Alcott Acre's Home, Room 7

Well, let's get the introduction out of the way. My name is Stasia and I have been happily married to the recently retired Kerry for 36 years. We have 6 children, 4 of whom are my stepchildren and 2 of whom are ours together. We also have 8 grandchildren. 2023 was a tough year for our family as we lost my father and stepdaughter, Nichole, within days of each other back in February.

I love to read and it has been a huge solace to me over the past year - I call it "burying myself in books." Since Kerry retired December 29th, it is going to be interesting to see how his retirement affects my reading! I am playing it safe and just shooting for 100 books read this year. I also suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (known to me familiarly as 'stupid CFS') and it seems like my bouts are becoming longer each time it springs up, so it affects my reading for the worse. CFS drives me crazy because I hate sleeping!

That's about it, I think, so come on in and grab a cuppa!

Excellent Reads from 2024 (in the order in which I read them):

5 Stars
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Before She Was Harriet by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Cold Crematorium by Jozsef Debreczeni
King: A Life by Jonathan Eig
An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina
The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard
Woman, Life, Freedom by Marjane Satrapi
Sacred Legacy: Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indian
The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson
999: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz by Heather Dune Macadam
Animal Farm by George Orwell

4.5 Stars
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho
The Face in the Frost by John Bellairs
A Man's Place by Annie Ernaux
Heading North by Holly M. Wendt
Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi
Derring-Do for Beginners by Victoria Goddard
Thirteen Doorways Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne
How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair
Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger
The Postcard by Anne Berest
A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
An Interrupted Life and Letters from Westerbork by Etty Hillesum
Foster by Claire Keegan
Life Laid Bare by Jean Hatzfeld
The Dream: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Speech That Inspired a Nation by Drew D. Hansen
The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by T. E. Carhart
The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard
Table for Two: Fictions by Amor Towles
Symphony for the City of the Dead by M. T. Anderson
My Friend Anne Frank by Hannah Pick-Goslar
The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman
The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony with Graham Spence
Facing the Mountain by Daniel James Brown
Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater
Jewish Literacy by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin
Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshananthan
The Game of Courts by Victoria Goddard
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

4.25 Stars
The Serial Garden by Joan Aiken
Freezing Order by Bill Browder
A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon
The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison
All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews
My Hair Is a Garden by Cozbi A. Cabrera
Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall and Hugo Martinez
Code Girls by Liza Mundy
Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age by Katherine May
Strangers in Death by J.D. Robb
The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts by Loren Grush
The Art of the Wasted Day by Patricia Hampl
English Creek by Ivan Doig
Gin, Turpentine, Pennyroyal, Rue by Christine Higdon
Eden Mine by S. M. Hulse
Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher
Promises in Death by J. D. Robb
At the Feet of the Sun by Victoria Goddard
Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir by Natasha Trethewey
Absolution by Alice McDermott
The Return of Fitzroy Angursell by Victoria Goddard
I Shall Not Hate by Izzeldin Abuelaish
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo
Good Night, Irene by Luis Alberto Urrea
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich
Between the Woods and the Water by Patrick Leigh Fermor
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
Go As a River by Shelley Read
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Confusion by Elizabeth Jane Howard
A Reader's Delight by Noel Perrin
Classic Crimes by William Roughead
Dancing at the Rascal Fair by Ivan Doig
Hotel Du Lac by Anita Brookner

For the past 2 years, I have concentrated on reading the works of one author in particular. In 2022, I read through all of Jane Austen’s works. In 2023, I read all of the volumes of In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust. For 2024, I have decided to do something a bit different and, using Classics for Pleasure by Michael Dirda as a guide, am going to go through each of the chapters of the book and select one work from each.

So for July we have:

The Dark Side:
The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg
Uncle Silas and ghost stories by Sheridan Le Fanu
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Collected Ghost Stories by M. R. James
Tales of the Criminous (AKA Classic Crimes) by William Roughead - Completed July 27, 2024
Selected short stories, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, and At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft

What would you have chosen? Why?

So for June we have:

Lives of Consequence:
Parallel Lives of the Greeks and Romans by Plutarch
The Book of My Life by Girolamo Cardano
Brief Lives by John Aubrey
Selected Poems by Alexander Pope
Discourses, The Social Contract, Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave by Frederick Douglass - Completed June 17, 2024
The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy by Jacob Burckhardt
Collected Letters, Collected Essays, The American Scene, Italian Hours, A Small Boy and Others by Henry James
Selected Poems, The Dyer’s Hand, The Enchafed Flood, Forewards and Afterwards by W.H. Auden

So for May we have:

Everyday Magic:
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The Classic Fairy Tales
Short Stories by E. T. A. Hoffman
Short Stories by Prosper Merimee
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - Completed May 17, 2024
Five Children and It by E. Nesbit
The Box of Delights by John Masefield
Memoirs of a Midget by Walter de la Mare

So for April we have:

Words from the Wise:
Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tse
Philosophical fragments by Heraclitus
On Duties, Discussions at Tusculum, The Dream of Scipio, and letters to Atticus by Cicero
The Praise of Folly by Erasmus - Completed April 7, 2024
The English Religious Tradition including the King James version of the Bible, The Book of Common Prayer, The Pilgrim's Progress, hymns of writers like Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley
Ethics and Theological-Political Treatise by Benedict de Spinoza
"The Vanity of Human Wishes", Rasselas, Essays from the Rambler and the Idler, and Lives of the Poets by Samuel Johnson

So for March we have:

Love's Mysteries:
Poems and Fragments by Sappho
Arthurian Romances: The Knight with the Lion by Chretien de Troyes, Tristan by Gottfried von Strassburg, or Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach
The Princes of Cleves by Marie-Madeleine de la Fayette
Diary of a Seducer by Soren Kierkegaard
Modern Love by George Meredith
Collected Poems by C. P. Cavafy
The Grand Sophy, Venetia, Friday's Child, Cotillion, or A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer - My pick for the month is Cotillion - Completed March 29, 2024
Selected poetry by Anna Akhmatova
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

So for February we have:

Heroes of Their Time:
Beowulf
Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings by Abolqasem Ferdowsi
Njal Saga, Laxdaela Saga, Grettir Saga, Egil Saga (The Icelandic Sagas)
Plays and Poems by Christopher Marlowe
Germinal and other novels by Emile Zola
Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger - Completed February 28, 2024
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee

So for January we have:

Playful Imaginations:
The True History; Lucius, or The Ass; Dialogues of the Dead by Lucian
Rameau’s Nephew by Denis Diderot
Crochet Castle by Thomas Love Peacock
Seven Men; A Christmas Garland; Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm
The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hasek
Brothers and Sisters; Manservant and Maidservant by Ivy Compton-Burnett
The Best of S.J. Perelman by S.J. Perelman - Completed January 9, 2024
Invisible Cities; The Castle of Crossed Destinies; If on a winter’s night a traveler by Italo Calvino
Amphigorey; Amphigorey Too; Amphigorey Also; Amphigorey Again by Edward Gorey

Shared reads:

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman - Completed February 14, 2024
Derring-Do for Beginners by Victoria Goddard - Completed February 12, 2024
The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne - Completed February 18, 2024
An Interrupted Life by Etty Hillesum - Completed March 30, 2024
Martin Dressler by Steven Milhauser - Completed March 5, 2024
The Hand of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard - Completed March 25, 2024
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell - Completed March 16, 2024
The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki - Completed April 16, 2024
At the Feet of the Sun by Victoria Goddard - Completed April 21, 2024
The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham - Completed May 8, 2024
The Return of Fitzroy Angursell by Victoria Goddard - Completed May 12, 2024
Those Who Hold the Fire by Victoria Goddard - Completed June 8, 2024
The Game of Courts by Victoria Goddard - Completed July 4, 2024
The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason - August? with Mark, Ellen, and Linda P
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson - September with Mary (bell7)
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - September with Mary (bell7)
Ride with Me, Mariah Montana by Ivan Doig - October with Mark
How Music Works by David Byrne - October with Kim
Skippy Dies by Paul Murray - November with Deborah
The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham - November with Mark, et al
Bound to Please by Michael Dirda - December with Ellen and Benita

July's TIOLI Challenges:

Challenge #1: Read a biography or autobiography about a person of multi-racial identity
My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me: A Black Woman Discovers Her Family's Nazi Past by Jennifer Teege - Completed July 8, 2024
The Names: A Memoir by N. Scott Momaday - Completed July 4, 2024

Challenge #2: Read a book that was a shared TIOLI read during the first half of 2024
Go As a River by Shelley Read - Completed July 7, 2024
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry - Completed July 23, 2024

Challenge #3: Read a book that has a present European capital city in its main title
The Paris Apartment by Kelly Bowen - Completed July 28, 2024

Challenge #4: Read a book originally published in the 20th century (list the year)
Classic Crimes by William Roughead - Completed July 27, 2024
Dancing at the Rascal Fair by Ivan Doig - Completed July 28, 2024
Soldiers of Paradise by Paul Park - Completed July 19, 2024

Challenge #5: Read a book with a hotel or boarding-house setting, or the word "hotel" in the title
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner - Completed July 31, 2024
The White Rhino Hotel by Bartle Bull - Completed July 30, 2024

Challenge #6: Read a book by an author any of whose names begin or end with either J, U, L, or Y
The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley - Completed July 25, 2024
Indulgence in Death by J. D. Robb - Completed July 12, 2024
Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward - Completed July 29, 2024
Long Bright River by Liz Moore - Completed July 4, 2024
The Vagrants by Yiyun Li - Completed July 31, 2024

Challenge #7: Read a book from the list or by an author listed
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - Completed July 21, 2024

Challenge #8: Anita Memorial Reads Challenges: 1920s & 1930s
Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell - Completed July 6, 2024
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf - Completed July 5, 2024

Challenge #9: Read a book about an escape from or lessening of religious influence
The Exvangelicals by Sarah McCammon - Completed July 2, 2024

Challenge #10: The first word of the book's title is longer than the second word
Animal Farm by George Orwell - Completed July 8, 2024
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros - Completed July 20, 2024
Marking Time by Elizabeth Jane Howard - Completed July 2, 2024
Never Home Alone by Rob Dunn - Completed July 30, 2024

Challenge #11: Read a book whose title could be the name of a pub
All Adults Here by Emma Straub - Completed July 9, 2024

Challenge #12: It's all fun and games - Read a book with the word "fun" or "game" in the title
The Game of Courts by Victoria Goddard - Completed July 3, 2024
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid - Completed July 10, 2024

Challenge #13: Read a book for the Zodiac challenge (Cancer - read a book with an emotion in the title)
The Book of Hope by Jane Goodall - Completed July 9, 2024
A Reader’s Delight by Noel Perrin - Completed July 20, 2024
They Were Good Germans Once by Evelyn Toynton - Completed July 18, 2024

Challenge #14: Read a book with Day in the title
Day Boy by Trent Jamieson - Completed July 24, 2024

Challenge #15: Rolling Challenge Read a with a word in the title starting with one of the letters in Independence
Confusion by Elizabeth Jane Howard - Completed July 14, 2024
A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power - Completed July 21, 2024
White Nights by Ann Cleeves - Completed July 6, 2024

Black Studies Reading
Must reads for this year: King: A Life by Jonathan Eig and When We Ruled by Robin Walker
1. Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho - Completed January 5, 2024
2. Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall and Hugo Martinez - Completed February 2, 2024
3. Before She Was Harriet by Lesa Cline-Ransome - Completed March 1, 2024
4. King: A Life by Jonathan Eig - Completed March 6, 2024
5. The Dream: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Speech That Inspired a Nation by Drew Hansen - Completed April 29, 2024
6. T.R.M. Howard: Doctor, Entrepreneur, Civil Rights Pioneer by David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito - Completed May 30, 2024
7. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson - Completed June 12, 2024
8. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave by Frederick Douglass - Completed June 17, 2024
9. Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward - Completed July 29, 2024

Jewish Studies Reading
Must reads for this year: The Instructions by Adam Levin and Jewish Literacy: The Most Important Things to Know About the Jewish Religion, Its People and Its History by Joseph Telushkin
1. 28 Days by David Safier - Completed January 25, 2024
2. The Archive Thief by Lisa Moses Leff - Completed January 28, 2024
3. Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi - Completed February 3, 2024
4. Cold Crematorium by József Debreczeni - Completed March 4, 2024
5. Etty Hillesum: An Interrupted Life the Diaries, 1941-1943 and Letters from Westerbork by Etty Hillesum - Completed March 30, 2024
6. Plunder: A Memoir of Family Property and Nazi Treasure by Menachem Kaiser - Completed April 6, 2024
7. Ordinary Men by Christopher R. Browning - Completed April 25, 2024
8. My Friend, Anne Frank by Hannah Pick-Goslar - Completed May 30, 2024
9. Jewish Literacy by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin - Completed June 14, 2024
10. 999 : The extraordinary young women of the first official transport to Auschwitz by Heather Dune Macadam - Completed June 16, 2024
11. They Were Good Germans Once by Evelyn Toynton - Completed July 18, 2024

Series Reading - I will post these as I read them:

The In Death series by J.D. Robb
Creation in Death - Completed January 3, 2024
Random in Death - Completed February 6, 2024
Strangers in Death - Completed February 22, 2024
Salvation in Death - Completed March 24, 2024
Promises in Death - Completed April 19, 2024
Kindred in Death - Completed May 13, 2024
Fantasy in Death - Completed June 9, 2024
Indulgence in Death - Completed July 12, 2024
Treachery in Death -

The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon
A Breath of Snow and Ashes - Completed January 18, 2024
An Echo in the Bone -

The St. Mary’s books by Jodi Taylor
What Could Possibly Go Wrong? - Completed February 29, 2024
Lies, Damned Lies, and History -

The Decker/Lazarus series by Faye Kellerman
Grievous Sin - Completed January 31, 2024
Sanctuary -

The Three Pines series by Louise Penny
The Brutal Telling - Completed March 22, 2024
Bury Your Dead -

The Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear
An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear - Completed June 29, 2024
Among the Mad -

The Jackson Brodie series by Kate Atkinson
One Good Turn - Completed May 28, 2024
When Will There Be Good News?

The Shetland Series by Ann Cleeves
White Nights - Completed July 6, 2024
Red Bones

The War Literature Challenge - I will be attempting to read at least 2 books toward each monthly challenge.

JANUARY - The Ancients (Greeks, Romans etc)
A War Like No Other by Victor Davis Hanson - Completed January 9, 2024
The Battle of Salamis by Barry Strauss - Completed January 31, 2024
Persian Fire by Tom Holland - Completed January 29, 2024

FEBRUARY - The American War of Independence
Killing England by Bill O’Reilly - Completed February 3, 2024
Unlikely Allies by Joel Richard Paul - Completed February 22, 2024

MARCH - WILDCARD - Pick your own fight!:
An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina - Completed March 10, 2024
Life Laid Bare by Jean Hatzfeld - Completed April 28, 2024

APRIL - Wars of Religion
The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy by Peter H. Wilson - Completed April 27, 2024

MAY - The Napoleonic Wars
The Illustrious Dead by Stephen Talty - Completed May 10, 2024
Mirage by Nina Burleigh - Completed May 21, 2024

JUNE - The English Civil War
The origins of the English Civil War: conspiracy, crusade, or class conflict? by Philip A. M. Taylor - Completed June 13, 2024
The White Witch by Elizabeth Goudge - Completed June 24, 2024

JULY - Colonial Wars - Not Participating

AUGUST - World War Two

SEPTEMBER - The American Civil War

OCTOBER - American Follies (Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and the Gulf Wars)

NOVEMBER - World War One

DECEMBER - The Spanish Civil War

The “Read More Sci-Fi” Challenge - using the Esquire list found here (https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/g39358054/best-sci-fi-books/) and the book Science Fiction, The 101 Best Novels, 1985-2010 by Damien Broderick and Paul di Filippo as guides
1. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers - Completed January 22, 2024 (Esquire List #29)
2. The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut - Completed February 25, 2024 (Esquire List #18)
3. Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut - Completed March 3, 2024 (From the book - 1985)
4. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell - Completed March 16, 2024 (From the book - 1996)
5. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury - Completed May 25, 2024 (Esquire List #3)
6. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - Completed June 14, 2024 (Esquire List #14)
7. Soldiers of Paradise by Paul Park - Completed July 19, 2024 (From the book - 1987)

The “Indie List” Challenge with the list supplied by Berly
1. All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews - Completed January 29, 2024
2. The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne - Completed February 18, 2024
3. Eden Mine by S.M. Hulse - Completed March 31, 2024
4. Late in the Day by Tessa Hadley - Completed May 6, 2024

The Around the World in 80 Novels Challenge inspired by the book of the same name. I want to try and expand my reading horizons to places I have rarely or never been. In addition to reading from the book that inspired this challenge, I will also be using Around the World in 80 Books as a reference.
1. The Missing File by D.A. Mishani - (Israel) Completed January 31, 2024
2. Bleak House by Charles Dickens - (England) Completed February 16, 2024
3. Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier - (England) - Completed March 8, 2024
4. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck - (China) Completed April 4, 2024
5. The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney (Canada) - Completed June 8, 2024
6. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (London, England) - Completed July 5, 2024

The Monthly Nonfiction Challenge - I try to read at least 100 nonfiction books a year and this challenge is instrumental in helping me achieve that goal. Last year, I was just short with only 96 nonfiction reads in the year, so I am hoping to improve that number in 2024!
January The Archive Thief by Lisa Moses Leff - Completed January 28, 2024
February Code Girls by Liza Mundy - Completed February 12, 2024
February The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts by Loren Grush - Completed February 24, 2024
March Written in Bones by Paul Bahn (editor) - Completed March 16, 2024
April Vermeer's Hat by Timothy Brook - Completed April 19, 2024
May Sacred Legacy by Edward S. Curtis - Completed May 19, 2024
June Between the Woods and the Water by Patrick Leigh Fermor - Completed June 19, 2024
July

The American Authors Challenge - This is one that I dip into and out of as the case may be
January The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain - Completed January 11, 2024
February Reborn: Journals & Notebooks 1947-1963 by Susan Sontag - Completed February 8, 2024
March A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote - Completed March 2, 2024
April Plunder: A Memoir of Family Property and Nazi Treasure by Menachem Kaiser, Ordinary Men by Christopher Browning, The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, The Dream: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Speech That Inspired a Nation by Drew D. Hansen, The Town That Food Saved by Ben Hewitt, and The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by T. E. Carhart
May The Heavenly Tenants by William Maxwell - Completed May 12, 2024
June Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson - Completed June 12, 2024
July

The British Authors Challenge - I have never participated in this one before and I suspect that, like the American Authors Challenge, it will be one into which I dip only on occasion
January The Serial Garden by Joan Aiken - Completed January 4, 2024
February Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman - Completed February 16, 2024
April An Eye for an Eye by Anthony Trollope - Completed April 9, 2024
May The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman - Completed May 31, 2024
June The Island at the End of Everything by Kiran Millwood Hargrave - Completed June 4, 2024
July Animal Farm by George Orwell - Completed July 8, 2024

Touchstone loading time. . .

Happy new thread, Happy Sunday. Enjoy your day.

Happy new one Stasia. xx

What would you have chosen? Why? Private Memoirs of a Justified Sinner, because it’s on my list of books to read.

Happy Sunday, Stasia. Happy New Thread. Sounds like yesterday was a rough one. Have you read Vesper Flights? I ended up having an extra copy.

>12 Kristelh: >13 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Kristel and Paul!!

>14 Kristelh: Cool beans!

>15 msf59: Thanks, Mark! Friday was the rough day, not yesterday, and I am very glad it is over and done.

Vesper Flights sounds terrific and no, I have not read it yet.

Today is Sunday so it is my traditional 'day off' technology. I still have another ~500 page book I want to finish today for June's TIOLI challenges. Game playing with Kerry is also on the agenda today and my board game auction will be ending today as well. Even more than that though, today is my daughter Beth's 35th birthday!

Beth was a miracle baby. The day before she was born, I went to the doctor's office so that they could dose me with Pitocin and get me to go into labor. It did not work. I never had a contraction. However, the doctor did notice that every time I laid down my baby's heartbeat dropped significantly. I was told to go to the local hospital the next day and we were going to have a C-section done at noon.

I was at the hospital June 30th at 10am as instructed, had a sonogram, and within 15 minutes of the sonogram was having an emergency C-section. Beth was born with meconium poisoning. I was told later that if they had waited until noon to do the C-section, she likely would have not made it. Her Apgar score was 1. The doctors waited until I had recovered from the anaesthetic (due to allergy problems I was not allowed to be awake for the C-section, I was completely unconscious) before she was transferred via helicopter to the NICU at a larger hospital in Dallas. I got a glimpse of her in an incubator and got to hold her hand briefly before she was whisked off.

For the first 2 days of Beth's life, we were told to plan her funeral. For the next 19 days, she was kept paralyzed with a drug that is a derivative of curare. When they finally decided she could be taken off the pure oxygen, she was allowed to wake up - the doctors wanted all of the oxygen going to help heal her lungs, so no muscle movement was allowed - she sounded like a baby kitten. She got stronger to the point that she was finally allowed to come home 30 days after she was born.

I know that some people do not believe in either miracles or the power of prayer. I believe in both and my daughter Beth's survival is one of the reasons why. Happy birthday, sweetie! Thank you for making me a mother.

New thread orisons, Stasia!

>17 alcottacre:, that sounds like such a miracle, Stasia. Happy Birthday to Beth for being such a survivor!!!

Happy new thread, Stasia. And wow, >17 alcottacre:, what an amazing survival story!

Happy new thread Stasia!

And happy birthday to Beth. That's a wonderful story.

Happy New Thread!

I'm currently listening to The Color of Water. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store is slated for one of my IP book clubs later this year. These are the first I have read by James McBride so far TCOW is very good.

Guess I should join you in reading Dancing at The Rascal Fair since I'd also like to read the first two of the trilogy before joining the group read.

Happy birthday to Beth, the miracle child! My son was 4 weeks premature and though not quite as dire as Beth,
he was also born with an Apgar of 1/3 and transferred to a larger NICU.

Happy New Thread, Stasia, and HAPPY 35th to Beth!!! (That was the birthday that unsettled me the most. It means that one can no longer be considered young, and heaven knows, I was still very young!) Happy Beth's Birthday to you and Kerry too!!!!!

>17 alcottacre: Wow! How scary, then wonderful!

>17 alcottacre: Beth sounds like such a fighter. What a very difficult start to life she had and what a difficult start to motherhood that you experienced. I was in the hospital for a month before our first was born with toxemia and growth redardation (her) and I got to know a lot of stories from other women who were hospitalized before the birth of their babes. There were some very difficult stories.

Happy birthday Beth. An amazing story.

Happy new thread, and happy birthday to Beth! What a special story of her birth, too.

I hope you enjoy your day off technology and get all the reading you hope to in. I have a couple of books I'd like to finish for TIOLI challenges today, and it's probably about 300 pages - but I don't think I'll make it!

Hi Stasia my dear, Happy New Thread dear friend, hope you are having a good weekend.

Happy new thread Stasia!

>18 richardderus: Thanks, RD!

>19 Kristelh: A survivor and a fighter she most decidedly is. Thanks, Kristel!

>20 jessibud2: Thanks, Shelley. Yeah, it really is a tribute to modern medicine that we still have Beth with us.

>21 humouress: Thanks, Nina!

>22 streamsong: Thanks, Janet. I loved The Color of Water when I read it years ago. I am not sure why it took me so long to get back to McBride's work! Regarding your son, isn't modern medicine wonderful?

>23 LizzieD: I will be sure and let her know if big letters that you said Happy Birthday to her, Peggy!

>24 The_Hibernator: Scary is probably an understatement to tell the truth, Rachel. Beth was my first baby so I had those natural jitters on top of everything else, lol.

>25 mdoris: Yeah, some of the stories of the children that we saw in the NICU were very sad, Mary.

>26 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks, Caroline.

>27 bell7: I just snuck in one last book, Mary, although there was one other that I would like to have finished as well, but with other things going on today I just did not have the time. I can commiserate.

>28 johnsimpson: >29 quondame: Thank you, John and Susan!

Well, I finally finished my last book for June - I spent a lot of time working on the auction today, so reading time was at a premium:

185 - A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos - Young Adult; Ophelia is a "reader" - she can touch objects and relate their history in terms of the object's owners. There are other different talents in her world as well, such as her aunt who can mend paper objects at a touch. Ophelia has been contracted into a marriage that she does not want to a man she does not love in an "ark" with which she is unfamiliar. She is transported from her home and family into the home of her fiance's aunt and finds herself trying to maneuver around in a political and power system. I do wish the world building in this first book had been a little stronger and there were some translation errors that took me clean out of the story, but overall I enjoyed this; Recommended (4 stars) Mine

Wow, that's a scary story, Stasia. I'm so glad that Beth made it. My eldest , Daniel was born with meconium on his face after a 36 hour labour and a forceps delivery. His Apgar scores were 3 and then 7 at 3 minutes. He was " flat " at birth, not attempting to breath, so we were lucky the anesthetist was there and got the meconium suctioned off before Daniel took his first breath. He just spent a few hours in the special care nursery and then seemed to be fine.

Happy New Thread!

Happy new thread, Stasia!

>17 alcottacre: That is an incredible story! I'm glad it all turned out so well, and happy birthday to your daughter.

Happy July, Stasia. I will also send along Vesper Flights. A very good read.

That's an unbelievable story about Beth, Stasia. Every birthday is worth celebrating, but hers even more so.

>32 vancouverdeb: Thanks, Deborah! I am so glad that Daniel did not suffer any ill effects at his birth.

>33 atozgrl: Thank you, Irene! I will pass along the birthday wishes to Beth.

>34 msf59: Happy July back at you, Mark! Thanks for Vesper Flights!

>35 lauralkeet: Thanks, Laura.

Happy new thread, Stasia! What a story about Beth. I can't even imagine going through that - what a worry. Happy birthday to you. In Greek we wellwish the parents and say "may she live for you!"

Happy new one, Stasia!

Happy new thread, Stasia. The time around Beth's birth must have been a scary for all. Wonderful that it turned out well!

>38 drneutron: Thanks, Jim!

>39 Familyhistorian: Yeah, "scary" does not even begin to describe it, lol. Thanks, Meg!

Today was meet up day with Beth and Catey. I was glad for a break from the auction stuff which has taken up far too much of my time that I could have been reading, lol.

The guy from the flooring store is coming out to see if he can lay the floor in the kitchen now that the foundation guys have been out again. We will see!

I hope you all have a terrific Tuesday!

>41 alcottacre: Best of flooring luck, Stasia. *smooch*

Finished tonight:

187 - Marking Time by Elizabeth Jane Howard - The second book in The Cazalet Chronicles picks up where book 1 left off. The kids are growing up and much of the focus of the book is on them, especially the older girls, Louise, Polly, and Clary, who are growing up realizing that this part of their life is not normal because of the war. I cannot say a whole lot as to what happens in this book, which I liked less than the previous one, without spoiling things. I am looking forward to book 3, Confusion, and hope to get to it this month too; Recommended (4 stars) Mine

>42 richardderus: Thanks, RD! They came out and took measurements. Now it is wait and see until the flooring store gets back in contact with us as to how much it is going to cost to install a kitchen floor.

Finished tonight:

188 - The Exvangelicals by Sarah McCammon - Nonfiction; This is another book in which the subtitle tells the story better than the title does, IMHO: "Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church." I can relate to this book on so many levels - even though McCammon is 20+ years younger than I am, our upbringings were seemingly very similar - raised in strict evangelical households where everything was either black or white with nothing in between and questions were not to be asked. I can tell you exactly when I started questioning, in my mid-20s (I lived with my parents until I was 25), when I heard about the Reverend Jerry Falwell, who had spoken in my church, declare that AIDS was God's curse on homosexuals and that the people who got the disease, deserved it. That immediately got my back up - what about children who were exposed to AIDS by their mothers being infected with it? what about people who had gotten blood transfusions and unknowingly got the virus that way? The people that McCammon interviewed for the book all went through a questioning period the same way that I did. Some have stayed within a church although not necessarily an evangelical one, some are now atheists, some are indecisive, and everything in between; Recommended (4 stars) Library Book

"Many exvangelicals struggle with new questions about what to believe, how to exist and grow in romantic relationships outside the structure of the church, and, very often, how to parent without the structure and prescribed answers of evangelicalism modeled by their parents during their own childhood."

"Christian ethics professor David Gushee believes that the (evangelical) movement has distorted the very meaning of what it is to be a Christian."

Well, it has been a week. Sorry for being so absent. Hopefully now that the aftermath of the auction is dying down, I can be here more often!

Pretty normal day today already: Kerry and I have already done our morning walk, I made a breakfast smoothie, put laundry on, and am pulling out the veggies for lunch (we normally eat around 11am) and there is a bunch of chopping involved today. Lunch is Sweet and Sour Vegetables, Jasmine Rice, and Fresh Green Beans with Sesame Seeds.

I am continuing my memorial reads for Anita with Homage to Catalonia. I started Long Bright River, a recommendation from Mark, last night and hope to make some inroads on it tonight. I may try and start All Adults Here tonight as well. Not sure who recommended that one to me :( Need to finish off The Game of Courts too.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday!

That lunch sounds mighty fine, Stasia!
I really liked Long Bright River. Liz Moore has a new book out as of yesterday: The God of the Woods. I'm on the library list for that one.

>46 alcottacre: - I'm another fan of Long Bright River, and I also loved All Adults Here. Happy reading, Stasia!

Happy new thread, Stasia. Glad to hear your game auction is over so you can get back to books. Were you happy with the results?

>17 alcottacre: What a scary beginning to motherhood! I do believe in miracles. Beth is living proof. Thanks for sharing that wonderful outcome.

I am another fan of Long Bright River. That Mark is spot on with his recommendations…as are you. I depend on LT friends to add to my growing wishlist.

>47 lauralkeet: I am glad to hear that you liked Long Bright River, Laura. I look forward to your thoughts on her newest one - whenever you can get your hands on it!

>48 katiekrug: Maybe it was you that recommended All Adults Here to me, Katie! Thanks.

>49 Donna828: For the most part, yes, I was happy with the auction results. I just always forget how much work auctions are after the fact, lol. Since Kerry and I are actively trying to cull our collection, we will be holding an auction every couple of months in all probability.

Yep, both of my girls are miracles of modern medicine. My Beth is a fighter!

Glad to hear that you enjoyed Long Bright River as well!

>46 alcottacre: Homage to Catalonia is a great way to remember our dear, departed friend, Stasia. I already know you'll love The Game of Courts, so will only say I'm glad you are in for some really good reads indeed.

Finished this afternoon:

188 - The Game of Courts by Victoria Goddard - In this novella, we get a look at Conju's back story. For those unfamiliar, Conju is chief groom to His Radiancy, the Emperor, and this novella shows us how he got this position. It also details how the relationship between Conju and Cliopher began: Oh how I hate you, Cliopher, let me count the ways - “arrogant commoner” and “proud of it”, “smarter than the rest of them and made sure they knew it, an accent like chalk grating on slates. Not a great beginning and this was before they even met! This was court gossip relayed to Conju who ends up meeting Cliopher without even knowing it. I thought this novella was good fun all around and echo Mary, who read it with me: "Novel from Conju's point of view? Believe you me, I would snap that up in a heartbeat."; Highly Recommended (4.5 stars) Mine - Kindle

>51 richardderus: I was just typing my review of The Game of Courts - and I did love it, RD.

I should reach the midway point of Homage to Catalonia today, Richard. I agree, reading it is a great way to remember Anita. I am also slated to read Mrs. Dalloway this month in remembrance of her too.

>53 alcottacre: All the YAY! I'm glad you are doing these reads in her memory. *smooch*

>45 alcottacre: I'm glad to see you liked this one. It's already on my wishlist--maybe I need to get ahold of a copy sooner rather than later.

>51 richardderus: waitaminute, when did you start reading the books? I know you focus most on new books and ARCs on your thread, but I don't remember hearing a word! 🙂

Hi, Stasia! Glad to see you enjoyed the novella too. Maybe we should start a petition for her to write a whole novel from Conju's POV? Or at least a short story of what he got up to traveling with Cliopher's mother!

>54 richardderus: Thanks, RD!

>55 atozgrl: I hope you enjoy the read when you get to it, Irene!

>56 bell7: It would not surprise me in the least bit to find out that Goddard is already planning a full novel for Conju. I am all for the petition though!

>56 bell7: It took me a minute to suss out which books you meant; I haven'r ever read a Goddard book at all, but y'all've been warbling their delights so long that even *I* got the message that they're fabOO. That's all.

Happy New Thread!

Here's the Fourth of July readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/361826

>58 richardderus: ohhhh I see 😁 that makes sense (sorry I was unclear, writing fast while at work doesn't always make for clarity!)

>59 SilverWolf28: Thanks, Silver!

>60 SilverWolf28: I am in again 😁

Kerry and I have already been walking this morning - if we do not get it in early, it does not happen due to the heat - and are planning to go out this afternoon as I have a game that sold in my recent auction to deliver. I am also going to Books A Million this morning while he visits Home Depot :)

For the 4th lunch, we are having Tri Bean Barbecue, Steamed Broccoli, and a tossed salad. Then we will be playing The Artemis Project before heading out to drop off the game. After that, who knows?

Books on the menu today include Homage to Catalonia, Long Bright River, and All Adults here. I am reading library books first this month since I leave for Longview on the 13th.

For those who celebrate,

Hi Stasia, and happy new thread, and happy Thursday/Fourth of July to you.

>3 alcottacre: I would have chosen the James Hogg book because it’s on my shelves and I haven’t read it yet. I’ve read some of the ghost stories of Sheridan Le Fanu. I did not realize he was a real person as I met him as the subject of Harriet Vane’s interest in the Vane-Wimsey books by Dorothy L. Sayers. Shockeroo when I discovered his ghost stories. I’ve read and gotten rid of them, simply because ghost stories aren’t my jam. As it turns out, I’ve got 7 books of ghost stories on my shelves, 6 of them tbr. I also have Frankenstein on my shelves, a very nice slipcased edition, but don’t feel the need to read it any time soon.

…
I have Killing England on my shelves, actually didn’t realize that it’s about the American War of Independence. Having just finished The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin, I’ll ask Jenna to get it out of the box in the Media Room next time she visits.

>17 alcottacre: Wow. Miracle baby indeed. This is an amazing story. Belated Happy Birthday to Beth.

>64 karenmarie: Ghost stories are not my jam either, Karen, which is why I did not choose the Sheridan LeFanu. I read Frankenstein while doing my 'Read More Sci Fi' challenge - and frankly, do not consider it to be science fiction. Up until doing my 'Classics for Pleasure' challenge, I had never even heard of the James Hogg book!

I will be curious to see what you think of Killing England if and when you get it read. I went to add The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin to the BlackHole only to discover it already there. Guess I need to get to it at some point!

I will convey your birthday wishes to Beth :)

Happy Independence Day here too, Stasia! I like your plans for the day and hope you get to carry out every one of them!

>65 alcottacre: I read Frankenstein twice in my younger years, and both times I found most of the book to be extremely boring. I agree with you that I would not consider the book to be science fiction.

I enjoyed ghost stories when I was a young person, but after becoming an adult, they do not appeal. My sister still likes them though.

Have a happy 4th!

*smooch*

>63 alcottacre: I've been meaning to reread Homage to Catalonia. When we were in Barcelona earlier in the year we did a guided walk about the Spanish Civil War.

>66 LizzieD: Well, I did not carry out all of my plans, but it has been a good day nonetheless. I hope you had a great day, Peggy!

>67 atozgrl: Thanks, Irene. I hope you had a great day!

>68 richardderus: ((Hugs)) and **smooches**, RD

>69 SandDune: The guided walk sounds really interesting, Rhian. I hope you do get back to Homage to Catalonia at some point. It has been a good read thus far for me :)

Finished tonight:

189 - Long Bright River by Liz Moore - Mark recommended this one too me (thanks!) and several others in the group have enjoyed it as well. Overall, I enjoyed the book although there were points when I thought that Mickey belonged in the TSTL category. I must care for my son, but let me go and do stupid stuff - you know because she is really worried about who will take care of Thomas if something happens to her. I found the relationship between sisters Mickey and Kacey very believable and think it is one of the real strengths of the book. However, I do think that the book went on a bit too long; Recommended (4 stars) Library Book

Finished tonight:

190 - The Names: A Memoir by N. Scott Momaday - Nonfiction; This was an interesting read. Momaday traces his ancestry back to his great great grandparents on both sides of his family and tells the story of each side. Mixed in among the history is also Native American folklore and tradition. This memoir relates only up until Momaday goes to spend his last year of high school at a military academy in Virginia, far from where he was raised for the most part in Arizona and New Mexico. Chapter 3 of the book left me somewhat confused after I read it because there is not a lot of punctuation in it, just run on sentences, and I am not sure what the purpose of this is? This is the only chapter in the book like this - had the rest of the book been like it I am not sure I would have made it through; Recommended (3.75 stars) Library Book

"My father was born in a tipi in a world from which it was both necessary and costly to succeed."

Kerry and I are back from our morning walk. I am lucky in the fact that my local library is close enough for me to walk to - round trip it is only about 1.5 miles - so I take my books back when we are out walking :) We are not for sure if the installer for the new garage door opener is coming today or not. The one that Kerry and our friend Bobby were trying to fix is toast so we had to replace it.

My day did not go as planned yesterday. Because we were out and about so much, we did not get The Artemis Project played, so we are playing both it and today's scheduled game, Pulsar 2849, today.

I also changed my reading last night. I had planned on reading All Adults Here but I changed it to The Names: A Memoir because it was July 4th. It made sense to read about the Native Americans on that day. Well, it made sense to me anyway. I did finish Long Bright River and make progress on Homage to Catalonia which, although a small book, has tiny print and I can only read so much before my eyes protest. I am thinking of starting my second TIOLI memorial read for Anita today, Mrs Dalloway. I still have 8 more library books to finish before I go out of town at the end of next week. It should be interesting to see if I can pull it off, lol.

I hope everyone has a fantastic Friday!

Fantastic Friday to you too, Stasia! I had sort of forgotten about Momaday. I thought I had read something of his, but I guess if I did it was only excerpts from *Rainy Mountain* or *House/Dawn*. I am also pretty sure that I own at least one of those, but it's not recorded here, and I won't be hunting it down today. I devoutly hope that I won't be doing anything today but being as still and as cool as possible.
Happy Gaming!

>73 alcottacre: & >74 LizzieD:
There was a very good PBS documentary on Momaday that I watched earlier this spring. I had forgotten about his writing and the documentary brought him back onto my radar. One of these days I will get to his books.

Happy new thread! I caught a couple of book bullets for the Cazalet Chronicles and The Exvangelicals.

>74 LizzieD: I do not think I have read anything of his other than his memoir, Peggy. I am going to have to remedy that at some point.

>75 benitastrnad: Do you remember the title of the documentary, Benita? I would not mind trying to track it down.

>76 foggidawn: I am always happy to dispense BBs, foggi! I hope you enjoy the books if and when you get to them.

I read A House Made of Dawn by Momaday last November. It won the Pulitzer. I can’t say I was a big fan. I’ve enjoyed other Native American authors more than Momaday.

He was one of the first though.

>78 Kristelh: Thanks for the input, Kristel!

Finished tonight:

191 - Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf - This is at least the third time that I have read this classic - this is one of my memorial reads for Anita - and I think it gets better with each re-read. The first time I read this book I was in my twenties and now into my sixties, I daresay that I have a different POV than I did back then since I am now closer in age to Mrs. Dalloway now then I was then. This has got to be the champion of 'nothing much happens' books, just taking a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, but boy does a lot happen in this 'nothing much happens' book. I love the stream-of-consciousness way in which we see Clarissa's day unfold around her - I know this storytelling technique is not for everyone, but it really works for me; Highly Recommended (4.5 stars) Library Book

>191 alcottacre:, I liked this one too, Stasia.

>80 alcottacre: & >81 Kristelh: I am in the camp of those that are not in love with Woolf's style but she was an excellent prose writer and I thoroughly enjoy her non-fiction.

Have a wonderful weekend, dear lady. x

>81 Kristelh: Yay, Kristel!

>82 PaulCranswick: Yeah, I think Woolf tends to be a divisive writer so I can understand that, Paul. A Room of One's Own is probably my favorite book of hers.

>83 PaulCranswick: Thanks! You too.

>77 alcottacre:
It was called "Words From a Bear." The documentary was done in 2019. here is the link to the PBS website about it.
https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/words-bear-trailer-eg8sv9/12517/

I was not aware that Momaday had died. Somehow that went under the radar, but it was the same time as the death of my mother so I probably wasn't paying much attention.

!80 On my list for another reread Stasia. I want to reread her diaries this winter.

>80 alcottacre: Hi Stasia. I just finished Mrs. Dalloway too. Second attempt, as I did find the writing style difficult. A lot happens, and some hard to read. But it’s a book to remember. And I think I might do a reread later.

>80 alcottacre: "For there she was."

Up there with "(picnic, lightning)" on my list of perfect pieces of writing.

>85 benitastrnad: Thank you, Benita! I know that Momaday's death was on the "In Memoriam" thread here in the group but it was several months ago and, as you say, you had other things on your mind at the time.

>86 Caroline_McElwee: I have never read Woolf's diaries so that is a reading project that I need to get to in future.

>87 EllaTim: I agree that Mrs. Dalloway is a "book to remember," Ella. I am glad to see that you are willing to give it a re-read.

>88 richardderus: Yay, RD!!

Today is getting off to a late start for me. I was up late last night due to some family stuff so I did not get up until late. No walking this morning as it is already too warm here even though it was cooler than it has been the past couple of days. Saturday morning chores are done and laundry is in the washing machine. I am not doing any cooking today.

Kerry and I are going to play Revive this afternoon and beyond that, I am hoping to get a ton of reading in today. I am still working through the library books that need to be returned before I leave for Longview next Friday. I still have 7 to go.

I hope everyone has a super Saturday!

Mrs. Dalloway never worked for me. It was a DNF... I tried again very recently and DNF'd it even sooner than my 1st try. Oh well. Too many books, too little time, as they say

>82 PaulCranswick: That's not a particularly classy Camp Virginia to be in, Paul, but I have the tent next door to yours. I do love her criticism. One of the memorable reading experiences of my 1980s (maybe?) was reading her diaries and letters at the same time after reading the Quentin Bell bio. I thought that I knew Virginia better than I knew a lot of RL close friends.
I hope to reread some fiction at some point to see whether I appreciate it more at my advanced age.

Hi, Stasia! Stay cool and enjoy your game!

>91 jessibud2: It is like I always say, "Not every book is for every body." It is OK not to like the same things, right?

>92 LizzieD: I really need to get to Virginia Woolf's diaries!

Thanks, Peggy!

Finished this afternoon:

192 - White Nights by Ann Cleeves - Audiobook; This is the second book in the Shetland mystery series by Cleeves and I enjoyed it more than I did the first one. In this one, Shetland almost becomes a character and the 'white nights' of the title (which refers to the fact that in the northern climes night time is not in full darkness) come into play. Jimmy Perez's new love, Fran, is holding an art exhibition along with one of the islands other artists, Bella, when the exhibit is interrupted by a strange man who wanders through, in distress and claiming amnesia. The following day his hanged body is discovered, but suicide is soon ruled out, making his death into a murder inquiry. Soon another body follows and Perez has his hands full, meaning that Roy Taylor, a senior investigator from Inverness is called in to help - but Taylor does not know the island the way that Perez does; Recommended (4 stars) Mine

>94 alcottacre: This series is the one that made me a fan of la Cleeves. I'm really pleased you enjoyed it, too!

>95 richardderus: Thanks, RD! The series has been in the BlackHole for a long time and I am finally getting around to reading it.

Great reading, Stasia. I've never read Virginia Woolf and may need to remedy that.

Finished tonight:

193 - Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell - Nonfiction; This is another of my memorial reads for Anita and to be honest, I had no idea what the book was about when I started it (I kept trying to call it "Homage to Caledonia" for some reason). For others like me who are not familiar with it, Homage to Catalonia is Orwell's memoir of the time he spent fighting in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1937). I will admit to struggling with the multiple acronyms that each of the different groups had and that was my biggest complaint about the book. Orwell's descriptions of the fighting - and a lot of time not fighting - are just spot on; Recommended (4 stars) Mine

>97 AMQS: Oh, definitely remedy it, Anne!

>90 alcottacre: Hi Stasia! As fun as sleeping in can be, I always find the loss if my morning routine disorienting. Do you feel the same way?

Just waving *hello*

>100 The_Hibernator: Definitely, Rachel!

>101 humouress: Hey, Nina! *waving back*

This being Sunday, it is my traditional 'day off' technology. I have a family meet up this afternoon as we go over plans for our family vacation in New Mexico next month. I figure Beth and Shaquille are probably going to be very tired as they just got back from San Diego last night at 11pm, so I am hopefully that they stay awake!

I am also still working on multiple library books that have to be completed before I head to Longview to visit my mother at the end of the week. I still have 7 more to go - and I put another on hold last night because I could not stop myself, The Guncle Abroad.

I hope you all have lovely, restful Sundays!

Finished this afternoon:

194 - Go As a River by Shelley Read - I was genuinely surprised to find that this is Read's debut novel, it is that polished. Read, a native Coloradan, sets the novel in her home state in 1948 using a real, now non-existent town (Iola) as the setting, where we find 17-year-old Torie meets a drifter, new into town, and falls head over hills in love with Wilson Moon. Unfortunately, Moon has one thing against him - and it is not that he is a drifter - it is that he is Native American, a fact that would cost him his life as he is murdered in Iola. Torie suspects that her brother, Seth, had a hand in Wil's murder and finding herself pregnant, cuts off relations with her brother, father, and uncle, the only family she has left after the deaths of her mother, cousin, and aunt years before. This is just the start of the story and how Torie lives out her life and the decisions that she makes form the remainder of the book. I admit to being a bit disappointed by the book's ending, but overall I really enjoyed this one and look forward to more from Shelley Read; Recommended (4.25 stars) Library Book

>98 alcottacre: Such a fantastic book...he was quite a writer. I think his reputation isn't as high as it once was, but I'm confident he'll come back in the future.

Have a peaceful Sunday, Stasia *smooch*

Great books you've read recently!! Keep going on those library books! LOL. Wishing you a happy week ahead.

Cracking along with your reading as usual, Stasia! I enjoyed White Nights some years ago. I think I enjoy her Vera series more. It's good on Britbox, the series. Happy week ahead!

Hi, Stasia. We are back and I am very slowly catching up with LT. Yes, some skimming is required. I would like to get to that Orwell title. I hope all is good.

>105 richardderus: Well, you could not tell by me that Orwell's reputation isn't high as it once was. For the British Authors Challenge this month, I am reading Animal Farm (well, listening to it anyway).

>106 Berly: I am hopeful of finishing 2 more library books today, Kim!

>107 vancouverdeb: Thanks, Deborah. I do not have Brit Box, but when I finish up Cleeves' Shetland series, I mean to keep going with her other series - I think she has 2 more?

>108 msf59: Good luck on catching up, Mark! I hope you had a great trip. . .Off to check!

Kerry and I walked already this morning and it looks like it is going to be cooler today than it has been recently thanks to Hurricane Beryl.

I still have to do normal Monday stuff like balancing the checkbook and paying bills, cooking lunch (Savory Baked Vegetables today), trash, dishes, all that kind of stuff.

We will be playing Wyrmspan this afternoon. Hopefully I will be finishing up a couple of library books today.

Finished this morning:

195 - Animal Farm by George Orwell - Audiobook; This is a re-read for me and I am once again impressed with Orwell's prose and his imagination to recreate Stalin (I think?), whom he hated, in the form of Napoleon the pig. It is very interesting to have read this so close to Orwell's Homage to Catalonia in which he was actively fighting against Franco, yet another dictator (in Franco's case his dictatorship began after Orwell had left Spain). As always, I feel so sad, especially for Boxer the old draft horse, and the other animals whose lives get taken over and manipulated by someone who is supposed to be one of their own; Highly Recommended (5 stars) Hoopla

Well poo. I know I read stuff here yesterday, and I could swear that I spoke, but there's no post. It's probably my memory that is at fault and not LT.

We've walked too. It was overcast and almost pleasant although I always have to have recovery time these days when the temp is over 80 - and it always is.

If I can bring myself to be an adult, I will. Meanwhile, I do have to buy groceries. Going in stores is still an adventure for me, but I dread being out in the heat on the way there and back.

Happy gaming and reading!!!

>112 LizzieD: I had hoped to get a call in to you yesterday, but it just did not happen.

It was overcast here this morning and has been raining steadily with differing degrees of intensity for about the past 90 minutes. It looks like it is going to keep up for a while.

We had a great time gaming! Kerry won today :)

Hi Stasia.

>104 alcottacre777: I am so glad to see this review. My stepmother loaned me this book - written by a friend of a friend with a note from her that she actually enjoyed the book but no pressure. Not too encouraging, all things considered, so your review will make me much likelier to pick it up!

>111 alcottacre: Timeless, more's the pity...I'd love to hear what Orwell would say about Orban, Modi, and co. Yuckapoovich!

Finished tonight:

196 - My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me by Jennifer Teege and Nikola Sellmair - Nonfiction; This is a book that I would have thought that I would like more than I did. Teege, as a grown woman with a husband and 2 children, discovers that her grandfather was hated German concentration camp commandant, Amon Goth. Teege was adopted and though she knew her mother, she was not aware of her family history until she was in her 30s and really struggled to reconcile that knowledge with her memories of her mother and grandmother, who she truly loved. Teege makes no bones about the fact that she struggled with depression all of her life and finding out that her grandfather was a noted war criminal who was executed for his crimes sent her into a tailspin. My biggest complaint about the book is that the writing is not all that wonderful, although the story is interesting, and I absolutely hated the way the interjections of the second author interrupted Teege's text; Guardedly Recommended (3.5 stars) Library Book

"Holding on to the past does nothing to help the victims, nor does it aid in our analysis of - or coming to terms with - our Nazi past."

>114 AMQS: I hope you enjoy the book if and when you get to it, Anne!

>115 richardderus: Timeless, more's the pity Absolutely agree with you on that one, RD!

Yes, Stasia,Ann Cleeves has two other series, Vera and Matthew Venn. I enjoy them all. Here is the Matthew Venn or Two Rivers series - I have just read the first one https://www.librarything.com/nseries/50387/Two-Rivers and the Vera Stanhope Series https://www.librarything.com/nseries/5778/Vera-Stanhope

>118 vancouverdeb: Well, I am only up to book 3 in the Shetland series, so it is going to be a while before I get to the others. Thanks for the info though, Deborah!

It has been a busy morning around here already. I got a call last night from American Express asking if I was in California because someone out there was using it. So, I had to cancel that card. My bank contacted me today about a refund from my AmEx card, so I have spent more time on the last day and a half than I normally do in a week. And, of course, the bank called while I was trying to get lunch. *sigh*

Normal stuff - walking, laundry, playing Red Cathedral, cooking lunch, placing a grocery order for Kerry for while I am out of town. Today is also my meet up day with Beth and Catey, so I will be doing that in about 45 minutes. We are deep into planning our NM trip next month.

I am hoping to finish Jane Goodall's The Book of Hope today - I am very much enjoying it - and All Adults Here by Emma Straub as well. We shall see. . .

I hope everyone has a terrific Tuesday!

>120 alcottacre: Oh dear Gussie, what a horror of a passage. Very glad they called you, but still...

Hoping Jane Goodall's book keeps your mood elevated.

>120 alcottacre: GRRRRRRRR. It just doesn't let up, does it? I hope that your morning's efforts polish off this threat.

Enjoy your lunch, your girls, and read a lot while staying cool.

>121 richardderus: Yeah, it is just another pain in the rear. AmEx was supposed to call me back today, but thus far I have yet to hear from them.

>122 LizzieD: Unfortunately the meet up with the girls did not come off as planned - we met up for all of about 5 minutes as Beth was feeling unwell today. It has been a pretty horrid day all around at my house. The guy came to install our garage door opener, discovered it was not here (we were told that he was supposed to pick it up at the store, he was told we had it), and then promptly left. *sigh*

Finished this evening:

197 - All Adults Here by Emma Straub - A big "thank you" to Katie (and anyone else who may have recommended this book to me) because I ended up liking it more than I initially thought I would. We have the Strick family - and this book is all about family, in more ways than one - starting with widower mom, Astrid, who is deeply affected by the death (in front of her) of one of her acquaintances, Barb. We have oldest son, Elliot, who owns his own construction business; daughter, Porter, who raises goats and uses their milk to make various products; and youngest son, Nicky, who starred in a movie years ago that seemingly had an impact on an entire generation. Although these people are all adults, they are also a family, and have each others backs through thick and thin. The grandchildren are represented in the book too so the next generation is showing up and, in the case of Nicky's daughter, Cecelia, acting more like adults than the adults sometimes do. I enjoyed getting to know this family through all its faults and foibles; Recommended (4 stars) Library Book

"If she hadn't learned anything else, she had learned this - say it. Say it now, while you have the chance."

Glad that one was a good read for you, Stasia!

>125 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie!

Finished tonight:

The Book of Hope by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams with Gail Hudson - Nonfiction; Thanks to Linda (Laytonwoman) for the recommendation of this one! The book is the condensation of a series of conversations between Goodall and Abrams over the course of several years, including the pandemic years when hope was a thing much sought after. Goodall, who was 87 by the time the book was completed, has seen much through the years and still maintains hope because of several things: the amazing human intellect, the resilience of nature, the power of young people, and the indomitable human spirit. She relates stories to justify why these things give cause for hope and that is the reason behind the book. Because the interviews for the book were, for the most part, carried on when the authors were in different locations, I do not think that the book reads as smoothly as it could - some of the transitions were almost painful, but overall I enjoyed this read and, as Goodall is one of my own personal heroes, I liked hearing her tell about the reasons she still holds out hope for this world of ours; Recommended (4 stars) Library Book

Nothing much going on here today - groceries will be here this morning, Kerry and I will be playing Tiny Towns, waiting to hear from both AmEx and my bank, cooking New England Dinner Au Gratin for lunch, signing contract to have kitchen floor installed. . .

I have 3 library books that are due before I leave for Longview. I have started one of them, Such a Fun Age, and should be finishing it up today at some point, but have not started either of the other two, Never Home Alone and Let Us Descend. I will have The Guncle Abroad waiting for me when I get back - and am really looking forward to it since I loved The Guncle.

I'm curious what New England Dinner Au Gratin is...?

>129 katiekrug: It is a layered vegetable dish with cabbage, potatoes, carrots, and leeks. There are several herbs/spices sprinkled over the veggies (and 2 cups water) including caraway seeds and paprika. The dish is simmered on the stove for 30 minutes and then sprinkled with cheese and baked for another 25 minutes.

If you would like the recipe, just let me know, Katie.

Thanks, Stasia! Sure, I'll take the recipe. See if I can get The Wayne to try it 🙂

>131 katiekrug: Sending you a PM with the recipe. I will be curious to see what you think of it if and when you give it a try. Kerry and I both really like it.

Finished this evening:

199 - Such a Fun Age by Kylie Reid - This one was a recommendation from Natalie a while back and I am just now getting to it. I am so glad I gave it a shot as I was not sure whether I would like it or not. At its core, it is a novel about race - but the book does not come out and say so. We have Emira who is black and the babysitter to Briar, whose parents the Cunninghams are white. Mrs Cunningham calls Emira one night because there is a family emergency and asks Emira if she could take Briar elsewhere. Emira ends up taking Briar to a local shop where a security guard accuses Emira of kidnapping Briar. The whole thing is a mess from start to finish and all Emira wants to do is forget about it. Mrs. Cunningham (Alix) goes overboard with Emira in trying to compensate her for the incident and eventually Alix becomes almost obsessed with Emira and keeping her as a babysitter for Briar. In the meantime, Emira becomes involved with a man who, it turns out, was Alix's high school sweetheart (yeah, this coincidence was a bit much for me to take!) Throughout the novel, the main characters of Emira, Alix, and even little Briar are given very distinct voices and this is definitely one of the book's strengths. Emira's friends speak in the vernacular, so they are not overlooked in the 'voice' department either. The book is a thought provoking one; Recommended (4.25 stars) Library Book

Have I mentioned how much I love Ezeekat? I think he is a hoot!

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/L8RLQQnx5-A

Happy Wednesday, Stasia. I liked but did not love Such a Fun Age. Maybe the audio, wasn't the best format. I have been hearing good things about her latest.

Good luck with your credit card. What a hassle.

>127 alcottacre: I read that one a while ago and it was a good read for me as well.

Happy Thursday!

>133 alcottacre: I really liked Such a Fun Age too, Stasia. I agree with you about the coincidence, but I was willing to forgive that because the issues she explored were, as you said, thought provoking.

>135 msf59: I did not realize that Kiley Reid had a new book on the horizon. I will have to see if I can track down a copy.

Hassle is an understatement. I was on the phone for another 30 minutes with AmEx and my bank (it was a 3-way call) again yesterday trying to straighten it all out and have already been told that AmEx will be calling me again today. Ugh.

>136 figsfromthistle: I am glad to hear it, Anita! I hope you have a Happy Thursday too.

>137 lauralkeet: Glad to hear that you liked the book too, Laura, even if the coincidence was a bit much for me. I am still thinking about the book this morning, a good sign.

I need to start reading early this morning since I have 2 library books unread yet - and I must take them back tomorrow before I head to Longview. I am planning on leaving tomorrow evening so I will be there first thing Saturday and able to spend the entire day with my mother and Catey.

Today I am fully expecting more time on the phone with AmEx and the bank, hopefully getting a game of The Artemis Project with Kerry, making Fluffy Vegan Blueberry Pancakes for lunch (I am one of those people who could eat breakfast food for all 3 meals and be perfectly happy!), and reading a ton.

I started Never Home Alone last night and am already finding it very interesting. After that, Let Us Descend is on tap.

I hope you all have a thunderous Thursday!!

Are you wishing us Thunderstorms? I am really tired of them so, “no thanks”. Looking forward to a sunny Thursday.

I read Such a Fun Age in 2022. I liked it but only gave in 3.5 stars. Still I did like the unique way the author looked at racism.

>140 Kristelh: Nope, not wishing you thunderstorms, Kristel. I want everyone to make a loud noise of their own, be "thunderous," shake things up a bit!

>141 alcottacre:, Deal, Stasia, I am visiting a friend today for lunch and that should be thunderous. We always talk so much!

Sweet Thursday, Stasia. Good luck with those books. For some reason Let Us Descend didn't land well for me and I am a fan of Ward. I hope it works better for you. I know others have liked it more.

>142 Kristelh: Wonderful!

>143 msf59: I will see how Let Us Descend works for me, Mark. I am going to start it today.

I think that I am going to see how far I get with both Let Us Descend and Never Home Alone. I feel like I am rushing through the latter book and missing stuff, so rather than do that I am going to try and renew it with my local library. I hate feeling rushed!

So, I got a call from my bank about an hour ago. They wanted to know if I had authorized the transfer of $2000 to somewhere I have never even heard of. . .The fun never ends!

>145 alcottacre: That really stinks, Stasia. I hope you get it all done easily from here on. *smooch*

>145 alcottacre: HORRORS!!!! I'm glad that they called, but I wish that somebody there knew from the last incident that your security had been breached. Can't be anything but grateful that they caught it, I guess.
I intended to be reading by this time too, but it hasn't happened.

Hope the rest of the day goes well, and I wish you'd post the New England au gratin recipe here too - or PM me - but not today. Get back from Longview first.

>146 richardderus: Yeah, it does really stink, RD, and it is a pain in my rear end. At least my bank is on top of things and caught the fraudulent transfer.

>147 LizzieD: Peggy, I sent you a PM with the recipe :) If you expected me to remember to do it until after I got back from Longview, you would be waiting until the cows come home. . .

Oh what a mess with your credit card and bank account. This is the stuff of nightmares. I'm glad the companies are somewhat on top of it and letting you know about transactions. I hope it is all solved quickly.

I've also just started Anne Cleeves' Shetland series and requested book number two from the library. In the last month, I've tried several series to find one that I like; this is the one that I'll go on with for now.

Because of your reviews, I've also requested Go As A River and The Book of Hope. Your thread is becoming very dangerous for me.

>149 streamsong: Your thread is becoming very dangerous for me.

Well, look on the bright side - you might hate them both and then never take another BB from me again :)

Let Us Descend is not happening tonight and probably not happening this month. I do not feel like reading. It has just been that kind of day. Another ton of time on the phone with both the bank and AmEx. . .

Oh, I am really sorry to read about the mess with your credit card and bank account, Stasia. I am glad your bank is on top of things. Wishing you a great trip to Longview - love the puzzle you chose for your mom.

Safe travels to visit with your mom Stasia and to leave all the bank worries behind!

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/361941

Travel safe, enjoy the visit, and get home in one happy piece, Stasia! *smooch*

I just came by in case I don't get back later to wish you safety on the road and a wonderful visit with your mom and Catey.

Whew! That just popped close by. I'm shutting this thing off!

Happy Friday, Stasia. Safe travels. FYI- I just put the books in the mail. Hopefully, they will be there when you return.

>152 vancouverdeb: Thanks, Deborah. I am hoping my mother really likes the puzzle. I am pretty sure she will.

>153 mdoris: Thanks, Mary!

>154 SilverWolf28: Thanks, Silver. I will not be taking part this weekend on account of traveling.

>155 richardderus: Thanks, RD!

>156 LizzieD: Not sure what popped close by but I hope you are OK!

>157 msf59: Thanks, Mark. I hope Homage to Catalonia arrives safely sometime soon up there too!

Kerry and I spent this morning at the bank shutting down our checking and savings accounts and opening new ones. I have filed disputes on multiple transactions and now have a new debit card. The fraud department at my bank has really been on top of things but even still it looks like we have had between $1400-1500 stolen from us. We may be able to get some of it back, but I am not holding my breath on that.

The flooring guy called us while we were at the bank saying that they were on the way to deliver the flooring, but we were told that it would be noon. They called before 11am and our bank is 35 miles away from Sherman, so he rerouted some things and we are currently waiting for our new flooring to arrive.

In the meantime, Kerry and I will be taking all of the appliances, bakers rack, etc out of the kitchen today because he will not be able to move things like the stove and refrigerator by himself while I am out of town next week.

Plus I need to pack at some point today as I am heading to Longview this evening. . .

Sounds like trying times, Stasia, wishing you a relaxing time while you visit with mom and daughter.

I am so sorry that you have had so much trouble. I hope the bank and AmEx can get everything worked out. All these hackers and thieves are making life miserable for everyone.

Safe travels, and I hope you have a great visit with your family!

>159 alcottacre: That sucks, Juana.
I really hope that you get most if not all of that money back but you'll never get back the hassle and sense of intrusion that those terrible thieves have caused you both.

Safe travels, dear lady.

>98 alcottacre: If you plan to read something more on the Spanish Civil War for The War Room Challenge I highly recommend Gerald Brenan’s book The Spanish Labyrinth. He was a Brit who lived in Spain much of his adult life so he puts the events, military and political, in a very helpful context.

Lurky lurking, Stasia. Enjoy your visit with your mother. Good luck in your banking and credit issues. I do not envy you at all.

Hi, y'all! I got a text from Stasia in Longview saying that they are totally without Internet. She's fine, but she won't be showing up here before late Monday. She didn't want anybody worrying about her.

>165 LizzieD: Thanks, Peggy. It can be really unsettling when one of the crowd doesn't check in for a while.

>165 LizzieD:, so thoughtful, thanks for letting us know

>165 LizzieD: Thank you, Peggy. I would have been worried.

>165 LizzieD: Thank you!

Stopping by to say hi, Stasia, and thanks Peggy for letting us know Stasia is without internet for now.

Sorry about your stolen money! I have to freeze my credit because my ssn and everything were recently stolen. 🤦‍♀️

Well, phooey on me and apologies to Stasia and you all. I stopped by LT last night, but I was apparently mostly asleep and neglected to come here. I heard from her last night that they still don't have Internet and have no idea when they may get it back. She's fine, getting a lot done at her mother's I think.

>172 LizzieD: Perhaps a mixed blessing for Stasia....no distraction from the tasks at hand. But we MISS her!

Really glad you shared that, Peggy. Now I feel safer leading Future Stasia, whose willpower will be legendary, whose lofty indifference to shiny new gauds will surpass all human kenning, with League of the Lexicon, a 2022 game of adventuring lexicographers who battle to be crowned the ultimate wordsmith. BoardGameGeek has 89 ratings & 42 comments and a 7.6 rating here:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/339545/league-of-the-lexicon

Enjoy your trip, Stasia (or, by the time you read this, I hope it was great) and I hope all the mess with AmEx and the bank has been properly sorted out.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/362118

Missing you, Stasia!

I second message >177 vancouverdeb:. Missing you.

I third it

Have a relaxing time, Stasia. From reading your recent posts, it sounds like you deserve it.

>52 alcottacre: I now know who you are talking about as I'm now working my way through The Hands of the Emperor, my first Goddard. I had to check it out after seeing all the posts on various LT threads.

I got back yesterday after another wonderful visit with my mother, daughter Catey, and my sister - barring the no Internet thing, which was terrible. I had no idea how much I depended on it until I had no Internet, lol.

I am not going to be on much today until later as I now have a ton of things that I need to take care of, not the least of which is getting groceries as we do not seem to have much to eat around here currently.

Thank you all for the well wishes and keeping my thread warm in my absence! Huge thank you to Peggy for posting updates for me.

Welcome back, Stasia! It was weird for us not having you check in periodically, but I'm sure it was much worse for you being without Internet at all. Best of luck getting caught up in the returning-home errands.

Welcome home, Stasia.

Love that little note at the end, though for me, it would most definitely be longer than 5 minutes... ;-)

Welcome Home, Stasia!!! You see that you were missed. I'll look forward to your posting what you read while you were away and what you'll read as you juggle laundry and cats and all the other things that get out of hand when you're not home!

Welcome back, Stasia. So glad your visit with mother, sister and daughter was good!

Hi Stasia. It looks like I'm not the only one who has been out of communication with LT for a while. It's good to be back, isn't it? I know you treasure your days with your mother. Very important to keep in touch.

>182 bell7: Thanks, Mary. Yes, being without Internet is terrible (at least for me and at least right now with all the banking difficulties).

>183 jessibud2: Thanks, Shelley! Yeah, it was a lot more than 5 minutes for me, but I did get the grocery list and meal plans done, played a game with Kerry, and spent 2+ hours on the phone with AmEx.

>184 LizzieD: I am fixing to post my reading list here in a few minutes. It is a good thing that I get up hours before my mother does or I would get no reading at all done while I am there :)

>185 Kristelh: Thanks, Kristel!

>186 Donna828: It is very good to be back, Donna! I miss you all when I am away!

OK, here are the books that I read while I was gone. I am not going to post comments, just the list or this post would be fairly long:

200 - Indulgence in Death by J. D. Robb - Audiobook; Recommended (4 stars) Mine

DNF Little Gods by Meng Jin - 50 pages in and I gave it up

201 - Confusion by Elizabeth Jane Howard - Recommended (4.25 stars) Mine

202 - They Were Good Germans Once by Evelyn Toynton - Nonfiction; Recommended (4 stars) Kindle

203 - Soldiers of Paradise by Paul Park - Recommended (3.75 stars) Mine

204 - A Reader's Delight by Noel Perrin - Nonfiction; Recommended (4.25 stars) Mine

205 - Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros - Recommended (4 stars) Mine

206 - A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power - Recommended (4 stars) Kindle

207 - The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - Recommended (4 stars) Kindle

208 - The Lantern's Dance by Laurie R. King - Audiobook; Recommended (4 stars) Mine

>188 alcottacre: Good to see you back, Juana. What a shame you couldn't get any reading done in the short time you were away (hahaha). xx

Yay for the return of Internet connection. Isolation, even partial isolation, is terrible.

>190 quondame: Yeah, it is. Even though I was visiting my mother, I missed checking in here on LT at least once a day.

Good to see you" back" , Stasia!

Welcome back, Stasia! I'm glad you had a nice family visit, but we certainly missed your daily pearls of wisdom.

>192 vancouverdeb: Thanks, Deborah!

>193 lauralkeet: LOL at the "pearls of wisdom," Laura, but thank you!

Finished this morning:

209 - Number the Stars by Lois Lowry - Juvenile; I think that had I read this book as a kid, I would have loved it. This is good children's historical fiction. Based in WWII, the book is set in Denmark after it has been taken over by the Germans. Annemarie Johansen is a young girl whose best friend, Ellen Rosen, is Jewish. Through her, Annemarie comes to know the meaning of courage. Just how brave is she? The book, being a children's book, does not go into any detail of how the Germans treated the Jewish people during WWII, but it does make it clear that the Jews were right to be afraid and escape from the Germans was very difficult; Recommended, especially for 10-12 year olds (4 stars) Library Book

Today being Tuesday (it is Tuesday, right?), this is meet up day with the girls - provided that I can make arrangements to get Catey a mobile hotspot. She could use data on her phone, but it makes playing games problematic.

I have already polished off one book today but do not think I will finish any others although I certainly have a full slate that I am reading currently including: The White Rhino Hotel (my current audiobook), Classic Crimes, Day Boy, Dancing at the Rascal Fair, and The Paris Apartment.

Laundry is done for today, groceries should arrive late this afternoon, I need to call my lawyer because more stuff to do about Dad's estate, still need to get in my morning walk here in about an hour. Kerry and I have already played one game this morning and are going to try and get in another yet today. We need to catch up! Also, our monthly gaming marathon is on Friday :)

I hope everyone has a terrific Tuesday!

>196 alcottacre: Your away-reading in >188 alcottacre: was stacked with good results! I'm so pleased for you because my July's had two good reads and a passel of perfectly fine but not inspiring ones.

Enjoy your games day! *smooch*

I'll be interested to see what you think of The White Rhino Hotel. Although the land allocations for former WWI soldiers was an interesting historical point, I struggled to get through it. I seriously though of giving it up a time or two which I almost never do .... I'm glad to have read it, but also glad to be done with it.

>188 alcottacre: Thanks again for the recommendation of the Cazalet chronicles; I had never heard of them before, and now I'm about halfway through Confusion and loving them!

>197 richardderus: We still have a week left in July so hopefully you will have some better reads before the month is out! Thanks, RD.

>198 streamsong: I am only up to chapter 6 at this point, Janet, so not too far in yet. I know that Mark loved it a few years back which is where I got the recommendation in the first place. I am sorry it was not a better read for you!

>199 foggidawn: Great, foggi! I am glad to hear it! However, the credit goes to Laura and Caroline who got me started on them.

Nothing much going on here today other than normal stuff - except the possibility of a meeting with the estate attorney. I had a great meet up yesterday with Beth and Catey and we actually got some gaming in for the first time in a few weeks. I was able to get Catey signed up for a mobile hotspot which certainly helped!

I am still reading The White Rhino Hotel (my current audiobook), Classic Crimes, Day Boy, Dancing at the Rascal Fair, and The Paris Apartment. I am hoping to finish Day Boy today. I started The Guncle Abroad last night as it is due back to the library soon. I have one other one, Never Home Alone, that is also due back to the library shortly. I put Let Us Descend on hold again so I remain hopeful of getting to it this month. We shall see.

Lunch today is Oil-Free Crispy Garlic Herb Roasted Potatoes, veggies, and a salad. Come on down!

Glad you had a nice meetup!

>202 The_Hibernator: Thanks, Rachel! I am very lucky that Beth, Catey, and I get along so well :)

Finished tonight:

210 - Day Boy by Trent Jamieson - This book was a recommendation from Richard and while I did not enjoy it quite as much as he did, I still ended up liking it. The book was a little slow for me in the beginning, but as more of Mark's story unraveled, I found myself caught up in it. The prose in the book is wonderful. As Richard said in his review, "With brilliantly evocative, hypnotic prose, Trent Jamieson crafts a fang-sharp and surprisingly tender coming-of-age story about a headstrong boy—and the monster who taught him to be a man. . .I'd like to call y'all's attention to the descriptive prose. It is very well-handled. It doesn't overwhelm the momentum of the story, and it doesn't veer into for-its-own-sake lyricality. " All of that goes to sum up the book nicely; Recommended (3.75 stars) Mine

Walking and gaming with Kerry this morning, maybe sneaking in some reading before my 'heavy duty' reading time this evening, making grocery lists and meal plans for next week - my grocery purchases the other day were just to tide us over for this week - and not much else today.

I am still reading The White Rhino Hotel (my current audiobook), Classic Crimes, Dancing at the Rascal Fair, The Paris Apartment and The Guncle Abroad, which I am hoping to finish today. I am not enjoying it as much as The Guncle though. I need to return to Never Home Alone, another library book due back soon. I also need to face up to the fact that I am not going to get all of the books read this month that I want to. I do not know why I am surprised by this since it happens every month. Lol!

Sweet Thursday, Stasia. Yep, back to the usual grind and I love it. LOL. Thanks for keeping my thread warm and I hope you are doing well.

>188 alcottacre: Nice list! Glad you were able to grind the books out. I also liked Fourth Wing but not enough to continue the series. Joe is a big fan.

>206 msf59: I am doing fine - just trying to catch up after being out of town. I am sure you know how that goes!

I liked Fourth Wing, but did not love it as Joe does. Being insatiably curious, I want to know what happens next, so I have bought the second book.

>204 alcottacre: I'm so pleased that you enjoyed it, though not loving it makes sense to me. It's about the prose really. The story is secondary to the pleasure of the read.

Hi, Stasia. I was glad to see up there that you the new Erik Larsen five stars. That one’s in my future.

I love your yearly self-challenges. This year: wasn’t Frankenstein good? I had been misled by the movie adaptations, and really enjoyed the subtlety and thoughtfulness of the book. Dracula likewise was much better than I expected.

I’m currently enjoying the light and charming Littlest Library, recommended by mi esposa.

I hope you’re setting up for a nice weekend.

>208 richardderus: Definitely agree about the prose, RD! Star of the book IMHO.

>209 jnwelch: Hey, Joe! What do you know? :)

I loved the Erik Larson book, but Linda Panzo did not care for it nearly as much as I did, so you might check out her thoughts on the book as well.

Littlest Library sounds right up my alley. I will have to see if my local library has a copy. Thanks for that recommendation!

Today has been a LONG day - my CFS decided to make a reappearance and I have had at least 5 naps today. I really hate it!

I did, however, manage to finish:

211 - The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley - I flat out loved The Guncle when I read it, giving the book 4.5 stars, and I wish I could say I enjoyed this one as much but sadly, no. I am not really sure what my issue with the book is although there seems to be a lot of self-pity floating around it so maybe that is my problem? Maisie is not happy that her father is getting remarried because she (understandably) still misses her mother 4 years on. Patrick has broken up with his boyfriend because he (Patrick) feels as though he is too old for Emory. Grant does not want his dad to remarry either, but I am unsure as to whether he is in sympathy with Maisie or what. Anyway, the first part of the book was problematic for me, but the second part redeemed it somewhat IMHO; Recommended (3.75 stars) Library Book

>207 alcottacre: I also read Fourth Wing this month and found it ok not great, I finished it really fast as I enjoy this type of fantasy though I did not like the bedroom scenes at all.
I already had the second book so was able to read the first couple of chapters just to know what happened next. I'll continue to read it but not in any hurry. Must get back and finish Sanderson's last Skyward book.

I hope everything has been resolved with your Amex card.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/362248

>207 alcottacre: I agree with you completely about it being 'ok not great' and the bedroom scenes, which I could have lived without too. I have not read any of Brandon Sanderson's Skyward books, so I will have to check them out.

As far as AmEx goes, I just spent another 90 minutes on the phone with them this morning. I hope we are getting somewhere!

>213 SilverWolf28: Thanks, Silver. I am in!

>211 alcottacre: It didn't touch the heights for me, either, but made up for it by being about Patrick learning to listen better.

Happy weekend-ahead's reads.

>215 richardderus: I agree about Patrick learning to listen better, especially where Emory was concerned.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, RD!

I slept late again this morning (unsurprisingly since CFS has kicked in), but have now done my Saturday morning chores. Kerry is currently moving the lawn and here after bit we are going to play The Artemis Project. The gaming marathon did not happen yesterday because someone kept falling asleep. . . We got a whole 1 game played instead of our normal 4.

The Olympics are currently happening so I will be reading while watching. Kerry and I both love watching the games so I will actually be watching some TV over the next couple of weeks, lol.

I would like to finish Classic Crimes today and I am very glad to have read it despite the 'old-fashioned' writing style. Still listening (and reading, at times) The White Rhino Hotel, which I am finding rough going. If it was not a shared read for TIOLI, I would probably abandon it. The hunting scenes do absolutely nothing for me and rather make me sick. On the other hand, I am very much enjoying Dancing at the Rascal Fair by Ivan Doig. I love how Doig tells what appear to be simple stories on the surface. I am also continuing The Paris Apartment but not finding myself enamored by it.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

I'm so sorry to read you are struggling with CFS. I hope the docs can find some kind of relief for it.

I think I have The Paris Apartment on my bookshelf. Hmmm, not in any hurry to get to it.

Happy Saturday! Sorry that your CFS is showing up to rain on your parade! Hope your good reading times continue as well as your game playing.

Here’s a quote that I think you can find at least partial agreement with (I use it to confirm my fondness for illustrated books):

“There are only three forms of high art: the symphony, the illustrated children's book, and the board game.” (Saga Volume 3 by Brian K. Vaughan)

Karen O

>218 Carmenere: Thanks, Lynda. I wish doctors would discover a cure for CFS too - or at least something that would help.

>219 klobrien2: It has been a slow reading day here, Karen, because of multiple naps, lol. I did get some game playing in with Kerry though and am currently in front of the TV watching the Olympics and reading.

Love the quote!! I will use it to confirm my fondness for board games :)

Finished tonight:

212 - Classic Crimes by William Roughead - Nonfiction; Roughead is one of the writers who is given credit for starting the true crime genre and I can see why. Roughead started writing in the early 1900s and continued to write (as nearly as I can tell) until his death in the early 1950s. I call his writing 'old-fashioned' not as a ding on it but because that is how it strikes me (for example, Madeleine Smith is several times referred to as 'the beautiful Madeleine Smith'). However, that does not detract from how well he documents the 12 cases in the book, most of which I was already familiar with since I have read true crime for over 50 years now. William Roughead was a lawyer by trade and he does not fail to document evidence as well point out weaknesses in both the case of the prosecution and/or the defense; Recommended (4.25 stars) Mine

Sundays are my traditional 'day off' technology so I will be offline for a while. I am hopeful of finishing a couple of books up today - depending on how many naps I end up taking! - and will be back later.

I hope you all have a lovely Sunday!

>222 alcottacre: Sunday *smooch*

>217 alcottacre: Stasia, don't struggle through The White Rhino Hotel just to get a shared read with me. If the hunting scenes were a turnoff for you, wait until you get to the scenes with the dwarf and his prepubescent lover. I finished it for my own reasons but don't expect you to do the same.

>217 alcottacre: Board gaming marathon or computer gaming marathon. I've fallen asleep during Dungeons and Dragons before...my sleeping disorder acts up and I'm only supposed to take meds for driving. But I've started taking them for D&D.

>223 richardderus: Thanks, RD!

>224 streamsong: I have now been to the scenes with the dwarf and Kina. Yeah, if the hunting scenes were designed to disgust me, these are even more disgusting. However, I am now up to chapter 28 so I will finish it out. I have the second book in the series on hand but do not think I will be reading it. I am very glad that I did not pay for the audiobook (it was free on Audible) which I am listening to because the old paperback copy I have of the book is now falling apart. After I am done with the book, the old paperback can find itself in the recycle bin, lol.

>225 The_Hibernator: Yes, I was finding myself nodding off while gaming so that pretty much put the kibosh on the gaming marathon, lol. Sadly I do not have any meds to take that might keep me from nodding off and caffeine does not stand a chance against CFS I have found.

Finished today:

213 - The Paris Apartment by Kelly Bowen - This book was a recommendation from Reba and I wish I could say that I enjoyed it more. The clunky opening, the romance (did we really need that?), the coincidence after coincidence, all of that was a bit much for me. However, there were parts of the book that I really did like - the parts set in WWII. The contemporary stuff I found completely unnecessary and could have lived without. The parts set in WWII with Sophie and Estelle I found both interesting and compelling reading. I genuinely wanted to know what happened to these women, both of whom were based on an amalgam of several very real women and their experiences during the war. Bowen included a "Further Reading" section and I am going to see if I can find any of these books at my local library, much preferring the Nonfiction to the fiction in this case; Recommended (3.75 stars) Mine

>226 alcottacre:
I will jump in on the White Rhino Hotel. I loved this book and the series. The series is very much in the vein of the colonial adventure series and makes no apology for that. The hero and heroine reminded me of Dennis Hatton and Karen Blixen. The WWI history was very true to what happened in East Africa and this book was the first time I heard about the British and Germans going at each other in that area of the world. This was backed up when I read Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah. So you can rest assured that White Rhino Hotel is historically accurate in that part of the novel. It is also true that the British government gave British veterans land in East and South Africa after WWI. That too is nothing new. They did the same thing in Ireland after Cromwell's victories in the 1600's in Ireland. Of course, so did the Roman Army back in ancient times. If a Legionnaire survived twenty years he got free land in one of the conquered territories.

Big game hunting is not allowed today but back in 1920 it is a different story. TR went Big Game hunting. So did Ernest Hemingway. That was all part of the romance of Africa at that time. The question is does reading about a past time include that attitudes of that time or should they be updated? This is the question that plagues English teachers all across the US when they assign Huck Finn.

I loved the sense of adventure in these books, and I am sure that Anton Ryder was just as dashing of a fictional character as Denys Finch Hatton was in real life. Does the fact that Anton Ryder made his living as a guide for game hunters mean I shouldn't enjoy reading this book? I think that is the thing that each reader needs to decide for himself. As the wise RD says, not every book is for every reader. If you aren't enjoying it, or learning something from it, Pearl Rule it and go on to another book.

>228 benitastrnad: I understand "the vein of the colonial adventure series" - I have read H. Rider Haggard etc and suspect that this is just not a genre(?) for me. I know about TR going big game hunting and understand that it was a product of its time, but it is hard for me to look at it fairly, knowing what we do now about how quickly species can be endangered.

Yep, I am one of those who firmly believes that not every book is for every body. Like I said to Janet, I am already up to chapter 28 and am not quitting it at this point.

Thanks for your post, Benita. It is always good to see another's perspective.

Finished tonight:

214 - Dancing at the Rascal Fair by Ivan Doig - Ivan Doig is one of my LT discoveries (there are quite a number of them at this point) as I truly enjoy the books in which he tells such simple stories that have depths to them. In this book, the second book in the McCaskill trilogy, Doig tells of Rob Barclay and Angus McCaskill who immigrate to America from Scotland, hoping to meet up with Rob's uncle Lucas so that he can help them get started in this country. A simple enough story, right? But under this simple story we have a tale where the state of Montana is a character, we have unrequited love, family turmoil, death, the whole gamut of emotions and happenings; Recommended (4.25 stars)

I am off to bed. I love CFS (said nobody ever!)

Morning, Stasia. Boo to the CFS. Such a curse. I share Benita's love for The White Rhino Hotel and the other books in the series. Glad to hear you are at least hanging in there with it.

Glad you enjoyed Dancing at the Rascal Fair. Looking forward to our shared read, later in the year.

>230 alcottacre: Doig rode the Montana thing hard, didn't he? Man can write, so it worked; but is there no greater world to you, Mr. Writer-Man?

Happy, energetic Monday wishes, dear Stasia!

>233 richardderus:
Oh - them's fightin' words. I love books about small places. Not that Montana is small, but White Sulphur Springs is. It is a rare author that can capture the small places and make them into something larger and universal. I haven't read any Ivan Doig yet, and so the Montana trilogy will be my first. I am looking forward to it.

>232 msf59: I am hoping to finish The White Rhino Hotel by tomorrow at the latest. We will see how it ends up for me, but is definitely want to be over with and never read again, lol.

My read of Dancing at the Rascal Fair is in preparation for our reading of Ride With Me, Mariah Montana later. I am really looking forward to it!

>233 richardderus: Maybe he was just writing what he knew? I have no quarrel with that at all! He could write that is for sure.

>234 benitastrnad: I hope that you enjoy Doig when you get to him, Benita!

Pretty normal day today other than my getting up late due to CFS, which I am really hoping goes away soon. Balancing the bank statement, talking to the bank yet again, and walking with Kerry have all been done.

Cooking lunch here in a few minutes: Salad, Spanish Rice, Charro Beans (for Kerry as they have meat in them), and Hominy are on tap today.

I am hoping to make progress with The White Rhino Hotel so that I can finish it tomorrow. I am hoping to finish Let Us Descend today and have a few more that I need to finish before EOD Wednesday. We will see how it goes.

I hope everyone has a marvelous Monday!

Happy Monday, Stasia! I hope that the CFS lets you stay awake for it. I myself am fighting a nap because I need to get on with things.

Delurking to tip my hat to you, Stasia. Hope the CSF passes quickly.

>238 weird_O: Thanks, Bill! I appreciate the delurking :)

I am doing much better tonight than I was last night when I was in bed before 7pm. . .

Finished tonight:

215 - Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward - This is the first of Ward's books that I have read (although I do own Sing, Unburied, Sing) but hopefully not the last despite my disappointment in it. Ward can definitely write and the prose in this book is at times heartbreakingly lovely. However, the story itself just did not hold together well for me, especially in the middle section of the book. Annis is raised by her mother until her plantation-owning white master, who also happens to be her father, sells her mother down river to New Orleans. Eventually Annis is also taken to be sold in New Orleans and has to walk the distance from her North Carolina home. While Annis was with her mother, her mama taught her self-defense and about a warrior woman ancestor, Mama Aza, who in turn becomes a kind of goddess figure to Annis (I am not sure how else to explain this) and stays with Annis through her journey; Guardedly Recommended (3.5 stars) Library Book

>240 alcottacre: I had a similar response to Let Us Descend, Stasia. Parts of it just did not work for me. And I have read and been strongly impressed with Ward's other work. So I'm glad your disappointment in this one didn't put you off her entirely.

Hi Stasia!

… skippety-skip-skip…

>111 alcottacre: I still have my ratty old mass market paperback of Animal Farm from decades ago. Read it a long time ago, I think it would only depress me now. @witchyritchy just mentioned Hoopla on my thread, I just installed it on my cell phone. Two apps yesterday – my chiropractor reminded me about Liibby so I got it too. Will I use either any time soon? Who knows.

>120 alcottacre: Yikes. Sorry about your Amex Card and all the time and stress related to working it with Amex.

>145 alcottacre: and >159 alcottacre: Do you have any idea where the breach occurred? Not that it matters, but still.

>195 alcottacre: This book/reminds me of Escape From Warsaw. You have it on your shelves, I still have my Scholastic copy purchased probably when I was in 4th or 5th grade, read many, many times.

>196 alcottacre: Oh, how I love Bartle Bull. I’ve read the Anton Rider series, have two more of his fiction books on my shelves, and just splurged with Safari: A Chronicle of Adventure on eBay. Sorry The White Rhino Hotel is not working for you.

>211 alcottacre: I’ve deliberately avoided Guncle Abroad solely because I loved The Guncle so much, also giving it 4.5 stars. I’ll continue to avoid it.

>217 alcottacre: Ugh to CFS.

>240 alcottacre:, >241 laytonwoman3rd: I liked Let Us Descend a bit more than you did, Stasia, but I agree with Linda that Ward has several more impressive books to her credit. Like Sing, Unburied Sing -- I'm glad to see you have that one on your shelves.

>240 alcottacre: We had very similar thoughts on Let Us Descend, Stasia. Glad I wasn't alone on that one. I sure loved her earlier books.

>235 alcottacre:, >234 benitastrnad: Heck fire, y'all, my quarrel isn't with his choice of subject matter it's with the same-ol' same-ol' that riding a hobbyhorse results in. "I've read this already" sets in.

He's a fine wordsmith, no doubt about it. Enjoy, Benita.

>236 alcottacre: You talk to that dratted bank more than you do to us! I know you're not as interested in what they have to say, so I'm sympathetic to your boredom.

*smooch*

>241 laytonwoman3rd: I am very glad to hear that you have liked Ward's other work, Linda. One of these days I will get to Sing, Unburied, Sing.

>242 karenmarie: Thanks for dropping by, Karen! Always nice to see you here!

>243 lauralkeet: Thanks for chiming in on Ward, Laura. I definitely want to read more of her stuff.

>244 msf59: Yeah, I am always unsure of my footing when I do not care for an author as much as everyone else does. I am glad to know that I am not alone in my thoughts on Let Us Descend too.

>245 richardderus: Thanks for the explanation, RD!

>246 richardderus: Between the bank (I have been there to open a new bank account and spoken to them at length by phone) and American Express (with whom I have been on the phone for at least 4 hours), I am sick to death of my phone!

Saw this first thing today:

The 2024 longlist for the Booker Prize – the world’s most influential prize for a single work of fiction – is announced.

The longlist of 13 books – the ‘Booker Dozen’ – has been chosen by the 2024 judging panel and features blackly comic page-turners, multigenerational epics, meditations on the pain of exile – plus a crime caper, a spy thriller, an unflinching account of girls’ boxing and a reimagining of a 19th-century classic.

The titles that make up this year’s longlist are as follows:

Wild Houses by Colin Barrett

Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel

James by Percival Everett

Orbital by Samantha Harvey

Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner

My Friends by Hisham Matar

This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud

Held by Anne Michaels

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange

Enlightenment by Sarah Perry

Playground by Richard Powers

The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

I have yet to read a single title on this list although I have been trying for several months to get hold of the Percival Everett book from my local library. . .

I went and got my hair cut this morning as the New Mexico trip looms. No walking this morning as I got up too late. Trip to the library to pick up books for the impending August TIOLI challenges. Today being Tuesday, my weekly meet up with Beth and Catey is happening.

The White Rhino Hotel will be done today. I cannot remember the last time I have been so happy to finish a book, lol. I know the book has a ton of fans, but I am just not one of them. I am also hoping to finish Never Home Alone (which I started before my visit to my mother!), make some progress in The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club, Hotel du Lac, and The Vagrants. It ought to be an interesting end-of-month reading wrap up for me.

I hope you all have a terrific Tuesday!

Hope CFS is starting to let you go, Stasia!

>248 alcottacre: I have read 3: Held, Orbital and Stone Yard Devotional, am half through 1: This Strange Eventful History, and have a fifth to hand: Enlightenment, Stasia.

Of those read Held is my fave so far.

>251 curioussquared: Maybe, maybe not. Hard to tell just yet. Thanks, Natalie.

>252 Caroline_McElwee: Nice, Caroline! My local library has a few of the Longlist books, but not many. It does not have Held unfortunately.

Finished today:

216 - The White Rhino Hotel by Bartle Bull - Audiobook; If you have read through my thread (even if you have not read through my thread), you will know that this is a book that definitely turned out not to be for me. I am disappointed in that - I first heard of the book some 14 years ago when Mark recommended it - and have had a paper copy of the book for that long. However, since my old paperback is falling apart, I ended up listening to the audio version instead. To be clear, there are things about the book that I really liked - Bull does a great job, IMHO, of setting the time and place of the book. However, this does not outweigh the problems that I have with the book. It is overall just too violent for my taste (let's face it, I am a wimp!) There is violence against women, violence against animals, violence between the male characters. I am sure that that is the way it was, to be sure. I just do not want to read about it in fiction books that I am supposed to be enjoying!; Not Recommended (2 stars) Mine

Thanks for posting the Booker Longlist on my thread, Stasia! I'm very excited about and mentioned on my thread the book I am in the midst of reading My Friends by Hisham Matar and the other I hope to read - some I have from the library already. Any reading plans for you from the Booker Long List ?

>216 alcottacre: Sorry that The White Rhino didn't work for you. I've not read it , so not opinion.

>255 vancouverdeb: I am going to be reading the Claire Messud book, This Strange Eventful History, in August. Beyond that, I am not sure. My local library only has a few of the books at this point although Hoopla has a couple as well.

Finished tonight:

217 - Never Home Alone by Rob Dunn - The topic for this month's Nonfiction Challenge is "The Insect World", which I confess, I have never given a great deal of thought. Well, it turns out that perhaps I should think about them more considering how many of them surround me at any given moment - because I am never home alone. Dunn goes into great detail about the biodiverse world that surrounds us even when we never leave our house. I may never look at my shower head in quite the same way! Dunn estimates that at this point in their work, he and his colleagues have found some 200,000 species in homes! That is an awful of species - although this number includes things like bacteria, not just bugs; Recommended (4 stars) Library Book

Finished this morning:

218 - Hotel Du Lac by Anita Brookner - Several years ago, Bonnie (brenzi) did a read of all of Brookner's books and so spurred me to investigate Brookner's works, of which my local library has none. I finally got around to reading my first one! I think I would have eventually gotten to it since it won the Booker back in 1984, but who knows? I thoroughly enjoyed Brookner's novel about romance novelist Edith Hope. From the opening of the book in which the hotel and the country in which it resides, Brookner's descriptions are wonderful. When we meet her, we know exactly who and what Edith Hope is. The descriptions of the countryside and the hotel also apply to the people in the book: Mrs. Pusey and her daughter, Jennifer; Mr. Neville; Monica. Do not look for a ton of action in this book - it is very introspective; Recommended (4.25 stars) Mine

Well, since it is the 31st of the month, everyone knows what I will be doing today - reading, of course. Why do I always overextend myself every month so that I am racing to finish as many books as I can on the last day? Lol

No walking for us this morning as Kerry is out mowing the lawn, but we will get in a game today at some point, I am sure. Laundry is already happening this morning, but not much else going on as it is my monthly 'read until my eyeballs fall out' day.

Hotel Du Lac is finished now and I am hopeful of finishing The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club. The Vagrants I am not too sure about, we will have to see. There are other books that I committed to with TIOLI but they are not going to happen today. *sigh* Why are there so many books and only 1 of me??

I hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday!

Finished tonight - and I am just too tired to write about it!:

219 - The Vagrants by Yiyun Li - Recommended (4 stars) Mine

Hello stranger!! Sorry about the bank and CFS. No fun at all. Glad your trip was good though (despite the lack of internet) and, no surprise, I see you have been reading up a storm! I like The Rhino Hotel better than you did, but I agree with you on Let Us Descend. I just got my copy of James and I plan to re-read Huckleberry Finn this month in preparation. Happy August!!

>226 alcottacre: Yes, I can imagine what the CFS feels like after having long COVID for about half a year. Unbearable tiredness!

Catching up/ skimming through.

>207 alcottacre: >212 avatiakh: >214 alcottacre: Chiming in with agreeing on Fourth Wing being okay but not great and disliking the bedroom scenes. But for me, it means I'm not going to bother continuing with the series.

>211 alcottacre: I seem to have missed the boat on The Guncle since I only became aware of it when Richard read the second book. I may get to it once I've cleared the library books, holds, Mt TBR and so on. It does sound good.

>217 alcottacre: Gosh, that does sound like hard work. Where did Kerry move the lawn to? ;0)

Okay - I'm running off to your next thread.

>262 The_Hibernator: CFS is a royal pain in the rear, Rachel, mainly because there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it.

>263 humouress: Thanks for coming by to catch up, Nina!

I don't know how I got so far behind, but I'm glad to see your posting of the Booker list, Stasia. I am now fretting that the Richard Powers (and you know how much I admire RP!) is not available here until late September. He's American! How on earth did England get Playground first????? Do they put books on the long list just from ARCs? I suppose I need to do some research unless one of your many visitors knows what's what.

I am about to shut down and finish *Seduction ID*. I think that makes you happy. *grin*

Oh - and the local-ish TV weather says that we're in line for 16-24" of rain from Debby. That is more than we got with Matthew or Florence. I do not look forward to seeing whether local efforts to mitigate flooding and keep the water plant open will be enough to spare us a couple of weeks of misery at best. We don't have a generator, but the power outage wasn't the worst last time. It was having no water for 2+ weeks.

>265 LizzieD: The Powers book can be ordered through Blackwell's, I am sure, Peggy. Would you like me to order a copy for you? Just let me know.

Yeah for finishing Seduction in Death! I am happy that you are enjoying the series.

That sounds like way too much rain!