Sandy's Books: the Seventh 😇 chapter  in 2020

Welcome to the Seventh instalment of my 2020 thread.
In case you didn't know, I live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

For those who say "Wha???", this is in Canada; and north of the state of Montana.
My topper is a change from the usual scenery north of 49. It feels like this is a time for a mix of serious statements and some levity.

The pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has resulted in the most appalling revelations. Aside from needing to re-educate people in basic hygiene, the abysmal lack of foresight and poor leadership has befuddled the population of at least the Western world if not more widely across the globe.

Sadly, this has left a huge information gap amongst those who need accurate information and guidance. Instead, popular media espouse easy answers, have largely abandoned rational thinking in favour of oversimplified views.

I borrowed this illustration from the well-known artist, Wiley Miller, who pens the Non Sequitur cartoon.

Says it all in one splendid graphic ~

My 2020 reading by the month ~

JANUARY
1. Smoke & Mirrors (Elly Griffiths)
2. A Dream of Death (Connie Berry)
3. Same Place, More Space (Karl Champley, Karen Kelly, Arthur Mount)
4. Syllabus: Notes from an Accidental Professor (Lynda Barry)
5. Finding Moon (Tony Hillerman
6. A Legacy of Murder (Connie Berry)
7. The Codfish Dream (David Giblin)
8. A History of the County of Antigonish, Nova Scotia (DJ Rankin)
9. Liquid Rules (Mark Miodownik)
10. Echo in Onyx (Sharon Shinn)
11. Still Waters (Viveca Sten)
12. Echo in Emerald (Sharon Shinn)
13. Echo in Amethyst (Sharon Shinn)
14. The Minimalist Cooks at Home (Mark Bittman)

FEBRUARY
15. A Death in Chelsea (Lynn Brittney)
16. After the Hector (Lucille Campey)
17. Inevitable Illusions (Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini)
18. Heir of Sea and Fire (Patricia McKillip)
19. The Clairvoyant Countess (Dorothy Gilman)
20. The Unravelled Knot (Baroness Orczy)
21. Kaleidoscope (Dorothy Gilman)
22. Polar Bears: Survival on the Ice (Jason Viola)
23. Armada Boy (Kate Ellis)
24. Deep Secret (Diana Wynne Jones)
25. Back to Blakeney (Editors: McGrane, Romanow et al.)
26. The Merchant's House (Kate Ellis)
27. The Gauguin Connection (Estelle Ryan)

MARCH
28. Steal Like An Artist (Austin Kleon)
29. The Bodies in the Library (Marty Wingate)
30. Lost Future of Pepperharrow (Natasha Pulley)
31. Safecracker (Ryan Wick)
32. Hotel du Lac (Anita Brookner)
33. The Dante Connection (Estelle Ryan)
34. Kissing the Demons (Kate Ellis)
35. The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax (Dorothy Gilman)

APRIL
36. And Dangerous to Know (Darcie Wilde)
37. Watching the Ghosts (Kate Ellis)
38. Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore (Matthew Sullivan)
39. The Cow in the Parking Lot (Leonard Scheff)
40. Lessons in Enchantment (Patricia Rice)
41. A Killer in King's Cove (Iona Whishaw)
42. Me and Banksy (Tanya L. Kyi)
43. Death in a Darkening Mist (Iona Whishaw)
44. Maisie Dobbs (Jacqueline Winspear)
45. Indian in the Cupboard (Lynne Reid Banks)
46. The Secret of the Indian (Lynne Reid Banks)
47. The Mystery of the Cupboard (Lynne Reid Banks)
48. The Key to the Indian (Lynne Reid Banks)
49. The Paper Garden (Molly Peacock)
50. Case Histories (Kate Atkinson)

MAY
51. A Darker Shade of Magic (VE Schwab)
52. Books Can Be Deceiving (Jenn McKinlay)
53. The Dangerous River (RM Patterson)
54. Life in the Open (CF Holder)
55. A Royal Pain (Rhys Bowen)
56. Redhead by the Side of the Road (Anne Tyler)
57. A Spool of Blue Thread (Anne Tyler)
58. One Good Turn (Kate Atkinson)
59. Harpist in the Wind (Patricia McKillip)
60. Death in a Strange Country (Donna Leon)
61. The Waters of Eternal Youth (Donna Leon)

JUNE
62. The Stranger Diaries (Elly Griffiths)
63. Birds of a Feather (Jacqueline Winspear)
64. Motorcycles and Sweetgrass (Drew Hayden Taylor)
65. Miles, Mystery & Mayhem (Lois McMaster Bujold)
66. Park Avenue Summer (Renée Rosen)
67. The Lamorna Wink (Martha Grimes)
68. What Angels Fear (CS Harris)
69. When Gods Die (CS Harris)
70. Why Mermaids Sing (CS Harris)
71. An Old, Cold Grave (Iona Whishaw)

JULY
72. Lois Hole's Favorite Trees & Shrubs (Lois Hole)
73. Crazy Rich Asians (Kevin Kwan)
74. Where Serpents Sleep (CS Harris)
75. When Maidens Mourn (CS Harris)
76. How to Read Islamic Carpets (WB Denny)
77. Where Shadows Dance (CS Harris)
78. The Ten Thousand Doors of January (Alix Harrow)
79. What Darkness Brings (CS Harris)
80. The Bookshop of Yesterdays (Amy Meyerson)
81. Why Kings Confess (CS Harris)

AUGUST
82. What Remains of Heaven (CS Harris)
83. The Blood Card (Elly Griffiths)
84. Remodelista: the organised home (J. Carlson & M. Guralnick)
85. Who Buries the Dead (CS Harris)
86. When Falcons Fall (CS Harris)
87. It Begins In Betrayal (Iona Whishaw)
88. The Lantern Men (Elly Griffiths)
89. The Scent of Water (Elizabeth Goudge)
90. Where The Dead Lie (CS Harris)

SEPTEMBER
91. Consigned to Death (Jane K. Cleland)
92. The Right Sort of Man (Allison Montclair)
93. The Highly Sensitive Person (Elaine Aron)
94. Why Kill the Innocent (CS Harris)
95. The Field Guide to the North American Teenager (Ben Philippe)
96. To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
97. The Truth About Stories (Thomas King)
98. Meg and Greg: A Duck in a Sock (Elspeth Rae & Rowena Rae)
99. Who Slays the Wicked (CS Harris)

OCTOBER
100. The City We Became (N.K. Jemisin)
101. Who Speaks for the Damned (CS Harris)
102. The Ghosts of Sherwood (Carrie Vaughn)
103. American Rose (Karen Abbott)
104. Shadow Magic (Patricia Wrede)
105. Silver in the Wood (Emily Tesh)
106. The Flesh Tailor (Kate Ellis)
107. Boy Settler in the Cherokee Strip (David Siceloff)
108. Perfect Happiness (Penelope Lively)
109. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
110. Woodsong (Gary Paulsen)
111. Death Comes to the Village (Catherine Lloyd)
112. Death Comes to London (Catherine Lloyd)
113. Horse of a Different Color: Reminiscences of a Kansas Drover (Ralph Moody)
114. Death Comes to Death Comes to Kurland Hall (Catherine Lloyd)
115. Death Comes to the Fair (Catherine Lloyd)

A little spurt of book reviews is overdue.
I've taken an idea from Karen's thread (her of KarenMarie fame) and written these reviews in the style she calls "her lightning round".

87. It Begins In Betrayal (Iona Whishaw)
-- ~ a departure from the West Kootenay saga of mysteries in the Nelson-Balfour-Procter area. I didn't care for this episode very much. The author wrote well but I had a major niggle with the implausible scenario that took Insp. Darling to England. The novel was redeemed only by Ames' managment of the murder over the river at Harrop.

88. The Lantern Men (Elly Griffiths)
-- ~ Marvellous fenland myth woven into a serial killer's undetected rampage over a long time period. Main protagonist in a new job but doesn't seem to let go of old ties. A boring development to my mind.

89. The Scent of Water (Elizabeth Goudge)
-- ~ A dreamy, understated sketch of village life in England with an old-fashioned way of life. Characterisations are strongly drawn but the narrative rather frequently lacked enough tension to hold my interest.

90. Where The Dead Lie (CS Harris)
-- ~ Several different characters involve Sebastian in solving the mystery of numerous murders of impoverished street children. With reference to the practices written by de Sade and others, this is not a novel for easily overset sensibilities. The author created some highly idiosyncratic supporting characters. Some convoluted scenarios were a bit contrived.

Update on my Currently Reading list:
Some books are from my own shelves, which I tend to take longer to finish. Library holds keep popping up and demanding READ ME.

Shadow Magic (Patricia Wrede)
Who Slays the Wicked (CS Harris)

Hello! Nice to see you here.

It's your turn to drop in and have a socially-distanced chat.

>4 SandyAMcPherson: if you've not read it before, you will probably LOVE To Kill a Mockingbird. Wonderful, wonderful depiction of small town virtues and vices as told through the eyes of a young girl. I think it was in that book that I read a description of older ladies being more powdered than donuts.

I'm a transplanted Yankee, raised in New England, but have been living in the Carolinas for over 30 years. The summer heat is about the same as other places, but lasts longer, with highs often about or above your 35C (95F). It's not the heat, but the humidity that makes it close to unbearable. I would not live here if there weren't AC, as it doesn't cool down much at night.

But boy do the gardens grow!

P.S. I checked the weather: it was 115F in Phoenix yesterday (46C), but it was a "dry" heat...

Happy new thread, Sandy! Enjoyed seeing your tomatoes at the end of the last thread. I've lost more to the birds this year than I've enjoyed, I think.

Happy new thread, Sandy! I like your topper.

This morning I received some joyous news in my email: the first Sebastian St Cyr mystery is available from my library. It's now resting comfortably on my Kindle. And the timing couldn't be better, since I'm very close to finishing my current read. I'm really looking forward to diving in.

Happy new thread, Sandy.

I'm here early -- mostly to say Happy new thread. The speeches at the DNC (or talks? - they were more intimate somehow in this format) were good. I like your topper -- many mentioned the need to work with facts and science. I feel a teensy more hopeful. But it's going to get ugly, and uglier first.

Happy new thread, Sandy. Great topper. I wish it were t-Rump leading that long line....

> Fuzzi! Guess what?


I saw the 1962 film of To Kill a Mockingbird, which starred Gregory Peck. I actually watched it in maybe early 1970's on a black & white television. This will be my first time reading the book and I've understood the premise behind story so much better than when I saw the show. The book allows a much slower assimilation of what's going on.

I don't buy into that sentiment, It's a dry cold but I do agree, a dry climate does make a difference to summer heat. Our humidity hovered around 36 - 37% when the temps reached 35 oC (or as you say, ~97 oF).

>7 thornton37814: Hi Lori. Sorry you had the birds into your garden. IIRC, you planted in raised bed containers? Awhile back, someone on LT had a photo of the vegetable garden with netting set up on poles to protect their produce. Is it too late for that in your area?

>8 lauralkeet: Laura, I'm glad you get to start What Angels Fear. It was kind of a grisly story for me, but worth finishing. I plan to re-read it at some point because I think I'll be more appreciative of where Harris is taking the narrative.

>9 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul. I hope you are having a great week.

>10 sibylline: Hi Lucy, I confess I didn't listen to the DNC talks. That was at the Democrat's nomination meeting, correct? TBH, I think Biden is not of the calibre that Obama was (is) but I am sure he would be a vast improvement over you-know-who. I hope his running mate, Kamala Harris has a big influence on bringing out the votes for an old white guy.

Meanwhile in Canada, our federal finance minister resigned (and so he should have, but for other reasons). Morneau was unable to rein in our white-privileged, two-faced PM who gives away taxpayer money like its a bottomless barrel.

>11 jessibud2: Hi Shelley. Good to see you here. I did wonder if that crowded long line in the topper was a case of lemmings off a cliff. What I don't know, is where does that path lead on the "complex" side? It too looks like 'over a precipice'.

Happy new thread! I love the cartoon up in >1 SandyAMcPherson:

Happy new thread! Your thread topper is right on the nose.

>13 SandyAMcPherson: - Sandy, I agree with you re Morneau. I had high hopes for Trudeau in his first term. I have been quite disappointed by his lack of insight, over and over again and by his inability to do the right thing ON TIME, not after the fact. I am also discouraged by what's out there to replace him because I have no doubt that he won't squeak by for a third term. Thank goodness, at least, that Andrew Shear is gone. I have always felt allegiance to the NDP but have often voted Liberal as a matter of strategic voting (eg, to prevent Harper from getting in again). I do wish the NDP were stronger and/or that the Green Party had half a chance. Man, I miss Jack Layton more than ever. I think our country would look so much different today if he had not died and had had the chance to go on to greater things.

Happy new thread!

It's quite lively in these parts!

>14 drneutron:, >15 foggidawn: ~ Thanks for stopping by to enjoy my topper!

>16 jessibud2: I still mourn the passing of Jack Layton. He was so close in his last election, becoming Leader of the Opposition.

Warning: A Canadian political rant ~ no home for my vote.
Currently I can't stand the federal NDP. It's racist in a different way and totally self-serving.
J-Trudeau is beyond redemption. He is as blind to the societal ills of our marginalised population as any privileged white guy I've ever seen. While I didn't admire Papa Trudeau much, his son has shown himself to be without ethics, and no insight to managing the helm for the better good.

I think Chrystia Freeland is a very smart academic, handled NAFTA well, but she has exactly zero financial experience or business background and has never been trained as an economist.

Circle the wagons and prepare for inflation, massive tax increases which our grandchildren will be paying and watch our GDP become the hostage of a trillion dollar debt (unquote my very canny financial advisor, who worked in government finance when Jim Flaherty was finance minister). And no, I didn't admire Stephen Harper either...

/rant

>17 quondame: Indeedy so Susan. Very ranty, too. On the plus side, I just turned out an excellent batch of bread despite the outdoor temps soaring past 30 degrees C (= 86 oF).

Happy new thread, Sandy! Love the cartoon in >1 SandyAMcPherson:. Funny but sad and true.

>4 SandyAMcPherson: I have read a lot of Tepper, tho never that series of fantasies. I'll have to see if I can find them.

>18 SandyAMcPherson: - Sandy, did you read Love, Hope, Optimism, published shortly after Layton's death. Wonderful portrait of him. I also own but haven't yet read his own book, Speaking Out Louder Ideas That Work for Canadians, published in 2006. I wonder if it would just be painful and make me sad, or if maybe listening to him now might be just what we need....

I think Chrystia Freeland has the chops to run nationally and if she surrounds herself with smart people, she doesn't necessarily need to be expert in all those fields, herself. The question, of course, is are there enough smart people to surround herself with? I would love to see Jody Wilson-Raybauld running nationally. I think she is a person of high intelligence, solid ethics and integrity.

>19 Storeetllr: Hi Mary. I am still kind of lukewarm about this series of Tepper. I think the historical fiction and adventures are more my thing. But I liked Marianne, the Magus, and the Manticore so I wanted to try something else.

>20 jessibud2: Shelley, I so could not read about Jack Layton right now. But thanks for mentioning the bio.

Hi Sandy, and happy new thread!

From your last thread, the tomatoes are gorgeous. I’m envious.

Love the Miller cartoon. Unfortunately, it’s completely accurate.

>4 SandyAMcPherson: I only read To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time in 2016 but was stunned. I then listened to it, too, and was still stunned.

>6 fuzzi: Hey fuzzi, I’m a transplanted Westerner, living here in NC for 29 years. Everything you said is true about the heat and humidity. I wouldn’t live here without AC either.

>12 SandyAMcPherson: I tried watching the movie of TKaM and was completely put off by it. Strange, eh?

Sandy! Did you just hear the news? I just heard that Chrystia Freeland is the new Finance Minister! Holy cow. Already, there is comedy around this appointment: she is now the finance minster, the governor general, deputy PM and is she also hosting the Ellen Show? Who is the Blue Jays starting pitcher tonight? Chrystia Freeland! Is there anything this woman can't do? Wow, good luck to her...

Happy New Thread! Thanks for your kindness in acknowledging a humid heat is worse than a dry heat! :-) Today it has cooled to a decent temperature. Still warm, but not too bad. Supposedly we will have rain on Thursday and Friday, but we''ll see if that actually transpires.

Happy New Thread, Sandy! I love the Miller cartoon. I think I missed most of your last thread. I will try to do better this time.

>21 SandyAMcPherson: I think King's Blood Four and the 2 immediate sequels are the first Tepper's I read. I only read the next 3 in that series latter though, since the books weren't readily available. The second trilogy has a partial re-telling of Peter's story from Jillian's viewpoint - it's rather different. And, of course, the Maven Manyshapped books have a bit of overlap as well. Tepper went back to some of the characters in her final novel, which, while fun, is a bit of a mess. I really think she could have used the timeline brilliantly and she just punts, jamming bits where, well, no there's just no elegance to that arrangement. Still, her fantasy/sf just has a different flavor from anyone else's, though themes are common.

Happy new thread, Sandy. I see that you are continuing with your St. Cyr reads. The mysteries are going down easy these days. To answer your question on your last thread, I am reading the Lane Winslow mysteries. I going onto the fifth book A Sorrowful Sanctuary next.

About the other Elly Griffiths series you weren't keen on because of the '50s setting. I have read and really liked a series set in the '50s. It was the Margaret Spencer Mysteries by Gwendolyn Southin. I think part of the attraction was they were set in '50s Vancouver.

Happy new thread, Sandy. I love the cartoon at the top!

>23 jessibud2: I don't believe there should be overwhelming wonder in Chrystia. I see her as a yes-gal to the PM. Hence her survival. I agree that Jody W-R would be an awesome minister because she doesn't cave in to unethical behaviour and pressure.

>24 vancouverdeb: Indeed humidity is the bane of magnifying extremes. In the winter, I find the bedding in places like Vancouver, really damp and perishingly cold.

>25 msf59:, >28 BLBera: Glad you loved the cartoon. Comedy and humour can be tricky. Some things aren't funny to everybody...

>26 quondame: Thanks for the observations on Tepper's work. She has a great imagination, but I do get a bit tangled in her stories. I know The Song of Maven Manyshaped was out of order in my reading choice, but I was bogged down with King's Blood Four and wanted to see what it was like. I think we've said before, it could be that these vintage stories perhaps compare poorly with more recent books in the genre.

>27 Familyhistorian: I like that idea and have put the first Margaret Spencer Mystery on my overdrive WL. Thanks.

(The touchstone for the Manyshaped novel seems flaky. It linked when I was initially writing the post, but then disappeared as a link when I posted. Seems to be back after I made it italicised).

>29 SandyAMcPherson: - There was a great interview on our local afternoon show on CBC radio yesterday with Heather Mallick, a journalist who used to work with Freeland. She said that Freeland is just the type of person who does everything well, whatever she attempts. And she is intelligent and genuine, and calm. But she agrees with you that there truly shouldn't be overwhelming awe over her juggling many high profile jobs. She said that no one would EVER say of a man, wow, look how many high profile jobs he's juggling, and with a family at home too. Bingo.

I'm late to the party Sandy but happy new thread. ABout Canadian politics....don't get me started, I would rather think about books.

>32 mdoris: Yeah me too, actually. (Think/talk about books in preference to Politics, Covid-19, vaccines and that #45 idiot, which is separate to our idiot).

What are you currently reading (or read this summer) that hits a fave rating?

Happy new one!

Thank you, Anita. I hope summer has been a good reading time for you.

I love your thread topper - so true, unfortunately!

Hi Sandy. I am stopping by to get caught up. Lovely to see your reading continues at a nice pace. Wishing you a wonderful week ahead.

Happy New Thread, Sandy. I'm a big Elizabeth Goudge fan, but her books are hard to find here.

Wishing you a great week ahead, Sandy.

Monday morning, early, it felt really chilly ~ the room temp dropped below 20 oC (~70 oF).
Moaning that autumn is upon us. RD pointed out that we are of course within 3-weeks of the autumn equinox...

Thanks for visiting Rhian (aka 'SandDune), Lori, Roni and Paul. I'll drop by your threads to see what's on your reading list today...

Hi Sandy! I hope you had a good weekend and have something exciting to read.

I think you forgot me up there at >22 karenmarie:.

>41 karenmarie: !! Not intentionally, I assure you.
>28 BLBera: When I looked back, I skipped Beth too.

Lots of love for the topper cartoon. I'm glad folks here (on LT) appreciate the irony and poking fun at the philosophy of the masses.

The weekend was fraught with discovering more ant hills developing all over the back lawn. I didn't realise that when we treated the worst areas, that of course, other colonies would move in to the treated fringes. This is a losing battle, for sure. I'm convinced that insecticides, however environmentally benign is not the way to go.
It would seem that annual digging over of the cultivated areas prevents this but do we have to give up some green space? My neighbours say deep watering is the answer, but that is a waste on grasses that are fairly drought tolerant.

Oh woe, talk about a first-world problem, huh?

>38 ronincats: BTW, Roni, I meant to say only a few of Elizabeth Goudge's books are in our local library system. Eventually, as the books become accessible across the provincial system, I'll be able to request the one I really wanted to read.

I don't have the title, but it was a story about a girl who is sent to her room and she stomps on the floor and in a 'magical' manner is transported back 24 hours - I read a synopsis somewhere about that novel but have yet to re-locate where I found the summary.

>42 SandyAMcPherson: look into biological control of ants. It's been an awful year here for fire ants, my yard is covered with mounds and they're especially vicious, even if you're a couple feet away.

>43 fuzzi: We were using a commercial sugar-borax solution but I'm thinking it might not affect the kind of ants we're seeing now.
Boo, fire ants are awful. We don't get those in our neighbourhood but hiking in the nature conservancy grasslands out of town, we need to wear good boots and spray our pant legs with a DEET-based repellent.
Well, we need to do that anyhow. With the warmer winters in the past decade, our deer tick population has exploded and Lyme disease is prevalent.

>42 SandyAMcPherson: I've read all her novels, and have many of them, but can't find some of the children's books. I've only a couple of her collections.

Smoky-House (1940: illustrated by C. Walter Hodges)
The Well of the Star (1941: USA illustrated by Gloria Kamen)
Henrietta's House (1942: illustrated by L.R. Steele: 1968 revised edition illustrated by Antony Maitland: The Blue Hills in USA, illustrated by Aldren A. Watson)
The Little White Horse (1946: illustrated by C. Walter Hodges) (Illustrated by Anne Yvonne Gilbert in 1992)
Make-Believe (1949: illustrated by C. Walter Hodges: a sequel to Island Magic)
The Valley of Song (1951: UK illustrated by Steven Spurrier: USA illustrated by Richard Floethe)
Linnets and Valerians (1964: illustrated by Ian Ribbons) aka The Runaways (Illustrated by Anne Yvonne Gilbert in 1992)
I Saw Three Ships (1969: illustrated by Richard Kennedy)

I've the ones in boldface, but none of the rest. Which one do you think is the one you are looking for?

Happy New Thread, Sandy.

Your topper cartoon is right on target. The number of people who prefer simple and wrong (and will go to great lengths to argue it's not "wrong") continues to surprise me.

I'm glad you enjoyed The Lantern Men; me, too. Reportedly we'll get a new Ruth Galloway book next June.

>45 ronincats: None of those titles was what I had as a description. But thanks. Henrietta's House sounds very appealing!
I should post my query on Susan's thread. She really good at matching titles.

>46 jnwelch: Hi Joe. Yes, I saw that the Ruth saga was extended to another book, The Night Hawk. I checked out the blurb colour me disgusted with the apparent cheesy trope, (I wasn't surprised... ).
I advise fans not to look at the précis, however, if you want to remain in complete ignorance of the plot.

>30 SandyAMcPherson: Maybe it's not so much that you didn't like the '50s part of the setting but the place where it was set? I know I enjoyed seeing an earlier Vancouver due to my familiarity with the locale. I hope you enjoy the Margaret Spencer mystery.

>48 Familyhistorian:, That is probably very likely. It may explain my being put off Book 4 in the Lane Winslow series (by Iona Whishaw). I was loving the West Kootenay location (having lived in Procter for a couple years), but didn't enjoy the story when the characters revisited an implausible scenario back in London.

I think another Unfinished Book has gone to my DNF graveyard: be aware, I may not have employed enough spoiler tags to suit those who have yet to read this novel.

The Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern)
I started out liking the story and then bogged down. One aspect, the rather thick physical library book, was not an easy one to lie-in-bed-and-read so I tended to avoid reading at night.

Then I avoided choosing to read when I got to the part where Celia's father repeatedly slits her finger tips for training purposes. Oh please, I don't want to read about that. And I hated how the "Alexander counterpart" to Prospero took 'possession' of the orphan, Marco.

I skipped ahead to where Celia meets Marco and I was liking that until the story turned dark all over again.
After dipping further, because I saw so many comments about how glad readers were who persevered, my inclination deteriorated so now I'm done.

Is it the low level, pandemic-related stress that's causing these DNFs? Am I being pushed into an oversensitive (or too imaginative) frame of mind? I only had a few DNFs in 2019. I may not have cared to persevere any time I tried to enjoy the story. I guess that's what bothers me. I wasn't enjoying it and it was often (for me) repulsive.

C'est la vie.

Hi Sandy!

I'm glad you didn't continue with a book that wasn't giving you pleasure and that was even repulsive to you. I know a few people who always finish a book, but I don't particularly admire that trait. Too many books, too little time!

I read The Night Circus in early 2012 and rated it 4.0, but can't remember now why I did.

Hi Karen.
With regard to the Night Circus, I think it may be my current state of brain. Add in that it was a library loan that others are waiting for, so couldn't renew. I was being really slow about consistently reading the novel.

Right now, I have a book waiting which I hope sparks my reading mojo: The Right Sort of Man.


It is probably pretty fluffy, but that is likely a good genre for me just now. A few light novels that I can follow without much mental acuity is about my speed at the moment!

>49 SandyAMcPherson: That must be it. I loved the Lane Winslow set in London because I was more familiar with that locale.

>50 SandyAMcPherson: I know what you mean about how hard it is to get through a book that you can't lay in bed and read. I rarely have a DNF but I don't think I will get through the chunkster that is The Burning Chambers because the size of the book means I can only read it sitting at a table which doesn't happen often enough.

>53 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg.
Yup, chunksters are not my thing these days. Says something about my attention span, I think.

I was browsing through some lists of shops selling Used books ~ have you ever been to Poco Books (on Shaughnessy St)? Do they carry much in the vintage line? I know someone in Pitt Meadows looking for Pan editions of Georgette Heyer...

I'm really fed up with GoodReads ~ thinking I'll delete my account because the admins are not paying attention to bogus accounts and spam "friending" and "following reviews".

My e-mail is not visible and I recently changed my settings to stop all messages from Goodreads. So when I log in, I see the notifications, but why bother with an insecure website.

Here's the latest "follows" in the notifications: note that I annotated the image to emphasise the origin. I do not see anything on Goodreads for reporting... and these are such fake accounts with no activity. Did they hijack a legitimate account?



Anybody here have advice or suggestions? I really don't care if I delete my account since I use it largely to fulfil my obligations to reviewing on a public website when I receive "free" books.

>55 SandyAMcPherson: I don't know how Goodreads works, so I am unaware of your options. Can't you just block these "people"?

>56 fuzzi: Yes, I can set my account to prevent followers. Normally I don't pay attention to that sort of thing although there are a couple people I follow.

I was peeved because these bots (if that's what they are) are like the ones being removed on LT. I think malicious behaviour should always be curtailed. And yeah, "following" looks innocent but not with their associated websites. I don't know how malware gets into computers so maybe we should ask about this.

That was a nice surprise:
I have a book from the August offerings on ER ~ Meg & Greg: A Duck in a Sock
Kind of a fun-looking story. Stay tuned! Although for the physical books, it may be awhile.

Your best option on GR is to verify each follow and block freely. Preventing people from following/friending you is counterproductive when you want to use it to review freebies. I've had publishers send me friend requests there to check out my level of involvement.

Words to the wise.

>59 richardderus: Thanks, Richard.
I saw your note about "data set to private" on GR.
I don't know what data this refers to (and it doesn't include me, though, because I didn't click any 'follow' buttons). I was trying to keep a really low profileover "there".
Of course here, I am very "let it all hang out"...

Appreciate your reminder to just simply block said person. I didn't see a way to completely disallow followers, and as you say, what's the point, it's counterproductive to being on a review website.

>54 SandyAMcPherson: I don't know PoCo Books on Shaughnessy, Sandy. I'm not sure when it was a business but when I look up the address now it shows up as an empty site where a couple of stores burnt down.

The store I go to in PoCo is Western Sky Books which is in Station Square but I don't think they have much in the way of Heyers.

Hi Meg, thanks for this info. I think I was in PoMo visiting when that big fire along Shaughnessy happened.

Labour Day weekend. We are staying home...
Lots of garden clean up and getting ready for winter, mostly trimming perennials that die down and watering in.

Harvested tomatoes ahead of freezing temperatures predicted for Monday ~
- lots to ripen and maybe cook down, if we can't keep up eating fresh ones.

I finished a couple books but haven't felt excited enough about them to review. I seem to be in a drought for hitting the right mood. Maybe too fleeting a summer and I want to be outside while the days still hold some warmth and sunshine.

>63 SandyAMcPherson: nice harvest!

When we lived in northeastern Connecticut we'd get frost in September, had to grow the short season varieties.

Hi Sandy, first off I also love your topper - but it also makes me sad that people often choose their path for the wrong reasons. I also feel that I have no place to put my vote right now - I am hoping that we have more options in the near future. Books are definitely keeping me away from politics and world conditions right now.

>63 SandyAMcPherson: Do tomatoes continue to ripen when they are picked? We have grown some for the first time this year, and have discovered that we have pretty much been doing it all wrong, but we do have quite a few green ones growing (one red one so far). Do we leave them on the plant until the first chance of frost (not very likely here for a little while yet)?

>64 fuzzi: Hi Fuzzi. Yeah, we're all too familiar with September frosts... our tomato variety this year was an AAS choice "Celebrity". It was outstanding for productivity despite a rather cold late June-early July period. Our cherry tomato plants ("Sweet Millions") were late to set fruit. We usually can eat 'cherries' by late July and this year it was at least two weeks later. Too many green ones considering the heat we had in August.

>65 DeltaQueen50: Hi Judy. I'm also using books as my escape from reality but have stumbled over a few titles that were highly acclaimed. My reviews are lukewarm as reflective of a personal angst no doubt. Mr SARS-CoV has a lot to answer for!

>63 SandyAMcPherson: Rhian, you grew tomatoes! Yay! What makes you think you were doing it "all wrong"?
RE ripening/picking~
Look for "Date of First Frost" for your area (usually available via a government webpage or a botanical garden). That will give you an idea how many days you have left.
My advice is, if you're within 3 weeks of that theoretical date, pick the fruit showing orange or more colour and set them in a cool place. They will indeed ripen to great tastiness. Don't refrigerate them. By picking the ripening fruit, the plant will hasten to then ripen the fruit left, so don't hesitate to pick lots that are even yellowish if you're expecting an early frost.

When frost threatens, pick all the green ones that have reached at least half the size of a mature one and they will also ripen. Smaller ones, especially if they're golf-ball size (unless it is a patio variety) can sometimes ripen, but usually don't taste very flavourful. Your garden centre (not the supermarket outlet types) can also advise.

And in case you didn't know, green tomatoes are a great favourite for breakfast as lightly-fried thick slices. Green tomatoes also make a dandy relish.

ooohhh green termayter relish yeeesss that is the ticket

>68 richardderus: Woah! That relish idea hit someone's fancy (taste buds, buddy, *snerkle-snort* as in culinary delicacy) - heh heh.

Indeed, I may be mailing 'green termayter relish' as Christmas gifts to family since ain't gonna be doing any retail malarkey. No siree! I'm already on the hook for the red relish... what's not to like? Red & Green.

I am full of silliness tonight. Got me a good mystery started, Consigned to Death. This is book 1 of the Josie Prescott Antiques mystery series. I didn't note from whose thread I snagged this potential BB. I sure was in need of something...

I've been feeling very downcast with my reading lately: I've stalled out around p. 100 of Hamnet and Judith (a.k.a. as simply Hamnet in USA) and may not finish before it's due back. And I bombed out on an Iona Whishaw and can't say with any honesty that I liked reading Where the Dead Lie (a St. Cyr novel). So Josie Prescott is admittedly fluff but I guess I needed something along the lines of a beach-read.

wonderful tomato harvest Sandy, and now I know that one can ripen tomatoes off vine (something I had also wondered about).

>70 lkernagh: Glad I posted a useful piece of garden lore.
I saw on your thread today that the Washington State forest fire smoke has drifted north. I hope the predicted outflows of wind from the north help clear the air. It is truly an insult to be confined inside at the end of summer.

Book #91 Consigned to Death (Jane K. Cleland)

~

This was a fun story in the sense of a beach-read. The narrative was a bit drawn out in developing the plot twists but Josie Prescott is an engaging protagonist. I didn't find the who-dun-it aspects very surprising but certainly enjoyed a peek at the antiques' trade.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Book #92 The Right Sort of Man (Allison Montclair)

~

This story just didn't tick the boxes for me. There was something terribly contrived in the way the plot unwound and some of the writing didn't fit with the author's general style: She was a woman somewhere past fifty, the actual distance being an official secret clouded in a haze of denial (Gwendolyn's mother-in-law, p.64). In a number of instances, these snappy descriptions felt plopped into the narrative.

The backstory for Gwen was interesting, such as her fight for ascendency in her son's care and management. I was less engaged with Iris Sparks' character. However, if you like mysteries in a post-WW II era, do give this one a whirl.

I haven't been overwhelmed with my 2020 reading thus far. I romped through quite a few CS Harris novels (12, so far) and I enjoyed some unknown new-to-me writers. As yet, no book that I would declare "really outstanding".

As an End of Summer summary, here are some fave titles by genre:
🎉 signifies a new author to me that was a delightful discovery.

Hotel du Lac 🎉-- literary fiction
Me and Banksy -- juvenile fiction
Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore -- Murder mystery (this was a hard genre to choose a title; I will rethink the list in December!)
The Ten Thousand Doors of January 🎉-- fantasy/magical adventure
Deep Secret -- best re-read
Redhead by the Side of the Road 🎉 -- contemporary fiction
Still waiting to find -- Non-fiction (Read several but nothing that belongs here)

>73 SandyAMcPherson: Anita Brookner and Alix E. Harrow are both truly exceptional discoveries. Numerically not a monster season, but good goodies in it.

>62 SandyAMcPherson: The fire on Shaughnessy was in 2015, Sandy, and there was a fire the following year on McAllister that also took out two businesses. You could see from one site to the other before they put up a fence behind the pop up park on Shaughnessy.

PoCo has a history of back-to-back disasters happening to their downtown which is what the exhibit in the museum on McAllister is about but no one can get into the building to see it because of our current disaster. (Yes, PoCo Heritage is working on an addendum to the exhibit due to our current pandemic. The original exhibit starts with the 1918 flu and we had no inkling of how timely it would be when we planned the exhibit.)

>67 SandyAMcPherson: What makes you think you were doing it "all wrong"? We planted them in the spring and then pretty much left them to get on with it. I’ve since discovered that we should have been keeping them trimmed and stopping them getting carried away with growing leaves rather than growing tomatoes! But we do have quite a few (not yet ripe) tomatoes on the plants so maybe they will ripen yet. The date of our first frost isn’t for ages yet (first week in December apparently) and it is forecast to be pretty warm next week so there is hope yet! We ate our first one yesterday.

>76 SandDune: Hi Rhian.
As far as I know, what you did wasn't wrong... We buy bush tomato varieties and put support cages around them. And just let them grow. The more leaves, the more food to transport into fruit.

Some varieties make extra branches from their leaf axils but that just makes for an enormously sprawling plant. I guess that's what your helpful garden advisor thought needed doing, pruning those out. But I think you'll get lots of fruit if you keep the plants well-watered and have good soil from the nutrients point of view.

Let us know how it all turned out!

>75 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg. I hope your exhibit gets an opening for this timely theme.
Can't the organization count the entrants to keep the numbers low, and ensure social distancing and mandatory masks? Such a shame to see this go unremarked and no viewers.

I'm reading in a very savouring sort of way To Kill A Mockingbird. I started it about the end of July, but then ~ received an E-Book glut with a number of hold requests becoming available.

So I am concurrently motoring through those and keeping time for this Harper Lee story. It's so amazingly written. I only ever saw the movie previously (on TV, so not a stellar venue).

I set my other 'currently reading' titles aside yet again. I have changed their collection assignment back "To Read" because I lost the train of thought or is that "the train of plot"? I wanted especially to understand the Tepper book (King's Blood Four). I get lost easily in those semi-Sci-Fi stories. Or whatever genre it is. I'm not sure because it's more than just "fantasy" isn't it?

Edited to say >81 quondame: Susan has kindly passed on her insights on Tepper. I seem to take comfort in understanding genres which helps my reading expectations.

>78 SandyAMcPherson: Hi Sandy, there was a short period of about 2 weeks or so that it was opened. The museum is very small and the building is owned by the city and has other organizations in there so reopening isn't going to happen any time soon, especially with how BC numbers are going.

There is a comic book of the posters which is available online at the website https://pocoheritage.org/ under the heading Learn. So that is available and targeted to schools. We're also working on getting a grant to see if part of the exhibit can become one of the Community Stories on the Virtual Museum of Canada website.

>79 SandyAMcPherson: I sort of classify Tepper as Science Fantasy. She uses lots of fantasy tropes then mixes in sf or vice versa. I like her though.

>80 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg. Thanks so much for that link. The Heritage Society has certainly worked hard to make this piece of history interesting for the children. I didn't know about the Virtual Museum of Canada. I just took a few minutes to explore and especially liked this exhibit.

>81 quondame: Hi Susan. Thanks for the clarification re Tepper. I know she's a fave of yours.

>82 SandyAMcPherson: oh, I like that artwork!

>72 SandyAMcPherson: I'm glad you liked the Cleland, Sandy. I do like learning about the antiques business and reading something that is undemanding.

>84 fuzzi: Hi Fuzzi. Yeah, I'm a complete Cape Dorset artwork fan.

>85 BLBera: Hi Beth. I guess it was your thread where I collected that BB was it? I often forget where my TBR titles originated.

Hi Sandy!

>77 SandyAMcPherson: When I plant tomatoes, which hasn’t been for several years now, I plant indeterminates instead of bush and put them in huge cages. I try to pinch back some of the branching, at least in the first month or so, but then get lazy. I plant a particular pink - German Johnson, Better Boy, and a cherry or grape tomato, whatever’s available. A new year’s resolution is to get my raised bed garden going again next year.

>79 SandyAMcPherson: I’m glad TKaM is still working for you.

I’ve only read one Tepper, The Family Tree, for book club in 2002. I really enjoyed it, but haven’t read anything else by her.

Hi Sandy. That is all.

>87 karenmarie: Hi Karen. Fun to hear about 'maters in NC.
We don't grow fully indeterminate types, 'cause our growing season is too short but this year was a big win: the variety we tried out the last 2 years ('Celebrity') has a sliding amount of determinate-indeterminate behaviour. So some of the plants set more fruit than others and we had a bumper crop. I did take out some leaf axil 'suckers' as well.

Our garden is always "a work in progress"...

>88 richardderus: Hi RD. Thanks for leaving a wee note.
Kind of like the graffiti of my youth: Kilroy was here.

I never did know who "Kilroy" was ...

>90 SandyAMcPherson: Somebody made a documentary about that, I think.

Well, somebody in 1947 made a comedy by that title. But that was decades before you were born, so there's no way you'd've heard about it.

>91 richardderus: Decades? Who do you think you're kidding?

I follow My Mommy's Rules: A Lady is always 21, size 6, and deserves expensive gifts for putting up with Men.

And 21 years ago was 1999, so....

And 21 years ago was 1999... Wow. Put like that, it really brings home (to me anyway) how quickly time has passed over the last few decades.

Hi, Sandy! (Yep, me too.)

>93 richardderus: >94 Storeetllr: You are so hilarious... thanks for visiting.

Read of the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg this weekend. Devastating loss.
I grieve for the justice system and all the downtrodden people in the USA that go unprotected by the system. It seems so sadly broken.

On a somewhat frivolous note:
I wasted an entire Sunday afternoon attempting to solve the Pirate Treasure Hunt.
I usually avoid the hints, because what's the point? Ultimately, I had to resort to looking for help on the very sneaky last one, #16.

And it finally rained here. A soft, then constant rainfall. The smoky air, at least in the lower atmosphere, is washed clean for the moment. I hope Washington, Oregon and California received substantial wet weather. Thinking of those poor folks trapped between raging fires, and those having to flee.

Book #93 The Highly Sensitive Person (Elaine Aron)

~

One of the most invaluable books available for the HSP temperament. Clear and precise language to explain this personality type.

This was a re-read for me. I finally bought my own copy (an eBook). The HSP traits are very evident in our family. Unaddressed issues with sensitive people have left them feeling labelled and misunderstood (you're shy, you're too sensitive).

Instead, Aron explains that the HSP type is perceptive, insightful and takes time to assess underlying implications of a situation. I finally understand why I like small gatherings better than large, rambunctious parties. And why I just can't get the hang of small talk in social situations.

Book #94 Why Kill the Innocent (CS Harris)

~

An excellent story: palace intrigues, international machinations and local scenarios all add to a deceptive mystery. The plot twists and turns were skilfully woven into true historical events of the times. As previously, I thoroughly enjoyed Hero's participation in this narrative. The author's afterword was very interesting as she writes about the facts behind Prinny's appallingly selfish behaviour (the Regent for King George III), the Frost Fair of 1814 and the scheming to marry off Princess Charlotte, the Regent's only legitimate heir.

This is the 13th book in CS Harris' St. Cyr novels. I rate it amongst my favourites, along with When Gods Die, Where Serpents Sleep, and Where Shadows Dance.

>97 SandyAMcPherson: Rain is always good in the fall. Sad that we needed it this year to wash the air clean of human-caused toxic smoke.

Happy Monday.

Hi there Sandy, I’m always happy to see your positive reviews of the St Cyr series. I’ll be reading #2 soonish, and it’s great to know a) it’s one of your faves and b) I have many more great reads ahead.

>98 SandyAMcPherson: - Oh! Sounds like me. I will see i my library has a copy! Thanks for the BB...

>100 richardderus: Thanks for popping by and leaving a message. Rain is always welcome in our desert climate. It was highly-fragrant this morning (probably from a row of spruce trees along our property's edge).

>101 lauralkeet:, Laura, I am so glad you are engaged in this historical fiction. I'm also grateful I saw several members liking the author so it was a BB for me. I forget, now, who originally suggested the series (possibly Lori ~ a.k.a. lkernagh). I have also discovered that if I quit reading the series so voraciously, I actually enjoy the stories a great deal more.

>102 jessibud2: Hi Shelley. I am glad it is a BB for you. If you don't want to ruin the backstories, I do recommend that you read the series in order.

The weather report at noon in my 'neck of the woods' ~ this is when one doesn't want to be #1

>102 jessibud2: - Sandy, The Highly Sensitive Person is a series? That was the one I was referring to. Sounded like NF to me.

Also, what's AQI?

>105 jessibud2: Shelley, Elaine Aron has written several books but I wouldn't have thought they were a "series".

AQI = Air Quality Index.
Here's a good interactive website to choose locations for finding local conditions.

Edited to add Toronto: https://www.iqair.com/ca/canada/ontario/toronto

Edited again, Shelley, when I realised you were talking about post #98, not #99. I was still thinking about my reply to Laura so very fuzzy of me to mix up that CS Harris book with your referral to Elaine Aron's ... duh!

>98 SandyAMcPherson: Interesting. I hadn’t heard of HSP. I’ve always known I’m an introvert, but many of the traits ascribed to HSP (which I just gleaned off the interwebs) fit me too. Self-awareness is good.

>107 karenmarie: Glad you identified. I understood that 'introvert' and HSP are not necessarily the same thing.
And as usual with these labels, there will be a sliding spectrum of the degree which one identifies.

Susan Cain writes interestingly about this aspect in Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. Perhaps you've read that book? Aron's predates Cain's but I think these 2 books are well-paired.

I haven't read Aron's book, but I have read Cain's. I'm definitely an introvert... not sure about the HSP thing. I have some indicators but not others.

>109 foggidawn: Hi Foggi.
I have some indicators but not others. I believe this is a normal situation, that individuals will fall along a continuum. Just like sexuality.

In my view, these labels are best seen as fluid rather than cut and dried handles for temperament and mental health. The facilitator of a counselling group I belonged to, some 30 years ago now, convincingly said that labels put people in boxes, whereas using categories as insightful philosophies clarify what might help one live more fully and provide an emotional foundation from which to live one's life.

I have my notes (now enshrined digitally) which is why I remember this advice. Sharing it for what it's worth here!

>110 SandyAMcPherson: That's a good distinction. I am sure you are right about it being a spectrum -- I think that's true of most aspects of personality, or self, or however you want to phrase it.

>98 SandyAMcPherson: The Highly Sensitive Person looks like an interesting book, Sandy. Popular too, if the Vancouver Public Library's hold list is anything to go by. The smoke left here after a deluge on Saturday and hasn't been back. Probably the wind is coming from offshore now. I know it's supposed to be blowing in days of rain come tomorrow - the joys of living on the wet coast.

>112 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg. Glad to hear the smoke is gone.
And yes, Elaine Aron's books are great resources especially for families with this HSP trait. There is increasing evidence that it's an inherited trait. I've read The Highly Sensitive Child as well.

>99 SandyAMcPherson: - Hi Sandy, stopping by and now reminded that I stalled with my C.S. Harris reading. I need to remember to see if my local library has Who Slays the Wicked in their digital collections, that is where I left off with the series.

>114 lkernagh: Hi Lori. I can understand stalling out in this series. It is pretty intense reading if there's not some intervening time with other genre(s).

I put a hold request for the last 2 (released) in the series when I started Why Kill the Innocent, so hopefully they'll arrive without too great a wait between each title. I suspended the request for Who Speaks for the Damned because I want to have my place in the wait time for Book 14, Who Slays the Wicked, down to #1.
Not surprisingly, the last title (What the Devil Knows) is unavailable in the library ~ hasn't been released yet. I believe the projected date for Book 16 is in April, 2021.

Hi Sandy - You are approaching 100! I do want to read more in the Harris series. I think #3 is next for me. It's been a while.

I hope your weather is more temperate and the air quality is improving.

>116 BLBera: Hi Beth. Thanks for stopping by.
Indeed, I may *even* make it to my objective of 110 books read for 2020. My September reading dwindled hugely. I think I was just anxious and distracted. I also spent a lot of time enjoying the garden work. we had an early frost and then it warmed up again.

This past week has been very golden, golden leaves, finally our signature cerulean skies with skeins of geese high overhead, and yellow-orange perennial plants getting ready to go dormant.

Green ash in our neighbourhood and snow geese

(Edited to change the photo of the trees! and correct spelling...)

"Anxious and distracted" when the "president" of your huuuuuuuuuge, massively well-armed neighbor to the South is openly presenting a plan for a coup to retain power? In the middle of a planet-wide pandemic? And the military leaders of that country are all "um, so, yeah maybe not" about it? *pshaw* So oversensitive.

>115 SandyAMcPherson: Oh, yay! Another St. Cyr mystery!

>118 richardderus: Yeah, I know. I'm a veritable shrinking violet of a hothouse plant in a winter storm.

On the bright side, I finished reading Tom King's Massey Lectures. It is going to be incredibly difficult to review. It isn't an entirely comfortable read, but I was very interested in what he wrote.

>119 Storeetllr: Mary, did I know you were (are) a St. Cyr fan? I need to keep a running list of fans so I know where to look for reviews.

I'm currently into reading books that have been hiding out on my own bookshelves. The very fact that I bought them and never read them creates a mental nagging effect. it is time to make inroads.

An interesting side note: not a one of the mysteries stayed forgotten on the shelf without being read almost immediately. The literary narratives have been sadly neglected. Possibly because, as far as escapist reading is considered, those books didn't fill the brain-candy requirement.

>121 SandyAMcPherson: I'm currently into reading books that have been hiding out on my own bookshelves. The very fact that I bought them and never read them creates a mental nagging effect. it is time to make inroads.

I have a similar reaction, Sandy. One of the very few benefits of lockdown was actually making noticeable progress on that stack of books. Most of them live in a sort of cubby on my nightstand. It used to be full and now there's room ... for more books!!

>122 lauralkeet: My Unread-owned books are like yours, in a cubby under the drawer of my bed-side drawer/shelf.
It is not crowded simply because I want to keep the currently-reading books isolated from the naggy unreads.

Just as I borrowed The Field Guide to the North American Teenager (Ben Philippe), wouldn't you know it, my hold on Who Slays the Wicked (CS Harris) finally materialised! Now reading my owned-books will take a back seat. Again.

Somehow, I can't resist placing holds. It's so addictive wanting to keep up with all the BBs I gather on LT. I borrowed Ben Philippe's novel a few days ago to co-read with someone (or is it a group read when there's only two of us?).

>123 SandyAMcPherson: I can totally relate, Sandy. I have a few owned-reads I'd like to get to, including St Cyr #2, but I've just had a few holds come in to land, and a few more where the queue is starting to move. The latter are new releases I was able to request in advance. Now I fear an avalanche.

Ooh, I like that description "mental nagging effect" indeed. I feel it often especially when I can't add anything to the latest book stack or it will topple over but I'm still trying to keep up with the library holds.

>121 SandyAMcPherson: Yes, I've been a St. Cyr fan since around 2007. Nice story behind it. At the time, I was volunteering as a literacy tutor at the downtown public library (LAPL). One of my students, a woman from Columbia who spoke very little English, told me she had not been around L.A. much, except in her own Spanish-speaking neighborhood, and one of the tips for learning English is to go to places where English is spoken. So I started taking her around - we went to the Griffith Observatory and a few other cultural places, but what she really enjoyed was shopping. One evening, we were at Barnes & Noble and, when we left, she presented me with What Angels Fear as a present. She said she thought I'd enjoy it because I liked to read mysteries. I'd never heard of the book or the author, but to please her I read it - and loved it. Anyway, been a fan ever since and it's one book I read as soon as a new one is published. (These days I listen to the audio of it, usually buying it from Audible because I can't wait for the library to get an audio copy.) I still have that copy of What Angels Fear on my bookshelves, and it always brings me pleasure to see it there, for a number of reasons.

Book #95 The Field Guide to the North American Teenager (Ben Philippe)

~

What Kirkus Reviews had to say:
A teenage, not-so-lonely loner endures the wilds of high school in Austin, Texas. Norris Kaplan, the protagonist of Philippe's debut novel, is a hypersweaty, uber-snarky black, Haitian, French-Canadian pushing to survive life in his new school. His professor mom's new tenure-track job transplants Norris mid-school year, and his biting wit and sarcasm are exposed through his cataloging of his new world in a field guide-style burn book.

He's greeted in his new life by an assortment of acquaintances, Liam, who is white and struggling with depression; Maddie, a self-sacrificing white cheerleader with a heart of gold; and Aarti, his Indian-American love interest who offers connection. Norris' ego, fueled by his insecurities, often gets in the way of meaningful character development.
The scenes showcasing his emotional growth are too brief and, despite foreshadowing, the climax falls flat because he still gets incredible personal access to people he has hurt.

A scene where Norris is confronted by his mother for getting drunk and belligerent with a white cop is diluted by his refusal or inability to grasp the severity of the situation and the resultant minor consequences. The humour is spot-on, as is the representation of the black diaspora; the opportunity for broader conversations about other topics is there, however, the uneven build-up of detailed, meaningful exchanges and the glibness of Norris' voice detract.
************ *********** ************** *************** *********** ***************

I don't usually post the library or publisher's reviews, since I generally have my own take to mention here. However, I wanted to give an alternate point of view, because the novel was such a mismatch for my preferences.

I read this story at the request of a friend. She wanted an opinion on finding something to engage her teenager in the current news-media dialogue on racism. This book isn’t a good choice because it is more about a middle-school kid (Norris) trying to fit in at a new high school. Beyond that, the fact he is a black French-Canadian does not come across as the source of the drama that pervades this novel.

In fact, there was too much high-school drama which didn’t convey an authentic situation. I was disappointed at the amount of stereotyping (jocks, cheer leaders, an introductory school counsellor). I’ve read a number of YA novels in the contemporary fiction genre and this one fell flat. Too busy being snarky and sarcastic, Norris didn’t come across as a realistic teen voice.

>6 fuzzi: >12 SandyAMcPherson: Hi fuzzi, I'm revisiting your comment at the start of this thread.

I finished TKaM yesterday and yes, I was over a month in reading the novel but I savoured it thoroughly in between other stories. You were right on the literary money, saying wonderful depiction of small town virtues and vices as told through the eyes of a young girl.

Book #96 To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)

~

“…In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins. They’re ugly, but those are the facts of life”. And, “… The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is the courtroom, be he any colour of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into the jury box.” (p. 252-253, 40th Anniversary edition).

And thus Harper Lee nails it: that the juries who acted like that were white trash. I believe this was the premise of the novel Lee wrote back in 1960. Sadly, we’ve seen that the black versus white situation is still boiling over and still the source of great civil unrest.

Portraying a story of a small backwater town in the Alabama of the 1930’s through the eyes of a young girl was brilliant. The child’s view of a world she didn’t understand allowed development of an elegant background for the theme of racism, the danger of rigid societal hierarchies and the impact of poverty. Yet never did the story become tedious or too disheartening. There was a legitimacy and understanding at every situation. Harper Lee displayed an intuitive sense of drama and small-town politics in a way that has withstood the passing of time. It’s a narrative that never felt dated.

I've wish-listed Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee. I'm taking a breather before requesting it from the library, however.

excellent review, Sandy. TKaM is often part of US secondary school English courses, but also one of those books that bears re-reading as an adult. I loved it.

>129 SandyAMcPherson: Good review of Mockingbird, Sandy. A true classic. I also loved Furious Hours. A perfect companion piece.

>129 SandyAMcPherson: I think this is a good book for me to revisit. I have not read it since High school.

>126 Storeetllr: Hi Mary, That's a really interesting association to have with the St. Cyr novels.
And I love what you did as a volunteer. How very thoughtful. Thanks for sharing the story.

>130 lauralkeet:, >131 msf59:, >132 figsfromthistle: ~ Laura, Mark and Anita ~ Thanks for stopping by to read my reviews.
I took awhile to decide what to say. It was a complex book really for analysing the story and all the emotions that were invoked.

Hi Sandy!

>108 SandyAMcPherson: I have Quiet on my shelves, just haven’t read it yet.

>110 SandyAMcPherson: Nice – the differentiation between labels and categories.

>117 SandyAMcPherson: Wow. Beautiful skies, and I love the ‘skeins of geese’. Thank you for sharing.

As regards unread-owned books, what I have tagged ‘tbr’, least said soonest mended. My goal is 30 for the year and I’m at 23 read. My plan is in shambles although I’ll probably get to the 30 goal. A book counts if it was on my shelves 12-31-2019.

>129 SandyAMcPherson: I’m glad you loved TKaM. The Cep book is fantastic and you’ll love it when you decide it’s time.

>130 lauralkeet: I think I’m glad I didn’t read TKaM until I was an adult, Laura. I read it and listened to it in 2016.

>135 karenmarie: Hi Karen. I think we cross-posted on each-other's thread this morning!
Thanks for dropping by.

Yup, looking forwards to reading Casey Cep's book soon. I'm attempting to interweave books off my shelves with Library loans. So far, it hasn't worked out all that well *grin*. I read 2 or 3 library loans to one of my own books.

But it's all fun. I would be so sunk if I didn't have this group to share thoughts and chatter.

>129 SandyAMcPherson: Scout has a new acolyte! Yay!

Happy week ahead.

>137 richardderus: Hi Richard. I hadn't thought of that (supporting Scout) as being an acolyte.
Isn't that an unusual take on the story (a religious overtone)? Or am I being unintentionally obtuse?

Scout's the wounded saint, the girl-child stripped of innocence and of worshipful obliviousness; she finds herself, her core values, and becomes an adult with a conscience in her own right.

See: millennia of xian martyr stories about women. Agnes, Lucia, Bibiana...

>139 richardderus: I got a little lost with this allegory, but appreciate where you were coming from.

Today was memorable for Early Reviewers events. I received the paper copy of Meg and Greg: A Duck in a Sock.
I am a bit flummoxed by how the authors laid out the shared-reads so it will be awhile before I can assess the book for a review.

Later this afternoon, I discovered the September early reviewers books have been distributed. I'm slated to receive The Nature of Things: Essays of a Tapestry Weaver.

I'm especially pleased to know I was selected for Scanlin's book because (IIUC), it is one of those philosophical journeys that tie the artist's creativity to their rambling in nature. I've only seen online photos of the artist's work and it looks so intriguing, how she achieves the transition from seeing the idea in nature, photographing the scene that sparks the idea and then works the concept into her tapestry.

Online, this ice and leaf photo by Scanlin, looks really beautiful.



I have no idea whether she re-interpreted the image in a tapestry, but the photography is delightful, no?

>141 SandyAMcPherson: love that composition.

>142 fuzzi: I do, too, fuzzi.
I'd love to interpret the ice and leaves in a textile piece (I don't know how to construct a tapestry).
I might give it a whirl, but how to recast ice in fabric without glaringly overwhelming the whole will take some thought.

Book #97> The Truth About Stories (Thomas King)

"Stories are wondrous things," award-winning author and scholar Thomas King declares. "And they are dangerous."

~

→ my own copy, complete with post-it flags. An indication of especially choice passages.

In 2003, Tom King presented a series of short stories as his contribution to the CBC Massey Lectures. The author’s premise was that “…We are all changed by every story we hear, by every story we tell”. Further, depending on the perspective of the story, we will take away a message. That take-away idea is what influences the listener, creates a way of looking at life that might improve on the old narrative. Or not. The message is conditional on the perspective of the chronicle. And the reception by the listener.

In my reading of the author’s stories, I was struck by how often Thomas King showed the reader/listener new ways to examine our collective history in North American colonisation, driven by religion and cultural differences. Views, for example, of the arrogance of European settlements which perpetuated intolerance and racism towards First Nation inhabitants. These chronicles of the centuries that have passed, tell us that attitudes haven’t changed. King uses imaginative stories to illustrate this proposition and by the end of the book, we have heard that the story you tell can be dangerous, because the narrative is incomplete or chooses a vengeful philosophy, or is unaccepting of humans who are culturally and physically different. A different story could have a different outcome, perhaps a more accepting philosophy by which to live.

Aside from these weighty matters, King has an incisive humour and brings an articulate rendering of “life on the rez” (urban or otherwise) from his own experiences. A particularly telling narrative that was amusing and cynical by turns is Let Me Entertain You. In this story, as in most of them, there are so many quotable passages. I urge you to read them. It’s a bittersweet tale, no matter which story you choose to examine.

>141 SandyAMcPherson: What a lovely image!

>144 SandyAMcPherson: King is 2/3 of the way to the top of the TBR after that. Thanks.

I think.

>145 richardderus: Yes RD, you will indeed think. I believe it is a story that is brave and disheartening and amusing all rolled up in a gallows' laugh, if I may be so over-the-top analytically descriptive.

And I *really, really* want to read your review when the book makes it up to the top of your TBR.

Book #98 Meg and Greg: A Duck in a Sock (Elspeth Rae & Rowena Rae)

~

The authors have created a beginner's reading book featuring a two-read approach. Each page has a buddy-text for the advanced reader paired with a graphics page for the beginner or struggling reader. There are four short stories in which adventure builds on the previous theme with the addition of a new letter combination. The pairing allows the child to lose any sense of overwhelming difficulty and teaches several basic consonant combinations: ck, sh, ch, th.

For example, here is the beginning of the ck story —

The stories are engaging for children who enjoy the out of doors in an urban park-type setting and relate to animals as pets. In that regard, such a background could present an unfamiliar environment for inner city kids. How widely would the tales be relevant for children who may live in such a different world?

Personally, I found the themes slightly contrived, but that may pass over the child's head.
I also wondered if there would be problems with the busy graphics, rather than the storylines. The graphics felt very dominating on the pages in stark black and white. Without having access to trying out the stories with a 6 to 9 year-old child, I couldn't evaluate how effective the presentation might be. The activities in each section were great, however. A very engaging aspect to encourage reading.

The idea of paired reading was a good thought. It may have been more effective had the simpler text been interleaved with the adult's portion, so that the story flowed smoothly. Perhaps having the beginner's sentences in a different colour might make it easier to switch back and forth with the black text for the buddy-reader. I would have chosen the picture page to have some labels but no conversation bubbles.

Granted I am not an expert in teaching or in the business of writing children's educational material. However, I did wonder how much the narratives would go over successfully in classrooms beyond the limits shown in the book. I live in a city where these stories would leave many of our 6 to 9 y.o inner-city kids gazing out the windows, waiting for recess. That particular audience desperately needs engagement in reading, if that was the authors objective.

(Edited to add that this was an Early Reviewers book, as an Advanced Reading Copy)

Book #99 Who Slays the Wicked (CS Harris)

~

Another excellent saga in the life and times of Regency London. In this story, a previous character is murdered and the Russian diplomats with all their machinations are brought to light. As ever, Sebastian St. Cyr is a swashbuckling, ethical investigator.

Highly recommended if you have a liking for twists and turns in historical murder investigations with political overtones of the day. The culprit was a surprise, although the character did emerge as suspicious towards the final chapter.

Book #100 The City We Became (N.K. Jemisin)

~

I'm not much of a Lovecraftian aficionado (themes too racist, homophobic and turgid for me), nor can I count many Sci-Fi titles amongst my catalogue of reading material. However, I surely have to give Nora Jemisin her due: she's an amazing sci-fi writer: gritty writing style, wild, crazy imagery caught me for the ride. (Remember the Checker cab cut-out — complete with umbrella-shaped hole — when Manny and Madison blasted through The Enemy?). There were many other instances of such evocative scenes, all bringing the defence of NYC alive.

The creation of beings (Avatars? Guardians?) for several boroughs of New York City was a brilliant, outside-the-box concept. It was a little disappointing that the representative of New York City, itself, doesn’t seem to return in the end. I had been hooked by the opening preamble: queer black kid meeting up with cigarette-smoking Paulo. (This homeless young man succumbed to a supernatural coma when the city was invaded by forces set to destroy the City). But the chaos and the power of the adventurous “boroughs” and what they get up to in keeping their city from dying is quite rollicking.

The best quote to describe what Jemisin’s theme was about is in regards to the Manhattan character: Manny’s been in New York for less than an hour and yet he knows, he knows, that cities are organic, dynamic systems. Which of course, they really are. Look at how “a city” modifies the inhabitants’ behaviour, the living environment, the very air we breathe in a city and then tell me that isn’t true. Dazzling affirmation of the author’s story, yes?

One major quibble were distracting side-plays in the lives of supporting characters and whirlwind sequences of social justice statements (situations underscoring racism and bigotry). These human-conditions are heart-breaking, yes; but were also testimonials which derailed the thrust of the narrative. Their prominent place in this novel didn’t mesh, even as a theme with the concept of a dying city. Despite that critique, it is an untrammelled urban fantasy that folks who love the idea of a living city as a character will want to discover for themselves.

I started this novel almost 3-weeks ago! As an E-Book that would be yanked out of reach, 2 days from now, I realised I needed to finish it. I had trouble enough following the plot and too often put the story away and took up one of the other books I had going. So it is not only my first-finished book of the month, it turns out to be #100. I am now within 10 books of my original reading objective for this year. Colour me Surprised! I won't have to stay up late every night of the last week of December trying to knock off my currently reading list before midnight Dec 31.

Not that I'm planning on stopping reading if when I get to book #110.

Congratulations on 100 reads! I fully expect you to head past 110 at full speed!

What Susan said, Sandy. Congratulations on reaching 100!

I was a little let down by The City We Became, too. It had its moments, for sure, but I hoped for a bit more from the author of the Fifth Season trilogy.

Hi Sandy.

Congrats on book 100 so early in the year. I think quite a few of us will go way beyond our goals this year.

I'm just now getting started on The Fifth Season, first of the Broken Earth Trilogy. The City We Became doesn't qualify as a BB for me yet, but depending on how I like TFS and the series, I may look for others by Jemisin.

>150 quondame: Hi Susan. Thanks for your encouragement. So far this year I've had more DNFs than previously and not as many wide-ranging genre with 4-stars. But over all, I have read more books than I remember ever motoring through in recent times.

>151 jnwelch: I felt vindicated when I saw your post, Mark, and glad that I wasn't too out of whack with all the other readers in allotting only 3-stars. I had even dithered about making it a 2.5-star rating, but reasoned that I hadn't read anything else by Jemisin, so reading only one of her books did not qualify for such a low evaluation. Not that my opinion has much of an impact!

>153 karenmarie: Based on reading other reviews, I think TCWB is somewhat different what with the evident social justice emphasis and longish segue into side characters. Lots of love out there for TFS.
Thanks for popping by!

Hi, Sandy - Big congrats on reaching 100! This has definitely been a year for reading, because otherwise - well, I can't even imagine living through 2020 without books.

>149 SandyAMcPherson: Yes, I started TCWB a couple months ago and got about 50 pages in when I decided I didn't like it enough to continue with it, but after all the rave reviews I thought it was just me & my mood at the time, so I've got it on hold at the library but keep pushing it back into the queue because I'm just not ready for it yet. I admit it might have been the narrator and I might have liked it better in print. We'll see. Just now I seem to have plenty of reading material to keep me happy and relatively calm for awhile.

>155 Storeetllr: Hi Mary. Nice to "see" you. I've certainly been enjoying the photos of that cutie-Pie Ruby over on your thread.

As for The City We Became, I can easily understand that all the enthusiastic reviews does leave one feeling, "Gee, is it just me?" because I couldn't see how there was reason to rave over the novel to such an extent, either.
There are definitely some high points in Jemisin's descriptive passages that move the story forward very effectively. But that didn't cut it for generating such starry-eyed praise.

I fully acknowledge the accusation is a somewhat unfair statement because I didn't click with the style. Except - when I put on my analytical-writing-editor's hat, that's how I realised there were some interfering passages that take the reader very abruptly out of the narrative. So the novel as whole did not gel for me.

I suspect I should read her earlier work. Except I have a long TBR list and I know I'd keep pushing Jemisin's books back down to the bottom.

Good points, Sandy, especially about the style of writing, which didn't click with me either. Also, at this point in time, I'm reading mostly to escape, so slogging through books like TCWB and other favorites like The Starless Sea which I also struggled with isn't on my must do list. I'm kind of disappointed, though - I love NYC. Since I live nearby and really enjoy visits to The City, I was sure I'd enjoy TCWB if only for that reason, but alas. It doesn't seem to be for me, at least right now. Actually, I think you'd enjoy Jemison's The Fifth Season, but I totally get it about having a looooong TBR list.

>149 SandyAMcPherson: Oh dear, an (un)happy milestone read. That's most frustrating.

I'll come say when my review of the King book goes up!

WOW, Sandy! Congratulations on 100 already! I haven't ever made it once in my ten years here.
As to Jemisen, I read and didn't particularly care for The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, so it will be a long time before I pick up the next one. *TCWB* isn't calling my name either. BUT!!!!! I adored *5th Season* and I'm equally adoring Obelisk Gate. I guess that's one sign of a talented writer who is experimenting and taking chances.

Congrats on hitting #100, Sandy. Nice job. The Truth About Stories sounds like a good one. I have taken note.

I read The Fifth Season and liked it well enough to read the remainder of the trilogy, but it’s not something that I loved.

>157 Storeetllr: Mary, I am certain a great many of us are reading as a form of escapism. You're right that if one has to struggle with the narrative, then it isn't a mental/emotional escape. I recently abandoned IQ for that reason ~ I am not a fan of the back-and-forth-in-time type of narrative.

>158 richardderus: Richard, I didn't mind that Book 100 was not a stellar read. I'm glad I gave it a whirl. I do tend to be a little too prone to read the same genre or style of books and this one took me out of my comfort zone.
I'm looking forward to how Tom King's book strikes you.

>159 LizzieD:, Hi Peggy. Good to see acclaim for The Fifth Season. I had Jemisin's titles on my WL, not planning to delete them until I try out at least one of those others.

>160 msf59: Hi Mark. Hope you can find a copy of The Truth About Stories. I don't know how widely Thomas King's work is available in American libraries. Strange if it is hard to borrow, because King was born in California and grew up in the US. Very much an activist.

>161 SandDune: Hi Rhian. Your evaluation helped me keep the Jemisin trilogy in perspective relative to what else I have coming up on my holds at the library. I've been waiting for some goodies that I won't pass up for The Fifth Season. Next up is The Ghosts of Sherwood followed by American Rose. I have no idea how much I'll like either of these but I respected the readers who suggested the titles.

Edited to note, some of my book covers, linked to LibraryThing pages are displaying as question marks in blue squares. I took out the covers here, but some images from earlier posts that were visible in this thread have also lost the image.

Anyone know what's going on? I normally always just copy image address from the book's main page and have no problems.

>163 SandyAMcPherson: In images that are on LT servers, sometimes there are issues with one server or another. This has happened multiple times and while it gets attention it sometimes lags a bit because of ongoing developments at LT. In images that are homed on Amazon or other outside LT spaces, well, that's just the orneriness of internet territoriality.

Book #101 Who Speaks for the Damned (CS Harris)

~

Even though the reader is well into the St. Cyr series at Book 15, the theme of murder in high places in Regency London is not disappointing. CS Harris has very adroitly created a multi-layered story involving highly-placed aristocrats, Franco-Anglo politics along with repercussions which resonate amongst the working class and involve choice scoundrels.

The involvement of Lady Devlin adds an assertive feminine presence that personally delights me. And as ever, Jarvis seems to be intertwined in the plot. Before this series is completed, I hope the author devises a permanent comeuppance for that amoral character.

Now the long wait ~ I've caught up to the most recently published title in the series. I didn't love all of them and some I wanted to rate as 2-star narratives because the story was too focussed on the horror aspects of the murders. But truly, the writing was deserving of more stars.

As an indication of this series excellence *for me*, I actually persevered with hardly a break. And am looking forward to next spring's expected instalment, What the Devil Knows.

P.S. Please let me know if any of the images disappear into the ? blue square of invisibility!

>165 SandyAMcPherson: not reading the words but it's good to see 4 stars! I can also see the cover image. 😀

>166 lauralkeet: Hi Laura. No spoilers because lots of members reading this series.
I did chatter about the long wait for the next instalment.

I finally got the cover to stay showing by using the tedious method of putting the image in my junk drawer and using that link to add it on Talk. The previously missing cover images seem to be back....

Hi Sandy!

>162 SandyAMcPherson: Sorry you abandoned IQ, but as a serious book abandoner I applaud your taking charge of your reading.

I've got quite a few serious books going, but for some reason this week has really got me weirded out. I'm either going to start the next Nero Wolfe in my on-the-fly decision this year to read/re-read them all or start my new ER book, Miami Noir.

>168 karenmarie: Hi Karen, I can't seem to manage to read the serious books. I think Miami Noir would not engage me just now.

(Edited: deleted some irrelevant commentary about a book I just started).

Book #102 The Ghosts of Sherwood (Carrie Vaughn)

~

I grew up with the traditional story: The Merrie Adventures of Robin Hood, based on Howard Pyle's adaptation of the legend. In Pyle's version, the story reflects the 15-century ballads, relating that Robin Hood was a yeoman (not an aristocrat). As he lays dying, Robin asked Little John to help him to the Priory window, so he could to shoot an arrow. Where the arrow landed was to be the site of his grave. In this version of the legend, Marian subsequently went into seclusion in a convent.

Reading Carrie Vaughn's novel was tough to comprehend, seeing that Robin and Marian were married with kids in the backstory to the action. This development took on a sense of unreality for me, since I expected the "ghosts" to be Robin and his band of outlaws. So going with the idea that a new author can retell the story, the subsequent events involving the 3 children were very beguiling.

The author made good use of these children's abilities to outsmart their abductors. Too bad that the tale was told at such a break-neck speed. The rapid pace actually took away from the adventure and reduced the novel to such a degree that it defeated its purpose (storytelling). There was no engagement, no sense of taking time with the narrative to draw the reader into the world these children inhabited. Ultimately, the main feeling was one of waste and boredom. Waste of a great plot; boredom because the story lacked depth. Three stars because the author shows great promise and might be able to develop stronger characterisations in her sequel(s).

>171 SandyAMcPherson: My favorite version of the story is The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley. I'll have to read The Ghosts of Sherwood sometime soon.

>172 SilverWolf28: I was generous in my 3-stars. It's a too-quick read, as I said in my review.

I'm a big fan of Robin McKinely but had some trouble with the way the story ended: I didn't like the dénouement and judgement of the Sherwood Forest outlaws engendered by Richard The LionHeart.

But then I could never see (historically) why Richard was so popular. And why the heck he (R the L) didn't marry and father an heir so that John was pushed out of the succession.

Thanks for stopping by. I see you are a big Andre Norton fan. I used to have quite a collection of those novels, long since traded away when I culled my personal library. Do you have a Norton title favourite?

This is our Thanksgiving weekend.
A friend referred me to this Canada — USA comparison, which I thought would be fun to share today.

Meanwhile...

and here, yummy food and raking leaves will prevail today and tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

>171 SandyAMcPherson: Sorry you didn't enjoy this one. It doesn't sound like something I'd care much for either. Actually, Carrie Vaughn wrote a series featuring Kitty Norville,a werewolf, which I enjoyed quite a bit. First book in the series is Kitty and the Midnight Hour. Apparently, she's expanding into other realms of fantasy. I'll be interested to see what she does next.

ETA >165 SandyAMcPherson: Good review! I concur.

>173 SandyAMcPherson: I don't know if RII was popular in his own time, though his mother seemed to favor him. I think Walter Scott is primarily responsible for the idea of him as anything other than a warmongering Norman who may have had no interest in women. It's just that John's crimes and blunders are so clearly recorded.

Happy Thaksgiving!

>173 SandyAMcPherson: I like the Zero Stone series and the Beastmaster series the best I think - it's had to choose a favorite! What's your favorite/s by Andre Norton?

>178 SilverWolf28: I liked The Beastmaster, and its sequel was pretty good, plus it tied up some loose ends.

Moon of Three Rings and Year of the Unicorn were good as well.

>179 fuzzi: I'm in the middle of Moon of Three Rings right now!

>180 SilverWolf28: hope you enjoy!

>178 SilverWolf28: Hard to remember A-N's stories in the way of when I first read them. Now that I have done a few re-reads (because I wanted to trade the books I'd never revisit again), I found them too dated to consider having them around for the 10 to 12 y.o. group in our family.

It has surprised me how many of the novels from my older-childhood (voracious reading) years I'd forgotten. Andre Norton interspersed with Enid Blyton (Adventure series) and Carolyn Keene (the Nancy Drew mysteries). While I remember these authors, the stories have evaporated.

So I didn't really answer your question. One of my favourites I did hang onto until it was culled in 2017 was Witch World. From a kid's p.o.v., Ten Mile Treasure would likely catch their fancy. Most I ended up not doing more than skimming them.

>180 SilverWolf28: , >179 fuzzi: Glad you two are having fun with Andre's novels. I'm having a complete blank on the title when I looked at what Moon of Three Rings was about but it sounds like what I would have loved in my early teens.

I had the series that Year of the Unicorn was part of, though. I think that's why I hung onto Witch World.

Happy thanksgiving, Sandy.

In the UK we don't really celebrate thanksgiving but I like its tradition.

>184 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul. I see you are wending your way through the threads. I know Thx-giving is so North American.
I hope you enjoy whatever is celebratory in your adopted homeland.

Hi Sandy, and happy Thanksgiving. What kinds of yummy food will be on the McPherson table today and tomorrow?

Hi Karen, Thank you for the greetings. We long ago abandoned the massive meal(s) since it is very much a family-oriented gathering and there's no family nearby.

We do like to make something special though, so this year we're having roast chicken (maybe even go all out and have bread stuffing with it) plus roast vegetables from our garden (carrots, butternut squash and potatoes). We have the tradition of a cranberry cottage pudding with lemon-cranberry sauce rather than pies. As always, makes enough dinner to last 3 days, which suits me fine.

What do you traditionally make for your >174 SandyAMcPherson: celebration?

>174 SandyAMcPherson: - I like that one, Sandy.

>188 jessibud2: Hi Shelley. Will you have anyone to share a dinner at your home or somewhere else? We're staying out of circulation as much as possible, as the cases seem to be ramping up quite widely in our area.

It has been a really superb year for autumn colours and I've loved our walking outings in the green spaces dotted around town. Often the weather makes the leaves go really fast from green to brown-on-the-ground. So many tree leaves and hedges have had time to be red, orange and golden yellow. I think it has to do with the early brief frost then warm weeks following. Also, that distinctive "it's Fall" ~ autumn fragrance has been prevalent.

Hi Sandy. Happy Thanksgiving. Yes I will be getting together with 2 friends. Here in Ontario, our numbers are sky-rocketing, too and the premier (rather reluctantly, it sounded to me) is imploring people to stick to only their own households, with an exception being for people who live alone. Both my 2 friends, as well as I, all live alone and we have this tradition of getting together for Thanksgiving and Christmas so we feel we will be fine. We used to all teach together. Other than that, I have been pretty diligent about staying out of circulation. There are only 2 other friends I have seen on a somewhat semi-regular basis since covid began and almost always one on one. So far, that has worked well for me. I always have my masks with me, in any case.

>190 jessibud2: Good to know, Shelley. We're seeing very selected people and only outside right now.
I don't have a plan for what we'll arrange in the winter when it is so very perishingly cold!

Hi Sandy! Y'all talking about La Andre reminded me that I deeply cherish my memories of Murdoc and Eet from The Zero Stone series.

Moon of Three Rings wasn't quite the book for me back then...Maelen's "mistake" cost her victim too dearly for my comfort...but I'll bet I'd like it better in the grayer light of old age.

Happy week ahead!

>187 SandyAMcPherson: - Sounds like a lovely feast, Sandy. My favorite part of Thanksgiving is leftovers so it looks like you think like I do: Cook a meal that makes for a couple of easy meal nights., ;-) Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!

>189 SandyAMcPherson: Your fall sounds so lovely. Especially the scents.

Happy Thanksgiving! I do wish ours fell earlier -- it gets overrun by Christmas, as it is.

>192 richardderus:, >193 lkernagh:, >194 quondame:, >195 foggidawn: So glad you all visited. Thanks for the Weekend wishes of good cheer and food. And yes, Susan, this year our fall has been gorgeous.

So I took the weekend off (mostly) from the digital world. And it sure paid off. I finished 2 books (yay ~ reviews following), ate a reasonable amount (instead of stuffing myself to the gunnels because it was all so sumptuous) and when I returned here, I didn't recognise the website or the Talk threads!

I like the updated look and more white space. The Add a Message box looks like another website's except I can't figure out why it is so familiar! Ha!

I agree with Foggi, that American Thanksgiving overshadows the Christmas celebration. It is so usual in Canada that we have statutory holidays that give us days like Dec. 26 ("Boxing Day"), so it often overlaps a weekend and the day off is added to the Monday. A nice break you don't have any holiday time left to use.

Book #103 American Rose (Karen Abbott)
Subtitle: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee

~

The subject matter was initially intriguing but the writing style detracted from the telling, with the changes from chapter to chapter, both in time and main character. Too often, the narrative was overwhelmed by details about the Hovick Family story, then interrupted by the Minsky Family story. Eventually these threads are brought together but by then I didn't care anymore. While the author researched the life and times of Gypsy Rose Lee from difficult source material, the biographical sense never seemed to prevail.

I guess I've finally realised that I do not enjoy chronological jumping about in any story. For my tastes, a biography is most effective using a consistent timeline, with succinct backstories, if required. I'm okay with a bit of the chapter character changes, but the galloping forwards and backwards style smacks of bad revisions. Didn't Stephen King say "Move the story forward, or edit it out?" (or words to that effect, in On Writing - A Memoir of the Craft).

Book #104 Shadow Magic (Patricia Wrede)
Book 1 in the Lyra Series.

~

A fantasy with an historical flavour ~ well-worth reading for adults who enjoy the fantasies written 30 or more years ago. This novel was Patricia Wrede's first fantasy (if not her debut novel). The plot was a little thin on details in places ~ not explained, spoiler tag doesn't seem to be hiding the comment.

This novel didn't feel dated although the character development was a little too superficial and the action galloped in places where some evocative description would have painted a more interesting scenario. Slavish adherence to the usual tropes was avoided. The main character, Alethia, was a little wishy-washy at the end, but the YA reader will enjoy her trials.

Edited to check if spoiler tags are fixed (Safari browser):
The plot was a little thin on details in places especially when Alethia seemed to acquire all the other objects of power, after finding the crown of Alkyra. See aren't you glad I tagged this?

Happy Thanksgiving, Sandy. And congratulations on reaching -- and passing -- 100!

As I was once again noticing your practice of including emojis in your header line I finally became aware that there is an object between "chapter" and "in 2020" that doesn't work on my browser. What I see is below:

Sandy's Books: the Seventh 😇 chapter  in 2020

Since the only way I can produce  is to cut and paste it in it made me curios as to what symbol/emoji you intended group members to see. Perhaps others can see it, but Firefox on my Mac doesn't work with it.

<Note: That's weird, my italics <i> html isn't working either!>

>200 quondame: Hi Susan, thanks for mentioning this issue. All news to me regarding emojis in the header.

I use the little symbol so I can find my thread when I open the group talk. I have about 30+ threads starred and it just makes it easier to sort out whether there's a post to answer.

You might be interested to read what I discussed here about the difficulties with using FireFox as the browser for certain websites, LibraryThing being the most important to me.

I can't "see" a great many things on LT with F-Fox and the new design of Talk has rendered a number of html codes inoperable.

Can you switch browsers?

>201 SandyAMcPherson: Yes, but I don't want to. I'll check the Bugs thread about the inoperable <HTML> codes. Also Preview has stopped working. That can't have anything to do with the browser.

>202 quondame: This problem with the "Preview" button is discussed here*.

I didn't want to abandon FireFox either (originally). I liked that it was independent of any big corporate entity and run by coding geeks (I think).

*Edited to clarify, the link was related to post #119.

On Safari, I can see properly-displayed message box buttons:

>198 SandyAMcPherson:, The magical software devs have fixed the spoiler tags, at least for Safari browser users.

FireFox browser-user members: please do LMK if it is messed up for you. I checked this post by logging into F-Fox and it looked okay, but I'm on a Mac and don't know what the Windows machines are presenting with the PC version of FF.

>204 SandyAMcPherson: I'm on Firefox, not sure about the spoiler option but it's still not showing preview.

>205 fuzzi: OK. I'm doing this post from FireFox (on a Mac OS)... and yup, it doesn't preview, as you say.
I suggest you pop over to "https://www.librarything.com/topic/325384#7289432" and mention your difficulty.

The buttons should look like this

Hi Meg. Nothing new.

>207 richardderus: Wrong thread, Richard?
But you're welcome to chat to Meg if you'd like... the door is open.

>208 SandyAMcPherson: Heh...wanted to see if you were paying attention to me...as I didn't get any luuuv above.

*sniff*

Too bad about American Rose. I understand that hopping in time can feel chaotic, but sometimes the subject (a complicated childhood, eg) demands strands be separated. I can't think of a way to make effective use of the multiphony of a life without at least *some* timeshifting.

Just dropping in to say hello :)

>197 SandyAMcPherson: Sorry to hear about that one. Time shifts are tricky. Sometimes they are done well and other times not so much. I also find that it depends on my mood. Anyhow enjoy the upcoming weekend!

This is what I see when I try to add a message to a thread - no actual buttons and no cancel. Preview is a no-op.


I viewed your thread on Chrome and Safari and in neither did the character show up on your thread, though on Talk I saw "..."

Oh! Cancel just showed up! And worked too!

Hi there! Congrats on passing the magic 100! I have 75 in sight, but 100 might be a push. We'll see... Happy Friday. : )

Hi Sandy, I see Richard's post at >207 richardderus: above, the cheeky devil. That's one way to get a quick response.

Congrats on reaching 100 reads and beyond. I like the contrasting Thanksgiving photos. Too bad you didn't like American Rose. I took a different book out of the library to read about Gypsy Rose Lee, Stripping Gypsy. I'll see how that one is when I tackle it.

Hi Sandy! I hope this finds you safe and relatively sane. *smile*

>187 SandyAMcPherson: Your Thanksgiving meal sounds lovely. I love roast chicken, and I need to buy a chicken for roasting when I go to the grocery store next week. Thanks for the inspiration!

Our Thanksgiving meal is pretty traditional American. Unfortunately, I think I’m going to cancel the Bill/Karen/Jenna plus 7 holiday gathering and it will either be the three of us or even just Bill and me, depending on what Jenna and I decide. I think we’ll end up just being Bill and me. Jenna tutors on campus 4 days a week and although they use masks and social distancing where possible and disinfecting tutoring stations and hand sanitizer, it is a college environment, after all.

The meal is roast turkey, dressing (cornbread or sourdough, depending on who makes it), mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans or green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, devilled eggs, rolls. Desserts are pumpkin, pecan, and banana cream pie. If it’s only two or three of us we’ll eliminate the dressing, devilled eggs, and banana cream pie.

I'm here! I can't read all the posts (200) I've missed, but I did read your list of recent reading up top (as well as enjoying your topper again) and I see you are just like me, pretty much unable to wrap your head around anything too demanding. I seem to do all right with non-fiction though.

>214 karenmarie: (and above) -- we will only be three too, but I am so excited. Our daughter is coming home, I'll be picking her up on the 13 Nov at Logan, from a direct flight (JetBlue who have sensible policies unlike some) from SF. (Has a (more than) friend at school with a family living there happy to let her park her car in their drive for SIX WEEKS!!!) She will be home that long! We haven't seen her in almost a year. I would eat spam out of a can for T-giving, happily.

>215 sibylline: I am happy for you.

>209 richardderus: Richard checking in ... wanted to see if you were paying attention to me
(he really just wanted to see if a bot had taken me away because, yes, I *was* participating a little too often in all the whining and suggestions going on when the new Talk pages went live).

Thanks for understanding my difficulty with American Rose and the chaotic use of time changes in consecutive chapters. It wasn't that I dislike time shifting narratives; it was the lack of finess in creating the twinned threads and some backstory.

>210 figsfromthistle: Hi Anita. As you say, time shifts being smooth and not so tricky can depend on the reader's mood.
Karen Abbott (imho) just didn't accomplish an evenly-paced narrative with skilfull use of changes with alternating chapters.

>211 quondame: Looks like the web designers caught up to your bug there, Susan. Hope everything on Firefox has evened out now with no more problems.

>212 Berly: Kim, I can't believe I've passed 100 books-read, either. I think some of my stories were pretty light or quite short because I don't feel like I spent all that amount of time reading, although escapism has featured hugely. I really galloped through CS Harris's mysteries. Hope you had a relaxing weekend.

>213 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg, glad you made it over here. Interesting that you, too, have plans to read a Gypsy Rose Lee biography. I'll have to keep an eye on your thread ~ I hope you'll review it!

>214 karenmarie: Karen, I have not been able to keep up with your thread! How do you find the time?

Good luck finding a roasting type chicken. We used to buy capons and those were just the nicest size, not too fatty. Lots of room for stuffing. Those don't seem to be even a familiar name in the specialty shops when you ask about them. Your Thanksgiving menu sounds ambitious. I would find it all too intimidating, especially pies. I gave up making pies years ago. Pastry is not my forté.

>215 sibylline: Lucy! You're here! Thanks for coming over. I totally understand reading long threads... just skim away and perhaps stop if you see a book cover that intrigues you. I think many of us are in that situation regarding demanding reading. I have at least 3 Penelope Lively books unread on my shelves. I like her writing but I need mental headspace to enjoy them and my attention these days is too distractable.

Laffed my head off I would eat spam out of a can for T-giving, happily because I so very much understand. It's been nearly a year seeing one daughter and family and we had to postpone plans visiting the other daughter (so not stepping into an airplane) so that will be 2 years now.

As >216 fuzzi: said, I am happy for you, too; Hope your 6-week visit is wonderful.

And hello Fuzzi. Thanks for stopping by. I was lurking on your thread and saw you'd read a Glen Rounds book. We used to have one of his prairie books, about Sod Houses. Its long gone (with other very dated children's books) to the donation fund-raiser held here every year to support the symphony.

However, I think I'd enjoy reading Whitey's New Saddle as a good read-out-loud to my grandson. Too old a publication to find easily, though. I looked up the date (1963) so I might add it to my request list at the secondhand book shop here.

>217 SandyAMcPherson: Wow that is a monster post!

I used to answer several posts together in one response but lost several with computer and site glitches so now my rule is only to reply to a maximum of two posts in one response.

Have a lovely Sunday, Sandy.

>218 PaulCranswick: Paul, I decided awhile back that if I am away from LT for a few days, the catch up for all the visitors comments was easiest this way. Also, I'd feel like everyone was appreciated for their efforts in stopping by and could find what my reply was.

I guess we all have different perceptions, because if I am way behind on a thread, I like to simply skim quickly for what interests me. When they're broken up into individual posts, I take forever to read them because of flipping up and down the screen, trying to connect the replies.

I hope Sunday is lovely. I wanted to go walking but so far not planning on it unless the wind drops to something approaching a very light breeze. Snow is in the forecast as well as pretty cool temps.

Hope your weekend is (has) gone well.

>217 SandyAMcPherson: Yes, I feel much more charitably toward our lovely world builders as so many of the details were so quickly addressed.

Capons are certainly scarce in this part of the world. A few years back I had to hunt the last frozen one down in the Fairfax Farmer's market - I had been to the poultry markets in China Town with a picture and written description of a capon in Chinese and while the shopkeeper assured me he knew what it was, there was just no demand. I did pick up a roaster with head and feet that was quite impressive for our completion presentation, but the bird we actually served the judges was the capon. It was delicious. My mother used to make them a couple times a year for special dinners, back when we could pick them up fresh at Phil's Phresh Poultry at the same Farmer's Market.

Hi Sandy!

>217 SandyAMcPherson: As to finding the time, I make the time. LT is my only social media, having eschewed FB and never gotten sucked into Instagram or Twitter, so I'm happy to spend time here frequently during the day. Retired, lazy, books, LT, and the occasional Pandemic-version of being President of the Friends in addition to the occasional house cleaning and house management things I do. Phone calls with daughter, sister, friends and my maternal Aunt fill out the rest. Also, I watch 3 hours or so of Netflix or Amazon series in the evenings with Bill most nights. Today’s a gridiron football game with the Carolina Panthers and Mark’s Chicago Bears, so less reading. It’s just how I choose to spend my time…

I don’t do it often, but I do love making pies. After many years of bad pie crusts, at the ripe old age of 50 or so I found the perfect pie crust recipe, from Bill’s Great-Grandmother’s 1915 Rumford cook book.

>218 PaulCranswick: I used to lose message replies when editing in LT, but now open a Word document at the bottom of the screen and compose there. Then, cut and paste. Voila!

>217 SandyAMcPherson: *smooch*

I'm always happy to know you haven't been botted away. I don't know if your browser supports this, but let's say someone responds to your 217; I run across the response and wonder how the hell post-Roman deflation in 5th-century Eboracum related to anything in that sped-past post; so I click on the blue "217" icon, read along, discover your trenchant analysis of the roots of the Arthurian Legend in the chaos of a collapsing market economy vis-à-vis the present urge to authoritarianism, think "mm yes, knows her onions does this Canadian lady," and then use the Chrome browser's "back" button to resume whatever place I was.

Easy peasy.

>217 SandyAMcPherson: I'll be happy to send it to you. PM me your address.

>220 quondame: Susan, it was nice to hear that my experience sourcing capons is not unusual. Thanks for the anecdote. Glad you again have a functioning LT website.

>221 karenmarie: Hi Karen, insights about your thread are appreciated. I've gotten into posting less but then I make those posts long. Not enough Face 2 Face conversation with anyone beside my husband!
!! I found the perfect pie crust recipe, from Bill’s Great-Grandmother’s 1915 Rumford cook book. What a teaser - can you upload a photo of recipe? Then we can all be transformed pie-making machines (*now dashes out to buy stretchy pants*)

>222 richardderus: Hey RD that is a *Fantastic* hack! I had no idea about clicking the relevant blue icon. In fact, until you mentioned this, I didn't connect the blue with it being a link. W00t as my kids, say.

>223 fuzzi: Fuzzi ~ I PM'd you and saw your reply. Thanks. And I'll also look for Glenn Balch books when I'm in the bookshop.

Book #105 Silver in the Wood (Emily Tesh)
First book in the Greenhollow Duology Series

~

This is the first short story/novella, in a very long time, that I've loved.
Emily Tesh wrote an amazingly vibrant narrative with skilful world-building that did not overwhelm the narrative. Her nuanced main character, Tobias, was engaging from the very start. There was a gentle, even serene tone to this myth that nonetheless had some major evil realities at its core.

Lost half-a-star for me at the end, because the fate of what Tobias was to become seemed so undefined. The hazy events that precede this dénouement were too undeveloped. Despite that niggle, I highly recommend this tale to those who love retold folklore and atmospheric adventures in the world of "The Green Man".

Book #106 The Flesh Tailor (Kate Ellis)
Book 14 in the Wesley Peterson series

~

I read Books 1 and 2, then had to switch to e-books when the libraries were closed. There were no earlier e-books, so I jumped in at this title. It turns out that the stories seem to be satisfactorily stand-alone chronicles, with no apparent spoilers if you don't read the books in sequence. I'm not a purist!

Note: possible spoilers, so consider whether you want to return at another time to read my comments!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While Peterson is working on the murder in the opening scene, a previous supporting character, archaeologist Neil Watson, has been called out to Tailors Court because ancient bones have been revealed while a trench was dug. The property dates back to Elizabethan times and may be the scene of a centuries-old burying ground.

The author was very skillful in drawing these separate scenarios together. I was intrigued with all the twists and turns with by-plays that developed. However, there were too many plodding sequences that made the story drag and added unnecessary complexities. The loss of momentum in building tension was regained in the last couple of chapters and made a slightly surprising dénouement.

A few other major niggles:
Kate Ellis describes the execution of a search warrant that was so incompetent, it somewhat ruined the novel. I am sure the search could have been conducted much more professionally instead of the clumsy approach she described. Secondly, the situation of one character (Carl Utley) was left unresolved, the proverbial loose thread that doesn't affect the main theme, but I would have liked a word or two about some justice for him. The final irritation was this Nuala Johns: what a total pill. I cannot believe that a police detective would tolerate her tarty behaviour or the way she interfered in his investigations. It escapes me what purpose Nuala's role played in Ellis's plot.

So ~ would I recommend this novel?
It's better than many detective stories, but no, not highly. I am quite influenced by the very likeable (to me) Ruth Galloway character in the Elly Griffiths' oeuvre. Griffiths writes very capably of an archaeologist's approach to forensic excavations and weaves in the police involvement more engagingly. In Ellis's saga, the Neil Watson character comes across as quite unprofessional and the archeological excavations play a less compelling role. That may have been her intent, but I think a strong component of forensic science could have lifted the novel to a higher rating.

Edited when I discovered this title was actually Book 14 in the series.

>226 SandyAMcPherson: After disliking both Amelia Peabody and Ruth Galloway, I decided that archaeological mystery series were most likely not going to work for me. Admittedly it took a while for the Peabody ones to grate hard but grate they did.

I'm impressed you made it fifteen books in!

>227 richardderus: I'm impressed I read 3 of the Kate Ellis Wesley Petersen series myself!
Note where I said in >226 SandyAMcPherson: that "had to switch to e-books when the libraries were closed" and that Book 14 was the first one that was available as an e-book. (I mislabelled the number in my post, now edited).

I always loved the idea of forensic archeology. Back when I was still choosing what specialisation to take at University, I wanted that set of classes. However, 2 roadblocks: (1) the closest University for that type of specialisation wasn't even in Canada in those days (for undergraduates) and (2) universities didn't accept female applicants for this field (of study), especially at the graduate level. (Let's not get into that discussion).
So my liking for the topic pervades my choosing these forensic-archeology-science-mysteries.

And speaking of persevering with a series, I am remarkably surprised by my sticking with the Ruth Galloway series, having read all 12 of those books now. However, I think I am done. If I interpreted the signs correctly, this is where I think the storyline is going (scroll to Aug 18th review).

Hi, Sandy. Sorry, to hear that American Rose didn't work for you. I have heard very good things about it.

Thanks for all the tantalizing bird info, you shared on my thread. I also enjoyed Terry Venables' photos. Stunning work.

>229 msf59: Mark, I'm pleased you liked Terry's photography.
As for American Rose, it was always going to be a bit chancy whether I'd like the book. Not a biography I would have independently chosen to read but Jim (drneutron) wrote an intriguing review.

Today is our first snow-on-the-ground. I confess I kind of liked seeing it this morning: only and inch or so, but everything so pretty, relatively mild temperatures (-7 oC; equivalent of 20 oF) and no wind.

It's flu shot day and I think I'll indulge in some Juvie reading to evaluate whether some titles are suitable for our grandson. Some aspects of the writing in these vintage novels inappropriately refers to indigenous people in a way we don't want perpetuated.

I loved "cowboy" and ranching stories when I was growing up, so I'll probably be amused with these books:

a memoir ~ ~ and ~ memoir-fiction

Hi Sandy!

>xxx Here’s the cookbook and Flaky Paste (what a bizarre name for a pie crust recipe). It always works well for me. I use vegetable shortening instead of lard or butter. Note daughter's hair scrunchie holding it closed.







>226 SandyAMcPherson: I’ve never read Kate Ellis and have books 13 and 15 on my shelves. Maybe another series to pursue – just what I need!

>231 SandyAMcPherson: The idea of -7°C being mild worries me. Around here -7°C is about as cold as it ever gets, and is considered very, very cold indeed!

>232 karenmarie: Wow, that is the ingredients of crust I do - except I started substituting Crisco for lard when I had a vegetarian sister-in-law and my Jewish husband feels better about it, too. I also do a different procedure - taking 1/3C of the flour/salt mix and making a paste with 1/4C of water before cutting in the shortening. Then I quickly mix the paste in and get the crumbly crust I and my family love. I do the folding procedures on other dough, but not for my pies and I've like the results.

>232 karenmarie: Karen, this is *fantastic*. I really appreciate the recipe and I saved both images (recipe and the source).
Years ago, my Mom used to follow "Mrs. Wilson's" cookery column in our weekend paper. The weekender always had an extra section with local items of interest, recipes and "Heloise's Household Hints". Very 1950's. My Mom's scrap book of clipped recipes still lives in our kitchen. I wonder if it is the same "Mrs. Wilson" source of cookery?

Hope you enjoy Ellis' Wesley Peterson mysteries, if that's what you meant by Books 13 and 15. She writes well, although (imho) can't hold a candle to CS Harris.

>233 SandDune: Hi Rhian, I had to look up again where you live...
I can understand that our "mild" winter temperatures would appear extreme.
We're far away from the moderating maritime effects, so our idea of "extremely cold" is between -30 and -45 oC.

(*holds out her arms to catch Rhian when she faints*)

-45C is very cold indeed! -7C is pretty typical for Long Island winters, and I don't regard it with the shuddering horror that I might if I wasn't so close to the Canadian wind tunnel called "the Hudson."

>234 quondame: Hi Susan.
I'd probably toughen the pastry to shoe leather consistency trying that water + flour mixture at the end. I can jinx pastry just by being in the kitchen watching someone make pies!

>237 richardderus: Canadian wind tunnel?
Aren't the Adirondacks in the way? They're pretty good at stopping "down-draughts", no?

(Edited to say, according Wikipedia, elevation of the range ~5,344 feet)

>234 quondame: Interesting way to put together the ingredients, Susan.

>235 SandyAMcPherson: You’re welcome. Wouldn’t that be serendipity if it was the same Mrs. Wilson? I wonder how we could figure that out?

I hesitate to start at #13 in any series. I’ll do a bit of research to see if they can stand alone-ish enough to read that far into the series.

>238 SandyAMcPherson: I can jinx pastry just by being in the kitchen watching someone make pies!Maybe I’m being optimistic when I brag on how fool-proof this pie crust recipe is…

>240 karenmarie: Hi Karen, I am confused by your reply pattern.
Is your first comment actually directed at >234 quondame:?
And thus, the next is >235 SandyAMcPherson:? (it would be fun to research who your vs 'my' Mrs. Wilson is!)

I'm going to try out your Flaky pastry recipe this weekend, so I'll report back on whether it was miraculous or shoe-leathery!

>230 SandyAMcPherson: Sorry American Rose didn’t work for you, but I get that the parallel storyline doesn’t always work. Better luck next time!😀

>242 drneutron: It may have been Covid-Brain that caused my confusion trying to read American Rose.
Covid-Brain is not an illness, but rather thought-processes derailed by anxiety and poor sleeps.

Book #107 Boy Settler in the Cherokee Strip (David Siceloff)

~

David Siceloff had an interesting life, what with trekking to the Cherokee Strip when he was 8, working hard there to help his family make a go of farming on a new land claim, and later, as a young adult, attending university in Kansas. In the early years of the 20th Century, he climbed both Mt. Rainier and Pikes Peak, the latter being a 14,115-foot summit in Colorado.

Despite all this intrepid upbringing and outdoor adventure, the author wrote a turgid memoir of his early life which never once approached an evocative sense of an exciting life. The story is recited in the first person, as anecdotal vignettes. This approach resulted in a choppy narrative that rarely becomes engaging and certainly does not convey much beyond mere action and circumstance.
Admittedly, there was some influence in the writing style of an early era, but 1964 is not so long ago that it should have been that dated. My review also reflects an adult reading to capture the interest of a child: neither reader nor listener would be eager to finish the book.

Book #108 Perfect Happiness (Penelope Lively)

~

A moving and eloquent illumination of the quintessential question, What is happiness? Based on a young widow's experience, the author explores grief and the road through mourning, and where the concept of being comparatively happy can wind up being a solace. Penelope Lively is particularly accomplished in conveying the philosophical development of complex emotions.

I struggled to finish this book ~ it was started before the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic invaded my consciousness. I will re-read it again when I'm in a more receptive frame of mind because there are many insightful thoughts and observations that I want to remember. This is a short book (208 p. in my paperback edition) but full of so many ideas to ponder that I am sure the novel will be a great source of comfort at some later date.

Book #109 The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
Book 1 of the Fionavar Tapestry

~

This was a re-read for me and I finished it months ago as 2020 just began. While it isn't the 109th book I've read so far this year, it is one of the books-read in 2020. I didn't enjoy the story, which may be why I didn't write a review immediately.

I loved the GGK trilogy when it first appeared ~ my copy has yellowed and the binding loosened, but it was a novel that stayed long with the vintage fantasies in my library, probably due to nostalgia ~ like my Lord of the Rings trilogy.

It's definitely high fantasy in the 1980's style. After much subsequent reading in the genre, I've outgrown the meme where the main protagonists find themselves transported to an unknown land, having to make their way in this realm.
The world-building and backstories seemed less prevalent than expected and the five university students (from U of T, no less) dropped into a parallel world is very much like a trip into the Wardrobe à la Narnia. We are then immediately launched into conflict in an epic adventure.
Ho hum. No atmosphere. No evocative sense of the characters. I must be getting old and cranky.

>239 SandyAMcPherson: Nope. The Adirondacks meet the Catskills at the Hudson, and there's the Polar Freakin Express from Quebec meeting the ICEMAKER from Lake Ontario at the mouth of the St. Lawrence which has a gently rolling moraine to cross before the Hudson gets in the act and steers everything south.

To NYC and Long Island. *brrr*

>241 SandyAMcPherson: Yes, I goofed up. I fixed it just now before I even saw your message here. Sorry about that.

I hope the recipe works for you.

>247 richardderus: You poor souls. And summer hurricane/tropical torrents/humidity from the southwest. Thank you for the geography lesson (with geology thrown in as a bonus).

>248 karenmarie: I will surely post success and comments on your thread.
My husband found the Mrs. Wilson I was thinking of... her name was Muriel Wilson and she lived on Saltspring Island (off the coast of Vancouver Island). Quite the intrepid entrepreneur. Moved on to have her own TV show.

You can peek at the backstory here, http://www.bcfoodhistory.ca/muriel-wilsons-colonist-kitchen/ with some history. Muriel and her husband ran a resort on Salt Spring Island called “Solimar” in the 1940s.

The Mrs. Wilson in your recipe book was a NC resident from the looks of things. I'm looking forward to trying out pie pastry! Probably not for a week or so, though. I forgot some other upcoming cooking obligations.

Edited to revise the pastry schedule: with hubby's birthday, we seem over-supplied with fattening desserts. It was ultimately decided that inviting guests was a poor idea, since we're keeping our socialising bubble very restricted for inside the house.

I'm committed to making pie though as we might use this recipe for the egg-cheese pie that makes an appearance as a dinner item from time to time.

Book #110 Woodsong (Gary Paulsen)
🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
I just realised, I've reached my reading objective for 2020. I think being confined to home territory made this goal achievable, rather than my normal inclination to read voraciously.

~

Paulsen writes movingly of his learning to run dogs and training pups for the harness. There are eye-rolling episodes where his ignorance in managing dog sledding had me cringing. Equally, there were laugh-out-loud anecdotes (I especially enjoyed the bantam hen dominating the Paulsen family backyard). The evocative passages of winter beauty and wilderness camping added to my appreciation of Paulsen's writing.

I'm not sure who the target audience really is for this book. It's a memoir of the author's early days running dogs, which could certainly appeal to outdoors-oriented readers of any age. But there are also passages of the harsh realities of the wolf — deer population and a squirrel-chipmunk interaction, both of which are very graphic. Of course, the younger end of the YA readership might just gloss over these descriptions.

The final chapter of running his first Iditarod was captivating, even though I'd previously read Winterdance. I always come away from reading stories of this famous Alaskan race with amazement at what people will do as an extreme sport and wondering how on earth more dogs and drivers don't die trying to complete this run. In the Woodsong version, the tale of Pualsen's first Iditarod is shortened but still paints an astounding chronicle of the race.

Congrats on reaching your goal, Sandy! I expect to set a personal record this year but nowhere close to your 110 books. That's pretty amazing.

>252 lauralkeet: Thank you, Laura.
I am amazed at my reading pace this year, too.
As I said to Lucy, I'm in a "Covid-Brain" mode of escapism, not because I am infected, but because I am not managing vey well (emotionally or intellectually ) with living through this time of the plague.

The Fionavars are my least favourite Kay -- he has really matured as a storyteller. Tigana is one of my fave fantasies ever.

I'm bogged in a Winifred Holtby (South Riding) and feel terrible about it. Couldn't read a Lively right now either.

Maybe I read something else by Emily Tesh will have to go look. Will check out Silver in the Wood too!

With my mother and an aunt and we once tested the diff between using fresh butter from cows right there on grandparental farm, store-bought butter, lard, and crisco.

One guess which one won? Lard, however, came in second over the store-bought.

Touchstones are not working right now. Will come back later. (If I remember!)

>254 sibylline: I loved Tigana when it was published (1990).
I don't have a copy. If I recall correctly, I gave it to a young relative who was bored during a visit. We didn't own a television (gasp)! The book was such a hit.

I did like the The Fionavar series but I read them so long ago that I haven't recaptured any of the aspects which originally attracted my interest. The spousal unit says "You grew up"...

>251 SandyAMcPherson: I also really enjoyed Woodsong, but gave it 4 stars.

Hi, Sandy. I also liked Woodsong but I loved Winterdance. One of my favorite memoirs.

>256 fuzzi:, >257 msf59: Hi Fuzzi and Mark. Thanks for dropping by.
I liked Winterdance better, which is perhaps why Woodsong rated a ½-★ less.
I haven't actually read Winterdance in recent years, so I've not added to my LT catalogue. But it was a VG rating in my spreadsheet I saved from pre-LT days.

My profile explains how I rate my reading. It's really more for me, so I can go back to favourite stories.

>250 SandyAMcPherson: Egg-cheese pie? Quiche-like or other? Intriguing.

>251 SandyAMcPherson: Congratulations!! Regardless of the reason, it’s a great accomplishment.

>253 SandyAMcPherson: I think the longer this thing goes on, the harder it is on everybody, even including those of us who can stay safe and sound at home. Escapism in reading is relatively harmless compared to some other addictions.

>253 SandyAMcPherson: I am not managing vey well (emotionally or intellectually ) with living through this time of the plague.

I understand completely Sandy. I don't know a single person who feels like they are handing things well or getting by unscathed.

>259 karenmarie: Words of comfort. Thank you Karen.

The "egg-cheese pie" came from my parent's very old copy of Joy of Cooking.
The newer editions don't have the lovely anecdote that came with the recipe, but it was billed essentially as a stand-alone dinner with eggs, milk and high-quality cheddar cheese, in a pastry bottom-only crust. There was always a green vegetable like broccoli as a side in our house.

I'm addicted alright.
Lucy review some Catherine Lloyd mysteries on her thread and it fit the bill for my cosy-reading requirement. It's the Kurland St. Mary Mystery series I'm devouring just now. I will be sorry to finish too quickly, so after the next one is done (Book 3), I have The Heirs of Locksley to read. It's a sequel to The Ghosts of Sherwood, all very light reading.

>260 lauralkeet: That's for sure. Thanks for the sympathy Laura.
We've "lost" friends and elderly family members but to other causes than a coronavirus infection. So I guess we too have not been unscathed.

It is so very difficult to not be together at such a time. All these deaths (I say 'all' but it is only 4) are hard since we can't travel. It really is a two-day drive or longer, and wild horses won't get us on those flying tubes of infection (aka airplanes). Besides, gatherings are why so many cases are spiking.

>251 SandyAMcPherson:
Brava!

>253 SandyAMcPherson: This is a challenge for all those whose lives haven't been slammed by infection because it's grinding, day-by-day carefulness *without* an obvious reason!

*there there, pat pat*

This too shall pass.

>263 richardderus: Thank you Richard, for the fireworks motif and the *pat pat*.
I agree, This too shall pass but so will I and that's a conundrum I don't handle well.

I want to outlive Mr. Coronavirus and regain my extended family. The effects on society will last long and long. And the sad thing is, the powers that be won't have learned to take heed. Had historical pandemics been enshrined in good public health policies, we'd not be in such a mess.

>264 SandyAMcPherson: I want to scream when I think of the giant leaps forward against cholera and the 1918 flu epidemics; even the 1950s polio epidemic was handled better than this one has been.

Argh!

>265 richardderus: Agreed.

And the coronavirus is especially a tricky one to develop an effective vaccine.
The SARS coronavirus has plagued livestock for more than 50 years. Another prospect: about 20% of the common cold infections are due to a coronavirus.

But here's the situation ~ the research into a vaccine has been hampered by poor funding scant dedicated resources, hence, little success → for decades.

Any blather about how there will be a "Covid-19" vaccine by Christmas or before the end of 2021 is (imho) political bunkum.

Distancing, genuinely essential movement in the community (food and health needs) and isolated populations are the best approach at this time.

Cynically I give you this ~ ~ because crowds of people show that they just don't get it.

>266 SandyAMcPherson: I see those signs and think, "have fun on the respirator!"

Makes me ill.

>267 richardderus:- Well, there's all the proof one needs about the sorts of mindless sheep who follow t-Rump and his lies. If he gets reelected, these guys deserve him. Thing is, no one else does.

>261 SandyAMcPherson: I’ve got Bill’s Mama’s 1951 edition of Joy of Cooking and think I found the right recipe just above the one for Quiche. It sounds yummy. I found it in my 1971 "white album" Joy, too.

>262 SandyAMcPherson: flying tubes of infection (aka airplanes). I call them flying petrie dishes.

Hi Sandy: I was so far behind, but I also enjoy the Wesley Peterson mysteries, as well as Ruth Galloway. I do like the forensic archeology in the stories. I've only read the first two in the Wesley Peterson series. I think I have a couple as ebooks as well.

I also enjoyed the Catherine Lloyd series. I've read three, I think. I liked the first one a lot, and the other two less...

Has winter arrived yet? It has been unseasonably cold here in Minnesota.

Stay well.

>268 jessibud2: there are plenty of mindless sheep, and they're not all on one side of the political spectrum.

Nuff said.

Thanks for all the visitors while was catching up on some reading.
I'm still behind and my e-books are going to evaporate as the due dates loom. I'm grateful you made your selves at home (hope you found the coffee and cake okay).

Richard, Shelley, and fuzzi ~ I now just want Nov. 3 to be over!
I'm quite anxious about the USA situation, even more so after reading this speculative opinion.

>269 karenmarie: Hi Karen, So splendid you also have an older edition of Joy. I don't have the 1971 edition, though.
Haven't had time to make pastry. It's on my calendar, though for early November.

>270 BLBera: Hi Beth.
I'm way behind in at least visiting the threads, so I haven't dropped by to leave a comment. I agree about the Catherine Lloyd series. I've just started Book 4 (Death Comes to the Fair). I need to write up Book 3 because these mysteries are tending to merge in my memory and I do want to keep them separate. They are a little predictable, but that's the nature of cosy mysteries, no?

Edited to answer Beth with a weather report ~ there, there *pat pat* ~ our region had unseasonably cold here up until a few days ago. Ran up to 11 oC (=~52 oF) !!
We've settled back in to a more usual +5 or 6 daytime. So you might catch some of this upthrust of warm air ("hot air" from the States?) Ha ha ha... erp, I should quit with the political puns.

>267 richardderus: Chump is of course not to blame for Covid but he must shoulder his share of responsibility for the crass way in which the pandemic has been handled.

I am not overly impressed with Biden either but I really do hope he consigns the Ginger Whinger back to his steel and glass tower.

By the way Sandy - by far and a way your longest thread to date. New one on the horizon? xx

>274 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul. Nice to have you pop by.
I was dithering about this thread and its length.

TBH, I wanted the Nov. 3 "thing" done and dusted and then make a new thread, where (for me) scary political shenanigans were a thing of the past.

But after reading that NY Times article (linked in >272 SandyAMcPherson:), I think that idea is a very faint hope. It could take weeks to resolve the confusion of all the near-run candidates (I think the electoral college might interfere and civil unrest will be utterly uncontrollable).

>275 SandyAMcPherson: it's too bad that the arguments in the picture you posted are actually completely counter to the facts of the matter. Trump is pro-life, Biden is pro-abortion, including up to the day of birth.

Now I'll go back to lurking, hoping I don't see too much more of politics on LT.

Hi Sandy!

>275 SandyAMcPherson: It won't be 'done and dusted' on November 3rd because of all the absentee ballots. Each state has a different way of handling them and a different date for allowing absentee ballots to be counted - as an example, my state of North Carolina will allow all absentee ballots received by November 12th to be counted - challenged by Republicans and upheld by the Supreme Court. I don't know if it will go as far as November 12th, but I hope we can keep the Supreme Court out of it. The Electoral College simply counts votes submitted by each state - 48 states give all Electoral College votes to the popular vote winner within that state and 2 states - Maine and Nebraska - split votes.

>277 karenmarie: - Karen, what exactly is meant by *popular* votes? Shouldn't the side with the MOST votes win? What decided what's *popular*. I find this confusing beyond reason.

>278 jessibud2: Votes cast by registered-to-vote individuals voting in each state. That's a whole can of worms, too, because each state has different cutoffs to register to vote and provisional ballot regulations.

>276 fuzzi: Hi fuzzi. I didn't really see the comments the way you did in #275. I gathered that the 'ripping babies' thing referred to what happened at the Mexican border.

But you're right. While it's inevitable about having some discussion of politics on LT threads, mostly it's a pleasant escape from the news.

>277 karenmarie: >278 jessibud2: I do not entirely understand what role the 48 states aspect means.
Logically, I can see that each state's number of Electoral College votes is determined somehow and that's what overrides the popular vote.
I was completely lost about the role of Pennsylvania and the electoral college in the NY Times article (here).

I now promise not to write about any more politics here. I hope the visitors will remind me
with a book bashing if I wander into political territory again

>281 SandyAMcPherson: it's been mild here, no bashing required ;)

If you want to get into foaming-at-the-mouth screaming go to the Pro & Con group. I avoid it.

Last night I shut off the media and finished reading a Prince Valiant book by Hal Foster. Ahh.

Opinions and politics swirl around us everywhere and we can't help having opinions on most things. Political discourse these days seems to attempt to take opinion and twist them one way or another for the purposes of seeking or retaining power.

The Electoral College does seem a vagary of history. I really don't see the justice of one person receiving more votes in a nationwide vote than another but actually losing that same election.

You are right, Sandy, books are much more fun than politics. xx

>283 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul.

>282 fuzzi: Hi Fuzzi. I think there's a lot of love in this group for Prince Valiant.
If you refer to the comics character, I used to read the "funnies" every Saturday and keenly follow PV's adventures.

Speaking of "The Funnies", very old-fashioned term nowadays...
Yesterday a sortie to an *actual* library (!) to check out Why Comics?: From Underground to Everywhere by Hillary Chute.



I'm going to finish another two library books this weekend (before the e-goddess wipes them from my account) and then start on this one.

An interesting discussion on Mickey Fine's thread led me to Hilary Chute's book.

>284 SandyAMcPherson: yes, Prince Valiant comics in Fantagraphics reprints. @harrygbutler got me started on collecting the series, and I've enjoyed going back to ones that were published before I was born, that I'd not read!

The one I just finished was Prince Valiant, Vol. 9: 1953-1954

@PaulCranswick, if you are interested in why the Electoral College is so important and how it was a stroke of genius by the founding fathers, there are plenty of learned scholars who could pontificate upon it. However, if you just want my simple explanation, read this: if the popular vote is all that matters, the candidates can campaign and concentrate on just a couple states like California and New York, mostly of one political mind, and ignore the rest of the country, who would become second-class citizens. The EC gives each state more equal representation and makes the politicians consider all the people, not just those that live in the majority states/cities.

On the brink of the end of October ~



I vow to finish Horse of a Different Color tonight because I just added it to my ticker counter. At least it is a gentle read in the YA or perhaps even children's genre.
Review catch ups tomorrow. I binged on Catherine Lloyd mysteries!

Best feeling ever: Surpassing your goal. Delighted that you binged...finding something that's *exactly* right for your reading right now is also a lovely experience.

The October round up:
~~ completed books not yet posted here ~~
(Full reviews on the book page reviews)

Book #111. Death Comes to the Village (Catherine Lloyd)
~
Delightful cosy mystery series, set in a small village in the Regency period

Book #112. Death Comes to London (Catherine Lloyd)
~
Poisons and manoeuvring to grab an undeserved inheritance in a prestigious London family which intrigues the main protagonists. Somewhat improbable plot lines, but an enjoyable romp nonetheless.

Book #113. Horse of a Different Color: Reminiscences of a Kansas Drover (Ralph Moody)
~
Coming-of-age theme, and told in a vernacular style. Too many repetitive descriptions of being a drover, frustrating setbacks and setting up a business in livestock marketing.

Book #114. Death Comes to Death Comes to Kurland Hall (Catherine Lloyd)
~
The pattern is somewhat predictable with who the 'baddie' is; Robert and Lucy cope with awkward guests, constraint between them unresolved, while Robert hosts the wedding guests for Sophia and Andrew.

Book #115. Death Comes to the Fair (Catherine Lloyd)
~
An intriguing story with the addition of the Turner sisters, wise women in the neighbouring village of Kurland St. Anne. Very mysterious events overtake Lucy, who falls from grace in her father's eyes. The romance develops satisfactorily, however.

This amount of reading in one month was unusual for me. I blame the coronavirus for all the escapist novels!

I'm taking a break for awhile from the Catherine Lloyd stories. To borrow a line from another reviewer, some of the mysteries themselves are a tad too convoluted. For my tastes, this approach doesn't feel delightfully intriguing, just excessively confusing. I'll return to the next in the series after a few non-fiction books and a Tana French psychological thriller that I have from the library. I may be pushing my comfort level.

>289 SandyAMcPherson: the name Ralph Moody was familiar, so I checked my list of books already read. Sure enough, I'd read his book Come On Seabiscuit!, which I enjoyed both as a juvenile and again as an adult read, loved it both times.

>290 fuzzi: Come On Seabiscuit! is probably better than the one and only that I've read.
I think I've outgrown vintage cowboy lifestyle books. Although I should perhaps re-read some Will James, since I have a good memory of his writing.

The Month of November is upon us and now the world watches the most astoundingly unprecedented election in United States history.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, yours truly took Paul's >274 PaulCranswick: comment to heart ...

New thread started. Do please come on over and join the digital party.