qebo's 2014 books (3)

Books Read



ROOTs Read



Books Acquired

Currently Reading

Read But Not Yet Reviewed

January
#01: The Hot Zone by Richard Preston -- (Jan 3) - ROOT
#02: Micro by Michael Crichton and Richard Preston -- (Jan 9) - ROOT
#03: Regency Buck by Georgette Heyer -- (Jan 14) - library
#04: Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver -- (Jan 20) - ROOT (e-book)
#05: American Nations by Colin Woodard -- (Jan 26) - ROOT
#06: January magazines -- (Jan 27)
#07: Spider Woman's Daughter by Anne Hillerman -- (Jan 28) - library

February
#08: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard -- (Feb 2) - new
#09: The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver -- (Feb 3) - library
#10: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde -- (Feb 4) - new (e-book)
#11: Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold -- (Feb 10) - new (e-book)
#12: A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan -- (Feb 17) - new (e-book)
#13: Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver -- (Feb 20) - library
#14: February magazines -- (Feb 25)

March
#15: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen -- (Mar 2) - new (e-book)
#16: The Great Influenza by John M. Barry -- (Mar 4) - ROOT
#17: The Thing with Feathers by Noah Strycker -- (Mar 11) - ER
#18: Death Comes to Pemberley by P. D. James -- (Mar 12) - ROOT
#19: Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink -- (Mar 19) - library
#20: March magazines -- (Mar 28)
#21: My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell -- (Mar 30) - ROOT

April
#22: The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon -- (Apr 5) - library
#23: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion -- (Apr 12) - new (e-book)
#24: Animal Wise by Virginia Morell -- (Apr 23) - ER

May
#25: Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple -- (May 4) - LFL
#26: Moving Violations by John Hockenberry -- (May 20) - ROOT
#27: The Unlikely Disciple by Kevin Roose -- (May 25) - ROOT

June
#28: Critical Mass by Sarah Paretsky -- (Jun 8) - new (e-book)
#29: Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy -- (Jun 9) - new (used)
#30: Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett -- (Jun 12) - new (used)
#31: Nabokov's Blues by Kurt Johnson and Steve Coates -- (Jun 12) - ROOT
#32: Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell -- (Jun 18) - ROOT
#33: The City & the City by China Mieville -- (Jun 27) - ROOT
#34: Pets in a Jar by Seymour Simon -- (Jun 29) - new (donated to LFL)
#35: April magazines -- (Jun 30)

I reviewed a whopping 2 books in my March-April thread, but maybe a fresh start will be inspiring.

I'll start with the Washington DC meetup and my Very Restrained (because I had to carry everything around for two days) book acquisitions.

White bleeding hearts! How lovely. All I have ever seen are the pink ones.

Happy new thread, Katherine!

I've read some science fiction by Amy Thomson (Story Teller and The Color of Distance that was excellent. I'll be interested in what you think of Virtual Girl.

Very restrained indeed!!!! Saw the photos of yr. meet up too. I do feel very far away from all the fun sometimes.

LUCY feels far away from the fun!!!!
I am in the back of nowhere - or sited beside the Great Sewer of the East Coast where nobody stops. Take your pick.
Lovely bleeding hearts! I'm glad that Lori identified them.
You may not have done but two reviews. I didn't read but two books. You tell me which of us is in worse shape.
I really enjoyed March, the only one of your new acquisitions that I've read. I also loved The Speed of Dark. I think I'm its main cheerleader here although I was happy to see that Terri also enjoyed it.
Happy New Thread!!!!

Oh my, I've had Reading Lolita in Tehran in the stacks for far, far too long. I'll have to do something about that.

Happy New Thread Katherine!

Nice book haul!

I've been wanting to read Behind the Beautiful Forevers for, well, forever.

Some fledgling band-tailed pigeons at the feeder today. They are one bird species where the young are not coddled. Poor foot-tall baby was getting pecked every time it tried to land, clumsily, on the feeder. Sadly, I've lost a couple of band-tails to a Cooper's Hawk this winter. The hawk even tried, unsuccessfully, to take one of Katie's chickens. Talk about a chicken hullabaloo. They were not going to go quietly into the good night.

Undeserved visitors! I need a week off to catch up... Tomorrow is a plant sale and then gardening... Or maybe rain will force me to stay inside and deal with LibraryThing.

>6 lkernagh: I hadn’t seen white bleeding hearts either but I knew they existed so a few years ago I went actively looking.

>7 ronincats: I read The Color of Distance and Through Alien Eyes years ago, thought well of them.

>8 sibylline: Maybe next year with your daughter in college you can get out more.

>9 LizzieD: I really enjoyed The Speed of Dark too, mostly, until toward the end...

You tell me which of us is in worse shape.
Look at all the work I have to do!

>10 Smiler69: I’m reading about Nabokov and butterflies so it triggered my attention.

>11 banjo123: Yeah, but look at my books acquired ticker. And I bought another book at the grocery store yesterday. And I have a small stack on the floor that followed me home from somewhere I don’t remember that I haven’t yet officially counted.

>12 labfs39: Me too, so I grabbed it when I saw the paperback at the train station. Of course, I may not get to it for some time.

unsuccessfully
Yay!

I've also been eyeing Behind the Beautiful Forevers. I'll look forward to your review of it (and also of The Rosie Project, which I've already read).

I enjoyed March too.

Have you seen this?

:D

>14 _Zoe_: You're expecting reviews? You have more faith than I do...

>16 SqueakyChu: Hah, no, I hadn't see it. I found the books in the LFL this evening when I was on my way out, but I didn't look at them, just brought them inside for processing (I'm still keeping track of author and title in a spreadsheet, just not all the other stuff). Is this someone you know?

>17 qebo: Hehe, one day. I think it would drive you crazy to leave them undone forever ;)

>17 qebo: I haven't met Bascula in person, but I do know that she's a long-time, very active BookCrosser. Please make journal entries for the books that she left. Just doing that will probably will ensure that she'll continue to leave more books in your LFL in the future.

By the way, I recently got several boxes of books from a book shop to use for our upcoming book festival. In the box was a book that had actually come from a Bookcrosser, but it had last been journaled ten years ago!

>19 SqueakyChu: Yes yes yes, I'm not starting books in BC, but I will properly journal any that come through.

ten years ago!
Oh isn't that cool!

#25: Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple -- (May 4)

why now: It was donated to the Little Free Library and I was in the mood for something light.

Bernadette Fox was an architect in Los Angles, famous for the 20-mile house, recipient of a genius grant, when an incident sent her escaping to Seattle, where she bought a decaying institutional building as the family home, with an elaborate system of leak containment and blackberry bushes growing through the floor. Elgin Branch is director of the Samantha 2 project at Microsoft, with tech guru status from a TED Talk that went viral. Bee is their daughter, born with a heart defect that has been fixed but keeps her parents anxious. When Bee graduates from middle school with perfect grades, she asks that the reward be a cruise to Antarctica, and her parents comply. On the eve of departure, simmering family troubles erupt, Bernadette ends up on the cruise alone, and disappears in Antarctica.

A poignant sitcom of Seattle style (a second-tier private school with aspirations, an offshore personal assistant, a support group for (well, against) dysfunctional relationships) told through email exchanges that are maybe trying too hard to be funny but often hit, with commentary from Bee who is both eye-rolling and vulnerable.

I'm glad you liked Bernadette. There was a subtle depth to it, I thought. Easy to skim and miss that.

It sounds as though you enjoyed the whole more than I. I thought the first third side-splittingly funny, then meh. I think she would make a good columnist, as she's at her best with short vignettes, IMO.

Ditto what Lisa said.

Poignant sitcom of Seattle style?

Intrigued enough to seek it out on the shelves....eventually!

Have a wonderful Sunday and Happy Mother's Day.

Very cool LFL moment!

And yes, I concede, Peggy is even more off the beaten track than me EVEN THOUGH she is only moments off 95. It appears to be a section that no LTers EVER DRIVE. Our loss, my friend.

Well there went the weekend. Plant sale. Gardening. Gardening. Web site for community garden. Gardening. Gardening. Gardening. Organize plant photos. See a theme here? Someone at the community garden today asked whether I'm retired. Do I look that haggard? The question really was how can I put so much time into the community garden? Well, I haven't cleaned my house in two months. I thought the impact on my LibraryThing time would be too much to explain.

Ha! I love it. The only reason my house gets cleaned is because it rains so often here and I can't get out. Nice today though and got lots done in the garden. Most of the veggies are in. Split and planted the dahlias. Weeded, pruned, and weeded some more. Took a break to take my daughter to get fitted for a new bow, then back out for another go at the further beds. My fingernails are going to look atrocious for my sisters wedding. Maybe I can wear gloves?

Theme? What theme? ;-)

Thanks for dropping by my thread amid all the gardening Katherine, I'm truly honoured! I've responded to you there, but in case you didn't find my review of Zealot, I'd posted it on my previous thread here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/171927#4653517

>29 Smiler69: Yes, I did go back to the previous thread to read it. Thanks.

I got to some threads this morning, now I'm working... It's 77 degrees and I want to go outside.

Darn. Bad time to be on a business trip in Iowa.

Q - I've lost yr. garden thread.... help!

Never mind, I found it.

When I tried to read Bernadette, I started out loving it--as so much was dead-on Pacific NW satire. But by half-way through I was bored and abandoned it.

>31 qebo: Awesome!

I finished a book! Only five more to go this month to stay on pace for 75.

I'll go to the library book sale tomorrow, half price day. Since I'm going mostly for the LFL and not for me, and the LFL does not have discriminating taste.

OMG, Pennsylvania joins the modern world.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/judge-strikes-down-pennsylvania-same-sex-mar...

John Jones III is already a hero for his decision in the Dover PA Intelligent Design trial in 2005. A Republican appointed by George W. Bush.

I didn't know Jones' history. He's my hero twice over!

>37 qebo: - So, it took a judge to overturn the ruling of another, albeit lower judge, to see common sense prevail. Good on Judge John Jones III!

Wow, that's awesome!

>31 qebo: I got 132 books for $35 ($0.25 each + tax) at the library book sale on half price day. I'll take a photo eventually, but right now they're in bags in my car. All for the Little Free Library, mostly science fiction, mystery, biography, selected in a quick perusal of tables. I checked kid books too, but I'm seriously out of the loop of what's any good, and also someone donated a couple boxes of kid books last week.

>41 qebo: that's excellent! What a great way to stock your LFL.

Wow! Your LFL is gaining momentum.

>41 qebo: BookCrosser bookstogive is ready to ship you some more books for your LFL. Just let that BookCrosser know you're interested. Bookstogive generously offered me a second box as well - which I'm taking.

At the Gaithersburg Book Festival this past Saturday, our BookCrossing group group gave away over 1,900 free, gently used books. You should have been there (with a van or something!). :D

I'm seriously out of the loop of what's any good

It really doesn't matter as everyone's taste is different. I've found that what's more important is just to not let any books which linger "go stale". Keep the books moving (even if you have to recirculate them later). In that way, others will always check to see if you have any new books and at least take something.

Many books that were taken from my LFL were a great surprise to me! Then again, there were some books which I thought were great that didn't circulate at all. Those I chose to remove after about one month and distribute elsewhere. I'd say that I give away about half of my stash. I'm sure that you give away a much higher percentage of books than I do.

Now you now see why giving away books (or even cataloguing them) to reduce the amount of books in your home does NOT work. Heh! Doing that becomes an incentive to simply hoard temporarily shelve more of them.

Another way to find many decent books for cheap prices is to visit sales on "bag days". For about $5, you can fill up a whole bag with any books remaining after the sale is over. This is so much fun. Often you'll find gems for yourself there as well. Check out Booksalefinder for these. I indexed this link to those sales in Pennsylvania.

>44 SqueakyChu: bookstogive
Oh, thanks. My living room coffee table is overflowing with books now, but I'll still be glad for more.

Many books that were taken from my LFL were a great surprise to me!
Yeah, I'm sometimes surprised by what gets taken immediately and what sits for awhile. So far though, everything I've put out there has been taken by the end of the following month.

everything I've put out there has been taken by the end of the following month.

100% taken! That is terrific, although I hope you are still continuing to receive donations from neighbors as well.

>46 SqueakyChu: Yes, it's mostly donations now, from quite a few anonymous sources.

>47 qebo: Perfect! That takes most of the burden off of you so you can enjoy the fun.

What a haul! Good work, Katherine!

Travelocity customer service is the pits. I went to print out my flight itinerary and... it wasn't there. Not to panic, I'd changed the return flight in April, maybe one of the flurry of emails linked to the right thing. No. I called Travelocity and was passed through three agents, all of whom told me the itinerary had been cancelled. Yes, that's why I'm calling, here's the story of the changed reservation, maybe this will help you figure out what happened so you can fix it. Sorry for the inconvenience, that reservation has been cancelled. I confess that by agent number three my level of politeness was suboptimal. 45 minutes into the phone call I was ticking through my mind how exactly I was going to get to Maine four days from now, and get everything organized this week so my parents could travel up there without me (they're perfectly competent, but I've made all the arrangements and they're now old enough to be anxious about unfamiliar places and transitions under time pressure). Thankfully, agent number four, buried deep within the Travelocity system, saved the day. The agent who changed the reservation in April went through the airline, and in the record trail was an airline confirmation code. Which was never sent to me because that agent failed to link it to a Travelocity itinerary. Which I never checked for because I thought another email with the correct flight information was the relevant one. So from the airline's point of view, which is ultimately all that matters, everything is fine, and I can get at the reservation through its system. Phew! Seriously, Travelocity, isn't it a fairly common occurrence in the travel business for people to change their flights? Why is this so difficult to get right?

Wow, that's stressful. It's great you were so persistent. I don't have much experience with Travelocity, but have used Expedia a lot. Granted, I haven't had to change a flight, but I've always received a confirmation code when making the initial reservation.

>51 lauralkeet: Travelocity and Expedia have merged, so the left hand and the right hand aren't in full communication. The trouble occurred because for some mystifying reason, it is not possible to change a flight through the online system (nothing fancy, the same flight one day later), this has to be done through an agent, which means talking on the phone with no visual references... The original reservation for my parents was fine.

>50 qebo: - Well, that is not helpful from a customer point of view! Glad to see you were able to fix the mess, even if it meant dealing with four different agents and the time on your part to do so.

Phew! I started reading your post and was starting to panic. I'm sorry you had to go through that, but I'm glad your flight is safe. The flight aggregators are great until you need to make a change. I recently had to spend an hour on the phone with Amtrak to change a train reservation for the girl scouts' trip to Portland. Finally at 11:30 pm they said we can't help you, call back in the morning. After an hour on the phone! I called back the next day, and after another 40 minutes, the changes were made. Their computer system must be absolutely antiquated. I think a simple access database would have worked better. Argh. I feel your pain. I'm really glad you changed your flight though!

>54 labfs39: Hah, I'd already figured out a way while I was on the phone. I would've taken the train and an extra day off work. Aside from the mini-meetup with you, I absolutely couldn't miss my niece's wedding. Yeah, part of the problem is convoluted airline rules, but you'd think a modern computer system could accommodate. Also that there'd be a "paper" trail of activity, but instead three agents spent 10 minutes each clicking around in silence punctuated by hmms and found... nothing.

What a pain! I'm glad you got it worked out and hope you have a wonderful trip!

Bless your heart! I'm glad that everything is straight.
I am absolutely going to stay at home.

So glad you got that straightened out, Katherine!

but you'd think a modern computer system could accommodate

I'm beginning to think that many of the computer systems out there are either ancient or poorly designed. Or the architects are given impossible deadlines and so launch a system before sufficient user and load testing. Or no budget to do adequate testing. Bit of a bugbear.

but you'd think a modern computer system could accommodate
This sent me down a little Wikipedia rabbit hole, concerning the history of the Sabre reservation system. This originated in the 1950s, was adopted first by American Airlines and then by pretty much every airline. The present Sabre Holdings owns Travelocity, sez Wikipedia, here.

I can't help wondering how much of the "original" Sabre is embedded in the websites we use today, which means it may not be as modern as it may appear.

>60 lauralkeet: Oh isn't that interesting.

>60 lauralkeet: Ooooooooo, you're talkin' Deep Web, Laura, a la Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, whose book Bleeding Edge I am reading right now..... Giving me goosebumps, you are!!! His description of the clutter, wrecks, layers of dust, bogies, hants, and other creepy stuff down the well is hair-raising and..... according to some of the bright-eyed geeks I have consulted..... not untrue. So Sabre is there, clanking away in the subterranean depths kind of leaking ooze ( zat is geek pun, nyet?) into the system. Sorry, I have Pynchon up to my eyeballs at the mo'.

>62 sibylline: clutter, wrecks, layers of dust, bogies, hants, and other creepy stuff down the well
This is my life. I'm not sure I'd call myself a bright-eyed geek (!!), but I've spent 30 years in IT at a major multinational corporation. We have systems in operation that were here when I walked in the door, and they are surprisingly difficult to retire or decommission.

Sabre was much talked about in the 1980s as a technological marvel and an example of how IT could bring competitive advantage to the early adopter (in this case, American Airlines, who was the first to use it). It has probably become someone's albatross.

>63 lauralkeet: And I grumble because I'm stuck with code written a decade ago.

And... another ER book undeservedly won: Law of the Jungle by Paul M. Barrett.

I'm sorry that you had some much trouble with your reservations! I'm chuckling a bit about the computer discussion, because I know exactly what my husband (who is a bit of a computer expert) would say if I told him your story: "People just try to do too much with computers and the internet without really knowing what they're doing!" It would start a whole - and very familiar - rant! Ha!

>66 scaifea: Oh I'm familiar with that rant! My husband has a similar rant, but from the perspective of a luddite, about how "all this technology" does more harm than good. The TV remote is most likely to trigger said rant.

>65 qebo: why undeservedly? You do a great job!

Although this month, when I am way behind with several reviews, I was surprised to win Underground Girls of Kabul.

Undeservedly because I've won an ER book every month this year but haven't posted any reviews. Read two but haven't strung together 25 words...

I'm I Maine. All transit occurred as planned. Tiny phone keyboard so posting will be sparse.

Glad that your trip is working out as planned! I just had a travel boo-boo--all my own fault, I think. Booked a flight in May, when it should have been August. And didn't bother to read the confirmation e-mail---lesson learned $200 re-booking fee later. But the Delta representative was very nice

I'm glad that you made it to Maine, despite the Travelocity snafu. Enjoy your stay there!

And the wedding is a done deal, so now begins the vacation.

Happiness is a done wedding and a vacation opening up. Enjoy, friend!
You're all making me happy that I stay right here and that LT is the most sophisticated thing I do on the web.

Hurrah! Enjoy the vacation!

I, too, won an ER book -- Underground Girls of Kabul. I feel slightly sheepish/guilty as I didn't even remember having requested it...

Glad your travel situation was eventually sorted out! My worst story about reservation problems was when I booked my mother's flights to see my sister in Cyprus. She flew out with us but came back a few weeks later. I misunderstood my sister's instructions and booked a flight from Larnaca to Heathrow rather than Pathos to Heathrow which is what my sister had wanted. The plane started from Larnaca, touched down at Paphos, let more people on and then continued to Heathrow. So she would have been on exactly the same plane on the same date, just for less time, but do you think they would let me change the booking? No! In the end my brother-in-law had to go into the Cyprus Airways office, wave his platinum (or whatever) frequent flyer membership about and get very stroppy, and they finally agreed.

I'm waving to you down Route 2 which goes all the way to Maine! Have a lovely time.

And now I'm in Portland. I PMed Tim about the mini meetup but he's out of town.

Hi to visitors. Phone horrible for typing, loses things...

Hope the trip continues to go well, Katherine.

Glad you finally made it to Maine. Have fun. Sorry you won't have a chance to meet Tim. Maybe the next meet-up!

And I'm home again as of somewhat past midnight last night. Will post photos eventually. Now at a local native plant conference until noon Saturday. Catchup on everything over the weekend. Hah! Unlikely that I'll make much of a dent in anything.

Report on the trip to Maine: Day 1 was getting to Brunswick; my stress level dropped significantly when we got to the Philadelphia airport and my reservation was in the system. Day 2 was a brief walk through the Bowdoin campus where we happened upon the excellent Arctic Museum (Robert Peary was a Bowdoin graduate), and the wedding. Day 3 was departures of relatives at various times plus wandering around downtown Brunswick, now on my own. Day 4 was justifying the car rental with a drive across bridges to the Giant Stairs, then a train to Portland. Day 5 was the mini-meetup with labfs39, which included two bookstores, a walk along the city perimeter, and a walk to see LibraryThing. Day 6 was an extension of the meetup with Mr labfs39 and k8lovesbooks (who had arrived late the night before), a chilly rainy day perfect for the Portland Art Museum, then after the departure of labfs39 and family the Longfellow House & Garden and an uneventful trip home.

From a store w/ college paraphernalia and books near the train station in Brunswick:


Longfellow new & used books in Portland (w/ qebo & labfs39 reflected in window):




Yes used books in Portland, conveniently located a block from the hotel:




LibraryThing!


Meetup evidence:

Wow, LibraryThing is a PLACE!!! *Grin*

Mecca....

Thanks for the photos, sounds as if you had a great time, and you certainly have the books to prove it...

>84 Chatterbox: An unmarked place. Perhaps one of the mailboxes indicated, but we were polite and respectful of private property.

Oh, also, there's a Little Free Library at the Brunswick Vistor Center / train station / bus station.

It sounds like a good time, and a nice book haul!

I'm glad you took that picture of LibraryThing; it's nice to be able to visualize it as a place.

I love it! Library thing a real place! Beautiful weather you had. We had it here too.

I'd gotten a gardening sunburn the weekend before the trip, which should've taught me something, but when I was packing I skipped past the sunscreen on my checklist, with Maine temperatures predicted to be day 60s / night 40s. This was a mistake.

I'm glad you made good use of your trip by visiting bookstores and LibraryThing -- the place!

Sounds like a fun Meet-up!

Starting to catch up with threads, may take awhile because I've missed large chunks... procrastinating on going to the community garden because the thistle grows more rapidly than the vegetables, but I gotta be a good citizen and deal with it.

I had no idea LT was a physical place either. Sounds like you had a great trip and hurray for meetups!

The Architecture of Insects looks fascinating. Great book haul!

I love that Librarything exists in an old styled house!

Great photos and description of your trip to Maine, Katherine! I'm glad that you had such a splendid time there.

Oh, Bowdoin! I've been there for a conference before - lovely campus and a lovely little town.

Hi! Love the photos, qebo, especially the one of us reflected in the window, very elusive. You had a great book haul.

My sister's wedding was lovely, and my sunburn only blistered for the wedding and the peeling held off until Sunday. Never again do I go to a meetup with you without sunscreen! I should have known long walks would be involved. :-) Hope to get my own pictures posted soon.

It was great fun to meet you, and I hope we can do it again soon. PA next time? I want to see your LFL and garden.

Huge pileated woodpecker at the feeder. B calls them pterodactyls.

>96 labfs39: They are kind of prehistoric looking! So incredibly big! And loud when they are hammering.

>96 labfs39: I did not expect Maine to have so much sun. Yes, visit Pennsylvania! I've been known to get to Seattle too, though it's been awhile.

>96 labfs39:, >97 sibylline: pileated woodpecker
I've never seen one. That's quite the disproportionate head.
From http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/pileated_woodpecker/id:

I was walking on the C&O canal towpath in Maryland this past week. I didn't see a pileated woodpecker, but I sure did hear one. That hammering was loud :)

I do see them from time to time and am always amazed at how huge they are.

My husband saw one fly across our yard just the other day. This was an exciting bird nerd moment because they don't show themselves very often. We get all other types of woodpeckers at our feeders, but never the pileated.

>100 lauralkeet: "bird nerd moment": love it!

#16: The Great Influenza by John M. Barry -- (Mar 4)
Science, Religion, & History group read

why now: This was one of the Science, Religion, & History group reads for 1st quarter 2014. I did in fact read it at the appropriate time.

A dense history of the 1918 flu pandemic that perhaps tries to pack in too much; what the author could remember and organize in his brain through seven years of writing was too much for my brain to keep track of in a few weeks of reading. The book begins with the development of modern medicine in the United States; the founders of emerging institutions and their proteges were involved in researching causes and cures. World War II was a crucial component. The flu spread from a probable origin in Kansas through military bases. Death was caused by immune system overreaction, disproportionate among young adults. Information was suppressed in the interest of morale; an especially gruesome section describes bodies piling up in the streets while newspapers uttered not a word. Well after the pandemic had subsided, the pathogen was unknown and the primary suspect, erroneously, was a bacterium. Personalities, politics, and science, entwined, expounded, and footnoted, with stretches of compelling story interspersed with tedious detail.

#17: The Thing with Feathers by Noah Strycker -- (Mar 11)

why now: This was a January ER that arrived in February. With the best of intentions, I read it promptly, then somehow couldn’t produce 25 words for an official review. Not the fault of the book; I haven’t produced 25 words for any review in three months.

I’ve known about Boids (a computer simulation of flocking birds) for 25 years, and I saw the video of a starling murmuration when it went viral a couple years ago. I did not know that a similar video had been analyzed, tracking individual birds frame by frame over time to determine the accuracy of the parameters. A highlight, for me, in this book of intriguing anecdotes and connections. Each of 13 chapters, arranged into sections on body and mind and spirit, describes one bird’s representative behavior, and extrapolates. What might bird behavior suggest about human behavior? How might abstractions such as altruism and aesthetics apply to birds? I was more interested in bowerbirds than buzzards, but the variety offers something for everyone, and the author’s experience as a scientist combined with a comfortable conversational style is engaging regardless.

>102 qebo: Sorry The Great Influenza and you didn't click. I was mesmerized. Trains full of dead soldiers, mass graves in PA, nurses kidnapped off the streets. Who knew?

>103 qebo: Sounds fascinating. Off to check out the starling murmuration (btw, that was one of the collective nouns used on the door in that piece of art at the Portland Museum of Art).

Edited to add: Wow! That is amazing! I have to show k8 in the morning.

>104 labfs39: Oh, it did click in places: efforts to modernize medicine in the US, the search for the pathogen, the disconnect between what people were seeing and what the newspapers were reporting. But then there would be pages of too many names... too much wait, who was he again? Also I may be skimping a bit on reviews to catch up. :-)
murmuration
It was!

The Little Free Library got another book donation yesterday, from a teacher who lives a block away, a box of castoffs from the school library.

My daughter's school is setting up a Little Free Library and plans to populate it with castoffs from the library.

This is ayoyig. I spilled tea imnujy6 mnujy6y keyboard yesterday, ad it worked fie last ight, ut ow is goig wacky.

My keyboard won't type 1 unless I hit it hard directly from above. I blame it for bugs in my code.

>107 labfs39:

Maybe the keyboard prefers coffee? ;)

On the other hand, coffee's not good either. The coffee I spilled on my keyboard at work a long time ago killed my keyboard.

>106 qebo:

a box of castoffs from the school library.

Any interesting books?

I just also got a large donation of children's books. Mine were from Kensington Row Bookshop in Kensington, Maryland. The proprietor (also a Bookcrosser) gave me two boxes of brand new nonfiction children's books because they were Library of Congress duplicates hence they cannot be sold.

>102 qebo: Sorry The Great Influenza wasn't better. I really enjoyed Barry's Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America when I read it more than 15 years ago.

>104 labfs39:, >111 rebeccanyc: Hmm, maybe I should revise the review to give a more positive impression. I'm writing three months after the fact with a backlog of a dozen books, I didn't take notes, and my memory is poor. It's a good book, an excellent book even!

Don't be swayed by my thoughts! Not every book for every reader.

Have you checked out SciStarter? A website that gathers citizen scientist opportunities. k8 and I are doing a couple. Fun!

What Lisa said!

Did you make it to either of the Science, Religion & History selections this quarter? I have Before the Dawn sitting here, but haven't been in the right mood to start it.

I guess I should go over there and give the thread a bump.

>115 streamsong: I have Before the Dawn sitting on a table so I can see it, but I also have not been in the mood, started two other books this week. Among the reasons is that the author has been widely criticized in the science blogs (and elsewhere) for his new book A Troublesome Inheritance.

>113 labfs39:, >114 rebeccanyc: No, I'm more concerned that my current attitude of “get this book out of my life” unfairly affected the review of a perfectly good book.

>113 labfs39: SciStarter
No, I didn’t know about it and I was just a conference that had a session on citizen science! Lemme see if I can find something to do... Which projects are you and k8 doing?

I haven't been reading any of the stuff on his new book. From what people said on the SR&H thread, it seems that the new book is an expansion of his last chapter of BTD. Is that how you see it?

It's a disturbing world view but not a new one. I'm thinking it sounds somewhat similar to some of the things James Watson said (and which ultimately ended his career). I'm a contrarian and often read 'the other side' of controversial views. At least then, I have a clearer view of what I oppose.

>118 streamsong: It's not so much the "other side"-ness as the "no scientific evidence"-ness.

I'd actually like to read A Troublesome Inheritance, and then read all about the controversy.

But first I should get back to Before the Dawn.... I should have known it was a bad idea to set it aside when we decided to read it in the second quarter rather than the first.

>120 _Zoe_: Too late for intellectual purity. :-) I do still want to read Before the Dawn, but I also want to step up the ROOT pace, and my entire life is backlogged w/ semi-random influences on priorities...

#21: My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell -- (Mar 30)

Why now?: At some mention on the threads I set it out on a table, and at another mention I picked it up to read.

I have a theory that people happiest in their careers are doing whatever obsessed them at age 11. This book provides supporting evidence. The Durrell family (mother, three sons and one daughter) moved to the Greek island of Corfu when the future naturalist was 10, and while My Family is something of a caricature, Other Animals are many and varied, patiently and meticulously observed, and affectionately and humorously portrayed.

#26: Moving Violations by John Hockenberry -- (May 20)

Why now?: I was perusing my shelves for non-fiction that wouldn’t involve a learning curve, so the focus was on a shelf of memoirs.

On a continuum of woe is me to make lemonade, John Hockenberry is far on the lemonade end. A math major at the University of Chicago when a car accident (the driver fell asleep and was killed) paralyzed him from the chest down, he segued into a “crip job” training developmentally disabled adults (taking clients for jaunts to the beach in an orange pickup truck with a repurposed bicycle rack for the wheelchair), music major (inventing a mouth device to press the piano pedal before deciding the hands-only harpsichord was not an admission of defeat), newscaster for a local public radio station (on the radio, nobody knows you’re a paraplegic), foreign correspondent in such wheelchair-accessible locations as Iraq and Somalia (turns out pretty well when people treat a wheelchair as one of life’s many nuisances and simply carry it up the stairs; more difficult to see an opera in New York with a balcony ticket). His attitude is pragmatic and irreverent with a dose of overcompensation (“your mother and I think you use the wheelchair as a crutch” says his father), and then... pent-up anger bursts forth when a taxi driver tries to avoid him and refuses to put the wheelchair in the trunk, and empathy exudes in reflections about a grandfather who lost an arm in an electrocution accident and an uncle mentally and physically damaged by phenylketonuria.

I don’t even know why I have this book, and I read it somewhat at random, so it was a pleasant (if that’s quite the right word) surprise.

>122 qebo: I loved loved loved My Family and Other Animals when I read it at approximately age 11 and went on to read a lot of Durrell's other books about exploring various places to get animals for his zoo.

The influenza book sounds interesting, but if I read it I'll be sure to pick a time when I'm more mentally sharp than usual these days.

>123 qebo: Moving Violations sounds interesting. BTW, why did the taxi driver refuse to put the wheelchair in the trunk? Was the trunk full of dead bodies or something? (Sorry, reading too many mysteries . . .)

No surprise that k8 loved My Family and Other Animals and wants to move to Corfu! She just turned 11.

>125 tymfos: Apparently getting out of the taxi to put items in the trunk is above and beyond for NYC taxi drivers.

>126 labfs39: I want to go too! Though I suspect it has changed since 1935 in ways that aren't compatible with budding naturalists.

Though I suspect it has changed since 1935 in ways that aren't compatible with budding naturalists.

Yes, and I doubt she would be able to run around the island day and night without worry. It's quite amazing how kids like Gerald Durrell and Sterling North were allowed to just roam and to bring home any kind of critter. Kids today have a much narrower world in some ways, while technology has made it a bigger world in other ways. We try to give our daughter as much outdoor freedom as we can, but it's limited to the cul-de-sac. She loves it though. Last year on the last day of the summer, she was up and gone before I awoke, leaving a note that said not to expect her until dusk, she wanted to enjoy every last minute outside. I found her up in a tree with a sack full of apples and a squashed PB&J. Very idyllic childhood moment.

#24: Animal Wise by Virginia Morell -- (Apr 23)

why now: A February ER, read reasonably promptly.

Surely we all know by now that people aren’t uniquely equipped with intelligence and emotion, but exactly how and what other animals think and feel isn’t simple to tease out from behavior. This book presents research on various species, arranged in order of similarity to humans, beginning with ants, passing through chimpanzees, and ending oddly with dogs, on the hypothesis that domestication pushed wolves to be more mentally compatible with humans, whereas evolution has no such constraint. Two pairs of chapters were most interesting to me: parrots and dolphins in the lab vs the wild, and efforts to understand why they need to be so smart in their natural lives.

Nothing notably remarkable or profound if you’re generally familiar with this sort of thing, but the author is conversant with the science, and portrays -- more engaging than results of studies -- scientists at work / play with their chosen creatures.

Sounds good -- both interesting and scientifically based.

I felt so noble after finally writing reviews for January and February ERs that I started reading the March ER last night, and alas, it should be interesting (that's why I requested it) but it is tedious and poorly edited.

>128 labfs39: leaving a note that said not to expect her until dusk
So very responsible!

but it is tedious and poorly edited.

Sounds like a review right there. 'Nough said.

>133 labfs39: I feel obligated to read beyond the introduction. Besides, I might learn something.

#22: The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon -- (Apr 5)

why now: It had vaguely registered in my mind awhile back, then richardderus mentioned it in a weekly What Are You Reading Now? bio so I plucked it off the library shelf.

Lou is an autist, among the last cohort before 21st century medicine developed a “cure”, changing neural connections in infancy. He works for a pharmaceutical corporation, in a group of autists who investigate and discover patterns. The new boss is zealous about cost effectiveness, and pressures the autists to undergo an experimental treatment that similarly rewires adults, so they won’t need special accommodations. This seems a tad shortsighted, even for a cardboard villain, because the autists were hired for their special and presumably neural abilities, and as a plot it is rather artificially contrived, but it provides a structure for day-to-day concerns and philosophical considerations as Lou and his colleagues discuss the pros and cons. Lou has suspicions and reservations, but also curiosity and a tinge of hope; he has been closed out of opportunities because he is not “normal”. So what is normal anyway, when events reveal that normal people also at times misperceive thoughts and emotions or behave inappropriately. I’m generally irritated by present tense, but here I was completely engaged by the immediate interior POV. As a bonus, I came to appreciate fencing, which apparently is a very pattern-laden sport. The ending was horribly sad, I felt like I’d lost a person, even though he was happy. I suppose this was intentional.

#23: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion -- (Apr 12)

why now: I’d downloaded the e-book based on multiple positive reviews, and it seemed a fitting followup to The Speed of Dark.

Don is geneticist with traits of Asperger’s who embarks on The Wife Project, devising an extensive questionnaire for candidates. Enter Rosie, who shows up in his office on a genetic mission, and is 100% mismatch to the items on his checklist. I read this as a followup to The Speed of Dark, expecting similarity in the theme of autism, and was initially annoyed and disappointed, because the tone is so very different. Once I switched gears to see it as The Odd Couple, sitcom rather than serious insight, I enjoyed it for what it was.

#28: Critical Mass by Sarah Paretsky -- (Jun 8)

why now: I was traveling, and although I’d brought two magazines and two books and an electronic tablet with multiple e-books, I was more in the mood for down time after a family wedding. Tablet + WiFi = instant gratification.

#16 in a series that began 30 years ago, and I’ve read them all, though with the same set of characters and my poor memory, the plots all mush together in my mind. My fault, not the author’s; I read mysteries for escape, so I’m not fully attentive.

For a time I read all the Sara Paretskys too, but I've missed the last couple. I read mysteries for escape too.

Yes, I've read a bit about the Wade. I'll have to read it first.... but there is research, serious stuff, going on. One set of studies looks at the 'cooperative' rice-growing culture in (southern) China versus the more independent indiviudalistic (northern) Chinese.... (the brackets are to show this is just a 'generalized' population as plenty of Chinese have moved around in the last 100 years). There appears to be a .... pattern? tendency?..... to act cooperatively that isn't directly attributable to post-birth socializing. And it is tentative, but still, serious stuff.

My guess is that some 'differences' will be found, but not in such a way that much can be made of them, as they will be only general things and.... not...... major.... enough for anyone to get worked up about. I think Wade is brave to 'wade' into such controversial subject matter.

>136 qebo: - I loved The Odd Couple so very good to know thinking about that movie/ sitcom made The Rosie Project a enjoyable reading experience!

>139 sibylline: Wade is, as I understand it, making a much stronger assertion, at the level of race, a murky concept in itself, and one with a pernicious history.
http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/a-troubling-tome

I’m not discounting genes as mixed in there somehow; people have personality differences, for example, that seem far more nature than nurture. Tying behavior to genes holds both appeal (I can’t help what I am, or strategies to enhance or compensate for natural inclinations) and concern (genetic engineering or suppression), and regardless is scientifically both legitimate and interesting, but... with caution, not with gigantic leaps of faith.

Anyway, I’m not at all saying oh my gracious I could never read such a book. I’m saying that when faced with a decision about which book to read, and especially when I have competing obligations (along with group reads, I have a backlog of ERs, not to mention perfectly good books that have been hanging around for years and don’t deserve to lose out to the new and shiny), a feeling of doubt can tip the balance.

Thanks for posting that article!

I've come to the conclusion that I should read both Wade's book and a similar one presenting the opposite viewpoint, though I don't yet know what that second book should be. I'm particularly struck by one of the earliest points in the article: that one of the positions is centered in anthropology, while the other is centered in psychology/political science/economics. It seems worthwhile to gain a better understand of why these positions are so divergent.

I also really want to read Noble Savages, which is another case of research coming up against the political correctness of the anthropological establishment. It's possible that having read a bit about the controversy surrounding that work, I'm less inclined to accept at face value anthropological statements rejecting inconvenient research.

>142 _Zoe_: Go for it. I'll read you comments with interest.

I'm not sure what "opposite" would be either. I've read mostly responses from evolutionary biologists.

More links, to positive and negative reviews in Scientific American blogs.

>144 _Zoe_: Thanks for those links too.

And you can expect my comments in a year or so, given current length of TBR list and pace of reading ;)

>144 _Zoe_: I'll probably still be around.

Hi Katherine!

Hi Rachel! Saw your new thread...

#29: Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy -- (Jun 9)

why now: I happened upon Truth and Beauty in a display of miscellaneous notable authors at a used book store during the DC meetup, norabelle414 recommended that I read this book too, and there it was in the cancer section.

Lucy Grealy didn’t realize she’d had cancer until a casual comment in family conversation registered, and she linked the word to the diagnosis of Ewing’s sarcoma. The tumor removed from her jaw at age 9 drastically affected her life, in part because she spent the bulk of several years as hospital inpatient or outpatient, enduring painful ordeals of radiation and chemotherapy, and in part because along with significant physical effects (difficulty chewing and swallowing, for example), the cosmetic result was a deformed face, a target of pity and bullying. She grew her hair long so it would cover her face when she hung her head, characteristic posture. She felt free only at Halloween when she could wear a mask. Surgery after surgery carved flesh and bone from her body in efforts to reconstruct her jaw, and she imagined that her life would begin when her face was fixed. Her face was never fixed, but her life did begin, in teenage years through a job at a horse stable, and in college as a poet, an identity that allowed a defiance about appearance and a presentation of intellect and wit. The tone at the end is optimistic.

And then she died, at age 39, which these days you know from the cover blurb; at the time of original publication, the end was well in the future, and public readings attracted audiences of cancer survivors. Her death changes the perception of everything she wrote, from triumph over devastating illness to WTF happened? Of course she was far more than her face, but her face, physically and philosophically, is the focus of this book, which is simultaneously revealing and claustrophobic.

#30: Truth and Beauty by Anne Patchett -- (Jun 12)

why now: The obvious followup to Autobiography of a Face.

Anne Patchett knew who Lucy Grealy was when both were students at Sarah Lawrence, but the recognition was not reciprocated. Everybody knew who Lucy Grealy was; her appearance was distinctive, and her personality was magnetic. When both were accepted into the Iowa Writers Workshop, they met again, shared a stringent budget and a home, and became close friends. Autobiography of a Face tapers off after college. This book picks up from there, shows another side with vulnerability and insecurity prominent, emphasizes physical more than cosmetic consequences of the childhood cancer and neverending surgery, and answers the question of WTF happened. And fails, I think, to do full justice. I didn’t find Lucy Grealy especially appealing, in either her own or her friend’s memoir, but excerpts from letters give glimpses of the person she could be: charming, sharp, interested in the world outside her face. Of course friends got the crappy stuff, and there was a lot of it. I’m not convinced that it all needed to be displayed so disproportionately in a book.

Thank you for both of those reviews!

I am 'wading' through the American Scientist article and hoping to be back to say more. Intriguing subject and discussion.

Nice reviews of The Autobiography of a Face and Truth and Beauty, Katherine. I read Grealy's book soon after it came out, but I had no idea that Patchett had written a book about her. Based on your comments I won't read it, though.

Nice reviews. I read a lot of Ann Patchett a few years ago, but never read this one. (Or Grealy's own book, for that matter.) What a good idea to read them together.

>151 kidzdoc: I thought of you while reading Autobiography of a Face, a view from the other side of childhood illness. Truth and Beauty is worth reading for the medical aspect; it goes more into the physical consequences of the missing jaw and the horrendous surgeries, the hopes raised and dashed by heroic but ultimately failed medical efforts. And really it's a decent book, I just thought unbalanced in its portrayal.

Wow Katherine, I haven't visited in ages. 'Love your book choices and reviews, especially the nonfiction.

Also, those photos (of the Accipiter, Dryocopus, Decentra) are wonderful!

#34: Pets in a Jar by Seymour Simon -- (Jun 29)

why now: A neighbor donated elementary school castoffs to my Little Free Library, and I was attracted by the cover and illustrations. The book was published in 1975, the attached library card shows due dates in the late 1980s, and the condition is shabby, so I can see why the school didn’t want it, but I'm keeping it.

If you are age, say, 8-11, and have access to a pond or meadow, this book would be an excellent resource. It devotes a chapter to each critter (hydras, planarians, snails, various bugs, ... ): where to find them, how to collect them, what to feed them, interesting aspects of behavior to observe, with detailed illustrations of innards, notable features, and developmental stages. (It reminds me of a neighbor kid who had a room full of aquariums and terrariums and now works for the Smithsonian.) It was published nearly 40 years ago, so I wasn’t expecting much when I looked up the author, but turns out he is still actively engaged in science education, with a web site and speaking schedule.

#33: The City and the City by China Mieville -- (Jun 27)

why now: I was looking for fiction distinct from a non-fiction in progress, I’m making a sincere effort to increase the ROOTs, and this one’s been an item of curiosity for awhile.

The body of a woman is found in a seedy area of Beszel, and Tyador Borlu is the detective called to the scene. The murder appears fairly routine, until a scratchy phone call from Ul Qoma provides a tip. And so the starting point of many a mystery shifts... to crosshatching, total and alter, dissensi, grosstopical, topolganger... two cities in one geographic location, a taboo against breaching the (physical? psychological?) divide, obeyed by the practice of unseeing, enforced by the enigmatic Breach. Both cities can be entered from outside, but the only legal passageway between is the bureaucratic Copula Hall. The woman is identified as a PhD student who was associated with a pre-Cleavage archaeological site in Ul Qoma, obsessed by the legendary Orciny and a revelatory book since repudiated by its author, entangled with unificationists and nationalists. Uh oh. Getting a tad too fantastical and political for my taste? Actually, no.

So what held my interest? Well, there is the whodunnit aspect. Mostly though, it’s the restraint. The plot could have gone over-the-top bizarro, but it is tethered: the world is ordinary early 21st century with familiar cultural references, and the detectives are ordinary people. It proceeds forth with clues and interrogation and gradual resolution, except... breach, what does it mean and how does it work, a meta-mystery landscape, so the classic-mystery plot becomes a raised path for observation.

The book backlog, both reading and reviewing, has become less daunting. The magazine backlog is less visible to you, but I actually have them physically piled around the house -- dining room table as they arrive, stairs as I sort the mail, 2nd floor tables to be close at hand for reading, office desk as I finish reading and queue for summaries... it's quite the organized system, lacking only movement.

>155 qebo:

One man's trash is another man's treasure. It's funny about that castaway school book. I recently had a young lady that was specifically looking for childrens' books about bugs in my LFL. Fortunately, I had just what she wanted as I recently received a generous donation of books from the Kensington Row Bookshop in Kensington, Maryland.

Your book also reminds me of the "creek walks" I used to take my kids on when they were young. On hot summer days, we'd go with friends to different parts of Rock Creek and wade, net in hand, to see how many different water critters we could find. It's a great learning experience for kids and parents alike.

One of the last books that was taken from my LFL was a kids' book on termites. I hope that doesn't mean that someone was trying to identify that particular insect in his own home! :(

>158 SqueakyChu: I hope that doesn't mean that someone was trying to identify that particular insect in his own home!
Or thinking of starting a colony.

I love the story of the castaway book in your LFL!

>153 qebo: Hmm...maybe I will give Truth and Beauty a look after all.

it's quite the organized system, lacking only movement.
Yep. I can identify with that statement! My latest NYer read took FOREVER with a huge article about ITER - this fission (star in a jar) project that is going on and on and costing billions in the meantime. I do love the word tokamak though. Then the new NYer I picked up has an endless piece on Egyptian politics. Sigh.

Meanwhile, I finished the article on the Wade book and I am so disappointed in Wade. I have to say, if the reviewer is accurate in his assessment, that Wade was ill-advised, to say the least, to go ahead with his thesis with such skimpy science to back up his ideas. It isn't just the anthro vs the socio either. The point is that we haven't ever diverged sufficiently to be more than just one homo sapiens. We're a very restless species - perhaps part and parcel of the strategy of taking forever to grow up. (Or, as I theorize, never actually growing up - the blessing and curse of our species).

Anyway - one of the points of the huge book I read earlier this year about horses, language, wheels etcetera was that this horsey culture was so EFFECTIVE that their ways were ADOPTED by everyone they encountered and you BECAME one of them when you adopted their ways.....

I was hoping that the whole Caucasian thing would start going away now forever given that Euro-descended-folk all are more neandertal than anyone else around the planet!!!!! But I guess not. Sigh.

I wish I had known about Pets in a Jar a couple of years ago! I may still look for a copy...

Pets in a Jar sounds like a lot of fun and something I would have loved as a child. I love the story behind it too. We had several books about being young naturalists which I may be able to find when I go to our family house up in the mountains over the 4th of July weekend.

>163 labfs39: I certainly thought of k8 while I was reading! She's probably beyond it in general sophistication, what with keeping charts on chickens and such, but still might find it interesting to have around.

OK, finally finished reading April magazines, decided a few days ago that I could manage this much for June. Summaries await random inspiration, and my track record isn't great so don't hold your breath.

>162 sibylline: I was hoping that the whole Caucasian thing would start going away now forever given that Euro-descended-folk all are more neandertal than anyone else around the planet!!!!!

Instead, we reassess Neanderthals. :-)

culture, skimpy science

Yeah, whatever culture is – material, organizational, intellectual – people are demonstrably malleable. Besides which, success is historically transitory.

I think it's time to install the air conditioner.