PGMCC explores the Biblioverse in 2023: Chapter 6

Books completed in 2023

Title; Author; Status; Start/end date; Number of pages
The Family Jewels by Caimh McDonnell 28/12/2022 - 02/01/2023 276 pages
Novelist as Vocation by Haruki Murakami 02/01/2023-12/01/2023 208 pages
The Tattoo Murder by Akimitsu Takagi 12/01/2023- 20/01/2023 377 pages
Once Upon A Tome by Oliver Darkshire 21/01/2023 - 23/01/2023 247 pages
Stranger Times by C. K. McDonnell 23/01/2023 - 31/01/2023 441 pages
The Three Evangelists by Fred Vargas 01/02/2023 - 05/02/2023 304 pages
Under The Duvet by Marian Keyes 03/02/2023 - 674 pages
The Charming Man by C. K. McDonnell 06/02/2023 - 13/02/2023 498 pages
Love Will Tear Us Apart byC. K. McDonnell 15/02/2023 - 25/02/2023 448 pages
Richard Harris Raising Hell and Reaching for Heaven by Joe Jackson 24/02/2023 - 357 pages
Hopeland by Ian McDonald 26/02/2023 - 10/03/2023 648 pages
The Warden by Anthony Trollope 11/03/2023 - 19/03/2023 238 pages
Escape from Victory by Caimh McDonnell 19/03/2023 - 20/03/2023 66 pages
The Artful Dickens by John Mullan 20/03/2023 - 428 pages
The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett 20/03/2023 - 23/03/2023 223 pages
Beyond the Reach of Earth by Ken MacLeod 23/03/2023 - 31/02/2023 334 pages
The Return of The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett 01/04/2023 - 05/04/2023 ? Pages
The Adventures of Amina al-Siraf by Shannon Chakraborty 05/04/2023 - 12/04/2023 482 pages
The Ability To Kill by Eric Ambler 12/04/2023 - 16/04/2023 220 pages
Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey 17/04/2023 - 25/04/2023 561 pages
Dog Will Have His Day by Fred Vargas 25/04/2023 - 06/05/2023 256 pages.
Faithful Place by Tana French 06/05/2023 - 13/05/2023 400 Pages
The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks by Simone Caroti 19/05/2023 - 277 Pages
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia 23/05/2023 - 25/06/2023 320 Pages
Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway 25/05/2023 - 30/05/2023 235 pages
A Kind of Anger by Eric Ambler 30/05/2023 - 03/06/2023 268 pages
Caliban’s War by James S. A. Corey 04/06/2023 - 12/06/2023 595 pages
The Amberlough Dossier (Amberlough) by Lara Elena Donnelly 25/06/2023 - 10/07/2023 for first part 398 Pages
Abaddon's Gate by James S. A. Corey 10/07/2023 - 26/07/23 539 pages.
The Amberlough Dossier (Armistice) by Lara Elena Donnelly 27/07/23 - 06/08/2023 400 pages
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton 06/08/2023 - 13/08/2023 830 pages
The Amberlough Dossier (Amnesty) by Lara Elena Donnelly 13/08/23 - 16/08/2023 384 pages
The Fine Art of Invisible Detection by Robert Goddard 16/08/2023 - 20/08/2023 372 pages
Three Twins at the Crater School by Chaz Brenchley 21/08/2023 - 350 pages
The Night Man by Jørn Lier Horst 22/08/2023 - 25/08/2023 338 pages
Cibola Burn by James S. A. Corey 25/08/2023 - 02/09/2023 581 pages
To Catch A Spy by Eric Ambler 03/09/2023 - o8/09/2023 189 pages
The Fine Print by Lauren Asher 09/09/2023 - 17/09/2023 434 pages
The Continental Affair by Christine Mangan 18/09/2023 - 27/09/2023 288 Pages
The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair by Jöel Dicker 28/09/2023 - 13/10/2023 624 pages
Emotionally Weird by Kate Atkinson 13/10/2023 - 23/10/2023 490 pages
Other Plans by Caimh McDonnell 24/10/2023 - 29/10/2023 330 Pages
Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier 29/10/2023 - 12/11/2023 253 Pages
The Green Man's Quarry by Juliet E. McKenna 14/11/2023 - 15/11/2023 355 Pages
Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv, by Andrej Kurkov 17/11/2023 - 04/12/2023 415 Pages
How Novels Work by John Mullan 05/12/2023 - 346 Pages
The Levanter by Eric Ambler 10/12/2023 - 17/12/2023 294 Pages
Hogfather by Terry Pratchett 19/12/2023 - 445 Pages
Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce 21/12/2023 - 31/12/2023 (23:50 hours) 384 Pages

My next read list: https://www.librarything.com/topic/345713#8000096

I quite like the Cincinnati skyline.

Nice picture! Happy new thread!

>2 pgmcc: Lovely view.
Happy new thread! 🐘

>3 Karlstar: Thank you!

>4 clamairy: Thank you, and thank you for the elephant. There is always an elephant.
#thereisalwaysanelephant

I found an interesting thread on the website formally known as princeTwitter. It is the thoughts of Caroline J. Hoggs as she contemplates her thoughts on publishing after twenty years in the business.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1706754118042386906.html

>6 pgmcc:. ROFL. A lot of truth in that Twitter / X thread...

>7 jillmwo:
Particularly about the sandwiches. That is not unique to publishing.

>6 pgmcc: I’m going to have to meditate on “pedantic vigour.”

>9 2wonderY: Make sure you get it correct. :-)

When I arrived in Downtown Cincinnati I was interested to find this building beside the bus stop.


Having spent the last fifteen years working in the GPO in Dublin it was nice to find another impressive building housing the USPS.

Views from the Reds' stadium.

>11 pgmcc: Is the grey object partially visible outside the post office an elephant sculpture, or merely elephantine?

>13 hfglen:


Hugh, it is modern art and hence open to the interpretation of the individual. If you see an elephant in it, who am I to argue? Your Elephant Awareness is strong.

That is no elephant, even if the size is elephantine!

>15 hfglen: A blind man might mistake it for an elephant. Grey, pebbly, massive, steals your hat…

>6 pgmcc: I really liked that. Thank you.

I tried to get into publishing when I graduated from college, but it turns out that a lot of freshly graduated English majors want(ed) to work in publishing. I got a job in the automotive business and stayed in it for eight years, eventually finding my way into freelance editing for book publishers. I still wish I had got into a publishing company, even if not one of the big ones, and seen the whole business.

>17 Meredy:
One of the commentators on the publishing thread produced an info-graphic on how the publishing industry works. You probably know all this, but I thought you might find it interesting.

I have been busy reading The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair and running after RL. I only have 200 pages left to read. A mere trifle.

The book is basically a cold case murder mystery with elements of education on writing a novel. It is about a book within a book and involves the disappearance of a fifteen year old girl whose body turns up more than thirty years after her disappearance.

Those of you who are on the Green Dragon facebook group may have seen that I got to meet Caimh McDonnell of Dublin Trilogy, McGarry Stateside and Stranger Times fame. It was a brief but entertaining meeting. Our discussion involved beards, dogs and who Bunny McGarry was based on. My lips are sealed.

>20 pgmcc: I am very happy for you, and you need to share that photo here at some point.

>20 pgmcc: Congratulations, glad you had a good meeting.

>21 clamairy: Second that. I want to see the photo!

>23 Meredy: They look like they could be related!

By popular demand:

>25 pgmcc: Love it! Hope you gave him a greeting from all his fans in the Green Dragon pub.

>26 MrsLee:
He was very pleased to hear about the support in the Green Dragon.

I thought of you when I received a notification from Amazon that the next installment of the Green Man's series will be released on October 21st! I hadn't realized there would be a new one so soon. I have pre-ordered The Green Man's Quarry and hope it will make it to the top of Mount TBR shortly thereafter :) Thanks again for introducing me to this series, it is still entertaining!

>25 pgmcc: Love your pictures! Lucky you.

McDonnell looks like what we might call a real live wire. Does he always wear a look of astonishment on his face? Makes me think of an old friend, a real character, who said those weren't wrinkles on his wife's face, they were surprise lines.

(You look great too, but not astonished.)

>28 Darth-Heather:
You are welcome. It is nice to make a recommendation and the recommendee to like the book/s involved. I hope you enjoy the next one as much as you have enjoyed the earlier ones.

>29 Meredy:
Caim took out his astonished face as soon as photographs were mention. I have a picture of him in his unsuspecting face.

Nice guy. Practicle. Down to earth. Very happy to converse on any topic.

He was on a panel about story endings. It was very good. He talked about opening and closing boxes in a story, a box being a topic or story line. He talked about ensuring all the boxes are closed at the end of the story. I raised the point that some of my favourite stories left a small number of boxes open and that these open boxes were vital to making the story worthwhile. Examples I suggested:
- Ted Chang’s short story “Arrival”
- Christine Mangan’s “The Continental Affair”
I would add bothe the first “KPAX” novel and the film. The second and third “KPAX” novels destroyed the story by giving answers to the mysteries. I strongly recommend “KPAX”, but warn people not to read the sequels.

He entered into the spirit of the conversation and showed a lot of common sense and sound knowledge.

>31 pgmcc: So how did he (or the rest of the panel) respond to your point that sometimes leaving a box open enhances the interest of the story? Or did they all just nod knowingly and move on to the next questioner?

>32 jillmwo:
They took it on board and agreed. When someone in the audience sporting a somewhat academic set of whiskers states an opinion with an authoritative tone and quoting examples that demonstrates their hypothesis, panelists are reluctant to argue the point for fear of being made look foolish in the face of supporting evidence. Authors are not stupid…in most cases.

>33 pgmcc: So you're the sort who stands up and says "Well, really, this is more of a comment than a question..." Do you ever wear tweeds to further add credibility?

>34 jillmwo:
Remember, I am Irish and live in the Republic of Ireland. Tweeds would only add an air of British aristocracy to the proceedings; not something that would support one’s argument.

>35 pgmcc: So one can wear wool, just not tweed?

>36 clamairy:
When jillmwo mentioned tweeds I had an image of a handlebar-moustachioed gent in tweed jacket, tweed waistcoat, and tweed plus-fours speaking with a superior tone lecturing his audience on what was right and proper on the subject from his point of view, which, of course, he professed to being the only acceptable position.

A tweed jacket is very nice, but speaking of someone being “in tweeds” conjures up the image of Lord Such-and-such out for a spot of shooting with the hounds. Off to bag a few grouse or a poacher or two.

>36 clamairy: I had the same question in my head.

>37 pgmcc: When was the last time you saw anyone -- of any size, shape or description -- in tweed plus-fours? Do they even still make those? In my original reference to tweeds, I was simply thinking of a nice sports jacket with leather patches (like I offered to buy my son when he got his PhD).

I always think its interesting to learn how those sitting on a dais respond to a knowledgeable challenge from an audience member. And while you'd never be guilty of it, I have in fact been in conference ballrooms when the local industry expert (very intelligent but still apt to pontificate at length) would stand up and drone on about some point that the panelists never addressed except in passing. It can be hard for panelists to escape that kind of stickiness during a Q&A.

>38 jillmwo:
In terms of the seeing people in full tweeds, more recently than you might think.

In terms of panelists at SciFi conventions reacting to pontification from the audience, they are well used to it and generally handle it with aplomb and good humour. There are some very opinionated audience members at SciFi conventions.

SciFi convention panels are very open. There will be a couple of rounds of panelists giving their views on the panel topic, some to-and-fro between the panelists, and then the discussion will open up to the whole room. I have not seen that level of involvement of panelists and audience members in other literary events. The SciFi panelists consider themselves attendees at the conventions as much as other members, so there is a very egalitarian mixing of members snd guests. I suspect some politicians would describe it as almost Communist.

Other Plans, Book 4 in the McGarry Stateside series, by Caimh McDonnell is released today.

That link goes to a book about 401Ks and getting your money out of them when you retire. Would Freud be proud?

>41 Bookmarque:
Thank you. I meant to check it was the correct link and it obviously slipped my mind. All good now.

The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair by Joël Dicker (2012) translated by Sam Taylor (2014 MacLehose Press)



Would I read another work by this author?
Yes. I already have “The Enigma of Room 622” lined up for reading.

Would I recommend this book?
Yes.

Who would I recommend it to?
Anyone who likes murder mysteries with twists. They need to tolerant a lot of twists.

Did this book inspire me to do anything?
I am thinking deeply about this book for a number of reasons. This book will inspire me to take notes on the structure of the book and the interesting comments and tales about writing a book. There is more than just a murder mystery in this book.

On the superficial level this book tells the story of a cold case disappearance that prompts a full scale murder investigation when the victim’s body is discovered thirty-one years after her disappearance. The investigation follows all the leads and a suspect is arrested. The evidence, however, is questionable and doubt is introduced to the case.

On another level, this book is a book about a book. In fact, it could be said to be a book about a book within a book, but we will not rush down that rabbit hole.

Themes in this book include:
- Murder investigation
- Prejudice
- Friendship
- Loyalty to friends
- Protecting family
- Love
- Paedophilia
- Moral judgements
- How to write a novel
- How the publishing world works to make money

There is a lot going on in this book and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It is a long book and the story involves many twists and turns.

I am just over half way through Kate Atkinson's novel, Emotionally Weird. I picked it up after having read and enjoyed Transcription.

Emotionally Weird is a different type of story, but I am finding it intriguing. By chance it is another book about a book. Also, it is set in a fictional version of Dundee University in the early 1970s. It is close enough to the time I was at university to contain characters that are very like some of the characters I knew at college.

More detail will follow. For now I am enjoying the story, or the story about a story, or a story about a real live life...or not.

>44 pgmcc: The only Atkinson I have read to date is Life After Life which I thought was great. Have you read it?

There is also a sequel, A God in Ruins. I haven't read it yet but intend to at some point.

>45 ScoLgo:
I have only read the two Atkinsons but intend to read more. Thank you for the pointer.

I have just finished Emotionally Weird by Kate Atkinson.

Would I read another book by this author?
Yes.

Would I recommend this book?
Yes.

Who do I think would appreciate this book?
It would be someone who likes a little weird; someone who likes a murder mystery; someone who does not get upset when the story is told in more than one stream.

Did this book inspire me to do anything?
The novel prompted me to think back to my own college days and revisit memories of classmates and friends.

This was a enjoyable and thought provoking book. It was first published in 2000 but the majority of the book is set in the early 1970s while the protagonist is a student at university. Kate Atkinson would have been at college around then and this brought a level of credibility to the scenes she was describing. It is also about the same time I was at university and her descriptions, while a bit OTT* for the sake of the story, rang true when matched with my memories.

*By OTT, I refer to the concentration of odd characters in the one group of students.

I have a lot to say about this book but will save it for another post. I am off to write up my thoughts, and also to compare this book with my previous read, The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair. There are surprising parallels. To find out more, stay tuned.

Further thoughts on Emotionally Weird

The book I read before picking up Emotionally Weird was The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair. The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair was a book structured around the writing of a book with one character coaching another in his writing of his book. In addition, it as about a book the coach had gained great acclaim for. The coach’s advice to his mentee is presented at the start of each chapter. Emotionally Weird also has a book within book structure. The protagonist is writing a murder mystery. This is almost incidental to the story as we read extracts of her novel while telling her story while she was at university. She is telling her story to a person who is/is not her mother, who interrupts her story-telling to ask a critical question about the story. Of course, the critical questions play the same role as the coach’s advice in The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair.

To add another layer of literary critique we have, within the story our protagonist is telling, criticism of written college work from the lecturers in the university English department. These critics provide more sophisticated jargonised criticism.

This is a very clever book that, like onions and ogres, has layers. Many layers. It is also somewhat convolute, and Atkinson succeeds in having the reader wondering which parts are pure fiction and which parts are supposed to be real. This is demonstrated in another part of the story that parallels a thought in The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair. The notion of the author writing the end they want and that being reflected in their own life is voiced in “Harry Quebert”. In Emotionally Weird there is a bit of Magical Realism, as identified by the protagonist to her mother/non-mother, when a dreadful accident happens, but it is reversed when the protagonist burns a page of paper on which the accident was described. The episode is rewritten without the accident.
About three quarters way into the book I was wondering where it was going and I was thinking of giving it a 3.5/5.0 rating. When I finished the book I immediately gave it 5 stars.

By the way, I am sure that you have guessed, the "mother/non-mother" references relate to another layer of story within the story.

>47 pgmcc: & >48 pgmcc: I'm glad you enjoyed it. I will add it to my wish list on OverDrive. I have already purchased several books of hers for Kindle that I have yet to read. I need to get to those first. I really do enjoy her writing style.

>48 pgmcc: I'm so glad you enjoyed Emotionally weird. It's a 5 star read for me too. I love all the literary games, the scenes of student life, and the doubt about what is real and what's not. It's so clever but hugely entertaining and hilarious.
Every time I hear someone say "keep an eye out ..." I think of the professor who winces!

>47 pgmcc: I have Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson to read on my Kindle. I think you reviewed that one positively as well.

>50 Sakerfalcon: I loved those games.

One thing I found odd, but I would not complain too much about it, was her descriptions of what went on at tutorials. Archie's tutorials were actually lectures rather than tutorials. I can see she had Archie run his tutorials this way as he was not interested in helping the students understand the content of the actual lectures, but was more focused on showing people how clever and academic he was. That was only a small issue. i really felt I was back in my university days. I could even name some of the characters from my own circle of friends/classmates.

>51 jillmwo:
I also have Shrines of Gaiety but have not read it yet. I bought it because it looked to be in the same atmosphere as The Amberlough Dossier, a BB from Sakerfalcon. When I mentioned buying it some people mentioned Emotionally Weird and reminded me I had bought it having read and enjoyed Transcription by Kate Atkinson. I reviewed Transcription positively.

>53 pgmcc: I enjoyed Transcription when I did it with a book group way back when and I know I recommended it here in the Pub. I will continue with Shrines of Gaiety. The first chapter of that has been quite lively in its description of some of the illicit activities of the London criminal class back in the '1920's.

>54 jillmwo:
I look forward to your views on Shrine of Gaiety.

>48 pgmcc: If I were getting through books at a decent pace these days, both of those would be going on my TBR list.

>56 Karlstar: Oh, that doesn't slow me down. Or rather, I am slowed down, but my ambition isn't. With every additional purchase, I just keep piling on my good intentions. I can stack 'em tighter on the Kindle. Isn't it nice to know that if you do get extra lifetimes or a magical longevity drug, you won't run out of reading matter?

>57 Meredy: I applaud your approach and wish I could take the same, but I look at my TBR list and just can't add too much more to it. I did put Emotionally Weird on my wishlist so I'll get to it eventually.

I have just finished C.K. McDonnell's Other Plans. Another adventure for Bunny and his friends. Trouble is found, captivity ensues, adventure follows.

It is a while since I have read a du Maurier, so I am about to put that to rights. Frenchman's Creek is one I have not read to date.

>60 pgmcc: I have read this one either, so I eagerly await your review.

Oh boy is that different for du Maurier. A hoot, but not the same as say Flight of the Falcon or The Scapegoat. Interesting to see what you make of it.

>60 pgmcc: I enjoyed Frenchman's Creek as a weekend read, but my leisure reading expectations can differ somewhat from yours. As >62 Bookmarque: says, it will be interesting to hear what you make of it. (and >61 clamairy: why not jump in?)

>63 jillmwo: Because I just started something else. And, unlike many of you, my brain can only handle one regular book and one audiobook at a time.

>64 clamairy: Ooooh-kaaay. *she said in mournful tones* (I probably need to rein in my enthusiasms for pushing Pub buddies into a shared reading experience.)

>65 jillmwo: LOL I can do it in a few days.

>60 pgmcc: I read that when I was in high school, and I have a fond recollection of the reading, but don't remember the story. It is one that I recently aquired from a friend, so maybe I will start it and see where it goes.

>66 clamairy: >65 jillmwo: >64 clamairy:
Please now, we are all Green Dragoneers. Keep it civil...or take it out to the car park.
:-)

>61 clamairy: >62 Bookmarque: >63 jillmwo: >67 MrsLee:

So far I have read the first one and a half chapters. I can see why some of you are saying it is different from other du Maurier novels. The first chapter appears to be an attempt to create an atmosphere of mystical awe and hints at supernatural activity. It is also trying to be very artistic in its language. It suggests phantoms from a past time.

Chapter two is starting to put together the background to the phantoms of the past.

I have to admit that it has not grabbed me just yet, but it is du Murier, so I will read on in the anticipation of my interest being piqued further. jillmwo, Bookmarque and MrsLee's comments encourage me further into the pages of Frenchman's Creek. I hope for a similar sense of dread as that yachtsman felt as he rowed his dinghy up the creek and started to hear voices and see figures amongst the shadows in the trees.

Having read a little further I am starting to get interested. I am finding it interesting how du Maurier is presenting the multifaceted aspects of Dona: the arrogant abuser of staff; the victim of what appears to be a societal wedding; the wife who plays along with her husbands lifestyle because she thinks she has to; the insecure woman who is not sure she is doing the right thing; the frustrated person who feels their life is being wasted by her knuckling under and playing along with her husband's social lifestyle; the person who plays along with the gang until she does something that sobers her up and makes her realise that she is becoming one of the people she despises; a woman who believes she may have given the wrong signal to one of her husband's friends and is now subjected to unwelcome advances yet feels there is not much she can do about it; etcd... She is a bit of an anti-hero so far. If she is to be the delicate partner to a love affair as implied in the first chapter's mystic allusions to phantoms of the past then she will be burying a lot of her not so loveable attributes.

This could be fun.

Have a great Halloween everyone. Define "great" in whatever way suits you.

We are currently anticipating the arrival of children on a trick or treat trek. We have the cauldron ready.

>70 pgmcc: Same to you, I hope the children stay out of the cauldron full of candy.

>71 Karlstar:
What do you mean, “cauldron full of candy”?

Oh, I see. You misunderstood my meaning. Yes, cauldron…full of chi…, candy.

>72 pgmcc: :)

>72 pgmcc: I knew exactly what you were implying, and I approve.

>70 pgmcc: My question is how you actually go about heating the cauldron. Are you of the slow-simmer-sitting-on-hot-coals school of thought or tall-and-powerful-leaping-flames school?

>74 clamairy: I'm just playing straight man. My bill will be in the mail to >72 pgmcc:.

>75 jillmwo: Ooh, great Q! Staring at my screen waiting for the answer.

>75 jillmwo:
Slow-simmer-sitting-on-hot-coals until the meat is nice and tender, then tall-powerful-leaping-flames for drama at the point of serving. Hahahahah…
🧙🍗🍗🥩🥓🥓

Real life threw a few spanners at us this past week. Last Wednesday night/Thursday early hours we were at our place in France and there was a severe storm blowing. At about 3:30am my wife woke me and she was terrified a tree would fall on our mobile home. It took me about fifteen minutes to calm her down and we started to doze off to sleep. Then we heard a loud VWHOOMP! I thought it was something that had been blown over, but we were not noticing anything near our place. Five minutes later my wife's phone rang. Our friends who have had a mobile home at the holiday village for seventeen years, and who had just bought a new mobile home and had just finished setting everything up the way the wanted it that day, had a large tree fall on their mobile and trap them in their bed. Luckily they got out with the husband suffering only a gash to the forehead. Their new mobile and the mobile beside them were written off, totally destroyed. They were lucky to get out alive.

The rest of the night and the following day was spent helping them get their stuff out of the old mobile and into another place where the could store it.

Friday night we sailed for home. It was a seven hour drive to the ferry port, so we were pretty tired when we got onto the boat.

It was the worst crossing I have ever experienced. The boat sailed through a storm and we were both violently ill.

On Monday we received news that my wife's younger sister had died. She had a very rare complication to a very rare cancer and it was putting stress on all her organs. Unexpectedly her heart gave out.

Not the best week we have had.

Oh jeez life done walloped you hard as they say. Glad you survived and that your neighbors did, but so sorry about your SIL. That's so hard even when it is expected. Hope you can find some peace and good memories.

Oh man, that's a rough go you've had. My condolences about your sister in law.

>79 pgmcc: Sorry for the loss of your sister in law, Peter. I'm glad to hear your friends survived their ordeal. Hoping you are able to rest up and find calmer waters ahead.

>79 pgmcc: Oh no. I am so sorry about your sister-in-law. Please give your wife an extra hug for me.

The storm and the ferry crossing sound awful as well. I suspect we're all in for a lot more severe weather than we remember from our childhoods.

>79 pgmcc: Sounds like you need a little time to recover from that trip. Wish I could give you both a gentle hug.

>79 pgmcc: You took a beating this week. I'm really sorry.

I crossed the Bay of Fundy once on a ferry during heavy winds and rough sea. My stomach still remembers that after nearly 60 years. As I recall, it was about a six-hour crossing.

There was also a short crossing from Jonesport, Maine, to Beals Island. Doing it in a hurricane was pretty dramatic.

So sorry about your wife's sister. For every loss, the grief is new.

>79 pgmcc: Sorry to hear about the passing of your sister in law. I'm glad you were not injured in either storm.

>79 pgmcc: Life can be tough. Good that your friends got out relatively unscathed. Sea voyages still have a few things to teach us, I suppose.

And so sorry about your sister-in-law. Best wishes and condolences from us to both of you.

>79 pgmcc: Einasoe!! You've had a really rough time. No doubt you'll need a holiday somewhere quiet (the middle of the Sahara?) to recover.

Thank you everyone for the kind words and condolences. We are preparing for the cremation on Saturday. Waves of emotion as you can imagine.

The Greed Dragon members are a great comfort. Thank you for your support.

>79 pgmcc: oh my, it sounds like you and the missus have had quite a stressful time. I'm glad you have each other to lean on, and hope your neighbors will find a new place soon.

>90 Darth-Heather:
Thank you!

Would I read another book by this author?
I will read other books by Daphne du Maurier, but not on the strength of this book. If it had been the first Du Maurier I ever read I do not think I would be looking for her other books.

Would I recommend this book?
Probably not.

If I were to recommend it, to whom would I recommend it?
If I were to recommend it, the person would have to be someone I knew who was a completist and who felt they had to read all Du Maurier's works.

This is a reasonably good book, but not a great book. It is a swashbuckling romance story.

>92 pgmcc: I looked back at my reading thread in 2021 and this is roughly what I said about Frenchman's Creek at that point when I read it for the first time: The parallel in the impulse felt by both the heroine and hero is the basis for their relationship; each seeks to escape their inauthentic situations and find something more in keeping with their actual inclinations. Frenchman's Creek is a fantasy of a romance, but it’s entirely readable and one can see that it would make a GREAT movie.

You're spot-on that its a reasonably good book. I wouldn't put it on the same level as either My Cousin Rachel or Rebecca, both of which have more challenging elements that the writer is putting across. Rachel in the sense of is she or isn't she a scheming female and Rebecca in the sense of who *is* Mrs de Winter -- the dead woman or the unnamed narrator.

But really, good swashbucklers tend to do well in the market and du Maurier was writing as a professional. Where we differ is that I probably would recommend it to a friend looking for some kind of a nice romance novel, but not one that is too formulaic. Something as a good summertime read.

>93 jillmwo:
I think we are at one regarding the book. Where we differ may be in the number of friends we each have who might want a nice romance novel.
:-)

>94 pgmcc:. Well, there you may have me.

>92 pgmcc: & >93 jillmwo: My assessment is about the same as yours. I did find 2 redeeming features in it which are not standard fare in most of the romance novels I have read. Dona fought off and defeated her attacker without any male intervention, and in the end she chose her children and a traditional life over her adventurous love.

None of you have made me think this is something I need to read. So, thank you.

>97 clamairy:
Glad to be of service.

>96 MrsLee: But those are the points were it lost verisimilitude.
I'm joking. I'm joking. Don't hit me.

>95 jillmwo: Regardless of how many romance loving friends we each have, I am probably in the "completist" camp, so reading this novel was not a waste of my time. Also, I agree with you that it is very readable.

I mentioned this to MrsLee before, but I see an element in Frenchman's Creek that has a parallel in Rebecca. In both books she has her readers relating closely with the criminals in the story: in Frenchman's Creek we are associated with a pirate who is plundering the Cornish coastline and Dona, who cares little for the impact of her actions on other people and is committing an act of treason to satisfy her own yearning for adventure; in Rebecca we are attached to a man who has murdered his wife and is not hiding the fact with the collusion of his new wife. At the end of Rebecca we are supposed to empathise and sympathise with Mr. De Winter and his devoted young wife because of the conditions they are forced to live now they have lost Manderley.

In My Cousin Rachel, we are supposed to be sympathising with someone who set a fatal trap for his cousin and then realises his assumptions and conclusions were wrong just too late to save her.

I started reading The Green Man's Quarry in the wee small hours of yesterday. I am 120 pages into the 355 page book. Given my reading speed I think that is an indication that I am enjoying it.

>99 pgmcc: ah good, I'm glad you are getting along with it. I really like how she incorporates a new mythology in each book, and I hope she will continue with this series. I will be interested to know what you think of the ending...

>98 pgmcc: My memory tells me that Maxwell only thought he had murdered Rebecca. She had somehow made him think it, but actually she committed suicide. Do I need to read it again?

>79 pgmcc: Just catching up on threads. I'm sorry to hear about your series of calamities. Sending my condolences to you and Catriona on the loss of your sister-in-law.

>101 MrsLee:

Perhaps I need to read it again. I thought he had deliberately let things happen to cause her death. I did not think suicide was in Rebecca’s nature.

When I have reread the relevant parts I will return to humbly admit my error or to say, “Na na na na na, I was right”, or some other equally mature comment.

>103 pgmcc: Because we can always count on you for maturity. Bwahahaha! Oh dear. I need to wipe my eyes. ;)

>103 pgmcc: I recall it the same as >101 MrsLee:. For anyone that has not yet read Rebecca, here is a MAJOR spoiler: Yes, Maxim shoots Rebecca dead and sinks her body with the boat, but Rebecca had manipulated him into it due to her terminal illness. I believe Rebecca's motivations for committing 'suicide' were confirmed after the fact by her doctor, once he was tracked down.

It's been a while since I read the book though, and my memory is often suspect.

>104 MrsLee: & >105 ScoLgo:
That’s right, go ahed, gang up on the old guy with the faulty recall.

:-)

>106 pgmcc: May I join in? One so rarely gets a opportunity to gang up on old guys. *snort* Because you know, >104 MrsLee: and >105 ScoLgo: have it right.

>107 jillmwo:
Et tu brute.

In the face of overwhelming opposition from reliable and erudite sources I must admit defeat and readjust my mental model of the world.

Anyone else around who wants to kick an old man when he’s down? He enjoys it. Just tell yourself that.

:-)

>108 pgmcc: *whispers* I don't always see an elephant.

>109 MrsLee:
*whispers* Do not blame the elephant.

I finished The Green Man's Quarry yesterday. Reading a 350 page book in two days is a bit of a record for me. It think that speaks for itself in relation to how much I was engaged with the story.

Will I read any more books by this author?
Yes.

Would I recommend this book?
Yes.

To whom would I recommend this book?
Anyone who like a little magic in their reading. Anyone who likes stories based on traditional myths.

Did this book inspire me to do anything?
The book has scenes on the south coast of England and the west coast of Scotland. Regarding the south coast of England, the area where the story takes place includes parts of the coast I visited on a college geology fieldtrip in 1977. The story refers to the geology of the coast and I will be having a nostalgic look at some reference material on that part of the coast. I will also be looking up details on the part of the west coast of Scotland that was visited in the story. It was 1978 when I visited that part of the world on another college geology fieldtrip. We had a very gneiss time.

Juliet E. McKenna has certainly found a winning formula with her Folk Horror tales. They could be described as Cosy Folk Horror tales. As Darth-Heather pointed out in >100 Darth-Heather:, each story incorporates a new mythology. So far she has drawn on English, Welsh and Scottish mythology. I cannot recall if she has used much Irish mythology yet. Juliet is of Irish descent, so she will, I am sure, have a story involving Irish myths at some stage.

Further comments are for those who have read the story. Now I pull the cloak of invisibility across my words.
Darth-Heather, I found the ending satisfactory in the context of The Green Man series. I know Juliet does not like too much violence and we can see that in Dan's agonising over possibly having to kill Billy the Cat. I can imagine Juliet going through similar anguish when deciding how to put an end to Billy the Cat's killing spree. One could argue that the way the book ended was a cop-out, or one could see it as part of what could be an ongoing debate on how society would respond to murder.

My comment that I found the ending satisfactory in the context of The Green Man series is explained by the "first contact" between the Wise Women and the Cunning Men. This has been a cautious meeting of two groups who have common interests, but very different attitudes as to how they live their lives and address the issues facing them. The more militant stance of the Scottish group would reflect the real attitude of many Scottish people. Scotland is part of the UK, but the UK has been dominated by England and, as far as Scottish people, and many North of England people, the UK government is based in Westminster that is many, many miles away, and it does not give much thought to the local areas or people. The devolved governments have some local responsibilities, but in general they are constrained by the government in Westminster. This is exemplified by the refusal of the Westminster government to allow the Scottish government to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence.

The above paragraph is meant to be descriptive of the political situation and not a political rant. It sets the scene for the militancy seen in the Cunning Men of Scotland as portrayed in The Green Man's Quarry.

One thing that bothers me is the position of The Green Man and The Hunter. They are presented as being very powerful supernatural beings, yet it appears they depend on Dan to do their dirty work for them. Why are they not powerful enough to sort out Billy the Cat themselves if they feel something needs to be done?

Dan has now extended his network of contacts with supernatural beings. While the Scottish Cunning Men are not fully allies, they are willing to cooperate on matters of common concern.


Bottom line, I enjoyed the story and will certainly be reading the next installment.

I see a new Stranger Times novel is coming out in January, 2024. It has appeared for pre-order on Amazon(dot)co(dot)uk.

I am now at that point where I have to decide what I am going to read next. Again I am spoilt for choice. That is almost worse than not seeing a book I want to read. If I pick a book to read when I have not seen anything I want to read I am in the situation of either finding I like the book, or I do not. Either way I am focused on the book. When I am spoilt for choice I will end up reading a book that I want to read but will also be feeling guilty about not reading the other books that I want to read and hence run the risk of not enjoying the book I have started reading simply because of my guilty feeling which is not fair to the book I am reading which generates a whole new level of guilt...

Stay tuned for updates on the next book decision.

>111 pgmcc: We had a very gneiss time. I see what you did there and I approve!

I have just started to read Hopeland which you gave an excellent review.

>111 pgmcc: I am glad that we agree on the merit of the ending! I was starting to worry that the author had put Dan into a bad position where the only way out would be violence, so was pleased when she chose an ending of moderation and cooperation. I like how that reflects on Dan's personality and his approach to his connections, as a mild-mannered person thrust into some difficult situations. Some of his previous encounters were with inhuman creatures, but these antagonists are people and I wanted him to have a better way to handle this that he can live with after.

I too wondered when the The Green Man and the Hunter were going to get involved, but they just watch from the sidelines. It might be that they are testing Dan to see if he is suitable for something bigger coming in the future? I assume there is more to come on that front at least.

>113 pgmcc: I have experienced this same emotional turmoil. Just sit with those feelings and contemplate your TBR in silence. An answer will emerge. (Or maybe you'll fall asleep in the chair, but in either instance, you win.)

>111 pgmcc: Gneiss post.

>112 pgmcc: WOOPIE! Will head over and get my pre-order in.

>114 Sakerfalcon:
I hope you enjoy Hopeland. Ian is one of the author's whose work I will pick up as soon as it is published.

Glad to see you liked what I did there. I knew people here would get the allusion. >117 MrsLee: spotted it too.

Oops! I just spotted the pun in my first sentence.

>116 jillmwo:
Sitting on the slopes of Mount TBR is a very soothing experience. I am sure I will be inspired as you suggest. Dozing off is also a favourable outcome. We agree on so many things.

I have been dipping into your posts on POD. I have not yet joined the fray, but may have a few words to add soon.

>114 Sakerfalcon: I just finished Hopeland last week and rated it 9/10. I thought it was wonderful.

(edited to fix pointer)

>114 Sakerfalcon:, >120 ScoLgo: & pgmcc The three of you cannot possibly lead me astray. This one is going on the OverDrive list right now.

>121 clamairy: Was that an intentional double-negative?

Ahoy, pgmcc & sakerfalcon... batten down the hatches! methinks a tempest be approachin'!

In the wee, small hours of this morning I started reading Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv, written by Andrej Kurkov and translated from the Russian by Reuben Woolley. This is a book sent to me by Dubray Books as part of the retirement present of a bookshop-selected book a month for twelve months that I received from a friend. As such I know very little about it. It was first published in Russian in 2012. The English translation was released in 2023. I only know where Lviv is because of news coverage of the war in Ukraine.

When I receive onE of these books I have the opportunity to exchange it for another of my choice if I do not want to read it for any reason. Apart from welcoming the opportunity to try the work of an author I know nothing about, why did I decide to hold onto this book? The blurb on the back starts with the following two paragraphs:

Strange things are afoot in the cosmopolitan city of Lviv, western Ukraine. Seagulls are circling and the air smells salty, though Lviv is a long way from the sea...

A ragtag group gathers round a mysterious grave in Lychakiv Cemetery - among them an ex-KGB officer and an ageing hippy he used to spy on. Before long, Captain Ryabtsev and Alik Olisevych are teaming up to discover the sources of the "anomalies".

They had me at "ex-KGB".

>122 ScoLgo: 😂 That was unintentional. I had written it as two words and then decided it should be one and forgot to read before I posted.

>123 pgmcc: I would give that book a try from those paragraphs. The partnership of a hippy and an ex-KGB sounds like fun. Hope it reads so. I am intrigued by your monthly book selections from that gift. If I recall correctly, it is the employees of the bookstore who make the selections? It seems that they are really trying to find a fit for you, not just grabbing the nearest best-seller off the shelf.

>125 MrsLee:
Dubray have someone managing the scheme. I suspect she does most of the work herself. Having said that the selections have been very good. There was only one that I returned because I had no interest in reading it. The only information they are working on is that contained in the form I completed for them. See below:




I wanted to give them an idea of the type of books I liked without giving information that might lead them to send me books I already had or am likely to buy. As I mentioned elsewhere the only time this happened was when they sent me Nick Harkaway's Titanium Noir which I had already bought and read. This was not an issue as I wanted to give a copy to my nephew, so I kept it...well, gave it away...did not return it.

>126 pgmcc: I'm glad you are having fun with it. I stand in awe of whoever is doing the choosing.

>127 MrsLee:
I have to admit I have been impressed with their selections. I may not end up liking all the books they have chosen for me but they are all books I might have picked for myself had I come across them.

>123 pgmcc: I've enjoyed all (4) of the Kurkov books that I've read so far and have very nearly picked this one up on a couple of occasions. Will be interested to see what you think of it.

>129 AHS-Wolfy:
I am in chapter four at the moment and it grabbed me right at the start of chapter one. The language is an easy read indicating a high quality translation.

Proust and the Squid arrived a couple of days ago. This was a BB from MrsLee. I have read a few pages of the first chapter and am finding it fascinating. Thank you, Lee.

>131 pgmcc: I remember finding it useful when I read it. At the time, I was reading it purely for work purposes and so I don't think I talked about it here. But Wolf is pretty solid on the scientific stuff as it pertains to how our brains manage the reading as an activity.

Ok, you got me to click on it, too Pete. It's part of my audible subscription so I can listen to it with no extra dollars paid and no credits used. Sweet.

Hm. The audiobook doesn't seem to come with the illustrations and diagrams in the print/ebook version. Bummer. Many times audio publishers will include them, but it seems not this time.

>131 pgmcc: I am very much enjoying it at the moment. She is describing all the steps involved in a child becoming ready to read and I have a living example right here in my grandson. Fascinating.

>123 pgmcc:
Now that I am getting time to read I am really enjoying Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv. I was enjoying it when I started reading it, but events prevented my picking it up. Now I an having difficulty putting it down. No! It is not about anti-gravity.

Some good news on the medical front. The doctor gave us an update on my MRI scan. She said, “Your brain is perfect!”

My wife muttered something about my being insufferable.

😂

Congratulations! You and MrsLee are in an exclusive club of people with perfect brains!

>136 pgmcc: Woo Hoo! I knew we had a lot in common.

>136 pgmcc:. Between the Irish charm and the perfect brain, your wife may have legitimate cause for alarm...(Let's not forget as well the gift of panache that those working in espionage invariably seem to have.)

>137 Sakerfalcon:
Documented perfect brains no less. My wife and sister-in-law were even there to witness the statement.

>138 MrsLee:
I always sensed the connection.

>139 jillmwo:
(I am glad you hid the last comment in brackets. You can’t be too careful in this game.)

>136 pgmcc: She said it was perfect, but did she say anything about it being unusually large? ;o) Just kidding. I'm so glad all is well.

>141 clamairy:
Size doesn’t matter. It’s what you do with it that counts.

>142 pgmcc: *High five*

>142 pgmcc: *giggle*

>136 pgmcc: Did the doctor tell you anything the rest of us haven't known for years?

>136 pgmcc: Congrats on the good scan. I have not yet had a brain MRI, if so I'm afraid it would turn out like George Jetson's.

>142 pgmcc: *snerk*

I'm getting caught up after an absence. Condolences on your loss. I've taken several hits in reading through this, especially Emotionally Weird and Hopeland. The Joel Dicker is tempting but I'm not up for something so long right now. Love the pictures at the top. I lived in Columbus for a while but never made it to Cincinnati (I was a poor student).

>148 Jim53:
Good to hear from you Jim. Glad you like the pictures. Sorry about your Covid relapse. Hopefully you are getting over it.
Happy you took a couple of hits.. :-)

I have just finished Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv by Andrey Kurkov and translated by Reuben Woolley.

Would I read another book by this author?
Yes.

Would I recommend this book?
Yes.

To whom would I recommend it?
Any one who likes a well paced mystery with interesting characters, portrayal of a former Soviet country through the eyes of people looking back thirty something years at the old regime, and a touch of apparently supernatural elements that stir people out of their comfort zones.

This book is full of humour, clever turns of phrase that stop you in your tracks and think, "Oh yeah! I get that."

I could not help thinking about this book in the way I thought about A Gentleman in Moscow; I did not want it to end.

It has taken me seventeen days to read this book but that was due to real life issues interfering with the process. I think under normal circumstances I would have read this book in about four days.

>150 pgmcc: Ouch! The Brisbane city library service has it, and a hold has been placed. Cut another notch in your BB gun butt, Peter. I don't know if you've read The City and the City by China Miéville, but it seems like the two might go together well. I liked The City and the City.

>151 haydninvienna:
I have read, and greatly enjoyed, The City and The City.

Hopefully you will enjoy this book.

>150 pgmcc: Happy to see you enjoyed this one. I'll get round to picking it up eventually. Planning to pick up any more of his work? Death and the Penguin is probably his most celebrated work.

>153 AHS-Wolfy:
I am certainly inclined to read more of his work and that one is very prominent. Watch this space.

Catastrophe! I have discovered an uncatalogued book in my library that I was convinced had been catalogued. It is How Novels Work by John Mullan. You can rest assured that the omission has been corrected. Not only that, I have started reading it.

jillmwo, I am not sure if you have read this book, but the first page of the introduction describes an encounter in which William Thackeray discomposes Charlotte Brontë by quoting from memory some cigar-smoke-inspired lines from "Jane Eyre".

"Sweet-briar and southernwood, jasmine, pink, and rose have long been yielding their evening sacrifice of incense: this new scent is neither of shrub nor flower; it is - I know it well - it is Mr Rochester's cigar".

I have just started the book and am enjoying the content of the Introduction.

>155 pgmcc: That is from the portion of the novel when Jane is persuaded that Mr. Rochester is planning to marry Blanche Ingram and, for the sake of her own peace of mind, she's trying to avoid meeting him on the grounds of Thornfield under a particular tree. She knows its him by the scent of his cigar. (Later in the chapter, a lightning bolt will hit that tree. It's an omen.)

John Mullen is a wonderful literary critic.

>150 pgmcc: I loved the Penguin books by Kurkov and I have Grey bees on the TBR pile. I will have to add this one too.

>156 jillmwo:
John Mullen is a wonderful literary critic.

John Mullan is pretty good too. :-)

I am having a little difficulty with Mullan's writing. I suspect this is the meeting of science and art. When I started reading The Artful Dickens by Mullan I had a similar problem. When talking about a point he illustrates it with several examples. This is all very well, but he describes the same point with different authorial intentions and illustrates it with examples that tend to cloud the issue and make one wonder if the point he is making really exists, or if he is making a point at all. His conversational prose wander off without giving succinct outlines of structure or a concrete delineation of the points he is making. I will have to work at his book to collate his points in a structured fashion that my simple mind can register.

A for-instance:
Mullan discussed the use of epigraphs, mentions a few authors who used them, and discusses their purpose. My reading of this section leads me to conclude that authors use epigraphs in different ways for different reasons and aimed at different people. He even quotes one example that must be very personal to the author for it is written in a language her audience would not be likely to know and is from a source no one without access to an academic library is likely to find. The epigraph also has no echo in the book. The author in question had good reason for using this epigraph, but it was nothing to do with the content of the book and adds nothing to the reader's experience other than the mystery of what the epigraph could mean.

My point is, what is Mullan saying about epigraphs? Is he saying they can mean anything or nothing, relate to the book or not, be archaic or modern, expose an author's desire regarding how he wants his book to be viewed, or be a potential embarrassment if the author misinterprets the meaning of any text he is quoting.

I think my real issue is that all these various views on epigraphs are presented in flowing prose without any effort to clearly identify the different uses in a neat structure. If I were studying English literature as a full-time student I would sit down and work through this book to pull out the salient points and present them in a more structured way. As it happens I am a happy-go-lucky reader who wants to pick up a little learning from a book that the author has described as abandoning the language of academia so as to be accessible to the general reader. My feeling is that he did not quite go far enough in his pursuit of clarity.

Caveat
All above remarks are mine and could be liable to change in the future. The remarks may mean nothing, mean a lot, be personal, relate to the texts I am reading, not relate to the texts I am reading, be correct, be incorrect, be embarrassing, be erudite, be recondite, be whatever. E&OE

>157 Sakerfalcon:
I suspect Death and the Penguin will be my next Kurkov.

>158 pgmcc: Oh, the agony of having to deal with people who think everything should be spelled CORRECTLY. Like author names. Sheesh.

What the man is doing (see what I did there?) is writing for a very general audience. He explains the meaning of epigrams and their use in a single sentence and then offers multiple paragraphs explaining Donna Tartt’s use in The Secret History. The general reader will at least have heard of Tartt as a “modern classic” but been perhaps utterly bumfuzzled as to why the epigrams were there in the book in Latin. They may have skipped over them as a result. Mullen wants the general reader to understand the rationale there. The latin phrases are, as both you and Mullan suggest, a confusing affectation but their inclusion is supposed to convey that the characters themselves are somewhat affected/elitist by nature.

I don't know about you, but I have a general habit of skipping over some of the elements that an author includes as a part of the finished output. (My impatient brain goes “Excuse me, dear author, but your epigraph is sitting in the middle of the narrative sidewalk. I am in a hurry and am going to go around it to get to the good stuff. Maybe I’ll connect with your epigraph later”) Mullan, in educating the wayward reader that I may be, is saying STOP. An epigram serves the same function as a traffic sign in a way – telling you something about what to expect as you enter this next bit in the road. There’s a hairpin turn or something.

I have a friend in a book group who ALWAYS reads the epigraphs and her analysis of a book can be better than mine as a result.

But of course your point is that Mullan is kind of skimming along in this very general rendition and that can be of less value than one might choose. (Am I in the ballpark?)

>159 jillmwo:
You are definitely in the ballpark. I would expect nothing less.

I follow a similar approach to epigraphs as you describe. I will read it, move on and read the chapter/book not taking any cognizance of what the epigraph stated. Having read the text I will sometimes go back to the epigraph and think, "Oh! I see what the author was hinting at." Other times I will say, "I am sure they had a very good reason for putting that there. What it has to do with the story is anyone's guess." :-)

Your description of what purpose an epigram serves is logical and would be what one would expect. Mullan, however, introduces examples where the epigram serves that purpose, examples of where the epigram is a satire distorting that purpose, and examples where the author appears to have veiled the origin and meaning of the epigraph to the extent that it is virtually impossible for the reader to determine the relevance, if any, of the epigraph.

I wish we could have this conversation over a cup of tea or coffee. Whiling away hours in discussion on something like this would be great fun.

I nearly forgot, I bought books today. One for myself and one as a surprise for my wife.

For myself:

Tokyo Express by Seichō Matsumoto and translated by Jesse Kirkwood.

For my wife:


Arsène Lupin by Maurice Leblanc. I have found no reference to the translator.

Why did I pick this book for my wife?

In general she likes light crime stories. What is more significant is that she and a friend found a little patisserie in Blois during the summer, and they enjoyed having coffee and croissants there. It is named after Arsène Lupin.

Congratulations on your book purchases. By chance I found myself in a bookshop yesterday that had copies of Jimi Hendrix in Lviv. One of them came home with me.

>162 Sakerfalcon:
Excellent.

>161 pgmcc: I've been tempted to pick up the Lupin books for some time. I usually like a good thief story and my association goes back to my anime watching days with the early Miyazaki movie The Castle of Cagliostro and has recently been piqued by the French TV series on Netflix starring Omar Sy which is very good.

>159 jillmwo:
I enjoyed his discussions on Prologues and Framing Device.

>164 AHS-Wolfy:
I first saw the Lupin books in a bookshop across the road from the patisserie my wife likes. My French is not good enough for me to enjoy a novel, hence my waiting until I found some in English. Of course, they are for my wife.

>160 pgmcc: For the record, I quite agree. I wish we were both located in somewhat closer geographical proximity allowing for more frequent kinds of conversations.

I should tell you that my liking for John Mullan as an literary expert arose from my reading his book, What Matters in Jane Austen and from a talk he gave here in the States at a JASNA event in Philly. In that title, he makes explicit the meaning behind things like why Mary and Charles Musgrove actually call each other by their first names in Persuasion. It was not an indicator of marital harmony.

Actually, this reminds me as well of an exchange I had with clamairy about A.S. Byatt and reading Possession. We were commenting on what bits readers tended to skip over in reading such a varied and complex narrative.

>166 pgmcc: *supplying the required echo*
Of course.

>150 pgmcc: put another notch on the butt of your gold-handled cane for this one.

I have started reading The Levanter by Eric Ambler. This book was published in 1972 and is about the Arab-Israeli conflict. The first chapter of the book includes a brief overview of the history of Israel and Palestine from the 1930s.

By the way, jillmwo, I looked at the copyright page as I usually do. You might be interested to know that it provided me with evidence of time travel. Though the book was published in 1972 and contains descriptions of things like The Six-Day War that happened in the 1960s, the copyright is owned by Eric Ambler and is dated 1940.

>170 pgmcc: That's some interesting time travel. Did he perhaps write a short story in 1940 that later became the full novel?

>171 Karlstar:
I suspect someone reversed the polarities during the editing and printing processes.

>170 pgmcc:. That's just weird with regard to the copyright dates; I would really like to know how the heck that one slunk through.

ETA: What is the edition you're reading? Is it a UK edition or an American Edition? And how recent does it appear to be?

>173 jillmwo:
I have sent you the image of the copyright page via messenger.

I suspect a simple error. The edition is UK and is part of a series recently published and accompanied by a campaign to boost interest in Ambler’s works. It was published in 2016 and I suspect copy & paste followed by poor proofreading to be the culprit.

I have seen that sort of disparity in copyright dates very frequently. I notice them because I always include the copyright date in my notes about a book. I always double check when I know something is old (e.g., Agatha Christie) and it has a (c) date of, say, 1992.

I think they get a new (c) when there's a new edition, such as a novel first published 50 years ago and released now with a new page format and typeface, a new introduction by a third party, and maybe some new backmatter.

>174 pgmcc: and >175 Meredy: Well, actually, I think this really is due to a mish-mash of human error and rapidly shifting business priorities. So, theoretically, Ipso Books was launched in 2015 as a "digital publishing spin-off" from the literary agents, PFD (Peters Fraser & Dunlop) who either currently represent Ambler's estate in the UK or did so back at that point in time. Back in 2016, they would have just been getting started so, for the sake of speedy distribution, books might have gone out to a book packager.

You're looking at a print edition (rather than at an ebook). Just purely guessing on this, but some packager was hired to pull this edition together on some dramatically short timeline -- perhaps to satisfy Ambler estate trustees. So there was a cut-and-paste copyright page thrown together and nobody did any quality assurance. In my experience, a real publishing house with experience wouldn't have jumbled so many copyright dates on a single page. "Real" publishers get very nervous about copyright dates as a rule.

(Ipso Books was renamed as Agora Books at some point during the time period between 2018 and 2023, but as near as I can tell, they no longer exist.)

We are going to see a stage production of A Christmas Carol this evening. Really looking forward to that.

>177 pgmcc: Oooh! Enjoy!

>178 clamairy:
A full report will be provided.

>177 pgmcc: What fun!

>177 pgmcc:. Make sure you root for the ghosts! (And for the Cratchits!)

A Christmas Carol by Dyad Productions.

This was a very entertaining telling of this Dickens classic. It was a one-man show with the actor telling the story and portraying characters as appropriate. The staging was very clever and the actor had amazing stamina. He performed the whole show in one go without a break.

There was clever use of shadows & light, good acting to create characters like the big jolly Ghost of Christmas Present.

jillmwo came to mind at the end of the show. After a standing ovation the actor spoke to the audience, thanking us for coming and then telling us about a coming performance called, "Austen's Women: Lady Susan". He described it as a cross between Jane Austen and Dangerous Liaisons. Read more on the company's website here.

>182 pgmcc: Now that's a fun idea. More people should know about Lady Susan. (I always recommend reading it and the Dangerous Liaisons parallel is a good one.)

>183 jillmwo:
It is being performed in the same theatre on March 1st.

The company is British but appears to perform its shows in this theatre in Ireland quite regularly.

>182 pgmcc: Sounds wonderful. I'm so glad you enjoyed it.

>182 pgmcc: Sounds fun!

>182 pgmcc: fun! We had a guy who used to do that sort of a show when we lived in Raleigh many years ago.

>182 pgmcc: Sounds like a great time. Is this the same actor who reads M.R. James? Or different company?

>188 MrsLee:
It is a different company, but the set is very similar.

This actor was very animated while telling the story and enacting the various parts. The M.R. James performer sits in the chair telling his stories.

>185 clamairy: >186 Karlstar: >187 Jim53:
It was very enjoyable.

Would I read more books by this author?
Yes. I have been reading his works in their publication chronology and I only have a handful more to read.

Would I recommend this book?
Not too strongly. It was interesting but not very engrossing.

Who would I recommend it to?
Someone who is interested in an adventure tale set in the Middle East and in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Did this book inspire me to do anything?
I will be looking more closely at the history in the region of The Levant*. I already have an outline knowledge of the history, but I want to look more deeply into it.

*Until I read this book I was not aware that "The Levant" was how the region was described in the past.

The Levanter by Eric Ambler is about a businessman who gets blackmailed into assisting a group of militant Palestinians mount an attack on Israel. The first chapters of the book include a recap of history in the Middle East that brings the timeline up to the early 1970s, the time in which this story is set. Following the background chapters the reader is treated to three accounts of the events surrounding the "incident" that is the focus of the story.

The three accounts are from a journalist who covers the story and who has interviewed the two key protagonists, the businessman who falls foul of the circumstances he finds, and the businessman's colleague/mistress.

There are interesting overviews of how business was conducted in the region and also of the attitudes of the region's governments towards Palestinians and Israel.

I enjoy Eric Ambler's stories but this one was not as captivating as many of his other novels. One thing I found interesting was reading the recap of the history of the region, especially events, such as the Six-day War, which I remember from news media when I was a child.

I started reading Hogfather last evening.

After finishing The Levanter I was wondering what to read next. I am still reading How Novels Work but I wanted something a bit more interesting. I started reading The Passenger but that is about Germany in 1939 and was focused on the Nazi persecution of Jews. I will read this book but I felt I wanted something a bit more uplifting, hence Hogfather. This is my first time reading it but I have seen most of the screen adaptation, something I would like to watch again.

>191 pgmcc: That was my introduction to Pratchett. I had been told I would like him, and they had two of his books in our library at that time; Hogfather and Lords and Ladies. Since it was around Christmas, I started with Hogfather. On the way home I stopped to pick up some Chinese takeout food. When I found myself snorting, checking and giggling on the first page while I waited for the food, all the other patrons giving me wide berth, I knew I had found a new and wonderful world.

I will ask you a question I posed in the Discworld group, but have had no response thus far, because I know you have a fondness for both authors. I was thinking about Charles Dickens, and the effect he had on his society and culture. An author who wrote widely popular stories, appealing to a broad audience, which had a bit of a price to them about the social ills of the time, but we're also amusing. I was wondering who our modern Dickens would be, or if there is one, and Sir Terry Pratchett came to mind. I suppose there are a large amount of people who wouldn't touch one of his books, but Dickens was not universally loved either.

What do you think? Way off base? Am I missing another author who would fit better?

>192 MrsLee:
That is a very interesting question. I have only read a few of Pratchett's books so I cannot comment knowledgeably about Pratchett being a modern day Dickens. Wyrd Sisters was my first Pratchett. Like yourself, I was snorting and giggling. I do not think I was waiting for a Chinese meal at the time.

Ken MacLeod brings up many social ills and abuses in his Science Fiction.

Looking at the authors I have read I do not think I have been reading a sufficient number of contemporary authors to be able to form a good opinion on this.

This is now a question I will ponder and think about as I read. Stay tuned for future comments.

While you posted this in the Discworld group I think this would be a good question for a thread in the Green Dragon. "Who is the present day Dickens in terms of pricking society's conscience." I think that would generate a lively debate amongst the GD denizens.

>192 MrsLee: >193 pgmcc: I see two problems with regarding Sir Pterry as a modern-day Dickens in general: first, many people read him solely as a comedian (and a fantasy comedian at that), and don't pick up on the social commentary (and, as Neil Gaiman points out somewhere, on the anger); second, that his novels aren't presented as realistic. For a modern-day Dickens we need a writer whose novels are presented as realistic, but who portrays social evils, and who has as wide an appeal as Dickens did at the height of his fame. As usual, you can pick any two characteristics, but I can't think of any writer who combines all 3.

>192 MrsLee: >193 pgmcc: >194 haydninvienna: Wait a minute before you start down the road on this. I want to grab some popcorn.

>193 pgmcc: I will start a new thread.

>194 haydninvienna: See new thread for my response. Please feel free everyone to add previous comments to the new thread. :)

Ten minutes past eleven here on Christmas Eve, so, Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrated it, and have a great day to everyone.

Now, I still have a few presents to wrap.

Merry Christmas Peter and family! I hope you have a great day.

>198 Karlstar:
Thank you, Jim. The same to you and yours.

>197 pgmcc: The same and a happy New Year to you.

>197 pgmcc: With all the rest, let me wish you and your family the very best that the holiday brings.

And now you have probably opened your presents whereas we are just getting up to the Christmas morning. May your day with loved ones be happy and funny and full of good cheer.

>197 pgmcc: Merry Christmas :)

>203 Narilka: Many happy returns of the season.

Happy Christmas and a prosperous first-full-year-of-retirement!

>205 hfglen:
Thank you, Hugh. I hope you and yours have had a good Christmas and that the New Year brings everything you hope it will.

Merry Christmas and Happy Boxing Day to you Peter!

>207 Sakerfalcon:
Hi, Claire,
Thank you for your good wishes. I hope you have had a great Christmas and that Boxing Day is going well for you.

Being from America, I only have an inkling of what Boxing Day is. What exactly is it?

>209 catzteach: 26 December, aka St. Stephen's day in Ireland or Day of Goodwill here. In the Middle Ages, it was the day when the gentry gave their servants their Christmas Boxes or presents -- usually food and booze, I believe.

>209 catzteach: & >210 hfglen: Alternatively it's the day you box up the unwanted gifts you received and put them away ready for re-gifting next year.

We discovered that all four screen adaptations of The 39 Steps are on YouTube. We watched three on one evening and the fourth the following morning. The 1935 Hitchcock version stands up well and was very enjoyable. The 1959 version with Kenneth Moore was the most lighthearted one. The 1978 version with Robert Powell was ok, but I would probably rank it fourth. The 2008 version was the most sophisticated version and added significantly to the plot.

It was interesting to watch all four and see how the detail was varied from one to the other to ensure there was something new to see in each version. The endings in two versions were basically the same, but the other two were quite different, but the same in overall terms of the original novel.

>212 pgmcc: That's some serious binge-watching there! I hope it was restful.

>210 hfglen: & >211 AHS-Wolfy: Thanks for the details/explanations. I thought it was something to do with boxing up something. I thought it might be for boxing up decorations. :)

>214 catzteach: Decorations traditionally stay up until Twelfth Night, 6 January.

>215 hfglen:
The tradition we followed was decorations go up on 8th December and down on 6th January.

>214 catzteach: Please don't take my last reply too seriously. My tongue was firmly planted in my cheek while I was typing it.

>216 pgmcc: When I was a kid we put the decorations up on 16 December, which is a public holiday (Dingaan's Day / Day of the Covenant / Day of Reconciliation-or-something)

>218 hfglen:
The 8th December is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and the 6th January is the Epiphany. These were used as the markers for the putting up and taking down of decorations. On holy-days in the 1960s the Catholic schools were closed, so 8th December was a day when people went into town to shop with the children. It was regarded as the day when country people came to town to do their shopping.

>217 AHS-Wolfy: I am actually a firm believer of giving gifts that have been used or are unwanted things. Why go spend more money and put more things on this planet when there are plenty of old still usable things still out there? :) In fact, two of my gifts this year were used. One was a puzzle and the other a sweatshirt. I love them both!

>219 pgmcc: The more right-wing Afrikaners regard 16th December as a major holy day; it commemorates a particularly questionable episode in this country's history.

>221 hfglen: Looks to be the same as a day in July celebrated in NI.

I think many countries have questionable episodes in their history.

I take the tree down on Old Christmas, January 6th. It usually goes up on the second weekend before Christmas, or used to. This year, we barely got it up and trimmed before the day was upon us.

My late husband and I used to have an English friend who threw a large Boxing Day party every year, from afternoon into early evening. It was a great chill time after the rigors of Christmas. Those friends are long gone. This year it was the day my son and I actually observed Christmas.

>220 catzteach:. One of my son's stocking gifts this year was a library discard. It wasn't "handsome" as a physical copy, but the text itself was about a movie I knew he had loved as a child and continues to watch upon occasion as an adult. So yes, what matters sometime in a gift is not that it be new from the store, but rather that it be something that represents a connection for the recipient.

We too will take the tree down on Jan 6 (Epiphany) because that's how you ensure good luck throughout the year; eating red beans and rice on New Years Day is another way of ensuring good luck in the New Year (if you're particularly worried about how things may be trending). Some years, I admit, the practice has not been observed quite so rigorously.

That said, at the risk of being tedious and pedantic, I always try to remind people that Epiphany as a day (January 6) itself marks the arrival of the Magi and the end of the Christmas festivities but the season of Epiphany extends beyond that. From the perspective of the institutional church calendar, it runs right through the first Sunday of Lent. Having a January birthday, I do my best to squeeze as much good stuff into the season of Epiphany as possible.

>224 jillmwo: my granddaughters get lots of library discard and thrift store purchased books. They love them and I love how my daughter, their mother, has instilled in them a love for books, from infancy. Ruthie is almost 8, reading chapter books. I gave her new copies of Ramona Quimby, Age 8 and The Incredible Journey for Christmas. We did a Christmas FaceTime. It did my heart good to see her flipping through the pages of both books, after she ripped off the wrapping.

There is a Piffle Party over at Marissa's place. CLICK HERE

Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone.

Wishing you and your family only the very best that 2024 may offer, pgmcc!!

>228 jillmwo:
Thank you, Jill. The same to you and yours.

For various reasons I will not go into here, I have not been reading as much as I would like. I have novels on the go, namely Hogfather and Miss Benson's Beetle. No fault of the books, but I was not feeling any urgency to pick them up and read them. To speed proceedings up I decided to focus on one for immediate attention. The chosen book is Miss Benson's Beetle.

Miss Benson's Beetle is a book club read. For the first part of the book I was reading it as light entertainment. I felt it was stereotyping the characters and their antics were exaggerated to the point of almost silly farce. It was entertaining and I continued reading it believing it to be good entertainment fodder with no major serious themes. Having read on with determination to finish the book I was hooked by the introduction of some quite serious thematic elements. I am 79% through the 384 pages and am not putting it down until I finish it. I may not get to the end within 2023, but it will not be long into 2024 before I turn the last page*.

*I am reading it on the kindle, so "turn the last page" is used metaphorically.

>227 pgmcc: Happy New Year back atcha!

I finished Miss Benson's Beetle at 23:50 on New Years Eve.

>232 pgmcc: *wild clapping and dancing for your accomplishment at the finish.*

>233 MrsLee:
I was quite happy to realise I had finished before midnight.