SqueakyChu is going FRUITY in 2023 - 1st Quarter

Hi Folks!

I can't believe so many years have passed, and I still find the 75ers group as fun as ever.

Here are my stats for 2023:



Total pages read this year: = 2,702
Reading rate: decreased to 42 pages/day
Books on Mount TBR: increased to 395
Ever onward...

I love gardening very much. In appreciation of our very own pawpaw tree that started fruiting well in 2022, I dedicate this thread to FRUIT! :D

JANUARY:


Photo of pawpaws by Wendell Smith - Flickr CC/A

BOOKISH EVENTS
1. Bookcrossing meetup - a Zoom pajama party on Saturday, January 21.

COMPLETED:
1. Stillness is the Key - Ryan Holiday - TIOLI #10: Read a book for the Life Balance Wheel Semi-Rolling Challenge (Spiritual/1st level tag) - 264 pages
2. Koshersoul - Michael W. Twitty - TIOLI #3: Read a book that came into your possession in 2022 - 371 pages (without the recipes part of this book)
3. Karnak Cafe - Naguib Mahfouz - TIOLI #17: Read a work of fiction by an author born in North Africa (Egypt) - 110 pages
4. Hiroshima: A New Edition with a Final Chapter Written Forty Years after - John Hersey - TIOLI #1: Read a book (F or NF) set in Tokyo, Hiroshima, Osaka, Kyoto, or Numazu (Hiroshima) - 152 pages
5. Alzheimer's Canyon - Jane Dwinell & Sky Yardley - TIOLI #18: Read a book related to ending (Alzheimer's destroys memory, thinking skills & the ability to carry out the simplest tasks) - 272 pages
6. Kasamakura - Natsume Soseki - TIOLI #16: Read a book with the three letters of "one" in the title and/or the author's name (author's name) - 152 pages
7. The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster - Richard Brautigan - TIOLI #8: Read a book with the name of a famous leader in the title or author's name (Richard/Ricahard the Lionheart, King of England) - 108 pages

FEBRUARY:


Photo of persimmons by Mary Madigan - Flickr -CC/A

BOOKISH EVENTS
1. Bookcrossing meetup in Alexandria, Virginia at La Madeleine - followed by a lovely walk to Founder's Park where we placed books on Becky's tree - Sunday, February 19

COMPLETED:
8. Leaving Tangier - Tahar Ben Jelloun - TIOLI #5: Read a book for the Alphabetical Verbs rolling challenge (leaving) - 275 pages
9. Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes - Eleanor Coerr - TIOLI #15: Read a book with a person's name on the page # matching the number of books you read last year (49/Masahiro, Sadako, Mrs. Sadako) - 80 pages
10. Marie Kondo's Kurashi at Home - Marie Kondo - TIOLI #13: Read a book with at least two one-syllable words in the title (at, home) - 223 pages
11. Bugaku: Treasures from the Kasuga Shrine - Kasuga Shrine - TIOLI #10: Read a book with something you'd find on Old MacDonald's Farm in the title or author's name (bug) - 90 pages
12. Autobiography of a Face - Lucy Greally - TIOLI #1: Read a book with a body part in the title (face) - 223 pages
13. Bubble Burst: The Truth About the Dairy Farm - Rachelle Kaufman - TIOLI #12: Read a book where the first two words in the title begin with the same letter - 136 pages

MARCH:


Photo of apples by David J, Flickr-CC/A

BOOKISH EVENTS
1. Bookcrossing meetup in Virginia - Venue TBD

COMPLETED:
14. Happy for You - Claire Stanford - TIOLI #1: Read a book with the word "happy", its synonym, or its antonym in the title - 246 pages

Wishing you a comfortable reading year in 2023, Madeline!

>3 SqueakyChu: Your February reminds me that Hani used to crave persimmons when pregnant with Yasmyne. When she informed me one Saturday morning 26 years ago that if I didn't return from my mornings work with a bag of persimmons I needn't bother returning. On reaching the office I asked my Singaporean colleague curiously "what the hell are persimmons?"

>5 PaulCranswick: Haha! That reminds me of another story. When I used to babysit for my grandson when he was really little, I used to buy satsumas (a citrus fruit) at the grocery store. He loved them because they were sweet and easy to peel. He asked his mother to buy satsumas. She told him she'd buy them if she only knew what they were!

>6 SqueakyChu: I love satsumas! Also known locally here as honey mandarins or seedless mandarins. They are actually the male fruit that originated from the Satsuma region of Japan. There are basically two types : Kishu (maternal with seeds) and Unshiu (paternal and seedless). Originally the latter were shunned because it was thought that unshiu fruit caused infertility until around the turn of the last century 125 years when this nonsense was disproven.
Thereafter for its thickish and easy to peel seedless sweetness the male variant of Satsuma became highly prized.

>7 PaulCranswick: I’ll have to check whether ours are male or female. Interesting!

Welcome back for another one, Madeline!

Scrumptious thread! Hoping the reading is as delicious.

>9 drneutron: >10 Helenliz: Thanks, Jim and Helen. Happy Holidays!

Happy new thread, Madeline.

>12 jessibud2: Thanks, Shelley. Stay warm and cozy. Bookgirrl has been keeping me abreast of the poor weather conditions in Ontario!!

Yes, it was quite a storm we had yesterday. Not a lot in accumulation, when all is said and done, but the winds were fierce and though there is no precip today at all, it is still really windy and bitterly cold. I am not leaving my house! Did you get the storm, too?

>14 jessibud2: Fortunately we did not get the precipitation storm. We got cold weather and wind. Temperatures here dropped to 4 degrees Fahrenheit overnight. Two friends lost electricity. Barbara was one. She is not getting it back until tonight so she is coming to stay with us overnight. Another friend whose husband was just released from the hospital in Virginia lost electricity so he and his wife had to go to a hotel as he is on continuous oxygen. I'm just grateful that it didn't snow down here. It's been a rough week. I cancelled a latke party at our house today because my younger son's family are sick. Maybe I'll do a New Year's Day brunch. I feel I need something festive.

Starred! Stay warm and I hope you get something festive soon. : )

>16 Berly: Happy New Year, Kim! I'm going to try for festivities once again on New Year's Day with a small Pot Luck Afternoon Meal here at home and a game or two. It's tough with all of these URIs (unidentified respiratory illnesses) going around!

I know. I got hit with one of them 3 or 4 weeks ago and it was brutal. Ran a fever for an entire week! Ugh. Your New Years Day sounds fun. And small. ; )

>18 Berly: It is small on purpose. My friend who’s attending thinks I should not have many people and questions if I should even be having any gathering. I’m limiting it to 12 people total although my house is tiny so that is really a crowd for an inside party. I also suggested she wear a mask if she wants or to skip the party if she wants. My husband had two of those URIs (actually the acronym for upper respiratory infections), but we had no idea from whom he contracted them as he had not been close to anyone who had been sick. Now I have to figure out what to serve and have absolutely no idea…just a mish-mash of recipes keep floating through my head!

I totally get that you are going for small on purpose and think it is a wise choice. Good luck sorting the recipes in your head! Enjoy!

>20 Berly: The recipes are narrowing down as the day comes closer! :D

Happy new year Madeline!

>2 SqueakyChu: I have to say that I quite enjoy the paw paw fruit. Easy to grow as well.

Have a great reading year!

>22 quondame: Happy New Year, Susan!

>23 figsfromthistle: Most people don't even know what pawpaws are! I'm impressed that you eat and enjoy them. I have some pulp in the freezer from our trees.I'm not sure if I'm going to use it for a quick bread (easy) or for ice cream (much tastier, but high in saturated fat!). Happy New Year!

Happy new year! Looking forward to seeing what you get up to this year. :)

Happy New Year!

<25 >26 Kristelh: Thank you, Ursula and Kristel. Wishing you both a Happy 2023.

Happy new year! As someone who was bitten by the gardening bug this past year, I do like seeing your fruit tree toppers!

>1 SqueakyChu: I hope my pawpaw trees are paying attention. Happy New Year!

Happy New Year and happy new thread Madeline!

>28 mstrust: I can’t wait til the weather warms up, and we can get back into the garden. I’m a lazy gardener, but I love having produce from our home garden since our CSA farmer has called it quits. I’m hoping this is just temporary because I miss it so much!

Have a happy New Year, Jennifer!

>29 qebo: Happy New Year, Katherine! Tell me more about your pawpaw trees. I had more fun with our one this past year than with anything else in our garden. When are you coming to visit? It’s been a really long time since we’ve seen you.

>30 humouress: Thank you…and happy New Year!

>31 SqueakyChu: There's an annual pawpaw festival in York County across the river from me, and I often buy pawpaw fruit and plant the seeds in pots. If left out over the winter, the success rate for germination is high. I give most of them away, but for several years I'd plant a couple in my yard too, and I now have a half dozen pawpaw trees in various stages. The oldest is about 6 years and has yet to produce flowers. I've read it takes 5-10 years so I'm hopeful for soon. What I really want is zebra swallowtail caterpillars, but I am at the northernmost edge of the range and I've seen exactly one zebra swallowtail butterfly in my yard though they are elsewhere in Lancaster County.

I hardly go anywhere any more! Everything closed in with COVID and after awhile it felt normal. I aspire to venture out more in 2023.

>32 qebo: Our pawpaw tree turned ten years old last year and it was the first year that the tree produced any significant amount of fruit. We were so excited! I caged all the young fruit that I could reach so critters wouldn’t get them. I have seeds overwintering in our frig to give away to friends.

Sadly we have barely any butterflies any more. This is despite having native plants. We saw only an occasional one flutter by and saw NO caterpillars of any kind last year.

On a happier note, my younger son started two beehives so has pollinators and is going to try to plant more native plants to help them as they prefer to lunch places other than his yard! Lol

Hope your 2023 is full of good books!

>34 thornton37814: Me, too! Happy New Year, Lori!

>36 Berly: Hi, Kim! A happy new year to you!

Happy New Year! I hope 2023 is good for you.

>38 BLBera: A very happy new year to you, too, Beth!

1. Stillness is the Key - Ryan Holiday


--------------------------------
TIOLI#10: Read a book for the Life Balance Wheel Semi-Rolling Challenge (Spiritual/1st level tag)
-------------------------------
I picked up this book not knowing anything about it. It looked like one of those spiritual airy-fairy self-help books, judging by its title. I started browsing through it, and it looked sort of interesting. I decided to read it and was most pleasantly surprised by a nice personal stillness guide book. In this age of anxiety (and I suffered a lot during the pandemic and associated political upheaval in the past few years), I found this to be a helpful book indeed. It centers on personal calm, how to be grounded, and gives practical advice how to achieve this.

I think that if one would read this book again from time to time, a different chapter would stand out with each reread. At the particular time I was reading this book, the chapter about anger made the most sense to me and gave me the best advice.

I like that the author used multiple credible sources of information from olden times to present day to supply the reader with facts and quotes. His writing was done so well and was so inspiring that I would seek out other works by him in the future.

Rating - 4.5 stars

Anger is counterproductive. The flash of rage here, an outburst at the incompetence around us there—this may generate a moment of raw motivation or even a feeling of relief, but we rarely tally up the frustration they cause down the road. Even if we apologize or the good we do outweighs the harm, damage remains—and consequences follow. The person we yelled at is more an enemy. The drawer we broke in a fit is now a constant annoyance. The high blood pressure, the overworked heart, inching us closer to the attack that will put us in the hospital or in the grave.

>40 SqueakyChu: - This sounds like the thing I need lately. Thanks for the review, Madeline. I am going to see if my library has it.

>40 SqueakyChu: What a great book to start off the year. Thanks for posting. Adding it to my WL.

>41 jessibud2: I have so much to say to you, Shelley, that I sent you a long email instead of replying here. :D

>42 Berly: It was a good one. I hope you find it as useful as I did, Kim.

2. Koshersoul - Michael W. Twitty


-----------------------------------
TIOLI #3: Read a book that came into your possession in 2022
------------------------------------
I found this book fascinating in its discussion of the intersection of Black and Jewish cultures. As the author notes, Blacks are a minority of the Jewish population, but my knowledge of them has been taken from different circumstances. I especially loved that the author had once lived near where I live now in Montgomery County, Maryland, so I recognized names of people I knew in the dedication of this book! That gave him so much credibility in my view in addition to his vast knowledge of Judaism which he shared both in his writing and in being a Hebrew school teacher.

I liked hearing about the Black-Jewish relationship from this Black author rather than from the Jewish point of view, with which I am familiar.

The chapter about radio personality Marc Steiner’s reminiscences of growing up in Jewish-Black 1950s Baltimore as segregation was trying to end held a special fascination for me because that was my hometown at that time. His descriptions of that place at that time were spot on.

The chapter called “Katie - ‘I Feel Like Me’” made me cry. It was about a Hebrew school student of the author’s who finally felt like her true self when presenting a school project about Jews of Japan. She herself was the daughter of a Jewish Japanese American mom and an Ashkenazi Jewish dad. After making her presentation, she told her teacher, the author of this book, “I feel like me...the whole me.”

One thing that especially touched me deeply is that Twitty writes with such love for Judaism. As a born Jew, I never want to take my religion for granted, but as the author was a convert, my respect for him deepens as that which is so meaningful to me is just as meaningful to him.

The one thing in this book I didn’t like was the author saying he was not a fan of shakshuka (poached eggs in a highly spiced tomato sauce). How can that be?! :)

The second half of the book about the intersection of African American and typical Jewish food had some absolutely great cooking ideas which I can’t wait to try. Using smoked turkey necks or Liquid Smoke for flavoring beans or soup sounds fabulous. I also can’t wait to try making fake crab cakes as well!

To me, this was a fabulous book and quite a special treat to read.

Rating - 5 stars

Honestly, it’s exhausting. It’s something on the other side of peace. I crave acceptance even as I worry that around the next corner is rejection. The marketplace has its consequences for those of us kippa’ed while Black, and I’m not the only one.

>44 SqueakyChu: Interesting book. Alas, I cannot consider a poached egg food. Any runnyness in the yolk is hard for me to look at and the thought of eating it, well, no.

>45 quondame: LOL! Agreed. When I make my shakshuka, I cook the eggs all the way through. I don't like my eggs runny, either. :D

>46 SqueakyChu: Now that I could dip some toast in. Well toasted pita I guess.

>47 quondame: I’ll have to find my shakshuka recipe and post it in the Kitchen thread.

Meanwhile today I made my first recipe from KosherSoul. It’s Yam Kugel. It’s supposed to be a cross between Southern sweet potato casserole and Jewish Kugel. I’ll soon post that recipe in the kitchen thread as well. I liked the yam casserole, but was surprised it tasted more like cake than a vegetable. My husband and I both ate it for dessert! :D

I have a very funny runny egg story which I don’t have time to tell you now, but I’ll post it here another time.

>47 quondame: Recipe for Yam Kugel posted in the Kitchen thread!

>49 SqueakyChu: Ah, I can eat that orange stuff but don't. Too sweet. I didn't grow up with kugel and it just seems wrong to me.

>44 SqueakyChu: That does look interesting, Madeline. A five star start to the year is one to be celebrated.

Have a lovely Sunday.

ohh, love me a poached egg with a runny yolk. Interested in a tried and tested recipe, if you have one - a quick google comes up with a massive variety, some simple some rather more complicated, and it's difficult to know where to start.

>48 SqueakyChu: It’s Yam Kugel. It’s supposed to be a cross between Southern sweet potato casserole and Jewish Kugel

!!!ok, I gotta try this!

>50 quondame: Susan, it is very sweet. It feels like eating cake. I make noodle kugel which is sweet, but that is never a dessert. I generally serve my noodle kugel to break the fast after Yom Kippur.

51. Paul, it was such a good book for so many reasons. It’s high in demand here. I had to wait two months to get it from my local public library.

>52 Helenliz: I’ll get that recipe for my Shakshuka posted soon on the kitchen thread, Helen.

3. Karnak Cafe - Naguib Mahfouz



----------------------------
TIOLI #17: Read a work of fiction by an author born in North Africa (Egypt)
-----------------------------------
AFRICA NOVEL CHALLENGE - JANUARY 2023 - NORTH AFRICA - SAHARAN SANDS - Authors from Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco
----------------------------------

This novel begins with a man casually dropping into a cafe and becoming the observer of a love obsession of a former belly dancer, now owner of the cafe, with Hilmi Hamada, a young medical student who frequents the cafe with his friends except for the times he and his group of young friends repeatedly and suddenly stop appearing. The question is what is happening to these students during their absences from the cafe? It it something political? Is it imprisonment? They say it’s a trip, but the students appear changed when they reappear after these abrupt absences.

Having previously lived in Israel, I found it interesting to learn about the Egyptian politics of that time, although I was too young at the time of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 for me to have known anything about it. I read about it now to give more context to this novel.

It seems as if, in every political situation, it’s always the college students that get it the roughest. Plainly put, they know too much. Hence they have too much power in the eyes of the governmental elite. This is such a universal fact. It was hard to read how this scenario played out in this novel.

I liked the way this story was told. It was like viewing a scene through different windows as each character described his or her experiences in dealing with friendship, political alliances and betrayal. The political discussions at the end of the book were really timeless as well as the statement by the one-time secret police interrogator.

Rating - 5 stars

Defending something that is despicable places you in the same category.

I saw your yam kugel recipe in the kitchen thread days ago, but didn't recognize Michael Twitty's name. Shame on me, because I have a copy of The Cooking Gene and have dipped into it, but haven't read it all. I also have to admit to having no knowledge of either paw paws or persimmons, beyond their names. Satsumas are basically mandarin oranges, right? My mouth is watering. Using fruits as your thread theme is a great idea.

>56 laytonwoman3rd: Linda, I’ll be very interested in reading The Cooking Gene as well as his forthcoming book which will be about LGBTQ issues. I like his style of writing. Of KosherSoul, each chapter was short enough to read in a brief sitting and so interesting!

Satsumas to me are more like tangerines with wrinkly skins. They are easy to peel as are tangerines, and their skin is loose as that of uglifruit.

Pawpaws are such fun. Here in Maryland they are a native fruit. We have one tree in our yard which I planted from seed. It took ten years to bear sufficient fruit to harvest. This was the first year, I had enough fruit to share and freeze. I use it as a substitute for bananas in a banana bread recipe and call that pawpaw bread. It has a mild banana-like flavor.

Persimmons are also native fruit to my area but I don’t often get to eat or bake with them. I don’t know where any persimmon trees are near me, and the fruit is expensive in stores. Pawpaws, on the other hand, don’t store well at all so are only harvestable directly from the trees or sold immediately after harvest at farmers markets.

>57 SqueakyChu: every time I see or hear the word paw paw, the song "the bear necessities" pops in my head. I don't mind I can listen to that song for a while

Curious tho I didn't realize it was native anywhere in the states just read a brief history of them, guess the theyve been aroud a long time in many states, but I think that there is a different one in the same famiy thats in tropical areas

>58 cindydavid4: The ear worm that pawpaws trigger for me is the song Pawpaw Patch which I sang as a kid! Later I’ll post the link.

I’m just familiar with the pawpaws that are native to the southwestern USA.

>58 cindydavid4: Sing along with this song... :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsZ6RS67oAY

Belated happy reading in 2023, Madeline!

>61 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita. The best to you and your family in 2023!

>44 SqueakyChu: I don't like shakshuka because I don't like cooked tomatoes - something about texture and taste just puts me off. So when I recently (last year) discovered a recipe for green shakshuka I added a new dish to my repertoire - I've made it half a dozen times. Very tasty and not difficult, and it really works for me.

The recipe I actually use (as a base) is from the NYT and behind a paywall. This one is...not exactly the same, but the same idea (and I'm going to use parts of it!)
https://www.eatingbirdfood.com/green-shakshuka/

The NYT one uses chard as the sole base - I've made it with chard, kale, and spinach at different times. The one I linked to uses zucchini as well, which sounds really good. And various herbs can be added, for more greens and more flavor, and...Like red shakshuka, there are a thousand variations depending on what you have and what you like.

>63 jjmcgaffey: That sounds interesting - green shakshuka without tomatoes? I can't even imagine it! Let me go ook at that recipe link.

I looked at the recipe which seems tasty enough, but to me that isn't shakshuka. I remember my original version of shakshuka was a dish that colleagues at a hospital in Beer Sheva where I worked made at break each morning. It was zucchini, tomatoes, onions, garlic, salt, pepper, all fried up in olive oil, and then the eggs were poached on top of that. The recipe I use now has a thick spicy tomato sauce that is topped with feta cheese. That is my go-to recipe.

4. Hiroshima: A New Edition with a Final Chapter Written Forty Years after - John Hersey


------------------------------
TIOLI #1: Read a book (F or NF) set in Tokyo, Hiroshima, Osaka, Kyoto, or Numazu (Hiroshima)
----------------------------
This is not a pleasure read due to its tragic story and dense writing, but a necessary read. It tells the stories of six individuals who survived the dropping of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima by an American bomber during World War II. There are no political statements in this book. It consists only of individual stories from the first impact of the bomb on them and others in Hiroshima through the later years of these individuals. These stories will leave a lasting impression on me and a sincere hope that there will never again be a need for such a devastating tragedy to happen.

Rating - 4 stars

And when Father Kleinsorge gave water to some whose faces has been almost blotted out by flash burns, they took their share and then raised themselves a little and bowed to him, in thanks.

>65 SqueakyChu: I read that one a long time ago and perhaps should revisit it together with the new chapter. I am sure that it is as important today (with Russia and the Ukraine at war) than ever before.

>66 PaulCranswick: Truthfully, I have no desire to reread that book again. It was so dense. The new chapter was interesting, though, because it basically followed what happened to each of the six individuals for most or the rest of their lives.

5. Alzheimer's Canyon - Jane Dwinell & Sky Yardley


-----------------------------------------
TIOLI #18: Read a book related to ending (Alzheimer's destroys memory, thinking skills & the ability to carry out the simplest tasks)
------------------------------------------

I found this a very bleak read, although a valuable one. In hearing the diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease, I guess I never paid attention to the fact that this is a fatal affliction as well as a bodily and mental deterioration. In this book, co-authored by Sky Yardley, the patient, and Jane Dwinell, his wife and caregiver, the reader is provided with the journals of both on their journey through this unknown territory. It is an honest and brave retelling of the difficult way in which their loving, long-term relationship was slowly taken apart by Sky's dementia.

The beginning of the book was marked with Sky's special brand of humor and was very funny. I didn't particularly care for the small chapters of the fictitious decent into Alzheimer's Canyon that he wrote because I wasn't understanding it toward the end. I was brought to tears, however, by the journal entries marking Jane's deep sadness over losing the person she loved so much in just a few years.

Rating - 4 stars

There are so many books about caring for your loved one with dementia, but they really are no help. You’ve simply got to figure out your own situation as you go along.

>68 SqueakyChu: Books about Alzheimer's are never fun. I am sure it was a good book, but I can't read about it right now. We are in the middle of moving my Mom to a memory care unit because it is just too much for my Dad to handle. His health is being compromised and he finally sees that is it the right thing to do. My bother is going down to help with the transition and I may go down a little later. It is hard.

>69 Berly: I am so sorry that your family is experiencing this now, Kim, as are the families of a few of my friends. I'm that age, I guess. May you be granted strength to travel this road together with your family supporting each other. It sounds heartbreaking.

>70 SqueakyChu: what she said. So sorry this is happening, but it sounds like there is support in the family for you to lean on

Oh, Kim...been there with my Mom and an uncle I had responsibility for. It's tough and I send you and your family all my support and good wishes .

>55 SqueakyChu: Oo, a Mahfouz book with which I am unfamiliar! I am going to have to locate a copy of that one.

>65 SqueakyChu: I have already read that one (a re-read this month, as a matter of fact), so I get to dodge that BB.

Not sure how I have missed your thread until now, Madeline, but a belated "Happy New Year" from me!

>73 alcottacre: Thank you so much, Stasia, I hope 2023 is kind to you.

>68 SqueakyChu: that sounds like a tough, if worthwhile, read. But maybe not for me.

>75 Helenliz: That was a kind of a tough read, but I'm glad to have read it. Thankfully no one in my immediate family is suffering from dementia presently (that I know of). However, the book gives good insight into the affliction in order to treat individuals with Alzeimer's Disease with understanding and compassion.

6. Kasamakura - Natsume Soseki



-------------------------------------------------
TIOLI #16: Read a book with the three letters of "one" in the title and/or the author's name (author's name)
------------------------------------------------
This is an interesting book. As I was reading it, I wasn't sure if I was enjoying it or not. It's the story of a young Japanese artist who is in search of serenity and an emotional state from which he could paint a picture. He travels to an inn on a mountainside to paint as well as write poetry. He meets a few people, but he is mostly trying to avoid becoming entangled with anyone else. His encounters with others have to do with them ensnaring him into their lives rather than vice versa.

The flow of this book is so gentle that the presence of people when they do come by is startling. However, this book without interactions from others would have been disturbing to me. The few people with whom our artist interacted showed what a deep contrast there was in the way he lived his life and others did.

Rating - 4 stars

In the realm of human feelings, a beautiful action is one of truth, justice, and righteousness; and to express truth, justice, and righteousness through one’s behavior is to align oneself with the pattern of behavior deemed proper for civic life.

7. The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster - Richard Brautigan


------------------------------------
TIOLI #8: Read a book with the name of a famous leader in the title or author's name (Richard/Ricahard the Lionheart, King of England)
------------------------------------
I just read this book on a whim because a copy of it came into my Little Free Library. I have another copy of this book I've saved since December, 1970. I remembered one poem, "It's Raining in Love", which I've always liked very much. I had been such a big Richard Brautigan fan "back in the day", but I haven't read any of his work for quite a long time. In this book, some of the poems I didn't care for, some were absurd, and some were so funny they made me laugh out loud. I think I'll save my original copy of this book for another fifty years! :D

Here are the poems I liked best, but you have to get the book yourself in order to read them:

Love Poem (true)
"Star-Spangled" Nails (sad)
Haiku Ambulance (weird)
I Feel Horrible. She Doesn't (made me laugh)
It's Raining in Love (so sweet)
November 3 (funny)
Your Catfish Friend (nice)

Rating - 4 stars

It's not quite cold enough
to go borrow some firewood
from the neighbors.

>78 SqueakyChu: I think I'll save my original copy of this book for another fifty years!

Ha! I hope we will be able to sit together and read it together after the passage of that time - I will be a mere stripling of 106!

>79 PaulCranswick: And I’ll be a youngster of 125! It’s not even that great of a book. It’s just that saving books by Richard Brautigan was a “thing” for me back in the 1970s (those were great years as it was fun to be young and free), and I’ve kept all of them. Brautigan’s books were all skinny paperbacks and therefore easy to collect (like stamps! LOL!).

>80 SqueakyChu: As a survivor of the 60s Richard Brautigan's titles are familiar, but I've no memory of reading one.

>81 quondame: I love reliving the 60s so I'm still fond of picking up a Brautigan book every now and then. :D

In Watermelon sugar is one I’ve read and I have Willard and His Bowling Trophies on the TBR shelf.

>83 Kristelh: Willard and His Bowling Trophies is such a funny book. I read it back in 2007. Enjoy it!

>56 laytonwoman3rd: Pawpaw aka papaya:



and persimmons (which I wasn't completely sure about, I'll admit):



But now I need to know what 'watermelon sugar' is (apart from the song, which is all that seems to come up).

>85 humouress: A pawpaw is not a papaya. You pictured a papaya. A pawpaw is a completely different fruit.

In Watermelon Sugar is a book by Richard Brautigan. I read it so long ago that I don’t remember it much at all. I don’t remember any special meaning of watermelon sugar from the book, although in looking up the phrase, the more recent song gave it a sexual meaning.

>85 humouress: & >86 SqueakyChu: ' Papaya has orange to red flesh and is narrower than pawpaw (papaw). Pawpaw flesh is yellow and they are generally larger than papaya. Both are ready to eat when the skin is yellow and slightly soft to touch.'
www.taste.com.au

To be fair to Nina, Madeline, the two names tend to be used interchangeably in South East Asia when it is almost always papaya we have available.

>87 PaulCranswick: Here they are very different. The papaya looks like the fruit pictured. I tried one once, but I didn’t like it. Pawpaws are much smaller than papayas and are shaped differently (kind of like kidney bean shape). Our pawpaws have green skin when ripe and are slightly soft to the touch. The pulp is yellowish and has larger seeds spaced apart from each other within the fruit. It has sort of a banana flavor. They are native to where I live in the U.S.

Take a look at my profile picture. Those are the pawpaws I harvested from our tree this past summer. I’m so proud of our tree! I planted it myself, and it took ten years to bear fruit. I bake with it by putting it in quick bread instead of banana.

>87 PaulCranswick: >88 SqueakyChu: What Paul said; at home we call them pawpaw (one of the fruits my dad loves) but I've seen them called papaya elsewhere. Maybe we've been using the wrong name. The flavour of ... er ... papayas can be hit or miss; sometimes they're just okay but if you get a nice one, they're juicy and sweet - something like rock melon but softer texture.

Ten years! That's patience. Good on yer!

Like sweet potatoes and yams - there is a difference, but the names are used interchangeably in the US.

>85 humouress: Yep, that's a papaya. I knew about those. I'm with the crowd that considers pawpaws a completely different fruit. I grew up calling sweet potatoes "yams", but have since learned that those are a specific and different veg as well. Still see sweet potatoes marketed as yams here in the great Northeast.

8. Leaving Tangier - Tahar Ben Jelloun



-----------------------------------------------------------
TIOLI #5: Read a book for the Alphabetical Verbs rolling challenge (leaving)
AFRICA NOVEL CHALLENGE - JANUARY 2023 - NORTH AFRICA - SAHARAN SANDS - Authors from Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco
-----------------------------------------------------------
I didn't care for this story that much. It had such disagreeable characters, each one having his or her own chapter relating that person's story. I personally do not like this way of storytelling.

The general story was about Moroccans, specifically two siblings from Tangiers, who were determined to leave Morocco and make their lives better in Spain. The main character Azel graduated as a lawyer in Morocco but could find no work there; his sister Kenza had a dream of going to Spain, finding love, and then coming back home to Tangiers ready to have children with a husband she loves. Life in Spain did not turn out well for either of them nor for Miguel, a wealthy Spanish citizen. He promised to set up Azel for a life of luxury in Spain, although his ulterior motive was to use Azel as a servant and later as a lover.

I was glad the story ended when it did. I was exhausted from the misery of it all. I was also exhausted from all of the various characters and everything that they did to make their own lives as miserable as possible.

The writing was not the problem; the depressing story was, though. I might try another book by this author in the future, but I will need a story of Moroccans in their own country as their immigrant experience in Spain was a bit too much for me.

Rating - 3 stars

You never forget where you come from, you carry that with you wherever you go: you can’t cut your own roots that easily.

>93 SqueakyChu: Nice and fair review, Madeline. He is no barrel of laughs Ben Jelloun that is for sure.

>94 PaulCranswick: This Blinding Absence of Light seems to be a book also by Tahar Ben Jelloun that people thought much better of...although the subject is also a difficult one ("desert concentration camps in which King Hassan II of Morocco held his political enemies under the most harrowing conditions"). I'd give that book a chance if I could get hold of it.

>95 SqueakyChu: I have read that one, Madeline and it is as important a book as it is unremitting.

>96 PaulCranswick: My public library does not have that book, but when I have a chance, I might see if I can get it through interlibrary loan. In the meantime, I'm adding it to my wishlist. Thanks for the recommendation, Paul.

My two cents on the paw paw: I was listening to a Mobituaries episode a few days ago that was about the commercial loss of the Gros Michel banana. This more flavorful variety was hit by a disease and replaced in stores with the Cavendish, the blander banana we still buy in the grocery stores. Anyway, he talked about the paw paw, described as growing throughout the American South and tasting like a cross between a banana and a mango. It doesn't travel well, which is why it isn't throughout the country, and it's messy to eat. I've never had one even though my family is Southern, but it intrigues me to no end. I can tell you, just from how much the paw paw is popping up in gardening lit, they're growing in popularity.

>98 mstrust: They definitely are growing in popularity. I’ve been following a few pawpaw trees during my walks in a neighborhood park. None of the pawpaw trees which bear fruit have any fruit left after they start ripening! Animals or people? I don’t know.

Our area has a pawpaw festival every year. The fruit, the seeds, and the trees are expensive.

I hand pulp the fruit from our tree and use it to make pawpaw bread - similar to banana bread, but with a milder taste. My younger son just loves to cut it in half, and eat it with a spoon, spotting out the seeds. I hand remove the seeds when hand pulping it. While the fruit is growing on the tree, I cage the fruit I can reach to keep animals from getting to it.

>98 mstrust: It doesn't travel well
Yeah, that's the problem with commercialization. I've seen them in the local farmers market, but not in the grocery store.
>99 SqueakyChu: Our area has a pawpaw festival every year.
York Co PA, which is just across the river from me, has an annual pawpaw festival in late September. As it borders MD, we may be getting some of the same growers.

>100 qebo: I've gone to the festivals, but the best thing about pawpaws is having my own tree. It was the most exciting thing in my garden last year...and we had lots of fun things to watch, but I visited that tree every day until harvest. :D Now I'll be watching for the first flowers to appear.

>101 SqueakyChu: I'm waiting semi-patiently for the year my pawpaw trees ever produce flowers, let alone fruit.

>102 qebo: It took mine 9 years for the first flowers, and ten years for fruit that stayed on the tree through harvesting. The year we first noticed the flowers, we tried to hand pollinate it from another tree we found in the park near us. That failed. The next year we did nothing...and it produced fruit! It needs another tree (not a clone) nearby for fertilization to take place. We never even knew there were other pawpaw trees in our neighborhood. The seeds for our tree came from a wild fruit harvested by my younger son in Virginia.

>103 SqueakyChu: Yeah, I know about needing a genetically distinct tree nearby. I have a half dozen or so in my yard, all planted from seed. The oldest two are 7 years IIRC, and they have begun looking treeish so I'm hopeful. Several other people in my neighborhood have planted pawpaws but I'm not aware of any older than mine.

>104 qebo: I'm going to root for your trees. Let me know if you get any flower buds this spring!

I actually have paw paw trees on my property. A friend of my parents brought fruit and I tried it. It really tastes like a banana and mango. I saved some seeds and planted them and they grew quite well with little effort/care needed. It is not too picky about the soil its in which works for me as I have heavy clay. Also produces a good amount of fruit but does not taste good after a two days off the tree.

Anyhow happy ( almost) mid week!

>106 figsfromthistle: You can freeze the pulp and use it at a later date!

>104 qebo: I have more accurate information now. I just found an actual picture of my pawpaw seedling when it first sprouted (dated 2014). I planted the seeds in 2012. The first flowers appeared before the pandemic so that must have been in 2019. The first fruits, just a few of them, not hand pollinated, grew in 2020. Last year (2021), we had a nice harvest. So it was actually EIGHT years from sprouting until a good harvest. This might be the year for your tree to flower!!

Planted in 2012, I would guess? Or that's a really long germination time!

>108 SqueakyChu: & >109 jjmcgaffey: Trees do very little very quickly.

Trees help provide the very lungs for our existence.

>109 jjmcgaffey: It didn't sprout when I expected it to (2013). Then, suddenly the following year (2014), there it was!

>110 PaulCranswick: I'm proud to be a tree hugger. Yesterday was the Jewish holiday of Tu B'Shvat, the Holiday of the Trees. As a kid, in our Hebrew school class, we used to eat fruits that are native to Israel (figs, dates, carob) to celebrate. I wasn't sure what to do now because it's not a widely known holiday, but I decided to tie a red ribbon around the trunk of my pawpaw tree to celebrate my appreciation of it. :D

>111 SqueakyChu: That is a nice story, Madeline and a tradition that should be remembered and continued.

I don't really have anything similar other than I grew up in a house surrounded by larch, blossom and laburnum trees. Always remembered how I got plenty of fun climbing them (the larches anyway) and did my bit for the environment by making investments based on redeveloping deciduous forestry. Aids the planet and my pocket at the same time.

>109 jjmcgaffey: Haha! Corrected the date from 2002 to 2012.

>112 PaulCranswick: There is a mention of the larch tree in a Dunnett book set in 1548 Scotland which I remembered when I later read that a duke of Atholl imported them to Scotland in the 1700s, or actually the first account was that it was a Douglass responsible, but the current online sources say Atholl, which is the Murrays.

>104 qebo: Go look at your pawpaw tree now! I can see flowerbuds on mine. They look like little furry brown balls. See if your trees have any of those!

Here's a picture of the difference between the leaf buds and the flower buds.
https://acorn.mortonarb.org/Detail/objects/65482

>115 SqueakyChu: Oh, something specific to look for! Thanks. It's dark now, but maybe I'll remember tomorrow.

>116 qebo:. Yay! Keep us posted! My younger son checked his trees today…no flower buds. :(

>107 SqueakyChu: I never thought about that. Good idea. I wonder how it would taste canned.

>118 figsfromthistle: I read that pawpaw fruit doesn’t do as well with heat so the pulp should be frozen rather than canned. They suggest making pawpaw ice cream over baking pawpaw bread, but I do the latter to avoid the saturated fat in ice cream (although I’ll have to have to give pawpaw ice cream a try one of these days!)

These are the pawpaw flower buds on our pawpaw tree. Small, fuzzy...I'm so excited! :D

>115 SqueakyChu: >120 SqueakyChu: Yes!!! My pawpaws are at the far end of the yard near the alley where I rarely venture this time of year, but I just walked down there to look. My phone camera does a poor job of magnification but the two oldest pawpaws have plausible shapes so I retrieved a hand lens from the house, and they are indeed roundish and fuzzy. Only on the longer branches of the two oldest pawpaws. The next two in age are I believe a year younger and do not have flower buds. This is very exciting!

>98 mstrust: It doesn't travel well

>99 SqueakyChu: I’ve been following a few pawpaw trees during my walks

... so they don't walk fast enough? ;0)

>105 SqueakyChu: I'm going to root for your trees Punny :0)

>122 humouress: "so they don't walk fast enough? " Oh, we need to compare our DNA...I'm sure we must share funny-bone genes.

>121 qebo: I am so excited for you! I'm going to warn you that the first year of flowers for us produced no fruit. The second year of flowers we got few fruit. It was this past year, the third year, that we had enough fruit to share and freeze (although I was stingy in sharing it). Keep us posted as to their progress.

>122 humouress: LOL! Thanks for the laughs.

9. Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes - Eleanor Coerr


---------------------------------
TIOLI #15: Read a book with a person's name on the page # matching the number of books you read last year (49/Masahiro, Sadako, Mrs. Sasaki)
---------------------------------
This is the story of eleven-year-old Sadoko, a Japanese girl who had been exposed to the atomic bomb dropped on the city of Hiroshima, the city in which she lived when she was a young child. She survived that catastrophe but later went on to develop leukemia after having been exposed to the radiation of the bomb. The story starts with Sadoko being a healthy child who especially loved racing. As she became sick, the story told about her hospitalization and her realization that her disease was both painful and lethal. She tried to fight her disease by being optimistic and creating paper cranes with the hope that, if she were to make one thousand paper cranes, her wish to live would come true. That is not what happened.

Sadako's story is deeply emotional and beautifully told. It's a plea for friendship and peace. It ends with a telling of how this book came to be written as well as giving detailed instructions with diagrams for how to make a paper crane.

Rating - 5 stars

Before she went to sleep, Sadako managed to fold only one paper crane.
Six hundred and forty-four...
It was the last one she ever made.

10. Marie Kondo's Kurashi at Home - Marie Kondo



-----------------------------------------------------
TIOLI #13: Read a book with at least two one-syllable words in the title (at, home)
--------------------------------------------------------

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Marie Kondo’s book, but I see that she and I are worlds apart in many of our ideas. My house will never be as clean and uncluttered as hers, nor would I feel comfortable living in such a sparse environment.

At the beginning of this book, Marie Kondo says to state the last day of tidying. I cannot do that. I will have to take it in small pieces and make the last day of tidying the last day of my life. That’s okay. To me tidying is a process toward a goal. If I never get there, I will have made improvements along the way.

Married family life with children has suited the author well. She has a picture in this book where she is sitting with her husband and daughter and is smiling with a true “spark of joy”. It‘s a sweet picture.

Marie Kondo would probably not like to see the room in which my grandchildren play, but she would delight in my three bedside drawers for storing small toys: the animal drawer, the transportation drawer, and the people drawer! :D

I am fascinated by Marie Kondo’s obsessive qualities (not to disparage them as we all have some of these). In photos of her closets, all of the hangers are situated equal distances apart!

Two different quotes (admittedly taken from different sections of this book) cracked me up when I copied both of them together:
“Are you feeling overwhelmed by tidying?”
“Since I began living in America, I’ve been hiring professional cleaners as well.”

I strongly disagree with one thing that Marie Kondo wrote: “I wanted to do something different to celebrate the special occasion of her marriage and decided to give her something handmade, which is number one on the list of unwelcome gifts”. To the contrary, for me handmade items are among my most treasured gifts.

I enjoyed reading Marie Kondo’s new book although her methods would definitely not work for me, a person whose house is not clutter free and doesn’t “shine”. Everything in the house pictured in this book is so white and clean! Some of her ideas, especially those taken from her native Japanese culture, are interesting to me. In conclusion, any book which inspires me to declutter and tidy my home...even a bit more...is a good one.

Rating - 4 stars

Be attuned to your sense of joy at every moment of your life, and rejoice in each day you spend with those you love.

>126 SqueakyChu: Even Marie Kondo has decided messy is OK...You may hit a paywall.

>127 laytonwoman3rd: No paywall hit as I'm a subscriber to The Washington Post. Thank you for sharing the article.

It's interesting that Marie Kondo had three kids of her own before she gave up ultimate tidying. I, too, have three kids. Mine are grown now and live elsewhere, yet I'm STILL trying to foist off on them those items of THEIRS that somehow remained in my house! :D

I also like the idea that tidying can be a mental state as well. We all need to take the time to decrease our anxieties. Tidying does not always calm people as it does for her. She addresses that in this book.

"I'm STILL trying to foist off on them those items of THEIRS that somehow remained in my house!" Oh, TELL me about it. Of course, I only have one child, but she never got rid of anything, moved a mere fraction of it all with her, and then her grandmothers started assigning family heirlooms to her, which all ended up in my attic as well.

>128 SqueakyChu: Cleaning is certainly a disorder. Hani cannot stand things to be untidy at home; she abhors clutter and disorder and made the somewhat foolish error in marrying the Count of Clutter / Duke of Disorder. I have less than a fortnight to place my books nicely on the shelves and convert our bedroom from a reading den to a place of harmony and rest! She returns to these shores on 24 February and I am going to get into bother.

>129 laytonwoman3rd: We’ll work on this “foisting off” thing together then, Linda! LOL! I’m one of those guilty grandmoms who is also trying to pass off some things directly to my grandkids (sometimes in full view of my younger son and his wife). :)

>130 PaulCranswick: Good luck with your tidying, Paul. Umm…isn’t that going to take up quite a bit of your reading time?! :D

>131 SqueakyChu: Probably not, Madeline, because it will be done so half heartedly. She knows me too well after all these years and my philosophy of "How can I love books and not be surrounded by them?"

11. Bugaku: Treasures from the Kasuga Shrine - Kasuga Shrine



----------------------------------
TIOLI #10: Read a book with something you'd find on Old MacDonald's Farm in the title or author's name (bug)
----------------------------------
I wanted to read this book because my older son just returned from a trip to Japan in which he visited several shrines. I was interested in seeing the costumes, masks, and musical instruments used by dancers in their traditional dances. The colorful, large photographs in this book are gorgeous! My favorite costume was one covered in emboidered mice! The masks were so interesting as were the unusual musical instruments. I think it would be delightful to actually see a live performance of the traditional dances. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the pictures in this book.

Rating - 4 stars

The shrines of Japan are like warps in time. The Kasuga Shrine, preserves into the 20th century ancient performing arts and votive offerings which were bestowed for the well-being and happiness of the gods.

>126 SqueakyChu: Thanks for the review!

>128 SqueakyChu: Heh. Opposite situation for me. When I moved away to college, I brought back a giant suitcase of stuff from every holiday at home (mostly books). Plus, my mom started shipping my stuff to me. She moved into a smaller apartment too, so I no longer even had my own room when visiting home. A few decades later, she handed off the last bits of childhood she'd been keeping--all of my report cards, kindergarten art, and the like.

Kinda funny to think about because she has some hoarder tendencies (in terms of always acquiring more stuff). My brother jokes--in an unfunny way :(--that when she dies, he's going to rent a dumpster and just starting emptying her house into it. So maybe she decided to clear out all the kids' stuff to have more room for her stuff? Who knows?

>134 justchris: Report cards?! Those are MY property! LOL!! I still have them and plan to keep them. When my kids were little, I made a box for each one in our closet. I put their most important papers and drawings there. As the boxes got too full, I threw away the less cherished things, but kept the most cherished items. Each box is about the size of a small drawer. It's the rest of their stuff that has to go. :)

Talk about keeping cherished things. Yesterday, the plastic pull tab on my teapot finally broke off and could not be repaired. This had been a teapot that belonged to my died who died in 1975. I think that 48 years of use from me was not too shabby! Now I'm going to get one from my oldest son who inherited from the mom of one of my best friends when her mom passed at age 90. I'll still have a cherished teapot...just from someone else I knew and loved. :D

Actually I would rather give my extra stuff away now to people who want it rather than risk it all being dumped at my death. When someone dies, there is really no time to go through junk that has been hoarded over a lifetime.

I have thought seriously about giving things away now, problem is that is a sign of potential suicide and I don't want to get anyone freaked out. But I have stuff from my mom that Im sure should stay in the famiy, and want to send them to some cousins who have kids. I have books and jewelery and such that I know some friends would love. If Im not using them Its something Id get the ok on before I send something but Im wanting to do it.

Did this with all my school stuff when I retired; I had my collegues come by to see what I had and they took what they wanted; everything went to good homes, or classrooms.

oh by the way, if you have too many masterpieces from your kids, take pictures of them easier to store photos then deal with keeping years worth of precious art work

>136 cindydavid4: I don’t feel bad about giving away stuff if I know that the recipient is going to either use it or cherish it. Last year, I gave my younger son (the only one with children) my oldest family picture album so he could copy it. He never did, but he would get that album eventually anyway…plus I can see in my mind every picture in it.

I had an interesting thing happen with my nursing stuff. Rather than be able to retire, my job was suddenly without any advance notice taken away from me, and I was simply told to go home one day. This was after nearly forty years with the same home health agency. I was so upset, I threw everything nursing related in the trash. I severed all connections with work employees except for one former boss I adored (who died suddenly and inexplicably a couple years ago). Somewhere I think I still have a thank you note from one of my earliest bosses, but that’s it. I miss nothing about that agency or my stuff. On the other hand, I am still very close to those who are important to me - my nursing school classmates. We’re all about our mid seventies and we’re fortunate to have had a 50 year reunion back in 2018. We’re still very close and keep in frequent touch. They only take up room in my heart!

I don’t have too many kids’ masterpieces. Photos are not the same as the real thing. Fortunately, I now have a granddaughter and grandson who are creating new art pieces for me every week. Those are easy to store (or hang up) because they’re flat. Plus I cherish those.

>137 SqueakyChu: Oh Im so sorry; I am familiar with the pain; our program that was very popular and successful was being dismantled so our new special ed director could put in her special project. It upturned the lives of the staff the kids and the parents. Lots of stuff went to one of the schools my students would go to,the rest came home with me. Took me a year just to start thinking about giving stuff away, now Im glad I did. I have pics and videos of the kids playing with it all so its not totally gone. My colleagues who worked in the program are still incredibly close, and every year I hold a retirement party at my house so its like a reunion. Still cant totally get rid of the anger, but glad for the friendships I still have

>138 cindydavid4: My anger is mostly gone. It’s ancient history now since it happened in 2013. I bear them a grudge, but that’s it. I’ve moved on. I actually have lots of good memories of my years in nursing before the last agency for which I worked became a huge corporate entity (caring only for itself). Those earlier good memories of my nursing career I’ll keep in my heart forever.

12. Autobiography of a Face - Lucy Greally



-----------------------------------------------------------------
TIOLI #1: Read a book with a body part in the title (face)
----------------------------------------------------------------
This was a difficult book to read, but one which I found beautifully written despite the emotional and physical pain suffered by the author throughout her entire story. As a child of nine, she was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, which is a cancer that was treated with radical facial surgery. In order to prevent a recurrence of the life-threatening cancer, she had to undergo two and a half years of chemotherapy. Following that, she endured years and years of mostly disappointing plastic surgery on her jawline. She never felt that her face was sufficiently acceptable in the view of others although she was able to make friends after high school, attend college and direct her career toward writing.

This book made me want to be her friend. She always seemed so lonely and misunderstood because of her appearance. Her greatest solace during her younger years was with her companionship and work with horses. Both of the horses that she once owned met untimely ends. It all seemed so unfair.

In this book, the author mentioned a lot about flap procedures for plastic surgery. As a surgical oncology nurse back in the 1960s and 1970s, I remember patients with those flap procedures. They were horrible. Fortunately the author never had any of those that were proposed to her, but the surgical procedures which she did have (there were so many!) had terrribly disappointing results. It all seems unfair to me that a child had to suffer such a fate and continue to endure hardships as what this author faced year after year. She was a very brave person for telling her own story with such eloquence.

Rating - 4.5 stars

Everybody from my mother to the characters I read about in books (who were as actual and important as real people to me), was always looking at someone else’s life and envying it, wishing to occupy it. I wanted them to stop, to see how much they had already, how they had their health and their strength. I imagined how my life would be if I had half their fortune.

>135 SqueakyChu: Report cards?! Those are MY property! LOL!! I still have them and plan to keep them. . Oh dear. Like my mother. She had kept all my school reports and any number of my school books and all sorts of stuff. When I cleared the house I kept having the silent conversation "I understand why you kept it; you have to understand why I'm throwing it away". I read them, then dumped them.
Keeping stuff for nostalgic reasons is difficult. For everything I thought about keeping I made myself answer 2 questions, at least one of which required a yes. Will I use it, where will I put it. If I couldn't say yes to one of those, it went. Only mild regret is the Rocking Horse, which we left in the loft. I have absolutely no idea how Dad got it up there, it seemed to be larger than the loft hatch! And I really have nowhere to put it.

>140 SqueakyChu: - I was also very moved by this book. But it holds a special place for me for different reasons. The very first meetup I ever went to for bookcrossing was held in a bookstore, of all places. There were quite a few people and a large square table in front of us, which people covered with books. I had no idea people brought books to share at meetups. I was encouraged to take a book (or more). I felt very guilty, not having brought any of my own. In the end, I took just one: this one.

And the rest, as they say, is history... ;-)

>142 jessibud2: I get rid of large stuff first! LOL! I recently gave my younger son a gigantic car part I found in his former closet in my house. No, I’m not going to be doing any major car repair...myself...any time soon!

>142 jessibud2: I guess, in a way, we’re friends because of that book!

Interestingly, I discovered that book came from my friend in Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh) on our last trip to visit her which was years ago. At that time she cleared tons of old books out of her house. We were recently back in touch, and she invited part my family to visit her for a weekend this spring. That’s the fun of BookCrossing as I had no recall from where I got that book until I found it and decided to read it!

13. Bubble Burst: The Truth About the Dairy Farm - Rachelle Kaufman



------------------------------------------
TIOLI #12: Read a book where the first two words in the title begin with the same letter
------------------------------------------
This is a self-published book which was signed and left in my Little Free Library by the author. Although I realized that the book was meant for younger people, it looked like a fun read so I thought I should give it a try. It’s about Jael, a 23-year-old woman who lives in a bulletproof bubble as do all children in the country of Ekalfwons until they are 28 years old. This is done to keep perfect, genetically selected children safe. Jael learns from a stranger that she actually has two sisters whom she has never met who don’t live in bubbles!

I’m not going to comment on the spelling, punctuation or grammar as this story needs editing. I must mention that a jarring gender inconsistency occurred in this story when Jael’s nephew was once referred to as her “niece”. However, I like this story for its ideas. The truisms strike deep. I especially like the idea, and this is something which would be particularly helpful to me in times of stress, to simply calm down, lower my voice or stay quiet, and to make a plan. The story itself is a thinly veiled plea for veganism, but substituting people for animals in this story made for a more intriguing plot.

The story kept up my interest up throughout and had me rooting for those I considered the “good guys”. I appreciate that the author shared her book with me and my Little Free Library. I’m also glad I discovered it and took the time to read it.

Rating - 4 stars

Most in our society, choose to ignore the truth. The few who don’t choose to ignore the truth have been silent to (sic) long. The silence is encouraged by those with power often in the name of money. Complacency, lack of judgment, these things all cause death, even though few in our society can see this. Those who don’t stand up for the truth or try to stop the cruelty are part of the problem. They are not innocents.

>140 SqueakyChu: I read this in... 2014, yikes, and immediately afterward read Truth & Beauty by Anne Patchett who was her friend. Review here FWIW.

>145 qebo: I already put Truth and Beauty on my wishlist. I'd like to read the rest of Grealy's story through Ann Patchett's friendship with her. Maybe not right away...because it was such a depressing book when I thought about the suffering Grealy experienced as a child through young adulthood... but probably sometime in the future. Thanks for the link to your review, Katherine.

I wanted to drop by and share this compilation of Mateusz Klich goals for Leeds United.

I hope he gets as many with DC United.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QxtUWtqeLI

>147 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul, and thank you, Leeds! Klich made me his fan with his first goal of the season in our very first game! DC United beat Toronto FC with two extra time goals. I hope this is a glimpse of games to come for us.

Also: Thank you, Erik and Loons, for our new DC United goalkeeper, Tyler Miller. He’s a keeper. No pun intended, of course! :)

>148 SqueakyChu: Sigh

14. Happy for You - Claire Stanford


---------------------------------------
TIOLI #1: Read a book with the word "happy", its synonym, or its antonym in the title
--------------------------------------
In this novel, Evelyn, a mixed race (Caucasian Jewish/Japanese) young woman in San Francisco, tried to straddle the worlds of work, love, happiness and identity. She was employed as a contract researcher at the world’s third-most-popular internet company and lived with her longtime boyfriend Jamie. At times, I didn’t care for some of the decisions she made and wanted to jump into the book to make her do or say something different. I wonder how much of this character was simply the author putting her own life into the words of this book? This was fair reading, but not as immersive a reading experience as I usually like.

I could never get deep enough into this story. I think it’s because I never felt much of anything for the nebulous main character. I learned more about what she was tenuous about and not what she felt strongly about so I never had the sense that I actually knew her. Evelyn’s employer, Dr. Luce, had a more pronounced personality, but she was terribly annoying. I never felt a pull to continue reading this book in its entirety, but I did so to give the author a chance for me to read her whole story before forming an opinion about it.

Rating - 3 stars

As looked around the room, I realized my indeterminately Asian neighbor was right. We were the only two people who were not white, and since I was just half, that made the ratio something like 24 1/2 to 1 1/2 white to not-white, with me splitting down the middle but nonetheless adding an important 1/2 contribution to the minority stakes.

New thread starts here.