ReneeMarie Hopes To Make It Past January This Year....

So the last time I set myself up -- er, I mean set up a thread -- was 2013. And didn't get past January. Here are my slightly cheesy category titles, some influenced by book titles and song lyrics:

The Social Life of Publications
books I read for book groups

To Every Teen, Turn, Turn, Turn
young adult (& juvenile fiction) books read for work

Waking the Unread
older and sometimes obscure books and authors

Life in the Past Lane
feeding my love for history

The Write Thing To Do
reading about writing

I Buy, Therefore I Own
some day I really need to read the books I own

I Read, I Read So Far Away
a flock of books I got from the library or that are shiny and pretty and not what I planned to read at all

Know Facts, Know Truth; No Facts, No Truth
I take my civic responsibilities very seriously and would NEVER vote for someone unqualified to hold office

Me, Myself, and I
I(mprovement), that is: money, health, happiness, etc.

The Social Life of Publications
1. The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck
2. The Cape Ann by Faith Sullivan
3. The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
4. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

To Every Teen, Turn, Turn, Turn
1. The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart
2. Suggested Reading by Dave Connis
3. Now Entering Addamsville by Francesca Zappia
4. The Remarkable Inventions of Walter Mortinson by Quinn Sosna-Spear
5. Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby
6. Cog by Greg Van Eekhout
7. Ranger in Time: Disaster on the Titanic by Kate Messner
8. Song for a Whale by Lynne Kelly
9. Cursed by Thomas Wheeler, illustrated by Frank Miller
10. A Tale of Magic by Chris Colfer
11. Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
12. Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis
13. A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
14. The Bookwanderers by Anna James
15. A Home for Goddesses and Dogs by Leslie Connor
16. Blue Skies by Anne Bustard
17. They Went Left by Monica Hesse
18.
19.
20.

Waking the Unread
1. The Secret Museum by Sheila Greenwald
2. Magic Elizabeth by Norma Kassirer
3. The Bellamy Trial by Frances Noyes Hart
4. Tom Sawyer Abroad by Mark Twain
5. Tom Sawyer, Detective by Mark Twain
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Life in the Past Lane
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

The Write Thing To Do
1.
2.
3.

I Buy, Therefore I Own
1.
2.
3.

I Read, I Read So Far Away
1. The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson
2. Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson
3. The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley
4. Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain
5. Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano
6. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
7. The Cold, Cold Ground by Adrian McKinty
8. Wake by Anna Hope
9. The Parisian by Isabella Hammad
10. The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
11. Cottage at the Beach by Lee Tobin McClain
12. Can't Judge a Book by Its Murder by Amy Lillard
13. The One Who Stays by Toni Blake
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.

Know Facts, Know Truth; No Facts, No Truth
1. One Person, No Vote (Young Readers' Edition): How All Voters Are Not Treated Equally by Carol Anderson
2. The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die by Keith Payne
3. A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America by Philip Rucker & Carol Leonnig
4. The Second Bill of Rights: FDR's Unfinished Revolution and Why We Need It More than Ever by Cass R. Sunstein
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Me, Myself, and I
1. How to Retire with Enough Money: And How to Know What Enough Is by Teresa Ghilarducci
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Good luck with your 2020 reading!

Thanks! Under normal circumstances I read anywhere from 4-8 books a month. (When I'm reading for the book talks we give at work, it bumps up.) I have dial-up at home, so the hardest part is actually getting to LT to record what I read. Fingers crossed.

Welcome and good luck with your challenge.

Welcome back and have a great reading year! I especially like the title "Life in the Past Lane" :)

I love all your category titles! Happy reading in 2020.

Wishing you are very happy reading year.

Hi Renee! Love the categories you decided on, and I hope we can both see more of each other here and not just over text. :)

Love your category titles! Have fun reading!

Welcome back! Good luck with your 2020 reading!

Good luck with your challenge.

Happy 2020 reading!

I only have a moment to say I haven't forgotten this space. I've read 9 books so far this year, one for my book group and 8 chapter books, juvenile novels, and young adult titles for a book talk we're having at work in February for school librarians.

My time is not my own until at least February 22nd. I still have 7-10 books to read by the day of book talk, plus I'm coordinating the reviews, etc., of everyone else participating. Creating an order form and other ephemera, etc. Most of it on my own time since I have other tasks to do at work.

I'll update my lists with the titles I've read, but won't be able to comment on anything for weeks.... (But if you're wondering about a particular title, leave a note here and I'll try to get back to you about it when I'm free again.)

Great to see you stopping in! I hope the book talk goes well :)

Only 3 more books read in 10 days. Dang. Not reading nearly fast enough. Halfway through another, but still 3 more in the wings.

Then all the reviews for work, plus all the other ephemera. And I can't get the blasted Office 365 Personal key code to work. Neither can Microsoft. It'll either mean using the PC at work, or hitting the library. And I'm already working through lunches and staying late.

Dang and blast. Like Elvis, I wish there were more than 24 hours in a day....

Our event happened on Friday, but I still have some follow up to do this week. Back soon.

Looking forward to hearing how it went!

As far as your reads so far, I'm interested in One Person, No Vote (Young Readers' Edition): How All Voters Are Not Treated Equally.

>23 LisaMorr: Here's what I presented at our Spring Book Talk about _One Person, No Vote_:

"If there is one book we reviewed this cycle that should be available—required reading—for high school students, this is it. Anderson teamed with Tonya Bolden to create a YA version of her adult book, _One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy_. The result is student-friendly short chapters.

"Starting just post-Civil War, the author looks at the effect on voting of Constitutional amendments, Jim Crow, civil rights, and Supreme Court decisions. She illustrates how measures taken, many aimed at increasing voter participation, have been twisted to suppress the vote. Some of the topics covered include literacy tests, poll taxes, threats, gerrymandering, voter roll purges, and lying about election fraud to pass ID requirements at the polls. Anderson points fingers at states guilty of egregious voter suppression, and Wisconsin is one of the major offenders. It’s an ugly story, but an important one. Buy it, share it, and read it yourself."

We sold every copy we had to the school librarians who showed up.

If any of you in the U.S. are paying attention, you know why I chose to finally come to LT and comment on this book today.

I live in Wisconsin, where the Republican-controlled legislature fought every effort by Democratic Governor Evers to shift our election to a safer date, or to a safer way of voting. The Republican State Supreme Court overturned an executive order Evers finally put into place after the legislature refused to act.

And the majority of the U.S. Supreme Court went even further to disenfranchise Wisconsin voters. This was no surprise to me after reading Anderson's book. Apparently the attitude of Justice Roberts is that it's okay for Republicans to use REDMAP and other methods to steal votes from people who don't vote GOP, as long as it's *political* and not based on *skin color.*

So, today, people are risking their lives to go out and vote. I would've been out there with them if I hadn't already voted by absentee ballot. I'm so proud of the people who, in voting, said that this is an important right and responsibility, and you'll have to pry that right from my cold, dead hands. Fingers crossed that the voter suppression efforts of the Republicans have the opposite effect.

https://www.vox.com/2020/4/6/21209670/wisconsin-governor-delays-election-tony-ev...

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/4/7/21211879/wisconsin-voters-lines...

Other books you might also want to look for, some of which I've read and some of which are waiting on the pile:

* American Amnesia: How the War on Government Led Us to Forget what Made America Prosper
* Ratf**ked: The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America's Democracy
* It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism
* What You Should Know About Politics . . . But Don't: A Non-Partisan Guide to the Issues That Matter
* The Fifth Risk
* A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America
* Your Voice, Your Vote: 2020–21 Edition: The Savvy Woman's Guide to Politics, Power, and the Change We Need

ETA: This is the same Republican legislature that under a lame duck Republican governor moved to limit the powers of the governor:
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/14/scott-walker-lame-duck-bills-friday-10...

The longest line *I* ever waited in to vote was our failed effort to recall Walker (I'm trying very hard not to say what I really think of him, in case there are children present):
https://www.channel3000.com/long-lines-for-historic-wisconsin-recall-election/

ETA: The news this morning (4/8) gave us a count of the number of people who had requested absentee ballots to be able to vote relatively safely (they require a witness, so I say "relatively") and who did not receive them by the time of the election.

9,388 people were potentially disenfranchised. Some of them may have gone to the polls anyway, if they weren't unsure whether they could vote in person if they had requested an absentee ballot. The city of Milwaukee alone had about 19,000 people show up to the 5 polling places (180 is the normal number of locations). Polls closed at 8pm; some people were still waiting to vote about 2 hours later.

Apparently the latest models had showed Wisconsin COVID-19 illnesses peaking in a few days. But as was mentioned at the news conference the mayor of Milwaukee held today, that was before the legislature gave the citizens of Wisconsin the -- gift -- of an election in the middle of a safer-at-home order.

My hours were reduced at work for a week or two, and then on 3/25 when Governor Evers issued a safer-at-home order, the bookstore I work at was closed to in person customers. Except for the managers, the booksellers have been furloughed until at least 4/24.

For a while when work was winding down and COVID-19 was ratcheting up, I was finding it difficult to read. I'm trying to look at my time off as a gift -- it's the longest "vacation" I will have had in 30 years. (Usually when I use my vacation, I arrange to be there on Tuesdays and Fridays to deal with the new CD/vinyl and DVD/BR releases, so a whole *week* off is unusual.)

In my list at the beginning of my thread I've added the 12 books I've read since the last time I posted. Again, let me know if there's one you want to hear about more than others.

I can hear thunder outside, and we're under a severe T-storm watch, so I'm going to unplug now. Here's hoping the hail and high winds hold off until everyone waiting in line at the polls has had the chance to vote.

>25 ReneeMarie: These are tough economic times.I hope you'll be able to return to work soon.

>26 thornton37814: Thanks for the thought. So far I can still buy food and pay my rent & utilities, so I'm good. I live on so little that with the ACA (my work hours were first cut years back to make sure I wasn't eligible for health care anymore), work "benefits," and the checks we're expecting, I'm good for at least 2 months. After that it'll get harder.

I'm more concerned with people who can't afford food right now and the drain on food banks. I'm more concerned with the problems if we return too soon and without enough knowledge, testing, and infrastructure to keep us safe -- I'm concerned but hopeful about November. Anything I am able to give is going those two places.

Good luck, everyone. Stay safe.

>27 ReneeMarie: One of my friends had a birthday fundraiser on Facebook for one of the local food banks so I donated to her fundraiser.

>24 ReneeMarie: Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Even though it was so completely horrible what happened with forcing in-person voting in Wisconsin, I was heartened by the results.

I have two of the books you've listed here to read, and I will look for the rest - thanks for the list.

Sorry to hear about your furlough and I hope you are still doing ok.

>24 ReneeMarie: Must vary by State. Our republican controlled legislature moved to postpone our elections till mid June so more could vote.

>28 thornton37814: That's great! I donated a small amount to Feeding America in April. I also ordered a meal from a local restaurant (even when I'm getting a weekly paycheck I have a one fast food/restaurant meal per month rule).

I wanted to do the same thing in May: a small donation, one restaurant meal. But I admit that without a weekly paycheck, the idea of spending money is more terrifying now. I may wait until later in the month in case there's news about when my bookstore will reopen.

>29 LisaMorr: Thanks, me too.

Another title that may interest you, one of the best history books I've ever read, is Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America by David Hackett Fischer. (Make sure you're sitting comfortably, though: it's over 900 pages.)

The book explains how four immigrant groups from the same two islands could be so very different in what they believe and how they live here in the U.S. It shows why Pence was very much mistaken in calling today's Republicans the party of Lincoln.

I just finished reading The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die by Keith Payne. I have a few minor quibbles with generalities and am not thrilled that gender inequality wasn't covered, but on the whole I found it enlightening and important. I read a library copy, but I may buy it (if I ever have money again -- my last non-essential purchase was mid-March).

And David Daley (who wrote Ratf**ked) has a new book out that I hope to get from the library when I can: Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy.

I tithed from the "economic impact" money to four campaigns where I think a change could really improve the country for everybody. Besides checking the box on the income tax form to make sure money goes to the Presidential Election Campaign Fund, this is the first time I've ever contributed to a campaign. I made sure I wrote "economic impact $" on the memo line of each of the 4 checks....

Two of the non-national candidates aren't in Wisconsin. One is running against a man who's perhaps the most morally bankrupt politician outside the White House. A friend told me she donated to that politician's opponent because although they "represent" (wow, could NOT type that word without quotes) the citizens of another state, their impact on the country as a whole is relentlessly negative.

This reminded me about two other books you've probably already heard of but may want to look for if you haven't:
* Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America by Nancy Maclean
* Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer

>30 Tess_W: Your state also has a Republican governor, so there's no political reason to be obstructive. Michigan is more like Wisconsin, in that respect: a Democrat governor and a Republican-controlled legislature. It's something we saw a lot of during the time Obama was in office.

In Wisconsin, the Republican legislature that refused to act to keep voters safe in the primary is now bringing a lawsuit against the governor saying he has no right to unilaterally try to protect public health using an executive order to extend safer-at-home through May 26th.

We've seen some protests against safer-at-home here in Wisconsin, with some of the agitation created for a different reason. I would think more of the protesters if they wore masks over the mouth and nose, practiced physical distancing, and weren't sporting campaign flags and hats. Oh: and if they weren't carrying signs about how much they need a haircut.

I don't think Geraldine Brooks will ever write a book about them. Nor will they make it into Atlas Obscura.

The last time I saw a protest in the same place in Brookfield, Wisconsin, it was an anti-choice group. Some of the parents had their children with them and were paying no attention to the fact that the kids were straying out into Bluemound Road (45 mph speed limit there). The irony was amazing.

ETA: I just ran a Google search to find out how many people actually check that income tax form box for campaign funding, and discovered something horrible. Apparently Rep Mark Green (TN) is proposing a use for the funds that have been building up since candidates haven't been drawing from it. How did I never hear about this?

>31 ReneeMarie: Thanks for the additional book recommendations - I will check them out. I have been contributing to a number of campaigns outside my state that I believe have a good chance of winning and will make a difference. Something has to be done soon.

I hope you are doing ok.