Streamsong's Torrents of Books (2)

I'm Janet, a microbiology technician in an NIH research lab in western Montana.

I live in this gorgeous corner of the world with an elderly-ish golden retriever and two cats - one of them a feral cat that Ginny the sweetest dog in the world decided to adopt and move into our house during a cold snap last winter. I also have several horses, although horse time seems to be getting less each year. I have two grown adult children living about an hour away.

I enjoy most genres. I would like to read a mystery or two a month as well as a graphic novel - a fairly new-to-me genre. I'm also trying to increase my global reading, as well as picking up some of the classics that I've missed. About a third of the books I read last year were non-fiction.

I'll probably read about 104 books this year - two per week. My weakness is that ***ALL*** the challenges looks good. I am also very suggestible - if you are enthusiastic about something you are reading, I'm liable to give it a try.

CURRENTLY READING:




- Benjamin Franklin: An American Life - Walter Isaacson - 2003 - Real Life Book Club
- The Manticore - Robertson Davies - 1972 - library
- Yes, Chef - Marcus Samluelsson - audiobook, library
- The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East - Sandy Tolan - 2006 - Real Life Bookclub - Reread
- Life on Mars: Poems - Tracy K. Smith - Monthly poetry read; Pulitzer Prize Winner; library
- Another Country: Navigating the Emotional Terrain of Our Elders - Mary Pipher - 1999 - May Mental Health read; ROOT 2013 = 3 ROOT points
- Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo - Hayden Herrera - 1983 - Nonfiction Challenge: Arts; GeoCat Challenge - North America; ROOT 2014 - 2 ROOT points

COMPLETED BUT NOT REVIEWED

BOOKS READ FIRST QUARTER 2016

Completed in January

1.Kristin Lavransdatter III: The Cross - Sigrid Undset - 1922 - Women Bingopup #10 - Award Winner;Root #1/50 acquired 2008 = 8/225 ROOT points
2. Thank You, Jeeves - P.G. Wodehouse - 1934 - Dec 2015 BAC; January TIOLI #21- Read a book with tea mentioned in the text; 1001; audiobook in the car; library
3. Ragtime - E.L. Doctorow - 1975 - Dec 2015 AAC; 1001, library
4. Without You, There is No Us - Suki Kim - 2015 - LTER; 75'ers Non-fiction challenge biography; TIOLI #6. Read a book written by an American author but set primarily anywhere other than America; Women BingoPup #11 - Memoir; ROOT #2/50; acquired 2015 = 1 ROOT point 9/225
5. Divided: The Perils of Our Growing Inequality - David Cay Johnson - 2014; Brown Bag Book Club; TIOLI #13. Read a Book where D or U starts a word in the title or an initial of the Author's name; ROOT# 3/50 - acquired 2015 = 1 ROOT point - 10/225

Completed in February
6. The Accidental Tourist - Anne Tyler - 1985 - January AAC: Feb TIOLI #14. Read a book with a "leap" in the title or text.(pg 175 He’d been prepared to leap into action); library
7. Hellhound on His Trail - Hampton Sides - 2010 - TIOLI #15 Read a book for black history month; audiobook; library
8. Fun Home - Alison Bechdel - 2006; TIOLI #10. Read a book with the word 'extraordinary' or a synonym of this word somewhere on the front or back cover (stupendous); graphic novel - library
9. Joe and Azat - Jesse Longergan - 2009 - Geocat Central Asia - Turkmenistan; TIOLI #7. Read a book at least partially set in a country/planet that you’ve never read a book about and/or set in before (shared read); GN, library
10. Hell is Empty - Craig Johnson - 2011; Longmire group read; TIOLI # 11. Read a book that is part of a series that has been (or is about to be) adapted into a television show; audiobook; library
11. The Most Wanted Man in China - Fang Lizhi - LTER; Chatterbox's 75'ers history challenge; Feb TIOLI #19: Read a nonfiction book that's about a people/religion/history/politics/country of the Asian continent; ROOT #4/50; acquired 2014 = 1 ROOT point = 11/225
12. The Art Forger - B. A. Shapiro - 2012 - Real Life Book Club; Feb TIOLI Read a book where a word in the title can be an action (forge); Women Author's Bingo - less than 10 years old; - acquired 2016
13. Gift From the Sea - Anne Morrow Lindbergh - 1955; Dewey cat 100's (170.8); TIOLI #12. Read a book written at least 50 years ago; ROOT #5/50; acquired 2008 = 8 ROOT points = 19/225
14. These Heroic, Happy Dead - Luke Mogelson - 2016 - LTER- Geocat - Afghanistan; 18. Read a book with a four-corner-letter-word on page 20 or 16 ROOT #6/50; acquired 2015 = 1 ROOT point (20/225)
15. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie - 1925 - Feb BAC; 1001 Books, TIOLI #17. Read a book with a person-possessive title; library

Completed in March
16. A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson - 1998- 75'ers non-fiction: travel; TIOLI # 3. Read a book with an embedded word in the title (kin); ROOT# 7/50; acq'd 2008 = 8 ROOT points (28/225)
17. Tess of the d'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy - 1891 - March - British Author Challenge; 1001; March TIOLI # Read a book with an embedded word in the title -(soft); ROOT # 8/50; acquired 2012 = 4 ROOT points - 32/225
18. Winter - Marissa Meyer - 2015 - Fantasy February; March TIOLI #2: Read a book you're a bit panicky over (overdue at library); Doorstop Challenge (832 pages);Women Bingo #1 - woman ruler; audiobook in the car - library
19. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy - 1868- 3 month long group read; 1001; March TIOLI #Challenge #9: Read a book where the author's first or last name starts with the letter "L" (shared) ROOT #9/50 acquired 2015 = 1 ROOT point 33/225
20. Woman in the Mists - Farley Mowat - 1987 - March CAC; Global Reading - Rwanda; March TIOLI # 13. Read a book of ethology or the study of non-human animal behavior; ROOT #10/50 acquired 2011 = 5 ROOT points = 38/225
21. Norwegian By Night - Derek B. Miller - 2012 - Library Brown Bag Book Club; TIOLI #7. Read a book with yellow on the cover; Global Challenge: Norway; acquired 2016
22. Gnostic Gospels - Elaine Pagels - 1979; Dewey Cat : 200 Religion (273.1); ROOT #11/50; acq'd 2012 = 4 ROOT points = 42/225

BOOKS READ SECOND QUARTER 2016

Completed in APRIL
23. SuperFreakonomics - Steven D. Levitt - 2009 - April Dewey Challenge 300-350; ROOT #12/50; acq'd 2015 = 1 ROOT point =43/225; audio in car
24. A Manual for Cleaning Women - Lucia Berlin - 2015 - #11: Read a book that has the word "coffee" in the second chapter - library
25. Locally Laid: How We Built a Plucky, Industry-changing Egg Farm - from Scratch - Lucie B. Amundsen - 2016 - LTER - acquired 2016
26. Late Wife: Poems - Claudia Emerson - 2005 - American Author Challenge- Poetry; Pulitzer Prize Challenge; WomonBingoPup #24 - Poetry or Plays; library
27. A Wreath for Emmett Till - Marilyn Nelson - 2005 - AAC - poetry; library
28. Silas Marner - George Eliot -1861 - BAC, 1001, TIOLI #21. Read a book written by an author who wrote mostly using a pseudonym; WomenBingoPup - Male Pseudonym; online Project Gutenberg
29. As the Crow Flies - Craig Johnson - 2012 - Longmire Group Read TIOLI # 2 #2: Read a book of that starts with the letters from APRIL - audio - library
30. Fifth Business - Robertson Davies - 1970 - 1001; January CAC; TIOLI #16. Read a book by one of the eight authors featured so far on the Canadian Author Challenge; library
31. Billy Collins Live - Billy Collins - 2005 - AAC Poetry month; audiobook in the car; acquired 2016
32. The Fixer: A Story from Sarajevo - Joe Sacco - 2003 - GN - Global Reading List: Bosnia and Herzegovina; library
33. Annie John - Jamaica Kincaid - 1985 - 1001 Books; Global Reading List: Antigua; Geocat: island; library
34. The Cellist of Sarajevo - Steven Galloway - 2008 - Library Brown Bag Book Club; Reread; (ROOT # 13/50- 2011 = 5 points -48/225)
35. Proof of Heaven - Eben Alexander III - 2012 - 75'er's Nonfiction Challenge :religion; TIOLI #14. Read a Book Whose Title Contains a Word or Words With Consecutive Vowels; ROOT #14/50; acq'd 2013 = 3 points = 51/225
36. The Rosie Effect - Graeme Simsion - 2014 -Autism/Asperger's group read; TIOLI #4. Read a book with a flower in the title or the author's name; -audiobook in the car - library
37. Wilderness Tips - Margaret Atwood - 1991 - Canadian Author Challenge; short stories; Women Pup Bingo #13 - By or About a Woman - library
38. All About Love: New Visions - bell hooks - 2000; acquired 2016
39. Heaven is For Real - Todd Burpo - 2010- April Nonfiction Challenge: Religion; April TIOLI - a book that you have seen the movie; ROOT #15/50 - acquired 2013 = 3 ROOT points

COMPLETED IN MAY
40. A Stolen Life - Jaycee Dugard - 2011 - DeweyCat Challenge: 355 - 399: military science, social services, criminology, education, commerce, transportation, customs, etiquette, and folklore; ROOT #16/50, acquired 2015 = 1 ROOT point = 52/225; audio
41. Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station - Dorothy Gilman - 1983 - May Murder and Mayhem; TIOLI #12. Read a book containing Murder & Mayhem starting with the first letters of Murders and Mayhem; ROOT #17/50 - 2012 =4 ROOT points 56/225
42. Lab Girl - Hope Jahren - 2016 - May Mental Health Awareness month - TIOLI #6: Read a book that has something to do with spring cleaning; library
43. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up - Marie Kondo - 2014 -TIOLI #6: Read a book that has something to do with spring cleaning; library
44. Work Song - Ivan Doig - 2010 - May American Author Challenge; TIOLI #5 - Scrabble Challenge; library; audiobook
45. Not Becoming My Mother - Ruth Reichl - 2009 - acquired 2016 - audiobook
46. Cutting a Dash (Eats, Shoots & Leaves) (Radio Collection) - Lynne Truss - 2004 - June Dewey Challenge (400's) - audiobook - library
47. Old Filth - Jane Gardam - 2004 - May British Author Challenge; TIOLI #6: Read a book that has something to do with spring cleaning (shared read);Women's BingoPup; 20. Author Over Sixty Years Old; ROOT #18/50 2014 = 2 ROOT points (58/225)

COMPLETED IN JUNE
48. The Serpent's Tooth - Craig Johnson - 2013 - Longmire group read; June TIOLI #7. Read a book with something in the title that makes you go "Oh, no!" ; audiobook; library
49. Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel - May Canadian Author Challenge; June TIOLI #6. Read a book where the author's first or last name begins with a letter that is one of your father's initials; library
50. Animal Farm - George Orwell - 1945 - Real Life Book Club; Reread; ROOT; Rereads =1 ROOT point
51. Contact - Carl Sagan - 1985 - 1001 - June TIOLI #5Read a book that has a word or phrase on page 70 that refers to some aspect of marijuana (Holy Shit!); library
52. Library Wars Love & War Vol 1 - Kiiro Yumi - 2010 (2008 Japan); Manga, TIOLI #16: Read a YA or children's book by an author who doesn't share your nationality; Women authors Bingo:#15 - set in Latin America or Asia; Global Challenge - Japan; library
53. Last Bus to Wisdom - Ivan Doig - 2015 - May AAC - June TIOLI #11. Just for U challenge - read a book with the letter "U" in the title audiobook - library
54. Street of Eternal Happiness - Rob Schmitz 2016 - TIOLI #1 Read a book read a book with a happy individual (and no other individuals) on the front cover; -LTER
55. The Shipping News - E. Anne Proulx - 1993 - 1001; - June American Author Challenge; Pulitzer Challenge; TIOLI #6: Read a book where the author's first or last name begins with a letter that is one of your father's initials (matched read); library

FAVORITE BOOKS READ IN 2016

Fiction
- Fifth Business - Robertson Davies -
- A Manual for Cleaning Women - Lucia Berlin 2015
- Old Filth - Jane Gardam - 2004
- Norwegian by Night - Derek B Miller
- The Art Forger - B. A. Shapiro light, quick, engrossing

Nonfiction:
- Lab Girl - Hope Jahren
- Locally Laid: How We Built a Plucky, Industry-changing Egg Farm - from Scratch - Lucie B. Amundsen
- The Most Wanted Man in China - Fang Lizhi - wonderful memoir of life in communist China
- Without You, There is No Us - Suki Kim - memoir of teaching in North Korea



****************************
STATISTICS FOR BOOKS READ IN 2016 - **********************************

Got things mixed up- I am currently in the process of redoing it

***** 55 -TOTAL BOOKS COMPLETED IN 2016 ****

Of the books I've read this year:
- cataloged into LT 2006 or before
- cataloged into LT 2007
3 - cataloged into LT 2008
- cataloged into LT 2009
- cataloged into LT 2010
2 - cataloged into LT 2011
3 - cataloged into LT 2012
2 - cataloged into LT 2013
1 - cataloged into LT 2014
7 - cataloged into LT 2015
- acquired previously but uncataloged until 2015 (have lots of these!)
7 - acquired 2016
29 - borrowed from library & elsewhere

FORMAT
14 - Audiobook
39 - Print
1 - online

GENRE

25 - Fiction (may fit into more than one category)

11 - 1001 Books
9 - general fiction
- graphic novel
1 - manga
5 - mystery/thriller
2 - SFF
3 - short stories

20 -Non-Fiction (may fit into more than one category)
1 - agricullture/farming
1 - economics
3 - Essays
- Food
3 - graphic non-fiction
1 - history
1 - language/grammar
11 - Memoir/biography
1 - Outdoors
3 - Religion/Spirituality
2 - Self Help
3 - Science

3 - poetry
- plays
- Other

AUTHORS

27 - Male Authors
27 - Female Authors
1 - Combination or Mix of male and female

35 - Authors that are new to me
18 - Authors read before
3 - Rereads

Multiple books read in 2015 by same author:
Ivan Doig - Last Bus to Wisdom, Work Song
Craig Johnson - Hellhound on His Trail , As the Crow Flies, A Serpent's Tooth

Nationality of Author:
1 - Antigua
2 - Australia
5 - Canadian
1 - Chinese
2 - Japanese
1 - Norwegian
1 - Russian
7 - UK
35 - US

Birthplace or residence of Author if different from nationality:
- Norway
1 - South Korea

Language Book Originally Published in:
1 - Chinese (Mandarin?)
50 - English
2 - Japanese
1 - Norwegian
1 - Russian

ORIGINAL PUBLICATION DATE
1 - 1861
1 - 1868
1 - 1891
1 - 1922
1 - 1925
1 - 1934
1 - 1945
1 - 1955
1 - 1970
1 - 1975
1 - 1979
1 - 1980
1 - 1983
2 - 1985
1 - 1987
1 - 1991
1 - 1993
1 - 1998
1 - 2000
1 - 2003
2 - 2004
3 - 2005
1 - 2006
1 - 2008
3 - 2009
4 - 2010
2 - 2011
4 - 2012
1 - 2013
4 - 2014
5 - 2015
4 - 2016

My biggest challenge is that I keep hauling books home faster than I can read them.

I have been a member of the ROOTS challenge (Reading Our Own Tomes) for the past several years. I define a ROOT as anything I owned before January 1st of the current year. I hope to read 50 ROOTS in 2016.

Need to have read 25 by 7/1/2016 to get on track. Currently:17




To keep myself in the oldest part of the Planet of Neglected Books, I'm giving myself points for each book I read, with older books getting more points.

Here's how it works:

1. ROOTS cataloged into LT in 2006 -- 10 points
2. ROOTS cataloged into LT in 2007-- 9 points
3. ROOTS cataloged into LT in 2008-- 8 points
4. ROOTS cataloged into LT in 2009-- 7 points
5. ROOTS cataloged into LT in 2010-- 6 points
6 .ROOTS cataloged into LT in 2011 -- 5 points
7. ROOTS cataloged into LT in 2012 -- 4 points
8. ROOTS cataloged into LT in 2013 -- 3 points
9. ROOTS cataloged into LT in 2014 -- 2 points
10. ROOTS cataloged into LT in 2015 -- 1 point
11. ROOTS not previously entered into LT but which have been around the house pre-2015 (many of these are pre-2006 when I joined LT)--1 point

Goal: Read 225 ROOT points this year.




As of 01/01/2016: 459 books on physical Mt TBR
As of 02/01/2016: 456 books on physical Mt TBR
As of 3/01/2016 : 457 books on physical Mt TBR
As of 4/01/2016: 458 books on physical Mt TBR
As of 5/01/2016 :454 books on physical Mt TBR
As of 6/01/2016: 469 books on physical MT TBR uh, oh!
As of 7/01/2016: 474 books on physical MT TBR - more uh oh!

BOOKS ACQUIRED 2016

Ideally, this number will be less than the number of ROOTS I've read for the year!

Acquired: 42
Read: 10
Reading: 1
Reference/ Cookbooks/Already Read Wanted copy for library: 4
Acquired 2016 added to Planet TBR: 27
Roots Read: 19

1. ✔ Locally Laid - Lucie B. Amundsen - 2016 - LTER
2. ✔ The Art Forger - B. A. Shapiro - 2/17/2016 LBBBC
3. The Gift of Rain - Tan Twan Eng - FOL shelf - 2/25/2016
4. ✔ Billy Collins Live - Billy Collins - FOL freebie shelf - audiobook - 2/25/2016
5. ✔ Not Becoming My Mother - Ruth Reichl - FOL freebie shelf - audiobook - 2/25/2016
6. ✔ Norwegian by Night - Derek B. Miller - 2013 - RL BOOK CLUB March - used from Ammie; 2/25/2016
7. Between the World and Me - Ta-Nehisi Coates - 2015 - Costco RL BBBC later this year 3/9/2016
8. ✔ all about love: new visions - bell hooks 3/9/2016
9. First they killed my father : a daughter of Cambodia remembers by Loung Ung - 3/12/2016 - FOL
10. Long Way Home: Journeys of a Chinese Montanan - Flora Wong - 3/12/2016 - FOL
11.Reference/Cookbook The Indian Slow Cooker: 50 Healthy, Easy, Authentic Recipes - Anupy Singla BB by Darryl
12. The Song Poet - Kao Kalia Yang - LTER - rec'd 3/20/2016
--
Rough week required book therapy:
13. ✔ The Cellist of Sarajevo - Steven Galloway - RLBC
14. Reference/Cookbook Clean & Hungry - Lisa Lillien - 2016 Hungry Girl Cookbook
15. The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris - freebie at FOL
16. Evening Class by Maeve Binchy - freebie at FOL
--
17. Engineering Eden - Jordan Fisher Smith - 2016 - LTER - 4/12/2016
18. Immortal Irishman - Timothy Egan - 2016 - author signing 4/20/2016
19. Reference/Cookbook Sushi For Dummies by Judi Strada - 2005 - Mother's Day gift :-)
20. ***Reading*** The Lemon Tree - Sandy Tolan - May Library Brown Bag Book Club (reread from 2011)
21. ✔ Street of Eternal Happiness - Rob Schmitz - 2016 - LTER
22. The Daughter of Time - Josephine Tey - 1951 FOL shelf May
23. Previously read, not added to TBR My Antonia - Willa Cather - Read last year for AAC, but didn't have a copy.5/26/2016 FOL shelf - 5/26/2016 FOL shelf
24. Moo - Jane Smiley another inspiration from the AAC but didn't get a Smiley read that month. - 5/26/2016 FOL shelf
25. And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini - 5/26/2016 FOL shelf
26. Ines of My Soul: A Novel by - Isabel Allende - 5/26/2016 FOL shelf
27. Bel Canto - Anne Patchett - 5/26/2016 FOL shelf
29. We Were the Mulvaneys - Joyce Carol Oates - For upcoming AAC challenge 5/26/2016 FOL shelf
30. ✔ Animal Farm - George Orwell June RL bookclub read
MisCon books:
31. Ghost Story: A Novel of the Dresden Filesby Jim Butcher
32. Dragon Keeper (Rain Wilds Chronicles, Vol. 1) by Robin Hobb
33. The Paladin - C. J. Cherryh
34. Cyteen - C. J. Cherryh
35. Half a King - Joe Abercrombie - (freebie)
-
36. Wicked - Gregory Maguire - audiobook $2 on FOL rack
37. The Drone Eats with Me: A Gaza Diary by Atef Abu Saif - LTER
38. Arresting God in Kathmandu by Samrat Upadhyay - FOL shelf
39. ***Reading*** Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson - Real Life Book Club
40. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - shared read; Penquin Classic Hardbound
41. The Winter of our Discontent - John Steinbeck - freebie from SLH
42. Dandelion Wine - Ray Bradbury - freebie from SLH

Flag graphic shamelessly borrowed from kidzdoc. Thanks, Darryl!

ABC CHALLENGES American author, British Author, Canadian author challenges
Goal: Read at least one a month, focusing on books already on my shelves and books from 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die'

I'm leaving my choices for this challenge mostly open.

American Authors Challenge/AAC
✔ January- Anne Tyler - The Accidental Tourist
February- Richard Russo
March- Jane Smiley
April- Poetry Month
- ✔ Billy Collins Live - Billy Collins
- ✔ - Late Wife - Claudia Emerson - Pulitzer 2006
- ✔ - A Wreath for Emmett Till - Marilyn Nelson
✔ May- Ivan Doig - Work Song
✔June- Annie Proulx - The Shipping News
July - John Steinbeck - Cannery Row
August-Joyce Carol Oates
September- John Irving
October- Michael Chabon
November- Annie Dillard
December- Don DeLillo

British Authors Challenge/BAC:
January - Susan Hill & Barry Unsworth -
February : ✔ Agatha ChristieMurder of Roger Ackroyd & William Dalrymple
March: ✔Thomas Hardy - Tess of the d'Urbervilles - ROOT Ali Smith &
April : ✔ George Eliot - Silas Marner - 1001 & Hanif Kureishi
May : ✔Jane Gardam Old Filth - ROOT & Robert Goddard
June : Lady Antonia Fraser & Joseph Conrad
July : Bernice Rubens & H.G. Wells - The Invisible Man audio from library
August : Diana Wynne-Jones & Ian McEwan 1001
September : Doris Lessing & Laurie Lee Cider With Rosie - ROOT 1001
October : Kate Atkinson & William Golding
November : Rebecca West & Len Deighton
December : WEST YORKSHIRE writers - Vilette - Charlotte Bronte - 1001
Wildcard : Rumer Godden and George Orwell

Canadian Authors Challenge/CAC:
January: ✔ Robertson Davies The Fifth Business Kim Thúy-
March: ✔ Farley Mowat - Women in the Mists ROOT;
April: ✔- Margaret Atwood - Wilderness Tips, Michael Crummey
May: ✔ Emily St. John Mandel - Station Eleven -
June: Timothy Findley, Joseph Boyden
July: LM Montgomery, Pierre Berton
August: Mordechai Richler, Gabrielle Roy
September: Miriam Toews, Dany Laferrière
October: Lawrence Hill, Jane Urquhart
November: Michael Ondaatje, Margaret Laurence
December: Alice Munro ROOT, Rawi Hage

***************Weird O's Pulitzer Prize Winning Challenge:***********
✔ - Late Wife - Claudia Emerson -Poetry Pulitzer 2006
✔ The Shipping News - Anne Proulx

5 Pulitzer Winning ROOTS 5 on the shelf:
- The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time by Jonathan Weiner General Non-Fiction, 1995
- Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond General Non-Fiction, 1998
- March by Geraldine Brooks Fiction, 2006
- The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz Fiction, 2008
- Tinkers by Paul Harding Fiction, 2010

*************Weird O's Doorstops (over 600 pages) and Door Wedges (under 200 pages) Challenge***************
Doorstop: Kristin Lavransdatter (3 volumes 1168 pages) Doorwedge: Joe and Azat - Jesse Lonergan (96 pages)
Doorstop Winter - Marissa Meyer (832 pages) Doorwedge:Gift From the Sea - Anne Morrow Lindbergh - (140 pages) 2/25/2016
Doorstop War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (1365 pages) Doorwedge:These Happy Heroic Dead - Luke Mogelson - (185 pages) 2/27/2016

*************1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die Challenge**************
Currently Total Read: 134 out of 1305 (Combined Lists); Thread here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/163173

126. Kristin Lavransdatter - Sigrid Undset - 3 vols 1920-1922 - Norway 1/3/2016
127. Thank You, Jeeves - P. G. Wodehouse - 1934 - UK 1/09/2016
128. Ragtime - E. L. Doctorow - 1975 - US - 1/18/2016
129. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie - 1925 - UK 2/29/2016
130. Tess of the d'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy - 1891 - UK 03/15/2016
131. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy 1868 - Russia 03/28/2016
132. Silas Marner - George Eliot - 1861 - UK - 04/13/2016
133. Fifth Business - Robertson Davies - 1970 - Canada 04/16/2016
134. Annie John - Jamaica Kincaid - 1985- Antigua 4/24/2016
135. Contact - Carl Sagan - 1985 - US 6/19/16
(xx) Animal Farm - George Orwell - 1945 - UK - 06/21/2016 - Reread - does not add to total
136. The Shipping News - Annie Proulx - 1993 - US - 06/30/2016

I will be following two non-fiction challenges in order to get some of the non-fiction off Mt TBR.

*******************CHATTERBOX'S NON-FICTION CHALLENGE***************
January: Biography/Memoir/Autobiography
- A Walk Toward Oregon - Alvin M Josephy - ROOT - still plan to read
✔ Without You There is No Us - Suki Kim LTER ROOT
✔ February: History: The Most Wanted Man in China - Fang Lizhi (4.5 stars)
✔ March: Travel: A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson - ROOT
✔ April: Religion & Spirituality - Proof of Heaven - Eben Alexander III - ROOT
- ✔ Heaven is for Real - Todd Burpo - ROOT
May: The Arts - Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo - Hayden Herrera - ROOT
June: Natural History/Environment/Health
July: Current Affairs
August: Science and Technology
September: Philosophy/History of Ideas
October: Politics/Economics & Business/Commentary
November: Essays
December: Quirky/Who Knew?

********************************Dewey Cat***************************
January: 000: Computer science, information & general works: computers, libraries, encyclopedias, journalism, museums and rare books - A Walk Toward Oregon - Alvin M Josephy - ROOT still plan to read
✔ February: 100: Philosophy and psychology: the occult, dreams, logic, ethics - Gift From the Sea - Anne Morrow Lindbergh - ROOT
✔ March: 200's: Religion: Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, etc Gnostic Gospels - Elaine Pagels - ROOT
✔ April: 300 - 354: sociology, anthropology, statistics, political science, economics, law, and public administration:
✔ : SuperFreakonomics- Steven D. Levitt - (330) ROOT 2015:
✔ May: 355 - 399: military science, social services, criminology, education, commerce, transportation, customs, etiquette, and folklore - A Stolen Life - Jaycee Dugard - audio - ROOT
June: 400: Language: linguistics, sign language, languages ***Listening***: Cutting A Dash - Lynne Truss
July: 500: Science: math, astronomy, physics, chemistry, geology, fossils, prehistoric life, biology -
August: 600: Technology: medicine, health, engineering, agriculture, home, public relations, manufacturing, and construction
Want to Read: Oliver Sacks: Moving On
September: 700: Arts & recreation: Arts, landscape, architecture, sculpture, decorative arts, painting, photography, cinema, music, sports, and entertainment
October: 800: Literature: poetry, essays, speeches, drama, humor, satire
November: 900 - 939: world history, geography, travel, biography, genealogy, and ancient history
December: 940 - 999: history of Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas, Oceania and extraterrestrial worlds

Cumulative : 66 countries visited (still updating)

visited 66 states (29.3%)
Create your own visited map of The World

Global Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/topic/188308 This is a cool group - very little discussion, but if you want to keep track of books you've read with authors or locations of various countries, this is your spot!

********************************Geo Cat*****************************************************

January South America- One Hundred Years of Solitutude - unread in January - still plan to read
February Central Asia- ✔ Afghanistan - These Heroic, Happy Dead: Stories - Luke Mogelson - LTER - ROOT-
-- ✔ Joe and Azat - Jesse Lonergan - Turkmenistan - library
✔ March Eastern Europe and Russia : War and Peace - Tolstoy - ROOT
✔ April : Polar regions, Islands, Bodies of Water: Annie John - Jamaica Kincaid - Antigua
May: North America (Including Mexico) - Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo - Hayden Herrera - ROOT
June: Australia & New Zealand
July: Central America and Caribbean - Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz - ROOT, Pul
August: Southern Africa
September: Southern Asia
October: Eastern Asia - Gift of Rain, The Things They Carried ROOT
November: Northern Africa and the Middle East Salmon Fishing in the Yemen - Paul Torday ROOT; GN Syria: The Arab of the Future; GN Palestine - GN - Joe Sacco
December: Western Europe - Les Miserables - ROOT

****************************Reading Globally Quarterly Challenges*****************************

Quarter 1: January - March 2016 Writers from the Caribbean
Quarter 2: April - June 2016 Writers at Risk
Quarter 3: July - September 2016 Soviet and Post Soviet Writers
Quarter 4: October - December 2016 Dictators, Dictatorships and Other Forms of Tyranny

****************************States Visited Started starting 2014*********************************:


visited 31 states (62%)
Create your own visited map of The United States

2016

Maryland : - The Accidental Tourist - Anne Tyler

One more complication to keep me focused on women writers - I'm not going for a blackout, however.



1. About a Female Ruler - Winter - Marissa Meyer - COMPLETED - 3/23/2016
2. Women in Science Lab Girl - Hope Jahren - COMPLETED 5/13/2016
3. Less than 10 Years Old: The Art Forger - B. A. Shapiro - (2012) - COMPLETED 2/24/2016
4. Collection of Short Stories: A Manual for Cleaning Women - Lucia Berlin - (2015) COMPLETED - 4/06/2016
5. Women in Non-Traditional Roles: Fun Home - Alison Bechdel - COMPLETED
6. Published Before 2000 Gift From the Sea - Anne Morrow Lindbergh - COMPLETED 02/25/2016
7. African American Author All About Love: New Visions - bell hooks - COMPLETED 4/30/2016
8. About a Spy Mrs Pollifax on the China Station - Dorothy Gilmore - 1983 - COMPLETED 5/10/2016
10. Award Winner: Kristin Lavransdatter by Nobel Laureate Sigrid Undset - COMPLETED
11. Memoir: Without You There Is No Us - Suki Kim - COMPLETED 1/25/2016
13. By or About a Woman Wilderness Tips - Margaret Atwood -
14. A New To You Author: Annie John - Jamaica Kincaid - 1985 - COMPLETED 4/24/2016
15. Set in Latin America or Asia: Library Wars Love & War Vol 1 - Kiiro Yumi - Japan - 6/22/2016
17. Made into a Movie: The Accidental Tourist - Anne Tyler - COMPLETED 2/1/2016
19. About a Female Critter: - Locally Laid: How We Built a Plucky, Industry-changing Egg Farm - from Scratch - Lucie B. Amundsen COMPLETED 4/08/2016
20. Author Over Sixty Years Old: - Jane Gardam - Old Filth - 5/30/2016
21. 1920-30's Detective Fiction - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie - COMPLETED 2/29/2016
23. From Your TBR Pile: Gnostic Gospels - Elaine Pagels - COMPLETED 3/31/2016
24. Poetry or Plays: Late Wife: Poems - Claudia Emerson -2005 - Pulitzer Prize - COMPLETED 4/11/2016
25. Male Pseudonym: Silas Marner - George Eliot - 1861 - COMPLETED 4/03/2016

Possibilities:
12. Women in Combat: Ashley's War - Gayle Tzemach Lemmon - rec by Donna

My General Plan is going to look something like this:

If I read about 2 books per week, I only want to commit myself to 4 challenge books/month:

***************************************************2016 General Plan **************************************************
1. Real Life Brown Bag Book Club
2.Western Authors Challenge - at least 1
- A. AAC
- B. BAC
- C. CAC
3. Geocat and/or Reading Globally quarterly challenges
4. Dewey Cat and/or Chatterbox's Nonfiction Challenge

And I will be doubling up on the challenges to fill these slots:

5. 4 or 5 ROOTS per month: 50 for year
- A.
- B.
- C.
- D.
2 from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die - 25
- A.
- B.
Pulitzer Prize Winning (6 during the year - 5 will be ROOTS from MT TBR)

In March, I need to focus on reading books on my shelves before January 1, 2016 (ROOTS challenge). Until I finish War and Peace, I'll continue choosing lighter and shorter reads.

Probably Planned, totally open for revisions at any time:

********MARCH***************

Finish:
- ✔ War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy - group read; Geocat: Eastern Europe & Russia; Doorstop Challenge ROOT 1001
- ✔ Winter - Marissa Meyer - Fantasy February; Doorstop challenge (800 pages) -audiobook - library
- (actually not started yet) Fifth Business - Robertson Davies- Jan CAC library - 1001

1. ✔ Brown Bag Book Club - Norwegian by Night - Derek B. Miller (purchased)

2.Western Authors Challenge
- ✔ B . BAC - Thomas Hardy - Tess of the d'Urbervilles - ROOT 2012 - 1001
- ✔ C. CAC - Farley Mowat - Woman in the Mists - (Rwanda) ROOT 2011

3. Geography Challenges: ✔ Geocat - Eastern Europe & Russia - War and Peace - ROOT, 1001
3B. Caribbean authors: Annie John - Jamaica Kincaid (Antigua) library

4.✔ Nonfiction Challenges: Dewey Cat 200 religion- Gnostic Gospels- Elaine Pagels - ROOT
- 75'ers' Non-fiction challenge - Travel ✔ A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson - ROOT:

Need to have read 12 or 13 ROOTS done by 4/1/2016 to keep on track. Currently: 6
7. ✔ War and Peace acquired 2015 = 1 ROOT point
8. ✔ A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson acquired 2008 = 8 ROOT points
9. ✔ Tess of the d'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy - ROOT2012 = 4 ROOT points
10. ✔ Gnostic Gospels - Elizabeth Pagels-ROOT acq'd 2012 = 4 ROOT points
11. ✔ Woman in the Mists - Farley Mowat
12. SuperFreakonomics - Steven D Levitt- ROOT 2015
13.

1001 Goal 22 this year. (150 total). Should read 6 by 4/1/2016 to keep on track. (Currently: 4)
5. ✔ War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
6. ✔ Tess of the d'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
7.

Random Unplanned Totally Spontaneous Additions That Insisted on Being Read in March:
***Reading*** 1. all about love: new visions - bell hooks
***Listening*** SuperFreakonomics - Steven D Levitt ROOT 2015 - April Dewey category
***Reading*** A Manual for Cleaning Women - Lucia Berlin - group read - library

Holdovers:
Partially Read: - not actively reading:
- Bitch In a Bonnet: Reclaiming Jane Austen from the Stiffs, the Snobs, the Simps and the Saps (Volume 2) Robert Rodi ROOT 2015
- The Mockingbird Next Door - Marja Mills - ROOT 2015

Did Not Start in January:
One Hundred Years of Solitude Geocat, ROOT, 1001, global list: Columbia
A Walk Toward Oregon - DeweyCat, 75'er's Nonfiction biography, ROOT

What do you do at an early hour?
What do you do at an early hour?
What do you do at an early hour?
Early in the morning!

Yay for Daylight Savings Time! Getting up an hour earlier is a rough the first few days, but I Love! the extra hour of light in the evenings.

Rainy, rainy day here so I'll be heading to Missoula to do a bit of shopping and have lunch with one or two of the offspring. First I'll be off to have a Traditional Irish Breakfast (whatever that may be) at Mom's Independent Living Residence.

I'll put one of my old standby's in the Crock Pot right before I head out north.

Crockpot Salsa Chicken
Servings: 6

1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast halves -- uncooked
15 ounce can black beans
15 ounce can yellow corn
16 ounces salsa
8 ounces fat-free cream cheese (I only use 4 ounces)

Put frozen chicken breasts in crockpot. Cover with can of rinsed and drained black beans, can of drained corn, and jar of salsa. Cook on high 4-5 hours or until chicken is cooked.

Place block of fat free cream cheese on top and cook for additional 1/2 hour.

Great as a base for taco's, burritos, enchiladas, taco bowls etc. Jazzes up nicely with olives, fresh cilantro, avocados, Greek Yoghurt (instead of sour cream) etc.

I still have a serving or two of one of my favorite recipes from Budget Bytes: Curried Chickpeas with Spinach - http://www.budgetbytes.com/2013/12/curried-chickpeas-spinach/

I also have a serving of Unstuffed Cabbage Casserole - which I will probably freeze since *There Will Be Cabbage* this week at various St Paddy's Day functions.

Book Therapy Session Yesterday: Feeling blue so I stopped by to pick up a book from the FOL shelf which I had used every bit of willpower to pass up on my previous visit: First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung. Because, hey, on my global reading quest ( >9 streamsong: ) I don't have anything yet by a Cambodian author. This is getting to be an obsession.

And of course there was a second book, too Long Way Home: Journeys of a Chinese Montanan - Montana history and Southeast Asia (DD's sphere of interest) so how could it not come home with me?


Yay! Less than 200 pages left in War and Peace! I **will** be done before the month is over.

And I'm enjoying my British Author Challenge book, Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urberville's much more than I thought I would.

Happy Sunday, Janet! Happy New Thread! Gloomy and rainy here too. Good day to curl up with the books.

Glad to see Tess is a hit, Janet.

Happy New Thread

>14 streamsong: Daylight saving only starts over here at the last weekend of March, so we will have to wait two more weeks...
Hope you enjoyed both breakfast and lunch today, Janet :-)

>15 msf59: I did almost no reading yesterday, although I did get several hours done in my audiobook of Winter with the drive back and forth to Missoula.

>16 PaulCranswick: Tess is a surprise, Paul. Your list of authors continues to expand my horizons. I only wish I could read them all!

>17 FAMeulstee: It was a nice day, Anita, thank you. It was fun to do a bit of shopping and meet up with my son (DD went AWOL). I definitely needed a break from a rough week. The root canal I had to have done on Wednesday was the most restful part of the week - I actually fell asleep during it!

However, when I talked to Mom last night, there were more issues of concern. The St. Patrick's Day breakfast took the place of lunch at her retirement apartment group. She said she was very hungry by dinner time but had no food(!) in her apartment kitchen to make a snack or sandwich. She was also upset that she had sent Easter cards to her younger grandsons, and is sure she enclosed checks to them, but there were no checks. However, the checks are not in her check book, so they went somewhere.

She's been in congestive heart failure the last month or so and it is taking a toll. Every day is a bit different with her, but every day brings new challenges. After work today, I'll stop over there and we'll put together a grocery list. She prefers doing her own shopping and choosing but with the heart issues hasn't felt up to shopping and I had no idea her cupboard was so bare. She has two meals a day in the group dining room, but when things are out of routine, she ends up in a pickle.

Happy new thread, Janet! Sorry to hear about your Mom - keeping the both of you in my thoughts and prayers.

We make a very similar crockpot chicken mixture, but it without the cream cheese, and it has chicken broth and some spices and fresh cilantro in it. You are so right that it is very good in any number of ways.

Way to go with W&P - you are almost there!

I'm discovering new threads this evening...
>14 streamsong: Daylight Savings shouldn't make much difference to me because I can set my own schedule, but it's psychologically uplifting.
>18 streamsong: Oh dear, missing checks are a worry. As is a barren cupboard. Are there people at the retirement place to keep track or is it all you?

>19 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie and thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your concern and good thoughts.

The chicken is a handy one to have portions in the freezer.

And I am happy to be so close to finishing with W & P!!!!!!

>20 qebo: Hi Katheriine. Thanks for your concern, too. Mom has lunch and dinner in the dining room with a nice salad and fresh fruit bar, choice of two nice entrees and the option of choosing a sandwich or eggs if neither of the main options appeal. She usually only needs breakfast items in her apartment and a few snack items.

It was a snowy, blustery day here yesterday (and today, too), so Mom did not go out. I took her a couple bags of what I think of as 'dorm room food' after work tonight - granola bars, yoghurt, applesauce cups, canned soup, milk, cereal etc and was surprised to see that her cupboard was not as bare as she had indicated. She had bread for toast along with peanut butter and jelly, cheese, a bit of milk, cereal, etc.

I'm thinking that it was more a matter of the routine being different. On Sunday she had two breakfasts and then no meals between 10 am and dinner at 5 - and she just got a bit confused. It seems to be happening more often lately.

It truly is an independent living complex, but if residents don't show up for meals, staff checks on them immediately. There is an assisted living wing if she requires more help, but there is always a long waiting list for that section.

Yay for Daylight Saving Time!

16. A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson - 1998
- 75'ers non-fiction: travel;
- TIOLI # 3. Read a book with an embedded word in the title (kin);
- ROOT acq'd 2008 = 8 ROOT points

Bill Bryson, captured by the romance of a long distance hike, determined to hike one of the granddaddy's of the US trail system: the Appalachian trail. This trail follows the Appalachian Mountain range in the eastern US stretching approximately 2200 miles from Georgia to Maine.

There is lots of good Bryson humor here and a good readable experience, especially if you are interested in the outdoors. There is a bit of history and a bit of natural history such as the dying of the hardwood forests in the Appalachia Mountains and the amazing number of species of plants and animals discovered there. These include the rarest of orchids and a mind boggling number of salamander species.

Although Bryson and his friend did an initial stretch of over 500 miles, later stretches were done in short increments of overnights and day hikes. So this book gives the flavor of both of these ways of doing the trail.

This has been on Planet TBR for several years now. After reading Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed last year, I thought it would be interesting to compare the two experiences.


Unlike Strayed’s experience with the Pacific Coast Trail, Bryson hiked only parts of the Appalachian Trail. He was a more seasoned hiker than Strayed, and definitely more aware of various dangers. Bryson also had a companion for most of his hiking – a definite safety factor that Strayed did not have. In addition, the AT goes through less remote country than the Pacific Coast Trail. In places, especially along the northern parts, the AT parallels roads through National Parks, giving hikers more chances to have human contact and rest and food in small towns. Unfortunately, that means more human contact which can limit the hiking experience as well as increases danger since the most dangerous thing out there are often other humans. Bryson details several murders along the trail.

This book is well worth reading. The two together have me pretty inspired to get out and go this summer.

Hooray for A Walk in the Woods! I am a big fan too, although I am not sure I want to see the recent film adaptation. Glad you made the comparisons to the Strayed memoir. These are both terrific reads.

Hope the week is going well, Janet!

>23 msf59: Thanks, Mark for the comments. I didn't realize there was a film adaptation of AWITW. I think I may pass on it, too. I wonder if it was done in imitation of the film on Strayed's book, since that once was a quite popular box office success. They are definitely two different stories, although each involve hiking a long trail.

Yay! I finished a book! I quite enjoyed Tess of the d'Urbervilles for the BAC. It was the first time I've ready Thomas Hardy. I'll definitely have to look into more of his work.

And I've started Farley Mowat's Woman in the Mists about Dian Fossey and the Mountain Gorillas. It looks to be another good one.

I've stalled out a bit on W & P even though I'm in the final two hundred pages.

Hi Janet. I'm sorry things are tough with your mom right now. It is so heartbreaking to see health concerns take up more and more space in a loved one's life.

I'm in your neighborhood right now -- in the Big Sky area enjoying the lovely blanket of snow all around me. Spending most of my time in meetings but I'll get to do some snow-shoeing this afternoon and we have a sleigh ride scheduled for this evening. I'm looking forward to that! Less reading is happening than I would like but one has to be flexible, right? :-)

I do expect to finish The Book Thief tonight and it's been a great read.

Oh, and I want to read Tess of the d'Urbervilles one of these days.

>22 streamsong: Nice review, I plan to read A walk in the woods this year, as the Dutch translation is availabe at the library :-)

I'm another who enjoys the longer daylight hours in the evening, Janet. Sorry to hear about the continuing concerns with your mother, inevitable as they are at this time of her life. {{{{Janet}}}}

I hadn't realized there was a recent film adaptation of A Walk in the Woods until Mark mentioned it in. I wasn't crazy about watching it, but I think Robert Redford has enough outdoor chops to pull it off, so I've changed my mind and will give it a whirl.

>25 EBT1002: Hi Ellen!I loved seeing the pictures of your adventure on your thread, Ellen. I have a pair of my Dad's old rawhide snowshoes that I have been planning to hang somewhere. I remember having them at a girl scout winter camp 50 years ago and how much better they worked than the cheap aluminum ones provided by the camp.

>I also enjoyed The Book Thief. Glad it was a hit! Death was such an interesting character, wasn't he?

>27 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita! I'm so glad you're reading and posting again. It makes me happy everytime you visit. Do you have the opportunity to do any hiking?

>28 ronincats: Hi Roni Thanks for stopping by! Thanks for the hugs - always appreciated. I go with her to a cardiology appointment again on Monday. She is exhausted all the time. I'm not sure if it's a necessary medicine side-effect or a symptom of her weakening heart.

Today I'm heading up to Missoula to attend an International Festival at the University. DD & I will eat lunch at the various booths and perhaps watch a bit of three hours of performances put on by the various clubs.

And of course, the drive up and back will get me two hours closer to the end of the Winter audiobook. I've decided that 19 hour audiobooks are waaaaaayyyyyyy too long for me unless I'm doing a humongous solo road trip.

17. Tess of the d'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy - 1891
- March British Author Challenge;
- 1001;
- March TIOLI # Read a book with an embedded word in the title -(soft);
ROOT 2012 = 4 ROOT points

When John Derbyfield discovers by accident that his family is descended from the lordly d'Ubervilles, he sends his daughter Tess. to them to see if she can achieve an advantage in life. Unbeknownst to him, however, the current d'Ubervilles are not relatives but mere noveau riche who have assumed the name.

Tess is seduced or raped and returns to her family home in disgrace where she bears a child whom is not long for the world. Tess then sets out once more to earn her way through hard work; although she briefly has a chance for happiness, she is rejected by her new husband when she confesses her story to him. Once more, fallen further, she scrapes a living, until again victimized by a man.

The universe itself seems to conspire against her, producing an ending with murder, a brief moment of sublime love and more death.

I found this to be a gritty novel at a time with little compassion for women from either the Christian church or nature itself.

4 stars

Note - because the copy I had living living on Planet TBR said 'edited by Willliam Baxler'. I ended up reading most of this online at Project Gutenberg.

Happy New Thread, Janet! Nice review of A Walk in the Woods.

>30 streamsong: I have Tess of the d'Urbervilles somewhere in my apartment, and your review makes me want to dig it out and read it! I like the idea of a "gritty" classic novel.

Hi Janet! I'm so sorry about your mom. I'll send my prayers for her.

Happy Spring!



I loved both A Walk in the Woods and Tess of the D'Urbervilles. I thought Hardy had an amazing understanding of what sorts of problems a young raped woman would experience at a time like that - he has amazing insight.

>29 streamsong: I just walk the dogs, thats all, Janet :-)
I have been thinking about more serious hiking, we have a route from the north of the country to the south called the Pieterpath, because it start in the village Pieterburen and ends at the Saint-Pieter mountain. It is 492 km, and divided in 26 parts, so you can take the train, hike a day and start next time where you ended.
So maybe one day... until then I LOVE to read about it!

I hope all went well with your mother today.

Mothers are very much on my own mind at the moment, Janet too. Getting old is fine; watching those we love deteriorate is inordinately painful and heartbreaking. Take care. xx

>29 streamsong: A Walk in the Woods
I saw the movie because I'd gotten the book as an ER which I belatedly realized was a movie tie-in edition. It's not that great.

Mom cardiology appointment: Her meds are in as big a muddle as her checkbook. Last appointment we brought in all her meds; the nurse went through them and discarded the ones she was no longer supposed to be taking. But she must have had more than one bottle of the discarded ones as she was taking things she shouldn't have been, and had run out of ones she is supposed to be taking. Her eyesight has deteriorated so much, she has trouble reading labels.

Mom brought a hand-written (almost illegible) list of what she was taking and it was pretty wrong.

The cardiologist was a bit perturbed. I felt six inches tall.

Last night I picked up prescriptions, sorted, threw away and much to Mom's chagrin and humiliation, set up one of those huge timed pill boxes for her. If that doesn't work, the pharmacy can do all her meds in a bubble pack. If that doesn't work, oh dear, I don't want to think about it - but I guess it would be moving to a situation where she could get more help.

But I'm hoping that part of the mental confusion may be due to taking so many meds wrong and this will help.

>31 kidzdoc: Thanks, Darryl! And thanks for stopping by. I know you're having fun on your trip.

>32 Cait86: It sounds like you would enjoy Tess when you get to it. I love all the author group reads here. It's nice to have a reason to pull books from my shelves and get 'em read. (I have a Cait born in 87 so your user name always gives me a surprise. She's a traveler, too).

>33 The_Hibernator: Hi Rachel! Thanks for the good wishes and the lovely crocus. They are my very favorite spring flower. It's been fun to see them popping up on other threads, too!

>34 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita! The Pieterpath sounds like fun! I hope you get to do it one of these days.

>35 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul - good to see you. I'm holding your Mom in my thoughts and prayers today, too.

>36 qebo: Yay Katherine! You just saved the day. I'll take your un-recommendation and skip watching the Walk in the Woods movie.

Reading: I finished the main body of W & P - down to the two epilogues (about 100 pages total to go). I'm also on the last disc (of 19!) of Winter. Two tomes down, means more book reviews soon.

Farley Mowat's Woman in the Mists is amazing - hard to put down. I knew vague things about Dian Fossey and the Mountain Gorillas, but it's nice to read the whole story.

>37 streamsong: I hope with you that wrong meds are part of the problems for your mom...

Thinking of you today with your "mom" worries. Not an easy time. Fingers crossed. I remember with my mom when she got confused it was often a bladder infection and when that got treated the fog lifted.

>40 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita. Fingers and toes crossed that getting the meds straightened out will help, although I know it's not the only problem.

>41 mdoris: Thanks, Mary. It's a good reminder that the more fragile one is, the easier it is to have things knocked out of kilter by small things. Hugs back at you for having gone through this, too.

And hooray! I finished the audiobook of Winter yesterday although I actually have a few minutes left with a conversation between the reader of the series and the author, Marissa Meyer. It's several weeks overdue, so back to the library it will go today. No more super long audiobooks for me!

My next audiobook up will be SuperFreakonomics which is actually for the April Dewey category challenge (Dewey number 300-350) as well as a ROOT to get off my shelf.

Ah, meds and aging parents - that's on my horizon, too. Paul said it so well (@ 35) - "watching those we love deteriorate is inordinately painful and heartbreaking."

>44 countrylife: Thanks for stopping by, Cindy. Yes, what Paul said is very, very true and I know it is heartfelt since his Mom is so ill. So many of my friends and cousins are all dealing with the same painful issues right now.

I picked up four from the library yesterday - a very eclectic mix. The volunteer who checked them out for me is a very active 80 year old who is in my RL book group. She is very, very well read and married to a retired professor. She asked if I had started next week's book club book and I told her I was trying to finish W & P first - which turns out to be one of her very favorite novels.

She happily looked at the books I had received through interlibrary loan; she saw the first one was a GN and I could see she was surprised and a bit taken aback. I think my reading choices confuse her.

I picked up:
A Manual for Cleaning Women - Lucia Berlin for the group read starting now
The Fixer - Joe Sacco - interesting buzz on Sacco's journalistic graphic novels here on LT
Late Wife - Claudia Emerson - for the April AAC - chose this volume of poetry as it's a Pulitzer winner
As the Crow Flies - Craig Johnson - April Longmire group read

Morning, Janet! Congrats on finishing Winter. I still have that one lined up, but it might be awhile.

Looking forward to your thoughts on Cleaning Women. You know, I was crazy about that collection.

Hope the week went well.

Here to cheer you through the two epilogues of W&P, Janet!

On the aging parent front, I hear you. There is a mountain range, a good tract of land and a small skiff of water between my parents and I so I only make it home twice a year. While my mom is good about keeping her medication organized - she knows what she is on - she has a habit of either cutting the pills in half or discontinuing to take them once she starts feeling better and then wonders why weeks later, she is not do so good. I hope all goes well with your mom.

Have a wonderful Easter.

>46 msf59: Thanks, Mark. Yes, a good week. Mom, DD & I went out to a local French bistro for an early Easter celebration.

DD loves the anime/cosplay conventions and braved the bad mountain passes between here and Seattle to go to Sakura Con in Seattle this weekend. She was especially excited because she was chosen to be in a game of living chess where her character takes on all the Power Rangers. Hopefully there will be video online. Here she is:



>47 lkernagh: Thanks, Lori. As Bill said on his thread, the mud of Moscow is definitely pulling me down as I finish the last epilogue on history and great men.

Thanks for the good wishes for Mom. I'm sending the same for you and your Mom. I have to admit that I also am guilty of going off meds too soon when I feel better. It's a pretty human failing, I think.

>48 PaulCranswick: Thanks for the Easter greetings, Paul.

My son will be here and I hope to get a few of the heavier outside chores done.

I absolutely love the Easter sunrise services. This year one of the church members has opened their home for that service. Their house is high above the valley with lovely views as the sun rises.

We'll be doing dinner at Mom's retirement village. Their chef puts on absolutely wonderful holiday feasts.

>37 streamsong: Oh, I'm sorry. That sounds super stressful. I used to use a meds tray when my ME was bad and it really helped. Tell her it's not just for the elderly, they make sense for anyone on more than a couple of medications. Nowadays I have reminders on my phone which helps, but Andy still has to keep on at me.

>49 streamsong: That is a really impressive costume! Very nicely done.

The story of the cardio visit with your mom just sounds hard. This Sunday we will drive down to Olympia to have mid-day dinner with FIL and his wife. He turns 94 in May and is doing remarkably well despite seriously progressing Parkinson's. I haven't seen him since around Christmas and I always worry about how his health may have declined. Still, he is a remarkable man (with the privilege of access to good health care).

I hope DD is having a wonderful time here in Seattle!

Hi Janet, I just saw over on Stephanie's thread that you're thinking about participating in an April Group Read of The Master and Margarita. It's not that my reading docket is empty but I have that one on the shelves and a group read is an appealing way to approach it....

>51 eclecticdodo: Thanks, Jo. I use one myself from time to time.

>52 Oberon: Thanks for stopping by, Erik! DD has a lot of fun doing them. That photo was taken at a con in DC last year, which she was able to attend while in that city for her job.

>53 EBT1002: Thanks, Ellen for stopping by and for your empathy. It was hard for me, but much harder for Mom. She was pretty devastated. She said she has been contacted by the Assisted Living section of the retirement complex.

I hope you enyoy your time with your FIL - and I hope we both make it to the group read of The Master and Margarita.

Off to do some panic cleaning and pot on a pot of curried red lentil and pumpkin soup - a light lunch after church to tide us over until Easter Dinner at the retirement complex.

Happy Easter Everyone!

A repeat of my topper photo:

Happy Sunday and Happy Easter, Janet! Have a great day, with the family.

Wishing you a wonderful day!

Thank you, Mark and Mary for the Easter greetings. I hope you both had wonderful days!

18. Winter - Marissa Meyer - 2015 -
- Started during Fantasy February;
- March TIOLI #2: Read a book you're a bit panicky over (overdue at library);
- Doorstop Challenge (832 pages);
- Women Bingo #1 - woman ruler;
- audiobook in the car - library

This is the fourth volume of the YA Lunar Chronicles series. It winds up the stories of the four fairy tale couples set in a future where humans living on Luna have developed mind control powers and are (of course) ruled by an evil queen bent on taking over Earth as well as Luna. Naturally she is the stepmother to one of our heroines. It’s set in a future with cyborgs and spaceships.

As usual, I enjoyed the world building. This time we got a good look at the outer sectors of Luna. And as always, I enjoy the humor and interactions of the characters.

The story is pretty straightforward with plots, poisoned apples, and revolution. But at over 800 pages, this book was very looooooooong. And what it really, truly, needed was a great twist. It all felt a bit too *linear* to me – I would have liked to have a surprise or two which would have upped my star rating considerably. As it was, it felt a bit too predictable.

Nevertheless, I’ll eventually go on to read or listen to Stars Above, a book of stories about this world, with one revisiting our heroes a few years in the future.

I really enjoyed Rebecca Soler who was the narrator for this series of audiobooks. For those interested, there is an interesting interview between Soler and Meyer here:

http://www.unabridgedaccess.com/marissa-meyer-rebecca-soler-winter-full-intervie...

3.5 stars

And ....... drum roll please ....(tatatatataatatatttatatat) ........... I have finished War and Peace!!!

Now I need to do a hurried reading of Norwegian at Night for the RL book club on Thursday.

Barking by Jim Harrison (who passed away earlier this week)

http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/postscript-jim-harrison-1937-2016

The moon comes up.
The moon goes down.
This is to inform you
that I didn’t die young.
Age swept past me
but I caught up.
Spring has begun here and each day
brings new birds up from Mexico.
Yesterday I got a call from the outside
world but I said no in thunder.
I was a dog on a short chain
and now there’s no chain.

Source: Poetry (September 2008).

Woot!! CONGRATULATIONS on finishing War and Peace! Well done!

Mark had posted something about Jim Harrison's death and I don't know his work at all. I love the poem.

>61 streamsong: Congratulations!

Congrats on finishing W & P. High Five, Janet!

I like the Harrison poem. Thanks for sharing.

WahHOO for you on finishing W&P, Janet! Way to go!!

Janet,

This ice-cold vodka is in celebration of being able to put Leo back on the shelf and say "Done that!"

Congrats!

>64 qebo: >64 qebo: >65 msf59: >66 Crazymamie: >67 PaulCranswick: >68 drneutron: Thanks for all the congrats on finishing W & P! As I said on another thread, I know High school students do it all the time, but it feels like a biggie to me.

>67 PaulCranswick: I could have used that drink during the final epilogue!

>63 EBT1002: >65 msf59: I'm honestly not familiar with Jim Harrison's work either, which is a bit embarrassing since I try to have at least a nodding acquaintance with authors with a Montana connection. The poem came from Facebook, and I thought it was lovely and quite fitting.

Loose Plans for April Challenges and Group Reads - Subject to change and whim at any time!

Finish These Books I started in March:
- ✔ A Manual for Cleaning Women - Lucia Berlin Women Bingo
- ✔ SuperFreakonomics -(Dewey Cat 330) - Steven D. Levitt - audio; ROOT - 2015
- All About Love: New Visions -bell hooks - 2000; acquired 2016; Women Bingo
- ✔ Locally Laid - Lucie B. Amundsen - 2016 - LTER

1. Real Life Brown Bag Book Club
--Cellist of Sarajevo - Steven Galloway
-- since the above is a reread for me I will also read another from this region:
--***Reading** The fixer : a story from Sarajevo - Sacco, Joe - library GN

2.Western Authors Challenge - at least 1 from the five choices listed in the AAC, BAD, CAC
- A. AAC - Poetry:
--✔ Billy Collins Live - audio acq'd 2016
-- ✔ - Late Wife - Claudia Emerson - Pulitzer - library
-- ✔ - A Wreath for Emmett Till - Marilyn Nelson
- B. BBC George Eliot - ✔ - - Silas Marner
-C. CAC - - Margaret Atwood - ***Reading*** - Wilderness Tips

3.Geography Challenges
A. Geocat:Islands, Bodies of Water, Polar Regions:
-- ***Reading*** this also fits here- Annie John - Jamaica Kincaid -1001
--Life of Pi - Yann Martel - ROOT - 2015; 1001
--Beak of the Finch - Jonathan Weiner - ROOT - Pulitzer
B. . Reading Globally quarterly challenges
--***Reading*** Annie John - Jamaica Kincaid - holdover from 1st quarter; 1001; Global Challenge; library
--Second Quarter: Writers at Risk: Plans for this quarter:
----Life and Death in Shanghai - Nien Cheng - ROOT 2012
----First They Killed My Father - Loung Ung - acquired 2016

4. Non-fiction Challenges:
A. Dewey Cat300-354: - sociology, anthropology, statistics, political science, economics, law, and public administration
--✔ SuperFreakonomics (330) audio; ROOT - 2015
- Possibly also Guns, Germs and Steel - ROOT - Pulitzer
B. ***Reading** Chatterbox's 75'er's Nonfiction Challenge - Religion- ***Reading*** -Proof of Heaven - Eben Alexander III- ROOT - 2013

Other Reads
- ✔ The Fifth Business - Robertson Davies - library

Other Group Reads:
- ✔ A Manual for Cleaning Women - Lucia Berlin
- ✔ Hillerman/Longmire As the Crow Flies - Craig Johnson
- 1001 Group Read : Contact - Carl Sagan
- ***Listening*** Autism April The Rosie Effect - Graeme Simison - audio from lib

ROOTS Read
12. ✔ SuperFreakonomics - Steven D. Levitt - acquired 2015

Totally Random Reading as the Month Goes Onward:

Ambitious April, Janet!

>71 ronincats: I may well not get them all done, Roni! Several are very short, including the poetry books and the GN. All the group reads just sound so good, I get sucked right in.

Congratulations on finishing W&P! Always nice to get a classic like that one finished... one of those two arms up in the air moments. ;-)

Bumpy week.

Started out Sunday when my cat went missing. Although I swore I'd never have another cat who went outdoors due to all the predators here, this was the used-to-be-feral cat who insisted on going outside.

So I was pretty down on Monday when I got a message from a doctor's office that Mom had been calling them and seemed quite confused. Since I work in a building with poor cell phone reception, I didn't get the message until after work. I headed over to Mom's, but while I was enroute, she fell and hit her head quite badly. We went to the ER and they kept her overnight. There was talk of Hospice.

By the next morning, she was doing better and her cardiologist thought hospice a bit premature. So she is back at her independent living facility with some extra help while we consider the next step. Unfortunately, the confusion is getting worse, whether it's from all the medicine she is on, poor oxygen to her brain due to heart issues, dementia, who knows. So lots of stuff to work on.

On Friday, long after I had given up hope, the cat came back. :-) Thin and incredibly thirsty - he drank the dog bowl dry within a few minutes. I suspect he was accidentally shut up in someone's garage or shed for 6 days. He seems to be doing fine. Although semi-feral, he's a real cuddle cat and I missed him this week.

Way behind on book reviews so I'll post a few roughed out ones.

19. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy - 1868
- 3 month long group read;
- 1001;
- March TIOLI #Challenge #9: Read a book where the author's first or last name starts with the letter "L" (shared)
- ROOT #9/50 acquired 2015 = 1 ROOT point 33/225

This is the story of several intertwined Russian noble families during the Napoleonic wars with Russia in the first part of the 19th century.

But it's so much more.

There are wonderful descriptions of Russian life, battle scenes and complex relationships and great loves.

There are also diatribes on spirituality, FreeMasonry, history and what makes a great leader great. These often became a bit tedious. I especially struggled through the second epilogue on history and greatness.

I'm really glad to have read it, although it is a significant commitment of time. I can see how a rereading far off in the future might well be a good thing. Since this is a fairly complex work, I'm sure I would realize new aspects through many rereads. In that respect, it might well be one of those make it onto my 'five books to take with you to a desert island' list.

20. Woman in the Mists - Farley Mowat - 1987
- March CAC;
- Global Reading - Rwanda;
- March TIOLI # 13. Read a book of ethology or the study of non-human animal behavior;
- ROOT #10/50 acquired 2011 = 5 ROOT points = 38/225

This is the story of Dian Fossey, a primatologist with world reknown for her work with Mountain Gorillas and their behaviors.

In 1963 Fossey left her job as an occupational therapist in Kentucky, borrowed a year's salary and headed to Africa for a seven week safari. While there, she met respected archaeologist John Leakey in Tanzania. She also saw her first Mountain Gorillas in Uganda. Although she returned to the US, her heart was left behind with the Mountain Gorillas and Africa.

During a tour in the United States, Leakey and Fossey met again and Leakey proposed to help her obtain funding for a study of the Mountain Gorillas. Fossey leaped at the chance, first establishing studies in the Congo, and then when the political situation became too unstable there, she established a research camp which she named Karisoke in the Rwandan Parc National Des Volcans.

Although she eventually obtained a PhD, in the beginning of her studies she was not scientifically trained. Her research methods, including the habituation of gorillas to personal interactions with humans, were quite controversial.

She had a fierce and ongoing battle with poachers in the park and spent much of her time and money devoted to destroying poacher traps and capturing poachers. One time she even kidnapped a small child who was the son of a poacher; another time she set a poacher's home on fire.

Of course, this brought her into conflict with authorities. On other occasions, she met with governmental opposition as the poachers' had secretly been tasked to capture a young gorilla for the Rwandan government to give as a gift to foreign countries. Such captures usually met with the death of most or all of the gorilla band as the adults were fiercely protective of their young.

She also came into conflict with various graduate students studying gorilla behavior at Karisoke, and then with various other wildlife and gorilla protection organizations. Several were able to rechannel her funding into their own uses as they tried to wrest control of Karisoke from Dian.

She was found murdered in her cabin in 1985. The murder has not been solved, although a graduate student was tried in absentia and found guilty by Rwanda.

This book is primarily focused on Fossey's personal story; the gorillas are somewhat secondary. Mowat uses large excerpts of her journals and letters to chronicle Fossey's life. There are no punches withheld; some personal details he recounts would surely be embarrassing to her. (Do we really need to know about her vibrator?)

I haven't read Fossey's own book, Gorillas in the Mist, which focuses on her gorilla observations and is described as somewhat technical, with charts and statistics. I have also not seen the movie with the same name, although I'll keep an eye out for that one.

21. Norwegian By Night - Derek B. Miller - 2012
- RL Library Brown Bag Book Club;
- March TIOLI #7. Read a book with yellow on the cover
- acquired 2016

82 year old Sheldon Horowitz, recently widowed, has reluctantly moved to Oslo to live with his granddaughter and her Norwegian husband. Completely issolated in his new situation, Sheldon spends more and more time in his head, remembering his time as a Marine sniper in Korea and holding conversations with various dead loved ones, including a friend who stepped on a mine in Korea and exploded in front of his very eyes, his son who, emulating his father's service record, was killed in Vietnam and a beloved neighbor who had the shop next to Sheldon's.

His granddaughter fears he is slipping into dementia as Sheldon becomes more eccentric each day. The granddaughter and her grandmother had discussed this before Sheldon’s wife passed on. But is it dementia or merely disorganization from the new culture and lack of language?

When Sheldon’s upstairs neighbor is murdered, Sheldon escapes with the victim’s young son. He fears taking him to the police, lest they turn the boy over to his father who is most probably the murderer. Drawing on his Marine survival skills, Sheldon takes the boy on a roundabout journey borrowing boats and rafts and heading to his granddaughter and son-in-law’s summer cabin where he know there are a few hunting rifles. But the bad guys have followed the daughter to the cabin and are lying in wait.

I found this book fast paced and totally absorbing.

Kirkus reviews called this multi-award winning debut novel “part memory novel, part police procedural, part sociopolitical tract and part existential meditation”.

Several people in my book club thought the ending came together a bit too neatly, but it created great discussion about memory and just how out of touch with reality Sheldon actually was. I would highly recommend it and am looking forward to more by this talented author.

4 stars

A nice string of reviews, Janet! I have Norwegian by Night on my Kindle, and you are making me want to get to it.

Wishing your mom well and keeping you in my thoughts - it's very hard to be a parent to your parent. Hoping that your weekend is full of fabulous!

Great reviews, Janet!

I'm sorry to hear about your difficult week, but glad that it seems to have turned out well for your cat. I hope and pray that your mother's confusion is reversible.

>74 streamsong: News about your cat sounds good. News about your mom sounds mixed and I'd imagine worrying.

>78 Crazymamie: Thanks for stopping in, Mamie. I'd love some well-respected warblers to take on the warble for Norwegian By Night. It needs a bit of push here on LT. I hope you enjoy it.

>78 Crazymamie: >79 kidzdoc: >80 qebo: Thanks, Mamie, Darryl and Katherine. Unfortunately, things are not going well for Mom. Every crises or mini-crises is a stair step down and lost ground. I went through this with my Dad a few years back. It's heart breaking, and angst-y but probably not stoppable. :( I just need to enjoy the time we have left.

Morning, Janet! Happy Sunday! Congrats on finishing W & P. It seems like you really enjoyed the experience. I liked it enough, but not completely satisfied.

The Mowatt sounds interesting but it would be better to read Fossey's memoir first. I'll have to get to it.

Evicted has been excellent. It is shaping up to be one of the best books of the year for me.

Hi Janet. Delurking to say that I'm really glad to hear your cat returned but sorry to hear that things with your Mom are so difficult.

>77 streamsong: ooh, Norwegian by night sounds fascinating. I'll have to look out for it

SO happy to hear the cat is back--what a relief! And sad to hear about your Mom, although as you say, it is what it is. Do take the time to enjoy her. And interesting not to say challenging reading!

One day I will read War and Peace too, Janet, when I can plan enough reading time to finish it within a month or so...
I am sorry about your Mom, it is hard to cope with I think. Glad the cat returned.

>82 msf59: Hi Mark - Yes, perhaps it would have been better to read Fossey's book first, but I'm trying to clear things off my shelves, using the various challenges. This worked OK, and I would not hesitate recommending reading it before reading Gorillas in the Mist.

>83 souloftherose: Thank, you Heather. It's good to see you and I appreciate the good wishes.

>84 eclecticdodo: Hi Jo. I think you'd like Norwegian By Night. I hope you can find it.

>85 ronincats: Hey, Roni! It takes a cat person to realize just how devastating one disappearing can be. I'm trying to read more off my shelves, including the dozen or so classics that have been living there for several years. I feel like I pingpong between serious and totally silly books. :-)

>86 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita! I plugged away at W & P for the entire three month group read. Some parts went really quickly; other parts I really needed my 10 -20 page a day goal to see me thorugh. Thanks for the good wishes.

Yesterday I took Mom to a doctor's appointment in Missoula. We had lunch with my son who has been accepted into a PhD - whoops - edited to say that should have read PsyD - program in California and will be heading there mid-summer.

And the last of the March reviews:



22. Gnostic Gospels - Elaine Pagels - 1979
- Dewey Cat : 200 Religion (273.1)
- ROOT #11/50; acq'd 2012 = 4 ROOT points = 42/225

I started reading this several years ago as part of a group read and got bogged down by my lack of knowledge of early Christianity and other schools of philosophy. What did Tertulllian believe, or Origen, or for that matter Plato? I felt like I needed to treat this like a college class and look up all schools of thought for which I was ignorant and take notes and try to make sense of it.

This time I just read it straight through as part of the DeweyCat challenge for March – the Dewey 200's which include religion. I found myself still wishing I had a better understanding of various schools of thought, but I learned a lot without doing more research on them.

Many of these gospels were discovered in Nag Hammadi in 1945, although there were also other, earlier finds. They were probably written in the 2nd-4th centuries.

One of the most important points is that the gnostic gospels have a wide variety of teaching and represent many different ideas of God. Some of these propose two gods such as a creator and a savior god or a male and female god. Many teach the concept of gnosis – a higher, more secret teaching than that found in the New Testament. Some teach that God is the life force in us all, or that answers can be found by searching oneself for one's own truth. A few of the writings struck me as similar to current Protestant positions such as searching the scriptures instead of relying on the church and a larger role for women in the church.

All of these documents were dismissed by the church as the Christian New Testament was formerly canonized, and once declared heresy, they were ordered destroyed.

I found it an interesting look at all the branches of Christianity before the formalization of what Christianity has become today. As Pagels suggest, if some of these documents had been included in the canon, Christianity would look very different today and might even have eventually faded away.

It's definitely a subject that would be worthy of more reading.

Great batch of reviews! Glad to see your cat made its way back home after an extended 'stay' out. That is sad news about your mom's condition. As you say, its difficult but at least you are preparing yourself and will enjoy the time you have left. Congratulations to your son and his acceptance into a PhD program!

Sounds like life is a roller coaster right now for you with your mom's major health concerns and your son's acceptance for a PhD program. Congrats for your son. Fingers crossed for you mom!

>89 lkernagh: Thanks, Linda for stopping by and the support and congratulations. I'm very proud of DS.

>90 mdoris: That's very true, Mary! Life justs keeps a-changing, with good and bad and in-between all at the same. I sure could do with a few less of the roller coaster sharp drops and upside down flips, though.

Janet, I find the writing of Thomas Hardy is difficult. I liked the movie of Tess of the d'urbervilles so much better than the book.

Happy Weekend

Great review of The Gnostic Gospels, Janet. I'll add it to my wish list.

>92 Whisper1: Hi Linda - Thanks for the lovely picture. I would love to have a greenhouse room!
I'll sincerely think about the Tess movie. It's nice to know that it's a good one. I'm afraid it might be a tear-jerker ..... Movies get me that way.

>93 kidzdoc: Thank you, Darryl. It's actually a really short book and a quick read if you don't have a tendency to start researching tangents.

Ok, bit of a correction here on DS's career path. He tells me it's not a PhD but a PsyD he's pursuing, as he wants the emphasis on counseling. He's done quite a bit of volunteer work with kids and teens since he graduated a few years back and has found his passion.

23. SuperFreakonomics - Steven D. Levitt - 2009
- April Dewey Challenge 300-350;
ROOT #12/50; acq'd 2015 = 1 ROOT point =43/225;
audio in car

SuperFreakonomics (Dewey number 330) , like the original Freakonomics, looks at microeconomics - evaluating events and decisions using statistics.

Some of his conclusions in this second volume are no doubt controversial.

For example, he looks at the statistics of whether kids over the age of two are safer in car seats or with seat belts. Despite almost universal changes in state laws, Levitt states that the outcome statistics are the same. When attempting to test this finding using crash test dummies, he had trouble finding a lab that would take on the evaluation. On the quiet, he was told that the giant conglomerates that produce car seats would sink any lab that took on this evaluation. Nevertheless, he found one lab that would do so, on the condition that he not name them, and the statistics were born out. Kids over two are no safer in ca rseats than with seat belts.

Another topic he takes on is global warming. Again, using statistical methods he finds validity in the minority voices that minimize the global warming problem. Although I tend to believe the scientists who reach the other conclusion, this is the first thoughtful, statistical analysis refuting global warming that I have read and so it was an interesting read, even if I'm not quite buying into this theory that technology may easily save us all.

Like the first book, this one is laugh out loud funny as well as thought provoking, and the audio was an easy listen while driving. This one does have quite a detailed analysis of prostitution and the various charges for various acts, which kicks it into a level where parents might be uncomfortable with kids reading this book. That is sad, as it is a fun way to see that math, statistics and economics can lead to surprising results and be quite entertaining.

3.5 stars

Yay! Taxes done. Boo! Piles of paper still all over living room. Time to get the paper stuff organized!

Meh- Way behind on reviews this month. The above is the first one for April. Nine more April reviews to write, although some, like the three books of poetry I've read, were very short books.

Here is what I'm starting the week reading:



- The Rosie Effect - Graham Simsion - 2014 - Autism/Asperger's April group read; TIOLI #4. Read a book with a flower in the title or the author's name; - audiobook in the car - library
- Wilderness Tips - Margaret Atwood - 1991 - Canadian Author Challenge -short stories - library
- Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife - Eben Alexander III - 2012 - 75'er's Nonfiction Challenge :religion; TIOLI #14. Read a Book Whose Title Contains a Word or Words With Consecutive Vowels; ROOT 2013 = 3 ROOT points
- All About Love: New Visions - bell hooks - 2000; acquired 2016

Two more added to the reading mix: (6 actively going now)

>73 lkernagh: Hi Janet, and thanks for the good review of Norwegian By Night. I've had it on my list of books to get from the library for some time. The description from Kirkus Reviews sounds like it contains all things I love in books.

Congratulations on finishing War and Peace. I know that feeling of accomplishment. It was slow in places for me, too, but the effort was well worth the time. Welcome home to the lost kitty. You had probably given up after six days. I hope your mom's health evens out to make life easier for both of you. How wise to focus on the time you have left. It is so difficult when a parent's health is failing. You are both in my prayers.

>97 Donna828: Thanks for stopping by, Donna. I would love to see some love for Norwegian By Night here on LT. I think you'd like it!

I have accompanied Mom to three different doctors this past week. Several of her meds are going to be tweeked. The last one, the cardiologist was on Monday. When I first told him that we wanted to look at all her meds, he said, "Well, you know she's 89 and she has dementia." Naturally M was very upset by this remark. And I very calmly told the doctor that first we wanted to look at all the meds and that then we would go on to seeing a neurologist. He said that would just be another doctor and another pill. I told him yes, but that Mom was very happy where she is in the retirement complex and she'd like to stay there as long as possible. And oh by the way, when she was in the hospital her digoxin level was 2.2, did he really want it that high?

And then he really started working with us and adjusted things around a bit. :-)

>95 streamsong: I listened to the audio of that one and really enjoyed it, too, controversial conclusions and all (though I did feel like I needed to research a couple of topics once I was done...). The chapter on prostitutes was rather memorable as I was listening to it on a trip and kept wondering what fellow drivers were thinking if they could hear it at the red lights (pun not intended).

Sorry your mom's cardiologist was so difficult. :(

>98 streamsong: What a sensitive guy!

Oh, I remember reading Annie John eons ago. The only thing I actually remember is thinking it was really, really good. I would like to go back and reread some of Jamaica Kincaid's works. She was a favorite back in the 1980s.

The various doctor visits and the whole situation seems fraught and difficult. I do hope some med adjustments can improve things for her. Meanwhile, keep taking care of you, too.

>99 bell7: >100 qebo: >101 EBT1002: Mary, Katherine and Ellen, thanks for the support. It's uncharted territory for me to have to be firmly persistent with a doctor. It's sad to see her concerns get brushed aside by doctors. I was pleased that by being firmly but politely persistent, the doctor came around.

Without my son's advice which he gleaned from several elder-care psychology classes, I wouldn't have had a game plan. First I went to our local pharmacy with Mom's list of meds and they identified what could be causing problems. Then I got the lab results from her recent hospitalizations. So I knew which meds I wanted to ask the cardiologist about, was very firmly polite and he came around.

Reading Being Mortal a few years ago helped, too. Although Mom wouldn't read it, (too depressing!), she's very clear that she wants to remain in her apartment as long as possible. And so, that's my goal for now.

>101 EBT1002: Hey Ellen! Glad to hear you like Jamaica Kincaid. This is my first by her; I got it from the library for the first quarter Reading Globally Caribbean read and am finally getting around to it.

24. A Manual for Cleaning Women - Lucia Berlin - 2015
- Group Read here on the Thing
- TIOLI - #11: Read a book that has the word "coffee" in the second chapter
- library

These short stories are absolutely wonderful. Semi autobiographical, they describe temporary jobs, chance encounters with strangers in laundromats, alcoholism, dysfunctional families and families that come together when crisis comes. And yet that doesn’t begin to describe them. The people are so real, you think you know them. The places so real, you know you’ve been there. They are funny and sad and often have a one sentence twist at the very end that will make you want to cry, or at least make you want to remember the story forever.

>102 streamsong: I could definitely see how having read Being Mortal would help in that conversation. After my library book club finished it, we decided to add a book discussion of Your Medical Mind which talks more broadly about making choices about your medical care (one chapter is on end of life) so maybe that's one your mom might be a little more interested in reading?

Oh yes, I'm pleased to see that you had read and appreciated Being Mortal a while back, and that it influenced your ability to navigate the current situation. I think it should be required reading for anyone who is both human and mortal.

I'm glad you enjoyed A Manual for Cleaning Women. It was quite a collection.

Happy Friday, Janet! I am so glad you loved Cleaning Women. It is a very special collection and I am glad so many of my LT pals, read and enjoyed it.

Yay for you, doing your homework and being assertive with the doctor! I know it isn't easy, but Good Job!

>102 streamsong: Bravo Janet!
I wish someone had done that for my Mum. It was a little of the Boy Who Cried Wolf with her as she was agitating quietly that something was wrong for over a year, getting fobbed off with ineffectual test after ineffectual test until a tumour the size of (well I don't know but pretty big apparently) was found.

If one of us had fought her corner more effectively she may have gotten treatment sooner.

Have a great weekend.

>104 bell7: Hi Mary. Your Medical Mind sounds very interesting. Thanks for the suggestion.

>105 EBT1002: >106 msf59: Good to see you Mark and Ellen! A Manual for Cleaning Women was brilliant. Although I read a library copy, it's definintely one that I want to buy.

>107 ronincats: >108 PaulCranswick: Hi Roni and Paul. Thanks for the support. It's hard-won knowledge since my Dad passed away about two years ago after being in a nursing home for almost two years. I still wish we'd done things differently with Dad. He ran the show, but unfortunately made choices like not changing doctors/getting a second opinion that had bad outcomes.

I heard Timothy Egan speak this week (at a brewery in Missoula - perfect place for the subject although it was standing room only) about his new book Immortal Irishman, a biography of Thomas F. Meagher. It sounds like another really good one from Egan.

Meagher was an Irish rebel and leader during the potato famine. Although sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, eventually he was exiled to a prison colony in Tasmania where Egan said his escape story involves pirates and sharks. He eventually came to the States where he organized the Irish Brigade during the Civil War and became a hero a second time over.

There's a strong Montana connection, since he was an acting governor of Montana territory. Although he's revered in the East (his portrait often leads NYC 's St Patrick's Day parade), in Montana, history has branded him a drunkard and a never-do-well. According to Egan, this is because a popular comprehensive history of Montana written soon after his death, was written by the daughter of a political enemy who may have actually murdered him. Was he really drunk enough to fall off a Missouri River riverboat and drown?

Here is his statue in front of the Montana capitol building, paid for by Irish miners from Butte:

>110 streamsong: political enemy who may have actually murdered him
We can keep this in mind as we despair of today's politics. Envious that you got to see Timothy Egan. My book group is reading Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher next month.

Timothy Egan at a brewery? Sounds absolutely dreamy. What a treat. Looking forward to that new one.

Happy Sunday, Janet!

>111 qebo: Too funny, Katherine! I read Short Nights last year. I'll be interested to see what you think.

Timothy Egan was a treat - he seemed a natural born raconteur and very charming. He was interested and gracious to those of us who had books signed. Mark, he should definitely make your list of author's you'd like to have a beer with.

25. Locally Laid: How We Built a Plucky, Industry-changing Egg Farm - from Scratch - Lucie B. Amundsen - 2016
- LTER
- TIOLI #11: Read a book that has the word "coffee" in the second chapter
- Women's Bingo 19. About a Female Critter (hens)

Author Lucie B Amundson had a satisfying life in the city of Minneapolis. She had a job as a Reader’s Digest editor, a dream home she considered her forever home, kids and loving husband.

But then her husband Jason, decided he wanted to do something different – to move North to the Duluth area and raise pasture-raised chickens as part of the locavore movement. His experience with chickens, and with agriculture in general, amounted to a few hens in the backyard – but to create a financially viable business that would support his family would take hundreds – maybe even thousands of birds.

This is the story of how the two of them built their farm, Locally Laid, taking care with each other’s dreams and yet learning the ins and outs of an often overwhelming situation. They found their farm held a unique nitch – not the small flocks that were raised for a few local stores, nor a big commercial farms, but what they called the middle ground in agriculture. This comprised a large flock of birds with access to pasture and which were treated with a great deal of care and respect.

If you’re interested in the locavore movement, or perhaps in chickens or agriculture in general, I predict you will enjoy this book. It’s written with a great deal of humor and it surprisingly turns into a page-turning story.

4 stars

I am behind not just my April reviews, but also my LTER reading and reviews, so I thought I should at least get the one above done.

But I just got notice that I won one in April. I'll be looking forward to Street of Eternal Happiness by Rob Schmitz. Since DD spent a year studying in Shanghai, I'll be happy to read it.

All caught up with you, Janet! Good for you for being such a great advocate for your mom - I do think that persistence and kindness almost always pays off. And you did your homework first - so smart!

I think you got me with Locally Laid - very nice review. If you posted that, I will add my thumb.

Happy Friday!

>114 streamsong: BB. I like this sort of thing. Not that I'm going to raise chickens, not permitted where I am, though there's been recent pressure from the citizenry.

Thanks for stopping by Mamie and Katherine! One thing I enjoy about LTER books, is that I often choose a topic that I'm interested in like the locavore movement wrapped up in a book that I might not otherwise pick up at the library or buy at a bookstore. This is one I really enjoyed.

Happy Saturday, Janet! Locally Laid sounds like a good one.

Poetry Month Reads:



26. Late Wife: Poems - Claudia Emerson - 2005
- American Author Challenge- Poetry;
- Pulitzer Prize Challenge; Winner 2006
- TIOLI #18. Read a book where one letter is repeated at least three times within the author's name
- WomonBingoPup #24 - Poetry or Plays;
- library

2006 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Poetry about the death of a marriage, healing and finding love with a man still somewhat haunted (how could he not be?) with the death of his wife.

Some beautiful writing, but since it was such a personal account, not all of it spoke to me. Here are a couple that did:

Metaphor (in the end of the marriage section)

"We didn't know what woke us -just
cold moving, lighter than our breathing.

The world bound by an icy ligature,
our house was to the bat a warmer

hollowness that now it could not
leave. I screamed for you do something.

So you killed it with the broom,
cursing, sweeping the air. I wanted

you to do it – until you did."

And an excerpt from The X-Rays with a poetical description of cancer:

"By the time they saw what they were looking at
it was already risen into the bones
of her chest. They could show you then the lungs
were white with it; they said it was like salt
in water – that hard to see as separate -
and would be that hard to remove. Like moonlight
dissolved in fog, in the dense web
of vessels. …...."

27. A Wreath for Emmett Till - Marilyn Nelson - 2005
- AAC poetry;
- TIOLI #18. Read a book where one letter is repeated at least three times within the author's name
- library

Thanks to Linda (Whisper1) for reviewing this one.

In 1955, 14 year old Emmett Till was visiting relatives living in Mississippi. Although he had been warned that the culture was much different that his native Chicago, he was perceived to have insulted a white woman in a small grocery store. That evening he was abducted, brutally murdered and his unrecognizable body dumped into the Tallahatchie River. Two of his murderers were brought to trial but acquitted. In 1966, protected by double jeopardy laws, they sold their story of the murder to Look magazine.

Many feel that Emmett Till's death was the initial spark to the Civil Rights Movement

This is written as a 'heroic crown' sonnet. Here is the author's explanation:

"From “How I came to write this poem':

A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter. … A crown of sonnets is a sequence of interlinked sonnets in which the last line of one becomes the first line, sometimes slightly altered, of the next. A heroic crown of sonnets is a sequence of fifteen interlinked sonnets, in which the last one is made up of the first lines of the preceeding fourteen."

I like both of those excerpts, Janet. Thanks for posting them. I'll have to see if my library has that one.

We cross-posted! I was talking about the poetry.

31. Billy Collins Live: A Performance at the Peter Norton Symphony Space - Billy Collins - 2005
- AAC Poetry month;
- audiobook in the car;
- acquired 2016

This is a one hour audio of Billy Collins reading some of his most popular poetry. Collins' poems are witty and fun and a nice counterpoint to other poets I read this month.

DOG ON HIS MASTER

"As young as I look,
I am growing older faster than he,
seven to one
is the ratio they tend to say.
Whatever the number,
I will pass him one day
and take the lead
the way I do on our walks in the woods.
And if this ever manages
to cross his mind,
it would be the sweetest
shadow I have ever cast on snow or grass."

Here it is on audio along with another of Collin's dog poems also in this collection

http://www.npr.org/2014/08/15/338933358/what-do-our-dogs-really-think-a-poetic-p...

Hi Mamie- Happy Saturday! I hadn't read anything by Claudia Emerson before this, either. Thanks to the push from Mark for the poetry challenge and Weird_O for the Pulitzer challenge, this is one of the ones I found.

I also just picked up Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith for another Pulitzer Read.

>119 msf59: Hi Mark - Happy Saturday to you, too! I almost missed you up there.

28. Silas Marner - George Eliot - 1861
- British Author Challenge,
- 1001 Books to Read Before You Die
- TIOLI #21. Read a book written by an author who wrote mostly using a pseudonym;
- WomenBingoPup - Male Pseudonym;
- read online at Project Gutenberg

Betrayed by his best friend and his religion, Silas Marner moved from the town he had always lived in to one some distance off. There he was perceived with a good deal of skepticism, both because of his odd physical looks and his 'foreign ways.'

Silas, however, was a skilled weaver and soon the new townspeople were happy to make use of his services and to add to his ever-increasing pile of gold. Friendless, the gold took on a life of its own and became Silas's only comfort.

Then one stormy night a thief broke in and stole Silas's gold. The thief left the door open to the storm and a toddler girl with golden hair wandered in to be by his fire. The toddler's mother was soon found dead in the storm, and the village was content to leave the little girl with the weaver.

The occurrences over the years become a coming of age story for Silas, the little girl and the village itself.

Well written, with enough twists and turns to keep this classic interesting. 4 stars

Although I have not read any books by George Elliot, I distinctly reading the 'Classics Illustrated Comics' edition of this in the 1960's when I was nine or ten years old. Or at least I remember pictures of the miser and his pile of gold and the little girl with golden hair whose picture on the cover is no doubt why I chose to read this one.

I never bought the Classics Illustrated comics because they cost a quarter instead of the usual twelve cents for the regular sized comics. Even buying them at the used comic book store was too expensive for my budget. However, my older brother did buy them and I remember reading several of his.

>124 streamsong: I have Life on Mars requested from the library - I'm just waiting for it to come in for me!

I was planning to change from Middlemarch to Silas Marner for the BAC this month only to find my beloved elder daughter had sold her copy to a fellow student - sacrilege!

Really enjoyed the selection of poetry you have read and listened to this month. The Emerson and Nelson collections are two I will look out for.

Have a glorious weekend, Janet.

It was very cool to hear Billy Collins read some of his work. Thanks for that link, Janet. I enjoyed the poems in Aimless Love last month, one of which was the dog poem. He always gets a smile out of me.

I hope you get your mother's meds sorted out. I think we are an overmedicated society and underestimate the effect of the interaction between drugs. Good for you and your gentle persistence.

<127 Thanks for stopping by, Mamie! Sounds like Poetry Month will continue on for quite a few of us.

>128 PaulCranswick: It's always nice to see you, Paul. Funny about your sacrilegious daughter. That gave me a good smile.

>129 Donna828: I'm glad you enjoyed it, Donna. It's always nice to hear an author read some of his work.

Mom's meds are pretty well sorted, I think. At first I was quite hopeful as she had a bit more energy, but it looks like instead, we're in a new normal.

29. As the Crow Flies - Craig Johnson - 2012
- Longmire Group Read
- TIOLI #2: Read a book of that starts with the letters from APRIL
- audio - library

This is number 8 in the Walt Longmire series, and my favorite so far. For those not familiar with the series, Walt is a small town sheriff in the sparsely populated state of Wyoming, close to an Indian Reservation. The mysteries he solves are often uniquely western in flavor.

This time Walt and his friend, Henry Standing Bear, are checking out a site for Walt's daughter Cady's wedding. It's a beautiful meadow surrounded by mountains and an iconic cliff called The Painted Warrior.

However the peaceful beauty is shattered when they see someone falling from the cliff. They discover the body of a young Indian woman; faithful Dog discovers an unhurt infant nearby.

Jurisdiction this time takes them to Montana where they meet with a new character, Lola Long. She's an ex-military paramedic, newly minted Tribal Police Chief, barely able to cope with her new position. Even though she almost immediately arrests Walt, he takes her under his wing, while working on a murder and acting as one of the most unique wedding planners you are likely to meet.

Narrator George Guidall does an excellent job as always. I think he adds a lot to my enjoyment of these novels

I can't believe how many books I read in April - 16 books in a month is a new all time record for me, almost doubling my usual number. Most of them were very short, quick reads. Some were chosen because they were so short - Silas Marner, Annie John, SuperFreakonomics, Heaven is For Real and of course there were the short poetry volumes. I'm about halfway through the April reviews and will try to get caught up this week.

Physical TBR 1/1/2016: 459
Physical TBR 5/1/2016: 454

Completed in APRIL
23. SuperFreakonomics - Steven D. Levitt - 2009 - April Dewey Challenge 300-350; ROOT #12/50; acq'd 2015 = 1 ROOT point =43/225; audio in car
24. A Manual for Cleaning Women - Lucia Berlin - 2015 - #11: Read a book that has the word "coffee" in the second chapter - library
25. Locally Laid: How We Built a Plucky, Industry-changing Egg Farm - from Scratch - Lucie B. Amundsen - 2016 - LTER - acquired 2016
26. Late Wife: Poems - Claudia Emerson - 2005 - American Author Challenge- Poetry; Pulitzer Prize Challenge; WomonBingoPup #24 - Poetry or Plays; library
27. A Wreath for Emmett Till - Marilyn Nelson - 2005 - AAC - poetry; library
28. Silas Marner - George Eliot - BAC, 1001, TIOLI #21. Read a book written by an author who wrote mostly using a pseudonym; WomenBingoPup - Male Pseudonym; online Project Gutenberg
29. As the Crow Flies - Craig Johnson - 2012 - Longmire Group Read TIOLI # 2 #2: Read a book of that starts with the letters from APRIL - audio - library
30. Fifth Business - Robertson Davies - 1970 - 1001; January CAC; TIOLI #16. Read a book by one of the eight authors featured so far on the Canadian Author Challenge; library
31. Billy Collins Live - Billy Collins - 2005 - AAC Poetry month; audiobook in the car; acquired 2016
32. The Fixer: A Story from Sarajevo - Joe Sacco - 2003 - GN - Global Reading List: Bosnia and Herzegovina; library
33. Annie John - Jamaica Kincaid - 1985 - 1001 Books; Global Reading List: Antigua; Geocat: island; library
34. The Cellist of Sarajevo - Steven Galloway - 2008 - Library Brown Bag Book Club; Reread; (ROOT # 13/50- 2011 = 5 points -48/225)
35. Proof of Heaven - Eben Alexander III - 2012 - 75'er's Nonfiction Challenge :religion; TIOLI #14. Read a Book Whose Title Contains a Word or Words With Consecutive Vowels; ROOT #14/50; acq'd 2013 = 3 points = 51/225
36. Wilderness Tips - Margaret Atwood - 1991 - Canadian Author Challenge; short stories; Women Pup Bingo #13 - By or About a Woman - library
37. All About Love: New Visions - bell hooks - 2000; acquired 2016
38. Heaven is For Real - Todd Burpo - 2010- ROOT 2013 = 3 ROOT points

Currently Reading:



- Another Country: Navigating the Emotional Terrain of Our Elders - Mary Pipher - 1999 - May Mental Health read; ROOT 2013 = 3 ROOT points
- Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo - Hayden Herrera - 1983 - Nonfiction Challenge: Arts; GeoCat Challenge - North America; ROOT 2014 - 2 ROOT points
- Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station - Dorothy Gilman - 1983 - May Murder and Mayhem; TIOLI #12. Read a book containing Murder & Mayhem starting with the first letters of Murders and Mayhem; ROOT 2012 - 4 ROOT points
- A Stolen Life - Jaycee Duggard - 2011 - DeweyCat Challenge: 355 - 399: military science, social services, criminology, education, commerce, transportation, customs, etiquette, and folklore; ROOT 2015 = 1 ROOT point; audio

Went to pick up two from the library and four were there for me instead:

Lab Girl - Hope Jahren
Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandel - CAC
Work Song - Ivan Doig - audio
The Life-Saving Magic of Tidying Up - Marie Kondo

The books came from four separate libraries: Kalispell (150 miles), Polson (100 miles), Missoula (40 miles) and Stevensville (15 miles) so you can see a bit how our western Montana library system works. These books join three more already out from the library (2 Missoula's and a Polson). For some reason, the books I want are almost never acquired by the local library.

>133 streamsong: I just ordered Lab Girl a few days ago.

Won't get all these done, of course. I am hoping to read several quick read mysteries to get caught up on my ROOTS challenge.

******************May Reads************************

HOLDOVERS
Contact - Carl Sagan -April 1001 group read - library
- ***Reading*** Life on Mars - Tracy K. Smith - poetry; Pulitzer Winner; library

Brown Bag Book Club***Reading*** The Lemon Tree - Helen Forrester - Reread

ABC Challenges
AAC ✔ Ivan Doig - Work Song & Last Bus to Wisdom - both audios
BAC ✔ Jane Gardam - Old Filth ROOT 2014 = 2 ROOT points
CAC - Emily St. John Mandel; Station Eleven time rec'd from library

Nonfiction - May: The Arts: ***Reading*** Frida ROOT - 2014
May: 355 - 399: military science, social services, criminology, education, commerce, transportation, customs, etiquette, and folklore : ✔ Jaycee Dugard: A Stolen Life (audio) ROOT
GEOCAT ***Reading*** North America: Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera (Mexico) ROOT; Station Eleven - CAC ; Manticore by Robertson Davies - requested from lib;

May M & M ; ✔ Mrs Pollifax on the China Station ROOT ;Anarchy and Old Dogs - ROOT; Royal Wulff Mystery - ROOT
Mental Health Awareness Month:
--***Reading*** Another Country: Navigating the Emotional Terrain of Our Elders - Mary Pipher - 1999
-- ✔ Lab Girl - Hope Jahren

LTER:
The Song Poet
Engineering Eden
Street of Eternal Happiness by Rob Schmitz

Reading Globally-Second Quarter: Writers at Risk: Possibilities for this quarter:
----Life and Death in Shanghai - Nien Cheng - ROOT 2012
----First They Killed My Father - Loung Ung - acquired 2016

Random/Just Because
- ✔ Lab Girl - Hope Jahren
- ✔ The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
- ✔ Not Becoming My Mother - Ruth Reichl - 2009 - acquired 2016

ROOTS need to get to 21 by 6/1/2016 to stay on goal
16. ✔ Jaycee Dugard: A Stolen Life (audio) ROOT acquired 2015 = 1 ROOT point
17. ✔ Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station - Dorothy Gilman - 1983 - 2012- 4 ROOT points
18. ✔ Old Filth - Jane Gardam - Root 2014 = 2 ROOT points

1001

*****8 -TOTAL BOOKS COMPLETED IN MAY ****

1 - cataloged into LT 2012 - ROOT
1 - cataloged into LT 2014 - ROOT
1 - cataloged into LT 2015 - ROOT
1 - acquired 2016
3 - library

FORMAT
4 - paper book
4 - Audiobook

GENRE

3 - Fiction (may fit into more than one category)
--- 1 - mystery
--- 2 - general fiction

5 -Non-Fiction (may fit into more than one category)
-- 1 - How to/Self Help
-- 4 - Memoir
-- 1 Science

AUTHORS

1 - Male Authors
7- Female Authors
- Combination or Mix of male and female

4 - Authors that are new to me
4 - Authors read before
- Rereads

Nationality of Author:

1- Japanese
1- UK
6 - US

Language Book Originally Published in:
- Chinese (Mandarin?)
7 - English
1 - Japanese
- Norwegian
- Russian

ORIGINAL PUBLICATION DATE
1 - 1983
1 - 2004
1 - 2009
1 - 2011
1 - 2014
1 - 2016

>134 qebo: It sounds like a good one, Katherine! I hope we both enjoy it.

30. Fifth Business - Robertson Davies - 1970
- 1001 Books to Read Before You Die;
- January CAC;
- TIOLI #16. Read a book by one of the eight authors featured so far on the Canadian Author Challenge;
- library

Dunstan Ramsay is a typical kid, growing up in small town Deptford, Ontario, Canada.

But then he dodges a snowball, which instead hits Mrs. Dempster, a rather childish pregnant bride. His life and hers change for ever.
She begins to lose touch with reality. Is it also possible that she begins to do miracles?

Ramsay feels a responsibility toward the Dempster's prematurely born son, Paul. Ramsay has an interest in magic and as a way of entertaining the little boy, teaches Paul some of his hard learned sleight of hand. The universe shifts again as it is clear that Paul has gifts in this area.

I loved the theme of humanity's need to believe – in the supernatural, in saints, in illusions, in other people.

Beautifully written, my first 5 star book of the year.

Nice review, Janet! I liked that one, too.

Hi Janet! Found your thread and starred it!

>138 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie. Thanks for stopping by! Have you read more by Davies? I have Manticore at home and think I'll finish the Deptford series before moving on.

>139 connie53: Hi Connie! I'm glad you found me and hope you'll make it over here regularly!

Oh sigh. There is a pause in the planned reading this month while I work through two two-week-newbies from the library.

Once is Lab Girl which is excellent and makes me remember what I love about being in a (totally different from the author's) lab environment.

The second is the not-quite-so-excellent The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing byMarie Kondo. I wonder if she was considered an odd child in Japan while she was growing up, or if the culture is *that radically different. Since kindergarten, she's been reading every home beautiful magazine she can get her hands on and would go, unasked, into her brother's and parent's bedroom to tidy (and discard) their things.

She says my socks will be much happier folded instead of rolled since they work so hard for me and need to breathe. (Who knew?)

A US psychologist would have made a fortune with this child.

However, here she is with an international best seller that I'm hoping to gather a few tips from to use to conquer my own chaos. Who is crazier?

After all, I've already learned that it's easy to discard books, since if there's a quote in the book you really like, you can just tear out that page and throw away the rest.

Sitting at my desk yesterday, waiting for an ultracentrifuge repairman to call me back (he never did), I stole a look at the one star reviews for this one on Amazon. Some of them had me laughing out loud.

http://www.amazon.com/Life-Changing-Magic-Tidying-Decluttering-Organizing/produc...

Perhaps I should have used the time to tidy my desk, instead (throwing all the papers in the center of the room and then only keeping what makes me happy). Ah well.

Happy Saturday, Janet! Fifth Business is the only Davies I have read, but I loved the humor in it and the themes that you mentioned in your review.

Hi Janet!

Early wish for a lovely Mother's Day.

>140 streamsong: Oh the sacrilege! Tearing out a page and throwing a book away… I like my method of writing down quotes much better. I do have a bit of a clutter problem with books and journals…and vintage clothing. The latter will be much easier to deal with when I need to downsize. We have four guest rooms upstairs, two with walk-in closets, so I have plenty of room for my collection of clothes that make me (and only me!) happy!

Wishing you and your mom and Happy Mother's Day.

I took only one thing from the Kondo book--how I fold my clothes in my drawers!

This would have made the book worth while even if I had bought it myself. It's changed my life. Well, it allowed me to fit more clothes in the same amount of space and to see what I actually have much more easily!

>141 Crazymamie: Thanks for stopping by, Mamie. So many books, so little time, right? I hope to finish his Deptford Trilogy.

>142 karenmarie: Waving back! Happy Mother's Day to you, too!

>143 Donna828: Heehee Donna! I did sort through one rack of clothes, yesterday. It was a pretty easy rack since they were all things that didn't quite fit right, wrong color, etc. I can only sort through things a bit at a time before I start to suffer from decision burnout. I can't imagine doing *all the clothes* at once. And now, the shelf immediately under the mostly empty closet rack is open to view - it's so cluttered and dusty that it will be next. So I'm breaking all the rules, but at least I'm inspired to plug away at it a bit.

I'm also tackling the huge 'to be filed' paperwork pile that I drug out for taxes.

I'm definitely more flylady, whose mantra is that you can do anything in 15 minutes a day - than Kondo.

>144 ronincats: Actually, I remember you talking about that Roni, and it's one of the reasons that I picked up this book. I think I may have watched a youtube video? But I need to declutter before I can make my drawers all beautiful.

>140 streamsong: the one star reviews
Hah, they are funny.

>145 streamsong: 'to be filed'
Sigh. Mine's a cardboard box. Because it's temporary. :-)

>140 streamsong: Pshaw! Who needs that old ultracentrifuge anyway?

There's not much space on my desk - all I have is a spot for my computer, a spot for my mouse, and a gigantic spot for the cat to stretch out on. No room for anything else. So luckily I don't have to tidy my desk by throwing everything on the floor and keeping what makes me happy. But it's a good strategy.

>146 qebo: Hi Katherine - Glad you enjoyed the reviews!

Mine's a cardboard box. Because it's temporary

Boy, do I understand that. Unfortunately, I have lots of those boxes from previous years. After I finish the might-need-it-for-taxes 2015 mess, I'll sort out all the 2016 and then start on boxes from earlier years. One small pile at a time. Like I say, I'm more of the Flylady-15- minutes-at-a-time than the Kondo throw everything on the floor and get it done now.

Hi Rachel! Good to see you!

Pshaw! Who needs that old ultracentrifuge anyway?

Heehee, well, unfortunately, I do. It's getting old and cranky (like me!) but I doubt the boss will buy me a new one. It's getting into the patch, patch, patch stage which is also very expensive.

The boss is stuck with it today. I've taken the whole day off, because I'm having a stressful medical test done this afternoon and decided to give myself the whole day.

32. The Fixer: A Story from Sarajevo - Joe Sacco - 2003
- Graphic Journalism/graphic non-fiction
- Global Reading List: Bosnia and Herzegovina; library

Several things came together or me to choose this book. First I had seen several people here on LT comment on graphic non-fiction by this author. Secondly, since I had already read my real life book groups' April choice, The Cellist of Sarajevo I decided to also read another from the time and the area.

Joe Sacco created a new graphic form – namely graphic journalism, telling the story of war in pictures and words as his life as a freelance journalist in war zones.

In The Fixer, Sacco follows the life of man he calls 'Nevin' who is a fixer, a man who works with journalists to make sure they get the best photographs and stories of the Sarajevo siege, while keeping them safe.

Before the war, Nevin was a soldier and then skirted the underworld, tracing his brother's murderer to the US. Sacco sees that everyone on the street seem to know Nevin and his war exploits, although the stories around him are often contradictory and Nevin, a complicated man, reveals himself as a possible unreliable narrator. We see Nevin's view of the various factions and leaders, ethnic and religious groups.
Like the civil war itself, it's a very complicated, somewhat confusing story, skipping backward and forward in time. I needed to read this short book a second time just to get a clearer understanding of the timeline of events. Nevertheless, I came away with a better understanding of the conflict and the feel of a marvelous old city destroyed by war.

I'm torn as to whether this is an author I'll try again. I'm not a big fan of his style of artwork so to say I 'enjoyed' it is not quite right. I may give his more well-known work, Palestine a whirl in the future.

Ooh, it looks like we have very similar feelings about Fifth Business, Janet. Yah! The Manticore is very good too.

I am still making my way through As the Crow Flies. I LOVE Lola Long too. a spin-off, perhaps?

>140 streamsong: I'm in the process of cleaning out closets and drawers and cabinets. The clutter is giving me the willies. I can't imagine buying a book to tell me how to declutter because it wouldn't factor in the "might daughter want this?" angle, which means keeping more than I would otherwise. I have gotten husband to agree to get rid of ALL his magazines - now numbering around 400-500 - because everything's online anyway, and I have "decommissioned" 80 or so books since going through them in February and March.

>147 The_Hibernator: Ha. Computer, desk organizer, printer, monitor, mouse, current reading book space, and bubble wrap for cat to sit on - if I don't have it up on the desk he thinks he can go anywhere he wants to. That's his spot.

>150 msf59: Brilliant idea for a spin off for Lola Long, Mark! You need to facebook that one to Craig Johnson.

>151 karenmarie: Hi Karen - Actually, Marie Kondo's book addresses saving things for other people. I agree, though, that buying a book on reducing clutter sounds totally counter-productive. Which is why I decided to read a library copy. :-)

Getting rid of magazines . . . here's my story: Just moved into a new house; the movers have taken all the boxes into their respective rooms. I'm with the two-year-old and newborn. Hubs calls from the room he's working in, "Can I get rid of this box? It's nothing but magazines." I answer, "As long as it's ONLY magazines." Couple of weeks go by; I'm finishing up that room and not finding some things that should have been there. I ask him how carefully he went through the box with the magazines, because I'm missing some things. He: "Well, I didn't OPEN it." Me: "Then what makes you think it was ONLY magazines?" He: "That's what it said on the box - Magazines." Aaaarrrggg. I told him that movers don't have time to write down every little thing that goes into a box. On the bookshelves which had held those magazines, was a box of old photographs from my grandmother's youth, which she had given me just before our move. I was crushed. He has not been allowed to help unpack a thing since then.

Streamsong - I've loved reading your reviews (as always). So of course, I now want to read Silas Marner; my George Eliot read was Adam Bede, which I loved. Huge book bullet with Norwegian by Night!

>153 countrylife: Thanks for your compliments on my reviews, Cindy - I hope you enjoy Norwegian By Night! I'll read more George Eliot, too, ... sometime...

What an awful story of your grandmother's photographs. I'm sure your husband was also upset! I hope you can find family members with copies of some of them. Hugs all around.

33. Annie John - Jamaica Kincaid - 1985 -
- Geocat: Islands and Polar Regions
- 1001 Books;
- Global Reading List: Antigua;
- Women authors BingoPup - New to Me author
- library

“My mother turned to face me. We looked at each other, and I could see the frightening black thing leave her to meet the frightening black thing that had left me. They met in the middle of the room and embraced. What will it be now, I asked myself.” p 101

Set in the Caribbean paradise of the author's native Antigua, Annie John is Antigua's answer to Laura in the Little House series of books. Annie is free-spirited, curious and intelligent.

Unlike the Little House series, as Annie reaches adolescence after a loving childhood, a darkness develops between the main character and her mother. Annie sees her mother as over-critical and unloving. Annie's mother actually loves her deeply but doesn't quite understand her daughter and longs to protect her, trying to cage her free spirit.

I usually don't read the entry in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die before reading the book, since some of the entries contain spoilers. This time, however, it would have been interesting to read at least this part of the entry as the colonialism parallel escaped me. (blush)

... ”the troubled mother-daughter relationship that mirrors the motherland-colony problem, the mental distress of the dominated woman, and the urge to escape from the cage via migration. " p 761.

4 stars

>153 countrylife: That's why I have to open up every box, because EACH box has some magazines, some things from husband's Navy days, some from his Woodberry Forest Days, some from college, some from early marriage, some from daughter..... no box has ONE type of item only, of course. Sorry about your photographs.

>156 karenmarie: I agree, Karen. I've watched the TV show Hoarders from time to time and can empathize with the poor hoarder overwhelmed and sobbing and saying "No, no I want to look at that box before you throw it away!"

Which is probably why my house is cluttered.

A few quotes about book clutter from Kondo.

"The Internet has made it easy to purchase books, but as a consequence, it seems to me, that people have far more unread books than they once did, ranging from three to more than forty. (oh dear, she's never been here to LT)

...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, then 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." p 90,91

Well, hmmmmmmm. The second quote almost makes sense to me. I love having my stash of wonderful unread books, but I keep getting distracted from actually reading them. I would love to read more new books that people are warbling about in their threads or joining more group reads, but I don't, because I feel I'm so far behind with my ROOT challenge.

It doesn't mean that I'll ever follow her advice and purge all the unread books, but sometimes a different way of looking something can help clear the mental clutter. I think I may start looking harder at my 'tbr' collection - perhaps discarding a few unread. **looks around, feeling like I just said something slightly obscene**

>157 streamsong: three ?!?!?

>157 streamsong: Thanks for the quotes. Three indeed. I have 1,604 books that I have classified as TBR. I did inventory my books (I use location tags and made sure the books on the shelves matched the location tag) and during that process removed about 70 books from my catalog. Of course they are still sitting on the little yellow table so that daughter can go through them before I take them to the thrift shop, but they are gone as far as I am concerned. As part of the purge I got rid of books I've read, too. Next step is to identify duplicates in my catalog and try to get rid of some of those.....

It is an interesting and, as far as it relates to me, accurate observation that the internet has made it easy to purchase books; for me, Amazon in particular. Between Prime and $.01 + $3.99 shipping books I've got books coming in all month. My poor husband just says "Another book?" and doesn't even snarl at the money spent, bless his heart.

>157 streamsong: I do think it's an interesting point about books you haven't read. The urgency certainly passes with time so it's the older books on tbr that end up staying while most of the newer ones get read (and just a few pass on to become older books). I must admit, I'm rather taken with her suggestions in a lot of areas - I have read the life changing magic of tidying up and part way through spark joy but doing that one chapter by chapter as I sort things (or I should be, in reality I did the clothes months ago and have only just this week disposed of 2 great sacks of cast offs, so thanks for the reminder to move on...). I've said it before, but she is completely bonkers. She threw away her hammer because it didn't spark joy, then ended up using her frying pan as a replacement. After that she replaced the hammer. And probably the frying pan too! However I'm terrified of allowing myself to be as bad a hoarder as my father so I'm desperate enough to do it, if not to the degree she suggests.

>158 qebo:. Yup. Three. Haven't I read that 25% of Americans didn't read a book last year and the average number of books read per year is something like 6 or so? It sounds like Japan is the same and obviously Ms Kondo is not a reader if she thinks three is a clutter of books.

>159 karenmarie: Ah, you have me beat, Karen. I have about 450 classified as tbr, but I know there are more upstairs. I'm envious that you have all your books sorted and tag locations. I think if I can get mine organized a bit, I'll be happier.

>160 eclecticdodo: "I've said it before, but she is completely bonkers. She threw away her hammer because it didn't spark joy, then ended up using her frying pan as a replacement. After that she replaced the hammer. And probably the frying pan too!"

Oh, that really made me laugh! Thanks, Jo! I wonder if she is outrageous on purpose? I mean if I do just half the things she suggests, the house will look different. I started sorting papers into my files before I read her suggestions in the book. Throw them all away!

And that's just it. I *love* browsing in book stores and FOL sales and finding used treasures. It's a hobby that gives me pleasure. If I get rid of all this other stuff cluttering my life, I'll have more room for the important stuff like books (well organized!)

Somehow I need to figure out how to keep the older book treasures from sinking to the bottom of the pile. I've just started Old Filth after having picked it up a couple years ago. I'm glad the BAC finally made me read it - so far it's as wonderful as the reviews I've read here on LT said it would be. (Thanks, Donna!)

>161 streamsong: When I first discovered LT (Oct 2007) and started putting my catalog in, I'd only gotten about 100 in before realizing that I needed a method to identify where each book was physically. Hence my location tags (room, row, shelf). This is the best way for me to identify where my books are and has worked for over 8 years. The best thing is that I don't have to physically sort, group, alphabetize, or otherwise categorize books, all I have to do is put them on a shelf with space and identify where they are with a location tag. I can search by location tag to find all books on a shelf, by author to find all books by that author regardless of what room or shelf they're on, etc. It initially takes a bit of effort, but once done and maintained, it's fantastic. Mine had gotten a bit wonky before I retired, so I spent a bit of time inventorying and getting things corrected.

Somehow I need to figure out how to keep the older book treasures from sinking to the bottom of the pile. Tag books with a reading status - tbr "to be read", "read" (even for audiobooks), ntbr or dnr "not to be read", or started or whatever tags make sense to you will help you "find" your hidden treasures.

Sorry for carrying on so much, but being able to put my hands on a book is critical to me and this way works.

Loving the discussion about Kondo and tidying. Does a toilet brush bring you JOY? Maybe not! I really loved her books though as she is so quirky and I think she does have a very good philosophy, expressed in an interesting way.

>161 streamsong: I read the chapter on books in Spark Joy last night. I keep looking at my bookshelves today and thinking "where do I start?"

>162 karenmarie: Thanks, Karen. You have lots of good tips. I do have a 'TBR" collections folder that works well for me. I think as I sort and weed uh, set free (shudder) books, I'll add a locations tag.

In the meantime, I can (almost always) find the book I'm looking for after a big of searching, but what bothers me is that there are so many books I really want to read that I already own, and I overlook them in favor of new books and library books, etc. I think my biggest problem is that I **like** buying books. :-) I *like* finding new authors and great books on other people's threads and joining group reads.

I am a bookoholic. :-)

"I am a bookoholic." And the good news is...you are not alone!

Happy Sunday, Janet! Happy Reading!

>163 mdoris: Too funny, Mary, about the toilet brush. Yeah, I think her philosophy is so offbeat that it ends up sticking in your head and motivating.

>164 eclecticdodo: Jo, I think she does books second because she believes they are an 'easy' category.

Right now I'm using her method to purge my clothes and cleaned up my rack of 'nice to wear to work' clothes yesterday. I'm so happy with how quickly my closet is looking better! So I do like her methods.

I'm also using the flylady method www.flylady.org of 'you can do anything in fifteen minutes a day' to work on my 'to be filed' paperwork. My paperwork has reached crisis level as I found when doing taxes this year. I'm combining fifteen minutes a day with Kondo's suggestions to get rid of lots of paper stuff. (Yay! Out went a pile of useless manuals yesterday!)

And I'm also going to do the method that Kondo says 'never works' for my garage which doubles as a horse tack room and grain storage. I want to work on the house first, but I think that if I discard one thing a day from the garage, when I eventually get to it, I'll have lots of stuff discarded. By October first that would be over a hundred items and would make a fall purge/clean much easier.

34. The Cellist of Sarajevo - Steven Galloway - 2008
- Library Brown Bag Book Club;
- Reread; (ROOT # 13/50- 2011 = 5 points -48/225)

This is my second reading of this thought provoking book; this time it was for my April RL book group.

Set in Bosnia during the Siege of Sarajevo, the city is surrounded by enemy troops on higher ground who rain down bombs and bullets into the civilian population. This makes even such simple tasks as going for water (all water as well as most electricity is shut off) extremely dangerous. One can never stand in line for bread or to cross a street intersection without literally taking one’s life in one’s hands.

This novel follows the lives of four people.

The first, and title character, is renowned cellist with the now defunct national symphony. When twenty two people are killed on the street in front of his house, he vows to play his cello outside in the wreckage for twenty two days, knowing that he is a ripe target for snipers. This part is a fictionalized version of a true event.

We also follow three other people in the novel – a man who must fetch gallons of water for his family and an elderly unpleasant neighbor several times each week; another man who is allowed to stay at his in-laws house since he works at a bakery and brings home bread. The third is a young girl, formerly on the University shooting team, who has been recruited as a counter-sniper and whose mission becomes to protect the cellist.

Each individual has to decide the type of person they will be in the face of these horrible circumstances. Do they let the war decide everything, or are they still in charge of their own moral fiber and destiny?

If you haven’t read this novel, I’d highly recommend it for its vivid description of life when civilians become targets.

>165 streamsong: "Hello my name is _________ and I'm a bookaholic." What a lovely problem we have! I love buying books too.

>151 karenmarie: Bubblewrap! Now there's an idea!

>166 msf59: Thanks, Mark! Hope you had a nice weekend, too!

>169 karenmarie: I remember the days pre-LT when I would go down to the library and stare at the 'new books' shelf, seeing mostly things I didn't want to read but not be able to figure out what I did want to read - and not having access to online book sellers and online interlibrary loan. Now we're surrounded by a feast of books and reviews and book people and accessibility. No wonder so many of us love having hoards of great books.

>151 karenmarie: >170 The_Hibernator: I saw that but missed commenting on it. I wondered if kneading claws would cause cat-launching explosions!

I thought I'd mention that the newest Anthony Bourdain travel episode that aired last night is about Montana - with quite a longish section on Butte for anyone reading Ivan Doig's Work Song. (Although how Bourdain visited Butte without eating a miners' pasty, a very dense meat and potato hand pie that Butte is very proud of - is a mystery.)

There is also an interview and some poetry by the recently deceased and obviously very frail Jim Harrison. I really need to add him to my list of authors tbr.

There was also a beautiful section on the Livingston area in the Paradise Valley.

>170 The_Hibernator: and >171 streamsong: It's the teensy bubble wrap - probably 1/4" wide bubbles. No kitty launches yet! He likes the crackling sound.

>169 karenmarie: It did used to be more of a challenge to find good books to read. I used the library a lot until I started having to pay large fines - somehow I couldn't get books back in time. Now with two thrift shops in town and a used book store (we live in a small town), plus the Internet and biannual Friends of the Library book sales, I have more than enough good books to choose from all the time.

>161 streamsong: You're welcome, Janet! I'm so happy you are liking Old Filth this time around.

I am still loving the discussion about Tidying Up and clutter in general. Moderation in all things is my mantra when I read these "life changing" books. That's why I am joyful about my moderately cluttered house!

Janet sounds like you are making GREAT progress in your decluttering. Way to go!

>173 karenmarie: Hi Karen! I'm glad there are no cat launches!

Yes, I also love having a stock of really good books to read. I just know that I'm acquiring a few too many!

>174 Donna828: and >175 mdoris: Hi Donna and Mary!

It is strange how this silly book on decluttering, (which has a lot of parts I don't agree with), has really inspired me to go after it. I don't know if I'll ever get to the point that I think a bookcase is visual clutter that needs to be hidden away in a closet!

Last night I drove to Missoula to hear an introductory talk on Shakespeare's First Folios and to see an original which is briefly on loan at the museum at the U Of M.

At the time of the printing, the pages were sold loose and the purchaser would then have them bound in the style they wanted. This one had beautiful gilt edges and some red edges. It was impossible to see the binding since I was told that was a major security risk. In fact, every question I asked (binding? marginalia? where did it come from?) seemed to be a topic they could not disclose due to security.

They explained it was important that no one be able to know which copy of this book this is. I'm guessing that a thief would possibly start out by making a facsimile edition - and so I shut up lest they start eyeing me strangely and have me escorted to the hoosegow.

So now I have had the opportunity to see a book valued at 5-6 million $

5-6 million seems low for what I'd expect. But I guess I don't really know what I'm talking about.

>177 streamsong: Drool. You might be interested in a sweet little book called The Shakespeare Thefts: In Search of the First Folios by Eric Rasmussen. I found it fascinating.

Happy Friday, Janet! Good review of The Cellist of Sarajevo. I love this book too. Let's keep spreading the word.

I am reading The Man in the Wooden Hat, the follow-up to Old Filth and it is also excellent.

>177 streamsong: That is a lot for a book, Janet, but then again I consider most of mine priceless until I have read them at the very least.

I hope your health condition is under control and that you are taking good care of yourself.

Have a lovely weekend. xx

>178 The_Hibernator: Hi Rachel -good to see you. You're absolutely right. $5-6 million is the insurance estimate based on the last public auction of a First Folio, which was actually several years ago. If you were keen to buy one privately, you might have to shell out more. Definitely one of the treasures of the western world.

>179 karenmarie: Thanks, Karen. The Shakespeare Thefts: In Search of the First Folios sounds really interesting. I've added it my tbr wishlist. There is a book club reading of The Millionaire and the Bard: Henry Folger's Obsessive Hunt for Shakespeare's First Folio as part of the Shakespeare activities in Missoula. It's hard to get up there on weekday nights so I won't make it to the book club, but I may try to read the book.

This First Folio is one of the ***eighty two*** First Folios owned by the Folger Shakespeare Library. Their First Folio Tour has a First Folio visiting every state. Here's the link if you want to see if it's coming near to you: http://www.folger.edu/first-folio-tour (Can you imagine having not one, but 82 (!) six million $ books in addition to all their other books such as their quarto collection - (bound copies of individual plays)?- Mind boggling doesn't begin to describe it.

>180 msf59: Hi Mark - Thanks for visiting! I also finished Lab Girl last week so we're overlapping there, too. I'm so behind on reviews. I may just skip a bunch of them to catch up.

>181 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! It is interesting to me, too, that books can priced due to its value as an object rather than its content.

35. Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife - Eben Alexander III - 2012
- 75'er's April Nonfiction Challenge: religion
- TIOLI #14. Read a Book Whose Title Contains a Word or Words With Consecutive Vowels;
- ROOT #14/50; acq'd 2013 = 3 points = 51/225

The author, neurosurgeon Eben Alexander III, prided himself as a scientist, believing near death experiences were a byproduct of a dying brain.

But then he contracted an incredibly rare E coli meningitis. He was in a week- long coma with most of his brain non-functioning. There was little hope for his survival, much less hope of his regaining any cognitive abilities.
During this time, he had long and extended visions of the afterlife. He describes visions of brilliant colors, total love, angelic beings and all encompassing knowledge.

Against all odds, his infection resolved and he was slowly able to regain his physical and mental abilities. He's now a firm believer in an afterlife.

I liked this one for the medical description of his illness and his vivid vision of the afterlife. He believes that since his near death experience lasted a week, he saw more and 'went deeper' than many others who describe this phenomena after a fleeting near death experience.

This book also has a several page description in the end of the various scientific explanations for near-death experiences and why he believes each one could not apply to the state his brain was in. It wraps up with a multi-page bibliography for those who want to read more on the subject.

It dragged a bit in places, but I enjoyed this view of the afterlife from a man who would have denied it before his experience.

3.7 stars

35. The Rosie Effect – Graeme Simsion – 2014
-April Autism/Asperger's group read;
- TIOLI #4. Read a book with a flower in the title or the author's name;
- audiobook in the car
- library

In this sequel to The Rosie Effect, Don and Rosie are living in New York, where Don is working at Cornell and Rosie is finishing her PhD and about to enter medical school. Don has decidedly Asperger-like characteristics and a very analytical mind. Rosie is a free spirit.
Rosie becomes pregnant. Although Rosie had hinted that she would like a baby, such hints were missed by Don, who logically feels this isn't the time. Nevertheless, he throws himself fully into researching the project.

Some of his inventions, like a totally soundproof crib which Don's father happily fabricates for them, aren't appreciated by Rosie. Don continues being the super logical Don, and Rosie has an extra dose of pregnancy emotions further heightened by stress from PhD thesis and looming med school. She loses faith in Don's ability to emotionally support her and fears that Don can not act as a proper loving father. She decides to return to Australia and divorce Don
.
I was a bit neutral about the first book, but, unlike many people whose reviews I've read, I enjoyed this one more than the original . There were lots of twists and turns, with sadness and humor and I found myself really rooting for Don. Quite a few characters appear that were in the original book, but this one could also stand alone.

4 stars

37. Wilderness Tips – Margaret Atwood – 1991
- April Canadian Author Challenge
- Woman BingoPup #13 – By or About a Woman
- library

This is a fairly early collection of short stories by Margaret Atwood. I was intrigued when I found out that many of the stories took place in the woods, at summer camps and vacation cabins – all places where I spent childhood and teenage years.
But even though I had a connection with the locations of many of the stories, I felt the stories themselves lacked the punch of her more recent collections such as A Stone Mattress. Not bad, but not memorable. 3 stars

I really like what Karen told Ellen - that the easiest way of finding what you thought about a book is to consistently upload reviews. I only upload a few - those where I feel I have a different point of view or something I really want to say. I think I'll try this, even though I've never seen much point to doing it with well-reviewed books.

Bit of fun science:

Why Old Books Smell So Good

Small book binge from the FOL shelf when I picked up my next audioA Serpent's Tooth for the Walt Longmire read, at the library yesterday.

I knew I wanted to read We Were the Mulvaneys for the AAC later this year, and once I decided to buy one book the rest leaped into my arms. What could I do?

I also purchased:

My Antonia - Read last year for AAC, but didn't have a copy.
Moo - Jane Smiley another inspiration from the AAC but didn't get a Smiley read that month.
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Ines of My Soul: A Novel by Isabel Allende
Bel Canto - Anne Patchett

Six new-condition books, at $2 each. :-)

I've also been decluttering boxes of books that are not cataloged and from those, I decided to keep and add to Mt TBR:

My Name is Asher Lev - Chaim Potok
Therapy: An Alex Delaware Novel by Jonathan Kellerman I had read quite a few of the Alex Delaware's before I decided they were a bit too dark for me, but I decided to perhaps revisit them
Bob Son of Battle - Alfred Ollivant - vintage edition complete with a few bookworm tracks

My tbr pile statistics in >6 streamsong: which I had proudly inched down from 459 on January 1 to 454 on May 1st is not going to look too good on June 1. :-)

Nice book haul, Janet! And congrats on cutting down that TBR pile. I wish I could say the same...sighs.

Thanks, Mark. Buying books is like eating potato chips. As long as I don't start, I'm good. But then I see one I 'need' (We Were the Mulvaneys ) and might as well as get two (My Antonia) and then suddenly I have an armload. :-)

I'm thinking about going to Missoula's SFF/gaming convention MisCon for at least one day this weekend. I like the SFF I read, but usually chose other genres. I know that some of the authors giving panels have large followings here on LT and include C. J. Cherryh, Jim Butcher and Christopher Paolini. I've never been to a convention like this but I'm always willing to stretch a bit and try something new.

>187 streamsong: Interesting video, thanks for sharing, Janet. MisCon sounds fun. I've never been to one of these conventions either. Good luck.

Janet, at $2 a book, I would be tempted to grab a handful. I hope to stop in at the big Kansas City library book sale on my way to CO in June. My granddaughter has a softball tourney that weekend but I might sneak away on Saturday which just happens to be half-price day.

Proof of Heaven looks interesting. Thanks for calling it to our attention, Janet.

>191 karenmarie: Thanks for stopping by! MisCon was fun, but even though they had well known authors, it was very different than a book-oriented gathering like Booktopia or Montana Festival of the book.

I went to several author panels and heard Jim Butcher, CJ Cherryh, Christopher Paolini and a dozen others. There were no author readings :-( which seemed strange.

Jim Butcher was especially engaging. I know I have too many series going already, but I think I'll give his series, The Dresden Files, a go, when I need some light relief. I stood in line for an hour at his book signing, so it was busy enough that there really wasn't a chance to exchange a few words. But he seems like a guy to add to Mark's - "it would be fun to have a beer with " list.

I had purchased a few other books, knowing I wouldn't be there for the official signing, but hoping to catch authors between panels. Alas, no such luck. Too many people and the authors didn't seem to be around after the panels.

DD was there in costume. I took photos of her in the living chess game. She was the last piece standing protecting the evil king. All scripted, but good fun.

The only non-book panel I attended was a talk on Tolkien's elvish by a friend of DD's. Her website is realelvish.net Very impressive!

>192 Donna828: Thanks for stopping by, Donna!

Have a great Memorial Day, everyone!

>193 streamsong: I have read the first 5 of Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files and liked them a lot, but have the next 6 on my shelves unread, and am surprised that I blinked once and there are another 6, plus various and sundry short stories, prequels, and graphic novels. I envy you the author panels.

Janet, you might want to try his new series, with only one book out so far. The Aeronaut's Windlass is a lot of fun, and benefits from his mature writing experience. Early Dresden Files is a little uneven.

>195 karenmarie: Hi Karen - Ah, so Jim Butcher = lots of books. ;-) I wish the authors had done a bit of reading and talked a bit about their books But it was fun, and I enjoy hearing authors speak.

>196 ronincats: Hi Roni - thanks for the rec. That sounds like a good idea. A few people had The Aeronaut's Windlass for Butcher to sign and said they had enjoyed it. But they were sold out throughout town. I just checked the Western Montana library sharing group and there aren't any copies yet in the system except for downloads.

I found this article on ClubRead's Interesting Articles thread about Kondo's philosophy of tidying up books as told in The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up:

http://lithub.com/on-the-heartbreaking-difficulty-of-getting-rid-of-books/

"It occurred to me that part of the reason why tackling the “books” stage of the Full Kondo seems so daunting is that to many of us our books don’t really belong in the category she has assigned. They are not impersonal units of knowledge, interchangeable and replaceable, but rather receptacles for the moments of our lives, whose pages have sopped up morning hopes and late-night sorrows, carried in honeymoon suitcases or clutched to broken hearts. They are mementos, which she cautions readers not to even attempt to contemplate getting rid of until the very last." - Summer Brennan

>198 streamsong: Hi Janet! Interesting article, thanks for sharing it. I'm afraid that I'm a serious practitioner of Tsundoku, an untranslatable Japanese word that means “buying books and letting them pile up unread.”

I have 4 questions I ask myself when I decide whether to keep a book or not, plus the intangible holding-of-the-book, my memory of how I acquired the book, and yes, the joy test.

I'm always adding books to the find-new-homes pile on my little yellow table in the sunroom. Daughter went through it last weekend to take what she wants, so now I'm putting the books into two groups, Friends of the Library Sale and Thrift Store. They'll go today or tomorrow. And then the little yellow table will be ready for the next round of books that need new homes.

>198 streamsong: Love that quote, Janet!

>199 karenmarie: Hi Karen! Isn't tsundoku a great word! I've seen it mentioned before here on the 75. I think it's one that applies to all of us! I wonder if it's considered a negative trait in Japan - which might also help explain Kondo's dislike of book piles.

You've inspired me to work slowly on my books, getting location tags and moving those I've read to a couple bookcases upstairs.

It may be un-Kondo but I feel like I'm making progress. At this point I just want to thin a little and be able to find a particular book when I want it. I'm not sure if I'll ever do Kondo's great book purge declutter.

>200 ronincats: Hi Roni! Me too!

***************JUNE READING******************

I Know I'll only finish about ten of these:

Need to finish:

- The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East
- Life on Mars: Poems - Tracy K. Smith - Monthly poetry read; Pulitzer Prize Winner; library
- Another Country: Navigating the Emotional Terrain of Our Elders - Mary Pipher - 1999 - May Mental Health read; ROOT 2013 = 3 ROOT points
- Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo - Hayden Herrera - 1983 - Nonfiction Challenge: Arts; GeoCat Challenge - North America; ROOT 2014 - 2 ROOT points

Holdovers Meant to read last month - not started:
✔ Contact - Carl Sagan - 1001 group read, library
Manticore - Robertson Davies - library
✔ Station Eleven - May CAC
✔ Library Wars Love & War Vol 1 - Kiiro Yumi - 2010 (2008 Japan); Manga, May TIOLI challenge;
✔ Last Bus to Wisdom - Ivan Doig - 2015 - May AAC -

CHALLENGES & GROUP READS:
1.✔> Real Life Brown Bag Book Club: Animal Farm (reread) -
2.Western Authors Challenge - at least 1 from ABC
AAC : ***Reading*** Annie Proulx - Shipping News 1001
3. Geocat and/or Reading Globally quarterly challenges
--Geocat:Australia & New Zealand: Elizabeth Costello ROOT 1001;
-- The Bone People - ROOT
--Reading Globally: Writers at Risk:
----Life and Death in Shanghai - Nien Cheng - ROOT 2012
----First They Killed My Father - Loung Ung - acquired 2016
4. Dewey Cat and/or Chatterbox's Nonfiction Challenge
----✔ Deweycat 400: Language: linguistics, sign language, languages -Cutting a Dash - audio from library (finished in May)
----Nonfiction Natural History/Environment/Health - Beak of the Finch ROOT Pulitzer

✔Longmire group read: A Serpent's Tooth - library - audio - listening

And I will be doubling up on the challenges to fill these slots:

5. 4 or 5 ROOTS per month: should have 25 done by the end of June to meet goal (way behind!)
- 18. Animal Farm - George Orwell - Reread
- 19.
- 20.
- 21.

LTER BOOKS: (way behind on these, too. Won another one in May. Got to get cracking)
- The Song Poet
- Engineering Eden
- ***Reading*** Street of Eternal Happiness

And then there are the 'Just Because' books that I fall into by accident and aren't part of any challenge:
1. Yes, Chef - Marcus Samuelsson - audio

*****6 - BOOKS COMPLETED IN June ****

5 - library
1 Prev owned

FORMAT

1 - Audiobook
4 - Paper book

GENRE

6- Fiction (may fit into more than one category)
1 - manga
-- 1 - mystery
-- 2 sff
- classic, not 1001

-Non-Fiction (may fit into more than one category)

AUTHORS

4 - Male Authors; 2- Female Authors: 0 - Combination or Mix of male and female

2 - Authors that are new to me: 4 - Authors read before; 1 - Rereads

Nationality of Author:

1 - Canada
1- Japan
1 - UK
3 - US

Language Book Originally Published in:

5 - English
1 - Japanese

ORIGINAL PUBLICATION DATE
1 - 1945
1 - 1985
1 - 2010
1 - 2013
1 - 2014
1 - 2015

Wow, Janet! Impressive goals and statistics. I just noticed that you "award" multiple points depending on a date - is that the date you acquired it? If you've mentioned the answer in previous messages, I apologize for not paying attention before. I hope you like Station Eleven. It was one of my favorite reads so far this year.

Hi Karen - I have two tickers in >6 streamsong: ; one is for the actual number of books read that were on my shelf before January 1st of this year. The second ticker follows the point system, supposedly making me read some of the older books. I still have books that I cataloged in 2006, my first year here, that are unread. And some of those were probably acquired years before I cataloged them here.

The challenges are great because they make me pull books of planet TBR and into my hot little hands. I especially tend to accumulate non-fiction that I think I should read, but never quite get read. I'm determined to finish three of the five books I currently have going before starting anything else.

I'm really enjoying Another Country: Navigating the Emotional Terrain of our Elders by Mary Pipher. It's not Being Mortal, but so far, it's certainly helping explain my Mom to me. It's been on the shelf for several years, and supposedly I'm reading it for the May Mental Health group read. Mary Pipher is very readable. I remember reading Reviving Ophelia when DD was in junior high.

The only thing is, I'm itching to start any of the fiction books I have lined up. I'm beginning to feel like this is homework!

38. all about love by bell hooks - 2000
- acquired 2016

This was a group read on another site (oh the horror!). bell hooks is a well known black feminist writer, but I had not read anything by her so I jumped in.

I was a bit disappointed because this one was less about feminism per se and started out feeling more like a self-help book. I do understand, though, that learning how to love yourself and others can be a form of feminism. This one examined the concept of love – not the romantic, falling-into-love of the western world but a more philosophical analysis of all the type of love one can enjoy – starting out with the way to honor and understand yourself and ending with love of God/spiritual love.

Lots of food for thought, here. I ended up reading several chapters more than once and think I should revisit parts of it periodically as a sort of meditation.

Not everyone's cup of tea, but I'll give it four stars.

Happy Friday, Janet! I hope all that warbling paid off, and you have Plainsong in your Must Read Now stack, right along with Station Eleven.

Fingers crossed...

Hi Mark! Happy weekend!

I caved last night and started Station Eleven. Very intriguing. Trying to hold out until I finished several non-fiction just wasn't working for me. Time for some great stories!

Last of the books read in April!!!



39. Heaven is For Real – Todd Burpo – 2010
- TIOLI - a book you've seen the movie
- April Nonfiction Challenge: Religion
- ROOT 15/50 - acquired 2013 = 3 ROOT points

Several months after a life threatening illness, author Pastor Todd Burpo's four year old son began to casually talk about what he had seen while he was in heaven. The author is totally convinced that his son saw people and events of which he could have no knowledge and that his son’s visit to heaven was real.

I had seen the movie made from this book, and actually quite liked the book better. The movie struck me as a bit saccharine; the book connected much better for me.

I read this for the April non-fiction religion challenge after also reading neurosurgeon Eben Alexander III 's Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife. It was interesting to read the two so closely together. Many events seemed to be at least somewhat shared. And of course, like two descriptions of an elephant, where they varied could easily be describing different aspects.

3.5 stars

Your stacking up of current reads is mirroring my own experience, Janet.

I saw a rumour somewhere that you may get roped into a read of Great Expectations?

>209 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! Yeah, I've decided I need a bit of a break from the nonfiction.

Station Eleven is great - I'm anxious to pick it back up and keep reading. Yay! The others, while quite interesting were beginning to feel like a bit of a slog. The exception to this statement is my audiobook The Last Bus to Wisdom which is also quite good.

I'll (probably!) get em all read eventually.

I'm interested in the group read for Great Expectations if it occurs a couple months down the line. Right now I am buried in library and challenge books.

40. A Stolen Life- Jaycee Dugard – 2011 –

- May DeweyCat Challenge - 355 - 399: military science, social services, criminology, education, commerce, transportation, customs, etiquette, and folklore
- ROOT #16/50, acquired 2015 = 1 ROOT point = 52/225;
- audio book

I had heard Ms Dugard speak on an interview program and was impressed by her courage. I picked this up at a library sale last year and thought it fit in well with the May Dewey Cat challenge.

Jaycee Dugard's story may be familiar to many. She was kidnapped by Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy, while walking to her school bus stop when she was eleven. She was held prisoner as a sex slave in her captor's backyard for eighteen years. Garrido's parole officer routinely inspected the premises, but did not search the area called the 'back back yard.'

The first chapters describing her initiation as an eleven year old into rape and drug fueled sexual abuse were extremely hard to listen to. I almost gave the book up at this point.

But, remembering her interview, I persevered onward and I'm glad I did.

For me, the interesting parts came after she was rescued. I did not understand the psychological impact that being a captive can bring. For eighteen years she had it ingrained that it was her duty to protect Garrido, and initially she felt his discovery and imprisonment meant that she had failed and that she also would be going to prison. She felt her family had probably disowned her. Gradually, through therapy for herself and the two daughters fathered by her captor, she began to understand and be able to integrate herself back into a world she had seen little of and rejoice in her freedom.

She also talked warmly of equine therapy, a subject I am interested in. She now has a foundation that supports equine therapy for other kidnapping and sexual abuse victims.

41. Mrs Pollifax on the China Station - Dorothy Gilman - 1983

- May Murder and Mayhem;
- TIOLI #12. Read a book containing Murder & Mayhem starting with the first letters of Murders and Mayhem;
- Women BingoPup #8 - About a Spy
- ROOT #17/50 acquired - 2012 = 4 ROOT points 56/225
-
The elderly Mrs. Pollifax once more leaves her home on an espionage mission; this time she poses as a tourist on a guided trip in newly opened China. Her mission is to make contact with a dissident and help spirit him out of the country. Along on the tour is an inexperienced second spy, young and undertaking his first mission, but his identity is not revealed to Mrs Pollifax.

I remember enjoying these a long time ago (thirty years ago?!) and so had picked this one up at a sale somewhere for a bit of nostalgia. It was still laugh out loud funny and had a variety of great characters, but also struck me as very naïve and highly coincidental spy work.

Great cozy comfort read, though. I wouldn't rule out picking up another if I see it.

3.6 stars for the fun of it.

>209 PaulCranswick: and >210 streamsong: I think September's a good time. Stay tuned on my thread in mid-August for the launch! And thanks to both of you for your support and help.

>211 streamsong: Excellent review, Janet.

both Proof Of Heaven and Heaven Is For Real look interesting although I remain rather skeptical (not about heaven, but that someone could visit and come back). I'll look out for them. If you could only recommend one, which would it be?

>213 karenmarie: Thanks, Karen for the complement! September it is for Great Expectations. I hadn't realized it is one his shorter works which is oh so good.

I currently have 8 library books checked out (two of them completed), 3 unread LTER, and would need to read 8 ROOTs off my shelf to be where I should be with that challenge by the end of June. Sigh. Definitely a first world problem, is it not? How really blessed I am to have such a wealth of books.

Which brings me to one of my favorite hobby horses.

In the US, schools are partially funded by Federal money given to all schools, but much of the school funding is based on local property taxes. Which means if you live in an are with beautiful homes (high property tax) and businesses, the school in the area is much much better than a place like an inner city or an Indian Reservation with little to no property tax support.

Several years ago, someone here on LT introduced me to www.DonorsChoose.org where teachers can ask for donations for specific uses. It breaks my heart that here in the US, in the highest poverty areas, we have teachers having to request donations for pencils and pencil sharpeners.

This is really on my heart right now. Not knowing if her family had designated a memorial charity, I decided to honor the life of online reading friend and fellow 75'er, Pat, by making a donation of books to a school in her area. And there it is again. Requests for pencils and notebooks.

If putting books (or pencils!) in kids' hands to honor Pat appeals to you, please mention it on your thread. Maybe we could snowball this into something good!

>214 eclecticdodo: Hi Jo! Good to see you! Tough choice.

If you'd like something fairly light and feel good from a Christian point of view choose Heaven is For Real. This one is the quicker, probably more engaging of the two.

If you'd rather like something a bit more scientific written by a person who was a non-believer then Proof of Heaven is what you want. Definitely drier, but I'm always interested in the science.

Stopping by to wish you a lovely weekend, Janet.
Dorothy Gilman? I haven't seen any of her books in the shops for a long, long time.

>218 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! You're right - but that's the joy of haunting book sales and charity shops. Sometimes you find a fun bit of the past. I bet I haven't read a Gilman since the 80's ....

>219 streamsong: Don't really have much chance to dabble like that in Kuala Lumpur, but my business partner has a house in England which is 20 minutes drive from Hay-on-Wye which is possibly the world capital of second hand bookstores.

My favorite Gilman is NOT a Mrs. Pollifax book, but The Clairvoyant Countess, which is charming and one of my comfort reads.

>217 streamsong: thanks. I quite like the science so proof of heaven it is. If I ever find the time.....

>216 streamsong: onor the life of online reading friend and fellow 75'er, Pat
What a lovely idea.

Yes pencils and also copier paper are precious.

>215 streamsong: Hi Janet. First world problem - my daughter introduced me to that phrase several years ago and it is a humble reminder that some of us are very lucky and blessed and need to keep things in perspective.

42. Lab Girl – Hope Jahren - 2016
- May Mental Health Awareness month
- May TIOLI #6: Read a book that has something to do with spring cleaning
- library

Author Hope Jahren is a paleobotanist who, in this wonderful memoir, shares her life as a scientist. Her infectious enthusiasm comes through in every page.

Chapters alternate between amazing stories of plants and her journey as a scientist.

We see her pursuit of her studies and the difficulties and adventures in establishing a lab of her own as she fights for lab space and funding.

It's also a story of a unique friendship as we see her relationship with her lab assistant Bill, also a dedicated researcher as well as a staunch supporter of her work.

And finally, it's a story of her not just living with, but triumphing over her bipolar disorder. She shares her absolutely manic work hours as well as some details of her incredibly brutal pregnancy where she chose so go without medicated until the third trimester in order to protect her unborn son.

She weaves these subjects into one really fine whole, and although my review may seem choppy with all the subjects she manages to work in, the book certainly isn't.

Highly recommended; especially for those with interests in plants, science, extraordinary women and bipolar disorder.

4.5 stars

>220 PaulCranswick: What! No used bookstores in KL?! Sounds like a vacuum waiting to be filled. Maybe once of us needs to move there and open one.

>221 ronincats: Oooh, another book bullet, Roni! I've added it to my wishlist notes on my home page. You never know when a good, fun read is required.

>222 eclecticdodo: Boy, do I hear you about time, Jo!!!!!!! Warning: I do have a softspot for after death experience books.

>223 qebo: Thanks, Katherine. As you can see, I really dislike the way US funds its schools. And yet when I have talked to others about it, I have been floored by responses of parents who say that equalized funding would mean less perks for their own kids and so they can't support it. Other parents are proud of the fact that they have scrimped and saved to live 'in a good school district' and fear that their property value might decrease if all schools were equal. Sigh :-(

>234 streamsong: Hi Karen - Yup, 'first world problem' is a good phrase to remember, isn't it?

>225 streamsong: plants, science, extraordinary women and bipolar disorder
I have Lab Girl on hand for soonish...

>226 streamsong: the way US funds its schools
Yeah. It's been quite an issue in PA. Sad when people fear their own lives will be diminished if other lives are improved.

Happy Sunday, Janet! And hooray for Lab Girl. Another NF gem. A good year for them.

Hope you are having a fine weekend.

Hi Janet! Looks like you're reading several books that I've been wanting to read like Heaven is for Real and Proof of Heaven. Though I've heard the now-adult from Heaven is for Real admitted that he made it all up. :( So I'll probably just stick to the other book.

>226 streamsong: Parents like that make me so sad. When you have children - or honestly even if you don't! - how can you not want *every* child to have the best we can give them?! Gah.

Anyway, Morning, Janet!

>225 streamsong: Good morning, Janet! I've added Lab Girl to my Wishlist. It sounds like a wonderful book.

>216 streamsong: Is that really how US schools funding is worked out? It's ridiculous!

Here in the UK schools get extra funding (pupil premium) for every child whose family lives below a certain income. It's in recognition of the additional support a child is likely to need, as well as the fact the school will be disadvantaged in fundraising efforts compared to schools with better off parents. My son's school has a high proportion of pupil premium kids, as well as special needs (for whom they also get additional funding) so in many ways they have advantages over predominantly middle class schools. They use the funding for free breakfast clubs and school lunches for those with the premium (to make sure the kids aren't too hungry to concentrate), help towards school uniform, parent literacy and numeracy classes (so they can better support their kids' education), free or subsidised school trips and extra-curricular clubs, as well as basics like classroom equipment and assistant teachers.

>226 streamsong: it astonishes me how selfish people can be when it comes to taxation and public services. And, I'm afraid to say, the US seems to suffer pretty badly in that. We have the same attitudes here in the UK, but they don't hold so much power I think.

>227 qebo: Hi Katherine! I hope you enjoy Lab Girl!

>228 msf59: Waves happily at Mark!

>229 The_Hibernator: That's interesting, Rachel. As a three or four year old, he might well have made it up, or been sensitive to his parents' questionings. On the other hand, he may not remember what happened to him, or maybe he is just sick of the whole thing. It can't be easy having grown up with that label on him. :-)

>230 scaifea: Waves and agree, Amber. Don't people realize that our future depends on **ALL** the kids?

>231 karenmarie: Thanks for stopping by! Lab Girl is getting some pretty solid reviews, so I hope you enjoy it!

>232 eclecticdodo: Hi Jo. Yeah that's how school funding works here in the US. We do have Federal free breakfast and lunch programs for kids. During the summer holidays the lunches go on with the manpower and womanpower provided by local churches.

Still working on May reviews:



43. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up – Marie Kondo - 2014
=TIOLI #6: Read a book that has something to do with spring cleaning;
-library
Lots of chatter upstream on my thread about this one.

Marie Kondo has a very different approach to de-cluttering. She begins by throwing all her clothes in one pile, handling each and deciding if it brings joy to her life. Everything else goes.

She then follows with books, papers, memorabilia and everything else in precisely that order.

Part of this system is quite crazy – for instance her hammer did not bring her joy, so she discarded it and then had to use her frying pan to pound a nail – and had to buy a new hammer. She insists that the exact order of decluttering be followed. (Unfortunately she has not lived for decades in a western type house with now grown children and an ex-spouse, where the ‘everything else’ category, is uh, very large.)

Nevertheless, it’s a very inspiring read. It’s a system to get things done fairly quickly. She does not believe that people should ‘live to de-clutter slowly’ but she believes one should de-clutter quickly so one can quickly have the benefits and a better lifestyle.

Using her system, I de-cluttered several categories of clothes, and am amazed how much room it made. I haven’t missed any of the items I've gotten rid of (yet).

One downside is that you have to have a decent free block of time to use her system. It’s taken me over an hour to de-clutter each category of clothes that I have made it through. However, the upside is that it is done and the tangible change makes me want to do more of it.

As an experiment I have been using three systems of de-cluttering for a month.

1.MaKo (short for Marie Kondo) : have gotten rid of a large number of clothes, but have trouble fitting the time in.

2. 15 minutes a day (www.Flylady.org system) : I have organized my 2015 & 2016 papers using this system. It has not created life-changing space in my home, but is giving me satisfaction. I have been using some of the Kondo in getting rid of manuals and excess paper work, but don’t believe the MaKo system would make the IRS happy.
15 minutes a Day: Working through sorting and adding location labels to my LT catalog of books. Not life-changing and not creating huge amounts of free space, but satisfying. I don’t think I would ever be able to be as ruthless with my books as Kondo is. My tbr pile is close to 500 books. Kondo identifies having more than a handful of books to be read as Tsundoku, an untranslatable Japanese word that means “buying books and letting them pile up unread.”

A few quotes about book clutter from Kondo:

"The Internet has made it easy to purchase books, but as a consequence, it seems to me, that people have far more unread books than they once did, ranging from three to more than forty. (oh dear, she's never been here to LT)

...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, then 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." p 90,91

3. Discarding One Item a Day: I had never tried this, (Kondo uses it as an example of a system that never works).I decided to try it on my garage/tack room, It’s easy to skip a day or three. Kondo says this system never works, but if I can get rid of a bit at a time, I’ll be ready for a whirlwind cleanout come fall. I just have to keep on keeping on.

Summary – An interesting and inspirational book. Some of her advice I don’t agree with, and some is just not practical for me. Nevertheless, I found it all very encouraging in my process of de-cluttering and am definitely making dents.

>234 streamsong: Hi Janet! We've had the discussion about books, but I really need to get rid of clothes that are either too small, too big (very few of those, alas!), stained/damaged, old work clothes and other old clothes that don't have sentimental ("joy") value. Maybe I can start next week.

Very good review, thank you for taking the time to be detailed.

Congratulations on the headway in de-cluttering! The main thing I took away from Kondo is how I fold my clothes in drawers. Made so much more room and so much easier to see what I have!

>234 streamsong: I found the Kondo method for clothes very effective, but I'm yet to pluck up the courage to tackle the books. Some day soon...

>235 karenmarie:. >236 ronincats: >237 eclecticdodo: Dealing with my Dad's death a few years back and now my mother's poor health, has definitely motivated me to start cleaning out and downsizing. I only wish I was doing it more consistently - I'd have much better results!

44. Work Song – Ivan Doig - 2010
May American Author Challenge;
TIOLI #5 - Scrabble Challenge;
library;
audiobook

This is the second part of Doig’s Morrie Morgan trilogy which begins with The Whistling Season.

It's ten years later and Morrie has just arrived in Butte, Montana, a copper mining city, almost completely controlled by the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. He first takes a job as a Cryer ( a chief mourner at Irish wakes), but then finds a job that suits his literature loving background in the town’s library.

Anaconda Copper has the workers in its grip, and as, the company threatens to cut wages, the miners’ plan to go on strike. A third group, The International Workers of the World , or IWW, are also competing for votes. It’s a time when labor agitators can be strung up from railroad bridges, so Morrie, as an unknown newcomer with a strong sympathy towards the miners, must walk carefully. Further care is needed as it looks like organized crime has also found Morrie, wanting revenge for a fixed boxing match involving Morrie’s brother.

I lived in the area and worked in Butte for two years. Doig really caught the ambiance and the history of the Copper Kings’ copper collar around the throats of western Montana.

Good story, solid history and Morrie is a great character. I’ll be looking forward to the third in this series. The more of Doig's books that I read, the better I seem to like him.

45. Not Becoming My Mother – Ruth Reichl – 2009 – acquired 2016
– audiobook
- acquired s016

Ruth Reichl is a food critic, chef, food writer and the former editor of Gourmet magazine.

When Reichl was cleaning out her mother's things after her death, she came upon a box of letters that her mother had written over the years. Ruth remembered her mother as being eccentric and somewhat manic – her illogical antics were often an embarrassment to her young daughter. After her father's death, her mother was so depressed she spent several years in bed.

In between, she seemed to be searching for a life. But even a well educated, cultured young woman in the 1920's was expected to give up her job and become a housewife once she married lest people believed her husband couldn't support her. Was she actually bipolar? Or was it that her unfulfilled longings created her unrest and moodiness?

Reichl seems to believe that her mother wasn't really bipolar, but that her unfilled life caused her problems.

As someone with a bipolar offspring, I tend to believe that bipolar is a metabolic and genetic disorder. An unfilled, frustrating life wouldn't cause the condition but might well limit the coping skills to deal with it, especially at a time when the condition was not acknowledged or understood.

I found Reichl's description of life with a bipolar mother and her mother's life quite interesting, but having such a large disagreement with the author over the causes of bipolar disorder, I can't give this one more than three stars.

46. Cutting a Dash - Lynne Truss - 2004 -
June Dewey Challenge (400's)
- audiobook
- library

This disc is comprised of four of the original British radio episodes from which became the basis of the book, Eats Shoots and Leaves.

The episodes are humorous and entertaining and address such subjects as apostrophes on grocery store signs and when to use dashes and semi-colons. Unfortunately, though, the four episodes only total an hour of air time. It should definitely not be confused with Eats Shoots and Leaves which has much more material.

I chose to read this for the June Dewey Decimal challenge. Interestingly, the 400's (language) are the only Dewey number that I didn't have something already on Planet TBR. I do have several books that I thought would fit, but their primary Dewey/Melville number falls into another category.

The ILL loan had this audio cataloged as the audio of Eats Shoots and Leaves, so I was disappointed. Ah well, sometime I’ll get to the book itself.

In the meantime, since I am so far behind on challenges, I'll let this stand for my Dewey 400.

Have a lovely Sunday, Janet.

Last of the books read in May!



47. Old Filth - Jane Gardam - 2004
- May British Author Challenge;
TIOLI #6: Read a book that has something to do with spring cleaning (shared read);
Women's BingoPup; 20. Author Over Sixty Years Old;
ROOT #18/50 2014 = 2 ROOT points (58/225)

Edward Feathers retired to England after an illustrious law career in Hong Kong. He was regarded as the epitome of the British upper class: stiff upper lip matched by a stiff spine; incredibly proper with a conventional marriage and no knowledge of even his longtime servants' names.

Only his self-given ironically humorous nickname, Filth, (Failed in London, Try Hong Kong) gave a inkling that there might be more to the man.

Slowly however we learn his backstory. With each puzzle piece filled in, we see a bit more of the boy, a Raj Orphan – whose father, a British official in Malaya had shipped him to England to be civilized and then educated.

Still waters run deep, as they say.

Wonderful character study, with interesting twists, and I thought it was wonderfully written as well as entertaining. I'll definitely be going on with this series.

This also filled a spot for my woman's bingo square for a writer over the age of 60. Ms Gardam was 72 when this was published.

Started for the real life book group later this week:



This is a reread which I thought very insightful when I read it forty years ago in high school. Now, I can't imagine what we'll talk about for an hour without it devolving into bickering about current politics. Sigh.

>233 streamsong: Yes, I think a 4-yo would be very influenced by the questioning of his parents. I guess we'll never know what "really" happened, but the book has impacted a lot of lives and that's a good thing.

Stopping by after a two months absence to get caught up here. Great reading and good job on the de-cluttering! I had a discussion just last week with a work colleague about the Kondo book, but it was in relation to figuring out the best storage for shoe collections, not books. I collect both - books and shoes. ;-)

>229 The_Hibernator: I hadn't heard that about Heaven is for Real but there was this recently about Alex Malarkey's book The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven.

Looks like you've had some good reads in June, Janet. I enjoyed Old Filth as well and I'll look forward to seeing what you think of the sequels.

Janet, it's so good to get caught up with you again. Thanks for pointing out that teachers need help. I routinely furnished paper and pencils for my kiddos when I was teaching so they couldn't use that as an excuse not to do their work. I will say that in our small city of 200,000 or so all 50 of the elementary schools have made improvements in the last ten years including air conditioning and modern libraries. I taught in one of the older schools and it got so hot in there the first and last months of school that learning was impaired. Also, schools in the poorer sections are open in the summers now and offer free meals to the students at noon. Hallelujah!

I loved Whistling Season by Doig. I need to pick up the other books in the trilogy. Thanks for the reminder.

>245 The_Hibernator: I guess we'll never know what "really" happened, but the book has impacted a lot of lives and that's a good thing.

Wise words, Rachel and very true.

>246 lkernagh: Hi Lori - nice to see you. Right now the decluttering looks more like a disaster zone. My x passed away almost two years ago and my DS brought me over some boxes from his mini storage to see what I might want. X and I used to sell books on eBay, so there are boxes of books as well as other stuff.

>247 bell7: Thank you for the link, Mary. It looks like the boy you mentioned, Alex Malarkey, did recant but that Todd Burpo is still adamant that his experience is real.

>248 Donna828: Hi Donna! Good to see you - I know your summer has been busy and full of lovely grandkids.

In this small town, various churches rotate the task of cooking the summer free lunches. I'm guessing that the food is supplied by the federal program, but I don't know for sure.

I received a lovely email from the teacher at Donorschoose.org for the books I gave in Pat's memory.

I'm just finishing up another one of Doig's audio books, The Last Bus to Wisdom. It was originally going to be my May read, but when it didn't get here in time through ILL, I went with Work Song instead. LBTW is a lovely contrast to my other main book Shipping News, which is a bit bleak.

And looky what I just ordered from Amazon for KarenMarie's September group read of Great Expectations. I've admired these on others' threads and this one is almost half price right now.

>249 streamsong: Hi Janet! Lovely copy of Great Expectations. Reading a beautiful copy of a book is a joy. I'm looking forward to our group read.

Thought I'd stop by to say hello on your thread! We share lots of similar books and interests. My husband and I loved Montana when we visited some years ago on the trail of Lewis and Clark. I'm actually in Denver right now and reading The Landscape of Home, a collection of writing about the Rocky Mountains.

>251 witchyrichy: Me, too, Karen! Great Expectations in September.

>251 witchyrichy: I'm glad you stopped by! Depending on which branch of the Lewis and Clark Trail you followed, you may have been very close to where I live since I'm in the Bitterroot Valley, south of Missoula.

Enjoy your trip to Denver. I've been wanting to revisit there for several years now.

48. A Serpent's Tooth - Craig Johnson - 2013
- Longmire group read;
- June TIOLI #7. Read a book with something in the title that makes you go "Oh, no!" ;
- audiobook;
- library

This is the (9th?) book in Johnson's Walt Longmire series.

Walt, a sheriff in a small town Wyoming town solves crimes with a western twist.

In this episode an elderly lady finds her chores and small fix up projects being mysteriously completed. She attributes it to angels, but when from curiosity, Walt casually checks the matter out, he finds a 'lost boy' – a boy living in the lady's toolshed who has been kicked out of a polygamous offshoot cult.

Life becomes more complicated when the boy's guardian appears – a man who claims to be two hundred years old and one of the original elders of Zion.

While trying to locate Cord's parents, Walt finds that's Cord's mother is missing, possibly murdered, and his father is the head of the cult which seems to have too many guns, and the interest of the CIA.

There is more action, violence and bodies aplenty in this one than others in this series.

In the meantime, Walt's relationship with his deputy, Vic, has taken new turns and entered new levels. The confusion of the generations (Walt's daughter being married to Vic's brother) bothers me a bit.

Although I'm having some reservations about the various turns the series is taking, I'm still enjoying the western-centric mysteries, and finding the stories entertaining. The audio, read by George Guidall, is superb as always.

>253 streamsong: wow, just wow. What a plot!

>253 streamsong: Yeah, and that's the short version with quite a bit left out! I'm enjoying the group read of the series and it's fun to read mysteries set only a state away, but the last couple have required some serious suspension of belief.

Oops, I forgot that I was supposed to read the next Longmire in June.... :-|

>256 EBT1002: **Waves enthusiastically at Ellen** Ah well the book will still be there when you get around to it. :-)

Yay and Double Yay! I am taking the next two weeks off from work. The first week is a week of outside and inside work with a lot of heavy outside chores like getting ready for a hay delivery and working on weeds. Inside, it will be deep cleaning, including carpets. Lots of little appointments like the tractor being worked on, taking the truck in for maintenance. I hope I can get a contractor to look at the work my bathroom needs.

Not so good - Unfortunately, there is the first forest fire of the season across the valley and it is becoming very smoky here. Weather forecast is for the 90's so no fire and smoke relief in sight in the near future. Two hundred homes are on alert for evacuation. They are on Stage One evacuation alerts which means moving livestock, packing important belongings etc. The next stage, Stage Two means everyone has to get out within 15 minutes and no returns until after the danger is over. One of my coworkers has already evacuated as she has the most wonderful field trial dogs that she won't put at risk.

It's very early for a fire here- 'smoke season' has never previously started in June.

Good! The next week my brother and his family will be here. Since Mom tires out so quickly, we will be heading up to Glacier Park two nights while they are here to give her a break.

I signed up with AirB&B and have a booking in West Glacier just outside the Park. Brother and family are staying just inside the Park so it should work well.

Not so good! I'll be staying very very close to where the grizzly bear killed the mountain biker this week. No mountain biking for me! And I'll be very careful even walking alone! With any luck they will find the bear before I get there.

http://flatheadbeacon.com/2016/06/29/grizzly-bear-kills-person-near-west-glacier...

More good and bad:

DD is heading for three plus weeks in Thailand for her job. She will be part of a team escorting high school students around Thailand studying food insecurity issues. For security reasons, the do not give out the itinerary except to parents, but I can share they are going to Bangkok, and taking in both the far southern Muslim areas as well as some of the northernmost areas. I offered to go along and carry her bags, but no such luck.

DS will be heading off to graduate school in southern CA before she gets back.

We three and Mom went out for brunch on Sunday. Bittersweet occasion. With Mom's declining health, I'm not sure if the four of us will have more opportunities to do this again.

>257 streamsong: and >258 streamsong: Hi Janet. Good and bad, bittersweet and exciting. Life, eh?

No mountain biking, for sure. I read recently of a woman who was in a race and surprised a mama bear and 3 cubs in NM. She survived by playing dead but was attacked and injured. And last month, here in rural central NC, there were reports of a black bear about 5 miles from my house. Not a grizzly for sure, but all bears can be dangerous.

And moose. I remember visiting a friend of mine who lived in Helena at the time (now lives in Belgrade), and we were driving by a lake outside of town somewhere. We saw a mother moose with her calf in shallows eating. My friend and I had to stop because all the other cars were stopped, and people were getting up close to both taking pictures. We stayed behind the car and snapped a few, but my friend said moose were dangerous and that we had to keep the car between us and them. To a city girl it seemed strange - moose look benign, but I took her at her word.

I hope your busy week is productive and that the forest fire doesn't threaten your home.

I also hope your time with your family is fun and safe.

>252 streamsong: We went through Missoula on our trip and watched hang gliders launching from the mountains. This was my second Missoula visit: the first time, I came to do homage to Kim Williams, writer and naturalist, who I learned to love by listening to her commentaries on NPR. She had just died the year before. I bought her cookbook in a local bookstore and enjoyed a few stories from the bookstore owner.

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