Sally Lou's revised 2014 challenge

I'm starting the new year with greatly revising my personal challenge. I have decided to have 14 categories (instead of 7), and will not put any specific numbers for any of the categories. Many books will probably fall into more than one category, and I'll put them in multiple categories when appropriate. Since some of my reading will be longer books, I am not setting any total number target; I'm planning to keep track of the numbers on a spreadsheet.

Category 1. Classics.

Washington Square by Henry James -- finished May 15th
Daisy Miller by Henry James -- finished May 21st
Four Major Plays by Henrik Ibsen -- Doll's house; Ghosts; Hedda Gabler; Master builder --finished Aug. 20th
Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder -- read Sept. 20th.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald -- finished reading Oct. 8th

Category 2. Book clubs -- Currently I am involved in 2 book clubs which actually meet although one might be on its last legs. The books these groups read are often ones I would not normally read, and thus are a stretch for me.

Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda (January ACAC book club selection) -- completed Jan. 3
(January Friends Book group selection was Nothing Daunted by Dorothy Wickenden which I had read for the ACAC book club in 2013.)

We Are Our Mothers' Daughters by Cokie Roberts (February ACAC book club selection) --- completed Feb. 5
True Grit by Charles Portis (February Friends book group selection and JRML Big Read) --- completed Feb. 18

A Long Way from Verona by Jane Gardam (March Friends book group) -- completed Mar. 10.
(March selection for ACAC book club was The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman which I had read for the Friends Book group in 2013.)

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline (April ACAC Book club) --- completed Apr. 8th
Brooklyn by Colm Toibin (April Friends book group) -- completed Apr. 14th

Wonder by R.J. Palacio (May ACAC book club -- Y,A, fiction) -- completed May 8th
Washington Square by Henry James (May Friends Book Group) -- completed May 15th
Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan (May Northside Library Book Group) -- completed May 19th
I have joined the Northside Library Book Group which I understand discusses the book each month. I'm dropping out of the ACAC book club which has spent relatively little time discussing the selected books recently.

How It All Began by Penelope Lively (June Northside Library Group) --- completed June 16th
Read part of Paris Wife for ACAC Book Group, but by chapter 20 was just too disgusted with it to read farther -- only 2 members of the group liked it (and read the whole book), I read farther than most of the others.
Read first story from All Aunt Hagar's Children and then stopped since it is a long book, and I have many other books to read plus I have a conflict on book club night and will not be going -- if group ends up not meeting this month, and reads this book for next month, I will probably take it up again.

The Tortilla Curtain by T. Coraghessan Boyle (July Northside Library Book Group) -- completed July 10th
The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout (July Friends Book Group) -- completed July 14th

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelo (August Friends Book Group) -- completed Aug. 19th
The Northside Library book Group discussed Light between Oceans by M.L. Stedman which I had read last year for two differnt book groups.

The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig (September Northside Library Book Group) -- completed Sept. 3rd
Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder (September Friends Book Group) -- read Sept. 20th

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (October Northside Library Book Group) -- finished Oct. 8th

Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler (November Northside Library Book Group) -- finished Nov. 19th

Read approximately 2/3s of The Boy Kings of Texas by Domingo Martinez for Friends Book Group (late Nov./early Dec.) -- very long, in need of extensive editing

Benediction by Kent Haruf. For January Friends book group. --- finished December 23rd.

Category 3. Virginia Book Festival and OLLI classes. I usually end up buying at least 5 books at the Festival in March, one of my favorite annual events, but have developed a backlog for reading them. My OLLI (Osher Life Long Learning) classes often involve reading, especially since I like to take literature classes.

Virginia Book Festival books:
Doorways to Significance: Finding Peace, Power, and Passion by Pat Holland Conner (2012 Virginia Book Festival Back read) -- read Jan. 17th
Stones for Words: a collection of poetry by Sara M. Robinson (2014 festival) -- read Apr. 12th
The Nearest Poem Anthology edited by Sofia M. Starnes (2014 festival) -- finished Apr. 15th
Generation Roe: Inside the Future of the Pro-Choice Movement by Sarah Erdreich (2014 festival) -- finished May 16th
Savage Harvest by Carl Hoffman (2014 festival) -- finished June 21st (June GeoCAT)
On Rereading by Patricia Meyer Spacks -- finished July 21st (July Random CAT)
Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan -- finished October 24th (also Oct. Alpha CAT)

OLLI reading:
Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (finished Feb. 1st -- short novels by women class)
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (finished Feb. 9th -- short novels by women class)
The Mountain Lion by Jean Stafford (finished Feb. 14th -- short novels by women class)
The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories (finished Feb. 20th -- for short novels by women class although I consider this a short story instead of a short novel -- did not need to read the other stories but wanted to do so)
A Lost Lady by Willa Cather (finished Feb. 26th -- short novels by women class)
Tell me a riddle by Tillie Olsen (read March 11th -- short novels by women class)

Jury of her Peers by Susan Glaspell (read for web of short stories class, discussion Feb. 20th)
Paste by Henry James (read for Web of short stories class, discussion Feb. 27th)
Dilettante by Edith Wharton (read for Web of short stories class, discussion Feb. 27th)
Jilting of Granny Weatherall by Katherine Anne Porter (read for Web of short stories class, discussion Mar. 6th)
Cathedral by Raymond Carver (read for Web of short stories class, discussion, March 13th)
Phantom Palace by Isabel Allende (read for Web of short stories class, discussion March 20th)

Category 4. GeoCAT and other books with a non-U.S. setting. I plan to read books most months for GeoCAT but sometimes might not get around to reading them or might read a book about a particular setting earlier or later in the year

January United States and Canada --immigration focus -- both books fit it
Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda -- completed Jan. 3
Toward a Better Life by Peter Morton Coan -- completed Jan. 11

February -- Middle East and North Africa -- Holy Land focus -- book meets focus
Gaza Writes Back : Short Stories from Young Writers in Gaza, Palestine, edited by Refaat Alareer -- completed Feb. 13th.

March -- Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean -- focus on Commonwealth islands -- book meets focus
A Small place by Jamaica Kincaid -- completed Mar. 30th

April -- Eastern Europe -- focus on occupation
Nadirs by Herta Müller --Romania -- meets focus -- completed April 19th.
The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy -- Russia -- does NOT meet focus -- read April 19th.

May --- Southern Asia --- A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini -- (Afghanistan -- does not meet focus on India)

June --- Bodies of water and islands -- Savage Harvest by Carl Hoffman
Victura by James W. Graham -- water near Hyannis Port, MA -- completed June 30th

July -- Polar Regions-- No Horizon Is So Far: Two Women and Their Extraordinary Journey Across Antarctica by Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft -- completed July 19th

August -- Western Europe -- The Little Mermaid -- Her Story, the Writer and the Fairytale (Denmark)
Four Major Plays by Henrik Ibsen (Norway)
Quakers and Nazis: Inner Light in Outer Darkness by Hans A. Schmitt (Germany, lesser extent Austria, Holland, etc

September -- East Asia -- focus: Vietnam War -- Visions of war, dreams of peace: writings of women in the Vietnam War edited by Lynda Van DeVanter and Joan A. Furey -- completed Sept. 19th.
Home before Morning by Lynda Van Devanter -- completed very early Oct. 1st.

October -- South America -- focus on the Amazon River
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

November -- Australia, New Zealand, islands in that area, etc.
Murder and Mendelssohn by Kerry Greenwood (takes place in Australia)

December -- Sub-Saharan Africa -- Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith (Botswana -- detective story)

Category 5. Biography, Memoirs, and History (not covered in another category)

I plan to read all the quarterly biography group read books plus I normally read some biographies/memoirs each year. I decided to add history to this since biography and history are closely connected, and I tend to read a lot of history.

Under Magnolia by Frances Mayes (LT early review book) -- Completed Jan. 5th.
Doorways to Significance: Finding Peace, Power, and Passion by Pat Holland Conner -- completed Jan. 17th
These Few Precious Days: the Final Year of Jack and Jackie by Christopher Andersen -- completed Mar. 5th
Backstage at the Lincoln assassination : the untold story of the actors and stagehands at Ford's Theatre by Thomas A. Boger -- finished March 3rd.
An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties, and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by Todd S. Purdum -- LT Early Review book -- finished Mar. 15th
Mountain Girls by Stephanie Kadel Taras
In My Skin: My Life on and off the Basketball Court by Brittney Griner
Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: the True story of a great American road trip by Matthew Algeo -- finished Dec. 18th.

Category 6. Random CAT, unofficial alpha Cat -- plan to read Random CAT books depending upon topic, unofficial alpha cat books as time allows.

January: Votes for Women by Diane Atkinson (Alpha CAT V) -- read Jan. 6th
Thee, Hannah by Marguerite de Angeli (Random CAT doors or gates and Alpha CAT D) -- read Jan. 6th
Darker Face of the Earth by Rita Dove (Alpha CAT D) -- read Jan. 7th
Four Virginia Poets Laureate (Alpha CAT V) -- finished Jan. 16th
Doorways to Significance: Finding Peace, Power, and Passion by Pat Holland Conner -- both Random and Alpha CAT D -- completed Jan. 17th

February: The Hundred Dress by Eleanor Estes (Random CAT children's literature and alpha CAT H) - read Feb. 1st
We are our mothers' daughters by Cokie Roberts (Alpha CAT R) -- finished Feb. 5th
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (Alpha CAT H and R) -- finished Feb. 9th
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink (Random CAT) -- finished Feb. 12th
The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg (Random CAT) -- read Feb. 28th

March: Backstage at the Lincoln assassination by Thomas Bogar (Alpha CAT L) -- finished Mar. 3rd
Long way from Verona by Jane Gardam (Alpha CAT L) finished Mar. 10th
Art of birds by Pablo Neruda (Random CAT -- birds) -- finished March 25th
Midnight assassin: a murder in America's heartland (Alpha CAT M) -- finished Apr. 2 (2 days late)

April: Stones for Words: a collection of poetry by Sara M. Robinson (Random CAT -- poetry) -- read Apr. 12th
The Nearest Poem Anthology edited by Sofia M. Starnes (Random CAT) -- finished Apr. 15th
The Death of Ivan Ilych by LeoTolstoy (Alpha CAT I) -- read April 19th.
Dog Songs: Poems by Mary Oliver (Random CAT) -- finished Apr. 21st.
Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson (Random CAT) -- finished Apr. 26th
Selections from the Religious Poems of John Greenleaf Whittier (Random CAT) -- finished Apr. 30th

May: Uncertain Justice: The Roberts Court and the Constitution by Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz -- (Alpha CAT U) -- finished May 1st
Generation Roe: Inside the Future of the Pro-Choice Movement by Sarah Erdreich. --- (Alpha CAT E) -- finished May 16th
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini -- (Random CAT -- mothers) -- finished May 27th

June: A Call to Action by Jimmy Carter (Alpha CAT A)
The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou by Maya Angelou (Alpha CAT A) -- finished June 13th
Still Life by Louise Penny (Random CAT -- rose= both Breathe of Life and Gift of Life) -- finished June 23rd
Quiet Rebels : the Story of Quakers in America by Margaret Hope Bacon (Alpha CAT Q) -- finished June 29th

July: The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (Random CAT -- books and reading) -- read July 7th
On Rereading by Patricia Meyer Spacks (Random CAT -- books and reading) -- finished July 21st.
The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier (Alpha CAT C)
The Tortilla Curtain by T. C. Boyle (Alpha CAT C)
Wanamaker's by Michael J. Lisicky (Alpha CAT W)
With Her in Ourland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Alpha CAT W)

August:
A Mighty Long Way by Carlotta Walls LaNier. (Random CAT something about school)
Four Major Plays by Henrik Ibsen (Alpha CAT F)
Growing Up with Dick and Jane by Carole Kismaric (Random CAT -- something about school)
No Right to Remain Silent by Lucinda Roy (Random CAT)

September:
Twelve years a slave by Solomon Northup
(Random CAT)

October:
Trifles by Susan Glaspell (Random CAT)
Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan (Alpha CAT K)

November:
Murder and Mendelssohn by Kerry Greenwood (Alpha CAT G)
Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler (Alpha CAT S)
The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin (Random CAT)

Category 7. Mystery CAT and other mysteries not read in the "right" month-- this ought to be fun and encourage reading in a genre I enjoy but do not often read in. (I also need to learn about the different types of mysteries)

Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear (Jan. challenge) -- finished Jan. 22nd
Lesson in secrets by Jacqueline Winspear (Feb. challenge) -- finished Feb. 23rd
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (Mar. challenge) -- read Mar. 1st
Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne (May challenge) -- finished May 14th
Still Life by Louise Penny (June challenge) -- gift from Secret Santa --finished June 23rd
Murder and Mendelssohn by Kerry Greenwood -- November
Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith -- December -- finished Dec. 10th

Category 8. Women's studies/history/literature

We are our mothers' daughters by Cokie Roberts -- finished reading Feb. 7th (book club selection)
Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman -- finished reading Feb. 26th.

Also all of reading for OLLI Short novels by Women class -- listed under OLLI in category 3 ---finished reading March 11th

Generation Roe: Inside the Future of the Pro-Choice Movement by Sarah Erdreich -- finished reading May 16th.

With Her in Ourland: Sequel to Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman -- finished reading July 26th

Candidates:
Civil War Wives by Carol Berkin
The Feminist Thought of Sarah Grimke by Gerda Lerner
Neither Ballots nor Bullets by Wendy Hamand Venet
Religious World of Antislavery Women
The Road to Seneca Falls by Judith Wellman

Category 9. Afro-American history/literature

Darker face of the earth by Rita Dove -- a play about slavey -- read Jan. 7th
The Butler : a Witness to History -- read Jan. 25th
The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou -- finished June 13th
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd -- finished July 23rd -- novel about Grimke sisters (particularly Sarah) and slavery

A Mighty Long Way: My journey to justice at Little Rock Central High School by Carlotta Walls LaNier -- finished early August
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou -- finished Aug. 19th

Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

To the Mountaintop by Charlayne Hunter-Gault --- read December 26th

cammykitty interested in reading in tandem with me in this category.

Category 10. Quakers and other religions

Thee, Hannah by Marguerite de Angeli -- read Jan. 6th

Caribbean Quakers by Harriet Frorer Durham -- attempted to read it in March for GeoCAT challenge -- rather uninteresting and I was allergic to the paper which is of poor quality; reading it gave me a headache.

Selections from the Religious Poems of John Greenleaf Whittier -- finished Apr. 30th

The Quiet Rebels by Margaret Hope Bacon -- completed June 29th -- non-fiction

The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier -- read July 1st -- Quaker fiction.

Quakers and Nazis by Hans A. Schmitt -- finished August 26th -- non-fiction

Rosanna of the Amish by Joseph W. Yoder -- finished Oct. 30th -- non-fiction

After the Fire: the destruction of the Lancaster County Amish by Randy-Michael Testa. -- finished Nov. 6th

Category 11. Local authors -- this is a category I really wanted to add since there are so many local authors around Charlottesville:

Rita Dove -- Darker face of the earth -- a play concerning slavery by Rita Dove -- read Jan. 7th

Sara M. Robinson --- Two little girls in a wading pool: a collection of poetry -- read Jan. 8th and 9th
Sara M. Robinson --- A Cruise in Rare Waters -- read Feb. 15 (poetry about Alaska)
Sara M. Robinson -- Stones for Words: a collection of poetry-- read Apr. 12th

Mary Nay -- Hardly Handicapped : Walking through Life with Cerebral Palsy -- read June 7th (pamphlet about her life)

Patricia Meyer Spacks -- On Rereading-- finished July 21st for Random CAT

Hans A. Schmitt -- Quakers and Nazis -- finished August 26th for GeoCAT
Kathleen Olowin -- Angels in My Heart -- finished August 26th

Category 12. Poetry (collections), Drama, Short stories

Rita Dove -- Darker face of the earth -- a play concerning slavery by Rita Dove -- read Jan. 7th
Sara M. Robinson --- Two little girls in a wading pool: a collection of poetry -- read Jan. 8th and 9th
Sofia M Starnes, ed. --- Four Virginia Poets Laureate ... an anthology ... ---- finished Jan. 16th

Gaza Writes Back : Short Stories from Young Writers in Gaza, Palestine, edited by Refaat Alareer -- completed Feb. 13th.
Sara M. Robinson -- A Cruise in Rare Waters -- (chapbook of poems about Alaska) -- read Feb. 15th
Charlotte Perkins Gilman -- The Yellow Wallpaper and other stories -- finished Feb. 20th

Short stories selected by Lois Conrad for her Web of Short Stories class included:
Jury of her Peers by Susan Glaspell (read for web of short stories class, discussion Feb. 20th)
Paste by Henry James (read for Web of short stories class, discussion Feb. 27th)
Dilettante by Edith Wharton (read for Web of short stories class, discussion Feb. 27th)
Jilting of Granny Weatherall by Katherine Anne Porter (read for Web of short stories class, discussion Mar. 6th)
Cathedral by Raymond Carver (read for Web of short stories class, discussion, March 13th)
Phantom Palace by Isabel Allende (read for Web of short stories class, discussion March 20th)

Sara M. Robinson -- Stones for Words: a collection of poetry-- read Apr. 12th
Sofia M. Starnes, editor -- The Nearest Poem Anthology -- finished Apr. 15th
Herta Muller -- Nadirs -- short stories -- finished April 19th
Mary Oliver -- Dog songs: poems -- finished Apr. 21st
John Greenleaf Whittier -- Selections from the Religious Poems of John Greenleaf Whittier -- finished Apr. 30th

Maya Angelou -- The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou -- finished June 13th

Henrik Ibsen -- Four Major Plays -- finished Aug. 20th

Lynda Van DeVanter and Joan A. Furey, eds. Visions of war, dreams of peace: writings of women in the Vietnam War (poetry) -- finished Sept. 19th

Category 13. Children's literature -- I enjoy reading/rereading children's literature, and plan on reading more of this type of literature than I have in the recent past.

Thee, Hannah by Marguerite de Angeli -- read Jan. 6th
Poky little puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey -- read Jan. 24th
Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes -- read Feb. 1st
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink -- finished Feb. 12th.
The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg -- read Feb. 28th
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg-- read Mar. 1st
We Rode the Orphan Trains by Andrea Warren (non-fiction) read April 10th-11th
Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson (poetry) -- finished Apr. 26th
Wonder by R.J. Palacio -- YA fiction -- ACAC book group -- finished May 8th

Category 14. Miscellaneous -- books that do not fit under any other category. This will probably be mainly general non-fiction excluding history, fiction that does not fit elsewhere, and JMRL summer reading program which does not fit elsewhere.

Uncertain Justice: The Roberts Court and the Constitution by Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz -- nonfiction about the Supreme Court-- LT Early Review book -- finished May 1st

Murder in the stacks: Penn State, Betsy Aardsma, and the Killer Who Got Away by Davi DeKok -- finished Sept. 6th

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters at the End by Atul Gawande -- LT Early Review Book -- finished Sept. 22nd.

The End of Greatness: Why America Can't Have (and Doesn't Want) Another Great President by Aaron David Miller -- LT Early Review Book -- finished October 23rd

A Wreath of Snow: a Victorian Christmas Novella by Liz Curtis Higgs -- read Dec. 12th

Overruled: the Long War for Control of the U.S. Supreme Court by Damon Root -- finished Dec. 15th

Starry Night by Debbie Macomber -- Christmas romance -- read December 24th.

Welcome back!

Enjoy your revised challenge! Happy New Year!

Looks like a doable plan. Have a great year!

You have a variety of interesting categories and I'll look forward to following your reading progress throughout the year!

I love your categories and will definitely be following your thread to see what you read and how well you like them.

Your categories look great! I've had Still Life on the WL for a while, and your list of candidates for African/American history look interesting. If you want someone for a tandem read, you can tap me on the shoulder.

Great categories!! I'll certainly be following along with your reading choices.

Very good plan for the year - have fun reading!

Found you! I like the idea of not focussing on the number of books read.

I had been updating the categories themselves as I completed reading books, but then realized that the date last seen does not change. There would not be any way for others to know that I had made changes. Therefore, I will report my reading in new threads.

First Book (completed January 3rd): Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda. I read this as a book club reading, but it also is appropriate for the January GeoCAT. It's a powerful novel about a girl Asha, born to poor parents in India, who is adopted from an Indian orphanage by an American woman and her Indian husband, and taken to live in America. (Kavita, her birth mother took her to the orphanage without the knowledge of her husband.) Asha does not go to India until she is 20 years old and won an award to go there. The book alternatively tells the stories of Asha and her parents in California and of her very poor family in India. It is told from the viewpoints of the three women, Asha and each of her mothers.

I mentioned this reading in the GeoCAT, unfortunately in the general wiki instead of January wiki.

Second book (completed January 5th): Under Magnolia: a Southern Memoir by Frances Mayes. This was a LT Early Review book == an advance reader's edition. It was a beautifully written memoir of her childhood through college days. I particularly enjoyed the chapters dealing with Ms. Mayes' college experiences; she wrote about her experiences more and not so much a description of people. The earlier chapters showed the prevalent attitudes towards women and blacks in the South during the 1940s and 50s.

The reviews of this book, including mine, appear at: http://www.librarything.com/work/14404217/reviews/104372458

3rd book (read January 6th): Votes for Women by Diane Atkinson is a short book I read for the Unofficial AlphaCAT challenge. It briefly traces the history of the British suffrage movement, particularly in the 20th century. My review appears at: http://www.librarything.com/work/3669354/reviews/23883847

1st children's book (also read January 6th) Thee, Hannah by Marguerite de Angeli. This was one of my very favorite children's books, which I reread for the January RandomCAT (the cover shows a Negro women looking out a slightly opened gate door) and also for the unofficial AlphaCAT. It is the story of Hannah, a young Quaker girl growing up in Philadelphia before the Civil War. Hannah constantly wants to wear beautiful clothing and hats as her non-Quaker friends do. She learns the meaning of her Quaker bonnet when a Negro woman, trying to escape slavery, recognizes her and calls for help.

As a teenager I was thinking of this book when I decided that Sally Lou would be a good nickname for Allison Louise. Hannah has an older sister, Sally, who is sometimes referred to as Sally/Ally. There were very very few Allisons when I was growing up in the 1950s, especially ones who spelled their name the masculine way with two ll's. I decided that Sally was just as good a nickname for Allison as for Sarah for which it is a traditional nickname.

4th book (read January 7th) The Darker Face of the Earth, a Play by Rita Dove. Completely revised second edition. The unofficial AlphaCAT gave me a wonderful opportunity to read this play by Rita Dove, which was on my TBR list. This book would fall into 3 of my personal challenge catagories: #9 Afro-American literature, #11 local authors, and #12 Poetry, drama, short stories.

Rita Dove is a very highly regarded author in our community; she is even being honored next week as part of the University of Virginia's MLK commemoration which flows into black history month when a documentary film on her life and contributions will be shown. Ms. Dove, who has been both the U.S. and Virginia poet laureate, is primarily a poet but has also written a collection of short stories, a novel, and this play which has been performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington in addition to other places.

The Darker Face of the Earth somehow was not quite what I expected although I don't know what I expected. In some ways it is a classical play since it makes use of a chorus, and some of the characters have classical names. The play takes place on a plantation in South Carolina primarily in 1840 although the Prologue takes place in 1820. The unusual features of this play are that the plantation belongs to a woman who inherited it from her father; her husband does not own or manage it. Moreover, in the Prologue the woman gives birth to a biracial baby boy, whom she agrees to give away. Her husband will no longer have anything to do with her, and spends the rest of the play in his study. Thus, we have a white woman as the central character doing things that are more often associated with men on plantations. The main body of the play is centered around the running of the plantation and of a new male slave's appearing, with whom the female plantation owner spends considerable time. The play ends with a slave revolt.

Thanks for posting your comments on your books. I hadn't heard of any of them. The play sounds particularly interesting. I had a goal to read plays last year but didn't get very far.

You're off to a good start for the year! I think Secret Daughter is already on my TBR list. Thee, Hannah sounds like a lovely children's book. I'll have to see if I can track down a copy.

5th book (finished Jan. 9th) Two Little Girls in a Wading Pool by Sara M. Robinson. Categories #11 local authors and #12 Poetry collections, etc.
The author was my instructor in an OLLI (adult education) class on Contemporary American Women Poets. I purchased this book from her the last day of class.

I really enjoyed this book of poetry. Sara and I both grew up in small towns in the 1950s, and have a number of experiences in common. Much of Sara's poetry in this collection is centered on her growing up in Elkton, Virginia, and includes poems about common life experiences such as hanging clothes on the line, playing with her friend in a wading pool, and working in her parents' shoe store. She also shares personal deeply personal experiences including her father's death and shopping for his casket. Moreover, I was impressed with the range of other topics covered including anti-war poetry, nature, travel, and feminism.

6th book (finished Jan. 11th) Toward a Better Life: America's New Immigrants in Their Own Words from Ellis Island to the Present by Peter Morton Coan. January GeoCAT.

This book gave a good overview of the history of immigration including a brief summary by decade. It also gave some interesting facts for each decade. However, in my opinion the selection of personal accounts left something to be desired.
Review at http://www.librarything.com/work/12016283/details/82222477

Re #32 -- Carrie, in addition to telling a good story, Marguerite de Angeli drew/painted beautiful illustrations for Thee, Hannah.

It's now on my wish list!

7th book (finished Jan. 16th) Four Virginia Poets Laureate (2004-2012), edited by Sofia M. Starnes. I suddenly realized that this book could be considered for the January AlphaCAT letter V, and decided to read it from my TBR books. It also fits in by personal challenge in the poetry collections category. I am attempting to read more poetry, which is currently a relatively weak field for me.

I was really disappointed in this book; it appeared to be written for the specialist or English class instead of the general reader wanting just to enjoy poetry. There were relatively advanced questions to consider with each poem so that it could be used in a class setting. Following a brief collection of approximately 8 poems written by each poet, there was an essay commentating on her work, but, unfortunately, often the essay discussed poems not in this collection.
Poets covered included Rita Dove (Va. poet laureate 2004-2006), Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda (2006-2008), Claudia Emerson (2008-2010), and Kelly Cherry (2010-2012).
Review at http://www.librarything.com/work/14395762/reviews/103171258

Thee, Hannah seems great, it's going on the BB list :)

8th book (finished Jan. 17th). Doorways to Significance: Finding Peace, Power, and Passion by Pat Holland Conner. January RandomCAT and Virginia Book Festival backlog.

This is a memoir of a very very light colored black woman's search for her own identity and acceptance. Throughout her childhood, she felt out-of-place; her parents did not even accept her since she was so much darker than the rest of her family, and she was abused as a child, particularly by her mother. She also felt out-of-place much of her adult life, particularly in the United States. She could be herself most easily when she lived outside the country such as being a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand or as a counselor in Kuwait. Finally through attending a meditation and personal growth retreat in Oregon and writing this book Ms. Conner experienced a physical, spiritual, and mental transformation toward self-approval and acceptance.

The book somehow seems unfinished and incomplete to me, probably because Ms Conner must continue to work on her feelng of acceptance.

Now I am caught up-to-date on my completed reading.

9th book (finished Jan. 22) -- Just finished reading Birds of a Feather for the January MysteryCAT. I had never read anything by Jacqueline Winspear, and really enjoyed it. Plan to read more of her books sometime.

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed your first visit with Maisie Dobbs! It's been one of my favorite series since I read my first one.

You have been quite busy reading.

Yes, I've done a bit of reading for me. Some of the books were quite short; the 10 books average approximately 200 pages per book with 3 each having over 300 pages, but two having less than 100 pages each plus 3 more having less than 200 pages each. Most of my readings for February will also be relatively short since I'll be reading one short novel each week for one OLLI class and short stories for another. (OLLI Osher Lifelong Learning Institute classes are short classes -- in our case 3 to 6 sessions -- primarily for older adults. I understand the organization has programs at approximately 120 universities and colleges in the United States.)

I see you are making great progress with your challenge reading, with some interesting reads that I haven't heard of before.

2nd children's book (1st picture book) When John and I visited with my sister and her family over Thanksgiving, I mentioned how much I had enjoyed the exhibit commemorating the Little Golden Books at the National Museum of National History and seeing The Poky Little Puppy, a book I remembered having as a very young child as one of the featured books although I did not remember the story. Last Friday my sister's Christmas gifts arrived, and she sent me a copy of that book, which really delighted me. I read it right away, and can see how it might appeal to a young child. Before seeing the exhibit, I had not been aware that the Little Golden Books began publication during WWII; therefore, they were still quite new when I was a young child.

10th book (read Jan. 25th) The Butler: a Witness to History by Wil Haygood -- a gift from my sister and her family -- this would fit into my Afro-American history. I enjoyed this book about Eugene Allen, a butler at the White House during the administrations of Presidents Truman through Reagan. The first part of the book is an expansion of an article appearing in the Washington Post around the time of President Obama's 2008 election. The author wanted to find a black person who had served in the White House for several decades; he found Eugene Allen. The story includes the author's search for such a person, his interview with Allen and his wife, Helene, and seeing all the memorabilia they had, and Allen's story of working in the White House, and his attending the inauguration of President Obama. The second part of the book is basically an interesting history of blacks in U.S. movies including both their portrayal and the number of black actors, actresses, etc. up through the making of the movie, "The Butler." Also included are 16 pages of plates, many in color, both of Mr. Allen himself and of the movie.

I remember The Poky Little Puppy! I had one in my childhood library, but it's long gone now.

I had The Poky Little Puppy for my kids but my favorite to read aloud to my kids was The Tawny Scrawny Lion.

I was at an auction a few years ago, I went primarily because the auction house advertised that a first edition of Gone With The Wind would be sold. That turned out to be partially true, they had one of the two volumes and it was in very poor shape so I wasn't interested in it but I stayed around to see how much it would go for. In the meantime a group of about 300 Little Golden Books came up for sale and NO ONE bid on them. I finally bid something like $30 and got them all! They're all vintage, I'm not sure but I think the last was issued about 1965. I've given them for gifts to every child I know and I display all of the holiday themed ones during the year. Everyone that comes into my house is drawn to them like moths to a flame. It's been a lot of fun to hear all of the memories! And children love them as much now as I did way back when.

What a lucky bid! I have a friend who displays all the Christmas books during the holidays.

11th book -- finished reading Feb. 1. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison -- read for my OLLI class on short novels by women authors which begins next week -- a book which ought to be rich for discussion, explores both class and racial prejudice and describes sexual conduct including rape -- currently is controversial concerning whether it should be included in high school curriculum. This book would also fit into my Afro-American literature category.

3rd children's book. I just reread The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes for the February Random CAT. I'm certain that either my third or fourth grade teacher read this book to our class, and I immediately read it myself. Actually, I could have read this book for the January Random Cat instead of the February one since it is about school children making fun of a classmate with a foreign name who lived in a bad section of town. Now I want to reread the Moffat books by Eleanor Estes; I enjoyed them as a child. Since I plan to read quite a few children's books, I'm thinking of changing my personal challenge categories to include children's literature, but am not sure what to delete or combine.

12th book -- finished reading Feb. 5th -- We Are Our Mothers' Daughters by Cokie Roberts which is one of my book club books for February plus being eligible for the Feb. unofficial alpha CAT challenge, and about women's studies. Although this revised and expanded edition of the book was published in 2010, part of its content is dated. Three of the women described in chapters devoted almost entirely to them and written as if they were still actively involved are now no longer employed in the position described or deceased. I found some chapters to be interesting, but as a whole was rather disappointed in the book. Although the book is advertised as being Ms. Roberts' personal experience, some chapters are devoted to history, and some discuss a topic through the experience of one woman. No footnotes.

For an award challenge, I'm listening to Zombie Baseball Beatdown by Paolo Bacigalupi (!). The audio version was nominated and after reading his other books I can't wait to see what he's come up with for middle schoolers.

13th book -- I just finished reading Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson for my OLLI class on short novels by women authors. It would also fit into the unofficial Alpha CAT for both the letters H and R. This is a book that I would not have read if it had not been a class assignment. It took me a while to get into it, but I enjoyed it after the first chapter or so although I found the ending rather unsatisfying although it probably does fit with the characters involved. I'll be interested in our discussion of it on Tuesday.

SPOILER ALERT -- AT END OF DESCRIPTION. For the Random CAT challenge, I just finished rereading Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink which was a favorite book of mine as a child and which was the Newbery Award winner in 1936. I had not read it since childhood. Although I enjoyed it as a whole, I was a bit disappointed when reading it. It reminded me a lot of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, many of which were also set in the upper midwest (Wisconsin, Minnesota , South Dakota) at a slightly later time. Caddie Woodlawn is about the adventures of a young girl growing up in Wisconsin during the Civil War; it is a very family-oriented story as are the Little House books. I was wondering about the ending when I decided to reread it; I knew that once in a discussion some felt that the ending was disappointing because Caddie was supposed to stop being a tomboy. However, I enjoyed the ending which was actually a decision about whether to stay in Wisconsin or return to England where their Father had lived as a child -- not the expected growing of Caddie from a tomboy to a little lady.

4th children's book read

Several people have been talking about snow in their individual threads. We are supposed to get 6 to 11 inches of snow in the Charlottesville, VA region. The Albemarle County public schools have already had a number of inclement weather days for a little bit of snow and icy roads; the school buses need to travel a number of back country roads which do not get plowed very fast. Although I live in the County, our home is in an urban area almost in the City and the roads are generally cleared pretty fast. Plus, our power lines are underground although some of the control centers are not so that usually we do not lose power for very long.

Just finished reading Gaza Writes Back : Short Stories from Young Writers in Gaza, Palestine, edited by Refaat Alareer for the GeoCAT challenge. This is a collection of 23 stories by 15 writers, most of whom are in their 20s. The book was just published less than a month ago, and the editor's introduction states; "Gaza Writes Back records and commemorates, in fiction, the fifth anniversary of the full-scale military offensive Israel launched on Gaza between December 27, 2008 and January 18, 2009, the so-called 'Operation Cast Lead'." Although the publisher, who is a friend of mine, recommended not reading more than one story a day because of the violence in them, I often read two or three a day. Most but not all of the stories deal with death. As with any collection, some of the stories were more meaningful than others to me. The stories were selected from numerous ones submitted; I would have preferred to have limited an author to only one story in the collection. Two of the weakest stories in my opinion were by the same author. The introduction to the collection and the short biographies about the authors were excellent; the biographies are very up-beat.

14th adult book read

SPOILER ALERT. Just finished reading The Mountain Lion by Jean Stafford for my OLLI short novels by women class. Once again, I had a hard time getting interested in the book (which has happened before for books for this particular class). However, as a whole I enjoyed this book more than I expected; the book did not end in the way I expected. I knew ahead of time that Molly, one of the chief characters in the book would be killed in the end, but I expected it to be by the mountain lion instead of being killed by a shot meant for the lion. I enjoyed reading about the times when Molly and Ralph were on Uncle Claude's ranch more than the part occurring in California with the whole family (except for Grandpa's death). There is some beautiful writing, especially descriptions of people and nature.

15th adult book read

Read A Cruise in Rare Waters by Sara M. Robinson, a local author. This book, being a poetry collection, would also fall under the poetry, drama, short stories category in my personal challenge. Description of the book: Chapbook of poems about Alaska, primarily sailing on a cruise ship, but also talks about nature including what man has done to it, Indian/Eskimo culture, salmon, etc. Lot of description of cold blue water and ice. A pleasant read.

16th adult book

I have just revised my categories since I wanted Children's literature as a separate category. I combined my reading for OLLI classes (old category 13) with Virginia Book Festival (category 3); it remains category 3.

I made Children's literature the new category 13.

I expanded category 5 which had been Biography and Memoirs into Biography, Memoirs, and other non-fiction which does not fit in any specific non-fiction category elsewhere in my challenge. I will already reading a non-fiction book which does not fit into any of my non-fiction categories. My miscellaneous category will be for fiction not covered in other categories and any books I read for the public library reading program this summer which do not fit elsewhere.

I like your review of Caddie Woodlawn. I never read that one when I was younger. I have it on my book list for a "tomboy" category for next year.

Re 62: Thanks for your message, Kelly. I hope you enjoy reading the book next year.

Just finished reading True Grit by Charles Portis -- both for one of my book clubs and for the public library's Big Read. I hardly ever read Westerns, and this got a lot of getting used to for me. I became very interested in it at the end although it is not a book I would want to read again -- and does not make me want to read more Westerns.

17th adult book

I have finished reading the next book for my OLLI short novels for women class. It is The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Actually all we were assigned was The Yellow Wallpaper which I consider to be a short story; it will be interesting to see why the instructor considered it a short novel. I had read The Yellow Wallpaper several times before, and this time I was not as bored with it as usual. It's the story of a woman's going mad by following male doctors' prescriptions for women's health in the 1890s. I enjoyed the other short stories, none of which I had ever read, more; they all were written from a feminist viewpoint. These stories included: Three Thanksgivings, The Cottagette, Turned, Making a Change, If I Were a Man, and Mr. Peebles' Heart. Now I'm planning to get Gilman's Herland out of the library to read. I might also look for more of her short stories.

18th adult book

Just finished reading A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear -- a Maisie Dobbs mystery for the February MysteryCAT challenge. I enjoyed Birds of a Feather so much last month that I decided to read another Maisie Dobbs book and am glad I did; I really enjoyed it.

19th adult book

I'm so glad you're continuing to enjoy Maisie!

Just finished reading Willa Cather's A Lost Lady for my short novels by women class. This is the first Willa Cather novel I have read -- I just have not read many classics in American literature -- something that I hope to change this year. I enjoyed this novel; I was planning to finish it in March for the unofficial Alpha CAT, but once I started it, I could not put it down! Looking forward to our discussion of it in class next week.

20th adult book

I have finished reading Herland, a feminist utopian novel by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Reading the author's Yellow Wallpaper plus some of her short stories made me want to read this novel in which 3 men from the United States end up in Herland, an all-female country. There is a lot of conversation between the men and some of the women concerning what is like to live in their two different societies. This short novel was interesting to read around at the same time as I read Willa Cather's A Lost Lady. Both novels were written in the early twentieth century by female writers, who used a male narrator to tell the story; both stories were around the same length (approximately 150 pages). Now I want to read the sequel to Herland -- With Her in Ourland -- in which one of the female characters, who has married one of the three men, has gone to the United States with him. I'll be interested in reading about her experiences here. However, I'm not sure how soon I will read the book since I'm participating in some of the challenges, still have 2 OLLI literature classes through mid-March, and will be attending the Virginia Festival of the Book in late March in which I will be exposed to many new books (and will probably be buying some).

21st adult book

Today I read a Newbery Award winning book from an author who is new to me for the Random CAT challenge, Children's Literature. I really enjoyed reading The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg, which is the 1997 Newbery Award winner. It's about four six-grade children who are picked by a paralyzed teacher to be on an Academic Bowl team which becomes the state champions. The children's backgrounds, their friendships, and their teambuilding are described in the story. For the March mystery challenge, I'm planning to read Ms. Konigsbury's 1968 Newbery Award winning From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. I bought these two books, along with her Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth which was a Newbery runner-up to From the Mixed-Up Files ... as a boxed set.

After rereading children's books which were childhood favorites so far this year, it was fun reading something entirely new to me.

5th children's book

I just read E.L. Konigsburg's From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, a stand-alone children's mystery, which won the Newbery Medal in 1968 for the Mystery Cat challenge. Although I enjoyed it, I did not think that it was as well written as Ms. Konigsbury's later Newbery Medal book, The View from Saturday, which is not a mystery. I'll need to read the author's 1968 runner up book, Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and me, Elizabeth to see if I think the right book won the award.

6th children's book read

Just finished reading Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination : the Untold Story of the Actors and Stagehands at Ford's Theatre by Thomas A. Bogar. This scholarly book examines the backgrounds of the 46 people who were either present as performers or support staff at Ford's Theatre the night of the assassination, what they were doing at the time of the assassination and immediately thereafter, their treatment by those investigating the assassination, and the impact of these events on their lives and careers. The three Ford brothers, one of whom owned the theatre, were included. As a whole, the stagehands were more harshly treated than the actors. The book, gets rather bogged down with so many people discussed; fortunately, Dr. Bogar provides a list of the people identifying them by their role (i.e. occupation), age, Southern or Union sympathies, etc. at the beginning of the book. Dr. Bogar also offers an analysis of the investigation and trials of any defendants, pointing out weaknesses of the proceedings.

22nd adult book.

Today was another snow day for the public schools so that our OLLI (adult education) class did not meet. I ended up reading Christopher Andersen's These Few Precious Days: The Final Year of Jack with Jackie, a book I saw on the New Books shelf at our public library. I had never read any book by Andersen, and probably will not read another. This book is filled with gossip, and repeatedly describes JFK's sexual conquests and Jackie's chain smoking, and their receiving numerous amphetamine injections from an unscrupulous doctor. Moreover, although the subtitle claimed the book was about the couple's last year together, only the last part dealt with that time period. Andersen wrote essays about where he found the info for the various chapters, but there are no footnotes on index. Not recommended.

23rd adult book

The book about the stagehands and actors sounds like an interesting study of the assassination case.

Re no. 74 -- it was interesting, and an unique approach to the topic as far as I know.

Just finished reading Jane Gardam's A Long Way from Verona for a book club meeting Thursday evening. Jane Gardam is one of the favorite authors of a few of the women in our book club, although I don't particularly care for her style of writing. I had a difficult time getting into this book, but started enjoying it at the beginning of Part II and then had difficulty putting it down. A coming of age story of an English girl during World War II; tells a lot about living during the war including such things as having gas masks readily available.

24th adult book (although this was originally written to be a children's book, I consider it an adult book, and it is in the adult section of the public library from which I borrowed it.)

Read a very very short novella (or long short story) for my OLLI Short Novels by Women Class -- Tell Me a Riddle by Tillie Olsen. This story is for the old age category in our course; it is about a dying woman and her husband (and family to a lesser extent).

25th adult book although very short

From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler was one of my favorite books when I was a pre-teen, in the early- mid 1970s. I re-read it multiple times. I imagine it must seem really dated now. I read The View From Saturday five years ago. I found it hard to believe that sixth grade boys would be so into calligraphy and tea parties. Beyond those quibbles I did enjoy the story and thought I would have loved it had I read it when I was young.

Re #78 I think that it is rather amazing that E. L. Konigsburg won the Newbery Medal twice, and nearly 30 years apart -- 1968 and 1997! Did you ever read her novel which was a runner-up to From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler -- Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth? As far as I know, that was the only time an author won both the Newbery Medal and had a runner-up the same year. I'm planning to read her runner-up sometime soon. I bought all three books as a set thru Amazon.com. Ms. Konigsburg was a new-for-me author this year; she started writing early in my career as a librarian when I was considering becoming a children's librarian.

I have finished reading An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties, and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by Todd S. Purdum. I received an advance reader's edition through the LT Early Reviewers program. The book is a very very detailed story of the passage of that important act. It shows what could be accomplished when legislators from both sides of the aisle could work together to overcome the stiff opposition of a large group of anti-integration Southerners to pass a comprehensive civil rights law.

I'm planning to write my review of the book today.

26th adult book

You are doing so well with your challenge!

Today I finished reading Art of Birds, by Pablo Neruda, translated by Jack Schmitt, and illustrated by Jack Unruh for the March Random CAT challenge.

According to the introduction, this is a book of poems about birds in Chile; Neruda was a Chilean writer and diplomat. The collection contains three long poems: one about migration at the beginning, one about flight approximately half way through the collection, and a poem titled: "The Poet Says Good-bye to Birds" at the end. The majority of the poems are approximately one page long about specific species of birds. Since I am not very familiar with many of them, I found the pictures on the web were much more satisfactory than the few illustrations in the book. There was one section of the book titled "Rarae Aves," which includes riddles about birds written as poems. Although the poems are interesting, to really appreciate many of them to their fullest, I would have needed to read more about many of the birds.

28th adult book.

RE 81 Thanks, Paruline. I am enjoying my reading.

I took an OLLI class title "Web of Short Stories" in which we read 6 short stories which we discussed in 5 sessions. We had an excellent teacher for this class who gave us discussion questions to consider as we read the stories; the class was a seminar, in which we were expected to participate in the discussion. It was fun. I think the stories, taken together, could count as one short book.

Short stories selected by Lois Conrad for her Web of Short Stories class included:
Jury of her Peers by Susan Glaspell (discussion Feb. 20th)
Paste by Henry James (discussion Feb. 27th)
Dilettante by Edith Wharton (discussion Feb. 27th)
Jilting of Granny Weatherall by Katherine Anne Porter (discussion Mar. 6th)
Cathedral by Raymond Carver (discussion, March 13th)
Phantom Palace by Isabel Allende (discussion March 20th)

27 adult book (changing number of book listd in 82 above since I completed it later).

I read A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid, which is a short book about Antigua where Kincaid grew up. Antigua is a small island, 9 miles wide and 12 miles long. Since this book is about Antigua, it fits the focus challenge of GeoCAT for March. This book was recommended to me by a friend, and is a pleasant read. It mainly discusses the corrupt political climate -- both during the colonial times under Britain (white rule), but also under corrupt black leaders after it became independent. Since the book was published in 1988, it is not current. The main cultural aspect which Kincaid discusses is the deplorable condition of the public library which was destroyed by an earthquake in 1974 and never rebuilt to its former condition; Kincaid had enjoyed going to the library as a child.

29th adult book

I abandoned reading Caribbean Quakers by Harriet Frorer Durham for the GeoCAT challenge because the author had not found out much info for the various islands and the book was written in a very uninteresting style. One of my friends who recently read the book was disappointed in it.

I hate to hear that about Caribbean Quakers. I was interested in that one. I did notice that Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne has it so when I go there this summer, I'll at least take a quick look at it. I made a note on my ever-growing Allen County Public Library to-do list!

Re 86. I found the beginning of chapter 3 of Caribbean Quakers kind of difficult to read because a lot of old texts were quoted, written in the original way with an old style "s" which looks like a "f." The book mentions a lot of names; most of the chapters are devoted to different islands. Also, my copy is printed on poor quality paper and is water-damaged. Since I am allergic to something on poor quality paper, I was getting a headache when reading it. You might have much better luck with it. I am keeping the book for the time being at least since it was a gift from my husband on our honeymoon many years ago; we went to Antigua and he saw it there.

>87 sallylou61: I'll at least take a look. I know that my Thorntons were Quakers. A few years ago, there was a lady who contacted me who was working on the Thorntons for an individual. She had a theory that they may have come into the U.S. via Bermuda. I am not certain that current evidence supports that, but I have an interest in religion anyway. Just glancing at it at Fort Wayne will at least give me an idea if it is something I want to own or not.

I finished Midnight Assassin: a Murder in America's Heartland by Patricia L. Bryan and Thomas Wolf today for the unofficial ALPHA cat for March (two days into April). It is about the trial of Margaret Hossack for the December 1900 murder of her husband, a farmer in Iowa. I read it because it is the case upon which Susan Glaspell's short story, A Jury of her Peers, which I read for an OLLI class in February is loosely based. As a newspaper reporter, Glaspell attended Margaret Hossack's first trial in which she was convicted of first degree murder. Her case was retried, and resulted in a hung jury. Midnight Assassin is somewhat interesting; it tends to drag. I think it would have been better if the book had been shorter and had not discussed Glaspell's writings at the end.

30th adult book

I just finished reading Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline for one of my bookclubs, personal challenge category 2. It is a novel about a young Irish girl, a recent immigrant, who was a rider on the Orphan Train in 1929. This was a program in which orphans or abandoned children were taken from New York City to the Midwest to be "adopted." The main character in the novel, whose name was changed three times by the adults with whom she was placed, endured horrible conditions -- first working in a small sewing factory and then in a horrible, poverty stricken household -- before she was placed with a couple who treated her kindly and formally adopted her. As an old woman, Vivian finally tells her story to Molly, a young girl in foster care in Maine; the two develop a friendship, and Molly helps Vivian find her long-lost daughter and learn about other people who were dear to her. The story is interwoven in time between the 1929 thru 1943 and 2011. A sad but touching story.

31st adult book read

>90 sallylou61: Oh, my! I've been hit with a book bullet. I'm a sucker for those orphan train stories.

Hi Thornton37814, This was my first exposure to the orphan train; I had never heard of it before. I'm interested in reading more about it. Unfortunately, there are so many other books I'm interested in reading, I don't know when I'll get to it.

There's a children's literature non-fiction book about the orphan train experience that is quite informative. It's called We Rode the Orphan Trains. Some had good experiences; some didn't. This book tells stories of persons who rode the trains living at the time the stories were collected.

Thanks for the suggestion. I have placed a hold on it at our public library, and should be able to pick it up tomorrow or Saturday since there is a copy available at the branch closest to me. A staff person just needs to get it off the shelf, and sign it out to me; a very nice service. I'm aware that some of the children had good experiences and some didn't since Ms. Kline gives a very short history of orphan trains at the end of her novel. The central character and her boyfriend (who also rode on the same orphan train) had bad experiences, at least initially, in the novel.

Yesterday I picked up We Rode the Orphan Trains by Andrea Warren from the public library, and today I finished reading it. Thanks for recommending it, thornton37814. The first stories did not sound as bleak as the story of the main character in the novel, Orphan Train, but some of the later stories were sadder than the earlier ones. However, it sounds as if as a whole, the orphan trains did a service for the children who rode them, connecting them with a family. Of course, unfortunately, we still have serious problems of abused and neglected children in our country. My husband and I subscribe to The Washington Post, and it quite often contains horror stories of children abused or killed by parents, mothers' boyfriends, or other adults in whose care the children are left.

7th children's book read

Today I read Stones for Words, a collection of poems by Sara M. Robinson, who is a friend of mine. I'm counting it toward the April Random CAT challenge. This is the third collection of poems I have read by Sara; I really enjoy the way her poems flow. Also, some of her poems are about growing up in a small town -- something we have in common. Although we grew up in small towns in different states (Virginia for her, Pennsylvania for me), these poems of hers bring back memories for me. Moreover, several of the poems mention places or people here in the greater Charlottesville area, which made reading these poems fun.

32nd adult book read 4.5 stars

>95 sallylou61: Glad you enjoyed it.

Just finished reading Brooklyn by Colm Toibin for my book group which meets this coming Thursday evening. Although I enjoyed it, I did not like it as much as other books which I have read or reviewed for book groups recently such as Orphan Train, or A Secret Daughter (both read this year) or Light Between Oceans or Nothing Daunted (both of which I reviewed but did not reread since I read them for other book clubs last year). I thought that Brooklyn tended to drag, and had a hard time being really interested in the main character until near the end. There were several family secrets which resulted in poor communication. The novel could have had either of two endings; although when I was reading it, I hoped for a certain ending, when that ending occurred I was kind of disappointed, wanting it to end the other way.

33rd adult book read. 3 stars

Today I finished reading The Nearest Poetry Anthology edited by Sofia M. Starnes. I thought that it was a rather uneven collection which is not surprising since 112 residents of Virginia selected the poem nearest (i.e. most meaningful) to them and wrote why the poem was important to them. Each poem followed by the essay is presented.

My review of this collection is at http://www.librarything.com/work/14850832/details/107531990

34th adult book read. 3.5 stars

I just finished reading Nadirs, a collection of short stories and one novella, by Herta Müller, translated and with an afterword by Sieglinde Lug for the GeoCAT. Although Müller won the Nobel prize for literature in 2009, I found this book to be a relatively unsatisfactory read. The novella, Nadirs --- same title as the collection --- comprised nearly 2/3 of the book, and it appeared to be sketches rather than a story. I found it hard to follow -- I think that part of it was supposed to be telling about dreams -- and some of the sketches seemed to go back to an earlier time. For example, after Müller had her father dying, he was alive later on in the novella. As I whole, I found the stories following the novella more interesting than those before it. My favorite is "Village Chronicle" which physically describes a village.

35th adult book read.

I just read the novella, The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy, which is the work which I originally planned to read for GeoCAT prior to deciding to read something by Herta Müller. I found this to be a very interesting story about how one should live. Ivan Ilych had an impressive professional life but an unpleasant family life; he constantly tried to live in as wealthy a way as possible. After he becomes ill, he finally starts thinking about the kind of life he has lived, and realizes in the end that it was not a good life. I became aware of this novella because it is bound in the same volume with Tillie Olsen's Tell Me a Riddle, which I read for a short novels by women class last month. The title of the book is The Riddle of Life and Death; the single introduction to both novellas compares them.

36th adult book read

I just finished reading Dog Songs by Mary Oliver. This is a slim collection of poems about dogs, which I have been reading from time to time when I wanted to read something light. I saw this on the new book shelf at our public library, and decided to borrow it since I have never read a collection of poems by Mary Oliver, a popular poet. This was a very pleasant read and would appeal to dog lovers (and pet lovers; I am actually a cat person).

37th adult book read

I've just finished reading A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson, which I have read on-and-off this month for the Random CAT challenge. It was a favorite when I was a young child. However, I have not had our childhood copy for the book for many years, and think that it must have been an abridged edition. The edition which I just read -- illustrated by Michael Foreman, with an introduction by Mary Thwaite and published by Gollancz Children's Paperbacks in London in 1991 -- must have been the complete edition of 67 poems. It contains 3 sections: "The Child Alone," "Garden Days," and "Envoys" which includes poems which do not seem familiar to me (although I had not read our book for probably over 50 years or longer); I think some of the poems in these three sections seemed forced as if Stevenson felt he had to make them rhyme. The first section, without a separate title, contained all of my old favorites including but not limited to: "My Shadow," "Windy Nights," "The Swing," and "From a Railway Carriage.". However, I was surprised how didactic some of the poems in that section were, telling children how to behave to be good children.

8th children's book read

I just finished reading Selections from the Religious Poems of John Greenleaf Whittier, my fifth collection for the April Random CAT although many of the collections are relatively short. This selection was made and published by the Tract Association of Friends. This whole collection is very Quaker oriented; Whittier was a Quaker. Although there is a brief introduction giving a very brief biography of Whittier and talking a little about collections of his religious poetry, the poems are "presented without intellectual embellishment, relying upon Whittier's sense, words, and written ministry as a guide toward the Light of Christ within" (p. vii)
The most interesting thing to me was that I initially thought that Whittier's poem, "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind," which has appeared in Quaker hymnals, was not included. I was surprised to find it as the end of "The Brewing of Soma," a poem I had never heard of (p. 46); moreover, this text contained a verse which was unfamiliar to me. I have not done any research to see if the hymn was ever published as a separate poem, excluding the extra verse, in any other collection of poetry.

38th adult book read

>104 sallylou61: That's interesting about the hymn. We happened to sing that one at church last Sunday!

Re 105: Carrie, it's interesting to hear that the hymn is sung in other churches. Does the hymn you sing have 5 verses? We have always sung 5 verses. However, the poem as printed has the following stanza added between what are verses 3 and 4 in our hymn:
With that deep hush subduing all
Our words and works that drown
The tender whisper of Thy call,
As noiseless let Thy blessing fall
As fell Thy manna down.

After writing the above, I looked this hymn up on the web. There are a number of printings of the text of the hymn from different sources (hymnals, etc.). Most seemed to have 5 verses although a few listed the 6 verses.

The hymn has significance to me. We printed one stanza on the leaflet handed out at my mother's memorial service, which was conducted Quaker style as a meeting for worship. One woman rose from the silence and sang the hymn.

It has 4 stanzas in our hymnal, as well as the previous hymnal we used at our church. The verse you quoted is new to me. I lived in England for four years and they use a different tune there, which I prefer to the one in our hymnal.

RE 107. Carrie, it's interesting that your hymnal has only 4 (instead of 5 or 6 verses). Here are the beginning lines for the 5. Which are you missing?
1. Dear Lord and Father of Mankind
2. In simple trust like theirs who heard
3. O Sabbath rest by Galilee
4. Drop thy still dews of quietness
5. Breathe through the heats of our desire

I saw on the web that there were at least 2 different tunes.

I finally finished reading Uncertain Justice: The Roberts Court and the Constitution by Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz. I had received it as a LT Early Review Book, and have reviewed it. It is a very very detailed book; the details tend to hide the main points, and there is no good summary at the end.

39th adult book read.

>108 sallylou61: We don't have #3 in our hymnals.

Re 110: That verse goes:
O Sabbath rest by Galilee!
O calm of hills above
Where Jesus knelt to share with Thee
The silence of eternity
Interpreted by love!

It appears as if different churches use different verses. I just listened to a singing of it by the Westminster Abbey choir in Repton, and they sang the first, fourth, fifth, and six verses from the poem, skipping the ones beginning
In simple trust like theirs who heard
and
O Sabbath rest by Galilee!
and using the verse beginning "With that deep hush subduing all" as the second verse.

Our hymnal uses the music by Frederick Charles Maker; the commentary in the back of the hymnal states:
"Frederick Maker, an organist for several nonconformist churches, who lived all his life in Bristol, England, composed this tune especially for Whittier's poem." (p. 370, Worship in Song; a Friends Hymnal, Philadelphia : Friends General Conference, c1966.)

Stanzas 1, 2, and 4 are the ones I've heard sung most often. I'm not where I can look at the hymnals I've used most often at the moment, but I'll try to remember to look sometime. I can't promise though since I've got to finish packing tonight and then will be gone the rest of the week. You may have to remind me.

I remembered to check the hymnal yesterday, and it also uses the tune by Frederick Maker.

I just finished reading Wonder, a YA fiction book by R.J. Palacio about Auggie, a boy with a severely deformed face and how he copes. Key events are told from his viewpoint several times, and from the viewpoints of his sister, her boyfriend, and several of Auggie's friends. It took a while to get used to this book, but I ended up finding it very interesting reading. This was the May selection of one of my book clubs.

9th Children's/Y.A. book read

I was intrigued to see on the Guide to Classic Mystery and Detection website (http://mikegrost.com/classics.htm) that A.A. Milne, the author of the Winnie the Pooh books, had written a mystery. Therefore, I read the only mystery he wrote, Red House Mystery for the May Mystery CAT challenge. I enjoyed it; the amateur detectives in it pretended they were Sherlock Holmes and Watson, and kept calling each other by those names. The ending was a bit of a surprise, which I should have guessed earlier.

40th adult book read

I just finished reading Washington Square by Henry James for a book club which meets next week. I enjoyed the book although I thought the writing a bit "quaint," especially the way James occasionally mentioned something directly to the reader. This also fits into my classics category -- a category I thought would be taken up with long novels, but I'm starting out with a short one. I was introduced to James' writing with his short story, "Paste" which I read for a short story class several months ago.

41st adult book read

I have finished reading Generation Roe: Inside the Future of the Pro-Choice Movement by Sarah Erdreich. I had heard her speak at the Virginia Festival of the Book in March, and decided to buy her book. It is interesting, especially when Erdreich tells the stories of women (and occasionally men) involved in the Pro-Choice Movement, but not nearly as memorable as The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades before Roe v. Wade by Ann Fessler, to which she refers several times. Erdreich covers various aspects of the Pro-Choice movement, and in one chapter compares it to the LGBT movement, which has been more successful recently. In the final chapter, she points out that there are disagreements among Pro-Choice activists about what to stress (such as the legislative/court emphasis versus working to make abortions more accessible to poor women who need to travel great distances and don't have the necessary monetary or transportation resources) and what forms activism should take. Moreover, some of the older established organizations are rather rigid and not adaptable to new ways of doing things. Erdreich also examines the Pro-Life Movement (which she believes should be called the Anti-Choice Movement), and points out how it is successful even though it distributes false "information", etc.

Includes brief annotated lists of organizations, books, films, and blogs and also endnotes, but does not include an index.

3 1/2 stars

42nd adult book read.

I never would have guessed that A A Milne had written a mystery. It makes me think of a good question for a trivia game. I'm not sure if anybody would get the answer though.

Re 118: It turns out that Milne was also a playwright and wrote more books for adults than for children although he is best remembered for his children's books!

I just finished reading Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan for a book club which I will be attending for the first time later this week. I have pretty much decided to drop one book club in which we do very little discussing of the book, but instead talk more about what to read for the next meeting or general talk. I understand that the new for me bookclub, which is sponsored by and held in our public library, spends the whole meeting discussing the book; the books for a whole year are decided at one meeting held for making those decisions only. I did not like Sweet Tooth very much, but was really surprised by its ending. I'll be interested in hearing what the others have to say about the book.

43rd adult book read

I just read the novella, Daisy Miller by Henry James. Although it has been published as a separate book, this edition was published in the same volume as Washington Square by Henry James, which I read last week for a book club. I found Daisy to be a rather spoiled young woman.

44th adult title read

For the unofficial GastroCAT challenge, I read Ice Cream U by Lee Stout, which is very attractive coffee-table book about the Creamery at Penn State University. Mr. Stout chose the title since several Pennsylvania newspapers had called the Penn State Ice Cream program "Ice Cream U." I looked at the numerous photographs, both black and white and in color, in the book immediately after buying it several years ago, but had never read the text. The text covers more than just the making of ice cream; it discusses Penn State's role in the dairy industry in Pennsylvania, a brief history of ice cream from early times (not limited to Penn State), the instruction the University has provided in making butter and cheese in addition to ice cream with an emphasis on its short courses, and the extensive research that has been done in dairy science there. However, the focus is on ice cream, which has greatly appealed to Penn Staters for many years.

I was disappointed in the text which gets a bit repetitious. Moreover, following the text can occasionally be challenging since some of it appears in portions of columns under illustrations, or is separated by several pages of illustrations before continuing. The main text also competes with highlights of the text in large letters and with picture captions. If one does not read the text, one misses out on interesting information. However, the book as a whole is beautifully done.

45th adult book read

I have read and reviewed The Wars of Heaven, a book of short stories set in West Virginia and a novella by Richard Currey, which I received in the Early Readers program.

46th adult book read

I finished Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns, which is set in Afghanistan, and is centered on some strong female characters, and describes the place of women in Afghan society. The story is very well-written although it contains a lot of brutality.

47th adult book read

I finished reading Wild Swans by Jung Chang for the second quarter biography read, and have left some of my impressions in that discussion thread. In addition to be a biography of the author's family, it gives a history of 20th century China, especially from the mid 1940s through Mao's death in 1976.

48th adult book read

Earlier this week I went to a book talk/book signing at our athletic featuring Mary Nay, a handicapped woman I had often seen exercising. I have always found her to be friendly, and really admire her work ethic. She gave a very interesting talk. I bought her book to show my support of her. However, unfortunately her book, Hardly Handicapped : Walking through Life with Cerebral Palsy is very poorly written; it really needed a good editor. The book contains many awkward sentences: some are incomplete, some are just too long without sufficient punctuation, and some contain words in an awkward sequence. Mary continually thanks people by name or institution, and often gives advice about living life. The book lacks a central focus. Moreover, it is very short with many illustrations and blank pages between chapters; it is actually a pamphlet.

49th adult title read

I just finished reading Jimmy Carter's A Call to Action : Women, Religion, Violence, and Power, which discusses the discrimination of women worldwide in practically nearly every aspect of life. Some of the topics less familiar to women in the United States include killing of female babies, marriage of young children and death of females because of inadequate dowries, and genital mutilation. It was amazing to me to learn that worldwide the leading causes of female deaths are: HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB, and childbirth! (World Health Organization statistic, p. 173). Although Carter talks about a lot of organizations dealing with various issues, he emphasizes the work of the Carter Center which he and his wife Rosalynn founded and are active in. The book contains many statistics and numerous acronyms; although the term for the acronym is generally spelled out the first time it is mentioned in the text, later only the acronym is used. Quotes from leaders, male and female, are interspersed in the text. Carter appears to self-congratulate himself many times. For this book featuring discrimination about women, why did Jimmy Carter instead of Rosalynn write it?

3. 5 stars.

50th adult book read

Just finished reading The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou which, being published in 1994, ends with her poem for Bill Clinton's first inaugural ceremony, "On the Pulse of Morning." I purchased this book the day or so after Angelou's death. I enjoyed reading these poems; however, I would have preferred to have had an edited edition explaining who some of the people referred to were, and definitions of certain words used, etc. The online information I found through googling was a big help in understanding and more deeply appreciating some of the poems.

51st adult book read

Just finished reading How It All Began by Penelope Lively for a book club meeting later this week. I found this book rather interesting; although the author calls it multiple stories (a way to consider it), I thought of its being character sketches as I read it.

52nd adult book read

For the GeoCAT challenge, I read Savage Harvest: a Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest for Primitive Art by Carl Hoffman. Mr. Hoffman tells the probable story of Michael Rockefeller's being killed and eaten by the leaders of the Asmat, a "primitive" people living in Asmat, a place in what was at that time Dutch New Guinea. This book also examines the life and culture of the Asmat people, and describes Hoffman's pursuit in tracking down the story of Rockefeller's death. Mr. Hoffman twice took trips to Asmat; the second time after he had taken lessons in Bahasa Indonesian so that he could communicate with the people without an interpreter. This was a book I was especially interested in reading after hearing Mr. Hoffman describe it at the Virginia Book Festival last March.

5 stars

53rd adult book read

I read and enjoyed Still Life by Louise Penny for both this MysteryCAT and RandomCAT. This is the first book I've read by Louise Perry; I plan to read more by her.

54th adult book read

I ran into Michael Rockefeller's story somewhere and find it fascinating. I'll have to look for a copy of Savage Harvest. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

Savage Harvest is a relatively new book. According to Amazon.com, its publication date was March 18, 2014 so that it was hot off the press when the author discussed it at the Virginia Book Festival. I remember the news coverage around the time Michael Rockefeller disappeared but had accepted the Rockefeller family's explanation that he had drowned trying to reach shore.

>131 sallylou61: Yay! Another member of the Louise Penny fan club!

I just read the brief book, Mountain Girls by Stephanie Kadel Taras. It is the story of two women, the author and her good friend, Lisa Armstrong, who grew up in West Virginia during the 1980s, discovering what the state meant in their lives. Lisa went back to Elkins after trying city life, and Stephanie, who lives in Ann Arbor, bought a house in Elkins which she currently rents. Both of the women are having successful careers freelancing; the story shows that they had more options concerning work than their mothers did. Ms. Taras especially examines the life of West Virginia women, both during the time she grew up and now. I was interested in reading the book since part of my husband's family is from Elkins, and we briefly lived in the Ann Arbor area.

3 stars

55th adult book read

I have finished reading The Quaker Rebels: The Story of the Quakers in America by Margaret Hope Bacon for both my individual challenge of reading more about Quakers and the unnofficial Alpha CAT challenge -- Q.
I enjoyed the book; in addition to discussing Quaker history it also discusses Quaker beliefs and present day Quakers.

4 stars

56th adult book read

>136 sallylou61: I was going to add that one to my TBR list when I discovered I already own a copy. I need to dig it out so I can read up on my Quaker ancestors.

I just finished reading Victura: The Kennedys, a Sailboat, and the Sea by James W. Graham, which I snagged as a LT early reviewers book. I will be writing a review of it tomorrow. It fits into the GeoCAT challenge (my second book this month for that challenge) since its focus is on sailing which of course is on water. In this case the water is in the Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket region.

57th adult book read

Today i read The Last Runaway which I enjoyed.

58th adult book read.

You've reminded me that I still haven't read The Quaker Rebels. I must try harder to get to it. Savage Harvest sounds interesting. I'll have to check and see if the public library has a copy.

Re 137 and 140. I bought The Quiet Rebels at the Friends General Conference Gathering (annual conference) a number of years ago; it was on my TBR list for quite some time. I'm glad I finally read it; the unofficial alpha CAT challenge (Q for June) was a good time to do so.

After reading about The Uncommon Reader in the July Random CAT thread, I borrowed it from our public library. I enjoyed reading it.

59th adult book read

Just finished reading The Tortilla Curtain by T. Coraghessan Boyle for a book club meeting next week. I have mixed feelings about this book; I'll need to think more about it before our meeting.

60th adult book read

I'm glad you enjoyed The Uncommon Reader! It's fun to speculate about what the Queen reads.

Just finished reading another book for a book club --- The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout. I was surprised to discover how much I enjoyed this novel since I never finished reading Ms. Strout's collection of short stories Olive Kitteridge which I bought to read on a plane trip several years ago.

61st adult book read

Today I read Wanamaker's: Meet Me at the Eagle by Michael J. Lisicky. Although it was a short book, it would have been better as a article. Instead of concentrating on the main Philadelphia store which was noted for its giant eagle which became a place for individuals to meet and its well-known tea room and organ music, the author gave a history of department stores in the Philadelphia region with many openings and closings of branch stores. He tells why some of the once prominent large city department stores went out of business. The info on the back of the book jacket made it sound more as if the book would be a nostalgic visit to a store of the past, and thus the book was disappointing.

62nd adult book read

This is the second year I have read a book about a female athlete which I saw on the new book shelves at our local public library branch -- last year it was Gabby Douglas, this year Brittney Griner. Brittney Griner is definitely not someone I identify with, especially with all of her tattoos (and she is definitely not a reader, and I'm not an athlete). However, her autobiography, In My Skin was interesting after the first couple of chapters about her childhood and middle school days which were rather repetitious. The focus of the book is on her efforts to be true to herself. She realized relatively early in life that she was a lesbian, and her autobiography centers on her struggles to live that lifestyle. Beginning in her high school years, she particularly struggled with her father who disapproved of gays and later she struggled with her coach, Kim Mulkey, at Baylor University, an anti-gay institution.

63rd adult book read

I've just finished reading No Horizon Is So Far: Two Women and Their Extraordinary Journey Across Antarctica by Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft with Cheryl Dahle, for the GeoCAT challenge which DeltaQueen read earlier this month. I had tentatively planned to read something else, but the idea of reading about women crossing Antarctica enticed me. I'm glad I read this book. The women's feat was amazing, but also all the preparation including getting funding was interesting. The whole expedition was a much larger team effort than just the two women, who, of course made a difficult journey across the Antarctic continent. Liv and Ann, both middle-aged former teachers, wanted the trip to be an educational experience for numerous children. Using modern technology and having had curricula for various age groups prepared in advance, their expedition was transmitted around the world; teachers and students in many countries followed the expedition as part of their school activities.

The book was primarily written by Ann and Liv, who told about their experiences; their names immediately precede the sections they wrote. Cheryl provided some background information.

64th adult book read

I had mixed feelings about The Tortilla Curtain too. I felt he was mocking the people with the dogs. He could have used them for a stark contrast without mocking them. As for the immigrants, I'm on the fence. It seemed like one disaster after another happened to them and it stretched credibility and felt borderline disrespectful as well. But there are things I really liked about the book too.

I just finished reading On Rereading by Patricia Meyer Spacks for the July Random Challenge although this title also qualifies in my personal challenge as both a book from the Virginia Book Festival and a book by a local author. Ms. Spacks, a professor emerita of English at the University of Virginia, discusses various kinds of rereading which she did as an experiment. I enjoyed hearing Ms. Spacks speak about the book at the Virginia Book Festival several years ago; however, I found the book to be difficult going. Probably this is because I am not all that familiar with literary criticism, and I had not read many of the books discussed. Also, I was troubled with the lack of footnotes; Ms. Spacks quoted other scholars without giving the source. I had thought that she would be briefly discussing a large number of books, but instead she discussed approximately 25 books in depth. Either listing the books discussed in the table of contents for each chapter or providing an index of the titles would have been helpful.

65th adult book read

After reading a few of non-fiction books, the last which was particularly trying, I read a novel for pleasure: The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. I really enjoyed the book about the Grimke family (especially Sarah) and slavery, and now want to read more about the Grimke sisters. Nonfiction books I have about them on my TBR shelves include Lift Up Thy Voice: The Grimke Family's Journey from Slaveholders to Civil Rights Leaders by Mark Perry, The Feminist Thought of Sarah Grimke edited by Gerda Lerner, and Civil War Wives by Carol Berkin, which includes a biography of Angelina Grimke Weld. However, I do not plan to start any of these books until later in the summer since I'll be going on vacation soon.

66th adult book read

This past February I read some of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short stories and her novel, Herland which features three American men in a place inhabited entirely by women and children. I have finally gotten around to reading the sequel to Herland, which is titled With Her in Ourland. In this book, one of the men, Van, brings the woman he married in Herland to our world. This sequel was a disappointment; it is primarily a discussion between Van and his wife from Herland, Ellador about the social conditions on earth (Ourland) with the focus on the United States. Gilman was an important feminist; although the book was originally published in 1916 during World War One and before American women had the vote, many of the issues discussed -- such as the inequality of women, a few very rich people and numerous very poor, misuse of natural resources, and war --- are still issues today.

Review at https://www.librarything.com/work/43129/reviews/110685757

3.5 stars

67th adult book read

I have read A Mighty Long Way by Carlotta Walls LaNier for the August random CAT. It is the story of the integration of the Little Rock Central High School by one of the original nine black students. Carlotta describes her experiences during that turbulent time when all of the black students and their families were abused. She suffered daily through the actions and attitudes of whites. Her house was even bombed. Carlotta and the members of her immediate family moved away from Little Rock shortly after Carlotta graduated. Carlotta also briefly tells about her life after high school, and how the Little Rock Nine have come together in recent years to tell their stories and work toward change.

4stars

68th adult book read

I just returned home from an approximately two week vacation in Scandinavia -- a new experience for me. When on my trip, I purchased The Little Mermaid: Her Story, the Writer and the Fairytale, which gives the author as Per Eilstrup on the title page; he wrote the introductory material about the Little Mermaid statue located in Copenhagen. The complete text of the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale which the statue commemorates is included as the last section of the book, and his name is listed prominently on the cover. I was disappointed in the introductory material; it included numerous pictures but the information was not as complete as I heard from a guide on the hop on hop off bus.

3 stars

69th book read

Oh, Scandinavia! Lovely!

I just finished reading Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings for a book club meeting next week. We decided to read it in honor of Maya Angelou who passed away recently. I had never read the book, and found it beautifully written. It really "told stories" instead of be written as a typical autobiography, which can be rather dry.

4 stars

70th adult book read

Going to Scandinavia earlier this month made me want to read some of Henrik Ibsen's plays; I had not read any for years. This month I have read a collection of Four Major Plays which includes "A Doll's House," "Ghosts," "Hedda Gabler," and "The Master Builder." Even though they are probably the most familiar, I enjoyed "A Doll's House," and "Hedda Gabler" the most. Both of them had strong female characters as main characters. I was interested to learn that, under pressure from the German theater, Ibsen reluctantly wrote an alternative ending for "A Doll's House" in which Nora does not leave. That alternative ending was given in both German and English at the end of the play, after the "regular" ending.

4.5 stars

71st adult book red

>156 sallylou61:, Have you thought about reading the follow-ups to I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings? It took me forever to get around to it, but I enjoyed it so much when I did. I've read her next two autobiographical works after that one, and enjoyed both just as much, if not more. I think I'll probably go on to the fourth later this year...

Re 158: I may read some of the follow-ups. All together, she wrote seven autobiographies including Mom & Me & Mom, which I read in the LT Early Reviewers program. (I have not read any of the others.) Shortly after she passed away, I read and enjoyed The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou, which was published in 1994 so it would not include any poems she published since then. I would also like to read her later poems, and some of her essays. There is certainly a lot of reading available.

As an additional book for the August Random CAT challenge, I have read Growing up with Dick and Jane by Carole Kismaric and Marvin Heiferman, which discusses the impact of the Dick and Jane reading books on learning to read, especially in the 1950s. It shows how these readers reflected life during that decade, and was a fun read since I was in elementary school then and they were part of my early reading experience.

4 stars

72nd book read

I have finished reading Quakers and Nazis: Inner Light in Outer Darkness by Hans A. Schmitt. This is a very detailed scholarly account of Quaker activity in Germany and to a lesser extent Austria, Lithuania, Holland etc., from the end of World War I through the end of World War II with emphasis on the World War II period. Quakers (Friends) in these areas received varying levels of support from British Friends and from American Friends, especially through the auspices of the American Friends Service Committee. Although British and American Friends came to Germany to help with relief efforts in the period prior to World War II, during that war itself German Friends were the only ones there. Initially Friends were given more free reign than other religious groups in relief efforts, possibly because they fed many Germans during the post World War I era who later became Nazis, including some Nazi leaders. I'm not very well versed in German history and found the account at times difficult to follow, especially since some of the same efforts by Friends were described several times in relation to Germany and then to Austria and elsewhere.

3.5 stars

73rd adult book read

I just finished reading Angels in My Heart which I bought in the fall of 2013 from an acquaintance. It tells her story of having four miscarriages (and three living sons). The last sections of the book talk about the grief process and give suggestions of what one could say (and should not say) to persons who have experienced miscarriages.

I'm trying to read some books from my TBR pile; the last three were from that pile although two fit well into the years CATS -- Growing Up with Dick and Jane for the Random CAT and Quakers and Nazis for the GeoCAT.

74th adult book read

I have just read Lucinda Roy's No Right to Remain Silent: What We've Learned from the Tragedy at Virginia Tech.
No Right to Remain Silent is a very powerful analysis of the massacre at Virginia Tech by the student Seung-Hui Cho in April 2007, as told by the woman who tutored him in poetry writing after he became too destructive to be in a poetry class taught by Nicci Giovanni. Ms. Roy describes her frustration in tutoring him, and in trying to get the University Counseling Service to give him the help he needed. She also describes the frustration of members of the University community in dealing with the aftermath of the tragedy. The title, "No Right to Remain Silent," refers both to Ms. Roy's belief that she had to communicate what she knew to the University Administration and the outside panel evaluating the situation and especially to the refusal of the Administration to let the University and broader community know what happened during the horrible day, especially why the community was not notified that two people had been killed in a dormitory until minutes before Cho killed 30 people in a classroom building. Moreover, the University did not provide some essential documents to the Panel reviewing the case; Seung-Hui Cho's records from the counseling center were never produced. Ms. Roy also discusses the whole problem of mass killings at schools at all levels, K through undergraduate college (i.e. K-16), and the problem of inadequate care for mentally ill students. Although this book was published in 2009, the killings and inadequate care for the mentally ill have not improved. Ms. Roy's website (last updated in 2013) shows that she is continuing to speak out and write about these topics and gun control.

5 stars

75th adult book read

I just finished reading The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig for a book club meeting later this month. Although I thought that the book started slowly, once I got into it I enjoyed it. There were several unexpected occurrences in the plot. Also, I liked the way that Mr. Doig would end a chapter with a problem situation which led up to the next chapter.

4 stars

76th adult book read

I just read Murder in the Stacks: Penn State, Betsy Aardsma, and the Killer Who Got Away by David DeKok, a book hot off the press which I order pre-publication and received on Thursday. It is a fascinating story of the murder of a 22-year-old graduate student in the stacks of the main Penn State Library during Thanksgiving vacation in 1969. The author, who grew up in the same town as the victim, reconstructs the murder, describes the official attempts to solve the crime, analyzes why the murder was not solved by the officials and provides a biography of both the victim and the probable killer. Although the murder was never officially solved, both Derek Sherwood, who wrote Who Killed Betsy an earlier account and Mr. DeKok, a journalist, both identified the same man as the probable murderer, which was unofficially confirmed by the State Police in 2010. Mr. DeKok's book is well-written and well-researched with numerous endnotes and index; it is far superior to Mr. Sherwood's book which is not as well written and lacks endnotes and index. My only negative criticism of Murder in the Stacks is Mr. DeKok's indiscriminate use of the word "librarian," which he uses for practically anyone working in the library.

5 stars

77th adult book read

Please disregard. I was just practicing to see if I could post a map of South America for the upcoming October GeoCAT. I was having trouble copying a map.

You did it! After I finally learned to add pictures I added them everywhere I could think of.

Hurray! Nice work :)

Anybody found any authors from the Falklands??? I'm slowly going through South America in my category challenge and I'd totally forgotten about them. After all, they speak English and have pictures of the Q of E in their offices. Despite Argentina's statements, I don't think they'll ever be speaking Spanish with hard lls there.

>166 sallylou61:
Look great!

>169 cammykitty:
I have a book called A Falkland Islander Till I Die by Terrence Betts on my wishlist for when my Global Reading Challenge takes me to the Falklands - I know it's available on Kindle (borrow for free if you have Prime), but it doesn't look like anyone on LT owns a copy.

I have finished Visions of War, Dreams of Peace, a collection of poetry written by women who had been to Vietnam during the war, edited by Lynda Van Devanter and Joan A. Furey for the GeoCAT challenge. Most of the authors were military nurses although a few were from the Red Cross or American Friends Service Committee, one was an actress who had entertained the troops, and a few were Vietnamese. Many of the poems were very moving; some spoke of the women's experiences during the war, and some were about the after-effects of the war or visiting the Vietnam Memorial War in Washington, DC.

4.5 stars

78th adult book read

Today I read Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey for a book club discussion next week. Although it won the Pulitzer Prize, I did not really enjoy reading it although I'm not sure why. Need to think about this one more. I'll be interested to hear other people's reactions in our discussion/

79th adult book read

I have finished reading Being Mortal by Atul Gawande, a book about end of life issues which I received through the LT Early Reviewers program. It is a very interesting book which emphasizes that doctors should find out what terminally ill persons want to do near the end of life. It also discusses the kinds of environments in which elderly people can live. Although the emphasis is on the elderly, one of the many cases discussed as examples concerns a young, newly married woman who has her baby after becoming terminally ill. The discussion focuses on what is wrong and what is right about medical care and living arrangements. I plan to write the review today.

Probably 4.5 stars

80th adult book read

For the RandomCAT and ROOT challenges, I read Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup. The edition I read was a reprint of the edition published in 1854 with a foreword by Steve McQueen, a discussion of African American classics by Henry Louis Gates, and an introduction by Ira Berlin. A summary of the incidents discussed in the chapter was given at the beginning of each chapter. I was amazed that Solomon Northup, a freeman who was kidnapped and sold into slavery, was able to live through such brutality as he describes in his account of his experiences.

I have not seen the movie based on this book.

4.5 stars

81st adult book

Very early this morning I finished reading Home before Morning : the Story of an Army Nurse in Vietnam by Lynda Van Devanter for the GeoCAT challenge. It is a vivid description of the impact which serving in that war had on her life.

Review at https://www.librarything.com/work/773880/reviews/112318723

4 stars

82nd adult book read

The title A Falkland Islander Till I Die is pretty unappealing. I'll WL it anyway because it seems like the only thing available. I suppose it's a pretty small island! Not even a country really.

I read The Bridge of San Luis Rey when I was a kid and didn't appreciate it then. I wonder what I would think of it now? I remember it being some odd thing about fate, but perhaps even that is wrong.

Re 176 cammykitty. The other members of my book group really enjoyed The Bridge of San Luis Rey, and I found it interesting. I read it mostly for the stories of the people, not for what it might symbolize, and we talked mostly about the characters in our book club discussion and what the book was based on. I read the Perennial Classics edition with a foreword by Russell Banks and an afterword by Tappan Wilder. At the very end of the book was a short biography of Thornton Wilder. I found this extra material especially interesting in understanding the novel. I had suggested the book for our book club reading from looking at the list of possible Big Read books, which listed Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey and Our Town to be read together as suggested books for people in communities to read and discuss. I recommend "The Bridge" as it was called in the supplementary materials in the edition I read; also, it is short so you would have time to read other books for other CATs or your own personal enjoyment.

>176 cammykitty:
I'm planning to read the Falkland one this month, so I'll keep you posted if it's worth it. :)

I just finished reading The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald for a book club meeting next week. I thought that the book dragged for a while, but enjoyed it as a whole. I have never seen any movie of it (it has been filmed several times), and, as I read it, I thought it would be hard to have a movie do justice to some of the description in book itself, which frequently uses the word "white" and various other colors.

83rd adult book read

I just finished State of Wonder by Ann Patchett for the October GeoCAT challenge. The novel seemed long, but got more and more interesting toward the end, with an ending I did not expect.

Although I'm certainly not an expert on the Amazon region, the book probably portrayed it pretty well. Overall, it portrayed some of the same features as River of Doubt, a non-fiction book by Candice Millard about Theodore Roosevelt's adventures on the Amazon did.

84th adult book read
4 stars

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I have just finished reading The End of Greatness: Why America Can't Have (and Doesn't Want) Another Great President by Aaron David Miller, which I received through the Early Readers program. I was unfavorably impressed by the book; the author made the same points time and again in a style that reminded me of hearing lectures or being in a classroom. I will be writing a review of the book today.

85th adult book read
3 stars (?)

I just finished reading The Girls of Atomic City: the untold story of the women who helped win World War II by Denise Kiernan. I was very impressed with Ms. Kiernan's presentation at the Virginia Book Festival last March concerning this book. Especially after all the recent discussion about next year's History CAT, and my volunteering to host the War and Peace (1900-1945) month, I decided to go ahead and read this book. (There are plenty of other books I can read for that challenge.)

I think that I probably enjoyed the book festival discussion more than actually reading the book. The whole Oak Ridge project, which was kept a high secret, was very compartmentalized, which meant that each employee was only given enough information to do her/his own job. The employees were hired, and taken to a secret location. Nobody was allowed to talk about what they did; both outgoing and incoming mail was highly censored. In The Girls of Atomic City, Ms. Kiernan primarily features 9 women, who worked in various areas of endeavor: two secretaries, one statistician-mathematician, one black custodian, one chemist, one leak pipe inspector, two calutron cubicle operators, and one nurse. Ms. Kiernan also "compartmentalizes" her story, telling it chronologically but skipping from the story of one employee to another in each chapter. That makes the stories rather disjointed. However, the stories of the women's lives, along with information about the segregation and discrimination against the black employees are the most interesting aspects of the book. The first 11 (of 15 chapters) are each followed by an interlude (labelled tubealloy) which discusses some scientific aspect of the project, which tended to be very technical. Also, I think that the discussion of the decision to drop the atomic bombs and the aftermath of the bombing were unnecessary; they got away from the story of Oak Ridge itself. Merely giving the reaction to the news of the bomb by people at Oak Ridge and how it impacted their lives would have been sufficient.

4 stars

86th adult book read

I really enjoyed The Girls of Atomic City when I read it a while back. (The technical parts may not be for everyone but I was glad they were included.)

I have just finished reading Rosanna of the Amish by Joseph W. Yoder. This book, which was originally published in 1940, was written to provide a more accurate picture of Amish life than what had been portrayed in books about the Amish. I knew that my father, an anthropologist who was an expert on the Amish, felt that it gave an accurate description of their way of living. Rosanna of the Amish is a biography of Rosanna Yoder, a 19th century Amish woman, and her family, written by her youngest son. At first I thought that the writing "spoke down" to the readers as if they were children, and that there was too much repetition in the book. However, either I got used to the style, or the writing improved (or both). Soon I became very interested in the story, and enjoyed the book as a whole. I read the 1995 centennial edition (centennial of Rosanna's death), which contained both a short supplement about the different branches of the Amish religion and an updated bibliography.

I plan to read more about the Amish soon; I would especially like to learn more about the impact of the technology of today's society has on that group of people.

4 stars

87th adult book read

>184 sallylou61: I've read that one before and have held onto it, but it's been awhile since I've read it. I had Amish ancestors. The last direct line ancestor who remained Amish died in 1887 although there were relationships still in place with the Amish later than that as my great-grandfather actually migrated with an Amish settlement from Illinois to Mississippi, and his son taught in the Amish school.

RE 184 and 185: Lori, It's interesting to hear about your Amish ancestors.

I took an OLLI (adult education) course on the Amish this month. Unfortunately, it was only three sessions, and the instructor did not get around to covering material I expected him to, plus he did not adequately answer questions.

I did read in the "supplement" (i.e. afterword) of the 1995 edition of Rosanna of the Amish that the Beachy Amish worship in church buildings rather than each others' homes. There is an Amish church building near Dayton, VA which is near Harrisonburg where both Eastern Mennonite University and James Madison University are located. This puzzled me since I was not aware that any Amish worshiped in churches. I tried asking our instructor about that church, and he did not give me a satisfactory answer; he never told me that some Amish actually have churches.

My father was really interested in the Amish. He had John A. Hostetler, the famous Amish authority who grew up Amish, as a graduate student at Penn State in the early 1950s. In 1955 my father went around Pennsylvania giving lectures on the Amish as part of Penn State's centennial commemoration. Father passed away in 1973, and I haven't done much reading concerning the Amish until this month.

Currently, I'm reading After the Fire: the Destruction of the Lancaster County Amish by Randy-Michael Testa. I picked this book up at a big discount book fair several years ago. Although I didn't know anything about Mr. Testa, the foreword of the book was written by John A. Hostetler. This book is about the impact of tourism, commercialization, and urbanization including the building of roads through the Amish countryside in an area of Pennsylvania where they have lived and farmed for many years. I have seen some of this, having traveled on these roads in the past five or so years.

Unfortunately, I don't have any recent books about the Amish. My few books were all published at least 20 years ago.

>186 sallylou61: Yes, I believe most of the good books on the Amish just keep being republished. About the only books on them that seem to be published now are fictitious in nature.

I just finished reading After the Fire: the Destruction of the Lancaster County Amish which discusses the problems of the Amish in Lancaster County, PA -- a rich farming area, which is becoming more and more developed to the detriment of the Amish. Mr. Testa, a Catholic who became disenchanted with teaching elementary school children of the wealthy in a private school in Colorado, lived for several months among the Amish and actively participated in their life on a farm; moreover, he went back every month while writing about the Amish. He did this study as part of a doctorate program at Harvard; however, the book does not read as a thesis. Much of it is vignettes of experiences he had and stories he heard although the last section deals with the politics of trying to help the Amish retain their way of life by opposing the selling of a farm for a large development.

88th adult book read
4.5 stars

re 187: Lori, I think that there has been a lot of fiction, particulary romances, written about the Amish. I have not read these romances; I'm more interested in reading factual, nonfiction about the Amish

I ended up reading Murder and Mendelssohn for both the Mystery CAT and GeoCAT challenges this month. I had planned to read Murder on St. Mark's Place by Victoria Thompson for the Mystery CAT, and The Road from Coorain, an autobiography by Jill Ker Conway, which included living in the Australia Outback for GeoCAT, but found it rather uninteresting. Especially since I'm behind in my reading for this month, I decided to read the same book for both CATS. I might read Murder on St. Mark's Place next month as a cozy unless I read something by Rita Mae Brown, a local author.

I was not bothered by reading the most current book of a series since I do not tend to read many series in depth --only occasional books from them. Also, the web gave a description of the main characters in the Phryne Fisher mysteries so that I could find out about them in advance. The think that Murder and Mendelssohn is mildly interesting; I enjoyed the theme of music, but felt the book was much too long and had too much description of sexual acts. I did not guess the villain, but, upon discovering who it was, it was logical.

I do not expect to read many more of this series since there are so many mystery authors whom I have not read.

(Touchstones still do not seem to be working.)

3 stars

89th adult book read

Today is my 7th Thingaversary. However, it is only two days before my birthday, and Christmas is coming up next month, and our wedding anniversary in January. I will probably be getting books on each of these occasions. Moreover, the catalog for next semester's OLLI (adult education) courses should be coming out soon; I don't know what literature courses I may be taking. Moreover, I really need to weed my collection.

Therefore, I'm doing the opposite of the normal Thingaversary celebration, and withdrawing 8 books. These include:
Lovers & Other Losses: Poems by Seven Women edited by Nadine Bishop and The Maine Poets edited by Wesley McNair, both of which I'm donating to a book drawing to be held the last day of my current OLLI poetry class; Women of the West by Dorothy Gray and Bedside Book of Bad Girls by Michael Rutter, both of which I bought on a trip to the West several years ago and have read; and Sandy Dennis: a Personal Memoir, Delta Wedding by Eudora Welty (which I have unsuccessfully started to read a couple of times), The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon, and The Sherlockian by Graham Moore.

*singing*
Happy Thingaversary to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Christmas to you-oo!
Happy Anniversary to you!

Happy Thingaversary, your weeding out of your books is a good way to mark the occasion without breaking the pocketbook!

Happy Thingaversary!

That's a great idea to use the occasion to make room for your impending new books! Happy Thingaversary :)

Happy ThingaBirthaVersary! Weeding is a good idea! I need to think about doing some myself.

Happy Thingaversary, Allison!

>190 sallylou61: I will be doing some major weeding during the winter. I'll probably even get rid of some books that have been purchased and are still unread. I'm hoping to put some priority reads in a single location so that I can get to those quickly. Then I'm also going to weed my non-fiction collection. I've got some history-type books that I really don't need. I haven't quite decided how to dispose of them. If I think the used bookstore will do trade value on them, I may go that route; however, I also have some titles that I'm almost sure they would not take.

Thank you very much for the best wishes: manzel, Judy, Lori, rabbitprincess, Carrie, and Kay.

Re 197: Lori, if I have not marked in books I usually give them to the local library for their fundraising booksale.

However, I have continued a bad habit learned from my father of marking in books. These I put in a recycling trailer at the local recycling center. I'm not sure what is done with these although I know people can go in and browse and take books from there.

I end up weeding books on practically all subjects, both fiction and nonfiction. Both my husband and I have too many books, and we really should be downsizing all kinds of our belongings.

I just finished reading Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler for a book club meeting. I enjoyed the characterization, but felt the story was rather disjointed and too long.

3 stars

90th adult book read

Happy Belated Thingaversary!! As long as there'll be books coming in for other reasons, a weeding-Thingaversary is a great idea! :)

I just finished reading The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin about the January 12, 1888 Midwest blizzard which took the lives of numerous children, many of whom were returning from school. The book focuses on the stories of several families and young teachers. Unfortunately, too much of the book is devoted to scientific explanations -- both of weather conditions and how they occur, and the process of people being frozen to death. The politics concerning late 19th century weather forecasting is also discussed.

3 stars

91st adult book read

I just finished reading I Am Malala for the biography challenge. I found the beginning of the book rather slow reading about the background history of Malala's family before she was born. However, I was very favorably impressed with her story of her own life. She certainly points out the status of women in Pakistan and the problems of the poor and illiterate of both sexes in the society there . It is amazing that her father married an illiterate woman, and that her mother gave her so much support. I had not been aware of how much she had spoken out for girls' education prior to the Taliban's attack on her.

4 stars

92nd adult book read

Earlier this month I read approximately 2/3 of The Boy Kings of Texas by Domingo Martinez. This was for a book club discussion held last week. Very few members were able to come, and those who were there or e-mailed their opinions were unfavorably impressed with the book. We found it much too long -- in dire need of better editing. Also, it was choppy as if various essays were strung together. The account was not very chronological with Mr. Martinez talking about his parents divorce, and several pages later was back to before they divorced. Also, at least once he talked about being in college, and then was back to his high school days immediately thereafter.

Although I would be kind of interested in reading the ending, there is a lot of other reading I want to do this month, and I'm not sure whether I will finish this book.

I just read Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith, both for GeoCAT and the Mystery CAT. It was an interesting book, but more a description of the roles of men and women in Botswana than a true mystery novel. The mystery, why a particular football team was suddenly losing games, was rather mild.

3 stars

93rd adult book read

Today I read the Christmas novella, A Wreath of Snow by Liz Curtis Higgs, which I enjoyed. It was the first book I have read by her.

4 stars

94th adult book read

>205 sallylou61: It's been years since I read anything by Higgs, but she used a lot of humor in the ones I did read.

I have finished reading and reviewing Overruled: the Long War for Control of the U.S. Supreme Court by Damon Root, who wrote from a libertarian viewpoint. This was a LT early review book, which I did not enjoy. I think that next year I will not apply for so many early review books; I always get selected for non-fiction books, and many of them have been disappointing the past couple of years. There is so many books I already own which I want to read, I think I will concentrate more on them.

3 stars

95th adult book read

I have tried to be much more selective of books I request from ER. I always ask myself, if I win this will I be eager to read it? I have second-clicked a number of books when I answer that in the negative. I have won some real treasures and some real stinkers. That's always the thrill of the program, IMHO!

My husband and I exchanged Christmas gifts over a week early this evening since we will be away for Christmas, and wanted to find out what books we received as gifts (and whether we wanted to take them on the trip. Most but not all of our gifts to each other are books.) I received a slender book titled Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Little Golden Book by Diane Muldrow. This is a very short book, the same size as the Little Golden Books many of us read (or had read to us) as children.

The book features reprints of pictures which appeared in the Little Golden Books along with brief text giving suggestions for living. However, the text probably did not appear in the original book. For example, the picture from The Poly Little Puppy shows the puppy smelling a strawberry, and the text says "but remember to stop and smell the strawberries;" this text does not appear in the story.

I would have enjoyed this brief book more if I had been more familiar with the stories featured -- many were from the mid 50s to 60s when I was no longer reading the Little Golden Books. The title, author, and illustrator of the book were identified with each illustration. I was surprised to find that Garth Williams (who illustrated the Little House Books by Laura Ingalls Wilder) had illustrated several Little Golden Books including some by Margaret Wise Brown, and that Richard Scarry was often the illustrator for different Little Golden Book authors.

An enjoyable book. (Incidentally, the Poky Little Puppy appears on the cover of the book; a woman is holding him in her hand.)

4 stars

I just finished reading Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: the True Story of a Great American Road Trip by Matthew Algeo. It is the story of Harry and Bess Truman's car trip, with Harry driving, from their home in Independence, MO to Washington, DC, Philadelphia, and New York City and home in 1953 shortly after Truman left the White House. This was before the time of Secret Service protection for former Presidents; Truman did not have any official protection although some city's police departments provided protection when they heard he was coming. In addition to describing the trip itself, Mr. Algeo discusses the history of the roads Truman traveled on, the history to the current day of places the Trumans ate and stayed, etc. The edition I read (2011) has an afterword about Mr. Algeo's discovery of the location of the car the Trumans traveled in.

I will probably be reading more books about Truman in the next month or so since I received The Hidden White House: Harry Truman and the Reconstruction of America's Most Famous Residence by Robert Klara for an early Christmas gift, and should be receiving Whistle Stop by Philip White, a book about Truman's 1948 presidential campaign, through the LT Early Reviewers program.

4 stars

96th adult book read

I just finished reading Benediction by Kent Haruf for an early January book club meeting. It was an interesting read, but not something I normally read. There were a lot of loose ends which were not resolved by the end of the book.

3.5 or 4 stars

97th adult book read.

Yesterday I read the light Christmas romance novel, Starry Night by Debbie Macomber. It was one of the few Christmas books which I found browsing through the cruise ship's library. I had never read anything by her although I know that she is a popular author. It was an enjoyable read.

4 stars

98th adult book read

Today I read To the Mountaintop by Charlayne Hunter-Gault, one of the two students who integrated the University of Georgia in January 1961. She describes her experiences doing this and her experiences working as a black female journalist in the 1960s. However,most of the book is a description of the Civil Rights struggles in the 1960s. Includes a timeline of Civil Rights events and selected newspaper articles about key events.

4.5 stars

10th Y.A./children's book read

>212 sallylou61: I meant to pack that one to bring with me to Mississippi to read. I managed to leave it at home, so I guess it will be a post-Christmas read because I still want to read it. If I'm lucky, I'll manage to finish it before the year ends. I'll have to read fast though to do so because I won't get home until the 30th and have lots to do on the 31st before leaving again on the 1st.

Re 214: Starry Night was a very quick read, Lori.

>215 sallylou61: I'll try to begin it as soon as I get home and have a chance to do so. It will be late afternoon at the earliest and possibly as late as about 6 p.m. I know that I need to stop at the grocery store on the way to the house to pick up a few items for something I'm baking on Wednesday.

My stats for 2014:
98 "adult" books read
10 children's/young adult books read

This is higher than I expected -- and more titles than I have read previously. However, only one of the books was over 500 pages of text.

Included in the above stats:
22 books read for Random CAT which included books for all months except December.
17 books read for GeoCAT, which included books for all months.
Only 8 books for MysteryCAT, 1 of which was a true crime book
8 LT Early Review books (which was all the books I have received) -- however, did not receive books from the June or November batches.

In 2015 I do not plan to distinguish between adult and YA/children's books.

It looks like 2014 was a good reading year for you. I hope 2015 is even better!

Great total! See you in the 2015!