Vee, I'm aware that your comment is directed to Mary, but I couldn't resist your link to Jim Hinch's piece, "Why Stephen Greenblatt is Wrong -- and Why It Matters" (consciously? or unconsciously? echoing Christopher Hitchens's wording about George Orwell) published in the Los Angeles Review of Books. Perhaps Hinch's points of criticism are valid, but in my opinion he comes across as grumpy and having missed the point of one of the themes of Greenblatt's The Swerve -- that much of history is inaccurate, lacks nuance, and is unproven or unprovable because the proof may no longer exist. What we are left with is interpretation and speculation of writings which have survived plus the theories developed out of those.

I take it Hinch most objects to secular humanism being injected into Renaissance thought. I also note that Hinch is associated with Guideposts so I'll take anything he says with a pinch of salt.

Scholars, who assume that readers have to hold all the prerequisites of knowledge that they themselves hold to find any subject interesting or worth investigating, have the unfortunate (in my mind) tendency to be all wound up in abstruseness. I didn't find Greenblatt's method dry. Perhaps it is popular in style, but as some wise RPer pointed out to me long ago, a popular style can make a good place for jumping into a subject. :-)

Frieda, you are one up on me as I haven't read the book, nor even heard of it until your post but your comments certainly whetted my appetite being a bit of a history buff. Besides looking at the main newspaper articles I checked US/UK Amazon write-ups which varied from "dullsville" to "best thing I've ever read."

Way back we were taught that the Renaissance started in 1453 after the sack of Constantinople which was both simplistic . . .and inaccurate.

Thank you for bringing the title to my/out attention. I suppose I should now take your advice, put on my water-wings, hold my noes and dive straight in.

BTW What are/is Guideposts please?

Vee, Guideposts is a religious/inspirational publication here in the US. It's a small magazine that comes out monthly, I believe.

Donna

Thank you Donna.

Vee, thanks for posting the long review of "Swerve" from the L.A. Times. I read the entire article and I must admit, it did give me pause. It sounds (from this review) as if the writer thinks Greenblatt saw the Middle Ages in black and white terms, not in shades of gray, not as nuanced. Even I know that there are many contradictions within this time period and many exceptions to the rule, especially with regard to the Medieval Church. I will try to check into this work and see for myself.

Reading Great House by Nicole Kraus, a finalist for the National Book Award when it was published in 2010. Still in the first chapter, which so far, is a bit depressing. If it doesn't get better, I don't see myself finishing it.

Finished Ghost on the Case by Carolyn Hart last night. Bailey Ruth, emissary from Heaven, gets sent back again to her beloved home town of Adelaide, Oklahoma, to get someone out of trouble. For some reason, I really like this series.

Next up is Elizabeth J. Duncan's Much Ado About Murder. These books involve the Catskills Shakespeare Theater Company where the costume designer, Charlotte Fairfax,keeps faling over murderers. Cozy reading fun.

A friend at lunch was telling me about the Julia Brennan Jacobite books available only as Amazon e-books. Has anyone read them? She said they are like eating peanuts, that you have to have the next book as soon as you finish one.

I've just finished Run, by Anne Patchett, and thought it was great. I have had her Bel Canto in my TBR pile for years.........now I must read it.

Just start reading it. I'm more or less at page 80, I' dont know if i like it or I following the hype I read about her. At the momento can't put my finger on it

I finished Bone Box by Faye Kellerman yesterday. I enjoyed it a lot, even though it ended a little abruptly and only hinted at resolutions to the story lines.

I started The Golum of Paris by Jonathan Kellerman, but haven't gotten far enough into it to have an opinion yet.

Donna

I finally finished "the Lady in the Tower" by Alison Weir. I'm glad I read the entire work, even though it was slow going due to the wealth of detail. I'm fairly certain from Weir's historical research that Anne Bolyn was merely a flirt and did not deserve to lose her head. What a massacre Cromwell et al. fomented, in terms of beheadings, both high and low born families. What a bloodthirsty time to be alive in Merry Olde England....

Woodnymph, I'm glad you stuck with it, even knowing how it would end! :) I've read quite a few novels set in that time period, and it seems like just being alive at the end of the day was an accomplishment, whether you were rich or poor.

Donna

After finishing the Weir book, I went on to pick up Starkey's biography of Queen Elizabeth I. I seem to be in a Tudor frame of mind these days. It was interesting to read of young Elizabeth's scholarship and piety. She leaned toward Protestantism, but was willing to compromise. She was fluent at an early age in Greek, Latin, French, and Italian, being taught by some of the best scholars available in her youth.

Her father, Henry VIII had sent a delegation to Germany to learn about the beginnings of Protestantism, to meet with Luther and his followers. So that was the first in-road of Protestantism into Catholic England, which grew from that point on.

She never mentioned her unfortunate mother, Ann Bolyn. Although Ann had Protestant leanings, she died as a devout Catholic, with her beheading. The better way to go was via the sword, not the ax, according to these book, as it was considered to be "kinder" and got it over with faster. Having ordered Ann's death, Henry the King wasted no time in marrying third wife, Jane Seymour days later.

For Anglophiles: I discovered a wonderful book: "A Writer's Britain: Landscapes in Literature" by Margaret Drabble. Strangely, this was on my TBR pile for years. It's copyright is 1979, but it has timeless photos of English and Scottish landscapes. It contains appropriate quotes from British authors we are all familiar with, such as Dylan Thomas, L.P. Hartley, Laurie Lee, Wordsworth, and many others. I consider it to be a treasure.

Just seen the first part of a new BBC adaptation of Howard's End, which will probably be winging its way across the Pond before too long. I had seen the film some years ago, but this will have far more detail and be slower paced. At the time it was written I think the contrast between the three main families would have been more obvious to readers than today. The 'arty' bohemian Schlegel's, the 'noveau riche' sporty Wilcox family and the poor pair of Leonard and Mrs Bast, in who the Schlegel's take a disastrous 'interest'.

I did take some issue with some very quiet London street scenes (made on location so perhaps extras were too expensive) and for the time, the more than might be expected non-white actors as servants, dinner guests and even Mrs Bast. And we can tell the Schlegel's are arty because they go out hatless ;-)

I really liked the first "Howard's End," which I own. I think it was directed by Merchant-Ivory, which creations I have invariably enjoyed. I was just thinking that I need to watch it again soon.

Vee, "Hatless!" How daring!

Almost as bad as the bonnet-less Elizabeth Bennett in the Kiera Knightley version of P&P!

I wear hats but not many women do here, in Perth. The dedicated hat shop in the city closed many years ago. I get my preferred cloche style online or from a boutique Red Cross shop which stocks new ones and fascinaters for race goers mainly.

I found a neat little book a bunch of years ago in a Little Free Library called The Pope's Daughter by Dario Fo. It is a novel of Lucrezia Borgia's life and even though it is fiction based on fact, I have fallen under this book's spell. The writing style is unique in that the chapters are broken into sections and each section begins with a lightly cryptic sentence, "Lucrezia has vanished! Run away? Vanished? Who knows?" and then that section delves into it. PLUS, it is illustrated with portraits of the powerful families of Rome. It is always so amazingly awesome when I stumble upon a gem. (Plus... it is another title from the TBR towers..)

PAM

I have just returned from a long weekend in England, and naturally I bought books while I was there. I already finished one: The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery. The subtitle is "A surprising exploration into the wonder of consciousness", but unfortunately it is no such thing. I loved reading about the authors friendly interactions with several octopuses, but found very little exploration of consciousness, and only a a little bit about octopus physiology and their lifecycles. The book is mostly about the author and her interactions with octopuses. I had hoped it would be an good addition to my small collection of books about interesting sea-creatures, but I will probably put it in my book donation box.

I would appreciate it if someone could point me in the direction of a popular science book with a more of a natural history approach to octopuses and less of "octopuses are wonderful!"

bigdogstwo

Dario Fo won the Nobel Prize , for literatur in 1997. He Was Italian and was a illustrator, a dramatist, a writer, an actor, a set designer, a director ,a kostumist of his own company, died in 2016 at the age of 90 (was born in 1926)

I picked up from the library and began today The Painted Queen, plotted out by Elizabeth Peters (Barbara Mertz) and finished after her death, over three years' time, by Joan Hess. Mary, I think you said you didn't like it much? I've only read three chapters--so far, so good.

I read one book from the Maggody series by Ms. Hess and didn't like it at all. Perhaps I should have given her another chance as the end paper says she has received several awards. The book I read was supposed to be quite humorous, but I take my mysteries seriously!

Finished Great House by Nicole Kraus. I can see why this novel was nominated for the National Book Award. It is well written, interesting and has an unusual structure. There are 9 characters that are loosely connected by a huge desk. I particularly liked that some of the stories of these characters are narrated by a person a bit on the periphery. The language is beautiful, and has some quotes one wants to write down, such as this one:

There are moments when a kind of clarity comes over you, and suddenly you can see through walls to another dimension that you'd forgotten or chosen to ignore in order to continue living with the various illusions that make life, particularly life with other people, possible.

I almost quit reading this book in the first chapter, because it was about the most depressing character of them all, but I'm glad I went on to finish it, because I liked it. That said, it is not a book for everybody, and I will not reread it. It is slow and a couple of the characters are depressing.

For the past few weeks I have been listening to the audiobooks of The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. I am nearly finished with the third one and am feeling that I don't want the book to end feeling. I will need to take a break from audiobooks for a few days before I find something else to listen to.

After being on hold for it for several weeks, I finally got Eleanor Oliphant is Perfectly Fine by Gail Honeymoon from the library. Now that I have it, I'm not really in the mood to read it, go figure!

Thanks MSG. The front cover did mention that Dario Fo won the Nobel, but it was still a new-to-me author. I enjoyed The Pope's Daughter as I had not read much about the d'Medici, Borgia, or any of the "houses" of Italy during that time period. It was historical fiction, and the illustrations were a great addition to the book. The story itself revolved around Lucrezia Borgia. It was a short, quick read. I was not surprised at the lack of morals and ethics of the upper classes of society of the time period, nor the "second class" status of women. What surprised me was the strength in which Lucrezia was portrayed in the book, and how, at least from a fictional perspective, she managed to have an independent spirit even though her life choices were far from independently reached. But I am ready for a break from Renaissance drama and intrigue.

PAM

Reading The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton. This is the first book I read by her. After reading Great House by Nicole Kraus, with its clean, beautiful prose, it's taking me a while to get used to this less than poetic narrative.

I'm reading Dangerous Minds by Janet Evanovich. It's a very odd story - the characters are an eccentric (to put it mildly) billionaire, his redneck cousin, a Buddhist monk, and the woman who works as the billionaire's assistant. The monk was living on an island in the Pacific that was stolen, and the four of them are trying to find the culprits.

Donna

I finished The Painted Queen, read Anne Perry's new Christmas novelette, and have gone back to Portobello, which I am not liking but will finish. It is a so far not tied together book about different people who live in that area, some of whom steal from the crowds for a living and all of whom are peculiar.

I have just finished Cat got your Diamonds by Julie Chase, a cosy mystery set in New Orleans. There are more in this series about Lacy Crocker who makes fancy costumes for pets.

I am rather ambivalent about this, I prefer pets au natural and only wearing useful items like collars with ID discs or boots for safety. However the owners enjoy doing this and the pets appear to be patient!

Whatever floats your boat! I had to Google a couple of things I didn't know about, Snowshoe cats and lemon tassies both sounded delightful!

Michael Stanley's The Second Death of Goodluck Tinubu is a police procedural a la Botswana style a la Alexander McCall Smith style. Until the chapters with violence. Now I've found it's by 2 authors. Explains the abrupt shift from feel-good to horror. I was really looking forward to this series but it was too padded for me. It would have benefited by winnowing out 100 pages.

Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer (an Austrian mountaineer) could have been 100 pages longer! Very informative about life in Tibet in the 1940's by two escaped POWs who make their way through the Himalayas to neutral Tibet. Think I heard of it here. Very good.

Not sure I should mention The Orphan Master's Son. If it were set in So. America instead of No. Korea I wonder if it would have won the Pulitzer. Detailed torture.

I am so ready for a true who-dun-it.

I recall watching the film made from "Seven Years in Tibet" which I found fascinating.

I am wandering in the proverbial desert, looking for something scintilating to read. I want to be mesmerized and captivated by a twisty, fast moving plot with complex characters. Any suggestions?

I finished Dangerous Minds. The odd quartet managed to save the world from being destroyed by the evil guys in possession of strange matter. It was a pretty improbable story, but I enjoyed it.

Now I'm re-reading Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi. I was on the waitlist for it several weeks before Manson died. It will take a while...it’s almost 700 pages.

Donna

Woodnymph, I found the first 4 of Craig Johnson's series with Sheriff Walt Longmire to be page turners. I didn't know they tv-ized them. Barbara Pym does a great job with characters, in Oxford, but a gentler pace. I adored Stuart M Kaminsky's Inspector Porfiry Rostovich in Russia. Great characters, well paced. An oldie you've probably read is Ivan Doig's The Whistling Season.

Because of luggage weight restrictions I had to restrain myself from buying a number of books while I was in England earlier in the month, but as luck would have it, a week later I came across one of the books I had considered buying, at my neighbourhood charity shop: You Are Awful (But I Like You): Travels Through Unloved Britain by Tim Moore.

I've just finished it and I must say it was refreshing to read a travel book about Britain not written by Bill Bryson, which does not try to emulate Bryson's style.

Inspired by a family day trip gone wrong, Moore set out to visit the worst places in England, Scotland and Wales, along with the worst hotels
and pubs and the ugliest buildings, all examined while on a
road trip driving Britain's worst car, listening to the most awful
music Britain has produced, eating the worst food and being guided by a GPS system in the voice of Ozzy Osbourne.

Aside from the gimmicky nature of the trip, this book is, more than anything else, an examination of the decay of what were one productive and populous industrial towns, attempting to analyse what went wrong with each of them. There are not a lot of laugh-aloud moments, but plenty of chuckle-worthy ones, especially when Moore is describing the problems he has with his car, and the soul-killingly awful music he forces himself to listen to while on the road.

It would be easy to write unsympathetically, even sneeringly, about these places, but instead Moore examines (most of) them with a sympathetic eye and a kind of fascinated awe at the way time and human folly have conspired to make them awful.

"Because of luggage weight restrictions I had to restrain myself from buying a number of books while I was in England earlier in the month"

Netla, I had to laugh at this...when we were in Alaska in August DH's brother in law was collecting rocks everywhere he went, until someone pointed out that he'd have to pay a lot to bring them home in his luggage! He selected a few favorites and left the rest there.

Donna

Over the weekend, I finished reading The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. I was a bit disappointed because I was expecting a really good book, and it was only fairly good, or maybe I could generously say pretty good. Just my opinion, of course. I did not particularly like the protagonist, Lo Blacklock. I kept thinking, "She's the kind of person I'd try to avoid on a cruise ship." And while her adventure is quite suspenseful and dramatic, I didn't buy the very first premise that caused Lo to meet the woman in Cabin 10. I mean, who would knock on a complete stranger's cabin door and ask to borrow their mascara (presumably used mascara). Surely Ruth Ware could have dreamed up a more likely need to justify the desperation it takes to knock on a stranger's door - like maybe an anti-diarrheal or something.

Kathy, I enjoyed that book, but your observations are correct! I think I would also try to avoid Lo. :)

Donna

I too was underwhelmed by The Woman in Cabin 10.

I am about halfway through Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. I loved her first book. Wonderful writing and observations about human behavior. A page turner that reads like literature in many parts.

I've just finished A Casualty of War by Charles Todd and liked it the best of the Bess Crawford books. (I prefer the Ian Rutledge character.) In this one WWI ends, and Bess has a leave back home that she uses to find a man she nursed and who has been confined to a mental hospital because no one believes his story that another British soldier shot him.

I recently picked up in a charity sale Graham Swift's Waterland a story set across several generations in the Fens of East Anglia, an area previously cut off from the rest of England by its low level rich agricultural farmland and the miles of dykes, rivers and watercourses that drain into the North Sea. The story is told by a school master, a teacher of history, to his class of boys who should be studying the French Revolution but instead hear the history of his family in that damp, interbred area.. Elegantly written but patience is needed as the 'story' doesn't flow neatly and events jump in and out of the narrative.

Donna, at least he didn't pay for the rocks and then have to leave them behind.

Too hot and humid to go on the bus to the library yesterday but I had run out of reading material (even labels on jars!) so grabbed a book from the retirement village library which has mostly light fiction for the ladies or non-cosy crime.

I found one about an Irish family but could do with a cast list as it jumps around times and family connections. Interesting but confusing!

Secrets of a Happy Marriage by Cathy Kelly.

Donna and Netla - While visiting the North Shore of Lake Superior in Northern Minnesota a friends a few years ago, the two men in our party collected rocks like maniacs. Knowing they would not be able to take them all home, they maintained a pile of what they called "contender rocks" outside our cabin door. There was a serious elimination ceremony just before our departure. It was actually quite fun!

Annpan - It's so out-of-my-experience to hear about "hot and humid" at the end of November! But then, the 70-degree F temperatures we had here yesterday is also a stretch.

Vee, years ago, I read Swift's "Waterlands" and found it wonderful. I thought it captured very well the "feel" or zeitgeist of that part of the English landscape. Later on, I saw the film that was made from the book. Also excellent, in my view.

Mary, I'm glad you enjoyed 'Waterland'. I didn't know a film had been made . . . I shall look out for it.

Kathy, hot and humid almost never happen here; perhaps just the odd day in July! And today has been crisp and sunny just above freezing, a pleasant change from the usual November murk and rain.

I've just checked out the movie 'Waterland' and see the scenes with the history teacher, the school and present-day setting have been transferred from Greenwich South London to . . . Pittsburg. But I suppose American $$$'s paid for much of the film so needs must. At least they used the real Fenlands for the early scenes.

I am about halfway through A Legacy of Spies by John Le Carre and am enjoying it more than the last several of his books. It's good to be back to the old days with George Smiley.

In the mail today, I received a copy of the Bas Bleu book catalog. Besides a couple of books I would like, there is a page-a-day calendar with Unforgettable Senior Moments quotes such as "At 88, how do you feel when getting up in the morning?" Answer: "Amazed!" and a book tote that reads "There are a million books that I haven't read, but just you wait!"

I used to get that Bas Bleu catalogue. I miss it, as some of their choices are rather unusual.

John Le Carre is amazing, IMHO. I am currently watching his "the Night Manager" and finding it intriguing.

Mary, I suggest you only ask online and you will be besieged by BB catalogs, or any other for that matter. I get scads of catalogs. I once asked my postman if I were his best customer, and he said I was up there.