tangledthread kicks off 2016 reading....

I'm in for this year! Must go work on my tallies for last year.

Happy New Year, and welcome back!

Welcome back!

Books read in 2016:

January:
1. Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger, fiction, ebook.
2. Messenger of Truth book 4 by Jacqueline Winspear, fiction, audiobook.
3. Handwoven Baby Blankets by Tom Knisely, nonfiction
4. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, fiction
5. We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas, fiction, audiobook & print
6. The Art of Weaving by Else Regensteiner, nonfiction, textiles

February:
7. The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley, fiction@
8. The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith, fiction, audiobook@
9. The Shepherd's Life by James Rebanks, nonfiction
10. Names for the Sea by Sarah Moss, nonfiction
11. Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin, fiction, ebook@
12. Night Waking by Sarah Moss, fiction

March:
13. Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead, ebook, audiobook*
14. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
15. But You Did Not Come Back by Marceline Loridan-Ivens, non-fiction/memoir, ebook
16. My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout, fiction, audiobook

April:
17: Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole@
18. Wonder by R.J. Palacio, fiction, ebook
19. Crossing the Plains with Bruno by Annick Smith, nonfiction, ebook
20. The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'brien, fiction
21. The Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar, fiction, ebook

May:
22. The Last Kashmiri Rose by Barbara Cleverly, fiction,
23. Cold Comfort by Charles Todd, fiction, ebook.
24. The March to Folly by Barbara Tuchman, nonfiction.
25. An Incomplete Revenge Jaqueline Winspear, fiction, audiobook

June:
26. The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukhergee, nonfiction
27. Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear, fiction, audiobook

July:
28. Ragtime in Simla by Barbara Cleverly, fiction
29. The Mapping of Love & Death by Jacqueline Winspear, fiction, audiobook
30. The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman, nonfiction*
31. The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George, fiction, ebook, audiobook@
32. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, fiction, ebook/audiobook
33. A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear, fiction, ebook/audiobook
34. The Care and Management of Lies by Jacqueline Winspear, fiction, audiobook

August:
35. The Bowl with Gold Seams by Ellen Prentiss Campbell, fiction, ebook
36. The Last Hunger Season by Roger Thurow, nonfiction, ebook@
37. Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance, memoir, ebook
38. Loving Eleanor by Susan Wittig Albert, historical fiction, ebook

September:
39. The Rhythm of Memory by Alyson Richman, fiction*
40. An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine, fiction
41. The Drowning by Camilla Lackberg, fiction
42. Black Dragon River by Dominic Ziegler, nonfiction.@
43. Tribe: on Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger, nonfiction/essays
44. The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf, nonfiction, ebook@
45. Yarnitecture by Jillian Moreno, nonfiction, fiber
46. Tapestry Weaving: Design & Technique, nonfiction, fiber
47. Counting Sheep: A Celebration of the Pastoral Heritage of Britain by Philip Walling, nonfiction, ebook.*
48. Shetland Textiles: 800 BC to Present by Sarah Laurenson, nonfiction
49. The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore, historical fiction

October
50. Nutshell by Ian McEwan, fiction@
51. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng, fiction (this was a re-read for book group)
52. TransAtlantic by Colum McCann, fiction, ebook/audiobook
53. A Test of Wills by Charles Todd, fiction, ebook

November
54. News of the World by Paulette Jiles, fiction, ebook
55. Dead Wake by Erik Larson, nonfiction, this is a re-read for the library book group
56. On Living by Kerry Egan, nonfiction, essays
57. Upstream by Mary Oliver, nonfiction, essays*
58. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, fiction, ebook
59. The Wonder: a novel by Emma Donoghue, fiction, ebook
60. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, nonfiction, ebook

December
61. The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan, fiction
62. Dimestore by Lee Smith, nonfiction - memoir, ebook
63. The Trespasser: a novel by Tana French, nonfiction, audiobook
64. The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman, fiction
65. Wings of Fire by Charles Todd, fiction, ebook
66. Hero of the Empire by Candice Millard, nonfiction*
67. Fumbling: a pilgrimage tale.. by Kerry Egan, nonfiction, ebook*

Currently reading We Are Not Ourselves It's a bit like watching a train wreck.

Finished reading We Are Not Ourselves It's a really long book....sort of a saga. It begins with the childhood of Eileen Tumulty, growing up as an only child of alcoholic parents who are emotionally estranged from one another. Then Eileen meets and marries Ed Leary, a Ph.D. candidate....her marriage, like her career, finds her rather than her choosing them. Eileen and Ed are good match, but Eileen always wants something more. After some difficulty they have a son, Collin. Then in their prime, Ed is stricken with early onset Alzheimer's disease (this is where the above trainwreck comment came from) The last half of the book deals with the sad dance of these three family members to the end.

The book is well written. The characters, their actions and reactions are believable, and the scenes and dialogue pull the reader into the story. The story ends with the resolution of some long held tensions of Eileen and Collin once Ed is gone. The book has been described and semi-autobiographical and in a sense, a large part of the book seems to be an elegy for Ed.

I gave it 4 stars.

Finished reading The Shepherd's Life this morning. It is a beautifully reflective narrative written about the generations of sheep farmers in the Lake District of England. The author begins his story as a bored and miserable high school student where the teachers and counselors have little understanding or value for the local agrarian culture and its history. These students have been "hefted" to the land and have a deep appreciation for the land and the local culture than any of these educators can fathom.

The author leaves school to work with his father and grandfather (whom he idolizes) on the farm. When the grandfather dies, the economic precariousness of their life along with late adolescent rebellion sends him not only back to get high school credentials, but also and matriculation and graduation from Oxford. Oxford credentials notwithstanding, this demonstrates the tough and stubborn nature of a young man raised in a tough landscape. The credentials he will need to achieve his goal of returning to the farm to create a life and a family.

Review of The Wonder by Emma Donaghue:

Lib Wright, an English Nightingale Nurse trained in the Crimea, is sent on a two week assignment in Ireland to sit in observance of an 11 year old girl who is purported to have taken no food for 4 months. The child is regarded as a miracle by some in the local village and the watch is being paid for by a local select committee, many of whom are invested in the commercial potential of this phenomena.

Lib, an agnostic, finds herself awash in the depths of Irish superstition and Catholic dogma as this assignment requires her to spend long hours in the home of the child. She shares this position with a Catholic nun with whom they rotate surveillance three shifts per day. She senses there is something deeply disturbing about this family and this is proven to be true as the story progresses.

She is also challenged by a role that at first seemed so simple, but deeply challenges all of her training as a professional nurse....something quite new at that time. This moral dilemma combined with her disorientation due to the rotating shift work and dislocation in a foreign place leaves her floundering. Particularly since the septuagenarian physician overseeing the case is invested in a miracle. And the nun serving with her has been trained to obedience above all else.

A journalist staying in the same lodging facilities helps and inspires her to follow her deepest instincts, leading to the culmination of the book.

It's an interesting story, full of atmosphere as well as discussion of the social and cultural influences at play in the situation at the time.

When Breath Becomes Air review:

Paul Kalanithi spent his life searching for meaning. That search led him through advanced degrees in literature, then on to medical school, and finally residency as a neurosurgeon. Shortly before completing his training, he was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. His plans for becoming a writer after his surgery career was well established were pulled forward to complete this book.

Part memoir, part meditation on the things that give meaning to life, the book is an inspiration to live life more fully and to focus on those things which give our own lives meaning.

Sadly, the author died before the completion of the book. But in someways the book is more complete because it is finished by his wife who shows us that even in great loss, life goes on.

I'm thinking that Hero of the Empire and Deeper than Indigo are going to get shifted to 2017.