Sibyx rejoices for June!

Going for some quintessential early-summer-in-Vermont photos. The contrast between the colors from beginning of May to the beginning of June is staggering!

an old apple tree

the upper field

***June Current Reads***
♬

✔ Artifact Gregory Benford sf
new Rameau's Niece Cathleen Schine contemp f
♬ The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam Chris Ewan mys
new The Architect of Desire Susannah Lessard Bio/memoir
Monthly Murdoch: next one in July
IM readers group is HERE
Ongoing The New Yorker 2014 January Read my reviews here: New Yorkers 2014
March 3, 10, 17, 25, 31
February 3, 10,17-24 done!

57. new Bleeding Edge Thomas Pynchon contemp f *****
58. new Beginning Operations Book Two Star Surgeon James White classic sf ****
59. new Beginning Operations Book Three Major Operation James White classic sf ****
60. new Three Men in a Boat Jerome K. Jerome humor ****
61. new Quite Ugly One Morning Christopher Brookmyre mys ***1/2
62. ✔ Heart and Blood: Living with Deer in America Richard Nelson anthropo
63. new Whispers Underground Ben Aaronovitch f/mys hybrid
64. The New Yorker, February 2014
65. new June VMC Read The Three Miss Kings Ada Cambridge fiction australian ***1/2
66. new Some Kind of Fairy Tale Graham Joyce contemp f/fan hybrid...****1/2
67. ✔ Lux the Poet Martin Millarurban fantasy sort of? ***1/2

Quit in June:
♬ War of Honor David Weber sf
Graveminder Melissa Marr spooky

Guide to symbols
♬ audio
✔ On Shelf Over One Year
VMC Virago-of-the-month

May Reads
47. new The Ruby Dice Catherine Asaro sf ****
48. ✔ Bats Sing, Mice Giggle Karen Shanor**** nf animal behavior
49. new Diamond Star Catherine Asaro sf
50. New Yorkers/January 2014
51. new Carnelians Catherine Asaro sf THE LAST ONE FOR NOW!!!!! ****1/2
52. new♬ Ashes of Victory David Weber sf ***
53. ✔ The Green Knight Iris Murdoch contemp fic****
54. new Another Insane Devotion Peter Trachtenberg memoir, cats ***1/2
55. ✔ Broken Harbor Tana French mys ***1/2
56.new Hospital Station in Beginning Operations(Omnibus) James White sf ****

OTHER STUFF 2014
Read it or Get Rid of it! TBR clearing out!
Jan 1. ✔A Mirror For Witches Esther Forbes see comment 155, thread one.QUIT
Jan 2. ✔Jennifer Government Finished. See review page. FINISHED
Feb 3. The Saliva Tree Brian Aldiss sf/ss See review page. FINISHED
Feb 4. ✔ Gone to Earth Mary Webb QUIT see >75 sibylline:
Mar 5. ✔ Celestis Paul Park sf FINISHED
May 6. ✔ The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2000 I've read bits over 14 yrs. and I'm just done with it.

May Reflections
This was the month in which I completed my Catherine Asaro binge, for better or worse.... and let me see...... and began the James White, Sector General adventures and listened to an Honor Harrington that I picked up for almost free at a library sale. More sf than anything else, in other words. One mystery, getting me up to date with Tana French. In the non-fiction arena, a nice intro to animal behaviour and then a themed memoir (cats and love) which was likeable but not amazing. I would characterize the month as pleasurable solid, but no stand-outs and no real clunkers, although Weber doesn't move quickly enough for my tastes.

May Stats
Categories:
Total: 10
Men: 3
Women: 3
Man-Woman Team: 1
Non-fiction: 2
History: 0
Memoir/biography: 1
Virago: 0
Classic Fiction: 0
Contemporary fiction: 1
Historical fiction: 0
Short stories: 0
Graphic: 0
SF: 4
Fantasy: 0
Thriller: 0
YA or J fantasy: 0
F/SF hybrid: 0
F/SF/Mys hybrid:
Mys: 1
Humor: 0
Poetry: 0

Housekeeping
New (to me) Authors: 3
New books: 7
✔: 3
Library or Other: 0
Audio: 1
Months of NYers: 0
Read it or Get Rid of It: 0
Acquired: 4
Released: 3

New Books In May
34. What Makes This Book So Great Jo Walton
35. Blueprints of the Afterlife Ryan Boudinot
36. Laidlaw William McIlvanney
37. Laughing Cult Kevin McCaffrey

New Books Read in 2014
12 of 37

January Reads
1. newWigs on the Green Nancy Mitford contemp f ***
2. new Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors Nicholas Wade science*****
3. ✔The Sparrow Mary Doria Russell sf ***
4. New Yorker - September
5. new The Widower's Tale Julia Glass contemp f ***1/2
6. ✔Mistborn Brandon Sanderson fantasy ***1/2
7. Catch the Lightning Catherine Asaro sf (book 2 Skolian Empire) sf ***1/2
8. new Good Daughters Mary Hocking contemp f ****1/2
9. Read It or... Jennifer Government Max Barry sf/near future ***1/2
10. Read It or... The Saliva Tree Brian Aldiss sf/ss
11. new Indifferent Heroes Mary Hocking contemp f ****1/2
12. ♬ Death of a Snob M.C. Beaton ***
13. ✔ Watchtower Elizabeth Lynn fantasy ****

February Reads
14. ✔The Dancers of Arun Elizabeth Lynn fantasy ****
15. October 2013 New Yorkers
16. new Welcome Strangers Mary Hocking bk 3, Good Daughters contemp fic ****
17. ✔The Horse, the Wheel, and Language David Anthony archaeology/linguistics ****
18. library The Northern Girl Elizabeth Lynn fantasy ****
19. newThe Last Hawk Catherine Asaro bk 3 Skolian Empire sf *****
20. new The Unicorn Iris Murdoch ***1/2
21. new The Radiant Seas Catherine Asaro sf ****
22. (SEL library)Witch World Andre Norton fantasy/sf blend ***1/2
23. (SEL library) Web of the Witch World Andre Norton fantasy ***
24. (SEL library) Three Against the Witch World Andre Norton fantasy ***1/2
25. November 2013 New Yorkers.

March Reads
25. (new) The Well of Ascension Brandon Sanderson bk 2 Mistborn/ fantasy ***1/2
26. (new)Ascendant Sun Catherine Asarosf Bk 5 Skolian ****
27. ✔Dersu the Trapper V.K. Arseniev biography/natural history ****
28. (new) The Quantum Rose Catherine Asaro sf / Bk 6 Skolian
29. ✔Restless William Boyd contemp fic ****
30. (new) The Hero of Ages Brandon Sanderson Bk 3 Mistborn/ fantasy ****
31. ✔The Probable Future Alice Hoffman contemp fic ***1/2
32. ✔Every Last Cuckoo Kate Malloy contemp fic ***
33. (new)The Hare with Amber Eyes Edmund de Waal nf /memoir ****1/2
34. ✔ Celestis Paul Park sf ***
35. newSpherical Harmonic Catherine Asaro sf ****
36. new The Moon's Shadow Catherine Asaro sf ****

April Reads
37. ✔True Believers Kurt Anderson contemp fic ***1/2
38. new The Last Family in England Matt Haig contem fic ***1/2
39. December 2013 New Yorkers
40. ✔Every Love Story is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace D.T. Max biography ****
41. ✔Thursday Next: First Among Sequels Jasper Fforde mys ***1/2
42. new Skyfall Catherine Asaro sf ****
43. ✔The Raphael Affair Iain Pears mys ****
44. ✔From Where We Stand Deborah Tall memoir/nature *****
45. new Schism Catherine Asaro sf ****
46. new The Final Key Catherine Asaro sf

Series Tally

Series started in 2014
Tales of Sector General James White next up: bk 4

Series continued in 2014
Rivers of London 3rd of 5 Whispers Underground Ben Aaronovitch

Series completed or caught up with in 2014
1. Good Daughters Mary Hocking (3)
2. Chronicles of Tornor Elizabeth Lynn (3)
3. Witch World - set goal of reading first three in series. Completed.
4. Mistborn Brandon Sanderson (3) 3 of 3 Completed
5. The Skolian Empire (14 of 14)Catherine Asaro (There are assorted novellas and ss)
6. ✔ Dublin Murder Squad 4 of 4

Ongoing Series to be continued from 2013
1. The Seven Kingdoms Kristin Cashore (2 of 3) Next up: Bitterblue
2. Liaden Universe Sharon Lee Steve Miller Let's say I've read 11 of 19!
3. Quantum Gravity Justina Robson (4 of 5) Next up: book 5 of 5
4. Flavia de Luce Alan Bradley (5 of 6) The Dead in their Vaulted Arches audio only!
5. Green Rider Kristen Britain (4 of 4) (Mirror Sight out May 2014
6. KingKiller Chronicles Patrick Rothfuss 2 of 3. Doors of Stone forthcoming (undeclared)

Then welcome, June, and a new thread!

Happy New Thread from me too! I look forward to the decorations.

Happy new thread!

Ooh, all that green at the top almost hurts my eyes ;-)

Happy June thread, Lucy!

Hello everyone! I think I've got things in order now.

>9 katiekrug: - After this winter especially it's almost surreal.

In other book news, I signed up for Audible yesterday, before going to Montreal for the night. Loaded of the Jerome K. Jerome which is just funny enough.... while we sat at the border crossing for 45 minutes this morning we were so happy we had something amusing to listen to. The packing of the camping gear - some things NEVER change! I've had to quite the David Weber's I picked up on the cheap. The reader isn't good enough and the stories simply move to slowly with too much palaver for me. I am very excited about starting my Audible adventures though!

I won't put up my usual what-am-I-reading-this-week Sunday biz since it IS Sunday as well as the first of the month, but I want to add that this last week was the first this year (and maybe longer) when I didn't complete a single book. In fact, I read rather little, for me, around 45 pages max per day - about half what I usually do. I'm really cranking on the book that I've been writing, desperate to get this big rewrite done so I can send it to the agency as soon as I can! Six or seven chapters to go! At least I know I'm working and not goofing off reading!

Happy New Thread Lucy!

Once again, I'm really sorry I was to unwell to join you last night, I'm sure we would have had a nice time, only this time I was feeling much too miserable, both physically and otherwise to make for any decent sort of company. Come back soon!

Welcome to the Audible adventure too! I find they have really good customer service, and you gotta love that they allow you to return any book you don't love!

Happy New Thread, Lucy!

Nice to see lush green outdoor photos as an opening to June. Happy new thread, Lucy!

Happy New Thread! Love the greenery in your new thread topper pics.

57. contemp fic *****
Bleeding Edge Thomas Pynchon

Maxine, our protagonist heroine investigates fraud, gets caught up trying to figure out who's taking the money from a very successful dot.com but the story whirls out of control seemingly reaching tentacles down into the depths of the 'net and beyond. In the meantime Maxine's personal life is a shambles, except for her two boys, somewhere between 8-12 years old, whom she adores. She misses her estranged husband, but he had jealous fits, travels a lot for his work in commodities, and they had grown apart. The book opens as school gets out in June 2001, a few months before 9/11 created a before and an after. I've read a few reviews and have to say that I don't see any reason why Pynchon, in his seventies, should be obliged to write anything that isn't, for him, pure fun, which the last two novels have been. You can't expect a person to write V. over and over. And he's given us Gravity's Rainbow, Mason and Dixon, Against the Day and more..... novels that are deeply researched and intensely thoughtful and fun to read to boot. He has given us so much in those bigger novels..... but I enjoy the romping. And even so as always he is precise and prophetic, a writer who on any given page could probably tell you what phase the moon is in, even if he has only mentioned it once or not at all. I have faith in his exactitude as an observer and his uncanny ability to uncover in any given moment of history, what was really going on..... In this case .... that the internet is, in some ways, extremely creepy, and is messing with our heads and our understanding of reality. In many ways he is a better writer than ever as he works to improve. Maxine has to be one of the most fully dimensional of his characters, ever. The dialogue is spot on, the book is funny and serious both. So I say folks, don't be greedy! Be grateful! *****

>11 Smiler69: I am so relieved you are a little better. No worries! I promise I will be back. I do wish the border wasn't such a pain.

Ashamed to admit that I have not yet read any Pynchon....

Happy June!

I enjoy Audible too: I really like the fact that I can listen to a brand new book immediately even on the day of publication for the same price as an old one. And I've noticed recently that several of the sci-fi series that I'm interested in reading, and which are difficult to get hold of in the UK, are available on Audible.

>17 Chatterbox: You might loathe him Suzanne, who knows? I've given up predicting....

>18 richardderus: Same to you, mon cousin. I am coming over to your thread with some photos..... be warned.

>19 SandDune: That is cool Rhian - i am looking forward to listening to a better quality of books than heretofore (or should I say, henceforth I look forward..... ) - where it's been so random - just what I find at the library basically. They have books you can listen to too, but I take too long as I mostly listen while driving and that is episodic now that I don't drive the LD around. Audible will help with the last-minute trip oh-gosh-I-haven't-got-a-decent-audiobook panic as well.

Another Audible fan here - I have a one credit per month subscription. Trouble is I now have a large Audio TBR (virtual) pile.

Happy new thread and a fabulous new week.

Montreal traffic is notorious. We use the new route through Salaberry de Valleyfield but it's probably too far west for you. You probably use Rte 91, right? That would take you through Magog and on into Montreal on Hwy 10. I hate the Champlain bridge. The place you stayed looks faboo!

Tui - We take the Highgate Springs crossing, generally, to get right on 89 - from there it is barely an hour home. Without the border/bridge it'd be somewhere betw 2-2 1/2 hours, instead it is always a crapshoot, this time 3 1/2. Montreal music friends tend to arrive earlier or later than they predicted.... or they stop and shop in Burlington if they get through fast.... or whatever. Of course, they get very good at knowing what are the best times.

I have now cancelled my one-credit-a-month Audible subscription, not through dissatisfaction but to save money as I already have enough of a stockpile to last me for several years. I used the credits to buy the most expensive (usually because the longest) books I was interested in - hence I've been listening to War and Peace, The Count of Monte Cristo, Les Miserables, etc... Being about 60 or so hours of listening apiece, they take a while to get through.

I've also got all the unabridged Tolkiens, plus the BBC radio adaptation of Lord of the Rings - and the radio version (ie the original version) of the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. These old favourites are especially good for listening to when suffering from flu or otherwise to feeble to manage to read in the usual way!

Maybe I should try Pynchon on Audible?

ETA: Of those available, Bleeding Edge and Against the Day seem most accessible. Recommendations??

I keep getting loads of credits, then using them, and having a big backlog, and then suddenly finding myself with nothing I really WANT to read. The best thing about Audible is that if you have a loser, you can swap it out and get your credit/money back.

At some point I suspect I will cancel the Audible subscription as it isn't cheap and there's a limit to the stuff that's really great -- i.e. that I really want to LISTEN to.

That sounds very sensible Genny. I haven't figured out the credit thing yet.... I think I used up this month's the free one with Three Men in a Boat....

I almost feel that way about Netflix these days - we've watched an awful lot of what they have to offer that is our sort of thing.... so far.... just when I'm fed up someone recommends something that only Netflix has, but it's getting to be a close thing.

Suzanne -When I begin rereading I plan to start with V. (first book) and work chronologically forward. His shortest book, however, The Crying of Lot 49, is fun in a classic Pynchon way, a goofy mix of paranoia, inspired fun and real insight..... I kept looking for the duelling alternative mail services for years after I first read it.... I couldn't help myself.... I believed they simply had to exist.... Thurn und Taxis and Trystero. Oh, just wonderful stuff. And all we have are Google and Amazon, no comparison!

The thing about the credits is that you pay the same price for them every month (in the UK it was £7.99 for one-credit-a-month) but can then use the credit on any audiobook, even ones which would cost 5 times that much at full price. So I reckoned I was getting best value for money by buying the longest, most expensive books! As I buy most of my books second hand and don't usually pay more than £2.50 to £3.50 for them, I didn't like to use the Audible credit on a book which I could easily get much more cheaply in print.

That makes perfect sense to me! By that reckoning my first 'free' choice was probably not a very good one ..... oh well!

58. classic sf ****
Star Surgeon James White

Dr. Conway soldiers (or doctors) on in this volume, in which a crafty 'Empire' feeds misinformation to their own people about the Federation. A mishap on a planet the Empire is ill-using ignites a war, the hospital station is attacked! Conway ends of being the senior physician and I don't think I'm giving a thing away if I say he saves the day AND gets the girl. My only objection to the novel is that nurses aren't just always female, but they uniformly have 'pretty little heads' and brains that are too single-minded to take the 'tape' that has to be taken to be doctors treating aliens and so on and so forth - although in fairness - he doesn't mean that wholly negatively, i don't think. One reason I stopped reading SF in the early 70's was because I suddenly woke up and realized that women were wallpaper and I freaked out. Ironically, just about at that time, the tide was about to turn.... I'll be curious to see how White, who kept on writing into .... I'll have to research that, but into at least the 80's and maybe longer.... handled the sea change. Assuming he does, of course. Meanwhile the four stars are for the scope of imagination - he thinks up the most amazing creatures, and he keeps the story moving and there is so much that is so commendable. ****

I got the 24-credits-at-once Audible membership because the books come out cheaper that way. But it certainly doesn't help with my compulsive buying! One of the great things is their sales. I've just returned two books today I started on and didn't want to continue with after 30 minutes, which feels like such a great deal. Now I can get other things I like instead.

Happy new thread, Lucy! I also have an Audible membership, and I have been very happy with it. Love the June greenery and the library photos that you posted on Richard's thread - beautiful! Hoping that Monday has been kind to you!

My only problem is that I am going to finish my only 6 1/2 hour book pretty soon already and I have some big drives coming up..... what happens if you want a second book? Do you pay big time?

I'm pretty sure you can buy additional credits around the same price as the monthly fee... call them to ask, I'm sure they'll be happy to suggest something.

Good idea, Ilana, I remember you saying they are really nice on the phone!

Look at the top of your home page. Often, they will offer you "buy three extra credits". Those usually come out to slightly less than $12 per book -- less than the $14 to $15 per month usual cost.

I may look at that "all at once" plan next year, Ilana. I know that I HATE seeing the monthly deduction ($14.95) hit my account, and the 24 at once brings the per-book cost down to $9.56. It's a lot to spend all at once, but if I can afford it (gulp) then I'd have more credits and wouldn't need to worry about that constant dribble on my card every month.

Lucy, do keep an eye on whether it makes sense to use your credit or just pay the discounted Audible price. In other words, is the price you'd pay out of pocket more or less than $14.95? If less, then wait for a sale, wait for a chance to buy cheaper credits, or buy the book outright.

Phew, obviously I'm going to have to seriously study all this!!! I had no idea..... I sort of thought it was like Netflix, pay your price and then sit back and listen.

Congratulations on your new thread, Lucy, and happy June. Interesting conversation about Audible. I've toyed with subscribing but I'm usually not in the car very much and I'm unlikely to listen when at home so I haven't. I did borrow two audio books from the library for this trip though.

Hi Lucy! As a total newbie to the audiobook world, I can't contribute a thing, but I hope you figure out what you need to figure out. But I can say that, like Ilana and Suz, the once-a-month deduction from the bank account has a certain emotional ickiness to it. And I really don't have more than one book per month in me when it comes to listening. The Dog Stars is working out wonderfully as an audiobook, though.

Happy travels, Lucy! Hugs for Posey!

>39 EBT1002: For me, it's the fact that it comes atop the monthly hits for Hulu, Netflix, Dropbox, NY Times, and whatever else, plus whatever it is for the Atlantic and the New Yorker on Kindle. It all adds up...

I'll say! It can be surprisingly difficult too to 'get around' to unsigning up - which they count on, of course! I think I will use one book a month but I sort of wish I'd done the 24 credit thing instead, but I am planning to call. (note the word 'planning')

Audible have been good about putting my subscription on hold for a period (I think 6 months) before now, so you can take a break from monthly payments if they get too much. Also, which I was not sure about, if/when you do cancel a subscription, you still have your account and so your 'Library' remains available in case you need to download again - unlike some download based services, they do not restrict the number of times you can download the item once you have bought it.

As someone who has never had or listened to an audio book, I am one of the very worst in the group to offer thoughts on it. It does sound to me though that Genny's experience is one that ought to be followed by other companies. Ilana and Suz are also full of seemingly good advice.

Thought I had better delurk just so that you know I have visited. xx

FYI, you can switch your Audible plan anytime you like, no need to wait the full year...

No input as, like Paul, I am not successful at listening to books--and it is SO slow compared to reading them. Now, if I were spending time commuting, it would be different, perhaps.

I bought the 24 credits all at once plan because it ended up giving the lowest price just like Suz mentioned - and then you can use the credits whenever you want. And I only use the credits for books that would cost me more than $10. They have really good deals from time to time, so you just have to pay attention - I love when they have the two books for one credit or three books for two credits deal.

One more point from me about Audible then I'll be quiet! The monthly credits don't expire at the end of the month, they roll over for up to 6 months, so you don't have to spend them straight away.

We borrow audio books from the village library now and then, for road trips, but that's about it. However, my fil gets audio books sent to him by the Canadian National Institute for the Blind audio library service. He's 96 and also very (but not totally) deaf. They sent him a Terry Pratchett the last time!

What did he think??? I like listening to them better than reading them!

Absolutely not for him. He's a non-fiction (politics, history) kind of guy, although he likes the odd mystery.

Ah, I am another with a monthly plan at Audible. I keep thinking, "I'll just fill this wish list, and then I'll cancel." But of course, the WL continues to grow! That said, I am accumulating a wonderful collection of audiobooks, many of which are classics … these, for me, will always bear re-listening. I also use our provincial Library Without Walls, which has a growing collection of audiobooks. And, keep in mind that LibriVox.org has a fabulous selection of free audiobooks (volunteer readers, anything in the public domain).

eta: trying to get stupid link to work!

I didn't know about Librevox - I'll have to check that out!

And in the meantime. It rained a lot yesterday and the day before and I guess the river got a little too fast, so the little family came back!!! The goslings are twice as big as they were a week ago. I think they are just about two weeks now.

What a wonderful pic! So GREEN! And must be exciting spotting wildlife.

On a different note - two of my sibs (Naomi and Craig) flew this plane "Whiskey 7" across the Atlantic for this D-Day event. They interview Naomi, which is nice, and Craig is the one with the screw gun. The Warplane Museum is my (ex) step-father's baby. They were all beside themselves, as you can imagine. These are my step-sibs - we all grew up together and though our parents divorced, kids don't.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/d-day-70th-anniversary/veterans-reunite-d-day-c...

>54 sibylline: - Oh how cool, Lucy! Thanks for sharing that.

That IS very cool, Lucy! Thanks for posting : ).

I had an Audible account but I let it go because of the monthly cost. However, I still get the email with the Audible Daily Deal and I have been able to pick up audiobooks for $2.95 or $3.95 even without the membership. I think that's pretty great! I did not know you could purchase 24 credits all in one go so I am going to look into that....would be a pretty awesome birthday or Christmas present!

>54 sibylline: That's a great story to be connected to, Lucy! My dad and stepmother are also aircraft fans - Dad used to attend flying displays with all the vintage planes, and bore the rest of us with endless photos and cine film. And my stepmother used to work as the P.A. to the director of the Fleet Air Arm museum in Somerset, UK, so the two of them had great fun at various events there, and meeting veterans and seeing the old planes in action. I don't think they've been involved in anything for this anniversary though - Dad's not well with shingles at present, so they probably have other things on their mind.

59. Omnibus of three novelsBook Three classic sf ****
Beginning Operations Book Three Major Operation James White

This last novel in the omnibus, published 1971 nine years after the first one - right around when I quit reading sf, blends the first hints of changes to come, as 'Murchison', formerly a nurse, has become a pathologist. She has also married Conroy and kept her own name, and there is a (truly, no irony here) delightful rant about how peculiar it is to change your name when you marry. In fact marriage itself is somewhat mysterious to most alien races who mate briefly (and often publicly) for procreation and find human attachment over such a long haul weird, to say the least. At the same time there are still what we would deem (and are) inappropriate comments about Murchison's perfect figure in a space suit (having just seen Raquel Welch in The Impossible Voyage - no that's not quite but you know what I mean - the one where they go into the person's brain to explode a clot - but Murchison is equal to shutting them all up. A very no-nonsense person. At one point her analysis saves the day and Conroy says: I don't want you here but I am glad you're here. Nice. More jokes in general, and a 'story' that takes up the whole short novel that is quite imaginative. The prose is still workmanlike, devoted to as precise descriptions of the issues and solutions as possible with a minimum of anything else, but it's good stuff nonetheless. ****

It is quite a story. We are quite different, my step-sibs and my full sibs, but we mostly get along quite well. They are all much more oriented toward 'doing' things, more conservative while we are all more dreamy and bookish and moderate to liberal. We have a half-sib too - I don't envy her that spot. She's the one in the NY Air Nat. Guard, recently promo'd to Lieut. Major.

I'm thrilled that this all worked out so well - those two have worked hard and deserve the honor.

Wow, what a fab story.

I was stunned to realize that it's the 70th anniversary of WW2. When I was a teenager, the WW2 veterans were middle aged, people who were older than my parents, but younger than my grandparents. Now they are older than the ancient folks I used to take on tours of the WW1 trenches back when I worked as a tour guide in the late 70s -- which would have been around the 60th anniversary of the end of WW1. It's requiring yet another mental adjustment to just how old I am, which is always an unpleasant exercise...

Which I realize sounds selfish in light of the magnitude of the events being commemorated, but really is meant as a reflection on the rapidity with which things become "history".

>61 Chatterbox: It has caught me out too to see how old the surviving WW2 veterans are. I realise it is because of some faulty 'rough estimates' of chronology in my mind. I tend to think of WWI, roughly speaking, as being 'at the start' of the 20th century, and of WWII being 'in the middle' of it. That rule of thumb encourages me, when I am not thinking of the precise dates, to imagine the two wars as being roughly 50 years apart. But of course that is far wide of the mark, there was only 21 years between the end of the first and the start of the second, and more than three times that has elapsed since the end of the second. Which is a long way round to agree with you, Suzanne - WWII is much less 'recent history' and much more just 'history'. And when I reflect that I was born only 20 years after the D-Day invasions being commemorated today, I am sadly led to reflect that I'm rapidly becoming history myself!

>54 sibylline: That gives me goosebumps! Thanks, Lucy! And how wonderful for them - and to have a couple of W7's veterans with them is amazing.
We're talking my parents' generation, and I grew up with the stories of my dad's flight crew in the Pacific. He had just completed glider training when they scratched the program (Thank God! The death rate was appalling.) So he missed action again while he retrained to pilot a B-24. I'm very grateful that he came home, and since I'm old enough to be Genny's mom, I'm well aware that I've become history.

It was my parent' generation as well, although I think I'm a similar age to Suz my parents had me late, so they were a generation older that they might have been. So my Dad fought in WWII (and my grandfather in WWI. Both were in the navy, but my Dad wasn't involved in DDay.

Lucy, I wish you a gorgeous weekend.

Aging. Eeek! *flees discussion so fast he beats the gleam of his chrome dome out the door*

And I'm older than you, Genny! I would have been born in the year of the 20th anniversary of the Dieppe raids (go look it up...)

>64 SandDune: Rhian, yes, my parents were very young when I was born, only in their early 20s. Both were born in the late 1930s, and were still young children when WW2 ended. The first memories of both of them are tied up in the war. One of my father's uncles died on July 8, 1944 as a result of wounds he incurred on D-Day; he served with Canadian Scottish Regiment and landed, I believe, on Sword Beach. He's buried just outside Caen.

I was driving much of yesterday and listened to a lot about the 70th anniversary on BBC and NPR. WWII was the end of "history" which I was in high school. That always made it seem much longer ago that it really was. Still it was my father's generation who fought. He died in his early 60's and so is frozen at that age in my mind...but he would actually be 114 now. Scary to compute that number!!

> 67 On the news last night they were talking about the anniversary of D Day. According to their information the British landed at Sword beach and the Canadians at Juno. Maybe there was some overlap between the two.

I am deep into researching WWI so the D Day anniversary snuck up on me. My father was in WWII and both grandfathers were in WWI, all Brits but you don't hear much about their theatres of war as my father was in India and Burma and his father was in the Mediterranean. My mother's father had just moved to Canada and ended up in Ontario were the training for the airmen was carried out. I am trying to piece together my grandfather's stories but well remember my father's war stories and my mother's as well - she was in the Land Army.

Interesting discussion but I know what you mean about it making you feel old!

Hello all you fine visitors! Thanks for dropping in.

Busy day today, so I haven't been about much until now. My father was just too young for WW2 did his service '47-8 mostly behind a desk doing who knows what. Both grandfathers served in WW1.

Now off to bed with the tired me!

>69 Familyhistorian: Permaybehaps. The beach landing info (which beach) comes via his siblings and their children, who passed it on down as part of the family genealogy/history. He was wounded there, and died in a military hospital on July 8, and is buried in Hermanville. That much I do know, and it's confirmed in records. He served in the Canadian Scottish Regiment.

He was about 15 years younger than my grandfather, and the next-to-youngest of a family of nine siblings, one of whom is still alive today. My grandfather, were he still alive, would be 112...

Intriguingly, on my mother's side, I have a great-uncle who fought in France in World War I. As Murray was the youngest of his large family, so George was the eldest of his; about 25 years separates them, or an entire generation, even though in my family, they "belong" to the same generation by virtue of where their siblings line up in my family tree. Great-Uncle George did survive, and I have odds and ends belonging to him from that time, from ration coupons to his leave ticket and even forms and cards dating from when he was recuperating from injuries at a hospital in England in 1917. Also on my mother's side, two great-uncles served, one in the Canadian forces and one in the American! The former ended up as an admiral; the latter as one of LBJ's cardiologists, later a physician at the Mayo Clinic, inspired by the same heart defect that his brother (who died aged 42) and my mother shared (and oddly enough, ended up treating an ex-bf of mine...) He lived to be 101...

OK, I'm rambling. Time to try the sleep thing.

>71 Chatterbox: Large families and the spread between children did make for a lot of odd war experiences. My paternal grandmother had seven children and her eldest, my father's half-brother, was in the RAF in WWI while my father was in the RAF in WWII. I can't top the brothers fighting for two different forces, though.

>72 Familyhistorian:, ah well, easily enough explained. Uncle Howard had moved south to the US to pursue specialist medical studies, and enlisted in the Army Air Corps. Don't know if he had become an American citizen by then, but he definitely had by the war's end. So his four daughters are my only close American relatives! Whereas Uncle Herb stayed north of the border, and made a career in the Canadian navy, twice hosting Queen Elizabeth. Amazing how porous that border was pre-1914, however. People on both sides of my family were hopping back and forth across it as if it didn't really exist. After about the mid 19th century -- the formation of Canada as an independent nation -- only WW1 seemed to make the border relevant in a legal sense.

What I am reading right now:

♬

Generations can get very mixed up indeed.

The US/Canadian border has gotten dramatically less 'friendly' on both sides since 9/11. The Canadians ask more questions than they used to and want to see passports too, since the US does it to everyone coming in their way. A driver's license used to be all you needed either side.

>15 sibylline: Noting...
>52 sibylline: Aww.
>54 sibylline: Cool!

My verbose contribution to your thread.

I loved Three Men in a Boat, both times. Got a great audio version. First time 'round I only realized who the dog was at the very end of the story, so a lot of it didn't make much sense!

Didn't realize I needed my passport to get into the US now. Haven't renewed it in years. I'd best look into that.

>77 Smiler69: Yep.

I am beginning to get who 'the dog' is.......

Legally (and I just checked this, out of curiosity...) Canada doesn't require a US citizen to have a passport to enter the country. In practice, however, this seems difficult to be without, in part because you pretty much can't re-enter the US without it. But insofar as Canada is concerned, if you have your birth certificate and a driver's license, that's still enough to get you into the country, legally speaking. (I read all this when I was making sure that a passport expiring within six weeks wasn't going to be a problem, and was surprised to find that technically I didn't need it...) Also, I think airlines may well refuse to let you fly if you don't have a passport, regardless of what the border control guards say. Ironic, really.

When we last flew from Southern England to Scotland i.e. within the UK (post 9/11) we were astonished to find we needed passports as that was the only acceptable form of ID. I'm sure it must have been possible to do it without passports - not everyone has one - but it would have made things more difficult.

In theory, yes, but they say, "Passport?" at Highgate where I usually cross - I suppose knowing that I am a US citizen they also know that's what I need to go back.....so that is what they expect to see. I directly know a story where a person whose passport was soon to expire was not allowed OUT of the USA in case they were delayed getting back - it was a teacher who was supposed to go as a chaperone on a school trip! Her passport wasn't even all that bad, it had two or three months left!

>54 sibylline: - What a remarkable story! Your family connection with the story makes it even better. Thank you so much for sharing.

>75 sibylline: - The Canadian/US border is a very different place post 9/11, I agree. I still have difficulties remembering that a quick hop over into Washington state involves the same border controls I expect to experience when I travel internationally. Interestingly, the last time I traveled into the EU, I was rather surprised at the lack of border controls when I landed in Frankfurt compared with the "Don't cross the yellow line, etc.' strict rules when I fly into Seattle. Like apples and oranges different.

60. **** humor
Three Men in a Boat Jerome K. Jerome

Not sure how I missed this humor classic. No need to review it, but I will say, by an amusing coincidence, the day I listened to J's story of his first sail, we were running around looking for the sails for my husband's boat and the day I listened to the rant about pipers and piping (especially beginners) I was on my way to a musical event where there were pipers (although not the big bagpipe kind, I admit. It is a quietly comical book and charming. ****

Once again checking into a new month's thread with quite a delay. Happy June, Lucy!
And for the first time I feel like reading a Pynchon. Got Mason & Dixon from my library's giveaway basket.

That's a very challenging book -

The book is about Mason and Dixon who, hired by the British Government in the 1760's drew a line between Pennsylvania and Maryland to settle a colony border dispute.... much later this became the border between the North and South after Pennsylvania outlawed slavery. There is much much more - it was a difficult mathematical problem and there was a small piece of land known as 'the wedge' that was disputed into the 20th century. But I think Pynchon saw it as a 'line' that 'made things happen' put at its simplest.

Some of the book is heavily researched and true, and some is utterly fanciful - that is Pynchon's way. Some find it annoying, I love it.

The wiki for M&D looks pretty decent - probably there are good blogs as well. I advise having them all handy when reading.

Also his writing style has it's own special cadence and takes getting used to - even if you've read lots of his work, it always takes time to re-adjust.

Three Men in a Boat is one of those books I seem to have always known, but I can't even remember when I read it. I know I've heard radio adaptation(s) and heard excerpts read in comedy anthology programmes, and I'm pretty sure I must have read it properly back in my early 20s, but perhaps I'm due a re-read to remind myself. I do have a clearer memory of reading the follow-up, Three Men on the Bummel about a walking tour in Germany...

>84 Deern: >85 sibylline: Mason & Dixon
Hmm... As I live in that part of the world.

>87 qebo: Ditto. I'm a couple miles from the PA/MD and PA/DE borders. In fact there's a sign on a local road indicating it's a point on the M&D line. Where's the wedge?

My grandfather read Three Men in a Boat out loud to me when I was a sprout. All I could remember of it was that it made him chortle a lot. To my disappointment, his copy disappeared when they sold his house, probably tossed by my mother. I did get my own copy but somehow it isn't the same as having it read to me by Granddad.

I'll try to put in a couple of images of 'the wedge'. Here is #1:
and #2 which kind of puts it in context visually.

What is interesting is that Vermont has three 'gores' - spaces that ended up unsurveyed and not part of any counties or villages.... we have one near us called Buell's Gore. I've mentioned this before I know, but if you live in one of these Gores you can choose where to send your children to school and then pay the school tax. If you have no children you don't have to pay anything. You pay the state directly for your land tax. Of course, it's a long way from anywhere and I suspect the folks who work end up paying just as much or more in gas fees.....

I imagine most of the states with mountains have these odd leftovers that nobody has any use for. Of course in the case of the wedge it was due to the difficulty of squaring the circle radius with the desire border line. Nobody wanted to give up another inch. Pynchon sees it as a 'vortex', I think, of human stubborness. Now I'm dying to reread it. Many hated M & D but I adored it once I got used to it.

>90 sibylline: fascinating. Looks like we live right above the wedge. We've been here 10 years but I never knew this bit of history. I can see myself falling down a rabbit hole of internet research!

Have you read, or seen on TV, How the States Got Their Shapes" (I think I have that title correct). I found it most interesting in both forms.

No. But it sounds like something worth looking out for!

>90 sibylline: I did not know. Off the shelf comes Drawing the Line, which appears sufficiently technical, but a skim through the index and flip through the pages doesn't yield the helpful Wikipedia Wedge diagram.

Extremely fascinating re the gores and wedges! And I'm still pondering Pynchon...

Re passports, I was OK going to Canada. I wouldn't have tried venturing overseas with a passport expiring in less than three or four months. For starters, some other countries won't let you in. I think I may have had a problem had I decided to go to the UK in February, as originally planned, since their standard leave to enter is for six months. If the passport expires in five, I've technically been given the OK to stay beyond the validity of my passport... But just going to Canada, with a return ticket in less than a week, I wasn't really very worried. Anything involving an overseas flight is something else.

61. mys ***1/2
Quite Ugly One Morning Christopher Brookmyre

Enjoyable. It occurs to me I might like these a lot read in a great Glaswegian accent.... In any case, you have bad bad guys an good good guys (the good ones being slighted more 'developed' and 'complex' characters. Does the plot matter - a little - as in this case it exposes what abuses could happen to a insufficientlyi-monitored financial management mucking about in a publicly funded universal health care system in the hand of a greedy bastard..... ***1/2

>95 Chatterbox: Yes, I don't think the Canadians are worried they'll be stuck with you! (You in the plural sense, that is).

>52 sibylline: What a peaceful photo! Thanks for posting this.

>94 qebo: - I think Mason & Dixon is probably a lot more fun!

> 97 thank you, and nice to have you stop by!

Genny and Tui - I've known of 3 Men etc. forever, but somehow I never got to it. Nobody did read it to me either. Although there was a lot of reading. I didn't have the luck of having grandpas who read to me though.

>15 sibylline: romping
>85 sibylline: Some of the book is heavily researched and true, and some is utterly fanciful - that is Pynchon's way. Some find it annoying, I love it.
>99 sibylline: I think Mason & Dixon is probably a lot more fun!
I'm sure it is, but my tolerance for romping and fanciful is perhaps most definitely less than yours. :-) I prefer to begin with grounding.

>83 sibylline: And you HAVE read To Say Nothing of the Dog, have you not?

>97 sibylline: Thanks for the clarification re plural... *grin*

>101 ronincats: I HAVEN'T!!! - In part because I hadn't read Three Men - so think of it as preparation!!!

>102 Chatterbox: They'd be lucky to have you (single)!

Well, I'll tackle *M/D* sometime this year if you'll read *Say Nothing* - and that's a bigger commitment on my part!

Definitely a lopsided commitment! TSNotD is much shorter and much more entertaining! Read it soon, Lucy, while you still remember the details of Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog.

Is the LD graduated yet?

>83 sibylline:, >105 ronincats: I got Three Men in a Boat last year as prep for To Say Nothing of the Dog, but haven't yet (re)read it. I though it was hilarious when I was 12, and doubt I'll repeat the reaction.

It grew on me, Q. But i do wish I'd read it younger.

I'll say that's a greater commitment!

The LD graduates on Saturday. We've had Honors night, Banquet night and Senior Tea - just got home from the Banquet in fact..... Vermonters aren't exactly renowned for their social skills, so some of these events can be kind of uphill work.

LOL re: the obvious understatement!

Graduation week: what a whirlwind! I can relate to the uphill nature of those things. But I know you will also enjoy it and are bursting with pride! Congratulations to the LD.

Congratulations to your daughter (and you) on her graduation!

Fascinating conversations here. I did not know about the "wedge" between Delaware and Pennsylvania. I have the ebook of How the States Got Their Shapes so I will have to read it soon now.

Re: Canadian/US border post 9/11. Since I live on the border between Maine and New Brunswick these changes have really had an impact on my life. Prior to 9/11, no one gave the "border" much consideration. Many families have members in either country and passing back and forth was a many times a day occurrence. On Saturday nights when I was a teen, we would ride down Main Street on one side of the border, cross over the river to Canada and ride down Main Street on the Canadian side. Since passports have become mandatory it is quite strange. It has put an artificial boundary between neighbors basically and I can't see how that is good for anyone...communities, the economy, families....it builds ill will instead of good will.

A passport story...in the period where they started phasing in the requirement of mandatory passports to enter back into the US, my husband and I went over to Canada for a close friend's engagement party. We had only our drivers licenses for ID. After the party, we were coming home and when we arrived at the border crossing, the US officials did not want to let us back into the US because we did not have passports! We ended up sitting at the crossing for quite a long time arguing the point with a very hard assed Border Patrol agent. We have long since gotten our passports, but I have only gone into Canada twice since then which is a shame since there are many places I used to love to go. It seems like we ought to have a better method of dealing with this kind of situation.

Passports are much in the news here at the moment as the Passport Office has apparently allowed a huge backlog to build up, and so there are lots of irate people who are facing not being able to go on their summer holidays because their passport will not be received in time! Being British we need passports to go pretty much anywhere: most other European countries are part of the Schengen Agreement and so can travel freely without passports (unless they want to come to a non-Schengen agreement like the UK of course).

>109 lauralkeet: The daft thing I have signed up for is the 'Project Grad' all night party run by parents... I'm on a 2:45-5:00 shift chaperoning at some sports club ..... prior to that they'll be out in the steamboat Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain for a few hours.... all to keep them from those terrible parties and wear them out. I'm doing it with a friend and we'll go to a diner when our shift is over and then pick up the kids at 7:00 at school and bring them home. Oi.

>110 Cobscook: We used to go to Montreal a lot more often too - it just feels.... less friendly. I think that is terrible though for you with close ties on both sides. I suppose one could just grit one's teeth and get used to it.... I have a feeling it isn't going away soon.

>111 SandDune: Equally terrible! How did that happen? I suppose kind of cutback or change in methodology. The USA is pretty good that way - about six weeks and you can pay extra and get one in about ten days or pay a fortune and get one in one day. (The fortune includes a trip to one of the cities that does the fast track passport - but you do have to have all your ducks in line, have an old passport and various certs on hand to prove you are you and do it in person.)

I think I read the least ever yesterday - maybe five pages! I think it'll be like this all weekend.

Happy weekend, ma belle cousine. May it bring sunshine lollipops and rainbows!

>112 sibylline: St. Lucy the Intrepid, Patient, and Wakeful! Project Graduation is such a good idea, but volunteering for 2:45-5:00 - Noble!

I think I read the least ever yesterday - maybe five pages! I think it'll be like this all weekend. I think so too. Enjoy!

Is everybody experiencing no mail on profile page?

>112 sibylline:: 'Project Grad' all night party run by parents. Yikes! You're a braver mom than me. I have to admit that both J and I steered clear of the mother-daughter event which involved skits and songs. Ew. Not our thing. At all.

>112 sibylline: It's rumoured to be cut backs, combined with a particularly high number of passport applications and this being the peak season for passport applications anyway. It's supposed to take three weeks, but is taking much much longer apparently, and the fast tracking is particularly expensive if you are a family with several children. Last time I got my passport renewed I had to get in person from the London passport office because of two trips quite close together, which meant I had to get my photo done when I had flu, and I just look dreadful.

Oh Laura! The LD and me would have put miles and miles between us and an event like that one! Yeesh!

>117 SandDune: The spousal unit had a similar experience and he was so strung out and exhausted his photo is also ghastly - driving to Boston, basically for the day, to get it done and back again to pack and leave. He somehow lost his passport...... or...... couldn't find it, anyway. And it never has turned up. A real mystery.

And more apologies today too if I don't post much over the weekend.... I promise to do my best on Monday when things quiet down, maybe even Sunday. But we have guests coming for the big event and all amount of hoo-ha including my all-nighter..... I intend to enjoy it. The LD expressed great happiness that I would turn up around then - "I'll be having a ton of fun, or I'll be miserable, either way it will be comforting to know you are nearby." Nice kid!!!!!

She is a nice kid!
I'll send you a personal message to see whether it gets posted.....Oh. No, I won't.
I just thought that I hadn't stayed on profile long enough for the messages to load, but I don't have any either.

Congratulations! You'll end the weekend utterly exhausted, but it will all be worth it -- even if it wasn't already, to have had that delightful compliment from the LD...

>115 sibylline: Is everybody experiencing no mail on profile page?
I can see mine, on my own profile. Can't see yours, but can see messages on other profile pages. There's an account setting to allow or disallow comments, could you have set that to "disallow" by mistake?

>121 lauralkeet: It was a bug and should be OK now.

>122 CDVicarage: and so it is. Thanks Kerry!

Congratulations LD and family!! Exciting time. When does she leave for college?

This is a great cat video - truly sublime. Volume essential!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3iFhLdWjqc&feature=player_embedded

>124 RebaRelishesReading: Oh - in early September.....

That cheered me up. Thanks Lucy!

LOL! Thanks for the chuckle : ).

Oh. My. God.

I actually smiled. Which, given the way my Friday the 13th unfolded, is pretty damn good.

That is very funny!

Lucy, I wish you a lovely weekend.

My sister, the spousal unit, the Little Darling, and moi.
Graduate, class of 2014 Mount Mansfield Union High School!

It looks as though you had a lovely time!

Lovely photo of the happy graduate and the family! Congratulations!

Wonderful pic!!! Happy day (and the weather is cooperating, I note!!) and proud family...

Just thinking back to how amazing it felt to finish high school and feel the world opening up before me. Scary, but amazing. Good luck to the LD as she ventures off down that path...

Wonderful photo. Congrats.

Lovely photo!

Lovely photo, Lucy!

>131 sibylline: Sweet!

WHAT a great picture! I love to see people who are perfectly happy when the camera snapped - or whatever it is that cameras do.

Congratulations to LD! Thanks for sharing the pic too.

Survived the up-all-night. The last thing was a hypnotist at 5:30 in the morning back at school and he was AMAZING! Very funny. Nothing more suggestible than sleep-deprived teens!

What I am reading this week:



Have to figure out what audio book to read next.....

That's a marvelous picture of you all above! Glad you survived the all-nighter and hope you are catching up on sleep today.

Lovely picture, thank you for sharing it!!
And thank you (belatedly) for all the information on Mason and Dixon. Now I really want to read it although I might begin with a shorter one to get into the Pynchon mood.

Thanks for sharing the photo. Nice to see your spousal unit :)

>131 sibylline: Lovely photo! What a great smile from the LD.

So, what did the hypnotist have the sleep-deprived teens doing?? Inquiring minds may not need to know, but they certainly are curious...

I can't wait for the next Ben Aaronovitch. Due out in the fall, I believe.

62. ****1/2 nat hist/anthro
Living with Deer in America Richard Nelson

I've been living with Nelson and the people and deer he observed for almost a month now - and a good and informative month it was. Nelson loves deer, and I don't mean that lightly, this is the animal that fills his spirit. Nelson, an anthropologist lived with the Kokuyu tribe during his formative post-grad years and this changed his entire outlook about how non-agrarian cultures regard the animals they depend on for their lives. It is as it has been for thousands of years relationship of interdependence - deer supplied the substantial native american population with around 80 % of their food, clothing, and many other things (say, needles made out of bone, bow strings of gut, and on and on and on) They need us now more than ever, strangely enough, because they would breed themselves out of all bounds without steady predation and that includes human predation, since there are few mountain lions and wolves - the deer's most efficient predator besides us - left to do the job. Nelson's interest is in the myriad ways human lives intersect with deer, in the past and present. He writes lyrically and sensitively about his own relationship with deer too. Living with the Kokuyu he learned to hunt and in so doing, learned something, he believes, about important truths at the core of every living being, that while you live you are part of a chain, and in order to live you must kill other animals, directly or indirectly. Hunting, done mindfully and respectfully, can bring a deeper appreciation and understanding of this fact. Nelson is interested and open to talking to anyone who loves animals and especially deer. He spends a few weeks with an anti-hunting group in Wisconsin, for example, and finds he has much in common with them - he is anything but your macho-man hunter. But he also makes it clear that the majority of deer hunters in his experience do it for much the same reasons he does. Curiously too, studies of the people who are for or against hunting indicate the most against people are urban, don't have pets, don't camp out, don't spend that much time hanging about outdoors. Very peculiar, that. Hunters tend to have close relationships with other animals than themselves, are more aware that they are, in fact, animals.... and so on. I've never had a problem with hunting as I've been aware that deer are a big problem for farmers if not kept in check. He devotes a chapter to the relationship of the Native Americans to the deer, their land management practices and other aspects of how they approached hunting. Other groups Nelson spend time with range from researchers in remote places in Alaska to farmers in a couple of different states, to a farm in Texas where the deer are 'managed' and you can buy time to hunt on the 10,000 acre spread during the season. This was, for many reasons, my favorite chapter. The people who run the farm are so appealing, so sensible about what they are doing - and they seem to attract great people to their spread, year after year after year. The last chapter and the epilogue are also stunning, Nelson's own experience hunting (and being hunted!) and witnessing the birth of a fawn. ****1/2

GOOD for you. I doubt that it would ever be good for me, but I'm glad that you read it, enjoyed it, finished it, reviewed it, and are moving on!

Lucy, what a great thread. I was way behind and I just had a delightful time reading through.

I was fascinated by the wedge thing (how is that for technical language?). I wonder if we have any pieces of land like that out here in Washington or Oregon.

>131 sibylline: Congratulations to your LD! She is indeed lovely and the photo is great.

I had seen this video >125 sibylline: way back when but I sat here at my desk laughing out loud as I watched it again. Thanks for posting the link. It's a classic cat video.

>148 sibylline: Living with Deer in America sounds very interesting! I adore deer and elk; it's always a treat to see them when I go hiking or camping. I can't imagine hunting them myself, and my heart breaks when I see one on the side of the road after being killed by a moving vehicle, but I can appreciate the complexity of the needs of the species. Great review, Lucy.

63. hybrid fantasy/mys
Whispers Underground Ben Aaronovitch ****1/2

These are just so much fun! Playful and smart. And Aaronovitch's love of London shines through and informs every page! **** 1/2

Am so so pleased for y'all that LD is done with high school and happy to be moving with the times.

Loved the review of Blood and Heart! I agree with the author's points.

With all the amazing SF/F TV shows nowadays, why the heck has no one made Peter Grant into a series? Hmmm? Use your show-biz connections, chop chop!

*smooch*

Tried this out last night, alas, not for me. I think the spousal unit picked this up somewhere and sort of liked it.... little town with special creepy secret.... and so on. Not my cuppa. If you like this kind of thing, probably it's pretty good! ( I posted it on PBS.)



Now I'm trying this one out....

nasty cover, innit?

>151 sibylline: What a coincidence! I've just finished Whispers Underground as well. Enjoyed it a lot too.

That's so much fun, I have to run and get the next one, I think!

Wait a minute! LT sez I already HAVE this one..... or is it WL..... dashing off.... YES, supposedly I do, now all I have to do is FIND it!

>155 sibylline: I might go and buy that tomorrow. I've immediately turned round and started reading number one in the series again, as I realised that I couldn't remember exactly what had happened so far. And I'm enjoying it almost as much second time around.

I hope you are busy writing!

I'm a little late to the graduation party, but Congrats to the lovely diploma-earner! And what a fantastic photo of you all!

Lucy! Lucy!! Above All Men!!! Wonderful writing and a bleakly fascinating end-of-oil story. I'm woo-hooing all over the place.

>148 sibylline: hunting
Well it beats factory farming. Added to the wishlist; expect it’ll make me queasy but maybe in a useful way.

Happy Sunday, Lucy.

>It's on the WL Richard, I am yr. obed. cousine.

>Q - if anything it might make you feel positive about the whole enterprise. Nelson, as an anthropologist is keenly aware of human 'roots' - that we are accomplished predators. I mean, what do we think Wall Street is all about??? Classic displacement! In some ways, guys happily potting about in the forest for a few days every year clad in orange suits is preferable.

>162 sibylline: In some ways, guys happily potting about in the forest for a few days every year clad in orange suits is preferable.
This is a point.

Have to post this!



Ernie and the geese!

65. Virago ***1/2
The Three Miss Kings Ada Cambridge

At time tedious, at others compelling and throughout of interest as a period piece, a 'snapshot' of Australian society in the 1880's, it was a worthy enough choice for the Virago imprint, particularly for the last aspect. As stated in the introduction too there is a certain amount of interesting tension between the little inklings of 'feminism' and the urge to keep things 'proper'. Three sisters from a mysterious but humble background, are on their own at last and they go to Melbourne..... they are lovely and talented and .... discover they are not who they thought they were..... ***1/2

This quote is just for my 75ers - I was laughing to read this as it describes my own marriage with all too much exactitude:

"It {the marriage} will not be all cakes and ale.... They are too much alike to be the ideal match. Patty is thick-skinned and passionate, too ready to be hurt to the heart by the mere little pinpricks and mosquito bites of life; and Paul is proud and crotchety, and, like the great Napoleon, given to kick the fire with his boots when he is put out. There will be many little gusts of temper, little clouds of misunderstanding, disappointments, and bereavements, and sickness of mind and body; but with all this, they will find their lot so blessed, by reason of the mutual love and sympathy tat, through all the vicissitudes, will surely grow deeper and stronger every day they live together, that they will not know how to conceive a better one."

I love that quote! Especially "many little gusts of temper".

Had to fix a terrible typo - THIN skinned not THICK skinned for Patty!!

Yes, that is it exactly - I read it to my spousal unit and he agrees that is the best bit. And all too horribly true.

What I am currently reading:

LOL, I just love the photo of Ernie!

>164 sibylline: Ha! Who was the winner?

Mr Goose made it clear to Ernie that it would be a BAD IDEA to get any closer!

LOL

Loved the quote! So apt for so many long marriages.

I did finally write a review. I think the book might actually appeal to you.

I sure hope Ernie has the good sense not to take on those geese!!

Ambition, thy name is Ernie!
I won't rush to read *3 Miss Kings*, so thanks for a helpful review.

Doing a big catch up in one sitting, and as usual, finding so much to marvel at. LOVE the graduation photo - nice to get a clear picture in my head of what the family looks like. Also, Gores and Wedges! Such fascinating and slightly strange sounding stuff.
Interesting take on the whole hunting question. My father hunted deer for a while, and still regularly shoots pheasants and other birds. In my mind he is the archetypal non nonsense outdoorsman that has no time at all for animal rights activists' arguments about hunting and such, but I had the most interesting conversation with him about hunting deer - he said he gave it up eventually because killing such a wonderful animal didn't sit all that well with him after a while. Having said that, deer populations in Britain are pretty strictly controlled anyway, and only a certain number of licences are granted each year to hunters. I would imagine that in your neck of the woods the numbers are on a whole different scale. I have no problem with people hunting animals if they intend to eat them or otherwise use them afterwards, and I know that populations have to be controlled. But these "big game" hunters that pay huge sums to kill lions and antelopes and so on, just for the thrill of it.... I don't really understand that mentality at all.

Doing a big catch up in one sitting, and as usual, finding so much to marvel at. LOVE the graduation photo - nice to get a clear picture in my head of what the family looks like. Also, Gores and Wedges! Such fascinating and slightly strange sounding stuff.
Interesting take on the whole hunting question. My father hunted deer for a while, and still regularly shoots pheasants and other birds. In my mind he is the archetypal non nonsense outdoorsman that has no time at all for animal rights activists' arguments about hunting and such, but I had the most interesting conversation with him about hunting deer - he said he gave it up eventually because killing such a wonderful animal didn't sit all that well with him after a while. Having said that, deer populations in Britain are pretty strictly controlled anyway, and only a certain number of licences are granted each year to hunters. I would imagine that in your neck of the woods the numbers are on a whole different scale. I have no problem with people hunting animals if they intend to eat them or otherwise use them afterwards, and I know that populations have to be controlled. But these "big game" hunters that pay huge sums to kill lions and antelopes and so on, just for the thrill of it.... I don't really understand that mentality at all.

I'm glad you enjoyed catching up on my thread! I do try to keep it lively. Haven't been around as much lately due to the busy disease, but I try to touch base with all the threads I 'follow' at least once a week.

Your Dad might actually love this book if you are hunting (no pun intended) around for the right gift for him for birthday or christmas. Nelson's love for deer is profound and moving. Plenty of the information in it is not specifically American and the stuff that is might be very interesting to him.

I can't imagine big game hunting either. Shooting certain animals, say, elephants should be punishable as murder. The more we learn about them, the more we know they are .... smart, sensitive, and deeply attached to one another. Since they are not predators either, well, no excuse at all. People have an atavistic fear of the big cats and wolves - it's understandable, but doesn't excuse pre-meditated, expensive etc. game-hunting.

Presently I am on the Cape, on a writing retreat, hoping to finish up this rewrite of 'the book' - I've never gone on a retreat here in the summer - very different feeling to have doors and windows mostly open! Usually I am here off-off season - April, October!

>131 sibylline:: the LD is absolutely lovely, Lucy! I have been dealing with Real Life so have been checking in hit and miss with LT. So glad I didn't miss this photo.

ETA: added Whispers Underground, which looks like just my cuppa. Had a big laugh at Ernie's cockeyed optimism but hope he didn't even think of actually doing it. Those geese can be nasty buggers. And I totally agree with you about shooting certain animals qualifying as murder, especially elephants.

How are you finding Lux the Poet? I've read and enjoyed his Lonely Werewolf Girl books and also one of the Thraxis novels under his pen name, Martin Scott.

66. " fantasy ****1/2
Some Kind of Fairy Tale Graham Joyce

If you haven't read any Graham Joyce up to now (like me) and you like the kind of fantasy that has a real-world base (I'd call it urban fantasy a la Charles de Lint except this story takes place in a semi-rural setting), a solid grounding in the 'lore' of the fae and wonderful characters and dialogue... well.... you are in for a treat and a half. My husband discovered Joyce and bought up a pile of his novels after reading the first one and now I know why. A young woman, Tara, comes home after being missing for twenty years, presumed dead, although it is an unsolved mystery. She claims that she has only been gone six months. As her parents, brother, and former boyfriend struggle with coming to terms with the story she tells them..... that she was taken into.... another realm... Tara herself has to come to terms that whatever else, the time has passed and the changes in herself and in her family, much as she loves them.... the minor plots, the trials and tribulations of a thirteen year old boy, for example, weave marvellously into the bigger story. I'm considering knocking this up to a five, given that I did that thing where you just check out of RL and read like a madwoman until, uh oh, last page. ****1/2

Hmmm. To make it to 150 this year, my goal, I should have read 75 books by June's end. Ah well. It's just a goal.

>178 tiffin: Do be sure to start with the first of the series.... Whispers Underground is at least book 3.....

>179 avatiakh: I read The Good Fairies of New York and wasn't impressed, but I had bought both books together. I'm liking this one a lot, so go figure. It could easily be me.

Hi Lucy! I haven't quite caught up on your thread (hazard of hibernation), but hopefully I'll do a better job keeping up in the first place. :)

I have The good fairies of New york on my tbr pile. I read a few paragraphs and put it back on the tbr a couple of years ago. I like his sense of humour but perhaps it's an acquired taste.
Great, I'll need to check out Graham Joyce.

Adding Some Kind of Fairy Tale to the wishlist!

I've wish listed Some Kind of Fairy Tale as well.

BB for the Joyce as well!

You would not BELIEVE the topographical miracles I've accomplished dodging that book bullet! Simply incredible. Have fun on the Cape!

Oh you are a wily one, Mr. Derus.

I'm truly on a work retreat, Richard, which makes the Cape a bit of a weird place to be. Usually I do this kind of thing in April or October when no one is around. Today I can feel the happy holidaymakers POURING in off of Route 6 ..... raucous laughter and jollity on various decks and verandahs all about - you can almost smell the gin and lime.... but I am nose to the grindstone. Almost finished the rewrite of this book, then I'll hunker down with my copy editor (someone who owes me a return favor) and then off the the agent. I can't believe I'm getting close.

Brava, ma belle cousine, brava for the work and the achievement!

Still...the Cape...*happy sigh*

PS I need to send you something, please PM your addy as I've let it submerge in my piles of paper schnibbles.

Yep - it is its beautiful shimmery self.

I took a walk earlier out to Great Island. So lovely. Although there was a ....brain on his cell phone talking about surfboards. I sat down to wait for him to get farther away, staring at nothing really, but he thought I was looking at something so he STOPPED and looked through his binoculars. I was ready to send Po to bite his ankle.

Lucy, I wish you a fabulous weekend.

Wow, that does sound close, Lucy. Congratulations! Quite an achievement.

>190 sibylline: So did he see what he was looking for?
Go, Lucy, Go!

No - actually I did it again at some point, stopped and stared out at the bay for a long time as if I was looking at something, just to yank his chain. Of course Miss Po thought I had lost my mind by then.

Got up early and walked first thing to avoid all the cars, but the result is that I want to go to bed at 8:30! And I was all ready to nap earlier.... so it wasn't that great an idea!

This morning was yakking with a neighbor in the driveway and a fox ran right by - not fifteen feet from us - and of course Miss Po went in hot pursuit. So I had to run off yelling .... but she was good and came right back. The foxes around here (Wellfleet/Cape Cod) are so cheeky!

Hi Lucy,
I love the photo of Ernie and the geese. I'm not surprised that they convinced him to keep a respectful distance. They can be nasty creatures!

I'm glad sweet Posey came right back after giving the fox just a wee scare (I'm sure).

And I don't think of myself as liking "fantasy" novels at all, but your review of Some Kind of Fairy Tale is quite persuasive. I'm looking for it at the library.

Yep. They have it. I've put it on hold. :-)

I think it might just be a book that non-fantasy readers can really like. I can't wait to hear what you think.

67. ***1/2 urban fantasy, I guess?
Lux the Poet Martin Millar

A terrible poet, a banished angel, a feminist filmmaker, a distraught computer nerd, a eugenics plot, the reincarnated Menelaus, are all milling around Brixton which just happens to be experiencing a riot..... Presented in (mostly) brief, somewhat clipped paragraphs, the story swoops from sublime to ridiculous, from comedy to, yes, tragedy and absurdity to seriousness, suffering to joy indiscriminately, you might say, very much in the way life does just that. Of course, this is a story, and things do get resolved in the sense that we know what happens to the various players more or less at the end when pretty much all of them convene at 'Liberation Computers' - a socialist business trying to invent left-wing computer games people will buy...... (and presumably be improved by). I enjoyed this, although I did not read a lot of it at a time - it's a book to read either in one long sitting or in short bursts, but I don't think it is likely to appeal to just anyone. Millar is pushing some boundaries here, stylistically and wrap-your-head-around-this-ally, but since I enjoy edgy stuff sometimes, I liked the effort. A steady diet? No. I tried The Good Fairies of New York a while back and did not finish it as it did not appeal at all. I have no idea what is different about this one. If you see it somewhere pick it up and read a few paragraphs, that's my advice! ***1/2

I hugely dislike this cover. Horrible, really.

What I'm reading this week:
♬

I just picked up the Benford, which is likely to be somewhat silly, but my brother is in Greece and sent me some pix of Mycenae yesterday, so I cannot resist! (The book starts with a 'find' there.)

One funny coincidence was that both Lux the Poet (which I just finished) and Rameau's Niece feature characters who spout poetry at the drop of a hat!

Artifact is the 'smallest' book I'm reading, trade pbk and the Lessard is the largest..... funny how the images are the opposite. (Maybe it is time for me to go drink some coffee and get serious, eh?)

>196 sibylline: I think it might just be a book that non-fantasy readers can really like.
Yeah, I've WLed it for consideration...

>197 sibylline: I hugely dislike this cover. Horrible, really.
I'd reject the book for this alone.

>198 sibylline: I like Gregory Benford, though nothing has stood up to Timescape. Haven't read Artifact.

Hi Lucy, just posted the following on my thread for you, but thought I'd post it here too since time is of essence:

Now's the time to stock up on the lower priced items at Audible. Everything on the site is 50% off the original price, so you can get great deals. Hurry, it ends at 11:59 tonight!

Have added Some Kind of Fairy Tale to my wishlist, although fantasy is always hit or miss with me and there doesn't seem to be a formula I can rely on. No chance I'll be picking up Lux the Poet just because the cover is so revolting. What were they thinking? I take it you picked up The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam during an Audible DD last week? I did too.

Thanks for the tip! I will definitely scout around. A lot of stuff still seems awfully expensive!

*skippityskipskipskippin'*

Sending hugs, though!

This is where building a wishlist on their site is useful, because you can then search it by price. It's really only worth it for books that are around $10 or less regularly.

Also, just posted the following on other threads, as I see you've read a few and enjoyed them: Downpour.com is having a 70% sale on the whole Montalbano series. Definitely worth checking out (just click on the blue link to go to their page). Prices are mostly $5 and less. Really worth it.

Wow - yes we are both Montalbano fans. Thank you!