annpan, my daughter-in-law's grandfather never talked about his WWII times either. Until one day when he and my son were sitting quietly alone, and my son, who is very interested in the history of WWII, asked him a specific question, not one of those "What was it like..." questions. I guess my son displayed enough knowledge that it triggered something in "Grandpa". They became very close, and he gave almost all of his memorabilia to them. Most fascinating, the silk scarf map that aviators carried to help them escape if they were shot down over Europe. Very interesting. None of us had ever seen one.

Like just about all regional food, one could argue endlessly about what does or doesn't go into red eye gravy - my understanding is this: The cook fries up a slice of ham, then makes gravy from the drippings and coffee. This would be served at breakfast, along with eggs, biscuits (a kind of very tender scone), and grits (cooked corn meal, in posh circles called polenta). One of those very heavy, filling breakfasts that were needed in the days when many people spent all day engaged in hard physical labor and are now still eaten by people who sit indoors all day. This is from the Southern U.S., where ham and pork products were quite inexpensive.

I have a cookbook called D*mn Yankee in a Southern Kitchen that has all kinds of recipes in it and mentions Red Eye Gravy but does not say how to make it. My mother didn't like eating so much grease and salt (country ham is very salty), but my grandmother made it like this, using a combination of water and coffee:

In a heavy skillet (preferably iron), fry some ham. Salt-cured country ham is preferred if you can get it, but a center-cut slice of ham is fine.
Remove the ham and keep warm.
Pour 1/2 cup of water, black coffee, or a combination of both into the drippings.
Bring to a boil, stirring and scraping the dregs off the bottom of the pan. Continue stirring and boiling for a minute or two.
Pour the gravy over the ham or into a separate pitcher.
Tips: Serve this gravy with the ham, biscuits, and eggs. (We were too far north for grits.)

The computer at my office has been down for the past week, so in an effort to stave off boredom, I have been venturing to the campus library to hang out there and do a couple of computer courses. Of course, in breaks in between, I just happened to have a book or two with me so I managed to fit some of that in...

Finished up a good book called "Waterlands" by Graham Swift, a novel about the Fens of East Anglia and the generations of people who grew up there. All told from the perspective of a history teacher who is in the modern day (rather similar to Angle of Repose)... Not an easy read, but very good all the same.

Then started "Middlemarch" by George Eliot which is rather fun and she has some really funny little snippets in every now and then. And also, read "Village Christmas" by Miss Read for a seasonal taste.

It's rather a shame that my computer at work is now mended (mostly) because I was really enjoying my time at the library...!

I finished the third Patricia Sprinkle family tree mystery, Daughter of Deceit, and have just ordered from the library the first of her MacLaren Yarbrough's, When Did We Lose Harriet, which I am hoping is as good.

Started Threats at Three today, new by Ann Purser and destined for my daughter for Christmas, and have three to pick up at the library tomorrow. Riches!

Siobhan and Carolyn, Thank you both for that info. I wonder how that idea came about of combining ham drippings with coffee? Certainly an interesting inspiration!

Thanks to JuneK reading Ann Tyler last month, I dug out The Accidental Marriage. Mostly I've been in the mood for light trivial reading, so I pick up the Tyler to read just a few pages, but find myself still reading a couple of hours later. Tyler is such a fine writer.

I am now reading the light and amusing "Mini Shopaholic" by Sophie Kinsella. This is appropriate for the season!

I'm dashing through the heat,
In an air-conditioned bus,
Seeking Christmas gifts,
It's an annual fuss...

Anyone want to start the RP Christmas poetry thread?

Finally back to reading and this forum after being hospitalized with complications from a burst appendix last month. You'd think I'd get a lot of reading done in the quiet of a hospital room, but I just couldn't focus on much more than some really bad daytime television.

Anyway, I just finished Evensong by Gail Godwin. It's about a female Episcopal minister and her marriage. I liked it, but think the author would have done better just writing some non-fiction a la Anne Lamott. The story seemed really self-aware and the plotting was more to serve the purpose of some great insights that would have been better presented in a series of essays.

Now I'm reading Hey, Nostradamus by Douglas Coupland and have Bee Season on deck.

phaedosia -- I'm so sorry to hear about you troubles. I'm glad you're doing better, though, and able to read again.

Sorry, to hear about your recent operation Phaedosia. Luckily, it sounds like you are on the mend.

Last night, I finished Peter Ackroyd's Shakespeare: The Biography. I found the book to be a very rich reading experience. Ackroyd reveals many fascinating details of which I had never heard before. I feel like I learned much about society of Elizabeth I's England in the waning years of her reign.

carolyn ky -

Is Ann Purser the British mystery writer who wrote several books w/ titles like "Murder on Monday", "[.......] on Tuesday", "[.........] on Wednesday", etc.? If so, I really liked her first two books. The third one was tiresome -- lots of bickering between her and her husband.-- b-o-r-i-n-g! So I haven't read her since. Do you like her recent books?

phaedoscia -

Your post reminds of the one time I had a stay in hospital - 9 days -- and of all the books, magazines, and big Sunday NY Times I'd brought -- I hardly read a darn thing! You sound as if you're doing well in the recuperation dept. -- Keep it up!

Lauramarie, yes, that's the one. I wouldn't have pursued the series except that my daughter really likes the books. She bought the first couple in London at the now defunct Murder, Inc. bookstore, so the pleasant association may have something to do with it. The days of the week are finished, and now Ms. Purser is using numbers in the titles. This new one is Threats at Three.

There is also a new book that seems to be the start of a new series featuring one of the minor characters in the Lois Meade books. DD bought it and loaned it to me. It was AWFUL! I won't bother with any more of that one.

I picked up the new Louise Penny from the library yesterday and can hardly wait to start it. However, I'm having a few neighbors in for Christmas cake and tea on Saturday afternoon and a large group of friends to lunch on Monday. I'm afraid I need to start cleaning and cooking before I sit down with what I know will be one of those unputdownable books. What was I thinking? I feel like I've been cooking and cleaning since the week before Thanksgiving.

Phaedosia, a burst appendix is a serious thing, with or without complications. I'm glad to hear you're recovering now.

Annpan, I enjoyed your bit of Christmas shopping poetry, though no further lines occur to me.

Rosefolly

I'm currently reading Always, Julia, a collection of Julia Child's letters to her friend, Avis DeVoto. Their personalities really jump off the page, but there is so much political discussion that sends me scrambling to the footnotes and Google (McCarthy hearings, late 1950's Senate elections -- a time period I know embarrassingly little about), it's interrupting the flow quite a bit. Such impressive women! I would have loved to know both of them.

Next up will be a quick re-read of David Nicholl's One Day for my book group meeting in January, then I'll wait and see what Santa brings me. My Christmas list was nearly all books this year, including the late addition of Mr. Baggins, which I (gleefully!) suspect the DH has purchased.

Carolyn, please let me know how you like When Did We Lose Harriet. I'm very curious to know if her other books are as good as her genealogy ones.

Phaedosia, hope you're feeling better quickly! What an ordeal to go through -- especially before the holidays.

My latest is One Pair Of Feet by Monica Dickens, it is a real hoot!!

Phaedosia - sorry to hear that your appendix has been misbehaving. Hope all is well now.

Reading: DH is away for a few days, and so I have been putting my nose into a book for as many of the hours of the day as possible... Read a 1920's UK domestic fiction book (one of the Persephone prints) called "Greenery Street" by Denis McKail. A novel all about the "magical first year" of marriage for a young couple in London (I think)...

Then working my way through the selections in the Virago Book of Christmas which is rather fun. And Middlemarch is on ongoing project in the background...

One more day of heavy-duty reading, and then I have to be a normal human again... (i.e DH gets home!).

Thank you for all your good wishes. Yes, I'm definitely on the mend. My family stopped feeling worried when I had my nose back in a book.

Speaking of which, I just finished what I am going to say is my favorite book of 2010. . .North to the Orient by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. She and her husband (some guy named Charles) spent a summer mapping a northern route to China (the summer before the kidnapping actually) and she gives an amazing account of it in quite a contemporary voice. I loved it so much that I am going to purchase a used copy to keep on my shelf.

I have just finished J A Kerley's latest, Buried Alive, which I really liked. It actually doesn't have any real burial, it's more about buried memories. The character Carson Ryder is very likeable, and although Harry Nautilus isn't in this one, there are other interesting people.

I also read a forthcoming book called The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown. It features three sisters whose father is a Shakespearean scholar who talks to them in bardian quotes. Quite enjoyable.
I'm not sure what I will move on to at the moment - it's always hard!

Finished "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" -- Agatha Christie mystery -- very good puzzler type of detective mystery... but not one of my favourite Christies.. I love the ones where there are fascinating *people* in them! -- and she puts in pieces of her philosophy -- or at least her character's thoughts on Life!

Am now reading a charming modern gal-in-the-big-city kind of book -- "the Little Lady Agency" (yes, I'm still reading that series -- only backwards! -- already read the 2nd and 3rd installments). They're by British author Hester Browne ... Delightful! Although this one -- her first -- isn't as well written as her next two are -- Guess she improved with time and experience; but that's a lot better than getting enthused about an author only to find that they go downhill with their later books ! !

The Edmund Crispin book came in the mail last week, and is on standby.

BTW -- Who is this "Louise Penny" some of you mention? Sounds intriguing!

I am half way thru "No Small Mischief" by Canadian writer Alister MacLean.

Laura, Louise Penny is a Canadian author who writes 'cosy' type mysteries set in a small Quebec village called Three Pines. Her detective is a charming French speaker called Armand Gamache, who unlike most detectives, is happily married, doesn't smoke and isn't an alcoholic! The books are very enjoyable and well written. Penny is a friendly person (I have had some email correspondence with her) who writes an interesting blog.
I have started The Revolt of the Pendulum by Clive James. I enjoy the way he writes, even though I sometimes have to read sentences twice to grasp the meaning.

Most of my reading has been studying bird books refreshing myself for the upcoming Christmas Bird Count. This is an annual event sponsored by the Audubon Society and done throughout the US, coordinated locally. Yesterday I went to the library, and found As Always, Julia and immediately started that book. The birds may have to wait.

Would you believe I am rereading "Pride and Prejudice"! I watched the TV version on tape a few weeks ago and then took the book out from the library. A Penguin Classic with interesting notes. As I grow older my 'take' on it changes! I am now annoyed with Jane. Always trying to find excuses for people! Although she does seem to have a more balanced outlook on some things than Elizabeth.
I also took a follow-up book and though it had some interesting and plausible views, such as why there was such an age gap between Darcy and his sister, I 'skipped and dumped' as it did not really grab me.
I recall an earlier follow-up "Pemberley Shades" was published in the early fifties. I was a junior librarian at a subscription library and was not very interested although the clients were! I preferred Heyer as being more readable!
Three more sleeps to Christmas! A happy time to you all if I don't get back to you before then.

***:-) [Smiley face with party hat!]

I am rereading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, an interest sparked by seeing the penultimate movie last month. Also good for this time of year when all is so busy and I enjoy reading something that can easily be picked out and put down.

I hope JK's pen is getting itchy...

I finished On Folly Beach by Karen White. One of those good novels that ties two generations into on historical event. In this case, the existence of German submarines and spies on and off the east coast of the US during WWII. And the vagaries of the heart. It was very good.

Just completed 3 good reads -- each totally different: "The Walk" by Richard Evans (one of a series), "Shadow Tag" by Louise Erdrich, and "The Wolves of Andover" by Kathleen Kent. The last one is an historical novel, set in the New England of the Puritans, 16th and 17th century, with connections to the English Civil War, Cromwell, etc.

I find Erdrich's novels so interesting because she puts in the Native American perspective. "Shadow Tag" was especially good, in my opinion, because the characters of the 3 children and their separate reactions to the break up of the marriage were so well delineated.

annpan - cute hat ! !

There's a very good Jane Austen website ... with Everything to do with JA -- pemberley.com. People post there from lots of different countries. ... just goes to show you how much JA understood human nature -- how translatable her thinking is !

I read all her novels, but "Pride and Prej" was the last one. It was not my favourite -- "Sense and Sensibility" is. A part of it is sooo sad, though, that I've never re-read it. "Emma" I've read -- word-for-word -- 3 times ... enjoyed it immensely every time !

For some reason girls and women all swoon over "Mr. D'Arcy" -- He leaves me cold --- too stiff and lacking in sense of humour - mostly about himself !! To me, of all JA's leading-men -- "Mr. Knightly" is the heartthrob -- dependable, lively, v. sensitive + v. alert intelligence, patient (look how long he waited for Emma to grow up!), treats all decent people with respect -- no matter how low they are on the social scale (something "Mr. D'Arcy" wasn't known for!), moral (but not overtly Religious), rights wrongs when they pop up in his life (love the scene in the book in which he berates Emma for mistreating the old spinster). ... Plus he's handsome and healthy and single, has a solid financial background -- he's perfect in every way ... and isn't even conceited -- making him even more perfect ! ! !

I have just started 'Every Day Is Mother's Day' by Hilary Mantel, it is her first novel and it will be a very unusual read. It contains some very intersting characters!!!

Lauramarie, I must read "Emma" again! The last time I read it I thought the hero was too old for a young girl but perceptions change with age.

**<:- morning here and i wearing another party hat glad you liked the last one>

Every Christmas Eve since I was 18, I have made a point to read in careful detail Dylan Thomas' beautiful poem, "A Child's Christmas in Wales" which I adore... So I did that and felt its joy.

Back to normal books: still ploughing through Middlemarch, and reading "Oracle Bones" by travel journalist Peter Hessler. And a fiction read I dug up at the library: an old Josephine Tay called "Miss Pym Disposes"....

I just finished "Kill the Story" by John Luciew. This is the first book I have read by this author and it was a good, but not great read. I enjoy mysteries and this one featured newspaper reporters, a profession I have never thought much about. It was enlightening to read about the intense drive and competition among reporters and cameramen. The plot kept me interested, though I could put the book down to do ordinary chores. I did find the "happily ever after" ending a letdown. If I can find another very inexpensive novel by Luciew for Kindle, I will try it.
Nancy

My daughter, to whom I gave a Little House book for birthdays and Christmas until the books ran out, gave me an oversize book of about 80 pages called Laura's Album for Christmas. It is compiled by her historian William Anderson and contains copies of photographs, Bible records, themes by her mother and her, letters, and other things from trunks and attics and also gives a timeline at the end of her grandparents, parents, her own, and Rose's children, moves, travels, and important events of their lives. It is just delightful.

I just re-read a classic, an old favorite of mine: St. Exupery's "The Little Prince." I don't think I glanced at it since the 1970's, but it gives, in my view, one of the most perfect definitions of romantic love in European literature.

astrokath -
Thanks for the info on Louise Penny. Sounds so charming -- Will try one of her books --- Which one would you recommend for a first go?

woodnymph2 -
I haven't read that book in ages -- But I remember it having the same affect on me.

annpan -
I felt the same way the first time I read "Emma" (about age difference) ... and that was only a few years ago. The next two times I read it, I still had the same thought. That's probably the only snag I came upon w/that book. He's 38(?) years old and she's going on 21/22 by the end of the story. That's just too much. I wondered then - and now - why JA made such a w-i-d-e gulf between those two (17 years .... Egads ! )

I haven't posted here for a while mainly because many of the books read have been unmemorable or heavy going.
I finally received from the library Between the Woods and the Water the second volume of travels by Patrick Leigh-Fermor. It carries on from his evocative work A Time of Gifts but was written many many years later.
If you are interested in the Central Europe of the mid 1930's from Hungary to Romania, and his journey, generally following the Danube, plus lots of information about the early peoples of the region, the dialects they spoke and where the Mongol hoards etc came from, you will find this most informative. It seems somewhat surprising that almost every night P L-F lands up on the doorstep of some manor house, castle/schloss where he is welcomed with open arms by the various nobility of the regions . . . possibly helped by a few 'letters of introduction'. :-)

One of those 'misery memoirs' followed Please Don't Make Me Go by John Fenton. JF is sent by his abusive father to a reform school run by the so-called Christian Brothers who make his home life seem like a picnic. The boys are brutalised and beaten and behave in the same way to each other. They receive no education and it is only because the author has some 'brain' and is chosen to help the priest who gives him books to read and a place to hide his stash of tobacco (in a tin of incense) that he survives the abuse. But it takes time in a Dublin prison and some years in the British Army before he can overcome his horrible past.

Tim Allen (here at RP) recommended reading George Eliot's Adam Bede and I have been plodding through it for about two months! It has to be said I am finding it very heavy going but am determined to plough on. Some of GE's vernacular/dialect is almost as difficult to follow as that in 'Wuthering Heights'. I can't take to the pale and holy preacher-woman Dinah (a 'Methody') and am itching to box the ears of silly, vain Hetty.
Only another 372 pages to go. ;-)

Veer, I am sorry to hear you are not enjoying Adam Bede. George Eliot is one of my favourite novelists, but I would be the first to admit that her books are not for everyone. Don't worry about boxing Hetty's ears. She is about to learn some very hard lessons.

The John Fenton book you mention sounds very grim. For some time now I have imposed a personal moratorium on child abuse memoirs. I just can't read any more of them. On a somewhat related note, have you ever seen the film The Magdalene Sisters>?

Ugh, so many titles going on my TBR list! And here I am, for the THIRD month in a row, sounding like a broken record.

I am STILL reading Edward Rutherfurd's New York. I shall strive to finish this blasted book (which is really quite good) so I may type a DIFFERENT title next month. Egads, that leaves me a mere four days...

PAM

Hello, Finally made it over here to this reading forum which should really be my natural home. I've spent alot of time on the Antique Rose Forum, which unfortunately has become less interesting.
Here's my December reading: A friend loaned me Honolulu Hotel by Paul Theroux to read while I was in Maui. All I really knew of Theroux was the movie Mosquito Coast. I was really impressed by Honolulu Hotel. It's not my usual thing at all but I loved it. I think this man is brilliant. I went to a few used book stores and picked up some more of his work.
I then went quickly through Cloud Mountain(Liu) It was well written, an interesting story with some history of China that I wasn't up on. After Theroux though it couldn't compare.I think he is classic.
Now I am hefting the newly released Autobiography of Mark Twain. If you like Twain then you will enjoy it. I've had quite a few laugh out loud moments. Don't expect it to read like any autobiography you've read though. It's all over the place with some unfinished fragments. The beginning of the book is the story of the editing, which is pretty interesting.

Years ago I started reading Patricia Cornwall's books and I have read every Scarpetta novel she has written. I found the last two or three of her books (I read them in order) to be less than fabulous. Too much of what she has written in previous books is rehashed in the next one. After the first few I began to lose interest in her relationship struggles with Benton, and Lucy's flamboyant, nonconformist personality. Not to mention what a wunderkind Lucy is or all the recipes and descriptions of the meals Kay prepares. However, I had developed a certain loyalty to Cornwall and Scarpetta so I continued to read each book when it dropped to a price I was willing to pay. I consider $12.99 too high for a Kindle best seller, but on Christmas Day I decided since I had nothing to do, nothing on TV interested me and all the stores were closed, I would allow myself to read "Port Mortuary" even though it has not been well received by critics. While there were no recipes or fabulous meals in this novel, the usual underlying threads are present and reintroduced. The entire story covers only two days and I became weary of the constant struggles and self doubt that Kay faces. Working my way to the end became arduous. And, of course, the final pages describe Kay's heroic battle with yet another attempt on her life. I believe Cornwall has covered all that is interesting in the life of Scarpetta and I won't spend more than $0.99 to read another Scarpetta novel. I guess I keep hoping that Cornwall can spin a new tale that is fresh. Oh--I forgot to mention that I am tired of reading about all the terrible snow that plagues Scarpetta.
Nancy

Nancy, I gave up on Scarpetta a long time ago - all her personal relationships were just too much for me!

Laura, start with Louise Penny's first one, Still Life, to learn about the characters from the beginning.

Still reading Clive James, but enjoying it a lot.

Nancy, I gave up on Scarpetta a long time ago, too. I got tired of the long continuous passages about her big Mercedes. And all of the other materialistic trappings as well. I haven't read a Scarpetta book in about five years... and don't miss them a bit. Try John Sandford's Lucas Davenport series... there are about twenty of them. Much better.

PAM

I'm a Scarpetta drop out, too.

I'm about three-quarters through A Stranger in Mayfair by Charles Finch. It's probably me and post-Christmas letdown, but I'm not enjoying it as much as his others.

'Jamaica Inn' by Daphne du Maurier well into it and enjoying. I have lost count of the books that I have given the flick to leading up to this latest!!!

MAISIE DOBBS.......just finished it and am looking forward to others in that series. I especially enjoyed her psychic/psychologist skills.

A big thank you to the RP'er who mentioned this series.
I'd never heard of it and now am a big fan of Maisie !!

Been trying to finish up some books before the end of the year, so have finished the travel book about China, the novel by Josephine Tey, and even the lengthy drawn out history of my old school in England. Phew.

Now on to a Margaret Drabble ("The Radiant Way") which is rather dense, but interesting. Also reading out of the Best American Travel Writing of 2010 which is rather fun. Am planning to spend some time at Barnes and Noble tomorrow but now must be off to make a shepherd's pie. Yummy and just the right sort of day for it.

Catching up on this thread, I wanted to comment about Emma. I think that marriages with that kind of age gap were very common in that era. A man had to establish himself before he took on the responsibility of providing for a wife and children. If he didn't inherit his money that could easily take a decade. I read somewhere that officers in the British army were not allowed to marry before a certain rank, or perhaps a certain age, 30? On the other hand a woman would marry young, since besides any dowry her main contribution was her child-bearing ability. We look at marriage differently now, but it makes sense for the times.

And age gaps are not uncommon nowadays. My husband and I are 14 years apart in age. Admittedly it is a second marriage for us both, and I was in my mid-30's when we married, so the gap was not as pronounced as it would be for a 22 year old woman.

Rosefolly

Rosefolly: I agree with you in that the age gap would have reflected the life at that time. It is just more common in fiction to have the couple similar in age. It seems to fit the reader's expectations, perhaps.

What do RPers think of the versions of "Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn" that I read have been edited to cut out racism? Apparently it is to fit in to modern thinking and encourage new readers. That would have some merit.
I do squirm at some old books which express racist ideas but then again it does not always follow that what upsets me necessarily upsets someone else. A word that is a deeply offensive name of a person in one country could be just a normal descriptive word in another country. Where should this tinkering start and end?

The thing w/"Emma" is that the guy was single and v. wealthy since forever. He wasn't in the army, either. He was just waiting for her to grow up, apparently! But since he's only a "made-up" character, why couldn't Austen have made him younger -- a mere stroke of the pen ... even a few years less would've made a difference. The young farmer married the girl of illegitimate birth -- they were both about the same age.

One thing about waaaaay back then is the fatality in childbirth -- many women died young (20s and 30s); so a lot of husbands were widowers and needed a young -strong- healthy woman to look after and raise the children left behind. In cases like that there would be a moderate to very high age difference between the man and woman -- which again, was not the case in "Emma."

I agree with the points that both of you made. None of the factors which made marriages with such age differences a practical choice existed in this particular relationship. However, in a society where such relationships were common and accepted, no one was likely to blink when someone who didn't have a practical reason for it also made that choice. It looked normal to them.

About Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, I don't like such editing. Books reflect their times, and readers should understand this. Besides, I don't think of them as racist. Yes, they do use language which we no longer tolerate, but it was standard practice at the time. Omitting it is a distortion. I do understand that I might have a different emotional reaction to that language if I had different life experiences. Anyway I have long thought that the runaway slave Jim is the real hero of Huck Finn. For all his humility, he is far smarter, wiser, and far more moral than Huck. In his parochial ignorance Huck looks down on Jim, but that says more about Huck than it does about Jim. And in the end, even he comes to value Jim's qualities.