Oops, we must have x posted. There isn't a way to delete mine, is there?

Thanks for the recommendations re: Asprin and Ambrose! I've actually read some of the Thieves World books and I liked them, especially the early ones.

As for Ambrose, I think I've read his Band of Brothers. I've been wanting to read more of his books and I've been looking for the Nixon bio for YEARS. Turns out the second book is not only out of print but is darned hard to find!

As a result of recommendations from this forum I read the author Rumer Godden for the first time. I was able to pick up the book "Kingfishers Catch Fire" at a second hand book store. Loved it! What a wonderful writer she is, with protagonists full of dreadful character flaws, and antagonists often displaying wisdom and kindness.
The story is about a young English widow, Sophie, who strikes out on her own to live in beautiful Kashmir, India - against the advice of every family member and close friend. Sophie is bound and determined to live in Kashmir, even if her foolish choices cost her everything.
Next on the TBR list by Goden : "In This House of Brede"

my August (holiday) readings, so far, has been.

Graham Greene "The Heart of Matter"(re-reading) - "The Human Factor"(re-reading) - "The Ministry
of Fear" - "Monsignor Quixote"

George Orwell "Burmese Days"(re-reading)

Robert Davies "Fifth Business"

Alasdair Gray "Poor Thing"

Davide Baldacci "The Camel Club" (bad thriller , with a really far-fetched plot)

Now, just started "The Honorary Consul" by Graham Greene.
When I was in high school I used to read a lot of G: Greene works, and now IÂm going to reread a few
of them. (As, maybe some of you have noticed)

grelobe

Thyrkas, don't miss Godden's "The Greengage Summer" -- one of my all time favorites!

woodnymph - I will put "The Greengage Summer" on the list as well. Thank you!

I have returned home from my idyllic holiday cottage on the Maine coast and am preparing to return to work and to school. This is my last week of unfettered reading, so I am choosing carefully. This morning I began Here If You Need Me by Kate Braestrup, a memoir of an extraordinary woman who tells her story in such a forthright and humorously ironic way that I cannot put it down. (How's that for a run-on sentence?) It is particularly good to me because Braestrup lives in the very area I was just vacationing in, and I can literally see geography she describes in my holiday snaps. The book is not very long; I will probably finish it tonight or tomorrow morning. And my DH has just called and said he has a delivery in Maine tomorrow, would I like to come along for the drive? Interesting coincidence, since he has NEVER had a delivery in Maine before.

I just finished Buried by Mark Billingham, which is a new release on this side of the pond. Billingham being my favorite British crime author, I enjoyed it but not quite as much as I liked his last, Lifeless. It was nice to check in with Thorne and the gang. I especially think itÂs interesting watching Holland maturing into a cop so similar to Thorne.

Next up is a library book, Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician, set in a small southern US town in the middle of the twentieth century. Henry, a once world-famous illusionist, has lost his mojo and is hired by a small Chinese Circus as a two-bit magician. After a confrontation with three teens, Henry disappears. His friends in the circus try to piece together what they know of his past life.

Siobhan - I almost bought Braestrup's book to take on my Maine vacation, but decided to take books I already had. I did read the excerpt in Downeast magazine. After that, I put it on my list. She seems a very special woman.

I just returned from two weeks in North Carolina but didn't get much reading done. I did finish the low-key, charming, and Miss-Read-ish Chronicles of a Curate by Fred Secombe and liked it very much. I have Chronicles of a Vicar waiting for me, as well.

Vee, The Gatekeeper does sound interesting. I looked at the synopsis on Amazon and have added it to the TBR list. Thanks!

I'm in a bit of a reading slump lately and don't know what to pick up next. Maybe once the kids are back to school I'll be more focused. Until then, I have a pile of magazines that might fit the bill for my end-of-summer short attention span reading.

Thyrkas, I forgot to add, if you enjoy Godden's descriptions of India, "Two Under the Indian Sun" by Jon & Rumer Godden (sisters), as well as Rumer's autobiography, "A Time to Dance, No Time to Weep." Enjoy!

Last night, I finished "Luncheon of the Boating Party" by Susan Vreeland. I had a bit of trouble getting into it at first because I felt the need to do more research, have examples of Renoir's works and on and on and on. Once I got over that and just allowed the book to take over, I enjoyed it much more. If you read this, just read it. Don't overwhelm yourself like I did at first. The trip is far better without stressing yourself about the itty-bitty details.

PAM

PAM, thanks for the encouragement. I am about one half way through the Vreeland book mentioned above and it has gotten better.

Cindy, was it you who was interested in books about the New Orleans flood with Katrina, etc.? If so, you will like John Barry's "Rising Tide: the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927." This has some shocking revelations in it re New Orleans city fathers and the Corps of Engineers and gross miscalculations made. Highly recommended.

wood, I did read that, soon after Katrina. I remember always hearing the song Louisiana, and was very interested to read the story. Shocking revelations indeed - and some history lessons that should have been learned.

One interesting bit was how the flood and the aftermath was the first big crisis that got Americans to demand the government provide help to victims in these tragedies. Interesting to see how the pendulum has swung a bit.

So true, that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, so ironic, in the case of New Orleans and Mississippi. And, now, here we are, on the cusp of yet another hurricane season, with the situation in N.O. still deplorable, and the levees still predicted to be weak....

In the past month I finally decided to give the Harry Potter books a try. I completed the first three but ran out of interest at that point. Maybe I will read the rest of them at some point.

Now I'm reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver to further my interest in vegetable gardening and eating locally (a new concept for me, unfortunately). I'm also reading Rain Gardens by Nigel Dunnett and Andy Clayden in preparation for putting together a talk on rain gardens and other methods of water preservation.

I've also discovered a new author to me -- Joseph Finder. His latest books are called business thrillers. I'm listening to the audio version of Killer Instinct and am looking for things to do so I can keep listening. His business/sales situations are so accurate I thought he must have spent years working in such an environment but it turns out he has just done extensive research at various companies, including mine. This book is really good, about a corporate sales manager who befriends a former military special operations man who then, out of gratitude, proceeds to "help" his new friend in increasingly terrible ways.

>And, now, here we are, on the cusp of yet another hurricane season, with the situation in N.O. still deplorable, and the levees still predicted to be weak....

And they wonder why many refuse to return.

Still kills me that its been two years and so little has been done.

siobhan,
I just finished "Here If You Need Me" earlier tonight and I liked it very much. Forthright and humorous really do describe her and her writing. Has anyone read her novel "Onion"?

gbg

Also remarkable is that so many have chosen not to return and help/attempt to rebuild. There are so many people who have chosen to resettle in the cities to which they have evacuated. Rebuilding is going well in the towns and neighborhoods that have returnees in them...but vastly untouched where the former residents have chosen to stay away.

The levees are rebuilt,with the improvement project underway. When you think how long it took to rebuild Germany after WWII...and that the hurricane damage was pretty much the same...the progress is remarkable. Such damage as this can't be undone in a short time.

I completed, and really enjoyed, Pearl Buck's Pavilion of Women. She writes about a wealthy ancient family in China living a very traditional lifestyle in the early 20th century and how the wife/mother's decision to have the husband take a concubine and, essentially, leave the wife alone has a ripple effect throughout the family. In this story, Buck deals with twentieth century life and changes intruding into this family and Chinese life generally. Unfortunately, I wasn't as interested in the second and third book of The Good Earth trilogy and back to the library they will go.

Over the summer, I saw an IMAX film about the flooding from Katrina and one of the points it made was that the damming of the Mississippi done years ago to control flooding upland has had the unintended result of greatly decreasing soil deposits in the bayous. Now, the bayous are eroding which allows hurricanes to hit the mainland with a greater force than if the bayous were intact. While I realize this is one >theory, it does remind me that every action has a reaction--even if the original action was intended for good.

bookmom, exactly! What you wrote above is detailed at great length in John Barry's book: "Rising Tide", mentioned a few posts above.

Veronica, the jury is still out on the levees - they have been repaired, but not to the specs they should be. As far as why evacuees don't want to return: they have nothing to return to (esp those in the 9th Ward and Bernard Parish), they have found better jobs and schools where they are, crime is rampant (Brinkley really lets the NOPD have it for there lack of function both before the hurricane, during, and afterwards), the infrastructure is still considerably damaged as far as roads, electricity, water. And then there is money, a big factor for many. Ins companies shafted many home owners by denying them claims, the govt has not lived up to its promises for assistance, and they just flat don't have the money to rebuild. So I can't say I blam them.

veer, I must ask you a question from a conversation we had on the August Reading part 1 thread. We were posting books about England, villages and village life. I mentioned one book by John Moore entitled The Blue Field. You said that he had written others so I started to search. I found and ordered Brensham Village and Portrait of Elmbury which I thought were the two other books in the Brensham trilogy. Now I am learning about The Fair Field. Is this a different book or is it another title for the Elmbury book I just purchased? Thanks for your opinion.

PAM

Just finished Vreeland's "Luncheon of the Boating Party". Don't even attempt this unless you are mad for the impressionists and French art history! I liked the story, but I thought it was far too long and that the author could have used an editor, in parts.

Now, what to read next???

PAM, I don't think The Fair Field is part of the Brensham Trilogy. I had to look it up (as you probably already did) and it said JM thought of it or wrote it while he was serving in WWII.
He did write many other works so maybe he was running out of original titles!
I have just ordered the BT from the library as I can't find my copy and have had to explain to the girl that it is an 'old' book and may be stored in the bowels of their headquarters.

I finally found a Pratchett, on my third try, that I absolutely adored. A Hatfull of Sky. I see what all the fuss is about.

veer,

Okay then... If I've got it straight in my brain, the Brensham Trilogy is:
Brensham Village
Blue Field
Elmbury

And then The Fair Field is a completely separate book.

Is that right? I've been searching for a bibliography but I can't find one online. Good luck getting the trilogy from the nether depths of the library. It's always good to get those golden oldies out for a bit of sunshine.

PAM

PAM I think you are right, as far as I know the trilogy is made up of:

Portrait of Elmbury
Brensham Village
The Blue Field

I notice that several websites give the impression that 'Brensham' (Tewkesbury more or less) is very near Stratford-on-Avon.
In US terms of distance this is probably true, but by English standards this is not so. Stratford town is far more touristy and the people part of the English Midlands whereas Tewkesbury and the Vale of Evesham (the big market-gardening area) has a more rural, slower pace of life feel.
Another book based in Tewkesbury was John Halifax Gentleman by Mrs Craik, a Victorian writer, something to do with the big grain mills that used to line the Severn and Avon.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tewkesbury