2019: Lizzie Reads Less but Buys More - 1

It's winter, January 1, 2019 ... 70+° F. However, it can snow, and here's the proof from 2009 or so! I should add that our house turns 100 this year.



I don't expect to meet any goals this year either, but I love playing with the ticker, so I'm setting up a 'Pages Read."

READ IN JANUARY
1. The Warmth of Other Suns
2. In the Garden of Beasts
3. The Enchanted April (reread)
4. *Love in the Void
5. The Invisible Library
6. The Man in the Wooden Hat

Into the House in January
1. Erebus - PBS
2. The Second Death of Daedalus Mole - Kindle deal through BookBub
3. Pachinko ✔ - PBS
4. Life: A User's Manual - Kindle
5. Red Moon - Kindle deal
6. Zuleikha ✔ - ER
7. Enemy Women - Replacement Christmas
8. The Great Escape - Again
9. Kasztner's Train - What a Friend!
10. Mexico: Stories - Ditto
11. Secondhand Time ✔ - More!
12. When I Was a Child I Read Books - Yep
13. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine - Grin
14. The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton - Sigh
15. Crusoe's Daughter - PBS
16. The Masked City - Kindle

READ IN FEBRUARY
7. Protector
8. 14

Into the House in February
17. Clockwork Boys - Kindle
18. Bricks and Mortar - PBS
19. A Landing on the Sun - PBS
20. True History of the Kelly Gang - PBS
21. Tracker ✔ - PBS
22. 14 ✔
23. The Landmark Thucydides - PBS
24. Empty Mansions - AMP

READ IN MARCH
9. *Zuleikha
10. End of Watch
11. The Unknown Ajax (reread)
12. Record of a Spaceborn Few
13. The Horse, the Wheel and Language
14. *Around Harvard Square

Into the House in March
25. Around Harvard Square ✔ - ER
26. Record of a Spaceborn Few ✔
27. Milkman - Kindle Daily Deal
28. Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen ✔
29. A Few Right Thinking Men ✔
30. Bellevue Square ✔ - AMP
31. Fatal Discord ✔ - Kindle
32. 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - Kindle Daily Deal

READ IN APRIL
15. A Few Right Thinking Men
16. Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen
17. Bellevue Square
18. Sassinak
19. Her Royal Spyness

Into the House in April
33. A Decline in Prophets ✔
34. Common People ✔ - AMP
35. The Raven Tower- Kindle Daily Deal
36. Education by Uncles - PBS
37. The Fold - Kindle Daily Deal
38. The Snowman - Karen from her Library Sale
39. Phantom - Karen from her Library Sale
40. The Casino - Fairy Book-Sister
41. Ancestral Voices - The Same
42. Caves of Ice - Ditto
43. The Erotic World of Faery - Again
44. The Thirty-Nine Steps - Local friend cleaning out family home - Suze
45. The Portable Curmudgeon - Suze
46. Sassinak ✔ - Suze
47. Generation Warriors - Suze
48. The Death of Sleep - Suze
49. The Grand Tour: Agatha Christie - Suze's sister Slim
50. Colonial Interiors - Suze again
51. Dawn of the Gods - Suze
52. Quotationary - Suze
53. Visitor ✔ - PBS
54. A Royal Threesome - Suze

Into the House in May
55. Late Nights on the Air - PBS
56. The Stranger Diaries ✔ - Kindle Daily Deal
57. Bluebird, Bluebird - PBS
58. The Thread that Binds the bones - Kindle Deal through BookBub
59. The Geometry of Love - Kindle Deal through BookBub

Out of the House

mine ~ 6 Wards' ~ 5

OPEN FOR READING IN MAY

BEST OF THE FIRST QUARTER

Peggy! Happy New Year!

I'm dropping off my star and hoping to do a better job of staying connected in 2019.

Happy 2019, Peggy - whenever you get around to reading this.

Welcome back!

Hey, Peggy!
Here I am again, just when you least expected me.

Happy New Year Lizzie!

Happy reading in 2019, Peggy!

By the way, I love how honest your thread title is!!

Happy New Year to (((((you and your family))))) and Happy Reading!

I wish you from my heart a healthy 2019 filled with happiness, satisfaction, laughter and lots of good books.

Happy New Year, Peggy. I'll stop back when you're really here. :)

Dropping off my star, Peggy!

Wait, you're that far south and you have that much snow?? Good Lord.

Well, happy new year. I'm glad you seem to be snowed in with some good books, as well as cats...!

Thank you all for decorating my new digs! Ellen and Stasia! Jim and Kim! Gail and Lori! Kristel and Anita! Nathalie and Barbara! Beth and Roni! Thank you for leaving stars. Please come back soon - I hope I'll have something to say to make the visit worthwhile. (I won't try to make it "worthwild", which was a former student's word.)

Uh - Suzanne, hi! That was another year, and it wasn't really so much snow. You can see the ivy peeking through on the right as the yard slopes down to the street. I'll try to make my description clearer. Anyway, we didn't have more than a couple of flurries all last year.

Nope, it's my reading skills that are flawed....

And still, you're ahead of us. We've had ONE flurry. I haven't even had to wield a shovel yet. (touch wood...)

Happy 2019
A year full of books
A year full of friends
A year full of all your wishes realised

I look forward to keeping up with you, Peggy, this year.

Hi Peggy! Happy new thread.

Yay for The Man in the Wooden Hat. I'm on page 53 of my lovely Europa edition. Jenna bought me Last Friends for Christmas, at my request. I gave her the correct Europa edition and she ordered it correctly from Amazon, but the little weasels sent the Abacus edition. We called Amazon today and they are sending the correct edition and we're returning the incorrect one at no cost to us. Fortunately I won't need it for a while. It seems like we might have quite a large group wanting to read Last Friends.

Hi dear Peggy, just dropping by to say hello on this particular venue. doubt very much I'll be spending more time socializing on LT this year as there are only so many hours to the day and I'm sleeping as much as ever lately and Ren takes up quite a bit of my time and it is forever tainted and... (insert more excuses here!) but you are one of my shining stars here and in my daily thoughts as I count my blessings. I'll be forced offline here both on the 3-4th for untowardly behaviour so was updating all I could before my punishment. Worse thing for me is not having my LT book catalogue at the ready as I consult that many times daily, which is what got me on this site to begin with and keeps me coming often! Heh. :-)

Wishing you a wonderful New Year! xoxo

Hi Peggy, I wish I could say that was a lot of snow up there in your photo from 2009 but you know I live in Buffalo where our first frost drifts so.....

Happy New Year and happy reading.

Ha, Bonnie! That snow at least covered the ground - pretty much. We've had as much as two feet here, I'll have you know ---- closed the interstate. Glad to see you though, and I cordially hope that you're staying warm!
Thank you for the visit, Ilana. I know where I can find your footprints, so we're good. I hate to think about your being punished, but you are a trooper.
Hi, Karen! Welcome to the new place!!!! I have Europa editions of the Gardams too and cherish them every one. Boo to Amazonian weasels!
I'm happy to see you here, Susan. I see that you've already finished at least one book this year. Read, woman, read!
Thank you for good wishes, Paul, and the same back to you.

Did I mention the great sadness of my holiday back on the other year's thread????? Dear LT friend sent me a box of books - 2 from my wish list and 3 or 4 more that she wanted to pass on to me. She had let me know to look for the package on the 24th. I was at my mother's and not looking because I expected the mailman to be late rather than early. He was about an hour and a half early, left the package, and I didn't get it. I suppose that somebody was following him. Anyway, my guess is that as soon as the thief saw that he had books, he dumped them. Damn it.

>26 LizzieD: No!!! That is so awful. I am very sorry about the lost books. : (

I'm sorry that your books were stolen. It seems to be an epidemic these days, people just walking on to porches and taking packages.

Peggy, seems they either completely forgot about me today or perhaps after I explained myself the higher powers decided I wasn't deserving of punishment? Either way works for me. Thought you'd be happy either way too. :-)

Just read about the books. So sorry. :-(

That is a crying shame about your books, Peggy! ((((Peggy))))

Kim, Karen, Ilana, and Roni - thank you for the sympathy. It's very welcome because I'm still imagining other scenarios...... postman thought he had left the package here, but left it at a neighbor's house instead. Said neighbors were on vacation and have only just returned home and dropped package by for me to find in the morning. Or..... Thief kept the books and felt bad about taking them. Having no use for them himself, he tossed them back on the front stoop for me to find in the morning. Or.... Thief threw package into some sheltered place (because it's rained and mizzled the past week) where an obliging stranger picked them up, saw the address, and dropped them off, having no use for them himself. Time to let the fantasy go.
Ilana, I"m vastly happy that the higher powers relented or let your punishment slip. Good to know that you could come here!
I had a great day! Three cousins came through and took Mama and me to lunch (our Thai restaurant owners are just back from their annual trip home) - good family time and good food! Then this afternoon I spent time In the Garden of Beasts, having read a bit more of *Other Suns* this morning. Good stuff! Good day!!!

Too bad about your books, Peggy. That does seem to be an epidemic -- stealing of packages, not book stealing.

Yay for good Thai food. I have a paucity of relatives, period, but none further east than Iowa, so envy you your Local Cousins.

Erik Larson is a wonderful author. I haven't read that one yet, but it is on my shelves.

At this point in the year, I've bought more than I've read. Not a good thing. In my defense, two of the titles I purchased will be read this month. Another will definitely be read soon. I suspect the other two will be read this year.

Lori, you are an adult! You need no defense at all. I, on the other hand, continue to maintain a ⅓ of my books read as I acquire more and more and more with no intention of scaling back.
Hi, Karen! Since I have no siblings, I depend on my cousins, and it's a great thing to have them in-state. Our visitors yesterday live in Cary and Weaverville - far enough away that we rarely see them. Eric Larson is wonderful, and you will sink immediately into In the Garden of Beasts when you get to it. In fact, I can't read anything right now but *Beasts* and *Other Suns*. Maybe I'll finish them both this month! That would be a Good Thing.
Thank you for sympathy, Beth. I'm sad about my books and sadder about somebody with so little empathy that he wouldn't give back something that he himself doesn't value. Oh well.

The meme ----- Depressing!

Describe yourself: The Absolutist

Describe how you feel: The Intruder

Describe where you currently live: The Garden of Lamentations

If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Europe in Autumn

Your favorite form of transportation: Looking for a Ship

Your best friend is: Orfeo

You and your friends are: The Hounds of Spring

What’s the weather like: Too Like the Lightning

You fear: Deceptions

What is the best advice you have to give: Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved

Thought for the day: I'm Not Complaining

How you would like to die: Heads in Beds

Your soul’s present condition: Beyond the Point

Happy Thingaversary to Lucy and me!
I got my 10-year badge this morning.

Happy Thingaversary! A 10-year badge? How exciting!
I'm finally dropping a star. I hope you get to read The Warmth of Other Suns. I really liked it. It's good reading, and I learned some things too. :)

Love the answer to where you currently live!

Hi, Jenn, and thanks for good wishes. I am reading *Warmth*; it's my breakfast book and sometimes my night book. It is good reading!
Hi, Lori! I'm very happy NOT to be in that Garden of Lamentations, but it's a neat fit.
Nothing to report. I think I'll take a rain check on my Thinga books. I know that some are coming up in a month or two that I really want! I may indulge in one wish list book that was in the stolen package.

Happy Thingaversary, Peggy!

Happy belated TA, (((((Peggy)))))

I‘m sad about the books and hope they‘ll still somehow turn up again.

Happy 10th Thingaversary, Peggy!

>36 LizzieD: Love your meme answers :-)

>31 LizzieD: Sorry that none of the fantasies came true!

>37 LizzieD: Happy belated Thingaversary!

Happy Thinga a bit late. I will turn 10 next year??? Wowza.

I'm still very distressed about your lost books.

Love the photo of your house in the snow. It looks just like that here today -- snowing furiously at the moment but supposed to stop any minute.

Happy Thingaversary, Peggy!

Happy Thingaversary Peggy. I'll get my ten year badge on February 21. Must be a lot of us joined in 2009. I own a copy of In the Garden of Beasts so will look for your thoughts on it.

>26 LizzieD: thief
Oh no! And especially disappointing if the items are precious to you and of no real interest to anyone else.

Happy New Year!

Belated happy new wishes to you and the family Peggy!

And happy 10th thingaversary! Sorry to hear about your disappointment with the book delivery though - I think I'd keep hoping they'd somehow turn up to.

So sad about the books. A person should not have to worry about people stealing your mail.

I’m both sad and mad about the loss of books. What a...a...bad person.

Happy Thingy! My tenth was at the end of December. I was surprised!

A belated Happy Thinga to you, Gail! Thanks for your sympathy about the books. Also thanks for yours, Kristel. And yours, Heather and Katherine, and Lucy and Stasia and Nathalie! HOORAY that Gail and Katherine and Stasia are around again!!!!
And thank you for good Thinga wishes, Heather, Bonnie, Karen, Lucy, Stasia, Anita, Nathalie, and Roni!!!! What a life changing place this has been - really!
Bonnie, I am reading the E. Larson with gusto. I don't have it with me to quote, but Larson's comments about the randomness and craziness of early Nazi government are distressingly familiar. He also comments on the manipulation of the language - how "fanatic" comes to be a good word, for example. I'm seeing parallels, which I hope are only faint parallels.

Good day to you, Peggy! Larson is quite wonderful and I'm glad you've got such a great read to start off 2019.

Hello my dear.

Ahem, I need one of those juicy aphorisms.

Hi, Peggy!

Your terrible book-thief story reminds me of the time my late father was robbed while walking in the gardens down town: some hero obviously thought he was snatching the wallet from an elderly man's pocket, instead he grabbed his glasses.

As you say, if they'd just give 'em back when they realise their mistake...

Just checking in on you, Peggy :)

>36 LizzieD: Looking for a Ship is a good 'um.

Judy and I just saw John McPhee being interviewed at the New York Public Library about his new books of essays The Patch ; he seems just as charming and gracious in person as he is in print

Hi, Jim! McPhee is a keeper! Meanwhile, your Touchstone for The Patch goes to a Grace Livingston Hill book. (Have you ever heard of her?) I think, though, that I'll let this particular McP sell without my help. I have the vast collection of his geographical/geological works that I swear I will read one day.
Hi, Stasia! I LOVE writing that on my thread!!!!
Wow, Liz! Happy to see you here and a bit bemused by the theft of your father's glasses. At least we disgruntled them, your father and I!
Look below, Lucy. I don't know what it will be yet, but I'll try to find something nifty.
Karen, this is an absorbing Larson. Maybe all of them are; *Beasts* is only my second. I read it and then read some more *Other Suns* and then fall back into *Beasts*. I'm not making much progress in either book, AND I started Life: A User's Manual last night just because I yielded and put it on my Kindle. It was one of the stolen ones. I don't know how long it will take for me to find it tedious, but right now, I have loved the intro in which he suggests that what he's doing is akin to looking at the pieces in a jig-saw puzzle one at a time. I've also always been fascinated by places like hotels and dormitories and apartment buildings (!) and passenger liners that have a random, changing population ........ maybe because I can imagine myself moving in for a short stay next to the action?..... I need to finish one of the old ones, but read pages while the lamp is on, or something.

***Quote of the Day***
Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.
~ Albert Szent-Gyorgyi (*Epigrams*)

And another ***Quote of the Day***

Doing a thing well is often a waste of time.
~ Robert Byrne (*1,911*)

>1 LizzieD: This could be a photo for a holiday card! Dropping my star Peggy. I was MIA for a lot of time in 2018. I hope 2019 will be a better year with more participation.

Thinking of you and sending lots of love and good wishes for a wonderful year. How is your mother?

Welcome, Linda! I love that you like our old house. Mama is doing very well, thank you. She has been better about working on her breathing and was less tired than usual after an afternoon of bridge yesterday.
I wish you joy in your first year of retirement!

Hi Peggy!

I'm fascinated by this insight: I've also always been fascinated by places like hotels and dormitories and apartment buildings (!) and passenger liners that have a random, changing population ........ maybe because I can imagine myself moving in for a short stay next to the action?.....

I'm glad to hear that your mother is doing so well.

Hi, Karen. I'm not sure that's actually why I love the hotels, etc., but it was the only reason I could come up with. I do try to follow my preferences back to some core. Thank you for good wishes for my ma!
I learned today in In the Garden of Beasts about Hans Fallada, whose Alone in Berlin I appreciated very much a year or so ago. It was a pen name for Rudolf Ditzen, who chose to emigrate internally by moving to the remote countryside rather than leaving Germany for safety. He gave up a lot to the Nazis during their rule but survived to write *A in B*, which he surely couldn't have done if he hadn't been there through the time. Anyway, his pen name comes from a couple of Brothers Grimm characters: "Hans" from "Lucky Hans" and "Fallada" from the horse Falada (in "The Goose Girl," who could detect truth even after he had been beheaded.

***Quote of the Day***
Things have never been more like the way they are today in history.
~ Dwight David Eisenhower (*1,911*)
(It's kind of mean to quote DDE after his stroke - if he said this after his stroke.)

Happy belated Thingaversary!! And I am going to try and follow your thought for the day: I'm not complaining. It was Monday though. ; ) Come on Tuesday!!

And a happy belated Thingaversary from me too Peggy dear! Mine came and went at the end of November. My 11th. Mind you I've been buying up so many books regardless that's it's safe to say I've gotten my dozen and MORE! lol. Just received a small batch from Folio Society yesterday. I'd been good and not bought anything from them in a couple of years since they're really much too expensive but they had an up to 75% sale recently and it was really worth it and of course I couldn't resist. Only now I need more shelves. Only I need to wait till spring because in our weather there's no way we can varnish anything indoors as there's no ventilation in this cold so books are stacking up all over the place again. But oh the joy of acquiring books is, well, inexpressible and can only be shared with other booklovers, I guess. I look at my stacks and my heart swells with gladness. All that potential! :-)xoxo

Kim and Ilana, Thingaversary and other good thoughts are always welcome!
Ilana, you are my daughter indeed. That's exactly how I feel about my books (none of which are beautiful FS editions). I just put 2 more on my Kindle, one each yesterday and today. I sort of should feel guilty, and I sort of completely don't. And I truly don't mind piles of books so long as I can still walk from room to room.

***Quote of the Day***
The people who live in a Golden Age usually go around complaining how yellow everything looks.
~ Randall Jarrell (*Epigrams*)

Peggy, I've had a delay in getting back here for 2019 and look what all I missed. I'm so sorry to hear about your book loss and Happy Thingaversary! I have been busy visiting family in California and just recovering from all the excesses of the holidays. But I'm back and reading again. We haven't had any snow or even freezing yet but it has been very cold. I think we have an arctic wind blowing through.

Jan! Great to see you here!!! Thanks for sympathy and good wishes. I wish you well with the weather. We're having our first real cold of the season early in the week, but the folks to the north are going to be blasted. All y'all batten down and stay warm!

***Quote of the Day***
Correct me if I' wrong, but hasn't the fine line between sanity and madness gotten finer?
~ George Price (*1,911*)

Delurking. Just be aware: the Weird_O is skulking about.

I'm chuffed. Lurk at will, Bill!

***Quote of the Day***
He who is in love with himself has at least this advantage - he won't encounter many rivals in his love.
~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (*Epigraphs*)

I am so sorry about the stolen books. How lousy! And you're probably correct that the thief was disappointed to find "only" books in the package. 😮

Happy Thingaversary. I joined on January 20 2011. I haven't purchased the requisite 9 books this month but I'll certainly get around to it eventually.

We are finally getting some sunshine after a week of rain, Peggy. Hope your cold weather is not discommoding you too much.

Hi, Ellen, and thank you for sympathy. I seem to be saving my big Thinga. $ for some things that will come out later. I do keep buying Kindle deals and ordering from PBS though.
Hi, Roni. Our cold weather doesn't arrive until Monday. It's gray today but quite comfortable. I do dread highs in the 30s.

THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS by Isabel Wilkerson

I may be the last among you to have read this one, and I'm glad I did. IW tells the story of the great migration of people of color from the South to the North and West, 1915 into the 1970s. She manages this by interspersing history and commentary among the stories of three who moved: Ida Mae Gladney, who left a Mississippi cotton plantation in 1937 and ended up in Chicago; George Swanson Starling, who ran from retribution at the hands of a citrus grower in Florida in 1945; and Robert Joseph Pershing Foster, who drove from Louisiana to Los Angeles in 1953 in order to set up a medical practice where he could admit and operate on patients in a good hospital. Stories are a very human way to communicate the essence of experience, and these stories are compelling.
There is a great book within these pages. IW interviewed more than 1,200 individuals and became intimate with the three who form the focus of her book as well as reading more than extensively. Unfortunately, she did not trust her readers, and so the repetition drove me crazy. For example, I didn't need to be reminded at all that George married Inez mostly to spite his father, who thought that two years of college were enough for him. IW tells us almost every time she mentions Inez. I certainly would not forget the story of Sheriff McCall of Lake County Florida, who shot three prisoners in his custody, two of whom died. She tells that story three times. If she has statistics about New York, she has them about Boston, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Chicago, Los Angeles, and a few more places too, and she quotes every one. Her writing from sentence to sentence was often repetitive and wordy. She could have used an editor and had a five star book. I wish she had.

IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS by Erik Larson

Erik Larson is GOOD. This book chronicles the experiences of the US ambassador to Germany in 1933-37, William E. Dodd, and his family (particularly his daughter Martha). Dodd was a scholar, sent by FDR to demonstrate American morals and culture to Hitler's Germany. At first all the Dodds were entranced by the vitality of the Nazi movement, but they came to see and understand the ruthlessness of the regime. Dodd wrote many perceptive and prophetic letters and formal dispatches to Washington, but he was largely ignored by the "pretty good club" of career diplomats and isolationists in the states. His dislike of excessive formality and lavish entertainment also put him at odds with the diplomatic community.
The focus of the book is Martha Dodd, who was quite a girl! In 1933 she was quietly divorcing her husband and was open to many affairs - most notably with Rudolf Diels, chief of the Gestapo at the time, and Boris Winogradov, member of the Soviet embassy. The juxtaposition of Berlin night life with the horrors of Nazi rule make for compelling reading, and I thoroughly enjoyed this look at Germany in the early 30s from a different viewpoint.

Hi Peggy!

>74 LizzieD: I think I'll pass. It's an interesting subject, but perhaps I can do a bit of online sleuthing and get enough info without slogging through a book that sounds so repetitive.

>75 LizzieD: It's on my shelves, just waiting to be read. I bought it only because it was Larson, but your review makes me want to read it sometime this year. I've also got Thunderstruck waiting in the wings - have you read it yet?

You are on a good NF roll, Peggy. I loved The Warmth of Other Suns and have the Larson book on my WL. It sounds like one I would enjoy.

Hi Peggy! In the Garden of sounds up my alley, thank you. I have so much less time to read since you know what, which takes up 12 hours a week. I need to use your strategy to claim my reading time: retire!
Icy, icy, here. Which is fine as long as you don’t ave to go out in it. See above paragraph!

Welcome, Rex. I've thought of the things I want to say to you and was unclear whether I had visited you to say them. Looks like I haven't so I'll be over in a trice, or at most, two trices. (Zero Mostel - *A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum*)
Beth, I think you may have been one of my inspirations for *Suns*. Larson doesn't give me anything to be curmudgeonly about.
Karen, I have Thunderstruck too, but I've read only this one and *Devil*. I still can't find my copy of Isaac's Storm. It will show up eventually, and then I won't want to read it.
Meanwhle, I started rereading The Enchanted April today because I wanted to. That's another feature of the retiree's life, Rex. I can resist self-bullying to read what I ought to when I want to read something else.
Weather....... We're down into the teens tonight and will be back to a high in the 60s on Wednesday. That's winter in NC.

***Quote of the Day***
It takes about ten years to get used to how old you are.
~ Unknown (*1,911*)

Some wonderful quotes! Love the Jarrell and this last one the best!

I think I have to WL the Larson too. Argh!

Welcome, Lucy. These quotes are mostly for you since you asked for them. Here's another.
It's hard to go wrong with Larson. His books read a lot like novels, but the research seems to be very thorough.

***Quote of the Day***
Teacher: One who makes two ideas grow where only one grew before.
~ Elbert Hubbard

(I love this one!)

>75 LizzieD: That is my least favorite of Larson's books, unfortunately. I like them all though, just in varying degrees.

I've read only this one and The Devil in the White City, Stasia. I guess I liked *Devil* more, but I was so interested in *Beasts* that it's hard to say. I look forward to more.
Meanwhile, my big news is that Generous Friend sent me another Christmas box, which arrived today. She duplicated one of the stolen books, but otherwise sent me a bunch, which I have listed above. My greedy little heart is radiating joy. I wish I could read two or three at exactly the same time..... I used to follow Nero Wolfe's practice of reading book #1 for exactly a half hour, putting it down to read #2 for the same amount, and so on to fill up the reading time. I always cheated and read the best one more, but it was a fun experiment.
In other news of the day, I'll have the first cataract surgery on the 13th. My eyes are still dilated, so I'm leaving this friendly place in a minute.

***Quote of the Day***
Windbags can be right. Aphorists can be wrong. It's a tough world.
~ James Fenton (*Epigrams*)

>83 LizzieD: Glad you have the first one scheduled. How long does it take for recovery?

>83 LizzieD: My mother had cataract surgery on both her eyes - at different times, mind you - and came through just fine. I wish the same for you, Peggy!

Thank you, for good wishes and reassurance, Kim and Stasia. Apparently, it's quite a routine procedure, and I'll be able to read and do most routine activities the day of the surgery. Real healing takes longer, but you put in lots of drops at first, and then everything is fine. You do have to choose whether you want to see the world or read without glasses. I haven't seen the world since I was 8, so that's my choice, but I did think twice. I will adjust to reading glasses although I've always, always read without them.

THE ENCHANTED APRIL
I forgot to write anything about this reread. It remains a book of magic for me. The descriptions of the gardens on the Italian Riviera are ravishing, and von Arnim's wit is just sharp enough to keep the love stories from being yuckily sentimental. It's also a bonus that the couples in the book are in their early middle age - or at least the men are. I hope I get to read it again in another 10 years or so!

***Quote of the Day***
A gentleman is a man who can play the accordion but doesn't.
~ Unknown (*1,911)

***Quote of the Day***
The price of purity is purists.
~ Calvin Trillin (*1,911*)

Trillin is a hoot--he was a local, so to speak. (Kansas City Star)

Friends who have had cataract surgery sing its praises, Peggy.

Hi Peggy!

Cataract surgery is wonderful. I had it in December of 2014. Left eye on the 1st, right eye on the 8th. Lots of drops on varying and changing schedules - would it surprise you to hear that I made a spreadsheet for it? I had a bit of dry eye about a month after - redness and itchiness were the symptoms - and the doctor gave me some Systane eye drops which I still use if my eyes get tired. (He gives me a new sample every time I go in, so I'm not using expired eye drops.)

You do have to choose whether you want to see the world or read without glasses. I haven't seen the world since I was 8, so that's my choice, but I did think twice. I will adjust to reading glasses although I've always, always read without them.

Me, too! I don't need glasses now for distance, but instead of taking off my glasses to read, I have to put them on. Totally worth it for me, just a rather large adjustment that took a while. I can get by with 'cheaters', but I have a pair of prescription bifocals - midrange for the computer and close for reading.

You'll be so pleased when it's all done. Good luck!

Good luck with your surgery, Peggy.

>86 LizzieD: The Enchanted April is one of my favourites too.

Rhian, how nice to see you here! Your visit is completely undeserved, and I'm delighted that you came.
Thanks for cataract encouragement, Roni, Karen, and Beth. Karen, your experience is very encouraging - especially your adjustment to reading glasses. I've read without glasses since I was 8, so it will be an adjustment. I'm a little discouraged about the dry eyes - I'm already a devoted user of Systane.
No reading today! Instead my cousin from CA was still here, and his brother came across from Wilmington. Add our cousin who lives here and her mother, and with my mama (who was committed to a bridge game in the afternoon, I'm sorry to say), we had a wonderful time comparing memories and catching up.
The CA cousin's daughter was at the Los Vegas concert when the gunman took out 50+ people. She led her friends and a stranger up and over the bleachers and hid with them behind a palm tree which took hits. Then they ran while he was either reloading or getting another weapon, made it to the vendors' booths where a vendor pulled them into his booth and let them escape. My blood runs cold.

***Quote of the Day***
All men are brothers, but thank God, they' aren't all brothers-in-law.
~ Anthony Powell (*Epigrams*)

LOVE IN THE VOID by Simone Weil

Since this is an ER offering, I reviewed it on the book page. I'm the only reviewer who hadn't read Weil before, so I guess another novice might take some notice of what I tried to say. Essentially, I put off reading this one after I started it because I felt stupid. SW demands a lot more than I have to give right now or maybe ever. On the other hand, philosophers and highly spiritual but un-organized-religion people may find that she speaks to them.

I hate porch pirates with a deep and abiding loathing, especially because they stole your BOOKS. So there.

And I hope you have lots of fab audiobooks lined up during your cataract surgery recovery. Your eyesight will be as sharp as an owl's afterwards, I feel sure!!

Thank you for the visit and the sympathy, Suzanne. I don't do audiobooks - am sort of counting on the eye. This will be the first time I've seen without glasses (and still not 20/20 because of the MD) since I was 8. Amazing!

***Quote of the Day***
A man is known by the company he avoids.
~ Unknown (*1,911*)

I was back at work on the Wednesday after Monday surgeries. I probably started reading the day after the first surgery and don't remember any other interruption than that. Huge adjustment of course, but.... reading was necessary. *smile*

Good to know! Thank you, Karen!

*wave*

Dropping by to say hello Peggy!

>74 LizzieD:, >75 LizzieD: You are not the last to have read The Warmth of Other Suns and both of those are books I've had on my wishlist for a while. But I have been abysmal at non-fiction reading so far this year (and the latter part of last year too). Perhaps I will try the Erik Larson first based on your comments about repetition in the Wilkerson.

Adding my good wishes re the cataract surgery.

Jenn and Heather, Hello! Hello! I love seeing your footprints here. Come back another time....

THE INVISIBLE LIBRARY by Genevieve Cogman

This was a fun way to spend a few hours. In the first place, the Librarians are even more fanatical about books than I am. In the second place, Irene and her student Kai have adventure after adventure to speed an otherwise lazy reader through the book. I will continue this fantasy series, which I like at least as much as I did the first St. Mary's historians' outings.

>100 LizzieD: This sounds like fun, Peggy.

Good luck with the surgery.

My path to growing older meant going from needing glasses for distance and being able to read without them to my current state where (post cataract surgery) I don't need glasses for distance but I do need them to read. It's a strange trade off.

The strangest thing was being awake during the surgery and hearing the surgeons talking to each other about the work they were doing.

Good wishes for a speedy recovery

Peggy, you seem to be doing a pretty good job of reading more and buying less, contrary to your new year's commitment. Heh. Well, maybe you're not buying less but you're reading at a pretty good clip!

Sending lots of good mojo for the surgery!!!!

Beth, when you're ready to relax and flip pages, try the *Invisible Library* series! Thank you and Jim and Ellen for good lose-the-cataracts wishes!
Jim, I've been near-sighted since I was 8. It's going to be a huge adjustment!
I am quite pleased with my reading this year, Ellen. The S. Weil was super short but required a lot of attention, so I figure it all evens out. (I was quite intimidated by the other reviewers here who apparently breezed through it.)

THE MAN IN THE WOODEN HAT by Jane Gardam

I very much enjoyed this second book in the Old Filth Trilogy. Then I looked back and saw that I gave Old Filth five stars, and I couldn't quite do that for the story from Betty's POV (four stars). I sort of think that may be accurate. Betty remained something of an enigma to me since this book is really less about her than about filling in more of Edward Feathers's story. I'm certainly enthusiastic enough to read on into the third one, Last Friends with Karen and group.

I'm going to start Last Friends as soon as I get home this weekend, Peggy.
It has been a while but I gave both Old Filth and The Man in the Wooden Hat 4.5 stars. We'll see how Last Friends stands up to that challenge. :-)

Hi Peggy!

Speaking of Last Friends, here's the thread!

Group Read: Last Friends by Jane Gardam.

Ah! I shall join Karen, Ellen and friends in Last Friends. Thanks for the link, Karen.
Today I read in Protector and Horse, Wheel and Language and Zuleikha. I love fresh starts.

***Quote of the Day***
Thinking is the most unhealthy thing in the world, and people die of it just as they die of any other disease. Fortunately, in England at any rate, thought is not catching.
~ Oscar Wilde (*Epigrams*)

Hey, Peggy, what's going on with your February? Miss you!

Thank you, Roni. I do think I have been to your thread a time or two.....
I seem to have something every day of every week, and it's driving me nuts. I do love the at-home time when I can catch up on what has to be done and even read a little.
I'm off to start Last Friends at the very least. If I last more than 2 pages, I'll be astonished.

***Quote of the Day***
One's belief that one is sincere is not so dangerous, however, as one's conviction that one is right.
~ Igor Stravinsky and Robert Craft in conversation (*Epigrams*) (Who is Robert Craft?) (Ah... American conductor and writer best known for his friendship with IS.)

>100 LizzieD: I love this series by Genevieve Cogman! I am on #3, The Burning Page. Which reminds, me I should find a copy. : )

Hi, Kim! Good for us for finding (and getting to) the Invisible Library. I also put Clockwork Boys on my Kindle after reading the sample. So far it's another fun book. I seem to need fun books!
I came by to say that we were in the low 80s today. I had to change my jeans for capris. Good grief! Back down into the 40s for high over the weekend.NC in the winter!

Enjoy Last Friends, Peggy. I liked it but perhaps not as much as the first two.

Hi, Ellen! I tried to catch up with you last night. I still haven't gotten to *LF*. I am having fun with Protector. It's the *Foreigner* time of year for me.

***Quote of the Day***
I'll not listen to reason. Reason always means what someone else has to say.
~ Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (*1,911*)

Hi Peggy! Glad to hear you've started Last Friends.

The weather's nuts. 80F, 80F, 70F, and today only 49F maybe. My forsythia's confused - we saw quite a few gorgeous little yellow flowers on it this morning. Sigh.

Hey, Karen. Nutty weather for sure! At least the variety hasn't deterred the crocus, whcih I look forward to every year.
The right cataract is gone, and nothing could have been smoother. I wish I could believe other people when they tell me how a thing will be, but I have to live through it. My biggest problem of the moment is that an itching place on my nose under the bandage, which comes off tomorrow afternoon, I can cope.

Peggy, I'm so glad all went well with your surgery. I had one eye done and will have the other sometime this year. I couldn't believe how much brighter and clearer my sight was. (I opted for the distance)

Your mention of Enchanted April reminded me that I have that here somewhere and I'm ready to read it again. Have you read My Brilliant Friend? I just finished it and plan to read the other three in the series. I think you might like it.

Hi Peggy! Congrats on how smoothly the surgery went. Itching is minor, if irritating. I'm glad the bandage is coming off today for you.

Hi, Jan and Karen! Glory!!!!
I don't know that I've ever seen as well as my right eye sees. I'm getting along with the right lens popped out of my glasses, which I wear for the left eye. I'd be thrilled with that (I have depth perception for maybe the first time ever), but to know that my left eye will soon be as good as the right one is amazing. I guess I really shouldn't have been driving this past month, but it's insidious. I just didn't know.
Meanwhile, my mom is having trouble with her back again - great pain last night but better today. I got my osteoporosis from her, but hers was never well-treated. This isn't as bad as the last compression fracture, but it's certainly not good. I hope that it will improve to day-before-yesterday's normal.

Yay Peggy!

I did the same - popped out the lens that didn't work any more. I'm so happy that this first surgery went so well with such good results.

Not so happy to hear that your mom is having back problems gain.

You're right - it's always something.

When is your second cataract surgery scheduled?

Thanks for both, Karen. Left eye will be March 5.
Now back to the drops.

My my, Peggy! You don't usually post in the early a.m. Drops do tend to rule your life for a while, a very minor price to pay, though.

Karen, I'm often here early in the morning on my Fire. Posting is a pain, so I usually don't.
The drops - I do well except for the 3rd dropping so far. I do rather dread adding the different schedule for the left eye, but you're right. It's a very minor price to pay.
I continue to try to keep my ma as comfortable as possible. So far Tylenol pretty much controls her pain (yet another med schedule!). I think she's a tiny bit better every day, and we'll hope that's a real trend and that it will continue.
I'm not reading much of anything these days but the Cherryh, which I love, and not much of that. February will be a very lean month of reading.

***Quote of the Day***
The human brain has a mind of its own.
~ Joseph Heller (*Epigrams*)

Good morning and happy Monday to you, Peggy!

I'm glad to hear that the Tylenol is controlling your mama's pain. Chronic pain is so debilitating.

I only read 3 books the month I had my cataract surgeries. Another small price to pay.

Hi, Karen. Thanks for the little reading warning. It's pretty true for me. However, I did just finish ---

PROTECTOR by C.J. Cherryh

Others may be disappointed that the action is saved for the penultimate chapter. I loved this book. A lot of backstory is filled in, and I'm always happy in the company of Banichi (my most-adored of the atevi) and Co., Cajeiri and his human friends, Ilisidi, and great-uncle Tataseigi, and of course, the human Bren. In fact, nadiin, one has already plucked Peacemaker from the shelf.
(I just found this Pronunciation Guide interesting.)

Penultimate is one of my favorite words. *smile*

*smiling at Karen*

Of course, my home is one of two counties with the accusation of vote tampering against an operative of the Republican candidate for the House. Unofficially, he beat the Democrat by 905 votes. HERE is the story so far.

Stopping by to say hi Peggy!

>115 LizzieD:, >118 LizzieD: Very pleased to hear your surgery went so well but sorry to hear your Mom is experiencing back pain. I hope the meds and daily improvement for her continue.

Hi Peggy, I think I may have caught something from you lol. I'll have my cataract surgery on March 18 and April 1. Hope the surgeon has a sense of humor.

I've been following the election debacle in your county with interest.

I also have been following the election debacle but didn't know it was in YOUR county!

*smiling at Heather, Bonnie, and Roni too!*
We're having a pretty hard time with Mama's back. She is more mobile than she has been when she's had trouble, but she's more depressed this time. It's hard.
On the other hand, the new implant is still wonderful. The hardest thing (besides the drops! Hope you have a sense of humor, Bonnie, and that your surgery is as satisfactory as mine has been!) is putting glasses ON to read. That's what Jim said too.
Oh yes. My county. We're notorious. I won't start except to say that this is about the most gerrymandered district anywhere, and our local white Republicans are more concerned about voter ID than blatant tampering.

I'm happily surprised that the Harris debacle has gotten national attention and that it seems to be taken seriously.

>131 karenmarie: Ditto, Karen.
Meanwhile, I'm not reading what I'm "supposed" to. I'm finding Zuleikha something of a plod. Since it won awards in Russia, I was hoping for better than it is. I guess I just have to stop asking ER for books I know nothing about.

>130 LizzieD: Sorry to hear about your Mama - it is hard watching loved ones experience pain and depression when there's not much we can do to help. {{{Hugs}}}

>126 LizzieD: Huh. I too have been following the story but hadn't made the connection that it's your county.

Katharine, I'm afraid so - at least, the thing was settled and they agreed to another election before they got to my county specifically. (We were the second involved, and they dealt with Bladen first.)
Heather, thank you for the sympathy. I'm also tired and discouraged tonight, but call me Katie Scarlett. Tomorrow will be another day.

14 by Peter Clines

This is a horror story with no horror until the last 10% or so. Nevertheless, it kept me reading as tension built and built and our Scooby-Doo gang of persistently curious residents of an increasingly mysterious apartment house in LA picked locks, peeled paint, and very nearly brought about a P.G. Lovecraftian apocalypse. I've never read Lovecraft and likely won't, but this one was just good escape.

>135 LizzieD: Got me with that one - sounds like my kind of book!

Heh. Hope you have fun, Jim!
Meanwhile, I'm amazed. I put The Landmark Thucydides (and Herodotus too) on my PBS wish list, and behold! Somebody sent me a pristine, unread pb copy, which arrived in the mail today! Anybody want to make book on when I read it????

***Quote of the Day***
When people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong.
~ Oscar Wilde (*Epigrams*)

Hi Peggy! I hope you have a wonderful day.

>1 LizzieD: I must have skimmed your comment about the house turning 100 this year.

Hi, Karen. We've had two pretty good days, so I'm hoping for another one tomorrow. The same back to you!

***First Sentence/Last Sentence***
Huguette and Andree, daughters of the multimillionaire former senator W.A. Clark, arrived in New York Harbor in July 1910, immigrants to their own country.
~ Empty Mansions

***Quote of the Day***
Life is too short to stuff a mushroom.
~ Storm Jameson (*1,911*)

ZULEIKHA by Guzel Yakhina

I posted my review on the book page and feel guilty that I got the book when others wanted it too, and I didn't like it. Tell the truth and shame the devil though, and I did.
Now it goes off to Stasia, and when she's read it, to my aunt and them maybe my book club.
*sigh*

Just so you'll know, I CAN SEE out of both eyes, and I'm amazed at the crispness and brightness of our world. YAY!!!!!
(I do have a bit of a mouse on my lower left lid because I coughed when the doc was deadening that lid and hit a vein. I had used my nasal spray that does the best job of stopping post-nasal drip. Coughing at a crucial point in the procedure was one of my horrors.) It's done, and I'm thrilled!!!!!!!
I've neglected to say that I'm reading End of Watch, and I won't bother to put it up top because I'm nearly finished.

Congrats on the second surgery being done with and your world being crisp and bright, Peggy!

I really loved the Bill Hodges trilogy.

>141 LizzieD: delurking to say huzzah! about the eye surgery. It gives me hope, should I ever need the same procedure.

Thank you Karen and Laura! I am enjoying clear, intricate, bare branches against a Carolina blue sky this morning. Amazing! I did reach for my glasses at least 3 times this morning as I was dressing, but I noticed immediately that I could see when I opened my eyes. So fine!
Karen, see below for my last Bill Hodges.
Laura, I hope that you remain cataract free. Maybe by the time you need the surgery, if you should, they will have perfected implants that focus at every distance so that you don't have to use reading glasses. That's another change that I can live with!

END OF WATCH by Stephen King
When I read SK, I expect some kind of weirdness, and it finally comes (after a broad hint at the end of the second of the trilogy) in this final installment of Bill Hodges's story. Bill, with his sidekicks Holly and Jerome, is not finished with the monster Brady. It's a wild race to a generally satisfying end. RIP.
I enjoyed it hugely!

It does take a while to adjust to not being nearsighted. Have fun with your new distance vision. It will probably be the same for you too re driving - I actually can't wear my glasses driving any more.

Glad you liked the last of the Bill Hodges trilogy. King's The Outsider is another good one, published in May of last year.

I have always been a little bit too scared to do anything to improve my eyesight other than jamjar glasses. Good for you, Peggy in bringing clarity to your waking moments.

Have a lovely weekend.

Thank you, Paul. I confess that I was terrified. On the other hand, cataracts will eventually blind you, so it's completely worth doing. As my pharmacist said, the procedure is so well-developed that it's not much different from a visit to the dentist - except that it's your eyes.
I'm thrilled!

THE UNKNOWN AJAX by Georgette Heyer
It's always a pleasure to return to a favorite Heyer, and this one is on everybody's favorites list....especially mine. I am as much in love with Hugo Daracott as ever and find the supporting characters a near-perfect setting for that perfect gem. An intelligent, funny, self-deprecating man and a funny dysfunctional family with an appealing young woman, ghost-sightings, and a bit of brandy smuggling on the side - what more could I wish for pure escape? As usual, I'm sorry to have finished it.

It is a great fun story, isn't it? ((((Peggy))))

>141 LizzieD: Hooray for being able to see, Peggy.

Sorry you didn't care for Zuleikha. Different strokes...

>148 LizzieD: I haven't read this Heyer. I'll have to make it the next one I read.

Happy to see you here, (((((Roni))))) and Beth!!!!!
Beth, you absolutely MUST read *Ajax* next. It's one of the really good, top-notch Heyers. Ask anybody ----
I was trying to remember who enjoyed *Z* so much, and it was you. I can understand being swept into the story and admiring her for her undaunted courage. Different strokes for sure, and I recall that we agree on a lot!
Undaunted by the chain of books I've already committed to, I've started reading Alison Weir's novel about Katherine of Aragon. I don't know that I can sustain interest for 600+ pages, but right now, I'm happy in the book.
I continue to be awed by the beautiful world we live in and enjoy my eyes! It's really spring here - pine pollen piling up (ack!), flowers budding, bombus bombus flourishing - I'm afraid it's all going to be whacked by late winter temps. Until then, it has been lovely.

Hi Peggy!

Undaunted by the chain of books I've already committed to, I have to laugh because I've been ignoring my three group reads in order to finish the Frieda Klein series. I finished The Day of the Dead yesterday and it is a doozy! I will write a review and then post it on the works page to keep the ER gods happy. I received it last August but needed to read the first seven books first.

Hi, Karen! Sisters under the skin for sure!

It is the beginning of Pine Pollen Season!!!! Behold!


The little pine outside our bedroom window is about to burst forth.


---and what color would you say that my car is????

>154 PaulCranswick: I do miss the changing of the seasons in Malaysia, Peggy.

>153 LizzieD: I have long maintained that the best color for a car in Southern California is some variation on beige, my favorite being rose taupe, which I've never managed to get. It's pretty much the same color as the local dirt and the local pollen.

We're just that much further north, Peggy, and haven't had any pollen yet. Of course all the rain we've had would knock anything down anyway.

>141 LizzieD: :D Very happy for you!
When my grandmother had the operation, she was staying at my aunt's house for recovery and really the first thing she said was "I never saw all that dust on your shelves before".

Have a lovely weekend!

Oh, Nathalie! That's funny, funny! I am not seeing dust on purpose because most of it would be mine. You remind me of a discussion with my mother when I was very young. She caught me sweeping my sweepings under a rug and told me I couldn't do that with my dirt....to get it up and out. I responded (so she says), "How can I tell my dirt from your dirt?"
Hi, Karen. You know the yellow is coming!
Hi, Susan. I might not object to some variation on beige as a car color. I do draw the line at chartreusey yellow - the closest thing to pine pollen.
Hi, Paul! Hope you may get back to the UK from time to time to enjoy seasonal change. I've just read lately that in 50 years, SE NC will have Florida's current climate. This is another reason that I will be happy to die at my appointed time (just don't appoint it any time soon!).

Hurray for the eyes being done and clear vision!! Although you're right...It doesn't help see color through pollen. ; )

Happy Saturday!

HOW 'BOUT THEM HEELS!?!? As I wrote on my thread, Bill turned it off at the half because he couldn't stand it. But they did come through. Whew!

HARK THE SOUND, Karen!!!!! DH has pretty much given up watching them altogether - something about his heart and his dissatisfaction with the sense of entitlement of the players dating back to Dean. I remain a fan.
Hi, Kim! I'm not charmed by the pollen, but everything else is leafing out, and the dogwoods are just before shouting HOORAY! It's a bit early, but the season is coming on. We can't really feel safe here until after April 15, but maybe that's changing along with everything else.

I’m so glad your surgery went well! Congratulations on being able to see clearly.

Some great reading here, too. Just at random, I loved Isaac’s Storm, and The Unknown Ajax beguiled me so much that I remember it fondly after...maybe forty years. I’m planning on a tiny reread f some Heyers soon.

And my car, which now remains outside, is that green-yellow color. It’s going for a wash this week.

Congratulations on your successful surgery my friend from another member of the cataract club

Thanks, Jim. As we (well some of us) say around here, "I got them Cadilacs removed."
Hi, Gail! I've lost my copy of Isaac's Storm, and I don't have time to look for it. I'm afraid I PUT it somewhere after I was running into it every time I looked through my library pile. I'll look forward to your choice of Heyer rereads. I'm always interested in which ones are favorites, but surely everybody loves *Ajax*!

Hi Peggy, count me as one of the Ajax lovers. It was the first Heyer I read and it remains a favorite.

I'll trade yellow pollen for the white droppings from cottonwood trees. Every April and May it looks like it has snowed. I would love to start a movement here to have them banned from residential areas!

I don't know, Jan. Do cottonwood droppings make lots of people have killer hay fever?
Anyway, we'll get through it - both of us!

The pollen is just starting up here, I think, but last night's rain knocked it down.

Bill and I make brackets on ESPN every year. I almost always beat him and right now have 13 of the Sweet 16 teams. He 'gave permission' for me to gloat.

"I got them Cadilacs removed." And how about the people whose "sugar is bad"? It was relatively easy to figure out, but still sounds strange to me.

>141 LizzieD: Congratulations on second successful surgery Peggy!

>148 LizzieD: I thought I had read almost all the Heyers but it looks like I'd missed The Unknown Ajax. Added to the list!

Good for you, Karen! I don't do brackets, but I know it adds to the fun. I think sugar is short for the more formal "sugar diabetes." You know about "roaches in his liver," right? ---- or that may just be RobCo.
Heather! You are in for such a treat! I wish I were reading *Ajax* for the first time.

RECORD OF A SPACEBORN FEW by Becky Chambers
This is the quietest book of science fiction I've ever read. I loved it.
Chambers introduces us to the Exodan Fleet, the descendants of those last who fled Earth and decided, as they watched their planet reduced to a bright dot in space, that they had to live together and make their community work. They have populated new planets, but we are concerned with the ones who stayed in the Fleet. Their lives are made specific in five people who live on their old space ships, and one who comes in hopes of making his life there. We also see their lives through a more technically advanced alien sapient.
After the loss of a homesteading ship at the beginning of the book, nothing much happens on a large scale. On a personal scale, lives grow, change, end.
Did I say that I loved it?
I loved it.

THE HORSE, THE WHEEL AND LANGUAGE by David W. Anthony
I've had this one on my Kindle from my early years here at LT, so I'm happy to have read it. I loved and adored the first few chapters in which Anthony dealt with Proto-Indo-European, its origin and development and how "we" know about pre-history. He is meticulous in laying out his arguments and the reasoning behind them, and I appreciated that objectivity through the whole book. On the other hand, I bogged down in the middle when his argument depends on archaeological evidence. I skimmed grave objects and garbage pits and analysis of animal bones as quickly as I could while being alert for interesting historical tidbits. Increasing the tedium for me was the endless series of Eastern European place names and pre-historic cultures of which I had never heard nor will likely ever hear again.
I do think, however, that Anthony has laid to rest any lingering doubt as to the existence of PIE, its origins in the Pontic-Caspian steppes, and its dispersion into the far reaches of Europe, the Slavic countries, and India.
Tidbit examples:
1) Horses were first domesticated for food.
2) Driving a chariot entailed managing each horse separately - maybe with the reins around one's waist - while balancing the chariot itself and aiming and throwing a javelin!
3) Anthony studied particular teeth from horses sacrificed in the burial ceremonies of important men for wear marks from bits, whether soft or hard (bone or metal) to determine when horses were first ridden.
4) The marks of PIE culture included patron/client relationships, host/guest relationships, and a ritual for placating gods in a celestial p/c relationship.
I'm happy!

>170 LizzieD: My son has just bought that one, so I might just be borrowing it when he's finished.

Wow! I'm happy that you've visited, Rhian. I'm such a slacker these nights about getting to people who interest me that I'm doubly grateful for company here.
I think you will love *Spaceborn*. I'm not sure that your son will - the only exciting thing that happens, happens beyond the narrative at the beginning of the book.
Meanwhile, I've nearly finished Around Harvard Square, my latest ER ARC. It's a bit weird, and I have no idea how I'll review it, but review it I will - tomorrow, I hope.

AROUND HARVARD SQUARE by C.J. Farley
Happiness is finishing and reviewing yet another ER gift. My review, such as it is, is on the book page. It's a pretty wild ride, and I suspect that younger readers will appreciate and enjoy it more than I did.
How can you not love writing that includes this sentence? "Lao gave us a look so sheepish it could have been sheared."

>174 LizzieD: Hi Peggy, I read your review to see if I might be interested. Probably not, but that last quote is irresistible.

Hi Peggy!

>169 LizzieD: 'roaches in his liver' - you've mentioned it before, but I still don't get it... does it mean something specific or is it just general for doing poorly?

Boo hiss to March Madness. We've stopped watching completely.

Instead of reading any of my 2,024 books tagged tbr or any of the 87 new ones I just got at the FoL book sale, I'm re-reading The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club.

Today is cold and nasty and rainy. Even I would prefer spring-like weather, even though it leads to summer. Harrumph.

Hi, Jan. I think that a recent college grad is the ideal reader of *Harvard Square*. The writing was pretty wonderful here and there.
Hi, Karen...... You should think "cirrhosis of the liver" when you hear "roaches in his liver." Aren't you glad you asked?
Here's what I think:
1) Having thousands of TBRs is a good thing.
2) Reading what you want at any given time is a good thing.
3) Rereading any DLS is a very good thing!
Even we had the possibility of mixed winter precip today. We didn't get it, but it was raw and chilly (cold to me) all day. Since we know that summer is coming no matter what, we should enjoy spring as long as we can! That's what I think.

Here are the novels nominated for this year's Hugo, with thanks to Roni for posting a link!

The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
Record of a Spaceborn Few, by Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton / Harper Voyager)
Revenant Gun, by Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris)
Space Opera, by Catherynne M. Valente (Saga)
Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik (Del Rey / Macmillan)
Trail of Lightning, by Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga)

Ah, got it! I am glad I asked. I can almost understand why now that I hear the long 'o'.

My friend Rhoda says that unread books on our shelves are like money in the bank. You're right about TBRs for sure. I'm in a hole right now - 3 group reads and needing to read next month's book club book. Why oh why did I commit to 3 group reads? Now I'm stressed. The book club book is my choice, so I really do need to read it well enough to lead a group discussion.

Hi, Peggy! Like you, I’m an ultimate slacker in getting to threads.

>171 LizzieD: Now those are some intriguing facts. I don’t know if I want to read the entire book, but it surely sounds interesting.

>176 karenmarie: Roaches in his liver threw me too, Karen. When Duke went home, so did I. And I get your reading Sayers again, despite the thousands of books waiting for you. I’m rereading a Trollope this week, among other things.

>178 LizzieD: I’m glad to see Valente has been nominated.

Have a wonderful Wednesday, Peggy.

>179 karenmarie:, unread books on our shelves are like money in the bank.

I like that point of view. I often find those TBRs a bit "naggy" ~ like homework not done. Which is no fun way to regard my shelf of TBRs. At the second-hand shop yesterday, I found some new ones to add. I was pleased to see some older Lynne Reid Banks and bought Path to the silent country. Not the lightest of readings, but I read Dark quartet : the story of the Brontes awhile ago and thought to add 'Path' to my serious reading pile.

Some Guy Gavriel Kay was acquired as well. Lest anyone thinks I've turned all scholarly! 😉

>171 LizzieD: He came to speak on our campus, Peggy, and it was fascinating. It sounds like we got the "good" parts.

WOW, Beth! I envy your hearing Anthony. I'll bet he was fascinating!
Hi, Sandy! Oh, absolutely look at unread books as treasure unplundered, money in the bank, insurance, a silo full of sustenance in case of the Great Book Famine! I don't have access to any kind of local book store, but Amazon Marketplace is my almost limitless source. I've loved shopping for books in person, but the anticipation of the mailman is also good. (Isn't GGK the best!!?!!)
Hi, Gail! I don't know Valente, so I'll have another look. Thanks for the good word.
Hi, Karen! I grow more and more averse to any pressure in my reading life. I won't do 75, and I seem to end up not doing group reads either even when I want to. Hmmm. Maybe it has to do with my turning 75 this year. You think?

A FEW RIGHT THINKING MEN by Sulari Gentill
This is the first of a mystery series set in Australia (Sydney) in the 1930s. The protagonist is painter and very rich younger son, Rowland Sinclair. He lives in his family's great house in Sydney with 3 of his Communist or at least very left-leaning artist friends. His brother, on the other hand, is one of the Old Guard, who is organizing to repel the Communist threat. Then, there is the Fascist New Guard, and Rowly has dealings with them too. Political shenanigans and violence abound, but I found the relationship between Rowly and his brother one of the most interesting parts of the book.
I'm on to #2, which is supposed to be even better.

((((Peggy))))

wishing you joy in revisiting Lord Peter Wimsey - I have all of them on Kindle and read a few pages when I;m up to tackling a new book.

My favorite is still The Nine Tailors if anyone asked

(((((Roni)))))! Hugs right back to you!
Hi, Jim! I didn't ask, but I also love *9 Tailors*. I think that the critics agree that it's the best book in the series. I guess I have to love Gaudy Night the best for the Oxford setting and the romance. I can see that it's maybe too long, but I wish DLS had made it even longer. *sigh*
Hmmm. I'm looking at Jo Nesbo and see that I have The Bat on my Kindle too. I had forgotten that it was once a daily deal and I snagged it. I've read a couple of pages, and it's clear that I'll love Harry Hole when I get to him!
Meanwhile, I'm happily preoccupied with *Katherine of A* and *Erasmus/Luther* (which I'm reading with Stasia; LizzieD slowly, AA faster) and Bellevue Square. Add that last to the other couple of sort of weird books that I've read this year.......very unreliable narrator!

>186 LizzieD: Hole can be a frustrating fellow, Peggy, but always one worth reading.

Have a lovely Sunday.

>124 LizzieD: Woefully far behind -- enjoyed the pronunciation guide -- I think I've got a pretty good handle on it all -- I'm somewhere in between the two primary readers.

Now you are tempting me horribly with Georgette!

>124 LizzieD: >188 sibylline: The pronunciation guide got me more confused. I might consult it for the next book!

>188 sibylline: Georgette is a wonderful temptation to fall for - easy to take in single servings!

Hi, Lucy and Susan! Glad to see you both.
I'm afraid I'd have to have the pronunciation guide printed out at my side for it to do me any good. Otherwise, I'd be back to my original pronunciation almost immediately.
Yep. One Georgette at a time is a perfect sufficiency.
I wish I could get to bed right now. Maybe I will.....

KATHERINE OF ARAGON: THE TRUE QUEEN by Alison Weir

I gave this novelized biography 3½ stars, but that's not enough; 4 seems too many though. It's really not a novel - no expanding bare plot in any way. I appreciate that she didn't try to pass it off as a biography either although she says that much of the dialogue is based on fact and that she made up only a few of the letters of Chapuys to Katherine. Anyway, it was easy, if long, reading and I'm pleased to have so many of the names involved more firmly in my brain. What an ultimately sad life! What a courageous, stubborn woman who suffered for what she knew to be truth and feared to be soul-destroying if she denied it!

Katherine of Aragon has always been one of my favorite historical characters, Peggy; she was unusually brave in standing up to Henry even though I cost her dearly. Truly a woman to admire.

Hi, Gail! If you haven't read the Weir, you'd likely enjoy it!
I've looked at Anne Boleyn, but I don't think I can start her yet. Incidentally, Weir has now finished the first 4 of Henry's 6 wives. I do like her; she is a meticulous researcher.

>170 LizzieD: So glad you loved Record of a Spaceborn Few. And I love the description of quiet science fiction - I really enjoy the way she does that.

>192 LizzieD: Fiction, eh? I read Weir's (non-fiction) bio of Eleanor of Acquitaine. I enjoyed it, in the sense that I learned a lot about an historic woman. But it also seemed she had less material to work with, and in some cases had to almost guess at Eleanor's story based on the documented history of the men in her lives. Despite that, I like that she's tackling these women's stories which have been overlooked and ignored throughout history.

Laura, I read that one too with the same reaction. There is apparently a ton of material for K of A, so that was not a problem for this book.
Hi, Heather! I'm happy to see you here and always glad to know when we agree.
My long-time friend is home for the week working on preparing her family home for the market. We visited this afternoon and I brought home another couple of little bags of books. (Incorrigible!)
One of them is The Portable Curmudgeon and another is a huge dictionary of quotes, which I haven't moved in from the car. New fodder for my zinger hunger......

***Quote of the Day***
I'm convinced there's a small room in an attic in the Foreign Office where future diplomats are taught to stammer.
~ Peter Ustinov (*Port.Curm.*_

Hi Peggy, I noticed you are reading an Erasmus/Luther book. Is it the one by Michael Massing, *Fatal Discord*? I've just started reading it. I'm fitting it in between other books so it's slow going but I'm enjoying it.

Yes, Jan, it IS *Fatal Discord*! Stasia and I are reading it, and you are more than welcome to join in! We're (or maybe I mean "I'm") in chapter 7. It is so big that I was discouraged before I started, but I appreciate his ability to make difficult concepts make sense without talking down to his reader or losing their essence. I've read a fair amount about Luther, but Erasmus is fresh ground for me. I love how he's also giving us the background of thinkers who influenced L&E.

BELLEVUE SQUARE by Michael Redhill

HOLY MOLY!!!!! I have no idea what just happened, but I really, really enjoyed it!
In the beginning Jean owns a used bookshop and is married to a Toronto policeman with two sons. She learns that she has a double and begins to look for the woman whose name is Ingrid Fox. Then things get complicated and more complicated.
I have never read de Moupassant's The Horla, and I'm not going to reread this one right now, but I might or might not and have a better grasp on this expedition into the weird world of personal identity.
That's all I'm going to say. Are you an adventurous reader? Try this book!

>197 LizzieD: I had a copy of The Portable Curmudgeon and hugely enjoyed it through several reading.

>200 LizzieD: And on to th WL with Bellevue Square.

Back in the long-ago day I had a considerable fascination with the Plantagenet and Tudor dynasties. I read several books by Weir at that time, and enjoyed them all.

Hi, Gail! You need to see what Suzanne said about *BS*; she was the one who BB'd me.
Weir is good and thorough!
Here's another curmudgeon for you.

***Quote of the Day***
Democracy is the art of running the circus from the monkey cage.
~ H. L. Mencken (*Port.Curm*)

Happy Easter weekend, Peggy.

Hi Peggy!

I hope you're doing well and reading wonderful books.

>199 LizzieD: Peggy, you are way ahead of me in Fatal Discord. I'm going to devote some more time to it. You are right that it is very readable. Happy reading!

Thank you for the Easter huenny, Barbara! Hope your day and this week have been glorious!
Hi, Karen. We're O.K., and when I get to read, it's good!
Jan, I was going to ask where you were..... I just finished the 8th chapter and read a bit into 9. This one is so good that I expect to finish it before the year is out - maybe......
Nothing else here. I talked myself into a Rose Tremain, not a very hard sell.

***Quote of the Day***
Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
~ Susan Ertz (*Port. Curm*)

Nothing much going on with me.........
A number of books that have come into the house come from a friend who is closing her family home. I came across copies of Crescent Carnival and Lydia Bailey and had a sudden flash of the excitement I had as a young teen when I read those. I knew nothing about anything, and every adult book I read was an adventure. You know that I still love to read, but that particular sense of wonder is gone. I think I'm reading better than I ever have - understanding and appreciating more - but that was a strong hit of nostalgia.

***Quote of the Day***
I have given up reading books; I find it takes my mind off myself.
~ Oscar Levant (*Port. Curm.*)

SASSINAK by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon

This 1990 collaboration is a pleasant enough collaboration. I was entertained enough to keep reading but not to devour the book. We follow the career of Sassinak, the child of colonists on an insignificant planet through her capture by pirates when she was twelve, through her escape from slavery, her time at the space academy, and her command of a space confederation cruiser. She is often concerned with the relationships between ordinary humans and heavy ones from high-g planets. (Already, I've forgotten the terms.)
I often found transitions rough, and even after rereading, I had to simply trust that I'd eventually understand where I was and what was going on. McCaffry and Moon are too good - especially Moon! - to give their readers this particular challenge. The book ends with many loose ends to be taken into the next book. Instead, we go back in time to learn the backstory of a character introduced in the last third of the book.
I'll get back to these but not as soon as I had planned.

***Quote of the Day***
A sensible human being once said, "She's the sort of woman who lives for others - you can always tell the others by their hunted expression."
~ C.S. Lewis (*Quotationary*)

OH I LOVE THE CS Lewis quote!

You got me with two WL's You little thee, you! (Quaker family legacy scold. If you say it with enough venom it actually starts to be satisfying.)

Hi, Lucy! I do believe You little thee, you (which I love and adopt forthwith) is sister to the southern Bless your/his/her heart, which should need no translation.
Meanwhile, hooray for WL's!

Hi Peggy and happy Monday to you!

You little thee, you and Bless your heart are kindred spirits for sure.

So I've only lived in NC for 28 years and want to ask an expert: Where does "She's/You're a mess!" fit in? I've always thought it's an endearing and exasperated expression of affection for someone who's scatty or does odd things. Close? Not even? Whenever I've used it on someone not from the South, they think it's an insult. Have I been using it incorrectly?

I'd say 99% of the time you're spot-on with "mess," Karen. I do hear it used as a negative evaluation now, but traditionally, exasperated affection is what I mean.
Hope your Monday was a better day.

>211 karenmarie:, >212 LizzieD: de-lurking for this interesting regional language usage discussion. I can believe the southern "exasperated affection" (I can almost hear/picture someone saying it that way). Up in these northern parts, "She's/You're a mess!" would be considered more a negative, applied not to someone scatty or odd, but someone who has really made a genuine mess of things.

Hi, Karen and Laura! I've thought a bit more. I think I use "You're a mess!" mostly when talking to or about a child who is mischievous and a bit socially precocious.
I do believe, Laura, that you're speaking of a 'Hot Mess.'

HER ROYAL SPYNESS by Rhys Bowen
Everybody is right. This is just fun.
I think it might be more fun to listen to, but reading was good too. Everybody else (Lucy!) has already written about it, so I'll say no more.

>213 lauralkeet: ah yes, you're right Peggy.

Hi, Laura!

I do so need to start a new thread, but I just can't find the time....

Oh well.

***First Sentence/Last Sentence***
Harry was in his little house on the edge of Back Bay when at half past twelve her voice came over the radio for the first time.
How the earth could hold any more water they didn't know.
~ Late Nights on Air

***Quote of the Day***
To prophesy is extremely difficult - especially with respect to the future.
~ Saying (Chinese) (*Quotationary*)

'Morning, Peggy! I hope you have a wonderful day. All our trees are in full leaf now after all this rain and hot weather. My sister, who lives in the semi-arid desert wasteland that is Southern California, keeps exclaiming at how beautiful it is. I've lived here for 28 years and am still more than appreciative of our NC beauty.