DeltaQueen's 2020 Reading Room of Follies and Quirks - Part V

My name is Judy and I have been doing the Category Challenge for 10 years. I live in the suburbs of Vancouver, British Columbia with my husband. My two daughters live not too far away and I have two wonderful grandchildren, a boy and a girl. As we are getting on in our years, we live a pretty quiet life but I am always up for a joke or a shenanigan! I read vociferously and from many different genres. I am always ready to put the kettle on for visitors so please feel free to comment on this thread, whether it’s about books or life in general, the welcome mat is always out.

This year I am building my challenge around an LT feature as well as some of the various challenges that I like to participate in. There is a feature on Library Thing called the Folly and this in turn leads to a Librarything Roulette which I am going to use to help me read from my shelves this year. With a push of a button one can find various books in various ways – from following a random tag to finding an unread book on your own shelves. This works for me as I have catalogued all my TBR, Kindle books, and library wishlists on LibraryThing. I have identified 6 captions from the Librarything Roulette that I will use every month to pick 6 separate books. I am giving myself the opportunity to hit the folly button more than once so I can find books of mine that will fit.

When it comes to quirks, one of mine is that I can’t resist a reading challenge, so the rest of my categories will be to help me feed the fever of the Cat and Kit Challenges, the Reading Through Time Challenge, 1,001 Books List Challenge and the TIOLI Challenges. This will give me the option of reading 15 plus books a month and I will allow books for the Bingo to also be used elsewhere. I may not use all categories every month, but hopefully by year’s end I will have at least 10 books in each category.

Due to a converation from my last thread, I have posted some pictures of some well loved books from my childhood. I believe that my love for mysteries and police procedurals stems from my reading these books when I was young. I started with The Bobbsey Twins and every Enid Blyton book I could get my hands on:



Then at the ripe old age of 11 or so, I loved on to "teenage sleuths" such as Trixie Belden, Donna Parker and Ginny Gordon:



Somewhere around age 13, I discovered Nancy Drew and devoured all the books about her I could find. I also read some of Nancy's contempories such as Cherry Ames and Sue Barton.



Of course, detective fiction wasn't all I was reading, but I'll save those memories for another thread.

Categories

A. Random Member - using the folly button to bring up a random LT member and then choose a book that we have in common. I will only use members that have at least 25 plus books in common with me.

B. Random Tag – Again using the folly button to bring up a random tag and then find a book of mine to match that tag.

C. Random Awards or Lists – I will chose a book to read that has been in contention for winning the Award or being on the List that comes up.

D. Random Character – Clicking on this brings up a random character from fictional names to real people. I will read a book that either has a connection to the real character, or has a part of the fictional name in one of characters in my book. Example: I clicked and got a fictional character called Max, checking my books for the name Max, I find I have a number of choices that I could read that have a character named Max.

E. Random Place – While it doesn’t have to be the main setting, this random place must come into the book somehow, either in setting or in discussions.

F. Random Book of Mine: A book from my own library comes up and if I haven’t read it, it will be the choice for that month. If the book is part of a series, I will read the next book in the series that I haven’t yet read.

G. RandomCat: A surprise every month as the theme is chosen by that month’s host.

H. GeoCat – A different location every month!

I. The Alpha Kit

J. The Scaredy Kit

K. The SFFFKit

L. The 2020 Bingo Challenge

M. Reading Through Time Challenge: A new theme every month as chosen by the host

N. 1,001 Books to Read Before You Die List: My ongoing project and competition with my brother

O. Take It Or Leave It Challenges: This will be a place to add books that I want to read for these monthly challenges that don’t fit elsewhere. Hopefully I won’t need to use this option every month.

P. Others: For challenges that I won’t be doing every month such as the Non-Fiction Cat & MysteryKit and also Group Reads and other books that don’t fit elsewhere.

Tickers

1. Books Read




2. Pages Read




3. Books Read From My Shelves

How I Rate Books:

I am not a professional book critic nor do I consider myself to be an expert on literary standards, my reviews are based on my reaction to the book and the opinions expressed are my own personal thoughts and feelings.

2.0 ★: I must have been dragged, kicking and screaming, to finish this one!

2.5 ★: Below Average but I finished the book for one reason or another.

3.0 ★: Average, a solid read that I finished but can't promise to remember

3.5 ★: Above Average, there's room for improvement but I liked this well enough to pick up another book by this author.


4.0 ★: A very good read and I enjoyed my time spent with this story

4.5 ★: An excellent read, a book I will remember and recommend

5.0 ★: Sheer perfection, the right book at the right time for me

I use decimal points to further clarify my thoughts about the book, therefore you will see books rated 3.8 to show it was better than a 3.5 but not quite a 4.0; etc. These small adjustments help me to remember how a book resonated with me.

A. Random Member



Books Read

1. Thou Shell of Death by Nicholas Blake - 4.0 ★
2. Arsenic Labyrinth by Martin Edwards - 3.3 ★
3. The First Days by Rhiannon Frater - 4.0 ★
4. The Missing and The Dead by Stuart MacBride - 4.5 ★
5. Clean Cut by Lynda La Plante - 4.0 ★
6. Bones by Jan Burke - 4.0 ★

B. Random Tag



Books Read

1. Binti by Nnedi Okorafor - 4.0 ★
2. My Life on a Plate by India Knight - 2.8 ★
3. Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai - 4.5 ★
4. The Wolf Border by Sarah Hall - 3.8 ★
5. As She Left It by Catriona McPherson - 4.5 ★
6. Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank Gilbreth Jr. - 4.2 ★
7. The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin - 4.5 ★
8. American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell - 4.3 ★

C. Random Awards & Lists



Books Read

1. I Am Not Esther by Fleur Beale - 4.0 ★
2. After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress - 4.2 ★
3. The Raft by S. A. Bodeen - 3.7 ★
4. Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes - 3.8 ★
5. Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich - 4.5 ★
6. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy - 5.0 ★
7. Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver - 4.5 ★

D. Random Characters



Books Read

1. The Trespass by Barbara Ewing - 5.0 ★
2. The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty - 4.2 ★
3. The Drowned World by J. G. Ballard - 4.0 ★
4. The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi - 4.2 ★
5. The House At Sea's End by Elly Griffiths - 4.0 ★
6. Lucy by Ellen Feldman - 3.8 ★
7. To Sir Phillip, With Love by Julia Quinn - 4.0 ★

E. Random Place



Books Read

1. The Red Box by Rex Stout - 4.0 ★
2. The Outlaw Album by Daniel Woodrell - 4.1 ★
3. The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang Van Goethe - 3.2 ★
4. The Leaving of Liverpool by Lyn Andrews - 3.8 ★
5. As the Crow Flies by Craig Johnson - 4.2 &39733;
6. Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie - 4.1 ★
7. The Marsh King's Daughter by Karen Dionne -3.4 ★

F. Random Book of Mine



Books Read

1. Fast One by Paul Cain - 3.0 ★
2. Forbidden Daughter by Shobhan Bantwal - 4.2 ★
3. Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid- 4.0 ★
4. Death Message by Mark Billingham - 4.0 ★
5. The Devil's Waters by David L. Robbins - 4.0 ★
6. The Last Survivors by Bobby Adair and T. W. Piperbrook - 3.0 ★
7. Along the Broken Bay by Flora J. Solomon - 4.0 ★

G. 2020 RandomCat Challenge



Books Read

1. January - Challenge Yourself: The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner - 3.3 ★
2. February - Leap Year: The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers - 4.0 ★
3. March - Seasons of Love: Spring Flowers, Spring Frost by Ismail Kadare - 2.0 ★
4. April - Showers or Flowers - Sunshine After Rain by Dee Williams - 4.0 ★
5. May - Believe in Your Shelf - Gone With the Windsors by Laurie Graham - 4.2 ★
6. June - Take to the Sea - The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley - 3.7 ★
7. July - Picture This - Postal, Volume 1, Postal, Volume 2, Postal, Volume 3 - Matt Hawkins & Bryan Edward Hill - 4.0 ★
8. August - Get Your Groove On - Funeral Music by Morag Joss - 3.3 ★

H. 2020 GeoCat Challenge



Books Read

1. When the Moon is Low by Nadia Hashimi - 4.5 ★
2. Piglettes by Clemetine Beauvais - 4.0 ★
3. The Fourth Queen by Debbie Taylor - 3.8 ★
4. The Dry by Jane Harper - 4.5 ★
5. The Commandant by Jessica Anderson - 4.2 ★
6. Dead Water by Ann Cleeves - 4.2 ★
7. Local Custom by Sharon Lee - 4.5 ★
8. Country of the Bad Wolfes by James Carlos Blake - 4.0 ★

I. 2020 AlphaKit



Books Read

1. A - The Fever by Megan Abbott - 4.0 ★
2. B - Divorcing Jack by Colin Bateman - 4.0 ★
3. C - The Night She Won Miss America by Michael Callahan - 3.0 ★
4. D
5. E
6. F - The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg - 4.1 ★
7. G - The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom - 4.3 ★
8. H - The Midwife of Hope River by Patricia Harmon - 4.3 ★
9. I
10. J - Pride of Lancashire by Anna Jacobs - 4.0 ★
11. K - China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan - 4.0 ★
12. L - All The Earth, Thrown to the Sky by Joe Lansdale - 4.1 ★
13. M
14. N
15. O
16. P - Seafire by Natalie C. Parker - 4.0 ★
17. Q
18. R - Holy Island by LJ Ross - 1.0 ★
19. S - The Last Good Paradise by Tatjana Soli - 4.0 ★
20. T - My Name Is Resolute by Nancy E. Turner - 4.3 ★
21. U - Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea - 4.0 ★
22. V
23. W
24. X
25. Y - Death on Account by Margaret Yorke - 4.5 ★
26. Z - We by Yevgeny Zamyatin - 3.3 ★

J. 2020 ScaredyKit



Books Read

1. The Rats by James Herbert - 4.0 ★
2. Swerve by Vicki Pettersson - 2.0 ★
3. No One's Home by D. M. Pulley - 4.0 ★
4. Phantom Limb by Lucinda Berry - 4.0 ★
5. The Three by Sarah Lotz - 4.0 ★
6. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman - 4.1 ★
7. Hunt for the Skinwalker by Colm Kelleher - 1.5 ★
8. The Uninvited by Dorothy Macardle - 4.4 ★
9. The G-String Murders by Gypsy Rose Lee - 4.0 ★
10. Exit Strategy by Kelley Armstrong - 4.0 ★

K. 2020 SFFFKit



Books Read

1. A Blade of Black Steel by Alex Marshall - 4.2 ★
2. The Decoy Princess by Dawn Cook - 4.0 ★
3. A War in Crimson Embers by Alex Marshall - 4.1 ★
4. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov - 4.0 ★
5. Revenger by Alastair Reynolds - 3.6 ★
6. Invasion by Sean Platt and Johnny Truant - 3.8 ★
7. Hospital Station by James White - 4.0 ★
8. Peripeteia by Sarah Lyons Fleming - 4.3 ★

L. 2020 Bingo



Books Read

1. Title contains a pun: Gone With the Windsors by Laurie Graham
2. "Library or "Thing" in title:
3. Published under a pen name or anon: The Year At Thrush Green by Miss Read
4. A Book about books, bookstores or libraries:
5. A non-U.S/U.K. Author: The Three by Sarah Lotz
6. Epistolary or Letters: The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
7. An element from the Periodic Table is in Title: Arsenic Labyrinth by Martin Edwards
8. Book is from a Legacy Library: The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (Virginia Wolff's Library)
9. A Mystery or True Crime: Alligator Candy by David Kushner
10. 3 Letters from bingo, consecutively: The Vanishing Raiders by Fred Grove
11. A story based on mythology or folklore: The Foretelling by Alice Hoffman
12. Set in Asia: When the Moon is Low by Nadia Hashimi
13. Read A Cat: Country of the Bad Wolfes by James Carlos Blake
14. Published in your birth year: I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
15. Book cover is predominantly red: Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
16. Published in 1820 or 1920: The Loudwater Mystery by Edgar Jepson
17. Book not set on earth: Hospital Station by James White
18. Published in 2020: The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
19. About birth or death: The Midwife of Hope River by Patricia Harmon
20. Proper Name in Title: Divorcing Jack by Colin Bateman
21. Weird book title: Hunt for the Skinwalker by Colm Kelleher
22. Small press or self-published: Beneath the Same Stars by Phyllis Cole-Dai
23. Involves a real historical event: Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
24. LT Author: Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea
25. About journalism or written by a journalist: Dispatches From the Edge by Anderson Cooper

M. 2020 Reading Through Time Challenge



Books Read

1. The Burning of Bridget Cleary by Angela Bourke - 2.8 ★
2. Bronze Summer by Stephen Baxter - 4.0 ★
3. The Wife, The Maid and The Mistress by Ariel Lawhon - 3.2 ★
4. Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah - 2.8 ★
5. Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir - 4.2 ★
6. The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami
7. Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran - 4.1 ★
8. The Sisters of St. Croix by Diney Costeloe - 3.8 ★
9. The Island by Victoria Hislop - 4.0 ★
10. A Prayer for the Dying by Stewart O'Nan - 4.0 ★

N. 1,001 Books To Read Before You Die Challenge



Books Read

1. Passing by Nella Larsen - 4.0 ★
2. The Diviners by Margaret Laurence - 4.0 ★
3. Vernon God Little by Dbc Pierre - 3.8 ★
4. The Sea by John Banville - 4.0 ★
5. Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard - 4.5 ★
6. Mr. Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood - 4.0 ★
7. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel - 5.0 ★
8. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo - 3.3 ★
9. The Water Margin: Outlaws of the Marsh by Shi Nai'An - 4.5 ★
10. Queen Margot by Alexandre Dumas - 3.7 ★
11. Summer by Edith Wharton - 4.0 ★
12. The Master by Colm Toibin - 4.0 ★
13. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink - 4.5 ★
14. Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathaniel West - 2.0 ★

O. 2020 Take It or Leave It Challenges



For those TIOLI Challenges that don't fit any other challenges.

Books Read

1. January TIOLI #8: Hobby/Skill/Sport - Read a Cozy Mystery: Sprinkle With Murder by Jenn McKinley - 3.8 ★
2. January TIOLI #13: Rolling Challenge Based on Genesis - The Stalking Moon by T. V. Olsen - 3. ★
3. January TIOLI #2: From a Best Books of 2019 list - My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
4. January TIOLI #8: Tag Mash of 20th Century fiction and Existentialism - The Grifters by Jim Thompson
5. January TIOLI #15: Published or Set in any XX20 Decade - The Loudwater Mystery by Edgar Jepson - 3.7 ★
6. February TIOLI #10: Author has a Sorority Connection - Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink - 3.5 ★
7. February TIOLI #2: Morphy's Challenge - Tag Mash of Favorite, Romance - How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff - 4.0 ★
8. February TIOLI #4: Book Title Contains one of the 32 NFL Teams - The Vanishing Raiders by Fred Grove - 3.8 ★
9. February TIOLI #7: Next Book in a Series by a Woman Author - The Year At Thrush Green by Miss Read - 4.3 ★
10. March TIOLI #8: Book Title Includes a Mathematical or Astrological Term - Girl on A Plane by Miriam Moss - 4.1 ★
11. March TIOLI #10: Tour de Suisse - All That I Have by Castle Freeman Jr. - 5.0 ★
12. March TIOLI #12: Anthology of Genre Fiction - Nevertheless She Persisted - 3.7 ★
13. March TIOLI #1: Culture Clash - Beneath the Same Stars by Phyllis Cole-Dai - 4.0 ★
14. March TIOLI #7: Physical Activity - The Run to Gitche Gumee by Robert F. Jones - 3.3 ★
15. April TIOLI #1: Non-fiction About an Animal - A Wolf Called Romeo by Nick Jans - 4.0 ★
16. June TIOLI #18: A "Fly" in the Ointment - A White Bird Flying by Bess Streeter Aldrich - 3.7 ★
17. July TIOLI #8: A Inspiring, Cheerful or Uplifting Title - Belles on Their Toes by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. - 4.0 ★
18. July TIOLI #1: 7th Book on a Shelf - The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel - 3.8 ★
19. August TIOLI #8: Morphy's Challenge - Immortality - Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie - 4.0 ★

P. All Others - Extra Cats & Kits, Group Reads etc.



Books Read

1. January Non-FictionCat: Journalism & News - Dispatches From the Edge by Anderson Cooper - 3.6 ★
2. February Non-Fiction Cat: Travel - Paris in Love by Eloisa James - 4.5 ★
3. February Fantasy Month: The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson - 4.0 ★
4. March MysteryKit: Golden Age - Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers - 4.2 ★
5. March Non-FictionCat: Biography/Memoir - Aprons and Silver Spoons by Mollie Moran - 4.0 ★
6. March MysteryKit - Dancers in Mourning by Margery Allingham - 4.2 ★
7. April Non-Fiction Cat: Law & Order - Alligator Candy by David Kushner - 3.3 ★
8. April MysteryKit: Espionage - Decision At Delphi by Helen MacInnes - 4.0 ★
9. Personal Goal to Complete Series - Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon - 4.2 ★
10. May MysteryKit - No Orchids for Miss Blandish by James Hadley Chase - 4.0 ★
11. June MysteryKit - Dead Man's Grip by Peter James - 4.2 ★
12. July TravelKit - The Foretelling by Alice Hoffman - 4.5 ★
13. July MysteryKit - The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov - 3.7 ★

2020 Hosting Plans & Group Reads



February: Non-Fiction Cat – Travel
& ScaredyKit - Psychological Thrillers
March: Reading Thru Time – Mothers and Daughters
April: GeoCat – Australia, New Zealand & Oceania
May: RandomCat
May & June: Group Read - Queen Margot by Alexandre Dumas
June: SFFFKit: Aliens and Mythical Creatures
September: Group Read - Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann
October: MysteryKit: New-To-You Authors

For fans of Trixie Belden - a map of her neighbourhood:

And for Nancy Drew fans:

113. Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran - 4.1 ★
Category: Reading Through Time
Reading Through Time 2nd Quarter Read: Ancient Times
June TIOLI #4: Title Contains a Word You Would Use to Name A Puppy



Cleopatra’s Daughter by Michelle Moran tells the story of Kleopatra Selene, the daughter of Marc Antony and Queen Cleopatra of Egypt. When Marc Antony is defeated in battle by Octavian and Cleopatra commits suicide, her children become wards of Rome. Selene and her twin brother Alexander are taken to Rome. They fear that they will be put to death or enslaved but instead they are housed with Octavia, the sister of Octavian and raised with her own children, although they are never totally comfortable or sure of what Octavian is going to do with them.

This was an excellent historical story dealing as it does with Cleopatra’s children. Their daily lives in Rome is described, along with the politics of the day. Selene and Alexander are part of a social circle that includes Octavian’s daughter, Julia, his adopted son, Tiberius and his heir and sister’s son, Marcellus, and another young prince who’s kingdom was taken by Rome, Juba. These were all real people and it was interesting to find out what happened to each and everyone of them.

Cleopatra’s Daughter is a spell-binding tale of love, intrigue and history. From the uprising of slaves, to the halls of the senate as Octavian is declared Emperor, this story brings ancient Rome and her citizens to life. Although the author is breaking no new ground here, I still found this to be a colourful story and a great window into the past.

Happy new thread, Judy!

Sweet Thursday, Judy! Happy New Thread! How are the "Follies and Quirks" coming along?

Happy new one, Judy!

Happy new thread, Judy!

>1 DeltaQueen50: I recognized Nancy the moment I saw her outline.

>24 DeltaQueen50: Happy New Thread! Also, I have read about Selene by another author, but it's been so long ago that other than living with Octavia I can't really remember anything. I'm placing this book on my wish list.

Happy new thread, Judy. I love the old books at the top. I've read some of those series, Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames, Trixie Belden.

Happy new thread!

Happy New Thread, Judy. I can't imagine trying to keep track of all the challenges you do.

>1 DeltaQueen50: Oh my word! Those covers! I remember them even today. Like you, I was permanently hooked on mysteries at a young age.
Do you remember the old Landmark series of nonfiction? And there were a ton of biographies (many of women) that I read then, too. Or maybe the Landmark books were the bios, I’m not sure.
>22 DeltaQueen50: and >23 DeltaQueen50:
Yay! That map brings back fond, fond memories.

Happy new thread, Judy! I read today that BC Ferries is going to start offering limited food service on some of the routes. Not the buffet, of course, but a sign that things continue to slowly further open up. Wishing you a great weekend.

Happy New Thread, Judy!

Happy new thread Judy! Love the map of Trixie's home area :)

We had a perfect June day, weather-wise today and I took advantage of it this morning and spend quite some time sitting outside on the deck with my current read. Then this afternoon we went for a short drive and stopped to look at a new car that we are thinking about. We currently drive a Lincoln and we are looking at a Mazda CR-3 which would be a big change for us. Early stages yet, we don't plan to do anything major until after my husband has his knee surgery this summer. We also ate dinner out in a restaurant which was so strange and a little unnerving as well.

>25 MissWatson: Thanks, Birgit.

>26 msf59: Hi Mark. I am enjoying both my follies (which are my random book draws every month) and my quirks (which is my addiction to book challenges). I've had a couple of months where I didn't get to everything I wanted to, but so far, this month is going very well - in fact I may be able to squeeze in an extra read or so.

>27 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie.

>28 NinieB: That silhouette is instantly recognizable, isn't it. I wanted something the same for Trixie but the best I could come up with the map.

>29 Tess_W: I hope you enjoy Cleopatra's Daughter when you get to it, Tess.

>30 BLBera: Hi Beth, my theory is that most avid readers were introduced to books at an early age and have great books memories.

>31 Jackie_K: Thanks, Jackie.

>32 dudes22: Betty, I have a terrible time making up my mind so picking my next read is really hard for me. Challenges narrow my choices down and I love the feeling of accomplishment I get when I successfully complete a reading challenge.

>33 Matke: The map of Trixie's area is great, I had forgotten about Mr. Lytell's store and some of the other landmarks. I do believe my school library had some of those Landmark books, but they seem to deal mostly with American history so I doubt if we had them all.

>34 lkernagh: I am so ready to come over to the Island and visit my family - but I have a medical procedure coming up and then my husband is scheduled for his knee surgery in July so it will probably be some time yet. I am getting a little worried about seeing my Mum. My brother said the whole family got together last weekend for the first time since the pandemic started. Everything was going well, but part way through the evening my Mum leaned toward my brother and asked who the two young women were. (They are the wives of her 2 grandsons). Now I am afraid she won't know me when I get over there. :(

>35 ronincats: Thanks, Roni.

>36 leslie.98: That map must have been in at least one or more of the Trixie Belden books as it was so familiar to me. Diana Lynch's mansion is exactly where I pictured it to be, as is the clubhouse and some of the other places. I probably poured over it at some point in the past and imprinted it upon my brain!

>1 DeltaQueen50: I'm loving this meme of our childhood reading. Thanks for the wonderful topper covers.
I loved the Enid Blyton "Famous Five" stories.

>2 DeltaQueen50: P.S. What's a 'folly button'?

39 Sandy, on your Home Page look to the top left margin and under Dashboard, to the list called "Discover", 2nd from the bottom is "Folly". When you click on Folly you are taken to a new page and at the top is "LibraryThing Roulette". I pick a heading such as "Tag" or "Character" to come with a list of books. Usually among the books listed I can chose a book from my own library to read. Example - I hit on "Tag" and the tag "Wolves" came up with a list of books. I had two or three book that fit this category so I was able to have a choice of what to read. On the other hand, sometimes a tag like "Quaker Worship" comes up and I don't have a book that fits - so I try again. I use 6 of the categories to chose books every month - Random Member, Random Tag, Random Award, Random Character, Random Place, and Random Book of Mine. This works well for me as I have all my books catalogued here - my TBR, all my e-books, my audios, and my library wishlist. Of course I also have all my read books so if one of them comes up, I simply try again.

A mindless but fun way to pick my next reads!

Joining you in your new thread Delta! I love 'retro' books and worked my way through the Donna Parker set at one point lol!

>41 Bcteagirl: Welcome aboard! Good to have another fan of Donna Parker. :)

Happy new thread! I love the old book covers and have several of those on my shelf. A bunch of my "chums" and I traded around the Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames books when we in 7th and 8th grade. One of my other faves is Donna Parker in Hollywood. My sister and I are still working on building up our collections of Nancy Drew books. I found a bunch of the old ones (not the yellow spine) at an annual book sale last October. Keeping my fingers crossed to find more at the sale this year.

>43 LadyoftheLodge: I'm pretty sure that I must have read Donna Parker in Hollywood but that's one I really don't remember. Good luck with your Nancy Drew collection.

114. Revenger by Alastair Reynolds - 3.6 ★
Category: SFFFKit
June SFFFKit: Aliens
June GeoCat: Space
June TIOLI #11: A Book With Aliens or Fantastic Creatures



Revenger by Alistair Reynolds is quite simply a space adventure. It’s the story of two sisters who run away to space and get hired as Bone Readers to a captain that is a treasure hunter, scavenging items from the past. Reading the bones appears to be a mysterious power that only a few have and the two sisters seem to have a natural gift for it. But just as they are settling into their new surroundings, their ship is jumped by space pirates led by the dreaded Bosa Sennen who manages to murder most of the crew and take one of the sisters.

The story then changes into a dark tale of revenge. The sister that is still free plots to lure Bosa Sennen out into the open again in order to get her sister back and take retribution for the deaths of her friends. While the story was entertaining enough, it could have been better if the author had taken the time to develop the world in which the story takes place in. Instead he relies on his characters to drive the story and unfortunately the characters weren’t strong enough or as well developed as they could have been. And there were many intriguing aspects to the constellation that they travel through but little explanation offered.

Revenger also was obviously the first book in a planned series or trilogy so I suspect the author is counting on the readers to be interested in continuing on and has plans to expand his world building in subsequent volumes. While I enjoyed the story well enough, I am not that invested in the characters that I feel a need to pick up another series.

115. China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan - 4.0 ★
Category: AlphaKit
June AlphaKit: K
June TIOLI #9: Relating to Morphy's Birthday - Published in June



Author Kevin Kwan has become a specialist at poking fun at the small community of extremely rich Asians that we “plebs” know nothing about. In this second book, he stirs the pot shamelessly as he dishes the details of life for these old-world wealthy Asians. He also includes many details about the new billionaires that are emerging from China. As in the first book, these people are still trying to live their lives under the media radar all the while giving lavish parties, making a contest out of who can donate the most funds to charity and most importantly, protecting their wealth by ensuring that their jet-setting children marry the children of their friends.

If you loved the first book, then rest assured that China Rich Girlfriend does not disappoint. Many of the characters that were introduced in the first book are back to continue their stories including the scheming mother, Eleanor, the ex-porn star Kitty Pong who is frantically working on rising to Asian Rich respectability, the two raised ‘rich-yet-turned-out-sensible’ cousins Nicky and Astrid, and, of course, Rachel Chu, the American fiancee who is driving Eleanor to distraction. These plus some added colourful new characters move the story along it’s outrageous and inventive path.

China Rich Girlfriend makes a great summer read, light, funny, romantic and more than a little over-the-top. I am looking forward to the third volume in this trilogy.

>46 DeltaQueen50: - I have the trilogy waiting for me on my e-reader. My dad, who usually reads espionage, thrillers or non-fiction, has actually read this trilogy (which, I admit was a bit of a surprise for me). He rather enjoyed it. ;-)

>47 lkernagh: These books are full of humour and sass, Lori. Pefect beach reads.

116. Invasion by Sean Platt & Johnny /Truant - 3.8 ★
Category: SFFFKit
June SFFFKit: Aliens & Mythical Creatures
June TIOLI #2: Rolling Challenge - Published in the First 2 Decades of Any Century



Invasion by Sean Platt and Johnny Truant is the first entry in their series of books about aliens invading earth. Although in actuality, there is very little alien action in this volume. It most deals with the sighting of a space armada heading towards earth and the five days that it takes before they arrive. As the world’s population goes into panic mode, the story zeros in on one family and their survival tactics.

Meyer Dempsey has been preparing for a global apocalyptic event so he decides to immediately pile his wife and two kids, as well as his daughters boyfriend, into their well stocked van and head west to his house in Colorado that has a secret bunker where they can shelter in safety. He also advises his ex-wife, Heather, to also head there. The bulk of the book deals with the family trying to get from New York City to Vail, Colorado. This is much more than a regular road trip, they have to deal with over crowded roads, the difficulty of getting gas and supplies and, desperate people who want to take their possessions.

I am a huge fan of “survival” stories so this was a fun read for me. In view of our own current world situation, I was reassured at how relatively calm and controlled we have been during the pandemic compared to the crazy, out-of-control panic that fills this book. By the end of this volume, the aliens have arrived and have stationed a spaceship over every major city and have managed to destroy Moscow. The last chapter has Meyer quietly leaving his family in the bunker and heading outside where he is taken up by a smaller roving spacecraft. Of course, I have to read on in order to discover why he made this strange choice and what is going to happen next and although the books seem to revolve around this group of rather spoiled, entitled characters – I do intend to continue on. This book is definitely not for everyone but for me, it was a fun escape from reality.

>46 DeltaQueen50: - I just got around to reading the first book, so I'm sure I'll give this a read eventually.

>46 DeltaQueen50: I have the first book but did not read all of it yet. I will look forward to reading the second one. Thanks for the BB.

>50 dudes22: & >51 LadyoftheLodge: I have enjoyed the first two books of the trilogy and I expect the third will be much the same.

117. Summer by Edith Wharton - 4.0 ★
Category: 1,001 Books List
June TIOLI #6: A Book With "Summer" in the Title



Summer by Edith Wharton is a short novel set in rural New England that was originally published in 1917. This story was rather controversial in it’s time dealing as it does with some sensitive issues like sexual awakening and unmarried pregnancy. Like many of this authors books the themes revolve around social class, and the narrow margin people had to fit their lives into.

While on the surface this seems to be a story about a young woman seduced and led astray, Wharton made it very clear that this story had two main protagonists, Charity and Lawyer Royall. She sees her characters as trapped in a closed society and needing to work through their moral struggles to find inner peace and acceptance. While many are disappointed in the ending of this story, I felt it was obvious that Charity made the best decision that she could as her choices were extremely limited. Her final choice would hopefully lead to a peaceful and contented life.

While Summer didn’t touch me emotionally in the same way that her Ethan Frome did, the writing is wonderful, her descriptions are clear and very visual, and her characters are well defined. I can’t say that I particularly liked Charity or Lawyer Royall, but they felt complete and true to their time. Like all of Wharton’s books that I have read so far, there is a thread of sadness that runs though the narrative and helps to steer the story through both the internal and external conflicts. As always the author knows how to deliver her story and leave her reader with much to reflect upon.

Nice comments on Summer, Judy. I felt much the same way about it.

Thank you Delta, will add the Summer Rich trilogy to mount TBR. May see if I can get the first one from the e-library in time for camping this weekend :P

>54 katiekrug: Hi Katie, Summer really made me glad that I live now - things are far from perfect but at least women are able to make choices for themselves and have more options open to them.

>55 Bcteagirl: LOL, you confused me with your title - but I think you mean Keven Kwan's trilogy and yes, it would be the perfect read for a camping trip. Have fun camping!

Happy new thread, Judy. We should have a challenge titled "Try to keep up with DeltaQueen50". :)

>57 VivienneR: I find that the older I get, the quicker time seems to slip away and I have so many books that I want to read so my solution is to read faster and read more. ;)

I have decided to change out the book I am reading for one of my random reads in July. The Random Member that came up is Red Queen and we share over 1,000 books so I have lots of choice. I went with The Complete Steel by Catherine Aird, but in order to fit into a TIOLI Challenge in July, I need a series book where I am at Book #7 or higher. I switched to Bones by Jan Burke which both Red Queen and I share and is book number 7 in her Irene Kelly series.

>59 DeltaQueen50: Jan Burke is the sister of my (pre-retirement) colleague and very good friend, so I have many signed first editions of her work, as well as having met her several times socially. I'll be interested what you think of this one.

>60 ronincats: Hi Roni, I have been reading her series on and off for some years now. At one point I read ahead in the series and this book, number 7, will link me back to the right order and after thi, the next book will be #10.

I am a little wonky this evening as I had a colonoscopy today and I am still feeling the affects of the sedatives that I was given. I'm glad that it's over and done with, and the doctor said everything is good. I keep nodding off over my computer so I should take the hint and go to bed early.

>62 DeltaQueen50: Hope Friday is a more alert day for you! The worst for me, is the prep! I had mine last year and they told me I didn't have to have another for 5 years!

>62 DeltaQueen50: I hope you're fully recovered soon - today, in fact!

That sedation is powerful, Judy! I hope you slept it off.

I agree that most avid readers had good early reading experiences.

>63 Tess_W: & >64 Dejah_Thoris: I am feeling quite normal today, and I agree the prep is the worst part. I didn't think I was ever going to be able to drink all that solution and I hope I never have to again!

>65 BLBera: Hi Beth. Most readers are raised to be so but I am so happy that I have been able to "convert" my husband to a reader. He never read as a child or a young adult. I gave him an adventure story to read on vacation when he was in his thirties and he was surprised at how much he enjoyed it. Now that he is retired he is reading a lot but one thing he never developed is the joy of hunting down his own reads - he still counts on me to pick his books and load them on his Kindle!

118. The Sisters of St. Croix by Diney Costeloe - 3.8 ★
Category: Reading Through Time
June Reading Thru Time: Get Thee To A Nunnery!
June TIOLI #12: Title Contains 3 or More Words



The Sisters of St. Croix by Diney Costeloe is a novel of historical fiction set during the German invasion of France during World War II. I found this to be an interesting story, but I wish the author had only written about the nuns in the convent and their resistance efforts as I found this much more interesting than the rest of the story, although this quibble could simply be because I have read so many books about the French resistance that I found a great deal of repetition.

The author has obviously done a great deal of research into the day to day life in a convent as well as the cruelty and hardships of the war and the unrelenting hunt for both resisters and people of the Jewish faith. I had read before that many priests and nuns were a valuable part of the resistance and through their efforts many lives, particularly children, were saved.

The book moved along quickly and drew the reader into the harrowing story about an English woman dropped into France to assist in the resistance. She was chosen to be placed in this particular area as her aunt was the Mother Superior of the convent at St. Croix and was known to have already helped an English airman to escape. Thanks to their efforts they are able to rescue a number of Jewish children and lead them to safety right under the eye of the S.S.

The story was gripping and certainly held my attention. At times I felt the resolutions were a little too tidy and as I stated above, I would have liked to continue on with Mother Marie-Pierre’s story, but I would certainly recommend this book to anyone interested in reading about the French Resistance.

>40 DeltaQueen50: what a brilliant concept. Thanks for explaining. I've saved the link in my LT files.

>46 DeltaQueen50: BB for me!

Judy - would you be interested in continuing with Belles On Their Toes in July? I'd like to read it fairly soon and then go on to Making Time: Lillian Moller Gilbreth -- A Life Beyond "Cheaper by the Dozen".

Let me know!

>68 SandyAMcPherson: I am very indecisive so this is a good way to pick some books.

>69 SandyAMcPherson: Enjoy the books, they are a fun trilogy.

>70 Dejah_Thoris: Yes, I think I can fit that one into my reading list - now we just have to find a TIOLI Challenge that it would fit! It is a very cheerful title so perhaps #8.

>71 DeltaQueen50: Finding a challenge to fit books into has been tricky thus far. We should see a few more pop up....

No red, white, blue on the first page.

ETA: Maybe #8 - cheerful or inspiring title.

>72 Dejah_Thoris: Let's keep Challenge #8 in mind and perhaps someone will post some more challenges. Many people wait until the actual 1st of the month so we should be seeing some more soon.

>73 DeltaQueen50: I expect we will. Eleven would be an unusually small number!

>66 DeltaQueen50: Glad you have recovered from that muzzy sleepy feeling and that all is well. I'm sure the discomfort was worth it in the end.

>75 VivienneR: Getting a good result was great - the rest of it - not so much!

>62 DeltaQueen50: I'm glad you finished with your procedure. When I had mine, there was a hilarious post from a guy in Britain, maybe on LiveJournal, where he detailed his escapades with the pre-treatment drinking. I was prepared because of it, but I haven't been able to find that post again. Glad your result was good, too!

>77 threadnsong: Thanks, it is funny now that it's over and done with.

119. Clean Cut by Lynda La Plante - 4.0 ★
Category: Random Member - Snakethumper
June MysteryKit: Police Procedural
June TIOLI #2: Rolling Challenge - Published in the First 2 Decades of Any Century



Clean Cut by Lynda La Plante is the third book in her Anna Travis Police Procedural series. This entry was an intelligent, intense and complex story involving Anna, her boss and lover James Langton, and an assorted group of detectives assigned to work various murders that eventually all become entwined. The case involves illegal immigrants who constantly change names and documents making it very difficult to apprehend them.

Due to a vicious attack, the case becomes very personal for Langton and by the end of the book, their relationship is in tatters and Anna fears that he has crossed the line in his quest for revenge. This is definitely a book that deals with dark subject matters as the investigation uncovers the smuggling of people, sexual slavery, drug trafficking and the molestation of children, as well as a multitude of grisly murders.

I did find the book was a little long at over five hundred pages but as the plot was composed of a number of connected story-lines there was a lot of information the author had to pass on to the reader. Although this series is not for the faint-hearted, I mostly enjoyed this thought-provoking, visceral read and plan to continue on with the series.

Ha!! After all my pre-planning and buying of Thingaversary books - I missed my Twelfth Thingaversary on June 24th!

I did remember to purchase the rest of my Thingaversary books earlier this month with:

Long Bright River by Liz Moore
Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino

So my final 12th Thingaversary List was:

1. The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
2. First Comes Scandel by Julia Quinn
3. The Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
4. The Rules of Wolfe by James Carlos Blake
5. Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates
6. The Network Effect by Martha Wells
7. Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jiles
8. The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis
9. This Tender Land by William Kent Kruger
10. The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary
11. Long Bright River by Liz Moore
12. Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

13. The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino

And now onto year 13!

>80 DeltaQueen50: Woo hoo! Happy Thingaversary!

>81 rabbitprincess: Thanks, RP!

>80 DeltaQueen50: LOL - happy belated Thingaversary! Great purchases - I hope you enjoy them all.

>80 DeltaQueen50: Congrats on Thingaversary and your new reads!

Yippee!! Happy Thingaversary!

Happy Thingaversary, Judy. It sure looks like many of us chose June to join. Yah!

Happy Thingaversary, Judy!

Happy Thingaversary, Judy. Great haul! Many of your books are on my wishlist, pick up list, or whatever, and I loved The Flatshare.

>83 Dejah_Thoris: Thanks Dejah. I am looking forward to all of those reads!

>84 Tess_W: Thanks, Tess.

>85 SilverWolf28: Thanks, I can't believe twelve years have passed since I first found LT!

>86 msf59: What a great day it was when I stumbled onto LibraryThing! I couldn't believe a site like this existed. :)

>87 ronincats: Thanks, Roni. I remember lurking in the background for a few months before I started posting - and then, just like real life, once I started talking you couldn't shut me up!

>88 VivienneR: Thanks, Vivienne. I am going to be reading The Flatshare in August and I am looking forward to it. This month I will be reading The Glass Hotel as it happened to be the 7th book on my "new" shelf and so, fits a TIOLI July Challenge.

120. A White Bird Flying by Bess Streeter Aldrich - 3.7 ★
Category: TIOLI Challenges
June TIOLI #18: A "Fly" In the Ointment



A White Bird Flying by Bess Streeter Aldrich is a sequel to A Lantern In Her Hand, but this book is about her granddaughter, Laura. In fact, Abby passes away in the opening chapter of this book. Laura was the grandchild that was closest to Abby, she visited her everyday and feels a great emptiness in her life when her grandmother passes. Abby understood Laura and encouraged her dreams and her ambitions to become a writer. As Laura grows, she decides that marriage will not be for her, she will instead concentrate on becoming an author.

Laura stays true to her dream all through high school and university. She makes plans to leave Nebraska and go to New York but during the final summer months before she is to leave, she falls in love with a local boy, Allan. Allan wants her to stay, marry him and become a farmer’s wife. As this is an era when married women did not have careers, she knew it would have to be one thing or the other. Then during a horrific summer storm, she realizes just how much she does love Allan. She turns to her memories of her grandmother to help her make her final decision.

I found this book to be a charming and sentimental story. It highlights the issues that women were dealing with in the early years of the 20th century. This quiet, gentle read makes me appreciate that although women are still striving for equality, at least we are able to have marriage, family and a career today. Originally published in 1931, A White Bird Flying is another tribute to her home state and the author’s ideals of hard work and family.

>90 DeltaQueen50: I have both of those books on my TBR pile as well as Mother Mason and Rim of the Prairie.

>80 DeltaQueen50: Happy belated Thingaversary! This pandemic is affecting everything, isn't it? I wish you joy of your haul!

Happy Thingaversary, Judy! There are a few books in that list that I have taken a BB or two for. And This Tender Land was very good.

Happy belated Thingaversary from me too, Judy! That's a great list of acquisitions.

That's a sweet stack of books! Happy Thingaversary!

>80 DeltaQueen50: Nice list, Judy. Happy Thingaversary.

So, are you usually good at choosing books for your husband?

The Sisters of St. Croix sounds good.

>91 Tess_W: Tess, I read A Lantern in her Hand, the story of Abby Deal, way back in elementary school and I loved it. I picked up a Kindle bundle of her books and reread it recently and it was still good but I could see some flaws with it that I didn't notice when I was younger. She writes simple stories and is very much a product of her day, supporting the old values of wives staying home and raising a family. I still enjoy her writing and will read more of her but my absolute love has faded.

>92 MissWatson: I still have moments when I can't believe we are in the middle of a world-wide pandemic. I realize now that we took our free and easy lifestyle for granted but I think we will be living in a much more guarded style for some time to come. Of course there are some world leaders who are simply making everything more difficult and confusing, and speaking of Trump has anyone seen the comedian Sarah Cooper? She mimes to Trump's words and is just hilarious. She has a way of totally pointing out how unbelievable and wrong he is. If you haven't seen her check her out on Facebook and/or Twitter.

>93 dudes22: Betty, I remember how much both you and I loved Ordinary Grace so I am looking forward to This Tender Land.

>94 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie, now I just have to fit them into my reading schedule - which doesn't sound difficult but I like (obsessively need) to match categories, Cat challenges, TIOLI challenges, and a few other challenges so sometimes it takes awhile for me to get to a book!

>95 RidgewayGirl: Thanks, Kay. :)

>96 BLBera: Thanks, Beth, I wasn't expecting The Sisters of St. Croix to be as good as it turned out to be but I am a sucker for any story involving the French Resistance during WW II. I had picked it up as a daily deal some time ago and finally got to it when I needed a book set in a nunnery for a Reading Through Time challenge. As for my husband, I have noticed recently that his taste is changing slighting. He used to simply want a good old fashioned war, detective or cowboy story but I have slipped a few more literary reads to him like Lonesome Dove and now he seems to want a higher quality of writing. He really liked the Peter May "Lewis" trilogy and he galloped through C. J. Box's Joe Pickett series recently so he definitely keeps me on my toes!

Happy Thingaversary! Mine is in September, since I joined as part of an assignment for a class in library school. I also could not believe this site existed and how did I ever miss out on being a part of a group of book lovers like me.

Happy Thingaversary. Mine is August. It will be the first one that I plan to celebrate. I never knew how to celebrate it until this year. It is my 10th.

Happy Thingaversary!!! I didn't know Paulette Jiles had a new books out, so that's a BB for me!

My Thingaversary was in May and I celebrated by buying new bookcases instead of new books. I can't believe I've been here for 14 years.

Happy Canada Day 🍁

>98 LadyoftheLodge: I was looking for a way to keep track of my books and at first I was just delighting in doing that - then I discovered all the other activities that were going on and I knew I would be here for the long run. :)

>99 Kristelh: I'll look forward to seeing your Thingaversay haul.

>100 casvelyn: Paulette Jiles' new book is getting good reviews so I am really looking forward to it, she can't write fast enough for me. My goodness 14 years at Librarything - you are practically a founding member!

>101 VivienneR: Same to you Vivienne. Our weather here isn't great- cloudy, cool and the odd rain drop. We don't have any plans for today other than our grandson is going to drop by to show off his new truck. We were hoping to be able to eat outside on the terrace but I don't think that is in the works unless the weather changes dramatically.

>102 DeltaQueen50: I was 19 when I joined, so it's been a part of my whole adult life, more or less. I'm very much looking forward to the News of the World movie coming out this winter. As always when they base a movie on a book, I hope they didn't mess it up!

>103 casvelyn: - I guess I'll need to move that up my list. I started it once and got side-tracked.

There are several trailers for the book, News of the World by Paulette Jiles, on YouTube. One is particularly good where she talks about where the idea of a character reading the news came from and you can see the countryside they would have traveled.

Just stopping by to wish you a Happy Canada Day!

>46 DeltaQueen50: After reading your review of China Rich Girlfriend, I read Crazy Rich Asians. Light, frothy, entertaining. Just what I wanted. Thank you.

>103 casvelyn: I loved News of the World and I am looking forward to seeing the film.

>104 dudes22: She's become one of my favorite writers, Betty. I have loved all of her books so I am looking forward to this newest one, Simon the Fiddler.

>105 clue: I just watched the Paulette Jiles clip abut her 1 room cabin and horses. That is beautiful scenery - must be in the area the call the Texas Hills. I also see that Tom Hanks is going to play Captain Kidd - now I am really excited for the film!

>106 vancouverdeb: Hi Deb, and a Happy Canada Day to you as well!

>107 pamelad: I'm glad that you enjoyed it. They make great light reads between the more serious books.

>108 DeltaQueen50: Yes, it is Hill Country. Giles grew up in the Ozarks as I did and although I haven't lived in the Hill Country region I've traveled throughout that part of Texas most of my life, though I don't remember the town of Utopia. There's just something comforting to those of us that grew up in hills to have them around us!

I love Tom Hanks, he's such a good actor and seemingly a good person, so I'm sure I'll like his Captain Kidd. When I first heard he would play that part I was taken aback though. For one thing I see Kidd as older and I had already decided it was a role made for Tommy Lee Jones. I know Tommy Lee may be a little too old, but being the rough old Texan he is I think he'd be perfect.

>109 clue: Tom Hanks will probably never lose his boyish charm but I believe he is 60. :)

121. Pride of Lancashire by Anna Jacobs - 4.0 ★
Category: AlphaKit
July AlphaKit: J
July TIOLI #8: Book has an Inspiring, Cheerful or Uplifting Title



Pride of Lancashire by Anna Jacobs is the first book in a series that opens in 1845 and features the Preston family. The Prestons are a working class family with a drunkard for a father and a mother who is totally incompetent and so relies upon her eldest daughter, Carrie, to feed and clothe the ten children. As the story of this family unfolds the reader also learns much about nineteenth century lower class life styles with their reliance upon a mill owner for housing, food and even proper drinking water.

Carrie’s life is hard but she meets a young man with ambitions. He plans to open one of the new music halls that are currently sweeping the country. Unfortunately the rich mill owner has his eye on the property that has been set aside for the music hall and he will do anything to ensure he gains control of it.

With romance, history and plenty of action, this was an exciting escape from reality. The author provides a good story that has the reader cheering on the underdogs and hoping to see the villain of the piece brought down. And although we have a somewhat happy ending, this is only the first book, so I expect there will be plenty of setbacks and, hopefully, advances in the Preston’s future.

122. The Uninvited by Dorothy Macardle - 4.4 ★
Category: ScaredyKit
July ScaredyKit: Femme Fatale
July TIOLI #6: A Woman Author That I Haven't Read Before



The Uninvited by Dorothy Macardle is a classic haunted house story that was originally published in 1942 and was adapted to film in 1944. Looking to escape the stress and demands of life in London, brother and sister, Roderick and Pamela Fitzgerald, find the perfect house on the Devon coast. The house had been empty for some time and the price was right so they snapped it up not knowing that they were soon to be plagued by paranormal events.

The house was the site of the deaths of two women fifteen years ago. A young wife and mother, Mary, and her artist husband’s model and mistress, Carmel. Events surrounding the deaths of these women are murky but it appears that neither one actually died a natural death. Mary’s young daughter, Stella, still lives nearby and is happy and excited to be able to visit the house she was born in. Unfortunately, Stella seems to be the trigger for the apparitions, with one wanting to guard her while the other seems intent on driving Stella to her death.

The Uninvited is one of my favourite ghostly movies and I wasn’t disappointed with the book either. All the classic events of a haunting, from extreme coldness, sounds of sobbing in the night, particular rooms where no one dares to spend much time, and visual sightings that root one to the spot are all scattered throughout the book. The story has a timeless quality and, at first, the disturbances are subtle and easy to dismiss, but as the book goes on, the atmosphere gets darker and darker and extreme danger comes to the forefront. If you enjoy a good but not over-done ghost story that is well written and solidly plotted, I recommend giving The Uninvited a try.

Since we are at the start of a new quarter, I took a look back at my best books of the 2nd quarter of 2020 - only 1 five star read for me, but quite a few 4.5 ratings. This quarter was pretty much covered by the Covid-19 shut down and I was filling a lot of my time with reading.

Best Books of the 2nd Quarter

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel - 5.0*
The Missing and the Dead by Stuart MacBride - 4.5*
The Water Margin by Shi Nai'An - 4.5*
As She Left It by Catriona McPherson - 4.5*
Local Custom by Sharon Lee - 4.5*
Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich - 4.5*
Death on Account by Margaret Yorke - 4.5*

>112 DeltaQueen50: I don't remember ever seeing the movie, but the book sounds very good!

>114 NinieB: It's a great ghost story movie with stars Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey as the brother and sister and Gail Russell as the endangered daughter.

>112 DeltaQueen50: believe it or not, my library has that as an ebook. I'm going to request it soon!

>116 Tess_W: I hope you enjoy it, Tess. :)

123. The Island by Victoria Hislop - 4.0 ★
Category: Reading Thru Time
July Reading Through Time: On The Shore
July TIOLI #6: A Woman Author That I Haven't Read Before



The Island is Victoria Hislop’s debut novel and is set on the island of Crete. The book covers the lives and loves of a number of generations of women from one family and covers much of the 20th century. It opens in the present as Alexis comes to Crete both on a holiday with her boyfriend and to search out the story of her family on her secretive mother’s side. What she finds is a strange history of leprosy, adultery, and murder. She also finds that the women in her family have been strong, loyal and caring.

I loved the story and was intrigued by all the information about leprosy and the small community of Spinalonga where lepers were sent to live away from the general population. Spinalonga is a tiny island just off the coast of Crete, it was a leper colony from 1903 to 1957. This terrible, misunderstood disease was a living death sentence as victims were shunned and forced away from their families and homes. Considered “unclean” a leper was unwelcome wherever they went. Spinalonga was, for many, a refuge. Here they could live in relative peace, had access to doctors, and the company of others afflicted by the disease.

The story draws the reader in with it’s wonderful descriptions, strong characters and moving story-line. There were some flaws to the book mostly in the predictability of the family saga and some overload of information, but her research was excellent and I learned a lot about the disease of leprosy and fell in love with the island of Crete. Overall The Island was well worth my time invested in the reading.

>118 DeltaQueen50: - Sounds interesting - BB!

>118 DeltaQueen50: BB for me, also!

>118 DeltaQueen50: that's on my TBR already, it was a choice for my IRL book group several years ago but I didn't get round to it at the time. I think it would be a good beach read., if we ever get back to beach holidays again!

>119 dudes22:, >120 Tess_W: & >121 Jackie_K: I hope you all enjoy the book. I have two more books by Victoria Hislop and I am looking forward to them.

124. Belles on Their Toes by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. & Ernestine Gilbreth Carey - 4.0 ★
Category: TIOLI Challenges
July TIOLI #8: An Inspiring, Cheerful or Uplifting Title



Belles on Their Toes by brother and sister, Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. And Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, is the sequel to their first book about their lively family, Cheaper by the Dozen. Although this book opens on a sad note, starting up just three days after the father of the family has passed away, it isn’t long before the family exuberance comes to the forefront and the book is putting a smile on the face of the reader.

As they tell of various family events, from seeing off unwanted suitors, dealing with noisy relatives or falling victim to their handyman Tom’s escapades, we see the eleven children growing up, finishing their education and getting married. Through it all, their mother is the backbone of the family as she supported the family financially and emotionally. The children are portrayed as cooperative and good natured, and although they get into the odd argument with each other, or misbehave in the way that children do, overall they care and watch out for each other.

Belles on Their Toes is a charming and amusing read. As this family grew up during the 1920’s it was also interesting to read about this by-gone era. Again, for me, the mother is the character that stood out as she continued to enlarge and improve the family business, travelled to give lectures, and received a number of honorary doctorates all the while taking an active role in the lives of her eleven surviving children.

I've wondered about Hislop, Judy. I'll give her a try.

You did have a great second quarter in reading.

I loved Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes; I read them as a teen. It sounds like they hold up well.

Happy Wednesday, Judy. I hope all is well. HOT here in the Midwest with no relief it sight. Ugh! Vacation next week, so looking forward to that.

>124 BLBera: I've had The Island on my shelves for a very long time, Beth, and I am happy to have finally read it. It is a first novel and has some flaws but I am looking forward to reading more by her.

>125 msf59: Hi Mark. We are definitely not having any hot weather here. I am not complaining however as I am not a great lover of hot weather although it is a bonus when on vacation. Our weather is varied but even on sunny days still on the cool side. This seems to be our weather pattern for the last few years with June and early July being cool and summer not really arriving until mid-July. Enjoy your vacation - I expect there be lots of the 3 B's involved - beer, birds and, of course, books. :)

125. Postal, Volume 1, Postal, Volume 2, Postal, Volume 3 by Matt Hawkins & Bryan Edward Hill - 4.0 ★
Category: RandomCat
July RandomCat: Picture This
July TIOLI #13: Based on the Seattle Public Library Summer Bingo Challenge - Poetry & Comics



Co-written by Matt Hawkins and Bryan Edward Hill
Illustrated by Isaac Goodhart

Postal, Volume 1

This first volume of the graphic novel series Postal opens by introducing the small town of Eden, Wyoming. Eden is a quiet town with zero tolerance for any illegal activity. People who live in Eden want the town to stay quiet and obscure as they are all criminals who live here while they wait for new identities to be established for them. The main character of the story is Mark, who acts as the town’s mailman. He is the son of the mayor Laura Shiffron, and she runs a very tight ship.

When a body is found lying in the street, Mark learns that the murdered woman was his sister, and that she was killed by his father, who has returned to claim his revenge on his wife, the mayor, and on the town of Eden. Mark has Asperger’s Syndrome and it is through his eyes that the story unfolds.

This is a dark and violent story and being the first volume the story is secondary to establishing the setting and introducing the characters. This series has a lot of potential and I am interested in seeing what happens next.

Postal, Volume 2

This entry into the Postal series of graphic novels continues to introduce both the town of Eden and it’s quirky inhabitants. Mark is still front and center in the story and we can see that he has desires and ambitions of his own. At this point he is working for his mother, the mayor, but for how long will she be able to control him. We learn that Mark is very smart and good at solving problems when he sets his mind to them.

As the story continues over a number of chapters, the authors are continuing to build the momentum toward a confrontation between Mark’s mother and father. The various stories in this volume concern a strange cult that makes the mistake of kidnapping Mark and Eden’s annual “Barn Brawl” a free-for-all boxing match that has Mark helping the underdog. The relationship between Mark and Maggie grows, but is Maggie really being honest or is she manipulating Mark for her own agenda? It also appears that someone very highly placed in the FBI is protecting Eden and I am sure we will be learning more about that in future issues.

While the artwork is fairly standard, it is colorful and clearly helps to connect the reader to the story. Postal is definitely drawing me in with it’s interesting characters and setting.

Postal, Volume 3

This was interesting entry into the series. Eden gets a new residence, she is young and beautiful but a total sociopath. The Mayor is forced to take her in and keep her safe her as a favor to the FBI protector of Eden. On her first night in town she manages to kill two people, then she decides that Mark is just the guy for her. This means that Maggie the waitress has to be gotten out of the way and she ends up the victim of a severe beating. As they are unable to control this young woman, Mark makes it his mission to discover her weak point and get revenge for how she treated Maggie.

Meanwhile in other story-lines, there is a rogue FBI agent who wants to investigate Eden but like many in this story, he appears to have his own agenda – and he is very interested in finding Mark’s father – so I suspect there my be a history between them.

I have enjoyed these three books and I am definitely planning on continuing with more issues.

Just dropping by to say hi! I have been lurking lately but wish you a much belated happy Thingaversary.

>128 leslie.98: Thanks, Leslie.

>127 DeltaQueen50: - The Postal series looks interesting. How graphic (visuals depicting violence) is it? I am pretty okay with reading dark and violent stories, but not so keen about "seeing" the violence, if you know what I mean.

>130 lkernagh: It's definitely dark and violent, Lori, and the violence is not covered up in any way, but it's not overly stressed either. I think because it is presented like a comic strip that I don't find it very disturbing.

126. The Master by Colm Toibin - 4.0 ★
Category: 1,001 Books List
July 1,001 Books Group Read
July TIOLI #1: 7th Book on a Shelf



The Master by Colm Toibin tells the story of how author Henry James lived between January 1895 to October 1899. It opens with his unsuccessful venture into theatre with his play, “Guy Domville” and closes when he moves himself to relative seclusion in Rye, where over the next few years, he produced several of his masterpieces.

Toibin explores many aspects of James life, and as the novel unfolds in a third person narrative, the reader is constantly seeing his life, through his own eyes and memory. Although the book is a fictionalized version, it is based closely on Henry James life. His sexuality is alluded to and his inclinations were obviously to the same sex, but Toibin, in true repressed Victorian style, chose to have his sexuality remain unresolved.

I found The Master to be a reflective, thoughtful and subtle novel. Toibin chose to develop some key experiences in James’ life to give the reader a picture of this very private man. Yet, when he wrote about the creative process, I found it difficult to decipher where the break between author Toibin and author James existed. I believe there is a tremendous empathy toward James by Toibin and it was clear that Toibin admires the content and style of James’ writing. While I found this book interesting with beautiful, descriptive writing, I never quite warmed to the overall concept.

127. Country of the Bad Wolfes by James Carlos Blake - 4.0 ★
Category: GeoCat
July GeoCat: Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America
BingoDog: Read A Cat
July TIOLI #12: A Book With More than 151 Pages



Country of the Bad Wolfes by James Carlos Blake is the first book in a family saga that covers three generations of the Wolfe family. This book, covering a little more than 100 years, opens with the life and death of the founding father, Roger Blake Wolf. He lived an a life of adventure but ended up being killed by a firing squad in Mexico, leaving behind a wife and twin sons in New England.

The twins went on to have various adventures and one twin got himself in enough trouble that he allowed his family to believe he was dead. Eventually both twins ended up in Mexico and raised families there, neither one knowing that the other was so close by. One twin grew exceeding rich and powerful, becoming the owner of a large hacienda. The other lived a quieter life as the owner of a small cafe in Mexico City. It wasn’t until years later that the families met one another, but even so, they developed a strong bond. The third generation of Wolfes were dominated by another set of twins, who went astray from a very young age and very rarely followed the law, but found themselves living a rich and full life.

This was a huge, sprawling story of greed, violence, love and adventure. As we read about this family, we are also reading about the history of Mexico with it’s many revolutions and political upheavals. I had some difficulty keeping the many characters straight but overall this was a page turner that I enjoyed. The end of the book was a blood bath that left fewer members of the two families alive but they are now set up on both sides of the border and are operating a lucrative smuggling business. As this is only the first book, I suspect that they will be expanding and growing their illegal activities throughout the series.

I'm glad to see your remarks on this one. I read about it a few days ago and thought it looked interesting but didn't go any further. I've just checked and Amazon has it for Kindle for $4.99 so I grabbed it!

>134 clue: I hope you enjoy it - of course, it is the first book in a series so be ready!

Speaking of series, I have been going through the 1,427 series that LT tells me that I am following. I've eliminated many that I don't consider dedicated series and brought some others up to date with books added or series discontinued. Even though I am three-quarters of the way through, I have a list of 424 series that I am either currently reading or have at least the first book on my shelves. I can see that my Category Challenge next year, is going to include more than one category that deals with series.

And, I know it is early, but I have also been kicking around a few ideas for my 2021 Challenge!

>136 DeltaQueen50: Same! I am always plotting next year's challenge. Or rather I am always coming up with new ideas for themes, then trying to figure out which one will end up being chosen for the next year.

>136 DeltaQueen50: - >137 rabbitprincess: - Me too. I need to start thinking early or I never decide on anything. I've been thinking that I'll use the Alpha Kit (assuming there'll be one) for just series next year. Of course, there are many new series that I want to start because of BBs I've taken in addition to all the ones I currently am reading.

ETA: LT says I have 465 series, but I know that includes ones that are just a BB for now and not actually started.

>136 DeltaQueen50:, >137 rabbitprincess: >138 dudes22: I was just looking over my series a couple of days ago and felt rather down about them. You've made me feel good though, I only have 352! Like you I have a bunch I won't continue so I need to sort them out.

>137 rabbitprincess: I am glad that I am not the only one who is always thinking ahead to the next challenge!

>138 dudes22: Using the AlphaKit for series is an excellent idea and one that may have to steal from you, Betty. I think the AlphaKit is very popular and I am pretty sure that Jean will set up one for next year. (fingers crossed)

>138 dudes22: I am definitely a glutton when it comes to series, of course, a good portion of those 424 are new series and I am only really paying attention to them if I already have at least one book in the series on my shelves or kindle.

128. Holy Island by LJ Ross - 1.0 ★
Category: AlphaKit
July AlphaKit: R
July TIOLI #14: Finish A Book You Previously Got Stuck On



Holy Island by LJ Ross is the first in a series of police procedurals that feature Chief Inspector Ryan and his crew. As the story opens, Ryan is in the middle of a sabbatical on Lindisfarne Island that was to allow him to recover from his last case, which involved tracking a serial killer but ended with his own sister as the final victim. When a young woman is found dead and laid out as a sacrificial offering, he and his crew set up on the isolated island to solve the case.

Unfortunately this book had so many flaws that I had difficulty finishing the story. I had previously set this one aside and not wanting to totally give up on it, I tried again this month. I don’t even know where to begin. Considering the setting, the plot was obvious and over-done, the book is riddled with cliches, for example, the very handsome detective and the beautiful doctor who is there to advise him, fall in love the minute they set eyes on each other. There are many villains to this piece, but it was still strange to me that the cult had one of their own confess to three murders, but then after he was arrested, they still went ahead and planned a fourth murder. Duh! What was the point of the confession. Uneven writing, a preposterous plot, and the unnecessary nasty twist at the end of the book all had me rolling my eyes and counting the pages.

The good news is that I can now dismiss this series from my reading list and move on to something that hopefully will not be the utter rubbish this book proved to be.

>136 DeltaQueen50: Over 400 series and counting! My goodness. Are they mostly series where the books are already published and just need finding, or are they ones where the author is actively adding treats to the backlog?

>136 DeltaQueen50: I started organizing my series too but it was far too much work so I'll just continue with my series spreadsheet. I too have been thinking of next year and series will definitely be playing a part.

>142 pammab: I have finally finished going through my series list here on LT and my final count was 538 in total. Of that number, I have marked 112 as dedicated series by authors like Craig Johnson, Tana French, and Stuart MacBride that I am working on. I also have 139 series or trilogies where I have read the first one or two books in the series and would like to continue, these are by authors such as Hugh Howey, Carola Dunn and Joe Lansdale. That leaves me with 287 series where I have purchased at least the first book but haven't read yet. I expect that once I have read that first book, I may decide not to continue. The remaining 889 series that LT lists for me are made up of series that I have completed or decided not to read further, or ones I haven't started and don't have any books from, also there were a lot of duplicates listed under different series names or weren't what I consider as series. I did discard a number of series where I hadn't purchased a book and can't see me doing so in the immediate future. No matter how I look at it, however, I really need to work on series next year.

>143 VivienneR: It was a lot of work, Vivienne, and I had to keep checking my list as there so many duplicates in the LT list. Now that I have such a definitive list of series, I plan to use that list in some way to help me tackle my series reading next year.

I too have a lot listed here that I haven't started yet - either because I don't have the first one, just haven't started or are just recommendations so far. I should compare them here to my spreadsheet I made when FictFact ended and make some decisions.

When you say "marked as dedicated", is that here on LT or on a spreadsheet/offline?

>145 dudes22: I have never been organized enough to make a spreadsheet so by "marked as dedicated" I mean in my head. These are the series that I faithfully follow and will continue to do so. I was just over reading your RandomCat thread for August and I am going to use it to read a series or two that have musical titiles.

>146 DeltaQueen50: - ok - I was hoping I had missed something and I could mark them here. I really wish we could order them alphabetically by author. So much easier.

>147 dudes22: I wish the same thing - LTs list can be so confusing with so many duplicates and finished series. It would be great if we could arrange them in the order that we would like to have them in.

<147 I like for the LT list to be coded by read or not. The green circle is for being in LT library classification as I understand it and the gray are in other classifications. I don't find that very helpful BUT, this has recently become available so it will be probably be improved as time allows.

>149 clue: I have green tick marks for the ones that I have read, grey ones for the books that are on my shelf or kindle and hot pink ticks for the books on my wishlist. I agree that there will probably be improvements made to this list as time goes by.

I have picked the books I am hoping to read for my random categories for next month as follows:

Random Member - charleyhungerford- and the book I picked that we both have is Morning Frost by James Henry
Random Tag - short stories, I have chosen American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell from those listed
Random Awards - L. A. Times Book Prize - Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver
Random Character - Nick - I picked Constable on the Hill by Nicholas Rhea as the main character is called Nick
Random Place - Texas - I chose Five Roads to Texas by W.J. Lundy
Random Book of Mine - Bloodless Shadow by Victoria Blake

Nothing to say but hi, Judy!

Hi Roni, I've just finished Hospital Station and I am about to post my thoughts about it. I will definitely be reading on in this series. :)

129. Hospital Station by James White - 4.0 ★
Category: SFFFKit
July SFFFKit: Space Opera
BingoDog: Not Set on Earth
July TIOLI #16: Takes Place In Space



Hospital Station by James White is the first book in the author’s science fiction series entitled Sector General and consists of five short stories that had been previously published in New Worlds magazine between 1957 and 1960.

Sector General is a huge inter-species hospital set in the outer reaches of the galaxy with a mission of offering medical assistance to all forms of life. The series builds on the challenges faced by the medical staff in diagnosing and solving the medical problems in the many aliens that they treat. The staff of the hospital is also multi-species so it needs to be able to supply all their needs, whether they breath oxygen or another gas, or need the amount of gravity required to be adjusted. Language problems are solved by the use of a translator system that works for all. Sector General has many departments and wards that are set to deal with every requirement needed.

These original five stories are mostly centered around one doctor. Dr. Conway is an idealistic, intelligent yet rather sheltered young doctor but as we read through the stories, his character develops and grows and by the end of the book I found him very likeable and trustworthy. Although the stories felt rather episodic and slightly repetitive, I enjoyed all of them and this first book has whetted my appetite for more.

>141 DeltaQueen50: Thanks for taking one for the team, Judy.

>155 BLBera: You are most welcome, Beth. I am just happy that it's another series I can let go!

Our weather here has been very changeable and not particularly summery lately but yesterday was one of those perfect summer days and we decided to go out for dinner. We went to a restaurant called River House and it was a gorgeous evening, warm with a light breeze. This restaurant is across the river from a park and the park has a rowing club attached to it and last night must have been the young men's turn to practise, so I had an extra good view! It's funny how much I now appreciate doing things that we used to just take for granted.

>151 DeltaQueen50: I really enjoyed Pigs in Heaven when I read it, many years ago. I've not always got on with Barbara Kingsolver (I couldn't finish The Poisonwood Bible, it was just too bleak), but I loved PiH.

Another summer day, Judy. I could get used to this! Your dinner yesterday sounded lovely.

H Judy. Dropped by to see what's new. Of course I caught a BB. This time for Cheaper by the Dozen and its sequel.

Only to discover it isn't in our local library system. Maybe when this pandemic slacks off (sometime in the next decade?), I'll be able to borrow the titles from an out-of-town branch.

>158 Jackie_K: Good to hear, Jackie. I recently read The Bean Trees and loved it so I am looking forward to this sequel.

>159 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg, well, at first I thought we were back to the cold, rainy weather today but a strong wind sprung up and blew away all the clouds and now the sun is out and it is getting warmer. I may yet get in some outside reading time!

>160 SandyAMcPherson: Hi Sandy. I have been avoiding the library for now as it's a very small branch so most of my lbrary orders are from other branches and I don't believe they are doing that right now. The only good thing this pandemic has going for it is that it has forced me to really concentrate on what is already on my shelves.

Glad you are enjoying the Sector General books, Judy!

My favorite Barbara Kingsolver book (of the ones that I've read) is actually her non-fiction book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life when her family moves from Az to rural Applachia and decide to live off the land for a whole year. This was back before eating locally had become as mainstream as it is now. It also includes recipes for each month and her husband Steven Hopp contributes his thoughts on sustainable agriculture.

>162 ronincats: Your record of series recommendations is very good, Roni, not sure the exact number but you've certainly introduced me to some excellent authors - Sharon Lee and Lois McMaster Bujold spring immediately to mind!

>163 dudes22: That one sounds interesting, Betty, and I see Amazon has a Kindle version - this one is going on my list! :)

130. The G-String Murders by Gypsy Rose Lee - 4.0 ★
Category: ScaredyKit
July ScaredyKit: Femme Fatales
July TIOLI #6: By a Woman Author I Haven't Read Before



The G-String Murders was written by Gypsy Rose Lee, burlesque queen of the 1940s who became a well known American celebrity. Although not formally educated, she was one “smart cookie” and managed to build upon her fame with acting, writing and television appearances. She is probably best remembered today for the Broadway musical and film “Gypsy” that was based on her life. This book is a murder mystery, set in a burlesque theatre and features Gypsy as the main character.

Using herself as the main character gives the book a realistic slant, it feels like one is peeking into her diary. She knows of what she writes, and all the show biz pzazz and backstage shenanigans ring true. As strippers are found strangled by G-strings, Gypsy and her boyfriend act as detectives and with plenty of wise-cracking humor, they figure out whodunit.

I enjoyed this story and was agreeable surprised at the quality of writing. There have been rumours that the stripteaser had writing assistance, but the manuscripts seem to prove that she wrote a large portion of the book herself. One thing is certain and that is that Gypsy Rose Lee knew how to entertain and with a few well placed twists and plenty of “bump and grinds”, The G-String Murders does exactly that.

131. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy - 5.0 ★
Category: Random Awards & Lists - The 1,001 Books To Read Before You Die List
BingoDog: Red Cover
July TIOLI #15: July Birthstone Challenge - Red Cover



Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness in the West is written by Cormac McCarthy and originally published in 1985. Although classified as a Western, this literary masterpiece in fact, defies being neatly classified as such. Some call it an anti-western because of it’s grim and dark subject matter, but this disturbing story is loosely based on actual historical events. The setting is the border country between Mexico and Texas and our main character is a young boy who runs away from his Tennessee home. He is only ever known the The Kid throughout the book. He comes to Texas and through various events becomes a scalp hunter. He is part of the Glanton gang, who are getting paid for each Apache scalp that they turn in. Of course, it isn’t long before this group doesn’t bother to discern between Indians and Mexicans. Little did they know, the Mexican government was shelling out gold for the scalps of their own people.

Many people are put off by the violence in this story but I found myself enthralled by the author’s lyrical and dark prose. The story is full of casual and bloody brutalities and there is one character called The Judge who is a particularly despicable murderer and psychopath. There has been a lot of speculation as to the identity of the Judge. Many feel he is representative of the Devil, others feel he is there to show the cruelty that mankind is capable of. I found this character spine-chilling and menacing but overwhelmingly interesting.

Blood Meridian is a book to stir one’s emotions and the ambiguity of the ending left me mulling over exactly what the author was trying to pass on to his readers. This is not a book for the faint of heart as it is full of the dark and bloody impulses that men inflict on others. Blood Meridian has left me with conflicted feelings but not for one minute do I regret reading this unsettling work of art.

>161 DeltaQueen50: "it has forced me to really concentrate on what is already on my shelves."
That's what I should be doing, too. Only, some of the BBs are SO beguiling!

Edited to say I added that mystery by Gypsy Rose Lee to my WL. I'll have to look for it somewhere else, since our local PL doesn't have it.

>166 DeltaQueen50: Nice review! I have tried Cormac McCarthy a few times and find his prose beautiful, though his work is usually too dark for me to engage at length. Books that leave lasting thoughts are the best, though; glad you got that.

>166 DeltaQueen50: That is on my TBR, but don't know if I can tolerate the violence.

>167 SandyAMcPherson: I find resisting the buying of more books the hardest thing to do! I am reading from my shelves, which is good, but I am still filling those shelves up on a regular basis! The Gypsy Rose Lee book is part of the Femme Fatale set of books put out by The Feminist Press. I purchased my copy from Amazon for the Kindle.

>168 pammab: I don't know what this says about me but I have read three of Cormac McCarthy's books and have loved them all. I am not a dark or violent person but I sure seem to like both dark and violent in my reading material!

>169 Tess_W: I can certainly understand that, Tess. I can't sugar-coat it - this book is full of brutal acts and not just toward other men, often the brutality is acted out on animals which for some reason I find harder to take.

I've been circling McCarthy's books for years. Still circling, but a little closer to reading one. Excellent review.

>166 DeltaQueen50: - Excellent review! McCarthy is one of my favorite authors. Have you read Suttree? I loved that one.

Great comments on Blood Meridian, Judy. I am squeamish, so have avoided McCarthy, except for The Road, which was excellent.

>171 RidgewayGirl: I think you would like McCarthy, Kay. His subject matter seems to be on the dark side but his writing is lyrical and, a big positive for me, his descriptions of the American West are colorful and really help to illuminate his stories.

>172 lkernagh: Thanks, Lori. I haven't read Suttree - yet. It's being added to my wishlist now.

>173 BLBera: I was very leery of McCarthy as well, Beth. I read The Road and loved it but also read that it wasn't like his other writing, being much starker. Then I read All the Pretty Horses and I was sold on this author. :)

132. The Foretelling by Alice Hoffman - 4.5 ★
Category: Other Challenges
July TravelKit: Myths & Legends Around the World
BingoDog: Based on Mythology or Folklore
July TIOLI #5: Morphy's Challenge - Red, White or Blue on the First Page



The Foretelling by Alice Hoffman is the YA story of Rain, born of rape and shunned by her mother, the Queen of the Amazons. As the Queen’s daughter, she is destined to be the next Queen and so her life is one of strenuous training. The Amazons are superb horsewomen and warriors and Rain feels that she must be the best of them all. But even as she trains to ride, shoot and kill, she still feels unaccepted and alone. She has doubts as to whether she is meant to be the queen and when her mother gets pregnant, Rain is sure this new child will grow to take her place. She is also finding that her feelings toward her enemies is changing, she should be merciless and bloodthirsty but she finds that she feels pity for her enemies and during battle she is shocked to find herself giving mercy to men.

This was an excellent coming-of-age story as Rain questions her destiny and tries to interpret her prophecy with the help of the high priestess. She eventually understands what the future should hold for her and chooses to defy tradition. The author captures the primitive yet spiritual rhythms of the Amazons and instead of a straight forward novel, the book reads like a series of impressions as Rain grows and becomes a woman of strength and character. The Foretelling is a moving mythological story that is beautifully written, and although I found the characters fairly one dimensional, the author’s alluring imagery was a joy to read.

133. Bones by Jan Burke - 4.0 ★
Cateogry: Random Member - Red Queen
July TIOLI #9: Book Must Be Number 7 or Higher in a Series



Bones is the seventh book in author Jan Burke’s series about reporter Irene Kelly. This book was a real page turner as Irene falls under the scrutiny of a cunning serial killer. Psychopath Nicholas Parrish has been arrested and now is willing to reveal the burial place of one of his victims. This is the woman whom Irene has been writing about since her disappearance 4 years ago. Irene joins the investigative team as they search for the grave deep in the Sierra Nevada mountains. But Parrish has an ulterior motive behind his cooperation, he has engineered an elaborate escape plan that also includes future plans for Irene.

The first third of this book was excellent, as the team hiked through the mountains the suspense was continuously rising, it was obvious that they were being manipulated by this very creepy murderer and it wasn’t long before Irene found herself in full out survival mode. The inclusion of the cadaver search dog, Bingle, made the story even more interesting. I found the excitement faded somewhat in the middle of the book, but then by the last third of the book the author was back in stride with the suspense and excitement.

I have been reading this series for years, and unfortunately not only have I not read them in order, I have let a lot of time go by between books so they now have a slight dated feeling about them. I started the series by reading book numbers eight and nine and then backtracked to the beginning, now, with my completion of number seven, I am ready to continue on in the proper order. The series has eleven books in total and I fully intend on reading them all as I have enjoyed each and every one of the books that I have read so far.

I'm excited for today as I am off to the doctor for a cortisone shot to my knee. It's been behaving nicely since I got the last shot in January but just lately I can tell the effect is wearing off and I am feeling some pain and weakness in the knee. Hopefully this shot today will get me fully back on my feet.

>177 DeltaQueen50: When you're excited about getting a shot that's sure proof it works! I'm glad you're getting relief!

>178 clue: I had my shot and although my knee feels a little "spongy" the pain is gone and I am looking forward to another 6 months of mobility!

134. The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel - 3.8 ★
Category: TIOLI Challenges
BingoDog: Published in 2020
July TIOLI #1: The 7th Book on One of My Book Shelves



It was difficult not to have certain expectations about Emily St. John’s novel, The Glass Hotel, following as it does on her highly successful blockbuster, Station Eleven. This book is very different from her last, being based on family connections, money, morals and ponzi schemes rather than a pestilence that changed the earth forever. However there were parts of this book that definitely referred to Station Eleven, the Georgia Flu is lurking in the distance and a couple of characters from Station Eleven make an appearance here.

I remained interested in this story but it certainly didn’t carry me away like her last one did. Her setting of the glass hotel on the northern end of Vancouver Island engaged me as a few years ago I visited Port Hardy and Port Alice, which I believe is called Port Grace in the book. This is a beautiful part of the world and remote enough that I could see an exclusive wilderness hotel being placed in the area.

In The Glass Hotel, the author moves the characters back and forth in time as the story unfolds. A portion of the book is about the financial crisis of 2008, which I have to admit I wasn’t all that interested in. Overall the writing is evocative and creative and the many characters are multi-layered. I felt that there was an unreal quality to the story, making it feel almost dreamlike. Although the story wasn’t totally to my taste it is richly imagined and quietly compelling.

Good luck with the cortisone shot, Judy.

I think I liked The Glass Hotel a little more than you did.

I must check to see if I've read all of the Jan Burke books. I really liked them.

Hello! Dropping by to wave and see all the great books you are reading this year.

I recently changed my Challenge from "known/unknown author" by month to "fiction/non-fiction." I took a look at my shelves and saw that I had mostly "unknown" authors and needed some sort of balance to my life. Kudos to you for winnowing down your series list on LT!

And glad to see you're still doing well.

>181 BLBera: Hi Beth. I called it a cortisone shot but the doctor corrected me - apparently he is injecting me with Sodium Hyaluronate - known as Cingal. I don't know what the difference is, but this certainly works. I was starting to feel a certain amount of pain in my right knee and now, a couple of days after the shot, that pain is gone. I have really enjoyed the Jan Burke series and I am glad to be back on track with them.

>182 threadnsong: Hi threadnsong, I have been having a good reading year which is excellent since I am reading pretty much from my own shelves. This year is such a mess in so many other ways that it's good to have at least one thing that is going right. Sounds like you have lots of new-to-you authors to discover right on your own shelves, I'll look forward to seeing how it goes.

135. To Sir Phillip, With Love by Julia Quinn - 4.0 ★
Category: Random Character - Phillip
July TIOLI #15: Birthstone Challenge - Book Has a Red Cover



In To Sir Phillip, With Love, Julia Quinn continues her romantic saga of the Bridgerton family. In this outing we follow Eloise Bridgerton in her quest for everlasting love. Eloise has turned twenty-eight and has turned down numerous proposals, holding out for that one special person. She has almost come to believe she will never marry but life the life of a spinster. When a distant cousin dies, she begins a correspondence with the widower, Sir Phillip Crane. Sir Phillip is a troubled man, he had a difficult upbringing and, unbeknownst to Eloise, is struggling to raise two children after his wife committed suicide. When he writes to Eloise and suggests that they meet and see how well they would match, Eloise, feeling the need to escape London and the recent marriage of her brother and best friend, immediately takes herself off to the country not bothering to think about the impropriety of this action.

To Sir Phillip, With Love was another fun Regency Romp that gives the reader both romance and humor. Chatty Eloise and passionate Phillip are great main characters and although the plot felt a little like a re-worked Georgette Heyer, it was light and engaging. This was the fifth book in the Bridgerton series and I have enjoyed each and every one and I am already looking forward to spending more time with this fictional family.

>184 DeltaQueen50: - I'm planning on that one for next month :) Your cover is much nicer than mine!

Hi Katie, I think they are getting ready for the Netflick series and are re-issuing the books with new covers.

I hadn't heard the Bridgerton series would be on Nexflix! My sister has loved it and kept telling me all along I should read it. I think I may have read the first one or two but I don't remember them very well so I'll start over and maybe get them all read before they are televised. She's going to be so excited!

>187 clue: I am very excited that they are filming the Bridgerton romances and the power behind it is Shonda Rhimes of Grey's Anatomy and Scandal.

136. The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov - 3.7 ★
Category: Other Challenges
July MysteryKit: Cross Genre/Mashup
July TIOLI #12: Book has 151 Pages or More



The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov is a classic science fiction story and a murder mystery meshed together. The timing is supposed to be far into the future, a time when hyperspace travel has been discovered, and a few worlds have been colonized. Known as the “Spacer worlds” they are rich, have a relatively low population density and use robot labour. Meanwhile Earth has become overpopulated and both “spacers” and robots are looked up with suspicion. The caves of steel in the title are the vast city complexes on earth that are covered by metal domes.

When a Spacer ambassador is murdered by an earth-man, New York City detective Elijah Baley is assigned a the case and much to his disgust is given a highly advanced robot partner to work with. I found the story entertaining as much for Asimov’s vision of the future as for the story. The murder mystery was fairly predictable but I was totally absorbed by Asimov’s world-building that is revealed throughout the course of the story.

While I doubt that I will track down more of these sci-fi mysteries, I did find The Caves of Steel to be a satisfying read.

137. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink - 4.5 ★
Category: 1,001 Books List
July 1,001 Group Challenge Read: Last Name Initials Are the Same as Mine
July TIOLI #7: Translated by a Woman



The Reader by Bernhard Schlink was originally published in Germany in 1995 and is a beautifully written story of love, compassion and secrets as Michael, a young German boy becomes involved with Hanna, a woman twice his age.

They become lovers until she suddenly moves on, leaving him wondering if he had done something to drive her away. A number of years pass by and now, as a young law student, he sees Hanna again. This time she is a defendant in a war crimes trial. Michael is concerned as he watches her refuse to defend herself and he gradually realizes that she is covering up something that she considers more shameful than the things she is being accused of.

The Reader is a disturbing story made all the more devastating by it’s heart-felt simplicity. It is both a coming-of-age tale and the story of a second generation German coming to terms with the Holocaust. The story makes a strong impact and I know that I will be thinking about this haunting story of guilt and longing for some time.

>166 DeltaQueen50: Thanks for the review of Blood Meridian. I've not read any Cormac McCarthy but I do have The Road on my shelves, to be read later this year, I hope.

>180 DeltaQueen50: I am rereading Station Eleven right now, and yes, it would indeed be difficult to live up to the expectations that it has raised. I'm still planning to read The Glass Hotel, though, once I get through the current stack of books.

>191 mathgirl40: I loved The Road. McCarthy's restrained, sparse prose depicts a visually stunning and very dark world that was spellbinding to read about. In some ways, I think The Glass Hotel was a better written story, but I am partial to post-apocalyptic stories.

Happy Sunday, Judy. Great review of Blood Meridian! Big Thumb! I really NEED to do a reread of this classic. It also looks like we had similar feelings about The Glass Hotel.

>190 DeltaQueen50: The Reader is one of my very favorite books of all time. It is haunting.

Hi, Judy! I see you've been doing a lot of great reading lately.

>166 DeltaQueen50: Blood Meridian ... is not a book for the faint of heart as it is full of the dark and bloody impulses that men inflict on others. IMO, Cormac McCarthy isn't for the faint of heart. I've read two of his, both of which I - not sure enjoyed is the word, but certainly feel glad to have read - and both were dark and bloody. (The Road and No Country for Old Men) Good review, Judy. I'll be putting Blood Meridian on my list of books to read.

>175 DeltaQueen50: I read this awhile back and remember enjoying it, though I'm not a fan of YA coming of age novels for the most part.

>180 DeltaQueen50: Another good review. I'm still on the fence about reading this one. It doesn't sound like my kind of fiction, but I did enjoy Station Eleven, so...

>186 DeltaQueen50: How fun that Netflix is adapting the Bridgerton romances!

So glad that last shot worked! Hope it continues to block the pain for a good long time!

>193 msf59: Thanks for the thumb, Mark. I am definitely a fan of Cormac McCarthy! I tried not to have too many expectations about The Glass Hotel but for me it just didn't work as well as Station Eleven.

>194 Tess_W: I was surprised by The Reader, Tess. I was expecting it to be well written, but I wasn't expecting that the story would grab me the way it did. "Haunting" is the perfect description.

>195 Storeetllr: Hi Mary. Cormac McCarthy sure doesn't shy away from violence. I am looking forward to reading No Country for Old Men at some point - I really loved the movie. The Glass Hotel is very different from Station Eleven. Both are very well written but I had a harder time getting into The Glass Hotel. I can't wait until the Bridgerton romances are on Netflicks - but it may be awhile yet, I suspect the filming was disrupted by the virus.

138. The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin - 4.5 ★
Category: Random Tag - Guilt
July TIOLI #5: Morphy's Challenge - Red, White or Blue on the First Page



The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin is a survival story about two strangers who form an incredible bond when the pilot of their small plane has a heart attack and they crash into a remote mountain wilderness in Utah. Dr. Ben Payne, on his way home after a medical conference, rents a small plane to get him out of Salt Lake City ahead of an oncoming blizzard. He invites Ashley Knox a writer who is trying to get home for her wedding to join him.

Ben, Ashley and Napoleon, the pilot’s dog survive the crash, but Ashley is quite severely injured with a broken leg and several deep cuts. Ben has broken ribs but nevertheless, he immediately goes into survival mode and thanks to both his medical and hiking experience manages to keep them alive and hopeful. Eventually they come to the realization that no one is coming to rescue them and Ben knows that unless they somehow manage to walk out of this wilderness, they are going to perish.

The Mountain Between Us is more than just a survival story though. Both Ben and Ashley are questioning their futures. Ben is deeply in love with his wife but they are having difficulties that he doesn’t know how to overcome. Meanwhile Ashley is wondering if she is just settling for marriage as she doesn’t feel the profound love for her fiance that she thinks she should.

Somehow this story worked wonderfully well for me. I love survival stories and even though the plot relied heavily on how convenient it was that Ben was an orthopedic surgeon, that he’s a long-distance runner with incredible strength and stamina, and that one of his hobbies includes wilderness hiking, I was absolutely totally glued to the pages. Also reading this book in summer, it was refreshing to read of their struggles through waist deep snow.

The Mountain Between Us is a story of survival, adventure and romance. It totally absorbed me and I was sorry to see it end, obviously the right book at the right time. Of course, thinking of the movie that was made of this book, and picturing the gorgeous Idris Elba as Ben, certainly went a long way toward my reading satisfaction.

>197 DeltaQueen50: - I haven't read this one yet, but Charles Martin is one of my favorite authors.

ETA: Just dawned on me that I could read this for my "book into movie" category.

>198 dudes22: It would be perfect for that category, Betty!

I've had The Reader on my shelf for years, Judy. Maybe I should read it.

>200 BLBera: I think you would like The Reader, Beth. Of course, I know how it is - having so many books and not enough time to actually read them!

139. The Marsh King's Daughter by Karen Dionne - 3.4 ★
Category: Random Place - Michigan
July TIOLI #6: By a Woman Author I Haven't Read Before



I found The Marsh King’s Daughter by Karen Dionne to be a rather confusing mesh of a thriller about a daughter tracking her escaped convict of a father through the wilderness and the coming-of-age story about how this same daughter grew up under the care of a psychopath in a remote swamp in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Helena’s father had kidnapped her mother when she was 14 and had taken her to a remote part of the wilderness. Helena was born and raised there. Not knowing the back story of her father and mother, she actually idolized her father and considered her mother weak. It wasn’t until she was twelve that she started to question why they lived the way the way they did. Helena and her mother escaped, but even as an adult, Helena still felt guilty about leaving her father. She has created a good life for herself, married a fine man and has two children, but she could never bring herself to tell her husband the story of her childhood or who she really is. Now that her father is loose, she knows she is the only one who has the skills to track him and she soon finds out, he needs to be stopped as he has his sights on her family.

As much as I wanted to, I just couldn’t connect with the present day story. I actually preferred the flashbacks about her growing up years and how she slowly started to understand what was really going on with her family. I found the mature Helena to be smug, unsympathetic and secretive. I realize that in order to find closure Helena needed this final confrontation with her father but it was frustrating as her conflicted feelings about him caused her to hesitate repeatedly. At this point she knows he is a cold blooded murderer, has already wounded her, and makes it very clear that he intends to take her and her daughters into the Canadian wilderness so I found her continual hesitation quite unbelievable. I do applaud the author for both her original story-line and some great nature descriptions.

>202 DeltaQueen50: - I had similar issues with this one, Judy. I thought the best part was Dionne's description of the UP in Michigan...

>189 DeltaQueen50: Isaac Asimov always surprises me as a sci-fi writer. He was very well-rounded and showed a lot of compassion to his characters and their struggles. I am glad to see that he also wrote a murder mystery and glad it was satisfying.

>197 DeltaQueen50: I spent a summer with my college hiking in the mountain range where this movie was filmed in Utah. At the time (early 80's), it had one month of true summer and was well-known as a great place for cross-country skiing. It's very isolated and you get a sense of distance by walking every step of the way across to the next mountain across rough terrain.

>203 katiekrug: Glad to hear I am not the only one with reservations about The Marsh King's Daughter, most of the reviews are very positive.

>204 threadnsong: What a great experience that must have been! I have driven through Utah and across the mountains to Colorado and back again across Wyoming so I have skirted the area, but I do know how remote and inaccessible it is. I imagine the scenery is spectacular.

>190 DeltaQueen50: Lovely review of The Reader. You make me want to read it again.

>206 VivienneR: I am always so thrilled when one of the books that I am reading simply because they are on the 1,001 List is a book that I can really love.

140. Along the Broken Bay by Flora J. Solomon - 4.0 ★
Category: Random Book of Mine
July TIOLI #13: Fits the Seattle Public Library Summer Book Bingo - History



Along the Broken Bay by Flora J. Solomon is a historical novel about the Philippine Islands during World War II. It opens just before the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor and introduces Gina Capelli Thorpe, an American expat who lives in Manila with her engineer husband and small daughter, Cheryl. Gina’s husband has been called to help the army on the island of Corregidor, and when the Japanese attack Manila, just 10 hours after Pearl Harbor, he is trapped there. Gina and her daughter escape to the Zambales Mountains along with her best friend and her two daughters. Soon a small camp of Americans are living in the mountains and forming themselves into a resistance group. Gina is dispatched back to Manila in order to help supply the group with money, medicine and guns.

Gina reinvents herself as an Italian expat and before long is running a nightclub that caters to the wealthy Japanese. She delights in the fact that the Japanese are both paying for the guerrillas and supplying information that she is able to pass on. Gina struggles to stay one step ahead of the Japanese, she worries about her husband, a captive of the Japanese and her daughter who she left in the mountains in the care of her friend.

This author has a background of working in research and she did an excellent job of inserting her facts into the story in an interesting way that helped to move the story along. The story was engaging and overall the book was very good. I felt that the characters could have been developed a little more as at times I felt we were only getting a surface look at these people. Overall, I enjoyed Along the Broken Bay and would recommend it to anyone who wishes to read about the invasion of the Philippines during World War II.

>208 DeltaQueen50: This one sounds good, Judy. I will check it out. Is it a new book?

>209 BLBera: It is a fairly new book, Beth, originally published in 2019. I picked it up free as a Kindle Unlimited book so I didn't have huge expectations for it so I was really pleased that I enjoyed the story. The author apparently has taken up writing after retiring from Michigan University as a researcher/analyst, this was her second book.

Hi Judy, looks like you are blazing through the books. I've begun to slow down on reading my own tomes because I now have two library systems supplying me with books.

>211 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg. I still haven't ventured back to the library yet, I am enjoying all this reading from my own shelves and plan to continue through to the fall.

141. Exit Strategy by Kelley Armstrong - 4.0 ★
Category: ScaredyKit
August ScaredyKit: Serial Killers



Canadian author Kelley Armstrong is best known for her supernatural fantasy stories, but her thriller Exit Strategy is about ex-cop, now professional hit-woman, Nadia Stafford. She owns and runs a lakeside lodge in Ontario, Canada but to keep it afloat she does contract hits on career criminals for a New York Mafia family. But when another hit-man turns into a serial killer, she teams up with her mentor, Jack and a number of other professionals to shut this serial killer down before he draws too much attention to their profession or their identities.

There is plenty of excitement and tension during the course of the story, including the sexual tension between Nadia and Jack. As the hunt continues, the serial killing escalates and the murderer starts to make demands that are impossible to meet. Nadia is a true kick-ass heroine certainly holding her own with Jack and his cronies. She is meticulous about all details involving her hit jobs, and this attention to detail seems to also affect the author as the story at times appears to be overly detailed and very carefully crafted.

Although being 50 or so pages too long, Exit Strategy was a fun read and with interesting characters like Nadia and Jack, I can see why the author wrote a sequel. I enjoyed my time spend with these anti-heroes who kill for a living but never-the-less have a code of honor amongst themselves.

142. The Midwife of Hope River by Patricia Harmon - 4.3 ★
Category: AlphaKit
August AlphaKit: H
BingoDog: A Book About Birth or Death
August TIOLI #3: About a Doll or For Which There is a Doll



The Midwife of Hope River by Patricia Harmon totally absorbed me while I was reading it. The story of Patience Murphy, a midwife in rural West Virginia in the early 1930s was both heart-warming and rewarding as we join her and her assistant, Bitsy, as they help mothers deliver their babies in this time of trouble and strife. Black Tuesday brought about the downfall of many of the mine owners and one by one the mines in the area close leaving the unemployed miners and their families scrambling to survive. With the mines going, soon the stores and other businesses are leaving as well. Both the local doctor and the health nurse leave for greener pastures and the black community loses it’s midwife, leaving Patience and Bitsy as pretty much the only health workers around.

Although there are numerous births described, this was more than a medical story. Patience had quite a history, and it is revealed gradually throughout the book in flashbacks. Also there are a few discontented people looking to vent their frustrations on a single white woman living with a black woman and who helps the black community. There is also the intriguing local vet who obviously has his eye on Patience.

The author herself is a certified midwife and has worked in rural areas so she certainly know of what she writes. The story touches on many issues that affected the 1930s from prohibition, unions, Ku Klux Klan and the lack of medical care that was available to people. I know that the author has gone on to write more books about the Hope River area, but this book certainly stands well on it own. I felt that other than Patience, the characters could have been a little more defined but this is a book that celebrates life, friendship and the rewards of a simple, hard working life and I found it both absorbing and uplifting. The Midwife of Hope River was simply an excellent story.

>214 DeltaQueen50: The Midwife of Hope River sounds very intriguing -- uplifting plus an interesting setting got its hooks into me. I'm going to ask a usual question from me though so I can prepare myself -- is this a book that enjoys the gruesomeness of medicine, or lets the gruesomeness stand?

>214 DeltaQueen50: I loved that book!

>215 pammab: I didn't find it overly gruesome but she definitely doesn't shy away from the birth descriptions. I don't think she emphasized these details, it is just part of her job as a midwife to deal with them.

>216 Tess_W: This was another book that I have had on my shelf for far too long. I am so glad that I finally read it as it totally drew me in.

Happy Wednesday, Judy. Not catching any BBs over here but it is always nice to see so much reading being done.

>218 msf59: Hi Mark, not catching any BBs is often as good as getting hit by some. :)

143. Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathaniel West - 2.0 ★
Category: 1,001 Books List
August 1,001 Group Challenge Read: Chosen by Another
August TIOLI #13: Author Shares First Name with One of Susanna's Parents or Offspring



Written and published in the early 1930s, Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathaniel West is a novella that is meant to be a black comedy set in New York City. Unfortunately, I didn’t find this funny at all. Although times have changed, I doubt whether I would ever found jokes about raping women funny. This particular section felt more like the author was lashing out at women who were more “literary” than him and/or more successful than him.

Most of the book was depressing and felt like I was reading about someone’s nightmare. The main character is an advice columnist who is the “Miss Lonelyhearts” for his newspaper. His contempt for the people who write to him made me very uncomfortable. Basically this is a character who is a failure, he isn’t good enough at writing, relationships, or religion. He appears to dislike most men and despise all women and gay men, when in fact, he actually is jealous of most everyone who is more successful at living than he is. “Suicide is an option” is a theme that runs through the book.

Reading of other people problems and misery must be emotionally draining, but I just couldn’t warm up to his character or have any sympathy for him. Reading about hard-drinking, misogynistic, homophobic characters that spew verbal and sometimes physical abuse wore me out and Miss Lonelyhearts felt more like a 300 page novel than the 80 page novella that it is.

>220 DeltaQueen50: Sounds like this one should be gently relegated to the dustheap of history!

>221 RidgewayGirl: "dustheap of history" - Now that's a nice way of putting it!

144. Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver - 4.5 ★
Category: Random Award - 1993 L.A. Times Bookprize
August TIOLI #4: One of the Title Words Starts or Ends with the Letter "P"



Pigs in Heaven is the 1993 sequel to Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees and it continues the story of Taylor Greer and her adopted Cherokee daughter, Turtle. When Turtle and Taylor rescue a man at the Hoover Dam, the media attention brings Turtle to the attention of lawyer Annawake Fourkiller, who believes that the child should be returned to the Cherokee Nation. When the adoption proves to be questionable and Turtle is proven to have a Cherokee grandfather who is looking for her, Taylor responds by first grabbing her daughter and running away. She eventually realizes that this nomad life is no way to bring up a child and with the help of her mother, returns to Oklahoma to fight for custody of her daughter.

This was another excellent story by Kingsolver who highlights the strong relationships between mothers and daughters with both Taylor and Turtle, and Taylor and Alice, her own mother. The author also gives attention to the customs, history and present living conditions of the Cherokee Nation. Taylor’s mother, Alice plays a large part in the story and this fantastic character helped give the book depth and humor. All the characters were well-rounded and most were truly intent on seeing to the child’s best interest.

Barbara Kingsolver is indeed a first class storyteller and Pigs in Heaven was a great conclusion to Taylor and Turtle’s story. I listened to an audio version narrated by C. J. Critt who did an outstanding job of bring this story to life. Even though the ending was a little too idealistic, I totally loved this story and I am looking forward to exploring more of this author’s works.

145. Funeral Music by Morag Joss - 3.3 ★
Category: RandomCat
August RandomCat: Get Your Groove On
August TIOLI #11: First Word in Title is Longer Than the Second Word



Funeral Music by Morag Joss is the first book in a trilogy of murder mysteries that are set in Bath, England and feature musician Sara Selkirk. Sara is a highly accomplished cellist who has been taking a break from performing while she is recovering from the death of her lover and partner. She agreed to play at a charity event that is set in the famous Roman Baths, an evening that ended in the murder of the museum’s director with Sara as one of the potential suspects.

Being close to several people who are involved in the investigation, Sara becomes curious and does some investigating herself, much to the displeasure of the lead detective, DCI Andrew Poole. Poole is not only investigating the murder, Sara and he have build a friendship through their music and their feelings for each other is growing stronger every day. This is a story that is filled with secrets, and with everyone providing misleading evidence it is becoming harder to solve.

I enjoy Morag Joss’ writing and in this mystery she writes with authority and skill. Her characters are complex and the plot is intricate, but I wasn’t very taken with Sara herself. She seemed very self-centred and, at times, down right smug. I happen to have the other two books of the trilogy on my shelf so I will most probably read them at some point, but, so far, I much prefer her stand-alone psychological thrillers to these tamer mysteries.

>I have one of her stand-alones on my TBR that I could use for the Random this month that I had forgotten about.

>225 dudes22: I didn't enjoy this one as much as I usually do her stand-alones, as they tend to be darker and quirkier which I like.

>224 DeltaQueen50: Hmm, sounds interesting. Have added to my (ever-growing) wishlist!

>227 threadnsong: I hope you enjoy. :)

146. A Prayer for the Dying by Stewart O'Nan - 4.0 ★
Category: Reading Through Time
August Reading Through Time: Epidemics
August TIOLI #4: One of the Title Words Starts or End With the Letter "P"



While I can see that A Prayer for the Dying by Stewart O’Nan is an amazing and imaginative story, I wasn’t all that fond of this story of grief and suffering. I think it probably hit a little too close to home as it was so easy to compare what the small town of Friendship, Wisconsin was going through with it’s diphtheria epidemic and what we are facing today with the Covid-19 virus.

Jacob’s story is harrowing, he and his small family settled in this town after the American Civil War, he has become the town’s undertaker, sheriff and preacher and so he has to face this disease on so many levels. It is heart-breaking that he quietly goes about his township duties, all the while we know that he has become totally unhinged by grief and despair. To make matters even darker, there is a wild fire racing through the north woods coming straight for the town.

A Prayer for the Dying is very bleak yet it is beautifully written. It reminded me at times of a bible story, where the main character must make major life decisions for others but the choices are so limited that there really isn’t a right or wrong thing to do. Had I read this at a different time, I would probably be raving about it, but unfortunately, amid the stress and tragedy that is happening in our world today, the spiritual and philosophical questions that it raises didn’t really sink into my consciousness.

>229 DeltaQueen50: That's a BB for me! Earlier this year I read a book by O'Nan (Circus Fire) and I enjoyed it.

>229 DeltaQueen50: - I liked A Prayer for the Dying when I read it a few years ago, but I can see how it would be even more bleak reading it now. O'Nan can do no wrong in my book - I've liked/loved everything of his I've read, though this one is more in the like than love category.

>230 Tess_W: Oh, I haven't read Circus Fire yet, but I expect I will get to it eventually.

>231 katiekrug: I am a big fan of O'Nan and I am working my way through his books, next up for me will be Night Country which I have set aside for a Halloween read.

147. American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Cambell - 4.3 ★
Category: Random Tag - Short Stories
August TIOLI #2: Favorite Short Stories From The Five Book List



American Salvage is a collection of short stories by author Bonnie Jo Campbell. She writes about rural, working class people of Michigan, people who once thought they could attain the American Dream but have long since given up and become the broken, damaged and discontented who can’t see beyond the downward spiral that their life has taken.

Although this was not a comfortable read, the author writes stories that are detailed, heart-felt and peopled with characters that feel authentic and real. This is an author who knows how to explore the lives of the desperate and drug-addicted and in doing so, reaches into the heart of America with some painful truths about what life is like for those who found themselves falling short.

As with all short story collections, I found some of these stories resonated a little more strongly with me than others, but overall the depth and richness of her writing, the poignant and painful lives she reveals, and the eye-opening rust belt mentality she describes make American Salvage a riveting and unique read.

148. Peripeteia by Sarah Lyons Fleming - 4.3 ★
Category: SFFFKit
August SFFFKit: Female Authors
August TIOLI #4: A Title Word Starts with the Letter "P"



Peripeteia by Sarah Lyons Fleming is the second book of a trilogy about an apocalyptic zombie infestation that overtakes the world. This is a story about a small group of survivors that are trapped in New York City and are trying to survive amidst the horror and constant threat of annihilation. This is the second zombie trilogy I have read by this author. The first was about a group of survivors that managed to get out of New York before the government, in an effort to bottle up the infestation, blew up all the bridges in and around New York. The group in this second trilogy are somewhat connected to the first, but their stories are very separate.

While the first book dealt with how this group met and bonded together together for safety, this second book deals with their day-to-day survival. As the months pass and the zombies show no sign of dying, our small band of survivors join a larger group in the Sunset Park area of Brooklyn. It’s clear that their number one priority is learning to sustain themselves but in the meantime they must hunt and scavenge for supplies. There are other groups in the Brooklyn area that they have become friendly with and all help each other when they can. Unfortunately there is one large group that act suspiciously and no one trusts.

As much as I love the zombie action in these books, it is the characters that drew me in, making me care for them and want to see them safe. As their bonds with each other grow, they become like a family, and, yes, romance does blossom amongst the zombie angst. I try to remember the number one rule of zombie fiction - beware of becoming too emotionally attached as one can never be sure who is going to survive.

This second book ended with a reversal of fortune for the group. Some are together, some are missing and of course, I want to immediately reach for volume three to find out what happens next.

Sweet Thursday, Judy. Hooray for American Salvage. One of my favorite story collections and I keep a copy on shelf. Is this your first Campbell?

>235 msf59: Hi Mark, how is the retirement countdown going? I have another of Bonnie Jo Campbell's short story collections on my shelf with Mothers Tell Your Daughters and I have read a novel by her called Once Upon a River that I loved.

Hi Judy, stopping by to get caught up. Great review for The Glass Hotel, a book I do want to read, at some point. ;-) Glad to see that the injection for your knee is helping. Looks like you have gotten in some great reading (except for Miss Lonelyhearts, which does not sound all that funny to me, either).

>237 lkernagh: Hi Lori, I hope your summer is going well. I want to come to the Island and visit with my family so badly but right now our virus numbers seem to be on the upswing so I will keep myself home for awhile yet. Reading is helping to keep me sane through these strange times and I have had a good run of books lately.

149. Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie - 4.0 ★
Category: TIOLI Challenges
August TIOLI #8: Morphy's Challenge - Immortality



Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie was originally a play written in 1904 that the author adapted to novel-form in 1911. It is truly a children’s classic with the play still being performed, the book read and the movies made about Peter Pan still being watched. This is a children’s adventure story that encourages children to dream and use their imagination. The author included pirates, Indians, mermaids and fairies in the story as well as an endearing group of lost boys that Wendy looks after when she arrives in Neverland.

This original story enchants with it’s magical plot and rich descriptive writing. There is also a dark undertone to this story of a little boy who never wants to grow up and tries to keep Wendy and the others from growing up as well. The idea of one’s children being stolen away is not a happy one, but I don’t believe most children understand the pain that this causes the parents. The fact that Peter continued to visit Wendy until she was an adult and then turned his attention on her daughter was quite creepy to me.

I wasn’t sure if I had read this book before, but once I got into the story, I am convinced that it was read to me when I was young. This is a much darker story than the Walt Disney version but certainly deserves its place on the shelf of children’s beloved literature.

>239 DeltaQueen50: Nice review Judy! I too noticed that the book was darker than I had expected based upon the bowlderized film versions I had grown up with.

Hi Judy - American Salvage does sound good. I think I have a copy around somewhere.

>240 leslie.98: Although a children's story, I thought you could see very clearly that J. M. Barrie also wrote for the adults that would be reading the story aloud to their children. There was some satire, some dark humour and a recognition that children are not particularly thoughtful towards others.

>241 BLBera: Beth, Bonnie Jo Campbell is an amazing writer and definitely worth exploring.

It's the 15th of the month, so I have made my random choices for next month:

Random Member: CatieM - The Wedding Gift by Marlen Suyapa Bodden
Random Tag: Book Stores - The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan - this will work for a Bingo Square
Random Awards: The Alex Award - The Night Birds by Thomas Maltman
Random Character: Frieda Klein - Thursday's Child by Nicci French - this will fit the September MysteryKit
Random Place: Hong Kong - The Language of Threads by Gail Tsukiyama
Random Book of Mine: Whiskey When We're Dry by John Larison

I loved The Language of Threads by Gail Tsukiyama, I hope you do too!

>243 DeltaQueen50: I have Whiskey When We're Dry on my tbr, so I'm eager to hear what you think of it.

>244 clue: I loved Women of the Silk when I read it and I am only sorry that I waited so long to get to this sequel. I gave the first book to my Mom to read and she couldn't wait for me to pass on this one to her so she bought herself a copy.

>245 RidgewayGirl: I think I am looking forward to Whiskey When We're Dry the most of all the books I have on my September pile. I remember some pretty good reviews when it first came out.

I have started a new thread so please come and join me by clicking on the continuation below.