Jill Reads, Rummages, and Sorts Through Things in 2024 - Part Four

My sense of time passing is weird. Some periods in 2o24 have seemed slow while I look up now and think its shifting much more rapidly than I'd thought. Is that the nature of the calendar or is it just me? I've not produced as much this year. At any rate, I decided that I will keep Kim on the shelf. For many reasons. It is a story about humanity. I don't deny that it has its moments of narrow male outlook, but for the most part, women are showed as being relatively sensible.

And I will give Alberto Manguel his due; he observed the following: The lama believes that every obstacle in his way will be removed. Kim, that he himself is capable of either removing it or going around it. There's truth to that. The lama is seeking in the waning years of his life to find unity with the entire living world. Kim is introduced to us as "Little Friend of All The World" and he is the aid sent to connect the solitary lama with the fullness of the living society.

One bit of description from Chapter 12 (in a novel of fifteen chapters):

Day after day they struck deeper into the huddled mountains, and day after day Kim watched the lama return to a man’s strength. Among the terraces of the Doon he had leaned on the boy’s shoulder, ready to profit by wayside halts. Under the great ramp to Mussoorie he drew himself together as an old hunter faces a well-remembered bank, and where he should have sunk exhausted swung his long draperies about him, drew a deep double lungful of the diamond air, and walked as only a hillman can. Kim, plains-bred and plains-fed, sweated and panted astonished.

It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I find myself touched by this book.

Happy new thread.

Happy new thread :)

Happy New Thread!

>1 jillmwo: You are making me want to read Kim again. I read it years ago and have fond memories without actually remembering anything except the fond feeling.

Happy new thread, Jill.

Happy New Thread, my friend!

>5 MrsLee: Well, my dear Lee, at your behest (some three to five years ago) I am reading Pratchett's book, Lord and Ladies and I am laughing. I am getting to be quite fond of Discworld. Wyrd Sisters is still my favorite but others he's done have proven to be general lifts to the spirit! Thank you for the recommendation. You did a good deed when you offered it to me.

>8 jillmwo: Glad you are enjoying it! That was the 2nd Discworld book I ever read, and at the time I was immersed in LotR elves and lore. I thought the difference in the two works regarding elves was hilarious.

>9 MrsLee: It is indeed a huge gap in how they're presented, isn't it? Pratchett's make me a tad uneasy, even if there are Iron Bars in the Deepest Dungeons of the King's castle.

I've been attending a virtual publishing conference these past two days. No news from the front.

Follow-up to a discussion on my previous 2024 thread: https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2024/09/19/sex-and-the-serious-reader/ (Sex and the Serious Reader). As most of the commenters on the site have noted, the guy was trolling for attention in many ways.

A couple of comments from this crowd influenced the writing of that post, most specifically a comment by clamairy about rereading really needing to be an individual decision. (See the final paragraph, clam!)

Note it was supposed to be a Friday post (the day of the week when "puff pieces" are most acceptable) but editorial schedules got fouled up apparently so it ran today.

Amazon is -- in my view -- being a tad weird in its deliveries this week. We live in a world of extended system complexity and if the public has unrealistic expectations, it is because they are driven by poorly considered marketing. (Today I had one of their customer service reps tell me that yes, something could show as being delivered today in their system even if the same system displayed the package as having never been shipped.)

OTOH, if this is the worst thing to happen to me today, I'm far better off than 99% of the rest of the world.

Finished Lords and Ladies this evening. Excellent although I'll probably wait to do a brief review come the weekend.. Thank you MrsLee. I think you may have scored as many BBs as pgmcc when it comes to reading recommendations. (And I own more DiscWorld novels now than I ever owned before walking into this Pub.)

>13 jillmwo: So glad you enjoyed it.

>12 jillmwo: Your article was a much more enjoyable reading experience than the Schwartz one. I would reread it :)))

One of the meaningful passages in Terry Pratchett’s Lords and Ladies is this one:

It’s all very well a potion calling for Love-in-idleness, but which of the thirty-seven common plants called by that name in various parts of the continent was actually meant?

The reason that Granny Weatherwax was a better witch than Magrat was that she knew that in witchcraft it didn’t matter a damn which one it was, or even if it was a piece of grass.

The reason that Magrat was a better doctor than Granny was that she thought it did.

There’s a lot of truth wrapped up in those three sentences and they require more parsing than my morning coffee might stimulate this morning. The point is however that Lords and Ladies is less about love, Shakespeare and Midsummer’s Eve than it is about understanding the nature and power of belief. Of course, underlying competence helps as well which is also relevant to the story.

The narrative took a little while to get going and frankly I wondered at one point if it was worthwhile, but just about then, the action took off. And suddenly I *got* what it was that Pratchett was on about. And again I cherished all three witches. Cheering for Magrit as she is working through hat issues, wondering whether Granny Weatherwax was really okay, and snorting over the various behaviors of Nanny Ogg and her two sons. And Greebo. I actually warmed up to that monstrous beast, Greebo!

No one (at least in my particular crowd) offers much detail as to what Pratchett’s witch books are about – they just tell you to read them. But for those who are wondering – this is the one where Magrit is making up her mind whether she wants the life of a Queen because it doesn’t seem very productive. Verence as King is very productive; it’s a bit hard to work out how best to move forward. Meanwhile, there are elves about and, despite all the glamor popularly associated with them, they’re not nice people. Taken all together, this is a very funny book.

(Given that I have such a muted sense of humor at times, that last statement should be seen to carry some weight.)

>15 Alexandra_book_life: Thank you for taking the time to read it (even the first time)!

>12 jillmwo: Excellent article! Very well said.

>16 jillmwo: This is my favorite of the Witches subseries. I am looking forward to my reread soon. Glad you enjoyed it!

>12 jillmwo: Finally got around to reading your article. Nicely done, and I enjoyed the comments at the end as well.

I spent two hours today trying to track down a book I remembered (in terms of plot). I could not for the life of me recall the title or the author. It was the first time in heaven knows how long that I felt totally off kilter because I couldn't search for the thing properly. Fortunately I was looking at a 2020 spreadsheet of what I had read during the year 2020. Finally located it, Miss Carter and the Ifrit. Written back in 1945, it's the story of a woman who is generally unhappy with her life and the magical being who is released from a bottle who brings her back to a happier existence. Really quite nice. I need to go back and reread it again before I post a review. But at least I was finally able to identify it. The only search terms I could come up with were generic words like magic, spinster, genii, and romantic.

>21 jillmwo: That sounds fun, but someone tagged it "furrowed middlebrow" and I can't for the life of me figure one what that even means!

Ha! Google is my friend!

Furrowed Middlebrow is a series of reissued novels by British women writers, especially from the inter-war period of the 20th century. The name comes from a blog by a Californian enthusiast of these novels.

>22 clamairy: OH. I thought it was a puzzled three- eyed alien.

>22 clamairy: and >23 MrsLee: The line has been subsumed into the umbrella of Dean Street Press. I have read more than a few of the titles they list. I discovered them when I read The Warrielaw Jewel and Arrest the Bishop? -- both by Winifred Peck.

For the record, if anyone is looking for something dark and Gothic to read, you might want to read Edith Holler which NPR listed as its Best Book of the Year in 2023. The Folgers selected it for their reading group discussion on October 12 and thus far it is a wonderful, if uneasy read. Macabre without being gory. I'm gulping it down. Much fascination with the folklore and history associated with the city of Norwich. Oh, and the author includes illustrations that are his own work. (Much darker than the illos done by Judy Dench for Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays The Rent. Both books are related to work in the theater. Her illos were drawn with a light hand; his are -- well, Gothic. He has a certain justifiable obsession, with regard to beetles.)

>24 jillmwo: Oooh, that looks like a great read for October! Thank you.

Aikengill. Everyone wants this old house. The young couple (Betty and Jock) want to begin their life together but not by living under the parents’ roof. An elderly rector believes he’s owed something. A local farmer is willing to pay for the house and land, but there are time pressures. The current owner gets three sets of visitors in a single evening and he’s really not ready to make a final decision. Meanwhile, London's Chief Inspector Robert Macdonald is up that way, visiting Giles and Kate Hoggett. Does any combination of sheep-stealing, arson, and death by misadventure require that he give up his holiday? He’d rather talk of his plans for retirement.

Honestly, the mystery itself is not what kept me reading. The reason for reading E.C.R. Lorac’s Crook o’ Lunes is her agricultural setting and the resilient set of characters, only some of whom are neighborly. It’s 1953 and England is still experiencing rationing of meat and housing shortages. What I enjoyed in this book was simply the glimpse at how people were managing their lives in these circumstances. Tracking where your milk cans have gone, keeping the kindling dry so you can boil a kettle, assembling food for those conducting a search for an injured hiker – their concerns are practical. Some are more resentful than others and some (as a reader might expect) are downright criminal in their behaviors. But you read for the plain and ordinary, the shared meals and confidences, the self-sufficient management of daily life.

Honestly, some of us are living really comfy lives and we should be glad of it.

A few of the current titles on both the real reading ottoman as well as the digital device.

Tigana for a book group
Edith Holler for a different book group
The War of Words for a third book group.
Marple: Expert on Wickedness - Readable scholarship on Agatha Christie's sleuth
The Bloomsbury Handbook to Agatha Christie - Slightly less readable scholarship, but deeply informed.
A Coup of Tea - Light entertainment. Noticeably shorter sentences.

There are many other books lying around here as well. I'm just trying to stay focused. Despite needing follow-up visits to the doctor, the bank, and other practicalities of life...

>24 jillmwo: You also got me with Edith Holler...

>27 jillmwo: I cannot read that many different books at once any longer. I doff my hat to you, lady.

>29 clamairy: I only manage it because I haven't done any housekeeping in years. (And it shows.) I am so envious of people here who have more than one skill -- photography, gardening, DIY, etc. My only skills are reading and writing. (And talking. I'm a garrulous sort.)

More seriously, what some of that reading has led me to consider this week is world-building and how much of it is demanded in the current crop of writers. At any rate, here's an interesting piece on the topic that I only just found. https://screencraft.org/blog/the-craft-and-rules-of-worldbuilding-in-science-fic...

Kay in Tigana is writing about a world largely modeled on historic Europe and in many respects, his world is palpable. We know what the cities look like. But looking at something like A Coup of Tea, it's clear that the world-building is of secondary importance to the author. She gives a nod to Japanese culture in many ways, so there's something somewhat familiar in place for the reader. But in the main, the physical landscape is fuzzy. I don't know what houses look like, as one example. (She has something called the Cataclysm with myriad creatures and plants that spring up, but really not much physical description of where her characters might actually be standing.) I'm not criticizing her book or meaning to put it down; her objective in that particular narrative is one of social commentary rather than what you might call "escape" entertainment.

I think I miss that kind of descriptive element in the more recent books that I'm reading and I'm wondering if editors are filtering much of it out.

>30 jillmwo: Perhaps manuscripts with that level of architectural and geographical detail are being outright rejected. This would make me sad, but would not surprise me one bit.

I also am a gigantic slacker in the housework department, unless I have guests coming to visit. :o)

I don't think the detailed description is out. I still find quite a bit of very detailed worldbuilding. Perhaps it's just in different places now?

>30 jillmwo: I had the same problem with Witch King recently, as you probably recall. Everything about the world, including the politics, was fuzzy except what was on-scene. The other author I've noted the same about is Katherine Addison. While I really, really enjoy her novels, I can't picture the locations, as there isn't enough description.

Just a quick heads up for those of you who have enjoyed books by Benjamin Stephenson. He has a new one coming out later in October (not yet published so bear with me if the touchstone doesn't work) entitled Everyone This Christmas Has A Secret: A Festive Mystery If you liked Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone and Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect, keep an eye out.

>34 jillmwo:
At least you have fired this one from your own thread.

E.T.A.: Pre-ordered.

I finished Edith Holler last night and all I will do here is include a quote and tell all of you that this one is very much worth your while if looking for something dark and unsettling to read. It has everything one seeks out in a Gothic tale – the decrepit theatre building, mysterious corridors, dungeons, and tunnels. It has theater sets, and props, stage dummies and mysterious disappearances. There is the usual insanity of the theater but some not-so-usual mental breaks. One has to deal with the front-of-house staff as well as the backstage crew. There are (as previously mentioned in msg 24 above) beetles, an historic element of the city of Norwich.

I leave you with one more frightening reality of the Gothic and of the theatre:

The next day, worried because of my calling out, Miss Tebby, the prompt, had come in early and there was indeed a trace of smoke along her corridor. She followed the trace to her own room and when she opened the door, the room was all ablaze. Up went Henry IV, both parts, up went Richard III, The Tempest, Lear, and Othello, up went As You Like It and The Taming of the Shrew, up went all words of not just Shakespeare but Marlowe, Middleton, Rowle, Boucicault, Moliere, Mealy – all their worlds turning into the same black ash – and among them in the thick fog and flame, up went…(Page 180)

This should have gotten 'way more critical attention in 2023 than it did. It's *excellent* literary fiction. This may be my best book of 2024. (And I say that as the wuss in the crowd who doesn't generally enjoy being scared by insects, ghostly drafts, or devouring step-mothers.)

ETA to fix touchstone; originally posted Oct 4, 10:35 am

>36 jillmwo: It's actually Edith Holler, correct? I only figured it out because your touchstone went someplace weird. 😆 And then when I tried to type Olive Holler into my Libby app it came up blank.

>37 clamairy:. Fixed it, clamairy. Thank you for catching that. I can be careless. *sigh*.

>38 jillmwo: You are most welcome. I do really want to read this, but I have four books on hold already, one of which I have already once delayed.

>36 jillmwo: This one sounds very tempting, I think it's a BB! I've just put it on my list.

>36 jillmwo:
That is a subtle BB. I wonder who you know who likes Gothic.

>41 pgmcc: The book has significant appeal for those who enjoy live theater as well. And for those with a taste for thoroughly researched historical fiction as the action takes place in the wake of the death of Queen Victoria, specifically in 1901. Edward Carey writes well.

Ask Kenny's to put one aside for you.

Meanwhile, I'm considering something different in terms of genre for my next read.

>42 jillmwo:
Very good. Using a bookshop you know I have an emotional attachment to. You can be really smooth. That is why you are the marksperson you are.

I will not say you hit me with this one, but you have piqued my interest and in a moment of weakness you might find I have been in touch with Kenny's.

Sometimes LT leads one to new author interviews (see https://crimereads.com/librarian-spies-world-war-two-elyse-graham/) and the next thing one knows, one is reading up on finishing schools for spies. (Not a subject that has come up much in my professional life.) In this instance, the first three chapters of a book have been enthralling: Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II. I am currently agog in discovering that I have some really useful skills that might be of value to the government during an armed conflict. I mean, in this book, even the footnotes are both readily digestible AND worthwhile. (Thus far, there has been some fascinating basic instruction covering hand-to-hand knife combat. I don't think I'm up to it, but it's still worth being aware of potential vulnerabilities.)

>44 jillmwo: Oh, that does look fascinating.

>44 jillmwo:
Interesting; this book cannot be sent to my location. Your BB has been thwarted, whether by government order or publishing licence one does not know.

>44 jillmwo: That's hard to resist!

On the one hand, the week consisted of fairly desultory reading. But also very expensive reading – one of those weeks where you look at the credit card and wonder how the heck did you spend so much? I suppose, as a coping mechanism, my memory becomes faulty and refuses to tell me how I suddenly became encumbered with several books having to do with Agatha Christie -- literary criticism, historical context, etc. I shall need to write something or otherwise produce an output in order to justify the expense.

It started as I was reading an interesting book entitled God and the Little Grey Cells. As the title implies, this has to do with Agatha Christie’s classic detective, Hercule Poirot. The academic author ties several of the novels and short stories together under the umbrella of how Christie used biblical imagery, metaphor, etc. in general. See this clip of dialog between Poirot and Hastins in “The Mystery of the Hunter’s Lodge” below:

“Well, Japp must do what he can—I have written him fully—but I very much fear, Hastings, that we shall be obliged to leave them to Fate, or le bon Dieu, whichever you prefer.” “
The wicked flourish like a green bay tree,” I reminded him.
“But at a price, Hastings, always at a price, croyez-moi!”

I was surprised to learn that Hastings is using a Biblical allusion there. (Psalm 37:35) The author’s point was that Christie’s work is full of bits like this and he spends 200 pages or so identifying some of them in his book.

One of his other points is that television adaptations tend to drop these allusions from the dialog seen on screen, assuming that the mainstream audience wouldn’t get even the most obvious ones. (Not even the story of the Prodigal Son? One of Christie’s favorites.)

Then I went and watched the Suchet adaptation of “Hunter’s Lodge” and realized how much extended padding they did for that particular episode in order to fill out the required 50 minutes of screen time. The differences there between the source material and the tv episode are quite significant.

So it's not an exciting thread post here, but it was the main source of this week's intellectual stimulation.

>48 jillmwo: My totally unqualified and unsubstantiated feeling is that biblical allusions were much more common in 19th and early twentieth century writing and literature in general. I've run across the "green bay tree" elsewhere (I think it was in Lark Rise to Candleford, perhaps?) I agree that it isn't surprising that they're removed when translated to television scripts.

>49 Marissa_Doyle: In that exchange between Hastings and Poirot, I recognized that Hastings was quoting from *somewhere*. I just had no idea from where. I was also surprised when the author tied "The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge" to a verse in Acts. (He's a trained theologian, of course. I'm just as clearly not.)

Like you, I wasn't surprised that the Biblical references got dropped from television; it's to be expected for any number of reasons. (If I may be forgiven a spoiler-hidden political reference: When one of the political election commercials referred to Kamala Harris as being a Jezebel, I figured there'd only be few sub-groups that would get the meaning beyond that of "wicked woman".).

But the book is really quite interesting as a social assessment of Christie's work.

>50 jillmwo: What the actual fuck? I realize that you live in a swing state, but that term in an advertisement seems like it would be unacceptable anywhere.

>48 jillmwo: >49 Marissa_Doyle: Wodehouse too. Bertie Wooster refers to the green bay tree too, although I can't recall the context. And I wonder if Christie is full of semi-quotations from Shakespeare, as Wodehouse is?

>50 jillmwo: >51 clamairy: What Clam said. That wouldn't be on in Australia, for sure.

>50 jillmwo: & >52 haydninvienna: I did some Googling and found out there are some seriously racist overtones to that word that I was completely ignorant about. I had merely been thinking of it in terms of my Catholic school education, and that was bad enough.

>48 jillmwo: >49 Marissa_Doyle: This is all kind of reminiscent of what C S Lewis said during his inaugural lecture as Professor of Mediaeval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge ("De descriptione temporum", available on line here). Such allusions and half-quotations were once (quite recently) part of the mental furniture of the Common Reader. I remember seeing somewhere a short analysis of the allusions in Wodehouse's works*: most commonly to the Bible, Shakespeare and classical mythology, but also Tennyson and dozens of others. Similarly with the works of Christie and Michael Innes and every other literate writer of popular fiction in the early 20th century. (Political speech too: Winston Churchill referring to "the crackling of thorns": the reference is to Ecclesiastes 7:6.) Now we need annotations. Perhaps another Great Change has happened. Or perhaps I'm just over-thinking this: Jill and Marissa, you wouldn't have had such an anglocentric education as I did, so your mental furniture would be different? Having said which, I had to look up "Jezebel" because I couldn't see what Kamala Harris had to do with anyone's hair. Of course I had confused Jezebel and Delilah. Well, it was early in the morning.

*Here's one, but I don't think it's the one I remember. Here's another, the title of which is itself an allusion. I now know that there's a downright cottage industry of Wodehouse annotation.

>53 clamairy: No racist overtones here that I know of, but I'm not going to google it. AFAIK there's no overt racism in Australian politics (as distinct from the covert racism in some of that parties' ideology).

>51 clamairy: I only saw it the one time and I can't recall in what context in terms of the particular television program -- whether as an actual part of their advertising or as a piece of content that was being commented on. Like you, I initially assumed that it was intended to be a reference to the unsuitability of a woman wielding political power and only after I googled some background, did I understand the additional subtext. I only saw it the one time, which is why I think I must have seen the thing in the context of a political analyst's commentary, but I truly can't recall the specifics. Only the sense of shock..

>52 haydninvienna: and >54 haydninvienna: There are indeed plenty of Shakespearean references to be found in Christie; offhand, I can clearly recall a reference to Othello in at least one or two of the short stories. Hamlet too in some context.

And with regard to the "green bay tree", I just didn't recognize the source. The precise wording shifts apparently according to the particular translation in use; bay may be replaced with either laurel or with native. In reading the Hunter's Lodge story itself (not a favorite of mine), I had only picked up on one of the three Biblical allusions noted by the scholar. Now I wonder how much else I've missed as I read Christie.

In my current reading of the Dorothy L. Sayers Lord Peter canon, I am also aware that a working knowledge of French was assumed, especially in British author's works. She rarely translates the French for her readers. I find the same thing in the Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes. Do they still teach French in English schools? Is that a Public School thing?

I was offered 1/2 a semester of French, 1/2 of Spanish, and I didn't go further with those. Same with German in another year. Glad I had them, but not much help in reading the language.

>57 MrsLee: I recall that my kids, when they were at school in England, took at least a year of each of French and German. The teaching was pretty ineffective though. I did two years of each of French and German in high school here in the late sixties, and some of it stuck. Australian schools today tend to concentrate on Asian languages though.

>57 MrsLee:
When I was at school in Belfast, French and Latin were compulsory subjects for the first five years. In first year you also had to select one additional language from the following list: German; Spanish; Irish; Greek. After first year you had the option of dropping the additional language to do art.

It would be my understanding that at least one modern language would be taught normally in British state schools.

You used the term “public schools”. It has a particular meaning in England and it is the opposite of what it means in the US. You are probably aware of that. I would suggest the British public schools, i.e. the private fee paying schools, teach modern languages as a matter of course.

I found my school language classes ineffective, probably because I had no opportunity to use the languages on a regular basis and felt no real motivation to learn them.

>57 MrsLee: We certainly had to learn a foreign language (usually French) when I was at (state) school, and study it to exam level (GCSE taken at age 16). I chose to take German in addition to French when it was offered. It is now no longer mandatory to study a foreign language past the age of 14, at least in state schools. I enjoyed learning languages and regret that I didn't opt to carry on with them at A level (exams taken at age 18).

>59 pgmcc: Yes, I know the public schools are what we call private. :) I was the same with Spanish, no real opportunity to use it because the "Spanish" here isn't much like formal Spanish spoken in Spain. I have learned more from the little Latin lessons my husband has given me because they at least help me get the sense of a lot of words.

>60 Sakerfalcon: Makes sense because you are so close to those countries.

>57 MrsLee: Here we had English and Afrikaans in all grades; I went to a private school and had Latin from Standard 5 (7th grade), better half didn't. I briefly had German as an extra, which was almost totally useless. One of the university requirements for B.Sc.Hons. (confusingly, an extra year between B. and M.) was a course in French, German or Russian; only German fitted my timetable, but the teaching was even more useless than at school. I learned to speak the language by spending a week in Berlin, where it was "speak it or starve" -- not a bad way of learning!

>62 hfglen:
My first two years at secondary school involved two months off school with various illnesses. As I had not studied languages before I found missing two months of classes in these subjects, subjects I had not emotional attachment to, resulted in my not grasping a lot of the basics and I never recovered ground in French or Latin while at school. I actually passed my Spanish exams in first year but dropped the subject at the end of that year.

In the 1990s I started doing work with a German owned company. The management in the Irish plant had a lot of interaction with their German colleagues and a lot of German was spoken. I found I picked it up quite easily.

My secret missions trips to France have given me plenty of opportunity to pick up the language and so I can now have reasonable conversations and interactions in French. I can even book restaurants by phone and not end up with a table for seven at two instead of a table for two at seven.

I find it interesting the diversity of experiences in acquiring a new language. After 4 years of Spanish in high school and two years of Spanish in college, one of my final assignments was to write a term paper on art and architecture in Moorish Spain. I managed a passing grade (not sure how), but was totally aware of my lack of fluency, most particularly in using appropriate grammar.

My son and his wife visited Spain for two or three weeks (post pandemic) and he drew heavily on Babel as a learning experience. Insofar as I can tell, they managed their food, hotel and transport/ tour needs adequately. He has done his best to continue with Babel.

Of course, in the late '80's and '90's, there was a lot of emphasis on acquiring skills in languages like Chinese and Japanese for business purposes. And >58 haydninvienna: I'm impressed to learn that Australia has adapted that very sensible approach.

Most of my foreign language skills would only be considered as dabbling.. I can count to 20 in Thai, greet someone politely and ask the price of something in that language. In Dutch, I can say please and thank you and order a bottle of water. I can say please and thank you in German.

>64 jillmwo: My three elder offspring, all of whom did some or all of their schooling in Australia, all took a year of Indonesian but it didn't stick. Eldest took Japanese and it did stick. He subsequently lived for a year in Japan, has done Japanese at university level and last I heard was taking Russian.

Speaking of things we assume the wider population will recognize, I'm wondering about the phrase "creative non-fiction". I am reading about and researching an incident of book banning of the title, Colonization and the Wampanoag Story. Part of the problem appears to be that the Library of Congress classified this as historical non-fiction while some local citizens (in a very, VERY red state) feel it should have been categorized and shelved as fiction. This strikes me as one of those instances where everyone is tripping over everyone else's vocabulary.

Having listened to some of the audiobook preview on YouTube, I can kind of see why the local citizens are taken aback by the label. But I have to wait until the book arrives to see just how far off base the situation is. The book apparently is written and targeted to the middle-school years (7th-9th, so roughly 13 year-olds - 15 year-olds.).

We are asked to choose between playing ThingTrivia or doing the Halloween Hunt. I am torn. (My percentages in ThingTrivia are not as high as either those of tardis or haydninvienna. Both of them appear to be on the leader board.)

>67 jillmwo: Hmm, what's ThingTrivia? I started the Hunt, but having little success so far.

>68 Karlstar: it's this:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/364786

>68 Karlstar: Give the ThingTrivia a spin. (And thank you, >69 reconditereader: for responding so quickly) I do well when identifying books from my own collection, but not as well in the category of popular books.

And I'm nowhere on the Halloween Treasure Hunt. The brain didn't light up on any of the clues.

>67 jillmwo: My percentages in ThingTrivia are not as high as either those of tardis or haydninvienna... TBF, I stuck to my own books. But it doesn't and of course cannot take into account how many of your own books you haven't read, or read so long ago that you've forgotten the details.

>70 jillmwo: On the treasure hunt, I was sweating just to get two clues correct. There were a couple of others I thought I knew, but guess I didn't get the right page.

The trivia is somewhat random for me. Can't believe I muffed a quote from The Hobbit!

>71 haydninvienna: I stuck to my own books, too, and apparently I have too much time on my hands :)

>69 reconditereader: >70 jillmwo: >71 haydninvienna: Oh boy, thanks for the link. That's addictive! So far you folks are doing much better than I am.

>72 MrsLee:. Oh, the number I've gotten wrong, trying to identify a quote about Jane Austen! You're not alone.

>71 haydninvienna:. Yes, that too is an element that is tripping me up. (The books I read years and years back but have since passed on to others...and some of them I ought to have deleted from LT. My catalog is a bit of a mess.)

>73 tardis: and >74 Karlstar:. Not at all. You're giving your brain something new to do with itself. (And probably sensing on a few days that memory can be sadly unreliable.)

>75 jillmwo: There's no way I'm going to remember all of these quotes or epigraphs, but I'm starting to get a feel for what authors match the style. It is super tough when they want me to choose between 3 different Wheel of Time books to match a not particularly significant quote.

>75 jillmwo: Just read this quote in The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club. Thought it fit our moaning about memories of what we read (>76 Karlstar: Yes, or choose between 4 Harry Potter books which I read once 20 or more years ago).

"Books, you know Charles, are like lobster shells. We surround ourselves with 'em, and then we grow out of 'em and leave 'em behind, as evidences of our earlier stages of development."

>77 MrsLee: I'd be picking randomly at that one.

>77 MrsLee:
In my case they would be more like the shell of a hermit crab as I bring them all with me.

>77 MrsLee: Brilliant quote. And to follow up on pgmcc, I suspect that I am a deeply muddied pool with mixed layers of silt dropped to the bottom. A certain amount of dredging would be necessary to clear the water.

More on the virtue of re-reading books (good or bad). I realize how little I sometimes absorbed in past years when reading purely for entertainment. Now that I have time to revisit material originally read anywhere between five and fifteen years ago, I am picking up on aspects, elements, details that I never caught before. Re-reading is important, even if you are reading ordinary (and perhaps rather simple) fiction.

Reading God and the Little Grey Cells has taken a surprising length of time, primarily because I’ve restricted myself to not reading more than two chapters from it each day. The rest of the day’s reading time is spent re-visiting some of the Christie short stories and novels that are discussed by the author. A particularly positive part of his approach has been that he spends a decent amount of time on specific screen adaptations of Poirot materials, recognizing that a lot of people meet Christie initially these days via film or television.

I've also been reading (for either the first but -- possibly -- the second time) Murder in the Cathedral. It's beautiful and moving language, but ultimately not very cheering in outlook. We move in a cycle.

Will my outlook on life and the world brighten up if I have another cup of coffee?

>81 jillmwo: I don't think you will find much cheerful reading if you are reading about the kings of England and their times. Modern politics may smell bad, but they have nothing on those times. Perhaps delving into the Cadfael series by Ellis Peters wouldn't be too bad. She did manage to show the depths of evil without focusing on it. She focused on the ways to resist it.

I can never hear the title, Murder in the Cathedral, without seeing Peter O'Toole's face as Becket, but that part was Richard Burton's. Memory does weird things. It's been too long since I read the play to remember details, but I remember enjoying it and going off to learn more of the history after reading it.

Interesting (to me) fact. While looking into the family history, I found that one of my ancestors had a holding on the land (I don't know proper English terms; he owned the land, as in it could be handed down to his sons, but was under control of someone higher up the ladder) of one of the men who killed Thomas Becket. That land was forfeited from that man and given to the Prince of Wales who still claims it. My ancestors at that time moved to another holding nearby, well, the father did. His son stayed put. If I were clever, I would make that into a story, and I might yet, but I'm not very interested in all the research it would take to get the details right. Lazy is my middle name.

>81 jillmwo: I agree on re-reading, if the book was at least decent on the first reading, I pick up things I missed the second time around.

A nice Sunday morning read from The Scotsman: https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/oxford-university-state-school-...

Key Quote:

"The biggest trick to reading a long novel is wanting to read it. To feel that desire, you need time and space. You also need to feel that, even if the language is unfamiliar, that novel is speaking to you."

>84 jillmwo: A wonderful quote!

An Op-Ed regarding the reclassification of the Colonization and the Wampanoag Story as fiction by a single county in a very RED state: https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/texas-library-censorship-wampanoag-r...

>84 jillmwo:
I enjoyed the article. I do not feel so bad about taking extended periods to read a book. It means I am reading if properly.

:-)

Winners of the 2024 World Fantasy Awards have been announced: https://locusmag.com/2024/10/2024-world-fantasy-awards-winners/

>88 jillmwo: How did I not know this was right down the road from me in Niagara Falls? Ugh!

>89 Karlstar: How many of the titles had you been aware of and/or read?

On another topic, over on pgmcc's thread, the topic of Kenny's Bookshop in Galway had come up. Lo and behold, look what surfaced in my tweet stream this afternoon: https://www.rte.ie/news/connacht/2024/1021/1476517-kennys-bookshop/

>90 jillmwo:
Ha! Ha!
I just sent that to you thinking it would news to you. Great article. It should reassure you about Kenny’s continued existence.

I am glad for every bit of reassurance pgmcc! We need to keep the flow of international trade going! Meanwhile, my retirement is sinking into a routine of reading, writing, and thinking what to do about meals. (There was a nice pot roast last week...)

>92 jillmwo:
I am glad your retirement has established some sound structure.

>92 jillmwo: Good for you. I hope you're getting some fresh air, too. It has been a lovely Fall.

Folks, breakfast is important. https://lithub.com/how-the-british-monarchy-made-breakfast-the-most-important-me...

Factoid of the day:

Victoria’s son, Edward VII, was a magnificent eater, one of history’s great trenchermen. As Sidney Lee, one of his many biographers, pointed out with admirable understatement, the King “never toyed with his food.” Yet at breakfast, he was unusually restrained. “The King was no breakfast eater,” wrote Sir Frederick “Fritz” Ponsonby, his equerry and assistant private secretary, “having only a cup of coffee and a bit of toast.” The exception was made on shooting and racing days.

For those of you wondering if I've done any reading at all recently, the truth is that I have been indulging myself by thinking long and hard about three things:

(1) The Second Gong, a short story by Agatha Christie from 1932
(2) Dead Man's Mirror, a novella by Agatha Christie, based on (1). It appeared as one of four tales in Murder in the Mews.
(3) The television adaptation of (2) for an episode of the David Suchet Poirot series (Season 5, Episode 7). The script was done by Anthony Horowitz so even 30 years ago, one assumes he had a sense of what he was doing.

I am not sure that this is of value to anyone else in the Pub but it has entertained me -- thinking about what changes (whodunnit, whydunnit, or howdunnit) may be introduced to a tale in order to improve it or present it to a new audience. Sometimes the changes make sense and other times the changes seem inexplicable. Yesterday I was scribbling notes on the back of an envelope as I ate breakfast and last night, I was sitting up in bed and taking notes as I watched the episode via one of the streaming services.

My brain has been given over to lit crit which is interesting and mentally stimulating but not something about which there's a lot of interest from a mainstream audience. (I could write it up, but I'm not sure whether there's an appropriate outlet. Based on other reading, I did discover that there's a thriving academic community currently working on Agatha Christie studies.)

>95 jillmwo: Fascinating. And that baked eggs recipe looks very tempting.

>96 jillmwo: Interesting. Is that academic community primarily in Great Britain?

>90 jillmwo: None, but I missed an opportunity to get more familiar with new authors. I keep saying I'll catch up someday, but I'm still catching up on older books I missed.

>98 Karlstar: I agree that one wants to become familiar with emerging talent but I also wonder sometimes how much I would enjoy reading these new award winning authors. As an example, the winning novel was a book entitled The Reformatory which sounds so grim in its marketing blurb that I can't imagine reading it for purposes of entertainment. It's set in Jim Crow Florida; even with lyrical prose, I suspect it would be a tough one.

>97 clamairy: I wouldn't say it is primarily in the UK. I was surprised to find the degree of interest in academic circles, primarily because I was under the impression that Christie was entirely out of favor with younger readers. Her social outlook is too conservative. Poirot's vanity is obnoxious and, to their way of thinking, Miss Marple never DOES anything -- just sits and knits. But there are a number of new academic titles out about Christie's work. (I wondered briefly if the Christie estate fuels any of these academic studies. But probably not.)

>99 jillmwo: Wait, I was wrong, Witch King was on the list and I read that. It wasn't terrible. Just like any other decade, I find some new authors appeal to me, some don't.

Perhaps Not A Scathingly Brilliant Observation. Over breakfast this morning, I was mulling the difference between Poirot and Marple. Poirot seems to always be the individual covering a great deal of ground in order to solve the present problem whereas Miss Marple simply listens and then serves as the voice of Wisdom speaking from experience. This to me is why Christie might well grow tired of writing Poirot stories. He's always got to appear to be superior and to be the authority figure. "There, there. Tell Papa Poirot and he will make the confusion to dissolve". Conversely, Miss Marple sits quietly, paying attention, and then generally, tactfully, explains a particular human action or attitude. You know, this reminds me of...That type of thing always causes talk but... She's not necessarily going to solve your problem, just share with you what she knows to be true.

The thing is that Marple at the end of Pocket Full of Rye is more the frightening figure of Nemesis than in any other book Christie wrote, with the possible exception of Then There Were None. I don't think Poirot ever reaches that same peak. (Although I might need to revisit Murder on the Orient Express briefly to be sure.)

I should return to the 21st century for my next thing. I'd started a Fred Vargas a while back and I think it would be wise to pick it up again. She writes convincing if somewhat off-beat people.

Just putting this here so I can find it again: https://www.collectingchristie.com/post/discovered-christie-plays-shubert-archiv...

>101 jillmwo:
...if somewhat off-beat people.

My favourite type of people.

Yesterday afternoon one of the book groups discussed Tigana. I wasn’t surprised at the reactions from two other members. They read it, they thought it was immersive and interesting, but they didn’t really think they’d seek out other books by Kay. This, despite points made during the discussion about how Tigana touched on the erasure of more than a set of geographical boundaries and physical cities, that the erasure was intended to be a cultural erasure as well. (A relevant topic for them.) One woman noted how Dianora's story had parallels with the story of Esther in the Old Testament (something I’d not picked up on but can see). We talked about the significance of the Ember Days in the context of both Christian as well as Pagan practice. They acknowledged that there was an interesting thematic discussion of communal knowledge and memory. They liked the rusalka. But they weren’t particularly taken overall by Kay’s portrayal of women. In this novel, they objected to Dianora being so in love with Brandin that she failed in her mission to kill him. (We did touch briefly on the limitations of using revenge as a driver of behavior in books like this. Dianora as Hamlet, that kind of thing...) They objected to the woman who fell in love far too quickly with a youthful Baerd in the night of the Ember Day Battle. The presentation of woman characters was in keeping with the historical setting perhaps, but otherwise did not resonate with these readers.

This brought us to a discussion of male fantasy writers who did appeal to female readers. We agreed that Brandon Sanderson had a far greater appeal for that audience.

My question to the group in the Pub – Any authors of full-length fantasy novels spring to mind for feminist readers? They’re price sensitive so not really open to front list authors. Looking for oldies but goodies, here. That said, note that any recommendations of male authors need to be --how shall I put it-- be cognizant of the strength and power of female human beings. Not looking for love-sick sex kittens or marble statues come to life (as in the myth of Pygmalion).

Edited to note that they also don't like bloody gore and lengthy accounts of battle.

Caroline Stevermer. I adore her A College of Magics (and its follow-up, A Scholar of Magics.) Historical fantasy set in an alternate early 20th century. And pretty much everything by Sherwood Smith, who mostly writes fantasy settings.

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey fits the bill, or maybe Upright Women Wanted.

Also, The Sword and the Lion by Roberta Clay.

Emerald House Rising by Peg Kerr is a favorite of mine. I also quite enjoy Kate Elliott's Spiritwalker trilogy, starting with Cold Magic.

Would the works of Patricia McKillip fit the bill? IIRC The Forgotten Beasts of Eld and Alphabet of Thorn both have pretty bright female protagonists and are beautifully written.

>105 Marissa_Doyle: >106 reconditereader: >107 hfglen:. These are wonderful suggestions and I'm very grateful. Thank you. I'll begin investigations before the next round of reading (The group alternates mysteries one month and fantasy the next. We'd cheated a bit and made Tigana's 600 pages last a full two months.) But we'll be wanting something to read for December (although we generally manage to make a gift exchange cover a title selection for the following year).

>104 jillmwo: Does it have to be Fantasy? If an older Science Fiction novel might be acceptable, in The Demon Breed, James H. Schmitz wrote a story (in 1968!) featuring a strong, independent female protagonist that deals with an alien invasion of her human-colonized water world.

More info from Wikipedia

I know a number of folks here have read Lois McMaster Bujold in the last few years, including the group read, maybe she is a good example?

>109 ScoLgo: and >110 Karlstar: Both good possibilities and I'm taking note.

It’s the end of October so I need to begin thinking about this year's selections for “Best Of” since I’ll be asked by the Scholarly Kitchen to have my blurb in well before Thanksgiving. At the same time, I was taken by pgmcc and his categorization exercise when he looked at where the bulk of his reading recommendations were coming from. I’m going to do something a little bit different. Picking a single “best of” or even the top five “best of” is hard. I feel it would be more illuminating if I develop a variety of “best books read in 2024, —--” set of categories. Thus far I’ve come up with:

Best Female Mystery Writer (Now Dead)
Best Male Mystery Writer (Now Dead)
Best Book(s) Read in 2024 Pertaining to the Theater
Best Book(s) Read, Gothic Literature
Best Book Read, Classic Literature
Best Use of Humor in Fiction Read During 2024
Best Non-Fiction Read in 2024 and Not Discussed in Book Groups or in Green Dragon
Best Reference Work Consulted in 2024 Pertaining to Single Area of Research

I’m sure more will occur to me. How does this sound to you?

If you're looking for something new to read, these folks have ideas and an extended list: https://reactormag.com/the-most-iconic-speculative-fiction-books-of-the-21st-cen...

>113 jillmwo: That's certainly a lot of new stuff!

>114 Karlstar: , this is >113 jillmwo:'s use of a gatling-gun to spread book bullets at high speed. She is up to all the tricks.

:-)

>113 jillmwo:, >114 Karlstar: & >115 pgmcc: I am afraid to look.

>114 Karlstar:.>115 pgmcc:. >116 clamairy:. I'm simply sharing from my own BOUNTY of discovery just as any good librarian would do. Think of it as me expanding your horizons. ;>)

>113 jillmwo: Some good lists there! I've read most of the translated books but have some catching up to do on anthologies and graphic novels!

When all else fails and stress levels are rising, at this time of year, it may help to read poetry. I keep returning to Murder in the Cathedral this past week or two:

Since golden October declined into sombre November
And the apples were gathered and stored,
and the land became brown sharp points of death in a waste of water and mud,
The New Year waits, breathes, waits, whispers in darkness.
While the labourer kicks off a muddy boot
and stretches his hand to the fire,
The New Year waits, destiny waits for the coming

And as T.S. Eliot noted, most of the population is simply trying to keep it together:

But mostly we are left to our own devices,
And we are content if we are left alone.
We try to keep our households in order;
The merchant, shy and cautious, tries to compile
a little fortune,
And the labourer bends to his piece of earth, earth
-colour, his own colour,
Preferring to pass unobserved.
Now I fear disturbance of the quiet seasons:

There may be something dreadful yet before us:

Numb the hand and dry the eyelid,
Still the horror, but more horror
Than when tearing in the belly.

Still the horror, but more horror
Than when twisting in the fingers,
Than when splitting in the skull.

More than footfall in the passage,
More than shadow in the doorway,
More than fury in the hall.

And maybe at some point next week, this week's unease will recede:

The agents of hell disappear, the human, they shrink and dissolve Into dust on the wind,

Do I need to apologize to Eliot for pulling things out of context or am I honestly picking up the vibe? Murder in the Cathedral is marvelous poetry and I do recommend it (despite any experience one may have had in high school or college...)

>119 jillmwo: That's a BB of sorts — despite my opinion of Eliot's later poetry I've never read any of his dramas, so library hold placed for Murder in the Cathedral.

And if you were referring to what I think you were referring to with the last quotation, that was very sly and I totally agree with you.

>120 haydninvienna: I think the last quotation expresses a fervent hope. I want so much to feel as if things are kind of normal.

Sometimes I look at a collection of short stories and wonder how such print copies can make money. I was looking at a set of short stories by Agatha Christie and suddenly saw that at least three of the eleven stories had been adapted for the screen. (1) Witness for the Prosecution as a movie in 1947 as well as a 2016 television mini-series (2) Philomel Cottage as a 1947 movie entitled Love From a Stranger and (3) "The Second Gong" adapted as an episode for the Poirot series with David Suchet. This is the kind of packaging that allows a book to be used in the classroom -- such as a course on screenwriting or other film study courses. All the while supporting the Christie family fortunes.

Publishers can be crafty little buggers.

On an unrelated note, read the story of how and why Bill Nighy stole a set of Shakespeare before an audition and how it went a bit "off". From The Guardian so no account required: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/nov/02/bill-nighy-stole-works-shakespeare-...

May I just offer a thought w/r/t playing TriviaThing? When in doubt the answer is likely as not going to be Jude The Obscure and because I have never read it, I always get it wrong....

Frankly speaking, I don't think this discovery is apt to drive me to read it.

Edited to point out as well that Mordor is not a place that appears in Agatha Christie's book And Then There Were None.

>123 jillmwo: Both hints are duly noted

As a means of distraction, I’m going to do a quick review of a book that I had pre-ordered way back in January of this year. The author, Mark Aldridge, has a PhD. and is a particular expert in the realm of Agatha Christie studies. The book’s production was held up because of challenges in obtaining permissions to use photos of film stills, posters and book covers. (As an interesting indicator of sorts, the Kindle edition in the US has remarkably few of the illustrations provided in the print product.) Agatha Christie Marple: Expert on Wickedness came out in the UK before it came out here. Oddly, the physical dust jacket doesn’t display the possessive form of her name, but only in the metadata associated with the title.

Aldridge’s previous successful trade publication was one on Poirot, specifically Agatha Christie’s Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World. He had a worthy academic title that came out in 2015, Agatha Christie on Screen.

As trade publications, his books aren’t bad. They are useful in laying out the chronological and cultural process of moving a successful fictional character from print to one absorbed via radio, film and television. There are the usual tensions between the imagined character in the mind of the creator and the process that licensors drive when transferring the character to a marketable property for a larger mainstream audience. Aldridge is not above making arch comments about the actresses who appeared in the various adaptations, which sometimes makes the prose rather gossipy in tone.

Still, this is a useful book to hang on to. (Honestly, Margaret Rutherford has a far greater presence in discussions of Miss Marple than one might ever have thought.) Consider it as a gift for the mystery aficionado in the forthcoming holiday season.

The Importance of Being Poirot

This book is a work of history in brief. It covers the events and cultural shifts felt in England over the course of Agatha Christie’s life as a published author. Historian Jeremy Black picks up immediately post-World-War-I and sets out some of the defining political aspects of the 1920s. He does not close out until the mid-seventies and Christie’s death. It’s clear from his prose that he has some familiarity with various other writers of detective stories, but he indicates early on that his knowledge base is far more shallow than that of someone like Martin Edwards. Black is however entirely familiar with Christie’s body of work.

His narrative is fairly readable (although there were references that I, as an American, did not recognize). The text is less than 200 pages in length and there’s not as much as one might expect in terms of supplementary materials. (A bibliography would have been nice.)

Black has done other short books like this, one having to do with England In The Age of Austen and another dealing with Dickens. I’ve found this one to be of particular interest and use at the moment, I was less enamored of his examination of Austen.

Spouse and I wrangling over the use of automation in modern life. In this instance, we were identifying the imperfections encountered when dictating text to a Google document. He was outraged that it didn't recognize the word "ineluctable" when he was reading aloud a paragraph from one of his favorite Stephen J. Gould books. I then sat with my Chromebook unevenly positioned on my lap (no headset) and used the word in a sentence. The machine got the correct spelling in the first instance.

Occasionally you have to look at your partner in life and point out to them the error of their thinking. (Note: To be fair, he did work in broadcasting and he does pride himself on his ability to read well aloud.)

>127 jillmwo: Too funny. I have a love-hate relationship with dictating text to my phone. Most of the time it works perfectly, but oh boy when it doesn't...

Thank heaven for light-hearted epistolary novels. I am currently reading Business as Usual, published by Handheld Press, Ltd. in the UK. It's lively and it's funny -- cheerful! Try to get a copy of it from them as quickly as possible. They'll only be able to fulfill orders through Feb of 2025 and then they're closing their doors. This saddens me. It's a specialized press owned and operated by women for women, not unlike Persephone Press (but without the lovely bookmarks). I love the kind of thing they've brought forward. (Latchkey Ladies is another one from them, but it's not a light-hearted read. Still worth your while.)

>128 clamairy: I had shown him the original dictation test I ran on Google back in 2018. He pointed out that the system was (and remains) unable to include punctuation of any sort. No period at end of sentences, as an example. It isn't really artificial intelligence at all, just voice-to-text capability. He doesn't believe that the tool is worth the time; a human being might as well do it from the get-go. I did point out that once you got the text into the system, it would help out with certain errors (such as when you need an apostrophe and when you don't).

A good portion of my married life has consisted of extended, heart-felt disputes over this kind of minutiae. Sometimes I see my offspring rolling their eyes and am forced to agree with their assessment of their otherwise decent parents.

>130 jillmwo: Oh, I beg to differ. I dictated this whole thing and there is plenty of punctuation! You just have to say what you want where.

Arguing about minutiae can be very entertaining, BTW.

>131 clamairy: As unreasonable as it sounds, he wants the system to be able to tell from syntax and intonation the appropriate punctuation. If his voice goes up (as it will when someone asks a question), he thinks the system ought to be able to process that and add in the question mark. I know it doesn't work that way and it will probably take a while yet (5-8 years or thereabouts) before it does. But he won't advocate usage in the context of reporting or writing or whatever until the system can do it for him.

Nearly half-way through Business as Usual and I'm half out of breath from all the snorting and giggling. It's a quick read, but it's hitting all the right notes as a mood-lifter. (Yes, some of the descriptions of London in 1933 are distinctly sobering, but our heroine, Hilary, is doing her best to succeed in the work environment without complaining.) This is very much the same mood and tone as Diary of a Provincial Lady except that Hilary is less of a nitwit than E.M. Delafield's housewife. Some really good lines in this.

Business As Usual by Jane Oliver -- Just go get your hands on it. It's lovely, charming and quite humorous in tone. Hilary Fane, the daughter of two upper middle-class scholars, leaves university in Edinburgh and goes to 1933 London in order to occupy herself during the year she must wait before marrying her stuffy fiancee. Finding the job is a little bit of a challenge since no one seems to want to hire a young University woman to sell corsets. She finds a position in a department store (think Harrods or Selfridges) and must learn the ropes of retail success as well as how to navigate and manage a variety of relationships (public as well as private). There's a nice, happy ending to all of the ups and downs.

It's a lovely book and Handheld Press has done well with it. My paperback edition has an excellent introduction and, although I didn't notice it immediately, a very useful set of annotations explaining the bits of daily life at the time that the modern reader wouldn't be recognize. Hilary ends up working in the book department so we find out how the circulating libraries and early Book-of-the-Month club stuff worked in terms of detail.

Sometimes I read books like this just for the social history. The story may not be particularly well done and the prose pedestrian, but the reader comes away with a better sense of the period. Business As Usual is much, much better than that. There's humor and social commentary and a general belief in the basic goodness of people. You might have to work some unpleasant souls in real life, just as Hilary does, but they're not the deeply troubled individuals who are best served by months and months of therapy. They're just grumpy from the hustle and bustle of ordinary working life. I also happen to enjoy stories told via letters, memos, etc. so that aspect of the book was a plus.

Do get a copy of this before HandHeld shuts down in early 2025. It was such a comforting read.

Came across a page of notes that I had made while reading Edith Holler and realized what I'd left out of my earlier comments about the book. In part, the theme of that novel had to do with the negative aspect of theater supported by corporate sponsors. If you want to maximize the profitability of the theatre, then you have to put on or tell stories that have a certain appeal to the broadest possible audience. But that kills some of the magic (and some of the truth) of the stories told. Edith Holler has some dark elements that some portion of the audience would find unappealing. (I mean, no one really wants to think about the Black Plague years in Norwich with mass graves, etc., do they?) Do we choose then to eradicate those dark stories from theater because corporate sponsors like Disney are much more concerned with bringing in big audiences in order to make back their investment? Do we only put on the "happy" formulaic stories that send folks home feeling comfortable? (My husband groaned at a Hallmark Channel commercial the other evening because all the stories in their movies were so clearly formulaic. They don't do movies outside of their little happy holiday romance at Christmas thing. I don't disagree with him there, but it's the formula that makes harrassed women somehow feel better during the holidays (right or wrong).)

At any rate, there is that whisper of commentary found in Edith Holler that emphasizes the value of live theater and the importance of telling slighly uncomfortable "unsanitized" tales. It's another reason why it's one of my top reads in 2024.

One of the good bits from The Seventh Bride

Half her mind gibbered about the floor—everyone knew to expect little touches of magic in their lives, but the world was not a place where the floor just fell away and then came back two minutes later—and the other half had smelled bacon and was ravenously hungry and felt the floor could wait.

Because that is kind of how I've been weathering real life this week. I think I need to do what Clam suggested and get outside into the fresh air, thereby keeping myself from impulsively investing in some bad fashion options. (My initial sense was that the sequined covered blazer in a black-watch plaid would be a tad more sedate than the red tartan version.)

>136 jillmwo:
But was there a green sequenced option?

>136 jillmwo: That bit was quite funny. Do you think this book deserves its own discussion thread? It's a bit short, but some of the imagery was striking. The wife who's lost her 'voice' especially.

Don't you have an old blazer around you can throw a few sequins on, and save that money for books> ;o)

>136 jillmwo: A wonderful quote!

>138 clamairy: I liked the imagery in Seventh Bride a lot: the floor, the wife who lost her voice, the demons on the white road, the clock wife asleep in the glacier...

>138 clamairy: Yes, I think it might well support a discussion thread. It's a bit scary at this point for my bedtime reading (even with a hedgehog for support), but there is clearly food for thoughtful exchange. If I can unearth my Angela Carter book, it might be interesting to contrast the two treatments of the Bluebeard legend. I think the book was actually published under her other surname of Vernon back in 2014.

You know you and >139 Alexandra_book_life: are the only people I know who find such a character that is, a voiceless woman with a thong-stitched throat to be a fictional asset. I mean, I suppose you two don't get as much from a nice, friendly laundress like Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle? (Intended as humor, of course.) There's another point of litcrit discussion for the thread - comparisons of hedgehogs as rendered by female writers.

>140 jillmwo: I didn't say it was a pleasant image, but it was certainly striking. In fact it's really stuck with me. I will try to start that thread soon.

Ha, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle...

>141 clamairy: Absolutely, the character you referenced is memorable. But thus far (and I'm not quite through the first half just yet), there have been a number of secondary characters that will stick with one. Consider the test involving the thirsty scarecrow for one.

One side thought: I had thought this particular work was a novella and it seems much longer than that. The number of chapters caught me off guard.

>142 jillmwo: Yes, that bit was rough going. Length wise it's 237 pages, but they are packed.

>141 clamairy: Striking is a good word!

Whenever I meet a Mrs Tiggy-Winkle, I am very nice to her :)))

>142 jillmwo: The scarecrow chapter was one of the darkest and most memorable in the book...

>129 jillmwo: I'm really sad to hear that news about Handheld Press. I have several of their books and have been really impressed by their selections and the physical quality of the books.

>146 Sakerfalcon: I KNOW. It's an absolute shame and I share your sadness; I only just found out about them within the past two months. Had I known of their existence before, I would certainly have been checking on them frequently (the same way that I check on Persephone) to see what they had on offer. And yes, the physical product was excellent!

Just finished The Seventh Bride. Feel a bit winded. Holy cr*p. I have thoughts.

>148 jillmwo: I started that discussion thread!

I am looking at my reading spreadsheet statistics thus far this year. Things are looking better (at least from my perspective). I've read more recently released stuff, discovered a few new authors, and I'm definitely going to spend time in my upcoming November-December thread by handing out awards for Year's Best of.

New thread now imminent. However books currently on order appear to be moving incredibly slowly through great oceans of molasses. I suspect Amazon is also shifting its priorities in terms of distribution/delivery. They're not holding nearly as much print product in their internal warehousing. (Maybe it's a write-off for tax purposes or something.)

Must root about in all the existing book piles for old/new stuff to read.

>150 jillmwo: Congrats! Have you been keeping up the 'reading dates' fields here in LT so your year in review will be accurate?

>151 Karlstar: I have to some extent been keeping up. I need to go back and see whether I filled in everything with all of the first quarter stuff. (And I turned in my little blurb for the "Best Of..." group post for the Scholarly Kitchen at some point during this past week or so.)

The problem with doing "Best Of" posts is that it becomes of one of those embarassing click-bait things -- "10 Classics Everyone Should Read" or "Fifteen Mysteries You Should Be Dying to Read", etc. Those kinds of lists are a bit off-putting in some ways. Just because I read Books Promiscuously Read and felt it resonated deeply with me doesn't mean that it will hit others in quite the same way. (I don't, for example, think my husband would find it particularly earth-shaking.) I was flipping through it again this morning and looking at my highlighted passages. For me, it will definitely be one of the top reads this year, but the writing is such that other readers might take a stab at it and then give a massive eye-roll. People might trust me on Edith Holler because they love stories about the theater, but then go ugh when it comes to the whole insect/beetle element. (One friend IRL did exactly that. She knew I wouldn't recommend something to her that was just out-and-out bad, but she really couldn't handle the creepiness.)

One of the best things that LT offers is the chance to connect with those who do share one's tastes. It's also nice to engage with people who actually do spend time reading. (One of the comments made by the author in Books Promiscuously Read is that while reading as an activity is good, it is not actually a virtue. There are bad people committing awful deeds of various sorts who do read books. FWIW, of course, I do trust all of you here in the Pub.)

>152 jillmwo:
And everyone here fears trusts you.

ETA: Link to post by jillmwo in the weekend thread.
https://www.librarything.com/topic/365490#8669456

>150 jillmwo: I'm glad your reading year has been a success.

>151 Karlstar: I have never even attempted that. Does that make me a slacker?

>153 pgmcc: Oh, I already noticed that post. It goes hand in hand with that Facebook post that I tagged Jill in the other day. :o)

Oh, look! https://reactormag.com/on-selecting-the-top-ten-genre-books-of-the-first-quarter...

A great (several sets of relatively short lists divided by length and age appeal) of new stuff to read! Maybe these will give you great gift ideas for your loved ones. Jo Walton apparently drew up the various assortments.

>152 jillmwo: I'm going to disagree a bit. I think reading is a virtue. However, not all readers are virtuous.

>154 clamairy: Not at all! I started entering the reading dates last year to make my 'end of year review' accurate.

>155 jillmwo: Thank you for this. Several of the books on those lists I own and haven't read yet. I was very happy to see Victoria Goddard on there!

>156 Karlstar: I may be doing the author a disservice. I will revisit.

I am also now starting up a new thread to carry me through to New Year's Eve.