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With a nod to Emilee, who began the 2009 thread.

1. Jaed Coffin: A Chant to Soothe Wild Elephants (RL TBR shelf)

2. Kathy Hoopmann: All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome

I think I'll join you and give it a try. The new year is starting out pretty slow, with 2 large books being read at the same time, but hopefully I'll be able to add some soon! lol. Good luck - I'm looking forward to seeing what you've read!

Welcome!

1. The Geese of Beaver Bog by Heinrich Bernd. (Animals, nature) 5-star

I've always liked books on animal behaviour, especially if they lean towards the scientific as much as the anecdotal and exclude all pc chat about environmentalism which might be important but makes boring reading. This book is a carefully observed account of several Canada geese and rather a lot of songbirds plus some quite interesting beavers over a period of some years.

It wasn't in the class of the despicable Konrad Lorenz's King Solomon's Ring or Here Am I--Where Are You?: The Behavior of the Greylag Goose both wonderful books I read years ago. But it did explain why Konrad Lorenz was a Nazi who was fully behind - indeed helped develop - the appalling racial policies that led to the murder of millions of Jews, half a million Serbs and up to two million Gypsies - all of whom were considered untermensch, subhuman polluters of the white Aryan nation of Germany and its allies.

It all came about because many geese can interbreed with others - Canada geese can certainly interbreed with snow geese and greylag geese. Lorenz felt that an animal's behaviour was not only a function of learning but also of its evolutionary descent and adaption to environment. He felt that man's changing of the environment and domestication of animals mean that these hybrids that would otherwise be pruned out in the wild would thrive and might gain a reproductive advantage over the wild species and would exhibit non-species specific behaviour that would degrade the wild species to an inferior, 'mongrelised' one. Therefore, adhering to Nazi principles, placing the species above the individual, he felt that purity of race would only be preserved by rigorously exterminating the 'hybrids'.

He rejected empirical evidence that his theory simply wasn't true and extrapolated it to humans: Jews, Gypsies, Serbs, homosexuals etc would degrade and make inferior the wonderful 'pure, white, Christian' Aryan nation and should therefore unsentimentally be exterminated. At one stage he was himself administering tests of 'worthiness' on people and those who failed went to concentration camps where they were subsequently murdered.

Although Lorenz later tried to worm out of much of his collaboration with the Nazis, a direct quote from him shows his culpability and despicability: "Just as with cancer-suffering [for which:] mankind cannot give any other advice than to recognise the evil as soon as possible and then eradicate it, so racial hygiene defense against elements afflicted with defects is likewise restricted to employ the same primitive measures."

For elucidating the connection between Lorenz's scientific studies on the greylag goose and his promulgation of the Holocaust on racial grounds, I upgraded this book from a 3.5 star to a 5 star. Its a very readable, well-written book, very gentle, nicely illustrated and apart from a page or two, totally non-political. A good read.

I like the group thread, too, Petra. Nice review of Bernd. I have but haven't yet read his raven book.

I'm glad you're enjoying what I read. The Books of the World game has put all sorts of books I've never heard of in front of me, including

3. Donato Ndongo: Shadows of Your Black Memory (Equatorial Guinea)

4. Pujita Nanette Mayeda and Friendship with Cambodia: Responsible Traveler’s Guide Cambodia

I read this as a manuscript. When it is published (within the month, I think), I'll add links and review it.

I'm going to give this a try again this year.

1. Possession by A.S. Byatt
2. Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi

Jen wrote: "
2. Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi"

Is that the book previously known as "If This is a Man"? One of my favourite books, ever. I highly recommend his The Periodic Table too.

5. Marc Abrahams: The Ig Nobel Prizes (RL TBR shelf)

Veronica wrote: "Jen wrote: "
2. Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi"

Is that the book previously known as "If This is a Man"? One of my favourite books, ever. I highly recommend his [book:The Periodic Table|42..."

Yes, that's the one. It was quite gripping. Thanks for the recommend, I'll add The Periodic Table to my TBR list. :)

1. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
2. Odd Hours by Dean Koontz

6. Michael Scott: The Sorceress
7. Helen Bannerman: The Story of Little Black Mingo
8. Laurie Sandell: The Impostor's Daughter: A True Memoir

9. Leonard Q. Ross (a.k.a. Leo Rosten): The Education of Hyman Kaplan

Shoshanapnw wrote: "9. Leonard Q. Ross (a.k.a. Leo Rosten): The Education of Hyman Kaplan"

I really hate this underlining.

I'd be with you if the color of hyperlinks were sufficiently different from the text color, but Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ seems to prefer a dull, narrow palate for all text.

I started my own thread for my own list and its boring so I am going to start my list over here. ;-)

1. Loop Group: A Novel

Not one of my favorite books. It was only the fact that I hate to start a book and not finish it that kept me going.

2.The Perils of Sisterhood

Great read. Started out funny and ended up heartwarming.

3.We Are All Welcome Here

It was amazing! I had the audio book. The author read it and she put a lot of feeling into her reading. Very enjoyable!

Samantha wrote: "I started my own thread for my own list and its boring so I am going to start my list over here. ;-)

1. Loop Group: A Novel

Not one of my favorite books. It was only the fact that I..."

Its more fun here seeing what everyone is reading.

10. Cal Vornberger: Birds of Central Park

11. Michael Wex: Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All of Its Moods (RL TBR shelf)

3. God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
4. Syren

What did you think of Syren? I'm only a few pages in.

12. Stephen T. Asma: The Gods Drink Whiskey: Stumbling Toward Enlightenment in the Land of the Tattered Buddha (RL TBR shelf)

Shoshanapnw wrote: "What did you think of Syren? I'm only a few pages in.
"

I think you'll enjoy it. I liked it much better than Queste, but not as much as the first three in the series.

5. Finger Lickin' Fifteen

Shoshanapnw wrote: "11. Michael Wex: Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All of Its Moods (RL TBR shelf) "

Did you enjoy this? I sort of did but it did drag on at times I thought.

I enjoyed it, but I was a Linguistics major. I thought he didn't keep it moving along in the 2nd half. Plus the audiobook reader sounded like a cross between Jerry Lewis and Stephen Hawking--very strange intonation.

Do you listen to a lot of books? Do you prefer audio to print?

Petra X wrote: "Do you listen to a lot of books? Do you prefer audio to print? "

Petra, I do listen to more audio book, then print. This is because I do a lot of work on the computer, so I listen as I type. I enjoy reading a book and usually only get to read a bedtime because of my busy family life.

I much prefer print to audio (What Is the What was the exception). When I'm traveling or being good about walking the last mile to work, I listen to books. I had 8 hours of highway driving last week, so I listened to Wex when I had to and read the physical book when I could.

I'm about to head back to Cambodia, so I have The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Barnaby Rudge, Oryx and Crake, The Hours, Lord Jim, and an abridged version of The Shipping News on my iPod, as well as Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time, which I've read before but which my tour group is discussing, and 5 other books I've already listened to. I also have Shutter Island and Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass as paperbacks so that when the iPod fails, as it did last year when I charged it from a Linux computer, I'll have something to do. I have a 36 hour transit from home to a hotel in Bangkok, a few hours from the Bangkok hotel to Cambodia, 28 hours on the return as far as a hotel in Los Angeles, and 6 hours from there to home. On one of these trips I'll load the complete Harry Potter, but for now, this will have to do.

I love to listen to audio books on my commute. It has gotten to the point that when I don't have one to listen to, the radio bores me. I am currently waiting for my next audio book in the mail. :-(

13. Jennifer Toussant-Cali Meet Vannah of the Seychelles (Seychelles)

14. Jeanne DuPrau: The City of Ember

6.Peace

4. Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson

15. Dennis Lehane: Shutter Island
16. Michael Cunningham: The Hours

7. Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo

Shoshanapnw wrote: "I much prefer print to audio (What Is the What was the exception). When I'm traveling or being good about walking the last mile to work, I listen to books. I had 8 hours of highway driv..."

You live an exciting life! I hope you enjoy your travels.

8. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

9.Witch & Wizard by James Patterson

10. Property by Valerie Martin

5. Lie by Moonlight by Amanda Quick

This was okay. I enjoyed listening to it during my commute, especially with the accent the girl had that read it.

11. Olive Kitteridge: A Novel in Stories by Elizabeth Strout

17. Joseph Conrad: Lord Jim

Too exhausted to read for most of my trip. Back in the US with a pile of new books on needs and services in SE Asia--yum!

Good food there?

I like a lot of Khmer food, but still prefer Vietnamese and Thai. I did try fried spider, and now I need not do so ever again.

Spider! You are very brave. I don't know anything about Khmer food, but I do love Thai. Bring back any really ethnic cookbooks (with recipes for spiders)?

6. The Glass Palace

I would have to say that I enjoyed the beginning better than the end. About halfway through the book, I struggled to keep interested. I am not a big history buff nor do I understand geography so a lot of it was confusing and hard to keep up with for me.

There is a cookbook from that restaurant From Spiders to Water Lilies. However, I already had a couple, notably Ghillie Basan's excellent The Food and Cooking of Vietnam and Cambodia.

12. Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones