The Library

[Frybabe]

The Library Our library  is open 24/7; the welcome mat is always out. Do come in from daily chores and spend some time with us.

Here's our new Fall Fun Challenge from RosemaryKay:

So -  for those who would like to have a go at this, here are the book prompts for The Bibliophile's Night Out. All you have to do is think of a book to fit each category - and if you can write a line or two about why you chose it, so very much the better!

1. Pre-drinks: a prequel or novella you've read

2. The taxi to town: a book about travel

3. Trying to find a table: a book you didn't like to start with but ended up loving

4. First round of drinks: a first book in a series

5. The dance floor: a book that made you jump up and down with excitement

6. The toilets: a book you wouldn't touch with a bargepole

7. The first to bail: the last book you did not finish

8. The journey home: a book you really can't remember the plot of any more

9. The morning after: a comfort read

I really enjoyed this challenge, and I'm looking forward to reading other people's ideas.

Bellamarie, apparently first day of school here will be Aug. 24. They also have online learning from home as an option. I don't know how they are handling the bus pickups. As for churches, when I went over to feed George's cats this morning I noticed that one of the churches I went by had a sign indicating they are holding services. According to a news article, the Dauphin County Catholic Diocese recently okayed reopening their churches. Some other churches will reopen, but others are holding off for a while yet as best as I can tell.

August is zipping by real fast.

[BarbStAubrey]

Yes, yes, Bellamarie, your sewing masks was a herculean accomplishment - not sure I understand the quilt showing - are they real quilts that can be put on a bed or are they digital designs for quilts - the wording confused me. so nice to hear of your getting together with friends and family

YES frybabe August is nearly over - we had a surprising downpour that lasted for a couple of hours - tra la - I'm thinking we may be beyond the high triple digits - oh they will be with us for awhile - through most of September but I'm thinking they will float just over the 100 mark - also my feeling is most of this social whatever will gradually disappear after the election from what I read here we have not had any new cases in a couple of weeks. The nearby towns are almost back it is just Austin that is being cautious.

Rosemary simple habits that add up and were no longer useful - example, every Thursday without fail I filled up my vehicle and if I was working with someone from out of town then I would have to fill up twice in a week. Well now I'm lucky if I fill up once a month and I really do not need to pay the extra to have a mechanic in my corner who would push through at odd hours oil changes, inspections and unexpected repairs - I like visiting with him but not adding 9 to 15 cents a Gallon to my gas bill -

Getting up in the morning, first thing, before I had coffee or breathed any fresh air I was checking the MLS to see what new came on the market since the day before and what listing had expired - calling lenders and Title companies to check on transactions - had kept my membership to the MLS far longer than necessary, it had become part of my identity - At first I replaced the morning habit checking the news on facebook and a couple of news sites - neither of which adds or subtracts from my life but fills my head with un-necessary negativity.

My walks were late at night if at all since I walked in and out of houses nearly every day - when I did walk it was most often around 11: or after - I'd come home pooped, often too tired to cook so I would stop someplace often adding a glass of wine to my meal - come home plop on the sofa in a dozy state so that I did not come alive again till nearly 10: - did a bunch till around midnight and sometimes after - always in a state of anxiety - then I would go through slow periods where i went to the farmer's markets and cooked but again the anxiety that I 'should' be working on building my business - 

Well all that almost 40 years of habit had to go... and then the biggie - what was my life to be all about other then existing - and so lots of change - I still think there needs to be a book for retirees like the old What Color is my Parachute. A book that gives examples of transferring well honed skills into a new venue that is easier on an aging body.

OK Tomereader - first of all I seldom if ever read one book on any subject - a book is simply one person sharing what they have learned and experienced - I like to have more than one person's input - also I find reading other related concepts opens my eyes to more solutions - then when I find some solutions that work I want to know why the problem in the first place - I'm convinced this so called leaky gut is our bodies reacting to the food that is available today - even shopping a Farmers Market is not like purchasing old fashioned food since very few places sell pure unadulterated seeds and when you find them they are more expensive and for sure not sold in the bulk that even a small local crop farmer needs. 

Second, my grandson learned he has chronic colitis and in the past I had a doctor tell me my bloat was because I had an issue with gluten - I did change my choice of bread and switched to Ezekiel, in the frozen food section - now runs about $5 but worth it not spending all that money on Tums or other digestive aides. I did not go gluten free and kept the pasta, cookies, crackers and muffins going till more recently - As I've aged my body will just not tolerate at all what gave me little grief only a few years ago. 

No more daily coffee - once a week or even less - no more yellow cheese - no more muffins, cookies or pie crust - no more banana even in a health drink - no more ice cream, although home made does not bother me - no more eggs but OK included in a recipe - no more of my very favorite pink grapefruit and no more jam, again homemade does not bother me - no more store bought grapes - they are dipped in something that burns my gut.

And so books... these are on Kindle

Alkaline Diet - Julene Hearn 
Leaky Gut Relief - Mary Anderson
Eat Dirt ( surprisingly good) - Dr. Josh Axe
Hashimoto's Protocol (about Thryoid Symptoms) - Izabell Wentz
The Autoimmune Solution (includes leaky gut) - Amy Myers M.D. 
Clean Eating - Dottie Copps

In Print - both recent purchases and have only started - but I'm impressed

The First Year Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis - Jill Sklar and Manuel Sklar MD
The Alkaline Reset Cleanse - 7 Day Reboot... -  Ross Bridgeford

And finally I visit a Chinese Doctor for many of my issues - a few years back he told me my body was Summer Damp - I've had Bronchitis and Asthma since a baby which in my western mind I think is the Damp but that is me trying to understand, not him - anyhow when I visited him for another issue a month or so ago he noted my bloat - checked my tongue and asked what I've been eating - turns out it was mostly all fall and winter harvest foods rather than summer harvest - e.g. more spinach rather then lettuce and summer squash rather than soups using butternut squash, more fish and beef rather than either chicken or pork etc. looked up the fruit and veggies harvested in summer to get my list, and yes, a difference - I've even lost weight which is a good thing. I do have a few books on Chinese medicine but then that is probably not where you are at... Good Luck...
 

[ginny]

Well for heaven's sake, who knew? I never heard of Persephone and wondered at the name, (back from the dead?)  so I read their website and found:

Welcome to Persephone Books

Persephone Books reprints neglected fiction and non-fiction by mid-twentieth century (mostly) women writers. All of our 137 books are intelligent, thought-provoking and beautifully written and are chosen to appeal to busy people wanting titles that are neither too literary nor too commercial. We publish novels, short stories, diaries, memoirs and cookery books; each has an elegant grey jacket, a ‘fabric’ endpaper with matching bookmark, and a preface by writers such as Jilly Cooper, David Kynaston and Elaine Showalter.

And they have a store in London, and they are like something OUT of a book. Love it, thank you, Rosemary!

I admit to being kind of particular about the binding, paper, typeset,  etc., of my books, so I can't wait for it to come, since it seems they care about such things.

Yes, please do post the Bibliophile questions here, they sound like great fun!

[rosemarykaye]

Thanks Barb, that's very interesting.  I don't think I've ever suffered from your intense work ethic (my husband has more than enough of that for two), but what I find is that now I am not getting up at 7 and being at work before 9, I now am often still under the duvet at that time. I'm not even asleep - I usually wake up around 6 - but I just faff about playing word games on my phone or reading the news when I really do not want to know about it. SO today - even though it is Sunday - I got up by 8, got dressed and went for my walk beside the Dee. Even though it was early, there were quite a few dog walkers, and by the time I was on my way back, far too many self-righteous weekend cyclists, who drive me nuts with their selfish hogging of the path (which has plenty of signs up to remind them 'this path is for EVERYBODY (ie not just you lot)' - so it was good that I went out when i did, it will be much busier by now. I took my book with me and sat on a bench and read for a while - I do feel I pay much more attention when I read away from the house and have few distractions apart from the occasional leaping fish (which I hardly ever see, just hear the plop as they flop back into the water...)

I am going to try to keep this up even in the winter, it is just as lovely down there on a crisp cold morning as on a summer's day.

I'm afraid I have not given up coffee, but I hardly ever eat a ready meal or anything pre-prepared. I do love bread, but I try to ration that and certainly don't have it every day. And I haven't eaten cheese or pastry for years, just because of the high calorie count. Jam, as we know, has no calories at all and also counts as one of your 5-a-day 

Rosemary

[rosemarykaye]

Ginny - isn't Persephone wonderful?

I have been in their shop in Lamb's Conduit Street, it is an oasis of calm, with neat stacks of their peaceful grey books everywhere. If you  order something they may well send you the quarterly newsletter, which has interesting articles and - at the back - details of their events. These are almost always in London, occasionally in the Home Counties, and once - once! - in Edinburgh ( was there, it was fabulous.) I think you'll enjoy just reading about them.

I have read some of the Persephone titles, but there are always lots more I want, and I enjoy going through the paper catalogue and marking it up, even though I have such a backlog of other stuff that I really can't justify buying any more at present. Our libraries have just started to stock a few of the titles - but it is only a few, and none of our libraries is showing the slightest intention of re-opening at the moment (which is slightly odd when even places like swimming pools are going to open again at the end of this month - I am forever suspicious of our cash-strapped councils' secret agendas, and would not be surprised if they end up saying they can't afford to re-open them.)

Some of my favourite Persephones (so far...) are:

The Fortnight in September - RC Sherriff (of course)

Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day - Winifred Watson

Few Eggs & No Oranges - Vere Hodgson

The Diary of A Provincial Lady - EM Delafield

It's Hard to be Hip Over 30 - Judith Viorst

Mariana - Monica Dickens

Miss Buncle's Book - DE Stevenson

The Children Who Lived In a Barn - Eleanor Graham

The Village - Marghanita Laski

The Winds of Heaven - Monica Dickens

People also speak very highly of Dorothy Whipple, but I have yet to read one of hers.

I've almost forgiven Nicola Beauman for refusing to republish Barbara Pym. Almost... She argues that Pym's books show 'no character development' - but I think that is unfair and untrue, and I think she should come straight out and say she just doesn't like them. (Though of course to me that is an inconceivable idea.)

Rosemary

[rosemarykaye]

So -  for those who would like to have a go at this, here are the book prompts for The Bibliophile's Night Out. All you have to do is think of a book to fit each category - and if you can write a line or two about why you chose it, so very much the better!

1. Pre-drinks: a prequel or novella you've read

2. The taxi to town: a book about travel

3. Trying to find a table: a book you didn't like to start with but ended up loving

4. First round of drinks: a first book in a series

5. The dance floor: a book that made you jump up and down with excitement

6. The toilets: a book you wouldn't touch with a bargepole

7. The first to bail: the last book you did not finish

8. The journey home: a book you really can't remember the plot of any more

9. The morning after: a comfort read

I really enjoyed this challenge, and I'm looking forward to reading other people's ideas. The other bloggers I know - or at least the ones who tend to come up with these ideas - are mostly a great deal younger than me, so they tend to choose a lot of Young Adult, Fantasy and Romance genre books. I have no idea what they make of mine (or of the other 'older' blogger I know who often participates - needless to say she and I share similar tastes!)

Rosemary

[ginny]

Oh wonderful! I love it. Can we take one at a time? Being somewhat, I am astounded to see, ancient, I find my "short little attention span," to quote Paul Simon, would relish hearing everybody's take on each one individually and discussing each one.

If we do decide to take them that way, we can put them up in the heading? (For those who don't know, the "heading" is the illustration at the top of the posts which is always there.)

What do you all think? We can get a good many discussions on these, I think?  It will be fascinating to hear what everybody thinks about each.

[ginny]

For instance, to start, what is the definition of these terms:
1. Pre-drinks: a prequel or novella you've read

Novella, short book? How many pages constitute a small book? I looked it up to be sure and was shocked.

A Novella is a short novel or long short story.

EXAMPLES are (!!!!!) A Christmas Carol!!!! Heart of Darkness. Turn of the Screw.  Goodbye Columbus. The Decameron. The Little Prince. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Death in Venice.   Breakfast at Tiffanys. A Clockwork Orange.  A River Runs Through It.  Of Mice and Men.  Jonathan Livingaton Seagul. The Alienist.  The Mist by Stephen King (which WAS originally  in a book of short stories). Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.   More: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=Novella

Can't think of the first Prequel. What is an example of a good Prequel? Maybe one of the 2001 series? I would think a lot of Sci Fi would be nominated here.

I know the novella  I would pick instantly: Ethan  Canin's The Palace Thief.  Although it's included in a book of short stories (which has the same title)  and therefore might not count? If it has to be stand alone then I would pick A Christmas Carol.  Second place:  The Mist or Animal Farm.

 Ethan  Canin came to Furman  to lecture a year or so ago and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute had also sponsored one of those Group Reads of his new book, but I had missed the announcement somehow, and so it was, as I recall, quite sudden for me, and  I did not know he was coming until the very day he appeared and  though I was present, (and a huge fan),   I was not able to switch my schedule around in time to see him.  I was so disappointed  and I just this morning learned that his new one is quite spectacular,  just look: http://www.ethancanin.com/   Where have I BEEN? A new must read!

So does this mean Animal Farm is one? How about The Red Badge of Courage? A short book or long short story.

What do YOU all think?

 What a wonderful fun thing to do! THANK you, Rosemary!

[rosemarykaye]

Ginny - that's a great idea, and no doubt less daunting (doing my blog post for all of these categories took me almost all day - then I had to put the pictures in too! (I have given up trying to put pictures in on this site, I just do not understand it no matter how many times you kindly tell me... )

I would never have thought Breakfast at Tiffany's was a novella!  My choice was Angela Mayer's wonderful (IMO) Joan Smokes, and I know that is a novella because it won the Mslexia Novella Prize!

Rosemary

[ginny]

Oh bless your heart, now I feel guilty. You can put them all in, if you like!!!!

DO put in the pictures, that would add so much!

It's very simple:

1.Right click on the image. If it ends in jpeg then paste it in as you write your post.

2.  Highlight what you pasted in.  Then look  up at the  row of symbols right over the awful emoji's (hahaha) and pick the bottom symbol on the left, as shown here,  directly over the first  smiley face emoji,  choose it, (it will add coding),  hit post my message, and  voila!  Try it?

(If it does not end in .jpeg  or .gif, it won't display, find one which does).

Try it. Everybody try it and report your experiences here.

[ginny]

Why did you choose Joan Smokes? I have never heard of it!

[PatH]

Ginny, I like your idea a lot.  It will make for better conversation.  And I'll have time to get over the blank feeling I always get when forced to come up with categories. 

[PatH]

Just for the record, none of Arthur C. Clarke's 2001 series is a prequel or novella.  It was originally a short story, which Clarke greatly expanded when collaborating on the movie script.  He then turned the movie story into a full length novel, the first of the series.

[rosemarykaye]

Ginny - I was just meaning I thought your idea was much better as it had taken me so long to do the whole thing at once!  Please let's do one at a time!

And I will have another go at pictures - though the ones I was speaking of here were simply the covers of the books I chose when I did the original challenge.

Joan Smokes is a fairly new novella - my friend Sara Hunt, who runs Saraband, a Glasgow-based publisher, sent it to me for review a few months ago and I loved it so much. If you really want to know why I chose it, here's the review I wrote at the time (but absolutely NO obligation to read either the review or the book!): https://sconesandchaiseslongues.blogspot.com/2020/06/joan-smokes-by-angela-meyer.html

Rosemary

[PatH]

Rosemary, I agree with you about Barbara Pym.  Certainly there is character development.  But the comment makes me wonder: surely it's a valid approach to write a very good, perceptive description of a character at one point in time?

SeniorLearn has a big debt to Barbara Pym, since it was a discussion of one of her books that called this site to your attention.

[BarbStAubrey]

Yes, I remember us reading Barbara Pym - wasn't it Quartet in Autumn that we read

Here is what Britannica has to say about the Novella -

Novella, short and well-structured narrative, often realistic and satiric in tone, that influenced the development of the short story and the novel throughout Europe. Originating in Italy during the Middle Ages, the novella was based on local events that were humorous, political, or amorous in nature; the individual tales often were gathered into collections along with anecdotes, legends, and romantic tales.

Some of my favorite authors write Novellas - most of the stories written by Eudora Welty are Novellas, I especially enjoyed Ponder Heart - P.G. Wodehouse Novella The Gem Collector - I was fascinated with the concept of dinner with his characters that James Joyce used to tell his story in the Novella The Dead -  Oh yes, and Cold Comfort Farm is a Novella - and I love James Thurber but unfortunately they list his as short stories I think any of his stories would be a wonderful light and amusing way to start any dinner party.

[Frybabe]

Okay, how about The Hobbit by T. R. R. Tolkien. Tolkien originally began the Lord of the Rings book as a sequel to it, but it appears it took on a life of it's own. Where The Hobbit was intended to appeal mainly to children, the Lord of the Rings ended up being written for a more mature audience. I read them all and also Tolkien's The Tolkien Reader which is an anthology of short stories, poems, and such.

The Hobbit is the story of Bilbo Baggins and his trip with the Dwarves to take back Lonely Mountain from Smaug. When Bilbo Baggins is mentioned or comes to mind, this is the book I remember best.

[bellamarie]

I agree, let's do one at a time with The Bibliophile's Night Out. 

Rosemary, I can't imagine you attempting all of them in one day.  Now that is a true accomplishment!

Thank you Ginny for offering to add them to the heading.  This sounds like fun.  Only once I looked up the definition of prequel, I then went on to sequel, and what is the difference between them, and oh my, I felt like Alice falling down the rabbit hole.  So let me see if I understand this, 

A prequel is a literary, dramatic, or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work.

1. Pre-drinks: a prequel or novella you've read

Surprisingly, it seems Gone With The Wind is considered a prequel.


the sequels  are:

The Wind Done Gone by Alice Randall (2002)
Though this provocative book was presented as a parody (an unauthorized one, to be clear), the Mitchell estate was at first granted an injunction to block its publication. The trust that owns copyright on Gone with the Wind sued to block publication and accused Randall of “wholesale theft of major characters.”

The publisher appealed, and apparently, the First Amendment prevailed. Readers were super mixed about this one!

Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley (2007)
This authorized sequel brings readers back to Tara and picks up the story where the original left off. The reader will once again encounter  Scarlett, Rhett, Ashley, Suellen, Mammy, and other original characters.

Rhett Butler’s People (2014)
Another GWTW-themed novel by Donald McCaig who reimagines the life of Ruth, AKA Mammy, this one is subtitled “The Authorized Novel based on Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind.”

This time it expands on the life of Rhett Butler. The reader gets his backstory and meets the family from which he came.
_________________________________________________________________
And, a prequel novella written as a back story of the character Mammy is called:

Ruth’s Journey by Donald McCaig (2015)
In this prequel, Ruth is as strong-willed as she is in her portrayal in Gone With the Wind, but the author imagines how she gets to be where she ends up — with the O’Hara family, first with Scarlett’s mother Ellen, and then as a servant — really a slave — to Scarlett herself.
https://www.literaryladiesguide.com/literary-musings/4-sequels-prequels-margaret-mitchells-gone-wind/

[Frybabe]

I always considered prequels to be books written after the original, but focusing on events prior to the original. Apparently The Hobbit is considered a prequel even though it was written first.

The fantasy series I am listening to now is chock full of prequels but I haven't read them all yet. The author did an original series then went back and wrote three other prequel series which in total span about one thousand years beginning sometime around the switch over from the Stone Age to Bronze Age in  a British like land. The third of the prequel series (a set of three) is due to start releasing next year). Since I am listening to the books in chronological order, not publication order, I have not yet listened to the original series.

[PatH]

Bellamarie, i was as surprised as you that GWTW is considered a prequel, but I'm not surprised at all those sequels.  It must be a really tempting opportunity.

[ginny]

Well  isn't this interesting? I love all the definitions and the selections offered.  I personally had  thought a prequel was  written by the same author, I did not realize that others could write  prequels. I am not sure why, there are tons of sequels by other authors and I assumed that was because the original author was deceased. Surely there is a copyright issue here? All those authors who get permission from the estate of XXX or YYY so they can use the characters created by another to do  a sequel. I had no idea they also did prequels.  I wonder how that works copyright wise. So I've learned something.

And I like that new definition of the novella, too.

And great choices, here, many of which I have never heard of. I think the reasons for liking something are sometimes more interesting than the book itself, and so hard to choose sometimes. Sometimes it really does depend on where you are in life, how old you are, and what stage  you find yourself in, too, I think. I mean I once thought the ground opened when I first read Arrowsmith, and I'm afraid to touch  it now. Sinclair Lewis's speech is dated now.

OK, since everybody has had a day to give an opinion (and if YOU did not, you can still give #1) let's move on to...


2. The taxi to town: a book about travel I think this can cover anything, including  non fiction essays or travel books or accounts of travel or even accounts of living somewhere other than where you live. I like travel books so I may have to have several contenders here.

I'll just put those up in the heading lest they get lost.

On the Joan Smokes, Rosemary, another one of your great reviews! I took Joan Smokes as her name!!!!!!!!!!! When I read your review I had to laugh out loud, I love that kind of surprise. hahahaa Well she fits right in with the rest of us in the quarantine, all the intentions in the world but here I sit literally eating chocolate chip cookies.  Tomorrow is another day. hahaha

[ginny]

Travel Book: Boy that's a hard one, there are so many great ones out there. We read one here years and years ago about a woman who rode a camel across Australia, anybody remember that one? I remember it because of the cruelty to the nose of the camel for some odd reason, it was a good book but I did not realize that was part of the experience, as I've not had occasion to ride one, and have no plans to, either. hahahaa Anyway, she blew it off and I've not been able to.

That's a tricky category name, too. It could be accounts of living abroad, or fiction trips or stories about people traveling anywhere.

The best book ON travel I ever read I can't remember the title of or the name of the author.  It was a book many years ago by a woman on how a woman could travel alone well in England. It was written when that was somewhat  unusual, it's certainly not now, there are tons of stuff on it.

She made the points that you get two trips when  you travel. You get the first trip when you plan it and research it so carefully. And you get the second trip when you do it, and it's probably totally different from the first, so from all your research an planning you've had the equivalent of two trips.  I like that.

She also recommended for the solitary woman diner The Ivy in London which she said, single or not you get a warm welcome and again she was right or so I found, no matter how many famous people (I had no idea they all went there, maybe it's the wrong Ivy?) there are in there.  I haven't been there in years but when I did go I enjoyed it.

And she's the one who mentioned the bench which sits on the coast of England overlooking France. On the bench are carved the words, "Some day, Ida." I find that touching and hopeful and I hope I've got the name of the woman right, and I hope they both got across the channel some day.

So for those memorable moments she's my pick.

But for the runners up the competition is very stiff!

---Down the Nile: the book written by a woman who rowed a boat alone  all the way down the Nile.  Never read anything like it.

---Anything by Bill Bryson in the travel department.

---The Babbitt sequels. I am sure I have lost my mind because I can't find anything at all on it, but Babbitt has a sequel in fact I think it has 2!!! Didn't he get the Pulitzer for Babbitt? I think he did, but he refused it. Need to look that up.   In Edit: No! He got it for Arrowsmith!!  Maybe I do need to read that again, after all.

 Well he wrote a sequel  to Babbitt where they travel to Europe and it's something else. I didn't like Babbitt, I think I would now, but I liked this one. I think I would have to nominate it but I probably would need to read it again first. I was so surprised to see it. They were, as I recall, the stereotypical  "ugly" Americans abroad and all that entails, with many lessons learned but that's how I recall it, it may not be that at all.

---The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest by Anatoli Boukreev and G. Weston DeWalt  After the tragic deaths in 1996  of so many on Mt. Everest, Boukreev was blamed by the author John Krakauer because he never used oxygen, when actually he saved many  lives. This was his book on it written shortly before his own death on Annapurna in  an avalanche.

[PatH]

As usual, I wait just too long to post.  I'll try not to mess up the flow too much. 

I'll pick the novella Uncommon Reader, by Alan Bennett, which we read here.  While following a runaway corgi, the Queen happens on a mobile library truck.  She politely borrows a book, which starts her on a reading binge, leading to weighty and amusing consequences.  It's delightful.

[PatH]

My runner-up was a pair, Joseph Conrad's Youth, and Heart of Darkness.  Youth is the story of the disastrous sea voyage of a cargo ship hauling coal from England to India.  A long series of disasters deal and hinder things, but the crazy captain never gives up, even when the cargo catches fire, continuing with a smoldering hold.  It ends with the narrator (Marlowe, Conrad's alter ego in his stories) taking over and managing to get the smoldering, falling-apart wreck ashore somewhere.  That doesn't sound funny, but it is, and I enjoyed it a lot.  But although I've seen it called a novella, it's really too short to be one.

Youth is sometimes combined with two other Conrad stories to make a book.  One of these is Heart of Darkness, a highly regarded novella condemning the cruelty and corruption of colonial exploitation of Africa.  I can see exactly what he's doing, the effect he's aiming for and how, but for some reason it totally doesn't work for me; it just seems kind of abstract.

[Frybabe]

Recent books I was quite taken with are Ivan Doig's The Last Bus to Wisdom, although I wouldn't really call it a travel book per se, and Riding the Bus with My Sister by Rachel Simon which is definitely a travel book in more ways than one.

Classic travel books I have read and liked very much: Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer, The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen, and Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon.

This topic is a lot easier for me to answer since it includes so many Science Fiction novels, true histories of explorers, and of course, those wonderful train stories. Oh, and those wonderful Agatha Christie Ms. Marple and Poirot mysteries.

[Tomereader1]

Bryson's "A Walk In The Woods" - - absolutely hilarious, and then to see the movie multiplies the fun!
Don't anyone forget "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" by Rachel Joyce.  Talk about travel; on foot no less!

[BarbStAubrey]

So many different kinds of travel and travel stories - time travel - adventure travel - exploration travel - trail travel by foot or horse - waterways and sea travel - spiritual travel - escape travel - fleeing travel - bike travel - climbing and hiking travel - research travel - vacation travel - travel to a known destination on established paths or through the unknown to a real or a mystical or a legendary destination - and finally the many journeys, sometimes with physical action marking the distance from either self abuse or inflicted abuse or the ultimate for many a soul seeking journey to find love or wisdom. 

Stories not considered travel books but include often a harrowing travel like Dr. Zhivago, first by train and later across miles of desolation - Or The Treasure of the Sierra Madre that includes legends that travels time and trails to find gold, walking for days to bring the gold to market, a map of moral travel with and without the steadying hand of leadership. Or the travels of Bloom and Steven across Dublin in James Joyce's Ulysses - with this thought about books that feature travel under a different genra my favorite is The Trail of the Lonesome Dove.

Adventure travel are many but I can still remember reading from the adult Library when I was only 13 The Travels of Marco Polo - I was as bowled over with the sights and experiences I was reading about as if I was there with him.

For exploration travel The Incredible Journey of Lewis and Clark by Rhoda Blumberg - another 8th grade read.

And I cannot leave out another favorite Full Tilt: Ireland to India With a Bicycle, about an overland cycling trip through Europe, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India by Dervla Murphy

Must include for inspiration and so much truth - Driving Miss Norma: 91-Year-Old Who Hit The Road After Cancer Diagnosis Dies Instead of seeking treatment for cancer, Norma Bauerschmidt embarked on a cross-country trip in an RV with her son and daughter-in-law. The trip lasted more than a year.

[BarbStAubrey]

Oh yes books that I also loved - frybabe's inclusion of Ivan Doig's The Last Bus to Wisdom Talk about a wily way of getting through one scrape after the other - and I loved Tomereader your including The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

[bellamarie]

2. The taxi to town: a book about travel

When I think of the books I have read, that involved travel, the first that comes to mind is Richard Russo's, That Old Cape Magic



That Old Cape Magic is a novel of deep introspection and every family feeling imaginable, with a middle-aged man confronting his parents and their failed marriage, his own troubled one, his daughter’s new life and, finally, what it was he thought he wanted and what in fact he has. The storytelling is flawless throughout, moments of great comedy and even hilarity alternating with others of rueful understanding and heart-stopping sadness, and its ending is at once surprising, uplifting and unlike anything this Pulitzer Prize winner has ever written.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6303733-that-old-cape-magic

Just thinking of this book, makes me laugh, remembering the calamity that took place while Griffin a sixty year old man,  traveling to Cape Cod, with his father's ashes in the trunk of his car, and his mother calling him on his phone constantly, tries to deal with all this childhood/adult thoughts.  The wedding of his daughter was bittersweet and also funny.  It's a feel good book that stays with you a long time.

[nlhome]

1. Novella
I know I've read several, including some of the Christmas ones by various authors. The most recent, however, were by Dashiel Hammett, Return of the Thin Man. I think they were written more as screen plays, because of the success of The Thin Man both as a book and then as a movie.    Return of the Thin Man (2 novellas). I was reading these because of a book challenge in a mystery book club, to read an older mystery.

2. Book about travel. ?  I don't remember an specifically about that topic or centered around traveling.

However, it's fun to read what others submit.

[ginny]

Golly this is like a Pandora's Box, but of good things, isn't it? Those books yesterday I want to discuss and ask more questions on,  because some of them look absolutely wonderful! I'm making a list,  actually. What a wide read  group this is! I am enjoying reading this so much, thank you!!  And thank you,  Rosemary, this is exactly what the doctor ordered.  Speaking of that....

Unfortunately I have one foot out the door to attend  the dreaded  car service  out of town which I have put off and which will find me stuck at the dealers for all afternoon (all day, really,  as I have to leave at 9 am to even get there)  trying desperately not to get coronavirus. I wish you could see my pocketbook which does include a regular can of Lysol spray, masks, gloves, AND wipees. You name it, I'm ready for it,  but at least I am not going to be in a hazmat suit. Though tempted,  I must admit. Staying out in the country  has made me very skittish about this type of thing. And of course it's raining. Naturally it's raining. So much for, upon reentering the car, opening all 4 windows and blasting my way home with fresh air.

So anybody can address any of the first two topics AND discuss any of the books mentioned so far but let's expand today into the new category as well:


3. Trying to find a table: a book you didn't like to start with but ended up loving  Now THAT might be a toughie!

[bellamarie]

Good Morning all...

Ginny, be careful driving in the rain.  You made me giggle imagining you all packed up with your disinfectants, and other things for protection from the virus.  My sister lives in a remote small, rural town and she does tend to feel as you mentioned skittish to go places.  My hubby and I have been going places more and more, and I noticed just Sunday after being at my son's house for the open house/ cook out, I came home and my other son's wife who was hosting her mother's birthday cook out, texted me and said the flower shop her aunt owns in their small town, had to shut down a few days due to a customer calling, saying she had been in the shop and has tested for covid.  Then she proceeds to tell me the high school in this same town has many high school kids testing positive, and many of her daughter's friends who go to college.  So, it really made me stop and think, maybe my hubby and I should settle down a bit, and stay home a little more.  We do take all the things you mentioned, minus the can of Lysol spray, lol.  I asked my dil if her aunt and mother (who works in the flower shop) needed to be quarantined, or my granddaughter, and she said no.  The high school and college kids are also not being told to quarantine.  They have light symptoms, and did test positive for the virus.  Maybe we are in the herd immunity phase.  Who knows?  Anyway, good luck with your venture out today.

It's interesting you mentioned about the copywrite issue of others writing sequels, using the same book characters.  As you notice with GWTW, the Mitchell estate was at first granted an injunction to block its publication. The trust that owns copyright on Gone with the Wind sued to block publication and accused Randall of “wholesale theft of major characters.”  I have no doubt there have been many court battles on sequels, by other authors. 

I remember when the book Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James, came out.  James was accused of using  Stephanie Meyer's storyline from Twilight. There was no court battle, and I am assuming because neither wanted to go through the long drawn out, and financial burden.

Okay gotta run, will be back later to tackle #3.

[BarbStAubrey]

3. Trying to find a table: a book you didn't like to start with but ended up loving ... wracked my brains and cannot think of one - there were some that started out bad and ended with me wondering why I ever continued - till of late I broke out of thinking, that once started you have to finish -

if this counts - I remember reading the Reluctant Fundamentalist because I was in the habit of reading the five top contenders for the Booker - all the way through I was so annoyed and kept asking Why - no one asked him to come to the US for his collage education - he was chosen as a scholarship recipient and all he did was bad mouth the education he received and the school he attended and how it prepared him for a life he did not want or admire - talk about slamming a gift - not only that but his 'free' education could have been bestowed on a student who would have benefited by the wonderful gifted experience... hated the concept therefore the book...   

[rosemarykaye]

I am amazed by how much everyone is developing this topic!  Brilliant - as Ginny said, everyone is so well read!

I wouldn't be surprised if the girl who thought this up wrote her post in about 20 minutes, as many of the younger book bloggers who create these challenges only seem to read YA and fantasy, with a bit of romance thrown in (not that there is anything wrong with any of those) and they churn their posts out so fast that I don't know how they could manage it if they gave it the amount of thought we are giving it! I bet they don't think twice about what a novella or a prequel is - so it's great to have such an in-depth discussion. But I'm glad I also follow the other type of reader, as they really do think up some great challenges. Another one I do sporadically is Six for Sunday - a blogger thinks up a theme for each week, and you can interpret it however you like; one I enjoyed doing was 'Six Favourite Series', and another was 'Books with Wintry Colours' (some of the participants just posted six book covers with winter colours, I myself chose six books with wintry titles or in which winter/snow plays a part (The Woman in White, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Murder on the Orient Express, The Jolly Christmas Postman, A Fatal Thaw, and The Lion, the Witch & The Wardrobe.)

The book I originally chose as one I didn't like to start with but ended up loving was Iain Maitland's Mr Todd's Reckoning, an extremely creepy and well-written psychological thriller. I never ever read things like this, but because my publisher friend sent it to me, I did, and I was so impressed. So I suppose it was really the genre rather than the book that I didn't like at first (and I still rarely read this type of thing, though I made an exception for Maitland's equally outstanding next book The Scribbler.)

I am fascinated to see the variety of choices we have all made. The book you chose, Bellamarie , sounds like my kind of thing, I will look out for it. And I have read The Uncommon Reader, Pat, and loved it. Alan Bennett is a great writer.

Ginny - I know exactly what you mean about being having to go into town - I am quite happy here in my rural bubble, and the thought of going even into the centre of Aberdeen (which is much smaller than Edinburgh) would be quite daunting. It's probably safer than we think, especially with all the precautions you are taking. We had to take our cars into the garage a few weeks ago - it is local, not in the city centre, but the thing I was exercised about was that the mechanics would have touched everything - the steering wheel, the seats, the radio (probably), etc. In the end we just washed our hands thoroughly  when we got home, and sprayed the relevant parts of the car with Dettox.

Bellamarie - the cases that are still happening here are now almost all in the under-40s apparently. Young people are fed up, and they also feel that even if they get it they are unlikely to be that ill with it. I do appreciate that they can still easily pass it on to people who are more vulnerable, but at the same time I can understand that when you are 20, your friends and your social life are so important. My friends are of course also important to me - I suppose it is the way in which we socialise that changes with age, as we are more likely to go for a long walk in the fresh air than hang about in some overcrowded bar at 2 in the morning!

The Scottish government is very hot on tracing contacts of any known cases and telling them to quarantine, but I am not sure how well that can be enforced, it relies on a lot of co-operation - they say most people do indeed co-operate, but there are always some who won't. The last outbreak in the city centre here is said to have been caused by a French offshore worker - who actually had symptoms and had been told to self-isolate - deciding he would rather have a night on the town, and frequenting numerous bars in the centre in one night. The list of bars that might have been infected was unbelievable - they do 'pub crawls' all night, I have no idea where they get the energy or the cash. It is also a particular problem for Aberdeen that so many people come in from all over the place to go offshore, and will usually arrive here a couple of days before they are due to work. Alcohol is completely banned on the rigs, so they decide to have a 'bender' before they go. Offshore workers are all tested before they board the helicopters, but they obviously can infect a load of people in the town before that.

Our weather here is so dire today that I am indeed more than happy to be home and inside. I went down to the river early this morning to avoid the oncoming deluge, and was rewarded by the sight of an otter playing in the water. I was so excited, I have never seen one here before although I knew there was a local population. The only other living creatures around were a few ducks and a couple of keen fishermen standing in the water in their waders.

 Rosemary

[Dana]

for that #3......I'm still at the stage of trying hard to like Wolf Hall.....I hope I can, I hope I can....because the series is supposed to be good and I would like to find a series I can get my teeth into .....BUT....so far I find her to be an irritating writer.  Why for example does she have to keep referring to Cromwell as "he" and never mention his name.  Sometimes I am reminded of translating Latin....who IS the he.....seems an unnecessary affectation of style to me, ...but....I plow on......

[ginny]

 Did you see the movie, Dana? I  saw it first and I think Mark Rylance influenced my concept of the character a great deal so  I saw him populate the character, and Rylance is a very sympathetic  man so he influenced it for me. It DOES start out roughly.

Well that was quite the interesting day and it's not over.  They offered me a "car," when they learned I did not have anybody picking me up as I usually do, as I don't live anywhere near the city,  so I would not have to sit in the waiting room all day (which was what that service and 4 tires was scheduled to take and they were swamped). That was unexpected and really  nice but I hesitated thinking oh heckers I have to spray another car and how  can I do it with nobody seeing me, and  I was sort of hemming and hawing and  he said "it's free," so I thought well HECK, there's no use to be crazy here.  And it's a nice car, a new one, which I sat in forever trying to figure it out. I never did get the hang of the wipers, never did figure out the lights, no manual in the car, but thank God for Wet Ones Wipees, I had found an entire box of them in  my own  car, and it got a good sanitizing on anything touching skin.  AND on top of THAT,  it turns itself off at every stop!!!!!  Every time you stop.  I couldn't understand why it kept "stalling."  I noticed it liked to start when on Park, so I took at the stop lights to flipping it to Park, it acted as if I  had shifted the gear into reverse, so I finally figured out it would start back up  when the brake was released. 

But I had a wonderful day, the big city is staying home so all the stores were empty, in B&N I looked for the Richard Russo book bellamarie mentioned, Cape Fear, was it? I thought it sounded wonderful. Well, I found the Russo shelf, slap against the floor,  as every book I ever want is, turning me into a large ostrich trying to put my head that low, but they did not have it.     Went in the Health Food store for NAC, now recommended to boost immune system,  my GP said take NAC, so I will,  and hope it does not kill me, went in WalMart (act of courage) to get a pot for the Christmas Cactus and just went everywhere. Everybody is masked. Everybody. Even in the Olive Garden where my son and I ate, (he had been going to take me to lunch on his lunch hour so we went anyway) and there was NOBODY in the room but us and the waitress. Prices sure have skyrocketed in compensation, too. In other words, I am like.....who was it .... Rip Van Winkle here, it's been since the first of March since we ate out. I feel out of it, really, but it was fun considering the situation.

It's kind of eerie, though. You can't tell if the stores are  open. I seriously thought the Olive Garden wasn't and everything is covid covid covid and  how they are protecting you.  Scary.

I'm not sure, either,  that the unexpected delights of the day, and they were, are equal to what I've  been enjoying here on the farm, so that's surprising, except of course for seeing my son which is always wonderful.

So I still  have the car, because after the WalMart came THE call at about 3 pm and one KNOWS what that means, and it did. Major expensessssssssss incurred and more work needing doing, keep car and we'll  have it ready tomorrow.

So! I canNOT think of one book I disliked when starting and  loved at the end.  Want to think about that one a bit longer, I usually don't persevere. I am sure there IS one.

Well actually I take that back: Wolf Hall.

I did not want to read  Wolf Hall, disliked the way it started and went on for a bit. Argued against discussing it at all. Put it down. Said I hated historical fiction. Blah blah blah.  Saw the movie, ended up loving the book and  the Bring up the Bodies and The Mirror and the Light.

I was trying to think of an old book club discussion we had to read and I disliked and grew to love and thought of poor Wolf Hall which I had argued at the time OUT of a discussion. Wrong move on my  part.

 And I do want to comment on some of the things you've said here and I love the SIX on SUNDAY, Rosemary, I think we're on a roll here! Brilliant, indeed.

Isn't it enjoyable, though!

[nlhome]

I book I didn't like when I started, turned out I loved? I'm also one of those who quits a book if it doesn't catch my interest. However, "Shotgun Lovesongs" was one I was reading because it was a gift to me, a county "read" that my sister passed on to me and I felt obligated. The premise didn't appeal, until it did, and after I was half way through I was really enjoying reading it. I have recommended it to others who also thought it was very good. (Author: Nickolas Butler)

[Dana]

I didn't know there WAS a movie Ginny!  Might help but I don't know if I want to learn the story that way.

I remember the first time we got one of these gas preserving cars, it was in Italy.  We pulled out of the airportr and it "stalled' at the first traffic light.  Fortunately I was not driving!

[Frybabe]

Is a "gas preserving car" different from a hybrid? Mine is a hybrid. It does seem to shut down if too long standing still, but doesn't actually. I just take my foot off the brake and away we go again. I can go at least twice as long without refilling the gas tank. It does seem to take less gas in the summer than in the winter. I have to be careful about "sneaking" up on people on occasion because it is soooo quiet.

[ginny]

That's a good point. The film is the creation of the people who work on it, and it shouldn't influence perceptions of the book, which ideally should stand alone. Particularly with such a controversial subject like Cromwell and such a likeable portrayal by Rylance. And I have to admit I'm a huge fan of Rylance, so that did color it for me.

I understand they ARE making the  next film now. I do hope they use the same cast because they are the ones I "see" when I read any of the books. Of course the books are fiction, but they do go a long way to present another side (and the scholarly one if you read Diarmaid Mccullough) of the man. 

Nlhome, what is Shotgun Lovesongs about? The title would not appeal to me, either. This category really is a stumper! Let's move on while we're all pondering that one to the next one: 4. First round of drinks: a first book in a series