Laytonwoman3rd Settles into SPRING! Second Quarter 2021

Hi, I'm Linda. I grew up, and have spent most of my life in Northeastern Pennsylvania, with brief interludes in New Orleans and Philadelphia after marrying flamingrabbit. I've been retired from my career as a paralegal a full five years now, and I highly recommend it.

During my childhood, this general store/service station was where we bought supplies, gas, and work clothes. There was also a soda fountain in the back. The Delaware River flows just behind and below the ledge this building sits on. A few years before I was born, at the time this photo was taken, it was owned and operated by my Uncle George and Aunt Jessie. My dad worked there and lived upstairs with them before he married my mom.

LT has been an essential part of my life since I joined in 2005, after my daughter lycomayflower told me about "this site where you can catalog your books." My response was something like, "Why would I want to do that?" HA! I simply can't imagine life without it anymore. I never knew how much I needed a reading community, until I found one. I've been tracking my reading in the 75 Book Challenge Group for most of the last 15 years. If you'd like to explore my reading backwards from here, there are links on my profile page to my earlier threads. My goal is always to read more of the books I already own, and to acquire fewer books than I remove from the house. In past years this has been a big joke, but I did a pretty good job of moving things into boxes in the garage in 2020. They will sit there until my favorite libraries are accepting donations again.

I will use tickers to keep track of my total books read, the number of those that I've had on my own shelves for at least a year at the time I read them, and the number of books I decide to get rid of in 2021. For the first time in a long time, I did not meet my reading goal in 2020. My total usually exceeds 100, but in the First Year of Covid, I couldn't make it to 85, for some reason. I think it was because I spent a lot of time working on genealogy and cemetery documentation projects, and that I was learning the ropes of conducting Board meetings as President of the Scranton Public Library Board of Trustees. My reading time may have suffered, but I'm happy with the contributions I've made to the Find-A-Grave website, and relieved to find that I am OK at the Madame President thing. So far, 2021 isn't proving to be a rip-roaring reading year, if we go by totals, either. I will be lucky to hit 75. Still many other interests grabbing at me, and I refuse to complain about what I'm NOT doing. Life is pretty good.

I'll be hosting the American Authors Challenge again this year. See >7 laytonwoman3rd: below.

Here's a link to my last 2020 reading thread. You can navigate backward through the year with the continuation links. I usually have 4 threads per year, but in 2020 I only did 3.

This one's for the tickers

Books Read in 2021:



ROOTS:



Books Removed from the House:

Here will be a list of the books I read in the second quarter of 2021. (I usually have one thread per quarter.)
I use some shorthand to help me keep track of my reading trends:

ROOT identifies a book that I have owned for at least a year at the time I read it.
CULL means I put the book in my donation box for the library book sale after finishing it, or otherwise gave it away.
DNF means I didn't finish the book, for one reason or another, usually explained in the related post.
ER means I received the book from LT's Early Reviewer program.
GN refers to a graphic novel, GM a graphic memoir (don't expect to see a lot of those!)
An * asterisk indicates a library book.
LOA means I read a Library of America edition;
SF means the book was a Slightly Foxed edition, (NOT science fiction, which I so rarely read);
VIRAGO means it was an original green-spined Virago edition from my own collection;
FOLIO indicates a Folio Society edition.
AUDIO and e-Book are self-explanatory, and probably won't appear very often.
AAC refers to the American Author Challenge.
NF indicates a non-fiction read.

Clicking on titles in this post will take you to the message in which I reviewed or commented on that book.

JUNE

38. Conversations with Ken Kesey AAC
37. River King by Alice Hoffman ROOT
36. The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse by Charlie Mackesy
35. Celia's House by D. E. Stevenson
34. Natchez Burning by Greg Iles ROOT, CULL
33. The Sea Lion by Ken Kesey AAC
32. You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson ROOT

MAY

*31. The Outcast Dead by Elly Griffiths
30. Birds of America by Mary McCarthy ROOT, AAC, LOA
29. Practise to Deceive by Frances and Richard Lockridge ROOT
28. Signal Loss by Garry Disher
*27. A Darker Domain by Val McDermid
*26. A Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths

APRIL

25. Lean on Pete by Willy Vlautin AAC
*24. The Distant Echo by Val McDermid
23. Who Speaks For the Negro? by Robert Penn Warren AAC
22. Chronicles Volume One by Bob Dylan ROOT, AAC

Books read in the first quarter of 2021:
Clicking on titles in this post will take you to the message in which I reviewed or commented on that book in my first 2021 thread.

MARCH

*21. A Room Full of Bones by Elly Griffiths
20. The Beginner's Goodbye by Anne Tyler ROOT, CULL
19. The Dry Grass of August by Anna Jean Mayhew ROOT, CULL
18. catalog of unabashed gratitude by Ross Gay
*17. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
16. The Well of Loneliness by Radcliffe Hall BAC, ROOT, VIRAGO
*15. Difficult Women by Roxane Gay DNF, AAC
14. Blonde Faith by Walter Mosley ROOT, CULL
13. Sing Sing Prison by Guy Cheli
12. Waiting for the Flood by Alexis Hall CULL
*11. R is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton re-read

FEBRUARY

*10. The House at Sea's End by Elly Griffiths
9. Whispering Death by Garry Disher
8. Paradise by Toni Morrison ROOT
DNF A Doubter's Almanac by Ethan Canin AAC, ROOT, CULL
7. Dancing at the Rascal Fair by Ivan Doig ROOT

JANUARY

6. Cloud Chamber by Michael Dorris ROOT, AAC
5. The Searcher by Tana French
4. The Murderous McLaughlins by Jack Dunphy AAC, CULL
3. A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris ROOT, AAC
2. Mrs. Sherlock Holmes by Brad Ricca ROOT, CULL
1. Peter Pan By J. M. Barrie ROOT, BAC

Here's where I'll keep track of what I get rid of.

JANUARY

1. Mrs. Sherlock Holmes by Brad Ricca
2. The Murderous McLaughlins by Jack Dunphy
3. Appetite for Life by Noel Riley Fitch
4. Southern Daughter by Darden Asbury Pyron

FEBRUARY

5. A Doubter's Almanac by Ethan Canin

MARCH

6. Collected Stories of Jean Stafford (duplicate copy)
7. Whispering Death by Garry Disher
8. Waiting for the Flood by Alexis Hall
9. Blonde Faith by Walter Mosley
10. Known to Evil by Walter Mosley
11. Walkin' the Dog by Walter Mosley
12. The Dry Grass of August by Anna Jean Mayhew

APRIL

13. Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
14. The Beginner's Good-Bye by Anne Tyler

MAY

15. Kathleen and Frank by Christopher Isherwood

JUNE

16. Natchez Burning by Greg Iles

Books acquired

JANUARY

1. The White Rose of Memphis by Co. William C. Falkner
2. Falkner by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
3. Robert E. Lee and Me by Ty Seidule

FEBRUARY

4. Still Life by Val McDermid
5. The Persimmon Trail by Juyanne James
6. Fences by August Wilson
7. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom by August Wilson
8. Seven Guitars by August Wilson
9. Signal Loss by Garry Disher
10. The Book of Delights by Ross Gay
11. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
12. Waiting for the Flood by Alexis Hall

MARCH

13. Jean Stafford Complete Stories and Other Writings (LOA)

MAY

14. The Bondwoman's Narrative by Hannah Crafts
15. Orchard by Larry Watson
16. Never Caught by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
17. Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates by Brian Kilmeade
18. Anna's Book by Ruth Rendell writing as Barbara Vine
19. Tar Baby by Toni Morrison
20. No Exit by Jean Paul Sartre
21. Falling Feathers by Peggy Bancroft

JUNE

22. Two Trains Running by August Wilson
23. Jitney by August Wilson
24. Conversations with Ken Kesey

Here is the line-up for 2021 in the American Authors Challenge:

JANUARY A Theme Month
All in the Family Spouses, partners, parents and children who all write.
The January thread is here.

I have finished A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris, husband of Louise Erdrich.
Finished The Murderous McLaughlins by Jack Dunphy, long-time partner of Truman Capote
Finished Cloud Chamber by Michael Dorris

FEBRUARY Ethan Canin
The Thread for February is here.
Started A Doubter's Almanac DNF

MARCH Roxane Gay
The thread for March is here.
Finished with Difficult Women

APRIL A Theme Month
Americans Who Make Music Creative minds often use more than one medium to express themselves, and a lot of musicians have written fiction, memoir and poetry.
Here is the April thread.
Finished Chronicles by Bob Dylan
Finished Lean on Pete by Willy Vlautin

MAY Mary McCarthy
Her thread is here.

Read a selection from Hanoi as published in LOA's Reporting Vietnam collection
Finished Birds of America

JUNE Ken Kesey
His lamentably short thread.
Finished The Sea Lion and
Conversations with Ken Kesey


JULY A Theme Month
Native American Authors and Themes
Lots of possibilities, both fiction and non-fiction.
Here is the discussion thread for July

AUGUST Connie Willis

SEPTEMBER Howard Norman

OCTOBER Attica Locke

NOVEMBER Albert Murray

DECEMBER A Theme Month
Young Adult

WILD CARD---You name it, you read it.

The General Discussion thread for the challenge can be found here.

I'll try to remember to post links here to the individual monthly threads as they are created.

Next one is open to everyone!

Happy new thread, Linda!

Happy new thread!

>8 katiekrug:, >9 MickyFine: Thanks, early birds. Construction is completed now, so the topper is in place.

Super sepia starter.

Happy new thread, Linda.

Happy April, Linda! Happy New Thread! Sorry, I have been absent here and on the AAC. Hopefully all is well, in both places. I recently watched the Flannery doc, on PBS and thought it was excellent. I also watched the first ep of the "Hemingway" doc that premiered this week. It is also terrific.

>11 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul, and welcome!

>12 msf59: I have been missing you, Mark. We're planning to look at the Hemingway series this weekend, I think. Our PBS station showed it three nights in a row, so we recorded it for convenient viewing later.

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread, Linda.

Happy new thread, Linda. Love that topper.

Love the topper and family story Linda.

22. Chronicles by Bob Dylan Overall, I'm not as impressed as so many reviewers seemed to be with this memoir. It was an interesting read, but often Dylan's recollections seemed to mean a lot more to him than they could possibly mean to a reader in the random, somewhat cryptic way they were related. There is no time line, very few signposts to give you a clue as to when or even where some of the incidents took place. References to "my wife" never mention her name, so knowing which wife he was talking about at any given time would require research and correlation; some of those references seemed to have little or no bearing on the narrative in any case. At other times, however, he stunned me with his observations. His complete rejection of the labels people tried to stick to him---Spokesman of the Counterculture, Voice of the Folk Movement, Conscience of His Generation, even "protest singer"--- struck me as very poignant. He repeatedly made the point that all he wanted to do was write songs, be true to himself, and take care of his family. The best bits were his descriptions of other artists he admired, and he never says a bad word about anybody. Joan Baez had a "voice that drove out bad spirits". Robert Johnson's words "made my nerves quiver like piano wires." Harry Belafonte was "that rare type of character that radiates greatness, and you hope some of it rubs off on you." The closest he comes to criticizing anyone is when he mentions a producer or agent who didn't "get" what he was trying to do. I'm very glad I read this, but I'm not sure I can give it more than 3 stars. It did make me want to read Joe Klein's biography of Woody Guthrie, which has been on my shelves for a long time....so that's next.

Happy new thread, Linda!

I'm here to witness this birth of a new thread. It is quietly moving.

Hi Linda my dear, happy new thread.

>18 laytonwoman3rd: That's a really informative review, Linda.
I like that you shone a light on the high points and didn't pull your punches where that was needed.

I've never been tempted to read musicians' autobiographies.
I'm aware that there's a tendency to gloss and refine to the author's benefit in such memoirs but it sounds as if Bob didn't fall into that trap. Too bad there wasn't some better editing. "My wife" seems a strange way to mention his spouse when he apparently wrote that all he wanted to do "was write songs, be true to himself, and take care of his family".

>22 SandyAMcPherson: Thanks, Sandy. There were very few specific references to his personal life, so the times when he mentioned "my wife" doing something seemed as though they ought to be highly significant, but if so, it was not conveyed to me.

>19 FAMeulstee:, >20 weird_O:, >21 johnsimpson: Welcome, Anita, Bill and John!

>1 laytonwoman3rd: >18 laytonwoman3rd: I have not read a page of a book for about ten days now. A very big part of the reason is that I have been on a marathon of findagrave (78 memorials plus pictures added to many existing ones this month) since I last read. Whew. I have pretty much finished my backlog and so it should be time to read again but I am suffering from indecision today. I had decided on Dylan's Chronicles and I appreciate your fair warning on the plusses and minuses. I nibbled on a Neil Young book but bailed since it felt so disjointed mostly because I didn't already know about lotsa things. So it would have been a memoir for big fans but maybe not casual fans. Not a waste but not for me. I was hoping Chronicles would be better. I need something simple that doesn't need close attention.

Oh, our Friends of the Library is still not taking donations so my boxes and bags still wait for them. They did however have a mini-sale yesterday afternoon for 3 hours as a popup outside the library in a courtyard. I went just because and bought a Thoreau book just because. The sale was well attended although the selection of available books was not large (but obviously well chosen). Surprise surprise I spied one of the later Armistead Maupin books! I didn't even open it ... maybe someday.

Hi Linda. I'm impressed that you link from your posting of books read so far this year to your comments about the book on prior thread(s). When I am five years into retirement, I will do the same! LOL

By the way, I quite enjoyed the Netflix drama series of Tales of the City, although it will be better if you've watched the old 1993 miniseries. The 2019 version has much more explicit sex scenes (no surprise there).

>24 RBeffa: The nice spring days have had me out in the cemeteries too, Ron. I haven't done a tally of how many memorials and photos I've uploaded, but I have made 3 trips to a large cemetery nearby, and it is in need of a lot of documenting. I try to get one batch loaded before making another trip, but I do get backed up sometimes.

Chronicles won't require much of you if you do decide to go with that one, and as I said, there are nuggets in it that are definitely worthwhile.

>25 EBT1002: Hi, Ellen! You'll be surprised how quickly that five-year anniversary comes around. I've been doing those links for a long time now; it's a way for me to keep track of my impressions, especially if I don't do a full-on review (those are usually written off-site and saved somewhere on my computer before posting--I've lost too many brilliant critiques by working at length in a message box!)

Happy newish thread, Linda. It has been a long time since I walked around a cemetery. But we were talking cemeteries in our genealogy society's Zoom meeting last night. Specifically the grave of Raymond Burr who is interred in a cemetery in New Westminster. One that many of us had a tour of in the days when you could still do stuff like that.

>28 Familyhistorian: Well, of course I had to go to Find-A-Grave and look up Raymond Burr's memorial! Fraser Cemetery certainly looks tour-worthy. My husband's grandfather and two great uncles are buried in St. Michael and All Angels Cemetery in Saanich, BC.

>29 laytonwoman3rd: The Fraser Cemetery was is worth a tour. Road trip to see both cemeteries in person? There would be a ferry ride to see the one in Saanich.

>30 Familyhistorian: That would be quite a road trip from NE Pennsylvania! I would love it though. A grand historical cemetery nearby me has just announced it will resume its walking tours this summer. I am very excited, because I haven't managed to make it to one yet, and I understand they are very interesting.

Raymond Burr grew up in Vallejo (California) where I have lived the last 30some years.

>32 RBeffa: I hadn't realized he was born in Canada. I thought he was so much better in Ironside than in Perry Mason...or maybe the writing was just better in the later series.

>33 laytonwoman3rd: I saw the early seasons of Ironside but really don't remember them much. Perry Mason was a much more indelible character to me.

Rear Window.

>35 weird_O: That too.

23. Who Speaks For the Negro by Robert Penn Warren I started reading this for the 2020 AAC last August. It's heavy food for thought, and I needed to take it in smallish bites, so I've just now finished it.

This is a collection of interviews Warren conducted with civil rights leaders and workers in 1964, interspersed with his own observations and conclusions. Originally published in 1965, my 2014 edition contains an excellent introduction by David W. Blight.

It is fascinating to read the varying positions of such well-known men as James Baldwin, Adam Clayton Powell, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Carl Rowan and Roy Wilkins on subjects from integration to non-violence in historical context, as well as the perspectives of the low-profile individuals dedicated to the difficult task of carrying out their leaders' agendas. It is also demoralizing to realize that despite all the work of all the people who devoted their lives---even sacrificed their lives, and all the changes that did come out of that troubled period, our country has not resolved the fundamental issues underlying racial conflict, and seems now to be moving in the wrong direction. Warren took on an incredibly ambitious project here, especially for an OWM from the Southland, and did a remarkable job with it. This book deserves to be read alongside all the 21st century works on the subject of race that are currently gracing our shelves.

>37 laytonwoman3rd: Hit with a BB there Linda.

>38 Caroline_McElwee: Happy to oblige, Caroline!

24. The Distant Echo by Val McDermid I've not read Val McDermid before, and now I'm hooked. This is technically the first in the Karen Pirie series, but Pirie is only a minor character in the story. A cold case review brings back bad memories for four men who were students at St. Andrews 25 years ago, when they had the misfortune to stumble onto the not-quite-dead body of Rosie, a local barmaid of their acquaintance, while returning to their digs from a typical student bash. We are taken back to the investigation of Rosie's rape and murder; the suspicion that fell on the boys in the absence of any other likely perp; and then forward again to the new efforts to solve the case with modern forensic techniques. The pace is galloping, the psychological elements very well played, and the suspense nicely managed, although as I was reading I thought the author went one step too far. In the end I saw it was necessary for her resolution, and it isn't her fault she employed a plot element I absolutely HATE. I was fairly sure of the villain about 2/3 through, but McDermid kept me just enough off balance that I still entertained a couple other possibilities, and she did throw in a wee surprise before it was all sorted. Not often these days do I get so stuck into a book that I can read for hours at a stretch; this one did it for me.

>40 laytonwoman3rd: - I haven't read any McDermid either, but I have several in the stacks, including this one!

>40 laytonwoman3rd: Hmmm ... tempting. I haven't read any McDermid and didn't know I was missing anything. Dammit.

>41 katiekrug:, >42 lauralkeet:

>40 laytonwoman3rd: I haven't read that series Linda, but like her Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series. I'm rationing them. I've read 4/5 of them so far.

>43 laytonwoman3rd: - Ha!

Cemetery tours are very interesting. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Most of the ones I've attended were in Mountainview Cemetery which is in the middle of Vancouver and takes up 3 blocks. They have lots of themed tours or did before Covid.

I'm reading the second in the Karen Pirie series, A Darker Domain and Karen is in the book from the beginning. It's a good one.

Great reviews! And I'm glad to know you're the curator of AAC. Made note to self for future months with themes of interest...

>46 Familyhistorian: Good to know you're enjoying the second Pirie novel, Meg. I just picked it up from the library. I've been doing my own unguided touring of cemeteries for years now, and I've learned a lot that way, but I really hope to be able to join a formal tour or two this summer.

>47 justchris: Thanks, Chris. Looking forward to your joining us in the AAC whenever it suits your tastes.

I guess I should delurk so I know where I got to on your thread!

Do all large cemeteries have tours? I like visiting the one at Ross Bay when I am in Victoria, but have never seen any tours mentioned. I didn't know about the cemetery in Saanich (St. Michael and All Angels Cemetery).

>49 SandyAMcPherson: I know a couple of the larger, older cemeteries here in Northeast PA do historical tours, sometimes with actors in period dress representing some of the notable dead. And then there are the "spooky" tours, which don't interest me. I haven't really explored how common this is, but I imagine anywhere with an active historical society might have this sort of thing going on, at least occasionally.

>50 laytonwoman3rd: That's a great suggestion, an active historical society. Of course many modern burial grounds are less interesting to wander through because the need to have in-ground slab laid and no fancy gravestones or statuary make them a little boring.

I enjoy the personality of the really old graveyards associated with churches. I do understand that for maintenance efficiency, the power mowers need an unobstructed area to pass over.

>51 SandyAMcPherson: Yes, the "no monument" graveyards are sort of bland, aren't they? But no less in need of documentation and maintenance, even if it isn't quite as much fun. So far, I'm not running out of older, more eclectic graves to explore and document for the Find-A-Grave website, more or less in my own backyard.

>52 laytonwoman3rd: In which Linda admits to having bodies buried in her own backyard. Hmm ... 🤔

#22 I make it a policy to avoid paying for books where the writer has men refer to "my wife" the same was as they would to "my shoes."

>53 lauralkeet: Surely you knew Linda3rd worked in law offices for many years...such folk always have some buried bodies.

*smooch*

>53 lauralkeet:, >54 richardderus: Crikey----I spent all afternoon preparing for tomorrow's Cemetery Association meeting (you wouldn't think dead people would cause so much trouble), only to come over here and realize I seem to have dug my own grave!

>54 richardderus: oh yes! And she's mastered the lawyerly art of appearing completely beyond reproach.

>55 laytonwoman3rd: And now you admit to having a Cemetery Association for your own backyard. HAVE YOU NO SHAME?!

>56 lauralkeet: Ummm....I don't THINK that's what I admitted. The Cemetery Assc. is for a cemetery in another county entirely. I mean, really.

>56 lauralkeet: see >57 laytonwoman3rd:...the plausible deniability plan is enacted. Now the full truth will never be known.

>58 richardderus: Meetings are open to the public. Y'all are invited to attend. 1:00 p.m. tomorrow, The Calder Room of the Equinunk Historical Society, 1972 Pine Mill Road... It MAY be an interesting show, I'm just saying.

>58 richardderus: ha ha ha good one RD

>59 laytonwoman3rd: we expect a full account of the proceedings!

>60 lauralkeet: The run-up to it is a story in itself, but I'll save it to see how it all comes out.

>59 laytonwoman3rd:, >61 laytonwoman3rd: Well, the good news is, no new bodies were created or buried. That's really all you want to know. Ongoing kerfuffle over records that should be in OUR possession rather than THEIRS isn't too interesting to anyone else, I feel.

>62 laytonwoman3rd: Wait...now you're in the business of *creating* bodies?!

(I'd insert a gif of Gene Wilder here, but, well...)

>63 scaifea: Well, I did create that one live one a few decades back...

>64 laytonwoman3rd: Did you...did you just call her Frankenstein's monster?

*grabs tub of popcorn and awaits fireworks*

>64 laytonwoman3rd: All right, LOOK

>65 scaifea: Ummmm....no...she's way cuter, and also smarter, and if I may say so a significant improvement in many other ways over Dr. Frank's model.

>67 lycomayflower: whUT? Can you deny your origin story?

>68 laytonwoman3rd: I'm not sure I was there

*snaffles a handful of Amber's popcorn*

>65 scaifea:, >70 MickyFine:...sorry to disappoint...the show has closed in previews. Move along...nothing more to see here...

*grumbles*

Come on, Micky, let's take our popcorn and try to start something on someone else's thread...

>72 scaifea: SPN gif war on Laura's thread?

YES!! We'll be appreciated over there... *ahem*

>73 MickyFine: wait, what?!

Oh. The other Laura. Whew!

>75 lauralkeet: You're safe. For now... *cackles*

Hi, Linda! Loved your anecdote of the dim cousin over on Richard's thread. I've been mistaken for my dad's wife once or twice, but the scenario was a little different: he was the treasurer of a local kids' baseball league, and when I was in college (and a little older) he roped talked me into becoming secretary to make a little extra money. So, we would introduce ourselves at the beginning of the year, and explain that umpire cards and assessments needed to be sent to him at (address) and liability release forms for each player needed to be sent to me at (address). When we still shared the same address, at one point one of the newbie coaches turned to another who'd been there awhile and asked if I was his wife. My mother's been mistaken for my grandfather's wife before, and she has been decidedly not happy about it lol.

I'm going back a bit, but it's nice to find another person who enjoys the art and history in cemeteries. There's one not far from my house where several relatives/ancestors are buried, and I expect I'll be walking there pretty regularly.

I'm going to try to catch up on my own thread soon-ishly, but for now, take a glance at the May thread for Mary McCarthy in the American Authors Challenge.

*looms in*
y'all short-shorts're nutsy-cuckoo
{lurk}

Linda, part of my enjoyment of creating the memorials on FAG is when you find comments left in later years like this one: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/181384008/lorraine-patrice-clark

>79 richardderus: Sure, 'n' we try

>80 RBeffa: Oh. Yes indeed, there's a story there.

25. Lean on Pete by Willy Vlautin for the AAC

Charley Thompson hasn't had many good times; his mom skedaddled before he can remember, and his dad isn't worth much when he even bothers to come home. At the age of 15, Charley knows how to fend for himself, so when he loses his dad too and life gets even tougher, he has a skill set to get by with. He can run, he can drive, he's good at shoplifting, and he doesn't mind eating cold soup or chili right out of the can, missing baths, or sleeping rough. Just the same, he's an innocent. He isn't any good at lying, though he sometimes tries it when the truth would serve him better. He never has a half-way believable excuse or alibi ready when he inevitably gets in trouble. As he sets out on a road trip with his only friend, a broken-down race horse named Pete--stolen, technically--he takes a lot of chances, usually because he has very few options. He rests all his meager hopes for the future on finding an aunt he vaguely remembers being kind to him when he was a "little kid". All he knows about her is her name, and that she used to live in Rock Springs, Wyoming, over a thousand miles from his home in Portland, Oregon. You can't really call this a coming-of-age story, because Charley starts out older than a lot of people ever get. If ever a boy needed a mother, here he is. You'll want to give him hot soup and a big hug.

26. A Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths No. 5 in the Ruth Galloway series. A very good entry. Ruth and Nelson both end up in Blackpool, his old stomping grounds, on separate missions. Why has Cathbad's old friend and fellow Druid Pendragon killed himself? Did one of Ruth's university circle really find the tomb of King Arthur, and if so, who wanted those bones --and their discoverer--to disappear? And what quirky sort of coincidence is at work in the universe causing this story about Blackpool Pleasure Beach's rollercoaster to show up on my TV this morning, so soon after I finished reading a book in which the climax occurred right there?

>83 laytonwoman3rd: I enjoyed A Dying Fall, as you said it was a very good entry in the series. But I didn't experience any quirky coincidences. That's wild.

>84 lauralkeet: It was a very strange experience this morning, Laura. I was shouting "I know about that place! I just read about that rollercoaster!"

27. A Darker Domain by Val McDermid Karen Pirie is now a DI in charge of the cold case unit, and she's investigating a new lead in a 25-year-old unsolved kidnapping. A journalist is also mightily interested in that matter, as she is the one who discovered the potential key to the crime, and she feels it just might be fodder for a career-defining book. The two women are not necessarily working in concert, although their goal is ostensibly the same. Meanwhile, DI Pirie has another mystery on her hands---the long-ago disappearance of a man whose family is just now reporting him missing. Lots of threads to follow here, and possibly just a bit of over-plotting, but gripping from beginning to end.

28. Signal Loss by Garry Disher The last available entry in the Hal Challis series, I believe. A lot of characters, a lot of threads in a bit of a tangle, and a rather incomprehensible competition between Challis and Destry's teams and a Senior Sergeant from the drug squad over who's going to "get" the bad guys who are distributing drugs, raping women and putting children at risk. Just a tad too much of everything, this one needed one less complication, and I had a lot of trouble buying the Sergeant who would do anything to score an arrest and to hell with the missing six-year-old. Her stupidity got her shot in the end, but she should have been relieved before it went that far.

>87 laytonwoman3rd: It seems Disher lost interest in Hal, dunno why really since his Hirschhausen series is so very chip-on-the-shouldery...Hal's a stand-up guy!

>88 richardderus: Well, he also has the Wyatt series and a couple of stand-alones...I'm hoping he's just alternating and will bring us more Hal and Ellen in good time.

Might there be a sidewalk book sale at the Albright Memorial Library this Saturday? Jus' askin'.

>90 weird_O: You heard that somewhere, didja? I really hope they sell enough to allow them to start accepting book donations again. My garage is getting kinda full.

So...you have a lot to sell? Good stuff? Is you havin' a special garage sale?

>92 weird_O: Why, are you coming up here? A special viewing could be arranged!

>93 laytonwoman3rd: Yes, unless something unusual happens, I will come to Scranton. Not sure when I will set off, but Google Maps asserts it'll take 1 hr. 27 min. And I understand the hours are only 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

>94 weird_O: I'll try to PM you a list of what I've got boxed down there tomorrow, so you can see if anything interests you.

>84 lauralkeet: I liked that story, too. Cathbad was my favourite character.

>96 SandyAMcPherson: I liked Cathbad better in this book than in any of the previous ones...his story got more personal and engaging.

Who can relate?

>98 laytonwoman3rd: hehe, go on, how many did you liberate?

Oh, it's not until tomorrow, Caroline.

>98 laytonwoman3rd: - Hehe, I bet Bill (Weird_O) can!! LOL

>101 jessibud2: I was thinking that very thing...

>101 jessibud2: >102 laytonwoman3rd: Hey, hey, hey. That >98 laytonwoman3rd: is just some _other weirdo. I'm not like those others.

>103 weird_O: I'm not like those others
Nope, you're going to need two bags, Bill!

I need that backpack. :)

Mischief managed!

The LT contingent at the Scranton Public Library's sidewalk sale.

(Note the miniature backpack on the far right.)

My modest haul. (Bill was going back with a second sack when I left.)

Nice haul Linda. Only know a couple of them. What's at the bottom?

Good to see LTers

>107 Caroline_McElwee: The Bondwoman's Narrative is the bottom book, Caroline. Maybe you're seeing that detail on the top of my sewing chest and thinking it's another volume? There's a raised panel just under the books. Falling Feathers is a bit of local history.

I love the detail on your sewing chest Linda.

>107 Caroline_McElwee: Happy smiles, lovely books, and a *perfect* day for it!

Looks like the sale was a success! Thanks for the photos Linda.

Thanks, Linda, for a happy day. I got a haul, including 19 books that I hope will appeal to one or another of the three grands I expect to see Sunday afternoon. Smooth sailing up and back. Scranton has a swell library.

Nice book haul.

>106 laytonwoman3rd: success!

>112 weird_O: Thanks, Bill! It was great to meet you in person. I'm glad you found a "few" books for the grands. I will be sure to pass on your compliments to the Library board at Thursday's meeting. They always love to hear when visitors are impressed.

>110 richardderus: It was a perfect day for a sidewalk sale.

>111 lauralkeet:, >113 BLBera:, >114 RBeffa: It was certainly a success from my point of view. I hope the Friends of the Library will also count it a success; I expect they will report the numbers to us at Thursday's meeting.

>106 laytonwoman3rd: - Lovely pics (even if your glasses reflect 3 arms, Linda, lol)

>116 jessibud2: I know...what's that about?? I should have tried to "spot fix" that before posting!

I just read through your posts to catch up. I’d been missing your posts. I still can’t figure out what I’ve done to my home page. Anyway, I just started McDermid’s A Darker Domain this morning. She’s really good. I’m patiently waiting for the new Ruth Galloway, The Night Hawks, which will be released at the end of June.

>118 NanaCC: McDermid and Griffiths are my current "go-to" suspense authors. Unless I'm in the mood to re-read one of the old favorites, like

29. Practise to Deceive by Frances and Richard Lockridge Probably my 3rd visit to this one. I just needed a familiar landscape populated with people I know.

A wealthy woman is found murdered in a motel room, and Susan Faye just happens to be the unlucky person who finds the body. The victim turns out to be a client of Susan's fabric shop, and neither of them were meant to be spending the night in a motel. Nor is that the only strange coincidence. As Susan's burgeoning romantic interest, Captain M. L. Heimrich of the New York State Police, notes, "Somebody went to a hell of a lot of trouble" to arrange it all, and in the teeth of a hurricane too. The characterizations (not least of the Great Dane, Colonel) are what make the Lockridge books so darned readable, even when, as in this one, the plot gets a little too "plotty".

>119 laytonwoman3rd: You had put this series on my wishlist a while ago, Linda, and I’ve never started it. In the LT series list there are two books listed before number one. Do I need to start with one of those, or just jump into the one marked as number one?

>120 NanaCC: Actually, there is no real "order" to these books until Heimrich's romance with Susan Faye begins, and that's not until No. 9, Burnt Offering. The two without numbers are books in the Mr. and Mrs. North series in which Heimrich appears, but briefly. So I'd say, read any one you can get your hands on. If you like the Hudson Valley setting, the Heimrich series is for you. If you want vintage NYC, and a sort of Nick and Nora vibe (with cats, though), the Norths series will scratch that itch.

>86 laytonwoman3rd: I gave A Darker Domain a try - having picked up the book on a recent visit to our library and I pearl ruled it. I told my wife it was too Scottish for me, that being only a slight fib. I was in the mood for a good thriller or mystery but it just did not grab me and all the bouncing around in time and place made it hard for me to get interested. C'est la vie.

Hi, Linda! I'm woefully behind on everyone's threads.

I love your thread topper. It reminds me a bit of the store my grandparents founded. Two of my aunts and their husbands (both uncles named George) ran it when I was young, and Grandmom lived in the attached house next to the store. I had a job there for a while. It didn't have a soda fountain. It had a deli counter where I learned to slice lunchmeat, and sold fishing tackle and bait along with groceries. There were gas pumps there too, back then. That store still exists, though it's not in the family any more.

>122 RBeffa: Ah, well...different strokes for different folks. I have never been able to connect with the Three Pines series, which so many love, and I'm not even sure why it doesn't work for me. Ain't we lucky there are so many choices?

>123 tymfos: Hi, Terri! Thanks for stopping by. I had another aunt/uncle set who had another general store right across the road from the one up top (not at the same time, although both stores did exist together for many many years, and one of them still does). I may feature that one on my next thread.

30. Birds of America by Mary McCarthy For the AAC. Mary McCarthy's work was new to me, and after doing the research for her in preparation for May's American Authors Challenge, I thought reading her might be more challenging than enjoyable. I was, therefore, very pleasantly surprised to love the experience of reading her very 1960ish novel about an idealist young man grappling with the real world and his place in it. It isn't plot-driven, by any means, and it has a rather abrupt and ambiguous ending, which I think was almost inevitable given the novel's lack of direction; this is a character portrait, and an examination of many social issues still plaguing civilization today. There is not much of a story arc.

Peter Levi, discouraged from joining the Students for Civil Rights group headed to Mississippi on his college break in 1964, resolves to enjoy an unexpected summer idyll with his mother back in Rocky Port, a small New England town where they had spent a happy year "in the bosom of Nature" when he was 15. Predictably, he finds many things changed, and has that "you can't go home again" experience. The summer ends with a wickedly funny description of a house and garden tour, and a night spent in jail for civil disobedience, before Peter sails off to Europe for his junior year abroad, where opportunities for soul-searching and testing one’s ethical beliefs abound.

McCarthy's skill with the language, and her ability to put her finger on exactly the right questions carried the book for me. I do love "story" and navel-gazing ain't my thing, so once in a while the episodic nature of the narrative slowed me down, and Peter Levi's angsty moments got to be a bit much--I just wanted to give him a little shove toward reality, reminding him that he was not obliged to relieve all human suffering nor to find the ultimate answers to the big questions. Still, it was a very timely read in this 21st Century moment, as all the damned questions remain with us 60-odd years later: racism, anti-Semitism, homelessness, Nature v. Technology, the future of Democracy, pollution, poverty, privilege (which McCarthy called “advantages”), testy foreign relations, political shenanigans, military conflicts. These are all discussed or illustrated situationally in sharply drawn vignettes and encounters between Peter and an array of characters from ex-naval officers to Russian students with whom he interacts at home and in France or Italy. The only area in which McCarthy fails to exhibit a "modern" sensibility is in the matter of sexual orientation; there are a couple off-hand comments about "homosexual colonies" of tourists, and "foreign queers", which set my teeth on edge. One came from the mouth of a character who clearly does not speak for the author, and by itself could have been taken as an indication of his prejudice; the other, sadly, came from Peter’s own head, and no excuse can be offered for him. Perhaps the most troubling thing about these tossed-off mentions of "deviant" individuals is that the author does not treat this as a subject worthy of any ethical discourse at all. Brief as they were, these references probably cost the novel a half star in my rating.

31. The Outcast Dead by Elly Griffiths Ruth Galloway gets involved with a TV show about Women Who Kill, when the bones of a notorious Victorian childminder known as "Mother Hook" are discovered. A page-turner, as usual. Personal lives move ahead and mysteries are solved. But I do hope Griffiths is through with putting children in peril...she's done it twice in a row now, and it's enough already.

>125 laytonwoman3rd: Mary McCarthy was devoutly homophobic. I won't even buy her books used. Just do not want that vibe in my personal space.

Happy weekend's reads!

>125 laytonwoman3rd: With regard to my quibbles, I found this article on LitHub which may cast a different light on the subject.

>128 laytonwoman3rd: That was the book that clued me in on her deep-seated homophobia. (Internalized, as I was to discover, made the homophobia all the crueler; and no one's more vicious about gayness than a woman who has a hatred for men.)

>128 laytonwoman3rd: Hm. I'm pretty certain that The Group is on one of my lists somewhere. Welp, we'll see how it goes when I get there, I guess...

>130 scaifea: I mean to read it one day myself, with all my antennae activated.

32. You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson This came highly touted, and I had pre-ordered it from an indie bookstore last year, but just now got around to reading it. Initially I had a little trouble with the adolescent voice (it sounded younger than I thought it should at first), but I stuck with it until the story started to grab hold, and then I was OK for the most part. Liz Lighty is a senior in a middle-American high school where Prom is the biggest event of the year, not just at school, but in the whole community. A point system determines which applicants will be chosen for the Court, and preparation for it involves academic performance, community service as well as unrelenting scrutiny on the school's dedicated social media platform, Campbell Confidential. Ordinarily, Liz would not have considered competing; she is much more comfortable sticking to her studies, her music and her small circle of friends. She suffers from anxiety and occasional severe panic attacks; her brother has sickle cell anemia, a disease which took their mother from them years earlier. She has fallen out with a guy who was her very best friend through middle school. She is not publicly "out", but her best friends and her family are aware of her sexual orientation, and now she seems to be falling in love with the new girl. There has never been a Black Campbell Prom Queen, a post which is subject to a popularity contest among the members of the Court. Furthermore, the rules are crystal clear---no same sex couples can attend Prom together. But the music scholarship Liz had counted on to make it possible for her to attend Pennington College has not come through, and there is a financial reward to being chosen Queen which could make up for that. She has to go for it. Lots of exploration of what it's like to be a teenager wrestling with feelings: the good, the bad, the frightening and the incomprehensible. A particularly well-done romance, and some fine friendship stuff, all in a well-crafted story. It wasn't written for me, but I got plenty from it.

33. The Sea Lion by Ken Kesey Ken Kesey is the AAC author for June, and many people may not realize that he wrote some books for children. This one tells the story of Eemook, a young boy of the Alaskan Sea Cliff People who was born with a shrunken leg and crooked spine, and lost his mother at birth. Although he was allowed to live when a barren old root woman vowed to save him, he has been mistreated by most of the tribe all his life. His one friend, the Princess Shoola, is no longer allowed to play with him, as she approaches womanhood. His value as a spoonmaker is all that keeps him alive. Yet, it seems to be Eemook's destiny to save his people from a treacherous stranger and his minions. This is a fine story, well told. However, there are truly disturbing elements beyond the obvious (including a reference to "mushroom dreams" and what is clearly meant to suggest the rape or at least seduction of all the young maidens of the tribe by spirit invaders), so if you contemplate sharing it with children, I recommend reading it first.

34. Natchez Burning by Greg Iles This is the first novel by Greg Iles I have read. It may also be the last. It's a monster paperback, at 867 pages, but at first this didn't bother me a bit. I was caught up in the multiple story lines, past and present, as Iles took us back to the 1960s and several unsolved murders or disappearances of black men in Natchez, then forward to the early 21st century where the consequences of those crimes are still being felt. It was gripping for well over 600 pages, even if I did get a bit tired of the main character and his fiance having the same misunderstanding over and over. Iles certainly knows how to build suspense. The trouble is, he doesn't know when to stop. Too many people putting themselves and others in jeopardy by being stupid, reckless or misguided. Too many near-rescues gone wrong making things worse. And way too much sadistic behavior on the part of the bad guys. To top it all off, we never really get the answers to a couple big questions that seemed to be the point, and there are loose threads all over the place. I know this is part one of a trilogy, but the ending isn't a cliffhanger, exactly. It feels like the author just decided not to bother to clear up those few pesky problems. I may have to live with the not knowing because I don't much want to be treated this way again.

>134 laytonwoman3rd: Thank you for the warning, Linda. I have this one on the bookshelf. My husband bought it after his friend recommended it, but he never got to read it. I was going to give it a try, but I think I’ll pass.

HI. What a great meet up! Thanks for the photos.

>126 laytonwoman3rd: I really need to get back to Elly Griffiths! And the headstone chatter made me laugh. Thanks!

>135 NanaCC: The sad thing is, Colleen, that there is a terrific story in there, and the man can write. But I just don't feel he respects his reader's intelligence (I didn't mention there was a fair amount of chewing the same cabbage twice), and his editors obviously didn't care to take on the chopping that ought to have been done.

>136 Whisper1: Welcome, Linda! One day I hope to get down to your neck of the woods...it seems I've been hoping that for several years now!

>137 Berly: I'm glad all that graveyard humor amused you, Kim! Laughter is golden these days.

Hi Linda3rd. Nothing particularly interesting to say, but wanted you to know I'd dropped in.

Me, too ^^^^ (what Richard said).
I like reading more than commenting these days. Your reviews are very interesting.
And I had the same thought as you, when I read The Outcast Dead (at #126).

>139 richardderus: Hi, Richard *waves* Thanks for stopping.

>140 SandyAMcPherson: Thanks, Sandy. I find myself doing the same...reading without commenting, that is. It's nice to know you drop in.

*raises hand*

Reading without commenting - me too...

>142 katiekrug: Nice...

Anybody else lurking? Comments not required, but every visit is welcome!

>143 laytonwoman3rd: I go through all threads nearly every day, Linda, and rarely leave a comment on most. So yeah mostly lurking.

I lurk on tons of threads and don't comment much on most. I tend to wait until I think I have something worthwhile-ish to say (which sometimes doesn't happen for long stretches). I feel self-conscious most of the time about posting just for the sake of posting, but I do make the thread rounds pretty much every day.

>145 scaifea: ditto!

Very nice everybody....carry on. I don't need meaningless posts "for the sake of posting", as Amber says. But it sure is good to know that people are passing through.

>145 scaifea: yeah that's what I do, too. If I feel like I can contribute to the conversation, I'll chime in. But I do obsess on staying caught up with threads, and tend to lurk while I'm catching up.

>147 laytonwoman3rd: >148 lauralkeet: I suppose it's good that we *do* posts every so often; otherwise we'd all just be lurking and the threads would be bare...

lurk alert

I'm also among those who check in every day but post much less frequently. :)

>148 lauralkeet:, >150 RBeffa:, >151 MickyFine: The confessions continue....

>149 scaifea: True.

35. Celia's House by D. E. Stevenson As far as possible from Natchez Burning, this was a pure comfort read about a family in Scotland and the house they inhabit through the years between the two World Wars (mostly). When Miss Celia Dunne feels her time is running out, she makes a will that will surprise everyone; dismay or enrage presumptive heirs; delight and perplex its actual beneficiaries. She knows precisely what she's doing, and cannot be reasoned out of it. Time will prove her right. A marvelous antidote to grim realities and fictional horrors, this story was warm, predictable and entirely satisfying. If this is the sort of thing you like, you'll like it a lot.

>153 laytonwoman3rd: I enjoyed that one a few years ago and intended to read more books by her. Kind of a comfort read.

>153 laytonwoman3rd: I really enjoy her books, Linda. Her father didn’t believe in educated women, but I believe she managed to write over 40 books. Fooled him…. 😄

>153 laytonwoman3rd: I haven't read any of hers other than the Miss Buncle books, which were lovely. Someday I'll get to more of them.

>154 RBeffa:, >155 NanaCC:, >156 lauralkeet: I intend to read more of Stevenson too. My daughter says she's like Angela Thirkell, but kinder. I think I'll lay in 2 or 3 to have ready when needed...sort of like always keeping Tylenol and Pepto-Bismol on hand, you know?

>157 laytonwoman3rd: My daughter says she's like Angela Thirkell, but kinder.

That's an excellent comparison. I've read a lot more Thirkell than Stevenson, but would agree that Thirkell gets a bit snarky. Sometimes that's part of the fun, like when she's satirizing village life. But sometimes she gets a little political and less kind.

>143 laytonwoman3rd:, >157 laytonwoman3rd: *waves*

>159 lycomayflower: Do I know you?

>153 laytonwoman3rd: I read the Miss Buncle and Mrs Tim ones. I especially liked the Mrs Tim ones (though not the ending). Definitely feel good cardigan sweater reads. I should look for this one.

>161 weird_O:

>162 labfs39: I think I'll have to give both Miss Buncle and Mrs. Tim a try one of these days.

>158 lauralkeet: Her "Mixo-Lydian" caricatures are deeply unkind and extremely racist. I avoid reading the WWII-era books for that reason. Funnily, I'm okay with her end-of-life rants about the passing of her class, the "middling sort," the educated well-off not-quite-gentry.

>164 laytonwoman3rd: I didn't realize that you hadn't read Miss Buncle, Linda. Definitely get yourself a copy and save it for a day when comfort reading is in order.

>165 richardderus: Oh yes RD, Thirkell's ethnic caricatures downright horrific. I have some weird completist desire to read her entire Barsetshire oeuvre, and have skimmed through those really distasteful parts. I've now passed the WW II era, and she seems to be struggling a bit with class and the brazen existence of the Labor party. But I love the way she pokes fun at village life and society. So I keep going.

>165 richardderus: >166 lauralkeet: I’ve only read one Angela Thirkell, but there seemed to be some quite unpleasant class prejudice and I didn’t have any desire to continue.

>165 richardderus:, >166 lauralkeet:, >167 SandDune: There's a fine line between social commentary and class prejudice. I don't think I've yet encountered the actual ethnic prejudices in the few Thirkells I've read...or if I have, it was at a time when I just blinked them away like a bothersome insect and kept going. I was not always the perceptive reader I try to be these days.

36. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy Well, this is exactly what it purports to be...a gentle incentive to love yourself, be kind always, and eat cake whenever possible. The drawings are exceptionally appealing; they have a not-quite-final look to them that goes well with the message that we are all works in progress, and it's OK if some of the rough edges still show.

>169 laytonwoman3rd: - I read this about a month or so ago, Linda, after seeing an interview on CBS Sunday Morning, with the author. I was enchanted and charmed by it, and him!

This is about the speed of my reading, it seems, lately. I have been reading some biographies, some kids' books, even some cookbooks. Just not ready, I guess, to slide back into heavier stuff. And that seems to be ok. At least I am reading!

>170 jessibud2: This book has been on my radar for a while, but I don't think I saw the CBS Sunday morning interview with Mackesy, which is strange, since we almost always watch that show. I'm going to go see if I can find it on-line. The book is simplistic in style and philosophy, but as you say, sometimes that's what's needed, like cake.

>171 laytonwoman3rd: - "like cake"... Ha! Or, in my case, ice cream.....;-)

>172 jessibud2: Sure. Why not both?

Covid weight gain. That's why not. Not that it's stopped me from ice cream, though....hehe

>166 lauralkeet: ff Thirkell's saving grace, for me as a reader, was in her simply unstoppable self-deprecation to go along with the prejudices she was chronicling. It's clear to me, having encountered "Laura Morland", that Thirkell saw what she was writing about in more than one valence of light.

...now I want ice cream and cake...

>175 richardderus: that's a great point, RD. I love how she uses the Laura Morland character to poke fun at novelists, especially those who, like Thirkell, have a pretty sweet gig going with a long-running and popular series.

>174 jessibud2: I hear you.

>175 richardderus: As today is my husband's birthday, we will have ice cream (or maybe cake) ((or maybe both)) later. Y'all are welcome to join the party in spirit.

>176 lauralkeet: See, now I NEED to read more Thirkell. My problem is I have some of her books, in no particular order, and need to fill in the blanks.

Hi, Linda. Happy Birthday to your hubby.

I’ve been wondering about The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, too. Your review is encouraging, and it helps to see what the inside looks like. Be kind to yourself and eat cake. Sounds good to me!

>178 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe. Here's another illustration from the Mackesy book:



And Here's a link to the video of Mackesy's CBS Sunday Morning segment.

37. The River King by Alice Hoffman This book is hard to categorize. It has elements of ghost story, psychological mystery, coming-of-age story, character study and murder investigation, but it isn't strictly any of those things. It's mostly an exploration of the consequences of keeping secrets and living with guilt. The small New England town of Haddan is divided East and West into the denizens of the Haddan boarding school--students, administration and staff-- at one end, and the townspeople, merchants and farmers who cannot afford to send their children there at the other. The town occasionally benefits from large contributions made by parents and alumni who want what happens at the school to STAY at the school, without interference from locals. Too much interest, even from law enforcement, even in suspicious deaths, is promptly discouraged by funding of a new park, or police station, or other impossible-to-refuse generosity. Still, incursions are made in both directions over the years, often with tragic long-term results. This was an engaging read, although many of the reveals that ought to have been bombshells failed to burst. I'm still thinking about it a couple days after finishing it, and that means it warrants an extra half-star. I'll read more of Alice Hoffman's work; I suspect she doesn't repeat herself.

>177 laytonwoman3rd:, >176 lauralkeet: The thing about the Barsetshire books is that they do not need to be read in any order. The recurring characters are just as much fun, and make just as much sense, encountered as extras then as main characters as the other way around.

>177 laytonwoman3rd: Happy cake day!

>181 richardderus: Hmmm....well then. OK. Thanks!

>153 laytonwoman3rd: I never read anything by this author.
What a provocative review, too, Linda. I got winged by the BB.

>181 richardderus: I agree the books can be enjoyed without reading them in order, and that it's not essential to read in order as it is with many series. But doing so adds context and enriches the reading, IMO. Recurring characters age over time; some grow from children into adults, some grow old and pass away, some take on larger roles in the community as they get older.

Linda, I just took a peek at your library. It looks like you've read High Rising and Wild Strawberries, which are books 1 & 3 in her Barsetshire series. And you rated them 4 stars -- excellent! You have book 2, The Demon in the House, but I have to say it's one of my least favorite. It features an insufferable little boy who is supposed to be amusing but annoyed the dickens out of me (spoiler alert: he appears later as an adult and is much improved). You also have books 4 & 5, August Folly and Summer Half. I suggest starting there, and swinging back for book 2 later if you feel like it.

>184 lauralkeet: Aha! Thank you Laura. You know WHY I have August Folly and Summer Half? Because you sent me one and I ordered the other after the last conversation we had about Thirkell! I was working off an old memory (never wise), and had forgotten all that. I even remember (now) that you didn't care for The Demon in the House -- is he the same annoying little boy that appears in High Rising?

>185 laytonwoman3rd: oh that's funny, Linda. I totally forgot that I sent you one of the books. And yes, same annoying boy: Tony Morland, son of Laura, the Thirkell-like author.

Okay, I think you know what to do now: READ.

>186 lauralkeet: Y'all heard Laura...I have to spend the rest of the day (at least) reading.

You're welcome, Linda. 😂

>183 SandyAMcPherson: I missed you there, Sandy. I had never read Stevenson before either. I think she's one of those authors whose work I will keep around for times when I can't deal with anything requiring too much of me.

38. Conversations with Ken Kesey For the AAC.

One of the University of Mississippi's series with that sort of title, this volume collects transcripts and narrative reports of interviews and less formal conversations with the author, from the recordings of his reactions to taking LSD in a controlled setting at Menlo Park Veterans Hospital in 1959 through his last interviews in 1999. The earliest selections are often so disjointed as to be meaningless, when he was so caught up in the whole "heightened consciousness" scene --either advocating for it, or actively engaged in it during the discussion---that most of what he said was basically groovy BS. But there are kernels in there of ideas and beliefs that he repeated later on in terms more understandable to those of us who never went in for chemical enlightenment. I don't think I've ever used so many page points in a single book, and it's less than 200 pages long.

Kesey's two greatest works (in his own estimation, as well as in mine and pretty much everybody else's) were created before he took off with the Merry Pranksters on the acid-trip promotion tour recounted in Tom Wolfe's Electric Kool-aid Acid Test. He acknowledged after Sometimes a Great Notion was published that he was unlikely to write anything as good ever again. In fact, it is one of his precepts that writers do not get better; that there are too many factors at work, especially once you begin to be admired, that interfere with the un-self-conscious flow of the words and the story. He believes this happened to Hemingway and to Stegner, and he struggled always to keep it from happening to him. This led to a lot of experimental writing, as well as a long stretch where he didn't put words on paper, but rather performed widely for children, in something like the oral tradition of native cultures.

Kesey was a fascinating individual, and if you're at all interested in him as counterculture figure or author, these interviews are well worth seeking out. Many of them, including the Paris Review's Art of Fiction No. 136, can be found on-line. Check his author page here on LT, as I have added a few links.