Catarina's Cats and Books Take Over the House

I've been a member of this group for 7+ years and have yet to make it to 75 - although in 2015 I came close - just too many distractions. I general read literary fiction. My passion in books and in life is Japan.

I've attempted many of the challenges in the past - start strong but fell off along the way. So this year I'm combining them - now called ABCNF - American, British, Canadian and Non-Fiction Challenges. I may read one from each, or none. And I've had some on-going reading projects in the past that I plan to continue, other than Japan - the (formerly) Orange Prize, Cuba, Australia. And I want to leave time for serendipity and sleep.

What follows are the possibilities for the ABCNF from my shelves (just so I can keep track). I'm listing all the books currently on my shelves by the particular author - I'm probably only going to read one of those, if any. I may just decide to read August's books in March. Who knows.

January

Anne Tyler (A)- I've read most of her books. What is left: A Spool of Blue Thread, Digging to America, and Breathing Lessons.

Barry Unsworth (B) - Sacred Hunger, After Hannibal, and The Rage of the Vulture

Kim Thuy (C) - Ru

Biography/memoir (NF) - The Notorious RBG, My Beloved World, The Only Street in Paris, The Outermost House, Brown Girl Dreaming, H is for Hawk, etc., etc.

Result: I only got to one of these - Ru. (The Review is in >64 catarina1:.) All the others will stay on the TBR.

February

Richard Russo (A) - Empire Falls, Bridge of Sighs

William Dalrymple (B) - In Xanadu, City of Djinns

Helen Humphreys (Ca) (not calcium, but whenever I want to type C the computer makes it © )
The Frozen Thames, The Evening Chorus

History (NF) - The Famine Ships, the Fatal Shore, A Commonwealth of Thieves, When the River Ran Red, Now the Drums of War, Strangers from a Distant Shore, etc. etc.

March

Jane Smiley (A) - Some Luck, Ordinary Love and Good Will

Travel (NF) - get to choose from 168 books on the shelves

April

poetry (A) - A Wild Patience Has Taken Me This Far Adrienne Rich, Out of Silence Muriel Rukeyser, or something by Marge Piercy

Margaret Atwood (Ca) - The Blind Assassin, The Cat's Eye

Religion/spirituality (NF) - many to choose from

May

Ivan Doig (A) - English Creek, The Whistling Season, Dancing at the Rascal Fair

Jane Gardam (B) - Old Filth, the Man in the Wooden Hat, Last Friends, The People on Privilege Hill

Emily St John Mandel (Ca) - Station Eleven

The Arts (NF) - many to choose from

June

Annie Proulx (A) - I've read The Shipping News and Accordion Crimes, so will have to get from the library Brokeback Mountain

Antonia Fraser (B) - the Warrior Queens, The Wives of Henry VIII, Mary Queen of Scots

Joseph Boyden (Ca) - Through Black Spruce

Natural History (NF) - many to choose from

July

John Steinbeck (A) - have 4 volume set of Library of America from the Steinbeck challenge from a few years ago

August

Joyce Carol Oates (A) - We Were the Mulvaneys, Middle Age, You Must Remember This

Ian McEwan (B) - Saturday, Atonement

Science (NF) - many to choose from

September

John Irving (A) - Widow for One Year, The World According to Garp

Doris Lessing (B) - The Golden Notebook, Love, Again, The Real Thing: Stories and Sketches

Miriam Toews (Ca) - All My Puny Sorrows

October

Michael Chabon (A) - Wonder Boys

Kate Atkinson (B) - read all of hers except Life After Life, Human Croquet

Lawrence Hill (Ca) - Someone Knows My Name will be a re-read

politics (NF) - many to choose from

November

Annie Dillard (A) - Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, The Maytrees, the Writing Life, An American Childhood

Michael Ondaatje (Ca) - Divisadero, Anil's Ghost, the Cat's Table

December

Alice Munro (Ca) - Runaway, the Moons of Jupiter, Lives of Girls and Women, Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You, The Love of a Good Woman, Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, Open Secrets, Dear Life

It's wonderful to see you here, Catarina. Wow, you're organised. Happy reading 2016.

Looks like you have some great reading plans for 2016!

Welcome back!

Love your organized approach to your 2016 reading!

Oh, it only looks organized on paper. It is not going to be the case in RL. The lists above are only for the ABCNF challenges. And I only made the lists so I could keep 4 different challenges straight.

Lori, Lori, Jim and Barbara - welcome. And thank you Barbara for the new year's wishes. I'm looking forward to the new year too. Making some goals for the year that hopefully will have me being more productive, in reading and elsewhere.

>18 catarina1: - Oh, it only looks organized on paper.
YAY! A kindred spirit! I can 'look' organized with my reading, but really, I am a haphazard mess. ;-) Wishing you a Happy New Year and best wishes for 2016!

Happy new year! I'm in awe of your reading plans!

Happy New Year and Happy New Thread, Catarina! Love all the AAC choices and I look forward to following along with you in your reading life.

Hi, Caroline and Mark. I'm anxious to get started on 2016 reading but still have a couple of books in the works from 2015. Perhaps tonight I can make some progress on them.

Happy New Year, C! I am reading Sacred Hunger and loving it. In a way it's not too smart to read an excellent book right off the bat as others will pale in comparison. Through Black Spruce made my 2015 Top Ten list.

Have a wonderful bookfilled 2016, Catarina. Great to see that you're enjoying Sacred Hunger.

Thanks Paul and Donna for the visit. I'm looking forward to a year of good reading.
Starting off:

1) The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith
455 pages

Never read the Harry Potter series (but my grandson has) but I had picked this one up at a used book sale last year after several people here on LT gave it good reviews. It was a relatively fast read, despite 455 pages. Interesting characters and somewhat complicated plot made it enjoyable. A couple of Strike's long, long questionings became tedious. And a couple of time the credible was stretched - like how can a few drips of water from the white roses cause some to slip an fall. I kept trying to picture that one. But I enjoyed it enough to pick up the next two at the library yesterday. Looks like the ABCNF has been postponed a bit.

Hi, Catarina! I need to get round to Rowling's non-HP books soon...

I also recently enjoyed The Cuckoo's Calling and looking forward to the next in the series. I have heard they get better as they go along.

Hi, Amber and Mark. I started The Silkworm last night, about 50 pages in. I'm not sure if I can say "they get better as they go along" right now. Aside from Strike and Robin, I'm not finding any of the other characters so far very likable. And it is always hard to care about the characters if you don't like them. They are kind of whiney and weasely.

Starred your thread. Strike and Robin are a good team...I've enjoyed all three of the Galbraith novels. I'm planning to read Ru this month too.

I'm reading Career of Evil now. Doesn't disappoint, so far. Coincidentally, my wife is reading and admiring the new illustrated edition of HP and the Sorcerer's Stone.

>Weird O - Glad that you are enjoying the third volume - (some said it was grizzly). Last night I put The Silkworm aside - just temporarily - to get started on the ABCNF. Read the first chapter of A Spool of Blue Thread - seems to be a classic Tyler.

I'm so easily distracted - the following are all "in the works" right now:

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying up: the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing - Marie Kondo
A Spool of Blue Thread - Anne Tyler
The Silkworm - Robert Galbraith
Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa - Karin Muller
Lentil Underground - Liz Carlisle
Walking the Kiso Road - William Scott Wilson
The Only Street in Paris: Life on the Rue des Martyrs - Elaine Sciolino

Plus I have plans/goals/exercises for the new year involving (haven't started either yet):
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain - Betty Edwards
The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters - Sherri Lynn Wood

And I just signed up for two on-line quilting classes, to start in one week and last for two months! This is what retirement looks like.

You have some great reading plans for the year! Serendipity is good, too. I've listed some of the same books as possibilities for the AAC, BAC, and CAC, but I know I won't get to all of them.

Hi Carrie - Of the 7 books that I'm currently reading, only one of them is on my ABCNF list - I guess that really counts as serendipity!

I see you live in Knoxville - way back when, I interviewed at the nursing school at the U of TN, but decided to go to Case instead. Nice town.

>36 catarina1: Knoxville is a great place to live! I did my graduate work at UT. One of my professors either did graduate work or worked in the library at Case. He frequently mentioned it in class.

Wishing you a most lovely weekend, Catarina.

Happy Saturday, Catarina. You have some interesting current reads going. Good luck with all those. I hope you like the Tyler.

What quilting classes did you sign up for? Are they on Academy of Quilting, Craftsy, or someplace else? I've taken one class online, but didn't do so well because I failed to follow through--the class itself seemed excellent.

Quilting classes sound like a fun thing to do in retirement. My sister-in-law is an expert quilter. She's won all sorts of prizes and awards. She does it all by hand. She can't stand machines. She's actually working on a quilt for me now. She recently discovered that she'd never made one for me. I'm glad she made the discovery! I'll finally own one of her masterpieces.

Thanks for visiting, Deborah and Lori - Kudos to your SIL, Lori, for hand-quilting. I haven't been able to perfect that and I admire anyone who does that. I've recently been looking at some hand embroidery books by Sue Spargo that are amazing. I might give that a try this year.

Deborah - the on-line courses are taught by Rachel Hauser from her blog, Stitched in Color. One is on color and the other on sewing angles. They both start in a week,one goes for 5 weeks, the other for 9. The first prep for the color course involves cutting up a Robert Kaufman color card, putting velcro on the back and making a manipulative color card. I was a little hesitant to take two of them at the same time, they both involve many projects. But if it ever snows here, I will have to be inside anyhow. I've signed up for a few of the Craftsy courses but haven't finished any yet. Never heard of the Academy of Quilting. Is it a good one?

2) The Gun - Fuminori Nakamura
198 pages

This was an odd book for me to pick up, given my feelings about guns. But it was written by a Japanese author so I picked it up from the library shelves. Like many contemporary Japanese novels, it was quite strange. This book was apparently the first of his to be published but only translated quite recently.

A young man, Nishikawa, is wandering the deserted streets one rainy night and happens upon a body near the river. This man has been shot but it is not clear whether it is a suicide or a homicide. Nishikawa decides to take the gun that is lying along side and so begins days and weeks during which he is psychologically tortured by possessing it. He at first leaves it at home but begins to start carrying it around with him, hidden inside a cloth bag. He becomes obsessed with the gun, with shooting it, wonders where he can go to try it out, etc., etc. Strange story, strange ending. It might be that the book suffers from being "the first one", so I might try one of the later ones.

3 The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up - Marie Kondo
206 pages
(859)

The KonMari Method of tidying your house! The book is apparently very popular in Japan. The author has a busy, thriving business there, visiting her clients homes and giving them direction on decluttering. She admits to reading home and lifestyle magazines when she was five and actually organizing her parents house, discarding things that belonged to them as well as her siblings! No one seemed to mind!

A lot of her suggestions make sense - one needs to discard things before you can organize your "stuff". And the guiding principle in deciding whether to throw something out is whether or not it brings you joy.

But again, obsession shows up - the suggestion to divide your clothing into "cotton-like" and "wool-like", or to fold pairs of socks into thirds, roll them up and stand them on end in your drawers. She says that socks will be very unhappy if they are tied up or made into a ball and will start fraying before their time!

And then she comes to the section on books: "If you missed your chance to read a particular book, even if it was recommended to you or is one you have been intending to read for ages, this is your chance to let it go. You may have wanted to read it when you bought it, but if you haven't read it by now, the book's purpose was to teach you that you didn't need it."

>44 catarina1: Interesting comment about unread books! There is a lot of truth in that statement.

I plan to do a serious book cull later this year, and I'll keep that quote in mind.

>44 catarina1: I like the sock storage method...I don't think I buy the logic behind it though. It just sounds like a neat and useful way to keep track of your socks.

Literally, no reading done this week. Spent the entire week working on genealogy. I have had an Ancestry account for several years, paying quarterly. I received a notice that a new quarter was about to begin so I decided to clean up everything, print it out and then quit Ancestry. However, I found so much new "stuff" that I decided to keep the account. Much time being spent checking dates, places, making sure nothing gets saved that is not verified by actual records, i.e. of birth, deaths, marriages. So now that is done, except for making a hard copy of everything and then an organized binder. Then I can read again.

But first I have to do some prep work for two on-line quilting classes that start on Monday. No rest for the weary, and the retired.

Catarina, I wish you a relaxed weekend.

>47 catarina1: I lost a whole week of reading time last fall when Ancestry released the digitized will collections for all 50 states. (Well, I did read lots of wills that week...)

I cancelled my Ancestry membership long ago, but now that I am not working, I intend to fire it up again, and see what's new since the last time I checked. I hope to find many tidbits. Digitized will collections....might have to start there!

>50 laytonwoman3rd: If you go missing from LT for a while we'll know why! ;-)

>51 cbl_tn: Hehehe....of course, I'll be sitting at my computer, and the LT tab is always open, so I'll probably just switch over for a fix from time to time, even if I get quite engrossed in the research!

>49 cbl_tn: Carrie - Digital wills? Where are they? I didn't come across any indication of them this week.

>50 laytonwoman3rd: Linda, if you haven't been on Ancestry for a while, you might be very surprised at what is there. I probably had not checked in there for 5-6 months, actually losing hope that there was anything more to be found. But this week, I was surprised by new city directories, birth, death and marriage certificates (which contain a lot of information) that had not been there before.

>53 catarina1: Ancestry's Wills and Probate collection is here: http://www.ancestry.com/will-probate-records

>47 catarina1: I love being able to spend time working on genealogical research too. It does slow down the reading a bit, but I love all the record digitization that is taking place at Ancestry, Fold 3, and FamilySearch. I'm always thankful when the digitized records are indexed, even with all the errors made by those doing the indexing.

>55 thornton37814: Yes, Lori, hurrah for digitization. A very long time ago, back in the early 80's, I went to the National Archives in DC, to their microfilm room. Such a sight. Long rows of tables holding many machines, with avid genealogists at each, rolling through the microfilm rolls. Only with luck, I did find my father as an infant in a early census of San Francisco. Felt like standing up and shouting.

>56 catarina1: I remember searching through microfilm too...we have an LDS Family History Center nearby, and while they didn't have a lot on hand when I was searching, they could get most anything available, given time. It was an exhilarating experience to locate someone in those records, that's for sure!

>56 catarina1: I still use a lot of microfilm records, particularly for deeds.

thanks Lori and Linda - when I started working on my genealogy again, probably 6 years ago, I went first to the LDS Family History Center here. I was able to order microfilms from SLC which were helpful, but somewhat limited. It actually was a volunteer there who encouraged me to look into Ancestry. I might go back there to see if they have anything new. Thanks for the suggestion.

Well, the snow has started. It is expected that we will get somewhere between one and three feet and a blizzard!! Luckily I've planned ahead - the larder is fully stocked, there is plenty of cat food and litter, lots of projects to do and shelves full of books. So I won't need to go out for days. And hopefully the power won't go out.

Happy weekend, Catarina. Stay safe and warm.

I'm officially snowing in. Although I've been checking and shoveling on the porch around my front door every few hours, in the few hours since the last check, there is so much snow that I can't get the front door open. Not sure what I'm going to do except wait until the wind dies down, take out the glass in the storm door and shovel from there. Why, or why did I ever leave California??

Still shoveling!!! In between, sewing or sleeping.

How did I get to be the end of January already?

4) Ru - Kim Thuy

Read as part of the CAC. The only part of my ABC challenge that I have managed to get done this month. Having read other books about the immigrant experience, particularly to Canada, I was looking forward to this one but alas, I did not enjoy it. I would give the author kudos for an attempt at creatively telling her story but it did not work for me. The book is a compilation of vignettes that seem disjointed. They give an impression but not much substance. Not sorry that I read it though. Onward and upward.

These next three are all Early Reviewer books that I have had an embarrassingly long time and neglected to get to. None were great literature but interesting, however. There are a few more of these ER books that I am going to try to read this next month.

5) Creative Aging: A Baby boomer's guide to successful living - Vassiliadis and Romer

What was I thinking when I requested this one? I probably hoped that it would shed some light on the future (since it arrived well before I actually retired). However, there was little new presented. Their suggestions would be helpful for someone who has not thought much about what their retired life might be like but I've found that there are not enough hours in the day, the week, to get everything done.

6) All Gone - Alex Witchel

Written by a journalist, this is her memory of her family, family relationships, and in particular, her mother and her mother's slowly developing dementia. A little difficult at first to get into it and was a sad read but was actually enjoyable. At the end the laments that though she tried and tried to "cure" her mother . . "and I had lost. Utterly unequivocally lost. And she loved me exactly the same as if I had won."
At the end of most of the chapters are some family recipes that I intend to try - potato latkes, her mother's meat loaf, chicken with prunes, etc. etc. Comfort food.

7) Not Quite Paradise: An American Sojourn in Sri Lanka - Adele Barker

A memoir, in two parts. The first, when she went to Sri Lanka, accompanied by her young son, to teach literature at a university, soon after 9/11. The second time was in 2009 after the tsunami devastated the country. History is given but not much reflection. Enjoyable but it could have been more.

Onward and upward!

>65 catarina1: Sorry that Sri Lanka book didn't live up to its potential. It does sound like it should have been better.

Happy weekend, Catarina.

Thank you very much, Barbara. I haven't been reading much this week - busy with quilting and other things. Several books are "in the works" but none are finished.

Have just been reading in dribs and drabs, a little of this, a little of that, but nothing completed as yet.

The weather has been bizarre - a bit like the presidential election! Snow yesterday, then freezing rain and sleet last night. Torrential rains this AM, on the top of ice, and now sunny and 50 degrees. Just too weird.

Glenn Frey, David Bowie, and now Harper Lee and Umberto Eco. Sad, sad.

Deaths seem to be coming in pairs don't they? We have just lost Judge Scalia so are there any arch conservatives ready to step forward!

Have a great Sunday, Catarina.

Happy weekend, Catarina.

>72 Ameise1: Thank you Barbara for the good wishes. I think it will indeed be a good weekend. I will be busy with quilting events all weekend, the weather is good and the temps should be in the 70s this next week.

>71 PaulCranswick: Paul - Though I don't wish anyone the ill luck of dying, they always could just resign instead. Most of us will not miss Scalia's votes in the future. His decisions have led to individuals having as many guns as their little hearts desire and to corporations giving as much money to politicians as they want (you know corporations are "people" too).

Yicks! Can't believe that I have not read a book since end of Jan! Or at least, not finished a book. Been busy with other things. Been watching PBS videos while quilting - Foyle's War and Downton Abbey (late to the party).

Have a wonderful Easter.

Catarina, I wish you a fabulous weekend.

Paul and Barbara - thank you very much for the good wishes. Haven't been reading much lately - too many other things going on. But nothing "to write home about".

Wishing you a relaxed weekend, Catarina.

Thank you, Barbara for the good wishes, again. Its been about two months since I finished a book. It has been busy around here but I'm not sure why there is little reading being done. I've started several but can't get past the first few pages.

And that makes it hard for me to justify today's purchase. I was down in Columbia, MD for a quilting class at a shop too conveniently located near Daedalus Books. I just could not resist.

The Story of a New Name - Elena Ferrante
The Story of the Lost Child - Elena Ferrante
A God in Ruins - Kate Atkinson
Early Warning - Jane Smiley
When Breath Becomes Air - Paul Kalanithi

>79 catarina1: :-) Well, you never will get short with books.

Finally a book completed-

8) Knitlandia - Clara Parkes

Parkes is a yarn guru, rather than a specialist in techniques or patterns and this is a combination yarn travelogue, but a travelogue to knitting conventions, etc. She is quite blunt and often somewhat cranky but I especially enjoyed her trips to Paris and Edinburgh and to Squam. I did take a little offense to her descriptions of the MD Sheep and Yarn Festival (held near here in May each year). The title of that chapter was "Big Fleece and Fried Dough"!!!

9) The Paperbark Shoe - Goldie Goldbloom

Set in Western Australia, during WWII. I have very mixed feelings about this one. I found the characters generally not very likeable. I felt very sorry for Gin, most of the time. It made it very difficult to continue reading. And I'm not sure what to make of the ending. Truly a sad and horrendous occurrence but I found it difficult to make sense of its addition to the first 300 pages.

Today was the 58th and final year for the Smith College Used Book Sale. Sigh! It is going the way of the other really good book sale in the area that had its final year a couple of years ago. This leaves one other, the Towson Library Book sale, which is next week.

This year the selection did not seem as good as in previous years or perhaps I already own or have read more and more books. Only 9 this time.

Ride with Me, Mariah Montana Ivan Doig The last of the McCaskill Trilogy
Varieties of Exile Mavis Gallant
A Literary Paris Jamie Cox Robertson
The Potter's Field Andrea Camilleri
Beautiful Ruins Jess Walter
Dark Fire C.J. Sansom
Sovereign C.J. Sansom
From Here, You Can't See Paris Michael Sanders
World's Fair E.L. Doctorow

Happy weekend, Catarina.

Thanks Barbara. I love pink tulips. Its a rainy day in Baltimore, and chilly. Perhaps some wet snow tonight.

The Towson Library book sale today. Restrained myself, only 8:

The Green Road - Anne Enright
The Razor's Edge - Somerset Maugham
Our Man in Havana - Graham Greene
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves - Karen Joy Fowler
The Paris Architect - Charles Belfoure - a Baltimore author
Dirt Music - Tim Winton
And the Mountains Echoed - Khaled Hosseini
Go Set a Watchman - Harper Lee

What a wonderful book haul, Catarina. Happy Sunday.

10) The Pharos Gate - Nick Bantock

This is apparently the last of the series. It is an easy read - arrived today through Early Reviewers. I had started these "way back when". I've aways enjoyed his illustrations and the "idea" of the book but the stories have holes. The first ones felt "deep" but not so now. But it is still worth it for the illustrations, the postcards, and letters.

More books on my favorite subject (Japan) arrived today:

Star Sand - Roger Pulvers - a free Kindle book for April from Amazon
Target Tokyo - James Scott - about Doolittle and his Raiders - reading this one now
The Translation of Love - Lynne Kutsukate - first book by a Canadian author about Japanese-Canadians during WWII
Midnight in Broad Daylight - Pamela Rotner Sakamoto - bio of Japanese family with children in US and in Japan during WWII

Oh, dear, I went to Ukazoo, the local used book store and look what happened:

Jack of Spies - David Downing
Masaryk Station - David Downing
The Dance of the Seagull - Andrea Camilleri
Mountain Time - Ivan Doig

Camilleri and Doig, very good, very good...I don't know Downing.

Thanks, Linda. I like to read all series "from the beginning". I've got the first two Montalbono's - I think I read them a long, long time ago, so when I actually start this series, I'll re-read those first. I think there are now 16 in that series - so that's going to take a while.

I've read the first 7 of the Montalbano series. They don't turn up in used books stores or library sales very often around here.

"they don't turn up in used book stores or library sales very often around here" - I've noticed that. Does that mean that people who read them, save them, don't want to let them go?

>94 catarina1: It might mean that...or that they pass them on to someone they know will love them, rather than turning them loose in the "wild".

>92 catarina1: That is an affliction I suffer from too, Catarina!

>93 laytonwoman3rd: I reckon they are rarely in the second hand stores because people would like to re-read them.

Have a great weekend. xx

Linda and Paul - I think you might both be correct on that. I've taken a liking to a series of novels written by I.J. Parker, the Sugawara Akitada series, (he was a minor official in the Justice department in 11th century Japan). As novels go, somewhat obscure. There are probably 16 or 17 so far, the author now self publishes them but they were originally Penguin books. They are never to be found in any used venues. I think those who read them, love them and just hang on to them. It helps to keep Amazon in business.

In honor of Independent Book Store Day, I went to mine, The Ivy Bookshop, and - -

The Snack Thief - Andrea Camilleri
Lehrter Station - David Downing
Potsdam Station - David Downing

in preparation to starting both series -

Not much reading being done. I've had good intentions but there has been so-o-o many other things going on. Who said retirement was boring??? Two quilting workshops in the past two days, the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival last Sunday (think yarn and knitting, not baa-aa-aa) and then today while trying to catch up and do laundry, the basement flooded AGAIN!!! Doors and windows open, fans running but it is so humid after two weeks of daily rain!!

Happy weekend, Catarina.

so cute! thanks, Barbara.

Hi! I hadn't been by your thread before and see we're choosing pretty similar books for the author challenges. I just finished Work Song and also have The Last Bus to Wisdom requested through ILL although I don't think it will arrive in time to be done in May. I'm currently reading Old Filth and have Station Eleven sitting on the stack. How are you doing with your May challenges?

>104 streamsong: My mother would that I'd "bitten off more than I could chew". I had big plans for reading this year but there are so many other things competing for my time. I retired two years ago and thought I would have plenty of time but that has not been the case.

As for Doig - I've read Kent Haruf, most of his books, and was looking for something similar. Doig seems to fit that. I've collected several of his books but haven't gotten to any yet. But there are still 7 months left in the year. I plan to read the McCaskill trilogy in order. Did you? Have you lived in Montana a long time?

Catarina I am not sure that I would place Doig quite on the same podium as Kent Haruf but he does at least occupy a similar landscape.

Have a lovely weekend.

Its been about two months since I finished reading a book. Don't know why, but it was a little like hitting a wall. I've attempted many, got just a few pages in and lost interest.

About two weeks ago I took a trip out to Hagerstown, a small town about an hour and a half west of Baltimore. It is really, for me, just a small town on the road to Pittsburgh. I've been past it on Rt 70 many, many times but never had a reason to stop. But I heard of a show of Hiroshige's woodblock prints at the small museum there. So hard to believe that they would be there but there they were. I was the only person viewing the prints on that Saturday, however.

This was the complete set of his first edition of the 53 Stations of the Tokaido and was a traveling show from the Reading, Pa Museum. It seems as though back in 1933 someone donated their complete set to the Reading. It was quite a nice show providing a lot of information on each particular print and view. That triggered my interest again. Quickly went to Amazon and ordered 5 more books on Hiroshige and the Tokaido series.

Japanese Woodblock Prints: 1680-1900 - Andreas Marks
Hiroshige: The 53 Stations of the Tokaido - Muneshige Narazaki
Tokaido:Adventures on the Road in Old Japan - Stephen Addiss - catalogue to accompany a show at the University of Kansas in 1980
Hiroshige - Matthi Forrer
Tokaido Journey - William Zaccha

So, I have finally finished my 11th book for the year. Hopefully this has opened the "flood gates".

#11: Tokaido Journey - William Zacha

Published in 1985, I got this thru Amazon from a small used book store in Arizona. William Zacha (1920-1998) was a multi-media artist in California and the founder of the Mendocino Art Center. He was another Japanophile like me and made his first trip to Japan in 1964. He planned to travel the Tokaido then but that effort ended up taking him 20 years and 10 trips, to complete. And it seems that though he did walk small parts of it, most of his travels were by rail or by car. On those trips he made sketches of areas where each of the stations were and then made serigraphs from them. And those serigraphs make up his "journey". The book contains images of all of the serigraphs and are accompanied by small blurbs that he wrote about his experience at each. While reading this, I followed along with my books of Hiroshige's prints - viewing his dated 1832 and Zacha's dated 1982-4, 150 years later. Very interesting. Now I'm anxious to start reading the other four.

Note: My copy of Tokaido Journey was printed in 1985. Somehow the colors of all of the prints have faded - hard to believe that this is "sun fading" since every one is like that. Even though Zacha died 8 years ago, his web site is still up. On it I found all of the images and they are as colorful as Hiroshige's.

Note #2: The Tokaido, or "Eastern Sea Road", was/is one of the important roads in Edo era Japan. It had existed for hundreds of years but the first Tokugawa shogan, Ieyasu, improved it, had stations built 2 ri (a ri = about 2.5 miles) apart, etc. early 17th c. Although much of the road has been built over, parts still exist and I have a book written by Peter Carey about his journey over the entire road, from Tokyo to Kyoto, that he took in the early 1990s. Another Japanophile wrote an article that appeared just yesterday in the NY Times Travel Section about his travels on part of the Tokaido and other walks in Japan. I've been to Nihonbashi in Tokyo (the beginning of the road) and the Great Sanjo Bridge in Kyoto (the end of the road) but have never walked any other part of it. But oh, to dream.. . .

>105 catarina1: I think I've lived in Montana about 40 of my 60 years.

I haven't read Haruf although Plainsong has been sitting on Planet TBR for several years now. Definitely too many books, not enough time!

I've read half a dozen of Doig's works, but haven't read the McCaskill trilogy. I usually like Doig's storytelling well enough, although one or two have been mediocre. The general comments here on LT, seem to agree with Paul in >106 PaulCranswick:.

Finally another book -

#12 Wilde Lake - Laura Lippman

A "stand alone" and another one by a "hometown girl". Lippman and Sujata Massey are both former reporters for the Baltimore Sun. Lippman grew up in Columbia where this book is set. I am always annoyed by stories that flip back and forth, from one chapter to the next, in different time periods, or told by different narrators. And this one flips from the present back to Luisa Brant's childhood. (Luisa Brant, new female state's attorney for Howard County). In addition to that annoyance, I began to lose interest in the middle with sidelines that didn't seem too pertinent to the main story line but I persevered. It was a "good enough" summer read, wraps up rather quickly in the last chapter. Not an "edge of your seat" page-turner but pleasant enough.

Lippman throws into the story a lot of items of local interest - restaurants, shops, places. She make an allusion to the new state's attorney in Baltimore City who is currently embroiled in the Gray cases.

#13) Leaving China - James McMullan

I saw this on the shelf at the library and was interested in it due to the subtitle - "An Artist Paints His World War II Childhood". I didn't realize it was a children's book until I was already reading it. The author was born and spent his early years in China where his grandparents had been British missionaries. Due to the invasion of the Japanese and then the war he and his mother spent many years moving around from place to place. He thus had a very interrupted school experience and ends up in a boarding school in India just before the end of the war.

It was a pleasant enough read. I would have liked a little more introspection but I guess, as a children's book, there wouldn't be much of that.

There were about 50 one page chapters but each chapter also included a full page watercolor illustrating the focus of the chapter. That was the highlight of the book for me.

Interestingly when he was describing his school experience in India, he mentions that he missed seeing the "Saturday Evening Post" which he had viewed during his school years in Western Canada. He particularly missed the Normal Rockwell covers - "The magazine gave me my earliest conception of the career of an illustrator, and better yet, an illustrator who told emotional stories."

Not much reading getting done around here. Been watching the Olympics, start to finish. Michael Phelps grew up just two blocks from me and his mother still lives there. So Baltimore is "nuts" over him. Really liked it that the Ravens paused their pre-season game last night so that all in the stadium could watch his race.

14) A Man Called Ove - Fredrik Backman

Finally a book gets read. I had seen this one listed in so many places that when I came across it at the library, I decided to bit. Its a simple story, an entertaining one, a little sad, a little funny, a little sappy, a little predictable, but I'm not sorry that I read it. And there's a cat!

15) Tokyo Capital of Cool - Rob Goss

Travel book with lots of glossily photos of Tokyo, one of my favorite cities. I was last there in 2008 - looks like it is time to go again. Luckily Goss did not reveal my favorite places so they will, hopefully, still be there untainted by crowds.

16) Everyday Style - Lotta Jansdotter

I'm a fan of her fabrics, used them solely for quilting but this book shows her fabrics (and others) being used in clothing. She is Swedish and her fabrics have a Marimekko feel. Book with wonderful, cheerful photos, somewhat interesting text of her design philosophy. Patterns are included but I fear they will be quite challenging - the patterns for all of the garments are printed on two large sheets with pieces of various items laid on top of one another, overlapping, with different configurations of dotted lines for different sizes. This will be a challenge to trace accurately onto tracing paper.

Happy Sunday, Catarina.

Hello, Barbara. It is achingly obvious that I rarely check in here. I was just on my way to a previous year's log to look up a book when I saw your note from about a month ago. My reading has been very poor this year. Too anxious to read. Just a bad time in the US.

Wouldn't it be nice if 2017 was a year of peace and goodwill.
A year where people set aside their religious and racial differences.
A year where intolerance is given short shrift.
A year where hatred is replaced by, at the very least, respect.
A year where those in need are not looked upon as a burden but as a blessing.
A year where the commonality of man and woman rises up against those who would seek to subvert and divide.
A year without bombs, or shootings, or beheadings, or rape, or abuse, or spite.

2017.

Festive Greetings and a few wishes from Malaysia!

Catarina, I wish you Merry Christmas.

This has been a very bad year for reading, at least the last half of it has. I can only blame the tension and anxiety from this year's US political climate. I'm vowing to do better in the new year - as Paul has said - don't let the "bastards" get you down.

Christmas brought a huge book bonanza -

from the 75 Santa Swap -
The Financial Lives of the Poets
Grief is the Thing with Feathers
Dandelion Wine

from the LT SantaThing -
History of the Rain
The Rosie Project
The Little Red Chairs
The Moor's Account
The Invention of Wings

from my son who is another Japanophile - and he managed to find two books about Japan that I do not own - very amazing
Sumo - A Thinking Fan's Guide to Japan's National Sport
Lotus Quest - in Search of the Sacred Flower

and my purchase -
The Ashes of London - new from Andrew Taylor that I ordered through Book Depository, apparently not yet published in the US

Looking forward to your continued company in 2017.
Happy New Year!

>120 PaulCranswick: Thank you,Paul. By this time, about 2:30 PM in the US, you have already reached the new year where you are. Hope this one is good for all of us.

I wish you from my heart health, happiness, satisfaction and much exciting read in 2017. May all your wishes come true.


from my hometown Zürich, Switzerland

Thank you Barbara. I too wish 2017 to be a better year - its going to be hard, though.