Laytonwoman 's Summer Splash (Thread 3 for 2017)

Summer "officially" begins today in the USA. Let's all have fun.



These urchins have summer all figured out. My niece's beautiful "babies" are always a joy.

Hi! I'm Linda, a retired paralegal living in Northeastern Pennsylvania with my husband flamingrabbit (a retired broadcast engineer), and our sweet kitty, Molly O'Del, who we rescued from The Barn. Our daughter, lycomayflower, hangs around this group as well. In my first year of retirement (2016), I read 112 books, which is, as it should be, more than I read in any of the previous 10 years in which I was keeping track here on LT. This year, I'm on pace to exceed that total, but it was a reading kind of winter, and nicer weather should mean less time parked indoors, so we shall see. My goal is always to read more of the books I already own, and to acquire fewer books than I remove from the house. As you will see from subsequent posts where I keep track of that kind of thing, I'm rubbish at it. In June of 2016 I became a board member of the Scranton Public Library, so now I'm duty bound to attend ALL their book sales and bring stuff home, eh?

I've been keeping track of my reading here on LT since 2007.
Here is a link to my last 2016 thread, from which you can navigate to all my previous reading threads back to the beginning, if you are that crazy.

Here I will keep track of my numbers for reading, RMOS, and culling.

Total Books Read:




Reading My Own Stuff:




Books Culled from the House:

This one is for my completed reads for this quarter. Lists for the first half of 2017 are in the next post.

SEPTEMBER

80. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien AAC, ROOT
79. On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder NF
78. The Kingdom of Auschwitz by Otto Friedrich NF, ROOT
77. The Paper Moon by Andrea Camilleri ROOT
*76. Likely to Die by Linda Fairstein
75. A Nickel's Worth of Skim Milk by Robert J. Hastings
74. One By One in the Darkness by Deirdre Madden ROOT, CULL

AUGUST

73. Morningstar: Growing Up With Books by Ann Hood
72. The Blunderer by Patricia Highsmith ROOT, AAC, LOA
*70. Charlotte's Web by E. B. White AUDIO read by E. B. White and George Plimpton (afterword)
*69. Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan
68. Call the Nurse by Mary J. MacLeod ROOT, CULL
67. South Riding by Winifred Holtby ROOT, Virago
66. The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich
65. When a Wolf is Hungry by Christine Naumann-Villemin, Illustrated by Kris DiGiacomo

JULY

*64. Small Ceremonies by Carol Shields CAC
*63. Final Jeopardy by Linda Fairstein
*62. The Kennedy Half Century by Larry Sabato
61. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth ROOT, BAC
*60. The Right Jack by Margaret Maron
*59. Little White Lies A Spenser novel by Ace Atkins
58. Albert Nobbs by George Moore
*57. The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy
56. I'm the King of the Castle by Susan Hill ROOT
55. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett ROOT, LOA
*54 Designated Daughters by Margaret Maron

My reading lists for the first half of 2017.

JUNE

*53. Hide & Seek by Ian Rankin
52. Belzoni Dreams of Egypt by Jon Clinch ROOT
51. The Patch Boys by Jay Parini ROOT
*50. The Bellini Card by Jason Goodwin audio and print
49. Last Lessons of Summer by Margaret Maron
48. The Paris Wife by Paul McLain ROOT
*47. Debt to Pay by Reed Farrell Coleman

MAY

*46. The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin
45. Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy by Nicholas Reynolds NF
44. The Cool Cottontail by John Dudley Ball
*43. The Snake Stone by Jason Goodwin
42. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon ROOT
DNF The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
*41. Death in Blue Folders by Margaret Maron
40. The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell

APRIL

39. The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter by Sharyn McCrumb
38. If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O by Sharyn McCrumb
37. Scriptorium by Melissa Range AAC
36. Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood CAC
35. Cluny Brown by Margery Sharp ROOT
34. The Inextinguishable Symphony by Martin Goldsmith NF, ROOT

MARCH

33. Death of a Butterfly by Margaret Maron
32. One Coffee With by Margaret Maron
31. Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton
*30. The Buzzard Table by Margaret Maron
29. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys BAC, CULL
*28. Bloody Kin by Margaret Maron
27. Hellhound on His Trail by Hampton Sides NF
*26. Search the Dark by Charles Todd
25. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry ROOT, CAC
*24. The Devil Wins by Reed Farrel Coleman

FEBRUARY

*23. Three-Day Town by Margaret Maron
22. Christmas Mourning by Margaret Maron ROOT, CULL
21. The Round House by Louise Erdrich ROOT
# A Christmas in Slovakia by Wesley Elllis (No number---too short and insubstantial to count)
20. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad ROOT
19. The Moon-Spinners by Mary Stewart ROOT, BAC
*18. The Night Country by Stewart O'Nan AAC
17. The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel ARC

January

16. Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
*15. In the Heat of the Night by John Ball
14. What Color is My World? bu Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Raymond Obstfeld CULL
13. The Night Gardener by The Fan Brothers
*12. Slow Burn by Ace Atkins
*11. The Eyes of the Buddha by John Ball
*DNF An Irish Country Village by Patrick Taylor Audio
10. A Story for Bear by Dennis Haseley and Jim LaMarche
9. The Gentle Lion and the Little Owlet by Alice Shirley
8. The Wish Tree by Kyo Maclear and Chris Turnham
7. Kindred by Octavia Butler AAC, ROOT, CULL
6. The Cat Who Rode Cows by Frances and Richard Lockridge
*5. Murder by Proxy by Anne Morice
4. Murther and Walking Spirits by Robertson Davies CAC, ROOT
3. This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff NF, ROOT
DNF. Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan CULL
2. The New Great American Authors Cookbook edited by Dean Faulkner Wells
1. The Bill the Cat Story: A Bloom County Epic by Berkeley Breathed

I'm trying to keep up with the Non-Fiction Challenge, but not doing as well as I'd like. Here's how it's going so far:

January: Prizewinners {Non-fiction books that have won, or been short-listed for, any kind of literary prize.} Finished reading This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff

February: Voyages of Exploration
I began In Patagonia, but set it aside and have not gone back to it. I hope to finish it eventually.

March: Heroes and Villains--People you admire or people you hate. Or people others admire or hate, and that you're just curious about.
Finished Hellhound on His Trail by Hampton Sides

April: Hobbies, Pastimes and Passions
Dipped into The Smithsonian's Lords of the Air, but it isn't a straight-through sort of read. It remains on my coffee table, to be picked up from time to time.
Finished The Inextinguishable Symphony by Martin Goldsmith

May: History
Finished Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy by Nicholas Reynolds

June: The Natural World
I just never got to this one in June, but the subject is a favorite of mine, so I'll read something that fits before the end of the year, I hope.

July: Creators and Creativity

August: I’ve Always Been Curious About….
A catch-all category. If the topic of the book can complete the sentence, you can add it to the challenge.

September: Gods, Demons and Spirits
Religion, spirituality of al kinds; read about the Salem witch trials or animism in West Africa if you want.

October: The World We Live In: Current Affairs

November: Science and Technology

December: Out of Your Comfort Zone
A nonfiction book that isn't something that you would normally gravitate to, about a subject you'd never normally read about, or that is a "book bullet" you'd never previously heard about from another LT reader.

All the challenges have "challenged" me this year; I've decided I just won't sweat it. When an author appeals to me during the assigned month, I'll try to read something, hopefully something that's been lingering on my own shelves for a while. I have "met" a couple new authors through these challenges, and it's always enlightening to follow along with others as they sample and review. I just don't need to be a completist about it. I'm reading for myself, after all. Here's my participation in the American, Canadian and British author challenges in 2017.

American Author Challenge General Thread

January-Octavia Butler Finished Kindred
February- Stewart O'Nan Finished The Night Country
March- William Styron gave Lie Down in Darkness a try; main character annoyed me in the first 50 pages (much as with Serena, I couldn't get past disliking the character to see where the story might be going). DNF
April- Poetry Month Scriptorium by Melissa Range; and A Private Mythology by May Sarton
May- Zora Neale Hurston
June- Sherman Alexie Read several selections from Ten Little Indians
July- James McBride Pearl-ruled The Miracle at St. Anna
August- Patricia Highsmith Finished The Blunderer
September- Short Story Month Finished The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
October- Ann Patchett
November- Russell Banks
December- Ernest Hemingway

British Authors Challenge General Thread for 2017

JANUARY : IRISH BRITONS - Elizabeth Bowen and Brian Moore I will be skipping the Irish Britons this month.
FEBRUARY : SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY -
Mary Stewart and Terry Pratchett Finished The Moon-Spinners

MARCH : A DECADE OF BRITISH NOVELS The 1960s -
With 10 Novels by Men and 10 Novels by Women to choose from I read the only title in my current library: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

APRIL: SOUTH YORKSHIRE AUTHORS :
A. S. Byatt and Bruce Chatwin Read a bit of In Patagonia, and will get back to it eventually.

MAY : BEFORE QUEEN VICTORIA
10 Novels written prior to 1837 Probably skipping this category

JUNE : THE HISTORIANS (Historical Fiction / Historians)
Georgette Heyer & Simon Schama Skipped these too.

JULY : SCOTTISH AUTHORS
D. E. Stevenson and R. L. Stevenson Finished Kidnapped

AUGUST : BRITAIN BETWEEN THE WARS (Writers active 1918-1939)
Winifred Holtby & Robert Graves Finished South Riding

SEPTEMBER : THE NEW MILLENNIUM (Great Books Since 2000)
Started Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell but will probably not even finish it in October.

OCTOBER : WELSH AUTHORS
Jo Walton & Roald Dahl Neither of these authors appeal to me, so I will skip this one.

NOVEMBER : POET LAUREATES : British laureates, children's laureate, National Poets

DECEMBER : WILDCARD
Elizabeth Gaskell and Neil Gaiman

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

Canadian Authors Challenge General Thread for 2017

This is the challenge that challenges me the most, as it includes more authors I haven't previously heard of than the others. (Although I'm doing much better with the Canadians than with the Brits this year!) I didn't set the world on fire with it last year, and probably won't in 2017, but I am sure I will discover a few new authors thanks to Ilana's suggestions from this list:

January : Anne Michaels & Robertson Davies Finished Murther and Walking Spirits

February : Madeleine Thien & Rohinton Mistry Finished A Fine Balance

March : Anne Hebert & Alistair McLeod tried In the Shadow of the Wind, but did not care for it.

April : Margaret Atwood & Guy Vanderhaeghe
Finished Atwood's contribution to the Hogarth Shakespeare series, Hag-Seed

May :Louise Penny & Leonard Cohen Tried another of the Three Pines series, and decided not to go forward with it.

June : Heather O'Neill & Dan Vyleta Sampled Vyleta's The Quiet Twin, and it seemed to be going somewhere I had no desire to follow.

July : Carol Shields & Wayson Choy Finished The Jade Peony
Finished Small Ceremonies
FIRST TIME I'VE READ BOTH AUTHORS in a given month!

August : Ruth Ozeki & Douglas Coupland Skipped

September : Lori Lansens & Steven Galloway

October : Alice Munro & Arthur Slade
November : Gil Adamson & Guy Gavriel Kay
December : Donna Morrisey & Wayne Johnston

Books acquired in 2017 (Trying to keep myself honest, here.)



January
1. Yashim Cooks Istanbul by Jason Goodwin
2. Jane Bowles: Collected Writings (LOA)
3. The Cat Who Rode Cows by Frances & Richard Lockridge
4. Darling of Misfortune by Richard Lockridge
5. The Weather in Africa by Martha Gellhorn
6. The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel
7. World War I and America Told by the Americans Who Lived It (LOA)
8. Death on the Aisle by Frances and Richard Lockridge
9. The Wish Tree by Kyo Maclear and Chris Turnham
10. The Gentle Lion and the Little Owlet by Alice Shirley
11. A Story for Bear by Dennis Haseley and Jim LaMarche
12. Joseph Banks: A Life by Patrick O'Brian (Folio)
13. Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne (Folio)
14. What Color is My World by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Raymond Obstfeld
15. On the Shoulders of Giants by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Raymond Obstfeld
16. The Night Gardener by The Fan Brothers
17. Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
18. The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
19. Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse
20. The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins

February

1. The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen
2. The Cool Cottontail by John Ball
3. Stoner by John Williams
4. Butcher's Crossing by John Williams
5. The Tennis Partner by Abraham Verghese
6. Mary McCarthy Novels & Stories 1942-1963 LOA
7. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (Everyman edition)
8. The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan

March

1. Author and Agent by Michael Kreyling
2. Embattled Freedom by Jim Remsen
3. New Boy by Tracy Chevalier
4. The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
5. If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O by Sharyn McCrumb
6. Novels 1963-1979 by Mary McCarthy
7. One Coffee With by Margaret Maron
8. Death of A Butterfly by Margaret Maron
9. Scriptorium by Melissa Range
10. The Norths Meet Murder by Frances and Richard Lockridge (new PB edition)
11. The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter by Sharyn McCrumb
12. The Gastronomical Me by M. F. K. Fisher (Folio Society edition)
13. Last Lessons of Summer by Margaret Maron
14. Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

April *big breath, and a "Hoooooboy!"*

1. Collected Poems by Philip Larkin
2. The Piano Maker by Kurt Palka
3. The Whistler by John Grisham
4. True at First Light by Ernest Hemingway
5. LaRose by Louise Erdrich
6. The Big Seven by Jim Harrison
7. Prayers the Devil Answers by Sharyn McCrumb
8. House of Earth by Woody Guthrie
9. Huck Out West by Robert Coover
10. Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy by Nicholas Reynolds
11. The Stonewall Brigade by James Robertson
12. The Passage by Justin Cronin
13. West Virginia: A History
14. Some Lie and Some Die by Ruth Rendell
15. A Sleeping Life by Ruth Rendell
16. Wild Swans by Jung Chang
17. The Tongues of Angels by Reynolds Price
18. Delta of Venus by Anais Nin
19. Writers' Reflections Upon First Reading Welty
20. The Odyssey by Homer (Word Cloud edition) Samuel Butler trans.
21. Death on the Aisle by Frances and Richard Lockridge.

May

1. Walt Kelly's Pogo; the Complete Dell Comics Vol. 4)
2. Our Land Before We Die by Jeff Guinn
3. A Wolf's Tale by Eva Montanari

June

1. The Loyal Son; The War in Ben Franklin's House by Daniel Mark Epstein
2. The March by E. L. Doctorow
3. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
4. Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson
5. The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks
6. Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich
7. Susan Sontag: The Later Essays (LOA)
8. Tennessee Williams, Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh by John Lahr
9. The Unquiet Grave by Sharyn McCrumb
10. The Great Swindle by Pierre LeMaitre
11. The Dry by Jane Harper
12. Hassan by James Elroy Flecker (Folio)
13. A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines (Folio)
14. Take Out by Margaret Maron

July

1. Baby Doll Games by Margaret Maron
2. Corpus Christmas by Margaret Maron
3. Past Imperfect by Margaret maron
4. Fugitive Colors by Margaret Maron
5. Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey
6. Olio by Tyehimba Jess
7. Thomas and Beulah by Rita Dove

August

1. When a Wolf is Hungry by Christine Naumann-Villemin
2. Fierce by Barbara Robinette Moss
3. The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich
4. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
5. The First Time Ever by Peggy Seeger (No touchstone yet)
6. A Nickel's Worth of Skim Milk by Robert J. Hastings
7. Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton
8. Peter Taylor: Complete Stories 1938-1959
9. The Tangled Web by Michael J. Cain
10. On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder

SEPTEMBER

1. A Dash of Dragon by Heidi Lang & Kati Bartkowski
2. Peter Taylor: Complete Stories 1960-1992

And the biggest challenge of all....books culled from the house so the people have a little room to move around. (As of July 4th, I'm really quite pleased with my progress in this department! My husband has been helping---he's much more likely to let a book go after reading it.)

Books culled in 2017



January:

1. Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan
2. My Dog Skip by Willie Morris
3. Life Goes to the Movies
4. Kindred by Octavia Butler

February:

1. Daughter of the Queen of Sheba by Jacki Lyden
2. Until I Find You by John Irving
3. What Color is My World by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
4. No Deals, Mr. Bond by John Gardner
5. The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman (old PB, replaced by LOA volume)
6. In Country by Bobbie Ann Mason
7. The Youngest Doll by Rosario Ferre
8. Classic Slave Narratives ed. by Henry Louis Gates (PB replaced by LOA volume)
9. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
10. Christmas Mourning by Margaret Maron
11. The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
12.-26. Fifteen Dick Francis paperbacks
27. Trace by Patricia Cornwell
28. The Body Farm by Patricia Cornwell
29.-32. Four Jeffrey Deaver paperbacks
33.-36 Four Faye Kellerman paperbacks
37.-41. Five Jonathan Kellerman paperbacks

March:

1. Not Without Laughter by Langston Hughes (PB copy replaced by LOA Harlem Renaissance volume)
2. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
3. The Quants (JCK)
4. Lightless by C. A. Higgins (JCK)
5. Roadside Picnic by Arkady Strugatsky (JCK)
6. Clapton by Eric Clapton (JCK)
7. The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce (replaced by LOA volume)

I've done fairly well with this in the first quarter. I see that I actually did remove more books than I acquired. I don't expect that to continue throughout the year, but I'll take a good start!

April:

1. To A Blossoming Pear Tree by James Wright
2. There Goes My Everything by Jason Sokol

May:

1. Best Evidence by David Lifton
2. The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
3. Sophia: Living and Loving by A. E. Hotchner
4. Townie: A Memoir by Andre Dubus III
5. Cataloochee by Wayne Caldwell

June:

1. Ian Fleming's Commandos by Nicholas Rankin
2.-5. Miscellaneous old math textbooks from attic clean-out
6. Possession and Exorcism
7. Hypnosis, Fact and Fiction by F. L. Marcuse
8. Romola by George Eliot
9. Last Lessons of Summer by Margaret Maron
10. Silicon Snake Oil by Clifford stoll
11. Supernature by Lyall Watson
12. Basic television Revised Second Edition Vol. 1-6
13. The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene
14. Understanding Physics by Isaac Asimov
15. The Skeptic by Terry Teachout

JULY

1. The Novels of Dashiell Hammett duplicate copy
2. More Laughing Out Loud by Myron Cohen
3. Self-Hypnotism by Leslie M. LeCron
4. The Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T. E. Lawrence shabby pb copy
5. Music for Chameleons by Truman Capote duplicate copy
6. Hypnosis by Raphael H. Rhodes
7. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
8. The Passage by Justin Cronin

AUGUST

1. Hit List by Richard Belzer and David Wayne
2. Call the Nurse by Mary J. MacLeod (to LEK)
3. The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction by Alan Jacobs
4. Used and Rare by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone

SEPTEMBER

1. One by One in the Darkness by Deirdre Madden

well I happened by at just the right time, so I will take it.

I see you have made great progress on culling. I have been working at that as well this year but didn't think of keeping track. It might depress me! Anyway, I like the idea of it, as I certainly move on from certain books or find I don't like some series as much as I did at first, and so on. And it makes room for the books I want to have around.

so Happy new thread!

I'll quickly follow Ron in wishing you a very happy new thread, Linda. xx

>8 RBeffa: I have surprised myself with my culling this year, Ron. As noted above, my husband gets part of the credit, as he went through some of his old technical stuff and got rid of a lot that's outdated, or simply of no use to him in his retired state. He also is much more likely to say "I'll never re-read this" when he finishes a book than I am.

>9 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul. Good to have early visitors.

>6 laytonwoman3rd: my goodness.

>7 laytonwoman3rd: ETA: oh, that helps!!

Happy new thread, Linda!

>10 laytonwoman3rd: I've reached the age where I have to be realistic about the likelihood of rereads. I know I'll make a mistake or two, but I'm moving the great majority of books I have read this year and last out to the friends of the library for resale. Will I get rid of "A Moveable Feast"? well, no. not ever. But most of my light reading I am very happy to send off to a new home. I have become such a huge fan of the friends of the library sale - it is like this great community of sharing books that happens to raise money for the library programs. I suspect many of these have become the same across the country.

And then there are the books like the Chilton Car Repair manual for a van we got rid of in 2004. Do I really need that? Actually I was slightly shocked I still had it.

>12 RBeffa: Hey, those Chilton manuals can be collectible---better think about it!

>11 lauralkeet: Mmmm....>6 laytonwoman3rd: and >7 laytonwoman3rd: are a bit sobering, I'm afraid.

Happy New thread, Linda. And happy 4Th!

>13 laytonwoman3rd: You made me go check the Chilton's ... I see i can buy it for under $4 including shipping from Abe's so I think I lucked out on letting that one go.

>6 laytonwoman3rd: Given my current Hemingway interest I'll be curious to see your reactions to Gelhorn's "The Weather In Africa"

Happy New Thread, Linda!

I hope you're having a relaxing 4th.

Happy new thread, Linda!
>6 laytonwoman3rd: I love the picture of Snoopy loving books :-)

Howdy, Linda. Yesterday I said I'd check back after mowing to check out the new thread. But yesterday, there was no new laytonwoman3rd thread. Had to go back out and mow and mow and mow. Finally, the promised newness. I kicked the tires. They didn't go flat. You are good to go. Have a happy.

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread!

>14 jessibud2: Thanks, Shelley!
>15 RBeffa: I always enjoy Gellhorn's writing, Ron. But mostly I've read her non-fiction. The one novel I read (Liana) was pretty good. I'm curious about these novellas, and had them on my wishlist for a long time.
>16 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe. It has been a very lovely day.
>17 FAMeulstee: So good to see you here, Anita! We love Snoopy at my house.
>18 weird_O: Well, Bill, I hope you got all that hay bailed before the rain hit! Good to know my tires check out!
>19 foggidawn: Another rare visitor----welcome, foggi!
>20 drneutron: Thanks, Jim.

We celebrated the Fourth in quiet fashion this year. No big family gathering for a change. (I love those, but they wear me out, and I'm still getting over the Memorial Day picnic I plan and execute for my Mom's extended family every year.) I read on the porch for a while -- the weather was absolutely perfect today. Then my husband and I went to our nearby community park for a walk around the tiny lake. We met a very congenial man putting up fliers on the open pavilion -- he asked us if we remembered Jason Miller. Of course, we said. (I worked in the building across the street from where Miller lived in Scranton for several years, and often saw him on the street or in the Rite Aid drugstore, where lycomayflower used to wait on him during one college summer.) This gentleman is putting on a free performance of Miller's Barrymore's Ghost in the pavilion in a couple weeks. We hope to attend.

As I was breaking in a new pair of boots, I begged off the third circuit around the pond to sit on the swings and read. The most delightful little girl came running up to me to ask "Why are you reading a book in the park?" I told her the park is a fine place to read a book, and she asked me to read to her! Of course I didn't think Sam Spade would be appropriate for a five-year-old, so I apologized and asked her what books she liked. I can't say I totally understood what she was trying to tell me, but it involved a Princess. I did catch on that in lieu of reading to her I could give her a push on the swing...so I did that. This apparently attracted her brother/cousin/friend of approximately the same age to come running too. We had a good time for about 10 minutes before my husband came back around, ready to go home. I enjoyed these little free spirits and the good time they were having, but I have to say I wish one of the adults in the large family group they were part of had glanced in our direction at any time. Who lets their little kids run off in a public park to engage with strangers? They were never out of sight of the group, except that everyone in the group was looking in the other direction all the time.

We came home, had more reading time on the patio with some adult beverages, and barbecued a very tasty rack of ribs for our dinner. Someone in the neighborhood is lighting firecrackers now.

Fourth of July hooting and hollering!

>23 weird_O: Well, that's fairly alarming. Someone should tell them they could put an eye out...or lose a hand...

55. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett I'm not a big fan of Hammett. As lycomayflower mentioned it's her RL book club read this month, somehow that made me think I ought to revisit it. I can never remember the actual story here. Now I know why. There isn't a particle of story in it. A few people get bumped off, a lot of dumb slang gets thrown about, and a woman acts like a complete ninny. Pages and pages are spent in pointless argument about how to go about something, neither side presenting any new reasons for "doing it my way". I like me a good noir novel; this one failed to establish the atmosphere for me. I love a fine hard-boiled detective, but Sam Spade has nothing to love. Sorry to trash a classic, but I'm not impressed. Also, there's the misogyny, and the fairly distasteful representation of homosexuals.

>25 laytonwoman3rd: I agree with you. A year or maybe a bit more I had a go at it and I was hugely disappointed. I didn't finish it and deleted it from my library. I had read the Thin Man first and was rather disappointed, giving it 2 1/2 stars but the Maltese Falcon was a real bust.

>26 RBeffa: I do admit to hearing most of it "narrated" by Humphrey Bogart in my head, which kind of kept me going to the end!

56. I'm the King of the Castle by Susan Hill A psychological masterpiece illuminating the often terrifying dynamics of the minds of children in a way that I think Lord of the Flies is meant to. But I couldn't read past the first few pages of that one. THIS one grabbed me and kept me hooked right to the bitter inevitable end. Edmund Hooper is 11 years old; he and his father live alone in a big dark house where he feels quite content and settled, until his father hires a housekeeper for the summer. Mrs. Helen Kingshaw is a young widow with a son Edmund's age who is intended to be his companion. Despite the adults' misguided hopes, these two boys are NOT meant for each other. Edmund does not want anything to change--he doesn't mind the lack of a woman in the house, nor does he miss having a friend. "I don't want anything to be done about it, nobody must come here" he often thinks to himself. For his part, Charles Kingshaw is no happier with his new circumstances. He does not want to make himself congenial to Mr. Hooper or to Edmund; he is frightened of many things, not the least of which is revealing his fears to anyone. He had been comfortable at school, though, and simply wishes to be left alone to amuse himself until he can go back there. But he can see that it is no good; his mother and Mr. Hooper blindly insist that the boys are certain to get along and benefit from each other's company. They are the dimmest, most selfish and insensitive of adults. And Edmund is wickedly, cruelly tuned in to Charles's weaknesses. The only option for Charles is to leave when the opportunity presents itself. AND THEN....nope, you'll have to read it for yourself.

Happy Sunday, Linda and Happy Belated New Thread. Sorry, The Maltese Falcon fell short for you. I have not read it in many years and like you, I love a good noir novel.

Good review of I'm the King of the Castle. Now, that one sounds solid.

For Louise Penny fans, a great interview piece on CBS Sunday Morning today. I wish I could love her books. I tried again in May, but just didn't get caught up in No. 3 of her Three Pines series.

>30 laytonwoman3rd: I plan to give her a try again. My first time was jumping into the series midway (well it was the newest at the time) and sometimes that is OK, but for me it wasn't, so i stopped the book w/o pearl ruling it - so I'm going to start with Still Life, hopefully not too far in the future. Many friends have praised her work, but I know that books and series don't work for different people for all kinds of reasons. One of my personal deal killers is when it involves children.

I'm sorry i missed her appearance on CBS this morning.

>30 laytonwoman3rd: You can watch the segment through the link in my post, Ron. I reviewed the first two Penny novels relatively favorably after reading them, but I didn't hurry to get to another, and the third one didn't "catch" me. I may try again some day.

>32 laytonwoman3rd: Linda, I should have edited my post because after I posted it realized there was a link and watched it! Our crazy CBS TV station puts this show on at 6AM on Sundays and has for a number of years which really ticks me off as I used to really enjoy it as a Sunday morning staple with my coffee. So now I never even think of the show anymore and it is my loss. I know I can watch it online (and I do on occasion) but it isn't the same. (I don't have one of those 'fancy' DVR things).

>33 RBeffa: The show is a staple at our house. It starts at 9:00 a.m. here, which is just right for us. We have a late, long breakfast on Sunday morning, with CBS Sunday morning and the Sunday paper. 6 a.m. is a stupid time to air that program on a Sunday. We don't have a DVR either. Don't tell anyone, but occasionally we still record something on a VCR!

(Sometimes I think there isn't enough contrast to highlight the links in LT posts, but it might just be the color scheme I use on my PC.)

>30 laytonwoman3rd: Thank you for the link, Linda. I'll have to watch that, as I am a Penny fan.

Also, I'm reading Bootlegger's Daughter, and you are so right. I am hooked. I'm not sure what I was waiting for.

>35 NanaCC: Yay! So glad you've finally decided to acquaint yourself with Deborah Knott, Colleen!

>28 laytonwoman3rd: Oh, that one sounds good. I have enjoyed the first couple of books I've read by Susan Hill.

Happy new thread!!! Sounds like the purge is going well. I need to get together a box or two and turn them in at Powell's for some credit. So I can buy new books!! ; )

>30 laytonwoman3rd: and that is exactly where I stalled out on Three Pines. Someday...maybe...or not....

>37 EBT1002: Yes, I love Susan Hill. Although my husband was more taken with The Woman in Black than I was---I could so easily see what she was doing that it didn't make the hair stand up on the back of my neck as he says it did for him. I wish she'd write some more of the Simon Serailler series. Interesting article/interview from earlier this year that has just now come to my attention.

>38 Berly: Well, the purge IS going very well by itself. Apparently it's not enough to weed out books---one really has to put the brakes on the incoming as well; that's where I simply F.A.I.L.

57. The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy I read this for this month's Canadian Author Challenge.

Three children of immigrant Chinese parents each tell a story from their childhood in Vancouver's Chinatown between 1933 and 1941. We begin with Jook-Liang, the only daughter, as she meets for the first time the ancient Wong-Suk known by everyone as "The Monkey Man". Despite the fact that most people find him ugly and even frightening in appearance, Liang is immediately drawn to him, and he becomes, all too briefly, her best friend and companion. The second section is in the voice of Liang's older, adopted brother, Jung-Sum, who tells us how he came to be part of the family, and how he became the protege of an older youth with a tough reputation who eventually decided to go to Seattle to join the U. S. Marine Corps. Finally, we hear from the Little Brother, Sek-Lung, his Grandmother's special project, who has suffered from birth with lung ailments that require extraordinary attention and keep him from starting school at the normal time. Each of these children develops a unique personal relationship that supports them, but ultimately teaches them about loss and letting go. Over all the stories hangs the cloud of world events--the war between China and Japan, and the impending calamities of WWII; the ongoing conflict between Chinese and Japanese immigrant communities; and the eternal struggle of the immigrants and their children to find a balance between Old Ways and Canadian (American) ways. Although I found the ending a bit abrupt, and there isn't an over-arching story line connecting the three sections, I was very impressed with the novel, and would recommend it. Parts of this story are similar to the later novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, set down the coast in the American Northwest--the Chinese/Japanese racial and cultural divide, the Romeo and Juliet motif, the assimilation vs. tradition themes. I'm rating The Jade Peony slightly higher than Ford's novel, however, as it avoided any glaring anachronisms and kept me more fully engaged with the characters. Some of these themes are also explored in The Joy Luck Club, which was another terrific read.

The strength of Choy's work is excellently anticipated by the book's epigraph:

T'ong Yahn Gaai was what
we once called
where we lived: "China-People Street".
Later, we mimicked
Demon talk
and wrote down only
Wah Fauh--"China-Town."
The difference
is obvious: the people
disappeared.
---Wing Tek Lum, "Translations"

I seem to have gotten sidetracked by Hemingway this Spring: I read three books he wrote and two others in which he was a featured character. Getting back on the main line; starting (a reread) Faulkner's "Old Man."

>41 weird_O: How wonderful that you find Faulkner "main line"!!

58. Albert Nobbs by George Moore This novella served its purpose, apparently, by inspiring the film in which Glenn Close and Janet McTeer put in stunning performances, and Gabriella Prekop and John Banville turned a highly flawed book into a heart-breaking film.

It's late 19th century in Dublin; Albert Nobbs, a successful waiter in an upscale hotel, is forced to share his bed with a house-painter, Hubert Page, during an especially busy time. Albert resists, but finally has to relent. His reluctance is born of the fear that allowing another man into his personal space will result in the exposure of the secret he has been keeping for years---Albert is really a woman. Well, as it turns out, so it Hubert. They have both found it convenient, if not vital, to present themselves to the world as men in order to survive without resorting to prostitution or submitting to otherwise abusive relationships. Upon learning that she is not alone in choosing this lifestyle, Albert is rather more confused than relieved, and must now struggle with her perception of herself. The core of the story is brilliant, if rather poorly executed in the book. And Moore sets it in an inexplicably useless framework of one man telling Albert's story to another years after the fact. We have no idea who this narrator is, nor who he is talking to, let alone how he could possibly know the intimate details of Albert's and Hubert's personal lives. He can't be Albert, because we are told of Albert's eventual death. Could he be Hubert? Just possibly, I suppose, but there is nothing whatever to suggest that we are meant to conclude that. The movie adds and subtracts from Moore's story in ways that I feel only improve it, and the cast alone makes watching it a worthwhile experience. (The always-delightful Pauline Collins appears as Mrs. Baker, owner of the hotel, and Mia Wasikowska is perfect as a maid who Albert contemplates "marrying" after Hubert explains his own cozy living arrangements.) As short as the novella is, don't waste your time reading it. Watch the move instead. Not a recommendation I put forth often!

59. Robert B. Parker's Little White Lies by Ace Atkins Susan Silverman refers a patient to Spenser to see if he can find the con man who bilked her out of $300,000.00 and disappeared. Trouble is, the woman seems to continue seeing the guy behind Spenser's back, and his cons are much bigger and more dangerous than just getting vulnerable women to invest in real estate schemes. Spenser has to call in the ATF, Hawk, Rachel Wallace and Tedy Sapp to help clear the decks. There are lots and lots of references to the Parker canon in this one, but at the same time Atkins continues to make Spenser his own in ways that breathe new life into the aging series. It's not Parker anymore, but it's still Spenser. Best lines, between Spenser and Tedy: "I could use a little backup," I said. "While I sleuth." "To be your white Hawk?" he said. "No," I said. "To be my gay, white Hawk. With cooler hair." "Hawk doesn't have hair." "True," I said. "Just don't tell him."....After a few moments of introspection, he nodded "You're in?" I said. "Let me talk to the hubby," he said. "And grab my guns."

60. The Right Jack by Margaret Maron While off-duty, Lieutenant Sigrid Harald intervenes in a street situation where a young woman seems to be in danger from the man she's with, and ends up in the hospital herself, with some fairly serious knife wounds. Meanwhile, her partner, Detective Tildon, reluctantly prepares to compete in a cribbage tournament at a swanky small hotel in Manhattan. When one of the cribbage boards turns out to hold a bomb, the investigation into who is responsible, and who was actually the intended target, takes many strange turns, some of them reaching fairly far back into the past. Good reading, as always with Maron. Sigrid loosens up just a skosh and realizes that a touch of femininity isn't necessarily fatal to her career. It did puzzle me throughout just exactly why Maron got her main character knifed in the first few pages; neither the crime she was preventing nor the injury itself seemed to serve any real purpose in the story, nor was it used to distract or mislead the amateur detective holding the book, if you take my meaning. *shrug* She so rarely does this to me that I'm going to give Maron a "get out of author jail free" card this time.

>45 laytonwoman3rd: Oh, no! Are you telling me there might be another series that I should look forward to? :). I finished Bootlegger's Daughter yesterday. I really enjoyed it, thank you. I'm hooked, and will continue.

Yes...Sigrid Harald is distantly related to Deborah Knott, although at this point they don't know one another. They meet in one of the later Knott books. If you check the series pages you'll find a title that is numbered in both of them (Knott and Harald).

61. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson I read this now (never having read it before) because Stevenson is the July selection for the British Authors Challenge. I had a pretty good time with it, but it was clearly not written with me in mind. The copy of the book I read from belonged to my Father-in-Law. It's a very nice edition, with color plates of illustrations by N. C. Wyeth. Although I would think it might have appealed much more to him as a child than it has to me as a retired old lady, I suspect he didn't read it, as a few pages near the end were uncut! I should have been very familiar with the story, as my daughter loved it when she was a kid (watched that movie HOW many times, lycomayflower?). But all I could have told you before picking this up last week was that David Balfour was done wrong by some relative to keep him from inheriting an estate in Scotland. The details were all new to me. It was fun to see him triumph over treachery, greed, shipwreck, hunger and a bit of temptation. Some of the scenes are just priceless, but there are many holes in the story that I'm sure young readers of even a century ago would not have minded or noticed. Suspension of disbelief came a little hard for me, and I wasn't quite enamored enough of the characters to set that aside and revel in the story. Still, I wasn't tempted to quit, and I'm glad to have this one in my mental database now.

>48 laytonwoman3rd: I'm glad you liked this. I was all set to dive into a RLS book when I finished Martin Walker's Bruno book but my french immersion there strangely left me wanting more French by the end. I started reading a few pages of Kidnapped and realized it wasn't what I wanted at all, nor could The Master of Ballantrae spark an interest. In fact I want to learn more about the Algerian situation. I've had a copy of The Algeria Hotel for several years and if I can find it I think it is the book I should read sooner rather than later. Maybe not my next book, but very soon. Lots of ugly stuff gets buried in history as we see that the good guys were not always the good guys.

Just dropping in to say hello, Linda.

>50 tymfos: Nice to see you here, Terri!

62. The Kennedy Half Century by Larry J. Sabato The subtitle of this chunky volume gives you an idea of the scope of the work: "The Presidency, Assassination, and Lasting Legacy of John F. Kennedy." It can easily be read in parts. Sabato covers what is known, suspected and suggested about Kennedy's assassination in a well-organized, objective and enlightening fashion, based on years of research using all the documentation available as of 2013. (Additional documents are just now being released, or re-released without redactions, and Sabato refers to those from time to time, indicating that while he expects them to be of interest, he does not believe there will be anything particularly startling in them, nor will they answer, once and for all, the 50-year-old questions about Kennedy's murder.) Sabato did not set out to prove anything, which makes this the best book I've ever read about this highly charged subject. Sabato also has a reader-friendly style of narrative that kept me going strong through over 400 pages of text. If all you're interested in is the assassination, you can stop around page 256. But as fascinating as that all is, the subsequent chapters, in which the author examines closely how the next nine U. S. Presidents quoted, praised, invoked, imitated, misrepresented, appropriated or ignored JFK and his legacy, are must reading for all political junkies and plain old history buffs. If this had been my own book, it would be studded with page-point markers. It isn't just good narrative non-fiction, it's a valuable reference work as well, with over 150 pages of end notes, and an extensive index. Highly recommended.

>39 laytonwoman3rd: I hadn't seen that article and I had not heard about the kerfuffle. Thanks for posting the link. Very interesting.

Linda--Very nice reviews. I am not much of a history buff, but I am going to recommend the Kennedy one to my FIL. Thanks!

>52 laytonwoman3rd: If I weren't solidly booked, heh heh, this one would interest me. Everything I know about the Kennedy assassination I learned from reading Libra by Don DeLillo. No, no, not true; just another weird joke.

>55 weird_O: Hey, DeLillo mined some of the same sources...
>54 Berly: Thanks, Kim. I imagine it will be a welcome recommendation.
>53 EBT1002: Quite welcome, I'm sure.

63. Final Jeopardy by Linda Fairstein I've seen Fairstein's stuff on bookstore shelves for years, and for some reason brushed her off as one of those popular crime novelists I don't have time for (as opposed to the large stable of popular crime novelists I DO have time for). So a couple weeks ago, I saw a CBS Sunday Morning segment featuring her, and was intrigued enough to search out her first Alexandra Cooper novel from the library, and now I have to read THIS series. Cooper, like the author herself, is a Manhattan Assistant District Attorney (well, Fairstein "retired" to write full time a good many years ago, now) working in the Sex Crimes Unit. This may be what put me off in the first place---not wanting to immerse myself in the ugly world of sexual violence. But there was really very little of that in this one, as we follow the investigation into a murder of a woman initially thought to be Cooper. Was she actually the intended victim, or was the actress borrowing her car and her getaway cottage really the target of the shooter? I clicked with Fairstein's style, the character of Cooper (she's a very believeable combination of tough broad and damsel in distress), and the camaraderie between Cooper and her long-time friend Mike Chapman, who is an NYPD detective assigned to her office (they challenge each other with wagers on the Final Jeopardy clue on a regular basis). Besides Chapman, Cooper has several good friends; she isn't a loner, and her support system is solid. I really like the set-up here. So if Fairstein can avoid a few pitfalls (like putting her fictional self in true jeopardy too often, or going for the sensational when the substantial is what I want), I'll follow her adventures.

Some interesting reading Linda. >52 laytonwoman3rd: It's a while since I've read anything about the Kennedy era, that book looks interesting.

Linda, not sure exactly how far you are from NYC, but we are organizing a meet-up!

https://www.librarything.com/topic/266680

Catching up Linda and well enough so to wish you a wonderful weekend. xx

Finally caught up, Linda. Some excellent reviews here.

I'm sorry you didn't like Maltese Falcon. It's one of my favorite movies, and tolerable as a book. On the other hand, I found The Thin Man, in both movie and book incarnations, to be weak and just not worth my time. Witty one-liners can only carry a book so far, and I'm not wild about drinking being seen as America's Pastime.

I must get to Kidnapped. I know I read it as a child, but thousands of books have gone by since then.

Happy reading!

>58 Caroline_McElwee: Yes, Caroline---definitely one of the best non-fiction books I've read in a while.

>59 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie. It's a bit of project to get to NYC from here, but that doesn't mean I won't think about it!

>60 PaulCranswick: Good to see you here, Paul.

>61 Matke: Even though I didn't love either of them, I feel much better about the time I spent reading Stevenson than the time I spent reading Hammett. I suppose it's partly because my heart already belongs to another hard-boiled detective or two who actually know how to treat women as equals.

>62 laytonwoman3rd: hard-boiled detective ... treat women as equals.
Amen, sister! I had that problem with Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye and it kinda turned me off those old-time detectives.

64. Small Ceremonies by Carol Shields I tried Shields' The Stone Diaries several years ago, and couldn't see what the fuss was about---I couldn't finish it. But she was one of the selections for July's Canadian Authors Challenge, and I decided to give her another try. It was a very good decision. Small Ceremonies would have been a one-sitting read for me, if there hadn't been other things I absolutely HAD to set it aside for. Judith Gill is a wife, mother and biographer currently working on a comprehensive life of Susanna Moodie. She hopes to research every last work and source until she finally "gets" the enigmatic woman. Meanwhile, Judith also reflects on the lives and behaviors of her husband, her children, and her friends. She is an Observer, with a capital "O". She gets a bit introspective about her own life, but not in an off-putting, navel-gazing sort of way. She analyzes off-hand comments, taking possibly more meaning from them than is intended, accepting some and rejecting others. The fundamental ordinariness of things, even certain big moments and lasting disappointments, ultimately brings some comfort and acceptance of herself to Judith. This worked for me in the simple, understated way that Barbara Pym's novels do.

I'm one who absolutely loved The Stone Diaries - I have a few other Shields on my shelves, but not Small Ceremonies, so onto the list it goes...

I hope you have a happy Sunday, Linda!

>65 katiekrug: I'm wondering if I should try that one again...

>66 laytonwoman3rd: - I loved it from the beginning and found the writing very graceful and beautiful. But I know others thought it was boring and pedestrian, so *shrug* To each their own, I guess. I have trouble going back to books I've set aside, and there are so many other good ones to discover...

>63 lauralkeet: Somehow I missed you up there, Laura. Sorry about that! Hammett and Chandler are seminal in a genre that I really do love, but more recent practitioners of their art have improved and enriched it with more realism (not Realism) and true grit. I don't think the LA or Chicago or New York of these early noir classics ever existed, but I'm glad they got that particular literary ball rolling anyway.

65. When a Wolf is Hungry by Christine Naumann-Villemin, Illustrated by Kris DiGiacomo



An ER selection I received today. Naturally, I couldn't resist reading it immediately. Edmund Bigsnout is a wolf with a craving for a bit of urban lapin, so he dresses up, grabs his trusty couteau and sets off on his bicycle for the city. Multiple encounters and misunderstandings with the friendly animal inhabitants of a high-rise apartment building leave him increasingly frustrated in his attempts to capture a bunny and turn it into cuisine, until finally, he ends up on the roof, with the whole tenant population, invited to join them in a vegetarian barbecue (using mostly HIS utensils). Delightful, wickedly humorous, probably more fun for the slightly older end of the recommended age range (4 to 8). The illustrations make this one. Originally published in French, I think the translation could be a bit more elegant, although if I hadn't known about that I wouldn't find a thing wrong with the English text. I believe the author did the English version herself, as there is no translator credited. I knocked off 1/2 star because she failed to name all of the critters, even though she's obviously very good at it---witness Edmund Bigsnout and Miss Eyestopper (a flirty female wolf). I want to know the names of the turkey, the bear, the skunk, etc. 4 1/2 stars

>69 laytonwoman3rd: Oooo. Wantsies.

>69 laytonwoman3rd: Awesome review!

>70 lycomayflower: Come get it!

>71 Berly: Thanks, Kim. It was a fun read.

>72 laytonwoman3rd: Me too, Paul. Thanks for stopping by.

Real life is kicking my butt this month, and I'm not getting through many books. Right now I'm sitting in the cat's "apartment" (also my study) keeping her company while she's confined. We're waiting for window replacement people to arrive, and the house is torn apart---books on the beds, air conditioners on the floor, furniture moved away from the windows, curtains down. Not a happy situation, but it will get worse before it gets better. Soon there will be huge gaps across the back of the house, and all the bugs will come in. I must keep my eyes on the prize, as it were. New windows. Yes...that's good, Linda, that's good.

Sounds like you need some netting so you can sleep at night. Look, it even comes in this pretty pink color!! Hang in there. ; )

Ooof. We're thinking that we'll be getting new windows next summer. Good to know that it's such a happy process. Yoicks.

>74 scaifea: Well, with any luck, it will be done today, so we can put the air-conditioner and the bedroom curtains back in place, and swat all the bugs before bedtime!

>75 laytonwoman3rd: I'd recommend doing it in stages, Amber, so you can keep a room or two "normal" if possible. We have both bedrooms and the kitchen out of commission, so it better be a one-day job as predicted!

>76 scaifea: Excellent advice. We'll see how our guy does things (he starts on the new roof on Monday). He'll be doing a bit of work on our kitchen soon (post-roof), and as much as I'm looking forward to having the finished product, I am dreading having my kitchen torn up. How does one cope?!

>73 Berly: - Hang in there, Linda. I have been slowly replacing the windows in my house over the years. Did the final 2 (upstairs front rooms, the ones that probably needed it most, as they face west, into the hot afternoon sun), last fall and yes, it is worth it. Yes, the rooms were a mess but that gets sorted out afterwards, eventually. A nice table fan, in the meantime, helps....

Good luck!

>77 jessibud2: Yeah, if you figure out the kitchen thing, let me know. That remodeling project is something I long to do, and we're talking to a guy (who did our roof, too, btw) about it. But I will have to recuperate from this upheaval for a while first.

>78 laytonwoman3rd: I know, Shelley, I was talking to a friend earlier this week who's been through it, and she said "You're going to love them!", and I'm sure you're both right. Our bedroom windows have leaked, so this is a pretty important project to get done.

>79 jessibud2: - I remember sitting in the living room one night watching tv and watching the rain drip down the wall beneath the window. On the inside. So yes, been there, done that. My living room window is huge, too (cathedral ceiling there and the window is nearly floor-to-ceiling in height). Sigh...

I have lived in my house for 16 years and though I never saw the movie, I understand the term *money pit*....
;-p

Well, the windows are in....it only took them about 3 hours. We were amazed. We spent more time than that moving things around before and after, I think. And the cat took it fairly well. The bad news is, our window air conditioning units may not fit back in now. One of them ought to be replaced anyway, so....now there's that. I had plenty of time to get ready and go to the monthly library board meeting late this afternoon, and it was uncommonly short, so I also made a bookstore stop. There may be a stack photo tomorrow. If I decide to get out of bed at all. ;>)

Book haul from Thursday. I have been out of bed since then, honest. Just occupied with that alternate reality....you know, Life Itself.

Apparently Louise Erdrich has written a book about me

>83 Caroline_McElwee: tee hee

>82 laytonwoman3rd: I have the two Snyders Linda. I thought On Tyranny fine, and deserving of a reread soon, a little book with lots to say. The other may wait til next year.

66. The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich Moving up the age scale a bit from Edmund Bigsnout, I gave this YA novel by one of my favorite authors a go. At first I wasn't too impressed; I thought the writing style a bit awkward, as Erdrich inserted explanations and English translations of Ojibwe words into the narrative, thwarting the flow. The character development felt a bit slow to me too. But somewhere around page 40 or so, I discovered I really wanted to follow this story, and when the main character, 8-year-old Omakayas (oh-MAH-kay-ahs) was allowed to tend her baby brother alone for the first time, I fell in love. The book follows a 19th century Ojibwe family through the four seasons of a year on their home island near the southern edge of Lake Superior. We share the chores of daily living as well as the bigger tasks of tanning hides, gathering wild rice, making makazins, storing food for the winter, sugaring off in the spring, and building their summer home, the titular birchbark house. This is the first in a series of books, the latest of which is Makoons, a title, as noted above, which delights me. I'll keep reading. If subsequent entries hold up, I would recommend this series to anyone who enjoys the Little House Books, for another perspective on 19th century America from a child's view. Oh, and the illustrations, which Erdrich apparently did herself, are special too.

>83 Caroline_McElwee: =)

>85 lycomayflower: Well, I rather want to read that now too.

>82 laytonwoman3rd: Finally catching up with your thread, Linda. Great book haul and when I saw the Krist book I remembered that I have been looking for that one for a long time. I immediately ordered it and the hard cover was on sale so I nabbed that and need another book for free shipping. I have wanted the first book in the Will Thomas series Some Danger Involved and I was able to get the last one available at Chapters on-line. Thank you for the nudge.

>87 laytonwoman3rd: Glad to have been able to enable, Meg!

>86 Familyhistorian: Perhaps we can make it possible...

67. South Riding by Winifred Holtby This tome occupied my reading time for most of August, which is traditionally "Virago month" on LT. It has been languishing on my shelves for a long time, probably since very soon after I caught the Virago collecting bug from some discerning readers here. I actually finished it before The Birchbark House, but the latter was easier to summarize, so it made it onto the thread first.

"The South Riding" is a fictional designation for a real and distinctive region in Yorkshire. A good bit of the action in this novel concerns local governing bodies and the slippery political scheming and in-fighting that lubricates their joints. The personalities and personal strivings of aldermen including our mostly upright Mrs. Beddows, and of council members including the not-so-upright Mr. Huggins, made for very interesting reading, even if some of the particulars of their schemes left me slightly bewildered at times. (Holtby felt compelled to apologize to her mother, Alderman Mrs. Holtby, in her introduction, making it clear that South Riding was not her mother's district, and its councillors were not her mother's colleagues.) Intertwined with these goings-on are the daily concerns of the ordinary residents of the district--small holders, school mistresses and their pupils, labourers, dressmakers, pubkeepers, reporters and dairymen. It's all here: economics, politics, love, dying, faith, hypocrisy, innocence, pride, regret...a grand sprawling landscape of life with multiple roads and streams to explore. Loved it.

>89 Caroline_McElwee: I loved it too Linda, and it is near the top of a reread soonish pile.

68. Call the Nurse by Mary J. MacLeod In 1970, Nurse Mary-J and her husband George decided to give up the hectic pace of life in the south of England, and try a simpler, sturdier sort of existence on a windy island in the Hebrides. Although George had been born in Glasgow and had ancestral ties to the islands, he had never even visited there, and neither of them "had the Gaelic", which so many islanders still spoke, some exclusively. Mary-J took the job as district nurse among the crofters and villagers in what even a rural girl like myself would surely see as a god-forsaken countryside. Long winters; brief summers; rugged but often eccentric crofters and their families living in far-flung cottages accessible by roads barely recognizable as such; a cottage hospital equipped to handle only the mildest of complaints; a culture strongly bound to tradition; and all supplies that could not be grown, raised or manufactured on the land available only through a long and often dangerous water crossing to the mainland. Yet MacLeod loved her years on the island she called Papavray (a fictive name), and as she wrote this memoir much later, in her '80's, she longed to return one more time to the land of peat bogs and rocky shores. This is reminiscent of James Herriot's Yorkshire adventures, but MacLeod spares us the goriest of details, never pokes even the slightest bit of fun at her patients, and leaves the reader with a healthy respect for the hardy souls who lived this sort of life well into the second half of the 20th century. I was also struck by the total absence of the concept of "women's work" in this society, where self-reliance and practicality demanded that anyone be prepared to take on anything that needed doing.

>89 Caroline_McElwee: - I had several Virago editions of Holtby's books, but they are in the box of books that went astray during the move. Also missing most of my Alice Hoffmans. *sigh*

>91 katiekrug: I've had a "thing" going on with the Hebrides and other northern islands for quite a while now. I'm not sure if I have this on kindle; if not, I'll be remedying that immediately!

>89 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks for the review of South Riding. It's been sitting on my shelves for a while, too, and now I'll be bumping it up the stacks.

The window project went fast! At some point I'm going to need to replace one window, which is going to be...pricey, as my windows are enormous. And I have one of those open-concept houses, and all the more public areas will be off-limits to the cats. They too have their own apartment, though, so that will be all right.

>92 Matke: "box of books that went astray during the move"...precisely why I've stayed in one place for over 30 years! The horror!!

>93 laytonwoman3rd: I have a copy of The Crofter and the Laird around somewhere, and I'm tempted to plunge right into that one. Have you read it, Gail? I'm so glad I finally gave South Riding my time. I muddled through a few bits of it (the wheeling and dealing confused me), and the ending retrospective was a bit overblown, but in such a long book, there was way more wheat than chaff.

South Riding is one of my all-time favorite books, a 5-star read. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. It was made into a television series which was also well done, although if I remember correctly the story was condensed in some respects.

I'm also intrigued by Call the Nurse. I've seen that book somewhere and immediately rejected it as an imitation of Call the Midwife. I'm glad to see it's more than that.

The possibility of books going astray during a move sends shivers up my spine!! The horror, indeed.

>95 laytonwoman3rd: I haven't read any of the Call the Midwife series, Laura, nor seen the TV version (YET), so I can't comment on similarities and differences. But MacLeod's book is more about life on the island than strictly about her nursing duties. There is another, Nurse, Come You Here!, which I'll be looking out for. She also wrote a memoir about her childhood and training, which ought to be interesting. She was 80 when the first book was published in 2012, and I haven't been able to determine whether she's still living or not. The last post on her Facebook page was put up in November of 2016.

I am hopeful that the missing box just got mis-directed to the wrong part of the house. There are still lots of unpacked boxes in the basement....

>96 katiekrug: ah ... so you came to it with a fresh perspective, not influenced by CTM's popularity. Got it. May I just say that you really MUST watch the show? I recommend starting with Season 1 so you see how it all began. While each episode stands on its own in terms of the "baby birthing" plots, some character storylines bridge seasons. It also travels nicely through history so you see how the role of the midwife evolved alongside the healthcare system.

>96 katiekrug: I will share that hope with you, Katie. Because not to do so is unthinkable.

>97 lauralkeet: Oh, yes, another Laura has already impressed upon me the wonderfulness of CTM. As I told her earlier today, should I EVER find time to watch TV again, it will be high on my list. Of course now she's urging Dr. Blake on me. I've GOT to retire. Oh. Wait. I DID that. So what's the problem??? (You do remember that I'm just now watching the first season of The West Wing, right?)

69. Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan Everyone else has read this one by now, right? I don't feel I have a lot to say about it. It was a very fast read, and an entertaining one. Told from the perspective of the manager of a Red Lobster on its last night of operation, it's an insightful slice of life and a bit of an exploration of attitudes toward work, duty and loyalty. Solid 3 star stuff.

70. Charlotte's Web by E. B. White This is an old favorite that I re-read every so often, even though there may not be a young person around to share it with. Someone here recently mentioned there was an audio version read by the author, and of course I had to check that out. We all know the fine story of Wilbur, the runt pig, whose life was saved twice: once by an outraged little girl who wouldn't let her father kill him for being too small, and again by Charlotte A. Cavatica, a gray spider who devised an ingenious plan to prevent him from becoming Christmas ham and bacon. (Well, if you don't, you've missed out. Start with the paper book, because you really ought to have Garth Williams' illustrations in your head as you meet the gang for the first time.) On this outing, in addition to the wonderful characterizations of both people and farm animals; the simply delightful vocabu-abulary lessons; and the sensitive handling of the natural rhythms of life and death, I got to experience White's considerable talent at narration. His voice is pleasant, his inflections appropriate, and his accent a combination of George Plimpton, the Tappit brothers and Jack Nicholson. (I thought Paul Lynde nailed it as Templeton in the movie, but now I have to say I prefer Andy White's somewhat subtler, yet more menacing portrayal.) When I was trying to pin down White's accent, I got lycomayflower involved. She listened a bit, and suggested that he reminded her of one of the contemporary diarists portrayed orally in Ken Burns' Civil War documentary. AHA! I said to myself....George Templeton Strong...that's who! (Gotta love that his middle name was...ok, I didn't have to point that out.) And who provided the voice for Strong? George Plimpton. Yup. Imagine my surprise when, following the last chapter of Wilbur's story on the audio version, there came an Afterword written for the 50th anniversary edition of the book, narrated by...*drumroll*... George Plimpton. Some world.

>100 laytonwoman3rd: - I am a big fan of Stewart O'Nan and Lobster is one of my favorites.

71. West of Last Chance by Kent Haruf and Peter Brown This is a beautiful coffee table book with photographs by Peter Brown, and minimal text in the form of very short fictional "bits" by Haruf. The subject matter of the photos is the stark landscape of the high plains, with improbable flashes of natural beauty, and gritty reminders of the hard way of life of those who live on them. It's hard to "review" this work. Here are a couple samples from which you may be able to judge for yourself whether it's your kind of thing.


Limon, Colorado 2006

"People from Denver came out here and put cream-colored stucco on an old clapboard house to look nice and believed they would raise buffalo. Believed they could. Called them bison. So they put barbed-wire fences around a pasture and the first good breeze those buffalo took off and they didn't get them stopped till they got about to the correction line eight miles north. O, people will try anything."


Bird City, Kansas 2005 (The sign in the window says "Museum")

"A friend told me once: he went out to an auction of government used cars and while there he got to talking to an old man. He said he couldn't remember what led up to it or led away from it, but at a certain point in their conversation the old man said:
I'm a bachelor, but I got air-conditioning.
Think about that and that's a story. Air-conditioning as compensation for whatever else you don't have in this life."

Two thumbs up, Linda. O'Nan took me off guard when I read Last Night at the Lobster. I hadn't read anything by him at the time. Good comments. And Charlotte's Web, which I just read a month ago. Audiobook: Interesting. Then that photo book. Just a great string of winning books.

>104 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks, Bill.

>102 laytonwoman3rd: It was a little gem of a book, Katie. The only other O'Nan I've read was The Night Country, which was a bit strange, but I liked it.

I love your take on Charlotte's Web, and the Plimpton coincidences. Some pigworld, indeed. I, too, loved Lynde's Templeton in the movie ("a fair is a veritable smorgasbord..."), so I'm intrigued by an alternate interpretation.

Just chiming in on nurse and midwife chat...I do have Call the Nurse and put The Crocker and the Laird on the WL. In a side note, I just read Secrets of the Sea House, a mystery which deals in some detail with what happened to the crofters. It hasn't received the attention as the Potato Famine, but the story is pretty brutal.

Oh, please do try to find time for both the books and series Call the Midwife. The series is poignant enough to bring one to real tears.

Love all your comments on Charlotte's Web. I somehow missed this as a child and came to it first as a teacher. It's become a favorite, of course.

>106 Matke: You know, I don't do many audiobooks these days, since I'm not driving back and forth to work, and I'm SO particular about narrators, and hate to leave stories alone in between drives, and can't seem to accommodate that format in the house...but having said all that, this particular audiobook may take its place very near the top of my "best reads" list of all time. I wish I owned it.

>107 laytonwoman3rd: Well, I don't think I can resist all the fervent enthusiasm for CtM...I will have to get going on that soon!

72. The Blunderer by Patricia Highsmith Hmmm. What to say about this one? I read it for the AAC, as it was the only one of her novels in my possession. I haven't read Highsmith before, although I am familiar with Mr. Ripley and have had The Price of Salt on my radar for a while. I found The Blunderer intriguing to begin with, and felt I might really be on to something I hadn't heard anyone else talking about. The following may be spoilerish, but the plot isn't the point. It begins with a man murdering his wife, in a manner obviously carefully planned not only to divert suspicion from himself, but to provide himself with an alibi. In the second chapter we meet Walter Stackhouse, a man struggling to hold on to Clara, the wife he loves, but who treats him with contempt, accuses him of drunkenness, and alienates his friends. He has raised the subject of divorce in the past, but Clara threatened to kill herself if he pursued it. Now he takes extra pains to please her, but it's clearly never going to work. Walter keeps a scrapbook of interesting tidbits he intends to work up into essays; one of those is a news clipping about the body of a woman found beaten to death near a bus rest stop. Walter surmises that the woman's husband must have killed her, although the police do not seem to be working in that direction at all. He contrives to meet the man by visiting his used book shop on the pretense of ordering an obscure legal title. He becomes slightly obsessed with the murder, and when his own wife takes a bus to visit her dying mother, he follows it in a frenzied state, contemplating the possibility of killing Clara in the manner in which he has imagined that the bookseller must have killed his wife. When the bus makes its first rest stop, Walter looks for Clara, but cannot find her. Very shortly, her body is found at the bottom of a cliff, with no injuries that suggest anything other than a fall to her death. The rest of this book is almost completely psychological, a combination of Hitchcock and Dostoyevsky, as Walter and the bookseller each become mutually convinced of the other's guilt in the death of their respective wives, while a police detective plays one against the other trying to keep them both off balance. The police captain is fiendish in his methods, and we are never sure whether he believes Walter pushed Clara over that cliff; Walter is wallowing in guilt to the point where he sometimes isn't too sure himself, and he can't leave the bookseller alone. The bookseller, on the other hand, blames Walter for turning the police's attention onto him...and so it goes. And goes, and goes...I got pretty tired of it by the end. Too much thinking. Too much talking. Too much heavy-handed irony. I got it 100 pages ago.

>109 weird_O: Ok. Believe it or else. The Blunderer was the Highsmith book I picked to read, except, of course, that no one locally had it. Not the used books places I queried, and not B&N. I was going to order it from amazon, but I was kinda waffling...stalling...analyzing. And then, Uh. It was too late for August.

Your review, Linda, makes it seem pretty good. But...drew it a little too thin, eh? Well, thanks for the sacrifice. Now I don't have to read it.

I have Last Night at the Lobster somewhere...I think....if not I should get it!! Glad the window replacement went well. How's the AC been working out?

>108 laytonwoman3rd: I tried audiobooks several years back, listening during my commute. I liked it, but then I discovered podcasts and they took over my commuting time. Now that I'm no longer working, I have to carve out time for my podcasts (usually with knitting needles in hand), and I can't see making time to listen to a book. So as good as that one sounds ... well, I'll probably just take your word for it.

>109 weird_O: wow, I was hooked on your version of the story, literally in suspense as I approached the end of the paragraph. It's a shame the book itself wasn't as tightly written.

>111 lauralkeet: We got the AC units in place, Kim. It took some genius, but we did it! Of course, the weather has been such that we haven't needed to turn them on since!

>109 weird_O: I really wish the last half of the book had been crafted better, Laura. The concept of one guilty man and one man innocent of anything other than guilty thoughts being investigated in connection with remarkably similar deaths really had my attention. I wish Hitchcock had made a movie of it. But then I discovered that there was a movie version released just last year. It's called A Kind of Murder. I may have to see if I can find it, although the reviews weren't much good. One of them said "The characters’ motivations are either too obvious to seem interesting, or too buried to make any sense. " That's true of the book as well.

73. Morningstar: Growing Up with Books by Ann Hood Thanks to lycomayflower for recommending and sending this one to me. It was a treat from beginning to end, as Ann Hood wrote about a handful of books that were important to her in her youth. So much of her experience was mine as well, although I figured out from the context that I was about 4 years ahead of her in age, and a couple more in schooling (due to my starting young and skipping a grade along the way). Like Hood, I read Marjorie Morningstar at a young age and loved her; I was intrigued and baffled by what I know now were relatively tame and vague sex scenes in that and other novels; I remember the CBS evening news in the background (although it's Richard C. Hottelet, not Walter Cronkite, who speaks in my mind); I remember Johnny Got His Gun making the rounds of older schoolmates, particularly boys who might be drafted and sent to Viet Nam, although I never read it myself; I used to choose books from the library shelves for their size, because nothing was better than getting lost for days and days in a sprawling 600+ page story that covered two or three generations; I was drawn to books that took place "out there" somewhere, China, or Russia, or Africa, or even California. This is one of the better "books about books" that I have read in a while.

Hi, Linda! I also recently enjoyed Charlotte's Web, although it has been decades since I read it. I also enjoyed Last Night at the Lobster.

>103 weird_O: This sounds good. I am a big fan of Haruf but I never heard of this coffee table book.

Hope all is well with you, Linda!

Hi, Linda! A while up thread you commented on discovering you liked Linda Fairstein's series, at least the first book. I like that series, too, some more than others. She often works interesting bits of NYC history and architecture into those books.

>115 tymfos: I'm hangin' in there, Mark. RL has been a bit complicated lately, but I'm coping!

>116 laytonwoman3rd: I've just checked the second Fairstein out of the library, Terri. I'm looking forward to it.

Well, at least your AC is working now!! Hope RL uncomplicated itself. I love Charlotte's Web! I can't even say how many times I have read it. : )

>118 laytonwoman3rd: We turned it on in the bedroom last night, for the first time!

74. One by One in the Darkness by Deirdre Madden I finished this one yesterday, and have mixed feelings about it. Madden has woven a literary tapestry of sorts by exploring the memories and reflections of three sisters and their mother in Northern Ireland as they face a development in one of their lives and think back over their past. None of the sisters have married, yet they have chosen very different paths in adulthood; one a magazine editor, one a lawyer whose firm often defends IRA terrorists, and one a stay-home-and-care-for-Mother teacher. We see how their personalities developed to make them who they are in the 1990's. As they remember their early life, it becomes clear that their father was a victim of the violence during the Troubles, as as result of a case of mistaken identity. Naturally this was a defining moment, not only for them and their mother, but for other members of the family as well. The novel's pattern is intricate, yet all the threads come together without a tangle at the end. Usually with a set-up like this, I would favor one character over the others, or strongly dislike and disagree with one of them. That didn't happen here. I felt sympathy for each woman, and understood how their varied life choices arose from the same set of circumstances. My reservations about the structure are two-fold. First, I occasionally got lost in time, and was a bit muddled as to whose memories I was sharing. There is very little action in real time, so it takes concentration to keep track of the who and when. The author used a nifty trick with one of the characters, who changed the spelling of her first name when she left home. That leads me to my second quibble; although recognizing the difference between "Kate" and "Cate" made it easy to keep track of her, it also made me too aware of the presence of the author, a feeling that sometimes carried over into other sections of the novel. So although the overall effect is of a well-crafted work, at times I was a little distracted by the technique involved. I think I'd benefit by re-reading the book, but I don't think it warrants that much more of my time.

>120 Caroline_McElwee: Interesting thoughts Linda, I have read several Madden novels, and like her, but I've not read that one.

One away from your 75th yay!

I've never read South Riding, which is a shame as I have delved into Testament of Friendship, which is about the friendship between her and Vera Brittain, and another volume of their joint essays and journalism. I do think that I've got the DVD of the TV series lurking around; it's so easy to order these from the UK, and I have a multi-region DVD player, which is a boon. (They are MUCH CHEAPER in the UK, even after translating into dollars.)

Book bullet with the Carol Shields novel. I really enjoyed Swann last year, and resolved to read more by her, so this may be the next up. She's one of those novelists that seems undeservedly overlooked. I did pick up a few in a Kindle sale a little while back, but Small Ceremonies wasn't one. Shall see if the Athenaeum can oblige...

>120 Caroline_McElwee: Oh, stand by, Caroline. No. 75 is coming!

>121 Chatterbox: I think I kept putting off South Riding because it's a bit of a doorstop, but now it's put me in the mood for another great long read.
I'm glad I didn't give up on Shields, as my first impression of her wasn't favorable. She's deceptively "simple", I think, and it may be easy to miss her depth.

75. A Nickel's Worth of Skim Milk by Robert J. Hastings I found this slim little volume while cleaning out some of my uncle's books and papers in preparation for moving him from one assisted living facility to another. He isn't a reader, so I don't know why he had this, but he grew up during the Depression himself, so someone probably thought he'd enjoy it. I found it to be a little gem. The sub-title is "A Boy's View of the Great Depression", and it was written long after the "boy" grew up, but it still has some of that childhood innocence that can take the sentimentality out of nostalgia. Lovers of Slightly Foxed memoirs (*waves at Caroline*) will know what I mean. The author shares his memories of the years of 1930-1938, when he was in grade school in Marion, Illinois. His father had been employed as a miner, and his mother ran a small neighborhood grocery, but in 1930 the local mine was closed down, and business fell off as most customers owed bills they would never be able to pay. There is nothing grim or hopeless in this tale; the Hastings family was resourceful, their father willing and able to take on any job of work that might present itself, and neighbors helped neighbors. Yet, the author does not necessarily agree with those who say "Today's kids have it too easy." "The Depression was a struggle for survival, and any struggle leaves its marks...{but} We can't impose yesterday on today. Each generation has its own problems. Learning to cope with material prosperity may be just as challenging as surviving a Depression...We cannot artificially impose yesterday's problems on today's society and expect instant happiness. This is a simplistic wish for panaceas that fizzles in the arena of reality." I was glad to hear someone of that generation make such a statement. Looking back affectionately on our childhoods is a wonderful thing, no matter what generation we belong to. But asserting that the way we grew up is automatically better than the way "kids nowadays" are doing it has always struck me as fallacious, and I hope I never grow so old that I fall into that trap.

Congrats on hitting 75!

>125 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks, Jim. I'm a bit disappointed, though, as I'm almost a month behind my pace from last year. But, what with house projects and spending nearly six weeks working on finding my uncle a more appropriate assisted living facility (he needs "memory-care" now) and then moving him into it, I guess it's to be expected. Onward!

>120 Caroline_McElwee: You made me go off in search of my review, Linda. I read that one about 4 years ago and gave it 4.5 stars. I especially liked the way the story was crafted.

Congrats on reaching 75 despite all of life's hiccups!

>126 lauralkeet: I'm in a similar situation this year - not a month behind, but definitely behind. Mostly due to work picking up, but also dealing with an aging mother in law. Onward, indeed!

congrats on 75 books Linda.

I too shall aim not to fall into that trap Linda. I think young people going forward will suffer from very different problems than those of the past. There are lots of stresses that didn't really exist then, that do now.

Just catching up after vacation, Linda. It looks like you've done some great reading. I'm making note of a couple of them, and, congratulations on your 75.

>127 drneutron: In fact, Laura, you sent me the book when you were finished with it!

>128 Caroline_McElwee: The Ancients can take up a lot of our time, but overall, probably not as much as they spent raising us. I keep reminding myself of that.

>129 NanaCC: Thanks, Caroline I think growing up is a combination of hard and wonderful, whenever you do it.

>130 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks, Colleen. Always glad to be able to bring a book to someone's attention.

>131 lauralkeet: aha, I wondered about that! I re-read my review which mentions the difficulty I had in tracking down the book (eventually it came up on Paperbackswap). So I figured you either had better luck than me, or a book fairy granted your wish.

(I was going to post an image of a book fairy, but everything on Google images was just a little too weird).

Seventy-five books read. Already. Good for you. And for your uncle-care as well; you are a good person.

>132 weird_O: Here you go...



>133 laytonwoman3rd: Well, thank you, Bill.

>134 lauralkeet: that'll do, thanks!

Congratulations on reaching 75, Linda!

>136 laytonwoman3rd: Thank you, Anita!

I know September doesn't feel like summer anymore to most people in the Northern Hemisphpere, but I usually find quarterly threads adequate for me, so I'll keep this one going until the end of September, or at least until the Autumn equinox.

Way to go, Linda!

Thanks, Joe! Love the graphic.

Congratulations on your 75 already Linda.

I am way behind you this year and need to get cracking if I am not going to fail to reach 100 for the first time since I left Junior High.

>140 laytonwoman3rd: Well, Paul, you can forgive yourself under current life circumstances, if your reading doesn't come up to your usual numbers. It's not an obligation, unlike a lot of other stuff going on!

Late to the game but congrats on 75, Linda!

>142 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks, Shelley!

76. Likely to Die by Linda Fairstein No. 2 in the Alex Cooper series. In this one, Cooper is brought into the investigation of the murder of a highly regarded doctor who was stabbed multiple times in her own office at a mid-town hospital, where she was known to work alone very late at night. The condition of the body suggests at least an attempt at rape, bringing it within Cooper's purvue as head of the Manhattan D.A.'s Sex Crimes Unit. A page turner, with all the proper elements.

I missed 75, so congrats on 76!! I am enjoying mysteries right now, too: Harry Bingham's This Thing Of Darkness.

Thanks, Kim! I am not familiar with Bingham, so I'll have to check those out.

77. The Paper Moon by Andrea Camilleri The continuing adventures of Inspector Salvo Montalbano, who is beginning to wonder if he's "getting too old for this", as he commits a couple of what he considers to be very foolish mistakes in investigating the peculiar shooting death of a pharmaceutical representative in a private roof-top sanctuary. There are a couple of disarming, disturbing women involved, which adds to Montalbano's discomfort. This is not the strongest entry in the series. I thought the plot line of this one was stretched a bit thin; as I was fairly sure I had the culprit and the motive pegged early on, I got impatient to be done with it, and getting to the solution wasn't quite as much fun as it often is, although there were a few laughs along the way. As has happened before with Montalbano, the perpetrator of the crime does not come to justice in any official sense, but the books are cleared and everyone is satisfied. Almost no food in this one, though, I'm sad to say.

So, now, congrats on 77!

Some of the Montalbano books are better than others, IMO. The one you just read must not have made much of an impression on me, as I had to check and see if I'd read it!

>148 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks, Terri. I think all series fiction suffers from an occasional dud, and they are often forgettable, even when they are great fun during the reading. I won't let this keep me from visiting the good Inspector again.

My reading has slowed down considerably, at least as far as finishing anything goes. I'm reading two Tomes at the moment, both very good, but neither of them may get completed by the end of the month/quarter/thread. We shall see.

>147 tymfos: Camilleri is in his nineties already and I often think he is musing on age through Montalbano!

Have a wonderful weekend, Linda.

>150 laytonwoman3rd: I imagine you're right about Camilleri, Paul. But this book is only No. 9 in the series, and there are at least 24...this theme might get a bit "old" itself if he carries it on through the next 15 or so!

>147 tymfos: I'm taking the first four Montalbano novels on holiday with me (I bought the first ten in an offer a few years ago, and have just popped the package!).

>150 laytonwoman3rd: ha, I hadn't realised he was in his 90s Paul.

78. The Kingdom of Auschwitz by Otto Friedrich This is a concise, well-written history of the unfathomable horror of the Nazi death camp known as Auschwitz. No matter how many accounts of WWII atrocities I read, either in fiction or non-fiction, I can never get a grip on the immensity of the human loss. This belongs on the shelf next to the classics of Holocaust fiction and memoir, to remind us all of the scale of the wickedness.

79. On Tyranny Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder Another quickie---a pithy little volume of advice on how, maybe, to avoid the descent into darkness. From "Do Not Obey in Advance" to "Be as Courageous as You Can", Snyder offers simple, practical observations on what we all can and must do to prevent tyranny from sneaking in and becoming the norm. It will come as no surprise to this group that he advocates being careful with language, responsible with facts and vigilant about your rights and privacy. And "read books" is in there too. Everyone ought to carry a copy of this in their back pocket.

>153 RBeffa: I think a big part of the reason I am drawn to WWII fiction and non-fiction is that like you I can never seem to fathom and really understand the level of evil that was loose in the world. From that horror I would never imagine where America has been trending in recent times, but I suppose nothing should surprise me.

>153 RBeffa:, >154 jessibud2: - It is precisely because of this literature that America (and the rest of the world, too, I suppose) has no excuse for turning in this direction. At that time, there was no precedent for what was happening. The Jews and other minority groups who had been German citizens - educated, contributing people in the society and the culture - refused to believe that anything that horrific could happen there. They continued to refuse to believe it until it was too late and by the time they realized that it could and was happening, well, we know the end of that story.

Today, under the current American president, so many people - some of them supposedly intelligent, educated people - are saying nothing that bad could ever happen like that again. Guess what, folks. This time, there is a precedent and as I've said in other discussions since January, to paraphrase the philosopher Santayana, those who refuse to learn from history are condemned to repeat it. The difference this time is that the weapons are different, more sophisticated and more deadly. And also, this time, what was once unthinkable, would now be willful ignorance, if people continue to ignore what is already blatantly obvious to those of us who can read the writing on the wall.

Sorry for the rant and the hijack of this thread. This whole thing makes my head ache. trump and his mouth make my head (and heart) ache. And I am not even American.

>153 RBeffa: I suspected you would appreciate Snyder's book Linda. I need to read it again this year.

>155 Caroline_McElwee: No highjack, Shelley. The current occupant has the whole world suffering from high anxiety, I think. As Snyder says in his section on patriotism, "A nationalist will say 'it can't happen here,' which is the first step toward disaster. A patriot says that it could happen here, but that we will stop it." I can only hope we have enough true patriots to do the job.

80. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien I feel I am very late getting around to this, which has been on my tbr shelf since 2009, when it was the selection for Scranton's "One City, One Book" annual group read. I picked up a free copy then, but didn't participate, although I had heard very good things about the book from some friends here on LT. I suppose the time just wasn't right. Well, now, because we've been watching Ken Burns' powerful documentary on The Vietnam War (which I commend to everyone, btw...), the time seemed perfect. The Things They Carried is an excellent companion to that series, in which Tim O'Brien is one of the many contributors. It is categorized as a work of fiction...a series of stories about being a foot soldier in Vietnam, which O'Brien was. I think the line between fact and fiction is very very blurry here, but I have no doubt that all of it is True. O'Brien plays around with the concept of truth in fiction within the text; he tells the same story from different perspectives, often repeating certain "facts" like a mantra, or as if the narrator is attempting to settle the "truth" of the matter in his own mind in a way he can live with. He presents certain chapters as direct address to the reader (here's why I told that story that way), but are those "real" or factual, or just also True? There is no shying away from the grim, unimaginable horrors of that particular war; the things clean-cut American kids (many of them teenagers, can we please never never never forget that?) did there that defy their upbringing are spelled out in graphic prose. The things that they suffered and endured and died from, the lies they were told and the other lies they told themselves or their loved ones, the physical torment they learned to live with, and the mental anguish that eventually did some of them in are all in there. And yet the overall effect of The Things They Carried isn't depressing or horrifying at all. It's a brilliant piece of writing, with flashes of pure poetry, and an interesting structure. The sum is quite inexplicably beautiful. Highly recommended.

>158 RBeffa: It must have been quite a few years ago for me that I tried reading that one (as well as A Bright Shining Lie in more recent years) and I just couldn't do it. I just still carry too much anger about that war and how it effed up so many lives of my contemporaries. I could only watch a few episodes of Ken Burns series and i was getting mad all over again. This was a terrible time in our young lives. I had a very low draft # and I was on the verge of being called when Nixon did the one thing I am forever grateful and cancelled the draft. Schoolmates of mine had already joined but I was in college and had no desire to interrupt that. I was very anti-Vietnam war but never understood the anger against the soldiers who were themselves victims.

Maybe someday I can do it. Maybe not

My husband's draft No. was 22, Ron. But he was in the first round of the lottery, so when he graduated from college, he was going to be called up. He enlisted in the Coast Guard and was incredibly lucky to get into a basic training group before receiving a draft notice. (The Guard didn't take an awful lot of young men in any given year. They wanted him, as a college grad, for OCS, but there wasn't an opening in a timely class, and he couldn't wait, so he enlisted as a regular.) He ended up helping to save a few lives instead of taking them, or having his own wrecked. He also got some excellent technical training that he used throughout his working years. But it's taken me until just recently to get to a point where I could read about the war, let alone watch any movies about it. (I still won't do that.) There's plenty to be angry about, no doubt about it. I have A Bright Shining Lie here, as well as Stanley Karnow's Vietnam: A History and two volumes of the Library of America's Reporting Vietnam, which Burns says was his "go-to work" when putting the documentary together---but I may be done with the subject for a while.

>160 RBeffa: #22 would be very scary. I was #57. They had already started calling up people in 1973 for the 1972 draw (my year to be called) when Nixon acted. I had gotten preliminary stuff from the draft board. I still keep some of the papers buried in my desk. I don't know how far they got. I had talked to the navy and taken tests but there were no longer any college deferments so i would have to do a ROTC I think was the only option they gave me. So I let the monster hang over me.

I'm glad your husband was able to help people.

I've read the occasional short story set or involving Vietnam and I can do that - but a serious work I just haven't been able to do. I need to get past it someday.

It's past time for a new thread, so I'll be working on that. Stand by for the connection.