SqueakyChu's reading in 2021 blooms anew! - Quarter 3

Discussie75 Books Challenge for 2021

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SqueakyChu's reading in 2021 blooms anew! - Quarter 3

1SqueakyChu
Bewerkt: sep 8, 2021, 9:38 pm

Continued from here.

Hi, folks, and welcome to my 2021 third quarter thread!

Things are starting to improve at home. I'm fully vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine. I've been able to meet up with some friends and family. The positivity rate in my state of Maryland is hovering at about 0.58% although there are still some deaths from covid daily (usuallu 0 to 7).

I'm enjoying reading now although I'm doing it slowly. I don't doom scroll any more, but I do spend a lot of time on my phone doing all sorts of things. That cuts into my reading time. I'm also working with Bookcrossing and Little Free Library to give away free books. In addition, I'm having fun gardening a bit. I'm still cooking and baking up a storm. Today I had to use some fresh peas from my CSA box so I tried out a new recipe for Mexican Rice, It was just okay, but I had fun shelling the peas and trying out that new reciupe.



Total pages read this year: = 4,741
Reading rate: 17 pages per day
My reading rate is going this way: DECREASING

2SqueakyChu
Bewerkt: sep 8, 2021, 9:37 pm

July:


Photo by Alan Light - Flickr, CC-A

BOOKISH EVENTS:
1. July 17 - Our first real life BookCrossing meetup since the pandemic began! It was at the home of BookCrosser ResQGeek. We all brought food and books to share and simply enjoyed being together as an in-person group once again. I love these folks as much as I love LTers!
July 22 - LT meetup at my home with _Zoe_ and radicarian!

COMPLETED
17. Should I Eat This? Simple ways to know what to eat and what to avoid - Editors of Consumer Reports on Health - TIOLI #9: Read a book for the "Samesies" challenge (published in 2020) - 220 pages
18. Bedtime Stories for Dogs - Leigh Anne Jasheay - TIOLI #11: Read a book with an adjective in the title (bedtime) - 89 pages
19. Hope and Help for Your Nerves - Dr. Claire Weekes - TIOLI #13: Read a book that triggers an ear worm ("Help" by the Beatles) - 208 pages
20. A Quick and Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns - Archie Bongiovanni & Tristan Jimerson - TIOLI #11: Read a book with an adjective in the title (quick. easy) - 64 pages

3SqueakyChu
Bewerkt: aug 28, 2021, 10:25 am

August


Photo by maxim75 - Flickr, CC-A

BOOKISH EVENTS:
1. BookCrossing meetup in Maryland on Sunday 8/22 probably.

COMPLETED:
21. Couch - Benjamin Parzybok - TIOLI #1: Read a book with a “furniture vocabulary word” in the title or in the first paragraph of Chapter One or its equivalent (couch) - 280 pages
22. The Face of Another - Kobo Abe - TIOLI #4: Read a book that starts with the definite article - 237 pages
23. What Night Brings - Carla Trujillo - TIOLI #3: Read a book with a word in the title that implies a measurement of time (night) - 242 pages

4SqueakyChu
Bewerkt: sep 22, 2021, 11:08 pm

September


Photo by Kevin Gill, Flickr, CC-A

BOOKISH EVENTS:
1. BookCrossing meetup

COMPLETED
24. The Other Black Girl - Zakiya Dalila Harris - TIOLI #8: Read a book where the authors last name has 7 characters or less (6) - 357 pages

NOW READING:
25. Father Said - Hal Sirowitz - 97/168 pages = 58%
26. Valley of Strength - Shulamit Lapid - TIOLI #5: Read a book written by a relative of a famous person (mother of Israel's current Foreign Minister, Yair Lapid) - 109/349 pages = 31%
27. Walk in my Combat Boots - James Patterson and Matt Eversmann - 67/404 pages = 17%
28. Heralding Article 25 : A people's strategy for world transformation - Mohammed Mesbahi - TIOLI #3: Read a book where the author’s first and last name start with the same letter (M) - 14/129 pages = 11%
29. The Bus Driver Who Wanted to be God - Etgar Keret - TIOLI #1: Read a book, in which the last three letters of the author's first name or last name, spelled backwards, is a real word which can be found in dictionary.com (rag) - 3/197 pages = 1%

5quondame
jun 26, 2021, 11:25 pm

Happy new thread!

6SqueakyChu
jun 26, 2021, 11:29 pm

>5 quondame: Thanks, Susan.

7PaulCranswick
jun 27, 2021, 4:06 am

Happy new thread, Madeline.

8Helenliz
jun 27, 2021, 4:33 am

Happy new Threade, Madeline.

9jessibud2
jun 27, 2021, 6:51 am

Happy new one, Madeline!

10SqueakyChu
jun 27, 2021, 8:54 am

>7 PaulCranswick: >8 Helenliz: >9 jessibud2: Thank you, Paul, Helen, and Shelley.

11FAMeulstee
jun 28, 2021, 4:24 am

Happy new thread, Madeline!

Yesterday I finally remembered to take a book with me on our walk to put it in a Free Little Library and took a book with me. First time I used a FLL :-)

12drneutron
jun 28, 2021, 10:30 am

Happy new one!

13SqueakyChu
jun 28, 2021, 1:13 pm

>11 FAMeulstee: Thank, Anitas! I'm so glad I got you started on using your nearby Little Free Library! They're great! You don't need to put a book in the Little Free Library in order to take one. You can take a book or leave a book,,,whichever you want...or both!

>12 drneutron: Thanks, Jim.

14FAMeulstee
jun 28, 2021, 4:35 pm

>13 SqueakyChu: I know I don't need to put a book in when I take a book. But the very first time it felt right to do it this way :-)

15jessibud2
jun 28, 2021, 5:18 pm

I just left 2 books in an LFL I pass regularly but I didn't take anything out to day as nothing appealed to me. I did, last time, though! :-)

16SqueakyChu
Bewerkt: jun 28, 2021, 6:48 pm

>14 FAMeulstee: I'm always happy when people leave books in mine! I get some great books that way.

>15 jessibud2: I just like to know that books are coming AND going in mine. Jose just went for a walk to a nearby park. I always send a book along with him to leave in heh Little Free LIbrary there with each walk of his that I know about!

17magicians_nephew
jun 30, 2021, 11:55 am

Saying How De Do

I remember being very active on Book Crossing but i got so hooked on the conversations here my BC time got less and less.

I think Judy and I found out about LT from a Book Crossing friend of hers

18jessibud2
jun 30, 2021, 5:26 pm

>17 magicians_nephew: - I also found LT from a bookcrossing friend. You may know her; her name is Madeline (aka SqueakyChu), ;-)

19SqueakyChu
Bewerkt: jun 30, 2021, 8:54 pm

<17 I'm still very active on BookCrossing but I attribute a lot of that to ny real life BookCrossing meetup group (which jessibud2 recently got to meet on Zoom)! It was really fun doing the international BookCrossing Zooms. I'll miss those after we start up our real life group meetups again.

>18 jessibud2: Hahahaha!

20SqueakyChu
Bewerkt: jun 30, 2021, 8:58 pm

<17 I'm still very active on BookCrossing, Jim, but I attribute a lot of that to my real life BookCrossing meetup group (which jessibud2 recently got to meet on Zoom)! I adore that group. It was really fun doing the international BookCrossing Zooms. I'll miss those after we start up our real life group meetups again.

I also remember coming here and reading the threads. I was impressed by the conversations here so I tried to bring my BookCrossing friends here with me, I think I only succeeded in bringing Shelley (jessibud2) here after all my pressure.

>18 jessibud2: Hahahaha!

21ffortsa
jul 1, 2021, 10:59 am

I was going to say you brought me here, but it was Bookczuk.

22SqueakyChu
jul 1, 2021, 10:34 pm

>21 ffortsa: Well, that's close enough, Judy, since I met BookCzuk in real life at a long ago BookCrossing meetup in Baltimore. Ha!

23SqueakyChu
Bewerkt: jul 20, 2021, 10:17 pm

17. Should I Eat This? Simple ways to know what to eat and what to avoid - Editors of Consumer Reports on Health



----------------------------
TIOLI #9:
Read a book for the "Samesies" challenge (published in 2020)
-------------------------------

This book is an easy-to-read collection of all kinds of nutrition advice for healthy eating. I liked the format of the narrative. It was in short articles and just as easy to read as a magazine. I read through it fairly quickly. The only thing I didn't care for were the recipes. However, I often find so-called "healthy" recipes not much to my liking. I'd rather tweak more appealling recipes in different ways. With that said, I did find helpful suggestions for how to stay on the right track in keeping my diet heart-healthy. I'll try to keep these ideas in mind as I go forward.

Rating: 4 stars

Makeover your frig so it's easy to reach for the healthy, wholesome, healing foods.

24SqueakyChu
Bewerkt: jul 25, 2021, 12:36 am

18. Bedtime Stories for Dogs - Leigh Anne Jasheay


-------------------------------------
TIOLI #11:
Read a book with an adjective in the title (bedtime)
-------------------------------------------
Cute stories. Light reading. Good for a giggle.

Rating - 4 stars

Jackie and the Bean Pole

Jackie, an adorable Poodle, lived with her mother in the country with a cow named “Cow” (all the good cow names, like “Bessie״ and “Elsie were already taken.)

25SqueakyChu
Bewerkt: jul 23, 2021, 1:08 am

LT Meet-Up Alert!



These are some of the books for our Little Free Library of Twinbrook (#7720) and the awesome creatures--Legs, Squeaky (!), and Smoochy--that _Zoe_ and radicarian brought me on their visit to Rockville, Maryland, this week. Thank you so much. What a fun visit it was!

26SqueakyChu
jul 27, 2021, 6:39 pm

19. Hope and Help for Your Nerves - Dr. Claire Weekes -


-------------------------------------
TIOLI #13:
Read a book that triggers an ear worm ("Help" by the Beatles)
-------------------------------------

I was given this book by a friend to use in my Little Free Library. However she suggested I read it because I am dealing with anxiety I developed during the pandemic. My friend is a retired psychotherapist. She said she skimmed parts of this book, but she thought it might help me.

Although this book is very dated, I enjoyed reading it. I especially liked that author suggested we deal with anxiety by focusing on our body reactions rather than on the fear which causes them. There are other parts of this book that deal with depression and agoraphobia, but the author’s approach to those problems also seem down to earth and doable.

I also like the idea the author presented of thoughts being bluffing. Scary thoughts are just that. Often they are worst case scenarios. Our thoughts must be called for that bluffing. What hasn’t happened yet is not reality. It is only a bluff which raises our anxiety level and causes us to panic.

I’m going to try some of the ideas presented in this book and feel that reading it was indeed helpful.

Rating - 3.5 stars

Your own thoughts may bring this panic, or it may sweep over you with no apparent cause. If your thoughts are to blame, recognize that they are only thoughts, although, coming as they do so charged with fear, they may appear as monsters. Recognize that they are only thoughts and let them float away. Release them. Let them go. Do not clutch them.

27SqueakyChu
jul 27, 2021, 8:30 pm

20. A Quick and Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns - Archie Bongiovanni & Tristan Jimerson


------------------------------------------
TIOLI #11:
Read a book with an adjective in the title (quick. easy)
---------------------------------------

This was a useful and fun read. It's a small graphic novel with one character who is gender-fluid and another who is cisgender. They give rules for how to correctly interact with others without using offensive pronouns. All of this is in an effort to enhance inclusivity and make us more aware of how what we say can affect others.

Rating - 4 stars

We are basically giving our friends/loved ones/coworkers a whole new vocabulary and way of thinking about this world. If they are going to try, we need to give them time and trust.

28magicians_nephew
aug 2, 2021, 10:10 am

>27 SqueakyChu: We had a long discussion on this with friends a few weeks ago.

People are putting their pronouns on their email signature files. That does help.

One more thing to remember and hope not to give unintentional offense. Hope my gender fluid friends will forgive occasional slips and forgetting.

The GN looks useful

29SqueakyChu
aug 2, 2021, 3:43 pm

>28 magicians_nephew: I saw the pronouns on either Instagram or Twitter recently and wasn’t sure why they were there. I now know. It really is useful as I have a gender-fluid friend whom I never knew was gender-fluid until after many years of friendship. This is an ongoing learning process. I hope I can be supportive of each individual regardless of gender identification.

30SqueakyChu
Bewerkt: aug 14, 2021, 9:07 pm

21. Couch - Benjamin Parzybok


-----------------------------------------
TIOLI #1:
Read a book with a “furniture vocabulary word” in the title or in the first paragraph of Chapter One or its equivalent (couch)
----------------------------------------------
?
This book was such a joy to read. It was unlike anything else I have ever read. I’m not much of a person to read about quests, but this tale of three roommates who felt compelled to take their orange couch to its ultimate destination was so quirky, creative, and funny.

The story began when those three roommates, who did not know each other before and who were vastly different from each other, tried to get rid of their couch after a flood in their apartment caused by the leakage of an upstairs water bed. However, the couch had other ideas! By its weight and through some sort of reckoning by the hippie-like roommate Tree, the couch pressured the other two roommates, Thom and Erik, into having the three return it to its predestined spot.

If this sounds absurd, it is. However this is a rollicking good story and so delightful to read. The end of the book was riveting. As I got closer to the conclusion, I felt myself reading faster and faster. My only regret about this book at all is that I waited so long to read it. What an incredible debut novel it was!

Rating - 5 stars

They’ve even talked about the way a couch orients you. It prohibits interaction, because it faces people in a single direction. It’s a seat that encourages passivity.

31ffortsa
aug 5, 2021, 9:31 am

>30 SqueakyChu: Aha. I've always felt that about couches! We have a long couch in our livingroom, but not really many options for seating facing the couch. It's more for the 'couch potato' culture than real conversation. I had to get rid of a couple of small barrel chairs some years ago, and we miss them, even in a livingroom crowded with other things (two desks, one keyboard, bookshelves, TV, etc.)

32SqueakyChu
Bewerkt: aug 5, 2021, 5:41 pm

>31 ffortsa: Ha! You, too?! My small house has a long couch in the living room and only one other chair, a rocking chair. It also has a computer desk, a coffee table, and a folding table that has had many incarnations during the pandemic. It was a mask-making center at first. Now it’s an arts and crafts table for the grandkids plus a radio-controlled car assembly place. We keep folding chairs in the living room for visitors!!

33quondame
aug 5, 2021, 8:45 pm

>31 ffortsa: >32 SqueakyChu: For a number of years after moving into our house we had an almost empty living room. Originally we couldn't decide on a set of furniture we liked and the TV/family room was good for well, whatever lounging we needed. When we moved in I was on 60-80 hr work weeks and after 2.5 years I was unemployed and very depressed. So it wasn't until late 2005 when I inherited my father's mid-century modern dining set with massive buffet along with 2 side chairs that furniture became a noticeable part of that space. My husband still resents not having the wide open space to set up large slot car layouts. Not that he would, but it pinches that he can't. We won't talk about my metro-shelve craft table that was assembled to be a warp weighted loom for tablet weaving. And the fiber storage.

34SqueakyChu
Bewerkt: aug 5, 2021, 10:27 pm

>33 quondame: Susan, your house, like mine, sounds as if it is set up, not to entertain, but to do what entertains you! That seems good to me.

35Berly
aug 14, 2021, 7:27 pm

>27 SqueakyChu: Will have to look this one up! I have had several conversation about this with family and friends recently and I am finding that people I know are changing their pronouns. I am trying to keep up and not offend anyone! Also reading a book about transitioning genders for my RL bookclub as one of the women has a child having transition surgery this month. Thanks!

36SqueakyChu
Bewerkt: aug 14, 2021, 9:05 pm

>35 Berly: The thanks should actually go out to _Zoe_ and her husband radicarian who stopped by my house recently on their way back home to upstate New York. We had such a fun LT mini-meetup - just the three of us! Anyway, they left me a bag of books for my Little Free Library of Twinbrook (#7720), and that book about pronouns was one of the books in the collection. I found that book very helpful myself.

37Berly
aug 14, 2021, 9:10 pm

It's nice to have such great friends, isn't it? : )

38SqueakyChu
Bewerkt: aug 14, 2021, 9:14 pm

>37 Berly: Indeed! I think the most fun about LT are the friends I've made in real life (or people I have have met in real life, including Tim Spalding and Abbly Blachly--both a while back) just by being part of LT discussions over the years.

39quondame
aug 14, 2021, 10:53 pm

>36 SqueakyChu: How lovely!

40magicians_nephew
aug 18, 2021, 4:01 pm

Zoe is a great gal - happy you got a chance to see her this year

41SqueakyChu
aug 18, 2021, 5:25 pm

42SqueakyChu
Bewerkt: aug 18, 2021, 5:49 pm

22. The Face of Another - Kobo Abe - TIOLI #4: Read a book that starts with the definite article


-------------------------------------------
TIOLI #4:
Read a book that starts with the definite article
-----------------------------------------------

Wow! This book was so interesting. I’m a big fan of works by Kobo Abe, and this novel did not disappoint. It’s the story of a married man whose face had been disfigured by an accident. This unnamed narrator tells the story of a mask he makes and how this mask takes on a life of its own. Very dismayed by a distressing situation over which he did have control, he is startled by the outcome of his mask project.

This is a deep book about identity, some of which was a bit over my head. However, for the most part I was fascinated not only by the turn of events in this story, but also by the fact that the author did such an amazing job writing both from the point of view of the narrator as well as that of the mask.

Although I’ve read several other books by Kobo Abe, I am always eager to read even more of his surreal fiction.

Rating - 4.5 stars

Make-up—making a face, is indeed a denial of the real face, but a gallant effort to get a little closer to others by transforming the expression.

Note: This is one of four books I received as a gift from paulstalder for my work on the LibraryThing TIOLI challenges. My Secret Santa who chose the four books for me was @AmberTew. Thank you both!

43SqueakyChu
Bewerkt: aug 28, 2021, 10:55 am

23. What Night Brings - Carla Trujillo -


---------------------------------
TIOLI #3:
Read a book with a word in the title that implies a measurement of time (night)
----------------------------------

This is the story of eleven-year old Mexican-American Marcia Cruz of San Lorenzo, California. She has a younger sister Corin and loves her Grandma Flor very much. Her mom is no longer affectionate to her and often scolds her in Spanish, but her dad is downright abusive, often beating her with a belt when he is drunk or has another excuse to do so.

Marcia wants to be a boy and is especially attracted to her 16-year-old neighbor Raquel. This is story as only a preteen can tell it. At first, I was not sure I’d like this book, but slowly I allowed the young voice of Marcia to prevail and found her worming her way into my heart as she and her younger sister tried to navigate the emotional turmoil her parents were causing them.

I found this story surprisingly interesting, always wanting to know what would happen next. I also found the frequent interjection of Spanish phrases fun and learned quite a bit of off-color Mexican slang in the process.

Rating - 4.5 stars

I didn’t trust her. I’d seen too many science fiction movies where people take over your minds.

44ffortsa
aug 30, 2021, 2:11 pm

>42 SqueakyChu: this sounds really interesting. I'll have to put it on my bb list.

45SqueakyChu
Bewerkt: aug 30, 2021, 8:14 pm

>44 ffortsa: I am such a fan of this author! I hope to eventually read all his works if I can get hold of them. The Ark Sakura is my favorite so far.

46SqueakyChu
Bewerkt: sep 8, 2021, 9:49 pm

24. The Other Black Girl - Zakiya Dalila Harris


-------------------------------
TIOLI #8:
Read a book where the author's last name has 7 characters or less (6)
-----------------------------
Wow! This was a very gripping story about black professional women in the world of book publishing. It did take me a long time to get over my initial confusion of who the characters were and why the time setting kept on changing. Once I finally began to see how the plot was developing with the “good guys” versus the “bad guys”, I found this book unputdownable.

This story really does a psychological trip on its reader. I kept feeling more and more uncomfortable being drawn into what it feels like to be a black woman in a mostly white professional world.

In this age of focusing on diversity, I loved the opportunity of reading a new novel by a Black writer about the “black experience” and liked that the writer shared what probably were real-life personal thoughts.

I had the Barnes and Noble edition of this book which had “Additional Content” at the end—an additional chapter about Diana and Kenny which, to me, was unnecessary and tiring after having read the conclusion and climax of the book.

Rating - 4.5 stars