Familyhistorian's 2019 Reading Adventure part 5

My name is Meg and this is my sixth year as one of the 75ers. At the end of last year I became overwhelmed with finishing off my challenge books and library holds. Somehow the joy of read lost some of its sparkle and the books on my shelves kept growing. That wasn't working so this year I am signing up for less of the challenges and have set myself a personal challenge of reading more from my own shelves. I also couldn't keep up with all the threads I had starred last year so I have to be smarter about LT time as I want to keep up with the threads I follow as well as find more time for my writing, genealogy and other adventures.

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My latest posts are inspired by the trip I took in May as I did lots of things related to history and genealogy. You can see the posts at: A Genealogist's Path to History

Little Free Library

Books culled in 2019

January 3

February 6

March 8

April 11

May 7

June 11

Challenges

Reading Through Time

January-March 2019 - 20th Century: World War I (1914-1918) - A Question of Honor by Charles Todd - DONE
April-June 2019 - 20th Century: Between Wars (1919-1938) - So Much Life Left Over by Louis de Bernieres - DONE
July-September 2019 - 20th Century: WW2 (1939-1945)
October-December 2019 - Modern History (1946-present day)

Monthly

January: "I Will Survive" - Krakatoa by Simon Winchester - DONE
February: "Be My Valentine" - The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty DONE
March: "Downtown" - The Blitz Detective: Fifth Column by Mike Hollow
April: "The Wonderful Emptiness" - The Great Central Plains of America - Only a Few Bones: A True Account of the Rolling Fork Tragedy and Its Aftermath by John Philip Colletta DONE
May: "Myths"
June: "Cryptography & Code Breaking" - Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shatterly DONE
July: "Travel"
August: "Philosophy and Religion"
September: “Women Pioneers”
October: “Something Lost”
November: “Marginalized People”
December: “Let’s Go Retro”

2019 Nonfiction Challenge

January: Prizewinning books, and runners up. - The Massey Murder by Charlotte Gray - DONE
February: Science and Technology: Innovations and Innovators. - The Epigenetics Revolution by Nessa Carrey - DONE
March: True Crime, Misdemeanors and Justice, Past and Present Day - A Treasury of Victorian Murder: Compendium Vol. 1 by Rick Geary - DONE - Murder by Milkshake by Eve Lazarus - DONE
April: Comfort Reads - Only a Few Bones: A True Account of the Rolling Fork Tragedy and Its Aftermath by John Philip Colletta - DONE Ancestral Journeys: The Peopling of Europe from the First Venturers to the Vikings by Jean Manco - DONE
May: History. In this case, my cutoff date is 1950. Viking Britain: A History by Thomas Williams DONE
June: The Pictures Have It! - Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story by Peter Bagge - DONE - Two of The Talented Thomsons by John A. Libby Fine Art - DONE - An Age of License: A Travelogue by Lucy Knisely - DONE
July: Biography & First Person Yarns
August: Raw Materials: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral
September: Books by Journalists
October: Other Worlds: From Spiritual to Fantastical
November: Creators and Creativity
December: I’ve Always Been Curious About…

Books read in 2019

Books read in 2019

First quarter

January

The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee
All True Not a Lie In It by Alix Hawley
A Fever of the Blood by Oscar de Murier
Lending a Paw by Laurie Cass
No Fixed Address by Susin Nielsen
Fortunately the Milk by Neil Gaiman
The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman
Kissed a Sad Goodbye by Deborah Crombie
Ravished by Amanda Quick
Plaid and Plagiarism by Molly MacRae
The Massey Murder by Charlotte Gray
Murder on Millionaires Row by Erin Lindsay
Old Filth by Jane Gardam
A Killer in King's Cove by Iona Whishaw
Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston
Stand Firm: Resisting the Self-Improvement Craze by Svend Brinkmann
The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century by Deborah Blum
Things I Don't Want to Know: A Living Autobiography by Deborah Levy
A Dedicated Man by Peter Robinson
Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 by Simon Winchester

February

A Midsummer Night's Scream by Jill Churchill
Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield
The Darkness by Ragnar Jonasson
Anne of Green Gables: a graphic novel by Mariah Marsden
Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann B. Ross
Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars by Miranda Emmerson
Evil Under the Sun adapted by Didier Quella-Guyot
The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam
The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty
Last Friends by Jane Gardam
The Wrong Kind of Blood by Declan Hughes
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Blacklands by Belinda Bauer
The Cut Out Girl by Bart van Es
Land of Marvels by Barry Unsworth
The Epigenetics Revolution by Nassa Carey
Exiles of Erin: Irish Migrants in Victorian London by Lynn Hollen Lees

March

One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson
The Body in the Wardrobe by Katherine Hall Page
King Arthur: The Making of the Legend by Nicholas J. Higham
Stitches: A Memoir by David Small
Death on the Family Tree by Patricia Sprinkle
A Question of Honor by Charles Todd
Tuesday's Gone by Nicci French
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang
A Treasury of Victorian Murder: Compendium Vol. 1 by Rick Geary
How the Marquess Was Won by Julie Anne Long
The Lost Man by Jane Harper
Murder by Milkshake by Eve Lazarus
Killing the SS by Bill O'Reilly
Murder at the Manor by Lesley Cookman
The Chess Men by Peter May
Heirs and Graces by Rhys Bowen
Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss
Fifth Column by Mike Hollow

Books Read in 2019

Second Quarter

April

Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger by Rebecca Traister
Dreaming in Code: Ada Byron Lovelace, Computer Pioneer by Emily Arnold McCully
The Stylist by Rosie Nixon
Burden of Memory by Vicki Delany
Paris by the Book by Liam Callanan
This is What Happened by Mick Herron
The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer
Tightening the Threads by Lea Wait
The Canadian Receipt Book
Garden of Lies by Amanda Quick
Hidden Heart by Nora Roberts
Elyza by Clare Darcy
The Escape by Mary Balogh
A Nose for Death by Glynis Whiting
Ancestral Journeys: The Peopling of Europe from the First Venturers to the Vikings by Jean Manco
Dark in Death by J. D. Robb
Courting Mr Emerson by Melody Carson
Only a Few Bones: A True Account of the Rolling Fork Tragedy and its Aftermath by John Philip Colletta
Death Comes Silently by Carolyn Hart
These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lapore

May

Season of Storms by Susanna Kearsley
The Hangman's Row Enquiry by Ann Purser
Queen of Hearts by Rhys Bowen
Out of Bounds by Val McDermid
The Wages of Sin by Kaite Welsh
Murder in the Merchant City by Angus McAllister
So Much Life Left Over Louis De Bernieres

Books acquired in 2019




April

Genealogy Online by Elizabeth Powell Crowe
Genealogy Standards
The Complete Guide to Article Writing by Naveed Saleh
Death in Provence by Serena Kent
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
Arrowood by Mick Finlay
The Mister by E L James
The Other Lady Vanishes by Amanda Quick

May

Under the Wig: A Lawyer's Stories of Murder, Guilt and Innocence by William Clegg
Old Baggage by Lissa Evans
The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths
Murder by Matchlight by E.C.R. Lorac
The Case of the Love Commandos by Tarquin Hall
Murder by the Book by Claire Harman
Viking Britain: A History by Thomas Williams
East End Suffragettes by Sarah Jackson and Rosemary Taylor
Ancestors on the Move: A History of Overseas Travel by Karen Foy
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
Out of Bounds by Val McDermid
Murder in the Merchant City by Angus McAllister
So Much Life Left Over by Louis de Benieres
Viking Britain: A History by Thomas Williams

Welcome!

Happy new one, Meg.

>12 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul!

Happy New Thread, Meg!

Nice to have you back. That looked and sounded like a great trip.

We're (Madame MBH and I are) trying to read more off our TBR shelves this year, too. That's not going quite as well as I hoped - wouldn't you know it, irresistible new ones keep intruding - but, still, it's better than last year by a long shot. Both of us are making some progress.

Happy new thread, Meg! Is that Rochester Castle in >3 Familyhistorian:? Several of us visited it a few years ago, and toured it and the cathedral next to it. I'll check out your blog now.

I looked at one of my photos of Rochester Castle from my Facebook album. It's similar to your castle, but doesn't seem to be identical to the one we saw.

Happy new thread, Meg!

Happy new thread Meg my dear.

Happy New Thread!

I really enjoyed reading about your wonderful trip.

And wow! You're almost to 75 - you'll get there easily in the next week or so.

>14 jnwelch: Thanks Joe.

Reading off my own shelves isn't going that well for me either because I keep clicking on the hold button on my library website. Well, I suppose it is better than being on the Chapters or Amazon websites and clicking there. It's funny but I feel guilty if I read books that I have just brought home so concentrate on the older ones on the shelf which is probably why not many of them get read!

>15 kidzdoc: >16 kidzdoc: No, not Rochester Castle, Darryl. It does look similar though the one in your post looks less weathered perhaps that is because it isn't in Ireland. The one that I posted is Trim Castle.

>17 karenmarie: Thanks Karen!

>18 johnsimpson: Thank you, John. Hugs to you and Karen.

>19 streamsong: Hi Janet, it was a great trip although a bit long as I was gone for a month. Thanks for the reading encouragement but I think you were reading the wrong ticker. Unfortunately the 70 in >9 Familyhistorian: is books acquired for 2019 (I need to do something about that). Books read is in >6 Familyhistorian: and that currently stands at 85 as I haven't written up my latest.

Happy new thread, Meg. Love the topper. I still need to organize my Ireland photos!

Happy new thread!

New thread, by cracky. Good. Be happy.

Happy new thread!

Welcome back, Meg. Happy New Thread! It sounds like you had a wonderful trip.

>23 BLBera: Thanks Beth. My photos are not organized by any means which I should do something about especially since I may have lost a bunch of them with my last computer melt down.

>24 drneutron: Thanks Jim.

>25 weird_O: I'll try my best, Bill!

>26 figsfromthistle: Thanks Anita.

>27 msf59: It's good to be back, Mark. My trip was great!

>22 Familyhistorian: Oh, whoops, totally wrong counter!**blush blush** But hey, if I cheer you on, I bet you can reach 75 books acquired in a week or two. Want me to send you half a dozen?

Happy new thread, Meg!

>30 Carmenere: Thanks Lynda!

I am taking the liberating step of starting to rid my TBR stacks of books that I will never finish reading. Among those going out to today are a life of being, having, and doing enough (sounded like something I would like but altogether to much of a religious overtone) and Gone Girl which I just couldn't get into.

>21 Familyhistorian: Thanks for that clarification, Meg. Were you able to tour the interior of Trim Castle? Three of us, Bryony, Claire and I, did go inside Rochester Castle, which has been converted into a museum. The most notable feature of the castle is the damage done to its exterior walls and the viewpoints, which occurred during the First Barons' War in 1215, after King John of England refused to honor the Magna Carta that he signed earlier that year. As a result powerful English landowners, backed by the French Army, engaged in a civil war against the King, and during the war ships sailed up the River Medway and fired cannons from them that damaged the castle. Rochester is about 30 miles southeast of London, and a visit there is a great day trip, as it's also the setting for several of Charles Dickens' novels and, IIRC, the largest secondhand bookshop in England is located there, not far from the castle and the very impressive Rochester Cathedral.

Happy new thread, Meg!

>2 Familyhistorian: The noble art of reading from the shelves ;-)
The last few years I am doing my best to read my own books. I was doing well this year (about 50/50 own/library) until I found many books of my TBR-list available at the library last week. And of course then some library holds came in.

>33 kidzdoc: No we didn't go inside Trim Castle, Darryl. We did check out the various structures on the grounds. This trip I saw inside cathedrals, crypts, ships and ruined churches but no castles. Maybe that makes up for the castle tour I took in Scotland in 2015.

>34 FAMeulstee: Sounds like you are doing a lot better than I am on reading from your own shelves, Anita. I hear you on the library holds. Those are my downfall as well. It is just so easy to click the hold button and then when you get the book home you find that someone else has clicked the hold button on the same book so you have to read it quickly to get it back in time. It's hard to read your own books if a bunch of library hold books are taking up your reading time.

>2 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg. I just read your introduction and it really resonated with me. I have been concentrating on reading from my own shelves and I am doing really well with that. Unfortunately I am still adding far too many both to my shelves and on my kindles. I also am having difficulty keeping up with all my LT buddies, but it seems like everyone understands that I am moving at a slower pace these days. When it comes to challenges, well, it seems I just can't control myself there but I am learning not to feel too guilty if I don't get to everything I wanted to each month.

The weatherman is predicting a couple of really warm days coming up which is ok by me. I don't mind a couple as long as we aren't facing weeks of hot weather.

Happy new thread Meg and glad to see you had a great trip!

>37 DeltaQueen50: Ha Judy, you made me go back and read what I wrote in my intro. I'm not doing too well with my aims to read from my shelves to date. Maybe I will be better at that now that I am home again and, hopefully with catching up with the threads.

I am loving the warmth - I didn't get the warm days of May that you all did!

>38 lkernagh: Thanks Lori. The trip was great but reentry is busy!

86. Old Baggage by Lissa Evans

Ever wonder what happened to old suffragettes once the vote was won? Old Baggage was the story of Matilda Simpkins, an old campaigner from the movement. She missed the old days, the protests and the sense of purpose but then she came up with a scheme to inspire the girls of the current day (the late 1920s). It was a noble purpose, derailed by her family’s past.

Realistic but never maudlin, Old Baggage was a realistic look at the time between the wars. Matilda was an irrepressible but sympathetic character.

>29 streamsong: I missed you up there. Thought that you had read the wrong ticker but I really don't need any help to reach 75 acquired because I am already there. *sigh*

I have been on the go ever since I got back on June 1. The main reason why I returned when I did was to make sure that I got my application in for this October's Surrey International Writer's Conference. Last year I almost missed out because I was away at the beginning of June when registration opened. The conference has become so popular that it sells out quickly. I am now all set for the conference.

The last week was also full of social occasions with a lunch with a friend that I hadn't had a conversation with for about 10 years, coffee with my two coffee buddies (tea for me), a visit to the dentist, a meeting with my women's groups, a meeting of the PoCo Heritage exhibit committee. The week culminated in an exhibit opening on Saturday which was really well attended.

This week is shaping up as a full one as well. Today I attended an historical reminiscing session but once I got home I actually put in some time with the books. More reviews to come.

Whew, it's a warm one out there 30 C which, according to Google, is 86 F. As usual the day has been busy. I dropped off some books at the used book store, sat in on an interview for a volunteer for the exhibit committee at PoCo Heritage and after that I took the Skytrain to downtown Vancouver to pick up my library holds:

The Marvels
Memories of the Future
Underground: A Human History of the Worlds Beneath our Feet

There are people waiting for the last two books so those will have to be quick reads. (As opposed to renewing them another two times giving me nine weeks to fit them in to the roaster.)

87. Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story by Peter Bagge

Biographic graphic novels are a great way to learn about someone’s life. Not only do you find out the highlights of the events in their lives, you get to see them and the people in their lives in action, so to speak. I am sure that I could have found prose biographies of Margaret Sanger as she was a well-known birth control advocate in the early days of the movement but I really enjoyed Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story. It was interesting to see Sanger’s interactions with those close to her as well as other well-known personalities of the day.

Happy (not so) new thread, Meg. Glad the trip was a success.

>45 Familyhistorian: - I have also read a few bios in this format. I just requested this one from my library, thanks!

>46 jessibud2: Hi Shelley, thanks re the trip. It was great, I'm did lots and still haven't figured out all the info that I brought home.

I really enjoy GN bios. The pictures just add a certain something. I hope that you are getting some time to relax now.

>32 Familyhistorian: I am taking the liberating step of starting to rid my TBR stacks of books that I will never finish reading. Congrats! I've gotten better at getting rid of books in the last several years, although there are a few shelves upstairs filled with old mass market paperback romances that need a good culling...

Hi, Meg.

Congrats on getting into that Surrey International Writers Conference that was your #1 priority when arriving home. And you've been busy! It all sounds good, though.

Nice reviews. I like that cover of Old Baggage, and it sounds intriguing.

I think GN bios and memoirs are among the strongest uses of that format. So many good ones!

>48 karenmarie: I am at the point where books are on every spare surface in my bedroom so I have to do something, Karen. Good luck with your culling!

>49 jnwelch: Thanks Joe, I almost missed out on SIWC last year and had to go on a wait list to get in. It has gotten scarily popular over the last few years. I think that the cover was part of the reason why I picked up Old Baggage. I was surprised to find out that I had another book by Lissa Evans at home, Their Finest, aka Their Finest Hour and a Half in the US. I'll have to drag that off the shelf sometime soon.

I am behind on reviews as usual but hope to catch up soon. I have a few books lined up and one of them is a Lucy Knisley sort-of-memoir. Have you come across her work in your GN memoir reading?

I have loved all of Evans' books that I've read and am looking forward to Old Baggage, Meg. Great comments.

>52 BLBera: I hope you enjoy Old Baggage, Beth. Did you read Their Finest and, if you did, did you like it?

>51 Familyhistorian: Yes, I love Lucy Knisley! One of the few of hers I haven't read is Relish (food and cooking), and Madame MBH loved that one.

>54 jnwelch: Relish is one of the few that I have read, Joe. You should read it.

88. Braking for Bodies by Duffy Brown

I enjoy Duffy Brown’s Consignment Shop Mystery series so thought I would enjoy her Cycle Path Mystery series. By the time that I realized there was a new series, the second book was the only volume to had in my local bookshop. I am not sure if the sophomore curse jinxed the series for me or if it was just too over the top for me. I read to the end but had a hard time keeping the characters straight or even semi believing in their hijinks. Maybe it will work for you but this series is off my list.

ETA: According to LT I actually have the first book in the series somewhere on the shelves. Why didn't I find it? Should I read it given that I wasn't too fond of the second book in the series?

Following your discussions about Lucy Knisley and her GNs. I have always liked her books and recently read Kid Gloves. It is not for the faint of heart discussing her challenges around conception and birth. It is straight forward and honest (but maybe a little intense!)

>57 mdoris: Hi Mary, I have that one on the shelves but I haven't read more than that of my Lucy Knisley collection. I will bear that in mind when I get to that one. I wonder if she has another in the offing?

Hi, Meg. I hope things are beginning to slow down for you. Good review of woman Rebel. I am always interested in a GN bio. I am reading the Frida Kahlo one now and it is very good.

>59 msf59: No signs of anything slowing down yet, Mark. Tonight was the monthly meeting of my genealogy society but I usually get there early and take a trek to a bookstore which is a little hike from there. Not sure if I should have walked that far in the 32 C heat but I picked up a couple of good ones:
The Corpse with the Diamond Hand and The Confessions of Frannie Langton.

There were also books for sale at the genealogy meeting and strawberry shortcake and we got to talk family history. So I enjoyed myself oh, and someone was giving away rhubarb so I go some of that too.

Does the Frida Kahlo bio have any of her art in it?

89. Hum If You Don't Know the Words by Bianca Marais

My book club selected Hum If You Don’t Know the Words for this month’s selection. I had no idea what it was about. Turns out it was a story about apartheid in South Africa in the ‘70s. Not something that I knew much about.

It was a deeply moving story because Marais focused on two characters, a young white girl whose parents were killed as a result of black unrest stirred up by a student uprising hijacked by outside forces. The other character was a black woman looking for her daughter who was one of the leaders of the student uprising. How the characters came together and negotiated their relationship while trying to fulfill their own needs told a lot about the time and place in which they live and the ability of humans to overcome their differences to forge a deep connection.

>61 Familyhistorian: Meg this sounds good. On to the list it goes.

>61 Familyhistorian: - I have this one in the pile on the floor. Picked it up at Costco, of all places. It does sound good.

It was really warm here yesterday, Meg. According to Environment Canada, even Richmond was up to 86 F, which is so unusual. You are more inland than me, and so I thought you would have a higher temperature than us. There was no breeze and even going for a walk with Dave and Poppy at around 9:30 - 11 pm last evening, it was warm out. It sounds like you had a wonderful if busy trip. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm just not sure why Old Baggage did not work for me. Book funk? But my current read, a pick from the library is shaping up to be fascinating. So good news on that front. As I mentioned on my thread, I really loved Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans. Maybe I had my hopes too high?

>62 mdoris: It was very good, Mary.

>63 jessibud2: May be time to pick it up off the floor, Shelley.

>64 vancouverdeb: The high was 32C in Coquitlam yesterday, Deborah. Definitely a warm one and still too warm for a jacket when I got out of my meeting in Burnaby around 9:00 pm. Too bad about your reaction to Old Baggage. I thought the idea of an old suffragette as a character was really well done but then I am interested in that history and I am sure I have meet characters like that in real life. Good that your latest read is treating you well.

It's been a busy conference week. We play games most evenings so I haven't gotten a lot of reading in.

>67 thornton37814: I hope you're enjoying the conference, Lori. Are you attending sessions as well as giving them?

90. Death in a Darkening Mist by Iona Whishaw

The second book in the Lane Winslow series, Death in a Darkening Mist was set in the snowy winter. Getting around in the snow was something more that Lane had to get used to in her new home but she accompanied a neighbour to some hot springs where the body of a Russian man was found in a change room. Here Lane’s knowledge of languages came in handy in questioning some of the witnesses and she once again became involved in the investigation of one of Inspector Darling’s cases.

He was still somewhat skeptical about her involvement and her past but could’nt seem to keep away. Watching these two dance around their feeling for each other is one of the delights of this series. Oh, and yeah, the mystery got solved and there was some life or death action along the way.

Someone was giving away rhubarb at the meeting I was at on Wednesday night and I picked up strawberries at the farmers market yesterday. I didn't have the patience to make pastry and had some milk I needed to use up so decided to make a strawberry rhubarb cobbler. It's pretty good.

Old Baggage winging its way to my library for me; Inspector Darling caught me full in the face so A Killer in King's Cove is doing likewise; I made my YGC a lemon blueberry cobbler so I'm narrowly averting a trip to the CVS to get some strawberry ice cream to slake the craving; castle photos are always sigh-worthy.

Great weekend!

>71 richardderus: Lemon blueberry cobbler sounds delicious, Richard. I hope YCG appreciates it, but I'm sure he will. Glad I caught you with a couple and one the beginning of a series, no less. Have a wonderful weekend your own self.

>70 Familyhistorian: That looks great, Meg! I'm still on the lookout for rhubarb locally, so that I can make a strawberry rhubarb custard pie. Hopefully I'll have better luck tomorrow.

>70 Familyhistorian: Wow, Meg that looks yummy!

>73 kidzdoc: Good luck with your rhubarb search, Darryl. I haven't seen any at the farmers market but someone brought this in from their garden so I grabbed it.

>74 mdoris: Thanks Mary. It is!

>70 Familyhistorian: Yum.

I did read Their Finest, Meg and loved it although Crooked Heart is my favorite.

>76 BLBera: Hi Beth, since you thought so highly of Crooked Heart, I had to see if my library has it. They do and there was a description that sounds very interesting. Wait, I think you got me with a BB on my own thread!

Hi Meg!

>70 Familyhistorian: Yum. I love rhubarb, haven't done anything with it for years and years although I've seen it at the grocery store occasionally.

>78 karenmarie: It had been a long time since I had used rhubarb too, Karen. When I cut into it the aroma reminded me of baking years with family in old kitchens. It tastes very good too.

>75 Familyhistorian: I found rhubarb at Whole Foods Market this morning! I'll make strawberry rhubarb custard pie tomorrow.

>80 kidzdoc: Sounds good, Darryl. I'll check your thread for pictures. I want to see how it turns out.

>77 Familyhistorian: Happy to be of service, Meg. :)

>82 BLBera: :)

>68 Familyhistorian: I co-led the technical services roundtable, and I co-presented for an indexing training session. The other presenter really did the majority of the work though. The conference ended Thursday night. We tend to play games until late evening at that conference. It worked really well, and we found a way to extend the game beyond the 8 players by using the notes app on phones. We never had more than about 12 at a time because other games were being played, but it was fun.

>84 thornton37814: It sounds like a fun and relaxing conference, Lori. I hope you enjoyed it.

Hi Meg, thanks for stopping by my dear, I do hope that if you come over again we get the chance to meet up and I ma sure that you would enjoy York. Sadly the rain has not let up just yet and the forecast for the next few days is not too good either. Hope you are having a really good weekend dear friend.

>86 johnsimpson: Hi John, it is fine and sunny here and I actually have a day off from my social round which is nice. Off to the library in a few minutes. I hope that your weather improves soon. Ours is nice but a bit concerning for a rain forest and there are worries about the wild fire season later this summer.

91. Not Fade Away: How to Thrive in Retirement by Celia Dodd

I am still reading up on retirement. Trying to see if I am doing it right, I suppose. Not Fade Away: How to Thrive in Retirement was a breath of fresh air compared to other books in this genre. For one thing it didn’t talk about your 401k, whatever that is, or about concerns about health coverage. This was a British book, so while the author did natter on about women retiring at 60 and men at 65 before the rules changed, those rules did change and she just got on with the other themes of the book.

Those themes were covered in chapters about things like loss of identity and status, living as couples or as singles, moving house and grandchildren. There were a whole lot of other things covered as well and the author had clearly done some research and had found people who had dealt with many of the issues. It was a really worth while look at this next phase of life and the different ways you can go about it.

>88 Familyhistorian: Not Fade Away sounds both good and timely. I'll be on the lookout for it.



My strawberry rhubarb custard pie turned out better than I expected. I'll post the recipe on my thread later today or tomorrow.

>89 kidzdoc: That looks scrumptious, Darryl. I hope you find the book helpful.

>61 Familyhistorian: Good review. I just snagged her latest novel and hope to get to both of these.

Happy Sunday, Meg. I hope you had a good weekend.

I've enjoyed catching up here, Meg, especially with all the yummy rhubarb desserts on display. I've spent the last couple of days organizing all my e-books and scaring myself with how many books I have stashed on my various Kindles. I need to read, read, read!

>91 msf59: Sunday was the best day because I didn't have anything to do but go to the library and pick up my latest holds. It was a nice change after more social events, book club on Friday evening to discuss Hum If You Don't Know the Words. A lot of the ladies hadn't finished it but there are lots of school teachers in the group so I think they had other things to occupy them. Saturday was a friend's retirement party.

Hope you enjoy Marais' work, Mark.

>92 DeltaQueen50: Don't all the rhubarb desserts look scrumptious, Judy? What do you do with the ebooks once they are read? I have some (not many) on my Kobo but never actually read them because I prefer physical books. They take up a lot more room and are threatening to take over my bedroom - at least Kindle books can't do that!

>89 kidzdoc: I am anxiously waiting for the arrival of strawberries, Meg.

>95 BLBera: I hope strawberry time comes for you soon, Beth. Local strawberries are the best!

92. Two of The Talented Thomsons by John A. Libby Fine Art

I have a small collection of books about the Group of Seven and Tom Thomson, with an emphasis on Thomson. No doubt there are more books about Thomson because of the mystery that surrounds his death and, after all, it may all be fascinating but, in my case, it is also family history research. Which is why a book about two other Thomson artists, George and Margaret, also has shelf space in my own library.

Two of The Talented Thomsons is a very thin book which gives the background of the siblings and information about their painting lives as well as photos of some of their paintings. George and Margaret used to go on painting expeditions together. It makes me wonder if Tom would have joined them in later life had he lived.

>94 Familyhistorian: Meg, I delete the books I read from my Kindle and off they go up to "the Cloud", there they remain unless I want to bring them back down to my Kindle. I think of the cloud as a gigantic storeroom both of books already read and now, I am going to sort my e-books and store some unread ones up there until I am ready for them.

>98 DeltaQueen50: Storing the unread ones up in the cloud until you are ready sounds like a lot less intimidating plan, Judy.

>97 Familyhistorian: A year ago, I got a DRC of Who Killed Tom Thomson? and have yet to review it...suffice to say it was a very, very, very interesting story. I am annoyed that I can't lend it to you, but it's not enabled for such; I'd still recommend that you read it. I found the social history of Canada parts as interesting as the murder mystery itself.

>97 Familyhistorian:, >100 richardderus: - I have 2 books by Roy MacGregor about the Thomson case currently on my shelf: Canoe Lake and Northern Light. I did read another about him but the title and author escape me at the moment. I, too, am fascinated by his story, and his life. For some reason, there doesn't seem to be a touchstone for Northern Light. I would love to read the titles you both mention in your posts. Richard, when Meg visited me last summer, we visited the McMichael Gallery, which specializes in The Group of Seven and we saw Thomson's original cabin.

>101 jessibud2: The McMichael Gallery goes on my bucket list!

>102 richardderus: - It's a gorgeous museum in a stunning setting, the buildings in among the trees. Really beautiful.

>100 richardderus: Thanks Richard. I have a copy of Who Killed Tom Thomson which I need to get back to. I started it but then had to put it aside while getting ready for my trip. >101 jessibud2: Canoe Lake and Northern Light are also on my shelves, unread.



The McMichael Gallery

Tom Thomson's Shack



The sign on the shack

I have a few other books about Tom Thomson on the shelves. Among them are two books by Angie Littlefield The Thomsons of Durham and Tom Thomson's fine kettle of friends. She write about his life and times and is working on another book right now (well, at least she was but I think I overwhelmed her with what I sent when she asked me for info about my great grandmother).

>104 Familyhistorian: - Well, the touchstone for Canoe Lake disappeared from my post in >101 jessibud2: and your touchstone for Northern Light leads to a different book. It never led to any in my post. Weird. Oh well...

>107 jessibud2: I fixed the touchstone in my post, Shelley. I didn't notice it as I was having a hard time posting the photos.

93. Drama by Raina Telgemeier

Oh, the highs and lows of teens in school finding out who they are and how they fit in. Through all that brings the staging of a middle school musical together, Drama showed the lives of the cast and crew, their loves and tiffs and miscues. It was a fun story and perfect for the GN format.

Yesterday I met with two other ladies from my women's group for a walk to the park. We signed up for Zumba in the park. A large group gyrated and stomped in time to music. I tried to follow the leader on stage but it was hard to keep up with her changes. Being on grass didn't help with the foot moves. It looked like many of the group were Zumba aficionados. I really liked it and one of my friends said that it is offered just before noon every Monday. Mondays, for a moment I thought that I had nothing happening on Mondays then reality set in. I am involved in other things around noon on 3 Mondays out of the month, ha!

94. Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

Hidden Figures was one of the few books that I read after seeing the movie. I could see the basic facts that were drawn from the narrative to make up the screenplay. There was a much tighter focus on the four women in the film and there were changes made to their lives for the movie. The time frame was also shortened to concentrate on the space race years while the book started during WWII.

I appreciated knowing more of the background of the story but I read it very much as an addition to the film narrative that I already knew. Perhaps the book would have grabbed me more if I hadn’t picked up the young readers’ edition by mistake.

Today I am off to a genealogy meeting and then will meet a friend for lunch afterwards. Last night was a bbq with a few friends. I don't remember having this many social things to do before I went on my trip. Maybe people get together more in the summer? I did manage to get my blog article written and posted for today. This time it is about looking at family trees in a different way and is at A Genealogist's Path to History.

>111 Familyhistorian: Oh dear, the young persons' version couldn't have been a happy substitution. Sorry for the let-down, as the adult-strength version was very involving to me. I liked the broader time setting. That context made my appreciation of the story's obstacles so much deeper.

>112 Familyhistorian: Have a lovely time today!

>113 richardderus: I appreciated the longer time for the story development too, Richard. It explained how the characters were in place to eventually become part of the space program. The less complex plot and explaining of terms did get to me a bit, though.

I had an excellent day - walk, meeting, lunch and then shopping. So, it was good although the weather was colder than usual and the sun didn't make an appearance. (We were looking forward to lunching on a patio.)

95. Memories of the Future by Siri Hustvedt

In Memories of the Future, the story was written from the point of view of a woman of a certain age looking back on her twenty something self with the aid of notebooks she kept at the time. Her younger self was an aspiring writer who moved to NYC, giving herself a year to write a book.

During that time, she made friends, dealt with the reality of becoming a ghost writer to make enough money to eat and lived through a traumatic incident which brought her into closer contact with her strange neighbour and friends.

Sprinkled throughout the work were bon mots that made me go hmm and quotes that struck a chord.

From her mother who was in a home due to her worsening dementia; “I’ve been watching TV,” my mother said to me yesterday when we spoke on the telephone. “Can that man be president? He’s so ill-mannered, so vulgar. He doesn’t make sense.” (This firmly placed me in the present time of the narrator's older self.)

And, among the actions and words that tried to contain the young female character the snippet where the woman as a young girl sought to emulate her physician father and he praised her with, “You’ll make a fine nurse” was just the beginning of the formation of a young life which others were trying to stunt by gender.

So off to the library again to pick up more holds but at least I finished the one I just reviewed. That leaves me with four library books to finish quickly because of other people's holds. It remains to be seen if other readers have reserved the books I am going to pick up today. Maybe this is part of the reason why my reading is speeding up?

>116 Familyhistorian: It certainly acts as a spur to me!

Hi Meg.

I did a clean out of my Little Free Library last week and now I'm anxious to see if it gets a bit more attention. It went pretty quiet during the winter, both in terms of my custodianship and neighbors' engagement.

I did not know about the mystery around Tom Thomson's death. I love his art work as I do the others in the Group of Seven. My 2018 wall calendar was a "Group of Seven" collection. Richard's comments have me wanting to read Who Killed Tom Thomson?.

I love LT. I always learn new things around here!

>115 Familyhistorian: Nice review of Memories of the Future, Meg. I hope that it is chosen for this year's Booker Prize longlist.

I suspect that there will be many more novels written with a trumpian character at the center or periphery of the story. This morning's NPR Weekend Edition included an interview with the British author Sadie Jones, whose latest novel The Snakes is centered on a wealthy, vulgar and amoral family; she said that the most evil character in the book is based on trump.

ETA: The Snakes comes out in the UK and US on Tuesday, but it's already received a couple of 5 star reviews on LT; could it be Booker Prize material as well? I enjoyed her novel The Outcast, so I hope that it makes the cut for the longlist.

>117 richardderus: Do your's all come in bunches too, Richard? I sometimes think the librarians do it on purpose.

>118 EBT1002: Sometimes a lack of attention to your Little Free Library is a good thing, Ellen. The one that I always visited in the park has been taken down. It was probably a preventive measure because someone was setting fire to LFLs. There were seven LFLs hit the city that borders ours. I hope your little free library garners lots of positive attention.

The death of Tom Thomson is part of our national mythology and I have known about it for most of my life. I need to get back to reading Who Killed Tom Thomson? but, if you want another take on the mystery check out https://www.canadianmysteries.ca/en/index.php. The episode Death on a Painted Lake: The Tom Thomson Tragedy is the one about Thomson's death and the mystery surrounding it.

>119 kidzdoc: Memories of the Future seemed Booker worthy to me, Darryl. I hope it makes the list. I am not too sure about The Snakes. It doesn't really appeal due to the title and the focus on trumpian kind of people (I usually leave the room if he comes on TV.) I hope you enjoy it.

Hustvedt is one of my favorite writers, Meg. I can't wait to get to her latest. Nice comments.

I have Hidden Figures on my to read list as well, but after seeing the movie, which I loved, I haven't felt any rush to get to it. Eventually...

Hi Meg!

Your blog is always interesting, and the Tripp family line with Tripps marrying Tripps and being closer through the female line to the original settler... it's fascinating. You must have gone cross-eyed a couple of times as you were working on it.

>123 BLBera: That was my first book by Hustvedt, Beth. What other ones have you read and liked? The only reason I read Hidden Figures now was because of a challenge or else it would have sat on the shelf for a lot longer. The movie was really well done.

Hi Karen, the Tripps marrying the Tripps was one thing but the fact that the mothers of both of those Tripps were sisters with the maiden names of Cudworth really boggles the mind. It appears that the Tripp couple only had one child. I wonder if that was because the couple were so closely related (double first cousins once removed)?

I don't seem to be getting much reading time in lately as events keep groping up. Yesterday I went to a chat session on DNA put on by my genealogy society. That takes up a fair chunk of the day as the trip there and back is about an hour and a half to two hours depending on traffic.

Today is a free day, sort of. But I sense cleaning in my future. It was cold enough to bake potatoes yesterday and one of them exploded in the oven. I hate when that happens and I made sure to stab it before I put it in. *sigh*

>127 Familyhistorian: Sorry about the potato. I was at the National Archives in Atlanta yesterday. I spent a couple hours at the Georgia Archives this morning before heading home.

I've read The Summer without Men, The Sorrows of an American, The Blazing World, What I Loved, to name the ones I can remember. She also writes interesting essays about art and neuroscience. She's a smart cookie.

>128 thornton37814: Thanks re the potato, Lori. I hope you found lots of interesting stuff.

>129 BLBera: I'll have to look out for some of those titles, Beth.

After cleaning up exploded potato and doing some editing, I went for a walk. I was walking around Lafarge Park and was on the sidewalk at the edge of the upper part of the park when a car started honking on the busy roadway beside me. I looked and then I knew the driver was probably trying to warn me because the cars stopped for a minute for the two black bears running across the road towards the park. They crossed the sidewalk a few yards behind me and I could see that their angle would take them to a rougher, more natural area at the corner of the park. The area was fenced off and they were kind of baffled by that (they were juveniles). I didn't stop to take pics as I wasn't sure if they would come up the fence line toward me. At that part of the park the sidewalk goes around a corner as it runs beside the cross street to the one that the bears had run across. I decided to cross that road in case the bears figured out how to get over the fence and made a bee line across the rough area and emerged on the sidewalk.

I may not have taken a pic of the bears but, because I was on the other side of the street I saw the red dresses hung in the trees at Douglas College to raise awareness of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.



This is one of the dresses.

Bears! Wow! We had a black bear roaming around one of our elementary schools last summer - wildlife people captured it and released it in the mountains to the west.

>133 drneutron: The place where I live is at the bottom of mountains and I am beside a river surrounded by a park which is a natural route for the bears to follow. There are lots of bear sightings here but usually not that close. There is actually a school right next to the river park but, when the kids are outside they make a lot of noise so the bears seem to stay away.

96. The Earl's Mistress by Liz Carlyle

I used to read a steady diet of historical romances but LT has changed that. Now when I read books like The Earl’s Mistress I am a lot more critical of what I am reading unless the story just pulls me in. This book started out well but once the characters got over the first will they or won’t they get together, there were far too many sex scenes which didn’t move the plot along.

97. Underground: A Human History of the Worlds Beneath Our Feet by Will Hunt

I enjoy reading about archaeology and thought that Underground: A Human History of the Worlds Beneath Our Feet would be about that discipline. It wasn’t. It was about the various underground systems, like transportation systems and sewer systems, that are under our cities and the people that live in them and explore them. It was also about caves. There are some places in the world where caves are more prevalent than others. I hadn’t really thought about that.

Hunt has explored underground worlds most of his life and has gone all over the world to do so. Along the way he has encountered various beliefs about subterranean life which he goes into in the book. From the beliefs of the Lakota, to Paris’ underground catacombs, to New York subway graffiti artists, it all is explored in this interesting book.

>132 Familyhistorian: Wow! Bear alerts given by passing motorists. You *do* realize how igloos-and-curling that sounds to us USns, right?

>137 richardderus: LOL They weren't polar bears, Richard, they were black bears and it happened close to an area that looks like this



No igloos in sight.

>137 richardderus: >138 Familyhistorian: Quite a few black bears wander outside Great Smoky Mountains National Park nowadays. They find them in Knoxville near businesses quite often. Of course bear encounters are a bit more common closer to the park itself in places like Gatlinburg. One of my favorite stories of the last couple of years is the bear that got on the roof of Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies. Last year a bear was seen in the parking lot of one of the Cracker Barrels in Knoxville. I can't remember whether he went to or from the movie theater across the street, but it appeared he wanted dinner and a movie in some order. A few years ago the now-retired head of security at our university sent a message to students to warn them about a bear seen in the area, warning them to keep their distance. His message included a line about the bear being on his way to Walmart to shop for the Mrs. We now measure all messages from security by the standard of that one, and sadly none measure up since the arrival of the new security chief.

>138 Familyhistorian:, >139 thornton37814: Bear sightings and interactions will become more and more frequent as the climate shifts around the globe. I wonder how it'll go for the bears.

I'm Morally Certain there are igloos behind that photographer. After all, it's Canada. Oh, and where's the moose?

>138 Familyhistorian:, >139 thornton37814:, >140 richardderus: Bear sightings are becoming more frequent in the nearby suburbs of metro Atlanta, and last year at least two black bears were captured on video within the city, one in the wealthy Buckhead neighborhood about five miles north of where I live, and another outside of the county jail downtown, which is even closer to me. Given that Pittsburgh, like Atlanta, has plenty of wooded areas and surrounding hills and mountains I wouldn't be surprised if there were bear sightings there as well.

ETA: Yep.

>139 thornton37814: We have lots of black bears in the neighbourhood, Lori. Traffic often stops for them where I live and they have been known to halt transit when they wander onto the Skytrain track. They are a nuisance around garbage and it is an offense in our city to put your garbage out early or to have feeders that will attract wildlife (which, when I last checked include the birds that the feeders are for.)

>140 richardderus: It is not so much climate shift as encroachment on their habitat, Richard. There is limited room to build where we are so homes are built up the mountain. You are thinking about another part of Canada if you think igloos. We don't even get weather as cold as yours in the winter.

>141 kidzdoc: I didn't realize that bears were common in Atlanta, Darryl. They have been frequent sights around here for over a decade now and bear aware signs like this one come out in the spring every years.



I can remember going for a walk in a park on Islay in Scotland back in 2010 and being so relaxed because I didn't have to stay alert for bears.

>138 Familyhistorian: and I have a friend here in New York (state) who regularly sees black bears in her backyard and hers aren't the only reports I've heard. Also friends in Lake Lure, NC are regularly visited by black bears.

Sadly near the Smokies, the bears are getting too accustomed to being fed by humans. They've learned to rummage in garbage. Several have figured out how to get into cars as well. One of my friends works with Appalachian Bear Rescue which helps rehabitate injured bears to the Smokies.

>132 Familyhistorian: Love the bears story. The red dresses story is sad. I have heard about those.

Sweet Thursday, Meg. Thank you so much for keeping my thread warm, while I was out east, checking out battlefields and nature.

>145 RebaRelishesReading: I guess that black bear sightings are more common than I thought, Reba.

>146 thornton37814: We have a problem with bears and garbage too, Lori.

>147 msf59: The red dress story is a sad and all too common one, Mark. I volunteer for Port Coquitlam Heritage Society and we have not yet determined how to deal with the history of the Pickton farm in our area.

Sounds like you had a wonderful time on your trip, Mark. I envy you the battlefield visits. I would like to visit a few where my great grandmother's brother fought.

>136 Familyhistorian: This one does sound interesting, Meg.

I'm not sure I would be such an enthusiastic walker if I had to watch for bears. Stay alert, Meg!

>150 BLBera: It was a good one, Beth.

I enjoy walking but don't take some shortcuts like the trail along the river by my house because there may be bears in the forested area. I didn't expect those two bears to coming barrelling across the road from where the townhouses are, across a busy road and into the well used park. But bears are one thing, I tend to stay inside when there are cougar sightings in the area.

98. An Age of License: A Travelogue by Lucy Knisley

Lucy Knisley’s An Age of License: A Travelogue brought back memories of my own travels in my youth. She was 20 something and needed something to give her distance from the routine of her own life so agreed to participate in some comic conferences in Iceland and Europe. It was scary and exhilarating at the same time. (A feeling I can relate to.)

How wonderful to get the narrative of this exploration down so soon after it happened. It would be great to have this memory of your own life to look back on. The narrative also something that can tug at the readers' own memories of this exploratory time in their own lives.

99. Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

Southall in London has a large Indian population and that was where most of the action of Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows took place. This large population brought their culture with them. Tradition was that widows dressed in white and, with the death of their husbands, their roles were restricted. That didn’t stop their imaginations, though, as Nikki, a London born modern girl, finds out when she agreed to teach a course in English at the community centre. The women were more interested in telling erotic stories. In spite of her misgivings, Nikki found the stories helped foster a bond between the women so they continued even as she started hearing more about some deaths of women in the community.

This story combined both a mystery and an introduction to the culture of a transplanted community within a larger city. It was so good that I want to read more by this author.

Meg, I find myself in a book funk! You on the other hand are going great guns. I don't envy your historical society figuring out how to handle to the Pickton Farms. Probably best left forgotton, but probably that is not possible. I recall visiting the old Oakalla Correctional Centre at the suggestion of a close friend. It was closing, so they were giving tours and my friends dad had worked as a parole officer with prisoner in Oakella. That was quite a creepy visit! I saw the where they used to hang people , and also the so called " hole " where they held prisoners in solitary confinement. Not really my cup of tea. My SIL and BIL now live either on the old grounds or close to it and there is some old fashioned historical jail near to their place. Now, that is fine. But the old Oakella! Scary stuff!

>154 vancouverdeb: There are some notorious places around BC, Deborah. I never got to see Oakalla, at least to go through but can remember seeing the remaining tower of Woodlands School when I went to Douglas College in New Westminster. That was another bad chapter in BC's history. I hope you are able to find a book to pull you out of your book funk.

>153 Familyhistorian: I'm put off by the title, but the story sounds entertaining. Maybe a library borrow at some point.

Happy Sunday and a pleasurable week ahead.

>154 vancouverdeb: I am also in a bit of a sluggish reading mood after knocking a few off on the aeroplanes to and fro England.

My second half of 2019 will need to be something special if I am to get even close to my reading goals.

Have a lovely Sunday, Meg.

>156 richardderus: I was actually expecting a collection of short stories from the title but it turned out to be an interesting story, Richard. Mine was also a library read.

>157 PaulCranswick: I think you might have a few other things on your mind, Paul. Perhaps when some of that is dealt with reading might entice you once again.

100. Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez

I knew things were stacked against us. How could I not, having spent all of my years on this planet as a female? I didn’t realize how bad it was until I read about it all in one book, Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men.

The book covers many topics, from transportation systems designed by men that don’t allow for women’s typical journeys which include the stops made to drop kids off or to look in on elderly family members, to how tax rebates are paid out. Women’s unpaid labour is often talked about throughout the narrative.

Perez also looks at how things are designed based on the typical man so that everything from clothes to cars to the height of grocery store shelves is a bad fit for female bodies (I’m not sure the grocery shelves are in the book, but they are one of my pet peeves, although driver airbags run a close second.) Even worse data affects the world of medicine like drugs that aren’t tested on females, do they even work on women or could they be detrimental to their health? Then there are those symptoms that don’t fit the typical male response, like during heart attacks when every minute counts.

The author also looked at the aid offered after disasters which can be woefully lacking if men are the only planners. Even worse, life in refuge camps and temporary shelters prolongs the disaster for females often bringing out predatory behaviour in the men who occupy the same places.

It was a very thought provoking look at how women are treated in the world and a call for more women to be included in decision making, that is, if their voices can be heard.

>160 Familyhistorian: Good review Meg. It is not all suprising but nonetheless an important book to read.

>161 mdoris: Have you read it, Mary?

Hi Meg, hope your holiday weekend is going well. We are having a quiet one but will venture out tomorrow evening to watch the local fireworks display. I'm fine with the bears as long as you keep them on your side of the city. Out here on flat Delta, we just have to worry about racoons and squirrels - those I can face!

>160 Familyhistorian: Your 100th read was a trenchant one indeed. The complete invisibility of women in medical trials has always shocked me.

>153 Familyhistorian: I've heard good things about this one, Meg. Time to add it to my summer reading list.

Congrats on reaching 100 books -- and with a good one, too. What is really scary are the health implications. When I wrote patient education materials, I worked with the Women's Health Clinic, and realized that many symptoms and treatments are tailored for men, that they don't work as well for women. It's especially crucial, as you mention for things like heart attacks, when women can have very different symptoms from men.

>163 DeltaQueen50: Hope you enjoy the fireworks, Judy. I am just happy that I no longer have to go to work after our city's firework display. I have never seen it but can't get away from the sound as they let off the fireworks on the water at Lafarge Park which is very close to me. Maybe they will scare the bears away?

Are you sure you don't want any of our predators out your way? If you don't like bears we also have cougars and coyotes.

>164 richardderus: Apparently women are too "complicated" and can skew results, Richard. Although one would think that a drug that is effective for both sexes would be better than the current state of pharmaceuticals.

>165 BLBera: Thanks Beth, the health implications are scary. I knew it was bad but didn't realize how bad, until I read the book. Also very concerning was her look at how female politicians are treated, not only do their fellow male politicians try to silence them but so does the public through social media attacks. Cultural attempts to keep women under control are also touched on in Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows.

>162 Familyhistorian: No Meg, I haven't read it but I've put it on reserve, with thanks!

>169 mdoris: Glad to be of service. LOL

>152 Familyhistorian: That one sounds fun!

Congrats on 100 books read!

>166 Familyhistorian: Definitely a "No" to the bears and cougars, Meg. We do get coyotes here, in fact up by our previous house coyotes just about wiped out the neighbourhood's cat population.

Have you seen the documentary "Miss Representation"? It was made in 2011, so it's a bit dated, but it gave examples of how female politicians and candidates are described. Much more conversation about their clothes and hair. When do we mention those things for male candidates -- of course Trump gets mention for the orange hair, but normally, it's not an issue. You'd think we could move past that.

>171 thornton37814: Thanks Lori. The Lucy Knisley GNs are really good.

>172 DeltaQueen50: Coyotes are hard on cats, Judy. When we moved closer to the river our cat just went out in the daytime and in the front of the house. I hadn't worried as much about her when she was young and spry and we lived a block and a half away from the river park although I suppose I should have. I remember there was a large fat black cat that I used to see on my early morning dog walk on my way down to the river. One morning the black cat was hanging out as usual when a coyote spotted it. Chase ensued. I had never seen that cat move so fast and it some how squeezed its bulk under the fence by its house and got away.

The toothy wildlife near me are Great White Sharks. One was spotted in Long Island Sound recently. Mary Lee, our long-term visitrix, appears to have gone to the Pelagic Purgatory of the Beasts. Thankfully, they don't want the part of the planet I live on; since Jaws in 1975, I haven't gone more than ankle-deep in the ocean. Just...no.

>173 BLBera: I didn't see "Miss Representation", Beth. I had to Google it and watched a trailer. It looks interesting. I am sure if it was updated today there would be more focus on what happened in the 2016 US election.

Happy Canada Day, Meg! Both coyotes and raccoons are hard on cats. We had someone in our townhouse complex who left his cat and kitten outdoors all the time. It was not long before the little kitten disappeared and we assume it was a raccoon, though I suppose it could be a coyote too. They are big , vicious animals, those raccoons. Some else I know let her cat outdoors just briefly one morning and it appeared that the young cat was gone. She searched her property and found her cat with a broken back , and a raccoon was the culprit. The cat is still alive, but can only walk around on two legs. I don't know her well, so I am not sure if the cat has survived. I know she was devastated and took the cat for surgery for the cat and was trying rehab - getting the cat to swim etc. I'm not sure of the final outcome.

What jolly reading for Canada Day! :-) Sorry, Meg.

Congratulations on 100 books. On a happier note , our neighbours have a new kitten that is oh so cute and they are out with the kitten on a leash. It's a lot of fun to see. The kitten, named Emmie, seems to be adapting to the harness and the leash. It's so cute! My sister takes her cat out in a cat stroller that is all netted in . My sister said she does not mind if people think she is a crazy cat lady. Good for her.

^I hope you are enjoying the holiday, Meg and congrats on hitting 100 books! Hooray!

>177 vancouverdeb: I didn't realize that raccoons attacked cats, Deborah. I do know that they are vicious. I remember coming out to get in my car that was in the car port one morning and there was a raccoon sitting on one of the garbage can eating a cupcake. I just backed up and went back inside the house. Hopefully the cat that was attacked is doing well. Cats do have amazing recuperative powers.

Hope you had a great Canada Day!

>178 msf59: Double thanks, Mark.

Hi Meg my dear, Happy Canada Day. Hope all is well with you and your reading is going really well, congratulations on hitting 100 books and only at the halfway point of the year. Sending love and hugs to you from both of us dear friend.

>181 johnsimpson: Thanks John. The reading is going well now if only I could focus on my own books instead of those from the library! I hope that you and Karen are doing well and enjoying the summer.

>182 Familyhistorian:, Hi Meg, we are both fine and enjoying the summer now that it has stopped raining and the sun is out. We are counting down the days to our holiday now, Karen has a countdown clock on her phone and she is getting giddy now.

>183 johnsimpson: Ooh, have a wonderful time on your holiday, John. How long will you be in Madiera?

It's the beginning of a new month and the third quarter (or second half) of the year and I posted my 100th book on this thread so it seems like a natural time to start a new one. Besides, it is a good way to ignore the other many things I should be doing right now.