Deedledee is a reading machine

I'm a librarian in rural Nova Scotia with an addiction to knitting and two evil black cats.
Kinda nerdy. Thinks zombies are a thing. Self-proclaimed delicate flower who has been described as “delightful”.
Loves chatting books with all and sundry. Thinks wine is a food group. The best at being humble.
Follow me on Twitter at @dhcry or better yet listen to my bookish podcast BookRage: for the mad reader on Soundcloud or iTunes.

Book stats 2016
Completed 109 books

78% fiction
22% non-fiction

71% Adult
29% YA/children's

48% Audiobook (big increase this year)
13% ebook
15% graphic novel

94% belonged to the library

Books read in past years:
2015: 104
2014: 110
2013: 86
2012: 109
2011: 91
2010: 118

Books Read 2017
January
1. Best Kept Secret by Jeffrey Archer (read by Alex Jennings & Emelia Fox)
2. Always by Sarah Jio (ARC)
3. Today Will be Different by Maria Semple (read by Kathleen Wilhoite)
4. The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner (YF)
5. Haunted Girl: Esther Cox & the Great Amherst Mystery by Laurie Glenn Norris w/ Barbara Thompson (ANF)
6. The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater (read by Will Patton) (YF)
7. Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley (AGN)
8. Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler (read by Kirsten Potter)
Abandoned: Mister B. Gone by Clive Barker
9. Exquisite Corpse by Penelope Bagieu (AGN)
10. Company Town by Madeline Ashby (ebook)
11. Astray by Emma Donoghue (read by James Langton & Khristine Hvam)
February
12. Raylan by Elmore Leonard (read by Brian D'Arcy James)
13. Nostalgia by M. G. Vassanji (ebook)
14. The Ambler Warning by Robert Ludlum (read by Scott Sowers)
15. First Comes Love by Emily Giffin
16. Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces That Shape Behavior by Jonah Berger (read by Keith Nobbs)(ANF)
17. Fifteen Dogs by Andre Alexis
Abandoned: Irma Voth by Miriam Toews
18. Heroes of the Frontier by Dave Eggers (read by Rebecca Lowman)
March
19. Bear by Marian Engel
20. True Believer by Nicholas Sparks (read by David Baker)
21. If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo (YF)
22. Lisette's List by Susan Vreeland (read by Kim Bubbs)
23. The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian (ebook)
24. I Will Send Rain by Rae Meadows (read by Emily Sutton-Smith)
Abandoned: The Break by Katherena Vermette
25. Commonwealth by Ann Patchett (read by Hope Davis)
April
26. F*ck Love by Michael Bennett and Sarah Bennett (ANF)
27. The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher (read by Carrie Fisher) (ANF)
28. A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson (read by Alex Jennings)
29. Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between by Lauren Graham (read by Lauren Graham) (ANF)
30. Indian School Road: Legacies of the Shubenacadie Residential School by Chris Benjamin (ebook) (ANF)
31. The Guineveres by Sarah Domet (read by Erin Bennett)
32. Every Exquisite Thing by Matthew Quick (YF)
33. The Littlest Bigfoot by Jennifer Weiner (read by Emma Galvin, Keith Nobbs, & Jen Ponton) (JF)
Abandoned: George and Rue by George Elliott Clarke
34. The Prison Book Club by Ann Walmsley (ANF)
35. Zombie Spaceship Wasteland by Patton Oswalt (read by Patton Oswalt)
36. American Gods by Neil Gaiman (read by George Guidall)
Abandoned: Beach Reading by Lorne Elliott
37. Out of the Depths: The Experiences of Mi'kmaw Children at the Indian Residential School at Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia by Isabelle Knockwood (ebook) (ANF)
May
38. Psychosis v. 1 by Adam Atkinson and David Coates (AGN)
Abandoned: Revenge of the Lobster Lover by Hilary MacLeod
Abandoned: Cures for Hunger: Deni Ellis Bechard
39. The Shining by Stephen King (read by Campbell Scott)
40. Home: Chronicle of a North Country Life by Beth Powning (ANF)
41. Invincible Summer by Alice Adams (read by Georgia Dolenz)
42. The Sleepwalker by Chris Bohjalian (ebook)
June
43. The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin (read by Cassandra Campbell and Paul Boehmer)
44. Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain (read by Kathe Mazur) (ANF)
45. Relative Happiness by Lesley Crewe
46. Always Something There to Remind Me by Beth Harbison (read by Orlagh Cassidy)
47. Bleeding Kansas by Sara Paretsky (read by Susan Ericksen)
48. The Mapmaker's Children by Sarah McCoy
Abandoned: Flawed by Cecelia Ahern
49. My Secret: a Post Secret book compiled by Frank Warren (ANF)
50. Belgravia by Julian Fellowes (read by Juliet Stevenson)
51. The Name Therapist: How Growing Up With My Odd Name Taught Me Everything You Need to Know About Yours by Duana Taha (ANF)
July
52. Blood Wounds by Susan Beth Pfeffer (ebook) (YF)
53. The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware (read by Imogen Church)
54. Not My Father's Son: a Memoir by Alan Cumming (ANF)
55. The Birthday Lunch by Joan Clark
56. Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas adapted by Troy Little (AGN)
57. Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens by Eddie Izzard (read by Eddie Izzard) (ANF)
58. The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer (read by Ellen Archer)
Abandoned: Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
Abandoned: My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand
59. The After Party by Anton DiSclafani (read by Dorothy Blue)
60. Happy People Read and Drink Coffee by Agnès Martin-Lugand
61. I'm Just a Person by Tig Notaro (ANF) (ARC)
62. Everyone's a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too: a Book by Jomny Sun (AGN)
63. Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes (JF) (ARC)
August
64. Hidden Figures: the American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly (ANF)
65. A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham (read by Colin Farrell, Dallas Roberts, Blair Brown, and Jennifer Van Dyck)
66. Dolan's Cadillac and Other Stories by Stephen King (read by Tim Curry, Whoopi Goldberg, Yeardly Smith, and Rob Lowe)
67. The Myth of You and Me by Leah Stewart
68. The People We Hate at the Wedding by Grant Ginder (read by Dan Bittner and Khristine Hvam)
69. American Wife by Curtis Sittenfield (ebook)
70. Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein (read by Sasha Pick) (YF)
71. Ru by Kim Thuy (ebook)
72. Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan (read by by Negin Farsad) (YF)
September
73. Places No One Knows by Brenna Yovanoff (YF)
74. We Never Asked for Wings by Vanessa Diffenbaugh (read by Emma Bering)
75. The Marsh King's Daughter by Karen Dionne (read by Emily Rankin)
Abandoned: Other Kingdoms by Richard Matheson
76. Hosanna by Michel Tremblay
77. Where She Went by Gayle Forman (read by Dan Bittner) (YA)
78. Psychosis v. 2 by Adam Atkinson and David Coates (AGN)
79. Redeployment by Phil Klay (read by Craig Klein)
80. 101 Letters to a Prime Minister: The Complete Letters to Stephen Harper by Yann Martel (ebook)
October
81. Apocalypse for Beginners by Nicolas Dickner (translated by Lazer Lederhendler)
82. The Stars are Fire by Anita Shreve (read by Suzanne Freeman)
83. Outcast: a darkness surrounds him by Robert Kirkman (AGN)
84. Testimony by Anita Shreve (read by a full cast)
85. Outcast: A Vast and Unending Ruin by Robert Kirkman (AGN)
86. Sanaaq: An Inuit Novel by Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk (ebook)
87. All Families are Psychotic by Douglas Coupland
88. Since We Fell by Dennis Lehane
89. Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel Savit (read by Allan Corduner)
November
90. The Strain by Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan (read by Ron Perlman)
91. Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman by Lindy West (ANF)
92. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon (read by Bahni Turpin) (YF)
93. The Last Message Received edited by Emily Trunko (YNF)
Abandoned: The Awakening: the Vampire Diaries Series, Book 1 by L. J. Smith
94. The Sunshine Sisters by Jane Green (read by Jane Green)
95. The Here and Now by by Ann Brashares (read by Emily Rankin) (YF)
96. At the Edge of the Orchard by Tracy Chevalier
97. Mrs. Fletcher by Tom Perrotta (read by Carrie Coon and Finn Wittrock)
98. Year of Wonders: a Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks (read by Geraldine Brooks)
Abandoned: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
December
Abandoned: Burned by Ellen Hopkins
99. Faithful by Alice Hoffman (read by Amber Tamblyn)
100. The Little Book of Hygge : Danish Secrets to Happy Living by Meik Wiking (read by Meik Wiking)
101. The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St. James (read by Pamela Garelick)
102. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (read by Claire Danes)
103. Bone & Bread by Saleema Nawaz (ebook)
104. Space Dumplins by Craig Thompson (JGN)
105. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (read by Jennifer Lim)
106. The Commitment: Love, Sex, Marriage, and My Family by Dan Savage (read by Paul Michael Garcia)

Nice to see you back all the way from New Scotland for another year with the 75ers, Dee.

Hi Dee, I will try to follow more 75ers this year, so I have your thread starred.
Happy reading in 2017!

Welcome back!

Looking forward to the evil black cats!

Hello! Nice to see you back from all the way...er...probably an hour or two's drive from my abode in Halifax!

Thanks guys! I'm looking forward to it.

I am part of the group.
I love being part of the group.
I love the friendships bestowed upon my by dint of my membership of this wonderful fellowship.
I love that race and creed and gender and age and sexuality and nationality make absolutely no difference to our being a valued member of the group.

Thank you for also being part of the group.

Hope you have a wonderful 2017!

Hi Dee! I have you starred.

Hi Dee! Back to keep up with your reading shenanigans again this year. :)

Hi, I'm adding my star and hope you have a great year of reading.

Book #1.
Best Kept Secret by Jeffrey Archer
Book 3 of the Clifton Chronicles.
Now that the older generation is sorted out Archer is focusing on Sebastian Clifton. The child of Harry and Emma gets himself tangled up with a bad influence. Ends with a cliffhanger like the last two books.

Book #2.
Always by Sarah Jio
The beginning of this novel seemed so promising but then...
Kailey is a reporter with the Seattle Herald, writing a piece about homelessness in the city. Her fiance, Ryan, is a developer trying to gentrify a downtown neighbourhood which involves shutting down a homeless shelter. One night while they're out a dinner Kailey sees Cade, the former love of her life who had vanished 10 years before. He's homeless. She sets out to help him.
Could have gone right in so many ways but just doesn't. It's not a great love story. It's not a great thriller - for a lot of the book it looked like there was a mystery to why Cade was homeless but it just ties up neatly at the end. It's like a really bad made for tv movie.

Morning!! I saw on facebook that the Valley got a ton of snow overnight! Did your area get the 40-50cm that was forecast?

>>18 ChelleBearss:
Our forecast was for 30cm but we got more like 50. Thank god it was on a Sunday & I had lots of time to shovel out. Missing NS now?

Book #3.
Today Will be Different by Maria Semple
I didn't love this as much as I loved Semple's Where'd You Go, Bernadette. It just seemed like a lot of zaniness for no reason.
In one day Eleanor meets with her poet, picks up her child at school because he's ill and drags him around Seattle with her, has lunch with a man she fired years ago, discovers her husband has a big secret, gives herself a concussion, and that's just a portion of the book. Middle-aged and drifting, Eleanor is trying to work at being present for her family while missing her sister terribly.

Well, no lol. I miss it in the summer though! And I miss the relaxed lifestyle that we had there
(and the lobster, can't forget the lobster!)

Book #4.
The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner
A trio of high school misfits in their final year of high school in a small town in Tennessee try to come to terms with what their lives will be afterward.
Dill's father, a serpent handling minister, is in jail and his family is in debt. Dill feels stuck. Lydia has the ideal home life and the very real possibility of going to a good university in New York. And Travis would rather live in the fantasy land of Bloodfall because his home life is terrible.

Hmmm, that one sounds good!

Book #5.
Haunted Girl: Esther Cox & the Great Amherst Mystery by Laurie Glenn Norris w/ Barbara Thompson

Unlike The Great Amherst Mystery by Walter Hubbell, Norris' book seeks to go beyond the mystery and try to find out something about the woman. Esther Cox was the centre of paranormal occurrences over the course of 15 months starting in 1878. Was this really an attack by spirits or was Esther acting out because of a trauma? A good reminder that there was a real woman behind the "ghost story".

Book #6.
The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
The 4th and final book of the Raven Cycle and a re-read for me. The best part about re-reading the whole series is that knowing what's going to happen allowed me to concentrate on the characters and not rush through trying to find out what happens.

Book #7.
Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley
This was recommended to me as an interesting food memoir for non-foodie type people. It was interesting, not just about food but about Knisley's life growing up and her involvement with food.

Book #8.
Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler
A re-telling of The Taming of the Shrew, one of the few Shakespeare plays that I have not read.
Kate is working at a job she doesn't really like and living at home taking care of her dad and her younger sister. Her life is pretty empty but she's not willing to admit it. Then one day her dad tries to set her up with his lab assistant. Well, really he's trying to get her to marry his lab assistant to keep him in the country. She's initially resistant but then thinks that she just needs to change her life.
I really didn't like any of the characters in this book.

>27 Deedledee: I liked that one much better than you did.

>26 Deedledee: That one is on my wish list. Hopefully I'll get to it eventually.

>27 Deedledee: That one is on my list of books to read. Taming of the Shrew was the comedy I studied in my Shakespeare class in undergrad and I've found it fascinating since.

>28 thornton37814: >29 MickyFine:
The Taming of the Shrew is one of the few Shakespearean plays that I haven't read maybe that's why this book didn't resonate with me.

>30 Deedledee: It's one of my favorites. My all-time favorite episode of the show "Moonlighting" was the one based on "The Taming of the Shrew."

Book #9.
Exquisite Corpse by Penelope Bagieu
The ending wasn't what I was expecting but I loved it.
Zoe hates her job, hates her boyfriend, hates her life and then has a chance encounter with a famous novelist but she doesn't recognize him. They begin a relationship but not is all as it seems.

Book #10.
Company Town by Madeline Ashby
Set in the future on a oil rig community off the coast of Newfoundland that's not dystopian but is on the bleak side. Go Jung-Hwa works as bodyguard to sex workers who service the populace of New Arcadia. She's an anomaly as one who is purely organic in a time when most people are augmented in some way. When New Arcadia is purchased by the Lynch company, Hwa is hired as the bodyguard for the heir apparent Joel Lynch. And then things get crazy! There's a murder mystery and sci fi and intrigue. It's hard to summarize and hard to put down.

Book #11.
Astray by Emma Donoghue
Donoghue's book of short stories deals with the strays of our world, those who are perceived to be "other". The notes around the stories are fascinating. It feels like getting a little glimpse into the creative process. I'd really love to see some of these stories fleshed out into full novels.

>33 Deedledee: I didn't like Company Town as much as you, but it's definitely a hard book to summarize!

Tamara Taylor actually summarizes it fairly well:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/2017/01/tamara-taylor.html

Book #12.
Raylan by Elmore Leonard
I love the tv show Justified starring Timothy Olyphant so I thought I'd give the book it was based on a try and I'm glad I did. I've never read anything by Leonard before thinking I wouldn't enjoy the crime genre but I really found this interesting. Unlike the television show, US Marshall Raylan Givens investigates a couple of cases from stealing body parts to bank robbery to murder. And throughout shows a dry sense of humour. The writing style was not one that I'm used to but fit the story well.

Book #13.
Nostalgia by M. G. Vassanji

Shortlisted for Canada Reads this year.

I'm trying to decide how I feel about this book. I wasn't enamored with it but I think it's because Vassanji wants to hit you over the head with the themes of wealth and inequality.

Set in the future in an unnamed Toronto, Dr. Frank Sina is treating a patient with Nostalgia, part of his past life leaking into his present. While treating Presley he's dealing with his own memory leaks, problems at home, and the growing discontent of the BabyGen with the rejuvenated who hold most of the power and wealth.

Book #14.
The Ambler Warning by Robert Ludlum

A pure thriller with a conspiracy theory background.

Hal Ambler comes to himself at a government psychiatric facility for spies. He's been drugged to the gills but a sympathetic nurse aids helps him out. After his escape he is trying to figure out how to get his identity back, not get killed, and stop a potential war from starting.

This book was published in 2005, four years after Ludlum's death so I'm not sure how much of it was written by him and how much by the person hired to finish it.

Hope you're staying warm today. The Nova Scotia blizzard does not look fun based on news photos.

Hope you're safe and warm! This blizzard is pretty awful :-(

Thanks, I'm watching the storm from the safety of my living room.

Hi - I'm not a Mystery-with-Murder reader, yet Elmore Leonard's GET SHORTY was good reading and the movie was fun!

How is it out your way? Snowed in, or have you already braved the elements to shovel?

I was very lucky that a kind neighbour with a snowblower cleared the end of my driveway. After the plow had gone through the snow was over waist deep. It would have taken me forever!

Book #15
First Comes Love by Emily Giffin

What an appropriate book to finish on Valentine's Day. A total fluff book that didn't require me to pay too much attention. Sometimes it's nice to read a book where you know everyone will make up at the end and all will be well.

Told in alternating voices of sisters Meredith and Josie it deals with their relationships, with each other, with their significant others, with their family, and it all hinges on the death of their brother 15 years earlier.

>45 Deedledee: What a great neighbour! I know all about waist high snow. It's awful. I'm always glad that I'm able to pay someone to attack that kind of mess with a plough blade.

Book #16.
Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces That Shape Behavior by Jonah Berger
I find books on behavioural psychology really interesting. Berger talks about how our choices are influenced by others both in positive and negative ways.

Book #17.
Fifteen Dogs by Andre Alexis

Greek gods Apollo and Hermes are drinking in a Toronto pub and start to talk about the human condition. Apollo makes a bet that animals with human intelligence would be even more unhappy than humans. To put this bet to the test they provide 15 dogs in a veterinary clinic with human consciousness. These dogs then have to balance their animal nature and instinct against their burgeoning humanity.

The change in the dogs divides them. Some wish to keep to the old animal ways and some want to explore their new intelligence with the creation of language, even poetry.

Andre Alexis book explores what it is to be human by showing us through the eyes of animals.

One of the Canada Reads contenders.

>49 Deedledee: I've wondered whether that one has a sizeable advantage in Canada Reads this year as it won the Giller in 2015.

Book #18.
Heroes of the Frontier by Dave Eggers
Josie's life is falling apart. She and her partner have split, leaving her as a single mother, and she's lost her dentistry practice to a malpractice suit. Having a mini meltdown she takes her children to from Ohio to Alaska to tour the state in an RV. She's trying to find herself while running from wildfires.
While I felt sympathy for Josie I mostly wanted to shake her for her ability to make the absolute wrong choice at every turn.

Book #19.
Bear by Marian Engel
The winner of the 1976 Governor General's Literary Award, Bear is the story of a woman desperate for connection. After being dispatched to a remote island in northern Ontario, Lou befriends the past inhabitant's pet bear. Then she more than befriends him. She falls in love with him. And it's a carnal love in which she has sexual relations with the bear.
Yep - bear sex. Well, not intercourse but bear oral sex.

>52 Deedledee: There is no emoticon that reflects the face I'm currently making after reading that description. *shudders*

Well, that message certainly ramps things up from the usual "Happy New Threads" >

Thank you for waking us up on a slow and frigid day in Wisconsin -
sure wish this book had been in my Christmas stocking...!

>53 MickyFine: >54 m.belljackson:
glad to be of service, or entertainment, or whatever I was

Book #20.
True Believer by Nicholas Sparks
A predictable story. Jeremy Marsh rolls into Boone Creek, NC to investigate and debunk a myth that ghosts can be viewed in the graveyard. His investigation leads him to the library where he meets Lexie Darnell. In just 2 days he decides he's in love with her. But Lexie won't let herself fall for Jeremy. She's been hurt before and she knows he's going to leave town. Blah blah blah, it all works out in the end.

>56 Deedledee: Ringing endorsement, that... :)

Hello, Dee!

>57 drneutron: Yeah, not going to pick up another Sparks book anytime soon
>58 alcottacre: Hello!

Book #21.
If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

This book is two things: a mediocre teen romance and more importantly a book about a young trans woman trying to find her way.

Andrew was born in the wrong body. After lots of bullying and a suicide attempt his mother finds him support and pays for medical treatments and Amanda is born.
Amanda goes off to live with her dad in North Carolina to finish high school. She meets Grant and they start to date and become quite serious. Should she tell him her secret?

As a teen romance book I found the story meh. But as a story that trans teens might read that makes their life better or someone cisgendered like myself would read to get even a tiny understanding of what it is to be trans, it is excellent.

This is Russo's first novel and I look forward to reading more by her in the future.

Book #22.
Lisette's List by Susan Vreeland
Not as good as Luncheon of the Boating Party but still a really interesting book.

Lisette grows up in Paris, meets and marries Andre. They move to the tiny community of Roussillon in 1937 to care for Pascal, Andre's grandfather. Lisette initially hates living in the tiny town but gradually comes to love it. And she comes to love Pascal as a father. He insists on telling Lisette the story of the 7 paintings on his wall he had long ago acquired from some up-and-coming artists, Cèzanne and Picasso. We follow Lisette through the loss of Pascal, the start of WWII, more loss and then her life going on.

>22 Deedledee: I have not read that one by Vreeland, so I will have to check it out. Thanks for the mention.

Book #23.
The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian
A mystery, a family saga, a war book, it's all these things and more.

Bohjalian tells the story of the Rosati family both in the end days of World War II and eleven years later when a serial killer is targeting what's left of the family. Serafina, an investigator with the Florence police department, believes the killings have something to do with the war and needs to stop them before the whole family is gone.
An interesting story of World War II Italy and the repercussions that it has on the future of the country.

Book #24.
I Will Send Rain by Rae Meadows

Smack in the middle of the Great Depression Oklahoma was devastated by drought leading to crop failures and dust storms. Meadow's book focuses on the Bell family and their community in this trying time. There is infidelity, pregnancy, loss (oh so much loss), and finally hope.

Last thing we need right now in Kuala Lumpur is more rain, Dee.

Have a great weekend.

Book #25
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett

When Bert Cousins decides he doesn't want to spend time at home with his pregnant wife and 3 kids he shows up, uninvited to Franny Keating’s christening party. That puts into motion a chain of events that leads to the blending of two families, for better or for worse.
The book covers more than 50 years following those affected by the fallout of Beverly and Bert’s decision to leave their spouses.

I listened to this on audiobook as read by Hope Davis. It was a bit off-putting that all her female characters sounded more or less like the mom on American Dad.

Book #26.
F*ck Love: One Shrink's Sensible Advice for Finding a Lasting Relationship by Michael Bennett and Sarah Bennett

This book is confused. It is trying to both be a serious relationship book and a comedic take on finding a relationship. There are a few gems of advice but for the most part I was too irritated to take much of it in.

Book #27.
The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher
The Princess Diarist feels like coming in in the middle of a conversation. I haven't read any other books by Fisher but think I may go back and read some because I felt like I was a little behind on what was happening.
The diary entries from when Fisher initially played Princess Leia at the age of 19, are better than you expect from most 19 year olds, and are as terrible as you would expect from most 19 year olds.

Book #28.
A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson
A companion piece to Life After Life, tells the story of Edward "Teddy" Todd from his birth, through his bomber pilot experiences in World War II, and into his old age. Atkinson is an amazing storyteller! I could spend so much time describing this book but the only I can really say is read it! It explores the nature of war, the impacts of age, the impact of our upbringing on us and so much more. Just brilliant.

Book #29.
Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between by Lauren Graham
Well based on this book I'm pretty sure that Graham is basically her character in Gilmore Girls. In this memoir Graham talks about her early day in showbiz, her finally finding love, her time in the Gilmore Girls, and her start as an author.

Book #30.
Indian School Road: Legacies of the Shubenacadie Residential School by Chris Benjamin
For almost 40 years, Indigenous children were sent to Shubenacadie to be taught that they were worthless and that their language and traditions were wrong and bad. They were abused emotionally, physically, and in some cases sexually. As a result generations after are still suffering from the cultural genocide. This is an important book that gives a brief and succinct history of residential schools and the colonial attempt to destroy native culture.

Hope you have a great Easter weekend!

Book #31.
The Guineveres by Sarah Domet
Four girls named Guinevere form a group at a Catholic school for abandoned girls. They're differentiated by their nicknames and extremely different personalities. The novel gives their back stories as to why their families left them (which I considered to be the most interesting part of the book). It was a bit of a slow build and an unsatisfying ending but the writing was interesting.

Book #32.
Every Exquisite Thing by Matthew Quick
A coming of age novel from the author of Silver Linings Playbook and Forgive me, Leonard Peacock. Nanette is doing well in school, a star on the soccer team, and has friends but she feels kind of hollow inside. Her favourite teacher recommends a book that changes her life. She rebels against her former life but in attempting to discover herself she pushes everyone away, even those trying to understand.
I hated Nanette! She was pretentious and self centred. In fact I found much of the book pretentious.

Book #33.
The Littlest Bigfoot by Jennifer Weiner
A kids book by Weiner about acceptance and finding a place to belong.

Book #34.
The Prison Book Club by Ann Walmsley
I think I would have enjoyed this book more if it had been written by Carol (the founder of the prison book clubs) or the prisoners themselves. Walmsley seems outside the book club and only part of it to write this book.

Book #35.
Zombie Spaceship Wasteland by Patton Oswalt
A collection of uneven essays by Oswalt, some of which are very funny, or touching, or just downright odd.

Book #36.
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
I feel like I'm missing something. I don't quite grasp why this book has the following that it does. So much of the book was fantastic, but then there were parts that really just felt like they didn't belong. Did I not read this deeply enough? Am I not deep enough? *Sighs with disappointment*

Book #37.
Out of the Depths: The Experiences of Mi'kmaw Children at the Indian Residential School at Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia by Isabelle Knockwood
After reading Indian School Road a few weeks back I thought I would delve into something that touches a little more closely to the cultural abuse that Canada perpetrated on our Indigenous cultures. Knockwood speaks about her experiences, and those of other "students", at the Shubenacadie residential school. It's hard to read but important to know.

Book #38.
Psychosis v. 1 by Adam Atkinson and David Coates
My next podcast is New Brunswick books so I thought I would reach beyond the usual depressing Maritime fare and try something different.
Psychosis is a graphic novel written by Atkinson and drawn by Coates. The first volume only gives a tiny taste of the story. The hero (?) has some sort of split personality. There is a lab doing some genetic testing. It is set in the future and society has broken down. And that's about all I know.
But I'm going to get the next one to figure out what's going on.

Wishing you a great weekend, Dee.

Book #39.
The Shining by Stephen King

I haven't read this book in a long time. It was great to revisit it.

Book #40.
Home: Chronicle of a North Country Life by Beth Powning

Lovely prose and beautiful pictures. Powning writes of leaving her life in New England to move to rural New Brunswick and embarrassing NB as her home as she learns of each season.

Book #41.
Invincible Summer by Alice Adams

Starting the summer after the first year of university, the story follows a group of university friends for twenty years. Eva, from a poor background, who becomes an investment banker; brother and sister Sylvie and Lucien, an artist and 'entrepreneur'; and Benedict, a physics student, who goes on to do a PhD. Adams revisits these characters at intervals, and we watch as their careers, relationships and fortunes develop and change.

Book #42.
The Sleepwalker by Chris Bohjalian

Another great book by Bohjalian

Lianna is home from university for the summer. While her dad is away at a conference her mom, Annalee, disappears. Annalee has a history of sleepwalking so there is immediate concern. As summer turns to fall, Lianna stays on to help her family, especially her little sister, Paige. And she becomes involved with the handsome detective who is investigating her mother's disappearance.

Bohjalian includes a lot of information about Parasomnia - which is all the abnormal behavior of the nervous system during sleep, but focuses on sleepwalking. He does this in a way that's not overbearing or irritating.

Book #43.
The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin

While I don't know much about the rich and powerful of the 1950s and 60s, I thought this book was fascinating. The focus is on Truman Capote, his exquisite friend, Babe Paley, and the circle of New York socialites affectionately called the Swans. With his access to this world Capote becomes famous, more so than he would have become with his writing alone. But he eventually goes too far and writes a thinly disguised story of the socialites' secrets a nd is completely cut out.

Book #44.
Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
I am an extrovert. I read this book was a way of gaining insight into people who are just so different from me that I often struggle to understand their motivations. Cain does provide some really interesting information about decision making and how intro vs extroverts respond to rewards but I take umbrage at her statement that extroverts don't think as deeply. She also made extroverts sound like stupid loudmouths. Sure, some of us are but not all. Also, at the end she says introverts who don't want to talk to people should go get a degree in library science!!! Nothing makes me more irritated that the trope that all librarians do is sit around and read and shush people all day.

Book #45.
Relative Happiness by Lesley Crewe
Lexie lives a quiet life in Cape Breton, surrounded by family and people who have known her forever. One day a stranger comes into to town and turns her world upside down.

Book #46.
Always Something There to Remind Me by Beth Harbison
Mostly I wanted to shake the protagonist, Erin. I also spent a great deal of time trying to figure out the timeline.
Erin is in her late 30s, a mother to a 15 year-old daughter and has just been proposed to by her boyfriend of a year. Instead of being happy about this she obsesses like a school girl over a HS boyfriend she hasn't seen in 20+ years.

Book #47.
Bleeding Kansas by Sara Paretsky
Joined by history and love of the land but torn apart by religious differences and old grudges, three Kansan families struggle to make ends meet and find their way. The Schapens, Grelliers and Freemantles arrived in the Kaw River Valley in the mid-19th century. Now a stranger in their midst causes controversy and leads to more than one family falling apart.

Book #48.
The Mapmaker's Children by Sarah McCoy
Alternating stories of Sarah in the mid-1800s and Eden in 2014.
I liked Sarah's story much more as she and family, members of the underground railroad, crusade against slavery. I think it would have been a better book if it focused on Sarah and her family. The story involving Eden felt more like a romance novel, it was like fluff tagged on. And the connection of the two stories was tenuous at best.

>89 Deedledee:

Thanks for another great succinct review!

How are your cats doing and what are you knitting now?

>90 m.belljackson:
My cats are evil! My old gal turns 19 next week. I can't believe it. She's still in pretty good shape.

Book #49.
My Secret: a PostSecret book compiled by Frank Warren
I love the PostSecret books and surprisingly hadn't seen this one before. Reading someone else's secrets makes me feel closer to humanity.

>91 Deedledee:

What makes them evil - are they littermates gone rogue?!

My beautiful black Victoria is nearing 17 and usually only veers toward evil at night when
she lies close to me on the couch, then flicks her tail wildly back and forth, glaring
fixedly at me.

If she could speak human talk, she'd likely say something like:

"Can't you remember ANYTHING?"

Book #50. Belgravia by Julian Fellowes
This was like a season of Downton Abbey, which makes sense as Fellowes was one of that show's creators.
A soap opera-esque exploration of life of the upper class in England in the mid-1800s with lots of intrigue, affairs, an illegitimate child, and back stabbing in the name of money or social class. Totally enjoyable.

Book #51.
The Name Therapist: How Growing Up With My Odd Name Taught Me Everything You Need to Know About Yours by Duana Taha
I really enjoyed this book. Taha touches on everything thing from the Jennifer phenomenon, to current naming trends, to people's perception of someone based solely on their name. Interesting and entertaining. I can think of about 5 people I'd like to give this book to right now.

Book #52.
Blood Wounds by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Willa tries to keep quiet and fly under the radar. Her blended family revolves around her step-sisters and their various activities. Knowing she can't have everything they have she lets out her frustrations by cutting herself. Then her father, whom she barely remembers, kills her sisters that she never knew existed. The subsequent manhunt for him means she has to go into hiding. Willa wants to see the town she was from and go to the funeral for her sisters. She learns a lot about her life and that of her mother.

Hi - with the 4th coming up, I'm wondering how you and Nova Scotia celebrated Canada Day?

Hope it was a Happy one!

>97 m.belljackson:
It rained cats & dogs all day so I didn't do much in way of celebration, mostly stayed inside and read. I hope the weather is better for the 4th.

Book #53.
The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
I didn't love this book but I did enjoy a few creepy parts.
Lo Blacklock wakes in the middle of the night to find someone in her apartment. She's totally traumatized by this break in. When she has to take a trip on a super high end yacht a few days later to write it up for work she's still very focused on the break in. So when she thinks she witnessed a murder in the middle of the night with the body thrown overboard is she right or is her paranoia getting the better of her?
There are tons of plot holes in this that I'm not going to outline because I don't want to ruin it for anyone. This is the type of book that would make a good movie.

Book #54.
Not My Father's Son: a Memoir by Alan Cumming
Scottish stage and screen actor Alan Cumming agreed to appear on the BBC genealogy reality TV show called Who Do You Think You Are?. In that show they follow the trail of documents to discover more about his maternal grandfather who never returned to Scotland after WWII. At the same time, his physically and emotionally abusive father reveals he might not be his biological dad.
A powerful and frank memoir on the affects of abuse and the search for love and acceptance.

>98 Deedledee:

Weather was fine here in Token Creek, Wisconsin - mildly warm with a nice breeze.

The Lions Club sponsors a small parade each year right through the two block long
center of town, a half block from my home.

My daughter and I enjoyed seeing the neighbors on blankets & quilts out on their lawns,
getting sprayed from the floats, and collecting a handful of tossed candy.

We then had a lovely meal of fresh picked black raspberries from our paths, with melon balls,
cherries, vegetarian burgers with lettuce & sliced heirloom tomato (from local co-op),
brown rice, carrot coins, and Red, White, and Blue popcorn from the Kettle Corn Stand
at the parade for dessert.

Good to be your 101st entry!

I'm reading David Copperfield online (2 chapters a day),
A History of English Literature ($1.00 hardcover from local Strawberry Festival booksale),
and We Are All Damaged by Matthew Norman. His Domestic Violets was quite funny,
so I'm giving this one a try = no laugh-out-louds yet.

Book #55.
The Birthday Lunch by Joan Clark
Oh New Brunswick, you do know how to make things depressing.
On Lily's 58th birthday she is hit by a gravel truck while crossing the road. The book focuses on her family and their feelings at her sudden loss. Her husband who really doesn't know how he'll go on. Her son who feels guilty for not visiting more often. Her daughter who tries hard to help her father out. And Lily's sister, Laverne, whose life seems pretty empty.

Book #56.
Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas adapted by Troy Little
A fantastic adaptation. Little manages to translate the drug fueled adventures of Raoul Duke and Doctor Gonzo into a graphic format. Ralph Steadman's is synonymous with Thompson's work so I had a moment to get past that but Little did a great job of adapting the novel. I would read this as a companion piece rather than on its own.

Book #57.
Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens by Eddie Izzard
I listened to Izzard read his memoir. It's like an ADD squirrel attracted to shiny things.

Book #58.
The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer
Juliana is super smart and was recruited by "The Department" when she was young. After several year she was going to be "cut loose" (ie killed) and has been on the run for several years. Somehow her former boss convinces her to take one last job.... which goes pear shaped. And then there's some running, and torture, and hiding, ... and she falls in love? It's an okay book with some action.

Book #59.
The After Party by Anton DiSclafani
1950s Houston socialites CeCe and Joan drink and attend parties. CeCe is very focused on Joan and everything she does in her life to the point that her husband threatens to leave her. Joan is more of a wild child who wants to get away.

Book #60.
Happy People Read and Drink Coffee by Agnès Martin-Lugand
Do not be fooled by the title as I was - there is NO happiness here! I was totally sucked in by the title and then bam the main character, Diane, loses her husband and daughter in a tragic car accident. Thinking that it would then be a story about the grief process I kept with it. But when she goes to Ireland to sort out her life it falls into the worst cliches. Her brooding next door neighbour with whom she has an instant hate relationship (you just know it's going to turn to love), the overly friendly Irish landlords, basically it's a much worse and more depressing version of P.S. I Love You.

>106 Deedledee: Sounds like I can just drink my coffee and skip the book.

>107 thornton37814:
I would strongly suggest that!

Book #61.
I'm Just a Person by Tig Notaro
I've never seen Notaro perform but I received her book in a box of ARCs and thought it might be interesting. This short memoir covers approximately a year when her life basically hits bottom. Over a few months she has a really bad bacterial infection, before she's even recovered she learns that her mother has had an accident from which she will not recover, and after her mother's passing she finds out she has breast cancer. I cannot imagine how difficult it would have been to deal with all of those things at the same time and not just completely break down and give up. But Notaro not only doesn't give up, she goes on to perform a comedy show that became a best-selling recording.

Book #62.
Everyone's a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too: a Book by Jomny Sun
Part cute graphic novel, part philosophical treaties. A look at love, loneliness, and art.

Book #63.
Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes
This middle grade novel works to explain 9\11 to an audience that wasn't born during when the attack happened.

Looks like you are getting plenty of reading done this month, Dee.

Have a lovely weekend.

Yes, and many of us would LOVE to learn more about what you are knitting!

>111 PaulCranswick:
I should get a lot of reading done in the next two weeks since I'm on vacation. The total of my vacation plans are to lay on the beach and read or lay on my deck and read.

>112 m.belljackson:
I'm working on these:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fire--ice-fingerless-mitts
for my dad's wife.

>113 Deedledee:

Wow - those patterns are beautiful - and so precisely complicated?

Which one have you chosen? and colors?

>115 m.belljackson:
I was trying to post a picture of my progress but I'm not smart enough to figure out how to do that.
I'm cheating a bit because I'm using the written out pattern rather than the chart. But really it's pretty easy. If you're on Ravelry you can find me there as Deedledee and I'll post pictures there once I'm finished.

>116 Deedledee:

thanks Dee - posting photographs here is beyond my skills though I've been able to manage
on other sites where it's just a Click to your stored photos, then one more to send to them.

Never heard of Ravelry.

Are you doing the intriguing Dragon pattern or ???

I once won a lovely book called KNIT YOUR OWN ZOO.

Arthritis has limited my crocheting and beginner knitting skills so -
if you don't already own this one and would like it, let me know.

Book #64.
Hidden Figures: the American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly
An interesting history not only of the black women who worked at NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) - the precursor to NASA, but also a story of the civil rights movement from the 1930s through until the 1970s.

Book #65
A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham
Jonathan meets Bobby in junior high and instantly becomes best friends with him - and gradually falls in love with him. Years later, Bobby seeks Jonathan out in New York and he, Jonathan, and Jonathan's roommate Clare become a little family.

Book #66. Dolan's Cadillac and Other Stories by Stephen King
They might not make him the big money but I've always found King's short stories to be creepier than his novels.

The reading during your vacation seems to be going well - beach reading is difficult to beat, Dee!

Book #67.
The Myth of You and Me by Leah Stewart

Cameron and Sonia meet in high school and become instant best friends. They share everything with each other. They remain best of friends through college. And then there is a falling out.
Told from Cameron's point of view this is the story of her life after college with multiple flashbacks to her teen years and early adulthood. The death of her employer sends her off on an adventure to find Sonia.

Book #68.
The People We Hate at the Wedding by Grant Ginder
Weddings bring people together... well, not always. When Paul and Alice's half sister, Eloise, invites them to her wedding it brings to the forefront the family's dysfunction and the relationship problems that they themselves are experiencing. Paul's boyfriend, Mark, wants them to explore an open relationship and Alice is seeing a married man. Will this wedding help bring them all closer together or just make things worse?

Book #69.
American Wife by Curtis Sittenfield
Very loosely based on the life of Laura Bush, Sittenfield writes about what it is to be a private person whose life becomes one of public interest and speculation.

Book #70.
Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
A companion book to Code Name Verity, and although not as strong as that book it is still very good.
Rose is a pilot with the Air Transport Auxiliary during WWII. During a run back from France she's captured by Germans and ends up in Ravensbrück, a Nazi concentration camp. She spends 6 months there and well, it's just so... I can't put that in words. Wein tries very hard to convey what it was to exist in that hell.

Book #71.
Ru by Kim Thuy
Told in a series of vignettes, Ru is the story of a refugee Vietnamese family who settles in Quebec. Ru talks about what it is to settle in to a new place, a new culture, and how a life can be formed both by war and its aftermath. Lyrical and moving.

Book #72.
Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan
A fluffy teen romance that is only set apart by the main character being LGBT+ and American-Iranian.

Book #73.
Places No One Knows by Brenna Yovanoff
I wanted to like this book, I really did. And for portions of it I did but by the end I was practically rolling my eyes. Do you know how hard it is to read when you're rolling your eyes?
Waverly is part of the popular crowd. She is perfect. She has perfect grades, is athletic, and takes part in extra curricular at school. And she can't sleep. Experimenting with relaxation techniques she somehow is able to transport herself to Marshall.
Marshall is a loser. He rarely shows up for work and when he does he sleeps through class or is stoned. So why is Waverly so attracted to him?

Book #74.
We Never Asked for Wings by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Letty's been a mom for 15 years but you wouldn't know it. Her mother, Marie Elena has always done everything for her children. But when her father goes to Mexico to care for his ailing mother, and Marie Elena chooses to follow him, Letty is left on her own with her kids for the first time. An examination of what it is to be family and with a side plot about the vulnerability of those who are undocumented immigrants in the U.S.

Book #75.
The Marsh King's Daughter by Karen Dionne
Helena grew up in the wilderness with no contact with the outside world, just her and her parents. What she doesn't know, doesn't learn until she's older, is that her dad kidnapped her mother and is holding her captive. That she is the result of rape. Her father teaches her how to track, hunt, live in the wild, but doesn't realize that she will eventually turn those skills against him.

Congratulations on reaching 75!

Congrats!

Felicitations on reaching the magic number!

Well done Dee on reaching 75 already.

Have a great weekend.

Book #76.
Hosanna by Michel Tremblay
Reading this play and watching RuPaul's Drag Race... well that was an interesting juxtaposition.
Hosanna is a middle-aged hairdresser trying to capture the glory of Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra. Her lover, her partner is Cuirette. He's an aging stud trying to recapture his glory days. It all comes to a head at a Halloween party and Hosanna's life will never be the same.

Book #77.
Where She Went by Gayle Forman
I really did not like Adam in this book. Yes, he seems to to have problems - probably with anxiety and OCD - but he also seems to be an asshole. In the 3 years since the accident that killed Mia's family, she broke up with Adam and went to Juliard. Adam has gone on to major rock star success. But he's not happy. At all!

Book #78.
Psychosis v. 2 by Adam Atkinson and David Coates
HalCon last weekend reminded me that I still hadn't read v.2 of Psychosis so I decided to right that.
And I was left with another cliffhanger - Psychosis is trapped and fighting Goliath!

Book #79.
Redeployment by Phil Klay
Twelve short stories about the Iraq war told from varying points of view by those who were there on the ground. These stories are real and unflinching.

Book #80.
101 Letters to a Prime Minister: The Complete Letters to Stephen Harper by Yann Martel

Starting in April 2007 and continuing for 4 years, Martel sent a book (or two, or three) to then Prime Minister Stephen Harper every two weeks. As Martel says in the introduction: "...once someone has power over me,... their reading does matter to me, because in what they choose to read will be found what they think and what they might do."
Although Harper never personally answered Martel I do hope he read at least a few of the books.

1.The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy; Ian Dreiblatt (Translator)
2. Animal Farm by George Orwell
3. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
4. By Grand Central Station I Sat down and Wept by Elizabeth Smart
5. The Bhagavad Gita by Juan Mascaro (Translator)
6. Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan
7. Candide or Optimism by Francois Voltaire; Robert M. Adams (Translator)
8. Short and Sweet: 101 Very Short Poems by Simon Armitage
9. Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez; Gregory Rabassa (Translator)
10. Three Plays by August Strindberg; Peter Watts (Introduction by, Translator)
11.The Watsons by Jane Austen
12. Maus by Art Spiegelman
13. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
14. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry; Richard Howard (Translator)
15. Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
16. Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke (Editor); Joan M. Burnham (Translator)
17. The Island Means Minago by Milton Acorn
18. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka; Stanley Corngold (Editor, Translator)
19. The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren
20. The Educated Imagination by Northrop Frye
21. The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
22. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius; G. M. A. Grube (Editor, Translator)
23. Artist and Models by Anais Nin
24. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
25. The Dragonfly of Chicoutimi by Larry Tremblay
26. Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes
27. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf; Virginia Woolf
28. Read All About It! by Laura Bush & Jenna Bush
29. Drown by Junot Díaz
30. Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy
31. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
32. The Rez Sisters by Tomson Highway
33. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
34. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
35. Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas
36. Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor
37. A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift
38. Anthem by Ayn Rand
39. Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
40. Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
41. Gilgamesh by Stephen Mitchell
42. Gilgamesh by Derrek Hines
43. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
44. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
45. Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
46. Blackbird Singing by Paul McCartney
47. The Lesser Evil by Michael Ignatieff
48. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
49. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
50. Jane Austen by Carol Shields
51. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
52. Burning Ice: Art and Climate Change by David Buckland; Ali MacGilp; Sîon Parkinson
53. Louis Riel by Chester Brown
54. The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima; John Nathan (Translator)
55. The Gift by Lewis Hyde
56. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
57. Hiroshima Mon Amour by Marguerite Duras; Richard Seaver (Translator)
58. Runaway by Alice Munro
59. The Door by Margaret Atwood
60. The Tin Flute by Gabrielle Roy
61. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
62. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
63. Everyman by Philip Roth
64. Flaubert's Parrot - A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters by Julian Barnes
65. The Virgin Secretary's Impossible Boss by Carole Mortimer
66. Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati (Contribution by); Stuart C. Hood (Translator)
67. What Is Stephen Harper Reading? by Yann Martel
68. Waiting for the Barbarians by J. M. Coetzee
69. Generation A by Douglas Coupland
70. Property by Valerie Martin
71. Tropic of Hockey by Dave Bidini
72. Mr. Sampath by R. K. Narayan
73. Books: a memoir by Larry McMurtry
74. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
75. Eunoia by Christian Bok
76. Nadirs by Herta Müller; Sieglinde Lug (Translator)
77. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn; H. T. Willetts (Translator); 78. King Leary by Paul Quarrington
79. Century by Ray Smith
80. Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
81. For Those Who Hunt The Wounded Down by David Adams Richards
82. Diary of a Madman and Other Stories by Lu Hsun; William A. Lyell (Translator)
83. The Grey Islands by John Steffler
84. Caligula by Albert Camus
85. Nikolski by Nicolas Dickner; Lazer Lederhendler (Translator)
86. How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
87. Stung with Love by Sappho; Aaron Poochigian (Translator)
88. Sweet Home Chicago by Ashton Grey
89. Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson
90. Mr. Palomar by Italo Calvino; William Weaver (Translator)
91. Selected Poems by Al Purdy
92. The Nibelungenlied by Cyril Edwards (Translator); Oxford Business Group Staff (Editor)
93. Chess by Stefan Zweig and Anthea Bell
94. Selected poems by Yevgeny Yevtushenko; Robin Milner-Gulland (Translator); Peter Levi (Translator); Robin Milner-Gulland (Translator)
95. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie; Ellen Forney (Illustrator)
96. Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham
97. Six Characters Looking for an Author by Luigi Pirandello
98. Le Geant de la Gaffe by Andre Franquin
99. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by James Winny
100. The History of Reading by Alberto Manguel
101. Scorched by Wajdi Mouawad; Linda Gaboriau
102.In Search of Lost Time Volume II Within a Budding Grove by Marcel Proust; D. J. Enright (Revised by); Terence Kilmartin (Translator); C. K. Scott Moncrieff (Translator)

Book #81.
Apocalypse for Beginners by Nicolas Dickner
Just before the start of school Mickey Bauermann meets Hope Randall sitting by herself in the bleachers of the municipal stadium reading from Teach Yourself Russian at Home. They become instant friends. Actually, Mickey falls a little bit in love with Hope.
Hope in in Rivier de Loup because it's where her mom's car died. Her mother left Yarmouth to head west to avoid the apocalypse she believes is coming. In fact, it is a Randall family tradition to predict the apocalypse, but every member of the family predicts a different date.
When Hope comes to the conclusion that the end of the world will take place on July 17, 2001 she sets out on a mission to find ... well I don't want to give that away.
Set in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the backdrop of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Gulf War, and more.

Book #82.
The Stars are Fire by Anita Shreve

Grace's marriage is not ideal, her husband is cold and distant, but she has resigned herself to it when a massive fire changes everything. Now Grace has to find her way forward in a world that has completely changed. Her husband is missing, her house is gone, everything is destroyed, what can she do?

Book #83
Outcast: a darkness surrounds him by Robert Kirkman
Demonic possession is real and the solution to it may be within Kyle Barnes.

Book #84.
Testimony by Anita Shreve

One night at an exclusive private high school three boys from the basketball team have sex with an underage girl. Someone records it. The tape is leaked. The resulting scandal ruins not just the life of those in the room that night but also many people in the school, the community, and their families, in an ever widening circle.
Told from multiple points of view looking back on the events.

Book #85.
Outcast: A Vast and Unending Ruin by Robert Kirkman
What power does Kyle have over demons? Why do they call him outcast? And how can he help those around him when more and more people seem to be possessed?

86. Sanaaq: An Inuit Novel by Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk (ebook)

This novel tells a story of an Inuit community around the time that white people (the qallunaat) arrive.
It gives a glimpse of daily life. The immediacy of hunting and finding food. The regular day to day of caring for children, making clothing, building shelter. And the larger picture of the culture and language of a people who live in a place so different from my own.

>144 Deedledee:

Barry Lopez ARCTIC DREAMS touches on many of these same themes.

Book #87.
All Families are Psychotic by Douglas Coupland
It's been a while since I've read a book by Coupland and I'd forgot how frenetic they are. The ever ramping absurdity made it hard for me to stay in the story.

Book #88.
Since We Fell by Dennis Lehane
There are too many plots in this book. Initially it's about Rachel not knowing her father and working to track him down. And then it's about her career as a journalist. Then it's about her marriage and her being a shut in. And then it's a caper where she get conned. Too much stuff going on.

Book #89. Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel Savit
Is it historical fiction? Is it allegory? Is it a fairytale? I need some time to digest this book before I determine how I feel about it.

Book #90.
The Strain by Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan

I was looking for a Halloween read and came across this on OverDrive.
A plane lands at JFK and then just sits. No one gets off and no one responds to the tower. This prompts a call to SWAT who discovers that everyone on the plane is dead. It's handed off to the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) and the lead doctor Ephraim Goodweather. Eph tries to convince the authorities to quarantine all the passengers from the plane but they won't listen to him.

And this is the how the virus makes its way out into the world. The virus is vampirism. It takes over a body and makes it into blood sucking machine.

In addition to the story about the virus the is the Master who brings the disease into the US. The old Jewish man Dr. Abraham Setrakian, who has been chasing the Master since he came into the extermination camp in WWII to feed off of the victims.

The first book in The Strain trilogy.

Book #91.
Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman by Lindy West

I don't think I've read anything by West before but this book of essays is a great introduction. She's honest and really owns her opinions, to the point where she's had to deal with crazy online trolls. And she's funny! I had expected some sort of strident feminist essays but these make a point and also had some laugh out loud moments.

>150 Deedledee: I got to hear her speak at the Ontario Library Association conference back in February and she was really fascinating.

>151 MickyFine:
Are you going to OLA this year? I'm going to be there! Got my plane ticket booked!

>152 Deedledee: Sadly no. PD funding at my work is for every other year.

Book #92.
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
Madeline is sick. She's so sick she can't leave the house. She has Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) also known as "Bubble Boy Syndrome". She does all her schooling online and lives in books. Her companions are her mother and her nurse Carla. It's a pretty narrow life. Then Olly moves in next door. They start IM'ing each other and it quickly develops into a romance. But how can you have a romance when you can't leave your house, or hold hands, or kiss, or live?
It's a pretty predictable teen romance but I hated the ending.

Book #93.
The Last Message Received edited by Emily Trunko
Based on a Tumblr run by 17-year-old Trunko containing submissions of the last messages people received from ex-friends or ex-significant others, as well as from deceased friends, significant others, and relatives.
It's sort of a teen version of PostSecret.

Book #94
The Sunshine Sisters by Jane Green

Nell, Meredith, and Lizzy learn how to deal with their self-absorbed, B-list movie actress mother when they're young. Ronni Sunshine has always been more concerned with her career and herself to pay much attention to her daughters but now that she's dying she wants her girls with her and she wants them to have each other to lean on.

Somehow even though Ronni is self absorbed her whole life when she becomes ill she's suddenly all motherly and caring. This didn't resonate with me.

Hey Dee,

Its always nice to follow new threads. And since you joined us in the Christmas swap, I thought it only fair to come by and drop a star.

Also, I will check out your podcast. Always looking for new ones to listen to.

Book #95.
The Here and Now by by Ann Brashares

I wanted to like this book. The plot sounded like something I'd be in to but it just fell kind of flat.

Prenna is from the future. She and several other people from her community came back to 2010 to escape the devastation of the future with plagues and environmental catastrophes. They have to follow strict rules to ensure that they don't tip off the "Time Natives". But she can't seem to follow the rules because she has a crush on Ethan.
She then finds herself with the ability to maybe change the future and she and Ethan go on a road trip to stop a murder from happening. But there's too much weird filler (bathing suit shopping???) and improbable coincidences, and the ending is ... well - not great.

For the first time I'm going to take part in the Christmas Swap. If you get me you may get something a little crafty along with a book.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/274870

I’m glad you’re joining in!

Book #96
At the Edge of the Orchard by Tracy Chevalier
James and Sadie Goodenough have the most contentious of marriages. They're living in the Black Swamp, Ohio in 1838 with their 5 surviving children. The two of them warring it out until tragedy strikes. After which the story switches to what happens to their youngest, Robert, as he travels across the US.

>160 Deedledee: Hmm that sounds interesting. The only Chevalier I read was New Boy from the Shakespeare collection. But I like her writing.

Book #97.
Mrs. Fletcher by Tom Perrotta
Eve Fletcher is middle-age divorcee who's son has just moved out to go to college. With her new found freedom she tries to figure out who she is, and explores her sexuality along the way.

This is a time of year when I as a non-American ponder over what I am thankful for.

I am thankful for this group and its ability to keep me sane during topsy-turvy times.

I am thankful that you are part of this group.

I am thankful for this opportunity to say thank you.

>163 PaulCranswick:
Awww, thanks!

Book #98
Year of Wonders: a Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks

Anna Frith is a young widow (only 18), with 2 small children. She works as a servant in the vicar's house and is just beginning to get her bearings on the world. The vicar's wife, Elinor, is teaching Anna how to read and shows her a great deal of kindness - something that has been sorely missing from her life. Anna also takes in a boarder to help pay the bills and he proves to be a kind man who she might have a future with, and also the first victim of the plague in her little village. A bolt of cloth from London comes laden with fleas carrying the plague. The vicar convinces the villagers to close themselves off from the world to stop the spread of the plague. Thus begins a year of watching her friends, neighbours, and family die.
Based on an actual village in England, this story is unflinching in its descriptions of illness, brutality, and the starkness of live in the 17th century.
The only thing I didn't like was the ending, it took a turn that seemed improbable.

I think this is going to add a few titles to my to read list:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/the-globe-100-these-are-the...

Book #99.
Faithful by Alice Hoffman
After a tragic accident leaves her best friend in a coma, Shelby comes undone. She believes it is all her fault and goes into a major depression. She quits school and hides out in her parents basement coming out only for pot.
The story is about Shelby's redemption. About her very difficult road to loving herself and being able to love others.

Book #100.
The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living by Meik Wiking

It turns out that many things I enjoy are hygge - knitting, sitting by the fire with friends, cozy blankets, etc.
Wiking talks about hygge and also about what makes people happy.
I listened to this on audiobook so I really got to enjoy the Danish pronunciations.

Anything hygge related is hugely popular at my library. Could be because Edmonton and Scandinavia have some similarities in their winters. ;)

Well done for reaching 100 books Dee.

Have a splendid weekend.

Book #101.
The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St. James
I don't believe in ghosts, I really don't, but while listening to this on audiobook I needed to turn on some lights.
Sarah Piper is an independent woman in 1920s London. She gets a call from a work placement agency to work for Alistair Gellis, a ghost hunter. She becomes involved in a mystery of what happened to young Maddy Clare and must solve it to save her life and the lives of those who become her friends and lover.
An atmospheric ghost story with a bit of romance and sex thrown in.

Book #102.
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
This is a re-read for me but it's been a very long time since I last read it. But now more than ever it feels prescient.
Offred, whose real name we never learn, is a handmaid for a major Commander in Gilead. Her life is one in which she is expected to produce children but in the most chaste way possible. She's not allowed to read, write, think, love...
On the re-read I'm struck by the poetic quality of Atwood's language.

Book #103.
Bone & Bread by Saleema Nawaz
The complicated bonds of sisterhood and family.
Beena and Sadhana grow up in an apartment above a bagel shop in Montreal. They lose their father as children and their mother as teens. They then run different paths and have different serious issues and while many of their decisions are not the best they do love each other.

It is that time of year again, between Solstice and Christmas, just after Hanukkah, when our thoughts turn to wishing each other well in whatever language or image is meaningful to the recipient. So, whether I wish you Happy Solstice or Merry Christmas, know that what I really wish you, and for you, is this:

Wishing you all good things this holiday season and beyond.

Thank you RoninCats and Paul. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Happy Holidays to you and yours! Its such a joy to be a part of this group, and I’m glad to call you friend.

Book #104
Space Dumplins by Craig Thompson
A cute graphic novel for kids with galactic whale poop, kids teaming up to fight the whales, and save their family.

Book #105.
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
An exploration of the relationships between mothers and daughters. Pearl and her mom Mia live a vagabond lifestyle. Mia is an artist who once she has completed a work moves on to find inspiration somewhere else. Pearl longs for stability and wants to stay put.
Elena Richardson is a study in the upper middle class. She and her husband live in the affluent city of Shaker Heights with their 4 children: Lexie, Trip, Moody, and Izzy. Their life, like their community, is planned out.
Bebe is a mother who is unable to care for her newborn child and leaves her at a fire station, immediately regretting it. She tried to regain custody from the McCulloughs and the legal and ethic battle divides the community.
Their lives intertwine and there are disastrous consequences.

Book #106.
The Commitment: Love, Sex, Marriage, and My Family by Dan Savage
It seems a bit quaint now with the way that the world is going.