Diane - Randomly Reading Through the Night

What’s next?

I am currently reading book #113 for 2021. The last book this year is The Center Cannot Hold I’m not loving the author’s journey through madness but I plan on finishing it.

Congratulations on finishing over 100 books in 2021! That's quite an accomplishment, and one I haven't achieved in some years. The Center Cannot Hold sounds intense.

I bought a copy of The Center Cannot Hold several years ago, but since I haven't read it yet I look forward to your review of it, Diane.

Cool that you’re over 100 for the year. How is Saks? And what is next?

>3 labfs39: >5 dchaikin: Partially I may have cheated on the number of books. I read a series that consisted of mostly novellas and some novels. Greenland Missing Persons: Petra Jensen is the series by Christoffer Petersen. He worked in Greenland for 7 years but has moved back to Denmark. I never read anything set in Greenland before and really enjoyed these. Petra is the main character and the author did a great job writing a strong female character. Greenland is Inuit and Danish population. There is a shaman who puts in an appearance in many of the books. There are 1 or 2 more series by Petersen and many of the characters appear in more than one series.

I’ll have to check the average number of pages in these 113 books. I generally stay away from books over 400 pages these days. I’m afraid I’ll lose interest and never finish them. I think it’s age related. If I put a book down for too long, I forget what it’s about and have to review what I read.

>3 labfs39: >4 kidzdoc: >5 dchaikin: I’m very grateful that the 3 of you responded so soon. I sometimes don’t know what to say and write rather brief unconventional reviews. I resolve to say more in 2022. Thanks.

According to goodreads - I read 28013 pages which averages out to 247 pages per book.

that's a lot of pages. I like your 2022 resolution.

>6 dianeham: It's only a number. The important thing is enjoying what you are reading, and it sounds like you did. The Greenland Missing Persons books sound interesting. I don't read many mysteries, but I like the idea of learning about the people and environment of Greenland, and from what I read, these do a good job of that.

What were your favorite books from 2021?

>7 dianeham: But short reviews are nice to read, too!

Geez I had a terrible dream this morning. Someone was attacking me and I escaped. I was on the street where I grew up trying to scream for help. I ended up at a childhood friend’s house but the baddies showed up there too. The dream was very complicated and I can’t work it out chronologically. There was a sons of anarchy type gang. They killed lots of people and there was blood everywhere. I tried to call the police but they were in on it. There was this fake tour guide thing. They would lure tourists to the edge of town and kill them all.

I just realized - this came from the current new season of Dexter. Because in the dream there was an older guy who was the baddie but everybody thought he was the best guy in town. I kept fighting with him in the dream and he told me no one would ever believe me. The guy in the dream wasn’t Dexter.

I see The Personal Librarian on your best of 2021 list. I just checked it out of the library a few days ago. My MIL lived next to the Morgan Library, and I used to go there when we visited. The new renovation was nice although the construction drove my MIL nuts.

>13 labfs39: Hope you like it.

I finished The Center Cannot Hold. I can’t imagine being that ill and high functioning at the same time. She acknowledges that without her privileged family situation she never would have made it. She got advanced degrees in Philosophy then a law degree and finally became a psychoanalyst. I did not get a better understanding of schizophrenia.

She is a baby boomer. She underwent psychoanalysis by a Freudian analyst. And attended Yale law school - and edited the Yale Law Review - in the 1980s. And yet there is never any reference to feminism. No mention of how mentally ill women were treated differently than men. Nothing about the sexism involved in Freudian analysis. And no discussion of the sexual politics in law school.

It was a powerful book and well written but how did she miss the sexual politics? Maybe it was the fog from the drugs which is hard to believe considering all she’s accomplished.

>12 dianeham: goodness. Glad it was just a dream. I haven't seen Dexter, but it does resemble a lot of movies.

>15 dianeham: enjoyed this post. Do you think she purposely filtered experiences related to sexism out of her book, or that she didn't experience in a relevant-to-the-book fashion?

Brief intro

I’m from Philadelphia. I dropped out of college in 1969 and finally got back to school in 1981 at Drexel U.night school in Philly. (Is night school still a thing?) In 1986 I moved to NYC and attended NYU full time. I ended up at the Jersey seashore near Cape May. Fell in love and never left. In 1990 I got a job at the library. They sent me to graduate school and poof! Librarian. I ran the computer system there and retired as Assistant Director. I’ve been retired 10 years. I was in bad shape with fibromyalgia. I’m in much less pain now but I spend most of my time reclining.

I’m a poet but haven’t written in a long time. I seem to read whatever catches my fancy.

It’s very late and I can’t type any more.

Happy New Year, Diane. I hope 2022 brings you some great titles to keep you company when sleep evades you!

>15 dianeham: Strangely, this book has popped three times in the last week. I guess I should add it to the TBR list.

>17 dianeham: Is night school still a thing?

I think so, but I'm not entirely sure. I left Tulane after the fall 1981 semester, due to poor grades (I was lovesick with a former classmate, and neglected my studies), returned home to suburban Philadelphia, started working full time the following March, and enrolled at Drexel that August as a Chemical Engineering major. I did extremely well, as I was focused like a laser on my studies — and gave up dating — and after I decided to change my major to Microbiology, which wasn't offered for night students at Drexel, I transferred to the evening school at the main campus (New Brunswick) at Rutgers, and completed my degree there. At that time I could pay for my tuition, fees and books from my salary, with a small stipend from my employers, and at the time of my graduation from Rutgers in 1989 I was completely debt free. Given the astronomic rises in the cost of higher education since then I don't know if it's now possible to do what I did then, and I suspect that far fewer students now attend college at night.

>15 dianeham: I read The Center Cannot Hold in 2008, and still think about it. I don't know if I got a good understanding about schizophrenia, but I remember thinking I think she conveyed what it felt like to have schizophrenia. I read another book about schizophrenia a few years ago (a collection of essays--will have to check my library for the title), and did not like it at all.
I don't remember the law school aspect at all. I graduated from law school in 1974 (one of 6 females in a class of 200), and there was tons of sex discrimination going on. Sadly, I think most of us dealt with it quietly. Just 5 or 6 years later, late 70's early 80's I went back to my law school to recruit, and the class was almost 50% female, so the 80's were a time of huge changes.
ETA The book was The collected Schizophrenias by Esme Weijun Wang

Happy New Year, Diane. I think online classes have replaced night school, to a certain extent, at least at my college. Twenty years ago, we offered night classes M-Th, but now we are lucky if one runs. I loved teaching them because the students were generally really motivated.

>17 dianeham: thanks for this intro. I didn't realize you were a poet, or that you were such a Philly person. My mother, and sister and sister's family are there and I visit a few times a year. (I have never lived there, though.)

I just heard from a neighbor about the storm that is headed our way. Philadelphia should only get 1-3 inches of snow, but, according to what I just read, Cape May County is expected to get 4-8 inches.

>20 kidzdoc: Daryl, that’s crazy! I worked shift work at the Arco Refinery in South Philly and started at Drexel night school in Chemical Engineering in 1981. I was there until 1985. I took all the preliminary courses - 6 quarters of calculus, 3 of Chemistry and 3 calc based Physics - plus some electives. I usually got an A and a B every semester. We were there the same time. That’s crazy. The refinery was sold in 1985 and i got lots of stock ownership money and severance. I could have stayed with the new owners but quit and moved to NYC where I went to NYU Tisch School of the arts full time. A woman who registered me there said I was the only film student with a math minor.

Added edit: Arco paid for my classes.

>24 kidzdoc: storm coming and I’m having oral surgery tomorrow. At least the dentist is only 5.5 miles from our house. The crazy thing is the dentist lives in Red Bank. But he won’t hit the worst of the storm until he gets to Atlantic County.

>18 AlisonY: Happy New Year to you too.

>19 ELiz_M: I saw your intro and was looking for you. I felt like there was a recent connection but can’t think what it might have been.

>21 arubabookwoman: still can’t understand how someone can accomplish so much while dealing with schizophrenia.

>22 BLBera: yes, online replacing night school makes sense.

>23 dchaikin: Where in Philly are they?

>25 dianeham: We were at Drexel at the same time! I was an evening student there from August/September 1982 to December 1985, as a chemical engineering major, before I transferred to Rutgers in January 1986, as I changed majors from Chemical Engineering to Microbiology, which wasn't offered for evening students at Drexel. I started working at Quality Control Laboratory in Southampton, PA in March 1982, as a lab technician performing quality tests on dairy products from farms in SE Pennsylvania, and I essentially started from scratch at Drexel that Aug/Sep, as my grades from Tulane were horrible. I took a job as a chemical engineering technician at the Naval Air Development Center in Warminster, PA in March 1985, and worked there until I graduated from Rutgers in May 1989. My GPA at both schools was in the 3.5 to 3.7 range, so I definitely got my academic act together after I returned home and left the many temptations of New Orleans.

We haven't received any snow so far in Middletown Township; I haven't seen a single flake yet. I hope that the conditions aren't too bad there.

I just turned on The Weather Channel, to learn more about the next storm, which is supposed to hit on Thursday night or Friday morning.

I think we got 10 inches of snow. Shaka loves ii. I was supposed to have oral surgery today but it’s been rescheduled to the end of February.

>29 dianeham:, >30 dianeham:, >31 dianeham: Yikes.

>32 kidzdoc: it got me out of oral surgery! Lol 😂

At least the dogs look like they are having fun!

>34 arubabookwoman: Our dog, Shaka, loves it.

I’m having trouble settling on a book to read. I think I’m getting overwhelmed with books I see on other people’s cr2022 pages.

I get a little too obsessed with keeping up here. Need to concentrate on reading.

>36 dianeham: Pick a Book from a shelf at random. If you need help picking up one - shelf 5, book 9 (count your shelves anyway you want). :)

Is there a way to invite people to groups?

I finished the latest book in the Greenland Missing Persons series. 12 books in the series so. It’s really charming.

I started Our Country Friends last time. Very entertaining so far.

>41 dianeham: i enjoyed his memoir, Little Failure, but haven't tried his fiction.

>42 dchaikin: I’m not familiar with him.

>42 dchaikin: did you like it?

>44 dianeham: Gary Shteyngart has an American immigrant life story - his family immigrated from Russia to “the enemy” when he was five, and then in the US they joined a very conservative Jewish community. It made for a lot of childhood awkwardness. His memoir covers the oddities of this for him as a young child, and the serious personal problems he had as a young adult. I listened on audio enjoyed it a lot.

>45 dchaikin: thanks

I’m reading A Rule Against Murder: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel book 4 of the series.

Strange dream last night - I was attending an athletic college. I have no idea why. In class they would have 2 people race each other around the room. I was a little surprised I was doing that. I did it twice and the third time the instructor at that time told me I didn’t need to finish and they didn’t need to record my time. I got very angry and was insulted. I guess they thought i was too slow but there were people in the world slower than me. Plus I thought they had no idea how old I am and figured if they knew they would think i was actually pretty fast.

Footnote: I have never been even vaguely athletic-ever. I did hard physical labor when I was young but that was for $.

There is a discussion in Welshwoman’s topic about the 12 oldest books on your tbr shelf. Does that mean the books that have been on tbr the longest? Or the age of the books - when they were published?

On my tbr the longest

1. At Home with the Marquis de Sade
2. Snow Falling on Cedars
3. Coming Soon!
4. New World Monkeys
5. In Other Rooms, Other Wonders
6. Giraffe
7. Dear Life: Stories
8. Element Encyclopedia of the Celts, the Ultimate A to Z of the Symbols, History, & Spirituality of the Legendary Celts
9. Guide to Irish Mythology
10. Celtic Heritage: Ancient Tradition in Ireland and Wales
11. Diné Bahane': The Navajo Creation Story
12. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Books on my tbr by earliest publication date

1. THE TIN FLUTE, A Bitter-sweet Love Story
2. Under the Volcano - Intro. By Stephen Spender
3. JEAN RHYS, THE COMPLETE NOVELS
4. The Poetics of Space
5. From the Legend of Biel
6. The Nuns: A Firsthand Report
7. Sun Songs: Creation Myths From Around the World
8. Ironweed
9. An Artist of the Floating World
10. The Gates of Ivory
11. Remembering Babylon
12. Chronicle of the Guayaki Indians

I’m thinking of tossing Under the Volcano & Ironweed

>48 dianeham: perhaps the world has gotten too fast. ?? Anyway, hope you had a restful morning.

>49 dianeham: i want to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. And you have me curious about the oldest publication dates in my tbr.

>50 dchaikin: think you are my only friend. Thanks.

>50 dchaikin: The W.S. Merwin Green Night?

>39 dianeham: Directly - no. But you can leave them a message on their walls.

>52 dianeham: thank you.

Following along, Diane, just thought I would pop my head up so you know I am here.

>55 labfs39: thanks. Feeling out of the loop.

Hi, Diane, I'm here too, although lurking a lot because I am behind so many posts by so many people!

>57 sallypursell: Hi Sally Thanks

Will stop in from time to time. Am also a very lapsed poet. ETA am also a prolific dreamer.

Hi Diane - I'm reading too. I saw something on the internet saying vivid dreams may be a thing at the moment linked to Venus or some such thing, I've had some vivid ones recently too. I'm also a poet. Best wishes finding your focus.

Hi Diane. I always read your posts although I don’t comment anywhere very much. I’ve been having some very weird dreams lately. When I wake, I wonder where it came from. I’m definitely not a poet.

>59 avaland: that’s really cool. You remember your dreams? I still remember dreams I had when I was a kid. I seem to be stuck in a loop of having dreams with the same basic plot and always lots of people in them. Trying to figure out how to change that.

>60 tonikat: thanks for stopping by. Dreaming & poetry - seems to go together.

>61 NanaCC: I read your posts too and probably don’t comment. Will try to do better.

I think I was a little depressed yesterday. Thanks folks for cheering me up,

>49 dianeham: blaming you for this.

Books on my tbr by earliest publication date

1300 bce : The Epic of Gilgamesh (I have a translation of this, but found another)
399 bce : The Last Days of Socrates: Euthyphro, The Apology, Crito, Phaedo by Plato
75 ce : The Jewish War by Flavius Josephus
800 : The Book of Kells: Reproductions from the Manuscript in Trinity College, Dublin
1353 : The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio ==> I'm reading this now!
1390 : Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
1532: Orlando Furioso by Lodovico Ariosto
1554 : The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes : His Fortunes and Adversities
1591 : The Two Gentlemen of Verona ==> I'm also reading this now!
1592 : The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd

>51 dianeham: happy this isn't true. :)

>52 dianeham: I own W. S. Merwin's The Folding Cliffs on Hawaii, but have never read him. And didn't know he translated the Green Knight - although I appreciate that a poet did so.

>63 dchaikin: you have some really old books. Merwin wrote great poetry.

I posted this last May…



Taking Shaka to the Vet - HA!

Well we tried it again today. They gave us heavy duty meds to relax him but his adrenaline kicked in and he was impossible. They wanted us to put a muzzle on him but he fought too much and we couldn’t. So we came home without seeing the vet. The worst part is they cancelled the refill on his meds which I think is really mean.

>65 dianeham: Oh, that's terrible. They should work with you, not against you. And understand about the dog's abusive history.

>65 dianeham: Hi, Diane. Finally catching up on your thread. My wife and I have a German Shepherd with similar (not identical anxiety issues). We are her second owners but in between the two there have been many foster homes. Her first owners were a married couple on the brink, it turned out, of divorce. When the dog attacked one of the family's chickens, the husband got fed up, took her to a distant lake and abandoned her there. She took up with a homeless man who was living nearby. When the man came to be arrested for vagrancy, law enforcement wanted to know why he had a dog without a license. The man said, "That's not my dog, but I've been feeding her so she doesn't starve to death." So then it was the shelter and several foster homes for her.

When our yellow lab, Yossarian, died, we had decided not to get another dog. We were both retired and would now be freed of the obligation to get a house sitter when we traveled, and would thereby be able to travel more spontaneously. Plus, when Yossarian died I cried so hard for so long I thought my ribs were going to break. Then Covid hit and we couldn't travel anyway and so, one thing after another, one day we brought Rosie home with us from the shelter in the next county over. She bonded with us fairly quickly, but she has never been able to calm down reliably when anyone comes inside our fenced in yard area or certainly inside our house. And, of course, we got her right at the beginning of Covid so we couldn't have people over to get her acclimated to guests. Thank goodness, she doesn't act out at the vet's like Shaka does. House sitters are out of the question, though. Luckily, she does well with other dogs, so instead we've found a good kennel we can leave her in for up to 2 weeks if necessary. German shepherds, though, are a whole different breed, you should pardon the expression, than labs, though. We've gotten her a spacious, comfortable crate to hang out in when we do have friends over in between Covid waves.

Well, sorry for the long post, but just wanted you to know I can share your frustrations with Shaka, but also understand the love. After we had Rosie for a couple of weeks and realized the extent of her "stranger danger" afflication, I called up a friend who is a retired dog trainer and asked her if she knew of any good training exercises we could do or any good training classes we could take her to. My friend, after hearing about Rosie's actions, said, "If it was me, I would take that dog back to the shelter." Too late! By the time we got Rosie home from the shelter, we already knew we'd never have the heart to put her through another abandonment.

Your vet's canceling Shaka's meds refill seems to me to be an unpardonable act. I hope you can find a more compassionate vet soon.

BTW, I am a from NJ, though from up north in Essex County. All the best.

>65 dianeham: >67 rocketjk: German shepherds, though, are a whole different breed, you should pardon the expression, than labs, though.

I had had a couple of labs as an adult; the last died 6 (!) years ago. Two years ago my daughter was matched with a German Shepherd service dog. I wasn't too sure about it, as I had been bitten by a German Shepherd as a kid. Ace is amazing though. Super intelligent, loyal, focused. But even at four years old, he has boundless energy, and barks like mad when people come to the house, even ones he sees every day.

I can't believe the vet didn't renew your meds, is there another vet you can go to? We had a bad experience with a local vet when we first moved here, so now drive an hour to a fantastic vet who is really good with Ace. Since we don't need to go that often, it's worth the drive for us.

P.S. Ace is never separated from my daughter, but when his previous handler left him home alone once, he chewed a leg off a dining room table.

>66 majkia: >67 rocketjk: >68 labfs39:. Thanks for the empathy. You all mentioned the vet. We were outside with Shaka and the vet tech - who we’ve known for 30 years, since she was 18 - and the vet never came outside. Our friend owned the business and took care of all of our dogs (including 2 labs). He had to retire a few years ago because of heart problems. He sold his practice to a vet corporation called VCA. They’re all about the money I guess. No caring for Shaka or our situation.

Before Shaka we had a standard poodle. Big difference. Last year we needed his rabies shot. Finally we got the lion tamer from the zoo. Actually the zoo vet gave him a shot. My hubby is in the Coast Guard Auxiliary and so is the zoo vet. Cape May County has an excellent zoo. So we’ll call the zoo vet - also his wife is a local vet in a practice.

Did I mention that Shaka’s bitten 2 people since he’s been here. Both times he felt threatened. So we can’t risk any more bites. We live 1/2 mile from the Delaware Bay. Shaka loves the bay. When he’s out for a walk he barks at all dogs and most people. He likes the dog next door but they stay in their own yards. The previous owner had a vet who made house calls. She never took him to a vet office. She must have known but she did not adequately explain Shaka’s "issues." Alas, there is no Vet in our county who makes house calls.

We’ll do what we can to give Shaka the best life possible. That may not include a lot of close contact medical care.

>69 dianeham: The vet may not have had a choice about the meds - there may be a medication on the list which they cannot legally extend without an exam or an internal rule in the practice about the same - in both cases they are risking their license and/or job if they don't follow the rules. Had you tried contacting someone in the management of the vet clinic to see if they can come up with something? I would not always look for malice in such situations - as frustrating as they can be :(

I hope you can find a vet though - sounds like the poor darling needs it. And sorry that you and the dog need to go through that.

>70 AnnieMod: The vet tech that we’ve know for 30 years is the practice manager. The only med we wanted yesterday was the heartworm/tick med.

>70 AnnieMod: Good info. Thanks.

>71 dianeham: Ah, I do know that the vets always want to do a blood test before prescribing the heartworm med. Tick though seems reasonable enough to extend.

>73 labfs39: yes, they wanted blood. It’s a 3 in 1 med - heart worm, ticks and some other parasite.

Poor pup. Sounds like you're doing the best you can. Are there any large animal/livestock vets near you? My husband used to work for a livestock vet when. he was a teenager and said that every so often they'd get super difficult pets because they had tie-down equipment.

>75 lisapeet: I don’t know. We’ll talk to the zoo vet and then see.

I’m 80% done Road Out of Winter it’s an apocalyptic dystopian world that just stays cold. The characters are driving to California.

>76 dianeham: It was one of my favorite books early last year. :)

>77 AnnieMod: oh, don’t remember that. Cool. :)

I’m reading The Brutal Telling. I’m really surprised by the fact that the police searched every house in Three Pines without the homeowners’ knowledge. That really annoys me. Plus the police in this series are always telling people that it is their duty to assist the police in solving the murder. Really?

I’ve read 5 books so far this year and gave them all 4 stars.

>80 dianeham: What a great way to start the year!

Think I’m reading too many books at once.
Wild an Elemental Journey - Put it down waiting for stronger reading classes.
Winterset Hollow which has a large talking rabbit in it. I keep telling myself that I’m not going to like it yet I keep reading.
Bury Your Dead which Was an electronic loan from the library so I have to finish it before they snatch it back.
Unprotected a memoir by Billy Porter just read a few pages of the sample and it really grabbed me.
And Ghost Summer stories

Finished Billy Porter. Excellent book.Started Ghost Wall last night.

I still think about Ghost Wall. Enjoy, if that's the right word.

>84 dchaikin: thanks.

>83 dianeham: I'm so glad you liked the Billy Porter. I loved it.

>86 nancyewhite: I was so happy when he won the Emmy.

I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.

I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown

From The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock T.S.Eliot

Hi, Diane! So sorry to read about Shaka's travails. To answer your question, no, I still haven't opened a thread, not sure what to do as I have very little playing time this year...

Would love to hear more about your film studies!

>89 LolaWalser: Not much to tell. I was graduated from NYU Film school. I studied documentary filmmaking. I was 38 when I graduated. I never got into the film biz though. I got a master’s and worked as a librarian.

I finished Winterset Hollow
The entire time I was reading this book I was sure I was going to stop any minute. But I read on and found it worth reading. It’s a very weird book about a group of talking animals who live on an island. The man who owned the island wrote books about them and for years after his death devotees of the book showed up on the island. I can’t say much without giving away the story. Not everything furry is warm and fuzzy.

5 am awake. I am so thirsty tonight. Just started The Darkest Room: the Oland Quartet book 2 Seems I read the first one 10 years ago and liked it. Nickelini got me thinging about Swedish mysteries.

>88 dianeham: And then we have some lines from The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock - nice.

>93 baswood: I kept remembering "mermaids singing, each to each" and had to look it up.

Blizzard headed our way with a possibility of 18 inches of snow and very high winds.

A blizzard warning has been issued for the five counties along the Jersey Shore and winter storm warnings have been upgraded for nearly the entire state. The blizzard advisory, which indicates a dangerous combination of high winds, blowing snow and low visibility — includes Atlantic, Cape May, eastern Burlington, Monmouth and Ocean counties.

The snow is expected to start falling by 7 p.m. in South Jersey when all the warnings take effect and later Friday night in central and North Jersey, according to the National Weather Service. Some spots could see snow as early as 4 p.m. Snow and gusty winds that could be a strong as 50 mph are expected to continue until into Saturday afternoon.

Officials said they expect power outages in the southern part of the state where winds are expected to be more of a problem.

The Jersey Shore and southeast Burlington County is expected to get 8 to 15 inches of snow as winds gust as high 50 mph but up to 18 inches is possible. Blizzard conditions are most likely with a few miles of the coast from late Friday night until about mid-day Saturday, the weather service said. Power outages are possible as well.

Under the weather service’s technical definition, a blizzard needs to have all of these conditions during a period of three hours or longer: falling and/or blowing snow, sustained winds or frequent wind gusts of 35 mph or stronger and visibility frequently reduced to a quarter-mile or less.

>95 dianeham: I was supposed to fly in to Philly today. But I’ve been sick and postponed my trip, so dodged this. Stay safe.

1000s of flights have been cancelled. Hope you feel better.

That weather is continuing northeasterly and coming to the Maritimes Saturday into Sunday. Our third weekend storm in January. Boo. But I’ve got books and #stormchips and some correcting to finish up the semester. Stay safe!

>98 raidergirl3: What are stormchips?

Perhaps it hadn’t been either the second or third morning—or even the fourth or fifth. How could he be sure? How could he be sure just when the delicious progress had become clear? Just when it had really begun? The intervals weren’t very precise. . . . All he now knew was that at some point or other—perhaps the second day, perhaps the sixth— he had noticed that the presence of the snow was a little more insistent, the sound of it clearer; and, conversely, the sound of the postman’s footsteps more indistinct. Not only could he not hear the steps come round the corner, he could not even hear them at the first house. It was below the first house that he heard them; and then, a few days later, it was below the second house that he heard them; and a few days later again, below the third. Gradually, gradually, the snow was becoming heavier, the sound of its seething louder, the cobblestones more and more muffled. When he found, each morning, on going to the window, after the ritual of listening, that the roofs and cobbles were as bare as ever, it made no difference. This was, after all, only what he had expected. It was even what pleased him, what rewarded him: the thing was his own, belonged to no one else. No one else knew about it, not even his mother and father. There, outside, were the bare cobbles; and here, inside, was the snow. Snow growing heavier each day, muffling the world, hiding the ugly, and deadening increasingly—above all—the steps of the postman.
-From Silent Snow, Secret Snow by Conrad Aiken

>99 dianeham: when a big storm is coming, everyone heads to the grocery store to get essentials. Getting a bag of potato chips is generally part of the essentials. A few years ago it became a hashtag on twitter as people in the Maritimes (PEI,NS, and NB) realized everyone wants a bag of chips to treat themselves during a storm. A company even branded a Storm Chips, but they aren’t the kind I like, lol.
It also now describes how big of a storm it will be - make sure your phone is charged and get your stormchips -it’s gonna be a big one!

>101 raidergirl3: cookies for me.

>100 dianeham: Silent Snow, Secret Snow was the one and only play I ever performed in.

>101 raidergirl3: Interesting. I had never heard of snowchips. It is a phrase that must not have trickled across the border into Maine. Hmm, I would say snowbooks, but since the library closed unexpectedly due to Covid, I ran to the store and got snowapples. :-)

>104 labfs39: I didn’t know there was a play. Very cool.

>103 dianeham: This looks very beautiful until I realised how deep the snow is, and how cold it must be.

I hope you've stayed safe and snug, and haven't yet eaten all your cookies.

>106 rhian_of_oz: :) lots of cookies left and it’s still snowing.

We've got the same storm here in the metro Boston area. The last estimate I looked at yesterday morning said 15"-19". Sadly, I did not think to buy chips, though I did do a grocery run Thursday morning in preparation. Good luck weathering the storm, pun entirely intended. :)

>108 Julie_in_the_Library: hope you stay warm.

>109 dianeham: You, too!

Reading too may books at once again.

Mongol
The Island
Bury Your Dead
Ghost Summer: Stories
Wild An Elemental Journey

What I read in Jan.

https://www.librarything.com/catalog/dianeham

We got about two feet of snow last weekend. I stayed at my daughter’s house. She was worried that I might lose power and they have a generator. I did lose power, but only for a short time. It was a nice weekend, playing games with my daughter and granddaughter. It’s a mess outside right now with freezing rain and snow.

I think you got hit worse than we did. No outages here.

Reading Eternity Road
The Mist
The Society of Reluctant Dreamers
Mongol

Finished Eternity Road. Realize I read it years ago but the only thing I remembered was the end. I love it.

Reading another Ragnor Jonasson, The Mist

Finished The Mist. It was great.

You're cruising through your reading. We have had storm after storm here, I have been alternating shoveling and reading.

>119 labfs39: no shoveling for me. I am cruising through these books. 13 so far this year and they’ve all been good. I’m trying to decide if I should buy a used copy of Two Lives: Gertrude and Alice by Janet Malcolm. I was totally immersed in GS in my 20s. Even saw one of her operas done by the Philadelphia School for the Deaf. I should probably buy it. It’s only $10.

>120 dianeham: That's great reading mojo, and for them to all be good too. It sounds like Two Lives would be a good investment, given your interests.

Just started Death in Spring Anyone else read this?

>122 dianeham: I have, a couple of years ago I think. I loved the writing, found it extremely creative and imaginative in the world it created, but somehow I didn't totally emotionally connect with the book. How are you liking it?

>123 arubabookwoman: About the same as you. The world it creates is very strange. And it’s very well done. But it doesn’t grab me.

Anyone familar with John Fante?

>125 dianeham: Not me. Btw, did you end up getting Two Lives?

>126 labfs39: yes! It came today. Thanks for remembering.

I finished Autumn Rounds today. The main character is a bookmobile driver. His best friend is a writer who seems to like thinking he’s a terrible writer. To prove it, he names a bunch of great writers - including John Fante

>127 dianeham: Did you like Autumn Rounds? I love Jacques Poulin, but this is one I haven't read. Archipelago recently republished it, so I can finally find a copy.

>128 labfs39: yes, I liked it very much. It was strange the way the characters related to each other. Of course the fact that he had a bookmobile kept me interested. It was a quiet book and the ending was lovely. What else would you recommend by him? None of the other books are on kindle but they don’t cost a lot so might buy. I have no room on my bookshelves so have to do some weeding.

>125 dianeham:

I've read Ask the dust, Wait until spring, Bandini and The brotherhood of the grape. Terrific gift and a voice all his own, but it helps if you can read him in bloke mode.

>130 LolaWalser: thank you.

>129 dianeham: I loved Translation is a Love Affair, and Mister Blue was very good too. Spring Tides was my least favorite of the ones I've read.

Just starting Better to Have Gone: Love, Death, and the Quest for Utopia in Auroville.

It’s the late 1960s, and two lovers converge on an arid patch of earth in South India. John Walker is the handsome scion of a powerful East Coast American family. Diane Maes is a beautiful hippie from Belgium. They have come to build a new world—Auroville, an international utopian community for thousands of people. Their faith is strong, the future bright.

So how do John and Diane end up dying two decades later, on the same day, on a cracked concrete floor in a thatch hut by a remote canyon? This is the mystery Akash Kapur sets out to solve in Better to Have Gone, and it carries deep personal resonance: Diane and John were the parents of Akash’s wife, Auralice. Akash and Auralice grew up in Auroville; like the rest of their community, they never really understood those deaths.

Also just started When a Killer Calls: A Haunting Story of Murder, Criminal Profiling, and Justice in a Small Town an early case of the fbi criminal profiling unit.

I’ve been getting books in the mail lately. Haven’t read any yet. Today i got Garden By the Sea.

Really being annoyed by peripheral neuropathy in my feet. They feel like they are freezing but they aren’t.

Last night I read When I was you, a thriller that I didn’t expect much from. But it wasn’t bad

>136 dianeham: When I was You by Minka Kent? Your touchstone went elsewhere. :)

>137 AnnieMod: yes, thank you. All fixed.

Now reading a mystery set in Oxford - Aspire to Die. Reminds me of Morse because it’s in Oxford. The DI is a woman in her 30s.

I finished Aspire to Die. It was good. It takes place at Oxford. I love Oxford from having watched the Morse series. Like Morse, DI Bridget Hart likes opera. I started getting bored about 3/4 of the way but then the action picked up and the ending was exciting. On to the 2nd in the series Killing By Numbers.

I’m in here talking to myself.

I'm following along, but without much to add...

Same here. Always figure there's folks reading your posts. Cheers!

I had oral surgery yesterday and I’m exhausted. We registered Shaka with a different vet today and that is a relief. Finishing up the second book in the Bridget Hart series. Also reading Tin Man

>144 dianeham: I hope you love Tin Man. I thought it was so good.

>145 NanaCC: looking forward to it. Thank you.

>144 dianeham: Boo for oral surgery, yay for new vet!

I finished Do No Evil. There was a disturbing plot twist involving how someone gay is portrayed. This is the third book in the Bridget Hart series and I’ve been enjoying the books. The author M S Morris is actually a husband/wife team. Anything I’d say here would be a spoiler but I’d say they should have given some thought to their homophobic plot twist.

P.S. How do you do the hidden spoiler thing here?

>148 dianeham: {spoiler}plot twist/your text here{/spoiler} But replace the fancy brackets with pointy brackets:
plot twist/your text here

>149 ELiz_M: thank you.

Last night I started Turtles All the Way Down

I had oral surgery a week ago yesterday and it still hurts. I’ve hed lots of implants but I don’t seem to remember how it hurt. I wonder if it’s worse because of my age? I hadn’t been to the dentist in like 3 years and that was mostly because the implants were too much - not too much money - too much hassle, time and pain. I take 2 mg of activan before oral surgery since this dentist doesn’t knock me out. I sleep for 3 days after that. Activan isn’t even in your system that long. I had a capped tooth break off at the gum. I nned the below gum part removed. I didn’t care a lot about replacing the tooth that much. I don’t have anywhere else I can post this and just needed to think out loud.

Still reading. Finished Turtles All the Way Down. Some of it was hard for me to read. Can’t say to much right now.

>152 dianeham: I'm sorry you've been in such pain, Diane. Did you try calling the orthodontist's office to see if this is normal or if there is something they can give you? Sounds terrible.

>153 labfs39: I think 2 weeks pain is normal. I’ll call him soon if it doesn’t improve.

We had a wonderful shrimp and orzo for dinner tonight.

>154 dianeham: Mmmm shrimp and orzo are two of my favorite things. I hope you're feeling a bit better.

>155 lisapeet: here’s a pinterest link to the recipe - https://pin.it/1TZox6J
I used cherry tomatoes instead of a can of tomatoes.

“Life is largely better than death.” —Sumerian proverb

>156 dianeham: Oh that looks good. Thanks!

The Variable Man, The Skull & Meddler - 3 Time Travel SF Classics in One Edition

Read Girl in Ice . No comment

>160 dianeham: That sounds bad...

>161 labfs39: it wasn’t great but I still liked reading it. The science was bad and the emotional stability of the characters was wretched.

Have you read Project Hail Mary? Since you like science and sci-fi, you might like it. I just read it and loved it. A bonus was that it was oddly upbeat.

>163 labfs39: I’ll check it out. Thanks.

i read The Variable Man last night. It was fascinating and strange.

>157 dianeham: Is this the mantra one needs to get through oral surgery? I'm sorry you had so much pain and hope you're past it all.

>165 dianeham: I have never read PKD. I probably should fix that.

>166 dchaikin: yes, good mantra. I got a $2000 bill the day after it stopped hurting. I think earlier PKD is best. Later he was pretty eccentric (crazy). I love Blade Runner and the book it’s based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Total Recall is based on the short story We Can Remember It For You Wholesale.I never liked Arnold but Total Recall is well done.

I'm another fan of Blade Runner. Terrific movie. I enjoyed the really slow-moving sequel too, Blade Runner 2049. That's a book I really should read just because I like the movie so much.

>168 dchaikin: tell me when you are going to read it and I’ll read it too. It’s been forever.

BUNNY CAKES

Cute! :)

Are those from King Arthur? I love them, and also those little bee- and honeycomb-shaped cake molds. In some alternative lifestream, when I can bake every week, I‘ll buy them all.

>171 dchaikin: thanks
>172 lisapeet: baby bunny cake pan from Nordic Ware.

>170 dianeham: Very nice!

>174 kidzdoc: Thank you. They are for my hubby’s 69th birthday. He really likes bunnies. I also have a bunny cake stand for them. Oh and icing. More pictures later.

Finished A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny. This was the best yet. There was a lot about Alcoholics Anonymous in it and surprisingly she got it right. I assume she did research and isn’t a member herself and that is unusual. TV shows and movies don’t do AA justice and seem to put emphasis on bad people continuing to do bad things sober - like murder. Penny emphasized the need to change in order to stay sober. I’m sober 43 years so I appreciate her understanding.

>176 dianeham: Congratulations on your 43 years. It's nice to hear that a fiction writer got it right, but being an author doesn't necessarily mean that she hasn't been there or that a family member hasn't.

>177 labfs39: Maybe a family member - hadn’t thought of that. Lawrence Block writes about Alcoholics and AA but he is in AA so he gets it.

Just started The Crime Writer by Jill Dawson. The main character is Patricia Highsmith who is staying in a rented cottage in England.

Anyone read Faith Martin mysteries? I’m just finishing the first in the series - Murder on the Oxford Canal.

Last night I read Victorian Cape May. Interesting local history. Everything burned down at least twice.

Finished another book. The Missing Ones by Pat Gibney. It’s first in a series and there are at least 8 more. It’s a police procedural that takes place in Ireland. The lead detective is a widow with 3 children. It was no Louise Penny novel but it was a nail biter and held my attention.

Morrigan in New Jersey

I am a goddess
Irish, not Greek
Not the ill-fated sort
that gets killed by
her father, her brother
Not a tragedy
Unlike Venus
I am armed
With a quick wit
and sharp tongue

3am with night hawks
at the diner
I once flew too
The bluest
Black crow
Scanning battlefields
Taking sides
Listening to last words
Whispered hopes and final sighs
Before pecking out an eye

My family lives
But not here
I live by the sea
And I remember the battles
I pick through pieces
Of other lives
Lost or discarded
In the sand
A few pennies, an old flip-flop
A silver necklace, a gold ring

All tucked away
In my museum of war
The past painting
A picture of
The future.

Were the Irish Ever Brutal



Of course there were clans

And wars between the clans

But there was never a death penalty

Just a fine, a price of cows and silver



There was the brutality of silence

Unspeaking your neighbor,

Your wife, your children

And the easy slaughter of animals



Too soon to forget the explosive

Violence of guns and bombs

The North exploding cars

And children and churches



But none of this rose to the height

Of invasions, destruction of entire races

Incas, Aztecs, Cherokee 

We were the same and we were different


We destroy ourselves first.

It’s poetry month. The 2 above are mine. If you stop by, please say hey.

>186 dianeham: We were the same and we were different


We destroy ourselves first.

I really like that.

>188 labfs39: Thank you so much.

>133 dianeham: Just added Better to Have Gone to my wishlist. Thank you!

>190 nancyewhite: I didn’t finish it. I had a hard time following it.

All tucked away
In my museum of war
That's a great image. Thanks for posting those.

>192 lisapeet: thank you.

I finished another Inspector Gamache book. I wasn’t too pleased with this one. It involves Gregorian Chant so I expected it to be better. I did find out that Louise Penny is a recovering alcoholic. She got sober in the mid-90s. There was something at the end of this book that made me think of it. She includes some thoughts in her books that are popular in but didn’t originate in AA. In this book it was about having 2 wolves inside you - a good one and a bad one. She is very attached to the line in a Leonard Cohen about the light getting in through the cracks. Sometimes these sentiments don’t supports the story as much as they seem to please the author.

Read French Braid by Anne Tyler. It was a good book. It was about an extended family across 2 generations. I’m not a big family person and never stayed connected to cousins and Aunts and uncles. So I didn’t feel an emotional connection to the story. But all the people in the book were fairly unique. And they didn’t feel particularly connected to each other either.

Finally finished Tin Man. Should have read it uninterrupted. Really couldn’t follow the story. But it was very goid.

Wow. You're cranking them out this week

Reading Elena Knows.

I just read a post where someone said he still had a paper his father wrote in college. That made me remember when my father asked me to teach him long division. He was a manager of a Horn & Hardart restaurant and up to that point I guess he just counted the money but then he had to do more financial reports. I think I was in 6th grade at the time but I might have been older. My father was really smart and read constantly but his education in Ireland was probably equivalent to grade school. He learned it instantly and I was honored that he asked me.

Heaven by Mieko Kawakami



This book was great. Difficult to read because it’s about kids being bullied. But it’s totally brilliant. Definitely one of the best books I’ve ever read. Off to find more books by her.

>185 dianeham: >186 dianeham: I really enjoyed these. They are yours? ... oh, ok, finally read >187 dianeham:. Great stuff Diane. Thanks for sharing.

Also, seems like you're a good reading stretch. I'm interested in Elena Knows, Heaven and French Brain. Not sure what Tin Man is.

ETA >199 dianeham: enjoyed your story about teaching your father long division.

>201 dchaikin: glad you like the poems.
And yes, I’ve been reading a lot of good stuff. French Brain?

I corrected the Tin Man touchstone.

>201 dchaikin: oh, French Braid! Didn’t even make the connection. But it sounds like a book I would read.

>203 dianeham: lol. oops :)

Unrelated to books - I really need to stop eating sugar.

>205 dianeham: Ok, that made me chuckle out loud.

>206 labfs39: at easter and right before my birthday too.

>205 dianeham: hmm, how’s that no sugar thing going?

So pretty!

>208 dianeham: Whoa. Where did you get those from?

>210 kidzdoc: a place down here called Chocolate Face. My birthday is Tuesday so they are Easter/Bday cupcakes.

Birthday eve - doing taxes - got an ocular migraine.

It’s my birthday.

I’m reading The Long Way Home by Louise Penny. I’half way through and it’s getting on my nerves. They are looking for Peter but looking at paintings he painted. Gamache isn’t police anymore and everybody is just speculating. It’s annoying.

Happy birthday! Those cupcakes are giving me ideas, and I don't have much of a sweet tooth... but think I'll swing by the pastry shop today. :)

>215 LolaWalser: thank you, dear

Happy birthday! Btw, birthday sugar doesn’t count. It’s a universal law or something :)

Happy birthday! :)

>217 Yells: >218 AnnieMod: Thank you so much.

Happy Birthday, Diane!

Happy Birthday! Enjoy those cute little cupcakes.

Happy birthday, Diane! You can stop eating sugar after the cupcakes.

Happy Birthday. Cupcakes . . . otherwise known as Vitamin C, right? Dig in!

>220 kidzdoc: >221 dchaikin: >222 lisapeet: >223 rocketjk:. Thanks all. I screwed up my taxes on my my birthday but not a big deal. Very relaxing day.