Lucy's (Sibyx) Quarterly Report: Spring into Summer 2019

We're past the equinox and it is officially spring even if it doesn't look like it here in Vermont.

Miss Posey, Queen of the May makes spring wherever she is.



And here is some real spring -- wisteria on the Cape on our porch.


humming with busy bumblebees -- who happily mind their own beeswax!

Currently Reading in June 2019

♬♬♬

new The Darkening Age Catherine Nixey history
✔ROOT At the Mouth of the River of Bees Kij Johnson spec fic
E The Untethered Soul Michael A. Singer meditation
♬ The Chalk Pit Elly Griffiths mys
♬The Black Moth Georgette Heyer hist fic
♬The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking Oliver Burkeman philosophy

61. new (BBC*) Stoner John Williams contemp fic ****1/2
62. ♬A Dying Fall Elly Griffiths ***1/2
63. ♬The Outcast Dead Elly Griffiths mys ****
64. new City of Miracles Robert Jackson Bennett fantasy *****
65. library The Ghost Fields Elly Griffiths mys ****
66. library The Woman in Blue Elly Griffiths mys ***1/2
67. ♬Guards! Guards! Terry Pratchett fantasy
68.♬ Men at Arms Terry Pratchett fantasy
69. libraryA Woman in Blue Elly Griffiths mys
70. ✔ROOT Unquiet Soul Margot Peters lit bio ****
71. new The Demon Breed James Schmitz sf ***1/2

Pearled
3.✔ROOT Gibbon's Decline and Fall Sherri S.
Tepper dyst (sped thru, got the gist) (May)
4. ✔ROOT The Russian Debutante's Handbook Gary Shteyngart

*BBC=Bridgeside Book Club

Here is a link to my ROOT thread: ROOT 2019

Series Tally 2019

New this year
Ruth Galloway Elly Griffiths READING (7) The Ghost Fields
Lady Hardcastle mysteries (4) T. E. Kinsey NEXT UP (3) A Picture of Murder
Galaxy Outlaws (16.5) Listening to #2

Continuing in 2019
Cass Neary(3) Elizabeth HandNEXT UP (2) Available Dark
Inspector Gamache (15) Louse PennyNEXT UP (15) A Better Man

Will continue this year, I hope!
Paksenarrion's World (7) Elizabeth Moon NEXT UP: Oath of Fealty (4)
The Craft Sequence(6) Max Gladstone NEXT UP: (2)Two Serpents Rise
Terra Ignota(3) Ada Palmer NEXT UP:(3) The Will to Battle

May continue?
Oxford Medieval Mysteries (1 of 6) Ann Swinfen
Roma sub Rosa (12) Steven Saylor NEXT UP (2) Arms of Nemesis

Caught up! or Finished!
The Divine Cities Robert Jackson Bennett
The Mortal Instruments (6) Cassandra Clare
Flavia de Luce (10)
Her Royal Spyness (12)
Foreigner (20) (I read three a year! Done 19 now)
Wayfarers (3) Becky Chambers Record of a Spaceborn Few (3)

March Reading
24. ♬ Will Save the Galaxy For Food Yahtzee Croshaw sf, sp/op ****
25. library A Court of Thorns and Roses Sarah J. Maas YA fantasy
26. E The Parallel Process Krissy Pozatek psychology *****
27. new Record of a Spaceborn Few Becky Chambers sf, sp/op ****
28. library City of Bones Cassandra Clare YA fantasy ***1/2
29. ♬ In the Market for Murder T.E. Kinsey cosy mys ***1/2
30. new It Didn't Start With You Mark Wolynn psychology ***1/2
31. ♬ A Bachelor Establishment Jodi Taylor cosy mys *****
31. new Dark Matter Blake Crouch sf ***1/2
32. ✔ROOT The Book Thief Markus Zusak contemp fic ***1/2
33. ✔ROOT Peeps Scott Westerfeld YA urb fantasy ***1/2
34. new The Diary of a Bookseller Sean Bythell literary memoir *****
35. ♬ The Golden Tresses of the Dead Alan Bradley cosy mys ***1/2
36. library City of Ashes(2 of 6) Cassandra Clare YA fantasy ****
37. ✔ROOT Snakes with Wings & Gold-digging Ants (Penguin Great Journeys) Herodotus travel ****

Pearled
2. library A Court of Mist and Fury Sarah J. Maas YA fantasy

Stats
Total: 15
Men: 8
Women: 7
M/W writing together:0
Non-fiction: 4
Contemp/Classic/Hist Fiction: 1
SF/F: 7
Mystery(inc hist mys): 3
YA or J: 4
Poetry: 0
New author: 8
Reread: 0

Book origins/type:
From library or borrowed: 3
Audio: 4
New (to my library): 4
e-book: 1
Off Shelf/ROOT:3
Pearled: 1

Housekeeping:
GRAND TOTALS IN=15 (Feb # )
physical books (for year) IN=12 (ditto)
e-books=
audio=
TOTAL OUT=2 (Feb)

Book Titles Acquired March 2019
March
17. The Chrysalids John Wyndham
18. Binstead's Safari Rachel Ingalls READING
19. It Didn't Start With You Mark Wollyn READ

E-book
1. The Parallel Process Krissy Pozatek READ
2. The Flowers of Vashnoi Lois Bujold

audio
7. In the Market for Murder T.E. Kinsey READ
8. A Bachelor Establishment Isabella Barclay READ
9. Murder in an English Village Jessica Ellicott
10. Death Around the Bend T.E. Kinsey READING
11. The Golden Tresses of the Dead Alan Bradley READ

Reflections March 2019
I guess something good can be said for winter lingering for far too long -- lots more reading time than might be expected in a more "normal" (whatever that is) year. Life continues to toss out challenges aplenty so my reading is still rather skewed in the escape mode, however, I did manage to keep my ROOT reading up to date, sort of, and usually those books have some weight to them. The five star reads were two non-fictions (psychology and memoir) and a superb regency read even more superbly. If you have an adolescent of any sort, even one you believe is doing just fine, get and read the Krissy Pozatek, you won't regret it for an instant. If you loved used bookshops (and who here doesn't???) get the Shaun Bythell (pronounced like thistle btw) and if you love Georgette Heyer get this Jodi Taylor - don't let not liking her time travel series slow you down. I adored the audio, but I think I would have been fine with reading the book in any form too. Everything else was what it was, fun or edifying, or a bit tedious. C'est la vie!

April Reading

38. new Binstead's Safari Rachel Ingalls contemp fic ****1/2
39. library City of Glass Cassandra Clare YA urb fantasy ****
40. library City of Fallen Angels ***1/2
41. ♬ Death Around the Bend T.E. Kinsey cosy mys ***1/2
42. library City of Lost Souls Cassandra Clare YA urb fantasy ****
43. E You Can Heal Your Life Louise Hay ****
44. new The Juniper Tree Barbara Comyns contemp fic ****
45. library City of Heavenly Fire Cassandra Clare YA urb fantasy ****
46. library Kingdom of the Blind Louise Penny mys
47. E Maybe You Should Talk to Someone Lori Gottlieb psychology therapy *****
48. *BBC new An American Marriage Tayari Jones contemp fic ***1/2
49. ♬ Galaxy Outlaws(1&2) J.S. Morin sp/op ***
50. ♬ The Crossing Places Elly Griffiths mys ***1/2

Stats
Total: 13
Men:1
Women: 12
M/W writing together:0
Non-fiction: 2
Contemp/Classic/Hist Fiction: 3
SF/F: 5
Mystery(inc hist mys): 3
YA or J: 3
Poetry: 0
New author: 7
Reread: 0

Book origins/type:
From library or borrowed: 5
Audio: 3
New (to my library): 2
e-book: 2
Off Shelf/ROOT: 0
Pearled: 1

Books In
20.An American Marriage Tayari JonesRead
21.Dreamer's Pool Juliet Marillier
22.Mrs. Caliban Rachel Ingalls
23.Stoner John Williams Read

3.E You Can Heal Your Life Louise Hay Read
4.E Maybe You Should Talk to Someone Lori Gottlieb Read

12. Audio The Antidote: Happiness for people who can't stand positive thinkingReading

Housekeeping:
GRAND TOTALS IN For April= 4
physical books (for year) IN=23 (ditto)
e-books (for year)=4
audio (ditto) = 12
TOTAL OUT=7

May Reading

50. library vsc The Tentmaker Michelle Blake mys ***
51. ✔ROOT History of the Rain Niall Williams contemp fic *****
52. ✔City of Stairs Robert Jackson Bennett fantasy ****
53. ♬ The Janus Stone Elly Griffiths mys ****
54. ✔The Brother Gardeners Andrea Wulf botany ****
55. new City of Blades Robert Jackson Bennett fantasy *****
56. new All That I Have Castle Freeman contemp fic *****
57. The House at Sea's End Elly Griffiths ****
58. new Walking on Eggshells Jane Isay Parenting Adult
Children ***
59. ✔ROOT The Peripheral William Gibson dyst ****
60. ♬ (reread) Guards! Guards! Terry Pratchett ****fantasy

Pearled in May
3.✔ROOT Gibbon's Decline and Fall Sherri S.
Tepper dyst (sped thru, got the gist)

Stats
Total: 11
Men: 5
Women: 6
M/W writing together: 0
Non-fiction: 2
Contemp/Classic/Hist Fiction: 2
SF/F: 4
Mystery(inc hist mys): 2
YA or J:
Poetry: 0
New author:
Reread: 1

Book origins/type:
From library or borrowed: 1
Audio: 3
New (to my library): 3
e-book: 0
Off Shelf/ROOT: 2
Pearled: 1

Books In
May
24. Cold Magic Kate Elliott
25. Duct Tape Parenting Vicki Hoefle
26. By Demons Possessed P.C. Hodgell
27. Go With Me Castle Freeman
28. All That I Have Castle Freeman READ
29. Walking On Eggshells Jane Isay READ
30. The enabler Angelyn Miller

E
5. The Untethered Soul Michael A SingerREADING

audio
12. The House at Sea's End Elly Griffiths READ
13. Dying Fall Elly Griffiths READING

Housekeeping:
IN For May= 7
physical books (for year) IN= 30 (ditto)
e-books (for year)=5
audio (ditto) = 13
TOTAL OUT=8

34. memoir *****
The Diary of a Bookseller Shaun Bythell

How can I explain my enjoyment? My disclaimer is, of course, that I love books. I think more than anything the overall tone which was an endearing mix of loving, amused, exasperated, saddened, maddened. . . while very much a person who lives in his head, Shaun Bythell is comfortable (at least writing in his journal!) about his emotional as well as practical experiences as a bookseller. Harder to do than you might think. Even the most exasperating customer is, ultimately, forgiven with the shrug of a person who loves what he does and is willing to take the good and the bad. At one point he remarks that hard work as being a bookseller is (and he is convincing about that) he wouldn't want to be doing anything else, especially if it involves working for someone else. Some of the most fun are the descriptions of his eccentric employees (in particular Nicki of the winter ski suit and Foodie Fridays), going about the countryside to pick up books, the book festival preparations (how I would love to go!) and the bizarre books that people order. It is difficult to know what will happen to the physical book industry, new and used, but I suspect, like the movies, that physical books will persist side-by-side with other options and modalities. *****

Happy New Thread!

>1 sibylline: Oh, that face!

Happy new thread!

Happy New Thread, Lucy!

Happy New Thread, Lucy! Lovely photo of Miss Posey.

Happy new thread, Lucy. Love Miss Po's spring portrait :) I really enjoyed The Diary of a Bookseller too.

I should take the picture again with a spring bonnet or a wreath of flowers!

Happy new thread, Lucy.

Happy new thread, Lucy. It is spring here and I saw my first mosquito on Saturday. Spring flowers are nice and the cherry blossom is starting to come out. Your turn will come (plus you will have less time with mosquitoes than we will).

>14 sibylline: No need to gild that perfect lily, Lucy! She is lovely as always.
Anyway, I look forward to your new thread.
>16 Familyhistorian: This spring mosquitoes have come and gone as we've heated up and then frozen. We have dogwoods and early azaleas, bumblebees, other assorted insects, high 70s today - and frost warnings again for Wednesday night. NC in the early spring!

Oh, cool! A new and thus short thread. Just what I can deal/cope with. Thanks for bringing me joy!

35. cosy mys ***1/2
The Golden Tresses of the Dead Alan Bradley

While I like Jane Entwhistle's audio portrayal of Flavia, I am thinking that she's . . . fourteenish? by now and that not only is it time for Jane to start using a more adult voice (in truth her voice has a childlike tint to it, but she can sound more adult) but it is time for Flavia to shift -- I can see Bradley is moving her in a direction of more maturity and tact -- vis a vis all the people who matter most to her, her sisters, her cousin Undine, Dogger, Mrs. Mallett and Mrs Richardson, the Inspector . . . and yet . . . something doesn't feel quite right. Perhaps the story is generally moving out of the quasi-believable into something I can't quite fully suspend disbelief of? The father's absence is felt in some kind of weight that the whole enterprise has lost . . . ah well, I still enjoy Flavia and her chemical antics. ***1/2

>7 sibylline: just caught my first BB in a while, thank you!
And happy new thread and I love your thread topper, especially what you wrote.

Edit: just bought it, and just for the title Weird things customers say in bookshops which was on the list of search results

Just clued in that I was scribbling and commenting on the previous thread! (see questions...)

Oh well... I've posted in this edition now, so I should be able to navigate back.

To answer your question from the last thread -- yes -- I think it may be personal preference, what that user has set for their library. Although if book interests you you can click on the title and go to the book page where you should be able to find the isbn -- and of course, sometimes there's more than one . . . .

If you "star" my thread it will automatically jump to the new one when I make one. There's a star right there after each name on the thread page . . Also you can then choose to see only your own postings, your favourites, everyone in a group, everyone in any group you belong to etcetera. That's all on the lefthand side. It's very hard to do anything irrevocable so it's worth exploring everything.

I'm back to add a link that I hope you will all read avidly and then spread around. A young woman, Kelsey McKinney is writing about forgotten, overlooked and ignored women writers. It's a lot of fun. It's called
Written Out.

>23 sibylline: I read the free sample piece of Written Out (https://kelseymckinney.substack.com/). Thanks for mentioning it.

Kelsey rightly introduces a very pertinent topic about the evidence and value of women in the 'public' author space. I'm glad you introduced this important info as well as the link.

I decided not to subscribe ~ here's why:
as a female research scientist, I was overwhelmed by the discrimination and lack of respect for women in science. The prevailing attitude was and is "Women can't do science, they just play at it".
I spent more than 40 years in this poisonous milieu and even achieved some small triumphs. Of course men achieve similar successes and are invited as keynote speakers to prestigious conferences and have highly successful funding records.

All this is by way of saying: I appreciate and support Kelsey's initiative but I am completely burned out for reading and processing the history of women's inequality. It still distresses me greatly. Not just for writers or for scientists, but in all endeavours. The white male is just as insidiously favoured in art, anthropology and architecture, just to name a few at the start of the alphabet.

I would like to very occasionally dip into Written Out but I can't bring myself to pay and then ignore the blog posts. I get that Kelsey needs to be paid and I applaud that move. Too often women undervalue themselves and do things for free for very little monetary remuneration.

I hope this didn't come across as cranky. But for me, I recognize that the torch has passed to a younger generation with energy and new insights.

And if you haven't yet read Nell Painter Old in Art School, I think you would find it a very rewarding memoir.

Crank away! The topic is a bottomless pit, really. I subscribed so that I can get book recommendations -- but you will know what they are!

I'm putting the Nell Painter on my WL!

>24 SandyAMcPherson: Is something wrong with being cranky about the absolutely draining reality of having our achievements both impeded and ignored?

36. YA urb fantasy ****
City of Ashes (2) Cassandra Clare

Book 2 of 6 -- stuff happens, characters develop. I'm enjoying this series so far as both the story and the characters hold my interest. ****

>26 quondame: Nope. My bad writing: I was thinking that bookish discussions shouldn't be derailed by my being cranky with pet peeves and politics.

Skip the following unless you wondered about women and equal treatment issues up here in the northern reaches of the continent~

If you wondered where my "head" was at, just have a peek at the appalling scandal in progress in Ottawa (our equivalent of you know who in Washington). Okay, maybe 'equivalent' is the wrong term. Anyway, we had a superb attorney general, an indigenous woman with an excellent reputation as a legal jurist. She holds the moral high-ground, very ethically taking a stand against high-ranking staff in the Prime Minister's office (at the PM's instigation it turns out) who were trying to derail her stand: she supported the federal prosecutor in a decision to proceed in taking a violently corrupt business to trial.

So we (the people of Canada) lost a wonderful AG, who was shuffled to a low level position and has since resigned. Many have spoken in support of her because this whole mess is all about keeping votes for the Liberal party. (We have a federal election in October).

So I am feeling like, when are women *ever* going to be regarded as seriously as some male white guy? And when did the ethics in politics become so irrelevant? Maybe it has always been the 'backroom' boys' running the show and they don't like the bright light of public glare, so they sacrifice the women, 'cause you know, (quote head of privy council), "They just don't get it".
^^^^^^^^^^
Here's fun stuff ~~

Meanwhile: I started a new book: Two Dianas in Somaliland.

I was going to read Two Dianas in Alaska, but discovered I should actually start with the one set in Somaliland. The Man has both books so I stayed up late last night enjoying the spectacle of Agnes Herbert and her cousin (also female) thumbing their noses at English Victorian society, and going on their own safari to Africa.

Fabulous! These 2 books enjoy quite a following but I suppose it is a very select group of people. I have never come across another woman who has read these. Anyone out there?? I see I'm the only member with this book (or shall I say who is publicly displaying the book in my library?).

>27 sibylline: Looking forward to what you think!

How did you find out about them?

>30 sibylline:, is this directed at me (aka >28 SandyAMcPherson:, the two Dianas? Or the City of Ashes?

(obviously I'm still groggy from the vicious cold I've been incubating and can't think straight).

>28 SandyAMcPherson: I haven't come across the Two Dianas before.

I recently got whopped because I expressed dismay when a woman quoted a male author in support of an argument a that female author I felt was as prominent and much more current wrote more eloquently about. But until a woman wins a prize men covet at least a couple of times, she is just so much background noise.

>32 quondame:, Agnes (of the "Two Dianas"*) writes in a very dated (1890's) style: a very British style, and rather convoluted sentences. But she also wrote engagingly of their trials and tribulations coping with the inevitable misogyny and dismissive attitudes, alas, not so uncommon today.

Re your comment about that woman not being able to quote the eloquent female author, I am reminded of an anecdote in the opening chapter of Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit. Similar lack of familiarity with an oeuvre.

*Little aside as explanation: neither woman is named Diana, it was an allusion to Diana, Goddess of the Hunt. The two women were outstandingly accomplished in the field.

37. travel/history (ROOT) ****
Snakes with Wings & Gold-digging Ants Herodotus

Juicy excerpts from the History -- many concerning northern Africa, Egypt and Persia (the madman Cambyses). I always enjoy Herodotus, such a mix of wide-eyed wonder and "I've seen it all."
This is part of a series Penguin put out a while back called "Great Journeys" -- little tastes of traveler's tales through the ages. ****

Just place marking the new thread really, but also to say; just glanced at the page for Lawrence's Sons and Lovers and read a few reviews as I start to think about my own. (Slightly cheating I know, but it helps to put thoughts into focus sometimes, I find). Your review was enlightening as always, but I got my dates mixed up and thought you might have just finished it too, only to finally work out you must have read it almost exactly 12 months ago!

Happy new thread!

>19 sibylline: I need to get back to that series. I did not like the audio books at all but liked the first four novels.

I still haven't read any Cassandra Clare, although City of Bones has been on my tbr shelves for ages. I've read the first 6 Flavia books and really need to get back to them (and Dr. Siri and Sebastian St. Cyr!!) but have so many books on hold for the library that I don't know when it will happen.

>37 ronincats:, but have so many books on hold for the library

I'm travelling again later this month and have 9 requests to cope with at our library! I hope I can take some with me, since driving long stretches across the grasslands is bo-o-o-oring. Fortunately I don't get car sick reading in a moving vehicle.
Here's a link to what I hope to read (at #74).

>38 SandyAMcPherson: Looks like a very fun list.

I'm a bit burdened with library books at the moment also. Plus finishing a book for a book group I've just joined. I was invited as a guest to do a book salon for a group and loved everyone in the group, love what they are reading, so I joined!

First book is Binstead's Safari by Rachel Ingalls. We meet Wednesday night. I'm surprised more folks here haven't been reading Ingalls. I'm almost there after spending the morning in a car service waiting room.

38. contemp fic ****1/2
Binstead's Safari Rachel Ingalls

The Binsteads, Stan and Millie, from New England, are going on a safari. Stan is a professor of folklore and he has a secondary quest (to shooting animals) which is to find out more about a particular legend -- of a man who can shapechange into a lion -- . Their marriage is moribund, and one guesses that a couple in their late thirties, married awhile, with no children that this is the issue. Only it is and it isn't. Everything in this novel is and isn't. The Binsteads get to London and Stan, a philanderer, goes off with a friend and leaves Millie on her own. She falls in love with London and begins to come to life. They get to Africa and it is Millie who thrives there, to such a degree that Stan sees her afresh and remembers why he fell in love with her, albeit in a most self-centered and condescending manner. Ok -- but what I am writing does not convey that atmosphere of this tale -- for this is a tale about how we each make our own legends and tales and then live them, how we can be, once the enactment has fully gotten underway (or maybe never) are helpless to play out the stories we are drawn to even when we think we don't really believe them, that we're just interested. Stories are not only about the past, but shape the future. The setting is non-specific as is the time -- I would hazard the fifties as the story is rampant with white people in charge, but again, it is carefully non-specific as a fable should be. A final word? Here be lions. ****1/2

>39 sibylline: ooh, a new book group. That's a great find! I'm not familiar with Rachel Ingalls so I'm looking forward to reading your comments on this book.

>39 sibylline: I think it will be a comfort reading list. I am so looking forward to this April batch.

I struggled valiantly with North of Normal which I did finish (last year). I started Beautiful Boy in February and just kept weeping, for heaven's sake. I didn't even mark it DNF or add it to my 'read but not owned' list.

There were also some attempts at what I now know as dystopian literature. So not for me... even though the reviews of many books in this category intrigue me. I seem to have lost any resilience for what I consider 'challenging reading'. I wonder how common these reactions such as I've described are and (gasp) is it age-related? I used to read existentialist literature like L'Étranger and Iron in the Soul but now I just shudder, looking back on that genre.

When I was working as a librarian I noticed that the elder population was, generally, more drawn to non-fiction and biography for "serious" reading and for the rest, lighter reading, mysteries and novels that don't end badly. There were, of course, a percentage that read everything, but I did notice that.

For my part I feel more reluctance to engage with difficult material; for the time being the avoidance comes and goes. I do my best to read one or two "serious" books a month. Not necessarily sad ones, just engaged with more substantial issues. Binstead above would be an example. And The Juniper Tree which I started in March . . . supposed to be a March book, but oh well.

39. YA urb fantasy ****
City of Glass Cassandra Clare

#3 in the series is the best yet, lots happens -- so much, in fact, that the series could have ended here. But it goes on for three more books. I do wonder how Simon is going to get on, so that could be a thread Clare will follow and the alliance between the various factions might be shaky. We'll see, can't say much of anything without spoiling. **** (Remember this is YA)

Even though we still have snow in the forecast, spring is here and I am embroiled in this Clare series -- it'll be the last engagement with a multi-book read at least until August when I get a vaca!

>45 sibylline:, this Clare series -- it'll be the last engagement with a multi-book read at least until August when I get a vaca! ~

I'm like that, too. Spring arrives and the outdoor pursuits call; then some travel outings plus daily gardening demands and my reading activity falls close to zero.

I have to dig up and replant a lot of lily bulbs this year. They're our joy in late spring/early summer since mainly tulips and Scilla grace our garden in the pre-summer flowering-bulb cycle.



1. cv Muscadet) and 2. cv Fire Mountain, with a daylily (cv Rajah) in the background

>46 SandyAMcPherson: Beautiful!!!

40. YA Urb Fantasy ***1/2

Tomorrow!

Hmmm. I have a couple of Rachel Ingalls, I see, but they sit on the shelf unread. I like the sound of her from your review. Thanks for it!
I do believe I'll be satisfied to skip the YA Urb Fantasy.
You have a happy thread going on with Sandy's lovely flowers!

Sandy's flowers are splendid.

Have a lovely Sunday, Lucy.

Happy new one! Now back to lurking...

41. cozy mys ***1/2
Death Around the Bend T.E. Kinsey

Easy to listen to while I drive from here to there. Lady Hardcastle and her friend/companion/lady's maid Armstrong go to visit a friend who is car crazy (remember it is 1906 or so) and of course, the usual mayhem and murder ensue. I doubt I'd be able to sit and read these, but they really do help me when I'm driving around. No stress. Entertainment. ***1/2

>50 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul. From looking on your profile, I note you live in orchid heaven!

>52 sibylline:, I have yet to lay my hands on any Lady Hardcastle novels; Kinsey titles, via my library wishlist, are on suspend so I don't take out too many books and all of them due at once. I've been busy consuming MW Turner's 'Thief' series, so I might request holds in a couple weeks.

42. YA urban fantasy ****
City of Lost Souls Cassandra Clare

Suddenly everything on my reading list has a subdued cover:



I swear I never plan this, just notice it now and then!

>52 sibylline: That's another series (besides Georgie) that I've listened to when walking, ironing, etc. and I agree they make wonderful entertainment for such moments.

>56 RebaRelishesReading: I think I got the idea from you!

>57 sibylline: :)

43.
You Can Heal Your Life Louise Hay

Recommended by a friend when I was telling her a bit about the negative self-talk that goes on in my head. There comes a moment when you think: Hey, telling yourself nasty things about yourself is a poor strategy. It doesn't do you or anyone else any good -- can do a family harm even when you keep it all in your head. I tend to shy away from this type of book, but I'm open right now and have found it quite helpful, even if I remain skeptical of curing disease purely with attitude. I have come to think that everything we think and feel is out there, that secrets make themselves felt, and all the rest of it so it is worth having good habits of mind. ****

>59 sibylline: Very interesting thoughts.
I don't much care for that new-agey type of book either.

I'm very much an "evidence-based data" sort of person. However... credible data aside, I do believe our minds have the ability to very much influence one's well-being. IMHO, there's some good, healthy philosophy there in what you wrote. Thanks!

44. contemp fic ****
The Juniper Tree Barbara Comyns

After a long hiatus of fifteen years Comyns wrote The Juniper Tree which is "loosely" based on a typically grim Grimm fairy tale, one where wicked stepmothers kill and eat step sons and the like. I think it is fair to say that what Comyns was up to was a rewriting of this tale treating the players, all of them, male or female, adult or child, as people, fallible and vulnerable by virtue of their innate characters and formative experiences. In the fairy tale the step-mother takes a bad rap, but in this version, if there is a tilt, it is toward the men, where a mix arrogance and inability to face difficult emotional situations leaves the kind of vacuum that invites disaster. I can't say much more than this without spoiling. I can say that the style of the narrative, the way Comyns chooses to portray the young woman who is the main character is in the first person -- but distant first person, caught somewhere between dreamy and so detached and makes for disturbing reading. (Such as a small observed detail is juxtaposed with something terrible.) It's strong uncomfortable stuff. ****

>61 sibylline: Can hardly wait for the comments because that cover is so beautiful I want to read the book...but then you give it four stars so maybe I don't need to wait so I'll just put it right on to the wish list.

>62 RebaRelishesReading: Haven't written anything about The Juniper Tree and not sure when I will, maybe later tonight or tomorrow, Monday is wildly busy. It is a book that was hard to read but will lend itself to much discussion.

My heart is broken over the devastation of Notre Dame Cathedral. Caught me so off guard. How many buildings exist in the world of such profound beauty, age and significance -- maybe five? ten?

>63 sibylline:, I just can hardly believe this.
We've been watching this devastating loss unfold online, over the last few hours.
Why oh why didn't they have a sprinkler system installed for this type of threat?
We toured ND back in 2012 and it was an immense thrill to be such a historic building.

Apparently it has been difficult to raise money to even keep the roof on the building.

I lived in Paris for a bit, visited often, had family there . . . that building is just . . . always there in the middle of everything. An incredible presence.

I'm also crushed. I heard on NPR that they've had so little money for upkeep & repair that they were replacing stone pieces that fell from the roof at a great pace with wood. Little wonder it went up so quickly and thoroughly.

45. YA urban fantasy ****
City of Heavenly Fire (6) Cassandra Clare

Clare brings this sixth book (a big one) to a satisfying ending. In a way, YA is code for "not everybody dies" in the fantasy genre which in the adult realm has gotten awfully gritty. Anyway, she also leaves room for the next series set in the same alternate uni. I am sure I will not be able to resist them. ****

Just noticing that I have failed to review The Juniper Tree. Will get to it.

>67 sibylline: The book image isn't showing up for me and I was wondering which title this YA novel was.

I'm in full agreement about so-called adult novels having gotten awfully grim and too gritty. I like YA for its positivity. I don't want sappy syrup and insincere 'ever afters' but I do want to avoid the complete downers that I've encountered in recent reading.

I can't remember the titles now because these were last years' choices ~ I consigned the books to my DNF pile (they were just about all library loans and I'm only adding loans to my LT catalogue if I want to re-read them). That was before Sibyx kindly beckoned me to join this 75-group. It has been so enjoyable to visit the Talk threads and discover delicious BBs.

>69 SandyAMcPherson: Sorry the image isn't coming through - that seems to be happening more often than it used to. I put the title up -- I usually do that anyway and somehow forgot.

>59 sibylline: I'm glad when anything, any idea, any technique, interrupts the slow poison of negative self-talk. Anything anywhere anytime that can halt that inner undermining is a Good Thing. Brava for opening your mind to it.

*smooch*

>71 richardderus: Thank you, Richard!

My sil who is a child psychologist recommended another one: Maybe You Should to Talk to Someone which I am really really enjoying a lot. Lori Gottlieb can tell a good story.

46.n mys ****1/2
Kingdom of the Blind Louise Penny

Gamache does it again!

>73 sibylline: and now you're caught up, ready for the next one!

>73 sibylline: I've pre-ordered the new one that is due out this fall. Can't wait!!

47. psychology therapy *****
Maybe You Should Talk To Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed Lori Gottlieb

Recommended by my sil the child psychologist I found this book both irresistible, rich and wise. Want to know how it feels to be a therapist? How it feels to be a therapist who needs some therapy? Gottlieb leads us through the journey of four of her clients (fictionalized) as well as her own therapeutic journey after the unexpected end of a long-term relationship. The work starts with that as the issue, but moves deeper into issues of her own mortality and search for meaning. Gottlieb has the gift of citing and highlighting the work of various psychologists she admires and has found useful (like Carl Whittaker's, "the good enough parents theory". As someone who has benefitted from the help of therapists during transitional periods of my life, I loved this look behind the curtain.*****

>76 sibylline: Very intriguing. I added it to my WL in our local library system. The book isn't on the shelves yet, so I added a hold.

48. contemp fic ***1/2
An American Marriage Tayari Jones

As a rule I don't read books by authors new to me that are getting rave reviews and hype, preferring to wait and see if the book has lasting power, but I've joined a marvelous book group and this was this month's selection. This is a "bad thing happens right away" story, so the reader accompanies the characters as they come to terms with how their lives are forever changed, what they have to do to move forward. As you might expect from the title the central characters are a young married couple, the bad thing is that he ends up going to jail for a crime he did not commit. There is also a childhood friend of the woman, next-door-neighbor, who has always adored her. The writing is very good, the details are often excellent, the small things, that let you know who a character is, how they stand, what they eat, what they don't say -- but I found that the way the story moved was too predictable and occasionally so clumsy. For instance, the fact that the young couple don't stay the night with the parents when they visit, but go to a motel (there are reasons, but even before The Incident that happens at this motel, I thought, hunh? Why travel eight hours to visit family and go stay in a motel -- I mean you only do that when you don't really get along with your family and Roy does get along with his . . . ). When The Incident happens I thought, oh, ok they had to do this so that they would be there, so The Incident that sets the story in motion would happen. It would be fine for me if there was just the one, but there were others and I came to expect them. What Jones really is after is examining what happens, what can happen, when things go very wrong, not all couples are strong enough to endure and some men and women are working hard to step out of the archetypal roles and be true to themselves. It's the struggle of our times, balancing your individual needs with those of your family, your community and that lies at the heart of this very readable book. ***1/2

>78 sibylline: *mmmfff*

That is, to me, lazy storytelling. A simple "we'll be arriving too late to come to the house, Mama, so we're getting a motel room," would go a long way to smoothing the transition. Even then...sub-ideal to start the story with a clank and a judder.

>78 sibylline: yep, totally agree with you. I read this for one of my book groups, and there was consensus on the writing but we still had a very lively discussion about the moral dilemmas faced by the characters at various points in the novel. So when it was suggested for my other book group, I was in favor of it even though I didn't think it was that great of a book.

Hi Lucy!

A very belated happy new thread.

>59 sibylline: I read You Can Heal Your Life a very long time ago, and it helped me a great deal. I pulled it out recently, considered a re-read, but so far haven’t started it again.

>79 richardderus: My thoughts exactly!

>80 lauralkeet: Yeah, I'm thinking it is the quintessential book club book -- lots and lots to discuss but the book itself doesn't really deliver convincingly on those dilemmas.

>81 karenmarie: Now I'm reading the corrective:
The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking. Really enjoying it too!

>82 sibylline: the book itself doesn't really deliver convincingly on those dilemmas
Exactly!

49. sf sp/op
Galaxy Outlaws (1&2 of 16.5) J.S. Morin

This is "serious" space opera, as in, verging on going beyond where I can go, but not quite, so it's fun. Magic and science don't exactly work together, but go on side by side (the gravity-in-space problem being solved by having a wizard on board, ditto for faster than light travel). But Morin does it with just enough humor, characters of just enough definition and interest to keep me just interested enough. Perfect undemanding listening for driving around; things generally turn out ok. ***1/2

Hello on a Saturday, Lucy.
I'm slowing down on my reading as spring evolves, but I am making more progress than I ever thought possible on the 2019 75-books challenge.




Thanks again for recommending that I join this group. It is very rewarding and I feel like I have lots of new friends. I'm eager now to make a tour and see USA towns, cities, and countrysides that are new territory for us.

My current "stuck in progress" book is Two Dianas in Somaliland. I think I am intimidated with bedtime reading (because I'll be 'crucified' if I drop this somewhat fragile volume) so it is selected for an evening read only when I'm sitting up "properly" rather than propped sloppily in bed! That'll larn me for choosing antiquarian bookstock!

>86 sibylline: What a delightful message to find here today.

Fragile books are a problem!

This is the view of the lovely Gihon river from the window of my writing studio at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson VT where I am a fellow, for "Vermont Week"-- having arrived late yesterday afternoon. I was here once about 25 years ago and can't think why I haven't come back! It's a wonderful place! Good food, great company, -- a mix of visual artists of many kinds and writers (poetry and prose). We have to 'work" for six hours (kitchen, maintenance, office, etc) for our very inexpensive stay and I got maintenance and so spent most of the morning today cleaning up the lecture hall which is closed down in December and opened in May. It's a beautiful old building with those old-time rows of attached wooden seats and when we lifted the seats to dust . . . well we found tons of GUM attached to the seats. The VSC has owned this building for twenty years and not all of the gum was antique so GROWN UPS have been sticking gum under these seats. Regression? Anyway, if the temps warm up (it is about 40 here now) we'll do gardening later this week.)

Anyway . . . then I came to my studio office and found I'd forgotten part of my coffee-making apparatus (this clever coffee dripper thing for those of you who are nuts about coffee as I am) and spent a half hour figuring out a work around (might have to post a picture of that).

So yeah, not a lot of writing happening, but I'll get there. I have no idea what I am going to do with my precious week here but I always settle down, so I have faith.

>87 sibylline: Wow, I would find it hard to stop looking out the window long enough to do anything. Hope you have a wonderful, restful week!!

>88 RebaRelishesReading: My desk faces the wall, but it IS distracting. The red building in the background is an old mill -- the heart of the enterprise here -- where we eat and where the offices are.

>87 sibylline: How wonderful! May it be a productive and restorative week, Lucy.

>87 sibylline: that sounds lovely. Well, except for the GUM. But still. I'm super glad you sorted out the coffee situation because that would have been a crisis.

What everybody else said!!!
I hope that the temp warms up enough for you to open the window and listen to the river.
You work on maintenance for six hours ---- a day? Surely not! That wouldn't leave a lot of time for sustained creativity unless they figure that artists don't sleep much.
I've noted that adults do regress just as soon as they're put in a school-like situation. Gum under the seats is icky though.

No no! Just for the week! And even that is pretty lenient. Anyway -- Felicia, our boss, brought us a sign up sheet and I grabbed --- dusting all the books in the writer's library --- oh yeah!

I'm going to read tonight, wish me luck. I'm already somewhat hysterical internally.

>87 sibylline: Such a view can not help but be inspiring. Enjoy your You Time. Sending hugs.

I read tonight! We all had seven minutes and that was a challenge for me -- that's about 4 1/2 pages double spaced. Teeth chattering and all, I did it, seriously, I did ok.

I seriously believe that you did more than OK. And now it's done!!!
Hope you see some good stuff dusting the books in the library.
AND I look forward to your having profitable writing time.

Danger, Will Smith! Dusting library books has a HIGH distractibility factor!

49. (audio) mystery ***1/2
The Crossing Places Elly Griffiths

Perfect audio choice, though not particularly cosy, also not gruesome and a great protagonist (forensic archaeolohist) and setting (Norfolk marshes). And I'm a sucker for things archaeological. ***1/2

I finished this on the way to the studio center -- when it was still April. I've done virtually no reading here, except a mystery written by another fellow writer, Michelle Blake. My brain is pretty well fried by the end of each work day and we have visiting artists who come and talk, plus 'rez-prez' which are resident presentations. The calibre of painters and sculptors is very high and some of the writers are also superb.

This morning I woke early and for about ten seconds I was slightly homesick -- a relief, in a way, as I hadn't missed anything about home the whole time until then! And I have to go home Monday!

>95 sibylline: That. Is. STELLAR! I am so pleased for your success.

>98 sibylline: funny coincidence, I'm about to start that The Crossing Places (on Kindle, not audio, but still). We're going on vacation this week and I thought it would be just the thing.

>98 sibylline: I've read the first two Elly Griffiths books and really enjoyed them, the more so because I know the area that she is writing about reasonably well.

50. mys ***
The Tentmaker Michelle Blake

Cowboy boots, jeans, and . . . a collar. Lily is an ordained Episcopal minister without a parish. Early days for women in the ministry and jobs are far and few between, plus it doesn't suit Lily to be tied down -- so she is generally hired as an interim. She arrives at her temporary assignment to find that the previous minister died in mysterious circumstances, but no one--the staff or vestry or any other parishioner wants to talk or be with her, in part because she is a woman, in part because they are avoiding facing up to what happened. It's not in Lily's nature to leave stones unturned, so she starts digging and it is indeed a mess. I loved the idea of Lily, her awkwardness combined with her earnestness and her faith. She has a past and had a drinking problem she's more or less got under control. The novel is set in Cambridge/Boston, turf I know pretty well, and it's nicely done. But there is awkwardness in the writing -- the way people talk to one another, and overuse of "I'll explain later," as a way to delay divulging information, and here and there over-dramatization. But there are scenes embedded, Lily with the housekeeper Mrs. O'Hanlon is always genuine, also with the handyman, their interactions when he is in the hospital ring true, and then the scene where she and the organist search Cambridge for a missing boy. There are two more in the series, this was Blake's first and the writing often improves as the person becomes comfortable with the craft and their characters. I love mysteries that have unusual protagonists and Lily fits the bill. ***

>102 sibylline: that does sound good. Have you read any of the Clare Ferguson/Russ Van Alstyne series by Julia Spencer-Fleming? Clare is another clergy crimefighter (and Episcopalian at that, must be a "thing" ha ha), Russ is a small-town upstate New York police chief. This series was an LT discovery (I'm fairly sure @laytonwoman3rd is responsible), and it turned me from an avowed "I don't read series" snob to an "I read intelligent mysteries" snob.

>103 lauralkeet: I think someone else on LT put you AND me onto Spencer-Fleming at that first get-together we attended long ago.

>104 laytonwoman3rd: hey, were your ears burning or what? 😀 Maybe you're right. I just picture you standing there next to the box of giveaway books, and at that moment everyone else is a blur.

>105 lauralkeet: Wow...I think I'm flattered!

I love this conversation.

>103 lauralkeet: It's a cautious approval -- there is some clunkiness, but I didn't want to be too heavy-handed.

51. contemp fic *****
History of the Rain Niall Williams

The Swain family is plagued with the Impossible Standard. Ruth Swain is ill and bedridden on the family farm in Clare amid the thousands of books her father collected. Her grandfather Swain, an Englishman, emigrated to Ireland when he was given a property by a family in Meath for a heroic act in World War I which he turns into a fine estate big house to show his father he can reach the Impossible Standard, but his father refuses even to visit. (Ireland not being a venue where the Impossible Standard can be met.) And so the grandfather begins to fish and writes a book on the salmon of Ireland as the estate molders into ruin. Ruth's father is brought up in genteel decay, reading and fishing with his father, then goes off to sea, returns and lands in Clare where he meets and falls in love with Ruth's mother. They have twins after many childless years, but one twin, the boy, eventually is lost. The father writes poetry and does his best to farm. (I'm not really spoiling, it is clear from early on that something Terrible happened). In the book Ruth never gets out of bed but is writing the story of the family. She refers frequently to the books in her father's library, likes to use capitals to highlight Important Matters. The story skates the thin line between humor and tragedy and never falters -- and with so many loving descriptions, dialogue and humorous (or sad) anecdotes about the people of the village of Faha. Delicious prose throughout.

As one who loves and plays Irish music, I've thought often about what makes Irish culture so unique because it IS unique, somehow embracing both the individual and the community, each needing the other to exist. At any Irish music gathering one can go from breathtaking complexity to heart-rending simplicity to uproarious laughter in seconds. There is never any relinquishing of what matters most: the wonder of being alive. Irish poetry, music, song, dance and literature all celebrate this fact, often, and paradoxically by honoring and remembering those who have died. Certainly History of the Rain fits this model. I cannot do the book justice, so I'll stop right here. *****

Happiest sad book ever...?
Wow, I'm going to be sure to check out the book. It will be interesting seeing how that's handled.

I just finished Lessons From Lucy: The Simple Joys of an Old, Happy Dog by Dave Barry and I was laid back-happy until the penultimate chapter. I'll post a review when I decide what I feel like saying about the story. Kind of disappointed at the moment.

>59 sibylline: No way! :o Just thinking about connections after reading your post on my thread. This book, while not an eternal favorite of mine in the spiritual self-help department, is the one that „started it all“, maybe 5 years ago. I did the affirmations for a while, but it’s not my method, I prefer simple meditation.

My eternal favorite (especially when it comes to negative self-talk) remains The Untethered Soul which has just been through maybe the 20th reread since 2015 when it saved my sanity after that breakup. I gave it to at least 5 friends as a gift until I noticed how horrible the German translation was (none of them read it of course). The English audio is really good, it still makes me laugh, and I still find new layers.

>108 sibylline: And THIS one! Forever 5 stars, no idea why it didn‘t even get on the Booker shortlist that year (2014?)

I'm putting Untethered right on my wishlist!

>108 sibylline: I agree -- History of the Rain is a remarkable amazing novel.

52. fantasy ****
City of Stairs Robert Jackson Bennett

Shara of Saypur works in the Intelligence section of her government, but she has a secret: her identity is not what it appears to be. She goes to the central city on the Continent to find out what happened to a scholar, sent there to study miracles. Bulikov is the central city of the continent, a land that used to subjugate her people until they turned the tables with the help of the Kaj, a remarkable leader who finds a way to kill the divine entities that have given "the Continentals" their advantage. Shara engaged me from page 1 as did her "secretary" the giant Dreyling Sigrud, himself obviously harboring secrets and many many other characters. Bulikov is a city of stairs leading nowhere for when the divinities were killed their creations disappeared or were twisted into other dimensions. Bennett keeps a firm hand on this wild world, highly enjoyable and I look forward eagerly to reading books 2 and 3. ****

What wonderful books you've been reading, Lucy!
You KNOW that I adore *Rain* and that I fell more and more in love with the Bennett trilogy the more I read.

>112 sibylline: Hm, I've been looking at those books on the library shelves for awhile now, Lucy, and really should move them up on the list to read soon.

>112 sibylline: He's a very interesting artist, isn't he? Many books into a solid career and nary a flashy, splashy Big Book...despite publishers' best efforts...and still making interesting work.

>114 bell7: By all means get those off the shelf!

>115 richardderus: Yes, indeed!

>112 sibylline: I've read all three of the City of Stairs trilogy and really enjoyed them. Robert Jackson Bennett gets a gold star for having older women as his main protagonists as well.

53. mys **** (audio)
The Janus Stone Ellie Griffiths

This second mystery is multi-layered (good archaeology pun, eh)--bones are found on a construction site in King's Lynn and Ruth is called in. Meanwhile, her life grows ever more complicated (can't say more without spoiling) One thing I appreciate about these mysteries is there is less of the delayed gratification--stuff happens! Ruth doesn't sit around and perseverate and neither does DCI Nelson, or Cathbad (sp?), love it too that other characters from the previous novel are being developed further. All good. I'm TOTALLY hooked! ****

I haven't hosted a series or an author for a while. I'd like to do so this summer, during a month when the most interested folk have the time to do at least the targeted book, which is only 200 pp. long. I'd like to expose as many people as possible to the works of James H. Schmitz, a science fiction author who wrote from the late '40s through the 1970s. He is best known for The Witches of Karres, but imho has written much better works. Here is my bookshelf.


Many of his works, especially his shorter ones, were very hard to find for quite a while, but in 2000 and 2001, Baen published almost all of his oeuvre in a collection of 6 books, seen to the right of the shelf above. The book I would like to feature is Demon Breed, also found in the Baen collection The Hub: Dangerous Territory. Schmitz is known for his kick-ass female protagonists long before they became the current ubiquitous status quo in his stories about Telzey Amberdon, Trigger Argee, and the hero of Demon Breed, Nile Etland.

See my thread for more info if interested!

>118 sibylline: I'm still following closely behind you in the Ruth Galloway books. I finished the first one just a few days ago, and since I'm on vacation with my trusty Kindle, I decided to reward myself by starting the second. I love Ruth, and I was glad to see Cathbad, he's an interesting addition to the regular cast.

>119 ronincats: This looks exciting! I'll be right over.

>120 lauralkeet: I'm getting more and more hooked by the minute! Even to the point where I'm thinking of reasons to go driving around, just so I can listen!

Lots of great books here!
>98 sibylline: You remind me that I keep saying I am going to pick up this one! Perhaps I should do audio sooner than later!

ETA
I bought it on audible so now I have to read it sooner than later :)

Oh goodness! The book bullets just keep flying!
And very jealous of your writer's retreat. I would love to do something like that for my painting. Even though I have a studio in my garden with canvases just waiting to go, having a three and a half year old running about means I spend a lot of time looking wistfully through the window. And then getting back into playing of course, because that's important too!

>122 ChelleBearss: Beware! The Griffiths are totally addictive!

>123 HanGerg: Yes, it is hard and I remember those days vividly, but now, of course, a little wistfully. You'll be shocked when suddenly he goes to school ALL DAY and then . . . you find yourself where I am now, learning to step back and take on the role of a consultant.

BTW the VSC has great fellowships and they love folks from abroad. When the time comes or opportunity keep us in mind!

54. ***1/2 botany, gardens 18th century
The Brother Gardeners Andrea Wulf

Several times I have been to John Bartram's gardens during the years I lived in Philadelphia, so I was excited that Wulf had written about the man and the start of "botanizing". Wulf is interested in the early days of the natural sciences and her book on Alexander von Humboldt was marvelous.
Here, she examines the sudden onset of desire for American trees and shrubs (later flowers) brought to England, both for recreational purposes, for the gardens of the wealthy, and for study for potential uses, in some cases. Bartram begins, over time, to send 'seed boxes' to the Englishman (and fellow Quaker) Collinson, primarily a merchant, but with an interest in plantlife -- people are agog at the trees and shrubs he nurtures and gradually this hobby becomes far more than that, a livelihood for Bartram and a social success for Collinson and others who catch the bug. Most significantly, several aristocrats become deeply interested in improving their grounds. American trees and shrubs offer color and blooms in many seasons and the myriad evergreens provide green in the winter. Interest expands until a craze for "botany". Linnaeus comes up with a far better way to catalogue plants according to sexual attributes (which has hitherto been fairly random, different systems by different individuals ) and a professional gardener named Miller writes a book that anyone, gardener, earl, or commoner can study for advice about how to grow and care for the new plants.
The problem for me wasn't the information and certainly not Wulf's writing but that the subject itself, frankly, didn't thoroughly grip me. I was always interested, I'm not sorry I read it, but I think a slightly more passionate gardener than I am is required! I did find myself thinking, in our day of hysteria about "native plants" that we spread our bounty out into the world as well -- American plants more or less infest Europe and elsewhere as much as we host many newcomers here. It has been pointed out to me recently, as well, that this hysteria is weirdly akin to the hysteria about human newcomers to our country. Wulf does not bring this up, but I found myself thinking about what WE thoughtlessly export, nonetheless. ***1/2

55. fantasy *****
City of Blades Robert Jackson Bennett

Absolutely LOVED this one. LOVE Turyin Mulagesh. Love Sigrud. What a great story! Wow!

>126 sibylline: Ooh, glad you liked that one!

>127 ronincats: And the spousal unit is reading the last one w.a.y. t.o.o s.l.o.w.l.y!!!!! Argh!

>126 sibylline: YAY!!!!! I'm happy to say that I told you so!

>125 sibylline:, The review of botany and gardening was interesting. I think you made some very astute observations.

Some comments particularly resonated with me ("...but that the subject itself, frankly, didn't thoroughly grip me. I was always interested, I'm not sorry I read it, but I think a slightly more passionate gardener than I am is required!...").

I finally had to admit to myself that Writing the Garden (Elizabeth Barlow Rogers) was like that for me and has ended up in my DNF pile. I felt badly, because I do like garden books but just not writerly observations. I think that's a specialized genre, different to garden philosophy, perhaps. Your review about 'The Brother Gardeners' was comforting.

56. contemp fic *****
All That I Have Castle Freeman, Jr.

Okay, so, yeah, I'm likely biased as the book is set in Vermont, but, hey! I've disliked many a book set in Vermont. But Freeman gets Vermont. Someone asked me the other day why anyone at all lives here (or , I suppose places like North Dakota). I don't know why anyone would live in North Dakota, but I know I live here because I like the attitude that, so far has continued to prevail despite pressures. That is an unlikely mix of respect for the individual and a reliance on community. Not logical, definitely not quite rational, this attitude could even be described as inconsistent, contradictory or paradoxical. So here we have the county sheriff, Lucian Wing, a man trained in the old school style, that in a small community where you really know everyone you take each person as they come. If something is not as it should be you don't slam the law down, you wait to see what develops, and if you stretch the law here and there in order to give a rambunctious youth a second (or third) chance, well, it ain't broke, merely stretched. State police enforce law, sheriffs, according to Wing, have a different mandate. When people come in (in this case Russian criminals stowing money in real estate) who don't respect the locals or the local ways, when their mansion is robbed and they are angry, and you all know who did it, you wait them out too, coldly and determinedly, and like a coyote (we have lots of them), you outwit them, even surprise them into respecting you. Anyway it's a great story, well told. *****

>131 sibylline: I'm liking the sound of this one. On my WL now.

P.S., general question, is it my browser (Firefox) that prevents sibyx cover pix from displaying? Although, the one at #126, is okay.

If mine don't show (on my thread), can someone let me know? I like seeing the covers... I'm such a visual person that way.

I don't know if it is your browser -- I have days when I have more problems than others . . . It's odd, really, because the cover is from right on the LT book page!

It might be? I use Safari. I will let you know if yours aren't working.

>131 sibylline: I admit to being a 'why would' type, as I've chosen to stay in Los Angeles against some compelling odds. Still, All That I Have does sound like a good read.

Pearled dyst
Gibbons Decline and Fall Sherri S. Tepper

I sped read through, getting the gist of the story - I know I started this another time and had a feeling that I stopped because I wasn't sufficiently engaged. Well, this time I paged through it -- weird mix of fanciful and shrill, so I'm done.

>133 sibylline:, I could never get those LT book page images to load into talk unless I stashed them into my junk drawer first. Could be a browser thing... but a small issue in the scheme of things.

>136 SandyAMcPherson: I no longer put them in my Junk but when someone else hasn't uploaded the cover I want, I just give the Amazon URL to the change cover where it says "Grab one from the web" and then it's available for everyone else.

Hmmm. I use Firefox too and see the pic posted in 126 just fine, but not the ones in 131 and 135. Curious.
"Shrill," eh? I read some Tepper long years ago in another online book community, and that's how our one male reader characterized Tepper. I guess at the time I was happy to have somebody speaking for me and didn't feel the shrillness. I don't know what I'd feel now.

>135 sibylline: Tepper gets more pointed than Gibbon's Decline and Fall but she also has a number of novels that are nothing like. A friend was kind enough, after I had read the entirety of Marianne, the Magus, and the Manticore onto tape for her (she was blind) to explain that I had missed many crucial things about the story, including what it was really about. So I got to re-read it again as a new book.

The probable cause of the blocked-out photos is the URL of the images that Lucy's snagging. I had the same issue until I logged out of LT, then logged back in making sure that I was accessing https not http librarything dot com. Most of us use browsers that won't show material from http sites anymore.

Hi Lucy!

>140 richardderus: (working backwards) -- not quite sure I totally get it, but I'm getting there.

>139 quondame: and >138 LizzieD: Re Tepper I have read The Fresco which was quite different and that I liked very much. I know she has a "side" -- and I guess this is it. I might have liked it a lot better twenty or thirty years ago, but it feels dated. I also just couldn't buy into the Sophy story. Oh well.

>137 quondame: and >136 SandyAMcPherson: More or less what I wrote Richard. But I do get that a direct upload from Amazon would solve the issue. Some covers that might not load would be jacket photos taken by LT members? Do the audio book ones load? I often take them directly from audible.

I'm on the Cape and the lilacs are OUT and INCREDIBLE.

>141 sibylline: I haven't had any blanks since I started making sure the covers URL points to librarything. For May every time I finish a book I go to the Change Cover page, see if there is a user uploaded image I want. If there is I chose it and continue. If there isn't I copy the (usually)amazon URL from the magnified cover image, copy that into the grab text box and click . Then I copy the URL of the new, though identical, cover image and use it in my (less than)img src="http://pics.cdn.librarything.com/xxx/02/9c/####.jpg"(greater than)

I have scanned and uploaded a couple of cover images this month because available pictures were completely out of focus.

>141 sibylline: Oooo...the Cape AND lilacs!! It sounds delicious. Enjoy!

57. mys ****
The House at Sea's End Elly Griffiths

I'm hopelessly caught up in the story of the main characters -- Ruth, Harry Nelson, Cathbad and the whole lot, even the somewhat repellent Phil. This one involved Australian skeletal remains needing repatriation and racehorses as well as a big medical complication near the end that changed some dynamics. I admire that Elly doesn't take the easy sentimental way out with her characters. Ruth has some big flaws and they come into play here. Gets me in Griffith's clutches even more deeply! ****

It sure is different near the ocean -- I've been sitting outside happily, lovely day, around seventy sunny and within FIVE MINUTES temps dropped ten or more degrees, sky darkened, not quite raining yet, but it will be soon. And it could be gone in an hour. For now I'm back inside!

>145 sibylline: I *love* that about seaside living. It's a lifelong dream come true for me to be here.

>144 sibylline: I just finished book #2, an unexpected addition to my vacation reading list due to finishing other books I brought along. I have books 3 & 4 on my Kindle, so am glad to hear you're still enjoying the series.

58. parenting ***
Walking on Eggshells: Navigating the Delicate Relationship Between Adult Children and Parents Jane Isay

While heartfelt with occasional helpful insights I was alternately bored or incredulous or annoyed throughout the book. Isay's bottom line? If you want to know your grandchildren keep the lid on your opinions, don't offer advice unless specifically asked, talk straight about money (the rare helpful), accept that you are now in the back seat, tolerated only if you behave yourself, be a good listener and ask questions. Well, golly! All very sensible stuff. Isay, having trouble with her own sons, went about interviewing people with adult children to find out how they do or don't get along and what they do about it. The problem is I just hated that every anecdote started with a description of a cheery woman with cropped hair, soft bright eyes, comfortable but elegant clothes etcetera. And here and there an anecdote made no sense at all, Isay manages to interpret some interaction as having deep inner meaning, but even reading a passage over and over I couldn't get it. And there is a kind of over-dramatization: "Diane is making that chilling point about what we risk when we don't pay attention. When they are adults our children possess the ultimate weapon: distancing." It isn't that the point she makes is wrong, but the way she presents it "risk" "chilling" was irritating to me, overdone. Overall I sensed--not sure how to put this--astonishment? chagrin? that the tables have been turned and that the once all-powerful mom no longer rules. Ah well, there are some good things too -- ways to respond to get your children to talk more, being fair and transparent with your children about their inheritance -- and not to leave anything up to them to work out, nothing important, work it out yourself. If they don't like it they can bond hating you, not each other.

Part of the problem for me is that Isay is just enough older than I am that I related to the children's issues with their parents more than I did with the parents she describes. My mother and mother-in-law had more in common with Isay and the mothers described here. I didn't identify with these women and their issues much at all. This is exacerbated too by my having become a mother so late in life (41) so that my daughter also, seems different somehow from the children described here. I've written too much perhaps because I was puzzled and disappointed and am trying to figure that out. (I worry too, that maybe I'm being resistant, but I don't think so!). Before I go I'll say that maybe another parent -- possibly one who was more confident all along and is now truly baffled about being left out might get plenty out of these stories.
***

>146 richardderus: It is a lovely thing to have the ocean at your doorstep!

>147 lauralkeet: I've been FORCING myself to take a break! Just started book 5 but am barely in. Enjoy!

59. dystopic **** (ROOT)
The Peripheral William Gibson

Gibson latches onto a few ideas and weaves a plot around a possibility -- in this case two ideas. One that it would be possible to communicate between past and future -- only to do that would create a "stub" -- the future will irrevocably alter the past and splinter off. The other is that it is possible to make human facsimiles with everything EXCEPT personality, character, soul. Autonomically functional. A person from the past can (as it were) download into one of these "peripherals" and be "as if" there -- just not in their own body (left, tended, behind in the past). Gibson also loves language for itself and always has a few words he uses over and over, in this case "polt" -- for someone the future folks are contacting/using in the past. "Haptic" is another one -- some sort of tatooish thing which gives the bearer some extra abilities, strength or night vision or whatever. He snuck in a couple of mentions of Australian drop bears too. I first encountered those in a Pratchett. ****

Jenn has posted a link for free online copies of all of Schmitz' work in those Baen compilations on the group read thread!
https://www.librarything.com/topic/307199#6833006

60. fantasy ***** (again)
Guards! Guards! Terry Pratchett

Long car ride, introducing the spousal unit to Sam Vimes. Just as good the second time around!

61. contemp fic ****1/2
Stoner John Williams

Stoner was published in 1965 and is the story of a professor of the previous generation, one that bridged both wars, the first as a young man, the second in middle age. Son of hardscrabble farmers in the midwest, he becomes a professor at the state university--not of agriculture, but of literature with which he falls in love while an undergraduate. There is no plot, as such, it is the story of a man's life in that time and place. Recently the novel has been revived and acclaimed as nearly "perfect" and I won't argue as I agree the shape of the novel, or the way it flows, has some of the relentless and random feel of real life, while also, as lives do, having a recognizable even inevitable trajectory when viewed as a whole. My only sticking point was the women: the wife and the lover, so predictable as to approach tediousness, to me, they illustrate aspects of Stoner's character, both his capacity of patience and loyalty and a sensuousness that craves release. I'm glad he had his time with Katherine, without it, his life would have been almost unbearable. I will say that I think there are a couple of hints that Edith, Stoner's wife, may have been sexually abused by her father, perhaps meant to explain her frigidity and total weirdness about sex? Read the engagement scene carefully, think about how she behaves about her honeymoon--utterly terrified but to me as if she knows already and then later, there is Edith's total relief when her father dies. Perhaps I am over-reading, but I somehow doubt in a book this carefully put together that is so. ****1/2

I've converted several of the covers to library thing uploaded ones -- would love it if anyone who stops by and finds blank spots (from here forward) will let me know. I only fixed them up top . . . not retroactively in the body of the thread.

>153 sibylline: Ooh, 4.5 stars? I picked up a copy in a used bookshop some time ago and it is still languishing unread on my shelves. Your review nudges it up a spot or two in the queue.

Sadly, I can't see the cover photos in >152 sibylline: and >153 sibylline:. This image thing is so frustrating!

I changed both covers to LT uploads -- so that should fix the problem. It is so annoying, this did not used to happen so often.

It's an inadequate review, really -- I didn't fully engage with the book until about half-way. I feel that something shifted then, but I have no idea what and am too darned lazy to think it through. It's our book group selection this month and we meet Wednesday, so perhaps someone will explain it so I don't have to work it out.

>151 ronincats: This is belated! thank you -- I'll be running over to see right now!

Oh dear. I'm not seeing any covers since City of Blades except the Stoner one. Meanwhile, thanks for that review. I'll maybe get to it someday.

OK so I just spent a silly amount of time fixing all the images -- they should work now -- any that don't let me know!

>159 sibylline: ~ Hi Lucy, I can see all the recent covers now (from >126 sibylline: going forward).

I've not been on the Talk threads for at least a week and oh my! The number of unread messages on all my starred threads is so daunting.

Yes that happens. I focus on the comments on the books read and then make sure nothing big has happened I need to know about.

Ah! All covers visible. Yay, Lucy!

62. mys ***1/2
A Dying Fall Elly Griffiths

A mystery takes both Ruth and Harry (not together) north to his hometown of Blackpool. Cathbad and Kate come too, of course. Ruth must take a look at some bones, of course. I did feel this one was a bit stretched somehow, not as strong as the others. ***1/2

63. mys ****
The Outcast Dead Elly Griffiths

A Victorian woman with a hook for a hand who looked after unwanted children -- when a child dies in her care she is accused by the mother of murder. An American tv production firm is making a film story of it, the historian and the producer believe that the woman was innocent. But then present-day babies start to go missing. Is there a connection???? Read and see! Meanwhile the stories of the main characters twist and turn, of course. ****

>131 sibylline: I got a free copy of a collection of Freeman's short fiction a few years back, and it was so good I immediately ordered copies of Go With Me and All That I Have. Neither of which I have read! Thanks for the reminder. And, although I am not from Vermont, as I noted in my review of Round Mountain his characters and even some of the places he described could have been lifted from my own NE Pennsylvania childhood. I must get back to him soon.

64. fantasy *****
City of Miracles Robert Jackson Bennett

An absolutely superb series! I'll come back and say more when I have time.

All That I Have looks like a good one, Lucy. So you got me with a Bb for that and also reminded me that I should get back to Ruth Galloway.

65. mys ****
The Ghost Fields Ellie Griffiths

A body is found in a buried ww2 plane, but it isn't the body that should be in the cockpit. A family of landed gentry seem somehow involved. Meanwhile complications for Cathbad and for Harry are evolving . . . the usual fun, in other words. ****

66.
The Woman in Blue Elly Griffiths mys ***1/2
67.
(reread)♬Guards! Guards! Terry Pratchett fantasy
68.
(reread)♬ Men at Arms Terry Pratchett fantasy

>167 sibylline: Oh Lordy, another BB. I'm piled on by my WL!

Nice to see a fellow avid reader of the Ruth Galloway series, Lucy. I just finished the new one, The Stone Circle, and yes, it's the usual fun. :-)

Pearled #4 and a ROOT to boot:

The Russian Debutante's Handbook Gary Shteyngart

Nothing in the least bit wrong with the novel, I'm not in the mood for it, or I should have read it back when it came out, or I don't know what.

69. lit bio ****
Unquiet Soul Margot Peters

One of many substantial biographies of Charlotte and, of course, also her siblings. Any biography of the Brontës ends up being just about Charlotte, as by the end, of the six children, only she remains. Hitherto I've avoided the Brontë enigma, for that is what it is. How could one family produce three women at once who defy, for that is what they did, so thoroughly the Victorian conventions? And even more astonishing how did these women emerge from their severe and limited environment? These are the questions that feed energy to the story of the Brontës. The men, also, provide textbook psychological profiles, the rigid father, the indulged son. The biggest question of all would be--what would the Brontës have become had they been in a congenial environment? Would Branwell have learned that being gifted is only the first step, that hard, sustained work is the second? Would the sisters have been less dependent on one another? Would the four of them have spent the time they did as children writing their stories -this constant writing is what undoubtedly made all three such great storytellers once they were grown. They understood the craft because they had put the time in, criticizing and encouraging one another, no doubt. Peters raises these questions directly and indirectly. The last few chapters, which cover her decision to marry the curate Arthur Bell Nicholls and her subsequent death a few months later in some ways gripped me most, the most upsetting and the most maddening and also the most sad. Of course she was curious to find out what all the fuss was about! Peters speculates that the only solution for Charlotte, the only way she can not betray herself, her father, and her husband, is to die. The more I think about that, the more sense, in the most horrible way, the idea is. ****

All I have to say is that at the moment I am reading too many books! Not sure how this happened. Especially a log-jam of audio books!

70. sf ***1/2
The Demon Breed James Schmitz

Classic sf, very action and problem-solving oriented, but with a difference -- Schmitz's protagonist is a capable young woman who, while she has help from an older scientist (male) and her genetically engineered talking giant otters pretty much saves her home planet from an invasion by a rigidly hierarchical froggy alien race by her wits, skill, and knowledge of the floating forest environment. As with much of the writing of this period though, there is zero character development. In this case it results in, not so much a female protagonist, but a gender-neutral one. You could, with no change in the story, substitute 'he' for 'she'. Even her name Dr. Nile Etland is gender-neutral. (Elsewhere another character near the end is a 'she' named Wyll.) Men tend to have more obviously male names, Dan and so on, but they talk and behave no differently than Nile. That in itself is thought-provoking. You couldn't get away with it if you actually paused and had people interact the way people normally do, sit down and have a meal together and talk about this and that, or whatever. Did I enjoy it? Enough. Was I enthralled? No, it took me longer to read than it should have as there was so much relentless action I had to take breaks -- otherwise I simply stopped paying attention to the details of Niles' strategies. As with all classic sf, worth reading to understand how the genre has developed. Without a doubt Gene Roddenberry, for example, read Schmitz and incorporated ideas from him in the Star Trek series. ****