Ersatz TLS discussion

Hello, everyone

Welcome to the new thread.

There was some question of how many people there are in this group and I've been thinking about that. We see that there are "243 members", most of whom have never commented and I would say (maybe wrongly) that quite a lot didn't come from TLS.

If you are looking at Goodreads on a computer, you can see for each topic how many "views" there have been. Each "view" corresponds to a separate GR account. So for our weekly 'What are we reading' topic, thirty-something people usually comment.

I hope everyone is warm and safe. A cold grey morning here in Paris — never mind, there's coffee to drink and books to read.

Happy reading to all!

2c in the Shires, overnight frost, second week of cold temperatures, cold in relation to a very mild 2023!

No new books started yet but i have a collection of Sheridan Le Fanu waiting for me

In response to Berkley and Bill, as the old thread is closed

Bill- i would like to see some of the spiratual writings of Conan Doyle too, i greatly enjoyed the new-ish OUP collection of his Gothic Tales

Berkley- Il Piacere is quite a work, rich and indulgent, with a feel like Huysmans decadent novels, its certainly worth a read. Try Tarchetti too.

I wonder what happened with those host members who never commented? I havent seen Mach on the G for a long time either, hope he is well?

Gpfr wrote: "Hello, everyone

Welcome to the new thread."

Thanks for the new thread!

In the last one @Ruby commented:

I would like to be reading 'better' books but I'm not there yet. Cops, spies, etc., seems to be the fare for now.

Certainly my case, too... Christmas was too busy for serious books, and now we have been planning for my mother's stay next week, while the plumber and his cohorts instal a new central heating system in her house to replace the ailing boiler. The preparation - and no doubt the stay - are stressful events for various reasons. We have to think about stairs (safety), entertainment (her hearing loss is such that she'll need 'stuff' in her room, as it'd be too loud for us), etc. etc. I'll be glad when it's all over, in a fortnight - I hope!

@Ruby also wrote: I forgot to mention that the Black cops in Darktown Trilogy cannot solve crimes in White areas.

I can't remember if this point is made in the Harlem tales by Chester Himes, but probably... certainly, I do recall that Native American reservation cops aren't allowed to investigate serious crimes such as murder, and so the 'feds' (I think) have to be called in...

Not sure what the situation is in Australia, thinking of the recent comment on the Jay Swan TV series.

I have finished Futility by William Gerhardie and it was a superb read, Gerhardie was a tragic figure really as he never quite matched the standard of his 1920s novels and became by 1940, an eccentric figure, known for his arrogance.

GB Shaw once asked him whether he was Russian or English and Gerhardie replied "english". Edith Wharton praises him in the Apollo edition introduction and Evelyn Waugh envied his talent.

Hi everyone, I'm now the proud(?) owner of a brand new hip. Everything went very well and I am pain free for the first time in a year. Only in hospital two days and managed a short walk along the street in the cold sunshine this afternoon. I am being spoilt rotten by my goddaughter!

Probably due to the medication concentration is a little off but I have just started reading

having read and enjoyed the first in the series.

It is lovely to see some sunshine after what seems to have been weeks of grey skies and perpetual rain. The floods have receded and the danger seems to be over.

giveusaclue wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm now the proud(?) owner of a brand new hip. Everything went very well and I am pain free for the first time in a year.

what good news! a new hip has a shorter recovery time than a new knee.

Jeez Louise--we are an aging bunch of folks here. To use MK's term, we are none of us spring chickens.

Ruby wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm now the proud(?) owner of a brand new hip. Everything went very well and I am pain free for the first time in a year.

what good news! a new hip has a shorter ..."

Yes, glad mine was hip. And yes, we need an influx of younger readers!

Over the last 6-7 years, i have been reading the great British wierd fiction(encompassing gothic-horror-ghost stories), the list includes the following:

Gothic Tales by Conan Doyle (OUP)
The Great God Pan and other Tales by Arthur Machen (Penguin)
Ghost Stories by MR James (OUP)
Out of the Deep and other tales by Walter De La Mare (British Library)

I am about to start in next few days, Green Tea and other Wierd Tales by Sheridan Le Fanu(OUP), which like the De La Mare and Conan Doyle collection, is a new edition of tales with good textual notes and details about the author I dont read stories like this to scare me anymore, not since i was a child, its more about the ability to tell a story well, which all these authors share, as well as attention to atmosphere and the conveyance of that through words.

All these writers broadly developed from the same era, with Le Fanu as the oldest and possibly the main influence on the others,. These stories remind me of Victorian and Edwardian worlds of repressed emotions and stiff upper lips, of worlds at the edges of the popular imagination. I include fairy tales in this and have a collection of Victorian fairy tales somewhere on the heap.

Green Tea and Other Weird Stories

giveusaclue wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm now the proud(?) owner of a brand new hip..."

Glad to hear it went well :)

AB76 wrote: "2c in the Shires, overnight frost, second week of cold temperatures, cold in relation to a very mild 2023!

No new books started yet but i have a collection of Sheridan Le Fanu waiting for me

In r..."

I have a volume of LeFanu's ghost stories beside me as I write. Enjoy!

AB76 wrote: "Over the last 6-7 years, i have been reading the great British wierd fiction(encompassing gothic-horror-ghost stories), the list includes the following:

Gothic Tales by Conan Doyle (OUP)
The Grea..."

Sheridan LeFanu was as interested in psychology as his rough contemporary, Poe. In their tales, "who it happens to" is as important as "what goes on." LeFanu's viewpoint, though Romantic, is often that of a Victorian looking back on the materialism of the Georgian age, and he is well aware of its hierarchy grounded in property and cash. Wronged heirs and men hanged for bloodless crimes against property appear in several of his tales.

As for Doyle, the Jeremy Brett TV series, which I much appreciated, reminded me of how Gothic many of the Holmes tales were.

Gpfr wrote: "Hello, everyone

Welcome to the new thread.

There was some question of how many people there are in this group and I've been thinking about that. We see that there are "243 members", most of whom ..."

Thanks as always for your work here.
Membership! Raise your hands if you're real!
Here in Auburn we've had nights with with 14, 12, and 10 degrees of frost. I celebrated above-freezing temperatures with a trip to the supermarket. It teemed with other elders, out stocking up for the next cold spell.

AB76 wrote: "I have finished Futility by William Gerhardie and it was a superb read, Gerhardie was a tragic figure really as he never quite matched the standard of his 1920s novels and became by 1940, an eccen..."

I'm fascinated by this period. I'm ordering it.

I've just read these 2 books by Harini Nagendra (recommended on WWR by Lorantffy/Sandya). Set in South India at the beginning of the 1920s, an intrepid young woman turns to detection.

Quick and easy reads; like others of these India-set mysteries, they give some interesting glimpses of life at that period. The writer is an ecologist, a university professor.

Robert wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Over the last 6-7 years, i have been reading the great British wierd fiction(encompassing gothic-horror-ghost stories), the list includes the following:

Gothic Tales by Conan Doyle (..."

cant forget Poe of course, i didnt add the story collection of his i read too to my post but then that was about 10 years ago. Another great crafter of a story.

Robert wrote: "AB76 wrote: "I have finished Futility by William Gerhardie and it was a superb read, Gerhardie was a tragic figure really as he never quite matched the standard of his 1920s novels and became by 19..."

good to hear that Robert, locations are 30% Petersburg, 70% Vladivostok. The novel is a lost gem in my opinion, the way it combines a relatively "light" style with so much depth is remarkable too, will be interested in your take on the novel, keep me posted, the ending was very sad, no death, no gore, just immensely sad and very realistic i felt

AB76 wrote: "Robert wrote: "AB76 wrote: "I have finished Futility by William Gerhardie and it was a superb read, Gerhardie was a tragic figure really as he never quite matched the standard of his 1920s novels a..."

I'll post my take on the book.
The satirists Ilf and Petrov wrote that "Melancholy is to a Russian writer as a potato is to a French chef. It can be served 100 different ways."

Robert wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Robert wrote: "AB76 wrote: "I have finished Futility by William Gerhardie and it was a superb read, Gerhardie was a tragic figure really as he never quite matched the standard of his 1..."

love that quote!

giveusaclue wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm now the proud(?) owner of a brand new hip. Everything went very well and I am pain free for the first time in a year. Only in hospital two days and managed a short walk along the s..."

Hip Hip Hooray!... Glad it is sorted and working well so quickly. Just make sure you keep well away from icy pavements and the like. I have my 'bigger biopsy' tomorrow. Haven't read a book in ages. It seems I can't settle to one... I keep starting different options, none of them stick. I think I might try the library and see what they have in their audio section as it is radio that is taking up the slack at the moment...

Tam wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm now the proud(?) owner of a brand new hip. Everything went very well and I am pain free for the first time in a year. Only in hospital two days and managed a sh..."

😀 thanks Tam. I have fingers crossed for you firtomorrow. Would say everything crossed but I'm not allowed to cross legs or ankles!

giveusaclue wrote: "Tam wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm now the proud(?) owner of a brand new hip. Everything went very well and I am pain free for the first time in a year. Only in hospital two days and ..."

glad to see the op went ok!

Gpfr wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm now the proud(?) owner of a brand new hip..."

Glad to hear it went well :)"

Seconded! Pain free!

Took a peak and FB this a.m. and what did I see but BBC weatherwoman talking about how cold you are going to get. Hope all have enough in the larder and don't have to venture out.

And insulated pipes as the Fire Dept. here in the PNW has been called out a number of times for burst/frozen pipes.

I may just get back under the covers and continue to read The Footsteps at the Lock.

Found via BetterWorldBooks, a collection of Marxism Today essays on Thatcher, entitled The Politics of Thatcherism written in 1983, will be interesting to read the analysis of that first four years in power, as i was too young at the time to think much about it.

Of course i have done a lot of reading about it since but almost at a remove, like i lived through it but in a dream, as in South Eastern Britain, a true blue heartland, she was much loved. I respect her conviction and her belief but loathe her idealogy.

The Politics of Thatcherism

giveusaclue wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm now the proud(?) owner of a brand new hip. Everything went very well and I am pain free for the first time in a year. Only in hospital two days and managed a short walk along the s..."

So pleased to hear about the hip, give. And amazed that you only had to stay in for two days. How do they do this?!

Anne wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm now the proud(?) owner of a brand new hip. Everything went very well and I am pain free for the first time in a year. Only in hospital two days and managed a sh..."

Thanks Anne, Yes it is amazing but it is nice to be at home and able to sleep in my own bed.

giveusaclue wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm now the proud(?) owner of a brand new hip. Everything went very well and I am pain free for the first time in a year. Only in hospital two days and managed a short walk along the s..."

Wow, I'm glad that your surgery went well and I hope your recovery will continue as smoothly

giveusaclue wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm now the proud(?) owner of a brand new hip. Everything went very well and I am pain free for the first time in a year. Only in hospital two days and managed a short walk along the s..."

Good news indeed! I don't seem to have much of a tendency to arthritis, though dad had two hips done. Genetics is a funny business...

Anne wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm now the proud(?) owner of a brand new hip. Everything went very well and I am pain free for the first time in a year. Only in hospital two days and managed a sh..."

I was talking to my doctor's nurse about how much replacement surgery has improved over the last few decades. Good show by your treating doctors.

Gpfr wrote: "I've just read these 2 books by Harini Nagendra (recommended on WWR by Lorantffy/Sandya). Set in South India at the beginning of the 1920s, an intrepid young woman turns to detection.

Quick and easy reads."

Thanks for that - I've read quite a few 'Indian historical detection' books in the last year or two, and am running short of easy reads to get me through the next fortnight, so I bought the first (Kindle edition) as it was on special offer... I have in the past had a fair overlap of 'likes' with yourself and with Sandya, plus there are recommendations from two authors I like - Sujata Massey and Abir Mukherjee - who wrote some of those books in a similar vein. So, with any luck, I'll like it...

Robert wrote: "The satirists Ilf and Petrov wrote that "Melancholy is to a Russian writer as a potato is to a French chef. It can be served 100 different ways.""

Haha! That's brilliant!

Tam wrote: "I have my 'bigger biopsy' tomorrow. Haven't read a book in ages. It seems I can't settle to one... I keep starting different options, none of them stick. I think I might try the library and see what they have in their audio section as it is radio that is taking up the slack at the moment...."

The very best of luck for your biopsy... as for audio books, my mother gets through them at a fair old rate since her eyesight failed - I reckon it's worth a try, especially if you get a good reader.

AB76 wrote: "I respect her conviction and her belief but loathe her idealogy."

Thatcher's policies and comments such as "There is no such thing as society" unfortunately unleashed a horde of Gordon Gekko "greed is good" types into British politics (I'm fairly sure Boris Johnson actually used that "greed is good" quote not long ago - without irony.) So, since then we've had Cameron getting rid of the "green crap" (subsidies for insulating houses and installing heat pumps) with the result that the British housing stock was far less well prepared for the jump in fuel prices, as well as pumping far more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than they should and could have done.

scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "I respect her conviction and her belief but loathe her idealogy."

Thatcher's policies and comments such as "There is no such thing as society" unfortunately unleashed a horde of Gordo..."

The 1979 turn away from the postwar consensus was a disaster for the UK, matched only by the Brexit vote of 2016 in my opinion. People love to comment on how we are all getting better off, while avoiding the poverty situation that never changes and the easy credit float that keeps people in debt

Some blame the Labour policies of roughly 1976-79 for starting the "neo liberal turn", i think there is some truth in it but it wasnt ideological more about trying to save a sinking ship whatever way they could

AB76 wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "I respect her conviction and her belief but loathe her idealogy."

Thatcher's policies and comments such as "There is no such thing as society" unfortunately unleas..."

'Some blame the Labour policies of roughly 1976-79 for starting the "neo liberal turn", i think there is some truth in it but it wasnt ideological more about trying to save a sinking ship whatever way they could'

Sorry AB but could you be a bit more specific about what you mean when you refer to the 'neo-liberal turn?... As I'm aware that the use of the word liberal can be quite confusing when talking politics, especially internationally. It also get confusing to me, as I am more educated in the Blairite era of Labour politics, and wonder whether you are referring to 'capitalism as usual' but with a softer facade of purporting to be 'socialist on the outside', but business as usual on the inside.

I always understood Keynesisan policies to have failed because the owners and capitalists were free to move their resources, and money, abroad, to cheaper economies, where profits were much higher. Keynes admitted this, as such, that his model couldn't work for the benefit of the country as a whole, unless investors would always have a loyalty to the mother country, which turned out to be fundamentally untrue. So I guess the question is really, is neo-liberalism just a description of 'unregulated greed' by the privileged few?...

Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "I respect her conviction and her belief but loathe her idealogy."

Thatcher's policies and comments such as "There is no such thing as society" unfortu..."

neo-liberalism broadly means the market economy that Thatcher and Reagan endorsed, fed by the Mont Pellerin society and other right wing theorists like Hayek and Friedman. the system believes in the market as the arbiter of all things, inflation control more vital than full employment, precarity rather than welfare and an atomised society.

Blair managed to mix elements of this with a more centre right agenda than the Tories from 1979 to 1997, looking back, i realise now how little he moved the dial on many things but it was presented in a different manner, with slightly more alternatives, with Thatcher, there was no alternative, just her way or the highway

Unregulated-greed is apt as a description of neo-liberalism(lol).

Tam wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm now the proud(?) owner of a brand new hip. Everything went very well and I am pain free for the first time in a year. Only in hospital two days and managed a sh..."

audiobooks with good narrators has been my go-to form when reading is not working. I use amazon to listen to voice samples and that has helped big-time in clearing away the less-thans. Over the years I have found maybe 15 narrators. Everyone's ear is different so I wont name names, altho I will name names if anyone is interested.

Ruby wrote: "
audiobooks with good narrators has been my go-to form when reading is not working. I use amazon to listen to voice samples and that has helped big-time in clearing away the less-thans. Over the years I have found maybe 15 narrators. Everyone's ear is different so I wont name names, altho I will name names if anyone is interested."

I'm interested!

I have not yet begun to listen to audio books regularly but I can see myself wanting to try them some day, and the sound of the voice, the accent, cadence, delivery, etc will be important so hearing a few suggestions and why you like them would be a good start.

Ruby wrote: "Tam wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm now the proud(?) owner of a brand new hip. Everything went very well and I am pain free for the first time in a year. Only in hospital two days and ..."

I would be interested in your thoughts as well. and what qualities, in the voice, that you found yourself drawn to, and which ones that you didn't. Awhile back there was a novel by Barbara Kingsolver, whom I normally very much like, being serialised on Radio 4. I started listening, but I couldn't get on with the narrator's voice. As far as I know it might well have been an accurate account of the local vernacular speech, (Virginia accent perhaps?) but it didn't work for me, but it did make me wonder about the voice of the narrator, and perhaps my own internal prejudice about accents. I has no problems with reading her book set in the same geographical region from several years earlier...

O what fun! Off the top of my head; will delve deeper when I run out of quick-to-remember names.

-Robin Miles, a Black woman with a rich voice--she can do white voices, as well as Black dialects.
-Juliet Stevenson - beautiful voice bar none, she can also do English accents, old voices, deep voices.
-Simon Vance - all around, everything.
-George Guidall - grew tired of his voice b/c I listened to so many of his audiobooks. But before I got tired, he was wonderful.
-Grover Gardner--have never gone wrong with him.
-Nadia May/Wanda McCaddon - same person--no-nonsense reader, she just gets the job done.
-John Lee - another no-nonsense reader. Dickens, Dumas, Follett--vast repertoire.
-Eduardo Ballerini--his narration of The Swerve had me hooked. He does Italian.
-Dion Graham-cant go wrong.
-Michael Jayston - Le Carre among other authors.
-Sneha Mathan - Sujata Massey novels and other Indian authors.
-Stefan Rudnicki - Nabokov

Suzanne Toren is a popular narrator and does a lot of interesting authors. She does accents in most European languages. I dont like her, cant say why really, but pass on any of her narrations. Merely my taste.

Listening to voice samples on amazon has saved me time, money and aggravation. And if you are not sure, listen to more samples.

Blackstone, Naxos and Tantor have good narrators.

NB: once books have entered the public domain, they are fair game for any company that produces audiobooks. Librivox has volunteer readers. It is a great idea but the readers are not trained--somebody's uncle who has been told that he has a great voice--not. One woman cornered the market on Edith Wharton narrations which pissed me off big-time. I think she may have parlayed the Wharton narrations into more mainstream authors.

In my opinion, it is hit or miss when an author reads their own work. Willy Vlautin who narrates (all)? his books is not trained but his voice conveys everything necessary. Titus Welliver is perfect for Harry Bosch.

Back to Our Man in Havana narrated by Jeremy Northam.

Ruby - That is a list I shall carefully preserve.

I can offer a couple:

Kate Burton - who gives a stellar reading of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

Alan Hunter - whose seamless accents in the George Gently readings are a wonder.

An article from the Guardian by Tim Dowling... "Shelf-absorbed", in which he writes about bookshelves...https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandst...

Dowling is an American who lives in London. His weekly column in the Guardian is a delight of understated humour... so understated that people sometimes write baffled comments BTL:
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandst...
As well as Tim's own writing, there are quite a few regulars who carry on a weekly discussion/banter BTL - a bit like this forum in that way. I enjoy it very much.

The bookshelves article isn't as funny as his weekend reports, but it has some wry observations. As for my 'bookshelf' - in truth, there are books to be found in most rooms in the house, as well as the attic... from where I sit, I can see four: a book I've finished but have yet to review here; a book I intend to read... eventually... madame liked it; a book I'm reading but have paused 'thanks to' a busy and stressful period; and a copy of the Chambers encyclopedia - my favourite, though these days I usually stick to online searches. There would be more, but one surface where some larger volumes used to reside has been cleared by madame to make room for her record player - a recent purchase.

Behind me is a bookshelf containing books my grandfather bought - these are serious volumes, such as the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. I think madame is resigned to these staying where they've been since my childhood - a sentimental choice rather than an attempt to impress visitors (there are very few, and in any case I'm not interested in impressing anyone.)

My main bookshelf is in the bedroom, and contains a large number of books I've read and a much smaller number of books to read or abandoned... these are in two rows since the shelves are wide enough to allow for that. One shelf broke under the weight and is supported at one end by... a pile of books! There is a little order here and there, where titles by the same author have been grouped - but usually some tomes are MIA and live their lives elsewhere, separated from the pack. It's more chaotic than anything. Things would be worse but for the e-reader, which contains 294 books ATM - though a number are ones ordered for my mother, and not 'mine'. (Buying stuff for other people through Amazon leads to some interesting and amusing 'suggestions'.)

And so on... At this time of night, I'm too tired to describe the others, including the ones in France!

One thing I wonder about is how it comes across when a male is doing a female character or visa versa: does it strike the ears in an odd way in some cases?

Or in long passages of dialogue with no 'he said' (or whatever) to indicate when one character is finished and the next sentence will be the response of his or her interlocutor.

Of course this can be confusing in written passages as well. I think I came a cross a slip recently in such a passage in Ivy Compton-Burnett's Manservants and Maidservants, in which, if you go by the quotation marks, it should be one of the two characters speaking, but the context and the flow of conversation seem to make it clear that it must be the other. Perhaps this is a case where the audio book would actually be more clear, if the reader gives each character a different voice.

Russell wrote: "Ruby - That is a list I shall carefully preserve.
I can offer a couple:

I listened to that same Kate Burton and thought she was wonderful.

The thing is--it is just my opinion about voices. I couldn't listen to Ruby Dee over act, over emote, over everything when reading Their Eyes Were Watching God--like old-timey acting on radio. It was hard to get thru Sissy Spacek's Southern voice narration of some famous wonderful book.

Northeast US accents are my favorite, most Brit accents I love and esp. love when characters are switching between upstairs and downstairs. Same with all groups who must code switch to thrive. I really do love accents! Cant fool me with a Yiddish intonation done by an amateur.

I happen to love this topic so much so I will go now.

scarletnoir wrote: "An article from the Guardian by Tim Dowling... "Shelf-absorbed", in which he writes about bookshelves...https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandst......"

Loved this post. I am endlessly fascinated with bookish people's ways of living with books. And living with books in our heads; what I mean is--I dont want to read 150 books a year. There is some mild anxiety there, as with counting books read for GR.

Berkley wrote: "One thing I wonder about is how it comes across when a male is doing a female character or visa versa: does it strike the ears in an odd way in some cases?

Or in long passages of dialogue with no ..."

This is the art of the audiobook narrator. Must change the voice significantly (maybe even rearrange sounds in throat) so it is clear to the listener which character is speaking. I find that 'less-than' male narrators just raise up and get breathy for women characters and less-than female narrators lower and push. This why I am disappointed when a narrator is chosen and doesn't really have the training.

At my age I pretty much stick to tried and true. Some people here are to my mind adventurous readers.

Ruby wrote: "-Juliet Stevenson - beautiful voice bar none ..."

Although I'm not into audiobooks, I do have one, Helene Hanff's 84 Charing Cross Road, narrated by Juliet Stevenson and John Nettles (Inspector Barnaby). It's a pleasure to listen to.

Juliet Stevenson starred in one of my favourite films, Truly, Madly, Deeply, with Alan Rickman.

Actually, I have got another audiobook come to think of it: The Wind in the Willows, read by Derek Jacobi, given away with The Observer I don't know how many years ago.

MK, if I remember correctly, you also like Tony Hillerman's novels about the Navajo police.

The series Dark Winds recently started on one of the TV channels I have, based on Hillerman's books. I'm writing this here instead of in the films and series topic because I want MK to see it.

I had my doubts, though I've seen some good reviews, but started to watch.

Part way through the first episode, after we've met Joe Leaphorn, we see some people stuck on a deserted road, their vehicle broken down. A car approaches, a flashy car, deliberately speeds on by, the driver, in a flashy suit, smirking. Next we see him introducing himself to Leaphorn, "I'm Jim Chee, your new deputy."

I stopped watching — you have to have read the books to appreciate what a travesty that is :)

scarletnoir wrote: "An article from the Guardian by Tim Dowling... "Shelf-absorbed", in which he writes about bookshelves...https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandst......"

I have bookcases and shelves in 3 rooms and the corridor of my flat. I don't arrange books alphabetically unlike many of the commenters below the article.

For fiction, books by the same author are grouped together and arranged chronologically if it's a series.

Non-fiction, it depends. Here in my study/spare room on a long shelf above my desk I've got travel writing, grouped by country, and some biography/memoirs. The bookcase next to my desk has more memoirs, guide books, the teaching-connected books I haven't yet got rid of... Cookery books are on top of a chest of drawers to my left as I haven't got a good place for them in the kitchen.
On the shelves on the wall behind me are mostly crime novels.

Other non-fiction is in the sitting room, one and a half walls covered with shelves: literary criticism, history, art, economics/politics (blue Pelicans!)
Poetry is mostly grouped together. A lot of fiction in here too (as in my bedroom and the corridor ... ) — including set texts from university, other classics, Old and Middle English, Old Norse, Latin and less highbrow things.

Books to be read are beside my bed.

And I have a lot of e-books too.

Gpfr wrote: "Ruby wrote: "-Juliet Stevenson - beautiful voice bar none ..."

Although I'm not into audiobooks, I do have one, Helene Hanff's 84 Charing Cross Road, narrated by Juliet Stevenson and John Nettles ..."

I can't think of Derek Jacobi with thinking of Clau-clau- claudius and his vouce in that.

Gpfr wrote: "MK, if I remember correctly, you also like Tony Hillerman's novels about the Navajo police.

The series Dark Winds recently started on one of the TV channels I have, based on Hiller..."

I rarely watch TV here, if I do, it's usually the news. One reason is frugality as I just won't pay to watch (I suspect that there are few to no commercials there). The second reason is those darned commercials. Why the FTC or whoever allowed drug companies to flout their products I don't know. Now that I think of it, that may be one reason for higher prices. I haven't kept score, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that every time I do turn on, there is at least one drug which is the best at . . . never mind the health disclaimer at the end.

That said, Jim Chee could be a little cheeky, then there is over the top! I'll stick to audio from the library.