Elkiedee Tries Again - Reads, Reviews and Rants for 2022

I'm Luci. I was born and mostly brought up in Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the North of England, but migrated to London in summer 1995. I live in Tottenham, north east London with my partner, a pet teenager and an almost-teenager (just a month to go).

I joined LT towards the end of 2009 and started cataloguing my books and recording what I was actually reading.

I like to read a variety of books, including crime fiction, historical fiction, chicklit and henlit, classic and newer literary fiction and reprints. Also children's and young adult fiction. In non-fiction, I like memoirs, autobiographies (and related books such as collected letters and diaries) and literary/historical biography. I also like history, particularly social history, women's history and books about people involved in various struggles - eg socialism, trade union activity, struggles for women's rights, against racism and oppression etc etc.

I borrow, request review copies and buy far more books than I can actually read, and suspect I would need to live at least another 52 years to get through the books I've collected, and I may well want to reread a lot of them too!

I borrow print books and now ebooks and a few e-audio books from the library, I get some review copies, at the moment nearly all egalleys from Netgalley, but in the past some print books as well from various sources. I also buy a ridiculous number of Kindle books - mostly when they're on offer at low prices - and I love to explore charity shops, bookstalls, book exchanges etc. I also take up chances to replace some of my dead tree books by Kindle and to buy my own ebook copy of books I originally borrowed from the library.

Here's a key to abbreviations on my reading lists - these relate to the source and format of the book. I sometimes acquire my own copy of a book after or, several times recently, in the middle of reading it. Or I borrow a library copy for illustrations, page numbers, detailed endnotes or other content that makes it easier/better to read in a different format, so I will try to indicate the source of the electronic/print copy I actually read:

R - Review copy
N - Netgalley for review
V - Vine for review
L - Library loan
E - Ebook (library)
A - E-audio book
O - own collection
K - Kindle
P - Print (paperback or hardback)

Reading resolutions for 2022

1. To read more books - including books I've had out of the library for a long time and ones I bought several decades ago, but also some of the tempting new books that come out all the time

2. To write about my reading more, whether a proper review or notes here on LT or another social media source, or anything in between

3. To maintain variety and diversity in my reading - of authors, genres, forms of writing

4. To follow what others are reading and share thoughts, ideas, recommendations etc

5 To play more with the LibraryThing Lists feature

6. More shared reads - through the 75 group, LT friends and interesting people who share their thoughts about their reading in other groups, my library RL reading group and other social media, eg Mumsnet What We're Reading threads

7. To read some poetry. I am probably going to keep a list here of individual poems read and sources - if I read a whole poetry collection as I might a novel/short story collection I will record it in the normal way.

CURRENT READING AT THE START OF 2022

These are all books I started but didn't finish (though I had read most of the first two by midnight on 31 December) in 2021.

Jane Lovering, A Midwinter Match - finished 02.01.22
Sara Nisha Adams, The Reading List - finished 02.01.22
John Sutherland, Monica Jones, Philip Larkin and Me - finished 03.01.22
Jennifer Donnelly, Stepsister - finished 07.01.22
Katherine Heiny, Standard Deviation - finished 08.01.22
Kiley Reid, Such a Fun Age
Soho Crime anthology, The Usual Santas
Robin Stevens, Murder Most Unladylike - finished 12.01.22
Stef Penney, The Tenderness of Wolves
C L R James, Minty Alley
Marian Keyes, Grown Ups

READ in 2022 PART 1

01. 02.01.22 Jane Lovering, A Midwinter Match (4.2) 272 pp R, N, K

02. 02,01.22 Sara Nisha Adams, The Reading List (3.9) 592 pp L. E. K

03. 03.01.22 Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These (4.5) 112 pp L. E

04. 03.01.22 Sally Rooney, Mr Salary (4.4) 27 pp SS - L, E

05. 03.01.22 Christina Wood, A Summer Party (3.8) 7 pp SS - M L E

06, 03.01.22 John Sutherland, Monica Jones, Philip Larkin and Me (4.2) 279 pp L, P

07. 06.01.22 Jennifer Donnelly, Stepsister (4.0) 474 pp L, K

08. 08.01.22 Katherine Heiny, Standard Deviation (4.2) 320 pp R, V, K

09. 12.01.22 Robin Stevens, Murder Most Unladylike (4.0) 326 pp L, P, K

10. 15.01.22 Kiley Reid, Such a Fun Age (4.4) 312 pp K

11, 17.01.22 Hannah Kent, Devotion (4.7) 420 pp R, N

12. 18.01.22 C L R James, Minty Alley (3.9) 266 pp L, P

13. 19.01.22 Elizabeth George, (3.8) The Mysterious Disappearance of the Reluctant Book Fairy 93 pp SS - L, E

14, 26.01.22 Samantha Silva, Love and Fury

15. 26.01.22 Ann Patchett, These Precious Days: Essays

Key to abbreviations: see end of >1 elkiedee:

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

Some LT lists to play with

22 LT users so far, including several 75 group regulars, please come and play!
https://www.librarything.com/list/43398/all/Books-Read-in-2022

My list to start keeping track of my Netgalley reads - books I've read and TBR, even a couple that I've actually reviewed - a work in progress. Other Netgalley users are welcome to create their own lists here
https://www.librarything.com/list/43007/all/Netgalley-Reads

Amazon Vine reads - books I've read and TBR, some that I've actually reviewed - a work in progress. Other Amazon Vine participants are welcome to create their own lists here
https://www.librarything.com/list/42898/all/Vine-Reads

Reading plans, ideas, wishlist, whatever - I have one guest so far, would love to see some of you share here. Or create your own list(s) and invite me, please!
https://www.librarything.com/list/43268/all/Maybe-This-Year-Books-to-Look-Forwar...
My list includes books from my TBRs, books that I want to read if I can borrow or buy a copy, new and forthcoming books.

Happy new reading year!

01. 02.01.22 Jane Lovering, A Midwinter Match 4.2 272 pp R, N, K

02. 02,01.22 Sara Nisha Adams, The Reading List 3.9 592 pp L. E. K

03. Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These Read 03.01.22
Library ebook borrowed from Camden Libraries 112 pages
Faber & Faber 2021

Set in December 1985 in a small town in the Irish Republic, perhaps near the border with Northern Ireland. A local small business owner and family man learns something really shocking while he is delivering fuel (coal/timber) to the convent, as he encounters young women living there, one looking for help to escape, one worrying about her baby who she has been separated from.

When he starts to ask questions and become very uneasy about what is happening, his wife and neighbours remind him of all the reasons not to ask too many questions and upset the nuns - they are good customers, and they have the power to decide on admissions to the only good school for girls in town and determine the futures of Furlong's five daughters. Furlong, however, was himself born outside marriage to a domestic servant who was allowed to keep her child, job and hope by her employer at the big house, a wealthy Protestant widow. He wants to help these girls somehow.

This novella set in the all too recent past is a moving and thought provoking story inspired by the scandal of the Magdalen Laundries in 20th century Ireland.

Rating 4.5*

04. Sally Rooney, Mr Salary Read 03.01.22
Library ebook borrowed from Lambeth Libraries 27 pages
Faber & Faber, first published 2016 in Granta

This is a sort of reread for me - I've been looking for a copy of the story to read for a while. I listened to a very good audio reading also borrowed from a digital library collection last year, but wanted to read as well as listen.

Like her other work, this is a story of changing relationships, observations and reflections. Sukie comes back to Dublin from the US to visit her dying father in hospital and also to see Nathan. Is he a friend, replacement family figure or something else? I had forgotten that the story takes place around Christmas but I think that's because the festive season isn't really central to the story.

I enjoy Sally Rooney's stories about ambiguous relationships and all the confusions that come with them, and really this deftly observed short work. I'm grateful to digital libraries for the chances they offer to read short stories.

Rating 4.4*

>6 elkiedee: I have added my list of targeted January reads

>12 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul. I look forward to seeing what you make of the ones that I've already read, and the ones that I might read quite soon as well.

I've reviewed 2 of my reads, both quite short, because they are digital library loans and both had other readers waiting on them.

Poetry for 2022

03.01.22 Cathy Song, April Moon (Poem-A-Day email sub)

05. Christina Wood, The Summer Party Read 03.01.22
Short story from The Paris Review 237 Summer 2021 7 pages
Magazine borrowed from Barnet Libraries digital collection

Short story from Paris Review magazine about a child watching her parents and their friends at a party.

Rating: 3.8*

06. John Sutherland, Monica Jones, Philip Larkin and Me: Her Life and Long Loves Finished 03.01.22
Library book borrowed from Islington Libraries 279 pages
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2021

Monica Jones was Philip Larkin's girlfriend for many years, though they only lived together for a few years before his death in 1985 from cancer of the oesophagus, when both were affected by the years of heavy drinking and smoking. This is a biographical memoir by a former student/colleague/friend, now a retired professor and well known .literary critic. This is an interesting hybrid of a thoroughly researched biography with the personal reminiscences, which is a juggling act but it works quite well here,

Previous portrayals I've heard/watched/read of Monica Jones have portrayed her as a rather unpleasant, racist alcoholic, and someone who distracted Larkin from his poetic callings, rather sexist perspectives often assisted by Philip Larkin's other friends such as Kingsley Amis, who satirised Monica in his novel Lucky Jim.

Sutherland uses letters etc to build a portrait of a real woman, very intelligent and funny as well as often lonely, contradictory and difficult. She was appointed as a lecturer in English Literature at Leicester University within a few years of graduating, but refused to write and publish or play the various games required of anyone wanting a glowing academic career. Sutherland's viewpoint suggests she was a really good lecturer/tutor who was given a very high load of lectures, students to tutor and supervise etc. She got on well with her original boss but not with his replacement. There are lots of academics in my family and among my parents' friends etc so I find all this very believable. Then there are lots of anecdotes about drinking and the periods when she had a more fun social life apart from Larkin. Despite being quite racist and reactionary, one of her good friends and proteges for some time was a young Indian Marxist academic called Dipak Nandy, who went on to found the Runnymede Trust and have a daughter from his second marriage who is now a Labour MP (Lisa Nandy).

Sutherland does try to take on the less attractive aspects of Monica Jones' character such as her quite explicit racism, alongside the misanthropy her lover is famed for, and says that he now feels ashamed that as a young man he didn't question some of her more obnoxious comments. He doesn't say it but I got the impression that the troubled couple at the centre of this story rather brought out the worst in each other. Larkin was never faithful to her and had two long running significant relationships, one with his librarian colleague and subordinate Maeve Brennan, and one with his secretary Betty. One of Sutherland's journalist/writer friends Rachel Cooke apparently suggested that Larkin's treatment of Monica Jones at times amounted to coercive control.

Overall, a really interesting and thoughtful read.

Rating 4.2*

Happy reading in 2022, Luci!

I am using the Books read in 2022 list, the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list, and a few others.

Hoping to follow along for an interesting year's reading.

Hope your 2022 is filled with lots of good books!

07. Jennifer Donnelly, Stepsister Finished 06.01.22
Library book borrowed from Haringey Libraries, and Kindle purchase 23.08.19 476 pages
Hot Key Books, paperback, published 15.05.19

08. Katherine Heiny, Standard Deviation Finished 08.01.22
Amazon Vine for review and Kindle purchase, acquired 12.02.17, 320 pages
Fourth Estate, published 23.05.17

Sad to hear that Ronnie Spector has died aged 78:

- She is probably best known as a Ronette
- She survived marriage to Phil Spector though he did constantly try to block her later career with legal proceedings
- in later years she several times paid tribute to female singers and musicians who had been inspired by her previously, including Amy Winehouse

I heard of her when she covered this song by singer songwriter Amy Rigby

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qghWmbNbsIU

09. Robin Stevens, Murder Most Unladylike Finished 12.01.22
Kindle purchase acquired 01.04.18 and library loan, 326 pages
Puffin Books

Enjoyable story, but would have missed some very important bits on Kindle only as it includes a lot of handwritten notes from the main characters which are reproduced as pictures - I hate it when publishers do this (not only with children's books) as they're not readable in this format. Also no page numbers in Kindle edition.

>23 elkiedee: Good reading start, Luci.

Most interested in the book about Larkin (at least in part). Never seemed a terribly nice fellow but I really enjoyed some of his poetry although his output was not particularly spectacular.

>2 elkiedee: Love your reading resolutions, Luci! Good luck with them.

10. 15.01.22 Kiley Reid, Such a Fun Age (4.4) 312 pp K

11, 17.01.22 Hannah Kent, Devotion (4.7) 420 pp R, N

12. 18.01.22 C L R James, Minty Alley 266 pp L, P

Rating: 3.9*

13. 19.01.22 Elizabeth George, The Mysterious Disappearance of the Reluctant Book Fairy Read 19.01.
Library ebook borrowed from Westminster Libraries 93 pages
Mysterious Press/Head of Zeus 2014/2015

This short story comes from a collection published in various forms, both individually and in collections under the titles Bibliomysteries (US, Mysterious Bokshop and imprint Mysterious Press) and Death Sentences (UK: Head of Zeus). I borrowed this from a library as a standalone ebook.

This isn't part of Elizabeth George's well known and UK set Lynley and Havers police detective series, and it isn't really a story about crime and murder or detection per se, but a quirky caper story which will appeal to many crime fiction fans, about a woman with special powers to help others escape into the world of books. Like other stories in this series, the humour is for bibliophiles -with lots of literary references and allusions for readers in the know.

Good fun for readers who fall into the target audience (like me).

Rating: 3.8*

I was sad to read earlier today that US crime fiction writer G M Ford died on 1 December 2021, aged 76, and that it has taken so long for me to hear of it. His Wikipedia entry still hasn't been updated.

His first series character is called Leo Waterman, and after hearing him speak at several events but also a lot of crime fiction friends on 4 Mystery Addicts email discussion group talk about his work, I'd bought several books in paperback but still haven't read any of them more than 15 years later, just a short story featuring Leo Waterman in an anthology, which I enjoyed (perhaps it was in Seattle Noir. I read and loved the first 2 or 3 of his crime thriller series featuring Frank Corso and bought the others. Then I was distracted from reading all the books I stacked up during those years of going to lots of crime fiction conventions and events, G M Ford returned to writing about Leo Waterman but seems to have lost his publisher and started bringing out his books via Amazon imprints.

I have the impression that in recent years he and his wife were a bit cut off from former friends and what was going on in the world, from some slightly odd and disturbing social media posts and because posts about his death from others suggest that no one had actually met or talked to him recently. She published a really interesting book called Hillbilly Women in the 1970s as Kathy Kahn, which I read as a teenager from my mum's bookshelves, and a couple of other non fiction books (oral history/interviews with working class people) and then has published crime novels as (Kathleen) Skye Moody.

It's a bit sad that so many writers of enjoyable books seem to stop being published or stop writing and then disappear. A few weeks ago I found out that a woman I'd been wondering and worrying about had indeed died in 2019, but I could find lots of references to her online but nearly all over 10 years old. Her name was Marianne Macdonald and she wrote children's books and a crime series for adults featuring Dido Hoare, a secondhand bookseller in North London. She lived a few miles away from me and we had a mutual friend who died of cancer in 2009.

Meat Loaf, famous for songs with a wonderfully melodramatic story line, has died aged 74. As well as Bat Out of Hell, as a teenager I really enjoyed Dead Ringer for Love - I still quite enjoy it.

Missing you here these last couple of weeks, Luci.

Hope all is well.

Thank you for your post Paul. I've been a bit distracted.

However, on Saturday I came across something I find very difficult on LT. I tried raising my concern on an LT discussion group. Apparently it's tongue in cheek. My response is: if this is humour and I'm suffering from sense of humour failure, LibraryThing doesn't feel like a comfortable place to hang out online.

I'm hoping for a response less dismissive than those on the LibraryThing discussion group.

I looked last night at a List of Best Alternate History started a few years ago on LT, and there may be questions about other books but I think they are down to a matter of opinion. But I was disturbed to see a rather notorious book, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, included as "alternate history". My understanding is that this book wasn't written as fiction, even of a propagandist kind, but also, the "explanation" of including it is the most offensive thing in this.

I am quoting, below, to illustrate why I'm upset.

Does LT have policy on matters of this nature.

...............................................................................................................

I am further troubled by the explanation, "Describes the what-if Jewish plan for global domination. Would you fight for your belief in Santa Claus?"

>33 elkiedee: Eeek I don't know which group was discussing this but I am extremely sensitive to issues of religion, Luci.

I called out a friend in the group a few years ago who stated that there was no discernible difference between barbarism and islam. When I enquired whether she then considered me to be a barbarian I was met with silence and a refusal to answer.

As you know I am very much an advocate of free speech but when it is geared towards hatred and crass prejudice I get a little upset by it.

My advice would be never to run from those who do this sort of thing as good people usually stand together. x

>34 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul, I appreciate your response and find it more helfpul than some.

>35 elkiedee: (((((HUGS)))))

>33 elkiedee: Golly. I think the collaborative nature of LT makes this kind of behaviour difficult to manage. When a book is added to a list we work on the assumption that it fits the definition of the list in some way. There is no room for "having a laugh" or however it is phrased; we have to take the information that is implied on trust. Difference of opinions exist, but even that assumes that the book was added in good faith.

There are several books added by the individual onto that list, and I find the nature of the comments for most of them to be disconcerting, at least. What ability there is to do anything about any of this, I know not. A book can be voted down, but, as far as I know, it doesn't leave the list once added.

The thing about the "it was a joke" defence is it has to have actually have been funny to more than just the originator and their cabal in the first place. I fail to see anything very amusing here. None of which is use or ornament. Sorry.

I don't get why someone felt like they should spoil something useful for everyone either by inserting an unfunny joke or by actually meaning it. Like Paul, I support free speech pretty broadly, but I'm also allowed to speak against it too. I found the thread and saw that Tim is aware of the situation - hopefully, he'll figure out a path to resolve this.

>37 Helenliz: & >38 drneutron: I don't know what thread we are talking about but that does seem more than a bit disturbing.

It's over in Talk about LibraryThing

https://www.librarything.com/topic/339383

Thank you all. Even if other LT members or even those who run the site don't agree, I feel like you guys are actually hearing what I'm saying and that is helpful. And >37 Helenliz: what you say about humour is very much my point.

I think you could add books to a list and make jokes about them, but this doesn't sound like a joke.

>27 elkiedee: I am going to have to track down a copy of that one. I recently read Kent's The Good People and loved it.

>41 elkiedee: No, it does not sound like a joke and frankly, I am appalled that anyone (joking or not) would think it a good thing to recommend.

>42 alcottacre: Pretty sure it was no joke. I went to the person's home page and it was a bit chilling to be honest with some quite racist claptrap on his "about me" bit. Luci was brave in tackling this and a few of us did say a few words in the chat she set up to discuss it.

And ultimately Luci was successful in that the fellow was removed from the site. Well done!!!

Everybody in this group knows that I am very vocal against censorship but I fully support his removal - no place anywhere in civilised society for racial or ethnic hatreds.

>43 PaulCranswick: Everybody in this group knows that I am very vocal against censorship but I fully support his removal - no place anywhere in civilised society for racial or ethnic hatreds.

I have no qualms about this at all. I completely agree with your sentiments, Paul. I am glad I never took a look at the original poster's home page.

Thanks for your comments Stasia, and thanks again for all your support, Paul. I'm also very grateful to Norabelle and others for arguing further on this. I think that on social media of all kinds it's good to learn to make yourself step away and then come back when you're ready, I have unstarred the thread so that it's not among first things that I see on LT. but I can find it again by looking via the "Your Posts" option instead, and I will.

And someone has added a whole bunch of intriguing titles to my interesting titles books.

>45 elkiedee: I was proud of you.

READ IN 2022 PART 2

16. 27.01.22 Daniel Beer, The House of the Dead: Siberian Exile Under the Tsars (3.9)

17. 01.02.22 Soho Crime anthology, The Usual Santas: A Collection of Soho Christmas Crime Capers

18. 07.02.22 Sara Paretsky, Dead Land (4.1)

19. 10.02.22 Stef Penny, The Tenderness of Wolves (4.1)

20. 15,02.22 Sarah Hall, Burntcoat (4.6)

21. 15,02.22 Kevin Barry, That Old Country Music (3.5)

22. 16,02,22 Janice Hadlow, The Other Bennet Sister (3.5)

23. 17,02,22 Sam Selvon, The Housing Lark (4.1)

24. 26,92,22 Anne Sebba, Ethel Rosenberg: A Cold War Tragedy (4.6)

25. 28,02,22 Anuk Arudpragasam, A Passage North (3.4)

26, 04.03.22 Barbara Sleigh, Carbonel (4.2)

27. 11.03.22 Bernardine Evaristo, Manifesto: On Never Giving Up (4.1)

28. 14.03.22 Denise Mina, Every Seven Years (3.9)

29. 26.03.22 Marian Keyes, Grown Ups (4.0)

30. 10.04.22 Rebecca Solnit, Orwell's Roses (3.9)

>47 elkiedee: Nice to see you posting, Luci. Did you like Claire Keegan so much you re-read within days?

No, I've not reread it though I may do so at some point, I wanted to keep a similar layout for my Part II (16-30) of this year's reading as for Part I (-.15).

14. Samantha Silva, Love and Fury finished 26.01.22
Netgalley 290 pages
Allison & Busby 2021

15. Ann Patchett, These Precious Days: Essays Finished 26.01.22
Library ebook borrowed from Islington Libraries 519 pages
Bloomsbury 2021

This is really a memoir of a writer's life in essay collection form - a number of the pieces have been previously published online or in periodicals etc. The arrangement isn't chronological but they follow on very well from one subject to the next, as Patchett writes about her life, writing, books, relationships with family, her husband and friends etc. Patchett has written an earlier memoir

I particularly liked the opening essay, My Three Fathers. Patchett's mum has been married three times and this is about Patchett's father and stepfathers, all of whom have been important in her life. I really identify with this as I have a number of step parents who have been quite special and valued figures for me. This piece is illustrated by a picture of the three men posed together at Patchett's sister's wedding, at Patchett's request. This is full of love, warmth and humour and wonderful portraits of these men as characters in Patchett's life and the roles they played. At some point I'd like to look at a hardback copy to see better the photograph that illustrates the piece, of Patchett's 3 fathers posed together at a wedding - one of them remarked that Patchett wanted a picture because she clearly planned to write about them.

As I read and enjoyed her most recent novel The Dutch House I was also interested to read about her writing process and the developments and changes in the story in another essay here.

Towards the end of the book Patchett two of the last 3 essays tell the story of a woman who became a very dear and beloved friend, and I found these very moving.

Rating 4.7*

I was sad to hear on Monday that Jan Pienkowski, illustrator/creator of 140 books, mainly aimed at children (and those who share books with them!), has died at 85.

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/feb/20/jan-pienkowski-obituary

As a small child I remember his illustrations for A Necklace of Raindrops and The Kingdom Under the Sea, short stories written by Joan Aiken, but many of the stories in these volumes were based on and inspired by eastern European folk tales including those about Baba Yaga.

When my boys were little I really enjoyed reading the Meg and Mog stories to them - these are rather less scary witch stories - I think they are also about a quirky little family, in which Meg, a witch, acts as mother to her cat Mog and her owl (simply called Owl). These are very much picture books in which the pictures are as essential as the words, and they show a really brilliant creative collaboration. I hadn't realised that Pienkowski and his partner David Walser produced more Meg & Mog books after Helen Nicholls died a few years ago - since I don't think my now teenagers would be impressed by these as presents I might have to get them for my youngest nephews (or for my new stepniece!)

>52 elkiedee: Jacob liked Meg and Mog too. And I really liked his Haunted House.

16. 27.01.22 Daniel Beer, The House of the Dead: Siberian Exile Under the Tsars (3,9)

17. 01.02.22 Soho Crime anthology, The Usual Santas: A Collection of Soho Christmas Crime Capers

18. 07.02.22 Sara Paretsky, Dead Land (4.1)

19. 10.02.22 Stef Penny, The Tenderness of Wolves (4.1)

20. 15,02.22 Sarah Hall, Burntcoat finshed 15.02.22
Library book, 212 pages
Faber & Faber, 2021

This is a short, intense novel. Edith looks back on her life, including growing up with her mother, who nearly died when Edith was a child but recovered enough to keep her daughter with her after her husband leaves. Edith eventually built her own life as an artist.

Central to her story is a love affair with Halit, a man who has settled here after being forced into exile. But the lovers haven't been together long at the start of a pandemic, and a society hit by crisis, fear and food shortages, and xenophobia.

I think this novel will be one of the best books I've read this year, but it isn't always easy reading, with very explicit descriptions of sex and illness. Edith is looking back several decades later, and Sarah Hall in this story imagines a situation in which things got much, much worse, though eventually there was some return to a new normal. This is a book that people should read, if they want to, in a time and place when they are ready for it.

Rating: 4.6 *

21. 15,02.22 Kevin Barry, That Old Country Music (3.5) Finished 15.02.22
Library ebook, 208 pages
Canongate 2020

This is Kevin Barry's 3rd collection of short stories, set in small town and rural Irelansd. I have a couple of his novels TBR but this is the first book by Kevin Barry I've actually read. I thought many of the stories were about people looking for a way to deal with loneliness by making connections with others. in The Coast ofitrim, Seamus is attracted to a Polish woman working in a cafe in town, and asks her out, but the idea of a relationship after being on his own for some time is kind of scary. In Roma Kid, a girl runs away from the responsibility of looking after her little brothers and finds a new life with an informal adoptive father figure.

These and other stories in the collection are interesting, but the characters remain a little too shadowy and mysterious for me.

22. 16,02,22 Janice Hadlow, The Other Bennet Sister (3.5)

23. 17,02,22 Sam Selvon, The Housing Lark
Library ebook, 206 pages
Penguin Modern Classics, first published 1965

A short novel about a group of young Caribbean migrants (mostly from Trinidad, like the author) living in London in private rented accommodation, who struggle to find the rent , who dream of getting together the money to pay the deposit and start to buy their own house, with more space for all to live in.

The story is told from several alternating viewpoints, though clearly Battersby and his sister Jean are the central and most memorable characters. The racism and other issues they face is shown, and the characters dream of how they can improve their luck, but the tone is quite witty and entertaining. I thought Selvon's portrayal of how the women in the novel realise they have to really take charge of collecting up the money and taking charge of things if it's not to be squandered on cigarettes, alcohol, cannabis, girlfriends and general frivolity. Even in such a short book, characters who might have just been caricatures, female as well as male, felt quite real.

Rating: 4.1*

24. Anne Sebba, Ethel Rosenberg: A Cold War Tragedy Finished 28.02.22
Library hardback, 278 pages + photos
16 pages of black and white photographic plates, endnotes and index
Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2021

I've wanted to know more about the story of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, executed in 1953 for espionage for many years, so was keen to read this book when I heard of it. Anne Sebba focuses on the life of Ethel and the trial which led to her conviction and death. I wasn't sure to expect, as I was a little bit disappointed by the other Anne Sebba book which I've read, The Parisiennes, and Sebba's previous writing CV included Britain's more conservative broadsheet newspapers and magazines and books about wealthy and rather right wing socialites.

I was particularly interested in Sebba's portrait of Ethel Greenglass's early life, her family, schooling and life as a factory worker, trade union activist and talented singer/musician. However, after marrying Julius Rosenberg, she seems to have settled into a very traditional wife and mother role, reading child rearing and psychology books for guidance on the best way to bring up a challenging young son and deal with the issues they faced. I found this quite sad and frustrating, as I think the author perhaps did from a 20th century feminist perspective. Other 50s leftist American women perhaps pushed the boundaries of traditional roles more, but then, that may just be the women whose lives and experiences are better documented (by themselves or others) because they wrote or were reported on. Of course Ethel Rosenberg attracted lots of newspaper coverage but it was mostly extremely hostile.

Overall, this is a very interesting exploration of how Ethel Rosenberg came to be executed for espionage in favour of the Soviet Union, including research into her husband and family, the difficult issues of how the children might be raised by a family who didn't hate their parents. In this case at least they were adopted together by a supportive and loving couple - their adoptive father was the author of the poem Strange Fruit, about lynching, made famous when recorded as a song by Billie Holiday (her recording was banned for some years).

Sad, thought provoking and highly recommended, whether your views are broadly liberal in a US sense, liberal feminist (like the author), socialist feminist and even Communist influenced (mine) or something else.

Since reading I've bought it as a Kindle deal, but I'm disappointed by the lack of page numbering, and I'm quite glad to have had the chance to borrow a library copy to look at the photos, refer to notes etc.

25. 28,02,22 Anuk Arudpragasam, A Passage North (3.4)

26, 04.03.22 Barbara Sleigh, Carbonel (4.2)

Pleased to see you chugging along nicely here, Luci. x

I wish I thought I was. I'm actually making very slow progress here.

Well perhaps by 2012-2015 reading standards when you would have already reached 75 books but everything is relative. xx

>97 elkiedee: I think I actually read a lot more in 2010 and 2011 too.

I've finally posted a few reviews on this thread - hopefully more to come. I've reviewed some libroks before giving them back, but next I hope to do another library book or two. Then I plan to start on a few books that I actually read at the end of last year, because I've actually read 4 books on the Women's Prize longlist released yesterday - I had review copies of 3 of those.

27 Bernardine Evaristo, Manifesto: On Never Giving Up

28. 14.03.222 Denise Mina, Every Seven Years
Library ebook, short story
Head of Zeus 2015

One of a series of short stories by crime writers, published as standalone stories and in several slightly different anthologies in the US and UK, as Death Sentences: Short Stories to Die For, by a publishing partnership.

Now a successful actor in London, Else has returned to her old school on a remote Scottish island to give a speech. Else’s mother has just died and Else is angry and hurt by her past on the island, in which she and her mum were shunned as outsiders and she was bullied at school. She tells her story as a monologue and reveals a plan to seek revenge, and I thought this would be a good listen (I don’t know if it’s available in audio). It’s a good read and obviously I expected there to be a crime/murder theme, but it’ s hard to show/grasp what motivates the characters in such a short piece.

Rating: 4*

Missed you around the threads these last couple of weeks, Luci.

A few weeks ago I started finding it very difficult to read, except with a change of screen settings, mostly for contrast rather than size, as everything looks pale grey.

I can read on my Kindle, very enlarged and in bold, or library ebooks. I just about out your post but otherwise have to copy stuff over to Word to read it. I can't work out how to change settings on Google Chrome on this laptop.

I've been to the opticians and been referred for cataract surgery, hopefully within a few months. Am very frustrated and hardly read anything for several weeks, have just begun to get stuck in to a book again. I've actually finished two books in the last couple of days and am now pondering what to read next, perhaps something lighter than Orwell's Roses and The Paper Palace.

Missing you and everyone too.

Oh, I'm sorry that this has happened. I hope your cataract surgery goes well and you can get back to reading again!

>72 elkiedee: Sorry to read about your reading troubles, Luci.
I hope you can get the cataract surgery soon, as this must be very frustrating.

I had surgery on my left eye (worst affected) and the difference is already astonishing. I've got to deal with loads of instructions - bad stuff includes eyedrops and good stuff includes good excuses for being as lazy as usual, though actually now I really want to get to grips with some cleaning as I can see a lot of mess around the house!

I've done a bit of catching up with adding the last few books I read - I hardly read anything in March as I was so frustrated, then finished a couple of books on my Kindle in April and otherwise read some books via one of the library ebook apps (Libby/Overdrive) as I could see how to change the settings - mostly of contrast, less of size.

>51 elkiedee: I loved that one when I read it earlier in the year too, Luci.

>58 elkiedee: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the review and recommendation!

>61 elkiedee: Dodging that BB as I have already read it thanks to Paul's recommendation.

>62 elkiedee: My local library has a copy of that one, so hopefully I can get to it soon.

>75 elkiedee: Glad to hear that there is improvement in the eye for you, Luci!

>75 elkiedee: glad to hear that things are looking up. >;-) Hope you're back on form soonest.

Sorry to hear that you have had such trouble with your eyes, Luci and so pleased to see that one eye at least has been taken care of. You now need to take care too of yourself and take things steady. (((HUGS)))

READ IN 2022 PART 3

31. 10.04.22 Ian Rankin, The Travelling Companion 3.6

32. 11.04.22 Miranda Cowley Heller, The Paper Palace 4.037.

33. 12.04.22 Molly Prentiss, Tuesday Nights in 1980 4.0

34. 14.04.22 James Baldwin, If Beale Street Could Talk 4.2

35. 16.04.22 Mona Awad, All's Well 3.7

36. 20.04.22 Lucy Caldwell, These Days 4.5

37. 22.04.22 Simon Brett, Cast, In Order of Disappearance 3.5

38. 26.04.22 Simon Brett, So Much Blood 3.6

39. 30.04.22 Fleur Jaeggy, Sweet Days of Discipline 3.9

40. 04.05.22 Simon Brett, The Clutter Corpse 3.7

41. 12.05.22 Emma Brodie, Songs in Ursa Major 4.3

42. 22.05.22 Martin Edwards (editor), Murder By the Book: Mysteries for Bibliophiles 3.9

43. 31.05.22 Emma Donoghue, The Lotterys Plus One 4.0

44. 31.05.22 Simon Brett, Star Trap 3.5

45. 07.06.22 Lennie Goodings, A Bite of the Apple: A Life With Books, Writers and Virago 3.9

I chased a follow up appointment this week, as it's over 4 weeks and obviously I was expecting some notice for my appointment. It's meant to be at a "local" optometrist closer to home but I've suspected for some time that there's an issue over referrals between different organisations.

Good news: appt letter in the post today. Bad news: it means going back out to deepest suburbia on my birthday. What a lovely way to celebrate turning 53! It's nearly 2 weeks, but hopefully I'll get a date for my right eye some time this summer. I can read quite comfortably with the good eye but the bad one is deteriorating and I find the blurriness unpleasant. I'm worried about balance and fatigue etc. It's just as well I can't drive.

READ IN 2022 PART 4

46. 08.06.22 Nancy Spain, Death Goes on Skis 3.4

47. 09.06.22 Jessamine Chan, The School for Good Mothers 4.0

48. 11.06.22 Ysenda Maxtone-Graham, British Summer Time Begins 4.1

49. 11.06.22 Roddy Doyle, Smile 3.3

50. 16.06.22 Anna Mazzola, The Clockwork Girl 4.2

51. 16.06.22 Salena Godden, Mrs Death Misses Death 4.1

52. 16.06.22 Maxim Jakubowski (editor), The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime 3.7

53. 22.06.22 Jess Walter, The Cold Millions 4.5

54. 22.06.22 Frances Brody, The Body on the Train 4.2

55. 23.06.22 Caroline Moorehead, Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France 4.2

56. 23.06.22 Sarah Hall, Sudden Traveller: Stories 3.6

57. 26.06.22 Rachel Hore, One Moonlit Night 4.0

58. 27.06.22 Sarah Winman, Still Life 4.7

59. 27.06.22 Denise Mina, Rizzio 4.1

60. 29.06.22 Ruth Thomas, Snow and the Works on the Northern Line 4.4

LISTENED IN 2022

01. Laura Lippman, My Life as a Villainess: Essays - read by the author 4.7

02. Noel Streatfeild, Ballet Shoes - read by Janet Streatfeild 4.8

03. Chris Atkins, A Bit of a Stretch: The Diaries of a Prisoner - read by the author 4.2

Current reading as of 27.06.22

Kate Atkinson, Shrines of Gaiety Netgalley for review
I "wished" for this forthcoming book from a favourite author and just assumed I wouldn't get it, so it was a lovely surprise. Set in 1920s London and really enjoying so far.

Sarah Winman, Still Life Kindle
Denise Mina, Rizzio Library ebook novella
Ruth Thomas, Snow and the Works on the Northern Line Library paperback
Elizabeth Hay, A Student of Weather Own shelves paperback - it's only taken me 20 years or so to get to it
Caroline O'Donoghue, Promising Young Women Amazon Vine review copy
Lara Feigel, Free Woman: Life, Liberation and Doris Lessing Library paperback
Ruta Sepetys, The Fountains of Silence Own shelves paperback, YA, 2021 charity shop acquisition
Stuart Turley, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle Kindle, Library reading group read
Otto Penzler & Lee Child (selection/editor), Best Crime Stories of the Year: 2021 Kindle, 2022 acquisition, previously library ebook until I noticed I bought it in May!
Stacey Halls, Mrs England Kindle, 2021 acquisition

READ IN 2022 PART 5

61. 03.07.22 Caroline O'Donoghue, Promising Young Women

62. 03.07.22 Lara Feigel, Free Woman: Life, Liberation and Doris Lessing

63. 03.07.22 Kate Atkinson, Shrines of Gaiety

64. 03.07.22 Elizabeth Hay, A Student of Weather

65. 04.07.22 Laird Hunt, Zorrie

66. 05.07.22 Musa Okongwa, One of Them: An Eton College Memoir

67. 07.07.22 Peter Lovesey, The Stone Wife

68. 07.07.22 Rupa Sepetys, The Fountains of Silence

69. 09.07.22 Lars Mytting, The Bell in the Lake

70. 10.07.22 Stuart Turton, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

71. 11.07.22 Sarah Moss, The Fell

72. 11.07.22 Emily St John Mandel, Sea of Tranquility

73. 13.07.22 Paul Dowswell, The Great Revolt

74. 13.07.22 Paul Preston, The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain

75. 14.07.22 Lee Child (editor), Best Crime Stories of the Year: 2021

This is a note to myself to be amended as I need to pay for a licence for word processing software and don't have it at the moment and pick up two reservations today, and I'm taking these books back!

53. Jess Walter, The Cold Millions 2020, Penguin Viking 2021 344 pp

1910, Spokane and Seattle, Washington
Ryan 16/17 and his older brother Gig
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
union organising, Wobblies
tycoons, union busting, police and private investigators

60. Ruth Thomas, Snow and the Works on the Northern Line 263

2021 Sandstone
Sybil, Simon, Helen
Royal Institute of Prehistorical Studies
North Brixton library, Wandsworth
Slightly confusing mix of real and fictionalised places
accident at the ice rink

62. 03.07.22 Lara Feigel, Free Woman: Life, Liberation and Doris Lessing
Bloomsbury 2018

Not really a bio of Doris Lessing but an exploration of themes in her work as they relate to Lara Feigel - relationships with men, Communist Party, Sufism, menopause, old age, Jenny Diski, mental health
Love-Charm 2013 and Bitter Taste 2016

CURRENT READING AS OF 08.07.22

Lars Mytting, The Bell in the Lake Netgalley TBR for review

Stuart Turton, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle Kindle TBR, 2018 acquisition, Library reading group read

Paul Preston, The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain
Library non-fiction paperback - I do actually have a Kindle copy but the library book has photographic plates, maps, page numbers and the index refers to page numbers

Paul Dowswell, The Great Revolt YA, Library paperback

Otto Penzler & Lee Child (selection/editor), Best Crime Stories of the Year: 2021
Short story anthology, Kindle, 2022 acquisition, previously library ebook until I noticed I bought it in May!

Stacey Halls, Mrs England Kindle, 2021 acquisition

Sarah Moss, The Fell Netgalley/Library ebook TBR

A J Pearce, Dear Mrs Bird, Netgalley/Kindle TBR

Abi Daré, The Girl With the Louding Voice, Kindle/own paperback TBR, 2020 acquisition

Anne Tyler, French Braid Library hardback, with a reservation queue

Olga Wojitas, Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Vampire Menace Kindle TBR, 2020 acquisition

Sad to learn that Joan Lingard has died aged 90, on 12 July 2022. She but lots of contemporary and historical fiction for children, teens and adults but her most famous series about Kevin and Sadie, who first meet as Belfast kids, and then again as teenagers, has a special place in my heart. The first book in the series was called The Twelfth Day of July - this is a date on which Loyalists march to celebrate the victory of William of Orange (king of England and Scotland) in the Battle of the Boyne, which has fuelled conflict, particularly during the years of "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland. I also very much liked her books set in Scotland about Maggie.

The last book I read by her was a YA book about a young Jewish woman growing up in 1930s East London, Trouble on Cable Street, and I think this was her last novel.

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2022/07/14/joan-lingard-author-of-kevin...

>79 elkiedee: If Beale Street Could Talk was so good, wasn't it? It was one of my "Excellent Reads" from last year. Did Baldwin ever write a bad book? I have read several of his and there has not been a clunker among them.

>86 elkiedee: I need to get to The Bell in the Lake this month too. I hope you enjoyed it!

>88 alcottacre: I was a little bit disappointed I think by Giovanni's Room but I've liked the other books I've read by James Baldwin very much.

I read the blurb for The Bell in the Lake and wishlisted on Amazon, and then discovered that both this and the 2nd book in the trilogy are among my unread Netgalleys for review, so I'll probably try to read The Reindeer Hunters soon as well. I like historical novels set in Scandinavia even more than Scandi crime fiction, I think.

But it appears that a lot of my library reservations are going to come through at once (they are showing as "in transit" and I am top of the queue, and many are books in demand by other readers.

>89 elkiedee: I did not realize that The Bell in the Lake, which I am smack dab in the middle of, was one of a trilogy. I will have to look for the others at some point - my local library does not have any of Mytting's books, unfortunately.

>90 alcottacre: At least it's the first in the trilogy. I think the English translation of #2, The Reindeer Hunters (in the UK at least - occasionally books in other languages get translated under more than one English title even in the same country - see Camilla Lackberg, another Swedish crime novelist, so it's worth cross checking - I haven't done this at the moment but I have done some work on looking at Lars Mytting's books as I knew I had at least one. I saw that more than one book by LM had been listed for the TIOLI and that I had review copies of both #1 and #2 in the trilogy (Netgalley TBR) and another book The Sixteen Trees of the Somme in paperback (Books for review, Amazon Vine TBR).

I take it that you are liking "Bell" enough to think you might want to read more. Does your library have a purchase suggestions system?

>89 elkiedee: As predicted, I now have 11 reservations to collect from 3 different libraries! I'm about to get dressed enough to leave the house to walk to my local branch library which is scheduled to be open for another hour, but will look online to check it's open as there have been unplanned closures due to staff shortages recently, across the borough.

>86 elkiedee: That makes a change - I have finished reading all of my "current reading* pile of 8 July.

2022 READING PART 6

76.

77.

86.

90.

66. 05.07.22 Musa Okwonga, One of Them: An Eton College Memoir 4.0
Library ebook, Lambeth Libraries

A short memoir about a middle class kid who decides he would like to attend Eton, some years ago. His mum made huge sacrifices so he could do so, but he points out that it simply wouldn't be possible now due to fee inflation at top public schools. Okwonga was born in 1979, making him 10 years younger than me but the same school year as my sister.

Okongwa was prompted to write the memoir by an invitation to a school reunion. After considering it seriously, he didn't go to. He recognises that he was lucky to have those opportunities, but... there are a lot of buts.He muses on his experiences of racism at school and outside, and his feelings that he hasn't had the glorious career since that lots of Eton kids would expect. I think it's fairly clear that he felt those things weren't for him. He's found out since school that some kids who seemed ok to his face were the loudest making racist jokes (not necessarily about him) outside it. Much wealthier economic minority families than his can still buy a top education but they can't buy being an insider.

I'm fascinated by education stories - I went to state school and I my kids do, and I am not sorry that I can't afford private school - I want much better access at all levels for everyone.

Thought provoking and a good read!

Rating: 4.-0

Coming soon (hopefully), lots of updating, some reviews, some stories of juggling library books, maybe a rant and a look at what happened to my reading resolutions. Have I broken all of them?

>84 elkiedee: Congratulations on reaching 75, Luci!
I almost missed it.

>96 FAMeulstee: Thank you Anita.

It's now 86 works read (including short stories as individual ebooks) and 3 on audio (which take me forever to get round to listening to) - I don't think I'm going to finish another tonight but I'm quite pleased to have finished 26 books and one audio that I'd been listening to since April.

Congrats!

When I first got online in 2000 one of my first regular hangouts was an egroup (later a yahoogroup) that had been founded in 1999 to have proper email discussions of chosen books - the founders were a bit fed up with groups that planned lots of discussions but never really talked about the books properly. I took part in quite a few discussions from 2000-2006 and discovered lots of new to me writers and some fantastic books that I never would have read or come across. I bought hundreds of books at the time, that I still haven't caught up with, especially as I also started going to crime fiction events here and in the US/Canada.

Sad to see that crime novelist Michael Malone has died aged nearly 80. Of course I can't remember much detail of his trilogy featuring Justin Savile and Cuddy Mangum, set in North Carolina, starting with Uncivil Seasons but I do remember that I really loved these books. I'm surprised to learn that they were originally published in the 1980s, as they weren't published here until after 2000. I have Handling Sin in my Kindle TBR, and also a Kindle copy of #3 in the trilogy, but wonder where the first two paperbacks have got to.

Just looked in on the September 2022 (monthly) thread of LT's Written in Stone group for those of us who turn to the obituary page of the newspaper. It notes deaths of anyone who has writing a book - or occasionally had an influence on writers and readers without actually writing a novel, memoir, biography, other non-fiction work or textbook of any kind. Anyway, I've just learned that Barbara Ehrenreich, whose most famous book is probably Nickel and Dimed, which has inspired others to write about low paid exploitative jobs and perhaps helped those books get published, died on 1 September 2022. Of course, I have a lot of her books still TBR and perhaps both the books I know I've read to be TBRR - Bait and Switch is about the companies and individuals who make grand claims about being able to get unemployed professionals back into wonderful new jobs. Then there's Bright-Sided aka Smile or Die! (on my side of the ocean) questioning the "positive thinking" myth. Which of course I do want to read, and should have read years ago, but I know why it's still on my TBR.

Another sad news headline I guess. Hilary Mantel has died, at the age of 70. I didn't agree with everything she said or wrote, but she was always interesting, and obviously had a lot to say about political and other power and oppression in a range of forms. I'm thinking of her Cromwell trilogy (#3 is still TBR for me), and her novel about the French revolutionaries, A Place of Greater Safety also the title short story in the collection, The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher. But also of one of her early novels, Eight Months on Ghazzah Street, about an English woman living in Saudia Arabia (husband is doing an expat job), and particularly her relationships with the other women living in her apartment block etc. That too is very much apart from state power and oppression, and how women particularly are affected.

Reading Twitter and trying not to get too distracted by the trolls. The government headed by our new Prime Minister has just announced a particularly outrageous and cynical package of tax cuts for the rich. Guess they've discovered where they hid that magic money orchard?

More sad news this week, of two deaths on Tuesday 4 October

Country singer-songwriter Loretta Lynn (aged 90)
Crime novelist Peter Robinson, author of 27 novels and a number of short stories featuring DI Alan Banks and his colleagues in Eastvale, a fictitious Yorkshire Dales town, aged 72.

>101 elkiedee: That didn't work out overly well for the Tories now did it, Luci?!

Truss has no leadership qualities whatsoever - as much as I thought Kwarteng was wrong headed in his mini "budget" how does he get the chop and she soldiers on?

The Government is in free fall and a change of government is necessary via a General Election. Starmer needs to take the Party firmly into the centre and concentrate on getting the country back on its feet.

>103 PaulCranswick: I agree, it's bizarre to think you can fix it by sacking your Chancellor within a few weeks. I try to work out what the case is for pursuing a strategy from a viewpoint I totally disagree with, but even working out what the hell is going on from that point of view is rather tricky at the moment.

I don't think Keir Starmer as leader has the answers - I don't like all this stuff about patriotism, or saying that support for NATO (and therefore for all aspects of not only British foreign policy but US foreign policy) is non negotiable. That's not even centre ground. But perhaps if you're going to argue for a view of British politics which doesn't really relate to what I'm observing from a very non elite bit of north London, you should do so on your own thread.

If that sounds a bit rude, I'm currently trying to pick myself up after a number of pieces of very sad news. Some of which aren't related to politics. I've come to find autumn a difficult time of year, with the anniversary of my mum's death and several others already, but this year is feeling so hard.

Malaysia's branch of the 75er's wishes you and yours a happy holiday season, Luci.

Thanks Paul. We're all afflicted with coughs and colds today - hoping to be up to all venturing down to my sisters for a Boxing Day meal with her and the little one, and I think it's just as well we didn't have to venture out today! The electric oven isn't working properly but the gas hob is so we've had a slightly eccentric meal.

Danny is continuing one of my own festive traditions though - I bought the Christmas edition of the Radio Times (which for anyone who has never lived here has been predominantly a TV listings magazine published by the BBC since I can remember - there are radio listings in there somewhere). When I was 15 (Danny's age now!!!!!) I think that there were 4 TV channels but when I started buying the Christmas Radio Times there were still 3 and the programmes aimed at young viewers were fitted into a specific plot. Plus we were usually at my grandparents' house and the TV was in the dining room, so evening TV was what my grandmother wanted to see after a relatively late evening meal (after the pub), and I wouldn't get to watch that much on Christmas Day, but then there was plenty going on. That did mean that, apart from on the Big Day, I was able to watch whatever I wanted in the late afternoon/early evening

Love to you, Hani and the kids.

Have you made elaborate reading plans for next year yet?