karenmarie's 2017 reading and occasional other nonsense - lucky part 13

Dit is een voortzetting van het onderwerp karenmarie's 2017 reading and occasional other nonsense - part 12.

Discussie75 Books Challenge for 2017

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karenmarie's 2017 reading and occasional other nonsense - lucky part 13

Dit onderwerp is gemarkeerd als "slapend"—het laatste bericht is van meer dan 90 dagen geleden. Je kan het activeren door een een bericht toe te voegen.

1karenmarie
dec 11, 2017, 2:49 pm

Welcome to my Thirteenth thread of 2017. This has been a stupendous LT year for me, thanks to all who visit and contribute.

I’m still ahead of the game for Christmas and only envision nice times and fun wrapping presents, addressing/mailing cards, and celebrating Christmas with former co-workers tonight, family on the 16th, friend Jan on the 19th, and then my precious husband and daughter on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It’s all good.

My goal has been to read a minimum of 100 books this year. I've read 93, with 3 more that will be completed by year end. Only 4 more new books to get read in the next 22 days, which is more than doable. My confidence level is high.







I am reading the Literary Study Bible for the entire year, and am tracking the number of pages read. I will do a final pages update year-end. I’m in Thessalonians. Maybe I’ll even finish before year end!




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

Christmas, 1941. My aunt, my mother, and my uncle. My aunt will be 82 at the end of December, my uncle 80 in January, and my mother was 84 when she passed away a year ago. Wonderful people, with a zest for life that has been and continues to be a joy to behold.



My take on the Pearl Rule:

Karen's Rule "If for any reason you don't want to continue reading a book, put it down. You may keep it, get rid of it, re-start it, never finish it, finish it from where you left off, but put it down." A different way of saying it is that I abandon books with glee if they're not working for me.

Apologies to SuziQoregon (Juli) - I have appropriated your 2016 subject line because I like it so much. Last one for the year, probably.

2karenmarie
Bewerkt: dec 30, 2017, 1:16 pm

Books read in 2017

01. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay by J. K. Rowling 1/1/17 1/3/17 **** 318 pages hardcover
02. The Stolen Bride by Jo Beverley 1/3/17 1/3/17 ** 269 pages trade paperback
03. The Patriotic Murders by Agatha Christie 1/8/17 1/9/17 *** 211 pages hardcover
04. Black Coffee by Agatha Christie 1/10/17 1/11/17 ***1/2 184 pages hardcover
05. The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories by Agatha Christie 1/13/17 1/14/17 ***1/2 185 pages hardcover
06. American Tabloid by James Ellroy 1/4/16 1/19/17 **** 592 pages trade paperback
07. Talking to the Dead by Harry Bingham 1/23/17 1/26/17 **** 378 pages Kindle
08. Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell 1/27/17 1/27/17 ***1/2 144 pages trade paperback
09. The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths by Harry Bingham 1/28/17 1/29/17 **** 398 pages Kindle
10. Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie 1/29/17 1/30/2017 ***1/2 201 pages hardcover
11. One Good Turn by Carla Kelly 1/31/17 1/31/17 **** 215 pages mass market paperback
12. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway 2/4/17 2/5/17 ***1/2 140 pages hardcover
13. The Dutiful Daughter by Vanessa Gray 2/1/17 2/5/17 ** 216 pages mass market paperback
14. Verdict of Twelve by Raymond Postgate 2/6/17 2/7/17 *** 250 pages trade paperback
15. The Crossing by Michael Connelly 2/8/17 2/10/17 ***1/2 388 pages hardcover
16. The Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly 2/10/17 2/12/17 **** 400 pages hardcover
17. My Dark Places by James Ellroy 2/13/17 2/16/17 **** 427 pages trade paperback
18. Jeremy Poldark by Winston Graham 2/17/17 2/19/17 **** 344 pages trade paperback
19. This Thing of Darkness by Harry Bingham 2/21/17 2/24/17 **** Kindle 562 pages trade paperback
20. Bleak House by Charles Dickens 2/1/17 2/27/17 Kindle 830 pages hardcover
21. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders 2/20/17 3/1/17 ***** 343 pages hardcover
** The Xibalba Murders by Lyn Hamilton abandoned after 122 pages read
22. Warleggan by Winston Graham 2/27/17 3/9/17 **** 471 pages trade paperback
23. The Black Moon by Winston Graham 3/10/17 3/13/17 ****546 pages trade paperback
24. The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie 3/14/17 3/18/17 **1/2 214 pages hardcover
25. The Four Swans by Winston Graham 3/19/17 581 pages trade paperback 1976
26. Birds Art Life: A Year of Observation by Kyo Maclear 3/28/17 3/29/17 ****1/2 221 pages
hardcover
27. His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis 3/1/17 to 4/3/17 **** audiobook, 14.75 hours unabridged
28. The Angry Tide by Winston Graham 3/30/17 4/9/17 **** 612 pages trade paperback
29. The Twelve Terrors of Christmas by John Updike 4/13/17 4/13/17 12 pages hardcover
30. Amok by Stefan Zweig 4/14/17 to 4/14/17 ***1/2 121 pages hardcover
31. The Stranger from the Sea by Winston Graham 4/9/17 4/17/17 ***1/2 499 pages trade paperback
32. Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama 4/3/17 4/19/17 ****1/2 audiobook, 7.5 hours abridged
33. The Big Year by Mark Obmascik 248 pages, 253 pages trade paperback 4/18/17 4/21/17 **** 250 pages trade paperback
34. The Miller's Dance by Winston Graham 4/22/17 4/26/17 **** 485 pages trade paperback
35. The Dead House by Harry Bingham 5/1/17 5/4/17 **** 500 pages trade paperback read on Kindle
36. Spring Fever by Mary Kay Andrews 5/6/17 5/8/17 *** 402 pages trade paperback
37. The Twisted Sword by Winston Graham 5/9/17 5/12/17 **** 645 pages trade paperback read on Kindle
38. Bella Poldark by Winston Graham 5/12/17 5/17/17 ***1/2 704 pages trade paperback read as e-book on Kindle
39. Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella 5/17/17 5/22/17 ****1/2 272 pages trade paperback read as e-book on Kindle
40. The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah 5/23/17 5/25/17 *** 384 pages hardcover read on Kindle
41. The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston 5/25/17 5/28/17 *** 336 pages hardcover read on Kindle
42. Ladies' Night by Mary Kay Andrews 5/28/17 6/1/17 *** 582 page mass market paperback
43. Midnight Crossroad by Charlaine Harris 6/1/17 6/6/17 *** 305 pages hardcover
44. A Cup of Light by Nicole Mones 6/10/17 6/12/17 **** 292 pages trade paperback
45. Festive in Death by J.D. Robb 6/12/17 6/16/17 ***1/2 389 pages hardcover
46. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling 4/20/17 -5/8/17 and 6/10/17 - 6/22/17 **** audiobook 8.3 hours unabridged
47. Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari 3/16/17 6/29/17 ****1/2 416 pages hardcover
48. Home by Harlan Coben 6/29/17 7/1/17 **** 442 pages mass market paperback
49. The Deepest Grave by Harry Bingham 7/1/17 7/4/17 **** 454 pages trade paperback
50. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn 7/4/17 7/6/17 ***1/2 252 pages hardcover
51. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn 7/7/17 7/9/17 **** 538 pages mass market paperback
52. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling 6/23/17 7/14/17 **** audiobook 8.3 hours unabridged
53. An Atlas of Countries That Don't Exist by Nick Middleton 7/14/17 7/16/17 **** 240 pages hardcover
54. Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood 7/14/17 7/16/17 ***1/2 175 pages trade paperback
55. The Stranger by Harlan Coben 07/16/17 7/17/17 **** 449 pages mass market paperback
56. The Blackhouse by Peter May 7/18/17 7/22/17 ****1/2 479 pages trade paperback
57. The Lewis Man by Peter May 7/22/17 7/25/17 ****1/2 418 pages trade paperback
58. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah 7/24/17 7/27/17 **** 8.75 hours audiobook
59. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon 7/30/17 8/3/17 ** 152 pages trade paperback
60. Raven Black by Ann Cleeves 8/3/17 8/8/17 *** 376 pages trade paperback
61. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling 7/14/17 8/11/17 **** audiobook
62. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami 7/30/17 8/12/17 467 pages trade paperback
63. A Cotswold Killing by Rebecca Tope 8/12/17 8/14/17 *** 1/2 288 pages Kindle
64. The Late Show by Michael Connelly 8/14/17 8/17/17 **** 448 pages hardcover
65. The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty 8/17/17 ****1/2 388 pages trade paperback
66. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 8/23/17 8/30/17 by Ransom Riggs **1/2 352 pages trade paperback
67. The Killings at Badger's Drift by Caroline Graham 8/30/17 9/2/17 **** 261 pages trade paperback
68. Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz 9/2/17 to 9/9/17 **** 458 pages hardcover
69. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles 9/10/17 9/19/17 ***** 462 pages hardcover
70. Glass Houses by Louise Penny 9/19/17 9/23/17 ** 1/2 391 pages hardcover
71. Jack with a Twist by Brenda Janowitz 9/24/17 9/25/17 373 pages trade paperback
72. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling 8/11/17 9/29/17 **** audiobook
73. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson 9/26/17 9/30/17 208 pages hardcover
74. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout 9/18/17 10/7/17 **** 270 pages trade paperback
75. 1066 and all That by W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman 10/11/17 10/11/17 **** 115 pages hardcover
76. Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner 10/7/17 10/12/17 ***1/2 404 pages hardcover
77. Rules of Civility by Amor Towles 10/10/17 10/16/17 **** 335 pages hardcover
78. The Wyndham Case by Jill Paton Walsh 10/17/17 10/20/17 *** 223 pages hardcover
79. Eve in Hollywood by Amor Towles 10/21/17 10/21/17 **** 75 pages e-book read as Adobe Digital Edition
80. Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton 10/20/17 10/23/17 ***1/2 483 pages hardcover
81. The Mysterious flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco 10/23/17 11/1/17 ***1/2 449 pages hardcover
82. Two Kinds of Truth by Michael Connelly 11/2/17 11/4/17 ***1/2 402 pages hardcover
83. The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham 11/9/17 11/11/17 **** 216 pages hardcover
84. The Midnight Line by Lee Child 11/11/17 to 11/14/17 **** 368 pages hardcover
85. News of the World by Paulette Jiles 11/16/17 11/18/17 ****1/2 209 pages trade paperback
86. Come, Tell Me How you Live by Agatha Christie 11/18/17 11/24/17 ***1/2 188 pages hardcover
87. A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote 11/29/17 11/29/17 **** 45 pages hardcover
88. The Fireside Watergate by Nicholas von Hoffman and Garry Trudeau 11/29/17 11/30/17 ***1/2 110 pages hardcover
89. The Secret Teachings of Jesus Translated by Marvin W. Meyer 11/30/17 12/3/17 ***1/2 96 pages incl Introduction hardcover
90. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling 9/30/17 12/3/17 **** audiobook
91. Out of the Blackout by Robert Barnard 12/3/17 12/5/17 *** 182 pages mass market paperback
92. The Chocolate Cobweb by Charlotte Armstrong 12/5/17 12/8/17 *** 256 pages mass market paperback
93. Marlon Brando: Portraits and Film Stills 1946-1995 edited by Lothar Shirmer with an essay by Truman Capote 12/8/17 12/8/17 ***1/2 184 pages hardcover
94. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami 11/2/17 12/14/17 *** 607 pages trade paperback
95. Versus by Ogden Nash 10/25/17 12/15/17 *** 164 pages hardcover
96. White Silence by Jodi Taylor 12/19/17 to 12/22/17 ***1/2 325 pages Kindle
97. Jefferson's Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress 12/19/17 and 12/27/17 ***1/2 103 pages oversize paperback
98. The Literary Study Bible by Leland Ryken and Philip Graham Ryken 1/1/17 12/29/17 ***1/2 1894 pages hardcover
99. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Bible by James S. Bell Jr. and Stan Campbell 7/23/17 12/29/17 *** 334 pages trade paperback
100. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt 11/15/16 12/30/17 ****1/2 318 pages hardcover

Reading:
Every Dead Thing by John Connolly 12/27/17 467 pages trade paperback 1999
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 12/3/17 audiobook
A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O'Conner 12/4/17 265 pages trade paperback

3karenmarie
Bewerkt: dec 27, 2017, 2:08 pm

Adds in 2017

January - 18
1. Amazon Gift Card American Blood by James Ellroy suggested by Ameise1
2. Amazon Gift Card The Cold Six Thousand by James Ellroy suggested by Ameise1
3. Amazon The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood - suggested by SGiV
4. Bookmooch hide and seek by Ian Rankin
5. Friend Louise Killer View by Ridley Pearson
6. Friend Nancy I Am Radar by Reif Larsen
7. Amazon Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler
8. Amazon The Assault by Harry Mulisch suggested by Paul C. and Anita
9. Bookmooch A Knife to Remember by Jill Churchill
10. Bookmooch Lost on Planet China by J. Maarten Troost
11. Amazon Quiet by Susan Cain
12. Bookmooch Creation by Gore Vidal
13. Amazon The Three-Body Problem
14. Mom Holy Bible
15. Mom Bottom Line's Secret Food Cures
16. Mom Bottom Line's Best-Ever Kitchen Secrets
17. Mom Bottom Line's Best-Ever Home Secrets
18. Mom Hummingbirds by Esther Qusada Tyrrell and Robert A. Tyrrell

February - 42
19. Amazon Verdict of Twelve by Raymond Postgate recommended by jillmwo Jill
20. Thrift Shop Idiot's Guide to Conversational Sign Language
21. Thrift Shop I Am America (And So Can You) by Stephen Colbert
22. Thrift Shop Night Film by Marisha Pessl
23. Thrift Shop The United States of Europe by T.R. Reid
24. Thrift Shop Tales of the South Pacific by James Michener
25. Thrift Shop Closed Casket by Agatha Christie
26. Thrift Shop Affliction by Laurell K. Hamilton
27. Thrift Shop Simply Tai Chi by Graham Bryant and Lorraine James
28. Thrift Shop Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky
29. Thrift Shop Apes, Angels, and Victorians by William Levine
30. Thrift Shop My Reading Life by Pat Conroy
31. Thrift Shop Four in Hand by Stephanie Laurens
32. Amazon The Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly
33. Circle City Books My Dark Places by James Ellroy
34. Amazon Racing the Devil by Charles Todd
35. Friend Karen The Trouble with Islam Today by Irshad Manji
36. Friend Karen Goddesses: An illustrated journey into the myths, symbols, and rituals of the goddess by Manuela Dunn Mascetti
37. Friend Karen The Eagle and The Rose by Rosemary Altea
38. Friend Karen Last Call by Daniel Okrent
39. Friend Karen Wildflowers in Color: Eastern Edition by Walter
40. Friend Karen Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
41. Friend Karen The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht
42. Friend Karen Blind Your Ponies by Stanley Gordon West
43. Friend Karen Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas by Tom Robbins
44. Friend Karen Jerusalem, Jerusalem by James Carroll
45. Friend Karen Sweet Thunder by Ivan Doig
46. Friend Karen The Warrior Queens by Antonia Fraser
47. Friend Karen Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof
48. Friend Karen Invisible Acts of Power by Caroline Myss
49. Uncle Oren - New Testament
50. Thrift Shop - The Spanish Bride by Georgette Heyer
51. Kindle - The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths by Harry Bingham
52. Kindle - This Thing of Darkness by Harry Bingham
53. Kindle - The Dead House by Harry Bingham
54. Amazon - Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
55. Amazon - Warleggan by Winston Graham
56. Amazon - The Black Moon by Winston Graham
57. Amazon - The Four Swans by Winston Graham
58. Amazon - The Oxford Companion to the Bible
59. Costco - The Rainbow Comes and Goes by Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt
60. Amazon - The Xibalba Murders by Lyn Hamilton

March - 7
61. Bookmooch - The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
62. Amazon - A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
63. Costco - Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
64. Amazon - My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
65. Amazon - The Angry Tide by Winston Graham
66. Amazon - The Stranger from the Sea by Winston Graham
67. Amazon - The Miller's Dance by Winston Graham

April - 64
68. Friends of the Library free for donating time - Dead Man's Time by Peter James
69. Friends of the Library free for donating time - The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough
70. Friends of the Library free for donating time - Viper Wine by Hermione Eyre
71. Amazon - A is for Arsenic by Kathryn Markup
72. Thrift Shop – You Suck by Christopher Moore
73. Thrift Shop – Mansfield Park Revisited by Joan Aiken
74. Thrift Shop – Festive in Death by J.D. Robb
75. Stasia - The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
76. Amazon – The Miller’s Dance
77. Amazon – The Stranger from the Sea
78. Amazon – The Angry Tide
79. - 123. Friends of the Library Book Sale: 45 books
The 26 Letters by Oscar Ogg
Astray by Emma Donoghue
Enemy Women by Penelope Jiles
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
A Judgment in Stone by Ruth Rendell
Spring Fever by Mary Kay Andrews
The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood
Not Dead Enough by Peter James
Dead Like You by Peter James
Not Dead Yet by Peter James
The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu
Death's End by Cixin Liu
The Book of Abraham by Marek Halter
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
Mass Market Paperback - O Jerusalem by Laurie R. King
Audiobook - Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
The Covenant by James Michener
Alaska by James Michener
Caribbean by James Michener
Chesapeake by James Michener
Return to Paradise by ... you guessed it..... James Michener
The Man of Property by John Galsworthy, slipcased
Amok by Stefan Zweig
The Life and Campaigns of Napoleon by M.A. Arnault and C.L.F. Panckoucke - 1852
Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot - 1935 - first US edition with tattered dust jacket
The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron
Mission to Malaspiga by Evelyn Anthony
The Poellenberg Inheritance by Evelyn Anthony
van Loon's Lives by Hendrik Willem van Loon
Adam and Eve and Pinch Me by Ruth Rendell
The Incongruous Spy by John le Carré - two novels, Call for the Dead and A Murder of Quality
The Twelve Terrors of Christmas by John Updike with Drawings by Edward Gorey
The Poems of James Russell Lowell
The Library Paradox by Catherine Shaw
The Victoria Vanishes by Christopher Fowler
Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido
The Ludwig Conspiracy by Oliver Pötzsch
The Missing File by D.A. Mishani
New Orleans Noir edited by Julie Smith
The Kookaburra Gambit by Claire McNab
Wartime Writings 1939-1944 by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Blackwater by Kerstin Ekman
Copper River by Willliam Kent Krueger
The Ogden Nash Pocket Book by Ogden Nash with Introduction by Louis Untermeyer
124. Cordelia by Winston Graham
125. Amazon – Peterson Guide to Eastern Birds by Roger Tory Peterson
126. Amazon – Bella Poldark by Winston Graham
127. Amazon – The Twisted Sword by Winston Graham
128. Amazon – The Loving Cup by Winston Graham
129. Bookmooch - Tomorrow Will Be Better by Betty Smith
130. Friend Louise - The Appeal by John Grisham
131. Costco - White Trash: The 400-Year Untold Story of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg

May - 6
132. Sanford PTO - Blood's a Rover by James Ellroy
133. Bookmooch - The Faith Club by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner
134. Amazon - The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah - Kindle
135. CVS - Ladies' Night by Mary Kay Andrews
136. Amazon Kindle - The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston
137. Amazon Kindle - Bella Poldark by Winston Graham

June - 15
138. Diamond Bar FOL Bookstore - Midnight Crossing by Charlaine Harris
139. Diamond Bar FOL Bookstore - A Study in Scarlet/The Hound of the Baskervilles by A. Conan Doyle
140. Bookmooch - A Cup of Light by Nicole Mones
141. Amazon Kindle - The Man Who Could be King by John Ripin Miller
142. Amazon Kindle - This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
143. Amazon - spill simmer falter wither by Sara Baume
144. Amazon - The Deepest Grave by Harry Bingham
145. LT ER book - An Atlas of Countries That Don't Exist by Nick Middleton
146. Walgreens - Home by Harlan Coben
147. Thrift Shop - Apprentice in Death by J.D. Robb
148. Amazon - Making the Mummies Dance by Thomas Hoving
149. Amazon - Lincoln in the Bardo audiobook
150. Amazon - Theft by Finding by David Sedaris
151. Mom's House - Franklin School Yearbook 1949
152. Mom's House - Franklin School Yearbook 1950

July - 23
153. Friend Karen - The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Bible by Bell and Campbell
154. Friend Karen - Beowulf Translated - Bilingual Edition by Seamus Heaney
155. Friend Karen - Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone by Martin Dugard
156. Friend Karen - The Way of the Shaman by Michael Harner
157. D&K Library - Faith and Works by Helen Zagat
158. D&K Library - You're Only Old Once!: A Book for Obsolete Children by Dr. Seuss
159. D&K Library - Ships by Enzo Angelucci
160. Thrift Shop - Julie & Julia by Julie Powell trade paperback to replace ratty mass market
161. Thrift Shop - Close by Martina Cole
162. Thrift Shop - Becoming Jane Austen by Jon Spence
163. Amazon - Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood
164. McIntyre's - The Stranger by Harlen Coban
165. Amazon - Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
166. Louise - The Racketeer by John Grisholm
167. Amazon - Dangerous Lady by Martina Cole
168. Amazon - Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
169. Thrift Shop - The Demon in the House by Angela Thirkell
170. Thrift Shop - The Birds Fall Down by Rebecca West
171. Thrift Shop - Echoes in Death by J. D. Robb
172. Thrift Shop - A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood
173. Thrift Shop - Run by Ann Patchett
174. Amazon - Extraordinary People by Peter May
175. Bookmooch - Good Will Hunting: A Screenplay by Ben Affleck

August - 20
176. Amazon - MASH A Novel About Three Army Doctors by Richard Hooker
177. Thrift Shop - Captain Wentworth's Persuasion by Regina Jeffers
178. Bookmooch - The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner
179. Bookmooch - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
180. Amazon - Kindle - A Cotswold Killing by Rebecca Tope
181. Amazon - Kindle - The Radium Girls by Kate Moore
182. Costco - The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty
183. Costo - The Late Show by Michael Connelly
184. Thrift Shop - Devoted in Death by J.D. Robb
185. Thrift Shop - Obsession in Death by J.D. Robb
186. Thrift Shop - Brotherhood in Death by J.D. Robb
187. Thrift Shop - The Ravenous Must by Karen Elizabeth Gordon
188. Thrift Shop - A Year with G.K. Chesteron edited by Kevin Belmonte
189. Thrift Shop - The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
190. Barnes & Noble - Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter
191. Amazon - The Killings at Badger's Drift by Caroline Graham
192. Colepark Thrift Shop - Night of the Avenging Blowfish by John Welter
193. Amazon - The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
194. Barnes & Noble - Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
195. Barnes & Noble - Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton

September - 17
196. Bookmooch - Old Filth by Jane Gardam
197. Amazon - Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
198. Chapel Hill Friends of the Library Book Sale - Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
199. Chapel Hill Friends of the Library Book Sale - The Trespasser by Tana French
200. Chapel Hill Friends of the Library Book Sale - Truly Mady Guilty by Liane Moriarty
201. Amazon - A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
202. LT ER - The Book of Love and Hate by Lauren Sanders
203. Amazon - Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris
204. Thrift Shop - Moo by Jane Smiley
205. Thrift Shop - Number 11 by Jonathan Coe
206. Thrift Shop - Jack with a Twist by Brenda Janowitz
207. Thrift Shop - November 22, 1963 by Adam Braver
208. Amazon - Glass Houses by Louise Penny
209. Amazon - Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King
210. Thrift Shop - The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde
211. Thrift Shop - The Man Who Loved China by Simon Winchester
212. Thrift shop - Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

October - 57
213. Bookmooch - Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson
214. Amazon - The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham
215. streamsong - The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
216. FotL Book Sale - 1066 and All That by W.C. Sellar & R.J. Yeatman
217. FotL Book Sale - A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
218. FotL Book Sale - America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction by Jon Stewart, Ben Karlin, and David Javerbaum
219. FotL Book Sale - Aristophanes: The Frogs and the Birds by Aristophanes
220. FotL Book Sale - Aristotle and an Aardvark go to Washington by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein
221. FotL Book Sale - Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America by Barbara Ehrenreich
222. FotL Book Sale - Burning by Diane Johnson
223. FotL Book Sale - Canadian History for Dummies by Will Ferguson
224. FotL Book Sale - Complete Birds of North America by Jonathan Alderfer
225. FotL Book Sale - Death in the Garden by Elizabeth Ironside
226. FotL Book Sale - Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thein
227. FotL Book Sale - Double Negative by David Carkeet
228. FotL Book Sale - Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
229. FotL Book Sale - George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger
230. FotL Book Sale - Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stwart
231. FotL Book Sale - In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick
232. FotL Book Sale - Islam For Dummies by Malcolm Clark
233. FotL Book Sale - J. D. Salinger: A Life by Kenneth Slawenski
234. FotL Book Sale - Letters of the Scattered Brotherhood by Mary Strong
235. FotL Book Sale - Murder at the Library of Congress by Margaret Truman
236. FotL Book Sale - My Life and Hard Times by James Thurber
237. FotL Book Sale - On the Road by Jack Kerouac
238. FotL Book Sale - Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion
239. FotL Book Sale - Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple
240. FotL Book Sale - The African Queen by C.S. forester
241. FotL Book Sale - The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
242. FotL Book Sale - The Bird Feeder Book: Attracting, Identifying, Understanding Feeder Birds by Donald and Lillian Stokes
243. FotL Book Sale - The Birdwatcher by William Shaw
244. FotL Book Sale - The Book of Merlyn by T.H. White
245. FotL Book Sale - The Chimney Sweeper's Boy by Barbara Vine
246. FotL Book Sale - The Compleat Angler by Izaak Walton
247. FotL Book Sale - The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
248. FotL Book Sale - The Fireside Watergate by Nicholas Von Hoffman
249. FotL Book Sale - The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn by Nathaniel Philbrick
250. FotL Book Sale - The Lola Quartet by Emily St. John Mandel
251. FotL Book Sale - The Minotaur by Barbara Vine
252. FotL Book Sale - The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
253. FotL Book Sale - The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
254. FotL Book Sale - The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi by Jacqueline Park
255. FotL Book Sale - The Secrets She Keeps by Michael Robotham
256. FotL Book Sale - The Singer's Gun by Emily St. John Mandel
257. FotL Book Sale - The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat by Edward Kelsey Moore
258. FotL Book Sale - The Weekenders by Mary Kay Andrews
259. FotL Book Sale - This Must be the Place by Maggie O'Farrell
260. FotL Book Sale - Three by Finney by Jack Finney
261. FotL Book Sale - Two Lives by Vikram Seth
262. FotL Book Sale - We Hold These Truths by David S. Mitchell
263. Bookmooch - A Promise of Spring by Mary Balogh
264. Bookmooch - The Fox Inheritance by Mary E. Pearson
265. BooksAMillion - Eve in Hollywood by Amor Towles
266. Thrift Shop - Longbourn by Jo Baker
267. Amazon - The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley
268. Amazon - The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
269. Amazon - Two Kinds of Truth by Michael Connelly

November - 12
270. Amazon - News of the World by Paulette Jiles
271. Amazon - The Midnight Line by Lee Child
272. Thrift Shop - A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
273. Amazon- One Coffee With by Margaret Maron
274. Friend Louise - Sullivan's Evidence by Nancy Taylor Rosenberg
275. Mom - Amazing Hummingbirds by Stan Tekiela
276. Friend Tamsie - Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement
277. Friend Jan – Nothing Like It In The World by Stephen E. Ambrose
278. Friend Jan – Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne
279. Friend Jan – The Age of Gold by H.W. Brands
280. Habitat for Humanity – Nostradamus: The Man Who Saw Through Time by Lee McCann
281. Amazon - A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote

December - 18
282. Amazon - A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O'Conner
283. Amazon - Blue Monday by Nicci French
284. NRA Gun Safety Course - NRA Guide to the Basics of Pistol Shooting by the NRA
285. LT ER - Brain Food: The Surprising Science of Eating for Cognitive Power by Lisa Mosconi
286. Aunt Ann - The Armchair Birder by John Yow
287. Aunt Ann - Song and Garden Birds of North America by Alexander Wetmore
288. Aunt Ann - The Bird Songs Anthology by Les Beletsky
289. Christmas - Cousins Rebecca and David - No Middle Name by Lee Child
290. Mark - A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash
291. Amazon - If the Creek Don't Rise by Rita Williams
292. Thrift Shop - Fever Season by Barbara Hambly
293. Thrift Shop - Licks of Love by John Updike
294. Thrift Shop - A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
295. Thrift Shop - Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay
296. Bookmooch - Every Dead Thing by John Connolly
297. Christmas - husband - Dandy Dutch Recipes edited by Mina Baker-Roelofs
298. Christmas - daughter - The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien
299. Christmas - daughter - You're All Just Jealous of My Jetpack by Ton Gauld
300. Christmas - sister - The Color of My Coffee by R.P. Heinz

4karenmarie
Bewerkt: dec 31, 2017, 6:59 am

Culls for 2017

1. The Stolen Bride by Jo Beverley Drivel
2. Defining the Wind by Scott Huler I will never read this book
3. Tishomingo Blues by Elmore Leonard started, abandoned
4. Touch by Elmore Leonard bookmooched but won't ever read
5. Tales of the South Pacific by James Michener duplicate
6. Tales of the South Pacific by James Michener triplicate
7. The United States of Europe by T.R. Reid duplicate
8. The Dutiful Daughter by Vanessa Gray too stupid to keep
9. A Darkness More Than Night by Michael Connelly duplicate
10. A Passage to India by E.M. Forster duplicate
11. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith duplicate
12. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith triplicate
13. A Woman of Independent Means by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey duplicate
14. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie duplicate
15. Angels Flight by Michael Connelly duplicate
16. Anna's Book by Ruth Rendell writing as Barbara vine duplicate with Asta's Book
17. Balthazar (Alexandria Quartet) by Lawrence Durrell duplicate
18. Black Orchids by Rex Stout duplicate
19. Clea (Alexandria Quartet) by Lawrence Durrell duplicate
20. Justine (Alexandria Quartet) by Lawrence Durrell duplicate
21. Mountolive (Alexandria Quartet) by Lawrence Durrell duplicate
22. A Darkness More Than Night by Michael Connelly duplicate
23. Dinner at Antoine's by Frances Parkinson Keyes duplicate
24. Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed by Patricia Cornwell duplicate
25. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift duplicate
26. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift triplicate
27. Cat People by Bill Hayward duplicate (I bought one copy, a friend gave me a second, so I'm keeping the second out of sentimentality)
28. The Xibalba Murders by Lyn Hamilton abandoned after 122 pages
29. A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler meh didn't want to read
30. The Spanish Bride by Georgette Heyer got a new trade paperback
31. David Coperfield by Charles Dickens, duplicate
32. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, duplicate
33. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, duplicate
34. Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand translation by Brian Hooker duplicate
35. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer duplicate
36. The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene duplicate
37. The Elements of Style by Strunk and White
38. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
39. Miracle in the Hills by Maqry T. Martin Sloop duplicate
40. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad duplicate
41. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
42. Joy in the Morning by Betty Smith duplicate
43. Roots by Alex Haley duplicate
44. Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence duplicate
45. Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling duplicate
46. The Road by Cormac McCarthy duplicate
47. In Search of J.D. Salinger by Ian Hamilton duplicate (kept SGiV's copy)
48. Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey triplicate
49. Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey triplicate
50. The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey triplicate
51. The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey triplicate
52. The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey duplicate
53. Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey duplicate
54. A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey duplicate
55. The Singing Sands by Josephine Tey duplicate
56. The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder duplicate in Thornton Wilder Trio
57. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll triplicate
58. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen duplicate
59. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain duplicate
3-20-17
60. Casual Day Has Gone Too Far by Scott Adams duplicate, given to daughter
61. Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers duplicate
62. Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers triplicate
63. Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers triplicate
64. Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers duplicate
65. Verdict of Twelve by Raymond Postgate don't want to keep
66. The Mayor of Castorbridge by Thomas Hardy duplicate
67. A Murder in Time by Julie McElwain don't want to keep
68. The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy triplicate
69. Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman duplicate
70. Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs duplicate
71. The toplofty Lord Thorpe by Kasey Michaels 2.5 stars taking up shelf space
72. The Beleaguered Lord Bourne by Kasey Michaels 2.5 stars taking up shelf space
73. The Ruthless Lord Rule by Kasey Michaels 2.5 stars taking up shelf space
74. The Enterprising Lord Edward by Kasey Michaels 2.5 stars taking up shelf space
3-22-17
75. Journey to Ixtlan by Carlos Castaneda duplicate
76. Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind by Donald Johanson duplicate
77. the lives and times of archy and mehitabel by don marquis duplicate
78. Lord Peter by Dorothy Sayers duplicate
79. QB VII by Leon Uris duplicate
80. Seabiscuit by Laura Hilldebrand duplicate
81. No Second Chance by Harlan Coben duplicate
82. The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff duplicate
83. the Floatplane Notebooks by Clyde Edgerton duplicate
84. Shining Through by Susan Isaacs duplicate
85. Red Sky at Morning by Richard Bradford duplicate
86. The Woods by Harlan Coben duplicate
87. The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles duplicate
88. The Doorbell Rang by Rex Stout duplicate
89. The Doorbell Rang by Rex Stout triplicate
90. Tutankhamun:The Untold Story by Thomas Hoving duplicate
3/23/17
91. Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy duplicate
92. The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy duplicate
93. Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy duplicate
94. Life's Little Instruction Book by H. Jackson Brown Jr. duplicate
95. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner duplicate, contained within anthology
96. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame duplicate
97. Royal Escape by Georgette Heyer duplicate
98. Bulfinch's Mythology by Thomas Bulfinch duplicate
99. O Pioneers! by Willa Cather duplicate contained within anthology
100. The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith duplicate
3/25/17
101. The Sherlock Holmes Novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle duplicate
102. Clouds of Witness by Dorothy Sayers duplicate
103. Unnatural Death by Dorothy Sayers duplicate
104. Whose Body? by Dorothy Sayers duplicate
105. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers duplicate
106. Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy Sayers duplicate
107. The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers duplicate
108. The Balloon Man by Charlotte Armstrong duplicate, contained within anthology
109. The Witch's House by Charlotte Armstrong duplicate, contained within anthology
110. The Gift Shop by Charlotte Armstrong duplicate, contained within anthology
111. The Turret Room by Charlotte Armstrong duplicate, contained within anthology
112. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins duplicate
3/26/17
113. Austenland by Hale, Shannon 2.5 stars
114. The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman by Brown, Nancy Marie 2.5 stars
115. Einstein's Dreams by Lightman, Alan 2.5 stars
116. The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy by Slater, Maya 2.5 stars
117. The Great Influenza (The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History) by Barry, John M. 2.5 stars
118. 'Tis by McCourt, Frank 2.5 stars
119. Fire and Ice by Stuart, Anne 2 stars
120. Justinian's Flea: Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe by Rosen, William 2.5 stars
121. Fangs But No Fangs (The Young Brothers, Book 2) by Love, Kathy 2.5 stars
122. Fangs for the Memories (The Young Brothers, Book 1) by Love, Kathy 2.5 stars
123. I Only Have Fangs for You (The Young Brothers, Book 3) by Love, Kathy 2.5 stars
124. The Giver by Lowry, Lois 2.5 stars
125. The Member of the Wedding by McCullers, Carson 2 stars
3/28/17
126. The Assault by Harry Mulisch started it, didn't like it
4/1/17
127. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante started it, didn't like it
4/12/17
128. Astray by Emma Donoghue duplicate
129. van Loon's Lives by Henrik Willem van Loon duplicate
130. The Man of Property by John Galsworthy duplicate
131. Sandy Koufax - Strikeout King by Arnold Hano - will never read
132. Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power by Richard J. Carwardine started listening and didn't like the reader's voice and didn't like the tenor of the book
133. The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman - dated, boring
134. Ladies' Night by Mary Kay Andrews - bought in CA, not worth paying to ship home to NC
135. A Study in Scarlet/The Hound of the Baskervilles by A. Conan Doyle
136. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee audiobook, duplicate, 2nd one purchased better quality
137. The Judas Pair by Jonathan Gash
138. The Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell
139. spill simmer falter wither by Sara Baume abandoned yeesh. depressing. And dogs.
140. Julie & Julia by Julie Powell mass market paperback replaced with trade paperback
141. The Perfect Husband by Lisa Gardner
142. Run by Ann Patchett
143. The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks
144. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon blech
145. Ghost Stories from the American Southwest by Richard and Judy Dockrey Young - I took it off the shelf to scan the cover, looked through it, and realized I'd never, ever read it
146. Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
147. More Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
148. Further Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
149. Significant Others by Armistead Maupin
150. Sure of You by Armistead Maupin
151. Babycakes by Armistead Maupin
152. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
153. The Book of Love and Hate by Lauren Sanders - ER book, blech
154. Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. will never finish
155. Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson will never finish
156. The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman will never read. started audiobook and hated it.
157. Jack with a Twist by Brenda Janowitz - cute little book but I'm going to start culling cute little books to make room for non-cute-little books
158. A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd - duplicate
159. One Man's Bible - by Gao Xingjian - duplicate
160. 77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz
161. carrie by Stephen King
162. Christine by Stephen King
163. Cold Fire by Dean Koontz
164. Cujo by Stephen King
165. dolores claiborne by Stephen King
166. Dragon Tears by Dean Koontz
167. False Memory by Dean Koontz
168. Firestarter by Stephen King
169. IT by Stephen King
170. Lightning by Dean Koontz
171. Nightmares and Dreamscapes by Stephen King
172. One door Away from Heaven by Dean Koontz
173. Pet Sematary by Stephen King
174. Seize the Night by Dean Koontz
175. Skeleton Crew by Stephen King
176. The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz
177. The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King
178. The House of Thunder by Dean Koontz
179. The Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King
180. The Tommyknockers by Stephen King
181. What the Night Knows by Dean Koontz
182. Your Heart Belongs to Me by Dean Koontz
183. Pay Dirt by Rita Mae Brown
184. Murder at Monticello by Rita Mae Brown
185. Night of the Avenging Blowfish by John Welter nope nope nope
186. Being Dead by Jim Crace duplicate
187. The Kookaburra Gambit by Claire McNab just because
188. A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote duplicate
189. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys I'll never read it
190. Out of the Blackout by Robert Barnard read, don't need to keep
191. The Literary Library by Rykens and Rykens gift to witchyrichy

5karenmarie
Bewerkt: dec 31, 2017, 7:02 am

Year-to-Date Statistics, complete, for 2017

100 books read
8 book abandoned
33475 pages read

300 books acquired
191 books removed

1,894 pages of The Literary Study Bible, 334 pages of The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Bible, both completed
107.35 audiobook hours
Average pages read per day, YTD = 92
Average pages read per book, YTD = 335

Author
Male 63%
Female 37%

Living 72%
Dead 28%

US Born 46%
Foreign Born 54%

Medium
Hardcover 40%
Trade Pback 31%
Mass Market 8%
Audiobook 8%
e-Book 13%

Source
My Library 96%
Other 4%

Misc
ARC/ER 0%
Re-read 6%
Series 48%

Fiction 82%
NonFiction 18%

Author Birth Country
Australia 3%
Austria 1%
Canada 1%
England 40%
England and Scotland 1%
Germany 1%
Israel 1%
Italy 1%
Japan 2%
Scotland 2%
South Africa 1%
US 46%

Original Year Published
1852 1%
1922 1%
1930 1%
1939 2%
1940 2%
1946 1%
1948 1%
1949 1%
1950 1%
1951 1%
1952 1%
1953 1%
1956 1%
1961 1%
1965 1%
1973 2%
1976 1%
1977 1%
1980 1%
1981 1%
1982 2%
1984 1%
1985 1%
1987 1%
1989 1%
1990 2%
1993 2%
1995 4%
1997 2%
1998 2%
1999 2%
2000 1%
2001 1%
2002 2%
2003 2%
2004 3%
2005 3%
2006 2%
2007 1%
2008 2%
2009 1%
2011 3%
2012 4%
2013 2%
2014 3%
2015 7%
2016 8%
2017 12%


Genre
Anthropology 1%
Biography 2%
Fantasy 8%
Fiction 16%
Geography 1%
Historical Fiction 10%
History 1%
Literary Fiction 2%
Memoir 7%
Mystery 36%
Nature 1%
Paranormal 1%
Poetry 1%
Political Satire 1%
Psychology 1%
Religion
Romance 6%
Science 1%
Science Fiction 1%

6karenmarie
Bewerkt: dec 11, 2017, 2:53 pm

A BOOK A YEAR FOR THE FIRST 64 YEARS OF MY LIFE, inspired by Paul Cranswick's list of books for his first 50 years.

The biggest takeaway I get from this list is the number of outstanding books I still need to read - most of the years have outstanding books that I haven't read yet.

1953 Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger
1954 Lord of the Flies by William Golding
1955 The Day Lincoln was Shot by Jim Bishop
1956 The Enormous Egg by Oliver Butterworth
1957 Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie
1958 Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver
1959 Hawaii by James Michener
1960 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
1961 Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
1962 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
1963 Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters, and Seymour: An Introduction by J.D. Salinger
1964 Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman
1965 The Source by James Michener
1966 Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
1967 Listen to the Warm by Rod McKuen
1968 The Teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda
1969 Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
1970 QBVII by Leon Uris
1971 The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
1972 The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty
1973 W.C. Fields by Himself: His Intended Autobiography with Commentary by Ronald J. Fields
1974 The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
1975 Crazy Salad by Nora Ephron
1976 Roots by Alex Haley
1977 In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin
1978 Tutankhamun: The Untold Story by Thomas Hoving
1979 Sophie's Choice by William Styron
1980 A Delicate Arrangement : The Strange Case of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace by Arnold C.
Brackman
1981 Lucy: the Beginnings of Humankind by Donald C. Johansen
1982 Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella
1983 The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
1984 Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins
1985 Lennon by Ray Coleman
1986 The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
1987 And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the Aids Epidemic by Randy Shilts
1988 Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson
1989 It's Always Something by Gilda Radner
1990 In Pursuit of the Green Lion by Judith Merkle Riley
1991 Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
1992 The Black Echo by Michael Connelly
1993 The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
1994 Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi
1995 Longitude by Dava Sobel
1996 Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
1997 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
1998 The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
1999 Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
2000 Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis
2001 Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
2002 Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murukami
2003 A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
2004 11,000 Years by Peni R. Griffin
2005 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
2006 The Road by Cormac McCarthy
2007 The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon
2008 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
2009 Under the Dome by Stephen King
2010 Room by Emma Donoghue
2011 11/22/63 by Stephen King
2012 The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
2013 Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler
2014 The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
2015 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
2016 A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
2017 Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

7karenmarie
dec 11, 2017, 2:50 pm

Welcome one and all. Next one is yours.

8Crazymamie
dec 11, 2017, 2:52 pm

Happy new one, Karen!

9karenmarie
dec 11, 2017, 2:54 pm

Thanks, Mamie!

I was envisioning 12 threads for the year but here I am with #13. Good stuff.

10Crazymamie
dec 11, 2017, 2:58 pm

Very good stuff! And 13 is a lucky number for us as my oldest was born on a Friday the 13th!

11harrygbutler
dec 11, 2017, 2:58 pm

A baker's dozen, Karen. Happy new thread!

12karenmarie
dec 11, 2017, 3:01 pm

>10 Crazymamie: Can't beat that, Mamie! Our daughter was born on my husband's step-mother's birthday, which we saw as good luck although husband's mother never got over it. Divorce is an ugly thing.....

>11 harrygbutler: Yes, Harry! Thank you!

13jnwelch
dec 11, 2017, 3:05 pm

Happy New Thread!

Go Karen! Good luck with reaching this year's reading goal. Sounds very doable.

14johnsimpson
dec 11, 2017, 3:36 pm

Happy new thread Karen my dear.

15drneutron
dec 11, 2017, 3:49 pm

Happy new thread!

16FAMeulstee
dec 11, 2017, 4:55 pm

Happy new thread, Karen, 13 has always been my lucky number ;-)

17EllaTim
dec 11, 2017, 5:00 pm

Happy new thread Karen. nice family picture!

18PaulCranswick
dec 11, 2017, 5:13 pm

Thirteen is lucky for us, Karen!

Happy new thread. xx

19weird_O
dec 11, 2017, 5:58 pm

Fear not. When I was a kid living in suburban Pittsburgh, our house number was 1313. We all survived.

Come on! What can go wrong?

20richardderus
dec 11, 2017, 9:35 pm



When the auguries aren't what you'd necessarily like them to be, make a cake.

21msf59
dec 11, 2017, 9:50 pm

Happy New Thread, Karen. Hooray for Lucky 13!

22LizzieD
Bewerkt: dec 11, 2017, 10:54 pm

Happy New and Final Thread for 2017, Karen!
>10 Crazymamie: I was born on Friday 13, so I've always thought it was pretty lucky. I believe that my father was too.
ETA: In the matter of divinity, way back on your last thread, my favorite batch I ever made had the consistency of taffy and a wonderful flavor. I've never been able to duplicate it and have stopped trying. *grin*

23Berly
dec 11, 2017, 11:11 pm

One of my lucky numbers!! Congrats on the new thread.

24karenmarie
Bewerkt: dec 12, 2017, 3:54 am

>13 jnwelch: Thank you, Joe! I’m also going to hit my ROOT goal of 40 books (any book on my shelves prior to 1/1/17).

>14 johnsimpson: Thanks, John! Sending love and hugs to you and Karen.

>15 drneutron: Thank you, Jim! And thank you for all the work you do during the year for our group.

>16 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita! Yay lucky 13.

>17 EllaTim: Hi Ella. Thank you twice. That picture was taken on Pearl Harbor Day. I just remembered.

>18 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul! Another lucky 13 lover.

>19 weird_O: Hi Bill! Nothing. I’m coasting into the end of the year.

>20 richardderus: Ah, RD! That looks totally excellent. Auguries is an appropriate word, given my new-found enjoyment of birding.

>21 msf59: Thanks, Mark! Hooray indeed.

>22 LizzieD: Hi Peggy! Final Thread for sure. Lucky you. It’s amazing, too, how number run in families.

I’ve only had a stand mixer for the last 10 years or so and made divinity before that with my hand mixer. Nevermore. It is quite easy with the proper tools – stand mixer and candy thermometer. I have special memories of favorite ‘batches’ of cooked or baked items, too.

>23 Berly: Thank you, Berly! Another lucky 13 lover.

No triskaidekaphobia here! And,happily, no paraskevidekatriaphobia or friggatriskaidekaphobia either.

I have wanted to use triskaidekaphobia in a meaningful sentence forever. Thank you all for your lucky 13s.

Last night I had dinner with the IT department from the job I retired from. Two couldn’t make it. One was sick with a sinus infection, our old boss, and the other, my old nemesis, who has moved to Georgia but is working on selling their house was held up by a late-running realtor meeting. So there were 6 of us. We had a wonderful meal but I realized that except for Kazuko, my former cube-mate, that I had absolutely nothing in common with these people except that we used to work together. Oh well, I had a lovely meal, absolutely to die for if you love seafood.
SALMON & SHRIMP MILANESE
Fresh salmon fillet with a fennel seed & black peppercorn crust seared on iron with large grilled shrimp and asparagus and saffron risotto finished in lemon-basil butter sauce.
And this morning I have insomnia, again. But Kitty William is keeping me company and I’m halfway through a cup of coffee. Off to read some each of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Versus, and possibly start Blue Monday, a mystery book bullet from Peggy.

25msf59
dec 12, 2017, 6:42 am

Morning, Karen. To answer your question about the pepper suet- Not sure yet. My daughter watched a squirrel shimmy up the pole, inspect the suet and then shimmy right back down. Even if it works half the time, I think it would be a success.

We have light snow again on the ground, but the paved surfaces are clear. I can handle it.

26harrygbutler
dec 12, 2017, 7:35 am

Good morning, Karen! Have an enjoyable Tuesday.

27karenmarie
dec 12, 2017, 8:55 am

>25 msf59: Hi Mark! Climbing the pole and not eating the suet is progress, for sure. Our snow came and went on both Friday and Saturday.

>26 harrygbutler: Hi Harry! Thank you. The plan is to not go out at all.

I went back to sleep until about 8:40 and so now, of course, I feel groggy. No more coffee, but there's bacon cooking.

28SomeGuyInVirginia
dec 12, 2017, 9:26 am

Bacon!

29richardderus
dec 12, 2017, 9:29 am

Nothing interesting to say so I came here to say it.

30karenmarie
dec 12, 2017, 9:36 am

>28 SomeGuyInVirginia: Yes, Larry! It was yummy. I also had 1 1/2 slices of whole grain bread, toasted, with a teensy bit of butter.

>29 richardderus: Thank you, RD! *smooches* from TVT Horrible

31sibylline
dec 12, 2017, 9:39 am

Oh, I do hate an insomniac night -- mainly because of the groggy problem the next day.

Here we have howling (really!) winds and snow swirling around.

Plan to stay home today muddling around with holiday-related tasks, figuring out what else has to be done, among other things. w

32karenmarie
dec 12, 2017, 10:50 am

Hi Lucy!

I frequently just stay up and then am only tired, not groggy, but I went back to sleep for about 2 1/4 hours.

Howling winds and swirling snow are definitely a recipe for an at-home day. I hope it's fun and productive.

I will probably write, address, and stamp all holiday cards that do not have letter/picture/both today. Next will be cards with letters, then after Saturday's family party when I hope I can get a family member to take a picture of the three of us and get 31 3"x5"s and 3 5"x7"s made at Wally World. Then I can send the last of the cards next Monday.

I'm really making headway on TWUBC, page 512 of 607.

33Crazymamie
dec 12, 2017, 11:34 am

Morning, Karen! I, too, often suffer from insomnia - worked night shift for many years, so it completely screwed up my internal clock.

34karenmarie
dec 12, 2017, 12:20 pm

Hi Mamie! It feels like the middle of the night, but it's now officially afternoon. I just finished getting 18 Christmas cards ready. Got about 55 or so to go - some of them won't need mailing as they're for husband's co-workers, our cleaning ladies, neighbors.

Your internal clock is permanently messed up? Working nights is brutal. What kind of work did you do?

I worked weird shifts waitressing when I lived in Connecticut from 1977 to 1981 but got back into the white-collar world when I went back to California and then here in North Carolina.

35richardderus
dec 12, 2017, 12:20 pm

I feel guilty for falling asleep so easily. Except I get up once or twice for bladder emptying. But straight back to dreamland for me.

EXCEPT when my evil, rotten, slimy, no-good neighbor plays her TV at 1am!

36karenmarie
dec 12, 2017, 12:22 pm

I go to sleep easily, RD, but of course I do the same nightly visit to the bathroom. Sometimes, unfortunately, my mind gets into gear instead of staying asleep and after 15 minutes or so, if I am still awake, get up. Boo hiss to your evil, rotten, slimy, no-good neighbor when she plays her TV at 1 am. One of the downsides of living in a communal environment. Want me to come up there and smack her for you?

37richardderus
dec 12, 2017, 12:25 pm

>36 karenmarie: Yes please. Bring the mattock and truncheon.

38karenmarie
dec 12, 2017, 12:30 pm

Ah, RD, you are a font of knowledge. Truncheons I knew, but not mattocks.

Mattock:


Truncheons:

39richardderus
dec 12, 2017, 12:33 pm

Death and burial, the parts to any permanent solution.

40Crazymamie
dec 12, 2017, 12:41 pm

>34 karenmarie: Medical technologist - worked in a hospital chemistry lab.

41SomeGuyInVirginia
dec 12, 2017, 12:45 pm

I gave up on dealing with noisy neighbors. Now I just call the cops.

Hey! I have a truncheon. An old police truncheon from back in the day (like, 1900). I picked it up at an antique show in PA years ago. One of my favorite things. Next to my 9mm Beretta. I'm just sayin'. Richard.

42drneutron
dec 12, 2017, 12:55 pm

>40 Crazymamie: mrsdrneutron was a medical technologist - until we had the son, then gave it up.

43Crazymamie
dec 12, 2017, 1:05 pm

>42 drneutron: Whoot! I also gave it up after we had the son.

44richardderus
dec 12, 2017, 1:10 pm

>41 SomeGuyInVirginia: *snort*

No permanent solutions are possible to problems of communal living. The patterns emerge, guilt is assigned...it's all so drearily bureaucratic.

45karenmarie
dec 12, 2017, 5:00 pm

>39 richardderus: You're absolutely right, of course. *smooches*

>40 Crazymamie: Ah. Good to know, Mamie.

>41 SomeGuyInVirginia: Good for you, Larry. Wow. Your very own truncheon. And your very own 9mm Beretta. I won’t elaborate on the weaponry here, but will remind folks of my Colt Commander .45.

>42 drneutron: A bonding moment with you and Mamie.

>43 Crazymamie: A double bonding moment with you and Jim.

>44 richardderus: My only communal living right now is sharing the Sunroom with two kitties who have become excessively needy recently and sit between me and the keyboard, try to jump in my lap while I’m reading, or bump my hand or face while I’m typing.

Some people just never, EVER, consider how their actions might be affecting the people they’re sharing space with. Or a country with. Oh. The drumpf rears his ugly head here. Disgusting tweeting today as per usual.

46vancouverdeb
Bewerkt: dec 12, 2017, 6:13 pm

Comes to visit, but flees at being confronted by a Colt Commander.45 and other objects of violence. Hey, I'm Canadian! Biggest weapon I ever carry is my Iphone, and only when alone in the wilds after dark!!! :-)

47Familyhistorian
dec 13, 2017, 12:29 am

>46 vancouverdeb: It does look kind of scary over here doesn't it, Deb. People across the border seem to be much more blase about weaponry than we are here on the more civilized side of the border. You can kind of understand their frustration though, if they get rid of the noisy neighbour a worse one might move in. Reminds me a bit of their political situation.

Happy new thread, Karen.

48harrygbutler
dec 13, 2017, 6:51 am

Hi, Karen! I hope you have a good Wednesday.

49karenmarie
dec 13, 2017, 6:54 am

>46 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah! It is what it is down here, I'm afraid. I got the Colt because I was afraid of guns, took the NRA Safety Course and the NRA Conceal Carry course although I never got my permit because I didn't want to give up my fingerprints to the government, having never done so before. So far I've never fired it at anything except a target.

>47 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg! Thanks re my thread. You guys may be 'more civilized' but you certainly wouldn't want all of us who want to escape the bloviating orange gasbag who has the launch codes and the disgusting GOP head up North. Much better to let us stay down here and stew in our own juices and have things we're legally entitled to have.

50karenmarie
dec 13, 2017, 6:56 am

Good morning, Harry! Thank you. Today will be busy with a satellite guy rreplacing our DVRs (Hopper and Joey), possibly lunch with some old co-workers depending on when the satellite guy leaves, and dinner with friend Vanessa. Reading and Christmas card writing in between times.

51msf59
dec 13, 2017, 7:05 am

Morning, Karen. Glad to wake up this A.M. with a glorious victory. Let's hope this is just the tip of the iceberg. Things NEED to change.

52karenmarie
dec 13, 2017, 7:10 am

Hi Mark!

I'm feeling pretty chipper about being Moore-less in the Senate, too. Thank goodness the good folks of Alabama have elected Jones.

53jnwelch
dec 13, 2017, 8:46 am

Hi, Karen.

Great news re Doug Jones and the defeat of the child predator.

I wish everyone could agree to ignore the drumpf tweets. Having no one pay attention would seriously wound the idiot.

54richardderus
dec 13, 2017, 9:07 am

Twitler's worst defeat yet! Happy day.

And good morning to you, Horrible. *smooch*

55jessibud2
dec 13, 2017, 9:19 am

>54 richardderus: - "twitler" !! Good one!

56richardderus
dec 13, 2017, 9:27 am

>55 jessibud2: I loved it the second I heard it.

57jessibud2
dec 13, 2017, 10:45 am

>56 richardderus: - Can you give this blue guy some bad orange hair? ;-)

58karenmarie
dec 13, 2017, 10:47 am

>53 jnwelch: Hi Joe! Big sigh of relief. I, too, wish the news media would totally ignore his tweets. Won’t happen, but it’s nice to think “What if…..?”

>54 richardderus: Twitler. Oh my yes. Perfect.

And good morning to you, dear Richard. *smooches* back from TVT Horrible

>55 jessibud2: I love it too, Shelley!

>56 richardderus: Yikes. Good. Ooof. Seeing the swastika always gives me the shudders, even when it’s showing drumpf’s tendencies.

59ic09
dec 13, 2017, 10:56 am

Dit bericht wordt niet meer getoond omdat het door verschillende gebruikers is aangemerkt als misbruik. (Tonen)
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight. It is amazing autobiography. On a personal note I literally cried at the end.

Chronicles by Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan gives a poetic touch to his autobiography. He describes every event with utmost precision and a blend of beauty and retro. No wonder, why he is such a legend.

Napoleon: A Final Verdict. The book talks about the life of Napoleon Bonaparte, the greatest conquerer. The various authors talks about his childhood, teen life, method of war, weaknesses and later life. The second part analyses each aspect of his life. A must read for history/war lovers.

Automobile by Ruth Brandon. The book describes the development of Automobile industry in America and Europe. It talkes about influencers like Ford, Morris and Porsche. The books gets slightly off-track but it still provides a detailed turn of events. Great Book.

These were the best books of 2017.

Some honourable mentions are:
Losing my Virginity: Richard Branson
Business Stripped Bare: Richard Branson
I do What I do: Raghuram Rajan
Inside Out: Nick Mason

For some amazing pics, check out my Bookstagram page @weenie_book.

60SomeGuyInVirginia
dec 13, 2017, 12:14 pm

Yay! I was first flagger!

61karenmarie
dec 13, 2017, 12:41 pm

Good for you! I don't like trolls on my threads.

62katiekrug
dec 13, 2017, 12:55 pm

>59 ic09: - Flagged.

Hi Karen!

63karenmarie
dec 13, 2017, 1:34 pm

Hi Katie!


64SomeGuyInVirginia
dec 13, 2017, 2:54 pm

I am so glad/relieved that Jones won in Alabama. I thought Moore might have pulled it off.

65jessibud2
dec 13, 2017, 3:21 pm

>58 karenmarie: - Agree 200%, that the sight of that evil icon chills my blood. But he is one, make no mistake

66karenmarie
dec 13, 2017, 3:27 pm

>64 SomeGuyInVirginia: Me, too, Larry. It gives me hope for the Democrats as a party, the Democrats in the mid-term elections coming up, and our country as a whole. I was afraid, too, not really daring to hope that the folks in Alabama would elect Jones. But we did it! Or, rather, they did it! But Democrats did it!

>65 jessibud2: Oh yes, I agree, he is one. I posted this on Richard's thread:

67jessibud2
dec 13, 2017, 3:33 pm

>66 karenmarie: - Thanks, Karen. Much more appropriate (and accurate) though, in truth, not much more palatable, however one looks at it.

68karenmarie
dec 14, 2017, 3:28 am

Not at all palatable, Shelley.

I watched a bit of Stephen Colbert's 12/13/17 opening monologue and he said that he felt strange yesterday. He had a condition that his doctor called Hope.

69Berly
dec 14, 2017, 4:07 am

A condition called Hope. I like that. I hope it is catching. Happy Thursday!

70karenmarie
dec 14, 2017, 4:39 am

Hi Berly!

I do too. Thank you. I'm going to try to go back to sleep for a while. Got the Bible reading done - I'm up to Hebrews Chapter 2. I plan on reading more of TWUBC and Blue Monday by Nicci French today.

71msf59
dec 14, 2017, 7:16 am

>56 richardderus: LIKE!

Morning, Karen. Sweet Thursday. I am enjoying a day off today. I hope to watch the feeders, now and then, since I don't plan to get out much.

72karenmarie
dec 14, 2017, 7:59 am

Hi Mark! Just got back up again. I'm glad you've got a day off. I hope you get some good reading in.

73richardderus
dec 14, 2017, 9:58 am

Happy Thursday, Horrible. *smooch*

74karenmarie
dec 14, 2017, 2:28 pm

Thanks, RD! I just got back from getting my nails done and buying stocking stuffers for husband and daughter. And special treats for the kitties, of course.

75karenmarie
dec 14, 2017, 10:49 pm

Joy! Pride! I just finished The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. It was 'good' - 3 stars. It was beginning to feel like a monkey on my back and I'm frankly glad to be done with it. I may or may not write a review. Depends on my mood tomorrow.

Husband and I watched 2 more Midsomer Murders. Boy, are they long. Good. Long.

76Familyhistorian
dec 15, 2017, 2:02 am

Hmm, you make me want to go back and watch Midsome Murders again, Karen.

77karenmarie
dec 15, 2017, 6:42 am

Hi Meg! They are really good, aren't they?

We're watching in order from the beginning and are up to season 11.

78msf59
dec 15, 2017, 6:59 am

Morning, Karen. Happy Friday. Sorry, to hear that the Murakami didn't ring more of your bells.

79karenmarie
dec 15, 2017, 7:17 am

Good morning, Mark!

I honestly think that the flaying alive scene at the end of Book 1 did me in. I've read mysteries all my adult life, some of them with horrific scenes of violence and depravity, but for some reason that scene got to me. I skipped it as soon as I figured out what was going to happen, but I put the book down for several days to recuperate and never had the same feelings towards it.

In happier news, here's what I just posted on the group read thread in response to Berly's suggestion that I suggest the next shared read.
There's going to be a group read of Nicholas Nickleby in January. As soon as Jim creates the 75 Book Challenge for 2018 and etc., I'll create the group read thread. Here's the list of people who expressed interest and their opinion of the month to read it (from my 12th thread, November 30th). I just posted private messages to everybody telling them about it now - January's only 16 days away!

Berly Kim
EBT1002 Ellen
EllaTim Ella
ffortsa Judy
harrygbutler
jmwelch Joe - January
lkernagh Lori - January
Luvamystery65 Roberta
m.belljackson Marianne - January or February
msf59 Mark - January for a big bang
pgmcc Peter
rosalita Julia
SomeGuyInVirginia Larry - not December
streamsong Janet
weird_o Bill

80karenmarie
Bewerkt: dec 15, 2017, 5:05 pm

94. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
11/2/17 to 12/14/17 ***





The description from Amazon:

Japan's most highly regarded novelist now vaults into the first ranks of international fiction writers with this heroically imaginative novel, which is at once a detective story, an account of a disintegrating marriage, and an excavation of the buried secrets of World War II.

In a Tokyo suburb a young man named Toru Okada searches for his wife's missing cat. Soon he finds himself looking for his wife as well in a netherworld that lies beneath the placid surface of Tokyo. As these searches intersect, Okada encounters a bizarre group of allies and antagonists: a psychic prostitute; a malevolent yet mediagenic politician; a cheerfully morbid sixteen-year-old-girl; and an aging war veteran who has been permanently changed by the hideous things he witnessed during Japan's forgotten campaign in Manchuria.

Gripping, prophetic, suffused with comedy and menace, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a tour de force equal in scope to the masterpieces of Mishima and Pynchon.


Why I wanted to read it: Group read. I loved Kafka on the Shore and thought Why not?

There are some authors who should be taken in small doses over a long period of time. For me, one of those authors turns out to be Haruki Murakami. Cats, depraved violence, wordiness, convoluted plots, unexplainable actions, and sheer weirdness are my take on his works. Having said that, it is a Good Book. Having said that, I also got distraught at the end of book 1 where the requisite violence made an appalling appearance and put it down for several days. The next 200 or so pages were a bit forced, then it picked up again. By the end I was curious as to what would happen to Toru Okada and was vaguely satisfied that he might actually end up happy, although there are no guarantees.

The writing is vivid, the characters well developed. I feel vaguely dissatisfied that I don’t “understand” it, but will just have to live with that.

One thing that really impressed me was the translator - Jay Rubin. I would not have known it was a translation by just reading it. The writing is idiomatic and 'seamless' - which for me is high praise.

81sibylline
dec 15, 2017, 4:12 pm

I had no idea you were reading this too (my bad, for not paying attention!). So far I am liking it, but I am still getting used to it. It is my final ROOTS read for 2017 (I only had four since I joined up in November!)

82harrygbutler
dec 15, 2017, 4:27 pm

Hi, Karen! I hope you've had a good end of the week. We have a nice, light snow falling now. I'll be turning to reading now that the work week is done, though in a bit I'll have to knock together a small meatloaf for supper.

83jnwelch
dec 15, 2017, 4:41 pm

Congrats on finishing The Windup Bird Chronicle, Karen!

You're not alone in being thrown off by the flaying scene.. As you I'm sure you picked up, part of his purpose was to examine the horrible conduct of both the Chinese and Japanese in WWII. But I've seen other LTers comment on how that scene is just too much.

There are shelves of papers, and at least one book, trying to understand and explain TWUBC. You're not alone there either!

I prefer Kafka on the Shore, but The Windup Bird Chronicle is right up there for me (I've read all of his - many in a big binge that went on for months. Unlike you, I just couldn't get enough). What I understood better on the re-read of TWUBC is the importance of May Kasahara. She also, I now realize, has a lot of the best lines in the book.

84karenmarie
dec 15, 2017, 4:58 pm

>81 sibylline: Hi Lucy! I stopped posting after November 11th over there, because no matter how generic people try to be, posting a picture or talking about the cat or the well shifts the way I look at a book. So it's better I stay away. I tried to keep this review generic. I hope you either skipped it or aren't as bothered with "spoilers" as I am.

When did you start TWUBC?

>82 harrygbutler: I have, Harry! Thanks for asking. Ooh, snow. Reading while snow is falling is quite wonderful.

Yum meatloaf.

My poor husband will come home to a "wing it" night, when I haven't cooked. He doesn't mind, fortunately, and just gets a sandwich or some canned soup or whatever. I did bake two pies this afternoon to take to a family party tomorrow - pecan and pumpkin. Plus I wrapped all the presents for the family we're seeing - 9 in all.

85karenmarie
dec 15, 2017, 5:05 pm

>83 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe! I was bound and determined to finish it although several times I wanted to abandon it.

May does have quite a few of the best lines, and her part in the story is fun to read.

Killing cats in KotS and flaying people alive in TWUBC are just so over the top. To me they are violence for violence' sake. I don't think they advance the story as much as they detract from it. I skipped both scenes as soon as I realized where they were going, simply because by then I could understand the violence without having to actually read it.

I read 1Q84 for book club exactly 5 years ago, loved it, didn't understand it, but don't remember any scenes of extreme violence.

86jnwelch
dec 15, 2017, 5:39 pm

>85 karenmarie: Right, I don't disagree. I don't think there were any scenes of extreme violence in 1Q84. He might do what you described differently today, I don't know.

87karenmarie
dec 15, 2017, 6:09 pm

Ah, at least my memory is not playing tricks on me.

88karenmarie
Bewerkt: dec 15, 2017, 6:13 pm

95. Versus by Ogden Nash
10/25/17 to 12/15/17 ***





The description from Kirkus Review:

Who would be so rashery To rhyme on ogdonnashery, (Which is a climate Most sublimate For verses awfully dashery)? On themes quite indefatigable His latest book's compatible -- No stone unturned -- No turn unstoned -- On questions burned On facts unknowned. You'll turn this Nash Right into cash.

Why I wanted to read it: I have always loved Ogden Nash’s poetry and wanted to read more than just his ditties.

A fun read, a light read. There are two types of poems in this book. The long ones are dated, frequently stereotypical, very clever with rhymes, and not nearly as much fun to read as the short ones, the ones I remember from my high school years, which are clever, biting, silly.

There are five ‘limicks’ in this book. I like two of them.
First Limick
An old person of Troy
In the bath is so coy
That it doesn’t know yet
If it’s a girl or a boy.

Second Limick
Two nudists of Dover,
Being purple all over,
Were munched by a cow
When mistaken for clover.
There is occasionally a very profound ditty:
The Middle
When I remember bygone days
I think how evening follows morn;
So many I loved were not yet dead,
So many I love were not yet born.
And there is one love poem to his wife Frances.
Confession to be Traced on a Birthday Cake
(first stanza)
Lots of people are richer than me,
Yet pay a slenderer tax;
Their Paragraph Sevens yearly wane
As their Paragraph Sixes wax.
Lots of people have stocks and bonds
To further their romances;
I’ve cashed my ultimate Savings Stamp—
But nobody else has Frances.

89lkernagh
dec 15, 2017, 10:51 pm

Happy "Lucky 13", Karen!

>75 karenmarie: - Ah, yes. The Midsomer Murders are more "made for TV" movies than episodes. ;-)

>79 karenmarie: - Yay! I have made a calendar reminder for me to download the audiobook after Dec 25th, so I will be ready!

90thornton37814
dec 15, 2017, 11:15 pm

>79 karenmarie: I might be game for Dickens in January.

91LizzieD
dec 15, 2017, 11:23 pm

I'm sorry that WUBC didn't work for you. It remains my favorite Murakami: far, far better than 1Q84 and some better than *Kafka*. We shouldn't all be alike, and we aren't!
Thanks for quoting Nash! (The only one I've memorized, I think, is "Shake and shake the catsup bottle/ First none will come out and then a lot'll.") (I just googled it and find that it's Armour instead of Nash. Oh well.)
Hope Blue Monday is going well for you! I must finish a couple of somethings in my slow reach for 75 before I can get to *Wednesday*.
Twitler is the best! Thank you, thank you, RD!

92Berly
dec 15, 2017, 11:47 pm

>79 karenmarie: Made a trip to Powell's today to purge some books. Used the credit to get my copy of Nickolas Nickleby!! And a few others....

; )

93msf59
dec 16, 2017, 6:59 am

>80 karenmarie: I enjoyed your thoughts on The Windup Bird Chronicle.

And hooray for the Nickolas Nickleby Group Read.

Morning, Karen. Happy Saturday. Thanks again for the Truman book. Much appreciated.

94karenmarie
dec 16, 2017, 7:46 am

>89 lkernagh: Thank you, Lori!

Last night we stopped midway through the second one because husband said I was snoring. I was just resting my eyes and serenading them.

Yay Lori! Looking forward to you joining us.

>90 thornton37814: Excellent. We’d love to have you, Lori.

>91 LizzieD: Three stars in my book is ‘good’. That puts it below very good, excellent, stunning, and masterpiece in my rating system. Still a positlve rating. Vive la différence.

Another light verse poet? I’ve never heard of Armour. While looking him up just now, I found this.
According to Nash's grand-daughter, Frances R. Smith of Baltimore, Maryland, (and she should know) what he (Nash) actually wrote was:

"The Catsup Bottle"
First a little
Then a lottle

Then, in 1949, another US humorist, Richard Willard Armour (1906-1989), seems to have gleefully seized on Nash's rhyme, and produced the couplet that many people enjoy reciting to this day.
There are many references to Nash's "The Catsup Bottle", and I actually prefer it. Then I read the Wikipedia entry for Armour and he’s a fascinating person, born in my 'hometown' of Southern California. He wrote a few serious books, then a lot of light verse like Ogden Nash and satirical books.
...his ersatz history of the United States, It All Started With Columbus. These books were typically filled with puns and plays on words, and gave the impression of someone who had not quite been paying attention in class, thus also getting basic facts not quite right, to humorous effect.

As an example: "In an attempt to take Baltimore, the British attacked Fort McHenry, which protected the harbor. Bombs were soon bursting in air, rockets were glaring, and all in all it was a moment of great historical interest. During the bombardment, a young lawyer named Francis "Off" Key wrote The Star-Spangled Banner, and when, by the dawn's early light, the British heard it sung, they fled in terror!"

It All Started with Europa begins in the wilderness full of "fierce animals ready to spring and fierce birds ready to chirp."

It All Started with Marx includes the rabble-rousing Lenin declaring in public "Two pants with every suit!," "Two suits with every pants!" and "The Tsar is a tsap!"

It All started with Eve quotes Napoleon as writing in a letter "Do you (Joséphine) miss me? I hope the enemy artillery does."
Blue Monday is going well although slowly as I made the push to finish TWUBC and Versus. Now I have The Bible, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Bible, The Righteous Mind (which I started last year and will finish this year to get it off my slate), Blue Monday, and only two start-to-finish books for my 100-book goal.

Twitler is scarily best, I agree.

>92 Berly: Hi Berly! Of course a few others. *smile* We’re going to have quite a nice crowd for Nicholas Nickleby.

>93 msf59: Good morning, Mark! Thank you. They were brief but heartfelt. I’m looking forward to the group read, too.

You’re very welcome. It’s short, sweet, and evocative. Makes me want to read more by and about Truman Streckfus Persons, aka Truman Capote. I read In Cold Blood literally decades ago and perhaps it’s time for a re-read. I'll have to keep an eye out for it since I don't have it on my shelves anymore.

95harrygbutler
dec 16, 2017, 8:03 am

>94 karenmarie: Good morning, Karen! I've read a number of Richard Armour's books and still have a few kicking around, including two of the "It All Started..." books and English Lit Relit. I've liked them, though I found after a time that they were better to dip into rather than read straight through. (Although now I'm wondering whether that was Will Cuppy's The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody.)

96karenmarie
dec 16, 2017, 8:11 am

Good morning, Harry!

I'd love to read some of Armour, but so far this year I've bought 286 books (3 more for sure are coming in as Christmas gifts), so will wait until the new year. I might find Armour at the Friends of the Library Sale in April in the 'humor' section. I'll have to scope it out when I do some volunteer set up.

I found that Versus was something better dipped into, although I read it straight through over the course of 51 days.

The Blue Jays are flirting with each other and grooming themselves while controlling the Crepe Myrtle and thus the sunflower feeder as I write this. There are three Titmice sneaking in to get one seed at a time. It's fun to watch.

97witchyrichy
Bewerkt: dec 16, 2017, 9:21 am

Good morning! Thanks for keeping up with my lonely thread ;-) Stopping by to say hello and wish you the best for the holiday season.

>96 karenmarie: I love feeding the birds! We also have a Crepe Myrtle that provides cover, and my husband is trying to lure the chickadees onto the porch as well. Every so often, the turkey hen arrives, too. You can see one of the two toms we have in the background. They are semi-domesticated and roam the property but have a taste for sunflower seeds.

98karenmarie
dec 16, 2017, 9:48 am

Thank you, Karen! Nice to have you come visit.

Your husband must have a lot of patience. What an excellent picture of your turkeys! Thanks for sharing. Nice porch and view, too. :)

99richardderus
dec 16, 2017, 12:19 pm

Hello Horrible dear. Narrowly escaped surgery. Happy with new rheumatologist despite his draconian stance on caffeine. See thread. xo

100karenmarie
dec 17, 2017, 7:14 am

Hi RD!

I'm glad you like your new rheumatologist. I'll zoom over to your thread after posting this. *smooches*

Yesterday got away from me - husband was sick, daughter was arriving, I had to go food shopping. Then daughter and I went to the family Christmas party (husband's side of the family) and got home about 8:15. It was quite dull, frankly, with 3 of the 5 teenager/young adults not able to be there and our hostess, Aunt Ann, exhausted from 2 days of barn activity as her horse nearly died of phosphate poisoning. But it was good to see the family for all that.

Aunt Ann gave me 3 books because .... birding.

The Armchair Birder by John Yow.
Song and Garden Birds of North America by Alexander Wetmore under the auspices of the National Geographic Society.
The Bird Songs Anthology by Les Beletsky. I put new batteries in, but it doesn't seem to be working, but the book itself has gorgeous plates.

And I got No Middle Name by Lee Child from Cousins Rebecca, David, Jordan, and Cassidy for Christmas.

101msf59
dec 17, 2017, 7:52 am

Ooh, I love the birding books! How nice. You'll have to let me know what you think of them.

Morning, Karen. Happy Sunday. We are having a party to celebrate my FIL's 75th birthday this afternoon. I'll have to tell him that is a very important number in my book world. Smiles...

102karenmarie
dec 17, 2017, 8:11 am

Hi Mark!

It was very nice of her. I'm especially intrigued with The Armchair Birder because that's mostly what I am!

I hope you enjoy your FiL's party. 75 is a pretty big number for us, for sure.

103richardderus
dec 17, 2017, 8:52 am

Happy Sunday, Horrible. Enjoy your indoor birding.

104PaulCranswick
dec 17, 2017, 9:02 am

Wishing you a wonderful Sunday, Karen. xx

105EllaTim
dec 17, 2017, 9:16 am

Happy Sunday Karen!

Praise for finishing the Murakami. I had the same reaction to the same scene. I do want to finish the book, but haven't picked it up again. Maybe armour myself with some light verse on the side?

The Armchair Birder sounds wonderful. Hey, there's a follow-up!

106Crazymamie
dec 17, 2017, 10:33 am

Morning, Karen! Happy Sunday to you.

107karenmarie
dec 17, 2017, 12:51 pm

>103 richardderus: Thanks, RD! I'm at it right now, having just given the family a Titmouse and Chickadee report from the Sunroom. We're getting ready to watch the Panthers Packers game. Daughter's still here, war has not broken out, but I must admit that I've been spending most of the time in the living room with them to broker peace if things get hostile.

>104 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul. A nice day so far. I made buttermilk waffles and bacon for breakfast and am making Chex Mix for munching on during the game.

>105 EllaTim: Thank you, Ella. it was a combination joy and slog. I skipped it as soon as I figured out what was going on in that scene. I hope you do finish it, because it's a good book even if I don't really understand about 80% of it. *smile* Yes, light verse or a smallish fun book. Or Sudoku, or cross word puzzles, or something fun on the computer. Or a glass of wine.

I am going to finish up The Righteous Mind, the current nonfiction book I've got going, then I think I'll delve into The Armchair Birder. The man knows me - he proves it in the introduction.
The designation "armchair birder" signals no achievement and confers no distinction. I can't claim to have driven 300 miles in the middle of the night to see the avocets at dawn on Delaware Bay. As for my "life list," you could just about get the whole thing onto a cocktail napkin.
He's been spying on me!

>106 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie!. Thank you!

Off to stir the Chex Mix and get ready for the game.

108witchyrichy
dec 17, 2017, 1:19 pm

>100 karenmarie: I haven't read the first Yow book but thoroughly enjoyed The Armchair Birder Goes Coastal that I read during a visit to Florida. His portraits of the birds are wonderfully written. I was happy to learn more about some old friends and meet some new ones.

109streamsong
dec 17, 2017, 2:37 pm

Hi Karen- The Armchair Birder sounds like fun. I've added it to my list of possibilities - I'll look forward to seeing what you have to say about it.

110karenmarie
dec 17, 2017, 9:58 pm

>108 witchyrichy: Hi Karen! Nice to know, and I'm so glad to have The Armchair Birder.

>109 streamsong: Hi Janet. I'd never even heard of it until Aunt Ann gave it to me. She had given it to her husband, Uncle Sandy, in 2009, so I feel honored that she gave it to me.

The Panthers beat the Packers. Daughter made it safely back to Wilmington.

Tomorrow will be busy. Copy of pictures of daughter to send in Christmas cards, finishing Christmas cards and mailing them. Deep tissue massage session that I'd forgotten about. Deposit for Friends of the Library, and one check written to the County from Friends to reimburse for expenses within the scope of our budget. Dinner with friend Jan.

111Whisper1
dec 17, 2017, 10:06 pm

>1 karenmarie: What a lovely photo. Sadly, I don't have a lot of older family photos. Those I have, I cherish.

112LovingLit
dec 18, 2017, 4:19 am

Cant believe this is my first visit to this, your lucky 13th, thread!
I see your latest reads were both 3-stars. Looks like you need a 4.5 or above star read for your nest one!!

113msf59
dec 18, 2017, 6:35 am

Morning, Karen. It looks like our mild weather continues. 47 today. 50 tomorrow. No complaints out of this Old Warbler.

114karenmarie
Bewerkt: dec 18, 2017, 7:10 am

>111 Whisper1: Thank you, Linda. I don't have very many of the three siblings, so like you cherish this photo.

>112 LovingLit: Hi Megan! Welcome aboard. You're right. I hadn't paid attention. Hmmm. I had hoped that Blue Monday, the first in the Frieda Klein Series would be a 4 star read, but I don't seem to be able to get into it right now, so am officially abandoning it. Maybe when things are calmer in the new year. Now to find something really enticing.

>113 msf59: Good morning, Mark! Nice work weather for you, indeed. Our weather will be mild today, too. I didn't even need to cut the propane heater on in the Sunroom this morning.

115harrygbutler
dec 18, 2017, 9:03 am

Good morning, Karen! Mild weather here as well. I need to make a run for Christmas stamps for our cards, and I may need to pick up the stollen we've ordered (that may be tomorrow). Aside from work, I hope to fit in wrapping up a book and my latest weekly pulp magazine.

116SomeGuyInVirginia
dec 18, 2017, 9:12 am

Heya Karen! There's a birding store in Williamsburg! I haven't been in it, yet, but it's close to the Harris Teeter. I'll check it out and report back.

117karenmarie
dec 18, 2017, 10:12 am

>115 harrygbutler: Hi Harry and good morning to you, too! Mild weather is good for the heating bills. Ooh, stolen. Haven't had any in years. Nor julekage. My uncle and aunt used to make it. Lucky you!

>116 SomeGuyInVirginia: Hiya Larry! That's exciting. I'll be interested in hearing what interested you.

I have been getting more birds at the feeders as the natural food sources are drying up (so to speak).

I just watched a Brown Thrasher take an extended bath! When he'd finished, he hopped down onto the pavers, ruffled and fluffed for a while, then zoomed off into one of the nearby trees. So much fun to watch!

118jessibud2
dec 18, 2017, 10:45 am

>117 karenmarie: - Karen, have you seen this:

Brown thrasher in wrong place

For some unknown reason (though I have my suspicions) I have seen very few birds at my feeder over the past week. Not happy at all about it

119karenmarie
dec 18, 2017, 11:59 am

Hi Shelley!

No, I hadn't seen it! It's wonderful. Go Thrasher! Thanks for sharing.

What's your suspicion?

I've just started getting more birds again recently. I've got a Carolina Wren on the suet feeder right now.

120jessibud2
dec 18, 2017, 12:15 pm

I live in a townhouse and the houses are attached. My next door neighbours have outdone themselves this year with Christmas lights and decoration. We have a smallish fir tree between our 2 houses and they (he, more accurately) have had the bottom of it wrapped in ugly bungee cord since Halloween. Don't ask me why, I have no idea. The rest of the tree is so densely covered in lights that I am wondering if the birds are having a tough time flying in and out of it because that is where they always take shelter after visiting the feeder. I could be totally wrong but I am not about to say anything to them about it. For reasons I will explain on my own thread, I'd just rather not. But I can't figure out any other reason that they (the birds) are so scarce.

121nittnut
dec 18, 2017, 12:18 pm

Just passing by and waving hello. We have had quite a few birds lately, but we seem to have a busier morning crowd. About 8 am, the trees out back fill up and birds just rotate in and out around the feeders. Squirrels come to clean up under the feeder and the birds chase them off. They stay away for a bit and come back. Lots of bluebirds, chickadees, blue jays, sparrows, Carolina wrens and woodpeckers.

122johnsimpson
dec 18, 2017, 3:31 pm

Hi Karen, hope you had a good weekend my dear, I have been missing in action over the last few days but here I am again. Karen spent most of yesterday making festive treats for presents and friends as well as some for us, the truffles look lovely. Wishing you a good week ahead dear friend in the run up to the big day, sending love and hugs to you all.

123m.belljackson
dec 18, 2017, 9:24 pm

>120 jessibud2:

The birds need those evergreens in the winter, more if there aren't a lot of trees -
for protection, warmth, nesting, some food, and companionship!

124LizzieD
dec 18, 2017, 11:32 pm

Oh dear. I'm sorry that Frieda Klein didn't work for you immediately. I can't wait to get into Wednesday.

125richardderus
dec 19, 2017, 12:10 am

ugh*schnerkle*bleggh*sneeeerrrrp*

(translation: my cold isn't better yet)

126harrygbutler
dec 19, 2017, 6:35 am

Good morning, Karen! We were fortunate to find a bakery nearby that makes the stollen, as well as springerle and pfeffernusse, around Christmas time.

127msf59
dec 19, 2017, 7:03 am

Morning, Karen. I have never seen birds chase away any squirrels at my feeders, although I would really like to see that.

128karenmarie
dec 19, 2017, 7:07 am

>120 jessibud2: You're probably right, Shelley. It could very well be that the tree isn’t available to the birds. Sigh. Neighbors.

>121 nittnut: Hi Jenn! *waves back* I haven’t seen a woodpecker in months, but I haven’t been looking too much at the Squirrel Stopper feeding station in the back, which is where the woodpeckers used to go to for the suet feeder. I’ve got the suet feeder in the front now so I can see it from the Sunroom, but might move it back out there.

>122 johnsimpson: Hi John! We did. I’ll have to go visit your thread this morning to see what’s going on over there. Yay for Karen baking, thanks for the holiday wishes. Sending love and hugs to you and Karen.

>123 m.belljackson: They do, Marianne. We have hollies and pine trees on our property and they get used a lot by the birds.

>124 LizzieD: No worries, Peggy – I’ve been pretty busy since last Thursday, will be busy today, too, and it just wasn’t the right time. I’ve started the 3rd in a series I like, the Fever Devilin series instead. But I’ll try to get back to it in January.

>125 richardderus: Poor, RD! I hope you’re doing better today. *smooches*

>126 harrygbutler: Hi Harry! You’re lucky. We do have a small local bakery but I haven’t been in during the holiday season so don’t know if they make anything seasonal.

129Berly
dec 19, 2017, 8:16 am

The only feeder I have up is for hummingbirds, and they are kindly gracing me with their presence. Happy birding! Hurray for the recent book acquisitions. :)

130karenmarie
dec 19, 2017, 8:32 am

Hi Kim!

You still having hummingbirds? Fantastic. Mine leave in October, return in April. Birding's a joy. I did look for the Kingfisher rumored to be at the pond on the way into town, but no joy. I'll keep looking.

And re book acquisitions, ah, here are a few more.

Bookmooch - Every Dead Thing by John Sanford. First in the Charlie Parker series, which I've never read before.
Thrift Store - Fever Season by Barbara Hambly
Thrift Store - Licks of Love by John Updike
Thrift Store - A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
Thrift Store - Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay

The Bookmooch book didn't cost me anything directly - it's from points earned listing and mailing books. The Thrift Store acquisitions were 25¢ each. All books are 25¢ each through year end. Then they 'drop' the books and put in all new ones.

131Berly
dec 19, 2017, 8:37 am

You are a hopeless collector! And I like you that way. :) I love Updike and that Moore is a good one. Have fun! (They are books; how could it be otherwise?)

132karenmarie
dec 19, 2017, 8:46 am

Why, thank you, Kim! A collector I am, indeed.

Or, as Richard absolutely nailed it, a tsundoku-ist.

133Berly
dec 19, 2017, 8:53 am

It's actually Tsudonkist. : )

134karenmarie
dec 19, 2017, 9:12 am

Thanks for the correction!

Tsudonkist.

135SomeGuyInVirginia
dec 19, 2017, 9:31 am

I like Moore, and he recommends some really good comic novels on his website. He's really good to his fans.

Dad's home! Yay! He's napping, and I'm going to read a bit then do likewise.

136karenmarie
dec 19, 2017, 9:52 am

Good news about your dad, Larry! Reading and napping are two of my favorite things!

Smooches to all three of you.

137richardderus
dec 19, 2017, 10:49 am

Have a calm, quiet, bird-stuffed (as opposed to bird-stuffing) Tuesday, Horrible dear. *smooch*

138Familyhistorian
dec 19, 2017, 2:30 pm

Happy Tuesday, Karen. Is that what most of us have, tsundoku?

139karenmarie
dec 19, 2017, 5:49 pm

>137 richardderus: Hallo, RD! Thank you for the thought - it ended up being a too busy day. Cleaning ladies, baking, lunch with a friend, on a mission for lighted outdoor deer, prints of a photo of daughter for Christmas cards, not enough time to mail cards today, now I have to go out tomorrow. Blah blah blah.

*smooches* back from TVT Horrible

>138 Familyhistorian: Thank you, Meg! Oh yes, most of us have piles of books stacked everywhere, more than we'll read in a year or two or ten. My current estimate is 18 years if I read 100 per year. And that doesn't include all the new books I acquire each year.

140majleavy
dec 19, 2017, 8:17 pm

>139 karenmarie: *18 years to read* Wow! Even allowing for exaggeration, that's so outside my capacity to imagine - though I know it's hardly uncommon around these parts. I began 2017 with 18 books unread or in process and I could hardly stand the pressure. Almost constant torment until I got the stack down to five (which took a while, since I bought another dozen more en route to that point). Props to you and the other tsundokistas who can bear up under the load!

141karenmarie
dec 19, 2017, 9:16 pm

Hi Michael. It's not exaggeration, I'm afraid. I have a tag for every book - started, abandoned, read, tbr (to be read), ntbr (not to be read). Right now my tbr is 1793. I blame it on LT. I joined LT 10 years ago and have doubled the number of books I have since then.

4 abandoned
56 started not finished but not abandoned (I really need to re-classify or cull)
809 not to be read - reference, cookbooks, etc.
1873 read
1793 to be read

I like the load. I like having books I haven't read. I like having a choice. I like remembering a book that I've forgotten about. I like looking at a book and thinking fondly of a time I might actually read it. I am a hopeless tsundokist. The only thing that I don't do is stack or pile. Every book has a place on a shelf, every book has a location tag except for the 51 that are 'misshelved'. I've probably gotten rid of some of them, but I know some of them are still around here somewhere.

142Whisper1
dec 20, 2017, 12:23 am

>130 karenmarie: You managed to acquire some great books! Congratulations. While I am home recovering from surgery, I've been successful at reading from my own vast library. I find that when I list those I think I am going to read, it just doesn't work out that way. Lately, I'm going through the various piles located throughout the house and choosing a few that look good. I hope that in 2018 I can get a handle on acquiring less and reading more from my stockpile.

All good wishes for a wonderful holiday!

143msf59
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2017, 6:40 am

^I think you may have missed me up there yesterday. We may have cross-posted. I am hardly even upset.

Morning, Karen. I work today and tomorrow. Off Friday and they asked me to work Saturday, so I agreed. I can always use the extra cash, this time of year.

I'll be starting and probably finishing A Christmas Memory today.

144harrygbutler
dec 20, 2017, 7:16 am

Good morning, Karen! As I've always been a re-reader, I don't really divide books into read and to be read. I do track and tag (most of) them as I read them now, but that's in large part so that I can be sure of moving on to the next book in a series if I set the series aside for a time, and in part to support posting about my reading in my threads on LT, since I don't review immediately after I complete a book.

145karenmarie
dec 20, 2017, 7:28 am

>142 Whisper1: Hi Linda! Thank you. I'm glad you have a good library to choose from as you are recovering from your surgery - it's always a happy surprise to discover something on your shelves, isn't it? Listing books to read isn't usually successful with me either. It starts to feel like homework. I'm afraid that 2017 was a banner year for acquiring books, at 295 and counting (2 more for sure), but I have also culled 190 this year.

Good luck with your goal for 2018 of reading more off your shelves. I am a member of the ROOTs group - Read Off Our Shelves - and my goal was 40 of my 100 total book goal. I'm currently at 39, so will make my goal there, too.

Mark! I'm so sorry. I saw your post, then went away for a while and when I came back I got sidetracked. I miss my mind.

>127 msf59: I'd love to see Jays or Mockingbirds chase squirrels away. I haven't seen any squirrels near my feeders recently, although having just said that, they will probably come out with a vengeance!

>143 msf59: You're probably still overwhelmed with mail, right? Glad you have Friday off and extra cash is always good.

I do hope you like A Christmas Memory - in addition to loving the story I just loved the feel of the book.

It's going to be a rainy dreary day and I had planned on not going out but got delayed yesterday so couldn't finish up my Christmas cards. Once I decide to get going this morning, I will finish them - write a few more, stuff with letters and a photo of daughter standing next to the Christmas tree, put return address labels and stamps on - and actually take them to the post office to mail them. I need to bake 2 pies for husband's work party tomorrow and start wrapping presents for husband and daughter.

And read of course.

146FAMeulstee
dec 20, 2017, 8:54 am

>141 karenmarie: I love it how organised you are, Karen!
I am not sure how many books I have to read in my library, I should add those tags :-)
This year I started to count my unread childrens and YA books, and cull some of the books I have read. I now have left to read 362 childrens/YA books in my own library. That will take me about 2 years.

147karenmarie
dec 20, 2017, 9:24 am

Hi Anita!

Thank you. Obsessive-compulsive might be a better term - it drives me nuts when things are missing or on the wrong shelf or misclassified.

Some people prefer collections to keep track of things, but I personally like using tags.

You are doing good work with your YA and childrens books.

It's a labor love, isn't it?

...
All cards written, stamped, addressed, return addressed, sorted by zip code. Breakfast, then off to the post office. And the bank. And now to buy a few more cards..... sheesh. I need 6 for husband's work, having used up a few more than I anticipated to mail.

148EBT1002
dec 20, 2017, 1:10 pm

I am not sure we'll get a single card in the mail this year....

I'm committing to more Off-My-Shelves reads in 2018. This year I participated in so many challenges and shared reads that I just ended up acquiring books to read at the same time that I was acquiring books I eventually want to read. So I'm saying that eventually is 2018. It's the only way I can deal with the fact that I have become a stacker which I don't like. I know it's not good for the books and it makes it harder to find them!

149richardderus
dec 20, 2017, 1:30 pm

I stoutly refuse to plan any reading except Godstalk for 2018.

I can't write anymore, so I send e-cards.

I have given someone holiday packages and money to mail them, but I'm not sure it's been done. I sure as hell hope so...although really, what's the big whoop? We're grown ups! We can buy ourselves whatever we want whenever we want it!

150karenmarie
dec 20, 2017, 3:27 pm

>148 EBT1002: Hi Ellen! Cards have become somewhat stressful, although now that 69 of 75 have been mailed or distributed, I can breathe again. I used to have a list of 110 or more, but last year I cut way back and this coming year I'll cut back further.

I think reading off our shelves is a great idea. I'm in the ROOTs group. 40 of my 75 book challenge 100 book goal for the year is my ROOT goal. It seems amazing that only 40% of my books were on my shelves before 1/1/17, which is my personal rule for ROOTs (other people have other rules). I know myself very well, however, and know how many good books my dear friends here in the 75 Book Challenges hit me with.

I also know myself very well and have learned that committing to group reads immediately makes them feel like homework. I'm definitely committed to Nicholas Nickleby and probably committed to The Luminaries, Foucault's Pendulum, and The Source if other people are interested. I think there are two of Paul's BAC challenges that I might be interested in, and of course my Real Life Book Club, in our 20th reading year. That's 12 books, but I usually end up only reading about half given that each one of us gets to choose a book. I almost always at least start a book before going "blech" and thinking "too many books, too little time." No more challenges than that, so far.

Stacks give me the heebie jeebies. My husband, bless his heart, let me take one bedroom as a library when we built this house. It doesn't even have a closet, having instead two floor-to-ceiling walls of bookshelves. My sunroom has a wall of bookcases, the Parlour has 45 linear feet of bookshelves, and my daughter's rec room, which is now my Retreat has 60 linear feet. Only books live on these shelves except for one in the Sunroom, which houses most of the tchotchkes I feel compelled to keep out.



>149 richardderus: Hi RD! Minimal commitments is good. We get several e-mailed Christmas cards, which I'm fine with, too.

We are all pretty lucky to be able to buy books when we want them, for sure. We're all pretty lucky all around, what with a roof over our heads, food, heat cool, being physically safe, having stuff.

151majleavy
dec 20, 2017, 4:14 pm

>141 karenmarie: Amazing how different we can all be. I was almost that organized with my comic books, back when I was a collector - I still have the database somewhere - sortable by title, author, artist, year... - and they're still all neatly housed (mouldering?) in longboxes. Still, I never accumulated tbrs - my nature required me to read them as close to immediately as possible (obsessive in its own way).

An area where I remain hyper-organized/obsessive is in my music listening, which I tend to track and analyze with a diligence that might even transcend the Cranswickian.

152richardderus
dec 20, 2017, 4:21 pm

>150 karenmarie: Email! Wow. I haven't sent personal email in, like, forever.

I post my holiday wishes on Facebook, Twitter, and my thread. Come'n'get it!

153EBT1002
dec 20, 2017, 4:56 pm

>150 karenmarie: I love the stuffed donkey among your tchotchkes. :-)

All those shelves (and having been able to build your house to suit your style) sound wonderful. Our house is a 1931 bungalow with very few and very small closets and just not a lot of space for things. I do have loads of bookshelves in the basement tv room as well as in the hallway, living room, bedroom, and study. But most of them are Billy bookcases from IKEA. I need to sort through the shelves in the basement; I know there are lots of books there that could go away and that would give me more shelves for books I actually want!

154karenmarie
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2017, 5:22 pm

>151 majleavy: Hi Michael! At one point my husband was as organized with his music as I am with my books. It just all depends on what's important, right?

>152 richardderus: Email. Well, yes, my mother's 78-year old first cousin Lenita sent out a Christmas card via e-mail to those of us who use it. I would imagine that she sends cards to the old folks on her list. We have another friend who lives on the side of a mountain the Appalachians and sends Christmas greetings via e-mail, too.

I use e-mail with my sister when she's at work, my Aunt and Uncle, and two of my friends. There's also quite a bit of e-mail with my role as Treasurer of the Friends of the Library.

I'm a liker and lurker on Facebook and don't even have nor will ever have a Twitter account. Of course LT threads are totally wonderful 'cuz y'all are totally wonderful.

>153 EBT1002: Thanks, Ellen. that's Eeyore. I got him in about 1985 or so at Disneyland.

Your 1931 bungalow is absolutely charming, I'm sure, and bookcases all over the place have their own charm. Not having enough closets is NOT charming, of course..... *smile*

I did a major cull this year - duplicates, books I realized I'd never read, never read again, and that daughter wouldn't want. It's actually quite fun, and of course provides room for new books!

Oooh, tell me about your Billy bookcases from IKEA. Daughter wants bookcases for Christmas. I want to get her two of these. Delivery is prohibitive, so I'd have to drive to Charlotte, which is 120 miles and about 2 hours away.

Are they hard to put together? Do you need special tools? Inquiring minds and all that.

155FAMeulstee
dec 20, 2017, 5:28 pm

In or house we only have Billy bookcases, I love them. The oldest are from 1980. Not hard to put together.

156EBT1002
dec 20, 2017, 5:41 pm

I thought that was Eeyore. Love him.

I love all my Billy bookcases. They are quite easy to assemble, and no tools needed that aren't included with the rest of the materials. I did make a mistake on one of them, one that was in my office at work, actually, by putting the back on backwards. It's made to look like wood and backwards was unsatisfying. I left it and just filled it with books.

157sibylline
dec 20, 2017, 5:55 pm

I am intrigued by the Billy bookcases, must go and take a look . . .

158thornton37814
dec 20, 2017, 6:22 pm

>154 karenmarie: The next time I am in Charlotte or Atlanta, I need to get some Billy Bookcases myself. Everyone raves so about them. I've had shelf-collapse on some of my bookcases due to large numbers of books plus cat weight. I'm torn between having some custom-built and purchasing Billy units.

159SomeGuyInVirginia
dec 20, 2017, 7:03 pm

I had to giggle, Karen, when I was in the local grocery store and they had an entire section of bird seed. And I don't mean a section in the pet food aisle, I mean a section with it's own sign, a la condiments and Hispanic food. I'm surrounded by birders! How do I let them know I come in peace?!

160katiekrug
dec 20, 2017, 7:53 pm

We have several Billys too. As far as affordable furniture goes, they are much more sturdy than other options.

161majleavy
dec 20, 2017, 8:48 pm

I've got some Billys, too. They're surely easy for normal people to put together; mine always end up lopsided, like everything else I've ever put together.

162karenmarie
dec 20, 2017, 9:06 pm

>155 FAMeulstee: Good to know, Anita! I’ve only heard about them from johnsimpson recently and have been checking them out for daughter.

>156 EBT1002: Eeyore was always my favorite – I wonder what that says about me?

Another vote for Billy bookcases.

>157 sibylline: They seem to come in all sizes and a variety of finishes. Daughter likes the brown-black, of course. She’s not a Goth but does love black.

>158 thornton37814: Hi Lori! It seems that they do a great job. Not sure about the cat weight, though!

>159 SomeGuyInVirginia: That is so cool, Larry! There is a teensy section of bird food at my local Food Lion, but it’s not labeled as such. You are indeed surrounded by birders! How do I let them know I come in peace?! With a pair of binoculars, of course!

>160 katiekrug: Another vote for Billys. Thanks, Katie!

>161 majleavy: And Michael too! Lopsided as they may be.

Sigh. I may make a Charlotte run Friday. Daughter’s expecting money for bookcases after I explained the delivery/delay issues, but if I can actually get them in Charlotte, I’d love to surprise her.

I’m so proud of her, by the way. She dropped out of college her sophomore year, tried to go back the next year to a different school and that didn’t work either. Now she’s been working for 3 years and realizes the value of an education. She’s being more practical, though, and is going to her local community college to work towards a 2-year business administration degree. She signed up, did all the paperwork, and paid for 5 classes today with her own money for the winter semester, starting January 4th. She sounds excited. Her dad and I might give her money for her books just to encourage her.

163jessibud2
dec 20, 2017, 11:36 pm

Another vote for Billy bookcases. There is an IKEA about a 5-minute drive from my house. Convenient, but sometimes, it can be dangerous.... ;-)

164Berly
dec 21, 2017, 12:07 am

Hi Karen--Loving all the bookcase talk. And the names of your tags. : ) Congrats to your daughter and best of luck!

165FAMeulstee
dec 21, 2017, 3:46 am

As I know you love statistics & fun facts: at your own LT "Stats/Memes" pages there is a "Physical Properties" page with near the end of the page under "Shelf space/stack height" how many IKEA Billy bookcases you need for your catalogued books :-)

166msf59
dec 21, 2017, 6:44 am

Morning, Karen. Sweet Thursday. Due to RL & work distractions, I did not start A Christmas Memory, but I will today.

167harrygbutler
dec 21, 2017, 6:55 am

>162 karenmarie: Good morning, Karen! Your daughter's approach to returning to school seems quite sensible.

168karenmarie
dec 21, 2017, 8:31 am

>163 jessibud2: Hi Shelley! 5 minutes. I am so envious. I’d risk the danger for the convenience.

>164 Berly: Hey Kim! It’s Billy all the way.

Being a systems analyst/programmer my entire career, I have always liked and appreciated categorized data, so when I started cataloging my books here on LT 10 years go, I knew I needed location tags and wanted status tags. I’m happy with what I’ve done.

And thanks re daughter. She spoke with her dad last night and was so excited. I mouthed at him “be positive” and they had a great conversation. I needn’t have – he is genuinely happy and proud that she’s doing this.

>165 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita! I do love stats and fun facts!! I’ve looked at some of the Stats/Memes, but never physical properties before. 69.58 Ikea book cases, 1061 linear feet. It’s understated, though, because 1,219 of my books, over 25%, do not have dimensions. BIG sigh. A project for the new year, methinks. Make sure every book has correct dimensions and non-Amazon cover.

>166 msf59: Good morning, Mark! Thank you. Sorry you didn’t get a chance to start A Christmas Memory. I hope you can get to it today.

>167 harrygbutler: Hi Harry! She’s practical and considerate of her finances. No more 4-year schools for her, given the fact that most of the people she knows who have graduated are waitressing or working some other non-benefits service industry job.

Today is husband’s work Christmas luncheon and I’ll be going. Part of me wants to go, part of me doesn’t, but husband wants me to go so what’s a poor wife to do?

I’ve made a Pecan Pie and a Pecan Cheesecake Pie to take (the latter is an experiment – saw it on witchyrichy’s page). Here are the results, along with the Brown Sugar Cookies I made yesterday.



I'm seriously thinking of going to get Billy bookcases today after the luncheon. It would make it a ridiculously long day, but then tomorrow I wouldn't have to go out AT ALL.

169katiekrug
dec 21, 2017, 9:03 am

I am all for one long day in favor of dragging out the errands and interrupting multiple days :)

And good for your daughter. I think those countries with a tradition of gap years are on to something. I was fine going right to college, but I know lots of people struggle with it, and really, they just need to take some time to figure out what they really want to do and how they want to do it.

170RebaRelishesReading
dec 21, 2017, 12:29 pm

>150 karenmarie: A room to use as a library -- oh how I would love that!! We have two bedrooms -- one to sleep in and one as a (one-person) guest room/husband's office. My desk is in a corner of the "great room". We've talked about moving but the new tax bill has firmly ended that idea. Next idea is to wall off part of the great room (which is too big to be cozy anyway) and make an office for me but it will be fairly small and definitely not a candidate library. Somewhere I will need to find room for another bookcase, though, because I now have books sideways on top of books on just about every shelf.

171EBT1002
dec 21, 2017, 1:28 pm

Just echoing that Billy bookcases are quite sturdy.

And you absolutely should be proud of your daughter! Our society is so steeped in the myth that human development travels along a uniform pathway. Having worked on college campuses my whole career, I can tell you that the students who "dropped out" and took time off to sort out their goals and talents often ended up being the most successful. I can't tell you how many times I worked with a student client to let go of their internalize pressure to "finish" by a certain age. Good for her for taking the time and learning from her own experience! I wish her loads of luck in her academic program and I predict that she'll do well and get more out of it than if she had pushed herself to remain in college when she wasn't yet ready to be there.

All the talk about bookshelves is kind of motivating me to do some sorting of books and shelves in our home. Not while I'm feeling under the weather but it seems like a good summertime project.

172jessibud2
dec 21, 2017, 1:36 pm

I just want to add my applause for your daughter's decision, Karen. I finished high school, and a 2-year junior college to travel for one year. At the end of that year, I gave up a place at McGill that was being held for me for one year, to stay overseas and when I returned home, 6 years later, I entered first year university at the age of 27 to begin my studies with a bunch of 17 year olds. But by that time, I was ready to be there, as I had not been at age 19.

Not following the straight path set out for her, but rather, following her own time clock, is probably the best path to success and happiness. Congrats! And all the best to her

173richardderus
dec 21, 2017, 2:47 pm



Happy Yule Book Flood!

174johnsimpson
dec 21, 2017, 3:33 pm

More Billy bookcase votes. We have three Billy's in our house and Amy has two.

175EllaTim
dec 21, 2017, 8:03 pm

Another Billy user here. My books are lined up in double rows on the shelves.
The bookcases themselves have been moved at least, I don't know how many times, they can be taken apart and reassembled easily.

Good luck to your daughter, she seems to know what she really wants, and that's so important in life.

Hey I learned a new word on your thread tchotchke, I do think I have some of those as well;-)

176karenmarie
dec 21, 2017, 9:41 pm

>169 katiekrug: Hi Katie! I did it! I did it! I went to the luncheon, then drove 130 miles straight to the Ikea in Charlotte, got the Billy bookcases and drove the 120 miles home. I have no need to go out tomorrow and no plans to do so.

Thank you re my daughter. I was fine, too, going straight to college, but my husband dropped out and never went back – I’m just glad that daughter’s going back.

>170 RebaRelishesReading: I realize how lucky I am, Reba. I hope you can figure out a good place for more bookcases.

>171 EBT1002: If weight is anything to go by, Ellen, they are definitely sturdy. I don’t know how I’ll get the boxes out of Steve (my SUV) into the Library, but blankets on hardwoods will probably work – pushing and pulling. The plan is for there to be a note from Santa saying that he owes daughter bookcases, which is what she's expecting, then I’ll ‘get a text’ from Santa saying to look in the Library. Of course after that I’ll have to drive them to Wilmington for her sometime next week, and then it’s her decision whether she wants me to help assemble them or not. I’m excited.

Thank you re my daughter. She’s been talking about this for a while, but now she’s actually taken the steps. I’ve stayed out of it because I know that the assumption that she would go to college right away ended up not being good for her. Mom and Dad had to let her lead her own life. She’s excited about all her classes.

>172 jessibud2: Thank you, Shelley, for sharing your story. I hope that daughter’s story ends up the same – ready to be there now as she wasn’t at 18.

>173 richardderus: Thank ‘ee kindly, RD! I’m hoping to get at least two more for Christmas. And one arrived today in the mail from our own dear Mark, A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash. I did not realize that Cash lives in NC. In fact, he lives in Wilmington, where my daughter lives.

>174 johnsimpson: Yay John! You got me started on this journey for my daughter by mentioning Billy bookcases on your thread sometime earlier this year. Thank you.

>175 EllaTim: And Ella, too! Fantastic.

Thank you re my daughter. 24 is still so very young, but she definitely is motivated this time around.

New words are always exciting, aren’t they?


So I got home about 6:50 p.m. It was dark, and I had a sense that I’d better go slowly down the drive. Sure enough, 4 does ambled across in front of my headlights, from our land to Ronnie and Kim’s.

Last night Susannah Harker, who played Jane Bennett, and David Bamber, who played Mr. Collins in the BBC’s 1995 Pride and Prejudice mini-series were in an episode of Midsomer Murders, and tonight we saw Benjamin Whitrow, who played Mr. Bennett in the same P&P miniseries in an episode. I love recognizing actors I’ve seen elsewhere, and in MM, there are so many of them!

Wired and tired, it’s off to read and then sleep.

177Berly
dec 22, 2017, 1:57 am

Night. Sleep well. ;)

178karenmarie
dec 22, 2017, 2:53 am

Thank you, my dear. I slept well until 1:47. Now Kitty William is sitting on the printer, I'm going to get a cup of coffee, and I'll read for a while.

179FAMeulstee
dec 22, 2017, 3:39 am

That is a long drive to an IKEA, Karen, I think your daughter is going to be happy with the Billy bookcases!

I also dropped out at university, and was lucky a few years later to find a job where they payed me to become a programmer/system analist.

180karenmarie
dec 22, 2017, 3:46 am

I didn't know you were a programmer/analyst! My second year of college I got a part-time job in the School of Business and Management's computer center where they taught me Fortran and All Things Computer. I ended up managing the computer center until I graduated in 1975. Then I earned my living as a programmer/analyst with occasional stints as a Manager of small IT departments and consulting through the middle of 2015. Then a hellish stint in Logistics as Master Scheduler 6 months before retiring completely in January of 2016.

When my daughter was young and I occasionally had to take her into work with me off hours, she told me that she wanted to grow up to be a systems analyst, sit in my co-worker's cube right next to me, and work for my (good then terrible later) company. That didn't last long, but it was flattering. It's ironic now that she wants to get a 2-year degree in Business Administration, which is what I took my degree in in 1975.

181FAMeulstee
dec 22, 2017, 4:07 am

I went to to the university to study Law, a completely wrong choice, as I failed for every exam that was about Law ;-)
At my job I was a COBOL programmer and later learned PL/1. I worked for the city of The Hague until I was very early retired because of disability in 1997.

182karenmarie
dec 22, 2017, 5:10 am

Some people just take to programming and analysis - no wonder we get along so well!

I never 'got' COBOL, had a smattering of Assembly, was strong in FORTRAN and the HP 3000 series Cognos Powerhouse Languages (QDD, QDesign, Quiz, Quick, and QTP). I always worked in manufacturing environments, the last 20 years in automotive. My company was a tier 1 supplier of automotive components to Chrysler, Harley Davidson, etc.

183FAMeulstee
dec 22, 2017, 6:34 am

Yes, all that combined with reading :-)

I worked mainly for public & personnel administration, each city department of The Hague had a team at our place for maintenance and new developments on the mainframe. I preferred the maintenance work, giving solutions in a rather short time makes people happy. Developing new projects took ages and the results were not always what the city department really needed... Around the time I left, The Hague decided to outsource it all.

184msf59
dec 22, 2017, 7:32 am

Morning, Karen. Happy Friday. I did read A Christmas Memory yesterday. It is a beautiful story and I loved it. Thanks so much for putting it in my hands. Did you realize that the book was inscribed to Mark, from Gretchen? Was this just a bizarre coincidence? It was a lovely sentiment too.

185harrygbutler
dec 22, 2017, 8:42 am

Good morning, Karen! I hope you enjoy a relaxing day after your long one yesterday.

I trust that your daughter will like the bookcases. They should make for a great surprise.

186karenmarie
dec 22, 2017, 8:55 am

>183 FAMeulstee: Me, too. I loved making users happy. And we were the same in a way - our parent company implemented SAP, we were forced to use it, and it absolutely sucked in every way possible and gave no flexibility for special reports or any local control. SAP may be good software, but not the way Magneti Marelli implemented it IMO.

>184 msf59: Good morning, Mark! So glad you liked it and you're welcome. I remember a beautiful long inscription, but forgot that it was to Mark from Gretchen. Yay.

>185 harrygbutler: Hi Harry. So far so good. I just finished White Silence, the first in the Elizabeth Cage series by Jodi Taylor, read on my Kindle.

I will wrap presents today, read, and do whatever.

>

187karenmarie
Bewerkt: dec 22, 2017, 11:25 am

96. White Silence by Jodi Taylor
12/19/17 to 12/22/17





The description from Amazon, with a few corrections to punctuation:

The first installment in the new, gripping supernatural thriller series from international bestselling author, Jodi Taylor. "I don't know who I am. I don't know what I am." Elizabeth Cage is a child when she discovers that there are things in this world that only she can see. But she doesn’t want to see them and she definitely doesn’t want them to see her. White Silence is a twisty supernatural thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat. What is a curse to Elizabeth is a gift to others – a very valuable gift they want to control. When her husband dies, Elizabeth’s world descends into a nightmare. But as she tries to piece her life back together, she discovers that not everything is as it seems. Alone in a strange and frightening world, she’s a vulnerable target to forces beyond her control. And she knows that she can’t trust anyone…b>

Why I wanted to read it: RichardDerus got me with a book bullet.

Several very scary moments, when I was glad the lights were on and I had our kitty, Inara Starbuck, to protect me.

Well written, it always toys with us, the readers, making us flip back and forth in our trying to figure out who is a good guy and who is a bad guy. There was a particularly powerful scene written about power. There were also some powerful descriptions of non-human beings, some benign, some terrifying evil. Elizabeth starts off rather weak-willed and submissive and gradually accepts her gift. It is clearly the start of the series, as resolution of some things leads to what Ms. Taylor hopes is interest in finding out what happens to Elizabeth next.

188drneutron
dec 22, 2017, 11:09 am

Ow, I've been hit by a BB fired by Richard and bounced by Karen!!

189karenmarie
dec 22, 2017, 11:25 am

Ah, got'cha Jim! Very satisfying.

190richardderus
dec 22, 2017, 1:25 pm

>187 karenmarie: Heh.


>188 drneutron:, >189 karenmarie: Heh! I'm the Book Whisperer.

191karenmarie
dec 22, 2017, 1:54 pm

It is, Richard Dear, it is.

The Book Whisperer. I like it.

I got all the presents for husband and daughter wrapped except one for husband. I thought daughter might want to give it to her dad, but she's all pissy about not giving him anything she didn't think of herself. She had to work in a house earlier this week where the homeowner was there and sick as a dog, and now all three of the people who were on her team have scratchy throats and feel sickish. I told her to bring her dirty laundry and herself home and she could do a whole bunch of nothing over Christmas. Tea and sympathy are the order of the day, I think.

192richardderus
dec 22, 2017, 2:55 pm

>191 karenmarie: I totally misread "except one for husband" as "except for one husband" and got a jolt.

Daughter needs to be reminded that the purpose of a list is to avoid unpleasantness not exacerbate it. Husband needs to be reminded he can not afford to be lazy in his daughter dealings or he will turn into his mother. Karen needs to be reminded they're grown-ass adult people and can fight it out themselves while she has a glass of wine and a read.

193karenmarie
dec 22, 2017, 3:50 pm

Ha. Except for one husband.

You're right, of course. I always think I have to be in the middle but I really don't. Their relationship is their relationship, although part of my reaction is selfish - I want things to be smooth. For some reason I was terribly threatened as a child when my parents fought - which wasn't often and never violent - and I am distraught when there's discord in my family circle.

I honestly think things will be fine once she gets home.

I've been watching birds and figuring out what meals to have Saturday - Monday. Nothing fancy, just good plain cooking. Might make a chocolate cream pie, might make an orange cranberry torte, might make more pecan puffs. Might not do any more baking at all except to actually bake the roll of brown sugar cookie dough that's already in the refrigerator. I'll make chili tomorrow for dinner

I'm officially done with Christmas prep. Cards, presents, wrapping. Note created for bookcase IOU from Santa. E-mail confirmation printed out for PS4 game pre-ordered for daughter to be shipped in March. And etc. Feels good.

I am reading A Good Man is Hard to Find, the most depressing stories in the world. They're by Flannery O'Conner for book club in January. I've never read any O'Conner before, and now I know why. The book chooser frequently feels the need to give us a dose of something classic, or challenging, or esoteric. Here are the books she's chosen in the 15 years she's been in book club. I've read 3 of them (*) and will probably make it 4 with this book.

Regeneration Pat Barker
White Man's Grave Richard Dooling
(*) The Mayor of Castorbridge Thomas Hardy
Sleeping Arrangements Laura Cunningham
The Proud Shoes Pauli Murray
The Merry Wives of Windsor & Hamlet William Shakespeare
Uncle Tom's Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe
The History of Love Nicole Krauss
March Geraldine Brooks
(*) State of Wonder Ann Patchett
(*) The Power of One Bryce Courtenay
Devil in the Grove Gilbert King
The Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared Jonas Jonasson
Defining the Wind Scott Huler
A Good Man Is Hard to Find Flannery O'Connor

Here's what O'Conner said about the book in an interview:
"I am mighty tired of reading reviews that call A Good Man brutal and sarcastic," she wrote. "The stories are hard but they are hard because there is nothing harder or less sentimental than Christian realism. ...When I see these stories described as horror stories I am always amused because the reviewer always has hold of the wrong horror."
Hardscrabble rural religious South. Not pleasant, not fun. This is a case where short stories work, because I can only stand the characters for a short time and can move on to the next depressing story.

194katiekrug
dec 22, 2017, 4:01 pm

>193 karenmarie: - I really liked Sleeping Arrangements when I read it (pre-LT).

195richardderus
dec 22, 2017, 4:02 pm

Regeneration is a very worthy read; The Mayor of Casterbridge isn't a chucklefest but is a fine book. The others? Life will go on if you never read any more Flannery O'Connor, the sun will rise, the birds will drop from the skies as we kill the planet on their behalf.

Oh dear, this was meant to be a cheery message. Best I slope off and dream of pecan puffs.

196karenmarie
dec 22, 2017, 6:08 pm

>194 katiekrug: Hi Katie! It's all a matter of timing - sometimes I start books, put them down for years, then eventually devour them. I don't remember if I even started Sleeping Arrangements, frankly, but I usually buy the book and at least make an honest attempt.

>195 richardderus: I started Regeneration, got depressed put it down. I loved The Major of Casterbridge for some reason.

I'd been warned about Flannery O'Conner at our last book club meeting - one of our cheerier members said it was total depression all the way for her. She is also an obsessive about finishing books she starts, so she'll have read all the stories by our January meeting. I've read the first three out of ten. Not so bad.

I need to pick a book that's been on my shelves on or before 12/31/16 to meet my ROOT goal of 40 for the year.

Off I go.

197msf59
dec 23, 2017, 7:53 am

Morning, Karen. Happy Saturday. I just pulled up at work. I still can't get over that inscription on my copy of A Christmas Memory. What are the chances?

Enjoy your day.

198karenmarie
dec 23, 2017, 8:25 am

Good morning to you, too, Mark!

Serendipity. I'm really glad that you like the inscription.

Thank you! Errands this morning (taking trash to the dump, lunch, grocery shopping), then daughter will arrive. I'm really looking forward to a good time with them.

Daughter solved the Dad present issue by saying that there will be a package from Amazon delivered here tomorrow. The Christmas present wrapping station is still set up in the Retreat, so Whew!

199SomeGuyInVirginia
dec 23, 2017, 8:33 am

>193 karenmarie: O'Conner is one of my all-time favorites, but I've known several readers who were appalled by her. She seems to elicit strong reactions one way or the other.

It's going to be in the mid 70s today. Wackiness!

200karenmarie
dec 23, 2017, 9:02 am

HI Larry!

I can see the power and strength of her writing and her characters are vivid and visceral. But there's no joy and really, no hope. Admittedly this is only after 3 short stories, but I'll be forcing myself to read the last 7.

Today's high will be 69F, tomorrow's 50F, Christmas Day 43F. Looks like the Northeast is going to get pounded.

201richardderus
dec 23, 2017, 9:35 am

The Northeast reporting in from Snowpocalypse 2017. Ugh.

That is all.

202Ameise1
dec 23, 2017, 10:55 am

Happy Holidays to you and your loved ones.

203RebaRelishesReading
dec 23, 2017, 11:59 am

>162 karenmarie: Good for your daughter! My hubby, who was university prof for 35 years, preferred night classes because he would have more "returning" students who really valued what they were getting. They often worked harder and did better than the straight-out-of-high-school-students who often weren't quite sure why they were there.

204karenmarie
dec 23, 2017, 1:24 pm

>201 richardderus: Ugh indeed. Sweet picture. Happy looking puppy. If he was a cat, he'd be purring.. Spoilers put in to protect your tender sensibilities, darling Richard. *smooch*

>202 Ameise1: Barbara! Thank you for visiting and leaving such a wonderful picture and message. I’ll be over to visit in a while….. we just got home from errands and daughter’s here. I’m sneaking in an LT moment.

>203 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks, Reba. It’s good to know that and it makes sense – when we got home just now daughter had her schedule, her payment, and other pieces of paperwork relating to her starting school again on the 4th….. She’s mightily proud and excited.

Off to visit with daughter and husband.

205richardderus
dec 23, 2017, 2:55 pm

>204 karenmarie: Then I shall avoid spoilers, as I suspect it has something to do with...*shudder*...Them. The toxic spit havers. *convulsion*

*smooch* again

206EBT1002
dec 23, 2017, 4:21 pm

Morning Karen. I was chuckling at your pleasure at recognizing actors from various other shows on Midsommer Murders. I also love when that happens. We own that A&E production of Pride and Prejudice and frequently see the actors in other things.

I am starting to make the rounds with holiday wishes.



Wishing you a warm holiday full of love, laughter, time with friends and family, and (of course) books.

207lkernagh
dec 23, 2017, 7:44 pm

Hi Karen, stopping by to wish you and your loved ones peace, joy and happiness this holiday season and for 2018!

208jessibud2
dec 23, 2017, 9:02 pm

Hi Karen. I can't add pictures but I wanted to add my best wishes for the holiday season to you and your family.

209ronincats
dec 23, 2017, 11:03 pm

>176 karenmarie:, >206 EBT1002: I also love recognizing actors from other shows. One of the many joys of the movie The King's Speech was seeing Mr. Collins and Lizzie Bennett in it along with Mr. Darcy in the lead!

It is that time of year again, between Solstice and Christmas, just after Hanukkah, when our thoughts turn to wishing each other well in whatever language or image is meaningful to the recipient. So, whether I wish you Happy Solstice or Merry Christmas, know that what I really wish you, and for you, is this:

210karenmarie
dec 24, 2017, 7:05 am

>205 richardderus: Wasn’t I nice? My oldest toxic spit haver Kitty William is keeping me company right now, sitting on the printer, soaking up heat from the lamp. *smooches* from TVT Horrible

>206 EBT1002: Good morning, Ellen! Kitties! Santa Claus hat! He’s precious. Thank you.

It is pleasure, isn’t it? We watched two more episodes last night, all three of us, as daughter came home yesterday. I watch P&P at least once a year.

>207 lkernagh: Thank you, Lori!

>208 jessibud2: Thank you, Shelley! I’m really looking forward to the next several days – I didn’t realize daughter had Tuesday off, too, so she doesn’t have to leave Christmas Night.

>209 ronincats: Hi Roni! I’d forgotten that Jennifer Ehle and David Bamber were also in The King’s Speech.

Thank you. Beautiful candle image, lovely thoughts.

....
My family is still asleep. The house is quiet, I'm sipping coffee and marveling at how much pleasure it is to be here on LT with my second family. Off I go to visit threads!

211msf59
Bewerkt: dec 24, 2017, 7:29 am



Morning, Karen. Have a great holiday with the family. We are hosting our family gathering, later today but I should be able to bookhorn in some reading.

212karenmarie
dec 24, 2017, 7:31 am

>211 msf59: Thank you, Mark! I hope you can sneak off to the Marky-Mark Man Cave and 'bookhorn' in some reading!

213SomeGuyInVirginia
dec 24, 2017, 8:13 am

Merry Christmas, my dear friend, and all the best in the New Year to you and your loved ones.

214nittnut
dec 24, 2017, 8:14 am



Knowing you lights my world!
Merry Christmas, Karen! Peace and Joy!

215souloftherose
dec 24, 2017, 9:05 am

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to you and your family Karen! Glad to hear you get to enjoy your daughter's company over the next few days.

216johnsimpson
dec 24, 2017, 9:24 am

Hi Karen, wishing you, Bill and Jenna a very Merry Christmas my dear and sending love and hugs to you all dear friend from both of us.

P.S. Enjoy the cake my dear.

217drneutron
dec 24, 2017, 9:47 am

>210 karenmarie: I love getting up before everybody else and having some quiet coffee time. I hope yours was relaxing!

218johnsimpson
dec 24, 2017, 10:27 am

Hi Karen, Karen has opened one of the two Christmas cakes and cut us both a piece to have with our lunch and it is gorgeous my dear so forget everything I have said and give up on the willpower and have a piece of yours dear friend and enjoy.

219RebaRelishesReading
dec 24, 2017, 10:29 am

Karen -- hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday season and a great 2018!

220EllaTim
dec 24, 2017, 10:46 am

Hi Karen, wishing you a very happy christmas!



221karenmarie
dec 24, 2017, 10:59 am

>213 SomeGuyInVirginia: Thank you Larry!

>214 nittnut: Very nice, Jenn! Thank you!

>215 souloftherose: Thank you, Heather! It’s been a lot of fun so far.

>216 johnsimpson: Thank you, John! I saw on your thread that you and Karen broached the Fruit Cake early – I just may do so myself. It’s very tempting. Sending love and hugs to you and Karen.

>217 drneutron: It’s my favorite time of day, quiet, dark, just me up and about (well, except for the kitties too).

>218 johnsimpson: Already in the planning stages, John….. *smile*

>219 RebaRelishesReading: Thank you, Reba!

>220 EllaTim: Thank you, Ella!


I’m just finishing up here on LT posting to threads and answering the lovely posts here, then it’s off to make Chex Mix (aka Trash) and watch the Panthers play at 1 and the Cowboys play at 4:25. Leftover chili for supper, then Christmas movies.

222richardderus
dec 24, 2017, 11:49 am

Remember to stay seated not get in the middle. xo

223karenmarie
dec 24, 2017, 12:09 pm

So far so good, RD! I think they are both on their best behavior. Works for me!

224richardderus
dec 24, 2017, 12:35 pm

Yeup! It's the result we're after, not the process. :-)

225SandDune
dec 24, 2017, 1:07 pm



(Or in other words, Happy Christmas, to you and yours!)

226harrygbutler
dec 24, 2017, 2:24 pm

I wish you and yours a merry Christmas, Karen!

227rretzler
dec 24, 2017, 8:36 pm

228PaulCranswick
dec 25, 2017, 3:30 am



Wishing you all good things this holiday season and beyond.

229laytonwoman3rd
dec 25, 2017, 9:30 am

Hope you have a lovely holiday, Karen.

230karenmarie
dec 25, 2017, 5:10 pm

>224 richardderus: Excellent result – they’re watching gridiron football, I’m cooking dinner and hanging out here for a few minutes.

>225 SandDune: Thank you, Rhian!

>226 harrygbutler: Thank you, Harry! Very appropriate Christmas greeting from what you’ve been reading….. brings a smile to my face.

>227 rretzler: Perfect Robin! Thank you!

>228 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul.

>229 laytonwoman3rd: Hi Linda! I am having a great time, Linda, with my husband and daughter. We’ve hung out and watched the 2nd Kingman movie. Dinner will be served at 6 p.m. and I’m going back and forth to the kitchen and watching gridiron football with them.

231msf59
dec 26, 2017, 6:56 am

Morning, Karen. I hope you had a nice Christmas Day. I know we did. Perfectly lazy.

232Ameise1
dec 26, 2017, 7:46 am

Good morning, Karen. Wishing you a fabulous day.

233karenmarie
dec 26, 2017, 8:16 am

>231 msf59: Hi Mark! We did. Perfectly lazy describes it. I didn't even get out of my jammies until 4, when I started cooking dinner. I made a prime rib dinner with twice baked potatoes, cauliflower, and green beans.

>232 Ameise1: Hi Barbara and thank you. Daughter does have to go back to Wilmington today to get ready to work her last 3 days. Starting January 4th she's taking 11 units at the local community college. She's excited.

My husband got me a fabulous Birds of North America mounted poster. It’s now hanging in the hall, a special present ordered in February when he first heard about it. The detail of each bird is absolutely stunning. My close up vision isn't my strong point any more (cataract surgery 3 years ago), so have this handy dandy little magnifier with a light that I can use for each bird.



And I got 3 more books:
The Color of My Coffee by R.P. Heinz from my sister
You’re All Just Jealous of My Jetpack by Tom Gauld from my daughter
The Country Girls by Edna O’Brien from my daughter

Husband just got up - he's got today off too. Daughter's still asleep. No cooking or baking for me today. Leftovers all the way!

234drneutron
dec 26, 2017, 10:13 am

Still a bit under construction, but here's the new group: https://www.librarything.com/groups/75booksin2018

Happy Boxing Day!

235Berly
dec 26, 2017, 1:40 pm

Belated Holiday Wishes, aka Happy Boxing Day!!

236weird_O
dec 26, 2017, 4:42 pm

Happy holidays, Karen. In spite of being hobbled and creating extra work for everyone around me, I did have a merry time. My son gave me a new Pixel 2 cellphone, so I eventually may get that there LT app to help me at library sales to avoid buying dupes of books I already have.

Whee! Daughter just dragged the box containing a kneeling scooter into the house. The gd delivery guys for UPS and FedX have given themselves permission to drop packages at the far end of the driveway. Takes 'em too long to drive in the drive, place the package on the porch, then turn around and drive out. Just glad Becky is still here and willing to walk out there. And it's damn cold here, too.

Yes. I will read Nick Nickleby in January.

237karenmarie
dec 26, 2017, 6:50 pm

>234 drneutron: Thanks, Jim! And thank you for once again being our Fearless Leader. I’ll keep checking back and get the Nicholas Nickleby group read thread going soon.

Perversely, I’m not going to create my personal thread ‘til January 1.

>235 Berly: Thanks, Kim! I hope you and your family had a lovely Christmas.

>236 weird_O: Hi Bill! I’m sorry that you’re so hobbled for the holidays (and beyond, unfortunately), glad that you have help.

Yay for new cell phone. I’ve been using the LibraryThing app on my android phone and love it for checking what I have.

That scooter should help a lot.

And hooray for another NN reader!

Daughter left a while ago. I immediately got on the phone with my sister and we talked for an hour. She’s had kidney stones for SIX WEEKS, although the terrible vicious pain has only been going on for about 3 days. Poor darlin’. I got to speak with my nephew for a bit, too.

I still have my three books to add to LT, will probably do that tomorrow. I haven’t read for 4 days, so also need to catch up on The Bible for the down-to-two-people group read, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Bible, and a few others to get to 100.

I’m looking forward to a quiet house tomorrow morning, just me and the kitties and coffee, as husband goes back to work. Love ‘em to death, but I really start twitching when I can’t get much alone time.

238SomeGuyInVirginia
dec 26, 2017, 10:32 pm

Happy Boxing Day! I haven't been out of scruffiest all day. Still trying to make 75 but I've got reader's burnout! I'm also looking for books under 120 pages long. We'll see...

239karenmarie
dec 27, 2017, 8:11 am

Good morning, Larry! Thank you.

Scruffiest works. Reader's burnout be damned. You can do it, Larry! I haven't been able to settle on a book, but am reading Jefferson's Legacy about the Library of Congress and want to find something with a bit more meat. 5 more days to finish 4 books. 2 will be done, Jefferson's Legacy will be done, so one more.

The house is quiet. I've had a couple of sips of my first cup of coffee. It's cold out, warm in. My husband emptied the dishwasher out last night and put all the dirty dishes in.

It's a cardinal fest on the feeders this morning.

240harrygbutler
dec 27, 2017, 8:17 am

Good morning, Karen! Glad you had a good Christmas. Ours was a nice, quiet time. I'm back at work today. I still have to add my Christmas books to LT, too.

241karenmarie
dec 27, 2017, 8:28 am

Hi Harry! I'm off to visit your 19-unread message thread. Adding new books is such a fun chore, isn't it?

My husband's back at work, too, so's daughter. I hope your day goes well.

242richardderus
dec 27, 2017, 8:57 am

Happy Alone Day, Horrible. Hope it goes well. *smooch*

243karenmarie
dec 27, 2017, 9:31 am

Thanks, RD! Yes indeed. I don't imagine I'll be going out at all today. I called friend Louise a while ago and heard her Christmas report - thank goodness her son was in a good mood and her daughter/SiL had a lovely Christmas spread at their house (they only live 2 miles away from her/us). She's in a good mood and will go visit her husband in the Memory Unit at Chapel Ridge this morning.

*smooch* back at'cha.

244witchyrichy
dec 27, 2017, 11:24 am

Glad to hear you had a wonderful Christmas. We visited family and then were happy to be home and tucked in by the wood stove for a few days. I *could* do some work but really don't need to. I want to bake the King Arthur flour chocolate babka but may wait until the weekend.

245karenmarie
dec 27, 2017, 11:59 am

Hi Karen! Thank you. Glad you had a nice time visiting and a nice time at home, too.

The Babka sounds wonderful. Have you made it before? You may have mentioned that on your thread, but I forget. *smile*

246karenmarie
dec 27, 2017, 1:36 pm

I finally made the time to figure out which gull I saw in the Big Lots Parking lot last week. It is the Ring-Billed Gull. Imagine 30-40 gulls in a weed-infested parking lot.

247laytonwoman3rd
Bewerkt: dec 27, 2017, 2:00 pm

We have a very large flock of gulls taking a long vacation in one of our mall parking lots...they've been there at least a month now. It's so strange to see them just standing on the pavement, all facing the same way. Or better still, flying toward moving vehicles. They seem to be a different variety from yours. There are 50 or more in this photo, but it's only a segment of the population.



I don't know what the attraction is. There are no fast food joints in that strip, so no lost french fries or donut crumbs.

248FAMeulstee
dec 27, 2017, 2:31 pm

>233 karenmarie: Wow, Karen, what a fabulous bird poster you got!

>241 karenmarie: Hope you have a nice and quiet alone day ;-)

249weird_O
dec 27, 2017, 2:53 pm

Gulls are weird.

I've finally got a day pretty much to myself. A whole day of uninterrupted reading. Well, that and naps.

250karenmarie
dec 27, 2017, 3:18 pm

>247 laytonwoman3rd: Hi Linda! That pic looks like what I saw. Ditto the fast food joints too. A puzzle.

>248 FAMeulstee: I’m thrilled. It’s stunning. My husband feeds my passions – birds and books.

I’ve had a lovely day so far – reading, LTing, filling feeders and bird baths, watching birds, a bit of laundry, and getting the kitchen under control. I’ve got a bit of a scratchy throat, worrisome, and may put off friend Warren ‘til next week for a gift exchange in Sanford. That will give me time, too, to make more of the Pecan Puffs and Best Brown Sugar cookies that I plan on giving him and his wife Tracy. I’ll get another box of See’s dark chocolates out of it……

>249 weird_O: I agree, Bill, gulls are weird. They look robotic standing there in Linda’s photo, don’t they?

Yay day alone, reading and napping. Introvert much?

251johnsimpson
dec 27, 2017, 3:37 pm

Hi Karen my dear, glad to see you had a good Christmas and that the Cake has gone down well, I have had more of ours and the homemade Christmas pudding has been wonderful.

I see you got five books for Christmas my dear, that's a good haul I must say.

Sending love and hugs dear friend.

252Berly
dec 27, 2017, 4:14 pm

Just keeping up here. Happy Wednesday. : )

253karenmarie
dec 27, 2017, 4:54 pm

>251 johnsimpson: Hi John. We had a lovely Christmas and fruit cake tasting!

5 books today, possibly a few more tomorrow after I
1. get a recall notice on my SUV done
2. get my SUV inspected so I can register it by end of January
3. go to post office to see if there are any more Friends of the Library memberships that I could deposit checks from before year end (processing at home Thursday, going back out Friday to the bank)
4. go to grocery store to get some fresh tomatoes
5. **finally** go to the used book store in town and see if I can spend my $15 credit

Then, unfortunately, I'll want to come home and collapse since daughter and/or husband shared some cold germs and I'm feeling a bit under-the-weather this afternoon. Nyquil tonight, hopefully much better tomorrow.

>252 Berly: Hi Kim! Thank you, same to you. Gloriously quiet, just a day with me, myself, and I. Plus Inara and Kitty William, of course. Husband should be home within the hour.

254johnsimpson
dec 27, 2017, 4:57 pm

>253 karenmarie:, Hi Karen sorry to read that your husband/daughter have shared cold germs (how dare they) and hope you feel better quickly my dear. Sending special love and hugs.

255karenmarie
dec 27, 2017, 5:00 pm

How dare they, indeed. I rarely get sick any more, and this is just plain irritating. I think I'll have a cup of caffeine-free tea, so it won't interfere with the Nyquil tonight. *smile*

256msf59
dec 27, 2017, 5:45 pm

Hi, Karen. I hope your week is off to a good start. We are freezing our behinds off here. I did get a couple of bird books for Christmas, along with a Bird a Day calendar, thanks to my daughter.

257karenmarie
Bewerkt: dec 27, 2017, 5:58 pm

97. Jefferson’s Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress by John Y. Cole
12/19/17 and 12/27/17





The description from The Library of Congress website:

The Library has just published "Jefferson's Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress" by John Y. Cole, the director of the Center for the Book. A well-illustrated, 103-page book aimed at the general reader, "Jefferson's Legacy" summarizes the history of the Library from 1800 to 1992. It also contains sections on the institution's collections, its buildings and the 13 Librarians of Congress, from John Beckley (1802-1807) through James H. Billington, who took office in 1987.

"If ever a library had a single founder, Thomas Jefferson is the founder of the Library of Congress," states Dr. Billington in his preface. Pointing out that the Library, "America's oldest national cultural institution," will be 200 years old in the year 2000, Dr. Billington notes that in its bicentennial decade, "the Library of Congress will honor its founder and renew its commitment to the knowledge-based society that Jefferson envisioned."

John Y. Cole, a historian and librarian, has been on the staff of the Library of Congress since 1966 and director of the Center for the Book since it was established in 1977. His many writings about the history of the Library include "For Congress and the Nation: A Chronological History of the Library of Congress" (1979) and 'The Nation's Reading Rooms' in "Washington, D.C.: A Smithsonian Book of the Nation's Capital" (1992).
The publication of "Jefferson's Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress" was supported by the Madison Council, a national, private sector advisory group dedicated to helping the Library share its unique resources with the nation and the world.


Why I wanted to read it: Short and sweet, a fitting part of the end of my 2017 Book Year.

Okay, I admit it, it’s only 103 pages and I finished it in 2 days. It is informative, lavishly endowed with color plates of holdings and photos of the buildings and Librarians, and doesn’t say as much as it says. There has been quite a bit of political maneuvering and politicization of The Library of Congress since its beginnings in the approval of an Act of Congress for “the accommodation of the Government of the United States” in the new capital city of Washington and the establishment of the Library of Congress.

Books were ordered and arrived in 1801. The collection consisted of 740 volumes and 3 maps. In 1814 the British burned Washington, destroying the Library of Congress. In 1815 Madison approved the purchase of Jefferson’s personal library of 6,487 volumes at a cost of $23,950. The Library burned again in 1851, destroying 35,000 of the 55,000-volume collection, tragically including two-thirds of Jefferson's library.

So many people, over 215 years, have devoted their lives and energies to the establishment and growth of what is emphatically NEVER called The National Library of the United States. Perversely, many donations to TLoC have said that the books were for the National Library. One thing that has been constant over 215 years is the acquisitive zeal of most of the people associated with this not The National Library.

From the Library’s website: The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with more than 164 million items on approximately 838 miles of bookshelves. The collections include more than 38 million books and other printed materials, 3.6 million recordings, 14 million photographs, 5.5 million maps, 8.1 million pieces of sheet music and 70 million manuscripts.

The Library received approximately 15,000 items each working day and catalogs 12,000.

I could go on and on – it’s about books and other cultural and historical material, after all – but here’s the link to The Library of Congress’s Fascinating Facts page: Fascinating Facts

Do you know who the current Librarian of The Library of Congress is? It’s Carla Hayden. She’s the 14th Librarian, the first woman, the first African American. She was nominated by President Obama in February of 2016 and confirmed by the Senate in July.

Learn more about The Library of Congress. Be grateful for it. It’s a stunning and continuous achievement.

258Oberon
dec 27, 2017, 6:12 pm

>257 karenmarie: That looks like a fun book. Right up my alley.

259karenmarie
dec 27, 2017, 6:17 pm

>258 Oberon: Hi Erik! The more I read, the more fascinated I became. And then once I went onto the website, it was all over!

260LovingLit
Bewerkt: dec 27, 2017, 6:20 pm

>257 karenmarie: The Library burned again in 1851, destroying 35,000 of the 55,000-volume collection, tragically including two-thirds of Jefferson's library
Sounds like a horror!!!

Eta: from the link to the Fascinating Facts:
Smallest Book
The smallest book in the Library of Congress is “Old King Cole.” It is 1/25” x 1/25”, or about the size of the period at the end of this sentence.

Wow!

261karenmarie
dec 27, 2017, 6:21 pm

I know, Megan!

I could have printed out the entire page here, rather than linking to it!

262katiekrug
dec 27, 2017, 8:44 pm

I'm glad you had a nice holiday, Karen, but sorry you are under the weather! I hope it is short-lived, whatever it is...

263drneutron
dec 27, 2017, 10:01 pm

>257 karenmarie: The LoC is reconstructing the original Jefferson library - there’s a cool display with originals and volumes of same editions as those lost, even includes a marker for those for which a replacement hasn’t been found yet.

264SomeGuyInVirginia
dec 27, 2017, 10:21 pm

I had lunch with Carla Hayden in September. (If I've already told you, don't worry because I'll do it again.) She wanted us to come to the lie-berry so we could see a Galileo letter with what she thought must be his finger print in ink. I thought 'that's just something interesting to her in a normal day, and I'll be telling people about it when I'm an old man.'

265SomeGuyInVirginia
Bewerkt: dec 27, 2017, 10:23 pm

Btw, feel better. That stinks!

266karenmarie
dec 27, 2017, 10:34 pm

>262 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie! I've had hot tea and 3 pieces of See's Dark Chocolate. I still feel like crap but at least I've taken all the correct 'medicine'.

Nyquil in about half an hour.

>263 drneutron: That is so cool. 6,487 volumes. It truly amazes me that we know exactly which volumes after 200 years. Think how many people had to care and keep records for that knowledge to be retained.

>264 SomeGuyInVirginia: You lucky dog. You may even have mentioned it but I didn't grok because I hadn't read the book yet and was embarrassingly ignorant about who the Librarian is. Galileo's fingerprint. Also very cool.

>265 SomeGuyInVirginia: Thank you. It does - stink, that is. But perchance some drugs and good sleep will help.

I do have to be at the Ford place tomorrow at 9, which means actually having to get up to an alarm!!! Something I rarely do, thank goodness. Well. Off to read a bit of my 100th book - I think it's going to be Every Dead Thing, the first Charlie Parker mystery by John Connolly.

I have 4 days after today to get it read by month/year end.

267LizzieD
dec 27, 2017, 11:29 pm

I can't catch up, but I can say that I hope you'll feel a lot better by tomorrow so that you can properly enjoy this between time.

268Ameise1
dec 28, 2017, 3:35 am

Feel better soon, Karen. Some tea and good readings will help.

269harrygbutler
dec 28, 2017, 6:56 am

Good morning, Karen! I hope you feel better quickly.

>263 drneutron: That's neat to hear, Jim. When I was a student long years ago at Georgetown University, one of the highlights of the Rare Books and Manuscript Division of the library was the partially recovered original college library. The books had unique old stickers with the shelf marks on them.

270EllaTim
Bewerkt: dec 28, 2017, 8:13 am

Hi Karen, feel better soon!

Aren't libraries fascinating? No wonder there are so many books that figure them. Galileo's fingerprints, not bad.
I followed the link you gave and found the World Digital Library. Wonderful, for anyone interested in historical material!

Wishing you good luck getting to a 100 (you will, we're rooting for you)!

271richardderus
dec 28, 2017, 12:16 pm

A hearty wish for a better, coldless day post-Nyquil.

My roommate's back. Whee.

272karenmarie
dec 28, 2017, 12:52 pm

>267 LizzieD: Hi Peggy! A good night’s sleep did help although I’m still not 100%. I’ve already taken my car to get the recall notice work and inspection done, stopped at the post office and the grocery stores, and am home, drinking hot tea and hanging out in the Sunroom with the propane stove cranked on.

>>268 Ameise1: Thank you, Barbara! I’ll do a bit more here, then read some. I’m reading Every Dead Thing by John Connolly, the first Charlie Parker mystery.

>269 harrygbutler: Thanks Harry. I’m not getting worse, so at least that’s something.

>270 EllaTim: Thanks Ella. They are fascinating, indeed. Especially TLoC. I love libraries. Ooh. World Digital Library. I’ll have to check it out.

I’m confident that I’ll get to 100 now. The pressure’s off. And, I met and exceeded my ROOTs challenge of 40 books. I’ll be at 42 by year end there.

>271 richardderus: Good afternoon, RichardDear. I’m less coldy. Fortunately I don’t have to go out any more today.

273jnwelch
Bewerkt: dec 28, 2017, 1:29 pm



Happy Holidays, Karen!

274Berly
dec 28, 2017, 1:34 pm

karen--Less coldy is good in so many ways. All our ice is gone!! And I hope you continue to feel better.

275karenmarie
Bewerkt: dec 29, 2017, 7:58 am

>273 jnwelch: Thank you Joe! They've been pretty happy so far.

>274 Berly: Hi Kim! I'm glad the ice is gone. Ice is no fun at all.

For some reason I can't get warm today. I've had a cup of hot tea and have the propane stove going in the Sunroom. It must be part of almost-being-sick. It's irritating.

None of the last three books I'm reading for the year will attain Top Five status, so here are my picks for the year. I also posted on the Book Talk: Top Five of 2017 thread kindly provided by mdoris on msf59's thread.
I have edited this list to add top five consolidated list:

Top Five Fiction of the Year in order read during the year:

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

Top Five Nonfiction of the Year in order read during the year:

Birds Art Life by Kyo Maclear
His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis
Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
Come, Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie

Top Five Consolidated, by preference:

Lincoln in the Bardo
A Gentleman in Moscow
His Excellency: George Washington
Shoeless Joe
Sapiens

276FAMeulstee
dec 28, 2017, 2:57 pm

>275 karenmarie: Sorry you still don't feel well, Karen.

277Ameise1
dec 28, 2017, 5:26 pm

I like the Charlie Parker mysteries, but that one I haven't read.

278karenmarie
dec 28, 2017, 5:34 pm

It's the first one. As I've gotten older and more persnickety, I have to read a series in order. I waited until I was able to get this first one. It just showed up one day on BookMooch, so I snagged it.

So far, it's very good.

279msf59
dec 28, 2017, 5:51 pm

Hi, Karen. Just laying low tonight. I hope to set up my '18 thread, along with the new AAC General Discussion thread.

>275 karenmarie: I like the lists! Lincoln and Gentleman are excellent choices. I have my list ready too. I just have to post it.

280karenmarie
dec 28, 2017, 5:54 pm

Hi Mark!

You'll be thawing out, right? Brutal weather for you.

Thanks re the lists. I feel good about them. I'll look forward to yours.

281msf59
dec 28, 2017, 6:12 pm

Yep, home and snug. Glad to see Birds Art Life on there. I really liked that one too.

282Familyhistorian
dec 29, 2017, 1:55 am

I hope you are feeling better, Karen. I seem to have come down with something too, but maybe it is just the result of wet feet from all the rain we are having. Well, at least its getting rid of the snow.

283harrygbutler
dec 29, 2017, 6:14 am

Good morning, Karen! I hope your health is improving.

284karenmarie
dec 29, 2017, 7:33 am

>281 msf59: Birds Art Life was the right book at the right time. It really appealed to me, and your loaning it to me made it happen.

>282 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg. Snow and rain there, bone dry here. I have to put warm water in the bird baths 'cuz it's freezing overnight.

Sorry to hear that you've come down with something, too. I'm battling bravely on - not quite sick, not 100%. I feel better than Wednesday, which is good, just not as good as I did before both daughter and husband came home with germs.

>283 harrygbutler: Hi Harry! Dragging a bit, still. I do have to go out today to deposit 19 membership checks for the Friends of the Library.

But first, coffee and a bit of reading.

285jnwelch
Bewerkt: dec 29, 2017, 9:35 am

>275 karenmarie: Nice lists! I've been wondering about Sapiens. I may have somehow missed your review - sounds like you recommend it, yes?

286karenmarie
Bewerkt: dec 29, 2017, 9:50 am

>285 jnwelch: Thank you, Joe! I pulled up my handy-dandy spreadsheet and did a bit of crunching.

Here's the link to my review message: Sapiens

The last sentence of my review is Anyone who is interested in Mankind and our place in the cosmos/earth would benefit from and enjoy reading this book.

Momentous events: I just finished reading The Literary Study Bible and The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Bible. The first was a year long effort, the second started mid-July as I caught up and then kept pace with the Bible.

99 books read so far this year.

287karenmarie
dec 29, 2017, 10:17 am

98. The Literary Study Bible by Leland Ryken and Philip Graham Ryken
1/1/17 to 12/29/17





The description from Amazon:

Combining thousands of insightful notes with the complete ESV Bible text, the ESV Literary Study Bible helps readers understand God's Word more fully, in all its richness and beauty. It highlights the Bible's storylines, complex characters, historical settings, literary genres, motifs, theological themes, imagery, and important terms, making the Bible come alive with greater clarity and impact. This one-of-a-kind study Bible is an indispensable tool for devotional reading and in-depth study.

Why I wanted to read it: For a year-long group read of The Bible as Literature.

I started this book on January 1 last year and finished it today. I will only comment on the portions of the text by the Rykens as opposed to commenting on The Bible itself too.

Every Book of the Bible has the following introductory sections. Some have sections specific to either the OT or the NT or even to the book itself.
The book at a glance. Number of chapters and verses and general comments.
Genres. An overview of literary genres applicable to this book.
Table Outline. The book divided into sections with various ways of summarizing this book. A combination of helpful and written to make points with a professor – obtuse and a stretch.
Inferred Literary Intentions. Sometimes helpful, mostly again, written to make points with a professor. I don’t think you can infer literary intentions from the books of the Bible, as it I don’t believe it was written for a literary purpose.
Theological themes.
The book in the master story of the Bible.
The Ryken portions are in light gray blocks that easily differentiate them from the Bible itself. There are always Ryken comments at the beginning of a chapter and occasionally comments to summarize and identify actions, speeches, significant/memorable groups of verses, etc., in the middle of a chapter.

Overall I found the comments helpful if redundant, as there is interpretation of groups of verses many places in each chapter.

The one thing that bothered me was the reference to the NT in the OT sections. Having never read the Bible cover-to-cover before, I was a total newcomer and didn’t want to ‘taint’ my reading with anything else.

Glad I read it, glad I’m done. Proud I read it, proud that I completed it.

288richardderus
dec 29, 2017, 10:18 am

WOW! You finished the Bible in a year!!

It took me 33 to read the whole King James version. Still one of my proudest entries on the "bad erotic fiction" list.

289karenmarie
Bewerkt: dec 29, 2017, 10:50 am

Hallo RD!

Yes, I did. *blinks in surprise*

33 years. My, my. Huh. bad erotic fiction.

Not an in depth reading, of course, and not being a Christian, I read it as part of my liberal theist's ongoing search for truth.

It just seemed like the time, and although the group read was a serious disappointment, my personal efforts were a combination of stubbornness, interest, and perseverance.

edited to add: cbl_tn Carrie is on track with 6 more chapters and will finish on the 31st and thornton37814 Lori will finish too.

290richardderus
dec 29, 2017, 10:28 am

Sweetiedarling, it's a foundational text in our culture, its effects are felt in our common tongue to this good moment (see what I did there?), and its misunderstood and misapplied strictures are jabbing us like burrs under the saddle in ways and areas that're incalculably important. There's no better reason to read something. But in depth? Not unless you're a theologian.

What better use for stubbornness can there be?

*smooch* I am very proud of you. It's a whale of a task to accomplish.

291karenmarie
dec 29, 2017, 10:31 am

Well, RichardDear, you just put tears in my eyes. Thank you.

292richardderus
dec 29, 2017, 10:36 am

Earned praise needs no thanks. But of course you're quite welcome.

293Berly
dec 29, 2017, 10:40 am

Adding to Richard's congratulations! You should feel very proud. : )

294thornton37814
dec 29, 2017, 10:49 am

I'll be finishing the Bible on the 31st too. I've toyed with the idea of finishing ahead of time, but I want to keep in the Bible daily so I'm trying to stay on the plan.

295karenmarie
dec 29, 2017, 10:52 am

>292 richardderus: *smooches*

>293 Berly: Thank you Kim! Yes, I am.

>294 thornton37814: I edited my comment above to include you, Lori! Sorry.

296FAMeulstee
dec 29, 2017, 10:59 am

So proud you made it with the bible in a year, Karen!

I am sorry I fell off. I think I am going to try The Bible for Unbelievers this year, in six books from Genesis to Esther. It contains just the stories, rewritten without a devine being around.

297jessibud2
dec 29, 2017, 11:04 am

What an accomplishment, Karen! Congrats!!

298msf59
dec 29, 2017, 11:06 am

Morning, Karen. Happy Friday. Congrats on finishing the bible. One day, I would like to tackle it, in its entirety.

299souloftherose
dec 29, 2017, 1:38 pm

>287 karenmarie: Congratulations Karen (and to others completing the Bible in a year) - that is a huge achievement! I am on course to finish Deuteronomy by the end of the month and just reading the first five books of the OT in a year feels like a big achievement for me :-) Like you I didn't find the group read thread itself all that helpful and gave up fairly early on.

I found a Yale Online Introduction to the Old Testament course which is a series of recorded lectures which I have been finding fascinating viewing and really helped me consider these books from a new perspective - it's looking at historical/cultural viewpoint rather than religious. Link below in case it's of interest (although I could completely understand if you have just had enough at this point!) - I think there's also an Intro to the NT course too but I haven't watched any of those. It may have been susanj67 who originally recommended these to me or someone else on the group read thread.

http://oyc.yale.edu/religious-studies/rlst-145

300karenmarie
Bewerkt: dec 29, 2017, 3:00 pm

>296 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita! No divine beings works, too. *smile*

>297 jessibud2: Thanks, Shelley!

>298 msf59: Thanks, Mark. Friday’s been a good day. I’m glad to have done it. Of course, this doesn’t include the Apocrypha and doesn’t include other books not included in the Bible.

>299 souloftherose: Thanks, Heather! You’re obviously reading in depth and with serious study in mind and I admire that.

Right now I’m going to take a leetle break….. but I have bookmarked the link for future reference.

For the Friends today I spent time preparing a deposit, writing a check, writing 3 thank you letters (2 for $500 each grants and one for a donation in honor of one of our board members), bought stamps, and dropped membership envelopes and one check off at the Library for our Membership Chair to pick up.

So far, since July 1, 2017, I have spent 172 hours and 924 miles on Friends business. For any of you involved in volunteer activities with any kind of budget or money, please thank your Treasurer over and over and over again, because IMO and after being Treasurer for 3 501(c)3 organizations, I think it is by far the most consistently demanding and least respected function in any nonprofit organization.

And now, to continue reading my 100th book of the year.

301karenmarie
Bewerkt: dec 29, 2017, 4:37 pm

I'm so sad to hear that Sue Grafton, one of my favorite authors, has died. She had cancer. This is what her daughter wrote on Sue's website:
Hello Dear Readers. This is Sue's daughter, Jamie. I am sorry to tell you all that Sue passed away last night after a two year battle with cancer. She was surrounded by family, including her devoted and adoring husband Steve. Although we knew this was coming, it was unexpected and fast. She had been fine up until just a few days ago, and then things moved quickly. Sue always said that she would continue writing as long as she had the juice. Many of you also know that she was adamant that her books would never be turned into movies or TV shows, and in that same vein, she would never allow a ghost writer to write in her name. Because of all of those things, and out of the deep abiding love and respect for our dear sweet Sue, as far as we in the family are concerned, the alphabet now ends at Y.

302johnsimpson
dec 29, 2017, 4:44 pm

>301 karenmarie:, How sad, I didn't know she was ill and what a lovely comment from her daughter Jamie. I have a box set of the first ten in the series and picked up four more to take me to book 14, with my challenge it will be next year before I get to them.

303jessibud2
dec 29, 2017, 4:57 pm

>301 karenmarie: - Yes I just read that. Very sad. I only ever read up to *J*, I think but I did enjoy the ones I read.

304richardderus
dec 29, 2017, 5:25 pm

I hadn't realized she was 77. That's not so young. I'm still sad we won't have all the way to Z, though.

305witchyrichy
dec 29, 2017, 5:30 pm

>300 karenmarie: I function as the treasurer for the nonprofit I run and if there were any job I would pay someone else to do, it would be that one. I have a couple months worth of finances to do before the January board meeting and I am really procrastinating. But...I get PAID to do it. You are doing it as a volunteer. You are an amazing human being. I mean, I knew that, but this just reinforces it! Your organization should thank you profusely.

Congratulations on the Bible reading. For several years, I read the Bible every year using various guides. I like the idea of the literary study bible and may check it out this year.

306karenmarie
Bewerkt: dec 29, 2017, 5:59 pm

>302 johnsimpson: I didn’t know she was ill, either, John. Yes, your Chunkster Year will delay you ‘til 2019.

>303 jessibud2: Hi Shelley! I originally read through G as they came out in the 1980s then got bored. Pat, one of my cleaning ladies, gave me P through T in hardcover in 2009. Once I fumigated them for cigarette smoke, I decided to read them all again, eventually found hardcovers for all of them, and kept caught up. I really like them. Sigh. I might need to read them all again next year.

>304 richardderus: I knew she was in her 70s, but not 77. I’m sad in general, and especially sad that we won’t have Z. I was really looking forward to Z.

>305 witchyrichy: Wow, Karen. You get paid. *blush* Thank you. People are not unappreciative – I even got a compliment today from the Membership Chair. It’s just that nobody really realizes how many hours it takes to do it right. Or even half right – talk about procrastination, I want to buy QuickBooks for NonProfits, with the board’s blessing, but just haven’t gotten around to it yet. Our fiscal year is July - June and I could do it right with all the documentation I have, but I really would like to use a standard CoA for non-profits.

If you want The Literary Study Bible, I’d be happy to give it to you. I don’t envision using it again. *smile* I bought it used and it is in very good shape. Kitty William did get playful and chew a few pages a while back, but it’s still good to go. PM me with your address if you’d like to have it.


307richardderus
dec 29, 2017, 6:01 pm

>306 karenmarie: STOP THE PRESSES
WE HAVE A WORLD'S-ONLY SCOOP

I approve of, endorse, wholeheartedly support the actions of a cat. Kitty William, I salute you.

That is all.

308harrygbutler
dec 29, 2017, 6:02 pm

>286 karenmarie: Congratulations, Karen!

309karenmarie
Bewerkt: dec 29, 2017, 6:39 pm

>307 richardderus: I should have predicted it. *smooches*

>308 harrygbutler: Thank you, Harry!

Well, gang, even though there are two days to go and there's been a flurry of activity here (thank you all, of course!) I'm not going to make a new thread. It goes against the grain a bit, but I'd rather end with one big fat thread than an eensy 2-day one.

Oops - the timer's gone off. Beef stew time and watching the 4th quarter of the NC State and who-ever game with husband. Sometimes wives just have to be nice.

310majleavy
dec 29, 2017, 6:12 pm

Wow! The whole Bible! Well done.

A picture to celebrate the accomplishment:



(One of Dali's illustrations for the Jerusalem bible (I think)).

311karenmarie
dec 29, 2017, 6:34 pm

Thank you, Michael! I love it.

312nittnut
dec 29, 2017, 7:37 pm

Congratulations on sticking with the Bible read. It's a big job. Well done you!

313witchyrichy
dec 29, 2017, 7:47 pm

>306 karenmarie: THANK YOU for your generous offer. I will message you! I've been browsing my shelves with a few categories in mind and found a copy of The Book of the People that I bought last summer. It seems like a perfect accompaniment.

314thornton37814
dec 29, 2017, 9:36 pm

>301 karenmarie: So sad there won't be a "z."

315karenmarie
dec 29, 2017, 10:15 pm

>312 nittnut: Hi Jenn! Thank you.

>313 witchyrichy: Cool, got your message. If I get organized I can mail it tomorrow, otherwise Tuesday or Wednesday.

>314 thornton37814: Me too, Lori. I really like Kinsey Millhone and will forever feel like Z would have ended the series gracefully and happily.

316LizzieD
dec 29, 2017, 11:07 pm

Congratulations, Karen! I'm a believer, and I haven't read the whole thing....... You really read Numbers and Ezra and Nahum??? More power to you!
I'm sad about Sue Grafton too, and I merely liked Kinsey. Like somebody above, I dropped out at about G or H. (I found Sara Paretsky, whom I started at about the same time as SG, more to my taste.) Nevertheless, she was a force to be reckoned with, and I'm sorry to lose her.

317SomeGuyInVirginia
dec 29, 2017, 11:55 pm

It is sad about SG, but unfinished works have their own allure.

Sorry Annie the bug. As your personal physician, I prescribe that you get better immediately!

318karenmarie
Bewerkt: dec 30, 2017, 7:03 am

>316 LizzieD: Hi Peggy! Yes. Numbers, Ezra, and Nahum. Every begat, every name, every plague. I also read every one of those pesky charts.

It's funny that although I got reacquainted with Millhone and ended up truly loving the series, I started the V.I. Warshawski series and quit about book 3 or 4 perhaps with no intention of restarting them.

>317 SomeGuyInVirginia: Good morning, Larry! A sad allure, alas.

I seem to have missed actually getting sick and have just flirted around with it. Still not 100%, still not officially sick. Yes, Doctor Larry.

319msf59
Bewerkt: dec 30, 2017, 7:08 am

Morning, Karen. Getting ready to head out, after ham & eggs. Need a hearty breakfast. It is supposed to be only about 6, with a wind. Yikes. I will shrug on the parka.

Enjoy your day.

320karenmarie
Bewerkt: dec 30, 2017, 7:25 am

Good morning, Mark. It boggles the mind that you have to be out in that awful, bitter cold. Keep our favorite warbler safe!

I just learned something new - the Postal Service's unofficial creed (for over 238 years, apparently) is originally by Herodotus.
"Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these courageous couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."


321Crazymamie
dec 30, 2017, 7:32 am

Morning, Karen! I hope that you are feeling 100% very soon - stuck in the middle is no fun. I have a headcold and it is not getting better but also not getting worse - just hanging out, I guess. Heh. A big congrats for finishing the Bible read - I had started with that group but ended up dropping it. I liked how Rachel had started it out but really missed her comments and her leadership when she had to pull out.

And I did NOT know that the Postal Service creed was from Herodotus! Very cool. I am a huge fan of his! Still working my way though The Histories.

322karenmarie
Bewerkt: dec 30, 2017, 8:38 am

Hi Mamie!

I am an incessant 'duckduckgo'-er (as opposed to a google-er) and it's amazing the tidbits I find. I was trying to find a good image for Mark and the bitter cold, couldn't find one I really liked in the short amount of time I was willing to spend on it, but did find out the Herodotus/creed item.

I'm sorry you're stuck in the middle, too. Get well soon.

Thank you re my finishing the Bible. Frankly, I don't have very many good feelings about the Bible as Literature group read but have met several new LT friends in the process.

323Crazymamie
dec 30, 2017, 8:54 am

I shall rely on you for my trivia then - I love stuff like that.

Yeah, I skipped out on the Bible GR at the first signs of ugliness.

324harrygbutler
dec 30, 2017, 9:40 am

Good morning, Karen! A delightful light snow here today. I trudged out to refill some of the feeders earlier, and will tackle the big gazebo feeder later — a house sparrow was huddled up in the suet cage feeder next to the latter, and I didn't want to disturb it (it didn't even fly away as I walked fairly close by).

325karenmarie
dec 30, 2017, 10:29 am

>323 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie! Well, I will continue to post things as they seem interesting or strange to me.

Least said, soonest mended about the abortive and ill-fated Bible GR.

>324 harrygbutler: Hi Harry! Oh, a light snow would be lovely. You are a good bird parent.

The birds are enjoying our feeders much more lately as the natural food is consumed.

I even put a tray of mixed bird seed and sunflower seeds down on the ground next to the bird bath where I can look at it from the Sunroom. I know squirrels are getting into it when I'm not looking (squirrel scat.....) but the feeders are delightfully squirrel-free, so the squirrels are allowed to take some of the food in the tray. Just now a male Blue Jay was enjoying a late breakfast.

326EllaTim
dec 30, 2017, 11:41 am

Congratulations on finishing the bible read. Even the boring stuff, and now I wonder, was there a part you liked best?

I never read the whole, just remember stories from bible class in primary school, but they do stick in your mind.

And I'm early, but tomorrow I won't have time to go online, so here's to a very happy new year for you and your family!

327richardderus
dec 30, 2017, 12:01 pm

*snorp*smack*smack*

Can't wake up too cold going back to sleep *smooch*

328Ameise1
dec 30, 2017, 12:23 pm

Have a great Saturday, Karen.

329karenmarie
dec 30, 2017, 1:13 pm

>326 EllaTim: Thank you, Ella! Part I liked best. Hmm. I never went to church with my family. Dad was agnostic and although Mom was always a Christian, it never percolated from her to us because of Dad. I did go for a bit with a friend when I was 10, to a Lutheran church, but that petered out. I took OT Survey, NT Survey, and Prophets in college, but that would have been 1971-1973, so not much has stuck beyond some of the basic stories - Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah, Sodom and Gomorrah, Jacob, etc. Children's versions of the Bible, cleansed of scariness and real meaning, frankly.

So my favorite part is probably the combined Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as being the most representative of Christianity's true teaching to me. All the letters are church politics, most of the OT was fire and brimstone, and Revelation is just plain scary.

Happy early New Year to you, too!

>327 richardderus: Oh my. Snow, high of 25F, low tonight of 15F. Brrrr. Sweet dreams, RD! *smooches*

>328 Ameise1: Thank you, Barbara! So far so good.

And, I just finished my 100th book.

I've been reading The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt ever since being unhappily stunned by drumpf getting into the White House, and realized this morning that I only had about 70 pages to go to get it OFF my desk and no 'homework' books left for 2017. 2018 will start with a bang when I'll be participating in Nicholas Nickleby and the Irish Authors Edna O'Brien read.

So I'll be posting a review here in a while, because it is such a good book and explains so much about the convoluted, perverted, and extremely unhappy political situation here in the US.

330karenmarie
Bewerkt: jul 27, 2018, 8:04 am

100. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt (pronounced height)
11/15/16 (yes, 2016!) to 12/29/17





The description from Amazon:

Why can’t our political leaders work together as threats loom and problems mount? Why do people so readily assume the worst about the motives of their fellow citizens? In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores the origins of our divisions and points the way forward to mutual understanding.

His starting point is moral intuition—the nearly instantaneous perceptions we all have about other people and the things they do. These intuitions feel like self-evident truths, making us righteously certain that those who see things differently are wrong. Haidt shows us how these intuitions differ across cultures, including the cultures of the political left and right. He blends his own research findings with those of anthropologists, historians, and other psychologists to draw a map of the moral domain, and he explains why conservatives can navigate that map more skillfully than can liberals. He then examines the origins of morality, overturning the view that evolution made us fundamentally selfish creatures. But rather than arguing that we are innately altruistic, he makes a more subtle claim—that we are fundamentally groupish. It is our groupishness, he explains, that leads to our greatest joys, our religious divisions, and our political affiliations. In a stunning final chapter on ideology and civility, Haidt shows what each side is right about, and why we need the insights of liberals, conservatives, and libertarians to flourish as a nation.


Why I wanted to read it: My friend Charlie recommended it while we were poll watchers during the 2016 elections. I started it, got depressed, picked it up again a couple of times, then finally realized that I only had 70 pages or so to go and wanted to clear the decks, so to speak, for 2018.

Every politician and every journalist in the US should read this one. I even told a Democratic Party caller one day when he was soliciting donations that everybody in the DNC should read this book. Don’t think it’s happened, unfortunately.

Haidt makes this a combination of his personal growth from knee-jerk liberal to thoughtful gray-areas-work liberal/conservative/libertarian. He shares his evolution of thought, citing serious thinkers over the centuries, studies and theories, detailing evolutionary, genetic, cultural, and religious thought, group vs. individual realities and goals and psychological processes in order to reach his definition of morality and the 6 foundations of morality.
Moral systems are interlocking sets of values, virtues, norms, practices, identities, institutions, technologies, and evolved psychological mechanisms that work together to suppress or regulate self-interest and make cooperative societies possible.

The six foundations are:
Caring/Harm
Fairness/Cheating
Loyalty/Betrayal
Authority/Subversion
Sanctity/Degradation
Liberty/Oppression


This is a very logically derived, thoughtful, and to my mind all-inclusive definition of what motivates and drives us at the micro (individual) level and the macro (social group, state, country) level.

What he does next is to use this definition of morality to try to explain where individuals fit politically based on their prioritization of these 6 foundations here in the US. It’s heady and fascinating stuff. Obviously each individual is on the spectrum of one or even more of the three matrices, but generally speaking this visualization helps to see what might motivate and appeal politically across groups and parties.







The liberal prioritizes Care, Fairness, and Liberty, giving no weight to or dismissing Loyalty, Authority, and Sanctity.

The social conservative places equal weight on all six.

The libertarian gives inordinate weight to Liberty, lesser weight to Fairness, and giving no weight to or dismissing Care, Loyalty, Authority, and Sanctity.

This means that arguments that work for one person will not work for another. It explains why listening to a speech by Ronald Reagan always made me twitch because of his use of the Loyalty, Sanctity, and Authority foundations and why I know that speeches that only rely on Care and Fairness will not sway a conservative one tiny bit out of their ignoring the other 4 foundations.

It’s honest, forthright, intelligent, and actually gives hope to the morass and dysfunction that we find ourselves in here in the US. It is also a good starting point for understanding other countries and cultures, too.

A pretty good 100th book for the year, I think, even though I started it 14 months ago.

edited to fix spelling errors

331Ameise1
dec 30, 2017, 2:15 pm

Congrats on 100. I'm impressed.

332FAMeulstee
dec 30, 2017, 2:37 pm

Congratulations, Karen, for reaching your goal of 100 books read!

333weird_O
dec 30, 2017, 2:42 pm

334weird_O
Bewerkt: dec 30, 2017, 3:04 pm

Happy New Year, Karen.

I'll be trying this reading business anew in 2018, hoping to do better both in numbers and in being more social. See you on the other side.

Buh-bye 2017...

335karenmarie
dec 30, 2017, 3:16 pm

>331 Ameise1: Thanks, Barbara. In November I was sweating it, but now I am happy.

>332 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita!

>333 weird_O: I have always held myself to a high standard – why not be able to read the Bible once and interpret it with the best of them? *smile*

>334 weird_O: Thank you, Bill. I love the gif. Where do you find these things? I’s ignorant…..

Clear the decks, put aside unfinished and guilt-inducing books, find fun/joyous books to read.

Yup. See you on the other side.

336johnsimpson
dec 30, 2017, 3:36 pm

Hi Karen, congratulations on reaching 100 books read my dear.

337thornton37814
dec 30, 2017, 3:36 pm

Psalms is probably my favorite book. In fact, I picked up a daily devotional book on Psalms written by the Tim Keller and his wife to use this next year in addition to my read through the Bible, ensuring I spend a little time each day in the Psalms. I also love the book of Isaiah. It's hard for me to pick a favorite in the New Testament because I like so many.

338ronincats
dec 30, 2017, 3:56 pm

Congrats on 100, Karen, and it looks like I've taken a book bullet on that one as well!

339karenmarie
Bewerkt: dec 30, 2017, 4:15 pm

>336 johnsimpson: Thank you, John! Now I can breathe until the first, when the new set of goals kicks in! Of course, I have to set the goals, but I've got a few ideas. It's all good, though.

>337 thornton37814: Hi Lori! I'm afraid that I zoomed through Psalms and Proverbs after I got back from 5 weeks in California to clean my Mom's house out in May-June. I knew I was doing them a disservice, but the overriding goal was to try to get back on schedule.

I just made a note for May 1 - Psalms?

>338 ronincats: Thanks, Roni! Ah. I'm usually the book-bulletee, not the book-bulleter! (awkward, but I hope you get the idea!)

340johnsimpson
dec 30, 2017, 4:17 pm

>339 karenmarie:, looking forward to what your reading plans are for 2018 my dear.

341majleavy
dec 30, 2017, 4:30 pm

>330 karenmarie: Nice review - sounds like one I should read. Sounds adjacent to some of the Michael J. Sandel things I've read, I think.

Congrats on 100.

342karenmarie
dec 30, 2017, 5:31 pm

>340 johnsimpson: Still mulling things over, John. I'll create my 2018 thread on Monday. I've also got a ROOTs thread to create, too!

>341 majleavy: Thank you, Michael. Now I'll need to research Mr. Sandel..... always something new to learn here.

343harrygbutler
dec 30, 2017, 6:12 pm

Congratulations on hitting 100, Karen!

344karenmarie
dec 30, 2017, 6:35 pm

>343 harrygbutler: Thanks, Harry! Hit my goal with a day to spare.

Put me out of my misery - with apologies to Larry, I'm reading Flannery O'Connor and for the life of me cannot figure out her allure. Depressing, sad, no redeeming value for me. N-word in many of the stories, stories that I just don't get. Does one have to be Southern to 'get her'?

I've read 5 of 10 out of A Good Man is Hard to Find. Do I want to actually finish it? The jury's out.

345SomeGuyInVirginia
dec 30, 2017, 9:57 pm

>330 karenmarie: Now THAT was a great review.

I find O'Connor to be a highly moral author, sort of the Ghost of Christmas Future for the halt and the lame. I really do love her work. There's always a story behind the story.

346Berly
dec 31, 2017, 3:28 am

>330 karenmarie: Way to finish he year in style! Great review of a fascinating book.

347karenmarie
dec 31, 2017, 5:35 am

>345 SomeGuyInVirginia: Thank you, Larry!

I get O'Connor intellectually, I think, but the misery in the stories blasts me so quickly that I can't even begin to care for any of the characters at all. Good insight. Have you read any or all of the stories in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?

And, how am I supposed to even want to read the story The Artificial Nigger? It pushes every single button about racism I have just looking at the title.

>346 Berly: Thanks, Kim!

I slept great for about 6 hours, had a dream that was so vivid about my dad and brother that it woke me up. Not a bad dream, just one about two men I miss.

Coffee, Every Good Thing, new LL Bean moccasins, propane stove on. 28F out. I know, I know.... balmy compared to much of the country.


349msf59
dec 31, 2017, 7:56 am

>330 karenmarie: Good review of The Righteous Mind and Congrats on #100!

Morning, Karen. Happy Sunday. I just poured my second cup of coffee and I plan visiting a few threads. I also need to post my Best of the Year list.

Enjoy your day!

350LizzieD
dec 31, 2017, 8:01 am

You are the WOMAN!!!!! Congratulations on the hundred! So impressive. Again, America's Original Sin by Jim Wallis is the book to read on race relations in the USA.
Back later for your stats.

351karenmarie
dec 31, 2017, 8:01 am

>349 msf59: Thanks, Mark! I hope you have a restful and warm day.

352drneutron
dec 31, 2017, 9:43 am

Congrats on your century!

353karenmarie
dec 31, 2017, 10:30 am

>350 LizzieD: Thanks, Peggy! I'll add America's Original Sin to my wish list.

>352 drneutron: Thanks, Jim!

354johnsimpson
dec 31, 2017, 10:35 am

Hi Karen my dear, thought I would stop by to wish you, Bill and Jenna a Very Happy New Year and hope 2018 is a really good year dear friend, love and hugs from both of us.

355EllaTim
dec 31, 2017, 11:45 am

>329 karenmarie: I can go along with your choice easily, as to message I don't get the OT at all. I do like some of the stories, like the one about Noah and the ark. But that's not unique for the bible, there are other stories from the Middle East about the earth flooding.

>330 karenmarie: Interesting! Would like to read that one to find out how it would apply to Dutch politics with our multi-party system. :-)

And congratulations on getting to 100! Well done!

356streamsong
dec 31, 2017, 12:00 pm



>200 karenmarie: "I can see the power and strength of her writing and her characters are vivid and visceral. But there's no joy and really, no hope.

Perfect! That is also my experience of F OC. Several of her stories I remember vividly, but I'm not sure I want to read more.

> Beautiful bird poster. Kudos to the hubby!

>329 karenmarie: Congrats on finishing the Bible read. It took me about three years when I did it.
" my favorite part is probably the combined Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as being the most representative of Christianity's true teaching to me. All the letters are church politics, most of the OT was fire and brimstone, and Revelation is just plain scary"

I totally agree with this and am always flummoxed when judgment takes the place of love in many conservative Christian minds.

Great review of The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. That one has been on my radar for several years and my son was reading it over Christmas, too.

And of course - Congrats on the 100!

357SomeGuyInVirginia
dec 31, 2017, 12:55 pm

>347 karenmarie: Pearl rule that puppy. Life's too short.

358karenmarie
Bewerkt: dec 31, 2017, 3:58 pm

>354 johnsimpson: Thank you, John! I hope you and Karen are feeling better, although with you sharing she’s probably a bit behind you. Sending love and hugs to you both!

>355 EllaTim: Hi Ella! I guess the OT is mostly history with a smattering of commandments.

Noah and the ark – husband always has a trick question for Christians – how many of each animal did Noah take into the ark? Most of them get it wrong. “And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female” (Genesis 6:19, emp. added; cf. 7:15). It seems that fewer people, however, are aware that God also instructed Noah, saying, “You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth.”

Thank re my 100 and goal.

>356 streamsong: If I ever read it again, which I will probably not do, I’d read it over the course of 2 or 3 years, Janet.
I’m glad that my opinion is not totally out of a normal range. I reiterate that I’m not Christian but felt it time to understand the driving force for billions of people. Unfortunately many of the Christians I know pick and choose from the Bible, although there are a lot of contradictions in it, too. Sigh. As Richard and I had an exchange about my expectations of understanding above, I realize that greater minds than mine have been puzzled over the millennia.

Thanks re my review. That book is a stunning accomplishment and I think that caring, thoughtful people will take away a lot from it, regardless of political persuasion.

100 books. Getting that done yesterday has done more for my peace of mind these last several days than anything else.

>357 SomeGuyInVirginia: Yes, sir. I have read 102 pages, 5 of the 10 stories, and will leave it at that. More than Pearl Ruled. More, even, than Karen Ruled (see first message, bottom).

Today seems to be bird feeder day. I’ve seen a Red-Winged Blackbird although his red epaulets were not showing, and two woodpeckers – a Red-Bellied and a Hairy. I’ve also got an unidentified medium-sized bird that landed on my suet feeder – gray head and back, darker gray wings, black eye, soft gray throat and chest leading to white belly. Can’t figure him/her out. Plus the usual Finches, Cardinals, Chickadees, and Blue Jays.

I took a 2 1/2 hour nap, with vivid dreams of my Dad, Mom, and Sister. Birds, too, of course - brilliantly colored dinosaur-like birds 3 feet tall, two of them, in the back yard. Very strange.

2 hours 'til the Panthers play.

359FAMeulstee
dec 31, 2017, 4:20 pm

Enjoy your last evening of 2017, Karen, see you tomorrow in the 2018 group :-)

360ffortsa
dec 31, 2017, 5:02 pm

KarenMarie, I'm so far behind I didn't even know you had a thirteenth thread! I will try stop in a little more often in 2018. Happy New Year!

361Ameise1
dec 31, 2017, 5:32 pm


view from Zürich's landmark mountain Üetliberg

362harrygbutler
dec 31, 2017, 5:52 pm

Enjoy your New Year's Eve, Karen!

363rretzler
dec 31, 2017, 7:53 pm

364karenmarie
dec 31, 2017, 10:51 pm

>359 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita! I’ve got my thread mostly ready for tomorrow, just have to think of a subject. I’ll be a’visiting tomorrow!

>360 ffortsa: Hi Judy. I never in a million years would have thought I’d have 13 threads. It’s been a lot of fun this year.

>361 Ameise1: Thank you, Barbara!

>362 harrygbutler: Thanks, Harry! We just finished watching two Midsomer Murders. I’m yawning my head off and will go to bed way before midnight.

>363 rretzler: Thank you, Robin! Very nice graphic, especially the birds!

Happy New Year, dear LT friends.

365ChelleBearss
jan 1, 2018, 10:42 pm

Hope you had a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year!