Norabelle414's Trilogy in Three Parts

Hello and welcome! I'm Nora. I live in Washington DC. This is my ninth year of having my own thread in the 75ers group! Other than books, I also love:

animals - on the weekends I volunteer at Smithsonian's National Zoo
TV - scripted only, mostly science fiction and fantasy, especially anything based on a book
feminism
theater - I have season tickets to Arena Stage but I often go to shows elsewhere as well
podcasts - especially about books
knitting
travel

You can find me on Twitter @ norabelle414

A selection of books I have finished recently:

The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall - 3.5/5 stars
No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre - 4/5 stars
I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo - 4/5 stars
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead - 4.5/5 stars
My Boyfriend Is a Bear by Pamela Ribon and Cat Farris - 4.5/5 stars

For a full list of books I have read this year, click here: https://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=norabelle414&collection=481848

33. Devils Unto Dust by Emma Berquist

"Willie" Wilcox has protected her brothers and sisters deep in the west Texas desert for years, since their mother died of the sickness and their father ran off. But now there's a bounty out on their father's head that his kids need to pay, unless they can find him. The only place he could have gone is outside the walls of their town of Glory...outside where the shakes live. So Willie hires two guides - with the promise of money she does not have - to help her venture out and find her father and bring him back to pay his debts. She's in danger from the shakes, humans turned into monsters by sickness, but also from man's inhumanity to man, and from the desert itself.

A very good YA adventure, and a very good zombie book. I enjoyed all the characters, especially the main character. The world building, especially setting the book in the 1870s right after the U.S. Civil War, was very smart. The disease is not so infectious that it's going to take over the country, but the Texas desert has little protection and even less medical resources so it makes sense that it would gain a foothold there. I very much enjoyed it as both a good example of genres I'm familiar with and a book set someplace I don't often read about. I especially loved a few twist along the way that genuinely surprised me. Recommended if you like zombies or dystopian YA.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ♥ (4.5/5)

Happy New Thread! #33 sounds like a zombie book I might not hate!

Happy new thread! Yup, #33 sounds like a good one!

34. Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou

Elizabeth Holmes had three things: wealthy connections, two semesters of college, and a dream of revolutionizing the biotech industry and being the next Steve Jobs. What she didn't have was any fucking idea what she was doing. She didn't let that stop her when she dropped out of Stanford at age 19 to start Theranos, a company which she claimed would be able to invent a machine the size of a microwave that could run hundreds of different blood tests in a short amount of time. Over the course of the next several years Holmes convinced everyone from politicians to multi-national corporations, from Henry Kissinger to Walgreens, to invest in her company's efforts, resulting in a valuation of $10 billion. And then it all came crashing down in 2015 when the author of this book published a series of articles in the Wall Street Journal exposing Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos as completely fraudulent.

This book is completely riveting. The writing is very good and Carreyrou's evidence and argument is well-organized thematically, without letting the reader lose track of the timeline. I gulped down multiple chapters at a time that overflowed with connections to my work, to other Silicon Valley/startup drama (Facebook, Elon Musk, Uber, Juicero), and to our current presidential situation. This story has everything: flouting of FDA regulations, famous old white men with more money than sense, non-disclosure agreements, test results faked from halfway across the globe, Halloween parties.... It would be a great romp if it didn't also involve thousands of people getting incorrect medical tests. We're used to startup culture being bizarre, but this put people's lives at risk.

This book was rushed to publication early 2018 to coincide with Holmes' indictment for fraud. It shows in the later 10-20%, where the book kind of falls apart. This book feels like really great background to a different book that Carreyrou will hopefully write 5 to 10 years from now. It was good to get everything down on paper and out in the public, but it's too recent for any decent hindsight.

The only substantive problem I had with the book was the role in the story of Sunny Balwani. Though not a major character in this book, he was COO and president of Theranos while secretly in a cohabitating romantic relationship with Holmes for at least eleven years. That's suspicious enough, even aside from the fact that he is 19 years older than her, and the two of them met while she was still in high school. Carreyrou acknowledges the bad optics of this situation, but states, "Employees who saw the two interact up close describe a partnership in which Holmes, even if she was almost twenty years younger, had the last say. Moreover, Balwani didn't join Theranos until late 2009. By then, Holmes had already been misleading pharmaceutical companies for years about the readiness of her technology." Certainly Holmes should not absolved of anything she did, but it wouldn't hurt to give Balwani more scrutiny and not try to wave away the possibility of abuse just because employees didn't see him abusing her.

If this kind of intrigue sounds interesting to you, or you'd like to get up-to-date on the latest news, read away! It's a good one. If you want to wait for a version of the story more polished and less myopic, I don't blame you.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ♥ (4.5/5)

35. There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

Makani Young moved from Hawaii to Nebraska in the middle of her junior year of high school to get away from her past, and to take care of her aging grandma. But really, it was so her narcissistic parents don't have to deal with her while they go through a nasty divorce. Now it's October of her senior year and she's still the outsider in this small town. And then the town starts getting smaller. A brutal serial killer murders the lead of the school play, and then the star of the football team. Who is next? Who is the killer? Why does Makani's grandmother keep leaving cabinet doors open?

As usual, Perkins' book is completely un-put-downable. I read the second two-thirds in one sitting. She has a vivid way of writing that makes you feel like a scene was several pages long, but then you look back and realize it was only 4 sentences. I would not consider myself a horror/thriller/slasher movie (or book) fan, but this did seem to scratch some kind of itch. The plot isn't anything revolutionary; we never get inside the killer's mind, nothing happens that doesn't usually happen in this type of story. It's just GOOD. I particularly liked that every time a character is going to get murdered, the chapter starts from their point of view (close 3rd person). That way we know who is going to be murdered before they actually do, without having to be inside the killer's head or learning who the killer is before the main characters do. Very clever. The story also deftly avoids the sexist and purity-related tropes that are frequently found in the genre.

And of course, because it's Stephanie Perkins, there's a delicious romance, with no "will-they-won't-they" about it.

Highly recommended if you like this sort of thing, tentatively recommended if you don't like books about murder.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ (5/5)

>5 leahbird: Thanks Leah! If you hate all zombie books then I don't know if you'll like this one, but I did find it to be a little different than others. The zombies are neither particularly fast nor slow, and most people get infected due to a small encounter and poor medical care versus brutal attacks. It's up to you!

>6 drneutron: Thanks Jim! I do think you would like it

Ouch, two book bullets in a row! Even though I have no interest in horror books either.

I still need to read Stephanie Perkins' other books, but for some reason they never seem to be available at the library.

>10 _Zoe_: If you're not *interested* in horror books, I still think you'll like it. I'm only warning away people who are too squeamish for them.

They're probably always checked out because they're so good :-D

Happy new thread, Nora!

I never felt attrackted to zombie books, can't say that anymore after reading The Girl with all the Gifts.

>12 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita! That sure is a unique one, isn't it!

>13 norabelle414: Yes it was, Nora, sadly the sequel isn't translated (yet) :-(

>11 norabelle414: Hmm, I wonder whether I'm squeamish. I can't even remember the last time I tried reading a horror-ish book, but I definitely don't think I could watch the teen slasher movies that I used to.

Maybe eventually I'll just suck it up and buy one of her books.

>14 FAMeulstee: Don't worry, I loved The Girl with All the Gifts but the sequel was so boring that I abandoned it at around 20%. I should probably pick it up again one day.

Nice new digs, friend!

And those are some wonderful reviews! I'm particularly intrigued by the zombie book -- like Leah, I don't usually enjoy zombie books, but that sounds really much less gruesome and more atmospheric than the usual fare. Intriguing!

>8 norabelle414: And I'm still on the fence... Sigh.

>15 _Zoe_: Well, this one is less than 300 pages so if you don't like it at least you won't have wasted too much time on it. I do recommend her YA romance trilogy because they are very fun.

>16 beserene: Thanks Sarah! Coincidentally those reviews bring me up to a round 400 book reviews I've written. Go me!

>17 MickyFine: Sorry I can't be more help! If you want I could tell you what pages all the mushy romance is on so you can read just those? :-)

36. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Things changed for Frankie Landau-Banks between her freshman and sophomore years at Alabaster boarding school. She got curves and got prettier and suddenly she's caught the eye of Matthew Livingston: rich, smart, charismatic, and the most popular senior at the school. As his girlfriend, Frankie gleefully gets caught up in his world of charming, carefree, clever rich boys. But they'll never truly let her be one of them, because she's just a girl. Matthew is always sneaking away and lying to Frankie about the existence of a secret society, for boys only. They'll never see how great she truly is, and they don't care to, because she's just a girl. So she'll have to make them see.

The biggest disservice I have ever done to myself is not reading this book until now. I feel Frankie deep in my soul and if this book had existed when I was in high school and early college it would have changed the way I see the world. I feel the way that Frankie's demand for equality based on her gender sets her apart from everyone. She's self-assured enough to hang out with the boys but no matter how smart and confident she is, they will never let her be one of them. The boys treated Frankie like garbage in that way that's not really abuse and they don't know they're doing it, but they have just been trained since they were born that girls are less than boys (and live in an institution that reinforces that). I loved how Frankie really liked Matthew and wanted to do everything to earn his respect, while also knowing that she should not have to do so much to earn his respect. I loved the incorporation of philosophical concepts like panopticism. (I'm very into philosophy lately, can you tell?) I loved Frankie's word games. I loved the narrator's constant reminders that, no matter how this story ends, this is just a brief sliver of Frankie's life and girls like Frankie will change the world.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ (6/5)

And #401 is an awesome review! Now I totally want to read The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks and I don't even LIKE contemporary YA! Go you, indeed!

>18 norabelle414: Tempting. I'm trying to get a friend who doesn't mind horror and also knows my tolerance levels really well to read it so I can figure out whether I could handle it. :)

>19 norabelle414: I also really liked that one when I read it back in my early LT days.

>17 MickyFine: Same here -- I'm on the fence, too. I probably will not read it, but there's some part of me that says, "Go ahead! I'm sure you will not have nightmares!"

>19 norabelle414: Ahh, such a good book!

>22 foggidawn: We are total brain twins on this one, Foggi. ;)

>23 MickyFine: Yeah, if your friend reads it, let me know the verdict!

Ok, I'm off on vacation! Here's my river cruise itinerary:

Sep 8: Passau
Night 1: Cruise to Engelhartszell
Sep 9: Melk, Durnstein, Vienna
Sep 10: Vienna
Night 3: Cruise past Bratislava, cruise to Esztergom
Sep 11: Esztergom, Budapest
Sep 12: Budapest
Sep 13: Disembark in Budapest

Here are the books coming with me:

Quiver by Julia Watts - LTER
Just the Funny Parts: ... and a few hard truths about sneaking into the hollywood boys' club by Nell Scovell
The Atomic City Girls by Janet Beard - LTER
A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

My goal is to read at least two sections of War and Peace, so that I'm only 3 weeks behind or less when I get back.

>25 norabelle414: Have a fun trip!

>25 norabelle414: Have a fantastic time! I look forward to all the updates when you get back!

Happy new thread!! Hope you have a wonderful trip!

Have a wonderful trip!

>7 norabelle414: I recently read Bad Blood and was just blown away by the fraud and how many smart, respectable men were taken in by the fraud. I spent a lot of the reading time just shaking my head and "tsk"ing. I really enjoyed the read.

Karen O.

Wow, nice set of stops. mrsdrneutron and I want to take a similar cruise sometime next year.

Thanks everybody! I did indeed have a great time. I had a bit of a rough last day and trip home, but everything resolved itself just fine.

I cannot recommend the company/ship that we were on highly enough. There were only about 80 passengers, the boat was comfortable and modern and not too fussy, and the staff were AMAZING. https://www.croisieuroperivercruises.com/boat/ms-symphonie

I'll post a bit more, with some pictures, when I have a bit more time.

Unfortunately, none of the bookstores I went to had Early Riser in stock, so my plans were foiled. I'll have to wait until February!

Welcome home, and glad it was such a good trip! Looking forward to seeing some photos :)

37. Quiver by Julia Watts

Liberty, known as Libby, is the eldest child in a "quiverfull" household - fundamentalist Christians who believe in having as many children as they possibly can in order to populate the earth with like-minded people. She and her siblings live in rural Tennessee and are homeschooled, with boys taught how to provide for the family and girls taught how to be obedient wives and mothers. They take no "government assistance" (highly debatable, but that's what they claim) and live an isolated life until the day when new neighbors move in next door. Zo is 16, the same age as Libby, but a liberal, a feminist, gender-fluid, and unlike anyone Libby has ever met before. Their family moved from Knoxville to rural Tennessee when Zo started having a hard time at school, to try living a different kind of life. The two teens enjoy each other's company, learn about each other's lives, and start becoming friends, which neither of their families are thrilled about.

At first this seemed like a "both sides learn something about each other" type story, but toward the end devolves into Zo's family saving Libby and her mother from their hyper-fundamental abusive father. It was too tidy, one-sided, and not as nuanced as it had the potential to be. What I did enjoy about the ending was 1) learning more about Libby's mom and 2) Zo and family realizing that trying to remove themselves from society is not going to solve the problem of their child being depressed. But I did have a problem with how Zo's family got there in the first place. Why would they think that was a good idea? Zo wasn't even actually bullied for gender fluidity, just treated badly by an ex. Depression was certainly an issue but there are a million better solutions than moving out to the middle of nowhere to be homeschooled. And then when that doesn't work, they move back to the same place in Knoxville and Zo goes back to the same school? Why not continue to live in the rural area and go to the local school? Why not go to a different school in Knoxville? Overall, I keep thinking of small changes to this book that would make it more interesting. What if Zo was less self-assured? What if Libby was more self-assured? What if Zo's home life was less perfect? (I know it seems like I hated the book but I did enjoy 90% of it, I'm just being nitpicky.) It's a fine read, well written and with characters that are not often portrayed in media, but I didn't find the plot to be thought-provoking on my end. I do think a reader who is unfamiliar with Libby's lifestyle and/or Zo's would get more out of this than I did.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ (4/5)

Wow. Quiver looks like a good book to read! Is it aimed at teens, I assume? I'm currently reading The Hate U Give and feel awful that that is the type of reality books teens read today. I mean that in a "this shouldn't be reality" sort of way, not in a "teens shouldn't read this" sort of way. Quiver looks like another such book (though hopefully not as depressing). I wish acceptance were the norm and hard books didn't have to be written.

Lol. Ok, maybe I'm feeling the pre-partum blues today and things seem worse than they are. I need to read something cheerful today.

>34 norabelle414: I think I'll have to pick that one up just because it's about my city and my rural TN home. I'm very curious how the issues are handled with a view to our cultural climate. Knoxville is pretty progressive in general but it's still surrounded by a lot of Bible Belt.

>35 The_Hibernator: Yes, it's definitely aimed at teens. It's a worthwhile read though I wanted it to be more insightful than it was. The Hate U Give is very special, I'm not sure many books are going to be able to live up to that standard! Personally I found Quiver to be a little depressing, only because I know that in real life things don't end so neatly as they do in the book.

>36 leahbird: I was thinking of you as I was reading it. That is *very much* the perspective of the book as well. Zo was pretty well accepted in their Knoxville high school until breaking up with their girlfriend, but then the family moves out to the middle of nowhere and that decision just does not make sense to me. The author was born in Kentucky and currently lives in Knoxville so I imagine she knows what she's talking about.

I'm glad you had great trip.

I've been shy about reading the Lockhart, because I worried it would depress me. I'll have to give it a go soon. Great review! Thanks for writing it.

>37 norabelle414: I just finished that book last weekend and had pretty much the same reaction as you. I really enjoyed the premise and the story overall, but I was disappointed by the ending.

>38 libraryperilous: I can see how it might be depressing if I wasn't in the right mood. I think the narrator does a decent job of reminding the reader that this is just a small chapter in Frankie's life and that she (and girls like her) will go on to change the world.

>39 _Zoe_: Good to know I'm not alone :-)

38. A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

Jamie Watson has been waiting all 16 years of his life to meet her: Charlotte Holmes, his great-great-great-grandfather's best friend's great-great-great-granddaughter. They just happen to end up at the same Connecticut boarding school, and as soon as they meet a fellow student just happens to be murdered. Funny how that works. Jamie and Charlotte are being framed for the attack, and another, and must work together to figure out who is setting them up and how to stop them. And by "work together" I mean Jamie needs to keep her off drugs and get out of her way.

I'll call this book "weak", somewhat charitably. The mystery is not compelling and the clues were broadcast so loudly I could hear them a mile away. I was looking forward to meeting the young, modern versions of Watson and Holmes, and watching them meet each other. However, when the book starts they already "know" each other by reputation, despite having never met, and by taking this shortcut the author denies us the chance to see sparks fly when the two meet for the first time. That would have been the best part of the book, if it was in it. Instead, Jamie comes from a long line of identical Watsons and Charlotte from a long line of identical Holmeses. My two biggest problems with the book are somewhat related to this premise.

Firstly, this first book in a series does nothing to ease us into the lives of Holmes and Watson. Because there is no "getting to know you" period, it's high drama almost from the get-go, with constant heavy references to the original Sherlock Holmes stories, various minor characters from those stories popping up to betray the main characters, and the climax of the mystery hinging on a generations-old feud. There is so much ancillary drama that it completely overshadows the mystery, such that by the time I got toward the end I had fully forgotten that any students were attacked in the first place, or that Holmes and Watson were framed for it.

Cavallaro's effort to gender-bend the character of Sherlock is well-intentioned. Doyle's stories are a sausage fest! But by changing Sherlock to Charlotte, leaving Watson male, and keeping Watson as the first person POV, Cavallaro walks right into a much more modern but equally tired trope - Charlotte Holmes is a manic pixie dream girl. She is an enigma who comes out of nowhere to make boring Watson's life more interesting so that he doesn't have to develop a personality. She is small in stature and needs him to take care of her. Worst of all, because of the Holmes/Watson legacy, Watson has basically been stalking Holmes his entire life. He has scrapbooks of news stories about her and has written fanfic about the two of them for years. It's super creepy! Because Watson is male and Charlotte is female, obviously he must be in love with her. We are told constantly about how he feels about her, with little regard for how she feels about him. She is not interested a relationship, as is canon, but it's because she was raped, not because she's just *not interested*. How tiresome.

I have noticed that this is popularly read in audiobook format, and if I had done that instead I might have been able to overlook the book's shortcomings more.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ (3/5)

Well, that's another I can take off my list... :)

>41 norabelle414: Many of us who listened in audio got it through AudioSync over the summer. I found shortcomings with it even in audio.

>43 thornton37814: Yeah I doubt that would iron out all of the problems but I think it would have been easier to ignore things like the book very pointedly noting that the school nurse was twenty-three years old. If the school nurse at your very fancy expensive boarding school is very pointedly twenty-three years old, they're either a murderous jilted ex-lover or you're in a porno.

Other media updates:

Theater: Last weekend I went to see Macbeth at the Folger Shakespeare Theater. My cousin, who performs at the Folger frequently, was playing Macbeth, his wife was playing Lady Macduff, and their son was playing Banquo's son. This was a Restoration adaptation, so a little different than what I'm used to, but I enjoyed that part. This production was also set as if it was being performed by inmates at Bedlam. In theory this might seem like it works well, because madness is one of the themes of the play. It did work very well for the sets (gorgeous creepy iron cages and fake curtains made out of dirty old sheets), and the witches, and Duncan was "played" by the "jailer". Practically, however, the plot of Macbeth doesn't work if everyone's insane to begin with. It was hard to maintain, and by the end the Bedlam concept seemed mostly forgotten. (Malcolm had a limp at the start of the performance but it disappeared by Act II). There was also a moment when Duncan was murdered where I thought maybe the inmates at Bedlam had killed their jailer for real, while performing the play? But then Duncan appeared as a ghost later so that could not be the case. I was not impressed, though I have seen all the actors in other productions and I think they were doing their best with weird material.

(My cousin's son, in particular, is 8 years old and he did a really fantastic job! That's what happens when you have Shakespearean actors for parents and grandparents, I guess)

Other Events: Last night I went to see Deborah Harkness at Politics & Prose at the Wharf, on tour for her new book Time's Convert. I still haven't read her previous book, so I didn't pick up this one, but she is always a great author to see. Very entertaining. She talked quite a bit about the TV adaptation of A Discovery of Witches, currently airing pretty much everywhere except North America. If anyone is interested it will be released in the US in very early 2019 on the Sundance Channel

Tonight I'm going to a live show of the podcast Welcome to Night Vale, and I'm very excited.

TV: some things I'm watching recently -
American Vandal, season 2 - I've only watched a few episodes, but it's great so far.
Forever - A story about marriage, but with a twist. Starring Maya Rudolph. It had a *lot* of potential but I don't think it lived up to it. Short enough that it's worth watching, though. It has some VERY GOOD episodes.
The First - A Hulu drama about a manned mission to Mars. I've only watched the first episode and it was good but I'm reserving judgement until I've watched more.
You - based on the thriller You by Caroline Kepnes about a guy who thinks he is great and is in love with a woman, but the audience can see that he's super creepy and stalking her. It's really really fantastic and I can't stop thinking about it.
The Miniaturist - BBC miniseries based on the historical fiction The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton. Kind of eerie and very sad and very very very beautiful!
Sierra Burgess Is a Loser - Netflix teen movie very loosely based on Cyrano de Bergerac. Imperfect, but enjoyable. Might have been better if it had not immediately followed To All the Boys I've Loved Before, which was a masterpiece.
Ghoul - Indian horror miniseries about a military base haunted by a man-eating ghoul that can possess anyone it comes into contact with. Scary and political, with bonus points for subverting my expectations.
The Innocents - A teenage girl in Ireland develops the power to transform into other people, but can't really control it. I'm only halfway through but so far I really enjoy it.
Disenchantment - mediocre
I Am Frankie - a very cute Nickelodeon show about a teenage girl who is an Android, but tries to hide it while attending high school. The perfect ratio of humor and drama.
Lodge 49 - boring, I dropped it after two episodes.
The Outpost - horribly awful camp fantasy drama, but god help me I'm still watching it anyway
Killjoys and Wynonna Earp - good as always
Burden of Truth - Canadian import about a big-city lawyer investigating a small-town case of teen girls exposed to toxic chemicals. Pretty good.
Carter - Canadian import about a big-city actor who thinks he is a small-town cop because he played one on TV. Pretty funny.

>45 norabelle414: That's . . . a concept, all right. Too bad it didn't work better. I saw The Winter's Tale at the Folger 10+ years ago and really enjoyed it, but it was a pretty straight staging of the play.

>46 foggidawn: Yeah I go to the Folger about once every year or two, any time my cousin is there, and this is the first thing I've seen there in many years that I didn't love. Oh well!
Eight years ago my cousin was there playing Macbeth and his wife was playing Lady Macduff seven months pregnant, and it was a straight staging *except* that it had practical effects directed by Penn Gilette of Penn & Teller. They splashed the whole first row with fake blood! It was great.

>44 norabelle414: *snerk*

>48 drneutron: I'm glad someone appreciated my joke. I almost didn't put it in spoiler tags, so that everyone could see it.

Yesterday I went to a party at the library (a branch that is open on Sundays, unlike my usual branch) for people who have finished the group read of War and Peace, despite the fact that I have not finished the book yet. I only have about 250 pages to go, though! I'm in the home stretch. There were about 20 people at the party, including the three librarian hosts of the podcast and facebook chat. I really enjoy listening to the podcast episodes, but I never participated in any of the facebook chats because 1) I have never been fully caught up with the reading and 2) I am simultaneously too old and too young to understand how facebook works.

I recently started listening to Wolverine: The Long Night, an original scripted podcast from Marvel. (Yes, I added it on LT. You can't stop me!)
The writing seemed a little familiar and I found out it's written by Benjamin Percy, who wrote a cool werewolf horror novel I read (listened to) a few years ago, Red Moon.

(edited to fix touchstones!)

Some recent book acquisitions:

I bought a signed, illustrated hardcover edition of Soulless by Gail Carriger, and am planning a reread sometime in the near future

In what is clearly serindipity, my local library book sale shelf had a good-condition paperback copy of A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab, the sequel to A Darker Shade of Magic which I read a few months ago. Not only did it cost 50 cents, but I also had a coupon for a free book from the book sale shelf, which was expiring the next day.

From LibraryThing Early Reviewers I won a copy of The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge by M. T. Anderson, illustrated by Eugene Yelchin. It arrived yesterday and is a *gorgeous* finished hardcover edition. I've been meaning to read M. T. Anderson for a long time and this seems a good place to start!

>41 norabelle414: I got that one free over the summer reading program. I plan on skipping it :(

>51 norabelle414: Ooh, enjoy A Gathering of Shadows! I loved that series and really have to read more of hers.

Goals through the long weekend:
- Finish War and Peace
- Read books 8, 9, 10, and 11 of The Odyssey (Emily Wilson translation)
- Return *some* of the books I have checked out from the library, which ones they are going to be, TBD
- Finish listening to Talking As Fast As I Can
- Keep my cat and the cat I am cat-sitting for from killing each other

Keeping cats from killing each other may actually take up most of your time? Hopefully not. You've got a lot of heavy reading on that list of things to do.

>55 The_Hibernator: They're not actually going to kill each other, but they do love to chase each other in circles and make a LOT of noise. The trick is making them *think* that I am looking at them. If they think I'm looking at them they are perfect angels who love each other.

>56 norabelle414: lulz. Cats are so dope, but they are like little missiles full of petty when they think humans aren't watching them.

>57 libraryperilous: Our guest does not have teeth (removed for medical reasons), but he is always the one who instigates the fights and I'm like

W
H
Y

39. The Language of Spells by Garret Weyr, Illustrated by Katie Harnett

In 1803 the last dragon ever is born, named Grisha. He lives with his mother in the black forest of Germany until he is about 60 years old, when he has an encounter with an evil magician and is turned into a teapot. For 80 years he lives as a teapot, shuffled around Europe in various households. When he is finally transformed back into a dragon, right after World War II, he learns that all dragons from all over the world are heading to Vienna, so he does too.
Several months later he is working as a janitor and meets a lonely girl named Maggie. She asks him where all the other dragons are and he .... doesn't remember. Can Grisha and Maggie find out what happened to the dragons, and get them back?

This book has all the elements of something I would really love, but they are not formed into a cohesive world or narrative. I loved the setting, and magic, and dragons, and I mostly really liked Maggie. But other than that I found the book to be way too long and unnecessarily explain-y. It was always telling and rarely showing. I really liked the beginning of the book, learning about dragons and seeing European history from the eyes of Teapot-Grisha, but that turned out to be almost irrelevant to the rest of the book.

The only thing I did not like about Maggie was that the book makes a big deal of how Maggie is "special", in a way I really did not care for, and the perspective of the book is very misanthropic. All humans are mean and cruel, except Maggie and her father. Maggie is lonely and wants to make friends, but when she talks to other kids they think she is weird and don't want to be friends with her. This is presented as "people are terrible" instead of "a kid raised without any contact with other kids is going to have a hard time relating to other kids and so maybe you shouldn't do that."

As far as the magic goes, the author makes a lot of complicated rules and then either ignores them or hand-waves them away as convenient. The evil magician casts a lot of spells, but the magic system is such that if the spells a magician casts are broken, the magician loses their power. Why would a magician bother to cast such pointless spells as turning a dragon into a teapot and selling the teapot if the breaking of that spell would mean that his power would be diminished?

In the end, Maggie saves the dragons by giving up her "first and only friend". However, she actually loses the ability to see or interact with any part of the magical world. Either of those things would make sense as an ending but the book presents them as if they are the same thing, which they are not. It just doesn't quite click.

There's some seriously wonderful material here, but it's lost in a book that desperately needs an edit. My dislike is definitely influenced by the high hopes I had after the first few chapters. I did very much enjoy the *gorgeous* illustrations. It's probably aimed at a middle-grade or younger audience, though it's 300 pages and contains complex language and ideas.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ♥ (3.5/5)

I also finished War & Peace AND Talking As Fast As I Can yesterday! And I think I've figured out a way to manage my remaining library books without having to return any of them unread.

I did not read any of The Odyssey, but there's plenty of time for that once I write a review of War and Peace (how does one even do that??)

Yesterday evening I was sitting in my living room watching TV when I heard loud cat-fight noises coming from the bedroom (where my guest cat, Lunar, likes to hang out). So I yelled "HEY, STOP FIGHTING" from my chair. Then Rory looked up from two feet to my left with a disgruntled face like "Excuse me, I was in the middle of a nap." So I guess Lunar was making cat fight noises by himself in the other room? He's a weird one.

>60 norabelle414: Congratulations on finishin War and Peace!

Congrats on finishing War and Peace! It's a big one!

Seconding, or thirding, the congrats here -- that's quite an achievement!

Thanks Anita, Rachel, and Sarah! I'm still working on that review....

________________________________________

On Friday my coworker twisted my arm and forced me to go to the local library book sale, against my will.

I bought the following books which were already on my TBR list:
The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
The Accidental Empress by Allison Pataki
Dietland by Sarai Walker

And the following books which were not already on my TBR list:
H Is for Hawk by Helen McDonald
Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett
The Tower, The Zoo, and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart
The Quick by Lauren Owen
The Wangs vs. The World by Jade Chang
13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

This prompted me to do a little mini-inventory of my books. I'm not taking them all off the shelves like when I do a full inventory, I'm just checking if there's any that are missing or have not been added to LT, and shelving new books and books I've read recently. I've also picked out 3 books to get rid of so far, hopefully I'll weed out a few more before I'm done.

Oooh, nice haul! Aren't friends who absolutely force you to go to book sales through none of your own volition just the best kind of friends? :D

40. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (translated by Ann Dunnigan)

In 1805 Pierre Bezukhov returns to Saint Petersburg to the bedside of his dying father, and ends up inheriting Count Bezukhov’s title and all of his assets. Suddenly, he’s the most eligible (and most socially-awkward) bachelor in all of Russia. All the ladies are after him, and he is very confused, so ends up ill-advisedly marrying the seductive and manipulative Helene Kuragin, who is probably sleeping with her equally debauched brother. Whoops! Meanwhile, war is about to break out between Tsar Alexander and Emperor Napoleon, and all the young men want in on it. Pierre’s friend Prince Andrei Bolkonsky wants to go to war to get away from his very amiable, very pregnant wife. 20-year-old Nikolai Rostov of Moscow wants to go to war to prove he is an adult (and he has a huge platonic crush on Tsar Alexander). Nikolai’s best friend Boris wants to go to war because he’s broke, and in love with Nikolai’s 13-year-old sister Natasha. As is everyone else. These men are all very rich and they think war is very glamorous. Turns out, it is not.

The inter-personal plot of this epic tale is quite excellent, but boy is it bogged down by both detailed descriptions of troop movements and battles, as well as Tolstoy’s personal axe-grinding against his contemporaries. It’s possible that it was insightful at the time of publication, but now, not so much.

These characters though! The main characters (especially Pierre and Natasha) are mostly boring and insufferable and deserve each other. But the villains and minor characters are so delightful. Boris’ eventual wife Julie (who is only in about 10 pages of the book) is SUPER GOTH - Boris woos her by writing poetry about death and drawing her a picture of a grave. Pierre’s wife Helene is an awful person but boy does she know how to work with what she’s given. She sleeps with EVERYONE – her brother (a great villain), Pierre’s houseguest Dolokov (also a great villain), Boris (boring except for his great taste in women), a government official and a Catholic priest (playing them against each other in an elaborate plot to divorce Pierre), and dies in a botched abortion. Truly a legend. Tolstoy is not particularly great at writing women, certainly not by today’s standards, but just due to the fact that there are 600 named characters in this book, by default some of the female characters have to be unique and interesting. Good job! On the flip side from the villains is sweet Denisov, Nikolai’s mentor and Natasha’s first suitor. His only characteristics are that he is nice to everyone and he talks with a lisp and he likes to eat sausages while writing letters.

I’m glad that I read this once, I enjoyed many parts of it. And I will never read it again.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ (4/5)

41. Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (and Everything in between) by Lauren Graham, read by Lauren Graham

Actress Lauren Graham describes her early life, her beginnings as an actress, and roles she had before Gilmore Girls. She rewatches some episodes of Gilmore Girls (which she says she has not done before) and talks about what the experience was like and how she felt at the time. She discusses a little bit of her time on the show Parenthood (but not very much), mostly focused on how the experience was different than that of Gilmore Girls. For example, she had a lot more free time since she was not the only lead of the show and that is how she got started writing. Then she transcribes sections of the diary that she kept while filming the Gilmore Girls revival in 2016. (This book came out in the same month as the Gilmore Girls revival.)

Graham is, as to be expected, a funny writer and an excellent narrator. The memoir is chronological, but the writing is mostly a stream-of-consciousness style that is popular with celebrity (especially comedian) memoirs currently.

Overall I did not like this memoir as much as I liked Graham’s novel. However, that’s mostly because 1) I am not a memoir person and 2) I probably waited too long to read this. It’s been almost two years since the Gilmore Girls revival came out, and most of the Gilmore Girls behind-the-scenes tidbits I already knew, because I was ravenously consuming everything Gilmore Girls-related at the time.

All that being said, if you want to spend some time being inoffensively talked at by a soothing and familiar voice, you cannot go wrong with this audiobook.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ (4/5)

Hahaha, that review of W&P is fab. After reading Give War and Peace a Chance, I wanted to yell out to everyone that, actually, Hélène seemed like the real badass of the book and that Pierre seemed an obnoxious milquetoast. Seriously, my first thought was, "This dude is Tolstoy's Edward Ferrars. Save all the women from him."

>68 libraryperilous: Thanks Diana!

Nikolai, Natasha, and Pierre are all awful. Nikolai and Natasha get a little bit of a pass because they are so amusing when they are young and dumb though. Nikolai complaining that the French should not be shooting at him on the battlefield because everybody loves him still makes me chuckle.

Helene having sex with her brother is super yikes but the way that she plays all of high society by building up the love triangle with the government official and the priest to make everyone forget that she's actually still married to Pierre is GENIUS.

I was reading it as part of a program at the local public library (though I fell woefully behind) and everyone else seemed to agree that Pierre is the worst. It does seem like Tolstoy wrote him that way on purpose, a little bit, but also Pierre is supposed to be loosely based on Tolstoy himself?

I'm late on this but congrats on finishing W&P. I did it a couple years ago and I've already forgotten large chunks of the plot.

>70 MickyFine: Thanks Micky! I think listening to the podcast about it and talking to the other people who read it at the same time is going to help cement it in my memory better than if I had read it without a support system.

I finished Wonder Woman: Warbringer this weekend, and if I can write a review later today then I can return it to the library and probably won't have to return any books unread (except for one which I bought a copy of at the book sale a few weeks ago, but that doesn't count)! I really enjoyed it.

I had scheduled lots of reading time for Sunday, but I had a headache (probably from lack of sleep), so I read for a bit and then watched a lot of TV. I did get about 50 pages into The Belles. Also checked out from the library is I, Claudia, the new book from the author of my favorite book from last year, Camp So-and-So. I'm still reading Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey. Between that and War & Peace I think I'm going to lean more toward fluffy reads for the rest of the year.

>72 norabelle414: Fluffy reads sounds like an excellent reward after knocking off two "Important" reads. Mr. Fine is currently reading the Wonder Woman book and enjoying it. :)

42. Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

Teenage Diana, daughter of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, rescues a mortal girl from a shipwreck off the coast of Themyscira. Mortals are not allowed on the island, so Diana tells no one except the nearby Oracle. The Oracle tells Diana that the girl, Alia Keralis, is a Warbringer - female descendants of Helen of Troy who are born every few generations and throw the world into violent disarray. All of the outside world will be looking for Alia - half of them to keep her alive so they can take advantage of her chaos, the other half to kill her and ensure a few years' peace. All Diana has to do is nothing - Alia will die on Themyscira and the world will go back to normal. But Diana longs to prove herself the way all of her Amazon sisters have, and what better way than to take Alia to mainland Greece and end the Warbringer curse forever?

An enjoyable read, but with all the imperfections of many similar YA books. Alia and her friends are really great characters, who felt real and I enjoyed spending time with them. However, they made really dumb decisions simply to make exciting things happen in the plot - like halting their trip to Greece to go to a black-tie gala likely attended by the people trying to kill Alia, who think she is dead. Yes, it's exciting to read about bad guys with grenade launchers destroying the Met, but it makes no sense that the group would go to the party and if they hadn't they likely would have made it to Greece unscathed.

But other than that I really liked it. Diana's motivations for doing something she did not really need to do were understandable. I enjoyed the incorporation of various gods, and the feminist view of Helen's story. Bardugo does a good job of incorporating non-white and non-straight characters where other Wonder Woman media has not. It is worth noting that this book absolutely does not fit into the chronology of last year's Wonder Woman movie, so don't expect anything here to end up in the DCCU (or vice versa).

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ (4/5)

>74 norabelle414: Ooh, I had that one on my TBR list, but I don't know if I have any tolerance left for protagonists doing stupid things just to add excitement to the plot. I put down Children of Blood and Bone six months ago when the characters decided to hold off on their super time-sensitive mission to save the world and go to a party instead, and I haven't been able to get back into it.

>75 _Zoe_: Yeah, this one requires quite a bit of suspension of disbelief. So maybe not for you :-) But the nice thing is that all the books in this "series" are written by different authors so you could try Batman: Nightwalker, Catwoman: Soulstealer, or Superman: Dawnbreaker instead. On the Marvel side, have you read Miles Morales: Spider-Man by Jason Reynolds? I think you'd really like that one.

>75 _Zoe_: Ooh, that part of that book infuriated me! I pushed through it and kept reading, but I was so annoyed!

>75 _Zoe_: lol! That would annoy me too!

Tonight I went to an author talk at the Natural History Museum by journalist Paige Williams about her new book The Dinosaur Artist: Obsession, Betrayal, and the Quest for Earth's Ultimate Trophy. The talk was .... not great. Which is odd, because she's a lecturer? She said she had never talked about her book with a slideshow before and had cobbled something together. Most of the pictures she had taken herself but she was very focused on what she didn't know about them (e.g. "I don't remember if this was taken in Arizona or Colorado") rather than what she did know about them. She seemed very nervous, and apparently the museum staff didn't tell her until a few minutes beforehand that the talk would be livestreamed on Facebook, which I imagine could be nerve-wracking.

The book looks good, though, and I did buy a copy. As far as I can tell it's mostly about a man named Eric Prokopi who "hunted" fossils in Florida when he was a kid and sold them, and then into adulthood collected (bought or located himself) and sold whole skeletons of extinct vertebrates. He got more and more valuable scores until eventually he went to Mongolia, hired workers to dig up a whole Tyrannosaurus skeleton, brought it home and mounted it, and tried to sell it at an auction for a million dollars. This resulted in him being sued by the US federal government on behalf of the Mongolian government in the epically titled "United States v. One Tyrannosaurus Bataar Skeleton"

The author meandered so much in her talk that when her time was up she had only barely gotten to the part where Prokopi made contacts in Mongolia, which would have been a bizarre place to end if the staff hadn't let her keep going for awhile longer.

Based on some stuff she talked about in the Q&A I think there's a lot in the book about the illegal and legal fossil trade which sounds fascinating and I'm excited to read it.

>79 norabelle414: Too bad the talk wasn't better, but the book sounds fascinating!

>80 bell7: I did get some good tidbits out of the talk, like that the US is the only so-called "dinosaur country"* that allows private ownership of vertebrate fossils found on private land. In most countries if you find a vertebrate fossil on private property it belongs to the country. This means that the U.S. is the only place with an actual legal (vertebrate) fossil market. This makes things very murky with regard to illegal fossils, because how do you prove that a particular fossil came from a) private land owned by the seller (legal fossil), b) public land (sometimes legal, sometimes illegal), or c) someone else's private land the seller was on illegally (illegal fossil). That explains why no one batted an eye at seeing a whole Tyrannosaurus skeleton in a U.S. auction, except a Mongolian-American paleontologist who immediately recognized it as T. baatar from Mongolia or China and not T. rex from North America. Since Mongolia, like the other dinosaur countries, does not allow private ownership of vertebrate fossils, there was no way Prokopi had obtained it legally.

Also, Tyrannosaurus arm bones are the same length as human arm bones, which is hilarious.

*countries with significant amounts of dinosaur fossils - i.e. US, Canada, Mongolia, China, Argentina, Russia, and England

Ok, on the list that one goes...

>81 norabelle414: I love the tidbit about T. Rex arm bones. :)

>81 norabelle414: Okay, I'm definitely going to have to read that book at some point...

Sometimes, when I want to feel better about things, I Google "T rex tiny arm memes" for a laugh.

The Dinosaur Artist sounds very good, and I didn't know there had been a lawsuit, especially one with such a great name.

43. The Yellow Wallpaper (short story) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, read by Kirsten Potter

A woman and her husband and young child rent a house for a few months while their house is being renovated. They stay in an attic bedroom with confusingly-patterned yellow wallpaper. The woman, already dealing with mental health problems, slowly becomes delusional due to her husband keeping her in the room with nothing to do but stare at the wallpaper every day.

I was expecting this story to speak to me much more than it actually did. I know what the generally accepted interpretation of this story is - the woman's husband is controlling and abusive and she projects that feeling on to the wallpaper as she goes crazy. However, if the reader is seeing things only from the woman's perspective, and the woman is definitely delusional by the end, and thus an unreliable narrator, who are we to say when exactly she turned delusional? I'm certainly among the first to point out when a man is too controling of a woman, but I think if the woman was delusional and paranoid from before the narration begins this story would look exactly the same.

The downside of listening to this story as an audiobook is that I had no sense of time passing. There were no dates or noticeable breaks in the narration, so one minute they are moving into the house for 3 months and the next minute they are a couple days from moving back home. The lack of sense of time might have had something to do with my interpretation. I did listen to it twice but that did not seem to help.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ♥ (3.5/5)

Some non-book updates:

The Welcome to Night Vale Podcast live show I went to in September was amazing and I highly recommend seeing them on tour if you like the podcast.

Last month I went to see Turn Me Loose, a one-man show about Dick Gregory. It was very funny and the acting was great. The one-man shows are the times when I'm really glad that I have a subscription to the theater, instead of buying separate tickets to the shows I'm interested in, because they are not flashy and exciting and I would probably skip them otherwise. But every time I see one it is enjoyable, moving, and an incredible feat of acting. I can't even imagine how someone would memorize a two hour play on a stage by themselves!

This week I'm going to see Anything Goes, a favorite of mine.

I went to see the season premiere of Doctor Who at the movie theater, as has become a tradition for me. The Doctor belongs on a big screen, honestly. I love sitting in a dark theater with a bunch of other nerds and shutting out the rest of the world for a couple hours.

On the 23rd some friends and I went to the local library's trivia night, which was horror-themed. Only 6 people showed up so we played individually instead of on teams. (Quite the contrast with January's Doctor Who trivia, when there were 10 teams of 3-6 people). I got a very very distant 2nd place.

My brother and sister-in-law bought a house last month. It's technically half a mile from my apartment, but there's an interstate highway between us so it's about a 1.25 mile walk. Still walkable, but also there is a bus if I'm feeling lazy. Our mom came to visit the last weekend of October. We had dinner at my brother's new house and went to Ikea and to a ribbon factory in Maryland that has a fun factory outlet. I bought a TON of really nice buttons for super cheap and I have no idea what I will do with them.

Last week I went to a live show of the podcast LeVar Burton Reads, in which LeVar Burton reads a work of short fiction and then (for the live shows) talks to the author about their work. He read a story by DC native Edward P. Jones, whom I have been meaning to get to for awhile. It was a good show and I might start listening to the podcast.

Next week I'll be going to San Diego for my annual conference.

Sounds like real life is awesome.

I haven't watched any of the new episodes of Doctor Who as I've cut the cable cord. :( Because I like having everything in the same format, I'm not doing a season subscription on iTunes like I am for Outlander, because all my other Doctor Who seasons are on DVD.

Have a great time in San Diego. I'll have serious weather envy as I think we've officially entered winter here. Forecasted highs around -8C (17F) for most of this week.

>88 MickyFine: I have weather envy of you, too. I bought 2 new pairs of tights in September and I have not gotten to wear them because it hasn't been cold enough for tights yet this season! Today it's 59F (15C) and pouring rain. Ugh.

>89 norabelle414: I'm wearing fleece-lined leggings right now. :P

TV updates (NOT comprehensive):

Legacies - a spin-off of The Originals, which is a spin-off of The Vampire Diaries. I have not watched either of those, but I love a good boarding school story and this is pretty accessible without having seen either of the other shows.
The Bureau of Magical Things - an Australian import kids' series about a human girl who accidentally gets magical powers and so goes to school with a bunch of fairies and elves. And also their school is an archive of magical things which sometimes cause trouble, or something? I don't totally understand it but it's very cute and sometimes gives me Warehouse 13 vibes.
Marvel's Daredevil, season 3 - Basically just the second part of season one? The villain is the same as season 1 and nothing that happened in season 2 or The Defenders or The Punisher is ever mentioned. It was fine to watch but what was the point?
Native America - a PBS documentary show in the vein of last year's Africa's Great Civilizations. The episodes are well structured and I am learning a lot but what made Africa's Great Civilizations really click was Henry Louis Gates Jr. as the on-screen narrator. This show only has a faceless (but let's be real, probably white) voice for a narrator.
Emma Approved - The webseries based on Emma is back! I don't like it! They're using a Patreon funding system now (which I have no problem with) and trying to write it into the show by calling patrons "investors" and talking about "board meetings" and stuff and it's really awkward and I hate it. Plus they now have Mr. Collins, the most annoying character from The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, on the show. Argh.
Single Parents - a cute sitcom about a bunch of misfit single parents who have each other's backs. My favorite part is that one of the characters owns a feminist bookstore/wine bar, but the show almost never portrays her as if she were pushing an agenda, or as if being a feminist is a personality in itself. She's just a feminist going about her business in the world.
The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell - A truly bizarre cross between Martha Stewart and the Addams Family. A very femme woman shows you how to make ridiculously elaborate cakes while having a conversation with her pets: a re-animated roadkill racoon, an egyptian cat mummy, and a werewolf. Produced by Jim Henson's company, of course.

>91 norabelle414: I didn't touch the continuation of Emma Approved because I couldn't handle anything going beyond the plot of the original book. Also, I'm really terrible at keeping up with things on YouTube now. Glad to hear I'm not missing anything.

More TV (still not comprehensive):

Happy Together - A married couple are in a bit of a rut until a young, very popular British pop star moves into their attic. Loosely based on the real life story of Harry Styles briefly living with a producer. The main couple are played by Amber Stevens West and Damon Wayans Jr, both of whom I love, and they make an otherwise uninteresting show very hilarious.
You - still a fantastic show!!! Now John Stamos is on it too.
Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj - very good, but I wish there was room on Netflix for this show AND the other talk shows it has cancelled.
Charmed - very enjoyable so far
Maniac - a Netflix miniseries starring Jonah Hill and Emma Stone. They are part of a drug trial and end up re-living the lives of people they vaguely interacted with, going back further and further in time. It kind of reminded me of Cloud Atlas? It wasn't bad but there is too much else for me to watch to finish out the whole series.
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina - I was skeptical of this because I really loved the 90s Sabrina show and I really don't like Riverdale. But I really enjoy this so far! It's spooky and feminist and very pretty to look at.
All-American - A kid from the poor part of LA gets recruited to play football for a high school in the rich part of LA, but he has to pretend that he lives there, so he moves in with the coach who recruited him, who is secretly his dad but he doesn't know that. It's basically the same as One Tree Hill, except this show is pretending to be about football but does not actually know how football works. Multiple times per episode I was forgetting that this show was about football and not basketball. I gave up after a few episodes, it was just too soapy for me.

>92 MickyFine: I don't mind the continuation aspect, or the plot, it's just the ham-fisted incorporation of the financing system into the plot that really bugs me. But I'm glad they're trying something new! Hopefully they can fine-tune it into something that works. And I'm glad they're around at all, since all my other webseries are over :-(

>74 norabelle414:, >76 norabelle414: Added Wonder Woman: Warbringer to the list although I'm also wondering about my tolerance for characters doing stupid things for plot reasons. It looks like they've got a good selection of authors to write the books in this series.

>81 norabelle414: 'Also, Tyrannosaurus arm bones are the same length as human arm bones, which is hilarious.'

:-D

>91 norabelle414: I loved Season 1 of Daredevil but gave up on Season 2 after 2/3 episodes (I was just really, really bored of watching Daredevil and Punisher beat the crap out of each other for no reason). Should I just skip to Season 3?

That's disappointing about Emma Approved - I loved the original series and the Lizzie Bennett Diaries and keep hoping they'll do something else.

And Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is on my list (for when I've finished Agents of Shield Season 5).

>95 souloftherose:
Wonder Woman - it's mostly just the one big stupid thing they do, other than that it's pretty good.
Daredevil - Maybe if you want to? I enjoyed season 2 because it had some other stuff going on (Electra, other superheroes, etc.). Almost nothing happened in season 3 and it could probably have been condensed into 4 or 5 more episodes at the end of season 1. It's just Matt stupidly fighting with his friends and Kingpin corrupting everyone. I didn't really *dislike* anything about it, but it felt like a step back for the whole mini-franchise (especially in light of the cancellation of Luke Cage and Iron Fist). Also Wilson Bethel is, and always will be, Wade Kinsella from Hart of Dixie and I can't see him (or hear him) as anyone else.



Emma Approved - I'm going to keep watching, hopeful that they will get into the groove of things soon. Have you watched Carmilla, The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy, or All For One? Those are other webseries that are of equal quality to LBD, if you need to get your fix.

Too bad about Emma Approved. I watched it for a little while (I'm not good at keeping up on TV/video) and it seemed pretty good.

>97 The_Hibernator: I mostly liked the first season of Emma Approved, although I think they totally screwed up one of the only big plot events in the book. I find it difficult to keep up with YouTube series more than any other kind of show. Usually I wait until I have 5 or so episodes to watch and catch up all at once.

Hello norabelle414!

>91 norabelle414: I watched the pilot of 'Single Parents' and laughed a lot. Sadly, I have not laughed much in the subsequent episodes.

Have you seen 'Manifest?

>99 brodiew2: I've been watching "Manifest" as well and am curious to know what people think. Not sure how I feel about it yet -- often, it seems like it's trying way too hard.

>99 brodiew2: Hi Brodie!
That's interesting, I think that the pilot was one of my least favorite episodes of Single Parents. The Brad Garrett character was really grating on me at the beginning but I think they have toned him down a bit (as well as Taran Killam's character). I like Poppy and Miggy a lot and look forward to seeing more of them.

I have been watching Manifest! I made my list based on what I have started watching recently but apparently didn't go back far enough. I like some parts of it, but I didn't miss it much last week when it wasn't on. I might stop watching soon. There's nothing wrong with it, it just can't hold my attention when I have other shows to watch.

>100 beserene: >101 norabelle414: I'm still on board with Manifest, but I can see where some problems lie. As much as the Josh Dallas character of Ben Stone could be hard to latch onto, I like him. He loves his family, even if he a bit detached. The added conspiracy element in this last episode was unneeded, but I'll see where it goes. I find the 'callings' very interesting and they have played out pretty well in previous episodes. this last one not so much. The husband-wife drama was fairly heavy handed in my estimation.

>100 beserene: Hi Sarah! I think Manifest is a pretty good entry into its "genre" of shows, and definitely better than last season's "The Crossing". I get super into shows like that for a few episodes, but then my attention wanes.

>103 norabelle414: Yeah, "The Crossing" was... not great. I do the same thing -- I'm always hoping these things will grab me and, while I'm still watching "Manifest" I'm not sure that it'll stick much longer.

>102 brodiew2: Brodie, I find almost all the characters in the show quite detached. I want to like them more than I actually do, I think. The characters who actually seem most interesting -- like the cancer researcher -- are largely sidelined. And none of the people who are supposed to be/have been romantically involved seem to have much chemistry. That said, I agree that the premise and the callings are intriguing, so here I am still watching. We'll see how it goes.

Hi! I just got back from a work trip.

On the 7th I went to my local library's monthly knitting club. I had never gone before, but I am getting pretty burnt out on the afghan that I have been knitting for almost three years and I need to focus and get it done! There was only one other person in attendance, and she was very nice and we mostly just knitted in silence. I'm going to try to go again next month! Even just an hour of focused afghan-knitting time is super helpful.

On the 8th I went to see Anything Goes at Arena Stage. It's one of my favorite musicals (music by Cole Porter and story by P. G. Wodehouse!) This production was changed slightly to be less racist, which was noticeable and much appreciated. It starred Corbin Bleu of High School Musical fame (he's super hot now!), Jonathan Holmes (Diana Barry's father on Anne with an E), and a real live dog. Fantastic all around. Here's a sizzle reel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj57e0lpyTg

On the 11th I went to see Anastasia, the Broadway show on tour. Tickets are normally about $100 (The Kennedy Center is so expensive!) which I absolutely would not pay, but I won the ticket lottery and only paid $30. The show was fine. I didn't find the songs to be particularly memorable besides "Once Upon a December". The villain is changed from Rasputin in the movie (which doesn't make any sense) to to the Soviet government and particularly a young government worker who is interested in Anya. However, the actors cast as Dimitri and the Soviet government worker looked extremely similar (not as a plot point) which made it hard to figure out what was going on. Beautiful and mostly enjoyable, but don't spend too much money on it!

Wednesday last week I flew to San Diego for my annual work conference. San Diego is not my favorite place, but there is good food and we were in a part of town that is walkable. I got to hang out with some old coworkers, and went to a lot of good panels at the conference. We also had a LOT of fun going out to dinner and bars. My conference was Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and I flew home on a red-eye Saturday night. I had never taken a red-eye home from the west coast before and I wasn't sure how well it would work, but it was fine. I slept a couple hours on the flight. It would have sucked if I had had anything to do on Sunday, but I just spent a low-key sleepy day doing laundry and watching TV and went to bed at a normal time and today I was totally fine.

I have not been reading much for the past month or so, not for any particular reason. I have been knitting a bit, and I did an inventory and organization of my yarn (which made me want to buy more!)

Hello norabelle414!

>105 norabelle414: I love Anything Goes as well! I was lucky enough to see it live in Seattle 20 years ago. Mitzi Gaynor was the headliner. wonderful Cole Porter musics. I have two cast recordings, but my favorite is from 1988. among most all of the songs, I am especially fond the 1988 version of 'Gypsy in Me'. Love that song. It's nice to know there are others out there that share the love. Happy Thanksgiving!

>105 norabelle414: Glad your trip was good. And huzzah for finding a knitting group that motivates you to work on abandoned projects. That's awesome.

Sounds like you've been pretty busy!

>105 norabelle414: Glad the musical was great. I agree about Rasputin being a strange choice of villain.

>106 brodiew2: Hi Brodie! My high school performed Anything Goes my sophomore year of high school and I really enjoyed it, but I fell in love with it when I saw the movie De-Lovely, about Cole Porter's life. I think this was the first time I've seen a professional performance live? I usually watch videos of Sutton Foster on YouTube.

>107 MickyFine: Thanks Micky!

>108 ChelleBearss: Hi Chelle!

>109 The_Hibernator: It's a very "kids' movie" type thing, isn't it, to take a somewhat ancillary character and turn them into a villain, just so the story fits particular structure

Not much going on here. I have not been reading. I'm getting ready to go on another work trip to Dayton, Ohio. Last night I went to an author talk by Garrett Peck, who is a friend of my dad's, talking about his new book The Great War in America: World War I and Its Aftermath. It was fine, but WWI is not really my thing.

Hugs! Hope your travels go well! And thanks a million for reminding me how much I enjoy Gail Carriger's books. :)

>111 norabelle414: I hope the trip to Ohio is/was good!

>112 beserene: Anytime, Sarah!

>113 MickyFine: Not until the 16th but I will make sure it's good just for you :-)

Still not much going on around here. I feel like I'm late with Christmas presents, as I always feel, but I'm probably okay. No knitting or reading going on, which is concerning. I've got $2.10 in library fines and no pages read to show for it.

Last night I went to see Indecent, a Tony award-winning play based on the true story of the production of the controversial 1923 play The God of Vengeance. It was spectacular, and extremely moving.

>115 norabelle414: Don't feel bad. My thread is a tomb too as I'm (nearly) 300 pages through a Gabaldon.

Glad you had an awesome play experience. I went to my step-daughter's high school production of The Drowsy Chaperone last night which was a lot of fun. :)

>116 MickyFine: I *love* going to high school productions. What's better than seeing a bunch of kids put on a play for a few dollars??

>115 norabelle414: Yeah, I'm working on A Tale of Two Cities, so my thread is also pretty quiet.

>117 norabelle414: They did a great job. My step-daughter played the ditzy and purely comic character and she did great. Along with all the other kids, of course.

>115 norabelle414: I did a major Christmas shopping today because I realized it was the last weekday I'd have off until... December 21. But I think I'm early, not that you're late. What I really have to get cracking on is knitting projects if I want them done in time to send down to my niece & nephew.Glad the play was a good one!

>120 bell7: I ordered $120 worth of books from Politics & Prose today, so I might be okay :-)

>121 norabelle414: *snort* yeah, probably ;)

Happy Holidays Nora!

>123 The_Hibernator: Thanks Rachel!

_______________________________

I'm still around but *very* busy for the last week and the next few days. I'll update before the end of the year, I promise!

Hope you have a wonderful holiday season!

>124 norabelle414: I wish you some quiet reading downtime in the midst of all the holiday madness!

Happy holidays, Nora

>125 ChelleBearss: Thank you Chelle!

>126 MickyFine: Not until the 28th, unfortunately. But January is always a great reading month for me so I'll just look forward to that *eyes giant stack of untouched library books*

>127 PaulCranswick: Thank you Paul!

>128 norabelle414: Happy reading eve! ;)

I have started a new thread, over here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/301373

I plan to post some more about 2018 on this thread, at least a recap of the holidays, one review, stats for 2018, and my favorite books of 2018. Then I'll move over there.

44. Wolverine: The Long Night (podcast) written by Benjamin Percy, full cast audio production

Two FBI agents are called to the small town of Burns, Alaska to investigate a series of gruesome murders. Some people say it was a bear (and use that as an excuse to hunt them). Others say it was the strange man with claws who lives alone in the woods outside of town (and use that as an excuse to harrass him). Other fun townies include the apocalyptic Aurora cult, wealthy owners of a fishing empire, and corrupt officials.

Wolverine/Logan is played by LT-fave Richard Armitage, and he is....not really in this podcast at all. Logan isn't a particularly wordy guy to begin with, and the protagonists don't even meet him until the 8th or so episode out of 10. Couple his absense with the fact that Logan is Canadian and thus doesn't use Armitage's usual (and deeply attractive) accent and there is really no reason for him to have first billing besides name recognition. Benjamin Percy does not get nearly enough credit for this fantastic writing, and he would have been a much better choice to play Wolverine as he has a great voice and has read his own audiobooks before. All the other voice cast are great, and the sound production overall is really spectacular. Sound effects and ambient noise raise this to a level high above a normal audiobook. I was pleased but not surprised to learn that all of the outdoor scenes were actually recorded outdoors! The wind rustling through leaves is the best ambiance a listener could ask for.

There was a plot twist at the end, which I did not fully get because it requires an understanding of the X-Men universe, which I have *ZERO* knowledge of. It didn't make me dislike the story, nor did I feel unsatisfied, but I think there would be a lot more to get out of it with that extra understanding.

Yes, I am reviewing a podcast on LibraryThing. But it's scripted and has a distinct ending. I highly recommend it if it sounds at all interesting to you. Even if you are not familiar with the X-Men, it's just a very good thriller that is enjoyable to listen to.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ (4/5)

>131 thornton37814: Thanks Lori!!

Hi, Nora! I have been mostly absent, but I did want to stop by and wish you a very happy 2019 with lots of good TV shows, movies, podcasts, and books. Basically all the stuff that makes life good. :)

>134 rosylibrarian: Thanks Marie!! It's so great to see you around, if only for a little bit.

long rambling life updates:

I think when I last posted I had just come home from a work conference in mid-November. My brother and sister-in-law went to visit my mom in Wisconsin for Thanksgiving, the first Thanksgiving since she moved in March. She gave me a very hard time about not being there (including sending me guilt-trip flowers), despite the fact that I have spent Thanksgiving with my dad for the past 21 years. My dad and I had a very quiet Thanksgiving at a restaurant, and then went for a drive outside of town. Later that weekend we had family brunch with my cousin who lives nearby, and then Sunday night I had dinner with Zoe and her husband Mark on their way home from Richmond, which has become a nice tradition. My brother and sister-in-law ended up getting a dog while they were in Wisconsin, a 1.5yo yellow labradoodle, which was too big to fly home so they abandoned their airline tickets, rented a car, and drove back.

The last week of November I was supposed to get a big delivery of Ikea furniture, including a couch (until now I only had several arm chairs), a shelf for my yarn, a TV stand, and Christmas presents for several people. I took the whole day off of work so I could accept the delivery....and it never showed up. Several hours on the phone with Ikea revealed that a bunch of their orders had not been processed correctly and despite the fact that I had received confirmation and my credit card had been charged, the order had not been completed in their system. What a nightmare! I eventually received most of my order in mid-December, but all of the Christmas presents were out of stock. I got a refund for those items but had to give my friends IOUs (with the full story, of course) instead.

December 16-19 I was on a work trip to Dayton, OH. It was the first time I had been the lead team member on this kind of trip (the most formal type of trip we have) and I was nervous but everything went fine. Dayton is extremely easy to get in and out of compared to some places I go, which was nice. Affordable direct flights, what a concept!

My mom had originally said she would be back here for "several weeks" for Christmas, but of course that is mom-speak and she was actually here for about 4 days. She and her husband drove down with their two dogs and stayed in one of the one-bedroom apartments in the apartment building that my mom owns. We had a family dinner out and then on Christmas Eve our usual tradition of lobster for dinner. My brother and sister-in-law brought their dog over with them (he had spent lots of time with my mom's dogs when they were in Wisconsin), so the evening was 5 adults and 3 dogs in a 650 sq ft apartment. Thankfully it wasn't long enough to be aggravating, only fun. As I had expected, the only hitch in the evening was a lack of things my mom would usually expect to have around the house but didn't because it wasn't her house. But we made do with only 5 plates and I brought tea from home, etc.

From my family I got a needle-felting kit, a nail salon gift card, a garment steamer, one of those scratch-off maps of the world, the board game Grim Forest, yarn and a needle set, maple syrup from Wisconsin, and The Library Book by Susan Orlean. I got my mom a tea kettle, fleece-lined leggings (she is still figuring out how to dress in cold weather), Number One Chinese Restaurant, and I knitted her a hat. I got my mom's husband All Systems Red and A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet and knitted him a hat and a pair of mittens. I got my brother Chesapeake Requiem: A Year with the Watermen of Vanishing Tangier Island, a 6-pack of beer, and a pair of socks. I got my sister-in-law Pie Squared: Irresistibly Easy Sweet & Savory Slab Pies, a pair of socks, and several pounds of black beluga lentils. I got both my brother and my sister-in-law the board game Ticket to Ride, a Petco gift card, and a fake gift card letting them use the dog washing station in my apartment building any time they want.

The next morning I headed back over to my mom's apartment for our usual breakfast pastry and stocking presents. Highlights include honey from Wisconsin, the kind of popcorn that you microwave directly on the cob, three avocados, and cat toys for Rory. My brother and sister-in-law went to her parents house and my mom and her husband and I went out for Sichuan hot pot and then played some board games.

On the 26th my mom and I went to see Mary Poppins Returns, which was pretty good. On the 27th I hosted Christmas dinner for my dad, brother, and sister-in-law. I was pretty nervous because I don't have people over very often and my brother and sister-in-law are excellent hosts and cooks. But everything went very smoothly! I got my apartment clean enough for company, I didn't get distracted while cooking and take too long. I made corn pudding, roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon and cranberries (my dad's favorite), and tilapia baked in tinfoil packets in the oven. Everything turned out *fantastic*. The only one of those I had ever made before was the Brussels sprouts, and I had never ever cooked tilapia at all, or made any decent fish in the oven. I know you're going to be very surprised that the trick is to add extra butter.

My dad got all of us cashmere scarves in the Douglas family tartan (his mother's heritage) and Wisconsin-shaped wooden coasters. I got him The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War, River of Redemption: Almanac of Life on the Anacostia, and a travel power plug adapter. (When we were in Germany in September he almost missed our cruise because he didn't want to buy an adapter and his phone died so he didn't have internet or phone access.)

When everyone first arrived Rory was hiding under the bed, but after about 20 minutes I coaxed him out and he was very social for the whole evening, and very popular! He enjoyed rubbing against people's legs and playing with the ribbons while they were unwrapping.

And then I was done with the holidays! Hooray!

On Saturday I went to see Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse and it was *spectacular*. Highly recommended!

TV Updates:

Z Nation: Goodbye, you deeply weird show. I will miss you maybe?
Midnight, Texas: Season 2 of this show really seemed to have legs (despite the slow departure of half the cast) but alas, it was too little too late.
Vikings: still a show that I watch, just for Lagertha
Call the Midwife Christmas Special: Very good, but it had been so long since I watched last season that I forgot what happened and kept thinking "Why are they all so sad???" Before remembering that Barbara died..... One of the things I enjoy about this show is that it's so insular that characters can leave at any time without dramatically dying. Unlike some shows *coughVikingscough*
Baroness von Sketch Show: excellent and hilarious women doing a sketch show! I find watching this show so satisfying.
Timeless finale movie: Nice to get back into this world one more time! It's so rare that cancelled shows get to have a real ending.
Busy Tonight: I wasn't sure about this late-night talk show at first but it has really grown on me. Busy Philips is so positive and unpretentious and I love that she gets in her nightgown and sings a song at the end of every episode. It's very soothing.
Travelers: Season 3 was just as amazing as season 2! If you liked mid-2000s Syfy channel shows then pleeeeeease watch this and come talk to me about it!
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: A Midwinter's Tale: I liked this format better than the regular season episodes! There are two major plotlines that start and end in one (long) episode, and they didn't try to stuff too much other nonsense into the story. Episodic plots are your friend, TV-show-makers!
"Arrowverse" Elseworlds Crossover: Lots of fun! Though I did miss the gang from Legends of Tomorrow. It was cool to see the different characters act like each other.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: In true Amy Sherman-Palladino style, the main character's major arc doesn't really go anywhere, but everyone else's goes all over the place! And it's extremely fun to watch.

Along with all the other shows that I watch regularly.

I'm currently watching Frontier season 3, rewatching all of Brooklyn Nine-Nine in preparation for the new season, and slowly rewatching Killing Eve season 1 which is being covered by a podcast that I listen to. On deck are season 2 of Marvel's Runaways, season 4 of Angie Tribeca, and season 3 of A Series of Unfortunate Events which comes out tomorrow.

Also, the very thrilling and subversive tv show YOU, which I raved about earlier this year, is now available on Netflix worldwide so go watch it right now!!!

I forgot to mention above that I asked for a Nintendo Switch for Christmas and did not get one. So I did what adults do and bought one for myself. I was hoping that it would encourage me to play games on the couch with the console controller instead of with in my computer chair with a mouse (in the same position I spend all day at work). However, I get easily frustrated with my lack of skill with the controller and end up playing on the touch screen, which defeats the purpose. I don't want to be one of *those people*, but my cheap little TV has really awful graphics. I do a lot of squinting, even with my new glasses prescription. So I might end up getting a new TV to go with the Nintendo Switch that I bought myself ...

And last, but not least

2018 Statistics

In 2018, I read 44 books.
13,365 pages, plus 11 hours and 13 minutes of audiobooks.
I averaged 14 days per book, 37 pages per day, 4 books per month.
Average book length was 326 pages. (Without War and Peace it would have been 297)

The longest book was obviously War and Peace at 1,482 pages. (Second longest was The Fifth Season at 498 pages.) The shortest was the one-act play No Exit at 26 pages.

I acquired 43 books.
I bought 36 books.
I deaccessioned 4 books.

31 (70%) had female authors/artists (for graphic novels I am counting only the artist, not the author).
22 (50%) were marketed for adults, 16 (36%) for young adults, and 6 (14%) for children.
15 (34%) had authors/artists of color, and 18 (41%) had a main character of color.
2 (5%) had LGBTQ authors/artists, and 5 (11%) had an LGBTQ main character.
2 were translated from another language.

12 books (27%) were purchased by me. 26 (59%) were checked out from the library. 3 (7%) were free. 0 books were borrowed from another person, 1 (2%) was a gift and 2 (5%) were free early review copies.
40 books (91%) were physical books, 1 (2%) was digital, and 3 (7%) were audiobooks.

38 (86%) were prose books. 2 (5%) were plays. 4 (9%) were comics. 0 were poetry.
40 books (91%) were fiction, and 4 (9%) were non-fiction.

1 book (2%) was a reread. 10 books (23%) were published in 2018. 34 books (77%) were published before 2018, and 6 (14%) were published before 2008. The oldest book I read was War and Peace, first published in 1869.

My best reading month was January, in which I finished 7 books. My worst reading month was December, in which I finished 0 books.

My most-read genre was speculative fiction/science fiction/fantasy/horror, of which I read 14 books (32%). 9 books (20%) were general fiction. 7 books (16%) were historical fiction & fantasy. 5 books (11%) were adventure/mystery/thriller. 5 books (11%) were romance. 2 books (5%) were science nonfiction. 1 book (2%) was biography/memoir. 1 book (2%) was essays.

My Top Five Books of 2018:
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
The Power by Naomi Alderman
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin
Miles Morales by Jason Reynolds
Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks by Annie Spence

Honorable Mention:
There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

Dishonorable Mention:
All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai
The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg
An Indomitable Beast: The Remarkable Journey of the Jaguar by Alan Rabinowitz
A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

TONS of 4 and 4.5 star books this year, and more 2 stars than usual. I only read 44 books this year but one of them was War and Peace!!!! If I had continued my momentum from the first 10 months of the year through the end I probably would have read 55 books, and one of them still would have been War and Peace!

Sounds like you have had a busy winter so far! Hope you get some down time soon!

Love the stats! I am not that organized, but am going to figure out my top five sometime this evening.

>140 ChelleBearss: Thanks Chelle! I am hoping things calm down soon, though I have another work trip coming up in the first week of February.

>141 foggidawn: I have a spreadsheet in Google docs that I am happy to share with anyone who wants it! All the fields are info that I normally record in LT anyway so I don't even have to update it in real-time. I just enter the book info when I want to catch up and the spreadsheet calculates everything for me.

Yay for post-Thanksgiving traditions!

Speaking of traditions, I've made a list for "Dishonorable Mentions of 2018": https://www.librarything.com/list/20331/all/Dishonorable-Mentions-of-2018