Citizenjoyce 75 in 2011 thread

I'll be listing books read in 2011 here.

January
1. My Jesus Year: A Rabbi's Son Wanders the Bible Belt in Search of His Own Faith - Benyamin Cohen 3.5
2. Flawed Dogs: The Year End Leftovers at the Piddleton "Last Chance" Dog Pound - Berkeley Breathed - 5
3. Lottery - Patricia Wood - 4
4. The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness - Elyn Saks - 5
5. The Housekeeper - Melanie Wallace - 5
6. Madness: A Bipolar Life - Marya Hornbacher -Audiobook - 4.5
7. The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood - 4
8. Flawed Dogs: The Novel: The Shocking Raid on Westminster - Berkeley Breathed - Audiobook - 3
9. The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic - Darby Penney - 5
10.The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett - 4
11.You Don't Look Like Anyone I Know: A True Story of Family, Face Blindness, and Forgiveness - Heather Sellers - 5
12.Marcelo in the Real World - Francisco Stork - 4
13.Still Alice - Lisa Genova - 4.5
14.I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts On Being a Woman - Nora Ephron - Audiobook 3.5
15. Revolution - Jennifer Donnelly - Audiobook 4
16.A Thread of Grace - Mary Doria Russell - 5

Good to see you, Joyce!

Welcome back!

Great to see you, Joyce! I'm attempting to read 75 books this year too! Not easy to find people in these threads! Hope you are having a happy new year!

Hi
I'm making a concerted effort to connect with each of our members because I'm compiling a list of birthdays.. If you haven't done so already, would you mind stopping by this thread and posting yours.

Thanks.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/105833

February reads:

17. Wench - Dolen Perkins-valdez - 4.5
18. The Warmth of Other Suns - Isabel Wilkerson - 4.5
19. Quicksand - Nella Larsen - 5
20. Native Tongue - Suzette Haden Elgin - 3.5
21. Passing - Nella Larsen -4
22. Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston -4.5
23. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms - N. K. Jemisin - 4
24. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle -David Wroblewski - Audiobook - not recommended
25. Mama Day - Gloria Naylor - 5
26. Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science - Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos - 4
27. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl - Harriet Jacobs - 4.5
28. Wading Home - Rosalyn Story - 4
29. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot - 5

Wow. You really plowed through a lot of books in January. I'm in awe.

Didn't I though. I guess I was driven, and I have so much on the horizen for this month too. Well, I tend to be a little OCD about some things. This too shall pass.

Favorite books so far this year:

January:
Fiction - Thread of Grace - Mary Doria Russell
Non Fiction - You Don't Look Like Anyone I Know - Heather Sellers

February:
Fiction - Mama Day - Gloria Naylor
Non Fiction - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot

March reading:
30. Dexter is Delicious - Jeff Lindsay - 3
31. Women, Culture, Politics - Angela Davis - 2
32. Seneca Falls Inheritance - Miriam Grace Monfredo - 4
33. The Honor Code: How Moral Revolutions Happen - Kwame Anthony Appiah - 4.5
34. A Drink Before the War - Dennis Lehane - 4
35. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell - 4
36. North Star Conspiracy - Miriam Grace Monfredo - 4.5
37. Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout - 4.5
38. I and Thou - Martin Buber - no rating
39. Darkness Take My Hand - Dennis Lehane - 4
40. Secrets to Die For - L. J. Sellers - 4
41. Doubt: A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson - Jennifer Michael Hecht -5
42. Glycemic Index Cookbook: Healthy Cooking for Your Best Health - Gina Steer - 3.5

Hi! Just wanted to drop by your thread to let you know, you are most probably right. :)

Well that's good to hear. Right about what?

My enjoyment of The Birth of Venus. :)

I'm glad. Whenever I think of it I can almost smell it, for obvious reasons. Mighty strong women.

It's a new month and a new quarter.
April Books:
44. Be Different: Adventures of a Free-Range Aspergian with Practical Advice for Aspergians, Misfits, Families & Teachers - John Elder Robison - 4
45. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing - Judy Blume not rated
46. Special Topics in Calamity Physics - Marisha Pessl - audiobook - 4
47. Born On A Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant - Daniel Tammet - 4
48. Fingersmith - Sarah Waters - 5
49. Enchanted Glass - Diana Wynne Jones - Audiobook - 4
50 Fifty Years and Other Poems - James Weldon Johnson - 3.5
51. The Ride Together - Paul and Judy Karasik - 4
52. Solitaire - Kelley Eskridge - 4.5
53. The Tiger's Wife - Tea Obreht - 5
54. Al Capone Does My Shirts - Gennifer Choldenko - 4.5
55. Charmed Life - Diana Wynne Jones - Audiobook 3.5
56. Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism - Roy Richard Grinker - 4
57. Witch Week - Diana Wynne Jones - 3.5

Favorite books for March
non-fiction
Doubt: A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson by Jennifer Michael Hecht

fiction
A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane

Favorite books for April
Non-fiction:
Be Different: Adventures of a Free-Range Aspergian with Practical Advice for Aspergians, Misfits, Families & Teachers by John Elder Robison

Fiction a tie:
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht

May books:

58. The Wichita Divide: The Murder of Dr. George Tiller, the Battle over Abortion, and the New American Civil War by Stephen Singular - 4.5
59. Keeper: One House, Three Generations, and a Journey into Alzheimer's by Andrea Gillies - 5
60. Salvation City - Sigrid Nunez - 3
61. Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand - 2.5
62 The Night Bookmobile - Audrey Niffenegger - 4
63. The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For - Alison Bechdel 5
64. Whose Body - Dorothy L. Sayers - 4
65. Dead Reckoning - Charlaine Harris - 4
66. Digging to America - Anne Tyler - 3.5
67. Hospital Sketches - Louisa May Alcott - 4.5
68. The Female Man - Joanna Russ - 4
69. The Weird World of Gahan Wilson - Gahan Wilson - 4.5
70. Clouds of Witness - Dorothy L. Sayers - Audiobook - 4
71. The Weird Sisters - Eleanor Brown - 2
72. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club - Dorothy L. Sayers - Audiobook - 4
73. Secret Daughter - Shilpi Somaya Gowda - 5
74. The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the DecadesBefore Roe v. Wade - Ann Fessler - 5
75. Black Wings & Blind Angels: Poems - Sapphire - 2

Just stopping by your thread to offer you a big thanks for posting such thought-provoking challenges on the TIOLI challenges from month to month. Your challenge ideas are simply terrific!

Thanks, Madeline. I just love your group. It sends my reading into wonderful directions.

Here you are! *waves*

You found me. Boring but it serves the purpose.

Just dropping by, Joyce, to let you know how much I enjoy your reviews and comments. You bring a different perspective, which always makes me (shudder) think about what I've read.

Re: Sarah Dunant: there's a great interview with her on the Nancy Pearl "Book Lust" podcasts. She's a fascinating woman.

Thanks, Gail. I'll have to check out that podcast. I agree, Sarah Dunant, is fascinating. I'll enjoy fining out more about her background. My sister assures me that people who write historical novels have someone else to do the research for them. That can't always be true, can it?

Never boring.. I see that your opinion of Weird sisters is low, too. I am going to take it off of my library wishlist

I don't know, Kathleen. Lots of people seem to like The Weird Sisters. I don't know if I have a low annoyance threshold or what the problem is. I do like to support women authors, but this was just too much everything is for a reason for me. We all like to think that's true, but just looking around doesn't make me think so. Here's this silly, aimless girl having a baby because at last she'll have something that belongs to her, unlike the second hand clothes she always had to wear. Good thinking. Yesterday, reflecting on the book while I was driving, I saw a woman pushing her baby in a little stroller in front of her. She not only crossed the street against a red light but veered off the crosswalk straight against oncoming traffic. She did indeed have her own little baby, which might not have been all that lucky for the baby.

I just finished Secret Daughter and look forward to seeing what you think of it. :)

>26 Citizenjoyce:: Very, very funny, Joyce, and sad at the same time.

Re Dunant: She says she does most of her own research. She mentioned Dorothy Dunnet (?),n who says she does little to no research for her novels.

I am relieved to know that I am not the only one who can have a low annoyance threshold, and
thinks thoughts like that watching the aimless and hapless with innocent offspring.

I'm about half way through Secret Daughter and realized it wasn't my low annoyance threshold that lead to my disappointment in The Weird Sisters; it's just not a good book. Secret Daughter, now here's a book that gives you something to think about. At my RL book club there was an Indian woman who came for our discussion of Unaccustomed Earth and she said that she knew whenever we thought of India we thought of progress and wealth and the value placed on education. I'm sorry to say that that is not what I think of when I think of India. Thanks to A Fine Balance I think more along the lines of inescapable poverty, heartlessness and crushing bureaucracy. Both views are prevalent in Secret Daughter, as I'm sure both are present in real life (there and, the worse the economy gets, here).

Jolerie, I just reviewed Secret Daughter, it was my favorite fiction book of the month. It looks like, from your review that we both saw the same things in it but I liked it a good deal more. If this is what her first book is like, what we she be like on the 10th one?

I have friends from India.. They are nearly the same age as I am, and
they had an arranged marriage.. it turned out well for them...
Hard to imagine it though.

I have heard some stories from them, and been intrigued. I might have to read this one..
Thanks !

Arranged marriages are discussed a bit in Unaccustomed Earth. Marriage is hard however you do it. I think arranged marriages with the caveat that either party can decline if the chosen partner is completely distasteful could work as well as any other kind. Romantic love is fleeting and, I think, not much of a basis for marriage. One can be romantically, sexually, attracted to someone who would be miserable as a life partner.

I really enjoyed the book as well! I was originally going to give it 4 stars but in the end settled for 3.5 and the only reason was because I thought the story could have been just a tad tighter and more polished. I don't remember specific passages but I remember thinking, oh it's because this is her first book. Maybe it was because I knew it was her first book so that keep nagging at the back of my mind. I wonder if I didn't know that bit of info, I probably would have given the 4 or even the 5 stars. But nonetheless it was a great read and I will definitely keep my eye out for her in the future! :)

Secret Daughter does sound good- on to the wishlist it goes!

Interesting about different perceptions of India. The woman I job- share with is from a professional Indian family and like your guest, believes that India's worldwide image is one of success and prosperity and takes pride in how her culture values education. Whilst I know India is achieving a lot, I fear that many are being exploited whilst that happens. I will be interested to see how both views are presented in Secret Daughter.

Edited to change touchstones.

The Secret Daughter has been added to the wishlist. My doctor is from India. She goes home for about 6 weeks every three years, and stays for 6 weeks. She says she can't beat to stay any longer. She has the same mixed feelings and thoughts as those expressed here.

The Secret Daughter has been added to the wishlist. My doctor is from India. She goes home for about 6 weeks every three years, and stays for 6 weeks. She says she can't beat to stay any longer. She has the same mixed feelings and thoughts as those expressed here.

Somaya did a good job of presenting both sides, and presented a more hopeful picture for those in poverty than most books I've read about India. I just read a short story An Arranged Marriage in which Nell Freudenberger (not a very Indian sounding name) has her main character say In Desh, you can make your plans, but they usually do not succeed...In America you make your plans and then they happen. What's the old Jewish expression? Man plans, god laughs So thwarted plans are a human condition, but it does seem more concentrated on those in poverty because they have fewer resources to rescue a failure of circumstance.

Somaya did a good job of presenting both sides, and presented a more hopeful picture for those in poverty than most books I've read about India. I just read a short story An Arranged Marriage in which Nell Freudenberger (not a very Indian sounding name) has her main character say In Desh, you can make your plans, but they usually do not succeed...In America you make your plans and then they happen. What's the old Jewish expression? Man plans, god laughs So thwarted plans are a human condition, but it does seem more concentrated on those in poverty because they have fewer resources to rescue a failure of circumstance.

Best reads of May:

Non fiction: The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the DecadesBefore Roe v. Wade - Ann Fessler -5
Fiction: Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda - 5

Reads for the month of June:
76. Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl -5
77. Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers - Audiobook - 5
78. A Cartoon History of the Universe Part 1 vol. 1-7 - Larry Gonick - Graphic -4
79. The Hour I First Believed - Wally Lamb - 2.5
80. Swamplandia! - Karen Russell - 4
81. Gaudy Night - Dorothy L. Sayers - Audiobook -3
82. The Rabbi's Cat - Joann Sfar - Graphic - 4
83. Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton - 4.5
84. Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead - Barbara Comyns - 5
85. Mary Poppins - P. L. Travers - 5
86. An Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett - Audiobook - 4.5
87. Unnatural Death - Dorothy L. Sayers - Audiobook - 4
88. Palimpsest - Catherynne Valente - 4
89. The Mortal Groove - Ellen Hart - 4
90. i before e except after c - Judy Parkinson - 3.5
91. 84 Charing Cross Road - Helen Hanff - 4

Congratulations on hitting 75 books for the year, Joyce. I apologize that it has taken me this long to notice!

I very much enjoyed Garlic and Sapphires when I read it a couple of years ago. I hope you did too.

Oh, I just hit it within the last week. I think you're pretty quick to notice.
I loved Garlic and Sapphires. I don't know whether I want to be a librarian or a food critic when I grow up. I think I'd settle for being independently wealthy so I can just do both at will. Now, how do I apply for that job?

I do not know, but if you figure it out, let me know too!

> 76

I loved Garlic and Sapphires.

Don't give away that book without copying down and making the cheesecake recipe from that book, Joyce. That cheesecake is scrumptious!!

I don't know whether I want to be a librarian or a food critic when I grow up. I think I'd settle for being independently wealthy so I can just do both at will. Now, how do I apply for that job?

My husband is a food critic. Unfortunately for him, only I know that. ;-)

26: this was just too much everything is for a reason for me

Excellent! Oh how I hate that phrase.

Re India and arranged marriages: In the late 1980s I stayed in Kashmir with a family whose oldest daughter had recently been betrothed via an arrangement between the parents of the two families. I had imagined this to be an oppressive thing, but there was a game going on between the daughter and the sons. The sons were involved in the formal gift exchanges, and had met the future husband. The daughter was constantly teasing her brothers for information, and they were teasing back with obvious falsehoods (e.g. he has green warts on his face -- not this exactly but similar), but were also concerned for her welfare (e.g. a brother commented that the future husband was very serious, too serious in his opinion, but his sister was very serious too so this was OK). Now of course this is utterly unfair by modern standards, but it was also not a march to the guillotine. My acquaintance, the younger brother (the only person in the family who spoke fluent English), was just fine with his sister's arranged marriage, but he certainly did not want the same for himself. He had a sad romantic tale: He had met a woman a few years before, and they wanted to marry. Alas, he was one kind of Muslim and she was another, and although his family might eventually come around to the idea, her family would not, and yanked the woman out of college where she was too exposed to the outside world. They considered eloping, but there was a problem they could not resolve. The woman was the older sister, so by tradition she had to be married before the younger sister. If she married outside accepted boundaries, her entire family would be contaminated, and her sister's prospects would be ruined. She did not want to harm her sister, so she broke off the relationship. My acquaintance also had a funny romantic tale: He was on a bus into the city to see a movie, struck up a conversation with a woman sitting nearby, and invited her to the movie. That was it, months went by, and he happened to cross paths with her again. She said that her family was in the process of arranging her marriage, and asked whether he might want to be on the list of possibilities. He was horrified: "It was only a movie!"

>47 qebo: That is a very interesting story...thank you for sharing it.
I honestly don't know much about how my friends marriage was arranged..
but I do know that he loves her, and she him. So, at least sometimes it works
out. His brother was not as fortunate.. and he is now married to someone else.

Have you read Dreaming In Hindi? I read and enjoyed it.. you might like it as well..
It is a very well done memoir.. entertaining, not dull at all.

48: No, I have not, wasn't even aware of it, and I really like this sort of thing -- finding one's way in another culture, with a linguistic twist. Thanks!

Welcome! Glad I mentioned it :)

Kathleen, I checked out the main page for Dreaming in Hindi, psycholinguistics. Oh, my. You know one hates to be thought of as typical, but like the stereotypical American, I have a great deal of difficulty learning languages. I tried French, Italian, Spanish, German, Hebrew. At one time I could say "Are you still serving lunch?" in a few different countries, but I got no farther than that. Oh I could kind of assist with childbirth in Spanish, relax, breathe calmly, lift your legs, push, the baby has a lot of hair. I love to read, but am doomed to do so only in English.

Another thought on arranged marriages. I see that Canada is contemplating legalizing polygamy, which is much like arranged marriages. It can work in theory but also can be horribly abused. But then, what interpersonal human relationship can't?

I was just laughing, qebo, about your movie story. I can see that happening in many different cultures.

Joyce, I have a son who can learn languages very easily.. he speaks several, most self taught, except German. He speaks Japanese fluently and Spanish well, and ?? I seem to think that there is another. He also self taught music, and reading music.. the only lessons he had were some in playing violin, and now he plays quite a few things.. I think that those two things are related..

How is it, that you speak about childbirth in Spanish?

AS for polygamy.. I am all for it, if all parties consent. It is rather like a commune.. shared responsibility,
more people to love and care for each other.. and you are right, it is similar in some ways...

Frankly, there have been times that I wish I could have said.. "son, marry this girl" and have it be a done deal. I have two sons that need to be married.. but.. no luck.. so believe me.. I would arrange in a minute if I could..

IT sounds crazy, I know.. but .. you would have to know the situations.. it is hard to find someone nice after college and so on..

Joyce, I love your useful-but-unusual-for-most-of-us childbirthing phrases.

Polygamy or polyandry is okay, but I think they need some pretty reliable safeguards for folks younger than 18, which is where I see the abuses coming in. I like the idea of a community/family sort of thing. But...probably not for me.

51,52,53: Yeah, the fundamental criterion should be consenting adults. I'd think legally though the more troublesome issues would be inheritance and child custody and such.

>45 SqueakyChu: Madeline, I can't imagine being married to a food critic, unless he does all the cooking at home. Does he put on long blond wigs and take you to fantastic restaurants? I could certainly get into the variety side of it, just wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that criticism.

Well, qebo, you've kind of hit the nail on the head. A major problem with polygamy is the patriarchal part of it. Inheritance and child custody would go which ever way he said. The idea that the man is the final arbiter of right and wrong would pretty much put a damper on the whole thing - though having sister wives you liked could be wonderful. And then of course there's the whole polygamist idea that the major value of women is in their usefulness as breeders. The world doesn't really need women pumping babies out by the dozens, not to mention that the women don't need it either.

Bohemima, of course, as you mention, the underage issue. The men always seem to want younger and younger brides and the society works to convince the girls that's what they want too. So, lets say polygamy or polyandry with no religious context. It might work, as well as anything else does these days.

And yes I agree, Kathleen. I should be the one in charge of deciding who my children marry. I can't figure out why they don't see the value in that. ;-)

It would be lovely for music or languages or math or exercise or design to come easily. I guess that's what's meant by a gift. My gift is that it's easy for me to be a vegetarian because I don't really like meat all that much. It's not like a gift for language, but it's the one I've got.

I don't think polyandry really raises the same issues that polygyny does.

I took an anthropology class in college where we learned about Tibetian polyandry, and it was fascinating. Any woman who married a man also married his brothers. Since the men were livestock herders, they would sometimes be gone from home a long time with their flock. If the woman had multiple husbands, there was a greater chance of there being a man at home to take care of the wife/kids and make more kids. But the natives did admit to some trouble when more than one husband was at home at the same time.
Also, the life of the Tibetians was very difficult, and so it would often take multiple incomes to adequately provide for a family.

I've read that the result of selective abortion and female infanticide in India is that now some women are being forced into polyandry. Forced marriage of any sort seems never to work out in the woman's favor. Unforced, individually selected marriage of any sort, on the other hand, has it's benefits for all. Speaking with a family member who is vehemently against gay marriage, she said, "What next, are people going to marry their dogs?" I can see a possibility there. I'm happy, my dogs are happy, we don't need to make it legal, and I win all (or most) of the arguments.

Hmm, last I checked, my dog couldn't enter into a legal contract.

Anyway, back to female infanticide, you may find this interesting . . . http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/06/06/the-consequence-of-unnatural-selectio...

I've added Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men to my wishlist. (no touchstone)

>59 Nickelini: That article on sex selection is enough to give a woman a heart attack. Here's the US once again trying to be helpful in encouraging a decrease in world population so we encourage sex selection and voila, we get 160 million females missing . We who are pro choice stress that we must trust a woman to make decisions about her own reproduction, and again it leads to sex selection. It's another case of damned if you do and damned if you don't. Of course the solution is that the world needs to value women as much as it does men. Why that's so difficult it the question of the ages.

You know, my blood pressure is fine, but I wonder if I can add Unnatural Selection and have it stay that way. Maybe you could let me know. (you seem to have made touchstones bow to your demand. That never works for my books)

>59 Nickelini: and 60: Indeed. I always wonder why men find women so very dangerous that they must perforce be relegated to a subservient, less-valued role. I'd be interested in Unnatural Selection too, but more anger/angst in my life might not be a good thing. Still, it's worth a look.

there was a related article in The Economist yesterday: http://www.economist.com/node/15606229

The conclusion is the same as yours: raising the value of women.

Good article, and so simply logical. Now how to get humans to be logical in the area of sex and gender.

Basically, I think we should just stay out of peoples lives and let them do what they do.
Let them love who they love, marry who they marry and just keep out of it, and tend to our
own choices. Of course I realize that this won't work, especially due to the underage marrying and so on..
but then again.. Is it up to us to muck about in someones specific culture?
( aside from me choosing my son's brides, of course)

Too many questions, not enough answers. But I believe that people meddling with
others causes more problems than it solves. ( like war) . Maybe the world just got too small..
and it makes us all think that we have to "fix" things we don't truly know about or
understand.

Back to too many questions, not enough answers.

Abortion. Another one of those things. I do not believe in it for myself.
I do not think that means no one should have the availability, just because
I couldn't do it. Circumstances are different for everyone. I have to say that
I certainly do not believe in it as a substitute for birth control, as in women who
have multiple abortions.. that seems wrong to me. more questions.

Ah, but think of those same women having multiple children. That would be worse, I'm sure. I downloaded a book to my Nook: Impossible motherhood : testimony of an abortion addict; however, since I haven't yet read it, I guess I can't use it as an example of anything. Don't you wish just acquiring books could provide you with the same knowledge that reading them does?

>65 Citizenjoyce: Yes! Then I would be a GENIUS!

ditto norabelle

> 56

I can't imagine being married to a food critic

Joyce, I was kidding! My husband is a concrete contractor. He is a "food critic" because he criticizes everything I make!! Doesn't that make him a food critic?

By the way, I decided to take on your TIOLI challenge (Read a book about food) and am now reading a book called Organic, Inc. which, I suppose, is about how the organic food industry has developed from its infancy. I'm not that far along in the book yet, but it seems interesting so far. Being a "foodie", I love that challenge!

Oh no, Madeline, your husband has all the worst aspects of being a food critic and none of the perks.
My major food experiences this month have been mostly fruit related. Summer is good for vegetarians, and my sister's tree has the best apricots since my grandmother's from childhood days. It seems she always had a pot of apricots stewing on the stove, but that couldn't have been true. It's just the smell I most connect with her.

Favorite books of June:
Fiction: Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead by Barbara Comyns
Non-fiction Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton

I've seen such great recommendations about Blood, Bones & Butter. I really do need to get to it soon, but I'm sure it won't be in July.

I hope you can get it. You may not like Gabrielle Hamilton, but she gives you a lot to think about.

July reading:

92. Incantation - Alice Hoffman - Audiobook - 4
93. Annabel - Kathleen Winter - 4
94. The Seas - Samantha Hunt - 3
95. The Memory of Love - Aminatta Forna - 4
96. How's The Squid: A Book of Food Cartoons - Jack Ziegler - 3.5
97. The Passionate Mistakes and Intricate Corruption of One Girl in America - Michelle Tea - 3.5
98. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford - 3.5
99. Grace Williams Says it Loud - Emma Henderson - 5
100. The Outcast - Sadie Jones - 4
101. In the Woods - Tana French - Audiobook - 4.5
102. Alone in the Kitchen With An Eggplant - edited by Jenni Ferrari-Adler - 4
103. The Tenderness of Wolves - Stef Penney - 4
104. Undead and Undermined - MaryJanice Davidson - 1
105. Amy and Isabelle - Elizabeth Strout - 4.5

Hi Joyce. Just figured out how to find someone's thread and thought I'd check yours out. I love your reading tendencies.... and how prolific you are. Thanks for turning me on to the July & January Orange reads. I'll have to keep an eye out for that next January to guide my reading that month.
~Ellen

I'm sure we'll both forget 12 times before January; but hopefully something on LT will remind us.

Favorite reads for July:

Fiction - a tie between
Grace Williams Says It Loud by Emma Henderson and
Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout
Non fiction- Alone in the Kitchen With an Eggplant

one very clear least favorite - Undead and Undermined, no more Vampire Queen for me

Reads for August:

106. Bossypants - Tina Fey - 4.5
107. The Likeness - Tana French - Audiobook - 4
108. Doc - Mary Doria Russell - Nook - 4.5
109. So Much to be Done: Women Settlers on the Mining and Ranching Frontier - edited by Ruth B. Moynihan, Susan Armitage, Christiane Fischer Dichamp - 4.5
110. My Antonia - Willa Cather - 4
111. Unlikely Friendships: 47 Remarkable Stories from the Animal Kingdom - Jennifer Holland -3
112. The Thirteenth Child - Patricia C. Wrede - 3.5
113. The Personal History of Rachel Dupree - Ann Weisgarber - 4.5
114. The Journey of Crazy Horse: A Lakota History - Joseph M. Marshall III - Audiobook - 4
115. Death Comes for the Archbishop - Willa Cather - Nook - 4
116. Native Star - M. K. Hobson - Nook - 3
117. The Book of Mormon: The Complete Book and Lyrics of the Broadway Musical - Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Robert Lopez - 5
118. O Pioneers! - Willa Cather - Audiobook- 5
119. Borderline - Nevada Barr - 3.5
120. True Grit - Charles Portis - 4

Favorite reads for a wonderful August full of good reads:
Non fiction: . So Much to be Done: Women Settlers on the Mining and Ranching Frontier - edited by Ruth B. Moynihan, Susan Armitage, Christiane Fischer Dichamp
Fiction: I loved all the Willa Cather but O! Pioneers tops the list

September reading
121- The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark - Audiobook - 4
122- A Stolen Life: A Memoir - Jaycee Dugard 4.5
123- The Lady and the Unicorn - Tracy Chevalier - Audiobook - 4
124. The Crimson Petal and the White - Michel Faber - Reread - 5
125- Sold - Patricia McCormick - 4
126- People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks - 4
127- Faithful Place - Tana French - Audiobook - 3
128- The Sookie Stackhouse Companion -Charlaine Harris -4
129- The Dress Lodger - Sheri Holman - 5
130- Let the Great World Spin - Colum McCann - Nook - 4
131- Bee Season - Myla Goldberg - Audiobook - 4
132- Slammerkin - Emma Donoghue - 5
133- Lullabies for Little Criminals - Heather O'Neill - 4
134- Carpe Diem - Autumn Cornwell - Audiobook - 3
135- Tipping the Velvet - Sarah Waters - Nook - 5

Best reads for September:

Fiction a tie between Slammerkin and Tipping the Velvet
Non-fiction the only one I read was A Stolen Life

I'm going to have a great bunch of read for October.

136. The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS - Elizabeth Pisani 4.5
137. Unwind - Neal Shusterman - 4.5
138- The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton - Audiobook - 5
139- The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins - Nook - 4.5
140- The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman - 4.5
141- Wickett's Remedy - Myla Goldberg - 4
142- The Good Earth - Pear S. Buck - Audiobook - 5
143- Rooftops of Tehran - Mahbod Seraji - Bookclub - 2.5
144- Dog on It: A Chet and Bernie Mystery - Spencer Quinn - Audiobook - 3
145- Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins - Emma Donoghue - 4
146- Half a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - 4

October favorites:

Non fiction: The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothesl, and the Business of AIDS by Elizabeth Pisani

Fiction - so many but I'll go with my one 5 star The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

November reads

147- Catch 22 - Joseph Heller - Audiobook - 4 (one star subtracted for sexism)
148- Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock - David Margolick - 5
149- Flight - Sherman Alexie - Audiobook - 4.5
150- The Country of the Pointed Firs - Sarah Orne Jewett - Nook - 4
151- Scenes From Village Life - Amos Oz - 3
152- The Shiniest Jewel - Marian Henley - 5
153- Finding Iris Chang: Friendship, Ambition, and the Loss of An Extraordinary Mind - Paula Kamen - Audiobook - 5
154- The Four Ms. Bradwells - Meg Waite Clayton - Audiobook - 4
155- The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon - Book Club - 2.5
156- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain - Audiobook - 5
157- Let's Take the Long Way Home - Gail Caldwell - Nook - 5
158- Gilgamesh - Joan London - Audiobook - 4.5
159- Classic Women's Short Stories - Katherine Mansfield, Kate Chopin, Virginia Woolf-Audiobook - 4
160- The Buddha in the Attic - Julie Otsuka - Audiobook - 5
161- 13 1/2 - Nevada Barr - Audiobook - 3
162- Crossing to Safety - Wallace Stegner - 4
163- The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern - 4

Hi Joyce, I though I would pop over here and thank you for the reassurance about The Shanghai Girls. You are right - I doubt if she will ever reach the heights of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.

Favorites for November:

Non-fiction: a tie between
Let's Take the Long Way Home - Gail Caldwell and
Finding Iris Chang - Paula Kamen

Fiction: another tie

The Buddha in the Attic - Julie Otsuka
Gilgamesh - Joan London

December Reading

164- The Daughter of Time - Josephine Tey - 5
165- The Companions - Sheri Tepper - 4.5
166- Wishin' and Hopin' - Wally Lamb - 3
167- One Thousand Years of Laughter: An Anthology of Classic Comic Prose - David Timson - 3.5
168- Other People's Dirt - Louise Rafkin - 3.5
169- An Idiot's Girl's Christmas: True Tales from the Top of the Naughty List - Laurie Notaro - 4.5
170- The Day My Dogs Became Guys - Merrill Markoe - 2
171- The Last of the Plainsmen - Zane Gray - Audiobook - 5
172- Nothing With Strings: NPR's Beloved Holiday Stories - Bailey White - Audiobook - 3.5
173- Walking in Circles Before Lying Down - Merrill Markoe - 3.5
174- Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters - Jane Austin and Ben H. Winters - Audiobook - 4
175- Blackadder's Christmas - Richard Curtis - Audiobook - 3.5
176- Disobedience - Naomi Alderman -5
177- Hark A Vagrant - Kate Beaton - 3.5
178- Drinking: A Love Story - Caroline Knapp
179- Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog - Ted Kerasote - Audiobook - 4
180- Crystal Singer - Anne McCaffrey - Nook - 3
181- The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein - 0.5
182- Making Rounds With Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat - David Dosa - 3.5
183- Pack of Two: The Intricate Bond Between People and Dogs - Caroline Knapp - 4
184- A Small Furry Prayer - Steven Kotler - 4.5
185- Alex & Me: How a Scientist and a Parrot Uncovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence -- and Formed a Deep Bond in the Process - Irene Pepperberg - 4
186- Parnassus on Wheels - Christopher Morley - Nook - 4.5

Wishing you all the very best Joyce!

Happy Holidays Joyce!

Thanks, you two. Here's hoping for a happy, healthy, productive new year for us all.

Happy Holidays!

That looks like a warm quilt pattern. Happy Holidays to you too.