PAUL C in the War Room - XVIII : On the Trail of Cochise

The Apache Wars effectively started in 1849 with the arrest and subsequent escape of the great Cochise (wrongly accused of kidnapping a white boy) and ended by the surrender of Geronimo in 1886.

The Opening Words

In the next few days I will start, for the BAC, The Buddha of Suburbia which brought the talented Hanif Kureishi to prominence.



My name is Karim Amir, and I am an Englishman born and bred, almost. I am often considered a funny kind of Englishman, a new breed as it were, having emerged from two old histories. But I don't care - Englishman I am (though not proud of it) from the South London suburbs and going somewhere. Perhaps it is the odd mixture of continents and blood, of here and there, of belonging and not, that makes me restless and easily bored."

Interested...............................?

Books Read January to June

January

1. Dear Future Boyfriend by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz (2000) 90 pp Poetry / 150Y Challenge 15/150
2. Pax Romana by Adrian Goldsworthy (2016) 420 pp Non-Fiction / War Room / 150Y Challenge 16/150
3. The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff (1959) 306 pp Fiction / War Room / 150Y Challenge 17/150
4. Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken (1964) 286 pp Fiction / BAC / 150Y Challenge 18/150
5. Carthage Must Be Destroyed by Richard Miles (2010) 373 pp Non-Fiction / War Room / 150Y Challenge 19/150
6. When We Were Warriors by Emma Carroll (2019) 248 pp Fiction / War Room / 150y Challenge 20/150
7. Double Indemnity by James M Cain (1936) 136 pp Thriller / 150Y Challenge 21/150
8. Persian Fire by Tom Holland (2005) 376 pp Non-Fiction / War Room / 150Y Challenge 22/150

February

9. North Woods by Daniel Mason (2023) 369 pp Fiction 150Y Challenge 23/150
10. The African by JMG Le Clezio (2004) 106 pp Non-Fiction / 150Y Challenge 24/150
11. The British are Coming by Rick Atkinson (2019) 564 pp Non-Fiction / War Room
12. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather (1927) 297 pp Fiction 150Y Challenge 25/150
13. Redcoat by Bernard Cornwell (1987) 405 pp Fiction / War Room / 150Y Challenge 26/150

March

14. Fatal Colours by George Goodwin (2011) 239 pp Non-Fiction / War Room / 150Y Challenge 27/150
15. R.S. Thomas : Selected Poems by R.S. Thomas (2003) 343 pp Poetry / BAC / 150Y Challenge 28/150
16. The Maiden by Kate Foster (2023) 370 pp Fiction
17. The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan (2024) 334pp Fiction / Warm Room
18. The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright (2023) 273 pp Fiction
19. The Brothers York : An English Tragedy by Thomas Penn (2019) 572 pp Non-Fiction / War Room
20. Pet by Catherine Chidgey (2023) 323 pp Fiction
21. Brotherless Night by VV Ganeshanathan (2023) 341 pp Fiction
22. Breakdown by Cathy Sweeney (2024) 217 pp Fiction
23. Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas (1954) 108 pp Drama / BAC / 150 Y Challenge 29/150
24. Bosworth: Psychology of a Battle by Michael Jones (2002) 220 pp Non-Fiction/ War Room / 150Y Challenge 30/150

April

25. The Sweet Science by A.J. Liebling (1956) 232 pp Non-Fiction / AAC / 150Y Challenge 31/150
26. The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith (1955) 249pp Thriller / 150Y Challenge 32/150 / 1001 Books
27. Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad (2023) 319 pp Fiction / War Room
28. Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym (1977) 186 pp Fiction / 150Y Challenge 33/150 / BAC/ 1001 Books
29. A History of the Crusades I by Steven Runciman (1951) 281 pp Non-Fiction / War Room / 150Y Challenge 34/150
30. Loot by Tania James (2023) 289 pp Fiction
31. Field Work by Seamus Heaney (1979) 56 pp Poetry / 150Y Challenge 35/150
32. A History of the Crusades II by Steven Runciman (1952) 385 pp Non-Fiction / War Room
33. A History of the Crusades III by Steven Runciman (1954) 401 pp Non-Fiction / War Room
34. Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy (2023) 233 pp Fiction
35. The People of Hemso by August Strindberg (1887) 152 pp Fiction / 1001 Books / 150Y Challenge 36/150
36. Five Children and It by E. Nesbit (1902) 237 pp Fiction / 150Y Challenge 37/150
37. The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope (1875) 766 pp Fiction / BAC / 150Y Challenge 38/150
38. The Details by Ia Genberg (2022) 151 pp Fiction / 150Y Challenge 39/150

May

39. Napoleon by Alan Forrest (2011) 331 pp Non-Fiction / War Room
40. The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey (2024) 449 pp Fiction

June

41. Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris (2022) 550 pp Thriller / War Room
42. Selling Manhattan by Carol Ann Duffy (1987) 52 pp Poetry
43. A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley (1939) 392 pp Fiction / BAC / 150Y Challenge 40/150
44. The Fox by D.H. Lawrence (1922) 123 pp Fiction / BAC / 1001 Books / 150Y Challenge 41/150
45. Peace by Richard Bausch (2008) 171 pp War Room / 150Y Challenge 42/150
46. The Deathless Girls by Kiran Millwood Hargrave (2019) 304 pp Fiction / BAC
47. River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure (2024) 339 pp Fiction
48. Minor Detail by Adania Shibli (2017) 112 pp Fiction / War Room / 150Y Challenge 43/150
49. The House of Broken Bricks by Fiona Williams (2024) 377 pp Fiction / Alternate Women's Prize
50. Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger (1920) 296 pp Non-Fiction / War Room / 1001 Books / Anita Memoriam / 150Y Challenge 44/150
51. A Move in the Weather by Anthony Thwaite (2003) 67 pp Poetry

Books Read July to December

July

52. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (1989) 137 pp Fiction / War Room / 150 Year Challenge 45/150
53. The Middle Daughter by Chika Unigwe (2023) 305 pp Fiction / Women's Alternative Longlist
54. The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon (1961) 255 pp Non-Fiction / War Room / 150 Y Challenge 46/150
55. The Kreutzer Sonata by Leon Tolstoy (1891) 76 pp Fiction / 1001 Challenge / 150 Y Challenge 47/150
56. The Way Back by Erich Maria Remarque (1931) 286 pp Fiction/ War Room/ 150Y Challenge 48/150 / Anita Memoriam Read
57. Berlin Cantata by Jeffrey Lewis (2012) 248 pp Fiction / 150Y Challenge 49/150
58. The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld (2020) 359 pp Fiction / 150Y Challenge 50/150

Currently Reading

The War Room



JANUARY - Ancient Wars (Greeks/Romans/Persians/Carthage/Egyptians/Alexander, etc) https://www.librarything.com/topic/356820
1. Pax Romana by Adrian Goldsworthy
2. The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff
3. Carthage Must Be Destroyed by Richard Miles
4. Persian Fire by Tom Holland

FEBRUARY - The American War of Independence : https://www.librarything.com/topic/358097#n8402612
1. The British are Coming by Rick Atkinson
2. Redcoat by Bernard Cornwell

MARCH - The War of the Roses : https://www.librarything.com/topic/358941
1. Fatal Colours by George Goodwin
2. The Brothers York : An English Tragedy by Thomas Penn

APRIL - Wars of Religion https://www.librarything.com/topic/359824#n8524265
1. Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad
2. A History of the Crusades I by Steven Runciman
3. A History of the Crusades II by Steven Runciman
4. A History of the Crusades III by Steven Runciman
5. Minor Detail by Adania Shibli

MAY - Napoleonic Wars : https://www.librarything.com/topic/360466
1. Napoleon by Alan Forrest

JUNE - English Civil War : https://www.librarything.com/topic/361198
1. Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris

JULY - Colonial Wars : https://www.librarything.com/topic/361750#n8568832
1. The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

AUGUST - WW2
1. When We Were Warriors by Emma Carroll
2. The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan
3. Peace by Richard Bausch
4. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

SEPTEMBER - American Civil War

OCTOBER - American Follies (Korea, Vietnam, Gulf-War, Afghanistan)

NOVEMBER - WW1 :
1. Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger

DECEMBER - Spanish Civil War

WILDCARD - Pick your own fight

British Author Challenge (Hosted by my friend Amanda)



JANUARY - Joan Aiken & Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle : Black Hearts in Battersea
FEBRUARY - Emma Newman & Ronald Firbank
MARCH - Welsh Writers : Selected Poems R.S. Thomas; Under Milk Wood
APRIL - Barbara Pym & Anthony Trollope - Quartet in Autumn; The Way We Live Now
MAY - Time Portals : A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley
JUNE - Kiran Millwood Hargrave - The Deathless Girls & D.H. Lawrence - The Fox

American Author Challenge (Hosted with occasional assistance this year by my friend Linda)



JANUARY - Mark Twain
FEBRUARY - Susan Sontag
MARCH - Truman Capote
APRIL - Non-Fiction - The Sweet Science by AJ Liebling
MAY - William Maxwell
JUNE - Queer Authors

150 YEARS OF BOOKS

150 years; 150 books; 150 authors; 15 months

Done:
Row 1 : 1874, 1875, 1887


Row 2 : 1889, 1891, 1902


Row 3 : 1904, 1908, 1910, 1915


Row 4 : 1920, 1922, 1923, 1927, 1931


Row 5 : 1936, 1937, 1939, 1945


Row 6 : 1951, 1954, 1955 1956, 1958, 1959, 1961


Row 7 : 1964, 1966, 1977


Row 8 : 1979, 1987, 1989


Row 9 : 1994, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008


Row 10 : 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023

NYT 100 BEST BOOKS OF THIS CENTURY

And my list!

https://www.librarything.com/topic/362027#8586025

Books Added in 2024

January books 1-31
https://www.librarything.com/topic/357215#8360403

February books 32-73
https://www.librarything.com/topic/358698#8432568

March books 74-104
https://www.librarything.com/topic/359405#8476551

April books 105-130
https://www.librarything.com/topic/360210#8513437

May books 131-144
https://www.librarything.com/topic/360952#8540231

June books 145-160
https://www.librarything.com/topic/361445#8558052

161. The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon
162. How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie
163. Ashes in the Snow by Oriana Ramunno
164. The In-Between by Christos Tsiolkas
165. Chess by Stefan Zweig
166. Zero Days by Ruth Ware
167. The Binding by Bridget Collins
168. The Road to the Country by Chigozie Obioma
169. Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips
170. The Spoiled Heart by Sunjeev Sahota
171. Lady Life by Ahmet Altan
172. Parade by Rachel Cusk
173. The Book of Fire by Christy Lefteri
174. A History of Burning by Janika Oza
175. Great-Uncle Harry by Michael Palin
176. Paradises Lost by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt
177. The Museum of Failures by Thrity Umrigar
178. Good Night, Irene by Luis Alberto Urrea
179. This Plague of Souls by Mike McCormack
180. Cold People by Tom Rob Smith
181. The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller
182. Blackouts by Justin Torres

Book Stats

Books Read : 58
Pages Read in completed books : 16,397 pp

Longest book : The Way We Live Now : 766 pp
Shortest book : Selling Manhattan : 52 pp
Mean book length : 282.71 pp

Books written by men : 30
Books written by women : 28

Non-Fiction : 15
Fiction : 34
Poetry : 5
Thriller : 3
Drama : 1

1870's : 1 book
1880's : 1 book
1890'S : 1 book
1900's : 1 book
1920's : 3 books
1930's : 3 books
1950's : 7 books
1960's : 2 books
1970's : 2 books
1980's : 3 books
2000's : 6 books
2010's : 11 books
2020's : 17 books

UK Authors : 30
US Authors : 13
Ireland Authors : 4
Sweden Authors : 2
France Authors : 2
Malaysia Authors : 1
New Zealand Authors : 1
Palestine Authors : 1
Germany Authors : 2
Nigeria Authors : 1
Russian Authors : 1


Nobel Winners : 1 (79/120)
Carnegie Medal Winners : 2 (7th overall)
1001 Books : 7

Read : 58 books
Added : 182 books

Change to TBR : +124

Welcome to thread number 18 of the year. xx

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread, Paul! I can't believe you are on #18!

Happy new thread Paul!

>14 amanda4242: Thank you, Amanda.

>15 banjo123: Thanks Rhonda. I also cannot quite believe it given that I had planned to go a little bit more steadily!

>16 ArlieS: Thank you Arlie.

Happy new thread, Paul

>19 Kristelh: Thank you, dear Kristel.

Happy New Thread , Paul. 18th thread already!

>21 vancouverdeb: Thanks Deb - does that mean that my threads have already reached full-age in 2024!

Happy new one!

>23 figsfromthistle: Thanks Anita. I am expecting you to pass 1,000 posts today or tomorrow.

Happy new thread Paul!

>25 quondame: Thank you, Susan.

>24 PaulCranswick: I am surprised as I have been reading and posting less.

Happy new thread, Paul

>28 jessibud2: Thank you, Shelley.

Happy New Thread, Paul. I like the Geronimo topper.

I am working my way through The Virginians, having belatedly discovered that I could simultaneously tick off something relevant to the American Revolution and a novel by William Thackeray I somehow never got around to reading. We are still in happy colonial times at the moment; George Washington, a close friend of the novel’s main characters, is a young colonel. My copy is 772 pages and the story is moving at a very leisurely pace, but with Thackeray’s usual gift for memorable characterisation.

Happy New Thread!! In America you are old enough to vote now! Just in time for the election later!

>30 msf59: Thanks Mark - it is supposed to depict Cochise, mate.

>31 booksaplenty1949: I like Thackeray. I read his book Pendennis and enjoyed it a lot.

>32 hredwards: Thank you, Harold, but I am not sure that I could vote for any of your candidates!

>33 PaulCranswick: Some similar themes in the two novels: a young man with a dominating mother and no father, complicated finances, a taste for drinking and gambling, involvement with an older woman. “Write about what you know” seems to have been Thackeray’s motto.

Happy new thread Paul.

Happy new thread, Paul!

Paul, your thread continues to speed along! Have loved the pictures of the adorable Pip!

>35 booksaplenty1949: Isn't that the case with most writers? We are more likely to write about what we know than about what we are not familiar with.

>36 humouress: Thank you, neighbour.

>37 atozgrl: Thanks Irene.

>38 justchris: Thank you, Chris. I wasn't expecting the threads to move so quickly this year.

Happy New Thread, Paul!

>39 PaulCranswick: In the broad sense, yes, of course. But not every writer puts his/her main characters on a clearly autobiographical plot trajectory in every novel.

>41 ronincats: Thank you, Roni and lovely to see you here.

>42 booksaplenty1949: No that is true but much of our writing comes from our experiences mainly direct but also observed.

Happy new one, Paul!

Thank you, Mary.

>43 PaulCranswick: I guess we can think of Dickens, writing Sketches by Boz—-observed from real life—and then moving on to imaginary plots and characters. I couldn’t write a piece of fiction if my life depended on it, so I have no concept of the creative process.

>46 booksaplenty1949: I think long works of fiction require astounding imagination and I would struggle with that especially given my fairly taxing occupation.

>47 PaulCranswick: But I can’t even grasp coming up with the initial concept. “What would happen if an imaginative orphan girl was accidentally adopted by a brother and sister who had just wanted a boy to help out on the farm?” “What would happen in a society where owning books was illegal and officers were delegated to search for them and burn them?”

>47 PaulCranswick: That's funny! I think short fiction is much harder than long form. The need to be on point and succinct instead of sprawling luxuriously and exploring all the nooks and crannies of the story...

>48 booksaplenty1949: I see what you did there. I have had plenty of initial concepts! It's the actual follow through that shuts me down. Stalled out forever on background reseearch much less plot and character development.

>49 justchris: A short story does not necessarily involve character development. And there may be no elaboration of the original plot concept—-think of “The Cask of Amontillado” or “The Gift of the Magi”.

>50 booksaplenty1949: Yeah, but still, gotta get to the point effectively. Just not my forte. Which is why I remain a wannabe rather than an actual writer. Good thing I'm an editor. I do good work there.

Happy new one, Paul!

>48 booksaplenty1949: When you put it like that! I suppose that the Nazis had a little to do with Bradbury's oeuvre in that instance.

>49 justchris: I have heard that said before, Chris, but for me writing is not tremendously difficult but detailed and sustained plotting certainly would be.

>50 booksaplenty1949: Short story writers will laud their oeuvre whilst those in the longer form may emphasize the immersive nature of their art.

>51 justchris: Being on point is definitely a skill, Chris. In my work I am drafting claims and letters/correspondence putting my company's point of view over often quite complex issues. Not losing the point and being able to convey it succinctly is an art that gets me paid every month! Like you though I don't see me turning that skill into publishable fiction - long or short form - anytime soon.

>52 drneutron: Thank you Doc Roc!

>53 PaulCranswick: The Nazis’ leader wrote a book; 4,227 copies of it are catalogued on LT, as a matter of fact. So Nazis weren’t anti-book, although perhaps images of the German Student Union book-burnings in the 1930s were an inspiration for Bradbury.

>54 PaulCranswick: “Your project is going forward right on schedule…” When business correspondence and fiction overlap it usually leads to trouble.

>56 booksaplenty1949: I am currently reading The Road Back which was banned and burned by the Nazis. I'm not sure that I would give the ravings of a genocidal maniac the courtesy of calling his spewing, a book. The 4,227 members who catalogued it may have their reasons but I cannot fathom them and I would certainly never have it in my house.

>57 booksaplenty1949: But some times my message has to be imaginative!

>58 PaulCranswick: Have to agree, although I assume/hope some owners are academics. Not sure why there’s a copy in Sylvia Plath’s library, or Louis Armstrong’s.

>60 booksaplenty1949: In Armstrong's case maybe in trying to understand why that was done to people he loved. Louis Armstrong was brought up in a Jewish home.

>61 PaulCranswick: I did not know that. Must follow up. Not that the Nazis didn’t also regard Black people as genetically inferior. Like Roma.
PS Yes, I see that anti-semitism was an ongoing concern of his. Thanks for the tip.

>62 booksaplenty1949: It is a story I came to recently also to be honest and since it was fresh in my mind I thought it interesting that he would have had that awful book.

Hail to thee, O Paul XVIII!

>63 PaulCranswick: Extent of LT ownership was brought to my attention when book was suggested as a “combination opportunity” with a palm-sized prayer book Sursum Corda I own. Hello? As I looked through the editions of MK, hoping to find some rogue entry (nope) I was surprised to discover how many copies of the book were entered, along with Adolf Hitler: Usborne Famous Lives Gift Book and other depressing vols.

>64 richardderus: Hahaha thanks RD but I'm a dope not the Pope!

>65 booksaplenty1949: I would read biographies of the man - warts and all - and I would term him, at best, grate rather than great.

Happy new thread, Paul!

>66 PaulCranswick: Would not, however, give a child a picture book version. “Follow Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, through failure as a student to success as a speaker.” Yes, very inspiring.

>67 Familyhistorian: Thank you, Meg.

>68 booksaplenty1949: Hahaha

>69 booksaplenty1949: I still find it incomprehensible watching old footage how he was able to stir up the Germans to such a pitch of fury and venom.

>71 PaulCranswick: Probably helps if you start with an audience that already feels angry and humiliated.

Happy New Thread, Paul!

>71 PaulCranswick: Paul - just watch current RNC news for the same on the way...

>60 booksaplenty1949: Plath's father was German and The Guardian reported that the FBI had a file on him as possibly pro-German during WWI.

Happy new thread!

>75 witchyrichy: FBI tended to be over-zealous in certain directions. In any event, Prof Plath died when Sylvia was 8, so doubt if he had an opportunity to spark her interest in MK or its author even if he had such an interest himself.
PS Sylvia Plath’s Legacy Library catalogue says that she was assigned to read certain pages of E. T. S. Dugdale’s abridged translation for a Government class at Smith. Book was held in a reading room at the college. So she didn’t actually own a copy. Good to know. Have separated Dugdale’s abridged version from the main entry, so Plath’s name no longer shows up in the latter.

>72 booksaplenty1949: Yes that is true.

>73 SirThomas: Thank you dear Thomas.

>74 m.belljackson: The equating of Trump to Hitler is ridiculous and dangerous, Marianne. I don't like him and I think his behaviour in his last days in office should be a disbarring event to his standing again but he is not a fascist and the demonisation, exaggeration and hyperbole are as unhelpful as they are unwarranted.

>75 witchyrichy: I didn't know that, Karen.

>76 booksaplenty1949: Nothing in Plath's work would indicate any sort of sympathy for Hitlerian world view.

>79 PaulCranswick: I don’t think she had a political bone in her body, frankly.

>78 PaulCranswick: Reading up on why AH was such an effective speaker I learned that he wrote his speeches out in full, memorised them, and rehearsed them for hours in front of a mirror. That is one major difference, before we get to the fact that AH was an ideologue. Trump really has no coherent program other than personal power.

>80 booksaplenty1949: I don't think she could have concentrated long enough, poor lady.

>81 booksaplenty1949: I'm not sure about the lack of a program, but whether it is coherent is another matter:

1) Anti regulation
2) Lower taxes and reduced public expenditure to lower prices
3) Anti illegal immigration
4) Oil and Gas expansion
5) No overseas involvements
6) Anti Green new deal
7) Make NATO and the UN
8) Tariffs on China
9) Self promotion
10) Misogyny

Some of the things make sense but some of them are bat-shit crazy and some of them are pretty despicable and public discourse will be lowered yet further. .

>81 booksaplenty1949: Although I have to say listening to the nonsense he is spouting in his convention address the coherence issue is valid. It is all about him, little about the country.

>82 PaulCranswick: I think points 1-8 are standard conservative positions, but whether Trump actually believes in or cares about them is unclear to me. I watched the movie Nashville again recently and the incoherent “platform” of Hal Philip Walker, the unseen Replacement Party candidate whose campaign van speakers continually blare out his message, bears an eerie resemblance to Trump’s.

>82 PaulCranswick: I think points 1-8 are standard conservative positions, but whether Trump actually believes in or cares about them is unclear to me. I watched the movie Nashville again recently and the incoherent “platform” of Hal Philip Walker, the unseen Replacement Party candidate whose van continually drives around Nashville blaring his message, bears a definite resemblance to Trump’s. https://blogs.iu.edu/establishingshot/2018/02/21/the-25th-character-hal-phillip-...

>84 booksaplenty1949: & >85 booksaplenty1949: I think that there are some things policy wise that he does believe in - strict border control, oil and gas and reduced regulations for sure, but it is mostly subsumed in his worship of self.

Happy New Thread!

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/362118

>86 PaulCranswick: Often his policies are apparently sincerely held but his ideas on implementation—-“build a wall”, etc—-lack any real substance.

>86 PaulCranswick: With his hero Hannibal Lecter, how can he go wrong, "terribly wrong" ...?

>87 SilverWolf28: Thank you, Silver.

>88 SilverWolf28: I have two full days to concentrate today.

>89 booksaplenty1949: He identifies issues but his prescriptions are often way over the top.

>90 m.belljackson: Really, Marianne?

>92 PaulCranswick: Like fighting COVID by injecting disinfectant, or introducing subcutaneous sunlight.

>93 booksaplenty1949: I seem to recall he mentioned bleach, no? Problem was the guy was riffing on a daily basis in front of the press. One of the craziest things I have ever heard to be honest but he kept putting himself up there. He should have learned a lesson from Biden and succeed by a strategy of disappearance.

>94 PaulCranswick: We’ve all known people who took advantage of their position to force everyone to listen their half-baked views on all possible subjects. Usually some elderly uncle, or a boss in our student days. Never thought we’d be subjected to it on national TV.

>95 booksaplenty1949: We are subjected to it all the time. Politicians everywhere and of all persuasions talk rubbish all the time. Trump's bleach remarks take the biscuit though.

Friday lunchtime additions:

179. This Plague of Souls by Mike McCormack
180. Cold People by Tom Rob Smith

McCormack has a strong chance to make the Booker list.
Tom Rob Smith's books on Russia were great reading and this end of world story looks interesting.

>92 PaulCranswick: That's who he states he admires.

>92 PaulCranswick: https://www.euronews.com/culture/2024/07/19/what-is-it-with-donald-trumps-obsess...

>96 PaulCranswick: Not for 92 minutes, at least not in my experience.

>98 m.belljackson: He has referenced a quote from his character from a movie to make a fairly offensive point. To be fair though he has not stated admiration for his character.

>99 booksaplenty1949: I am in general agreement with the thrust of the article against his incoherent rants - he makes good points about the increase in illegal immigration and the failure to secure national borders but spoils it by making ridiculously over the top comments about the countries of Latin America opening up their lunatic asylums and sending them to the USA.

>100 booksaplenty1949: Really could someone who wasn't stuck in that building have sat through all of that speech? I wouldn't and couldn't.

>94 PaulCranswick: But that's just the problem, Paul. Trump is incapable of disappearing. He always has to be the center of attention. One of his sons made some comment, not long after Biden became president, along the lines of Biden being boring. He didn't understand that most of us were relieved that we didn't have to see/hear daily rants from Trump or worry about the latest crazy thing he came up with. The return to normalcy with NOT having the president intrude into our daily lives was a huge relief. But Trump has to always be center stage, so he can't disappear like Biden does.

>102 PaulCranswick: We can imagine a scene where torture victims are forced to watch on continuous loop until they break down and confess to anything.

>103 atozgrl: Yes, I can see that, Irene - it is exhausting watching him.
The return to normalcy hasn't gone so great either unfortunately with the problems in Afghanistan, Ukraine and the Holy Land, inflation and an obviously physically frail and failing President. If only Biden had stood in 2016!

>104 booksaplenty1949: Hahaha, I would fold and tell them whatever they wanted to hear!

I think that bandage on Trumps ear is bigger than it needs to be. I'll leave it there.

>106 vancouverdeb: He is brave in the moment, Deb, but enough already we also need to remember that his attempt to frustrate the handover of power last time around would disbar his candidacy in most other places in the world.

Oh , I loathe Trump , Paul . My niece’s husband got shot at twice on the job as a cop about 5 years ago . He didn’t have any secret security with him , just a partner . He was struck by a bullet twice , and is now fine . Now , that is brave .

>108 vancouverdeb: I am not comparing him with first responders Deb who are brave every day of their working lives . I don't like him either but I will grudgingly allow that he was brave in the moment but now is milking it for all it is worth.

>105 PaulCranswick: As far as "normalcy" goes, what I meant was that we didn't see the president every single day, sucking up all the air in the room--or country. We could live our lives without having to hear about bizarre conspiracy theories and the president's obsession with being a victim. After Biden took over, the president went back to mostly being in the background and not inserting himself into our daily lives. And that was a relief. I wasn't referring to any missteps in the current administration. Every administration has those.

ETA: To be clear: There's a big difference between a president being in your face every day, and one just carrying on with doing his job, and his presence being a background factor in your life that you don't think about most days.

>107 PaulCranswick: Now, this is sang froid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IGDYGroToY

'Missed me'. (It seems to be circulating at the moment.)

>101 PaulCranswick: From his mouth: "Hannibal Lecter is a wonderful man."

>110 atozgrl: No, I get that Irene. Obama got the balance just right in my opinion. Biden has been something of an absentee landlord at times but Trump was just tedious.

>111 humouress: Reagan, whatever you think of his politics (not that much) has a wonderful sense of humour and comedic timing.

>112 m.belljackson: Why do you insist, Marianne, on taking all that buffoon says as literal. Hannibal Lector is not a man - he is a character in a book - the creation of Thomas Harris' imagination.

>114 PaulCranswick: In Trump’s case I think we can assume he’s a character in a movie. I believe that any future LT member who volunteers to put Trump’s “Legacy Library” on-line here will have a very quick job.

>114 PaulCranswick: I dunno, Paul, just ask Anthony Hopkins the same question.

As far as Hannibal Lector, from the clips I saw Trump seemed to be talking about him as if he were a real person. It was totally bizarre.

>115 booksaplenty1949: Hahaha but I will bet that they include his own ghost-written books!

>116 m.belljackson: Hopkins has far too much sense to want to talk to Trump, Marianne.

>117 atozgrl: Which is my point, Irene. No need to give credence to what comes out of his mouth. Biden is impaired but Trump is just bat shit crazy.

>118 PaulCranswick: Simply do a Search: Anthony Hopkins and trump - you will see his response to your "Why do you insist, Marianne" question.

>120 m.belljackson: Please Marianne can we change the subject. I am not in the least bit interested in Trump's nonsensical views on Hannibal Lecter - just confirms my opinions on his lack of fitness for office which I don't think anyone here has ever doubted.

>118 PaulCranswick: And perhaps several cartons of remaindered copies of the Trump Bible. Apparently Thoreau, owing to poor initial sales of Walden, was able to “boast” that “I have a library of 900 books, over 700 of which I wrote myself.”

>122 booksaplenty1949: Hahaha, I must admit that I haven't read Walden yet!

>123 PaulCranswick: The great word “yet”!

>124 booksaplenty1949: Oh, I am sure that I will. It is on the shelves.

>125 PaulCranswick: I read it for an American Lit class but remember it only very vaguely. Have you read How to Talk about Books You Haven’t Read? Author includes an interesting discussion of the phenomenon of having read, but more or less forgotten, a book. What, in fact, *is* remembered? I am astounded by the number of LT “reviews” consisting of a sentence along the lines of “Read this in high school and think I enjoyed it.” I flag those, BTW.

>126 booksaplenty1949: I haven't read that one but it is certainly one that I would probably enjoy.

>127 PaulCranswick: Yes, if you look at the LT reviews/descriptions you will see that it raises many interesting ideas about our addiction, I mean our avocation.

>128 booksaplenty1949: It is much more than an avocation, surely! Obsession may be closer.

>129 PaulCranswick: What?! I can quit anytime I want, bwahaha.

What, are books addicting? There are far worse obsessions to have. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.

>131 Familyhistorian: This book—-Stuff—-reassured me that organising and displaying items such as books distinguishes collecting from hoarding. Also having enough clear space on the bed to get into it and sleep.

>130 booksaplenty1949: Hello, I'm Paul and I'm a bookaholic. It has been two days since my last book addition.

>131 Familyhistorian: I cannot think of a more enjoyable obsession, Meg. Printable anyway!

>132 booksaplenty1949: I have debated this issue with Hani for years - as to whether our house has room for more books. I am still being proved right.

>134 PaulCranswick: There is always room for more books. There may not be enough room that a partner wants to share it with you.

>135 quondame: She always comes around and I always find more space, Susan.

Well Mr. Biden has stepped down and endorsed Kamala Harris to succeed him.
I will not dwell too much on I told you so - he has been failing physically and mentally for some time.

I don't think a leader should be anointed and the Party should try to have an open convention vote and choose the right leader to win. Whitmer, Shapiro, Beshear or Buttigieg would have a much better chance of beating Trump in my honest opinion.

They are having a vote regarding who will run for President, Paul. Biden endorsed Kamala Harris, but that is all .

>138 vancouverdeb: It isn't clear what process they will adopt, Deb. Let's see. Hopefully they will choose the candidate with the best chance of beating Trump.

Reading a Louise Penny mystery novel, a hardcover copy I picked up at a used bookstore. What a depressingly cheap-looking production. I say cheap *looking* because it was $30 when it was new, ten years ago. Now the light-weight, rough-feeling paper has yellowed. Sad.

>140 booksaplenty1949: I bought the first of her mysteries and to be honest couldn't get into it and I bought no more. I do intend to give it another try and see if it was just me being churlish, especially as so many in the group adore her.

Hi Paul! Saying hi to you.

>141 PaulCranswick: Don’t bother. I started the series because I am familiar with its rural setting, and have continued for masochistic reasons. The mystery plots are feebleness personified, but account for relatively little text. The preachy tone is purest “friends of Bill.” I do enjoy the food descriptions, although they are somewhat self-parodic; no one just ignores their dinner, they ignore their grilled shrimp and mango salad. A few local characters are consistently entertaining.

>142 EllaTim: Lovely to see you, Ella. xx

>143 booksaplenty1949: Sounds like one I will cull then!

>144 PaulCranswick: What do you do with surplus books, locally?

>145 booksaplenty1949: Three target locations for donations. I give to my kid's old school library, the library in the condominium, a local orphanage.

Hi Paul. I saw the cute pictures of Pip on your last thread. She is adorable. It looks like you will have another reader in the family!

I have fallen far behind in both my reading and following threads. I will be playing catch-up for quite a while. I plan to skip over anything to do with politics. Haha.

>147 Donna828: Lovely to see you, Donna, and I am so joyful to share in grandparenting with you at last!

Yes I am also trying to avoid politics - it is so depressing, isn't it?

I am not even trying to catch up, Paul, just swinging by to say "Hi!"

Happy whatever, brother!

Have resumed my reading of Freud: The Making of an Illusion, set aside in the interest of a War Room Challenge read and a library book that was coming due. As a life-long Freud skeptic I am generally enjoying this 746-page demolition job by a literary critic who earlier in his career, like so many of his generation, was convinced that Freud offered important insights into the human condition. My only reservation is that I wish this exhaustively-researched biography of Freud’s early career, with its direct quotations from Freud’s previously unavailable correspondence on every page and its 21-page Works Cited list, had been produced by someone of a later generation, someone for whom Freud was a figure of historical interest rather than a fallen idol. Not that Crews does not amply justify his negative assessments, but one might have wished he was less invested in them, if only to remove this as a talking point for pro-Freud reviewers who have nothing to actually refute the book’s evidence that Freud was a self-promoting poseur who fabricated most of his case studies. Crews’ agenda, however, in no way lessens the importance of the book as a closely-documented study of the creation of a pseudo-scientific personality cult.

>149 alcottacre: Lovely to see you back and with internet, dear Juana. xx

>150 booksaplenty1949: Not sure that I could wade through 746 pages about Freud, but self-promoting poseurs do garner attention enough to get written about obviously enough!

Hi Paul - I'm not reading at pace this month but hope to pick up Monday's Warriors in a couple of days.

>152 avatiakh: I will try to do the same, Kerry. I am reading at a snail's pace myself too.

BOOK # 55



The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy
Date of Publication : 1891
Origin of Author : Russia
Gender of Author : Male
Pages : 76 pp
Challenges : 1001 Books / 150 Y Challenge

Based on the premise that you can always meet the most interesting people on long distance train journeys (my experience too by the way).

This is Tolstoy's famous novella about the state of marriage, jealousy and the consequences thereof. Is it worth the hype. Well....sort of yes it is worth the hype.

>154 PaulCranswick: Your review has made me feel curious, Paul. Why the sort of…? Nice cover too.

I’m following the political news, hoping for something positive.

>154 PaulCranswick: I have not yet read that one. I will have to get to it sometime.

Happy whatever, Juan!

>154 PaulCranswick:. I’ve read that one Paul, I rated it 3 stars. I think it gave a lot of insight into the author’s ideas.

>154 PaulCranswick: Hmmm. Sounds quite interesting!

>155 EllaTim: I am not sure that politics and positive go well together these days, Ella. Lovely to see you. xx

>156 alcottacre: Lovely to see you, Juana. It slipped through my net for a long time too.

>157 Kristelh: That explains my "mmm, sort of" comment, Kristel, because I felt it was more important than the enjoyment gleaned through reading it.

>158 figsfromthistle: It was interesting , Anita, but not world changingly so.

>160 PaulCranswick:, I think novels that tend to “preach” the authors ideas often don’t make good novels.

>161 Kristelh: Yes I do agree with that, Kristen. Tolstoy was using his character to express an idea. It worked in novella form but would have failed if much longer.

Hiya, Paul. How’s the littlest Cranswick doing?

The >154 PaulCranswick: Tolstoy book is intriguing. Is it shorter than War and Peace and Ann Karenina?

I just finished with Mark a re-read of The Wind-up Bird Chronicle and loved the book all over again. I can’t remember whether you’re a Murakami fan, but it’s one of his best, IMO.

>163 jnwelch: She is as adorable as ever, Joe. Probably getting used to the more military style of life under Grandma while her mum is at work!

I do put the page count in the reviews, Joe, and Kreutzer had just 76 so it is a novella whilst his two most famous books are monumental epics.

I'm not a huge fan of Murakami but I have read three and liked all of them to varying degrees, but I haven't yet read the Wind-up Bird.

The UK's biggest book store chain Waterstones initiated a Debut Fiction Prize back in 2022 and the third annual winner was named yesterday.

Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon was announced as the winner. Unfamiliar to me but when you consider that the first two winners were the much lauded The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty and In Memoriam by Alice Winn, then I should look for this one.

It is also refreshing to note that Ferdia Lennon is the first male writer to win this prize!

>165 PaulCranswick: Oh, my hold for Glorious Exploits is almost ready! It was recommended earlier this year, which is how I knew about it.

>166 quondame: I didn't know about it to be honest, Susan, but I will certainly go and look for it.

The War Room for August will feature on the most universal of conflicts the Second World War and I hadn't realized just how much reading material I have on the subject:

Svetlana Alexievich
Lord Alanbrooke
Rick Atkinson
Anthony Beevor
Chris Bryant
Iris Chang
Winston Churchill
Norman Davies
Len Deighton
Robert Edsel
Richard J Evans
Anne Frank
John Gimlette
Max Hastings
Eva Hoffman
James Holland
John Keegan
Alex Kershaw
Ian Kershaw
Lise Kristensen
Otto Dov Kulka
Erik Larson
Primo Levi
B.H. Liddell-Hart
Ben MacIntyre
Richard Overy
Laurence Rees
Andrew Roberts
Walter Schellenberg
Viscount Slim
Timothy Snyder
AJP Taylor
Studs Terkel
Peter Thompson
Geoffrey Wellum
Robert Wistrich

And not even exhaustive of the non-fiction.

I want to choose at least three books of non-fiction.

>168 PaulCranswick: I have many WW2 books as well, though I chose The Jungle is Neutral by F. Spencer Chapman which I have to get from the libary. I wanted to read on the Pacific side of the war and this one looks to be a good read.

I watched a video on the debut shortlist at Waterstones and I recall Glorious Exploits was on the list. I'll have to check and see if my library has it. I am currently a little caught up in reading possible long list Booker Prize books. So far , I've read The Spoiled Heart.The Coast Road and am currently reading My Friends . The two I have read were excellent reads and I'm about 90 pages into My Friends and liking it very much. Of course, since I am reading them, none will actually make the Booker Longlist this year. But they have been very worthwhile reads.

>169 avatiakh: I read that some time ago and really liked it as I remember. I am certainly tempted to read Viscount Slim's war memoirs.

>170 vancouverdeb: We are a mere 5 days away from the announcement of the longlist, Deb, and I am sure that I will not know some of the 13 books at all. I have added a few that I think might make it onto the list but I do look forward to that announcement more than most.

Alan Murrin's book is getting a lot of love but I would have thought that James by Percival Everett was overwhelmingly the favourite at the moment. I didn't really love his The Trees but I was very much in the minority.

>171 PaulCranswick: Your “touchstone” links to Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees.

Lunchtime additions

181. The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller
182. Blackouts by Justin Torres

One won the Costa Award and the other won the National Book Award.

>172 booksaplenty1949: Thank you. I have gone back and corrected them (the Percival Everett book was wrong too!)

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/362248

>175 SilverWolf28: Thank you Silver

>168 PaulCranswick: WW I participants produced many novels, memoirs, and poems of enduring literary value. WW II doesn’t seem to have produced as much literature of the first rank. Of course, behind the lines in WW I one could sit in a café and work on one’s sonnets. WW II theatres were often zones of total war where circumstances were not conducive to literary composition. But I am hoping to read some fiction, including The Lost Legions and this poetry anthology The Terrible Rain

>177 booksaplenty1949: I think that is only partially true. There are some good works that came from the Second World War:

A Town Like Alice
The Naked and the Dead
From Here to Eternity
Catch 22
The Balkan Trilogy
Put Out More Flags
Unknown Soldiers
Life and Fate
If Not Now, When?
and of course some of the Holocaust literature is breathtakingly moving.

BOOK #56



The Way Back by Erich Maria Remarque
Date Published : 1931
Origin of Author : Germany
Gender of Author : Male
Pages : 286 pp
Challenges : War Room / 150 Y Challenge / Anita Memoriam Read

Told with humour, humanity and great emotion, this carries on the story of the battalion from All Quiet on the Western Front on their return - defeated - after the war has ended.

I was struck and I am sure it will remain with me for a long time the sense of empty demoralisation perfectly conveyed by Remarque in what is a very powerful novel. It should be better known and I will say a word of silent thanks to my friend Anita who loved this book enough to recommend it to all of us.

>178 PaulCranswick: Good suggestions for WWII. Seems like only yesterday that you were proposing this list, and I thought August was so far away. :)

Catch-22 is an excellent idea, I haven't read that in years.

I'm going to participate this month and I'll probably read, Flags of Our Fathers about Iwo Jima, and/or Thirty Seconds Over Toyko about the Doolittle raid (its probably one of my favorite WWII books. Read as a kid, and probably 4 or 5 times since.

>168 PaulCranswick: I've got Band of Brothers lined up. Last year, I did a reread of Herman Wouk's magnum opus The Winds of War and War and Rememberance, which I highly recommend, granting it's....really long.

>168 PaulCranswick: My online library gives me 490 books to choose from! I haven’t finished the book I’m reading for this month Revolusi by David van Reybrouck. It’s good, but long. I’ll pick a short novel for this month, I think.

>178 PaulCranswick: I would separate most Holocaust fiction from WW II fiction as it was an atrocity which began well before the war broke out and remained hidden from the Allied side almost until the end. But others may think differently.

>165 PaulCranswick: Unless something amazing and wonderful happens, it'll be my 2024 6*-of-five read. Nothing else I've read has come close yet.

>178 PaulCranswick: I think Catch-22 is of the first rank, certainly.

>180 mahsdad: Great to see you, Jeff and I am so pleased that you'll be pitching in next month for the War Room. It was, I must say the month I predicted the most interest for and I have been a little spoiled for choice.

>181 ChrisG1: I don't know why but both of those are not so easy to find anymore in Malaysia. War and Remembrance is one I would like to wade through eventually, Chris.

>182 EllaTim: That is quite a number, Ella. Also I have a lot of WW2 adventures / thrillers which I may get to choose from if my pace of reading improves next month.

>183 booksaplenty1949: Possibly so and I am unlikely to read a Holocaust book next month, although I wouldn't disallow any books by anyone who did.

>184 richardderus: RD, I'm assuming you're talking about Glorious Exploits, if so, on the list it goes! :)

>184 richardderus: Now I am even more determined to track down a copy, RD. I must say that the Waterstone Debut Fiction prize seems to be on the mark so far with three solid selections over its first three years.

>185 booksaplenty1949: I am sure that it would figure high in any ranking of WW2 fiction. Life and Fate, If Not Now, When? and The Naked and the Dead would be chosen by some. I would place Levi's book close to the pinnacle myself.

>188 mahsdad: I believe that he was, Jeff. Love the colourful cover too by the way.

>188 mahsdad: You're exactly right! Go get it soon!

>189 PaulCranswick: They seem to be on a roll indeed, PC. Surprises me, TBH. Stores don't usually do such careful work on making awards.

>191 richardderus: Kinokuniya don't have it. I am hoping to be in the UK in September but I don't know whether I can wait so long!

>192 richardderus: Their selection process is an interesting one, RD, as the books are chosen by a panel of their booksellers (staff). Seems a great and an inclusive way to do it and they have been on the nail so far by the looks of it.

The Prize is for GBP5,000 or about $6,500 which is hardly a King's ransom but it does also come with the fact that the Bookstore chain promises to give special promotion to the book - that must be worth a fair bit I would have thought.

>186 PaulCranswick: Bear in mind that it continues what was started with the various characters in The Winds of War - the 2 together are essentially one l-o-o-o-o-ong novel.

>194 ChrisG1: Reading challenges are what they are there for, Chris, don't you think?!

>189 PaulCranswick: Have read the Mailer but not the Levi. Have put it on the list to buy.

>196 booksaplenty1949: It is a long time since I read it but I absolutely loved If Not Now, When?.

>179 PaulCranswick: Interesting review, Paul. I am just finishing up All Quiet on the Western Front for the July TIOLI challenge honoring Anita. I had not heard of this sequel until Cindy just mentioned it on my thread.

>198 streamsong: I'm not sure that it quite qualifies as a straight sequel as the ending of the first book rather disqualifies one.

It was a good read though, Janet. x

>197 PaulCranswick: Have purchased. You and I often in synch, so hopes high. Of course I avoid prize winners where possible—-a major parting of the ways with you there. A dear friend funded a prize several years ago, and I feel obligated to attend award ceremony and buy winning book and often nominees. The things we do for love. ☹️

>179 PaulCranswick: I've read All Quiet on the Western Front several times, but I'm not familiar with this one. Thanks for the review, Paul. Onto the wishlist it goes!

There is an abundance of riches to choose from in reading about WWII. That's a subject where it seems like you could be reading your entire life and not read it all. I had already decided that I would read Band of Brothers for the WWII challenge, since it's sitting on my shelf waiting for me. I don't know if I'll be able to find time for any fiction, but we'll see. There's just too much to choose from.

>200 booksaplenty1949: Yikes! It is some time since I read it (according to my records I read it in 1995) but it did make quite the impression on me then.

I suppose that I am intrigued by the Prizes but it is often that I am bitterly disappointed in what gets chosen.

>201 atozgrl: Remarque's other body of work has quite fallen foul of the enduring success of his most famous book which is a shame because he was a fine and perceptive writer.

You are right to point out the huge body of work related to WW2, Irene.

I have spent a while thinking of a response to the NY Times' List of the Best 100 Books of this Century.

Of course we can only include what we have read and I hadn't read 70 of their list, but not all of the one's on that list that I had read is included here.
Of course we are creatures of and hostages to our unique prejudices and tastes and therefore there will be less dystopian stuff here than on their list.
I am a Brit so they will be over represented.
I prefer fiction so it will be over represented.
As always I only ever include one book per author in my lists to avoid a skewed and boring selection.
I love poetry but I have not included any here as gauging them against prose is a bit arbitrary.
I love good thrillers and mysteries but I have not included them because of choosing between books in my favourite series seems pointless.

My list includes 64 books by men and 36 by women. The number of books I read by ladies gets proportionately more every year.

38 by UK authors
22 by US authors
6 by Irish authors
4 by Canadian authors
4 by Australian authors
2 by Dutch authors
2 by New Zealand authors
2 by Sri Lankan authors
1 by Aghan authors
1 by Algerian authors
1 by Bangladeshi authors
1 by Bolivian authors
1 by Czechian authors
1 by Ethiopian authors
1 by Ghanaian authors
1 by Indian authors
1 by Indonesian authors
1 by Israeli authors
1 by Italian authors
1 by Japanese authors
1 by Malaysian authors
1 by Morroccan authors
1 by Nigerian authors
1 by Polish authors
1 by South African authors
1 by Spanish authors
1 by Sudanese authors
1 by Turkish authors

13 books were translated into English from another language

The next post will be my Alternative 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

MY ALTERNATIVE 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY

1 Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela
2 Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
3 Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed
4 Brick Lane by Monica Ali
5 A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam
6 I'm Not Scared by Niccolo Ammaniti
7 Somewhere Towards the End by Diana Athill
8 The British are Coming by Rick Atkinson
9 The Twin by Gerbrand Bakker
10 The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
11 Arthur and George by Julian Barnes
12 Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry
13 Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernieres
14 The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian
15 The Orenda by Joseph Boyden
16 The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
17 True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey
18 Pet by Catherine Chidgey
19 The Sleepwalkers by Christopher Clarke
20 Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susannah Clarke
21 Promised Land : A Northern Love Story by Anthony Clavane
22 Did You Ever Have a Family? by Bill Clegg
23 Harvest by Jim Crace
24 Return of a King by William Dalrymple
25 The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
26 The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan
27 The Green Road by Anne Enright
28 The Round House by Louise Erdrich
29 Girl Woman Other by Bernadine Evaristo
30 The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna
31 The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
32 The Promise by Damon Galgut
33 Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshanathan
34 Old Filth by Jane Gardam
35 Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
36 Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
37 Then by Morris Gleitzman
38 The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey
39 Empires of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne
40 Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
41 Mrs England by Stacey Halls
42 Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
43 The Punch by Noah Hawley
44 The Rainbow Troops by Andrea Hirata
45 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
46 Zorrie by Laird Hunt
47 Loot by Tania James
48 The Blinding Absence of Light by Tahar Ben Jelloun
49 A Short History of England by Simon Jenkins
50 This Boy by Alan Johnson
51 The Dig by Cynan Jones
52 Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
53 Academy Street by Mary Costello
54 The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunantilaka
55 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
56 The Dictator's Last Night by Yasmina Khadra
57 The Dinner by Herman Koch
58 The Historian by Elisabeth Kostova
59 Hana's Suitcase by Katherine Levine
60 Small Island by Andrea Levy
61 Lovely Green Eyes by Arnost Lustig
62 Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
63 Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
64 The Return by Hisham Matar
65 Life of Pi by Yann Martel
66 No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
67 H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald
68 The North Water by Ian McGuire
69 Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry
70 The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
71 The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
72 The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed
73 Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
74 The Marriage Proposal by Maggie O'Farrell
75 Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
76 The Winter King by Thomas Penn
77 The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
78 The Tyrannicide Brief by Geoffrey Robertson
79 Dominion by CJ Sansom
80 Heliopolis by James Scudamore
81 The Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
82 Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
83 White Teeth by Zadie Smith
84 Norte by Edmundo Paz Soldan
85 Golden Hill by Francis Spufford
86 Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
87 Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift
88 The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
89 The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin
90 Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
91 The Road Home by Rose Tremain
92 Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance
93 The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
94 Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton
95 Sing, Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward
96 Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
97 The Nickel Boys by Colson Whiteahead
98 The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
99 Disquiet by Zulfu Livaneli
100 The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

You will note that I included Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance and I did consider taking it off given how his views seems to have morphed into a bigotry that doesn't in any way get voice in that book.
He has gone from inciting inspiration to disapproval over the last decade.

It isn't that he is a Republican or has conservative views - it is his obviously misogynistic world view that upsets.

>204 PaulCranswick: I’m sure I haven’t even read 100 books published in the 21st C.

>206 booksaplenty1949: Hahaha, I would bet you have.

>207 PaulCranswick: Challenge accepted—-let the counting begin. Just the sort of entertaining LT timewaster I enjoy.

>208 booksaplenty1949: Hahaha I spent several hours coming up with my list!

>205 PaulCranswick: i'm glad you see him as the Beverly Shillbilly he is, and always was. His book offended me from the get-go, but at least he drew attention to the *possibility* of escape from poverty. Hopelessness is a tough trap to escape, so if even one person was inspired to try by him he's earned the right not to be encased alive in concrete and dumped into the Mariana Trench.

Barely.

I have read 23 books on your alternate " Best Books" list.

>210 richardderus: It was the hope of being able to overcome one's roots that gave the book some credence for me, so that the same guy being so reactionary seems to be bizarre.

Like you say barely escapes the encasement.

>211 torontoc: The NYT used 50 "bookaholics" to come up with their list (or something like that) - It would be interesting to see what 50 of us would collectively come up with.
Which books stand out for you that are not on my list, Cyrel?

Holy wow- happy not so new thread

Lovely to see you, Lily.

School is almost here and i will be online way more! August 15th is when i get my school comp, and good god- im going to be a Sophmore-

>215 Owltherian: It is Monday morning here and the start of another working week - how I wish I was back at school!!

>216 PaulCranswick: Im still in summer break haha

>217 Owltherian: Good for you, Lily!

>218 PaulCranswick: i will be for a few more days, well until the 19th of August

>219 Owltherian: That is another three weeks!

>220 PaulCranswick: yep, im sad because i dont want to go back to school :(

>221 Owltherian: We should swap places because I loved school!

Since I expect August will be the busiest in the War Room Challenge, I have gotten the thread page up early.

Here it is as we delve in to World War II

https://www.librarything.com/topic/362285

>222 PaulCranswick: haha, the only reason i dont like school is the amount of schoolwork

>224 Owltherian: Seems a fairly light burden to me these days.

>225 PaulCranswick: yeah, thankfully i have no honors classes, although they may sneak up on me haha

>225 PaulCranswick: I have arbitration witness preparation from Wednesday and a High Court appeal dismissal of an Adjudication Award on Friday. Two Subcontract Adjudication Claims to respond to and it is a normal week for me!!

>227 PaulCranswick: yeesh- sounds busy

>228 Owltherian: I don't mind busy, Lily, but it is fraught and stressful. If I lose all the cases there is something approaching $18 million at stake.

>223 PaulCranswick: For the War Room in August I have the (not again!) ambitious plan to read eight books for the challenge as follows:

4 Non-Fiction
4 Fiction

Non-Fiction -
The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang
The War Diaries of Alanbrooke by Lord Alanbrooke
The Grand Alliance by Winston Churchill
Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor

Fiction -
A Farewell to France by Noel Barber
The Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron
Bomber by Len Deighton
The Last Green Valley by Mark Sullivan

The Alanbrooke will be a shared read with Stasia and is, in fact, the book which prompted us to talk about doing this challenge in 2024.

I also want to read Chess Story as part of our monthly Memoriam reads for Anita.

Jeffrey Lent's Lost Nation should fit AAC which I need to catch up with.

>229 PaulCranswick: Wow, thats a lot of money at stake

>231 Owltherian: Yeah and the week will build in tension for sure.

>232 PaulCranswick: i bet it will

>165 PaulCranswick: I loved Glorious Exploits. I was so glad that that one won rather than The Ministry of Time (also on the shortlist) which I thought was pretty formulaic.

>234 SandDune: I have now two people whose views I respect sing the praises of Glorious Exploits. It is definitely on my hitlist!

The August BAC thread is up.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/362308

>236 amanda4242: Thanks Amanda. It is pretty clear what I will be reading for it. The Grand Alliance by Churchill is on my reading table already.

BOOK #57



Berlin Cantata by Jeffrey Lewis
Date of Publication : 2012
Origin of Author : USA
Gender of Author : Male
Pages : 248 pp
Challenges : 150 Y Challenge 49/150

Convoluted and with too many threads and sub-plots I eventually lost the point of this and my interest waned in consequence.

Lewis can clearly write and there were some very vivid scenes drawn here and the premise of the story was a good one. That said there were simply too many voices here talking over each other to allow a coherent novel to emerge.

Not recommended.

>1 PaulCranswick: A little late to the thread, but Happy New Thread!!

>239 ocgreg34: Never too late, Greg. Thank you, buddy.

>209 PaulCranswick: Have indeed squeezed out 100 21st C books from the second half of my catalogue. Probably more, but not many, in the first half, catalogued 2012-13. So as you can see, I generally like to wait until a book has demonstrated lasting value, unless it’s a new mystery story by an author I enjoy or similar known quantity. I have read recent books I would otherwise pass by for reading challenges, and, in the past, for book clubs. Often read along with a friend who belongs to a high-stakes book club and needs talking points to stay competitive. Ratio of worthwhile reads to second-rate wastes of time in these situations is about 50-50, so I’m okay with waiting for the critical dust to settle, as a rule.

>241 booksaplenty1949: I think that I have read less books in a state of immediacy than many in the group as there is a slight lag in book availability here in many instances.

I do like certain book awards which has informed my reading a little in the last decade or so.

The Booker Prize Longlist has been announced for 2024 and there are some surprises as well as some obviously expected ones :

https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/prize-years/2024

Wild Houses by Colin Barrett
Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel
James by Percival Everett
Orbital by Samantha Harvey
Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
My Friends by Hisham Matar
This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud
Held by Anne Michaels
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
Enlightenment by Sarah Perry
Playground by Richard Powers
Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden

I currently own three of them; Barrett, Bullwinkel and Wood.
Percival Everett seems to be the overwhelming favourite.

I am extremely unhappy at the lack of British and Commonwealth representation on the list (well in the minority).

The US writers have their own prizes in which others are excluded and the Booker should not have been extended to them. Six US authors compared to three British is not acceptable as far as I am concerned and one of the three Brits is American born to Libyan parents. My comments have nothing to do with the merits of the books themselves but of an industry and a culture needing to protect itself. Authors from New Zealand, Australia and Africa get only Charlotte Wood (who almost certainly won't be shortlisted) when the Prize traditionally provided a much needed platform for authors from these places. Alexis Wright and Chigozie Obioma in particular must be frustrated.

Surprise omissions include
Andrew O'Hagan
Chigozie Obioma
Alexis Wright
Alan Murrin
Ferdia Lennon

>243 PaulCranswick:, All valid points Paul. I was really surprised by a couple of the US authors that made the list. A book has to be sold in Great Britain to be considered. Where are the judges from?

>244 Kristelh: Yiyun Li the Chinese author now based in the USA.
Edmund de Waal British art historian with Dutch antecedents
Nitin Sawney, British DJ and composer
Sara Collins, Jamaican novelist
Justine Jordan, Guardian literary editor.

It isn't the Judges, it is the rules.

>243 PaulCranswick: I'm particularly outraged about Ferdia Lennon's omission, as you might imagine, given that Glorious Exploits is all but a lock for my 2024 6-stars-of-five spot. Caledonian Road really leaves a hole in the list, IMO, and the inclusion of Claire Messud is...well...not well-advised.

Not my idea of a Booker Prize list.

>246 richardderus: I did think of you, RD, when I saw that Ferdia Lennon was not on there. I have never read anything by Claire Messud so I cannot comment really but she has never really gotten me excited looking at the blurb on her books.

>243 PaulCranswick: I remember the first time I volunteered at the Auckland Writers' Festival many years back and the festival hosted all the regional Commonwealth Writers' Prize winners, a real treat. Such a shame that that prize was reduced to a short story competition, it gave exposure to many worthy books and writers. Another archive to dig into to find a decent read.

There is no good argument for inclusion of US writers to the Booker Prize.

>246 richardderus: I must have heard about Glorious Exploits some time ago as it was already in my library request list. Also have The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden on library request.

I'm looking forward to the War Challenge next month, Paul. It's a good excuse to grab some of those WWII books off my shelves.

>248 avatiakh: Prizes, with the possible exception of the Nobel, are about marketing and sales. Not that the Nobel is about first rate literature, by any means, but not specifically a marketing initiative.

>248 avatiakh: I agree, Kerry, that the Commonwealth writers prize with its regional winners was a wonderful platform for writers to emerge - such a shame it is gone.

>249 Familyhistorian: Indeed Meg, I am also trying to get 8 of them done next month.

>250 booksaplenty1949: Yes that is true and it is another reason why the Booker should pay fair attention to writers from the Commonwealth. The USA writers have their prizes in the US to help market them. British publishers don't need to help that process further to the exclusion of British, Irish and Commonwealth authors.

As the publishing houses combine to the point where Penguin-Random-Viking etc controls everything the distinction between a British book and an American book is meaningless from a marketing perspective.

I'm quite happy with the Booker Long List , Paul. I'm really enjoying My Friends by Hisham Matar, which I am nearly finished. Next up is This Strange History as I have it out from the library.

>247 PaulCranswick:, >248 avatiakh: It's a wonderful read. And I agree, there is absolutely no compelling reason to include US writers in the Booker pool.

>253 booksaplenty1949: Doesn't mean that I have to like it though, does it?

>254 vancouverdeb: I have no comments on the quality of the books (yet!), Deb. Only that the rule change to include USA authors is not to the longer term benefits of Commonwealth authors. I wouldn't include them for sure, but I will happily read the books nonetheless!

>255 richardderus: Without the six US authors I do wonder what they would have included:

Ferdia Lennon
Chidozie Obioma
Alan Murrin
Alexis Wright
Chukwuebuka Ibeh
Andrew O'Hagan

Would have been a strong group to have included instead and it would have promoted talented authors who do not have the same access to prizes as their American counterparts.

BOOK #58



The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld
Date of Publication : 2020
Origin of Author : UK (brought up in Australia)
Gender of Author : Female
Pages : 359 pp
Challenges : 150Y Challenge 50/150

Parts of this were very good.

She is an excellent prose stylist creates convincing characters and puts together sound plotlines. And yet.......

This is a novel where three separate but linked storylines are melded together and the problem I have with this type of work is that there is always one storyline I much prefer and one I don't much care for.

Telling 3 women's stories over a two hundred year period and at the same time exposing the cruelty of men and their inherent misogyny doesn't quite work for me.

Mildly recommended.

>256 PaulCranswick: Of course not. The concentration of the publishing business into fewer and fewer hands is, I believe, detrimental to authors and their readers in many ways.

Hopelessly behind on your thread(s), but Hi!! And Happy August. : )

>238 PaulCranswick: One I can clearly skip. Thanks for taking one for the team, Paul.

>243 PaulCranswick: I posted the longlist on my thread as well. My local library has a couple of them, but I have not read a single title on the list yet.

>259 booksaplenty1949: Yes I would agree with that but some independent publishers especially for translated fiction are doing a great job.

>260 Berly: KIMMERS! Lovely to see you dear lady.

>261 alcottacre: I haven't read any of them either but I have three of them on the shelves.

>204 PaulCranswick: Paul, I love your alternate Best of the 21st Century list. I have read and loved 49 of them. I was surprised to see a few titles that were unfamiliar to me. Guess I need to do some homework. ;-)

>264 Donna828: We can of course, Donna, only include what we have read and there are so many books I haven't yet gotten to and therefore couldn't include.

I need to read a bit faster!

>265 PaulCranswick: https://www.economist.com/interactive/graphic-detail/2024/07/26/how-long-would-i... This article gives the reading time the average reader would need to finish each of the so-called 500 Greatest Books of All Time, although it uses audiobook length to calculate reading time, and I think most of us would agree that we read silently much faster than the time it takes to listen to a book. Article notes, in passing that (just) half of all Americans read at least one book a year. And they read, on average, 11 books a year in total.

>266 booksaplenty1949: We have a couple of our number could get through them all in one year.

>267 PaulCranswick: No doubt. Apparently average American reads (anything) 15 minutes a day, so this would be a literal “Lifetime Reading Plan.”

>268 booksaplenty1949: Hahaha 15 minutes - it takes me that to decide what I'm going to read at all.

>269 PaulCranswick: As I have mentioned before, I grew up in a household where reading 15 minutes an hour on average was more like it.

>267 PaulCranswick: I doubt I'd be able to make it through some of them because they would be Pearl-ruled. However, at my present reading rate, it would take 4 to 5 years. If I could go back a few years, I could crank them out in 2 years, but I'd have to give up cross-stitch, and I don't want to do that.

>263 PaulCranswick: Well, you are doing better than I am since I do not own any of them at all.

>270 booksaplenty1949: I wasn't in the same situation. My mum read a little, my twin and my father not at all. My sister was dyslexic but read far more than the two of them combined.

>271 thornton37814: I am not very adept at Pearl ruling once I start something Lori but they would take me an age to get through and would be left to moulder a time or two before I finally get them across the line to mix metaphors quite shamefully.

>272 alcottacre: As you will see from my Friday purchases when I eventually get them up, I now have four of them.

>273 PaulCranswick: My sister never cracked a book. It left her a bit of a family outlier.

>258 PaulCranswick: I so disliked her after reading that after-the-fire...thing...I've rejected her Aussie publisher's offers of DRCs. Nope from moi.

>275 booksaplenty1949: Isn't it funny? As far as I know the only book that my brother has ever read was about the snooker player Steve Davis back when he wanted to be a snooker player.

>276 richardderus: I didn't exactly hate the book, RD, but I didn't like it a great deal either.