dchaikin part 4 - middlemarch, more Wharton...maybe more Musil too

It got a little tense is my part 3 thread...there just can be no middle ground in some things, I mean, either you like or you don't like Elizbeth Strout. End of discussion. So, to calm down these tensions I feel some responsibility to start a new thread. All things are uncertain, but Middlemarch is in progress. Wharton's Summer is planned. More Booker list is intended. And I might be on the fence with Musil part 2, but I do want to meet Ulrich's sister Agathe. (more Elizabeth Strout planned too)

Currently Reading   


Currently Listening to

Books read canvas

audioboooks finished canvas

links to all my old threads:

2009 Part 1, 2009 Part 2, 2010 Part 1, 2010 Part 2, 2011 Part 1, 2011 Part 2, 2012 Part 1, 2012 Part 2, 2013 Part 1, 2013 Part 2, 2013 Part 3, 2014 Part 1, 2014 Part 2, 2014 Part 3, 2015 Part 1, 2015 Part 2, 2015 Part 3, 2016 Part 1, 2016 Part 2, 2016 Part 3, 2017 Part 1, 2017 Part 2, 2018 part 1, 2018 part 2, 2019 part 1, 2019 part 2, 2019 part 3, 2020 part 1, 2020 part 2, 2020 part 3, 2021 part 1, 2021 part 2, 2021 part 3, 2022 part 1, 2022 part 2, 2022 part 3

Books read, listed by the date originally published, or, roughly, by the date written.

1170 The Lais of Marie de France
1353 The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
1591 The Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare
1595 King John by William Shakespeare
1608 Coriolanus by William Shakespeare
1609 The Sonnets by William Shakespeare
and: All the Sonnets of Shakespeare
1613 Henry VIII by William Shakespeare
1817 Persuasion by Jane Austen
1850 David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
1855 North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
1872 Middlemarch by George Eliot
1906 Madame De Treymes by Edith Wharton
1907 The Fruit of the Tree by Edith Wharton
1911 Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
1912 The Reef by Edith Wharton
1913 The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton
1917 Summer by Edith Wharton
1930 The Man Without Qualities, Volume 1 (A Sort of Introduction; Pseudo Reality Prevails) by Robert Musil
1933 The Man Without Qualities, Part III: Into the Millennium by Robert Musil
1941 12 Million Black Voices by Richard Wright
1959 Memento Mori by Muriel Spark
1964 Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition by Frances A. Yates
1965 Where the Jackals Howl and Other Stories by Amos Oz
1970 Anniversaries I by Uwe Johnson
1971 Anniversaries II by Uwe Johnson
1973 Anniversaries III by Uwe Johnson
1981
Boccaccio by Thomas Goddard Bergin
The File On H. by Ismail Kadare
1983 Anniversaries IV by Uwe Johnson
1986 Maus I : A Survivors Tale: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman
1991 Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman
1997 El Llano Estacado : Exploration and Imagination on the High Plains of Texas and New Mexico, 1536-1860 by John Miller Morris
1998 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
2000 By Night in Chile by Roberto Bolaño
2003 Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi
2010 Richard Wright: From Black Boy to World Citizen by Jennifer Jensen Wallach
2013
The Story of My Teeth by Valeria Luiselli
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
2014 Roadside Geology of Colorado (Third Edition) by Felicie Williams & Halka Chronic (original edition 1980)
2015 The Complete Stories by Clarice Lispector
2016
The Decameron : A New Translation, Contexts, Criticism (Norton Critical Edition) translated and edited by Wayne A. Rebhorn
My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
2017 Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout
2018 Left Bank : Art, Passion, and the Rebirth of Paris, 1940-1950 by Agnès Poirier
2020
Love and Other Thought Experiments by Sophie Ward
An Island by Karen Jennings
2021
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
When I Grow Up: The Lost Autobiographies of Six Yiddish Teenagers by Ken Krimstein
Bewilderment by Richard Powers
Second Place by Rachel Cusk
China Room by Sunjeev Sahota
No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest by Suzanne Simard
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life by George Saunders
Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout
Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah
2022
Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas by Jennifer Raff
Booth by Karen Joy Fowler
Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo
Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer
Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley
Trust by Hernan Diaz
The Colony by Audrey Magee

Books read in 2022

links go to the review post in my part 1 thread
1. ****½ The Story of My Teeth by Valeria Luiselli (read Jan 6-8, theme: TBR)
2. **** Madame De Treymes by Edith Wharton (read Jan 5 – 15, theme: Wharton)
3. *** Love and Other Thought Experiments by Sophie Ward (read by the author) (listened Jan 2-15, theme: Booker 2020)
4. **** The Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare (read Dec 17, Jan 1 – Feb 6, theme: Shakespeare)
5. **** Memento Mori by Muriel Spark, read by Nadia May (listened Feb 1-10, theme: random audio)
6. ***** Maus I : A Survivors Tale: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman (read Feb 2-10)
7. ***** Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman (read Feb 14-28)
8. *** Boccaccio by Thomas Goddard Bergin (read Dec 25, 2021 – Mar 10, 2022, theme: Boccaccio)
9. **** The Decameron : A New Translation, Contexts, Criticism (Norton Critical Edition) by Giovanni Boccaccio, translated and edited by Wayne A. Rebhorn (read Jan 1 - Mar 10, intro and afterward only, theme: Boccaccio)
10. ****½ The Fruit of the Tree by Edith Wharton (read Feb 6 – Mar 17, theme: Wharton)
11. ***½ The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, read by: Adenrele Ojo, Karen Chilton, Prentice Onayemi (listened Feb 11 – Mar 23, theme: random audio)
12. ***** The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, translated by G. H. McWilliam (read Jan 4 – Mar 13, theme: Boccaccio)
13. *** Coriolanus by William Shakespeare (read Feb 20 – Mar 28, theme: Shakespeare)

links go to the review post in my part 2 thread
14. **** The Lais of Marie de France translated by Glyn S. Burgess & Keith Busby (read Mar 28 – Apr 2, theme: random)
15. ***** David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (read Jan 2 – Apr 13, theme: Victorian)
16. ***** Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition by Frances A. Yates (read Dec 15, 2021 – Apr 19, 2022, theme: TBR)
17. **** When I Grow Up: The Lost Autobiographies of Six Yiddish Teenagers by Ken Krimstein (read Apr 9-24)
18. ****½ Anniversaries I by Uwe Johnson (read Jan 2 – Apr 27)
19. **** Bewilderment by Richard Powers (read Apr 27 – May 1, theme: Booker 2021)
20. ***** Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (read Apr 27 – May 3, theme: Wharton)
21. ****½ Henry VIII by William Shakespeare (read Apr 10 – May 6, theme: Shakespeare)
22. ****½ An Island by Karen Jennings (read May 1-7, theme: Booker 2021)
23. ***** The Complete Stories by Clarice Lispector (listened Mar 24 – May 11, theme: random audio)
24. ****½ Second Place by Rachel Cusk (read May 8-12, theme: Booker 2021)
25. **** China Room by Sunjeev Sahota (read May 12-16, theme: Booker 2021)
26. **** Where the Jackals Howl and Other Stories by Amos Oz (read May 25-29, theme: TBR)
27. **** No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood (read May 29 – Jun 1, theme: TBR)
28. ****½ Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi, read by the author (listened May 11 – Jun 10, theme: random audio)

links go to the review post in my part 3 thread
29. *** North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (read May 1 – Jun 12, theme: Victorian)
30. **** King John by William Shakespeare (read May 18 – Jun 19, theme: Shakespeare)
31. ****½ The Reef by Edith Wharton (read May 22 – Jun 21, theme: Wharton)
32. **** Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas by Jennifer Raff, read by Tanis Parenteau (listened Jun 11-23, theme: random audio)
33. *** El Llano Estacado : Exploration and Imagination on the High Plains of Texas and New Mexico, 1536-1860 by John Miller Morris (read Jun 19 – Jul 9, theme: TBR)
34. ***** Persuasion by Jane Austen (read Jul 1-23, theme: none)
35. **** Roadside Geology of Colorado (Third Edition) by Felicie Williams & Halka Chronic (read July 15-25)
36. **** Anniversaries II by Uwe Johnson (read Jun 5 – Aug 14)
37. ***** The Sonnets (Pelican Shakespeare) by William Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Orgel, with introduction by John Hollander (read Jul 3 – Aug 19, theme: Shakespeare)
38. **** The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (read Aug 6-21, theme: TBR)
39. *** Booth by Karen Joy Fowler, read by January LaVoy (listened Aug 2-22, theme: Booker 2022)
40. **** The File On H. by Ismail Kadare (read Aug 17-30, theme: none)
41. ***** The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton (read Aug 1-30, theme: Wharton)
42. **** All the Sonnets of Shakespeare edited by Paul Edmondson & Stanley Wells (read Jul 4 – Sep 2, theme: Shakespeare)
43. ***½ Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo, read by Chipo Chung (listened Aug 23 – Sep 11, theme: Booker 2022)
44. **** By Night in Chile by Roberto Bolaño (read Sep 15-17, theme: TBR)
45. **** The Man Without Qualities, Volume 1 by Robert Musil, translated by Sophie Wilkins, with Burton Pike (read Jul 28 – Sep 23, theme: Musil)
46. *** Anniversaries III by Uwe Johnson (read Aug 20 – Sep 28)
47. **** Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer, read by Lydia Wilson & Tamsin Greig (listened Sep 12-29, theme: Booker 2022)

links below go to the review post in this thread
48. ****½ My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout (read Oct 2-6, theme: Booker 2022)
49. **** Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley, read by Joniece Abbott-Pratt (listened Sep 30 – Oct 16, theme Booker 2022)
50. **** Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest by Suzanne Simard (read Sep 5 – Oct 24, theme: naturalitsy)
51. **** Trust by Hernan Diaz, read by Edoardo Ballerini, Jonathan Davis, Mozhan Marnò, & Orlagh Cassidy (listened Oct 17-27, theme: Booker 2022)
52. ***½ Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout (read Oct 13 – Nov 7, theme: Booker 2022)
53. ***** Summer by Edith Wharton (read Oct 19 – Nov 9, theme: Wharton)
54. ***** A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life by George Saunders, read by Phylicia Rashad, Nick Offerman, Glenn Close, Keith David, Rainn Wilson, BD Wong, & Renee Elise Goldsberry (listened Oct 27 – Nov 16, theme: random audio)
55. ****½ Middlemarch by George Eliot (read Oct 1 – Nov 25, theme: Victorian)
56. ****½ Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout (read Dec 2-5, theme: Booker 2022)
57. *** Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer (read Nov 7 – Dec 6, theme: naturalitsy)
58. **** Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah, read by Damian Lynch (listened Nov 17 – Dec 9, theme: random audio)
59. ***** Anniversaries IV by Uwe Johnson (read Oct 7 – Dec 10)
60. *** Richard Wright: From Black Boy to World Citizen by Jennifer Jensen Wallach (read Dec 10-13, theme: Richard Wright)
61. ***** The Colony by Audrey Magee (read Dec 15-19, theme: Booker 2022)
62. ****½ 12 Million Black Voices by Richard Wright, with Photo-Direction by Edwin Rosskam (read Dec 25, theme: Richard Wright)
63. **½ Left Bank : Art, Passion, and the Rebirth of Paris, 1940-1950 by Agnes Poirier, read by Christa Lewis (listened Dec 11-30, theme: random audio)
64. *** The Man Without Qualities, Part III: Into the Millennium by Robert Musil, translated from German by Sophie Wilkins, with assistance from Burton Pike (read Dec 20-31, theme: Musil)

Some stats:

2022
Books read: 64
Pages: 15,811 (time reading: 660 hours)
Audio time: 195 hours
Formats: Paperback 27; ebook 15; audiobook 14; Hardcover 8;
Subjects in brief: Novel 37; Classic 18; Nonfiction 16; History 7; Short Stories 6; Science 6; Memoir 6; On Literature and Books 6; Drama 4; Biography 4; Religion/Mythology/Philosophy 3; Graphic 3; Essays 3; Poetry 2; Nature 2; Mystery 1; Visual Arts 1;
Nationalities: United States 26; England 14; Germany 4; Zimbabwe 2; Canada 2; France 2; Mexico 1; Scotland 1; Italy 1; South Africa 1; Brazil 1; Israel 1; Iran 1; Albania 1; Chile 1; Austria 2; Argentina 1; Tanzania 1; Ireland 1;
Books in translation: 13
Genders, m/f: 30/34
Owner: Books I own: 61; Library 2; Audible-included 1;
Re-reads: 2
Year Published: 2020’s 19; 2010's 9; 2000’s 2; 1990’s 3; 1980’s 4; 1970’s 3; 1960’s 2; 1950’s 1; 1940’s 1; 1930’s 2; 1910’s 4; 1900’s 2; 1800’s 4; 1600’s 4; 1500’s 2; 1300’s 1; 1100’s 1;
TBR numbers: acquired 54, read from tbr 54, abandoned 1 = net -1

All stats - since I started keeping track in December of 1990
Books read: 1246
Formats: Paperback 656; Hardcover 257; Audio 196; ebooks 97; Lit magazines 38
Subjects in brief: Non-fiction 489; Novels 393; Biographies/Memoirs 214; History 190; Classics 188; Religion/Mythology/Philosophy 136; Journalism 94; Poetry 94; Science 88; Ancient 76; Speculative Fiction 66; On Literature and Books 67; Nature 61; Drama 48; Graphic 46; Short Story Collections 48; Essay Collections 48; Anthologies 45; Juvenile/YA 34; Visual Arts 27; Interviews 15; Mystery/Thriller 14
Nationalities: US 698; Other English-language countries: 265; Other: 278
Books in translation: 212
Genders, m/f: 781/369
Owner: Books I owned 884; Library books 285; Books I borrowed 67; Online 10;
Re-reads: 27
Year Published: 2020’s 41; 2010's 271; 2000's 281; 1990's 177; 1980's 121; 1970's 61; 1960's 53; 1950's 29; 1900-1949 71; 19th century 20; 16th-18th centuries 38; 13th-15th centuries 9; 0-1199 21; BCE 55
TBR: 666

Cheers! Hope the rest of the autumn and the beginning of winter yield happy and interesting reading for you.

Hi, Dan! I'll do my best to follow your thread much more closely from now on.

ETA: I'm glad that you enjoyed Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies, which seems like a book I would like.

(The Elizabeth Strout divide begins in my head)

A preface I suspect one story ruined Olive Kitteridge for me. I won a copy of the book as an LT Early Reviewer in 2008, not knowing anything about the author or even whether or not the book was just junk. It's been a while, but I recall the stories were soft and subtle, so subtle that I would miss key points. There are 13 loosely connected stories. The one I didn't like is titled A Different Road, where Olive gets caught up in a brutal violent event. Strout doesn't change tone for this story. Like the others, the prose is soft and subtle, and that bothered me. I felt it read false. I've avoided Strout since, and felt surprised by how successful she has been. (I was much gentler in my 2008 review than I am in my lingering limited memory. https://www.librarything.com/review/24291745 )



48. My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
published: 2016
format: 189-page Kindle ebook
acquired: October 2 read: Oct 2-6 time reading: 3:01, 1.0 mpp
rating: 4½
genre/style: Contemporary Fiction theme: Booker 2022
locations: New York City, rural Illinois
about the author: born in Maine, 1956.

I read this because Oh William! is on the Booker 2022 longlist (and shortlist), and is part of the Lucy Barton quartet. My Name is Lucy Barton is the first. I plan to read at least the first 3.

Most of this book takes place with Lucy telling us about her prolonged time in a New York a hospital bed, the Chrysler Building out the window, talking to her mother about nothing. While talking about nothing they also talk bitterly and lovingly about everything difficult in their lives, past and present. Poverty, marital strife, and PTSDM come up, along with their hopelessly strained relationship, without ever being directly addressed in their talk. It's cathartic and bitter. I loved it, and loved Lucy.

I was so worried I would not like this that I started with a free amazon sample, allowing myself to jettison it. But this is a much bolder work than the other I read by Strout, Olive Kitteridge. An artist of subtlety, she didn't stick to that here. She puts that in, and then tells the reader exactly what she's doing, undoes it. She even brings in a literary workshop experience to tell us exactly what she's doing. I loved all that.

For what it's worth, Lucy is a child of Anne Tyler's Pearl Tull, the narrator of Tyler's Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. She has nearly the same voice: direct, blunt, narrow focused, dealing with the need to be kind to her needy children and family while also dealing straight on with life. Lucy is more tender, but I couldn't help hearing them both while reading. I like them both.

I can't tell you who will like or not like this novel by Strout. But I'm really looking forward to the second book in this trilogy - Anything is Possible, which maybe is apt expression of how readers might expect to respond to this.

You're the second person I've read abnout Strout, whom I had not heard of, today, so I will now keep my eyes out for her.

I caught up on your last thread and enjoyed your review of Shakespeare's sonnets. Who knows about so much of them. Part of me wonders if they were part of the reason he left London not long later and sees the way they seem to come from him and of course that would be problematic with the gay/bisexual aspect. Part of me thinks heck this is the man who coudl throw hismelf into anyone and everyone empathically -- and cpould see it as an exercise perhaps triangulating three apexes of love, finding for himself if love could be found in those conditions, just because he could. But I enjoyed your remarks and ability to summarise.

I also enjoyed learning of Kadare and will return on Musil.

>8 rocketjk: Thanks Jerry
>9 kidzdoc: I hope you enjoy Maps. And ditto, on following!

>11 tonikat: There is an entertaining Strout divide. Thanks, Toni, for catching up, and for your comments on Shakespeare's sonnets. I love the idea of the bard "triangulating the three apexes of love" out of empathy. Also interesting idea that the publication may have backfired on him, presenting a kind of exposé. Some were published in the 1590's, but I've forgotten the details and which ones these were.

>10 dchaikin: I think Olive Kitteridge is the only Strout I've read, though I have several of the new ones. I liked it a lot, though I'm also really drawn to a certain kind of difficult, conflicted older woman character in fiction. Cf my recent read of Margaret Laurence's The Stone Angel—I can't recall her mentioning this in interviews, but I would totally unsurprised to find out that Strout is a fan of Laurence's.

>10 dchaikin: "where Olive gets caught up in a brutal violent event. Strout doesn't change tone for this story. Like the others, the prose is soft and subtle, and that bothered me. I felt it read false."

Now you make me really want to go and read that book (and Strout in general). Often I find changing the tone when bad things happen to be like a bad B-rated (or Z-rated) horror movie - the lighting changes, the sound changes, the ominous music comes in and you know the bad thing is coming (that is part of why as much as I enjoy the speculative genres, I rarely watch horror movies). Managing to discuss violence and horror (the one humans manage to deal in, not the supernatural type) while keeping the language light and soft and almost as it is part of the normal course of events can be extremely powerful if done well - it can make me uneasy but it is supposed to. Which does not mean that it works well in that case - but it makes me curious to check if it does.

Nice reviews of both books :)

>14 lisapeet: "I'm also really drawn to a certain kind of difficult, conflicted older woman character in fiction"

Had you read Annie Dunne?

>14 lisapeet: I’m glad you liked Olive. I imagine you would be drawn to Lucy too (but I’m partially saying that because I’m currently unable to imagine why anyone wouldn’t be 🙂). For what it’s worth, I liked Olive the character, but had issues with the book.

Also you got me interested in Margaret Laurence with your recent review.

>15 AnnieMod: I read Olive 14 yrs ago, so I’m straining iffy memory. You may be onto something there. The lack of change in tone may have been part of the point, might have had its own purpose. I suspect I was looking for a before/after change that I didn’t pick up on.

>16 AnnieMod: I haven't read Annie Dunne, but it's on my radar now—thank you!

>17 dchaikin: I'm really pleased to see Margaret Laurence getting sparks of interest. She was a really happy discovery for me.

I'm also currently reading Nightcrawling and I look forward to finding out what you make of it. I'll be at a book festival next month where Mottley will be appearing and I'm interested to hear what she has to say.

I'm a big fan of Strout's writing, but am hoping this newest book, Lucy By the Sea, becomes less myopic soon and that's it's more than it currently appears to be. It would be the first book of hers I didn't enjoy if my current assessment holds.

>17 dchaikin: now I just need to follow up and get a book by Margaret Laurence. :)

>19 RidgewayGirl: I bet Leila Mottley will be really fun to hear speak. She was really charming with Trevor Noah on The Daily Show. I'm almost done with Nightcrawling. I've been into it the whole way. As for Strout, you and Deborah are not encouraging me to read Lucy By the Sea. I hope to read Oh William! in 2022. I picked up Anything is Possible yesterday and started it (joy of easy access to ebooks)

Hi Dan. Great review. Lucy Barton I struggled to enjoy (I didn't feel it went anywhere), so it's always good to get an alternative perspective. Olive Ketteridge I quite enjoyed, although I think I'd have enjoyed it more in novel form rather than interconnecting stories, as I quite missed Olive when she wasn't in certain stories.

>20 dchaikin: you're a perfect with into our Strout divide. :)

A little stress in real life. Trying to manage a few reviews.



49. Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley
reader: Joniece Abbott-Pratt
published: 2022
format: 10:48 audible audiobook (288 pages in hardcover)
acquired: Sep 29 listened: Sep 30 – Oct 16
rating: 4
genre/style: Novel theme: Booker 2022
locations: Oakland, CA
about the author: born in Oakland, CA in 2002. This is her first novel and she is the youngest author ever nominated for the Booker longlist.

The 4th I‘ve finished on the #booker2022 longlist, all on audio so far. I was into this the whole way.

Mottley is a little famous for being the youngest Booker nominee, at age 20, and for being really charming in televised interviews. She reimagines Oakland underlife from the perspective of a 17-yr-old prostitute. (Based on a nonfictional unprosecuted Oakland police-run prostitution ring).

50. Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest by Suzanne Simard
published: 2021
format: 347-page Kindle ebook
acquired: September 5 read: Sep 5 – Oct 24 time reading: 13:35, 2.3 mpp
rating: 4
genre/style: science theme: none
locations: British Colombia and Oregon
about the author: a Canadian scientist who is a professor in the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences at the University of British Columbia, born in the Monashee Mountains of British Columbia.

A memoir with a lot of real science - with pioneering research tracing nutrient sharing between different and competitive tree species, creating a kind of symbiosis through specialized fungi, and later on how old large “mother” trees support their own young. A theme here is everything is connected and we to manage climate change with this knowledge.

Simard tells in the introduction that she discovered the nature of this fungal connections, which I thought was too bold, except that it's exactly what she did. Her 1990's PhD was published on the cover of Nature magazine, under the headline Wood Wide Web. It was really groundbreaking.

I read this with a new group on Litsy focused on nature writing. Some of the members had discomfort with so much memoir in the book, and with the writing, which was actually very good, feels very honest, but is not a work of literary craft.

Anyway, I really enjoyed this, and I really enjoyed being in this science mindset.

51. Trust by Hernan Diaz
reader: Edoardo Ballerini, Jonathan Davis, Mozhan Marnò, & Orlagh Cassidy
published: 2022
format: 10:21 audible audiobook (416 pages in hardcover)
acquired: October 16 listened: Oct 17-27
rating: 4
genre/style: contemporary fiction theme: Booker 2022
locations: 1920’s/1930’s New York City and Switzerland
about the author: Associate director of the Hispanic Institute for Latin American and Iberian Cultures at Columbia University, and managing editor of the Spanish-language journal Revista Hispánica Moderna. Born in Argentina in 1973, raised in Sweden.

The 5th I‘ve finished on the #booker2022 longlist, all on audio so far.

This is a carefully crafted oddity. A novel about a man who shorted the 1929 stock crash becomes a novel within a novel. And the book moves on to some other writerly bits and pieces. Each piece provides commentary on what went on before, each having doctored the facts. It's all interesting, there is maybe not Trump relevance, or for American tycoons or commentary on capitalism. Not sure if it will hang around.

>24 dchaikin: Finding the Mother Tree sounds interesting. I'm not sure I will read the book, but I will go online and read more about her and her research.

>26 labfs39: She has an online presence through a nice video and a couple TED talks.

5 minute video (which I watched) https://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=2764

A TED talk (which I haven’t watched): https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-networked-beauty-of-forests-suzanne-simard#review

I'm guessing Finding the Mother Tree will appeal to folks who liked Braiding Sweetgrass, yeah? Which was me, so that's noted. And I have Trust, been looking forward to getting to it one of these days—at least in part because I like the cover.

Nightcrawling just didn't appeal to me from the description... not something I'm in the mood to read about. Maybe another time.

>28 lisapeet: Braiding Sweetgrass is our next book on the Litsy group. I don't know when we start yet, but it's a Nov/Dec group read. As for Nightcrawling, just don't catch a video of Mottley speaking, otherwise you will want to read it.

(ETA - Simard cites Braiding Sweetgrass in her reference list)

October stuff

planned actual book
7 hrs - 3:17 - Summer by Edith Wharton (read the 1st half)
9 hrs - 7:39 - Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard (read the 2nd half and finished. It took 13:35 overall)
20 hrs - 17:28 - Middlemarch by George Eliot (read 1st 45%)
7 hrs - 3:01 - My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout (started and finished in October)
8 hrs - 1:21 - Anniversiaries IV by Uwe Johnson
8 hrs - 2:01 - The book of flights by le clezio
0 hrs - 3:23 - Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout (read the 1st half)
----
62 hrs - 38:33

A crashed and burned month. I'm reading less than an hour a day, but reading

November plan

4 hrs - Summer by Edith Wharton (2nd half)
22 hrs - Middlemarch by George Eliot (2nd half)
3 hrs - Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout (2nd half)
10 hrs - Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (1st half)
11 hrs - Anniversiaries IV by Uwe Johnson (1st half)
6 hrs - The book of flights by le clezio (2nd half)
2 hrs - The Man Without Qualities v2 by Thomas Musil (just want to get started)
----
58 hrs

No clue if I can find a 2-hr-a-day pace within November, but probably not soon. First I need my head to settle down so reading is easier.

>30 dchaikin: Hope you are okay.

Thanks Diane!

Catching up. Have enjoyed your reviews.

I hope you get your reading head back in November. 2 hours of reading per day is a big commitment with work - do you include listening to audiobooks in the car as part of that?

>33 AlisonY: no. audio is separate. Audio never feels like an accomplishment, it’s just entertainment. My reading goal is actually unreasonable. But some months it gave me drive to read extra when time was unexpectedly available. Sometimes I would sneak in an extra hour or two that last Sunday of the month. So i’ve kept it optimistically. October was the 1st month in 2022 I stopped trying.

>30 dchaikin: My October crashed to. Think i was getting too caught up in my own numbers. Tracking can be motivational and dampening at the same time. Pushing to read more but also pulling when it seems stalled. This month I'm trying to forget the numbers and just get into a rhythm again. Of course still tracking them because data, but try my best to ignore them until the end and be pleasantly surprised.

>24 dchaikin: I also find your description of Finding the mother tree interesting. Hope it makes it into my reading some time next year.

>30 dchaikin: Remember, reading is fun!

Hi Dan, I hope you are alright and things will be better soon!

I'm heading out to the Portland Book Festival this weekend and have made a point of choosing the event where Leila Mottley is speaking based on your comments.

take it easy, you're a reading master and it'll click into place as things do -- look forward to hearing about more as you do. Trees, fab, I'm a branch that walks, I'm a branch that talks, I sometimes wonder.

>35 stretch: a little of that, definitely. Too many choices weren’t clicking. But mostly life. Causing my own problems, which is no fun.

>36 markon: oh, good. It’s been a long time since I’ve encountered something so real science-y and felt some of the joy of discovery. I liked that. (Re: Finding the Mother Tree)

>37 labfs39: I know. But my reading goes with calmness. Missing my zen.

>38 MissBrangwen: thank you!

>39 RidgewayGirl: oh, good. Report back. 🙂 (on Leila Mottley in Portland)

>40 tonikat: thanks Kat. Here’s to being in a state of wonder!

I hope you get to Braiding Sweetgrass. I've really enjoyed the books by Kimmerer I've read.

>44 raidergirl3: i don’t know really anyone about Kimmer. Had no idea she has other popular books. Thanks for sharing. I’m pretty sure I will actually read Braiding Sweetgrass, especially since I’m reading with an online group at a slow pace (over two months).

>45 dchaikin: I read her Moss book and really liked it. Not sure how popular it is, lol.

The reading schedule is probably the best way to read it as it is essays, and taking the the time to think on each after reading would be thoughtful.

Popping in to see what you are reading, Dan. Always good stuff (and what a colorful display!) And you are still reading Middlemarch...I love that story.

Hope you get your zen back soon! Your November plan is full of books I'm interested in, but haven't read yet: I'll be following your thread closely.

>46 raidergirl3: thank you for the Moss suggestion (well, compliment which works as a nice recommendation)

>47 avaland: yes, still working through Middlemarch. Nearing halfway

>48 Dilara86: thanks! Should have titled my thread Searching for Zen.

Maybe THIS will be my Middlemarch year. I say that every year, though. Maybe I should invest in a new copy that's not the mass market paperback with the teeny tiny print—that might be a motivator.

>50 lisapeet: i have an ancient mass market copy I bought used a long time ago. It’s nearly falling apart. But I’ve learned it’s actually very nice quality and lies well as i read. The pages just bend really nicely without stressing the book. So I’ve become fond of it.

>49 dchaikin: & >50 lisapeet: How are you enjoying Middlemarch, Dan? I read it, finally, a few years back and liked it quite a lot.

>52 rocketjk: it’s just a book so far, sadly. I like it, i like the characters, and the story. It’s a little slow, but I don’t mind reading. But, well, but I was hoping for to link in better and get more out of it. I could use a little mental jolt to get me back involved. RL not helping.

>53 dchaikin: I think you need to keep on with it. A friend on Goodreads has a review that basically says Middlemarch is the best book ever written and the middle is boring.

it begins with a fantastic character and then wanders off to focus on other people and it wasn't until around page 800 that the structure became apparent to him and he realized the novel was brilliant.

>30 dchaikin: It may be crash and burn for the plans but you still managed more than an hour per day :)

Hope things get better for you (not just reading-wise)!

>54 ELiz_M: make sense. I see a lot of build up happening. So lots of possible payoff. It’s all carefully done. Nothing I can’t forgive. (Middlemarch)

>55 AnnieMod: Thanks!

>34 dchaikin: I am truly stunned to hear that you consider audio as 'just entertainment' and not as an accomplishment. Audio is so important to me that I can't even come up with the words to question you more about this attitude.

Several hours later and I have now relaxed a bit and have the following thoughts:

1) Many of the books you read do not have audio available.
2) How do you compare reading Shakespeare to attending a performance? Or, better yet a recording of Shakespeare reading one of his creations?
3) When a book is available in print and audio, like 'Trust' do you choose the print, or the audio version, for what reason?

All audio books are not alike. Yes, some are purely entertainment but some, in my mind represent challenges to my beliefs and thinking about certain subjects. Listen to any of the books by Louise Erdrich and you will come away very challenged. At least I did. They were significant accomplishments for me.

Would I have been more challenged if I had read the print versions? Speaking for myself, the emotional dimension in audio makes a real impact on me.

Why do any of us read books? I am sure each of us has diverse reasons, but for me I read to learn more about people when they are faced with the life they have been given. As such, I become attached to fictional characters, so the added emotional dimension is important to me.

'Just entertainment?' Emphatically not.

Several hours later:

I apologize for my audio rant. Obviously, every reader has the total right to judge any book with whatever their personal criteria is. Just because I have such a strong preference for audio books doesn't mean you are required to do so also. You are such an impressive reader, and all of your followers obtain so much benefit that you don't need to defend any of your comments, or reviews.

Thank you for all of those reviews.

>57 JoeB1934: well, that brings up a whole lot of interesting stuff to discuss. Just to clarify, keep my context in mind. We were talking about what i can do when I’m distracted. I’m not an ideal audiobook listener, but I have a sort of value system and think a lot about the things you bring up.

When i read, I try to be in the mindset of the book. All my other thoughts work against that. They’re a distraction. So i try to limit them (or better, not have them until I put the book down). So the more preoccupied I am with something, the more difficult it is to read. Audio is different for me, because I never do that kind of focus. I listen while also doing something else - driving, walking (sometimes while eating breakfast, getting ready, or folding laundry or cleaning). I pay a lot more attention to an audiobook than, say NPR or a podcast or music. But it’s not a literary world zone-out. If i try to just sit and listen…well, I find it very challenging. Are you a sports fan? Imagine watching your favorite team play an important game (like my Astros against the Phillies lately, for me) That’s me reading. Imagine watching two teams you’re indifferent about play a game you enjoy watching (for me, the World Cup would be an example). That’s me with an audiobook.

So all the stuff you mention applies and has its own rather extensive talking points. Audio ranges widely. Some books are better on audio, a lot better. Some worse. Most are altered, for better or worse. Some are best used as an additive to also reading (Shakespeare’s sonnets, for example).

Personally the primary reason I use audiobooks because i love bools and it feels more fulfilling to listen to a book than music during my work commute. I try to select books that I would not read otherwise, mainly because of time.

So, for example, my commute means I can get through the Booker longlist long books - all of them (i read the shorter ones - partially because I want my audible credit’s worth of time. 🙂). Without that, reading that list would be a much larger commitment from me. But there is a cost. I don’t give these books the same attention I do when reading.

>58 dchaikin: Thank you for this explanation about your reading situation.

Of significant interest to me is your analogy of the experiences watching a favorite team in an important game versus watching a game of casual interest. I have had those experiences many times in my life.

In a nutshell, when I am involved in a critical game that is me in an audio book, and in a casual game it is me in a print book!

Heart pounding and anger with a play call comes with listening to a book. If I haven't got much commitment to a story in a book I can skip over paragraphs without much angst. Isn't this the opposite of what you said about yourself?

On a slightly different vein, were you doing the Booker longlist in 2016, or 2020? Two audio books that are very important to me were:

2016 'His Bloody Project' by Graeme Macrae Burnet
2020 'Shuggie Bain' by Douglas Stuart

I have a Scottish heritage and listening to those two books vs. reading them in print was really required for me to maximize my comprehension of what life was actually like for some of my ancestors. The same consideration applies also in my reading of other Scottish literature and mysteries.

>58 dchaikin: >59 JoeB1934: It does sound as though the two of you come down on exactly opposite sides of this question, both with very compelling reasons. I find myself nodding with each of you.

I find it interesting what different people count as "Reading" with a capital R. Some people only count it if their eyes physically traverse a page. Other consider the ingestion of the content to be the important factor. One LT friend of mine was a mail carrier and listened to hundreds of audiobooks while walking his beat. I considered him a voracious reader, despite his having used his ears more than his eyes. When my uncle lost most of his sight, he relied heavily on the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled. Other people discount graphic stories as "Books" and don't count them in their reading. But isn't a picture worth a thousand words? Still others don't count YA or children's literature (myself included. If I counted all the books I read to my nieces, my lists would be endless.) Some people include short stories and/or magazine articles. I think this would make an interesting Question for the Avid Reader: what do we count as "books" on our lists and why.

>58 dchaikin: I am much like you; I am a visual learner and when I am focused on reading, I enter that world, and the tape starts rolling in my head (which is why i have some problems with movie adaptations, its different from my image!)I do not get the same experience when I am listening, and like you tend to be distracted, so I don't bother. My dh when we were married was a super in our apt building, and listening to books on tape was a big part of his life since when hed get home he was too tired to read. so they are important for so many people that of course they are reading

>57I am truly stunned to hear that you consider audio as 'just entertainment' and not as an accomplishment. Audio is so important to me that I can't even come up with the words to question you more about this attitude.

I am truly stunned that you'd make that statement without knowing more about the author of the post. I am glad you thought again and clarified, that sounds much more reasonable.

I consider some reading entertainment: Disc world, hitchhiker guide many of the fantasy books I read in the 70s and 80s. But just because I consider these entertainment didn't mean I didn't learn from them or that the moved me in certai ways. Right now with whats going on, I am liable to skip somthing deep and grab something light because its all I can handle. But Ill be back with the serious stuff; I am planning a reread of Wolf Hall trilogy. But that is also entertaining for me in a way too, Everything about reading is solitary and so our needs and thoughts about what we read are going to be differentt.

>60 labfs39: It is only because I am a teacher of young children that I gasped aloud when you said you used to not count childrens books! But I do get that, and am thrilled you are reading them to your neice. To be fair when I was looking for something by Gaiman after 'good omens the bookstore guy said oh these are just graphic novels,like comics. that was my first experience with the term and I could only imagine what that meant, and didn't consider it reading. then a friend turned me on to it, and I get it now ( still want to get sandman!) So we all have our ideas of what is reading.

Interesting, a while back I read a fascinating book a history of reading Books used to be read together, outloud. No one was sitting by themselves reading (or just didnt tell anyone) so there was a lot of discussion of the book with the teacher(aka churchman) and each other. The church was actually scared of people reading to themselves, for how could they know what messages they were getting from that solitary read! but over the years thats indeed how people read, and here we get to discuss it ourselves.

>59 JoeB1934: yes, about the opposite. So many ways to read. 🙂

Regarding the Booker - I started in 2019, so I’m only on year 4. 2020 was a terrible list, IMO. But I enjoyed Shuggie Bain and thought it was a great choice of winner.

>60 labfs39: Joe’s question had me thinking about the Avid Reader question, although not what we consider a book, but more specifically the various audiobook experiences. Audio really changes the reading experience.

>62 cindydavid4: i love the idea of communal reading. 🙂

>61 cindydavid4: I gasped aloud when you said you used to not count childrens books! I should clarify that I meant I don't count them in my tally of books for the year, or in my category challenges, here on LT. I do count them as literature in the grand scheme of things. I love children's books and own hundreds. I read four or five a day to my nieces though, and to list them all on LT would get onerous. I considered keeping a separate list of chapter books like James and the Giant Peach and Wishtree, but then where do I draw the line? I also considered reviewing some of the particularly good picture books, but all of this would take more time away from reading...

>63 dchaikin: the closest I ever got to communal reading was reading aloud to my daughter. I loved those days. I get to have a similar experience with my nieces, but it's not quite the same.

Oh! I have totally been missing what you all meant by 'counting it as a book' its for a challange count or some such!!!! ok boy I so didn't get it. So if you read graphic novels or listen to a book, you wouldn't count that in your challenge .....I guess to me a book is a book in any form.Wonder (saying this as a nonparticipant in mose of the challenges) is it time to change the rules? Or is this another individual thing each person comes up with?

I keep a journal of what I write,and Im pretty flexible on what I count there. So at the end of the year I can see what I read . I like to stay above 50, and so far this year am close to 70! Anyway thanks for the clarification!

>66 cindydavid4: Oh, I count graphic stories and audiobooks, but I know people that don't. Everyone does their own thing on LT, and that's cool. I just find it interesting what people choose to do and how they feel about different media/genres.

>66 cindydavid4: Not Just for challenges - some people think that audiobooks and graphic novels do not count as books being read when they count how many books they read per year. :)

Everyone counts what they want. I count everything I read - from a pamphlet which contains a story through the graphic novels to the 1000+ pages tomes - they are books. Depending on the year, I may count some things separately but I usually end up simplifying - a book is a book and that’s it.

>63 dchaikin: I know how that works in younger grades, we'd take turns reading a section. I was one of the faster readers and always got bored and read ahead. that caused problems. What would your idea tho?

>65 labfs39: i miss those days, too. Reading to my kids. I was checking so many library books, and even doing research on what to check out, and hunting down authors I discovered. Was it communal? I never thought of it from that perspective before.

>61 cindydavid4: >64 labfs39: >66 cindydavid4: i loved and miss all the children’s books. Of course, i tried not to worry about how they impacted my other reading.

>66 cindydavid4: I entered as many of those children’s books into LT as I could, even the library ones (tagged @library ). That is sort of my version of a children’s book journal, with helpful entry dates.

>66 cindydavid4: >68 AnnieMod: - i count graphic novels and audio books, because otherwise I don’t know how else to log them. But I don’t count them as “regular books”. I have two counters - all and regular. (But I’ve stopped sharing both in my stats posts here)

>69 cindydavid4: which comment are you responding to here?

>70 dchaikin: We also had family reading time when my daughter was young. We all sat down together at the same time in the same room and read to ourselves. Ten minutes a day in first grade, twenty in second, then thirty. Not only did it encourage her to read for sustained times (not something she gravitated to naturally) but it modelled both parents as readers. Although it was silent reading, it felt communal and we often ended up talking about what we were reading.

>72 labfs39: I can only admire you had that idea and pulled that off. 🙂

>71 dchaikin: #63 when you said i love the idea of communal reading. I am also interested, but not sure how that would work in our world.Would it be like book clubs or groups around themes like we do here? I know in the middle ages it was really more like a teacher (churchman) reading the the students responding. I need to go look at the book again and see if he described it another way

This discussion of Dan and Joe being representatives of two different consumers of audio books has coincided with an observation I have made that might be worthy of further comments. First, a background story.

I rarely purchase a book, so my reading library is sparse. In my family there are tons of cookbooks, travel books, art books and science books, but not much fiction. So, I live and die by use of the Denver Public Library, and for one year the Brooklyn Public Library.

When I determine that there is a book title I want to read I place a hold on the book at the DPL. If there is an audio available, I am sent to Libby to place the hold. I can only have 15 audio book holds active at one time, so I am always juggling those holds and prioritizing them. The bulk of my current reading happens to be newer release of authors that I just learned about. 'Lucy by the Sea' by Elizabeth Strout is an excellent example of such a book.

I placed 'Lucy' on my holds list with Libby on 10/29 and there currently is an 11 week wait for it. This is where things get puzzling. I can have 25 holds on print books, so I placed a hold on 'Lucy' in hardback form on 10/27 and have already received the book! I appeared to get in early as the stats on this book are as follows:

Audio 126 holds on 21 copies.
Print 225 holds on 42 copies.

Another interesting item is that in Libby I frequently receive a notice that the library has on order more of certain books. So, it appears that the librarian is responding to current demands for the audio books by increasing quantities.

Just to complete this story I have placed holds on several books in the print version and received those books while the same book in audio form is languishing in a 5 to 10 week wait period. I scan the print book to see if I really want to read it in audio and return it to the library if I still am willing to wait for the audio version. This year I haven't retained any of the print books to read.

I have two questions of the librarians among us.

1) How does a librarian choose the volume of audio vs print editions of a specific book?
2) Is there a strongly developing trend for either Dan or Joe in the audio realm.

My presumption is that the digital age and modern lifestyles with so many demands on time are, at the least creating more Dan style readers counting on audio editions.

I could attempt to ask LibraryThing staff to explore these issues but hesitate to do so as I think I am already considered a pest, or worse because of numerous requests I have made relevant to changes in the LT treatment of genres.

I forgot to mention that if the wait for a favorite book is too long, for example the latest Kate Atkinson, my favorite author, I buy the book on Audible. I use the buy 3 credits for use in 3 months and thst has worked well when I am desperate.

>78 raidergirl3: To answer your librarian questions:
1) it is very possible that there are 2 different people ordering. The one who orders say fiction books is perhaps not the person ordering audio. Also the books that are expected to be popular will be ordered in multiple formats.
2) I have no idea.

I have a question about audio books. How do you figure out where you were if you fall asleep while listening?

>76 dianeham: When I start listening I always note the Chapter I am on. If I end up losing my way I can go back to the start of that chapter and skip on from there by moving ahead in small jumps. It isn't unusual that I end up getting into the next chapter to where I recognize the dialog.

I use the chapter launching idea also sometimes to purposefully jump ahead to see if I still want to continue the book. Another technique I use is to choose a playback speed factor, say 1.25 speed to accelerate my listening. If this distorts the language too much, I fall back to 1.00 speed.

I'm not sure this idea applies to you, but I fall asleep at night by turning the book on with a shut-off time of 15 minutes. I am frequently asleep before the shutoff happens. In the morning I rewind back the 15 minutes if necessary. On occasion I awaken in the middle of the night and if my mind persists with random thoughts I start the book again to get back to sleep.

>77 JoeB1934: You can train yourself to listen to even higher speed on audiobooks. I am at 1.4X but sometimes the content or narrator will slow me down. Go a few steps higher and listen for a bit. It will be crazy, but when you go back to slower, go a half-step higher than where you were.
I love audiobooks, and listen on walks, and when I am playing mindless online games, which is more than I would like to admit, lol.
If you are an NPR or CBC radio listener, non-fiction books are a great way to get started.

Sorry to butt into your thread Dan!

>75 JoeB1934: I love atkinson, but after 100 pages set it aside. I think its a book I may return to when I am not distracted by other things Im reading,. Ill be curious what you think of it

>78 raidergirl3: love your comments. You’re always welcome

I’ll come back here tomorrow. For now, I’m happy, crazy happy actually, for my Astros and their World Series win over a terrific Philadelphia Phillies team.

Congratulatins! Yesterday was a bad day for good Philly teams.

Happy for you and your ball team!
Blue Jays fan here - we had a horrific post-season, lol. My husband and I got to Toronto this summer and saw a game, which was great.

I'm a Yankees fan, so no love for the Astros! Luckily for me, my wife and I were out of the country when the 'Stros demolished the Pinstripers. As a friend said to me upon my return, "It wasn't pretty!" So I was rooting for the Phillies, but I will go this far, as, also, a Giants fan . . . . Congratulations to Dusty Baker, a very good manager and also a good man who deserves a championship! Also, obviously, the Astros proved themselves the best team, even without banging on cans. In particular, I was impressed with the way they came up with a great rookie shortstop to replace Correa.

Cheers! :)

>83 rocketjk: i remember that Giants team. I’m also really happy for Baker. And happy the Astros played well (as did the Phillies. No comment on the NYY). Peña was special, but also, in a bullpen dependent era, that is the best bullpen ever.

Of course I’m not particularly sorry about the Yankees, sorry, but I hope they re-sign Judge.

Back to the discussions, which I’m enjoying a lot!

>74 cindydavid4: ok, makes total sense now. I have no idea how it (communal reading) might work today (other than in story-time in younger grade school)

>75 JoeB1934: - answered in >76 dianeham: - i will add that in a trend of lessening attention, audiobooks should, in theory, come under increased demand vs books. This is because audiobooks don’t demand the same attention (but you can still give them full attention) And certainly audio has seen an explosion since, well, about since audible started.

>76 dianeham: answered in >77 JoeB1934: I love the answer. Of course, I don’t fall asleep while listening, otherwise I would have some kind of serious accident.

>78 raidergirl3: i’ve tried this, speeding up the books. I don’t because I don’t want to rush through and use up my audible credits too fast. I have done it by accident and it was ok.

>79 cindydavid4: A major reason that Atkinson is my most favorite author is that she can't be typecast by genres.

If you review all of her books it is amazing the diversity in her writing. Her latest 'Shrines of Gaiety' is a historical mystery about a specific time in terms of character studies of many different members of a family and numerous characters connected to the family.

I am not capable of determining how faithful she is to the time period, but it certainly is believable to me. The quote below that I retrieved from the Goodreads intro to the book says it all.

"With her unique Dickensian flair, Kate Atkinson gives us a window in a vanished world. Slyly funny, brilliantly observant, and ingeniously plotted, Shrines of Gaiety showcases the myriad talents that have made Atkinson one of the most lauded writers of our time."

To me the phrase "Slyly funny, brilliantly observant, and ingeniously plotted" is so much better than anything I could devise so let's go with that.

When I read a book I am most interested in how individuals are revealed by the author to be tied to their heritage, circumstances and life decisions. Atkinson does this so well, but you really need to let the flow of the book to the conclusion occur without second-guessing what is going to happen. You will be surprised.

The last book I listened to was Lincoln in the Bardo

>87 dianeham: That's one of the only audiobooks that tempts me (I just can't do them at all, under any circumstances)—that chorus of voices sounds like it would be marvelous to actually hear.

>86 JoeB1934: Atkinson does this so well, but you really need to let the flow of the book to the conclusion occur without second-guessing what is going to happen. You will be surprised.

this is true,back when she did her first detective book, I didn't want to read it because I loved her orginal books and didn't really like mysteries. But I got hooked....thanks for your respons, Hope you are right, you probably are. Ill get back to it at some point; juggling about four now!

Such an interesting reading discussion. I don't listen to audiobooks much, I feel I need to sit and focus on listening and somehow don't do that and i don't seem to like to put them on in the background and be zoning in and out, though now I quite like that idea somehow as I'll just listen again. Where I do quite like audiobooks is when driving and I do exactly that, miss bits and just go back and listen again. But I've not listened to many that way, and only one that I'd say I completed.

I also see listening to them as somehow different from reading, but I struggle to explain that, maybe it is part of why I think i should just focus on them when I listen. Though I'm not sure i practice focusing on the mindset of the book as much as you do Dan - I read and become engrossed or else I don't. And this may have something to do with drifting from some of the many I've drifted from whilst I've had LT threads, though not the whole story. And it may help me complete a few of those.

My iphone news feed came up with this yesterday. Quite relevant to our discussion of last week.

Is Listening to Audiobooks Really Reading? | WIRED
https://www.wired.com/story/is-listening-to-audiobooks-really-reading
Oct 27, 2022 · According to this rather tenuous logic, listening to audiobooks is inferior precisely because it is easier—because it lacks the element of suffering that is incontrovertible evidence …

Author: Meghan O'gieblyn

>91 JoeB1934: An interesting article, Joe. One thing that popped into my head when reading it was sitting in the driveway listening to an NPR story, podcast, or audiobook, because I couldn't tear myself away. Good storytelling can be compelling that way, whether print or audio. I liked the comparison with exercise (keeping metrics, book clubs, etc.), although I don't think there is anything wrong with those things, as the author seemed to imply. I think the author missed the communal nature of book clubs, challenges, and places like LT. It's not about accountability to me, but companionship with like-minded readers. I disliked the author's allusions to snobbery. I don't think that we need to devolve the issue into us vs them or name calling. To each her own, right?

I agree totally with you about some of the limitations and implications within the article.

I am 100% in agreement with the notion of treating a book as storytelling. Audio suits me very well as if I was listening to a story, with all the possibilities for emotional dimensions to be emphasized. In this sense I am really an emotional reader. A person who becomes close enough to a fictional character to tear up over an event. In other words I would rather attend a poetry reading than to read a poem.

To me the most important statement in the article is the last sentence.

"Most of all, though, I would urge you to trust your instincts—to “listen,” as it were, to the critic within who instinctively knows what is worth your time and who will rarely lead you astray."

In the final analysis each of us has to choose how we want to do our reading, especially when time to read is vanishing. There aren't any good, or bad ways to read as long as the individual obtains maximum results for themselves.

Also, I need to mention that I have always felt that audio readers are somehow lessor for it and cheating to some degree. That hasn't affected my admiration for the readers like Dan who can read and review books in a vastly superior form than I ever could.

>92 labfs39: One thing that popped into my head when reading it was sitting in the driveway listening to an NPR story, podcast, or audiobook, because I couldn't tear myself away. Good storytelling can be compelling that way, whether print or audio.

hee you mean drive way moments? love those! And I totally agree about good story telling, doesn't matter how its done, if its telling a good story

>93 JoeB1934: I would urge you to trust your instincts—to “listen,” as it were, to the critic within who instinctively knows what is worth your time and who will rarely lead you astray."

exactly. but I do not get this at all " I need to mention that I have always felt that audio readers are somehow lessor for it and cheating to some degree." glad that you think its ok for dan, but what about truck drivers, people with visual impairments, people who have trouble reading, people out and about with boring jobs that allow them some pleasure from listening. we talked above about the many ways audio stories work and why people use them. Lisa said this very well "I disliked the author's allusions to snobbery. I don't think that we need to devolve the issue into us vs them or name calling. To each her own, right?" right

>94 cindydavid4: I apologize for the way I said " I need to mention ..." I should have said "As a committed audio reader I need to mention ..." I didn't realize that my earlier statements hadn't made it abundantly clear what style of reader I am. I am one with all of those individuals you mentioned as audio readers. I am terribly sorry for confusing you along with other readers.

thank you. I was confused because I do remember what you said earlier, and this just didn't sound right.. so if you are an audio reader, do you consider yourself a lesser reader? I certainly wouldn

>96 cindydavid4: No, I'm not a lesser reader, and I don't think anybody who reads what they like in the format they prefer is lessor. Reading in any style that meets the needs of the reader is every one's goal, I'm sure. I am personally so thankful that I can obtain what I am searching for through audio books.

>87 dianeham: Lincoln on the Bardo was an experience on audio. I had to look up “opset” (which was actually op. cit.)

>90 tonikat: audiobooks are different, but also each audiobook is different in its own way. (🙂 Poor Tolstoy) Some experiences are truly additive, better than reading. Sometimes it’s best to test one out first before you commit.

>91 JoeB1934: thanks Joe. Entertaining article. I might have a few issues with it, but it’s still fun to read about that perspective.

>92 labfs39: >94 cindydavid4: the actual driveway experience! Sometimes…

Wow! What a great catch-up on your thread, Dan! Thx! (keep talking, please)

This discussion stimulated my analysis genes to inquire of LibraryThing staff more about audio book issues. They directed me to the chat

Librarians Who LibraryThing.

That chat string is available at:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/345759#n7975329

They revealed many insights into pricing models and other issues that I haven't yet been able to process.

Switching topics on you, do you ever have the print book reading experience equivalent to "the actual driveway experience! Sometimes…"?

>101 JoeB1934: less and less, unfortunately. My most recent experience was reading through references at the end of a book (for Finding the Mother Tree). I totally zoned out of the world and lost track of time. It was really nice. No clue why I found these references so interesting.

>101 JoeB1934: omg yes! I have on more than one occasion had to be reminded that this was my bus stop, I was so deep into the story, And in HS the librarian always had to get my nose out of a book to go to class (she always had a smile on her face

To me listening to an audio book is as much "reading" as reading an actual book. You can give as much or as little attention to either method of absorbing the book. That said I much prefer actual reading to listening, and only a small proportion of my "reading" is via audio. And like you Dan almost all my audio reading is done while doing something else at the same time. Since I no longer have a work commute I would like to listen to more audiobooks while working on my needle art, and I have a huge backlog of Audible books to get to. (Particularly since in more recent years I was obsessively listening to MSNBC while sewing rather than to audio books).
I've found two types of books work well for me on audio: "lighter" books like crime/mystery or science fiction, or long "classics." I think many of the classics were almost written to be read aloud, and they are frequently plot-driven, so I find they work very well as audio. Currently, I am "reading" Trollope's Palliser series on audio, and it's delightful. Dickens is great on audio too. And many years ago I listened to some Faulkner on audio, and since (at least it is said) he writes in the Southern oral story-telling tradition, it worked well. And of course it also depends on the narrator being good.

>104 arubabookwoman: I'm less picky now that I was originally. I used to look only for nonfiction books that were as close to NPR as I could find. Now I'm ok with literary stuff, within certain limits (the first being a good reader). I haven't actually done classics, though.

52. Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout
published: 2017
format: 245-page Kindle ebook
acquired: October 13 read: Oct 13 – Nov 7 time reading: 6:03, 1.4 mpp
rating: 3½
genre/style: Contemporary Fiction theme: Booker 2022
locations: Amgash, Illinois and a few other places
about the author: born in Maine, 1956.

The second in the Amgash quartet. I'm working toward the 3rd, Oh, William, on the Booker 2022 longlist.

Well, this wasn‘t anywhere near as strong to me as My Name is Lucy Barton (the first book in the quartet). Strout basically fleshes out all the stories told in MNiLB between Lucy and her mother. So this is a short story collection, all 3rd person narrative, linked but really each story is independent, with limited character overlap. Strout does this contrast where generally normal people do or get involved in really out-there non-normal stuff. I found it very readable but also I found it a bit much, and that left a little bit of an aftertaste with me.

It has led me to appreciate My Name is Lucy Barton more. Lucy is relatable and has a powerful voice. And she‘s developed, the narrative is compressed and maintained, every word in that book has a purpose. Nothing wasted. And I loved the Lucy talking to me in that book. All this is missing here, in book 2, by design.

>104 arubabookwoman: That reminds me of listening to Madame Bovary while doing retrospective conversion at Indiana University roughly 30 years ago. I think it was Wisconsin Public Radio's Chapter a Day program (pre-streaming days).

53. Summer by Edith Wharton
introduction: Cynthia Griffin Wolff (1979)
published: 1917
format: 309-page paperback (1980 Perennial Library edition, printed 1997?)
acquired: December 2021, from Half-Price Books read: Oct 19 – Nov 9 time reading: 6:40, 1.3 mpp
rating: 5
genre/style: classic theme: Wharton
locations: Small impoverished New England towns
about the author: 1862-1937. Born Edith Newbold Jones on West 23rd Street, New York City. Relocated permanently to France after 1911.

A novel of sexual awakening, an early feminine version, but this is Wharton and it really goes its own odd way. It‘s uncomfortable, compelling, and powerful. A parallel to Ethan Frome, as in another tightly crafted short novel in impoverished small town New England. But instead of poor Ethan, it looks at a very young Charity Royall, who has recently spurned a marriage proposal from her adoptive dad(!). And the season has been moved from ice to flowers, everywhere, and added a rogue mysterious community hiding in a hard-to-reach backwood mountain.

As much as I have enjoyed every Wharton, novel, this one somehow feels especially fresh. Wharton has always had some female sexual undertones. Putting that aspect a little more out front, it seems frees her to deal with the world in a different kind of way. But still, Wharton is relentless on her readers' sympathies. And I'm left wondering, rethinking this over and over.

>106 dchaikin: My Mother-in-law is a huge fan of a chapter a day. Has been for years. She used to volunteer for WPR in Eau Claire.

>108 dchaikin: This is the Wharton that I own and haven't read yet. I'm so excited that it's going to be a good one. I'm glad Wharton has been a good experience for you overall.

>109 dchaikin: Oh, interesting. I haven't listened to CAD in decades, but it's nice to know it's still going strong. I see they are currently reading Klara and the Sun.

>101 JoeB1934: Thanks for the link. I really wonder what will happen to this pricing extravaganza down the road.

>108 dchaikin: Taking note of summer for future reference.

>104 arubabookwoman: I miss (sort of) my long commute because I could listen to nonfiction titles without falling asleep. If I'm listening while doing something I focus on what I'm doing and zone out on the book. If I sit and listen to something I fall asleep.

I can sit and listen to plot driven material, but I'm not sure classics I haven't read once would work.

>110 labfs39: >111 markon: - (responding a little late...) Summer is a great book. Enjoy.

Also, walks are my favorite way to listen to audiobooks - especially in nice weather.

54. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life by George Saunders
stories by: Anton Chekhov, Nikolai Gogol, Leo Tolstoy, & Ivan Turgenev
readers: Phylicia Rashad, Nick Offerman, Glenn Close, Keith David, Rainn Wilson, BD Wong, & Renee Elise Goldsberry
published: 2021
format: 14:45 audible audiobook (432 pages in hardcover)
acquired: October 27 listened: Oct 27 – Nov 16
rating: 5
genre/style: literary exploration/criticism theme: random audio
about the author: American geophysicist and writer, who teaches at Syracuse. He was born in Amarillo, Tx and group up in Oak Forest, Illinois near Chicago

Includes these seven stories:
In the Cart by Anton Chekhov
The Singers by Ivan Turgenev
The Darling by Anton Chekhov
Master and Man by Leo Tolstoy
The Nose by Nikolai Gogol
Gooseberries by Anton Chekhov
Alyosha the Pot by Leo Tolstoy

My first thoughts was that this was terrific. Interesting, solid, and just especially well done. Left me a lot to think about.

The book is a series of lessons on writing. After each story, he talks about the story itself, and how he teaches it to his students. Then he talks about thoughts more distantly related, eventually there is a chapter called afterthoughts, usually on writing, and on art in general. I really enjoyed his comments on how an artist should put the biggest things, the main ideas, up front and then deal with the consequences of what next. Basically, his ideal artist creates problem without a solution, and then resolves the problem in unintended ways. The result in the artwork, not the initial idea, which may have long been discarded.

But also these stories are good, his commentary is wonderful, and he‘s such a warm reader. A lovely way to spend some time.

55. Middlemarch : A Study of Provincial Life by George Eliot
afterword: Frank Kermode (1964)
published: 1872
format: 820-page Signet classic (verso says 1964 edition, 4th printing. It has a receipt inside dated “16 Oct 73”)
acquired: 2009 from a library book sale read: Oct 1 – Nov 25 time reading: 37:55, 2.8 mpp
rating: 4½
genre/style: Victorian classic theme: VIctorian
locations: English midlands, around 1830.
about the author: penname of Mary Ann Evans, 1819-1880, born in Warkwickshire, England. She later lived in Coventry and then, from 1850, in London.

Well. After 57 days, I'm grateful to have read this, but I never locked in, and all my appreciation is from an emotional distance.

It is a slow read, and at 820 pages, a real commitment. It's a smart, serious-but-still-playful look at variations in relationships and marriages within an English Midlands village c1830 (pointedly before some major parliamentary reform passed in 1832 - although I personally don't actually know anything about that reform).

What i liked: Dorothea. Especially how Eliot introduces and mocks her early on. But also how she gains strength not despite of these flaws, but because of them. I loved Dorothea. I also enjoyed Eliot's clever humor and social commentary. She undoes all her best characters, and it makes them all much more likable. Rosamond, Lydgate, Fred, Mary, Bulstrode and his especially his wife, who has really only a one-chapter cameo, but it's very powerful cameo. These all made for terrific characters. I even liked Casaubon, and felt sympathy for his flaws.

What I didn't like: it's slow and, while it has an overall structure that requires this, it doesn't completely add up. The joy is in the text, her writing style and cleverness, and less so, I think, in the overall structure. It can get very tedious when it becomes patronizing (see Caleb Garth, or Lydgate's backstory flaws). Kermode was harsh on poor overly-simple Will Ladislaw, and while I have some sympathy for him, I can see Kermode's point.

Some Victorian thoughts on my mind: This novel has less literary power than I've experienced with Austen or Dickens, and has less foundation than Austen (but much more than Gaskell). It‘s gently feminist, but less so than Austen or Wharton, IMO. It‘s a thoughts-out-front sort of novel, her strong ideas presented within the text in clever ways. This is another link to Wharton. I suspect Wharton was very much a student of Eliot. And I couldn't help imagining Wharton building her unschooled Undine (Custom of the Country) from this perfectly schooled Rosamond.

>112 dchaikin: That coincides with my preferences also. I walk one hour each day and for many days that is all the reading I get done.

>113 dchaikin: A Swim in a Pond was a BB and went directly to my wishlist. Nice review of Middlemarch. I read it 30+ years ago and would like to do a reread at some point.

>112 dchaikin: for me, i’m grateful if i fit in 20 minutes walking a day. But also i get 40 to 60 minutes of driving. And sometimes i listen while eat breakfast and get ready in the morning.

>116 labfs39: yay, with Saunders. Hope you get to and enjoy it. Thanks, re Mm.

November stuff

planned - actual - book
  4 hrs -   3:23 - Summer by Edith Wharton - completed the 2nd half (total time 6:40)
22 hrs - 20:27 - Middlemarch by George Eliot - completed 2nd half (total time 37:55)
  3 hrs -   2:41 - Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout - completed the 2nd half (total time 6:04)
10 hrs -   9:38 - Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer - read the 1st 2/3
11 hrs - 12:43 - Anniversaries IV by Uwe Johnson - read the 1st half
  6 hrs -   0:00 - The Book of flights by le clezio
  2 hrs -   0:00 - The Man Without Qualities volume 2 by Thomas Musil
  0 hrs -   3:41 - Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Basic and Beyond - read the 1st 1/3
----
58 hrs - 52:33

December plan

  5 hrs - Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer - last 1/3
  6 hrs - Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout
  9 hrs - Anniversaries IV by Uwe Johnson - 2nd half
20 hrs - The Man Without Qualities v2 by Thomas Musil
10 hrs - Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Basic and Beyond - last 2/3
12 hrs - The Colony by Audrey Magee
---
62 hrs

I started November in a soft-reading-brain state. It took me until November 12 to read 2 hours in one day, but after that I was back on my regular track. I think it's time to quit The Book of Flights and Empires of the Indus and the rest of my 2022 TBR plan. And rethink how to handle my TBR plan next year. Also I'm not sure what to do with Musil. His volume 2 is 400 pages, which believe I can do. The edition I have, however, includes his incomplete volume 3, another 600 pages. I'm hoping to read those 400 pages of volume 2, but also hoping I don't force them. That I can enjoy them. And that I can stop there. It's my largest commitment for December.

>118 dchaikin: I think it's time to quit The Book of Flights and Empires of the Indus and the rest of my 2022 TBR plan.
And now, thanks to you, Empire of the Indus has entered my 2023 TBR plan :-D

>119 Dilara86: that’s funny. The parts I read were great. A sort of journalistic style - go find, and then write about.

>118 dchaikin:, >119 Dilara86: I've dipped in and out of Empires of the Indus for several years, but haven't finished it. Initially I was excited to read about the history along the river. Some of the information is quite interesting, but it doesn't have a throughline, so I pick it up, read a chapter, and out it down.

>121 markon: maybe that’s the way I should handle it. I agree the chapters feel random. Visit a spot, find a story. Next chapter visit a different spot…etc.

56. Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout
published: 2021
format: 241-page kindle ebook
acquired: December 1 read: Dec 2-5 time reading: 4:36, 1.1 mpp
rating: 4.5
genre/style: contemporary fiction theme: Booker 2022
locations: New York city and rural Maine
about the author: born in Maine, 1956.

My 6th from the #booker2022 long list, and the 1st I‘ve read instead of listened to.

Despite the title, the novel is Lucy again talking about herself, exposing her strengths and weaknesses, but she spends a lot of time with her (philandering) ex-husband William. I like Lucy and I like her voice, in Strout's condensed way. Strout ramps up the adjacent emotions - cry/laugh/intensity/discomfort/joy - that's practically every page. I found I can relate to large degree to her characters (with the exception of all the extra-marital affairs). I found that intense and a little stressful. I loved the book.

Looking at my review of My Name is Lucy Barton, I was struck by my enthusiasm. I believe I liked it better than this one, but this is terrific (for anyone it works for)

----

My personal booker longlist ranking of the moment

1. Oh William! (made the shortlist)
2. Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley
3. Trust by Hernan Diaz
4. Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer
5. Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo (made the shortlist)
6. Booth by Karen Joy Fowler

57. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
published: 2013
format: 390-page Kindle ebook
acquired: November 7 read: Nov 7 – Dec 6 time reading: 15:17, 2.4 mpp
rating: 3
genre/style: Nature writing theme: Naturalitsy
locations: Canadian River etc
about the author: A Potawatomi American professor born 1953 in upstate New York. She is a professor of Environmental and Forest Biology, and the director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF)

The second book in the #naturalitsy group on Litsy. I was excited to read this, and voted for it. Then, just before we started, Jerry (rocketjk) casually noted this as a title he thought was only ok. I got worried. I think Jerry had it right.

This is a mixture of essays, sometimes feeling like independent personal essays and sometimes accumulating into a sense of theme. They’re mixed in quality. Some are great, many are plain. The theme is roughly on using native American ideas, values and respect for nature as alternate healthier perspectives on how we can personally, and as a society, better interact with nature. She notes up front that most educated people don't feel that humans _ever_ have a positive impact on nature and she tries to suggest this is not necessarily true. She's uncomfortable with science, despite being a career scientist. One point she makes, which I liked, is that the science doesn't and can't make changes if it stays within the scientific community. It's only what is embraced and valued by the broader culture that can have impact.

I got tired of these essays half-way through. I felt they trended towards being idealistic, with romanticized Native American values. She spends a lot of time discussing how she interacts with her property and suggesting it might help a lot of people if they tried having similar relationships. And I couldn’t help seeing how problematic and near-sighted this seems. (Based on these essays we might (sarcastically) conclude that the solution to all the world‘s problems is to purchase a rural property in New York and grow a garden.) I wanted a hard but healthy reality check.

Without a group to report to, I wouldn't have finished this. But I kept at it. the essays got better at the second half and finished strong. And she left me with stuff to think about. So, overall, ok.

58. Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah
reader: Damian Lynch
published: 2021
format: 10:13 audible audiobook (288-pages in hardcover)
acquired: November 17 listened : Nov 17 – Dec 9
rating: 4
genre/style: contemporary fiction theme: random audio
locations: German east Africa
about the author: born 1948 in the Sultanate of Zanzibar. Fled to England after the Zanzibar Revolution in 1968. Now a retired professor of English and postcolonial literature at the University of Kent.

This is, I believe, Gurnah's latest. It's the second novel I've read by him.

One of the largely forgotten horrors of WWI was the destruction in Africa. The British and German African and Indian mercenaries fought bitterly for their colonial bosses, destroying each other and everything in their path, leaving behind ruined starving communities. Afterlives is a paced look into this poorly documented but tragic side show, and, of course, what comes after. The novel very moving but also odd in ways, especially how carefully it‘s crafted and yet how slow it moves.

It's slow, but evocative of a time and place. It's actually very efficient and carefully written. I listened to this immediately after listening to George Saunders' terrific book of lessons on writing, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain. And Gurnah is a nice follow up. He does everything Saunders is getting at, and really well. It just takes its time. It meanders. To get a sense of his merchants, you have to listen to them talk, how they interact, handle uncertainty and relationships, and how they think about religion and other aspects of life. On audio, I thoroughly enjoyed this and all the characters.

As a side note, this novel is in many ways this is a sequel to the other nove of his that I've read, Paradise. Paradise is Tanzania up to the the eve of WWI. This begins right where that ended, and one main character practically picks up, in lockstep, right where Yusef from Paradise leaves off, only his name is different.

>123 dchaikin: I also loved Oh William!

59. Anniversaries IV by Uwe Johnson
translation: from German by Damion Searls, 2018
published: 1983
format: 476 pages within a 1671-page Nook ebook, from New York Review Books Classic
acquired: January, read: Oct 7 – Dec 10, time reading: 21:51, 2.8 mpp (the full book took 80:39, 2.9 mpp)
locations: 1968 New York City, post-WWII German Democratic Republic
about the author: 1934-1984, East German author born in Kamień Pomorski in Pomerania (then in Germany, now in Poland)

So, this is volume IV, published finally, ten years after the first three volumes, completing the novel. It's the longest book of the four volumes, and slowest and weakest. The backstory for this one is Eastern Germany in the repressive decade after WWII. This was a place where high school and college students reported of what fellow students were saying, resulting in 25-year prison sentences, routinely. But Johnson has trouble managing how to capture this within this world he created. He uses endless digressions, adding new characters in Germany that the reader isn't really invested in (well I wasn't), and going on and on about them (a whole lot of them). I wasn't particularly happy with that. I didn’t feel it gave me a great understanding of the GDR. The present story, the New York City story, was better. Although Johnson basically gave up all pretense of making the 11-yr-old daughter, Marie, a realistic character. She becomes just an alter-ego of our diarist, Gesine, there to keep the conversation going.

What I did really like in this last volume what a sort of love letter to NYC near the end. It crystallized that part of the book for me, and I think i enjoyed NYC a lot more than Germany throughout all the volumes.

As for the whole thing, all four volumes: It took me 80 hrs of reading over 11 months. I started on January 2.

As a quick summary, this is Gesine Cresspahl‘s diary, oddly told generally in 3rd person. Gesine was born in what is now Eastern Germany in 1933. Her diary is written when she is a young professional in a bank in New York City, an expat without really a home country. She is also a single mother of a largely, but not fully, Americanized daughter. Half the diary is her present-day New York City, August 1967 to August 1968, one entry per day. The entries are peppered with NYTimes headlines (think of the times - Vietnam, riots, assassinations). And half the diary is a summary of her childhood in Germany before, during and after WWII…the after part notably in eastern Germany, the GDR. The novel as a whole is a sort of love/hate evocative ode to lonely capitalist NYC, and an also an ode to survival in, and to the many ghosts of, eastern Germany.

Overall I enjoyed it. I feel very forgiving of its insane length, which I mean as a really nice compliment. I liked getting swept up on these short time capsules of the moment. One character calls history a rough draft, and this is an aspect well expressed here.

>126 dianeham: glad you enjoyed too!

>125 dchaikin: I have Afterlives on order for next year's African Book Challenge. I liked Paradise okay, but wasn't blown away. Looking forward to reading something else by him.

>127 dchaikin: Phew! You did it! 80 hrs is a long time to invest in one book. I'm happy to have followed along with you and others this year, but don't feel the need to run out and purchase a copy. :-)

>124 dchaikin: What did the rest of the group think of this? I am somewhat leery of ideas that anthropomorphize the natural world, or try to put it within a cultural context (what happens to it outside that context?). I do agree though that science doesn't and can't make changes if it stays within the scientific community, and think one of the greatest problems of our time is the general lack of even basic science in the general community.

Enjoyed your other reviews. I'm told I should read Gurnah, so maybe that something for the new year.

>124 dchaikin: My reservations via Braiding Sweetgrass were pretty much the same as yours. Congratulations on finishing Anniversaries.

>129 labfs39: Afterlives is much softer than Paradise. It’s really a book to some spend time with. Most reviews complain because it’s digressive and lacks a plot climax. But if you’re up for all that, you might enjoy it a lot. And, yeah, not recommending Anniversaries. But it caught a nerve. So I’m not trying to discourage either.

>130 SassyLassy: the group praised Kimmerer (and Braiding Sweetgrass) a lot in the chats but I suspect they were quietly mixed. Chats were muted. And the few comments on my review post (like above, but shorter) indicated overall agreement - by those few people.

One thing everyone complained about was the minimal science. And we all agreed its an essay collection more than a single-themed book and knowing this made reading easier.

>131 rocketjk: thanks, for the warning on Braiding Sweetgrass ( 😉 ) and the congrats on Anniversaries. It’s always rewarding to finish a book i’ve been working so long on.

I'm sorry you were annoyed by Braiding Sweetgrass! I really loved it. I did read it as a book of essays about nature, the historical relationship that some Native Americans had with the land and how it differed from typical European views, and a poetic look at nature. I wasn't expecting a firm scientific study from this book and didn't think it was marketed that way.

I found her comparison of myths/stories between the two cultures especially revealing, and thought her observations of how the U.S. is a nation of immigrants and how that may have affected our relationship with the land here to be astute. I hadn't thought of it that way, but think there's something there to think about.

I will agree that some of the essays were weaker than others, and I lost a little steam reading in the middle. But I thought overall she had a good mix of big ideas and micro-level observations (like leeks, strawberries, maple trees, sweetgrass, etc.).

I also think that reading it when I did, when we were just coming out of a year of covid isolation, it made a big impact on me. During covid, I spent countless hours exploring our local woods and creeks with my boys and it was amazing to connect to our local, easily accessible nature in a way that we'd never made time for pre-pandemic. So I was ready to hear that it's important to make these connections.

So, yes, idealized and somewhat romanticized, but isn't that what a lot of our classic nature writing is? I think that's ok and somewhat to be expected. Nature is still largely a mystery to us, and I think personal observations are valuable and interesting (to me) to read.

>134 dchaikin: " thanks, for the warning on Braiding Sweetgrass ( 😉 )"

Well, I did review it in August 2021. It's not my fault you're not memorizing my reviews. :)

Actually, upon rereading, it seems my review was somewhat more positive than yours, as I downplayed my reservations somewhat. So, okay, apologies, then.

>135 japaul22: Thanks for sharing. Regarding your last question, maybe. I think context is important.

The previous book we read, Finding the Mother Tree, did not idealize. She sets up global problems, especially global warming. And she had no solution. But the tied what she was doing into place. She established a real problem, and a realistic relationship between that and what she’s doing (studying relationships between trees with and without genealogical relationships).

Kimmerer also sets up global problems, in her case it’s more about consumption and waste and pollution than strictly global warming. But her focus then changes to small stuff. Once you open up global problems, as a reader, i want you to tie the rest in. And i don’t think she did so (at least not in a realistic manner). For me, she puts global problem and small fix side by side and it made the small stuff seem really small.

i agree she has some great things to say and some great observations and native-culture derived ideas and perspectives.

Also, fwiw, i think that readers doing something outdoors, gardening or whatnot, were more in tune with her than i was.

>136 rocketjk: lol. I definitely haven’t memorized your review. And definitely not apology-worthy. Especially since your key message came to me timely!

>135 japaul22: have you read Kimmerer’s book about Gathering Moss? If you noticed nature more after Braiding Sweetgrass then the book about moss is amazing. I was predisposed to like Sweetgrass after loving her voice in Moss.
(Sorry to highjack the thread, Dan)

>139 raidergirl3: I have not, but it sounds like something I would like! Thanks for the recommendation.

>137 dchaikin: For me, she puts global problem and small fix side by side and it made the small stuff seem really small.

And this is what I loved about the book. I think it's important (in life and in nature) to see a big picture but also see the tiny things that reflect that big picture and can be easier to relate to and know. And because I did view the book as a series of essays, it didn't bother me that there wasn't a constant trajectory trying to solve anything.

Anyway, we can't all like the same books, and I'm not surprised to see varied viewpoints on this one!

>139 raidergirl3: I’m actually interested in Gathering Moss, if it’s more nature focused.

>140 japaul22: I’m grateful we have different perspectives and responses. It’s nice to get the different thoughts.

60. Richard Wright: From Black Boy to World Citizen by Jennifer Jensen Wallach
published: 2010
format: 189-page hardcover
acquired: library read: Dec 10 -13 time reading: 5:13, 1.7 mpp
rating: 3
genre/style: Biography theme: Richard Wright
locations: Mississippi, Memphis, Chicago, New York, Paris
about the author: Chair of the history department at the University of North Texas

An efficient, compressed, easy-to-read biography. (I saw a non-professional review that called it YA, which encouraged me to pick it up because that's exactly what I wanted - an easy but reliable biography. I wouldn't classify it that way, though.)

Richard Wright is the author of Native Son and Black Boy and will be a 2023 theme for me. He was an independent spirit always. He grew up in Jim Crowe Mississippi, sort of escaped and became communist in Chicago & New York, where he made connections that helped him become a writer. Depression era Communist groups actively tried to be non-racist and attracted a large African American participation. Wright wrote furiously and finally found success with Uncle Tom's Children, a collection of stories published in 1938. He later became a financially self-sufficient author. Uncomfortable with the racism in New York (and Chicago), he moved to Paris permanently as soon as it was possible after WWII. He notably never settled down. He constantly traveled, changed philosophies, had numerous affairs despite being married with two children. Also he was constantly watched by the FBI and CIA and seems to have had some serious anxiety because that. He had some strange ideas at times. Despite living in Paris and mixing with Parisian cultural life, circulating with Simone de Beauvoir and her milieu, he was distinctly American always. He never really learned French, and, when he traveled the world, saw it always through an American cultural context. This left him very uncomfortable with foreign mindsets and traditions, which he saw as backwards. His two major works, written mainly while he was living in New York, had a profound affect on American and French readers. He was a hero of James Baldwin and other expat and black writers.

The book is clean and does what it promises. Being a sort of rush through his life has at least two negative side-effects. One is that there is no time to really analyze his work or his thinking. The other is that facts outweigh the character. From the facts, we can tell Wright had some personal problems. He had a strong sense of entitlement that both gave me the strength to survive and leave the Jim Crowe south, and that also led him to become a very selfish, abandon his family, and ultimately become an isolated character. Actually he abandoned many things in his life - not just the south, but also Communism and its community, America, and many friendships and other relationships. What is lost in this book is the charm he clearly had, and the power of what he wrote and what it did to his readers. So, it left me with a touch of a bad taste, even though I know this is just an artifact of how the book is designed. That's why I left a nicely-done brief biography with only 3 stars.

I certainly still look forward to his key books. I'm a little weary of some of his later ones, especially his 700-page experiment with existentialism, The Outsider. Wright published less over his 13 years in Paris but did not stop writing. He wrote furiously. He died unexpected in 1960, (probably because of a bad medical care) leaving a lot of unpublished work. A lot of that has now been published (Wallach lists six works, including an autobiography and a collection of Haiku. Her list does not include The Man Who Lived Underground, which wasn't published until 2021.). I'm not sure how much of all these works I will try to read.

Side note: I recognized many of his childhood stories in Mississippi. So I think I must have read all or part of Black Boy in high school.

The discussion about Braiding Sweetgrass and the relevance of mosses brought to mind the book The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert. In this book the author speculates about a self-taught female scientist that had developed such a deep understanding of mosses that she independently conceived a theory of origin of the species around the same time as the actual developments by Darwin and Wallace.

All fictional, but I have often wondered how Gilbert conceived of the details. This book is one of my all-time favorites for the historical details involving botany in various stages of world history.

I've been hesitant to read Braiding Sweetgrass from the snippets I've read out of context, I got the feeling it was less science and more of a personal reflection on nature. With yours and rocketjk mixed reviews, it feels pretty safe to skim this one a bit. It is interesting to read about her discomfort with science. I think the science of it all makes nature and conservation all that more meaningful.

>143 JoeB1934: origin of species through moss? Hmm. I can imagine that working, except I don’t know anything about moss.

>144 stretch: I’m not a source of encouragement for Braiding Sweetgrass. 🙂 But note that there really isn’t much science. She has some interesting points about the strengths and weaknesses of science vs native experience and spiritual-ish ideas. She argues beauty and love of nature have no place in science and are important to seeing and understanding nature. But there are problems with this, and she doesn’t acknowledge them or explore them.

She argues beauty and love of nature have no place in science and are important to seeing and understanding nature.

WTF? this just baffles me and is a reason I wont be reading it.

>146 cindydavid4: it’s actually a wonderful question to think about. Science is supposed to be objective and dispassionate, but scientists are driven by something, some kind of passion. And beauty is a real sense, if you like. It’s very subjective, but still a real thing. So how to address it in an objective manner?

As for Kimmerer, she expresses frustration that she can not use beauty in her scientific work and that peer reviewers have no tolerance for it from her, her students or anyone else.

I should add that Kimmerer doesn’t really address these issues. She complains that the science has to exclude the subjective responses, and tries to capture some of what the science is missing.

Catching up. Appreciated your thoughts on Middlemarch. I nearly bought it yesterday when out shopping (I've never read it), but I don't think I feel mentally ready to plough into another book that length for a while.

Also enjoyed your concluding thoughts on Anniversaries. I was thinking about it the other day and whether I will opt to finish it this year (or at least start the process of finishing it). Whilst I enjoyed the previous volumes well enough, it's not crying out to me to finish it, except perhaps from some mental satisfaction of doing so. Hmmm. We'll see.

>149 AlisonY: I think Anniversaries iv is largely about the mental satisfaction of completion. I don’t think it adds that much to the overall story. I felt that there’s a lot to fill in in Gesine’s life and a lot he wants to say about his own time in East Germany, and the two aren’t as naturally aligned as in the earlier books. So reader is dragged about a bit

As for Middlemarch, it is really good regardless of my experience. 🙂

Appreciating that you took the time to catch up. Thanks Alison.