countrylife counts her reads in 2012 (2)

Talk75 Books Challenge for 2012

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countrylife counts her reads in 2012 (2)

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1countrylife
Jul 9, 2012, 10:26 am


Sentimental Favorites.

Hello and welcome to any who happen upon my thread. My name is Cindy and I am a middle-aged reader from the midwest part of the States. Married for 31 years, and mother of five, I have one just graduated from med school, two in college and two in high school, all voracious readers. BC, I was an executive secretary. I've been a member of LT for five years; this is my second year with this group.

My reading taste runs to historical fiction, biographies and memoirs, though between this lively bunch with your great recommendations, and SqueakyChu's TIOLIs, my reading horizons (and Mt. Toobie) have greatly expanded.

2countrylife
Edited: Aug 17, 2012, 12:41 pm

About my '75 Books Challenge for 2012' Reading List:

This is my main reading list; anything read for other challenges will be included and tallied up here. Ratings are purely arbitrary, and subject to change. I seldom return to a post to change a rating after further thought has prompted me to do so in my catalog. Discrepancies abound! Reviews are one of my favorite things on LT, so for my own amusement, I try to add a short review to my books. For fun, watch me get flustered trying to catch up with myself.

My Current Challenges:
(Because it makes so much sense to have everything listed in one place; and it has worked out well for this to be that place for me.)

Fifty States Fiction:
..........The group. and My thread.

Canadian Fiction/Non-Fiction Reading Challenge:
..........The group. and My thread.

Reading Through Time:
..........The group. and My thread.

The 12 in 12 Category Challenge (Just the sub-challenge for me):
..........The group. and My thread.

Morphi’s Movie Challenge:
..........Morphidae temporarily had a movie challenge going which I enjoyed. I continued it on a personal level after she dropped it. Her challenges varied month to month. My personal challenge is static - to watch a movie each month based on or connected to a book previously read (by anyone) for TIOLIs. I’ll just track them in my monthly posts.

75 Books Challenge for 2012:
..........My first thread.

3countrylife
Edited: Jul 9, 2012, 10:34 am

2012 Summation for January through June:

Books read: 76
Pages read: 20,599

Ratings - high: 6 books at 4.5-5 stars
Ratings - low: 14 books at .5-2.5 stars
(Hmm, I may have been stingy with my high ratings.)

My 4.5 - 5-star reads from the first half of this year:
Oblivion’s Altar : A Novel of Courage by David Marion Wilkinson
The Lilac House by Anita Nair
Justin Morgan had a Horse by Marguerite Henry
Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb
The Illuminator by Brenda Rickman Vantrease
The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill

4countrylife
Edited: Oct 9, 2012, 10:29 am

MOVIE CHALLENGE
Movies from January – June:
(Ongoing movie entries will be listed in each month’s post.)

January:
Morphi: Watch a movie that is the first in a series or franchise.
None watched

February:
Morphi: It's Oscar time! Watch a movie that won or was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.
Tender Mercies (1983)
A Room with a View (1986)
Howard’s End (1992)
The Piano (1993)
Sense and Sensibility (1995)

Ongoing movie challenge:
Watch a movie based on or connected to a book previously read (by anyone) for TIOLIs. (Note the name of the book if different from the movie title; also one of the dates the book was read.)

March:
How Green Was My Valley (2011.04)
The King’s Speech (2011.08)
The African Queen (The Making of the African Queen - 2012.02)

April:
King Solomon’s Mines (2012.01)
Julie and Julia (2011.07)

May:
A Great Deliverance (Inspector Lynley) (2012.03)
Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Winsey) (2011.08)
A Morbid Taste for Bones (Brother Cadfael) (2012.05)

June:
Ride with the Devil (Woe to Live On – 2012.04)
Temple Grandin (Mentioned in several April Autism Awareness books – 2012.04)
Anne Frank (2010.06)

5countrylife
Edited: Jul 9, 2012, 10:30 am

Book #77



Blue Asylum by Kathy Hepinstall

===== My Review: =====
I was hooked by Jeremy’s interview with the author in June’s State of the Thing. Then, like her chef catching fish for the lunatics’ dinners off the shore of this Florida island, Kathy Hepinstall finished reeling me in with her intriguing story in Blue Asylum. With the Civil War ongoing in the background of the story, Dr. Cowell plies the modern methods of dealing with the insane in his asylum catering to the well-to-do on Sanibel Island. Iris, the no-longer-naïve plantation wife, and Ambrose, the confederate soldier tortured by his war memories, find their own patch of sanity amidst the insanity of their treatments, the rules and the insane.

”…the psychiatrist, had told him that the secret was not so much in forgetting as in distracting oneself. Think of the color blue, the doctor had suggested. Blue, nothing else. Blue ink spilling on a page. A blue sheet flapping on a clothesline. Blue of blueberries. Of water. Of a vase a feather a shell a morning glory a splash on the wing of a pileated woodpecker.”

Ms. Hepinstall did well by her characters, each totally believable, warts and all. Her setting, inside the walls of the asylum, and outside on the island, was starkly and beautifully written. Her research did not overpower her story – her story that gripped me right through to the end.

===== NOTES: =====
Genre/Subject: historical fiction / Civil War, mental institutions
Setting/Era: Sanibel Island, Florida / 1864
Read: 7/5/2012
Pages: 288
Challenges: July TIOLI #11. Read a book with a title that includes one or more colors of the olympic rings (black, blue, green, red, yellow)
Stars: 4.1

6countrylife
Jul 9, 2012, 10:29 am

Book #78



A Garland for Girls by Louisa May Alcott

===== My Review: =====
Just a sweet collection of short stories involving girls, and showing the strength of girlhood and the impact on those around them, when girls put thought and their whole selves into their endeavors.

===== NOTES: =====
Genre/Subject: didactic fiction / girlhood
Setting/Era: various / contemporary with the first publishing, 1888
Read: 7/5/2012
Pages: 146
Challenges: July TIOLI #17: Read a book with "girl" or "woman" (or a synonym) in the title or the author's name
Stars: 3.2

7tututhefirst
Jul 9, 2012, 12:10 pm

Congrats on reaching 75 at the half year point. Now you can settle back and enjoy another 75 for the rest of the year. I especially like the way you've set this up, and promise to continue lurking to see what you're reading.

8PaulCranswick
Jul 9, 2012, 8:44 pm

Cindy congratulations on passing 75 and on your new thread.

9jolerie
Jul 9, 2012, 10:12 pm

Congrats on reaching 75 Cindy!
Your review of Blue Asylum is intriguing so that is going on my list!

I read The Illuminator a while back I don't remember the details much, but I do remember that I too enjoyed it quite a bit. Are you planning on reading The Mercy Seller?

10tymfos
Jul 11, 2012, 11:24 pm

Blue Asylum sounds intriguing! I may keep an eye out for it.

Congrats on 75 and the new thread!

11countrylife
Jul 20, 2012, 3:43 pm

Book #79



Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly

===== My Review: =====
Ahh. It made me nostalgic for a time I’d never experienced. A sweet, wholesome story about first love, growing up and seeing those around you with different eyes. I’m afraid today’s teens would laugh all the way through it, but this old lady really enjoyed it.

===== NOTES: =====
Genre/Subject: young adult fiction / first love
Setting/Era: Fon du Lac, Wisconsin / 1940s
Read: 7/7/2012
Pages: 306
Challenges: July TIOLI #7. Read a book with more than 300 pages with multiple word titles (306)
Stars: 3.2

12countrylife
Jul 20, 2012, 3:44 pm

Book #80



Etta by Gerald Kolpan

===== My Review: =====
Etta, the novel, felt to me like a western Robin Hood. Yet I enjoyed it, anyway. With so little known about the historical Etta, the author’s imaginings of how a society lady may have come to such a place in her life seemed perfectly plausible. I enjoyed the natural weaving together of the imaginary and the historical figures. Theodore Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt sharing pages with the likes of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Kid Curry, Annie Oakley, and Siringo. The personalities he gave to each of them were very fitting to his story, and his settings were, likewise, quite real. Using news articles, Pinkerton files, and fictional diaries to ice things together was a nice touch. The only parts I didn’t enjoy were the Trotsky/Marxism segments. I suppose that must have been part of the actual history, but its inclusion felt forced into the story line. In the author’s notes, there was an explanation of which subjects had been “tampered with” for the sake of the story, and which characters were fictional. Nicely done. Altogether, a very enjoyable western.

===== NOTES: =====
Genre/Subject: historical fiction, western / Etta and the Hole in the Wall Gang
Setting/Era: Philadelphia, Chicago, Grand Junction, Wyoming, Utah, New York, Bolivia / 1896-1912
Read: 7/11/2012
Pages: 336
Challenges: July TIOLI #12. Read a Western
Stars: 4.3

13countrylife
Jul 20, 2012, 3:44 pm

Book #81



The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

===== My Review: =====
A gradual descent into madness, as ‘journaled’ by a Victorian lady. Semi-autobiographical, and subtly written, this depression settling into something darker delivers chills along with the story.

===== NOTES: =====
Genre/Subject: short story, literature / madness
Setting/Era: in home confinement / 1890
Read: 7/14/2012
Pages: 64
Challenges: July TIOLI #11. Read a book with a title that includes one or more colors of the olympic rings (black, blue, green, red, yellow)
Stars: 3.6

14countrylife
Jul 23, 2012, 11:54 am

Book #82



The Light in the Window by June Goulding

===== My Review: =====
”This was my introduction to the woman who held power over three hundred and fifty unfortunate girls in a secret penitential jail.” . . . “This place was a plank that each girl had to walk alone.”

June Goulding may not be heralded for a great writer, but the story through which she lived needed telling, and she bravely told it. A nurse trained in midwifery, June accepted a job at an unwed mother’s home in Ireland which was run by nuns. Whether it was the time (1951-1952) or the leadership (the specific nun in charge), the end result was a heartbreaking story of pitiful young girls left in the hands of one who saw their current condition as their just reward for capital S Sin.

{Spoilers:} She saw to it that they got what they deserved during the birth – no screaming or noises allowed during childbirth, no sutures allowed, kept in an extremely uncomfortable position until just time to push. She made sure they got what they deserved in the rules she set for taking care of them – they must remain for three years afterward, taking care of their child and working at the ‘home’, after which their child was taken from them and adopted out, with no way of ever finding out where the child went. Unless their family could pay a certain amount, then they were released after ten days, with the baby taken away from them. She exacted her punishment for their Sin by in the work she required of them before their babies were born – trimming the grass by hand on their hands and knees, running heavy equipment to tar the drives, plus the regular cleaning and helping in the ‘home’. They were not to talk, especially to the nurse. But the nurse’s compassion won out; they talked every time that nun was out of earshot. The girls who had delivered told about their experiences to the ones waiting. The nun was around in the day time to ‘help’ the nurse. At night, the nurse got to deliver the babes without her interference. She still could not suture, not having the key to the supply chest, but she offered compassionate care and gentle hands. The girls took to their beds when their labor began, hoping to delay it long enough to have a night time delivery. On the nurse’s day off, if she returned to see a candle in the window, she knew there was an imminent birth awaiting her help. There was not much that June could do, but she did what she could to make their time there better. {End Spoilers.}

In her book, the author is not patting herself on the back. She is telling the girls’ stories. And she did a right good job of that, too.

===== NOTES: =====
Genre/Subject: memoir / unwed mothers, midwifery, cruelty
Setting/Era: Ireland / 1951-1952
Read: 7/17/2012
Pages: 309
Challenges: July TIOLI #18. Read a book where the author's Surname is also a Place name (Goulding, Florida)
Stars: 3.3

15countrylife
Jul 23, 2012, 11:54 am

Book #83



Thirty-Three Teeth by Colin Cotterill

===== My Review: =====
How can crime fiction be fun, with all that death, and autopsies, and politics? I don’t know how he does it, but Colin Cotterill’s Dr. Siri Paiboun series are simply a hoot.

He pokes gentle fun at communism. ”So, there it was in a nutshell. Poverty led him to religion, religion to education, education to lust, lust to communism. And communism had brought him back full circle to poverty. There was a Ph.D. dissertation waiting to be written about such a cycle.” . . . “Even being the national coroner didn’t carry any weight in pushing that old bureaucratic bus up the hill to socialist nirvana.”

With native beliefs, he creates amusing storylines that are not at all dismissive. “Thirty-three teeth. It’s almost unheard of. The Lord Buddha also had thirty-three . . . It’s a sign, an indication that you’ve been born as a bridge to the spirit world.

Realistic and fascinating settings, engaging characters, and imaginative stories – all the ingredients for a great series!

“Hot, isn’t it?”
“Damned hot.”


===== NOTES: =====
Genre/Subject: crime fiction / spirits, communism, coroner, mystery
Setting/Era: Laos / 1970s
Read: 7/18/2012
Pages: 238
Challenges: July TIOLI #8. Read a book where the author's initials form a commonly used abbreviation or initialism (cc)
Stars: 4.2

16tututhefirst
Jul 23, 2012, 12:23 pm

Oh....your review makes me want to start this series and read them again, and again. The humor is so subtle but luscious sometimes, that I think they have to be read twice to be sure we don't miss ANYTHING.

17jolerie
Jul 23, 2012, 4:17 pm

Dangerous, dangerous thread!

18tymfos
Jul 26, 2012, 4:40 pm

The Light in the Window sounds so sad!

Great review of Thirty-three Teeth. I love the Dr. Siri series!

19Whisper1
Jul 26, 2012, 4:53 pm

What great books you are reading. Congratulations for reaching the 75 challenge goal!

20DeltaQueen50
Jul 29, 2012, 12:53 pm

Hi Cindy, you've been reading some very interesting books lately. I was glad to see you enjoyed Etta, which I liked when I read it last year. Of course, I have heard so many good things about Colin Cotterill's series I can't believe I haven't gotten around to it yet!

21countrylife
Edited: Oct 9, 2012, 10:33 am

Behind. So, so behind. Here's a summary, anyhow.

July Reads:

77. Blue Asylum by Kathy Hepinstall - 4.1 stars
78. A Garland for Girls by Louisa May Alcott - 3.2
79. Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly - 3.2
80. Etta by Gerald Kolpan - 4.3
81. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman - 3.6
82. The Light in the Window by June Goulding - 3.3
83. Thirty Three Teeth by Colin Cotterill - 4.2
84. Boundary Waters by William Kent Krueger - 4
85. Quit Digging Your Grave with a Knife and Fork by Mike Huckabee - 3
86. Silent Gift by Michael Landon, Jr. - 3.5
87. Safe Within by Jean Reynolds Page - 3.8
88. Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt - 3.5
89. Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai - 5
90. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs - 3.3
91. Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear - 4.8
92. The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent - 3.7

Books read: 16
Breakdown: eBooks-4, audio books-6, paper-6
Average rating: 3.78
Pages read: 4,276
Total shared TIOLIS: 2
Favorite book from July: Maisie Dobbs and Inside Out and Back Again

Movies:
Based on or connected to a book previously read (by anyone) for TIOLIs. (Note the name of the book if different from the movie title; also one of the dates the book was read.)
... Becoming Jane (connection: Jane Austen : a Life) (2011.01)
... The Jane Austen Book Club (2010.11)
... Emma (2009 version) (2011.08)
... Sense and Sensibility (2008 version) (2011.01)

22countrylife
Edited: Oct 9, 2012, 10:34 am

August Reads:

93. Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake - Anna Quindlen - 3.4
94. Follow the River by James Alexander Thom - 4.7
95. The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Michael Morpurgo - 3.1
96. Here Lies the Librarian by Richard Peck - 3.6
97. Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell - 3.4
98. The Call of the Wild by Jack London - 2.3
99. Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata - 3.2
100. Shadows on the Koyukuk by Sidney Huntington - 4.8
101. Song of the Swallows by Leo Politi - 1.8
102. Goodnight, John-Boy by Earl Hamner - 3
103. All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West - 3.8
104. The Letter Writer by Ann Rinaldi - 3.5
105. Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh - 4.1
106. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith - 4
107. The Death and Life of Gabriel Phillips by Stephen Baldwin - 3
108. My Antonia by Willa Cather - 5
109. Terra Incognita by Ruth Downie - 3.7

Books read: 17
Breakdown: audio books-8, eBooks-2, paper-7
Average rating: 3.58
Pages read: 4,382
Total shared TIOLIS: 3
Favorite books from August:
....Fiction: My Antonia
....Nonfiction: Shadows on the Koyukuk

Movies:
Based on or connected to a book previously read (by anyone) for TIOLIs. (Note the name of the book if different from the movie title; also one of the dates the book was read.)
... South Riding (2011.03)

23fuzzi
Aug 17, 2012, 12:42 pm

Aha! I see you also liked Follow the River!

24cbl_tn
Aug 17, 2012, 8:35 pm

I see that Maisie Dobbs was a hit for you. The series just gets better after the first one. I'm currently listening to the audio of the latest book in the series.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin brought a smile to my face. Hamelin is one of the places I visited on my trip to Germany last month. It's very close to where my brother is living this summer. We had tea and apple strudel at the Pied Piper's House!

25thornton37814
Edited: Aug 17, 2012, 9:05 pm

I did not like the 2nd and 3rd books quite as much as the 1st, but the others after that one are more to my liking. I really was about to abandon the series, but someone told me that the things I had disliked about the 2nd and 3rd disappeared in later installments.

ETA: I'm talking about Maisie Dobbs.

26PaulCranswick
Aug 18, 2012, 12:10 am

Cindy - impressed that you calmly list 25 books read in a month and a half. Well done for slipping quietly past 100 books. Have a great weekend. Surprised that you seem to have hated Call of the Wild and rated Jacqueline Winspear the best thing you read during that time. LT is wonderful isn't it - we agree on a love of books but not upon which books we love!

27Donna828
Aug 18, 2012, 8:53 am

I like the idea of your personal movie challenge, Cindy. It's always interesting to me to see how a big book is condensed into a 2-hour movie.

I read Follow the River quite a few years ago and remember being completely captivated (ha ha) by it. I haven't read anything else by Thom but I'm tempted to reread FTR.

I hope you've been having a good summer!

28countrylife
Aug 18, 2012, 11:41 am

Paul, I don't know how I missed The Call of the Wild as a youngster. But having read it now, sandwiched between reading Tisha & Mrs. Mike and Consumption & Shadows on the Koyukuk, and after having spent some time at the Iditarod museum in Wasilla, visiting there with Raymie Redington, the son of Joe Redington, Sr., Iditarod's founding father, I was much more impressed with those books which showed sled dogs in a more true light. The Call of the Wild, with the dog's 'memories' of his time with 'the hairy man' who was as comfortable in trees as on ground, was too fanciful for my taste.

fuzzi, I think it was you from whom I got the recommendation for Follow the River, so Thank You!
Donna, the movie challenge was Morphi's, but she abandoned it after a few months. I just couldn't let it go.

Carrie Beth and Lori, I can't believe it took me so long to get to Maisie Dobbs, but I enjoyed it very much! Ooh, a trip to Germany; what fun! My two oldest boys took German for their language course in college, and hope to take a trip there together some day.

29fuzzi
Aug 19, 2012, 7:05 pm

Cindy, I started reading Jack London books at a young age, and as I did not understand his philosophies, I just read the stories and overlooked the social commentaries.

The sled dogs in White Fang hated the leader because he ran from them, they were raised differently from those dogs from The Call of the Wild.

Perhaps things have changed since Jack London walked in the Yukon? Other books I've read of that era seem to confirm what London wrote, regarding the dogs of that time and place.

30thornton37814
Aug 19, 2012, 8:24 pm

Cindy, I think I would probably enjoy Jack London more now than I did as a child. I recently purchased a book at our library's book sale that had Black Beauty on one side and The Call of the Wild on the flip side. It was a book that we had around the house when I was growing up. I did not like The Call of the Wild, but I read Black Beauty more than once! Of course, I know more about the Iditatrod now than I did then. Sled dogs were a foreign concept to a girl growing up in Mississippi where we rarely got snow and certainly never enough to do much more than get us out of school for a day or two (mainly because of the icy roads that school buses couldn't maneuver more than the amount). Since I have it in hand, I'll probably read it at some point.

31tymfos
Aug 22, 2012, 9:02 pm

Wow, I see your summary brings you over the 100 book milestone! Great going!

32brenpike
Sep 25, 2012, 11:15 am

Hi Cindy. Haven't heard from you for awhile. . . Everything okay?

33fuzzi
Sep 25, 2012, 12:38 pm

Thanks for bumping this thread, brenpike. 2wonderY was missing for about a month, too.

34countrylife
Sep 25, 2012, 2:04 pm

Better than ok, Brenda. I'm just returned from the best vacation of my life! It was a three-week ladies' vacation, with a beach house on Cape Cod for a week, bookended by road trips to and from, enjoying different parts of the country. The road trip involved my mother, a sister and I, while other friends and relatives flew in to join us at the beach. We had a seven bedroom, quaint and cozy beach house, complete with beautiful weather. None of us are well off, and we'd been saving for this trip for a long time. We had a seafood lunch out every day, and then cooked our breakfasts and suppers at the house, taking turns. The place is actually run as a b&b, with rooms let separately. (Each room has a private bath and deck.) We had a unique experience a few years back, needing a place to stay for a short trip and booked just a couple of rooms, but we happened to have the place to ourselves and immediately fell in love! We knew we wanted to book again and fill the place for a ladies vacation. We asked to let it without the b&b function, so we'd have it all to ourselves. It was every bit as wonderful as we'd hoped!

On the trip up, we took a northerly route, and stopped frequently to enjoy things along the way, including the wharf area and museum in Erie, PA, and then had an overnight in Niagara Falls, Canada. Although I'd been to the falls a handful of times over the years, when we'd lived in upstate New York, that was a once-in-a-lifetime event, for a room overlooking all the falls. We were only up 23 floors, but the view was incredible, and you could hear the power of it through the open window, and feel the vibration of the falls through the building. We took in that huge antique flea market they have a couple of times a year in Brimfield, MA, then the Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial - that was very moving - and after much research ahead of time to find the 'best' fried clams in New England, our goal had us headed to Ipswich, MA, to the Clambox. After comparing them to other fried clams around the cape, I agree - they were hands-down the best.

On the trip back, we took a southerly route. My mother has had knee replacement surgery, and needs to stop often to walk a little bit, so we still managed to find lots of interesting places. Before the rains came, we enjoyed Walton's Mountain, and especially The Natural Bridge. That was awe-inspiring. It was the only place that month where we spontaneously got a room. But we wanted to go back for the evening light and music presentation of the creation story - which we were so glad we did - it was beautifully done. All the other days, we would stop at a McDonalds about 5 or 6 o'clock for a cold drink and to use their wifi to book a room through priceline. Since we didn't have to be any place specific, we were able to save a lot of money that way.

Altogether, it was a wonderful adventure, and I must say, a peaceful and gentle kind of vacation, sans hubs and kiddos.


Our beach house, showing ocean on the other side.
(Actually Nantucket Sound.)


Imagine breakfasting here every day!
The time was too, too short!

35brenpike
Sep 25, 2012, 3:42 pm

FANTASTIC! What a treat . . .

36Whisper1
Sep 25, 2012, 9:04 pm

Wow! What a great place to vacation!

37DeltaQueen50
Sep 26, 2012, 4:03 pm

Cindy, you had a dream vacation. Must be hard to get back to the daily grind. My Mom and I went on a few vacations, some with my hubby and some with just the two of us and it was a wonderful experience, I learned to see my Mom in a whole new light.

38rosalita
Sep 26, 2012, 8:59 pm

Oh, that sounds like the most marvelous vacation ever! What a gorgeous view from your B&B

39fuzzi
Sep 26, 2012, 9:12 pm

How wonderful! I can imagine it was hard to come home...

40tymfos
Sep 27, 2012, 7:30 pm

Oh, how lovely! That sounds like an absolutely marvelous vacation. I'm glad you had such a great time.

41thornton37814
Sep 28, 2012, 1:24 pm

When you were in Ipswich, you were in some of my ancestors' old stomping grounds.

42PaulCranswick
Oct 6, 2012, 6:17 am

Cindy - your holiday destination looked wonderful. Trust you are having a great weekend too.

43countrylife
Edited: Oct 9, 2012, 10:40 am

Greetings to all who've stopped by to say hello! I''m still behind, with nary a hope of catching up, so just making lists, instead:

September Reads:

110. You Know When the Men are Gone by Siobhan Fallon - 3.8
111. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh - 3.8
112. Healer by Linda Windsor - 3.2
113. The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley - 4.7
114. The Richest Season byMaryann McFadden - 3.2
115. Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks - 3.8
116. The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - 3.2
117. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell - 3.7

Books read: 8
Breakdown: audio books-4, eBooks-3, paper-1
Average rating: 3.68
Pages read: 2,704
Total shared TIOLIS: 1
Favorite books from September: The Winter Sea

Movies:
Based on or connected to a book previously read (by anyone) for TIOLIs. (Note the name of the book if different from the movie title; also one of the dates the book was read.)
... Circle of Friends (2012.08)

44Donna828
Oct 6, 2012, 12:22 pm

Cindy, you have an excused absence from LT. ;-) Your vacation sounds like a dream come true. What a gorgeous beach house and view. *sigh* I am trying hard not to be jealous.

As for your September reads, The Winter Sea looks like it was a standout. Must investigate. Hope to see you around the threads now that you're back home again.

45countrylife
Nov 6, 2012, 10:19 am


October Reads:

118 A Simple Christmas by Mike Huckabee - 3
119 Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving - 3.1
120 The Midwife of Hope River by Patricia Harman - 3.7
121 Don't Ever Get Old by Daniel Friedman - 4.1
122 sing down the moon by Scott O'Dell - 3.3
123 The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan - 4
124 My Brother Sam is Dead by James Collier - 3.8
125 The Prophet by Michael Koryta - 4.4
126 The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin - 3.6
127 An Unfinished Season by Ward Just - 3.7
128 Rules for Old Men Waiting by Peter Pouncey - 3.8
129 The Siege by Helen Dunmore - 3.7
130 Angel Sister by Ann H. Gabhart - 2.9
131 Blizzard by Jim Murphy - 3.8
132 A Gravestone Made of Wheat by Will Weaver - 3.2
133 Long Road Turning by Irene Bennett Brown - 2.8
134 Accidents of Providence by Stacia Brown - 1.6
135 Safe From the Sea by Peter Geye - 5
136 The Black Opal by Victoria Holt - 2.7
137 A Stitch in Time by Cathy Marie Hake - 2.5
138 Andy Catlett : Early Travels by Wendell Berry - 5

Abandoned:
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

Movies:
Based on or connected to a book previously read (by anyone) for TIOLIs.
... Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Books read: 21
Breakdown: audio books-11, eBooks-3, paper-7
Average rating: 3.51
Pages read: 5,669
Total shared TIOLIS: 3
Favorite book from October: Safe From the Sea by Peter Geye

46Donna828
Nov 6, 2012, 12:09 pm

Cindy, we are meeting in Joplin on November 27. Same, time, same place. I hope you and your mother can join us again this year.

47brenpike
Nov 6, 2012, 1:30 pm

Wow, Cindy . . . You did a lot of reading last month! The list includes one of my all-time favorites The Worst Hard Time.

Hope to see you in Joplin!

48jolerie
Nov 6, 2012, 2:39 pm

Cindy, your trip sounds heavenly and the view is absolutely gorgeous! Looks like you also were able to squeeze in some solid time for reading. :)

49countrylife
Edited: Jan 13, 2013, 3:21 pm

November Reads:

139 These Things Hidden, Heather Gudenkauf - 3.3
140 A Rather English Marriage, Angela Lambert - 3.7
141 The Year of Fog, Michelle Richmond - 3
142 Why Aren't You Sweet Like Me, Carrie Nyman - 2.5
143 The Gilded Web, Mary Balogh - 2.5
144 Catherine, called Birdy, Karen Cushman - 3.7
145 A Homemade Life, Molly Wizenber - 3.6
146 Journey to Topaz, Yoshiko Uchida - 3.5
147 The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton, Elizabeth Speller - 3.8
148 Open and Shut, David Rosenfelt - 4.4
149 The Black Moth, Georgette Heyer - 3
150 The Apothecary's Daughter, Julie Klassen - 3.9
151 Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson - 3.5
152 The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, Jan-Philipp Sendker - 4.2
153 Pomegranate Soup, Marsha Mehran - 3.6

Abandoned:
A Good House by Bonnie Burnard

Movies:
Based on or connected to a book previously read (by anyone) for TIOLIs.
... Water for Elephants

Books read: 15
Breakdown: audio books-5, eBooks-6, paper-4
Average rating: 3.48
Pages read: 4,808
Total shared TIOLIS: 4
Favorite book from November: Open and Shut, David Rosenfelt

50countrylife
Edited: Jan 13, 2013, 3:21 pm

December Reads:

154 First Degree, David Rosenfelt - 4.2
155 Frozen, Mary Casanova - 3.1
156 A Cold Day in Paradise, Steve Hamilton - 3.8
157 The Dark Winter, David John Mark - 3.7
158 December, Eve Bunting - 3
159 The End of Your Life Book Club, Will Schwalbe - 3.7
160 Rescuing the Children, Deborah Hodge - 4.8
161 Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour book store, Robin Sloan - 4.5
162 A Child's Christmas in Wales, Dylan Thomas - 4
163 A Christmas Journey, Anne Perry - 3
164 Ruth's First Christmas Tree, Ellie Griffiths - 1.5
165 Moon Over Manifest, Clare Vanderpool - 3.5

Abandoned:
Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

Movies:
Based on or connected to a book previously read (by anyone) for TIOLIs.
... none

Books read: 12
Breakdown: audio books-3, eBooks-2, paper-7
Average rating: 3.57
Pages read: 2,501
Total shared TIOLIS: 4
Favorite book from December: Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour book store, Robin Sloan

For the Year:
57 audio
40 e-books
68 paper books

51thornton37814
Jan 12, 2013, 1:45 pm

Looks like you mostly had good months of reading although I think I was slightly more generous on my review of Ruth's First Christmas than you were. I think that series has really gone down. She seems to have an agenda to belittle Christianity.