (28 June; City Lights Books)
90. McTeague by Frank Norris (30 June; free Kindle e-book)
91. Being Sam Frears: A Life Less Ordinary by Mary Mount (30 June; Penguin eSpecial)

July:
92. Head Off & Split by Nikky Finney (2 July; Books Inc.)
93. Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith (2 July; Books Inc.)
94. The Moon, Come to Earth: Dispatches from Lisbon by Philip Graham (2 July; University of Chicago Press free e-book)
95. Confessions of a Young Novelist by Umberto Eco (4 July; City Lights Books)
96. Missing Soluch by Mahmoud Dowlatabadi (4 July; City Lights Books)
97. Why Niebuhr Matters by Charles Lemert (4 July; City Lights Books)
98. Globalectics by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (4 July; City Lights Books)
99. Black in Latin America by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (4 July; City Lights Books)
100. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander (6 July; Kindle download)
101. Always in Trouble: An Oral History of ESP-Disk', the Most Outrageous Record Label in America by Jason Weiss (6 July; City Lights Books)
102. Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror, and Deliverance in the City of Love by David Talbot (6 July; City Lights Books)
103. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo (6 July; City Lights Books)
104. Inside by Alix Ohlin (6 July; City Lights Books)
105. The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova (8 July; Kindle download)
106. Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol (9 July; NYRB Book Club)
107. Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil (25 July; Kindle download) √
108. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (25 July; Kindle download)
109. Skios by Michael Frayn (25 July; Kindle download)
110. Religio Medici and Urne-Buriall by Sir Thomas Browne (31 July; NYRB Book Club)

August:
111. The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle (7 August; LTER book)
112. Wheel with a Single Spoke and Other Poems by Nichita Stănescu (8 August; Archipelago Books subscription)
113. Prehistoric Times by Eric Chevillard (8 August; Archipelago Books subscription)
114. A Word Child by Iris Murdoch (10 August; Kindle download)
115. Swimming Home by Deborah Levy (10 August; The Book Depository)
116. The Teleportation Accident by Ned Bauman (11 August; AbeBooks)
117. The Yips by Nicola Barker (11 August; AbeBooks)
118. The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng (17 August; AbeBooks)
119. Lucretia and the Kroons by Victor LaValle (18 August; Kindle single)
120. Five Tales by John Galsworthy (19 August; free Kindle download)
121. Blooms of Darkness by Aharon Appelfeld (19 August; Kindle e-book)
122. Editorial by Arthur Graham (22 August; free Kindle download)
123. The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford (23 August; free Kindle download)

September:
124. The Hour Between Dog and Wolf by John Coates (4 Sep; Kindle e-book)
125. sic by Joshua Cody (4 Sep; Kindle e-book)
126. No Time to Lose: A Life in Pursuit of Deadly Viruses by Peter Piot (4 Sep; Kindle e-book)
127. The Believing Brain by Michael Shermer (4 Sep; Kindle e-book)
128. The Moral Molecule by Paul Zak (4 Sep; Kindle e-book)
129. The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by Tobias Smolett (5 Sep; Kindle free e-book)
130. Old Town by Lin Zhe (7 Sep; Kindle free e-book)
131. The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories by H.G. Wells (9 Sep; Kindle free e-book)
132. Merivel: A Man of His Time by Rose Tremain (9 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
133. NW by Zadie Smith (9 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
134. Philida by André Brink (9 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
135. London's Overthrow by China Miéville (10 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
136. The Lighthouse by Alison Moore (10 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
137. Circulation: William Harvey, A Man in Motion by Thomas Wright (10 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
138. Umbrella by Will Self (10 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
139. Another London by Helen Delaney (13 Sep; Tate Britain Bookshop)
140. Life! Death! Prizes! by Stephen May (13 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
141. Hawthorn and Child by Keith Ridgway (13 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
142. Subhuman Redneck Poems by Les Murray (13 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
143. The Tree of Man by Patrick White (13 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
144. Voss by Patrick White (13 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
145. The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China by Julia Lovell (13 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
146. The Guardians: An Elegy by Sarah Manguso (14 Sep; London Review Bookshop)
147. Lionel Asbo: State of England by Martin Amis (14 Sep; London Review Bookshop
148. Communion Town by Sam Thompson (18 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
149. Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie (18 Sep; London Review Bookshop)
150. The Colour of Milk by Nell Leyshon (13 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
151. District and Circle by Seamus Heaney (13 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
152. Restoration by Rose Tremain (13 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
153. Mo Said She Was Quirky by James Kelman (13 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
154. The Chip-Chip Gatherers by Shiva Naipaul (13 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
155. Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria by Noo Saro-Wiwa (13 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
156. Domestic Work by Natasha Trethewey (23 Sep; Barnes & Noble (Philadelphia))
157. Thrall by Natasha Trethewey (23 Sep; Barnes & Noble (Philadelphia))
158. Young Man with a Horn by Dorothy Baker (26 Sep; NYRB Book Club)

October:
159. Frommer's New Orleans (7 Oct; Kindle e-book)
160. Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis (9 Oct; NYRB Book Club)
161. Indian Nocturne by Antonio Tabucchi (9 Oct; Amazon)
162. No Place Like Home: A Black Briton's Journey through the American South by Gary Younge (9 Oct; Amazon)
163. The Cage: The Fight for Sri Lanka and the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers by Gordon Weiss (9 Oct; LTER book)
164. The Odditorium: Stories by Melissa Pritchard (9 Oct; LTER freebie!)
165. The Garlic Ballads by Mo Yan (11 Oct; Kindle e-book)
166. The Republic of Wine by Mo Yan (11 Oct; Kindle e-book)
167. Shifu, You'll Do Anything for a Laugh by Mo Yan (11 Oct; Kindle e-book)
168. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain (11 Oct; Kindle e-book)

November:
169. San Francisco Chinatown: A Guide to Its History and Architecture by Philip P. Choy (5 Nov; City Lights Bookstore)
170. The Polish Boxer by Eduardo Halfon (5 Nov; City Lights Bookstore)
171. Of Africa by Wole Soyinka (5 Nov; City Lights Bookstore)
172. This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz (5 Nov; City Lights Bookstore)
173. The Human Right to Health by Jonathan Wolff (5 Nov; City Lights Bookstore)
174. Brooklyn Heights: A Modern Arabic Novel by Miral al-Tahawy (5 Nov; City Lights Bookstore)
175. Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon (5 Nov; City Lights Bookstore)
176. The Trees The Trees by Heather Christle (6 Nov; City Lights Bookstore)
177. Win These Posters and Other Unrelated Prizes Inside by Norma Cole (6 Nov; City Lights Bookstore)
178. Health Care for Some: Rights and Rationing in the United States since 1930 by Beatrix Hoffman (6 Nov; City Lights Bookstore)
179. The Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans by Lawrence N. Powell (6 Nov; City Lights Bookstore)
180. A Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers (9 Nov; Alexander Book Company)
181. Nine Lives: Mystery, Magic, Death, and Life in New Orleans by Dan Baum (9 Nov; Black Oak Books
182. The Killer of Little Shepherds: A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science by Douglas Starr (9 Nov; Black Oak Books
183. An Anatomy of Addiction: Sigmund Freud, William Halsted, and the Miracle Drug, Cocaine by Howard Markel (9 Nov; Black Oak Books
184. In the House of the Interpreter: A Memoir by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (9 Nov; Moe's Books)
185. The Investigation by Philippe Claudel (9 Nov; Moe's Books)
186. Power, Politics, and Universal Health Care by Stuart Altman and David Shactman (9 Nov; University Press Books)
187. A Possible Life by Sebastian Faulks (10 Nov; LT Early Reviewer book)
188. Going to the Dogs: The Story of a Moralist by Erich Kastner (13 Nov; NYRB Book Club)

Somehow I unstarred your last Club Read thread and missed the end of it, so I"m glad I found this one. As I said on your 75 Books thread, I've only read Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out by Mo Yan, which was fun but WAY too long, so I'd be flabbergasted if he won.

Wow, lots of lists, Darryl! I see that you are reading The Empty Family. I quite liked that one.

Love the illustration; is it Edward Lear?

Eleven more book purchases and you will be 2:1 for the year. Congrats on the good work!

6> Or is it Sendak?

>4 rebeccanyc: I'm glad you found this new thread, Rebecca. I own Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out, and I'm planning to read it for the fourth quarter Reading Globally theme (China and Neighboring Countries). I own his short memoir, Change (SB-What Was Communism?), which I thought was okay. I don't own any other books by Mo Yan, and I'm largely unfamiliar with him.

>5 Cariola: I need to get back to The Empty Family, as I've only read one or two of the short stories so far. I'll try to read one each day from now on, so that I can finish it by the end of the month.

>6 SassyLassy:, 7 That illustration comes from the book Whiskers & Rhymes by Arnold Lobel, the author and illustrator who is best known for his children's book Frog and Toad Are Friends:



I'll have to pick up the pace dramatically if I'm to read 75 TBR books this year. I'll definitely surpass 75 purchased books next month, as I'll be in London from September 6-20 and will probably buy 20-30 books while I'm there. I'll have to check, but I'm pretty sure that I'll buy far fewer books this year than I did last year, although my TBR pile continues to increase. It will be a different story in 2013, though!

And if you believe that I have some property in south Georgia that I'd like to sell you...

Grabbing a chair, Darryl. I just caught up and just read your reviews of Silence, The Garden of Evening Mists, among others. Terrific reviews.

Oh, my daughter adored the Frog and Toad series!

I hear your pain on the TBRs. It will be my goal next year to finish and swap at least one boxful of TBRs. It's getting embarrassing: there are at least eight boxes of books in my second bedroom closet, plus another on the floor; two bags and a nightstand drawer full of books in my bedroom; a shelf stacked with Persephone Classics in my closet; and something like 350 Virago Modern Classics stacked on the dresser top and the floor. And then there are the two large bookshelves and the smaller one for cookbooks and the stacks on the coffee table and dining room table . . . I don't know if I'll live long enough to read them all. When I retire, I'll also have to face an office full of books--but those usually get donated to the department's scholarship book sale.

I love that picture! Looks a lot like my own TBR pile.

Speaking of which, I'm a little tempted now to do the kind of month-by-month enumeration of what I've bought this year that you have posted above, but, honestly, I'm a little afraid of what the results would look like.

Excellent new thread Darryl and I also love the picture. Did your return to City Lights Books in July save them from bankruptcy?

Checking into the new thread. I also loved the Frog and Toad books when I was young. I remember seeing a play based on the series. Also, I thought it was terribly transgressive when Toad yelled "Shut up!" in one scene.

Love the opening picture!

I'm a bit behind, but I wanted to echo my appreciation of divergent opinions, such as that over Silence. I could see both POVs (yours and Rebecca's) and am even more eager to read it. Your review of The Garden of Evening Mists is a knockout. I can't wait to read it and added it to my list immediately, as well as to the library waitlist, and we'll see which is faster. I also wanted to add my thanks for the list of Nobel Prize candidates. Another interesting list that peaks my interest in several new-to-me authors.

Frog and Toad are the awesomest!

i'm also looking forward to your review of The Empty Family.

Hmm...I seem to have misplaced my own thread.

>9 dchaikin: Thanks, Dan! I've fallen behind on reviews again, which I vowed that I wasn't going to do in the second half of the year. I finished Friendly Fire by A.B. Yehoshua last week, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'll review it on Thursday or Friday.

>10 Cariola: Wow, Deborah; I don't think I can top that. One of my goals for next year (or possibly later this year, if I have time) is to cull books from my library that I'm unlikely to read, even if I've purchased them new. I should be able to get rid of at least 200-300 books, I would think.

Unless I go hog wild in the last four months of the year the number of books (print and electronic) that will enter my home in 2012 will be roughly half of my usual 300+ books in the past few years. I'll surpass my goal of buying 75 books or less soon after I arrive in London next week, but I'll almost certainly end the year having read more books than I purchased, so I'll consider this year a success in that regard.

>11 bragan: I think it was interesting and helpful for me to enumerate my book purchases and acquisitions this year, and I'll certainly do it in 2013 and beyond. Rebecca provided the inspiration for me to do this a couple of years ago, when she noticed that I had acquired over 300 books in one year, which was shocking to me.

>12 baswood: Ha ha, Barry; fortunately City Lights isn't dependent upon me to stay solvent, although the staff there does appreciate my business. It does attract a lot of tourists, especially visitors from Europe, and the tour buses that run through North Beach and Chinatown stop and mention it and Cafe Vesuvio, the famous Beat cafe that sits next door to City Lights.

>13 DieFledermaus: I was too old for the Frog and Toad series, as the first one, Frog and Toad Are Friends was published in 1970, when I was 9 years old. My parents bought this book for my younger brother, who was born in 1965, and I read it then.

My favorite children's books were the series of Little Golden Books, such as The Poky Little Puppy, The Little Red Hen and The Animals of Farmer Jones.

>14 avidmom: Thanks, avidmom!

>15 labfs39: Thanks, Lisa. I also appreciate it when I read different opinions about a book from people whose opinions I respect, especially books that I read, as it helps me to develop into a more discerning reader. I'm glad that you enjoyed my review of The Garden of Evening Mists, and I hope that you enjoy it when you read it.

>16 RidgewayGirl: Hopefully I'll finish reading The Empty Family this week, so that I can review it by next week, at the latest.

My kids loved the Frog and Toad books -- as did my twin niece/nephew -- they are awesome books! Can't wait until my grandson is old enough to enjoy them.

#17 Rebecca provided the inspiration for me to do this a couple of years ago, when she noticed that I had acquired over 300 books in one year, which was shocking to me.

Well, I am shocked to learn this! Acquiring books is a good thing! And I see fthat you're fudging a little on the buying-no-books pledge you took at the end of last year, another good thing!

>Darryl, well done on the books bought/read!

I’m trying to organize my library for a better idea of what I have. I culled it a few years ago, keeping only 1) books that make me happy having on the shelf, 2) books I refer to or might someday reread, and 3) TBRs I might someday read for the first time. I’ve kept up 1 and 2 since then but will look at 3 again before year-end and tweak the “might read” to “probably will read.” I’ll stow the discards in a box and take another look next year before donating. But I want them off my shelves -- they’re cluttering things up like a closet stuffed with clothes I don’t wear.

>19 janeajones: I did read Frog and Toad Are Friends several years ago, on the request of my best friend's son. I don't think I've read any of the other books in the series, though.

>20 rebeccanyc: Acquiring books is a very good thing. Other than Christmas Day I don't think I was ever happier as a kid than when the mailman dropped off an order of Scholastic books. And I think I still grin like a lunatic whenever I visit City Lights or any other favorite bookstore. I'll never stop buying books, but I do want to limit the print acquisitions to ones that I really want.

Did I really pledge last year to buy no books in 2012? What mind altering medication was I on at the time I said that? I have at three major upcoming trips in the next three months (London, New Orleans, San Francisco), and I anticipate that I'll buy 40-50+ more books between now and the end of the year.

>21 detailmuse: Thanks, MJ. I need to do what you did, and make some hard decisions about unread books that I probably won't get to in the next 5-10 years.

Other than Christmas Day I don't think I was ever happier as a kid than when the mailman dropped off an order of Scholastic books.

Scholastic books! :) We used to have to order them in class & then wait, and wait, and wait forever until the books arrived in a big box and the teacher would dole them out to us. That was always one of my favorite days at school. When my kids were grade school age the school used to have two "Book Fairs" a year where the Scholastic books were just there for the taking (well, the buying). No waiting. Where's the fun in that?

>23 avidmom: - We had Scholastic books delivered in class also and those were good days. We had Book Fairs as well and they were fun too - got to get out of class and browse around the library - where it was set up - for an hour or so.

Great review of Palace Walk, Darryl. I don't remember if I made the connection between the three sons and those three different periods of Egyptian history. That book had so many issues to talk about. Of course, I spent a lot of time thinking and talking about the lives of the women in this family versus the men. I agree, it's an amazing book in that it's such a great family saga while also revealing so much about Egyptian culture and history. It's still on my "Top 100" books list.

>23 avidmom: We used to have to order them in class & then wait, and wait, and wait forever until the books arrived in a big box and the teacher would dole them out to us.

Exactly! Waiting for the books to come was torture, but the day that they came was sheer bliss.

When my kids were grade school age the school used to have two "Book Fairs" a year where the Scholastic books were just there for the taking (well, the buying). No waiting. Where's the fun in that?

We had Book Fairs, too. You're right; they weren't as much fun as getting the books we had ordered from Scholastic. It must have been the heightened anticipation of waiting for days on end for them to arrive, and having to wait until the end of the school day to get our books when they did come.

>24 DieFledermaus: I'll have to ask my friends if they still sell Scholastic books through the schools. My best friend's daughter, who is possibly the most voracious reader I've ever met, has a Kindle, and she now gets many of her books in the electronic version. This is probably a good thing, as she and her biblioholic mother have many hundreds of books throughout the house already.

>25 bonniebooks: Thanks, Bonnie. My only major disappointment with The Cairo Trilogy was that there wasn't a fourth book that continued the story.

Yes, those Scholastic flyers still come home with my children. What I like about the book fairs is that I can send money in with my children and they can pick without me pushing them toward "worthier" books.

Wow, I had forgotten all about ordering Scholastic books and having them delivered in class, but reading these posts has awakened old memories. I don't recall there being any displays to browse; I think we just ordered from a list we took home to our parents. I do remember the big box, though. That was at least 50 years ago, so they've been at this for a long time.

My granddaughter's school schedules "Grandparent's Day" to coincide with the Scholastic book fair to give us more spending opportunities.

I loved the Scholastic days too. We were given the catalog where I would love circling all the titles I wanted, and there would be a display on the delivery day in case you wanted to buy more books. It was fantastic! Although, I always merely circled the titles and never actually ordered books, and I would always forget money on display day meaning I never actually got to order a Scholastic book. But the thought of it was still fun!

"The Wellcome Trust Book Prize celebrates the best of medicine in literature by awarding £25,000 each year for the finest fiction or non-fiction book centred around medicine."

"By establishing the Book Prize, the Wellcome Trust aims to stimulate interest, excitement and debate about medicine and literature, reaching audiences not normally engaged with medical science."

The longlist for this year's Wellcome Trust Book Prize was announced in London earlier today:

John Coates - The Hour Between Dog and Wolf: Risk Taking, Gut Feelings and the Biology of Boom and Bust
Joshua Cody - Sic: A Memoir
Nick Coleman - The Train in the Night
Mohammed Hanif - Our Lady of Alice Bhatti
Peter James - Perfect People
Harry Karlinsky - The Evolution of Inanimate Objects
Darian Leader - What is Madness?
Ken Macleod - Intrusion
Peter Piot - No Time to Lose: A Life in Pursuit of Deadly Viruses
Michael Shermer - The Believing Brain
Tim Spector - Identically Different
Rose Tremain - Merivel: A Man of His Time
Thomas Wright - Circulation: William Harvey, a Man in Motion
Paul Zak - The Moral Molecule: The Source of Love and Prosperity

This longlist, which consists of five novels and nine works of nonfiction, comes as quite a surprise to me, as there had not been a longlist in the previous three years of the award, only a shortlist of six books. The longlist will be announced on October 11, and the winner will be announced on November 7. More info:

http://www.wellcomebookprize.org/News/Announcements/WTVM056219.html

Since this is the only major book award about medicine I had planned to read the shortlist in its entirety before the award announcement. I'm pleased that I'll be able to get these books during my trip to London this month, but I'm not sure that I'll buy and read all 14 of the books by early November.

I do already own Our Lady of Alice Bhatti, and I had planned to buy Merivel and Circulation: William Harvey, a Man in Motion, the biography of the discoverer of the mammalian circulatory system, but the other books are unfamiliar to me.

Oooh, I can't wait for the new Tremain! Restoration is my favorite of her novels, so I'm really looking forward to the sequel.

YUM! Thanks for posting the longlist. I'm eyeing half a dozen.

More books to read - can't be bad.

>31 Cariola: Thanks for mentioning that, Deborah. If Merivel is the sequel to Restoration, should I read it after the first book in the series?

>32 detailmuse: This is an interesting longlist, and I'll start reading these books next week, alongside the Booker Prize longlist. Six of these books are currently available in the US, and I now have the Kindle version of all of them:

Our Lady of Alice Bhatti (I downloaded this book earlier this year)
The Hour Between Dog and Wolf
Sic: A Memoir
No Time to Lose
The Believing Brain
The Moral Molecule

I'll get most if not all of the other titles starting next week.

>33 baswood: More books are always welcome, especially ones about medicine. Before today I was disappointed that I would leave London before the Wellcome Trust Book Prize shortlist was announced in October, so I was thrilled to receive two Google alert e-mail about the prize's longlist announcement this morning. I suspect that I'll buy at least six or seven of the eight remaining books; Perfect People is the only book that doesn't interest me at the moment.

34> I would definitely try to squeeze in Restoration first, Darryl. It's a wonderfully moving and entertaining novel about a gifted young physician who falls prey to the temptations of the court, choosing fame and money over service and fulfillment. (But he changes--somewhat--in the course of the novel.) I read the blurb on Amazon, and the new novel takes up with Merivel later in life. It would certainly help to know where he came from, I think.

(Restoration was also made into a pretty good movie. Robert Downey, Jr. did a marvelous job, especially considering the stage he was at with his addiction and legal issues at the time it was filmed.)

I've been enjoying your posts of award nominees - also impressed by your efforts to read many of the nominated titles.

The Evolution Of Inanimate Objects sounds fascinating! (based on the Amazon blurb).

This year's Booker Prize shortlist has just been announced:

Tan Twan Eng, The Garden of Evening Mists
Deborah Levy, Swimming Home
Hilary Mantel, Bring Up the Bodies
Alison Moore, The Lighthouse
Will Self, Umbrella
Jeet Thayil, Narcopolis

More info: http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/2012-shortlist-announced

I've read four of the six shortlisted books so far, the novels by Eng, Levy, Mantel, and Thayil. I'll start The Lighthouse today or tomorrow, and read Umbrella later this week. I'm definitely in agreement with the selections of Eng, Mantel and Thayil for the shortlist; I wasn't as fond of Swimming Home, but I may give it a reread next month.

The winner will be announced on October 16th.

Wow, quite a difference from last year's short list--yet still a wide variety of styles and subjects.

This year's shortlist looks good. I'm glad Bring Up the Bodies made it. I'll have to start looking for the other books.

Theatre review!

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: (National Theatre, London, 11 Sep 2012)



My rating:

This play, based on the best selling and award winning novel of the same name by Mark Haddon, was published in 2003 and was set at that time slightly in the future, in approximately 2012. Most of the action takes place in a small English town, and is narrated by Christopher Boone, a high functioning autistic boy of exactly "15 years, 3 months and 2 days". He doesn't fit in well with his classmates in the special school he attends, who he finds "stupid" and strange, but his oddities and propensity to strike anyone who touches him does not permit him to attend regular classes. He is gifted in computers, computer games, memorization and particularly maths, so much so that he is studying to take his A level exam in this subject, three years in advance and something that no one else at his school has ever done. He is a curious lad who seems to have a knack for getting into trouble and frequent fights, but is basically an honest kid who refuses to lie to anyone, even when it gets him into further trouble.

The story opens with Christopher standing with horror over the body of his neighbor's dog, Wellington, who has been killed with a pitchfork. The dog's owner accuses Christopher of killing Wellington, and rings the police to speak to him. Christopher doesn't understand the officer's commands, and when the policeman touches him he lashes out at him, and is arrested and charged with assault. His father, a plumber with a good heart but a violent temper who is raising Christopher after his mother's death two years earlier, convinces the police that it was a simple misunderstanding, and Christopher is released with a caution, although he is disappointed when he learns that he will not receive a certificate of caution that he can post on his bedroom wall.

Despite his father's repeated pleas to stay out of other people's business, Christopher, whose favorite hero is Sherlock Holmes, vows to determine who killed Wellington. However, as our brave detective discovers more clues, he also uncovers more information about himself and his parents, which leads to further investigations--and further trouble.

I loved The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time when I read it several years ago, and I was, um, curious to see how accurately it would be portrayed on the stage. The play was true to the book in spirit and its general framework, but it was quite different in its details and characterizations. However, as much as I liked the book (which I gave 4-1/2 stars), the play was even better, performed in an intimate setting in the Cottlesloe Theatre, the smallest of the three venues within the National Theatre. The audience consisted of perhaps 200 people or so, who were seated on all four sides of the tiny rectangular theatre; I managed to get a ticket in the first row on one of the sides, and I flinched a couple of times when I thought one of the actors might end up in my lap. The cast and the story were superb, and this was the first of the dozen or more NT performances I've attended over the past six years in which the majority of the audience stood and applauded the actors.

I fervently hope that The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which ends at the NT on October 27th, will be resurrected at a later date and that a wider audience will have the opportunity to see this brilliant performance, which is one of the most memorable and moving plays I've ever seen.

The play sounds great, Darryl. I love small venues where you can (but don't, of course) literally reach out and touch the performers. The part of Christopher must've been a very demanding one for a young actor.

Thanks, Steven. I also love smaller venues to see live theatre. My favorite places in the US include Berkeley Repertory Theatre (Berkeley Rep) in Berkeley, CA; the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ; and Crossroads Theatre in New Brunswick, NJ. I believe that all three venues have won Tony Awards for the best regional theatre.

I saw Bernard Shaw's play The Doctor's Dilemma at the National Theatre on Sunday (which I'll review in the next day or two), and I'll see matinee performances of One Man, Two Guvnors at the Royal Haymarket Theatre tomorrow, and a version of Julius Caesar set in sub-Saharan Africa at the Nöel Coward Theatre on Thursday. I'll see The Last of the Haussmans at the NT next Monday, and I'll probably see at least one or two more plays before I leave London next Thursday.

Thank you for the drama review. I too liked the book, and now I am joining you in wishing that it makes it's way across the pond for a wider audience (preferably before the movie is released). In a Independent article, the reviewer mentions that the play was broadcast in cinemas around England on Sept. 6th. I wonder if there is a way to download it or something. Not the same, I know, but now you've got me intrigued!

ETA: Here is the website to find a showing near you: http://microsites.nationaltheatre.org.uk/61172/venues-amp-booking/us-venues.html. In Seattle it is showing on October 1 and 8.

Ah, I was wondering why you hadn't been around much for the past few days; I didn't realize that your London trip had begun. Sounds like an interesting play. What else do you plan to see?

My favorite venue is the Donmar Warehouse, which is similar to what you describe. They do a lot of experimental plays. A few years back I saw the premiere of 'Red,' a wonderful play about the artist Mark Rothko, with Alfred Molina and Eddie Redmayne. Also saw a great revival of Harold Pinter's 'The Betrayal' with Samuel West and Toby Stephens.

Keep us posted on the book acquisitions--and have a great time!

Soooo jealous! Especially of Julius Caesar - I may have already told you that I really wanted to see it but couldn't persuade my sister. I hope you enjoy it.

I see that Curious is completely sold out for the run - did you book a long time ago or queue for day tickets?

>44 labfs39: You read my mind, Lisa! I had just posted information about NT Live on my 75 Books thread. I had mentioned there that only a few US theatres show NT Live performances, with only one theatre in Macon participating in the state of Georgia, despite Atlanta, Athens and Savannah being much more cultured cities. I couldn't get a ticket to see the NT Live performance of One Man, Two Guvnors when I was in San Francisco last fall, so I'm looking forward to seeing it in person tomorrow afternoon...actually, make that this afternoon, it's nearly 1:30 am here in London!

>45 Cariola: Deborah, I arrived in London this past Saturday afternoon, and I'll be here until the following Thursday, 9/20. I mentioned the plays that I already have tickets for (in message #43), and I'll probably also see Shakespeare's Timon in Athens at the NT on Saturday, as 12 quid Travelex tickets are still available.

Funny that you should mention the Donmar Warehouse! That theatre is showing a play entitled Philadelphia, Here I Come! from now through 9/22, and I'm thinking about seeing it as well. I'm staying at the Hotel Russell in Bloomsbury, which is a short walk from Seven Dials in Soho.

I've made two trips to Foyles so far, and I'll post my book purchases here later today or tomorrow, along with reviews of The Doctor's Dilemma and One Man, Two Guvnors. I'll probably stop by the London Review Bookshop tomorrow as well.

>46 wandering_star: I don't remember you telling me that you had wanted to see Julius Caesar, wandering_star, although I have no doubt that you did. I only found out about it because SandDune in the 75 Books group mentioned it to me a couple of weeks ago.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time has been sold out since at least early August. I kept checking the NT web site several times a day for a week or more, and one day there happened to be a limited number of seats available for sale. I immediately grabbed a ticket, and I'm glad that I did, as a couple of hours later those few tickets were gone. I would have queued for day tickets had I not gotten that one, as it's a short and direct bus ride to the NT from the Hotel Russell on Russell Square, where I'm currently staying.

I was planning on seeing The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime at an NT Live screening anyway; it is good to know that I can look forward to it. The area theater carrying it is being coy about the actual scheduling of it. That theater also seems to have cut way back on their NT Live screenings this year.

Robert

Do see the NT Live Broadcast of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time if you can, Robert, whether you've read the book or not.

Today's theatre review:

One Man, Two Guvnors (12 September 2012, Theatre Royal Haymarket)



My rating:

This West End revival of the wildly popular National Theatre and Broadway comedy is set in Brighton in 1963. Francis Henshall is a daft young man whose prodigious ambitions are exceeded only by his insatiable appetite, who manages to find himself employed by two men, one being a local gangster and the other a dandy who is on the run after murdering another man. Neither of these two men is aware that Francis is in the employ of both men, and the story revolves around a potential love triangle that will link these two men and Francis in a danger filled dance.

The play, which is based on the 18th century Italian comedy Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni, is filled with slapstick humor, which most in the audience appreciated more than I did, as practically every man in the cast was kneed in the groin at least once, and most were slapped or flopped about like rag dolls. The funniest portion of the play came when Francis enlists an attractive woman from the audience to assist him in absconding food from his guvnors' dinners for his own meal. Most of the rest of the action seemed forced and a bit stale, and I was sorely tempted to leave during the intermission. Am I glad I stayed to the end? Frankly, no. However, I am glad that I saw One Man, Two Guvnors, and especially glad that I only paid 15 quid for the performance, instead of the nearly fourfold price I had started to pay to see the Broadway production with the original cast this spring.

So far I've made two sets of book purchases since I arrived in London on Saturday. On Sunday, just before I saw The Doctor's Dilemma at the National Theatre, I went to the nearby Foyles branch at Southbank Centre, and purchased three books from my "must buy" list:

Philida by Andre Brink (Booker Prize longlist)
Merivel: A Man of His Time by Rose Tremain (Wellcome Trust Book Prize longlist)
NW by Zadie Smith

On Monday I bought the following from the flagship branch of Foyles on Charing Cross Road:

Umbrella by Will Self (Booker Prize shortlist)
The Lighthouse by Alison Moore (Booker Prize shortlist)
Circulation: William Harvey, a Man in Motion by Thomas Wright (Wellcome Trust Book Prize longlist)
London's Overthrow by China Mieville
Granta 120: Medicine

There are at least 12-15 books that I plan to buy during this trip, so I'll make several more bookstore visits over the next seven days.

I'm sorry that you weren't entertained by One Man, Two Guvnors. I saw it in a delayed NT Live screening and thoroughly enjoyed the humor. I remember some of the slapstick, although not the kneeings, but was most entertained by the wry humor and the occasional breaking of the fourth wall.

Robert

vicariously enjoying your stay in London Darryl.

Have a fantastic and refreshing time!

Enjoy your time in London Darryl--I'm so envious!

Lisa--do I see a Seattle LT meetup to attend the showing of The Curious Incident in October?

That sounds like a great idea! How do we organize that: on a separate thread or one of ours?

>53 Mr.Durick: Robert, I do wonder if I would have enjoyed One Man, Two Guvnors with the original cast a bit better, as I usually like British humor.

>54 baswood: Thanks, Barry.

>55 RidgewayGirl: I shall, RidgewayGirl! I think I'll go to one or two museums today, particularly the Tate Britain, as I want to see Another London, a photography exhibition that closes on Sunday.

>56 arubabookwoman: Thanks, Deborah.

Really enjoying your theater reviews (or theatre reviews?). I also wondered how they would adapt The Curious Incident - read about the production somewhere (maybe that New Yorker article about the NT?). Too bad about One Man, Two Guvnors though I did hear very good things about that also. Looking forward to reading more about your trip.

Are the books on your list ones that are only available in the UK?

>59 DieFledermaus: Thanks, DieF. I'll probably re-read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, mainly to see how well it compares with the play, but there were details in the play that I don't remember reading in the book, and vice versa. However, the play was true to the book in spirit, and it can be viewed without having read Haddon's novel.

I wouldn't want to dissuade anyone from seeing One Man, Two Guvnors, but I definitely wouldn't pay Broadway prices to see it (and I think it closed on B'way last week anyway).

I'll also start posting photographs in the next day or two. I just bought a new digital camera, and I'm eager to try it out.

Regarding the availability of the books I've purchased so far, I know that NW is available in the US, as is Granta 120. I think that The Lighthouse is also available. Most of the remainder of the books I'll buy will be ones that are only available in the UK, although I may want to get the UK edition of Lionel Asbo by Martin Amis. It's received mixed reviews, but I'd still like to read it.

The weather in London has been perfect today, with thin clouds, plenty of sun, and a high temp of about 18 C (roughly 65 F). After breakfast I went to the Tate Britain Museum, and saw the photographic exhibit Another London, which consisted of roughly 200 photos of ordinary Londoners taken by international photographers between 1930-1980. The photographs captured much of the breadth of London culture over time, from the wealthy to the desperately poor, native Britons and recent immigrants, and the change in styles of fashion over the period, including staid postwar culture, the mod culture of the early 1960s, the hippie movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the punk culture of the mid to late 1970s. I bought the museum guide, Another London: International Photographers Capture City Life 1930-1980, which contains many of the photos from the exhibit, including these:



Henri Cartier-Bresson, Waiting in Trafalgar Square for the coronation parade of King George VI, 1937



Wolfgang Suschitzky, King’s Cross London, 1941



James Barnor, Mike Eghan at Piccadilly Circus, 1967



Martine Franck, Parliament Square: Princess Anne’s wedding - waiting for her to pass by, 1973



Al Vandenberg, Untitled, 1975

I only stayed for the one exhibit, as it was too nice to spend the entire morning in the museum, so I sat outside the museum for a bit, took some photos, and then went to the Cafe at Foyles Bookshop on Charing Cross Road for lunch. The cafe has excellent sandwiches, fresh juices and coffee, and it's located on the first floor of the bookshop. After lunch I bought six books, all from my list of books I had planned to buy here:

Patrick White, Voss
Patrick White, Tree of Man
Julia Lovell, The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China
Les Murray, Subhuman Redneck Poems
Keith Ridgway, Hawthorn & Child
Stephen May, Life! Death! Prizes!

Afterward I went to a branch of Caffe Nero for coffee (I like their freshly brewed Cafe Americano, which doesn't taste watered down like Starbucks' version of it here), then sat and read in the park at Bloomsbury Square for awhile. I'll head back out for dinner and a visit to a nearby cafe after a quick nap.

Thanks for posting those pictures. Was anything interesting in the turbine hall?

>62 RidgewayGirl: You're welcome. I assume that you meant the Tate Modern when you mentioned the turbine hall. I haven't gone to it yet, but I will see the Edvard Munch exhibition there early next week.

What a wonderful day! Enjoy.

I'm really enjoying your trip!

Also glad to hear about the Medicine issue of Granta. The last I bought was Issue 109 on Work, and in between there's been one on Chicago and one on "going back" so now I have three issues on their way!

Now do you see why it's imperative that I get back there? Tate Modern has the turbine hall. Tate Britain has the pre-Raphaelites and the Stanley Spencers.

I might just have to get that museum catalogue of Another London. Thanks for posting those great pictures Darryl

Love those photos! I have a fondness for old photographs of New York, and it's nice to see some of London.

>51 kidzdoc: £15 for a West End ticket? Bloody hell!

It's funny to think that you're in London. Maybe I've walked past you on the Southbank or in Bloomsbury! The Another London exhibition looks great, I wish I could get to it before it closes on Sunday.

Sounds like you're having a wonderful trip -- enjoying your theatre reviews!

Yesterday was a mixed day. I've picked up a pretty bad cold, probably from the sick young woman who sat next to me during Tuesday's performance of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which worsened yesterday afternoon and kept me up half the night. I felt like rubbish after I took cold medicine, and ended up skipping last night's performance of Julius Caesar. I stayed awake until 3 am, and I did finish two books (longer reviews to come):

Circulation: William Harvey, a Man in Motion by Thomas Wright (actual title: Circulation: William Harvey's Revolutionary Idea): Longlisted for this year's Wellcome Trust Book Prize, this was a very good biography of the English anatomist, natural philosopher and personal physician to two English kings, whose greatest contribution was his description of the mammalian circulatory system as a unidirectional circuit propelled by the heart's contractions, which delivered oxygen rich blood to the body's cells via the left side of the heart, the arterial system and capillaries, brought back deoxygenated blood to the right side of the heart via the venous system, from where it was pumped into the lungs for rejuvenation and delivery to the left side of the heart. Harvey came under intense scrutiny and criticism for his model, as it contradicted the theory of the great Greek physician Galen in the second century AD, which consisted of two parallel circulatory systems that were interlinked by the liver, the source of blood. That theory had been taught for over 1000 years, along with Galen's humoral theory, which claimed that illness resulted from an imbalance of the body's four humors: blood, black bile, yellow bile and phlegm. This theory was at the heart of Western medicine, and Harvey's circulatory system was one of the first steps toward the shift away from Galenic and Hippocratic medicine toward one in which observation and experimentation governed Western medicine as it was taught and practiced. (4 stars)

The Lighthouse by Alison Moore: This was a very good short novel, multilayered and richly symbolic, about a naive and pathetic Englishman who goes on a walking holiday in Germany after his wife separates from him. He starts out in a town called Hellhaus (supposedly German for "bright lights", but the obvious English translation is a better fit), where he has a particularly malignant interaction with the couple who run the hotel where he begins his journey. His circular trip is meant to be a restorative and revealing one, but it ends where it began, badly, at the first hotel. It gets 4-1/2 stars on LT, and I thought it deserved its position on this year's Booker Prize shortlist.

Here's my shortlist rating so far (five down, one to go):

1. The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
2. Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
3. The Lighthouse by Alison Moore
4. Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil
5. Swimming Home by Deborah Levy

I'll finish the shortlist after I read Umbrella next week, but I'll read Philida by Andre Brink this weekend, which made the longlist.

I saw another photography exhibition yesterday afternoon , this time at the Barbican Centre, entitled Everything Was Moving: Photography from the 60s and 70s, a collection of roughly 400 photographs taken by 12 artists which chronicled major events during those turbulent years. I only saw the first portion of the exhibition, which featured the work of Ernest Cole, a black South African who convinced government officials that he was "coloured" due to his name, which permitted him to travel outside of the restricted apartheid system and to chronicle it in his 1967 book House of Bondage; David Goldblatt, a white South African who approached the horrors of apartheid from a different vantage point; Bruce Davidson, who is best known for his photographs of the Civil Rights Movement and life in Harlem in the early 1960s; and William Eggleston, who captured the lives of Southerners, black and white, in Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama in the early 1970s, which was an interesting contrast to Davidson's work. The comparison between the living conditions of black South Africans and black Southerners in the US was powerful, and several of Davidson's photographs of black sharecroppers in the early 1960s were deeply shocking to me. I became mentally and physically tired about 1/3 of the way through the massive exhibition, and I'll go back to the Barbican next week to see the remaining photographs.

After a delightful late lunch of fish & chips I headed back to Bloomsbury by bus, and visited the London Review Bookshop, which is a stone's throw away from the campus of the British Museum. I only bought two books, though:

Lionel Asbo: State of England by Martin Amis
The Guardians by Sarah Manguso

I have a ticket for this afternoon's performance of Timon in Athens at the National Theatre, and I'll decide in the next couple of hours if I still feel like going to it. Fortunately it was a 12 quid Travelex ticket, so I'm not out much if I decide to stay inside today.

>64 dchaikin: Thanks, Dan.

>65 detailmuse: Thanks, MJ. I'm way behind on back issues of Granta, including Granta 119: Britain, which I had wanted to read before my trip.

>66 RidgewayGirl: Yes, you need to get back to London ASAP!

>67 baswood: You're welcome, Barry. I'll also post photos of the photography exhibition at the Barbican Centre later this week, or next week after I see the rest of it.

>68 rebeccanyc: Same here, Rebecca. I love historic photos of cities, particularly NYC and London.

>69 charbutton: I had forgotten that you live here, Char! I don't think I could have found my mother on the Southbank last weekend; it was as crowded as I've ever seen it there. I'd like to meet you at some point, either during this trip or on a future one. I usually meet up with some of the 75ers whenever I come here; Fliss (flissp) and I are going to see The Last of the Haussmans at the NT on Monday, and Luci (elkiedee) and I will get together next week, probably on Wednesday. I'll fly back to the US on Thursday morning.

I have developed a chest cold, though, so now may not be a good time to meet up.

>70 janeajones: Thanks, Jane!

So sorry that you aren't feeling well, Darryl, and that you missed Julius Caesar. I was looking forward to your review of that one. I always start my Shakespeare course with Titus Andronicus, which the students love but which has been dubbed by many critics as his worst play. In the course of discussion, I tell them that in my opinion, the worst one is Timon of Athens--so I'll be interested to hear what you have to say about that one.

Getting caught up, Darryl, and enjoying your travels. My own vacations are always so busy and full of sights, and every time you travel I vow that my next trip will be more like yours, with a long time in one city, to really get a feel for it. London is calling... though so is the rest of the world! I think I would like to spend a week in New York City next year, or maybe Christmas 2013, but now I'm undecided...

Re: the Booker Shortlist, I've read the Mantel, Moore, and Levy, and I'm really looking forward to the Eng. I don't think the Self is for me, though. I'm surprised that Nicola Barker didn't make the cut, based on all the buzz she is receiving. I am hoping to read her novel sometime this year. I've started Philida three times, and can't seem to make it past the third chapter, so I am interested to see what you make of it.

Enjoy London - I look forward to your next update! You have reminded me that I should really post some pictures from my France travels this summer.

>73 kidzdoc: yeah last weekend was horrendous. We had tickets to see Vertigo at the BFI otherwise I would have avoided the southbank completely.

I'm sorry London has made you ill. I'm full of cold too so let's make a meetup date for your next trip. It would be lovely to meet you!

Sorry about your cold. It really is miserable to be somewhere and want to go and do things but also want to waste the time laying inert on a bed drinking lemsip. I was sick the first time I went to Edinburgh and have absolutely no memory of the places I went, despite forcing myself to keep to my schedule.

The Lighthouse sounds intriguing. I wonder if this year's worthier Booker list will end the attempt to start a new literary prize?

Catching up on all the interesting stuff here. Great pictures at #61 - enjoyed the contrast between the serious faces and interesting fashion choices. The review of Everything was Moving was good also.

Sorry to hear about your cold - never fun being sick but it's even worse when you're on vacation! Even with the cold, it sounds like you've been productive with all the reading/book buying.

My chest cold developed into an asthma exacerbation overnight on Friday. Fortunately I have all of my asthma medications that I'll need with me, so I shouldn't need to see a GP, provided that I don't develop a secondary bacterial infection, such as bronchitis or pneumonia, that would require an antibiotic (I brought a box of Tamiflu with me, in case I got the flu, but not an antibiotic like amoxicillin or Zithromax). I stayed inside all day yesterday, and stayed in for the morning. My lungs were burning during the two block walk from my hotel to the nearest Caffe Nero, so I won't do any significant amount of walking today. Fortunately the area is well serviced by buses and the Underground, so I won't have to walk far in any circumstance.

I won't see any plays or go to any museums today, but I will still see The Last of the Haussmans with Fliss tomorrow evening at the NT.

>74 Cariola: I'm still hopeful that I'll feel well enough to see Julius Caesar, Deborah, either on Tuesday or Wednesday. I think it will still be on until then. I had thought about going tonight, but the amount of discomfort I experienced on a short and flat two block walk has convinced me otherwise.

If Timon of Athens is the worst Shakespeare play in your opinion then I'll make it a lower priority. Fliss did like the NT performance of it, though.

>75 Cait86: Right, Cait. I prefer to spend a longer time in one place, and experience it in a leisurely fashion, rather than bounce around from place to place with days that are jam packed with things to do. Let me know if you do decide to visit NYC; I'd love to meet up with you if I happen to be visiting my parents, who live about 70 miles south of the city. I normally take the train to the city once or twice whenever I visit them, and it's an easy trip from their house.

I did finish The Lighthouse by Alison Moore yesterday, and I really liked it (4-1/2 stars). So, I only have Umbrella to read before I finish the shortlist; here's my rating so far:

1. The Garden of Evening Mists
2. Bring Up the Bodies
3. The Lighthouse
4. Narcopolis
5. Swimming Home

I'm halfway through the longlist, as I've also read The Yips. I'd put it between Narcopolis and Swimming Home, so it would be a borderline shortlist selection for me.

I'm halfway through Philida, at the beginning of Part Two, and I'm enjoying it so far. I should finish it today.

Yes, please do post photos from France! I won't make it to Paris on this trip, but I'll almost certainly come back to London in the spring, and plan for at least a 2-3 day trip to Paris then.

>76 charbutton: I might have crossed paths with you at the BFI; Fliss and I met for lunch at Benugo on the first floor of the building last Sunday.

Yes, next time would definitely be a better time to visit. I'll give you advance notice when I come, which will likely be next March or April.

>77 RidgewayGirl: Funny that you should mention Lemsip; I'm taking the cold & flu lemon powder medicine that you prepare as a hot drink.

Great question about The Literature Prize; I was thinking about it before the longlist was announced. I haven't heard anything more about this putative award after last year's Booker debacle. Hopefully the strength of this year's longlist has put that plan to rest.

>78 DieFledermaus: Thanks, DieF. Even though I haven't gone anywhere in London the past two days it's still been productive. I finished two books yesterday, and I should finish Philida by Andre Brink, which was selected for the Booker longlist, later today. I may go to Foyles after I leave the cafe, depending on what time it closes today.

Quick plot summary of Timon of Athens: rich but generous and kindly man helps everyone, but no one helps him when he falls on bad times, so he crawls under a rock and dies.

Sorry to hear that you're feeling worse. That's a real bummer during a vacation you so deserve and have been so looking forward to.

So, I didn't do much today, other than hang out in cafes and in the park at Bloomsbury Square, but it was a comfortably cool day and I did read two books, for the third day in a row:

Philida by André Brink: This novel, based on a true story, was selected for this year's Booker Prize longlist, and is set in South Africa in the 1830s, just before the end of slavery in that country. The book's title refers to the main character, a young slave woman with a mysterious background, an indomitable spirit and a fierce curiosity, who bears four children from François Brink, one of her owner's sons, two of whom survive past infancy. Philida learns that she and her children are to be sold to another owner in the Upcountry, so that François will be free to marry a white woman from a privileged family without the untidy complication of the children he has sired. She files a protest with the Office of the Slave Protector about this plan, which sets off a series of events that will dramatically the lives of Philida and the Brinks, and lead to Philida's discovery about her past and what she wants for herself and her children. It was a very enjoyable novel, as I read all but the first 50 pages in a single effort from late morning until late afternoon, but it didn't have the depth of The Garden of Evening Mists or Bring Up the Bodies. I'll give it a solid 4 stars; it was a good choice for the longlist, but it wouldn't have made my shortlist.

Here's my updated longlist ranking (7 down, 5 to go):

1. The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
2. Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
3. The Lighthouse by Alison Moore
4. Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil
5. Philida by André Brink
6. The Yips by Nicola Barker
7. Swimming Home by Deborah Levy

Book #2 was The Guardians by Sarah Manguso, which was a short elegy to a dear friend of hers, who checked himself out of a mental hospital in NYC and committed suicide by stepping in front of a Metro North train in Riverdale roughly 10 hours later. I enjoyed Manguso's earlier book The Two Kinds of Decay, a memoir about her own chronic and serious illness, but this short book was little more than a self absorbed form of written diarrhea by a spoiled rich girl about the effect that Harris's death had on her, which I found to be macabre and more than a little disturbing. Some thoughts should not be shared with others, and some books should not be published, which is the case for The Guardians. I'll give it a generous 2 stars, and at a cost of £14.99 it is overpriced by at least 10 fold IMO.

>80 Cariola: Thanks for that one sentence review of Timon in Athens, Deborah! I still may see it, particularly because The Royal Shakespeare Company's rendition of Julius Caesar ended on Saturday.

So sorry to hear you are not feeling well - I'm glad you're getting lots of reading time in, but I hope you feel better soon.

>83 wandering_star: Thanks, wandering_star. This morning hasn't started off well, but hopefully I'll feel better by this afternoon.

Hope you are having a good time despite the grunge!

The grunge - isn't that something you get in Seattle.

Hope you feel better soon Darryl, rotten luck on your vacation.

Have you any comments on China Mieville's London's Overthrow?

Tonight's theatre review:

The Last of the Haussmans by Stephen Beresford (National Theatre, 17 Sep 2012)



My rating:

“No one’s to blame for anyone else’s fuck-ups. We all fucked up. We all fucked up our own lives.”

“My baby’s home! Let’s wake ’em up! The old rebels, eh? Let’s show this younger generation what it’s all about! Shall we get naked?”

This delightful debut play by Stephen Beresford is set in the present, on the coast of Devon in a beach house that has seen better days. Judy Haussman is an aging revolutionary and head of the Haussman household, who is in the final stages of her battle against melanoma. Although her body and physical strength are failing, her spirit remains indomitable, and her thirst for life is unquenchable. Her two children, Libby and Nicky, have floundered under their mother's lack of attention to them during childhood, as Libby experiences a string of sordid affairs that lead her to become bitter and distrustful of everyone, while Nick experiments with drugs and failed relationships with men. The three, along with Libby's feisty teenage daughter Summer, who appears to be the wisest member of the Haussman clan, meet in the old beach house to comfort Judy, and to determine what is to be done with the house after her death.

Tensions soon flare, thanks to Judy's irreverence and the intense anxiety she brings out of her children, Libby's fierce desire to ensure that she and Nick will take ownership of the house, Nick's insecurity and infatuation with an attractive young man, Summer's anxiety of visiting her father and his new wife in France, and the distrust that the four have toward each other. However, instead of sinking into a morbid pool of self pity and angst, Beresford fills the performance with witty British humor and brilliant dialogue, with Judy and Nick getting the best lines.

The play was enhanced by the brilliant set, in which the beach house rotated in a circular fashion on stage to reveal its different sides between scenes, without the need for disruptive on stage changes.

The Last of the Haussmans was an outstanding comedic drama, in keeping with other superb past performances I've seen at the National Theatre over the past four years. I continue to be amazed at the quality of the NT plays I've seen, which are consistently superior to anything I've seen on Broadway (save for One Man, Two Guvnors, which I thought was massively overrrated). This play will be broadcast around the world via NT Live on October 11th (details here), and I would highly recommend seeing it if it is playing in your area.

Thanks to Fliss (flissp) for recommending this play and seeing it with me!

>85 janemarieprice: Thanks, Jane! It's been a lovely and memorable trip to London so far, despite the cold and asthma attacks, as I've seen four plays at the National Theatre, attended two photography exhibits, purchased nearly 20 books, and met up with a good LT friend twice. I have two full days left before I fly back to the US on Thursday, and I probably won't have to go back to work until the 29th, so I'll be back at full strength by then.

>86 baswood: LOL; I knew what Jane meant!

Thanks, Barry. I could think of far worse things that to be sick on vacation, especially being sick and having to go to work. It's essentially an unwritten rule that you have to be significantly ill or disabled to miss work in my group and among the other physicians I work with. My last sick day was sometime in 2006, the day after I was discharged from the hospital after I developed atrial fibrillation, a heart rhythm abnormality that for me was fortunately non-life threatening and self limited. It happened on a weekend that I wasn't working, and I was willing to go back to work on Monday, but the head of my group (who visited me in the hospital) insisted that I stay home for at least a day or two.

>87 baswood: Yes; I will write a proper review of London's Overthrow, which was very good despite its short length. I plan to review the books I've read the past week after I return to the US, as I'll spend nearly a week with my parents in the Philadelphia area starting on Thursday.

Darryl -- hope you're feeling better -- maybe recouping at your own pace in a nice hotel is not so bad, especially if you have good books to read. Sounds like The Last of the Haussmans was wicked fun.

edited to fix typo

>90 janeajones: Thanks, Jane. I'm feeling better today than I was at this time yesterday morning, but I do better in the afternoons and early evenings. It's a bit frustrating that I don't feel well enough to do everything that I'd like to do, and I'll miss seeing three LTers that I had intended to meet up with, but I'll almost certainly come back in the spring and see them at that time. In past years I would make 3-4 trips to San Francisco every year, as it was my preferred place to go on vacation, but starting next year I'll come here at least twice a year, and visit SF once or twice.

"Wicked fun" is a good descriptor for The Last of the Haussmans. BTW, it looks as though several Florida theatres will broadcast the NT Live performance of it on October 11.

I thought that last night's play might be the last NT performance I would see on this trip. However, I just bought a 12 quid restricted view ticket for tonight's performance of This House, a new play about the crisis in Parliament in 1974, which opens tonight at the Cottlesloe Theatre. The play had been completely sold out, and I figured that I wouldn't be able to see it before I left.

I also need to write a review of The Doctor's Dilemma, the first NT play I saw on this vacation. I'll do that later this week.

Glad to know you're better, Darryl. It's a shame to be missing things you planned for the holiday, but London will always be there for the next!

Although I haven't posted, I have been following and enjoying your trip on both of your threads, Darryl. Sorry that you have not felt well, but glad that you have still been able to enjoy London. Great theatre reviews!

The longlist for this year's Samuel Johnson Prize, "the UK's pre-eminent prize for non-fiction", was announced earlier today:

One on One by Craig Brown
Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest by Wade Davis
The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin by Masha Gessen
Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle by Thor Hansen
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
The Old Ways by Robert MacFarlane
Inside the Centre: The Life of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Ray Monk
Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius by Sylvia Nasar
Winter King: Henry VII and the Dawn of Tudor England by Thomas Penn (Allen Lane)
The Better Angels of our Nature by Steven Pinker
The Spanish Holocaust by Paul Preston
Strindberg: A Life by Sue Prideaux
Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie

The winner will be announced on 12 November. More info:

Official release: The 2012 Prize

Guardian article: Rushdie memoir heads Samuel Johnson prize shortlist

>92 deebee1: Right, deebee. The only performance I missed out on was the production of Julius Caesar by the Royal Shakespeare Company that was set in sub-Saharan Africa, which closed on Saturday, and I'll be able to see two NT performances that I wasn't expecting to get tickets for.

>93 Linda92007: Thanks, Linda!

#94 I've only read Thinking, Fast and Slow but it was excellent. Also potentially interested in the Putin book.

Tonight's theatre review:

This House by James Graham (National Theatre, 18 Sep 2012)





(Apologizes in advance for any incorrect statements about the British system of governance.)

This country doesn't need a constitution, never has, never will. We have History as our guide. In tough times, the British do what we have always done. We muddle through.

This House, the only new play in the National Theatre's autumn season, premiered at the Cottlesloe within the NT this evening, and is based on the crisis in the British government in the mid to late 1970s, when the Labour Party held a razor thin edge over the Conservative Party, but needed to obtain the votes of smaller parties to achieve an absolute majority in Parliament (sound familiar?). The first scene opens in early 1974, as the Labour Party has just come into power after forming a government from a hung Parliament, in which no one party has a majority of Members of Parliament (MPs). The Tories concede power somewhat graciously, as they are convinced that the minority government formed by Labour won't last a month. However, the center-left party, thanks to a hard assed party leader who is able to keep his members into line and a Deputy Whip who can reach out to all MPs, including those from the opposition, is able to achieve just enough of a margin on legislation brought before Parliament to hold off a vote of no confidence in Her Majesty's Government.

The members of the Labour and Conservative parties maintain a spirited but largely agreeable tug of war under long standing gentlemen's rules until May 1976, when the Labour Party was able to find a previously unaccounted for MP, who broke a tie in a vote to remove it from power. Pandemonium broke out, as MPs from either sides wrestled and threw punches at each other, and one Conservative MP went so far as to grab the ceremonial Mace and swing it at his enemies.

From that point forward the parties became bitter enemies, as the Conservatives were fueled by their leader, a fierce and unyielding woman from Finchley who took over leadership of the Conservatives in 1975 and became the new Prime Minister in 1979 once the Labour Party led government was overturned, four and one half years after they had ascended to power.

This House takes place almost entirely within the chambers of Parliament, as the audience is seated in a smaller version of the House of Commons and the Sergeant at Arms announces each MP upon their entry onto the set. The action was fast and furious, and I was only able to keep abreast because I had read the excellent programme in advance, which was essential for this American to understand what was happening. Although the play is a work of fiction, it closely follows actual events during that time, and anyone familiar with Parliament during that time won't need the assistance that I did. This was another superb NT performance, which was conducive to the small setting in the Cottlesloe Theatre, and for me it was both entertaning and educational.

I bought a signed copy of Joseph Anton, Salman Rushdie's new memoir, at the London Review Bookshop this afternoon, after I picked up the copy of Communion Town I had ordered online from Foyles earlier this week; it was the only book from the Booker Prize longlist that I hadn't bought yet. Oddly enough, Foyles didn't have any copies of Joseph Anton at its flagship store on Charing Cross Road, even though it went on sale today. I also bought several more books from Foyles; unfortunately I somehow managed to leave them on the 38 bus to Clapton Pond as I traveled from Bloomsbury to Islington to get a hair cut. I presume that I'd be more likely to have tea and scones with Queen Elizabeth than to reclaim those books, so I'll count it as a loss and go back to Foyles later today (it's just after 1:15 am here). I placed Communion Town in my bag, so I still have it. Fortunately the Foyles bag contained nothing other than those four or five books, so nothing irreplacable was lost.

>98 kidzdoc: Bummer about your lost books. Maybe you just inadvertently blessed some poor soul with some good reading. Glad your signed copy is safe!

>99 avidmom: Right, avidmom. Of all the things I could have lost (passport, iPad, National Theatre ticket?) this was pretty low on the list. I should be able to get these same books again today, and hopefully someone will enjoy the books I left behind.

Goodness Darryl, your seeing great plays, great museums, reading outside, getting terribly sick, buying and losing great books, what a spectacular trip so far. Hope you're feeling better.

I am anxious to read Joseph Anton. So sorry that you lost your signed copy, Darryl. Yesterday our area's public radio station had a brief preview of an interview they conducted with Salman Rushdie, which will air next week. Just that little bit was fascinating.

Yes, I'm very interested in Joseph Anton too, although I saw an hour long documentary about this incident in Rushdie's life about a year ago (on PBS) and so I wonder if there will be anything new. It was pretty comprehensive. Did anyone else happen to see that show?

I listened to a long interview with him on BBC Radio 4. He's all over the place!

>101 dchaikin: Thanks, Dan. I'm feeling decidedly better today, my last full day in London. I did make return trip to Foyles, to re-purchase the books I bought and left on the bus yesterday. And, yes, they are here with me! I found all five books, and another one I've been looking for in the US for a couple of years (the first book on this list):

The Chip-Chip Gatherers by Shiva Naipaul: Yes, he is the younger brother of V.S. Naipaul, who was a recognized author in his own right before he died of a heart attack at the age of 40. This was his second novel, which won the Whitbread Prize in 1973; I had been looking for this book and his debut novel, Fireflies, for a couple of years in the US.

Restoration by Rose Tremain: This is the prequel to Tremain's latest novel Merivel: A Man of His Time, which was longlisted for this year's Wellcome Trust Book Prize, so I wanted to read it first.

The Colour of Milk by Nell Leyshon: A novel about a farm girl in the 1830s, which received several good reviews and was mentioned as a possible candidate for this year's Booker Prize longlist.

District and Circle by Seamus Heaney: This is a poetry collection that I had been looking for in US bookstores for quite a while, without success.

Mo Said She Was Quirky by James Kelman: A 24 hour look into the life of an ordinary but quirky young woman in London.

Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria by Noo Saro-Wiwa: A recently published book by the daughter of Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Nigerian writer and political activist who was executed by the Abacha regime in 1995.

I started the day with a trip to the Tate Britain, but decided to view the free collections there instead of the Edvard Munch and Damien Hirst paid exhibitions that I had planned to see. After that I bought a pork belly with cracklings and Brambley apple sauce sandwich at Roast to Go in Borough Market for lunch, then made a fruitless effort to go to the Olympic Park on the DLR (Docklands Light Rail), which continues to confuse me to no end. That was followed by a much more worthwhile trip to the Twinings store on the Strand, which has been in the same location since 1706, to pick up loose leaf tea, as it is quite superior to the bagged tea available in the US. From there I went to the National Portrait Gallery on Trafalgar Square, to see a recent collection of award winning portraits, but the museum was very crowded at that time and I decided to pass on going. From there I took a bus to Foyles, and I'm now sitting in the Caffe Nero on Southampton Row that is close to my hotel.

I'll drop off my loot, finish packing (I did most of that this morning), and then go to North Sea Fish Bar for one last meal of fish & chips before I call it a night.

>102 Linda92007:-104 Actually I didn't lose my signed copy of Joseph Anton, as I was reading it at the time I got off of the bus. I'll resume reading it on tomorrow's flight from Heathrow to JFK, which will also include two train rides from there to Trenton, NJ, where my parents will pick me up. I'll stay with them, just north of Philadelphia, until next Wednesday, when I'll fly back to Atlanta. I may have to work next Thursday, but if not I won't go back to work until the following weekend.

I didn't hear about that PBS show about Rushdie and the fatwa that Ayatollah Khomeini pronounced upon him. With any luck it will be on one of the PBS stations this week or next, and I'll look for the NPR and BBC Radio 4 interviews of him at that time.

Sorry about your lost books! Hopefully someone will actually enjoy reading them instead of hawking them on ebay. Having had my wallet lifted in London on the first day of a bank weekend, yes, this is small potatoes.

Rushdie has been making the rounds of the talk shows. He was on with Jon Stewart last night and Charlie Rose the night before. Just mentioning this so you can watch the interviews online when you return.

Great list of bookpicks! District and Circle is lovely, as Heaney always is, IMO. I hope you enjoy Restoration, which is one of my favorite historical novels.

Yes, I saw Rushdie on Jon Stewart too. I'm going to look up the Charlie Rose interview. I often play his show on my kitchen computer while I'm cooking.
Darryl - the PBS documentary was about a year ago, so it is probably in their archieves. I can't remember if it was on a particular program, or separate in itself. It was really interesting though.

The Rushdie interview that I mentioned was not by NPR, but rather by Joe Donahue, a local interviewer who is usually quite good. Once it has aired next week, you will be able to find it online at wamc.org on The Book Show. He has had some interesting authors lately, including Umberto Eco and Martin Amis.

Checking in after some time away to discover there were over 70 posts on your thread to catch up with, so in my world you had a very compressed and busy vacation! Hope your ears don't bother you on the return flight after your cold.

A great haul of books and although it was irritating for you, I love the idea of someone coming upon your Foyle's purchases on the bus, and it making their day.

Is Kelman's young woman English? It's difficult to imagine him writing a main character not speaking with a heavy Glaswegian patter.

I have so enjoyed your posts from London. Great stuff Darryl.

I'm back in the US, after a long trip from London to JFK to my parents' house in the Philadelphia suburbs (train, plane, train, train, train), which went like clockwork until my mother's new Volvo unexpectedly had a break down. Despite the cold and asthma attack I had a great time, and I look foward to returning to London next spring.

>106 Cariola: Right, Deborah. Losing a wallet or passport would have been far worse.

I read the first 125 pages of Joseph Anton on the flight yesterday, and it's wonderful so far. The UK edition has roughly 650 pages, so I should finish it by next week at the latest.

Needless to say Rushdie and his book were very well covered in the UK this week, and I brought back at least three or four articles from the Guardian and the Observer that I haven't read yet.

I'll read District and Circle soon, probably this week. Does the title refer to the London Underground lines?

I suspect that I won't read Restoration or its sequel Merivel until sometime next year. I had planned to read the books on the Wellcome Trust Book Prize longlist, but I quickly gave up that goal once I realized how many other books I had planned to read over the remainder of the year.

>107 Nickelini: Thanks for mentioning the PBS documentary on Rushdie, Joyce. I did find this link, in which Bill Moyers interviewed him on his show Faith & Reason:

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/faithandreason/portraits_rushdie.html

Here's the link to his interview on the Charlie Rose Show:

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/12558

>108 Linda92007: Thanks for clarifying the Rushdie interview on The Book Show, Linda. I'll look for it next week, and I'll listen to the Martin Amis interview about his new novel Lionel Asbo: State of England, which I bought last week.

>109 SassyLassy: Actually the flight from Heathrow to JFK yesterday was the most relaxing of the 10 transatlantic flights I've taken since 2007. I slept for nearly 5 hours, as I had a great seat (exit row in the middle of the Boeing 767-400 series on Delta), which had unlimited leg room) and everyone around me was quiet. I was grateful that I wasn't seated next to the obnoxious young Scottish women I stood next to at baggage claim at JFK, one of whom loudly complained that the plane was "too quiet". If I was operating an airline I would seat teenagers and post-adolescents at the rear end of the cabin, behind closed doors.

I'm not sure if the young woman in Mo Said She Was Quirky is Glaswegian or not. A quick flip of the book doesn't have any obvious Scottish dialogue, similar to How Late it Was, How Late or Kieron Smith, boy. Hmm...I was certain that I had read at least one book by James Kelman, but apparently I haven't.

>110 baswood: Thanks, Barry. I'll take it easy today and tomorrow, but I'll probably go to Philadelphia on Sunday and NYC either Monday or Tuesday, so I'll probably find something interesting to do in the next few days.

Darryl - Here is the documentary I told you about re: Salman Rushdie. It was originally made by the BBC (I told you I saw it on PBS, but I now think it was likely the CBC). Anyway, here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-71XyNMzHY

It's very good, but it's an hour and a half. After seeing this, I'm not sure I need to read his memoir.

I just downloaded Joseph Anton and will probably start it in about a week. Rushdie is the main reader.

>113 Nickelini: Thanks, Joyce! I'll definitely watch the video after I finish Joseph Anton. I'm nearly halfway through, and it continues to be enjoyable and interesting overall. It's quite the tome, though; the UK edition is 636 pages in length.

>114 Cariola: I'll be interested to get your thoughts on it, Deborah. BTW, the book is told in the third person, a technique which I don't believe I've seen before in a self written memoir.

I spent most of a gorgeous sunny day reading outside in downtown Philadelphia. I went to the Barnes & Noble just across from Rittenhouse Square and bought two poetry collections by the new U.S. poet laureate, Natasha Trethewey, Thrall, her most recent book, and Domestic Work.

From the Better Late than Never department:

The winners of this year's American Book Awards were announced by the Before Columbus Foundation last month in Berkeley, CA.

The American Book Awards were created to provide recognition for outstanding literary achievement from the entire spectrum of America's diverse literary community. The purpose of the awards is to recognize literary excellence without limitations or restrictions. There are no categories, no nominees, and therefore no losers. The award winners range from well-known and established writers to under-recognized authors and first works. There are no quotas for diversity, the winners list simply reflects it as a natural process. The Before Columbus Foundation views American culture as inclusive and has always considered the term “multicultural” to be not a description of various categories, groups, or “special interests,” but rather as the definition of all of American literature. The Awards are not bestowed by an industry organization, but rather are a writers’ award given by other writers.

ANNIA CIEZADLO, Day of Honey: A Memoir of Food, Love, and War (Free Press)

ARLENE KIM, What Have You Done to Our Ears to Make Us Hear Echoes? (Milkweed Editions)

ED BOK LEE, Whorled (Coffee House Press)

ADILIFU NAMA, Super Black: American Pop Culture and Black Superheroes (University of Texas Press)

ROB NIXON, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor (Harvard University Press)

SHANN RAY, American Masculine (Graywolf Press)

ALICE REARDEN, translator, Ann Fienup-Riordan, editor, Qaluyaarmiuni Nunamtenek Qanemciput: Our Nelson Island Stories (University of Washington Press)

TOURÉ, Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness? What It Means to Be Black Now (Free Press)

AMY WALDMAN, The Submission (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

MARY WINEGARDEN, The Translator's Sister (Mayapple Press)

KEVIN YOUNG, Ardency: A Chronicle of the Amistad Rebels (Knopf)

EUGENE B. REDMOND: Lifetime Achievement Award

The award ceremony will take place on October 7 in Berkeley.

I own Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness and The Submission. I started to buy Ardency yesterday, but held off for the moment. Kevin Young is a professor of poetry at Emory, so I'll pick this up soon. I'm unfamiliar with the other books, so I'll check them out in the near future.

It's quite the tome, though; the UK edition is 636 pages in length.

The audio version is over 27 hours.

I watched the Charlie Rose interview yesterday. Rushdie says that, in hiding, he had to create this other person who wasn't really himself, living a life that wasn't really his--which may explain the third person narration.

Interesting list! I'm not familiar with any of these titles.

>117 Cariola: That makes sense, Deborah. I'll watch that video sometime this week, or early next week. He'll also be the guest on The Tavis Smiley Show on PBS tonight.

>118 rebeccanyc: Several of the poetry collections look interesting, especially The Translator's Sister, What Have You Done to Our Ears to Make Us Hear Echoes? and Whorled, in addition to Ardency. I'll look for them when I go to San Francisco in November.

Thanks for posting the link to the Charlie Rose show in post 111.

The Bill Moyers series Faith & Reason has some other worthwhile interviews too. I watch the the episode with Margaret Atwood about once a year.

#117 - A 27 hour audio book--yikes!

The shortlist for this year's Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books was announced today:

Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer: An exploration of human memory.

My Beautiful Genome by Lone Frank: A personal perspective on human genetics.

The Information by James Gleick: The story of information and how it is used, transmitted and stored.

The Hidden Reality by Brian Greene: An examination of parallel universes and the laws of the cosmos.

The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker: An assessment of the decline of violence in history and its causes.

The Viral Storm by Nathan Wolfe: An exploration of the world of the virus.

The winner will be announced on November 26. More info, including links to the first chapter of each shortlisted book:

http://royalsociety.org/awards/science-books/shortlist/

BTW, here is the longlist, which was announced in June, along with comments from the judges:

Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer
“A jaunty and engaging exploration of the human memory”

My Beautiful Genome by Lone Frank
“A refreshingly honest dive into the nature-nurture debate.”

The Information by James Gleick
“An original concept that changes your view of the world and the way information has shaped it.”

The Hidden Reality by Brian Greene
“A clear and compelling account that unveils extraordinary parallel worlds and our place within them.”

The Two Kinds of Decay by Sarah Manguso
“A moving, almost poetic insight into the world of modern medicine.”

The 4 Percent Universe by Richard Panek
“A beautifully written account of what we’re made of – and what we’re not.”

The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker
“An important and original book expounding on mankind’s relationship with violence.”

The Address Book by Tim Radford
“A captivating journey through our place in the universe.”

Pricing the Future by George G Szpiro
“A surprisingly fascinating insight into the world’s financial markets.”

Race? Debunking a Scientific Myth by Ian Tattersall and Rob DeSalle
“An important subject ripe for discussion in a scientifically reputable way.”

The Folly of Fools by Robert Trivers (also published in the UK as Deceit and Self Deception)
“An original exploration of the place of self deception in the human animal.”

The Viral Storm by Nathan Wolfe
“This book takes a potentially terrifying subject and successfully makes it both readable and optimistic.”

>121 Nickelini: I'll have to look for the Bill Moyers interview of Margaret Atwood.

I finished Joseph Anton earlier this morning. A proper review will follow later today or tomorrow, but I'll give it 4 stars for now. Some thoughts about the book:

It mainly covers the 12 years in which he was under police protection in England after the fatwa that Ayatollah Khomeini ordered was announced, starting on Valentine's Day in 1989 and ending in late 2011. He does describe his early life in the first portion of the book and his early work, particularly Midnight's Children. He doesn't describe The Satanic Verses in great detail, nor the segments of it that raised such ire in the Muslim world.

I thought his use of the third person to describe "Joseph Anton", the code name he gave the London Metropolitan Police, was unique, effective and appropriate, since the life heled during the fatwa was so foreign from normal. As I may have mentioned previously, he came up with this name on the request of the police, using the first names of two of his favorite authors, Joseph Conrad and Anton Chekhov.

His first wife, Clarissa Luard, comes off well in this book, as does his third wife, Elizabeth West, despite the tension and extreme stress their relationship was under during the suffocating conditions while he was "imprisoned" under police custody in England. His second wife, the author Marianne Wiggins, is repeatedly skewered by him, and is portrayed as a mentally unstable pathological liar who is vain, untrustworthy and devious. His fourth wife, Padma Lakshmi, also comes off badly in this book. I'm eager to read their comments about him and the book.

Overall, the book was a very enjoyable one despite its length, and it reads more like a novel that an autobiography, particularly in its use of the third person. Rushdie is not a modest man, to say the least, but he rarely fails to be interesting, witty or appropriately provocative.

Interesting. I look forward to the "proper review", Darryl.

>125 kidzdoc: Years ago I read Evidence of Things Unseen (about radiation and the atomic bomb) in an online group with the author (Marianne Wiggins). She didn't seem warm but she didn't seem as Rushdie described her. She introduced things with an essay about how she came to write the book and included this passage that referenced him:

It's impossible for me to know what direction my work would have taken after {her previous novel, John Dollar}, if my life hadn't been pinned to the headlines when my husband, Salman Rushdie, volunteered to accept the protective custody offered to him by the Thatcher government five months after The Satanic Verses was published. A work of fiction and a writer's life were suddenly the subject of global news; and the innate power of the written word was yet again being debated among governments. Had I not been on the inside of that story, would I have chosen to follow John Dollar with a book of limericks or a story about shopping? I don't think so. I had pretty much taken on Big Subjects before my husband became one. But following on the lessons learned from experiencing that event from the inside, I felt a responsibility to stay in the arena of history, in whatever subjects I might choose. It was almost as if I felt an obligation to stay with the big themes, the topics which, once having made the headlines, continue in their after-lives to alter history. I really do believe it is the obligation of literature to bring the difficult subjects to light, to hold the readers gaze and ask the reader to look at something difficult and painful and not turn away. And to try, as best as one can, to bring unexpected beauty and compassion to that experience. To bring hope.

#125 It has also been my experience that wives/partners numbers 1 and 3 are pretty good, but he needs to get to number 5 to get the absolute best.

The finalists for this year's National Book Awards have been announced

Fiction:
Junot Díaz, This Is How You Lose Her
Dave Eggers, A Hologram for the King
Louise Erdrich, The Round House
Ben Fountain, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
Kevin Powers, The Yellow Birds

Non-Fiction:
Anne Applebaum, Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956
Katherine Boo, Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
Robert A. Caro, The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 4
Domingo Martinez, The Boy Kings of Texas
Anthony Shadid, House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East

Poetry:
David Ferry, Bewilderment: New Poems and Translations
Cynthia Huntington, Heavenly Bodies (Southern Illinois University Press)
Tim Seibles, Fast Animal
Alan Shapiro, Night of the Republic
Susan Wheeler, Meme

Young People's Literature:
William Alexander, Goblin Secrets
Carrie Arcos, Out of Reach
Patricia McCormick, Never Fall Down
Eliot Schrefer, Endangered
Steve Sheinkin, Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon

More info: http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2012.html#.UHae8JG9KSM

The winner of this year's Nobel Prize in Literature is Mo Yan.

Eager to read the new Anne Applebaum when it is published; surprised by Mo Yan.

I wasn't surprised by Mo Yan, but I would have been surprised if Haruki Murakami had been chosen.

I'll definitely read Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out this month, probably next week. I've just purchased the Kindle version of The Garlic Ballads, which is on sale at the moment for $3.59 in the US; Kindle Prime members can borrow it for free.

ETA: Four other Kindle books by Mo Yan are currently on sale for US customers: The Republic of Wine ($3.03), Shifu, You'll Do Anything For a Laugh ($3.49), Big Breasts and Wide Hips ($9.99) and Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out ($9.99). I purchased the first two books now, as I suspect that the Kindle price will increase very soon!

The Appelbaum sounds interesting; it comes out on Tuesday in the US. I'll read all of the fiction finalists, although only one or two this year, and I own the Boo and the Caro from the non-fiction list. The Martinez looks interesting, so I'll plan to get that, and I'll look at all of the poetry collections later this month or in November.

The shortlist for this year's Wellcome Trust Book Prize has been announced:

Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by Mohammed Hanif
Perfect People by Peter James
Merivel: A Man of His Time by Rose Tremain
The Hour Between Dog and Wolf: Risk Taking, Gut Feelings and the Biology of Boom and Bust by John Coates
The Train in the Night: A Story of Music and Loss by Nick Coleman
Circulation: William Harvey, a Man in Motion by Thomas Wright

The winning book will be announced in November. I've read the Wright, and I own the Hanif, the Tremain, and the Coates.

Shortlist

I didn't realize that Anne Applebaum had a new book coming out so when I saw the list, I looked it up at the library, saw it was on order and put it on hold. Pretty excited to read it.

I'd like to try something by Mo Yan also. Hoping there will be several reviews of his work for the Reading Globally theme.

kidzdoc, I'll be interested to see what you think of the Diaz stories. I read one in The New Yorker and was rather irritated with the narrator. The slang also didn't work for me though I'm not the best judge of that.

>134 DieFledermaus: Appelbaum's book looks interesting, but I'll wait for others to read and review it before I get it.

I'll bring Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out to New Orleans next week, as I was already planning to read it this month.

I'll probably read This Is How You Lose Her next month. I enjoyed his two previous books, Drown and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, although it took three efforts to read and appreciate the latter one.

I think I'm lost...

The winner of this year's Booker Prize will be announced in London tomorrow. Unlike last year there are several good candidates for the award, including Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel, The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng, and Umbrella by Will Self, the bookies' favorite. I've set up two threads in the Booker Prize group for people to vote for their favorite book from this year's longlist or shortlist, including a shadow jury for anyone who has read all six books. I didn't finish Umbrella, so I'll allow anyone who has read at least five of the six shortlisted books to cast a vote. The other thread is for anyone who has completed at least one book to tell us what their favorite novel was. Everyone is invited to participate!

Shadow Jury thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/143176

Your ranking, please thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/143177

>136 mckait: *hands Kath a searchlight*

:D Always enjoy your thread, Darryl!

Thanks, Akeela! I've been in quite a book funk over the past 3-4 weeks, so my reading has gone downhill lately.

Hate those book funks! Not that you asked for advice, but my recommendation is to find something easy to read by someone whose other books you've enjoyed, and to find short books to read.

>141 rebeccanyc: Right, Rebecca. I'm currently reevaluating what books I'm planning to bring with me to New Orleans tomorrow. NW by Zadie Smith will definitely make it, along with The Opium War by Julia Lovell. I've enjoyed what I've read of The Satanic Verses so far, but I'll probably leave it here. I'll look at my other recent purchases and acquisitions, and possibly bring one other book, along with my Kindle.

Breaking news: Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel is the winner of this year's Booker Prize.

142 > And how long are you going to be NOLA? Don't forget to sample the restaurants and the music, and the art museum is pretty special (at least it was before Katrina).

Yay! Bring Up the Bodies is a worthy winner!

>144 janeajones: I'll be there from tomorrow until the following Wednesday, primarily to attend the National Conference & Exhibition of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) at the Morial Convention Center, which runs from October 19-23. I'm pretty familiar with the city, as I lived there for several years. The hotel I'll stay at is just across the street from Mother's Restaurant, which is well known for its po' boys and Creole cuisine, so that will be the first place I hit tomorrow afternoon. I'm also planning to go to Central Grocery for a muffaletta, Café du Monde for beignets and chicory coffee, Dooky Chase's for fried chicken and red beans & rice, Aunt Sally's for praline, K-Paul's for whatever fiendishly delicious Cajun dishes that Paul Prudhomme is serving, and possibly the Camellia Grill for one of its sinful hamburgers. Several friends from medical school or residency will also be going, along with a couple of my newer colleagues at work, so we'll probably go out for dinner every night while we're together there. I'd love to hear some live music at Tipitina's, but the performances start too late for us to make it to the early morning conference sessions. I'll have to see what's on at the New Orleans Museum of Art (which is in City Park, from what I remember) and what else is going on in the city, especially on Thursday and Friday.

>145 RidgewayGirl: I agree!

Sounds like your New Orleans trip will be very tasty. Hope you get out of the book funk soon!

Your roster of New Orleans eateries brings back fond memories. Enjoy the "debris" at Mother's and have a Turbodog or two.

Mother's has a great breakfast too, especially their biscuits. We discovered that when we stayed near there in April. I already knew about their po-boys.

I haven't been in New Orleans since the very beginning of the 80s, and I had a great time because I had a friend who came from there and her brother, who still lived there, took us to all the places the non-tourists go to.

>147 DieFledermaus: Thanks, DieF! I'll hopefully get a fair amount of reading done over the next three days, but I probably won't read anything during the four days of the conference. I'll only bring two books with me, Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out by Mo Yan (I enjoyed the first few pages of it) and The Opium War by Julia Lovell. I'll have my Kindle with me if I manage to finish those two books.

>148 StevenTX: Well done, Steven! I had just written a message on my 75 Books thread about debris po' boys; I'll copy it here.

A po' boy, short for poor boy, is one of the two sandwiches that New Orleans is well known for (along with the muffuletta, which was created at Central Grocery Company in the French Quarter). It consists of seafood or meat stuffed into a long loaf of French bread; typical po' boys are oyster, shrimp, roast beef and ham. The roast beef is cooked for hours in a rich sauce, and a debris po' boy consists of roast beef along with the drippings that are left in the sauce. It's incredibly messy but very tasty:



My favorite, though, is Mother's oyster po' boy:



I'll check into my hotel room soon after 4 pm, and I'll head to Mother's after I've settled in.

I had no idea what a Turbodog was, so I had to look it up. It's a dark brown ale made by Abita Brewing Company, which began operations after I left New Orleans in the early 1980s. I love dark ales, so I'll definitely give it a try (hopefully Mother's has it in stock). Thanks for mentioning it!



>149 arubabookwoman: Thanks, Deborah! I didn't know that Mother's served breakfast, so I'll definitely stop there at least once, especially if they have good biscuits (hopefully served over sausage gravy) and grits.

>150 rebeccanyc: Exactly, Rebecca. I remember that the orientation guide for incoming freshmen at Tulane specifically advised students to avoid the well known places such as Antoine's and Galatoire's, which served mediocre food at outrageous prices to unsuspecting tourists. Several of my classmates, including my girlfriend, were from New Orleans, and I had three sets of relatives who lived there, so I learned about some of the good neighborhood places to get cheap but very tasty meals, such as Dooky Chase's Restaurant. There was also a restaurant on Tchoupitoulas Avenue in Uptown that we used to go to frequently, but I can't remember what it was known for or where it is. My hotel is on the corner of Poydras and Tchoupitoulas, so I'll have to see if I can find it tomorrow or Friday.

One of my pediatrician buddies went to Tulane, and one of my classmates from medical school is from Louisiana; both will be at the conference, and the three of us will probably serve as tour and restaurant guides for the others. I'll also meet up with my old college roommate for lunch, who I haven't seen in over 30 years.

Will you have time to attend the conference? You have a lot of eating to do!

Yes, we went someplace uptown too, but I have no idea what it was called now than more than 30 years have passed. I was convince to eat one (and one only!) oyster there!

omg *salivating*
hope your sessions and socializing meet all expectations!

I arrived in New Orleans yesterday afternoon, and had an oyster po' boy at Mother's last night. I'll meet my old college roommate for lunch in a couple of hours, and then go sightseeing after we part.

>152 RidgewayGirl: You have this trip's priorities in proper order, RidgewayGirl! Only kidding; the job is paying for me to attend the conference, so I have to make a good showing. It consists of hundreds of seminars and lectures, many of which are repeated once or twice, so I won't be in one hall for hours on end, except for the meeting of the Section on Hospital Medicine on Sunday. I'll be in touch with my friends who will also attend the conference, so that we can plan our lunch and dinner meet ups.

>153 rebeccanyc: I think the Uptown restaurant I was thinking of is Domilise's, which is where we would go for oyster and roast beef po' boys when I was a student at Tulane. I'll probably go there tomorrow for lunch.

>154 detailmuse: Thanks, MJ! It promises to be an enjoyable week, with good food and meet up with friends. Hopefully the conference will be worthwhile as well.

The longlist for the 2013 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature was announced in New Delhi on October 16th:

Jamil Ahmad: The Wandering Falcon (Hamish Hamilton/Penguin India)

Alice Albinia: Leela’s Book (Harvill Secker, London)

Tahmima Anam: The Good Muslim (Penguin Books)

Rahul Bhattacharya: The Sly Company of People Who Care (Picador, London / Farrar Strauss and Giroux, New York)

Roopa Farooki: The Flying Man (Headline Review/ Hachette, London

Musharraf Ali Farooqi: Between Clay and Dust (Aleph Book Company, India)

Amitav Ghosh: River of Smoke (Hamish Hamilton/Penguin India)

Niven Govinden: Black Bread White Beer (Fourth Estate/ Harper Collins India)

Sunetra Gupta: So Good in Black (Clockroot Books, Massachusetts)

Mohammed Hanif, Our Lady of Alice Bhatti (Random House India)

Jerry Pinto: Em and the Big Hoom (Aleph Book Company, India)

Uday Prakash: The Walls of Delhi (Translated by Jason Grunebaum; UWA Publishing, W. Australia)

Anuradha Roy: The Folded Earth (Hachette India)

Saswati Sengupta: The Song Seekers (Zubaan, India; will be published by the University of Chicago Press in March)

Geetanjali Shree: The Empty Space (Translated by Nivedita Menon; Harper Perennial/ Harper Collins India)

Jeet Thayil: Narcopolis (Faber and Faber, London)

The shortlist will be announced in mid November, and the winner will be awarded the prize in January. More information about each book can be found here:

http://dscprize.com/global/updates/dsc-prize-longlist-for-2013/

I've read The Wandering Falcon, The Good Muslim, River of Smoke and Narcopolis, and I own Our Lady of Alice Bhatti. All four books I've read were very good, but The Good Muslim was outstanding.

This is the third year for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. Home Boy by HM Navqi won the 2011 prize, and Chinaman by Shehan Karunatilaka won last year's award. The latter novel was published as The Legend of Pradeep Mathew in the US earlier this year.

Thanks for the list. I'm a big fan of south Asian writing and this gives a great look at what's currently out there.

Envying your trip!

Oh, no, not another long list of wonderful books to read. I can't keep up!

Love that list. I'm always looking for a new novel by a writer from this area. And there are half a dozen names there that I'm quite familair with already.

Your thread is making my mouth water :PPP

Have a great time! If you have time to hit the D Day Museum I highly recommend it. I've not much an interest in war, so wasn't expecting to like it that much, but I was blown away. My favorite new restaurant is Cochon on Tchopitoulas almost at the expressway. Another old favorite is Coop's Place on Decatur pretty far down in the quarter - killer jambalaya. We're going down with a friend at the end of the month so your thoughts here are really getting me excited!

>157 SassyLassy: You're welcome, SassyLassy. I haven't checked, but I believe that most of these books are currently available in the UK and US.

>158 catarina1: This book list is very enticing, and I'll have to look at them more closely. I really don't need any more books to read, though...

>159 Cariola: Right, Deborah. I also enjoy South Asian literature, as several of my favorite authors come from that region, which is why I decided to post this longlist. BTW, I read this morning that Man will no longer sponsor the Man Asian Literary Prize; hopefully someone else will choose to support this award.

>160 mckait: I may regret posting these photos after I return to Atlanta next week, Kath. The usual fare just won't cut it.

>161 janemarieprice: Thank you for those restaurant recommendations, Jane! Cochon is a short walk away from the convention center, so I'll recommend it to my friends that will attend the AAP conference once they arrive in town; hopefully we can go there one night in the next week. The rabbit & sausage jamb at Coop's Place sounds delightful, so I'll suggest it to them as well.

I may not have time to go to the museum on this trip, but I'll almost certainly come back to New Orleans next year, especially for a long weekend that isn't enough time to travel elsewhere.

I met my old roommate from Tulane for lunch at Port of Call, located on Esplanade Avenue at the far end of the French Quarter. It is a classic hole-in-the-wall New Orleans neighborhood restaurant, one which you would tend to pass by at a first glance:



He said that their burgers were fabulous, and he was spot on. I had a dressed mushroom cheddar cheese hamburger, which supposedly contained 1/2 lb of meat but looked to be considerably larger; it was definitely one of the best burgers I've ever had. Interestingly, Port of Call doesn't serve French fries, so you have to choose between a salad (which Hank had) and a baked potato (my choice).



Thanks to Steven's recommendation I tried m first Turbodog there, and it was excellent!

I'm salivating......

Their burgers are the best!

Other than Narcopolis, which I've read, The Sly Company of People Who Care, which is on my TBR, and River of Smoke, which I don't intend to read since I didn't like the only Ghosh I've read, I don't think I've heard of any of the books on the South Asian list. Thanks for posting it.

Foodie update: After a haircut this morning I drove to Domilise's Po-Boy and Bar for lunch; this is the po' boy place I remember from my college days, located in Uptown on Annunciation & Bellecastle; Annunciation runs parallel to and is one block away from Tchoupitoulas. It's another tiny and nondescript longstanding neighborhood restaurant that New Orleans is known for, with a hand painted sign at its entrance:



I had another oyster po' boy, mainly to compare it with the one I had at Mother's on Wednesday night. Domilise's version was definitely the superior of the two. This restaurant is on a side street quite a distance away from the downtown area. You could take the Tchoupitoulas bus to get there (as I did as an undergraduate student), but it would be much easier to drive there.

Music! Here's some music from a couple of the best known Mardi Gras Indian bands. First, the Wild Magnolias:

The Wild Magnolias - All On A Mardi Gras Day

And here's a video of the Wild Tchoupitoulas performing with the Neville Brothers:

Wild Tchoupitoulas - Meet De Boys on the Battlefront

The Mardi Gras Indians are groups of local African-Americans who honor and celebrate their Indian heritage by dressing up in costume during Carnival season, and at other festivals during the year. They engage in friendly competition with each other, to determine which group has the best costumes. The Wild Magnolias' best known song, "New Suit", is about the creation of these costumes and the competition between the different Mardi Gras Indian groups. The original song doesn't seem to be available on the YouTube version for mobile platforms, but I did find this version, performed by the band Fat Tuesday:

"New Suit" by Wild Magnolias - Fat Tuesday

>163 janeajones: Looking at that burger is making me hungry all over again!

>164 janemarieprice: I agree with you, Jane. I hadn't heard of it before, but my ex-roomie said that Port of Call was there when we were students. My favorite NO burger joint was the Camellia Grill, but I doubt that it could top Port of Call.

What's your favorite place to get po' boys in the city, Jane?

Thanks for posting the DSC prize longlist, Darryl. I have read and enjoyed the The Wandering Falcon, have a few others on my wishlist, and will certainly look into the rest.

We will shortly be going out for dinner and I am trying very hard to not look at the burger and baked potato!

I wouldn't say I have a favorite in NO. Domilisa's is supposed to be the best, but I've never been there - may have to rectify that this trip. My favorite place is in my hometown - Big Al's Seafood in Houma.

I am definitely hungry

For some strange reason, I offered to pick up burgers for dinner.

>168 Linda92007: You're welcome, Linda. I'll follow the DSC Prize closely from this point on, although I won't plan to buy any of the longlisted books I don't own just yet.

I hope your dinner is enjoyable as my lunches have been the past few days!

>169 janemarieprice: That's good to know. One of my friends that will be attending the conference also went to Tulane, and he mentioned the debris po' boys at Cafe Maspero on Decatur Street, which looks to be a block away from Café du Monde.

Domilise's is really tiny, as you can see from this photo taken from the back of the restaurant:



The fully dressed large oyster po' boy in this photo is identical to the one that I had for lunch:



Thanks again for recommending Cochon. I drove past there on my way back from Domilise's, and it is very close to the Convention Center. I mentioned it to a friend who is also attending the conference, and we'll go there for lunch tomorrow. Have you had their fried alligator or rabbit & dumplings? Both look delightful, as does everything on the menu.

>170 baswood: I think I should get a commission from the New Orleans Convention & Visitors' Bureau for posting these photos and mentioning these restaurants (and Jane deserves a cut as well).

>165 rebeccanyc: Sorry, Rebecca; I missed your book post amongst the food talk! Which book by Ghosh did you read? I've read Sea of Poppies and River of Smoke, and enjoyed them both.

>174 avidmom: I love fried alligator!

I'll have to take your word on it; don't see it on any menus 'round here! Maybe one day I'll get the culinary opportunity .....

#173, Darryl I read The Hungry Tide and, while I though Ghosh created a wonderful sense of place, I felt hit over the head by the ecological message.

172 - I have not had the rabbit dumplings or the fried alligator (which is a delicious dish but not as good as blackened, avidmom). I think we've always gotten the specials when we went and it looks like they rotate the menu fairly regularly.

>176 avidmom: Fried alligator is very tender and tasty, avidmom. Some say that it tastes like chicken, but I think it's quite unique.

>177 rebeccanyc: I haven't read The Hungry Tide yet, Rebecca. I own it, but it's pretty low on my TBR list.

>178 janemarieprice: Jane, we had lunch at Cochon today, as it's a short walk from the convention center. Actually I stopped at Cochon Butcher around the corner on Andrew Higgins Avenue first, as it didn't seem as if anyone was going to join me for lunch. I bought a pork belly sandwich there, then joined friends at Cochon once I realized that they going to meet me for lunch. I had the fried alligator with chili garlic aioli, which was spicy, tender and utterly delightful, along with a slice of chocolate peanut butter cake, which was delightful.

Today is the next to last day of the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) national conference, and I've had a great time, with lectures and seminars that are significantly better than the last conference I attended in 2010, and regular meet ups with 10-12 friends from medical school, residency and work.

Let's see...so far I've eaten at Cafe Maspero on Decatur & Tolouse for lunch on Saturday (roast beef po' boy, red beans & rice), and Restaurant R'evolution on Bienville near Bourbon for dinner last night with four friends from residency, which was mind blowingly good. I had Creole snapping turtle soup with quail eggs, brick oven roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon, sea scallops with foie gras, white chocolate bread pudding crème brûlée, and a perfect single shot espresso. The five of us shared our food with each other, so I had a taste of Death by Gumbo (which contained roasted quail, oysters, Andouille sausage and filé rice in a smoky and rich broth), oysters on the half shell, Cajun striped bass, etc. We ate and chatted for over two hours, and the experience was amazing and unforgettable.

Several of us will go to Herbsaint for dinner tonight, and I'll probably go to Willie Mae's Kitchen with other friends for lunch tomorrow; it's supposed to have the best fried chicken in New Orleans. Nearly everyone who hasn't already left town will leave tomorrow night, so I'll probably just eat a solo dinner at Mother's tomorrow, before my flight leaves on Wednesday afternoon.

It is most appropriate to be discussing The HUNGRY Tide in this thread, I'm certainly not the only one you're making hungry. (note to self - need to get back to New Orleans...)

>180 dchaikin: Definitely visit NO whenever you can make it, Dan. My friends and I had a fabulous time at the AAP national conference, which ended earlier today, but coming here has made me very eager to return ASAP, even though I haven't left yet.

Nadeen & I decided to go back to Cochon for a late lunch; I had the fried alligator again, along with the rabbit & dumplings, which were both heavenly.

I may be traveling to India early next year and the longlist for the 2013 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature is (almost) as tasty as your food pics :) Thanks for posting!

Glad you had a good time :) wish you could stay longer :)

Port of Call was there when I was a student in NO in 1969, so it's really old!

You didn't say too much about Maspero's. It was a favorite lunch spot when I was working in NO--in fact several colleagues and I went there usually once a week on Fridays. However when I was back in NO for a visit about 5 or 6 years ago, I was hugely disappointed. Did not try it again on my trip there earlier this year.

>182 detailmuse: You're welcome, MJ.

>183 mckait: Thanks, Kath! I had a great time in New Orleans, and it won't be long before I go again.

>184 arubabookwoman: My ex-roommate said that he used to go to Port of Call when we were students in the late 1970s, but I never went there. My favorite place to get hamburgers in New Orleans was Camellia Grill on Carrollton near St. Charles.

The red beans & rice and jambalaya at Cafe Maspero were very good, but I was disappointed in the roast beef po' boy that I had there. I hadn't been there before, and one of my friends who attended the conference recommended it. He didn't join us for lunch that day, but I think he did eat there last week. I'll have to ask him what he thought of it. Given all of the great restaurants I went to last week I'm not inclined to go there again.

Loved Camellia Grill too---but I usually got their pecan waffles, whatever time of day.

>186 arubabookwoman: Mmm...I don't think I ever ordered anything but burgers from Camellia Grill.

Darryl - I know you attended a really fabulous conference in New Orleans, and met up with some wonderful people (and I'm sure all sorts of important physician stuff happened), but out of your many posts (here and on FB), this is what I've seen:

"And then we went to ___ famous/fabulous restaurant, where I had ____ (pictures possibly attached)" , and then there would be a flurry of food talk before your post saying, "Next, we went to ___ famous/fabulous restaurant, where I had ____ ."

Are you sure this wasn't a conference for the Food Network?

I had no idea you were a Tulanian! (And arubabookwoman!) I must have retrodden many of your steps. And the restaurant roll-call sounds pretty much unchanged after all these years (I left in 1997; visited last in 2002).

P.S. Oh yes. Kept forgetting to ask: what was your impression of The Doctor's dilemma? I'm afraid I may have missed that post.

185-7 - I've only ever had breakfast at Camellia's as well (though typicall only late night), but my dad reminisces about the cannibal burger they used to have which was just raw ground meat, eww. Maspero's I've always found pretty overrated.

>188 Nickelini: Are you sure this wasn't a conference for the Food Network?

It certainly seemed like that was the case! I didn't post anything about the specific events I attended at the conference, but it was both useful and inspiring, and I came away with a lot of new information and ideas that I'll take back to my work partners.

>189 LolaWalser: I did attend Tulane for a couple of years, but I transferred to and graduated from Rutgers.

R'evolution is definitely a new restaurant, as it only opened in June, and I'm not sure about Herbsaint, but all of the others are well established eateries.

I had forgotten to post a review of The Doctor's Dilemma, so thanks for reminding me. I'll do that later today or tomorrow.

>190 janemarieprice: Cannibal burger?!! I don't remember hearing about it, and I certainly never ate one. I think I may have had breakfast at Camellia Grill a time or two, but I remember it mainly for its (cooked) burgers.

Last Saturday was my first visit to Cafe Maspero, which one of my friends from residency (Tulane grad) recommended. It wasn't bad, but I won't go there again.

Book #105: NW by Zadie Smith



My rating:

Zadie Smith's latest novel is set in contemporary NW London, a section of the capital populated by different ethnic and socioeconomic groups living uneasily and not always peacefully with each other in an area that is less 'up' and more 'coming'. The main characters are four thirtysomethings who grew up in the impoverished fictional council estate of Caldwell: Keisha, a first generation Caribbean who grows up with an overly protective mother, a largely absent father and wayward siblings, and rejects her strictly religious upbringing, her bland relationship with a boy from a similar background, and her birth name to become Natalie, a lawyer who serves poor clients that she is attracted to yet wary of; Leah, Keisha's best friend in childhood, a ginger haired community activist who works alongside Afro-Caribbean women that are jealous of her attractive and seemingly stable African husband; Nathan, a handsome and bright boy who was the heartthrob of Keisha, Leah and most of the girls in school, who is living on the streets alongside other drug addicts; and Felix, a former drug addict with a fierce temper who seeks to reject his former life and companions, in the manner of a crab attempting to escape from a barrel while the others seek to pull him back in.

NW is divided into four parts, each based on the viewpoint of one of the four characters, starting with Leah, followed by Felix, Keisha/Natalie and Nathan, although Natalie is equally present in the last chapter. Their lives are fragmented, isolated and uncertain, in keeping with the instability and occasional danger that surrounds them at home and with friends, on the streets, and in the workplace. Each of them resorts to substance abuse at some point to quell their fears and provide escape from their anxieties, and none find personal satisfaction, not even Natalie, seemingly the most stable and successful of the four characters. The narrative in each section is also fragmented, fluid and at times difficult to grasp, with Natalie's section being the most cohesive and satisfying.

I found NW to be both brilliant and maddening, a book I had a hard time getting into at first, but one I couldn't put down once I did. It is a very modern novel which is simultaneously rooted in a past stream of consciousness technique, which for this reader took away some of the enjoyment of the book and my ability to connect with its deeply flawed characters. It is her most accomplished book since White Teeth, her debut novel, and I suspect that it is a novel that will be more rewarding on a second reading. Although I enjoyed it, I would only guardedly recommend it.

Very interesting and useful review of NW. The setting and characters immediately reminded me of White Teeth, which I read a few months ago and to which my reaction was mixed as well. What I objected to about White Teeth was that it got rather farcical in the second half and full of unbelievable coincidences. NW sounds like a more serious treatment--would you say so?

Interesting review. I really feel I should give Zadie Smith another try, and maybe this is the one to do it with. I really didn't like On Beauty and that's been holding me back. I guess I'll wait for the paperback.

>194 StevenTX: Thanks, Steven. NW is definitely a much more serious and believable novel than White Teeth, although it was occasionally infused with humor.

>195 rebeccanyc: Thanks, Rebecca. I liked White Teeth as a comic novel, but NW is much better written. I didn't like her other novels, The Autograph Man and On Beauty.

Next time you go you might need a passport, what with them seceding and all..

Enjoyed your review of N-W. I am not surprised that you had difficulty getting into the book, because of it's awful cover.

>197 mckait: Kath, I assume you're referring to the secession petitions that have been put forth so far by the residents of 20 states in the aftermath of President Obama's re-election (more info here). The 20 states include Louisiana, but also Georgia, New Jersey and New York.

Maybe it's just me, but these petitions and the other claims against Barack Obama (he wasn't born in the US, he's a Muslim, he isn't "one of us") remind me of the views of racist whites who fled the cities and pulled their kids out of public schools after Brown vs. Board of Education was enforced throughout the country. I'm not ready to give New Orleans to the secessionists or live in a state that has seceded from the rest of the United States (i.e., Georgia, although I harbor no great affection for the place), so I have an alternative idea: why don't we give Montana, Idaho, North Dakota and South Dakota to the Tea Partiers, religious conservatives, and white separatists, and they can all move there and establish their own country and set of rules. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

I like it. Can we just get rid of Florida, too... talk about a problem child..

>198 baswood: LOL, Barry! That was one of the few times that the US cover was better than the UK cover.

>200 mckait: I've never been to Florida, and have no plans to visit the state anytime soon. I do have several friends who live there or are from there, so I'd rather keep it in the US, and relocate those who hate having a black president to Montana. There's plenty of room for them there.

My problem with Florida is that they don't seem to know how to do the whole voting thing..
Someone seems to have lost the instructions.

On a lighter note: I spent most of last week in San Francisco, and met up with several LTers on three occasions there. Our big meet up took place on Friday, which consisted of lunch in San Francisco, visits to four bookstores in SF and Berkeley, dinner in Berkeley, and attendance at a play at Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

Here's a detailed description of the LT meetup, with photos by Zoë (_Zoe_):

Fliss (flissp), Zoë and I met for dim sum at Yank Sing, one of the top dim sum restaurants in the Bay Area. We went to the Stevenson Street location in downtown San Francisco, just south of Market Street between 1st and 2nd Streets, and attempted valiantly to keep up with the endless parade of enticing dishes that were brought to our table every 2-3 minutes. The biggest hit was the honey walnut shrimp (which are in the lower left corner of the first photo, close to Zoë and far far away from both myself and Fliss), although everything was delightful.





After we staggered out of Yank Sing our first bookstore visit was to Alexander Book Company, a nearby general bookstore located on 2nd Street between Market and Mission Streets. I'm surprised that Zoë found this bookshop, as I had never seen it on my numerous previous trips to San Francisco. I left with one book, A Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers, which is a finalist for this year's National Book Award for Fiction.





Zoë and I said goodbye to Fliss, and we took BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) from downtown SF to the Ashby station in Berkeley, where Jennifer (jjmcgaffey) picked us up in her SUV. We then traveled to Black Oak Books, a fabulous store that sells used and second hand books at discounted prices. It was one of my favorite Bay Area bookstores until it moved from its previous location on Shattuck Street, where it had been for over 30 years, to a completely out of the way spot on San Pablo Avenue two years ago. I bought three books there: Nine Lives: Mystery, Magic, Death, and Life in New Orleans by Dan Baum (recommended by janepriceestrada and Whisper1); The Killer of Little Shepherds: A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science by Douglas Starr (recommended by lyzard); and An Anatomy of Addiction: Sigmund Freud, William Halsted, and the Miracle Drug Cocaine by Howard Markel (this was the only book of the seven I purchased yesterday that wasn't on my wish list).

Next, Jennifer drove to the Center Street garage in downtown Berkeley, and from there we quickly meandered to two more Berkeley bookstores. First, the famed Moe's Books on Telegraph Avenue, where we met up with staffordcastle (Shelley). I found two more books from my wish list: The Investigation by Philippe Claudel (recommended by labfs39 and steven03tx from Club Read), and In the House of the Interpreter: A Memoir by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, a sequel to his previous memoir Dreams in a Time of War. Ngũgĩ will be speaking at City Lights Bookstore this coming Tuesday, so I'm very disappointed that I won't be there to see him in person.



Shelley is on my immediate left in this photo, and Jennifer is to her left.

From there we walked to Bancroft Way, on the edge of Cal's campus (the University of California at Berkeley), and visited University Press Books, which specializes in books from various university presses, including the University of California Press. I picked up one more book from my wish list, Power, Politics, and Universal Health Care by Stuart Altman and David Shactman.



That was the last bookstore that the group visited, as it was nearly time for dinner. We went to Angeline's Louisiana Kitchen on Shattuck Street, directly across the street from the Central branch of the Berkeley Public Library, which served authentic Creole and Cajun food. I had crawfish étouffée, Zoë had jambalaya with hush puppies, Shelley ate the buttermilk fried chicken, and Jennifer had the fried catfish. I was pleased to see that Angeline's had Abita beer from south Louisiana (you'll remember the Turbodog dark lager that I had two or three times when I was in New Orleans last month). This time I tried Abita Purple Haze, a lighter brew made with raspberries, which was very good and a nice accompaniment to my étouffée. As we were about to leave to go to Berkeley Repertory Theatre, our waitress informed us that theatre goers were entitled to free beignets; we each had one, and I thought they were the best ones I've had at any place other than Café du Monde in the French Quarter.



We said goodbye to Jennifer, and Shelley, Zoë and I went to Berkeley Rep to see the evening performance of An Iliad, an interesting adaptation of Homer's saga as told by a grizzly and bearded older man, who was alone except for a young bassist posted high above the stage. It was unique, well done and interesting, but the three of us would have preferred a play with more visual effects and characters.

I was exhausted at the play's end, as was Zoë, so we each said goodbye to Shelley, and to each other.

It was quite a day, one I'll never forget! Thanks to everyone who participated, and especially to Zoë for organizing the day and taking photos at our various stops.

>203 mckait: I think the proposed relocation will address most if not all of the voting irregularities in Florida.

Unfortunately we didn't take any photos of Zoë on Friday. However, she, Fliss and I met up on Tuesday in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, and we did take photos there.

At Caffè Greco:



At City Lights Bookstore:



Zoë and I also met on Wednesday night in Berkeley and saw the Chucho Valdés Quintet perform at the University of California's Zellerbach Hall. The 70 year old Valdés has won five Grammy Awards, along with three Latin Grammys, yet he continues to perform and record regularly. The performance was outstanding, with a mixture of the Afro-Cuban jazz he is best known for, along with several jazz standards, including a breakneck version of "How High the Moon" and a superb rendition of Miles Davis's "All Blues", along with a smattering of seemingly original post-bop tunes. He was in fine form, as was his very talented rhythm section, whose solo efforts nearly matched its leader's performance.



I hadn't seen Chucho Valdés perform before, and I don't own anything by him, but I'll pick up several of his better known CDs soon.

Great photo's Darryl. I share your admiration for Chucho Valdes, who is a regular visitor to Marciac.

Food, books, jazz and more food - it doesn't get better than that.

I enjoyed your review of NW, Darryl, despite having little desire to read the book. I thumbed through a copy today and just could not connect with it. I will have the opportunity to hear Zadie Smith speak next month and will wait until then to decide. But there are some authors whose talks I find more interesting than their books. I suspect she may be one of them.

Loved the pictures! Looks like all of you had a fun time in SF.

An interesting review of NW. I have heard a lot of mixed reports about Zadie Smith but White Teeth, which is on the pile, gets consistently high marks.

>207 baswood: Thanks, Barry. I've participated in several LT group meet ups, in NYC, Cambridge (UK) and now the Bay Area, and each one has been enjoyable. Several online LT friends have become personal friends, including Fliss, who I've seen in London or Cambridge (and now San Francisco) each of the past three years.

>28 StevenTX: Thanks, Linda. I also had a hard time connecting with NW for the first 70 pages or so, but the part that concerned Keisha/Natalie pulled me in. I'd love to hear her speak in person, and I plan to read her collection of essays, Changing My Mind, in the near future.

>209 DieFledermaus: Thanks, DieF; we did have a great time.

I loved White Teeth when I read it, as it reminded me of A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul, one of my all time favorite books. NW is a more mature and even work, though.

The winners of this year's National Book Awards were announced earlier this evening:

Young Peoples Literature: William Alexander, Goblin Secrets
Poetry: David Ferry, Bewilderment: New Poems and Translations
Nonfiction: Katherine Boo, Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
Fiction: Louise Erdrich, The Round House

Darryl -- Looks like a great trip to SF. Thanks for keeping FL in the Union -- we do seem to have trouble with the math, but in the end, we stuck with Obama!

>212 janeajones: And many of us appreciate Florida's voters for supporting the President!

Several of us in the 75 Books club have been discussing a springtime meet up in Philadelphia. I've just created a thread in the LibraryThing Gatherings and Meetups group for anyone who is interested in coming:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/145077

My thought is a weekend meet up in mid April, during the 2013 Philadelphia Book Festival. Based on the level of interest expressed so far it could potentially be one of the largest LT meet ups ever!

>212 janeajones: And many of us appreciate Florida's voters for supporting the President!


AMEN!

#213 - Within the realm of possible. I'll try to keep track of this meet up.

The spring 2013 LibraryThing Philadelphia meet up will take place on May 18-19. It looks to be the largest LT meet up to date, as more than 20 people (LTers and spouses) have expressed an interest in going. Feel free to post a message on the meet up thread if you're interested in joining us.

Spring 2013 Philadelphia meet up

I happened to stumble upon the news that the Japanese author Saiichi Maruya died on October 13th at the age of 87. He originally received acclaim for his translations of the works of James Joyce into Japanese, particularly Ulysses and The Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man. He later became a professor of English and a widely respected literary critic before he began to write novels. He won several literary awards, most notably the Akutagawa Prize for Toshi No nokori (The Rest of the Year) and the Tanizaki Prize for Singular Rebellion. At least four of his books have been translated into English, including Singular Rebellion and Grass for My Pillow, a novel about a conscientious objector during World War II, which is one of my favorite Japanese novels. I own Singular Rebellion and A Mature Woman, and I'll plan to read them soon.

Kyodo News: Prize-winning writer Saiichi Maruya dies at 87

Interesting. I don't think I've heard of Saiichi Maruya but I'll have to look out for his books, particularly Grass for my Pillow if you enjoy it that much!

Sad news: the legendary jazz pianist Dave Brubeck died today, one day short of his 92nd birthday.

Dave Brubeck, Legendary Jazz Musician, Dead At Age 91

Even the most casual jazz fan will be familiar with his song "Take Five", from the groundbreaking 1959 album "Time Out" by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. It was set in 5/4 time, instead of the standard 4/4 time signature of nearly all jazz recordings up to that time, and it led to a revolution in both jazz and popular music; the Beatles song "All My Loving" is believed to have been based on "Kathy's Waltz" from "Time Out".

Take Five

Several other songs on that album are also outstanding, including "Strange Meadow Lark":

Strange Meadow Lark

I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to see Mr. Brubeck give a free concert on the Plaza outside of the Winter Atrium at the World Financial Center in NYC sometime in the early 1990s. He was as warm and engaging as I was led to believe, and it will remain one of my favorite concerts and fondest memories.

As it usually does upon the death of a jazz giant, WKCR-FM, Columbia University's radio station, has started its tribute to Dave Brubeck. These tributes typically last for 72 hours or longer, and you can listen to streaming audio of the broadcast online. The station is currently playing his superb album "Jazz at Oberlin", which was performed at Oberlin College in 1953.

WKCR 89.9 FM NY

>the most casual jazz fan
that's nearly me, and Take Five is my first thought with Brubeck. Your links are a good soundtrack for LT catch-up. For maybe a minute, I accidentally had WKCR and one of the youtube tracks going simultaneously and it all together just sounded especially improvisational :)

>221 detailmuse: LOL! So that would be 5/4 on top of 4/4?

As I'm sure you've heard, the WKCR tribute will only last until 9 pm tomorrow. Thursday would have been his 92nd birthday, and I'm sure that the station had a celebratory tribute planned, instead of the remembrance that's currently underway.

WKCR, whenever it performs these tributes, normally plays the artist's entire discography from beginning to end in chronological order, including recordings in which he performed as a sideman. (I listened to WKCR all the time when I worked and lived in NYC.) It's now playing the first recordings of Brubeck as a leader, "Brubeck Trio with Cal Tjader", Volumes 1, 2 and 3. Cal Tjader is a famous vibraphonist, who sounds fantastic on these recordings. I only have two of his albums, "Soul Sauce" and "Stan Getz with Cal Tjader", so I'll have to change that.

Sad to hear of Brubeck's death, but he has left some great music behind for us all to listen to.

>223 baswood: Absolutely, Barry. I've been listening to the Dave Brubeck memorial tribute on WKCR since early afternoon, and most of what I've heard has been completely unfamiliar to me, though very enjoyable. It's available online from the link I posted in message #220. The broadcast is free of commercials, and the only interruption in the music takes place when the DJ briefly announces the songs that have been played every 20-30 minutes, and informs listeners of Brubeck's death this morning and the purpose and structure of the tribute, which will last until 9 pm tomorrow.

I was sad to hear of Dave Brubeck's passing too, but good for him for living a long life. He performed here at the Vancouver jazz festival in 2008. I just turned on CBC Tonic and they're playing 'Take 5' (of course).

I'm impressed that Dave Brubeck continued to perform live for as long as he did. His career spanned for at least 60 years, a feat which very few other jazz artists can match.

RIP Ravi Shankar, the legendary sitar player and the most famous of all Indian musicians, who died yesterday at the age of 92. He was largely responsible for introducing Indian classical music to Europe and North America, and he taught George Harrison of the Beatles how to play the instrument in the 1960s; Harrison can be heard playing the sitar on "Norwegian Wood". His two lovely daughters have also achieved musical fame, the sitar player Anoushka Shankar and the jazz singer Norah Jones.

I saw Ravi & Anoushka Shankar perform together in San Francisco several years ago, and they were outstanding. In the first set, they played alongside each other; the second set featured Anoushka playing sitar with her band, which infused Indian classical music with other musical genres (pop, jazz, Latin music, etc.).

BBC News: Ravi Shankar, Indian sitar maestro, dies

YouTube: Ravi & Anoushka Shankar - Raga Anandi Kalyan

YouTube: Pandit Ravi Shankar - Independence Day Celebrations

YouTube: The Beatles - Norwegian Wood

WKCR-FM, Columbia University's station, will dedicate its programming to Ravi Shankar, in a memorial broadcast that will begin at noon EST today and last until 8:20 am on Thursday. You can listen to it via streaming audio via the following link:


Ravi Shankar Memorial Broadcast from noon Wednesday 12/12 to 8.20 am Thursday

I can't pretend that I've been able to thoroughly catch up on your reading, Darryl, but I did manage to skim your posts on this thread (that's the ever-present danger on LT: that something will take you out of the stream and when you return the stream is so swollen one hesitates stepping into it for fear of it carrying you off and under...!). I saw you read a Nicola Barker but I didn't see your comments so I will have to chase those down. Didn't a whole bunch of CRers, including you, swear you were all going to cut back on purchasing and read more off the TBR? How did that go? :-)

Sad about Ravi Shankar, I heard it on NPR this morning. I think I only have one of the CDs he did with Ashoushka.

Hi, Lois! My reading has slowed down compared to last year, especially in October and November and I seem to be writing far fewer reviews in the second half of the year. I didn't review The Yips by Nicola Barker, but unfortunately I found it rather disappointing; it was probably my least favorite of the seven novels I've read from this year's Booker Prize longlist. I'll plan to write a short review of it, probably in January.

I've purchased 127 books this year, and just under 200 books have entered my home (including books from my Archipelago and NYRB subscriptions that I paid for last year, LT Early Reviewer books, free Kindle e-books (pre-1920s) and gift books). In 2012 I acquired ~370 new books, so even though I've exceeded the target I set for new books (75), I've done much better this year. I'm in the midst of a reading frenzy, as I want to end the year having read more books than I've purchased. I've read 116 books so far, and I should finish two more today, so this goal should be doable if I keep up with it.

I only seem to have one album by Ravi Shankar on my iPod, "The Essential Ravi Shankar" but I'm certain that I also own "The Concert for Bangladesh" (with George Harrison) and a much earlier one that includes a long dedication to the then new state of India. I own "Rise" by Anoushka Shankar as well.

So, as it turns out the The Literature Prize, which was announced after last year's Booker Prize fiasco came to an inglorious end, did not go away as some of us had thought it would, given the strong Booker Dozen this year. According to the prize's web site and the following blog piece in Monday's Guardian, a sponsor for the prize has been found, which will be announced in February. From the press release:

The founders of the Literature Prize are delighted to announce that a sponsor has been secured for their initiative to connect the very best works of fiction with the public. Endorsed by writers of international stature, the prize aims to put great literature at the centre of people’s lives.
The identity of the sponsor will be revealed in February 2013, at which time the Prize will take the sponsor’s name.

The £40,000 Prize will be awarded annually and will be for a work of fiction written in the English language and published in the UK in a given year. There will be no restriction on a writer’s country of origin, nor on the genre of the works considered. The sole criterion will be excellence.

Five judges will be drawn annually from a body of writers, critics and academics immersed in the world of literature, and readers will be offered a selection of books that, in the eyes of these expert judges, represent the very highest level of artistic achievement.

The Literature Prize secures a sponsor

>229 kidzdoc: An interesting goal, Darryl. I had stop buying at library sales a few years ago because I was accumulating at an unprecedented rate (and it was mostly wishful thinking. I was clearly ignoring my human limitations. I'm trying to balance that a bit better these days)

>230 kidzdoc: I'm assuming no restrictions on the writer's country of origin means they will include US fiction (?). If so, they might give the IMPAC/Dublin Award a run for it's money---at least as far as public interest.

>231 avaland: Lois, in past years I would acquire more than half of my books on impulse purchases at my favorite bookstores, bring them back home, and literally add most of them to the pile of unread books, where many of them still sit. This year I did less impulse buying, but I still bought nearly everything that I really wanted to. I'd like to continue to do that, and I'd also like to restrict purchases of books for groups such as Author Theme Reads and Reading Globally, and instead read books that I already own.

I would assume that US authors would count amongst the authors eligible for The Literature Prize, as long as those books are published in the UK. I'm not at all sure about this, but it seems to me that the best US novels are released shortly afterward in the UK, whereas the best UK and particularly Commonwealth fiction (e.g., from India, Sri Lanka, Nigeria etc.) published in the UK takes much longer to be released here in the US.

I would like to see The Literature Prize serve as an alternative to the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. That one is probably my least favorite major international literary award, and it's definitely the one I pay the least attention to; I can't remember who won this year's award! I think this is because the books chosen for the prize are two years old, and especially because the longlist is far too large for me to contemplate or have any interest in. I think that there are 157 books that were selected for next year's longlist, which is just ridiculous. And even the shortlist in past years has had little interest to me compared with the other prizes.

ETA: I had completely forgotten that Even the Dogs won this year's IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, even though I had read this book in 2010. As I had mentioned in The Prizes group I was underwhelmed by this book and I thought it was a curious choice for the award.

RIP Ravi.

A really important musician that opened up the world of Indian classical music for many of us in the West. I know he did that for me. I have a nice 4cd box set of his music called "In Celebration" and I will pay my own tribute by playing it through this weekend coming.

Unforgettable at Woodstock and Monterey.

Yes...gentle journey to Ravi....I would like his thoughts on where he finds himself now....musically :)

233> Is that the one produced by George Harrison? I have 4-CD set somewhere.

234> I imagine he and George are playing up a storm on the other side.

#235 yes it's the one produced by George Harrison and the booklet has some great pictures of Ravi when he was young. It's worth searching out.

>232 kidzdoc: re: the Impac Dublin Award. I have liked all the winners I have read; however, I no longer follow it because of its obvious male bias. I don't have a problem with their nomination process---most are nominated by individual libraries all over the world (2 or 3 per participating libraries, I think, plus i think the committee can add some) -- granted, some of the library choices are mediocre (a few appalling), others have obvious local bias---but, one can find some great reading on those lists if you know how to sift through them. Regarding the winners: I've always found them unusual in some way, often interesting for the way they tell the story, as much as the story itself. The Land of Green Plums, Wide Open, Deniro's Game, This Blinding Absence of Light....

PS: There's a bit of bias towards the Irish also, but then all awards I think have their local biases:-)

I imagine that everyone has heard about today's horrific mass shooting at an elementary school in Connecticut. For those of you who have young children who may have been affected by this event, the American Academy of Pediatrics has a set of online age appropriate resources for parents, teachers and other adults.

AAP Offers Resources to Help Parents, Children and Others Cope in the Aftermath of School Shootings

RIP Jayne Cortez (1936-2012), the African-American jazz poet, author, community activist, and founder of the Organization of Women Writers of Africa. She authored 10 books of poetry, and won several awards, including the American Book Award in 1980 and the Langston Hughes Award for excellence in the arts and letters. She married the legendary jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman at the age of 18, and became famous in her own right, as she created her own jazz band, Jayne Cortez and the Firespitters, in which she read her poems backed by her musicians. I saw her perform in San Francisco in 2007 with her son Denardo Coleman, an established drummer and producer, one night after he played with his father during that year's San Francisco Jazz Festival.

San Francisco Chronicle article: Poet Jayne Cortez makes heady music with Ornette Coleman sidemen (2007 article which describes the two concerts I attended)

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayne_Cortez

Talking About New Orleans
by Jayne Cortez

Talking about New Orleans
About deforestation & the flood of vodun paraphernalia
the Congo line losing its Congo
the funeral bands losing their funding
the killer winds humming intertribal warfare hums into
two storm-surges
touching down tonguing the ground
three thousand times in a circle of grief
four thousand times on a levee of lips
five thousand times between a fema of fangs
everything fiendish, fetid, funky, swollen, overheated
and splashed with blood & guts & drops of urinated gin
in syncopation with me
riding through on a refrigerator covered with
asphalt chips with pieces of ragtime music charts
torn photo mug shots & pulverized turtle shells from Biloxi
me bumping against a million-dollar oil rig
me in a ghost town floating on a river on top of a river
me with a hundred ton of crab legs
and no evacuation plan
me in a battered tree barking & howling with abandoned dogs
my cheeks stained with dried suicide kisses
my isolation rising with a rainbow of human corpse &
fecal rat bones
where is that fire chief in his big hat
where are the fucking pumps
the rescue boats
& the famous coalition of bullhorns calling out names
hey I want my red life jacket now
& I need some sacred sandbags
some fix-the-levee-powder
some blood-pressure-support-juice
some get-it-together-dust
some lucky-rooftop-charms &
some magic-helicopter-blades
I'm not prepared
to live on the bottom of the water like Oshun
I don't have a house built on stilts
I can't cross the sea like Olokun
I'm not equipped to walk on water like Marie Laveau
or swim away from a Titanic situation like Mr. Shine
Send in those paddling engineers
I'm inside of my insides
& I need to distinguish
between the nightmare, the mirage,
the dream and the hallucination
Give me statistics
how many residents died while waiting
how many drowned
how many suffocated
how many were dehydrated
how many were separated
how many are missing
how many had babies
and anyway
who's in charge of this confusion
this gulf coast engulfment
this displacement
this superdome shelter
this stench of stank
this demolition order
this crowded convention center chaos
making me crave solitary confinement

Am I on my own
exhausted from fighting racist policies
exhausted from fighting off sex offenders
exhausted from fighting for cots for tents for trailers
for a way out of this anxiety this fear this emptiness
this avoidance this unequal opportunity world of
disappointments accumulating in my undocumented eye
of no return tickets

Is this freedom is this global warming is this the new identity
me riding on a refrigerator through contaminated debris
talking to no one in particular
about a storm that became a hurricane
& a hurricane that got violent and started
eyeballing & whistling & stretching toward
a category three domination that caught me in
the numbness of my own consciousness
unprepared, unprotected and
made more vulnerable to destabilization
by the corporate installation of human greed, human poverty
human invention of racism & human neglect of the environment

I mean even Buddy Bolden came back to say
move to higher ground
because a hurricane will not
rearrange its creativity for you
& the river will meet the ocean in
the lake of your flesh again
so move to higher ground
and let your jungle find its new defense
let the smell of your wisdom restore the power of pure air
& let your intoxicated shoreline rumble above & beyond the
water-marks of disaster

I'm speaking of New Orleans of deportation
of belching bulldozers of poisonous snakes
of bruised bodies of instability and madness
mechanism of indifference and process of elimination
I'm talking about transformation about death re-entering life with
Bonne chance, bon ton roulé, bonjour & bonne vie in New Orleans, bon

From On the Imperial Highway: New and Selected Poems by Jayne Cortez

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20635

Wow! That's quite a poem! I didn't know about Jayne Cortez before, I'm sorry to say, so thank you for letting us know about her.

240 - Beautiful!

Powerful poem Darryl. The frustration of life in the modern world is palpable along with the hurricane in New Orleans.

Jayne Cortez is new to me - I will explore further.

Darryl - I haven't missed your comments on The Cage: the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers, have I? I am still interested to hear what you thought of the whole thing.

>244 Nickelini:, I had the same thought.