BLBera Reads in 2022

Happy New Year!

My name is Beth. I am an English instructor at my local community college, but I plan to retire in May, so 2022 will be a year of change for me. I love books – talking about them, writing about them, reading about them. I also love to read with my granddaughter Scout.

I tend not to plan my reading, other than for my book club, which meets once a month. We celebrate twenty years in 2022.

Each year my goal is to read more books from my shelves, but those shiny new library books often distract me. In 2022, I would like to read more in translation.

As always, though, goals may fall by the wayside.

Please comment, lurk, make yourself at home.

Favorites of 2021

Currently Reading

Read in 2022
☃️January☃️
1. Red Clocks* REREAD
2. The American Agent 🎧
3. The Boat People
4. Dare to Disappoint
5. The Glass Hotel* REREAD
6. These Precious Days
7. A Sorrowful Sanctuary
8. Delivering Death 🎧
9. The Fell*
10. Moon of the Crusted Snow*
11. Words Under the Words
12. No Land to Light On
13. Foster*

💝February💝
14. A Really Good Day 🎧
15. My Monticello
16. Tunnels
17. Artificial Condition 🎧
18. Violeta
19. Rogue Protocol 🎧
20. How High We Go in the Dark
21. Exit Strategy 🎧
22. Poems to Learn by Heart*
23. The Vanishing Half* REREAD
24. The Thirty Names of Night

🌷March🌷
25. The Island of Missing Trees
26. Olga Dies Dreaming
27. Fugitive Telemetry 🎧
28. On the Bus with Rosa Parks
29. Hamnet* REREAD
30. Braiding Sweetgrass*
31. Winter* REREAD
32. The Seed Keeper* REREAD
33. Radio Golf
34. Spring*
35. Creatures of Passage
36. The Trees
37. Oh William!
38. The Taxidermist's Daughter*🎧

☔️April☔️
39. The Four Winds*
40. Beautiful World, Where Are You
41. French Braid
42. Essays on the Self*
43. The Book of Form and Emptiness*
44. Look Alive, Twenty-Five* 🎧
45. Checkout 19
46. Sorrow and Bliss
47. Small Things Like These
48. Unfinished Business*
49. Sea of Tranquility

🥀May🥀
50. The Candy House
51. Clean Air
52. The Hired Man*
53. Mercy Street
54. The Investigator
55. Read Dangerously*
56. Salt Lick*
57. The Beatryce Prophecy*
58. Death at Whitewater Church*
59. Summer*
60. Cobweb*

🍉June🍉
61. Mecca
62. Vermilion Drift*🎧
63. The Midnight Library*
64. E Is for Evidence*🎧
65. Thin Places
66. Love Marriage
67. A Deceptive Devotion
68. Home to Woefield
69. The Sentence*

* From my shelves

>3 BLBera: I have enjoyed anthologies Naomi Shihab Nye has edited, but don't think I've read a lot of her poetry. Look forward to hearing what you think of Words under the words.

It is wonderful - it's a collection of various books, so there is quite a variety.

Found you and starred.



Happy reading 2022 😀

Looking forward to finding out what you make of The Red Clocks.

>8 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara

>9 RidgewayGirl: It's a reread for me, Kay. It's very prescient. I really like the structure.

Looking forward to following along with your reading this year, Beth. Happy new year!

Hi Beth. The only one of your favorites I have read is Unsettled Ground. I gave it 4 stars, so it didn't get listed in my top reads because I had so many 5 star and 4 1/2 star reads, but it was definitely a favorite.

Hi Beth. Happy New Year! I’ll be following along. I think I need to add Unsettled Ground back on my library hold list. I think you may have been the one who added it to my wishlist. I’m looking forward to your reading.

Hi Lisa, Deborah, and Colleen. I hope 2022 is a great year for you.

Happy New Year, Beth! Look forward to following along again in 2022 - dropping off my star.

>5 BLBera: I like your welcome mat! Looking forward to more conversation and reviews.

Hi Alison and Lisa. I'm starting off the year with a reread of Red Clocks, which is even more frightening now and a collection of essays by Ann Patchett that I am enjoying. One in particular is making me think: "My Year of No Shopping." She gave up shopping for a year. I'm thinking I might try that. Online shopping is so easy, and I admit I have ended up with things I don't need. So, something to think about.

Hi Beth. Stopping by. I'll follow again this year. I'm very interested in the Ann Pratchett. She's a really nice non-fiction writer.

Hi Dan - I am really enjoying her essays.

>3 BLBera: who is that on the cover of Words Under Words?

I think it's the author's grandmother. I'll have to look at the acknowledgments again.

>21 BLBera: That book costs a fortune. Hugging the Jukebox is one of my favorite poetry books.

You are one of my 100 most shared books people.

It's a library book, Diane. There are selections from Hugging the Jukebox in this collection.

Great minds...:)

Do you use the Hennepin Co library? I bet they don’t have that at my library.

It's from my college library. Otherwise, I use Rochester Public Library.

Hi, Beth, here to drop off my star and wish you a Happy New Year, and much good reading!

Thanks Sally!

1. Red Clocks REREAD
In this novel, Roe v. Wade has been overturned, and a constitutional amendment has been ratified, making abortion illegal in the US. Girls caught attempting abortions are charged with manslaughter and sent to prison. Also about to take effect is a law allowing only married couples to adopt children.

On the back cover of Red Clocks is the question, "What is a woman for?"

Zumas uses several characters, identified by roles: Biographer, Mender, Daughter, Wife to show us the wide array of women's experiences and desires, and also to show us how narrowly society defines women. The Mender is a witch because she lives in a cabin in the woods by herself. The wife should be happy because she has what society says she should want. The biographer should want a husband. The daughter should not be allowed any say over her body.

The way Zumas connects the various characters works well. There's certainly a lot to think about here.

2. The American Agent
This is a Maisie Dobbs novel. Set during the Blitz in September 1940, Maisie and her best friend Priscilla are driving an ambulance. On top of this, Maisie is asked to help investigate the murder of an American reporter.

I liked the excerpts from Murrow's broadcasts and, as usual, Winspear gives us a clear sense of the time.

The audiobook was well done.

>28 BLBera: I thought she did a good solid job with Red Clocks, and avoided a lot of the issue-of-the-month pitfalls the book could have taken.

Yes, Lisa. People were flawed, realistic, and there weren't a lot of answers. Still, it was a bit depressing, given what is going on in the world.

3. The Boat People
"He knew distrust and suspicion surrounded them, fears of Tigers hiding in their midst. Why else would they still be in jail after all these months? But he had thought, with time and effort, these fears could be allayed, that deep down everyone was keeping an open mind. Now to find this was how the Canadians felt. People he had never met hated him and wanted him dead."

When a boat full of Sri Lankan refugees lands off the coast of British Columbia, those on board are jubilant; they have survived and think they are now safe. Instead, families are separated, and people are incarcerated for months with hearing after hearing.

Sharon Bala based this novel on events that happened in Canada and Sri Lanka. She has written a powerful novel with characters that make immigration issues live.

The story is told from three characters' viewpoints. Mahindan is one of the refugees, Priya is a law student assigned to his case, and Grace is an adjudicator, a recent political appointee to the office hearing the cases. She has no background in law or immigration.

Each character is complex, showing that there are no easy answers. Instead, perhaps we need to see refugees as people and treat them with compassion. This is a powerful, intense novel, deserving of accolades.

Whew! I need to dial down the intensity. I think I'll pick up the graphic memoir Dare to Disappoint about growing up in Turkey; the first chapter was fun.

Hmm--I'm wondering how the boat got from Sri Lanka to British Columbia. That's pretty far-why didn't they just stop in Hawaii? (Not trying to be glib--that's just what occurred to me first).

Good question, Deborah. Don't know, but the story is based on two ships that did actually land in B. C. Maybe there were connections there?

>32 BLBera: Onto the wish list that one goes...

>33 arubabookwoman: Here's a Wikipedia article on it

ETA: I hope you like Dare to Disappoint

It is a good one, Lisa. In her note at the end, she references the events in the article.

I am loving Dare to Disappoint.

4. Dare to Disappoint
I really liked this graphic memoir by Özge Samanci. She offers a clear view of growing up in Turkey, from the way the education system is organized to the politics and the economy. I thought her use of color effective; I loved looking for the little yellow-haired girl on each page.

>37 BLBera: Oh that looks good.

I enjoyed it, Lisa. I learned a lot about education in Turkey in the 80s. She is very engaging, too, so it offered some welcome lightness after a couple of intense books.

>37 BLBera: I'm glad you enjoyed it too, Beth. It was my first book of the year.

Hi Lisa. I liked how she wrote about her life, yet really gave us a detailed view of the educational, political, and economic system that she grew up in.

>32 BLBera: This sounds like a great book, although I am not sure if I could stomach it right now.

>42 MissBrangwen: It was very intense.

I've finished two books. I'll comment on The Glass Hotel after my book club discusses it today. It's a reread for me, and I think I appreciated it more this time.

6. These Precious Days is a great collection of personal essays on a wide variety of topics including book covers, shopping, Snoopy, flying, family, and children -- or lack of in Patchett's case.

>44 BLBera: I have that Patchett in mind (maybe for audio). Glad you liked it.

5. The Glass Hotel was my book club selection for January. It was a good discussion. A lot of what we talked about was a comparison with Station Eleven, which we read in November. One thing people noticed is that both books are about disasters, one a pandemic, the other about the financial collapse of 2008. The Glass Hotel's action centers around the collapse of a Ponzi scheme, modeled on Bernie Madoff's. In both novels, we see how the various characters react when faced with disaster, and all agreed that Station Eleven was much more optimistic.

This was my second reading, and I think I liked it more the second time. There are a lot of shifts in time and place, and this time, I could follow the flow of the novel better.

I can't wait to see her new one, Sea of Tranquility.

>45 dchaikin: I've talked to some who listened to it, and they really enjoyed it. I think Patchett reads the essays.

I have both the Patchett and The Glass Hotel in my virtual pile, and want to get to both of them. I think you'll like Sea of Tranquility, Beth.

I can't wait, Lisa. It will be fun to read it so close to my readings of both Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel.

7. A Sorrowful Sanctuary is another Lane Winslow mystery set in British Columbia after WWII. In this one Lane finds a wounded man in a drifting rowboat one hot afternoon. Of course Lane has to get involved, and the investigation leads to Sudetenland refugees who came to Canada before the war, and to the realization that Nazis are popping up in Canada.

I love the bits of history that Whishaw includes, and in each novel we learn a bit more about the people in Lane's small community. Very enjoyable reads.

>50 BLBera: Are these like the Maisie Dobbs books at all? I don't usually read mysteries, but I liked the history in the Winspear books, and these sound similar.

They are often compared to the Dobbs books. I also like those, so you could give one a try to see. There aren't that many in this series, at least not yet.

>44 BLBera: goes on my wish list, it sounds like an interesting read to dip in from time to time!

>50 BLBera: sounds intriguing as well, I like the idea of a mystery set in British Columbia. The cover looks nice, too.

>53 MissBrangwen: That is a great advantage of essay collections - one can read one and put it aside. If you like historical mysteries, these are entertaining.

8. Delivering Death is the final book, at least so far, in the Riley Spartz series. I listened to this one, and the audiobook was well done. In it TV news reporter Riley Spartz receives an envelope full of teeth, which turn out to be human. When a toothless corpse is found, Riley's investigation leads her to an identity theft ring and a jailed millionaire. This is really well plotted with lots of twists. It was a good mystery, and once again I enjoyed the look into a local newsroom.

>55 BLBera: I had a look at the online preview for Stalking Susan and it looks like a fun read, so on to the wishlist it goes. Neither my local or state library has it but you never know I might get lucky at a secondhand shop.

>56 rhian_of_oz: I don't know if it will be easy to find the Kramer books. My library has them because she is a local author.

9. The Fell
Two years after the start of the pandemic, we are starting to see novels that deal with it. Two excellent ones that I've read, The Sentence and The Fell make me look forward to discover how various artists will treat COVID in their writing.

The Fell focuses on the effect of the virus, specifically quarantine and isolation, on a small group of people. Kate, a single mother and her son Matt, Alice, an elderly neighbor, and Rob, a member of the search and rescue team, are the characters. Kate, who along with her son, is confined to the house after a close contact, becomes stir crazy and decides to go for a walk on the deserted moors late one November afternoon. What happens as a result propels the novel.

Told in stream of consciousness, each character considers how the isolation is affecting them.

I found the story compelling and hard to put down -- and certainly relatable. This novel reveals the psychological cost of the pandemic to individuals and communities and does it brilliantly.

Recommended only if you are ready to read about the pandemic.

>58 BLBera: Enjoyed your review. Ordinarily that would have been going on my wish list, but I don't think I'm ready to read about the pandemic just yet in fiction (maybe never?).

I get it Alison. I've heard others say the same thing.

I'm interested in The Fell (because I liked Summerwater, but my library doesn't have it yet, so it will have to wait.

I really liked it, Deborah. I think it will be out here on March 1; you should be able to reserve it from your library soon. Or you could order a copy from Book Depository. :)

>59 AlisonY: Same here - I'm not ready to read about it now, but I will put it down for a later date. It sounds intriguing and the cover is striking.

>63 MissBrangwen: I know there are many that are not ready to read this. Do put it on your list for a future read. It is a good one.

10. Moon of the Crusted Snow takes place in an isolated Anishinaabe village in northern Canada. Even though the village is isolated, people have electricity, running water and the internet. When all power and communications go off, will people remember enough of the old ways to survive? Rice, chapter by chapter, creates tension that only increases when outsiders show up.

This is a first novel, and the writing is a bit uneven; Rice does a lot of telling vs. showing. Still, he does know how to keep the reader turning the pages and has captured a community threatened once again. Good first novel.

I love the cover of this.

If anyone would like my copy, PM me your address. First come...

11. Words Under the Words is a collection of poems from other of Nye's books: Different Ways to Pray, Hugging the Jukebox, and Yellow Glove. So the poems come from different periods and places. It is a great collection, and I love Nye's poetry, but I think I prefer the smaller collections. I'll look for more of her work.

>65 BLBera: I think I liked this one more than you, Beth. Having grown up in rural Maine, the setting got me reminiscing. He's currently working on a sequel, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the folks fare.

Edited to add: I picked up my ILL of A Killer in King's Cove today.

I'm reading and loving Braiding Sweetgrass. The chapter "Learning the Grammar of Animacy" is amazing. She talks about learning Potawatomi, that in that language 70% of the words are verbs, while in English, only 30% are. She says, "To be a hill, to be a sandy beach, to be a Saturday, all are possible verbs in a world where everything is alive." One of her students comments asks, if "speaking in English, thinking in English, somehow gives us permission to disrespect nature?" Great illustration of how much culture is lost when a language is lost.

I've also started No Land to Light On, another novel that is about immigration. The first 50 pages are heartbreaking. Zgheib is really showing the powerlessness of refugees, in this case Syrian refugees.

>67 labfs39: Lisa - It's a great idea. I just thought the writing wasn't very polished, lots of telling, explaining, when describing or showing would be more effective. For example, when a meeting starts with smudging with sage: "It was an integral part of Anishinaabe spirituality. It represented a cleansing of the spirit, and the ceremony was believed to clear the air of negativity. It had become protocol..." Overall, I did like the novel, and I would expect that the writing will improve. It probably didn't help that I read this right after I read The Fell where the writing is wonderful.

>68 BLBera: Thank you for your comments on Braiding Sweetgrass. I have read a lot about it, but your comments made me finally put it on my wish list because I love linguistics like this: The way a language influences our thinking and even our actions.
And I am interested in your thoughts about No Land to Light On.

>68 BLBera: I thought that section of Braiding Sweetgrass was wonderful too. So much to think about, presented in a totally nonjudgmental way.

>69 BLBera: I think that this so-called unpolishness suits the novel in this case. Our narrator is not supposed to be a MFA word genius, the novel reads more like an oral story one would tell around a campfire for example.

Thanks for posting the example because I’ve been wondering what bothers people in the writing. I don’t think of that as bad or unpolished writing - it’s an attempt at presenting a culture people may not know about without going for notes (which people skip). And it flows well enough not to be cumbersome. I’d rather have that in my novels than missing the significance of an action/saying because I don’t know the culture.

>70 MissBrangwen: It's a lovely book. Not every chapter is about language.

>71 lisapeet: Yes. I am really enjoying this collection.

>72 AnnieMod: Fair enough, Annie. I did love the novel. I just think the author could do more showing rather than telling, which I assume will improve with future novels. It's not bad; it just could be done more effectively. Telling us that Anishinaabe do things a certain way takes us away from the world of the story. Just show us what they are doing, and we can figure it out.

Moon of Crusted Snow was such a good debut. I'm looking forward to the next book.

I've got The Fell on my pile. I'd normally avoid anything referencing the pandemic, but as the author is Sarah Moss, I'll read it.

>74 RidgewayGirl: It was a good first novel, Kay. I think he'll iron out style issues in future writing.

I've read two excellent novels about the pandemic, The Fell and The Sentence, so I am anxious to see what good writers make of it. Still, I might want to space out those books...

Have you moved yet?

Hi Beth, it's taken me a long time to get over here. What a great collection in your first post!

I note the Joan Silber novel in your first post (favorites from 2021). I read and enjoyed a short fiction collection of hers back in 2006, but nothing since (I suppose I tend to read more commonly authors from outside the US).

The Moon of the Crusted Snow sounds interesting, and I've been reading a fair bit of Canadian lit in the last couple of years, so I may chase that down.

>75 BLBera: It's an endless process, Beth. If all goes according to plan, I'll drive to Illinois in the last week of February and move into the house at the beginning of March.

>76 avaland: Stop by any time. Secrets of Happiness is one I still think about.

>77 RidgewayGirl: Good luck, Kay! The idea of moving overwhelms me. Are you getting movers to pack stuff up, or are you doing it yourselves?

>78 BLBera: We'll have movers. It's a move because my husband was headhunted and so they're taking care of stuff like that. I am packing up my books because in the five other times we had movers, twice a bunch of books were ruined due to bad packing. They can pack the most delicate glassware without incident, but books sometimes stymie them. I'm using the opportunity to also weed out a few books.

Plus, packing books is fun. :) It is a good opportunity to get rid of some though. I've recently been looking at my overloaded shelves thinking that would be a good project for retirement. If only I can resist library books and also read some of the unread volumes.

>80 BLBera: Ah, but every library book you read is a book you didn't buy.

Good way to think about it, Kay.

12. No Land to Light On begins on January 27, 2017 when Hadi Deeb, a Syrian refugee returns to Boston to his pregnant wife after attending his father's funeral in Amman. January 27 is the day Trump's executive order goes into effect, excluding Syrians, even those with legal refugee status. Hadi is stopped before he reaches customs, and the account of the hours he is detained is horrifyingly convincing. Zgheib's portrayal of Hadi's fear and despair as he is sent back to Jordan, is vivid and real.

In the characters of Sama Zayat and Hadi Deeb, Zgheib represents the plight of refugees wanting to come to the US. I would like to think we are better than this. As Sama protests, "This isn't right! This isn't the story I was told, promised. The dream to come to America, work hard, become somebody. Become better and larger than who I was and could be in the life I left." Even though this is a novel, it is heartbreaking.

The only things I didn't like were the short chapters, jumping around in time. I think longer chapters with less jumping would have flowed better.

>83 BLBera: Nice review, Beth.

Thanks Colleen - it was a great novel although harrowing.

>83 BLBera: Great review! I have added this to the WL.

Thanks Deborah. I'll watch for your comments.

13. Foster is a novella about which David Mitchell says, "As good as Chekov. There's nothing wrong with it. Not a word."

The narrator is a young, unnamed girl who is taken to stay with a childless couple as her mother waits for the birth of another baby. She doesn't understand a lot of what happens around her, but she comes to enjoy the quiet order of the Kinsella household. It's a lovely account of a few weeks in the life of a girl who is growing up and realizing that not all families are like her own.

>83 BLBera: Nic review. It's tempting.
And I like the cover, so light and so different from the difficult topic.

>88 BLBera: Two positive reviews of this book in one week end (yours and Trifolia's). I might have to look at what is available from this author at my local library!

>58 BLBera: I'm really looking forward to The Fell, but I want to read Summerwater first. Love me some Sarah Moss

>90 Nickelini: Both are excellent, Joyce.

14. A Really Good Day is a memoir read by the author, Ayelet Waldman. In it, Waldman describes her 30-day experiment macrodosing with LSD in an effort to help with her mood disorder and have a "really good day."

She sets the stage by explaining, maybe in a bit too much detail, her problems with her mood disorder and her relationships. At first, I thought she overshared, but as I continued listening, I began to respect her honesty. She doesn't spare herself.

Both before and during the experiment she does a lot of research, so there is a lot of information about the War on Drugs and the history of drug policy in the US. This was fascinating as I learned that most of what I know about drugs is wrong. Most experts agree that drugs should be decriminalized and that we need to allow clinical trials on psychedelics, which have shown promise in treating mood disorders, with fewer side effects than SSRIs, for example. Unfortunately, LSD is illegal, and there are no clinical trials. And, yes, she was breaking the law.

She's smart and articulate, and I enjoyed listening to this.

>92 BLBera: this reminds me of How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan, which I really enjoyed and found enlightening in a similar way (without much of the criminal justice stuff)

I really enjoyed your reviews of No Land to Light On and Foster. The first sounds important to read and the David Mitchell comment on Foster is intriguing.

>93 dchaikin: this reminds me of How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan, which I really enjoyed and found enlightening in a similar way

Yes, I thought about that too. Also I went to a talk where Pollan discussed this. It looks promising. I hope they can open up the legal aspects to explore this further.

>93 dchaikin: I think she references the Pollan. Both No Land to Light On and Foster were very good.

>94 Nickelini: It seems that most experts agree that decriminalizing drugs and allowing research into psychedelics would make sense. They disagree about how likely this will be in the near future.

15. My Monticello is an excellent collection of short stories, all set in Virginia. The stories speak to the troubling relationship of the state with racism and the devastating effects racism has on the people touched by it. As the narrator of the novella, "My Monticello," a descendent of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson states, "They (whites) believed their security depended on making sure we never felt safe, not even in our own bodies. Their claims, along with their brutal means, trampled over the simple fact of my family..."

In the titular novella, a small group of Blacks flee to Monticello after their neighborhood is overrun by white supremacists. Climate has turned extreme, and infrastructure is failing. Will Monticello provide refuge?

Great collection.

16. Tunnels is a graphic novel by Israeli writer and illustrator Rutu Modan. On the surface, it is about the search for the Ark of the Covenant. But Nili, the single mom who is leading the search, is no Indiana Jones, and the search is complicated by the politics of the area. The tunnel she wants to dig would go through Palestinian land. When she runs into a Palestinian archeologist who is also digging a tunnel, she recognizes a companion of her childhood, but the years have made friendship and trust between Israeli Nili and Palestinian Mahdi nearly impossible.

There is a lot of politics in this adventure story, commentary about ownership of land, artifacts, and consequently, stories. Modan also shows what happens when two groups can't come together. This is a very clever, thought-provoking graphic novel.

>96 BLBera: I don't usually read short stories, but I might make an exception for these. I am a Virginia transplant after growing up in the midwest, and I pretty fascinated by Virginia's history and it's impact on the state's culture (and divide) today.

>98 japaul22: Well, Jennifer, there is plenty in this collection about the political divide in Virginia. Plus, "My Monticello" is over 100 pages, so more of a novella.

>83 BLBera: & >97 BLBera:

Wow, both of these look great. Thanks for the reviews.

>100 rocketjk: You are very welcome.

17. Artificial Condition
This is the second in the Murderbot series and just as entertaining as the first one. In this one, Murderbot is on his (the reader is a man, so I think of Murderbot as "he" though he doesn't have a gender) own. He wants to find out what happened on the planet where he supposedly murdered a bunch of humans.

On his journey, he meets a transport more powerful than he is, ART (Asshole Research Transport). They form an alliance of sorts. Murderbot also finds himself protecting more humans.

Very entertaining and the audiobooks are great. Can't wait to listen to the next one, which is now available.

>102 BLBera: The gender thing is interesting. My husband and I both read the print versions and while he gendered Murderbot as male, I tended to gender it as female.

That is interesting, Ursula. Obviously listening to the audiobook read by a male narrator has influenced me.

>103 ursula: This is something I hadn't thought of. I've mostly read the Murderbot series, but have pictured "her" in my head as a female.

Also, Tunnels sounds fascinating.

>102 BLBera: So far I haven't been interested in the Murderbot series, but your review prompted me to put the first in the series on hold at the library.

>103 ursula:, >105 markon: The discussion of the gender of Murderbot is interesting. I'm not sure what I would have thought if I had read them and not listened to the audiobook.

>106 arubabookwoman: Hi Deborah. The Murderbot stories are fun; the audiobooks are short and entertaining. I don't usually read science fiction, but these have captured my interest. It helps that they are short.

18, Violeta is the best novel by Isabel Allende in a while. I've always thought that her historical novels and those set in Chile are her best.

In this one, her protagonist, Violeta del Valle, is born in the midst of the 1920 flu pandemic and ends her story on her deathbed one hundred years later. Violeta is telling her life story to her grandson. She tells about her experiences living through the Great Depression, WWII, a major earthquake, and the Pinochet regime. In her one hundred years, she loses family and friends, and we mourn along with her, especially for the first sixty years. The final forty years seem less detailed than Violeta's early life, but still, she is a great character, and I enjoyed my time with her.

19. Rogue Protocol is another entertaining audiobook that follows the exploits of Murderbot. In this one, Murderbot decides to visit a planet to find evidence of GrayCris wrongdoing. He thinks this will help Dr. Mensah. He misses ART but meeds a "pet bot" named Miki who will help him if he promises to protect her "friends" (the humans). This only mildly annoys Murderbot. So once again, Murderbot is in the position of protecting humans. And is he becoming more human in the process?

I had just finished this, when I got a notice that the next audiobook is available, so I'll move on to Murderbot's next adventure.

>109 BLBera: I’m going to have to add this series to my list. Have you been listening to all of the ones you’ve read?

Yes, I have been listening, Colleen. They are very entertaining audiobooks. And short. I think most are around three hours.

They could have really killed it by finding someone with a gender-ambiguous voice to read the Murderbot part, but I guess they're somewhat constrained in the audiobook reader pool.

Yes, Lisa, that is a great idea! I know my ideas about Murderbot's gender are based on listening to the audio.

>112 lisapeet: John Scalzi has a couple of books (Lock In and Head On) where the narrator/main character's gender is (deliberately) never described. There are two versions of the audiobooks - one by Wil Wheaton and one by Amber Benson.

Enjoyed catching up on your thread. The book on LSD sounds interesting. It reminded me of an article in the weekend Times a few months back where a couple went somewhere (the Netherlands maybe?) for LSD couple therapy. They were raving about how positive and significantly changed their relationship has been in the months since, which I found fascinating. I have to say I wouldn't be brave enough to give it a go.

She did a lot of research before starting, Alison, so she realized that LSD, in microdoses, is not dangerous, physically. My fears would be getting arrested!

20. How High We Go in the Dark
This novel of linked stories spans millennia and explores the possibilities of humans for re-creation and continued existence in other parts of the universe. A pandemic and climate change are threads that run through all the stories, as the world economy becomes dominated by the funeral industry. As one character notes, "...it was hard to escape the view of the closest funerary tower. The same was true in Chicago or in any major city -- repurposed skyscrapers to hold and honor the dead."

Many descriptions of the novel compare it to Cloud Atlas, but Nagamatsu has his own vision. So although there may be echoes of Mitchell's novel in the linked stories and the vastness of time covered, this novel can stand on its own.

It's hard to say more without spoilers.

>117 BLBera: Went straight to the library to place a hold on that one!

This is why it is so hard to read from my shelves, Deborah!

22. Poems to Learn by Heart is another nice collection put together by Kennedy. The Jon Muth illustrations are the real stars of this book. While many of the poems are familiar, there are some unexpected choices.

One of my favorites is the very first poem in the book by Rita Dove.

The First Book

Open it.

Go ahead, it won't bite.
Well...maybe a little.

More a nip, like. A tingle.
It's pleasurable, really.

You see, it keeps on opening.
You may fall in.

Sure, it's hard to get started;
Remember learning to use

knife and fork? Dig in:
You'll never reach the bottom.

It's not like it's the end of the world --
Just the world as you think

You know it.

There's also a selection by the DreamYard Prep Slam Team, a group of young poets who helped select the poems.

This would be a great gift for kids to introduce them to poetry.

>22 dianeham: What a nice poem!
I was looking for a poem to learn for my first grade pupils. I should include this one in my selection! Maybe I should give a try at translating it...

23. The Vanishing Half is one I am reading with my students. On the whole I loved the book, but the structure didn't completely work for me. The fact that the novel starts with Desiree who then disappears for most of the novel bothered me. My students say the structure makes them want to keep reading. They seem to be enjoying the novel, and we've had some lively class discussions.

24. The Thirty Names of Night

I liked this novel by Zeyn Joukhadar and suspect I will be thinking about it for a while. Joukhadar writes beautifully about identity, immigration and community -- and birds. Lots and lots of birds, which are a great metaphor for immigration.

Set mostly in the Syrian American community in New York, the story alternates between two narrators, Leila Z., a bird artist, and an unnamed (for most of the novel) transman talking to his dead mother. Their neighborhood is being dismantled bit by bit: "...America has only ever deemed certain heritages worth preserving. If the Lenape were forced from their ancestral home on the island of Mannahatta, the eviction of Little Syria's impoverished immigrants is no surprise." Along with challenges to the community, our narrators also face challenges when they don't fit into gender norms.

The alternating narrators doesn't work for me here. I feel it distances me from the characters. But still, a good novel. Did I mention that there are lots of birds?

>123 BLBera: Thanks for this review Beth. I've tried this once as an audiobook and didn't get very far. I find point of view tricky. When done well it's great, but I think it is difficult to master.

25. The Island of Missing Trees is set in Cyprus and England, and I loved this novel.

It centers on the story of Kostos, Greek, and Defne, Turkish, and their love story. The story alternates between present-day London and the 1970s on Cyprus. I'm a little tired of the whole alternating timeline device, but it was OK here. The novel shows the tragedy of Civil War, not only in human terms, but also the harm war does to the environment. Everything is connected.

One of the narrators is a fig tree, who steals the show.

One of the best books I've read this year.

I'd like to find some nonfiction related to Cyprus, so if anyone has suggestions...

>125 BLBera: Rhian also loved The Island of Missing Trees, so need to bump that up my list.

Also to say that I love the title of the story collection you read - How High We Go in the Dark. There's something very satisfying about a good title.

>125 BLBera: I really like the sound of this one. Onto the wishlist.

>126 AlisonY: Yes, Alison, good titles are satisfying. I was never good at titles, so I appreciate them. The Island of Missing Trees is a good one.

>127 NanaCC: I hope you like it, Colleen. I loved the fig tree.

26. Olga Dies Dreaming

I loved this novel. It may be my favorite book of the year. And it follows one that I also loved and doesn't suffer in comparison. In this novel, Gonzalez has achieved something that isn't easy; she tells an engaging story that is very funny at times and that is filled with interesting characters while also addressing serious issues -- all without bludgeoning us with a MESSAGE.

Olga Acevedo is a Brooklynite of Puerto Rican descent. She's a successful wedding planner, an Ivy League graduate and sister to a congressman. She has a complicated family. Her father was a heroin addict who died of AIDS, and her mother left the family when Olga was a child to become a freedom fighter.

Olga doesn't go far from her neighborhood, but descries the gentrification and the disappearance of landmarks she remembers as a child. The weddings she helps plan emphasize the difference between her family and the wealthy. When Hurricane Maria destroys Puerto Rico, the response makes the gap between black and brown people and the wealthy whites even more apparent.

Yet through all these issues, Olga and her family celebrate weddings and stick together. Wonderful novel.

Very interested in both of your last two books. And I saw that The Island of Missing Trees is on the Women's Prize for Fiction long list that was just announced.

Both are excellent, Jennifer.

Longlist for the Women's Prize for Fiction - some of the touchstones don't work
The Bread the Devil Knead
Salt Lick by Lulu Allison
Careless by Kirsty Capes
Remote Sympathy
The Paper Palace
Flamingo
✔️The Sentence
Build Your House Around My Body
Sorrow and Bliss
The Exhibitionist by Charlotte Mendelson
The Book of Form and Emptiness
This One Sky Day
✔️The Island of Missing Trees
✔️Great Circle
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
Creatures of Passage

What did you think of Great Circle? I know I saw conflicting reviews on LT and I've been on the fence about investing the time in it. Can't remember which side you were on!

>132 japaul22: I liked it, but not as much as others. I thought it needed editing, and the modern timeline didn't work for me. Of the three I've read, it's my least favorite.

>133 BLBera: thanks!

>131 BLBera: Don't know if you already know about this, or are interested, but some of us are chatting about this here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/340154#n7781903

>135 Nickelini: Thanks.

28. On the Bus with Rosa Parks is a good collection from Rita Dove. Recommended. One of my favorites:

The First Book

Open it.

Go ahead, it won't bite.
Well...maybe a little.

More a nip, like. A tingle.
It's pleasurable, really.

You see, it keeps on opening.
You may fall in.

Sure, it's hard to get started;
Remember learning to use

knife and fork? Dig in:
You'll never reach the bottom.

It's not like it's the end of the world --
Just the world as you think

You know it.

There are also poems about Civil Rights, aging and libraries.

30. Braiding Sweetgrass is a wonderful collection of essays from Wall Kimmerer's observations and experiences in nature. Throughout the collection, WK expresses the importance of gratitude and educates us in the Potawatomi worldview that she grew up with. When she discusses climate change, she asks how we can change our mindset to accept gifts from the earth and reciprocate. A lovely collection that opens up a new way of looking at our world.

I've made note of both The Thirty Names of Night and The Island of Missing Trees. I was also sent an ARC of Olga Dies Dreaming and now you've sent me looking through boxes for it (I'm still unpacking). Did you decide to read Braiding Sweetgrass after seeing it mentioned in The Sentence?

Hi Kay - How fun. Unpacking books is the best part of moving.

I actually heard about Braiding Sweetgrass on LT before I ever read The Sentence.

Interesting article although it probably shouldn't surprise us. I've added the book it's excerpted from to my WL.

https://lithub.com/why-are-so-many-men-still-resistant-to-reading-women/?utm_sou...

>141 BLBera: Although I've read these studies and articles before, they never cease to shock me. A couple of things in this article were new to me. "Hilary Mantel has only 34 per cent male readers." I found this really surprising. She is writing historical fiction about predominantly male figures (Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII). If even these books don't get male readers, what will? If her protagonists were women, would she have any male readers? Margaret Atwood only gets 21% male readers.

And the financial impact is huge. Sociologist Dana Beth Weinberg and mathematician Adam Kapelner of Queens ​College-CUNY looked at 2 million titles published in North America between 2002 and 2012. They found that, on average, books by women were priced 45 per cent lower than books by men.

>138 BLBera: I read Braiding Sweetgrass last fall after a recommendation from a friend while we were traipsing around the NY Botanical Garden, and I really liked it—right book, right time. I've since seen it quoted or mentioned in so many places, including Maud Newton's Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation, which I just finished (and highly recommend—it's out in a couple of weeks).

>142 labfs39: Hi Lisa - Yes, I find the financial impact especially troubling. And they are shocking. If you haven't read it, John Boyne's essay is worthwhile.

>143 lisapeet: Thanks for the recommendation, Lisa. I will add Maud Newton's book to my list. You are one of the people whose comments encouraged me to pick up Braiding Sweetgrass.

31. Winter
My comments from the first time I read Winter -

Winter is a novel of ideas. Smith asks us to think about our place in the world. It mostly takes place around the winter solstice and Christmas. Sophia, Art, Lux, and Iris all come together for Christmas in a big old house in Cornwall. Sophia and Iris are sisters, Art is Sophia's son, and Lux is a stand-in girlfriend. Sophia has been a businesswoman, while Iris has been a lifelong activist. There's a lot of argument about the place of immigrants, social media, etc. LOTS to think about.

At one point, Sophia is talking about the drain of immigrants on services, and Lux says, "But what will the world do...if we can't solve the problem of the millions and millions of people with no home to go to or whose homes aren't good enough, except by saying go away and building fences and walls? It isn't a good enough answer, that one group of people cam be in charge of the destinies of another group of people and choose whether to exclude them or include them. Human beings have to be more ingenious than this, and more generous." This really spoke to me in the midst of all the wall talk now.

Basically, Smith is asking what kind of people are we. It's a good question to consider.

Additional comments from this read:

I liked Winter more on the reread. I also noticed a connection with Autumn that I missed the first time. I loved the riff on A Christmas Carol as well. And, of course, I must mention the floating head that I had completely forgotten.

I'm looking forward to Spring. In every sense of the word.

>141 BLBera: interesting article. Thanks for the link. It's strange to me that professional reviewers can't manage something as simple as a gender bias. (Think about all the other unconscious biases going on.)

>146 dchaikin: Yes, one would think it is manageable.

32. The Seed Keeper - I just finished a reread of one of my favorite books from last year. I chose it for my class. My students have enjoyed it and are now doing research projects on related issues, such as Native boarding schools, the 1862 Dakota war, genetically modified seeds, Indigenous kids in foster care. I can't wait to see what they come up with.

33. Radio Golf
I love this final play in August Wilson's Century Cycle. Set in 1997, the play revolves around two successful businessmen, Harmond Wilks and Roosevelt Hicks. The men have a plan for a new development to revitalize the Hill District. But the plan depends on tearing down a home that they don't legally own.

Besides issues of gentrification, in these two characters, Wilson shows the cost of success for Black businessmen may be denying where they come from. They can make money and play golf with rich white men, but at the cost of spiritual alienation. As one of the characters tells Roosevelt: "You know what you are?...You a Negro...Negroes are the worst thing in God's creation...A dog knows it's a dog. A cat knows it's a cat. But a Negro don't know he's a Negro. He thinks he's a white man."

This play is the final play in the cycle and carries on with questions of identity and Blacks' place in the US that run through all of the plays. I am really glad I finally read the entire cycle. I look forward to seeing them on the stage at some point.

I only wish Wilson were still around to write more.

34. Spring is another remarkable novel from Ali Smith. This one seems more disjointed than the first two novels of her quartet. The first 100 pages tell the story of a film director, Richard, and his screenwriter friend Paddy. Richard is going to work on a film about Katherine Mansfield and Rilke. Then, we move to the story of Brittany, who works in an Immigration Removal Center (IRC). Eventually, the threads come together, sort of.

We see the same concerns in this novel as in the previous ones of the quartet, how exclusion makes our lives smaller. When we make some people invisible, we lose so much.

I'm not sure I see how Mansfield and Rilke fit in this novel. Smith challenges her reader, but she is brilliant. I imagine I will be rereading this one at some point.

I love this, but not everybody will.

35. Creatures of Passage
The description on the cover says, "With its lyricism and bold imagination, Creatures of Passage is unlike anything you've ever read." This is accurate. Set in the Kingdom of Anacostia, this novel is filled with ghosts, monsters, and hauntings.

In the world Yejidé has created, no one is safe. Osiris Kinwell's body is pulled from the river. His wife Gola is killed by a hit-and-run driver. Those responsible are never found. Their daughter Amber has visions of death and disaster, and Osiris' twin sister Nephthys ferries people around in a haunted car. Children disappear.

Yet Yejidé's fantastic world is based in the reality of too many poor people of color. A world with monsters, violence, and addiction. A world without justice. Even here, though, there are people who do their best to protect people; Nephthys takes people where they need to go in her haunted Plymouth. (There's the ghost of a dead white girl in the trunk.) The ghosts find their own justice.

I am glad I picked up this novel. Yejidé is a poet and evokes a place that is haunting and memorable. This will stick with me for a long time.

36. The Trees
"Less than 1 percent of lynchers were ever convicted of a crime."
What would happen if all lynchers were held accountable?

That's the question at the center of The Trees. It begins with the murder of two men whose fathers killed Emmett Till. Next to their corpses is a dead black man, whose corpse appears like that of Emmett Till. When the body disappears from the morgue, the Mississippi Bureau Of Investigation sends two black agents to Money, Mississippi, to investigate. Besides the endemic racism, past lynchings are also revealed.

Soon bodies appear all over the country.

Everett has written a page turner that asks questions about our justice system.

37. Oh William!
Lucy is back. In her distinctive voice, she tells the story of her first husband, William. I enjoyed spending more time with her.

I am loving Virginia Woolf's Essays on the Self.

This struck me from "How Should One Read a Book?"
"Are there not some pursuits that we practice because they are good in themselves, and some pleasures that are final? And is not reading among them? I have sometimes dreamt...that when the Day of Judgement dawns and the great conquerors and lawyers and statesmen come to receive their rewards -- their crowns, their laurels, their names carved indelibly upon imperishable marble -- the Almighty will turn to Peter and will say, not without a certain envy when he sees us coming with our books under our arms, 'Look, these need no reward. We have nothing to give them here. They have loved reading.'"

Love it.

>154 BLBera: What a great quote, and sentiment.

>155 labfs39: Hi Lisa. I thought it would resonate here.

>154 BLBera: Yes, it's a very nice quote: no need for anything else if you love reading... (of course, Virginia Woolf writes it much better than I do...).

>152 BLBera: I have got to read Trees! I've heard so much about it. And it's checked in at my library. But, um, I have too many other books on the go right now. The story of my life.

>157 raton-liseur: Woolf does have a wonderful way with words.

>158 markon: The story of our lives, right? The Trees is a quick read.

>158 markon: I love that. I really need to read some of Woolf's essays—it's one of my reading gaps that I really want to fill before I go meet St. Peter with my books under my arm.

The Trees is at the top of my list to read once I have some non-work-related reading time.

Well, Lisa, I'm thinking of a reading and rereading of Woolf's work as a retirement project...I haven't read her earliest work.

Short comments on two novels of historical fiction:

38. The Taxidermist's Daughter Good historical fiction set at the beginning of the twentieth century in Sussex. Mosse does a great job with the marshy setting and the creepy atmosphere. I listened to this and thought it was maybe a tad too long. It was pretty gory in places as well. I learned a lot about taxidermy.

39. The Four Winds Historical fiction set during the Depression. The first third dragged for me; I thought the most interesting part of the novel was after Elsa Martinelli, the protagonist, and her children went to California. Life in the migrant camps was hard, and I would have liked to see more of Elsa's transformation here. This is for my book club, and I will report back on our discussion.

40. Beautiful World, Where Are You
Alice and Eileen have been best friends since college. Now, approaching thirty, they still email each other frequently. Alice is a successful author and has moved to the beach, three hours away from Eileen in Dublin. Eileen still works at a literary magazine that she started at when she graduated.

Rooney is great with character -- in these two women, we see the complexities of friendship when one is much more financially successful than the other. We also see how millennials are struggling to make sense of the mess that is the world. I guess the fact that I want to shake both of them at times means that Rooney knows how to breathe life into her characters. Sometimes I did find the existential angst a bit much, but to be fair, both Alice and Eileen realize that they are privileged in many ways.

I remember feeling exasperated with characters in Normal People as well. Part of this is the fact that I am well past 30 and have moved on to other concerns.

Still, overall, I am a fan of Rooney and will continue to read her novels, if only to see what the young ones are concerned about. :)

41. French Braid

Anne Tyler is a master with families. In this novel, she gives us the Garrett family, Robin and Mercy, and their three children, Alice, Lily, and David. This short novel spans the years from1959 to the present day, but each person gets enough attention that we feel like we know and care about everyone. No matter how far apart the family grows, we know, "This is what families do for each other -- hide a few uncomfortable truths, allow a few self-deceptions. Little kindnesses."

Lovely.

>164 BLBera: I just read that too.well done.

Thanks Diane. Wasn't it lovely?

42. Essays on the Self is a wonderful collection. Topics range from ideas on modern fiction and poetry to professions for women (in 1942). Woolf says, "The cheapness of writing paper is, of course, the reason why women have succeeded as writers before they have succeeded in other professions." She has such a wonderful clarity of thought that I want to read more by her, both fiction and essays. A good retirement project.

From the cover: "I walk over the marsh saying I am I: and must follow that furrow, not copy another. That is the only justification for my writing, living."

>167 BLBera: I’m really intrigued by this.

(And enjoyed your other recent-ish reviews. Catching up a bit.)

Also very intrigued by the Woolf collection of essays. I haven't read any Woolf in a while (haven't read any classics in a while full stop), but even the quote on the cover reminds me of what I'm missing out on.

>163 BLBera: Part of this is the fact that I am well past 30 and have moved on to other concerns.

Isn't it funny - you think you're so grown up in your 20s and then as you get older realise you actually were still in cocooned in the fun bubble.

>168 dchaikin: I have loved all I've read by Woolf. Thanks.

>169 AlisonY: Someone commented that her millennial hated the Rooney, so maybe my feelings aren't just because of age.

>167 BLBera: I like the idea of reading Woolf as a retirement project. We'll have more time then, right? I've read and enjoyed To the lighthouse and A room of one's own, and would love to try more.

>171 markon: Friends who have retired say that they don't have as much time as they expected, but we'll see. I'm trying to not commit to a lot right now.

43. The Book of Form and Emptiness
This novel is hard to describe, and my comments won't do it justice.

On the surface, it's the story of Annabelle and Benny Oh, who are grieving after the death of Kenji, husband and father. But it's also the story of books; in fact Benny's book is narrating the story of Benny's life:"Every person is trapped in their own particular bubble of delusion, and it's every person's task in life to break free. Books can help. We can make the past into the present, take you back in time and help you remember. We can show you things, shift your realities and widen your world, but the work of waking up is up to you."

Benny occasionally interjects and objects to the story the book is telling.

Then, there's the addition of the public library, a homeless poet, Walter Benjamin, and Jorge Luis Borges. Oh, and a Zen nun.

This is one of those books that when I finish, I want to start reading again.

Two small things keep it from being a five-star read for me. I thought it was too long, and the ending was rushed. Still, small things, and I think most readers will love the time they spend with Benny's book. I wasn't crazy about the title either.

44. Look Alive Twenty-Five
Stephanie Plum novels are always entertaining, and I've found that the audiobooks are well done and work well for these books.
Evanovich is still able to come up with new twists, and in this latest, Stephanie and Lulu are sent to work in a deli that their boss has taken possession of when the owner skipped bail. This goes about as well as one would expect. Add to that, chickens, and a fugitive who stabs people on bad days, and we get the usual, entertaining mayhem.

45. Checkout 19
I loved Pond and was anxious to pick up Bennett's new book. If you are a fan of stream of consciousness novels with no plot, this book is for you. The opening of Checkout 19 gives you a good idea of Bennett's style: "Later on we often had a book with us. Later on. When we were a bit bigger at last though still nowhere near as big as the rest of them we brought over books with us. On loads of books. And sat with them there in the grass by the tree. Just one book, in fact. Just one, that's right. Lots of books, one at a time. That's it, one at a time."

The narrator meanders through bits of her life, telling us about the first story she wrote, about a character, Tarquin Superbus, that she wrote about for years, about her reading, and about various relationships. She sometimes ends an anecdote and then circles back to it. Sometimes not. There's not plot, no discernible chronology.

I enjoyed the novel; it's a bit like reading someone's diary. I know though, that it won't appeal to everyone. If the paragraph I quoted doesn't appeal, this is one you might pass on.

Bennett is an original.

Glad to see a review of Ozeki’s latest. And interesting to read about Bennet’s Checkout-19. (I’m imagining the whole book in a grocery checkout line - or maybe _a_ whole book of that sort.)

>176 dchaikin: The Ozeki is really good. I also loved Checkout 19, but I know not everyone admires stream of consciousness.

I'm definitely interested in The Book of Form and Emptiness. The last book of hers I tried, A Tale for the Time Being, didn't work for me, and I let the library checkout expire. I might try it again sometime, but this one sounds like more my cuppa tea.

I think The Book of Form and Emptiness is better than A Tale for the Time Being although I did love that one as well. Ozeki certainly gives one a lot to think about...I tend to really like novels with lots of ideas.

Are things calming down at work? I think you mentioned you were finishing a big project. But you have a wedding soon as well, correct?

>179 BLBera: Yes, FINALLY finished the big project Thursday night. I'm wrapping up some writing right now and then, then... time to shop for the mother-of-the-groom dress. I'm behind on everything that's not work right now (including correspondence, I know!), and a few things that are work, but not stressfully so, at least.

Congrats on finishing. I hope you get some respite although it sounds like non-work things will keep you busy the next little while.

>181 BLBera: Thanks! It's always good to be out from under the giant longterm projects, at least. But yeah, I have a lot of balls in the air this spring...

46. Sorrow and Bliss
Martha Friel, the narrator of Sorrow and Bliss, has just turned forty. She is not an easy person to be around, and as she reflects on her disastrous birthday party, she takes us back to her childhood and the time her mental illness started, when "a bomb" went off in her brain.

Martha has a distinct voice, funny and grating, and I loved the portrayal of her family and her relationship with her sister.

I felt Mason really dropped the ball when Martha was diagnosed. This part of the book seemed lazy. Mason could have done a little research and come up with a diagnosis and not just given us "---".

This is on the longlist for the women's prize, and it is my least favorite so far.

47. Small Things Like These
Every once in a while, I read a book that grabs me, and I immediately know I will buy a copy for my shelves to reread. Claire Keegan's novella is such a book.

It tells the story of Bill Furlong, a coal merchant, in the days leading up to Christmas. He has a lovely family with five daughters and is respected in the community. And he is a good man. When he sees a girl in need, he acts, "...he found himself asking was there any point in being alive without helping one another? Was it possible to carry on along through all the years, the decades, through an entire life, without once being brave enough to go against what was there and yet call yourself a Christian..." It's a good question.

I suspect that this will become a traditional Christmas read for me. A gem.

>164 BLBera: I'm eager to read this one soon.

>173 BLBera: I agree that the title and cover does the book no favors.

>175 BLBera: And you've sold me on Checkout 19.

Great, Kay! I'll watch for your comments on Checkout 19. Did you read Pond?

48. Unfinished Business is a good collection of essays on the value of rereading. I will definitely give Natalia Ginzburg and Elizabeth Bowen a try. Some of the authors like Collette and Duras don't call my name, but I am tempted to give Hardy another try. I think I might appreciate him more than I did when I was a teenager.

For those interested in books by Arab American authors.
https://www.clmp.org/news/a-reading-list-for-arab-american-heritage-month-2022/?...

49. Sea of Tranquility

In Emily St. John Mandel's new novel, there is a pandemic, a pandemic novel, and time travel. The novel spans about 500 years; this huge time span reminds me a little of How High We Go in the Dark, and there are similar concerns articulated in both novels. As the characters travel through time, they ask how to choose to live their lives and the nature of reality.

There are some characters from The Glass Hotel, but it's not necessary to have read it to appreciate this novel.

The action starts in British Columbia in 1912, then moves ahead hundreds of years to colonies on the moon and beyond. At the center of the novel is a strange event that occurs in the forest of British Columbia. Under a maple tree, there is a sudden sense of darkness and the sound of a violin being played in a huge terminal. This event happens to various characters through time, and some of the characters make it their lives' work to figure out what happened.

This is one novel that I wished were a little longer.

>186 BLBera: I have not, but this author is being recommended to me based on my love of Eimear McBride, so I'm probably going to have to read something of hers soon.

I'll watch for your comments. I can see that Bennett would not appeal to everyone.

50. The Candy House

If you loved A Visit from the Goon Squad, you'll love this. At first, I was sorry I hadn't reread Goon Squad recently, but, in the end, it didn't matter. Egan revisits many of the characters and continues with their children's stories. In the years that have elapsed since Goon Squad, the world has become more connected, and the fame people are obsessed with in that first novel takes on a new form in social media. Now everyone can be famous, and to take it a step further, everyone can be connected to everyone else. We now have a Collective Unconscious; we can download our consciousness to the collective and access everyone else's as well.

The structure is similar to Goon Squad, and the disparate stories all come together in the end, and we see that stories are important, and perhaps we don't need to know everything, that "knowing everything is too much like knowing nothing; without a story, it's all just information." So, I'll pass on downloading my consciousness, but I'll keep reading Egan.

>189 BLBera: Despite having seen lots of good reviews of this, and being a bit of a fan of her work in general, for some reason this is not on any of my wishlists. Thank you for the reminder.

I loved this one, Rhian. It is one of my favorites so far this year.

>192 BLBera: is this new? i really enjoyed Goon Squad. I’m noting and excited at the idea of revisiting Egan (but no clue how i will actually get to reading her book)

>189 BLBera: This is one novel that I wished were a little longer.
I know, right? And how often do we ever say that about a novel? I love that she kept everything so tight, and worked so efficiently within the time travel conceit—nothing flabby about that book at all. I really need to go back and read The Glass Hotel now.

>195 dchaikin: Yep, this is her newest.

>195 dchaikin: See >196 lisapeet: :)

>196 lisapeet: Hi Lisa. I was glad I had recently reread The Glass Hotel, but it wasn't really necessary. Mandel did a great job making all of the story come together in an unexpected way.

I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

51. Clean Air is a dystopian novel with a twist. It's not climate change, rising water, or air pollution that kill people; it's the trees. In an event called The Turning, trees start to emit so much pollen that the air becomes unbreathable. A large percentage of the population is killed and those that remain live in sealed, domed cities.

There's a mystery here, too. Someone is slashing plastic walls of the houses, killing people. We follow one family, Isabel, Kaito and Cami as they try to live life as best they can.

This is an interesting addition to the growing list of ecotopias.

52. The Hired Man is another excellent character-centered novel by Forna. Duro Kolak tells about life in a small Croatian town before, during, and after the Croatian war for independence. It asks a lot of questions about how people can justify actions during war and how they live with the consequences.

I look forward to our book club discussion; I'll report more fully after that.

We had a wonderful discussion of this novel, which raises all kinds of questions. We discussed reasons people stay in a place that has so many horrible memories and why some people want to remember, while others want only to forget.

53. Mercy Street is an abortion clinic in Boston. The novel follows four people as they move through their lives. Claudia is a social worker who works at the clinic. Victor is an antiabortion activist (not to say nut job). Anthony pickets Mercy Street from time to time. Timmy sells pot to Claudia and Anthony.

Haigh is really good at telling people's stories. Through these characters, she shows us how poorly our society takes care of people who need help, especially poor women. As one character notes: "But what was the point of making yet another person, when the woman herself -- a person who already existed -- counted for so little." While women are her focus here, she also explores the childhoods of her characters, and we can see how bad we are at protecting children.

Haigh gets a little heavy handed with her message at times, but this is certainly a timely novel.

>201 BLBera: timely indeed! Thanks for sharing this.

Hi Jennifer. The other book by Haigh was about fracking; I'm wondering if she centers all her novels around controversial issues.

>203 BLBera: Certainly seem like it! I hadn't her of her, so thanks for bringing her to my attention.

>204 japaul22: You are very welcome. I'll be interested to see what you think of her books.

54. The Investigator is a fast-paced, entertaining read. It's a good way to start the summer break.

This novel centers on Letty Davenport, the adopted daughter of Lucas Davenport of the Prey novels. If you like those, you will like this one.

Letty is twenty-four now and works for a senator. She is bored and jumps at the chance to do some investigating for the DHS (Department of Homeland Security). She is charged to look into possible crude oil thefts with possible militia involvement.

There's lots of action and Letty has to prove herself to the Good Old Boys in Texas (she does). I hope this is a new series.

55. Read Dangerously
In this collection of "letters," Nafisi points to the power of literature and argues that we have to be vigilant, that totalitarianism can appear anywhere, even in the US, and reading "restores us, awakens our feelings, and returns to us our sense of individuality and integrity. Both writing and reading become ways of protest..."

She discusses work by Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Elias Khoury, and James Baldwin, to name a few. I think any reader will enjoy these essays and the way that Nafisi shows the works to be relevant today.

One thing that struck me, as I look at the news about the most recent mass shooting, which was provoked by ideas from "Replacement Theory," "I think true equality is based on celebration and appreciation of difference, accompanied by the recognition and acceptance of the common spaces we share and the universality of humanity." Amen.

Recommended.

I have a couple of Nafisi's other books on my shelves. Time to dust them off.

56. Salt Lick
I love good dystopian novels, so I had high expectations for this one, on the long list for the Women's Prize for Fiction. The addition of a cow chorus further whetted my interest.

The novel is set in England after a pandemic and after severe flooding of a big part of the island. Most people have moved to London, where the majority of the resources are concentrated, especially after the huge population loss of the pandemic. The story follows Jesse, a young boy growing up in a village at the start of the novel, and Isolde, a young woman who grows up in London in a children's home after her mother is killed in a bombing. When Isolde visits the man responsible for the bombing in prison, she discovers she doesn't know the whole story and leaves London in search of answers.

The novel started slow for me, and I didn't really see what the cows added to the book. But Allison writes beautifully, and her bleak view of the world is compelling. There are also some big surprises as we read. One of her descriptions of a deserted village: "But the absence of people hangs uncomfortably, like the unhinged and broken doors a few feet into the trees. This place is home to new souls the little lives of birds and rodents who don't feel alarm at the sightless squares of dark windows. They don't feel the absence of the people behind the broken glass, or the memories that drift, indestructible, fragile waste, like tattered plastic bags in trees." Her descriptions are wonderful and give us a vivid view of the world.

In the end, I loved this novel, even if the cows were a little disappointing.

>208 BLBera: Cool—I hadn't heard of this before, and it sounds very much up my alley. Even with the disappointing cows.

>209 lisapeet: I'll send my copy your way after my discussion, Lisa.

>210 BLBera: Oh far out, thanks!

>208 BLBera: It was a slow start for me as well and it's now sitting in a virtual pile with a ton of other stuff. This is a long weekend in Canada so maybe this is the nudge I need to pick it up again. Glad that you enjoyed it overall.

>211 lisapeet: Not a problem.

>212 Yells: It gets better.

57. The Beatryce Prophecy is another winner by Kate DiCamillo. Young readers will appreciate the adventure, the fairy tale elements and the demon goat, of course. I look forward to Scout's reaction.

>214 BLBera: Kate DiCamillo was on the On Being podcast talking about that book (and other things). It was a really moving conversation, actually... I was sitting in my car in line for the Tappan Zee Bridge with tears running down my cheeks, possibly more my sentimental mood than the discussion but it was a good one.

I'll listen to it, Lisa.

58. Death at Whitewater Church
This is a great start to a series. The mystery was twisty enough to keep me guessing, and the setting, the Inishowen peninsula, was outstanding. This is being made into a TV series, so I look forward to that. And my library has the next books in the series, so I'm set.

The protagonist is Ben (Benedicta) O'Keefe, a solicited in the small town of Glendara. During a survey of a deconsecrated church, she finds a skeleton in the crypt. All bodies had been removed, so the identity of the bones is a mystery. Are they the bones of Conor Devitt, a man who disappeared on his wedding day six years ago?

>210 BLBera: Salt Lick showed up today—thank you! It looks like something I'll like.

I'll watch for your comments. I'm always surprised at how fast books arrive, even with the "slower" rate.

59. Summer wraps up Smith's quartet in a fitting way. There is so much to think about in these novels, that I'm sure I will return to them. I'm glad I do have Companion Piece to look forward to, as well as other works of Smith's. She is a genius.

In Summer, Smith continues with the themes of the previous novels. She pairs brothers and sisters, Daniel and Hannah and Sacha and Robert as well as internment camps in different time periods to show that some things don't change very much. Humans seem to gravitate towards conflict. And yet there are moments of grace (Grace?). We can look at the siblings and see that while they do argue, there is a deep connection and love there. We also see that there are people who are willing to house refugees and do the charitable thing. So, maybe there is hope.

There's so much more to comment on. Just a few more questions/observations:
- What does summer mean to us?
- The significance of The Winter's Tale?
- The birds? Art in nature?

60. Cobweb is a continuation of the Patrick Gillard and Ingrid Langley series. In this one, Gillard and Langley are asked to investigate the deaths of two police officers to determine whether there is a continued threat to the police. Full of the usual twists and turns and an action-packed ending, this is an entertaining addition to the series.

Hi Beth. Just passing through. I see you’ve done a lot of good reading. I’m noting Sanford. I’ve never read anything by him.

Hi Colleen. Sandford's books are fast paced and entertaining. Some of the early ones were gory, but he's toned it down a bit with later ones.

61. Mecca
I love this novel. Straight gives us a Southern California we can feel, the heat of the desert, the dryness of the canyons, and the congestion of the traffic. She also gives us the people, the black, brown, indigenous. No matter the citizenship status, her characters' legitimacy is constantly questioned.

When ICE officers ask about citizenship, "RC folded his arms and said, 'He speak French cause he born in Louisiana, man. He telling you his five great-grandma got here 1760, so they citizen before your people was chopping down cherry tree. Here. Take my damn license. My first people was Mustafa and he from Mali. Come to New Orleans in 1799. I did my AncestryDNA, man. You should do yours."

The story starts with Johnny Frias, a CHP officer who rides 200 miles a day on his motorcycle. The circle of characters widens to his friends and people he meets. These characters, besides the everyday racism, have to navigate the lockdowns of COVID, continuing in their jobs as butchers, nurses, maids, and police. They are the essential workers who become invisible, until, of course, immigration questions their status. And most of these characters are citizens.

There are a lot of characters, and Straight switches points of view. I sometimes had to refer back to keep characters straight. That is only a small complaint, though, of this wonderful novel. Straight has given us a slice of America that we don't often see, and has done it beautifully.

Highly recommended.

62. Vermilion Drift is a good addition to the Cork O'Connor series, much better than the previous one. In this one, Cork is still trying to figure out life after the death of his wife. When a group of skeletons are found inside a deserted mine tunnel, the investigation goes back forty years, to when Cork's father was the sheriff. Good story and the audiobook is well done.

>224 BLBera: I took at look at this in a bookstore and it sounded good, but the cover looked like a bad color photocopy so I set it back down. Clearly, the wrong decision!

>226 RidgewayGirl: I loved it, Kay. I think the cover is great as well although the words are oddly placed. I like the phantom palm.

63. The Midnight Library is my June book club read. It has an interesting premise. Nora Seed is depressed and decides to kill herself. She wakes up and finds herself in a library. All of the books are her possible lives. She opens a book and goes to the life she chooses.

It is an interesting premise, but after a few lives, it gets to be repetitive. I'm not sure how to get past that structural issue. Another quibble I have is that depression isn't really treated like an illness in this novel. Still, it should make for an interesting discussion. It raises questions about choice and life turning points.

64. E Is for Evidence is another well plotted entry in the Kinsey Millhone series. In this one, Kinsey is framed for insurance fraud and works to prove her innocence. Along the way, she is forced to confront people from her past. Good audiobook.

One thing I am noticing about the Grafton books is that while they are entertaining, I remember very little about previous books.

65. Thin Places is part memoir and part natural history. Dochartaigh tells the story of growing up in Derry, of being firebombed in her home and living in fear most of time. She seeks solace and safety in the natural world and gives us her wonderful, poetic observations as she tries to heal from the trauma of her youth.

She is very concerned about the effects of Brexit on Northern Ireland and worries that invisible lines will bring new violence and terror to her country. She observes: "Divisions, fear -- the emphasis seems to be strictly on difference and separation, on borders and on keeping us apart, keeping us out."

One thing I found especially interesting is how she relates loss of language to loss of identity and understanding of place.

I thought the latter part of the memoir dragged a bit, but overall, this is a satisfying book and gives us insight into what it was like growing up in the midst of the Troubles.

66. Love Marriage
Yasmin Ghorami is a young medical student engaged to Joe, another doctor in training. While Yasmin's family is a socially conservative Indian family, Joe's mother is an academic currently writing a book about penises. As the novel opens, the parents are going to meet for the first time, and Yasmin is a bit anxious.

Although Yasmin is the center of this sprawling novel, other family relationships are also explored. What is the real story behind her parents' "love marriage"? Is Joe's relationship with his mother unhealthy? At times as I read, I thought there was too much going on, but in the end, Ali does manage to tie things together. We learn that no relationship is simple and that things are not always what they seem.

67. A Deceptive Devotion
In this installment of the Lane Winslow series, there is a lot happening: Lane and Inspector Darling are preparing to be married, Ames is in Vancouver at a training course, a Russian spy ready to defect to the British is arrested before his escape, and a Russian countess who speaks no English is foisted on Lane. Oh, and a local hunter is found murdered.

It's 1947, and people are seeing Communists everywhere as the Cold War is getting started. I would have liked to get a better sense of this in the novel; normally Whishaw is really good at setting, but I think there's too much going on in this novel for the paranoia of the times to really come through. And the characters of King's Cove are more background this time.

Lane's and Darling's discussions about what they expect from marriage is one part of the novel that I found interesting. Both wonder about the adjustments they will have to make.

Fans of the series will probably enjoy this one.

Great run of reading—I'm NOT going to place any more library holds this month. I'm not.

Good luck with that, Lisa.

68. Home to Woefield is an entertaining, light read about Prudence, an environmentally conscious young woman who inherits a farm. She is determined to live off the land. Along the way, she connects with a group of people who, like her, know little about farming.

Judy tells the story from the points of view of the various characters and does a good job with the distinct voices.

If you're looking for something to make you smile, this might be the book for you.

>224 BLBera: Bumping Mecca up my too read pile.

I liked Baker towers and News from heaven by Jennifer Haigh. These two aren't issue books, but both set in a coal mining town. Heat and light I didn't enjoy as much. I found Faith quite interesting, and that's all I've read by Haigh. I'm on the list at the library for Mercy Street.

>236 markon: I'll watch for your comments on Mercy Street and look for other books by Haigh.