The bookshelf of LovingLit

Apples and my coffee pot. (Balanced diet?)

BOOKS READ 2022
January
1. Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction by Jonathan D. Culler
2. Gotta get Theroux This by Louis Theroux audio
3. Still being Punished by Rachael Selby
4. The Gathering by Anne Enright audio
5. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
February
6. On Earth we are Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong audio
7. Exit West by Mohshin Hamid
8. Tainted Love: Take a Trip Through the Dark Underbelly of the 60's by Stewart Home
9. A Life in Parts by Bryan Cranston
10. Theroux the Keyhole by Louis Theroux audio
March
11. Apple, Tree: Writers on Their Parents edited by Lise Funderburg audio
12. My Father's Island by Adam Dudding
13. This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay
14. The Nazi Officer's Wife by Edith Hahn Beer
15. The Sellout by Paul Beatty (DNF) audio
16. The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst audio
April
17. The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson audio
18. Untamed by Glennon Doyle audio

So this is what I actually read in 2021...I squeezed in We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo right there at the end :)

Also, I just started Louis Theroux's Gotta Get Theroux This on audio today and am already over half way Theroux it (see what I did there?). I am still reading When I Lived in Modern Times and Making of a Counter Culture as well as a short introduction to literary theory. All good!

Happy 2022, Megan.

>3 richardderus: woot! You are my first visitor of the year, and I believe the final visitor for last year as well. That must make you the bestest person ever!
Happy New Year to you too.

Today we all had a quiet New Years Day involving me listening to almost 6 hours of an audio book (Gotta Get Theroux This-- I woke up WAY too early considering my late night, so wiled away the early morning with Louis talking into my head), and watching episodes 5 and 6 of Yellowjackets - starring Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci, and New Zealand's own Melanie Lynskey.
But this afternoon me and L broke the chill-zone and went to Cass Bay with some of our neighbours and some of their friends, where we swam and had a picnic tea of fish and chips.

This group always helps me to read; welcome back to the group, Megan.

Diet is also exercising my thoughts this time. I need to lose 22kgs on an urgent basis.

Happy New Year! Wishing you and your family the very best in joy, friendship, health, happiness and lots of good books for 2022.

>1 LovingLit: Oh, absolutely. There've got to be at least 5 of your group thingoes in there.

Happy reading in 2022, Megan!

Welcome, back, Megan! Your New Year’s Day sounds a lot like ours is going. Quiet is nice!

Happy New Year and happy new thread, Megan!

Ahh, the Bialetti/Moka pot is a mainstay in our house as well!

Ooh, and we've watched the first two episodes of Yellowjackets. Looking forward to seeing how it develops.

Huzzah for a new year!

>5 PaulCranswick: I have gained over the Christmas period and am pretty sure that now that I am not socialising/drinking/eating so frequently and so much, that I might drop a bit. One thing I do need though is some comfortable walking shoes; my trusty boots fell to bits and now I am reluctant to go on my walks for fear of sore feet!
22 kg sounds like a lot to drop! Do you have a plan for that? My experience has always been that you have to say 'no' about a thousand times a day in order to resist all the yummy food out there.

>6 humouress: Coffee beans are from a plant so they must be a fruit or vegetable, right?

>7 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita! You too :)

>8 drneutron: Quiet is nice, I agree. Even with careful management, the festive period is busy. Us introverts get exhausted!

>9 karenmarie: Thanks Karen. Good to see you again, I feel like I have been off the LT rounds for too long.

>10 ursula: I love mine. I took it on holiday as there was little by way of coffee at our first destination, but then the main places we stayed both had coffee machines, and people to operate them! So we had great quality coffees most of the holiday.

>11 London_StJ: And may it bring new good tidings for us all.

>1 LovingLit: Nice diet! LOL. Wishing you happy reading and maybe we can find 1 or 2 to do together? I miss reading with you! : )

Have a wonderful New Year, Megan!

>14 Berly: Thanks Kim! We need to find another rock star's 'top 100' list and pick one or two! I vividly remember the Bowie Bonanza of a few years back :)

>15 alcottacre: Thanks Stasia :) Summer is in swing here, and we are all now trying to figure out how to get our work hours in with no school/childcare. That old chestnunt!

Happy New Year and happy summer, Megan! When are the kids back in school? I'm coming along this year - looking forward to it!

Happy New Thread, Megan. Happy New Year. May you be graced with many bookish wonders. I really like the topper.

Hope your year is filled with great reads!

Happy New Year, Megan! Love the topper photo. A picnic tea of fish and chips sounds full of fabulous - good thinking.

Dear Megan, I hope you have arrived safely in 2022! All the best and many great books for the new reading year!

Happy 2022, Megan.

Hi Megan and Happy New Year!

>17 AMQS: Kids are back at school 1st of Feb! So we are still basically looking at a month off for them. W going to high school is providing some though about uniform and BYOD (or me) and how/where to get to classes (for him).

>18 msf59: Bookish wonders will do me fine, thanks very much.

>19 thornton37814: Ommigosh- Me too!! lol

>20 Crazymamie: It was a lovely day, weather wise, so we took advantage!

>21 quondame: Thanks! Love the shelves, I wonder would they fit in my lounge...probably not now that I see how large they would be!

>22 PersephonesLibrary: Hello- long time no see! I must chase you down and star you.

>23 ffortsa: thanks Judy :)

>24 EBT1002: hi Ellen- happy new year to you too, I continue to follow your countdown to retirement with excitement.

>12 LovingLit: Exactly!

BOOK 1
Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction by Jonathan D. Culler

A good, concise read about the schools of thought regarding social theory as it pertains to literature. I'd probably read it again seeing as some sections were entirely new to me, such as the dissections of poetry, and the other sections are all good to build on what I have covered before.

>25 LovingLit: That's a great break! Does your school year start Feb 1 or does it start in Aug/Sept, etc like ours does? And did you say HIGH SCHOOL??

>28 LovingLit: That sounds interesting...what about poetry do you not already know? You're aware it is a dreadful waste of trees and eyeblinks; only the most reprehensible of people claim (falsely) to like it; what need is there for more to be said?

>29 AMQS: yes he is the big 1-3 years old these days, so high school here we come. The school year here is Feb to December, so fits with the calendar year with the whole summer off. Summer of course includes Christmas for us, so the big break is broken up with those public holidays as well.

>30 richardderus: well, I don't hate poetry per se; I just don't know much about it (like how to describe its worth, for example). Haha.

Hi Megan my dear, just dropped my star off so that i can keep up to date with what you are reading and doing my dear friend.

>32 johnsimpson: Hi JS! Happy New Year.

I am busying myself with fitting in the odd bit of work, taking the kids out to do fun stuff (weather and inclination permitting), and hanging about the house.

BOOK 2
Gotta get Theroux This by Louis Theroux audio

Turns out I knew precious little about this man! I saw his Scientology documentary (twice) and loved it, and had seen smatterings of him on various TV documentaries but had no idea of the extent of his output.

This book chronicles the making of his career, going into detail on some of the key projects on which he has worked. The Jimmy Savile case dominated, which, even though was thought overkill by some reviewers for it taking up two chapters, to me was very interesting. The audio was provided by Theroux himself and was done very well. He is clearly super intelligent and articulate; he has wonderful things to say and says them very well. I was very into the descriptions of his key projects, and found the surrounding information fascinating. I was particularly impressed at the level of attention he gave to his home life (he has a wife and three young children) as parental expressions of awe and wonder at their newborns seem - to me - usually to be limited to women's memoirs.

Maybe it is is his excessive overthinking of things that drew me in (I heavily relate to that!), but I loved the down-on-himself reflections, the musings and the ponderings this book offered.

>34 LovingLit: Hi Megan, Thanks for visiting my thread. I hope it will be busier this year. I haven't watched much of Theroux - but I just saw that his documentary about Scientology is on our public tv station, DR (where I also work), so I put that on my watchlist.

Always nice when an author can give a good reading of his/her biography. Have a great weekend.

>34 LovingLit: Theroux is a very interesting polymathic explainer of stuff. I approve. I appreciate. I am slightly in awe. The genepool of this family is, well, impressive.

Sending happy-Sunday wishes.

>30 richardderus: Do other people on LT know you feel this way? Paul, Joe, Mark ... for instance? ;0)

>37 humouress: I doubt it. I'm far too retiring to make such an unpopular opinion widely known.

>34 LovingLit: Well, I have never even heard of the guy, so saying that I know precious little about him is an understatement. I will have to check and see if I can get hold of that one.

>35 ctpress: Nice to see you Carsten I hope to see more of you this year :)

>36 richardderus: Yeah, his manner is wonderful. He says he has been called faux naive which I think he took as a slightly insulting thing to say, but I thought it was a valid interview technique to act as though you don't know a thing so that the interview subject can tell it all themselves.

>37 humouress: >38 richardderus: lol. Exactly.

>39 alcottacre: His audiobook is fab, I love his British accent for one (I relate much more to that than a north American accent) and his tone is even.

Book meme using last years titles, via Chatterbox on fb this time :)

Describe yourself: First Person
Describe how you feel: Nothing to be Frightened Of
Describe where you currently live: South
If you could go anywhere, where would you go? The End of the End of the Earth
Your favourite form of transportation is: The Underground Railroad
Your favourite food is: Sweet Tooth
Your favourite time of day is: Tuesday Nights in 1980
Your best friend is: Lea (she actually is a close friend!)
You and your friends are: How to Think about Weird Things
What’s the weather like: Winter
You fear: The Wine of Solitude
What is the best advice you have to give: The Night Always Comes
Thought for the day: We need New Names
What is life for you: The Splendid and the Vile
How you would like to die: Down all the Days
Your soul’s present condition: The Good Terrorist
What was 2021 like for you? Plague 99
What do you want from 2022? More than This

>41 LovingLit: Thought for the day: We need New Names LOLOL

*smooch*

>41 LovingLit: I gave myself a new LT name a couple of years back, it didn't altogether change me, I have to say.

Not sure what the '209' means, but it looks like I got this one on the 4th try of 6! I have only been doing it three days, and have got it on the 3rd or 4th try each time. YAY

Wordle 209 4/6

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Happy New Year, Megan. I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds literary theory fascinating. :)

>45 BLBera: Lol, definitely not the only one

>45 BLBera: Maybe I will have a second second wind and go do a PhD in literature! It is certainly my passion. Social theory can become very mind-bending...like brain gymnastics. But its so fascinating.

>46 London_StJ: hehe. Not around here, anyway!

>41 LovingLit: The Wine of Solitude sounds like my dream evening...

>48 AMQS: haha! I was more thinking, alone in a room, drinking myself to oblivion....not good vibes. I had just watched a documentary on alcoholism when I completed that meme, so, that would explain it!

>41 LovingLit: The Splendid and the Vile does rather describe this decade so far, Megan!

Try to share out the vino and have a great Sunday. x

>50 PaulCranswick: my lovely other is currently sharing out the vino he bought for me, with himself! Harumph. He has a bad habit of that...I shall have t get myself my own secret cellar arrangement.

Happy weekend, Megan!

>51 LovingLit: Clever fellow seems to have the same gift-giving methods as your mate in Kuala Lumpur!

>52 alcottacre: Thanks Stasia! Today was blissfully quiet. Yesterday I worked 8 hours coding data, by myself in the office. It was boring :)

>53 PaulCranswick: Ah-ha! I did state today, you really shouldn't say it's mine if you're just going to open it yourself the next day! He seemed to get it. (Not that I mind all that much, as if I want wine, I just go get wine!)

BOOK 3
Still Being Punished by Rachael Selby

This was a recent purchase on holiday in Dunedin...we bribed the kids to sit in the car for an hour while we looked at several second hand book and music shops :)

The short book is a collection of personal stories from Maori who were punished for speaking their own language at New Zealand schools in the 1940s and 1950s. The idea then, was that Maori ought to assimilate into the British-New Zealand culture, and that that was how outcomes for them would be optimised. Obviously, that is not the case, and many Maori became disengaged with their culture as a result, and harboured much resentment for the establishment. Fast forward a few decade and these, now older, Maori are in a situation where the language is valued, yet they still cannot speak te reo ('the language') where their grandchildren can (and do).

A good little collection of personal narratives, and yet another one for the archives file entitled "Colonialism- what a crock".

{major issues with the touchstone on this one...it is getting confused with 'The Ascent of man' for some reason}

Hiya, Megan. Just stopping by to tip my hat and say hello. Happy ‘22!

That book of Maori personal narratives sounds very good.

>55 LovingLit: That's so weird...I knew children of Italian immigrants who felt the same cutoff of identity because their parents didn't speak the language to them. What we need as humans, it seems, is to feel we belong. To someone, of course, a family or group, but also to something big, something institutional.

A sad tale of deprivation.

>41 LovingLit: Good meme answers.

>56 jnwelch: Hey Joe! (gee, that sounded like a Jimi Hendrix song there for a second! lol)

>57 richardderus: Tough huh? My dad was forced to speak English when he arrived here as a 5 year old, consequently, he lost his ability to speak Latvian, and it took him years (like 50+ years) to acknowledge and then accept and embrace his Latvian heritage.

>58 thornton37814: It's always fun finding books to match the clue :)

>59 LovingLit: I can attest that your father was able to speak to us all through his camera, Megan!

>55 LovingLit: This sounds fascinating. One of my classes is currently reading school narratives from Indigenous writers! This sounds like it would fit right in.

>55 LovingLit: Sounds like a good one. Adding to my WL

>60 PaulCranswick: He also learned how to speak English, which is a more effective means of communication, imo!

>61 BLBera: Is this a class that you're teaching, or taking?

>62 figsfromthistle: I'm not sure its readily available, I hope you can get a copy. If you really want one, I could send it to you? (And then you could post it on to BLBera!)

BOOK 4
The Gathering by Anne Enright (Booker Prize winner 2007) on audio

Death, and musings on death/life/relationships. But mainly musings on death expertly delivered with phrasings to make you sigh with pleasure.

However, the audio was tricky for me. Even though I love the Irish accent, the reader in this case just placed So. Much. Emphasis. On. Words. And it distracted me. I want to read this in print and see how much less intense it is. I feel this topic lends itself to a calmer delivery.

>55 LovingLit: I know that there is no chance at all my local library is ever going to get that one, so I am going to search further afield. Thanks for the review, Megan!

>65 alcottacre: you never know, it might get send on an LT-USA tour! I am happy to send it to someone...who can then send it on

>64 LovingLit: See? Reading > ear-reading! *smug smile*

Happy weekend-approaching's reads!

>67 richardderus: smug smile totally justified in this instance. In fact, RD, it may be YOU (yes you) who has made this whole audiobook thing not work for me lately. All I seem to be able to hear now is people's cadence...it feels like it takes over! I guess it must means that my inner voice is monotone. So be it. :)

Just about finished Lincoln in the Bardo!
Another Booker winner, another book about death.
Another one I wish I had finished already so I could read something.....more enjoyable :)

>69 LovingLit: And that's why I am halfway through the book and haven't finished it yet!!

I'd love to find another favorite person's booklist we could explore together. Any suggestions? Here are some places I found...

https://www.powells.com/post/lists/best-fiction-of-2020
http://favobooks.com/tvradio/70-5-anderson-coopers-favorite-books.html
http://favobooks.com/tvradio/123-Steven-Spielberg-books-he-loves.html
http://www.favobooks.com

>70 Berly: That last link includes book lists of Stalin, Vladimir Putin, and Elizabeth Holmes (disgraced founder of phoney medical equipment company Theranos- there's a great documentary on that btw). But, it also has a list from David Foster Wallace which looks interesting!
http://favobooks.com/writers/81-david-foster-wallace.html

Or// there's Michael Stipe's top ten books? https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/14/t-magazine/my-10-favorite-books-michael-stipe...

Or?? Patti Smith?? https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/patti-smith-favourite-books-reading-list/

I have to say I am drawn to the Patti Smith list! There are tonnes on there I would read.

I have two David Foster Wallace waiting books on my shelves...Both Flesh and Not: Essays and Consider the Lobster and Other Essays. (I actually went to college with DFW, although I only had one class with him.)

I can't see Stipe's list without paying...and

I already have The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov and there are several other interesting authors on Smith's list.

: )

>72 Berly: These are Stipes' top picks (according so someone), just fyi.


I have never read David Foster Wallace, is he known for writing looooooong books? And he was *in* your class at college? Cool!
Did we read The Master and Margarita for the Bowie challenge? (Such fond memories...)

>71 LovingLit: Hahaha but yikes as I have it scheduled for February.

>63 LovingLit: That is a kind offer however, a local independent bookstore has it in stock :)

>74 PaulCranswick: oh, you mean Lincoln and the Bardo? Yeah. It's polarising :)

>75 figsfromthistle: Great! Problem solved. I am surprised, and glad for you, that they have it.

Consider the Lobster is only about 350 pages. And I never read The Master and Margarita. At least I didn't write a review or mark it as read. Do either of those appeal? (Yes, I have VERY fond memories of our Bowie Challenge).

>73 LovingLit: Just Kids and Breakfast of Champions also. : )

>77 Berly: >78 Berly: aaah, the Master and the Magarita must have been another recommendation....it was heavily fantastical :) I have read Just Kids and loved it....highly recommended...let me see if I can get a copy of Consider the Lobster- it's essays I see.
Eta: no luck on the lobster book. What about Play it as it Lays or anything by Joan Didion?

Love trading book bullets with you!! My February is kinda crazy. Want to read Consider the Lobster in March? I am also gonna get my hands on Just Kids and move M&M up the TBR list.

Okay then how about Didion's The White Album?

>80 Berly: >81 Berly: ooh er...lemme check...

>81 Berly: I would buy either Play it as it Lays or The White Album...I'd probably prefer the fiction (first one), but either would do me fine. Neither are at my library, sadly.

Play As it Lays just sounds too dark for me right now. Do we want to keep looking or go with The White Album?

*walks into thread buffing nails* I understand I have ruined audiobooking for someone connected to this thread...? Next to destroying someone's fondness for Felis domesticus and slightly above ruining a taste for Chuckles the Dick, this is a Most Agreeable Eventuation.

>84 Berly: oh oh yes. I do. Let's do that White Album. :)

>85 richardderus: Well, I *just* started another audio, in spite of my abysmal experience last time. And...it...is (actually quite good). So, swings and roundabouts, my friend, swings and roundabouts. Cats and Dickens can wait.

>63 LovingLit: I'm teaching it, Megan. We're focusing on Indigenous literature.

>87 BLBera: Cool! Well, the offer still stands for a BB delivered by post :)

*dejected shuffle away*

>89 richardderus: fyi, this is the one I am currently listening to:

On Earth we are Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong. The author himself narrates it and it took me several minutes to come to terms with him being a (self-described) him seeing as his voice is very feminine. Although, I have no clue as to what might happen gender-wise as he grows up.
The book is beautifully poetic, and his intonation/cadence is not extreme, so I am able to be pleasantly carried along by his story.

BOOK 5
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (Booker Prize winner, 2017)

Ugly cover. Inexplicable book.
Why (oh why) do I persist with fantastical literature that I cannot understand? The premise sounded OK...boy dies, is in limbo with a whole heap of other neither-here-nor-theres who try to help him make it to the 'other' side..., but the delivery was nonsensical. A rat-a-tat-tat smattering of dialogue which, to me, seemed to interrupt itself at every turn, and a talking hog. Huh? Wha? *sigh*

Not recommended (unless you like fantasy and talking hogs).

>84 Berly: White Album it is!! Now when? Can we push out to March or April? : )

>90 LovingLit: Tell me how On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous goes. I have it in paperback...

>91 LovingLit: I made about 100 pages with Lincoln in the Bardo and then quit, hoping someone would convince me to pick it up again. Guess that won't be you! LOL

>92 Berly: One of my closest friends loved this book. I am not sure if we can recover form from this ;)
At least she liked my tip top number one favourite book of all time - My Name is Asher Lev - so that will save us.

Yes we can defer Didion....that will give me time to purchase, and to finish off all these half-read books I have lying around! lol

>93 LovingLit: LOL. Don't give up on your friend (or me if we disagree!). : )

And I will add our next book to March/April and we can see how things go. Yay!

I liked Lincoln in the Bardo, although I found it a relatively slow read.

>94 Berly: We also disagreed about Three Women, which her and two others from book club disliked (they thought it was classist, gratuitous, and that it misrepresented the women whose lives were featured in the stories). As it turns out we have quite different taste in books! But we remain very good friends, which I am happy about, as she is awesome :)
On this matter, I believe you and I will remain friends, even in the face of liking different books!

>95 ursula: I should have known that it wouldn't suit me as I have trouble with fantastical story telling. Every now and then I just try one more to make sure, and always find out that - yes - I still can't handle it. My own fault really!

Sorry, that Lincoln in the Bardo wasn't your thing. I really liked it but understand that it is challenging and not for all tastes. I also enjoyed On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, which I read in print. His poetry is wonderful too.

I know what you mean, I try some types of books in spite of being pretty sure they're not for me. And then yep, they're not for me!

>97 msf59: I am only cross at myself, Mark. I should have listened to my friend who told me I wouldn't like it! She was right, of course, but I guess I wanted to prove her wrong (and test myself).

>98 ursula: I need to learn to stay in my lane, right?

>99 LovingLit: There's nothing wrong with giving something a try and if it's a no go, that's what the Pearl Rule is for. Win win. And passing is perfectly acceptable too. Don't beat yourself up. ; )

>99 LovingLit: nah, nothing wrong with experimenting. But also nothing wrong with giving up on something! It’s a balance. :)

>100 Berly: >101 ursula: Yeah, I hear ya. I just have this weird thing where I want to finish books if I start them. Foolhardy, but there you go. (Also, I may have been being a tad over dramatic for comedic purposes.)

I have discovered the Wordle archive and have been (obsessively?) Wordling. My best so far is three.

Wordle 193: 3/6

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ADIEU...TRAIL....TAPIR

Eta: make that two!!!
Wordle 192: 2/6

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AEONS...ASIDE

I always start with the word 'AEONS' for its being packed with vowels :)

Ocean Vuong's books aren't for me, any more than George Saunders' are. There are writers one simply doesn't *jell* with, and those two (and Amor Towles! and David Foster Wallace!) are seriously up there in my "avoid" column.

Hoping the weekend's nice, full of bloomin' wattles, and replete with Pineapple Lump.

>104 richardderus: One has to know one's tastes!
I have foregone the Pineapple Lump lately for the Jet Plane. But now that you mention it, a Pineapple Lump would dip nicely into my hot drink!

>103 LovingLit: Surprisingly for me, I don't plan the game at all. I always start with a completely random 5 letter word that I take off the cover of one of the books I am reading.
Seems to work as I am 11/11 so far.

>106 PaulCranswick: Actually, I am already out of that phase. It was good for a bit, but so formulaic :) Now I do any combination of high-hit-rate vowels and consonants. Something like 'rated' or 'stare'. I have to say, I LOVE that game :)

(Pro tip- search up 'Wordle archive' for a fun day of time-wasting word games.)

Speaking of Wordle....here's a thought.

From what you see online, you'd be forgiven to think that there's a massive prevalence of people getting the daily Wordle in 2 or 3 tries. But, given that people are more likely to post their result if it's a good one, the truth would be that is is more likely to take 4, 5, or 6 tries- that's if you get the word at all!

This is just like the number of vaccinated vs unvaccinated people in hospital with COVID. People gleefully report that *half* of hospitalised cases have been vaccinated and think this means you have a 50/50 chance of being hospitalised (vaccinated or not)....when there are a *far* greater number of vaccinated than unvaccinated in the general public, so, the proportion of hospitalisations is FAR FAR greater for unvaxed.

I know, I know, it's basic maths. But I am getting *so* frustrated with the 'anti' brigade taking up all the oxygen on this matter online.

>107 LovingLit: Please don't tell me things like that.....with my compulsive personality I will never do anything else!

>96 LovingLit: I don't usually like magical realism but I quite enjoy books with dead people talking (like Lincoln in the Bardo). Hope your next book is better.

There was a court case here recently where a woman's insurance company sued her because they said she overrepresented how badly hurt she was after an accident. The insurance company claimed that social media posts "proved" she was well (showing her on holiday, taking up new hobbies). The judge pointed out everyone exaggerates on social media!

Wordlegame.org is the one I use to flex my pattern-spotting muscles:
My Wordle Stats: 23 Games played, 18 Games won, 78 % of Games won, 12 Max Streak.

>109 PaulCranswick: OK I won't tell you that. Certainly not.

>110 charl08: True that....there is the whole thing too, of people putting /only putting the best bits online. And then there's that classic move of mixing it up with a post of *no makeup* or talking about a bad day, just to prove you are human. It's quite a formula really!

>111 richardderus: Thats a new one for me! I just got todays (in 5).

I was irked that my usual strategy for today's...like you, I use "aeons" because it's never bad to have that many vowels out there...and not a single letter was correct!
Wordle 226 5/6

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Once I got the two in place, the only question was which of the relatively few words it makes was it?

>113 richardderus: ouch! That's a rip off getting no hits with that many vowels. Meanwhile I work my way through the back catalogue...but don't tell Paul C that :) Don't want to tempt the man lol

>113 richardderus: I got lucky in an archive attempt...started with 'cased' this time.
Wordle 150 3/6

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Ooh, aeons is a great starter word. I tend to cycle through a handful of starters, and I try to make sure there at least two vowels. I am addicted, though I appreciate the simplicity and the limitation of one per day. I saw the archived one and wasn't interested enough that time but maybe one day I'll be desperate. Maybe after the NYT puts it behind a paywall. I do pay for my NYT subscription (and have requested a recipes subscription for my birthday) but I don't pay for games and don't really care to.

>116 AMQS: Yes, I have just been hearing about the NYT thing this morning. The representative from there said some corporate talk like "we are dedicated to preserving the aspects of the game that people love". Ha. We all know what that means!

Oh yes, and I bought a new (2nd hand) book. $2, all good.

White Crosses by Larry Watson.

>118 LovingLit: One of my top-of-the-pops Larry Watson books! I hope you'll enjoy it.

Happy weekend-ahead's reads, Megan.

>118 LovingLit: I have liked what I read by Larry Watson too but his novels are almost impossible to find here.

I'm trying to un-focus on your trip through the Wordle catalogue.

Wordle away and have fun!! I have only done it twice, but got the solution both times. Definitely not in 2 or 3 tries! LOL

I just put this on RD's thread, but others might be interested to see how many flavours they (don't) recognise from this sign I saw the other day...

>119 richardderus: I like the low-key nature of the cover, and only realised later that the road it totally warped! Larry and me go way back to when Mark made me read Montana 1948 by warbling on its awesomeness.

>120 PaulCranswick: Carry on *not looking at Wordle archive. Seriously, don't go there, you might never get out.

>121 Berly: Once I got lucky with getting on on the 2nd guess, but they are always the luck of the first guess and correct letter placements. The buzz! The high!! (I am addicted)

I came to see if you've had a feijoa (yellow guava here) frappe...it sounds yummy!

I remember Callia talking about Hokey Pokey ice cream. I still couldn't tell you what flavor it actually is.

>124 richardderus: I'm not even sure I have had a frappe (ever)?! I have had feijoa muffins, vodka, fizzy drink (soda), and crumble though. All very good :)

>125 AMQS: Hokey pokey is just vanilla ice cream with little lumps of honeycomb, which is a sweet crunchy toffee-ish thing that wants to remove all your fillings. I have never liked it for that last reason ;)

>118 LovingLit: What a bargain! Have a great weekend!

>126 LovingLit: I said this on my thread: "It's not really suited to being frozen, honeycomb/hokey pokey, for that reason. Our version of it (Butterfinger bars) isn't, either, despite its paper-thin layered structure."

Smoothies with lumps sound like a recipe for choking!

Have a great weekend, Megan.

Currently reading:


Tainted Love by Stewart Home and Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

Both *excellent*
I am officially excited by reading again.

Also reading:


The Great Questions of Tomorrow by David Rothkoph and The making of a counter Culture by Theodore Roszak.
Bothh very interesting as well, but non fiction and require brain work.

>127 figsfromthistle: A long weekend here! Although, I worked today so not for me :)

>128 richardderus: Butterfinger bars! I can't even imagine!

>129 PaulCranswick: My personal made-at-home smoothies are the favourites around here. Frozen blueberries, banana, milk, cocoa, protein powder, and sometimes frozen mango. Delicious!

>130 LovingLit: Both *excellent*
I am officially excited by reading again.

Well that's a hell of a good endorsement!

>131 LovingLit: These things:



They don't have the same filling-pulling power as hokey-pokey, though they're up there. But the wafer-like layers enable them to crisply crunch (a bit like celery, only delicious) very satisfyingly indeed.

>132 London_StJ: yeah, I have been a little uninspired by reading lately. The few that I have been labouring over have ruined my appetite. Another lesson for me to quit hard and quit early on the non-starters!!!

>133 richardderus: Ooh, I like them better now that I have seen them! The name didn't woo me.

BOOK 6
On Earth we are Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong (on audio)

Read by the author! Yes. This is my new goal...only read audio books narrated by the author. They know how it's meant to sound. And this one sounded great...even though the poetics got a bit much by the end, it was beautiful and a lovely (if sometimes difficult) story.


BOOK 7
Exit West by Mohshin Hamid (Booker Prize shortlist, 2017) (on audio)

Yay- a fiction book I loved! It feels it has been ages. And, another one narrated by the author, who know how it's meant to sound, and who has a cool accent, and knows his material. With only the merest *touch* of magical realism (imo it was more a metaphor), the story carried me along to the end. A few passages saw me pause the audio for some reflection time.

>135 LovingLit: Oh, maybe I should try listening to the audio. I didn't get anywhere with the paper version. That cover is stunning.

Exit west has been on my list for a bit. I just was not sure about it. Good review! I am now confident that it is one I will enjoy.

Have a great Friday!

>126 LovingLit: Not my thing either but I’d definitely be game to try it if I were ever lucky enough to visit NZ!

>135 LovingLit: huh. No for me. Authors are wonderful but they’re not actors. I have listened to a fair few books narrated by the author and they’re definitely a mixed bag. Not that I avoid them but I don’t seek them out and I have stopped listening more than once when I just couldn’t take the author’s voice.

>136 charl08: warning, if you are talking about the Ocean Vuong book, his voice takes a little getting used to. But I love his accent, and his poetic cadence.

>137 figsfromthistle: It is surprisingly short, so you are not going to have to invest too much time.

>138 AMQS: Funny! The reason I thought to only read author narrations is because of one too many narrators acted too hard in their delivery. I don't want to hear a play acted out, I simply want to hear a book read out. And it is my last few author narrations that have delivered that for me. Also funny - and maybe admitting it here is the facing up to the wrong audience - it is the North American-accented narrator that is most often too intense for me.
I guess it comes down to preferences and the delivery choices of the narrator! I look forward to seeing how my plan plays out now!

Two new books! A wee trip to the second hand book shop resulted in the following two purchases....$4 each.


A Life in Parts: Bryan Cranston by Bryan Cranston and Seeing Is Believing: How Hollywood Taught Us to Stop Worrying and Love the Fifties by Peter Biskind

Eta: I would also like to add that I thought the Bryan Cranston book was called 'A Life in Paris' and was like..."huh. Paris? OK. Interesting...will see how that develops". And then when entering the book it became apparent that it was A Like in Parts. :)

BOOK 8
Tainted Love: Take a Trip Through the Dark Underbelly of the 60's by Stewart Home

I was a little taken aback by the way in which the narrator (who is the author, but whose words were repackaged and published 40 years after they were written) so dispassionately relays some of the things she witnessed and experienced. Her story is pretty intense; as a 16 year old she left home to hit London just prior to the hippie revolution which brought about the Swinging 60s moniker. As a hostess at a gentleman's club, she was paid to drink champagne, to encourage her gentlemen to drink champagne, and then was able to make a lot of money on the side sleeping with the wealthy, well-known men who were patrons of the club. Fast forward a few years and there is a heroin addiction, gangsters, William S. Burroughs living up to his seedy reputation, and some pretty depraved situations.
The story of the story is interesting too, if true. The manuscripts were bunched up and posted to the narrator's sister for safe-keeping and were tracked down by a long lost adopted-out son many years later. The son, frequently mentioned in the book, then takes it upon himself to have it published.
In short: recommended for lovers of crazy rides.

>141 LovingLit: Doesn't sound half bad....

>135 LovingLit: I did like Exit West, Megan but some of the fantasy type tangents rather got in the way of it being a great book for me. I liked his book Moth Smoke better.

>141 LovingLit: What RD says in >142 richardderus:

Have a great Sunday.

>142 richardderus: It was a really compelling read. I didn't want to put it down. It's been so long since I have had an un-put-downable book!

>143 PaulCranswick: Funnily enough for me the fantastical aspects of Exit West went largely unnoticed. And I am usually so distracted by them! I think the story eclipsed them, but I probably would have appreciated it more if were just straight story :)

My Sunday has ben AMAZING. It has been steadily raining all day, so after doing breakfasts etc,and finishing my book, I watched a movie from the warmth of my cosy bed. Bliss. It helps that my twisted and swollen knee is making it hard to be up. :(

>139 LovingLit: it is the North American-accented narrator that is most often too intense for me. I totally get that. And they're everywhere!

Your Sunday does sound amazing - enjoy! Except for the knee part - I'm so sorry!

>145 AMQS: My Sunday was amazing, and the Saturday prior was pretty good too! I went to the movies to see Get Back- the Beatles Rooftop Concert. A rare date with the lovely other :)
Rainy days prompted films galore! I can recommend This Is Where I Leave You (2014)- and not just because it stars Adam Driver (be still my beating heart), Jason Bateman, Tina Fey *and* Jane Fonda.
Honourable mentions for films I've seen in the last week are: Kill Your Darlings (2013) - about Allan Ginsberg, and, peripherally, William S. Burroughs and --was it Jack Kerouac?, and In & of Itself (a Derek DelGaudio film which is a crazy mashup of documentary, live theatre, existential philosophising, and magic).

My bedside table is kind of fun this evening :)

>147 LovingLit: I like the look of it! Strangely enough, I do not have any books on my bedside table. However, I have 7 stacks of them on my bedroom floor, 4 stacks on my desk, 3 on my dresser and 1 on my chest to make up for the lack on my bedside table.

Hi, Megan. I loved A Life in Parts. I am a big Breaking Bad nut. Seeing Is Believing sounds good too. I am also a big fan of films from the 50s...and the 60s and the 70s...

>147 LovingLit: Edgar & Lucy! Heh. Enjoy that heart-ripper.

Happy Tuesday.

>148 alcottacre: that bedside table is my barometer for how chaotic my life is. What is pictured there is about normal, but when stacks are teetering I know I need to have a rest ;)

>149 msf59: I watched 'Better Call Saul' first and knew nothing of the plot of Breaking Bad so had a *fantastic* time seeing the trajectory of the lawyer and then how it all ended up in Breaking Bad. I loved Saul, his relationship with his brother was fascinating and so well done. And after all that I got to watch the masterpiece that is Breaking Bad!

Eta: I am really enjoying Cranston's life story so far! I thought I just wanted to hear about Breaking Bad, but it turns out that's not all I wanted after all.

>150 richardderus: I bought that for my sister for Christmas but then ended up giving her something else. Still haven't read it, but ....as usual....meaning to :)

>147 LovingLit: :)

Exit West is one I would like to read again. Isn't it great?

>152 BLBera: It took me so long to get to it, and now I realise how many more there are like that out there. Panic! I need to read!! lol

It's the other way around with me (and most people, I guess) - Breaking Bad was so good - but I've never seen Better Call Saul - I will put it on my watchlist. Yesterday I started on Foyles War so I have some evenings ahead of me with that one.

Hi Megan!

>91 LovingLit: Lincoln in the Bardo is perhaps one of the most polarizing books here in the 75ers. Some love it, some hate it. You actually finished it, from your comments. I personally loved it, but there you go.

>103 LovingLit: I toyed around with using different start words, but have settled on ADIEU.

>144 LovingLit: Twisted and swollen knee? I hope it’s better a week later.

We watched Breaking Bad first, and have watched the first … three?... seasons of Better Call Saul.

>154 ctpress: yea yea, most people for sure would have watched Breaking Bad first. That makes sense to me. I was just pleased that I managed to stay away from any conversation around what that series was about, as it made watching it after Better Call Saul all the better!

>155 karenmarie: I got todays Wordle in 3 guesses- and then I see that a few others did to! Sometimes they just fall into place :)
Knee not better yet...I am starting to think I will have to get it seen to!

BOOK 9
A Life in Parts by Bryan Cranston

This guy! He has drive, self control, and a tonne of energy. If I were the type, I would be inspired by him. I came to the book with interest in Breaking Bad stories, but was hooked in by his fun writing style, and his very interesting life story. Yes- a great read, and one that is easy to consume.

Verdict: Loved it.

Happy week-ahead's reads!

BOOK 10
Theroux the Keyhole by Louis Theroux (on audio)

The 8-hour audiobook, read by the author, follows a year and a half in the life of a locked-down-due-to-COVID family man and documentary maker. I listened to his previous audiobook (Gotta get Theroux This) because I had thought it was this one, and then became even more excited to read this one because that one was so good. Theroux the Keyhole turned out to be an even better reading experience for me. I put this down to being able to relate to descriptions of home life, and because of his adolescent son's overuse of the work "cringe", which came out any time the boys' parents did or promoted anything even remotely affectionate, caring, or emotional. (Variations included "that's so cringe", "urgh, cringey", and your basic derisive "cringe"...all delivered in that droll tone that Theroux does so well.)

Intertwined with all that was talk of the public health measures designed to slow the spread of COVID, infection and death numbers, the homeschooling, the working from home, the cooking, the domestic samey-sameness of every locked down day- and stress and boredom of which leading to overuse of alcohol...all of this was so familiar to me even though we were only locked down for a total of 8 weeks here. It really reminded me of how lucky we were here to have nipped COVID in the bud (until Omicron), and that we were able to travel domestically, and have some normality in 2020/2021.

So yes, some nostalgia for me, and some perspective on just hoe many people got COVID, and were hiding from COVID. All stuff I am thinking about now as our daily case numbers - previously close to nil so far as community transmission went - are now are in the thousands.
*Highly recommended*

>158 richardderus: Finished two books in the previous 12 hour slot. Feeling good! (I have also managed to procrastinate myself away from report writing by baking bacon rolls, listening to a Melanie Lynskey interview, and doom-scrolling online.)

Doomscrolling and bacon rolls = yes; Lynskey interview? Who is she?

*smooch*

>161 richardderus: "Doomscrolling and bacon rolls" is the provisional title of my memoir ;) Melanie Lynskey is a kiwi lass who played opposite Kate Winslet in Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures all those years ago, and has since made a grand ole acting career for herself in the good old US of A. Most recently in Yellowjackets, which I am *loving*.

In film news, I just saw Doctor Zhivago for the first time (had to do it in three in sessions as it is so long). It includes an overture to start during which 'Overture' is shown on screen AND an intermission).
I loved it :) I thought the acting really very good: Omar Sharif? (who knew?!) and Alec Guinness (so comparatively young!) and Julie Christie - wow. The ending perplexed me a tad, it seemed to rush up considering how meandering the pervious sections had been.
Another classic off my bucket list.

*deleted double up*

BOOK 11
Apple, Tree: Writers on Their Parents edited by Lise Funderburg (on audio)

A collection of personal essays focussed on parents, their relationships, quirks, troubles and ways in which parents unwittingly impacted on their writer offspring. As a collection, this was excellent; of course, some were better than others, and some were outstanding. The writer pool was varied, and the experiences described diverse.
*Highly recommended*

>163 LovingLit: I know I have seen that movie, but remember next to nothing, except Omar Sharif.
I do remember the book, that I read more recently, loved it!

>165 LovingLit: Sounds *fascinating*!

>163 LovingLit: I watched in en famille in whichever one of the 1960s it came out. Bored me rigid. Have never tried again. Ah well.

>162 LovingLit: I've heard of Yellowjackets often enough that I've about convinced myself I've seen it, but of course I haven't. And while I watched Heavenly Creatures, I can't even call to mind the actress under discussion's face. In my defense a very, very great deal of substance use has occurred since then.

Weird feeling nonetheless...just a void, nothingness, where a person belongs.

BOOK 12
My Father's Island by Adam Dudding

A cracker. A pearler. A literary memoir/autobiography/family history/biography. The author's father is somewhat legendary editor of NZ literary journals, one of which is legendary. Amidst the chaos of his kid- and chook-filled home he somehow cobbled together editions of Landfall and Islands through the 1970s and 1980s on the smell of an oily rag and a whole lot of passion for the written word.

More than this being a literary story, it is a social history of New Zealand, particularly, Auckland and Christchurch and is one that reminds me (again) of how conservative my home town was in the most recent generation. (There is still an unhealthy obsession in my town about who is a descendent of someone that 'came out on the first four ships'. *yawn*)

This book brings together the times, the evolution of troubled relationships, the chaos of a family of 6, and - in a way which works super well - the story of the writing of the story as well.

Highly recommended. (Finished March 1)

>166 FAMeulstee: I don't believe I could have picked Omar Sharif out of a lineup prior to seeing Dr Zhivago! And now here I am amping to see some more of David Leens' films :)

>167 richardderus: Apple, Tree: Writers on Their Parents really is rather good. I seem to be drawn to stories of complex family relationships now that I have one of my own. *sigh*. My most recent read offers the same!
Re: Heavenly Creatures actor and kiwi awesome-sauce lady Melanie Lynskey...she appears to have nailed the Hollywood thing by acting lots and lots, but not having to be famous. Good for her I say :)

Hi Megan!

>159 LovingLit: Alas, our Library doesn’t have anything by Theroux. I’ve added this one to my wish list.

>162 LovingLit: Excellent provisional title. I’d buy it in a heartbeat.

>168 LovingLit: Will definitely keep an eye out for that one, Megan.

Hope all is well in South Island.

>170 karenmarie: Theroux is more prolific than I had realised! I hope you manage to get a hold of one; you will know pretty soon if he is an author you will like, as his style is obvious from the get-go :)

>171 PaulCranswick: It was a good find. And a free one too, as I purchased it with the voucher I got for Christmas from my boss...found it in my wallet after all these months! *whoop whoop*

Hiya Smoochling, nothing new or interesting to offer. So!

BOOK 13
This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay

A cute and quippy treatment of some serious issues. Although funny, it kind of irked me to hear him all but mock some of his patients - this does not apply to the ones who were obviously mean, rude, or who did mental things like stuff their orifices with things. The ending was what made it significant for me. He makes an impassioned plea that the UK NHS system be bolstered rather than drained, and writes with passion about the dedication the medical staff have for their respective crafts.

Recommended for a good light read. (finished 7 March)

>173 richardderus: I see. All is well in the world then :) Welcome!

As I am reading up a storm...on account of being under the weather (too many weather references?), I give you the following.

Remember when, was it jolerie(?), used to log the books that were mentioned in books that she read? I loved that. As a tribute to her, I hereby list the following books that have been mentioned in the book that I am currently reading: The Nazi Officer's Wife by Edith Hahn Beer. I will add more as I read them.

- Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Nietzche
- Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- The Idea of the Baroque author not stated
- Chaim Lederer's Return by Sholem Asch
- The Legends of the Christ by Selma Lagerlof
- The Gooseman by Jacob Wasserman
- Biographies of Marie Antoinette and Isadora Duncan

BOOK 14
The Nazi Officer's Wife by Edith Hahn Beer

A WWII memoir with a huge difference: it tells neither of the front nor the concentration camps, rather it is the story of a Jewish woman hiding in plain sight in Germany.

*Review contains spoilers*
After young Edith was removed for forced labour in the early stages of the War she drifted, scared and alone in Vienna. Her family had already been sent to the ghettos or had fled, and her remaining friends were too terrified to house her for too long. She ended up able to take the identity papers of a friend and moved away from her in order that their dual-identity not be noticed by officialdom. This took her to Germany, where she - however improbably - married a Nazi. Her husband was not interested in any greater mission than himself, so was able to subsume his irrational hatred of her race and somehow he also took a small pleasure in his duplicity.

More than the incredible story of her life, she tells the story of how the Germans were able to fool themselves into believing the lies, and kidding themselves that the Jewish people were not really suffering the fates that they were. It builds so well with the political situation in the lead up to the war, and the way in which Germans and Austrians wanted to see themselves wealthy and victorious. And, it simply reiterates that there are no winners in war.

Highly recommended. (Finished 9 March)

>176 LovingLit:, >175 LovingLit: I remember that, and as I recall it was indeed jolerie who did it. I don't think it's the same book but one The Idea of the Baroque was by Luciano Anceschi. I got it somehow or another back in the Teens.

>177 richardderus: I think some of the titles were slightly different in translation, which is why there were hard to find. I love seeing books in books (and people in RL holding books!). It gives me a little buzz :)

BOOK 15
The Sellout by Paul Beatty (Booker Prize winner, 2016)

I disliked this as much as I did the 2017 Booker Prize winner - which was one I struggled through to the end of and was one which taught me a valuable lesson: you do not have to do that.
I just couldn't get in step with the tone of this book. I guess I have a hard enough time 'getting' where your average person is coming from, what their angle is, and what they really mean by something, so satire from a country that is foreign to me was possibly always going to be a non-starter.

*Meh* (Finished almost 3/4 of the book on March 10)

Currently I engage in a bit of a reading experiment...I am reading and listening to The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst.

It all started when I listened to the first 20 minutes of the audiobook and found myself unable to keep track of the characters, so (when realising I had my very own copy of the actual book) I went and got my paper version and read that bit again. It's so interesting to note how different the experience is one way or the other. I notice when I listen that I have skipped over certain words from the text, and that (generally) listening seems to be the more thorough of the two experiences; however, when I read I feel more "in" the book.

>179 LovingLit: I liked The Sellout a bit better than you did, Megan. We do agree about Lincoln in the Bardo.
I really hope The Line of Beauty is a better read. Funny how listening and reading are so different to you.
Long ago I have tried one audiobook, but I could not keep my mind with it at all.

Happy Thursday!

>178 LovingLit: I love seeing books in books (and people in RL holding books!) Heh me too! The only problem is a often stare at the person with a book trying to figure out what they are reading which can turn out to be awkward ;)

Hi, Megan. I have not seen a single LTer that enjoyed The Sellout. I think that says it all, right? I have The Line of Beauty on the slate. Maybe in May? I have wanted to read it forever. I have not read him before.

How are things going in NZ? I have been reading some discouraging news about the Covid outbreak in your country. I hope it has not affected anyone you know.

Hi Megan!

>176 LovingLit: I have this one on my shelves. It’s another one just waiting for the right time. 'Highly recommended', always good to hear about a book on my shelves.

>179 LovingLit: what ^^^>183 msf59: said; not one positive mention that I can recall. I hope the experiment with >180 LovingLit: goes well!

*smooch*

>179 LovingLit: Your comments on The Sellout seem pretty common. I'll pass on that. But otherwise, what a lot of good reading you've been doing. I guess shutdowns are good for something...

>181 FAMeulstee: My first audio book was a nightmare. I figured out (5 years later) that I need to be doing something physical as well as listening in order to be able to concentrate. Walking mainly satisfies this for me. Otherwise my mind just drifts (this is a big problem for me....I remember when I was a cycle commuter on a safe, fenced cycle path, sometimes my mind would wander so badly I would even forget to pedal! lol).

>182 figsfromthistle: Haha, I do the same. It's all I can do to stop myself from getting all up in their book to see what it is!!!

>183 msf59: I saw you had The Line of Beauty lined up! Was hoping it was going to be soon so that we could read it together! But I am deep into it now, so there's no stopping me :)

Thanks for asking about NZ and COVID! We are finally catching up with the rest of the word (you will have to imagine my wry tome). The Omicron variant is spread widely here now- but we are a very vaccinated population so the main disruption to most people's lives is from reduced services from so many people home isolating for themselves or a household member being infected. Saying that though, hospitals numbers are increasing and there have been deaths, and there is pressure on the health system for sure.

My lovely other is working from home, we are all advised to do this *if possible*, but its only really government people who are. I know several people with COVID, and think I actually have it myself! I have been mildly unwell all week (headache, tiredness, aches) but have tested negative twice with my (potentially unreliable) home testing kit (a Rapid Antigen Test- boxes of which are provided free of charge for any one with symptoms).

>184 karenmarie: It's something I have wondered about; what the German population were *doing* during the war. How they thought of things, what their lives were like, and how their thinking shifted as the war progressed.

>185 richardderus: Ah, so I am not alone in that then! It really was an odd book. It makes me want to read the shortlist and pick my own winner! Any hot tips!??

Booker Prize 2016 Shortlist

The Sellout
Hot Milk by Deborah Levy (I own this one, so that's a good start!)
His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
All That Man Is by David Szalay
Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thein

>186 BLBera: Yeah, it is good to be not so sick as to be incapacitated but sick enough to be off work. I am taking advantage of it, and resting as and when I feel!

Several issues with my writing project, one of which is with Person X, conversations with whom go like this....

Person X three months ago: "that interview is not relevant, and I never recorded it anyway"
Person X this week: "the person from that interview discussed that" (inferring I need to include it in analysis)
Me: reminds them that I don't have any notes for that interview
Person X: "I'm too busy to find them for you now".

LOL- am I being gaslighted here!!?

>188 LovingLit: I read all the Booker prize shortlist in 2016 for my RL book club. I enjoyed His Bloody Project and Hot Milk. Really didn't care for the others, and positively hated The SellOut and Eileen.

>190 SandDune: I recently lent Hot Milk to a bookclub friend, and they liked it. We had a good laugh confusing it with Booker Winner Milkman, which, I am officially still "reading" even tough it has sat on my bedside table for well over a year now.

>189 LovingLit: Yes. You are, and you will be Blamed. Gross!

>188 LovingLit: I've read three of them all the way through. I hated another one and refused to finish it (guess which).

I would encourage you to read His Bloody Project. Hint. Hint.

>192 richardderus: Hey- I was just over at yours bragging about my quordling saying hi!!!
Re: >180 LovingLit: Yes, it is gross. And I do feel I will have that come back at me at some stage. And I do feel I will say to the other project members that I prefer not to work with them in future.
That's two for His Bloody Project then. I shall see about getting hold of it.

>189 LovingLit: Argh. This would drive me up the wall.

Re the shortlist. I tried to read the full list, but never got far with The Sellout or Eileen. I avoid Moshfegh now, I just don't get the attraction, but I know I'm in a minority! Loved Do Not Say We Have Nothing and All That Man Is was clever - lots of apparently separate stories that spoke to each other.

>194 charl08: It has been so long since I tried to keep up with the Booker shortlists...(I never attempted to read the whole longlist). Back when I did, it was fun to get a hold of the longlist when it was announced and place a hold on some of them from the library before they got popular.
Thanks for the recs :)

Well, I am 40+ posts behind, Megan, and not catching up. I just wanted to come by and say "Hello." It looks like you are doing some good reading these days!

>179 LovingLit: I have to say I am not a dissenter either in that I also hated The Sellout which seemed to prove my point that the Booker made a huge mistake widening to include US authors. Complete heavy handed pastiche and the following year didn't change my mind either. My own view is that The Sellout is the worst Booker winner I have read.

>188 LovingLit: My favourite book of that year was longlisted but not shortlisted - The North Water by Ian McGuire.

Have a lovely weekend dear lady.

>196 alcottacre: A lucky coincidence of finishing off started books, shortish books, and a week spent primarily in/on bed have helped with my reading totals lately.

>197 PaulCranswick: I don't want to be anti-US, and I know there has been a lot said about its inclusion in the Booker Prize pool, but I agree. I have often enjoyed long- or short-listed Booker books, and only found out later that they were on the list. So maybe I can stick with my general interest in Booker books, and leave it at that :)
Thanks for the rec...The North Water cover certainly is appealing! I am currently very much enjoying The Line of Beauty.

>198 LovingLit: I love the US, Megan almost as much as a non-American could, but the Pulitzer excludes non US authors and I do think that the introduction of USA authors for the Booker stifles opportunities for writers from the Commonwealth.

>199 PaulCranswick: Yes, that is the gist of what I have heard people talk about when they talk about US inclusion in the Booker Prize pool.

--/----/----/----/--

Today I walk to the shops (actually, I might bike, as need some heavy things too), read my book, and make pizzas for dinner. Tomorrow I return to work after a week off with what I can only call probably-COVID. I have had several negative tests results and my only symptom is tiredness now, so I cannot delay it any longer!

Hi Megan, I'm a non reader of The Sellout but did attend Beatty's event at the Auckland Writers Festival back in 2017 when I was still doing my stint as a volunteer. I remember that he answered most questions with either a yes or no, making it very difficult for his interviewer and not doing much for the audience.
I never felt the urge to read his book though did buy another when it was a kindle special, still not read it though.
>180 LovingLit: I really enjoyed The Line of Beauty.

There's an Newsroom article, Fixing New Zealand Fiction I read this morning about how New Zealanders still don't read NZ fiction. Allen & Unwin have just announced a new prize for commercial NZ fiction, $10,000 to a prospective novelist.

>201 avatiakh: Oh, that is a shame. I always wonder about people "on show" who don't perform to expected levels. The woman who is Cat Power used to get grief for performing on stage with either her back to the crowd or leaning so far forward that her hair completely covered her face- I always just assumed shyness, unwillingness to 'play the game', or a bad day. Maybe it was the same for Beatty.

I will read that article you linked to now. I feel that NZ fiction has improved, as has people's willingness to read it. But maybe that's just me. I am currently waiting for my bookclub member to be done with Aue by Becky Manawatu so I can get my hands on it, but am struggling to think of any other NZ fiction on my radar.

>202 LovingLit: Yes, shyness or being an introvert doesn't make for a great event. I didn't have any expectations so wasn't a disappointment. Last year I went to a Neil Gaiman event and rather than listen to Gaiman talk about what interested him we got a fanboy interviewer who didn't ask the questions that I would have liked.

There are a few New Zealand novelists I like. Elizabeth Knox is great though I didn't much like her latest, The Absolute Book. I'm about to read Catherine Chidgey again. I have Aue on my shelves, yet to read and also Whiti Hereaka's latest, Kurangaituku which is a retelling of the Hatupatu & the birdwoman myth.
While I'm no longer a prolific book buyer I do make a point of buying New Zealand fiction and NZ children's books to support the industry.

>203 avatiakh: I think the prize advertised in the link in >201 avatiakh: will be great. NZ is a unique situation really, isn't it? A small, but perfectly capitalist society where our numbers just don't generate the sales that multi-nationals want.

Music has the same issue - one of the problems is, we can't force people to want NZ-generated art. I recall Paul Urbana Jones complaining that NZers don't/won't come out to see gigs and that we should...it made me laugh and also made me think he was a bit silly, as yelling at people to like his music isn't the way to get people to like his music. (And you can't expect a culture to change to suit your personal preferences.)

But, I digress :)

>204 LovingLit: I think y'all need to make a much more serious effort to conquer American eyeballs. Selling 2000 books here is considered a *disaster* but would literally double y'all's average! Not really difficult given that Kindles/Kobos/ereaders and PoD are a big part of our markets.

>205 richardderus: aah, the holy grail of the American market. Y'all have a few book-buyin' people living there, don't ya? :)

>206 LovingLit: Just as a percentage of population! 330MM means 0.1% would still be 330,000 and, by the ineluctable logic of publishing, even 10% of those being fiction-buyers still makes 33,000 potential buyers.

One-tenth of those finding a Kiwi book = more than double the sales. Numbers count!

I liked this article on the library patrons being so very Kiwi: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/15/nothing-was-stolen-new-zealanders-...

>207 richardderus: haha, yes, that is the main library in my city :)
About the worst thing that happened was that someone left a curt note saying that as they couldn't find a staff member they took the item anyway; they even left their name. Very cute we are, aren't we?

>208 LovingLit: Part of it is the Kiwiness but I think another bit is the library users who'd go there on a holiday are just Better People than the hoi polloi and rabble who, say, go to malls.

Mini break!
My friend threw out an invitation to get out of the city for a night, and I jumped at it. We popped up to the farm that she grew up on, about 2 hours drive away (including several stops for coffee, pastries, groceries, and petrol).
*Sigh*
So lovely.


ETA: the green square you can see in the pic on the right hand side is the view from the kitchen window. It's a paddock (field) of brassicas, winter feed for the animals. (Maybe swedes or something similar.)

Re: the pic on the left, while sipping our G+Ts last evening, we sat and watched the 5 merino rams wandering about in that paddock and had lengthy discussions about which one was in charge (the one with the horns, we thought) and who decided when to go this way for a sip of water, and why the one who was always last was always last :)

>209 richardderus: eurch, malls. COVID incubation centres.

>211 LovingLit: Haven't been in one in more than a decade; do not want to go to one before I die. Loathsome places.

>210 LovingLit: Shouldn't fodder be corn/maize? Brassicas are too tasty to waste on les animaux.

>212 richardderus: It's pretty much always swedes, kale or the like around here. Haven't heard of corn being used for that at all. Must be something in the soil I guess.

>213 LovingLit: Well, if it's kale I have no objections save humanitarian ones. It seems cruel to feed the Devil's toilet paper to creatures you plan to slaughter.

>210 LovingLit: Looks lovely!

>210 LovingLit: Looks like fun.

Another author who is not a good speaker is Dave Eggers. The two times I've seen him, he has been monosyllabic in his answers both times. Maybe he's shy?

>214 richardderus: heh. Devil's toiletpaper.

>215 SandDune: It was. Although, I came back to a mega meltdown and tears in room from Mr 13 who hated dinner and wasn't going to stand for how awful it all has to be for him. (Spoiler alert, he got over it.) Were your teens like that?

>216 BLBera: I guess we can't all be magnificent in every realm. I know I'm no! lol

BOOK 16
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst (Booker Prize winner, 2004) (partially on audio, partially print)

On paper (as it were) this book is right in my wheelhouse; a meandering story where the plot is almost secondary to the way the story is told. In reality, I loved it for the keen observations, the characters being revealed so carefully over time, the lyricism of the phrasings - and - for the plot and the social and political backdrop to it all...*sigh*. I have a lot of love for this book. I am so glad I read it.

*highly recommended*

>218 LovingLit: So happy to se you loved The Line of Beauty too, Megan. Alan Hollinghust became a favorite writer last year, after reading The Swimming-Pool Library, The Line of Beauty, and The Sparsholt Affair.

>210 LovingLit: that looks like a lovely getaway in a beautiful spot!

>219 FAMeulstee: I was super taken with his writing, and I can't wait to get deep into Alan Hollinghurst again some time.

>220 AMQS: And did I mention the wood-fired spa!!?? I have been there a few times now, once for a bookclub retreat, once with my tribe and another couple, and twice with my bestie, who grew up there.

>218 LovingLit: Sadly, my local library does not have that one. My local library has a grand total of 1 book by Mr. Hollinghurst, The Stranger's Child. *sigh*

Hi Megan!

>210 LovingLit: Excellent mini break and photos.

>217 LovingLit: Yuck to the mega meltdown. Glad he got over it. I remember a few meltdowns – both mine and Jenna’s!

>222 alcottacre: oh, that's a shame. Although I am sure anything from him will impress!

>223 karenmarie: We don't get too many meltdowns from W, but when we do we know it's serious tiredness/hangriness occurring. He is a pretty serious fella, and doesn't express much so we are left looking for signs half the time!

I am finally reading The Ghost Map- a book that has been on my radar for *years*.
Patience in reading has been a hard learn for me (I want to read it NOW), so it is nice to get to this one!

>225 LovingLit: Great 90s gif work there. Top marks... I've not read the Ghost Map, but it looks tempting.

>226 charl08: tis tres relevant, given the COVID thingie. The author talks about the cholera epidemic ravaging 19th C London and how superstition ruled the day (at the expense of science). Sadly that is still true! Maybe we need a new enlightenment.

>225 LovingLit: Oh, Steven Johnson's amazeballs book at last! I'm so pleased for you, and hope you fall as in love with it (for entirely different reasons!) as you did with The Line of Beauty. Which is, of course, a favorite of mine...as was the filmèd version: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0494192/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

All caught up, Megan. I was sure that I had posted here last week but it seems to have mysteriously failed to materialise!

The Ghost Map remains relevant, of course it does, but probably - given circumstances still a tough book to read.

Wishing my favourite South Islander a great week ahead. x

>228 richardderus: I went searching for the film version of The Line of Beauty but, alas, couldn't find it available anywhere I am. Another one for patience!

>229 PaulCranswick: It was terribly relevant. Mostly the hubbub of voices that each claimed to 'KNow tHe TRuTh' and to 'hAvE thE seCrET knoWleDgE' ;) All the while the seemingly most rational, and therefore least pushy, quietly just did know the truth. Times huh? They don't change that much!

Today I am definitely going to finish (one section of) my report. Definitely.

This section is one I wasn't supposed to have written, and nobody wants to talk about how the person who did write it plagiarised several sections...which, of course we call "incorrect referencing" to make sure no one is accusing anyone of anything.
*sigh*
I can't believe in this day and age (and at our respective stages in academia) people would take material from published sources and just plonk it verbatim in another report. Isn't that the first thing you learn?

>231 LovingLit: I once lost an essay competition at school to a young lady I shall not name but who had clearly lifted much of her text directly from works of criticism that weren't part of our core course. I didn't want to look like a spoilt brat for pointing it out but it was quite egregious.

>232 PaulCranswick: ach, the injustice! Painful indeed.
But rest assured, I have all but completed the rewritten section, and now just have some citations to check and the obligatory complete re-read to check for continuity. A long 9-hour day for me (which I was really pleased about actually, as I rarely get a full day to play with).

>233 LovingLit: Well done you!

Currently reading

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
I added this book in 2017! And now I am reading it. (Well, listening to it actually.) Although I like Hemingway in principle, I feel this one is dragging somewhat. Might be that the narrator isn't doing it for me and that print might be better.

Hot Milk by Deborah Levy (Booker shortlist, 2017)
Another one that's been on the shelves for ages. I love the cover and seeing as a friend read it (my copy even) I was prompted to pick it up.

BOOK 17
The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson (on audio)

This was great on audio- a procedural look at cholera in 1850s London. The whole epidemiological picture! It was part social history, part medical drama, part detective story (medical detectives, that is), and thoroughly engaging. I am super glad I finally got to it after Stephen/Ape recommending it to me in my very early days on LT.

*highly recommended*

Hi Megan!

>225 LovingLit: Yay for Ghost Map. I’ve had it on my shelves for a mere 9.5 years. I’ve tagged it ‘2022 toberead’, and only need to look at that tag occasionally.

>231 LovingLit: ‘incorrect referencing’. Right. *eye roll*

>235 LovingLit: The Sun Also Rises has been on my shelves a mere 12 years. Good for you to ROOTing around your shelves.

>236 LovingLit: Oh yay! I'm glad it hit the spot for you, I so enjoy his books and the more of us who do the more he can get paid to write.

>231 LovingLit: ...whaaat...?! FFS!

Better days ahead. *smooch*

>225 LovingLit: I still have not read it, Megan, although I actually own it. Of course, I have no idea where my copy is, but I do own it.

>235 LovingLit: Congratulations on reading off your shelves! I am currently reading one that I was given as a birthday present a mere 10 years ago. Oops.

>236 LovingLit: Glad to see you liked it!

>237 karenmarie: good things take time, right? I feel so satisfied when I finally check an old book off my list.

>238 richardderus: Re the FFS response...yes. This project is taking more time than I wanted because of the initial delay in getting that section of it and now me needing to rewrite it completely. Ah well, at least I get to manage the first parts of the report and now the writing style will be more consistent.

>239 alcottacre: haha, ten years ago! I heavy relate :)
I am sort of half thinking about reading A Little Life after years of being encouraged to do so by a fan....I have never been sure if I am ready for what I hear is a tough topic (i.e., depressing!).

>240 LovingLit: Don't feel bad about unread books residing for a long time on the shelves before being read... We have many that were acquired pre-LT (before 2008), most of them came in the late 1980s and early 1990s. That was our peak time in buying books.

I loved A little Life, read it last year. It was tough in some ways, but also heartwarming.

Hopelessly behind, but Hi!! And I am not incorrectly referencing anything. I swear! : )

>241 FAMeulstee: I like to think of them as treasures waiting to be discovered! I do really love looking at my unread books and think of all the potential there.

>242 Berly: Just as well! Ha ha. I am up to the final stages of perfecting the darned report now (I started writing it in January) and the references are so finnicky. I have too many, of course. But at least I got the previously-incorrectly-referenced section down to 4 pages in the re-write!

>243 LovingLit: It's academia...the line between too few and too many references is a very fine one.

>1 LovingLit: I like your list! I read Culler's Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction back in grad school, when I was studying for a Master's in English. I just rented Lincoln in the Bardo, both the physical and audio books. I know it won the Man Booker Prize. I read The Line of Beauty years ago and loved it. You have books on your list that I will write down for the future. Happy reading!

>244 richardderus: I feel OK about the long refs list - seeing as the literature review was pared down to 4 pages I had to really summarise the themes that are out there, so then just went ahead and cited the examples bam bam bam after each short description.

>245 RubyJadeG: Hi! I really like the 101 level academic texts about a topic- they give such a good 'entry level' knowledge on topics new to me. This one interested me as I didn't really know what Literary Criticism meant before reading it (other than in its literal sense).

As a teacher, plagiarism doesn't surprise me anymore, although I would hope that professionals would at least be careful if they are going to do it. Great comments on the Hollinghurst; I know I read one of his but don't remember which one.

>247 BLBera: what surprises me most about the P word is that is doesn't attract consequences......if I think it should be treated very seriously. In my case it was just seen in a draft, so could have at least been talked about in the open, but in the case where someone submits something that is plagiarised, I reckon there should be consequences. Starting with a fail grade.

>240 LovingLit: I am now currently searching for a book I received a mere 7 years ago and have no idea where it is!

Have a wonderful week, Megan!

BOOK 18
Untamed by Glennon Doyle audio

Not for me. The book purports to be about how to stop being a people pleaser, gain inner strength etc, but is more a self-congratulatory personal memoir. Some of her insights are interesting, but it all comes from inside this woman's own experience...there is very little external information to validate the information she is putting out. I would have preferred the inclusion of some psychological or historical context as feel this would have enabled her to make her points a little less evangelistically.

Also, the delivery is a very strange mixture of absolutes/truisms and lengthy and nebulous metaphors.
*Not recommended*

>249 alcottacre: Good luck finding that! You will probably give up looking, and then stumble across it :)

>250 LovingLit: That does not sound at all amusing. Quite an angering time-waster, in fact.

I wonder...did I mention Losing Our Minds: The Challenge of Defining Mental Illness by Lucy Foulkes to you? I was a great deal better served by this reminder of what we don't know, fail to do, and generally screw up in the culture, than you were by the pleaser book. Maybe Glennon shoulda read this'un.

>252 richardderus: when I examined my strong feelings about her book (as the author suggested we do) I found out that I find self-help books arrogant and twee and cheesy and condescending. Which is why I never read them....this one sneaked through on the recommendation of a colleague (who is American, btw, maybe it's a cultural thing).

Ommigosh- it's time for a new thread. Exciting!