Smiler: Taking each day as it comes in 2018

Hi, my name is Ilana and I am a full-time stay-at-home mom to my tiny Chinese crested dog Charley and cats Ezra and Mimi. I had to stop working a decade ago for health reasons, so have lots of time to devote to reading and to making art, which I manage to do at the same time thanks to my great love of audiobooks. Those who have been familiar with my threads from past years know that I usually did a lot of planning as far as reading is concerned. But these past couple of years I decided not to plan ANY of my reading. Read "only" 78 books in total in 2017 which is one of my lower scores (usually hovering around 200) but that doesn't really matter; I'm just happy to still have reading in my life at all during hectic and uncertain times and this group and all the wonderful people I've gotten to know here. Happy New Year to you all!




Currently and occasionally reading and browsing through:



Favourites of 2018 so far: (4.5 stars and up)
The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney
Rumpole: The Penge Bungalow Murders and other stories: Three BBC Radio 4 dramatisations
The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux ★★★★★
The Power by Naomi Alderman
Being There by Jerzy Kosinski (reread) ★★★★★
Sweet Caress: The Many Lives of Amory Clay by William Boyd
Essays in Love by Alain De Botton
The Scent of Secrets by Jane Thynne
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
Circe by Madeline Miller
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Simon Armitage ★★★★★
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (reread) ★★★★★
Tales of Terror by Edgar Allan Poe
Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde: In Aid of the Royal Theatrical Fund ★★★★★
There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce by Morgan Parker
Happiness by Aminatta Forna
The True and Splendid History of the Harristown Sisters by Michelle Lovric
Girls & Boys by Dennis Kelly
The Book of Human Skin by Michelle Lovric
Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood ★★★★★
Sleep No More: Six Murderous Tales by P.D. James
The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World by Robert Garland
Dunbar (Hogarth Shakespeare) by Edward St. Aubyn
Harry Clarke: With Bonus Performance: Lillian by David Cale ★★★★★
Practicing Mindfulness: An Introduction to Meditation by Mark W. Muesse
The Best of Roald Dahl by Roald Dahl ★★★★★
Proof by David Auburn
When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chödrön



Favourites of 2017: (4.5 stars and up)
Quite Enough of Calvin Trillin by Calvin Trillin
Boule de suif by Guy de Maupassant (Short story, en français)
Clockwork by Philip Pullman (reread)
Le Bouquiniste Mendel / Buchmendel by Stephan Zweig (En français) ★★★★★
The Farseer: Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
Royal Assassin: The Farseer Trilogy, Book 2 by Robin Hobb
Tout Maigret, Tome 10 by Georges Simenon (The Maigret short stories)
Living Well Is the Best Revenge by Calvin Tomkins
Judas by Amos Oz
How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran ★★★★★
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran
The Creative Spark: How Imagination Made Humans Exceptional by Agustin Fuentes ★★★★½
The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson
Angela's Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt ★★★★★
The Medieval World by Dorsey Armstrong
The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney
Underground Airlines by Ben Winters ★★★★★
The Art of Asking: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help by Amanda Palmer
Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson
The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories by Dr. Seuss




My rating system:
★ - Hated it (May or may not have finished it)
★★ - Has some redeeming qualities (Just ok)
★★★ - Enjoyed it well enough (Good)
★★★★ - Loved it! (Very good)
★★★★½ - Favourites of the year (Want to read it again!)
★★★★★ - All-time favourite (Would read again, and again... and again!)

⅛ ¼ ⅓ ½ ¾ ⅞

* = Picked for Me
♫ = audiobook
✔ = off the shelf
❉ = library book
ⓔ = eBook

Books completed in December
190. ⓔ♫ Oh, Say Can You Say? by Dr. Seuss ★★★★½
191. ⓔ♫ Dr. Seuss's ABC by Dr. Seuss ★★★★
192. ⓔ♫ Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss ★★★
193. ♫ Green Eggs and Ham and Other Servings of Dr. Seuss by Dr. Seuss ★★★★
194. ❉ David Boring by Daniel Clowes ★★★★
195. ❉ Sweet Tooth Vol. 2: In Captivity by Jeff Lemire ★★★★
196. ❉ Sweet Tooth Vol. 3: Animal Armies by Jeff Lemire ★★★★
197. ⓔ❉ Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents by Pete Souza ★★★★★
198. ♫ Rumpole's Return by John Mortimer ★★★★
199. ❉ The Country Nurse (Essex County, Vol. 3) by Jeff Lemire ★★★
200. ❉ Cloth Lullaby: The Woven Life of Louise Bourgeois by Amy Novesky ★★★★½
201. ❉ Paper Girls Vol. 1 by Brian Vaughan ★★★★½
202. ❉ Baking With Kafka by Tom Gauld ★★★★
203. ❉ The Underwater Welder by Jeff Lemire ★★★★
204. ❉ L'Ombre du Golem by Eliette Abécassis ★★★
205. Chlorine Gardens by Keiler Roberts ★★
206. ❉ Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron by Daniel Clowes ★★★★½
207. ❉ Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Volume 1 by Fumi Yoshinaga ★★★★½
208. ✔ The Haunted Tea-Cosy: A Dispirited and Distasteful Diversion for Christmas by Edward Gorey ★★★★
209. ❉ Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Volume 2 by Fumi Yoshinaga ★★★★½
210. ♫ Rumpole at Christmas by John Mortimer (Author), Bill Wallis (Narrator) ★★★★½ (reread)
211. ❉ Through the Woods by Emily Carroll ★★★★★
212. ⓔ❉ Paper Girls, Vol. 2 by Brian K. Vaughan ★★★★½
213. ♫ Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi ★★★
214. ❉♫ Sunrise with Seamonsters by Paul Theroux ★★★★⅓
215. ❉ Patience by Daniel Clowes ★★★★
216. ⓔ❉ Adulthood is a Myth by Sarah Andersen ★★★½
217. ⓔ❉ Big Mushy Happy Lump by Sarah Andersen ★★★★
218. ⓔ❉ Paper Girls, Vol. 3 by Brian K. Vaughan ★★★
219. ❉ Le Chat du Rabbin - Tome 6: Tu n'auras pas d'autre dieu que moi by Joann Sfar ★★★★
220. ❉ Le Chat du Rabbin - Tome 7: La Tour de Bab-El-Oued by Joann Sfar ★★★★★
221. ❉ Le Chat du Rabbin - Tome 8: Petit panier aux amandes by Joann Sfar ★★★★½
222. ♫ Hogfather: Discworld, Book 20 by Terry Pratchett ★★★
223. ❉♫ Rumpole for the Defence by John Mortimer ★★★★
224. ❉ Berlin Book Three: City of Light by Jason Lutes ★★★★
225. ❉ Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Volume 3 by Fumi Yoshinaga ★★★★
226. ❉ Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Volume 4 by Fumi Yoshinaga ★★★★
227. ❉♫ My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite ★★★★★
228. ⓔ❉ Saga, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan ★★★★½
229. ✔ Bliss and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield ★★★★★
230. ♫ Rumpole: The Penge Bungalow Murders and other stories: Three BBC Radio 4 dramatisations by John Mortimer ★★★★½ (2nd listen this year!)
231. ❉♫ My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh ★★

November
156. ♫ The Lottery, and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson ★★★★½
157. ❉ Frida by Benjamin Lacombe & Sébastien Perez ★★★
158. ❉ Blankets by Craig Thompson ★★★★★
159. ♫ Vox by Christina Dalcher ★★½
160. ♫ Have a Nice Day by Billy Crystal ★★★★
161. ⓔ❉ Lake Success by Gary Shteyngart ★½
162. ❉ Anne of Green Gables: A Graphic Novel by Kendra Phipps and Brenna Thummler (Artist) ★★★★
163. ❉ Ghost World by Daniel Clowes ★★★★½
164. ♫ Tombland: The Shardlake Series, Book 7 by C. J. Sansom ★★★★
165. ⓔ♫ Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss ★★★★½
166. ⓔ♫ One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss ★★★★½
167. ⓔ♫ Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss ★★★★
168. ⓔ♫ I Am Not Going to Get Up Today by Dr. Seuss ★★
169. ⓔ♫ I Can Read With My Eyes Shut! by Dr. Seuss ★★★★
170. ⓔ♫ Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! by Dr. Seuss ★★★★
180. ⓔ❉ The Road Through the Wall by Shirley Jackson ★★★
181. ♫ Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq ★★
182. ❉ Berlin: City of Stones: Book One by Jason Lutes ★★★★
183. ❉ Berlin Book Two: City of Smoke by Jason Lutes ★★★★½
184. ♫ Washington Black by Esi Edugyan ★★★★½
185. ♫ The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession by David Grann ★★★★⅓
186. ⓔ❉ The Sundial by Shirley Jackson ★★★★⅓
187. ♫ The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (reread) ★★★
188. ♫ The Aspern Papers by Henry James (reread) ★★★★
189. ⓔ❉ Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson ★★★

October
135. ♫ Calypso by David Sedaris ★★★
136. ⓔ Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi ★★★★
137. ✔ The Chrysalids by John Wyndham ★★★★½
138. ♫ Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded, August 27, 1883 by Simon Winchester ★★★★
139. ✔ The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham ★★★★
140. ♫ 10% Happier by Dan Harris ★★★★½
141. ⓔ How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence by Michael Pollan ★★★★
142. ♫ The Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll ★★★★
143. ♫ Women Talking by Miriam Toews ★★★★
144. ♫ We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson ★★★★½ (reread)
145. ♫ The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson ★★★★⅓ (reread)
146. ♫ The Ocean At The End Of The Lane by Neil Gaiman ★★★★⅓
147. ⓔ The Lottery by Shirley Jackson ★★★★
148. ✔ The Occult, Witchcraft and Magic by Christopher Dell ★★★★
149. ✔ Gothic Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell ★★★★⅓
150. ♫ L'oiseau de mauvais augure (Erica Falck & Patrik Hedström, 4) by Camilla Lackberg ★★★½
151. ⓔ❉ The Bird's Nest by Shirley Jackson ★★★★
152. ♫ Why Mermaids Sing: Sebastian St. Cyr, Book 3 by C. S. Harris ★★★½
153. ♫ Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed ★★★★★
154. ⓔ❉ How to Be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals by Sy Montgomery ★★★★½
155. ♫ In a Glass Darkly by Sheridan Le Fanu ★★★

Unfinished
♫ Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

September
112. ❉ The Life and Times of Michael K by J. M. Coetzee ★★★★⅓
113. ♫ The Secret Place: Dublin Murder Squad, Book 5 by Tana French ★★★★
114. ♫ Proof by David Auburn ★★★★½
115. ♫ Clarissa: or The History of a Young Lady, Volume 1 (of 3) ★★★★
116. ♫ When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chödrön ★★★★½
117. ✔ The Rings of Saturn by W. G. Sebald ★★★★⅓
118. ♫ Figures in a Landscape: People and Places; Essays: 2001-2016 by Paul Theroux ★★★★⅓
119. ❉ Balzac et la Petite Tailleuse chinoise by Freddy Nadolny Poustochkine (graphic novel) ★★★½
120. ♫ Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal ★★★★⅓
121. ♫ The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter ★★★★
122. ♫ Feeding the Dragon by Sharon Washington
123. ♫ The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz ★★★★
124. ❉ Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me by Ellen Forney ★★★★
125. ⓔ The River of Consciousness by Oliver Sacks ★★★
126. ♫ James Herriot's Treasury for Children by James Herriot ★★★★
127. ⓔ French Exit by Patrick deWitt ★★★
128. ♫ Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary with the Bard by Laura Bates ★★★★
129. ♫ Lord Arthur Savile's Crime & Other Stories by Oscar Wilde ★★★★½
130. ♫ Never Mind: Book One of the Patrick Melrose Novels by Edward St. Aubyn ★★★★
131. ⓔ Bad News: Book Two of the Patrick Melrose Novels by Edward St. Aubyn ★★★★
132. ⓔ Some Hope: Book Three of the Patrick Melrose Novels by Edward St. Aubyn ★★★★
133. ⓔ Mother's Milk: Book Four of the Patrick Melrose Novels by Edward St. Aubyn ★★★½
134. ♫ At Last: The Final Patrick Melrose Novel by Edward St. Aubyn ★★★½

Unfinished
♫ How to Read and Understand Shakespeare by Marc C. Conner
♫ Born With Teeth: A Memoir by Kate Mulgrew

August
96. ⓔA Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift ★★★½
97. ♫ Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde (reread) ★★★★½
98. ♫ Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman ★★★
99. ♫ The Judge Hunter by Christopher Buckley ★★★★
100. ✔ Crete by Barry Unsworth ★★★½
101. ♫ Behind Closed Doors by B. A. Paris ★★★½
102. ♫ The Histories by Herodotus ★★★★
103. ♫ Theatre by W. Somerset Maugham ★★★
104. ♫ Faithful Place: Dublin Murder Squad, Book 3 by Tana French ★★★★
105. ♫ Practicing Mindfulness: An Introduction to Meditation by Mark W. Muesse ★★★★½
106. ✔ In Xanadu by William Dalrymple ★★★★
107. ♫ Broken Harbor: Dublin Murder Squad, Book 4 by Tana French ★★★★
108. ✔ The Best of Roald Dahl by Roald Dahl ★★★★★
109. ♫ I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak ★★★½
110. ♫ Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-Smith ★★★
111. ⓔ Mindfulness in Plain English: 20th Anniversary Edition by Henepola Gunaratana ★★★★

July
80. ♫ The Book of Human Skin by Michelle Lovric ★★★★½
81. ♫ Dead as a Doornail: Southern Vampire Mystery #5 by Charlaine Harris ★★★½
82. ♫ Bette & Joan: The Divine Feud by Shaun Considine ★★★★
83. ♫ The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (reread) ★★★½
84. ♫ The Serpent's Tale by Ariana Franklin ★★★½
85. ♫ Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood ★★★★★
86. ♫ Sleep No More: Six Murderous Tales by P.D. James ★★★★½
87. ♫ The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World by Robert Garland ★★★★½
88. ♫ On Two Feet and Wings by Abbas Kazerooni ★★★★⅓
89. ✔ We, The Drowned by Carsten Jensen ★★★★⅓
90. ♫ Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik ★★★★⅓
91. ⓔ Dunbar (Hogarth Shakespeare) by Edward St. Aubyn ★★★★½
92. ♫ A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley ★★★
93. ♫ One Shot (Jack Reacher 9) by Lee Child ★★★½
94. ♫ Harry Clarke: With Bonus Performance: Lillian by David Cale ★★★★★
95. ♫ Less: A Novel by Andrew Sean Greer ★★★★

June
65. ♫ The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams ★★★★
66. ♫ The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg ★★★★
67. ♫ Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris (reread) ★★★★
68. ♫ Club Dead: Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mystery #3 by Charlaine Harris ★★★½
69. ♫ Snowdrops by A. D. Miller ★★★★⅓
70. ♫ There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce by Morgan Parker ★★★★½
71. ♫ Dead to the World: Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mystery #4 by Charlaine Harris ★★★★
72. ♫ The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish ★★★★
73. ♫ Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough ★★½
74. ♫ Seducing Ingrid Bergman by Chris Greenhalgh ★★★½
75. ♫ Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion ★★★★
76. ♫ The Owl Killers by Karen Maitland ★★★★⅓
77. ♫ Sacred Country by Rose Tremain ★★★½
78. ♫ The True and Splendid History of the Harristown Sisters by Michelle Lovric ★★★★½
79. ♫ Girls & Boys by Dennis Kelly ★★★★½

May
51. ♫ Your Inner Critic Is a Big Jerk: And Other Truths About Being Creative by Danielle Krysa ★★★★⅓
52. ♫ Solitaire by Jane Thynne ★★★★
53. ♫ Passing by Nella Larsen ★★★★
54. ♫ Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman ★★★★½
55. ♫ 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (reread) ★★★★★
56. ♫ Tales of Terror by Edgar Allan Poe ★★★★½
57. ♫ Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde: In Aid of the Royal Theatrical Fund ★★★★★
58. ♫ Happiness by Aminatta Forna ★★★★½
59. ♫ George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl ★★★★
60. ♫ Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James ★★
61. ♫ The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson ★★
62. ♫ Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World - and Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling ★★★★
63. ♫ Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson ★★½
64. ♫ Murder on the Orient Express: An Audible Original Drama ★★★★

Unfinished
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor
The Only Story by Julian Barnes
How Great Science Fiction Works by Professor Gary K. Wolfe
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett

April
35. ♫ The Scent of Secrets by Jane Thynne ★★★★½
36. ♫ The Pursuit of Pearls by Jane Thynne ★★★½
37. ♫ Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty ★★★½
38. ♫ Inspector of the Dead by David Morrell ★★★★
39. ♫ Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari ★★★★½
40. ♫ A Long Way from Home by Peter Carey ★★★★
41. ♫ The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism by Naoki Higashida ★★★½
42. ♫ The Miserable Mill: A Series of Unfortunate Events #4 by Lemony Snicket ★★★½
43. ♫ Circe by Madeline Miller ★★★★½
44. ♫ The Course of Love by Alain de Botton ★★★★⅓
45. ♫ Herodotus: The Father of History by Professor Elizabeth Vandiver ★★★★
46. ♫ The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway ★★★½
47. ♫ Oroonoko by Aphra Behn ★★★★⅓
48. ♫ Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Simon Armitage ★★★★★
49. ♫ The Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket ★★★½
50. ♫ Arabella by Georgette Heyer ★★★½

March
22. ♫ The American Boy by Andrew Taylor ★★★½
23. ♫ The Power by Naomi Alderman ★★★★½
24. ♫ The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn ★★★★⅓
25. ♫ The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen ★
26. ♫ Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell ★★★½
27. ♫ Being There by Jerzy Kosinski (reread) ★★★★★
28. ♫ Sweet Caress: The Many Lives of Amory Clay by William Boyd ★★★★½
29. ♫ The Wide Window: A Series of Unfortunate Events #3 by Lemony Snicket ★★★★⅓
30. ♫ The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson ★★★½
31. ♫ Essays in Love by Alain De Botton ★★★★½
32. ♫ The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas ★★★★
33. ♫ Blood and Circuses: A Phryne Fisher Mystery #6 by Kerry Greenwood ★★★⅓
34. ♫ The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter (reread) ★★★½

February
11. ♫ Get Well Soon: History’s Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them by Jennifer Wright ★★★★
12. ♫ Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson ★★
13. ♫ Golden Son by Pierce Brown ★★★½
14. ♫ The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux ★★★★★
15. ♫ The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly ★★★★⅓
16. ♫ A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (reread) ★★★★
17. ♫ The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux ★★★★⅓
18. ♫ The Boy Who Followed Ripley by Patricia Highsmith ★★★★
19. ♫ The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker by Tobias Smollett ★★★★
20. ♫ The Wild Girl by Kate Forsyth ★★★½
21. ♫ Guns by Stephen King ★★★★

January
1. ♫ The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney ★★★★½ (reread)
2. ♫ The Blood Miracles by Lisa McInerney ★★★★
3. ♫ The Dead Can Wait by Robert Ryan ★★★½
4. ♫ The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu ★★★
5. ♫ Brain Myths Exploded: Lessons From Neuroscience by Indre Viskontas ★★★½
6. ♫ Rumpole: The Penge Bungalow Murders and other stories: Three BBC Radio 4 dramatisations ★★★★½
7. ♫ The Icebound Land: Ranger's Apprentice, Book 3 by John Flanagan ★★★★½
8. ♫ The Battle for Skandia: Ranger's Apprentice, Book 4 by John Flanagan ★★★★⅓
9. ♫ The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff ★★★½
10. ♫ Red Rising by Pierce Brown ★★★★

Welcome to my new thread! Please feel free to comment. I'm ending 2018 by revisiting The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney. I really loved that book a few months ago, but somehow was too distracted to pay much attention and missed out on the connections between the characters in the book, so relistening now before moving straight on to The Blood Miracles. Her writing is that brilliant that I don't mind revisiting it so soon.

Hi Ilana! Happy new thread. I wish you a calm peaceful 2018, with lots of art and literature to enrich your life

>5 jessibud2: Thanks Shelley! I'm hoping 2018 will be more peaceful for me... that I'll be able to get back into some semblance of routine and have more regular sleep and scheduled activities. I've floated around all through 2017 and NOT doing better for it to be sure. Some structure is needed. The good news is I joined the join 2-3 months ago and really took to getting back in shape. The not so good news is I've been sick like a dog for the past 10 days and unable to do much of anything, including sleep... so I'll need time to recuperate... but at least I'm seeing friends in real life on a regular basis, which is a huge improvement for me. I do love all my online friends, but isolation is not a good idea no matter how many intellectual connections are made out there. This I've had to learn the hard way.

Wishing you all good things in the year to come. xo

Happy New Year! I wish you to read many good books in 2018.

Good to see you back for 2018!

Happy reading in 2018, Ilana!

Happy New Year Ilana! Here's to a great year of reading!

Happy New Year
Happy New Group here
This place is full of friends
I hope it never ends
It brew of erudition and good cheer.

>7 The_Hibernator: Thank you Rachel! One think I never worry about is us having plenty of great reading options to choose from. :-D

>9 drneutron: Hi Jim! Happy New Year and thanks for making this group a great place to be... whether on a daily basis on when other things get in the way... only occasionally. This group is ALWAYS a huge part of my life no matter how much or little I show my presence here. Please know that.

>10 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita, I wish you lots of wonderful reading as well. Isn't it nice to be able to count on something like that in this day and age?? :-)

>11 SandDune: I'm with you all the way Rhian! Thanks for the good wishes and sending you all the best!

>12 PaulCranswick: Dear Paul... this group hasn't ever been the same since you came into it and therefore into my life. It's so good to know there are wonderful people like you out there... far away and yet so close. Sending you and yours much love, peace, health, and why the heck not... a good dollop of good luck too! xo

Wishing you a 2018 full of good reads!

Hi Illana. I think of you and send all good wishes for a wonderful 2018.

Hi Ilana, and happy new thread! I’m going to try to be back on LT more, and FB less this year. Starring your thread as I know there’ll be lots of good things here! Happy reading!

>13 Smiler69: >10 FAMeulstee: Yes it is, Ilana. Voracious reading kept me sane the past 18 months.

Hi Ilana! Happy New Year to you, and here's to a 2018 filled with good friends, good health, and great books!

Hi, Ilana - Happy New Year!

My apologies for dropping off on my thread-visiting last year (I'm saying that to a LOT of people); I have promised myself I will do better.

I thought you might like to know that Heather and I are currently discussing going back to the novels of Frances Burney, and scheduling a group read of Camilla. I know you were interested in this back when we did Cecilia, and was hoping you might want to join us? At the moment we are considering February or April: if you have a preference, please let me know.

Happy 2018, Ilana!

Thanks for your visits and wishes, Lori, Linda, Paul, Anita, Laura, Joe and Liz!

>19 lyzard: Please DO NOT worry about catching up with me, of all people, Liz. My presence here has been only occasional at best in 2017. Hope to spend more time with this wonderful group this year. Just getting back in stride with reading... only audiobooks so far... have yet to pick up physical books again for some reason. I'd be interested in joining you, but can't promise anything... however would be more likely to do so in April to give me time to get back into the swing of things. Thank you so much for the invitation! xo

New Year resolutions I can adhere to. 😊



(already working on part 2)

>22 Smiler69: Ha! Love it! I'm going to follow Calvin's lead.

I think rereading The Glorious Heresies before jumping into The Blood Miracles by Lisa McInerney really paid off. Given how bad my memory is and that the action picks up right where the first book finishes, it's really like I've kept reading from the same book. Highly highly recommended, both, if you haven't discovered this author for yourself yet. Not giving away any spoilers at all!

>24 jnwelch: Probably the wisest course of action! ;-)

Hi Ilana, wishing you a good reading year. I also had The glorious heresies in my best books for 2017. There's some excellent Irish YA around. I usually go through the best books lists in the Irish Times and grab some ideas from there.

>21 Smiler69:

April is looking good for a couple of people, so we might pencil that in. It would be great if you could join us, but if not don't worry about it. :)

Happiest Year Yet, dear Ilana!
I didn't remember your enthusiasm for *GH*, which I bought, read a page or two of, and then set aside for some reason. Enthusiasm duly noted, and it's back on the READ NOW list!
Hope you're beginning to feel better. Stay warm!

Happy New Year Ilana!

Happy News Year, Ilana. Have a great year of reading!

Lovely to see you back with us in 2018 Ilana - happy new year!

Hi friends! Incapacitated with migraine today... feels lonely being in so much pain and barely able to bend down to put on shoes and the like. I'm not sure what I'm occupying my time with... but haven't been listening to my audiobook very much. I'm currently on The Dead Can Wait by Robert Ryan, the second book in the Dr Watson series. I never really got into it, and I'm not sure why because I can say objectively that's it's a damn good story, but perhaps my timing is off? Seems to happen a lot: books I KNOW are very good but somehow can't appreciate. There are worse things I suppose. :-)

>26 avatiakh: Hi Kerry! I'm really glad I read both books back to back or I would have missed a bunch of things, given how bad my memory is. Will have to look up Irish YA I guess. Any titles in particular jump out at you?

>27 lyzard: That's awesome Liz. April sounds more realistic for me. I miss my reading life. Still have yet to pick up a physical book. I probably spend too much too on social media and chatting. Amazing what a time sink those are. Nothing our beloved authors could have ever imagined. Hopefully I'll be able to join and stick to it. I feel awful about dropping off Emma and in fact haven't picked it up since, but I'll get there sometime!

>28 LizzieD: Peggy, I don't know that you'd enjoy McInerneys books so much. They deal with drug culture quite a lot, with the main character a dealer from the age of 14 on. I suppose it appealed to that side of me that has brushed with the less desirable elements of society and lived to tell the tale. The audiobook was great because narrated by an Irish woman and the accent does add so much to the characterizations!

>29 luvamystery65: Hi Roberta! Thanks and hope you have a wonderful year ahead as well!

>30 BLBera: Thanks Beth! Wishing you the very same!

>31 souloftherose: Hi dear Heather! I may be out of touch but you are often on my mind! xo

Claire Henessy's Nothing tastes as good about anorexia. The girl is already dead but has to return to Earth as a ghost to influence her younger sister not to take the same path, along the way we see where she went wrong herself. It was excellent and I've just got her latest from the library, Like other girls.
Louise O'Neill's Asking for it and Only ever yours are both excellent, Asking for it especially.
While I didn't love The accident season, I did like it and loved Fowley-Doyle's author description - Moïra Fowley-Doyle is half-French, half-Irish and lives in Dublin with her husband, two daughters and two cats. Moïra's French half likes red wine and dark books in which everybody dies. Her Irish half likes tea and happy endings.
....and historical fiction - Kings of the Boyne by Nicola Pierce, I knew nothing about this famous battle.

...and I hope the migraine goes away.

>33 avatiakh: Thanks for that little treasure trove, Kerry. All going on my wishlist asap. :-)

At this point, I just hope the migraine intensity doesn't stick around for days on end.

>32 Smiler69: Warning duly noted with thanks, Ilana. I have to say that I mostly disliked The Goldfinch but was awed by the first two of Edward St. Albyn's *Patrick Melrose* novels. I think it depends on the quality of the writing.
I do hope that by now your head is better by now.

>36 LizzieD: Peggy, I pre-ordered The Goldfinch from Audible and started listening to it on the day of release, but somehow was in the mood for something altogether different, and as I seem to recall, chose a Dickens story instead, since that book was often said to be Dickensian in its approach. Figured I'd be better served with the real deal that way, but it's definitely on the tbr. As are the Melrose novels, which I get the feeling will get listened to first... the goldfinch somehow doesn't grab my fancy although I was a huge fan of her first book when it was released.

Head slightly better today. We got massive amounts of snow overnight, so I'm just grateful given the barometric pressure I'm able to stand upright at all!

I'm about a third of the way into The Three-Body Problem and not sure I want to keep going... sci-fi is always an iffy proposition for me and I'm often unable to go along for the ride. We'll see if it pays off to tough this one out. If it was good enough for Barack Obama it's certainly good enough for me... but doesn't mean it has to be among my personal favourites too, right?

4. ♫ The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu ★★★

I wanted very much to like this book. Mostly because I picked it up after seeing it recommended by no less than Barack Obama. It's set in China and begins with the Cultural Revolution. The first in a three-part series, it describes how scientists and astrophysicists made first contact with an alien force in hopes of being invaded, having lost all hope that humanity could help itself. My problem was mostly with all the hard science... long long long passages describing technical matters and matter itself. In the end I only stuck to it so I could list it among books I've read. Not the best of reasons, but I wasn't willing to give up all those hours I'd already put into it. Not the most glowing recommendation, but if science fiction is your thing, you're more likely to get something out of this one than I did.

>23 Smiler69: Yesterday I found a list of very similar NY resolutions in a drawer of my office desk, I believe I made them in Jan 2016. I can just re-use them for this year and hope to follow up on them better this time. :)

Wishing you belatedly a Very Happy 2018 and hope this will have been the last migraine for a very long time!

>39 Deern: Hi Nathalie! A belated Happy 2018 to you too! New Years resolutions are MEANT to be broken, aren't they??

>38 Smiler69: That ones on the list but I've seen mixed reviews....

>41 souloftherose: Heather, you read a whole lot more science fiction than I ever do, so maybe it'll be more intelligible to you. I just found it was rather 'hard' science fiction and I felt very much out of my element for much of the book. At least now I know I won't go on with the trilogy. :-)

>22 Smiler69: What a great cartoon!

>43 Whisper1: Hi Linda! Thanks for visiting Glad you enjoy that cartoon too! I'm staying the course so far. :-)

I was just composing a nice little post about my recent reads when it rudely blinked off my screen. Don't have the energy to start over, so I'll just say I really enjoyed the BBC adaptation of Rumpole with Benedict Cumberbatch and am hooked on the Rangers Apprentice series, having just finished the third book, The Icebound Land and strongly considering jumping right into the 4th book. We'll see what the inspiration of the moment yields. Speaking of inspiration... haven't drawn in almost a week. EEK!

Two most recent books completed:

8. ♫ The Battle for Skandia: Ranger's Apprentice, Book 4 by John Flanagan ★★★★⅓
9. ♫ The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff ★★★½

Really loving the Ranger's Apprentice series, 4 books into it and have secured the next 3-4 books in the series from Audible already, in case they make them inaccessible for some reason, as often happens. This latest episode had our ranger apprentice fighting with the Skandians against an invading force of warriors from the east called the Temujai here, which I imagine are a stand in for the various mongol invasions? I'm not sure what it is about these books, but there's plenty of action and the characters are well drawn and there is a lot of historical details, even though the books all take place in an imaginary setting... which somehow mirrors a lot of medieval history.

The Tao of Pooh was fun and sort of simplistic, which I guess is the whole point of Taoism.

Latest audiobook purchases from Audible:

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin (for a reread)
The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin
Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Other Wind by Ursula K. Le Guin
Erak's Ransom: Rangers Apprentice 7 by John Flanagan
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor (on sale till the 28th)
Days Without End by Sebastian Barry (on sale till the 28th)
The Whole Art of Detection by Lyndsay Faye (on sale till the 28th)

>47 Smiler69: I've just been searching the bookshelves for A Wizard of Earthsea I can find The Tombs of Atuan and The Farthest Shore but not the first one. Very annoying.

>46 Smiler69: I have read the Rangers Apprentice series between 2010 and 2016, Ilana, enjoy!

>48 SandDune: That is indeed very annoying! I read the first two books in 2014 & 2015, but I need a refresher before continuing on, so picking up AWoE soon. Right now really enjoying Red Rising which Joe had warmly recommended. The whole series is available on audio format via the library, so I will likely pick up the others this year so I don't lose the flow of the story.

>49 FAMeulstee: They are so much fun, aren't they?? Also helps that I love the narrator they chose for the audio version.

Hi, Ilana. I'm a fan of the Ranger's Apprentice series, too. They're fun ones.

>51 jnwelch: Joe, had I mentioned I've moved on to Golden Son? I just looked up your listing and is it possible you haven't read it yet? It saddens me that I have such an impossible time remembering names in real life and in my reading life, because it makes following stories with many characters impossibly difficult. I can't retain what the relationships between each character has been so that the impact of whatever takes place later on in the story is lost on me. Makes reading sagas difficult, all the more so when they have Greek names. Sad lol. All the same, I'm appreciating the narrative and the general direction of the story and the writing really is quite good, though I'm far from being knowledgeable about what makes for good sci-fi! :-)

14. ♫ The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux ★★★★★

In this 1975 bestseller, Theroux, an American author, recounts his four-month journey by train in 1973 from London through Europe, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, ending in the Soviet Union. He mentions taking detailed notes in his journal, but there are so many vivid details about all the sights and sounds and especially the people he sees and talks to along the way that he must have enjoyed indulging in some fiction writing practices based on a longstanding travel writing traditions, starting with Herodotus, and including countless others such as Dickens and Mark Twain, both of which Theroux mentions. Time seems not to have been an issue for him, though he was ostensibly booked for various lectures and conferences on literary subjects along the way, events he mentions mostly only in passing. However, train delays which were frequent and inevitable seem not to have phased him and only given him greater opportunities to observe his environment. He meets all kinds of vividly drawn characters and reconstruct their dialogue and manners of speaking, and describes local scenery that make you feel like you are staring out of the train carriage window along with him. There are vendors at the stations and plenty of beggars, and the sight of countless poor Indians shitting along the tracks which give a very human touch to the narrative. He explains the many different experiences each train offers, from the state of the equipment and carriages and the various food and comforts offered, or glaringly lacking—The Orient Express, on which he begins the journey being a glaring example of a once highly luxurious means of travel sadly gone to seed by the time Theroux travelled aboard it. He mentions not even bothering to get out of his compartment at stops in certain major cities because he felt uninspired to do so from his impressions of the place as seen from his berth. He talks about books he is reading along the way. Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens, is mentioned for a good leg of the trip and at the end of his story, he is depressed by Gissing's New Grub Street while watching bleak Soviet scenery, though many others books and authors mentioned along the way as he was evidently a voracious reader. Graham Greene is the subject of conversation among the travellers at one point, with some claiming to know the author personally.

I've googled for a list of the books mentioned but unfortunately haven't found it so far. This narrative is a trip-and-a-half, in great part because of Theroux obvious talent and delight in telling stories, but also because the first part of the route, followed what was then known as the hippie trail and drugs were easy to come by. Theroux, a married man and a father of young children at the time mentions partaking or drugs on offer along the way, including indulging in opium, which abounds in some of the areas he visits.

The Great Railway Bazaar earns 5 stars from me. I only give that rating to books I intend to reread as often as I can in future. I want to add a most heartfelt and insistent recommendation for the audiobook version here. Narrated by the great and sadly departed Frank Muller, it offers a listening experience that is a true delight. Muller has a wonderful reading style and creates nuanced accents and speech mannerisms in the dialogues with the various characters encountered on the journey that truly give add colour to the reading experience. On the other hand, Theroux took pictures of his travels and these appear in some of the print editions, so perhaps having both versions is a good idea for the ultimate Great Railway Bazaar experience. :-)

I just finished revisiting A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin... intend to follow up with the other books in the Earthsea series in coming months. I've read The Tombs of Atuan before but will reread it too before moving on to the other books I've yet to discover. Her passing away recently reminded me how much I enjoyed the first two books, as well as her Catwings books that Heather had introduced me to.

>53 Smiler69: Wow! I was just wondering what might be my next audio after having completed (this very afternoon!) the complete Holmes, read by Stephen Fry, an absolute delight. Now It seems I already got my answer. :D
Off to audible, but first wishing you a lovely Sunday!

>55 Deern: Hi Nathalie! Thanks for dropping by! I'm glad my review inspired you to pick up The Great Railway Bazaar. Hope you like it as much as I did... I was completely enchanted by it, to the point where I felt like picking up another book by Theroux asap, so started on The Mosquito Coast, one of his novels about a genius and obsessive inventor who takes his family into the jungles of Honduras to create a utopian society in response to the relentless materialism in the US. It was published in 1980 and it's amazing how relevant the social commentary still is, almost 40 years later. I also got the Stephen Fry Holmes when it came out... too good to resist... even though I have a couple of versions of the complete works, the first narrated by Simon Vance but I think I'll start over and give the Fry version a listen soon.

>52 Smiler69: I have read Golden Son, and the conclusion of the trilogy, Morning Star. I thought that trilogy was really well done. Sounds like I'd better make sure they're in my LT library! I'm glad you're continuing with it.

P.S. Golden Son was in there, but Morning Star wasn't, so I added it. Thanks for the nudge.

>53 Smiler69: The Great Railway Bazarr sounds like a great book. I'll add it to the tbr pile.

>56 Smiler69: I must read The Mosquito Coast this year. Theroux is always interesting.

Hope all is well Ilana and I do miss your company here.

Downloaded it last night and listened through the first two chapters -London/Paris and Orient Express. Totally loving it so far! The only thing I noticed: listening to it in bed and imagining being in one of those small OE berths gave me a very light motion sickness and I wondered if I'd be able to take night trains at all. I've been on longer train rides, but always sitting upright. Never thought about that before. Anyway, what a shame the OE didn't have a restaurant carriage anymore in the 70s!

>57 jnwelch: I was pretty sure you'd read the whole trilogy. Have you gotten to the latest release yet? I enjoyed the two first books but as I said keeping tracks of some most of the characters was difficult at best and limited my understanding of the dynamics at play between the characters. I'll probably pick up the third book soon all the same, though it's a long one! Eek! Maybe I could find a list of characters online to help me figure out what's what going forward.

>58 Whisper1: Hi dear Linda! I heartily recommend The Great Railway Bazaar to anyone who is fond of reading. The Folio Society has a gorgeous hardback edition including some photographs Theroux took on that trip that hadn't been published before. I'm very tempted to get it, but waiting for a sale. http://www.foliosociety.com/book/RBZ/great-railway-bazaar

>59 PaulCranswick: Hi Dear Paul! I think you'll be happy to know I have a steady boyfriend now! We had a Valentines date and everything! I know you of all people will be happy for me and have some idea of how significant it is in my life.

I absolutely raced through The Mosquito Coast which I just finished a few minutes ago. The character of the father is irascible and really difficult to bear, but I found this novel to be a pageturner and now looking forward to reading yet more by Theroux. He's going on my favourite authors list. He's rather prolific, so there is no lack of choice! What are your faves?

>60 Deern: Your comment made me smile, Nathalie. Interesting how every reader gets SUCH a different experience from any given book! I had a boyfriend in Toronto many years ago, and we alternated visiting each other. When my turn to go over there came up I usually took the night train on my way back to be fresh for work in the morning of my arrival and I really loved loved loved it! I found it soothing to be rocked to sleep, with the chug chug of the wheels and liked all the miniaturized comforts of the private cabins. Reading this book I couldn't help remembering fondly some of the train travel I've done in different countries over the years.

>53 Smiler69: You got me with that one, Ilana! I was just perusing "travel" related books and wondered about Theroux. So happening along to visit your thread was perfectly timed!

I can't believe I haven't been here yet this year. I seem to have done that with a handful of threads; I'm finding the challenge of "keeping up" to be more daunting this year than usual and I'm actually trying to adjust my expectations of myself. But I still want to wander by now and then (just not every day like I used to want to try to accomplish).

>22 Smiler69: Love that. Love Calvin & Hobbes, really.

I hope you, Charley, Mimi, and Ezra are all doing well! I'm currently in Tempe AZ for a conference. I'm hoping to get to do some walking around tomorrow after the meetings.

>62 EBT1002: Hi Ellen! Thanks so much for your visit! I hope you enjoy the Theroux book when you get to it. I raced through The Mosquito Coast and will be adding more to the wishlist as lucky for me the library offers quite a few audiobooks of his. Please don't worry about keeping up. Certainly not with me anyway! :-)

Currently listening to:



The Power by Naomi Alderman is my first foray into feminist readings this month to celebrate Women's History in March, and an exciting one at that. It won the Baileys Prize for Women’s Fiction in 2017 and has garnered lots of attention for all the right reasons. It's a speculative novel which describes a dystopian future where women literally wield electricity at their fingertips, thus shifting the balance of power dramatically and with devastating consequences. But the author's objective it to show how too much power inevitably corrupts those who wield it, as opposed to being a "revenge" novel, though plenty of very bad men indeed are dispatched or taught a lesson they won't forget along the way. This novel is being hailed as the "Handmaid's Tale" of our times, and gets thumbs up from no less than President Obama and Margaret Atwood. It's gripping good stuff and so far a thumping good read as our friend Suzanne would say! :-)

One of the New York Times's Ten Best Books of 2017
A Los Angeles Times Best Book of 2017
One of the Washington Post's Ten Best Books of 2017
An NPR Best Book of 2017
One of Entertainment Weekly's Ten Best Books of 2017
A Bustle Best Book of 2017
A Paste Magazine Best Novel of 2017
A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2017
Winner of the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction

One of President Obama's favorite reads of 2017

"The Power is our era's The Handmaid's Tale." --Ron Charles, Washington Post

"Novels based on premises like the one at the core of The Power can quickly become little more than thought experiments, but Alderman dodges this trap deftly -- her writing is beautiful, and her intelligence seems almost limitless. She also has a pitch-dark sense of humor that she wields perfectly." --Michael Schaub, NPR

>64 Smiler69: That one's firmly on the list - I even checked it out of the library once but didn't manage to read it before it was due back (reserved by someone else).

>65 souloftherose: Hi Heather! I finished the book yesterday... basically sped through it and made up tasks to listen through. I like the overall message of the book, but more importantly, it's really a great read. Lots of action with plenty to think about. Gotta love that! :-)

I've move on to Gone With the Wind, which is one of the first audiobooks I purchased on sale when I joined Audible in 2011. I'm enjoying the storytelling so far, but though I knew of course there were lots of mentions of slavery in this novel, I'm constantly shocked at how casually it's referred to. I can't help but wonder how all this would have been conveyed had the book been written in our current era and not in 1936.

> Can this possibly be my first visit to your thread this year? I guess keeping up with you on FB makes me be lax on LT. Star is firmly attached now! Hope all is well with you these days, Iliana.

I am on the library waiting list for The Power. It has been getting positive reviews here so I am looking forward to it even though feminist lit is not my usual fare. I am trying to expand my reading horizons.

>68 Donna828: Hi Donna! Thanks so much for dropping by. I have yet to gather the courage to try to catch up with everyone so no worries about this being your first visit! :-)

While The Power does fall firmly in the feminist literature cannon, I think the ultimate message this novel conveys is a humanitarian one. I found the pacing and characters in this story really gripping too. Hopefully it'll work for you!

24. ♫ The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn ★★★★⅓

I love a great thriller once in a while, and this one really worked for me. For one thing, it was relatable. Perhaps because the main protagonist in this story, Anna Fox, is a former psychologist and a shut-in dealing with a serious case of PTSD, which vaguely parallels what my situation has been for the past decade, as an ex professional who doesn't get out of the house much. Anna spends her time spying on her neighbours with her Nikon camera and one days sees a murder being committed. But Anna has a serious drinking and pill problem and nobody will take her word for what she has seen. Anna is also an old black and white movie buff and knows every Hitchcock film by heart, and the story itself is also an homage to Hitchcock which I found very satisfying. A great debut which makes me eager to see what A. J. Finn comes up with next. Curious to see what the movie will be like too.

Hi, Ilana!

I wanted to let you know that the proposed group read of Frances Burney's Camilla looks like going ahead next month. We would love to have you there, but don't feel obliged. :)

>71 lyzard: Thanks Liz! I'll make a soft commitment to join you. Might be just the thing I need to get me reading physical books again. It's been nothing but audio for many long months now and my shelves are screaming at me incessantly.

25. ♫ The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen ★

That's right, ONE star. I hated this book, but it's one of those cases where I needed low calorie intellectual junk food and started having heartburn after just a few bites. What kept me going was my general sense of apathy and wanting to get to the end of the story to find out what the big twist was all about. If you’re in the mood for an overhyped crappy psychological thriller that seems completely implausible and is underwhelming besides, then look no further. Mediocre at best.

It’s taking me forever to get through this one because a) it’s very, very, very very... oh so VERY long! b) constant casual racism makes me wanna puke however “historically accurate” it may be, and c) Scarlet O’Hara is a first class insufferable bitch and I can only tolerate her in small doses, if at all. Everyone else seems to agree this is a great novel though. I honestly wonder why. Though I can see how women who've felt muzzled and unable to just be themselves and say what's on their mind for most of their lives might find her inspiring for having serious brass balls the likes of which few men can compare with. lol :-D

>74 Smiler69: It didn't take me forever to read it, Ilana, but it has a firm place on my list of worst reads ever!

>75 FAMeulstee: Thanks for your feedback Anita! I'll think of it as quite an achievement when I'm done with it. :-)

>74 Smiler69: & >75 FAMeulstee:

I have that one on the TBR stacks and I guess it is likely to stay there a while as it goes with such, erm, positive feedback.

Great to see you posting, Ilana, and I am sorry that I am not as active around the threads as is my wont normally.

>77 PaulCranswick: As much as I hate to say it GWtW is one of those melodramas that keeps you reading, otherwise I wouldn't have put myself through that torture. Just finished it and very glad for it. I never thought in my life I'd read a book that justifies the existence and activities of the KKK, but there you have it.

I'm posting but so far not participating in the group. Thanks so much for the visit Paul! xoxo

>74 Smiler69: I agree completely about your comments on the racism in Gone with the Wind and Scarlett O'Hara but I remember finding it quite hard to put down despite being such a chunkster. I couldn't really tell you why though, just that it kept me turning the pages. I don't know if I'd describe it as a great novel in terms of the writing but I guess it is in terms of how many people have heard of it and read it. I think what I'm trying very clumsily to say is maybe it's great because of the impact it has had on people than because it's great in itself - I don't really know. The film probably helped....

But well done on finishing!

>79 souloftherose: Heather, the honest truth is I had a hard time putting down GwtW too once I was able to voice my horror about how racist it is. I was horrified that I was pulled into the story which I wanted to heartily dislike, but I suppose Mitchell had a gift as a storyteller because as you say, it's quite a pageturner. I found the relationship between Scarlett and Rhett quite fascinating and in the end struggled with myself over what rating I'd give the book... I feel guilty for having enjoyed it at all. I don't remember ever feeling this conflicted over a book before. I couldn't help wondering throughout what kind of book it might have been had Margaret Mitchell not been such a racist herself; she could have tackled the same themes and not made it a piece of propaganda for the Confederate cause, but I suppose that was part of the mandate she gave herself. I do feel like I tackled and conquered a monument!

I actually loved it, both book and movie, still do in a nostalgic way, knowing I'd probably like it way less if I read it for the first time now in 2018. I was about 18 when I read it and looked at it as entertaining fiction from a far-away world (both historically and geographically) and never wanted to be inspired by story or characters. I didn't like Scarlett or Rhett and would have hated having to deal with them in RL, but thought they were great characters in such a dramatic overblown story. Nothing subtle about it.

When it comes to the racism, for me this was a bit like reading Tom Sawyer. That was then and this is now. I didn't really think back then (late 80s I'd say) that it was written at a time when things should have been better. But were they really in the people's heads? (I don't know, the 1930s with fascism in Europe weren't the 1970s)
Basically I didn't think about the historical context at all. But I know what you mean. Our trauma is not slavery, but the Holocaust, and when I read authors like Proust or Powell and many others, I often stumbled over casual anti-Semitist remarks that are hard to tolerate nowadays, but then "perfectly normal". Really?!? They usually stay with me for a while and sometimes take the joy out of the story.

>81 Deern: "Sometimes take the joy of the story", that can definitely describe how I felt about GwtW... the romance between those two monsters of selfishness, Rhett and Scarlet was one of the most interesting parts of the book for me, but I listened on with growing guilt about the fact I was enjoying any part of this book at all. I don't believe in censorship nor of rewriting old books to fit in with our current moral codes, but certainly it makes it impossible for me to read any works that disparage a minority group with the enjoyment the author probably had in mind. Ah well. All part of the readers life I guess. Thanks for stopping by Nathalie.

I'm struggling quite a lot lately, with more intense migraine pain as a daily feature which inevitably brings on depression... so I spend the better part of my days sleeping and NOT making art for some reason. I do want to start my daily practice again, but am between projects right now and having trouble finding motivation. My reading life isn't suffering on the other hand; books I've read since Gone With the Wind:

27. ♫ Being There by Jerzy Kosinski (reread) ★★★★★
28. ♫ Sweet Caress: The Many Lives of Amory Clay by William Boyd ★★★★½
29. ♫ The Wide Window: A Series of Unfortunate Events #3 by Lemony Snicket ★★★★⅓
30. ♫ The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson ★★★½
31. ♫ Essays in Love by Alain De Botton ★★★★½
32. ♫ The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas ★★★★
33. ♫ Blood and Circuses: A Phryne Fisher Mystery #6 by Kerry Greenwood ★★★⅓
34. ♫ The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter (reread) ★★★½

Audible have just released a whole collection of Angela Carter books narrated by some of the best voices in the industry. Very good chance I'll acquire at least one or two more titles. Currently finishing up The Scent of Secrets by Jane Thynne, third book in the Clara Vine series which was originally highly recommended by Suzanne. I'm hooked on this series and only just found out that Jane Thynne is married to Phillip Kerr, and I imagine lots of their conversations must be centred on WWII... either that or they avoid discussing it altogether! Was pretty good at not purchasing more books than I'd read until about a week ago when Audible had another sale, and I've also gone and purchased a several titles that had been on the wishlist for a while. Need to update that list, but if you're curious about latest purchases, post #3 is for you (https://www.librarything.com/topic/279673#6303707)!

Hi, Ilana. I'm very sorry to hear that the migraines are back. I was dropping in to let you know that the thread is up for the group read of Camilla - here - but if you don't feel up for it, please don't feel obliged.

>83 Smiler69: Sorry to hear about the migraines Ilana.

>85 souloftherose: Thanks Heather... nothing new there. It'll be 5 years in November since the permanent migraine started... I hate complaining so much, so I try to keep it to a minimum. I just noticed we're halfway through the month and I haven't joined in for Camilla. I'll check out the thread... perhaps it's not too late?

Another members Audible sale means a bunch more purchases even though I'd been doing pretty well purchasing no more than I've read until now. Ah well. Some planned rereads in there with the Pat Barker books beautifully narrated by the actor Peter Firth:

41. ♫ Regeneration by Pat Barker
42. ♫ The Eye in the Door: The Regeneration Trilogy, Book 2 by Pat Barker
44. ♫ A Sicilian Romance by Ann Ward Radcliffe
45. ♫ Orphan Train: A Novel by Christina Baker Kline
46. ♫ The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes
47. ♫ The Course of Love: A Novel by Alain de Botton
48. ♫ War and Turpentine Stefan Hertmans, David Mckay
49. ♫ Ruler of the Night by David Morrell
50. ♫ Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
51. ♫ The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
52. ♫ Circe by Madeline Miller

Just finished Peter Carey's A Long Way from Home which I found to be a good read, but also hard in parts since it deals with the mistreatment of aborigines in Australia. An important read and after a slow start pretty hard to put down. Followed that up by the very quick The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida, a book written by a severely autistic Japanese teenager who is normally unable to communicate verbally. He answers common questions people have about autism. Translated by David Mitchell who has an autistic child and found this book helped him relate to this child and be more patient with him. Now finishing up The Miserable Mill... I've been watching the Lemony Snicket series on Netflix and now motivated to read each book before watching the televised version.

Here's the doodle I've been working on lately. Almost finished though I'll probably spend many more hours adding details and tweaking. I feel it somehow illustrates my nervous system... or something like it! lol. Starting on a portrait commission any day now... won't be able to share it publicly as it's meant to be a surprise gift for someone, but I'll share when I get permission!

I love this, Ilana! Good to see your work again

>89 jessibud2: Thanks Shelley!
I haven't been showing much work because I haven't been DOING much work. But come to think of it there's a couple of colourful doodles I did and perhaps didn't post here. I'll do so soon if only to add a slash of colour to my page. :-)

>87 Smiler69: Nice haul. Ilana!
Of those I have read Regeneration and War and Turpentine, both were exellent reads.

>88 Smiler69: Beautiful! What >89 jessibud2: said :-)

>91 FAMeulstee: Anita: I read the Regenerations trilogy a few years ago and couldn't resist the temptation of getting the audiobooks narrated by Peter Firth for a second reading. War and Turpentine is new to me but I've read very good things about it.

>92 souloftherose: Thanks Heather! I'm working on another gothic image right now. Here's what it's looking like at the moment:

Oh, that's cool.

Wishing you a wonderful Sunday, dear Ilana.

>94 drneutron: Thanks Jim!

>95 PaulCranswick: Thanks dear Paul, it's been a bit of a struggle actually, but I'm off to draw for a bit now while listening to something appropriate to my rather gothic mood and art piece. xo

>96 Smiler69: I have trouble envisioning you as a Goth, Ilana, dear.

>97 PaulCranswick: :-)

Revisited 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff today. There's a recent audio release featuring a full cast of narrators which really does the book justice. Highly recommended. Somewhat helped fight the persistent Spring blues that assail me each year. Five stars as previously.

In the spirit of trying to do thing to cheer myself up, I also decided to drop Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay. She made several comments that seriously made me angry. Apart from the fact the book is now badly outdated, since she reviews "current" books and television shows that are no longer part of the zeitgeist. I can appreciate that Gay has a very serious weight problem, but I found her comment about how one book wasn't convincing enough because it dealt with weight loss and the protagonist "only had 30 pounds to lose" as opposed to, say, 100 lbs; this somehow makes her struggle seem ridiculous to Roxane. As someone who has had serious body issues for the better part of my life, those "puny" 30 lbs have been a heavy burden nonetheless and I say fuck you Roxanne Gay for dismissing that as a real issue. Also, she criticizes the fact that Caitlin Moran, in her books How To Be a Woman fails to give the perspective of black women. But here's the thing: she had no business talking about black womens perspectives because "You write what you know", besides which, HAD SHE DARED write a single word on behalf of black women she would have been crucified for doing so. So it's a no-win, isn't it? That's the end of my relationship with Roxane Gay, and good riddance. She may have relevant things to say, she may be an important voice today and she may have suffered terribly before finding her voice and I'm sorry about that, but she's just as narrow-minded as the next person and I don't read books to get upset and insulted. So that's that. And fuck you Roxane for making me so upset. Happy mother's day y'all.

I'm celebrating my spiritual mothers today, because the biological one never could really be bothered to stay in touch with me or try having any empathy or understanding for my situation. So fuck her too. I write that here where she isn't likely to see it because I'm a coward and because she's due for major heart surgery this week and I wouldn't want to be responsible for a heart attack.

Yes, I'm upset today. Does it show much??

******************************WARNING: Highly angry post ahead. An "unsent letter" I had to write to my mother today for the sake of my own sanity and indeed, my very survival. I've been thinking of doing away with myself with far too much persistence lately and that just won't do. Must root out the cause. ******************************

About >99 Smiler69: I recognize that my reaction to Roxane Gays book is a strong and rather violent one. Thinking on it on this Mothers Day, I now see what bothered me most about her writing, underlying every topic she wrote about: her judgment on the world, as seen through the filter of victimhood and anger and extreme obesity as a shield against that same world that let her so down so badly and treated her youth and her body so unjustly. I recognize my mother to a T in this description. My mother rammed her victimhood down my throat from earliest childhood. She envied my lithe body with hatred in her eyes. She judged me as weak and immoral and lacking in conviction and sincerity. She judged me to be too frothy, lacking in earnestness. She was my ethical judge & jury & hangman. I LOATHE women like her, because their every interaction with the world is coloured through those hate-tinted glasses. I especially loathe them because I understand their pain all too well, but I refuse to accept that it's ok for them to force their anger on every bystander and to punish those closest to them out of sheer laziness of spirit and, yes, long-nurtured cruelty. My mother tortured my mind with her extreme lack of empathy and of understanding about what the role of a mother actually IS. She figured as long as she had me fed, clothed, and with a roof over my head, she was doing her job to the best of her abilities because keeping her own mind and body together was too big a challenge for her as it was. She thought it was ok to make a small child, her OWN child, the closest confidant to her early traumas. To make that child believe her grandparents were Poe-spouting monsters. Even is it WAS true, WHY TELL HER THAT?!? Why send that child, now judged to be a grown woman and "able to deal with anything" a story about a father having sexual relations with his small daughter?? WHY?!?! She is a very sick woman. She thinks she has the right to judge me, my choices in life, what kind of person I turned out to be: weak. To HER. I say fuck you mom. Not to your face, because I know you don't visit this page and you're about to have major surgery and I don't want to upset you unduly before such a delicate procedure, but I've had enough of you squatting my mind and silently oppressing me, torturing me with your sick views on the world and you goddamned JUDGMENT that goddamned SILENT judgment. The most insidious of all. The most undetectable form of abuse. How clever of you. But any therapist will tell you that neglect is one of the most damaging forms of abuse. Your love is conditional and that won't fly. So I say: Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. Just like that 14 year-old did, the one who had to scream on the roofs that she needed fucking HELP and to get away from YOU! THAT's my Mother's Day 2018 message to you. Last year, I chose to cut you out of my life. Maybe that was the best decision after all? You tell me. Ha.

p.s. don't expect me to sit by your bedside while you convalesce. Not like you've had much energy to spare ME for the last decade, is it? And the idea of flying over the pond to face YOU is scarier than any Edgar Alan Poe story I've read so far. Sorry. Truth hurts doesn't it? Yes it does. I don't wish to hear your truths anymore. Keep them for a shrink. Or one of your unpublishable books. And... fuck you very much.

Happy Mother's Day Y'all! :-)

Feeling much better now. phew. it's been a rough, VERY rough ride lately and all I can say is... I'm a survivor. Beyond a doubt. I've survived this time yet again the dark tug of that black hole that has my name on it. Hopefully it'll keep getting easier to do now I've got THAT out of the way.

Dear Ilana, you are that, and I apologize for not being here these past couple of months.
You make me more grateful for my mother than I can say and more determined to be the daughter that she deserves now that she needs mothering again.
I came by to ask whether you have had access to the new migraine medicine that the US has just approved. It's apparently extremely expensive, but I'm hoping that insurance will cover the cost for you and Suzanne and that it will be a life-changer for you both.
I know that things are better for you now from fb. Long may they continue!

>103 LizzieD: Oh Peggy! No apologies AT ALL necessary considering how one-sides my interactions on LT have been so far this year. I'm so glad your mother inspires you to be a better daughter. I wish mine did, but nope. So I try to be a better friend, girlfriend, citizen, etc instead. Not a bad tradeoff, especially considering the kinds of caring friends I've won over in this lifetime so far. I'm so glad we can stay in touch beyond any one specific platform, though I'll have to plunge in and try to catch up with your doings here sooner or later! Another friend here in Canada sent me a link to an article to that new medicine, called Amgen, I think. The cost does seem prohibitive, and I'm currently waiting for a new neurologist to take on my case but I suppose I'd be considered a valid candidate for new drugs considering we've tried everything else. Thanks for bringing it up. I hope they do something about the cost (like competition, maybe?) because people who don't benefit from insurance won't be able to afford it otherwise.

My wonderful partner Ren (for Renaldo), my foxy Renardo is turning out every day to be a better and better partner for me. I don't want to get ahead of myself and start making predictions, but let's just say if I had to pick a lifetime partner right now I wouldn't hesitate to choose him based on how wonderfully we've gotten along these past 5 months and how DEPENDABLE he's turning out to be. I'm delighted and blown away that such a love exists for me. Best of all, he's been there for me through some of the hardest bits in my life and not been scared away in the least... so you know he's true to the core. Thank goodness for good and valiant hearts!

Big hugs to you my dearest No 2. xoxo

Have I mentioned I'm reading 50 Shades of Grey? I'm listening to it at 2x speed and still just at the beginning because no way do I want to spend 20 hours with this book. I just figure it's an exercise in keeping up with what the current zeitgeist is all about... I never thought I would give this trilogy the time of day, but never say never! :-)

I should also probably mention that I'm about a third of the way through Happiness by Aminatta Forna and what a delight it's turning out to be with it's continuing story about urban foxes and their behaviour, aside from what the humans are up to!

#75: ♫ Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion ★★★★

Guess I'll aim for 150 this year. :-)

Hooray, for #75, Ilana! Congrats! I think this was a perfect choice too. My first Didion. I am just 2 away from hitting 75 myself...

If I hit 75 this year, it will be a miracle.
I'm not about to try Grey. Too old. Don't care. Let the zeitgeist pass me by. (Please, zeitgeist, pass me by!) I am, however, eager to hear what you think of Happiness. I have pulled The Hired Man but haven't really started it.
Five months of loving support is a GOOD THING. Cheers for Ren! Also for you, dear Ilana!

Congrats on 75!

>106 Smiler69: Congratulations on reaching 75, Ilana!

>107 msf59: Thanks Mark! This was my second Didion book... my first was The White Album, but I think I preferred the second one. Mind you, I she wrote a piece in the White Album which talks about her migraines which I found really interesting for obvious reasons. She's a great writer and reading her has been like revisiting the 60s so far.

>108 LizzieD: We all know it's not about the numbers, right? The only reason I manage to read so many books is because I listen to most of them, otherwise I'd have trouble reaching 50 or much less these days because my visual book reading is suffering. It's six months now since Ren and I have started being together and he's proving to be a rock and so dependable and even keeled. I think we complement each other really well. It's definitely a case of opposites attract, though we of course have a few important things in common, like art. I'll have to make an effort to write a few thoughts about Happiness. In any case, I think it's a book you'd enjoy.

>109 drneutron: Thanks Jim!

>110 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita! :-)

>98 Smiler69: Just stunning!

>102 Smiler69: You are most definitely a survivor and reading your messages above I can certainly understand why the Roxane Gay book left you feeling so angry (haven't read it - doesn't sound like I'm missing much). I hope writing that letter to your mother was therapeutic and I'm sorry you've had so much shit to deal with from her. I'm glad to read that you have some good things happening in your life right now (like Ren and audiobooks).

Congrats on reading 75 books this year!

>112 souloftherose: Hi Heather! Thanks so much for reading me and your helpful comments. I made a unilateral decision last week to cut that woman out of my life for good. My best friend had to sit me down and make me see she would never change, no matter how many heartfelt letters I wrote her, she would never want to face up to her terrible lapses of judgment with me, let alone apologize for them. Letting someone go while they are still alive is an interesting process. I felt relief the day I made the decision, and I still do now, but going through stages of grieving all the same. I'm really grateful to have Ren in my life, who is such a stabilizing force and so dependable and caring. And my many online friends who've offered me constant support in the last decade or more, as I was struggling to keep it all together and recover to the best of my abilities. That has been more helpful than I can ever express.

Lots of books on the go currently, as listed in post #1, which I keep faithfully updated. One of the few things I'm disciplined about! lol. In a way I'm always quite happy when I decide an author isn't for me, then I can concentrate on all the others who ARE.

Thanks so much for dropping by! xox

85. ♫ Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood ★★★★★

Brilliant! Works whether you've experienced the original play The Tempest or not before. I have and got a real kick out of this very contemporary adaptation set in a Canadian correctional facility. Hail Margaret Atwood! :-)

>114 Smiler69: - that was good, I think it is the best of that Shakespeare retellings in that series I've read so far.

I just looked at your list of completed books and you have read some good ones. I also noticed a Lovric, The True and Splendid History of the Harristown Sisters, that I didn't know about. At four and a half stars I think I will be putting that on my wishlist.

Hope life is being kind to you.

>115 calm: Hi calm, thanks for dropping by! I'm a bit discouraged that everyone seems to agree this is the best book in the Hogarth series, because it's the first I've read so it isn't all that motivating for the others! lol
I really enjoyed the Harristown Sisters. It's very much preoccupied with hair, even more so than skin in the Book of Skin, but all the same, it's a really good yarn and it definitely made me want to read more of her work, so there's that.

Life is... interesting. Lots of good mixed in with some of the heartbreak and mental health issues. Severed connections with my mother, and for good this time, just over a month ago now, and it's been a bit of a rollercoaster managing the fallout on my end, but I know it's for the better and in the meantime I've got a really patient and dependable partner who supports me through thick and thin. And there's my books and art of course! Here's my latest piece:

When I posted I thought I had read some more of the Hogarth series but I must have got confused with something else as, according to LT, the only one I have read is Hag-Seed. I'm trying to think which publisher series it could be probably a myths/legends one whose name escapes me at the moment.

I really liked The Book of Human Skin, I'll have to see if the library has the Harriston book.

Family relationships are tricky and it can be hard to do what is best for yourself. I'm pleased to hear that you have a supportive partner

That is beautiful Ilana

>114 Smiler69: Oh good, Ilana. I loved Hag-seed, too. As you say, it works whether you've experienced The Tempest or not.

>116 Smiler69: Wow!

108. The Best of Roald Dahl by Roald Dahl by Roald Dahl ★★★★★

If you think Roald Dahl is just for children, think again! These short stories were culled from collections of short stories Dahl wrote throughout his career and show incredible range and originality. Each shows a devious and original mind at work and offers a twist... sometimes a double twist in the end which makes you want to read the story over again knowing what you know. A great way to (re)discover an author you thought you already knew via Charley and the Chocolate Factory. I know I'll be getting the Complete Roald Dahl (in two volumes) next as I can't wait to discover all the other gems from this master storyteller who knew how to pull you in and keep you keenly interested from the first words to the last.

Unfinished: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

I don't usually rate or review a book I haven't finished, and I only got through roughly 40% of this one, but I'm definitely DONE with it, and the process up till now was such a tortuous and deeply unpleasant one that I think the best way to get it out of my system is to bitch about it a little (or a lot). It's a good thing I've read and enjoyed several things by Ray Bradbury before, because had this been my only experience of him I'd have sworn him off forever and ever based on this single experience, because yes, it was THAT dreadful.

To be clear, in the month of October, I like to read some horror fiction, so the spookiness factor had nothing to do with my unpleasant impression of this book. What I was spooked with was how convoluted every single SENTENCE was. How not a single paragraph was straightforward. Like advancing through a deep fog of nightmare. If that was what Bradbury set out to do, to create this incredibly gross impression, as opposed to just telling a story, then he succeeded. So much so that I lost all interest in finding out what the story was all about because who gives a fuck at this point? The experience was akin to biting down on a fork repeatedly, or constant screechings on a chalkboard (remember those?), or flyaway hairs persistently getting on your face, or any number of deeply annoying things you just want to END because they will infuriate you to no end. Everything had to be a simile of a simile of a simile like that labyrinth of mirrors in the carnival he mentions again and again. And for what Mr. Bradbury? What was the fucking point? And why do so many of my friends LOVE this book??? Whatever the reason, I have only so much patience, and you've taken up too much of it with this insufferable dredge. I was put off right from the beginning with the style he employed and I thought I'd try to stick with it because "this is Ray Bradbury after all", but really I should have stuck with my first instinct and dropped it right away because my latest effort at trying to get into the spirit of the thing has put me in a terrible mood indeed and I am livid, because one thing I've come expect from my reading life more than ever is a safe escape from the insufferably annoying nightmare which is living in 2018. /rant over.

Ilana, I have to recommend my current history, The Discovery of Middle Earth, which I am reading because Lucy read and enjoyed it a couple of years ago.
I think you'll enjoy the whole thing --- Robb's thesis is that the pre-Roman Celts were already in possession of Pythagorean geometry and science and had mapped their territory using the meridians. You should look at it, though, because when I got to the part about the Druids, I gasped to see the geometrical analysis of their design. They apparently used points on interlocking circles to make patterns that look for all the world like your octopi in purple! (He cites Marshall Taintich's Astronomical Symbols on Ancient and Medieval Coins, Jefferson: McFarland, 2008.) I suspect that Robb is something of a kook - his previous works were biographies of Balzac, Hugo, and Rimbaud, but the details of his history are fascinating. I can't say that I'm understanding a lot about the mapping, but it doesn't matter at this point. If you can get a copy, have a look! Or maybe you're already using some similar plan???
I'm sorry that the Bradbury didn't work for you. I've never tried it; I certainly won't try it now!
On the other hand, I do love Dahl's short stories - some of the few that I love. I've read and reread only the ones in Kiss Kiss with much glee and shivers down the back.

Thanks so much for the recommendation Peggy! I went and reserved The Discovery of Middle Earth from the library immediately! I was not at all familiar with any such druidical designs and am most eager to look into them! I haven't been drawing in a really long time, since my attempt, in fact, at taking on a commission which completely stopped me in my tracks. I had a talk with my would-be client and she understands that now is not a good time for me to make commitments of that kind and I would be really happy to get back into my circle drawings... they seemed to be really healing for me somehow, so thanks for the nudge!

About Something Wicked This Way Comes, it's entirely possible that it doesn't lend itself well to the audio format so well and would be best appreciated in eye reading, so I'll eventually give it a chance again in that format. In the meantime goodness knows I'm not lacking for reading material. I'm on a Shirley Jackson festival of one person this month, which will probably continue into November as I've reread both We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Haunting of Hill House for my Horror in October reading theme and have found the library stocks several of her titles online as well as her biography so I'm pretty excited about having discovered that resource. The Lottery is a very short but absolute mater stroke of horror which I can well understand how it came to establish her as the queen of horror as it did.

I've obtained the complete Roald Dahl short stories in two volumes and hope the ones in Kiss Kiss are identified as belonging to that particular collection so I can think of you as I read them! :-)

Hi, Ilana! Hope you enjoy looking at the Robb at the very least!
I love Shirley Jackson and am always in the mood for a reread, but I won't do it now. I have way too much in the works, so I make little progress on anything.
I'm not sure that I want to be identified with *Kiss Kiss*. "Pig" is the one I most especially remember, and I really, really, really don't want to be identified with it!
Happy Reading! Love to you and Charley and the cats!

The Haunting of Hill House is one of my absolute favorite Halloween reads!

^Great pick (The Haunting of Hill House). Our daughter finally convinced me to read Turn of the Screw, and that's another good one. For funsies, I like Oscar Wilde's The Canterville Ghost.

>124 LizzieD: Hi Peggy, I've borrowed so many books from the library lately that I think looking at the Robb is likely all I'll be doing with it, but we'll see. As for Shirley Jackson I finished reading one of her early novels, The Bird's Nest, last week, about a young woman with Multiple Personality Disorder. Jackson decidedly pared things down in her later work and let us guess at the complexity of her characters' minds rather than see just how batshit crazy they were in every detail, but it's a really good one all the same. I'm not sure whether I'll review it or not, but I may give it a try.

I made a start at her first novel, The Road Through the Wall, which is sometimes described as a prequel to her famous The Lottery, but then when I saw how many characters there were to keep track of, I started getting discouraged... and THEN, the batteries on my iPad went dead and I switched to my iPhone where I saw there were more than 550 pages to the book and got totally discouraged and decided to put it off. Seemed unlikely it was so long since Jackson usually writes rather short novels and I just checked now and it is indeed around 210 pages so I panicked for nothing and I was basically halfway through when I dropped it, so I think I'll finish it after all. Hard to keep track of page count with ebooks!

I've also borrowed the new Gary Shteyngart novel, Lake Success which I'll have to read within the next two weeks before it gets deleted from my account and have a huge pile of other physical books from the library, many of which are graphic novels, including Blankets by Craig Thompson which actually clock in at nearly 600 pages yikes! Such problems I tell you! :-)

I looked up "Pig" to see whether I'd read it already, and I had, and I'm pretty sure I recall what it's about and really there's nothing too horrible there. lol! I most remember "Lamb to the Slaughter" about a woman who finds a very clever way to hide her murder weapon after her husband coldly announces he'll be leaving her. Rather memorable, that one, and I thought I should keep it in mind. Heh heh! (evil laughter). I'm right back in the hang of things as far as reading goes. Last year I really dropped the ball and read half of what I usually do and no visual reading at all. Now I barely have time to log in all my books in once I've finished them, which is how I like it. Hugs to you my dear P.A. xox

>125 drneutron: Hi Jim! I have to say that it's a pretty close race between The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle for me, and I seem to have a soft spot for the latter. There are many parallels between the two works and I've decided I don't have to pick between the two. Renaldo and I are watching the Netflix series of THoHH, and after the first episode I was soooo PO'd that they completely changed the story that I swore I wouldn't watch the rest, but we let a few days pass and I decided I wouldn't think of it as being related to the book and take it as a different experience altogether and it's working for us now, 4 episodes into it. Have you/will you watch it?

>126 jnwelch: Hi Joe! I love The Turn of the Screw! I got the Audible adaptation with none other than Emma Thompson and Richard Armitage doing the recording and you're reminding me now I haven't listened to that version yet, and I'd best get to it as I'm sure it's quite wonderful and I've been cramming in as many gothic horror stories as possible this month and will continue into November in what I'm calling my "Horror in October/November" reading theme, which I guess I started last year or the year previous. I don't celebrate halloween, but I guess I celebrate the month of the dead instead. I also LOVE LOVE LOVE The Canterville Ghost which I finally only just discovered in September when I listened to Derek Jacobi narrating Lord Arthur Savile's Crime & Other Stories by Oscar Wilde. I think it was probably my favourite story of the bunch and made me laugh out loud several times. I'll be revisiting it often, I think! 👻

153. ♫ Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed ★★★★★

Because I've had to grapple with my fair share of nature/nurture shortcomings (i.e. bipolar & anxiety disorders, along with parents who didn't have a f*cking clue about adulting, for starters), I've had various forms of counselling & therapy & advice given to me from childhood onward by well meaning friends and professionals with various degrees of talent, proficiency and levels of empathy.

As I'm now approaching my 5th decade and have been more even-keeled than ever in the last decade or so because of many consistent efforts made by me and various health professionals as well as a regular meditation practice, I consider myself rather well versed as far as seeking mental health and well-being. I'd say Cheryl Strayed ranks right up there with the very best of them as far as giving advice to those seeking perspective in their life on love and life situations such as cheating partners; losing dear ones; overcoming student debt; dealing with grief; whether one should stay or leave a relationship, and countless other situations her readers have written to her in her anonymous online forum where she was only known to them as "Dear Sugar".

Her qualifications come mostly by way of having gone through more than her own fair share of hardships, and having processed those with loads of humanity and empathy, a very good brain, and also plenty of good judgment, acquired by way of having made plenty of bad decisions and correcting her own course along the way. This journey seems to have made her more qualified that at least 50% of diploma-holding social workers, shrinks and therapists I've personally encountered in my life (there were many, many, many as I was a very troubled kid & young adult), as far as not being a judgmental a-hole, being an excellent writer, and giving advice that is actually worth listening to.

Who do I recommend this book to? Basically, anyone who's ever asked themselves if they were doing things right in their life as far as being a decent lover, daughter or son, parent, grandparent, friend or human being. Or anyone who's ever asked themselves wtf, wtf, wtf, wtf??? over and over again at any point in their life and hasn't found satisfactory answers to what is pretty much as open-ended a question as you can get. She's actually got an answer to that question, though be warned it's pretty hardcore! Be prepared for a good dose of healing, sobering, and sometimes harsh truths, but always delivered with love.

A rare 5-star rating for me. Thanks for Mark for recommending this one.

154. ⓔ❉ How to Be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals by Sy Montgomery ★★★★½

As most people who are familiar with me already know, I’m an unabashed animal lover/nutcase with three furkids of my own—of the kind that remains relatively unmoved at the sight of adorable babies, but goes absolutely nutters over dogs, cats, elephants, cows, horses, pigs, frogs, spiders, bears, beetles, bees, marsupials, octopuses, whales, mice, and just about any non-human critter living on this planet (except for roaches and mosquitoes 😖). As such, I absolutely love Sy Montgomery’s books, who’s passion for animals is positively infectious. She has dedicated her life to researching them and travelled the world to encounter countless known and rare species to write about them.

This, her latest charmingly illustrated book, came about when an interviewer asked her what lessons animals taught Sy about herself, and her almost immediate answer came: “How to be a good creature”. Here she briefly talks about 13 different critters she has encountered in her lifetime who taught her important life lessons: from her first dog, Molly, a Scottish terrier adopted when she was 3 and which she strove to emulate in every way to her mother’s great despair; a threesome of emu siblings which she undertook to study to satisfy her own burning curiosity as to their habits in the Australian outback; Christopher Hogwood, a pig she adopted as a runt so sick and small he had few chances of survival and who grew to become a 750 lbs “Buddha master” and the subject of her bestselling book “The Good Good Pig” when he passed after a very contented life, aged 14; Clarabelle, an Avicularia, or large species of tarantula with distinguishable pink footpads and a friendly personality encountered on a trip in French Guiana; Tess, Sally and Thurber, border collies who became irreplaceable members of the family; an octopus named Octavia who was also the fascinating subject of an excellent standalone book, called “The Soul of an Octopus”, to name a few.

If you’ve never read a book by this author, this is a great way to get acquainted with her work. If you’ve already read and enjoyed some of Montgomery’s books, “How To Be a Good Creature” will get you better acquainted with Sy Montgomery and introduce you to several creatures you likely haven’t met before, or you’ll surely find some new anecdotes to smile at or sympathize with. Another part of the book I really liked was the For Further Reading section, where Montgomery lists ten books that inspired her to start studying and writing about the natural world. Highly recommend, naturally. 🙂

>129 Smiler69: - Hi Ilana! This sounds like my kind of book! I have read a couple by her already so will actively seek this one out.

Hope you are well.

>128 Smiler69: Oh good, Ilana! Like Mark, I think Tiny Beautiful Things is terrific. I'd love to see more of this from her.

Hooray for Tiny Beautiful Things! Thumb! I am glad to see the love continue. It is a very special book.

Good review of How to Be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals. Thumb! Sounds great.

>127 Smiler69: I've seen the first - watching at work on my lunch break, since mrsdrneutron won't watch THoHH. I liked the first episode, but like you, I'm treating it as an independent work. Though I really enjoyed picking out names and other little details that reference the book.

You went even past 150, Ilana, congratulations on reaching 2 x 75!

>130 jessibud2: Hi Shelley! I borrowed How to be a Good Creature in ebook format from the library, though I wish I'd gotten a physical copy instead. There were illustrations in the ebook, but the print book must be nicer to hold and look at. One thing I really love about her books is that Sy Montgomery herself comes through as such a loving and compassionate person, so you may like this little anecdote: at the end of the book Sy gives some contact info, including her Instagram account. I found her there and wrote her a little comment telling her how much I love love loved this latest book and how much joy it gave me. She responded a few days later that my note made her day. Isn't that just lovely? 🙂

>131 jnwelch: I was really happy to have finally made room for Tiny Beautiful Things, Joe, and it was special to hear it narrated by the author, too. Cheryl Strayed is a real treasure trove of good common sense and empathy. I should look for her advice column online to see what other pearls of hard-earned wisdom I might have missed since they obviously only published a selection of her columns.

>132 msf59: Thanks for the thumbs, Mark! And yes, the love does indeed continue. I'm now a follower of Cheryl's on Goodreads and will look out for whatever else she comes out with. Have you read her other books? Sy Montgomery is another author I really really love. Her love and curiosity about animals is boundless and the way she writes about them is just delightful.

>133 drneutron: You're right Jim, one of the fun things of the Netflix show is keeping an eye and ear out for all the little references to the original The Haunting of Hill House novel they've kept, like names of characters and actual quotes and little or not so little details. One character is reading The Lottery, another has a cup of stars (or is that a spoiler? lol) and so on. The latest episode we watched (episode 5) was a complete invention but SO clever (and incredibly creepy) both me and my partner were really impressed. That episode is called "The Bent-Neck Lady" and is truly scary and loops back to the first episode and explains quite a lot of things that were impossible to understand with that first show. Obviously, much is explained as you progress with the show.

>134 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita! Ever since I picked up audiobooks (thanks to Mark) back in 2011, I've pretty much tripled my reading capacity and often hit that number, i.e. more or less 150 books each year. Last year was an exception when I really had no liking for anything, including books unfortunately, but I'm back in the saddle this year! :-)

>135 Smiler69: - Wow, Ilana, that is so lovely. I have read a couple of books by her and she certainly seems like the real deal. Her background is so immersed in what she writes about, not the other way around. Some authors decide to write about something, then do the research. She has walked the walk and lived the experience, for real, before putting pen to paper. And I think that comes through so well. That she is a talented writer and communicator, is a bonus.

Ilana! I subscribe to a wonderful newsletter called Brain Pickings, which I receive in email twice a week. Look what topped today's edition:

https://mailchi.mp/brainpickings/sy-montgomery-simone-weil?e=97c8c4944f

Don't you love when this sort of serendipity happens? :-)

>136 jessibud2: >137 jessibud2: Oh how neat! I've been a Brain Pickings subscriber for a few years now, but am a bit ashamed to say that I often don't read it, as excellent as it is, because I'm just overwhelmed with reading material, but I'll certainly read today's edition. Really cool! Thanks for brining my attention to it Shelley! :-)

Great to see you back posting and happily in love.

Coincides with me falling off the edge a little but does give me a boost to see you around in one of my attempted returns to the fold. xx

>139 PaulCranswick: Hi dear Paul, I cannot say I'm a regular presence here, but I make an effort now and again to post something at least on my own thread and to keep my reading updated and have always taken my cataloging very seriously since as you know for yourself, once one owns a certain amount of books, it becomes essential to keep track of such things, otherwise mayhem ensues! LOL

Sorry you've slipped off the edge yourself. I've been spending time on Goodreads, ashamed to say. Not all these individual threads to keep track of, which, howevermuch I love my LT friends, I find to be THE most daunting thing about this group and this site... having to pore through countless entries to keep track of friends is so much work I more or less threw in the towel quite a while back as the only time I managed it was when I made it a full time occupation! Mind you I know there were lots more members back then, but nowadays I try to spend less time on the computer in general.

My partner for instance, is here three days a week and shows up like clockwork. Wonderful to have such a stable and stabilizing presence in my life. We seem to complement each other quite wonderfully. He's a stoic and I'm... well all over the place I guess. :-)

Thanks for dropping by! xoxo

161. ⓔ❉ Lake Success by Gary Shteyngart ★½

I finished it. I consider that an accomplishment in itself, considering how little I liked this book. Looking over the reviews here on GR, I see plenty of people enjoyed this book, or at least thought it was deserving of awards, or found it meaningful, or that it represented the times we are currently living in, or that it spoke to them, or that it was very readable, or relatable and so on. I can't say I agree with any of that. Instead, I'll say why I hated this book.

1. The only reason I read this book was because I read Shteyngart's previous book, Super Sad True Love Story which was gifted to me, and found it to be an odd bird full of surprises which stretched my boundaries and left me thinking I should read whatever Shteyngart came up with next. I disliked this novel from the first page. But I thought I should soldier on and see where the author was going with it. I don't usually force myself to finish books, Life's too short, too many great books, etc, but kept thinking maybe the author would delight and surprise me with the next chapter, the way he did with his previous book.

2. When the surprise came, I wanted to hurl. Really I did. Maybe there were a lot of surprising things to other readers in this story. Probably there were, come to think of it. But I've been called an Honorary New Yorker many times in my life, and everyone knows New Yorkers are used to all kinds of craziness, so not much surprises me. But the surprise was more in the details than in the actual thing. Now I'm stuck with that image for life. I'm thinking of suing Shteyngart for that.

3. From the publisher's description now, "Myopic, narcissistic, hilariously self-deluded and divorced from the real world as most of us know it...":
Myopic: Yes.
Nacissistic: Definitely.
Hilarious: What? Did I miss something? I must've been reading a different book. At no point did I smile or ever lift a corner of my mouth and DEFINITELY did NOT chuckle at ANY point. This was NOT a funny affair. Hilarious???? Ok maybe, see the following.
Divorced from the real world as most of us know it: that he is, and painfully so, and I guess many people would find that hilarious in itself? I just found it very painful and very sad... I just wanted it to end. In fact, I just wanted Barry to die. I kept thinking: just kill yourself Barry, because this book and everyone in it and I the reader will be much better off without you. Something I don't usually think about when it comes to book characters, however unlikeable they are. With a few rare exceptions. Barry obviously being one of them.

4. "Hedge fund manager Barry Cohen oversees $2.4 billion in assets...":
Reading about hedge funds when you aren't interested in the world of finance is about as interesting as you'd expect it to be. Only even less so.

5. "Deeply stressed by an SEC investigation and by his 3 year-old-son’s diagnosis of autism, he flees New York on a Greyhound bus...":
Barry is SO narcissistic, that he can't tolerate that his 3 year-old-son, who in fact has one of the most severe forms of autism and is physically unable to communicate verbally, won't speak a word to him (never mind that he can't) and won't look him in the eye or communicate to him that he loves him. So of course the solution is to run away. Barry is a true mensch, right? Deep sarcasm, in case you haven't picked up on it. You learn all this right at the start of the novel.

7. Barry is obsessed with watches. Very expensive watches that you could buy a house with, that only other people obsessed with very expensive watches can recognize. In fact, half a dozen of his favourite watches are his travel companions on the Greyhound bus. This is definitely not a spoiler because it's one of the first things we learn as the story begins. In fact, I've wondered if the watches weren't the actual protagonists of the story and everything else was just an excuse to talk about... watches. I'll have to did a little search and see if watches aren't in fact an obsession of Shteyngart's. If you're not interested in watches, they are as interesting to read about as... oh, say... hedge funds, for example.

8. "...he flees New York on a Greyhound bus in search of a simpler, more romantic life with his old college sweetheart...":
I guess we're supposed to give Barry a break because he's going through some kind of mid-life crisis? Just him and his watches, looking for his college sweetheart. What a story eh? That has all the makings of a bestseller for sure. It'll probably win a bunch of awards too. Just to spite me.

9. Barry Cohen is a Jewish man. So is Gary Shteyngart. I think it's outright stupid of the author to write a book about such a deeply unlikeable Jewish character set in Trumpian times when prejudice of all kinds and Antisemitism are stronger than ever here in the real world, but hey, maybe that's just me! Maybe because I've read this book just two weeks after a synagogue shooting in which 11 Jews died for no good reason at all other than—hatred of Jewish people because of other bigoted people thinking ALL Jews are... definitely unlikeable. Good going Gary! Way to go for reinforcing stereotypes! 👍

10. Most of the story is set in 2016, while the presidential campaign was running its ill-fated course. Barry is among those responsible for the unbridled, lawless capitalism that Trump and his buddies have made their fortunes on. Are we supposed to have sympathy for Barry? Are we supposed to have sympathy for his soon to be ex-wife, to which alternate chapters are devoted? Why in heaven's name would anyone want to immortalize the year 2016, when a sociopath became the leader of the free world? Is this novel really considered to be in line the best American Novel today as some reviewers are saying? Something this ugly and depressing? With such a creep of an antihero as a protagonist? With an ending that is supposed to be a... what? To me, it meant absolutely nothing. I suppose many readers will find it meaningful. It just meant I'd finally be able to start reading something else. I'll never make an effort like that for Shteyngart again! Lesson learned! Lol.

162. ❉ Anne of Green Gables: A Graphic Novel by Kendra Phipps and Brenna Thummler (Artist) ★★★★

Try to borrow this one from your library the way I did, to enjoy this great coming of age classic afresh with this lovingly adapted graphic novel, and if it's not available, then go ahead and splurge a little to get your own copy. The drawings are a little quirky and my partner said he doesn't like the way Anne's nose is drawn in some places by I think that's nonsense—the whole thing is filled with colour and suffused with charm and the obvious love its creators, Kendra Phipps and Brenna Thummler have put into it. Of course the novel is condensed here and only the highlights of the story are told, but it feels complete enough and it's a great way to revisit your favourite Canadian heroine and of course... the lovely Green Gables. 💚😊

HI, Ilana. I'm always glad to see you here....... I do love Anne and GG and will be happy reading snatches of the original.
I read Gary Shteyngart's Russian Debutante's Handbook and liked the first half O.K. but rather actively disliked the rest of it. I don't believe I'll be trying Lake Success, and I applaud you for soldiering through.

Hi Ilana! I've added How to Be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals to the long list.

I've also been reminded of a graphic novel I read and enjoyed earlier this year: My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris. It's very unusual but the illustrations and layout are all pencil sketches (I think) which reminded me of your subway series. There's a sequel hopefully coming out next year as the first volume ends midway through the story.

http://www.fantagraphics.com/my-favorite-thing-is-monsters/

>143 LizzieD: Hi Peggy! Gosh hadn't realized it'd been so long since I updated here! I do hope you get the Anne of Green Gables GN because I found it really very delightful and goodness knows in these grey winter months we all need whatever cheering up we can get. And this is the book to provide it. The illustrations are really charming, though Renaldo said he didn't want to read it because he didn't like the way the artist had drawn Anne's nose! True enough, it's a funny and very unpretty nose, but I thought that was a lame reason for foregoing what is really a very lovely book. But he prides himself on being a big BEAR of a man and won't touch girlie things. lol. It's an ongoing joke between us. I'm sure you won't have any problems like that with it. :-)

I'd been thinking perhaps I just give the {Russian Debutante's Handbook a try, only because I truly did enjoy Super Sad True Love Story when that book came out... not a book I would have picked out myself but my dad had gifted it to me for Christmas that year and he often makes very interesting choices because he listens to all the right radio programs and picks the books for all the right reasons and that book mostly shocked me and took me out of my comfort zone, but in a way which I mostly thought was good for me. Not so with Lake Success, obviously, but I did think I should see if I could repeat the experience with another book of his. However I'm really quite angry at him for writing a book which antisemites might latch onto as yet another reason to kill some damned hateable Jews at a time when hatred for everyone has simmered into a boil thanks to the Great Leader Who Was Not. So I'll just let that project sit for a while. Not like there aren't loads of perfectly good non-annoying books to read in the meantime eh? :-)

>144 souloftherose: Hi dear Heather! How to Be a Good Creature is what I consider to be a foolproof feel-good book, as are the other Sy Montgomery books I've read so far and I definitely intend to read more of hers, even though she's written more books for children than for adults, but that's never been anything to stop us, has it?

I've reserved My Favorite Thing is Monsters from the library RIGHT AWAY! As a matter of fact, I think I'd come across it before and was very intrigued and this time was extremely tempted to purchase it outright, only it's rather expensive so I thought I'd have a look at it first and then buy it if I felt I couldn't live without it. But the art does look like something I may not be able to live without! Thanks so much for recommending it!

Speaking of art, I haven't been at the drawing board for a couple of months now. ZERO inspiration to do anything artistic right now, which basically started when I attempted to work on a commission which involved a portrait of three absolutely adorable, lovely children, but as I was going through some really ugly emotional turmoil the contrast seemed so extreme and I felt I couldn't bring my sullied self to such a pure subject and... well so it is right now. I'm not even particularly worried about it. Right now I mostly want to sleep and read. In that order. And that's what I'm doing. I figure the art will come back to my fingers whenever it feels safe to do so again. But this kind of art you've sent my way may just be the thing to encourage the muse to come closer... MANY THANKS!!!

>144 souloftherose: Ok, I'm buying it. Taking too long from the library anyway, I've decided, even though I've just reserved it. :-)

>146 Smiler69: Oops! (sorry, not sorry)

>147 souloftherose: It's my favourite new expression too! :-D
And it just arrived today in the mail!
I have a huge stack of GNs borrowed from the library though... so I'll have to be patient before getting to it... argh!

Posted the following on Paul's thread first! :-)



Rumpole at Christmas by John Mortimer (Author), Bill Wallis (Narrator) ★★★★½

December 16, 2018 — Just finished my second listen of this earlier this evening and really enjoyed it. I have no idea what it's like EYE-reading Rumpole, having only taken him in via audiobooks so far with narrators I've dearly enjoyed previously who make the experience a big part of the fun. Another part of the fun is that I only became aware of Rumpole via a book friend on another bookish platform called LibraryThing. Paul is originally from England but lives in Malaysia with his Malay wife and always mentions her as "SWMBO" and when asked, is happy to say it's an acronym meaning "She Who Must Be Obeyed" taken from this Rumpole series, which made me of course curious to discover the hapless barrister who talks of his wife thusly, and as I'm listening to these humorous short stories about court proceedings which always seem headed for disaster, and a marriage based on mere politeness at best, I always think of Paul fondly because he clearly loves his wife very much and has a wonderful dry British sense of humour of the kind I've always enjoyed. And as I'm not in touch with Paul very often, Rumpole is my way of wishing Paul well, even though he might not know it. All quite warm and fuzzy feelings centred around a rather grumpy but after all kind old geezer of an English barrister at the Old Bailey's court. Perhaps not to everyone's taste, but I'm definitely fond of the old codger and as I don't celebrate Christmas and this is a very sad season for me which too vividly reminds me of the distance I've had to put between family and myself, it's nice to have a tradition of sorts I can return to thanks to John Mortimer and his plonk drinking fat old boy. Paul was a good one to share a heartbreaking personal story or two with here and there too... which reminds me I should probably send him a note, as it's been a while.

A very old story now comes to a head.

I've been doing very poorly. Trying to cut out my toxic mother from my life. Seeing RD show up on my Goodreads feed too regularly despite having blocked him. I left an insane message on his page last week, essentially wishing him dead, before writing what I hope is a final message to the woman who gave birth to me, to tell her she must leave me alone unless she wants me to kill myself. The message to RD was reported to Tim, unsurprisingly. It was truly insane. I am unrepentant. I posted what followed on his page, for transparency's sake and so everyone be aware of what happens when online bullying occurs. I post it here too of course. I am sure this will be followed by complete silence. As it always was. Because people don't dare speak up when it comes to online bullying. No matter. I post it anyway, for my own sake. For some hope of some bit of sanity restored.

****

This is Tim, the founder and president of the site.

This post recently came to my attention ( http://www.librarything.com/topic/299604#6658753 ). It is very far outside what LibraryThing allows, including a number of personal attacks.

I realize that your message was written from a place of considerable pain. I recognize that pain. I regret that you are feeling it. I hope you may not take my note as a rejection of it. I also recognize your contributions to the LibraryThing community over the years.

I gather you feel that another members bullied you. This concerns me deeply. But LibraryThing's Terms of Service, or TOS, are not contextual. We don't--we can't--read through all your interactions. And if we started excusing violations of the TOS based on other violations, or non-TOS meanness, we'd rapidly get into trouble being evenhanded and accurate. That said, I'm only too willing to look at specific messages you believe violate the TOS. I have not attempted to do much looking.

I would appreciate it if you could delete that message yourself, or edit it to remove all personal attacks. Under the TOS it is okay to say someone behaved badly. It is okay to say you are hurt. It is not okay to call someone a monster. Wishing someone a painful death is a very serious thing indeed. If you don't do anything, I'll delete it myself.

To indicate the seriousness of the situation, I shall be suspending your account for two days. For various reasons the suspension shall take effect January 3-4. The suspension also comes with a notice that further messages of this time will not be tolerated.

I hope you can take this notice in the spirit I intend. Your post was over the line and serious violation of our terms. It cannot stand. But I value your membership, and I regret that my site, and the people on it, have caused you anguish.

Best,
Tim

******************

Tim,

I understand all you've said and and I respect it, and I will indeed edit my message considerably to what I know will respect TOS.

What is most important to me in all you've said is that you understand and recognize that what I wrote came from a place of considerable pain. As they say: You can say that again.

I don't say this to alarm you and you need not take any measures because I've taken every precaution to make sure I am safe, but I have been suicidal for the last months and had to be talked down by my boyfriend as recently as last night. The bullying by the person in this group only furthered my trauma here in a group I though was a "safe space", where I received only kindness and consideration from most everyone else, save for his personal followers, and I felt the need to confront a person I did indeed feel was a monster for furthering my mental distress as a person with bipolar disorder suffering from acute social anxiety and continued clinical depression.

I've been contacted by other women this person has bullied in similar ways for expressing opinions he disliked. The unfortunate thing is he is a popular person with many friends and everyone lets him get away with inexcusable behaviour of this sort because he is openly homosexual, and as a member of the LGTBQ community gets immunity for behaviour that would be immediately be reported to you were he a Straight White Male. I myself am also a member of that LGTBQ community, only not openly so. I am also treated for mental illness, which I speak openly about, and feel I should definitely not be bullied online because I am at high risk for suicide and have openly discussed this with other members of this group.

I feel I need to share this back story with you. It is simply that all this has been festering for too many years and things have been coming to a head for me, and my mental health has been progressively degrading in the meanwhile. FYI, I am getting regular medical treatment, am regularly followed, am heavily medicated, and have been for many years. I've sought to move to other reading platforms, but because this individual is so active in online reading circles, I am forced to see his name and opinions appear elsewhere, even as I've blocked him everywhere, and it is extremely distressing to me. So... I decided to confront one of my personal monsters. Again, I am sorry if this breaks the rules of LT and I will make the changes necessary.

Meanwhile, I accept the consequences of my actions, and I am satisfied that I've made my point very clear indeed, enough so that someone thought it necessary to report my insane message. Too bad nobody thought it necessary to report RD's eye popping message when he posted a very long litany, a character assassination in fact, despite the fact he did not know me at all, in which he named me, and maintained I was exactly like his sexually and mentally abusive mother. By that point, I think my one and only "crime" was that I had responded to one of his book reviews in which he said he was happy to finally find a book that celebrated misogyny. My response was something to the effect that I hadn't realized misogyny was a thing we should be happy about. That book review and the character assassination that eventually followed, I assumed because he disliked the fact that I am just as opinionated as he is, but am in fact a feminist, don't sit well with me at all. You will also understand that I have no desire to seek any of those posts out all these years later to report them to you now.

Thank you for contacting me. And again, please know that I am safe and sound and no further action on your part as far as my personal safety is concerned is necessary.

Happy Holidays.

Ilana

I just want to get better. I truly do. Sigh. 😢

{{Ilana}}. You are not alone. Please know that there are many of us who care and value you very much.

Agreed. I’ve been praying for you to get better.

>153 drneutron: As have I, as you know, my dear one. I look forward to the time when this toxic episode, at least, is behind you.
Take care of yourself, Ilana. You are loved for your openness and gifts and courage and most of all for your unique self.

>152 jessibud2:, >153 drneutron: And from me too. Sending many hugs to you.

>152 jessibud2: Thanks so much Shelley. It feels like every time I take one step forward I slide ten step backs, like a neverending game of snakes and ladders. Eventually I'll get my foot onto the right rung. I value your support and encouragement more than you know. 🌸

>153 drneutron: Thanks so much Jim. Much appreciated. 🌟

>154 LizzieD: My dear Peggy. The unfortunate thing about this ugly episode is that he chose to compare me, of all things, to his deeply damaging mother, when all along, I've been psychologically and emotionally oppressed by my own toxic mother, and trying to extricate myself from that situation, so that it all got tangled up in my head and became an incredibly messy soup of festering pain. As you know, I'm still very much trying to distance myself from that relationship and seeking to find peace, though completely unsure of how one can truly sever such a primal bond. It'll certainly take time and patience on my part to find that mental space to breathe in, and I am incredibly grateful to have friends like you encouraging me along the way. 💕🌷

>155 souloftherose: Thank you Heather. Sending lots of warm hugs back to you too. ❤️

>157 TheWorstOffender: I don't dislike you Jude. I just find you go out of your way to be offensive sometimes (something I am myself frequently guilty of), and I don't recall why I stopped talking to you but I seem to recall a personal attack, and that was for me the end of the line.

I contacted Tim to let him know exactly what I had done with my post, how I shared it to let everyone know what the consequences of bullying are, and that I had no intention of getting in touch with RD again in future, which is a fact. I really don't mind getting a wrist slap, as you say, for my own actions. I know I was out of line and really, I think Tim is being very fair in all this.

I also know for a fact that I have no energy nor desire to go back among the hundreds and thousands of threads and individual (blocked) posts to try to find the one in which he compared me to his abusive mother. I know I should to support my argument and show him up for the vicious and abusive psychological attack he lay on me, but I'm simply not strong enough. I have very little energy as it is and what I do have I'm trying to preserve to get well.

My original message to him from a few days or a week ago, in which I called him a monster and wished him a prolonged painful death similar to what mine was turning out to be (because of recurring suicide ideation that just won't go away) was by way of trying to untangle things in my head as I'm trying to confront the really and much more sordid abuses I've had to endure much closer to "home", shall we say. I don't mind at all getting a slap on the wrist for that outrageous message. It was meant to provoke and to hurt. What I wrote was violent and completely out of line. It was meant to be vicious because I've had plenty of time to fester in hatred over the unfairness of the treatment he reserved for me over what were really very petty grievances.

So many people here are kind to me in a way that seems incredibly generous, but then a whole slew of people who didn't know the first thing about me also hated me on RD's say-so and came out of the woodwork and were unpleasant at the most unexpected moments over the years I was active here. It made me paranoid. It made me angry that everything went on as if this was totally normal. I am strong in some ways, but my social anxiety is extreme, and this group has been a mixed blessing from the first because of RD's hysterical negative attitude towards me. I never meant him harm to begin with, and he turned on me totally out of the blue. It was vicious and uncalled for and I was not able to put that behind me and never forgave him nor his little poodles for excoriating me for absolutely no good reason at all and reminding me of the absolutely worst times of school, which I had to endure over and over and over again as I started every year or six months at new institutions and had to face a new set of bullies over and over again. Those kinds of nightmares stay with you for a lifetime and because of him I was made to relive them right here in an online group I had been under the impression was peopled only with kind strangers. Of course I should have known better.

So, much like you, I wrote something to him last week that went far beyond the TOS. This, in response to behaviour on his part that should have been stopped by other members of this community long, long ago for the benefit of all. He basically INSTRUCTED people to turn against me. And I know he's done it to many other women, some of whom contacted me personally and told me so, for what were often merely passing inoffensive comments he didn't like. If that's not bullying, I don't know what is. It certainly hasn't helped me recover my sanity, I'll say that much. I really do want to put all this behind me, but as so many people in this group including many I myself like quite a lot, interact with him regularly and seem to like him too, I don't see how I can do that while I remain here without continuing to be tormented. Yet I've formed some real friendships here too, and I don't see why a bully should win the day and push me away completely. My sense of fairness just won't let things happen that way. Surely there's room for everyone. I've ceased to be very socially active here anyway and reverted back to using this site mostly for cataloguing my book collection. He can continue ruling his roost. I really don't care. I just wanted him to know I'll hate his ugly guts and wish him further ills to his already not inconsiderable ones till the end of days for the further harm he did to my mental and emotional wellbeing out of simple petty spite, when I could very well have been another one among his friends had he behaved decently to me. Hardly anybody ever puts him in his place, so I took it upon myself to do so. I think I was successful as far as that goes and I take satisfaction in having confronted on of my personal monster.

220. ❉ Le Chat du Rabbin - Tome 7 - La Tour de Bab-El-Oued by Joann Sfar ★★★★★
(The Rabbi's Cat Vol. 7)

This volume features a slow buildup on the theme of religion separating humanity into opposing clans with clashing views, despite humans having every advantage in working together. The story begins when the rabbi’s cat is incensed as two kittens make their entry into his house in Algiers and charm his mistress into keeping them for good, thus depriving him of some portions of cuddles and affection and milk. Meanwhile, the local mosque is flooded and the imam asks the rabbi to accommodate his followers into the synagogue so they can all pray at their different schedules in the same space. But though both religious leaders are united in purpose, the Jewish and Muslim followers are gathered in the street to protest: they refuse to pray in the same temple. Things get even more ridiculous when both groups are forced to go to the Catholic Church to find a place to pray when the synagogue is flooded in its turn. Another common interest unifies both clans: they are convinced the Rabbi’s talking cat is a devil and must be drowned and/or burned at all costs to appease God and restore order, something both the cat and his Rabbi strongly object to.

Meanwhile, a quest is begun by the Malka of Lions, an enigmatic character who is always accompanied by his fierce yet loyal lion; the second volume in this series is devoted to this character. A prophet of sorts and always in his cups, he is convinced that this new Noah’s Flood is a call to search for the original Fruit of Eden which is at the origin of the fall of humankind and the separation between people according to different clans. Finding this object will help heal the division among brothers and sisters. The Rabbi’s cat of course takes part in this quest and is eventually singled out by a personage of great learning and age-old wisdom towards the end of the book, by being told where this mythological object can be found in what will become the adventure in the following episode of volume 8, which I cannot wait to get started on.

So far this has all sounded awfully dry and rather left brained and perhaps boring and doesn’t begin to convey the animated world of Joan Sfar’s gorgeously nervous, splotchy and amazingly expressive ink pen drawing style in an ornate oriental setting, with a beautiful, somewhat muted yet rich palette of colours. Nor his wonderfully clever and sarcastic cat, nor all the humour expressed in countless ways through dialogue and comments and little touches in his drawn panels.

I’m not quite sure how many more volumes are left before this saga reaches its conclusion, especially as things had seemed to reach a close with volume 5 in 2011, only to be revived again with a fresh start in 2015. But I’ll be following wherever Sfar chooses to go with this right through to the end with much anticipation, tempered with patience. This is a series I’ll also want to revisit from the beginning in one prolonged period to better appreciate the scope of the amazing body of work Sfar has produced with this profoundly funny and humorously insightful The Rabbi’s Cat series.

>160 TheWorstOffender: I'm not part of any group. I just interact with individuals. I don't find I'm admirable in any way. I don't find I try very much. I mostly find I'm just depressed all the time and always just hurting and barely living, just existing. sleeping and reading and eating and complaining a whole lot and feeling sorry for myself and pushing people away when they've crossed my boundaries, which seems to happen all the time. I keep finding out people have been abusive to me, and if people are so abusive, it must mean either I'm not good at choosing people or I'm one of those insufferable people who is an eternal victim, and I've never been able to stand those, which would mean I've turned into exactly the kind of person I hate the most.

Well actually I hate sociopaths the most, so I've turned into the second kind of person I hate the most, which really is no better. My possibly/probably ex boyfriend said tonight I don't make efforts to get better or hardly so you'd notice and I said the efforts I make are mostly not to get WORSE and to NOT kill myself and have been to survive the toxic mother who permanently squats in my head and which I've had to work at to convince to leave me the hell alone as she tends to come back every 6 months or so to prod me and to check whether I really mean it when I say I never want to speak to her again and tear that healing scab right off and send me into a total out of control spin of complete misery and anguish and of course, who wants to be with someone like that? I sure as shit don't want to be with me, so it's just as well he's finding reasons to be a shit to me too. He's been patient enough. Now if he doesn't leave himself I'll just encourage him to go because I've probably gone well beyond toxic myself. I'm 49 and now I'm thinking I'm probably well beyond the ability to change anymore and I've just gone sour. I'd kill myself only it would just make a big mess and cause a bunch of troubles and hurt people and I'm probably more useful to the system paying taxes and whatever. Just another cynical nobody. At least there's books and cute pets and other people who like to hear my complaining for some reason. Beats me why. I'm tired. Good night.

Happy holidays, Ilana

>161 Smiler69: {{{{{Ilana}}}}} I'm so sorry things feel like such a mess right now. I would say trying not to get worse still counts as trying - in fact it probably counts a whole lot more because it's so relentlessly hard to keep on trying when you can't see that you're making any progress and it's often correspondingly difficult to convince other people that you are trying. I'm not now but have felt suicidal in the past for several years and I do remember how difficult it felt to explain to people that you had to fight 100% or even 110% all the damn time just to not kill yourself and how completely and utterly exhausting that felt.

Please try to remember that there are people who care about you deeply. I hope when you wake up today things feel a little better.

>163 souloftherose: Thank you so much Heather. I woke up feeling just as discouraged. As in, if after 12 months of being with someone he hasn't been straight with me and only now tells me I'm not trying hard enough "well" he says, "sometimes you try and sometimes you don't" and if he still can't see that's the nature of the illness and there's only so much of it that I can control and if he feels in his rights to complain about it, then he's with the wrong person because the last thing I need is a partner who pretends everything is fine 99% of the time and then unleashes the horrible truth on me when he himself is feeling unwell and makes me feel like the complete loser I feel myself to be every single day already. I can see a lot of that is pure projection because he's got his issues to face but the last thing I need is someone bringing me down. He's been soooo wonderful but something's been bugging me all along because he stays shut up like a clam and my instincts are constantly throwing things at me and my overthinking is coming up with endless possibilities of what may actually be going on with him in his head and subconscious and turns out I was right, and that really really sucks. So I feel pretty much terrible. I feel sucky and then there's this person telling me I'm not trying hard enough to stop feeling sucky. Thanks a lot buddy. And a merry Christmas to you too with a punch in the stomach while we're at it. Sheesh. Besides which he's really attached to keeping an image of himself as a macho man despite the fact he knows how ridiculous that is but he feels like without it he might turn into an unformed blob or something. I'm not sure. the macho thing is a joke between us but then sometimes I realize is it really a joke? or does he actually expect things to go that way? because no question I'm a feminist and I won't be told what is best for me when I'm 49 and I've tried most everything and very well know by now what I do like and what I most definitely don't. any man who tried to change a woman like that is either very very stupid or very very stubborn or really bad at reading signals or hasn't noticed we've moved out of caves tens of thousands of years ago. ugh. it's nice to have someone to cuddle with to be sure but all those complications showing up out of nowhere, that I did NOT sign up for.

Dearest Ilana, I wish it were not so. We've let our men grow up to be less than honest and human for the most part. Sometimes a blessed woman like me finds one who will own up to his relationship difficiencies and work on doing better while I work on my own weaknesses. Such a man is rare, and I hoped that you had found one. Remember that it's not you who are the problem.
I wish you better in 2019. Love you.

>165 LizzieD: My dearest PA: there’s a distinct possibility that I overreacted in the throes of the darkness of my depression when my brain is intent on distorting everything and putting the absolute worst construction on every passing comment. I’ve also had to admit to myself and to Ren that whenever he’s been held back from coming to visit me for a couple of our scheduled days in the week I’ve caused major dramas and threatened to break up the relationship and the only reason we’ve made it this far is because he’s chosen to brush all that aside and keep going regardless. So I’m definitely humble enough to say that yes, in some instances, I and my bipolar disorder and overthinking and anxiety and paranoia are definitely the problem. That Ren himself gets upset about unforeseen circumstances holding him back from seeing me when I am one of the highlights of his rather miserable home life and that he is far from being gifted with words and says things clumsily and has all the difficulty in the world expressing affection verbally because of oppressive and cruel parenting doesn’t help either. But somehow when we are together we have none of those problems and get along wonderfully and I never question his feelings about me.

He came over last night and did not stinge on the cuddles and in fact just seeing his face coming up the stairs cheered me instantly and it was completely mutual (the lovely bunch of flowers and chicken pot pie he brought for dinner didn’t hurt either!). I do wish I wasn’t such a drama queen. Bless his heart he never holds it against me. We’re certainly not perfect and goodness knows I do my share to push him away but he’s still there for me despite all my daily talk of doom and gloom and suicide and that right there is pretty special wouldn’t you say?

And you too stick around despite all those things and that is pretty incredible too. Every time I count my blessings I remember to be grateful for your friendship that doesn’t judge my craziness and sees how I try to be good despite it all. Much love to you.