The Library

[PatH]

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 Thirty Day Book Challenge from  Professional Book Geeks. 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!

The Thirty Day Book Challenge:

13. A quote from a book you know by heart:

14. A book you reread every year:

15. A  book with an unreliable narrator:

16. Anthology you love

17. A book cover you love

18. Book villain you actually love

[PatH]

I reread a lot, but nothing every single year.  It would have to be something like a holiday ritual.  Surely no year goes by without my reading some part of the Bible, but there are parts of it I've never read.

There are books I dip into over and over.  One is a poetry textbook, Sound and Sense.  I didn't buy it for a course, but because it was written by a relative.  Working through it made me much better at getting the points of poems, and enjoying the techniques, though I'm still no expert; don't know if I would have passed his course.  But it's full of poems I like, and a good reference book too.

[ginny]

Oh what interesting rereads, we REALLY ought to take somebody else's and read it for the first time? A new challenge?

Oh dear, Rosemary was right, Bill Bryson IS retiring, official announcement to come Thursday. He says in the Telegraph:

"There’s no twitching going on in me at all. I’ve decided to retire . . . for the first time in decades I’ve been reading for pleasure and finding I’m really enjoying it."

Bryson has four children and ten grandchildren and said he is keen to spend more time with his family.

“You only get one life,” Bryson said. “That is pretty evident to all of us. I would quite like to spend the part that is left to me, which I hope is a significant part, but only a fraction, doing all the things I’ve not been able to do.


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/15/bill-bryson-retire-writing/

and if it won't let you read it the Guardian should: "Oh Bill! This isn’t the kind of news we need now. The legendary Bill Bryson, purveyor of funny, insightful, warm-hearted books on everything from travel to popular science, for most of my life to date, has announced his retirement."

The 68-year-old author told Times Radio: “I don’t know how much of this is pandemic-related [but] I’m really quite enjoying not doing anything at all. For the first time in literally decades I’ve been reading for pleasure and I’m really enjoying it. Whatever time is left to me on this planet I’d like to spend it indulging myself, rather than going out and trying to cover new territory.”

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2020/oct/15/bill-bryson-says-hes-retiring-is-he-really-putting-away-his-pen

I don't have his fame or status but I totally understand not having the time for  reading for pleasure and quite frankly I have found some good things about the necessity of quarantine, myself.

Tomereader, my goodness, thank you very much. Yes they are very much classes, all 24 of them, 4 of them  Zoom the rest of them online here. Keeps one busy and engaged. And usually behind in everything trying to catch up. I also got some assistance  on Thursdays from 12-5 from Dana in some of the classes and that has been a big help.

Michael Portillo, whom Rosemary had recommended, has several TV shows on travel, but as they are British they are slow to come here. Or the BBC is prohibiting them. Or the budget asking price is too high. Or something. We have several on travel on PBS but not his. Maybe the new one did you say you're watching him in Spain now, Rosemary?  I think his ones on American rail travel may be on  youtube. I will see what I can find and put some links here. So his new one MAY come here, but I'm watching  his 10 year old series which I had to purchase as they simply are not available here.  I'm now up to 2014.


Here's one. I don't know what Daily Motion is but they have this one: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x446jyj   Here he's going to Scotland. Bad quality film, though.

Here he is on youtube talking about his rail journeys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBQ74XoAg68

Looks like he's still making them, here he is in February of 2020 in Aberdeen!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00xgqxy/episodes/guide

[rosemarykaye]

Good afternoon,

Ginny, I have read about Trump's second golf course coming here. The horror of the first one is neither forgotten nor forgiven by all sensible people in the area. He destroyed a site of scientific interest and part of a nature reserve, and had people evicted from their houses, and/or cut off their water supplies, to build the first monstrosity. And that first one has never been successful but has, I have heard, somehow claimed a massive amount of money from the government under the Coronavirus bail-out scheme for businesses that are struggling. These funds are meant for small businesses and people suffering genuine hardship, so goodness knows what loophole his people found in the terms. I do wonder if golf courses come with huge tax breaks as I can't imagine why he would want to build another one here. Unlike Florida, our weather - especially on that coast - is dreich and damp, with a very frequent haar (thick sea fog) for much of the year. On a nice day it is glorious (well not the bit he has ruined...) but these days are usually in the minority. Golf in Scotland is quite different from golf in England too - in the south it is seen as an exclusive and expensive activity for wealthy businessmen, up here it is for anyone and everyone. I'm afraid the granting of planning permission for this second course is completely down to the corruption of the local council.  I will not bore you all with the politics of it all, but it is not a savoury story. When people opposed the first one (and most residents did) the council argued that they needed something to create jobs. My understanding is that it has created very few of those, and they have not gone to local people. The whole thing stinks.

It's a very damp and dark day here. I went down to the river for a walk, and then wandered round the old graveyard, it seemed the right weather for it. It's interesting (as most are), as the dominant religion in this area would be Church of Scotland (middle of the road Presbyterianism) but amongst the plain, simple headstones there are still some very elaborate and ornate ones. I wonder if it's the graveyard for the entire local population, not just the one church (there is an oldish (but not ancient) church adjacent to the graveyard, but that was turned into a heritage centre quite a few years ago now, and the current church is on the main road - but that building is far from new, in fact it looks contemporaneous with the other one, so I imagine the one down by the river was a different branch, maybe it was the episcopal one. Some of these ornate graves remind me of Roman Catholic ones I have seen in Spain and the south of France. I am listening to The Turn of the Screw on BBC Sounds, It's read by someone called Claire Corbett, and she's terrifically good. I'd not read the book, though I do know the story. She's brilliant at leaving you with ambivalent feelings as to what's really going on - which I understand is what Henry James intended. The graveyard was a good place to listen!

A few weeks ago I found part of a bird's skeleton when I was out walking near Kildrummy (a remote part of Aberdeenshire, mostly farms). I thought it was a skull, and as one of my daughter's housemates is very into taxidermy and generally using things like this in her art, i kept it for her. Madeleine told me yesterday that it is not a skull but a pelvis, but they haven't yet worked out which bird it's from - they're hoping for something more interesting than a pigeon!

I get what Bryson is saying Ginny, but I do wonder if he will be back after he's had a little break - I think he just needs to recharge his batteries. We'll see. Luckily there are plenty of his books that I haven't yet read., nor have I seen the film of A Walk in the Woods.

First Class to Australia!! I have been to Australia, though many years ago. I like Sydney. I don't honestly remember much else about it now. I would love to fly First Class, but I definitely wouldn't pay for it. Australia is a long way from here, but the flight can't be that bad. Anyway, i doubt if I will ever go again.

I recorded a programme yesterday about the history of Westerns. I hope it's going to provide some analysis of the genre, as I think it's very interesting to look at what those films were trying to convey, to Americans in particular. I watched tons of them with my grandmother but of course in those days we just though cowboys good, Red Indians bad. Now of course we know that is all wrong - but I'd like to hear some thoughts about what zeitgeist they were trying to tap into. Of course I intended to watch this programme last night. And of course I instead watched an episode of All Creatures Great and Small followed by one of Doc Martin....

Rosemary

[ginny]

Well the golf course saga is even more disgusting than I thought it was. Thanks for that information.

I hope you are right, on Bill Bryson. I am sure he's tired and maybe after a suitable break he'll want something intellectually challenging, maybe even a short walk involved in some of them. He exhausts me just reading it. Maybe from a new perspective, take a couple of the grandchildren, etc. Anyway I do wish him well, and hope he is OK, as well.

Oh I'd love to hear what the program says about the history of the Western. Maybe it will come here.  My husband loves to watch the old ones. I can tell across the room when a woman comes on screen, the music plays sweetly suddenly starts playing sweetly.

Talking about film, last night Bill Bryson was writing about taking a tour of the Granada Studios. I had not heard of it and he seemed to totally enjoy it, particularly  the set of the exterior of Coronation Street.  It's been closed for some time, I now read.

[PatH]

Rosemary, commercial ventures aren't the only time he behaves that way.  Some time ago, he decided to improve the view on his private property overlooking the Potomac by cutting down a large number of trees on national parkland bordering the river, thus messing up that part of the C and O canal trail, and causing serious riverbank erosion.

If the analysis of Westerns is easy to summarize, I'd love to know what's said.  They don't all deal with Indians, and they are a window of sorts into part of the frontier experience.

[rosemarykaye]

Goodness Pat, when I first read your reply I thought you'd said 'he just doesn't behave that way' - as though you were defending him!  I was starting to worry that I had offended you all!

But I can well imagine that he doesn't pay any regard to anything or anyone in his path, whether that path be business or personal. As I said, he is used to having his way. He must have been a very spoiled child, one in whom such behaviour was encouraged. If we had a council with a bit more backbone and fewer councillors with a desire to line their own pockets these things would not happen. The local press is also appalling - some councillors did in fact try to oppose the first golf course and for their pains they were absolutely vilified in the local daily paper. I am afraid that power in this city is held by a few very wealthy individuals - businessmen - and they pull the strings. I don't think that golf course would have been given the green light in Edinburgh. There were plenty of protests here before the first one was approved, but they were unheeded. Esther Woolfson, who took part in some of them, talks about it in her excellent book Field Notes from a Hidden City.

Last night I watched the first installment of a new drama serial Roadkill. It stars Hugh Laurie (House, The Night Manager) as a Tory politician with a complicated life that is about to get a great deal more complicated. It has been written by David Hare, so should be good. I thought it started quite promisingly, though there were so many plot strands that I decided not even to try to follow them all at this stage. Hugh Laurie has come a long way since his Blackadder days!  And he is also a jazz musician - I saw him interviewed by Jools Holland and he was very interesting.

Granada Studios are - or were - I think in Manchester, and indeed the home of Coronation Street, a serial that has been running almost as long than I have. My grandmother watched it religiously every Wednesday evening, so I was very familiar with the original cast - characters like Ena Sharples, Minnie Caldwell, Len Fairclough, Elsie Tanner, Ken Barlow and Annie Walker are forever engraved on my memory. I have now completely lost touch with it, but it is still immensely popular and in some ways I wish I had kept up with it. You used to be able to take a tour of the studios. Here is what Wikipedia says:

'The Granada Studios Tour operated from 1989 to 1999 and gave the public the opportunity to visit the Coronation Street set and explore other Granada productions. Although such theme parks based on television and film had been successful in the United States, the idea of such a scheme was unprecedented for a British television company. John Williams, head of studio operations at Granada, promoted the project to provide a new revenue stream for Granada, the only television company to embark on such a venture. The park featured a replica of No. 10 Downing Street, and visitors were shown how television is produced, had the opportunity to present a weather forecast and learned about special effects. The main feature of the tour was the set of Coronation Street, which allowed visitors access to the street.'

Rosemary

[PatH]

Westerns are part of our frontier literature, and that reminds me that I never said my choice for a series that everyone should read.  Too late now for any of us who haven't read it, since it's meant for children, but it's good to have read The Little House on the Prairie--the books, not the TV series.  It gives a very detailed description of what it was like being a homesteader in the second half of the 1800s, and the mindset and attitudes of the times.  If you wanted to write a letter in the winter, your first job was to thaw the ink.  If a blizzard came up in the winter while school was in session, the teacher either had to wait it out with the children or find a way to get them home safely when you really couldn't see your hand in front of your face, much less the children you were leading.  I saw remnants of the attitudes in my mother, a totally urban person, and presumably they exist in me too.

[ginny]

That really brings back  memories of my father reading that to me, Pat, thank you for that recommendation.

Bill Bryson regarded the Coronation Street set almost like a shrine. He is a dyed in the wool fan of the show and had lost touch with it and was soon happily surrounded by ladies of a certain age with blue rinse in their hair,  he, happily saying "NO!" and "Really?" and "what happened to..." and catching up on the plot lines. A total fan.

I have never seen it.

What an absolutely gorgeous day today! I was all day with the zoom classes and they kept telling me how gorgeous it was, it WAS. The sky was a bright blue, it was near 80 degrees!!??!! and I sat happily and watched my youngest son who had dropped by,  fixing a bench at the barn. Just a wonderful afternoon.  Here I had dragged all those outdoor plants in and now the lemon trees are shedding leaves like there's no tomorrow.

And they say this winter will be milder than usual. Maybe no snow. I do like one good snow fall. Just to look at.

[rosemarykaye]

Pat - thank you for that recommendation, I have heard a lot about these books but never read them - now I will, if only because the details of life at that time and in that place, and that is what I enjoy about so many of my favourite books (was it you or someone else on here who said they had learned much of what they knew about the world from detective stories and mysteries?  I feel that about writers like Donna Leon - it's the insight into daily life for ordinary Venetians that is so interesting.)

Ginny - I am not sure if you would like Coronation Street. I have no idea if I would like it now - maybe I should get back to it, but it is on several days a week now, though I think they do do a weekly catch up. i would like to see some of the early episodes (indeed they are probably somewhere on YouTube) - I feel they gave another insight into daily life in a northern, working class community - though from what I have read, some critics say that its portrayal was rather dated and nostalgic even in the 1960s. I, of course, had rarely been outside the London suburbs, so i had no idea, Indeed my grandmother and aunt, who were both addicted to it, had probably never been further than the Kent hopfields, and that was a major excursion.

It was a glorious day here yesterday too. I sat by the river and read my Dornford Yates book, Blind Corner, but I have to say that although I did drag myself to the end, it just about drove me nuts. Far, far too much technical detail about digging a shaft to recover buried treasure, endless explanations of which character was on watch at which time and where the others were. in the end I had no idea where anyone was or what they were doing, and the best character by far was Tester the dog (who came through unscathed, in case anyone worries about these things as much as I do).

The story did, of course, also highlight the attitudes of the time - the heroes are a bunch of affluent young men who can afford to drive, in a Rolls Royce, to Austria, carrying with them all manner of obscure tunnelling equipment + crates of champagne (which they drink, quite literally, by the pint - digging being thirsty work, each one is given a pint of it one hour before the end of his shift so that he sleeps well when he takes  his rest time!)  A band of criminals is trying to thwart their attempts to find the long lost treasure - and OF COURSE we are meant to think the heroes are in the right, because they can afford to treat the whole thing as some kind of boy scouts' challenge, whereas the crooks are not only evil, but working class. In fact none of them has any more right to the prize than the others, but when, predictably, our lot succeed, then smuggle the loot back to London (tricking their way through Customs, needless to say - but it's all Jolly Good Sport) and share it between them without a care in the world. And even though they all have property, trust funds, rich parents, etc already.

But the big issue for me was the sheer tedium of all the technical stuff, which felt like it would never end (and the book is only 163 pages). Many people love Yates, so maybe some of his other novels are better, or maybe - as I suspect - this once again proves that I just don't enjoy this style of detective writing, and prefer character-driven plots and more back story.

I decided to have a change, and so have just started Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon Summer, 1956. I remember listening to him reading his work on the radio years ago. I have read some of his other books, but not for a long while. Has anyone else?

Last night I watched the 3rd instalment of Roadkill, the David Hare political drama starring Hugh Laurie and Helen McRory. It's good, though one critic said the dialogue was too stilted and unreal, and showed that Hare is primarily a writer for the stage, where this would have worked better. I'm not sure that's fair about Roadkill, but I did feel that about the film of The History Boys (Alan Bennett) - it is too mannered for a film and works better as a play. In Roadkill Laurie, now Minister for Justice (which is the revenge of McRory, the Prime Minister, as she has discovered that he has just been told he has a third daughter that he hadn't known about, and that she is in prison for fraud), has two of the most irritating adult daughters ever. One in particular is so self-righteous that I want to slap her. I think she is supposed to be Troubled. Maybe I just don't have the patience for all this whining and bad behaviour from an entitled, spoiled, child any more!  Neither of my daughters is watching this, so I can't find out what they think. Laurie's other daughter is almost as bad, chain smokes her way through dinner at her parents' house (even though asked not to) but has 'just come back from the Arctic' where she's been working for Greenpeace as 'I felt the only thing I could do was make a difference'.  My daughter has a friend like this - very rich, provided with very smart flat in a cool part of London, always saying (to my daughter and another mutual friend, both of whom just about make ends meet and have no prospect whatsoever of buying in London) 'oh I do wish I could take a normal job like you two, but I just feel so driven to help people'. My daughter works in a state school, their mutual friend is an A & E (ER) doctor....

I have now listed all the books in this house. Now I just have those in the other house, ie at least 10 times more than I have catalogued so far. But it's fun, if distracting - I keep discovering things and thinking 'oh that looks interesting...' I know, I will never get all my writing done if I carry on like this...

Have a good day all.

Rosemary

[rosemarykaye]

Sorry, first line should read 'because of'

Apologies for all the other typos I haven't found yet!

[Frybabe]

I got away from reading Donna Leon's books, but when I was reading them I used to follow Inspector Brunetti around using maps and the Venice live cams. What fun!

I read part of Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon books but just couldn't get into the rhythm of it. I loved listening to his radio programs, though, and got to see him and his ensemble during his last live tour some years ago. We had balcony seats for the performance. We gals went early and had dinner at the Olive Garden before the performance. For Keillor fans: https://www.garrisonkeillor.com/

What amazes me right now are the number of audiobooks you can listen to through YouTube. Many of them are current authors and a number are Audible books. I have to wonder how many of them have permission to post them. Right now I have my eye on listening to Steven Runciman's The Fall of Constantinople. Runciman, you may recall, wrote the book on the first Bulgarian Empire that I was so taken with. At the moment, however, I am listening to Hannu Rajaniemi's The Fractal Prince with one more to go on his trilogy.

[rosemarykaye]

Thanks for that tip about YouTube Frybabe, I would never even have thought of looking there.

I am getting through quite a few audiobooks on BBC Sounds since I got my wireless headphones. I'm listening to a 1984 drama - Curlew in Autumn - which has the most lovely, evocative theme music (I just wish they said what it was or who composed it when they give the acting credits), and also a a reading of The 39 Steps; coincidentally both are set in Galloway, a fairly remote agricultural area of SW Scotland.

Rosemary

[nlhome]

Oh, The 39 Steps. That would be interesting listening.

[PatH]

Frybabe, I used to be a Keillor radio fan too, but never saw him live, nor read any of his books.  He was remarkable at finding little phrases that were devastatingly accurate.

The 39 Steps sure would be good listening.  The book is quite different from the movies that were made of it.  I was a real John Buchan fan years ago, read all his stories.  They're somewhat corny, but his storytelling craft is excellent.

Rosemary, if you try the Little House stories, don't expect too much subtlety, since they're written for children.  They get more grown up as Laura grows.  And they're hampered by the feeling of the time that you shouldn't have unacceptable or incorrect emotions, so it was hard to express things like jealousy of a sister.
 

[Frybabe]

Is it time to tackle #15: A book with an unreliable narrator?

That could be just about every one of them, I think, because the narrator often holds back necessary information that only gradually dribbles out or becomes apparent. Anyway, I needed some kind of definition, so I found this bit from a Book Riot article by Ellen Martin,  50 MUST-READ BOOKS WITH UNRELIABLE NARRATORS (Nov. 8, 2018).

"A narrator is “unreliable” when we have reasons to doubt the versions of events he or she is presenting to us as factual in a story. Whether it be for reasons of mental instability or self-preservation, we know the narrator isn’t disclosing everything to us, or isn’t telling us the whole truth."

Anyway, I am going to have to think about my choice (s) and why I chose them.

[rosemarykaye]

I have an Unreliable Narrator book - it is Iain Maitland’s Mr Todd’s Reckoning. It is a very creepy psychological thriller set in a heat wave in a shabby suburb of Ipswich (Suffolk). It is absolutely terrifying in parts, and normally I never read anything like this, but my publisher friend sent it to me so I gave it a try, and it is brilliant. The writing is so clever, the tension so palpable. I would recommend it, even if like me you usually like less scary stuff.

[rosemarykaye]

I finished my Garrison Keillor book - Lake Wobegon Summer, 1956 - this morning and enjoyed it a lot. As you say Pat, he is the master of the perfect word or phrase. And although none of my family were ever in the Brethren or anything remotely like it, I still recognise some of the characters he writes about!  In that way, though none other, he is like Barbara Pym - the thing I like most about her novels is the way she pinpoints the little everyday things that people do and say, so that you find yourself thinking ‘oh yes!’

And I read the first few pages of Little House on the Prairie as a sample on Amazon - I was immediately sucked in, but then I started to worry about the poor dog, Jack, having to walk all the way across America, and I had this horrible feeling that he would die en route, so I stopped. I know, I know, ridiculous, but things like that can easily put me off a book. As I’ve said before, I have never read Black Beauty nor seen Dumbo, and I think one viewing of Bambi (at a tender childhood age!) was more than enough...  Pat, should I proceed or not?!

[Frybabe]

Ok, here is my #15.

I am positively going to have to say that Jean le Flambeur, or at least one iteration of him, lies to himself and to others in Hannu Rajaniemi's Quantum Thief and its' two sequels. Le Flambeur is a thief, and by extension a liar.

If you are wondering why I said "at least one iteration", it is because this is a Quantum world. The original le Flambeur has replicated into many with different names and personas. The le Flambeur who is narrating is trying to recover his memory of who he really is which in turn will enable him to repay a debt he owes to the group who helped him escape from jail. Once in a while, the thought occurs that maybe he is still in this Quantum jail and still playing the Prisoner's Dilemma puzzle/game he has been forced to play as part of his reincarceration and possible rehabilitation. He can't really tell, and neither can I.

Quantum Theory is hard for me to grasp beyond knowing what the Schrodinger's Cat mind experiment tried to accomplish, and then there is Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, Quantum Mechanics, and Quantum entanglement, and whatever else Quantum nonsense the physicists have come up with. I would think the whole thing is some kind of joke if it weren't for the fact that some of this seems to actually work.

[PatH]

Rosemary, you can proceed.  Since the books take Laura into adulthood, you know we're going to lose Jack at some point, but he dies of old age in a later book.  It's been a long time since I read the books, but I looked it up to check my memory.

[rosemarykaye]

Thanks Pat - much appreciated!

Rosemary

[ginny]

OH good idea, Frybabe, it's the weekend, let's do.

I had the same foreboding, Rosemary, in that I started the Dance to the Music of Time. I'd like somebody, PatH?  to tell me that our Widmerpool ends up redeemed, because the "coat" incident bothers me and I'm not that far into it. I understand the attitude and the reason for it but is there any reassurance that this might right itself or does the entire book continue this way for a reason?

I have an Unreliable Narrator book - it is Iain Maitland’s Mr Todd’s Reckoning. It is a very creepy psychological thriller set in a heat wave in a shabby suburb of Ipswich (Suffolk). It is absolutely terrifying in parts, and normally I never read anything like this, but my publisher friend sent it to me so I gave it a try, and it is brilliant. The writing is so clever, the tension so palpable. I would recommend it, even if like me you usually like less scary stuff.

This sounds exactly what I am looking for. I will look into it.

I would say it's a tie for me. My favorite series would have to be the Ripley series. You'd not think so but his turn in France in his chateau while continuing his life of pretense and crime on the site with the art world is a masterpiece. I consider it that when you root for the villain to (1) change his ways and (2) somehow stop his decline despite his dastardly deeds and dishonest life, and you and he somehow get inexorably caught up in the circumstances because of his excuses and his lifestyle he doesn't want ruined,  and keep going down. It 's an amazing set of books.  And a lesson for all of us in our times.

 Patricia Highsmith was really some writer. I must read her biography, I have it here somewhere. It was highly acclaimed.

The other one is by the Chocolat author, Joanne Harris, Gentlemen and Players. Another psychological thriller at a boy's school which is an absolute triumph of suspense writing where you side with the teacher who is trying to figure out who or what is doing things, when the narrator is telling you but nobody knows who he or she IS, or IF he or she is even telling the truth.  Wonderful book.

I think I must make it a triple. Ann Rivers Siddons of all people write a pretty much unknown book, at the time MOST unlike her other books, which apparently turned off her normal readers, similar to something Shirley Jackson would write , called the House Next Door,  a real diversion for her, and absolutely haunting.

"Thirtysomething Colquitt and Walter Kennedy live in a charming, peaceful suburb of newly bustling Atlanta, Georgia. Life is made up of enjoyable work, long, lazy weekends, and the company of good neighbors. Then, to their shock, construction starts on the vacant lot next door, a wooded hillside they'd believed would always remain undeveloped. Disappointed by their diminished privacy, Colquitt and Walter soon realize something more is wrong with the house next door. Surely the house can’t be haunted, yet it seems to destroy the goodness of every person who comes to live in it, until the entire heart of this friendly neighborhood threatens to be torn apart."

That's a pretty good review. I haven't read IT for eons, and the narrator MAY not be at fault but I think I'll try it again, too, although I seem to recall some distasteful scenes.

Loved all three of those.

[rosemarykaye]

Ginny - I am just going out so this is unusually short (!) but just to say, so far as I can recall, Widmerpool ends up doing pretty well for himself actually, though I’m not sure how long it lasts.

Pat may well have a better memory of this though. Do watch the old TV series after you’ve finished reading the books - it is wonderful, especially Miranda Richardson as Pamela Flitton and Simon Russell Beale as Widmerpool himself; the entire cast is outstanding.

[rosemarykaye]

Hello everyone - I presume everyone is transfixed by election anxiety? (I must say it is concerning me quite a bit, and I'm not even a US citizen...)

Just popping in to mention what I am reading this week. I have just finished listening to Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome via BBC Sounds, and I loved it. I have other Wharton books on my shelves but I think I have been avoiding them as they looked a bit 'heavy'. I was so impressed with her writing - her descriptions are so fresh, so evocative, and she can give such significance to tiny gestures and few words. I'm still mulling over what I think about the characters. Are we supposed to sympathise exclusively with Ethan?  I'm not sure that I can, but of course I am coming at it from a 21st century perspective.

I am also reading Elizabeth Taylor's At Mrs Lippincote's - her debut novel, published in 1945. It's about Julia, wife of an air force officer, Roddy. She and their young son have been obliged to move to join him in the small provincial town to which he has been posted (the war having just ended) because the Wing Commander thinks men 'settle better if their wives are with them'. Julia tries to be a good wife but is frustrated and bored by her role; she has a vivid imagination and her inner life is with the Brontes and Jane Austen, not the laundry bill and the coupons. They family is living in an old-fashioned house belonging to Mrs Lippincote, who has moved out into a residential hotel to save money. With them is Roddy's cousin Eleanor, a single woman and a teacher at the nearby Montessori school. Eleanor worships the ground Roddy walks on and feels Julia is unworthy and a failure as a wife. In order to 'do something different' Eleanor becomes involved with a local Communist group. Roddy is of course extremely traditional and hates 'commies'. I have just arrived at the point where Julia goes out for a walk one evening simply to do something that is not a part of being Roddy's wife or Oliver's mother. With this I can empathise, as I'm sure many of us can! I remember once going to the cinema by myself during the day when the children were at school, and feeling tremendously rebellious. I don't think I ever told my husband - not because he would have disapproved, but because I wanted to keep it as something for me.

I hope everyone is OK. 

Rosemary

[BarbStAubrey]

Voted and that is that - that is really all any of can do - tired of the drama - and so onward -

Been clearing and clearing and clearing - found things I forgot I had - found other things that brought back memories which meant a call to either my sisters or my children or my grands - Still have the big one, the kitchen - I've only cleared and organized the drawers - all the cabinets with pots and pans, baking equipment, dishes, glassware, on and on, it is daunting and also just as daunting I have not touched the front bedroom where I've stored my sewing, knitting, needlework, calligraphy, stamping, baskets, box making - you name it - I realized pretty quickly, sequestering in place was no problem - I've enough equipment and material in this house to keep me busy for years.

Been trying to sell to Half Price some of my cookbook collection - they don't want them - can't even give them away on the Facebook Sell and Trade - most of mine are not straight recipe cookbooks but are about the area and growing the food and history or personal use for the recipe but even that made no difference - evidently everything is online now - For a bit I thought I would use the books in some creative way but realized I do not have forever and I need to pick and choose my projects - re-purposing cookbooks is just not high on my list and so off to Goodwill they go... if they end up tossing them on a big bonfire at least I won't have to witness the tossing. You begin to see so much of what we valued no longer valued and sorry to say I find myself boxing myself as relevant to only those who understand.

With that a perfect entry to the latest book I've been reading -  Our Kind: A Novel in Stories by Kate Walbert - Each chapter is like a short story about a group of women who have known each other their entire adult life and are now in their late 70s and 80s - I think one is even in her early 90s - The stories take place now but bring in how they thought, treated each other, and what they valued back when they were all busy, middle to upper middle class suburban housewives - little thing that strike a chord like describing one of the women as having given as gifts to all of them her latest needlepoint doorstop - Forgot how much needlepoint we all did and is not now a popular pastime - the needlepoint stores and classes and all the yarn - sure enough during my clearing found a whole huge box of Persian yarn used for needlepoint - looks like it was an activity so many of us of that generation spent hours with before women had an opportunity for a decent job and the men made a decent income that provided for a family - we were also volunteering for all sorts of causes that now are archaic like the Settlement House a place for un-wed mothers to live while pregnant till they had their babies, most were then put up for adoption or we were collecting and making gifts to put under the Church Christmas tree that during the week before Christmas were donated to poor families - we did not yet, have the social services or food stamps of today or even Title X to assure girls had a sports program in school - makes me feel like a dinosaur.

Also found a whole stash of stories written by P.G. Woodhouse for my kindle - currently reading  Aunts Aren't Gentlemen the usual giggles and whoops of laughter while reading -

Also finished  The Old Girls' Network: A funny, feel-good read for 2020 by Judy Leigh - best I can say it is forgettable - not really even cute...!

Last night I did download  The Salt Path: A Memoir by Raynor Winn - anxious to get into it - a couple who lost everything - home, possessions and his health, with only a short time to live and no place to live they take off along one of the paths in Britain that follows the western shoreline and the long walk is filled with new revelations that add to their lives - evidently the book has received all sorts of accolades and prizes for writing in Britain. 

Now to deal with this wayward weather child from up north that is sprawled all over this state - we need Montana or even Colorado to come down here and pick up and bring back home this truant and let them know it is far too early in the fall for their weather child to hit the road and freeze out Texas - at least we all found our coats and jackets for later but this is not neighborly at all to barge into this state in October...

[PatH]

You're right as far as I'm concerned, Rosemary.  Transfixed by election anxiety sums it up nicely.  Personally, I'm in good health and almost nothing is going on.

Barb, it's good to see you.  I've missed you.  Tired of the drama is right.  I voted 11 days ago via a dropbox, and my vote was logged in as received 2 days later.  I can learn online when it gets counted too, but they've only just begun the counting.

P. G. Wodehouse sounds like just the right sort of thing to read just now.  I still find him funny too, even though outdated.

[nlhome]

Oh, Rosemary, I read Ethan Frome so many years ago I don't even want to think about it, and I struggled with the meaning as well. I remember it as being well written, but sad.

Looking forward to the election being over, yes, and hoping there is a definite winner so we can get back to business and get this virus dealt with. So many here think that the COVID hype will end on election day, as if it is only an issue in our country, but we have increasing hospitalizations and deaths in our state.

Meanwhile, I cannot get interested in reading, so I am sorting photographs and reading old newspaper clippings that I saved. I have a stack of photos and articles that I am going to send to people - I can't bring myself to throw them away, so I'll pass on the memories as well as the guilt about disposing of them. Then there are all the letters from my husband when he was in Vietnam....

[PatH]

That sort of sorting is hard, isn't it.

[BarbStAubrey]

nlhome those intimate letters, notes, photos, cards are wonderful to have aren't they - no way could I get rid of family mementos - how about you - are you reminiscing rather than clearing - I even have some archival tissue and photo envelopes to protect and preserve - my plan is to clear the house first and then this winter put all that together and I promised two of my grandsons I would start writing down some of the stories and information I have about deceased family members - two of the grands are interested and say I am the only one with any information and when I go it will be gone - I'm thinking the same with your husband's letters - I hope you have a family member who will keep them and pass them down in your family.   

[jane]

Election and Covid anxiety are high here, too, in NE Iowa.  In addition to the Presidential, we have a very close race for both Senator and House Rep. for this district.

 I'm still in quarantine, having been exposed to Covid a week ago, but feeling ok. 

Ebooks, online shopping & bill paying have been my salvation.

Stay safe and healthy,

jane

[PatH]

You stay safe and healthy too, Jane.  Did you get a chance to vote?  Glad you feel OK.

[nlhome]

Barb, I am reviewing the letters, they are history. I also have my father's letters home to my mom over the almost 5 years he was in the Army during WWII. I think my mom threw a lot of them away, thinking they were too personal, but she kept some. I am coordinating them with a timeline of his service, as she kept a running record of where he was during those years. He took a lot of pictures. I wish I'd known to ask my dad more questions. But, like my husband, he did not talk much about that time of war.

I am taking the best of my pictures from my youth and trying to write stories for my grandkids. My two youngest granddaughters like to be told bedtime stories about me and about their mom, so I told them a lot and they asked me to write some of them down. So, I'm trying, adding pictures as I find them.

Have been listening to A Casualty of War by Charles Todd, for what seems like weeks now. I've had to renew it twice, and I still have 3 hours to go. It's good, just taking a long time to get through.

Jane, hope you get through that quarantine just fine. One of my closest friends is doing that right now, as are two of her adult children and families. I took her a coffee, a book and a scone this morning, left them on the front porch, rang the doorbell and walked away. She waved when she walked out to get them. Usually we chat on that front porch, and it is nice enough today to do that, but, not to be.

[jane]

Yes, I'm doing fine.  I did vote in person the second day early voting opened, so that's been completed for several weeks.

 I'm one of those obsessive people who like to do things as soon as I can when I feel good because at my age you never know how you'll feel the next day!  Being able to do so many things online has been wonderful since I'm here alone now.  My neighbors have also been most helpful. 

Thank you all for asking. 

jane

[Frybabe]

I see Janet Evanovich is scheduled to be at the Midtown Bookstore in Harrisburg on November 4th. It is unusual to see a "name" visiting the area. I have not read any of her books.

Nothing much going on here at the moment. Sad to here that Sean Connery passed away, though. Aside from his James Bond gig, there are so many of his movies that I enjoyed including The Hunt for Red October, Medicine Man, The Name of the Rose, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and The Man Who Would be King.

[jane]

Fry...good to know somebody else doesn't read Evanovich.  I feel like a goof when others rave about Stephanie Plum, I think the main character's name is.  I tried one, but it wasn't for me. 

It's wonderful there are as many authors as there are and so easy to get books for us in the"wop-wops" as my favorite NZ characters say.  {I guess wopwops makes as much sense as the favorite here "boondocks."

jane
 

[Tomereader1]

Need one of or some of you readers to recommend a book/books about Egypt, King Tut, and Ahkenaten etc.  Will be happy with non fiction, or a really good fictional story, or one of each.  I know I read one years and years ago, but can't think of the title or who wrote it.  Is there an author who writes specifically in that genre?
Don't forget to turn your clocks back, and welcome to November.  (can you believe it?)

[BarbStAubrey]

Oh thanks Tomereader I completely forgot about changing the clock - as to books about Egypt - I wonder if frybabe has any up her sleeve although the times of the Romans and early Celts I think are her favorites. If I remember correctly Wilbur Smith wrote several books about ancient Egypt and I'm also remembering Pillar of Fire told from a Slave's point of view.

Jane add me to the list of those who never read Evanovich - was she the one who wrote a few years ago about living on a dollar or two a day like poor people?

I bet Ginny has been without power - My daughter lives not too far and she had no power and they do not expect it back till Sunday - I understand Greenville SC lost power but not for as long as others - The hurricane roared through that area - I think it was called Zeta but not sure.

Son and Daughter-in-law were here today helping me bring things down from top shelves and took a pickup bed full of stuff to Goodwill - He cut down some wayward branches cleared the Garage and made a big repair to my bathroom sink faucet that I thought just need new washers - the day was so perfect in the high 70s so that I had all the doors open with a breeze blowing through the house - instead of a witches broom it was like the end of summer blowing through.

[PatH]

It was Barbara Ehrenreich who wrote about living like poor people.  The book was Nickeled and Dimed: On Getting By in America. 

Janet Evanovich writes detective stories--goofy and funny if you like them, irritating and unlikely if you don't.  (I kind of like them, but they vary in quality.)

[Frybabe]

Tome, most of my Egypt encounters have been documentaries or movies on TV. I did just a few weeks ago buy Adrian Goldsworthy's Anthony and Cleopatra. Maybe I will get a more balanced account of the people and events surrounding them. I think I have more or less neglected them because of all the sensationalized media (a lot of that romanticized) I have run across over the years (including Liz Taylor's and Dick Burton's grand movie).

A book I have not yet read and set in Egypt is Imhotep by Jerry Dubs. This is the first of a four novel time travel series plus he wrote a sequel to the set. Good heavens! I just saw he used to live in Camp Hill, just a few miles from me.

Lindsey Davis, as part of her Didius Falco series, wrote Alexandria. Falco and wife are on vacation and, sure enough, they become involved in a murder mystery with in the Great Library of Alexandria. I have read several books that included the Library, but were more modern day treasure hunting type things, like Steve Berry's The Alexandria Link.

As of now i am caught up on the Jackson Lamb/Slough House series. Another one is due out next year. I have two SciFi books I started, but not far into yet, read some more of A Splendid Exchange, finished listening to Ben Geroud's A Grownup Guide to Dinosaurs and am close to finished listening to a short Brian Green audio about Einstein, etc. The Silk Road audio is waiting until I feel like spend time with the next chapter which is about an hour and a half long.

[nlhome]

Evanovich's books are pure escape. I haven't read one for a while, but I have appreciated them, not having to pay attention with any but the fun part of my brain.