I've finished The Floating Brothel by Sian Rees. It is an interesting account of the journey of a convict ship full of women to Australia, where they were shipped not just for punishment for their crimes, but also to provide breeding stock for the colonies being established there.

One shudders to think about the treatment of the women in Newgate prison, aboard the ship and after arrival in Australia. The ship got to be called a floating brothel because the women were allowed (or forced - it's difficult to know) to practice prostitution wherever the ship put in to harbour during the trip.

The book seems to be based on one rather sketchy primary source and many peripheral ones, which just shows what a determined researcher can dig up and flesh out into a narrative.

LOL, Vee! It's my hubby's family. :) Sister in law mostly goes with Campbell tartan, but she claims they have rights to wear many others! Hubby's surname is Brisbin, which I guess is British in origin, supposedly meaning "bone crusher".

My heritage is English and Welsh on mom's side and German and Cherokee on my dad's.

Donna

Vee, I don't think BiL had pipes, just a very heavy kilt etc. SiL packed 17 changes of clothing instead. They had less to take home as they strewed Europe with various items they lost on the coach tours!

I managed to retrieve a favourite cardigan of BiL's, left in a UK taxi but the precious travel notes kept by SiL disappeared. She got into such a muddle as to where she had gone and was convinced Sagrada Familia Cathedral was in Madrid in spite of my protests. I don't think that tour even went there!

They did have a good time in spite of all the mishaps and I was sorry when they left to go back to Australia.

Still OT, Donna, just out of interest I checked the name Brisbin on the UK census info (from 1841 - 1911) and there were NO families of that name in the country!

There are however a very few people called Bristlin. They seem to have originated in Ireland and came over here maybe in the 1820's. One was a bricklayer's labourer and a sister(?) was a washerwoman.

Also a total absence of Cherokees.

Annpan I know of several older folk who have taken coach/bus trips in order to save the trouble of driving themselves and they have been SO exhausted by the experience that a couple had heart attacks and others vowed never to do it again. Often they had to be up, packed and breakfasted by 8am then onto the coach with maybe a mid-morning break (comfort stop) another break for lunch before carrying on to the next hotel for dinner and bed. It is no wonder your SiL became confused! On Continental trips the drivers often make detours via the souvenir shops run by friends and relations and try to bully the passengers into buying overpriced tat.

Vee, I think the original spelling was Bris-bon. My mother was an Adams, though; her ancestor arrived in America before the Pilgrims!

Ann, on our recent trip to Alaska we had several days with an on-the-bus time of 6 am. I'm a morning person and even I thought that was a bit much. :)

Donna

I booked a coach trip to Norway from the UK for my husband"s birthday.

It became an adventure instead of a treat from the start when we were given the wrong seats, behind the driver with no leg room for my 6'3" husband!

We "sightsaw" a much praised town in the rain in the dark and foresook the plan of sitting in a boat looking at the town in favour of an unplanned train ride going up a mountain for the view.

Luckily it was only for a few days and we ended up sailing home in a High Force gale which confined us to our cabin eating bread, cheese and Toblerone chocolate rather than the restaurant dinner I had planned for his birthday.

Wow, Ann, that sounds like quite a trip! I’m glad you made it home in one piece.

Carolyn, my mom read a lot of Zane Grey, too, and her favorite was Betty Zane. If I have read it, it was many years ago. But after reading about it, I don't think I have. Every once in a while, I like to read one of the old western books to remind me of The West.

And so I have finished The Light of Western Stars and have started another old book--Tom Sawyer. I managed to escape school w/o having read a lot of these classic old books and am trying to make up for it. Read Huckleberry Finn a few months ago. These are from an accumulation of books that I've picked up at garage sales and that had kinda' gotten lost. Don't have much time to read during the summer when most of the garage sales are going so that's how they manage to get lost.

ci_lantro, My only great-great-niece is named Sawyer Kate. Her mother is an elementary teacher, and guess who her favorite author is.

I'm halfway through Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout. It's set in a small Midwest town. The characters all grew up together and are all psychologically damaged from either their childhood or the war (Korea, I think).

It's pretty bleak, and I'm not sure where she's going with the story. It's short (less than 200 pages) so I suppose I'll finish it.

Donna

I have had to actually buy a book! I usually get my Laura Levine's Jaine Austen mysteries through my library. On requesting the last one, I was told it was with another City's library and I shall have to wait six months before it can be borrowed!

I deplore that a library can only afford to buy some of the books in a series. This has happened to me before but as I have cards from three different Cities libraries that I can get to easily, I usually manage. Not this time, alas!

Vee, slightly off topic-----Hoping you did not suffer damage from hurricane "Ophelia." I understand that it hit Ireland, and parts of SW England. Not sure if it actually got to Scotland on the predicted path.

Mary, thank you for asking. It was certainly stormy over the SW coast of Ireland with heavy seas and some flooding though fading as it reached Scotland and quite windy here but this is not uncommon in the Autumn. The strangest thing was the horrible orange colour of the sky and the red sun that lasted all Monday morning, with very poor quality air. This was apparently caused by wind from the Sahara Desert mixing with ash from the many wildfires in Portugal. More storms are expected this weekend . . . to add to the a 'non-Autumn' we have been experiencing. We have had almost none of those bright, crisp days when you can scrunch through fallen leaves. In fact hardly any fall colour to see here in the SW -ish corner of England.

Red Sun Phenomenon

I have finished a TBR-pile book Three Cheers for the Paraclete by Thomas Keneally. One of his early works and NOT easy for me to understand as it deals with a youngish RC priest who has returned to his Australian town to teach at a seminary. Written shortly after 'Vatican II' which brought so-called modernisation to the Church, it deals with the reaction of the older priests to the 'new order' of which they neither understand or approve. Our young priest is always angry and argumentative and had made some money by writing a book under an assumed name, which faintly criticised Pope Pius IX (?) Should he confess he was the author?

As I have no knowledge of Canon Law I am passing it on to a friend who has become a 'high-up' RC nun (not that this means much in their male-dominated and narrow world) but maybe she will get more out of it.

BTW Keneally trained as a priest for several years but was never ordained.

Vee, thanks for posting. Glad to hear you are OK. did you get my latest e-mail?

I finally finished reading Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion? by Johan Harstad, a Norwegian writer. It feels like this book has been in my life for a rather long visit. I truly did enjoy it though. I now feel rather familiar with the Faroe Islands, which I'd never heard of prior to reading this book. The story was full of long-held secrets that, with patience, were eventually revealed, explaining some odd behaviors. All but one secret that is, which was a bit irritating. And I was disappointed that the author chose to end the book with a short summary of what happened during the years following the protagonist's stay in the Faroe Islands. To me it felt like an old-fashioned way to end a book.

I have barely started To Be Where You Are, Jan Karon's latest in the Mitford saga. These books are a rest for my mind from solving mysteries.

Just finished Anne Perry's "At Some Disputed Barricade", a novel of WW1, with details so amazing it's as if she had been there.

I liked Perry's WWI short series. Also like the books by Rennie Airth and Charles Todd.

I dropped off a couple of books at the library, and there on the seven-day wall was a copy of Louise Penny's Glass Houses. Ta Da! I started reading it as soon as I got home.

Greetings!

I have just finished Minette Walters' latest book, The Last Hours. She is well known for her mystery books, but this is historical fiction, set in Dorset (Dorseteshire) in the 1300s when plague first arrived in England in that county. While this story has a lot of promise, I found the modern attitudes of the somewhat one-dimensional characters quite off-putting. The lady of the manor has taught all the serfs to read, and has quite a lot of convent-gained knowledge about quarantine. It was a bit much for me to swallow.

Now on to the latest Bill Slider myster.

Teaching serfs to read Kath? Highly unlikely!

I realise it is hard for authors to have a period mind-set when they write books of times other than their own and this goes against the grain but it must be done!

I am sometimes rattled when reading my favourite authors of the Golden Age of Mysteries with their snobbish attitudes and flippancy but this was their style and of the era after the devastation of the First World War.

Authors now writing books set in that time tend to skim over the inconvenient!

Finished The Sixth Extinction; enjoyed it but it's not a happy message. Breezed through Nesbo's The Snowman; not great literature but I honestly couldn't put it down and finished it at 1:30am. (So, what's with The Mold Man???)

Finished Glass Houses, so now it's back to Mitford.

Almost finished my first Martin Cruz Smith book, 'Polar Star'. At 2/3 point I couldn't take any more of Arkady Renko's life. Too gritty. Drats.

A new-to-me author Adam Johnson blew fresh wind into the room. Capitivating short stories with depressing subject matter treated deftly. 'Fortune Smiles' had Nirvana as its first story and I was hooked. Amazing writer.

(Louise Penny's the best!)

The Floating Brothel got me curious about reading more about the women convicts who were exiled to Australia in the 1800s - especially about their lives in the colony - so I dug up another TBR book from my collection: The Tin Ticket by Deborah J. Swiss.

On page one (or maybe two) I ran into two problems. One, she speaks of kiwifruit in a scene that takes place just after the middle of the 19th century - and kiwifruit didn't get to be called that until the early 20th century - and two: she describes the weather, the temperature, environment and people using language more suited to a novel than a history book.

So I went and checked out some reviews, most of which state the same thing: immaculate historical research (so the kiwifruit anachronism must be a fluke), and overwritten, over-dramatic text. I am now in two minds as to whether or not to continue with it.

Netla, I often wonder when a reviewer claims that a writer has carried out 'immaculate historical research' or similar verbiage, as usually they have no idea how much that author has studied the subject. Or as Annpan mentioned above writers/readers who place far too much emphasis on modern mores/sensibilities. As L P Hartley said "The past is another country; they do things differently there"

The Australian author Thomas Keneally, who really does know his subject has written a couple of well-received books Playmaker about a group of early convicts who put on a play for the Governor and Commonwealth of Thieves about the early Botany Bay colony.

Practicing my almost non-existent speed-reading skills to review Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance before my book club meeting this evening.

I finished Anything is Possible. I'm glad I stuck with it, even though the characters were unhappy and led bleak lives.

Now I'm about halfway through 16th Seduction, a Women's Murder Club story by James Patterson. I'm enjoying it a lot!

Donna

Vee, I saw an interview with Peter Fitzsimons, a respected Australian writer who was discussing his new book "Burke and Wills" and made it sound so interesting I might read it one day!

Although it is a serious biography, he treated the subject with some humour, remarking that although they ran out of the food they had packed for the expedition through Central Australia, along with a dining table(!) there was sufficient "Bush tucker" around that they might have been in Aisles 6&7 at a supermarket!

I have a copy of "The Break" by Marion Keyes to enjoy. It is quite a doorstopper at 568 pages but has good big print, ideal to read in bed!

Finished Tom Sawyer (which I liked better than Huckleberry Finn). I found HF kinda' disjointed and wanted to slap Tom up the side of the head for about 2/3 of the book. Tom isn't a flighty in TS as he was in HF.

Have started The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science by Norman Doidge. It's about neuroplasticity---the ability of the brain to change and adapt. Very interesting so far.

I read Martin Cruz Smith's Polar Star several years ago and liked it quite a lot so I would encourage you, Irisgal, to stick it out. Much more recently I read his Gorky Park and enjoyed that read also. I like Arkady; he seems cut from much the same cloth as Len Deighton's Bernie Samson and John le Carre's George Smiley. Need to run down Red Square, the 3rd book in the series (Gorky Park was the first & Polar Star was the second.)

I agree about Arkady, Cilantro. Excellent character.

A quick read The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, as recommended here. How do people survive such an abusive chaotic childhood? A drunken father, an arty but quite batty mother. The family always on the run from landlords/debt collectors, four kids often on the verge of starvation. Sexual abuse by a grandmother and an uncle. Everyday abuse by local folk/kids in the hick town in W Va where they land up. With all that the book is well-written and I suppose Walls life and that of her siblings is a triumph over adversity. I see a movie has just been released but the trailer makes it look more like 'The Waltons' than what probably happened.

Vee, just wondering --- did it occur to you that Walls exaggerated some of the events and personnages in "Glass Castle" for effect? I ask, because that was my suspicion.

Another one who loves Twain's "Tom Sawyer." In fact, it is on my TBR pile, bedside. (I like to re-read old favorites).

Mary/w'nymph. I did wonder at the outset when she was badly burnt aged 3 while trying to cook. I can well believe she remembered the flames and the pain but her 'conversation' with family and hospital staff (then and later) seemed way too mature for someone SO young. In fact I was slightly more suspicious about her writing of her father and his supposed great intelligence . . . if it hadn't been for booze he would have been a genius etc. Plus I don't think it is 'normal' to be so willing to forgive a man who is ready to prostitute his own daughter to make money for drink. The older sister seemed to have a stronger attitude/need for self-preservation and got the Hell out of the terrible situation the kids found themselves in and helped the others 'escape'.

I wonder what other RP'ers though about the book?

Vee, I just have to say that I agree with you. I did not find the characters believable or realistic.

When I read The Glass Castle some years ago, I did not question its accuracy. I do think it's rather difficult to accurately recall a conversation from one's childhood, and suspect that many memoirs contain some inaccuracies due to faulty or biased memories. But on the whole, I believe this book was an accurate depiction of Jeanette Walls's most unusual childhood as she remembered it. (I saw her speak during the year following the book's publication, and perhaps that has influenced my belief in her.)

I've started reading My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout. So far it's a bit dreary, but interesting enough to keep me reading.

Kathy, I didn't mean to give the impression that I thought Wall's was lying about what happened to her or her siblings and probably trying to put into words the events surrounding the 'burning' caused her to use language more fitting to an adult. Nor do I have any trouble believing in the many low-life characters, especially the children she had to deal with while growing up. At least she isn't full of the poor little me attitude that is displayed in many misery memoirs.

Kathy, Anything is Possible is the sequel to Lucy Barton. It is also bleak, but I did end up enjoying it.

Hi, K8Orlando! I just noticed an earlier post was from you! It's great to "see" you!

Donna

Netla, I have been sent a DVD catalog and one of the titles is "Convict - Women and Children in Australia". It lasts for 200 minutes. You might be interested to watch it but I am not sure if it is a Multi-regional disc or Region 4 only.

I was fortunate, in a way, I bought a DVD player which was faulty and the store replaced it with a Multi-regional one. I didn't think I needed one but it does come in handy sometimes when I want something from another country.

I finished My Name is Lucy Barton this morning. I made myself stick with it and get it over with as quickly as possible. Thankfully, it's a very short book. I can't imagine why it was suggested for my book club. I'll have to wait until late November to learn that answer. Meanwhile, I'm going to root around for something a little more uplifting.

Annpan, thanks, I'll check it out.

My DVD player came with an unlock code that could be used to turn it from a region 2 player to a region-free one. This made me scratch my head, because why bother when you could just make it region-free to begin with? I used the code immediately, since about half of the DVDs I own come from the USA (region 1) and I also have some from India (region 5).

I am now reading Packing for Mars by Mary Roach. It is an entertaining (as are all her books) and very informative look at space travel - historically and in the modern day - and all the things entailed in being an astronaut. Her books are a perfect mix of humour and information and I'm sure I would have done much better on my high-school biology test if I had read her Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal rather than the textbook chapter on the human digestive system.

Just coming to the end of Edna Healey's Emma Darwin: The Inspirational Wife of a Genius. I think many readers would find it turgid and rather heavy going but I enjoyed it.

Emma was born a Wedgwood of the famous 'pot-making' tribe and that family and the Darwins kept intermarrying for several generations; Charles was her first cousin.

The book is about so much more than Emma and there is lots of info about all the various branches of the combined groups with the difficulty of working out who-is-who as many of them had the same Christian names eg six females called Francis/Fanny. Without Emma, Charles' great scientific works would probably never have been published as he suffered chronic ill-health and needed her near him at all times . . . which might account for the huge number of children she produced, many of whom were 'delicate' but much cherished.

A little while ago I read a bio of Catherine Dickens and the contrast between the two families (much of the same age) is very marked. Mrs Dickens also had a huge family but her husband 'tired' of her and had her physically removed from her children and home, whereas the Darwins were loving, with children who went on to 'do well' in later life. Dicken's sons, except for the oldest, did badly and wasted their lives while his daughters were kept at home to wait on him and stoke his ego. Darwin led a quiet life of study and enjoyment of nature while Dickens was a great showman/showoff who burnt himself out when middle aged.

I finished Stephen King's On Writing and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a fascinating peek into his own writing process and his life, and offered excellent information for the aspiring fiction writer (which I once was, long ago in a galaxy far, far away).

Netla, I love Mary Roach, and Packing for Mars was terrific. I have Grunt in the TBR pile, and perhaps that will be my next book.

Last Days of Night by Graham Moore was a good read. It's historical fiction about the legal fight between Edison and Westinghouse from the perspective of Westinghouse's young lawyer. There's a romance, attempted murder and a crazy Nikola Tesla, who I think was not quite as helpless a savant as depicted. Supposedly a movie is coming out starring Eddie Redmayne.

Now reading Hero of the Empire by Candice Millard about the young Winston Churchill and Yes, Please by Amy Poehler.

Merry, I read Last Days of Night a while back and enjoyed it! I didn't know anything about Edison and Westinghouse (other than the basic stuff you learn in school) and found it pretty interesting.

Donna

Just finished to read “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? “ by Philip K. Dick.
Usually I don’t
read sci-fic, , the only sci-fic I read is Isaac Asimov, but I was choosing a
book and near this one on the shelve there was the P.K.D novel also known as
Blade Runner. I know Blade Runner is deemed an iconic sci-fic movie, but since
I have never seen the movie I thought I could read the novel for knowing what
it was all about. I was disappointed by the book. There’s nothing intriguing, there ‘s little about
androids vs human beings, there is not even action, as a matter of fact the
bounty hunter no haunts, he already knows where are the androids that he must
be retire ,

There ‘s
little about a sort of religion that took place on the earth. In the blurb
there was written that the bounty assignment quickly turned into a nightmare
kaleidoscope of subterfuge and deceit, and the threat of death for the hunter
rather than the hunted. Yes there was one page about this, but nothing
more.

I have one of those region-less DVD players. I only have one DVD that is non-USA but I like the idea of being able to watch those from other countries should I choose to do so. It is one of the reasons I often buy a DVD when a Blue-Ray is also available. The other reason is that I can watch DVDs on my computer but I don't have a device to do that with Blue Ray discs.

Earlier in this thread we were talking about disreputable ancestors. Rouan and I have an Irish great-great-great-great-grandfather Larkin who emigrated to Prince Edward Island from Ireland with his Scottish wife in 1829. Apparently it was a hasty move with the authorities hot on his heels. Our uncle claims it was for gun-running, but then he is known to have a flair for a good story, so who really knows? Anyway, he settled down nicely into a respectable life. He's not the first person to sow wild oats in youth and grow venerable with age.

I finished listening to J.D. Robb's Survivor in Death, which makes it 23 In Death audio books I have listened to since August. It also means I have almost caught up with myself, as I had got to this point in reading the books earlier.

I find like listening to them better, even though the woman who reads them makes Eve Dallas, the lead character, sound even more irritable and perpetually annoyed than I had imagined her from reading the books.