labwriter (Becky) back for 2016 - part 2

Just a normal morning at 6th & Main St., Cañon City. Here everybody carries, and nobody cares.

Photo credit: Mr. lab

Books Read in 2016

JANUARY

1. The Cuckoo's Calling, by Robert Galbraith. Murder/mystery. 3 stars

2. A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare 1599, by James Shapiro. 4.5 stars (audio)

3. Poison, Pudding & Pie (A Marsden-Lacey Cozy Mystery Book 3), by Sigrid Vansandt. 3 stars

FEBRUARY

4. Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest, by Wade Davis. 5 stars (audio)

5. The Martian by Andy Weir. 4 stars

6. Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Medicine, Madness and the Murder of a President, by Candice Millard. 4 stars (audio)

MARCH

7. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirsig. 5 stars (audio)

8. The Silkworm, by Galbraith/Rowling. 2.5 stars

The Road to Little Dribbling, by Bill Bryson. I bailed on this one. Life is too short. (audio)

APRIL

9. Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith, by Barbara Brown Taylor. Not rated.

10. The Black Echo, by Michael Connelly. 3.5 stars

11. Blue Highways: A Journey into America, by William Least Heat-Moon. (audio) 5 stars

12. The Little Friend, a novel by Donna Tartt. 4.5 stars

13. The Black Ice, by Michael Connelly. 3.5 stars

14. The Last Season, by Eric Blehm. 4 stars

MAY

15. The Concrete Blonde, by Michael Connelly. 3.5 stars

16. George Eliot: The Last Victorian, by Kathryn Hughes (1999). 4 stars

17. The Last Coyote, by Michael Connelly. Harry Bosch series #4. 4 stars

18. Trunk Music, by Michael Connelly. Harry Bosch series #5. 3.5 stars

19. Angels Flight, by Michael Connelly. Harry Bosch series #6 4.5 stars

20. A Darkness More than Night, by Michael Connelly. Harry Bosch series #7. 4 stars

JUNE

21 Middlemarch, by George Eliot (audio book, narrated by Juliet Stevenson). 5 stars

22. City of Bones, by Michael Connelly. Harry Bosch series #8. 4 stars

23. Lost Light, by Michael Connelly. Harry Bosch series #9. 4 stars

24. The Narrows, by Michael Connelly. Harry Bosch series #10. 3.5 stars

25. One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Narrated by John Lee. No need to rate.

26. The Closers, by Michael Connelly. Harry Bosch series #11. 4.5 stars

27. Echo Park, by Michael Connelly. Harry Bosch series #12. 3 stars

28. The Overlook, by Michael Connelly. Harry Bosch series #13. 3 stars

29. Nine Dragons, by Michael Connelly. Harry Bosch series #14. 4 stars

July

30 - 34. Harry Bosch, The Reversal, The Drop, The Black Box, The Burning Room, The Crossing

I have almost no memory of July (constant wedding planning). I probably read other things, but I don't recall what they were.

August

35. The Black Widow, by Daniel Silva. 5 stars

36. The Girl in the Ice, by Robert Bryndza. 3 stars

August is pretty much of a blur, just like July and for the same reason. Only 2 books? I don't think so, but I don't remember that there were others.

September

37. Dr. Knox: A Novel, by Peter Spiegelman. 2.8 stars

38. Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. Audio book read by Elijah Wood.

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I find that in general I'm not giving as much time to reading as I have in recent past years. That fact doesn't bother me as much as it once might have. I like the balance of my life right now. The audio books are an increasingly important component of my reading. I listen to books while I work in the kitchen--a perfect blend of two activities that I love. The difficulty I have with the audio books is that it's not easy to mark a quotation or interesting part that I would like to return to. It's a different way of reading, and it's not ideal. However, given the choice of listening to a book or not reading, I will choose listening.

Love the thread topper, Becky. I am a big fan of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, too. I've read it twice now and I think next time I will listen to it. If you need some Missouri worms, I can bring them next time I come out!

>3 Donna828: Thanks, Donna. DH still hasn't gotten down to the river for those worms (fly fishing yes, worms no--ha). I'd love to have you visit here if you have the time on one of your Colorado visits!

Happy new thread Becky. It is great to see you back in the group again this year.

Happy new thread, Becky!

>5 PaulCranswick:, >6 scaifea: Thank you, thank you!

Happy new thread Becky, sending love and hugs my dear.

Great thread-topper, Becky. It actually cracked me up.

I wasn't that thrilled with the print version to The Road to Little Dribbling either, but after reading your comments about the narrator's voice, I'm sure glad I did the print instead of audio.

Happy new thread, Becky. Good to see the blizzard past you by so you will be able to get out there gardening sooner rather than later.

>1 labwriter: Your currently table looks full of goodness. I have considered reading Blue Highways for some time but have never gotten around to it.

Second Nature looks much a book on my TRB shelf called French Dirt. I hope you are enjoying it.

I have not read any of Connelly's Bosch, but I have read his Lincoln Lawyer books. I enjoyed them.

Happy New Thread, Becky!
I liked Blue Highways years ago when it came out. He came through the county, so I read the book.

Thank you to my visitors!

>9 EBT1002: This place suits us, for so many reasons!

>11 Familyhistorian: I'm glad the blizzard passed us too. Small snows, though, are very welcome for the moisture.

>12 brodiew2: I'm loving Second Nature, but I don't get to it often enough. Right now I'm busy removing lava rock from two small gardens in the front of my house. I removed 15 five-gallon buckets of lava rock from a space that's about 3x4'. Such nasty stuff!

Blue Highways is a real keeper--I'm loving this "Journey into America." We keep talking about getting some sort of camper-type thing so that we can just take off when we feel like it and see the country. I've been everywhere except Michigan and the deep South. I'm starting to feel that wanderlust pull again.

I must have 20 or 30 books that relate in some way to Virginia Woolf's biography--, her writing, her life, or her family. Peggy came up with another one on her thread: Vanessa and Her Sister: A Novel.

Coincidentally, yesterday on facebook I ran across what is supposedly the only surviving recording of Virginia Woolf's voice. The link is here: http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160324-the-only-surviving-recording-of-virgin...

A repeat of comments I made about the book on the 2016 Nonfiction Reading Challenge Part IV: Religion/Spirituality in April



I said I was going to start Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith, by Barbara Brown Taylor, and I have. In fact, I fell asleep last night just before finishing the book and it woke me up when I dropped it on the floor. This is a brief memoir from a woman who was one of the first Episcopal women priests to be ordained--and then left the priesthood after 20 years. I lived through those years (through the 1970s until 1977 when women were optionally ordained--and beyond). I'm what some call a "cradle Episcopalian"--one who grew up in the Episcopal Church from childhood, infant baptized. I well remember the fights over do we or don't we ordain women as priests. I didn't realize that was Taylor's situation when I picked up the book. Instead, I thought it was written by a lay person who, like me, has left the Episcopal Church. Our numbers are legion.

Consequently, while I found the book interesting, I didn't relate to her story in the way I had hoped. I have a niggling feeling that she's let down a lot of people in some way. The fight for women to be ordained as priests and all the changes that surrounded that phenomenon came at a heavy cost. There's nothing in the memoir that acknowledges the fight or the cost, perhaps because she wasn't part of the church when it was going on. She was one of those who "found" the Episcopal Church when she discovered her vocation for the priesthood.

I'm sure she has something to say to someone in this memoir--probably most beneficially to other women priests who are experiencing burnout; she just doesn't have much of anything to say to me. My problem with the Episcopal Church was never burnout.

Something that attracted me to the book in the first place and now (is "repels" too strong a word?--probably) needs to be pushed back against is this analysis of Taylor's writing and theology (I saw this repeated in some form in several reviews): "Taylor is a better writer than LaMott and a better theologian than Norris." Oh please, she is neither. Anne Lamott is creative and insightful (and often funny--"Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better."). Taylor's writing is workmanlike--it's fine, there's nothing special about it nor particularly terrible. Kathleen Norris, on the other hand, is a poet. I find her writing often luminous and her thoughts inspirational. She has been deeply involved with the Benedictines and the monastic tradition for more than 30 years. Taylor's audience seems to be people who quit going to church around the age of 12. There is a place for both Brown and Norris, but there is simply no comparison between them.

I don't want to rate this book. It doesn't matter how many or how few stars I would give it. For some people it will hit the mark. For me, it did not.

I enjoyed the comments you left on the nonfiction - spirituality thread for Leaving Church, so I thought I 'd drop by to see what else you're up to.

I love your thread topper - I live in a small Montana town with much the same attitude.

Thank you for the Virginia Woolf link. I enjoyed that very much.

>17 streamsong: Thanks for your kind words, and thanks for visiting!

>16 labwriter: - Oh, I love the colours in that cover!

Happy new thread - I'm also enjoying the nonfiction group, for much the same reasons as you list. The wishlist keeps growing...

>16 labwriter: Interesting remarks, Becky. I have read only one BB Taylor (Learning to Walk in the Dark) and I also was underwhelmed. I read it with our theology-reading group, who assure me that it is weaker than some of her other writing. I agree about Norris's writing but have yet to try LaMott --- another one I must get to.
Meanwhile, Vanessa and her Sister is pretty wonderful. I wrote to you about it on my thread, and I'm not going to repeat that little bit here. Just get it!

>19 lkernagh: Ha. I love that cover too. I need those colors in my outdoor life. New-to-me house, no flowers, house & fence white. Ack!

>20 charl08: I realize that Suzanne's life is very complicated right now, and I miss her input in the group. It's a great place to find ideas for a good nonfiction list. Great people reading there.

>21 LizzieD: Oh, I did get Vanessa and Her Sister--I couldn't resist. I don't know when I'll get to it, but at least I know it's on the shelf. Re: LaMott--I really enjoyed Bird by Bird.

>16 labwriter: I've read... LT sez I have 6 books by Kathleen Norris and I've read them all though mostly some years ago. Have I read them for the theology? I'm not sure how that's defined. I might say I've read them for the immersion in someone else's contemplation.

>23 qebo: My quibble was with the reviewers who saw BBT as a "better theologian" than Norris. I haven't read any of Brown Taylor's other works, so my judgment is based only on the memoir about her leaving the church. I'm using the term theologian as someone who studies, thinks about, contemplates, if you will, a belief system or systems built upon intellectual and emotional commitments concerning God and human beings. So from my point of view, what drew me to Norris, and particularly to The Cloister Walk, was her discussion of the contemplative life that she was immersed in when she became a Benedictine oblate. Within that context, I found her to be a much superior theologian compared to Barbara Brown Taylor.

>

Not bad. Solidly within the Hardboiled tradition, Connelly knows how to write a police procedural. This is the first in a series of many. Hieronymous "Harry" Bosch is a troubled L.A. homicide detective who lives for his job. Fill in your own stereotypes here. Connelly has a good eye for detail and ear for dialogue.

I hope as the series unfolds Connelly uses more of L.A. in his stories. I love Harry's house, looking out over the hills. You just know that one day that thing is going to go tumbling down the side of that cliff--earthquake, mudslide, fire, whatever.

DH and I watched the Amazon Original 2-season TV series based on the book series. Titus Welliver plays the title character--a good choice, I thought.

This gets a solid 3.5 stars. It wasn't quite hugely entertaining enough to warrant a 4.0.

I'm still reading Second Nature: A Gardener's Education, by Michael Pollan. This is a great book that I highly recommend. I wish I could give more time to it, but--haha--I need to be out in the garden. I'm in the process of reading his rant about lawns. This is one of his early books, published in 1991. I can almost guarantee that the lawn rant will evolve in his subsequent books, since in this book he's still mowing.

The only "plants" I have in my new-to-me house are dandelions. I am not kidding. It's a rambling 1956 ranch with nothing but grass and iconic (stereotypic) evergreens planted next to the foundation. We moved in last November, and one of the first things I did was to put down straw and black plastic in strategic areas to kill off the grass for vegetable and flower beds. Now I'm in the process of taking up the straw and plastic and creating the beds.

Dandelions? Save those for the bumblebees. I had wonderful, industrious bumblebees in my gardens in Missouri. I haven't seen one here yet--but I'm hopeful. Bumblebees need the dandelions, and we need the bumblebees, since they are incredibly efficient pollinators. I don't have to worry about my neighbors getting huffed up about my dandelions because most of them have replaced part or most of their grass with rock. That's another thing I'm removing--the nasty volcano rock that is so ubiquitous here, used for "landscaping." Don't get me started. If you want to bake a tree, bark and roots, there's no better way than spreading rocks all around under the tree. Try removing some of that volcano rock and you'll find that the soil underneath will be baked dead. So along with the rock, I'm removing and replacing the dead soil. A big reason we're losing our pollinators is because they have nothing to pollinate. Duh. Thank God the previous owners didn't replace their grass (which is 95% of my yard) with rock. The soil under the grass I'm removing isn't bad.

I'm also taking out the grass where I plan to plant native shrubs. The birds need a place to hide out in my yard.

Gardening by inches. So if you're wondering where I am--I'm out in back. Happy weekend and happy reading.

Another book I can hardly wait to get to: The Thing With Feathers: The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal About Being Human, by Noah Strycker.

I'm hugely enjoying the birds that I've discovered visiting in the neighborhood. I need to make my garden bird-friendly, so that's a goal for this year--plant shrubs for cover, berries, nests, etc.

My favorite group of birds so far sighted in the neighborhood is the 30-or-more flock (aka "Kettle") of Turkey Vultures that lives in a big old cottonwood tree about three blocks from us. The woman who owns the property says they stay here from April until it gets cold, always gathering in the same tree. She's lived there for 20 years and has seen them come to that tree every year. Such amazing birds, beautiful in flight, pretty ugly close up. Ha.

Here's a pic of the nursery near my house owned by two brothers set on a large piece of land near the Arkansas River. I'm growing a lot of things from seed this year--much more than I ever have in the past--and that's not only going to save me $$ but also will give me much better selection. What I'm going to need to buy from the Two Brothers this year are the shrubs for the back yard. I'm afraid the front is in DH's hands for this year--lawn. Oh woe.

All of which means I seem to have less and less time for reading. I'm loving my audiobook, Blue Highways. For anyone interested in traveling around the U.S. on backroads by truck, this is a fascinating book.

I took a walk to the library on Monday and found a Donna Tartt book I haven't read. One of my all-time favorite books is her novel The Goldfinch (2013). The one I brought home is The Little Friend, an earlier work (2002). Why I didn't immediately read this one after reading The Goldfinch is a complete mystery to me. This one is set in Mississippi in the early 1970s. I'm loving the characters of the Edie the grandmother and her sisters. My mother's mother had seven sisters and the relationships were crazy-complicated, much like the older sisters in this book. The child Harriet is someone I would have loved to have had as a best friend as a child. She has fights with her great-aunts; I was stunned into silence by mine. It's a good read but I have only a little time for it at night--which is not necessarily a bad way to read Tartt. For some reason I love it that it took her 10 years to write this one after her first novel was published, The Secret History. She said in an interview, "Part of the problem with success is that it seduces people into overproduction."

Here are the Aunts (plus my great grandmother), the Washington D.C. (later Florida) contingent. Young women today think they have invented the concept of the strong, independent woman. Heh. These women lived on their own, a couple of them working for the government; another one owned her own candy shop. This was in 1942. The one who was married was working as a "Rosie the Riveter" type and raising her daughter by herself--already a war widow. Their sister, my grandmother, isn't in this pic because the other half of the group (the Western half--Colorado) weren't speaking to the Washington, D.C. crowd. The one sitting off to the side is part of the Western bunch. I'm not sure what she was doing there. Maybe she traveled with Grandma Baxter from Colorado to Washington. Their mother was Irish, which helps to explain the behavior. One or another of them was always mad and not speaking to someone. It was hilarious and also tragic.

Great gams, Aunts!



I began to understand them a lot better after I read a book called Irish America: Coming Into Clover, by Maureen Dezell.

>27 labwriter: - I also have this book in the TBR pile. I've been in a bit of a reading funk lately so it's sowed me down a bit but I am hoping to emerge from this soon. I adore birding and have read articles by Strycker and enjoyed his writing. I also know that this book has had great reviews so am really looking forward to it, too.

Great photo, above!

Great pic of the aunts. I didn't realize that about the Irish temperament but then most of my Irish line is the male part and they don't not talk to family because they are mad, they just don't keep touch.

>28 labwriter: They do have pretty legs, Becky!
I can claim an Irish great-grandmother. Aside from Granddaddy's sense of humor (read The Horse's Mouth), I do have to say that the aunts were feisty. Somebody was always mad with Aunt Laura after a family gathering - usually Aunt Greta. Of course, my Scottish granny was also a pioneer woman (came across the state to work as the bookkeeper in a local mill, married Granddaddy, kept the farm going while he worked away, shot the fox that got in the hen house, etc. etc.) and more successful at rearing boys than girls, I always thought.

Hi Becky, wishing you a lovely weekend my dear, sending love and hugs.

>32 johnsimpson: Thanks John!

>31 LizzieD: Somebody was always mad --That's pretty much how it is in our family these days. I have 3 brothers, none of whom speak to the others. It's exhausting.

This is Spring in Colorado! Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

>33 labwriter: LOL, great shot of spring, Becky.

>33 labwriter: So much better you than me, my friend!

>33 labwriter: Great picture. Hope you get some spring temperatures soon.

>33 labwriter:, love the photo.

Blue Highways: A Journey into America, by William Least Heat-Moon. Paperback published in 1999. 5 stars

I love this book and I love this country. That could be my review. The book is about William Least Heat-Moon's journey (aka William Trogdon) on the single-lane rural highways of America (small roads are marked in blue on the map, thus the title). This is a stop-the-world-I-want-to-get-off sort of book. William stops his life, at least for awhile, and travels 13,000 miles of American roads. His journey took place in 1977 when he was 38 years old, so the book is dated. I'm sure the kinds of places and people he describes in the book still exist in this country; I'm also sure they're even harder to find. Blue Highways is a beautiful book.

I loved this book so much that I bought a copy for my shelf. It will be one of those books I read over again when I reach a point where pretty much all I can do is sit and read. Before that happens, I would love to buy some sort of camper-thingy and take off on a few blue road trips of my own (with DH and whatever dog happens to be part of our lives at the time, of course).

The audio book was narrated by Joe Barrett, who is brilliant. He's the same person who narrated A Prayer for Owen Meany. Looking at the list of books he's narrated, I see that one of them is The Bonfire of the Vanities, by Tom Wolfe. I read the book years ago when it came out; because of Barrett, I'm tempted to listen to the audio book.

I'm about halfway through Donna Tartt's The Little Friend. It's been compared to To Kill a Mockingbird--well, maybe TKAM on crack or something. This is a seriously strange book that is for some reason a reasonably compelling read. I'm wondering how long she spent writing the snake chapter, filled with nauseating smells and altogether unappealing characters. It was hard enough to spend the time reading it.

>38 labwriter: This is further confirmation that I need to read this book. Thank you.

The Little Friend is one of those books that keeps coming up on my radar. I think I need to find a copy.

>41 EBT1002: Twelve-year-old Harriet of The Little Friend has definitely captured me--if not my heart, at least my heartfelt interest. She's crabby and angry and heartbroken. She can't count on her mother for anything, not even to feed her a decent dinner, and her father is absent from her life. She's probably too smart for her own good, growing up in a small Mississippi town without any direction and without the sort of positive influences that could have kept her mind gainfully occupied.

I read this sentence last night at about the halfway point of the book: ''Later, when Harriet remembered that day, it would seem the exact, crystalline, scientific point where her life had swerved into misery. Never had she been happy or content, exactly, but she was quite unprepared for the strange darks that lay ahead of her.''

I'm finding that the more I read this book, the more I want to simply sit and read until I'm finished. I'm too busy with my garden right now to be able to do that, so I'll just have to settle for an hour or so at night.

I needed a new audiobook, and this one was "recommended" at Audible.com: The Last Season, by Eric Blehm. "Randy Morgenson was legendary for finding people missing in the High Sierra. . . . Then one day he went missing himself." It's the winner of the National Outdoor Book Award. This is another total winner--great book + perfect narrator.

From a review: "Eric Blehm spent eight years piecing together the portrait of Morgenson from journals, letters, photos, and interviews with his wife, friends, and colleagues. He hiked the same trails Morgenson hiked, scoured park archives and peak registers, and read the same books Morgenson had read in the months leading up to his disappearance. (The last book Morgenson had been reading held the chilling line '… I shall go on some last wilderness trip, to a place I have known and loved. I shall not return.')"

It turns out one of the last books he was reading was Blue Highways.

>40 brodiew2:. And Brodie, you're most welcome.

Seen around town. DH took these pics on the highway about 5 minutes from our house. At first, not paying much attention, you think they're deer....



But wait--those aren't deer. They're Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep. Fun.



If you're ever up in the mountains and hear two rams cracking their massive horns together, you'll never forget it. These are all females and juveniles. The ram probably isn't far. This is the state animal of Colorado. It's unlawful to do anything to them except take pics unless you have a "special circumstances" permit.

>

The Little Friend, a novel by Donna Tartt. 4.5 stars

This novel isn't for everyone, but those who enjoy modern Southern Gothic will like it. Set in a small Mississippi town in the 1970s, all of the gothic themes are in here--focusing on gloom, terror, and certain amount of confusion of good and evil; turning institutions like religion, education, and marriage on their head; showing the lies of society's rules and customs, and how the world is anything but an orderly and sensible place; demonstrating the corruption and hypocrisy of society's institutions; ripping apart common stereotypes.

Or, to put things more concretely, in the words of novelist Pat Conroy (The Prince of Tides): "My mother, Southern to the bone, once told me, 'All Southern literature can be summed up in these words: On the night the hogs ate Willie, Mama died when she heard what Daddy did to Sister.'"

Those who need a pat and neatly-tied-up ending shouldn't read Tartt's book, or if they do will be disappointed. I couldn't put it down, mainly because I kept wanting to see where Tartt was going with this. I found myself getting lost in this thing and staying up late three nights in a row reading, which these days is very unusual for me. All I can say is, Tartt's writing cast a weird spell over me.

Harriet Cleve Dusfrsnes--12 years old, fierce, bossy, and unsupervised by those who ought to care about what troubles her. One of her great aunts says to her that it's "awful" being a child--"at the mercy of other people."

Tartt's third book, The Goldfinch is one of my favorite novels. This one isn't, but it certainly is memorable. Probably the highest praise I can give the book is that it makes me want to re-read my Flannery O'Connor.

>44 labwriter: Great pictures. One of he farmers round here kept ostriches for a while which always caught me by surprise.

>43 labwriter: I'm intrigued - and did he turn up again?!

Hope your gardening is going well. I think I'll be mostly eating beans and tomatoes this Summer, if my plants continue the way they're going just now.

>43 labwriter: I'm hugely enjoying this book, The Last Season. I'm at the point in the book where it's 12 days since his last contact with anyone. It's not looking good, and yet how could someone with his experience die in the area where he had spent 28 summers with the Parks Service, plus numerous years before that, starting as a young child? The other idea they're floating is that he deliberately got "lost" because he was in a pretty lousy place with his personal life--his wife had handed him divorce papers, etc. But surely someone with his background and experience would never put other searchers in jeopardy on a fruitless search? To be continued....

Haha--beans and tomatoes here, too. I hope also some peppers. Great soup base, yes?

Hah. That Conroy quote is great. And so is Flannery O'Connor; I read Wise Blood last fall and consider it one of best novels I read last year. I really should try Conroy. And Donna Tartt too. I have a copy of The Goldfinch, but was put off by dismissive comments.

>48 weird_O: Bill, I hugely recommend The Goldfinch. You must at least give it a try. I agree about Wise Blood. It's been ages since I read it, so I think it's time for a re-read.

I finished The Black Ice, by Michael Connelly, #2 in the Harry Bosch series, within the hard-boiled urban detective genre. Not much to say about this book. Connelly writes pretty well and keeps the story going, set in inner-city L.A. and the Mexico wastelands. I like to read a series from first book to last so that I get the backstory, etc. This one was a bit slow in places. I'm going to read #3, The Concrete Blonde which I imagine I will like better because much of the setting is the courtroom where Harry is being sued for shooting a serial killer.

>50 labwriter:, Hi Becky, I just love Harry Bosch and will be starting The Last Coyote soon.

>51 johnsimpson: Hi John! I'm really enjoying The Concrete Blonde, #3.

More snow this morning, or as we call it here, "moisture"--as in, "We need the moisture." Haha. Well, we do, and if we didn't get these spring snows, we would be in a bad way. But my seedlings need to go into the ground ASAP. I estimate I started them about 2 weeks too early. Live & learn.

The Last Season was my latest audio book. This is Eric Blehm's first book (he's since written several others, including Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam Brown). This one won the National Outdoor Book Award. 4 stars

The book is about the life and mysterious death of Nat'l Park Service backcountry ranger Randy Morgenstern. Blehm worked on the book for eight years, and his thorough research and immersion into his subject is evident throughout the book. I was fascinated by the community and culture of these backcountry rangers. If you meet one on the trail, he or she won't be the one wearing the park ranger "Smoky Bear" hat like you see the park rangers wearing at most of the national monuments.

One of the things I found so amazing about the people who do the work Randy Morgenstern did was that they are considered seasonal federal employees because they don't work all year (they can't because the Sierra Nevada mountains are socked in with snow for more than half the year). Consequently, they are re-hired (or not) every year and they get NO benefits. You would think someone who worked for the Park Service for 28 seasons would have been considered permanent, but that wasn't the case. Randy's wife fought for over five years to get the one benefit these employees receive (and they have to die to get it)--a death benefit if they are killed while on the job. The feds initially and for years denied her claim because Randy had left his sidearm at his camp--so as far as they were concerned it couldn't be proved that he was on duty when he disappeared. That was despite the fact that Randy was never known to carry his sidearm. Typical federal government FUBAR.

This was an excellent book, recommended for anyone who is interested in what it's like to live the life of a backcountry ranger. These are selfless people, spreading the gospel of the wilderness and caring for the national parks. They ought to be treated with more respect by the government that employs them.

I needed a new audio book, so I picked up a biography by Kathryn Hughes, George Eliot: The Last Victorian. I loved Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) when I was studying her novels in school, particularly Middlemarch. I know of her life through biographies of other literary people around her. This biog was published in 1999. I would love to ask Hughes why the idealized portrait of Eliot was used for the cover. My guess is it was a publisher's decision. If I were her biographer, that decision would make me very unhappy.

In 2008, Hughes wrote an article about the "sclerotic" state of current biography writing. She says that all the "big lives" have been done--over and over again (eg: the six wives of Henry VIII "refashioned as the post-feminist heroines from Sex and the City"). Evidently Hughes feels that life-writing started going bad with the publishing of Amanda Foreman's Georgiana in about 2000 (I've never heard of the book), winner of Britain's prestigious Whitbread Prize and a bestseller for months.

The fact is that much of the devaluing of the biographer's skill can be dated to 10 years ago when Foreman's first book, a biography of the 18th-century Duchess of Devonshire, became a publishing phenomenon. By choosing to be photographed nude behind a pile of books, and by allowing her own life story (starry father, tricky adolescence) to become as important as the person she was writing about, Foreman did an accidental disservice to biography in general, and to young women biographers in particular. Her success with a book written while still in her 20s created unrealistic expectations about the quality of work that young historians are regularly able to produce. Thirty years ago, no one would seriously think that many writers under 30, with or without a PhD, could publish books that would do anything other than slip shyly on to the market, acting as calling cards for the better work that was surely still to come.

Much of the bad state of today's biography Hughes blames on the publishers, who give biographers unrealistic deadlines to complete their work (2 years). Consequently, they can do little more than skim the relevant library books and "embark on a hectic round of cut and paste." It's not that they're lazy; they simply don't have the time for primary sources. Good Lord.

This article was written in 2008, and at that point there was a sense that there was about to be a paradigm shift--familiar subjects seen from odd angles (such as Frances Wilson's The Ballad of Dorothy Wordsworth).

Hughes's Eliot biog was researched and written before this newest "new biography." It isn't the door stop of a biography that was so popular in the 1960s and 1970s, but nonetheless Hughes pretty much does Eliot cradle to grave. So far I like her style, and the narrator fits with the work. From what I've read about the book, it probably doesn't qualify as a literary biography, but instead works to place Eliot and her writing within a historical and cultural context.

>50 labwriter: Coincidentally, I purchased the first in the Bosch series today for my husband. I paid a quarter for it at half-price day at the spring Library Book Sale. Can't beat the price. He is just finishing up John Sandford's books. He likes to read one author at a time. I'm just glad he reads. I bought a few others for him to try as well. In the past few years he has read all of Tony Hillerman, Daniel Silva (seems like I remember you being a fan as well), and John Sandford.

Becky, I love William Least Heat-Moon. He was (maybe still is) a professor at the University of Missouri. I heard him speak a few years ago and found him very personable. Blue Highways is my favorite but also enjoyed River Horse. I have PrairyErth waiting patiently on the shelf. You have good taste in books!

Hi, Becky. Glad to see that you're still reading even while gardening!

>55 Donna828: Hi Donna. Yes, I'm a big fan of Daniel Silva, and Michael Connelly and the Harry Bosch series is pretty good. Connelly is a good writer. I think he was a journalist before he started writing novels.

I would love to hear a lecture by William Least Heat-Moon. I'm eager to read some of his other books.

>56 LizzieD: Well, Peggy, I'm reading instead of gardening because of the snow and cold temps we've had here for about the past week or so. In February we consistently had 60 and even 70 degree temps. Now tonight we're under a freeze warning. I'm hoping this is the last of it and I'll be able to put something into the ground soon. My tomato "seedlings" are over a foot tall. I'll know better next year and start the seeds later.

Today I'm off to help my son and his soon-to-be wife paint inside their house. DH is already there, doing what he does best--fixing things. He called last night and warned me: "When you see the master bathroom ceiling, don't be too surprised." Evidently DILTB painted the ceiling purple. Oh. So I'm working on my "It's none of my business" mode as well as my poker face. Actually, I have no poker face. Oh woe. She showed me the colors she bought for the bathroom--gray, turquoise, and purple. Who knew the purple was meant for the ceiling? Haha.

So it turns out Mary Ann Evans / George Eliot was a seriously odd duck, which I sort of suspected. As a young woman she was prone to breaking out in public fits of weeping, gulping hysterics, evidently believing it proved her passionate feeling for God--or some such.

I'm hugely enjoying my current audio book, George Eliot: The Last Victorian, by Kathryn Hughes. Those who think the current cultural wars are something new should read about this period (Eliot's dates, 1819-1880).

I could spend an entire year reading only books that cover the themes and subjects of Eliot's novels.

There's a website that I used to rely on when I was studying Victorian lit, back in the day. I'd forgotten about it. I highly recommend it for people who are reading in the Victorian period: The Victorian Web.

The Concrete Blonde, by Michael Connelly. The third in the Harry Bosch series. 3.5 stars

This third book in the Harry Bosch series finds Connelly hitting his stride. For me it's the best of both worlds in this genre--police procedural/hard-boiled detective murder mystery plus courtroom drama. If I could give Connelly any advice about his series, I would tell him to try to give the books a little comic relief. I'm thinking of something like the Kinsey Milhone "Alphabet" series by Sue Grafton, who uses Kinsey's neighbors to lighten things up a bit, particularly Henry her octogenarian landlord and the Hungarian restaurant down the street with the eccentric owner named Rosie. Or like Patricia Cornwell's use of the character of Pete Marino in the Kay Scarpetta series. In this one, Connelly predictably gives Harry Bosch a girlfriend, Sylvia Moore, but you almost know from the start that it's not going to last. I'm hoping Connelly will avoid the obvious--a new "love interest" in every book.

Another bit of advice: enough with the prostitutes, already.

Harry smokes a lot, and we seem to be privy to every time Harry lights up or feels like smoking. It's a real "thing" in this book in particular. It makes you wonder if Connelly had recently quit smoking when he wrote this one. Sue Grafton did much the same thing with Kinsey and her junk food fetish, which was a bit easier to take than the constant smoking. The book is set about 1993, not long after the Rodney King riots. That leaves Harry often searching for a pay phone. Like Kinsey Milhone, Harry's living quarters are unique--a house built on stilts in the Hollywood Hills. Connelly wisely gives Harry a good reason for being able to afford such a place.

So far Michael Connelly has avoided one of the conventions of detective fiction that has popped up in the last 10 or so years: allowing the reader to be inside the head of the killer. I literally hate that tactic, and it can make me quit reading a series just about faster than anything. Never allowing the reader to know the thoughts of a killer first-hand used to be Number One in the Ten Commandments of detective fiction. Patricial Cornwell did that in one of her weakest offerings in the Scarpetta series. It put me off her books for years. One of the conventions that Connelly uses well is the "stupid friend," who in the case of this book is Harry's partner, Jerry Edgar.

The next one in the Harry Bosch series is The Last Coyote.

I think the reason I like a series like this is for the same reason I liked reading Nancy Drew or Judy Bolton when I was a kid. I enjoy watching the character develop, seeing what the author comes up with to prop up the main character, and following how the author develops and incorporates the backstories.

ETA. I know another reason I like these police procedurals: Commandment No. 2: "All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course." Fantasy fiction set in imaginary worlds with magical creatures, or science fiction set in a world that doesn't exist--is fiction I simply have no interest in reading. Yeah, I'm well aware of how much we all love apocalyptic fiction these days--well, not me. So I think the convention in detective fiction that you can expect a story set in a here-and-now or in past reality is a big reason why I enjoy the detective fiction genre.

Happy Thursday.

A lot of good reading going on there, Becky. Are you still doing any quilting or did the gardening take over and then get stopped by the weather? Thanks for the link to the Victorian Web.

>61 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg. I'm working on both the garden and the quilt. The weather has been crazy, so I haven't planted the seedlings yet. We had freezing weather and snow on this past Monday and then 81 degrees yesterday, Thursday. It's nuts.

The one thing that I've completely put to the side is genealogy. Once I get the garden in, I really hope to get back to it. I'm living in the town where my 2x great grandfather died (1930). I want to get at the old newspapers here and see what I can find.

>62 labwriter: Hopefully your weather will settle down soon. How cool is that to live close to where your roots are. Sometimes because it is so close it makes it harder to take the time to do the research - not sure why that is.

>33 labwriter: I LOVE the snowman! I think we had some snow back in mid-April too, but now we're having record breaking heat (at least for one day).

>44 labwriter: Love the goats, too!

>44 labwriter: :) Those "goats" are Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep. But they're girls and they look a little raggedy, so it's hard to tell.

Nothing new here on the reading front. The garden is keeping me busy, since this is the first year. DH is helping me dig up the grass and put in another 10' x 15' garden plot, since we decided that one that size just isn't enough. He's a saint, because he would MUCH rather be fishing.

My raised rows with tomatoes and peppers. I love these tomato cages. We made some smaller ones for the peppers as well. I know what I'm going to be doing this summer--canning, freezing, and more canning (oh, and somehow I have to fit in my son's wedding in August. August???). That's fine--all that canning will make for good eating this fall and winter, plus I don't really care when they get married--I'm just thrilled that it's happening. These plants are all grown from seed. When you do that, I think it gives you a serious buy-in about the plants that you don't have if you get the plants at the nursery. You also know what has or hasn't been sprayed on the plants. In this case--nothing. And I'm listening to the George Eliot biog while I work in the garden--wow, excellent!

By the way, I'm loving the Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly--just thought I would add that. Each book is better than the last.

>66 labwriter: That looks a lot more spring like and like a lot of hard work!

>66 labwriter: Love the tomato stands - what a great idea. I agree with you about growing from seed. I am definitely invested in my from seed plants!

George Eliot: The Last Victorian, by Kathryn Hughes, 1999. 4 stars

This was an excellent cradle-to-grave biographical introduction to the life of George Eliot/Mary Ann Evans. What I liked about it was the nice balance that Kathryn Hughes struck between the life and the work. I still don't understand the use of the highly idealized (and totally inaccurate) portrait of Eliot for the book cover. I found an article in which Hughes reviews the latest biog of Eliot--The Life of George Eliot by Nancy Henry, 2012. Hughes admits that she got some things wrong in her biog of Eliot. The blurb for the Henry biog got my attention: "Despite 37 previous biographies, there are still questions to be asked about George Eliot." Henry's book is described as "productive disruption" of the commonplace fact and fictions that have been written about Eliot.

After I finish listening to Middlemarch, which is my new audiobook, I'll probably get the Nancy Henry biog of Eliot.



The audiobook of Middlemarch that I chose is narrated by Juliet Stevenson. She "performs" the characters very well without overdoing them. Her interpretation of Casaubon borders on hilarious. I've read the book three times, once as an undergrad, once for my master's degree, and once on my own. Listening to the book is a very different experience than reading it, and I'm enjoying it very much. As far as I'm concerned, Middlemarch is one of the genius books of the English language, worth any amount of time a person is willing to give to it.

OK, from the sublime to the ridiculous, which often describes my reading....



The Last Coyote, by Michael Connelly, #4 in the Harry Bosch series. 4 stars

I've pretty much settled into reading this Harry Bosch series one right after the other. It's what I like to do when I find a series I enjoy. I bumped this one up to 4 stars because the plot in this one is better than most. That plus Connelly continues to develop the character of LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch. Maybe 4 stars is a bit generous. I'm not a big fan of Los Angeles, and these books haven't done anything to change my mind. Connelly really doesn't do much of anything with his setting--not like, for example, what Stephan Talty does with Buffalo in Black Irish. Plus we're still getting the obligatory failed "love interest" in every book. Boring. I wish he'd mix it up a bit, and maybe he will. Whether he does or not, Connelly's obvious first-hand knowledge of the renegade cop makes this series a cut above the rest.

The next one up: Trunk Music, Harry Bosch #5.

Happy new week!

>70 The_Hibernator: Thank you--same to you!

I just want to say that I'm over the moon about the audio version of Middlemarch narrated by Juliet Stevenson. The novel has so many characters, and she truly performs each one. In my mind, she does an excellent job. Her Casaubon is even worse than the one that was in my head the times I read the book--worse in the sense that he's such a perfectly awful match for poor Dorothea.

Have you read or run across Dinitia Smith's new novel about Eliot? it's about her second marriage, and her honeymoon in Venice. I'm about to launch into it. (Really, I am; I've been about to read it for weeks now...)

You may yet convince me to download that version of Middlemarch.

I'm torn about The Little Friend. I was very underwhelmed by The Goldfinch but liked Tartt's other major book quite a lot, so... what to do??

>72 Chatterbox: I started Tartt's The Secret History which so many around here seemed to love, but I put it down. I plan to give it another try when I get my books out of their boxes, which may be sometime in the next decade.

You can probably tell by my comments about The Little Friend that I was up and down and all over the place about it, but ultimately glad to have spent the time reading it. If you didn't like The Goldfinch, then maybe you just don't like her writing, in which case you won't like Friend, is my guess. She spends years on each novel, and her writing reflects that--something akin to extremely intricate hand sewing. It's not for everyone.

I'll be interested to hear what you have to say about Smith's new Eliot novel--thanks for mentioning it, since I hadn't heard about it yet. It sounds as though Eliot and J.W. Cross had the honeymoon from hell. Kathryn Hughes didn't have too much to say about it in her biog of Eliot--except of course that the groom jumped out the window. She told what others said about it, but declined to speculate herself. I guess we have Cross to thank for many gaps in the record of Eliot's life--for destroying parts of her journals and bowdlerizing her letters. So maybe a fictionalized reconstruction of the honeymoon is reasonable payback.

I can't believe how fast I'm speeding through the audio version of Middlemarch. I spend hours every day listening to the thing, what with work in the garden and cooking. The narrator makes listening to the book very enjoyable, which wasn't the case with the narrator of Eliot's biography. I had to get used to her voice and accent, and it wasn't easy.

>73 labwriter: I did like The Secret History, but found The Goldfinch set my teeth on edge too much. That's what surprised me. And it's why I'm wondering about The Little Friend. Which would it be?? *grin*

I'm quite tempted from your description of the audio of Middlemarch. I've been in the garden more and it would be great to have Juliet Stevenson for company. I've had Middlemarxh in a lovely edition by my bed for months and just can't pick up the thing!

Despite it being the wee hours of the morning,since I can't sleep I have just read your thread. I was pleasntly surprised to find that we have the same interests when it comes to mysteries, police procedurals, detective series and non-fiction

I have a very finicky laptop and consistently lose my entire post so I hit post frequently before I lose them. So I hit post frequentlkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

Yes so you see what happens. I just came back from losing the last post for about the fifth time. We had a mouse but lost it moving, I guess and must get another. This is so finicky I can't take it any more. It takes every bit of pleasure out of typing in here. Anyway, it seems we enjoy the same things about the same type of books. I listen to audio books while I do housework or drive. I loved listening to Middlemarch I am enjoying detective novels currently, over the last year and a half. I haven't tried Michael Connelly though I plan to

I almost lost that whole post twice so I just hit post! I'd better go to bed. I think I'm feeling a bit delirious. Just wanted to say one more thing if I can get it out...I enjoy and dislike the same things about my detectives that you stated, the killer can keep his thoughts to himself, it just confuses the forward movement of the story. Recently, I enjoyed The Lake House by Kate Morton, the first time I have read her. I couldn't put it down. It was a well-written combination of murder mystery and historical fiction, and a good study of human nature to boot. Nothing too deep but enjoyable all the same. Sometimes I just want to be entertained. I have enjoyed listening to Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache books lately, although I am pretty sure I would not like to read them. Enjoyed hearing about your garden too!Off to bed!

>75 charl08: Juliet Stevenson as narrator of Middlemarch reminds me a little bit of Emma Thompson--that sort of accent. It's very pleasant to listen to.

>76 mmignano11: I feel your pain with losing posts. I'm liking the Harry Bosch series a lot. As you say, sometimes you just want to be entertained. This sort of thing is what I read before I go to sleep. I haven't read Kate Morton. I'll have to check her out. Thanks!

I finished Harry Bosch, #5, Trunk Music. I thought it was a little long, but the mystery/crime was good. 3.5 stars

One thing in the Harry Bosch series that's head and shoulders above a lot of police procedurals--the endings are all really quite good. Harry Bosch is smarter than the people around him (that's convenient). He's also intuitive and very good at reading people.

I started Harry Bosch #6, Angels Flight. I'm going to continue with these until I get sick of Harry or I finish the series--whichever comes first. Reading them one after another this way is a lot like reading one huge book. Oh dear, in this one he stops smoking. You had to see that coming. And his wife has dropped out of sight, yet he's not looking for her. He's "distracted" by the fact that he doesn't know where she is, but he doesn't seem concerned enough to go looking for her. Yet we don't know why. This one is exhausting--don't these people ever sleep?

>81 labwriter: Looks like you'll finish the series before you get fed up with it, Becky.

Have a great weekend.

>82 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! Well, there are a lot of them. But each one seems to be getting a little better than the last.

An excellent weekend to you as well.

>71 labwriter: I love Juliet Stevenson's audiobooks! I really need to listen to Middlemarch. But it's very long.

>84 The_Hibernator: She's a wonderful narrator. I'm going to have to find some other books that she's read. I love the long books when they're like Middlemarch. I have no doubt that when it's finished, I'll be devastated. I'm at chapter 58 or so. Ha.

Angels Flight, by Michael Connelly. Harry Bosch series, #6. 4.5 stars

I'm giving this one 4.5 stars because it's just about as good as a police procedural gets. It's well-plotted, entertaining, and the character of Harry Bosch just keeps getting better as the series grows.

I do have a quibble with the author (I guess I usually do). He has started to use the word "instinctive" and its variants way too much--and I think it really started in this book--or at least this is the book in which this little tic has really started to bug me. I think the word he's looking for is closer to "innate." Whatever he means, he ought to use the word less. It's become a "tic."

Hi, Becky! I'm catching up on threads (again!), but I skipped all your Connelly reviews because you're way ahead of me on this series. I'll come back to them after a few more volumes!

It's terrific to hear such praise for the audio of Middlemarch. I agree it's a wonderful book, and Stevenson is one of my favorite actresses, so I can see the great match it must be. Once I get into a (non-verbal) long project, I may see if the library has it on CD and try it out.

>87 ffortsa: These Connelly/Bosch books are like potato chips. And the Middlemarch audio is wonderful. I had a copyediting project that took me away from everything for a couple of days. I can't believe how much I missed listening to that book.

>88 labwriter: Finished The Concrete Blonde this morning. Comments on my latest thread.

I think I'm at about Chapter 73 of Middlemarch. There are 86 or so in all. Eliot first published the book in 8 parts, something she had never done before. I know I should be figuring out my next audio book. Regardless, I'll feel bereft when this one is done. I've been doing lots of gardening, so consequently lots of listening as well.

I finished another Nancy Drew book (oh, no--that's Harry Bosch).



A Darkness More than Night, by Michael Connelly. 4 stars

This one is seen through the eyes of Terry McCaleb, a retired FBI profiler who gets involved in one of Harry Bosch's cases. Harry takes a back seat in this one--sort of. I don't want to say any more. Lots of courtroom drama. Also the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch. A very entertaining read.

On to #8, City of Bones.

>,90 Nancy Drew - chuckle

Hi Becky, hope you have had a good weekend my dear, sending love and hugs.

>92 johnsimpson:. Thank you, John, and same to you!



Wow. Finished. Middlemarch, by George Eliot, audio version, 5 stars

I can't help but wonder, will this novel continue to be read by the rising generation? A "nuptial kaleidoscope not matched since Chaucer's Wife of Bath" is how one wag described it.

I would put this on my list of Top Five favorite novels of all time. I'm so glad I listened to this version narrated by Juliet Stevenson.

>93 labwriter: - I am currently listening to an audiobook narrated by Juliet Stevenson and I agree, she is an excellent reader. The one I am listening to is The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

>94 jessibud2:. I'll have to put that one on my list!

I loved The Signature of All Things, which I read for a book group last year (my selection). I read Middlemarch for the same book group, and found some storylines more engaging than others, but was impressed by the psychological depth.

Whoa. Definitely bumping Middlemarch up on the list now...

I started listening to One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It's a book I've never read before, so listening to it is somewhat of a challenge. The narrator is John Lee, one of my favorites.

Continuing on with the Harry Bosch series at night when DH and the dog are asleep. I finished City of Bones, #8 and Lost Light, #9. Now I'm reading The Narrows, #10. They're all pretty much 4 stars.

Connelly started using first-person POV in Lost Light. Usually I don't care all that much for first-person, but Connelly does it so smoothly that I wasn't even aware of it until about half-way through the book. He's a good writer, especially considering that he was cranking these out at the rate of about 1 a year.

>98 labwriter: I can't imagine listening to One Hundred Years of Solitude and keeping all the people straight. Let me know how you find it.

>98 labwriter: Are you finding it heavy listening? I think I gave up on that one.

>99 ffortsa:; >100 charl08: Yes, OHYoS is a difficult audio book. I probably couldn't have made it through listening to this one even six months ago. I'm a visual person--visual learner, whatever, so listening isn't my best way of taking in information. So I figure listening to books will help that part of my brain that isn't as sharp as the visual information part.

That said, even with a lot of audio books under my belt in the past year or so, this book is confusing. It doesn't help that the book is divided into 20 unnumbered chapters. As far as I can tell, there is no chapter "clue" or delineation for the reader in the audible version that I'm listening to.

This audible version has a printable "family tree" that I assume is supposed to be helpful. All it did for me was to clue me in about the difficulty of the repetitive names. But if a character isn't part of the family tree, then the audible reader is out of luck. I think the book version comes with a handy chart of who is who, and how they are related, the relationships between characters, whether they are married or have children… etc. Unfortunately, my printed copy is in a box in the basement with 90% of my other books, waiting for me to get my garden in before I can even begin to deal with my books. So no help there.

Consequently, I am making good use of the online (free) Cliff Notes to help me out with this audible book. I listen to a section, and then I read the Cliff Note on that section. If it seems like I missed something, which is usually the case, then I'll go back and listen to that part again. I'm also making use of the Notes for the characters, which helps a lot.

The reader John Lee gets mixed reviews. Some simply can't get past the idea that he isn't a native Spanish speaker. That would make sense to me if I were listening to the Spanish version; however, since I'm listening to an English translation, of a book with universal appeal, I don't really get the idea that it must be read by a Latin accented narrator. I've listened to several (long) books read by Lee, so I'm very used to his style. I think that helps a lot in making this audible book a good experience. Lee is absolutely one of my favorite readers--he has narrated MANY books. He reads very fast, which is another complaint from some about this audio book. I just go with it, and I've come to love the way he reads. Someone complained that all of his female characters sound dazed and hypnotized because of a way that he has of portraying a female voice with a sort of slow exhalation. While there may be some truth to that, I don't find his way of representing females to be a problem.

OK, so now I have to say something about The Narrows, by Harry Bosch book #10. It is evidently the THING in crime procedural novels these days to put the reader into the head of the sicko serial killer. The first commandment of detective fiction is this one: "The criminal must not be anyone whose thoughts the reader has been allowed (or should we say, "forced") to follow." As far as I remember, this book is the first one where Connelly has violated that rule. I simply HATE IT when an author does this. I frankly don't want to spend any time in the head of some dark, creepy character. I guess I should have suspected Connelly was going there in this book when he changed to first person point of view. That said, I'm not very far into this thing yet, and so far we haven't been treated to anything really awful from the killer--nor even very much of it. I hope it stays that way. I had to stop reading the Kay Scarpetta books by Patricia Cornwell when she started this in her books. Her portrayal of the killer's sick mind made me wonder about her mind--ack.

>101 labwriter: Ha! Cornwell's mind is something I began wondering about a long time ago!

>101 labwriter: I don't like that trick either. A lot of the scandi- crime ones seem to do it, and I quite often skim those bits.

>102 ffortsa: Good point.

>103 charl08: Another really good point. I wonder if the scandi-crime novels is where the "mind of the killer" thing got its start? Scandinavian crime fiction is big on serial killers, and I think that's where these authors just can't resist letting the reader in on the mind of the killer.

In the latest Henry Bosch book I'm reading (The Narrows), Connelly has one of the FBI characters complaining that before 9/11 Quantico could get whatever money it needed to go after serial killers, but ever since everything is "all about terrorism" and they can't even get their overtime authorized. I do think that the serial killer "thing" that became so big in this genre has now more or less faded into the background. Certainly it's not so popular as it was, and I think that's a good thing. This Henry Bosch that I'm reading now is about a serial killer, but Connelly generally stays away from that--which is probably one reason I like him.

This is a good blog post about the best in Scandinavian Crime fiction: http://www.joelgoldman.com/best-scandinavian-crime-novels-2/

The Narrows, by Michael Connelly. Harry Bosch series #10. 3.5 stars

All the elements were there in this book, including Connelly's good writing plus storyline. This one gets only 3.5 stars from me though because the multiple points of view included the "mind of the killer." Connelly has never done this before, and I hope he never does it again. I'll give him credit and say that he didn't wallow in the darkness of the killer. Some writers who do this really seem to enjoy the dark nastiness of it all. Not the best he's done, but still head and shoulders above many police procedurals.

Next up, The Closers, #11 in the Harry Bosch series. Harry comes out of retirement, which didn't suit him, and goes back to the LAPD working cold cases. Oh hooray, we seem to be done with first-person pov.

A word about One Hundred Years of Solitude, my audio book. If it weren't for the narrator, I might have bailed on this one. It's not really my kind of book. This is a quotation from one review I read of the book, and I couldn't agree more:

It is not easy to describe the techniques and themes of the book without making it sound absurdly complicated, labored and almost impossible to read.

I'm happy to know what all the shouting is about, but I doubt it's a book I would return to. It's taking me longer than usual to finish because often I don't listen to the book even when I could--in the kitchen or garden, etc.

Life is a lot busier than I would like it to be. Otherwise, I would sit down and read this small gem from cover to cover: Great Possessions: An Amish Farmer's Journal, by David Kline. This is work on an Amish farm from the (male) farmer's point of view. I cherish these people and am glad they are in our world. I wish I could find one like it from the distaff side. I probably could if I looked.

ETA. Amish Women Lives and Stories, by Louise Stoltzfus. Ordered.

Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health, by Rosemary Gladstar.

I first heard of Rosemary Gladstar when I watched one of her videos for making fire cider, a winter cold/sinus remedy. The video encouraged me to look for her books.

I'm no earth mother, but I'm a great a believer in doing the simple things that I can do for myself to be healthier and happier. If I could have only one book on my shelf about natural remedies, it would be this one. "175 teas, tonics, oils, salves, tinctures, and other natural remedies for the entire family." A wonderful book, very comprehensive.

We moved to a new house in November where the previous owner (same owner for 50+ years) loved her house but obviously was no gardener. I've spent the entire spring digging out turf grass to make beds for flowers, herbs, and vegetables. So far, guided by this book, the herbs and flowers I've planted for some "concoctions" I'll make from them are feverfew, chamomile, lavender, and calendula. Except for the lavender, these are plants I've never tried growing before. There are so many more I want to plant. I wonder if there's a plant that encourages patience--ha.

>105 labwriter: Great Possessions has a permanent place on my bookshelf. So nice to find another reader.

>105 labwriter: - Have you read or heard of Plain and Simple by Sue Bender? I read it many many years ago and couldn't think of the title or author just now. I have kept small journals of the titles of books I've read over the years, starting in 1992 (though, obviously, I've been reading all my life, not just starting then!). I couldn't even remember when I read it and thought it might have predated that first journal but I found it listed! I never wrote reviews in these journals, just listed the authors and titles so I could do what I just did: go back and recall a book when memory fails me (as it seems to with alarming frequency as I age). I do remember enjoying that book.

Hmm, touchnote is wrong again. Big time

>107 ffortsa: Nice.

>108 jessibud2: No, I haven't heard of the Bender book. Thanks! I'll look for it.

>108 jessibud2: Plain and Simple: A Woman's Journey to the Amish is another one of my favorites on the shelf, telling of Bender's antidote to her overly complicated life. It's the ailment of our time, I think. I'm currently reading In Pursuit of Silence: Listening for Meaning in a World of Noise, more scientific but so far very accessible.

Happy Sunday Becky.

>110 ffortsa: - I haven't heard of that one but I do have Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain on my shelf and am looking forward to reading that one soon, maybe for the August theme or December

Happy new week Becky!

>112 jessibud2: I read Quiet by Susan Cain some time ago. I gave it 3 stars and felt like I could have given it less. I looked over my review, and I made several points, but essentially I felt like perhaps the book was written to help extroverted people understand introverts. I found that it didn't have much new or even very insightful to say to me. I also had a hard time getting through the book, not finding it very readable.

>111 johnsimpson:, >113 The_Hibernator: Thank you!

>110 ffortsa: Thanks for the tip about Bender's book.

Now that the garden is in, there's time again for hiking--and reading, of course, although still, not so much as in years past. There's too much to do here.

This is our "hogback" hike. The trailhead is 5 minutes from our house. This is not my picture. Yesterday we rounded that corner and saw nothing but black sky, so we started hotfooting it down that trail like crazy. By the time we got to the car, the lightening was all around us. Wow. It was unusual because it was a morning storm, something I have yet to experience here this season.



This is a new trail system for hikers and bikers alike, and they've done a bang-up job with some government grant money.

We watch out for bikers on the trail, and the bikers watch out for us hikers. We simply step to the side of the trail when we see or hear a biker coming. I've never met one yet who wasn't totally polite. This isn't my photo, but it's typical of the bikers we encounter on the hike--usually not all that many, since we hike on the weekdays and leave the weekends to them.

Here's my review for One Hundred Years of Solitude: I should have read Love in the Time of Cholera.

By the end of this thing, I was listening to it just to get finished so I could move on to something else.

I don't feel compelled to rate this book. My guess is, you either like it or you don't.

Hi, Becky! Thanks for the pictures.
I am another great non-fan of *100 Years*. I really enjoyed *Love/Cholera*, but I struggled to get through the big one. It will take at least 100 years of solitude to get me back to it, I suspect.

>117 LizzieD: It will take at least 100 years of solitude to get me back to it, I suspect.

Haha. Great line, Peggy. For me, the only way to deal with the book would be to make a timeline that includes all the names. And then consult it constantly as I read the book. Not happening anytime soon.

>116 labwriter: and >117 LizzieD: I'm another non-fan maybe I would have liked it more as part of a course, with a guide and discussion. Otoh, LitToC was wonderful.

My newest audio book is Vanity Fair, read by Georgina Sutton. I like her voice, and this novel is one of my favorites. I haven't read it for a very long time, so it's fun to revisit this one.

I'm still reading the Harry Bosch series. It turns out there's about 21 of them. Oh my. It's been over 100 degrees F here this week, and we have no air conditioning because "it doesn't get that hot." Yesterday it was 104 F. So sometimes during the hottest parts of the day all I can do is sit and read my current Harry Bosch in front of a fan. My biggest worry is my old Lab, Docker. He takes thyroid medication, so heat isn't his best thing anyway. Last night I wrapped a freezer pack in a towel and put it under him. He fell asleep with his head an inch from the fan. Poor dear.



The Closers, a Harry Bosch by Michael Connelly, book #11. 4.5 stars

One of the strongest elements of this series is plot, and this one is right up there with the best of his other books. The other thing that keeps me reading a series is a likeable protagonist.

Now I need to weed the garden beds before the heat gets going. We are very fortunate that it cools off at night here, which is why I refuse to have air conditioning. I grew up in Denver without it, and I'll be darned if I'll have it here.

Docker Mihelich, 2002-2016. My dear, loyal dog Docker has gone to be with his brother Jack. They were half brothers--they shared the same wonderful mother named Charm--and they were inseparable. When Jack died in 2012, Docker adopted me as his Jack. I like to think of them together again. Jack was the brains of the duo, and Docker was the world's best sidekick. Two darling black Labs. God bless you both.

Not much reading going on. I'm still listening--sort of--to Vanity Fair. The Michael Connelly's just serve to take my mind off things. It was hard to concentrate with a sick dog, and still hard to concentrate now that he's gone. Even my garden is on self-care. Oh well.

>121 labwriter: Oh, Becky. I'm so sorry. I'm thinking of you.

>121 labwriter: Sorry to hear about Docker. Labs are such wonderful, affectionate characters.

>121 labwriter: Oh, I'm sorry. What handsome dogs. You'll have a hole in your life (and your garden).

So sorry to hear about Docker, my dear, what handsome dogs.

Thank you all for your kind thoughts.



Echo Park, by Michael Connelly, Harry Bosch series #12. 3 stars

It should be no surprise that these are getting rather predictable--all series get that way, and you either like the character(s) and continue on with them, or you leave them behind.

I laughed at this reader review from another site: "Oh no, another Harry Bosch story in which the maverick Californian detective loser goes his own way, defying orders, breaking all the rules, driving across Los Angeles, checking his mobile phone and, incidentally, solving a murder mystery dating back 13 years."

That pretty much sums up Harry Bosch--I especially liked, "driving across Los Angeles."

Becky, I am so sorry to hear about your beloved Docker. As the owner of an aging Lab, I will be going through that pain (again) soon enough I'm afraid. How sweet that his mother's name was Charm. I remember when you lost Jack. It is comforting to think of their reunion...

So sorry to hear about Docker ...

So sorry to hear of your loss. Those of us who are animal parents understand... He was beautiful. They both are!
{{hugs}}

Thank you all so much for your kind words. I find myself looking for him all the time. He was always by my side. He had really slowed down recently because of major sight and hearing issues, so I always made sure he could find me in the "new" house. Lonesome without him. Ah well. DH and I are doing a lot of hiking, so that helps my mood a lot.

Still reading Michael Connelly. No apologies, as these books are pretty much my speed these days. Probably six months from now I'll look back at my reading at this point and say, "Wow. I was in a strange place." I finished The Overlook, #13 in the series. It turns out that this one was originally a 16-part serial, published in the NYT Magazine. No wonder it felt sketchy and formulaic. I also finished Nine Dragons, the next in the series. If you saw the movie Taken, then you already know a lot about the storyline of this book. Harry's "detective superpowers" in this one stretch credulity. But hey, great literature these ain't.

I dropped my audio book, Vanity Fair. I just didn't feel like listening to a British accent right now. I know--that sounds fairly insane, but I don't care. I started listening to James Michener's book, The Source, 1965. There are narrators who are performers, and there are narrators who are readers. The narrator for this one is just that--a reader, and a rather robotic one at that. It's a good enough book to keep going with it. Michener is a good storyteller--interesting, but nothing taxing.

Hi Becky, hope you are having a good weekend my dear, sending love and hugs.

>131 johnsimpson: Thank you John, and very much the same to you!

The Michener is working. The Source, my current audio book, first published in 1965. It traces the fictitious history of Makor, a city in Israel, from prehistory to modern times. I like the way Michener tells a story.

>132 labwriter:, I have read a few Michener books but have yet to read The Source, hope you are enjoying it.

>133 johnsimpson: I guess Michener is very old-fashioned these days. I've read Centennial: A Novel, his book about Colorado and the West, which is where I was born and now live again. I've also read Chesapeake, a book I enjoyed. He is accused of being rigid and formulaic (guilty, IMO). One critic of his fiction points out that he frequently sets up a by-the-book fuddy-duddy vs. a spunky yet pious (fill in the blank). Again, guilty. Dialogue certainly isn't his strong point. I guess I like him for his storytelling. I recently read a review of his work that all but spoiled me for reading anything by him. I decided I could either quit reading Michener or quit reading his reviews. I'll quit reading the reviews, I think, since I'm perfectly capable of using my brain when I read and filtering his political agenda when it becomes too obvious or annoying. "Interesting yet artless." I think that describes his writing pretty well. And not quite so bad as one critic writes: "Rice Krispies happens to be one of my favorite junk foods, just as I regard Michener as superior among junk writers." I think that's rather harsh. I think a description of his writing as "comfort food" is more apt.

For various reasons, I'm quite obviously stuck in a reading funk these days. I partly blame the fact that about 90% of my books are (still) in boxes in the basement. DH is going to make me shelves along the walls in the basement family room. However, we've had so many time-boxed projects lately, that the shelving project has simply had to be put to the side. But now I'm getting to the point where having my books out again is becoming more and more of a priority. I miss my books. Otherwise, I surely wouldn't have dragged all those boxes to my new house last November. They've been in boxes for about two years now, since I had to move them out of the old house and into the garage so that we could remodel the second floor. It's just wrong.

I went through a period in my 20s when I read a lot of Michener. I also enjoy his story-telling. My parent's were once on a cruise somewhere when they met him and his wife on board. He spent time talking to my mum about Quebec (my parents lived in Montreal) because he said he had always wanted to write about the political issues in Canada and Quebec. After the cruise, he wrote my mum a letter. She gave it to me and I still have it. Sadly he died before that book was ever written but still, it's a little brush with *fame* I suppose. Of the books of his I've read, I think Cheasapeake and The Source were among my favourites

Let's see how chatty we are, when you first log on LT on Wednesday 6th July, check your zeitgeist and post how many talk posts you have written, thank you. Can all who read this spread it about so we can get a good response, it is a bit of fun but it will be interesting to see the figures. I have set up a group called talk posts for the totals to be posted.

Happy 4th of July my dear.

Thank you John and Paul. Let's face it--my reading has tanked. My garden also is on self-care, for the most part. It's been 95-100 degrees F here for days and days. We have no air conditioning because it "never" gets this hot. DH and I go hiking for a couple of hours in the early morning on most days, and then the rest of the day is spent indoors--an "ideal" situation for reading, it would seem. I'm just not concentrating well these days. I do hand sewing on my quilt and a little bit of genealogy at the computer. I avoid listening to or watching the news, since it's really all so dreadful. One weekend day is usually spent helping my son and his fiancé with their house and yard. I'm still reading the Henry Bosch series, what little reading I do. The Michener audio book is only OK.

Hi Becky, my reading tanked at this time last year and carried on through August into the beginning of September so I know where you are coming from with this. I have been doing a bit of tidying up in the garden but with our weather I have managed to keep up with the reading, hopefully we will get a prolonged spell of decent weather so I can get the gardening done. Sending love and hugs.

>140 johnsimpson: Thanks John, so much.

The new Daniel Silva is out, The Black Widow. Normally I would have his new one read by now. I don't know how he keeps up with writing a book a year of any quality, let alone the consistent quality of this series.

I can't fathom how I missed so much of your thread this year, but I've enjoyed catching up.

I recently gave up and bought a 'portable' (actually not so much really) air conditioner unit. It cools off here in Montana, too, but it looks (and smells!) like we are at the beginning of fire season. I usually don't open the windows when it gets smoky, so the ac will be much appreciated.

Doggie hugs. My elderly golden is starting to decline the short walks around my place.

And book bullets. I didn't know there was an Outdoor Writers Award, so I've bookmarked that list here on LT. Middlemarch, too has gone on the list after your review. I've also read and enjoyed several Michener's. I always felt that I learned a bit from them as well as being entertained. I remember enjoying both Centennial and Alaska.

Becky, I'm sorry for neglecting you for so long. I'm sorrier to hear about your dear Docker. We've spent this whole year dreading losing our May, but we welcome each day she's with us. It's a great sadness. My sympathy.
The Source and Centennial were my two favorite Micheners when I was reading him back when he was popular. Well, those and Iberia. I have the titles at my fingertips because Nathalie was just commenting on The Drifters; he's gotten two of our number back in a reading mode.
I'm sorry you've been having our heat. We've been having it too although this week was a bit of a respite - highs in only the mid-90s. Next week summer comes back with a vengeance. I could wait. I really could.
Do you read Robert Goddard? I'm about to finish Past Caring. I don't like it as much as Suzanne does, but it has kept me entertained, and I've ordered another of his for later.
Take care of yourself!

>142 streamsong: So nice to see you here! I'm still plugging through the audible Michener--The Source. I won't get this narrator again. The book would have been much different with a more animated, less robotic narrator.

DH would love it if I would agree to a window air conditioner--just one. I don't want it, although the heat is getting me down. But then it cools off at night, and I think, what am I complaining about? The fire danger around here is extreme. I'm just praying that no one gets stupid and sets off a fire on the Hogback, five minutes from our house.

>143 LizzieD: Hi Peggy! I've been neglecting LT in general, so I certainly understand. We may get a break in the heat today--only high 80s.

These dogs (and other fur friends)! They are so much a part of our hearts, but we welcome each day she's with us. I completely understand.

DH has noticed I've been sort of dragging around here lately, so the Dear One has a new project--BOOKSHELVES! I'm finally going to get my books out of boxes and onto shelves again. It's been almost 3 years since I had to put them away so that we could put in new floors on the second floor of our house in Missouri. This dear man has seen me drag my ever-increasing book collection with me on every move for the past 45 years. This last move I almost decided to get rid of most of them. He was the one who talked me out of it--"You might regret it." Yesterday I spent the happiest day I've had in a long time, opening up boxes and putting books on the shelves. People here will understand. He's going to line all the walls of the basement with shelves. I'll paint them eventually, but for now, I just want the books out of those boxes!

Obviously I have a long way to go. He didn't even blink when I filled up the first wall with my biographies. He's fishing today. Nineteen miles up the river has become "his spot." We've landed in a good place here, and I'm very grateful.

>144 labwriter: Ooh, after three years that is exciting!

>144 labwriter: Unpacking books! That sounds wonderful. Although I'm impressed you got so far. I always end up reading something I forgot I owned...

Glorious!!!!! It's wonderful to play with your books and fine to be able to see them altogether. I wish I could browse. What a great guy your husband is!
ETA: I can almost read titles, but an Alan Watts is the only one I'm sure of.

I'm looking for my next Audible book. Has anyone read Heroes of the Frontier by Dave Eggers?

>147 LizzieD: Yes, Peggy, lots of Alan Watts, Cloud Hidden, Whereabouts Unknown. What a great title.

Once I get them all together again, I really do plan to cull some of these books from my library. My problem is that I'll remember the perfect "something" from one of my books, something that I'm thinking about or writing about, and sure enough, that will be a book that I've recently given away. It happens to me all the time. I gave boxes and boxes away to the YMCA book drive over the past five years or so. I'm not very OCD about anything, so I didn't keep very good track of what was given away. But that doesn't bother me very much.

I have hundreds of paperbacks that I probably won't read again. The print is too small and I simply don't have the patience to try to read them. For the ones that are important to me, I'll get another edition, one that has larger print. I was thinking that I would like to start a Little Free Library. We have lots of walkers in our neighborhood, and I'm sure those paperbacks would be put to good use. It's one of those projects in my head that I've put away in a file labeled "After the Wedding." {{rolls eyes}}

As I've been emptying these boxes, I've found hundreds--literally hundreds--of books I want to read again. I've also been thinking a lot about how much some of these books mean to me--the actual, physical book--and I feel sad that my son, for example, although quite a reader, puts everything on the Kindle. He literally doesn't have a physical book in his house. What is the implication of that for the next generation?

Books read for July: I finished up the Harry Bosch series. I don't feel much need to say anything more about the individual titles. If you like the first books, then you'll probably like the rest of the series as well. It sometimes felt like Michael Connelly didn't spend enough time on the endings of some of these last books. Particularly when read on the Kindle and it indicates "81%" of the book is finished--and then it ends--the ending can feel quite surprising and abrupt. Oh well. I think overall the series is a cut above most police procedurals. I think if he had been writing a bit slower, he might have exploited some of the opportunities for character and plot develop that he seemed to be developing but let slide. However, Connelly knows his subject, and he's a good writer. I thought maybe Connelly was finished with Harry Bosch in the final book, The Crossing, but evidently I was wrong. There's another one coming out in November 2016: The Wrong Side of Goodbye.

I'm excited for you, Becky. I can just imagine the thrill of meeting your long-lost friends and finding new homes for them. I hope you can fix up a little reading nook for you in the cool of the basement. I can relate to your feelings about physical books. I rarely read on my Kindle.

My husband read the first Bosch book and it was a thumbs up. Whew! We found a new series for him. Maybe when I finish with Hillerman I can borrow his books for a change.

>151 Donna828: Hi Donna. I've got a patio where I read that gets an excellent breeze most of the day. It's become my place for reading, and one of these days I might even get back to it--ha! Hope your husband likes Harry.



I'm reading Daniel Silva's new one, The Black Widow. For someone who publishes a book the same week every year, his writing is amazingly strong. This is a good one.

What's even better than books? A husband who loves to make his wife happy by building her bookshelves! I have one of those, myself! Congratulations! What fun to have a whole room lined with bookshelves!

>153 countrylife: Hi Cindy! Thank you so much.

The Black Widow is Daniel Silva's 16th novel in the Gabriel Allon series. This might be the best one of the bunch. I'm giving it 5 stars.



The Girl in the Ice, by Robert Bryndza. 3 stars

I also finished The Girl in the Ice, by Robert Bryndza. This is another police procedural--a serial killer, set somewhere in England. This is Bryndza's first effort, and as such it's not bad. I'd give it 3 stars because it's a first novel. This book made me realize how really good the Michael Connelly books are. The strongest aspect for me about those books is that I could trust Harry Bosch to be absolutely believable because Connelly knows his stuff. Robert Bryndza's protagonist is a female, DCI Ericka Foster. She is definitely not the believable character that Harry Bosch is. Bosch is a brilliant detective; Foster is so late to figuring out what's going on that she gets her head bashed in by the killer--twice. She also sounds very school-marmish when she's talking to her team. Additionally, I think the "serial killer" genre is tired and overdone and is often nothing more than, as it is in this book, a mounting body count. There will be more DCI Erika Foster novels, but I probably won't read them.

The book I'm reading now at night is Dr. Knox: A Novel, by Peter Spiegelman. I've just started this one. We'll see.

I've really been on a jag of reading these police procedurals, mainly because I had too much else going on in my life and I needed reading to be a simple distraction. Now that my son has a new wife, and the wedding (amazing, exhausting, beautiful) is in the rear view mirror, I hope to be able to give more time to my reading.

Books in the queue:

A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains, by Isabella L. Bird. My DH, knowing I needed something to look forward to (yes, there IS life beyond the wedding day), found this 3-day literary getaway for me in Big Thompson country in the Colorado mountains. Our small group will follow Miss Bird's footsteps through presentations, hikes, and other field trips. In the evenings we'll come together for group readings, lecture, and discussion. Late September is a beautiful time in these mountains. I can hardly wait!

American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. Not my usual sort of novel, but it comes highly recommended by the 30-something set, so I'm going to try this one.

Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. Willa Cather said she read this one "every year." It's time to dust this one off again.

Wise Blood, by Flannery O'Connor. This has been on the to-read list since Spring.

I might also add A Killing in the Hills, by Julia Keller. Definitely not a cozy mystery. Ha.

I hope that you are enjoying all those books that finally made it out of their boxes, Becky. Sounds like RL has been keeping you busy but maybe you have some time to relax with your books now.

We had a lot of fun at the Colorado State Fair the other night, despite getting rained on. The rodeo was my favorite. It was just as fascinating to watch the animal "handlers" do their work as it was to watch the cowboy contestants. It's not easy getting a 4,000 lb. bull to go through a small gate after he's bucked off his rider.

>155 Familyhistorian: Thanks very much.

Dr. Knox: A Novel, by Peter Spiegelman. 2.8 stars
Seriously, what a bizarre cover.

My odd and trivial reading jag of police procedurals and crime fiction continues with a book that doesn't fit into any particular niche--it's sort of, but not, a medical mystery. It's described somewhere as "LA neo-noir," whatever that is. I decided to read it because it was a Kindle deal of the day (some really awful books find their way into that bucket--I ought to know better) and also the setting was Los Angeles, a setting I really enjoyed in the Harry Bosch books. Again, I should have known better. Dr. Knox is no Harry Bosch, and Peter Spiegelman is no Michael Connelly.

The book is over-long and the story predictable. There were familiar elements that have been rendered better elsewhere: the protagonist with a warped and dark past, usually involving some sort of war experience; the totally dysfunctional but "fun" relationship with the strong female who is angry about 90% of the time; the superman friend who can be called on at a moment's notice for tactical support.

Oh well, I thought it would be a better book. It wasn't. There is no way Spiegelman can make a successful series out of Dr. Knox. No way. But that's not to say he won't.

I think I'm done with my crime fiction jag for awhile. I'm off to try something new, perhaps going from the ridiculous to the sublime. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman.

My audio book is Huckleberry Finn, first time listening. I think I've read it 7 or 8 times. The narrator is doing a pretty good job of the dialects.

Sorry that wasn't better for you. I've also had some unimpressive deal of the day experiences. Glad for the return feature when that happens!

(And that cover looks like something Hunter S Thompson inspired...)

>158 charl08: (And that cover looks like something Hunter S Thompson inspired...)

That's a good one. Ha.

I think the best way to read Huckleberry Finn is to read the First Edition. There are plenty of facsimile 1st editions around. I love the illustrations. Here's one of my favorite chapters, where Huck stops in at a town to try to figure out how far down the river he and Jim have traveled. He's dressed as a girl--it's a funny scene. I've hugely enjoyed the audio book read by Elijah Wood. His young voice fits the voice of Huck, plus he's pretty darned good with the dialects.

I'm currently reading The Nix by Nathan Hill.

This book has been compared to the writing of David Foster Wallace, Jonathan Franzen and John Irving. John Irving has compared this first novel to Charles Dickens--good grief. I've read none of Wallace, tried to read Franzen, and read quite a bit of Irving and Dickens. I don't know if Irving really said what they say he said because I haven't found the quote or the context in which it was said. So it's hard to say how seriously he meant the comment; however, now we are treated to articles titled, with no apparent irony, "Sitting Down With the Next Charles Dickens: Nathan Hill."

The book whiplashes around among several plot lines--a 600-pager written in 10 sections. The main character is an underachieving assistant professor of English working at a nowhere special college, somewhere in or near Chicago. Naturally he's in trouble for accusing a female student of plagiarizing a paper about Hamlet. He evidently spends over 40 hours a week playing some online game that readers who do that sort of thing recognize as something called World of Warcraft. He's spent the advance he was given for a book that he promised but never wrote (supposedly he got the advance because of some short stories--right). So in place of the planned book that never happened, he's writing a book about his estranged mother who was arrested for throwing rocks at a presidential candidate whom critics identify as a Trumpian sort.

I found the first fourth or so something of a slog (largely because of the tedious snarky tone attached to several of the characters), but now that I'm a little more than halfway through the book, I'm enjoying most of it. My reason for reading it in the first place is to try to keep up with some of the new fiction being published these days. I know that many here simply love, love, love Infinite Jest. I've had it on my shelf for quite some time and plan to try it one of these days, but it seems to have gotten lost in the last move--and who's to say that's not The Universe telling me not to read the thing? I was put off by Franzen when I tried to read Freedom--another popular book that I quite simply found unreadable.

So, all in all, the book is a mixed bag, but probably worth a look.

Oh, and P.S. I'm probably done with assigning any sort of 5-point number to the books I read. It's actually very freeing to simply say what I think of a book, good and bad, and let it go at that.

The Gulag Archipelago, Vol. One, Parts I-II, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, narrated by Frederick Davidson.

My current audiobook is Vol. 1 of The Gulag Archipelago. I don't promise to listen to all 3 volumes, but I hope to. The books cover the years 1918-1956 and are broken down into Sections. Vol 1, Sec. I-II; Vol 2, Sec. III-IV; Vol 3, Sec. V-VII.

Vol. I has been on my shelf since my first round of college days when I was at the U of Colorado, Boulder, in the early 1970s. Why now? Well, why not now. And if not now, then when? I found the book when I was emptying my book boxes, and it just sort of grabbed me, the way books sometimes do.

Vol. 1, Sec. I-II. "The Prison Industry" and "Perpetual Motion."
Vol. 2, Sec. III-IV. "The Destructive Labor-Camps" and "The Soul and Barbed Wire."
Vol. 3, Sec. V-VII. "Katorga," "Exile," and "Stalin Is No More."

I'll report back.

>160 labwriter: That looks like a fun read with the illustrations and the old style font (I don't know the proper name).

I've not read the Gulag Archipelago, only his much shorter The Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch, and found that a challenging read. Good luck with your listen.

>162 labwriter: Brave lady wading through The Gulag Archipelago; is that why you've gone missing for a month in an effort to recover?!

Hope you'll be back soon, Becky.

>164 PaulCranswick:. Thank you, Paul. I've mainly been busy, and my reading is so pitiful that I hesitate even to post it here. But busy in a good way. Hope all is well with you!

I am thankful for your presence in the group, Becky.

Becky, things have gotten awfully quiet here. Hope all is well. xx

Hi Becky, Karen and I would like to wish you and the family a very merry Christmas and whilst we celebrate take a moment to think of those less fortunate than ourselves due to war, starvation and natural disasters. Sending love and hugs.

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

2017.

Festive Greetings and a few wishes from Malaysia!

Happy Christmas Becky!

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

Happy New Year Becky.

THank you all so much for the good wishes. I stopped my posting here because I was so busy with other things. All is good, and I find that I miss LT very much. Best wishes to all of you for a Happy and Blessed New Year.