Mark's Reading Place: Chapter Eleven

-Springbrook Prairie. This photo was from last summer.



-Brown Thrasher. Love his song. This is from our recent camping trip.

Audiobook:



Graphic/Comic:



March:

30) Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds 4.5 stars (audio)
31) The Fall of Wisconsin by Dan Kaufman 4.6 stars (audio)
32) The Dry by Jane Harper 4 stars (audio)
33) Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James 3.7 stars
34) The Blue Hour by Laura Pritchett 5 stars
35) The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf 5 stars (audio)
36) The Thief of Auschwitz by Jon Clinch 4.5 stars (audio) AAC
37) Waiting for the Albino Dunnock by Rosamond Richardson 4 stars
38) The Master by Colm Tóibín 4.2 stars (audio)
39) Your Duck Is My Duck: Stories by Deborah Eisenberg 4 stars
40) Daisy Miller by Henry James 4.2 stars
41) The Answer to the Riddle Is Me: Memoir of Amnesia by David Stuart MacLean 3.8 stars (audio)
42) Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken 4 stars

April:

43) Aerialists: Stories by Mark Mayer 4 stars
44) The Witch Elm by Tana French 3.5 stars (audio)
45) American Prison by Shane Bauer 4.8 stars (audio)
46) Bibliophile: An Illustrated Miscellany by Jane Mount 4 stars
47) Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid 4 stars (audio)
48) The Goose Fritz by Sergei Lebedev 4.2 stars (E)
49) The Fire This Time: Essays by Jesmyn Ward 4 stars (audio) AAC
50) The River by Peter Heller 4 stars
51) The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne 4.5 stars (audio)
52) Lulu Anew by Étienne Davodeau 4.3 stars GN
53) Heart of a Lion: A Lone Cat’s Walk Across America by William Stolzenburg 4.2 stars (audio)
54) Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev 4.4 stars
55) The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler 4.5 stars (audio)
56) Heart Berries: A Memoir by Terese Marie Mailhot 4.2 stars
57) Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy 4.2 stars

May:

58) Code Girls by Liza Mundy 4 stars (audio)
59) The Big Year by Mark Obmascik 4.6 stars
60) Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea 3.2 stars (audio)
61) Good Talk by Mira Jacob 4.7 stars GN
62) Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe 5 stars (audio)
63) Huck Out West by Robert Coover 3.7 stars (audio)
64) The Darwin Affair by Tim Mason 4 stars ALA
65) Dear Darkness: Poems by Kevin Young 4 stars (Poetry)
66) Pachinko by Min Jin Lee 3.7 stars (audio)
67) Sea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini 4.5 stars
68) Rogue Protocol: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells 4 stars (audio)
69) One Matchless Time: A Life of William Faulkner by Jay Parini 5 stars AAC
70) Rough Magic: Riding the World's Loneliest Horse Race by Lara Prior-Palmer 4 stars (audio)
71) My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite 3.8 stars (audio)
72) How to Love a Country: Poems by Richard Blanco 4.5 stars (Poetry)

June:

73) The Unfinished World: And Other Stories by Amber Sparks 4.2 stars
74) Furious Hours: The Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep 4.7 stars (audio)
75) My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix 3 stars (audio)
76) Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli 4.5 stars (audio)

^Someone, mentioned starting a "Birding" thread. Honestly, I was not up for hosting another thread but I thought it would be cool, if a few of us started a birdfeeder watch and kept it updated on the participant's own thread. I know there are several of my pals over here, that have feeders. I hope I can get you to join. I am only going to log in each species I see, for the year, along with the dates. The only species changes, I expect to find, are during the various seasons. Hopefully, this will inspire me to keep a better watch on my own feeders. As of now, the Feeder report will be in post # 6. Here is what I have so far:



1) Northern Cardinal 1/1/19
2) American Goldfinch 1/1/19
3) Downy Woodpecker 1/1/19
4) Black-Capped Chickadee 1/1/19
5) White-Breasted Nuthatch 1/1/19
6) Mourning Dove 1/1/19
7) Dark-Eyed Junco 1/1/19
8) House Sparrow 1/1/19
9) Pine Siskins 1/4/19 (F)
10) Red-Tailed Hawk
11) House Finch
12) Red-Bellied Woodpecker 3/12
13) American Robin 3/13
14) Starling 3/19
15) Northern Flicker
16) Mallards
17) Brown-Headed Cowbird 4/22
18) Chipping Sparrow 5/1
19) White-Crowned Sparrow 5/2
20) Red-Winged Blackbird 5/5
21) Ruby-Throated Hummingbird 5/5
22) Hermit Thrush 5/7 (F)
23) Gray Catbird 5/16 (F)
24) Baltimore Oriole 5/20 (F)
25) Blue Jay 6/7

(F)- First time seen at the feeders.

“I am both a poet and one of the everybodies of my country. I live in poetry and daily experience with manipulated fear, ignorance, cultural confusion, and social antagonism huddling together on the fault line of an empire.”

-Adrienne Rich

“...Slouched in his couch, grumbling over the news
he dismisses as fake, he changes the channel
to an old cowboy Western. Amid the clamor
of gunshots he dozes off thinking of his dream
where he stakes a line between him and all
his neighbors, stabs the ground as he would
their chests. “

"Wherever the world spins us,
home remains the island that
remains in us. Its sun still sets
in our eyes, its clouds stay still
above us, our hands still hold
its tepid rain. We're still caught
under its net of stars, still listen to
its moon crooning above its dirt
roads...”

-Richard Blanco

The last two excerpts are from How to Love a Country, my current poetry collection and it is wonderful. The Rich quote is one of the epigraphs, that open this volume.

"In the weird and wonderful tradition of Kelly Link and Karen Russell, Amber Sparks’s dazzling new collection bursts forth with stories that render the apocalyptic and otherworldly hauntingly familiar."

^I am just about done with the Faulkner bio and will be returning to The Unfinished World and Other Stories, which has been very good, living up to my expectations. My audio is still Rough Magic, which I am into the second half.

Hi, Mark. Good start you have here.

Happy new thread, Mark!

Happy new thread! If you haven't had a chance, check out The Crocodile and sequels. (Library books, or I'd offer to send them along!) Really good Italian noir in good translation. They'd probably work well as audiobooks.

Happy new thread, Mark! Love that Springbrook Prairie pic!

>6 weird_O: >7 katiekrug: Thanks, Bill & Katie!

>8 drneutron: Thanks, Jim and I appreciate the recommendation, for The Crocodile. Not familiar with that series.

>9 Carmenere: Thanks, Lynda. Springbrook Prairie is one of my favorite spots.

^Big shout-out to my lovely wife, for putting up with me for these three decades and being patient, with my geeky love of books, birds and beer.

>11 msf59: Happy Anniversary to you and your wife Mark. Enjoy celebrating, are you doing anything special?

Happy Anniversary to you and Sue, Mark!

Happy New Thread and Happy 30th to you and Sue!

Happy anniversary, Mark and Sue! I hope you're doing something special to celebrate.

Happy Anniversary! May is such a great month for weddings. I don't know why people think June is better.

Happy Anniversary! And Happy New Thread

Happy Anniversary, Mark! And Happy New Thread!

Acevedo did strike YA gold again in With the Fire on High. Great main character and story.

>11 msf59: Thirty years! Congratulations, Mark and Sue!

Happy anniversary, Mark! I hope you and the wife have a great time celebrating!

Oh my god, Mark. Tony Horwitz just died. Well, yesterday. Only 60 years old. Collapsed while walking in DC with his brother. Apparent heart attack.

Thanks everyone, for the kind responses. Such thoughtful people around here. We are planning a nice dinner, over the weekend but the main celebration will be deferred until the fall of 2020, when, hopefully, we will make our Australia/New Zealand trip. This, of course will also be post-retirement, another reason to celebrate, right?

>16 laytonwoman3rd: We liked the idea of May too, Linda.

>18 jnwelch: Good to know on the Acevedo, Joe.

>21 weird_O: WHAT??? Nooooooooooo!! How sad.

Happy new thread and happy anniversary, Mark!

Happy Anniversary to you and Sue!

I hope you are enjoying your day off. I am glad you are reading How to Love a Country. You know I am a big fan. Just heard that there is a posthumous collection of Jim Harrison's poetry was published today, so I will be picking that up. My new commute book is Jill Lepore's This America. Not sure I am ready for These Truths.

>21 weird_O: >22 msf59: I just read that too. How sad.

Hi Mark!

I can't resist posting - I just saw a lifer bird in my Crepe Myrtle, a male Summer Tanager. I saw a female at Louise' house 2 summers ago, but this male beauty was just hanging out for a minute or so. Saw the red, realized it wasn't a Cardinal, got the binoculars out, and there he was.

Happy new thread and Happy anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to you and your wife, Mark. I guess you can add another "B" to your list of loves: books, beer, birds and, of course, your bride!

>23 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg.

>24 alphaorder: Thanks, Nancy. I will have to keep an eye out for the Harrison collection and I will be watching for your thoughts on This America. I loved These Truths.

>25 mahsdad: It sure is, Jeff. I wonder if he had a book completed?

>26 karenmarie: Hooray for the summer tanager, Karen. Gorgeous bird. Congrats. I have not added one to my list yet. They can be found here, but it will take a little work or luck or both.

>27 figsfromthistle: Thanks, Figs.

>28 DeltaQueen50: Thanks for the reminder on the additional "B", Judy. Grins...

>29 msf59: He must have. The article I read said he was on tour for Spying on the South. Subtitled : Travels with Frederick Law Olmsted in a Fractured Land. It seems like its a sorta sequel to Confederates.

From Penguin...

The best-selling author of Confederates in the Attic returns to the South and the Civil War era for an epic adventure on teh trail of America's greatest landscape architect. In the 1850's the young Frederick Law Olmsted was adrift, a restless farmer and dreamer in search of a mission. He found it during an extraordinary journey, as an undercover correspondent in the South for the up-and-coming New York Times...

Sounds really interesting.

Happy new thread. Much joy on your anniversary!

>31 mahsdad: Well, that is good news on a sad day. Looking forward to that one, Jeff.

>32 quondame: Thanks, Susan. Much appreciated.

Happy 30th anniversary to you and Sue!!

I just checked Spying for the South out of the library over the weekend. So young (he was 60) and on his book tour promoting this book.

>34 lindapanzo: Thank you, Linda. I did not realize his new book was all ready out. I will watch for your thoughts.

This Cubs pitching has been abysmal. Ugh.

-Cedar Waxwing (very pleased with this photo)

^I was able to get in a couple of solo bird walks yesterday, during lulls in the rain. Most of the warblers have moved on but our summer residents are present, busy singing and nesting. With the deep foliage, they are not always easy to spot, unless they happen to hop on a bare branch, like this cooperative waxwing.
Highlights were a pair of osprey, more orioles and for my very first time, I heard a Barred Owl calling, off deep in the woods. Great hoot!



-Great Blue Heron, (there were several around) along with a big, old turtle.

Happy new thread Marc, and happy anniversary!

>36 msf59: Love that Cedar Waxwing, what a stylish bird. Good picture too:-)

>37 EllaTim: Thanks, Ella. I like those waxwings too and they summer here, as well.

Happy new thread, Mark, and happy anniversary!

Adding my Happy Anniversary wishes to you and Sue, Mark. Thirty years - impressive!

Nice photo of the cedar waxwing up there! I'm glad you had a good birding day.

I finished Upgrade Soul - it had its moments, but ended up kinda meh. Right now I'm enjoying the spoofy Tales Designed to Thrizzle by Michael Kupperman that I found in the library. Good for a lot of chuckles.

Happy Wednesday, Mark! My seeing the Summer Tanager was pure luck. I glanced up at the right time, he was on a branch that I could easily see because other branches had been cut back to get them off the roof, and he was there long enough for me to enjoy and identify.

Yay for Cedar Waxwings, GB Herons, and turtles.

My iPad is acting wonky, so I have to make this quick...

>39 scaifea: Thanks, Amber.

>40 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe. Hooray for the waxwings. I know you got to see one at Montrose.

>41 karenmarie: Morning, Karen. Timing is everything. The first and only tufted titmouse I ever saw, landed on my shepard's pole briefly and then took off. Have not seen him since.

>36 msf59: rightly proud of that photo Mark.

>36 msf59: A lovely shot indeed!

>43 Caroline_McElwee: >44 richardderus: Thanks, Caroline & Richard. I hope to get more shots of this quality, moving forward but it is never easy.

>36 msf59: Nice shot of a handsome bird! I haven’t seen one in years.

The Western Tanagers are still visiting our feeders every day for most of the day. We also have a pair of Black-headed Grosbeaks stopping by daily.

>46 Copperskye: Thanks, Joanne. I like these birds. Ooh, I want to to see a Black-headed Grosbeak. They are such a cool family of birds. I have seen 4 different ones, so far.

Hello, Mark. Your interest in birds drew me in. They fascinate me. They're beautiful things. I don't see very much variation in my local birds, but the crows strike me as an odd beauty. The birds are one of the sadly few reasons I miss the countryside.

Your book list looks good. Quite an inspiration for me. I may try to write up something similar to shake off my tendency to pick up books on impulse. At times I end up off on a long string of very similar books.

>29 msf59: Hey Mark! I couldn't keep up with These Truths but I have it on my 'complete one day' list. Along with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest which I have classified as "still reading", and have done for years and years :) Good things take time, right?

Happy newest thread!

>36 msf59: love the Cedar Waxwing! What a proud crest (??) he/she has. That quiff thingie, I mean ;)

Happy 30th Anniversary to you and Sue!!
You should be pleased with your photo of the Cedar Waxwing! And your other two friends alongside the creek!! Awesome!!
Hope it dries out for you today. We need to dry out too but it's not in the cards today :0(

>48 RoseM.: Hi, Rose. Great to see you stop by. I am glad the birds drew you in. I like crows too. I also like common ravens but they are more western and northern birds.

Most of this group is pretty diverse in their reading. I hope that inspires you to mix it up a bit.

>49 LovingLit: Hi, Megan. Great to see you. I hope you can finally finish off both These Truths and Cuckoo's Nest. I need to revisit the latter, so if you ever need a bookish nudge.Let me know.

Aren't those waxwings striking? I remember when I saw my first one. I was alone and rushed home to figure it out, in my bird guides. I was a happy camper.

>50 Carmenere: Thanks, Lynda. Yep, waking up to light rain this morning. I am hoping it moves out soon.

^One of the areas, I birded on Tuesday. Everything is so green and lush.



^ A grackle feeding and giving me the stink eye.



^A very cooperative Baltimore Oriole. It has been a banner year for these guys.

> 53 Love these photos, Mark!

I just learned that Richard Russo has a new novel coming out this summer - Chances Are... Thought you would be interested too.

>54 alphaorder: Morning, Nancy. Glad you like the photos. I am no where near Zoe's level, but I hope to keep improving. Have you got out for any walks?

Good news about a new Russo. Yep, I am a big fan of his work.

Hi Mark! Happy Thursday to you. Once again, great photos.

>53 msf59: What a great selection! You're getting a lot of visitors to Chicagoland. I know that makes you happy.

>57 karenmarie: >58 richardderus: Morning, Karen & Richard. Glad you like the photos. I am fortunate to be able to see some nice birds here, although many of them, are still pretty elusive. I guess, that is what keeps things interesting.

The rain has moved east and it is turning out to be a gorgeous day in Chicagoland.

Enjoying the photos, buddy. Sweet Thursday!

I'm going to give the booklength noir poem The Long Take a try. It got Booker-nominated, and Mamie loved it.

Mark, I've got my old bird table from our garage and set it up with some bird feeders in the garden. When we had a cat I was always a little nervous of the way that she would stare at the birds so we haven't used it for some time, but I thought that now we haven't got a cat any more I would give it another go. So far (since Tuesday) I have only seen a great tit and a wood pigeon, but the seed is disappearing at a rapid rate so I assume there must be some birds eating it!

>51 msf59: My grandfather, rest and bless him, gave me a pair of vintage binoculars which had been given to him by the RAF when he learnt I was interested in birds. At that time I could recognise any species of British countryside bird and would sit in my room and note down how many of each species and sex I saw that day. Later in my childhood I was particularly interested in birds of prey and visited a local falconry display every month. That was where, I think, I obtained my great fondness for owls. After seeing that I was a loyal visitor, the organiser of the display, which was held in the grounds of a castle museum which I adored too, let me wear his glove and have the birds fly from my hand and back. It was a fairly popular local monthly event and I do think people envied me. I felt no guilt at the time and I'm unsure if I do now. My mother was thoroughly sick of both the museum and the falconry within a few months. My grandfather took over taking me there. He never tired of it.

I haven't had any time to read today, due to scrambling for a very late notice family visit tomorrow. If I can pick up my current book for even an hour before I ought to be getting to bed, I'll be pleased.

>60 jnwelch: Sweet Thursday, Joe. Glad you like the photos. Non-warblers are a bit easier to photograph.

I know we were able to chat a bit, via text. Look forward to your thoughts on The Long Take. Sounds good.

>61 SandDune: Hi, Rhian. Great to see you. Glad you set the feeders back up. Hooray for the great tits and wood pigeons. It looks like I would have to come visit to see those birds. Let me know, if you see anything special.

>62 RoseM.: Hi, Rose. I take it, you live in England? Thanks for your birding history. I love it. I also love owls and have seen 9 species, common to this part of the country. Which ones, do you primarily have? I also find falconry fascinating. I still have a lot to learn on my raptors.

>65 msf59: I live in Scotland. Thank you! I recall getting my entire primary school class into doing the Great British Birdwatch at lunch break each year, although I was subject to a lot of jealousy over my binoculars. In the city it's only crows and pigeons, not that I mind either. I'm happy to hear you like falconry too.

>66 RoseM.: Scotland is on my Bucket List, Rose. I would love to visit, especially the highlands.

71) My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite 3.8 stars

“When Korede's dinner is interrupted one night by a distress call from her sister, Ayoola, she knows what's expected of her: bleach, rubber gloves, nerves of steel and a strong stomach. “

This was a fun, little thriller, set in Lagos, Nigeria, about sisters, one who has some homicidal issues, and her big sister, who cleans up after her. Since several of my LT pals were buzzing about this one, I knew I had to give it a try. I was just waiting for the audiobook to come through, and I am glad I did, because it worked just fine in this format. The writing is fresh and engaging.

69) One Matchless Time: A Life of William Faulkner by Jay Parini 5 stars

“I discovered that my own little postage stamp of native soil was worth writing about and that I would never live long enough to exhaust it, and that by sublimating the actual into the apocryphal I would have the complete liberty to use whatever talent I might have to its absolute top.”

“It is my ambition to be, as a private individual, abolished and voided from history, leaving it markless, no refuse save the printed books.”

“In Faulkner, the grotesque typically emerges in terms of the horrific. He presents a wide array of twisted old spinsters, compulsive sadists, eccentric lovers of beasts, incestuous brothers and fathers, unfeeling mothers, and toothless wonders who revel in the base forms of human behavior.”

In this outstanding biography, the author mentions that one does not read Faulkner, but rereads him. I think that is an excellent observation and it is one that highlights my failing, in regards to this difficult southern author. Yes, I have read and enjoyed several of his classic novels, but I have only taken a peek, a mere glimpse at what, this writer is trying to convey, so my appreciation is limited. I better get busy, catching up with his "must-read" books, plus the inevitable "rereading".

I knew very little about Faulkner's life, which was the reason I wanted to read this bio and I can't imagine another biographer doing a better job, casting an intense spotlight on this man's history, which is endlessly fascinating. Parini is also an excellent writer, in his own right, so the narrative hums along like a song:

“In the end, however, William Faulkner stands alone, a master of tragic farce, a wild-eyed comedian, a raconteur of the highest order, still sitting around the campfire in the Big Woods, still talking in the thousands of pages that remain his legacy.”

** I read this for the AAC and I want to thank Linda, for not only getting me to read my very first Parini, but rediscovering Faulkner, as well.

>53 msf59: more lovely photos Mark. Loving the lush green of the top one. I want to sit on a bench there.

>70 Caroline_McElwee: Glad you like the photos, Caroline. Many, nice spots to visit and relax around here.

"The stunning story of an Alabama serial killer and the true-crime book that Harper Lee worked on obsessively in the years after To Kill a Mockingbird."

^I have heard nothing but glowing reports about Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee. It sounds so good. I will start the audio this morning. Anyone else have this on their radar?

I will also be wrapping up The Unfinished World and Other Stories today. I am thinking of picking up Ms. Jane Austen next. I am due.

>69 msf59: A tempting review. I think Faulkner's books are difficult for most people because he was a fountain of words! I don't think any force on Earth could stop him from making words into sentences.

'Morning, Mark!

I, too, had a great time with My Sister, the Serial Killer. I've never read any Faulkner, although I have some on my shelves.

Happy Friday, Mark.

Good review of the Parini bio of Faulkner. He presents a wide array of twisted old spinsters, compulsive sadists, eccentric lovers of beasts, incestuous brothers and fathers, unfeeling mothers, and toothless wonders who revel in the base forms of human behavior.” Ah, yes, this reminds me of why I no longer read him. :-)

I'm glad you're having a good time with My Sister, the Serial Killer. That one was a pleasant surprise for me.

I'm so far enjoying The Long Take, and I started a sci-fi-er by James H. Schmitz for Julia's group read. I also started How to Find Love in a Bookshop, which someone here recommended. The title sounds promising, right? Debbi and I met each other at a bookshop, by golly.

>73 richardderus: Great observation on Faulkner, Richard. I am looking forward to trying more of his work and seeing how I feel about it, with this bio, under my belt.

>74 karenmarie: Morning, Karen. Faulkner is definitely not for everyone. Probably the most divisive American author.

>75 jnwelch: Hi, Joe. I know you are not a Faulkner fan, so I am not surprised by your response. I hope you continue to enjoy those current reads.

>62 RoseM.: What a wonderful memory of birds and your grandfather, Rose!

I'm glad you fall on the side of having enjoyed MSTSK. It's odd to describe a book about a serial killer as fluffy and fun, but that's how I felt about it.

The only Faulkner I've read is The Hamlet with a group read - was that through your AA challenge? It was OK. I should read more. I was burned out for a while reading the 1001 (or 1307), but I need to get back to some classics.

Happy new thread, and happy anniversary, Mark!

Glad to see you liked My Sister, the Serial Killer. I went into it not knowing exactly what I was in for, and being pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

Friday at last! AND it's Walt Whitman's 200th birthday on top of all that. I got With Walt Whitman, Himself from Early Reviewers and put up my review today. Spoiler: It's a gorgeous book.

>67 msf59: The Highlands is a beautiful area, but it's one to visit, not to live in. The culture of the villages is rotten with boredom, depression, addiction, and lives going nowhere. Since the area's agriculture and fishing trades died out with climate change and lousy historical luck, no one can support a thing but anger. I'm lucky I survived my childhood there.

>78 streamsong: Thank you. I miss him terribly. I credit him with my twin brother and I's survival as children. He lived with us throughout my mother's guardianship of us until he passed away from starving himself. War guilt. My mother wasn't the best to have charge of us, nor to supposedly have home care for Grandad Jim.

Sometimes I still dream about him, usually in the context of his struggle with PTSD. I didn't notice it until it was too late. For a child of four or five, watching your grandfather have a panic attack, approaching him, and having him hug you with an, "ach, it's juist the shell-shock, ya grand wee smasher" doesn't seem anything out of place. I knew from an early age that his love for my twin brother and I's (early childhood, it's excusable!) hobby of building Airfix British war planes came from his service as an RAF mechanic, and I knew from his photo album that he'd later been conscripted into boots-on-the-ground in the Fourteenth Army in Burma, better known as "the Forgotten Army". He'd been part of the Allied liberation of Changi Gaol and told me of finding one of his Gurkha friends there whom he thought was dead, but the Gurkha friend was severely underweight and had a deformed arm, and died shortly after.

As a child, I thought he was a hero for being part of the liberation of Changi. I never looked up to my mother, aunt, grandmother, or the father whom I at the time barely remembered, as much as I looked up to Grandad Jim. I recall when I was two or three, seeing his photo album behind his back whilst looking through a pile of papers, and bringing it to him having recognised his signature on the flyleaf and saying, "you deserve a medal for this". I learnt to read when I was two and, due to having heard vague family accounts of Grandad Jim, had been reading about the Allies in Asia. The photo which had this occur to me was of a young Grandad Jim and a young Asian soldier standing on Japanese Imperial Army helmets, outside Changi as the note beneath mentioned. I'd gone straight to my mother's laptop to look up the story of Changi Gaol and the British in Asia and throughout my early childhood no one impressed me as much as Jim did then. When I brought the album to him, pointed out the Changi photos, and said that he deserved a medal, he brought out his wallet. He had at least nine medals.

I was a stupid child not to notice that it was more than "ach, it's juist the shell-shock". I was the one to direct him to a mental hospital the third or fourth time he'd been starving himself, but, being seven or eight and stupid, I didn't know what exactly was wrong with him. I'd assumed harsh depression. The nurses and most of the doctors ignored him, and I think it was his age. He'd have been around eighty at the time. He asked me to bring in that photo album, and when I showed him that Changi photo with the Asian friend and the JIA helmets, he asked me to pin it to his wall. He said he "wanted to be reminded that he'd done some good in the world". I did, and shortly after, a nurse came over and ordered me to take it down because I was supposedly "vandalising his room". I argued with her and got nowhere because I was a child. Jim cried. I didn't know what PTSD was. He was just a war hero to me who'd been through "the shell-shock, ya grand wee smasher". What a stupid child I was. I might have saved him were I not such a stupid child. All I could see was the medals and the panic attacks, and as a stupid child I thought that war medals and severe fear went together. I was considered bright because I could read at two, and I'd hang off Jim's armchair to help him with the crossword, which quite surprised him that I could figure out the clues. I was still too damned stupid to know what PTSD was. War hero, suffering from guilt over what he had seen, that was all it was to me. Stupid.

I need to catch up on the true crime reading. I love that stuff. At present I'm searching around for the last book I was reading, which I was halfway through then dropped in bed and heaven knows where it's gone to now. I hope I find it tonight because then I might well find it in time to go to bed, which I'm far after anyway. I may be looking around for true crime ebooks shortly. That'll keep me occupied for the night. Apologies for banging on about Grandad Jim. I'm tipsy, it's Friday, and the guilt stays with me that I could have done something had I not been a stupid child.

Leaning across you Mark >80 richardderus: Rose, you were a child, nothing stupid about you. Back then people didn't understand about PTSD anyway, mistakes in care would have been common. Your grandad sounds lovely, and you were lucky to know him, even for a short while, thank you for sharing his story.

>78 streamsong: Hi, Janet. I thought the author of MSTSK showed some promising writing chops, so I would like to see what she could do, with something a bit more substantial.

I read Light in August for the AAC, so you are probably correct. What did you think of The Hamlet? I have forgot.

>79 bell7: Thanks, Mary. MSTSK was a fun read.

>80 richardderus: Hey, Richard. i don't think I have ever read Whitman, but for a stray poem, here and there. It sounds like I should give him a try.

>81 RoseM.: Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Grandad Jim, Rose. Heart-breaking but beautifully said. And nothing you describe, sounds like you were stupid in the least. You were a child and a very caring one, at that. I think you can bury any guilt you might feel.

Sorry, to hear about the village life in the Highlands. How sad. Sounds like many small towns across America. I had no idea.

>82 Caroline_McElwee: Very well said, Caroline. Hugs to Rose!!

>82 Caroline_McElwee: Thank you for the sympathy, but I feel it was stupidity that I never learnt of Jim's PTSD. I was perhaps twelve when Jim died and had had a harshly sheltered childhood. This was around 2006-2008, and I knew very little of the world beyond my primary school, which had about twenty pupils, and my mother's punishment, which was doled out at random. Jim was never diagnosed. He'd been hiding at home for years on end claiming that age made him too depressed to eat. If I had only been able to recognise his panic attacks when anything made a rattling noise or when anyone spoke Japanese on TV, he might still with be us now. I might have been very young but I was still young enough to have looked up PTSD had I only thought of it. All I thought he was afraid of was warfare, guns, concentration camps, and the Japanese. If I'd only seen past enough plain fear for him to be alive now. I'm twenty-two now and still feel guilty.

>85 msf59: I just saw your commenting come through now. Sadly I was stupid. I'll always be fond of Grandad Jim. He kept great care of his health and might have lived until today or even later were it not for my mother's neglect and my stupidity. "Oh, yes, he fought in the war and he saved people from imprisonment by the Japanese Imperial Army, and he had a Sikh Gurkha friend whom he rescued, he's a hero". I was too dim to see beyond that until it was too late. I did all I could for him, being such a stupid child. The books I brought him when he was in the mental hospital did do him good, even if it were mostly his own scrapbooks. If only I had been older and more sensible.

>81 RoseM.: >86 RoseM.: >87 RoseM.: It takes very intelligent adults to listen to a child. Nothing you could have done or said would get through to those who ignorant and uncaring, were put in charge of his care. All of us carry guilt for the undone and the done dating from before we could have done or known to leave undone, but growing up is just as much if not more forgiving yourself for powerlessness as for forgiving others their abuses of power.

>84 JaxonV: It has been very good, Jax.

>86 RoseM.: >87 RoseM.: You are only 22? You sure have a much older soul, Rose.

>53 msf59: Great photos of your birding spot, Mark. Is there any birding on tap for this weekend? Nothing fun in my plans, just a long trek back home.

>90 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg. My guided bird walk was cancelled for tomorrow, due to flooded areas. I will probably do something on my own. Have a very safe trip back.

^After getting off to a good start with Austen, by reading Pride, Sense and Persuasion, I completely stalled out on her work. I am embarrassed to state how long it has been. Time to get back on the Austen boat and read her remaining work and then I will think about rereads. I decided to start with Emma. I know this one seems to get a more mixed reaction, among my LT pals, although many loved it, but I will just have to see for myself. I will start the print version today.

I am also really enjoying Furious Hours. Fans of quality true crime NF, will love this this one.

>92 msf59: Emma is one of my favourite Austen's Mark. I came to her late, and the only one I have not really got into was Mansfield Park, which I'll give anther go sometime.

I want to pick up her letters this year too. I have a nice copy on the shelf.

>93 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks, for chiming in on Austen and Emma, Caroline. Glad to hear it is one of your favorites. I was surprised to see that it is nearly 500 pages. I thought most of her books were on the shorter side.

'Morning, Mark! Happy Saturday to you. I hope your day is a good one.

>92 msf59: I'm as embarrassed as you are - I've read Austen's five other novels but abandoned Emma about 2/3 of the way through, for some reason. Sigh. I should really re-start and finally finish it along with Lady Susan, The Watsons, Sanditon.

>95 karenmarie: Morning, Karen. It looks to be a good work day. Thanks for chiming in on Austen. Glad to hear I am not the only slacker and I sure hope I like Emma more than you. Grins...

>92 msf59: Novels of manners can require the characters to be quite...cold, uncaring, manipulative...and Emma is a quintessential novel of manners. That's both a warning and an inducement.

Happy Saturday, and I'm sad about your guided bird walk being canceled. I was hoping for a lifer or, failing that, more orioles.

Belated happy new thread and belated happy wedding aniversary, Mark!

>36 msf59: That is a beautiful picture of the Cedar Waxwing.

Morning, Mark!

>95 karenmarie: I sympathize with your difficulty reading Emma, Karen. It's not one of my favorites (but it is for lots of folks like Caroline). I found her initial foolishness grating, but, of course, that is the point. I can't wait to hear what you think of Lady Susan. That one really had me laughing.

Enjoy the day, friend Mark. Looks like the early morning rain has passed.

>97 richardderus: Morning, RD. Thanks for chiming in on Emma. Looking forward to seeing what side of the fence, I come down on. I should start it very soon.

Yep, I really enjoy the guided bird walks. It is like bird academy. I am sure I will do something else.

>98 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita and hooray for the waxwing!

>99 jnwelch: Morning, Joe. Not bad out here at all, although I feel the humidity creeping in. Rain is moving in thins afternoon. I hope I miss it. I will be starting Emma, very soon.

Red-wings returned to Portage Road this morning - we sang & whistled back and forth, amusing the single Mourning Dove.

Ducks overhead and cardinals, robins, crows, woodpeckers, nuthatch, sparrows, and owl around the lilacs and purple colored wild phlox and wild sunflowers.
Hellebores and Jack-in-the-Pulpit thriving, with more perennials promising a beautiful display once the sun decides to stay.

((Falconry pretty cruel, non? What if they drop down a favored bird...))

Hey Mark! As always (ad nauseum) I recommend that you read the Bitch in a Bonnet commentaries on any Austen books that you read. I think you can still read them all on Robert Rodi's online blogsite, but they made me laugh so hard, I had to buy both volumes.

>93 Caroline_McElwee: I have come to appreciate Mansfield Park more and more over the years. It's lead is portrayed with all the virtues a young woman is supposed to have, but not much valued by most of the characters or readers who have loved Elizabeth, Emma, or Elinor. But the wit is brutal.

>97 richardderus: One of my beefs with the author of Bibliophile is that she describes Pride and Prejudice as a romance just because it has a 'happy' ending.

>103 streamsong: Hi, Janet. Thanks for the heads-up on the Bitch in a Bonnet, I will have to check those out. Love that title.

>104 quondame: Mansfield Park is on my list too.

>72 msf59: I've just started reading Furious Hours, and I'm finding it very good so far. It was my Mother's Day gift from @lycomayflower.

>104 quondame: ...P&P a...romance...has that author ever read an actual romance? Because that's stretching the definition well beyond the material's failure point.

Happy "new" thread, Mark and happy belated anniversary.

>107 richardderus: Living in 1810 recreation circles for 30 years I have encountered many Jane Austen "fans" who just plain don't get Jane Austen. Most of them don't like Mansfield Park and, alas, do think Elizabeth marrying Darcy is the ultimate romantic happy ending.

>109 quondame: Oh myyyyy, as Takei says.

Mark - Stopping by to wish you a wonderful Sunday and to tell you how much I am loving the Jim Harrison poems. Again, I recommend for both you and Joe.

>108 banjo123: Thanks, Rhonda. Much appreciated.

>109 quondame: That is really interesting, Susan. There are fans and then there are fans...

>111 alphaorder: Morning, Nancy and thanks. I will have to request the Harrison collection. I have read and enjoyed, one of his earlier collections.

^A library run, after work yesterday. A few of my June reads. The Great Believers and West come highly recommended by my LT pals and after reading the Faulkner bio, I was inspired enough to pick up The Unvanquished. I have not read his short fiction. Of course, I also grabbed a poetry collection, called Brute: Poems. I love that cover.

^We have lived in our current home, for nearly 16 years and this was the first time I heard a Great Horned Owl hooting in the night, out our bedroom window and he was calling for awhile too. I even nudged Sue, so she could hear it. I will have to ask, if she remembers, or if she is just mad. My daughter Bree, stands firm, that she saw and heard a GHO, when she was younger. Her room faces our backyard. Obviously, that is not my photo.

My guided walk was cancelled this morning, due to flooded areas, but I am sure I will get out on a solo stroll.

Morning, Mark. Happy Sunday!

Good haul in >113 msf59:. Debbi says Makkai is a Chicago-area author. I only see a black box in >114 msf59:; maybe others see it.

Enjoy your solo stroll. We're off to the new Manet exhibit at the Art Institute, along with a talk about it.

>114 msf59: There's nothing quite like hearing a GHO, is there? If you hear it again, try stepping outside and calling back to it. Often 'mine' will call back and even be called in closer to see the strange sick-sounding owl. You don't want to do it so much that it disturbs them to the point of using too much of their energy ... but oh how magical to talk to owls.

>115 jnwelch: Morning, Joe. It is a dark image, of a night owl. I know The Great Believers is set in Chicago, but I did not know much about the author. Looking forward to it. Have a great time at the Manet exhibit. Sounds wonderful.

>116 streamsong: I am with you, Janet. I didn't want to make any hooting noises at 2am, Sue would have strangled me. LOL. I hope to hear them again.

62) Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe 5 stars

My maternal grandmother was born in Ireland and I have visited the Emerald Isle, but my ignorance of the IRA and “The Troubles”, was embarrassing. This incredible, impeccably researched book set me straight, or at least opened a few windows. It centers around, the abduction of Jean McConville, a mother of ten, back in 1972. She was never seen alive again. The author uses this story, to take the reader through the history of the IRA,
right up until the peace accord. This is a powerful and sometimes, disturbing narrative and I highly recommend it. Easily, one of my favorite books of the year.

63) Huck Out West by Robert Coover 3.7 stars

As the title states, the novel takes a fanciful look at what might have happened, after the events of Twain's classic, as Huck and Tom make their merry way west, on the brink of the Civil War. They split up and the story follows Huck through many adventures, as a horse wrangler, in the Black Hills and his bonding with the Lakota Sioux tribe. He eventually teams back up with Tom, Jim and Becky. It sets a lighter tone, but there is plenty of rugged action, so fans of the western genre should enjoy it. I know I did.

64) The Darwin Affair by Tim Mason 4 stars

Set in mid-nineteenth century London, this story revolves around an attempted assassination on Queen Victoria. Detective Inspector Charles Field is assigned to the case and quickly discovers a sinister conspiracy, involved high ranking officials and clergy, centered around Darwin's publication of The Origin of Species.
This is a highly entertaining read. Suspenseful, fast-paced and deft at mixing history with fiction. Even Charles Dickens makes an appearance, along with Mr. Darwin himself.

>118 msf59: #62 Right here on my LibraryStack. It just sounds too good to miss. I'm glad to know it was that for you.

#63 All's I really needed to hear was "Coover."

#64 That sounded wonderful! Then...like a sneeze of c-a-t-s...who should ruin the view but Chuckles. Oh heavy heavy sigh.

Have good birding luck on your self-guided walks.

>119 richardderus: Morning, RD. I was wondering if the Chuckles reference would get your attention. LOL. I am so glad you have a copy of Say Nothing, at hand. It is such a terrific book. Getting ready to head out. A beautiful day here in Chicagoland.

Hi Mark. Happy Sunday.

Hi there Mark, l read a few Faulkners in college but I don't know if I ever considered reading anything for pleasure in later years beyond Light in August which I read and enjoyed a few years ago. I am a fan of Emma and gave it 4.5 stars when I read it. Mansfield Park and Lady Susan are the two Austens I have left to read. Maybe this year I'll get to one of them.

Say Nothing was really good and I learned a lot too.

Happy Sunday to you. It's raining here right now.

>118 msf59: I've to wait until September for The Darwin Affair here. Glad you enjoyed Mark.

Ha! If my husband woke me up to hear a bird, I'd probably begin planning his slow and painful death...

Happy Sunday, Mark!

Hi Mark! I love the picture of the prairie and the Brown Thrasher at the top of your new thread.

I'm glad you heard a GHO! As you know, we have had one in our back yard - or the park behind us, more probably - and their call is so enchanting. I hope you get to see her or him one of these evenings.

Hi Mark! I was so busy watching tennis today that I didn't visit threads early like I usually do.

Congrats on hearing the GHO. I've got a squirrel resting on a branch of a Crepe Myrtle, cheeky little you-know-what. He's been there for about 5 minutes so far.

>121 BLBera: Hi, Beth. I hope you had a good day.

>122 brenzi: Hi, Bonnie. I would be curious to see what you would think of Faulkner's more challenging work, as a much more mature and seasoned adult. Smiles...

I am enjoying Emma in the early going.

>123 Caroline_McElwee: I received an advance copy of The Darwin Affair, Caroline. Actually, several months ago.

>124 katiekrug: LOL. I understand completely, Katie. My wife is all ready exaggerating the story, how I shouted and shook her awake, to hear the stupid owl. Grins...

>125 EBT1002: Hi, Ellen. I am glad you like the toppers. I will have to post more of those. I am still jealous of your resident owl. I think ours was just passing through, but I sure I hope I am wrong.

>126 karenmarie: Happy Sunday, Karen. I was up early, but pretty busy, so I didn't have time to visit threads either. Not always easy, my friend.

Hi Mark, hope you had a nice weekend. After my niece’s graduation party in the western suburbs today, all that fresh air has left me tired. Curling up with Code Girls tonight.

Yay for hearing the GHO!

I love hearing the Eastern Screech Owls occasionally during the summer. Their name is truly a misnomer. They sound lovely!

I hope you enjoy Emma. I meant to read it this past spring but time got away from me. Hopefully soon.

>128 msf59: - Sue and I would probably get along famously!

Emma is maybe my least avorite Austen - either Emma or Sense & Sensibility... But a lesser favorite Austen is still pretty good!

Mark I thought of you when reading The Lost Words: A Spell Book by Robert MacFarlane. The illustrations are stunning. Here's one! I think you would love the book.

>129 lindapanzo: Hi, Linda. Good to see you. You had a beautiful day for the graduation. Congrats to her. I am sure you will enjoy Code Girls.

>130 Copperskye: Hi, Joanne. Thanks, on the GHO. I have not heard a ESO in the wild but I want to. I love the fact that each of the owls has such a distinctive sound. Have you ever heard the sound a barn owl makes? That is a little scary.

I hope you can pick Emma back up.

>131 katiekrug: Most likely, Katie and I would be an easy target. Grins...I am not far enough into Emma to make a call yet, but I like it enough in the early going.

>132 mdoris: Ooh, I love that barn owl image, Mary. Thanks for sharing. I may have to request that lovely volume.

'Morning, Mark, and happy Monday to you! Glad you like the beginning, at least, of Emma.

Morning, Mark!

I'm under the weather and laying low. Lots of sleeping! Oh well. So far I'm enjoying How to Find Love in A Book Shop. I can't remember reading a book set in a bookstore that I didn't like - go figure.

Have a good one today, buddy.

>135 karenmarie: Morning, Karen. I am planning on spending more time with Emma today.

>136 jnwelch: Morning, Joe. Sorry, you are feeling under the weather. I hope it is fleeting. The Book Shop book sounds fun.

I'm back from my week long whirlwind trip to Kansas and too many meetings involving health care. The local carpenter did get the front porch and ramp done while my Mom was in the hospital and it looks good. My mother choose the railings and stiles for the porch banisters from the hospital and I don't like them that much. I think they should have had some curves to them to soften the look. I said that lining the ramp with them makes the whole thing look like a cattle squeeze chute. She did not appreciate my observation.

On the way to Kansas I listened to the entire book Merchants of Truth: The Business of News and the Fight for Facts by Jill Abramson. This book was based on an earlier book written by David Halberstam that was a Pulitzer Prize winner. The author was a former executive editor of the New York Times and she chronicles the demise of the big national daily newspapers by concentrating on the Washington Post and the New York Times. She contrasts them with BuzzFeed and Vice. Her conclusions are that the newspapers are coming out on top of the news once again, with the newer on-line sources reverting to the tried and true methods of the old fashioned newspapers and their fact checking style of reporting. However, she says that the biggest problem with the new news sources is that when they start to really report the news instead of relying on "20 ways to reduce belly fat" type of articles, they start bleeding money. Her chapter on Facebook and how its algorithms works was very important and enlightening. Essentially Facebook relies on what she calls the "happiness factor" - find out what the poster likes and feed him more of the same thing. This creates a feedback loop which was exactly what Cathy O'Neil talked about in Weapons of Math Destruction.

I ended up reading parts of this book when I got to Kansas because I couldn't just keep replaying the parts I didn't understand on the audio. This book is really important for people who want to understand how Trump got elected, but I would recommend that you read the book rather than listen to it.

>138 benitastrnad: I'm going to have to track down a copy of that one.

Mark, I came across Bowlaway. Somehow missed it when you'd talked about it but I put a copy of it on reserve at the library.

>136 jnwelch: Feel better, Joe!!

>138 benitastrnad: Welcome back, Benita. It looks like you got some things done for your Mom. You are an attentive daughter. Always tough, when it is at such a distance.
Merchants of Truth sounds like a good title. I will keep my eye out for the audio. Just a couple more weeks, for ALA! Yah!!

>139 lindapanzo: Hi, Linda. Merchants of Truth has my attention too. Not sure, Bowlaway will be your cuppa, but try it out and see. I definitely liked it.

Howdy, Mark! The only Faulkner I've read is As I lay Dying but now I'm really tempted to read his bio and finally read the books written by him which I purchased in NOLA a few years ago. I didn't find AILD difficult to read, one just needs to be in the right state of mind for him.
Hope you're finally drying out over there. Here, my shoes get sucked into mud. Looks like we'll have a few dry days before the rain returns.

>141 Carmenere: Hi, Lynda. I highly recommend the Faulkner bio, especially if you have interest in him. He is a very challenging author to read and I think that is what I find fascinating.

It has been very nice here, the past few days but rain will be back in our forecast, off and on for the rest of the week. It will be warmer, though.

Hi Mark, looks like you are reading some very interesting books. I already have West on my list, thanks due to Katie but I am adding Huck Out West. I just started a book that was a BB from you a few years ago, Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell. It's fast, fun and totally attention grabbing!

>143 DeltaQueen50: Hi, Judy. Always good to see you. Glad I got you with a BB. You should enjoy Huck. You must keep track of who recommended books, ie "Mark'S Fault" tag. It has been quite a few years since I read Beat the Reaper, but I remember it being a lot of fun.

'Morning, Mark! Happy Tuesday to you.

Happy Tuesday, Mark! After reading the enticing reviews of One Matchless Time written by you and Caroline I decided to buy the Kindle version of it, which is on sale for $7.99. I own the entire five volume collection of William Faulkner: Novels published by The Library of America, but I've only read As I Lay Dying so far. I'll plan to read the biography this year, and get started on his books in 2020.

>145 karenmarie: Morning, Karen and thanks.

>146 kidzdoc: Hi, Darryl. Great to see the travelling man. Glad to see the warbling paid off, on the Faulkner bio and you snagged a ebook copy. That Faulkner collection sounds amazing. I know the bio sparked new interest in Faulkner for me.

Hi Mark, Terrific-Tuesday wishes...may the BBG be rife with hoopoes and quetzals and the like.

>148 richardderus: Morning, RD. Light rain falling here, so I just pulled up to the BBS and did not get out of the vehicle. I did see a big, old groundhog, though. He checked me out for a minute and then high-tailed it. First one I have seen here and the first I have seen in a year or so. See, not a total wash-out.

The spot giveth, even on its least promising days!

Literary biographies can be fun and enlightening. Earlier this year I read What There Is to Say We Have Said which was edited by Suzanne Marrs. This was not a literary biography - it was an edited book of the correspondence of Eudora Welty and William Maxwell. Maxwell was the editor of the New Yorker and was a well known author. He guided Welty during her writing career. The letters were fascinating to read. I had had the book ever since Booktopia - Oxford, MS back in 2012. I was prompted to get it off the shelf by a nonfiction book challenge done by Suzanne when one of the categories was authors discussing their own or somebody else's works. I was surprised at how much I liked the book. It will be on my best of the year list for this year.

I had never thought I would be interested in anything written by Welty, but now I am curious about her novels and books of short stories, so have now gone so far as to check out a book of her short stories from the library. I have not read it, but I do have it checked out. I know that in the future, at some point, I will read either this book, or something else by Welty.

In the last few weeks I have also run across the name of William Maxwell in another book. I had read Great Influenza - a history of the flu pandemic in 1981 and Maxwell had written a book set in a small Illinois town where the central event was the flue epidemic. I know from the book of his letters to and from Welty that his mother died in that epidemic, so know at least that book is on my wish list and future reading list.

It never ceases to be amazing how one book leads to another.

>150 richardderus: Yes, "the spot giveth", RD, but timing is everything. The sun is out now and it will be a glorious evening in Chicagoland.

>151 benitastrnad: Hi, Benita. I agree on literary biographies, but I have not read a lot of them. I definitely want to try Parini's Steinbeck bio. I also highly recommend the Dickens bio, by Claire Tomlin, possibly my favorite literary bio. I was not as impressed by Welty's short fiction, which I found very surprising, since I love O'Connor. I would love to visit Oxford, one of these days.

I do not think I have read Maxwell. Bad Mark?

-Harry Bliss

>127 msf59: >153 msf59: 👍 from a more mature and seasoned adult lol

^Okay, I decided to go with another light & fun read and since I have had My Best Friend's Exorcism on shelf, both in print and on audio, for a couple of years, I thought it would be a good time, to give it a shot. It is a YA, supernatural, horror story, set in a South Carolina high school, during the late 1980s. I am nearly 2 hours in and it has been enjoyable. Not exactly Faulkner, but that is okay, I will be getting to him shortly.

Has anyone else, read Hendrix? This is my first. He looks to be quite prolific.

>151 benitastrnad: I have a copy of that collection of letters...I don't believe I've come across anyone else who has read it. I admire Welty's work and have a lot of Maxwell on the shelf, although I haven't read him yet. >152 msf59: He's one of the authors I'm determined to see in the AAC one of these years.

>151 benitastrnad:, >156 laytonwoman3rd: ...other than me, that is.

>154 brenzi: Grins...

>156 laytonwoman3rd: I think Maxwell would be a fine addition to the AAC, Linda. It might be the kickstart I need.

Mark, I don't know how I've overlooked a visit to #11 until now, but better late than never, I suppose.

>157 richardderus: And I'm younger and probably less sensible than all of you!

>159 PaulCranswick: Hi, Paul. Great to see you. You keep up with A LOT of threads, so I completely understand. I have not been by your place in awhile either. I will have to remedy that.

^Yippee! I won a copy of If You Want to Make God Laugh from Good Reads. It comes out in July. They have much better giveways over there, but it is also much harder to win them. I never did get to this author's last book, Hum if You Don't Know the Words, but it has been on my radar.

'Morning, Mark! Happy Wednesday and day off. I hope your birding adventure is fun. I'll expect a report... *smile*

Morning, Mark.

Congrats on winning If You Want to Make God Laugh. I like that title. The author is new to me.

If you end up liking My Best Friend's Exorcism, I'll have to let Becca know. That fits the kind of book she enjoys.

I'm nearing the end of How to Find Love in a Book Shop, and continuing to enjoy it. It's a little more romance-y than I figured (you'd think the title might've given me a clue), but that's okay. I don't have to be surly all the time.

Looks like the day's improving from morning showers. Hope it's a good one for you. Did I miss it? Are you still reading My Sister, the Serial Killer?

>162 karenmarie: Hi, Karen. Yes, a report will be coming. Not a whole lot seen, but still a very good day.

>163 jnwelch: Hi, Joe. I will ask Becca if she is interested in My Best Friend's Exorcism, because I have a nice copy to pass on. I finished and enjoyed Serial Killer. My remarks, are somewhere up there.

-Cerulean Warbler, (NMP)

^I had 3 target birds, that were on my birding radar today, but I just saw the Cerulean Warbler, which is a beautiful bird and a lifer for me. I got some good looks too and a fellow birder/photographer helped me out a bit. I have mentioned this before but other than the book community, the birding community is also a truly amazing bunch. So supportive. I had a great morning at the Arboretum, clocking in over 4.5 hours. I saw some nice birds and took some photos, which I will have to share later on.

>161 msf59: Hi Mark, Hum If You Don't Know the Words is my book club's pick for this month. I just started it last night and it is going well so far.

You have been doing a lot of good reading lately. I have been catching up with you thread with my library's website opening and so far you are responsible for 2 more holds. (It would have been 3 but someone already got me with the one about the Irish troubles. Took a black cab tour in Belfast which was a good way to get a better idea of what went on during that dark time.)

>165 msf59: Oh, he’s adorable! Congrats!

>166 Familyhistorian: Hi, Meg. How is the World Traveller? Glad you are enjoying Hum. I want to get to that one too.

I am glad I got you with a few BBS. My work is done here. I hope you are having a great time in Ireland.

>167 Copperskye: Hi, Joanne. He was a beauty. Thanks.

>157 richardderus: Well, ya never SAID....where's yer review, f'rinstance?

>165 msf59: Wonderful! Blue birds (other than common blue jays) make my heart go all aflutter.

>161 msf59: BRAVO!!

>165 msf59: BRAVO!! Pretty little thing.

Sweet Thursday (in 45 minutes).

>165 msf59: beautiful. As ever, I'm as green as a pea at how many colourful birds you have in the US Mark.

>170 laytonwoman3rd: Lots of blue birds yesterday, Linda, although I did not see any blue jays. Plenty of Eastern Bluebirds and Indigo Buntings, though, other than the warbler.

>171 richardderus: It was a good day off, Richard. Keep them coming.

>172 Caroline_McElwee: Hi, Caroline. It never ceases to amaze me, how many colorful birds breed here but if you don't look close, you will never see them. You will have to come over to the Midwest some time. Smiles...

'Morning, Mark! Congratulations on the Cerulean Warbler. According to the range map they migrate through here but I've never seen one.

I love Indigo Buntings and Bluebirds and tolerate Blue Jays.

>174 karenmarie: Morning, Karen. Cerulean Warblers are hard to spot here too, but it does look like this pair may be trying to nest here, which is a delight for us geeky birders.

Sounds like a wonderful day, Mark! Shawn and I are heading back to Horicon for a Natural Resources Foundation field trip on Saturday. Not a birding trip, but I am sure we see some. :) It is four hours - half hike, half boat.

>176 alphaorder: Morning, Nancy. You will have to ask Zoe if she has seen a Cerulean Warbler. I would not be surprised, if she has.

Hooray for another trip to Horicon. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. Maybe, I can try to make it up there this fall.

Huzzah, Mr. Mark. Been away from your thread for a week and it took me an hour to read through all the LTers' adventures that I missed.

You read some good stuff. Kudos. Say Nothing intrigues me. I have a copy of The Great Shame by Thomas Keneally that covers The Troubles, and I still am looking for Milkman, a fictional episode during that time.

>138 benitastrnad: You've put some fire under my interest in Merchants of Truth, Benita. Is the Halberstam book you reference The Powers That Be? I have it in my collection and I've read it. But maybe a reread (or a skim) is in order. Halberstam was such a significant journalist.

>151 benitastrnad: Eudora Welty seems to have been pen pal to quite a number of writers. Ross MacDonald for one. I've got a number of unread Weltys in The TBR Closet^TM. Some Joseph Mitchells as well.

Mark: GHOs, indigo buntings, and all those others. Kudos. We heard, then saw, catbirds. Saw a thrasher or two. And we've spotted a fox disappearing into the weeds and shrubs bordering our road; must be raising some kits in the neighborhood.

>165 msf59: Oh wow! He's lovely. Lots of small birds at the garden bird feeder here at the moment. The adults seem to peck out sunflower seeds and then feed them to the no-longer-really babies to eat.

Happy Under-Friday, Mark! You seemed a bit befuddled on the weekday we're plowing through over on Joe's thread.

Sweet Thursday, buddy. I'm glad Serial Killer worked for you. What an unusual one.

I've gotten a copy of How to Love a Country by Richard Blanco, and read the first one - liked it. The Long Take is in front of it, and very good - but it's not a Short Take, so it'll be a while for Mr. Blanco.

How about the Cubs picking up Kimbrel? With Strop back? Should we start planning the parade?

>178 weird_O: Hi, Bill. I hope I kept you entertained during that hour, you were combing through the thread. Grins...Sadly, I do not think I have ever read Thomas Keneally, although he has been in the stacks, a time or two. I know he writes great Irish NF.

I did not really get into Welty, which I found quite surprising, since I love Flannery O' Connor.

I love the bird report. I can never get enough of those. I think it is great you get thrashers. I have to venture out to see them and I have never seen a red fox, at or around my feeders but I am sure it is a matter of time.

>179 charl08: Are you able to identify at of the birds at your feeder, Charlotte? I would love to hear what you see.

>180 richardderus: LOL, Richard. I somehow got screwed up on my days, this morning and you know I love my Sweet Thursdays!! B.A.G.

>181 jnwelch: Sweet Thursday, Joe. I can't wait to hear what you think about How to Love a Country. It is such a terrific collection and I am also interested in The Long Take, which I was unfamiliar with. This is by Robertson? If so, it is new poet for me.

Hooray for the Cubbies picking up Kimbrel. Nice acquisition. I hope he can get ready fast.

>183 msf59: >181 jnwelch: Big Blanco fan here. :)

>184 alphaorder: Morning, Nancy. I am looking forward to reading much more of Blanco's work. Was that your first by him?

Untitled Executions have always been public spectacles

Executions have always been public spectacles. It is New Year’s 2009 in Austin and we are listening to Jaguares on the speakers. Alexa doesn’t exist yet so we cannot ask her any questions. It is nearly 3 AM, and we run out of champagne. At Fruitvale Station, a man on his way home on a train falls onto the platform, hands cuffed. Witnesses capture the assassination with a grainy video on a cell phone. I am too drunk, too in love, to react when I hear the news. I do not have Twitter to search for the truth. Rancière said looking is not the same as knowing. I watch protests on the television while I sit motionless in the apartment, long after she left me. Are we what he calls the emancipated spectator, in which spectatorship is “not passivity that’s turned into activity” but, instead, “our normal situation”? Police see their god in their batons, map stains and welts on the continents of bodies. To beat a body attempts to own it. And when the body cannot be owned, it must be extinguished.

-mónica teresa ortiz

-From Poem-A-Day

Amen...

Happy Friday, Mark! Yes, this really is Friday. :-)

That's a strong poem in >186 msf59:, isn't it. >187 msf59: "Like".

The Long Take just keeps getting better. So far, it's definitely one I think you'll like. I'm impressed with the breadth of it - like (the very different) Olio, I'm thinking, how in the world did he do this?

>186 msf59: Thanks for posting that powerful poem, Mark.

‘Morning, Mark! Happy Friday to you.

>182 msf59: We’re the opposite – I like Welty’s Pulitzer-Prize winning The Optimist’s Daughter and flamed out on O’Connor’s makes-me-want-to-slit-my-wrists short stories in A Good Man is Hard to Find.

I used to see lots of foxes around here, and there was a magical period of about 3 years when, once each spring, we were lucky enough to see a mother fox moving her kits, one at a time, from one neighbor’s wooded property to another neighbor’s wooded property.

The BBS has been very quiet, this week, despite the warmer and drier weather. The only birds active are the red-winged blackbirds, which are nesting here. I have not been dive-bombed yet. Fingers crossed...

>188 jnwelch: Morning, Joe. Glorious day in Chicagoland. I hope guys get out for a stroll. Glad you like the poem and it looks like I need to request The Long Take.

>189 kidzdoc: Hi, Darryl. Lots of strong voices out there and plenty of material to address.

>190 karenmarie: Morning, Karen. I have only tried Welty's short fiction, so I will to try one of her novels. Maybe, that will turn me around. Sorry, to hear O'Connor bombed out for you. I love that stuff.

Hooray for the red foxes. I wish I saw them more often.

There is an ALA meetup thread started. Here is the link.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/307549

No word yet on free passes but Tim and Abby are working on it.

I heard a mourning dove calling on my way to the library this morning. It's such a lovely and evocative sound, isn't it?

>193 benitastrnad: Thanks, Benita. I have been over there and made my presence known.

>194 richardderus: Hey, RD. I agree with you on the mournful sounds of the mourning doves. I am lucky, to hear them daily, on the route and at home. A friend at work, insisted he was hearing owls every day on the route, until I played him a recording. It shut him down.

"...a fiercely imaginative novel about a family's summer road trip across America--a journey that, with breathtaking imagery, spare lyricism, and profound humanity, probes the nature of justice and equality in America today."

^Lost Children Archive has been on my radar for a couple of months now and I know a couple of LTers were fans, so I decided to make this my next audio and will start it tomorrow. My Best Friend's Exorcism wasn't bad but just not my jam.

I am still reading Emma but it has been a slow read for me and not exactly tooting my horn. I will hang in there, as I approach the halfway point.

^I have been getting other visitors to my feeders, this past week. I thought I saw a black squirrel a couple weeks ago but this time I was positive and have photos to prove it. Black squirrels are not as common around here. You see them further north. And the other morning, I came down to turn the coffee on and spotted a small family of raccoons congregating around the birdbath. They were also trying to get under my shed but became discouraged and left.

We also had a very sick skunk, hanging around, the shed and surrounding areas. It finally ventured out to the street, (THANK GOD!!) and was removed. I did not take photos. They would have been sad. Unfortunately, I think there may be another skunk or two, under the shed. I can smell them.

Watch out for this guy, Mark. The word in the airspace is that a bunch of songbirds are miffed at your invasions of their privacy. Staring at them through binoculars, photographing them. So they engaged a security bird. He might be mean.

Happy Saturday, Mark!! Congrats on your Goodreads win!! Looks like a good one too!
I'm so sorry squirrels and racoons have found their way to your bird feeders. Good luck with that.
We have tons of black squirrels and the reason for that, so I've been told, is many years ago the science dept at Kent State was doing an experiment with them and a number of them escaped or were released into the wild and poof they're all over the area. Not as pesky as racoons but they do their share of damage.
Let me know if you find a remedy for the varmints.

>198 weird_O: That is one mean-ass bird, Bill. Fortunately, I have never got that look through my binocs. That could be scary.

>199 Carmenere: Morning, Lynda. Thanks for chiming in on the black squirrels. Very interesting. At this point, none of these varmints, have been causing issues at the feeders. Knock wood. The squirrels have been leaving the suet feeder alone too, which is surprising. Maybe, they are finding plenty of food elsewhere.

^This is from my Arboretum walk, on Wednesday. Everything so full and lush.



^A very cooperative Great Egret. He/she just remained perched here, casually preening itself, paying me no never mind.



^In the same pond, a snapping turtle, (big sucker!) was basking in the sun.

No photo, as all parties were in motion at the time, but my husband and I were treated to a bald eagle "fly-by" yesterday afternoon in a remote region of PA while we were out truckin'. Always a treat and a surprise. It flew directly across our path, and then circled lazily (just for our entertainment, I'm sure) in a field off to our right.

Morning, Mark!

Lovely photos from the Arboretum, and from your backyard(!) Are you keeping delicious cake in your shed? Inquiring wildlife would like to know.

Charlotte just tempted me with The Heavens by Sandra Newman (who wrote that Western Lit Survival Kit that I loved, so I may jump to that. I'm still loving The Long Take, and just finished the new Ruth Galloway book, Stone Circle.

Another beaut of a day. Hope it goes well, buddy.

>198 weird_O: I love that shot.

>201 msf59: WOW! All that rain has made your part of the world scary-green!

Lovely birding day.

>201 msf59: Beautiful, Mark! And everything is so green and lush - I love spring!

>201 msf59: Wow! Big difference between your lovely photos and the one I posted on my thread. (How's that for a teaser?)

Congrats on your Good Reads win. I have never won anything over there, so I've given up even trying.

>197 msf59:

It might be good to contact the local Wildlife organization to see if there's any danger of rabies spreading from sick skunk(s).

>197 msf59: enjoying seeing your visitors Mark.

>198 weird_O: tee hee Bill.

>201 msf59: Beautiful.

>202 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks for sharing the bald eagle story, Linda. One of my very favorite birds.

>203 jnwelch: Hi, Joe. No cake around the shed but there must be some comfy accommodations, under there. We have had such a variety living under there. Thanks for the book report. Everything sounds interesting.

>204 richardderus: >205 Copperskye: That is definitely the positive side, of all that rain, RD & Joanne. The negative are the bugs, namely the mosquitoes, but they were not bad that day. Knock wood. I am spraying myself good, regardless.

I am about to finish Oregon Trail: A New American Journey by Rinker Buck and have really enjoyed this book. You know a book has to be good when in the first sentence you find the word Kansas.
I know that this is a book you have already read. I am reading it for my real life book discussion group.

Hi Mark, wow, you posted some gorgeous pictures, that Great Egret is beautiful. But that snapping turtle looks downright dangerous. I wouldn't want him to get hold of me!

Once again I am appreciating one of your BBs. Code Girls is both informative and interesting as well as a darn good read!

>206 streamsong: Hi, Janet. I ran out of time responding yesterday. I will swing by your place. I win something from Good Reads now and then but usually titles that I have all ready wish-listed.

>207 m.belljackson: Good point, Marianne, about the skunk. I am not sure who ever picked it up, took it somewhere to be tested. It wan't foaming from the mouth but that might be a good indicator anymore.

>208 Caroline_McElwee: Glad you like the visitors and the photos, Caroline.

>210 benitastrnad: I am glad you had a good time with Oregon Trail: A New American Journey. I loved that book. He is a good writer. I wonder if he will write something else?

>211 DeltaQueen50: Hi, Judy. Good to see you. Glad you like the egret and no worries about the snapping turtle. I would never get anywhere close. I am glad to hear you are enjoying Code Girls. It is a good, informative read.

Sunday orisons, Mark, and a good time had by all.

>214 richardderus: Morning, Richard. Cool and cloudy here, but I think I will still get out for a stroll. In the meantime, I am going to curl up with the books, for awhile.

75) My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix 3 stars, (this is me, being generous).

Abby and Gretchen are high school pals. They have been best friends since the fifth grade, but Abby notices that Gretchen has been going through some very disturbing changes, leading her to believe that she might have a demon inside her. No one else seems to be willing to help, so Abby decides to take matters into her own hands and save her friend from this probable, possession.

Okay, this not my usual fare and it did not disappoint in that regard. This is not The Exorcist, not even in the same ballpark, but it is mildly diverting and I did like that it was set in Charleston, SC, in the late 80s, with all the pop culture and political references. What I can not forgive, is that the owls, presented here are inherently evil. Sorry folks, no turning back from that travesty.

**I always like to have my 75th read of the year, to be a stellar choice. Why couldn't it have been the Furious Hours, which was my penultimate read? Why, Lord? Sighs, in exasperation.

Congratulations on reaching 75, Mark!

Well it's about time you read something I could definitely skip Mark haha. Congrats on hitting 75.

Well it might not have been the best, but you made it anyway. Congrats on 75.

Sorry 75 wasn't a better book for you, but congrats on reaching the milestone anyway!

>217 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita.

>218 brenzi: Thanks, Bonnie and I am glad I could make your day.
Grins...

>219 mahsdad: Thanks, Jeff and Mary. At least, that book is surrounded by much better reads. That counts for something, right?

Congratulations on reaching 75 books read! Here's to more good reads!

Congrats, my friend, on reaching 75! Sorry about the evil owls - that must’ve been traumatic.

Congrats on reaching your 75th, Mark. Sorry it wasn't a better one.

Great that you have read 75 books already Mark. Congrats!

Congratulations, Mark!

>72 msf59: that author looks like one serious lady!

>216 msf59: congrats on the big 75!! Sorry it wasn't on one you had to try and be generous for :) I had bookclub this evening, and it was one of my worst reading months ever! I had a dnf for a start, and I hardly *ever* abandon a book. That, one graphic novel, and only one actual book read in 6 weeks!!! Shocking. But, now i have in my hot little hands the book my academic superior was writing last year, and it is great so far. So I am positive my reading funk is over. The book is Wellbeing and Aspirational Culture, btw. (Looks like the touchstone is awry for now though.)

Thanks, Susan, Joe. Judy, Mary & Darryl. Much appreciated. That is one of our favorite milestones, each year.

>227 LovingLit: Thanks, Megan. Yep, the author of Furious Hours is a serious lady and she wrote a damn good book. Sorry, you had a tough reading month. I hope you can put that far behind you, kicking off with Wellbeing.

^My weekly library run, along with an advanced copy, I snagged the other day. I will finally read the award-winning, The Milkman. Actually, I will be listening to this on audio but also wanted the print version on hand, as reference and back-up. There are a pair of promising poetry collections here, including The Tiny Journalist, along with "The Revisioners", a novel that doesn't come out until November.

*This photo is from yesterday. I am drinking coffee, at the moment. Grins...

^Eleven years ago, I stumbled on to this place, and a new door opened in my life. It was a game-changer, both in my reading and in my friendships. I say this every year, but I still can't believe, we just keep chugging along.

No plans, on picking up any new books but I will be attending ALA, very soon and I am sure I will return with a healthy stack. B.A.G.

'Morning, Mark! Happy Monday to you.

Congrats on 75!
Congrats on 11!

You and I became friends pretty early on here and I'm so glad we did.

What Karen said, Mark. It's been great to get to you know you on and off LT.

Congrats on 11!

>230 msf59: Happy Thingaversary, Mark! Looking forward to meeting you at ALA.

Happy Thingaversary, Mark. This place is a gift that gets opened every day at my house.

Congrats on the 75, Mark and on your 11th thingaversary.

Do you have a favorite or three from the first 75?

From your photo in >229 msf59: it looks like more great reading ahead.

Happy Thingaversary, Mark. LT is the best! I'm glad you're here.

Another beauty in Chicagoland. Wish I wasn't working. I was told yesterday, by a disgruntled former LTer, that I had "no heart & or conscience", I hope the folks that know me better, feel differently. Grins...

>231 karenmarie: >232 jnwelch: Thanks, Karen & Joe. And hooray for LT friendships. May they endure.

>233 bell7: Thanks, Mary. It will be great to finally meet you. Yah!

>234 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks, Linda and you phrased your thoughts about LT, beautifully.

>235 streamsong: Thanks, Janet. I will have to circle back, with my favorites from the first 75. No time now, but that should be no problem.

>236 lauralkeet: Thanks, Laura. I hope we can finally meet in person, one of these days.

Woowwwwww... Seventy-five. 75. Have a liter of your favorite beer, my friend. You've earned it. (Send the tab to Joe, ok?)

You asked on my thread: I'm roughly a 4 hr. drive from Point State Park in Pittsburgh, traveling by car on Pennsylvania's autobahns.

>216 msf59: Yay for


And YAY for your eleventh Thingaversary!

>237 msf59:

Congratulations on all fronts!

What was the occasion for having "no heart or conscience?"
I've witnessed misogyny (NOT on your thread), but nothing like this!

Happy 11th! I am right behind you and will be celebrating my 11th in a couple of weeks. :)

Congrats on 75 AND on the Thingaversary, Mark!

>237 msf59: - I was told yesterday, by a disgruntled former LTer, that I had "no heart & or conscience" There aren't enough eye rolls in the world for this.

Congratulations on reaching 75, Mark. And happy thingaversary.

I went to my real life book discussion with only 2 pages of the Acknowledgments to read in Oregon Trail: A New American Journey by Rinker Buck. I felt bad because I usually have the book finished by the time we meet. I missed by 2 lousy pages!

Everybody in the group liked this book. It was a real winner, and it is not a book that I would have picked up to read. The group was very appreciative of the drawings that showed and explained how things worked. They were very helpful. One person listened to the book, and it was read by the author. She was pleased because she got to "hear" his voice. Very well done book.

>239 weird_O: Thanks, Bill. I will be sure to tell Joe, he owes me a liter of my favorite brew. Grins... A four hour drive is a bit demanding for a Pittsburgh trip, so I understand.

>240 richardderus: Thanks, Richard. Those are some cool, celebratory images.

>241 m.belljackson: Thanks, Marianne. That comment was made on a private PM, but the tell-tale "incident" happened on another thread. I don't want to mention names.

>242 DeltaQueen50: Thanks, Judy and hooray for your impending Thingaversary.

>243 katiekrug: LOL, Katie. Sorry, about the excessive eye-rolls. I am far from perfect, in many regards but I am not sure that I am guilty of those hefty offenses. Thanks, my friend.

>244 BLBera: Thanks, Beth.

>245 benitastrnad: Hooray for "The Oregon Trail", Benita. I am glad it was such a hit with the book club. I hope you felt the same. I loved the audio and would highly recommend it.

>237 msf59: no heart or conscience

That may be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Blah! You're the personification of her art and conscience.

Happy Thingaversary my friend.

>248 brenzi: Thanks, Bonnie. No wonder, you have always been one of my favorite LT pals.

Happy 11 years with L.T. Mark It's been a game changer for me too.

Agree totally with Bonnie >248 brenzi: "the most completely ridiculous thing I've ever heard". No heart or conscience? What a weird thing to say!

Congrats on reading 75 and on your thingaversary, Mark. I can't say that I have found you lacking in heart or conscience.

More congrats from me Mark, on the thingaversary and the 75 books.

I just finished Say Nothing (late to the party) and thought of your enthusiasm for NNF as I did so - such a great example of it. I see you gave it 5 stars and I totally agree with you. I think his portrait of Gerry Adams and "peace" in NI will have me thinking for a while.

Morning, Mark!

Apparently I like my friends like I like my Wizard of Oz characters: no heart and no brain conscience, because I count you as a dear one.

Adding my eyerolls to Katie's.

>250 mdoris: >251 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Mary & Meg. Much appreciated. Glad to hear I still have a heart and conscience, however imperfect they are.

>252 charl08: Thanks, Charlotte. I am so glad you loved Say Nothing. Hopefully, you will inspire a couple more LTers to snatch it up.

>253 scaifea: Morning, Amber. Hooray for the Tin Man & the Scarecrow!! LOL. And thanks, my friend.

Black Woman

Don’t knock at my door, little child,
I cannot let you in,
You know not what a world this is
Of cruelty and sin.
Wait in the still eternity
Until I come to you,
The world is cruel, cruel, child,
I cannot let you in!

Don’t knock at my heart, little one,
I cannot bear the pain
Of turning deaf-ear to your call
Time and time again!
You do not know the monster men
Inhabiting the earth,
Be still, be still, my precious child,
I must not give you birth!

-Georgia Douglas Johnson

From Poem-A-Day (First published in 1922)

Happy Thingaversary, Mark! Eleven years and going strong:-)

'Morning, Mark! Happy Tuesday to you.

>237 msf59: Sorry you're being badgered in a private PM. And, of course, consider the source.

Yeah, what Karen said. No heart or conscience? Give me a break. As someone said, you're full up of those there things. Jeez Louise. I am sorry to see the source lose all her marbles like this.

Anyway, Happy Tuesday, buddy. Leave that nonsense behind and enjoy this beautiful day.

I'm going to read some more of that awesome The Long Take, after enjoying The Heavens recommended by Charlotte.

>237 msf59: No heart or conscience? Internet people can be weird.

>256 EllaTim: Thanks, Ella. Looking forward to another eleven.

>257 karenmarie: Morning, Karen. I think all ties, have been cut with this person, or I sure hope so.

>258 jnwelch: Morning, Joe. Happy Tuesday. I know I have some other character flaws but those allegations, might be a bit extreme. Hope that chapter is behind me.

Gorgeous day, for working outside but what I could do, if I wasn't working? Sighs, dreamily.

>259 The_Hibernator: Amen, to that, Rachel and that is putting it very mildly.

>258 jnwelch: Those marbles have been gone for a long, long time.

>260 msf59: Vet all your Goodreads contacts carefully, and look at future friend/follower notifications with a suspicious eye. I speak from deep experience.

I hope you have had time to look at the ALA web pages for the conference. My sister is disappointed that there are no superstar authors this year. She wanted another Neil Gaiman or Sharon Draper. I told her there were plenty of authors that were going to be on the exhibit floor. There will be plenty of Caldecott illustrators and Newbery authors there. I haven't had time to look at the author's and the signings that will be happening, but I am sure that there will be some.

Congrats on hitting 75! Sorry it wasn't a better one...

Message from Abby regarding the passes to the exhibit hall at ALA.

Okay - passes are here! These are good for exhibit-hall only access to ALA on Saturday, Sunday, & Monday.

https://www.compusystems.com/servlet/ar?evt_uid=291&oi=IQruTjvKoFzHoIiGjo9vo....

The "code" is V134 but you shouldn't need to enter that - the URL above populates it for you in the form.

>262 richardderus: Sage advice, Richard. I know one of these culprits, was using an alias, for some tomfoolery over on my thread. It was a shitty thing to so.

>263 benitastrnad: I will check out the LA web page, Benita. I am there for the books. If I stumble across, an interesting author, along the way, it will just be a bonus.

>264 drneutron: Thanks, Jim.

>265 benitastrnad: Thanks, Benita. I am going to register tonight. I am going to attend on Saturday.

^Words of wisdom...

>266 msf59: It's done with for now, and may it never recur.

“If a society permits one portion of its citizenry to be menaced or destroyed, then, very soon, no one in that society is safe. The forces thus released in the people can never be held in check, but run their devouring course, destroying the very foundations which it was imagined they would save..."

Here is the rest of James Baldwin's quote. Powerful stuff and even more relevant now: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/57148-if-a-society-permits-one-portion-of-its-c...

>267Ha! Love it! Words to live by.

>269 msf59: Yep. Fight back we must, said Yoda.

Happy Wednesday, buddy. Looks like another good one so far. Good to hear from you yesterday. Having finished the awesome The Long Take (wow!), I'll be able to get to that Richard Blanco collection you loved now. I'm also reading Eve Ewing's eye-opening Ghosts in the Schoolyard, about Emmanuel closing all those public schools on the South Side. She's one smart cookie; she writes great poetry (Electric Arches), and is writing a comic for Marvel (Ironheart).

'Morning, Mark! Happy Wednesday to you.

>267 msf59: My late FiL loved owls. We have knickknack owls all over our house inherited from him. They are magnificent creatures.

No heart or conscience? Seriously?! Sigh...there certainly are some strange birds that have joined this group recently.

>255 msf59: That's a powerful poem, which seems to be as relevant in trump's America as it was in 1922. Thanks for sharing it with us.

>269 msf59: Spot on quote by James Baldwin, which is also highly applicable to these troubled times.

>270 jnwelch: Morning, Joe. Hooray for owls and Yoda! Can't wait to get my mitts on The Long Take, after that glowing endorsement. I am sure you will love the Blanco collection.

>271 karenmarie: Morning, Karen. Your FIL sounds like a wonderful guy. Smiles...

>272 kidzdoc: Hi, Darryl. That Baldwin quote opened one of my recent poetry collections, so I wanted to share it here. He was such a sharp, prescient observer.

MarkMarkMark!! Go Kindle up The Grail Bird by Tim Gallagher!! It's only $1.99 today so it's the perfect moment to add it to your birding inspirational reading.

>274 richardderus: Thanks, RD. You know I grabbed this one. It looks great.

>275 msf59: Yay! I BB's Mark without even reading the book!

>276 richardderus: You sure sure did, Richard. B.A.G. It may not be obvious to everyone, but I have a soft spot for the birds. There is an excellent documentary out there called Ghost Bird, about the ivory-billed woodpecker, that I have been meaning to see, forever. This would make a perfect match.

"The Monopolists reveals the unknown story of how Monopoly came into existence, the reinvention of its history by Parker Brothers and multiple media outlets, the lost female originator of the game, and one man's lifelong obsession to tell the true story about the game's questionable origins."

After finishing the most excellent, Lost Children Archive on audio, I was torn between starting Milkman or squeezing in a NF title. I decided on the latter. I recall The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World's Favorite Board Game catching some pretty good buzz, when it came out in 2015, but remember very little LT notice. I have had it saved on audio forever, waiting for the right moment. I am 2 hours in and feel like this was the right choice.

Anyone else, have this on their radar?

Don't have Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World's Favorite Board Game on my radar, but this spring we got the children's book about Monopoly and I read that. Pass go and collect $200 : the real story of how Monopoly was invented by Tanya Lee Stone didn't escape my radar. I read it. Darn good children's book.

However, I took a book bullet with your adult version.

Good God there was a scandal involving Monopoly??? That's a new one for me Mark lol.

>280 brenzi: seconded

Hello Mark! I hope all is well with you!

>216 msf59: Congraulations on 75!

>230 msf59: Happy Thingaversary!

>267 msf59: Owls are majestic creatures to be sure.

As formy reading, history seems to be the thing at present. I am listening to Agent Zigzag and just picked up Wild Bill True Story.

>279 benitastrnad: I think that is cool that there, is a children's book about the Monopoly game. I definitely thought of you, Benita, when I started this. P

>280 brenzi: >281 The_Hibernator: LOL. It is definitely a thing, Bonnie & Rachel and I am sure I will be recommending this one.

>282 brodiew2: Thanks, for all of that, Brodie. Good to see you. Yep, all is good here. And hooray for owls!

Ooh, Wild Bill True Story sounds like a good one.

Mark, I think I am finally back. I've been walking Poppy in a different area and so have had the pleasure of seeing some different birds. Yes, it's across from the airport ( the river is in between ) but it does not seem to keep the birds away. Lots of blue herons, which are always fascinating. I also saw a spotted towhee, the first time I have actually seen one to my knowledge. Likely I have seen a spotted towhee before, but this time I was able to identify it. Some darling little house finches. Apparently here in the " South West " BC, our house finches have more red on them than some places. What little beauties. Bald eagles are common, and of course, the silly seagulls. Red winged blackbirds, and tree and barn swallows and black capped chickadees. I ran across a beaver dam, and an actual beaver! Had a wee bit of scare with a coyote eyeing me and Poppy in the distance right in the middle of the day, but it was all fine. I'm evening appreciating the goofy Canada Geese that are floating along with their chicks.

No owls though. Sigh. Dave and I are heading out on a late night walk soon - his preference. I doubt if I'll see an owl, but hey, maybe . A girl can hope.

Congratulations on 75 books, and on your ll year ThingAversary Mark.

>269 msf59: he's da man. As you know, an almost life long Baldwin fan here.

>284 vancouverdeb: Hi, Deb. Great to see you back, Tonto. I have missed you. Great bird report. I love details. You are getting a good "eye". We had a spotted towhee here, earlier in the year. They are rare this far east, but I did not see it. I know it is harder to see owls at night, but it is a better time to hear them. Keep your ears peeled.

>285 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks, Caroline. Hooray for Mr. Baldwin. I am always looking forward to reading more of his work.

Good morning, Mark, and happy Thursday to you!

I just watched a squirrel try to hang upside down on my squirrel-proof feeder and get seeds - the problem for him is that his weight closes the feeding ports. He lunged for seeds with his teeth, wasn't successful, and flipped off. I'm happy.

Our neighbor has a Purple Martin Condo in his field, and I took my binoculars when I went to mail a letter at the end of the road. I saw 5 or 6 males and 2 females. I didn't realize they were migratory and will leave in the fall.

Sweet Thursday, Mark. Surprisingly cool out, isn't it?

All is well on my end. I'm going to try to get some more mini-reviews up today, and make some progress on that Eve Ewing book - and get back into that Richard Blanco collection.

You remember that weird little The Girl from the Other Side GN series? I'm still reading it, and am on #5. It continues to be high quality.

That was some good hockey last night, with the Blues winning their first Stanley cup. Their young goalie was stellar.

>287 karenmarie: Morning, Karen. Hooray for foiling the squirrel and seeing the purple martins. I knew they migrated and they summer here, as well. I just don't get to see them very often.

>288 jnwelch: Morning, Joe. Yep, it is breezy and cool out here. I should have wore long pants. Looking forward to trying the Ewing collection and I am looking forward to your thoughts on the Blanco.

I think I read the first of that GN series, but I am not sure.

>278 msf59: This book sounds like enjoyable trivia. I've read a couple of times about a Monopoly-type board game contrived by members of a wealthy family in my original hometown. A modest effort was made to challenge the origins of the Parker Bros game, but it came to naught.

Then there's this:

I hope you can un-sog your soggy self soon. Bleeeccchhhy weather.

>290 weird_O: Love!

Today it's my turn to think it's Friday; darn. I just need the next few weeks of painful knee to go by quickly.

Yesterday evening I was feeling blue, so I decided today I need to read outside. I'll at least get sunshine to lighten my mood.

>290 weird_O: Love the poster, Bill. And I think you will really enjoy The Monopolists. An entertaining and informative read.

>291 richardderus: It turned out to be a decent day, RD, despite a cool wind. The sunshine in the afternoon, definitely helped. Much better. Thanks.

>292 streamsong: Hi, Janet. Sorry to hear about the painful knee issues. I hope you got over the blues, and the reading and sunshine helped.

New thread up. Yes, you will see birds, as well as books. This is my jam. I will also try to show more heart and be a bit more conscientiousness.