Lucy's (Sibylline) Quarterly Report: Spring into Summer 2020

It's JULY!!!

Next thread is here!

June stats are down at >6 sibylline:

Currently Reading June 2020

♬

Currently Reading in June
✔Treason's Shore Sherwood Smith fantasy
ROOT Mark Twain: Man in White Michael Sheldon bio
♬ The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (2nd of 6) Arthur Conan Doyle read by Stephen Fry

Books Read in June
72.




Pearled
1. new BBG* White Oleander Janet Fitch contemp fic
2. ✔ ROOT The Brothers Powys Richard Perceval Graves lit bio
3. ✔ ROOT Burmese Lessons Karen Connelly memoir

*BBG is the Bridgeside Book Group

Series Tally 2020

Currently reading 2020
Inda Sherwood Smith (4) currently reading King's Shield (3)

will continue
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle (6) Next Up: (2nd of 6 in audio series)
Pelbar Cycle(7) Paul O. Williams NEXT UP (6) The Sword of Forbearance
Lady Hardcastle mysteries (4) T. E. Kinsey NEXT UP (3) A Picture of Murder (Audio)
Galaxy Outlaws (16.5) Listening to #2
Three Californias Kim Stanley Robinson NEXT UP The Gold Coast
Cass Neary(3) Elizabeth Hand NEXT UP (2) Available Dark
The Craft Sequence(6) Max Gladstone NEXT UP: (2)Two Serpents Rise
The Invisible Library(6) Genevieve Cogman NEXT UP (6) The Secret Chapter

Finished/Caught Up in 2020!!
Revenger(3) Alastair Reynolds
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache (15) Louise Penny READING (15) A Better Man
The Kencyrath Chronicles (6) P.C. Hodgell
Terra Ignota(3 so far. . . ) Ada Palmer
The Chronicles of Kazam (3 so far) Jasper Fforde

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

(for March Stats return to previous thread)
HERE

Books Read in April
35. ✔ ROOT The Dead Mountaineer's Inn Boris and Arkady Strugatsky mys
36. ✔Outline Rachel Cusk contemp fic
37. ♬ (reread)Charity Girl Georgette Heyer hist rom ****
38. ✔ ROOT Signposts in a Strange Land Walker Percy lit essays **1/2
39. new Transit Rachel Cusk contemp fic ****1/2
40. ♬ April Lady Georgette Heyer hist rom ****
41. new By Demons Possessed P.C. Hodgell fantasy ****
42. new A Better Man Louise Penny mys ****
43. new Kudos Rachel Cusk contemp fic *****
44. ♬ reread The Masqueraders Georgette Heyer hist rom ****

Stats
Total: 10
Men: 2
Women: 8
M/W writing together: 0
Non-fiction: 1
Contemp/Classic/Hist Fiction: 3
SF/F: 1
Mystery/Rom (inc hist mys): 4
YA or J: 0
Poetry: 0
New author: 1
Reread: 0

Book origins/type:
From library or borrowed: 0
Audio: 3
New (to shelves): 4
e-book: 0
Off Shelf/ROOT: 3
Pearled: 0

Books In
8. Bone Silence Alastair Reynolds

audio
14. The Masqueraders Georgette Heyer

Housekeeping:
physical books (for year) IN = 8
e-books (for year)=1
audio (ditto) = 14
ALL IN: 23
Out Feb and Mar= 11
TOTAL OUT= 13

May

Books Read in May
45. new Revenger(1) Alastair Reynolds sf ****
46. ROOT La Tour Dreams of the Wolf Girl David Huddle contemp fic ***
47. new Shadow Captain(2) Alastair Reynolds sf sp/op ****
48. new Bone Silence(3) Alastair Reynolds sf sp/op ****
49. ♬ Beauvallet Georgette Heyer hist rom
50. ♬ (reread) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Part 1 of 6)(Stephen Fry reading!) Arthur Conan Doyle mys
51. E Halfling Moon Sharon Lee Steve Miller
52. E Skyblaze Sharon Lee Steve Miller
53. E Courier Run Sharon Lee Steve Miller
54. E Legacy Systems Sharon Lee Steve Miller
55. E Change Management Sharon Lee Steve Miller
56. EDue Diligence Sharon Lee Steve Miller
57.E Cultivar Sharon Lee Steve Miller
58. E Heirs to Trouble Sharon Lee Steve Miller
59. E Degrees of Separation Sharon Lee Steve Miller
60. E Fortune's Favors Sharon Lee Steve Miller
61. E Shout of Honor Sharon Lee Steve Miller
62. ROOT The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Michael Chabon contemp fic

May stats
Total: 18
Men: 6
Women: 0
M/W writing together: 12
Non-fiction: 0
Contemp/Classic/Hist Fiction: 2
SF/F: 14
Mystery/Rom (inc hist mys): 2
YA or J: 0
Poetry: 0
New author: 0
Reread: 0

Book origins/type:
From library or borrowed: 0
Audio: 1
New (to shelves): 3
e-book: 12
Off Shelf/ROOT: 2
Pearled: 0

New in May
No hardcover
E
1. Halfling Moon (Lee&Miller) READ
2. Skyblaze (Lee&Miller) READ
3. Courier Run (Lee&Miller) READ
4.-11. See above all Lee and Miller, all READ.

audio
15. Beauvallet Georgette Heyer READ
16. The Spanish Bride Georgette Heyer

Books out in May

14. Kavalier and Clay Chabon GW
15. Old Town Folks HB Stowe MSB
16. Heyday Andersen GW
17. Children's Book Byatt MSB
18. Garden in the Clouds Woodward MSB
19. Krakatoa Simon .... MSB
20. Moon Tiger Penelope Lively MSB
21. Snakestone Jason Goodwin MSB

Round-up
An anomalous month, no non fiction, no new authors, no women! (joint authorship, yes, lots). This shows what happens when one is laid up. Reading has to entertain, help the time pass, not ask too much of one. I'm chipping away at some more serious tomes, but chipping is chipping.

Books Read in June
63. new E Accepting the Lance Sharon Lee Steve Miller ****1/2
64. A Handbook of Stone Structures In Northeastern United States Mary E. Gage James E. Gage archaeology US Northeast *****
65. new Alfred and Guinevere James Schuyler contemp fic
66. ✔Inda (1) Sherwood Smith fantasy ***1/2
67. ✔ The Fox(2) Sherwood Smith fantasy
68. new Go With Me Castle Freeman contemp fic *****
69. new On Becoming You Kathi Pickett ***
70. ✔King's Shield (3) Sherwood Smith fantasy ****
71. new Late Fame Arthur Schnitzler classic fic ****

June stats
Total: 9
Men: 3
Women: 3
M/W writing together: 0
Non-fiction: 1
Contemp/Classic/Hist Fiction: 3
SF/F: 3
Mystery/Rom (inc hist mys): 0
YA or J: 0
Poetry: 0
New author: 0
Reread: 0

Book origins/type:
From library or borrowed: 0
Audio: 0
New (to shelves): 8
e-book: 0
Off Shelf/ROOT: 0
Pearled: 0

New in June

9. Network Effect Martha Wells
10. The Lantern Men Elly Griffiths

E
12. Accepting the Lance Sharon Lee Steve Miller

audio
17. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle read by Stephen Fry

Books out in June

22.

Hi Lucy, Cute 'cattails'!
Hope the next 4 months are safe and healthy for you.

Edited May 1st to say the "Princess" in >1 sibylline:, is definitely so pretty.
It is fun that you read April Lady in April!
Tally Ho!

Happy New Thread, Lucy.

I love the thread-topper, Lucy!

Happy New Thread, Lucy! It's good to see the cats finally get their due, even if it's behind times.

Happy new thread, Lucy!

Happy new thread, Lucy. Love the kitty tails :)

I'm joining the latest Readathon tomorrow and, honestly, I can't wait. I'm having so much trouble concentrating, I'm hoping this will help!

Hello Lucy! Here's to hoping that the curve will flatten like a staked vampire.

>13 sibylline: Good luck being inspired for that concentration. I sure know what that feels like when it gets up and goes. Rather different than a reading funk, I think.

Just catching up on your thread for the year - I'm having to add a number of Heyers to my re-read stack. I did a Heyer binge about 3 years ago.

Have you come across Ann Bridge, I'm reading her Illyrian Spring and enjoying it. Bridge was a diplomat's wife so some of her books have quite exotic locations.

...and you've reminded me of the readathon, being in New Zealand the start is only a few hours away for me.

Happy new thread, Lucy!

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread, Lucy! CATTAILS! makes me smile.

I'm adding this because why not -- I go half crazy when I visit a thread where all the images are question marks in boxes. I put this on the Readathon site:

At the risk of being horribly annoying I am going to BEG OF YOU to PLEASE use "Member Uploaded" covers so I can see them and not a host of squares with question marks in them . . . You can see your covers, but we/I can't.

When you add a new book or want to paste a book cover here:

Go to the book's page:
Choose Change Cover.
Choose a "Member Uploaded" cover.
Whatever image you had is now replaced with an official LT cover.
Bob's your uncle.

If there is no Member Uploaded cover or you don't see one you like:
Click on the bottom right-hand of the image you already have (probably from Amazon).
Save it.
Paste it in the "Grab from the Web" box -- just paste it in, don't worry about the http etc. in there already.
Your book cover will appear in Member Uploaded etc.
Choose it.

Maybe you don't even need to do that last step -- once you paste it in it might change automatically, can't remember!

95% of the time these days there is a member uploaded cover so it's very quick.

LT added this step about a year or two ago and the whole thing drives me bonkers but I do it for you.

>21 sibylline: Good for you, Lucy!! I am also sorry when only that question mark in a box appears for books.

Here's an even simpler short cut, if you wish ~

• Simply "right-click" (or for Mac users, "Control-click") the cover image on your book's LT catalogue page,

• Select copy link (or copy address),

• Paste that link into the html code* for uploading an image to a post on LT.

*Scroll down to Images, if you need to find the html here https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Help:Editing

Happy new thread!

1. Who(m) are you named after? Lucy Avery, father’s side, born about 1700 in Connecticut! There was also a Hepzibah and an Electra and Alumina all of which my parents used to say they considered. (!!!!)
2. Last time you cried? Pretty much every day when reading the New York Times.
3. Do you like your handwriting? Not really, too messy!
4. What is your favorite lunch meat? prosciutto!
5. Longest relationship? 38th year of married, uh, bliss.
6. Do you still have your tonsils? no
7. Would you bungee jump? NEVER!!!!
8. What is your favorite kind of cereal? oatmeal with maple sugar, butter and pecans!
9. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? sometimes?
10. Do you think you're strong willed? YES
11. Favorite ice cream? Maple walnut. Fave sorbet is Grapefruit
12. What is the first thing you notice about a person?
13. Football or baseball? baseball
14. What color pants are you wearing? black
15. Last thing you ate? Salad with cheddar and prosciutto! Right this minute!
16. What are you listening to? nothing right now.
17. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? magenta
18. What is your favorite smell? fresh coffee!
19. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? My daughter.
20. Married? yep
21. Hair color? white streak and the rest still mostly very dark brown
22. Eye color? hazel, greeny brown mostly meaning. Very changeable.
23. Favorite food? A really well made almond croissant! With fresh coffee! Or maple syrup out of the jug. I am not really kidding.
24. Scary movies or happy endings? happy endings
25. Last movie you watched In a theater? Can’t remember, something last year, like Avenger thing?
26. What color shirt are you wearing? Red!
27. Favorite holiday? I like Thanksgiving, more restful than all the others.
28. Beer or Wine? Allergic to both. Gin or scotch please.
29. Night owl or morning person? morning person
30. Favorite day of the week? Not really. I'm glad to be alive.
31. Favorite animal? dogs and cats
32. Do you have a pet? yes --- two dogs, three cats
33. Where would you like travel to? Nowhere but my armchair for the time being!!!!!

Hi Lucy. Fun reading your answers @#24.
Was #12 (What is the first thing you notice about a person) unanswered because you missed it?

Re: #21, The Man says that in another month, we'll all know what colour of hair people really have!

I had to think about that one -- I think I notice voices more than anything about how someone looks. But I still have to think about that one.

Ha ha -- you know I had a similar thought about how shaggy we're all going to look by July.

Ooh back to say that if any of you like harp -- especially Celtic -- the Edinburgh International Harp Festival is on -- free and virtual -- all weekend. Totally worth taking a look at.

Happy new thread!

35. mys ****
The Dead Mountaineer's Inn Boris and Arkady Strugatsky

A police inspector, Peter Glebsky, specialty fraud and white collar crime, goes on a ski holiday for a needed rest in the mountains. Only. . . the Inn, recommended by a friend is haunted by practical jokers. Instead of finding rest he finds a peculiar assortment of guests, a financier with a beautiful wife, a magician with a gender opaque nephew/niece, a mountain climbing physicist, a giant Swede, etc. Someone is playing practical jokes, moving things around, making the floor damp here or there. Peter is enjoying observing them but then, inevitably, there is a dead body. He is not a murder detective, but he jumps into gear. There is also an avalanche that has made leaving impossible, phone lines down. Only . . . the clues just gets more and more impossible, more and more absurd. The Strugatskys pull apart the genre and put in all the classic elements and "roadblocks" (literally in this case) and then toss in the kitchen sink. Thi isn't your usual murder mystery and is more absurd than serious, more humorous than not but it pivots on an aspect of human nature that is neither absurd nor humorous: the human need to make a story that 'works' which, in this case, involves overriding the more improbable (but true) explanation. It's fun and I totally enjoyed it, but not for everyone. ****

Here I am in my homemade mask -- old t-shirt -- that is a frog btw in the center, a little bit sideways. Nose pointing up.

Hope you have had a lovely, peaceful, safe and healthy weekend, Lucy.

Good for you and the frog mask! Wear it in good health, but stay in and around!

36. contemp fic ****
Outline Rachel Cusk

There is something almost hypnotically riveting in the way the narrator describes the setting (Greece, Athens) and relates her conversations with the people she encounters during her week teaching writing, starting with her "neighbor" or seatmate on her flight from London. Is it something about her? A willingness to listen, or even (as is later hinted) a silence emanating from her that others can't help wishing or wanting to fill? As the narrator receives and relates story after story she does not merely relate what she has been told, though, but comments, clarifies, questions each person as far as they will permit. She does not "tell" her students how to write, but asks them simple things encouraging them to observe what is around them: what they have seen that very day, all but one willing to do so. Later, to write a story with an animal in it. The need humans have, to talk, to make stories out of the events of their lives gradually, like a photograph in the developer, begins to take on edges and clarity. You begin to realize that the narrator has lost her own story, has stepped back from the narrative that has failed her (happy marriage etc) and for the time being is adrift. I could write more. She reminds me more of Karl Ove Knausgaard than anyone else I've read recently for a calm clarity in her writing. The book is superb and I might bump the stars upward. ****

Can't seem to get the touchstone working, sorry!

>33 sibylline: That's a BB! There were a couple of things I really liked about Athens. The Agoura and the little savory breakfast pastries.

The Agora is so beautiful! I love Greek food.

>30 sibylline: I love the mask! And you got me with The Dead Mountaineer's Inn, a Strugatsky I'd never heard of.

37. hist rom ****
Charity Girl Georgette Heyer

Charity Steane is in a bad situation, the thankless task of being a poor relation in a household run by an unkind aunt after her father (a notorious ne'er do well) stopped paying at her boarding school and is assumed dead. She runs away, her head full of preposterous notions. Again and again Heyer makes the point that there really was no recourse for young women, even genteel ones, if they lost their family support or ended up in a bad family. Her stories have happy outcomes, but the point is yet made that this, a good marriage, is about the only real solution. Even to open a school you need some start-up money, education, some managerial skills, none of which most young women had. She runs away and most fortunately along comes a very good young man, a Viscount, who takes her up in his curricle and tries to deliver her to her grandfather. In the end he drops her off at the house of his closest woman friend and goes in search of Grandpa. In the meantime, someone rather unexpected turns up and the Viscount's younger brother, a scamp, learns he has some substance and smarts after all. Very satisfying and very well read. ****

Like the sound of that Heyer! And I like the T-Shirt mask! Where did you get the idea from?

>38 HanGerg: Nice to hear from you! Basically, I got the idea from a day spent reading about best masks -- t-shirts, cotton or blend rate decently high. 70% effective at not letting "droplets" (iew) in or out. However there is a secondary issue -- the better the mask the harder to breathe through and the hotter it is -- with the effect that "ordinary" people (not medical staff who know better) end up fiddling with them. Once you have yr mask on in a public setting you shouldn't touch it at all until you are in a safe setting and finished wearing it. From my pov I don't need the heavy duty mask at all as all I do is go to the P.O. and the market about once a week, if that. I'm sewing by hand also because mostly I prefer hand-sewing and I can't see how these things need to be super-durable!

Oh, and I have an infinite source of t-shirts because that is what the spousal unit wears and he "collects" them and when they wear out or his drawers get too full of newer ones they go in a (giant) rag bag. They are so nice and soft! I try to use the artwork etc on the fronts.

How are you coping?? Been thinking of all of you folks with children under ten.

Snowing here right now, ah, April in Vermont!

>33 sibylline: A BB! I feel encouraged. I might have to wait awhile to get the book, but it looks very meditative and thoughtful.

>39 sibylline: I've seen that both at friends and around here ("that is what the spousal unit wears and he "collects" them"). I don't know why my spousal unit needs at least 2-weeks or more-worth of T-shirts. I do laundry nearly every second day, because it gets so stinky sitting around.

So Lucy, it was great to finally log in to LT (which had been weirdly flaky for me) and see you had visited. I wondered what you were referring to at post #195?

Oh yeah, and the flaky LT may have been my fault. It had been at least 2 weeks since I'd rebooted my laptop.
And touchstones are now working, yay!

>40 SandyAMcPherson: re >195 on your thread -- the kakistrocracy. what a great word!

>41 sibylline: Right! I was being dense and forgot that line of chatter.

kakistrocracy is indeed a fabulous word and just so apt...

I wanted my message this year to be fairly universal in a time we all should be pulling together, whatever our beliefs. Happy Celebration, Happy Sunday, Lucy.

Happy Easter!

38. **1/2
Signposts in a Strange Land Walker Percy

I loved The Moviegoer and Love in the Ruins and have been planning to reread them. I picked up this tome as a freebie on the library give-away shelf and it sat on my shelves a long while. I don't know why I persisted in reading these essays, for pretty much every one was on the same few themes. C.S. Lewis another convert to Catholicism wrote about his need and experience vividly, Percy dabbles around the edges. He is wearisomely and relentlessly a man of his literary generation, so entirely male-centric, and so oblivious to anything about women, women's lives, and women's literature -- the only woman writer he ever even mentions is Joan Didion! Are you kidding me? Oh and did I mention that he is a southern writer? He contradicts himself often, as in, there is no southern culture anymore, only a memory of one, but then writes essay after essay that seems to explore at least the remnants of southerness in writers. As a southern Christian he acknowledges that white southern Christians have a spotty record vis a vis racism, at the same time he scorning the northern liberals, but then admits it wass the Sarah Lawrence sociology majors who came south to sign up black voters. I can't go near his anti-abortion reasoning, I found his argument so emotional and so bizarre and so insensitive to women's issues (which he mentions with scorn) (and I don't have a black and white, all or nothing view on the subject, recognize that there are profound issues that require those now scorned words: compromise, compassion, and good common sense). He scorns the novel as entertainment and sees that its primary virtue is explaining and illuminating the condition of man. I don't totally disagree with that only I don't feel a need to belittle the R&R aspect of many novels, healing not searing. The most interesting pieces are about the ideas of Charles Peirce the 19th century philosopher who I've encountered several timess--he is essentially the founder of semiotics and this is the one place where Percy and I are in agreement. The scorning, by the way, is all done so politely but firmly; he's a curmudgeon and a southern gentleman, maddening and full of charm. I'll stick with his novels. **1/2

>45 sibylline: That title would probably grab me and then I'd be disappointed but I'd probably finish it (because I'm compulsive that way) -- so very glad to be warned off :)

Hope spring has sprung in VT and that you're enjoying it :)

Hi Lucy!

>21 sibylline: Glad you posted this. I always use member-uploaded covers, and when there isn’t a high-quality one of my exact cover, I can scan it on my printer to my laptop and upload it to LT. My goal is to eventually have all my covers be high-quality member-uploaded, but I didn’t know about the difference early in my LT days, alas.

>30 sibylline: and >39 sibylline: I admire folks who can sew their own masks. And yours is hand-sewn! Cute material.

39. contempt fic ****1/2
Transit Rachel Cusk

This second in the three connected novels takes a darker turn. We also learn a little more about the end of the narrator's own marriage as she listens to and comments on--revealing some of her own experiences since divorcing--to the people she talks with. She has bought a run-down house in a good neighborhood in London, once a single family house since turned by the housing authorities into a council house but now reverting as the council folk die or move on. She acquires the neighbors from hell ,who live in a state of perpetual rage in the basement. She decides she must improve the house and starts construction in her half - including soundproofing the floors between herself and this miserable couple. The narrator is focussed now on the plight of the lone woman with children (which we can glean by what she notices and writes about). Can she endure the stress of the house make-over, the horrible neighbors, and the increasing signs that her own ex may not be all that committed to parenting their two boys? The title reflects the lack of stability, absent in the first novel, and while
the overall "tone" in the writing, just this side of a calm deadpan is similar to book 1, it now has an undercurrent of impending doom or chaos. Maybe, or maybe not? Wait and see in book 3. ****1/2

40. hist rom ****
April Lady Georgette Heyer

Nell has married a man of great means and consequence, thirteen years older than herself. They fell in love at first glance, only both have been too proper to let the other know! She because her mother warned her not to make a ninny of herself, he because . . well, because he was maybe also afraid of making a cake of himself. Bad ton and all that to be too demonstrative. Trouble ensues when Nell finds herself in financial difficulties . . . There is the usual cast of side characters, the unruly sister, the scamp of a brother, the loyal friend -- and it was fun. This is the last of the regencies. I will move on to the remaining historical romances!

>48 sibylline:. That Cusk sounds interesting. I have put the first one on the Wishlist. The description on the page makes it sound a bit Woolfian. Is that the case? Anyway, it intrigues me so I shall try and track it down.

You were asking about what this time feels like with a young child, I think. Well, hard, mainly, but also wonderful, at times. We've had time to do all the stuff together that I've missed since he started school. Some huge and elaborate craft projects, lots of gardening and chats about the raw materials of life. All good. On the downside, I'm bursting to get to my studio but rarely get the chance (husband still having to work long hours from home so little support there, alas) and trying to keep everything as normal and sane as possible when this feels so unprecedented and uncertain can be a challenge. But, I really feel like we are making the stuff of lifelong memories here, so I try to hang on to the good and bring it to the fore as much as I can.

>49 sibylline: One of my faves. Although Giles' sister drives me crazy with her immaturity and (I think) spoilt-brat selfishness. There are several marvellously amusing scenarios though.
For some reason I haven't been able to figure out, I always pair April Lady with the story of Horatia in The Convenient Marriage. It is equally amusing. You must have read that novel but I didn't see it on your thread last year.

41. fantasy ****
By Demons Possessed P.C. Hodgell

Sixth in the Kencyrath fantasy series, following the story of Jamethiel Knorth, these are for dedicated fantasy readers who don't mind occasionally having no idea whatsoever is going on, (so you are in the same boat as Jame herself). This time Jame must return to Tai-Tastigon the city she traveled to in the very first novel to unravel an unholy mess -- priests, thieves, gods, demons, and everything in between are at odds with one another and the city is literally falling apart. By the end, never fear, you will get what has happened. Well, sort of. Enough to await the next book! ****

>52 sibylline: Alas, unlike for paper books, my local libraries don't offer early holds on e-books.

>53 quondame: Same here. I can submit hold requests for not-yet-published print editions about 2 months before the release date, but not eBooks. I'm guess it's a licensing issue. I put a new print book on hold before the library closed, and have been checking periodically for an eBook edition, to no avail. I don't know if they aren't adding eBooks at all due to the closure, or if they just haven't added the one that I want.

Hope all is well with you, Lucy!

Oh whoops, I meant the comments would be forthcoming! The book came out in 2019 sometime!

Had a lazy brain attack and just couldn't get it together to write anything about it.

>52 sibylline: So glad you are still finding these worth reading! From Hodgell's blog in March:
Sorry to have been quiet for so long. No, nothing is wrong, except that this tenth novel is giving me problems. It's the next to last and there are so many loose ends to clear up, not to mention issues raised here which should also advance the plot.. My thought is that Jame needs at least another clash with Gerridon if not two before the end, this first involving the Central Lands, not heretofore an issue but solidly there, both on the map and in Rathillien history.


At least now we know where the end will be!

Thanks for that Roni -- good info. I should stop in on her site. Somehow I got the idea this was book 6 not book 9! So I fixed that. I do enjoy these, she makes you work.

Hi Lucy.
i'm on a cosy mystery jag. Can't seem to cope with more demanding reading at the moment.

Re e-books, I'm probably going to regret this, I made hold requests on 4 different titles. All new series to me. Some titles have only 1 copy for the entire system (that means for the whole province) so I'll have a really long wait. I am still waiting for Maisie Dobbs. I can't remember (and didn't note) where I had that BB.

>53 quondame: and >54 lauralkeet: From the purchasing end, our ebook vendors are set up to automatically purchase additional copies of a book if the holds ratio goes above a certain number. That can easily happen on pre-release books, and since some of them are quite expensive, it could eat through a considerable chunk of the budget if we let the holds build up for a long time before the book is released. So we tend to buy ebooks closer to their release date.

42. cosy mys ****
A Better Man Louise Penny

Gamache is offered a "lowly" post in the Sûreté and to everyone's astonishment he takes it. His son-in-law is soon to leave for a job in Paris and he is in line to run the Serious Crimes (sorry, can't remember the official title) department. A woman has gone missing, known to one of the members of the department, one of Gamache's protegées from before his fall from grace, and Gamache gets on the case, which quickly begins to look like murder and fairly straightforward too if they can find the right evidence. But things don't go according to plan. Penny uses "tweeting" as a tool in this offering. Maybe Penny is showing how manipulative tweeting is, how silly we are to pay much of any attention to it, but I doubt that -- it felt like a "staying hip" gesture. Penny's greatest strengths are descriptions of place and creating atmosphere and the community of Three Pines, while it is almost ridiculously cosy, is like a soothing balm too, and welcome. ****

>59 foggidawn: ooh, I love fun "library insider" facts like that, thanks!

Lucy, I hope you are picking up the free Murderbot novellas at tor.com this week.

>59 foggidawn: OK, new strategy: place a hold on everything that looks interesting and get my friends to pile on too!

>62 ronincats: Whaaaat? I'm off there right now...

Back to say - only available in US and Canada! :(

>63 quondame:, Okaaay. I'm in.
Laura is right, fun "library insider" facts.

Hello everyone! So cool about the Murderbot books!

>65 HanGerg: pooh!

Whoops, noticing I never wrote about the Penny -- not that I'll have anything earth-shattering to say.

43. contemp fic *****
Kudos Rachel Cusk

Every word of this novel and the two before is different from anything else you've read, but subtly, not obviously. On the surface, you're learning what the narrator hears as she goes about her life and encounters various people, from passengers on planes to an old boyfriend, to the publicity person in this last book when the narrator, her career firmly established, is in (Portugal?) at a literary conference. People tell her their stories and she recounts them calmly, thoughtfully, without judgement, although sometimes you intuit that she believes the person is telling the truth, sometimes probably not, that probably they are rewriting the narrative to make themselves look better or victimized or powerful or simply acceptable to themselves. Almost always the atmosphere is calm, there is little drama. Even when there is conflict, the narrator tends to withdraw rather than confront. (One exception would be when her children, two boys, are at issue.) The narrator is divorced and now remarried, but her life is not under the microscope and while she mentions various experiences, it is only as they relate to the present moment. Under that smooth surface the book seethes. The sea is often present or a presence (sometimes in a painting, sometimes as a memory, sometimes for real), dangerous but embracing. Stop and think now. What is a woman in the eyes of men? In their own eyes as a result of not considering other options? A vessel. Passive. But also . . . dangerous. The sea. THE NOVEL MODELS WHAT WE DO AS WOMEN. Listen. Empathize. Absorb. Reflect. In this last novel the sea is a presence from which the town has cut itself off, building huge warehouses, docks, a fenced military post, so that one can only get to the sea by car. For a port to cut the people from the sea, is to cut them from nourishment. Pretty much every aspect of this novel that you choose to focus on will take you somewhere and I'm not sure I'm equal to the task of describing the effect the book had on me. It is, make no mistake, a meditation on what women experience, endure and suffer in the world of men. Through the course of the three books this becomes clear, not angrily, not resignedly, but acknowledged. Towards the end of this novel the woman who translated one of the narrator's novels says, after describing how her husband deprives her of even her child's respect, carefully and subtly and inside the law, "There is a passage in one of your books . . . where you describe enduring something similar, and I translated it very carefully and with great caution as if it were something fragile that I might mistakenly break or kill, because these experiences do not fully belong to reality and the evidence for them is a matter of one person's word against another's. It was important that I didn't get any of the words wrong . . and afterwards I felt that while you had legitimized this half-reality by writing about it, I had legitimized it again by managing to transpose it into another language and ensuring its survival." Another woman responds immediately, "We survive . . Our bodies outlive their use of them, and this is what annoys them most of all. These bodies continue to exist, getting older and uglier and telling them the truth they don't want to hear." (If you don't know your feminist legal history you won't fully get the point of this interaction. Never kid yourself for a nanosecond that the laws under which you live are written to protect "everyone". Made by men almost exclusively, the laws have been arranged to protect men. Even the smallest shift elicits a furious pushback.) The implications of the three novels, especially taken all together, are haunting, disturbing, thought-provoking, moving and, at the price of sounding bossy, important. This is not a simple novel to comprehend, and I expect many women won't want to take the plunge and most men won't touch it! The half-way reality. It's half-way because we don't want to see it as more than that. We know it's there. By the way, some men do get it, and they suffer accordingly. Brava Cusk. *****

>68 sibylline: Interesting. I'm not going to go there just now, but thanks for telling me where to find it.

>68 sibylline:. Ok. I'm totally sold. I have already wish listed the first. I looked at the price for Kindle - it was a bit more than I usually pay for something that is a "maybe, some day...". So I'll move it up the priority list and purchase it soon. I'm ready for this journey.

>70 HanGerg: I'll be rereading these, I'm kind of blown away. I want to revisit Iris M. and The Sea, The Sea too. And I spent a long time looking at the work of the painter Joan Eardley. Oh my gosh! Wow. Those landscape paintings. And the nude male. What a statement.

>68 sibylline: An excellent summing up. Thanks for taking the time to write this summary, especially recounting your feelings, reaction and thoughts.

I'm not sure that I could handle this sort of reading these days. So, I deeply admire your mental energy. Like Susan said (>69 quondame:) now I know where to look when I am ready: Rachel Cusk.

>72 SandyAMcPherson: Not hard to read as some books are. I don't think of myself as having much reading energy at all right now either, so I'm surprised how much these books moved me and were just what I need. I kind of picked them off my shelf because they aren't terribly long!!!!!! ha. Joke's on me.

>68 sibylline: Hi Lucy! I read Outline* about two years ago and rated it 3 stars (good, solid read). I didn't post a review, but was able to find comments on my first 2018 thread. It looks like I was intrigued, but wanted something more from it. I wrote, "there were huge unanswered questions about the woman which left me feeling unsatisfied." Reading your review of the final book in the trilogy, I'm thinking maybe that's the point? You've certainly piqued my interest in reading the next book.

* touchstones not cooperating right now.

>74 lauralkeet: Yep. I think that is the point.

44. ♬ hist rom ****
The Masqueraders Georgette Heyer

Taking place just after the quashing of the Jacobite Rebellion, a young gentleman and lady on their way to London happen upon a kidnapping, a man carrying off a young heiress to Gretna Green. The young gentleman and lady Peter and Kate Merriott interfere and rescue the heiress, Letty. Along comes a "mountain" a gentleman who is a friend of Letty's father and who, almost from the get-go, suspects things are not as they seem. Lots of fun and well read. ****

>76 sibylline: One of my favorites. I love Prudence and Tony and the tight plotting!

I'm reading some new detective mysteries. Was it here that I discovered the VE Schwab Shades of Magic series?
I've been remiss in noting my BB sources.

Answered on my thread, re the book question marks visuals.

Your book, The Masqueraders, Georgette Heyer, is like that for me on both Safari and Firefox, although all of the earlier ones on the thread show up just dandy.

That could be my error -- I'll go check! I swear I loaded a member-uploaded cover, but it said Amazon! Does it work now?

Yup!

>80 sibylline: yes, it is visible now.

BTW, Richard offered this tidbit: When you make an img src post, be *positive* that the resource address is https not http.

Lately, I've been getting alerts in the LibraryThing url (address bar) that the connection is "Not Secure".
That usually relates to a connection without the https, but I didn't check the exact website url at the time.

45. sf ****
Revenger Alastair Reynolds

My favourite kind of sf, smart space opera, really or somewhere in between? Two young women Adrana and Arafura Ness with the requisite (innate) talent to be "bone readers" run away from their father who wishes to keep them children under his control to join a treasure hunting space ship. They find a berth on Captain Rackamore's (great name) ship and off they go. It's thousands and thousands and more thousands of years into the future and the universe is a place where countless civilizations have flourished and failed, and one of them at least began hiding treasure in asteroidy/planetish chunks of rock called "baubles" setting them up to open and shut at intervals . . . inside them one can find all kinds of technology from these past ages. Well, of course there is a pirate and her name is Bosa Senn and she goes around waiting for the treasure hunters to bring the hauls out of the baubles, dangerous work, then she moves in for the kill. So the two sisters end up in a heap o' trouble and Arafura, who gets away, swears to rescue her sister and . . . you get the idea? ****

OH dear, oh dear! I don't have that one. I have so many unread A. Reynoldses that I can't justify getting another, but onto the wish list it goes. I'm sort of stuck in fantasy lands right now with the only anywhere-near scifi I'm reading is *Foreigner*, so I need something smart. *sigh*

Please pet Miss Posey for me and tell her how lovely she is!

ETA: At $3.49 for Kindle, I didn't wait to deserve a copy of Revenger. It's mine!

>83 sibylline: That does indeed sound tempting, I love a good space opera!

Happy Sunday reads.

Hi Lucy, just dropping by to see how you are.
I'm bombing out on really good books since the e-books are my main resource at the moment.
Sssh! Don't look on my "not yet read" shelf in the bedroom! Nothing light and escapist there.

Hi Sandy - thanks for stopping by. My shelves are unbelievable. I never seem to make any headway. My bookshelves hate a vacuum and fill right up again.

46. contemp fic ***
La Tour Dreams of the Wolf Girl David Huddle

What I love about Huddle's work is that he is always up to something, experimenting. That said, not every experiment is going to work -- or work for everyone. In this novel the story goes back and forth from George de La Tour, a French Baroque painter from the 17th century, to present-day Burlington, Vermont with little stops in Manhattan and Virginia up in the mountains where the two main characters come from, one from the city (Jack) and the other from a rural backwoods town (Suzanne). Suzanne is the first of her family to go to college and she is, by her own words, "a phenomenon". Jack is an ordinary likeable fellow of the middle upper crust. Well, so they marry and Jack goes into advertising, a salesman is what he is, and Suzanne becomes a tenured art prof at the University of Vermont. We go between their story and Suzanne's imagined story of de la Tour's last painting, of a girl with a blemish, a small pelt of fur on her back. They develop a relationship that goes bad. In fact, most relationships seem to falter whenever people try to open up to each other. I could, if I spent the time on it, get what he was up to, but other things didn't work for me, to do with the sorts of details Huddle chooses to highlight about people which felt, simply, like the bit of fur on the girl's back, superficial. But Huddle is always worth a try! His poetry is wonderful, by the way. ***

47. sf sp/op ****
Shadow Captain(2) Alastair Reynolds

Alafura Ness is determined to rescue her sister Adrana, now in the clutches of Bosa Sennen on her blackcloth-sailed space ship, that perhaps runs on some kind of anti-matter ions, particles? There are aspects to Sennen that intrigue, she has been on a mission, of a kind to solve a mystery and maybe even to right a wrong. Along the way she lost her conscience, perhaps? That is a danger when one is too focussed, too intent. If I say anything else I'll be spoiling! Very important to suspend all critical thinking and simply enjoy the ride. ****

Happy Mother's Day, Lucy

>90 PaulCranswick: and >91 RebaRelishesReading: Thank you so much! Best to Hani, and best to you Reba.

Just had a nice Zoom moment with my daughter who wove me the most amazing shawl. Will try to get a picture of it loaded up.

>92 sibylline: aww, how sweet of her to do that! I can't wait to see.

Here is a photo. The shawl is such a thing of beauty!



Tencel and . . . silk? So soft!

Ooh that looks so pretty, Lucy. Does she have access to one of those really big looms (I'm sure there's a more official term) or does she use the smaller kind (a rigid heddle loom I think?)

I've been somewhat tempted by weaving but not enough to take the plunge. One of the women in my knitting group is a master of all things fiber and has woven fabric that was then sewn into garments. It's amazing.

>60 sibylline: I need to read that Louise Penny one soon -- before the next one comes out!

>94 sibylline: What beautiful patterns and color.

>94 sibylline: WOW!!!! That looks so hard and so professional - really very lovely. I'm impressed out of my tiny mind.

That shawl is breathtakingly beautiful!! The color is wonderful and it's so fine and even!!! Well done LD!

Adore your new shawl. Exquisite!

Full disclosure, fractured left ankle yesterday, slipped on wet place while walking dogs, totally maddening! Not too bad a fracture but the talus bone--crucial to ankle stability and flex -- so they want to put in pins when swelling goes down. Probably too much to hope that could be around end of next week . . . I'm so bummed I don't feel like saying another thing about it, will wrap myself in my shawl and, yes, read. Knit. Do my best to wile away the time.

Title of book below takes on added significance today . . .

48. sf sp/op ****
Bone Silence Alastair Reynolds

I suspect Reynolds is planning more of the adventures of Adrana and Alafura Ness, but this story arc has been completed. What Bosa Sennen has been after turns out to be HUGE and the Ness sisters' curiousity must be assuaged. The quoins, beautiful gold coins with mysterious properties, are turning out to have a purpose. And many ideas about how the "Congregation" (the mini-planets now making up our solar system many millions of years in the future) came to be, who humans and the other aliens are . . . all comes into question. Reynolds loves the idea of ancient and mysterious artifacts from previous cultures littering space and he goes full steam ahead here. In this version of the future there are sharp contrasts between technologies so advanced they are utterly inexplicable (and 'shivery') and 'good enough' seat of the pants barely technologies and just plain eccentric (like newspapers, no computers). Reynolds merrily throws it all in like Mrs Murphy's Chowder. ****

>101 sibylline: Oh NO, Lucy!! I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope you aren't in too much pain!! Is the beautiful shawl than LD wove the one you'll be wrapping up in? That would surely bring some comfort I would think. ((Lucy))

NO. I'm sorry.
I'll look forward to these Reynoldses sometime.

>101 sibylline: Oh no! So sorry to hear that.

OUCH! I'm sorry to hear about your ankle fracture. I hope you have some good books and knitting to take your mind off of it.

>101 sibylline: Arrrgh! Lucy, major bummer event. Best wishes for everything to be resolved satisfactorily. I hope you have some in-home support so you can stay off your feet.

>101 sibylline: So sorry to read you broke your ankle, Lucy. I hope the pain is managable.

>101 sibylline: What a major bummer! I hope it's treated quickly and heals well.

>94 sibylline: That is beautiful weaving, so fine a design and lightweight a weave and gorgeous a color!
>101 sibylline: Oh, ouch!! I did that once but it just chipped the bottom of the bone and didn't affect my stability so I only had to wear a boot. The pins went into my wrist when I broke that...anyhow, rest, relax, recuperate, read!

Here's a pic that my spousal unit took, during my "hour" outside. I'm talking to my daughter and look more cheerful (frankly) than I felt! I was realizing how totally dazed and, well, tired and kind of freaked out I was. Amazing how we hide things, eh?



Thank you all for your kind wishes.

And how about the nursing staff!

>111 sibylline: I see you're well supplied with companions!

>111 sibylline: Love your nursing staff. I hope the spousal unit is a decent cook and clean up crew, so you can stay resting.

>111 sibylline: Nifty set-up and support system! I hope these first bad days won't be too awful.

Dog snuggles are definitely a balm for the soul. I'm glad they're taking such good care of you.

49. ♬ hist rom ****
Beauvallet Georgette Heyer

Set in the Elizabethan period, Sir Nicholas Beauvallet is a gentleman pirate -- one of those authorized by Elizabeth 1 to harry the Spanish galleons coming from the Caribbean. He captures a ship that has a special treasure, a young woman, with whom he immediately becomes enamored. He is a gentleman, so he takes her and her ailing papa home to Spain and then sets himself the ridiculous task of getting into Spain to carry her off. I enjoyed it, loved the reader who I think also does Pratchett beautifully. ****

50. ♬ mys *****
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (audio 1 of 5) Includes, The Study in Scarlet and The Sign of the Four

Read by Stephen Fry. Need I say anything more? Fry is reading the stories in chronological order and "The Study in Scarlet" being the first is especially interesting, the villain being an American and the story, in part, being set in the Western USA. Both stories interestingly have revenge as a major motivator. The first does not paint Mormons in a very pretty light, the second suffers from anglo-centrism, but neither so badly as to ruin the stories completely. In the first too it is fun to witness Watson and Holmes meet. In the second Watson falls in love and that is also enjoyable. And Stephen Fry is . . . . himself, perfect. *****

50 books!

>116 sibylline: Although Beauvallet is not one of my favourite Heyers I do like this reader and like the other books that he narrates, especially The Reluctant Widow.

Good morning. That's all. We're overcast and cool today, so I'm imagining you not sitting out this morning. Hope it's a good one anyway.

Hi Lucy, also popping in to say good morning and hope that you are being well cared for by Miss Po and Finn.

>116 sibylline: I am inordinately pleased that you enjoyed Beauvallet.
I have recommended this one to a few others (and maybe you?) but no one (so far) has said how they liked it. Perhaps it's Georgian era setting disappoints Heyer's Regency fans.

I re-read it last winter when I was in need of a familiar author, escapist read-off-my-shelves. I should have upgraded my review because I agree, it is 4-star worthy.

51.
Halfling Moon Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

Two "back stories" to the longer novels of Korval's adoption of Surebleak as their new home. The first concerns the arrival of the "treasures" of the family, the children, who have been in hiding on an asteroid and the second, the arrival of house and tree on Surebleak from the pov of the shy cat-loving neighbor Yurie. ****

Very short E-book read -- have had a slew of these loaded up for a rainy day. I'd say broken ankle qualifies and the stories are perfect for my present needs.

>122 sibylline: Lee & Miller do great comfort reads.

>123 quondame: They sure do!

The last time I broke an ankle (right one) was seventeen years ago. I can feel a daunting difference in energy and basic strength. The good thing is that the splint is very comfortable! That is what they call this new style of cast -- not quite a cast although there is some plaster on the bottom, back and sides. There are layers and layers of soft cotton strips innermost and about an inch on the front is "open" (no plaster) just the cotton. The whole is wrapped in a sort of ace bandage type thing and breathes better and feels so different! Like my foot is being gently held. I didn't need any painkiller (all I have is Tylenol) last night and did just fine. They have to take this splint off tomorrow to take a look and decide when to do surgery and I sure hope the next splint is as well done as this one!

OK it's obvious I'm lying around in a bed or on a sofa by myself too much. I do have Posey and three cats. Fin has had to go to the kennel -- he loves it there, the people have corgis, it's small and cosy. He's in good loving hands.

I have a feeling I'll be plowing through a little of Lee and Miller.

Hooray for Lee and Miller! Instead, I've found an older chick-littish book (I mean, for an older chick although the heroine is 30) of the Wards by Alexandra Raife which is providing a nice little break.

>124 sibylline: Is Finn to boundy/puppy to be around a broken bone?

>126 RebaRelishesReading: Not only that but he chases the cats around and not very nicely, so all that has to be managed. He really has a lot of energy and a lot of anxiety. We miss him because he is such an enthusiast, but . . . it would make things exponentially harder.

>124 sibylline: That modern-era cast sounds excellent. So glad to hear these remedies have improved.

I haven't ever broken a bone but had a full leg cast when I had a dislocated knee that needed stabilising. That was like in the Cretaceous period and plaster casts were the norm.

Aww, I'm sure you miss Finn but it's totally understandable. We have a dog that requires a lot of "management" too, and while I can handle it by myself for short periods of time, if one of us were laid up for a while I think we would need to get help somehow.

>128 SandyAMcPherson: Cretaceous period LOL!

>129 lauralkeet: Glad to provide the laugh.

At this time of the end of Ramadan I want to give thanks for your friendship in this wonderful group, Lucy.

Enjoy the long weekend.

52. E Skyblaze Sharon Lee Steve Miller
53. E Courier Run Sharon Lee Steve Miller
54. E Legacy Systems Sharon Lee Steve Miller
55. E Change Management Sharon Lee Steve Miller
56. EDue Diligence Sharon Lee Steve Miller
57.E Cultivar Sharon Lee Steve Miller
58. E Heirs to Trouble Sharon Lee Steve Miller
59. E Degrees of Separation Sharon Lee Steve Miller
60. E Fortune's Favor Steve Miller
61. E Shout of Honor Steve Miller

All E books and all lumped together with no cover picture because they are very undistinguished as E book covers tend to be.

I downloaded all of these and find I've already read about 1/3 of them in Liaden Adventures collections but as I barely remembered those it hardly matters! I'm happy that Liaden is there to dip into right now. Not going to review these! Don't be too impressed by the sheer numbers, the "books" are all between 70-110 pages. So a little bit slimy to count them but the fact is I read a lot of doorstoppers (reading a big one, the Chabon right now) so it'll all even out.

One good aside though is that it looks as if Lee and Miller are making some sort of attempt to organize their work into categories, Books, Adventures, Stories, number them, etc. Still a mad jumble here on LT. Problem that results is overlapping purchases, not that Lee and Miller care, although they might?

Today is Day 10 of the Ankle Saga and I failed to report in here last Friday after my trip to the Orthoverse. In short, good news is that I almost surely won't need surgery, the break is "stable" over the ankle. They did not remove the splint but I think they will THIS Friday when I go back. Then they will either decide I must have a cast for a couple of weeks (pooh) or can be trusted in a boot (yay). As long as they can help me figure out how to keep it secure at night I know the boot would be better. Obviously you can't sleep with a boot on. I could also then, with help, take showers. Ola.

I found on you tube a great way to get some "cardio" exercise in bed or a chair, lots of different kinds of arm-waving and believe me it's a work out! Lauren House. It's terrific! After I feel so much better and so does my leg plus I'm improving upper body strength which I am really going to need the next couple of months.

So glad to hear your ankle is healing well and hope you move to a boot on Friday. Hooray to you for doing a cardio work-out in a chair. If I just input "Lauren House" on youTube will it I find it?

No, I was hoping, but it doesn't -- takes you to Ralph Lauren's fabulous houses . . .

Here's the link: Lauren House: Cardio workout in Bed!

I should add, she recommends three minutes for most of these, I do about two with rests (not turning off the timer) between. Gotta work up slow!

Ooh, I'm very happy to read the ankle update in >132 sibylline:. That sounds very promising indeed. Hurray!

How are the pups doing? Is Finn still enjoying his holiday at the kennel?

>134 sibylline: Thanks for the link, Lucy. Now I just need to motivate myself. I've walked for several days in a row now, so that's good but that's also all I've done. Since I don't plan to go back to the gym anytime soon, even if they reopen, I need to find something else to do.

She's pretty entertaining. I also use the you-tube feature to slow her down a bit -- if you look at the wheel in the lower left corner, click on that, you can slow things. I use it a lot for music. 75% works better!

I'm late to the broken ankle drama party - oh darn it! Sounds like you are taking it all in...er, stride? I have read some Liaden's but I'm in such a hopeless muddle about where to go next that I always hold off reading more. I have a few unread ones on my Kindle too. Maybe I'll just take the plunge and hope I'm not spoilerising anything for myself.

I went to the site yesterday and tried to follow along but (1)three minutes is a lot of flying, then (2) she moves to just explaining but not doing it for the whole time. So I wrote them down with the plan to do 2 minutes (or maybe 1?) of each later. Haven't done that yet but maybe later today ;>

Yeah, she's just outlining what to do. It is simple enough, tho. I slowed it down so I could watch what she was really doing with hands, wrists etc. And I think one could just do some of them here and there as needed for five or ten minutes at a time and get a lot of benefit.

I think you're right about benefit of doing whatever and, indeed, she was giving instructions not leading a workout and the instructions were quite clear I think. I ended up going for a walk today but maybe I'll take you "here and there" idea up as the afternoon progresses though. First I'm going to read a while.

Sorry about the broken ankle, Lucy! I hope you got good news yesterday and were able to get the boot, but either way a huge hooray! that you most likely won't need surgery.

I liked that Lauren House video. Very good for adding some strength to my neglected shoulders/arms. Thanks for mentioning this.

I do have the boot! I had to beg a little, but leg bones, ankle bones all are lined up perfectly and the idea of being in a cast even for two weeks filled me with horror after this recent heat wave. I promised not to take it off at all except to wash my leg.

Of course, I had a difficult night. Couldn't get comfortable even on my back, leg raised etc. I got on line to read about how others manage and realized I could take the front panel off -- really important if you are walking in the boot -- not so much if all you are doing is being a layabout in bed or rolling around in an office chair. Oh yes, a very comfy office chair. Works best going backwards -- I think because there is less weight on the wheels that way. I can go anywhere on the first floor -- at least where we've rolled up the peskier rugs (some rugs stay flat, some don't). I can't quite yet "do my share" but I can do more and it feels good.

Another hurdle to get over will be showering. I can do that if my spousal unit is willing to hang about at least nearby -- we have a walk in shower and a bench because he sometimes has back problems! I CANNOT wait, but I will for a few more days, just to be on the safe side.

I'm shaping Lauren's exercise program into something that works for me -- I can't mess with a timer so I counted how many flaps or whatever make a minute. I'm so amazed still by how great my legs feel afterward, blood pumping around properly, I guess. She says that she got sturdier on top which she wanted and more svelte below, well Hallelujiah if that happens! Still a wishful thinker at 65 I guess!

I've finished Kavalier & Clay so review to follow soon.

62. contemp fic ****
Kavalier and Clay Michael Chabon

Ultimately, not my "favorite" Chabon. I have put off reading it for years, I suppose, intuiting that I wouldn't find it as riveting as some of the others. At the same time, K&C has depths and heights and texture and, if you like Chabon, have any interest in the history of performing magicians and/or comic books, you owe it to yourself to take up the book. As with all Chabon's work, there is a lot of heart here too -- fearlessness around strong emotions, in this book especially around love, how it hurts, how it heals. Josef Kavalieri of Prague escapes (with the help of a golem) to America (NYC) where he lives with his cousins, one of them, Sammy who is his age. The two become close friends and end up going into business drawing and writing comic books. My attention flagged during some bits, who knows why, but there is a scene with Salvador Dali in a deep-sea diving suit that is priceless. Also a section set in Antarctica during the war, that I sat up past bedtime to read through. ****

>145 sibylline: I really liked Kavalier and Clay, but then I'm into comics by association. A couple of our fanish circle were prominent comic book writers and of course my husbands main hobby is still comic books, so the human side of the passion is very real for me.

I have a friend currently stranded in her home on the western edge of New Hampshire without a library that offers a decent selection of e-books, so if you have any suggestions, I'll pass them on. I have yet to recruit her to LT, she is not a joiner. Fortunately she and her husband are quite comfortably off and would be traveling the world in different times so she doesn't feel bad about dropping lots more money than I would on books. I figure the extra expense of living in the big city is a sort of tax that provides me access to great library systems.

Oooo what fun. Any clues as to what she likes to read??? I love suggesting books, but I do need some guidelines!

Yes, I can see you would love K&C for just those reasons. I did read my share of comic books back in the day, but it was never an obsession, as, say Elizabeth Goudge and many others were.

It's been yonks since I read K&C. I'm not really into comics but it won the Pulitzer, and that inspired me to read a bit outside my comfort zone. No regrets; it was a solid 3.5-star read, but I recall some attention-flagging as well.

>147 sibylline: Currently she's reading Cyteen and bummed she can't get an e-book version - her actual reading time is limited by eye issues and she originally learned to read in Mandarin, so Latin script is a strain in itself. Mostly she does audio books, but that doesn't work for everything. I've shared F&FS with her, she claims to prefer SF, but I feel many people say that who've given up after encounters with 1980s guy adventure series. I know she reads historical novels. I was hoping to find a library system close enough to her that would give cards to nearby towns or even one that would allow for a card for a fee. I thought the Philadelphia Library would, but they seem to have stopped that last year.

>148 lauralkeet: Yes, I think that is why I put it off for so long. But there was a great deal to like and I am sure the story and many details will stay with me.

>149 quondame: Not entirely sure how one goes about joining/using this, but it looks as if you can buy the e-book of Cyteen this way:

https://www.cherryh.com/www/library.htm

If she hasn't read Cherry's Foreigner Series -- all of those are available as e-books.

On audio I highly recommend the Ruth Galloway series -- she's an archaeologist living on the Norfolk coast, specialty is bones. These are probably available as e-books too. I'd be amazed if the NH library system doesn't have them.

I also recommend the audiobooks of the Dorothy Dunnett Lymond Chronicles -- they are complex and demanding -- but after the first book you get totally into it!

One of my favorite reads somewhat recently was The Long Ships about Viking raiders in the 11-12th century by Frans G. Bengtsson. I see it is available both through Audible and on Kindle. A delight!

Can she buy a membership into the Dartmouth College Library? I used to join the UVM library every year. Or perhaps one of the New Hampshire State colleges.

>150 sibylline: Even on Closed Circle, Cyteen isn't available as an e-book. I suspect there to be longstanding contract issues. It's one of the things I checked first. She knows about Foreigner and I've assured her she can read the first without committing to 21+. I enjoy them, but sometimes I want more fantasy or animal form aliens to play with. She did cats, bugs, reptiles, horses, so why not fish, really?
I can't remember if I've pushed Lymond or Niccolo on her, I know I've mentioned them as well as King Hereafter. I'm not moderate.
Oh, another Viking series! She mentioned Conn Iggulden to me. Do you know his books? Or Cecelia Holland's Corban Loosestrife Saga? I like that one a lot.
Are the university libraries good on fiction resources? Although I know she and her mathematician husband read a good deal of non-fiction as well.

Hooray for the boot!!

I wasn't bowled over by K & C either when I read it some years ago.

Still didn't get to Lauren House today -- router issues ate up the whole day

Oops I missed the update on your boot, that's great news!!

Well, this was all very interesting. I enjoyed the conversation about recommending books to Susan's friend (#146).
I haven't any familiarity with the title at >145 sibylline:.
And it was great to have an update on the ankle issue, Lucy. I hope you can get some decent sleeps. And oh joy for the shower!

Yay for the boot! I need to check out that exercise stuff. And,

Link is up for the Sector General summer group read--check it out!

https://www.librarything.com/topic/320907

I did 50 each of about half of the exercises while watching TV last night -- it's a start :)

63. E sf, sp/op ****1/2
Accepting the Lance Sharon Lee Steve Miller

This one (#22)is a humdinger during which some long story arcs get nicely taken care of and some characters join forces or are redeemed . . . There are still plenty of story lines to follow in the future, truly an endless number, but nothing quite as overwhelming as this. I struggled a bit at the beginning and had to look up many characters as there is such a large cast I had forgotten a few of the story lines, but most of it came back. Enjoyable as always. Especially as things came together at the end. ****1/2

64. archaeology ****1/2
A Handbook of Stone Structures in Northeastern United States Mary E. Gage James E. Gage

Of course this a niche book for those interested in the subject. Anyone who wanders around the woods in New England is aware that there are stone structures that cannot be explained as built by a yankee farmer. Meticulously piled stones on steep hillsides (usually west or south), oddly snaky, serpentine walls, a cairn that, from one side, looks exactly like a turtle and, hmmmm, faces a wetland or a small mountain pond. Elaborate cairns built in the middle of a marshy wetland . . . no, not built by the stray Celt or Viking, sorry, but by the people who came before us Paleo, Woodland and those still quietly among us. The Gages undertake to describe, from their painstaking research, the ways to identify which was made "historically" and which predate our arrival on the scene. More than a few surviving native americans quietly took up farming and acting like white folk while maintaining their ceremonies privately too, so there are "hybrid" places, but identifiable. The Gages write in clear and direct prose. The work they have done is thorough and remarkable. If you live in New England this and a few other books I could name will change how you see our landscape forever. Enriching! *****

>158 sibylline: Outstanding review, Lucy. I *really* would love to read that book.
I have some ideas how I might find a way to borrow a copy. I'll ask around campus, maybe in the local Anthropology department.

I love this type of information. When I was still travelling to conferences (for work), my family came with me when I was in the UK and we had a happy time in Scotland visiting stone circles and other such places. Not the highly publicised ones but out of the way. Sometimes in a farmer's fields. Not very many folks were willing to let us tromp around when it was private access only, though.

>158 sibylline: wow, that's really interesting.

>158 sibylline: Cool. Every now and then I do a web search for "modern megaliths". I think I started after watching a documentary about how the Egyptians raised stele. Sometimes the results are interesting. We have one on the grounds of the LA County art museum, Levitated Mass.

>161 quondame: OMG!
Yeah, I am so not going to be walking through that tunnel/staircase place. I know, I know, it's supported on the edges of the walls as well. What's your point *shudder* (who mixed the concrete and how old is it?)

>162 SandyAMcPherson: It's a natural boulder that was moved and installed in 2012. It's one of the few exhibits that I felt moved to see and it is awesome, though not so much as it would be if the struts hadn't needed to be added. It is very interesting to walk under. Safe, but not feeling that way.
As to why, well men have been schlepping stones all over the place for millennia so they must have their reasons.

One of the beguiling aspects of the indigenous stone work is that . . . it fits, it's astonishingly sturdy, subtle, and appropriate. It's all communal and purposeful.

I did adore Christo because of the way he drew everyone in the area into his work --yes, often the final pieces were pleasing or thought provoking, but he was all about process.

Something similar happened with Noguchi's lightning bolt on the Philly side of the Ben Franklin Bridge -- it was supposed to stand clear, but in the end was encumbered by a bunch of guy ropes. More like Gulliver being tied down. It looks ok at night lit up, but just sad in the day. The supports detract from the menace.

I am only 160+ posts behind and happy to be only that far behind. I am not saying how many BBs you hit me with, but I am very sorry that my local library has only one of the Rachel Cusk books.

I hope the ankle is healing nicely for you, Lucy! If not, maybe you should consider getting additional help? Not that the pups are failing in their tasks, mind you.

>158 sibylline: The book sounds fascinating and you make me want to "wander around the woods in New England" but I'll pass on walking under that boulder!! You did make me think that I haven't been to LA County Art Museum in probably 50 years, even though it's only a couple of hours away but the photo is enough for me on the rock.

>165 alcottacre: Lovely to have you stop by, Stasia. I think the Cusk novels are utterly inflammatory -- and -- most inflammatory of all she makes it so easy for women (men mostly will anyway) to dismiss what she is getting. The reviews I've read! So completely missing the point! (Which in a way is Cusk's point.)

>158 sibylline: Only fascinating to someone totally engaged, I expect, which I am.

Re the rock, there is a (mostly guys) school of "menacing" sculpture, usually draws a lot of attention, controversial etc etc. -- that huge iron wall piece in Manhattan, for ex. (I saw that being installed btw a million years ago). Artist's name has fallen out of my head. I'll come back and put it in when it does: Richard Serra!! A tad unsubtle! Not really my thing either.

65. contemp fic ****
Alfred and Guinevere James Schuyler

Liking novels by poets is almost as esoteric an interest as that of the sacred pre-colonial landscape of New England! Be that as it may, and while I admit I am not deeply read in this "genre" there is a focus and purpose in these novels that I find different and delightful. I've read enough, Phillip Larkin's Jill, Randall Jarrell's Pictures from an Institution, and the sublime Nest of Ninnies - a joint effort of Schuyler and John Ashbery to name the ones that come to mind. Here, in a book written only in dialogue (shades of Henry Green and Guinevere's diary entries, the focus is on capturing daily language, what people really say. There are two children, Guinevere is between twelve and fourteen, her brother is no more than eight. There is uneasiness at home, mother is upset, father has gone off on a "work trip" to Europe without her. Right after Alfred recovers from appendicitis the two are packed off to Granny and Uncle Saul's. (I should add this is likely set in the 1950's). They fight, they make up, they alternate betraying and being dependent on one another. Poets are excellent at showing without blahing on -- a reason why budding writers should read spare novels written by poets. With few words, one is there, totally in the scene, surrounded by the smell of a failed lunch, the sting of an insult, the way children distance themselves from anxiety with imaginary play and acting out. Children know everything, adults really shouldn't kid themselves! Lovely! ****

Just a quick apology to anyone who might stop by that I've been beyond hopeless at visiting threads. I thought I would have plenty of time, but somehow I don't, everything I do takes twice as long and then I'm pooped! I'm not reading as much as I thought either. Not knitting at all . . . in fact, what am I doing? Probably reading too much news. I am working, when I do work, on finishing the revisions of the Hiero book. Boy did it ever need another run-through.

>169 sibylline: I think your job right now is to take care of yourself and heal -- sounds like you're doing that. Rest, get well, we'll be here when you're better.

>169 sibylline: >170 RebaRelishesReading: What Reba said ^^^. Yes 💖

>170 RebaRelishesReading: Very wise words. Don't be too hard on yourself Lucy, and just allow that ankle to get better. Sending a virtual, virus-free hug.

Hooray! Good appointment with the orthopod! I can do pre-PT as in carefully putting a little weight on foot while crutching around, also time out of boot wiggle ankle a little up and down, no sideways. In three weeks I'll start "real" PT -- I am sneaking next week to my favorite local PT person because she is going away for a month and she's really talented and I know she'll be very detailed about how to go about things, the UVM PT people will be nice, I am sure. I've known Polly for about 25 years, total trust.

It makes such a difference on crutches when it is ok to have your foot on the ground, however lightly.

>173 sibylline: Huzzah! Trustworthy PTs are the absolute best to have in your life.

>173 sibylline: woo hoo! That's wonderful news, Lucy. I'm so glad you are healing.

>173 sibylline: Congratulations! Glad all is going well and that you'll get to see Polly before she leaves.

ABSOLUTELY!

66. fantasy ***1/2
Inda Sherwood Smith

The first half was work--figuring out the very large cast of characters -- many of whom have a name and a nickname and the names themselves are jawbreakers. Titles change too depending on whether you are at peace or war. But enough of that. Inda is the spare in a princely family and thus destined to be the Shield Arm for his brother. Instead of completing his training at home he is called to the king's city to train with the other spares. Only . . . there is treachery afoot . . . and the life in the school is not exactly a picnic. Inda is soon noticed by some higher ups and not all of them are pleased that he is so gifted as a strategist or by his humility. He doesn't only observe geography and ability, but also the characters of those around him, instantly and accurately. In the first half also I was far more interested in the women characters. The second half of the book things pick up and I got fully involved. Can't say more without spoiling, I'm afraid. By then I knew who everyone was. Of course Part 2 has many new characters, but a little less complex. The world building is excellent and the magical aspect sufficiently intriguing -- there isn't much anymore and no one knows why. Oh, and I think Smith handles sexuality with both humor and balance, not nothing but not too much either. Commendable. ***1/2

67. fantasy ****
The Fox (2) Sherwood Smith

Big canvas, complex story, but now I've worked out the big picture I'm enjoying myself. Most of this second book takes place at sea or near the sea, anyway. There is some enjoyable intrigue at a nearby kingdom when the former Queen, now widowed, goes home. Inda is an engaging character as are his companions and all their quandaries and romances and dilemmas kept my attention. The "enemy" is now the Venn, a northern empire who have set their sights on Sartor, where a number of smaller kingdoms, including that of Inda's, are. The underlying tension is what will Inda do when he learns of the Venn plans. And when will he find out who is now king! My lips are sealed. ****

68. contemp fic *****
Go With Me Castle Freeman

Recently I came across All That I Have and loved it, so I scurried to find another of Castle Freeman's novels. Then I waited, afraid I wouldn't love it as much as the first.
But this one is even better. I am in awe, actually. Everything about the novel is so right, all the ingredients I love, including strangers riding around in a car together all day: the structure, the characters, the theme, the dialogue, the SETTING! Are all rural places the same? Well, they share commonalities, for sure, but Freeman knows Vermont. Really knows. There's a reason this state is still underpopulated, besides it being winter 7 months of the year, it is beautiful, but great swathes are not suitable for anything but admiring from afar. Even logging in those forests is treacherous and hard. That came across in All That I Have too. There is nothing cute and cuddly about this version of Vermont either. There is beauty, there is community, there is humor aplenty and there is danger and suspense. All in 155 pages. A young woman comes to the sheriff (retired in All That I Have) wanting him to do something about a man who is stalking her, Blackway. Well, Blackway is the local villain, disliked and feared, but . . . well . . . Blackway, so you leave him alone, stay out of his way. The sheriff tells her he can't do anything until Blackway breaks the law overtly but sends her to look for this fella, Scotty Cavanaugh at the old chair factory. She doesn't find Scotty, but she finds two knights, one old and one young, in tarnished, no, in NO armor but cunning and muscle, to help her. They will find Blackway and they will take care of him. At the chair factory a greek chorus of older men remain, as always, spending the day chatting, playing cards, musing, drinking beer and . . . there are delicious hints of divine (or semi-divine) intervention. And even some romantical nudging of two young people who just might suit.

Describing a man at one of those off in the middle of nowhere country bars that is only for drinking and fighting: "He was a big one, all right: six and a half feet and in no way skinny, with a long tangled beard that hung from his chin to his chest. The beard was black at the sides and gray down the middle and made the man look like he was in the act of eating a skunk headfirst."

Humor: "The Fort was not the kind of bar where you stopped for a drink on your way home from work. It was the kind of bar where you stopped for many drinks on your way to work, until soon enough they fired you and you could spend your whole day at the Fort."

A total joy. *****

>180 sibylline: "A total joy" -- what a lovely way to praise a book. Very tempting.

(psst, I can't see the cover)

I like the sound of the Castle Freeman. I've just picked up a used copy cheap on the inter web. Sounds like the kind of thing the husband will deeply appreciate too.

>181 RebaRelishesReading: Ha! I fixed it. I didn't double check that I had changed the cover to the LT mode.

>182 HanGerg: Your husband will like it -- and the book was made into a movie that apparently just didn't work. That happens, often not at all the fault of the story itself. I think the movie might have a different title? I haven't seen it.

(((((Lucy)))))

>184 ronincats: Hi Roni!!

69.
On Becoming You Kathi Pickett

Kathi is an energy practitioner and teacher and extremely gifted at what she does. The book, well, it is the usual formula of personal story plus anecdotes from her practice, with some practical advice tossed in with other more speculative ideas. I have the book because I've experienced Kathi's gift as a healer first hand. There's a mystery all right, some folks just have something ultimately inexplicable. Anyway, I'm not going to rate the book because that feels like rating Kathi and I won't do that.

Found this on Peggy's thread!

I've read all but 14 and 1/2 (Bible, yes, Torah no) but I feel slightly crazed because I've read SO MUCH Bill Bryson, just not that one. And SO MUCH John Irving just not Owen Meaney, etc. Jane Austen has three books here. Hardy has two. Sherlock is on twice! (once, the complete, once, the adventures of). Complete Shakespeare or . . . Hamlet . . . Marquez twice.

I'd make a list that asked "If you have read anything at all by x" with no repeats.

1. Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen ✔
2 The Lord of the Rings -JRR Tolkien ✔
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte ✔
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling ✔
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee ✔
6 The Bible - The Torah 1/2 ✔ (no Torah)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte ✔
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell ✔
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman ✔
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens ✔
11 Little Women - Louisa May Alcott ✔
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy ✔
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller ✔
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare ✔
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier ✔
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien ✔
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulkner
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger ✔
19 The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot ✔
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell ✔
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald ✔
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens ✔
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy ✔
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams ✔
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky ✔
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck ✔
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll ✔
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame ✔
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy ✔
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens ✔
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis ✔
34 Emma - Jane Austen ✔
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen ✔
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis ✔
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini ✔
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne ✔
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell ✔
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown ✔
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ✔
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins ✔
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery ✔
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy ✔
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood ✔
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding ✔
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan ✔
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert ✔
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons ✔
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen ✔
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth ✔
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon ✔
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens ✔
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley ✔
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ✔
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck ✔
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov ✔
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt ✔
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold ✔
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas ✔
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac ✔
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy ✔
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie ✔
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville ✔
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens ✔
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker ✔
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett ✔
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce ✔
76 The Inferno - Dante ✔
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome ✔
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray ✔
80 Possession - AS Byatt ✔
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens ✔
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell ✔
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker ✔
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro ✔
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert ✔
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White ✔
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ✔
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid BLYTON ✔
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad ✔
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery ✔
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks ✔
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams ✔
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole ✔
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas ✔
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare ✔
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl ✔
100 Gaudy Night - Dorothy Sayers

I like your approach to the list too, Lucy.
Of the few that I've read but you haven't, A Fine Balance is the only one I'd recommend. I hesitate to do it because it is absolutely wrenching. It's one that retains so vivid an aftertaste that I won't feel a need to reread it for another ten years (which may mean never).
Oh wait! You haven't read Gaudy Night???? Oxford in the 30s! Never mind the flaws - Women's Oxford in the 30s!

>188 LizzieD: OOOOOoooo I'll get right on it!

70. fantasy ****
King's Shield Sherwood Smith

So I'm pretty well hooked at this point, obviously. And I can't say much of anything without spoiling. The focus in this book is on (finally!) the Venn attack. They want this southern territory for their own as their own lands are inadequate for producing the food and timber they need. It's a bit mysterious that, but I guess this country north of the equator just isn't as fertile on this planet as it is on ours, so they want to go south of their equator. Another interesting thing is that there isn't enough timber anywhere, it's a precious commodity. I'm carefully avoiding writing about the entanglements, alliances, betrayals, joys and disappointments of the various characters. Both the Marlovar and the Venn are very buttoned up cultures so a lot of the things that go wrong for them interpersonally are because no one dares actually say what they really think or feel. If you like fantasy you will probably like this series. It's totally solid, not brilliant, but it has some terrific moments. ****

71. classic fic ****
Late Fame Arthur Schnitzler

Back in the late seventies, Masterpiece Theatre "did" a bunch of Schnitzler's stories which I found haunting and marvelous. (After seeing the program I went and read the stories). He was Viennese and mainly wrote between the 1880's and his death in 1931. This novella is about a man, Eduard Saxberger, now in his late sixties who is "discovered" by a small group of young writers who call themselves "The Enthusiasts". He wrote one book of poetry called "Wanderings" in his twenties and then gave up poetry and took a job in the civil service. He has led a quiet and uneventful and not unhappy life, although, maybe yes, something has been missing . . . This sudden recognition awakens dormant feelings and ideas, long ago set aside and buried. The group settle on having a recital, and want him to write a new poem, when he fails to do this (not without trying) they agree that someone else can read some of his published poems. The timing is somewhat vague, but let us say it all transpires in that time of late winter to early spring, maybe six weeks. The novella explores the sources of contentment and discontentment, of envy and disillusion, of sensitivity and callousness (especially in artists!) -- and, as is written in the afterward, the uncomfortable gap between the creative and the "bourgeois" life. While the novella is rather harsh about the egotism of the young artists, and whiule you might think Schnitzler is showing that the life of the straightforward bourgeois is preferable to the foolish delusions of writers, there is great compassion too for this desire that the young have to create something of beauty and value -- and don't have the determination or talent with which to succeed in the end. I was left with the sense that Schnitzler didn't think it foolish at all to try, but that so few would succeed and that recognizing your limitations is not the worst thing. A lovely novella -- deceptively quiet. ****

My next book gets me halfway to this year's goal!!!! Hurrah!

Doing well on the reading front, I see. Has your reading increased since the ankle incident?
All best wishes for improving mobility. 🎉