Frieda - The Siege of Krishnapur would be in the OK category for me. Nothing special, but not bad either. I've got a bit of a soft spot for it, though, as it was the last one I needed to get to complete my collection, so I was very pleased when I found a nice copy on ABE and the parcel arrived through the door. It's a while since I read The Sea, The Sea so I don't remember the particular scene that you mention - obviously it didn't strike me in the same way as it did you. Life of Pi is most certainly not a fantasy, and it doesn't have any talking animals. Part of the pleasure of the book is the unsentimental way that animals are treated. Here's my review of it from the RP review thread we did a few years ago. (I think I might try reviving that...) ================================================== This is one of the few times when a Booker Prize winner lives up to the type. I've rarely enjoyed a book so much. It's not a difficult read, but it's got enough in it to make anyone think. It's full of little twists, and some lovely touches of humour. It's the story of a sixteen-year-old boy called Pi (as in 3.14159 - you'll have to read the story to find out why!). He and his family are on a cargo ship on it's way to Canada, carrying several large zoo animals; the ship is shipwrecked, and Pi finds himself on a lifeboat with a zebra with a broken leg, a hyena, an orang-utan - and a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Which makes for a bit of a tense atmosphere.... It really is one of those books where I envy anyone coming to it for the first time. I'm sure I'll read it again soon. Here's just a few extracts that particularly appealed to me. I hope they give a flavour of the book, without giving anything away. It was my first clue that atheists are my brothers and sisters of a different faith, and every word they speak speaks of faith, Like me, they go as far as the legs of reason will carry them - and then they leap. I'll be honest about it. It's not atheists that stick in my craw, but agnostics. Doubt is useful for a while. We must all pass through the Garden of Gethsemane. If Christ played with doubt, so must we. If Christ spent an anguished night in prayer, if He burst out from the Cross, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" then surely we are permitted doubt. But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation. I am not one to hold a prejudice against any animal, but it is a plain fact that the spotted hyena is not well served by it's appearance. It is ugly beyond redemption. He's petulant! It's morning in Bethany and God's hungry; God wants His breakfast. He comes to a fig tree. It's not the season for figs, so the tree has no figs. God is peeved. The Son mutters, "May you never bear fruit again," and instantly the fig tree withers. So says Matthew, backed up by Mark. My fellow castaway came into view. He raised himself on...

Mollie, I don't think I can be of much use re.'coping' novels, although I'm sure that we could all write one ourselves! The type of books that deal with domestic matters, cooking, children, husbands etc are very unlikely to become 'literature' in the sense you mean. I read very few girlie novels, but have dipped into Judy Astley's work just as a light 'summer holiday' read. Her books are rather formulaic but entertaining and mostly centre around some middle-class woman, living in a pleasant London suburb . . . and then various themes. Straying husbands, bossy M-in-L's, difficult teenage children (and she really does modern English kids very well) holidays in Cornwall, hippy friends etc. She wisely write about what she knows and doesn't attempt for eg racial problems in Northern inner-cities slums . . .the sort of despressing work enjoyed by liberal-minded critics but not by the average 'punter'. Sheri, re your recommendation for Nancy Mitford and Mollie's 'domestic' theme. If you read Hons and Rebels by Jessica Mitford she mentions that the only housework the six daughters were ever expected to perform, under Nanny's watchful eye, was to fold up their nighties and put them under their pillows every morning.:-) Pat, I was 'introduced' to the works of Norah Lofts in the '60's when staying with friends in Suffolk. They knew her while she was living in Bury St Edmunds and her 'House at Old Vine' series was based on that town (to any US traveller to the UK a most attractive town with some beautiful houses and a Cathedral saved from the abbey ruins). Mollie, it is certainly true that many people over here don't cook 'proper' meals and rely on fast-food. Of course it must be said that supemarkets do offer 'short-cut- cookery' where veggies are ready washed/prepared, or chicken comes in legs/breast/wings etc rather than a whole bird and all this can be put together to form a meal. Perhaps this is just sanitised cookery, but at least it means, as cece says that my DD can come home from work and prepare a nourishing meal quickly. The first DS is now married to a Japanese girl so cookery has now become a Fine-Art in their home. Did anyone read an article about a cross US/UK medical survey which found that top white income earners in the US were less healthy than white bottom-income families in the UK, despite the $$$$'s spent on medical care by the 'privileged classes' in the US and the UK using the creaking National Health system. I was sent this info as a newspaper cutting by a US friend and had seen it in our English daily paper. Cindy I think Vera Brittan wrote on sad themes such as loss of her brother and men friends during WW1 and rather'heavy' Socialist stuff (her daughter became the well-known Labour MP, Shirley Williams). As to whether they went to Cornwall or not . . .! Here is a link that might be useful: Judy Astley

Mostly I've been reading forgettable mysteries. I read Robert Parker's The Professional and it was pleasant but, well, anemic. Listened to The Lost Symbol and was greatly disappointed. I kept falling asleep during the lectures. In short, the lecture to adventure ratio was too high. I expected to enjoy it. Daddy was a Mason and I grew up with lots of old Mason stuff around the house - mostly clocks. We had a huge blue Mason's Bible, the last half of which seemed to be about Egyptology (could have seeded my early interest in archaeology) and had lots of discussion of symbols so none of this stuff was really new or exciting to me. Just now I'm in the middle of Nevada Barr's 13 1/2

Can't answer that Carolyn! Didn't know you in the US don't use bitten. Does this mean you would say "I was badly bit by an ant"? I have also noticed in US usage the word fit is used when we would say fitted. eg 'The new 'fridge fitted into the corner of the kitchen' Re gotten. Is it used in 'formal' speech, as in a legal document for eg? While on the subject . . . I've noticed that in the US you say two times whereas we say twice , although the use of thrice (three times) is now considered archaic/Biblical.