LizzieD: 2013*12 (December: National Write a Friend Month)

MOST SIGNIFICANT FROM THE THREE QUARTERS OF 2013

The Sisters Brothers
Above All Things
Precursor
Defender
Hotel World
The Brontes: Wild Genius on the Moors
The Philosopher's Pupil
Explorer
Dr Thorne
Cleopatra: A Life
The Shutter of Snow
Life After Life
Master of the Senate
We Are At War
Life and Fate
When We Were Bad
Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume 1: 1884-1933
A Particular Place
The Wasp Factory
Religions of Rome
Embassytown
The Daughters of Mars
The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh

READ IN DECEMBER
11/22/63
Temporary Kings (reread)
High Country
Framley Parsonage
Marking Time
Hearing Secret Harmonies (reread)
The Stuff of Thought

NEW TO MY HOUSE IN DECEMBER
The Goldfinch ✔ - Kindle deal
Korval's Game - AMP
Egyptomania ✔ - ER ARC
The Quiet Twin ✔ - Christmas Gift (Giver says, Go ahead and open it now! I did!!)
The Dovekeepers - Same
Strange Music - Ditto
The Palace of Illusions - Do
The Old Bank House - Virago Secret Santa (Colleen!)
Try Anything Twice - Colleen
Dusty Answer - Colleen
Joanna - Colleen
The True Deceiver - Colleen
Shaman - Kindle Daily Deal
Death with Interruptions - Kindle Daily Deal
The Black Prism - Kindle Daily Deal (I can't seem to help myself --- when a book is involved, I always help myself!)
Happiness and Other Stories - Christmas Gift (Thank you, friend!)
Little Boy Lost - AMP
May We Be Forgiven - Kindle - Christmas money!

CURRENTLY READING

I'm first!!! Yippeee!!!

Too bad I don't have anything else to say right now, really...

Second! Yippeeee!!!

Glad to see you're reading some Trollope.

3rd puts me still in the ribbons!

Also-ran.

I am here too! And not last- yay!
Happy new thread, Peggy, and is that a Xmas LT Book Swap card I see up top? Who's it from? I can't see :(

I'm here too Peggy. Happy new thread!

Looks like all your reads right now are hefty tomes, Peggy. Happy new thread!

I love this place! Where else could I check back and find speakings from Suzanne, Laura, Lucy, Katherine, Megan, Bonnie, and Roni? I haven't a lot to say for myself either except that 11/22/63 pretty much gobbles up my reading time right now. I have made a brave start in the Pinker and am very happy to be following it pretty easily so far. On the other hand, this is my kind of stuff. Thinking about language is a life-long fascination; I might in some other incarnation have been some sort of linguist, I think.
Megan, the topper is a random Christmas card with a note in it from Google Images. I wasn't best pleased with the "write a friend" although it's a LOT better than National Bingo Month, which was the only other choice on the website I used this year.
Roni, I'm also picking up and putting down a Nevada Barr mystery and *Dance 11* and a reread of the first Sector General novel, but I'm not listing them because I don't know which ones I'll stick to yet.
Also I'm wondering about a novel I learned about here at LT but not from any of you all, called Imprimatur, set in late 17th century Rome as Europe waits to see whether Vienna will fall to the Ottoman Empire. I know very little about this period, so I'll have to do a little research, I suspect, if I decide to continue this one now. And that's it for me.

I got one of those darn participation ribbons for just showing up. You'd think they could come up with something more crackling for December, wouldn't you, Peggy?

Happy new thread. It's nice not to make comments on lateness; just embrace the idea the latecommer showed up at all >;-)

Shucks, Tui and Helen, you're both winners as far as I'm concerned.
I just put The Goldfinch on my Kindle for $2.99 - one of Amazon's deals.

>14 LizzieD:: so did I, Peggy! I've been waffling as to whether to read it, but $2.99 ... well, that's too good to pass up.

Happy new thread Peggy!

Laura, I was not a huge fan of Secret History even though I thought it was quite O.K. But for $2.99 - oh yeah!
Thank you, Heather.

Peggy, Those darn deals get me every time. Yesterday for their Cyber Monday deals, they had over 4,000 books at up to 80% off. Between my daughter and I, we snagged 21 books for our kindles.

4,000!?!?!?! I'm glad I looked at only 50 or so - I can't imagine what I might have done otherwise.
Anyway, congratulations, Colleen!

Hi Peggy, happy-last-thread-of-2013! Just here marking my spot, my friend.

Thank you, Nancy. Your spot was certainly reserved!

This is certainly the month when I sometimes do handwrite a few notes to old friends - although - often it gets bumped into January, although this year with NaReSoMo to attend to I may just have to forget about it!

Here! Almost in the first 20 :P
We are definitely not getting Christmas cards out this year. Hoping to send a "Happy Valentines Day from NZ" card in February. :)

Lucy, NaReSoMo is going to be quite demanding, I agree. I have friends who still crank out the typed 2-page annual summary, but I've never been one of those. I'm also fortunate in that my very best friends are the ones from high school, and we stay in touch almost weekly by e-mail.
Jenn, I should hope you would not add Christmas cards to your huge list of things to do while getting ready to emigrate! I say that your friends will consider themselves more than fortunate with a Valentine from NZ!
As for me, I am reading some, but it's hard to comment on..... I am finally into 1963 in 11/22/63 but just barely. So far there's no element of supernatural horror at all although SK seems to demand it of himself with this Jimla business. In another couple of his books (Cujo and Rose Madder) to be precise, he was unable to keep himself from tacking on some supernatural baddies where they were not needed nor wanted as far as I'm concerned.
And I'm in the 3rd chapter of S. Pinker where he is demolishing some theories of thought and language other than his own. These are not so easy to follow, but I'm reading right along.
Here is the writing of Jerry Fodor of MIT, who puts forward a theory of innate concepts of about 50,000 words.....
"The basic idea is that what makes something a doorknob is just: being the kind of thing from experience with which our kind of mind readily acquires the concept DOORKNOB. And conversely, what makes something the concept DOORKNOB is just: expressing the property that our kinds of minds lock to from experience with good examples of instantiated doorknobhood....what I want to say is that doorknobhood is the property that one gets locked to when experience with typical doorknobs causes the locking and does so in virtue of the properties they have qua typical doorknobs."
Pinker adds, "In fairness, this is not gobbledygook; Fodor is making a coherent, if abstruse, philosophical argument (which I will not try to explicate here)."
Right. I am stopped at the first "just." Is it an adjective? An adverb?
Pinker's stuff is a LOT easier to understand!

The supernatural element in 11/22/63 is really confined to the question of time travel itself, happily. No demonic possession, etc. Which is probably why I enjoyed it so much!

>24 LizzieD: LizziePeg, you are triggering my PTSD from reading Fodor and his ilk in college. These things heal slowly!

On the other hand, as Chatterbox says, I don't think King will give you a great deal of supernatural perplexity in that book. Hope you enjoy!

I am enjoying King, Suz and Rex......... My only question is what the Jimla business is. I'm now in the last section, and the monster still hasn't made an appearance. I could do without the references if he's not going to do anything with it - and I hope that he's not. Time's resistance to change is quite enough!
As to Fodor - it's only one small section of a chapter, so I think you could jump into Pinker quite easily, Rex.

Yes, I exaggerated. I read the first two chapters and concluded I needed to read it. Hopefully 2014 will be the year.

Not that it spoils anything, but I could very well have done without the Jimla. Maybe that was just Stephen being Stephen...

I got a bit annoyed with "time's resistance to change" at some point, thinking "yes, I got it, we all got it, please get on with the story....", but that was just a small thing and overall I enjoyed the book very much.

We don't have that tradition of sending year summaries on Christmas cards. The maximum would be "Family XYZ wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year".
Our neighbour's daughter married an Englishman and sent long summary cards in the first year of their marriage and everyone was confused ("why does she write us all that stuff - we don't know her that well"?). It was actually misinterpreted as boasting, quite funny. I guess her parents then told her not to repeat that.

Nathalie, I can see how you would have been annoyed with the "time's resistance to change." And Rex, I think King just can't let go his earlier road to success, hence the Jimla...... It may be that he thinks he has to, or at this point in his career, it may be that he just genuinely loves that stuff. Anyway, I have just watched the bus depart for New Orleans with Lee aboard and not put down a bet on the Derby. I'm closing in on it.
It's also refreshing that Germans don't have the year's summary tradition. And yes, often the interpretation that it's boasting, is not a misinterpretation. Actually, I'm grateful when I hear from a couple of college friends with their pages because we don't ordinarily interact the rest of the year.
Rex, I have no doubt of your intention to read this.... If I can make it through his skewering of other linguistic theories in chapter 3, I think I'm good to go. I'm also interested to see what he does with the "Language itself is the stuff of thought" theory, which has more or less been my untutored one. I used to tell my kids, "If you have a 6th grade vocabulary, you're going to be stuck with 6th grade thoughts. You may feel sophisticated concepts, but if you don't have the words to express them, you're not going to be able to formulate them for yourself or communicate them to anybody else." I'm interested, as I say, to see how Pinker demolishes this one!

Hi Peggy! I love that it's "Write a Friend Month"!! I try to fill the mailboxes of friends with postcards on a regular basis. My personal vendetta against bills and catalogues......

11: Imprimatur, set in late 17th century Rome as Europe waits to see whether Vienna will fall to the Ottoman Empire
Gets 5 stars and 1 star on the first page of reviews...

24: doorknob
Yikes. Though as he says, “in fairness...” The language of philosophy makes perfect sense to those who speak it. (My mother loves this sort of thing. I, not so much.)
“just:” = “essentially this:”

31: I try to fill the mailboxes of friends with postcards
That’s so sweet!

Ellen, you are a dear! I'm sure that your friends look forward to your postcards. It's hard to give up the fantasy (at least I suspect it's a fantasy for most of us these days) that something wonderful may be waiting in the mailbox.
K, I looked at the reviews too before I bought the thing. and as things stand now, I probably will hold this one as I try to attain my 90 for this year. Framley Parsonage is another long book, so I need several quickies to achieve my goal. I wish it didn't matter to me, but it does, especially since I'm not going to read 40,000 pages this year either. There's always 2014, I trust! Also, thank you for the definition of just that applies in this case. My complete American Heritage Dictionary doesn't list it, and I hadn't tried the OED. I have to say that philosophy is a closed book to me too.

11/22/63 by Stephen King

This was quite compulsively readable and now ties with The Shining as my favorite King. As I've mentioned, there's no real horror in this except the horrors of our everyday lives and a few graphic descriptions of wounds. Apparently, there's something about time travel that encourages writers to speculate endlessly about its mechanics (I'm thinking about Connie Willis as well as King here), but I really didn't object to that strongly. The plot is a juggernaut, and the speculation about what the world would have been like had Kennedy lived is fascinating. I didn't find any deep insights into character, but I didn't expect to, and I loved Jake/George and Sadie anyway. I very much recommend this one as a thumping good read.

I have a list of high school, college, and grad school friends--not that many-- that I do send a yearly letter to in my Christmas card. Even though we keep in casual touch--many are not social network aficionados--my goal is just to fill them in on what's been going on in my life for the last year. No bragging, but they are people who are interested (many of them do the same) and you just don't get into that stuff often in casual chat. So yes, I do one and I'm proud of it!

I bought 11/22/63 for my Kindle when it was on sale a while ago--I'll get to it one of these days.

33: I wish it didn't matter to me, but it does
Although "it's not about the numbers", I have a rather literal attitude toward 75, and I too am choosing carefully this time of year so I don't fall short. I look forward to January when I can afford to take on longer books that may stretch over weeks or even months.

Hi Peggy. Just trying to catch up. Thanks for letting me know it's Write a Friend Month. I love buying cards but rarely get around to sending them. I really must change that.

Hi Peggy, I'm glad to see you ended up on the positive side of 11/22/63 which I also grabbed as a Kindle deal recently. I have to say I haven't read any of his books since the late eighties when I read everything he'd written. The Stand was my favorite.

I guess I'm not much concerned with the numbers. I read 86 last year and will probably read about that many this year too. I'm thinking of eliminating the numbers altogether next year.

#37 Bonnie, I like that idea of eliminating the numbers! I think I'm going to steal it.

Roni and Bonnie, I do wish I had been a few days more patient. Then I could have snagged the King for my Kindle rather than getting the big hardcover. Oh well. I think you'll both be pleasantly surprised.
K and Bonnie, if I didn't have such a glut of books unread on my shelves, I'd be more casual about the numbers. I know I'll never read them all, but I do want to make a valiant effort. After all, I bought them because I want to read them!
Hi, Pat! Like you, I don't write to people nearly as often as I should. Maybe in 2014!?!

Hi Peggy, have never been a King reader, but I'm following along here as usual, so will be curious to know what you think …

Interested in The Shining and 11/22/63 King books. I dislike horror so haven't read any of his stuff (I scare much too easily, to the point of nightmares and the like). But if you say they're good, Peggy, and not really horror per se, I am tempted to give them a try.

Oh, Tui, be careful!!!
11/22/63 is not horror, but The Shining absolutely is! I've read it a couple of times, and it scares me right down to the ground. BEWARE! BEWARE!! STAY AWAY!!! STAY AWAY!!!!

Point taken, Peggy! Thank you!

Peggy, I read 11/22/63 in November of 2012 and was pleasantly surprised that I liked it so well. I do enjoy many of King's books but I'm not a fan of time travel and alternate history.

I find it sad that handwritten letters are becoming a thing of the past. I have an aunt that doesn't do email and is hard of hearing so it is difficult to have a phone conversation with her. She makes a wonderful pen pal, however, and I love getting her letters and writing back to her. Other than notes on Christmas cards, most of my other writing to friends involves e-mail. I may steal Ellen's post card idea!

Whew. I didn't want to be responsible for nightmares, Tui.
Donna, I'm glad to hear of another fan of *'63*. I am a sort of time travel junky; he cites Time After Time somewhere, and it is certainly one of the best - a lot because Finney isn't so concerned with the nuts and bolts. I recommend it to folks who are looking to be lightly and well entertained.
That's a great story about your correspondence with your aunt - wonderful for both of you! I'm afraid that my pen and ink writing is confined to sympathy notes or possibly get-well wishes.
I'm here to announce that an ER ARC finally arrived: Egyptomania, subtitled Our Three Thousand Year Obsession with the Land of the Pharoahs. It's an actual first edition, so I'm happy about that since it has some really good color pictures. On the other hand, it's not either of the two that I have been terrifically excited about getting and then terrifically depressed about not getting.

TEMPORARY KINGS by Anthony Powell
Here I am caught up, sort of, with the *Dance* group having finished #11. This is not my favorite of the series, so I'm eager to see what my fellow readers thought. For some reason I was not enchanted with the time spent in Venice. I am, however, going ahead to #12 to see the the thing to the end.

My historical reading tends to be American (Revolutionary War and Civil War and recently World War I) so I don't know very much about Egypt ; I'll be curious to know how your Egypt book turns out.

Jim, I know little about Egypt too despite having read some in the past. This is not so much about the ancient Egyptians as about the popular conception of them through the centuries. I guess you gathered that. Anyway, I'm looking forward to it.

HIGH COUNTRY by Nevada Barr

I had forgotten how much I enjoy the Anna Pigeon National Park mysteries until I looked through Flashback when I was working on my program about the Dry Tortugas. I just had to read the next unread one, and it was this one set in Yosemite in the late fall or early winter. It's not the best of the series, but I read because I am intrigued by Anna and I really, really like the sense of place and the feeling of getting an insider's look at the various national parks. Anna is working undercover in this one, as a waitress in the Ahwahnee Hotel's dining room. (Posh!) (I forgot to say that Anna is a law enforcement Park Ranger, who is moved from park to park - in fact, a practice of the park service.) Four young workers have disappeared, and Anna has taken the job of one of them in order to find out what has happened.
As I say, this isn't one of the best of the series. Anna blithely goes off by herself without alerting anyone as to where she's going or when she should be returning and gets into trouble. Shades of V.I. Warshawski at her worst! Anna is nearing 50 and is engaged to marry for the second time. She is still having some independence issues, and puts herself in jeopardy psychologically too. At least this one doesn't have the touch of the supernatural that Barr sometimes includes. I'm sure it won't be years and years before I read the next in the series.
(New readers, they don't have to be read in order although Anna's story does develop from book to book and is always enjoyable. The first is The Track of the Cat (set in Guadalupe Mountains of west Texas). My favorites so far are Flashback, Liberty Falling (set at Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty), and Blind Descent (Carlsbad Caverns).)

Peggy, bookus interruptus?

Ita, Tui! Sorry.... A break in the rain sent me outside to deal with the cat litter, but I'm back warm and dry, thank you very much.

What a nice afternoon for reading! --- so I did.
I'm making some progress at last in Framley Parsonage and being grateful to Liz and Heather for the notes on the tutoring thread. And I'm still enjoying The Stuff of Thought. I follow each argument just fine, but if I were asked to summarize what I've read so far, I'd be in real trouble without the book. At the moment I'm reading about how language expresses the way we think about time and space. At least as far as language is concerned, Einstein had it right!
I will be happier than I can say if I can finish out the year by reading the last four books that I had planned: these two, *Dance 12* and *Cazalet 2*. That may prove to be too ambitious, but at least this week has ended my mad social whirl - a luncheon every day!
I haven't said, but my last uncle died this week, my mama's younger brother. I'm very sad for her even more than for his son. Living into one's early 90s with mind intact is a blessing except that it gets lonelier and lonelier. A daughter is good, but a daughter's world is different from one's own. Anyway, the memorial service is next Sunday, the 22nd, so the family will gather in Columbia, S.C., and Mama will be the only one of her generation there. I hold her close and am more grateful for her than I can say.

So sorry to hear about your uncle. My grandmother is 95, and most of her family is gone. She is very lonely. She wants her daughters to visit her often and my mother often struggles with the guilt of needing to be other places too.
Is it coincidence that December is "write to a friend month?" :)

Hi Peggy. I'm sorry to hear about your uncle. I agree that it must be so hard to get into your 90s and watch all your friends pass away. My MiL is almost 92 and thriving. Thankfully, she's in an independent/assisted living place with lots of activities and friends to keep her busy. Before she moved there, she used to tell us that she saw most of her remaining friends at funerals. So sad.

I'm sorry, too, about your uncle, Peggy. And I know just what you mean about being so sorry for your mom.

I hope you will enjoy Framley Parsonage as much as I did, and that you get Dance finished off before the new year arrives.

Loneliness and old age are poignant bedfellows
As the dark days of autumn turn to winter
And the once crisp page yellows

To sepia tones. The clock chimes at night
And who knows for whom it chimes
Discordant; thus the aged heart takes fright.

Not the jolliest of lines to greet your Sunday, I suppose but I am melancholic too with SWMBO and eldest cutting a swathe in Egypt.

Have a lovely weekend, dear lady.

Sorry to hear about your uncle Peggy and will particularly keep your Mama in my thoughts and prayers. It must be very lonely to be the last one of a generation.

I'm hoping to join you with Cazalet 2 before the end of the year. I think it will be a good book to read on the plane as I found the first intensely absorbing, although it did occasionally make me quite emotional which might be less good.

I'm sorry for your loss, Peggy. I have a friend whose father is now 101, and has had a similar experience to your mother's, losing his contemporaries. It's tough.

I'm sorry to hear about your uncle, Peggy. My next to last uncle, and the one I was closest to, died on the 6th of this month. The funeral was Tuesday, but we couldn't be there--2 more weeks and we could have said goodbye. He was 87. My aunt Georgia, his wife, is the only one of my dad's siblings left alive--she was the youngest of the family.

Thank you for your sympathy, Roni, Laura, Heather, Paul, Nancy, Pat, and Jenn. I know that I can turn to this group for sincere feeling. Uncle William was 89, the youngest of the family, and Mama at 92 was his closest sibling. It's been hard to see him increasingly trying to cover up his dementia in the couple of years since his wife died. Finally, he just wore out.
Paul, I just googled the verse and since I didn't find it, I assume that it's yours. It does express truth, and I thank you for it. The other truth that supports my mama is thankfulness that he's at rest and reunited with Aunt Mary, whom he has missed dreadfully.

Peggy - Sorry, yes the verse was my own and prepared extempore on your thread just for you. xx

Thank Heaven! the crisis,
The danger, is past,
And the lingering illness
Is over at last—
And the fever called "Living"
Is conquered at last.

very sorry to hear Peggy. Our thoughts and wishes are with you.

Stopping by and I add my sympathies to the chorus.

Maybe I should read or listen to some Nevada Barr - we have a pantload of them at our library!

You have my deepest sympathy Peggy and your Mom too. It is certainly no picnic getting old especially when your friends are all gone and you are left without much reason to continue on. Giving up is often easier than coping.

Thank you, Bonnie and Jim and Lucy. My mama will not give up, I promise. I'm an only child, so I've never had the chance to say, "Do you remember when Mama used to ------- us," to anybody. She was one of seven though.
Jim, two poets on my thread. Thank you too. I can do doggerel, but that's about it.
Lucy, I don't know that you should push Barr to the top of your stack, but I've been reading them a long time and still enjoy them.
Oh frabjous day! I have been very good about not opening or even peeping beneath the wrappings of my VSS books. HOWEVER, a box arrived today with book-shaped parcels, and this Santa says that she opens upon arrival and that I may too. So I did. Things off my wishlist - HOORAY!!!
The Dovekeepers, The Palace of Illusions, The Quiet Twin, and Strange Music - all recommended by somebody among the 75ers. I'm eager to get started, but I have others that I must finish so as to leave 2013 with a respectable list. SOON!

I'm so sorry for your loss, Peggy. It must be terribly hard for your mother.I'll be keeping both of you in my thoughts.

Great news on the books, though.

Thank you, Gail. I'll tell you, this getting old requires the wisdom of the ages.
Meanwhile, I've had a good reading afternoon. I'm off to enjoy the *Framley Parsonage* thread again. I also have to say that The Stuff of Thought is doing great things for my ego after I took a battering when I gave up on The Fabric of the Cosmos. Here's some pretty dense writing for the intelligent lay-reader, and I'm following it.

Sorry for your loss, Peggy. Will you be traveling to SC for the memorial? (or are you already there?)

Regarding your mama, "I hold her close and am more grateful for her than I can say," that is really lovely. And important to do.

I was a fan of the first few Anna Pigeon novels, although P and I occasionally joke about not wanting to go to any National Parks when she is around! Too many people dying! :-)

Take good care this holiday season.

Thank you, Ellen. We go to Columbia on Sunday - we're only a couple of hours away.
I've often thought that the Park Service must be pretty stupid not to have realized that anytime Anna shows up, so do the bodies!

>51 LizzieD: What a nice afternoon for reading! --- so I did.
I am thinking that just could apply to every afternoon ever made? *I wish*

Mama will be the only one of her generation there.
It was reported to me that my Grandfather (who also recently dies aged 96) said the same thing. It must be very lonely and a bit depressing for your mother, aside from the fact that she is mourning the loss of her brother.
(((hugs)))

The Barrs might be a good audio choice?

Megan, I do believe you're right. Never was there an afternoon that wouldn't have been improved by reading!
Lucy, I still never think about audio books, but I do believe that the Barrs would be great that way, especially with a good reader.

So sorry for your loss, Peggy, especially for your mother's. We have three in their mid-90s and they are the last of their generation as well. When they go, it's *gulp* us.

Sorry to hear about your uncle, Peggy. I can appreciate what you mean about the effect on your mother. My Mum is now 92 and it had a real impact on her when her younger brother died five or six years ago. She had been providing support for him for a year or so during his illness and that seemed to give her a real sense of purpose which she lost when he died.

Thank you, Tui and Rhian. Mama's really doing well this week as I had expected her to. For example, today was the Christmas lunch for her oldest bridge club. She did the turkey, dressing, rice, and gravy and just got home loaded down with gifts.
I don't guess anybody is ready to be the oldest generation, but it is worth more than a couple of gulps to realize that we're up next. I thought I'd be wiser by this time. Hasn't happened. Maybe I'm reading the wrong books.

WHAT a happy day! Virago Secret Santa gift opening!!! Our Colleen treated me extremely generously, and I am pleased right into the marrow!
Read, Lizzie, read. I'll hope to finish Framley Parsonage tomorrow, and that will put me closer to beginning some of these new treasures.

Yowee! The Kindle Daily Deal has hit me two days straight: Kim Stanley Robinson's Shaman yesterday and Jose Saramago's Death with Interruptions today. My kindle is starting to resemble my book shelves. (Love it!)

Those daily deals are dangerous. I know that I have more books than I could ever possibly read, but I still check every day. :)

Yep, Colleen,.......they have me in their clutches too, and I'm always a bit disappointed when they don't offer something that I want.

FRAMLEY PARSONAGE by Anthony Trollope

I greatly enjoyed this one too and am very grateful for the tutoring threads. Thank you, Heather, Liz, and other participants. I'll get on to *Small House*, most likely in the spring.
Personal taste is inexplicable. I think so far my preference list of Barsetshire goes *Towers*, *Thorne*, *Parsonage*, *Warden*. On the plus side, I was delighted to meet old friends again although I read the whole book in eager anticipation of a "Good Heavens!" and was not rewarded even once. I liked Lucy and Ludovic and fell in love with Miss Dunstable all over again. On the other hand, I never warmed to Mark and Fanny. (I know I'm about to get into trouble here.) She could almost be a Dickens heroine, being so amenable to those with power over her and so inclined to take her husband and Lady Lufton at their own valuations of themselves. And Mark? He was a bit spoiled for me by being spoiled. I wanted to spank him for not valuing his wife enough to resist peer pressure in the first place and for over-valuing his own pride in not asking for help in the second place. These are not serious quibbles, but I was happier a book ago with the Greshams and happy to meet them again. On the other hand, I left with softer feelings toward that scoundrel Sowerby than he deserves, so that's good writing, Mr. Trollope!

Wonderful review of Framley Parsonage, Peggy. So glad you enjoyed it. I think Doctor Thorne would rate just ahead of this one for me, too. And I also loved Miss Dunstable.

*waving* at Peggy

51: Living into one's early 90s with mind intact is a blessing except that it gets lonelier and lonelier.
A mixed blessing indeed. I’m sorry.

Aagh, I’ve been mostly out of things for a week, tying up loose ends at work so I can take time off with a clear conscience.

I’d thought of reading Framley Parsonage after I read Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton, which is partially a retelling. But it’s one of a series, which I read it some 25-30 years ago, not that I remember a thing, so I’m content with merely reading reviews.

Hi, Nancy, Stasia (*wave*), and Katherine. I had forgotten about Tooth and Claw, but I'll bump it way high up on Mt. Bookpile. Thanks, K! And enjoy your week off, which I understand is more than well-deserved.

My sympathies too, LizziePeg.

"Living into one's early 90s with mind intact is a blessing except that it gets lonelier and lonelier."

I fear this. Must it be that way, I wonder?

I have a book on my shelves, one I have never read. It was someone's PhD thesis. I read the title sometimes though, and it mortifies me. Old Men Living Alone. I keep it only for that reason, as a reminder of the importance of maintaining connections.

>76 LizzieD: I quite liked Shaman. It may not be his very best, but if you like KSR, you'll like this one, I predict. Well worth the effort.

Hi, Starry One! You know (I guess - at least it's true) that I love KSR, so I'm looking forward to Shaman eventually. I wonder whether it's kin to The Years of Rice and Salt. I thought that was not one of his best, but I seem to remember a lot about it when I stop to think.
I can't tell you how deep-seated the fear of ending up alone is with me. Maintaining connections is vastly important. On the other hand, somebody is going to be the last of his generation - that's just a fact. And that specific loneliness is a great sadness.
Now that I've depressed everybody who comes by, I'll stop and say that *Language/Thought* remains fascinating. Even when he's discussing Kant and Hume, I read on because I know he'll come back to language again. Today I've been reading about the underlying ground of our thought: substance, space, time, and causality.........noun, preposition, tense, verb. And I'm off into his chapter "The Metaphor Metaphor." I'm very happy to have lucked into this one.
I'm also well into Marking Time, Cazalet #2. It's the early days of WWII, and we're seeing the home front through the eyes of the teen-aged girls. This is not great literature, but it's solid and well worth the time.

So glad you are enjoying everything you are reading.

I think we all fear that.

I like KSR too, but I skipped The Years of Rice and Salt but I probably will read Shaman.

Dropping by with some Christmas thoughts, Peggy : ).

Thought of you when I saw this: http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2013/12/22/pinker-if-the-world-is-a-safe... .

Hello Dear Peggy!

I hope the holidays are just what you want them to be.

May your tree be filled round with books. May there be enough shelves to store them and enough time to read the ones you most want to enjoy.

Hugs!

Hi, Peggy, just dropping by! I've enjoyed the Pinker I've read--The Language Instinct.

Much Christmas happiness to return to! Thank you, Linda and Nancy.
Katherine, thank you for the Pinker Linker. I loved that clip! And Roni, you have now boosted The Language Instinct to the top of the Pinker acquisitions that I have in mind for the new year. I see that it's more recent than my current *Language/Thought*, which I look forward to returning to today....Christmas preparations notwithstanding.
Lucy, the fear of being left completely alone is even stronger for people without children, I suspect. I'm not going to think about that today though! And I didn't love *Rice & Salt* enough to press it on anyone although it was an interesting experience.

And if we keep mentioning it, I'm going to have to keep jumping in as if this were my hour on the couch, and it will get very frustrating for everyone! :)

The Pinker link was so entertaining!

I am only reading it now - I am very sorry for your loss, Peggy.

Sending hugs and Christmas thoughts to you.

So sorry to hear about your uncle, Peggy. :(

I'm sorry for both you and your mother... I just read a really great book on aging that includes some great insights on loss, loneliness, etc. Does your mom read? It's The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully by Joan Chittister. That's one of the hardest things I hear from residents; and one of the reasons that some of them come to do very well in a community setting. Anyway, it's just a thought. I loved the book and learned quite a lot from it.

Love to you and your mom.

Thank you, Nathalie and Tina. I can always use hugs! Meanwhile, Tina, your book sounds as though it might be more helpful to me than to Mama. At 92 she is very squared away - can say what has to be said and then move on. I'm not quite 70 yet, but like the author, aware of all that I don't know.
Hi, Lucy!
Hi, Rex! You're welcome to say what you want, of course, but I'm for moving on too.....
Talk about a day though..... A cousin called Mama this morning to say that my uncle's older grandson fainted later in the day - apparently having eaten something with hidden coconut to which he is allergic. He's up for testing after Christmas. And the wife of my oldest cousin (she had stayed home because she wasn't feeling well) was talking on the phone to her son in California when she passed out. He was able to call NC emergency from CA, but it took quite awhile to get in touch with the cousin because nobody in the cars heading toward Asheville and the Triangle could hear their phones ringing because of torrential rain. Eventually, a neighbor was able to let the EMTs in. She is having a pace-maker put in today. Good grief!
I think I'll go read some Pinker!

Good grief is right. I'm glad that in both cases things are going to be ok.

Oh dear, Peggy. I'm glad things turned out ok in the end.

Hi Peggy,

Merry Merry Christmas to you Peggy!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Peggy.

Peggy, hope you have a great Christmas and New Year!

Merry Christmas, my friend.

Best wishes to you, Peggy!


glitter-graphics.com

A blessed Christmas to you, Peggy. My mother is 89 years old. She has told me that she is going to live to be 94--"I don't want to, but I'm going to," she recently said. I don't know if she remembers it or not, but her grandmother lived to be exactly that age. How tough it must be to be the last one standing.

I've been reading a book all year, in bits and pieces, called Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing, and Dying, by Ram Dass, who was aka Richard Alpert many moons ago. Right now I'm into a section called "Eccentricity" which is simply delightful. Also, I don't know if you've read any of the May Sarton journals. One I've been meaning to get to is At Eighty-Two: A Journal. I recommend the whole series.

Love to you and yours, especially to your mother.

>105 labwriter: labwriter, if you liked the Ram Dass, there is a documentary about his perseverance and acceptance post-stroke that is viewable on Netflix. It's called Fierce Grace, and it is quite wonderful.

Merry Christmas, Peggy!

>106 stellarexplorer:. Yes, I've seen that documentary and highly recommend it. Thanks for reminding me of it.

Peggy, as always your thread is one of my favourite places in the group even without your daily doses of Dickens. Have a wonderful Christmas.

Merry Christmas, Peggy! I hope your Christmas Day is free of unfortunate incidents and that all your family stays healthy. It sounds like your wife's cousin was really lucky to be on the phone.

Merry Christmas, Peggy. I hope you and your family have a wonderful day!

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas!!

Dear, dear Peggy, best wishes to you for a very merry Christmas!

Happy Christmas, Peggy! All the best to you and yours.

Merry Happy Felicitous Holly-Filled Christmas to you, Peggy!!

May all your gift-wrapped goodies prove to be books from atop your wish list -- and may the stream of superlative reads never falter throughout the new year!

(PS -- I know what you mean about both Mark & Sowerby in Framley Parsonage; although I found Lucy irritating too; a bit too Fanny Price-ish for my taste...)

Peggy, your family has been through a lot lately. I wish you all a peaceful and blessed Christmas.

A Belated Happy Christmas to you, Peggy.
It has been a rough couple of weeks for you and your family. I hope 2014 brings only loveliness to you.

Oh dear, you are all such good friends, and I am farther behind than ever. I had wonderful plans of visiting all your threads for a Christmas wish, and now that's gone by. So now I'll aim for the new year. Meanwhile, it's late and I'm sleepy and dull, but I toddle off warmed by your good wishes!

MARKING TIME by Elizabeth Jane Howard

Volume 2 of the Cazalet Chronicles is at least as good as volume 1. I guess it's soap opera, but it is superior soap opera, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Beginning in 1939 and following the family through to Pearl Harbor, we get to see the older children growing up and the older family members continuing down their paths chosen in the first book. Edward, the second son, is still despicable, only one begins to feel a bit of pity for him. His daughter Louise is at odds with him and her mother and appears to have some acting talent. Polly and Clary, the next of the granddaughters in age are the ones most clearly marking time as they stay at home, continue lessons with Miss Milliment (my favorite character), and grow into responsibilities. Zoe, wife of the youngest son, begins to become an adult herself with the birth of her daughter Julia.
When you're looking for something pretty much like life to catch you up and bear you away, this is the series to read!

A belated Merry Christmas! Warm wishes for your 2014.

Thank you, Jenn!

HEARING SECRET HARMONIES by Anthony Powell

I'm very grateful to have been led to reread this monumental series. I don't love it quite as much as I did the first couple of times through, but love is still the operative word.
As Bonnie maybe pointed out on the GR thread, the end connects the circle dance with its beginning. We find - if we had any doubt - that it's all been about Widmerpool after all, and he remains the most intriguing, elusive character of them all. This is a great way to approach the end of 2013!

All good wishes for a Happy New Year filled with marvelous books!

My very best wishes for a peaceful New Year, Peggy. May your reading be frequent and trouble seldom seen.

All the best for 2014, Peggy. Looking forward to following you at Group 75 for 2014!

Happy New Year, Peggy. See you in 2014.

Many thanks for the good wishes, Becky, Gail, and Linda! I'm visiting threads just as soon as I write a bit about my last book of the year - and what a good one!

THE STUFF OF THOUGHT: LANGUAGE AS A WINDOW INTO HUMAN NATURE by Steven Pinker

This is now my gold standard for non-fiction with serious, instructive purpose. It is highly entertaining both in content and presentation, yet dense enough to keep the reader attentive and engaged. The early chapters show how language works, how human minds shape the expression of human needs in every language - and I need to read a whole book on this. The later chapters discuss how we use our language to interact with each other on every level. Pinker writes clearly and he's funny - I loved this book!!!

And it's #90! That's two more than last year and a few more pages read too. I guess before I thread I should try to do some kind of analysis.

A final sweep through on a very short last day of 2013, Peggy. Happy New Year and I'll see you in the new group threads!

>127 LizzieD: Glad you enjoyed and confirmed! This is definitely going to be on my 2014 agenda.

Wishing you a very Happy New Year, Peggy!

Hooray Peggy!

Peggy? Have you started a new thread?

It's here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/163287#