The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - B. Traven's

Hello from southern Germany. I do not have so much to give, but we breeded a new pumpkin with a white moon in orange sunburst (picture) last year. It weighed 2 kg but this year we grew 9 to 17 kg, cause we pollinated with an Atlantic Giant in the first season and selfed in the second. We also breeded a C. maxima we have named Acorneti, since it has the size of an Acorn like Table King but is more sweet, cause we breeded a C. maxima of the Kabocha group with the cantaloupe Tigger as pollinator. We also grew a C. maxima called "Big Cindy": it looked like the Cinderella pumpkin but is much better for the use as crudités and fine food. Our greatest Big Cindy weighed 24 kg. We also have more varieties of the acorneti style: they are greater, flat to roly-poly, green-grey ones and different mottled orange. We made tiny little C. pepo (12 cm orange and 14 cm green) to paint on (nearly no ripping) or just for decoration. And we breeded the biggest Butternut squash all 40 cm long and 25 cm thick. We also grew pure red C. maxima `Turks Turban miniô and pure dark green ones (both with a white dumpling in front). Maybe this is not interesting for you, but we are really interested in your giant vietnamese amaranth and three pumpkins: - Marina di Chioggia - Galeux dôEysines - Jumbo Pink Banana All the best to Hungary, Ludwig

Hi Frieda. Without being at all presumptuous it seems to me that you want from an historical novel exactly what I want - a tale well told. A tale that holds together both internally with a consistent voice and externally with some regard to that slipperiest of ideas - historical accuracy. It would be a trifle disingenuous of me to say that I care not a jot for the integrity of the historical framework that underpins a novel. I think I just allow the novelist a little more leeway than you in terms of the elasticity of the "facts" he might cobble his little tale together with. Of course egregious errors in the retelling of indisputable history will bring a novel tumbling down for me as much for you - perhaps we just differ in the definition of "egregious". Further to your dislike of "presentism" I suggest you never pick up Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire . Just finished reading this examination of Spartan society and the Battle of Thermopylae where three hundred plus Spartans plus a few thousand allies held off a Persian army of some hundreds of thousands, inflicting grievous losses and giving Greece time and inspiration to save itself and perhaps western civilization as we know it. Perhaps your mention of your own concept of "presentism" made me hyper aware of any examples in the text but it was riddled with it. Battle plans develop "new wrinkles", soldiers imbibe "snootfulls of wine", are exhorted to "dump 'em but be ready to hump'em" when they rest their shields. Despite speaking in a declamatory and formal style worthy of Homer most of the time and engaging in lengthy, philosophical conversations about the Gods and true meaning of courage, fear, love and warfare the Greeks at various times decide that a priest is "full of s--t", the enemy are a bunch of "d--k strokers" and "a-- f-----s"". In fact the "f" word is dropped so many times at times it reads like a novel of modern army barracks life. Worth reading for the battle scenes alone - I'm a sucker for blood and guts - but nearly ruined as a novel for me by that newly defined mortal sin of historical tomes - "presentism". Thank you Frieda. Larry

In the last few days, I finished the third book in Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. I thought the books were very well written and imaginative, and I loved every moment. Yesterday I read a book I read about somewhere here on RP. I'm thinking that perhaps it was Cindy who recommended Mary Modern by Camille DeAngelis, so when I saw it sitting on the new acquisitions shelf at the library, I grabbed it. The book definitely depends on the reader's willingness to suspend disbelief, but what a wonderful reward it was. I very much enjoyed it. If it was you that recommended it, Cindy, I thank you. Today I finished a book that I even hesitate to mention since it is not at all my usual reading fare and I only have it in my possession because it was on the library sale table for a quarter. After the stress of the holidays, though, I must have needed something light and fun and have to admit that I actually became totally engrossed in Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder, which is about a young woman granted a reprieve from execution if she agrees to become a food taster for the Commander (in a very fictional medieval-fantasy-era setting) to make certain that he is not assassinated by poisoning. Evil plots abound and magic flows, and I have read compulsively only to find that there's a sequel. Sigh. Sometimes it's nice to overdose on sweets, so I suppose I don't feel too terribly guilty about indulging in something that's pure entertainment.