And Susan reads on, quondame’s 2020's 4th quarter start

Lifted from FB, Maks Viktor Antiquarian Books

Hi, I'm Susan, a reading septuagenarian who has precious little else to do in spite of my husband's nagging me to make more masks. I collect miniature tools - really miniature, 2" is too big - and dolls of various sorts as long as they have wardrobes. I also own a few more books than are currently catalogued on LibraryThing. Also I like eating more than cooking but am generally interested in food. My daughter's new puppy, Nutmeg, is keeping me and my old dachshund Gertie quite exhausted. Life could be worse.

Happy new thread!

Hi Susan, I thought you might add some more antiquarian pix today.
I love the topper!

Hi Susan, and happy new thread. Excellent topper photo.

From your previous thread: Gertie’s adventure: You’ve got a good way with words, Susan. I can just see Gertie stuck halfway under the dresser. Poor darlin’, it’s been a 2020 for her, too, hasn’t it? Sorry you didn’t like Hid From Our Eyes, but congrats on 250 books so far this year. And, finally, I love the book/author/covers you choose for TIOLI.

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread!

Happy new one!

Hi Susan my dear, happy new thread dear friend.

My FB feed is overwhelmed with DT & Melania's positive Covid results. It's a bit extreme for a way to push his taxes and debate debacle out of the news.

>9 quondame: Oh yes, exactly what my spousal unit was saying yesterday. Except that was about the debate and how poorly it was managed.

Happy New Thread, Susan!

Happy Friday, Susan. Happy New Thread. Have a great, book-filled weekend.

Happy new one, Susan.

#254) How to be an Antiracist



A personal history of the development of the author's ideas about anti-racism, in which he faces and provides opportunities for us to face, mirrors reflecting his/our own racism and racist beliefs. This is not a recipe but a foundation.

Meets October TIOLI Challenge #6: Read a book for the October CFF Mystery Challenge Challenge

>2 Narilka: Welcome First in Scout!

>3 SandyAMcPherson: Thanks Sandy. It's always fun looking for them.

>4 karenmarie: Thanks Karen. Gertie does keep us on our toes trying to keep her alive and happy.

>5 drneutron: >6 SilverWolf28: >7 figsfromthistle: >8 johnsimpson: Welcome Jim, SilverWolf, Anita, and John.

>11 ronincats: >12 msf59: >13 PaulCranswick: Good of you to drop by Roni, Mark, and Paul!

Happy new thread, Susan!

>16 FAMeulstee: Welcome Anita!

#255) Potiki



A group of native New Zealanders survive on their land, some overcoming their alien educations and some fighting to regain territories taken from them ostensibly for a war time landing strip but never so used. A very internally told narrative, a woman, her husband, their children a few others. Their land is valued by external money makers, but they and their way of life are considered obstacles requiring them to persist in spite of what is brought to bear against them.

This has a strong association for me in its anti-racist stance with >14 quondame:, where the internalized hatred from the white acculturation has to be fought as much as the actual incursions on the land and bodies of the native people.

Meets October TIOLI Challenge #12: Birthstone challenge for October - read a book with a predominantly multicoloured cover OR a predominantly gold cover

We all need some puppy time:

>18 quondame: Oh, I am so glad Potiki worked for you! It was a favorite read of mine.

>19 quondame: The mostest punkin pweshus widdle poopie ever. The ears do me in.

>19 quondame: Awww, so sweet!

>20 richardderus: >21 FAMeulstee: Thanks, she is something.

#256) IQ



A mystery centered in the greater LA area African American milieu, the sherlockian Isaiah follows two timelines - just after the death of his brother when Isaiah is 17 and later once Isaiah has set himself informally as a detective. It doesn't fight racial stereotypes very much and the pacing and language and the number of times I just wanted to scream at Isaiah and Dodson not to be so stupid, when they go where only the plot requiring them to survive gets them out, keep it from rating higher for me. Also, nothing telegraphs Dodson's final actions

Also the author is not African or African American, so while I understand why the set up is more interesting set among African Americans than it would be among Asian Americans, it still makes me uneasy.

Meets October TIOLI Challenge #15: Read a book by an author born after 1945

>19 quondame: Very cute. Happy Monday :)

#257) Emerald Blaze



A perfectly fine potato chip book. What you expect is what you get. Magic, love, and messy family fun. Chomp chomp.

The reason for October TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book with a fiery or autumnal title

>24 figsfromthistle: Thanks, Anita!

>19 quondame: She’s a sweetie pie!

>19 quondame: omigawd, is that wee dog ever so sweet (of course, I don't have to manage looking after her). Great image, Susan.

>23 quondame: I like your comments... not that I finished the book or anything.
I didn't want to admit this (on my thread), but I didn't get even into the accepted range of "pearl-ruled" number of pages. So another DNF this year (I don't normally post these titles except on my profile page). I thought I was maybe just saturated with hip scenes in the urban fiction world but I also discovered that I am not a fan of the back-and-forth-in-time type of narrative.

>28 SandyAMcPherson: Nutmeg is a handful. Becky captured the picture by holding a chew stick on a ribbon that I rigged up to keep Nutmeg from savaging my shoes for a few minutes.

I don't think Joe Ide quite mastered even single thread narrative by Righteous which is also split a bit more successfully but also in a way that opens plot holes or at least erodes the sense of the action. I don't think I'll go further.

#257) Righteous



Faster and more tense that IQ, it is even more outrageously impossible. The multiple groups going after X and getting in each other's way letting X get clear is about my least favorite type of action plot.

Meets October TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a book whose first line includes an odd number

>29 quondame: Glad to know I'm not too far out as a loner on the Joe Ide oeuvre.
Thanks for your insights.

Hope the doggy-days of a chewy puppy don't last too long. You'll never have any shoes left unscathed!

Hey ho, Happy Reader.

#258) Return of the Thief



I liked Pheris and his viewpoint. The rest can wait a few weeks.

Meets October TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book that is part of a series

>33 quondame: Glad you received your book.
I don't remember who Pheris is, not having read the books for ages.

Turns out our library system hasn't received any copies of MWT's latest.
I know via a librarian-friend that the book was ordered last year in fact. I guess with the physical book, it must be hung up somewhere but what really is very strange, the e-Book is also not yet available. (Strange to me in that I am not a librarian and don't know how these things work.)

>34 SandyAMcPherson: Brand new character. This is a series I own on Kindle. I've found it good to have a time or two, when I wanted isolation and distraction via book.

#259) A Queen from the North



OK, this is a perfectly fine drawn out misunderstandings and real problems keep the couple emotionally apart for the duration of the book tale, but it could have been more, could have had a couple working through real issues together instead of manufactured ones keeping them distant.

Meets October TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book whose title contains a Halloween Costume

#260) Cursed Objects



The stories are mostly presented in the same way, and some are interesting, but if the author has a real fascination with these items it isn't communicated.

Meets October TIOLI Challenge #11: Read a book in which a word in the title best describes 2020 for you

>36 quondame: or, "Why Richard Doesn't Visit Texas Anymore"

>38 richardderus: I've always scampered across that narrow stick of TX as fast as possible, so no one needs any why to explain avoiding the state to me. Though my sister moved there because she was offered a job as Dean, one of her previously unmet ambitions and she's busy fighting Covid-19 there.

>38 richardderus: So how does Texas enter into A Queen from the North commentary, the novel which is (apparently) set in the UK?

Just wandering by and wondered if I missed out on an 'in' joke...

>40 SandyAMcPherson: Could it be that Richard reigns from the north?

Indeed, Sandy, it's my Regal Duty to bestow Queenly Blessings on the Benighted South.

>42 richardderus: ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

#261) Crossings



I really enjoyed reading this book - I chose to read straight through with Baudelaire's tale followed by Walter Benjamin's followed by the "Baroness's" manuscript. Although the author credits Cloud Atlas as an inspiration, I found this book to be far better. Although I did find the whole origin of crossing, as well as certain other aspects, too corny for words, it was an absorbing compelling read, which is what I look for.

Meets October TIOLI Challenge #15: Read a book by an author born after 1945

>42 richardderus: 😂😂

>44 quondame: Got me with that one!

>23 quondame: In theory the African American characters written by a Japanese American author should have made me uneasy, but I thought he captured LA pretty well.

>30 quondame: Yikes. I may need to rethink continuing the series. You do mean IQ, not X, right?

>37 quondame: Oh yes, one way of describing 2020.

>42 richardderus: RD, you’re a mess.

>44 quondame: "born after 1945"? But isn't that, like, everybody?

>46 karenmarie: Oh dear, is my lipstick smudged?

>42 richardderus:, >43 quondame:, >46 karenmarie:, >47 richardderus: Y'all y'alls making for a hilarious morning. I snorted coffee. Ooops.

>46 karenmarie: It isn't actually IQ everyone's after, but a combination of the people IQ is helping, IQ, and the people after the....
anyway, it's the confusion clears the way plotting I dislike, and I don't find any of it credible.

>47 richardderus: Well that's a privileged view! Were it true the SS lode would be way lower.

>48 SandyAMcPherson: Glad to amuse.

#262) Dreadnought



After helping the fallen superhero Dreadnought, trans teen Danielle is transformed not only into Dreadnought, but into the body of the young woman she has always wanted to be - but her new problems, with family, with friends are only changed and her problems with super villains have only begun. Fast moving, but with a lot of agonizing, which while not inappropriate, never changed tone or developed. 🌈

Read for October TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a book written by an author who does not fit the binary gender/sexuality stereotype

Happy New Thread, Susan!

Love the topper, and >19 quondame: is a definite "awwww".

I've enjoyed the IQ mysteries, but share your unease about the author not being African-American. I should find a bio of him - he certainly convincingly creates IQ's community and environment, even if the plots lean toward the preposterous.

From Joe Ide's wikipedia page:

Joe Ide (/ˈiːdeɪ/ EE-day, born c. 1958) is an American crime fiction writer of Japanese American descent. Ide grew up in South Central Los Angeles, which he used as the setting for a series of crime novels that feature his recurring young Sherlockian protagonist, Isaiah Quintabe.

>51 jnwelch: >52 drneutron: After reading How to be an Antiracist I feel the heavy stress on African American and Latino gang involvement and violence is feeding on stereotypes and IQ himself is presented as the special exception. But mostly I just didn't enjoy them that much.

#263) There Will Come a Darkness



This starts off unexceptionally cycling among a group of rather young exceptional viewpoint characters and is somewhat interesting until the single note for each character begins to jar then jangle. Things happen, they do things, but there is little change to most of them and the last third dragged through all the action.

I'm not sure why I had this checked out and I should have Pearl ruled it, but I was over halfway through when I really began to feel the drag. Anyway, it

Meets October TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book that is part of a series

#264) Gabriel's Road



A solid, but not inspired, tale of Gabriel's path after leaving Isobel and finding himself in a west with the Agreement fading, but still potent.

After >54 quondame: I threw myself into the arms of a trusted author so it

Meets October TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book that is at least your 10th by the same author

Arrgh! I can't get the new Talk to display in the order I like. I've complained to Bugs. Grouch grouch mumble ack!

>56 quondame: Not too terribly unusual for teething troubles to plague the first weeks, as you know, but that one in particular is *most* irritating.

*there there, pat pat*

>56 quondame: There's a way to modify the order? I never knew that (in previous versions...).

Susan, seeing that you are now up to Book #264, I was wondering what was (is) the greatest number of books-read in a year? Did you ever finish 400 books or more?
(I'm just being nosy... it is a big deal for me to get past 100! Ha ha ha).

>58 SandyAMcPherson: I've been keeping track for about 12 years, and in that time I haven't read over 400. It's very doubtful if I could have earlier in pre-Kindle days and a I did do a lot more socializing and getting out before the last 4 years - to say nothing of working before 2001.

Just popping in to say Hi!! I can't believe you are already at #264. Wow. I will definitely hit 75, with 100 a maybe.

>60 Berly: I do slurp them up. Major addict here, so little else is getting done.

Masquerade in Lodi is available today! Yeah! The touchstone isn't working yet so here is a direct link Masquerade in Lodi by Lois McMaster Bujold

>61 quondame: I've had that Penric and Desdemona series on my WL for awhile. I wanted to start at Book 1 but the access to the whole of the provincial circulation system is closed and I can only access my local resources.

I did want to find out, is Mira's Last Dance the preferred start of World of the Five Gods and should be read before Penric's Demon?

In my old series list (before LT redesigned the Series pages), I had nothing copied to the Penric saga that was called World of the Five Gods.

The earliest book within the World of the Five Gods is The Hallowed Hunt, but I'd recommend The Curse of Chalion followed by Paladin of Souls followed by The Hallowed Hunt because those books each add the layers to the world that are all in place when Penric's Demon starts. Start the Penric novellas with Penric's Demon absolutely. You can skip The Hallowed Hunt until ready for Penric and the Shaman but no longer. It's such a fun journey, and I own the whole thing, with extra Kindle copies of the novels in addition to the hardbacks. Curse of Chalion is one of the all time best fantasy novels, really.

#265) A Fountain Filled with Blood



I've had enough Claire and Russ. They behave so stupidly and the plots are so baroque they're broke.

Read for October TIOLI Challenge #7: Read a book by an author you've read since March 15, 2020

But Claire's new car is a Shelby Cobra, a vehicle I was in massive lust with in the early 70s!

>63 quondame: Thanks, Susan.
I read the The Curse of Chalion last year, after joining the 75 group in April 2019. It was one of my fave books of 2019.
I was late to Talk groups! Lucy suggested this group since I didn't even know anything about the Talk threads (yeah, hard to believe considering how chatty I am!).

Anyway, I am sold on the Bujold oeuvre and I read Paladin of Souls late last year at your kind recommendation but then stalled out in January and February with getting the books from the library. After that, Mr. Virus got in the way and so I wait patiently.

I've copied your entire post and added it to my files of LT txt files. I find the series pages on LT sometimes a bit confusing.

I just realised, I never got around to reviewing Paladin of Souls ~ I think Christmas events intervened and I wasn't so much logging onto LT for updating my catalogue.

#266) The Color Master



Mythic, but anti-epic, these fascinating stories arise in the hinterlands of our lives or of the fantasy literature with which we are familiar. A somnolent syrup flows in their veins, but they have sharp teeth.

I am hoping this is an acceptable

Read for October TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book with a three-word title in the format "The {Colour} {Noun}"

OK, I'm just having fun here - ellipsis should appear: "…"

Edited: Yes, on my browser/desktop I get … but I have to type 6 characters to get 3 dots!

Edited again - wow, now that I know how to spell it I can find multiple variations on the special characters popup! ຯ ᠁ … ⋮ ⋯ ⋰ ⋱ ︙ with multiple variations each. Cool.

#267) A Deadly Education



This is a good one! The magic user's school with a bite and no friendly faculty pulling for you and monsters ready to make a meal of the the weaeker or unwary student so that only about half make it to their senior year, and graduation is a killing ground. Galadriel is not the lady of light her name would suggest, in fact, well, you'll learn....

Meets October TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book that is at least your 10th by the same author

#268) Masquerade in Lodi



Penric has an interesting night with a saint of the Bastard. Not that sort of night, but mayhem abounds. Though Penric seemed a bit slow on the uptake

Meets October TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book that is at least your 10th by the same author

>68 quondame: That looks really great! BB for me. Enjoy your weekend.

Hi Susan!

>64 quondame: I ended up reading all 9 books, but absolutely agree that they behave ridiculously and stupidly.

I was in 'massive lust', as you put it, with Mercedes Benz 450SL in the early 1970s. I had a college friend whose parents lived in Brentwood and Katy and I’d sit out on the porch in the evenings sometimes and ‘make’ each car as it drove by. I went to Pepperdine from 1971-1975 when the LA Campus was at 79th and Vermont, not exactly a tony area by then, and mostly saw lowriders and beaters.

Deadly goes on the WL pile! And another Bujold! Hooray!

>64 quondame: That's an appropriate lust object indeed. Yum.

...Starless...you've given not one, not two, but no fewer than THREE four (or more) star reviews...are you in good health? Has some sort of dreadful shock, or unbearably sad news, come your way here lately? Only when people begin behaving in uncharacteristic ways it pays to wonder....

>72 karenmarie: Now days West LA is thick with Teslas, in a matrix of Prius with a few incredibly low slung sexy hippy power wheels with the branding very subtle so us serfs who don't know, don't know.

#269) Finder's Keeper



A cousin of the Devil's West books, in this one the young woman with a knack for finding seems to have overlooked something important and dreams send her through the fringes of the Civil War looking for what no one has asked her to find. The ending could have used a bit more support, but a well told story.

Meets October TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book that is at least your 10th by the same author

#270) The Zero Stone



I suppose I would have really liked this as a teenager, it is so typical of the soloist in space (as opposed to space opera) on a ride he (it's almost always a he) doesn't steer. Currently, it's a bit flat if competent and somewhat interesting.

Read for October TIOLI Challenge #16: Read a book by Andre Norton

#271) Waiting on a Bright Moon



An empire that functions because of mages should have motive to coddle them. Two women do not feel coddled.

Read for October TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a book written by an author who does not fit the binary gender/sexuality stereotype

>78 quondame: The mere mention, Two women do not feel coddled is enough to pique my interest. Talk about a very pithy observation. It may not have been intended, but there's smidgen of cynicism wafting about, as well.

>64 quondame: What a car!

>69 quondame: & >76 quondame: Two books for your 268th?

>77 quondame: & >78 quondame: Two books for your 269th?

Does that mean you should be on 271 books?

Enjoy what's left of your Sunday, Susan.

>80 PaulCranswick: You are correct. I've miscounted. To be sure, there are some short ones in there. I'm in the midst of Battle Ground now - it's feeling a bit like the final volume of Wheel of Time where Harry is, so far, all the stupid of all the stupid heroes rolled into one of that volume. I would like it if that boy had learn to prioritize. Maybe he'll grow a bit before the end of this book.

>64 quondame: Too bad the book wasn't as drool worthy as that Shelby Cobra, Susan. I'm in awe of your reading numbers.

Tom Leher has put all his lyrics in the public domain. They are available at the link until 2025. The music he's written is going to be available, but you'll have to come up with your own music for the ones he didn't compose.

#272) Battle Ground



It's pretty much all battles all the time, sort of like A Memory of Light, but only one viewpoint, with character developments stuffed into lacuna. I am not one for the battle scenes and these aren't very imaginative, just same-same, we get mighty whupped but enough remain. And I hate musings during battle scenes. So, nope, not the book tailored to suit me.

Meets October TIOLI Challenge #11: Read a book in which a word in the title best describes 2020 for you

>84 quondame: Generous at , then! Sounds more like a single , in my world.

Have you read any Butcher that you liked? I have tried a few titles and they're all DNF after about 30 or 40 pages and yet this author seems so beloved of the staff at my local favourite New Books shop. JB is always featured prominently in their recent arrivals section. Maybe he just sells well to a certain audience.

>85 SandyAMcPherson: Mostly I enjoy Butcher's books. This is the most annoying so far just because it is 95% what I like least about his books, especially the Harry Dresden series. I just also have a weakness for magic in the big city - for a couple of decades I lamented that fantasies were so damn bucolic/medieval and then that started to change....

>86 quondame: I can see perhaps why I was put off Butcher's novels. The only 2 that I tried were in the Harry Dresden series.

Lots of good books out there, otherwise, so not a problem really.

#273) Cam Jansen and the Millionaire Mystery



Cam Jansen doesn't click* with me. But it's very short if somewhat painful, click-wise.

Because I wasn't sure the book I reserved would be available in time I got this one as a backup to

Read for October TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book where the word "air" appears in the title

*Cam activates her eidetic memory by saying "click" - it is super annoying.

I, my daughter and my eldest grandchild are killer-good at "Kim's Game". (I assume everyone knows that's a memory game of a tray of objects).

Is that what an eidetic memory is?

I used to think it was a photographic memory, but when I was looking up "eidetic" (which was a word I didn't know), I see that maybe I'm wrong about the kind of memory we have. I'm losing my original ability because said grandchild can play a particular concentration card game* so well, she doesn't even have to lay the card back in the same spot. Beats me hollow and has done so since she was 4 years old.

* How we play it in our family ~
Lay all 52 cards out and take turns revealing 2 cards. The idea is to find pairs, which you keep. Every pair found gives you an extra turn.
I have always laid the cards in a grid. The grandchild just turns them all face down and then is pretty cavalier about turning them back in precisely the same place!

Edited to admit, I didn't follow up with a book-related comment... but the 'click' thing was intriguing.

>89 SandyAMcPherson: The girl in the book is called Cam as short for Camera. I never had much of a visual memory - I don't know if that has to do with my per-adolescent dyslexia or astigmatisms or just me, though I had very competent content memory until I smoked weed in college, which kind of blew my advantage there.

Hi Susan!

>83 quondame: Oh, my. What a treat. I have Too Many Songs by Tom Lehrer with 34 songs on my shelves, but there are almost 100 on that website so there’s lots of fun reading ahead. I also have records and CDs by him. Thanks!

>84 quondame: Your review of #17 makes me realize that I’ll never continue the series. I stopped after #5 and have the first 11 on my shelves. Deaccession time.

#274) Erosion: Essays of Undoing



Not an easy collection to process, but it sings with love of an endangered desert landscape, and the frustrations, joys and connections of the fight to prioritize the quality of the landscape that enhances the quality of our life.

Read for October TIOLI Challenge #10: Read a non-fiction book about the natural world or built environment

>91 karenmarie: There are a lot of series I've enjoyed more than the Harry Dresden books, but it's still within my tolerance levels. Unless in the next volume the lessons Harry insisted he learned are jettisoned and I get smacked with another solid wall of battles.

#275) The City We Became



Urban fantasy with a vengeance - or attitude, strong attitude. This was spotty, inventive and wearing, human and bizarre, wry and pedantic. Evil or at least anti-urban was white white white suburban and city was dynamic messy rainbow tinted. I am not encouraged that there are supposed to be two more books. As much as I enjoyed the four urban boroughs in their awakening, their dithering and Staten Island's agoraphobia were just dull and the consequences of city embodiment on the multiverse seemed heavyhandedly arbitrary.

Meets October TIOLI Challenge #15: Read a book by an author born after 1945

>94 quondame: And you gave it 3-stars, so the fans should be happy.
I also 3-starred the novel, but I confess it was a begrudging 3.

Jemsin's novel was tiresome in many places ~ side-plays in the lives of supporting characters and whirlwind sequences of social justice statements disrupted the plot (TBH, it took too much concentration to comprehend what the main theme really was). Could be that my mentally-anxious brain these days is too distracted, of course.

>95 SandyAMcPherson: I felt that the social justice statements were the point of the narrative, and I'm fully on board with them, it's that the pace was so stretched out and re-repetitive it just felt that so many pages had to be met with the progress ending exactly there, to be continued.

#276) Polite Lies: On being a Woman Caught Between Cultures



Having escaped the public annihilation of self that she saw for the women in Kobe among whom she grew up, Kyoko Mori examines aspects of her life with contrasts and comparisons of Japanese and Midwest norms and does a complete hatched job on her father and step-mother.

Meets October TIOLI Challenge #15: Read a book by an author born after 1945

>97 quondame: 2/3 of the way to a four-75s year! Go you!

>98 richardderus: Thanks Richard, but 3/4 of 300 is 225 so being particularly pedantic I'm a bit over 9/10 of the way.

Starting in late afternoon our power was out for about 5 hours. I got trapped in my comfy, powered chair just as Nutmeg scooted out the door with one of my shoes. Yelling ensued.

#277) Late Nights on Air



In the mid 1970s in the northern Canadian town of Yellowkinfe 6 people have pivot points in their lives, two leaving the four others variously haunted who take a trip echoing John Hornby's disastrous last venture. There is a much better book in here, with a less sepia toned beginning and devoid of the author's gracelessly misdirected foreshadowing remarks and the need to neaten the ending of a tale of very un-neat human entanglements.

Read for October TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book where the word "air" appears in the title

>100 quondame: Killer review. I love it (the review, not the book...)

>101 SandyAMcPherson: Thanks.

Nutmeg is quite satisfied with her accomplishments to date as a puppy. Lots of growth, new teeth coming in and the humans are much better trained than when she arrived. Yes, she can rightly congratulate herself!

#277) Silver in the Wood



Greenpunk strikes! A woodland guardian and the curious young landholder disturb a 400 year balance of something in the wooded area on the estate. 🌈

Meets October TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book that is part of a series

>104 quondame: I liked that book. The final chapters didn't come up to the storytelling in the first half of the book, though.

>100 quondame: That *sounds* like a less-than-three review to me....

>104 quondame: The whole cli-fi and greenpunk movement is heartening to me. If they read about it, they'll be more likely to think about it.

>105 SandyAMcPherson: Yes, there certainly is a discontinuity. I wonder about the second volume.

>106 richardderus: Hmm, I'm not sure if Silver in the Woods would qualify as that sort of green - it's more wood mythe in Victorian times, and a benign nature isn't quite.

>103 quondame: Major cutie. I’m glad she’s getting you guys properly trained.

Hi, Susan.

I'm sorry to see that Battle Ground didn't work very well for you. I do enjoy action and battle scenes, so for me it was a good one. It was tough to have Murphy die at the hands of that idiot cop. We now have an intriguing pair going forward: Lara Raith and Harry? Really?!

Your reaction to The City We Became matches mine. I've others by her, but this one was just okay. I am not encouraged that there are supposed to be two more books. LOL! Me either. I'm not excited about being back in that world she created with those characters. But maybe she'll surprise us.

#278) The Debatable Land



A few miles inland from the western coast at the northern edge of England a thick splinter of land 13 miles long is Robb's key to examining not only it's history, but several other misplaced misappropriated bits of British history. If you like your English or Scottish tales to retain their Victorian or even medieval contours, this book disrespects those preferences wholesale.

Oh! It has lots and lots of wonderful well explained maps! It even is about the maps! Maps, I dearly love maps - if only I had folio sided pages instead of Kindled miniatures!

Well, I'm hoping it
Meets October TIOLI Challenge ##10: Read a non-fiction book about the natural world or built environment

Thanks to sibylline for carrying the torch from drneutron's fire to mine!

>108 karenmarie: Thanks for leaving a calling card!

>109 jnwelch: There are a number of author's whose series I follow without having to love each entry. I think both Butler and Jemisin have established themselves on that list.

>110 quondame: So happy to read this review.
I requested the book right after seeing Lucy's review. I think I'm about 3rd or 4th in the queue now.

>110 quondame: That's already on my radar thank goodness, or the sheer bounteous exuberance of multi-starring would force it onto there anyway.

So glad you enjoyed the Robb!

Back to add that Nutmeg is adorable.

>110 quondame: Glad you liked it!

>108 karenmarie: >114 sibylline: Nutmeg accepts your tribute!

#279) Ender's Shadow



A really good read. It moves smoothly and covers lots with just enough depth to keep you gasping for the next breath but never feeling submerged. I may have only read this once before, but it is memorable so little was a surprise except how spare the narrative is - enough, to keep you oriented but constantly moving.

Read for October TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book by a controversial author

I meant to read, even ordered, Bagombo Snuff Box but Amazon messed with my order and this was on my Kindle, and I'd read the very disappointing series finale not all that long ago.

>117 quondame: Yay for a satisfying read.
And 4-stars, too. That'll catch you-know-who's attention ~ no more starless jokes this month!

>118 SandyAMcPherson: I doubt it. OSC is controversial for his LDS anti same sex marriage stance. He is a bit of an A hole, but when he's good he's up there.

#280) Plan for the Worst



Well, this one gets somewhere after going off in all directions. We end up learning things about St. Mary's that no one should know.

Meets October TIOLI Challenge #11: Read a book in which a word in the title best describes 2020 for you

Hi Susan.
How about this amazing piece of driftwood!



A friend on one of the Gulf Islands (off the coast of Vancouver Island, BC) sent me this photo as a Hallowe'en commentary.

Happy Sunday!

>103 quondame: Nutmeg is quite cute.

>103 quondame: Nutmeg is a cutie!

Happy Sunday, Susan. I hope you are having a relaxing weekend with the books.

>121 SandyAMcPherson: I've told Richard you left this here for him!

>121 SandyAMcPherson:, >124 quondame: How beautiful! And what a creative soul that person has, to see the inner Tentacled American in that lump o' lumber.

>125 richardderus: And here I thought it was a Cthulu piece...

>126 SandyAMcPherson: It is. My association with Cthulu is purely pandering to Richard. Though I admit to reading modern material in that tradition, I find the early grabbed by tentacles and dissolved in gastric juices while the soul is forever trapped in labyrinthine darkness unspeakably silly. Really guys, if it's unspeakable, do stop blathering on about it.

Hi Susan! Here's to a good Monday.

>127 quondame: 'Pandering to Richard'... 'unspeakably silly'... I do love coming over here and getting your take on things.

>128 karenmarie: Me, too Re, "I do love coming over here and getting your take on things."

>128 karenmarie: >129 SandyAMcPherson: Aww shucks, folks!

I credit it all to having 3 loud intelligently aggressive siblings and even more intense parents so that each sentence had to be properly sharpened before it was fired.

#281) The Nine Tailors



Lord Peter being both his detecting self and his lord among the proles self, which is generally more agreeable than his among social peers self. At least my 4th read of this book I found the pace on the slow side, but it isn't ever empty slow, just deliberate and detailed.

Read for November TIOLI Challenge #10: Read a book that is in a 'best books' list on LibraryThing

#282) Pet



Once the monsters have been eliminated is more comfortable to live without worrying about them That can be a problem.

Meets November TIOLI Challenge #7: Read a book that has something comforting in the title

>130 quondame: Ah, self defense. *smile*

>131 quondame: A thumping good read, agreed. Deliberate and detailed for sure. I’ve probably read it 4 or 5 times over the years, too.

>126 SandyAMcPherson:, >127 quondame:, >128 karenmarie: My affection for Tentacled Americans is rooted in their astonishing alien biology and their discernible intelligence and curiosity. I definitely don't think Cthulhu is anything more than brain popcorn, to be ingested without expectation of health benefits down the line!

>131 quondame:, >132 quondame: Starless...you're scaring me a little...those're four (and more!) stars on those reviews. Are you feeling okay? No fevers, unexplained visual events, unseen presences secreting digestive juices over by you?

>134 richardderus: Entirely digestive juice free here, baring a bit of the inevitable dog slobber. Those are a books with solid recommendations, two of which are re-reads of which I remembered quite a bit.

#283) Genghis: Birth of an Empire



Generally well paced appropriately detailed version of the early life and first significant victories of Genghis Khan. I felt the absence of any mention of remounts or trading caravans, both of which I understood to be significant elements of the life and motivations of the period.

Meets November TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a book by, or about, the top national leader (current or former)

>136 quondame: That one is called Wolf of the Plains in the UK and I remember reading and enjoying the first three books in the series. A timely reminder to read the other two in the series.

#284) Ring Shout but for my internal rating it's - because I had to fight it a bit.



Full of dark arresting imagery this battle against forces of darkness required me to read it in several sessions, short though it is, as it was intense enough to require time to regain the resources of nerve to continue. Also, to avoid my mind pulling up similar scenes from an array of fantasy and horror novels and falling into them. I felt I had to keep combing from my mind bits of American Gods and Wheel of Time and others. But that maybe just me.

Since all you can see is a head covering I think this

Meets November TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a book with a front cover picturing a person wearing a hat or other head covering

>138 quondame: I'm really pleased that you enjoyed this one as much as you did, even though it required some struggle. I'm a big fan.

>139 richardderus: Maybe it's the current stress level, but my mind had me climbing the hill with Shadow when I should have been with Maryse, and in the tower of snakes and foxes with Matt when she was visiting the Night Doctors, visiting the Dreamtime when she kept company with the aunties, and tramping to Amber when she sought the Angel Oak. All stories are one story, and the images were powerful in their own right, but my brain is a mille feuille of alternate worlds and this afternoon that book kept falling through the holes. Bizarrely, though P. Djeli Clark credits Madeline L'Engle as inspiration, that layer seems to have melted away.

#285) Me & Patsy Kickin' Up Dust



A paean to lost beloved friend and a friendship between two remarkable women which lasted less than three years and was ended by a tragic accident when the author was still very much at the perfect friendship stage. Loretta and Patsy never had to compete because Patsy was at the top of her career and Loretta was well started but nowhere near Patsy's level of success. So, though their lives and marriages had problems the friendship was hardly troubled. The actual meat of the book is sparse though worthwhile, the padding isn't of the same level.

Read for November TIOLI Challenge #11: Read a book that has something to do with United States country music

Hi Susan my dear, hope you are having a good start to the weekend and that you are well, sending love and hugs from both of us dear friend.

>142 johnsimpson: Well, yes, I think we can call this morning a good start. Let's see what we can make of it. Thanks for the hugs!

Mike is ever so happy that he will once again be able to listen to All Things Considered. He couldn't stand DT's voice, nor can I, and it will be such a relief to be shut of the venomous windbag.
As for me, I'm having a hard time settling back down to pre-election ability to absorb books. I've been consoling myself with eBay splurges, but that has got to stop. Nothing big, but lots of little adds up.

And well, this is sort of how I've felt for a while....

>145 quondame: Cute!

So, who's gonna be y'all's new Senator?

>146 richardderus: Well, that's a big topic of conversation in Sacramento. My congress person Karen Bass is considered one possibility.

>147 quondame: It's deeply interesting and extremely important. It needs discussion and even public debate.

I think we are tit for tat on broken links. You called out that quite a few of the cover/author images in my 5th post (on my thread) weren't displaying for you, on a Mac with Foxfire. I'm on a Mac running Chrome, and a number of images in your posts (>136 quondame: >138 quondame: >141 quondame: >145 quondame:) don't display for me. I acknowledge my complete ignorance of this vital issue. :-)

>149 weird_O: I think the image display holes are from LT's server issues - before I start a review I copy or load a local cover. So if LT is still into major updates, images may come and go.
I see all my images, but then, well they're probably in my cache.

>150 quondame: Hi Susan. I'm delurking to say that (if you're interested), I'm on a Mac running Safari and FireFox, and all the images that >149 weird_O: called out show for me.

Yesterday I discovered everything on Talk seemed very unstable so I signed out and rebooted this morning. That seemed to fix the problems at my end.

I'm continuing my reading bliss with In the Woods today. To borrow a phrase (from you, I think) ~ there's a really great 350-p novel in this 592p. novel!

#286) Bangkok 8



Sex, drugs, and murder in a mind stretching mix which makes as much of a statement about the poisonous lack of western culture as it does about the growing flexibility of the east in confronting that vast vacuum. A frequently disorienting read but a relentlessly interesting one as conventional mystery tropes are melted and remodeled with Buddhist meditations.

Meets November TIOLI Challenge #6: Read a book where birds or animals are in the title or pictured on the cover

>151 SandyAMcPherson: I'm sure the image issues are going to pop up repeatedly, but sometimes when a lot of images are involved it seems worse.

It sure is easier to relax these days.

>152 quondame: Disorienting and relentlessly interesting – yup.

>154 karenmarie: And yes, you did hit me with that BB!

>152 quondame: OWowow

Book-bulleted. Curses!

>153 quondame: It sure is easier to relax these days.
Yup. And I'm glad you're unwinding/relaxing.
Bangkok 8 is on my holds request at the Library. I'm #4 (I think) in the line. OK by me, because I'm only about 300-p in to the 592-p In the Woods. My first time reading a story by Tana French.

I also stopped looking at the news very broadly. What with Canadian coronavirus infections surging and 45 supported in his quest to launch an election "probe" by some judge or other, I didn't want to get sucked into another sequential news vortex.

Our area had a 2-day blizzard over the weekend after crazy-warm temperatures at the beginning of the week. Snow-over-my-knees type of weather. It's not unusual to have snow in November in these parts of course.

>155 quondame: I remember doing so, Susan, and am glad you were drawn into Sonchai's world.

#287) Black Sun



OK, I really didn't want to rate this as high as 3.5 nor as low as 3, even though so 3.17-3.3 is as high as I would go. It's not enough to want to write something different, it should be different to some point. The characters are the best part and the world building is decorative but not quite convincing. This doesn't set up to be a good against evil scenario, more like rebound by one viciously murderous cabal against an atrocity barely in living memory, the motive for the severity of which isn't even hinted at. Also people playing politics while the house burns, like we need more of that.

Meets November TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book by a woman of colour

>157 SandyAMcPherson: I'm so glad not to have to deal with weather. I like it to be cool enough for layering, but that's about it.

>160 quondame: The nice thing about near-impassable snow (which is plowed on the main roads and shovelled from the sidewalks, now): I finished my 592-page book (Tana French, In the Woods).
Beat the due date, too. I'm not sure how to rate it, though. I was all excited - maybe a 5-star read - until the last third. What a bleeding train wreck. At the moment I'm too cheesed off to be balanced about reviewing it.

It looks very Christmassy here. I'm enjoying the scenery - from a centrally-heated, cosy house!

Intense reading going on! The LT image thing is perpetually maddening!!!! Love the funny about voting.

All caught up with you, Susan.

>152 quondame: I have this one on The List since seeing it mentioned on Karen's thread. Your review makes e want to get to it sooner - nicely done!

#288) Reticence



Very silly romance with airship were-animal fun. The floating paper city of Edo as an airport above Tokyo was delightful and involved some fun metaphysics.

These days it
Meets November TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book where the title completes the phrase "I am thankful for..."

>164 quondame: I'm amused... your being thankful for reticence.
Heh. Nice shot.

>162 sibylline: >163 Crazymamie: >165 SandyAMcPherson: Hi Lucy, Mamie, and Sandy! Thanks for dropping by. Good to see you here.

Reticence in others is always something to be grateful for, and in oneself it can be lifesaving.

Hi Susan. my goodness, coming up on 300 books for the year.

Haven't heard much on the Gertie/Nutmeg front - things going well with the puppers?

>168 quondame: Nutmeg is now at least twice Gertie's size and they seem to be getting on quite well. My favorite rug, sadly became Nutmegs chew toy sometime before today - yesterday I think, from the fact that the evidence was quite noticeable to me today and I don't recall seeing those particular shreds before.

Yep, I just keep reading. I was briefly slowed a bit before the presidential race was declared, but I'm mostly back up to speed.

#289) Lovely War



The framing story is fantasy, the two WWI love stories are only fantasy because they're being told by 4 of the Greek gods to a fifth in a NY hotel room in 1942, and yes it was a bit disorienting, though not quite fatal. Still it does result in a patchwork told by a modern US author via Olympians about 2 Brits, 1 Belgian and 1 African American.

Read for November TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book where the word "love" is embedded in the title or author's name

>169 quondame: ...um...I understood the words but the concept eludes me.

Anyway, hoping your weekend presents many near occasions of sin...wait...do I mean near misses of disaster...all discombobulated...

>170 richardderus: You know the Hephaestus traps Ares and Aphrodite in a net story? Well, once trapped Aphrodite calls Apollo and Hades to help her tell the story of WWI lovers to Hephaestus. She has her motives. And yes it is shakey as a concept and really no part is strong on its own so the whole thing wobbles almost, but not quite, out of interesting territory.

Aside from gluttony, greed and wrath I'm a bit short on sin material here and as those are deployed to allay despair, well, they are necessary sins of commission. Now of sins of omission I've an endless supply!

I omitted to believe in their gawd, so I gather She's been crapping on me for 61 years as a punishment.

>172 richardderus: YGC not withstanding? The Greeks weren't really into romance, more like madness. Arrows, Apollo's or Eros are extremely dangerous.

Yes, they regarded Luuuv as a divine madness, a state of diminished responsibility, and regarded those so afflicted with amused tolerance shading into mild disgust.

But nobody pretended it didn't happen....

#290) Machine



The plot, characters and flow are excellent, and the multi-entity hospital and ships are a great world, but the interior dialog of the main character is a subtlety free disaster of telling rather than showing. The many aspects of the application of the title are a plus.

By the grace of humouress it
Meets November TIOLI Challenge #16: November birthstone challenge: read a book with a predominantly black cover

>175 quondame: I am _so saving_ that phrase, the interior dialog of the main character is a subtlety free disaster of telling rather than showing.

Brilliant!

Susan, I hope you'll take time to do that book title / topic meme that's wondering the threads... I snagged it off Richard's thread who thieved it from Paul who yanked it from Cathy ....

>176 SandyAMcPherson: I do love a bit of appreciation, deserved or not!

While I've filled in some of the lists that come by from time to time, that one looked like actual work. Also while I may have glanced at a couple of answers on threads I visit, I'm rarely honestly interested in other people's lists and so keep the lists I post infrequent as a courtesy figuring they're about as interesting to others as my genealogy.

#291) Fellowship of Fear



Yep, guy lit to be polite. Anthropologist who can tell the race and age of a person from a jaw segment, has a number of violent encounters within a few days of arriving in Europe as a USOC guest lecturer. He finds enthusiastic female company in spite of dissing her feminism. All of the mid-20th century male self congratulation I prefer not to encounter. The plot is a mess of red herrings on a bed of confusion.

Meets November TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a book explaining what is puzzling you about this strange year using all or part of a book title

>178 quondame: Never liked that series, for those reasons and more (globe-trotting celebrity forensic anthropologist? mm hmm)

So I seem to have been manically spending my way through post election stress. Anticipating my Thingaversary I ordered 3 little, and I mean 1:6 & 1:9 scale, books, Hitty, Eloise, and Madeline. I'd add The Lonely Doll, but I haven't seen a 1:6 of that though it's about the same vintage as Eloise.

I've also had some success mucking about with popup cards. I figured out on my own how to get sides to work for a bench facing the viewer. Not great, and really I shouldn't be left alone with double sided sticky tape even in the cool little dispenser and I can lose a pair of scissors sitting still in about 10 seconds. I'll have to work out how I can suspend the work area over a rubbish bin so I can just knock the scraps off - no wait, I knock off everything else too!

Last night I was delighted to learn that there is a working toy sewing machine which is less than 2" high in it's working parts, about 3" total height.

Heinrich Keller Liliputian model 4/0, 1938
So this picture displays on my rather large screen at just about real size. I need one of these......

#292) Glorious



Explorations of more mega or rather giga engineered structures. The structures were kind of interesting as were the pictures of them. The plot plodded from makeshift bit to makeshift bit the humans were retreads of old 20th century stuff with tell rather than show feelings. Guy lit slightly re-dressed - a woman as a main character - for the 21st century. Many strange aliens were described, but except for the most abstract one, no pictures. Where is Bonnie Dalzell when you need her.

Meets November TIOLI Challenge #15: Read a novel that includes visual material

Someone needs to make an alien/habitat based on Richard Lippold's Sun sculpture from 1953-56:

>177 quondame: Right you are: it was a lot of work (for me, anyway) to fill out that worksheet. But it was mentally useful to do it. You don't have to look if you chance by my thread.

>183 richardderus: I'd have to wear shades the whole visit!

>184 weird_O: I did look at a few of your answers and you had some interesting things to say. So often I don't recognize the titles in the answers to the list, and as my spoons are rather shallow these days, I only tend to absorb details selectively.

Morning, Susan!

>180 quondame: This post made me smile. I also should not be left alone with double sided sticky tape.

>181 quondame: SO clever! The size is remarkable.

Long ago you remarked on Reba's thread that you thought everyone in the north has to have a basement. Not really. It helps, of course, to keep things from freezing but not essential -- here in Vermont quite a few of the more experimental houses (straw bale, tamped earth etc) don't have them either. And Vermont really is sort of a northern rainforest (usually, right now we have drought!) and basements tend to get funky. This house is on a big cement slab with the radiant pipes embedded in it. All "guaranteed" for fifty years and the house designed so that when the time comes the next people can abandon our system and reinstall a new system on top of the cement floor with (probably) a wooden floor on top. The first floor has about a 12 foot height, plenty of room for that! I have problems with mold and I loathe basements. I'm only sorry he didn't make a 'tub' for the hot water heater. If that ever blows, it will be kind of a mess. Having a heated floor, however, you can dry it amazingly well (we've had a washing machine plumbing failure and got through it ok)/

Way more info than you wanted! Reba is so busy with her move I didn't want to load it up on her!

>187 sibylline: How lovely to have high ceilings! I always felt somewhat oppressed in my lower story apartments and condo. Now I've one room with a vaulted ceiling which I enjoy and my bedroom is on the upper story corner with lots of light.
My sister owned a sort-of-farm-sort-of-craftsman style house in New Haven which indeed sat over a somewhat moldy smelling basement so I know they aren't just handy extra space.

#293) Drowned Country



Silver doesn't seem to have done well as replacement for Tobias, and he is pulled from his downward spiral to join his mother and Tobias in rescuing a young woman from and old vampire - only to find himself on a rather different tack. A bit too handy to be nearly as mythic as the previous book.

#294) Exhalation



In this collection of stories the best are where the characters and the technologies infect each other like fungus and the messy internals of life are entangled with the constraints and (im)possibilities of technology. The title story is more clever than compelling and there is a bit of drag here and there, but wow, the good ones are really good.

Read for November TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book of short stories in a 'genre' category

>190 quondame: I am so amazed when you pass out the stars so recklessly...it's a little unnerving, TBH.

I still think Stories of Your Life and Others is the better collection, but really, really enjoy seeing you get ignited by anything.

Hi, Susan.

I'd take Stories of Your Life and Others over Exhalation, too. But, as you say, the good stories in the latter are really good.

I'm glad you liked Pet! I read it because Amber recommended it, and was surprised how much I enjoyed it.

You're inspiring me - I've re-read Nine Tailors, but it's been a while. It may be time to do it again. The other LPW I re-read is Gaudy Night. To me, NT is her best. It's the book I recommended to Madame MBH when she wanted to try reading a mystery (never had).

>191 richardderus: >192 jnwelch: It's likely I've read at least some of the stories in Stories of Your Life and Others if not the book itself, but I've rarely kept track of stories and the book came out on the edge of when I recorded what I was reading - I know I'd previously read at least 2 of the stories in Exhalation. But then I'd inexcusably confused Ken Liu with Ted Chiang. Bad me. I have to go comb my brain.
Nine Tailors is a different kind of good than the PW's that show him within his own social milieu.

>181 quondame: My mother used to have a toy Singer sewing machine which must have dated from the late 1920’s or thereabouts. I remember I used to love playing with it as a child.

#295) Lords of the Bow



A gossiped up list of conquests, which doesn't give much of a sense of how Gengis Khan could have kept the momentum of his victories but mostly follows others as they are involved in various details of what might have happened. There is not much sense of danger or a convincing recreation to involve a reader who want more than boys on adventures.

Read for November TIOLI Challenge #17: Read a book whose cover gives you chills

>194 SandDune: I so longed for one of those miniature sewing machines as a girl - I couldn't ever manage the treadle and the electric later on was a bit scary - I did actually put a needle through my finger. Only once. I have 5 working machines now - two are sergers. Also a rather exploded treadle in big chunks in the garage that really needs to go.

Well, the pies are out of the oven. There will be something to hold up the whipped cream tomorrow. The crusts were a bit cursed this time around, but I think they were up to holding the pumpkin. We'll see after dinner tomorrow.

Hi Susan my dear, Happy Thanksgiving Day and hope that you are having a good day dear friend.

This Brit wishes to express his thanks for the warmth and friendship that has helped sustain him in this group, Susan

#296) Murder Must Advertise



Lord Peter is incognito at an advertising agency to see if there is anything to investigate about a death and an unsent letter from the deceased. Lots of office politics and dark side of society shenanigans. One of the best, if Bunter-less books.

Meets November TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book by an author born between 1845 and 1945 inclusive

>197 johnsimpson: >198 PaulCranswick: Thank you for your lovely Thanksgiving greetings.

It must be my outspoken avoidance of turkey for the day that prevented fellow Americans well wishing me.

Terry Pratchett. Worth reading any of his books? How about Hogfather? It has been recommended as a holiday read. Have you read it?

>201 weird_O: Terry Pratchett is often quite wonderful in both a irreverent and earnest fashion - once you get past his first two Discworld books. Hogfather is built upon so much of what's in earlier books and has a very earnest tone at its heart that I would not suggest it as an introduction. Wyrd Sisters or Guards! Guards! come to mind as alternate entries, but the one I found that kept me reading after Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic was Reaper Man in which the bizarre, charm of Pratchett's humor first floored me. Not that the other books aren't full of humor, they are, but the weirdness of it struck me in that one

>202 quondame: Oh boy. I so glad you had more to say than, "Oh yeah, he's great." Clearly I need to get a list of his books, especially that Discworld thing. See where those title you suggested fit. Thanks, Susan.

>203 weird_O: There. the touchstones are back. Fortunately the lists are nicely build into LT and going to any Terry Pratchett title get you what series it is in. The Discworld books all have two series, the main one and a sub-series. Some sub-series are more tightly connected than others. My favorite is Discworld: City Watch, but I also like Discworld: Death and Discworld: Witches though Equal Rites is weaker than Wyrd Sisters.

These are the first 13 books. I have given them relative ratings where ★ = or pretty close on my standard scale and ★★★★★ is the same as
Mind, every Pratchett fan has wildly different preferences. Some people even like Rincewind The Colour of Magic/Discworld: Rincewind.

The Colour of Magic ★
The Light Fantastic ★
Equal Rites ★★
Mort ★★★
Sourcery ★★
Wyrd Sisters ★★★★
Pyramids ★★
Guards! Guards! ★★★★★
Eric ★★
Moving Pictures ★★
Reaper Man ★★★★
Witches Abroad ★★★
Small Gods ★★★★

#297) Detective Inspector Huss



A competent enough mystery with almost interesting characters among both the police and those they are investigating, but it's more as if they were set up to be interesting but didn't actually display it for the reader. Not quite a chore to read, but it seemed long from not to far in and wasn't involving, compelling or particularly rewarding.

Meets November TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book where a word in the title starts with the same letter as one of the author's names

Today is my third Thingaversary!

Happy Thingaversary, Susan!

Happy Sunday and Happy Thingaversary to you, Susan! It feels like you've been around much longer than the 3 years LT says...

I've still got pumpkin pie left over because my husband likes pecan pie better and I shall have a piece with our usual Sunday fare of Neese's Hot Sausage. I mailed some to my sister in Rialto last year - 2 1-lb packages frozen with freezer packs and the postage was about double the cost of the sausage itself. It's the best.

Happy Thingaversary!

>206 quondame: Happy third!

Hi Susan my dear, Happy Third Thingaversary dear friend.

>207 FAMeulstee: >208 karenmarie: >209 drneutron: >210 richardderus: >211 johnsimpson: Thank you Anita, Karen, Jim, Richard and John! It's wonderful to be here!

#298) Out of the Dust



The dust bowl Oklahoma lives of Billy Jo and family is made much harsher by the accident that causes her mother's death and maims her hands keeping her from the piano music that gave joy to the family. A real sense of the physical oppression of dust and drought and the emotional drought and scars of trying to survive in an impoverished landscape.

Read for November TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book written in verse

#299) Second Wind



Weatherman, the kind that researched and reported for the BBC, is the profession du volume in this mystery, and the events are pretty co-incidental and wildly out of the ordinary - and there is no murder being investigated, not that there aren't any attempts.

Meets November TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a book with a front cover picturing a person wearing a hat or other head covering

Hi, Susan. I'll add Guards! Guards! and Reaper Man to my list of Pratchett possibilities, along with the ones you mentioned over on my thread. I remain hopeful that one or more will work for me.

>204 quondame: Many thanks, Susan. The star-ratings are beneficial to me, 'cause what do I know? Better to sample this vast series by reading a good book than a weak story. Amber provided a link to Discworld's categories and titles at the official Pratchett website. So I'll see. Fun!

Belated Happy Thingaversary, Susan.

>213 quondame: >215 jnwelch: I hope you enjoy your selections Joe & Bill! Although they aren't all in my LT catalog (I only got to the D's in paperbacks) we own the whole series and have read it more than once.

>214 quondame: Thank you!

>130 quondame: Sounds scary!

>134 richardderus: I've wondered for a long time; why Americans specifically? Indonesian octopi (for example) are kind of cute and curly.

>134 richardderus: Also. Eww.

>168 quondame: Ah, the chewing. Jasper seems to have to express delight in chewing something - the furniture, the expensive rug, my new trousers, my foot ... As a puppy, he teethed on my garden pebbles. I was worried for his teeth but it was the pebbles that cracked. I'm just grateful that he's finally learned that I am not a chew toy - even if he has to be reminded first.

(>175 quondame: Ooh - I got a mention.)

>191 richardderus: Well, she did say she's feeling more relaxed (see >153 quondame:)

>206 quondame: Belated happy thingaversary Susan!

>219 humouress: You have no idea. I'm a rather timorous shy creature as you have no doubt noticed.

Nutmeg goes at everything jaws first - toes, faces, my new shearling slippers (NO!). Very energetically.

Thanks!

>220 quondame: Er ... yes. Quite.

#300) Wishing Season



The strange adventures of a rather social and organized lot of genii. With lively illustrations by Kelly Freas.

Meets November TIOLI Challenge #15: Read a novel that includes visual material

#301) Magic Steals



Just what's expected when resolving a side character's love life.

Meets November TIOLI Challenge #6: Read a book where birds or animals are in the title or pictured on the cover

>222 quondame: Congratulations on reaching 4 x 75, Susan!

Hi Susan my dear, congrats on reaching 4 X 75 for the year with a whole month left to go, figures i can only dream about even when i am not reading the Chunksters.

>222 quondame: YAY!

...in the notation of your childhood...

>219 humouress: Because, silly Supervillainess, one isn't so gauche as to point out that things not American are, by definition, lesser and unworthy.

Heavens, what *do* the English teach their sprogs.

>225 richardderus: ...in the notation of your childhood... !

Asking for a *snort*, Richard?

>220 quondame:, Susan, is this a new annual record in sight? You have another month to go! Anyone taking bets she'll cram in another 100 reads?

>223 FAMeulstee: >224 johnsimpson: >225 richardderus: Thank you!

>227 SandyAMcPherson: I did take 3 years of Latin, and while I didn't consider myself a child, I know I was.

I started Dec. 2019 at #337, so 2020 did have an impact on me, alas.

My goodness. 4 x 75. Congratulations, even if you're behind last year's total.

Belated happy 3rd Thingaversary, Susan, and congratulations on reaching 301 books SO FAR this year! Also, happy first of December. 30 more days till we can say adios to 2020 and 50 more days until the orange menace is gone.

Congratulations on your quadruple 75 Susan!

>222 quondame: You found Wishing Season; it was published a while ago and a lot of similar books are hard to find now. I'm glad you enjoyed it (I assume).

>225 richardderus: I say!

>226 richardderus: Firstly, supervillainesses are never silly. Secondly, you idly impugn one at your peril. Thirdly, I shall be round to yours anon. That is all.

Hello, Susan! Belated Happy Thinga wishes! And over 300 books read!! Amazing.

>205 quondame: I have this one in the stacks.

Hi! I see on TIOLI you have Cowboy and Octopus on your reading list. Oh my goodness, but our house loved that book when the children were little. I can't imagine how many times we took it out from the library. I hope you enjoy it!

>229 karenmarie: >230 Storeetllr: >231 humouress: >232 Crazymamie: Thanks Karen, Mary, Nina, and Mamie

>233 raidergirl3: It's great to hear your good opinion - I was looking for something strange for that challenge and that one appealed, plus octopus!

Congratulations on 4x75, Susan. I am in awe of you guys that can reach that feat - i have never gotten even close.

Wow! Three hundred books!

#302) The Last Druid



Some people went places and did stuff. They had some straightforwardly overcome obstacles, unless they died of stupidity. I do so hope this is truly the last book.

At least it
Meets December TIOLI Challenge #7: Read a book which starts with a character's name.

>235 PaulCranswick: >236 SandDune: Thank you Paul and Rhian! Not being up for much more than web browsing and reading has its payoffs.

Three hundred books read. OMG. WTF? I'm guessing your lips don't move when you read, am I right? A habit I've got to cast aside.

However you do it, Susan, keep on chooglin'.

>237 quondame: I liked the first trilogy, way back when, and I even read a bit further but they sort of petered out for me a long time ago and I can't even really remember why. I still have a couple on my shelves, so I'll probably go back and give them another go. Sometime.

ETA: 32+ books in the series? That's persistence.

>240 humouress: I enjoyed some of the middle books and some of the prequels too, but these last books a have been same-same, and this on samer than the rest.

Quadruple 75!! Wow. I love telling people that I know someone who can read that much in a year. : )

#303) The Left-Handed Booksellers of London



A pretty much non-stop, interesting but not involving girl finds more than she thought when seeking her never met father. The idea of the booksellers is a tad more interesting than the actual presentation, supernatural goings on granted, but still a fun story.

Meets December TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book which has a word in the first paragraph that is descriptive of the weather in your neck of the woods.

>239 weird_O: >242 Berly: Thanks, Bill and Kim!

Just dropping in to say hello.

Wow! Over 300 books read thus far. Impressive

Have a great weekend.

>243 quondame: I actually bought that one recently. It looks like a good decision on my part!

Have a lovely Sunday.

I wonder what it is about Garth Nix that I bounce off of. Others love his stuff and I can't finish one.

Another case of some subtle defect of character, I suppose.

>247 richardderus: I don't find that I've read more than a story or so of his before - for the last two decades I've strongly tended toward new women authors I'm unfamiliar with and ignored the men, Charles de Lint, Charles Stross, (do I make exceptions for Charles-es?) China Miéville, and Ben Aaronovitch being some of the exceptions, but they don't write YA. I would mostly have been looking at YA from the perspective of what Becky might like which instantly prejudices me against the men, alas.

>246 PaulCranswick: The book was very readable, but I think I'll mostly forget it quickly. Thanks!

>248 quondame: Oh, that's it, it's YA.

I disliked teenagers when I was one. I'm not of a different mind now. I'll read books starring teens but without much hope for their success in my esteem.

#304) The Very First Damned Thing



Some humor, not much zaniness.

Meets December TIOLI Challenge ##9: Read a book that is a follow up of a book you read earlier this year

#305) Serpentine



A glimpse at Lyra's start of reconciliation with Pantalaimon long after they have returned from their first set of adventures.

Meets December TIOLI Challenge #10: Read a book that has 250 pages or less

#306) Cowboy and Octopus



This book explores the results if "octo and the cowboy should be friends", but leaves us wondering if they really should.

Read for December TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book that has won an obscure (to you) prize, name the prize (The Weird-Ass Picture Book Awards)

I'm currently reading Rhythm of War which will take me though a couple of expirations, so I'm taking breaks with shorter works.

>246 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul!

>251 quondame: Interesting...the prize is aptly named. I can't help but wonder why someone published that little marvy, can't be a big market for it.

I still haven't got halfway trough Rhythm of War. It just does not flow, bouncing from one viewpoint to the next, and there is rarely anything fun or absorbing going on to draw me back when I put it down, just characters in uncomfortable, if not desperate, situations.

This week has been full of dog events - Zette, my husbands blind dachshund may have had a stroke on Monday and was behaving poorly for a day or two, Nutmeg went into get spayed and has lost her rosy view of the world, and Gertie had to get her allergy shot.

Monday might have been Zette's last day as I misunderstood Mike to be requesting that I take her in to have her put down - I'm still not certain that he didn't mean that - but on thinking it over I knew he would eventually feel better if he was with her at the end and by the the time I talked with him about it, Zette was a bit more responsive and next morning she was enough better that we felt OK just waiting. Understand, Zette only tolerates me when she really wants something and no one else is around. Then I can take her where she needs to go without risking getting nipped.

>252 richardderus: Some people like octopussesses.

>253 quondame: I hope all the dogs are feeling much better today.

>254 humouress: They are all fine. Nutmeg is a bit too bouncy to easily keep quiet in fact. The two weeks of cone is going to be very long. And a challenge to keep the cone clean!

>255 quondame: Jasper has only had to use the cone once so far, when we had him neutered, and he's always been an escape artist - so good luck. He's been a bit quiet himself today; I think he's sulking because there isn't a present under the tree for him yet.

#307) The Midnight Circus



Familiar stories refracted through whimsically dark and fancifully flawed prisms, and new ones with a coda of paired verses. Some bite very deep indeed.

Meets December TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book written by a woman

I had to take a break form Rythm of War.

Hi Susan!

>253 quondame: Way too many doggie events. Sorry about Zette – I didn’t realize there were three dogs in the house. Poor Nutmeg, and I’m sure Gertie did not love her allergy shot. I have to give one of my kitties liquid arthritis medicine every 3-4 days, which she doesn’t like but tolerates. I hope she associates feeling better with getting a syringe pushed in her mouth.

>255 quondame: Ugh. Cones. So not fun for everybody.

>258 karenmarie: We originally picked Zette to be a companion to Manny after Coogan died, but were told that she would have to be fostered with a vet assistant for a month to recover from a broken leg and later that someone has a prior claim. So we found Gertie. Then Zette bit someone at the foster home and no one else wanted her. So we took Zette, who isn't really much like a dog, though she does have a few favorite people. Mostly she just sleeps in a corner all day, makes messes to be cleaned in the morning and cuddles during TV time. Nutmeg learned not to try to make friends, because she has very sharp teeth, and yes, will use them.

Hi Susan, Do you know Suzanne (Chatterbox)? She's the only one I know of who reads at about the same rate you do. 307! That is a lot of books! Congratulations.

>260 brenzi: I don't follow Suzanne's threads here, and she doesn't seem to be into F&SF in a big way, though the first lines of her self description could easily apply to me. A total book addict, tough week on languages.

#308) The Rhythm of War



Way long. And broken into small pieces impeding the flow. Some twists but too many places where slot A is ready for tab A. Return on investment is low.

Meets December TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book which fits into the Birthstone challenge wrap-up; read a book that is predominantly one birthstone colour

Yesterday we lost power for a few hours. Today we ordered a UPS so I don't get stuck in my recliner chair. Since I usually have at least one, and nowadays two dogs in my lap, it can be quite awkward getting us all sorted. Our desktops already have UPS, so we won't be shorting them.

>263 quondame: Okay, you're going to have to explain things to me, preferably in words of one syllable or less and no acronyms :0) I'm wondering how a parcel delivery is going to help.

>262 quondame: Uninterruptible Power Supply. Well, it will be delivered tomorrow, though directly from Amazon, not via United Parcel Service.

>265 quondame: Ah, thank you (although that was 6 syllables). I'm guessing that's like a large battery?

>266 humouress: Well, a medium sized battery as these things go. Our big battery is for powering our CPAPs overnight while camping or during power outages.

*nope, nope. Not going to ask. Not falling for it*

On an unrelated note, I have no idea why the kids insist I'm a dinosaur ;0)

>268 humouress: CPAP machines are for helping with sleep apnea and also pretty much eliminate snoring by pumping air to a mask or pad worn over the nose sometimes the mouth too. We really sleep ever so much better and quieter too. Now it's the dog's snores we hear.

>269 quondame: Hmm - might introduce my husband to that. I - of course - don't need one. Good thing I didn't ask.

#309) The Hollow Place



A spot or two of real horror. Uncomfortable, to say the least, trees, worse than Snow White's flee through the night woods.

Meets December TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book for the December CFF Mystery Challenge Challenge

#310) Ordinary People



When real tragedy happens in a family that is centered on a surface perfections it sets off a slow avalanche which strips illusions and shatters identities. The reader enters the story after the main events to see where the pieces fall.

Read for December TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a book you haven't read before but whose film / TV adaptation you've seen

HI Susan!

>263 quondame: I’m sorry you lost power while in the recliner chair. You got a belly laugh out of me on this one. Unfortunately, I can easily imagine getting stuck in a recliner chair. Yay for more UPSs. We have 5 in our house.

>269 quondame: My sister swears by her CPAP. I think she calls it her Nose Hose, but have just sent off a text because enquiring minds and all that.

...four...stars...twice...
*faints*

It always struck me as interesting that the woman in #310 was such a cypher. The dad's feelings of loss about his own mother, his increasing awareness of how hollow this life is, is met by her...blankness. She's an Ann Taylor mannequin touched by Hawthorne's Drowne.

And the author very much a woman. It's forty-five years ago she was writing this, true, but really? I was relieved for the father and son when she decided to leave at the end!

>274 richardderus: I didn't find her so much a cypher as a shallow, self-centered perfectionist, though we are given very little background on her other than that her mother also seems to be very controlling and judgemental. She is afraid of people and only able to interact through roles, and uses her emotions to browbeat her family into their roles. Brittle. But yes, though father and son are relieved, they are not happy that she is gone. She is somewhat less horrendous in the book than the movie, where her attachment to Buck was more emphatic.

>275 quondame: Interesting! We came away with such different ideas. I love the way that reading helps us over the stiles between our different meadows.

>104 quondame: I thoroughly enjoyed this book as well as the second title in the series, "Drowned Country".

>273 karenmarie: Always glad to entertain!

#311) Beasts of Tabat



More real PoV characters than usual - flawed, intermittently sympathetic, understandable but not trivial. Better than most I’ve read this year (that was 2015), but not ‘nice’, quite dark though the telling is mostly rather light until it isn't.

It turns out this is a re-read, though only bits of the beginning were familiar, and for some reason was looking for it earlier this year, not realizing I'd already read it.

Meets December TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a book with one of its title words making up part of a five-word sentence

Hi Susan. I've been slogging away at other things lately, instead of cluttering up the threads.
You're on a tear for reading and I see a few titles appear to have struck a chord (#309 and 310).

I've meandered through Richard's, Karen's and Roni's threads which I had neglected to keep up with for awhile. And blew off some steam on Roni's about a Nathalia Holt book she read. I think she nailed it in her review but I wanted to see if there was more to say... I quoted you, just so you know, in case it backfires on me.
*grins and ducks*

>279 quondame: R-rated comment ~
Every time I scroll past Beasts of Tabat, I read the title as 'breasts'.
I'm now convinced the book cover is to blame.

>280 SandyAMcPherson: I think you'll find that I noticed.

>281 SandyAMcPherson: Snerk! Somehow it doesn't strike me that way, but, well, it is an unfortunate cover.

>282 quondame: I did notice. Thanks for the history you posted.

The 'end of-employment' burnout sounds familiar. So many of us were (in the end) rationalizing similarly (thepay cheque wasn't worth staying on for the being in a dysfunctional workplace, is how I thought of it).

>19 quondame: What an incredible puppy!

I'm stopping by to wish you a very lovely holiday.

#312) Curveball



Toni Stone's experiences playing baseball with boys and men serve as the stars in this constellation of mid 20th century African American struggles in that sport and the segregated United States. In her 30s just before television, when to see baseball played you had to attend a game, she was hired by the the Indianapolis Clowns more for her draw as a novelty than her demonstrated ability, which was considerable if not major league. Never given real acceptance she played more for pure need to play than for the money. The real depth of this book is in the narratives about the teams, managers, and owners, the mechanics of getting from game to game and continuing in the face of white hostilities outside the ball park.

I reserved Curveball for this year's TIOLI baseball challenge and it arrived at my local branch library on March 14th and was stuck there for over 7 months until it was moved to a branch with curbside pickup. It's been sitting in a stack for a few weeks, but lo! I have read it as it

Meets December TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a biography/autobiography of a woman

>284 Whisper1: What a delightful image. Not much room on those houses for reindeer landings!

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Tachyon Publications, an SFF house, posted this on Twitter. Says it all, no?

#313) A Christmas Carol



What struck me was how playful the narrator is at the beginning of the story, engaging us when Scrooge is so unengaging, and being less obvious the more Scrooge takes up his own redemption, realizing to his own positive feelings first, then opening his eyes to others and then recoiling at the horror of what he's become to connect to good feelings. But there is the little narratorial glint in the final paragraph: "He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterward."
Not really, just to spare richardderus, everyone else just click and read

Meets December TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a comfort book

>287 richardderus: Good riddance is right!

>288 quondame: You're very thoughtful, my dear, though the fact that we can't spoiler images (I wonder why not?) means *shudder* I know what you're (doubtless) praising *urp*.

>290 richardderus: But you would have known if no image were revealed, possibly if I had spoilered the whole post. We do what we can.

Hi Susan!

>288 quondame: I read this years and years ago. You’re very kind to Richard to spoiler anything by Mr. You-Know-Who.

...


... and here's to a better 2021!

>292 karenmarie: Thank you Karen! Happy Holidays!

>293 johnsimpson: Thank you John! Merry Christmas!

#314) Dead Lies Dreaming



A complicated caper gets personal and deadly under the new management. Sort of the inverse of the cop finds the case is compounds their own past. The fringe body count is quite messy and quite high but this is lovecraftian lite brew. Our old buddies are all absent and the laundry almost entirely bleached out.

Meets December TIOLI Challenge #6: Read a book with a title or part of a title that you can use after the word “with” which indicates how you might be observing the holidays this year

Merry Christmas, Susan! And fingers crossed for a much better 2021!!

Or in other words, Happy Christmas! And have a great New Year as well. Here’s hoping 2021 is an improvement on 2020.

Happy festive season Susan!

Susan--Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
May 2021 bring you less need for masks, loads of peace and joy, good health and, of course, books!

#315) Stories of Your Life and Others



These are stories about adults written for adults. A couple of the are real heart breakers - except that they are narrated at a remove distancing this reader from the pinch where the heart is caught in the clever trap. And some of them are very clever indeed. Chiang is a master of the what if, for ifs you haven't stumbled over before.

Meets December TIOLI Challenge #15: Read a book with a possessive pronoun in the title

>300 quondame: Hi Susan. I admire your ability to grapple with the "the what ifs" at this time.
My brain has increasingly been skittering away from philosophical or anything approaching the realm of erudite discussion.

I'm sure having a solid night's sleep would help me ~ I really need this month to be done, too. Our street is so decorated this year we have *tour buses* driving past the displays for crying out loud. Cars and trucks are rumbling along slowly behind all-evening-past-midnight. So bad me, I read because I can't sleep and then I get up at my usual time. No wonder simple mysteries leave me with that "huh?" feeling.

I hope your celebrations are satisfying, the holiday food utterly delicious, the books brilliant. Best wishes for 2021, Susan. It's been fun participating here on your 75-er threads. I'm glad I was along for the ride during the double whammy of a Coronavirus pandemic and a historically bizarre American election, was distracting!

Wishing you and yours the very best of the season.

I hope you get some of those at least, Susan, as we all look forward to a better 2021.

Hope your holidays are merry and bright!

Happy Holidays, Susan!

I loved the first Dark Materials trilogy, and I've read the first two of Pullman's Book of Dust continuation, along with Serpentine. I've enjoyed those as well. Are you watching the Dark Materials adaptation by the BBC, on HBO? I'm really liking it. Their Lyra is being played well by the young actress.

Happy Holidays Susan!

>296 msf59: Thanks Mark, just the right bird for the season.

>297 SandDune: Thank you Rhian! I’ll have to take your word on it!

>298 HanGerg: Thanks Hannah, I’d like to get that gif displayed large enough to hide my living room!

>299 Berly: Thanks Kim, same to you and yours.

>301 SandyAMcPherson: I don’t figure you’ll have been able to catch up on sleep in the last two days, but I hope the new year sees you satisfactorily rested! I’m afraid I overcooked the prosciutto sauce, but dinner went very well - though the outdoor heaters my brother brought did overload the circuits a bit, after which we got a bit chill.

>302 humouress: Thanks Nina! Not what I usually think of when I picture sandmen, but they look ever so much more comfortable than snowmen!

>303 PaulCranswick: Thank you Paul! We gave had time for a good number of those even when other aspects of RL intruded.

>304 Storeetllr: Thanks Mary! What could be better than book love in a holiday mood!

>305 jnwelch: Thanks Joe, Ir really is a good series and I did enjoy the movie even as it went its own way. I haven’t seen any of the series, so deep in the reading rut as I am.

>306 Narilka: Thank you Gale!

#316) Trader's Leap



A pretty reliably Liaden Universe® experience. The time is almost all spent in the build up conversations and the action is sharp and quick, missed in a blink if you're inattentive. I'm not sure what the Goddess and Lute portion of the plot was in service of, but well, it's a Liaden® thing. Pretty much painless, even if that's puzzling.

Meets December TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a comfort book

#317) Holidays on Ice



If you like your Christmas stories to be scathing commentaries of our hypocrisy and commercialism then Sedaris is your man. He does it ever so well.

Read for December TIOLI Challenge #16: Read a book or story about Christmas

A well, dear Nutmeg fresh out of her cone of shame and finally unleashed to run about developed a limp. We were watching her carefully and worried she might have a hernia from being spayed, but no, she seems to be proving that she's as over bred as she can be and has managed to do injury to something in her hind end or legs. So, having just rejoiced to see her free to traipse about the yard we are now looking at closely supervising her for 4 to 6 weeks and waiting for a report from a specialist on her x-rays.

>308 quondame: I love David Sedaris and have heard him read "Santaland Diaries" on NPR many times. I guess I need to actually read Holidays on Ice because I do love his snark.

>309 quondame: Sorry to hear about Nutmeg's limp, x-rays, and etc., especially just after coming out of the Cone of Shame.

Looks like you are getting a lot of reading in, Susan. It's been a while since I visited and there are so many more potential BBs here. The toy sewing machines are intriguing. Do they have bobbins? I couldn't tell from the image on my laptop.

>309 quondame: Poor old Nutmeg. She sounds like my youngest son - if he doesn't have an excuse to get him off football/ swimming etc (he does actually like sports - except for swimming) he's pretty much guaranteed to come back with an injury - bumped head, strained muscle, stepped on foot, shin kicked and so on.

>311 Familyhistorian: Most toy sewing machines were chain stitch, so no bobbin just a hook to hold the thread loop for the next stitch. Very simple and just from eBay photos I've identified 5 different drive mechanisms. It's interesting that there are hand held chain stitch machines for sealing bags and hats made from braid are usually chain stitched on special machines, many antiques still in service.

#318) The Ordeal of the Haunted Room



Well, somehow interfering with history is put in the path of a trinity of St. Mary's in 1895 England. Whatever will they do?

A shared read with richardderus who doesn't do TIOLI, but at least it
Meets December TIOLI Challenge #16: Read a book or story about Christmas

#319) Gaudy Night



This time through I was mostly enjoying my time with Harriet and was a bit less enthusiastic when Peter was spotted. The things he noticed immediately that Harriet should have seen and the way he is always ahead of her reasoning, as if Sayers really couldn't make Harriet really be Peter's equal, just the best he could find. At least tucked safely among the elite of Oxford the period prejudices were on the hind foot.

Meets December TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book that is a follow up of a book you read earlier this year

#320) F*ckface



Once again, Ouch! The viewpoint characters in these stories are a little too large for the narrow and decaying world they inhabit or at least don't quite fit in circumstances that are relentless even on those who do fit. Almost every story is judged to end just when more can not be borne.

Meets December TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book which fits into the Birthstone challenge wrap-up; read a book that is predominantly one birthstone colour

Happy New Year Susan.

Time to take out the trash!

>316 johnsimpson: Thank you, John! The best and brightest New Year to you and yours!

>317 weird_O: Well past time.

#321) The Ancient Oceans of Central Kentucky



The oceans in this tragedy haunted tale have metamorphosed not to limestone but into a brittle and savage caliche blunting the tools of perception. Words between periods don't always include a verb but do convey meaning, texture or temperature, loss or grief or guilt.

A book bullet from richardderus. I dyslexically re-read sentences on a regular basis, but this required re-reads of yes I really did read that, now absorb, ok again. Richard is right about the page edges, they are part of the text and the obscure as are convolute fossils illustrations separating sections. It

Meets December TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book which fits into the Birthstone challenge wrap-up; read a book that is predominantly one birthstone colour.

>318 quondame: Hi Susan.
Farewell/Hello!

I started a new thread ~ for 2020 *giggle*.
My 8th thread was going to be my final one of 2020, then I thought why not use the 'continue' function? It announces my intentions for 2021.

Just saying, in case you wonder where I disappeared in the group.
I did sign in to join the 75-ers, I just don't plan to overwhelm my brain this coming January.
Take care, I hope Nutmeg has recovered. Happy immunizable 2021!

Happy New Year, Susan!

Susan

As the year turns, friendship continues

#322) When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain



A story is told within the story, swapped back and forth between a cleric on a journey and a trio of tigers that has him, his guide, and the mammoth mount trapped at a way station with an injured keeper. Not quite Rashomon but tigers do see things differently. It

Meets December TIOLI Challenge #10: Read a book that has 250 pages or less

>320 SandyAMcPherson: Been there, happy new'd it. Nutmeg doesn't show signs of improvement. She doesn't mind, but we do.
I only miss people after weeks of absence and you seem lively up and down the threads so, well, I didn't wonder. See you in the new year.

>321 Storeetllr: Thanks, Mary!

>322 PaulCranswick: Hello from the drag tail ends of 2020 to the other side of the fence. Hoping for verdant acres.

323) Mrs Caliban



Hiding secrets in the house of a marriage that has hit the rocks of tragedy, Dorothy is having an affair with the monster-man she is hiding who escaped after killing two of his keepers who he claimed were abusing him. Or it may be in her head. And things only get worse.

Read for December TIOLI Challenge #15: Read a book for the December CFF Mystery Challenge Challenge (Rudolph, green cover/outsider)

I don't know if I really needed another trashed families in the wake of a child's death narrative what with Ordinary People, F*ckface, and Ancient Oceans of Central Kentucky. But lately I've read more domestic misery than I feel necessary. Ad Astra, for me.

Come visit me at my new lemonade stand if you haven't already!

>314 quondame:, >319 quondame:, >325 quondame: All three delightful reads! I'm glad that Ancient Oceans made such a hit. I still feel like that book doesn't get enough attention. Yes, it's difficult to read about child jeopardy but this is such a deeply felt transformative take on it...well, not to everyone's taste, I know.