CBL hears the Sound of Music Part 2

Welcome to the second thread of my 2016 Category Challenge! This year's challenge is inspired by the soundtrack of The Sound of Music, one of my favorite musicals. I hope to read a minimum of 6 books in each category, but will likely exceed that number in most of the categories. This year's categories are:

The Sound of Music - Audiobooks
Maria - Books by women authors
I Have Confidence - Challenge reads
Sixteen Going on Seventeen - YA/children’s books
My Favorite Things - Mysteries
Climb Ev’ry Mountain - Books for the GeoCAT
The Lonely Goatherd - Group/shared reads
Do-Re-Mi - Books for the DeweyCAT
Something Good - Award winning (or nominated) books
Edelweiss - Local/regional/national history
So Long, Farewell - Books from my TBR stash

The Sound of Music - Audiobooks

1. The Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill (3.5) - completed 1/25/16
2. Anne Frank Remembered by Miep Gies & Alison Leslie Gold (5) - completed 2/29/16
3. Celebrations at Thrush Green by Miss Read (2.5) - completed 3/11/16
4. Growing Up Amish by Ira Wagler (2.5) - completed 4/2/16
5. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion (4) - completed 4/10/16
6. Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein (4) - completed 4/23/16
7. Oedipus the King by Sophocles (4) - completed 5/9/16
8. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (4) - completed 7/3/16
9. The Hermit of Eyton Forest by Ellis Peters (3.5) - completed 7/16/16
10. Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome (5) - completed 8/31/16
11. A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear (3.5) - completed 10/8/16
12. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner (4) - comleted 10/21/16

Maria - Books by women authors

1. The Upstairs Wife by Rafia Zakaria (3.5) - completed 1/15/16
2. The Frozen Thames by Helen Humphreys (4) - completed 2/15/16
3. Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler (4) - completed 3/16/16
4. The Social Life of DNA by Alondra Nelson (3.5) - completed 3/21/16
5. Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld (1.5) - completed 4/1/16
6. Old Filth by Jane Gardam (4.5) - completed 5/30/16
7. Favours by Bernice Rubens (3) - completed 7/17/16
8. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery (5) - completed 8/9/16
9. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (4) - completed 8/14/16
10. The Perfectionist by Joyce Carol Oates (3) - completed 8/21/16
11. Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood (4.5) - completed 9/5/16
12. My Brother Michael by Mary Stewart (4) - completed 10/30/16
13. Blue Lightning by Ann Cleeves (3) - completed 11/6/16

I Have Confidence - Challenge books (American Authors, British Authors, Canadian Authors, Commonwealth Challenge, Non-Fiction Challenge, Reading Through Time, RandomCAT, Bingo Dog, Pulitzer challenge)

1. Land of Marvels by Barry Unsworth (3.5) (BAC) - completed 1/5/16
2. Elsewhere: A Memoir by Richard Russo (4) (AAC) - completed 2/18/16
3. Pilgrimage to the End of the World: The Road to Santiago de Compostela by Conrad Rudolph (3.5) (Non-fiction challenge) - completed 3/8/16
4. How We Got to Now by Steven Johnson (4.5) (Reading Through Time) - completed 3/25/16
5. The Journals of Susanna Moodie by Margaret Atwood (4) (CAC) - completed 4/2/16
6. Pollution and the Death of Man by Francis A. Schaeffer (3.5) (RandomCAT, Non-Fiction Challenge)
7. The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad (3) (BAC) - completed 6/30/16
8. Spirit of Steamboat by Craig Johnson (4) (Bingo Dog) - completed 7/9/16
9. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer (3.5) (NFC) - completed 7/24/16
10. Trespassers in Time: Genealogists and Microhistorians by Anne Patterson Rodda (3.5) (RandomCAT) - completed 7/25/16
11. Dark Water: Flood and Redemption in the City of Masterpieces by Robert Clark (4) (Reading Through Time) - completed 7/31/16
12. Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan (3) (BAC) - completed 8/26/16
13. The Illustrated Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee (3) (BAC) - completed 8/16/16
14. The World Is Moving Around Me by Dany Laferriere (3.5) (CAC; RandomCAT) - completed 9/27/16

Sixteen Going on Seventeen - YA/children's books

1. Boxers by Gene Luen Yang (4) - completed 2/20/16
2. Saints by Gene Luen Yang (4) - completed 2/20/16
3. James and the Giant Peach by Julian Rhind-Tutt (3.5) - completed 3/4/16
4. Then by Morris Gleitzman (3.5) - completed 3/25/16
5. Emma, Volume 1 by Kaoru Mori (4) - completed 4/3/16
6. Emma, Volume 2 by Kaoru Mori (3.5) - completed 4/17/16
7. Emma, Volume 3 by Kaoru Mori (3) - completed 4/26/16
8. Charlotte's Web by E. B. White (5) - completed 5/30/16
9. Don't Throw It to Mo! by David A. Adler; illustrated by Sam Ricks (4) - completed 8/4/16
10. Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena; pictures by Christian Robinson (5) - completed 8/4/16
11. Waiting by Kevin Henkes (2.5) - completed 8/4/16
12. Finding Winnie: The Story of the World's Most Famous Bear by Lindsay Mattick; illustrated by Sophie Blackall (5) - completed 8/4/16
13. The Drum Dream Girl by Margarita Engle; illustrated by Rafael Lopez (3.5) - completed 8/8/16
14. The Wonderful Fluffy Little Squishy by Beatrice Alemagna (3.5) - completed 8/10/16

My Favorite Things - Mysteries (of course!)

1. The Hooded Hawke by Karen Harper (3.5) - completed 1/2/16
2. The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny (2.5) - completed 1/10/16
3. Crooked House by Agatha Christie (3.5) - completed 2/21/16
4. The Cursed Canoe by Frankie Bow (3.5) - completed 4/6/16
5. Divorce Horse by Craig Johnson (4) - completed 4/7/16
6. Into the Blue by Robert Goddard (3.5) - completed 5/23/16
7. Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh (3.5) - completed 5/27/16
8. Quiet as a Nun by Antonia Fraser (3) - completed 6/4/16
9. Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd by Alan Bradley (3) - completed 6/17/16
10. The Black Thumb by Frankie Bow (3) - completed 6/26/16
11. Sayonara Slam by Naomi Hirahara (3.5) - completed 7/3/16
12. Tokyo Girl by Brian Harvey (3) - completed 7/4/16
13. A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny (3.5) - completed 8/7/16
14. A Murder for Max by John Lawrence Reynolds (2) - completed 8/27/16
15. The Invasive Species by Frankie Bow (4) - completed 8/28/16

Climb Ev'ry Mountain - Books for the GeoCAT

1. Willoughbyland: England's Lost Colony by Matthew Parker (4) (Suriname/South America) - completed 1/20/16
2. Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42 by William Dalrymple (4.5) - completed 2/29/16
3. Bury Me Standing by Isabel Fonseca (3.5) - completed 4/4/16
4. The Orchid House by Phyllis Shand Allfrey (4) - completed 4/24/16
5. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (4.5) - completed 5/7/16
6. Two in the Bush by Gerald Durrell (4) - completed 6/24/16
7. Emmanuel's Dream by Laurie Ann Thompson; illustrated by Sean Qualls (4) - completed 8/8/16
8. When Hoopoes Go to Heaven by Gaile Parkin (5) - completed 9/4/16
9. The Strode Venturer by Hammond Innes (4) - completed 9/20/16
10. Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien (4) - completed 10/24/16

The Lonely Goatherd - Group/shared reads

1. Hell Is Empty by Craig Johnson (4.5) - completed 2/7/16
2. Introverts in the Church: Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture by Adam McHugh (4) - completed 3/13/16 (shared with VictoriaPL)
3. As the Crow Flies by Craig Johnson (4.5) - completed 4/9/16 (shared with VictoriaPL)
4. The Siamese Twin Mystery by Ellery Queen (2) - completed 5/14/16 (audiobook shared with friends on a road trip)
5. A Serpent's Tooth by Craig Johnson (4) - completed 6/19/16
6. Any Other Name by Craig Johnson (3.5) - completed 8/19/16
7. Dry Bones by Craig Johnson (4) - completed
8. The Prime Minister by Anthony Trollope (3.5) - completed 11/27/16

Do-Re-Mi - Books for the DeweyCAT

1. The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel (5) - completed 1/31/16
2. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain (3.5) - completed 2/5/16
3. The World According to Mister Rogers (3.5) - completed 2/28/16
4. Bosnia's Million Bones by Christian Jennings (2.5) - completed 5/27/16
5. Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog by Kitty Burns Florey (3) - completed 6/5/16
6. The Bloomsbury Reader on Islam in the West edited by Edward E. Curtis (3) - completed 7/27/16
7. How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster (5) - completed 11/11/16

Something Good - Award winning (or nominated) books

1. Ru by Kim Thuy (4) - completed 1/9/16
2. How to Be Both by Ali Smith (4) - completed 2/7/16
3. A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley (4) - completed 3/14/16
4. The Hero's Walk by Anita Rau Badami (4) - completed 4/10/16
5. A Few Figs from Thistles by Edna St. Vincent Millay (4) - completed 4/23/16
6. The House by the Lake by Thomas Harding (5) - completed 5/7/16
7. The Orenda by Joseph Boyden (5) - completed 7/12/16
8. Trombone Shorty by Troy Andrews; illustrated by Bryan Collier (4) - completed 8/17/16
9. The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje (2.5) - completed 9/21/16
10. Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson (5) - completed 10/6/16
11. His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet (3.5) - completed 10/9/16
12. The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt (4) - completed 10/10/16
13. Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh (2) - completed 11/2/16
14. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (4) - completed 11/21/16

Edelweiss - Books about local, regional, or U.S. history

1. The Richest Woman in America: Hetty Green in the Gilded Age by Janet Wallach (2) - completed 2/2/16
2. We the People by Juan Williams (3) - completed 5/15/16
3. The Lively Place by Stephen Kendrick (4) - completed 6/19/16
4. DNA USA by Bryan Sykes (3.5) - completed 7/16/16
5. The Mannings: The Fall and Rise of a Football Family by Lars Anderson (3) - completed 8/5/16
6. Lotions, Potions, and Deadly Elixirs: Frontier Medicine in the American West by Wayne Bethard (3) - completed 8/18/16
7. Gunpowder Girls: The True Stories of Three Civil War Tragedies by Tanya Anderson (4.5) - completed 11/12/16

So Long, Farewell - Books from my TBR stash

1. Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler (4) - completed 1/27/16
2. The Seven Daughters of Eve by Bryan Sykes (4.5) - completed 2/14/16
3. Work Song by Ivan Doig (3.5) - completed 5/8/16
4. The Feud That Sparked the Renaissance by Paul Robert Walker (3) - completed 6/10/16
5. The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer (3.5) - completed 6/26/16
6. Time Remembered by Miss Read (4) - completed 6/30/16
7. Down By the Riverside by Jackie Lynn (3.5) - completed 8/21/16
8. Objects of Our Affection by Lisa Tracy (2.5) - completed 9/10/16
9. The Reluctant Detective by Martha Ockley (3.5) - completed 9/25/16
10. Farm Fresh Murder by Paige Shelton (3) - completed 11/25/16
11. Mexico Set by Len Deighton (3) - completed 11/30/16

Happy new thread! Yodel-e-hee-hoo!

>13 mamzel: Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo! ;-)

Happy new thread! I'm also taking a BB on The House by the Lake. :)

>15 Chrischi_HH: Thanks! I hope you like the book. You're close enough to visit it at some point, aren't you?!

The Lonely Goatherd #4: The Siamese Twin Mystery by Ellery Queen
GeoCAT

On their way back to New York from a vacation in Canada, Ellery Queen and his father, Inspector Queen, are trapped on a burning mountain seemingly with no way out. The only way to go is up, where they discover a large house with strange occupants. The owner, Dr. Xavier, reluctantly opens his home to them when he realizes that fire gives him no alternative. Dr. Xavier is murdered during the night, and the investigation gives Ellery and the Inspector something to do while they're trapped by the fire.

Ellery Queen mysteries are usually convoluted, and this one is even more convoluted than most. The dying man leaves a cryptic clue, the murderer leaves complex red herrings, and another unrelated crime complicates matters. All the while the fire keeps creeping closer. It's so poorly plotted that it's laughable. Just ask the friends who listened to most of this with me on a road trip.

2 stars

Next up in audio: Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh

>17 cbl_tn: I've always found Ellery Queen difficult to get into for some reason. The only one I remember with any detail is Cat of Many Tails, and even then it's only snippets.

Hope your next audio works out better for you!

>18 rabbitprincess: Thanks RP! My current audio is a Ngaio Marsh mystery. I read lots of them about 25 or 30 years ago, but not many since then.

Edelweiss #2: We the People by Juan Williams

Journalist and political commentator Juan Williams gives readers a biographical survey of influential persons who shaped 20th-21st century public policy. He refers to these individuals as the “new founding fathers”. The individuals profiled include John F. Kennedy, Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King, Jr., Henry Kissinger, Eleanor Roosevelt, Billy Graham, Jesse Jackson, and Charlton Heston. The issues summarized include immigration reform, civil rights, human rights, urban planning, labor unions, feminism, gay rights, the environmental movement, and the second amendment. Williams selected individuals from both ends of the political spectrum. He seems to aim for objectivity, although a liberal bias is occasionally apparent. Most of the chapters/essays are interesting individually, but I found it difficult to read more than one or two at a time without losing interest. It will be best appreciated by dipping into it a chapter at a time.

This review is based on an advance readers copy provided by the publisher through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

3 stars

Happy new thread, Carrie! You are making great progress with your reading challenge!

Congratulations on a new thread!

Work Song by Ivan Doig from your old thread sounded like fun. I've added it to my list of books to seek out.

>21 lkernagh: Thanks Lori!

>22 VivienneR: Thanks Vivienne! Have you read The Whistling Season yet? You should read it first. Work Song is a sequel.

My Favorite Things #6: Into the Blue by Robert Goddard
RandomCAT

When a psychologically vulnerable young Englishwoman disappears from the island of Rhodes, suspicion falls on the last person to see her before she went missing – British expat Harry Barnett. For the last decade, Barnett has been a caretaker for British MP Alan Dysart's Greek vacation home. Heather Mallender's sister, Clare, was working for Dysart when she was killed by an IRA bomb meant for Dysart. Heather had a breakdown following her sister's death, and Dysart offered his home to her while she recovered. Barnett had befriended Heather before her disappearance, and he is convinced that she is still alive. He hopes that, by following the trail that led her to the place where she disappeared, he can figure out where she went next. Harry's search for Heather hints at deep secrets that someone will go to any length to keep hidden – perhaps even murder.

The first ¾ of the book is a tightly plotted thriller. It unraveled a bit in the last quarter of the book. There are a few too many secrets, and the number of people involved strain credibility. Other characters are too eager to confide in Harry. Harry's retracing of Heather's path reminds me of a Nintendo game where you have to visit different locations and ask the right questions of the people you encounter there. It's like they're all waiting in the designated spot for the next player to appear on the scene. This is one of Goddard's earlier books. I'd like to try one of his more recent books to see how his pace and plotting has improved with experience.

3.5 stars

My Favorite Things #7: Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh

Tensions among the residents of a small English village erupt the evening of a theatrical performance. Wealthy spinster Idris Campanula drops dead as she plays the opening chords of the piano prelude. Until moments before the program started, everyone thought that the other village spinster, Eleanor Prentice, would be playing the prelude. Which woman was the intended victim? And which village resident wanted her dead? The squire, who is a cousin to Miss Prentice? His son, Henry? The rector's daughter, Dinah, who, much to his family's dismay is the object of Henry's affection? The rector? The local doctor? Or new arrival Mrs. Ross, who repels the village women as much as she attracts the men? Inspector Roderick Alleyn of Scotland Yard patiently assembles details from the suspects' statements and seemingly innocuous clues to identify the murderer.

This isn't the best of Ngaio Marsh's mysteries. For one thing, it's slow to start. For another thing, one of the clues was emphasized so often that it became obvious why it was important and who it pointed to. The descriptive details and the conversations between the characters are longer than they needed to be. Marsh's writing isn't as concise as her contemporary, Agatha Christie's. Christie was a master at revealing both character and plot in a few words. My mind wandered a bit as I listened to the audio version and I still managed to correctly identify the murderer well before the end of the book.

3.5 stars

Do-Re-Mi #4: Bosnia's Million Bones by Christian Jennings

In the aftermath of the Yugoslav wars, and particularly the massacre at Srebrenica, the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) established a massive DNA laboratory to identify the remains of missing persons, return them to their families for burial, and provide documentation for war crimes trials. The ICMP developed new techniques and designed affordable equipment for processing the forensic evidence on a large scale. This mostly Bosnian organization soon had a global reputation for success and efficiency, and it began to field requests for assistance in identifying persons missing as the result of natural and humanitarian disasters in all parts of the world.

The subtitle “solving the world's greatest forensic puzzle” is misleading. The book is light on forensics and science. The emphasis is actually on politics and law, policies and procedures. While minor errors are to be expected in advance reading copies like the one I read, this book needed more extensive editing than it was likely to receive this late in the publication process. The book is poorly organized and repetitive. There's enough material here for an interesting article in a magazine like Smithsonian, but unfortunately the book is padded with facts and details that are only marginally related to its stated purpose.

2.5 stars

I don't think I've greeted you on this thread yet. Happy New-er Thread and Happy Weekend!

>25 cbl_tn: I've been meaning to read a Marsh, but you make this one sound underwhelming. Is this typical of Marsh, do you know?

>27 tymfos: Thanks Terri! It's been a while since I read anything by Ngaio Marsh. I remember most of her books as being better than this one. My favorite is Clutch of Constables. Artists in Crime might be a good place to start with the series, even though it's not the first book in the series.

I like the Ngaio Marsh books but have read them haphazardly. I need to find one I haven't read and read it.

>29 lindapanzo: I read mostly the ones my grandmother bought in paperback in the 1980s, not in any particular order. I know I haven't read all of them.

I just got back from an adventure. I took Adrian to walk on the cross country trail. He wanted to run most of the first lap to catch up with another dog, so I jogged quite a bit. When I got home and unloaded my pockets, my inhaler was missing. It had fallen out while I was walking. I went back to the trail to look for it. One of my brother's best friends and his family arrived just after I did, and I told them I had lost my inhaler. My pharmacy is closed until Tuesday because of the holiday. They're normally closed on Sundays. I headed home to call a doctor to see if they would call in a new prescription to one of the local Walgreens. My phone was ringing as I walked in the door. It was my brother calling to let me know that his friend had found my inhaler. He didn't have my number, so he called my brother in Texas and had my brother call me. I met them at the end of their first lap and retrieved my inhaler. Crisis averted!

I'm glad you got your inhaler back!

>31 RidgewayGirl: I am too! The way the day is going, I might need to use it! It reminded me of the Christmas we spent with friends when my father lost his insulin on Christmas Day. He had more at home, but we weren't at home. He had to go to the ER to get a prescription and find a pharmacy that was open to get it filled.

Happy to hear that your inhaler was found. The finder certainly went the extra distance, calling your brother in Texas, very cool!

>33 DeltaQueen50: Thanks Judy! If he hadn't been able to get hold of my brother, he would have dropped the inhaler off at my house on his way home. He knows where I live. He usually comes over when my brother is here visiting.

>30 cbl_tn: Wow! I am so glad you have good folks to take care of you like that! My husband occasionally has an asthma attack and then we're like, WHERE is the inhaler?!? He doesn't carry his all the time.

>16 cbl_tn: Yes, Berlin ist just about 300 km away, about 3 hours by car. :)

>35 VictoriaPL: I'm afraid not to carry my inhaler, even though I don't need it very often!

>36 Chrischi_HH: Let me know if you ever visit the house! If I lived that close to Berlin, I'd be finding excuses to visit Fassbender & Rausch. Chocolate heaven!

Maria #6: Old Filth by Jane Gardam

His colleagues at the Bar called him Filth, but not out of irony. It was because he was considered to be the source of the old joke, Failed In London Try Hong Kong. It was said that he had fled the London Bar, very young, very poor, on a sudden whim just after the War, and had done magnificently well in Hong Kong from the start. Being a modest man, they said, he had called himself a parvenu, a fraud, a carefree spirit.

Filth in fact was no great maker of jokes, was not at all modest about his work and seldom, except in great extremity, went in for whims. He was loved, however, admired, laughed at kindly and still much discussed many years after retirement.

In a sense, this book is like an extended obituary of Sir Edward Feathers, aka Old Filth. Readers learn at the beginning that he was a legend in his own time. The rest of the book tells how the legend was made. Filth's story is told in layers that alternate between past and present. By the end of the book, readers will understand Filth better than he understood himself, and may count themselves among his admirers.

Filth was what is referred to as a “Raj orphan” - British children whose parents lived and worked in one of Britain's colonies. When the children reached school age, they were sent back to Great Britain to be raised by family members or even strangers. This theme may have special appeal to readers who were third culture kids, like children of missionaries.

Filth's wife, Betty, is still somewhat of a mystery to me. Apparently her story is told in a companion novel, which I will be compelled to read at some point in the future.

4.5 stars

Sixteen Going on Seventeen #8: Charlotte's Web by E. B. White

This classic children's story tells how Wilbur the pig's life was saved, not once, but twice. First 8-year-old Fern Arable convinces her father not to kill the runt of the litter. She is allowed to raise the pig until he's old enough to sell. Then Wilbur goes to live on her uncle's farm. The other animals in the barn warn Wilbur that the Zuckermans are just fattening him up for their holiday table. Wilbur's friend, Charlotte, a spider, comes up with a plan to save Wilbur's life.

I listened to an audio version recorded by the author. In his very brief introduction, he says that he wrote the story for his own pleasure. An afterword recorded by George Plimpton reveals just how much effort the author made to tell the story just right, revising the draft until it worked. Some writer! There are plenty of lessons in the story about life and death, friendship and responsibility. White doesn't make the mistake that many children's authors do by drawing attention to the morals/lesson, lest children miss the point. There are timeless lessons here for children of all ages, and the lessons will grow with children.

5 stars

Next up in audio: A Serpent's Tooth by Craig Johnson

May Recap

The Sound of Music - Audiobooks – 7/6
*Oedipus the King by Sophocles (4)

Maria - Books by women authors – 6/6
Old Filth by Jane Gardam (4.5)

I Have Confidence - Challenge reads – 6/6

Sixteen Going on Seventeen - YA/children’s books – 8/6
*Charlotte's Web by E. B. White (5)

My Favorite Things - Mysteries – 7/6
Into the Blue by Robert Goddard (3.5)
*Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh (3.5)

Climb Ev’ry Mountain - Books for the GeoCAT – 5/6
*Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (4.5)

The Lonely Goatherd - Group/shared reads – 4/6
*The Siamese Twin Mystery by Ellery Queen (2)

Do-Re-Mi - Books for the DeweyCAT – 4/6
Bosnia's Million Bones by Christian Jennings (2.5)

Something Good - Award winning (or nominated) books – 6/6
The House by the Lake by Thomas Harding (5)

Edelweiss - Local/regional/national history – 2/6
We the People by Juan Williams (3)

So Long, Farewell - Books from my TBR stash – 3/6
Work Song by Ivan Doig (3.5)

*Audiobooks

Best of the month: The House by the Lake by Thomas Harding; Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
Worst of the month: The Siamese Twin Mystery by Ellery Queen

Physical books owned: 2
Physical books borrowed: 3
Ebooks borrowed: 1
Audiobooks owned: 1
Audiobooks borrowed: 4
ARCs: 3

>38 cbl_tn: I had no idea that Old Filth was followed by another book. Now that I've looked, it's a trilogy with The Man in the Wooden Hat, told by the wife being second, followed by Last Friends. I loved Old Filth and will have to add these to this year's reading list.

>41 clue: I don't want to wait too long to read the other two books or I might have to re-read Old Filth!

>37 cbl_tn: We went to Fassbender & Rausch on our last visit to Berlin and it was marvelous. I'm still using (as slowly as possible) the hot chocolate mix I bought there - it's small pieces of dark chocolate and it is decadent. The kids don't like it as it isn't that sweet, which is why I still have it.

>43 RidgewayGirl: The hot chocolate mix sounds wonderful! We enjoyed dessert in the chocolate restaurant. It was a highlight of our weekend in Berlin.

Carrie, us, too! I loved how the desserts were based on the chocolates for sale downstairs. Mine was a maple cream with walnuts and wrapped in dark chocolate. It was heavenly. I'm glad I had it with just a mint tea, though. Everyone else also had a hot chocolate to drink.

>45 RidgewayGirl: My mother would have loved that! She loved maple and dark chocolate. The mint tea sounds refreshing. I love mint with dark chocolate.

I signed up for the public library's summer reading program. Adults have to read or listen to 4 books between May 21 and July 15. That will not be a problem for me. I decided that I'll only count books that I've checked out of the library. I've already logged two books, and I'll have a third one finished by tomorrow. The prize is a $5 voucher for the Friends of the Library Used Book Sale at the end of this month.

My Favorite Things #8: Quiet as a Nun by Antonia Fraser

Investigative journalist Jemima Shore returns to her old school in a Catholic convent at the request of the Reverend Mother. One of the nuns, an old friend of Jemima's, has just died in tragic circumstances, and there are unexplained circumstances about her death. The current students tell Jemima a story she hadn't heard during her time as a day student, about a mysterious Black Nun who appears just before or just after a death. There does indeed seem to be an unknown nun roaming the halls of the convent.

This book is more adventure than mystery. The suspense lies in how Jemima will escape danger rather than in how she will solve the mystery. It's a bit like Nancy Drew for an adult audience. (Nancy Drew would not have an affair with a married man.) It combines some of the features I loved about the Nancy Drew series – a search for a hidden document and a secret passage. It was entertaining while it lasted, but it won't leave much of an impression.

3 stars

I love the Rausch chocolate house, too! But it's a long time since I last visited. I don't think we'll go to Berlin this year, but it's a must do for next year then.

>47 cbl_tn: I signed up for ours the other day too. We turn in a form that gives the title and author of the book and what you rate it (1-5 stars). There is a bottom piece that is cut off where you put your name and telephone number and prize winners are drawn from those each week. The prize is something small that has been donated by a business, movie tickets, ice cream, etc. I'm on the Friends board so I don't turn in the prize piece but I do turn in what I've read because they compile the total number read during the summer. I know you won't believe this but there are people who think the library isn't used or needed and the Director just spends the money for silly things. This is one of several numbers that prove citizens love the library. And they do!

>50 clue: I expect the politicians probably think that, because they're too busy to read, everyone else is, too. The prize drawing is a fun idea!

Do Re Me #5: Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog by Kitty Burns Florey

I've never liked writing, but in high school I discovered that I could enjoy grammar, and have fun with diagramming sentences. I haven't been asked to diagram a sentence since high school and the practice receded from my memory until I came across this book. The author reminisces about the nun who taught her to diagram sentences, provides a history of the origin and eventual decline of sentence diagramming, and comments on diagrams of sentences taken from the works of well known authors like Gertrude Stein, Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, James Fenimore Cooper, Marcel Proust, Joyce Carol Oates, John Updike, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Eudora Welty. Some of these authors would have been taught to diagram sentences during their school days. Florey considers whether sentence diagramming made them better writers or imposed boundaries that they had to escape in order to succeed. Despite her professed love for sentence diagramming, the author is doubtful about its effectiveness as a teaching method. I was disappointed to learn from the acknowledgments at the end of the book that another person had created the complex diagrams that illustrate the book.

3 stars

When I was in school, the town I lived in didn't have a high school, but we went through 9th grade and 7-9 was called "junior" high school rather than middle school. Anyway, I remember fondly the English teacher I had those three years and learning to diagram sentences. This sounds like an interesting book.

>47 cbl_tn: Hmmm, this sounds like a prize that is intended to suck heavy readers right into spending money at the FoL booksale. That said, I'd love that prize since I would already be a regular attendee. And that's an excellent way to advertise the sale. The local library in Greenville usually just gives Starbucks vouchers.

>52 cbl_tn: I remember diagramming sentences in school. To this day when I come across a differently arranged sentence I try to diagram it in my head.

>53 dudes22: It sounded more interesting to me than it turned out to be. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting.

>54 RidgewayGirl: I am more excited about the prize this year than in the last couple of years, when the prizes were a calendar and a tote bag.

>55 mamzel: I've mostly forgotten how to diagram sentences. I think it would be fun to give it another try!

So Long, Farewell #4: The Feud That Sparked the Renaissance by Paul Robert Walker

This book is a history of the the first decades of the Quattrocento in Florence. The most prominent Florentine artists during this period were Filippo Brunelleschi, who designed and built the dome of the Duomo, and Lorenzo Ghiberti, who created two of the three bronze doors for the Baptistery. Brunelleschi and Ghiberti were among the vanguard of the Renaissance art world, and their work influenced later generations of artists. Brunelleschi also shaped the landscape of Florence with his famous dome as well as other architectural projects.

The author's note and source notes provide evidence of extensive research. However, the author is not an art historian. The book is filled with speculation about the authors' motives, feelings, and interpersonal relationships. No illustrations are included, so readers who aren't already familiar with the buildings, sculptures, and paintings discussed in the book will need to look for images elsewhere. This is at best an introduction to the art world of early Renaissance Florence. The lack of illustrations limits its usefulness for this purpose.

3 stars

Happy new thread. Fingers Xed on the FoL-prize - $5 goes a long way at the FoL! :)

>58 -Eva-: Yes, it does. Especially if you go on the bag a bargain day!

I am heading to Portland for a library conference. In case you're wondering, it's the same one that Lori is going to. I'm traveling with friends. We just had a nice meal at the only restaurant in the airport and we're all set for an evening of flying. I have The Lively Place in paper and an ARC of the 8th Flavia de Luce mystery on my iPad. I think I'm all set!

>59 cbl_tn:
Haha! Ka-ching!! :)

>60 cbl_tn:
Have a great trip!

Have fun, Carrie.

Enjoy your trip, Carrie.

>61 -Eva-: >62 RidgewayGirl: >63 DeltaQueen50: Thanks! I posted a couple of today's photos to my member gallery. I won't try to post any on my thread until I'm back at home. I only brought the iPad Mini with me this week.

That is a very impressive waterfall! I know I just came back from vacation, but I want to go on another one. Always... :)

>66 cbl_tn: It's not even the biggest waterfall we saw. Multnomah Falls will have to wait until I'm home when I can rotate the photo before uploading it to LT.

Lori and I went to Powell's this evening, and I made most of my Thingaversary purchases. They're being shipped home for me. I can look forward to a package containing:

Shakespeare Basics for Grown-Ups
Common People: The History of an English Family by Alison Light
S. by Doug Dorst and J. J. Abrams
Now by Morris Gleitzman
Anything but Civil by Anna Loan-Wilsey
On the Map by Simon Garfield
The Shih Tzu by Deborah Wood

I still need to buy two more books for my 8 years plus one. I received an Amazon.gift card for presenting so it should cover the last two books.

Wonderful! I have always wanted to go to Powell's. The two of you must have had so much fun!

>67 cbl_tn: It was fun! The size reminded me of Foyles in London. Several other people from the conference were there.

Ooh, nice! Powell's is on my bucket-list! :)

>70 -Eva-: It will be worth the wait!

>70 -Eva-: shouldn't that be a book-it list then? ;)

>72 AHS-Wolfy: *applause* :D

>72 AHS-Wolfy: Book-it list! I like it!

>73 rabbitprincess: :-)

My Favorite Things #9: Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd by Alan Bradley

After several months away from Buckshaw and Bishop's Lacey, Flavia arrives home to find her father in the hospital with pneumonia. Flavia keeps missing visiting hours at the hospital, and she soon finds a new mystery to distract her. The vicar's wife, Cynthia, sends Flavia on an errand to a wood carver's home. When the carver fails to answer the door, Flavia opens his unlocked door and searches for him. She finds him hanging upside down on the back of his bedroom door. The race is on as Flavia does her best to beat Inspector Hewitt to the solution to this unusual death.

I had hoped that returning Flavia to her home and the village surroundings would get this series back on its original solid footing. Sadly, that didn't happen. The mystery isn't much of a mystery, and it's unsatisfying. The secondary characters are mostly underutilized, and their plot lines remain stagnant. Flavia herself remarks on the fact that not all of the questions she raised in her investigation had been answered. However, Flavia's view of life through the lens of chemistry is still entertaining, and I expect I'll keep reading this series as long as Bradley keeps writing it.

This review is based on an electronic advance reader's copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

3 stars

The Lonely Goatherd #5: A Serpent's Tooth by Craig Johnson

At the beginning of this book, I thought I might be listening to the Elves and the Shoemaker. Walt Longmire thinks something is fishy when he overhears a woman talking about the angels who complete tasks she leaves for them on a list. When Walt and his deputy, Vic Moretti, check out the woman's home, they discover that the angel is really a teenage boy, a runaway from a polygamous Mormon sect. The boy is looking for his missing mother, and the details he shares with Walt and his officers cause them to worry about her well-being. Their search for the missing woman brings them into conflict with the sect and its leader, who are doing some mysterious drilling around the clock.

I liked but didn't love this series entry. There was too much violence and there were too many weapons in this one. Yes, Walt is a big man, but there are lots of big men in this world. Walt's wit is one of his most endearing traits, and I enjoy the books much better when he's outwitting the bad guys rather than out-shooting them. And I really don't like where his relationship with Vic seems to be heading. Walt's daughter, Cady, is married to Vic's brother, so Vic is her sister-in-law. Cady's unborn child will be Walt's grandchild and Vic's niece or nephew. If Walt marries Vic, his son-in-law will become his brother-in-law, his daughter will become his sister-in-law, Vic's sister-in-law will become her step-daughter, and Walt will be uncle to his own grandchild. Next thing you know, he'll be his own grandpa!

4 stars

I almost forgot to post some photos from my Oregon trip. Here's a picture of one of several falls along Route 30:



I didn't get a good photo of Multnomah Falls. We were there right at noon, it was sunny, and the sun was perched practically on top of the falls. Not a good photo op. :-(

Here's the Yaquina Head lighthouse:



And here's my favorite photo, taken from the lighthouse:

>77 cbl_tn: Looks like you had a great trip!

>78 VictoriaPL: It was a memorable one! I didn't have a lot of time for sightseeing, but I made the most of the time available to me.

----------------------------------------------------------

I used my Amazon gift card to make my final two Thingaversary purchases:

Plumdog by Emma Chichester Clark
Crossroads of Empire: The Middle Colonies in British North America by Ned C. Landsman

>72 AHS-Wolfy:
Ha!! Ah, puns make me happy. :)

>77 cbl_tn:
Gorgeous!

>77 cbl_tn: Beautiful photos!

>80 -Eva-: >81 Chrischi_HH: Thanks!

I went to the Friends of the Library book sale this afternoon and came away with 5 books for $5. Here's my haul:



Death and the Family Tree by Linda Berry
The Novels of Anthony Trollope by James R. Kincaid
Julia's Kitchen Wisdom by Julia Child
Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks by John Curran
Vermeer's Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World by Timothy Brook

I remembered that Vermeer's Hat had been on my wishlist for a long time. I couldn't remember if I'd already bought a copy. I decided at that price that I'd rather risk duplicating it than pass it up. I found out when I got home that I already own a copy, so this one will go into the library collection at work.

An interesting bit of trivia: If you've seen the movie October Sky, the science fair was filmed in the Jacobs Building where this year's book sale is located.

Another bit of October Sky movie trivia: The Ennesse Theatre sign, supposedly in Indianapolis, is actually the Tennessee Theatre sign from downtown Knoxville. You can see a photo from the film on the Theatre's web site: http://www.tennesseetheatre.com/discover/blog/brighter-and-better/

Yay, Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks! I found it very interesting, although it's more of a survey of selected items from her notebooks rather than a verbatim reproduction of them (which was what I thought the book was at first).

>84 rabbitprincess: A survey may turn out to be more interesting than the notebooks themselves. I suspect there are lots of boring bits!

Now serving blueberry crisp & vanilla ice cream. Still warm from the oven. Seriously. Bring your own book. Or you can borrow one of mine. :-)

>86 cbl_tn: Yum!

>75 cbl_tn: Catching up on busy threads. Glad to hear a new Flavia adventure is coming out. I'll definitely watch for it.

Blueberry crisp! Any chance there are any leftovers??

>88 mamzel: Yep, still quite a bit left. Come on over!

Edelweiss #3: The Lively Place: Mount Auburn, America's first garden cemetery, and its revolutionary and literary residents by Stephen Kendrick

While visitors to Cambridge, Massachusetts’s Mount Auburn Cemetery appear to be the primary target for this book, it will have a much broader appeal. I have never visited and may never visit this cemetery, yet I gathered a lot of useful knowledge from this reflection on the cemetery’s history and its influence on national thought about death and burial customs. The book is part history, with information about the formation of the cemetery, its dedication, its early historians, its notable (deceased) residents, and its connection to the transcendentalist movement. It is part environmental study, with information about the cemetery’s flora and fauna, its relationship to the movement to create public parks and public spaces, the ongoing efforts to restore parts of the original landscape, and the newly available “green” burial options. This book will appeal to many readers with an interest in American history (especially intellectual and literary history) and genealogists and family historians with an interest in American cemeteries and burial customs. It will also appeal to many readers with an interest in environmental conservation or bird watching. Warmly recommended.

This review is based on a complimentary copy provided by the publisher through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

4 stars

>90 cbl_tn: Interesting! I know this sounds so morbid, but I love cemetery books. My most recent cemetery book is Forever Dixie: A Field Guide to Southern Cemeteries & Their Residents by Douglas Keister and I really liked it, especially how many color photos there were inside and also great discussion on symbol meanings.

>91 VictoriaPL: It doesn't sound morbid at all! I spend lots of time in cemeteries because of family history research. They're fascinating places to explore.

Forever Dixie sounds interesting. I'll have to see if I can find it at the library. My more recent roots are in the Midwest, and most of my Southern connections predate the Civil War by several decades. The graves of most of those ancestors are no longer marked, if they ever were. The only one I know of with a marker is a Revolutionary War ancestor buried in the Old Stone Church Cemetery in Clemson. The current marker isn't the original one.

My heart has been heavy for the last couple of days because of the news that former Lady Vols Pat Summitt is likely in her last days. Coach Summitt is a remarkable person. She was always very generous with her time, and she inspired those around her to be their best and do their best. This news is affecting me because it's connected with some painful experiences in my own life. Coach Summitt announced that she had early onset Alzheimer's while my father was hospitalized in his final illness. I was spending most of my time in one of our local hospitals, and it was being discussed everywhere in the hospital. Also, Coach Summitt is the same age now as my mother was when she died of cancer.

Climb Ev'ry Mountain #6: Two in the Bush by Gerald Durrell
Australia & New Zealand

In the mid-1960s, Gerald Durrell, his wife, and two BBC cameramen (one was also a producer) traveled through New Zealand, Australia, and what was then Malaya to film a television documentary. This book is an account of their travels. The documentary's focus was the conservation of endangered species in each of these countries. Most of the conservation programs were just getting started.

I didn't Google every species, but I did Google several of them. Most of the projects I checked seem to have been successful except for the leathery turtle in Malaysia, which seems to be nearly extinct there now, although it may still be found in other parts of the world.

New Zealand's royal albatross is one success story. It was first spotted at Taiaroa Head in Dunedin in 1914. The first royal albatross egg was found there in 1919. The first chick hatched there in 1938. When Durrell's party was there in the mid-1960s, a sanctuary had been established, but it was going to be years before the albatross population reached a stage to allow public access. Thanks to Google, I discovered the Royal Albatross Centre in Dunedin. The website history says that an albatross observatory opened in 1983, nearly 20 years after Durrell's visit, and Princess Anne opened the Royal Albatross Centre in 1989.

The last chapter of the book is an appeal for readers to donate to Durrell's Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust. It exists today as the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, with the Princess Royal as a patron.

4 stars

So Long, Farewell #5: The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer
RandomCAT

News of the Earl of Rule's intention to propose to the eldest Winwood daughter comes just in time to save the family from financial ruin. However, the eldest Miss Winwood is in love with her childhood sweetheart, a military man who had the misfortune to be born a younger son. Seventeen-year-old Horatia Winwood, affectionately known as “Horry”, rightly deduces that the Earl of Rule wants to marry her sister, not for love, but to produce an heir. Horry offers herself as a bride in her sister's place, and the Earl accepts her offer. It's a marriage of convenience, but the Earl and his bride soon begin to develop genuine feelings for each other. They try to hide their feelings because, after all, this is a marriage of convenience. This inevitably leads to misunderstandings.

Horry proves to be a spendthrift after her marriage, with the family propensity for gambling. She's also a social hit, and she soon catches the eye of Lord Lethbridge, the Earl of Rule's bitter rival. Lord Lethbridge would like nothing better than to separate the newlyweds, and he finds willing assistants in the Earl's mistress and his cousin and heir. While the plot is predictable, there are some very funny scenes as Horry's friends try to help her out of one scrape after another without the Earl's knowledge. It felt like Pride and Prejudice meets The Scarlet Pimpernel, since the Earl reminded me very much of the Scarlet Pimpernel, while Horry seemed more than a little like Kitty Bennet.

3.5 stars

My Favorite Things #10: The Black Thumb by Frankie Bow

Dr. Molly Barda, a professor at Hawaii's Mahina State University, once again finds herself mixed up in a sudden death. An old grad school classmate, recently landed a job at the university, and she's staying with Molly until she can find a place of her own. She accompanies Molly to a local garden club meeting at a historic house. Molly has ulterior motives for attending the meeting, since Molly wants to buy the house. Molly's friend dies in a tragic accident during the meeting, but very soon Molly is charged with her friend's murder. She is forced to investigate her friend's death in order to clear herself of suspicion.

I didn't enjoy this book quite as much as the other book I've read in this series. It is set in the summer when Molly isn't teaching, so the university and its politics don't have as prominent a place in this book. Molly didn't spend as much time with her friends Emma and Pat in this one, and when they were together, their relationship seemed strained. The mystery plot is unsatisfactory. Molly proves to be one of the TSTL* cozy heroines. Technically, she doesn't even solve the mystery. The murderer reveals herself to Molly when Molly gets too close to the truth. And if that wasn't enough, the murderer gets away without being caught by the police.

I read cozy mysteries as brain candy, and the most important ingredients for me are the setting and the characters. The unusual setting away from the tourist areas of Hawaii and Molly herself will lure me back to this series.

This review is based on a complimentary electronic copy provided by the publisher through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

*Too Stupid to Live

>95 cbl_tn: The Convenient Marriage is one my favorite Georgette Heyers, and I love your description of it as a meeting of Pride and Prejudice and The Scarlet Pimpernel!

>97 DeltaQueen50: :-)

>91 VictoriaPL: That's a good book. I read it years ago! A friend of mine brought it to my attention.

ETA: >92 cbl_tn: If I can find the book, I'll try to add it to the stack of books for you. I own it.

>99 thornton37814: Thanks! I'm not sure it's one I'll want to read cover to cover since I don't have many relatives buried in Southern cemeteries, but it's a book I'd like to at least browse through!

Uncategorized: Messenger by Craig Johnson

This short story bridges the time between As the Crow Flies and A Serpent's Tooth. Walt, Henry, and Vic have taken advantage of an Indian summer day to go fishing in the Bighorn Mountains. A scanner is the only concession to the fact that Walt rarely gets a true day off from his job as sheriff of Absaroka County. When they hear a distress call from a ranger, they head to the rescue and find the ranger and a visitor trapped on top of a porta potty by a family of bears. It's the woman's story of what's inside the porta potty that has them investigating, though.

This story advances the arc of Walt's relationship with his daughter and unborn granddaughter, but it's a rare miss for me. Native American shamanism is at the heart of the story, and, like Vic, I'm a skeptic. Series completists will want to read this one to find out how Walt's unborn granddaughter gets her name.

3 stars

>99 thornton37814: Excellent! Things like this make me Happy Happy!

>102 VictoriaPL: I love serendipity!

So Long, Farewell #6: Time Remembered by Miss Read

In the second part of her autobiography, Miss Read fondly recalls the three years she spent in a village school. Miss Read was seven years old when her family moved from South London to a small village in Kent. It wasn't far in distance, but it was a vastly different experience for a child who up until then had only known the noise of London and a large school with large classes. Miss Read must have been an introvert. She hated London, and she was intimidated by the large school experience. The small school and village life suited her perfectly. The long walk to and from school, shared with a handful of friends, gave her an opportunity to observe the plants and wildlife that graced the neighborhood. At just about 100 pages with plentiful illustrations, this book is a quick read. It's perfect for reading on a rainy day or while rocking on the porch on a lazy summer day.

4 stars

Time Remembered sounds like one for my wishlist. :)

>105 DeltaQueen50: If you like Miss Read's books, you'll definitely want to read this. You can see where she got her inspiration for her novels.

I Have Confidence #7: The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad
British Authors Challenge

At the turn of the 20th century, Adolf Verloc is a London shopkeeper. He has a wife (Winnie), a mother-in-law, and a brother-in-law (Stevie) with some sort of mental disability. Verloc is also a secret agent for a foreign government. He isn't called on to do much – just pass on the occasional bit of information and make contact with new arrivals who come as customers to his shop. This changes when he is called to the Embassy and ordered to execute a bombing attack on Greenwich. The bombing goes wrong, and everything falls apart for Verloc.

The plot sounds like it should be an exciting book. It isn't. Most of the book is filled with the thoughts of various characters – Verloc, his fellow anarchists, various police officials, Verloc's wife and her family. Their thoughts are occasionally interrupted by the comments or actions of other characters. This book was surprisingly difficult to follow in audio, even with a talented reader that I would otherwise enjoy listening to. I don't think I would like it any better in print. Hitchcock made a film version of the book, and I think I might like it better.

3 stars

Next up in audio: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

June Recap

The Sound of Music - Audiobooks – 7/6

Maria - Books by women authors – 6/6

I Have Confidence - Challenge reads – 7/6
*The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad (3)

Sixteen Going on Seventeen - YA/children’s books – 8/6

My Favorite Things - Mysteries – 10/6
Quiet as a Nun by Antonia Fraser (3)
Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd by Alan Bradley (3)
The Black Thumb by Frankie Bow (3)

Climb Ev’ry Mountain - Books for the GeoCAT – 6/6
Two in the Bush by Gerald Durrell (4)

The Lonely Goatherd - Group/shared reads – 5/6
*A Serpent's Tooth by Craig Johnson (4)

Do-Re-Mi - Books for the DeweyCAT – 5/6
Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog by Kitty Burns Florey (3)

Something Good - Award winning (or nominated) books – 6/6

Edelweiss - Local/regional/national history – 3/6
The Lively Place by Stephen Kendrick (4)

So Long, Farewell - Books from my TBR stash – 6/6
The Feud That Sparked the Renaissance by Paul Robert Walker (3)
The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer (3.5)
Time Remembered by Miss Read (4)

Off challenge read: Messenger: A Walt Longmire Story by Craig Johnson (3)

*Audiobooks

This was a so-so reading month for me. No real standouts in either direction. This month's best and worst are only slightly better or worse than the rest.

Best of the month: The Lively Place by Stephen Kendrick
Worst of the month: The Feud That Sparked the Renaissance by Paul Robert Walker

Physical books owned: 5
Physical books borrowed: 2
Ebooks borrowed: 2
Ebooks owned: 1
Audiobooks borrowed: 2
ARCs: 2

The Sound of Music #8: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

I had a rocky start with Steinbeck, so I picked up this book with trepidation. I felt a bit like Mikey from the old Life cereal commercials – I'll try it, but I'm not gonna like it. Just like Mikey, I did like it. I discovered that listening to Gary Sinise read makes Steinbeck a lot more palatable for me. Being an avid viewer of Bugs Bunny cartoons in my youth also helped with this one. Thanks to The Abominable Snow Rabbit, I had a pretty good idea where this one was heading. The abundance cultural references to this novel make it a must-read for students of American literature. I should read a print edition at least once so that I can pause to ponder specific passages, and refer back to earlier passages to examine connections to later ones.

4 stars

Next up in audio: The Hermit of Eyton Forest by Ellis Peters

My Favorite Things #11: Sayonara Slam by Naomi Hirahara

The latest book in the series of mysteries starring Japanese gardener Mas Arai is set during the 2009 World Baseball Classic. Japan and South Korea are playing at Dodger Stadium. Mas is particularly interested in the work of the grounds crew, of which his son-in-law, Lloyd, is a member. Mas is present at a practice session where he witnesses the death of one of the Japanese journalists. Mas intends to stay out of the way and let the police handle the murder investigation. Before he knows it, though, he agrees to work as the driver and translator for another Japanese journalist who wants answers about his colleague's death.

I have enjoyed the three books I've read in this unusual mystery series. Although the books are set in the 21st century, history has a central role in this series. Mas is nisei, born in the U.S., but his family returned to Hiroshima before World War II, and Mas is a survivor of the atomic bomb. The treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II is woven into this story, as well as Japan's treatment of comfort women during the war. At the same time, the Dodger Stadium setting during the World Baseball Classic anchors the mystery firmly in the recent past.

The cultural and historical elements overshadow the mystery plot at some points, and I occasionally found it hard to follow. I had a hard time distinguishing among some of the secondary characters, and I had to flip back to earlier passages to sort out who was who. The author uses lots of Japanese terms but doesn't always provide a translation for them. Sometimes I could figure out the meaning from the context, but sometimes it remained a puzzle. A glossary would have been helpful. However, the payoff is worth the additional reading effort.

This review is based on a complimentary copy provided by the publisher through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

3.5 stars

>110 cbl_tn: - I misread your first sentence and thought the whole series was during the 2009 World Series and thought "that won't be a very long series. will there be a murder each inning?" DUH!

>111 dudes22: That would be a pretty short series, wouldn't it?! Although there are only 6 books in the Mas Arai series so far, so it would just fit.

My Favorite Things #12: Tokyo Girl by Brian Harvey

After his unwelcome adventure of Beethoven's Tenth, piano tuner/jazz pianist decided to get as far away from Nanaimo as possible. He has ended up in Tokyo shortly after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Frank found a small apartment to sublet, and he gets by teaching piano lessons. One of his students turns out to be the mistress of a mob boss, and this connection eventually leads to trouble for Frank.

This short novel is Harvey's second for the publisher's Rapid Reads series of high interest, low reading level books for adult readers, including ESL students. Harvey writes well, and he weaves in interesting facts from his “day job” as a marine biologist. Both the time setting shortly after the tsunami that caused the nuclear disaster and a scene set in Tokyo's Tsukiji seafood market allow the author to write what he knows. My main disappointment stems from the fact that this book isn't much of a mystery, despite its billing as a “Frank Ryan mystery”. Its more of an adventure. It is indeed a rapid read that will likely be enjoyed by readers who find the setting appealing and who are comfortable with a level of sexual content just short of graphic and explicit. (It would probably earn a PG-13 rating if it were a movie.)

This review is based on an advanced reading copy provided by the publisher through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

3 stars

>113 cbl_tn: I also received Tokyo Girl as an LTER book. It's up next for me.

>114 VictoriaPL: I'll keep an eye out to see what you think!

I Have Confidence #8: Spirit of Steamboat by Craig Johnson
Bingo Dog

Absaroka County, Wyoming, Sheriff Walt Longmire is on his own on Christmas Eve. His daughter, Cady, is too close to her due date to travel. His best friend, Henry Standing Bear, has taken to spending his evenings with his new girlfriend. Walt's under sheriff, Vic, is spending Christmas with her mother. Walt plans to spend the evening with his predecessor, Lucian Connally, at the assisted living home. As he's preparing to leave, a surprise visitor arrives at the sheriff's office. The young woman looks vaguely familiar, but he can't quite place her. She seems to know both him and Lucian, though. When Walt finally recognizes her, his memory transports him back to Christmas Eve, 1988, when he was the newly elected sheriff. A young Japanese girl who had been injured in a terrible accident was fighting for her life. Her only hope was to get to a hospital in Denver, but a severe winter storm made it impossible to get her there in time to save her life. That didn't stop Walt and his former boss, Lucian. A World War II era bomber, the Steamboat, just happened to be available, and Lucian had flown this type of plane during the war. Together with a couple of other willing helpers, they take off in a race with the approaching storm for Denver.

While the novels in this series focus on the crime-solving aspects of the sheriff's work, this novella focuses on other aspects of his duties. This story is an adventure rather than a mystery. Johnson successfully creates tension in his description of the in-fight dangers, even though readers are in no doubt that Longmire, Connally, and the young girl all survived the experience. I wasn't enthralled with the detailed descriptions of the mechanics of flight. However, I loved the layers of history – Walt remembering events from a couple of decades earlier, and Lucian in turn remembering his World War II experiences. I loved the way that Dickens' A Christmas Carol is woven into the story. I loved that we see Walt in action during the prime of his life, and that we hear the voice of Walt's late wife, Martha. And how have I missed the fact that the sheriff's office is located in an old Carnegie library?!

4 stars

>116 cbl_tn: I must have misse that fact, too!
I love how he wove Dante into Hell is Empty. I might check this out closer to the holidays.
Thanks for the review!

>117 VictoriaPL: I'm glad it wasn't just me! I'll have to pay attention next time I watch the TV series and see if the office looks like an old library to me.

Something Good #7: The Orenda by Joseph Boyden
TIOLI #9 - Book fits in one of the group challenges (CAC)

This morning my plan has worked and I watch my family's killers leave me soon after my father's brother's strongest dog sings out that he can smell me. But the other prisoner bends down to me, and he smells so bad that I want to throw up, his breath stinking like rotted meat. The wolf's hair on his face and his clothes the colour of charcoal scratch me and there's no way I can stay stiff and dead anymore and just when I open my mouth to scream, when I begin to swing at his face and claw at his eyes and bite like I watched my mother bite, I see my father, grown tiny and sparkling, hanging on a leather cord from this thing's neck.

It's my father, lying in the snow with a circle around his head and his arms stretched out and his feet relaxed, one crossed over the other. As the hairy man bends over me, I watch my tiny father arc toward me, his face catching the first morning light and his body meets my lips and it feels warm and I see now that he's still alive because he's warm and I try to kiss him as he swings away and the stinky man picks me up and I hear my father's brother's dog in the distance sing out once more.

As the story opens, Bird, a Wendat warrior, is returning to his village with his fellow warriors after a successful raid against the Haudenosaunee. He has two captives, a French Jesuit priest and a Haudenosaunee girl he intends to adopt to replace the daughter he lost, along with the rest of his family, in a Haudenosaunee attack on his own village. The events of the next several years are told alternately by Bird, his adopted daughter, Snow Falls, and the priest, Father Christophe. It's a tragic tale made all the more so because each narrator pulls the reader's sympathies in a different direction. Mixed in with the horror of mortal combat and torture are passages of humor, joy, beauty, and devotion. I found this book hard to put down, yet I didn't want the experience of reading it to end. Highly recommended.

5 stars

>119 cbl_tn: Thumbs-up! Excellent review. I am so glad you liked it. It blew me away. :)

>120 rabbitprincess: It will likely make my top 5 list for the year. I'm certain it's one of those books that will stick withme. I wish it didn't have to end.

Great review! And another reminder that I must read The Orenda.

>122 VivienneR: Thanks Vivienne! It's an excellent book. Despite its reputation for graphic violence in the form of torture scenes, it's not as gory as some crime novels I've read.

>119 cbl_tn: sounds very interesting!

Hi Carrie, I loved The Orenda and I'm certain it will show up on my list of best books of 2016 as well.

>124 VictoriaPL: I think it's one you might like!

>125 DeltaQueen50: Did you read it for the Canadian Authors Challenge? Even though I didn't manage to read it in June, I still wanted to read it to fill that indigenous person Bingo square!

This is what it looks like when you have two lap dogs but only one lap:



Adrian didn't seem to mind being Stella's pillow.

>126 cbl_tn: I did read it both for the CAC in June and for the indigenous square. You do have a lapful! I used to have two cats and the male never really wanted to be in my lap until the female was there. Then I had to have fat cats lolling around on me!

>127 cbl_tn:
Adorables! :)

>128 DeltaQueen50: Typical male behavior, isn't it? ;-)

>129 -Eva-: Thanks, Eva! The barking isn't quite as adorable, but I'm getting used to it.

Edelweiss #4: DNA USA by Bryan Sykes
DeweyCAT

Geneticist Bryan Sykes had already written books on mitochondrial DNA, Y DNA, and the DNA of the British Isles when he turned his attention to the United States for this book. The US is sometimes referred to as a “melting pot”, and that phrase could be used to sum up this book. It very briefly addresses territory covered more thoroughly in his earlier books, and adds autosomal DNA to the mix. He looks at the different attitudes toward DNA testing in African American, Native American, and Jewish American communities, and these discussions lead to discussions of research ethics. I wasn't expecting was the travel narrative that made up the middle portion of the book. Dr. Sykes spent several months traveling in the US while researching this book, and the middle chapters of the book are heavy on the details of the places he saw and the people he met but light on information about genetics and DNA.

Sykes has a gift for explaining a complicated subject in terms that a non-specialist can understand. It's not difficult reading, and I never had to go back and re-read passages in order to understand the concepts presented. I've done a fair amount of reading about genetic genealogy, and he offers the clearest explanation I've seen of why the statistical models that work so well for population geneticists are less accurate at predicting degrees of relationship at the individual level.

The book could have used more careful editing. Sykes places the Tuskegee syphilis study in Arkansas instead of Alabama, and he mistakenly dates Strom Thurmond's filibuster of the Civil Rights Act in 1967 rather than 1957. He also quotes a San Francisco waitress's response to his question about the identity of fellow hotel guest Mike Singletary as “That's their {San Francisco 49ers} chief coach.” I'm certain that she would have said “head coach”, and his American copy editors just missed this.

This book will appeal to readers with an interest in the genealogical applications of DNA. It may also appeal to readers with an interest in the research ethics aspect of books like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

3.5 stars

The Sound of Music #9: The Hermit of Eyton Forest by Ellis Peters

This installment finds Brother Cadfael involved with two problems – the murder of a monastery guest and the disappearance of one of the school boys, whose has just become lord of the manor of Eaton after his father's death. The father's will appointed the abbot as the boy's guardian, but the boy's grandmother has other plans for him. She wants to marry him off to the daughter of a neighboring landowner, even though the daughter is much older than 10-year-old Richard. The grandmother has allowed a hermit to take up residence on her land, and the hermit's young assistant becomes the main suspect for the murder. The assistant has fallen in love at first sight with the forester's daughter, and series readers know by now that Cadfael always has a soft spot for young lovers.

Most books in this series follow the same formula. This isn't the best book in the series, but it's still interesting and enjoyable. Cadfael has helped other young people in danger of being married against their will, but it's usually a young woman. This predicament is given a new twist with a pre-adolescent boy as the object of Cadfael's aid. One of the biggest disappointments with this book is that Cadfael spends very little time in his herbarium or tending the sick. His knowledge of wounds and injuries mainly comes into play when he's examining corpses.

3.5 stars

Next up in audio: Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

In the middle of all the bad news, I saw this encouraging story linked on one of our local news stations: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/homeless-teen-bikes-6-hours-to-get-to-college-sl...

Maria #7: Favours by Bernice Rubens

Miss Jean Hawkins intends to kill herself on the day she retires from a lifetime of work at a candy factory. The parting gift from her co-workers changes her plan. She receives a 5-year diary/journal, and somehow this commits her to living five more years in order to fill in the diary's pages. Soon she takes to filling in the diary at the beginning of the day rather than the end of the day, and to interpreting the entries as orders that she must fulfill. Her orders become increasingly more daring, and her tenuous hold on reality begins to slip away.

This is a very disturbing book. It's a somewhat exaggerated exploration of the psychological effects of the absence of interpersonal relationships. Miss Hawkins is an orphan, and flashbacks to her life in the orphanage reveal psychological abuse at the hands of its matron. Brian Watts, whose chance meeting with Miss Hawkins sets him on a course to become a gigolo, has fared little better as the son of a single mother who has psychologically bound him to her for life. Having been deprived of normal human relationships their entire lives, the characters establish an intimacy measured in pounds and pence.

The most damaging experience in Miss Hawkins' orphanage childhood was finding the hanged body of a fellow orphan. This hit far too close to home for me. I didn't need to read a novel to tell me what might happen to a person who as a child found someone who committed suicide but didn't receive any psychological care following this experience. Years ago, I had a co-worker who had this experience, and it eventually resulted in his own suicide. This book is likely to linger in my memory, and not in a good way.

3 stars

I found out this morning that one of the neighbor's cats was apparently in the room that the truck hit. He has a dislocated hip. The vet put it back in place, but if it doesn't stay put he will need surgery. He goes back to the vet tomorrow for evaluation.

The son who was home was certain that none of the cats was in that room, but he had only located one of the three when I talked to him Friday afternoon. I'm wondering if the cat crawled into the debris after the wreck and was injured by something that fell during the initial clean-up Friday afternoon. It's a good thing that cats have 9 lives. He's already used a couple of them. This is the same cat that went missing for a couple of weeks in the fall at the same time that Katie reported that The Wayne's cat was missing. (My theory is that they had a rendezvous in Memphis!)

I Have Confidence #9: The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer

Timbuktu has long been used in slang to refer to somewhere as far away as it's possible to be from civilization. Because of that usage, it's easy to assume that there is not and never has been anything in Timbuktu that is worth the effort of getting there. That assumption is wrong. Timbuktu was once a center of Islamic scholarship, and it has a tangible legacy in the form of thousands of Arabic manuscripts. Most of these manuscripts have been in private hands for hundreds of years, passed down through families. Hammer tells the story of one heir to his family's manuscripts, Abdel Kader Haidara, and his dedication to Mali's literary heritage.

Haidara was still in his teens when his father died and he became the custodian of his family's manuscripts. He was soon approached by the director of a government manuscript collection in Timbuktu, and he ended up working for this library for more than a decade. He learned about manuscripts and their preservation, and he built a network of contacts among the families who owned manuscripts. He eventually turned his attention to his own collection, and he was successful in securing grants from international donors to restore and preserve the manuscripts.

When an Islamic jihadist group seized control of northern Mali, including Timbuktu, Haidara realized that his life's work was in danger. He devised a plan to smuggle the manuscripts out of Timbuktu and into government-controlled territory. It's probably obvious that the operation was successful, or there wouldn't be a book about it. But what did it involve, and how successful was it? You'll have to read the book to find out!

Hammer includes a lot of background information on the jihadists and their operations. The background material comprises nearly half of the book. It's a complex tale, yet it's important context for the rescue of the manuscripts. Readers need to know what these manuscripts were rescued from. The background details also demonstrate that the jihadist insurgency in Mali wasn't an isolated event. It's connected to terrorist organizations and networks that include Al Qaeda and ISIS.

World music fans may be interested in the connections to Tuareg music and the Festival in the Desert. If you're familiar with Tinariwen, Amanar, or Khaira Arby, this book may be for you.

3.5 stars

I Have Confidence #10: Trespassers in Time: Genealogists and Microhistorians by Anne Patterson Rodda
RandomCAT
Bingo Dog

Genealogist Anne Patterson Rodda sees a commonality in the sources and methodology of genealogy and microhistory, and this book explores the similarities and the ways that these fields can borrow from each other. In the first half of the book, the author defines and describes the major historical methods and builds her case for the value of microhistory. This is the strongest part of the book. The second half of the book includes three case studies that illustrate the application of microhistory to genealogy, or maybe the application of genealogical sources and methods to microhistory. I didn't find the illustrations as clear and compelling as the author intended for them to be. I think this book will appeal more to genealogists than historians. The author specializes in Irish research and history, and this book will have added appeal for genealogists with 19th and 20th century Irish ancestries.

3.5 stars

Do-Re-Mi #6: The Bloomsbury Reader on Islam in the West edited by Edward E. Curtis

I'm reviewing this one for publication, so I'll just make a few of brief comments. Some of the readings are excerpts from books, and others are journal articles. The first half of the book looks at history of Islam in the West, and the second half looks at various aspects of the current state of Islam in the West. Any footnotes or endnotes included in the original have been excluded from this reader. Its primary audience will likely be graduate students using it as a course textbook.

3 stars

I started this one for April's 300-354 DeweyCAT, and I've finally finished it. Although the book is "only" 269 pages, it's a slightly oversized paperback, with no illustrations, footnotes, or endnotes to break up the text. Not a quick read.

I Have Confidence #11: Dark Water: Flood and Redemption in the City of Masterpieces by Robert Clark
Reading Through Time

It must have occurred to Emanuele Casamassima that he should be facing a labor shortage; that in a city without food, power, or transport, people should be too busy fending for themselves to be mucking about in his library. Yet they were, dozens of them, and he hadn't even asked them to come. Nor, it seemed, had they asked for instructions or equipment: the books just kept surfacing, bubbling up as from an inexhaustible spring. These workers weren't organized; they didn't have a party or a manifesto like the Casa del Popolo; it wasn't clear what they were against or what they were for, except perhaps books. You could call them volunteers, except they hadn't volunteered or been recruited: they'd simply appeared as though from thin air and set to work. Maybe they'd been sent by Francis or the Madonna; maybe they'd been thrown up by inevitable historical forces, by the dialectic operating at light speed. But they were some sort of miracle. Florentines came to call them angeli del fango, “mud angels.”

Ten years ago I had the good fortune to visit Florence with my sister-in-law, who had lived there for several years and who speaks fluent Italian. The last evening of my visit, we were invited out to dinner by my sister-in-law's elderly friend. In the course of our conversation that evening, he wanted to make sure that I knew about the 1966 flood the covered much of the city and endangered many of the famous art works housed in Florence's churches and museums. Although 40 years had passed, the flood didn't seem like a distant memory to this man. It seemed to me as if he could still see the water in the city streets.

After reading Robert Clark's book, I now understand why the 1966 flood was a definitive event in the lives of everyone who survived it. Clark first summarizes the history of Florence and its relationship to the always flood-prone Arno. At the heart of the book, the 1966 flood is described from the perspective of several survivors, most of whom Clark interviewed during his research for this book. The rest of the book describes the aftermath of the flood and the efforts to restore the art works, books, and manuscripts that were damaged in the flood.

The pre-flood section of the book was longer than I expected. I was already familiar with much of this history from other reading I've done, and I became impatient to get to the flood story. I was also surprised by the extent to which the author inserted himself into the history of this event. He wasn't in Florence when the Arno flooded in 1966, yet he contemplates its meaning with himself as the reference point. It wasn't his tragedy. I was expecting history, not memoir.

On the positive side, this is a well-researched book. The bibliography added a few more books to my reading list, as well as a hard-to-find documentary by Franco Zeffirelli. Histories of the flood written shortly after the event addressed the human tragedy. It takes much longer to evaluate the cultural tragedy, since art restoration requires time and patience. The 40th anniversary of the flood and a reunion of the “mud angels”, who were young adults in 1966, made the time ripe for this analysis of the flood's impact on Florence's cultural heritage.

4 stars

July Recap

The Sound of Music - Audiobooks – 9/6
*Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (4)
*The Hermit of Eyton Forest by Ellis Peters (3.5)

Maria - Books by women authors – 7/6
Favours by Bernice Rubens (3)

I Have Confidence - Challenge reads – 11/6
Spirit of Steamboat by Craig Johnson (4)
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer (3.5)
Trespassers in Time by Anne Patterson Rodda (3.5)
Dark Water by Robert Clark (4)

Sixteen Going on Seventeen - YA/children’s books – 8/6

My Favorite Things - Mysteries – 12/6
Sayonara Slam by Naomi Hirahara (3.5)
Tokyo Girl by Brian Harvey (3)

Climb Ev’ry Mountain - Books for the GeoCAT – 6/6

The Lonely Goatherd- Group/shared reads – 5/6

Do-Re-Mi - Books for the DeweyCAT – 6/6
The Bloomsbury Reader on Islam in the West edited by Edward E. Curtis (3)

Something Good - Award winning (or nominated) books – 7/6
The Orenda by Joseph Boyden (5)

Edelweiss - Local/regional/national history – 4/6
DNA USA by Bryan Sykes (3.5)

So Long, Farewell - Books from my TBR stash – 6/6

*Audiobooks

Best of the month: The Orenda by Joseph Boyden
Worst of the month: No real stinkers this month, but the book I enjoyed least was Favours by Bernice Rubens

Physical books owned: 4
Physical books borrowed: 5
Ebooks borrowed: 1
Audiobooks borrowed: 2
ARCs: 2

I read a novel about the Arno flood some years ago. I remember liking it a lot. It's called The Sixteen Pleasures by Robert Hellenga. It might be time for a reread.

>141 RidgewayGirl: That sounds interesting! I checked the public library catalog and there are three copies in our library system! They're in an amusing location:

FICTION HELL

I'm not sure I want to go there to retrieve a copy...

>142 cbl_tn: If that one ends up being to graphic for my comfort level, I also found a couple of mysteries set during the 1966 Florence flood - The Marshal and the Madwoman by Magdalen Nabb and Death in Florence by Marco Vichi. Anybody read either of these?

I remember it as being not at all graphic or erotic. The character finds an medieval book of erotica, but her own experiences are not at all that. If that helps.

>144 RidgewayGirl: Yes, that helps! The book conservation part sounds right up my alley, but I couldn't tell from the description how graphic it might be.

Sixteen Going on Seventeen #9: Don't Throw It to Mo! by David A. Adler; illustrated by Sam Ricks

Mo lives and breathes football. He's on a team, but he spends most of his time on the bench. The coach has a plan for his smallest player to make a big contribution to the game.

This book for young readers will appeal to children who are impatient to grow bigger (virtually all of them!). The building anticipation in the story and the flow of the colorful illustrations will have readers eagerly turning pages to find out how the game turns out. The story illustrates the values of teamwork, preparation, and patience. It would make a good seasonal reading selection for classroom use, or a thoughtful gift for a young football fan with a fall birthday.

4 stars

Sixteen Going on Seventeen #10: Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena; pictures by Christian Robinson
TIOLI #7 - Young person is the main character

After church on Sunday, C.J. and his grandmother ride the bus to the last stop on Market Street. C.J. wonders why they don't have a car like his friend, Colby, or why he can't have an iPod like a couple of the older boys on the bus. C.J.'s nana helps him to see things differently by enjoying what he has instead of wishing for what he doesn't have. C.J.'s nana is a wise woman. Through her example, C.J.'s nana is teaching C.J. the value of intangible things like music, color, and laughter. I've often seen churches use the motto “come in to worship, go out to serve”. This book beautifully and sensitively illustrates “going out to serve.”

5 stars

Sixteen Going on Seventeen #11: Waiting by Kevin Henkes

Five animal toys spend their days waiting in the windowsill for something to happen. Another toy comes and goes, then another toy comes with a surprise. The surprise is a bit odd. The muted pastel illustrations are whimsical, but they aren't exciting or amusing. It's a gentle story that may appeal to toddlers, but it may be a “one and done” book for children any older than that. It doesn't seem like a “read it again” kind of book.

2.5 stars

Sixteen Going on Seventeen #12: Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear by Lindsay Mattick; illustrated by Sophie Blackall

This is the true story of the bear that inspired Winnie-the-Pooh. Winnie was a Canadian bear cub adopted by a veterinarian who served in the Canadian army during WWI. Winnie became the company's mascot. She traveled with them from Canada to England, and she found a new home in the London Zoo when the company left for the front lines. Christopher Robin Milne was a frequent visitor to the zoo, and his love for Winnie inspired his father to write a series of children's books about a bear named Winnie. The story is enchantingly told, with passages like “the train rolled right through dinner and over the sunset and around ten o'clock and into a nap and out the next day”. The story-within-a-story format gives the book a cozy feel. Children will want to curl up with their own teddy bears while they listen to this bedtime story.

5 stars

Edelweiss #5: The Mannings: The Fall and Rise of a Football Family by Lars Anderson

I have mixed feelings about this book. As a long-time Knoxville resident, I've been following Peyton Manning's career since his Freshman year at the University of Tennessee. The Peyton stories in this book are old news. However, I learned some new things about Archie and Eli Manning in this book, and I have a greater appreciation for Eli now.

I formed the impression as I read that the Mannings, or at least Archie and Olivia Manning, had authorized this biography. The book is filled with both direct quotations and descriptions of their thoughts and private conversations. I assumed that the author must have interviewed the Mannings as part of his research for this book. Then I read the acknowledgments, in which the author states that Archie declined his request to participate in this book project, except for some fact-checking. The author instead seems to have rehashed Archie and Peyton's 2000 autobiography.

Anderson credits the work of ten sportswriters as having particular weight in his research; most of these writers, like the author, are or have been at some point affiliated with Sports Illustrated. The Knoxville media has provided exceptional coverage of the Mannings, and Peyton in particular, for more than two decades. Regional sportswriters in Mississippi have been covering this family far longer than that. Anderson seems to have overlooked some rich sources of information by seemingly ignoring regional sportswriters in favor of sportswriters at national publications. This may explain the odd absence of significant events like Peyton's second-place finish in the Heisman voting in 1997 and the knee injury he sustained in the 1997 SEC championship game that limited his mobility in that season's Orange Bowl against Nebraska.

Recommended with reservations.

This review is based on an electronic advance reader's copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

3 stars

I'm going to check Finding Winnie out from our library for the kids. I read Winnie the Pooh with my 6 year old and he loved it, so I think he'll be interested in this. Thanks for the rec!

>151 japaul22: I think your kids will love it!

My Favorite Things #13: A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny

Now that the corruption has been removed from the Sûreté, Armand Gamache leaves retirement to address the corruption that remains in the training academy. His first task may be the most important. Which professors will stay, and which ones must go? Which applicants will be admitted, and which will be rejected? The safe choice may not be the right choice. A murder inside the academy will have not just Gamache, but also his former colleagues in the Sûreté questioning his decisions. And thinking the unthinkable. Could Gamache himself have been driven to murder?

I have mixed feelings about this book. I love the subplot about the history of Three Pines that has its residents and some of the cadets searching archival materials. And I love that we finally learn why Three Pines doesn't appear on maps. I wasn't as satisfied with the murder plot. It isn't as well-paced as many of the earlier novels in this series. It also felt like a rehash of the plot of the last book in the series. That plot centered on big guns used for warfare; this plot centered on hand guns. I hope Penny has worked the gun topic out of her system with this book.

Many of the books in this series explore an emotion. This book explores fear – of failure, of making the wrong decision, of the exposure of long buried secrets. Penny must have been wrestling with her own fears as she wrote this book. The acknowledgments at the end of the book reveal that her husband is suffering from dementia. My heart goes out to her.

This review is based on an electronic advance readers copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

3.5 stars

Sixteen Going on Seventeen #13: The Drum Dream Girl by Margarita Engle; illustrated by Rafael Lopez

A young Cuban girl dreams of playing the drums. Her older sisters encourage her dreams, and they offer her a place in their all-girl band. However, her father believes that only boys should play drums, and he will not allow her to play them. Eventually he relents and permits her to take lessons. She becomes Cuba's first female drummer, but not its last.

This story is based on the life of Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, Cuba's first female drummer. The story is incomplete. It doesn't explain why girls couldn't be drummers but they could play other instruments in an all-girl band. What was different about drums? It also doesn't explain her father's change of heart. The colorful illustrations are eye-catching, and the details match the text. This will be popular with young girls who aspire to participate in traditionally male activities.

3.5 stars

>153 cbl_tn: Still haven't decided whether to continue with the series past How the Light Gets In. The plots of A Great Reckoning and The Nature of the Beast sound interesting, but How the Light Gets In wrapped everything up so well!

>155 rabbitprincess: This book is the best one since How the Light Gets In. It's good, but not great. I didn't care for The Nature of the Beast at all. The Long Way Home had too much of Peter in it. I've never liked him. I've noticed that the last few haven't received as many award nominations.

Climb Ev'ry Mountain #7: Emmanuel's Dream by Laurie Ann Thompson; illustrated by Sean Qualls

Emmanuel is an African boy who was born with a deformed leg. His mother encouraged him to find a way to do everything he wanted to do. When his mother became ill, Emmanuel went to Ghana's capital to find work to support his family. He became an advocate for the rights of people with disabilities, cycling 400 miles across Ghana to call attention to his message. This true story illustrates the values of determination and persistence in achieving one's dreams, and that there is a difference between disability and inability. This book would be a good addition to school library or classroom collections since it will support multiple aspects of the curriculum.

4 stars

Maria #8: Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

If I could choose a book to live in, it just might be Anne of Green Gables. I'd love to live with Matthew and Marilla; go to school with Jane Andrews, Ruby Gillis, Moody Spurgeon MacPherson, and even Josie Pye; sit in Miss Stacy's classroom, and have Diana Barry as a “bosom friend.” Of course, I would be nicer to Gilbert Blythe.

I've read the book and watched the television adaptation several times, but this was the first time I have listened to an audio version. I noticed for the first time what I believe is a key to the book's enduring charm. It's Anne's voice. Although Montgomery uses an omniscient narrator, readers experience many of the key events not as they're happening, but after the fact through Anne's conversations with Matthew, Marilla, or Diana. This allows readers to view the world from Anne's perspective, as well as to view Anne as others see her.

Since this book is in the public domain, there are many audio versions to choose from. Narrator Colleen Winton did an admirable job with the vocal characterizations, and I think most listeners would be satisfied with her performance.

5 stars

Next up in audio: Any Other Name by Craig Johnson

Sixteen Going on Seventeen #14: The Wonderful Fluffy Little Squishy by Beatrice Alemagna

Unlike her parents and her older sister, five-year-old Eddie doesn't know how to do anything. One day she overhears part of her older sister's conversation about their mother's birthday. She hears the words “fluffy...little...squishy” and determines to find the perfect fluffy little squishy for her mother's birthday. She visits several shops in town and finds some interesting things, but nothing that seems quite right.

The story didn't go where I expected it to. It's not as funny as the description makes it sound, but it's not sentimental, either. It doesn't seem to be imparting advice or wisdom. It's just an entertaining, somewhat silly story. The rich illustrations are the book's best feature.

3.5 stars

Maria #9: Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

In the land of Ingary...it is quite a misfortune to be born the eldest of three. Everyone knows you are the one who will fail first, and worst, if the three of you set out to seek your fortunes.

Sophie Hatter was the eldest of three sisters. She was not even the child of a poor woodcutter, which might have given her some chance of success! Her parents were well to do and kept a ladies' hat shop in the prosperous town of Market Chipping. True, her own mother died when Sophie was two years old and her sister Lettie was one year old, and their father married his youngest shop assistant, a pretty blonde girl called Fanny. Fanny shortly gave birth to the third sister, Martha. This ought to have made Sophie and Lettie into Ugly Sisters, but in fact all three girls grew up very pretty indeed, though Lettie was the one everyone said was most beautiful. Fanny treated all three girls with the same kindness and did not favor Martha in the least.

After their father's death, middle sister Lettie is apprenticed to a witch to learn witchcraft, youngest sister Martha is apprenticed in the town bakery, and Sophie stays with her step-mother to help in the hat shop. When the Witch of the Waste casts a spell on Sophie that turns her into an old woman, Sophie leaves and finds shelter in the one place no one will think to look for her – the Wizard Howl's moving castle. Howl isn't as frightening as his reputation, and Sophie soon makes herself indispensable to the wizard's household. As much as Howl would like to avoid it, he is destined for a confrontation with the evil Witch of the Waste.

I don't usually enjoy books with supernatural or occult themes, so I was surprised to find this one so interesting. It reminded me of the fairy tales I used to read as a child. Readers familiar with fairy tale literature may get more out of this book since it subverts many of the typical characteristics of this genre.

4 stars

>160 cbl_tn:
I like that one too! Calcifer is my favorite character. :)

>161 -Eva-: Have you seen the film? I wonder how it compares to the book.

Something Good #8: Trombone Shorty by Troy Andrews; illustrated by Bryan Collier

Lots of kids have nicknames, but I want to tell you the story of how I got mine. Just like when you listen to your favorite song, let's start at the beginning. Because this is a story about music.

Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews was surrounded by music as a child growing up in New Orleans. He and his friends made instruments out of whatever they could find. One day, he found a beat-up, discarded trombone and taught himself to play it. His talent caught the eye of professional musicians. His list of accomplishments looks like that of a middle-aged or older man, yet according to Wikipedia, he just turned 30 this year!

The watercolor and collage illustrations are eye-catching and mostly enhance the text, although I had to look hard for a tuba on the page where the text comments on the size of this instrument. The book would be a good addition to elementary music classrooms. It will encourage and inspire children with an ear for music.

4 stars

>162 cbl_tn: I'm not Eva, but I didn't like the film nearly as well. Sophie is really the only character who has the same personality in the book and the movie, and the plot is quite different as well. Also, the movie has a strong to the point of being heavy-handed pacifist theme which annoyed me because it's not even hinted at in the book and because I have philosophical issues with pacifism.

However, watching a Japanese interpretation of a story that is strongly rooted in European storytelling tradition was interesting, so there's that.

>164 casvelyn: Sounds like one I can skip! I don't like movies or fiction with a heavy-handed message. It generally ruins the story for me.

I loved the movie version. It is different from the book, but equally good in it's own way. I didn't notice any heavy-handed pacifist theme, so not obvious enough for me. It was one of the few movies that my children adored that didn't drive me nuts and I would often sit down with them and watch it.

>166 RidgewayGirl: I'd probably be disappointed if it's very different from the book.

I'm glad you enjoyed Anne of Green Gables so much. I have it planned to read this year if I ever get around to it.

>168 ErinPaperbackstash: It will be worth it whenever you get to it!

Edelweiss #6: Lotions, Potions, and Deadly Elixirs: Frontier Medicine in the American West by Wayne Bethard
DeweyCAT

I am taking medicine from a traveling Doc. His name is Brownfield. He was in Denison about 5 weeks and had a concert every night and sold lots of medicine. Henry & Laura were here on a visit at the time and Charley & Henry took me to the hotel to see the Doc. He took me through examination from the sole of my feet to my head. He said I was in a bad condition. He reckoned I knew it. I told him I did. He said it would take 2 months to help me. I use an inhaler 3 or 4 times a day and take medicine 3 times a day and a bottle of lineament to rub on. If he helps me it will be a miracle.

My 3rd-great-grandmother wrote this in a letter to her daughter in November, 1888. She died a month later. I've been fascinated by this account since I first read it. Who was this doctor? What kind of medicine did he sell? Did it cause more harm than good? While pharmacist Wayne Bethard's book didn't answer these questions, it did help me put my ancestor's experience into better context, particularly since most of the examples in the book were from Texas, where my ggg-grandmother spent the last decade of her life.

The first section of the book describes the many ways that drugs were administered, both orally and topically. The last section of the book is an alphabetical listing of drugs commonly used in the frontier and pioneer eras. The middle section consists of stories selected to illustrate various treatments. Some of the stories seem only marginally related to the book's focus. It seems like a collection of tall tales. The author embellished stories about historical figures, making it difficult to sort fact from fancy.

Although some of the home remedies are still in use, this book should not be used for dosing guidelines. There are enough spelling, grammar, and missing/extra word errors in this book to make me question the accuracy of the measurements.

3 stars

The Lonely Goatherd #6: Any Other Name by Craig Johnson

Wyoming Sheriff Walt Longmire's only child, Cady, is in Philadelphia, about to give birth to Walt's first grandchild. Walt should be in Philadelphia with his daughter. Instead, he's on a road trip to another county with his former boss, Lucian Connally, investigate the death of an old friend. The cause of death has been determined to be suicide, but Lucian and the man's widow believe this was out of character for him. As Walt digs into the missing person case the dead man was working just before his death, he discovers a possible link to two other missing women. Once Walt starts an investigation, he has to follow it through to the end. Even when he's out of his jurisdiction and his daughter is about to give birth in Philadelphia.

This one was harder for me to buy into than most of the other books in the series. Walt was out of his jurisdiction, and he wasn't there at the invitation of local law enforcement. He inserted himself into the cases. There were several points where he could have turned over his leads to the local sheriff and headed to Philadelphia, where his only daughter was just about to give birth to his first grandchild and was begging him to come. He claimed it was his duty to find the missing women, but it seemed more like arrogance, or maybe stubbornness. Did I mention that he was out of his jurisdiction? This one stretches credibility a little too much for my taste.

3.5 stars

Next up in audio: The Perfectionist by Joyce Carol Oates

Now that we (at least in the USA) have standardized medical care, it's somewhat surprising to read about the treatments that have existed in the past. When I was reading Stiff by Mary Roach about cadavers, she spent some time on some of the historical medical approaches to illness and I thought about how bizarre some of them were that people would try them.

>172 dudes22: This book wasn't quite like that. Most of the natural substances described in this book did have some therapeutic effect, such as willow bark for pain relief. A surprising number were poisonous if too much was used. The author points out that the line between a medically effective dose and a fatal dose was very thin, so the treatments sometimes ended up killing patients instead of curing them.

So Long, Farewell #7: Down By the Riverside by Jackie Lynn
RandomCAT

Rose is on her way West after her divorce is finalized when her car breaks down in West Memphis, Arkansas. A man offers to pull her camper to Shady Grove, a local campground on the banks of the Mississippi. Several emergency vehicles pass them on the way to Shady Grove. They learn that the body of a local man has been pulled from the river near the campground. Rose senses that something isn't right about this death, and she feels compelled to get answers to the questions that nag her so that the dead man can rest in peace. She feels an even stronger connection with him when she learns that his last name, Franklin, is the same one that she has chosen to use after her divorce – her mother's maiden name. Rose puts her life in danger when she asks the right questions of the wrong person. She also finds things she didn't know she was looking for – community, friendship, and love.

Rose suffers from the syndrome that afflicts many cozy mystery heroines – TSTL*. The mystery is slow to start and a bit underdeveloped, but the mystery really isn't the main point of the book. It's a book about the ups and downs of life, trust, hope, healing, and second chances. Rose is exasperating at times. (What policeman's daughter would give a false name when being questioned by the police?) However, the Shady Grove community is interesting, and it's one I think I'd like to visit again. This book will appeal to readers who enjoy cozy mysteries and/or gentle reads. It may appeal to some Christian fiction readers who are willing to overlook a little promiscuity without coarse language or graphic sex.

*Too Stupid to Live

3.5 stars

Maria #10: The Perfectionist by Joyce Carol Oates

Appearances are important to Tobias Harte. He wants to do the right thing, and he wants his wife and children to do the right thing. He is at the center of his world, and shows little interest in his children or his wife. His son is a college dropout, and his seventeen-year-old daughter wants to study drama instead of something more conventional. Tobias's wife tries to keep everyone happy. Tobias works for a prestigious research institute, and is on the verge of being named its director. Just as he's poised to reach the pinnacle of his career, his personal life starts spinning out of control.

I wasn't expecting this to be a comedy. It's a satire of the upper middle class social structure. Oates uses black humor to make her point. Oates' subject matter seems to have been ahead of her time. This play premiered nearly a quarter century ago, but it could have been ripped from today's headlines about sexual assault on college campuses. Tobias's son, Jason, confesses to his father that he might have raped a woman. Tobias goes to see her to hear her side of the story and ends up as infatuated with her as his son was. His conversations with her cause him to see himself and his ambitions from a new perspective.

Oates seems to have written herself into a box that she can't manage to get out of. Maybe she found it more difficult to wrap up a comedy than to end a tragedy. Half of the cast in this live recording didn't sound natural. Barbara Bosson as Tobias's wife, Paula, and David Schwimmer as his son, Jason, nailed their roles.

3 stars

Next up in audio: Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome

My reaction to Any Other Name was very different from yours. Maybe a lot of it was that I couldn't imagine my father traveling to the next state, let alone across the country, to be present when my son was born -- and he's probably the LAST person I would have wanted in the delivery room. (My mom might have been nice to have there, but she was battling cancer by then.) So I didn't "get" that whole aspect of the story and found it annoying. Frankly, Cady struck me as a wee bit childish. (Just coming at it from a different point of view. Maybe it's a matter of me being an older mom, and closer to Walt's generation; and my dad being of a generation where men were just not present for births?)

>176 tymfos: It seems to be a pattern with Walt. He dropped the ball on the wedding preparations, too. And Cady knew there was a concern about complications with the birth, so it made sense to me that she would want her dad there. It wouldn't have bothered me as much if the case had been in Walt's jurisdiction.

But as I recall, he'd been invited into the jurisdiction. (It's been a while since I read it, so I don't recall all the details.) I just felt he was able to do more good where he was than hand-holding Cady in Philly. (I generally don't like the character of Cady; she strikes me as a bit spoiled and selfish, so maybe I'm just not being fair.)

As for the book with the wedding, my parents had minimal involvement in wedding planning, other than the finances (God bless 'em), so that conflict in the other book didn't resonate with me either.

>178 tymfos: He was there at the request of his old boss, Lucian Connally, who as a retiree had even less jurisdiction than Walt. Lucian thought he owed it to the man's widow to find an explanation for her husband's death. The sheriff of the county permitted Walt to investigate, but he didn't request Walt's help.

My SIL's birthday is Saturday, and I mailed her present this afternoon. I also mailed my uncle's baby book to my aunt. (I found it a few days ago when I cleaned out my dad's desk.) The mailing envelopes were the same size, and now I'm hoping that I didn't get the packages mixed up. My SIL would be very surprised to get my uncle's baby book as a birthday present! On the other hand, my aunt might enjoy my SIL's gift, although she's expecting the baby book since I called her the day I found it.

The worry about mixing up the packages sounds like me.

Sorry about the contrary posts last night. I know I sounded rather curmudgeonly.

>181 tymfos: No problem! I'm interested in how books affect readers differently. I'd love to see more of the back story in this series to understand the family dynamics before Martha's death.

>170 cbl_tn: Frontier medicine is interesting in itself, but your GGG-Grandmother's letter and story is truly fascinating!

>183 VivienneR: Thanks Vivienne! That short paragraph raises so many questions!

I Have Confidence #12: Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan

Fresh out of Cambridge and on the recommendation of her former lover, clergyman's daughter Serena Frome lands a job with MI5. It's the early 1970s, and the intelligence agency has just begun to employ women. Although Serena studied mathematics at Cambridge, reading is her true passion. She reads voraciously, completing several novels in a week. Her reading habits give her an opportunity to advance out of the clerical pool as part of operation Sweet Tooth. MI5 is secretly funding writers whose views are in opposition to communist ideology. Serena's task is to steer an academic with writing ambitions to accept an offer from a foundation. She hadn't reckoned on falling in love with the author, or the ethical compromises she'd have to make to keep her secret.

McEwan's novel revives the political and cultural atmosphere of 1970s Britain. Fictional characters discuss current events and mix with real literary figures like Martin Amis and Ian Hamilton. Even though the protagonist is female, it became increasingly clear that the novel is at least somewhat autobiographical.

I lived in London long enough to be familiar with its politics and its literary figures. This aspect of the book interested me and kept me turning the pages. What it lacks is an emotional punch. Serena's voice is so dispassionately analytical that she didn't seem to care how her story turned out. If she doesn't care, why should the reader? I couldn't get past hearing the story to living the story. The last chapter is proof that the novel doesn't really work. It wouldn't have been necessary if it had.

3 stars

My Favorite Things #14: A Murder for Max by John Lawrence Reynolds

Maxine “Max” Benson is the new police chief in Port Ainslie, a small town in Ontario. Besides Max, the entire force consists of one constable and the office manager. In the unlikely event of a major crime, Max is supposed to call in the Ontario Provisional Police. When the unlikely happens and a town resident is murdered, Max is reluctant to call in the OPP. She wants to solve the crime herself, but she'll have to do it quickly, before the OPP arrive and take it out of her hands. There are plenty of people with a motive for this murder. The victim had more enemies than friends, and he was single-handedly obstructing a real estate deal that would benefit the whole town. Max questions all of the likely suspects, one of whom inadvertently reveals the clue that Max needs to break the case.

This book is part of a Rapid Reads series of high interest, low literacy short stories or novellas for adult readers. The author wastes valuable time and page space while Maxine reflects more than once on how much she dislikes her name, and on her new friendship with her neighbor, who is completely unnecessary to the story. In a work of this nature, there isn't room for details that don't advance the plot.

This review is based in a complimentary copy provided by the publisher through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

My Favorite Things #15: The Invasive Species by Frankie Bow

Professor Molly Barda and her friend and university colleague, Emma, have secured a grant that will help Molly's tenure bid. When they arrive at a remote location to interview a farmer for their grant research, they instead discover a dismembered body. Since their research involves the biotech industry and genetically modified food, a “hot” topic these days, there's a possibility that the murder could be related to their research. They agree to suspend their project until the murder is solved, but that's easier said than done. On the domestic front, Molly and her new husband, Donnie, have maintained separate households since their marriage. When Molly's house is damaged in a storm, she temporarily moves into Donnie's home and into closer proximity to her obnoxious stepson, Davison. When another death takes place, Davison becomes a primary suspect. Molly needs to figure out the motive behind the murders so that her life can get back to normal both at work and at home.

This is the third book I've read in this series, and it's the best yet. The mysteries are the weak spot in the series, but the mystery plot has improved in this installment. The circumstances of one of the deaths is very similar to one of the deaths in The Cursed Canoe, but it works better in this story. Molly's husband is more integral to the story in this one, and I'm finally warming to him now that I've learned more about him. I love the humor in the series, which is often connected to university politics. The Hawaiian setting is still a draw as well. This is a series that many cozy mystery readers would enjoy.

This review is based on a complimentary electronic copy provided by the publisher through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

4 stars

>162 cbl_tn:
As others have already said before me, the movie is very different from the film. I would recommend the film, for sure, but for itself and not as a great version of the book. It is very interesting, as >164 casvelyn: pointed out, to see a Japanese interpretation of a European-style story.

>188 -Eva-: It sounds like a film I'd watch on Netflix or if it showed on one of the movie channels on TV, but I don't see myself making an effort to look for it.

The Sound of Music #10: Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome

This was a re-read that I've already reviewed on LT. This time through I was struck by how much it must have influence P.G. Wodehouse. I had a feeling of deja vu when George pulled out his banjo, remembering the book in which Bertie took up the banjo, precipitating a rift with Jeeves. But of course, George and his banjo came first. The similarity was enhanced by the narrator, Martin Jarvis, who has narrated several of the Jeeves & Wooster books I've listened to. This book is laugh-out-loud funny anyway, and Jarvis's comic timing made it even funnier.

5 stars

Next up in audio: The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje

August Recap

The Sound of Music - Audiobooks – 10/6
*Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome (5)

Maria - Books by women authors – 10/6
*Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery (5)
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (4)
*The Perfectionist by Joyce Carol Oates (3)

I Have Confidence - Challenge reads – 12/6
Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan (3)

Sixteen Going on Seventeen - YA/children’s books – 14/6
Don't Throw It to Mo! by David A. Adler; illustrated by Sam Ricks (4)
Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena; pictures by Christian Robinson (5)
Waiting by Kevin Henkes (2.5)
Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear by Lindsay Mattick; illustrated by Sophie Blackall (5)
The Drum Dream Girl by Margarita Engle; illustrated by Rafael Lopez (3.5)
The Wonderful Fluffy Little Squishy by Beatrice Alemagna (3.5)

My Favorite Things - Mysteries – 15/6
A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny (3.5)
A Murder for Max by John Lawrence Reynolds (2)
The Invasive Species by Frankie Bow (4)

Climb Ev’ry Mountain - Books for the GeoCAT – 7/6
Emmanuel's Dream by Laurie Ann Thompson; illustrated by Sean Qualls (4)

The Lonely Goatherd - Group/shared reads – 6/6
*Any Other Name by Craig Johnson (3.5)

Do-Re-Mi - Books for the DeweyCAT – 6/6

Something Good - Award winning (or nominated) books – 8/6
Trombone Shorty by Troy Andrews; illustrated by Bryan Collier (4)

Edelweiss - Local/regional/national history – 6/6
The Mannings: The Fall and Rise of a Football Family by Lars Anderson (3)
Lotions, Potions, and Deadly Elixirs: Frontier Medicine in the American West by Wayne Bethard (3)

So Long, Farewell - Books from my TBR stash – 7/6
Down By the Riverside by Jackie Lynn (3.5)

*Audiobooks

Best of the month: Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery; Finding Winnie by Lindsay Mattick, illustrated by Sophie Blackall
Worst of the month: A Murder for Max by John Lawrence Reynolds

Physical books owned: 2
Physical books borrowed: 9
Ebooks owned: 1
Ebooks borrowed: 4
Audiobooks owned: 2
Audiobooks borrowed: 2
ARCs: 2

>190 cbl_tn:
I was surprised at how well the humor has stood the test of time, but I think that a good audiobook would convey the humor even better than paper. Next time... :)

>192 -Eva-: Yes, that's exactly what I found!

Climb Ev'ry Mountain #8: When Hoopoes Go to Heaven by Gaile Parkin

Baking Cakes in Kigali introduced Tanzanian Angel Tungaraza and the cake baking business she established in Rwanda while her husband worked there as a Special Consultant at the University. In When Hoopoes Go to Heaven, Angel's husband, Pius, has a new consulting assignment in Swaziland. The Tungarazas and the five grandchildren they're raising live on a farm. The story is told mainly through the eyes of ten-year-old Benedict, the oldest of the three boys. As the oldest, he feels the burden of responsibility, especially when his Baba has to travel. Benedict is a sensitive boy with a love for animals and learning. When he's not outdoors watching birds or insects, he's indoors reading the encyclopedia. Benedict seems to have inherited his grandmother's observant and thoughtful nature. Although he doesn't understand the problems that weigh on the adults and older children around him, he's able to help them see things from a different perspective and often find a solution to their problems.

I quickly fell under Benedict's spell. He's not precocious, and his innocence and sweetness are endearing. Writing from the perspective of a 10-year-old allows Parkin to indirectly comment on Swaziland's social problems, such as the status of women and the AIDS epidemic. (According to UNICEF, Swaziland has the world's highest HIV prevalence rate.) Both Baking Cakes in Kigali and When Hoopoes Go to Heaven show Africans and African nations not as the recipients of Western aid, but as agents in solving their social problems. I highly recommend both books.

I'll leave you with a sample of Benedict's wisdom:

Benedict wasn't sure that he liked the idea of a separate Heaven for dogs. Say you loved your dog and then you both got an accident and went to Heaven, but your dog had to go to a separate Heaven. Wouldn't being without your dog feel more like being in Hell? What if the Heaven for dogs was next door, and you had to speak to our dog through a fence and you could never hold him? Eh! God had made people and animals, all creatures great and small, and He had put them all together here on Earth. Why would He put them in separate Heavens afterwards? It didn't make sense.

5 stars

I just read Baking Cakes in Kigali last month and look forward to this next one.

>195 dudes22: If you liked Baking Cakes in Kigali, I think you'll like this one, too!

Maria #11: Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood

Twelve years after Felix Phillips was relieved of his role as Artistic Director of the Makeshiweg Festival, he has an opportunity for revenge. Felix is teaching theater to medium security prison inmates. This year they'll be producing Shakespeare's Tempest, the same play that Felix was preparing for the Makeshiweg Festival a dozen years ago. Felix's life uncannily mirrors the plot of The Tempest.

Margaret Atwood's modern retelling of The Tempest doesn't feel constrained by Shakespeare's plot. It's imaginative and suspenseful, with just a touch of the supernatural that leaves readers wondering if it's real or imagined. Readers unfamiliar with Shakespeare's original will learn the basic plot along with the Fletcher Correctional Players. The epilogue provides a summary of the play. Atwood's skill as a literary critic infuses the story as Felix and the cast think about and discuss the characters and their motives, make staging decisions, and adapt the script for their audience and setting. This novel will please both Atwood fans and Shakespeare fans. Enthusiastically recommended.

This review is based on an electronic advance reading copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

4.5 stars

Hm, despite my reservations about the current fad for "retelling" classic novels and plays, Hag-Seed does sound interesting.

>198 rabbitprincess: I'm always skeptical of these myself, but this Hogarth series seems to be a cut above most of the others. I'm impressed with the authors enlisted too.

>197 cbl_tn: I got this through the ER program just a few days ago, so I'm glad to see a positive review. I was thinking of reading The Tempest first, since I've never read it. Sounds like it might not be absolutely necessary, though?

>198 rabbitprincess: As retellings go, I think Hag-Seed is one of the best.

>199 thornton37814: Yes, this series does seem to be better than most retellings.

>200 japaul22: I think you'll be OK without having read The Tempest first. It had been long enough since I'd read it that my memory was pretty fuzzy, but I didn't have any trouble following the story.

So Long, Farewell #8: Objects of Our Affection by Lisa Tracy

The author of this book, Lisa Tracy, has a fascinating lineage. On both sides of her family, she descends from several generations of career military men who rubbed shoulders with the likes of Theodore Roosevelt and Douglas MacArthur. One of her ancestors was the first Surgeon General of the US Navy and had ships named after him. And this is a book about their furniture.

I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that Tracy would focus on her family's furniture and household goods since she's the former Home & Design editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer. It's not the best place to look for what it seems like she was looking for – an understanding of the challenges faced by earlier generations of her family, the reasons behind the choices they made, how those choices shaped their lives and the lives of future generations, and how their personalities still echo in her own life.

Tracy and I are not kindred spirits, as this passage illustrates:

I'm poking around my living room, looking for something to pass the time, when my eyes finally fall upon the sandalwood keepsake box that belonged to {her grandmother} Jeanne. I open it out of boredom as much as curiosity. One more family item to process, this box that lay unexamined all these years, and which I brought back with me finally, when we packed Mother's house. In the end I took it home with me just because it was fairly small—a little bigger than a shoebox—and I was afraid it would get lost in the shuffle.

To my surprise, I find the box is packed to the lid with letters, carefully bundled and tied with string or ribbon.

She had this box for years without opening it once?! I can't imagine ever doing that. I would be more interested in the contents of the box than in the box itself. Tracy admits to launching her search through the family documents with a view to providing provenance for the furniture and collectibles she and her sister were planning to sell at auction.

Genealogical research might have given Tracy more satisfactory answers than she gathered from the stories and memories attached to the family heirlooms. As meaningful as they can be, heirlooms can only ever tell part of a family's story.

2.5 stars

I took Adrian to see the vet this morning for his annual shots and physical. He passed the physical with flying colors! And he didn't complain about the shots too much. The vet made a fuss over him and gave him a kiss on the top of his head. I love his vet!

>203 cbl_tn:
Yey! All vet visits should end like that!

>202 cbl_tn: - Oh dear! I have this book in my TBR pile and your comments have me reconsidering whether or not to purge it. It hasn't been packed yet and it would be one less thing to move. Although I don't have any things out that I haven't looked at, I do have a couple of boxes in the basement that came when my mother passed that I haven't gone through yet. Or probably, I went through them and couldn't decide what to do, so I just closed them back up.

>204 -Eva-: I know that going to the vet is an ordeal for many pets and their owners. I love taking Adrian to the vet. He handles it well, and both vets he's seen have been a source of good advice for me.

>205 dudes22: I think your reaction to the book will depend on your own experience and what you're looking for out of the book. I thought that I'd be able to relate to the author's problem of dealing with household goods and personal effects inherited from both sides of her family. I've ended up with a lot of keepsakes from both sides of the family to deal with, but it's a very different kind of heirloom than this family had. I have boxes of diaries and photographs, glasses collected from oatmeal boxes or gas station promotions, two trunks that belonged to gg-grandmothers (one on each side of my family), letters, Bibles, and funeral books. The author of this book was dealing with Chippendale sofas and Hepplewhite bookcases. I had a hard time relating to that. I would be thrilled to have even one ancestor who would have generated as many documents as any of the many military officers in her family tree, and I'd be actively looking for those documents. This author seems like she's almost ashamed of her military forebears. I sensed an antiwar undercurrent in the book. I got the impression that there are many things she'd rather not know about her ancestors.

>206 cbl_tn: - well - I'll probably take another look at it before I pack it and then decide, but your description doesn't make it sound like what I was looking for either.

>207 dudes22: That sounds like a good plan!

I Have Confidence #13: The Illustrated Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee

The village...was like a deep-running cave still linked to its antic past, a cave whose shadows were cluttered by spirits and by laws still vaguely ancestral. This cave that we inhabited looked backwards through chambers that led to our ghostly beginnings; and had not, as yet, been tidied up, or scrubbed clean by electric light, or suburbanized by a Victorian church or papered by cinema screens.

It was something we just had time to inherit, to inherit and dimly know – the blood and beliefs of generations who had been in the valley since the Stone Age. That continuous contact has at last been broken, the deeper caves sealed off forever. But arriving, as I did, at the end of that age, I caught whiffs of something old as the glaciers.

In this memoir, Laurie Lee recalls with nostalgia his childhood in a Gloucestershire village from the tail end of the First World War into the 1920s. Lee gives the impression that he was compelled to preserve his memories because his was the last generation to experience village life in the pattern it had followed for centuries. The technological advances following World War I irrevocably changed this pattern.

The oversized illustrated edition wasn't the read I expected it to be. The photographs are too small to easily make out details, and many of the reproductions of paintings are blurry. The book is too large to hold comfortably, so I could only read a chapter or two at a time. The book just didn't flow for me. I wouldn't recommend the illustrated edition to other first-time readers.

3 stars

Aw, too bad Carrie. At first glance an illustrated Cider with Rosie sounded good but I can understand your disappointment with poor illustrations and a large heavy book. I loved the book and have read it a few times.

>210 VivienneR: The illustrated version is probably better suited to someone who has read the book before. Lesson learned!

Adrian and I participated in the Humane Society's 5K run/walk today. Last year it was scorching hot. Today we walked the whole distance in the rain. I pushed Adrian in his stroller, but he still got soaked, and he hates getting wet. Stella and her "mom" walked with us, and Stella's "dad" ran. My friend and I finished in just at 1 hour. We were pleased with that, particularly since we were both pushing dogs in strollers. We got an extra workout that way. I came home soaked, so I've started laundry and also a pot of chicken and rice soup.

Climb Ev'ry Mountain #9: The Strode Venturer by Hammond Innes (Maldives)

March, 1963. Looking back through my diary, as I begin this account of the strange means by which the prosperity of the company I now serve was founded, I find it difficult to realize that there was a time when I had never been to the Maldives, had scarcely ever heard of Addu Atoll. The island we now call Ran-a-Maari had only recently been born the night I flew into London from Singapore.

So begins this mid-20th century naval/boardroom adventure. Commander Geoffrey Bailey of the Royal Navy is at a crossroads in his life, poised to retire from his commission and return to England. A series of events sweeps him into the affairs of Strode Orient, the company that had taken over his father's shipping line three decades earlier. He can secure a position in the company by locating the wayward Strode brother whom he met several years earlier overseas. His search takes him to the Maldives, where he finds Peter Strode involved in a secret project with the citizens of Addu Atoll. Bailey follows Peter Strode into a dangerous, uncharted region of the Indian Ocean where he will discover the secret that Strode is so closely guarding. Bailey must also stand his ground against an opposing faction in the London boardroom of the Strode corporation. This proves to be nearly as dangerous as his ocean adventure.

This thriller is representative of the postcolonial era that saw the fragmentation of the former British empire into independent states. I'm not a frequent science fiction reader/viewer, but I did watch Star Trek regularly as a child. The section of the book in uncharted waters has a similar feel to a Star Trek episode, with shore parties stranded and in need of rescue. A transporter would have come in handy. Recommended for readers who enjoy vintage thrillers.

4 stars

Nice analogy in the spoiler part of your review! I enjoyed this book when I read it a couple of years ago.

>214 VivienneR: Thanks! It was a good choice for a difficult location to fill in the Commonwealth Challenge.

Something Good #9: The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje

Since this is a somewhat autobiographical novel, I suppose it's fitting for the author to narrate the audio version. However, I'd place Michael Ondaatje among those authors who should never narrate their own books. His monotone delivery, his tendency to slur his words, the near absence of plot, and the non-chronological construction made this a difficult audio read. The novel's structure reminded me of Conrad's The Secret Agent. Like Conrad's book, there are elements of a good crime novel here, but the digressions dissipate narrative tension before it has a chance to build. A better reader might have been able to make something out of this. I'll give Ondaatje at least one more chance before I give up on him.

2.5 stars

Next up in audio: A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear

Will definitely have to keep an eye out for that Hammond Innes book! I enjoyed his The Blue Ice and have been collecting others as they come up in used-book sales.

>213 cbl_tn: sounds interesting! Thanks for the review.

>217 rabbitprincess: If you've read and liked other books he's written, I suspect that you'd like this one, too.

>218 VictoriaPL: You're welcome! You might enjoy this one if you happen across it.

So Long, Farewell #9: The Reluctant Detective by Martha Ockley

Reverend Faith Morgan is being considered for a new assignment near her hometown of Winchester. On her first Sunday in the area, she visits the service at St. James' of Little Worthy, where she had been an occasional visitor during her childhood. Faith and the rest of the congregants are shocked when the incumbent drops dead during the celebration of the Eucharist. As a former police officer, Faith is the first to realize the signs that this wasn't a natural death. The police investigation puts Faith back into close contact with D.I. Ben Shorter, her live-in boyfriend during her days in the police force. The issue that drove them apart is still unresolved, and this causes some awkward moments as they each carry out their current duties arising from the murder.

This first-in-series mystery shows promise. The mystery plot is better than many, with plenty of suspects and red herrings. Even though I caught the clues that pointed to the motive for the murder, I wasn't sure of the murderer's identity until the very last minute since the circumstances affected several characters. On the other hand, the secondary characters weren't developed as well as in other series debuts, where the mystery plot often takes a back seat to the development of the characters and setting. This must be difficult to get just right. The book combines elements of cozy/village mysteries, police procedurals, romance, and Christian fiction, and may appeal to a broad readership as a result.

3.5 stars

I Have Confidence #14: The World Is Moving Around Me by Dany Laferriere

Haiti's misfortune was not what moved the world: it was the way the Haitian people stood up to misfortune. We gazed with wonder as the disaster revealed a nation whose rotten institutions prevent it from coming into its own. When those institutions disappeared from the landscape, even for a moment, we discovered a proud yet modest people through the clouds of dust.

Writer Dany Laferrière was visiting his home country when the earthquake struck on January 12, 2010. He and a friend were waiting for a meal at the restaurant in a Port-au-Prince hotel. Laferrière's immediate family survived the earthquake, and he was able to return to his home in Montreal a couple of days later with assistance from the Canadian embassy. He was soon back in Haiti for the funeral of an aunt who died not long after the earthquake.

This memoir isn't a fully-fleshed narrative account of the earthquake. It's a series of vignettes that often read like journal entries. Some themes emerge from the collection, including Laferrière's opinions about Haitian culture, religion, and humanitarian assistance and the aid workers who flocked to Haiti almost before the ground stopped shaking.

3.5 stars

September Recap

The Sound of Music - Audiobooks – 10/6

Maria - Books by women authors – 11/6
Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood (4.5)

I Have Confidence - Challenge reads – 14/6
The Illustrated Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee (3)
The World Is Moving Around Me by Dany Laferriere (3.5)

Sixteen Going on Seventeen - YA/children’s books – 14/6

My Favorite Things - Mysteries – 15/6

Climb Ev’ry Mountain - Books for the GeoCAT – 9/6
When Hoopoes Go to Heaven by Gaile Parkin (5)
The Strode Venturer by Hammond Innes (4)

The Lonely Goatherd - Group/shared reads – 6/6

Do-Re-Mi - Books for the DeweyCAT – 6/6

Something Good - Award winning (or nominated) books – 9/6
*The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje (2.5)

Edelweiss - Local/regional/national history – 6/6

So Long, Farewell - Books from my TBR stash – 9/6
Objects of Our Affection by Lisa Tracy (2.5)
The Reluctant Detective by Martha Ockley (3.5)

*Audiobooks

Best of the month: When Hoopoes Go to Heaven by Gaile Parkin
Worst of the month: The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje

Physical books owned: 2
Physical books borrowed: 4
Ebooks borrowed: 1
Audiobooks borrowed: 1
ARCs: 1

>221 cbl_tn: I like the sound of that one - onto the wishlist it goes!

>223 Jackie_K: it's an interesting perspective on the earthquake.

Something Good #10: Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

We live in a place called 'Above the Shop' which is not a strictly accurate description as both the kitchen and dining-room are on the same level as the Shop itself and the topography also includes the satellite area of the Back Yard. The Shop (a pet shop) is in one of the ancient streets that cower beneath the looming dominance of York Minster. In this street lived the first printers and the stained-glass craftsmen that filled the windows of the city with coloured light. The Ninth Legion Hispana that conquered the north marched up and down our street, the via praetoria of their great fort, before they disappeared into thin air. Guy Fawkes was born here, Dick Turpin was hung a few streets away and Robinson Crusoe, that other great hero, is also a native son of this city. Who is to say which of these is real and which a fiction?

Ruby Lennox narrates her life story beginning with her conception in 1951. Each chapter provides a window to another year in Ruby's life. Ruby defines herself in relationship to her mother, her older sisters, her father, and her extended family of aunts, uncles, and cousins. Each chapter concludes with a footnote that anchors Ruby to her family's past in the stories of her grandmother Nell's and her mother Bunty's youths.

Up to now, my only experience with Kate Atkinson has been the Jackson Brodie novels. I liked Case Histories and loved the rest. I picked up her first novel with some trepidation. Would it live up to the Jackson Brodie novels? I'm happy to say that it exceeded my high expectations. Atkinson strikes a perfect balance between strong characters, vivid settings, and narrative pace in a distinctive voice. As she does in the Jackson Brodie novels, Atkinson follows chains of small events that propel characters toward major events that will change the course of her characters' lives. Atkinson is well on her way to becoming my favorite currently active author.

5 stars

>225 cbl_tn: Excellent review of Behind the scenes at the museum. That was the book that made me a fan of Atkinson.

>226 VivienneR: I can see why. It's an excellent book, and it's very hard to believe that it's a first novel.

I'm glad to see your positive review of Hag-Seed. I am a fan of both Atwood and Shakespeare and hoped that this combination would turn out well.

>228 mathgirl40: I think you'll like this one. I'm not sure Atwood has written a bad book yet!

Adrian went to the groomers yesterday, and I took advantage of his shiny clean appearance to get some photos:

AWWWWW! :D

>194 cbl_tn: I'm a little late to the party, but your BB has hit me now as well. Sounds good, and I liked Baking Cakes in Kigali.

Adrian is ridiculously cute. What on earth is he wearing in the second picture?

>231 rabbitprincess: I wish there was some way you could smell his shampoo. He smells good, too!

>232 Chrischi_HH: I think you'll love When Hoopoes Go to Heaven then!

>233 RidgewayGirl: Adrian is wearing a hot dog costume. His favorite toy is a stuffed hot dog, so I coukdn't pass this up when I saw it!

What a sweet little hot dog!

>235 VivienneR: He's just as sweet as he looks in the photo. I'm very blessed to have found him!

The Sound of Music #11: A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear

At the end of the last book in the Maisie Dobbs series, Maisie hadn't decided whether or not to accept James Compton's proposal. Several years have elapsed since the conclusion of that book. Maisie did marry James and moved with him to Canada, where he worked in the aeronautics industry. James was killed during a test flight, and Maisie's shock and grief caused her to lose the child she was carrying. Maisie has been unable to face returning to England and the home she had shared with James. Maisie has reached Gibraltar, and her discovery of a dead photographer shortly after her arrival gives her a puzzle to occupy her mind. Maisie's case map soon has threads leading to the Spanish Civil War, local communists, and intelligence agents (both British and foreign).

I had hoped Maisie had left the world of espionage behind in A Lesson in Secrets, but it wasn't to be. I don't think the style of this series is particularly well suited to espionage plots. Even Maisie admitted to another character toward the end of the book that the explanation for the murder had become convoluted. She tried out several explanations of the death in conversations with several different characters, and each successive explanation served more to obfuscate than clarify the circumstances of the murder. The tension peaked too early, and Maisie's foray into war-torn Spain is unnecessary to the plot (although it is within character for Maisie to put her wartime nursing experience to use when she sees a great need for it.) I don't think this book would work as well as a stand-alone as some of the other books in the series. The series shifted from a post-war First World War focus to a build-up to World War II focus with A Lesson in Secrets, and I would recommend that readers new to the series go back at least that far to catch up before reading this installment.

3.5 stars

Something Good #11: His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet

Although fictional, His Bloody Project has the appearance of a compilation of historical accounts of a sensational triple murder in a remote Highlands village in the mid-19th century. The documents include witness statements, coroners reports, journalist accounts of the trial, and, at the heart of the book, a lengthy confession by the 17-year-old boy who never denied responsibility for the murders. Highland customs of land tenancy figure prominently into this story, as does fatalism and its relationship to the Presbyterian doctrine of predestination.

This book has been shortlisted for the 2016 Booker Prize, and that puzzles me. I finished the book without an inkling of what the reader is supposed to do with the information presented in the novel. Am I supposed to question the murderer's sanity, or question his guilt? Could the murderer have had an accomplice, or could he have been protecting someone else? Or is everything as it appears to be, with a victim who just “needed killing”, as the saying goes? It seems to me that this subject has been done before and done better. It's hard not to compare this book with Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace.

This review is based on an electronic advanced readers copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

3.5 stars

>238 cbl_tn: Good or not, I am dying to read this book.

>239 RidgewayGirl: I'll be interested to see what you make of it!

Something Good #12: The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt

Many Greek and Roman classics are known to modern scholars only from references in other classical works. On the Nature of Things, a scientific poem by Lucretius, was almost one of them. Renaissance scholar Poggio Bracciolini discovered a copy of Lucretius' poem in a monastery library in the early 15th century. As Poggio's copy began to circulate and more copies spread, Lucretius' poetic explication of the Epicurean philosophy of science shifted the worldview of its new audience. Poggio, a career papal secretary, had opened a Pandora's box that led to a decline in the church's authority in secular matters such as science. Greenblatt's narrative loses some of its momentum when his own focus swerves from Lucretius, his work, and its influence both in his own day and after its rediscovery, to an extended biographical section about Poggio. Greenblatt speculates about details of Poggio's early life in the absence of documentation. Those details don't appear to have much relevance to the history of On the Nature of Things. An author of an earlier generation might have confined such speculations to footnotes.

4 stars

>241 cbl_tn: An author of an earlier generation might have confined such speculations to footnotes. Oh, that's an interesting comment, thanks! I am duly warned.

>242 MissWatson: I think this is just the trend for this generation of authors. They seem compelled to include every bit of research in the finished priduct, and their editors let them do it. This book did win a Pulitzer so it's not a bad book. It could have been better, though.

The Sound of Music #12: Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner

I am late to the party with this book, but better late than never! The book is coauthored by an economist (Steven Levitt) and a journalist (Stephen Dubner). Dubner narrates the audio version of the book, which has been slightly adapted for the audio format. (For instance, some of the visual data from the print edition are described for audio listeners.) Levitt's natural curiosity leads him to pose some unconventional questions, and his results sometimes challenge conventional wisdom. In this book, he asks questions such as “What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?”, leading to an analysis of cheating in the wake of high-stakes testing; “Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?”, leading to an analysis of the “corporate” structure of gangs; and “What makes a perfect parent?”, in which Levitt contrasts parenting traits correlated with successful outcomes for children with traits that are either negatively correlated or don't make a difference. The book doesn't have an apparent political agenda. Some of the answers may offend or challenge readers on both ends of the political spectrum. Readers who approach this book with an open mind may gain a new perspective on social policy and some of its unintended consequences.

4 stars

>212 cbl_tn:
That's just such a great image - you and Adrian in his stroller, him all grouchy that he's wet. :)

>221 cbl_tn:
I don't think I have anything lined up yet for Haiti in my read-around-the-world - BB for me!

>225 cbl_tn:
5 stars? That one's clearly been on Mt. TBR too long! :)

>230 cbl_tn:
Oh my goodness, so adorable!

>245 -Eva-: Hi Eva! I was a little worried that Adrian was going to get sick from being wet and cold, but I warmed him up well at the end of the race. The Humane Society was prepared with lots of clean towels.

Climb Ev'ry Mountain #10: Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien

Do Not Say We Have Nothing traces the impact of China's political revolutions on two families from the mid-20th century to the present day. Marie, the daughter of Chinese immigrants in Vancouver, begins her story in 1989, with her father's death. The story reaches back in time to the Cultural Revolution, when Marie's father, Kai, was a student at a Shanghai music conservatory. His life intertwined with that of Sparrow, a composer and professor at the conservatory, and Sparrow's cousin, Zhuli, another student at the conservatory. The three are separated when the events of the revolution catch up to them. The story continues with Sparrow's daughter, Ai-ming, and her aspirations of attending a Beijing university. The student protests at Tiananmen Square change the direction of her life. A mysterious Book of Records provides a link from the past to the present.

The book's recurring themes include music, mathematics, Chinese characters and their shades of meaning, the social and psychological effects of the lack of self-determination, familial duty, love, and friendship. The first section covering the end of the Communist Revolution through the first years of the Cultural Revolution is the strongest part of the book. The characters are well rounded and the physical setting is vivid. The second half that centers on the events of Tiananmen Square isn't as sharply focused, and Ai-ming is not as fully developed as the other major characters in the book. Perhaps that's intentional, though. As a child of the Cultural Revolution, her life has always been controlled by the state. The well-deserved attention this book has received from major literary prize committees has it poised to become Thien's breakthrough novel.

This review is based on electronic advance reader copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

4 stars

>247 cbl_tn: - You're now the second person I've seen here to give this a positive review. Sounds really intriguing.

>248 LittleTaiko: It's a wonderful novel, although it's not an easy read. Parts are very intense.

Maria #12: My Brother Michael by Mary Stewart

“You find that the grave of Michael Lester is a moving and as important as the 'tomb of Agamemnon' at Mycenae, or Byron or Venizelos or Alexander. He, and the men like him, are a part of the same picture.” I stopped, and then said helplessly, “Greece. Damn it, what is that it does to one?

He was silent a moment, then he said, “I think the secret is that it belongs to all of us—to us of the West. We've learned to think in its terms, and to live in its laws. It's given us almost everything that our world has that is worth while. Truth, straight thinking, freedom, beauty. It's our second language, our second line of thought, our second country. We all have our own country—and Greece.”

On the heels of a broken engagement, 25-year-old Camilla Haven is traveling alone in Greece. Her money is almost exhausted and she'll have to return to England soon. While she's sitting in an Athens cafe trying to come up with a way to stretch her remaining money to allow for a trip to Delphi, a man appears with keys to the car that he insists she hired to drive to Delphi on a matter of life and death. There's obviously been some mistake, for the person who hired the car is described as “Simon's girl”, and Camilla doesn't know anyone named Simon. However, Camilla's six words of Greek aren't enough to get her out of this muddle. The man disappears before she can convince him he has the wrong person. With no way to return the car to its owner, she decides to drive it to Delphi and deliver it to Simon, who is surely there waiting for it. After all, it's a matter of life or death.

As luck would have it, Camilla finds Simon before she reaches Delphi, but he's as puzzled as she is about the car. Camilla feels responsible for the car, and Simon feels responsible for Camilla, so they join forces to look for another Simon. Meanwhile, this Simon has his own reason for being in Delphi. His older brother, Michael, had been there during World War II, and had died there. Simon's recent discovery of his brother's last letter home has brought him to Delphi to search for answers.

Mary Stewart helped to define the romantic suspense genre. Her novels are more than brain candy. They have weight and substance. Her main characters in this novel are well-read in the classics. They can see Homer and the pantheon of gods in the landscape and in the faces and bearing of the local residents. Readers will need to suspend their disbelief at some of the decisions required of Camilla and Simon to get them to the right location for the action to begin. The payoff is almost as rewarding as a trip to Greece, and much less expensive.

4 stars

>250 cbl_tn: I probably read that one back in the 1970s. I think I read all of hers back then.

Stewart was a favorite of mine as a teenager. Good to know a revisit will not destroy my fond memories!

>251 thornton37814: >252 RidgewayGirl: I read more Victoria Holt and M. M. Kaye. I don't think either of those authors has held up as well as Mary Stewart.

The Lonely Goatherd #7: Dry Bones by Craig Johnson

While Walt Longmire and his deputies are investigating the death of local rancher Danny Lone Elk (natural causes or murder?), their job becomes more complicated when they learn that a rare and extremely valuable fossil was recently discovered on the ranch. With Lone Elk's death, who will gain ownership and control of the T-rex, Jen? Did her discovery lead to Danny's death? The dispute over Jen draws the feds into Walt's investigation. Walt would love to wrap this one up quickly so that he can focus on his daughter, Cady's, visit. She'll be bringing her 5-month-old daughter to Wyoming for the first time.

Walt was out of his jurisdiction in the last series book, and I was more than ready to see the familiar secondary characters I've grown to love over the course of the series. Most of them made at least a brief appearance. This book seems to have a little of everything that readers might enjoy – humor, family drama, tragedy, wilderness survival, Native American mysticism, romance, and, of course, crime solving.

My sympathy for Cady, and to an extent Vic, keeps growing. Walt is turning into a bit of a know-it-all. Why would a man who admittedly rarely sets foot in a church know, not just the words to a 200-year-old hymn, but also the name of its author and the year it was written? And why in the world would he recognize the names of buyers from every major museum and auction house in the US? When does he have time to learn these things, and why does he bother to remember them? (Note to self: Do not play Trivial Pursuit with this man.)

This book will work as a standalone, but it will be much more fun for those who are reading the series in order. Johnson throws in a few inside jokes here and there that readers unfamiliar with the series won't spot.

4 stars

Next up in audio: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

October Recap

The Sound of Music - Audiobooks – 12/6
*A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear (3.5)
*Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner (4)

Maria - Books by women authors – 12/6
My Brother Michael by Mary Stewart (4)

I Have Confidence - Challenge reads – 14/6

Sixteen Going on Seventeen - YA/children’s books – 14/6

My Favorite Things - Mysteries – 15/6

Climb Ev’ry Mountain - Books for the GeoCAT – 10/6
Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien (4)

The Lonely Goatherd - Group/shared reads – 7/6
*Dry Bones by Craig Johnson (4)

Do-Re-Mi - Books for the DeweyCAT – 6/6

Something Good - Award winning (or nominated) books – 12/6
Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson (5)
His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet (3.5)
The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt (4)

Edelweiss - Local/regional/national history – 6/6

So Long, Farewell - Books from my TBR stash – 9/6

3 off-challenge books for review:
Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus (4.5) and Answering Jihad: A Better Way Forward (3.5) by Nabeel Qureshi
Paths to Happiness by Edward Hoffman (4)

*Audiobooks

Best of the month: Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
Worst of the month: All reads this month were above average!

Physical books owned: 4
Physical books borrowed: 1
Ebooks borrowed: 3
Audiobooks borrowed: 3
ARCs: 3

Something Good #13: Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

In the 1960s, twenty-something Eileen Dunlop lives with her alcoholic ex-cop father and works in a local prison for juvenile boys. Describing Eileen's family background as dysfunctional would be an understatement. Eileen's behavior indicates a desire to be unnoticed. She's anorexic, she hides herself in her dead mother's clothing, and her neglect of personal hygiene seems at least partially motivated by a desire to keep others at arms' length. Yet underneath all this, Eileen desperately wants to be noticed and loved. It doesn't take long for new prison employee, Rebecca, to break through Eileen's defenses. The perfect Rebecca seems to offer the friendship Eileen craves, but it comes at a price.

There's a good short story somewhere in this overwritten novel. Eileen wallows in her own filth for chapter after chapter. There's no reason, except perhaps shock value, that so many pages need to be devoted to this. Do readers really need detailed accounts of Eileen's bowel movements? Eileen writes as an old woman remembering who she used to be. But perhaps she hasn't changed as much as she would have readers believe, and she is still trying to keep others at arms' length. If so, she just may succeed. I suspect that more than a few readers will abandon Eileen to her squalor.

This review is based on a complimentary electronic reading copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

2 stars

>256 cbl_tn: This is definitely one I will skip!

>255 cbl_tn: Lots of good reading in October! And I see Madeleine Thien just got the Giller Prize for Do not say we have nothing.

>257 thornton37814: Wise choice! I'm certain you wouldn't like this one.

>258 VivienneR: Oh, that's great news about the Giller Prize! I'm so pleased!

>253 cbl_tn: I'd not read much Victoria Holt but in my teen years, I'd read almost everything she (Eleanor Burford) wrote as Jean Plaidy.

Phew, just caught up with over 200 messages on this thread -- obviously I need to visit more often! I'm a Mary Stewart fan as well, and there are a few I still haven't read yet. Next up will probably be The Stormy Petrel! And I'm also planning to read My Brilliant Friend this year, although I'm going to wait for December and the Western Europe GeoCAT.

>260 mathgirl40: I knew she was Jean Plaidy, but I never knew her real name!

>261 christina_reads: At the rate I'm going, I may not finish My Brilliant Friend until December!

Maria #13: Blue Lightning by Ann Cleeves

Shetland Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez and his fiancee, Fran, are spending a few days on the remote island of Fair Isle. Before their marriage, Fran needs to meet his family and friends and see where Jimmy was raised. Even though he no longer lives on Fair Isle, it's still a part of him. The morning after their engagement party at the island's bird observatory, Jimmy receives a call from the observatory. There's been a murder. As the only police officer present on the island, and with stormy weather cutting the island off from outside access, Perez must investigate this one on his own. The suspects are limited to the small observatory staff and the few guests at the facility. He's unable to solve the case quickly enough to prevent another murder.

This is a locked room mystery on a couple of levels. The first murder takes place inside a locked building, and this limits the number of suspects. The murderer is also trapped on the island, as neither boats nor the small plane that services the island can get in or out until the storm passes. If this sounds like an Agatha Christie novel to readers, it felt like one to the characters, as at least one acknowledged! The crime plot isn't executed as well as the plots of the previous books in the series. Perez's parents and fiancee distract him from giving his full attention to crime solving, and the consequences are disastrous. The vivid Shetland Island setting is still the most appealing feature of this series, and I'll continue to read it just for that experience.

3 stars

Do-Re-Mi #7: How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster

Whether you're a relatively new reader of literature or you have decades of reading experience under your belt, you're sure to learn something from this book to enrich your future reading experience. Although I'm convinced that I will never achieve Foster's depth of analysis, Foster has also convinced me that reading is a skill that I can improve through practice. Foster reassures his readers/students that ”if the story is good and the characters work but you don't catch allusions and references and parallels, then you've done nothing worse than read a good story with memorable characters. If you begin to pick up on some of these other elements, these parallels and analogies, however, you'll find your understanding of the novel deepens and becomes more meaningful, more complex.” So, it's not like I've been reading the wrong way all these years, but I can work at becoming a better reader and have a better appreciation of what I read. I'll be referring to this book often from here on out. Highly recommended.

5 stars

Edelweiss #7: Gunpowder Girls: The True Stories of Three Civil War Tragedies by Tanya Anderson

Before their granddaughters and great-granddaughters went to work for the war efforts in World Wars I and II, women and young girls were employed on the home front in the U.S. Civil War. This book provides a history of three tragedies affecting young women and girls working in Civil War ammunition factories in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, Richmond, Virginia, and Washington, DC. Anderson describes their work, provides details of the circumstances that led to each disaster, and gives an account of each of the subsequent investigations. Anderson provides a list of all who were killed in each of the explosions. She has calculated the victims' ages from their ages in the 1860 census. The plentiful and clear illustrations enhance the reader's understanding of the more technical details in the text. The primary sources for Anderson's research are the historical newspaper accounts of the tragedies. Anderson provides both a selected bibliography of resources with information about these three events, as well as recommended reading lists on the Civil War and on women and child labor reform. This well-written history is recommended for all middle and high-school library collections. Anderson's compilation of lists of fatalities for each explosion will make this a worthwhile purchase for many genealogical collections as well.

This review is based on an advance review copy provided by the publisher through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

4.5 stars

I have an extra dog for a few days while Stella's "parents" are out of town. Meanwhile, Adrian has developed a UTI. I noticed symptoms earlier this week but wasn't able to get a vet appointment until this afternoon. The vet seems to think I caught it early and the antibiotic shot should clear things up for him.

Oh, poor Adrian! How is he at the vet's? Ivy disliked the visit on Wednesday for an uncomfortable injection and so it took a while on Thursday morning to persuade her to get in the car for the final visit. She's an 80 pound dog and I didn't really want to try and lift her into the car. Luckily, her good nature and desire to please won out over experience, but the next car ride will have to be somewhere fun for her.

>267 RidgewayGirl: Adrian does great at the vet's! He loves being handled and all the attention he gets. And he gets to sit on a table up close to the vet's or her assistant's face. Lots of social rewards for a very outgoing dog! He doesn't mind the shots too much, but the thermometer is unpleasant. Even so, I think I'd make more of a fuss than he does if I had the same kind of thermometer used on me!

Good idea to take Ivy somewhere fun so that she doesn't associate car rides with bad experiences at the end!

It's almost time for the cats to have their annual shots. I dread rounding the three of them up. I'll need to set up the appointment after Thanksgiving.

Lori, when the kids were small, we had a cat who was fine with the vet. I could plop him on the table and concentrate on toddler-wrangling, as he would just sit there. He would also purr throughout his exam (with a brief silence during the temperature taking). I still miss that guy.

>269 thornton37814: Oh, good luck! Taking one animal at a time is enough of a challenge for me!

>270 RidgewayGirl: He sounds like he was the perfect pet for that stage of your family's life! His name didn't happen to be Garfield, did it? That's the image that comes to mind from your description!

Carrie, Hodge was certainly an unusual cat. After dental surgery, I brought him home with cans of extra-soft cat food, set the carrier on the floor and opened it, and Hodge staggered (he was still drugged up) out and directly over to his food bowl to eat dry kibble.

>272 RidgewayGirl: Of course he did, after you spent money on special food he had no intention of eating! He sounds like he was quite a character.

"I'd make more of a fuss than he does if I had the same kind of thermometer used on me"
You and me both!!

>274 -Eva-: I took him to see Santa yesterday so maybe I've made up for it! The Humane Society had an open house again this year, and we had our picture made with Santa.

Something Good #14: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

A blind French girl and an orphaned German boy come of age during the Second World War. Marie-Laure's father is the locksmith for Paris's Natural History Museum. As the Germans approach Paris, Marie-Laure and her father flee to her great-uncle's home in Saint Malo. Werner is one of about a dozen children in a German orphanage run by a French nun. Werner's mechanical aptitude is eventually noticed by German authorities, who draft Werner into army service even though he is under age. Marie-Laure and Werner's paths finally cross as the occupation of France nears its end.

It shouldn't be surprising that senses are emphasized in a book with a blind protagonist. The roar of the sea, the sound of music, he hiss of radio static, the whorls of a snail's shell, the smoothness of a stone, the aroma of flowers, the scent of salt air, and the taste of summer fruit are all vividly described. Foreshadowing is used effectively, and the parallel plot lines are evenly paced as they approach their intersection. However, an otherwise powerful story is somewhat weakened by a hint of magical realism that seems out of place.

4 stars

Carrie, I am finally planning on pulling All the Light We Cannot See down from my shelves next month. I probably should have joined you this month as there is a TIOLI Challenge that it fits perfectly!

>275 cbl_tn:
Ooh, I'd love to see that!

>278 -Eva-: I'll try to remember to post it after I receive the photo!

>277 DeltaQueen50: Almost missed you, Judy! I didn't scroll up far enough. I think you'll like All the Light We Cannot See. It worked out well that there was a perfect challenge for it when my name reached the top of the holds queue!

>276 cbl_tn: I have it listed as a probable read for one of my categories next year. I wanted to get to it this year, but the book messed up a lot of my reading plans.

>281 thornton37814: I think it will be worth your time whenever you get to it.

Just got back from taking Adrian to the vets. He has a UTI that didn't clear up completely after the first round of antibiotics so he got another shot. I asked if they knew someplace that is accepting food donations for displaced animals and found out that they took in several of them in their boarding facility. They're accepting donations for the care of those animals. I have to go back tomorrow and pick up more medicine for Adrian, and I think I'll take a bag of dog food with me.

Another press conference just started, and they announced that there are 3 confirmed fatalities. I won't be surprised if that total increases. TEMA estimates that 14,000 were evacuated just from Gatlinburg last night. That doesn't include those evacuated from Pigeon Forge. It's a miracle that there seem to have been so few fatalities under the circumstances. There are still active fires, but more rain on the way.

The National Guard brought in three Black Hawk helicopters to assist, and one of the pilots told a local news anchor that he hasn't seen anything like this since he was in Iraq. Someone from the Department of Transportation also described Gatlinburg as resembling a war zone.

>283 cbl_tn:
I saw some pictures on the news of the fires - just terrible.

>284 -Eva-: Thanks Eva. You may see worse pictures tomorrow. We have a tornado warning in the area, and the path seems to be heading toward Pigeon Forge.

>285 cbl_tn:
Oh no, I hope that doesn't happen!

>285 cbl_tn: The tornado warning was cancelled before it got there, but the wind brought down more power lines and eight new fires started overnight. The fatality count is up to 4 now.

We did have tornadoes south and west of here with a couple of fatalities.

I hope they are able to get these new fires under control. Pigeon Forge - isn't that Dolly Parton's home town?

My husband was saying what a beautiful area that was and how sad that it will be gone. I can't imagine anything more frightening than having to drive through a fire to escape.

>288 DeltaQueen50: Thanks, Judy. The last report is that there is only one fire still burning in Gatlinburg. There are others still burning in other areas. The fatality count is now up to 7. Yes, Dolly Parton is from Sevier County. The fire nearly reached her theme park but it was spared. Dollywood plans to open again on Friday.

>289 dudes22: There's no question that a large area of the park has been destroyed, but there's still a lot left. The trees will eventually grow back. It will look different, but it will be beautiful again. The entrance to the park will be scarred for a long time, but there's still lots of the park that hasn't been damaged. Cades Cove is still there, Mount LeConte is OK, Elkmont is OK. Downtown Gatlinburg and the historic arts & crafts district is largely intact. Townsend doesn't get as much tourist traffic as Gatlinburg, but it's a nice little town. As soon as they get things cleaned up, Gatlinburg will be open for visitors again.

That's a terrible double whammy, between the fires and the tornados.

>291 RidgewayGirl: Yes, it is. I think we've had more than our share this week. I'm ready for it to stop.

I forgot to mention that the rain in the burn area caused mud and rock slides that created problems for the firefighters and the search and rescue operation.

>288 DeltaQueen50: Speaking of Dolly Parton, it was just announced that her foundation is offering $1000 a month for six months to all the families who lost their homes in Monday's fire, to help them get back on their feet.

>293 cbl_tn: Wow, that's very generous and it's nice to hear of such things in this day and age!

I heard a really encouraging report on our local news this evening. The fire inside the park has mostly burned leaf debris on the ground, and most of the trees and other foliage will be OK. The areas that did sustain heavy fire damage are the spur between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, the Gatlinburg bypass, and the Roaring Fork Motor Trail. All of the park structures are OK - visitors centers and such.

Our beautiful mountains aren't going anywhere. Please come and visit our National Park!

So sorry to hear about the terrible fires in your state. After the devastating experiences at Fort MacMurray, Alberta earlier this year, you have our heartfelt sympathy.

>296 VivienneR: Thanks, Vivienne. We love our mountains here, and it hurts to see the land and the community suffering.

So Long, Farewell #10: Farm Fresh Murder by Paige Shelton
RandomCAT

The one day Becca Robins is running late, she arrives at the farmer's market to find that one of her fellow vendors has been murdered. Matt Simonson was a long-time vendor at a farmers' market in a neighboring community and hadn't been at Bailey's Farmers' Market long. Apparently he was there long enough to provoke someone to murder. Suspicion soon falls on Becca's good friend, Abner, who had a public quarrel with the dead man shortly before the murder. Becca's fraternal twin, Allison, manages Bailey's market, and Becca wants to do whatever she can to help Allison calm the fears of the remaining vendors. When Abner disappears before the police can arrest him, Becca is even more determined to do some sleuthing of her own to see if she can uncover the real murderer. Her fellow vendors may be more willing to confide in her than in the police.

This is the author's first cozy. It's better than many first-in-series books, but there isn't anything that makes it stand out in the crowd of other cozies with a food, farming, or rural theme. The sense of place isn't strong enough to draw readers, either. The book is set in South Carolina, but the farmer's market sounds like it could be in any rural community in the South or Midwest. By the end of the book, Becca has two potential romantic interests competing for her attention. Hopefully the author won't allow that situation to drag on as long as Joanne Fluke did with Hannah Swensen's two boyfriends in her long-running series.

3 stars

This week's local tragedy absorbed most of my attention when I wasn't working. I'm behind on reviews and behind on threads, and I haven't been reading much. The stories about the reunion of animals that survived the fires with their owners are heartwarming. Adrian has been getting lots of extra hugs this week.

Adrian had a chance to talk to Santa a couple of weeks ago. I think he had a pretty long list!

>299 cbl_tn: Awwww! :D

What a wonderful picture! If I was Santa, Adrian would be horribly spoiled.

>300 rabbitprincess: Thanks, RP!

>301 DeltaQueen50: Yes, it's hard not to spoil the little guy!

>299 cbl_tn: I bet Santa brings Adrian everything he wants - and more!

>303 VivienneR: I think Santa will be good to him!

The Lonely Goatherd #8: The Prime Minister by Anthony Trollope

Plantagenet Palliser has reached the height of his career. When neither the conservatives nor the liberals can garner enough support to form a government, they turn to the Duke of Omnium (as Plantagenet is now) to serve as prime minister at the head of a coalition government. The Duchess (the former Lady Glencora) is ecstatic and immediately sets out to form a shadow government among the leading women of the country. But the poor Duke couldn't be more miserable when he discovers that his position, and the stability of the government, hinges on his complete inaction. (Except for ceremonial stuff.)

A secondary plot concerns Emily Wharton, the only daughter of a wealthy London gentleman who is determined to marry Ferdinand Lopez over her father's objections. Mr. Wharton objects to Lopez because he's not an English gentleman. (In other words, he's foreign and has Jewish ancestry.) Emily quite rightly objects to her father's prejudice. Unfortunately, while they're focused on Lopez's ancestry, they both fail to note that his primary occupation of futures trading will not provide the necessary financial stability to support a wife and family. The results are both tragic and predictable.

In a way, this is a story of frustrated ambition and of two unhappy marriages. The Pallisers' temperaments make them ill suited for each other, with seemingly incompatible goals. Plantagenet wants to be useful, while Glencora wants to be important. Plantagenet is unhappy when he's in an important position without useful work. Insufficient income seems to be at the root of the Lopez's marital problems, but as the Pallisers' situation proves, it takes more than money to make a happy marriage.

3.5 stars

So Long, Farewell #11: Mexico Set by Len Deighton

After a colleague and friend runs into a Russian spy in Mexico, the agency sends Bernard Samson to “enroll” the Russian. Samson is too close to someone who recently went over to the other side, and he realizes that this assignment is a test of his loyalty. It seems that someone is doing his or her best to keep Samson from succeeding and to set him up as a traitor. But is it the KGB's doing, or someone on his own team? Samson will have to outwit both the Russian and his own side if he wants to keep his job, his children, and his home. This is the middle book in a trilogy, and the plot isn't as strong as the first book. It was too easy to put down, and that's not a good sign for a thriller.

3 stars

November Recap

The Sound of Music - Audiobooks – 12/6

Maria - Books by women authors – 13/6
Blue Lightning by Ann Cleeves (3)

I Have Confidence - Challenge reads – 14/6

Sixteen Going on Seventeen - YA/children’s books – 14/6

My Favorite Things - Mysteries – 15/6

Climb Ev’ry Mountain - Books for the GeoCAT – 10/6

The Lonely Goatherd - Group/shared reads – 8/6
The Prime Minister by Anthony Trollope (3.5)

Do-Re-Mi - Books for the DeweyCAT – 7/6
How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster (5)

Something Good - Award winning (or nominated) books – 14/6
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh (2)
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (4)

Edelweiss - Local/regional/national history – 7/6
Gunpowder Girls: The True Stories of Three Civil War Tragedies by Tanya Anderson (4.5)

So Long, Farewell - Books from my TBR stash – 11/6
Farm Fresh Murder by Paige Shelton (3)
Mexico Set by Len Deighton (3)

Best of the month: How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster
Worst of the month: Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

Physical books owned: 3
Physical books borrowed: 2
Ebooks owned: 1
Ebooks borrowed: 2
ARCs: 2

>299 cbl_tn:
Adorables!!!!!

>308 -Eva-: Thanks!