Streamsong #2 Flurries and Rivers of Books

Firehole River in Yellowstone Park, Feb 2019

CURRENTLY READING:

- An Odyssey: A Father, A Son and an Epic - Daniel Mendelsohn- 2018 - PBS/NYT Book Club; Kindle; acq'd 2019
- Brotopia- Emily Chang 2018 - PBS/NYT Now Read This Bookclub; acq'd 2019
- The Bedside Book of Bastards - Dorothy Johnson - March 75'ers NF challenge: True Crime - ROOT 2014 = 5 Root points
- Democracy in Chains - Nancy K. MacLean - 2017 - Real Life Book Club - acq'd 2019
- These Truths: A History of the United States - Jill Lepore - 2018 - acquired 2019
- Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life - Anne Lamott - 1994; ROOT acq'd 2013 = 6 ROOT points

COMPLETED BUT NOT REVIEWED

- The River- Peter Heller - library
- Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk- Kathleen Rooney - 2017 - group read
- The Marvels- Brian Selznick - 2015 GN - library
- Mouthful of Birds - Global Reading: Argentina - short stories - library
- Forfeit - Dick - 1969 - group read - library
- A Mother's Reckoning - Sue Klebold - 2016 - RLBC - library
- The Lone Winter - Anne Bosworth Greene - 1927 - library
- Lumberjanes Volume Three: A Terrible Plan - Noelle Stevenson - 2016 - GN - library
- The Round House - Louise Erdrich - 2012 - April RandomCat - TOB; ROOT acquired 2016 = 3 ROOT points - listening to audio

FIRST QUARTER

January



1. Secondhand Time - Svetlana Alexievich - 2013- Lit seminar; Global Reading: Russia (additional book); book acquired 2018 = ROOT #1/50 = 1 point/225
2. The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Unlikely Ascent of "Hallelujah" - Alan Light - 2012 - library
3. Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurty - Real Life Book Club selection January 2019 (book acq'd 2018= ROOT #2/50 - 1 ROOT point =2/225
4. The Whole Town's Talking - Fannie Flagg - 2016; acq'd 2017 = ROOT #3/50 - 2 points 4/225 audiobook in the car;
5. My Name is Asher Lev - Chaim Potok - 1972 - January American Author Challenge - ROOT #4/50; Acq'd 2016 = 3 ROOT points - 7/225)
6. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Berendt - 1994 - 75'ers NF Challenge- Award winner; acq'd 2018 - ROOT #5/50 - acq'e 2018 =1 ROOT point (8/225)
7. The Burgess Boys - Elizabeth Strout - 2013 - RandomCat - Your Name in Print - acq'd 2014 = ROOT #6/50 /5 ROOT points=13/225

February



8. The Expedition to the Baobab Tree: A Novel - Wilma Stockenstrom - 1981; Lit Seminar; Global Reading Challenge: South Africa; acq'd 2019
9. Well-Read Black Girl - Glory Edim - 2018 - library
10. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry - Neil deGrasse Tyson - 2017; 75'ers Feb NF challenge: science; audiobook; library
11. Becoming - Michelle Obama - 2018 - library -
12. The Story of a New Name - Elena Ferrante - 2012; SeriesCat - translated series; library
13. The Poet X -Elizabeth Acevedo - 2018; library
14. Last Friends - Jane Gardam - 2013 - group read - library
15. Nerve - Dick Francis - 1964 - group read - acq'd 2019 as part of omnibus

MARCH



16. The Tongue's Blood Does Not Run Dry - Assia Djebar - 1997 - lit seminar - purchased 2019
17. Britten and Brülightly - Hannah Berry - 2009 - graphic novel - library
18. The Wife - Meg Wolitzer - 2003 - PBS/NYT Feb book club; Global Reading: Finland (partial location); library
19. Eight Cousins - Louisa May Alcott - 1875 - Feb American author group read; ROOT - uncatalgoued =1 ROOT point; #7/50 and 14/225 ROOT points; library
20. Song of the Quarkbeast - Jasper Fforde - 2011 - SeriesCat: Favorite Author - library
21. Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America's Most Powerful Mobster by Stephen L. Carter - 2018 - LTER; ROOT # 8/50; acq'd 2018 = 1 ROOT point 15/225)
22. Ghost Wall: A Novel - Sarah Moss - 2018 - 2019 Bailey's Prize Long list; library
23. The Sunday Philosophy Club - Alexander McCall Smith - 2004 - SeriesCat - Favorite authors; ROOT #9/50; acq'd 2012 = 7 ROOT points (22/225)
24.My Sister the Serial Killer - Oyinkan Braithwaite - Women's Prize Longlist; Global Reading: Nigeria - 2018 - library
25. Vinegar Girl - Anne Tyler - 2016; Root # 10/50; acq'd 2017 (2 points =24/225) - listened to audio
26. The Power - Naomi Alderman - 2017 - PBS/NYT March Now Read This Bookclub; 2018 Women's Prize - library
27. Educated - Tara Westover - 2018 - Reread for RL Book Club; library
28. The Road - Cormac McCarthy - 2006 - April RandomCat: TOB; ROOT #11/50 acq'd 2016 = 3 ROOT points (27/225) - audiobook
29. On the Come Up - Angie Thomas - 2019 - library

SECOND QUARTER

APRIL



30. Faces in the Crowd - Valeria Luiselli - 2011 - April Literature Seminar; Global Reading: Mexico; Acq'd 2019
31. Lord of the Butterflies - Andrea Gibson - 2018 - acq'd 2019
32. Now You See the Sky - Catharine H. Murray - 2018; LibraryThing Early Reviewer; Global Reading - Thailand; Root #12/50; acq'd 2018 = 1 ROOT point (28/225)
33. The River- Peter Heller - 2019 - library
34. Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk- Kathleen Rooney - 2017 - group read - library
35. The Marvels - Brian Selznick - 2015 GN - library
36. Mouthful of Birds - Global Reading: Argentina - short stories - library
37. Forfeit - Dick Francis - 1969 - group read - library
38. A Mother's Reckoning - Sue Klebold - 2016 - RLBC - library
39. When the English Fall - David Williams - 2017 - library
40. Stitches: A Memoir - David Small - 2009 - library
41. The Lone Winter - Ann Bosworth Greene - 1923 - library
42. Solaris - Lem Stanislaw - 1961 - 1001 Books - Global Reading: Poland - library
43. Lumberjanes Volume Three: A terrible Plan - Noelle Stevenson - 2016 - library

MAY

44.- The Round House - Louise Erdrich - 2012 - April RandomCat - related to the TOB; ROOT #13/50 - acquired 2016 = 3 ROOT points - (31/225) - listening to audio

****44 BOOKS COMPLETED IN 2019 ****

Of the books I've read this year:
- cataloged into LT 2006
- cataloged into LT 2007
- cataloged into LT 2008
- cataloged into LT 2009
- cataloged into LT 2010
- cataloged into LT 2011
1 - cataloged into LT 2012
- cataloged into LT 2013
1 - cataloged into LT 2014
- cataloged into LT 2015
3 - acquired 2016
2 - acquired 2017
6 - acquired 2018
5 - acquired 2019
- acquired previously but not cataloged until 2019
25 - borrowed from library & elsewhere

FORMAT
6 - Audiobook
38 - Print
- Kindle App

GENRE

- 28 - Fiction (may fit into more than one category)

1 - fantasy
9 - general fiction
3 - graphic novel
5 - literary fiction
4 - mystery/thriller
2 - short stories
3 - sf/dystyopia
1 - western
6 - YA

- 13 - Non-Fiction (may fit into more than one category)

1 - arts
2 - biography
1 - graphic nonfiction
1 - history
7 - memoir
1 - politics
1 - science
1 - true crime

- cartoons
1 - essays
2 - poetry
- plays

AUTHORS

17 - Male Authors
26 - Female Authors
- Combination of male and female

24 - Authors who are new to me
17 - Authors read before
Rereads:
-----Educated by Tara Westover

Multiple books read in 2019 by same author:
- Dick Francis: Forfeit

Nationality of Author:
1 - Algeria
1 - Argentina
7 - England/UK
1 - Italy
1 - Mexico
1 - Poland
1 - Russia
1 - South Africa
29 - USA


Birthplace or residence of Author if different from nationality:

Language Book Originally Published in:
1 - Africaans
33 - English
1 - French
1 - Italian
1 - Polish
1 - Russian
2 - Spanish

Original Publication Date

1 - 1875
1 - 1923
1 - 1961
1 - 1962
1 - 1969
1 - 1972
1 - 1981
1 - 1985
1 - 1994
1 - 1997
1 - 2003
1 - 2004
1 - 2006
2 - 2009
2 - 2011
4 - 2012
2 - 2013
1 - 2015
4 - 2016
4 - 2017
8 - 2018
3 - 2019

The Global Challenge: Read five books from each of the 193 UN members plus a few additional areas.

Thread here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/188308

COUNTRIES VISITED IN 2019


visited 12 states (5.33%)
Create your own visited map of The World

CUMULATIVE : 87 countries visited: 20 countries completed with minimum of five books


visited 87 states (38.6%)
Create your own visited map of The World

More Challenges to Dip In and Out - to encourage me to read more off my shelves-

75'ers American Authors Challenge:
✔ January: Chaim Potok - My Name is Asher Lev - 1972 - Acquired 2016
✔ February: Louisa May Alcott - Eight Cousins

75'ers Non-Fiction Challenge:
✔January: Prize Winner: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil -
✔February: Science and Technology: Innovations and Innovators. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
Reading March: True Crime, Misdemeanors and Justice, Past and Present Day: The Bedside Book of Bastards - Dorothy Johnson - ROOT
✔ April: Comfort Reads: The Lone Winter - Anne Bosworth Greene
May: History.
June: The Pictures Have It!
July: Biography & First Person yarns
August: Raw Materials: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral
September: Books by Journalists
October: Other Worlds: From Spiritual to Fantastical
November: Creators and Creativity
December: I’ve Always Been Curious about...

SeriesCat Category Challenge: https://www.librarything.com/topic/298613#
✔ January: Not Written in English: Story of a New Name- Elena Ferrante (Italian) - library
✔ February: YA/Children's: - library - Eight Cousins - Louisa May Alcott
✔March: Series by a favorite author - Song of the Quarkbeast - Jasper Fforde
✔April: Series You've Been Meaning to Get Back To: LumberJanes Vol 3 A Terrible Plan - Noelle Stevenson
May: Newest book in a favorite series
June: Series that are definitely complete
July: Genre: fantasy
August: Series set in a country/region where you do not live
September: Genre: Mystery
October: Historical Series
November: Series with a female protagonist
December: Series that's new to you

Random Cat Challenge
✔ January: A Book with your Name: The Burgess Boys - Elizabeth Strout -
✔February: Travel: Expedition to the Baobab Tree
✔ March: Brexit Country Ghost Wall - Sarah Moss ( April: Book from The Tournament of Books: ✔ Round House - Louise Erdrich
April: Something to do with Dance

More Challenge reads:

1001 Books to Read Before You Die Total books read: 166
- Thread here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/163173

Library Brown Bag Book Club/ Real Life Book Club
✔January: Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurty
Reading February 28: Democracy in Chains by Nancy Maclean
✔March 28: Educated by Tara Westover
✔April 25: A Mother’s Reckoning by Sue Klebold
May 30: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
June 27: Fear by Bob Woodward
July 25: Red Notice by Bill Browder
August 29: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
September 26: We Were Eight Years in Power: an American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates
October 31: Two Sisters: a Father, His Daughters, and Their Journey into the Syrian Jihad by Asne Seierstad
November 21: The Traitor and the Spy by Ben Macintrye

PBS/NYT NOW READ THIS BOOKCLUB
January: Heart: A History - Sandeep Jauhar
✔ February: The Wife - Meg Wolitzer
✔ March: The Power - Naomi Alderman
**Reading** April: Brotopia - Emily Chang
**Reading** May: An Odyssey: A Father, A Son and an Epic - Daniel Mendelsohn

RL Literature Seminar
✔ January 8: The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector - 1001 books - Brazil
✔ February 5: The Expedition to the Baobab Tree by Wilma Stockenstrom - South Africa
✔ March 5: The Tongue's Blood Does Not Run Dry by Assia Djebar - Algeria
✔ April 2: Faces in the Crowd by Valeria Luiselli - Mexico

The most difficult challenge of all is to read books already on my shelves:

My biggest challenge is that I keep hauling books home faster than I can read them and the piles keep growing larger. These numbers include the library books that I have at home.

As of 5/01/2019: 509 books on physical MT TBR
As of 4/01/2019: 510 books on physical MT TBR
As of 3/01 2019: 516 books on physical MT TBR
As of 02/01/2019: 513 books on physical Mt TBR
As of 01/01/2019: 510 books on physical Mt TBR

As of 01/01/2018: 510 books on physical Mt TBR
As of 01/01/2017: 481 books on physical Mt TBR
As of 01/01/2016: 459 books on physical Mt TBR

Reading Our My Own Tomes - ROOTS - Challenge

I want to read fifty books acquired before 01/01/2019. That was my same goal as last year, and I achieved only about half of it.




To Encourage myself to read older books on MT TBR, I also give myself points based on how old they are:

Here's how it works:

1. ROOTS cataloged into LT in 2006 -- 13 points
2. ROOTS cataloged into LT in 2007-- 12 points
3. ROOTS cataloged into LT in 2008-- 11 points
4. ROOTS cataloged into LT in 2009-- 10 points
5. ROOTS cataloged into LT in 2010-- 9 points
6 .ROOTS cataloged into LT in 2011 -- 8 points
7. ROOTS cataloged into LT in 2012 -- 7 points
8. ROOTS cataloged into LT in 2013 -- 6 points
9. ROOTS cataloged into LT in 2014 -- 5 points
10. ROOTS cataloged into LT in 2015 -- 4 points
11. ROOTS cataloged into LT in 2016 -- 3 points
12. ROOTS cataloged into LT in 2017 -- 2 points
12. ROOTS not previously entered into LT but which have been around the house pre-2019 - 1 point
13. ROOTS cataloged into LT in 2018 - 1 point

Point Goal: The proposed 50 books off my shelves should add up to 225 ROOT points this year.

Books Acquired 2019

15 - Total
3 and 1/3 - Read
5 - Reading
3 - Reference/Cookbook (not on tbr list)

1. Heart: A History - Sandeep Jauhar - 2018 - Jan PBS/NYT Now Read This
**Reading** 2. These Truths: A History of the United States - 2018 LT group read
✔ 3. The Expedition to the Baobab Tree - Wilma Stockenstrom - Feb lit seminar
4. Red Eagles of the Northwest - Francis Haines - 1939 - collectible 1/26/2019
**Reading** 5. Dick Francis Omnibus Seven - Dick Francis -
--✔ a.Nerve- group read
-- b. Blood Sport
-- c. In the Frame
6. Shallow Diggin's: Tales from Montana's ghost Towns by Jean Davis - FOL rack 2/5/2019
**Reading** 7. Democracy in Chains by Nancy Maclean - Feb RLBC - 2/5/2019
Reference 8. Indian Instant Pot Cookbook - Urvashi Pitre - Darryl made me do it! 2/12/2019
9. City of Jasmine - Olga Grjasnowa - LTER - 2/13/2019 (Syria)
✔ 10. Lord of the Butterflies - Andrea Gibson - 3/111/2019
✔ 11. Faces in the Crowd - Valeria Luiselli - Lit seminar - 3/11/2019
Reference 12. Handbook of the Canadian Rockies - Ben Gadd - Reference (Rec by Glacier Institute) 4/01
Reference 13. Roadside Geology of the Northern Rockies - David D Alt - 4/2/FOL
14. Montana Women Writers - Caroline Patterson 4/2 FOL
15. Slow Horses - Mick Herron 4/2/2019 FOL
16. The Way Home: Tales from a Life Without Technology - Mark Boyle - 2019 - LTER
17. Start Your Farm - Forrest Pritchard - 2018 - Farmer Bootcamp Class
**Reading** 18. Brotopia - Emily Chang - 2019 April - PBS/NYT Now Read This Bookclub
**Reading** 19. An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic by Daniel Mendelsohn - PBS/NYT Now Read This Bookclub - May 2019
20. The Thread That Binds the Bones (The Chapel Hollow Novels Book 1) - Nina Kiriki Hoffman - Kindle - Roni's fault! 5/5/2019
21. The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas - Previously read; copy for my library

List of books acquired in 2018:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/288129#6406196

Going to Yellowstone National Park in the winter has been on my bucket list for quite a while - and it was bucketlist worthy! So photogenic and beautiful - and so different than Yellowstone in the summer.

Among other adventures, we took a snow coach from West Yellowstone to Old Faithful.

We were in one of the smaller, vintage coaches with hatches on the roof:



Here's an interior shot, taken by my friend Tami showing the wooden dashboard:

The next day we did the Taste of the Trails snowshoe/ski tour in West Yellowstone. It was a 5K trail with four food stations along the way.

At the appetizer food stop:


The entire four course dinner: (again by my friend Tami)


Our entire group that did the event:

The biggest surprise was that the bison were absolutely beautiful! I had only seen them in the summer when their coats were raggedy looking.

But a bison in winter with its full coat is a beautiful creature!

And you can see how they use their massive heads and shoulders muscles to plow through feet of snow to the grass below.



And, as they dig through the snow for grass they disturb seeds, which can be carried by their hooves to new areas. Bison are planting wildflowers in winter!

And that's it, folks!

Welcome to my new thread!

Happy new thread!

What a wonderful vacation. Beautiful pictures. The snow coach looks to be a really nice ride!

Happy new thread, Janet. I love the photos!

Happy New Thread, Janet, and adding to the photo love. Looks like you had a great time (and good weather!).

Happy new thread Janet, and thank you for sharing your Yellowstone in Winter vacation.

Happy new thread! I love the Buffalo pic!

Janet those are wonderful pictures of your recent trip in Yellowstone. Thank you for sharing. Glad that you had such a great time. Happy new thread. Great reading going on here too and I so appreciate you giving the star ratings.

Happy New Thread, Janet!

I love all the photos. Looks like you had a terrific winter trip to Yellowstone.

>13 streamsong: Oh, yay, you went. And those bison are beautiful.

Happy new thread, Janet (and a splendid weekend, of course).

Thank you Anita Beth, Roni, Karen, Jim, Mary, Joe, Katherine and Paul for the good wishes on the new thread on my Yellowstone weekend.

>19 drneutron: Thanks, Jim! The bison picture was taken through the top hatch of the snow-coach. It made for some really neat photos. We were close to critters, but safe and not bothering them.

It's funny how much fun it was to play in the snow in Yellowstone, and yet the forecast of a foot or two of new snow over the next few days does not sound fun at all.

A friend who lives in the valley here said it feels like February 87th and I so agree!

Happy new thread, Janet!

Thanks for sharing the pictures of Yellowstone in winter, it looks wonderful there! The bison are beautiful, I like the snow on the head of the one on the left, gives a nice expression.

Thanks, Anita!

Just for reference, that is actually a female bison (cow? I think is the word) with her last years' calf in the photo. The males are easily twice as big.

10. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry - Neil deGrasse Tyson - 2017
- 75'ers Feb NF challenge: science
- audiobook; library

Book Description: ”The essential universe, from our most celebrated and beloved astrophysicist.
What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? There’s no better guide through these mindexpanding questions than acclaimed astrophysicist and best-selling author Neil deGrasse Tyson.”

I loved it. Neil deGrasse Tyson does a great job making the this hard-to-comprehend subject comprehensible.

I listened to the audiobook, read by the author. It was wonderful to hear him speaking passionately and with humor about the subject he loves.

Usually I prefer audios for books that I might otherwise bog down in; for this one I think a printed copy would have been better. While this is a very short book, with only basics concepts, I felt that while I may have understood concepts while listening, I'm not sure how long I will remember them. It also would have been nice to have been able to flip backward and review previous sections.

I'll definitely be looking for a print copy for my library.

4.5 stars

Happy New Thread, Janet. Love the Yellowstone topper and the buffalo. I also really enjoyed the Tyson book. I hope you enjoyed The Poet X as much as I did.

Hi Mark! Thanks for stopping by. Yellowstone in winter was awesome.

And The Poet X was shiny.

I'm snowed in today, so once the horses are taken care of, I'll be catching up on reviews, reading and sorting tax stuff.

I'll get some pictures as I'm outside feeding.

>13 streamsong: Gorgeous bison! Visitors at the zoo where I volunteer are always concerned about the bison being outside during the winter but with those thick coats I'm sure they're much happier outside in the winter than in the summer!

Beautiful photos! Yellowstone and Yosemite are on my "to do" list.

Did you see the news about the geysers in Yellowstone? Apparently they've been more active than usual.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/08/science/steamboat-geyser-yellowstone.html

>31 fuzzi: Hi Lor! Yes, I had heard that about Steamboat Geyser reawakening. Thank you for the link - very interesting, isn't it? There are also more earthquakes in the area, although the earthquake swarms seem to go in cycles, and they don't think it's indicative that the whole area is about to blow up - just constantly changing.

I've endured three days of blizzards here with almost three feet of snow of the ground. We've broken all the previous snow records, and the temperature is hovering in the single digits.

I'm on a list to get my long country driveway plowed out, but so far am snowed in. I've been exhausted keeping horses fed and watered in this weather - went to bed early Tuesday night and am now wide awake at 3 am. And it's snowing again - they expect another three-five inches today.

11. Becoming - Michelle Obama - 2018
- library

I was totally drawn into this book from the first page. From her childhood in a working class neighborhood in South Chicago where her parents emphasized family and education, to Michelle's determination to succeed and make a difference in society, I was totally immersed.

This is a woman whose priorities shine. She reached her educational goal, graduating from Princeton University and Harvard Law School. She then worked a well-paying job in corporate law. However , she found she was not being fulfilled by the work, and turned to work in social justice organizations at a quarter of the pay.

Her campaigning and support for husband Barrack, her life as the First Lady and her role as mother are also detailed.

4.4 stars

This is a well-written and inspiring book.

Hi Janet!

3 feet of snow, snowbound, still have to feed the animals of course. Hang in there!

I haven't found out if Karen's little town near Bozeman is getting hammered or not, but there was an avalanche warning posted on the National Weather Service page. She lives in the valley, but don't know if she's technically in the 'avalanche runout' zone.

>32 streamsong: you really should read The Lone Winter by Anne Bosworth Greene. It's available fairly cheaply online, sometimes less than $10.

I have the author's name saved in a Biblio want list, and they frequently email me notices that include that particular book as being available. There's another book of hers I'm waiting to get, but want it below $20.

>34 karenmarie: Hi Karen! I sincerely hope my driveway gets plowed today. I haven't even been out to the mailbox since the storm began. Perhaps today will be the day! This is by far the toughest patch I've been through in the 30 years I've lived in this house. At least the electricity has not gone out (fingers and toes crossed!)

I hope your friend Karen is safe and sound. If she's in the valley, she probably is. It's hard to listen to the national news weather when they paint with such broad strokes. I know I worried about you and other online friends during the hurricane that went your way.

>35 fuzzi: Hi Lor - that book sounds good and I am looking forward to reading it. I requested it from the library when you mentioned it earlier and have it here at home but there are a few more to get to before I start it. Which one of hers are you looking for?

It may sound silly, but I am hoping to make it to the Real Life Book Club tomorrow. The book is Democracy in Chains which, I think has a totally overblown and sensationalist title, but is actually quite good. I had thought I couldn't stand one more book on politics, but this is the economic underpinning of a lot of the states' rights/ freedom of capitalism movement.

It actually ties in really well with the section of These Truths that I'm reading now, since many of John Calhoun's later policies and writings were adopted by the Libertarian movement.

>36 streamsong: wow, your library had it? Excellent!

I have two of her books that I'm looking to get, one is Punch the Cruising Dog and the other is Through Early Yellowstone: Adventuring by Bicycle, Covered Wagon, Foot, Horseback, and Skis. I may have found the first one on Ebay, waiting to hear back from the seller (I can't handle "musty" books, so I always clarify they're not).

Once I get those two, I'm done collecting all her published works.

>37 fuzzi: Yes, I was able to get it through the web of about 30 small libraries that our library networks with. Hooray for small town libraries that don't always cull as fiercely as larger libraries. It is the only one of her books, available, though.

The book on Yellowstone sounds amazing.

Woo! The book Punch the Cruising Dog is supposedly NOT musty, and the seller accepted my counteroffer.

I'm excited, that one has been out of my reach $$$ for a while.

Assuming it arrives safely, I just need to find a cheaper copy of the Yellowstone book to make my Anne Bosworth Greene collection complete.

Knowing you, I'm sure you are well-stocked up, but be safe. You've got your essential paths dug out to get to the animals--sometimes it's a pity you can't put them on hold for a day or two.

Janet hoping that you get your driveway plowed pronto and that it stops snowing immediately! Wow, you have had quite the winter and it sounds not easy keeping your horses happy. Be safe!

Janet, those pictures of Yellowstone are stunning. I especially loved the Bison pic. I hope you are able to get out of your driveway and go to your book group. We readers have priorities, don’t we? For most people it would be a milk and bread run!

>40 ronincats: >41 mdoris: >42 Donna828: Roni, Mary, Donna: Safe, well-stocked up but no snow plow before tomorrow.

These guys were heading south past my living room window the first day of the storm:

Photos of my picnic table and driveway taken Wednesday afternoon:

>44 streamsong: wow. I remember having it snow that much in Connecticut, but it wasn't common. Most of our snowstorms dropped 6-8" at a time. In 1978 I recall we had back-to-back blizzards, with 3 feet of snow on the ground! The governor closed all the roads in the state to expedite plowing, so I walked to my job at the local grocery store, about a mile down the street.

>45 fuzzi: They are now saying this may be the ''snow event of the century" for this area. Schools have been closed all week, roads are still emergency travel only; they are saying residential areas may not be plowed until next week.

12. The Story of a New Name - Elena Ferrante - 2012
-SeriesCat - translated series;
- library


Blurb from Publisher's Weekly: “An intoxicatingly furious portrait of enmeshed friends Lila and Elena., bright and passionate girls from a raucous neighborhood in working class Naples. Ferrante writes with such aggression and unnerving psychological insight about the messy complexity of female friendship that the real world can drop away when you're reading her.”

This is part two of a four part series about childhood friends Lila and Elena. As they have come of age, they have been become more and more competitive and have also been divided by their differing roles in life, and their love for the same man.

Lila has chosen marriage to a well-to-do neighborhood boy. Elena has gone on to high school and then University. Nevertheless, their paths continue to cross and their relationships continue to be highly complex.

Like the first book, this one also ends with a twist leading to a major cliffhanger.

I read the first part of this series, My Brilliant Friend with my Real Life Book Club over a year ago. It's a series that I always meant to continue, but it took a push from the SeriesCat challenge to do so. Highly entertaining and complex. I love the front cover blurb by John Freeman of “The Austrailian” who says “Imagine if Jane Austen got angry and you'll have some idea of how explosive these works are”.

4 stars. I look forward to reading the next one.

Hi Janet!

>43 streamsong: Elk, right? Wow. Lots of snow. Our snow event of the century was in the late 1990s when we got 22" of snow. Paralyzed the region for weeks.

>43 streamsong: >44 streamsong: Wow. Thanks for sharing the photos.

Sweet Thursday, Janet. I sure hope the weather begins to let up for you. We are getting another arctic blast, late on Sunday. Sighs...I am so done with this.

Beautiful pictures, Janet!

>46 streamsong: wow.

Ever hear about the blizzard of '88?

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/great-blizzard-of-88-hits-east-coast

Wow, Janet! It's snowy here as well. Are we ready for spring? At least you have some good reading. I imagine it is so difficult to take care of the animals with so much snow.

I also loved Becoming; it made me feel more optimistic than I have felt for a while.

>27 streamsong: This one looks good as well. I love astronomy.

>48 karenmarie: Hi Karen! Actually they are whitetail mule deer. I know there isn't anything in the photos to give perspective as to how big they are, and the one buck is carrying a huge rack, so your guess is justified. I've occasionally had a stray elk, but never in any numbers which makes me very happy as they eat a huge amount of hay and could decimate my hay stacks.

>49 msf59: Hi Mark! I think we're getting that same Arctic blast, which I heard is supposed to cover most of the northern parts of the US. The wind chills they are predicting are truly nasty.

>50 The_Hibernator: Thank you, Rachel. I've been experimenting with a camera that used to be my Dad's. I took it along to Yellowstone and have continued taking shots. My phone camera is really bad (photos always blurred) and my digital camera had a known manufacturing defect that was very discouraging.

So getting back to photos is now fun!

>51 fuzzi: Hi Lor! Thanks for the link. There are always bigger blizzards, aren't there?

I finally got my driveway plowed out yesterday about 5. I haven't been able to drive my car for 6 days, so top of the list has to be digging the car out today once the horse chores are done.

I think I'll see if I can find someone to help me dig out - although right now finding someone who doesn't have days' long lists of jobs is a trick. The plow berms are in some very inconvenient places! (as in a good 6 feet deep in front of the corral gate).

>52 BLBera: Hi Beth! Yup, I'm more than ready for spring!

"I also loved Becoming; it made me feel more optimistic than I have felt for a while."

Yes, perfect description! HOPEHOPEHOPE!

And you can't go wrong reading Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. Me too, enjoying astronomy! I have the Great Courses series The Night Sky home from the library right now.

13. The Poet X -Elizabeth Acevedo - 2018
- library

This YA novel written in blank verse is a gem.

Ninth grader Xiomara is a first generation Dominican American living in Harlem. Her mother is a strict Catholic and wants Xiomara to be that way too – but Xiomara has too many questions about God to be allowed to be confirmed with her other classmates.

Her body is becoming curvacious, but her mother has mandated no dating until after college. How can her friendship with her bio partner be wrong?

Her closest ally in the family is her twin brother. He's also grappling with his sexuality, but he understands Xiomara in a way no one else in his family can. He buys her a special leather bound journal to write her thoughts – which often take the form of poems.

And then she is invited to join the school poetry club which once again, causes conflict with her confirmation classes.

A great coming of age story as Xiomara 'The Poet X' stretches her wings to learn who she is and what is truly important to her.

Happy Friday, Janet. Hooray for Poet X. I loved it too. Hope the arctic blast isn't as horrible as the last one.

>55 streamsong: I'm so glad I already have this on my list. It sounds great.

>56 msf59: Hi Mark - Me, too, on hoping the US ducks at least part of the polar blast. March is coming in like a lion for sure.

We're supposed to be down to 0 degreeswith strong winds taking the wind chills down to -20 F and below.

My new normal seems to be going to bed exhausted in the early evening and then waking up about 3 am .....

>57 BLBera: Hi Beth! The Poet X had strong recommendations from both Joe and Mark, so I knew it had to be good!

Hooray! I got the car unburied yesterday and made it to town last evening to pick up a few supplies : milk, eggs, cheese, bread, powerade electrolyte drink, etc.

There is a herd of 50-60 elk about a half mile north of me. It's very unusual for them to be in this area, but I suppose three feet of snow have driven them into the lowlands.

On my way to the store, I saw men from two FWP pickup trucks with flashing lights putting up very tall (10 feet?) mesh fencing around that neighbors' stacks of hay. He has the big round bales that weigh 800 pounds each. Several of them looked like they had been half eaten by very large mice. It sounds funny, and everyone feels sorry for the elk, but having that many 1000 pound locusts move in can be quite devastating.

With hay at over $200 per ton last fall, and no way to get it delivered with the snow, I hope the elk stay away from my stacks which you can see in >44 streamsong:. I think I have about 20 tons of hay left which need to get me through until July and the first cutting of hay in the valley.

I'll try to get some photos tomorrow if I get a chance.

Currently concentrating on these:

Whoops - need to add one more due back at the library: Britten and Brülightly - Hannah Berry

Eight Cousins - Louisa May Alcott - Feb American Author
The Tongue's Blood Does Not Run Dry - Assia Djebar - 1997 - this weeks lit seminar - Algerian short stories
These Truths - Jill Lepore - group read
Vinegar Girl - Anne Tyler - audiobook in car; did not make much progress with the car snowed in for six days ....
Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America - Nancy K MacLean Feb RLBC selection

February Summary (List in >4 streamsong: )
Read: 8
Fiction: 5
Nonfiction: 3
In translation: 2
Essays: 1
Poetry: 1
Short story collections:
Memoir: 1
Graphic novels:
Men: 2
Women: 6
Combo of men & women:
Off My Shelf (ROOTS): 0; Total for year: 6
---As of 3/01 2019: 516 books on physical MT TBR
---As of 02/01/2019: 513 books on physical Mt TBR

Best of the Month: Well-Read Black Girl - 5 stars

Your Yellowstone pictures are just gorgeous. Thanks for sharing! It is on my bucket list of places to see one day -- now I also want to go in the winter!

Glad you enjoyed The Story of a New Name. Are you going to read book #3 soon?

Your photos of Yellowstone and your own snow are wonderful! Thanks for sharing. Glad you are out and about. I remember keeping pigs and having to break up ice and clean out wet bedding in the worst of weather but never ever like that!

Added Poet X and Well-Read Black Girl to my TBR list. I liked Angie Thomas's new fiction, On the Come Up and I think Poet X is a similar theme.

Adding my hooray for The Poet X, Janet. I'm glad it hit home with you.

Did you get to see the elk? We saw about that many near Yellowstone a few years ago.

>61 Cait86: Hi Cait - I'm glad you enjoyed the photos. Yellowstone is spectacular. One of the best things about the winter trip was the lack of crowds which are ever-present in the summer.

However- we really lucked in weather wise. My friend who lives in West Yellowstone said it was the nicest weekend of the winter. It's -26 there this morning.

I hope to get to Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay in the next few months. I still have 8 out from the library. And not a single book finished off my shelf last month. Sigh.

>62 witchyrichy: Hi Karen - I'm glad you enjoyed the photos.

This winter is making me rethink having horses.

Seriously.

I think you'll enjoy The Poet X and Well-Read Black Girl. Those TBR lists are certainly dangerous around here, aren't they?

I saw Trevor Noah interviewing Angie Thomas on The Daily Show about On the Come Up. It sounds like a must read. I'm glad to know you liked it!

The Daily Show is my end-of-the-day don't-miss giggle. It puts me in a much better mood before bedtime - especially if I've watched Rachel Maddow's show earlier in the evening.

>63 jnwelch: Hi Joe - I think you and Mark were the ones that pointed me toward The Poet X. Great book!

I haven't seen the elk again since the first night, but then, I haven't been out of my driveway since then, either. All I know is that the elk have not shown up at my haystacks which is a GOOD THING.

*****
Today I have a guy coming to take some of the snow off my roof since, while it's -5 this morning, it's supposed to rain later this week. :(

I also need to finish The Tongue's Blood Does Not Run Dry by Algerian author Assia Djebar for tomorrow's informal lit seminar. This is an amazing book. The short stories were written in the 90's but I wonder if it's any easier for women in Algeria today.

And I need to finish Hannah Berry's Britten and Brülightly which is due back at the library tomorrow. This is another suggestion from Joe (maybe Mark and Joe?) and my first graphic novel of the year.

14. Last Friends - Jane Gardam - 2013
- group read
- library


"Booklist, quoted on Amazon: ” Last Friends brings to a close Jane Gardam’s lauded series that includes Old Filth (2006) and The Man in the Wooden Hat (2011). Like its predecessors, this final installment examines the complex world of British class, empire, and the social circles that bring them together.”"

This is the story of Terry Veneering , the third member of a triangle of intricately woven relationships, which included Edward Feathers and his wife Betty.

Although the three came together in the Far East and Veneering, like Feathers, was a lawyer, Veneering's backstory is surprising and totally different from the other two's upper class backgrounds.

Unlike the others, Veneering's childhood was one of poverty. He was the son of a coal seller and a well-educated Russian acrobat (gossip said a spy) who was paralyzed in a fall at the circus. Veneering's is also the story of the devastating bombings during World War II's London Blitz; of his neighborhood destroyed, parents killed and children evacuated on transports to keep them safe in Canada, only to have the ships torpedoed en route.

It's told with wit and humor – and also a bit of sadness at the isolation of aging, since the phrase 'last friends' refers to those friends remaining when all the others have passed on.

Excellent read! 4.3 stars. Now I want to re-read the entire trilogy.

Glad you loved Poet X, I'm working on that one. I also have Democracy in Chains on reserve at my library. Hope to get to it in the next couple of months.

Hi Janet!

>65 streamsong: This winter is making me rethink having horses.

Seriously.

When our daughter went off to college and my husband started making "I am not going to enjoy the work of taking care of two horses at all", I told him to sell them. By that time Jenna wasn't interested in horses any more and it worked for all of us.

>67 streamsong: I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I, too, want to do a complete reread. Given all I've got going this year book-wise, it probably next year makes better sense for me to slate the trilogy for next year.

>68 The_Hibernator: Hi Rachel! I'll be interested to see what you think of The Poet X - my guess is that you'll like it!

I wish I had made it to the book club meeting last week when Democracy in Chains was discussed. Scary stuff in there, for sure. Maybe we can talk about it a bit once you read it. It's a slow read for me, and I put it aside to finish a few other books.

>69 karenmarie: Hi Karen - Yes I have a very split personality about the horses right now. We broke cold records for this time of year again last night; it was -15. I am struggling, no doubt. But I also keep searching for another broodmare on the internet .... and working on plans for a new barn ...

Thanks again for starting the group read for Last Friends. Without the nudge, it would still have remained unread.

I'm not sure I'll make it to the David Copperfield group read, although I have requested an annotated copy thru the library.

The last of the February reviews and my first crime novel/mystery/thriller of the year.



15. Nerve – Dick Francis - 1964
- group read
- acq'd 2019 as part of omnibus
- 3.5 stars

This is one of Dick Francis's earlier works, being only the second of his forty something crime novels involving horses and racing.

Jockey Rob Finn comes from a famously musical family. And while Finn doesn't have a musical gift, he does seem to have a gift for riding hard to ride horses. He is just beginning to make a name for himself as a steeplechase jockey, when he has a bad fall, followed by a string of horses that lose races they were expected to win. The rumor is that the fall made him lose his nerve. Finn suspects something more nefarious is happening.

Protagonist Finn is a strong hero – a nice guy solving a problem who will fight back mercilessly when necessary. There is some descriptive brutality, of the human against human sort and a rather odd (although not illegal) romance with his cousin.

The best part of Dick Francis's novels for me, is that being a former steeplechase jockey himself, he gets the horses right. That is something that very few authors do well, and is one of the reasons I continue to enjoy Francis's books

This is a photo of the Lolo Pass Visitor's Center Warming Hut taken yesterday. I'll be going snowshoeing there with a group on Sunday.

>72 streamsong: is that YOUR house???????

>73 fuzzi: No, thank Goodness! I was checking the size of the photo and hit post instead of preview before I had the explanation written.

However, it did snow yesterday and is snowing again today at my house, on top of the three feet I had last week. I am so glad I had my roof shoveled on Monday.

Snowmageddon continues in Montana.

**Note to self - call about flood insurance.

>74 streamsong: we've had the opposite, only one tiny (1") snowfall in December. We usually get one or two small 2" snowfalls in January or early February.

It's still cold, here, though. The frogs were singing on warm days the last couple of weeks, but I saw one in my pond yesterday afternoon, and he didn't look very good. I hope he thaws out.

Hi Janet!

>70 streamsong: You're very welcome - once again I have to thank @weird_o for prompting me to read Old Filth and starting the whole Gardam thing... We'd love to see you on the David Copperfield group read thread but certainly understand if other things are keeping you busy. My daughter's been visiting during spring break and I'm only through chapter 5 - my goal is to read 2+ chapters a day in March and am now officially 11 chapters behind in my goal.

>72 streamsong: Yikes and double yikes.

>72 streamsong: ! I'll stop complaining about our snow, Janet. Any sign of spring there yet? Are you getting dumped on with the new system that is moving through? I'm hoping to get out of here for a short trip tomorrow. I think they are expecting about another six inches of snow with the wonderful wintry mix.

>67 streamsong: I love Gardam. I have a couple of her books on my shelves that I haven't read. I should pull them out.

Just catching up here. You certainly have a lot of snow!! Makes for a great landscape though. Enjoy your snowshoeing trip :)

>75 fuzzi: Wow Lor - Green grass and flowers and frogs. Didn't I learn that frogs can be frozen, thawed out, and still be OK?

>76 karenmarie: Hi Karen - I'll be reading David Copperfield eventually since I do have it on request through the library .... but it might not be in March.

>77 BLBera: Hi Beth! Signs of spring??? Well the days are longer which is wonderful. The chickadees are back and singing their heads off. The sun has been out the last few days and we're forecast to have a slow melt this week - mid afternoons above 32 degrees.

The FILTH trilogy is all that I've read of Jane Gardam but I'd love to read more. What are your rec's?

>78 figsfromthistle: Yes, Anita - it's wonderful and sparkly and looks oh so clean - not like snow that has been sitting around all winter.

We'll need sunscreen while snowshoeing on Sunday.

This is the book we discussed in the lit seminar on Tuesday. I can't seem to get the review to say what I want, but I'm throwing it out there, anyway. Recommended!



16. The Tongue's Blood Does Not Run Dry - Assia Djebar - 1997
- lit seminar
- Reading Globally: Algeria (Book #2)
- purchased 2019


In the 1990's Algeria suffered a bloody civil war between the government forces and Muslim fundamentalists. These stories were written in 1996 and 1997 by renowned Algerian author Assia Djebar, while she was living in Paris after fleeing her homeland. All these stories are based on conversations she had with women from Algeria who had lived through the events she relates.

There are grown daughters returning to Algeria with next-to-nothing to remember their murdered parents; an elderly lady whose children have to make the decision of where to bury her; a teacher whose husband has recently been assassinated who is terrified after inadvertently dropping a French word in a classroom.

My favorites in the collection incorporate classical themes and magical realism from Arab literature and the “One Thousand And One Nights”. One of these is “The Woman in Pieces” where the severed head continues to tell its truth. In another, Berber texts are sung by Mzab women.

These stories, while reflecting the bloody struggle of the 90's, are also relevant to the Middle Eastern conflicts today. As the cover blurb says: Djebar ”explores the conflicting realities of the role of women in the Arab world. … and the struggle for change...”

>72 streamsong: Warming hut! Snow that thick has great insulating properties.

Nice review of The Tongue's Blood Does Not Run Dry, Janet. I've owned a copy of that book for at least a decade, but I haven't gotten to it yet, along with the two other books I own by her, Children of the New World and Algerian White.

>79 streamsong: sad news, the frog didn't thaw out. But "she" left a huge pile of eggs that should hatch. Same thing happened last year, and I had many, many frogs all summer long...the circle of life. RIP Leopard frog. :'(

3/10/19 Addendum: there's another Leopard frog by the ponds...I heard a couple tentative "squeaks" this morning during a downpour...

Give a listen here: http://herpsofnc.org/southern-leopard-frog/

>81 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! Yup, as long as the roof doesn't cave in!

>82 kidzdoc: Thanks, Darryl. I would definitely be up for reading more by Assia Djebar. I know it's not your focus this year, but she's definitely worth reading - hope you try one soon.

>83 fuzzi: Poor frog, Lor. Cool that she left lots of eggs and thank you for the sound link.

First graphic novel of the year:



17. Britten and Brülightly - Hannah Berry - 2009
- graphic novel
- library


Fernandez Britten is a depressed private investigator in this inventive noir graphic novel.

He's seen so many cases that have ended badly for the people that have asked him to do investigations that he's earned the nickname “Heartbreaker”.

But he agrees to take one more case, the apparent suicide of a client's fiance.

I so wanted to love this novel. How many detectives have a partner, who, is in fact a teabag (Brulightly) which he keeps with him and consults about cases? And the artwork is darkly wonderful with many faces and figures hidden in clouds and reflections.

And yet, I didn't love it. The written text was sometimes hard to read against the gray background, and when the dark gray pictures became the story line I also found it hard to follow. I actually read it several times, looking for what I missed.

This one just didn't quite work for me.

Monday Report: Reading this week:
✔ The Song of the Quarkbeast - Jasper Fforde SeriesCat- Favorite Author
I am listening to Vinegar Girl while driving.

and a pile of non-fiction:
✔ - Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down… America's Most Powerful Mobster - this is an LTER book that I ABSOLUTELY need to finish and review - ROOT
- Democracy in Chains - Nancy K Maclean
- These Truths - still on the end of part 2; need to catch up!
- The Bedside Book of Bastards - Dorothy Johnson - 75'ers NF challenge and ROOT

Why is it that with all the NF piled up, I'm only in the mood to read uber light fiction right now?

Two listed as being 'In transit' from my library request list - I'll be starting at least one later this week as both of them are only available for short checkouts:
March PBS/NYT book club selection: The Power - Naomi Alderman
Women's Prize Longlist: My Sister the Serial Killer - Oyinkan Braithwaite

February PBS/NYT Now Read This Bookclub:



18. The Wife - Meg Wolitzer - 2003
- PBS/NYT Feb book club
- Global Reading: Finland (partial location/ US author)
- library


Joseph Castleman is a world-famous novelist. Although he's won many literary prizes, the major prizes have eluded him until now.

As a young man, he taught writing in a prestigious girls' college. He lived in a cramped apartment with his wife and newborn baby who was actually born the very day he met Joan, a student who appeared to be a gifted writer and soon became his lover.

After his wife physically attacked Joan, he divorced the wife, married Joan, and published an acclaimed semi-autobiographical novel of the incident.

His writing career skyrocketed from there with many acclaimed novels. And now, he's won a major prize, considered to be a stepping stone for the Nobel. He was always a man who lived for acclaim and enjoyed the rarefied limelight his novel writing gained for him.

As always, wife Joan, accompanies him and supports him at the award ceremony in Finland. She had long ago given up writing and subjugated her promising career to be the support her famous husband required throughout their 40 year marriage.

But there's a secret in their life that a sharp eyed journalist writing a biography of Joe has discovered – and which Joe and Joan's grown children have also long suspected. Joan herself has tired of the deceit.

If you've seen the recent movie, you know the twist. This is an interesting novel of a gifted woman's place in the literary field and the still-too-prominent promotion of male over female authors.

4 stars.

Joe and Mark have both been warbling about a poetry collection called Lord of the Butterflies by Andrea Gibson.

I succumbed, and my copy arrived yesterday.

In doing a bit of research around the web, I discovered she had quite a few YouTube videos of her performances.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRUl2yfmDkk&list=RDTRUl2yfmDkk&start_rad...

Hope all is well and you are getting a little more optimistic about spring! We have chickadees year round but they are nesting now so we see them in couples, which is cute. Our spring heralds are the ospreys and they are back and busy nest building. We saw a couple from the ferry yesterday.

Hi Karen- The last few days have been slightly above freezing, so the snow is starting to settle and even melt a bit along the edges.

I'm busy shoveling before the melt starts in earnest. I need to get the snow away from the front of the house and the garage.

I am so glad that the blizzard that hit the mid country missed us this time!

19. Eight Cousins - Louisa May Alcott - 1875
- Feb American author group read;
- Going to count this as an uncataloged Root since I know I have a copy here somewhere! = ROOT #7/50 and 1 ROOT point = 14/225
- library (because sadly I could not find my copy)

Description from book: "When Rose Campbell, a shy orphan, arrives at "The Aunt Hill" to live with her six aunts and seven boisterous male cousins, she is quite overwhelmed. How could such a delicate young lady, used to the quiet hallways of a girls' boarding school, exist in such a spirited home? It is the arrival of Uncle Alec that changes everything. Much to the horror of her aunts, Rose's forward-thinking uncle insists that the child get out of the parlor and into the sunshine. And with a little courage and lots of adventures with her mischievous but loving cousins, Rose begins to bloom. Written by the beloved author of Little Women, Eight Cousins is a masterpiece of children's literature. This endearing novel offers readers of all ages an inspiring story about growing up, making friends, and facing life with strength and kindness. "

This is a morality tale, showing young girls of the late 19th century what virtue looks like.

And while many of the lessons remain true today – kindness, sacrifice, avoiding bad company and harmful habits like smoking – I struggled with this book.

The heroine Rose is so darn good she sets my teeth on edge. I sincerely thought about abandoning this, but then read the Wikipedia entry and learned that this book was considered quite feminist in its day for encouraging comfortable clothing and outdoor exercise as well as a wealthy young lady wanting to have an occupation on which to fall back – which, tear my hair out - turned out to be housekeeping.

I'm glad to have read it as the only other Alcott I've read was Little Women and, from my first reading of it in 5th grade, I was firmly on Team Jo.

This book is not for the rebels at heart.

I picked up four amazing library books yesterday. As I was adding them onto LT, I looked through the first page or two .... got hooked on Ghost Wall and read it through until the wee hours of last night. What an amazing story! Creepy, noir, lots to think about. I will definitely be interested in reading more by Sarah Moss.

Thanks to everyone posting the Women's Prize longlist which is where I got the suggestion - and Beth's warbling about it.

Now back to all those other books I have partly read ....

Janet, I just finished Ghost Wall too and will be in that woods for a while worrying about that poor girl! I also have her book about Iceland out of the library right now. Sarah Moss wrote it 10 years ago when she had a year there with her family teaching. Our daughter is there for a year as well with her new born baby so i thought it might give me an idea of what she is experiencing. Names for the Sea: Strangers in iceland

Happy Sunday, Janet. I hope your weather has stabilized. I can't wait for a bigger warm-up. Glad to see you reading GNs. Sorry, Britten and Brülightly didn't work for you. I remember really enjoying it. Have you started Lord of the Butterflies? If so, I hope it lives up.

Have you read The Blue Hour? If not, I highly recommend it. Pritchett rocks!

>93 mdoris: Hi Mary! Yes, Ghost Wall is a *haunting* book, isn't it? If she hadn't been rescued, do you think she would have been killed? Accidentally or on purpose?

Names for the Sea sounds interesting - especially with your daughter and her family in Iceland. I'll be interested to see what you think.

I'm thinking of picking up Cold Earth later this year. I see it also has Greenland and Iceland as tags but it sounds creepy, too.

>94 msf59: Hi Mark - Yes, B & B did not work for me - but I haven't given up on graphic novels. I have both Stitches: A Memoir and The Marvels home from the library.

After I posted my review of B & B on Good Reads (oh the horror!), i checked out the reviews there and noticed a spate of people complaining about the hard to read text. I'm almost wondering if they had a slightly-too-dark print run.

I'm loving and slowly savoring The Lord of the Butterflies. Did you listen to some of her readings on YouTube?

Nope, I haven't read The Blue Hour. I'll have to check it out.

Yay for The Lord of the Butterflies! She's really good, isn't she, Janet? I've seen her in person (phenomenal), but I should check out what's on Youtube.

I requested this from the library for the February SeriesCat challenge to read a children's or YA series. It didn't arrive in time, but rolled over neatly into the March challenge: Read a series from a favorite author – and Jasper Fforde falls into that category.



20. Song of the Quarkbeast - Jasper Fforde - 2011
- SeriesCat: Favorite Author
- library

This is the second book in Jasper Fforde's YA Kazam series.

Description "Long ago, magic began to fade, and the underemployed magicians of Kazam Mystical Arts Management have been forced to take any work their sixteen-year-old acting manager, Jennifer Strange, can scare up. But things are about to change. Magical power is finally on the rise, and King Snodd IV, of the Ununited Kingdoms knows that he who controls magic controls everything. Only one person stands between Snodd and his plans for a magic-grab--and that's Jennifer."

Sixteen year old Jennifer Strange, foundling and non magical manager of Kazam Mystical Arts Management – the sensible looking girl with a pony tail – is becoming one of my favorite teenage characters. She can handle everything thrown at her – and does it with Fforde's brand of humor.

I'm also really fond of quarkbeasts; hooray for this inventive magical beastie. I was happy they made a reappearance and to learn more about them; as a hint, their key is in their name.

As a YA series this is not as complex as Fforde's other works; but it's highly entertaining even for an adult, and would be great to read with a youngster.

>97 jnwelch: Wow, Joe - Seeing Andrea Gibson in person must have been amazing! It's a bit of a curse living here in Montana and not having access to authors' and poets' readings.

>80 streamsong: This sounds excellent, Janet.

I also liked Faith Fox and The People on Privilege Hill; I think some of the Old Filth characters might appear in some of the stories.

I'm in the middle of The Wife on my e-reader. I am trying to only read it at the gym, to keep me motivated, but it's hard. I love Wolitzer, and this is one of her best ones, I think.

Hi Janet! I've been so busy, just now getting around to reading your thread. What a winter you've had!

Loved those bison pictures. They really are made to deal with cold and snow.

And you hit me with several BB's again. But unfortunately I can't find any Assia Djebar here:-(

>100 BLBera: Hi Beth! Yes, Assia Djebar was excellent. I'd definitely like to read more of her work.

Thanks for the rec's for more Jane Gardam's. I will keep an eye out for those!

I hope you continue to enjoy The Wife. Did you see the movie? This is the first Wolitzer I've read, but again, I'd like to read more.

>101 EllaTim: Hi Ella! Yes, it's been quite a winter here. The snow is just starting to melt - we'll soon be into the next season, the season of mud. :) With three feet of snow, what else can I expect? But mud means spring and it feels spring-y out there the last few days.

I'm sorry you can't find Assia Djebar - I think you would like her.

Accck - did it again. I said I picked up four wonderful books at the library. The second of these was the Women's Long List My Sister the Serial Killer by Nigerian author Oyinkan Braithwaite.

And again, I couldn't put it down and devoured it in just over a day.

I'm behind on reviews - but again - highly recommended!

Now I've started the third book of the four - The Power by Naomi Alderman. I remember this one got some buzz on LT last year, especially since it won the Bailey's Prize. It's the PBS/NYT Now Read This Book selection for March, so I'm glad to be able to read it while the discussion is still continuing on Facebook.

I hope your snow doesn't melt all at once, Janet! Sound like a flood waiting to happen. I know what you mean about the library--I have 6 books waiting for me at the library tomorrow.

>104 ronincats: Hi Roni! There are many springs that I worry about flooding since I am so close to a creek. However, this is the first year I've really worried about the melting snowpack in the yard.

It's supposed to get up to 50 Tuesday thru Friday so I'll find out very soon what will happen.

Happy Tuesday, Janet. We are finally enjoying some warmer temps. I hope you do the same. I had a very good time with The Power. Enjoy!

Hi Mark! Right now the discussion on The Power seems to be revolving on whether or not it is a YA book. My library has it cataloged as such. There is a stamp on the inside endpaper that says:

"Reading Level: 8-12"
"Interest Level: 9+"

(referring to grades, not ages! so they recommend it for high school level)

To me so far it seems to have a more mature theme.

I'm enjoying it so far; but there have been several sexual encounters that also make me wonder about the rec for 9th grader's. (Freshmen in high school, age 14 or 15ish)

Any thoughts on the YA label?

>107 streamsong: Wow, I wouldn't classify The Power as a YA book at all. I can't imagine what the justification for that would be?

>108 norabelle414: This is JMO , but I'm thinking it may be because young women - teenagers- are the first to receive the power. And perhaps those who do library cataloging don't see speculative fiction as an 'adult' subject.

But, even though I'm only about 100 pages in, I see the themes as mature.

I may call my library and see why they called it YA. They must have some sort of guidelines/source (?)

I would not consider The Power to be YA, either, Janet. Wait until you read farther; it will get more inappropriate for YA. I loved it, but there were parts that I had to skim over.

I'm waiting for My Sister the Serial Killer from the library. I think I'm up to # 4.

>110 BLBera: Thanks for your comments, Beth. I think we're in agreement about this - although I haven't yet read as far as the sections that disturbed you.

I hope you enjoy My Sister the Serial Killer when you get to it! I loved the ending.

Part of me recognizes the dichotomy that I expect that there are incidents in The Power which will be disturbing and make it inappropriate for YA readers, but that we all read murder mysteries - like Agatha Christie - from a very young age.

I went to a presentation on Harlequin Ducks earlier this week.



They are a sea duck and live most of their lives along the northern coasts except for a brief breeding season where they return to very pristine mountain streams to breed.

As soon as breeding is done, the males leave and return to the coast. The females tend to nest within feet of the streambanks - so variations in stream flow leave them very vulnerable. And with the males gone, if a nest is destroyed or fails, there is no chance of the hen laying a second clutch of eggs.

There are nesting sites in Glacier and Yellowstone Parks, the Blackfoot River (of A River Runs Through It fame) and Alberta, Canada.

I'm hoping to enroll in a seminar in Glacier Park in May to see Harlequins during their brief visit here to Montana.

Beautiful birds Janet. Hope you get to see them!

Hi Janet!

Just a quick hello - I think I was one of the very few who wasn't impressed with The Power. I read it a year ago. I wouldn't consider it a YA book at all.

>112 streamsong: Aren't they gorgeous!

I wasn't a fan either of The Power. It was a very different kind of read from my usual choices but that's always a good thing to do from time to time.

>113 mdoris: Me too, Mary! The Glacier Institute website was experiencing difficulties, but I'm now signed up - May 11th. I hope the Harlequins co-operate, but even if they don't, it will be a fun day at Glacier before the summer hordes arrive.

>114 karenmarie: Hi Beth! The farther I get into The Power, the less I see it as a YA book. It does raise some interesting questions.

>115 mdoris: I can see why, Mary. I'm not reading it eagerly and as things keep changing, I'll have to see how I feel at the end. It's definitely getting darker.

It's why I enjoy the PBS/NYT choices - I do read things that I wouldn't otherwise. When this was getting a lot of buzz here last year, I thought it wasn't for me. And now I'm reading it.

I just requested My Sister the Serial Killer tased on all the hoopla here. : )

I could see The Power as a Jr/Sr HS book. But not much before that. I thought it was quite good. Thought provoking.

21. Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America's Most Powerful Mobster by Stephen L. Carter - 2018
- LTER;
ROOT # 8/50;
acq'd 2018 = 1 ROOT point 15/225)


From the prologue: ”In the fall of 2014, two episodes o HBO's 'Boardwalk Empire', which is set during and just after Prohibition, featured a black female lawyer who worked for the New York district attorney. The role was small. She had perhaps two lines, Still, viewers were incredulous. Online comment threads swiftly filled with mockery: Ridiculous. Anachronistic. One post after another insisted that there weren't ablack lawyers back then – not black women lawyers, anyway. And certainly there were no black female prosecutors. The casting, the skeptics insisted, was just another example of Hollywood political correctness run amok.

'But they were wrong. My Nana Eunice was real and really did prosecute mobsters … and lived a remarkable life ...” p. xvii

This is a story that shouldn't be lost to history. Author Stephen L. Carter's grandmother was an amazing woman, becoming the first black woman prosecuting attorney for New York in the 1930's. Later she was an advocate on the national and international stage.

Unfortunately, due to the times she did not accomplish her dream of becoming New York's first black woman judge. She was a staunch Republican and backed the 'wrong horse', her boss Thomas E Dewey in the Presidential elections against Franklin D. Roosevelt. In addition, her brother was an ardent communist in an era when J Edgar Hoover and Joseph McCarthy blackballed family members for their association.

Stymied on the national stage, Ms Carter turned to international projects.

It's a fascinating story and well researched, but a little dry.

I see it as a great addition to Black history, in a time when many can only offer a very small handful of names of early black activists and pioneers in their field.

I do believe the publisher has sadly misrepresented this book by giving it the subtitle “The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America's Most Powerful Mobster.” Yes, she did this, but it's only a very small part of her story. Readers believing this book focuses on the 'true crime' aspect may be disappointed.

ETA: I would be happy to pass this one on if anyone would like to read it.

>118 Berly: Hi Kim - Thanks for stopping by!

I hope you enjoy My Sister the Serial Killer! I thought it was fun and had a thought provoking ending, but not sure it would be my choice for the Bailey's Prize.

I'll be interested to see what you think!

I finished The Power last night. I'm so interested in everyone's thoughts. Thanks for chiming in.

Looks like you have a bit of insomnia going on (?)

I woke up at 4 am and went out to see if I could see any Northern lights - nothing to be seen, but still a beautiful night with the just past full moon reflecting on the snow.

I was treated to a beautiful owl song - very very bass. I couldn't spot him, but am glad to know he's out there.

Now back to bed to see if I can get some more sleep before morning.

22. Ghost Wall: A Novel - Sarah Moss - 2018
- 2019 Bailey's Prize Long list;
- library


Sylvie Hampton's father Bill rules his family with an iron fist and an ever-ready belt. Sylvie's mother is completely cowed; Sylvie avoids riling his anger.

Bill is obsessed with the Iron Age Britons and, especially the bog people sacrifices. When he is invited by an experiential archaeologist and some of his graduate students to take part in a two week reenactment, Bill jumps at the chance and takes his family along.
Although the graduate students take the reenactment less than seriously as they sneak into town for a beer or a shower, Bill insists his wife and daughter remain authentically in their support roles.

They forage for food, and create a ghost wall - a barrier with skulls along the top to act as a warning to other tribes.

As they chant and sing and drum, something seems to awaken within them and Bill wants to go to the next step, trying out some of the pre-sacrificial techniques he has read about and learned. And his daughter can't say no ….

I found this quite creepy with the suspense building up like the beating of a drum or a frightened heart. I gulped it all down in one sitting – good thing it was short! - as I couldn't bear to put it down before I learned the ending.

>121 streamsong: Great review Janet!

Thank you, Mary! I'm guessing you meant my book #22 >121 streamsong: since that is the book we've both read and commented on each others' threads.

This week I am rereading Educated for my Real Life Book Club discussion on Thursday. It holds up wonderfully to a reread - and is just as interesting the second time around. The way her father constantly put his children at risk, not seeking medical attention for even life threatening injuries and her ignorance of life and history as she stepped into college outside the mountain where she was raised still shock me. It should be an interesting discussion.

I'm listening to The Road on audio and it's much different - much more bleak - than I imagined.

I'm just starting Part 3 of These Truths.

Next book up will be Angie Thomas's new book On the Come Up which, as a new book, I can only keep for two weeks as a library checkout. I really enjoyed The Hate U Give so I'm hoping I like this one, too. Several of my LT friends have already given it their thumbs up so I'm pretty confident it will be good.

Yes, thank you for catching the boo boo!

Nice comments on Ghost Wall and Invisible

I'm another one who loved The Power; I thought it was very thought-provoking. My students liked it as well.

We saw Harlequin Ducks in Banff:

>125 mdoris: No problem! I'm glad you liked the review and it's treat to have you stop by!

>126 BLBera: Hi Beth! Thanks for the complements - it's always nice to hear!

Even though there were parts of The Power that I disliked very much, I think it will be one of my top books of the year. It definitely has a way of staying with me!

>127 witchyrichy: Hi Karen! The Harlequins are beautiful, aren't they? I hope I'll get to see them in Glacier.

- and I'd love to get to Banff and Lake Louise one day. Alberta was listed as one of their hot nesting areas - you must have been there at exactly the right time!

>127 witchyrichy: pretty!

>129 fuzzi: I agree, Lor! That's a great picture that Karen posted. I hope I get to see some! I love the fact that they only nest in wild, pristine streams.

I've previously enjoyed the No 1 Ladies' Detective Series by Alexander McCall Smith and decided to try another of his several series for the March SeriesCat- Favorite authors read. This was on Planet TBR for several years.



23. The Sunday Philosophy Club - Alexander McCall Smith - 2004
- March SeriesCat - Favorite authors
- ROOT #9/50; acq'd 2012 = 7 ROOT points (22/225)
-

“The world, it seemed, was based on lies and half-truths of one sort or another, and one of the tasks of morality was to help us negotiate our way around these. Yes, there so many lies: and yet the sheer power of truth was in no sense dimmed. Had Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn not said, in his Nobel address, “One word of truth will conquer the whole world.” Was this wishful thinking on the part of one who had lived in an entanglement of Orwellian state-sponsored lies, or was it a justifiable faith in the ability of truth to shine through the darkness?” p 164

This is the first of the Isabel Dalhousie mysteries set in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Isabel is a moderately wealthy lady, with a niece, various friends and a PhD in philosophy. She uses all in her quest to puzzle out a mysterious death after she sees a young man fall to his death from the top balcony of a concert hall. She believes she sees him catch her eye as he falls past, and decides it may well have been a murder.

I enjoyed the bits of philosophy and music in the novel. I was frankly surprised that Isabel didn't get herself in real trouble as she awkwardly sleuthed her way through some financial wrongdoing. In addition, I thought the mystery itself a let down.

I definitely didn't find this series as charming as the Ladies' Detective Agency. Not bad, not riveting, a quick read. 3 stars

It's interesting to me that My Sister, the Serial Killer is one of the final contenders in The Tournament of Books that I enjoy following along with basketball every March. It goes up against The Mars Room in tomorrow's match. The winner will vie for first place with Warlight which knocked out There There in today's competition. I love the commentaries, although I was very unhappy when The Overstory didn't make it to the finals.

>121 streamsong: I've been hearing good things about The Ghost Wall, Janet. I guess I'd better just bite that bullet and put my request in at the library. Thanks for your excellent review. I'll try and read it when I have a block of time to finish it. ;-)

Janet I have been following ToB too and greatly enjoying the comments of the various judges. I think I should be better prepared another year to have read more of the books!

>134 vancouverdeb: Sorry, Janet, LT wouldn't let me edit my post for some reason, so I deleted instead. Ghost Wall just came in from the library for me, and I am hoping to read it in one gulp, maybe tomorrow? I'm really curious about it. Great review!

>132 Donna828: Hi Donna! It's nice to see you posting! I'm just working on my review of My Sister the Serial Killer since I'm a few reviews behind. I really enjoyed it but I'm not sure I'd pick it as a best book of the year.

The TOB is interesting - I was also surprised that The Overstory didn't survive and There, There is on my must read list.

I've been following along with some of the Category Challenge group challenges. Their April Random challenge is to read books from the TOB competition - any year. Since I'm mostly using the Category challenges to read books from Planet TBR, I plan to read The Round House and then, the ultimate winner.

I hope you get a chance to read Ghost Wall!

>133 mdoris: Hi Mary! Yes, I really agree with trying to read more of the TOB books next year so I can follow along better. SMBSLT! This is the first year that I've really looked at it, and that is thanks to the April Catagory Challenge Random challenge.

>135 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah! Thanks for stopping in. I'm glad Ghost Wall has arrived from the library! Mary (mdoris) said it took her several days to read, as the building tension made her put it down while she steeled herself to go forward. So you might not read it in a gulp - but I hope you enjoy it!

24. My Sister the Serial Killer - Oyinkan Braithwaite - 2018
- Women's Prize longlist; also TOB
- Global Reading: Nigerian (author, location); extra book beyond 5
- library


From the book jacket: "Korede is bitter. How could she not be? Her sister, Ayoola, is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now, Ayoola’s third boyfriend in a row is dead."

Three boyfriends gone sour – followed by their three deaths that big sister Korede has helped her beautiful black-widow younger sister, Ayolla, cover up. But the family of the last victim insist on searching for the missing man ... and neighbors saw the two girls acting suspiciously around Korede's car which the police impound for evidence.

And …. Ayoola has now set her sights on Korede's love-from-afar, Dr Tade Otumu. Dr Otomu falls hard for Ayoola, just as every man does.

Protecting her crush would betray her sister. Protecting her sister means abandoning a good man to certain death.

Where do Korede's loyalties lie?

I found this an entertaining, quick read. The sisters' relationship and bond ring true in an exaggerated, co-dependent way. The tension builds.

4 stars

Janet MSTSK was the grand winner of Tournament of Books 2019 awarded today (up against Warlight).

Just dropping by to wish you a fantastic weekend!

>139 mdoris: Thanks for letting me know, Mary! Great coincidence that I finally finished my review the day it was announced.

Here is the link with the judges' comments for anyone interested:

https://themorningnews.org/tob/2019/championship-warlight-v-my-sister-the-serial...

>140 figsfromthistle: Thank you, figs !!

>127 witchyrichy: Our western Canada trip was in late June. I did a conference in Vancouver and then we took off for ten glorious days! We bought a detailed map that included ALL the roads, and we took them. Probably did things with the rental car that violated the terms of service but one early morning a wolf trotted right next to our car and another day we came around the corner to see a bear on the hillside. If you're interested, here's a collection of the pics.

Happy Saturday, Janet. I hope your weather has improved. It is a cool weekend here but we are getting a bit of a warm-up next week. I WANT to start seeing some green. It is so drab.

Well, a few of my LT pals have enjoyed My Sister the Serial Killer. I'll have to get to it.

Those Harlequin Ducks are gorgeous. I hope to see them, one of these days.

I had to skim over parts of The Power, Janet. But overall, I thought she did a good job with the characters and the premise.

I've been waiting for my turn with My Sister the Serial Killer. I think I'm up to # 3 on the list, so it shouldn't be too long.

>142 witchyrichy: Great photos and what a wonderful trip, Karen! Thanks for sharing.

"Probably did things with the rental car that violated the terms of service but one early morning a wolf trotted right next to our car and another day we came around the corner to see a bear on the hillside." Best line ever!

I have not seen a wild wolf although I have heard them. Special moment indeed!

<143 Hi Mark - Yes the weather has improved! Today and tomorrow are supposed to be gorgeous - 50's and sun. I have bare spots in my yard where the snow has melted. I also have LOTS of mud since we just finished two day of rain/snow mix.

I think you'd like MSTSK, Mark. It's a quick read and you'd have it done in a blink.

I believe you'll have to travel a bit to see a Harlequin.

>144 BLBera: The Power will be a book to remember, Beth. I'm still debating on number of stars. For memorability, definitely five stars.

I think you'll also enjoy MSTSK.

Well, you put me over the hump, Janet. I've had too many people saying good things about My Sister, The Serial Killer. Good review; I plan to read it.

>142 witchyrichy: thank you, I enjoyed those.

>146 streamsong: I think you'll enjoy it, Joe. Happy Reading!

>147 jnwelch: Hi Lor! I agree that Karen's wildlife pictures are wonderful!

This is the second of the Hogarth Shakespeare retellings that I've read. The other I've also read was Hag Seed, which is the retelling of The Tempest,by Margaret Atwood.



25. Vinegar Girl – Anne Tyler - 2016
- Root # 10/50; acq'd 2017 (2 points =24/225)
- listened to audio


Vinegar Girl is the third installment of the Hogarth Shakespeare series, in which Shakespeare's plays are retold by well-known contemporary authors in contemporary settings.

This is Anne Tyler's retelling of The Taming of the Shrew. In this version, Louis Battista, a laboratory scientist working on an important but obscure project, will be soon be losing his assistant, Pyotr, whose U.S. Visa will soon be expiring

He must convince his daughter to marry Pyotr in order that he can complete crucial work. Daughter Kate, is 29, living at home, and a bit tart (surprise!)

The story is very light, humorous at times, and follows The Taming of the Shrew quite closely. I was longing for a bit more imagination and a few more twists as I found it very predictable.

Enjoyable, but not memorable.
3 stars

March Summary

Read - 14

Fiction - 12
non-fiction - 2

translated - 1
short stories - 1
Memoir - 1

Men authors - 4
Women authors - 10

ROOTS (Books off my shelf) - 5
Purchased in 2019 - 1
Library - 8

Best:
The Power - Naomi Alderman
Ghost Wall - Sarah Moss
My Sister the Serial Killer - Oyinkan Braithwaite
On the Come Up - Angie Thomas -

Non-fiction:
Educated - Tara Westover - Reread for Book Club

>152 FAMeulstee: You are going well, Janet, in each month you have read more books than the month before :-)

Hi Janet!

It's been too long since I visited - I hope you are beginning to see signs of spring.

>138 streamsong: You're the second person who's liked My Sister the Serial Killer, so I've now added it to my wish list.

Somewhere earlier this year when I mentioned that I would be reading Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk you mentioned that you might be interested in a group read: in case it would fit in your schedule, I've set the thread up. Since it's my choice, I'll be discussing it at May's RL book club meeting, so need to get going. @Berly expressed interest, too.

Group Read: Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk

>152 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita! It's amazing how three feet of snow landing the end of February and lingering through March helped out my reading numbers! That was perhaps the largest number of books that I've read ever in a month. It also helped that there were several shorties, a graphic novel and a few mysteries.

I'm most proud of reading 5 from off my shelf last month! I have three more off-my-shelfers in progress now that I didn't finish up last month.

And I only bought two books last month for a total of only 11 for the year. My TBR pile as listed on LT is at 510 as of April 1 - the same number it was on Jan 1, 2018. Hooray! >9 streamsong:

But, unfortunately, to celebrate not buying many books this year, yesterday I added four more books to the 'acquired in 2019' list : >10 streamsong:

- Rec by The Glacier Institute as 'the best guide book for everything Rockies' for my May expedition at the Glacier Institute - Handbook of the Canadian Rockies - Ben Gadd -
- Another reference to throw in the car for trips: Roadside Geology of the Northern Rockies - David D Alt
- This one is edited by a friend, writer and prof that I went to High School with: Montana Women Writers - Caroline Patterson I'd love to take a writing class by her one day!
- And the last one is because once I start buying from the FOL shelf, I usually add more. I know that some of my LT buddies have enjoyed this series. Slow Horses - Mick Herron

>153 karenmarie: Hi Karen! Yup, spring is springing. I still have some piles of snow several feet deep, but I also have bare ground and 50 degree days. A few of my tulips are starting to poke through the ground on the south side of the house. The season is definitely late this year!

I think you'll like My Sister the Serial Killer. I'll be interested to hear what you say about it.

I had forgotten the joint read of Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk. I've ordered a copy and hope to join soonish.

One of the problems with reading so many books last month, is that I am behind with reviews.

I read this one as part of the March PBS/NYT 'Now Read This Book Club'.

I comments about it earlier in my thread as I was reading the book and appreciate everyone's thoughts on it. It felt like I should skip the review since it's been thoroughly discussed, but here it is.



26. The Power - Naomi Alderman - 2017
- PBS/NYT March Now Read This Bookclub
- 2018 Women's Prize
- library


Having been exposed to a variety of chemicals throughout the last century, evolution takes a turn. A new organ, called a skein, lies along the collar bones of females. Adolescent girls suddenly start developing the ability to give electrical shocks from this organ. The power spreads both upward and downward through the female population as the girls are able to show older women how to use this power, and all newborn baby girls are born with it.

Women have become more physically powerful than men.

At first I cheered as downtrodden and abused women threw off their abusers. But then women began to misuse their new power and became abusive in turn.

This is a very thought provoking novel – would women, given unlimited power over men, treat men as (some) men today treat women and those with lesser power? Is a woman's nature inherently more empathetic than a man, or would she become the same abusive creature as the men who were formerly in power?

I disliked the violence, especially the graphic sexual violence. In fact, the accounts of sexual violence are why I didn't read this book last year when it was getting a lot of buzz. But I'm really glad to have read it. There's a lovely twist at the end.

I'm giving it 5 stars, because as uncomfortable as it made me as I read certain parts, I believe I will remember this plot for a long time.

And here is my week so far:

The pump in my septic tank failed, as did the alarm for said pump. Luckily I called a septic company while it was at the 'my bathtub makes a strange noise when I flush the toilet stage' instead of having it fail to the point of backing up! So no grim cleanup for me, just no septic for 5 days. All is well as of yesterday afternoon.

I'm taking a wonderful 'Farmer BootCamp' class through the Extension Agency associated with Bozeman's Montana State University (an ag school).

It's really interesting, as the teacher is bringing in climate change statistics to point out how we might want to make changes in the now to prepare for the future - (as in, this or that has historically done well in the area, but as we get more days over 80 degrees each year, it may be time to choose a different variety).

Monday was the last lit class for the year - read Faces in the Crowd the first novel by Valeria Luiselli, whose more recent novels The Story of My Teeth and Lost Children Archive have been getting some buzz on the threads.

Best news; My son may be showing up Sunday while he is on spring break. I say *may* because he's currently visiting his fiance in Denver and I know leaving early to visit Mom in Montana will be hard for him. :) All is good. I remember that stage of love and it makes me happy they are experiencing it.

>157 streamsong: I don't think our septic tank has a pump. Hmm.

Happy for your best news, I hope it works out that he stops by to see you, despite the lure of his fiance. :)

Glad the septic is fixed and it didn't seem to mar what is an otherwise great week. You are an understanding Mom but a visit would be nice.

>158 fuzzi: You are probably right about your septic not having a pump.

Being so near the creek, I have high ground water and the pump pumps upward from a double tank to an 'above ground' system - which really isn't above ground but is actually a higher area covered with sod.

>158 fuzzi: >159 witchyrichy: Lor and Karen, I'd love to see my son. I did spend time with him and his fiance when we all visited my brother in Tempe over Christmas. But, sigh, never long enough. :)

I'm happy for your upcoming visit with your son, Janet. I always enjoy hanging out with my daughter, even though she lives close by.

Great comments on The Power. Like you, I cringed at the violence, but I thought Alderman was making a point with it. I agree about Vinagar Girl. I read and enjoyed it but have little memory of it.

27. Educated - Tara Westover - 2018
- RL Book Club
- library

This was the March book for my Real Life Book Club. I read this last year, so this was a reread for me. I actually enjoyed rereading it and felt this book stood up well to a second time through.

During the first reading I was horrified by the abuse and medical neglect.

This time, I was most struck by how Tara continued to try to build bridges to her family and kept visiting them, even after she had broken free from them; the longing for family love is a powerful force.

Several people in the club commented that they thought the book was poorly written with a choppy, discontinuous narrative. I didn't experience that; to me that was part of her childhood memories.

Here's my review from last year:

"Tara Westover grew up isolated, both physically in a remote Idaho location and emotionally. Her family, headed by her patriarchal father, belonged to a fundamentalist Mormon sect. However, it wasn't the religion that explained their isolation, but her father's mindset and probable mental illness.

He was strongly mistrustful of all things government or otherwise organized. He was a 'prepper', dedicating part of his family's limited resources to storage of food and items to be used when society collapsed. He did not believe in schools so his kids had limited homeschooling. (In one of her first college classes, Tara had to ask the meaning of the word 'Holocaust”) . He did not believe in doctors, so when his children received horrific injuries from helping him support the family at his junkyard or building barns, they stayed at home to heal – or die. It's amazing to me that they all survived with only their mother's self taught knowledge of herbs and midwifery.

Tara was forbidden interaction with local kids and events; however she became extremely motivated to learn, earning a scholarship, and finding education the key to a life beyond the Idaho backwoods.

I found this book very compelling. It's hard for me to imagine that these levels of abusive child neglect can openly exist and such practices as not having medical help are condoned by communities.

Since I read this with the NYT/PBS Now Read This book club, there were many internet links providing ongoing discussion. Two of them I found the most interesting were:

Article from Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/millennial-media/201804/psychologists-ta...

Rebuttal from Tara Westover's family: https://www.hjnews.com/allaccess/educated-should-be-read-with-grain-of-salt-says... "

>150 streamsong:. I loved My Sister, the Serial Killer, Janet. Thanks for the nudge. I’m recommending it all over the place now.

>161 BLBera: Woot, Beth! Sounds like my son is coming for sure. He'll be here late Sunday night.

Have you read any more of the Hogarth Shakespeare retellings besides Vinegar Girl? I really enjoyed Margaret Atwood's Hag-Seed, the only other I've read. One very good, one OK-but meh. Should I pursue others?

>163 jnwelch: Hi Joe - I'm glad you loved MSTSK. I'll be really interested to see how it fares with The Bailey's Prize and if it makes it onto the shortlist.

Happy Friday, Janet. Great review of Educated. I have requested -My Sister, the Serial Killer. Sounds like a lot fun.

Hi Janet! I need to get back to These Truths. It has been several weeks since I have cracked it open.

I have My Sister, the Serial Killer on my wish list, hoping to pick up a copy when I'm in Seattle the week after next.

Meanwhile, I'm giving myself permission to read whatever I want. Right now it's Dark Fire, second in the Matthew Shardlake series by C.J. Sansom.... very engaging.

Interesting comments about your reread of Educated. I don't know that I want to read it a second time but I can see your point about noticing a different aspect of the narrative. I have so much respect for her.

I'm glad you enjoyed The Power. I thought it was a great novel, too!

>165 msf59: Hi Mark! Thanks for stopping by and your kind words.

I predict you'll enjoy MSTSK. For me it was lighter and less suspenseful than its fellow Bailey's longlist nominee, Ghost Wall, but it's still hard for me to mention 'serial killer' and 'fun' in the same breath. (Although the TV series Dexter was one of my guilty pleasures). I must admit, I was first intrigued by MSTSK's somewhat absurd title. I'll be interested to see what you think.

>166 EBT1002: Hi Ellen! I'm glad to see you on the threads and to hear life may be settling down. Enjoy your trip to Seattle - and enjoy MSTSK. Thanks for all your great comments on my reading.

Permission to read whatever you like - yes, definitely! I also had set aside These Truths - not forever and I'm starting it again, today. I'm going to keep posting on the Thread 3 until I finish with the third section. It's a great history of the US, and I'm learning so much - but sometimes lately it just takes more concentration than I can give it.

Janet: I've read quite a few. After Hag-Seed, I think my favorite one is A Gap of Time, based on The Winter's Tale.

Sorry to hear about the septic woes, Janet, but glad that it did not get fully backed up. Hope it's working again soon!

Interesting to hear about your reread of Educated. I'm planning on reading it with my book club in September, and I'm hoping the number of holds goes down enough that we're able to get enough copies.

>168 BLBera: Thanks,, Beth. I'll give that one a try - as time permits *grin* - I think I'm limited out at the library right now, but I've added it to written 'to be read' list I keep on my homepage. I really enjoyed Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson. But, I must confess, I've never read The Winter's Tale.

>169 bell7: Hi Mary! Thanks for stopping in. Yes, the septic is fixed, which is very good since DS should be arriving late tonight.

I'll be interested to see how Educated feels to you. There certainly is a lot for a book club to talk about.

There is a **lot** of rain predicted over the next three days - as much as an inch and a half. I should be Ok where I'm at, but it is definitely causing concern in lower lying areas. This is the same storm that will turn into a blizzard as it makes it way eastward through the Dakotas.

Cleaning house for DS visit, doing taxes (yup, not done yet - I ALWAYS procrastinate on taxes) and a bit of reading.

I'm currently reading Brian Selznik 's The Marvels (Stacia's fault) and an LTER book called Now You See the Sky. I also hope to continue on with These Truths and finally, I'm listening to The Round House on audio.

>171 streamsong: Ugh Taxes.

Don't let the darned things spoil your Sunday, Janet.

Janet have a great visit with your son and don't get washed away by all that rain. I thought The Round House was amazing when I read it several years ago.

>172 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul! Double ugh on taxes. I made good progress on Sunday and will work on them again today as DS will be visiting friends.

>173 mdoris: Thanks, Mary. DS and I had fun yesterday - lunch, book store, couple of thrift stores, and a board game store.

He helped quite a bit with stuff around the house that required more hand strength, back strength, or tall-ness (who the heck decided the stairway was a good place for smoke detector - unless you're over 6 feet it's impossible to change the battery!).

Last week I had the furniture I had saved from Mom's estate delivered out of storage. So he helped me rearrange it all again. :) I think he was glad to have the comfortable bed in the guest room.

The rain and mud are becoming epic. Another half inch predicted today. Then it moves toward the upper midwest where another cyclone blizzard bomb is predicted.

And I agree - The Round House is amazing.

28. The Road - Cormac McCarthy - 2006
- April RandomCat: TOB
- ROOT #11/50 acq'd 2016 = 3 ROOT points (27/225)
- audiobook
-

This is a classic dystopian novel. After a world-ending firestorm event (probably nuclear) a man and his pregnant wife leave their city apartment and take to the road.

She soon gives birth. Sometime later, she is no longer able to continue onward and disappears, presumably ending her life.

Several years have passed and we follow the man and the boy (neither named) as they struggle through a gray ash-covered landscape. The sun itself cannot be seen in the smoke and atmospheric debris. There does not seem to be any living plant life, although they did find a few morels. (The total lack of plant life seems far-fetched to me). They forage in not yet looted houses for food, shoes and blankets; they sometimes starve. They avoid 'the bad guys' as the boy calls them; those who exist through cannibalism. They hope to get to the sea shore and to a more southern warmer climate before winter. The boy especially, hopes to find more good people – those his father says 'carry the fire' of humanity.

The man's lungs have been compromised by the smoke and he becomes weaker; they trudge forward.

I found this bleak but compelling. I'll give it 4 stars.

I also found it a bit frustrating – it's the city-dwellers' apocalypse. They found apples, but didn't save the seeds. They found a few packets of seeds in a farmhouse and saved them but they never were mentioned again. And they weren't acknowledged as the end product of literally thousands of years of human/agriculture evolution. What a treasure! They crossed a dried out swamp with the 'rushes' burnt and bent over – Cattails? The roots are edible and can even be made into flour.

A book on foraging would have done them in good stead. Not an abandoned library, or books in various houses were mentioned, except for a few that were ruined by water or used as fuel.

Hint: In case of apocalypse stop at the nearest un-looted library.

>175 streamsong: Good review, Janet. I hope to read it someday, when I am in the mood for it.
I smiled at it's the city-dwellers' apocalypse and imagine that could be a bit frustrating. However it has come to that everywhere, children growing up in cities without a clue about farming or gathering foods.

>176 FAMeulstee: -Hi Anita! Isn't it funny about what can irritate us about a novel! Back in the 70's, I spent a lot of time in the woods - my husband was a wilderness ranger and I went along as a wilderness volunteer. I enjoyed identifying wild edibles and still have several books on foraging wild food.

But I know it's not the point of the novel, and to be truthful, I never did more than taste - never tried to really live off wild food.

And the seeds that were found might not have had conditions to grow for decades, or perhaps forever. But I would have treated an ounce or two of seeds in my pocket as a treasure.

Skipping ahead to an overdue Early Reviewer's book that I just finished. I think when I requested it, I was blinded by the fact that this was set in Thailand and overlooked the fact that it was about a child's battle with leukemia and death.

It's also from Akashic Books, whose international books I really enjoy. But ... it's the first release from "Gracie Belle, a new imprint that will specialize in books on grief, loss and recovery" according to a press release accompanying the book. It's not a subject I plan to pursue (do I tempt the gods by saying this?)



32. Now You See the Sky - Catharine H. Murray - 2018
- LibraryThing Early Reviewer
- Global Reading - Thailand
- Root 2018 = 1 ROOT point

This is the story of a child's fight with leukemia, his death and the family's grief. It's a heartbreaking story, as stories that end with the death of a child are.

What makes it different from other such memoirs is that the family chose to return to rural Thailand for the final stages of their son's illness.

Author Catherine Murray, fresh out of college, headed to Thailand to work for two years in a refugee camp. She fell in love with the country, its landscapes and culture, and eventually with her soon-to-be husband, whom she met literally by the side of the road. Together they started a family as well as a tourist business.

They tried living in Seattle with their children but missed the Thai culture and supportive extended family bonds. When their five year old son, Chan, was diagnosed with leukemia, they again returned to Seattle to seek state of the art treatment.

But it failed.

And so they returned to Thailand where their extended family met them with open hearts and arms and unlimited support.

They were able to focus on their son in a beautifully peaceful rural environment, surrounded by the Buddhist culture including the awareness/mindfulness of each moment. Although healthcare was very limited, they had been told that only palliative care was possible, they decided it would be best for Chan to die among the people who loved him rather than in the hospital the little boy hated.

And yet, there are parts of this book that disturbed me deeply. This six year old boy spent a lot of time crying and in misery, which the mother believed was the boy working things out and removing toxins from his psyche. He would beg for morphine and she would withhold it. I won't judge this mother – I haven't walked in her shoes. Part of her believed that he might yet be cured. But I think I would have made different choices.

Well written and a look at a part of a culture that you don't usually see – this Thai/American family's experience with the Thai management of illness, Buddhist funerals, and grief.

Great comments on The Road, Janet. I recently read it as well. I hadn't thought about the seeds...Good point.

>178 streamsong: Great comments on this book although it sounds like a hard one to read.

Sweet Thursday, Janet. What do you think of The Marvels? I liked it but immediately forgot about it, unlike his earlier work, which was excellent.

I agree with you, on The Round House. It was excellent.

>179 BLBera: Thanks for the complements on the reviews, Beth! It's good to see you.

Seeds - I just finished my 3rd of 10 classes (1 a week) in my 'Farmers' Bootcamp' and I have seeds and agriculture on the brain. :)

>180 msf59: Good morning, Mark! The Marvels is amazing. 400+ pages of drawings, followed by a couple hundred pages of text, followed by a second set of drawings. Not a book to read in bed at night - if I fell asleep and it landed on me, I would kill myself.

I'm enjoying Mouthful of Birds much more than you did. Some of the stories are amazing (the bride being left at the gas station; the people desperate to get on the train); they make up for those that I don't quite connect with. It didn't make it onto the short list for the International Booker prize - but it's a great read.

However - with all the books I have going, I've started another, Peter Heller's newest book, The River. This was a BB from Donna and it touches many of my interests: canoeing, camping, wilderness, thrillers (extremely competent athletic young men - grin). My excuse for starting it was that I have to get it back to the library as it's a short checkout book with no renewals ... but it's hard to put down.

Hi Janet!

>156 streamsong: I really appreciate your review. I disliked the book and barely finished it, then gave it to my daughter. I think I was disheartened to think that women would become the same abusive creatures as men. There were the same politics, the same manipulations, the same power trips. The only hope would be that it might be a pendulum swing with things balancing out, but I didn't think that was a likely outcome.

>162 streamsong: Skipped again, because I’ll be reading it this summer for my RL book club. *smile*

>175 streamsong: I loved this book. I didn’t have the same frustrations as you had regarding survival and foraging. I remember wondering what the apocalypse actually was until I realized that it didn’t matter. The father’s obvious love for his son shone through, and although all I can ‘visualize’ is gray, black, brown, and bleak, the book was a stunner.

I hope the visit by your DS was good. Sorry about the septic and glad it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

Good points about The Road and seeds and learning what's edible like cattail roots. In an apocalypse, find the nearest library - love it!

I haven't read any Cormac McCarthy but I appreciated your review of The Road and have added it to the TBR list. Not ready for it right now but sometime. I hear your frustration with the lack of knowledge of producing food: I'm working on a "kitchen scraps" garden that includes garlic, onions and potatoes, all sprouting away in the bin and just begging to go in the dirt.

I was reminded of a book on my shelf--When the English Fall--about how the Amish respond after the apocalypse. I may start with that.

Hope all is well and you are getting through this winter of all winters.

Great review of Now You See the Sky, Janet. I’ll have to pass, as I would have a hard time reading about the boy’s suffering while his cruel mother chose to do nothing about it.

My computer has crashed. I'll be very limited until I get it back.I'm going through withdrawal! And of course my taxes are not yet submitted. I'll have to figure that out tomorrow.

Since being offline I've finished The Marvels and should finish the last few ss in A Mouthful of Birds today. I also zipped.right through Peter Heller's The River and started Lillian Box fish takes a Walk for the shared read.

>186 streamsong: argh, that stinks. I hope you had everything backed up.

>186 streamsong: Well, the upside is a LOT more reading time, Janet!

I'm sorry about your computer crashing, Janet. Tax day is upon us - we wimp out and pay an accountant a well-deserved, if serious, fee. Today is the 60-mile round trip to write three checks - her, the fed, and the state.

I hope things work out well for you today with filing and getting a working computer again.

Hooray that The Overstory won the Pulitzer! It was one of my favorites last year. I thought it should have gone farther in the TOB

Oh, sorry about the laptop! As for taxes, I file an extension and then find a hot summer afternoon to compile data for the accountant I pay and file by the fall. It became our habit at some point and we just stick with it. I used to do my own even with my business but the farm added a layer of complexity I wasn't willing or even able to deal with. (Turbo Tax stumped me with the very first question about the tractor!)

The motherboard in my computer has given up the ghost. I'll go shopping on Monday.

I'm at the library for a short stint to catch up a bit.

>184 witchyrichy: Hi Karen! The Road is definitely worth reading. I've requested the book you mentioned, When the English Fall from the library. It sounds fascinating. I bet the Amish deal with the apocalypse much better than the English do!

>185 kidzdoc: Thanks Darryl! Now You See the Sky was an interesting book, but I would not have made the choices that this particular mother did. Like you, I felt it to be cruel, and I think the child would have fared much better in a modern hospice. Nevertheless, the Mom clearly loved her child and spent 24 hours a day with him. The region of Thailand they lived in had little access to modern medicine, and so her methods did not seem to be questioned by the relatives and friends who lived there.

>188 fuzzi: Hi fuzzi! No, I did not have as much backed up as I should have. Darn it all. They are trying to recover what they can from the harddrive.

>189 ronincats: That's very true, Roni. I *have* been doing a lot more reading. Besides The Marvels and Mouthful of Birds that I mentioned above, I've also finished Forfeit for the group read.

I've also finished the book for Thursday's Real Life Book Club, A Mother's Reckoning by Sue Klebold, the mother of Dylan Klebold, one of the Columbine shooters. It's mere coincidence that we are reading this on the anniversary of the shooting. It's worth reading, because so much of what was reported in the press was either not true or exaggerated. Many of the things I thought I knew about the event, especially her son's relationships with his peers and family, she says are not true. I'm still processing her story and am going back to reread several of the chapters before Thursday's discussion.

>190 karenmarie: Hi Karen - Always good to see you. Mostly I just sent in an extension for the taxes. It's not the first year I've done this, although definitely the first year a computer crash has happened.

>192 witchyrichy: I like your method, Karen. Now that I have several months to get things finished, I'm going to kick back a bit, too.

>193 streamsong: the IT people can recover a lot with the older hard-drives, but if you get one of the new "solid state" drives and it crashes, nothing can be recovered...

It's definitely an older drive so I have hope. But either way I need to go computer shopping. Sigh.

It's been a very expensive spring with the hot water heater, the septic pump, the computer and now a huge cottonwood that has fallen along the road after the county road crew cleaned the road right of way.

Luckily the tree missed the loafing shed and fence and even the hay stack. But it's far beyond what I can remove with my little toy-like chainsaw.

Sorry for your misfortune this spring, Janet.
I hope the hard drive is recovered, the computer shopping goes smoothly and the tree was the last one in the row.

Hi, Janet. Sorry, to hear about the problems. When it rains, it pours, eh? Bummer. I am so glad you are enjoying Mouthful of Birds. I will revisit that one at some point. I recently read The River, which I really had a good time with. Heller is back!!

Hi Janet, Sorry for your expensive spring. Hope you can get your computer sorted out soon and hope you can get the fallen tree figured out too. We have a number of trees that fell in the big winter storms that still need to be bucked up and split. Jobs await!

Hi Janet!

We're looking at some expensive tree cutting/mulching here, including two that went down last summer in two separate hurricanes. We're also getting the pasture fences repaired and hope to lease the barns/paddock/tack room/pastures out later this summer.

Everything seems to come at once, doesn't it?

Hi Janet - Sorry to hear about your bad luck with big ticket items. I hope things turn around soon.

New computer purchased but won't be delivered until the 1st. I appreciate everyone's comments! May try to hit the library computers on Monday for a LT fix.

It's been an expensive spring for sure, but it's only stuff. So many are dealing with truly heartbreaking events this year.

See you all soon!

Just hoping you saw >183 jnwelch: up there, Janet. I may have criss-crossed with your computer crash.

Sorry to hear that so many things have gone expensively awry. I’m going to have to be looking for a new computer, too, as mine is freezing up way too often now.

My new computer arrived and I've been setting it up today.

Although I had used a laptop at work, I decided to go with a laptop as my main computer - and the change is making me evil.

I've started working on my next-in-line review, On the Come Up which I finished at the end of March.

APRIL READS:

30. Faces in the Crowd - Valeria Luiselli - 2011 - April Literature Seminar; Global Reading: Mexico; Acq'd 2019
31. Lord of the Butterflies - Andrea Gibson - 2018 - acq'd 2019
32. Now You See the Sky - Catharine H. Murray - 2018; LibraryThing Early Reviewer; Global Reading - Thailand; Root #12/50; acq'd 2018 = 1 ROOT point (28/225)
33. The River- Peter Heller - library
34. Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk- Kathleen Rooney - 2017 - group read - library
35. The Marvels - Brian Selznick - 2015 GN - library
36. Mouthful of Birds - Global Reading: Argentina - short stories - library
37. Forfeit - Dick Francis - 1969 - group read - library
38. A Mother's Reckoning - Sue Klebold - 2016 - RLBC - library
39. When the English Fall - David Williams - 2017 - library
40. Stitches: A Memoir - David Small - 2009 - library
41. The Lone Winter - Ann Bosworth Greene - 1923 - library
42. Solaris - Lem Stanislaw - 1961 - 1001 Books - Global Reading: Poland - library
43. Lumberjanes Volume Three: A terrible Plan - Noelle Stevenson - 2016 - library

Read: 14
Fiction: 9
Nonfiction: 3
Poetry: 1
Short story collections: 1
Graphic novels: 3
In translation: 3
1001: 1
Men: 6
Women: 8
Authors New to Me: 12
Authors I've read Before: 2
Off My Shelf (ROOTS): 1
Purchased 2019: 2
library: 11

As of 5/01/2019: 509 books on physical MT TBR (One less than 1/01/2019!)

>204 streamsong: I did that too, purchasing a laptop as my main computer. What did you choose?

Last year I bought on Ebay a new-in-box Samsung that had Windows 7 and which included a DVD/CD drive since I like to watch my DVDs on my computer.

A wireless mouse is a must, if you've not gotten one already!

>182 karenmarie: Hi Karen! Sorry that The Power was not for you. You are right that things were not going back to normal. Do you remember the last chapter? The last chapter reveals that this was a story written by a man about events that had taken place 5000 years in the past. His female editor is utterly disbelieving that men ever ruled the world and has some wonderful snarky comments for him. It was my favorite chapter of the book!

Yes, I should have mentioned the man's love for his son in my review of The Road. It was a true bright spot that shone like a beacon in the dark world.

>183 jnwelch: Hi Joe! I'm glad that my survival hint "In an apocalypse, find the nearest library" tickled you. Truth, though! Maybe I should write a dystopian novel where the hero pulls out a battered copy of an edible wild foods book. :) Thanks for pointing out in >203 jnwelch: that with my hit-or-miss comments written on my phone, I have missed answering people.

>184 witchyrichy: Hi Karen! Yes winter seems to have finally gone; although we did get a few snowflakes this past weekend, they didn't stick. I feel so sorry for the people in the Midwest who had to weather blizzard after blizzard.

I took your suggestion for the dystopian Amish novel you mentioned, When the English Fall. I have to admit that I was disappointed that it ended just as things were beginning to change - initial food stores running out in cities, etc. I wonder if the author planned it as a series. I want to know what happened next!

>197 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita! Thanks for stopping by and for all the good wishes. I'll take a picture of the downed tree and post it as soon as I get this puter figured out. I've been told it will be $800 - $1000 to have a specialist try to recover data from my harddrive. I need to figure out what I have backed up - there are hours and hours of horsey data on there that I may actually want to have them try to recover.

>198 msf59: HI Mark! I found Mouthful of Birds intriguing but somewhat spotty and The River great fun. On to review writing!

>199 mdoris: Hi Mary - Good luck with your tree cutting and splitting, too. Yup, chores always await.

>200 karenmarie: Hi again, Karen! Wow - trees down for you, too. We need to have a tree-off with dueling photos of downed trees! Luckily it sounds like everyone is reporting minimal damage, although removing the trees is an expensive mess.

>201 BLBera: Hi Beth - It's good to see you, too. It's wonderful to have people check in. It is funny how expensive items all seem to come at once, isn't it?

>205 fuzzi: Hi Lor! I bought an HP Envy x360. No disc drive - that was a good idea for you to choose that. Right now I'm working with a conventional mouse although I do have a wireless one from the old computer that I can try. I'm definitely still sorting things out. Old dog learning new tricks and all of that.

>208 streamsong: I've had HPs in the past, some better than others. Hope it works well for you.

One thing: if you are planning on using the laptop ON your lap, you might want to invest (not a lot of $) in a cooler pad that helps to keep the laptop cooler...why they put the cooling fan opening on the BOTTOM of a laptop still mystifies me...

Here's a handy list: https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/best-laptop-coolers

Great that you got your computer woes sorted out!

>209 fuzzi: Thanks for the comments, Lor. This one is a bit too big to use on my lap although it also can be folded and used as a tablet. The salesperson assured me that I wouldn't need a cooler pad, but we shall see.

>210 mdoris: Thanks, Mary! It's good to be back!

29. On the Come Up - Angie Thomas - 2019
– library

Bri dreams of being a rapper and hip-hop artist, like her father before her. He was on his way to fame when he was murdered by a neighborhood gang when she was just a baby.

It seems her break has come when she is invited to perform at a neighborhood open mike. But life is more complicated than that as Bri deals with neighborhood gangs, music producers with agendas not matching her own, overt racism at her gifted high school and a mother who wants her to focus only on school.

I really enjoyed this slice-of-life coming-of-age story of a gifted girl in a tough neighborhood. This is the second YA novel by Thomas, and while it is not a plot taken straight from newspaper headlines as was The Hate U Give, it’s a good strong story as Bri learns to navigate wanting to further her career and helping her family – as well as honoring them.

I'm going to be skipping around a bit with reviews. This is one of my most recently finished books, but I wanted to post this one on the Reading Globally Second Quarter challenge to read translated speculative fiction. I decided to take this opportunity to read several sf from the 1001 list. The next one I have planned is Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis.

42. Solaris – Stanislaw Lem -1962
- (translated from French by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox; Previously translated from Polish to French)
- Reading Globally – translated SF
- Global challenge 5th book from Poland
- 1001
- library

This is a science fiction classic written in 1962.

Solaris is a small planet orbiting a double star system. Physics predict that its orbit should be unstable, but it’s not. Something prevents it from plunging into one star or the other. The only thing to be observed on the planet, however, is an ocean with highly unusual properties. Despite decades of research comprising thousands of volumes, it still begs the question of sentience.

Until an ethically questionable experiment using high powered x-ray begins to change events. Then the astronauts inhabiting a small space station above Solaris, start seeing humanoid figures from the deepest part of their subconscious.

What happens when humans encounter a life form so different that there is no way to communicate, even with mathematical equations or energy beams? And how would such an entity feel about the presence of humans?

>212 streamsong: Good review of On the Come Up, Shelley. That was my reaction, too.

I can't believe you read Solaris! I don't know many people who have, and it is a classic, as you say. I liked it, too.

>214 jnwelch: Thanks for the complement on the review, Joe!

Later this month I will be leading my RL book club discussion of The Hate U Give. I'm not sure I'm quite up to the task. The inner city is foreign to whitebread Montana and we've never done a YA book in the ten years or so that I've been a club member.

Solaris was fun and I'm glad to know I've joined you in a somewhat exclusive club. I tend to keep pretty quiet in the Reading Globally group since it gets pretty esoteric and I often feel like an idiot child. They debate translations and which language to read various works. Ha! Even if the English translation that I read is supposedly 'poor and also controversial', English is it for me.

Here's the thread on translated speculative fiction: https://www.librarything.com/topic/305311

I burned out on the 1001 a few years back, but it's nice to pick up a few books here and there and I have plans to read several SF that are both translated and on the 1001 during this quarter.

>215 streamsong: Thanks for the link to the thread, Janet. I will certainly have a look. I like SF.

Here a fellow Solaris reader, but it was a long time ago. My husband loves the movie Tarkovsky made of it. Have you ever seen that? There are some beautiful scenes in it. My favourite is a long shot of a Brueghel picture in the library of the spaceship. I wonder where that came from in the book, maybe I should do a reread?

Happy Friday, Janet. I really want to get to On the Come Up. Joe really liked it too and I loved her last one, The Hate U Give. Good luck leading the group discussion you whitebread from Montana. Grins...

>215 streamsong: Janet I look forward to seeing how your bookclub discussion goes with The Hate You Give. I was in a bookclub for almost 40 years in my former place (I know I must have joined it when I was a baby!!!) and I always thought it was great fun to mix things up a bit. Once I suggested Graphic Novels and most members had never read one before and it lit them on fire. So fun! Good luck with yours.

You have a great month of reading in April, Janet. Both On the Come Up and Solaris sound great. Onto the list they go.

>216 EllaTim: Hi Ella and welcome to our club of three who have read Solaris! I bet more people here will be joining the club since this is a very well read group.

I have not seen the movie, but thanks to your comments I have added it to my Netflix queue. I searched the book for Brueghel, but came up empty. Here is what Wikipedia says:

"The set design of Solaris features paintings by the Old Masters. The interior of the space station is decorated with full reproductions of the 1565 painting cycle of The Months (The Hunters in the Snow, The Gloomy Day, The Hay Harvest, The Harvesters, and The Return of the Herd), by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, and details of Landscape with the Fall of Icarus and The Hunters in the Snow (1565). The scene of Kelvin kneeling before his father and the father embracing him alludes to The Return of the Prodigal Son (1669), by Rembrandt. The references and allusions are Tarkovsky's efforts to give the young art of cinema historical perspective, to evoke the viewer's feeling that cinema is a mature art."

I have not figured out picture posting with my new computer, or I'd post one of the above referenced paintings. :(

The link for the translated speculative fiction has some amazing lists in the first post.

>217 msf59: Hi Mark! I think you'll enjoy On the Come Up.

Yup, Montana and I are both very whitebread. I hope I can do justice to The Hate U Give. I have several weeks to prepare and am going to rely heavily on online discussion questions.

>218 mdoris: Hi Mary! Yes, I think it's fun to mix things up a bit, too. I suspect that I am the only graphic novel reader in the group. It might work if I suggested a classic like Maus or the John Lewis books. What did your club read?

>219 BLBera: Hi Beth! I hope you enjoy them both! They are about as different as can be.

I enjoyed your comments on The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist and added that to my wishlist, too.

What I did Janet is I brought a few to show the range and then asked each member to go and do a bit of research on their own (I gave them the system numbers where they could be found in the library) and they were to each select a book and do a "show and tell" and explain why they wanted others to read their chosen one. It was a different approach from what we usually did but it was a great evening that was well remembered with much enthusiasm. Of course Maus was one and this was before the John Lewis books but there was a very interesting variety.

Thanks for the link in >215 streamsong:, Janet. I started the thread and bet I’ll get some good reading ideas from it.

Nice to have Ella (>216 EllaTim:) in the Solaris club!

That's an interesting idea, Mary. Our club is a bit different. Our December meeting is a potluck and we vote on books for the upcoming year during that meeting. We all nominate books in November with reviews so people have time to make their decisions. Perhaps I could nominate a GN or two, and then bring copies to the December meeting so people could see what a graphic novel actually is.

>223 jnwelch: It's a wonderful link, isn't it, Joe with so many lists of translated SF (by which I mean speculative fiction and not only SF/Science Fiction) books, although there are lots of those included, too.

My only kick is that some non-western books are written in English. I'm specifically thinking of the YA Binti series by Nigerian author Nnedi Okorafor which I enjoyed last year.

I think you'll like The Unit, Janet. I'm always happy to add to your WL.

Thanks Janet for explaining how your bookclub operates. Good idea to do a vote.

Hi Janet!

Congrats on the new laptop - I hope it works out. I love having a laptop since I do enough traveling that being without computer access would totally wig me out. I don't use e-mail on my cell phone, can't imagine using LT on my cell phone, and so the laptop is a necessity. It does mean carting it around airports and hotels, but it's a small price to pay.

There are twelve of us in book club, and each woman gets to pick a book for the Book Club Year, so we have an ever-changing Selection meeting month. Sometimes someone brings several books and asks for the group's opinion, but mostly we bring the book we want and discuss why. Some folks have read the book they want already, some choose a book they want to read and think the group would like. We then build a schedule for the next 12 months of whose book when and who hosts and when. I hosted last month and my book, Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk is being discussed this month. It's worked since 1997 with a few comings and goings, but we've had the same group of women for the last 12 years.

>226 BLBera: Ha, Beth! But you aren't helping my WL shrink at all! You're quite a dangerous for Planet TBR.

>227 mdoris: Just a different way of doing it. Happy to oblige.

BTW, you got me with a BB on Mark's thread with The Ghost Walker by R.D. Lawrence. I'm not familiar with this author at all, but his wildlife books sound intriguing.

Can anyone help me out with posting pics from my laptop using Windows 10? When I right click on my photos in the gallery or junk drawer, I don't get an option to copy the link. Help, help, help!

>228 karenmarie: Hi Karen! I love hearing how other book clubs make their selections. Wow on having the same group of women for 12 years. I'll be interested to hear what they say on Lillian Boxfish.

Sorry that I can't help you Janet with your picture transfers on the computer. I am a Mac user. Hope you can find Ghost Walker. If not i have a copy and happy to mail it to you.

>230 streamsong: Can you open the picture in a new window?
If so you can pick-up the link in the address bar.

Just dropping by to wish you a great weekend!

>232 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita. I tried your suggestion but could not find the way to do that, either.

But ... I gave up on Microsoft Edge and downloaded Firefox - and hooray! I can post photos again.

So here's the Brueghel painting I wanted to post in >220 streamsong: as being one of the ones decorating the space station in the Solaris movie:



>233 figsfromthistle: Hi Anita/figs! Hope your weekend is great, too!

>231 mdoris: Whoops I was so excited about figuring out a work around to post pictures, that I neglected the second half of your post. Thank you for offering to send me The Ghost Walker, Mary. I was able to find it through our library system and already have a request in for it - :) Have you read any of his other books?

Glad that you have tracked it down. No, I have not read any other of his books but I did check the long list on L.T. and there are some good sounding ones so I will have to see if my library has any. I was particularly interested in the one about wolves.

>234 streamsong: Yes, that's it! Good for you for managing a way to show it. I love that painting, there is so much to see in it. Look at all the figures on the ice, all those people are doing something. As a painting it reminds me a bit of a graphic novel;-)
You can stand before it and admire and get really immersed, and that is what Tarkovsky is doing in the movie. I think it fits his style of making a movie, and his way of looking at the world. And of course he had to find a way to get all the philosophical discussion in the novel into a movie, without making it totally boring. So some people think the movie is boring, because of all those long shots, me, I like them, but not everyone does.

>230 streamsong: Our book club meeting was last night and it was a pretty universal comment that Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk was hard to get going but once it clicked, everybody liked the book. Quite a few people commented on the fact that they thought young Lillian was too aggressive. I didn't find her that way at all, just intelligent and career-oriented, which didn't then and still doesn't always down well with men.

My book didn't have a map, but there's an edition that has a map of her walk. It's the copy my sister brought, so I'll copy the page and keep it with my edition.

>206 streamsong: I have moved When the English Fall up on the reading list. I saw a few other favorites on your April list from The Marvels to Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk, which I also read last month. And, I had forgotten about The Lumberjanes. I read a few but I think I have the rest on my Kindle. Going to dive in to my to do and then curl up with a good book or two today.

>238 karenmarie: I absolutely agree with your book club: I read the first few chapters and wondered what all the excitement was about. But there was a moment when it clicked for me, too, and then I couldn't let go. I read a biography of Helen Gurley Brown last year and it kept popping up in my memory although I know this wasn't based on her life.

>238 karenmarie: It is interesting what you say Karen about your bookclub's reaction judging young Lillian as too agressive. We have been watching the French murder series on MHz (Murder in ......) which has been fun as each episode takes place in a different part of France and it is like having a mini tour (unfortunately without the yummy food and wine) but women are often in the leadership police or prosecutor roles, and are shown to be very capable, independent, smart and probably would be judged by North American standards as "too agressive"' but in this series they are honoured and supported by their male colleagues.

>236 mdoris: I'll be interested to see what you think, Mary if you track down more of his books. It looks like he may have written several about wolves according to the LT author list. Since wolves are a hot topic right now, I've read several by other authors and have several more on Planet TBR.

>237 EllaTim: Ella, I am so glad you mentioned Pieter Brueghel the Elder. I don't know if I would have noticed the paintings and now I'll look for them. I should have the DVD of Solaris in the next week or so.

>238 karenmarie: Hi Karen - Thanks for the report on your book club and Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk. I can see how she may have been thought of as 'too aggressive' when she started her career, but it's hard to imagine people seeing her in that light now. A map would have been very nice - my edition didn't have one either.

I do wonder if she was as happy with her later life as she reported. As someone who has been through major depression and often 'fakes it until I make it' I wonder about her reporting never having another episode of depression. It's so interesting how everyone brings their own experiences to their reading. I haven't seen anyone else comment on this aspect of the novel.

One of the books that I am picking away at is April's PBS/NYT bookclub choice, Brotopia about women working in the tech companies of Silicon Valley. It couldn't be more different than Lillian's experience!

>239 witchyrichy: Hi Karen! I was a bit disappointed in When the English Fall. It ends far too soon - only 6 weeks after the disaster when refugees are just beginning to show up in the countryside. I wonder if he had thought about it as the first of a series.

>240 witchyrichy: That's an interesting comment about Helen Gurley Brown. Strong women leading the way - I should read a biography of her.

>241 mdoris: Ah another good series that I would enjoy. I'll have to look for it. I think that the attitude towards competent women varies throughout areas of the US (perhaps Karenmarie's southern region is more , uh traditional ? in their outlook of women), as well as with different professions and religious groups. We definitely have a long way to go, however!

>243 streamsong: Yes, Janet I valued your comments there!

30, Faces in the Crowd - Valeria Luiselli - 2011 - April Literature Seminar; Global Reading: Mexico; Acq'd 2019

From a review on the reverse of the book by Laura Van Den Berg ”A masterwork of fractured identities and shifting realities, Faces in the Crowd, is a lyric meditation on love, mortality, ghosts, and the desire to transform our human wreckage into art, to be saved by creation.”

A novel with three different narrators in three different places and three different times. The first is a young mother in current Mexico City and remembering her days as a translator in New York City; the second is a young translator in Harlem looking for what she can find of the mostly-forgotten poet Gilberto Owen. The third and last is Gilberto Owen himself living in Philadelphia in the 1950’s. And yet objects such as dead potted plants and a table ruined in the Mexican earthquake, and even people – ghosts from the future and the past - move between the various settings and time points.

Mostly this one confused me and left me questioning what was happening. After a group discussion of this novel, I felt it was intriguing and perhaps I should reread it in order to appreciate it more.

But I haven’t. And I probably won’t. Perhaps this one is just too subtle for me

I rated Faces in the Crowd a bit more highly than you did, Janet, but my 3-1/2 stars is at least half a star too high. I was more confused by it than anything else.

>235 streamsong: oh no...BB, er, Author Bullet! Curses!

Local library does not carry any books by R. D. Lawrence. Time to utilize ILL.

>244 mdoris: - Glad you liked them, Mary. Maybe some others will chime in!

>246 kidzdoc: - Ha, Darryl! Your comment made me laugh. If you were confused, I feel much better! I was disappointed because Valeria Luiselli's newest book, The Story of My Teeth has been getting some positive buzz in the various groups.

>247 fuzzi: Author bullet for me, too, Lor, thanks to Mary. A Canadian author writing about wildlife sounds right up my alley. I hope you can get a copy through ILL.

>242 streamsong: Are you keeping up with those PBS books? I gave up on keeping up a long time ago, despite the thrill of how great they look. I'm too slow of a reader this year.

>242 streamsong: Hi Rachel! You have important stuff going on right now - and remember 'Babies don't keep'. Being IL's Mom and your other kids's mom is the most important thing you can do.

Here's the list from >8 streamsong: and what I've accomplished so far this year in the PBS club:

PBS/NYT NOW READ THIS BOOKCLUB
January: Heart: A History - Sandeep Jauhar
✔ February: The Wife - Meg Wolitzer- (4 stars)
✔ March: The Power - Naomi Alderman (4.5 stars)
**Reading** April: Brotopia - Emily Chang
**Reading** May: An Odyssey: A Father, A Son and an Epic - Daniel Mendelsohn

The current read, Daniel Mendelsohn's An Odyssey: A Father, A Son and an Epic is a delight. The author's 80+ year old father joins Mendelson's freshman seminar on the Odyssey and has unexpected responses in class discussions. It's also a family journey as the father and son understand each other much better in the final stages of his father's life. It's part literary analysis of The Odyssey, part father and sons story and part travel as they ultimately took a cruise following Odysseus's path.

I think you'd enjoy it, Rachel. Are audiobooks a possibility for you now?

31.Lord of the Butterflies – Andrea Gibson – 2018
– purchased 2019


Wow – This has to be one of my favorite poetry collections. Andrea Gibson speaks of being gay, gun massacres and other political topics, and relationships both begginning and ending.

I read it twice through and decided to mark it as ‘completed’. But now, a month later, I picked it up to write a review, started reading it to quote a bit and am once more reading it in its entirety.

I am so happy to have encountered this author’s books, and I have also been enjoying her videos on YouTube.

I'm going to go back and forth from the oldest reviews that need to be done and the most recent books read. Writing reviews for the recently completed is much more fun, especially since I lost my notes on the older books during The Great Computer Crash.

I'll start my new thread as soon as I get my confidence up a bit on this computer.



43. Lumberjanes Volume Three: A terrible Plan - Noelle Stevenson - 2016
- SeriesCat April - A series you've meant to get back to
– library


This is the third volume of a YA graphic novel series about they way you wish your summer scout adventure camps had really been.

After a night of telling ghost stories, the girls have a free day. Mal and Molly have a picnic date in the woods, but end up following the supernatural Bear Woman into an alternate universe where a small dinosaur has stolen her glasses.

The rest of the girls stay in camp and decide to work on more traditional merit badges – such as cake decorating.

These are very quick reads and also very light. Sometimes, they are exactly what I am looking for!

Andrea Gibson is getting a lot of love around here. Nice comments, Janet. I'll look for that collection.

Thanks, Beth. In the meantime here is a link to some of her YouTube videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRUl2yfmDkk&list=RDTRUl2yfmDkk&start_rad...