BLBera's Reading in 2016 - Part 5

My name is Beth. I love books.

I teach English at my local community college. I tend not to plan my reading. I belong to a book club that meets once a month.

I tend to read more fiction than nonfiction and more women authors than men. This year, once again, I would like to read more diversely, in every sense of the word. I like to discover new writers. In 2015, three of my favorites were first-time novelists.

I would also like to include more volumes of poetry in my 2016 reading.

Welcome to my thread. Lurk or stop and say hello.

Currently reading

Favorites so far
Here are my favorites for the first half of 2016.


Honorable mention to: My Name is Lucy Barton and The Vanishing Velazquez, Homegoing

Read in second half of 2016

October
92. The Bookseller*

September
82. Hag-Seed*
83. A Murder of Magpies
84. Lost in Translation*
85. Multiple Choice
86. How to Set a Fire and Why
87. Conspiracy of Silence*
88. Behold the Dreamers
89. The Underground Railroad
90. A Great Reckoning
91. Commonwealth

August 2016
72. Pond
73. This Must Be the Place
74. Book Scavenger*
75. The Nightingale*
76. A Test of Wills*
77. Hell's Bottom, Colorado*
78. Three Day Road
79. The After Party*
80. Here Comes the Sun
81. The Sixth Idea

July 2016
62. Spain in Our Hearts
63. The Crime at Black Dudley*
64. The Lanvin Murders*
65. A Country Road, A Tree
66. The Penderwicks in Spring*
67. Moon Tiger*
68. Life After Life* REREAD
69. Remarkable Creatures*
70. Homegoing
71. Outsider in Ansterdam* REREAD

Read in first half of 2016

June 2016
50. Sweet Lamb of Heaven
51. Boar Island
52. Death of an Englishman*
53. The Vanishing Velazquez
54. The Noise of Time
55. Into the Beautiful North*
56. Murder Is Binding*
57. LaRose*
58. Copper River*
59. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet*
60. Salt to the Sea
61. Kitchens of the Great Midwest*

May 2016
39. Eligible
40. The Murder of Mary Russell
41. The Thirteen Clocks*
42. The Kindness of Enemies
43. The Quality of Silence
44. My Name Is Lucy Barton
45. The Portable Veblen
46. El Deafo*
47. The Woman in Blue
48. Last Night in Montreal*
49. Extreme Prey

April 2016
28. The Language of Secrets
29. A Visit from the Goon Squad* REREAD
30. River Road
31. Lighthouse Island*
32. The Little Red Chairs
33. Etta and Otto and Russell and James*
34. The Dream Keeper and Other Poems*
35. The Improbability of Love
36. Bitter River*
37. A Cold and Lonely Place*
38. Even in Paradise*

March 2016
19. All Roads Lead to Austen*
20. The Big Green Tent
21. Ways to Disappear
22. Station Eleven* REREAD - Still great
23. Arcadia
24. Spider Woman's Daughter*
25. Speak
26. My Life on the Road
27. Good on Paper

February 2016
12. The Lake House
13. My Brilliant Friend*
14. These Old Shades*
15. Shylock Is My Name*
16. Girl Waits with Gun*
17. Vinegar Girl*
18. An Elegy for Easterly

January 2016
1. The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend
2. Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms*
3. And After Many Days*
4. The Man in the High Castle
5. The Pure in Heart*
6. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry*
7. The Tenderness of Wolves*
8. Golden Age
9. The Hanging Girl
10. A Trail through Time*
11. The Risk of Darkness*

*Off my shelves

Orange Prize Longlist:
Read
✔Kate Atkinson: A God in Ruins
✔Hannah Rothschild: The Improbability of Love*
✔ Elizabeth Strout: My Name is Lucy Barton
✔ Elizabeth McKenzie: The Portable Veblen*
✔ Becky Chambers: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

Shirley Barrett: Rush Oh!

Cynthia Bond: Ruby*

Geraldine Brooks: The Secret Chord

Jackie Copleton: A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding

Rachel Elliott: Whispers Through a Megaphone

Anne Enright: The Green Road*

Petina Gappah: The Book of Memory

Vesna Goldsworthy: Gorsky

Clio Gray: The Anatomist’s Dream

Melissa Harrison: At Hawthorn Time

Attica Locke: Pleasantville

Lisa McInerney: The Glorious Heresies*

Sara Nović: Girl at War

Julia Rochester: The House at the Edge of the World

Hanya Yanagihara: A Little Life*

*Short list

Am I first? Happy new thread. You've got some great Orange prize books ahead of you. I'm not at all sure about Hystopia which I've just started. I think I've read too many novels recently with cleverclever alternatives to a direct narrative.

Thanks Charlotte. You are first.

I do have a lot of good Orange books ahead. I like to keep the list so I think of them.

Hmm. Maybe I'll move Hystopia down the list. I'm not sure I'm in the mood for clever right now.

Congrats on your shiny new thread, Beth.

Happy new thread, Beth! I love your thread topper!

Happy new thread, Beth! Love the topper.

Great new thread, Beth!

Congrats on the new thread!! Love that your topper is so big, ya just can't miss it!! Cuz it's so true!

Thanks Barbara, Amy, Rhonda, Nancy and Kim.

It will be nick and tuck between us Beth as to who gets to 75 books first.

Happy new thread, my dear.

Happy new one, Beth!

"My name is Beth. I love books." Hi, Beth!! And Happy New Thread!

Hope you had a nice weekend.

72. Pond is like reading someone's diary. There's no plot; instead we read the musings of the writer on a variety of topics -- sometimes in the same sentence. We read about patterned mugs (some are acceptable), green ink, the knobs, or lack of, on her cooker. From knobs on the cooker, she progresses to: "You couldn't kill yourself with a Baby Belling I shouldn't think because as far as I know they are all powered by electricity and no doubt this specification was utterly deliberate because Belling would have been quite aware of the sorts of customers their product would invariably cater to and the sorts of morbid tendencies these people might brood over and wish to act upon..."

She is also a close observer of nature: "and then, after lunch, I'd take a blanket up to the top garden and I'd lie down under the trees in the top garden and listen to things. I would listen to a small beetle skirting the hairline across my forehead. I would listen to a spider coming through the grass towards the blanket. I'd listen to a squabbling pair of blue tits seesawing behind me. I'd listen to the wood-pigeon's wings whack thought he middle branches of an ivy-clad beech tree and the starlings on the wires overhead, and the seagulls and swifts much higher still. And each sound was a rung that took me further upwards, and in this way it was possible for me to get up really high, to climb up past the clouds, towards a bird-like exuberance, where there is nothing at all but continuous light and acres of blue."

I have a lot of quotes because the writing is exquisite. However, this is definitely a book one must be in the mood for, and the style and lack of plot won't appeal to everyone. I enjoyed it very much.

Hi Paul - Do I detect a note of challenge?

Thanks Amber.

Hi Mark. Thanks.

Next: This Must Be the Place - I'm really looking forward to this because I love Maggie O'Farrell.

Happy New Thread, Beth! I'm also a fan of your topper.

Happy new thread, Beth! I'm not sure Pond is for me, but I seem to have three of the Booker longlist already, so I'm doing pretty well with the literary fiction :-)

I've asked the library for Pond. That second quote reminds me of my garden. I'm forever picking up twigs the pigeons have knocked out of the tree! Hope you have a good week.

Thanks Roni - it combined books with summer.

Hi Susan - Yes, I'd say you're set for literary fiction. Which ones? I'll watch for your comments.

Hi Charlotte - You'll smile at the garden bits. I laughed aloud at parts.

>23 BLBera: Beth, I've got Work Like Any Other from the library, and I've read about half of that this evening. His Bloody Project was super-cheap for the Kindle, so I got that too (Amazon has now put the price up) and The North Water was 99p yesterday so I snapped that up.

Hi Beth - I had fun catching up with you here and on your previous thread! I'm glad you liked Homegoing. I agree the ending was a bit pat, but the rest of it was so good, I forgave her that. Regarding the way the reader was pulled out of a story to start another one, I experienced it as a fragmentation, much like how the fmaily as a whole was fragmented and individuals' lives were, too. That part really worked for me.

I have a few O'Farrells on my shelf but have never read any. What is your favorite?

Happy new thread Beth.

Hi Beth. Going back to your prior thread, Benita purchased Homegoing at our meetup/visit to the Amazon store here in Seattle. I want to wait until it comes out in softcover or I get a Kindle, whichever comes first, but I really want to read it. I do have it on hold at the library....

>6 BLBera: Looking at the Orange Prize list... Karen almost bought a copy of A Little Life but it is huge.
I have read The Green Road and Ruby. I'll be getting The Glorious Heresies from Early Readers (yay!). Oh, and I read Pleasantville.

I hope you're doing well!

Hi Susan - I'll watch for your comments on these. I'm not familiar with His Bloody Project, but I've had my eye on the others.

Hi Katie - I loved both Instructions for a Heatwave and The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox. I've just read the first 50 pages of This Must Be the Place, and it seems like it will be another winner.

Good comments on Homegoing - overall the fragments of stories worked for me, and your comments about how it fits into the family history gave me another way of looking at it. I just think the technique is being used a lot. But I can't wait to see what Gyasi comes up with next. What a great first novel.

Thanks Rae.

Ellen! Your departure for Alaska must be getting closer. My copy of Homegoing was from the library. I like to keep the Orange list in view; there are usually so many good books on it. I haven't read either Ruby or The Green Road, and both are on my list. I hope to get to them this year. I probably will pass on A Little Life; my sister read it. She was a foster parent for many years and said she found it to be pretty unrealistic. It's too long to waste my time on something that will infuriate me. I do want to read The Glorious Heresies and Pleasantville, but I have to read the precursor of the Locke book first, I think.

I won Hag-Seed from ER this time. I can't wait to get it.

And I'm still laboring on The After Party - which I am liking less and less. Sigh. But I have to do a review because it was an ER book.

Hi Beth, I stopped at the library over my lunch break today and happened to pick up a copy of Pond - I thought it looked interesting but didn't know much about it.

I will be very interested in your thoughts on This Must Be the Place. I love Maggie O'Farrell. I have one or two of her older books still to read.

Hi Joanne - I'll be interested to see what you think of Pond; I think you'll be able to tell by the first 10 pages. The style doesn't change.

I love This Must Be the Place so far - it's one I don't want to hurry through.

Morning Beth! I have never read Maggie O' Farrell. You might be the one who sparks my interest in her. I also heard Richard Russo singing her praises.

>31 msf59: Hurrah! If I get a vote, I'd say The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox.

Mark - She is great. You would like her, I think.

Charlotte - Either one is great. I loved them both.

Another great Scout story. She has this picture book:



The other day she was fingerpainting with her mom and she commented, "Just like Frida." Gotta love it.

Awesome. Go Scout!

Hi Beth, I am finally all caught up on this and your previous thread. I also enjoyed Remarkable Creatures when I read it and The Crime At Black Dudley was a very fun read for me. I am slowly working my way through Margery Allingham's books, next up for me is #6, Death of a Ghost.

*wave* Happy New Thread!

>34 BLBera: Beth, that's so cute!

I've finished Work Like Any Other and I liked it, but I don't think it will win.

Thanks, Charlotte. Scout is pretty remarkable. I love how she is able to make those connections. We're celebrating her third birthday today.

Hi Judy. You are the one who inspired me to pick up Allingham again. I've read some but not in order. I'm going to work my way through in order this time.

Thanks Jenn. I'll stop by to check on news of your big move. Any timeline yet?

Hi Susan - Thanks. I know our library has that one, but I have so many library books out now that I'm going to pass on it for now. I'll check on your comments on your thread.

Happy new thread, Beth and Happiest of birthdays to Scout!

Happy Friday!!

Happy birthday to Scout!

Have a wonderful weekend Beth.

Thanks Lynda. I think it will be fun.

Thanks Kim. It's the last day of my summer class.

Thanks Susan. What a perfect card - she is really into trains, specifically Thomas.

Thanks Rae.

Happy Birthday to Scout! Three years old already!

Wow, Scout is 3 already!

How much of a break do you have before fall classes start? At least a couple of weeks, I hope.

Happy Birthday, Scout!

And happy weekend, Beth :)

Hi Nancy - I know. I can't believe it. She is not a baby anymore - at least most of the time.

Hi Julia - School starts on Aug. 22, but I need to get my syllabi ready. I should finish with my grading on my summer class tomorrow, and be able to finish the syllabus for one class that is about half done. I have two other ones to get ready, so I will find things to do for the next two weeks. When does your school start?

Thanks Katie. She had a happy day. My daughter said that last night about 10:30, she heard footsteps upstairs, and when she went to check on Miss Scout, she had gotten out a game that she received for her birthday and was playing with it. She told her mom, "I'm not tired." They should have a lot of fun when she hits her teens. :)

73. This Must Be the Place is Maggie O'Farrell's latest novel, and if you haven't read anything by her, I'll just say she is a rockstar. I love, love, love this novel. I'm debating whether it gets 4 1/2 or 5 stars.

As always, O'Farrell does a great job with her characters. The main two in this novel are Daniel Sullivan, a linguist, and Claudette Wells, an ex-film star, now recluse in the Irish countryside. The story jumps around in time from their college days in the 1980s to the present day. It's told from various points of view of people who are connected to them at various points in their lives. It shows how we can lose touch with people we once considered vitally important and how a single event can derail a life. It's a wonderful novel about love, loss, and forgiveness.

I'm an Esme Lennox fan too, so definitely putting This must be the place on the WL. And happy birthday Scout! You are a lucky girl to be surrounded by such cool people and cool books!

Hi Katie - How are you? Are you enjoying your summer? I am lucky to live so close to Scout.

Happy Sunday, Beth! Cute story about Scout and her late night doings!

Thanks Lynda. Yes, we have a lot of good stories. I hope your Sunday is great. I just finished posting grades, so I'm going to give myself permission to read a bit.

I'm back to school on the 22nd, too.

Back to school so soon? Crumbs. Time flies.

I do like that Scout didn't bug her mum but got on with the important things (playing).

My Booker reading has picked up as Do not say we have nothing is really good so far. Easily as good as the Strout. I thought I would be gripped by the Kennedy straight away but not so far.

Hope you have a good week.

>48 BLBera: We also start on Aug. 22, Beth. I spent last week reviewing the 55 applications we got for student office assistants, and we'll do interviews next week. I think our pool of finalists is really good, but it always feels like a total crapshoot when it comes to whether they will end up being good employees. Wish me luck!

Well, I don't feel so bad, Barbara, knowing that others are also starting.

Hi Charlotte - I'll wait for your comments on Do Not Say We Have Nothing. I will look for the Coetzee and Hot Milk, I think. I don't feel called by these books yet.

Good luck on your interviewing, Julie. I know what you mean. People can interview really well and be crappy employees. Summer is too short. I'll watch for the book festival and maybe will be able to make that this year.

Happy Sunday, Beth! Ooh, 5 stars for This Must Be the Place. That lands it firmly on my T.R. Thank you.

What are you reading next?

Hi Beth! I love the Scout story! It's a good thing she doesn't have a birthday party every day. Your poor daughter would never get any sleep!

Thanks Mark. You'll love O'Farrell. I'm reading Three Day Road now.

Hi Carrie - She is a lot of fun. She hasn't been sleeping all that well lately; hopefully, it's a short phase.

Summer is going fast! It has been good. Summer school was super easy and not as stressful as it was predicted to be. I was 1 on 1 with a kid that is very difficult during the school year, but did a lot better in the summer school setting. & I'm not back on the 22, but I'm going to start babysitting a friend's kids who is back on the 22. I really like his kids, so it will be fun. Highlight of the summer is my grrrlll Wanda has been bred so we are hoping for puppies! Hope you and Scout make the most of what's left of your summer!

Katie - Puppies! How exciting. Will you keep them?

Oh my, Scout turned 3. How did that happen? Haha. Molly was 3 in April and told me she was going to stay 3 forever. She is so much fun and is worried about growing up already. She is my most cuddly grandchild which I hope continues when she eventually turns 4.

I agree that Maggie O'Farrell is a rockstar. Her books are quiet triumphs of literature. I've only read three of them but Instructions For A Heatwave holds a slight lead for me. Her characters are memorable and while her plots are not always tied up neatly, they leave plenty of room for hope. I'll have to put a library reserve on her new one.

Thank you for posting your Orange list. I so much prefer the Orange books to the Booker selections. I am eagerly awaiting my ER copy of The Glorious Heresies.

All this talk of schools starting seems very early for me! Schools here rarely start before the first week of September. But then we start the holidays a lot later.

Hi Beth - I just saw this and thought of you and Miss Scout... http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/08/09/486786702/you-can-eat-it-here-and....

>60 BLBera: I do hope you like Three Day Road; it was one of my favorite reads for that year.

Hi Beth. Just passing through, trying to keep up with things while I can. Lol
We expect to arrive in NC in the first week of October. Things are falling into place nicely. We fly out in one month, then we have a month of visiting family and going through the things we stored in the states and deciding if we still want any of it... Then we are driving to Denver to visit our oldest son and then from Denver to Greensboro and making a little holiday of it for the kids. Fun for me too because I haven't been to anywhere east of Denver, other than Washington DC and New York City.

Hi Beth, I finished Do not say we have nothing . Amazing book. Just wonderful.

Hi Beth, I wish I could keep a puppy! But that would make three dogs. Two dogs is enough for me! But maybe I can get a grandpup some day.

Have a lovely weekend Beth.

Wow! Three is a fun age, but challenging. Happy Birthday to Scout!

Belated happy third to Scout, Beth as we close on 75 books together (I will make it today all being well).

Have a lovely weekend.

Hey Beth, I was wondering if you'd read Boy Snow Bird: sorry if you'd mentioned this before and I've forgotten. I just wasn't expecting to be reminded of Nella Larsen so strongly.

Hi all - I just got back from Alaska and had intermittent internet service while I was there, so I didn't even try to post. I'll catch up with people tomorrow.

Some highlights: we did see Denali, only about 1/3 of the visitors get to see it, so we were lucky.

Wow. That looks impressive. Any bears?

Hi Donna - Scout is a trooper. She was a great little traveler. She was a little upset because she couldn't go rafting in Denali. You have to be five. She was telling her mom that she is already five...She's growing up way too fast.

Hi Rhian - I'm writing from school. I finished my syllabi today and we have meetings for the next two days. Then, class starts on Monday.

Thanks Katie - Those green eggs look yummy to me. I'll have to try them with Scout.

Hi Tad - Thanks for stopping by. I am enjoying Three Day Road. It's going a little slow because I didn't get much read on vacation. I hope to finish it over the next couple of days.

Hi Charlotte - I think I'll have to wait to get my hands on the Thien book. I'll stop by your thread to see your comments.

Katie - Aw! Too bad you don't get to keep a puppy.

Thanks Rae.

Well, more later. I'm going to walk my syllabi to duplicating and go get my hair cut. Then, I guess I'm ready for school to start and can read for the next four days.

Hi Rhonda - Scout is at a super fun age.

Hi Paul - I'll visit your thread to see if you've made it. I did it! Brief comments to follow.

Charlotte - I haven't read Boy Snow Bird; I do own a copy and I read another one by Oyeyemi. I can't remember the title right now. We didn't see any bears. We saw reindeer, caribou and moose.

Now, Alaska. We stayed most of the time in Palmer, in the Matanuska Valley, about an hour from Anchorage. Palmer is a cool town with an independent bookstore!



I was restrained and bought only three books by Alaskan authors:
Bird Girl
The Raven's Gift
Oil and Water

I also found a book for Scout:
The Three Bears by John Schwieder and Cindy Kumla (with real photographs)

We visited a reindeer farm, and saw a baby reindeer. Scout got to ride in a little reindeer sled, which really impressed her.

We visited and walked on the Matanuska Glacier, which disappointed Scout; she thought it would be more like snow and we couldn't walk very far on it with our tennis shoes.



We also visited Hatcher's Pass, home to the Independence gold mine and some pretty spectacular scenery.

On our first day, as we were driving from Anchorage to Palmer on the Glenn Highway, we saw a moose crossing the road. The other animals we saw, caribou, moose, ground squirrels, we saw in Denali, where we saw the mountain. No bears, which probably isn't a bad thing.

We also visited the Iditarod Headquarters, and Scout got a ride on a dog sled, which she really liked. Those dogs go fast! Which she really liked. They use dog sleds in Denali, and we visited their dogs, pretty awesome although Scout was disappointed that she didn't get to ride there.

It was a fun trip; my dad loved showing his beloved Alaska to his granddaughter; it was a great gift that my daughter gave to him.

>79 BLBera: - A Scout sighting! Awesome! I didn't realize you had 4 generations on this trip - how cool!

I didn't get a lot of reading done; most of what I read, I read on my ereader at night so I didn't disturb my daughter and Scout. I finished:
75. The Nightingale a novel set in WWII France. One thing I liked about it was that it focused on two sisters' experience, Isabelle and Vianne Rossignol. They spent the war in very different ways, but both were scarred by it.

76. A Test of Wills is a mystery in a series featuring Ian Rutledge. He is a WWI vet and suffers from shell shock but is trying to get back to his job at Scotland Yard. It was good - it reminded me of the books by Rennie Airth, which are set about the same time period. I think Airth writes better, but this was a good read.

77. Hell's Bottom, Colorado - Thanks Ellen! This is a book of connected stories set in a ranching area. It focuses on one family. I loved it. It's my book club's August selection; I can't wait to discuss it. I finished it on the plane.

Now, back to Three Day Road, which is a library book.

Hi Katie - I didn't think my daughter would mind because we can't see her face on that photo. Yes, four generations. We did pretty well, considering the 80-year age gap! You can also see Puppy. Puppy goes pretty much everywhere that Scout does.

Hi Beth! I love the photos from Alaska! What a memorable trip! I bet that it made enough of an impression on Scout that she will retain some memories of the trip as she grows older. I have a few memories from that age.

And congrats on passing 75 on your trip!

Love the photos from Alaska, Beth! What a wonderful trip, and congrats on 75! Had to chuckle at Scout telling her mom she is already 5, LOL!

Thanks Carrie - it was a great trip. I guess Scout slept until 10 this morning; she was tired.

Thanks Nancy - she was really disappointed that she didn't get to go on the raft.

Beth, great photos! I love the one of your Dad, Scout and your daughter. I wondered what your daughter was holding! We get a few programmes about Alaska on TV here (Building in Alaska etc) and it looks like an amazing place.

Your trip sounds great - how lovely for Scout that she got to spend her holiday with you all. Your story about the raft reminded me of one of my cousins whose mum asked for a free under 4 year old pass to some attraction. I'm four! He announced and his mum had to pay the full price. Oops.

Morning, Beth! Love the photos that you posted! What a great memory you made for everyone with four generations sharing an adventure.

Thanks Susan. Alaska is amazing, especially if you love the outdoors.

Hi Charlotte - Considering we had an age gap of 80 years, the trip went very well. Scout's age depends on the day. Somedays she's six. :)

Thanks, Mamie. I think everybody had a good time.

Welcome back, Beth! Hooray for Alaska. I love that state and I would love to return.

Hooray for Hell's Bottom, Colorado. I want to read more of her.

And congrats on hitting 75!! Yahoo!!

Happy Friday, Beth!! Wow! what a spectacular trip!! A multi-generational one at that! I'm assuming Denali is usually shrouded with clouds, yes? And you were a lucky group!
Alaska is on the ole bucket list as is achieving 75 books in a year! Congrats for mastering both this month!!

ETA: I'm reading Hot Milk right now and so far, a hoot!

Morning, Beth! Happy Friday!

Thanks Mark. It was a really fun trip. I hadn't been there for forty years!

Hi Lynda: Yes, Denali makes its own weather, so often it is covered with clouds. Good to know Hot Milk is good; I'll stop over to see your comments. I have it on reserve at the library.

Hi Mamie - Thanks. I got my FitBit to charge. I ended up calling the Help Desk. They were very helpful, so I should get my steps to register again.

Tomorrow I'm going to see "South Pacific" at the Guthrie. Tonight I'm having wine and smoked salmon from Alaska with a friend.

I hope to finish Three Day Road in the next couple of days.

Wow, what an unbelievable trip! Unforgettable. Welcome home, and happy start of school (or as we abbreviate it in our eduspeak: BOY).

Love the Scout quote: "Just like Frida." She's awesome!

Oh! You got your Fitbit to charge!! I guess I should call about Birdy's and see if there is something I can do to get it to charge.

Happy Saturday to you!

Hi Anne - Thanks. It seems like summer never was, but I did have a good trip to Alaska. Scout is great. She also quotes Dr. Seuss.

Yes, Mamie. I had to restart it a couple of times, and the lights flashed. I asked how long I could expect the battery to last, but she wouldn't give me an answer, "It's very individual." I've never had any trouble in the year and a half I've had it, so I guess I can't complain.

78, Three Day Road is an important novel about the experiences of Natives in WWI. Told from the viewpoint of Xavier Bird, who has been raised in traditional ways and who barely speaks English, we see the incomprehensibility of the war: "I look around at the ruins and wonder if this place will ever heal. I try to imagine the countryside here in ten years, in fifty years, in a hundred years, but all I can see in my mind are men crawling in and out of the tunnels in these hills like angry and tired ants, thinking of new ways to kill each other."

The novel looks back on his war experiences as he travels home with his aunt Niska. As they travel, Niska tells Xavier stories in an effort to heal him. I loved her stories of life in the bush in the late nineteenth century. They are important in the healing process.

My one quibble with this wonderful novel is that the battle scenes go on and on. They tended to run together for me, so I think some could have been edited. But that's a minor flaw in a wonderful novel. Certainly, this is an important WWI novel.

Next: Another library book, Here Comes the Sun, a debut from a Jamaican writer.

Beth, that's good news about your Fitbit. See you further up the leaderboard soon! I had a good day today, after a fairly uninspiring stepping week.

>97 BLBera: Not sure about the Boyden Beth. The idea of long battle scenes doesn't appeal, although the rest of your review means I'm leaning in the other direction.

Good luck with your stepping this week.

Hi Susan - thanks. I hope to get some steps in today. Yesterday I went to the theater with my sisters and saw a production of "The South Pacific," which was wonderful. The music and acting were all outstanding. I imagine it's very difficult to pull off successfully a production of a beloved classic. They succeeded big time. But, sitting in the theater didn't help with my steps.

Hi Charlotte: Three Day Road is very good; I just found the battle descriptions long.

79. The After Party - Finally!

The second half of this book, a collection of linked poems titled, "Thirty Thousand Islands" redeemed this book for me. The poems in this section give the reader a sense of the scope and history of the islands and the timelessness of nature. One stanza that stands out: "Scarcely one in a hundred of these islands is capable of cultivation,/wrote a sincere and self-/divided advocate/for the First Nations/circa 1850, Peter Jones his very/white name, therefore in their present rude and wild magnificence/they must remain, till all nature/be put to confusion, and the elements melt away with fervent heat."

While Prikryl has some lovely language and images in her poetry: "How glutted with experience the rain must be/leaping off the clouds with one trajectory," for example, much of her poetry is so personal and obscure that she fails to connect with the reader.

She obviously has talent, but these poems, I felt, needed more work. The first half of the book was painful to read.

Happy Sunday, Beth. Good review of Three Day Road. I am a fan too but I think Through Black Spruce is even better. I hope to get to Orenda by the end of the year.

You might like my current audio, The Mare: a novel. Just sayin'...

Question: Why does Jonathan Strange come up on the touchstones, when I bracket The Mare? That is weird.

Hi Mark. Happy Sunday to you. School starts tomorrow for me. I certainly will read more by Boyden. I'll also check out The Mare. Touchstones are mysterious things.

Hi Beth,

I've never read Maggie O'Farrell but you've convinced me to give her a try!

I'm glad you got to see Denali! It came out for about 2 of the 4 days we were at Camp Denali (one full day and two partial days) and it is so massive! We did a fly-view of the mountain (in a bush plane), which was terrifying and amazing, and about which I will write on my thread when I can post some photos.

I hope the academic term is a good one.

Hi Beth! I loved hearing about your Alaska trip. I bet Scout will remember riding in a reindeer sled for a long time! Good luck with the first day of school tomorrow!

Ellen, you will love O'Farrell.

I can't wait to hear about your plane ride over the mountain.

Thanks Amy. Good luck to you, too. It's too early to start school, right?

Where does time go??? How can Scout be 3 already???? And you to Alaska and home????? And school starting back for you tomorrow. Good grief!
Peace and calm to you. As my daddy used to say every morning during my first year as a teacher, "Larn them young'uns something today!"

Well done for whizzing past 75 (we'll call it a dead heat) and then going on to show me your tail lights.

First day of school already.......as Peggy said where does the time go?

My goodness, Beth, catching up has been interesting. I had to read all of your posts from July and August, and there is much to pique my interest. I'm going to go back and re-read a few of your comments before adding a few books to my wish list. I've only read one book by O'Farrell (The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox), but you've reminded me to get back to her. I have The Hand That First Held Mine on my Kindle. Have you read that one?

Thanks Peggy: I can use some peace and calm. The first few days are exciting and exhausting.

Well, Paul, I was on vacation. And you will catch up, I'm sure.

Hi Colleen: I haven't read The Hand that First Held Mine; I plan to go back and read her earlier work. I have loved everything by O'Farrell that I've read.

And thanks for reading my posts; when I get behind I either wait for a new thread or read the last few posts. You are very conscientious!

>93 BLBera: Did you enjoy South Pacific? I saw it. I was surprised how many familiar songs there were in it that had stayed lodged deep in my memory from 20+ years ago.

I loved it, Erik! It was a great production. The music and acting were all spectacular. I'm so glad I went. I wish I could go again.

I'm loving Here Comes the Sun, set in Jamaica. Margot, the protagonist, works in a hotel, and on the very first page mentions the housekeepers leaving the resort in taxis "which will take them home to their shabby neighborhoods, away from the fantasy they help create about a country where they are as important as washed-up seaweed." I love it.

Glad you're reading a book you enjoy - look forward to the review!

I picked up a copy of Junot Diaz's novel yesterday for 50p so I am pretty pleased!

Hi Charlotte - School started, so I will be busy... My reading will slow down. I love The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar! It's one of my all-time favorites. It might be time for a reread. I've used it in class, and overall the students loved it, too, once they got used to his style and language. ;)

Brief History of Seven Killings is making me want to read more literature set in, about, or written by folks from Jamaica (and Cuba). It would be a complete change of pace but Here Comes the Sun sounds appealing.

I have a copy of Brief History of Seven Killings, Ellen. Thanks. Here Comes the Sun is becoming really interesting - I hope to finish it in the next couple of days, but it gives insight into the class, race and gender inequality of Jamaica through the story of a group of women.

>118 BLBera: I will look forward to your review of Here Comes the Sun after you finish it.

Thanks Ellen.

A great Scout story: Scout and her mom paid me a visit and her mom asked Scout to tell me her new word.
"Undaunted," she said proudly. "And what does that mean," I asked her. "Not afraid and not to give up," she answered.

I guess the word came up in a story and it struck her.

Hi Beth, what a great vacation you had in Alaska with your family! Alaska truly is a special place to visit. Good luck with your new school year, hope all goes smoothly.

>120 BLBera: Beth, that's a great Scout story :-)

I hope your students aren't being too needy this early in the school year.

>120 BLBera: That's a great word to stick with the intrepid Scout!

Love the Scout word of the day. Tempted to stick it on the wall for some self- encouragement!

Thanks Judy: The vacation did go remarkably well. The first week is done. I need a nap.

Hi Susan - Scout is pretty fun. The students are good so far. A few don't have books but instead of taking it on myself to make copies, I appealed to those in the class with books to help them out, and after the class, I saw clusters of students taking pictures of the homework for Monday.

Thanks Meg: She picks up on vocabulary that people around her use and comes up with some great things. I try to remember to write them down. I was talking to our reading teacher before school started, asking for tips for students who have trouble reading. We do teach a fair amount of remedial classes. We started to talk about learning to read, and she said that kids in poverty often have trouble, not only because they're not read to, but because no one talks to them. I never thought about that, but both of my kids were early talkers. We lived in the Dominican Republic, no TV, and people talked to kids all the time. I think that might help to explain it.

Thanks Charlotte: I have to think about how to work that into my classes, to encourage students to look up words they don't understand.

Well, off to the gym, so I can jump ahead of Susan and Ellen with my steps!

Clever, clever Scout!!

"...kids in poverty often have trouble, not only because they're not read to, but because no one talks to them." That is interesting, and something I never thought about, either.

Happy Friday, and happy stepping to you, Beth!

>120 BLBera: Hooray for Scout! I know a few college students who probably don't know what that word means!

Hi Mamie - She is a pretty smart little girl. And I, of course, am not biased at all.

Hi Carrie - I know many of my students wouldn't know the word, either. Some days I swear they don't even know how to use capitalization any more.

Love that Scout is a little word-girl, Beth!

Hi Nancy. I love that about her, too.

I had a great day. 1. It's Friday. 2. I finally got my piano tuned and have been playing the past few days. I've decided to start lessons again. I'm really rusty, but I love it.

Morning, Beth! Hooray for a fabulous Friday; hoping Saturday can provide the same for you.

Hi Mamie, Happy Saturday to you. I hope your toe is feeling better.

80. Here Comes the Sun is a powerful novel. I will never think of tourism in the same way again. I've never been to Jamaica, but it sounds like paradise -- and perhaps it is to tourists and to the rich. Dennis-Benn tells the story of the lives of people who sell trinkets -- and themselves -- to the tourists. Margot, the protagonist, works in a hotel and prostitutes herself so she can pay her sister's school fees. Her hopes for a better life lie with her sister Thandi.

The people who work in the hotels go home at night "to their shabby neighborhoods, away from the fantasy they help create about a country where they are as important as washed-up seaweed."

But this complex novel is not just about class; Dennis-Benn also takes on gender and sexuality and race. Thandi spends her money on products to lighten her skin so that she will be accepted by others in the private school she attends. And if the poor are treated like dirt, women are the ones who really suffer. Husbands and fathers leave, forcing the women to support the families. There is no solidarity among the women, however. Verdene, a lesbian, is brutalized by her neighbors, scapegoated because they can't do anything to fight the hotel owners who deny them access to running water, electricity, or the country's beautiful beaches. The owners gobble up land for hotels and evict the people living there.

This isn't a polemic though. Dennis-Benn breathes life into Margot, Thandi and Dolores, and makes us want to see them triumph.

One challenge reading this was the patois. Most of the characters speak in it; I'd like to listen to this. Sometimes just seeing the words on the page made it hard to read.

Overall, though, a very accomplished first novel.

Next: A change of pace, The Sixth Idea

>134 BLBera: - Good review, Beth. You've put it on my WL.

It's a wrenching read, Katie, but worth it.

Scout Undaunted!!!! That's great, and long may it be so!
>134 BLBera: On my wish list! I went to thumb it, and it's not on the book page. I think it should be because it's a much better review than the latest ones there. I thought that this was entertaining: Learn Patois but maybe not helpful.
>131 BLBera: You make me ashamed. My wonderful piano needs tuning, but I guess I'll wait until the weather changes now. I need to practice. I'm so lazy.
>126 BLBera: Exactly! I watched a welfare mother point and grunt at her 5 year-old, who was supposed to be bringing her things she needed for her pocketbook before we took the little one to her first session of speech therapy. I watched poor 8th graders learning to put diapers on their baby dolls without a word, song, anything. I was only a substitute, but that day they did it again and practiced talking.

Thanks Peggy - I did post it. You were very kind not to mention the typos. I fixed them - I hope all of them.

I have missed music and look forward to the lessons.

I've had my eye on Here Comes the Sun - I think you just hit me with a book bullet.

Great review of Here Comes the Sun, Beth. This novel has been on my radar since I read a review of it (in the NYT?) a couple of months ago, and I plan to get it soon.

Happy Sunday, Beth! Good review of Here Comes the Sun. Thumb. I have that one on my list. It has really been tough keeping up with the flood of promising new books. What a stellar year.

I hope you've noticed that your review of *HCtS* is the #1 hot one right now!
Happy Sunday, Beth!

Great review - I've Wishlisted HCtS - the eighteenth book I've tagged that you've recommended. Thanks!

It's only fair, Deborah. I always get some from you.

Hi Darryl: The zucchini fritters were good. I grated a chili pepper that came in my produce this week, and it added a little spice. I first saw Here Comes the Sun in the Millions preview, I think. I am way behind my NYT review reading. I think you will like it. It makes me want to read A Brief History, which I will get to eventually.

Hi Mark: There are a lot of good writers putting out books this fall; that is not good news for my own shelves, but what a problem to have! Happy Sunday.

Hi Peggy: I didn't see that. Thanks to you, I guess. You encouraged me to post it.

Thanks Charlotte - Well, I have at least that many from you, so it all evens out, right?

81. The Sixth Idea is the latest novel in the Monkeewrench series. Monkeewrench is a group of hackers who help the police; generally they work within the law. Set in Minneapolis, the series is generally well plotted with quirky, evolving characters.

The novel starts during the Cold War and is a great conspiracy novel. Someone is killing descendants of the men who worked on the hydrogen bomb. Is it the government? Is it the Russians? When surveillance video from a murder scene is erased, the police go to Monkeewrench for help. Events move quickly, revealing a plot that, yes, could destroy civilization. This kept me turning the pages.

The series is still going strong. I can't wait for the next one.

Next: I have an ER book that I need to read: Hag-Seed. I am really looking forward to it.

Beth, I love the sound of Here Comes The Sun. It hasn't made it my library system yet, but I'm hoping...

I had to look up the Monkeewrench series, and saw that my elibrary has the first six books (which mostly seem to have different titles to the US versions - so annoying). I've borrowed number 1 :-)

Hi Susan - It was rainy here yesterday, so my steps were limited. I'm going to try to make my goal today. It looks like it's going to be a nice day.

Thanks - Here Comes the Sun was hard to read in places. When prostitution is a girl's only choice to make a living, something is very wrong.

I'll watch for your comments. I quite enjoy them. I think there are only six or seven. They don't come out every year.

Hi Beth, I'm another whose taken a BB on Here Comes the Sun and have happily added my thumb to your already HOT review : ).

I'm glad that you liked the zucchini fritters, Beth. I like your idea of using a grated chili pepper to add more spice to them; I may try that next time.

>120 BLBera: Great Scout story! Undaunted indeed. Love it.

Here Comes the Sun is firmly established on the wish list. :-)

I'll also look forward to your comments about Hag-Seed. I've requested it from ER along with more than 1,000 other LTers. :-)

Happy Sunday, Beth! Here comes the sun is going directly to my request list at the library. Sounds like a great summer read! Terrific review!!

Thanks Nancy.

Thanks Darryl - I am always tweaking recipes.

Ellen - Here Comes the Sun makes me want to read A Brief History. Unfortunately, I think I may have to wait with that one.
Yes, Miss Scout is undaunted. We went to a parade today in the small town where my parents live. The parade is famous among the kids for the amount of candy thrown. Scout had never been before. She quickly got into the spirit of things and had fun running after pieces of candy with her cousins. Little does she know that she will actually eat very little of it. It's going into her mother's treat drawer at school.

Good luck getting Hag-Seed.

Thanks Lynda. Dennis-Benn is very talented; I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

Here Comes the Sun sounds like it belongs on my wish list, Beth.

>134 BLBera: Here Comes the Sun sounds like a good one. I visited Jamaica once many years ago, with a church group. We stayed in the University of the West Indies dorm, rather than the tourist hotels, so our accommodations were much less posh than the tourists, but still much more habitable than most of the general population. It was a year after a major hurricane, and many folk were still living under tarps within the rubble of their destroyed homes. Our purpose there showed us some of the reality of the ordinary people living there. Such poverty!

Colleen - It's very good although hard to read in places.

Terri - Your experience will certainly help you to understand this novel. I lived in the Dominican Republic for ten years, so I saw first-hand the difference between rich and poor.

RIP Gene Wilder. "Young Frankenstein" is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. He was a funny man, hard to believe that he was in his 80s.

Nice review of Here Comes the Sun!

Scout sounds amazing.

Morning Beth!! Your review of Here Comes the Sun is on top of the hot list this morning and I just added my thumb to keep it going. Congrats!

Morning, Beth! Great review of Here Comes the Sun - adding that one to the list and my thumb to your review.

The Sixth Idea sounds kind of interesting. I'll have to track down the first in the series and give it a try.

I hope you enjoy Hag-Seed; I did.

Hi Rhonda - Scout is pretty amazing -- and so much fun. Thanks.

Hi Lynda - Thanks for your kind words. I had to figure out where to see the reviews. It is a remarkable novel.

Thanks Mamie.

Hi Tad - I do like the Monkeewrench series.
I am loving Hag-Seed. It's hard to put down to do classwork.

I just watched Serena play her first round match - go Serena! Reading always slows down while tennis is on.

Beth, you and Ursula have re-kindled my interest in tennis. I watched Serena's match, too :)

She looked great, didn't she? Venus won today, too.

You are on top of the Hot Review stack, with your fine review. Go Beth! Go Beth! The Mighty 75 being heard.

Thanks Mark.

Is it just me or does Andy Murray have weird legs?

Katie, Katie, Katie. You and my daughter should watch tennis together. She always notices appearances. She has issue with Murray's hair. I'll check out the legs next time. I stopped watching the match and went to bed.

Then I'd get to hang out with Scout! Sold!

There is that, Katie. Win, win.

Hi, Beth! So you are a Terry Tempest Williams fan? What are your favorites? I am crazy about her latest, The Hour of Land. It is my first and will not be my last.

Hi Mark: Refuge is the only one I've read. I loved it.

Thanks, Beth. I will add that one to the list. All of her books sound really good. I have found another Must Read Author. I hope to listen to a chunk of The Hour of Land today, while doing some outdoor chores.

Mark: Refuge is just beautiful. I think Joanne (Coppers) has also read another by Williams.

Morning, Beth! Happy Friday!

Hey Mamie. Happy Friday to you, too. And Monday is a holiday. Woo hoo!

82. Hag-Seed is Margaret Atwood's take on The Tempest for the Hogarth Shakespeare series, and it's my favorite one yet. Atwood reimagines Prospero as Felix Phillips, the Artistic Director of a Shakespeare Festival. As in the original, Felix is deposed and spends years in exile plotting revenge. He finally gets a vehicle for it when he starts to teach Shakespeare and stage plays at a prison.

The modern retelling is brilliantly done, following the motifs of the original without forcing it. Atwood even manages to add ideas about the original play and the value of educating prisoners. And she organizes her story into five acts.

This novel would be satisfying even for those unfamiliar with The Tempest. As Felix is going through prison security, he thinks: "It is the words that should concern you...That's the real danger. Words don't show up on scanners." Atwood recognizes the depth of ideas and the lovely language perfectly. A wonderful homage to the Bard.

Great review Beth. Looking forward to getting my hands on this one.

I loved it, Charlotte. I can't wait to see Jo Nesbo's version of Macbeth. That's the next one coming out.

Great review of Hag-Seed, Beth!

Thanks Nancy. It was a great book.

What Charlotte said! And I am also waiting not so patiently for the Jo Nesbø version of Macbeth.

Happy Saturday, Beth!

Thanks Mamie. I think it is early next year.

>175 BLBera: Beth, I had to reserve that one after I read your review!

It is great, Susan. I don't think Atwood can write a bad book. I'll watch for your comments. I am really enjoying the Hogarth Shakespeare series. It would be fun to use some of the books in a Shakespeare class... Hmm.

Hey Beth, I'm not all that hot on Atwood but your review for Hag-Seed is pretty enticing. So, I'll see if my library has it, then give it a shot.
Enjoy the nice long weekend!

Congratulations on reaching, and surpassing the 75 challenge mark.

I think even if Atwood isn't your cup of tea, you might like this one, Lynda.

Thanks Linda.

I hope I spelled the names right!

I've had my eye on Hag-Seed, Beth! I enjoyed Anne Tyler's addition to the Hogarth Series, Vinegar Girl, and I can't wait to read Atwood's take on The Tempest.

Hi Amy - How's the start of school going? I think you'll like Hag-Seed.

83. A Murder of Magpies features Samantha Clair, a forty-year-old editor. Sam, while preparing to publish a tell-all book about a murder in the fashion industry, finds herself investigating the disappearance of the book's author. Her flat is broken into and she is attacked, events that are far from normal in her life as an editor.

The mystery is well plotted although the ins and outs of money laundering laws were hard to follow at times. But Sam is a great character, smart and sarcastic, "...which was not really a thought to warm the cockles of my heart. Whatever cockles were. I made a mental note to look it up when I got home. Then I made another note, to slap myself. Jesus, what a nerd am I?" and "There are supposed to be endorphins or whatever that make you feel great when you exercise. I don't think I have any, because I only feel great when I'm lying on the sofa reading a book, possibly while simultaneously eating biscuits." I found myself laughing as I read.

This is a fun read, well written, and I will definitely read more in this series.

Thanks to Charlotte for recommending.

>175 BLBera: Wonderful review. I'm looking forward to reading it.

Have you been watching the US Open? We are, of course, cheering for the Williams sisters. I was glad that V had a relatively easy match yesterday as I think she is more likely to get worn out. S never seems to get tired, not at Grand Slam events.

>189 BLBera: Looks like a fun read to tuck in between more serious endeavors. :-)

Hi Beth, you can add me to the list of people who are adding Here Comes The Sun to the wishlist! Hope you are having a lovely Sunday.

>189 BLBera: Great quotes. I did have fun reading Judith Flanders' books and will look for the third one in the series!

Thanks Ellen; I think you will enjoy it. Yes, I have been sneaking tennis into my schedule. I hate it when the Williams are in the same half of the draw.

Yes, I love mysteries, and they work well between other works. Flanders was very fun.

Hi Judy - Thanks. I'm doing some school work but hope to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Thanks for bring this series to my attention, Charlotte. I think my library has the second one.

84. Lost in Translation is "an illustrated compendium of untranslatable words from around the world." It's a great premise and I picked it up with enthusiasm. It's charmingly illustrated, but one of the Spanish words included is inaccurately defined. That made me question how many other inaccuracies are in the book, which took away my enjoyment.

Hi Beth! I also found Hag-Seed completely enjoyable.

It was funny and tragic and did a great job, didn't it, Rhonda?

>188 BLBera: - The semester is off to a good start! I just started directing our PhD program, so that's a new challenge. Hope you are off to a good start as well!

Hi Amy - You'll be running the uni soon! Yes, things are going well.

85. Multiple Choice is a clever little book structured like, we're told, the Chilean Academic Aptitude Test. Divided into five sections of multiple choice sections, Zambra tells the story of Pinochet's Chile.

I'd like to read something a bit more ... traditionally structured by Zambra. His writing is lovely, but the cleverness of the structure overpowers any story here.

Next: How to Set a Fire and Why- I've been meaning to read Jesse Ball, and this captured me from the first page.

>189 BLBera: I didn't know that Judith Flanders wrote fiction until I saw your review of A Murder of Magpies. I will have to check that one out.

>199 BLBera: I like the idea of the structure of this (although I can see that it might be limiting).

>194 BLBera: oh no re the definition... was it very far out? I think I'd start to doubt too.

Meg - I thought Flanders' mystery was well done. I recommend it if you are a mystery fan.

Hi Charlotte - I think it's great to play with form, but it doesn't always lead to a satisfying reading experience. The longer stories at the end were very good; I'd like to read more by him.

I asked friends from different Spanish speaking countries and looked it up in several dictionaries, and it was just wrong. Then, of course, I started to wonder where she got her information and whether there were other errors. Oh well. It was a good idea.

Today is Labor Day here, so day off! Yay!

Morning, Beth! >189 BLBera: I just picked that one up on Kindle yesterday after reading through your comments on Charlotte's thread. LOVE the quotes!

Hi Beth! I just about jumped on Lost in Translation, it sounds like something I'd enjoy. uh uh, I don't need information like this that's just wrong!
Thanks for taking the hit.

Mamie - Sam is a great character. I laughed throughout.

Lynda - I know, right? It's a great idea, and there are lots of Spanish words that don't translate very well, without making some up. Or doing one's research.

Well, I'm off to the mall with my two girls. Scout is into dresses all of a sudden, so we're looking for sales. Tita needs to get her sewing machine out.

Watching Venus this morning. Up 5-1 in the first set, now it's 5-4. Sigh.

ETA: Have fun shopping with Scout!

I'm a little jealous! With two boys, I've missed out on dress shopping. Hope you and Scout find some bargains.

And I'll be waiting to hear your thoughts on How to Set a Fire and Why. It's on my TBR list!

I missed the Venus match but got home just in time to watch Serena. Scout played in the play area at the mall while it thundered and lighteninged outside.

Hi Amy - You'll have to wait for granddaughters. :) My daughter wasn't into dresses, so I am really enjoying myself now.

>199 BLBera: I saw that one in the NY Times Book Review and made a note of it as something to "look for." I'm not certain our library will get it, but it sounded like something I might enjoy reading.

Lori - Multiple Choice would be a good one to discuss. I suspect I'm not Zambra's audience. I'd like more plot and less gimmick.

86. How to Set a Fire and Why is the story of Lucia Stanton, a teen who has lost a lot; her father is dead and her mother is a vegetable in an institution. Lucia is living in a garage with her aunt, who is ill. She has a tough girl persona that gets her into a lot of trouble. She's smart and disaffected in a society that is doing nothing for her. Ball made me care about Lucia; I was always hoping she would catch a break.

But more than creating a vivid character who will stay with me for a while, he has reimagined The Catcher in the Rye. This novel reminded me a lot of J.D. Salinger's. Both teens have lost loved ones and have turned their grief into self-destructive behavior. Lucia never uses the word phony, but she could. She says, "The world is ludicrous. It is famished. It is greedy and adulterous. It is a wild place we inhabit, surely you agree? Well, then we shall have to try to make some sense of it."

She has a low opinion of the educational system, and based on her experience, with reason. On testing: "We had to do one of those stupid occupational tests on Tuesday. First, there was a very long multiple choice. Then there was a one-on-one interview with a counselor. In this case, I think they could have brought in a clown and it would have been more effective."

I'll be thinking of Lucia for a while.

Next: Behold the Dreamers

>211 BLBera: Sounds interesting!

By the way, I'm assuming you are well into your fall semester, yes?

Hi Ellen. We just finished our third week. Next week essays start to come in. I am keeping busy. I've been lurking a lot and not posting as much.

Hey Beth, hope you have some time off this weekend, you sound busy! >211 BLBera: sounds good. The image of a clown as more useful than a career counsellor fits with my experience too (and makes me smile).

Happy Saturday, Beth. Nice review of How to Set a Fire and Why. I have had this one on my list, along with Behold the Dreamers. As usual, you are making some interesting book choices.

Hooray cooler temps in the Midwest! Enjoy the weekend.

Happy Saturday, Beth! How to Set a Fire sounds interesting. Nice to read a Catcher with a female lead.

Hi Charlotte - The Ball book was good. Interesting that he chose a teenage girl as a protagonist.

Hi Mark - And Happy Saturday to you. Behold the Dreamers is starting off strong. The weather is absolutely beautiful. It's hard not to be outside.

Hi Rhonda - It is interesting. Nice update to Catcher

Go Vikes.

We don't really have an NFL team that we root for, so I'd be happy to root for the Vikes with you!

And thanks for the review of How to Set a Fire and Why. I had my eye on it, but your comments have me even more intrigued!

Stopping by to wish you a happy Sunday! I hope your library gets in plenty of the Giller Prize Nominees :)

Thanks Amy - Glad to have another Vikings fan. Have you read others by Ball? I know I've heard about him somewhere.

Hi Deborah - Thanks. So far, the ones that I checked were not there. It might be a while.

I was outside for much of the week end. It's good to have a late-summer breather from heat and humidity. Molly was here and loves to be outside. We raked enough leaves so she could have a pile to jump in. With our big trees, there will be more than enough leaves in a few short weeks.

87. Conspiracy of Silence is a mystery centered around Clare Prentice's search for her identity. After her mother dies, Clare discovers she was adopted. She returns to her mother's home town to see if she can find clues to her identity there. She does and also finds that she may have the answer to a twenty-five year old murder mystery. Well plotted with an interesting twist at the end, this was OK. Clare got on my nerves at times. While she isn't TSTL, she did tend to break into tears quite often. It was an OK ebook read at the gym.

Hi Donna - We have had some beautiful weather here, too. I try to be outside as much as I can; the nice weather will be over all too soon.

National Book Award longlist for poetry:

Daniel Borzutzky, The Performance of Becoming Human

Rita Dove Collected Poems 1974 – 2004

Peter Gizzi, Archeophonics

Donald Hall, The Selected Poems of Donald Hall

Jay Hopler, The Abridged History of Rainfall

Donika Kelly, Bestiary

Jane Mead, World of Made and Unmade

Solmaz Sharif, Look (Graywolf Press)

Monica Youn, Blackacre (Graywolf Press)

Kevin Young, Blue Laws (Alfred A. Knopf)

NBA Longlist for Young People's literature

Kwame Alexander, Booked (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Kate DiCamillo, Raymie Nightingale (Candlewick Press)

John Lewis, Andrew Aydin & Nate Powell (Artist), March: Book Three (Top Shelf)

Grace Lin, When the Sea Turned to Silver (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

Anna-Marie McLemore, When the Moon Was Ours (Thomas Dunne Books / St. Martin’s Press)

Meg Medina, Burn Baby Burn (Candlewick Press)

Sara Pennypacker & Jon Klassen (Illustrator), Pax (Balzer & Bray / HarperCollins)

Jason Reynolds, Ghost (Atheneum Books for Young Readers / Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing)

Caren Stelson, Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor’s Story (Carolrhoda Books / Lerner Publishing Group)

Nicola Yoon, The Sun Is Also a Star (Delacorte Press / Penguin Random House)

Nonfiction longlist is announced tomorrow and fiction longlist the following day.

>223 BLBera: TSTL?

Okay, I'm never going to be an expert at Young People's Literature but I LOVE seeing Pax on any prize list!! I LOVE that book!!

>225 BLBera: >226 BLBera: We are moving a lot of our Reference collection to "storage." Today I was working through the children's lit reference books (and other library things including books about award winners). I moved a handful of things to circulation. I moved the majority to storage, but there were several for which I found we had an electronic version which was more up-to-date than the print version we had. We'd already decided to remove those from the collection. I really hate to part with the print editions in many ways, but honestly, for the short entries most students would be needing from those books, the electronic edition is fine. We'll have a nice book sale when we get around to holding it.

Hi Ellen - Oh, Too stupid to live (TSTL). I remembered that you loved Pax - I have to say that so far the lists are humbling - I'm unfamiliar with most of the books.

Nonfiction longlist:
Andrew J. Bacevich, America’s War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History

Patricia Bell-Scott, The Firebrand and the First Lady: Portrait of a Friendship: Pauli Murray, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the Struggle for Social Justice

Adam Cohen, Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck

Arlie Russell Hochschild, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right

Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

Viet Thanh Nguyen, Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War

Cathy O’Neil, Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy

Andrés Reséndez, The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America

Manisha Sinha, The Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition

Heather Ann Thompson, Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy

Hi Lori - It sounds like a tough job. I would have a hard time deciding what to put into storage.

I'm reading a collection of poems for children edited by Caroline Kennedy and illustrated by Jon Muth. I thought it's time to start reading some poetry -- other than Dr. Seuss -- to Scout.

I like this one by Nikki Giovanni

The Reason I Like Chocolate

The reason I like chocolate
is I can lick my fingers
and nobody tells me I'm not polite

I especially like scary movies
'cause I can snuggle with Mommy
or my big sister and they don't laugh

I like to cry sometimes 'cause
everybody says "what's the matter
don't cry"

all I like books
for all hose reasons
but mostly 'cause they jus make me
happy

and I really like
to be happy

^ Nice.

How to Set a Fire and Why Hmmm, sounds interesting but I didn't care for Catcher in the Rye. Do you think I should check this one out?

>231 BLBera: cute!

I'm looking forward to the National Book Award Long list in Fiction today and hoping I'll be able to borrow most of the from the library.

Thanks Lynda.

And, drum roll, here is the longlist for fiction:

Chris Bachelder, The Throwback Special

Garth Greenwell, What Belongs to You

Adam Haslett, Imagine Me Gone

Paulette Jiles, News of the World

Karan Mahajan, The Association of Small Bombs

✔ Elizabeth McKenzie, The Portable Veblen

✔Lydia Millet, Sweet Lamb of Heaven

Brad Watson, Miss Jane

Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad

Jacqueline Woodson, Another Brooklyn

I've read the Millet and McKenzie. Off to check to see what else the library has. I have the Whitehead and Jiles reserved.

Sept. 25-Oct. 1 is Banned Books Week. See the ALA website.

http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10

Fun Home, one of my favorite reads last year, made the top ten list this year. Under reasons it said, "Violence" and "graphic images."

>235 BLBera: "graphic images" eh? Snork.

Exactly, Charlotte.

88. Behold the Dreamers is an excellent first novel by Imbolo Moue, a Cameroonian. It reveals the lives of Jende and Neni Jonga, who immigrate to the United States from Cameroon dreaming of a better future for themselves and their son. If the novel were just about Jende and Neni, it would be a very good novel. What makes it remarkable is the fact that Jende and Neni start to work for Clark and Cindy Edwards. Clark has an important position in Lehman Brothers. The story takes place right before and right after the crash in 2009. Jende is a driver for Clark, while Neni fills in and does housework for Cindy. The way the two families' lives meet is quite wonderful.

Both families have dreams, and both, in the end, find that the American dream exacts a price.

The novel looks at various aspects of immigrant life and sugarcoats nothing. We see the ignorance of people who have no idea what Cameroon is, and we see changes to the family dynamics caused by the move to the US. Yet, the strength of the novel comes, not from its portrayal of immigrant life, but in the portrayal of the effects this life has on real people.

Highly recommended.

Next: Underground Railroad

>238 BLBera: I've got stuck with this one - about 20% in. Will have to pick it up again. I do love that cover though.

Beth, I am very happy that you have reserved the Jiles as it had caught my attention and I will be watching to see what you think of it.

>234 BLBera: Happy Saturday, Beth! Thanks for sharing the NBA longlist. I was not crazy about Sweet Lamb of Heaven but I have heard good things about the Haslett, Jiles and Woodson. All are on my list.

Not much interest in The Portable Veblen, due to lackluster LT response.

Good review of Behold the Dreamers. I have that one saved on audio.

I hope you enjoy The Underground Railroad as much as I did. That should win the NBA hands-down, IMHO.

Hi Charlotte - Hmm. I wonder if that was after he got the job and we were waiting for the Lehman Brothers to crash? Maybe there was a part that was slowish in there. I loved it.

Hi Judy - I've loved Jiles' work so far so am expecting great things. It should be out soon.

Hi Mark - THe Underground Railroad is great so far. Miss Jane and THe Association of Small Bombs also look good to me. Happy Saturday. Our weather is supposed to be gorgeous - and I have papers to grade!

Hi Beth! >231 BLBera: Knoxville likes to claim Nikki Giovanni since she was born here. :-)

Happy Saturday, Beth!

Book 88!! Oh my goodness, Beth, you amaze me!

That works, Carrie.

Thanks Lynda. You, too. I'm having a hard time putting down The Underground Railroad. It's gripping.

Hi Nancy. I try to cram reading into my spare moments, and some not-spare moments. :)

So many books, so little time, or so I feel at times. I'm looking forward to The Underground Railroad as well as Behold the Dreamers, but I have a lot of books waiting and others in the hold queue at the library.

Glad to hear that you are enjoying The Underground Railroad. I just finished it and found myself on edge to find out what would happen to Cora. I've also read Imagine Me Gone and Another Brooklyn from the long list. I think that The Underground Railroad is my favorite of the three!

>189 BLBera: I've added this to the tbr pile. Thanks for your excellent review.

Hi Deborah - What a problem to have, right?

Hi Amy - Cora is a great character. I have Another Brooklyn on reserve at the library, but I'm 15 on the list. The Underground Railroad is certainly my favorite of the three I've read. I still have about 100 pages to go. Unfortunately, I have a lot of grading to do and Scout is spending the day here, so it might take a couple of days for me to finish. Then I have the new Penny waiting for me.

Hi Linda - I really enjoyed it. I will definitely look for the next in the series.

You are reading some excellent books as always. It amazes me how busy people like you can outread me. Go, Beth! I blame my attraction to those 4-hour bridge sessions twice a week. Life is full of choices.

I am currently reading As Good As Gone and waiting for some NBA books at the library. I'm #19 on the list for The Underground Railroad. Our library has 10 copies circulating so it shouldn't be too long before I get my greedy hands on it. Lol.

>235 BLBera: I have Fun Home on my shelves. I'll have to move it up on the TBR to figure out why it was banned. "Graphic images" *snork*

Adding Behold the Dreamers to my wish list. Great review.

As you may know, Fun Home is my all-time favorite Graphic Memoir.

I haven't (yet) read a single nominee for the National Book Award. And I'm still working on the Booker short list! The life of a reader. :-)

Fun Home on a banned book list. Sigh.

Thanks Donna - I get some good suggestions from you, so you can take credit. THe Underground Railroad is wonderful. I had Scout today, so didn't get a lot of reading done.

Hi Meg - Fun Home is wonderful. Yes, I doubt whoever challenged it appreciated the irony.

Hi Ellen - Thanks - I didn't do justice to Behold the Dreamers; it was great. I had read two of the NBA long listed books and am currently reading THe Underground Railroad; there are a couple more that look good. The Booker list really, with a couple of exceptions, didn't call my name this year.

Hi Lucy - I know.

Well, Scout finally decided to sleep, so I'll watch the Vikes.

Morning, Beth! I have Underground Railroad out from the library, but I haven't gotten to it yet. I also snagged Another Brooklyn, which I have just started - I love how she writes.

Your Vikings did an excellent job last night - Sam Bradford is looking very good.

Thanks Mamie. I just finished The Underground Railroad, and it was wonderful. Cora is an unforgettable character. I am #15 on the list for Another Brooklyn, but I have a couple of other library books to get to: A Great Reckoning and Commonwealth.

Yes, Vikings fans are always happy to beat the Packers.

89.The Underground Railroad
"The white came to this land for a fresh start and to escape the tyranny of their masters, just as freeman had fled theirs. But the ideals they held up for themselves, they denied others. Cora heard Michael recite the Declaration of Independence back on the Randall plantation many times...She didn't understand the words,...but created equal was not lost on her. The white men who wrote it didn't understand it either, if all men did not truly mean all men."

Cora was born into slavery on a Georgia plantation. Her mother ran away and left her when she was a child. Mabel was never captured, and Cora was forced to grow up fast. She learns to stand up for herself, at least as much as she can as a slave. Eventually, she escapes, and Colson Whitehead's remarkable novel is an account of her journey to freedom.

But as I read it, revolted by the violence in some places, I realized that this isn't just Cora's story; it's the story of all slaves. Anyone who has ever read Frederick Douglass' or Harriet Jacobs' slave narratives will see echoes of them here. So, yes, it is violent, but people lived through this violence. The least I can do is bear witness to their suffering, and in Cora's case, applaud her will to survive.

Great novel. My comments can in no way do it justice.

Fabulous review of The Underground Railroad, Beth! This one had been on my radar, and your comments make me want to read it all the more. Love what you wrote here: The least I can do is bear witness to their suffering, and in Cora's case, applaud her will to survive.

Thanks Nancy. It is a powerful novel.

Excellent review of The Underground Railroad, Beth. If you post it I will Thumb it. Sadly I did not even write a mini-review but it is in the running with Homegoing as my favorite novel of the year. Have you read any other Whitehead?

Thanks Mark. It is my first Whitehead. It's really not much of a review, which is why I didn't post... Let me work on it. I liked this much more than Homegoing; I thought it packed more of an emotional punch. It may have to do with the fact that we followed one character and I became very invested in her fate.

I also really liked Behold the Dreamers. Yes, the year is turning into a good reading year.

I read and liked Zone One but he really upped his game with this one. I also have Sag Harbor saved on audio, for the near future.

Isn't Zone One about zombies? I've heard THe Intuitionist is good. I might try that one next. Sag Harbor looks good, too.

Yes, Zone One is a literary zombie novel but the writing is very good and it is smart too.

Nice review of Underground Railroad

I have Behold the dreamers on hold at the library. Glad you liked it!

Glad it's a good reading year for you Beth. Hope the new term is going OK. I've picked up the new bio of James Miranda Barry - just mad reading about how she studied as a doctor whilst pretending to be a man. It feels like it ought to be fiction...

I think I might have to be a diehard Whitehead fan to pick up a book about zombies, Mark.

Thanks Rhonda - it's an excellent novel.

Hi Katie - I hope you're faring well on your travels. I loved Behold the Dreamers, one of the year's best, I think.

Hi Charlotte - I think my reading has picked up. Lately I've read a string of really excellent books. I'm not familiar with Barry - I'll have to check it out.

School is going well, lots of grading right now.

90. A Great Reckoning is the latest in the Three Pines series by Louise Penny. Penny allows her characters to grow and change, one of the elements of a good series.

In this latest novel, Armanda Ganache has come out of retirement to lead the Academy that trains cadets for the Sûreté. He is trying to root out the last bit of corruption. However, he finds the job harder than he anticipated, not least because he has allowed some of the corrupt instructors to stay in place. When there is a murder, Gamache is in danger of being accused.

One of the things that makes this novel so enjoyable are the secondary mysteries. Who made the map of Three Pines that Olivier and Gabri found in the bistro wall? Why is Three Pines not on any map? Why does Gamache accept Amelia Choquet into the Academy?

Another source of pleasure is, of course, the characters. The old favorites are back -- Ruth is especially in fine form -- and meet some new characters.

It also helps that the last 30 pages make the novel impossible to put down. Very enjoyable. Now, I have to wait for my next visit to Three Pines.

Glad your latest read was a success Beth. I've just picked up Commonwealth today - so good.

Hi Charlotte. Good to know - Commonwealth is my next read, too. I've got to get some of these books back to the library!

Hi Beth! Glad to see you enjoyed your latest visit to Three Pines! I loved the map-related storyline. I have Commonwealth as my next book up as well. Hoping to get to start it tomorrow!

Hi Amy - Our reading seems to be overlapping these days.

Hey Beth! I'm glad The Underground Railroad moved you too. Very well written and I never realized that each state handled slavery in their own manner, usually violent but also bizarre.
I read Sag Harbor years ago and loved it! It was my introduction to Whitehead.

I will definitely be looking for more Whitehead, Lynda. This was a great introduction.

And another novel in the Three Pines series! Thanks, Beth. Was not aware another of these had been published.

Beth, I was wavering on The Underground Railroad but you've convinced me :-) Behold the Dreamers also looks good, but isn't showing up in the library catalogue yet.

Hi Nancy - And it's a good one, too.

Hi Susan - They are both excellent, certainly among the best reads of the year for me.

I just checked and I am #408 in the library queue for one of 155 copies for The Underground Railroad. Sigh.
*taps foot impatiently*

On the other hand, I have A Fatal Grace, second in the Louise Penny series, on my shelves and can read it whenever I get a moment. I think I'm going to take it with me to Tennessee for Thanksgiving, along with Ancillary Justice. Not that I'm planning ahead or anything.... heh.

Have a great week, Beth!

>280 EBT1002: I have a similar problem, but I think I'm now down in the thirties. So maybe in October!

Hi Ellen - That is a lot of copies. How long can people keep them checked out? Do you think it will be about a month before one is available?

I thought you weren't a Penny fan? I think they do get better, the characters more complex.

Is Ancillary Justice the first one? I can never remember.

I hope you have a wonderful week as well.

Hi Jim - It will be available before you think, and then you'll have to change all of your reading plans to read it before it's due!

I'm about 50 pages into Commonwealth and really liking it.

Yay for Commonwealth .
(That is all)

>270 BLBera: I'm looking forward to that one. I've got to read the two before it first though.

Hi Charlotte - yes, indeed.

Hi Lori - The latest Penny is a good one. You are lucky to have three unread ones.

>285 BLBera: I just got behind because when I'd go to check them out someone else would have them out. I have the first checked out. I'm probably not taking it to Mississippi with me this week because I've got a repetitive strain injury on my thumb that makes holding stuff uncomfortable. I will just read from my iPad or listen via my iPhone. I will try to get to that one the following week although I suspect reading time will be limited.

Hi Beth--I lost you somehow and had this whole thread to catch up on!! SO much happening! Love that you got to go to Alaska and that it was four generations. Fantastic and you are so lucky to have all those people. : ) I can't even begin to respond to all your reviews, save to say that your reading is varied and your reviews are always great. I will attempt to keep up now. : )

Hi, Beth! You have a lot going on!
I'm envious of your getting to The Underground Railroad already. *sigh* On the other hand, I'm happy that you were as happy with Hagseed as I was. Lots of good stuff coming off the press these days!
*Justice* is the first *Ancillary*. I loved it and haven't been able to get to the next ones yet. On the other hand, I have a number of *3 Pines* left; she's not a favorite - or at least not yet.

Ouch, Lori. Take care of your thumb.

Hey, Kim. And I thought you didn't love me anymore. ;) Speaking of trips, any planned to Minnesota? Thanks for your kind words - you've been doing some great reading yourself.

Hi Peggy - Thanks for the "Ancillary" answer. Sometimes I wish series books would just put the number in the title.

The Underground Railroad is well worth the wait.

All caught up with you, Beth! I have several more to go in the Three Pines series until I'm caught up. I like them but don't love them like I know some people do.

91. Commonwealth, Ann Patchett's newest novel, tells the story of the Keating and Cousins families, whose lives are intertwined when Bert Cousins and Beverly Keating have an affair and end up married to each other. The blended family that results includes Franny and Caroline Keating and Cal, Albie, Holly and Jeannette Cousins. The novel follows the families over fifty years.

Beautifully written, Patchett reveals the big and little events of everyday lives: "Life, Teresa knew by now, was a series of losses. It was other things, too, better things, but the losses were as solid and dependable as the earth itself."

I loved this novel, which in its quiet way, is important in the way it captures contemporary life with its great variety of families.

Hi Katie - Welcome home. I hope you're healthy and rested. Any news about the BIG MOVE?

For my next read, I have another library book, which must be returned soon, Jonathan Safran Foer's hefty new novel Here I Am. I loved Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and Foer does have a talent for a turn of phrase. When I picked up Here I Am to decide whether I want to try to read it now or return it to the library, on the first page I read, "German horticulturalists had pruned Isaac's family tree all the way back to the Galician soil," and I knew I had to keep on reading.

Oh, that does sound good, Beth! I do advise you to pick up St. Cyr #3 as a foil for the heftiness.

Woohoo! Thanks for your endorsement of Commonwealth, Beth. Have just put this one on my WL as I saw it favourably reviewed on someone else's thread too.

>291 BLBera: Glad you liked it. I was so happy to read this one.

Hi Peggy - I might have to pick up the St. Cyr.

Hi Nancy - I have seen quite a few favorable comments on Commonwealth.

Charlotte - It was excellent, wasn't it?

I have been lucky in my reading recently. The Foer is going to be a challenge. At almost 600 pages, it is going to require some concentrated reading to finish it before it is due.

I'm glad to see that you also liked The Underground Railroad, Beth. I plan to read it later this month.

Hi Darryl - I'm sure you will love it.

Reviews of new young adult novels:

http://www.npr.org/2016/10/01/494916840/magic-in-the-air-3-young-adult-fantasy-r...

>291 BLBera: - I just finished Commonwealth today and loved it too. I liked the way we dropped in and out of the character's lives. Each chapter was a close look at the lives of these two families, but they came together in ways that were even more illuminating. This was one of my favorite Patchett books.

Thanks for the review of Commonwealth. Something to look forward to!

Hi Amy - I agree, I think Commonwealth might be one of my favorite Patchetts. I can't remember other novels about blended families that were as well done.

Hi Rhonda - Yes, it is something to look forward to. I think you will like it.

92. The Bookseller by Mark Pryor is the first novel in a series about Hugo Marston, the head of security at the Paris embassy. Hugo loves books and has become acquainted with some of the booksellers along the Seine. When one of them, Max, is abducted in front of him, he begins to investigate.

This was a great start to a new series, not least because Paris was front and center. I loved the description as Hugo wandered around the city. I admired the fact that he never got lost, my default when I walk around Paris.

I'll pick up more of these. This was an ebook.

Sounds great - Wishlisted Beth. Love the Paris setting for any book.

I love the cover on this one, too, Charlotte. I think you'll like it.