Avaland & Dukedom_Enough's 2021 Reading, Part II

MICHAEL'S READING:

NOW READING....


The Book of All Skies by Greg Egan (2021, self-published?)
The Summer Isles by Ian R. MacLeod (2005, alternate history, UK)
Twenty-first century Science Fiction, edited by David Hartwell and Patrick Nielsen Hayden (short stories, 2013)

ONGOING READING

Darwin's Dangerous Idea by Daniel C. Bennett (philosophy)

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4th Quarter Reading



Station Eleven by Emily St.John Mandel (dystopia, 2014, Canadian author)
I Am Providence by Nick Manmatas
The Scholars of Night by John M. Ford (SF? Spy novel, 1988)
The Sea People by Adam Lukens aka Diane Detzer (SF, 1959)

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3rd Quarter Reading



The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal (SF, 2018)
√The Past is Red by Catherynne Valente (SF, 2021)
√A Year in the Linear City by Paul Di Filippo (SF, 2002)
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2nd Quarter Reading (1st quarter reading listed a few posts down)
√denotes reviewed

√Evolution by Stephen Baxter (novel, 2003)
√Fire on the Mountain by Terry Bisson (1988, this edition 2009, alternate history)
The Promise of Space and Other Stories by James Patrick Kelly (2018)
√Irontown Blues John Varley (2018)
Purgatory Mount by Adam Roberts (2021, SF)
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1st Quarter Reading

Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America by Sarah Kendzior (2020, current events), partially read.
√The Ultimate Egoist: Vol I: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon (1994)
It's the End of the World: But What Are We Really Afraid Of? by Adam Roberts (2021, nonfiction)
√Genesis by Poul Anderson (SF, 2000)
√The Iron Dragon's Mother by Michael Swanwick (2019, fantasy)

PERPETUAL READING
Collected Poems by W. H . Auden, edited by Edward Mendelson (1991)
(Also Larkin, Millay & Houseman)

LOIS'S READING
√denotes reviewed

NOW READING (4th Quarter)


The Whispering Muse by Sjon (Iceland, 2005, Translated 2012)
She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity by Carl Zimmer (Nonfiction, 2018, USA)
A Mind of Winter: Poems for a Snowy Season edited by Robert Atwan (2002)

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4th Quarter Reading:




The Asylum of Dr. Caligari by James Morrow (2017, Fantasy)
Woman of the Ashes by Mia Couto (Mozambique, 2015, translated from the Portuguese, 2018)
We Know You Remember: A Novel by by Tove Alsterdal (Swedish, 2021, The High Coast Series, 1)
Among the Ruins by Ausma Zehanat Khan (2017, Crime Novel, Canadian)
How Iceland Changed the World: The Big History of a Small Island by Egill Bjarnson (2021, nonfiction, Iceland)
√The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson (1981, light fiction)
√Wake Up and Dream by Ian R MacLeod (magical realism? alternate history? mystery, 2011)
√Out of Body by Jeffrey Ford (2020, magical realism)
The Parson's Widow by Maarja-Liisa Vartio (Finnish, 2008 in English)
The Human Half: Poems by Deborah Brown (poetry, US, 2019)(no touchstone: https://www.librarything.com/work/22963796/book/206791194)
√199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die by Loren Rhodes (nonfiction, 2017)
√Peterson's Field Guide to North American Bird Nests; McFarland, Monjello & Moskowitz (nature, 2021 -- not read cover to cover)

Abandoned! 1979 by Val McDermid (2021, Crime novel, Scotland). The Darkness Knows by Arnaldur Indridason (2021, Crime novel, Iceland).
Other Lives by Iman Humaydan (2014, Translated 2010 from the Arabic)

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3rd Quarter Reading:


The Girl Who Died by Ragnar Jonasson (mystery, Iceland, 2018, trans 2021)
The Deepest Part of the River: Poems by Mekeel McBride (poetry, 2001)
√Dreaming of Elsewhere: Observations on Home by Esi Edugyan (2014, Re-read!)
√Lucca by Jens Christian Grøndahl (1998, trans, 2002, Danish)
√The Idea of Perfection by Kate Grenville (Australian, 2001, re-read!)
The Archaeology of America Cemeteries and Gravemarkers (https://www.librarything.com/work/18436079/book/195101219) by Sherene Baugher and Richard F. Viet,
Judgment Day: poems by Sandra M. Gilbert (2019)
√Granite Lady: Poems by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer (1974)

Abandoned: Whitefly by Abdelilah Hamdouchi (crime novel, translated from the Arabic 2016)
The Mist by Ragnar Jonasson (mystery, 2018, trans 2021, Iceland)
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√ Denotes reviewed

LOIS'S 1st QUARTER READING:
Fiction:
√Not Dark Yet by Peter Robinson (crime novel, 2021)
√One Station Away by Olaf Olafsson (novel, 2017)
√A Natural History of Hell: Stories by Jeffrey Ford (2016, short fiction)
√The Boy in the Field by Margot Livesey (2020, novel)
√Red Snow by Ian MacLeod (SF/F, UK, 2017)
√Virginia by Jens Christian Grøndahl (Danish 2000, English translation 2003)
√A Song for the Dark Times: An Inspector Rebus Novel by Ian Rankin (2020)
√Still Life: A Karen Pirie Novel by Val McDermid (Crime novel, 2020, UK)

Nonfiction
Dreaming of Elsewhere: Observations on Home by Esi Edugyan (Lecture, 2014)
√Most of What Follows is True: Places Imagined and Real by Michael Crummey (CLC Kreisel Lecture 2018).
√In Small Things Forgotten: The Archaeology of Early American Life by James Dietz (nonfiction: historical anthropology, 1977)

Poetry
√American Melancholy: Poems by Joyce Carol Oates (poetry, 2021)
√Together in a Sudden Strangeness: America's Poets Respond to the Pandemic edited by Alice Quinn (poetry, 2020)
√The New Canon: An Anthology of Canadian Poetry edited by Carmine Starnino (2005)
√Best Canadian Poetry 2020 edited by Marilyn Dumont et al (2020)
√Dearly: New Poems by Margaret Atwood (2020, poetry)

ABANDONED:
Snow by John Banville (crime novel, 2021)
Silence in October by Jens Christian Grøndahl (Danish,1996; English trans. 2002). Tired of the narrator. My patience these days is less than optimal.

LOIS'S 2ND QUARTER READING:


√Killing Orders by Sara Paretsky (crime novel, 1985)
√Midden: Poems by Julia Bouwsma (poetry, 2016, Maine)
√The Language of Secrets by Ausma Zehanat Khan (2016, crime novel, started in 2016!)
√Welcome to America by Linda Bostrom Knausgard (novel, 2016, Sweden)
√Migrations: A Novel by Charlotte McConaghy (2020)
√The Final Bet by Abdelilah Hamdouchi, (2001, translated from the Arabic 2008/2016, Morocco),
√Mermaids in Paradise by Lydia Millet (2015, US)
√Dreaming of Elsewhere: Observations on Home by Esi Edugyan (lecture, 2014)
√Admiring Silence by Abdulrazak Gurnah (novel, 1996, UK/Zanzibar)
√Purge by Sofi Oksanen (novel, 2010, Estonia)
√Indemnity Only by Sarah Paretsky (crime novel, 1990)
√How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope edited by James Crews (2021)

Partially Read:

Above the Waterfall by Ron Rash (novel, 2015, read about 1/2)
The Other You: Stories by Joyce Carol Oates (short fiction, 2021)

Good grief! We haven't posted since I set up this thread!

Lots going on, much distraction. Reading time is very choppy.

Good distractions, I hope

The Ultimate Egoist: Volume I: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon by Theodore Sturgeon

The 1980s and 1990s saw a number of projects reprinting the work of mid-century SFF authors in fine, hardcover editions. This is the first volume of one of these, The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon. The series comprises 13 volumes published 1995-2010. I bought these as they appeared, and had better get going if I'm eventually to read all of them.

Sturgeon (1918-1985) is considered by many of his peers to be the best short-fiction writer that American science fiction produced, but Sturgeon's Law applies to Sturgeon also - most of these will be only so good. It's quite possible that I've already read all of his best stories in the various collections he published during his lifetime. I aim to compile a list of those stories, and see if I find ones that are new to me. Of course I also may have to reevaluate stories that are not as good as teenage me thought.

The book starts with effusive introductions by Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, and Gene Wolfe - signs of the high regard in which the SF world held Sturgeon. Forty-six stories follow. Many are quite short, what we now call flash fiction. Most are quite slight, but all are competently written. Sturgeon was a wordsmith from the start. Series editor Paul Williams chose to order the stories by date of composition - not of publication. In this volume, that means 1937-1940. Williams supplies 36 pages of end notes, tracing the circumstances surrounding the composition of many of the stories, based on Sturgeon's contemporary letters and later interviews.

Stories include weird fiction, fantasy, horror, and stories without a speculative element. Many have nautical elements derived from the author's brief career as a merchant seaman. Most end with ironic, O. Henry style twists, more so than one would encounter in modern SFF. In "Strangers on a Train", for example, a woman and a man share the last-car observation platform of a train that's leaving Reno, Nevada. As they converse, we learn that each has just gotten a divorce in Reno; they are newly free. The twist is that they divorced from each other - and they decide to get back together again.

Outdated views of women, or at least of how women may exist in society, predominate. In a number of these, a woman falling for a controlling man is treated as "cute." In "A Noose of Light", a smart "girl" uses science to outwit her more glamorous roommate in a competition for a man. So women do have agency, but limited range to use it.

The men in these stories often think and act in ways that don't make sense in terms of how I understand human motivation. Some of that is magazine-market convention, but some is a characteristic preoccupation of Sturgeon, I suspect. He was always interested in people who are different. A certain American wiseguy voice is common, as it was throughout American SFF of the era. Did anyone ever actually talk that way who had not read Damon Runyon?

"Ether Breather" relates trouble caused by differences between original and altered television sequences - if only contemporary media consumers understood the idea, the last five years of political life in the US might have gone much better. In "The Ultimate Egoist" a man discovers he can disbelieve things out of existence, including eventually himself; I don't see why this was the title story. "Derm Fool" contains the great line "My face fell, and I grabbed it and hid it under my coat."

The best stories here were published about a decade later than their composition dates. The jump in quality is striking, and editor Williams goes into lot of detail to show that, in particular, "Bianca's Hands" was indeed written as early as he says. Unless Sturgeon was lying in later interviews, it seems Williams was right.

The two stories we might call canonical are "Bianca's Hands" and "It." I started the superbly creepy horror story "Bianca's Hands" expecting it not to be as good as I remembered - but it was better. An arrogant, domineering man pursues, not Bianca whom he considers ugly and stupid, but her beautiful hands. The ableism here might disqualify the story for many readers, but could be considered an artifact of the man's point of view. An excellent story, even if it did cause what must have been the Great American Ellipsis Shortage of 1939. Paul Williams calls "Bianca's Hands" Sturgeon's first major story, but it's not quite up there with his best, in my view.

In "It," an assembly of vegetable compost on a forest floor accretes around an old, human skeleton and becomes a bipedal monster, wandering about and killing. I remembered this as a simple monster story, but Sturgeon's pacing, and his relation of some of the humans in the tale as also monstrous, improves it over my recall, as does the element that the creature is not malevolent, just curious. This story is apparently part of the inspiration for the "Swamp Thing" comic books.

Williams' notes are interesting also for the glimpse they give into Sturgeon's world - in particular, the world of labor. The rather minor story "God in a Garden" sold to John W. Campbell, Jr. for $80. I looked it up: the inflation multiplier from 1939 to 2021 is 18.6, the story is about 8600 words, so Sturgeon got $0.17/word in today's dollars, well above the current $0.08 that SFFWA sets as the minimum professional rate. This, for a beginning, 21 year old writer who was clearly promising but not yet famous. Also, Sturgeon filled gaps in his income by taking seagoing jobs. These seem to be easily available; this doesn't match my understanding of the grim nature of the Depression job market. War production ramping up? Of course if Sturgeon's market was good, it would have been much worse for more-marginalized people.

I look forward to reading the rest of these books. In this volume, I found no great stories that were new to me - there are none of his very best stories here - nor did I revise downward my opinion of any I already knew. The stories that a general reader might find worthwhile:

"Bianca's Hands"
"It"
"Derm Fool" - as a sample of the more ordinary stories here

Three and a half stars

>6 dukedom_enough:
The Great American Ellipsis Shortage of 1939
I enjoyed that!

the creature is not malevolent, just curious.
Frankenstein?

>6 dukedom_enough: admiring your dedication.

I haven't visited your thread for a while. Lois, I loved all the poetry you have been posting. Enjoyed catching up.

>6 dukedom_enough: I had not heard of Sturgeon's Law before, lol

>7 sallypursell: I also considered calling it depletion of the Strategic Ellipsis Reserve. That part of the style read quite archaic.

Frankenstein's monster developed a most particular set of moral sensibilities, though; very motivated.

>8 dchaikin: Well, we'll see how long it lasts.

>9 labfs39: One of the fundamental principles.

>8 dchaikin: Thanks, Dan.

Not Dark Yet by Peter Robinson (a DCI Banks book). 2021

This 27th installment in the DCI Banks series by Robinson is another reliably very good, complex crime novel. Do you need me to say more? I’ve enjoyed all of them---yet, I can’t help but think it’s time for Banks to retire. We've gotten old together.

>12 avaland: it’s a little like Rebus. I read the newest which came out last October I think. It was very good, and he has retired, but can’t stay away.

>13 NanaCC: Hi Colleen, Thanks for stopping by. Yes, I read that most recent Rebus in January, I think. I'm fond of Rebus, but I'd be okay with just Siobhan and Malcolm (although really, I hang around for the investigation not the theatrics). Banks isn't officially retired yet. There has to be at least one more book, to finish the Zelda storyline, I think.

>6 dukedom_enough: I take it these are the short stories and novellas. However I guess there are a fair number of pages in the 13 volumes. I do admire a completist - happy reading.

>15 baswood: Right, they don't include the novels. They may include the novellas that went into making More Than Human, I'll have to check.

And, a high compliment from you; thank you!

How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope edited by James Crews (2021)

Are you happy to be alive? James Crews, the editor of this poetry anthology, asks the reader. He acknowledges the difficult times and notes that each of the one hundred poems included in this collection asks the same question of the reader. These are very short poems written by both familiar and unfamiliar poets (at least to me). Periodically, throughout the book, the editor takes a “Reflective Pause” where he very briefly discusses a single poem, and offers some questions as an invitation for “writing and reflection.”

I found this book while browsing the bookstore this past winter (and wondering why the store didn’t have the book face-out — the old bookseller in me can’t help having such thoughts ) and I was immediately attracted to the short poems. Quite different from the often angst-ridden volumes we know and love (which my husband refers to as “little pellets of angst”). And while I didn’t connect with all of them, I very much enjoyed many of these mostly one-page, life-affirming poems, and was particularly drawn to those which spoke of nature. I was not much interested in the “Reflective Pause” pages, but other readers may enjoy them. In fact, I enjoyed this little anthology so much that I bought four copies more in March and sent them to friends I thought would like them. That, in itself, is a recommendation. Each time I pick the book up, different poems stand out, and here are a few that caught my attention this morning:

“Shelter in Place” by Kim Stafford

Long before the pandemic, the trees
knew how to guard one place with
roots and shade. Moss found
how to hug a stone for life.
Every stream works out how
to move in place, staying home
even as it flows generously
outward, sending bounty far.
Now is out time to practice—
singing from balconies, sending
words of comfort by any courier,
kindling our lonesome generosity
to shine in all direction like stars.

“Laughter” by Dale Biron

When the
face we wear

grows old and weathered, torn
open by time,

colors
tinted as dawn

like the late
winter mountains

of Sedona
ashen and crimson

it will no longer
be possible

to distinguish
our deepest scars

from the long
sweet lines left

by laughter.

”Compost Happens by Laura Grace Weldon

Nature teaches nothing is lost.
It’s transmuted.

Spread between rows of beans,
last year’s rusty leaves tamp down weeds.
Coffee grounds and banana peels
foster rose blooms. Bread crumbs
scattered for birds become song.
Leftovers offered to chickens come back
as eggs, yolks sunrise orange.
Broccoli stems and bruised apples
fed to cows return as milk steaming in the pail,
as patties steaming in the pasture.

Surely our shame and sorrow
also return,
composted by year
into something generative as wisdom.

Pandemic poetry might just up my anxiety, or memory of it. The 1st poem did that. But I still enjoyed all three. I liked the tlc that seems to have been put into that collection - certainly I like the idea of it.

>18 dchaikin: Interesting! That might be the only poem that directly spoke of the pandemic.

One Station Away by Olaf Olafsson (novel, 2017)

Although it’s been only a few weeks since I finished this book, we’ve had a lot of disruption recently, so I’m not sure I can compose a proper review; however, I do not want to put this book away without the recommendation it deserves.

Written in first person, this fine novel probes the relationships that one man, Magnus, a New York neurologist, has with three women. One woman is a mysterious comatose patient, another is his pianist mother, and the third is his co-worker and lover. This is an intimate tale of communication and connection that lingers long after one finishes the book.

I’ve said it before in other reviews of his work, Olafsson seems to write his characters with great empathy, resulting in intimate, internal stories—and this story is no exception. Interestingly, this book begins with Magnus getting a co-worker to medically, temporarily, (illegally!) paralyze him for two hours so he can experience what his comatose patient experienced.

I’ve now read all of Olafsson’s works, six novels and one short story collection, and am hoping something new will be coming out soon.

>21 avaland: Which of his works has been your favorite?

>17 avaland: I enjoyed Compost Happens.

>23 baswood: i felt that one, that last stanza

>22 labfs39: I think Restoration. Italy/War/Art and his usual intimate story.

>23 baswood:, >24 dchaikin: Glad you enjoyed it.

>25 avaland: It sounds interesting. I don't know why, but I was surprised to see an Icelandic author writing about Tuscany.

>26 labfs39: Yes, I found that interesting, too. Most of his books are not set in Iceland, but the characters have connections to the island. Example, his most recent book is about a retired Icelandic nun in France being sent back to Iceland by the church to assist mediating a situation she was involved in when she was younger.

Indemnity Only by Sara Paretsky (book 1, V. I, Warshawski, 1982, crime novel, US/Chicago)

As the title suggests V. I. Warshawski, our intrepid, hard-ass private detective, has been hired (reluctantly, for of course she’s only a “girl”, you know:-) by a bank executive at Chicago’s biggest bank to investigate the disappearance of his son’s girlfriend, Anita Hill (yes, weird coincidence with the name, isn’t it…). According to the father, the son is blaming her disappearance on him, and the father wishes to make good with the son so he’ll go off to business school and become a banker like a good boy. When the "son" turns up dead…the plot certainly thickens. Turns out, the bank executive is not who he says he is… .

This first novel in the V. I. Warshawski crime series was first published in 1982; this mass market edition celebrates it’s 30th anniversary (2012), and my reading of it comes as it is about to celebrate 40 years in print. Much has changed since 1982, certainly a female private investigator is not a novelty anymore. V. I. ("Vicky," to a select few) is a very tough, clever and resourceful P.I. and I liked her for all those things. The complex story is remarkably timeless, despite the lack of modern technology (—I noted only one mention of a computer near the end of the book, and there was a mention of a Datsun ...remember them?).

I’m not a big fan of“classic” or “hard-boiled” detective novels which feature private detectives, although I admit to reading quite some Agatha Christie as a young teen and reading all of Conan Doyle, Dorothy Sayers, and some Wilkie Collins back in the early 80s. However, having said that, I thought this novel a wonderfully diverting read, complex and fun. Will I read more of Paretsky’s series? Perhaps. Maybe I should order the next one to have on hand just in case….

_____

I think I am finally caught up with my reviews!

>17 avaland: I really enjoyed this anthology Lois, and bought the other one edited by Crews. Good poems in that too, but this hit the spot more.

>17 avaland: I have not looked into his other, so that is good to know. I still pick this little one up, so easy to dip into because the poems are short. Glad you liked the little anthology.

Genesis by Poul Anderson

Poul Anderson's Genesis first appeared as a novella in the anthology Far Futures, edited by Gregory Benford, and was later expanded into a novel. In a mood for a known quantity, I picked the novella up for a reread, and liked it enough to reread the novel also.

In the near future, improvement in artificial intelligence leads to conscious machines smarter than humans, and eventually far smarter. Over subsequent millions of years these AIs settle the galaxy, building a network of minds connected by radio: minds engaged in scientific research, philosophical thought, artistic invention, and in other activities that humans cannot comprehend. The story's narration, and the human characters in the novel, can only think of the AI's doings in terms of myth, as though they are gods.

Some humans are invited by the AIs to upload into software form - at times to participate in the great works while wearing robot bodies, but eventually to be merged into a whole they cannot comprehend. Two such are Christian Brannock, a spacefarer from just a century or so after our time, and Laurinda Ashcroft, a counsellor who fought to adapt human civilization to AI predominance long after Christian's day.

One mind, Gaia, watches over Earth, and the solar system that flesh and blood humans could never leave. The brief human era ends and the years mount into the hundreds of millions. The galaxy's other AIs become puzzled that Gaia does not want to save Earth's remaining life from the planet's steady increase in temperature due to the sun's aging. She spends great resources on software simulations of historical periods in the human past - simulations carried out with actually conscious human minds, who must endure all the cruelty of history. And she seems to be editing data transmitted to the network.

A rare spacecraft is sent across the light years to investigate; besides an AI it carries Christian Brannock's upload. While the AI is in intense conversation with Gaia, Christian will be instantiated in software to investigate Gaia's human history simulations, from the viewpoint of this mere human. He will be joined by Laurinda's avatar. Another version of Christian will be downloaded into a robot body to explore physically the hot, future Earth.

Meanwhile, some chapters tell the story of humans unlike any in history, living on the northern coast of a drought-stricken continent, sailing ships out across an unknown sea. Has Gaia secretly recreated the human species?

Poul Anderson's trademark Nordic darkness is well suited to a tale where humans are doomed to fall short in the grand story of mind in the universe. Early in the centuries-long saga of human decline, Laurinda reflects on her weariness from dealing with the mind that will become Gaia: "Those wonders were too great, those thoughts too high." Centuries later, an artist reflects that she could work hard at writing a poem, or just ask an AI to create the poem she would have produced anyway.

Anderson's prose was never quite up to the expansiveness of his ideas, and some of his standard expository techniques feel a bit mechanical here. His political conservatism is also on display; some of the discussion of Earth's climate, contemporary and far-future, suggests too much credit given to 1990s climate denial - though Anderson was too well educated in science to fall completely for that nonsense.

Still, the story is a real contribution to SF's thinking about minds as information processes, and what that may mean for uploading and high intelligence. In a universe of god-like minds, is there room for the merely human? This question maps well to another contemporary question - in a world of billionaires, is there room for the poor and middle-class?

The novel takes the original novella and adds a long prequel about the years of humans' steady eclipse. Most of the story's pleasures lie in the novella, so you might read that instead, if you can track it down.

Three stars

>31 dukedom_enough: Fascinating review, Michael.

>31 dukedom_enough: Enjoyed your review of Genesis

>32 labfs39: >33 baswood:

Glad you liked it.

Purge by Sofi Oksanen (novel, 2010, Estonian/Finnish)

An elderly woman living alone in the Estonian countryside one day discovers a overly made up, disheveled young woman in her front yard, and she takes her in despite her misgivings. A photo the girl carries will show that they are actually aunt and grand-niece, but this is not revealed to the woman early on. Zara is a sex-traffic victim who has fled from her keepers and seeks a place to hide. Aliide is a bit of folksy, grumpy, old woman who has her own resentments and shame to live with.

Moving back and forth in time, this story of war and family are woven together in a storied tapestry of the past, the present, of obsession, compromise, complicity, resentment, danger, survival, and love…the reader cannot help being pulled in and wrapped up in it. And despite the awards this book has won and been nominated for, it’s not a book for everyone. The translated prose is easy to read, the story mesmerizing, but the movement back and forth in time may irritate some readers, while others may understand how that movement in the story is weirdly (and wonderfully) akin to what a soundtrack is for a movie. I think it’s an important novel about history, suffering and what it means to survive such history.

I could have sworn I had already read this book; I’ve had it a long time, and it was hauntingly familiar; but that may also be because my first introduction to this author (I think) was with her 2017 follow-up novel When the Doves Disappeared, also set around WWII. I also read her third translated book, Norma ,which tells the story of a woman whose hair grows extremely fast. Both of these do not surpass the brilliance of Purge.

>35 avaland: I read Purge years ago and remember rating it highly, although I do not remember particulars and did not review it. Your review makes me want to revisit it.

>36 labfs39: "Revisiting" is always a conundrum, isn't it? Revisit/reread or go for something new? The older I get, the less I am re-reading; I'm more conscious there is a lot less time to read ahead of me than behind me....

>37 avaland: Except when my memory is so bad that rereading is like reading it for the first time! Soon I'll be able to read the same dozen books over and over and each time with be new. At least I'll save on shelf space...

>38 labfs39: I know that kind of rereading!

The Final Bet by Abdelilah Hamdouchi, (2001, translated from the Arabic 2008/2016, Morocco)

I came across this slim novel by a Moroccan author while browsing the bookstore, the back cover teaser suggested a crime novel and the idea of that alone made the sale.

Othman, a young, 20-something, handsome man; is married to Sophia, a vivacious, French septuagenarian. Together they run Sophia’s restaurant in Casablanca, entertaining friends and patrons. While things seem fine on the surface, Othman (have I mentioned he has a law degree but has not been able to practice?) has tired of his old lady and has acquired a girlfriend with whom he meets for fifteen minutes most evenings under the guise of walking the dog. Alas, Sophie is found brutally murdered, stabbed in her own bed. Did the handsome, young Othman do the deed?

What is as interesting as a murder mystery set in Morocco, is the picture the author and his story gives the reader of the country itself (bearing in mind this book was first published in Arabic twenty years ago). Some of the women in the story are relatively modern, some less so, but they are all secondary characters at best. The police reminded me of 1930s thuggery and sometimes it bordered on the comic. But the story moves fast and one does want to know if Othman did the dirty deed, or if he didn’t, how he will avoid being convicted for it anyway. The narrative takes an interesting turn. There is a very enlightening, short afterword written by the translator about the story and changes going on in Morocco at the time which this novel was written.

I gave the book four stars for the entertainment, and also for what the author was attempting to do in it. I think I might like to read one of Mr. Hamdouchi’s recent installments to see how Morocco and justice has changed…or not.

Fire on the Mountain by Terry Bisson

"How close the past looms, circling the present like a dead moon, lifting slow repetitious tides on the living planet."

Alternate history has, itself, a long history. I've not been particularly a fan, but Bisson's short novel from 1988 is the best I've ever read of the genre.

In an alternate year of 1959, North America includes the nations of Nova Africa and the United Socialist States of America - plus Mexico, and one or more Native nations, mentioned briefly. Clean cars cruise the roads, nonpolluting airships amble through the skies, and the Pan African Space Administration is about to land humans on Mars.

Yasmin Abraham Martin Odinga crosses the now-peaceful border, from Nova Africa into Virginia, with much on her mind - the death of her husband on a space expedition five years earlier, and an awkward bit of news to convey to her 12 year old daughter, Harriet. Also, in the car with her, Yasmin carries the 50 year old, typed manuscript of the memoir of her great-grandfather, Dr. Abraham, who, from when he was himself 12, served under John Brown and Harriet Tubman in the Independence War - for the historical turning point in Yasmin's world is that John Brown's raid on the Federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia succeeded, igniting the slave revolt that he had hoped for.

In our history, Harriet Tubman became ill as the time for the raid approached. When Brown finally attacked, in October, she was no longer involved. The raid failed and Brown was hanged. In Yasmin's world, the raid happened on July 4th, 1859 as originally planned, and Tubman's contribution was crucial. The raiders escaped into the surrounding mountains, and every night burned a great beacon fire, taunting the slave holders and shining like a star in the eyes of free and enslaved Black people.

The story of the revolt is told partly through the thoughts of the contemporary characters, but mainly via textual sources. Of Dr. Abraham's recollection of his younger self, we mostly get the first year of the war, before young Abraham fully joins the fight. We see very little of Brown and Tubman themselves. We also get some of the letters of Thomas Hunt, MD, a young heir to a Southern plantation who is convinced of the evil of slavery. There is no direct narration set in 1859; the past may be known only through what history has preserved.

I enjoyed imagining the alternation of texts and present day bits as a Ken Burns documentary - seeing the panning camera and hearing the voiceovers representing combatants in a long-ago war. Long ago, but not gone - the echoes of Independence continued in Yasmin's world, as those of the Civil War do in ours. One of the characters is a disabled veteran of the 1948 civil war that added that "Socialist" to the name of the USA. Bisson is unsparing about the brutality of the Independence War, from both sides. Be warned that there are many uses of the n-word, as quoted by Dr. Abraham.

Bisson contrasts his story with rosier views of the Civil War. One character owns a trashy novel, John Brown's Body, which lays out an alternate story that is, of course, our own: a war, not for Black freedom, but for preservation of the Union, in which the freed slaves find their bondage continued in new modes. Yasmin finds this prospect quite dystopian and white-supremacist. She knows Abraham Lincoln as a freebooter who tried to reconquer the freed territories; his is remembered as the Lost Cause. It's my understanding that current historians have moved toward Bisson's 1988 view, but there's a lot of history here, both real and imagined, that I don't know nearly well enough to critique. Nova Africa is helped by brigades from Haiti, Garibaldi's Italy, and Native American nations. The world's leading nation appears to be a united, socialist Africa. Credible? Don't know.

Mumia Abu-Jamal contributed an introduction to the 2009 edition I have.

As Yasmin's world feels the tides of history raised by her Independence War, so ours is pulled by the gravity of the long contest between racism and justice. The American Civil War is possibly the most popular subject for alternate history fiction in the USA. Frequently these are fat triologies of novels, or even longer. Yet for such a huge subject, whole libraries would not suffice. Bisson's short novel captures all that vast sweep in 155 pages, by refracting an implied epic through the eyes of a handful of people. Outstanding.

Five stars

>41 dukedom_enough: Fascinating

Mermaids in Paradise by Lydia Millet (2014, US)

Deb and Chip are newlyweds. Deb, our dry, skeptical, and opinionated narrator, sets about telling us her story, taking us into her confidence, beginning by telling us how she met Chip (nice guy, jock, gamer…etc), the "kickass" bridal party her best friend Gina put together, the bachelor party Chip had, their wedding, and lastly, their choice of honeymoon location. This is fifty-six pages of very funny/dry/acerbic/bawdy observations of everyone and everything.

Deb & Chip decide to honeymoon in the British Virgin Islands and off they go. But, a romantic moment on the beach is interrupted by the local scientist (parrotfish expert), breathlessly running towards them in her wetsuit shouting about "mermaids!"

She was disturbed, of course—we hardly knew the woman. Maybe it was a schizoid deal, we figured, or maybe a drug problem we didn’t have all the info yet, but the situation had to be handled humanely. If there’s one thing Chip is, it’s game. He’s game for almost anything, and so much the better if, later it might make good material for an anecdote to tell at a party.

The scientist plans and oversees their next diving session, and Deb & Chip and a few others also see the mermaids. Despite caution, word begins to break out, and all hell breaks loose because every governmental, scientific, or money-making entity wants a piece of the action. Here the story becomes a bit madcap at this point, and loses something in the telling that is hard to identify, but this last half of the story seemed less funny and perhaps better suited to television adaptation. Or, it could be just me (I think ‘funny’ can be a personal thing) .

I’ve enjoyed other of Lydia Millet's writing, the collection Love in Infant Monkeys comes to mind, and while this one didn’t entirely please, there’s another of her novels in the TBR pile.

>43 avaland: I found Where'd You Go, Bernadette? to be similar. The first half where the narrator is talking about life around Seattle--battling blackberries, waiting for the ferry, private school parents--to be very funny, but then it goes off on a tangent involving a trip to Antarctica, and the tone changes and it just wasn't as funny anymore.

>42 labfs39: I need to read more Terry Bisson, it seems.

Just catching these last four reviews (and 3.5 good sounding books). I’m intrigued by that Morocco book (The Final Bet by Abdelilah Hamdouchi >40 avaland:) - maybe it’s a decent way for me to try a mystery. But all interest me - or 3 and half do.

>44 labfs39: The other of hers I have in the TBR is Sweet Lamb of Heaven. We shall see.

>46 dchaikin: Thanks, Dan. Another of his just landed on my front porch. Whitefly is also short like the other one, 136 pages.This one ©2000, translation©2016. Could be something t o read while cowering in the A/C during a heat wave....

Irontown Blues by John Varley

John Varley was in the news recently (2021) due to some health issues. I hadn't read anything by him for a while, and this was the latest novel.

Blues starts off as a noir detective story. A veiled woman walks into the offices of Sherlock & Bach, Discreet Private Investigations. She's in trouble and says she needs the kind of help that private eyes can provide.

Despite its 1930s-California look, the office is in a mostly-underground city on the Moon, centuries in our future. The noir tone drops away quickly - but the lady is indeed not what she seems, nor is the case, and detective Chris Bach is about to have more on his hands than he can manage, as he ventures into the seedy neighborhood called Irontown.

The story moves along in a sprightly manner. It's set in Varley's Eight Worlds series, where humans' technology gives them dominion over the solar system - except for Earth, from which they've long been exiled by the vastly powerful, unknowable Invaders.

Bach's partner in his detective agency is a CEC - a Cybernetically Enhanced Canine: specifically, a bloodhound whose exceptional sense of smell serves better than Bach's human skills in pursuing the case. Sherlock is the best part of the book. Despite his upgrades, he's very much a dog, and the parts of the story in his "voice" are actually written by a human translator. The hound's crude humor, loyalty, and immersion in a symphony of smells feel much more alien than most authors' extraterrestrial creatures.

Varley started Eight Worlds with 1974's "Picnic on Nearside", presenting a fresh, post-Vietnam War take on the future, where we are no longer top dog, and are haunted by the calamity of the Invasion. Many excellent stories in the continuity followed, but Irontown disappoints. The book has the feel of a middle volume, with infodumps for events in a previous book, and threads left incomplete. Fun, but I suggest trying 1992's Steel Beach, which covers some of the events of Irontown from another point of view.

Three stars

Been awhile since I visited. Terry Bisson's Fire on the Mountain is now on the wishlist. Always happy to see Poul Anderson on here. Used to read him when sci-fi was plentiful on the drugstore paperback racks for 75 cents a pop and MAD Magazine was 30 cents (cheap!).

I am enjoying Twelve Tomorrows by the MIT press, a lot. Mostly hard sci fi, and all pandemic inspired.

I also have added Terry Bisson's Fire on the Mountain to my wishlist. I'm currently re-reading Kim Stanley Robinson's New York 2140, which I'm not enjoying as much the 2nd time around.

>49 nohrt4me2: >50 markon: Hope you like it.

I have a lot of catching up to do....



Admiring Silence by Abdulrazak Gurnah (novel, 1996)

I thought reading this novel would allow me to say that I'm all caught up with Gurney’s novels (the ones I have been able to obtain), one of my favorite authors of the African diaspora, but alas! he published new book last year (which, of course, I had to chase down so it now is in "the TBR pile”).

Gurnah is a fabulous writer and storyteller. He is originally from the island of Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania) but has lived in the UK for many decades. One can be absorbed into his books, transported out of ourselves for as long as we are turning pages. In this book he gives us a coming-of-age story, and another viewpoint of the European colonization of Africa....

Our unnamed narrator tells his own story beginning in the present where he is at the doctor's office in the UK being told he has a "dickey heart". The narrator left his native Zanzibar as a young man and due to conditions there has never returned to see his family, nor has he spoken to any of them over the years. He becomes a teacher and has a family in England, and he is prone to weaving colorful and fanciful stories about his native land. But now, conditions in Zanzibar have opened up and he can finally travel to see family members.

This is a story about “belonging” and the idea of “home”, but also very much a story of deep self-reflection and acknowledgment of how we are changed by our choices.

(note: writing this review reminded me that I hadn't reviewed the following slim book...)



Dreaming of Elsewhere: Observations on Home by Esi Edugyan (Henry Kreiseil Lecture, 2014, Univ. of Alberta)

This is another excellent lecture from the University of Alberta’s lecture series (available also digitally, I believe). I have enjoyed all of those I’ve read thus far. As the title suggests, Edugyan’s lecture is about home & belonging…

…It seems to me when we speak of home we are speaking of several things, often at once, muddled together into a uneasy stew. We say home and mean origins, we say home and mean belonging. These are two different things: where we come from, and where we are.

Edugyan’s lecture mixes questions, ideas, and vignettes in a thought-provoking stew. I found myself thinking back to the many of the books I’ve read that seem to wrestle with the ideas of belonging and home, and of course my own ideas on the subject. The book is a short read, but it’s content lingers, isn’t that the best kind of lecture?

The Language of Secrets by Ausma Zehanat Khan (2016, crime novel, started in 2016!)

I started this book in 2016 and halfway through I set it down and it got lost in the book piles. Shame on me! I loved Khan’s first of the series, giving it a rave review, calling it “a near perfect, debut crime novel that stands up well against the best of police procedurals. She deftly balances and blends complex characters with an intelligent mystery for a truly satisfying read.”

I can say exactly the same for this 2nd installment. Esa Khattak, head of Canada’s Community Policing Section is called in to assist the National Security team in an investigation of a Muslim group allegedly planning an attack on New Year’s Day. He pulls in his partner, Rachel Getty, to assist him. The National Security team is seemingly less welcoming of the addition of Khattak. Rachel goes undercover as a possible convert to Islam.

This is a wonderfully satisfying, detailed police procedural with that a two-steps forward, one-step back realism. The detailed investigation dominates, which some might find tedious, but others, like myself, are apt to find deliciously cerebral. The thriller bits towards the end are done well, they are satisfying without being too prolonged or over the top. The profile of Muslims and Islam is complex and interesting, and one is apt to learn something new from it.

When I finished this book, I immediately ordered the rest of the series…

Welcome to America by Linda Bostrom Knausgard (novel, 2016, Sweden)

Ellen, an eleven-year old girl stops speaking during to a family crisis. Her older brother is holed up in his room (as some teens do), her father is dead, her mother—an actress by trade—acts as if all is normal. Ellen goes silent but speaks from behind her silence to the reader.

While I had difficulty accepting that the language of this narrative, not quite stream-of-consciousness, came from an 11-year old girl (13 or so seems more realistic) I nonetheless enjoyed this short book of one young girl’s psychological response to trauma. The prose is captivating in some places, lyrical in others. Can't rave about it, but it's an interesting, short read.

Some interesting and diverse books of late. I haven't read any Gurnah. Do you have a suggestion for one to put on my WL?

Speaking of diverse, how do you choose your next book? Plan or spur of the moment?

Migrations: A Novel by Charlotte McConaghy (2020)

I think I have waited too long to review this properly….it was so many books ago!

It is sometime in the near? future, Fanny Stone joins a crew of a fishing boat in Greenland and convinces them to follow the migration of the last of the arctic terns to Antarctica.

But there won’t be any more journeys after this one, no more oceans explored. and maybe that’s why I am filled with calm. My life has been a migration without a destination, and that in itself is senseless. I leave for no reason, just to be moving, and it breaks my heart a thousand times, a million. It’s a relief to at last have a purpose. I wonder what it will feel like to stop. I wonder where we go, afterward, and if we are followed. I suspect we go nowhere , and become nothing, and the only thing that saddens me about this is the idea of never seeing Niall again. We are, all of us, given such a brief moment of time together, it hardly seems fair. But it’s precious, and maybe it’s enough, and maybe it’s right that our bodies dissolve into the earth, giving our energy back to it, feeding the little creatures in the ground and giving nutrients to the soil, and maybe it’s right that our consciousness rests. The thought is peaceful. p.89

But Fanny’s story begins much before this, a life filled with love, difficulties, clearly mental illness… and it is the back and forth interplay of her back story and the current story line that captivates us as readers. I’m not sure I “bought” all the story elements but the story is written well and the elements came together. It makes for a great summer read.

>52 avaland: Another reminder that I lost track of Gurnah after loving Paradise, and keep meaning to go back and see what he’s done since 1994…

>55 labfs39: Choosing my next book...hmm. I think I'm on pandemic reading still, I choose what looks good at the time (a mood reader). But...
--I completely have left off all "should"-ing.
--I have also outgrown (?) the habit of trying to keep up with the latest authors, a legacy of the years at the bookstore and early LT/Belletrista.
--I have given myself permission to read older books (we have a housefui of books!)...or even reread a book!
---but I still wander to publisher websites to see what they have coming out (I was just on Graywolf's website yesterday).

Gurnah -- I've liked all of his books that I have read, some more than others, but all are reasonably good (at the very least). Perhaps Paradise is a nice place to start. Darryl reads him, too; he might share his favorite.....

>57 thorold: I have Gurnah's latest, Afterlives, in the pile.

>52 avaland: Nice review of Admiring Silence, Lois; I enjoyed it as well.

Dreaming of Elsewhere sounds very interesting, so onto the wishlist it goes.

>55 labfs39:, >58 avaland: Ah; this explains why my ears were burning...

Yes, I am a fan of Abdulrazak Gurnah. My favorite book by him is By the Sea, which earned 5 stars from me. I gave 4 stars to Admiring Silence, Desertion, and Paradise, so I would recommend any of these four novels.

>59 avaland: Afterlives doesn't seem to have been published in the US yet. I'll plan to buy a copy on my next trip to London, hopefully in October or November.

>60 kidzdoc: I saw that you had read that specific Gurnah. I think Afterlives was on the Book Depository order I did in May (stocking up for summer).

>61 avaland: Sounds good. I anticipate placing an order with the Book Depository after the Booker Prize longlist is released later this month, to buy books that haven't yet been published in the US, and I'll almost certainly order Afterlives at that time.

Evolution by Stephen Baxter

Like his fellow Englishman Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Baxter favors stories about the grandest scales of space and time, beginnings and ultimates. In this long novel from 2002, his theme is evolution. His protagonist is the taxonomic order Primates, or rather that subset which comprises the ancestors and descendants of modern human beings. Beginning in the Cretaceous period and ending in Earth's distant future, this story is much bigger than a novel could really convey, though Baxter does well.

In a brief prologue set in 2031 CE we meet paleontologist Joan Useb, traveling to a conference in Australia. The book's first major division, "Ancestors", then begins 65 million years before today. Purga is a member of the Purgatorius genus. She is small, shrewlike, and in constant danger from dinosaurs and starvation. Can she survive? No, wrong question; every creature dies. Rather, can she pass her genes on to subsequent generations to become one of the ancestors of humans? Without her, there'll be no us. She loses offspring and mates to her harsh world, then lives through the last day of the Cretaceous, as a giant comet causes the mass extinction that ends the reign of the dinosaurs. Baxter devotes a long, exciting chapter to that terrible day - but Purga lives to see one of her daughters reach reproductive age in the new era. She will be one of the many-times-great grandmothers of Joan Useb and every other human.

Two million years later, our next character is a squirrel-like plesiadapid, roaming the trees to feed her pups. Dinosaurs have been replaced by mammalian predators, and Plesi must make a choice between her own survival and that of one of her offspring. Most of Baxter's protagonists are female, and this choice, between existing offspring and future fertility, is one of his motifs. The primates value motherly love, but evolution doesn't care.

The book proceeds this way chapter by chapter, each one closer to our time. In each a new protagonist faces a cusp in geological history - new predators, new body plans, continental drift and climate change. Not all are our direct ancestors. At its end a short interlude brings us to Joan in 2031 again; she's concerned about climate change. Meanwhile a giant volcano is awakening on the Pacific Rim.

The book's second major division is "Humans". These are the hominims, beginning with homo erectus, and eventually, modern humans. One and a half million years before the present, the young woman named Far runs swiftly over the plains of a drying, cooling Africa. With a smaller brain than ours, she has words but not yet language. Separated from her family by mishap, she survives danger from other hominim kinds, and eventually joins a new band of her species. Baxter does the Dawn Age trope better than most authors have, although here as elsewhere in the novel there are many infodumps while Far has her adventures. The world and its animals are described at length under pressure from the environment and other creatures. Another of Baxter's motifs is that of boastful, hierarchical males contributing rather less to the groups' survival than clans of patient, cooperating females. Would be interesting to learn what modern primatologists think of this idea. A content warning is needed for several instances of another primate activity, rape.

Again the chapters march through the eras, and protagonists meet turning points in how the world works. Neanderthals meet modern humans 127,000 years before the present. In a pivotal chapter 60,000 years ago, the human called Mother invents art, shamanism, and genocide, dominating her region. This seems to squeeze rather too much into a single lifetime, but Baxter has a lot of change to cover. Humans settle Australia and drive most of its large animals to extinction. In Ice Age Europe, modern humans have a last encounter with Neanderthals. In the Middle East, agriculturalists drive out the healthier, happier, more egalitarian hunter-gatherers. In 482 CE, an aging Roman aristocrat is fascinated by the bones of extinct creatures, and misses signs of growing barbarity in his society.

The last chapter of "Humans" is set at Joan's 2031 conference, where she tries to convince her fellow academics to fight harder against climate change. Modern people have dominion over the material world, and even their own genome - but primate behavior has not gone away, and a terrorist group threatens. The chapter ends with Joan giving birth to a daughter as the giant volcano erupts, tipping Earth's balance in a new direction. The great die-back is passed over in a couple of sentences.

The final major division is "Descendants". An initial chapter has a group of 21st-century people awakening from high-tech hibernation. They find an England gone back to wilderness, populated by humans who have little technology. I found this chapter contrived and wonder why it didn't follow the earlier pattern. It at least resolutely avoids one trope - the group's only woman is not having the Eve role that one of the men wants to press on her.

In the next chapter, after 30 million years, one descendant species lives high in trees in Africa, to avoid the rodent-derived predators that have evolved to replace the ones we killed off. A woman is separated from her clan, and undergoes a tour of this strangely different world, including several human-derived species. One such lives underground in a manner like that of social insects, and another, elephantine herbivores, is herded by mouse-derived social predators. Humans have lost their brief reign as Earth's most powerful beings. Oh, and another asteroid is on its way.

These late chapters, for me, bring to mind that Baxter also references another of his English predecessors, Olaf Stapledon, who also wrote about the changes life undergoes over long stretches of time. This chapter at 30 million-years is titled "the kingdom of the rats", echoing a section of Stapledon's Darkness and the Light. Our heroine here is called Remembrance, in ironic contrast to her limited memory. Evolution has selected for other attributes. We will have many descendants, but none again will share our large brains, linguistic skills, and abstract thinking.

The final chapter is set in New Pangaea, 500 million years after today. The continents have again joined into a single, hot desert. The sun's slow brightening allows few large organisms to live. Our last protagonist, Ultimate, journeys to the shore of a dried-out sea, then turns back. The reference here is to a chapter of yet another Englishman, in H. G. Wells's The Time Machine - but Ultimate can only go back to the weird tree that shelters her and the other remaining primates. Eventually, even bacteria will die on the baking Earth. Their DNA may reach worlds forming around newborn stars.

Baxter adds an epilogue showing Joan Useb twenty years after the volcanic eruption. She and her daughter are living in the Galapagos Islands, managing their reduced world well enough. We can imagine more years of life for them - and after all, no primate lives forever.

I don't know enough about paleontology to judge how plausible Baxter's stories are. He references several advisors in an afterword, but it would be nice to have the sort of references section that Peter Watts usually has. The arc of the story convinces. I do question whether humans' large brains would disappear; they certainly have been advantageous in lots of environments until now.

Many of the earlier reviewers here at LibraryThing really hated this book. All that death and misery to get to glorious us, only for us to fail and return our descendants to evolution's terrible wheel. I found it exhilarating; the grandest of stories, well within the tradition of British SF - and tragedy is best, after all. And if evolution, the machinery of the world we live in, doesn't supply us with stories we like, we can still write our own.

Four and a half stars

>63 dukedom_enough: I've never read anything in this genre, so your review interests me. Even if parts are contrived, it sounds like Evolution brings up some interesting ideas about the role of evolution, not just in the past, but in the future, and how climate change today could influence evolution down the road.

>63 dukedom_enough: This sounds like a very long novel, glad you found it worth reading

>63 dukedom_enough: Vonnegut's Galapagos imagines the evolution of humans eons into the future after a cataclysm that is, because this is Vonnegut, their own damn fault. It is funny and pitiful, and I think the ending is about as optimistic as Vonnegut gets about the human species. Certainly more optimistic than the godawful loop humankind finds itself in in A Canticle for Liebowitz.

>64 labfs39: It's interesting that, needing to end civilization in our own time, and publishing in 2002, Baxter chose a volcano. As recently as that, climate change didn't seem so immediate.

>65 baswood: I find Baxter uneven, but this was one of the good ones.

>66 nohrt4me2: No doubt Baxter knew about Galapagos. Baxter wrote a short story, "The Children of Time", in 2005, in which our ability to control our environment using just neolithic technology allows for humans to remain roughly unchanged for the next 700 million years. A different take on the latter part of this book.

>63 dukedom_enough: Huh. That sound really interesting to me, but while I've enjoyed a few things by Baxter, I'm increasingly finding his infodumpy style almost unbearably tedious, so it's hard to know whether I should give this one a shot or not.

We took a drive 35 miles north on Thursday to visit the No 6 Book Depot, a barn stuffed with old/used books, in Henniker, NH. We did not go away empty-handed.

This is the main part of the barn, first floor (there are also all manner of nooks and crannies on the first floor)



And this is the 2nd floor, all nonfiction, We estimate the shelves to be 11 or 12 feet high (there are an abundance of ladders for the brave). And this is showing just one shelf!



Between the two of us we took away 6 or 7 books. I know, such a modest amount, but a few years ago our house shifted a bit and we can't be absolutely sure it wasn't because of the books we have....

>69 avaland: Wow!

>69 avaland: a few years ago our house shifted a bit and we can't be absolutely sure it wasn't because of the books we have

Oh, the perils of being a house-owning bibliophile!

>69 avaland: Uh oh, another house worry. I'll have lived in mine 18 years this fall and everything is starting to fall apart in increments, so I guess that's another thing I should think about...

>68 bragan: Sounds like you should skip this one. Infodumps are pretty much required when the book doesn't have characters for most of its length.

>72 lisapeet: Or, don't think about it. Start another book.

>73 dukedom_enough: I don't know. He's so bad at characters that getting rid of them entirely might actually be an improvement. :)

>74 dukedom_enough: Always my MO, in fact.

>75 bragan: I thought the intelligent squid in Manifold: Time was relatable. ...Oh, you meant human characters.

>76 lisapeet: Excellent.

A Year in the Linear City by Paul di Filippo

The linear city is just two blocks wide but many blocks long, with Broadway running uptown and downtown in the middle. On one side, the city is bracketed by Tracks which run parallel to Broadway. Trains bring goods from far parts of the city. On the other side, ships cruise the River, likewise carrying trade. The sun rises uptown and sets downtown; a second sun moves at right angles to the first, invisible in the winter and high in the summer, bringing the city's four seasons. No one knows how far the city extends; protagonist Diego Patchen lives in the 10,394,850th block, but the numbering scheme is not understood by anyone. From beyond the river and tracks, humanoid creatures fly, cruising the skies, bearing away the recently dead.

Di Filippo uses his eerie setting for a Jack Vance homage, viewing events with Vance's sort of ironic detachment. Vancian name schemes are employed: Diego lives in the Gritsavage borough, and people are named Volusia Bittern, Milagra Eventyr, Jobo Copperknob, and the like.

Nothing of great import occurs. The principal irony is that Diego makes a living as a writer of Cosmogonic Fiction, a genre of stories wherein the writer speculates on the possibility of worlds differently configured from mundane reality - a reality which is, of course, quite fantastic by our standards.

Four stars

>78 dukedom_enough: I heard a lady on the radio who was tagged as a cosmic mineralogist. I am now obsessed with writing a novel about Fantasia Pelican, pen name of the editrix of The Cosmic Mineralogist, an underground virtual newsletter that publishes environmental info that the pro-biz oligarchy tries to suppress. She is, unbeknownst to the government, the elderly and harmless-looking mother of one of the oligarch, and she gets the inside dope by playing dumb. She has to keep moving the virtual location of the newsletter to avoid government detection with the help of her grandson, Squibbers, who is a hologram DJ at a blind pig and has underworld connections.

>79 nohrt4me2: I’d read that in a hot NY minute.

>77 dukedom_enough: Ha! Yes, I do think he's better with aliens.

>79 nohrt4me2: Write it before they ban it!

>82 dukedom_enough: My cousin worked for a governmental agency that monitored environment and climate, and the gagging, project cuts, and rules changes in the previous four years drove him to retire. I suspect some of those guys managed to get info to reporters and others on a clandestine basis, so my plot is not as farfetched as it sounds.

>83 nohrt4me2: At least the agencies still exist.

Now's a good time to note that Readercon, the science fiction/fantasy/etc convention where Lois and I met in 1998, is online this year. August 13-15, lots of video content (some live, some not) for $25 - normally $70+ for in-person attendance. Guests of honor are Jeffrey Ford and Ursula Vernon.

I haven't been in the loop and can't tell you how well it will go, but other conventions that have gone this route have reportedly been successful.

See readercon.org for more.

>85 dukedom_enough: I note that they have pulled in some UK authors this year (Ian MacLeod, Paul McAuley...) because it is remote. And apparently members will have access to the video content on YouTube for a few weeks afterward, which appeals to me. Here is a list of the participants (beyond the guests of honor): https://www.readercon.org/participants

>78 dukedom_enough: Reminiscent of Christopher Priest's novel The Inverted World, I think? That one was important to me when it was published. The bizarrité truly bent my brain around.

Speaking of science fiction, I just read one that I want to recommend to you. The writer is Karl Schroeder, and the name is Lady of Mazes. Have you read any Karl Schroeder? He has a fertile imagination, and plenty of science knowledge. That's merely my impression, but some professional reviews refer to the frequent mind-blowing that it occasioned for me.

>69 avaland: I have a recurrent dream in which my basement looks like that.

>87 sallypursell: Lady of Mazes is on the bookshelf, and I do need some vacation reading in September...thanks.

>88 sallypursell: Better your basement than your upstairs. Imagine all that weight, pressing down relentlessly above your head...

If anyone has wondered what Readercon, the science fiction/fantasy convention where Lois and I met, is like, it is happening in a virtual space this coming weekend August 13-15. Discussion panels will be broadcast on a private YouTube channel, kaffeeklatsches will let you talk to authors over Zoom video, and text chat channels on the Discord social network will allow discussion and interaction with other attendees. Only $25 for the weekend, much less than the $75 or so an in-person weekend would have cost, and you don't have to travel or pay for a hotel. The panel videos will be available for 6 months after the weekend.

We have been much distracted by many things but this weekend Michael is busy with Readercon (perhaps he will have some comments on any of the panels, interviews, presentations with authors he may have heard).

Meanwhile, I have had a splendid meet-up with Labfs39. We talked and talked about books, reading and other stuff. Very cathartic after the long Covid isolation. And we are planning another one soon....

>91 avaland: I had so much fun, Lois! And thank you for sharing some of your dups with me. I now have more piles of books that I can't wait to get to. And thank you too Michael for sharing some of the sci-fi titles. Next stop: Henniker and the bookshop there!

I am way behind in writing reviews; I seem to have many distractions these days. But, I'd like to catch up while still giving each book it's due....I'll do the most difficult first:-)



Midden: Poems by Julia Bouwsma (2018, poetry, US)

The Story of Fire

Our brushfires hung thick and black. They kept
us warm, cooked our pots of clams,
and every day the villagers smelled our smoke
from their porches on the mainland.

A stick on fire curls and curls,
each fiber glows as it peels
from the stalk. So it is with a story,
driftwood flames green to blue;

How they came in boats,
how our shacks caught like a shot of light
when match met kerosene. How we left
in their boats; how we huddled
close; how mama bent
to the baby, her crooked
arm clamping him
silent. How a child curled
mouth to smoky knees and bit
them to read.

A stick on fire—

Now. one hundred years later,
the archaeologists find
no ash, no scorched ground, no scraps
of charred wood, just loose nails
in the shell heap:

evidence that when the villagers said leave,

we willingly tore our houses down
with our hands.

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

There is much that can be said of this poetry collection inspired by the story of the 1912 forced eviction of a small, multi-racial community living on Malaga island just off the coast of Phippsburg, Maine, but I will try to keep it brief. This is extremely well researched. The poet includes notes on more than half of the poems included, and her “afterword” offers her process. This is all more than most poetry collections include. Some of the poetry is written in the voices of the islanders who speak directly to the reader of their experiences, other poems elucidate the poet’s often emotional journey in the researching and writing of the volume. Both are compelling.

I thought the collection very moving, made more powerful in it’s careful conservation of words. And more is said sometimes in the spaces between words, you know? Each poem seemed to become deeper and clearer with subsequent reading (and the collection demands multiple readings, I think). I admit I was more drawn to the poems written in the islanders’ voices than the author’s, but it is a intertwined story, one needs the other.

One can find a number of articles on the Malaga Island by a simple search online.

Killing Orders by Sara Paretsky (1985, Crime novel, US, 3rd in the series)

This was my second Paretsky book. Her intrepid private detective V. I. Warshawski is once again investigating another financial crime, this time the theft of securities from a church safe (and family are involved). I like the character of V.I., and the crime and investigation of it is sufficiently detailed and promising, however, this installment seemed much more thriller than the previous book. I swear V. I.’s life was seriously threatened three, if not four times. She edged on the superhuman in this book which is not really what I want. I read through it mesmerized but it was a quick read, more candy than a good savory bite of good steak… if you know what I mean. I have a few more in the pile, so I'll probably try again....



The Idea of Perfection by Kate Grenville (2002, fiction, Australian, a re-read)

I almost never re-read a book, but this book is a big exception and I need to read it every few years. I was working in the bookstore when this book came out around twenty years ago and it caught my eye because of the sewing needle on the cover (I sew). It may have been the first book I noticed by an Aussie woman published here in the US (Carrie Tiffany had her novel out the same year, I think). This was before one could shop on Book Depository or Amazon.UK, before there were lists like this (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Australian_women_writers) and certainly before LibraryThing where in 2006 we could (and did) hobnob with Aussie women readers who were only too happy to recommend authors to us (miss you here, Amanda, Kim & Judy!)

It's more or less an offbeat tale about two awkward, imperfect people, Harley Savage, a museum conservator, who has had three husbands; and Douglas Cheesman, a civil engineer of bridges who suffers from vertigo. Also, there is our example of perfection, Felicity Porceline. This is a funny book with some great truths in it; some universal, and likely some truths that might only speak to me... (or not).

Granite Lady: Poems by Susan Bromberg Schaeffer (poetry, 1974)

Susan Bromberg Schaeffer (1940-2011) was a novelist and poet in the mid-70s through her death in 2011. Schaeffer was certainly accomplished. Wikipedia notes that her dissertation related to Nabokov (just an interesting bit).

I picked this collection of poetry up at a used book store, amused by the cameo of a dour elderly woman on the cover, and mildly curious because the author was completely unknown to me.

I’ll not belabor this ‘review” so I’ll come out and just say these poems did nothing for me. I have no quibble with choices regarding subject but many of the poems seemed a bit tame or flat in tone, and somewhat dull in imagery. Perhaps it’s just my way-too-late reading of the volume. It certainly made me wonder if much mid-70s poetry would be seen/heard this way now. It also made me think about where women were in ’74 in contrast to now. Remember the Mid-70s? Watergate was all over the evening news, there was still an oil crisis,, Patti Hearst was kidnapped, Stephen King published his first book and I was graduating high school. Hot books were novels Jaws and Watership Down (of the top ten novels of the year, 9 of 10 were written by men. As far as the #1 nonfiction bestseller it was The Total Woman by Marabel Morgan (yipes, remember reading that?!...another reason to leave the 70s behind us)

But I digress.

>93 avaland: I had never heard about Malaga Island. Interesting

>94 avaland: (I sew)
Now there's an understatement!

>94 avaland: I enjoyed The Idea of Perfection too. I think I maybe read that in my first year of joining LT. Felicity Porcelain was such a fun character.

>93 avaland: I like.

>94 avaland: I was sure I'd read The Idea of Perfection Lois, but it seems not. In the basket it goes.

>98 AlisonY: Always glad to find other fans!

>99 Caroline_McElwee: The RR read it as a group early on. I’m not sure everyone was as smitten as I had been.

>96 labfs39: I had not either!

>97 SassyLassy: :-)

Adding The Idea of Perfection to my wishlist, Lois. Thank you…I think. 😄 so many books I want to read.

<102 Chris might have a copy, Colleen. The private group read it way back when she might have still been active.

>103 avaland: it shows up in her LT collection as having been read and on the bookshelf in the bedroom, Lois. I’ll see her tomorrow in cape cod, so I will mention it.

>104 NanaCC: Ha! I love that she has the specific location of her books! Say hi from me. The kids must be all so grown up!

August's book of the month (not that I've read much - too many distractions)

Lucca by Jens Christian Grøndahl (1998, trans, 2002, Danish). This is the last of Grøndahl's books translated into English and I've greatly enjoyed three out of the four.



The story begins in a hospital in Denmark where a 32-year old woman, an actress, has been brought in from a horrible automobile accident and is critical condition. Her name is Lucca Montale. Her arms and legs are plastered and her eyes are bandaged. It falls to Robert, her doctor, to tell her she will not see again. From this point, the story generally moves back in time to tell the individual stories of these two people before and up to where they meet in the hospital.

Grøndahl's writing is emotionally dense, penetrating and perceptive. I'm not sure if he is empathetic to his characters or just offering the reader the opportunity of being so. He tells their stories through their relationships with others; parents, friends, lovers, co-workers, children. The book seems dense beyond the page count and I took it slowly. Admittedly, at one point, I got frustrated with Lucca—ready to throw the book because I could see the car wreck coming—but I'm fairly sure the author intended that. Robert's story is far less firery but no less interesting. Eventually, Grøndahl brilliantly brings the story of the two people around to the present for what I thought was an exquisite ending.

>106 avaland: There's a new author for me to check out. You sell it well.

>105 avaland: Chris says to say hi back. The kids really are all grown up. The youngest, Owen, is 18.

>106 avaland: It figures that the one Grøndahl book I have is the one that you didn't like :-/

>107 AlisonY: Thank you. It took me a long time to read it with all the distractions I've had. It may be one of those books not for every reader. And the translator deserves a prize, me thinks.

>108 NanaCC: Wow! 18! I've been on LT a long time! (coming up on 15 years!)

>109 labfs39: Sorry! :-)

The Archaeology of American Cemeteries and Gravemarkers by Serene Baugher and Richard F. Veit (archaeology/anthropology, 2014)

I am much more a reader of social history than that of affairs of state…and count me also as one of those people who love wandering old cemeteries and historical sites. This book touches both interests. After reading James Deetz’s In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life, I went in search for more of the same, and came across this book (which, if I remember correctly, was mentioned in the updated edition of Deetz’s book).The authors of this book, Baugher, who is an archaeologist, and Viet, an anthropologist, write as one.

"Early American grave markers are some of the most evocative and informative artifacts available to historical archaeologists." They are also "important repositories of cultural information," the authors state early in the book, and the content that follows substantiates this. Just a few of the many topics covered over the course of the book’s mere two hundred and nine pages include:

*How grave markers and cemeteries reflect changing attitudes towards death and dying.
*The meaning of the iconography and art (in early America it was one of the few forms of publicly available art).
*How the information on grave markers can tell us about life spans, infant mortality, gender, occupations, social status….
*The legal, logistical and ethical issues of this study.
*Attention is given to the burial and grave sites of less studied groups (i.e.Native Americans, African Americans, various immigrant groups).
*The diversities within religions and regions.
*The science of “below ground” archaeology.
*Materialism and class distinctions.
…and so much more.

Personally, It’s difficult to single out just one or two interesting bits, because I found it ALL fascinating, but.... as one example: I was intrigued with the tale of what happened when the scientists were called out by one city, who, while constructing a highway unearthed a cemetery previously unknown to them.

Each chapter ends with a summarized "conclusion", which I found very helpful. This is a thorough, readable, and succinct—yet not too dense—overview of the archaeology of early American cemeteries.I deliberately took my time reading this book, reading between other books which demanded less of me. I had to re-read some to pull that off, but it was well worth it.

NOTE: there are two editions of this book, possibly hardcover and softcover, but touchstone did not connect to the one where my review was posted, so weirdly I had to make a link...

>111 avaland: That’s what combinations are for - now there is only one record (auto combination requires complete match so manual ones are needed for new ISBNs and for smaller authors, it can take years for someone to notice) :)

And this book looks interesting.

>112 AnnieMod: Seems that once upon a time I knew how to combine but I drew a complete blank this time around.

>111 avaland: This sounds fascinating! I love cemeteries, being a genealogist.

>111 avaland: What a great book. I love wandering around old New England cemeteries.

>114 WelshBookworm: Not a professional, just an enthusiast.;-)

>115 SassyLassy: And what are the cemeteries like up there in NS?

>111 avaland: This sounds so interesting. My husband and I used to wander around old cemeteries once in a while.

It always surprises me with ten days roll by and we haven't posted anything here. There has not been much time for either of us to get much, if any, reading of books done. So much going on! When there is some quiet time we tend to fall asleep, ha ha. We soldier on and the books pile up.

>118 avaland: I go through periods like that too. That's always why I'm amazed when people can keep up very high numbers of books each month.

>119 AlisonY: Hi Alison, thanks for stopping by! I'm hoping it's temporary.

>118 avaland: There has not been much time for either of us to get much, if any, reading of books done. So much going on! When there is some quiet time we tend to fall asleep, ha ha. We soldier on and the books pile up.

Let the church say "Amen."

The Past is Red by Catherynne M. Valente

Content warning for violence, rape, and planet-ruining ecological catastrophe.

Tetley Abednego looks on the bright side, mostly. After all, she has lived past the age of ten - old enough that she'll probably live for a good couple of decades more, old enough to be given a name. Most days she has almost enough to eat. She has a brother she loves even if their parents didn't love her, and she dwells in Candle Hole, where the houses are made of beautiful, good-smelling candles.

Candle Hole is part of Garbagetown, "the most wonderful place anybody has ever lived in the history of the world." We call it the great Pacific garbage patch today. In Tetley's time it is, besides a few Misery Boats, the only place people live, as far as she knows, the ancient Fuckwits having let climate-change waters swallow up all the dry land. Many decades later, Garbagetown's small population scrapes by, dying young and starving, existing on the leavings of the drowned past.

But stupidity did not end with the old world, and the adult Tetley rescued Garbagetown from making a huge mistake. Her outraged fellow citizens really wanted to make that mistake, so they outlawed her. She must endure whatever beatings - and worse - people wish to inflict, thanking them for her "instruction."

This much of Tetley's story was told in Valente's 2018 novelette, "The Future is Blue." The current book - a 146 page novella - incorporates that story as its first third. Tetley eventually tires of being her society's punching bag, and heads out in search of what might be next. There are people yet to meet, discoveries yet to make, on her postapocalyptic garbage island. And at least one excellent, ironic pun forthcoming. But what can change, really?

I love Tetley for her voice - yet another of Valente's unique heroines:

But it is my experience that you learn everything in this world out of order. You only know what you needed to know after it's already done getting ruined all over you. Being alive is like being a very bad time traveler. One second per second, and yet somehow you still get where you're going too late, or too early, and the planet isn't where it should be because you forgot to calculate for that even though it was extremely important and you left notes by the door to remind yourself, and the butterfly you stepped on when you were eight became a hurricane of everything you ever lost in your forties, and whatever wisdom you tried to pack with you has always gotten lost in transit, arriving, covered in festive stickers, a hundred years after you died.

In an afterword, Valente notes that she wanted to see what kinds of stories might exist after the apocalypse. Her answer: the same kinds we tell today, told, as they will be, by people who know no other world than the wreckage they live in. "The Future is Blue" was both hopeful and pessimistic. The expanded ...is Red doesn't provide any final answers. We won't get answers about Tetley's world. We can still write them for our own.

Four and a half stars

>121 kidzdoc:. Amen.

>122 dukedom_enough: That sounds interesting, Michael, and I like her voice in the excerpt you quoted. I see The Future is Blue is available online, so I'll start there.

The Future is Blue was interesting, Michael. The overwhelming desire some people have to return to an idyllic, imaginary past is frightening. They are willing to scorch the present in a desperate, impossible attempt to return to something that never existed. MAGA or bust. We all see how that is turning out.

I thought her descriptions of the various neighborhoods in Garbagetown to be surprisingly beautiful. Candle Hole, hillocks of Earl Grey teabags, spires of batteries. And yet, yikes.

>125 labfs39: If you've read "...Blue" you've gotten most of what the story has to offer, really.

>124 labfs39: Valente is amazing at coming up with different voices for all her stories and characters. See Space Opera, her Douglas Adams homage.

>121 kidzdoc: We'll all end by being buried under unread books. But what a great way to go.

Caught from June, but no Greenland geologists here yet. Enjoyed the quoted poetry, and all the posts. Interesting about Jens Christian Grøndahl.

>128 dchaikin: Have only just started the book....the geologist is William E. Glassley "William E. Glassley is a geologist at the University of California, Davis, and an emeritus researcher at Aarhus University, Denmark, focusing on the evolution of continents and the processes that energize them. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico." https://weglassley.com/

"Five Year Diary: 1958 - 1962" by Ruth Rumery Douglass

The other day I found myself reading one of my mother’s old diaries and I thought it might be fun to write a review of it. I’ve learned a lot by reading books like A Midwife's Tale: The Diary of Martha Ballard and other notable women’s diaries from various eras. Historians talk about how they decode the diaries as a written document, and how history (general, social and local), and cultural context, help round out one’s understanding. Of course, published diaries are ones that have been deemed to have some historical and cultural value. It’s unlikely that any historian would deem this diary important in any way.

Tuesday, February 18,1958: "14 below this 6 a.m. Alan quite sick. Covered with measles. In bed most all day."

Wednesday, May 14th, 1958 "Lloyd (father), Alan and Lois & I got polio shots. Kids were their 5th, our 3rd ones."

My mother was born in 1918 and was 39 when this diary begins and 44 when it ends. She is married to my father, 45, a WWII veteran. As of January 1st, 1958, when the diary begins, they have three children —my two older brothers and myself (ages 7, 3 and 2). Younger sisters are born in 1958 and 1960. We lived in a geographically large town on the southern coast of Maine, population around 6,000 at that time. The town had a number of geographical neighborhoods, or territories, like many do, and as children our world was that territory until we were bussed across town for junior high and high school.

Monday, May 26, 1958 "Lloyd worked on (cement) blocks*, Mother (Nana) came back, Linwood brought her in p.m. 60 more blocks came." (my father was laying a foundation for a 3rd bedroom, currently there were three adults—which included my Nana— and three children in a two bedroom house - I’m really not sure how that worked….)

Monday, July 27, 1959: "Went blueberrying (sic). Got 20 quarts in all. Painted girls’ chair blue. Wonderful weather all vacation."

Mom was a constant chronicler, she wrote facts, not feelings or opinions. The world she covered occupied a radius of about 30 miles with occasional forays further afield. She works with a large cast of characters, which I had to parse out (and here I give myself 90% on that, thanks to past work on ancestry.com and past sorting some of her things). It surprised me that she made no comments on what was going on nationally or statewide, but perhaps she would have if it affected the family, or her larger circle, personally. Of course, a five-year diary (about 4 x 5 inches) doesn’t allow for much more than a few sentences for each day. She wrote about home, family, friends, neighbors and others. Her entries almost always begin with the weather, followed by the health status of any family members, my father’s work schedule (he often had to work weekends when the factory was closed), social visitations (coming or going), routine and other events away from the house; and births, deaths, illnesses and operations.

Sunday, September 10, 1961: "Peter (one of my 17 cousins) swallowed quarters. Ex ray (sic) at Webber (hospital). Rushed to Maine Medical (a bigger hospital). Vomits it up soon after arriving" (my cousin was five at the time).

October 22, 1961:"Sunday. Nice day. Rode up country… took movies of leaves… Very pretty. Put storm windows on. Had Lobsters."

Thursday May 17, 1962: "Worked on rummage sale. PTA at Dunstan (School), Australia girl speaker."

On the surface, this diary could seem rather dull... but I had to remind myself as a once student of "women's studies" that it is important to understand the context she's writing in, and to read between the lines. Her diary reveals the rhythms, routines and practicalities of the business of living day by day. And It reveals what she deems important in her life—clearly the connections with family, friends and neighbors, for example. But, it also reveals what she sees as threats to that which is under her purview. Surprisingly it doesn’t reveal her prejudices. And it's a testament to climate change.

As far as my own appearance in her reportage, my name comes up mostly when I am sick, or when my hairdresser aunt comes to give me a haircut. Or perhaps a relative is taking me somewhere for the day, or I get a new pair of shoes (size listed).

I rate the diary 3 blueberries. (btw, parentheses in the diary quotes are mine and are meant to clarify)

>130 avaland: I am so jealous, Lois. What a wonderful thing to have. I wish my mother had been a diary writer, as there would have been so many interesting things. She grew up in Ireland, went to England to “help out” during the war, met my father, an American GI in London, got married and moved to the U.S. I’d love to know all the little bits.

>131 NanaCC: I don't think any of my children are interested. I think I have a few more of hers and one of my Nana's (much the same sort of diary).

>130 avaland: wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

I just got myself a five-year diary in July. I keep a journal, sketchbook, etc., but they're more sporadic and stream-of-consciousness, and I thought it would be neat to be able to look back at a regular bare-bones chronicle of what happened. We'll see. That's very cool that you have your mother's.

>130 avaland: What a wonderful resource, Lois. Thank you for sharing it with us. Rode up country… took movies of leaves… Very pretty. Put storm windows on. Had Lobsters. My grandparents didn't leave much of a written record behind, but if they had, it would have sounded like this. The closest I have is a log that they kept up at their camp near Kokadjo. Everyone who went up was welcome to write in it. Blueberries, moose, fish caught, weather, who stopped in to play canasta. I wonder where it is? Hmm.

>130 avaland: What a great document to have. A friend who is a professor of women's studies (social history) relies on these greatly. Daily life is so often neglected.

3 blueberries - an excellent scale!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your "review" of your mother's diary, Lois! I wish that my mother or her oldest sister would have done that, especially during their early lives living in the segregated Deep South in the 1930s and early 1940s, and taking a train by themselves from Troy, Alabama to New York City during World War II, several months ahead of their mother, who was caring for their newborn baby sister, and a year or more ahead of their father, who was a cook in the Navy during the war.

I particularly enjoyed the entries on your brother with measles, the administration of the polio vaccines, and especially the cousin who swallowed quarters. I have a vague memory of seeing a young boy in the Emergency Department many years ago as a medical student or intern, who told us that he swallowed four quarters because his older brother said that he would find a dollar in his poop if he did. I can't remember if I saw the child who did and said this, or if I had heard about it somewhere, perhaps in Baby Doctor by Dr Perri Klass, which I read as a medical student IIRC.

What a great record to have of your mother's life. My mother was not a great talker about her life or family and I would have loved to have something like this. (Maybe why I'm so drawn to books of family sagas.)

>133 dchaikin: Thanks for stopping by, Dan.

>134 lisapeet: I'm assuming you are including "the world around you" when you say 'bare bones'?

>135 labfs39: That would be interesting.... (at Sebago it would have been cribbage, LOL)

>136 SassyLassy: I'm not sure I'm going to keep them all. Some are barely written in.

>137 kidzdoc: Oh, wouldn't that be incredible to read, Darryl. And the dollar-in-the-poop story is toooo funny!!

>138 dudes22: I wonder if it really is a great record of my mother's life? I would have liked to hear what she and my aunt's (two of her sisters-in-law) talked about! I have pulled out some of the interesting posts, but so much boring content, too.

Well, I have just finished my Nana's 1945 diary (a favorite), the only one of hers I have, but you have all inspired me to write a review on that one (maybe I'll add pictures!)

>137 kidzdoc: I really hope you will write down whatever stories your mother told you. Someone in your family will want to read them. Heck, I want to read them!

My great-grandmother lived all her life in a tiny Michigan village. She kept a five-year diary during the war years, when she was in her 70s. So did her older sister, who lived next door. They usually recorded the same events. For instance, Gramma wrote, "Visited Mrs. Cobb," while Aunt Sarah wrote, "Went to see Mrs. Cobb in her coffin. Good turnout and many floral tributes."

They both put on white dresses and went to vote together. Without their husbands. I did not realize that white was the color of the suffragettes until a few years ago.

Gramma recorded making a pie on the same day that Aunt Sarah noted that the atom bomb had been dropped. Gramma died of a myeloid cancer of some type before her diary was filled up. Aunt Sarah was over there every day: "Nora looks just terrible today. I made supper for Tom (great grampa), but N. too sick to swallow. The doctor says he can't do a thing." Then Gramma died and Aunt Sarah didn't write anything for a month.

>140 nohrt4me2: Great story.

Today is my Thingaversary and I am celebrating 15 great years on LT gabbing with other book people!!! Thank you all for being part of it.

>139 avaland: I'm assuming you are including "the world around you" when you say 'bare bones'?
Some, not all, since that would end up needing a lot more than five lines. If it's big, of course, it gets a mention, or I'll write something like (this week) "The infrastructure and debt deliberations in DC are stressful" and figure anyone reading this down the line can look up what that refers to if it's not in the history books by then. I do have a regular journal in which I go on about all and sundry at great length, but I'm not sure whether I want anyone to read it after me. I guess I won't have much choice unless I have the wherewithal to destroy it at some point (and I guess I won't care if I'm not around).

Happy Thingaversary!

Happy Thingaversary! Are you off buying books?

>143 lisapeet: Now you must contribute to this week’s Question for the Avid Reader…which will sound familiar….:-)

>144 labfs39: I wasn’t until I was poked by another LT friend this morning. Been shopping for poetry, adding things to my wishlist.

Happy 15th!

Happy Thingaversary!

>142 avaland: congrats! :)

15 years - wow. Congratulations!

>146 dchaikin: Thanks, Dan!

>147 lisapeet: Thanks! Don't laugh but many, many years ago (in the 70s) when I was young and had moved from New England to the San Francisco area. I was waiting to hear about a job with one of the local police departments and while waiting I took a job as a secretary/clerk at a bridal show in a huge mall in San Jose. The owner had two bridal shops in the same mall (it was a big secret), one tended to serve traditional brides, and other, where I was, served girls celebrating Quinceanera. And that's how I learned about it, watching lots of gigging young girls try on bridal gowns and tiaras.

>148 RidgewayGirl:, >149 AnnieMod: and >150 AlisonY: Thanks so much!

Hi, I've enjoyed catching up, here. Loved reading about your mother's diary. Like most here, to get to that sort of information about my mom, I have to go through photos. She was a hoarder of those, but the notations she put on the back are sketchy, unfortunately.

The book about tombstones and cemeteries certainly looks fascinating. I love going through old graveyards, as do many others, of course. It's quite interesting what you can tease out about their worlds by looking at the inscriptions and dates. Old U.S. cemeteries are that way, as are cemeteries in Ireland. Being Jewish, my wife and I are always saddened by the damage that's been done to so many of the Jewish cemeteries we've visited in Europe.

The strangest cemetery, or in this case ossuary, that I have seen is the Ossuary of Saint-Maclou in Rouen, France. When three quarters of the surrounding population died of the plague, they ran out of room in the cemetery, so they dug up the courtyard and used it as a common grave. Two hundred years later the plague returned, and they used the space again. This time with galleries on three sides (now four) carved with skulls, shovels, etc. A cat, presumably black, was found immured in the walls, supposedly to keep away evil spirits. The skeleton is on display.

>152 rocketjk: I read another book about cemeteries recently and will review soon. You might like it.

>153 labfs39: I read about that!

WhoooHooo!!! Abdulrazak Gurnah has won the Nobel! I have his latest in the pile and have read all his previous books available in English. He was one of the first writers from Africa I started read way back in the early aughts and remains on my list of favorite authors. How wonderful for him!

>155 avaland: Bravo!! Great choice by the Nobel Prize committee. I've only read seven six of his 10 novels, so I have a bit of catching up to do.

ETA: Congratulations on your "quinceañera"! I celebrated mine on June 6th.

>155 avaland:, >156 kidzdoc: Totally new author to me - how did I miss him? Any recommendations on where to start with him?

>156 kidzdoc: Happy belated Thingaversary, Darrel!

>157 AlisonY: Perhaps Paradise or By The Sea...or Admiring Silence...I didn't read them in order, some were hard to find, had to get some from the UK, as also the most recent which is "Afterlives" He is a great storyteller and I've rated all of his novels between 4 and 5.

>155 avaland: I guess it’s time I actually read Paradise! I own By the Sea too, but it’s also unread.

I've just requested the one title by Gurnah that my library owns, Gravel Heart. Glad to see that he's an author well-liked by both you and Darryl.

>139 avaland: Well, if a Nobel doesn't inspire you, I don't know what would :-)

>160 RidgewayGirl: That's the 2nd most recent.

>161 avaland: yeah… (fill in some embarrassed blushing here). I opened Paradise today, and, stuck at a car repair shop, so with some unexpected reading time, I’ve begun to really enjoy it.

>162 dchaikin: I'll look forward to your thoughts after.

199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die by Loren Rhoads (2017, nonfiction)

Unlike the previous book read about cemeteries, which was a very readable yet scholarly exploration written by an archaeologist and a anthropologist*, this book is more or less a guide in what is called ‘cemetery tourism.’ As noted in the title it features 199 cemeteries, old and new, half of which are in the United States. Most entries are 500 - 800 words long and nearly all have a accompanying photograph. The book begins in the states and in the northeastern region, and moves across the country featuring fifteen to twenty-five cemeteries in each region. It then moves on for the last half of the book for a broader look at cemeteries throughout the world.

I wasn’t sure I was going to like this book. It seemed so light after my previous read. I love exploring old cemeteries here New England but would I like browsing old cemeteries where I don’t have an ancestral connection? Turns out, yes. The collection features interesting cemeteries from ancient burial grounds to modern memorials. Cemeteries created around common cultures, war, plague, religion or ones that feature notable artistry. Some of the cemeteries that really moved me, considering our current times, were those of plague victims whether that be the Black Death, Leprosy or Aids. Also, very sobering are those cemeteries and memorials built around war. But I also very enjoyed observing how different religious groups have chosen to bury and commemorate their dead.

199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die is not necessarily meant to be read cover to cover. It can be enjoyed anyway you please. It would make a nice gift for some, or could be a nice coffee table, bathroom or bedside book in your home :-)

* The Archaeology of American Cemeteries and Gravemarkers by Sherene Baugher and Richard F.Viet

>164 avaland: Were any of the historic cemeteries of New Orleans mentioned in this book, especially St Louis Cemetery No. 1 or No. 2, or Lafayette Cemetery No. 1?

Peterson: Field Guide to North American Bird Nests, by Casey McFarland, Matthew Monjello,and David Moskowitz, (Reference, Birds, 2021)

This is the first NEW Peterson guide in years. If you are a bird watcher, this is a must-have. The beginning of the book tells the reader/bird enthusiast how they might use this book, a bit of a helpful primer. Most of the book is about nest identification but it also offers some specifics on mating systems and behavior, and nest building techniques. Of course, the nests are interesting, but the “nesting strategies” are equally interesting:-) On a practical level it can still be tough to identify some nests without the eggs in it, but most nests are different enough to make a reasonable conclusion.

This is a great book for reference at home or on trips but also for leaving off the shelf so you can dip into it whenever you have a moment.

*could be a nice gift for the holidays...?

>166 avaland: Oh, that's interesting! I don't find a lot of unidentified nests, usually I find them due to bird activity, but there is the occasional empty nest and nesting behavior is definitely interesting.

>166 avaland: *could be a nice gift for the holidays...?

Indeed! I read about this book before it was published, pre-ordered it, and have hidden it away as a Christmas for my other half. There was an abandoned turkey nest near our house this spring and it took us ages to identify it, and there were other nests we identified by spotting the adult birds. A field guide would make it so much easier and I'm pleased to see your positive review.

Hollis, New Hampshire, yesterday (we are nowhere near peak foliage yet)



Goshen, NH on Friday. At peak, but low on the reds. This lonely but brilliant one mile stretch was like driving through fire....

>167 labfs39: I don't find a lot of nests that I can't identify, but it's the nests that I am not able to see that are interesting in the book.

>168 lauralkeet: I had pre-ordered it also, but it was just for me. I had at least one nest I found I wanted to i.d. immediately!

>169 avaland: lovely pictures (and not something found in Houston)

>171 dchaikin: True!

>169 avaland: Great photos, Lois! It will be at least two weeks before the leaves reach their peak in changing colors here in Atlanta, although I hope to see some autumn foliage when I visit my parents in suburban Philadelphia later this week.

I patiently await your answer to my question in >165 kidzdoc:...

Beautiful photos! I was just up as far as the Berkshires on Saturday, and while the leaves were looking pretty nice up there, they're not quite at that level yet. Probably another week, though I have no plans to do another marathon car day that soon.

>169 avaland: Gorgeous photos! Leaves have not begun to change down here and the cardigan I put on so hopefully this morning had to be removed before noon. Someday fall will get here!

>169 avaland: Gorgeous photos, Lois. Autumn is late in N. Ireland as well, but I'm starting to see some leaves turning over this past week.

Lots of my summer annuals still look fantastic in the garden and have lots of buds - it's certainly crazy warm for the time of year.

>165 kidzdoc:, >173 kidzdoc: My apologies, I completely missed that post. St Louis Cemetery#1 and Metairie Cemetery are are profiled for New Orleans (the "oven vaults" were really interesting). And, I note, since you are in Atlanta, that the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change is also profiled.

>174 lisapeet: Thanks! It's a good time to be outdoors.

>175 RidgewayGirl: Thanks. I think of autumn here as the splashy party before the cold weather sets in...but our winters are so much milder now.

>176 AlisonY: Thanks. My gardens, which were sorely neglected all summer due to the constant rain, are having a last hurrah and I'm enjoying that, particularly the annuals who suffered so long without enough sun. They are crazy tall....

>177 avaland: Thanks, Lois; no apology needed! I've done the same thing plenty of times when someone posts a message just before I'm writing one, especially a lengthy review.

I'm glad that two of New Orleans' historic cemeteries were listed; I had forgotten about Metairie Cemetery, which is close to City Park and even closer to the New Orleans-Metairie city border. I haven't been to that cemetery, and it's been many years since I visited St Louis Cemetery No. 1, although I did go to Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 with a few of my partners during a conference in New Orleans six or seven years ago.

I'm also pleased that the Martin Luther King Jr. Center was also mentioned. The barbershop I go to is on the same intersection as Ebenezer Baptist Church, where "Daddy" King was the head pastor long before the world learned about his son, and the National Historic Park with Dr King's grave is adjacent to the church.

However, if I was going to choose a cemetery for Atlanta it would be the nearby Oakland Cemetery, which was created in 1850 and survived General Sherman's march of fire through Atlanta. The "residents" of the cemetery make up a good portion of the city, as most of the former mayors and at least half a dozen governors are interred there, along with several well-known people, including golfer Bobby Jones, author Margaret Mitchell, both Atlantans, and country singer Kenny Rogers, who lived in Sandy Springs, a city just north of Atlanta where the hospital I work in is located, when he died last year. Similar to the King Center, the Oakland Cemetery is one of Atlanta's most visited historic sites.

Lois - I loved Gurnah’s Paradise. Thank you so much for the book and nudge.

>179 dchaikin: You are VERY welcome.

>178 kidzdoc: Glad to hear about the others, Darryl (how many other attendees of your conference thought to tour a cemetery during a break?!)

>181 avaland: Ha! Probably not many...

We have had quite a few big distractions from reading and posting here. I won't list them all here :-) However, our 6 year old grandson managed to catch Covid (he had a moderate fever and a snorky nose in the mornings for the first week), but the whole family has been quarantining since. My daughter thinks he likely caught it at after school care at the YMCA (rather than school or soccer). We had not been near him so we weren't worried about ourselves (and we've had our boosters).

We have been doing some reading, until yesterday until they started demolishing our two bathrooms....

Wish your grandson and family well.

>185 dchaikin: Thanks, Dan. I admit to holding my breath when we first heard, but he seems fine, driving his parents crazy...would rather NOT do the homework the school has sent. He very much misses school and soccer...other kids. I made a chocolate pie yesterday afternoon and we drove over and handed it off at the front door to his father (last week it was new PJs, a space sticker book and some matchbox cards)

>186 avaland: it stinks that such a young kid has to deal with all this, probably without understanding much.

I'm sorry to hear about your grandson. Fortunately it doesn't sound like your daughter or SIL caught it. That's good. Congrats on getting your booster. And good luck with the remodel. Come on by if you need a shower! ;-) Or just stand outside for a while. It's raining like crazy here and I assume there too.

>187 dchaikin: Thanks. It's been raining crazy here, too. An inch just today. Hasn't stopped a hoard of birds from chowing down at the bird feeders (it's a frenzy out there).

BTW, I have followed your posts on reporting the old guy; and we support you. I felt it was your story to tell and didn't want to interject anything.

I hope that your grandson makes a quick and complete recovery from COVID-19, Lois.

>189 avaland: Thanks, Lois.

>190 kidzdoc: Thanks, Darryl.

I'm getting way behind, so here are a few short reviews:



The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson (1981) aka "A Countess Below Stairs"

Anna Grazinsky, an eighteen-year-old, penniless Russian countess and refugee/emigre, takes a temporary position as a servant in the Earl of Westerholme's English mansion. She is smart, upbeat, adorable, works hard and endears herself to everyone while the usual upstairs/downstairs drama plays out. The Earl must marry money to sustain his estate and chooses the very beautiful Muriel Hardwicke....

This was a very fun book to read; a delicious diversion if one has a chest cold or needs a beach read. The prose is easy, and often very witty, and the various characters (and there are quite a few) have just the right amount of color. The story plays out to its expected happy ending, and the reader—in this case—finds herself delightfully entertained when she wasn't coughing.

PS: Thanks to Caroline_MacElwee for sharing a "summer reading" suggestion list (from some UK publication) months ago, from which I picked this, and one other book from.

Out of Body by Jeffrey Ford (2020, Magical Realism)

After experiencing a traumatic event, Owen, a small town librarian, begins to have 'out of body' experiences at night. At first he is fascinated to see his community from this nighttime perspective, but then he meets a woman, another more seasoned nighttime traveler, and together they soon discover another(darker) side to this nighttime world.

Jeff Ford most often writes what is often called "magical realism", a fairly broad term for 20th century literature where a supernatural or magical element invades our familiar world. I enjoy Ford's work and have been reading him for a long time. This story becomes a bit of a not-too-serious horror thriller (you know: time is running out, someone must be stopped to save others) when I would have preferred something more subtle, I think. Still, it was an amusing short read (163 pages).

Another favorite author....



Wake Up and Dream by Ian R. Macleod (2011, UK, Multi-genre)

In this alternate 1940 Hollywood, The “talkies” have been completely superseded by the "feelies. Lars Bechmeir, a German emigre, had a vision of people literally enabled to share each others feelings. He discovered a 'wave' that could do this and subsequently invented the technology to deliver this "experience" to movie audiences. It’s all the rage now, and audiences can’t get enough of it. And all manner of uses of this machine is being imagined … some more nefarious than others.

Clarke Gable is a former actor. now eeking out a living as an unlicensed private detective in a soddy apartment building. He reluctantly takes a job where he is to impersonate the client’s husband (who he happens to resemble) for a few hours. Well, Clarke needs the money. The husband is a talented writer of "feelie" scripts, and is currently missing. And from here the story going forward is much like an unravellng, as if pulling a thread of yarn in an old sweater.

The husband can’t be found, and people start ending up dead and Clark is in the middle of it all. Something nefarious is going on….

Part alternate history, part science fiction, part mystery (and probably several other things) this story is imaginative and fast-paced, often engrossing and, for lack of a better word, somewhat congested (not sure if that is a positive or negative… likely something between). I enjoyed this book, even as I felt I was struggling to keep up. My only true negative is the three or four uses of the "N" word within the antiquated vernacular—each time it showed up it was more a horrifying distraction from the story.

It sounds like you have been under the weather. Hope you are feeling better. A nice assortment of lighter reads while you recoup.

>196 labfs39: Thanks, Lisa.

Hi, Lois and Michael. I've been gone for a while, but I'd like to start up again. I miss the camaraderie. I skimmed your thread, and got a few recommendations.

>198 sallypursell: Welcome back!

The Scholars of Night by John M. Ford

The legendarily smart and erudite Ford died young in 2006, and Tor Books is bringing his work back into print. Scholars is a 1988 Cold War spy thriller; the discovery of a list of Soviet double agents triggers a round of murder and betrayal, as the lover of the first murdered agent begins carrying out an audacious plan while Western and Soviet agencies try to stop her. Pulled into the action is Nicholas Hansard, a history professor valued by the spooks for his ability to spot patterns and authenticate documents. Also significant is a recently-found, previously unknown play by Christopher Marlowe which seems to depict an involvement of Marlowe with the spies of his 1500s-era England.

Hansard's development from analyst to field agent is well done. The Mcguffin is a secret computer board involved in warfare command-and-control, a refreshing change from the usual superweapon. The double identity of the vengeful lover is a bit too easy to figure out. Ford, who also wrote excellent poetry, has fun synthesizing verse by Marlowe from the discovered manuscript, and tense scenes with Queen Elizabeth I's spymaster Walsingham. Much is made of board games like Diplomacy, which Handsard and the spooks love to play in their spare time.

I started this book fearing its double crosses might be too intricate for me. However, I followed it without too much trouble - or, of course, it was way too smart for me and I missed a lot. The characters do frequently have realizations about personal relationships that seem opaque to me.

This 2021 edition features a brief introduction by Charles Stross, who also works the vineyard of speculative Cold War thrillers. He reminds us that all such books were and still are written under the shadow of thousands of nuclear weapons, standing always ready to fire.

Well done, but not as good as I expected.

Three and a half stars

>200 dukedom_enough: Nice review. I do enjoy a good espionage novel from time to time. I haven't read any Ford yet, but will keep an eye out.

I've read his (funny) Star Trek novel, How Much for Just the Planet (huh, read it prior to 2007 and didn't keep it, apparently). I think that's the only one by him I've ever read.

>202 jjmcgaffey: The first release in this series was alternate-history story The Dragon Waiting, but I decided to start with this one.

I Am Providence by Nick Mamatas

Content warning for violence, and for several uses of the N-word. A murder mystery, wherein a writer is murdered at a literary convention. The killer has to be one of the small circle of people at the convention - right?

Many there are who might take issue with the word "literary" here. The Summer Tentacular is a gathering of fans - and haters, the categories overlap - of the late H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937), snob, racist, anti-Semite, and crafter of stories of cosmic horror, stories notable for their bad prose which have nonetheless caught the imaginations of generations of readers and writers. New writer Colleen Danzig is attending this Providence, Rhode Island weekend for her first time, meeting the longterm fans and professionals who have been coming for decades while nurturing friendships and - more commonly - grudges. The more normal of these folks could be called quirky or eccentric. Others...well, established, and widely detested, writer Panos Panossian has turned up dead in the laundry room, his face sliced off. He had had in his possession a valuable book bound in human skin, and that tome is missing. Will Colleen leave the detecting to the Providence police department? Of course not; she sets out to discover who in this small world has done the deed.

Later writers have produced numerous novels and stories set in Lovecraft's imagined "Mythos". Stephen King, Charles Stross, and Catherynne M. Valente are among the much better artists working with HPL's basic insight: that the universe is vast and old and utterly indifferent to humans, and we are perhaps better off not seeking too deeply into forbidden knowledge.

These real professionals do attend conventions, but the Summer Tentacular is Mamatas's invention, populated with a much less successful cohort, many of whom lead extremely marginal lives, earning little from their work. Most would have reasons for killing Panossian. Mamatas knows his milieu. His satire is not that much more extreme than the reality of actual science fiction/fantasy/horror conventions, filled with successful writers and editors and fans, but also with some who have nothing else in their lives.

The book is also a work of cosmic horror. Half the chapters are narrated by Panossian as he lies dead in a drawer in the morgue. Death, he learns, takes longer to complete than doctors understand. He follows the progress of his case by overhearing conversations among the witnesses who view his body, and recalls his hungry, angry life over the weekend, as he feels his brain decay toward a final oblivion. His fate will be shared by everyone whose brain is not destroyed at death; you, too, are a character in this story.

The horror is leavened with humor, e.g.: "the horror small press rule of thumb is this—the fancier the physical object, the worse the actual text between the covers..." or: "Now the stuff he produced wasn't very good, but if you're a fan and just want to consume nothing but Cthulhu all day while waiting for Cthulhu to come consume you, then it was fine." We're cosmically doomed, but that's no reason not to have a chuckle sometimes.

I don't read much Lovecraftian fiction, but in my limited experience Mamatas is uniquely interesting.

Four stars.

>204 dukedom_enough: That Matamas sounds very tempting. Sylvia Moreno Garcia's Gods of Jade and Shadow is an entertaining Lovecraftian jaunt without the nihilism. Gemma Files has written some really good horror, but I found her Hexslinger series, a Lovecraftian gay Western, kind of a mess.

>204 dukedom_enough: Interesting

>205 nohrt4me2: Lots of possibilities out there.

>206 baswood: Thanks.

Among the Ruins by Ausma Zehanet Khan (2017, Canadian, 3rd in the series)

Detective Esa Khattak, a Muslim, has taken time off from the Toronto community policing department to travel to Iran to explore his cultural heritage. But, his exploration is interrupted when he is asked by an Canadian governmental agent to look into the murder in Iran of a Canadian film-maker. Khattak is soon deep into the investigation, treading very carefully, and communicating back to Detective Rachel Getty, his work partner back in Toronto.

I enjoyed following Khattak on his tour, and, as with the previous two installments in this series, I was interested in the experience of a practicing Muslim who is also a cop. And it was interesting to see how someone investigates in a country that is less open.

I read the first two books when they first came out some years ago, so it took a bit to settle back in with the characters. These books are intelligent, complex, enjoyable crime novels…they seem to offer far more than the average crime novel; I might dare to say they transcend the genre.

>208 avaland: I have read and enjoyed a few novels in this series, but my library doesn't own this one. I may need to purchase it, as I like the nuanced view of policing through Detective Khattak's eyes.

And searching our catalog, I discovered this author also wrote a fantasy series. Will be checking that out as well. And a new mystery series starting with Blackwater Falls in 2022 (set in Colorado, it features Detectives Inaya Rahman and Catalina Hernandez as well as an independent monitor named Areesha Adams.)

>209 markon: I bought three used copies to have on hand (now just two). Glad you liked them, too.

Yes, I noted the author had moved to Colorado. Doubt I’d go for the fantasy but there is a rare I might look at the new series (I tend not to read US crime novels)

We Know You Remember by Tove Alsterdal (2021, translated from the Swedish). Book 1 of the High Coast series.

Olaf Hagstrom returns to his family’s riverside home after more than twenty years away to find his father stabbed to death in the shower. Olaf is not above suspicion for the murder because as a teen he was convicted and sent away for rape and murder. This is a small community and everyone starts talking. Police Detective Eira Sjodin, herself a lifelong resident of the small town, and rather new to her duties begins an investigation….

This is a well-done crime novel set in a small community where everyone pretty much knows everyone else. The storyline doesn’t quite follow the plot line one might expect, but it’s thoughtful, interesting, and every now and again, riveting. I liked the 30-something detective; while she lacks experience, she makes up with good instincts and hard work (and she knows the town). While I don’t think I’d give the book 5 stars, it was certainly good enough read for me to run off and order the author’s first novel, and I will keep an eye out for the next book she writes.

P.S. I’m not booking an actual trip to this part of Sweden anytime soon….;-)

Woman of the Ashes by Mia Couto (2015, translated 2018, Mozambique)

Set in 1894 in Mozambique a Portuguese soldier, a sergeant, is posted to the village of Nkokolani to oversee his country’s conquest of the territory. The territory is also being contested by several local tribes who have been fighting each other for years. Sgt. Germano de Mello is out of his depth and enlists a 15 year old local girl (our ‘woman of the ashes’) who can speak English to assist him.

The story is told from the Sergeant, by way of his letters written to his commanding officer, and by Imani in what the book editors call a “vivid folklorish prose.” The story is creatively done, often mesmerizing, and transports the reader, but I found it also difficult to follow at times (there is a lot going on, and perhaps that’s the point). The sergeant seems a comic character at times, out of his depth, relying on Imani (who he falls in love with) more than he should.

Couto is one of my many favorite African authors and I have read several of his previous books, and have two short story collections still yet to read.

The Asylum of Dr. Caligari by James Morrow (2017, Fantasy)

Francis Wyndham, an art instructor, takes a position at an asylum run by no other than Alessandra Caligari. Wyndham will teach art therapy to the patients just as WWI begins. Taking advantage of the war, Caligari nefariously has created a large, powerfully enchanted painting and for a price he will allow governments to march their troops before it, mesmerizing the men so they rush into battle. Meanwhile, our art therapy teacher has been getting to know the place and people, and comes together with the brilliant and talented, spider-obsessed Ilona ,and a merry band of lunatics to attempt to thwart Caligari's plans with some art of their own.

This 182 page novella is a wonderful, short, intelligent, madcap satire around art. It made for a fun afternoon read on a cold and icy winter's day. Note: I did re-acquaint myself with Caligari & his cabinet via wikipedia before starting the book, although it probably isn't absolutely necessary to enjoy the book.

>213 avaland: The cover seems perfect for a “madcap satire”

>214 labfs39: Indeed!

>208 avaland: this sounds very interesting, I've enjoyed some Iranian films and I'll think about trying these, interesting to get a broader picture than we often have.

I'm not entirely caught up with you but also enjoyed your review of Eva Ibbotson, whom I may read.

>216 tonikat: They are intelligent crime novels. I have a few more in the TBR (so many books, so little time....)