Jennifer's 2022 Reading (japaul22)

Hello all! Happy to be back in Club Read for what I think is my 12th year. That sounds crazy, but I think it's right!

I live in northern Virginia with my husband and two boys, age 12 and 9. I'm also a musician in the U.S. Marine Band, so my life is full, but I make plenty of time to read.

My only plan this year is to read Anniversaries by Uwe Johnson. I've roped a few fellow LTers and people from litsy into giving it a try with me. We have a thread in the 1001 books group if you'd like to join in.

I usually read a mix of new releases (usually by women and often found here or on award lists), nonfiction, classics, and book from the 1001 books to read before you die list. I'm also occasionally convinced by my 12 year old to read some of the YA lit he's reading. He is much more interested in reading when he knows he'll have someone to talk about the book with, so I'm happy to oblige to keep him reading! And I do read aloud to my 9 year old every night, though I rarely remember to track that reading here. We are currently reading a very good fantasy book called The Endling by Katherine Applegate.

I particularly enjoyed reading more books, both fiction and nonfiction, by and about Indigenous peoples in 2021 and I'm sure I will continue that this year.

Thanks for stopping by and following along!

These lists are to help me pick books when I don't have a "next book" in mind. They will also give you an idea of the kinds of books I enjoy.

Contemporary Authors that I follow (i.e. I'll probably read any new novel they put out and am reading any backlog I haven't gotten to yet):
Hilary Mantel
Kate Atkinson
Eleanor Catton
Eowyn Ivey
Tana French
Marilynne Robinson
Hannah Tinti
Barbara Kingsolver
Ann Patchett
Chimamanda Adichie
Margaret Atwood
Madeline Miller
Esther Freud
A.S. Byatt
Siri Hustvedt
Ottessa Moshfegh

Series/Mysteries that I follow:
Robert Galbraith, Cormoran Strike mysteries
Tana French
Jane Harper
C.J. Sansom
Sharon Kay Penman (sadly passed away in 2021, so all rereads from here on out)

Classic authors I love (reading novels I haven't read yet or rereads):
Jane Austen
the Brontes
Virginia Woolf
George Eliot
Trollope
Thomas Mann
Doestoevsky
Tolstoy
Haldor Laxness
Sigrid Undset
Faulkner
Zola
Scandinavian classics
Willa Cather
Edith Wharton
John Williams
Proust
Thomas Hardy
Henry James
Barbara Pym

Kindle TBR (because I never remember I have these):
Daughters of the Winter Queen by Nancy Goldstone
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
Devil in the Grove
Martin Chuzzlewit
Our Mutual Friend
Nicholas Nickleby
Lost Children Archive
The Fire This Time
Sandhamn Murders by Viveca Sten books 1-6
Titan by Ron Chernow
Dead Mountain by Donnie Eichar
The Imprisoned Guest by Elisabeth Gitter
How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran
The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys
Three Lives by Gertrude Stein
Anne by Constance Fenimore Cooper
Compartment No. 6
The Great Circle
Tyll
West With Giraffes
The Books of Jacob
Drive your plow over the bones of the dead
3 From Amazon world book day:
Mother Dear
THe Easy Life in Kamusari
And Eye for an Eye
Lolly Willowes
In the shadow of the empress (Maria Theresa bio)
She Has Her Mother's Laugh (science book on heredity)
Fight Night by Miriam Toews
An Experiment in Love by Hilary Mantel
A Woman's Life by Maupassant
Nightwood by Djuna Barnes
By Night Under the Stone Bridge by Leo Perutz

Kindle library books for July:
A Study in Scarlet
Jane Steele
The Mothers
Mirror Cracked
Elephants Can Remember
The Ruin

Reading Log
January:
1. Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah
2. Insurgent by Veronica Roth
3. Frost in May by Antonia White
4. Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
5. World on the Wing by Scott Weidensaul
6. My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
7. Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac
8. Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

February:
9. Lady Fanshawe's Receipt Book by Lucy Moore
10. Dangerous Liaisons by Choderlos de Laclos
11. Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
12. Corregidora by Gayl Jones
13. Empire of Pain by Patrick Radde Keefe
14. My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson
15. The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

March:
16. Tea at Four o'Clock by Janet McNeill
17. Anniversaries by Uwe Johnson, Volume 1
18. The Perpetual Curate by Margaret Oliphant
19. One by One by Ruth Ware
20. Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
21. The Nineties by Chuck Kolsterman
22. After Me Comes the Flood by Sarah Perry

April:
23. Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
24. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
25. The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen
26. The Law and the Lady by Wilkie Collins
27. The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
28. The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

May
29. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
30. Cold Coast by Robyn Mundy
31. The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden
32. The Round House by Louise Erdrich
33. The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thorton Wilder

June
34. Madame Secretary by Madeleine Albright
35. The Way to Paradise by Mario Vargas Llosa
36. What's Mine and Yours by Naima Coster
37. Balzac and the Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
38. Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichie
39. The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
40. The Mother of All Questions by Rebecca Solnit
41. Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

>1 japaul22: Hi, happy almost new year! I look forward to following your thread again in 2022. Although I'm not brave enough to join your group read, if you send me the link to the Anniversaries thread, I will add it to the Club Read group topper.

Looks like we have very similar tastes. I look forward to following your thread.

Hi Jennifer--I'm looking forward to seeing what you read this year. Anniversaries sounds interesting (and it's an NYRB!). I'm not sure if I'd be up for something that long this year, but I'll check out the thread in the 1001 group.

Welcome back, Jennifer! I'll follow your reading more closely from now on, both because I'll join the Anniversaries year long read and because several of your favorite contemporary authors are also favorites of mine. I do hope that Eleanor Catton has something in the works, as I absolutely loved The Luminaries.

>4 labfs39: I will send you that link the next time I’m on my laptop!

>5 WelshBookworm: welcome! I will check your thread out as well. I’m very good about reading everyone’s threads but awful about actually posting comments!

>6 DieFledermaus: so good to see you here again! I remember loving your thread - both for the books and the opera.

>7 kidzdoc: I’m so excited you’re going to join our group read! And, yes, I’d love another novel from Catton.

Happy new thread, Jennifer! Look forward to your reading in 2022.

We have a nice crossover of favorite authors, not as many as I imaged, but still.... Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Jennifer. I'm looking forward to following your 2022 reading.

Hi Jennifer. I will be following again...here and with Anniversaries. Happy 2022. (also, post 2 is terrific)

I’ll be following too - and joining the Anniversaries readalong!

Hi Jennifer-I'm so glad you're back. I've been looking forward to Anniversaries, but totally forgot it was on the 1001 Group, so I'll have to head over there.

Happy New Year, Jennifer! Dropping my star off for 2022 - looking forward to your thread as always.

Look forward to another reading year, and Anniversaries when I get home.

Happy New Year, Jennifer. I look forward to following your reading again this year.

Happy New Year, Jennifer. I’ll be following along, as usual, and trying to dodge a few book bullets as the year progresses.

Happy New Year, Jennifer. I'll be watching your reading, as I agree with many of the favorites that you list. Anniversaries is new to me and I'm tempted, but not sure this is the time for me to take on that kind of commitment. I expect that I will at least lurk on your discussion.

>19 Linda92007: Same here. I'll definitely peek in, though, because it sounds like a cool reading project.

>19 Linda92007:, >20 lisapeet: feel free to lurk, comment, or join us reading at any point!

>20 lisapeet: It is partly a homage to NYC! With detail descriptions of the 96th street/Riverside Drive neighborhood and frequent trips on the Staten Island ferry and some sections are narrated by "auntie" (NY)Times! You know you want to....

>21 japaul22: >22 ELiz_M: Enablers! Well, we'll see...

>22 ELiz_M: LOL. The detailed descriptions of NYC in the late 1960s is what encouraged me to buy Anniversaries, along with one or more enticing reviews in LibraryThing. I would have been 6 to 7 yo at that time, living in Jersey City with my parents, and visiting my maternal grandparents in their home on E 222nd St in the Bronx. My mother frequently took me on trips to Manhattan during that time, to go to department stores that are (Macy's) and aren't (Gimbel's, Korvette's, et al.) there any more, and to see children's plays, book readings and other events in Washington Square Park, and exhibitions in the city's great museums. I look forward to reminiscing about the city through Uwe Johnson's eyes.

Welcome, everyone! I'm excited to follow all of your reading, as well!

#1 Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah
Gurnah won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2021, and this brought his work to my attention. I then found out that he is well-respected by several LTers and knew I had to give his books a try. Paradise is about a young man, Yusuf, who is sold to a merchant, his "Uncle" Aziz, to pay his father's debts. He moves from rural Africa to a city on the East Coast to help run Aziz's shop. There he meets Khalil, who becomes an older brother figure to him. They run the shop and explore the city. Then Yusuf is taken with Uncle Aziz on a purchasing trip where he meets even more colorful people and has some funny and some dangerous experiences. To the reader, this trip reveals the multi-cultural experience in Africa at the turn of the 20th century. There are tribes that speak Swahili and have a traditional African culture; there are groups that are devout Muslim; groups that are heavily Arabic; and the newly arrived Germans. And of course among these there is plenty of mingling - they aren't all exclusive. It truly feels like a sometimes dangerous melting pot of interests and priorities.

I enjoyed this novel for the most part. I liked the relationship between Yusuf and Khalil. And the mix of culture was fascinating. But it was such a foreign culture to me that I was confused and lost the trail of the plot a few times. This happens to me sometimes when I don't have a lot of cultural/historical background with a novel. I always appreciate learning about the culture, but sometimes don't quite enjoy the book as much because of the work I have to do to stay on track (this happens a lot with the Japanese literature I've read also).

I would like to read more by Gurnah and will keep him on my list of authors to keep on my TBR pile.

Original publication date: 1994
Author’s nationality: born in Sultanate of Zanzibar
Original language: English
Length: 246 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased
Why I read this: nobel prize winner

Nice review of Paradise, Jennifer. I'm reading Afterlives, Gurnah's latest novel, now.

>26 japaul22: definitely a whirlwind of largely obscure cultural mixes. I liked it more than you did, but glad you are looking for more by him. (I really want to...but so much other stuff planned that I want to get to too)

>28 dchaikin: I feel like the more I read from a region and/or time period the more I enjoy it overall. I just have to get my bearings with the first few novels. I have a book by Gurnah on hold at the library, but I'm still way down the list for it, so I will probably be ready to read it when it's available in a few months.

Enjoyed your review. I'm tempted to try Gurnah this year too.

>26 japaul22: This is on my wishlist courtesy of a BB from Dan so your review is another tick in its favour. Neither my local or state libraries has a physical copy but I'm crossing my fingers that the secondhand bookshop I'm planning to visit tomorrow has it.

>26 japaul22: I liked but didn't love Paradise when I read it near the end of 2021. It just didn't have that little something extra that tips it over the four star rating for me.

>30 AlisonY: I'd like to hear what you think of him, Alison.

>31 rhian_of_oz: My library system (which is an enormous well-funded county in northern Virginia) only had ONE copy of any book by Gurnah - By the Sea. I put my name on the wait list after he won the Nobel prize, but my well-read fellow Fairax County residents beat me to it, and I'm something like the 45th person in line for the single copy. I bought Paradise second hand on ebay.

>32 labfs39: I agree with that assessment. Though I liked Yusuf and Khalil's relationship, I wanted more character development or a stronger plot line. Either would have helped, I think.

What a mess! We got 11 inches of snow so far out of an unexpected snow storm. They were predicting 3-6 inches. And two 30 foot pine trees in our yard fell down from the heavy, wet snow. One took out our fence and the other is on top of our attached garage. Miraculously, it doesn't seem like there's too much damage. I filed an insurance claim. Hopefully tree removal will happen soon, but I'm sure they are busy because there seem to be trees down all over our neighborhood. After the trees are gone, the insurance inspector will come out and we'll see if there is roof damage.

Always something . . .

>34 japaul22: Wow, Jennifer, that's awful! We had 6" or so from last week, but it's switched over to an off and on freezing drizzly mess. Half the snow is gone, but what's left has an icy crust. Stay safe and warm!

>34 japaul22: Wow, you've had a lot more snow than in Western Loudoun (just a couple inches here). I'm sorry to hear you lost a couple of trees and have to deal with the resulting damage. I hope it's not too bad.

Gosh, that's a lot of snow. Is that early in the season for where you are?

Oh Jennifer, hope the tree issues are easy to deal with.

>34 japaul22: That sounds like a headache. I think you have more snow than we do!

Yikes. Philadelphia and its northern suburbs, where I am, didn't have any accumulation (I didn't see a single snowflake all day), but my brother, who lives 40 miles SE in South Jersey, had at least 6 inches of snow, and Diane reported that she received 10 inches in Cape May County, NJ.

I hope that your trees are removed soon. One of the meteorologists on 6abc Action News in Philadelphia reported this morning that the snow would be wet and heavy, and from your description it sounds as though this was the case.

>34 japaul22: I hope the tree removal happens soon and that there isn't any roof damage.

Question from someone who has only seen snow once on her life: when you get that much snow, can you go about your normal life, e.g. going to work, or out to the shops, etc?

>34 japaul22: Wow, Jennifer--in Chicago we got the storm on Saturday, and we were supposed to get up to 8 inches, but only 4 inches accumulated at O'Hare. City was ready, though; I heard a plow down my side-street late in the evening, and a neighbor had the snowblower out and did the sidewalk for our whole side of the block.

That must have been extremely heavy snow to bring down two large trees. So lucky that no one was hurt--or your car--did they hit any powerlines going down?

Thanks for the concern, everyone! To answer a few of your questions, it is a lot of snow for the DC region and this area does an awful job pre-treating roads and also cleaning up. Well, at least compared to the Chicago area, where I grew up! My kids were off school yesterday and today and I won't be surprised if they get at least a delayed start on Wednesday, if not a closure. Our school districts are based on county and Fairfax County is enormous. Our schools have over 180,000 students. They make weather decisions for the whole county, so the likelihood of some part of our county being unsafe is high.

>40 kidzdoc: Action News! I lived in Philly for two years and my husband's family is from Allentown. I can immediately hear that Action news theme song any time it's mentioned. :-)

>41 rhian_of_oz: It's best to stay home, but possible to go out. Most things are closed anyway so there's not much reason to leave home.

>42 kac522: Chicago is so much better at snow prep and removal. You'd laugh at the paltry amount of snow that will shut everything down in Virginia. This storm deserves a shut down for yesterday and today, though. No powerlines hit by the trees, so that's good! A lot of our neighborhoods lost power, but ours only flashed off a couple of times.

I was supposed to have to go in to work today, but my job was cancelled because of the weather, so I'll be home hanging out with my kids and neighbors, continuing to shovel, and on the phone with tree company, fence company, roof company, an insurance. :-)

Loudoun schools are closed again today, too, Jennifer. It doesn't seem bad at all in our area, but as with Fairfax it's a big county and I'm sure the eastern part is still digging out.

>43 japaul22: the action news theme -- yes! I "heard" it too. Ha.

>41 rhian_of_oz: That depends on where you live. Northern Virginia gets little snow. However, parts of Canada, the US, Scandinavia, and northern Europe get lots of snow. City and county budgets and equipment are set up for snow clearing. Cars have snow tires, and the semiannual switching of tires from summer to winter and back again is a ritual that partially marks the change of season. In some places tires are studded in winter for better grip, and some places use chains on their tires, but this is not as prevalent as previously, as it has been found to damage the roads, and in the meantime snow tire technology has improved dramatically.

The last place I lived had what are called 'white outs' on an almost daily basis in winter, and 20 cm per day was not uncommon. Life continues on though, otherwise everything would shut down for the winter. However, if the roads are declared closed by the relevant transportation authority, you are not supposed to drive on them, and your insurance will not cover you should you be found to be driving on them and have an accident. That's when things will start to close.

Where I live now, there is very little snow, but freezing rain can be a problem, for trees and roads. I still use winter tires though, just to be prepared, and tire manufacturers now say that summer tires start losing their grip at 7C. The usual temperature here in winter ranges from -2C to 5C, so it's worth changing them. It actually makes for worse driving than snow, due to something called 'black ice', which you can't see before you're on it.

That's probably more than you ever wanted to know about winter driving!

>43 japaul22:, >44 lauralkeet: Right! The "Move Closer to Your World" theme for Action News is now nearly 50 years old, and, as Laura knows, it's still played before and after every news segment on 6abc. It's as much a part of Philadelphia as cheesesteaks, water (wudder) ices, and hoagies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFJ2yoTsBds

>45 SassyLassy: Thanks for taking the time to respond in detail.

I don't drive so it's hard for me to imagine what it must be like to have to trudge through snow to catch public transport.

>46 kidzdoc: Okay, now I'm have another d**n news song stuck in my head. Thanks Darryl (just kidding).

Hi Jennifer, I hope things will work out soon and that the damage is not that bad!

>43 japaul22: Yikes! That sounds like one of the miserable wet early snow dumps we'd have up here, and I'm sorry you have two trees down... especially knowing what tree guys cost to come clean them up. I hope your garage isn't too badly damaged, and that your insurance covers everything it needs to. I just texted my sister, who lives in Fairfax, to see how she made out.

>34 japaul22: - Wow, that's a huge amount of snow! Any trees coming down can be pretty scary--I hope you're able to clear that up soon.

>26 japaul22: - Enjoyed your review of Paradise. Strangely enough, my library has a number of ebooks by Gurnah but not that one.

>48 lauralkeet: Oops. *retreats back into the shadows*

Hi all, thanks for the replies! Tree guy came out to assess and will hopefully remove the trees Saturday or Monday. They are understandably busy and since we don't have open sky in our house, we are not at the top of the list. This is a good thing!

Kids are still home from school and they already announced a snow day again for tomorrow. This is where the midwesterner in me starts to get annoyed. It was a lot of snow, but it's been done since 2 pm on Monday. Seems like it should be safe enough to go back 3 days later. We're supposed to get a couple more inches of snow early Friday morning, so I predict they are home all week. Maybe it's good with omicron everywhere in our community. Luckily, my work schedule was light this week and my kids are old enough to stay home alone for a few hours here and there.

Even with being home so much I haven't gotten much reading done because with all the phone calls and changes to our schedule I've been out of sorts.

Hopefully, I'll have a review to post tomorrow or Friday and get back to books instead of home disasters!

I really appreciate everyone's kind words and concern!

Wish you well. I remember when my sister lived in the DC area one her major complaints was how the city came to a standstill after a snowstorm. This was 20 years ago. Seems the area is perpetually underprepared.

>54 dchaikin: This area is never prepared for a snowstorm. But I kind of get why after living here for 17 years. There are lots of winters that we don't get any significant snow fall. And then it seems that when we do get snow it's A LOT.

It's kind of fun to have things shut down, but it's less fun right now because it's right on top of the school's winter break. If they get tomorrow off, the schools will be off for 23 days for winter break!

#2 Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Those of you who have followed my reading over the past years know that I don't usually read much YA lit, but now I have a 12 year old son who doesn't want me to read out loud to him anymore, but doesn't want to read "alone" either. It doesn't seem that most of his friends read much, so I'm sometimes reading books along with him so he has someone to chat with. (My mom/his grandma, who lives right by us, also reads along with him sometimes - love that!)

Anyway, I did like this second book in the Divergent series. As is typical for second books in a series, this one does a little more back story and the action revolves around trying to figure out what is going on in their world. The world building is exciting, but not completely thorough. I feel like there are some pretty big gaps in logic. But, then again, there is good propulsion through the plot and a lot of drama. The "plot twist" at the end really shouldn't surprise anyone, but it's what you want to happen, so it's ok.

Fun to read and a great series to get tweens/teens reading.

Original publication date: 2012
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 512 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased kindle
Why I read this: with my son

>56 japaul22: Why I read this: with my son

My favorite reason

Has your son read the Artemis Fowl series? They're lots of fun.

>58 rhian_of_oz: No, but the first one is on his shelf. I tend to buy lots of "first books" in series and see what he gravitates toward. I have a younger son also who will hopefully read them if he doesn't, or I'll just donate them to their school or library when we're sure we're done.

>56 japaul22: What a good reason. My last read with either of my kids was Love in the Time of Cholera with my daughter her senior year of high school. She wanted me to experience it with her and it was fun seeing how much she and her friends hated the main character who was, it must be noted, kind of rapey.

Happy New Year, Jennifer! Dropping a star. Coincidentally, my 12 year old is reading the Divergent series right now. He finished the first two, which he liked, and is on the third. He says they are similar to the Hunger Games series.

I also enjoyed reading with my kids, Jennifer.

>60 RidgewayGirl: I'm so interested to see what my kids read in high school! And how they react to it . . .

>61 karspeak: That is a coincidence! Definitely similar to Hunger Games - I think I liked that series more than Divergent, though.

>62 BLBera: It's such a fun thing to share!

My kids ended up out of school because of the snow ALL WEEK! Virginia is so bad at snow removal. Hopefully they are going back tomorrow after an epic 23 day winter break. I do think the district was probably happy to avoid one more week of covid spread right after the holidays. So maybe it wasn't such a bad thing.

>63 japaul22: Jennifer, I thought of you Friday when I saw the schools were closed again. Fingers crossed for the upcoming week!

>63 japaul22: Our district in PA no longer really has snow days as they now become online school days - a cruel change in my opinion. I remember the joy of hearing our district announced closed as a kid. Are yours still unexpected play with no classes at all days?

>65 nancyewhite: what our district did is say at the beginning of the year that the first five snow days would be traditional snow days with no instruction. Additional snow days will be virtual instruction. So that means we just burned through our five real snow days off with this one storm. I guess it’s a good compromise, though, and means we won’t have to go later into the summer to make up instructional time.

Hi, I'm here leaving my star, and wishing you a Happy New Year. Very interesting about your first two books; who knows whether I will succumb to temptation and read both.

Two books I read with my son when he was in middle school—12ish—and that we both loved were Tobias Wolff's This Boy's Life and J.G. Ballard's Empire of the Sun.

>66 japaul22: When I heard about snow days (and school delayed for later in the day) in the States, it took me awhile for my brain to wrap around it. I never had those back home - the only reasons for the schools to close was a really bad flu season (50%+ of the kids in the county are home sick) or during a few weird winters, the lack of heating (no money...). In all cases these were never "free" days - we were due at school for as many Saturdays as free days we had after the situation normalized (or in a few notable cases the spring vacation as cut short to be able to add the few missed days as school days) - the number of school days in a year were always pre-defined and could not be changed even if that meant adding days. I am not sure what they are doing these days but back in the 90s, that was the basic rule... Cultural differences can be fun :)

>68 lisapeet: well, I got my daughter to _watch_ Empire of the Sun with me. (I've read it too, but it's like a favorite movie of mine)

>67 sallypursell: They are very different from each other, but both good in their own way!

>68 lisapeet: I will make a note of those!

>69 AnnieMod: Our district builds snow days into the schedule, so if we don't have any, the kids actually get more instruction than is technically required by the state. But we usually do use most of them. Growing up in Chicago, we had snow days, but not as many as we have in Virginia, even though we had much more snow there. But there are better systems for snow removal in place and people are just used to driving and walking in the snow/ice.
It is wild to me to think of kids making up days off on Saturdays, though! That would never happen here - the teachers wouldn't do it!

>70 dchaikin: That is a good movie, and one that is due a rewatch for me.

#3 Frost in May by Antonia White
The Virago group is doing themed monthly reads and the first was "Nuns, Teachers, and Governesses". I have about 6 unread viragos on my shelf, so I'm trying to read them when they fit a category. I had never read Frost in May, which is Virago #1, so I took the opportunity and I'm so glad I did!

Frost in May is about a young girl whose father has recently converted to Catholicism. He sends her to a conservative Catholic boarding school. There, 9 year old Nanda whole-heartedly discovers the Catholic faith, makes friends, and begins to know herself. She is immersed in the closed world of the convent, where self-control, discipline, and humility are demanded of these young children. The glimmers of non-conformity come from a few of her friends at the convent who have more worldly families and from Nanda's mother, who during brief visits, obviously shows that she does not buy in to the system. Though internally Nanda embraces the lifestyle, some of her actions don't fit with the convent rules and the book does not end happily from Nanda's point of view.

I unexpectedly found this book delightful. There is a subtle and slightly subversive humor throughout from the author, but at the same time she perfectly captures the rigidity of a child's mind as it opens up through the teen years.

I would love to know more about the politics/cultural ramifications of converting to Catholicism in England in the early 1900s. I'm curious if there was a deeper cultural statement being made in the book that I didn't have the background to comprehend.

Original publication date: 1933, Virago publication date 1978 (#1)
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 221 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: given to me by Barbara/romain from the Virago group
Why I read this: virago monthly challenge

>56 japaul22: This has always been on my wish list, but I feel like I lost my appetite for dystopia due to what is going on now...

>73 MissBrangwen: that's fair! One good thing about it is that it's an absorbing, fast read. So you might escape from world events for a bit! :-) But you're right that it is a dark plot.

>72 japaul22: Ooh, this looks interesting! And it appears to be the first in a set of four about this character. . . The frost quartet

>75 markon: yes, it is! I don't own the other books but I'm going to look into how available they are. Sometimes these older viragos are hard to find.

>72 japaul22: great review. I’ve added this to my ideas list (as in ideas for reading)

Great comments on Frost in May, Jennifer. It sounds like something I would love. Hooray for snow days! ;)

I too loved reading to my children, and I was so upset when each one didn't want me to read to them any more. I remember a visit we made to a brother-in-law's house, and reading to the children at night, including his children, who were astonished but thrilled to be read to. They had never experienced that. It was Heidi we were reading at the time.

>77 dchaikin: have you explored the virago publications at all, Dan? It's an interesting list of books.

>78 BLBera: I think you would like it, Beth. I think we have more snow days coming after this weekend. We'll see - supposed to get snow/ice Sunday into Monday. Monday is a day off for MLK day, so the question will be Tuesday. Too early to predict.

>79 sallypursell: It was a little sad to stop reading to my older son when he was around 11, but I do like that I can still read the same books as him sometimes. It was a good transition! I would think that, sadly, the majority of kids aren't read to, at least past the preschool years.

>77 dchaikin: no. Well, I can't say I have explored any publisher in any kind of way. Virago interests me, but if I recall from searching, it's pricey with that across-the-pond shipping... oh, that's not correct. I can search amazon for "Virago Modern Classics" and get normal amazon shipping policies. Noting.

(this is fun: https://www.virago.co.uk/imprint/lbbg/virago/page/virago-modern-classic-collecti... )

>81 dchaikin: nope, shipping through amazon for one book was $17. That's affordable for a book I really want but, of course, a lot discouraging.

>81 dchaikin: viragos can definitely be hard to find in the U.S. I've had the best luck on ebay, searching by publisher. But I've found that if I have one certain book in mind, I don't seem to find it for a decent price.

#4 Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

I really enjoyed this Greek myth retelling. Jennifer Saint obviously has an excellent command of myths, how they fit together, and the possibilities that they lend to story-telling. Ariadne's story has several different versions, most famously that she is the daughter of Minos and helped Theseus defeat the Minotaur in the labyrinth. In Saint's novel, this part of the myth sets the stage and develops characters for what happens later. I would say the most action takes place when Ariadne is abandoned on Naxos and becomes the wife of a Greek God, Dionysus.

Saint focuses on Ariadne and her sister, Phaedra - as in many of the current myth-retelling novels being published, her goal is to illuminate how the women in these stories would have experienced the action. Overall, she does a good job, creating a page-turning novel with a lot of detail and good themes. I was, though, a little unsatisfied at the ending and also thought that if she'd kept the focus a little tighter on Ariadne, the novel also would have been more focused.

This was an enjoyable read and a fun diversion. Certainly not as good as Madeline Miller's works, but good for an engrossing story.

Original publication date: 2021
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 305 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: BOTM choice
Why I read this: off the shelf

Great comments on Ariadne, Jennifer. I agree that Miller is better, but still this was an enjoyable book.

>84 japaul22: Ditto on your Ariadne comments all around. She's got a new one, Elektra, coming out in April, and I'm looking forward to it.

>85 BLBera: >86 lisapeet: I'm sure you two put it on my list! I did enjoy it and will definitely read Elektra when it comes out. Thanks for the tip!

#5 World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds by Scott Weidensaul

Excellent book that meshes the new information that scientists are discovering about the mysteries of bird migration with the environmental issues that are harming them. In the past 20 years, the study of bird migration has taken off, as technology has enabled scientists to fit birds with extremely light weight geo-locators. Even with the advances in technology there are still so many questions about bird migration. But, there is also a lot of fascinating information coming out that will hopefully make humans care about how they are affecting the world these birds inhabit with us.

As I look through my kindle notes, I could write pages about all the things I learned. I was particularly fascinated by the way birds navigate, the way they prepare for migrations that are thousands of miles long, and the various routes they take. Weidensaul makes you really care about each bird he focuses on (probably about a dozen throughout the book). It helped me to also look up some pictures of the birds as I read about them.

And then he starts talking about all the ways the world is changing and making things more difficult for the birds such as the fragmentation of forests, changing weather patterns, farming practices, light pollution, and hunting practices. The good news is that solid information about bird migration, including global hot spots that many different species of birds all rely on, is helping conservationists convince people and governments to make changes to help birds. Of course, this is not always an easy road and is met with resistance in many places, but at least there is now the beginning of the information we need to even know what change needs to happen.

Some of my favorite birds that I learned about in this book were the spoon-billed sandpiper, the red knot, the godwit, frigatebirds, kirtland’s warblers, and swainson’s hawks. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in birds, nature, conservation, and/or environmental issues.

Original publication date: 2021
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 400 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased for kindle
Why I read this: off the shelf

>88 japaul22: that looks super interesting, Jennifer, and just my cuppa. I've made a note of it for a future library request. Great review.

>89 lauralkeet: I'm sure you'll like it!

Enjoyed your review and thinking about migratory birds now and how to research and track them … or get the tracking devices on them. Sounds fun.

>Enjoyed your review of World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds. Made me realise that I have a large knowledge gap here.

>88 japaul22: I just read your review on the Greenhouse thread so hopped over here to see it in context. Onto my wishlist... along with more books than I can read in my lifetime so who knows.

>91 dchaikin: I did enjoy the parts about tracking and tagging the birds. Not a focus of the book, but gets a few mentions.

>92 baswood: everyone has a huge knowledge gap on bird migration! Scientists are just becoming able to really study it.

>93 qebo: Welcome! So many books . . .

#6 My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

I remember being intrigued by reviews of this when it came out it 2018, but it took a friend handing me a physical copy to finally read it. I wish I'd done it earlier - I loved this book! The protagonist (I just realized I don't think we ever find out her name) is in her mid-20s in 2000, living in NYC. Her parents have died and she's tired and depressed. She has a loser boyfriend who doesn't love her, a boring job as a receptionist at an art gallery, and plenty of inheritance money. So she decides to sleep for a year to reset herself. She finds the comically worst psychiatrist ever, who can't even remember that her parents are dead from session to session, and prescribes her any medication she wants. She takes cocktails of pills, drinking coffee in between blackouts, and stays in her apartment for most of a year. Her only friend, Reva, is her only visitor and contact with the outside world.

The writing in this book is fantastic. It's darkly humorous, and captures the pointlessness of modern life without human connection perfectly. Of course, also hanging over the book throughout is that it's 2000 and she's living in NYC, so 9/11 is ever-present.

I just really loved this. Maybe because I was the same age as the protagonist in 2000. I don't usually like novels about rich, sad people who have plenty of ways to be happy, but this really worked for me. I can't wait to read Eileen and anything else Ottessa Moshfegh writes.

Original publication date: 2018
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 289 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: borrowed paperback
Why I read this: off my TBR list

>95 japaul22: I loved this one, too. Moshfegh is a somewhat polarizing author, but if you like her, she's fantastic. I was surprised at how much heart there ended up being in the book.

>96 RidgewayGirl: that's definitely why it worked for me. It sounds like it could be a cold and depressing book, and while there's an element of that, it wasn't overwhelming.

>95 japaul22: Great review. I'm intrigued.
>96 RidgewayGirl: a good polarizing author or bad one...obviously that's just a wrong question, still it's what I end up thinking.

>95 japaul22: Hmm, I have a copy of Eileen.

>95 japaul22: This sounds interesting and I've added it to my wishlist.

>98 dchaikin: good or bad polarizing? Hmmm . . . . I thought the writing, pacing, character development were good so I don't think it would be an argument over whether it was well written. For me, what would be polarizing is the topic - a rich, white girl who can't deal with life and lives on her privilege while taking tons of prescription drugs. I could see many readers just rolling their eyes and not wanting to invest any time in that sort of "life problem". And I've been there with lots of other books - I usually can't stand "rich white people problems" to put it very bluntly! But for me, the dark humor saved this book from the topic.

>99 Yells: I want to read Eileen soon. I'm really curious to see if I love it too. I'm not positive with this author that I'll love all of her books.

>100 rhian_of_oz: I will be interested to see if you like it - I can see it going either way for people.

>95 japaul22: Maybe it's the northeastern midwinter, but that sounds like such wish fulfillment to me right now—taking to one's bed (for non-medical reasons) would be sooo delicious. I have a copy of that floating around somewhere, and now I want to read it.

Eileen was kind of meh for me—I felt like it leaned on the loser porn a bit too heavily to be sympathetic, which would have made it a more rounded novel. But I'd be interested to hear what you think when you do get to it.

>102 lisapeet: Yes! Sleeping for a year sounds sort of amazing. Maybe why I liked this, as well! I will try Eileen at some point - curious to see what I think!

#7 Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac

Code Talker is a YA novel about the Navajo code talkers in WWII. It is a first person fictional account from a Navajo man who recounts his life to his grandchildren. He details his life from his time in a school that tries to take his Navajo identity, through enlisting in the Marine Corps, being trained as a code talker, and his WWII experience, including the battle of Iwo Jima.

This is a really good YA book. The language and syntax are easy, but the topics are in depth and the author doesn't shy away from hard discussions. He talks about being forced to assimilate as a child and what that did to Native Americans, about how language can define a culture and person, and war topics such as losing friends, fear, and PTSD.

I read this because my mom always does a summer book club with my son and was thinking about this book. She wanted to make sure it wouldn't be too upsetting or adult in topic. I think that it's a really great book and would recommend it to middle grade and high school readers. And actually, I think a lot of adults would enjoy it too.

Original publication date: 2005
Author’s nationality: Nulhegan Abenaki Citizen
Original language: English
Length: 205 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: borrowed paperback
Why I read this: at my mom's request

Just finally catching up on your 2022 thread and I've enjoyed all the reviews and comments. Hope you get your tree removal accomplished soon. I'm glad you're covered by insurance (I assume they're paying for the tree removal, but maybe I misunderstood). A very good friend of mine, native to Louisiana, was living in the town of Chalmette, not far from New Orleans, when Katrina hit and sent a tree crashing down onto his fence. The insurance company said the tree falling was an act of God, not covered, but that he should call them when he got the tree removed and they would pay for the new fence.

I'm with you about getting quickly impatient with "monied, white people's problems" novels.

Belated Happy New Year!

>95 japaul22: Another big fan of this one as well. I sort of wish I could read it again for the first time. I'm glad you liked it!

#8 Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

I raced through reading this book and felt as though I were watching a horror movie with my hands over my eyes. The premise is that the world's animals have gotten a virus that makes them deadly to humans, both if eaten and if they have any contact with humans at all. So the animals of the world are killed and a sub-class of humans is created that is farmed and butchered like cattle is today. We are told in vivid detail of the process and taste of humans. The main character is the manager of a processing facility.

So why did I read this? Well, a friend of mine loaned it to me as a book that made a big impression on her. To tell the truth there is no other way I would have read this. I suppose it has worth as a polemic against farming, but there wasn't any heart to the story anywhere. And the ending is even more brutal than what I've described so far.

Also, if we really couldn't eat meat any more, I would have zero problem being vegetarian or vegan and feel confident that eating humans is not what I would resort to. The book says doctors were saying that everyone was anemic without meat. There's also a rumor that governments decided there were too many people and the first wave of cannibalism was the poor, refugees, etc. to thin the population. Once that was done they starting breeding and farming humans.

I cannot recommend reading this and will try my best to forget it.

Original publication date: 2020
Author’s nationality: Argentinian
Original language: Spanish
Length: 223 pages
Rating: 2 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: borrowed paperback
Why I read this: to try to figure out why my friend liked it

>107 japaul22: So why did I read this?
This was my immediate thought as I was reading your first paragraph. :-)

Apparently it's good enough to translate, but... yuck.

>107 japaul22: The discussion about this one during the Tournament of Books was that the events seemed highly unlikely in a world where even Burger King is pushing a plant-based burger. When the central issue is solved by going to a drive-thru...But, yes, the lack of heart was glaring.

When you said you raced through it I was waiting for some big stars at the end, but now I get why you raced!

>107 japaul22: Those are my exact thoughts on this book! I don't understand the people who rave about it.

>108 qebo: I'm not sure about this friend's judgment anymore :-)

>109 dchaikin: It won quite a few awards and attention and was in the Tournament of Books!

>110 RidgewayGirl: I guess Argentina, where the author is from, is a culture that does have a meat-heavy diet, but still. There are plenty of people world wide who are already vegetarian or vegan!

>111 AlisonY: Yes, racing out of revulsion

>112 Dilara86: It gets so many positive reviews! With over 3000 reviews, it gets 4.5 stars on amazon!

>107 japaul22: Your comments made me gag a little, so I guess I won't be reading this book.

>107 japaul22: I read this last year, said I thought it was quite a good book, and that there was absolutely no one I would recommend it to. I have some books like that - I liked them, but I can't imagine telling someone else to read it. (Crash by Ballard is in that category.)

>115 ursula: I'm so glad you chimed in! I'm curious what you liked about it? My friend who recommended it said it made her think about the farming industry and she also liked the various reactions to the situations from the characters and how they dealt with it (denial, fascination, blind acceptance, etc.).

I think that yes, the parallels to the farming industry are interesting. I mean, people think that they would become vegetarian if animal meat were no longer available, but in our current world there is a segment of people horrified by factory farming, etc., and they manage to put it out of their minds and eat meat anyway. Or they find means of "production" that are more acceptable to them, although the end result is still the same, the animal dies so it can be eaten.

The manager of the processing facility has been inured to it on the scale at which he works, but when faced with an individual, his reactions are different, unpredictable even to himself. It seems there is some humanity left there - or not. Do the people who work in cattle processing keep pets? Value any kind of animal life? I'm not saying they can't, or don't (I have no idea), but it does make one wonder how it affects one's worldview to do that all day, every day.

>117 ursula: All good points. There's certainly a lot to talk about around the book. Thanks for sharing more about your reaction!

>26 japaul22: After read all of Gurnah except the new one. Hope to get to it soon.

>88 japaul22: What a very interesting book; nice review! (the migratory bird book)

>119 avaland: thanks for dropping by!

#9 Lady Fanshawe's Receipt Book by Lucy Moore

In the mid-1600s, Lady Ann Fanshawe kept both a receipt book, filled with her personal recipes for medicines, food, and drinks, and wrote a memoir of her life to pass down to her children. Lucy Moore uses these documents to recreate the life of this woman, who lived through the English Civil war that pitted Charles I against Oliver Cromwell. Ann and her husband, Richard, were staunch Royalists, so their life during this time was full of quick departures, new countries, and uncertainty. Through it all they seem to have maintained a loving and respectful partnership. They had thirteen children together, only five of whom survived to adulthood. Moore reprints a receipt at the beginning of each chapter, mainly medicinal recipes, and then uses the recipe as a jumping off point to talk about what was going on in Ann's life or in the larger English world.

I love this kind of nonfiction, that takes primary source material from long ago to illuminate the life of a woman. Certainly Ann, who was literate and wealthy, did not live an "average" woman's life of the 1600s, but her experience still sheds light on what life was like for the less known and studied people of the era. I really enjoyed this and would recommend to anyone who likes this sort of nonfiction - I think you know who you are!

Original publication date: 2017
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 416 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: gift
Why I read this: off the shelf, interested in the topic

>121 japaul22: This looks great, Jennifer. I’m adding to my wishlist.

#10 Dangerous Liaisons by Choderlos de Laclos

My first reread of the year was this 18th century scandalous classic. The book is entirely epistolary, which I always think is impressive for an author to manage. They have to work out location, keeping characters apart so that letters are necessary, and also create a unique voice for each character. I think Laclos does a very good job with this. He creates characters that are "evil" but also have so much life and wit that you can't help enjoying them. Both times I read this, I was actually sort of sad at the ending, where everyone sort of gets what is coming to them.

I do think the book drags a bit in the middle, and the letters between Valmont and the righteous Presidente de Tourvel are intolerably annoying. But the Marquise de Merteuil is fabulous even though she's trying to ruin lives, and I also love the innocent but life-loving Cecile Volanges.

A 250 year old book that is still highly readable and still salacious today is well worth reading in my opinion.

Original publication date: 1782
Author’s nationality: French
Original language: French, translated by Helen Constantine
Length: 418 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased paperback
Why I read this: reread

>123 japaul22: For some reason I didn't realize that this was an epistolary. That makes me a little more curious about it than I was, including and especially the "salacious" designation...

>124 lisapeet: I didn't realize it was an epistolary either, but I had picked up on the salaciousness. The important thing Ha!

>124 lisapeet: >125 labfs39: I sometimes forget that those pre-Victorian novels can have plenty of sex in them!

Like I said, I did feel that it dragged a bit in the middle and certain characters' conversations were repetitive, but there is plenty to enjoy here and I think it's very worth reading.

I wanted to reread this because I read it on my kindle the first time and I learned that I needed to be able to flip back to letters easily to see who was writing to who, the date, and just to remind myself of the conversation if there were too many other letters in between.

>124 lisapeet: Back in the very dim and distant past we saw Alan Rickman in the stage version of this when it was on in London. He was wonderful! Made me go quite weak at the knees…

>127 SandDune: I so wish I had seen that!

(I think I read somewhere that Juliet Stevenson commented that a lot of people left the theatre wanting to have sex with Alan Rickman...)

>127 SandDune:, >128 wandering_star: oh my. YES.

The film with John Malkovich is pretty good, but he's no Alan Rickman.

>127 SandDune: Oh my . . . I can only imagine!

>128 wandering_star: Agreed!

>129 lauralkeet: I'm not really a movie watcher, but I might need to check that out.

#11 Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

James Baldwin is a masterful writer. There is something about the way he understands and uses the English language that I find impressive but not pretentious. Giovanni's Room is a short novel about a young American man who is living in Paris and experimenting with love. David is engaged to a woman named Hella, but while she is traveling, he takes up with a young man named Giovanni and they develop a passionate relationship. As David attempts to untangle his feelings, lives around him fall apart.

This is a short novel that packs a huge punch. The events are dramatic, and David's actions and indecision set into motion a string of events that he doesn't intend. I'm looking forward to continuing to read more by Baldwin.

Original publication date: 1956
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 176 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: kindle library book
Why I read this: 1001 books

Sounds like a run of good books after Tender is the Flesh. Definitely don't want to read that one after your review, although it did seem like there are some parallels to Under the Skin, which I liked.

>123 japaul22: - I agree with you on this one--it's been a while, but I was surprised at how engaging and readable this was for an 18th c. epistolary novel.

>131 japaul22: - I need to read more James Baldwin in general--I think I have another book of his essays somewhere, but this one also sounds appealing.

I enjoyed this Baldwin too.Will be interested in your reviews of his other books when you get to them.

#12 Corregidora by Gayl Jones

This was not the book for me. Important, yes, in brutally revealing the lives of black enslaved women and their subsequent generations of daughters. But detailing domestic abuse, sexual assault, violent relationships, and graphic sex and language just was too much for me to stomach.

I feel some guilt when I react this way to a book. Who am I to not even be able to read about these topics when so many women lived it? But there it is. I skimmed sections and made it to the end. Barely.

Original publication date: 1975
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 176 pages
Rating: I can't rate this because I don't know wether to prioritize my reaction or the writing (which was good) or the importance of the topic
Format/where I acquired the book: ER book
Why I read this: off the shelf, Virago American author monthly challenge

>134 japaul22: Sounds like a very difficult read.

I agree, that is a very difficult book.

#13 Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe

Empire of Pain is fast-paced, compelling nonfiction that will turn your stomach at the greed it presents. Keefe has combed through thousands of documents to put together the story of the Sackler family. The Sacklers are well-known as philanthropists to the arts, museums, and higher education. But the way they made their money has made many of these institutions begin to turn away their donations and rename their buildings.

The Sacklers are in the pharmaceutical business and are the producers of Oxycontin, the opioid that has cause so many addiction problems in our country. What is really horrifying about this account is that it points out all of the information that the company had early on about the addictive properties of Oxycontin and that Purdue Pharma blatantly ignored, covered up, or outright lied about. And they bought the FDA to go along with them. The lack of FDA oversight in marketing this kind of drug was absolutely shocking to me and the opportunities for corruption in this case and in the marketing of any medication was deeply disturbing. The Sacklers also knew exactly where to market their addictive drug to get the highest sales, knew which doctors were overprescribing and kept supplying them, knew the pharmacies that were giving out more oxycontin pills per day than the local population could possible ingest, and yet they kept selling.

Keefe gives a complete picture of the Sacklers, starting with the 3 brothers growing up in an immigrant family, succeeding in the medical field, and melding ambitious marketing skills with their medical degrees by getting into pharmaceuticals. The first round of money they made was largely based on valium (hm, another addictive pain killer). The second generation was the one that came up with Oxycontin. Some readers may be a little bored by the detailed family history presented in the first section, but I liked the background.

I think this is an important book for all Americans to read. It's pretty eye opening to see how the system for making and marketing medication works and how deeply flawed it is. Highly recommended.

Original publication date: 2021
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 558 pages
Rating: 5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased kindle book
Why I read this: interested in the topic and lisapeet's review pushed me over the edge to get to it

>137 japaul22: I read this last month and thought it was a terrific piece of journalistic long-form writing. I learned so much about a lot of different things.

You've read some interesting books of late, and those are some great reviews (whether in praise of or problems with). Very enjoyable!

>138 lisapeet: Empire of Pain was on my radar, but your review pushed me over the edge to finally read it. Thanks!

>139 avaland: Thank you! Overall, it's been a good stretch!

#14 My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson

My Monticello is a collection of 4 short stories and a novella by debut author, Jocelyn Nicole Johnson. The stories are all set in Virginia, my adopted home state, so I was curious to read them. They also deal with race and racism. The most memorable story to me was the first one "Control Negro" about a Black professor who fathers a son and then sets up his life at a distance to see if providing the same physical and emotional set up that an "Average Caucasian Male" receives will result in similar life outcomes.

My Monticello is the title of the novella included in this collection. It is set in Charlottesville,VA in what I assume to be the near future. Chaos has ensued and white men are "taking back" the country. A mixed group ends up fleeing together to Jefferson's home, Monticello. The main character is a young woman who is related to Jefferson through her mother's line, going back to Sally Hemmings. I thought it was very effective to set the place of refuge for this group at Monticello, which, as the large slave plantation of one of America's founding fathers, could be viewed as one of the seeds of the problem in the first place.

This is an impressive debut collection that is culturally relevant and a pleasure to read. I recommend.

Original publication date: 2021
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 215 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased kindle book
Why I read this: review by Beth/BLBera

#15 The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

This is an ok thriller/suspense type book. It alternates chapters between a therapist, Avery, who uses unconventional methods to help her clients work through their problems with her client, Marissa, who has come to Avery for marriage counseling with her husband. Marissa reveals that she cheated on her husband and as they try to rebuild several mysteries come to the surface.

This was fun enough to read and I do like to read something that is just for fun and takes no thought once in a while. I was not surprised at the reveal, but it was an ok ride to get there.

Original publication date: 2022
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 329 pages
Rating: 2.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: BOTM
Why I read this: off my shelf

#16 Tea at Four o'Clock by Janet McNeill

I loved this quiet novel about a middle-aged woman who finds her life suddenly changed when her invalid sister dies. Laura has been caring for Mildred for 6 years and has led a completely sheltered and isolated existence, completely controlled by the domineering Mildred. When Mildred dies, Laura inherits their large home and estate and her life begins to have motion. A long lost brother returns, bringing up memories of a friend of his who she loved in her youth and bringing to light a family secret that could change how Laura has viewed her whole adult life. Laura will have to decide for herself how she wants her life to look from here on out.

This is a simple novel with a simple plot that gives plenty of room for a deeply drawn character and situation. It's one of my favorite kinds of novel and reminded me of Barbara Pym, Anita Brookner, and Penelope Fitzgerald. Thanks so much to Alison for bringing this novel to my attention. I'll be on the lookout for more books by Janet McNeill who doesn't seem to have much currently in print in the U.S.

Original publication date: 1956
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 187 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased at book depository
Why I read this: Virago March group read, off the shelf

>143 japaul22: ooh, I have this one on my shelves, too. I have two others teed up for the March group read but your references to Pym, Brookner, and Fitzgerald are tempting. I'm making a note of it to read sooner rather than later.

#17 Anniversaries Volume 1 of 4 by Uwe Johnson

I've finished the first of four volumes of Uwe Johnson's epic novel, Anniversaries. This novel follows one year in the life of Gesine Cresspahl, the single mother of Marie, who is a German immigrant living in NYC. The book is told in the format of daily journal entries and volume one covers August 21, 1967 - December 19, 1967. Gesine is a dedicated reader of the New York Times and most entries involve some of the stories from the Times that day. In this way we follow the Vietnam war and the race riots of the era. Competing with the current day events are the stories of Gesine's parents and grandparents in 1930s Germany that Gesine tells to her daughter, Marie. Marie is the star of the book for me so far. She is a precocious, opinionated, funny 10 year old and when the focus is on her I'm absolutely entranced by this book. At other times, though, I'm a bit annoyed. Johnson has no compunction in shifting point of view, pronouns, voice, etc. and I'm often confused about who is supposed to be speaking. I also don't totally buy that the daily format was necessary since many entries seem to be completely untethered to the day to which they are assigned. After 400 pages, though, I think I'm accepting it and getting the hang of it. I think it helped that I read the last 150 pages of this rather quickly and stayed in the flow of the story. Moving forward, that will be my strategy. I'll take breaks between the remaining 3 volumes, but read them as a novel over a few weeks instead of reading a few pages a day (my initial idea).

At the end of this first volume I feel like I'm getting a handle on the important characters and have sorted out the key people both in 1930s Germany and in NYC. I have a lot of questions, but Johnson has 1200 pages left to answer them, so I suppose I'll be patient.

I am counting each volume as a "book" for my personal accounting system. It will help me stay motivated to get to count it as 4 instead of 1 and it was published in four separate volumes initially, so I'll justify it that way. :-)

>143 japaul22: Oooh, sounds like another good one from McNeill. Thoroughly enjoyed your review. You'll have to try The Maiden Dinosaur now!

>145 japaul22: I've bought Anniversaries, but have been working my way through some other Christmas books and holds that came in from the library. I'll get to it soonish.

Empire of Pain sounds great, Jennifer. One of these days. I liked his book about Ireland, so I will read this.

I'm so glad you liked My Monticello! I still find myself thinking about it. I can't wait to see what she does next.

Tea at Four O'Clock also sounds like one I would like.

Enjoyed catching up and especially seeing your posts on Anniversaries...and on Giovanni's Room, which is such a great book. You have been working through a lot of interesting books.

>146 AlisonY: Alison, I forgot that it was Maiden Dinosaur that you read - I think I got Tea at Four o'Clock because it was more accessible. But I'm happy to continue reading Janet McNeill so thank you for introducing me to her!

>147 BLBera: Yes, My Monticello was excellent and I'm not sure I would have stumbled upon it without your review. I love LT . . .

>148 dchaikin: I feel like I've been drawn to a larger percentage of older books this year, where the last couple years I've read a ton of new releases. It seems to be working for me.

The Women's Prize for Fiction released the 2022 long list. I am never one to read all of the books on an award list, but this award seems to always point me towards a few books that I hadn't heard of and end up loving.

Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith
Careless by Kirsty Capes
Creatures of Passage by Morowa Yejidé
Flamingo by Rachel Elliott
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
Remote Sympathy by Catherine Chidgey
Salt Lick by Lulu Allison
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
The Bread the Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini
The Exhibitionist by Charlotte Mendelson
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
This One Sky Day by Leone Ross

I haven't read any of these, though I own Great Circle. Any thoughts on the list?

I’ve only heard of four. I listened to Great Circle and found it only ok for me, but also really long. Bad combo.

I loved both The Sentence and The Island of Missing Trees. I know many have loved Great Circle. I liked it but of the three I mentioned, it's my least favorite. I will try to read ones that my library has. The ones that sound interesting to me are Salt Lick, Flamingo, Creatures of Passage, and This One Sky Day.

>150 japaul22: I was going to comment, but we're both on this thread https://www.librarything.com/topic/340154#n7781903

I prefer not to read dystopians, but Salt Lick sounds interesting. It's also somewhat tricky to get . . . e-books are available though. I don't e-book.

#18 The Perpetual Curate by Margaret Oliphant

The Perpetual Curate is a novel that is part of Oliphant's Chronicles of Carlingford series. The focus here is a young curate named Frank Wentworth working in a low-paying Curate position and focused on the poorer area of Carlingford, Wharfside. He has a family with money but his father had three marriages and tons of children, and the three aunts who were hopefully going to provide him with a family living do not approve of his High Church ways. This is unfortunate since Frank Wentworth has his eye on a lovely young woman, Lucy Wodehouse, who doesn't have money to bring to a marriage. While this is going on, Frank is erroneously marked as having an inappropriate relationship with a pretty, young, lower class girl.

This Victorian novel rolls along well. The plot and characters are entertaining and we get a glimpse of church politics of the time and a bit of the class divide as well. I enjoyed this and think Oliphant has every right to be considered with the other more well-known Victorian authors of the time.

Original publication date: 1864
Author’s nationality: Scottish
Original language: English
Length: 540 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased used Virago edition
Why I read this: group read, off the shelf

I read Oliphant's Chronicles of Carlingford some time ago and really enjoyed it. I agree she's right up there with Trollope and others of that era.

#19 One by One by Ruth Ware
I really needed something light and compulsive to read, and I've been reaching for Ruth Ware when that's my mood. One by One is her take on Agatha Christie's And Then there were None. A business group with a decision to make about agreeing to a buyout for their popular music app arrives in the Alps on a skiing trip. The 8 of them and the two chalet caretakers get snowed in after an avalanche and there are murders, missing people, and lots of secrets.

It was lots of fun and definitely fit what I was looking for.

Original publication date: 2020
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 383 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: kindle library book
Why I read this: fit my mood

Also need to report a DNF. I started Under the Wide and Starry Sky and just couldn't get into it. It's historical fiction about an American woman, Fanny Osbourne, and her love affair with Robert Louis Stevenson and I realized quickly it would be too romanticized and unauthentic for me right now. Sometimes I like that kind of historical fiction, just for fun, but not in the mood.

So, it's pretty rare that I have trouble deciding what to read next, but I've been having a hard time right now picking something. I've started and stopped a couple of different books. I don't want to work too hard, but I also want to read something worth my time. So I went to a Barnes and Noble while I was out running errands and bought some books. I really never do this. We don't have any locally owned bookstores in our immediate area - just this B&N. It was fun to browse rather than just ordering exactly what I want on line. I bought The Island of Missing Trees, Washington Black, and After Me Comes the Flood. Hopefully one of these will grab me!

>157 japaul22: I find that reading is one of the only things I can do these days, but my tastes are really fickle so I have far too many half read books. The weirdness in the world is really affecting my mood. I've read the first two and while Washington Black is enjoyable (Half Blood Blues was better I think), I absolutely loved The Island of Missing Trees. It was the perfect balm for my restlessness.

>158 Yells: Your review really got me intrigued about The Island of Missing Trees and I just had to buy it. I've read the first few pages and it has hooked me right in.

I think the news is really affecting me as well. That coupled with the fact that the pace at work has ramped up again with lots of in person time after the two years of covid. So while I want to read Important Books, they feel like too much. But anything too frivolous also feels wrong.

Ah well, I will get back in the swing of things soon, I'm sure!

I loved The Island of Missing Trees as well, Jennifer. It's my favorite Shafak so far.

>156 japaul22: Ooh, Ruth Ware sounds up my alley, thanks!

>160 BLBera: I remember that you really liked it too! I've never read any of her other books somehow. I see she has a lot published.

>161 karspeak: Ruth Ware writes pretty traditional mysteries with updated settings. I like her books when I want to be entertained. I do usually figure out the mystery before the end, but I enjoy the ride.

>157 japaul22: I can recommend shopping from publisher catalogs, which is a legacy from my bookstore days. I especially like shopping the small publishers as you can buy directly from many of them (and some of them need the money). I'm getting good at clever searches on Book Depository, too.

I've been very busy with work and family, so these reviews will be brief!

#20 The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

Loved it! The story of two young lovers who meet in Cyprus during the civil war between Turks and Greeks. Largely narrated by a fig tree, I found this book a beautiful mix of environmental writing and human drama.

Original publication date: 2021
Author’s nationality: British-Turkish
Original language: English
Length: 350 pages
Rating: 4 stars (maybe 4.5?)
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased hardcover
Why I read this: looking for a really good new book and trusted LT reviews

#21 The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman
This was largely fun but sometimes boring. The 90s were my pivotal decade and it was fun to reminisce. I was expecting mainly popular culture essays, which I did get, but there's a healthy dose of politics as well. He covers: Nirvana, video rentals, telephones, Ross Perot, the baseball strike. I did some skimming, but enjoyed this overall. Only recommended for those who feel a connection to the 90s.

Original publication date: 2021
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 350 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: kindle library book
Why I read this: piqued my interest

Hi Jennifer - I'm so glad The Island of Missing Trees worked for you. The fig tree was great, wasn't it?

>164 japaul22: I very much enjoyed The Island of Missing Trees as well.

>164 japaul22: Given its glowing reviews I'll have to look for The Island of Missing Trees.

>165 BLBera: I loved the tree and thought it made the book!

>166 SandDune: It's definitely gotten a lot of LT love!

>167 kidzdoc: I think it would be on the lighter side of what you tend to read, Darryl, but I think you'd enjoy it. It's part love story, part Cypriot history, and part focus on the natural world. I found it an enjoyable mix.

A busy work schedule and a quick trip to Chicago to see my grandparents (who are 93 and 89 and I haven't seen since 2019 because of covid!) has me a little behind on reviews. Here are two I've finished recently.

#22 After Me Comes the Flood by Sarah Perry
I picked Sarah Perry's first book up on a whim because I've really enjoyed her other two. This was also good and in the same vein, with a gothic, mysterious feel. A man leaves his bookstore rather dramatically to visit his brother and on the way becomes ill and his car breaks down. He ends up stumbling upon an old house where he is welcomed by name, though he knows no one there and doesn't know how they know him. The inhabitants are all a little off, and it is slowly revealed where he has ended up and the back story.

I liked this and saw a lot of promise in it, but the plot seemed like it would have been better suited to a short story. It lost some of the creepiness and suspense of the first section as the book went along. Fans of Sarah Perry might like this to see how she's developed as a writer, but I'd recommend The Essex Serpent as the better book and better starting place.

Original publication date: 2014
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 229 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased paperback
Why I read this: like the author and the only one of her novels I hadn't read

#23 Washington Black by Esi Edugyan

I'm so glad I picked up this creative and captivating novel. I remember it coming out in 2019 and being intrigued, but uneven reviews kept it on the backburner. I really enjoyed it, though, so I'm glad I finally read it.

Washington Black is a young slave on Barbados when he is chosen by his owner's brother to aid in his experiments. Christopher Wilde is a scientist and is working on a "cloud cutter", which seems like an early hot air balloon. Wilde, called Titch, initially chooses Wash because of his small size, but quickly finds out that Wash is an intelligent boy who learns quickly and is a gifted artist as well. The two end up escaping Barbados and Washington travels to Virginia, the Arctic, London, and Morocco, meeting friends and enemies along the way.

I was sucked right in to Edugyan's writing style and how she mixed the brutal reality of the life of the enslaved with the fanciful, creative world of science and experimentation in the 1800s. She had me all the way to the end . . . until the very last page where I'm sad to say I was really disappointed in the ending. I got what she was trying to do (there's some parallel symbolism to something that happens earlier to a different character) but it felt abrupt and out of character for Washington.

Anyway, I'd still recommend this because I really did love it overall. I will put her other books on my library wish list.

Original publication date: 2019
Author’s nationality: Canadian
Original language: English
Length: 383 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased paperback
Why I read this: on my backlist

I hope to get to The Essex Serpent soon, although I probably won't do so before next year.

Nice review of Washington Black. I'll have to look at my copy of it, to remind myself of what happened at the end!

I agree about the ending of Washington Black, Jennifer. She could have done better, or perhaps ended sooner?

I loved The Essex Serpent, so I'll probably read After Me Comes the Flood at some point.

>171 kidzdoc: I always forget book endings too!

>172 BLBera: I would have been fine with it ending earlier or being a little longer - either way - but what she chose was too abrupt for me.
I think I preferred Sarah Perry's book Melmoth to After Me Comes the Flood, but Essex Serpent was the best of the bunch.

#24 The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

So, funny story, I have always thought of The Haunting of Hill House as the first Shirley Jackson book I read and the one that hooked me on her writing. I thought this was due a reread and checked my LT records to see when I'd last read it. But it wasn't in my catalog. So I searched my threads. Not there either that I could find. Oh well - I started reading, and now I'm pretty sure I never actually read it. Not one word was familiar. I don't have the best book memory, but I always have scenes that stick with me or themes or memorable characters.

As for the book itself, I liked this one. It is a haunted house story and a bit more literal in being a "scary story" than some of Jackson's other books. In this one, Hill House is known to be haunted and researcher of ghosts and the supernatural, Dr. Montague, invites a group of people to stay in the house and observe what happens. Plenty of scary, unexplainable things occur, but the real story is in how the characters react to each other and to the stress of the situation.

I liked this, but though it's probably Jackson' most famous book, I don't actually think it's her best. My favorite is Hangsaman of the five Shirley Jackson novels I've read. Even so, I'm glad to have (finally??) read this.

Original publication date: 1959
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 182 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased paperback
Why I read this: reread???

>174 japaul22: Great story! I've had that happen. I wonder if it's because we are always reading other reader's reviews.... I just read an Ian R. MacLeod book that I would swear I had read before, but I think I once considered reading it but didn't....

I haven't read Shirley Jackson in quite a long time. Nice to revisit via your review.

>175 avaland: I'm glad it's not just me! I've read quite a few of Jackson's novel in the past few years and I really enjoy them.

>174 japaul22: Great story Jennifer. It has happened to me as well -- although it could just be that I have a terrible memory...

>170 japaul22: I’m glad you enjoyed Washington Black. i struggled with, but it didn’t really lose me until the fish tanks. Somehow that was one step too silly for me. After that it all felt bad.

>174 japaul22: that’s funny about The Haunting of Hill House. I was surprised how good it was on audio. No simple ghost story. Noting your comment on Hangsaman.

>178 dchaikin: I was ok with the sort of fanciful nature of the scientific experiments. It actually reminded me a lot of a readable version of Thomas Pynchon's Mason and Dixon (did you read that? I feel like you had a Pynchon year - that mechanical duck kept coming back to me as I read Washington Black). But I get your point for sure.

#25 The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen
I really enjoy reading Scandinavian fiction and I've been curious about the hyper-personal narrative autobiographies that are around (like Knausgaard) so I was intrigued right away by this book, especially since it is by a woman. The Copenhagen Trilogy is writer Tove Ditlevsen's memoir told in three parts, her childhood, her youth, and her adulthood where she becomes addicted to painkillers. Ditlevsen wrote this in the 1970s after she had established herself as a well-respected author.

In the Childhood section, we get to know Tove's family and her relationship with her mother, father, and brother. We also learn about the poverty her family grows up in and how it affects her ability to have the confidence and support to become a writer. In the Youth section, Ditlevsen begins to come in to her own - publishing some of her writing, moving out into her own apartment, working, and meeting men. The third section, Dependency, is probably the most compelling section as Tove becomes addicted to demerol supplied by a mentally unstable man who marries her and abuses her for years. I always have a hard time reading about addiction, which is a topic that just terrifies me.

This autobiography reads like a novel and is very personal and revealing. While I enjoyed it and appreciated it for stretching the boundaries of personal narrative, I can't say I loved it. I guess, being a private person myself, I'm not that excited about knowing the details and confessions of a real person. I would rather lose myself in fiction or read nonfiction that is at a bit more of a remove. Even so, I would recommend this, especially if you are interested in the inner thoughts of writers, the struggles of female writers, or the time period in general (spans about 1925-1960?).

Original publication date: 1967-71, published in three volumes, 1985/2019 translation by Tiina Nunnally and Michael Favala Goldman
Author’s nationality: Danish
Original language: Danish
Length: 386 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased kindle ebook
Why I read this: interested in the author

>180 japaul22: Isn't that the fun of books - what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another. I really enjoyed this trilogy (the second 2 volumes more than the first). If this didn't speak to you then the Knausgaard books may not be your thing either, as they're very much about the inner thoughts of someone.

>181 AlisonY: I don't know why The Copenhagen Trilogy didn't grab me more. But you're right that it sort of sealed that fact that I'm not interested in reading Knausgaard, whether or not that's fair! I love long fiction books about inner thoughts. I think Tove's Ditlevsen's autobiography, though it was very open, still didn't quite get into how she FELT about everything that happened to her. There were glimpses of it, but a lot of it was more a recitation of what happened TO her. Though maybe that was the point - that she spent so much of her youth and young adulthood in a reactionary state rather than feeling empowered to take control. Makes sense considering the time period she grew up in for women. Certainly plenty to think about with this book, just not quite as enjoyable a reading experience as I was looking for. I definitely hope lots of people read it, though!

This summer (if covid and Putin cooperate) I'm traveling to Prague, Innsbruck, and a small town in the Netherlands (Kerkrade) with work. I love to read fiction set in places that I travel leading up the trip and while I'm there. I also am interested in nonfiction (mainly history - maybe something about the Prague Spring?). Any suggestions? I haven't read a ton from those regions.

#26 The Law and the Lady by Wilkie Collins
I picked up this novel because it was chosen as a quarter 2 group read for our Victorian theme in Club Read. I loved The Woman in White and The Moonstone but had never branched out to Collins's lesser known works. I found The Law and the Lady an entertaining novel, about a woman who's mysterious marriage leads her to detective work to clear her husband's name.

If I give too much plot description, it will be very spoiler-y and this novel is very plot driven. I don't think the actual mystery was much of one, but this book does get credit as possibly the first novel where a woman does most of the detective work. I was a little disappointed that she doesn't really follow through to the end - leaving the pivotal last investigations to the men to solve.

This novel centers around two characters that will give modern readers pause. One is a crippled man, Misserimus Dexter, in a wheel chair who is, at times, treated as almost a circus act - racing around rooms on his hands only and horrifying those who get a glimpse of his entire body. And his "sidekick" is a woman, Ariel, described sometimes as a man in appearance who has some sort of developmental disability. I actually wondered if she was based on early knowledge of those with Downs' Syndrome based on how her physical attributes were described and on her mental state plus her extreme loyalty to Misserimus.

I found this an "entertaining enough" novel but I wouldn't widely recommend it. If you haven't read Wilkie Collins, this is not the place to start in my opinion.

Original publication date: 1875
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 413 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased paperback
Why I read this: group read

#27 The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
I really enjoyed this nonfiction book that reads almost like a memoir of the forest. Wohlleben is a forest manager in Germany and he's written a book about his observations and scientific knowledge about trees. It's fascinating to hear about how trees communicate with each other, support each other, and defend themselves. The time scale they live in is completely different from the human lifespan, making them foreign and fascinating. I also was struck by how, though they reproduce so slowly that their evolution pace is extremely slow, they have great diversity within each species that protects them.

We've done so much damage to our forests, and this book will make you want to be on the side of the trees.

Highly recommended.

Original publication date: 2016
Author’s nationality: German
Original language: German
Length: 290 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased kindle edition
Why I read this: LT review

Well, covid came for the rest of us! My younger son got covid back in January of 2022, and none of the rest of us got it. Last week my husband and older son got it and today I tested positive. I thought my symptoms could easily have been seasonal allergies, but I've been doing daily rapid tests with two sick people in the house, and today's was positive. I do feel a bit of a chesty cough developing, so I'll just relax for my quarantine period. Maybe I'll get some extra reading done. Extremely grateful that so far everyone in my family has had relatively mild cases.

Take care, Jennifer. I hope your case is mild.

My dad tested positive yesterday. He's feeling punk at the moment, but hopefully it's the milder omicron variant and there won't be any complications. I hope you and your family are on the mend soon! (and maybe getting it now means you won't get it nearer to your trip?)

>183 japaul22: Kerkrade might be difficult — there are quite a few novels set in the mining industry of South Limburg, but it doesn’t look as though much has been translated. You could always stretch a point and read something about Aachen and Charlemagne.

On the other hand, Kerkrade is near the start-point of the famous Dutch Mountain Trail, in case you are looking for a bit of high-altitude adventure. https://www.dmff.eu/en/dutch-mountain-trail-2/

Wishing you a speedy and uneventful recovery, Jennifer.

Hope you bounce back quickly, Jennifer as well as your son and husband.

Oof, best wishes for a mild case and quick recovery.

Thanks everyone! I'm really not feeling too bad, really. But I do have a really bad cough - worse than a normal cold and came on so suddenly!

I've used today to do some catch up online training I needed to do for work that is totally mindless but takes forever.

>167 kidzdoc: I hope your dad has a mild case! Though it is similar to a cold for me, the cough feels wheezy and makes my chest feel sort of tight. In my previous experience with colds, that doesn't usually happen til the gunk has worked through the nose to the throat to the chest. It's weird that it's like that right at the beginning of this! All the best to him for a speedy recovery.

>188 thorold: The Dutch Mountain Trail - I'm intrigued!
And I'm definitely willing to use a "wide brush" to read books from the general region.

>192 japaul22: - Having been in the military, I've done some of those "mandatory" trainings, too. Hope you're feeling better.

>192 japaul22: Thanks, Jennifer. He's feeling better, although still fatigued. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, both my stepmother and my sister now have it as well. I hope you are on the upside.

>194 labfs39: Glad to hear your dad is feeling a bit better (and glad you caught my mis-numbering of the reply above!). Definitely not surprising the other family members got it - this variant seems anecdotally very contagious! I know many people at work and at my kids' school who are getting covid for the first time and everyone in the household is getting it. I hope your family all feels better in a few days and has no lingering symptoms.

Today (day 4) I feel like I'm turning the corner and feeling better. My cough is less severe and I feel a little more focused/energetic.

Hope you and your family are fully recovered soon and glad to hear that you are feeling better.

>174 japaul22: - That's kind of funny about the thinking you read the book. I read that one several years ago and thought it would be cliched or just a standard haunted house story (although probably because people copied it over the years) but I ended up really enjoying it, mostly because of the focus on the characters, like you said.

>183 japaul22: - Sounds like an exciting trip! I visited Prague in 2019 and loved it--a very beautiful city. I had a Czech literature project a while back so I'll dig around in my library and make a list. For a couple good history books--I read Prague in Black and Gold and Prague in Danger, both by Peter Demetz.

>184 japaul22: - I finished that one too--a pretty addictive read--but I had some similar thoughts, although I think I liked the development of the mystery more than you. "Problematic" would probably be the kindest term for Dexter and Ariel. I never liked Eustace because of his behavior towards Valeria and his actions in the beginning, so I was never invested in their relationship. Also, I thought the final way they handled the case (what they did with the information) was unsatisfactory.

>196 DieFledermaus: Thank you for the Prague history recs, I'm definitely gravitating to reading around that city.

Agreed on the ending of The Law and the Lady - it was a little too easy on everyone.

Hope Covid doesn't hit you too hard. My sister had it recently (for the second time) and it was the tiredness that hit her more than anything.

>198 AlisonY: I've not felt too much of the fatigue everyone talks about, though I've also just been home since my positive test. We'll see how I feel when I go back to work this week. For me, it was mainly as intense cough that settled in my chest and felt wheezy immediately. But it's definitely clearing up - i'm on day 6 today and feeling almost normal.

I turned to two comfort reads the past week and they were both perfect for what I wanted.

#28 The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware
I really enjoy Ruth Ware's mysteries. This one is about a lonely, poor young woman in a dangersous situation who finds herself named to inherit a large fortune. But the family she inherits with it is both full of secrets and possibly the bigger reward.

Original publication date: 2018
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 368 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased kindle edition
Why I read this: like the author's other books

#29 Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
A reread for the - I'm not sure, 4th time? Mansfield Park used to be my least favorite Austen book (which still means I loved it) but it grows on me every time I read it. I now think it's actually one of her more mature books, with tons of opportunity to read between the lines, really interesting set up of believable characters, and lots of subtle humor and authorial commentary.

Fanny herself has also grown on me. She is often described as meek and mild and maddeningly won't ever put herself first. But I didn't see her that way on this reading. I saw that she is quiet and introverted and has been taught that her opinion isn't wanted, but her interior comments are quite perceptive and intelligent. And humanizing her even more, her interior thoughts, when revealed, are often self-centered, can be petty, and stubborn. I like this.

I happily look forward to my next rereading of this book.

ETA: A really large part of me wanted Henry Crawford to succeed with Fanny this time and become the person he thought he could be with her. First time to feel that way too!

Original publication date: 1814
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 488 pages
Rating: 5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: Collector's library edition, owned
Why I read this: reread, favorite author

>185 japaul22: Sorry to hear the Covid made a visit, but I'm glad it's not too bad. I suspect we all will eventually get it.

>200 japaul22: Oh, Henry was far better for Fanny than dour Edmund. She would have steadied him and he would have kept her from being too introverted. And Mary was good for Edmund.

#30 Cold Coast by Robyn Mundy

This novel checked a lot of boxes for me. It's set in the Arctic, specifically Svalbard, the far north of Norway in the Arctic Circle. It has beautiful setting descriptions and insight to the region while keeping the descriptions a part of the story. It's historical fiction about a woman, Wanny Woldstad, who was the first female trapper in the 1930s.

Overall, this worked for me. Yes, the descriptions of hunting and trapping were a bit disturbing to a modern mind who doesn't believe in killing animals for their fur. But the author does a good job of also creating a story around the animals, focusing on foxes, that somehow both humanizes them and shows the cruelty of their own lives as hunters. Kind of a "circle of life" feeling.

I liked that the author gets into the relationship between Wanny and her trapping partner, Anders, and what it would have been like for a man and woman to attempt this together. And I liked how she showed the hardships of trapping and the climate. Mainly, I enjoyed that she did all of the above without becoming overly dramatic. This is a quiet book where the vast scenery really takes center stage, above human or animal drama.

At times, though, I got a little bored and wanted something more - I'm not even sure what. If the topic and setting interests you, I think there is enough here to make reading this worth your while, but otherwise I think it's ok to prioritize a different book.

Original publication date: 2021
Author’s nationality: Australian
Original language: English
Length: 272 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased for kindle
Why I read this: topic caught my interest

I've decided to do an "off the shelf" challenge for myself in June - reading only books that are on my physical shelves. I've been finding myself having a hard time picking my next book and I remember this being a lot of fun when I did it a couple of years ago. No library distractions or buying a new book to read from my wish lists. I also recently did a pretty good purge of TBR books that I knew I didn't want to read any more, so my shelves have a reasonable amount of unread books, all of which I'm still interested in (probably 40 or so, total).

June is a good month for me to do this since I don't have any travel planned (for which I like to use my kindle). Hopefully I can knock out 6-7 books from my shelves.

Have fun with that "off the shelf" challenge. I find it fun to get to books that have been sitting on my shelves forever.

I was thinking of doing the same, and narrowing that down to books that have been given or sent to me by friends.

>205 rocketjk: I don't buy a lot of books, so I know everything on my shelf is something I really wanted to read/own when I acquired it. An off-the-shelf challenge usually ends up being pretty satisfying for me so I don't know why I don't do it more!

>206 lisapeet: I like that idea! I don't have quite enough owned unread books for that particular method to work for me. But I could do that with my wish list books sometime, since those are usually added at either a "real life" friend or LT recommendation.

Good luck with your off-the-shelf challenge. This is the time of year when I go through my shelves and get rid of books I'm not interested in anymore. It's really hard for me. The library books are a distraction as well.

>200 japaul22: - I'm reading The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ware right now, but this one also sounds interesting--sounds Gothic inspired.

I have to admit that I read a fanfiction where Henry ends up with Fanny (and Edmund with Mary) and really enjoyed it.

>197 japaul22: - So for possible other Prague-related works, I haven't read The Coasts of Bohemia by Derek Sayer but it was on the list and seemed like a good general Czech history. I do have his Prague, Capital of the Twentieth Century--it is pretty long and very random (very interesting, but jumps around a lot. Haven't finished it yet). Also, Madeleine Albright's memoir Prague Winter is an account of her childhood in Prague.

I have a list of Czech authors/books (some of which I've read) but it is a bit long--I can post it here or message you (don't want to clog up your thread with a monster post).

Good luck with the shelf challenge!

>208 BLBera: I love cleaning things out (closets, drawers, and even books!) so it's not too much of a challenge for me to let go of books.

>209 DieFledermaus: Thank you for those tips! I actually started Madeleine Albright's memoir recently, not knowing she was from Prague. So that has been a lucky coincidence. I'd love to see the Czech authors/books on this thread or in a message - whichever you prefer. I'm not worried about it clogging up my thread, though!

Okay, here's a list of Czech authors/books (I tried to make it clear when I'd read a book)

Michal Ajvaz - a contemporary author, poet and translator who writes Borges-influenced, philosophical magic realist/fantastic novels. The Golden Age looks in anthropological detail at the inhabitants of an island who, among other odd customs, only have one book but one that can expand to include anything. In The Other City, the narrator finds a mysterious book that acts as a portal to a shadow Prague.

Pavel Brycz - I read I, City, which tells multiple stories of the inhabitants of the Bohemian city of Most from the POV of the city - interesting if slight.

Karel Čapek - Classic Czech author. The War with the Newts is a sci-fi classic about intelligent amphibians launching a war to control the world. Other sci-fi works include The Absolute at Large and the plays RUR, The Makropulos Case, The White Plague and The Insect Play. He wrote a number of stories - Tales from Two Pockets is a collection of short mysteries and Apocryphal Tales consists of Čapek’s take on various Biblical stories, myths, historical figures and literary characters. They’re both distinguished by Čapek’s warm, humorous, casual take on the foibles of humanity. Other novels (that I haven’t read) include Hordubal, about the problems with a police investigation and justice, Meteor, which recreates the life of an unknown man who died in a plane crash, and An Ordinary Life, about a railway employee who finds that his seemingly dull life is full of complications.

Jiří Gruša - The Questionnaire is a metafictional, magic realist novel where the narrator tells the story of his family and his life while filling out a questionnaire. I had some issues with this one – too disjointed at times.

Emil Hakl - Of Kids and Parents is a drinking-and-walking novel as a father and son amble around Prague and reminisce about the history of Croatia and Prague, where they came in 1945.

Jaroslav Hašek - The Good Soldier Švejk, is a classic comic anti-war novel, sort of like a Czech Catch-22.
.
Josef Hiršal - A Bohemian Youth is an experimental novel - the actual text is seven pages followed by considerably more notes, then some notes to the notes. The story is supposed to be about his childhood and the notes give background, elaborate on the plot and provide different interpretations. I have this on the pile but haven't read it.

Egon Hostovský - The Arsonist is about a teenager living in a Bohemian town menaced by an arsonist in the mid-1930’s

Bohumil Hrabal - Another classic Czech author of the 20th c. Closely Watched Trains is about an eccentric railway worker who is more concerned with women and the shenanigans of his coworkers than the war and the Nazis. I Served the King of England also features a quirky wise fool who works as a waiter at a posh hotel before the war and faces life under the Nazis and Communists with a bemused attitude. Too Loud a Solitude tells the story of another eccentric, a paper crusher who hoards banned books, in wonderful prose. I loved all of those, but found a collection of short stories, The Death of Mr. Baltisberger, to be too rambling. There are a number of his other works available in English.

Petra Hůlová - All This Belongs to Me is about five women in one Mongolian family tell their stories, from the nomadic life on the steppes to the grim realities of life in Ulaanbaatar.

Jaroslav Kalfar - Spaceman of Bohemia is a comic tale about a Czech astronaut.

Ivan Klíma - a famous and well-regarded author. Many of his books are about the oppressive Communist regime and the problems in the post-Communist period. Love and Garbage is about the life of a writer who had to give up his academic career to be a street sweeper and his problems with love and family. In Judge on Trial, the moral dilemmas of a judge under the Communist system are examined. I enjoyed Waiting for the Dark, Waiting for the Light, about a detached, disillusioned filmmaker after the fall of the Communist government, although it was somewhat slow.

Ladislav Klíma - The Sufferings of Prince Sternenhoch is a bizarre, satirical, obscene work. The diminutive and self-important prince of the title marries the demonic, vicious Helga. This isn’t a pleasant book - I’d recommend this one and The Maimed, below, only if you’re okay with perverse, grotesque books.

Pavel Kohout - The Widow Killer is a mystery set in occupied Prague at the end of WWII and follows a Czech detective uneasily partnering with a Gestapo agent to catch a serial killer. I Am Snowing is a comic take on Czech society after the fall of the Communists.

Barbara König - a contemporary author, her The Beneficiary is a ironic, minimalist story of a man who learns that another took his place in front of the firing squad in WWII and ponders his now displaced life. I enjoyed this one when I read it but don't remember too much about it now.

Milan Kundera - probably one of the most famous contemporary Czech writers. His works were originally written in Czech but from 1993 on, he has written in French. Kundera joined the Communist party but was expelled in 1950, an experience he used while writing the early novel The Joke, a realistic look at the lives of several characters living under the Communist government. Some of his other early works examine life under the Communist regime - The Book of Laughter and Forgetting and his most famous, The Unbearable Lightness of Being - but his later books moved away from specifically Czech settings. In general, I really enjoy Kundera's work, but some people find him pretentious (and there are various complaints about him personally). If you don’t like Kundera’s fiction, his essays are erudite and lively. Encounter was a fast, fun read.

Arnošt Lustig - as a teenager, he was sent to Terezin and later Auschwitz, and most of his books are about the Holocaust in some way - Lovely Green Eyes is about a Jewish girl who passes as Aryan and spends the war in a brothel, Night and Hope is a collection of stories set in Terezin, A Prayer for Katerina Horvitzova looks at a group of Jewish American prisoners who believe they will be traded for German POWs.

Gustav Meyrink - born in Vienna, he spent 20 years in Prague and wrote about the city, most famously in The Golem. It’s a dark, gothic, hallucinatory novel about a man who realizes he has lost his memories and tries to find them. Other books are also gothic and supernatural - The Angel of the West Window is about John Dee in, among other places, Prague, The Green Face features the legend of the Wandering Jew and Walpurgisnacht examines the Prague rebellion, with the Czech population confronting the German rulers.

Bozena Nemcova - Her novella The Grandmother is a classic and describes a young girl’s childhood and life with her grandmother, based on Nemcova’s life.

Jan Neruda - his Prague Tales is a classic, and I really liked the stories. They were all about the ordinary inhabitants of the Mala Strana neighborhood in 19th century Prague. Some are tragic, some funny, others ironic or sentimental.

Patrik Ouředník - He writes experimental works such as Europeana, which is an odd history of the 20th century, seemingly presented in a straightforward way, but juxtaposing the many absurdities and contradictions. Case Closed is a bizarre detective story set in post-Communist Czech Republic. The Opportune Moment 1855 follows a group out to set up a utopian anarchist community in Brazil but things don’t turn out well.

Iva Pekárková - Truck Stop Rainbows was a very pleasant surprise. The narrator, a hitchhiking, nonconforming photographer/student, has a wonderful voice and the book is both funny and depressing. However, the narrator is quite open about her sexuality which might put some people off (lots of trucker sex for example).
The World is Round looks at the misadventures of a Czech woman who ends up in a refugee camp.

Leo Perutz - Prague-born Austrian. Perutz wrote in German and most of his works are short historical novels with weird ironic or supernatural twists. By Night Under the Stone Bridge is a collection of linked stories that take place during the reign of Rudolf II with supernatural happenings and twists of fate. The Swedish Cavalier has a nobleman and a thief switching places; various adventures occur and issues of identity are raised. The Master of the Day of Judgment is a tidily wrapped up but oddly ambiguous mystery about some seemingly random suicides. Other books include The Marquis of Bolibar, Little Apple, Saint Peter’s Snow and Leonardo’s Judas. I really love Perutz, although some of his books are hard to find. I’d recommend By Night Under the Stone Bridge if you’re looking for a Prague connection or The Master of the Day of Judgment for a fantastic mystery.

Peter Sís - an award-winning children’s book author and illustrator. The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain is an illustrated memoir of his childhood. He has written and illustrated a number of other books - Tibet Through the Red Box, The Conference of the Birds and Starry Messenger. The Three Golden Keys is set in Prague and is a reworking of Czech fairy tales, with some comments on Communism.

Josef Škvorecký - a well-known Czech-Canadian writer and publisher. Many of his works feature his alter ego, Danny Smiricky. His best known novel, The Engineer of Human Souls is a tragicomedy about Danny’s attempts to sabotage the aircraft factory during WWII and his many relationships with women, and, later, his life in the Czech ex-pat community in Canada. A gloriously messy, jumpy and funny book. Besides Danny Smiricky, Škvorecký also had several books featuring Lieutenant Boruvka, a homicide detective in Communist Czechoslovakia.

Jáchym Topol - a poet and translator, his debut novel City Sister Silver is a challenging and dense work looking at post-Communist Prague, with plenty of verbal playfulness and Meyrink-inspired hallucinatory darkness.

Katerina Tuchova - Gerta is about a German-Czech woman surviving WWII and after. I recently purchased this one after seeing it on Deborah’s list.

Hermann Ungar - a German-language writer born in a Moravian town but who later lived in Prague. The Maimed is a dark and twisted work about a pathologically shy and neurotic man who descends into a decadent whirlpool. To paraphrase a quote - you can’t unread this book, though you may want to. The Class also features a paranoid obsessive, a teacher who is sure that his wife is cheating on him and that his class will get out of control. Boys and Murderers is a collection of stories about more disturbed, obsessive people.

Johannes Urzidil - The Last Bell is a collection of short stories that was recently translated.

Ludvík Vaculík - The Guinea Pigs, about a man who decides to study his pet guinea pigs, is an allegory for life in Czechoslovakia after the Soviet invasion. The Axe looks at the changes in life in Czechoslovakia from the First Republic to the dismemberment under Nazi occupation and harsh life under the Communists through the experiences of a dysfunctional family.

Vladislav Vančura - he wrote both Summer of Caprice, a comic postmodern classic, and Marketa Lazarova a postmodern historical novel.

Jiří Weil - Life with a Star and Mendelssohn is on the Roof are both about the Jewish experience during the Nazi occupation.

Here are a couple links to publishers/series that focus on Czech literature

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/series/MODCC.html

https://www.twistedspoon.com/

Good luck with your challenge.

>211 DieFledermaus: This is amazing, thank you! I will do a deep dive into all of them on Thursday when I have the day off work. I'm excited!

>212 martinsbob71: THanks!

>211 DieFledermaus: Ooh, fantastic list! I made the post a favorite so I can refer back to it. I'm vicariously enjoying your trip to Prague and your prep reading, Jennifer.

>211 DieFledermaus: What a great list, and helpful comments too.

#31 The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden

A family of five children travel to France with their mother for a vacation. Unfortunately, she falls ill, leaving their care to the small hotel they were planning to stay in. There they become entwined with an adult world that they don't really understand the dynamics of and become tangled up in a mystery.

I loved this - my first experience with a Rumer Godden novel. Pleasant writing, fun characters, plot driven, and a great setting. If her other novels are similar, I could see her become a great "comfort read" author for me.

Original publication date: 1979
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 227 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: library sale purchase
Why I read this: off the shelf challenge

I have been addicted to Rumer Godden since I read her The Diddakoi as a kid. I haven't found a lot of her books, though, and I've never seen this one - have to look for it!

>216 japaul22: This does sound good. I read some things by her when I was a kid.

>211 DieFledermaus: What a great list! I'm making note of a few authors and titles.

>216 japaul22: This sounds interesting and my state library has an online copy, so onto the wishlist it goes.

Two short reviews because life is crazy busy!

#32 The Round House by Louise Erdrich
Fantastic book that mixes a crime and the subsequent prosecution with insight into life on an Ojibwe Reservation in the upper Midwest.

Original publication date: 2012
Author’s nationality: Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians
Original language: English
Length: 332 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: library sale purchase
Why I read this: off the shelf challenge

#33 The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder

When people die in the collapse of the bridge of San Luis Rey, the narrator decides to study the lives of those who died to see if there is a reason or pattern in their lives that meant they had to die.

I found the author's resolution sort of unsatisfying and predictable, though I did like the characters.

Original publication date: 1927
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 128 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: library sale purchase
Why I read this: off the shelf challenge

Life is still crazy busy and I'm still behind on reviews!

#34 Madame Secretary by Madeleine Albright

Loved this memoir of Madeleine Albright's life. She really covers everything from her childhood in Prague and Europe, her teen years in Colorado, her marriage, her divorce, being a single parent, trying to find her footing as a woman in politics and academia, her time in the U.N., and her role as Secretary of State.

I got just a tiny bit bored during some of the minutia about the politics and world events toward the end of the book, but overall this was really good. At its best when she's describing her "real life" vs. her work life.

Original publication date: 2001
Author’s nationality: American, Czech born
Original language: English
Length: 736 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: kindle purchase
Why I read this: interested in the topic/life

#35 The Way to Paradise by Mario Vargas Llosa

This was so-so for me. I loved Feast of the Goat by the same author, so I had high expectations for this. It is a dual historical fiction biography of painter Paul Gaugin and his grandmother, Flora Tristan. Flora was an early feminist and organizer for workers' rights. She of course ran into many roadblocks and ended up dying early, in her 40s. Paul is know for his colorful paintings of Tahitians. He was also a giant ass in how he treated women, the native Tahitians, and his family in Europe which he deserted.

The most annoying thing about the writing in this book was an odd shift to second person that happened frequently - like every page or two.
For example:
"He was almost out of canvas and stretchers, his heavy paper had been used up, and he had only a few tubes of paint. Should you return to France, Paul? In the state you were in, and with the dismal future that awaited you here, was Tahiti still worthwhile? .. . . "
Then right back to
"That same day, his body still aching . . .

It was so weird and disorienting. And it happened in Flora's sections too.
Not really a book I'd recommend running out to read.

Original publication date: 2003
Author’s nationality: Peruvian
Original language: Spanish, translated by Natasha Wimmer
Length: 454 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: library book sale
Why I read this: off the shelf

I just want to sing the praises of a good library book sale.

>223 RidgewayGirl: So many of my books are from our local library sales!

>223 RidgewayGirl: I miss our local one... they stopped for a while during Covid and I'm not sure if they've started back up. If they have, I've managed to miss them (usually in April and October).

Mine stopped for COVID; they've had some popup sales this year, and have finally created a bookshop in the library (it opens at the end of this month). They're hoping for the October sale this year, we'll see how things are around then.

>225 lisapeet:, >226 jjmcgaffey: Mine stopped for covid also, but they started back up recently. I donate many books to them and suspect I sometimes even buy back books I've donated. Whoops!

>227 japaul22: I donate many books to them and suspect I sometimes even buy back books I've donated.

I've done that!

The reason I have a Discarded category on LT is that I bought the _same_ b****y book _three times_ at the library book sale. Great blurb, rotten writing - first time I think I actually finished it, time two I stopped halfway through the first chapter...time three I set up Discarded so I could stop deleting books I'd gotten rid of! And the fourth time I saw it at the sale I recognized it, so I didn't have to look it up on LT. But the category has saved me other times, with other books.

When I was going through my mom's many books, after she moved to a nursing home, one of my criteria for what I would keep was "will I buy this back when I see it at the library sale in a few months?"

>228 labfs39: Glad I'm not the only one!

>229 jjmcgaffey: And good idea for the "discarded" category. I do have a "donated" category, but I also am not the best about checking it while I'm actually at the library sale.

>230 lisapeet: Good way to think about it!

I use the LT app, mostly, which doesn't distinguish between categories...well, you can, but it's a couple extra steps (and I believe you can only check one category, or check all of them). So I have to check to make sure the book isn't in Wishlist, but if I have it in Your Library or in Ebooks or whatever I can see it. I've done enough repeat buying that I _always_ check LT. Particularly when it's a book I've been looking for for a while - I forget that I succeeded, and just remember "oh, this is one I'm looking for!"

Still reading, but still behind on reviews. I've stuck with my off the shelf challenge and my next four reviews are all of books from my shelves.

#36 What's Mine and Yours by Naima Coster

What's Mine and Yours is a novel full of great characters and a plot with competing timelines that slowly reveal the connections between characters. It all begins with a promising young Black man getting shot and killed. He leaves behind a young wife and son and a friend whose lives will be changed by his death. The timeline shifts around, introducing a school integration fight, a young woman whose marriage in falling apart, and a family whose father is addicted to opioids. It's a bit messy with all the different timelines, but Coster handles it pretty well. In the end, it's one of those books that shows the interconnectedness of lives and the domino effect of one tragedy.

Original publication date: 2021
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 341 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: BOTM
Why I read this: off the shelf

#37 Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

During the Cultural Revolution in China, youth from the cities were sent to the country to be "reeducated". In this novel, two young men are sent to a remote mountain village where they do physical labor and leave their city comforts and learning behind. The meet a beautiful young seamstress and also discover a fellow city youth with a treasure trove of novels. Reading and retelling these stories to the seamstress keeps their minds and hearts alive. I really enjoyed this tale - simple on the surface, but plenty to contemplate.

Original publication date: 2000
Author’s nationality: Chinese
Original language: French, translated by Ina Rilke
Length: 184 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: library book sale
Why I read this: off the shelf

#38 Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Purple Hibiscus is a fantastic novel. Set in Nigeria, Adichie creates a detailed sense of place while also detailing a tragic family story that could happen anywhere. Kambili and Jaja are siblings with an abusive father. They are living life in fear and under strict control when their Aunt Ifeoma convinces her ultra-Catholic, wealthy, and abusive brother to let his children come to her home to spend time with their cousins. When Kambili and Jaja arrive, they begin to see a new way of living, based on love and mutual respect. They also have their eyes opened to the struggles those with less money face. How they respond to this knowledge is at the heart of this novel.

Adichie is an adept writer who creates real characters and draws the reader in - even to challenging and uncomfortable themes. I really loved this. I've read all of her novels now and hope she has another in the works!

Original publication date: 2003
Author’s nationality: Nigerian/American
Original language: English
Length: 307 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: library book sale
Why I read this: off the shelf

#39 The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

Entertaining mystery, but I liked Ruth Ware's similar One by One better. Lucy Foley does this thing where she starts close to the end of the action and then does flashbacks but just within a few days. She did it in The Guest List also and it annoyed me both times.

I'd say this was ok, but not great. There are better mystery writers out there for sure.

Original publication date: 2019
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 406 pages
Rating: 2.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: library book sale
Why I read this: off the shelf

>233 japaul22: Your reviews makes me want to reread Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. I have had Purple Hibiscus waiting in the wings forever; I need to get to it. I've read Half of a Yellow Sun twice.

>234 labfs39: I really enjoyed Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. It's a paperback I'll keep in case I want to reread it some day. I also loved Half of a Yellow Sun and then also read and loved Americanah. Though I think Adichie has a noticeable style as a writer, all of her novels are different enough that I highly recommend reading them all!

#40 The Mother of All Questions by Rebecca Solnit
I really respected this collection of essays. They are smart, challenging, and on point. Sadly, they are also very applicable to current events, though the essays were written from 2014-16. She writes about silence, gun control, abortion, and women's rights. Solnit is one of the best essay writers out there, in my opinion.

Original publication date: 2017
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 176 pages
Rating: 5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased
Why I read this: off the shelf

#41 Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

I picked this up at a library sale a few years back after loving A Gentleman in Moscow, but then it sat on my shelves as I read conflicting reviews. I'm glad I finally read it, because I really enjoyed it. The bulk of the story takes place in a pivotal year fo the narrator, Katey. It's 1939 and she is a young woman in NYC, working a secretarial job, having fun with her best friend Evey, and meeting several young men.

As I read this, I kept thinking of that ubiquitous book descriptor - "transporting". Cliche for sure, but I was immersed in late 1930s New York so I think it actually applies this time!

Original publication date: 2011
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 335 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: library book sale
Why I read this: off the shelf

And I'm going to call that a wrap on my June off the shelf challenge. I read exclusively off the shelf books and knocked out 10!

The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden
The Round House by Louise Erdrich
The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thorton Wilder
The Way to Paradise by Mario Vargas Llosa
What's Mine and Yours by Naima Coster
Balzac and the Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichie
The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
The Mother of All Questions by Rebecca Solnit
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

Congratulations!

Way to go!

Congrats on making progress on books from your shelves -- and some good ones, too. I've read a few already, but the Solnit essays are calling to me. I love Adichie and will pick up anything she writes.

>236 japaul22: I really enjoyed that Solnit collection, too. Also very much enjoyed the Sijie and Adichie but soooo long ago...before 2006 when I came on LT! Congrats on a list of fine reading for the month of June!

Thanks everyone! It was a really fun string of books and has me realizing I should read from my shelves more often.

>240 BLBera: That particular collection of Solnit's essays really grabbed me. I love all her writing, but the topics were spot on for today.

>241 avaland: I know - I had some "old new books" on my shelves. I feel like it's hard to go back to books written 15-20 years ago if I miss them the first time. I tend to read either brand new books or really old books!