Ardene (markon) reads books & listens to music

I’m Ardene and I love to read.

Bingo Challenge
This card is from the Category Challenge 2022 group. My main thread is here in Club Read, but I like to play Bingo too, so I’m using this card as my thread topper this year. I do not plan my reading around this card, but when I finish a book I look to see if it will fit one of these prompts.



List of prompts and books
The categories are:
1. An Award Winning book: The stone sky by N.K. Jemisin, winner of 2018 Hugo for best novel.
2. Published in a year ending 2: Boneland by Alan Garner (2012)
3. A modern retelling of an older story: The chosen and the beautiful by Nghi Vo (retelling of The great Gatsy)
4. A book you'd love to see as a movie: Passing by Nella Larsen
5. A book that features a dog: Even dogs in the wild by Ian Rankin
6. The title contains the letter Z: Bastards of Pizzofalcone by Maurizio de Giovanni
7. Published the year you joined LT (2005) Jonathan strange and Mr. Norrell Clarke, city of pearl Karen Travis, life Gwyneth Jones, cloud Atlas, American prometheus kai bird, tale of love & darkness amos oz, tulia blakeslee,
8. A book by a favourite author: The locked room by Elly Griffiths
9. A long book (long for you): Island Queen by Vanessa Riley
10. A book you received as a gift
11. The title contains a month: Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Armin
12. A weather word in the title: Reap the wild wind by Julie Czernada
13. Read a CAT (Cat woman) :This time next year we'll be laughing by Jacqueline Winspear
14. Contains travel or a journey:Dark earth by Rebecca Stott
15. A book about sisters or brothers: The invisible guardian by Dolores Redondo
16. A book club read (real or online): Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden
17. A book with flowers on the cover: Appleseed by Matt Bell
18. A book in translation: Monteverde: memoirs of an interstellar linguist by Lola Robles, translated by Lawrence Schimel
19. A work of non-fiction Hyperbole and a half by Allie Brosh
20. A book where a character shares a name of a friend
21. A book set in a capital city: I'm reaching, but I'm counting Spear by Nicola Griffith here, because part of it is set in Caer Leon (Camelot).
22. A children's or YA book: Spiderweb for two: a Melendy maze by Elizabeth Enright
23. A book set in a country other than the one you live: Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden
24. A book by an LGBTQ+ author: Fairest: a memoir by Meredith Talusan
25. A book with silver or gold on the cover: Star Mother by Charlie N. Holmberg

Thanks to Christina for creating the cards, LShelby for digitizing them, and Helenliz for organizing our prompts (go here to see 2022 card options)

Music



I plan to highlight a new-to-me music album each month this year. I hope visitors will share their music finds with me as well. For January my choice is Blues Dialogues with violinist Rachel Barton Pines and pianist Matthew Hagle. (Review from Gramaphone)

I’ll provide links here for posts throughout the year.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

Highlights 2021
Last year I kept track of 5 categories that most of my reading fell into on the category challenge thread. My genres are fantasy, literary or historical fiction, mystery, nonfiction, and science fiction.

Here are some of my favorites from last year.

Fantasy
The winged histories by Sofia Samatar
Black water sister by Zen Cho
Hands of the emperor by Victoria Goddard
The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Cordova

Literary Fiction*
The mountains sing by Phan Qué̂ Mai Nguyẽ̂n
Indelicacy by Amina Cain
The seed keeper by Diane Wilson

Mystery
The ruin and The scholar by Dervla McTiernan
Not dark yet and Many rivers to cross by Peter Robinson

Nonfiction
Black in Selma: the uncommon life of J. L. Chestnut by J. L. Chestnut and Julia Cass
How to survive a plague by David France
The old ways: a journey on foot by Robert MacFarlane
She come by it natural: Dolly Parton, the great unifier by Sarah Smarsh

Science fiction
A desolation called peace by Arkady Martine
A psalm for the wild-built by Becky Chambers
The broken earth trilogy by N. K. Jemisin

*Which leads me to a question Trifolia (Monica) asked me late in 2021: How do you define literary fiction? I'll attempt to answer her question in post 11.

2022 reading plans? Bwahahahaha!
I read more by what catches my eye and my mind more than by planning. Having said that, I hope to participate periodically in the following challenges:

Reading Asia (Paul Cranswick in the 75ers group is hosting.)
Food and Lit on Litsy (#foodandlit2022)
Category Challenge: Women Cat, Mystery Kit, and Science Fiction Fantasy Kit

January will include The bastard of Istanbul for Turkey in the Reading Asia challenge, Aunt Safiyya and the monastery by Bahaa' Taher and a biography for the ER program, Betwixt and between: Pauli Murray's revolutionary life by Simi Kuznick

Photo credit Stefan Keller from Pixabay

Fantasy

1. The return of Fitzroy Angursell by Victoria Goddard


2. A river enchanted by Rebecca Ross


3. The cat who saved books by Sosuke Natsukawa, translated from Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai*


4. Fevered star by Rebecca Roanhorse


5. When women were dragons by Kelly Barnhill


6. The sisters Grimm by Menna van Praag


7. The chosen and the beautiful by Nghi Vo


8. Earth logic by Laurie J. Marks


9. Spear by Nicola Griffith


10. insert title here

Science Fiction

1. The stone sky by N. K. Jemisin


2. Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden


3. Monteverde: memoirs of an interstellar linguist by Lola Robles, translated from Spanish by Lawrence Schimel*


4. Far from the light of heaven by Tade Thompson


5. Vagabonds by Jingfang Hao
* translated from Chinese by Ken Liu

6. Exit strategy by Martha Wells (audio)


7. The mountain in the sea by Ray Nayler


8. The stone weta by Octavia Cade


9. Reap the wild wind, Riders of the storm, and Rift in the sky by Julie Czernada (The stratification prequel)


10. The employees by Olga Ravn, translated by Martin Aitken*


11. insert title here

*Translated

Photo credit Image by Comfreak from Pixabay
Literary Fiction

1. Boneland by Alan Garner (comments here)


2. Passing Nella Larsen


3. The blue between sky and water by Susan Abulhawa


4. Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim


5. Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden


6. The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead


7. Island queen by Vanessa Riley


8. Dark earth by Rebecca Stott


9. Spiderweb for two: a Melendy maze by Elizabeth Enright (juvenile, so it doesn't fit my categories well)


10. Best of friends by Kamila Shamsie

*Translated

Photo credit Image by Zigmars Berzins from Pixabay
Mystery

1. The invisible guardian by Dolores Redondo (comments here)*


2. Spoils of the dead by Dana Stabenow (audio)


3. Bastards of Pizzofalcone* by Maurizio de Giovanni, translated by Antony Shugaar


4. Among the ruins by Ausma Zehanat Khan


5. The sacred bridge by Anne Hillerman


6. Overboard by Sara Paretsky


7. The house at Sea's End by Elly Griffiths


8. Daughter of the morning star by Craig Johnson


9. The readers' room by Antoine Laurain
* translated from French by Emily Boyce, Jane Aitken, and Polly Mackintosh

10. Even dogs in the wild by Ian Rankin


11. In a house of lies by Ian Rankin


12. Hidden depths by Ann Cleeves


13. Local gone missing by Fiona Barton


14. The widow by Fiona Barton


15. The locked room by Elly Griffiths


16. Bruno, chief of police by Martin Walker


17. insert title here

*Translated

Photo credit Image by Sven Lachmann from Pixabay
Nonfiction

1. Hyperbole and a half by Allie Brosh


2. This time next year we'll be laughing by Jacqueline Winspear


3. Fairest: a memoir by Meredith Talusan


4. The dead are arising by Les Payne and Tamara Payne


5. Cello suites: J.S. Bach, Pablo Casals and the search of a baroque masterpiece by Eric Siblin


6. A thousand trails home: living with caribou by Seth Kantner
7. You don't belong here by Elizabeth Becker


8. Song of survival: women interned by Helen Colijn

January Reading

1. Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden
(comments here)

2. The stone sky by N.K. Jemisin
(comments here)

3. Boneland by Alan Garner
(comments here)

4. Invisible guardian by Dolores Redondo, translated from Spanish (comments here)


5. This time next year we'll be laughing by Jacqueline Winspear


6. Spoils of the dead by Dana Stabenow


Links:
Bingo Card
Music List
Fantasy & Science Fiction Lists
Literary List
Mystery List
Nonfiction List
January list
February List
March List
April, May, June List
July List
August List
Fall and Winter

What is literary fiction? Sometimes it's used to denote "serious" fiction or "Literature," or fiction that's driven by character more than plot. But I think that's inaccurate. I thank a portion of genre fiction is as well-written and as serious at grappling with social issues as anything called literary. So I'm afraid I'm using it as a catch-all term to denote the fiction that doesn't fall into the three genres I read. (It sounds better than miscellaneous fiction.)

I like both entertaining/engrossing plot and well-developed character and am not happy if a book leans too far to one side over the other.

What's your definition?

>1 markon: I’m Ardene and I love to read.

Enough said. Lol

I like your dog pictures.

>11 markon: What is literary fiction?

That's a tough question, because, as you say, there is some high quality genre fiction that blurs those boundaries. Fortunately I don't track my reading in those buckets. If pressed, I guess I would think about whether the mystery (for instance) was the focal point (A is for Alibi) or the back story (The Good German). Was the science fiction aspect the point (Solaris) or simply the time period (Anathem). Was the fantasy element a plot device (like in Outlander) and rather peripheral to the main story? My personal definition relies on subjective qualities more than hard and fast rules.

Happy reading 2022 :-)

Happy New Year, Ardene! Looking forward to trying to keep up with threads in 2022.

Happy New Year Ardene! Looking forward to seeing what you read this year!

Thanks for stopping by Lois & Barbara & Alison!

Happy New Year, Ardene. I just happen to have The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Cordova sitting on my tbr shelf, so I will look forward to that.

Happy New Year, Ardene. I look forward to following your reading again this year. The Seed Keepers also made my list of favorites from 2021.

Happy New Year, Ardene. I look forward to following your thread.

>11 markon: markon: What is literary fiction?

I want to answer that anything good is literary fiction - the idea being that if it's a good genre novel, it then also becomes literary fiction. But there also a whole suite of terrible stuff that is classed as literary fiction, so my answer doesn't work.

Wish you a great 2022.

ETA - I'll follow you here, and on Litsy too, of course.

Happy New Year, Ardene. I'll be following your thread.

About your question in post >11 markon: Literature must have an extra dimension for me: it must first and foremost be well written and, moreover, have something extra: characters that do not develop in a clichéd way, a plot to think about,... The division into literature and genre fiction not always workable, because it sometimes creates certain expectations that are not always fulfilled (in both categories). But all in all, it is mainly a feeling that is difficult to define and sometimes also a case of the right book at the right time.

Hi Roni, Beth & NanaCC. Roni, hope your experience with Inheritance is as pleasant as mine.

>13 labfs39:, >21 dchaikin:, >22 Trifolia: Thanks for your thoughtful responses to my question about what constitutes literary fiction.

I like Lisa 's distinction about whether the parts that define something as genre are front & center or background/part of the story. And yet, there are stories like the Broken Earth trilogy where the science of orogenecy is a central part of the story, but I think the writing and character development place this series as literary fiction too.

And Dan, I hear and agree that some novels are classed as literary fiction, but you (or I) might not think they are good.

Monica, I agree that "extra" element is hard to define. Well- written is a must, and I lean towards preferring character development over plot (though Iam not averse to plot.)

We'll probably never get it nailed down, and I'm ok with that.

>24 markon: We'll probably never get it nailed down, and I'm ok with that.. This was more or less the conclusion of the vast academic research project "The Riddle of Literary Quality", so we're in good company :-)

>11 markon: Enjoyed the discussion re "literary fiction"! I tend to use the term a bit too liberally, but as a former bookseller, the term was used according to Wikipedia's definition: "Literary fiction is a controversial label that, in the book trade, refers to market novels which do not fit neatly into an established genre." But, I also think of it as fiction with more depth..(very tough to articulate it, but it would encompass some books labelled 'genre' also. Example; Science Fiction/Fantasy: Ursula LeGuin or John Crowley's works. Horror: Shirley Jackson, Joyce Carol Oates, come to mind. More or less thinking out loud here.

As someone who always puts "literary fiction" at the top of my categories, I'm enjoying this conversation. I don't have an answer for its definition either, other than "I know it when I see it," but agree that there's a high degree of crossover and also a lot of places where it just... doesn't overlap because the genre classification is so strongly defined.

Interestingly, as someone who trawls for a lot of galleys both online and (once upon a time) in person, I do a lot of that defining based on cover images. I think there's a pretty strong code in art departments for how to signal straight-up genre vs. crossover vs. lit fic. Again, I know it when I see it, and I'm probably wrong here and there but not, I think, a lot.

>26 avaland: Yes, depth, as in it deals with more than the simple on the surface plot.

>27 lisapeet: You know Lisa, I think you may have something here. Hadn't thought about covers/art. Wonder if that coding is conscious or unconscious?

My first finished book this year was going to be The stone sky. I even listed it as finished, but since I have it as an audio and have a sinus infection it's been putting me to sleep and I haven't finished it.


So the one I did finish while traveling back to Atlanta Sunday is Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden. This is a fun and sometimes thought provoking generation ship story, where the people have branched out off the ship into living in giant sentient space beings. But they haven't been treating these beings as sentient beings, and some of the younger generation begin to discover other practices they aren't comfortable with either.

I like the questions this one raises about class as well as what constitutes life worth valuing. It skewed a little YA for me, so I'm giving it 3.5 stars. Hope to reread pieces before I post to the Women of the Future group on Goodreads.

Edited to say on reflection, "skewed a little YA" actually means the main characters, especially Seske seem immature. They are young women, and there is character growth in both of them. I guess I don't particularly like what I perceive as Seskes' unawareness of the entitlement and privilege she weilds

Hi, Ardene, I'm dropping off my star, and I already took several recommendations from your list. I just finished two books that my 12 year-old grandson gave me, and they were great!

>30 sallypursell: Sally, great to see you here! Now I'll have to go find your thread.

>31 markon: Ardene, I listed some books, but don't go yet. I have made any reviews or left any comments yet.

The stone sky by N.K. Jemisin concludes the story arc of The broken earth in a satisfying way. Since I listened to this on audio, I have snagged a paper copy and started to read it. I know I missed things by listening. In fact, reading the prologue has caused me to rethink who is actually narrating this story.

Happy New Year, Ardene!

Hi Karen, welcome!

I never use the currently reading collection, because it changes so frequently, but here are some things I'm currently dawdling in.

The bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafek: I've started, but not progressed very far. Reading for Reading Asia (Turkey) challenge.

Breath: the new science of a lost art by James Nestor: intriguing anecdotal reports of various techniques to improve your health by breathwork.

Fairest by Meredith Talusan: memoir by a transwoman of Philippino descent.

The invisible guardian by Dolores Redondo: Mystery set in Spain. Almost done, but I haven't picked it up for a few days.

Aunt Safiyya and the monastery by Bahaa Taher, translated by Barbara Romaine: Haven't cracked this one yet, it's for the #foodandlit2022 challenge on Litsy.

And Anniversaries by Uwe Johnson: I've read two weeks worth of entries in this novel in diary format.

A fascinating collection of books. Thank you for your comments.

That IS an interesting collection of books you are currently reading. And you reminded me I was going to read one week of entries each week in Anniversaries, and here it is the end of week one, and I haven't started!

>37 sallypursell: Happy to list them Sally. I listed these in part to see how I was doing on the challenges I want to participate in, and the answer is - struggling. I want to read more than I have time to read.

>38 arubabookwoman: It's so easy for our good intentions to get off track! I've brought home another book from the library, Memories of a lost Egypt: a memoir with recipes that could be read along with Aunt Safiyya and the monastery for the food and lit challenge, and discovered one on my kindle app, The king of Taksim Square that I could use along with The bastard of Istanbul for Reading Asia (Turkey).

So my assignment tonight is to read a little bit in all four and decide which one I want to focus on. I see a glass of wine and reading in my immediate future.

I did manage to finish three books this week. Here are comments on two of them.


Finished book 3, The stone sky, this week.

The Broken Earth is an incredible science fiction trilogy. It's taken me awhile to get to it, but I am glad I did. N.K. Jemisin is a master writer, and this work doesn't give anything away, you have to work to figure out what is going on. The overall plot involves a planet wracked by seismic activity – shakes & blows (earthquakes & volcanoes). Every few centuries there is an especially bad event that may cause civilizations to shatter, called a “fifth season.” This series starts with a man-made fifth season and fills in the back story – what led to this fifth season, and will this be the end of the earth? Of humanity? What is humanity anyway? This one rewards re-reading.


Boneland by Alan Garner

I've wanted to read this for years, and I finally purchased a copy for myself. Garner wrote this novel for adults to finish off a fantasy series that started with two children's books – The weirdstone of Brisingamen and The moon of Gomrath. But this is no straightforward finish. Colin, one of two children in the the earlier books, has grown up to be an astrophysicist, and he's having dreams? hallucinations? visions? In the opening of the book, he's in hospital shortly before discharge. He's also looking for his missing sister Susan in the Pleiades. This is another one I'll have to reread, trying to figure out if his therapist is helping him, of if she's the Morrigan coming to get him. And to decide if this is a fantasy or a realistic story of what happens to a person whose sister disappears and who is struck by lightning.

The invisible guardian by Dolores Redondo translated from Spanish by Isabelle Kaufeler

This is an atmospheric tale of what happens when a detective is sent back to her hometown to investigate some serial killings. Set in a village in northern Spain, two, no three young women are found dead and family secrets are dug up. Happy endings there are not, even though most people are satisfied that the killer has been found. I did not realize this was part of a trilogy when I started reading it, and my library owns only the first volume. Sigh. How badly do I want to read all of the Barztan trilogy? I haven't decided yet as I'm feeling overwhelmed by Mt. TBR.

Also made into a movie trilogy.

Links:
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>41 markon: I've read the whole trilogy. It's a very good one and I couldn't put the books aside. As always the books are a thousand times better than the films but for once the adaption sticks to the book.

>43 Ameise1: Good to know. I think this is going in my back pocket for a travel read.

I have finished rereads of two light novels, trying and failing to find an audiobook that will keep my attention, but other than that have been reading primarily in Anniversares and The bastard of Istanbul, which is just getting interesting about 120 pages in.

Was surprised at browsing some of the graphs LT keeps on my reading that "romance" is a category I read a lot of - I generally run in another direction if something is labeled romance. Maybe it's a subtheme in some of the things I read?

>45 markon: I get stymied by my genre breakdown too. Last year's graph showed horror (a dystopian novel) and romance (Jamilia). If you click on the graph, it brings up a list of the genres, and if you click on the genre, it will list the books it placed in that category. Always amusing.

>40 markon: I started that series... a few years ago? and somehow it dropped off my radar. Listed to a fascinating podcast awhile back in which N.K. Jemisin coached the interviewer through a world-building exercise.

>45 markon: A lot of SF, Mystery and Fantasy books also get Romance as a genre... and if some of your LGBTQ+ is fiction, some of them are there as well.

As >46 labfs39: said, click on it and see what books are in there.

>47 qebo: I've bookmarked the podcast. Sounds fun.

>46 labfs39:, >48 AnnieMod: Ah well, it's good for a laugh.

I've been rereading C. J. Cherryh's Foreigner series like mad, and not making progress on much else. Finished one title and hope I get my reading mojo back soon.


This time next year we'll be laughing is Jacqueline Winspear's memoir of her childhood. It was interesting to learn of her parent's experiences in World War II and her life growing up in rural England. Her mother's war stories have greatly influenced her, yet as Winspear researches their truth she discovers that her mother was not a reliable narrator.

February reading

1. This time next year we'll be laughing by Jacqueline Winspear (audio)


2. Hyperbole and a half by Allie Brosh


3. Passing by Nella Larsen


4. Fairest: a memoir by Meredith Talusan


5. The dead are arising by Les Payne and Tamara Payne


6. Monteverde: memoirs of an interstellar linguist by Lola Robles

Links
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January list
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April, May, June List
July List
August List
Fall and Winter

February Music

Not sure what to post here, so I'm mentioning three albums. And the fact that I've just discovered bandcamp, which is going to be dangerous to my pocketbook. Finally, a place I can buy mp3s that I can actully download and play when I'm offline!


Urban driftwood by Yasmin Williams
Acoustic guitar

And an impulse buy on CD

Transparent water by Omara Sosa and Secko Keita
piano & kora

and last but not least, I've requested Robert Plant's & Allison Kraus' album Raise the Roof at the library.

Music Posts this year
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

Hyperbole and a half by Allie Brosh
This graphic memoir was funny in places and bittersweet in others. Some of the descriptions of depression really hit home for me.

This time next year we'll be laughing by Jacquline Winspear
This memoir (on audio) was interesting because I've read the author's Maisie Dobbs mysteries. I enjoyed learning about Winsipear's family & childhood, and how her experience inflluences her writing.

I've also spent a lot of time comfort reading the Foreigner series by C. J. Cherryh.

>53 markon: Ha, I read Hyperbole and a Half a few weeks ago. Some of the descriptions of depression really hit home for me. Absolutely. And the drawings of her depressed self in the grey hoodie.

>54 labfs39: Now I'm curious as to what those experiences were that influenced Winspear's writing. Off to Mr. Google. I've read the first 13 Maisie Dobbs books, but I see now that she has written four more!

>52 markon: I checked out the musical references on YouTube, and I really liked them, especially Secko Keita, although since I studied classical guitar (many, many years ago) Yasmin Williams was of interest. Now I need to see if they're on Spotify (I gave away most of my CD's when we moved, hoping to rely on Spotify instead) I love the Raise the Roof album.
Hyperbole and a Half is one of the few Graphic books I've read, and I loved it (along with Becdel's Fun Home).

>54 labfs39: Her mother's stories of World War I influence her, and her mum may not be the most reliable narrator. If you've read the books, I think you'll recognize situations that come up in the novels, for example her knowledge of hops picking.

>55 arubabookwoman: Deborah, glad you found the music of interest. I also enjoy Alison Bechdel.

Picked up my copy of Anniversaries and read through the beginning of October. I like the weaving together of the current plotline (1967 New York Gesine and Marie), and 1931 Germany & US (Gesine's parents.) And I keep wondering who the "we" voice of a narrator is. This book is told in different voices, and it often takes a minute to figure out which voice and which time period I'm in. Some of the we sounds like Gesine talking to her daughter Marie, but not all of it.

>52 markon: Nice February music. I saw Omar Sosa and Secko keita live at L'Asrada in Marciac (South West France) in 2018 and so I have probably heard most of the music from the album Transparent Water.
Excellent concert

>58 baswood: Bet that concert was a treat! My CD should arrive today, so I may get my first listen after I get home from work today.

February: narrowing down my reading?

My eyes are always bigger than the time I have available for reading. In hopes I can (mostly) stick to it, I am listing what I hope to read in February (I know, we're already halfway through the month.)

• Anniversaries (year long group read) Starting October 1967 this week.


• Passing by Nella Larsen (online group read) Finished first section today.


• The blue between sky and water by Susan Albulhawa

That's not all on my plate, but it's what I'm going to focus on.

I read Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa several years ago and enjoyed it. Today I started The blue between sky and water by the same author, and am loving it. The language, the structure, and the story. Of course I'm not far in, but I am going to savor reading this one.

Passing by Nella Larsen
A long-winded response, but I'm struggling with this one. For those unfamiliar with the novella, it's the story told from the view of Irene Redfield, a black woman living in Harlem in the 1920s. While passing for convenience, Irene runs into a woman she knew as a child, and discovers that Clare has married a racist white man. The story is what ensues afterward.

I found Irene Redfield a frustrating character. Irene has contrived to the best of her ability to live a “safe” life (safe financially and safe socially.) She has conformed to her community's idea of middle class life, and thinks she is happy. I think it's telling that she meets Clare while passing. What does Clare (and/or white society) have that she wants? She dosen't want to/ refuses to/ is unable to discuss race with her husband and tries to keep him from discussing Jim Crow and racism with her sons, as if not discussing it will protect them from its effects.

Clare appears to have grabbed her chance for financial security and escaping the overt effects of racism by passing as white and marrying a white man. She appears to miss her connection to the black community where her life began. I think what Clare is searching for is a place to belong.

Neither of these women can escape racism and it has costs for both of them.

Both Irene and Clare seem to understand Clare as someone who goes after, and gets, what she wants. I think Clare has a clearer view of herself than Irene. Irene is so busy trying to conform to her society's expectations that she hasn't allowed herself to acknowldge the burden race puts on her, and perhaps to acknowlege desires that don't fit in her community's expectations.

It may be my lack, but I could not understand Irene's inability to cut Clare out of her life after their initial meeting.

Some tentative guesses about why Irene doesn't do this:

• hidden affection for someone from her girlhood


• both women are looking for recognition from their communities, to be seen as who they are, not just to conform to an idea of what they should be


• Clare allows Irene to see her world for what it is, rather than what she wants it to be?


• Irene may secretly admire Clare's ability to recognize what she wants and go after it.

As an aside, here is a You Tube video about passing then and now.

>62 markon: I had been thinking of reading this and then watching the movie. Thanks for sharing your impressions and the link. Interesting.

>62 markon:, >63 labfs39: I watched the recent (Netflix?) movie but haven't read the book, though I do have it around. There's some nuance in your review that I didn't catch in the movie so maybe I should.

>64 qebo: I haven't seen the movie, but some people in the online group discussing it saw the movie first and thought the book addressed questions the movie raised. Others, of course, thought the book was better read before the movie. If you do read the book, I'd love to hear your impressions.

>63 labfs39: I'll be interested in your impressions if you read the book or watch the movie.

And a totally different slant on passing can be found in a memoir I'm (still, too many books in progress) reading, Fairest by Meredith Talusan. Filipino and albino as a child & adolescent, gay (white) male at Harvard, by the end of the book she will be transitioning to female. It's fascinating.

>62 markon: yes, thanks for sharing your thoughts on Passing. I haven’t read it yet. (it’s sitting on my phone and I know it’s short)

Fairest sounds like a very different kind of story to me.

>65 markon: FYI, the touchstone to Fairest goes to the wrong book. The description that came up confused me for a minute!

>67 labfs39: Thanks, fixed.

>66 dchaikin: Yes, it is a totally different story, but he passes for white as an adolescent and young adult. And even today, unless she tells people, I think people assume she's white (unless they know who she is.) Especially since she worked hard to attain an American accent and carry herself confidently.

It is fascinating to me to watch my reaction as I read this memoir.

I've got Breath: the new science of a lost art by James Nestor checked out from the library a second time in hopes of reading and absorbing more of it. Apparently a number of us are interested; there are about 8 people on the waiting list at the library and the book came out in 2020. Nestor is a journalist exploring a gap between what medicine knows scientfically about breathing mechanics and patholgies and how breath can work to prevent disease, or how healthy breathing supports our bodies.

I say it explores science, but doesn't make a logical argument, though the author cites many scientific sources. You can find his bibliography here. I may purchase the expanded paperback when it comes out sometime this year or next. I am also curious about several of the exercises described in the appendix to improve breathing. A few I'm aware of through yoga, but may want to add one or two to my repetoire.

Chapter Five, “Slow” explores the role of carbon dioxide in metabolism and how breathing slower in a controlled manner can lower blood pressure and heartbeat and possible increase oxygen absorgtion.

Fairest: a memoir by Meredith Talusan
Fairest is an intriguing book, a memoir the author wrote about their growing up in the Phillipines, moving to the US as an adolescent, young adulthood including college, and eventual decision to transition to female.

It's themes intersect with Passing by Nella Larsen which I also read recently, except this book addresses passing as female and gender as a construct as well as race.

The book begins as the author attends her twentieth class reunion at Harvard. We learn she's albino in the first parapgraph, and is a woman attending a reunion at a school she attended as a man in the fourth. The rest of the book is filling in background. The cultural mileu & family she grows up in, her early attraction to boys and men and her journey from a child aware of her difference to the ways she makes it work for her and the ways it hides who she really is.

I found myself thinking of the author as a boy/man during the first two sections of the book, when she is "performing" as a boy or man and trying to conform to whiteness and maleness (gay maleness once she's in the US.) It's in college that they come to understand the ways in which being perceived as white cost her/distance her from the brown boy she wanted to be as a child.

And yes, I know my pronouns are a mess. This is because my perception of the author changed and morphed over the course of the book. I don't feel I've fully abosrbed this one, and would welcome the opportunity to read this again as a buddy or group read.

Tell me how it ends by Valeria Luiselli
Not sure why this one is calling to me, but this is what I pulled up on my kindle to read on the plane from Des Moines to Atlanta. It's been a wild few days.

I was able to spend some time with family last week & my sisters & I were with my father when he died Friday night. His death was not unexpected , and we were as prepared as you can be.

Oh, Ardene. I’m sorry for your loss.

>71 markon: So sorry. Good that you could be there.

>71 markon: I'm so sorry for your loss.

>72 dchaikin:, >73 qebo:, >74 rhian_of_oz: Thanks all for your sympathy. It was good to be with family. Picked up Milo at the kennel today and back to work.

Hope to add comments on the following reads soon.
The dead are arising: the life of Malcolm X by Les Payne
The blue between sky and water by Susan Abulhawa
Tell me how it ends: an essay in 40 questions by Valeria Luiselli

>77 labfs39: Thinking of you, Ardene.

>71 markon: Very sorry to hear of your loss.

>77 labfs39:, >78 SandDune: Thanks. I have decided to be gentle with myself and not require reviews on the books in post 76.

I will say that The dead are arising is the first of the three biographies of Malcolm X I've read that I felt have a good picture of Malcolm as a person. And, with the distance of time and declassification of documents I now have a better understanding of what happened at the shooting.

I liked The blue between sky and water better than most who read it for the Holy land reading section of the Reading Asia challenge. it's a perspective on a Palestinian family and I enjoyed it.

Today I'm planning to make some progress b on a book from the Early readers program, Betwixt and Between: Pauli Murray's revolutionary life

>79 markon: I liked Abulhawa's Mornings in Jenin when I read it. I'll definitely pick this one up if I run across it.

Very sorry to read of the loss of your father, Ardene.

I hope you enjoy the Breath book - I got a lot out of it.

Even if not unexpected, the loss of a father is always cataclysmic emotionally. (((((Ardene)))))

>81 labfs39: If you run across it Lisa, I hope you enjoy The blue between sky and water.

>82 AlisonY: Thanks Alison. I think I may have to buy Breath when paperback comes out this year. I read a couple of chapters, then have to take it back to the library. There's a short but continuous wait list. And then I would have access to the exercises in the back long term.

The first thing I'm trying to do is restart rinsing my nose with saline solution - this really does help me breathe better, and I've never gotten sick with a respiratory illness when I've been doing it regularly.

Want to expreiment with taping my mouth shut at night as well.

>83 ronincats: Thanks Roni, you're right. I'm really glad I got to spend a few days with my sisters after he passed.

>84 markon: I've tried the taping the mouth shut. I found it worked best to just tape a small section in the centre of the mouth as I felt panicked about taping the whole mouth shut in case I desperately needed to take air in when I slept. I definitely felt noticeably less bunged up the next morning, but admit I haven't got into a regular habit with it.

I've always been curious about the saline nose rinsing as I do yoga, but I've never tried it. I feel a bit weird about things going the wrong way up the nose, but I expect you get used to it.

>85 AlisonY: Yes, it does feel weird the first few times you do it. I use a neti pot & tilt my head, so I don't worry about it going up my nose. But I do struggle to not blow right after I do it. There is, for me, an immediate improvement in how my breathing feels, so it has some immediate gratification. Just don't ever try it without salt in the water! And I like it room temperature to warm.

March reading

1. Far from the light of heaven by Tade Thompson


2. The blue between sky and water by Susan Abulhawa


3. The return of Fitzroy Angursell by Victoria Goddard


4. A river enchanted by Rebecca Ross

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I made progress this weekend on Betwixt and between: Pauli Murray's revolutionary life by Simki Kuznick, and unlike the first time I picked it up, it didn't feel like a textbook to me. We'll see what happens as I continue to read.

I also read Tade Thompson's newest novel, Far from the light of heaven. It's an action-packed science fiction adventure with the structure of a locked room mystery. Things go from bad to worse very quicklly.

I'm very sorry to read about your father's death, Ardene. It's been just over three months, but I'm still struggling with the unexpected loss of my father, and how his death has completely upturned my life.

>89 kidzdoc: Thanks Daryl. I think I ran on automatic pilot for awhile and it's slowly sinking in. Dad had been in hospice since last spring, but it's still a shock to the system when your last parent is gone. My siblings and I are planning a memorial service for late April, and I'll go back up to Iowa for that. And your life has completely changed, and I'm sure it's not easy.

Just catching up to your thread, Ardene. I'm sorry to hear of your father's death. Expected or not, a parent's death has such ripples.

I'm so sorry about the death of your father, but it was good you were able to be there. My father died nearly 15 years ago. He had been ill a long time and death was expected, but not imminent. I was flying in from Seattle to Houston for a scheduled visit, and he died sometime after my plane landed but before we got to the house. I still frequently think of missing that last visit.

>91 lisapeet: & >92 arubabookwoman: Thanks, both of you. Yes, ripples and that one last time to talk.

I've started subscribing to Publisher's Weekly's Religion Book Line, and have really mixed feelings - because there are two many I want to read!. (I majored in religion in college, and have been asked to assist with book selections.) This week there were 17 items I am interested in. Of course, the list I'm interested in is different than what I think people at the library will be interested in . . .

Here are the ones that called to me today.

Tarot by the numbers: learn the codes to unlock the meaning of the cards by Liz Dean
Come and hear: what I saw in my seven-and-a-half-year journey through the Talmud by Adam Kirsch
I take my coffee black: reflections on Tupac, musical theater, faith, and being black in America by Tyler Merritt
Public confessions: the religious conversions that changed American politics by Rebecca L. Davis

>94 markon: How interesting! What are your top five recommendations for religion books? I took a couple of classes in college, but have always been curious.

>94 markon: cool. I’m curious what Kirsch saw.

My sincere condolences on the loss of your father, Ardene.

>97 Trifolia: Thanks, Monica. I'm wearing one of Dad's flannel shirts a lot around the house these days. I find it comforting.

>96 dchaikin: Yeah, I may have to purchase that one, as the library hasn't bought it at this point. And here's another one I'm interested in: Enlightened contempories: Francis, Dōgen, and Rūmī: three great mystics of the thriteenth century and why they matter today by Steve Kanji Ruhl

>95 labfs39: Lisa, I don't know that I have top five I'd recomend for everybody, but let me get back to you on some I've enjoyed. It will most likely be a combination of intellectual books about religions, and some that I find spritually helpful.

The beginning of a talk about the weather hankie project.

Click on the photo to learn more. I'm excited because Maria is doing this fabric project on a quilt my sisters and I sent her.

It's been an interesting week. Milo and I spent an uncomfortable couple of hours Tuesday night as a line of thunderstorms moved through. I have never seen him react so strongly to a storm. He doesn't like them, but usually he hunkers down next to me & is OK. This tiime he was agitated, panting, and trying to crawl under the bed, where he doesn't fit.

A coworker offered me her Ninja blender, and I've been experimenting with smoothies for breakfast. I like, but I like solid food too.

We finally got confirmation that we have someone to sing for Dad's memorial service, so now we have to finalize songs.

I found out today that a close friend had a stroke and a fall, so I will see Sally in the hospital tomorrow. Her husband Tom says she has her speech back, but still has a long way to go and they argue several times a day about whether she is ready to come home yet.

And I'm having brunch tomorrow with a friend I haven't seen since early Covid days

I'm running on. Time to pack it up and go to sleep.

>101 markon: My lab used to try and squish himself between the tub and the toilet, that bathroom being the only room in the house without windows. As he got older, he got more agitated. How old is Milo?

>99 markon: hmm !!

>101 markon: Interesting fiber art. Poor pup

>98 markon: - I can understand that.

>102 labfs39: Lisa, Milo is 14, so in dog years he's an old man. The photo I have of him on LT is in his younger days. I'll put another one up.

Young Milo Older Milo

>105 markon: he’s so handsome.

>105 markon: What a good boy!

>98 markon: "I'm wearing one of Dad's flannel shirts a lot around the house these days. I find it comforting."

I know this feeling exactly. After my father died, I kept one of his overcoats which I wore for months whenever I went out during the fall and winter. Also, I kept all of his ties, one of which I wore when I finally got married for the first time six weeks shy of my 50th birthday.

Condolences for your dad's passing from me, as well.

>106 dianeham:, >107 labfs39: >108 rocketjk: Thanks!

Milo is going to stay with some friends next weekend while I head back to Iowa for Dad's memorial service. Meanwhile, I discovered last weekend that my friend Sally had a stroke, a fall, and a subdural hematoma a few weeks ago. She passed a swallow test yesterday, and celebrated with a Coke. I hope she'll be released to rehab soon.

It's been a slow reading month. I am hoping to read a chunk of Anniversaries this next week, and am also exploring two enjoyable books at lunch.


New York, my village by Uwem Akpan (story of the protagonist's journey to the US for a fellowship/internship on publishing from Nigeria)
A prayer journal by Flannery O'Connor

And at night there are three others.


Black nature: four centuries of African American poetry, edited by Camille. T. Dungy
The chosen and the beautiful by Nghi Vo (fantasy retake on The great Gatsby from Jordan's perspective)
Shadows of eternity by Gregory Benford (science fiction, AI/sentient minds & aliens)

I managed to read one book on two plane flights recently. The bastards of Pizzofalcone by Maurizio de Giovanni, translated from Italian by Antony Shugaar. This is the first of a series set in Naples, Italy in the Pizzofalcone precinct where four "misfit" detectives have been sent from their home precincts to fill vacancies caused by the arrest of four officers from the district. The author referenced Ed McBain in his acknowledgements, so fans of the 87th precinct series may also like this one.

Overall I liked the book with one caveat: I dislike mysteries that alternate points of view between the criminal and the investigation, and this novel uses that technique, partially. I might have bailed on it if I hadn't been a captive audience, but I'm glad I didn't. I often find the criminal's point of view hard to believe in a predictable way, it usually spoils any suspense on who the criminal is, and I have developed an aversion for the alternate point of view technique unless it's done really well. Happily, in Bastards the alternate points of view are not all from the criminal's perspective and, at least for me, didn't spoil who the murderer was.

The writing on this series is good, there is a good beginning to character development, and I look forward to getting better acquainted with

April reading

1. The cat who saved books by Sosuke Natsukawa, translated from Japanese by Lousie Heal Kawai


2. The bastards of Pizzofalcone by Maurizio de Giovanni

May reading

1. When women were dragons by Kelly Barnhill


2. Fevered star by Rebecca Roanhorse


3. Overboard by Sara Paretsky


4. The sisters Grimm by Menna van Praag


5. The house at Sea's End by Elly Griffith

A Dick Francis binge

June reading

1. The absolute book by Elizabeth Know


2. Daughter of the morning star by Craig Johnson


3. The sacred bridge by Anne Hillerman


4. The chosen and the beautiful by Nghi Vo


5. Earth logic by Laurie J. Marks


6. Among the ruins by Ausma Zehanat Khan

Struggling with posting. A lot of comfort easy reading.

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How are you doing, Ardene? Sometimes comfort reading is just the ticket.

>114 markon: Lisa, comfort reading is all I can handle right now. Well, almost all. I am dipping in and out of a poetry book, and reading a Great Gatsby/fantasy pastiche that I'm really liking, The chosen and the beautiful by Nghi Vo.

Still reading The chosen and the beautiful. Started Cloud Cuckoo Land and stopped about halfway through.
Started The sentence (Lousie Erdrich), about four chapters in.

I think I'm on the way back. Been reading lots of familiar books, tracking only the few that are new.


I finally finished The chosen and the beautiful, which was lovely and haunting. Though irritating at times, and probably seen by outsiders as shallow, I liked Jordan, the main character in this parallel novel/reimagined Great Gatsby. Also timely as the action in this novel occurs around the time of the Manchester Act (a fictional immigration restriction act, most likely referencing/mirroring the Johnson-Reed act of 1924, also known as the Asian Exclusion Act.) Another point in US history when immigration was a hot issue. There is a fantasy element to this story, but it is mostly a study of character(s).


I am currently reading another fun fantasy, Star mother by Charlie N. Holmberg. I like the world created and again the character development of Ceris and Ristriel. This one can also be classed as a romance, and some people may find it schmaltzy, but I'm enjoying it.


And I have started On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed (who wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning The Hemingses of Monticello). At less than 150 pages a short but interesting collection of essays combining some lesser known history of east Texas and critical reflection on the history taught in schools, as well personal reflections on growing up there.

Notes on chapter 1: This, then, is Texas

a state of extremes
Stereotypes: cowboy, rancher, oilman - Texas is a white man - what about plantation owner?

Geological: east & west separated by Balcones Escarpment (limestone fault)

Slave plantation owner - southeast Texas: Stephen F. Austin (VA born, MO raised)
1825: 300 families and slaves came to create cotton plantations in Mexican province Coahuila Why did Mexican government want Anglo Americans? In part to provide buffer from Comanches. (what else?) But anti-slavery sentiment strong (Mexico just separated from Spain.) Austin & Tejano partners successfully lobby Mexican state for exception to slavery

1836 Rebel - separate from Mexico & form state of Republic of Texas, more Anglo Americans come (Mexico doesn’t acknowledge country, poor relations with other countries because condone slavery)

1845 Texas accepted as part of US

1846-48 war between Mexico and US, Americans also take land from Tejanos who have lived and worked there for decades.

Civil war 1861-1865

June 19, 1865 Texas General finally acknowledges defeat & freeing of slaves by emancipation proclamation

Note to self: Possibilities for Asian challenge China in July
The wedding party by Liu Xinwu
Strange beasts of China or The Chilli bean paste clan by Yan Ge
Eileen Chang, esp. Love in a fallen city
The way spring arrives
The good women of China by Xinran
Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang
The last quarter of the moon by Chi Zijian
A single swallow by Zhang Ling

French (Litsy Food & Lit)
A winter's promise Christelle Dabos (YA, fantasy)
The reader's room Antoine Laurain (mystery)
The office of gardens and ponds Didier Decoin (set in Japan)

July Reading

1. Star mother by Charlie Holmberg


2. Before the coffee gets cold


3. Vagabonds by Jingfang Hao


4. Black Narcissus by Rumer Goddenr


5. The readers' room by Antoine Laurain
*translated

6. Even dogs in the wild by Ian Rankin


7. In a house of lies by Ian Rankin


8. Hidden depths by Ann Cleeves

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I made a hard decision Thursday and said good-bye to my dog Milo. He loved me for 13 of his 14 years, and I miss him, but I hope he has energy to run again now. The photo is from his younger days.

Bon voyage!

>119 markon: Goodbye Milo! I enjoyed seeing your photos over the years.

Sorry to hear about Milo.

>119 markon: I'm sorry to hear your sad news about Milo.

>129 lisapeet:, >121 BLBera:, >122 rhian_of_oz: Thanks!

I finished two books today.

One, The enchanted April, was enjoyable but I found the end a bit too sweet. I remember enjoying the movie several years ago, and the book was delightful until that end.

The second, The readers' room by Antoine Laurain (translated by Jane Aitken, Emily Boyce & Polly Macintosh qualifies as a mystery, but is told from an odd angle. Who is the author who wrote a book shortlisted for the Prix Goncourt? Who is executing the murders described in the book? And how is the editor, Violaine Lepage involved? Or is she?

This one was entertaining & not spoiled by my guess at part of the answer.

Has anyone read or heard anything about The cabinet by Un-su Kim? Ran across it at the library today, and it looks intriguing, but I have too much on my plate right now to add it to the pile.

Description: Cabinet 13 looks exactly like any normal filing cabinet…Except this cabinet is filled with files on the ‘symptomers’, humans whose strange abilities and bizarre experiences might just mark the emergence of a new species.

But to Mr Kong, the harried office worker whose job it is to look after the cabinet, the symptomers are a headache; . . .

Author is from South Korea, and this novel won the Munhakdongne award in 2006 (an award for new writers from Munhakdongne Publishing Group.) For more info on South Korean prizes, check out this article.

I have started two substantial novels, one in print and one on audio. Though I may need to switch to both in print . . .


Vagabonds by Jingfang Hao, translated by Ken Liu. This author's novelette Folding Beijing won a Hugo in 2016. Vagabonds is Hao's first novel, and it reminds me in some ways of Ursula LeGuin's The Dispossessed.

It is a novel where Earth and Mars, after a war in which Mars wins independence from earth, after a time of isolation start to send delegates to each other to share technology. The first delegation of Terrans to Mars is 18 years in the past. Mars sent a group of 13-year-olds to earth for five years when the Terran delegates returned. These eighteen-years-olds are arriving back home on Mars with a delegation of Terrans to negotiate a technology exchange. But tensions are heating up toward war again. and the Terran and Martian cultures don't understand each other.

I'm about a third of the way through, and enjoying it so far. I think I'm going to use this one for Paul's Asian reads challenge 2022 (it will be my second one in that challenge this year.)

The second novel, recommended by my friend Roxanna, is an audiobook of Booth by Karen Joy Fowler. But my audiobook time is right before I go to sleep and this one is good enough I want to really pay attention, so I may get it in print. It is, as those of you who have read it know, a novel about the family of Junius Booth and Mary Ann Holmes Booth, and of Joe and Ann Hall, the slave couple they own lease and whose children are sold away. I'm not far in yet, but this one promises to be an interesting read as well.

>119 markon: So sorry about your good Milo. I lost my little dog Milo 17 years ago next week and still miss him.

>125 markon: I'm interested in The Cabinet, at least partly for that cool cover, but it also sounds interesting. I thought I had it but now I don't think so... nor does my library, but I'm sure it'll cross my path at some point. I do have a galley of Booth, which looks good.

The Readers' Room by Antoine Laurain, The Cabinet, and Booth all sound.

I've wishlisted The Cabinet: it sounds fantastic!

>129 lisapeet: Thanks Lisa. I keep looking around when I get out of bed or stand up from a chair, waiting for him to follow me. That will change over time I'm sure.

>129 lisapeet:, >130 BLBera:, >131 Dilara86: Glad I could add to everyone's wish list.

I’m catching up. I’m sorry you got hit so hard with your dad and then your pup.

In terms of books, Juneteenth appeals ( >116 markon: ). And I’m intrigued by calling the Balcones fault system a limestone fault. (It’s a very deep fault system. But it brings up older limestone. So limestone to the north and west (Cretaceous limestone of the Edward’s Plateau) and sands and shales to the south and east. Hence, on the surface it makes the limestone boundary.

>133 dchaikin: I think that may be my mislabeling the Balcones escarpment as a limestone fault (because that's what it sounded like to me.) But you're right, it's a whole fault system.

Aargh! Just looked at the Millions list of books coming out in the 2nd half of 2022, and see many things I want to read.

Here are a few I'm especially interested in. What are your top choices?
Sister mother warrior by Vanessa Riley
Witches by Brenda Lozano
Mother of strangers by Suad Amiry
Properties of thirst by Marianne Wiggins
Concerning my daughter by Kim Hye-Jin

>135 markon: Ooh, I love lists, especially one with so many translated titles. Although it's unlikely that I will buy any of these, I will look for the books by Shamsie, Gurnah, and Ørstavik at the library. I'm sure others will end up on my wishlist when I start reading reviews of them.

>119 markon: Difficult. I'm sorry.
>128 markon: Booth
I've had my eye on this so will be interested in your comments.

>135 markon: all plans are hopeless 🙁 But quite a list.

Scored my first bingo today on the card I'm using by counting Even dogs in the wild by Ian Rankin. This and In a house of lies were my first Inspector Rutledge novels, and they were quite good. I'm not a completist, and these late entries in the series were the ones available as eaudiobooks at my library.

I also listened to one of the early Vera Stanhope novels by Ann Cleeves, Hidden depths.

>136 labfs39: I like lists too. I'm better at making them than at checking things off.

>137 qebo: Thanks. The audio of Booth went back to the library, but I have a paper copy to work on.

>138 dchaikin: "all plans are hopeless" - yes, but I continue to make them and scrap them.

Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden
The pace of this novel is slow with tension rising within and between the Anglican nuns as they are affected by the Himalays and the various people they interact with as they attempt to establish a school and hospital. I'd call the writing style meditative. Some people will dislike this because their isn't a lot of action, but there are interesting characters and I enjoyed it.

The readers' room by Antoine Laurain
This is an odd and intriguing novel about a woman in publishing who manages the staff who read manuscripts submittted to a publishing house in Paris. Two murders take place that happen like the ones described in a book she has published, and odd things begin to happen. Though I guessed part of what had happend, I didn't guess all.

Ardene, are you a librarian?

>143 dianeham: Diane, I work in a public library as a parapro.

A single swallow by Zhang Ling

I chose this because it was translated from Chinese and I assumed it would give me a Chinese perspective on what World War II looked like from China. I did find it interesting reading, but wished I could read another book that told Ah Yan's story. Because this is really the story of three men who cared for Ah Yan as they saw her, and not likely as she saw herself.

Set during the Japanese occupation of China and during the civil war, the action described takes place in two villages away from the worst of the fighting: Sishiyi Bu, where Ah Yan and Liu Zhaohu have relatively happy childhoods until the Japanese arrive, and Yuehu, where Americans train Chinese fighters in fighting the Japanese with explosives.

The story is told from three perspectives: Pastor Billy, an American missionary who has lived in Yuehu over a decade before the Japanese come; Liu Zhaohu, a villager with Communist sympathies who runs away to join the fighters; and Ian Ferguson, an American soldier who trains the fighters in using weapons.

The setup, that the ghosts of the three men meet after their deaths, seemed a bit clunky to me, and since two of the three narrators were Americans, I didn’t get as much Chinese perspective as I hoped.
***½



Memory of water by Emmi Itäranta (translated from Finnish, dystopian science fiction)

Noria Kaitio is her father’s tea apprentice in a village in the occupied Scandinavian Union in New Quian. This world has been shaped by oil wars in the past and a present with little of the technology we are used to and a water shortage due to environmental contamination. About the same time her father shares the place that doesn’t exist with Noria, her mother, a scientist investigating the contaminated areas of Scandinavia, decides to take a university post in a city on the coast of New Qian.

This is Noria’s story and her thoughts as she and her friend Sanja seek to navigate the world they live in. Choices and questions of who to trust figure throughout this lyrical novel. Some people may find it slow moving, with too much reflection, but I enjoyed it. The ending? Foreshadowed and appropriate for a novel of this type.
****

>145 markon: enjoyed these posts. New titles for me.

>144 markon: I’m retired from the library.

>135 markon: I added several books to my WL. I'm excited about new books from Kate Atkinson and Barbara Kingsolver.

The Godden, Laurain, and Memory of Water all sound like ones I would enjoy. Nice comments.

I love the translated literature. If only I could read all the books that sound interesting...

>146 dchaikin: Thanks Dan.

>147 dianeham: Diane, I will be too, in a few more years (less than 10, but I'm not counting down yet.)

>148 BLBera: Thanks Beth. Always happy to add to someone's TBR mountain.

>149 labfs39: Lisa, yes, if only . . .

August Reading

1. Local gone missing by Fiona Barton


2. The widow by Fiona Barton


3. The intuitionis by Colson Whitehead


4. Exit strategy by Martha Wells


5. The locked room by Elly Griffiths

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What are you reading now? you ask.


I'm finishing an audiobook called The widow by Fiona Barton (a mystery to listen to as I go to sleep and in the car.)


I'm working on (yes, this one has become work) The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead. A friend and I agreed to read it together, and I'm finding it rather dry and heady.

I've started two others that both seem promising.


Agaat by Marlene van Niekerk is set in South Africa and is the story of an Afrikaner woman who is dying and the title character who is a black woman who has worked for her most of both their lives. Translated from Afrikaans by Michiel Heyns and Mary Gaitskill. Also known as The way of the women.


Island Queen by Vanessa Riley is a historical fiction novel based on the life of Dorothy (Doll) Kirwan Thomas. A group on Goodreads will read and discuss in September, but it's almost 600 pages, so I am starting it now.

What are you reading now? you ask.


I'm finishing an audiobook called The widow by Fiona Barton (a mystery to listen to as I go to sleep and in the car.)


I'm working on (yes, this one has become work) The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead. A friend and I agreed to read it together, and I'm finding it rather dry and heady.

I've started two others that both seem promising.


Agaat by Marlene van Niekerk is set in South Africa and is the story of an Afrikaner woman who is dying and the title character who is a black woman who has worked for her most of both their lives. Translated from Afrikaans by Michiel Heyns and Mary Gaitskill. Also known as The way of the women.


Island Queen by Vanessa Riley is historical fiction based on the life of Dorothy (Doll) Kirwan Thomas that I will read with a group in September, but it's 600 pages, so I have to start now.

>141 markon:

Black Narcissus

Have you seen the Powell & Pressburger movie adaptation? I wouldn't generally bring up movies based on books, but in this case I'd say it's a masterpiece (something I didn't feel about the book, nor another Godden I read).

>154 LolaWalser: I have not seen the movie, but I have heard it's well done. I agree, the book isn't great, but I enjoyed it. I loved In this house of Brede and I will probably pick up other Godden novels as I run across them.

Fiona Barton is a new-to-me British author. I listened to her most recent book, Local gone missing, and enjoyed it. It’s set in a seaside village where there are building tensions between the locals and the weekenders who are buying property. Told in a variety of voices (and two timelines), the initial crime is contaminated ecstasy that sends two teenagers to the hospital. But the same night a man goes missing. The search to find him and to determine who distributed drugs become intertwined.

This felt like a puzzle to start with as I figured out who the characters were, and then how the present and the past fit together. The multiple points of view were done well.

Barton’s view of humanity is rather bleak; no one comes out unscathed with the possible exception of the detective Elise King, who starts the book on medical leave after a mastectomy. This is the first of a projected series featuring King, though the stories won’t be told only from King’s perspective.


Perhaps it was because I listened to two books by the same author back-to-back, but I didn’t enjoy The widow as much. It was still good enough to hold my attention, but I was afraid at the beginning that I would get nothing but the voice of the widow.

Jean Taylor’s husband Glen has just died. And everyone wants to talk with her, because Glen was suspected of abducting a toddler who has never been found. Jean supported her husband while he was under investigation. Will her story change now? Like Local gone missing, this story is told from multiple viewpoints, and from the present timeline, and the timeline when the child was taken.

The widow is Barton’s first novel. It and The child and The suspect all feature a journalist, Kate Waters, and her involvement with people involved in a case. I may read the other two books in this series, but I need some other world views in between.

>156 markon: I read both of those too. I preferred The Widow. I started The Child but didn’t care for it at all. Kate Waters didn’t feature a lot in The Widow but she seemed to be the main character in The Child. I felt The Widow had an unique edge to it which I appreciated. Neither The Child or Local Gone Missing had that.

>157 dianeham: I can see how that edge can make The widow more interesting. I'll keep your response in mind if I pick up The child.

>152 markon: I loved Agaat. Hope it turns out that you like it too.

>128 markon: - Booth is on my To be read soon-pile, so I'm looking forward to your comments on this one.

>145 markon: - I like that cover of Memory of Water. I'm not sure I want to read the book, but I'm not much of a dystopia fan.

>153 markon: - Agaat has been on my TBR-pile for years now. Maybe I can grab the momentum to finally read it.

I'm enjoying your posts btw, although I'm not posting as often as I'd like to.

An interesting discussion of writing workshops in the US, where they came from, and how they don't meet every writer's needs.

The Ghost of Workshops Past: How Communism, Conservatism, and the Cold War Still Mold Our Paths Into SFF via tor.com

>159 arubabookwoman: Deboarah, I like Agaat so far.

>160 Trifolia: No problem Monica, post when you're ready to.

For those reading Night of the living rez by Morgan Talty, here is another collection of indigenous futurism by Chelsea Vowel, Buffalo is the new buffalo. I have both of these on my list, but am also still trying to read the Chinese collection The way spring arrives and other stories, edited by Yu Chen.

I finallly completed a bingo with Elly Griffiths' The locked room. I enjoy her Ruth Galloway series, and this one had the added bonus, for me, of providing Ruth with a sister.


I also listened to Exit strategy, the last novella in the MurderBot series by Martha Wells. This was a great conclusion to the series, reuniting MurderBot with Dr. Mensah and allowing it to make some choices about its future.

And I"ve been rereading some of C. J. Cherryh's Foreigner series. Nice light familiar stories with happy endings.

September Music

I have neglected my resolution to buy more music this year and highlight some of it each month. In my birth month I decided to jumpstart this goal and I've purchased four albums (well five, one is a gift for my sisters) this month.

Two of the albums are by Leyla McCalla



Breaking the thermometer to hide the fever is a multidiscinplinary dance/music/theatre piece that premiered in Durham, NC this spring, highlighting Radio Haiti-Inter, the first (and for awhile the only) radio station in Haiti that broadcast in Kreyòl /Creole (rather than French). The music album from this performance, Breaking the thermometer, is primarily, though not exclusively in Kreyòl.


I also purchased Vari-colored songs: a tribute to Langston Hughes where McCalla has set Hughes poems to music.


Saturday evening I attended a live concert sponsored by the Atlanta Area Friends of Folk Music. Robin Bullock performed on guitar, cittern, and mandolin. Robin was part of the Helicon trio, and toured with Tom Paxton for several years. He aspires to record all six of Bach's cello suites, and completed the first three on mandolin (J.S. Bach: Suites for mandolin, volume one.)

I purchased the following albums, though I haven't listened to them yet.


Highland Ramble is collaboration with harp champion Sue Richards. This one is for my sisters.


The Carolan collection: an animal rescue benefit is a compilation album of music written by Irish bard Turlough O’Carolan. Robin pointed out Saturday night that this bard's lifetime overlapped that of J. S. Bach, and that O'Carolan was influenced by baroque music, though he and Bach were likely not aware of each other.


The enchanted woods album is Celtic and Appalachian music on guitar, mandolin, cittern and piano.

I will probably purchase Helicon's winter solstice album, as I'm always on the lookout for holiday albums that include music that isn't traditional Christmas music.

Both these artists are available on Bandcamp.

Music Posts this year
January
February

Apparently my dad's death affected my music buying capacity? Anyway, I forgot about this resolution until September. Perhaps next year I'll add live concerts to my list of things to do.

September
October
November
December

>165 markon: Those all look great. Thanks! I love Layla McCalla. I didn't know about "Breaking the Thermometer," but I have and really like the Langston Hughes album. I also love her album, "A Day For The Hunter, A Day For The Prey" and "Songs Of Our Native Daughters," the album she made with Rhiannon Giddens, Allison Russell and Amythyst Kiah. Fun fact (at least for me!): McCalla went to the same high school I did, Columbia High School in Maplewood, NJ (many, many years after me!). Speaking of that "Native Daughters" album, I highly recommend Allison Russell's album, "Outside Child." It's tough going, lyric-wise, as most of the songs are about the sexual abuse by her step-father that she was forced to endure as a child. But the songs and musicianship are absolutely outstanding. I first learned of McCalla when I saw her with her group at the Monterey Jazz Festival pre-Covid.

As Daryl/kidzdoc mentioned on his thread, the National Book Award Longlist for 2022 is out. And I have added a few to Mount TBR, primarily in the nonfiction category. Many of the fiction list also appeal, and a couple on the translated fiction list, but since I think I'll be lucky to read 1-2 of these books by the end of the year, I'm focusing on nonfiction.

Here are the two nonfiction books I'm interested in.


Uncommon measure: a journey through music, performance, and the science of time by Natalie Hodges
Bad Mexicans: race, empire, and revolution in the borderlands by Kelly Lytle Hernandez

What are your picks?

>166 rocketjk: Thanks for the recommendations! I have Our Native Daughters in my collection, and that's what spurred the purchase of McCalla's albums. I love Rhiannon Giddens abd I'll keep Allison Russell in mind.

>165 markon: Thanks for this post: I've discovered two new (to me) artists!

The music sounds great. I love Bach's Cello Suites. Yo Yo Ma recorded them and they always make me happy.

Love the cello suites too. When I studied classical guitar in college I played one of them (transcribed for guitar by Segovia).

Music for Octoberis Bach's cello suites as recorded by Pablo Casals.

After a humdinger of a sinus infection I want to report I finished Island Queen by Vanessa Riley with pleasure while I was sick. The rest of time I was listening to audiobooks while fading in and out of sleep . . .


Island queen by Vanessa Riley is historical fiction based on the life of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas. This one kept me intersted through almost 400 pages tracing Doll's life from slavery in Montserrat through her life in the Caribbean, becoming a wealthy free woman of color.


I also discovered a new-to-me mystery series set in France, and read the first novel, Bruno, Chief of Police by Martin Walker. Only fourteen or more to go . . .

Currently reading

The 1619 Project: an Origin Story, created by Nikole Hannah-Jones
The cello suites: J. S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the search for a Baroque masterpiece by Eric Siblin


Also planning to start The mermaid of black conch for a fiction read.

Alas, my graphic links don't seem to be working . . .

Thanks for mentioning Layla McCalla, Ardene. I haven't heard of her, but she sounds like a singer I might like, so I'll check out Breaking the Thermometer this week.

I should also post what I've been listening to lately. I purchased the two CD set Nina Simone Anthology: The Colpix Years as a birthday gift for my mother earlier this month, and we've been enjoying it.

Several books from this year's National Book Award for Nonfiction longlist are of particular interest, especially Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands by Kelly Lytle Hernández, The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness by Meghan O’Rourke, South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry, Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus by David Quammen, and His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa.

>173 markon: "Alas, my graphic links don't seem to be working . . ."

You have weird quotes around the address in the img tags -- ” instead of ". If you posted from an iOS device, they tend to do that so I am extra careful to make sure I use the straight ones.

>175 AnnieMod: Thanks Annie. That has at least fixed some of the graphics.

Spear by Nicola Griffith is a short fun fantasy that I read during lunch breaks. The tale focuses on Peretur, who in this version is a girl who has grown up in a cave with her mother. She grows up, leaves her mother disguised as a man, and eventually makes her way to Artos' court. A slant lesbian look at Arthurian legend.

Fall and Winter Reading

September
Island Queen by Vanessa Riley
I know this isn't the only book I read, but it's the only one I recorded.

October
Spear by Nicola Griffith

November
Dark earth by Rebecca Stott
The mountain in the sea by Ray Nayler
Spiderweb for two: a Melendy maze by Elizabeth Enright
A thousand trails home: living with caribou by Seth Kantner
The stone weta by Octavia Cade

December
The stratification series
Reap the wild wind by Julie Czernada
Riders of the storm by Julie Czernada
Rift in the sky by Julie Czernada (Includes a novella about what happens aftere the stratification series, which I didn't enjoy.)

You don't belong here: how three women rewrote the story of war by Elizabeth Becker
Song of survival by Helen Colijn
Best of friends by Kamila Shamsie

Links
Bingo Card
Music List
Fantasy & Science Fiction Lists
Literary List
Mystery List
Nonfiction List
January list
February List
March List
April, May, June List
July List
August List
Fall and Winter

I want to mention a book I ran across at the library and its predecessor.

New daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby and published in 2019 has gone on my wish list. It is primarily 20th century writing - there is a section for writers pre-1900 and then a section for each decade of the twentieth century. The book is about 1000 pages including introduction, notes and acknowledgements, so I know I'll never read it as a library book.

Busby also edited a collection, Daughters of Africa published in 1992. You can find a list of many of the contributors to both collections at the Wikipedia entry. None of the writers in the 1992 book are included in the 2019 publication, so you can read 400 unique female authors from Africa and the African diaspora!

>179 markon: Onto my holiday wishlist it goes!

The world keeps ending and the world goes on by Franny Choi is available November 1, 2022. Judging by the title poem, I want to read it.

Read The world is ending and the world goes on at The Poetry Foundation’s web page.

How did I get here?


Deep wheel Orcadia by Harry Josephine Giles won the Arthur C. Clarke award for 2022. It’s a science fiction novel in verse - written in Orkney, with an English “translation” by the author. I put it on my wish list, and then went down a rabbit hole about novels in verse, and poetry.

Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin
Golden Gate by Vikram Seth (sonnets, yes, in iambic pentameter)
Fredy Neptune by Les Murray
Dark Star by Oliver Langmead
Copper Mother by Alyse Knorr

Birthright by George Abraham

And for my own reference (and anyone else who is interested) the shortlist and winner of the first Ursula LeGuin Prize for Fiction.

After the dragons by Cynthia Zhang
Appleseed by Matt Bell
Elder race by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The employees by Olga Ravn, translated from Danish by Martin Aitken (also shortlisted for 2021 International Booker)
The house of rust by Khadija Abdalla Bajaber
How high we go in the dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
The past is red by Catherynne M. Valente

Summaries published in Strange Horizons, part 1 and part 2.

>182 markon: I've read 3 of them (and have another on my kindle), including the winner. If they are any indication of what they will nominate for this award, I need to keep an eye on it.

>183 AnnieMod: I have loved LeGuin's work for a long time. but I have not read ANY of these novels! The two I'm most interested in are Appleseed and How high we go in the dark. Which ones have you read?

From the award's website: The Prize will be given to a writer whose work reflects the concepts and ideas that were central to Ursula’s own work, including but not limited to: hope, equity, and freedom; non-violence and alternatives to conflict; and a holistic view of humanity’s place in the natural world.

The house of rust, The past is red (which is a bit of a condundrum when you look at nominations - do they nominate just the new novella at the end or the previously story+novella that were published together under that title - either way I liked it though) and The Employees: A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century (another novella length work despite its title) - I have reviews in the first 2 and really need to get around writing one for the third. The one on my kindle is the Tchaikovsky - because well, it is Tchaikovsky ;)

>185 AnnieMod: yes, I like Tchaikovsky also. They all look intriguing.

The cello suites: J.S.. Bach, Pablo Casals and the search of a baroque masterpiece by Eric Siblin

This was an enjoyable read, with biographical information about JS Bach and Pablo Casals, the cello player who brought the six suites into the public eye. I especially enjoyed hearing about Casals, who I knew nothing about.

I'm gently reading my way through a science fiction anthology I bought this spring, The way spring arrives and other stories, edited by Yu Chen & Regina Kanyu Wang.

I didn't get the first story, but I found the next two, The tale of Wude's heavenly tribulation & What does the fox say? amusing. Wude is a trickster character. The fox story is clever flash fiction around a sentence many of us know. Blackbird was a little on the creepy side, in a good way, set in a nursing home. The restaurant at the end of the universe: Tai-Chi mashed taro was interesting, but I'm going to have to reread it more closely- I understand the shape of the story, but not the details. And likewise, I'll have to go back to a second read of the first essay in the collection, The futures of genders in science fiction after I've finished the book to make sense of it.

So far I'm enjoying this one quite a bit.

I'm also reading 1619 right now. I am learning a lot about history that I didn't know.

I love the Cello Suites. I have a wonderful recording by YoYo Ma.

>189 BLBera: I have Yo Yo Ma on cassette, but may need to replace that. I did buy Casals to listen to while reading.


I have (gulp) returned The 1619 Project to the library. It was interesting, but I realized I was hungry for a more chronological history. I found a book recommended by Imani Perry, Creating black Americans: African-American history and its meanings by Nell Irwin Painter, so I'm giving that one a try.

Table of contents
Africa and Black Americans
Captives transported: 1619-ca. 1850
A diasporic people: 1630-ca. 1850
Those who were free: 1770-1859
Those who were enslaved: 1770-1859
Civil War and emancipation: 1859-1865
The larger reconstruction: 1864-1896
Hard-working people in the depths of segregation: 1896-ca. 1919
The New Negro: 1915-1932
Radicals and Democrats: 1930-1940
The second world war and the promise of internationalism: 1940-1948
Cold War Civil Rights: 1948-1960
Protest makes a Civil Rights revolution: 1960-1967
Black Power: 1966-1980
Authenticity and diversity in the age of hip-hop: 1980-2005
Epilogue: a snapshot of African-Americans in the early 21st century

It's also available as an audiobook via openlibrary.org if you can access that.

>190 markon:

I'm interested in what you think about that. I've read her The History of white people and found it excellent. The title may be misleading a little--it's as much about anti-Black racism and the creation of a "black race" as it is about the complementary category of "whites".

>190 markon: I've wanted to read more of Nell Irwin Painter ever since I read Old in Art School by her a few years ago. She was a highly respected historian and professor (at Princeton or Yale, I think), and she gave that career up to go back to art school in her 60's. The book tells of her journey through undergrad and graduate art school, and I found her discussion of art and the creative process fascinating.

I also loved Old in Art School and would read more by Painter. I am currently about 1/4 of the way through the 1619 Project and really enjoying both the essays and the poetry.

Another Old in Art School fan here. I got to talk to her for Bloom, and she was totally delightful. I'd definitely like to read more of hers.

>192 arubabookwoman:, >193 BLBera:, >194 lisapeet: Old in Art School does sound interesting.

I hope to finish the first three chapters of Creating black Americans soon and post.

Meanwhile, I finished the following two books.


Dark earth by Rebecca Stott
I enjoyed this story of two sisters in the 6th century set near (and partly within) the abandoned city of Londinium. Orphaned by the death or their father early in the book, Isla and Blue attempt to find safety, an ever-moving target. It is complicated by their dual heritage and Isla's forbidden skills as a smith, learned from her father. 3.5 stars


Why haven't I heard of Ray Nayler before? The mountain in the sea is apparently his first novel, and it appears he's been publishing short science fiction since 2015. This was a fascinating novel about humans trying
1 - to determine whether octopuses have culture and language and
2 - if they do, to begin to communicate cross species

That's the center of the story. There are political and environmental issues complicating things, which make things more tense. There are four sections
I. Qualia: Wikipedia defines quale (pl. qualia) as individual instances of subjective, conscious experience.
II. Umwelt: the world as it is experienced by a particular organism.
in semiotics - from the German Umwelt meaning environment or surroundings - the biological foundations that lie at the epicenter of the study of both communication and significatoin in the human and non-human animal.
III. Semiosphere: domain of all signs that represent and define a culture.
A semiosphere includes physical, energetic and material phenomena.
IV. Autopoeisis: a system capable of producing and maintaining itself by creating its own parts.
in biology, the property of a living system that allows it to maintain and renew itself by regulating its composition and conserving its boundaries.

This was an enthralling puzzle about consciousness and communication. 4.5 stars

ETA a link to Yesterday's wolf, which won the 2021 Clarkesworld choice award.

So many interesting posts to catch up on here. Loving the music posts too. I'm not someone who's good at discovering new music to listen to so always good to learn about new albums / artists.

From those of us trying to gear up for another week of early voting, which means no parking space for patrons at the library and the continual phone questions, "Are you an early voting site?" and "How long is the line?"



ETA I want people to vote, but it's exhausting.

>197 markon: when I started working at the library, it was tax forms. A woman came into the library, bumped into the table with all the tax forms on it. Then came to the desk and asked where are the tax forms? What could I say?

November Music Update


I've ordered the CD A Winter Solstice Celebration (Helicon). I like to get holiday albums that have music on them I'm not familiar with. This one is available only on CD.


I'd also like to order Regina Carter's Swing States, but it is only available as an mp3, but not on Bandcamp, so I have to figure out where I can buy mp3 files that I can download to my Windows machine. Maybe iTunes? I want to be able to listen offline.

ETA I think I'll try 7digital.

>198 dianeham: On the floor? Te he.

I've been promising myself I'd write a summary of the first three chapters of Creating Black Americans, but I'm just not able to do it well.

The first chapter is about the relationship of Africa and African Americans, and how it changes over time. Some notes

• 17th & first part 18th century: many (most?) black people in British N. American were born in Africa or have parents who were


• mid-19th to mid-20th century: most African Americans don't have contact with Africans


• mid 20th century: knowledge of Africa becomes more concreate, voluntary immigration from Africa (some come for education and jobs, some are refugees - are refugess voluntary immigrants?)




Attitudes



• Ancient Egypt & Ethiopia respected as source of African culture by colonial powers


• absent Africa: African Americans emphasize Americanness 19th & early 20th century (colonial attitudes denigrate Africa)


• diasporic history Africa: African Americans begin documenting history


• 1920s: New Negro/Black Nationaism/Great Migration/Harlem Renaissance


• Texbook recognition of African (& African American) history slow.
  -1947 John Hope Franklin From slavery to freedom - opens with Egypt and Ethiopia as beginning of Africa, later editions move to documenting West African history as this is the broad area African Americans came from.
  -I notice in looking at high school/college textbooks now that West African history and the history of Western Europe's exploration and conflicts are used to set context, that wasn't done when I was a student in the 1970s.
  
  OK, that's it for Chapter 1 and I'm out of time for today.
  
  I'm still reading, and struggling also with what happened - even though I know if happened, looking at it is hard.
  
  ETA link to discussion of other chapters.
  Notes on chapter 2

>201 markon: Very interesting, Ardene. Thank you for taking the time to share your notes.

Charis Books and more, the oldest feminist bookstore in the southern US, just celebrated it's 48th anniversary, and I bought three books.


The future is female 2: more classic science fiction stories by women, edited by Lisa Yaszek. I want to purchase the first volume, and am interested in the Rediscovery: science fiction by women series edited by Gideon Marcus as well.


The worrld keeps ending, and the world goes on by Franny Choi. This is an amazing collection of poetry, gut wrenching and beautiful at the same time.


No choice: the destruction of Roe v. Wade and the fight to protect a fundamental American right by Becca Andrews. I got to hear an intersting discussion of the book and Becca' writing process at Charis between the author and Jalessah Jackson, executive director of Arc Southeast and Kwajelyn Jackson, excutive director of the Atlanta Feminist Women's health center.

Notes on Chapter 2 "Captives Transported: 1619-1850" in Creating Black Americans.

This chapter discusses the capture, transport and enslavement of Africans to the Americas, particularly the British North American colonies that become the USA.

For me, it is important to see this time period as starting 200 years into the interaction of Europeans and West Africans, which began in the 13th century. (See A fistful of shells.) The balance of power is shifting from Africans in power with standing armies and gold to trade, to more organized European powers with guns and less centralized African powers, where people are now the best trade items the Africans have. (My interpretation, not Irwin Painter's)

Irwin Painter states that it wasn't until the 1990s that African American historians and artists started looking in more detail at the middle passage across the Atlantic, and this jibes with when I remember starting to see information seep through into fiction.

What is most interesting to me about this chapter is that the author uses the term Middle Passage differently than I've seen it presented, centering it on African experience.

The way I've seen see this described is that the Middle Passage is one leg of a trade triangle with manufactured goods flowing from Europe to Africa, transport of Africans to the Americas to work as unpaid labor, and raw materials flowing back to Europre. This centers on items traded - manufactured goods, people, and raw materials.

Irwin Painter describes the Middle Passage as part of a three-step journey that Africans were forced into.

1. Capture and march to the coast of Africa:
   may be worked & sold many times enroute, can take months, may be held in pens on coast or in ships while obtaining a full shipload for transport.


2. Middle passage from continent to continent
   - physically dangerous & psychologically traumatic
   -mortality rates 15-20% (50% in early years, 5% is low toward the end of the trade); Portugal has lowest mortality rate overall, UK highest


3. Travel from initial landing in Americas to the point of enslavement (may go through multiple ports before chosen, travel to new location.)

ETA link to previous post.
Notes on chapter 1

>204 markon: Thank you for your detailed chapter notes about Creating Black Americans. An excellent book on the topic of the slave trade is The Slave Ship: A Human History by Marcus Rediker, which I read last year.

>205 rocketjk: Noting The slave ship for future reference. Also enjoyed your review of The color of law by Richard Rothstein.

I recently listened to A thousand trails home: living with caribou by Seth Kantner. Seth's father moved to Alaska in the 1960s after college to work as a scientist, and after about a year decided he hated being tied to a job and wanted to live off the land. So Seth was born and raised in Alaska, living in a sod igloo, and loved to hunt. This memoir is his reflections on his life, hunting, the fluctuations he's seen in caribou herds, and the effects of climate change on his home ground.

Two book covers I find delightful.

and
Veeraporn Nitiprapha translated from Thai by Kong Rithdee

>209 markon: Ooh, those are interesting. Have you read the books yet?

>209 markon: I love those too! I'm a big fan of college when it's done well. (ETA: COLLAGE. I mean, college too, but that wasn't my point.

>210 labfs39: Not yet. First I have to decide whether to buy one the quick way (electronically) or in paper so I can have the beautiful cover to look at. I think I'm going to start with Blind earthworm though.

The author is in her fifties, and these are her first two novels, which both won the Southeast Asia Writers Award.

>211 lisapeet: They are beautiful. I think I'm going to get a paper copy just to look at the cover.

Dragonfly.eco

Found a website posting links to lists of writing on climate change, including a page listing a link to a song a week. Check out this link or the YouTube post of the first song I listened to. (Acapella)

>212 markon: The author is in her fifties, and these are her first two novels
Ahh, I wonder if she might be a good Bloom writer to profile. Which would, of course, justify my buying the books...

>215 lisapeet: Now that's great thinking!

The stone weta by Octavia Cade has been on my wishlist awhile. This is a delicious and thoght-provoking novella about the denial of climate change and a clandestine network of scientists working to store and circulate scientific data that hasn't been altered for publication. Each scientist has a code name of a particular flora or fauna from their area of study. I enjoyed learning about each animal/plant, their habitats and stragegies for survival which were mirrored in the scientists that choses them for their code name.

Thursday was my Friday for the week, and I wanted a fun novel to read, so I bought the first in the Stratification series by Julie Czernada. Reap the wild wind is the story of Aryl Sarc (Om'ray of the Yena Clan), the struggles of her isolated clan, and the precarious balance between the Om'ray, Oud, and TikTik that is tipping toward change on the planet Cersi.

This author is a biologist by training, and I enjoy the species she creates.

Rising Appalachia's new album, Live from New Orleans at Preservation Hall, purchased from Bandcamp on the first Friday of the month. (All the money goes to the artists.)

Click on the picture to go to a youtube video of Stand like an oak.

Audio adaptation will be broadcast starting December 20.

When the dark comes rising, six shall turn it back;
Three from the circle, three from the track;
Wood, bronze, iron; water, fire, stone;
Five will return, and one go alone.

- from The dark is rising by Susan Cooper

This novel, the second in the Dark is Rising series, will be broadcast on BBC starting December 20 for 12 daily episodes (following the structure of the book.) The second in a five-volume series written for children, it was a Newberry Honor Book in 1974.

I'm planning on listening to this as it is a series I reread periodically.

I was so proud earlier this week when I got the number of library books checked out down to 6! I'm trying to keep myself to no more than 10, and, alas, I have ten checked out today, plus one arriving as a hold later this week. Maybe I can finish and return one of my 10 before I check out The employees by Olga Ravn? Meanwhile, I have these to choose from.


Jam on the vine by LaShonda Katrice
Song of survival: women interned by Helen Colijn
You don't belong here: How three women rewrote the story of war by Elizabeth Becker
Best of friends by Kamila Shamsie

ETA: And I'm taking this home from the library book sale: Impostures by al-Hariri, translated by Michael Cooperson

I gulped this one down in two nights. Elizabeth Becker, herself a reporter on the war in Vietnam, follows three journalists - Kate Webb, Catherine Leroy, and Frances FitzGerald - who can't get hired as journalists because they are female, but buy their own plane tickets to Vietnam and persist in reporting and photographing the American war in the 1970s. You don't belong here: how three women rewrote the story of a war is well worth a read.

Link to an author talk with Fredrik Bachman (YouTube)

>223 markon: Thank you for that, Ardene. It was very interesting. I've loved many of Bachman's books, and it was interesting to hear him talk about his writing style and about the upcoming movie with Tom Hanks.

>224 labfs39: You're welcome Lisa. I have also enjoyed what I have read by Backman.

The supper of the lamb: a culinary reflection (Modern Library) is a entertaining and thoughtful read, a celebration of food and cooking with a few theological reflections.

I haven't finished Mouths of rain: an anthology of black lesbian thought, but it's time for it to go back to the library. Well worth browsing through.

I heard about Song of survival: women interned by Helen Colijn on Lisa's (labfs39) thread, and my library owns one (brown and crunchy) copy, so I got hold of it. It was interesting and the first account I've read of European women interred as prisoners of war during World War II.

I enjoyed Best of friends by Kamila Shamsie, but the abrupt ending surprised me. The book tells of the friendship of two girls in Pakistan, what happens to separate them as adolescents, and how they never speak of their differences in class and how they approach the world. When these differences explosively come to the surface, I expected the book to take a little more time to explore how/whether Zahara and Maryam's relationship continued after the subeterranean undercurrents they've never discussed blow up at their New Year's Eve fight. I tell myself it's a hopeful ending, because they are still walking together, even though they aren't speaking.

>227 markon: I'm glad you found Song of Survival interesting. The only other memoir like it that I had read was Three Came Home by Agnes Newton Keith. She was in Borneo and interned with her two-year-old son.

>228 markon: I have been meaning to read more Shamsie, as I read and liked Burnt Shadows earlier this year. Not sure this one will be the one, however.

>229 labfs39: yeah, I read and enjoyed Home Fires. I'll read other things by her. This one was fine until the end.

It's the season of making lists. I want to participate in Paul's Africa challenge, but last year I managed to read only two books in the Asia challenge. So this year I'm going to go for 4 - one a quarter should be doable, right?

Here are some candidates I'm considering.
The year of the elephant by Leila Abouzeid
Season of migration to the north by Tayeb Salih
Desert by J. M. de Clezio
The dragonfly sea by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor *
La bastarda by Trifonia Melibea Obono
Kibogo by Scholastique Mukasonga
Wizard of the crow or Petals of blood by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o*

*owned by my local library

>231 markon: I liked Season of Migration to the North when I read it several years ago. I also have Desert on my potentials list, as when as other books by Mukasonga and Thiong'o. I haven't read much African literature, so I'm excited about participating in the challenge.

Thanks to my Secret Santa who gifted we with a package to open Christmas morning. I'll be reading the Just So Stories a bit at a time, and We ride upon sticks after I finish the audio of Gish Jen's The resisters. One sport at a time

Links
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Fantasy & Science Fiction Lists
Literary List
Mystery List
Nonfiction List

January list
February List
March List
April, May, June List
July List
August List
Fall and Winter

Creating black Americans
post 1
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>232 labfs39: This promises to be an interesting reading challenge.

>231 markon: Desert is, I think, inspired by that National Geographic photo. Anyway, I really enjoyed it. A good intro to le Clezio.

>235 dchaikin: I look forward to it when I get to it Dan.

Appleseed by Matt Bell was an interesting and thought provoking read. Short-listed for the 1st Ursula LeGuin Prize, it’s a complicated weave of three protagonists, drawing on both the myths of Orpheus and Eurydice and Johnny Appleseed. I think I’ll have to reread this one at least once more before I feel I understand it. One day after finishing I asked myself, “I know what happened to John (and Eury), but what happened to Chapman and C433 at the end?” And after looking back at the last few chapters, I know what happend to John and C433, but I'm still not sure about Chapman. But I’m OK with that for now.

This fits in the dystopia/apocalyptic wing of science fiction and is set in a not-so-far future world (the action takes place in North America.) Well, part is set in this time period, but part is set in western expansion in the growing US, and part in a farther future.

Climate change has set in, Earthtrust (run by Eury) is using biotechnology and nanotechnology to feed what’s left of the world (with wings in various countries, and all governments dependent on them for food), and has forcibly evicted humans from the western to the eastern USA.

John, a childhood friend and former lover of Eury and former employee of Earthtrust, and a few of his friends have been attempting to oppose Earthtrust by various acts of sabotage in the western US and come together one more time to go east for one last act of sabotage to take down Earthtrust, which they think is destroying the environment rather than saving it.

Chapman, in the older timeline is planting appleseeds with his brother Nathaniel, and C432 begins the third thread - but I’ll let you figure out when and how he fits in.

Will this world get saved? Read it to find out.

The books that checked all the boxes for me this year were few:

• N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy: The fifth season, Obelisk sky, and The stone gate


• Ray Nayler’s The mountain in the sea


• Fanny Choi’s The world keeps ending and the world goes on (poetry)

It was a tough year - we lost my dad in the spring and my dog Milo died in July so I did a lot of comfort reading.

I'm hanging out with my sisters for New Years, and will see my brother's family tomorrow.

Here's hoping for a fresh start in 2023!

Happy New Year, Ardene! I hope 2023 is a peaceful one for you.

>239 labfs39: Thanks Lisa!

And that's a wrap for 2022.

Check out my 2023 thread here.