CBL challenges herself in 2023 - Part 1

Hi, I'm Carrie, and I've lost track of how many years I've participated in the category challenge! I'm going to make things easy on myself again this year and build my categories around the various challenges I want to participate in, both with this group and in the 75ers:

American Authors
British Authors
African Authors
Nonfiction
ClassicsCAT
GeoCAT
SeriesCAT
KiddyCAT
Group Reads
Reading Projects
Everything else

Most of my reading is done with the "help" of my furbaby Adrian. He's reached his senior years so he sleeps a lot, and his favorite spot is snuggled up close to mom, or curled up on mom's lap.

American Authors

DECEMBER 2022 - Martha Gellhorn
The Face of War (3.5) - completed 1/1/23

JANUARY - Children's classics
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh (2.5) - completed 1/12/23
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown (4) - completed 1/29/23

FEBRUARY - Richard Powers
Orfeo (4) - completed 2/15/23

MARCH - Poetry
The Complete Poems, 1927-1979 by Elizabeth Bishop (4.5) - completed 3/27/23

APRIL - Ursula Hegi
Stones from the River (4.5) - completed 5/6/23

British Authors
JANUARY - Rosemary Sutcliff
The Eagle of the Ninth (4.5) - completed 1/25/23

FEBRUARY - Short stories & novellas
The Third Man by Graham Greene (4.5) - completed 2/20/23

MARCH - Vita Sackville-West
All Passion Spent (4) - completed 3/13/23

JUNE - Time travel & alternate history
Ha'penny by Jo Walton (4) - completed 6/14/23

African Authors
JANUARY - North Africa
The Ardent Swarm by Yamen Manai (4) - completed 1/28/23

FEBRUARY - Lusophone authors
Under the Frangipani by Mia Couto (3.5) - completed 2/8/23

MARCH - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Purple Hibiscus (4) - completed 3/7/23

APRIL - Horn of Africa
The Kindness of Enemies by Leila Aboulela (3.5) - completed 4/24/23

MAY - African Nobel winners
Ake: The Years of Childhood by Wole Soyinka (4) - completed 5/31/23

JULY - Chinua Achebe
No Longer at Ease (4) - completed 6/24/23

Nonfiction
JANUARY - Prizewinners & nominees
Parallel Journeys by Eleanor Ayer with Helen Waterford & Alfons Heck (4.5) - completed 1/15/23

FEBRUARY - Hobbies & pastimes
Strangers No More by Bill Griffeth (4) - completed 2/4/23

APRIL - The sea/ocean
The Pirate's Wife: The Remarkable True Story of Sarah Kidd by Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos (3.5) - completed 4/9/23

MAY - Literary biography
The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester (4) - completed 5/25/23

ClassicsCAT
JANUARY - Adventure classics
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff (4.5) - completed 1/25/23

FEBRUARY - Before 1900
Purgatory by Dante Alighieri (3.5) - completed 2/26/23
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass (4) - completed 2/28/23

MARCH - Classics adapted to movies and TV
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume (3) - completed 3/20/23

APRIL - Classic mysteries
Dead Man's Folly by Agatha Christie (4) - completed 4/19/23

MAY - Children's classics
Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery (3.5) - completed 5/15/23

JUNE - Humor
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis (3) - completed 6/15/23

GeoCat

JANUARY - Central and Eastern Europe
After the War by Carol Matas (4) - completed 1/14/23

FEBRUARY - Place I would like to visit
The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis (3.5) - completed 2/18/23

MARCH - Australia & New Zealand
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume (3) - completed 3/20/23

APRIL - South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene (4) - completed 5/3/23

MAY - Polar regions, islands, bodies of water
Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery (3.5) - completed 5/15/23

SeriesCAT
JANUARY - New to me series
Detective Inspector Huss by Helene Tursten (3.5) - completed 1/13/23

FEBRUARY - Series in translation
Purgatory by Dante Alighieri; translated by Dorothy Sayers (3.5) - completed 2/26/23

MARCH - YA/Children
Soon by Morris Gleitzman (3.5) - completed 3/15/23

APRIL - Series that doesn't need to be read in order
Dead Man's Folly by Agatha Christie (4) - completed 4/19/23

MAY - Trilogies
Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery (3.5) - completed 5/15/23

JUNE - Series by a favorite author
4:50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie (4) - completed 6/21/23

KiddyCAT
JANUARY - Picture books/graphic novels
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown (4) - completed 1/29/23

FEBRUARY - Mystery
The Cowgirl Aunt of Harriet Bean by Alexander McCall Smith, illlustrated by Laura Rankin (2.5) - completed 2/1/23

MARCH - YA historical fiction
Soon by Morris Gleitzman (3.5) - completed 3/15/23

APRIL - Fantasy for middle grade/YA
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (4.5) - completed 4/8/23
Matilda by Roald Dahl (4) - completed 4/13/23

MAY - Children/YA classics
Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery (3.5) - completed 5/15/23

JUNE - Animals as main character
Little Fur Family by Margaret Wise Brown (3.5) - completed 6/7/23

Group Reads
The Ride of Her Life by Elizabeth Letts (4) - completed 1/7/23
Detective Inspector Huss by Helene Tursten (3.5) - completed 1/13/23
The Belton Estate by Anthony Trollope (3.5) - completed 1/21/23
For Her Own Good: Two Centuries of the Experts' Advice to Women by Barbara Ehrenreich & Deirdre English (3) - completed 2/12/23
The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis (3.5) - completed 2/18/23
Wise Gals by Nathalia Holt (3) - completed 3/9/23
The Coldest Case by Martin Walker (3.5) - completed 3/21/23
Over My Dead Body by Rex Stout (4) - completed 3/27/23
The Pirate's Wife: The Remarkable True Story of Sarah Kidd by Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos (3.5) - completed 4/9/23
Night Rounds by Helene Tursten (3.5) - completed 4/16/23
Phoebe, Junior by Margaret Oliphant (3.5) - completed 4/22/23
Women in White Coats by Olivia Campbell (4) - completed 5/14/23
Shadows in Bronze by Lindsey Davis (4) - completed 5/20/23
To Kill a Troubadour by Martin Walker (3.5) - completed 6/2/23
Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (4) - completed 6/9/23
Where There's a Will by Rex Stout (3.5) - completed 6/17/23
Black Orchids by Rex Stout (4) - completed 6/29/23

Reading Projects

1,000 Books to Read Before You Die
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh (2.5) - completed 1/12/23
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (5) - completed 1/19/23
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown (4) - completed 1/29/23
Hiroshima Diary by Michihiko Hachiya (4.5) - completed 1/31/23
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (3) - completed 2/8/23
The Third Man by Graham Greene (4.5) - completed 2/20/23
Purgatory by Dante Alighiere (3.5) - completed 2/26/23
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass (4) - completed 2/28/23
All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West (4) - completed 3/13/23
The Complete Poems, 1927-1979 by Elizabeth Bishop (4.5) - completed 3/27/23
Matilda by Roald Dahl (4) - completed 4/13/23
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene (4) - completed 5/3/23
Ake: The Years of Childhood by Wole Soyinka (4) - completed 5/31/23
Little Fur Family by Margaret Wise Brown (3.5) - completed 6/7/23
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis (3) - completed 6/15/23
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (4) - completed 7/10/23
Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton (5) - completed 7/12/23

Agatha Christie
Dead Man's Folly (4) - completed 4/19/23
4:50 from Paddington (4) - completed 6/21/23

Jane Austen

Sherlock Holmes

Everything else
Daughter of the Morning Star by Craig Johnson (3.5) - completed 2/1/23
The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse by Alan Bradley (4) - completed 3/11/23
All God's Creatures: Daily Devotions for Animal Lovers (4) - completed 4/30/23
Great Short Books by Kenneth C. Davis (3.5) - completed 5/24/23
The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer (4) - completed 5/31/23

Welcome back! Sending cuddles for Adrian :)

>13 rabbitprincess: Thanks, RP!

American Authors
The Face of War by Martha Gellhorn

Most of the pieces in this collection were originally published in Colliers, The Guardian, and other publications for whom Gellhorn was a war correspondent. These columns make the Spanish Civil War, World War II, and the Vietnam War immediate and personal. Gellhorn’s writing grew more political over time. Not surprisingly, the Vietnam War appeared to mark a turning point in her war coverage.

The World War II columns resonated most with me, particularly the column on Dachau (which I’ve visited) and the Nuremberg Trials. I felt like I was missing some context for the columns on the wars in Central America. Gellhorn’s perspective on the Six Day War is the most intriguing part of this collection. Gellhorn’s view of Israel was shaped by her eyewitness experience of the Holocaust at Dachau and other places in Europe.

3.5 stars

Hi Carrie and welcome back to the CATS! I hope your reading year is successful and I'm sure I will get a few hits from your reads.

Stopping by to wish you a wonderful year of reading in 2023.

Here's hoping you have a good reading year, Carrie.

Hope you have a great year of reading!

>16 Tess_W: Thanks, Tess!

>17 lkernagh: Hi Lori! I hope 2023 is a great reading year for you, too!

>18 dudes22: Thanks, Betty! Happy New Year!

>19 thornton37814: Thanks, Lori! I hope you have a great reading year, too!

Good luck with your 2023 reading.

>15 cbl_tn: Adding this to the wish list because I liked The Weather in Africa and The View from the Ground. Happy reading in 2023.

>21 lowelibrary: Thank you! I'm enjoying everything I'm reading so far!

>22 pamelad: I will have to keep an eye out for more of her work. I really liked this collection.

Hi Carrie, I've placed a star and I am looking forward to following along. Adrian may be in his senior years but he's as adorable as ever!

>24 DeltaQueen50: Thanks, Judy! I agree that Adrian is as adorable as ever. And he knows how to use it to his advantage!

After rekindling my love of fairy tales with Grimms' Tales for Young and Old, I treated myself to this beautifully illustrated selection of Andersen's fairy tales. I had established a routine of reading a fairy tale at bedtime. I finished the Grimms' collection on December 30 and I've been missing my nightly fairy tale!

Happy fairytale reading, Carrie!

>27 MissWatson: Thank you! :-)

Group Reads
The Ride of Her Life by Elizabeth Letts

When a doctor tells Annie Wilkins, a poor Maine farmer in her early 60s, that she has only a couple of years at most to live, she has a choice to make. She can either take the place the doctor offered her in the county home, or she can strike out on her own for the place she’s always wanted to see – California and the Pacific Ocean. Annie finds herself a sturdy Morgan horse and, with her dog Depeche Toi, she sets off for California. In November. The trio meet many kind strangers along the way, while Annie’s health gradually improves throughout the journey.

The author captures the mood of a vanishing era. Annie’s cross-country journey began in 1954, less than two years before President Eisenhower signed the legislation creating the U.S. interstate system. The author is occasionally a little too heavy on the trivia, straying too far from the central narrative. Letts appears to rely heavily on Annie’s book about her journey. As much as I liked reading about Annie’s journey in this book, I would have preferred to read the account in her own words. Sadly, Annie’s book is out of print.

4 stars

>29 cbl_tn: - I saw this last summer in a Book Pages from the library and added it to my wishlist. I thought it was interesting that she chose to make the journey with a horse. Your review tells me I'll still keep it on the list.

>30 dudes22: Hi Betty! She didn't have a car and I doubt she could drive. I don't think she could have afforded cross-country bus fare. I don't know if she considered riding a bicycle, but I doubt she knew how to ride one. She was a farmer and thought in terms of animals and livestock.

>29 cbl_tn: I enjoyed the book and am looking forward to tonight's discussion in about an hour!

>32 thornton37814: Me too! I hope I can stay awake until then!

Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

Eleven-year-old Harriet M. Welsch knows exactly what she wants to be when she grows up. A spy. She’s already practicing, wearing spy clothes and carrying a notebook on her spy route. The adult she listens to is Ole Golly, her nurse. Ole Golly told Harriet that she needs to get out in the world and see lots of people, because there are as many ways to live as there are people, and Harriet needs to decide how she wants to live. I don’t think Ole Golly meant for Harriet to break into people’s homes and businesses, but that’s what Harriet does. Harriet’s world falls apart when Ole Golly leaves and, shortly afterward, Harriet’s lost notebook is found and read by her classmates.

I didn’t read this book as a child, and I don’t think it would have appealed to me then. I was not a snooper as a child, and I avoided the children who were. Harriet’s breaking and entering bothered me. The bullying Harriet experienced after her classmates read her lost notebook was even more troubling, as were Harriet’s payback fantasies. It’s obvious to the reader that Harriet is a budding writer. It takes a child psychiatrist to point out the obvious to Harriet’s parents, who then enlighten Harriet’s teachers and Ole Golly.

2.5 stars

SeriesCAT; Group Reads
Detective Inspector Huss by Helene Tursten

Irene Huss is one of the few women on the Göteborg police force. At 38, Irene is approaching middle age, with a chef husband and teenage fraternal twin daughters. Irene and her colleagues need to solve the murder of one of Göteborg’s wealthiest residents, Richard von Knecht. He fell to his death from the balcony of his apartment home. In her off-duty hours, Irene must find a way to reach one of her daughters who has fallen under the influence of a gang of skinheads.

Although the series title carries Irene’s name, this police procedural features the whole investigative team. Irene’s abilities are respected by most of her colleagues, at least most of the time, but her male colleagues rarely stand up for her in the face of sexist comments from the misogynists on the team. While this book has some shortcomings that aren’t uncommon to series debuts, it shows promise. The ending is a bit of a letdown, since the chief suspect, who left no evidence of the crime that the investigators could find, helpfully confessed to the murder. The occasionally awkward prose may be attributed to the translator getting used to the author’s writing style. The same thing happened in Camilla Läckberg’s Erica Falck & Patrik Hedström series, which has the same translator for four of its first five books.

3.5 stars

GeoCAT
After the War by Carol Matas

After leaving a displaced persons camp, 15-year-old Ruth returns to Poland to search for any surviving members of her family. Believing herself to be the only survivor in her family, Ruth agrees to join the Brichah to help lead a group of Jewish children to Palestine. Palestine is still under the British Mandate, and the British were not allowing Jewish refugees to immigrate legally. Ruth and her travel companions must risk their lives to reach their dream of Eretz Israel.

While all the characters and events are fictional, the author modeled them on real characters and events. I’ve read a fair amount about the Holocaust, but I was less familiar with the continued post-war violence against Jews who returned to Poland and against Jews who attempted to enter Palestine illegally since the British severely limited the number of legal immigrants. I learned something from this inspirational story of a teenager’s transition from captivity and fear to freedom and joy.

4 stars

>35 cbl_tn: I'm skipping reading that one. It just came in for me from Knox County. (Perhaps you are the one who had it out?) I'm in the process of reading one other mystery and will probably finish it tonight or tomorrow. Then I can begin that one.

>37 thornton37814: Just checked my timeline and I borrowed that one from TN Reads.

>38 cbl_tn: I guess that wasn't you then! There was a longer line at TN Reads so I got the one that was expected to be available first.

Nonfiction Challenge
Parallel Journeys by Eleanor Ayer with Helen Waterford & Alfons Heck

When World War II began in 1939, Alfons was 11 years old and a member of the Hitler Youth. Helen was a young Jewish wife and mother living in the Netherlands. Helen and her husband had fled to the Netherlands from Germany as the Nazis rose to power, mistakenly believing that they would be safe in the Netherlands. When the war ended, 16-year-old Alfons had risen in the ranks of the Hitler Youth to an unbelievable status for a teenager, while Helen was barely alive in a concentration camp. Years later, Alfons and Helen would partner to tell their stories in hopes of keeping history from repeating itself.

Award-winning author Ayer tells Alfons and Helen’s stories in much the same way the pair told them in their joint public appearances, chronologically through the war in alternating voices, a “parallel journey.” Both Alfons and Helen have published memoirs, and Ayer blends excerpts from these memoirs with additional context. The result is difficult to put down. I’ve read quite a few accounts of Holocaust survivors. This is the first insider account of the Hitler Youth movement that I’ve read. I don’t think I can summarize it any better than the words a German Luftwaffe major spoke to Alfons near the end of the war. Upon learning that Alfons was not yet seventeen, the officer said “What have we done to our children?”

4.5 stars

>36 cbl_tn:
>40 cbl_tn:

Two BB's for me!

>41 Tess_W: Wow! I'm on a roll! ;-)

Reading Projects
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

16-year-old Katniss spends her days hunting and gathering to support her mother and her younger sister. Her anxiety is building as the reaping draws near, when the current year’s tributes from District 12 will be chosen to take part in the Hunger Games in the Capitol. One boy and one girl from each of the twelve districts will compete in the games, and only the winner will live to tell about it. Katniss knows Peeta, the boy who will represent District 12, as the baker’s son. They will get to know each other a lot better as they prepare for the games.

This is not my usual genre, so I was surprised at how quickly I was caught up into Katniss’s world. I listened to the audio version narrated by Tatiana Maslany, mostly while driving too and from work, and it felt like Katniss was in the car with me, telling me her story. I had about 4 hours of audio left when I arrived home from work last night, and I spent the rest of the evening listening to it. It’s rare that I find an audiobook that hard to pause!

5 stars

>43 cbl_tn: I read this a couple of years ago, because all the kids were reading it. Are you going to read the sequels?

>44 Tess_W: I'm going to listen to them with the same reader. I placed a hold on book 2 today, but it will be several months before my turn comes around.

Group Reads
The Belton Estate by Anthony Trollope

After the untimely death of Charles Amedroz, the only son of Bernard Amedroz of Belton Castle, Amedroz senior uses what should be his daughter’s dowry to pay off his deceased son’s death. Mr. Amedroz hopes that Clara’s Aunt Winterfield will leave her enough to live on, while Aunt Winterfield has other plans, believing that Clara will be provided for in her father’s will. Clara alone knows the true story and keeps silent about her anxiety for her future. Belton Castle is entailed on a distant cousin, Will Belton, who falls head over heels in love with Clara almost from the moment they meet. However, Clara is already in love with Frederick Aylmer, another nephew of Mrs. Winterfield. For the rest of the novel, Clara will be torn between the two men. The triangle is further complicated by financial considerations, which take the length of the novel to sort out.

I had a lot of sympathy for Clara in her isolation. The one confidante available to her is morally compromised. Clara has no one to turn to for guidance. Fortunately, she has enough strength of character to weigh her options for herself and make her own decisions. Clara had the sense to recognize that she and Captain Aylmer were not compatible, and that Will was the better match for her. He will treat her well, and she will provide a good balance for his impulsive nature.

3.5 stars

>46 cbl_tn:

The Belton Estate sounds interesting and I'll probably be reading it sometime this year.

I'm still making my way around to peoples threads so I'm wishing you (and Adrian) a fine year and some good reading.

>47 hailelib: Thanks for dropping in! I hope you enjoy The Belton Estate. Have you read other Trollope novels?

British authors; ClassicsCAT
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff

Roman centurion Marcus Flavius Aquila has his first command, and, at his request, it’s in Roman Britain. Marcus’s father was part of the lost Ninth Legion, which disappeared after marching north beyond Hadrian’s wall. Not long after Marcus takes command, his men must defend the fort against a British uprising. Marcus’s uncle has retired in Britain, and Marcus goes there to heal from the battle wound that has left him lame for life. Just as Marcus begins to contemplate his future, he gets the opportunity to head into the north country to see if he can find out what happened to the lost legion and recover their eagle.

This story seems like capture the flag on steroids. Finding the missing eagle is only half the battle. If Marcus is successful in locating it, he’ll still need to get it back to the safety of Roman occupied territory. The desperate flight south through Scotland had me thinking of Richard Hannay’s flight across the same landscape almost two millennia later. It’s an exhilarating read!

4.5 stars

African Authors
The Ardent Swarm by Yamen Manai

When a strange predator endangers the future of his hives, North African beekeeper Sidi sets out to identify the threat and find a way to neutralize it. Sidi lives in Nawa, an isolated village that has suddenly received a lot of attention leading up to its first election in decades. The Party of God, a fundamentalist Muslim political party, is distributing food, clothing, and other forms of aid to buy the votes of the villagers. Is there a connection between politics and the threat to Sidi’s bees?

I was fascinated by the bee culture that drives this novel. The preservation of Sidi’s bees seems to be an allegory for the preservation of culture amidst political unrest. I’m really glad I picked up this little gem on World Book Day last year.

4 stars

American Authors; KiddyCAT; Reading Projects
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

As the little rabbit lies tucked up in bed, it looks around the room and out the window and says goodnight to the creatures and objects it sees there. It’s a gentle story that, read with the right intonation, will send little ones drifting off to sleep. An adult’s fondness for this book will likely depend on whether or not it was read to them as a child, or whether they read it to their own children or grandchildren at bedtime.

4 stars

Reading Projects
Hiroshima Diary by Michihiko Hachiya

Doctor and hospital administrator Michihiko Hachiya was badly injured when an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The doctor and his wife made their way to the Communications Hospital after the blast and remained there as patients for the next several weeks. The doctor kept a diary recording his observations, thoughts, and feelings as he recovered and resumed his duties while still in recovery.

Rumors are flying and facts are scarce since the bomb severed communication between Hiroshima and the rest of the world. The reader feels Dr. Hachiya’s bewilderment as he tries to figure out why patients with seemingly minor injuries were suddenly sickening and dying. The reader knows they’re victims of radiation poisoning, but Dr. Hachiya doesn’t know what the reader knows. He assembles data on the patients who died as well as on patients who recovered, and he discovers that a patient’s proximity to the epicenter of the explosion is predictive of the outcome of their disease.

This is as close to a primary source on the effects of the A-bomb on Hiroshima as you’ll get without being able to read Japanese.

4.5 stars

January Recap

American Authors
The Face of War by Martha Gellhorn (3.5)
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh (2.5)
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown (4)

British Authors
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff (4.5)

African Authors
The Ardent Swarm by Yamen Manai (4)

Nonfiction
Parallel Journeys by Eleanor Ayer with Helen Waterford & Alfons Heck (4.5)

ClassicsCAT
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff (4.5)

GeoCAT
After the War by Carol Matas (4)

SeriesCAT
Detective Inspector Huss by Helene Tursten (3.5)

KiddyCAT
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown (4)

Group Reads
The Ride of Her Life by Elizabeth Letts (4)
Detective Inspector Huss by Helene Tursten (3.5)
The Belton Estate by Anthony Trollope (3.5)

Reading Projects
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh (2.5)
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (5)
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown (4)
Hiroshima Diary by Michihiko Hachiya (4.5)

Everything else

Books owned: 2
Books borrowed: 1
Ebooks owned: 4
Ebooks borrowed: 3
Audiobooks borrowed: 2

Best of the month: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Worst of the month: Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

Everything Else
Daughter of the Morning Star by Craig Johnson

When tribal police chief Lolo Long’s niece, Jaya, keeps getting death threats, Chief Long asks her colleague, Walt Longmire, to investigate. Jaya’s sister, Jeanie, had disappeared several months earlier, and Chief Long wants to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen to Jaya. Walt and his best buddy, Henry Standing Bear, spend a lot of time on the reservation in Montana and in nearby Billings as Walt tries to find out what happened to Jeanie, figuring that the threats against Jaya have the same source. Jaya is a star basketball player, so when Walt and Henry aren’t investigating, they’re watching basketball.

I love that Henry is such a big part of this book. I enjoy the banter between the longtime friends, and there’s no one I’d rather have watching Walt’s back. Vic plays only a small role in this book, and I really didn’t miss her. As much as I like Walt, I have a hard time buying that he’s so good at everything, even things he’s had little experience with. Like basketball. I just knew he was going to end up coaching Jaya’s team in the championship. Johnson can be so predictable. This is one of the books in the series where Native American spirituality and the supernatural plays a larger role. I don’t care for the supernatural element, and unfortunately it seems that it’s going to carry over into the next book in the series.

3.5 stars

Enjoyed catching up on your thread!

>55 VictoriaPL: Thanks for stopping by!

KiddyCAT
The Cowgirl Aunt of Harriet Bean by Alexander McCall Smith, illustrated by Laura Rankin

Nine-year-old Harriet Bean receives an invitation from her mind-reading private detective aunts, Thessalonika and Japonica, to go to America with them. The threesome travel out West, where they meet another aunt, Formica, who is losing her cattle to rustlers. Harriet helps her aunts track down the rustlers. This was a mildly entertaining mystery/adventure, but not one I would have been wild about as a child.

2.5 stars

Nonfiction Challenge
Strangers No More by Bill Griffeth

In The Stranger in My Genes, journalist Bill Griffeth wrote of his discovery through DNA testing that the man who raised him was not his biological father. Strangers No More continues Griffeth’s journey of discovery as he learns more about his biological family. He also shares stories from his DNA Club, comprised of individuals who reached out to him after experiencing their own DNA surprises.

I recognized one of the stories he shared from his DNA Club. He described a group email he received from someone in Europe who was helping his brother search for his American biological father. The email went to several of the brother’s closest matches. Along with Griffeth, I was one of the recipients of this email. Griffeth shared in the book that wasn't sure how he was related to this person, but guessed it was on the European mother’s side. I think I am probably distantly related to the American father, but I don't know how. As far as I know, I am not related to Griffeth, and he is not one of my DNA matches. We just have one probably distant cousin in common.

4 stars

Reading Projects
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Animals including Mole, Water Rat, Badger, and Toad, go on loosely connected adventures in various seasons and terrains. I listened to an audio version, and, even though the narrator did a decent job, I often found my mind wandering to other things as I listened. Since there isn’t much of a plot, I didn’t feel a need to rewind to catch the parts I missed. This is another classic I managed to miss reading in childhood. I might have more fondness for it now if I had developed a fondness for it then.

3 stars

African authors
Under the Frangipani by Mia Couto

A dead man narrates this story, set in a decaying fort on the coast of post-conflict Mozambique. An inspector from the capital arrives to investigate the death of the man who had been in charge of the fort, which is currently sheltering elderly people with nowhere else to go. Each person the inspector interviews has a different perspective on the murder.

It’s hard to classify this book. Is it magical realism, apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic, speculative, or all of the above? There’s a lot going on under the surface, and there’s a lot I don’t understand since I’m not familiar with the political context of Mozambique’s independence, the war that preceded it, or the cultural changes that resulted from it.

3.5 stars

>60 cbl_tn: I had a similar reaction when I read this. It really brought home to me how different the world can look to other people.

>61 MissWatson: I'm in good company then! It's an interesting book. I just don't know what to make of it because it's so far out of my experience.

>62 cbl_tn: Yes, exactly.

Group Reads
For Her Own Good: Two Centuries of the Experts' Advice to Women by Barbara Ehrenreich & Deirdre English

Co-authors Ehrenreich and English trace two centuries of women’s history from the industrial revolution into the 1970s. A 2004 epilogue extends the history into the early 21st century. Ehrenreich and English are critical of the growth and influence of scientific experts who proffered advice to women (mostly middle-class) on how to live. The goal posts continually moved so that each succeeding generation of “experts” corrected the “advice” of the preceding generation. The Secret History of Home Economics covers some of the same ground in a much more engaging manner.

3 stars

>59 cbl_tn: I have yet to read that one, for the reason you stated.....when I miss a book when age appropriate and read it now, I think it loses something!

>65 Tess_W: I've found it's hit or miss with me. I've loved some children's classics as an adult that I never read as a child, while others just fall flat.

>64 cbl_tn: I couldn't remember the title on home economics, but yes, it was much better!

>67 thornton37814: I loved that one!

American Authors
Orfeo by Richard Powers

The death of his dog triggers a series of events leading retired professor and composer Peter Els to become a suspected bioterrorist and fugitive from justice. As Els tries to figure out how he got here and what to do next, he reflects on his past and the choices he made.

The structure of this novel reminds me of The Remains of the Day, with the protagonist journeying toward a destination while looking back at his past life. It has the feel of some of Ali Smith’s novels, which Smith infuses with the fine arts (although Smith leans heavily on the visual arts rather than music).

Non-musical readers may feel that the musical jargon is beyond their ability to understand. If this doesn’t scare you off, you’ll be rewarded by rich verbal descriptions of the experience of listening to and creating music. Thanks to streaming music services like Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon Prime Music, readers can create their own playlist or find one that has already been created for this book.

4 stars

Group Reads
The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis

A (literal) run-in with a frightened young woman lands Roman informer Marcus Didius Falco in an investigation into the theft of silver pigs, as ingots of silver were known in Rome. The case becomes personal for Falco following a murder. His employers send him to Britain to find the source of the silver pigs, where Falco will go undercover as a slave in a silver mine. Falco will return to Rome for a final showdown with the criminals, this time in the company of the daughter of one of his employers. Falco and Helena Justina have met their match in each other.

I enjoyed the audio version read by Christian Rodska. His narration brought the characters to life. Davis occasionally dwells too much on the sanitary conditions in ancient Rome and ancient Britain. Hopefully that will lessen as the series progresses and its readers are more familiar with Falco’s Rome.

3.5 stars

British Authors; Reading Projects
The Third Man by Graham Greene

Rollo Martins, who writes Westerns under a pseudonym, arrives in post-war occupied Vienna to visit his old school chum, Harry Lime. Sadly, the larger-than-life Lime has just been killed in an accident, and Martins arrives just in time for the funeral. Discrepancies in the eyewitness stories soon have Martins suspecting that his old friend has been murdered, and the chief suspect is the third man who was present at the scene.

The novella is every bit as atmospheric as the film, with a strong sense of place and the undercurrent of rising Cold War tension. The audio version’s use of the film’s theme music is a nice touch. The narrative technique is similar to Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, with a British police officer narrating in first person, repeating what he was told by Martins and filling in some details from his own experience. I would be hard-pressed to say which version I like best – the book or the film. They’re both excellent.

4.5 stars

>70 cbl_tn: You liked it far better than I did. I need to try the audio next time if I can find it.

>70 cbl_tn: Glad you liked it. I didn't care for it and I'm a bit hesitant about trying another!

>72 thornton37814: >73 Tess_W: I'm sorry it didn't work as well for you. I lived very near some Roman ruins in England, so the era has a special appeal to me. Falco's trip to Roman Britain was an unexpected surprise for me.

ClassicsCAT; SeriesCAT; Reading Projects
Purgatory by Dante Alighieri; translated by Dorothy Sayers

After Dante’s journey through Hell in the Inferno, Dante’s guide, Virgil, leads him through Purgatory. This second part of Dante’s Divine Comedy didn’t wow me as much as the Inferno. I think it’s because I don’t have a doctrinal foundation for purgatory with my Protestant background. I can relate to heaven and hell, but apparently purgatory is based on passages in deuterocanonical books that are not part of the Protestant Bible. This was unfamiliar territory for me, so the commentary was essential to my understanding of the book.

Speaking of the commentary, I read Dorothy Sayers’ translation. Sayers is most famous for her Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. However, she also wrote several theological works, and she brought this knowledge of theology to her translation of Dante.

3.5 stars

ClassicsCAT; Reading Projects
Narrative of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass’s memoir of his Maryland childhood and early adulthood spent in slavery is rightly a classic. Douglass describes in painful detail what he experienced and witnessed in the culture of slavery, observing the ways it dehumanized owners and overseers of slaves in addition to the ways in which they dehumanized the enslaved persons under their control. As good as this book is, there are gaps in the narrative that will frustrate readers. Douglass intentionally skips over his actual escape from slavery, for the very admirable reason that he did not want to close his path to freedom to others who might follow the same path. Modern readers will need to pick up Life and Times of Frederick Douglass to learn exactly how Douglass made his escape. The first readers of this memoir had to wait nearly 40 years for Douglass to reveal these details. Then there is Anna, his fiancée, whom Douglass first mentions after his arrival in New York, when he writes to ask her to join him. How did Douglass meet Anna, and how long had he known her? Since Douglass is able to write her, one assumes she was free and literate. It’s frustrating to have to make these assumptions, though.

4 stars

February Recap

American Authors
Orfeo by Richard Powers (4)

British Authors
The Third Man by Graham Greene (4.5)

African Authors
Under the Frangipani by Mia Couto (3.5)

Nonfiction
Strangers No More by Bill Griffeth (4)

ClassicsCAT
Purgatory by Dante Alighieri (3.5)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass (4)

GeoCAT
The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis (3.5)

SeriesCAT
Purgatory by Dante Alighieri; translated by Dorothy Sayers (3.5)

KiddyCAT
The Cowgirl Aunt of Harriet Bean by Alexander McCall Smith; illustrated by Laura Rankin (2.5)

Group Reads
For Her Own Good: Two Centuries of the Experts’ Advice to Women by Barbara Ehrenreich & Deirdre English (3.5)
The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis (3.5)

Reading Projects
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (3)
The Third Man by Graham Greene (4.5)
Purgatory by Dante Alighieri (3.5)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass (4)

Everything else
Daughter of the Morning Star by Craig Johnson (3.5)

Books owned: 3
Books borrowed: 1
Ebooks owned: 2
Ebooks borrowed: 1
Audiobooks borrowed: 4

Best of the month: The Third Man by Graham Greene
Worst of the month: The Cowgirl Aunt of Harriet Bean by Alexander McCall Smith

>74 cbl_tn: Was that near Bath? I've been to England for about 2 1/2 weeks and I thought Bath one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen!

>74 cbl_tn: No, but I've been to Bath a few times. I love Bath!

I lived in St. Albans, which was Roman Verulamium. The Roman ruins there are more accessible to archaeologists because the medieval town grew up around the execution site for St. Alban instead of on top of the Roman ruins.

African Authors Challenge
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

It’s clear from the opening sentence that Adichie intends for this book to build on Achebe’s Things Fall Apart:

Things started to fall apart at home when my brother, Jaja, did not go to communion and Papa flung his heavy missal across the room and broke the figurines on the etagere.

Adichie explores themes of colonialism and religion (traditional Igbo vs. Catholic Christianity, and European Catholicism vs. liturgical adaptation). These themes root the novel in a particular place and time. The coming-of-age and domestic violence themes have a universal appeal. Sadly, no part of the globe in any era has been immune to the kinds of violence that play out in this story.

I was enraptured by the first ten hours of this eleven-hour audiobook. Things fell apart in the last hour, as it seemed Adichie didn’t quite know what she wanted to do with the characters and situations she had so carefully created.

4 stars

>80 cbl_tn:- When I read or listen to a book, I sometimes wonder partway through - "how will the author finish this?" Too bad the ending didn't work.

>80 cbl_tn: I think the last couple of chapters or audio must be the "writer's challenge", as when I'm dissatisfied with a book, it's usually the ending; and not necessarily that there wasn't closure (although sometimes), but that it seems hurried or rushed.

>81 dudes22: >82 Tess_W: Yes! It's like hiking up a mountain. You work really hard to reach the summit. It's tempting to rest there in your achievement, but you still have to get back down. Sometimes the getting down is more difficult than the going up.

Group Reads
Wise Gals by Nathalia Holt

This book follows the careers of five women who worked for the CIA from its World War II infancy to their retirement (or, in one case, her death). Although these women did not get the recognition they deserved, did not receive equal pay for their work, and received delayed promotions, they paved the way for better working conditions for the women who would follow them.

Rather than espionage, the unifying theme of the book seems to be the women’s campaign for equal pay and recognition. The prologue introduces the women in the context of the 1953 “Petticoat Panel.” The chapter on the “Petticoat Panel” lies at the center of the book, with the preceding chapters looking forward to it and the succeeding chapters looking back at it.

Placing the “Petticoat Panel” at the heart of the book forced the author into a chronological narrative. The “Petticoat Panel” was the only project the women worked on together, so the other chapters seem disjointed as they jump between the operations each woman was involved with during the period covered in the chapter. It felt like watching a four-ring circus. It might have flowed better if each woman had been given her own chapter(s), with a concluding analysis of the similarities in their careers and the barriers they faced.

3 stars

Everything Else
The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse by Alan Bradley

Intrepid 11-year-old sleuth Flavia de Luce is at her best when called on to investigate the death of the housemaster at a boy’s school, seemingly due to murder. The case is made to order for the precocious chemist.

I read all the Flavia de Luce novels shortly after their publication, but I had missed this short story until now. What a pleasure it was to revisit this favorite series.

4 stars

British Authors
All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West

Widowed at age 88, Lady Slane spends what is left of her life pondering the road not taken. No longer content to go along with other people’s plans for her life, Lady Slane chooses her own future. She moves into a rented house in Hampstead with her elderly French maid, and she develops companionable relations with other elderly folk of a similarly unconventional outlook. Sackville-West’s insightful prose falls short of perfection from too much telling and too little showing.

4 stars

SeriesCAT; KiddyCAT
Soon by Morris Gleitzman

The war is over, but you wouldn’t know it from the situation in Poland. 13-year-old Jewish Felix is still with Gabriek, the Polish man who hid Felix in his barn for two years. They live in a partially destroyed building and use Gabriek’s carpentry and mechanical skills and Felix’s medical skills to trade for food and other items. Felix’s life is in danger after he crosses a Polish nationalist. Felix and Gabriek might just survive with the help of Anya, a girl about Felix’s age.

In some ways this is the most difficult book yet in this series, even though Felix has survived the Holocaust. Although the war has ended, the violence driven by ethnic hatred continues in Poland. Felix rescues a Ukrainian baby from certain death at the hands of Polish nationalists, only to see the baby drown days later as Felix and Anya are driven into the river by a murderous mob. Will Felix ever find a home where he won’t have to live in fear for his life?

3.5 stars

>87 cbl_tn: I purchased all the books in this series and had them on my bookshelf in the classroom. The students checked these out more than any other books.

>88 Tess_W: Your students had good taste! I really like the series, even though the subject matter is difficult to read.

ClassicsCAT; GeoCAT
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume

The murder of an unidentified man in a hansom cab has all of Melbourne speculating about the murderer and his motive. The witness statements and the evidence point in one direction, but do these observations and clues tell the whole story? Is there more left to learn?

The plot hints of Dickens and Collins, but without either of those author’s polish. I get a sense that the author might not have worked from an outline. The plot makes some sudden shifts, and some of the characters unaccountably change temperaments in the course of the action. Despite these flaws, the story works, and it suits its setting.

3 stars

Group Reads
The Coldest Case by Martin Walker

Bruno Courrèges, the chief of police in St. Denis in France’s Dordogne region, helps his police colleague JJ investigate a case that has haunted him for 30 years. Early in his career, JJ investigated a murder of a young man who still hasn’t been identified. JJ still has the man’s skull, which he affectionately named “Oscar”. A museum exhibit gives Bruno the idea of having a forensic artist reconstruct the man’s face from his skull. At the same time, the DNA data bank turns up a closely related match for the murder victim’s DNA. The case has gone from cold to red hot. Speaking of hot, it’s really, really hot and dry in the Périgueux, and Bruno and other locals are drafted for the fire watch.

The cold case investigation is one of the more interesting cases that Bruno has undertaken, but the coincidence of the facial reconstruction and the DNA hit is too much of a good thing. The facial reconstruction story line could have been edited out without leaving any holes in the plot. I’m also starting to find Bruno a little annoying, and I’m wondering why his friends don’t, too. Bruno is just a little too perfect. He suggests a facial reconstruction and running the murder victim’s DNA again, and both suggestions immediately produce results in a 30-year-old cold case. He drops in on the facial reconstruction artist just in the nick of time to prevent her being raped by a corrupt policeman. He comes up with an out-of-the box ideas for fighting a forest fire that threatens to destroy a local castle, and it saves the day. I’m beginning to expect him to pop into a phone box and emerge as Superman!

3.5 stars

Group Reads
Over My Dead Body by Rex Stout

A woman who claims to be a friend of Nero Wolfe’s long-lost adopted daughter turns to Wolfe for help when her friend (Wolfe’s daughter) is accused of theft. The Balkan women are in New York working as fencing instructors. Wolfe sends Archie to the fencing school to investigate, and Archie is on the spot when a murder takes place. Wolfe’s daughter is among the suspects. Can Wolfe trust her? Could she be guilty of murder?

Archie is at his quick-witted best when he has to extricate himself from the fencing school and back to Wolfe’s house without being searched. Inspector Cramer setting up camp in Wolfe’s office sets the stage for clandestine comings and goings that approach farce. As usual, Wolfe is at least one step ahead of the police. Stout didn’t shy away from confronting the volatile situation in Europe. By the time the book was published in 1940, war had broken out in Europe.

4 stars

American Authors; Reading Projects
The Complete Poems, 1927-1979 by Elizabeth Bishop

Elizabeth Bishop’s collected poems – her life’s work – can be read in a single afternoon. It will take a lot longer than that to ponder its meaning, test it against one’s own life experience, and see oneself reflected in these lines and stanzas. Although the settings change with Bishops’ extensive travels, some themes thread throughout her work – ships and sailors battling rough seas, weary laborers, unrequited or unfulfilled loves and lovers. It’s evident from the frequent biblical allusions that Bishop had a religious education, and it’s also evident Bishop found no solace in religion.

Among the most intriguing poems to me are the ones addressed to Robert Lowell and Marianne Moore. It would be interesting to explore how these highly regarded poets influenced each other’s work.

4.5 stars

March Recap

American Authors
The Complete Poems, 1927-1979 by Elizabeth Bishop (4.5)

British Authors
All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West (4)

African Authors
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (4)

Nonfiction

ClassicsCAT
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume (3)

GeoCAT
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume (3)

SeriesCAT
Soon by Morris Gleitzman (3.5)

KiddyCAT
Soon by Morris Gleiztman (3.5)

Group Reads
Wise Gals by Nathalia Holt (3)
The Coldest Case by Martin Walker (3.5)
Over My Dead Body by Rex Stout (4)

Reading Projects
All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West (4)
The Complete Poems, 1927-1979 by Elizabeth Bishop (4.5)

Everything else
The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse by Alan Bradley (4)

Books owned: 3
Ebooks owned: 1
Ebooks borrowed: 2
Audiobooks borrowed: 2

Best of the month: The Complete Poems, 1927-1979 by Elizabeth Bishop
Worst of the month: Wise Gals by Nathalia Holt

KiddyCAT
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Katniss and Peeta go on their victory tour after winning The Hunger Games. This is a special year, and the upcoming quarter quell marks the 75th anniversary of the games. Katniss still has nightmares about the arena, and they only get worse when she learns that she will have to go back into the arena for the quarter quell. Will she survive a second time?

The Hunger Games stands on its own as a complete novel. Catching Fire does not. It’s not a book readers can pick up and understand without having read The Hunger Games, and it ends on a cliffhanger. For these reasons, it’s a slightly less satisfactory novel, although it’s still a book that makes you want to drop everything else and read it straight through. The audiobooks read by Tatiana Maslany are worth hunting down.

4.5 stars

Nonfiction; Group Reads
The Pirate's Wife: The Remarkable True Story of Sarah Kidd by Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos

Sarah Kidd was the woman behind pirate/privateer William Kidd, a 16th century pirate/privateer with enduring name recognition. Sarah and her two younger brothers arrived in the colonial U.S. with their father when Sarah was in her early teens. It wasn’t long before she married William Cox, one of the wealthiest residents of New York. Sarah was widowed after a few short years of marriage, then widowed again after another brief marriage, leaving her free to marry Kidd as her third husband.

After a few years of marriage and a couple of children, Kidd was pressured by politicians to lead what was supposed to be a 6-month voyage, for which he would be well-compensated. Things went wrong from the start, and six months stretched into several years. Sarah, left behind in New York, became her husband’s trusted agent. When Kidd finally returned, it wasn’t long before he was accused of piracy. Although some of his accusers had been his financial partners in the voyage, they managed to avoid censure while holding Kidd accountable for the failure of the expedition. Kidd was sent to London for trial, and he was hanged soon after receiving a guilty verdict. Sarah went on to marry again for a fourth time.

All four of Sarah’s husbands were much older than she was and could be viewed as marriages of convenience. The author portrays the Kidds’ relationship as a love match and a marriage of equals. It seemed to be the defining period of Sarah’s life.

The author’s extensive research and careful analysis of primary sources are evident in the book. She comments on Sarah’s signature on official documents and how her signature changed over time. She compares inventories of Sarah’s first husband’s household goods with inventories of her last husband’s estate and identifies several items that Sarah had managed to hang on to throughout her life. At the same time, I was disappointed by the extensive speculation the author engaged in to fill in gaps in the records of Sarah’s life, such as describing how Sarah might have physically resisted arrest. This level of description belongs in historical fiction, not in a biography.

3.5 stars

KiddyCAT; Reading Projects
Matilda by Roald Dahl

This is another children’s classic that I somehow missed reading in my childhood. Some aspects of the story are rather unsettling this far removed from the era in which it was written. I can’t imagine a 3-year-old child left home alone in our 21st century world, or another adult learning of that circumstance and not reporting it to child protective services.

Another thing that puzzles me is how Matilda learned to read and do arithmetic without being read aloud to or coached. I was fascinated by this part of Matilda’s story, since I was reading by age four. I wasn’t aware of learning to read, and I don’t know how I learned, but I imagine that being read to a lot had quite a bit to do with it. Matilda was largely ignored by the rest of the family, and none of them were readers anyway. So how did Matilda learn?

Stories that portray children with agency to right wrongs and change their circumstances for the better have a timeless appeal. It’s satisfying to see Matilda get the best of Miss Trunchbull, escape her neglectful family, and find a new home with her teacher and mentor, Miss Honey. The audio version read by Kate Winslet is delightful, and well worth seeking out.

4 stars

Group Reads
Night Rounds by Helene Tursten

Police detective Irene Huss and her Göteborg colleagues are called out to investigate a murder in a private hospital. When the power in the hospital went out and the emergency generator didn’t come on, an ICU patient died, and the night nurse was soon found dead in the generator room. The other night nurse is adamant that she saw a ghost in the stairwell – an apparition of a nurse who had hung herself in the hospital 50 years earlier. Irene and her colleagues are convinced that there must be a rational explanation for the ghost. But what is it? Who was the primary murder victim – the nurse or the patient? And what has happened to one of the day nurses, who has gone missing with no explanation?

The unusual setting in the private hospital interested me, as did the historical aspect of the mystery. The author still hasn’t hit her stride, as the pacing seems a little off. One of the plot lines doesn’t seem to be either a motive for the crime or a red herring and should have been edited out. This book had a different translator than the first book, and the translation seemed a little smoother.

I didn’t like Irene quite as well as I did in the first book. Jenny, one of Irene’s twin daughters, seems to be a problem teen. After falling in with the wrong crowd in the first book and being set straight by one of Irene’s colleagues, Jenny once again falls in with another group of troublemakers. I didn’t like that Irene covered up Jenny’s involvement in a criminal activity and lied to investigators about it. I wonder if there will be consequences for Irene as the series progresses?

3.5 stars

SeriesCAT; ClassicsCAT
Dead Man's Folly by Agatha Christie

Detective novelist Ariadne Oliver is in Devon organizing a murder hunt for a fête at her host’s estate. Mrs. Oliver senses that something is very wrong, so she summons her old friend, Hercule Poirot, to get to the bottom of things. Mrs. Oliver’s host and the other guests believe that Poirot is there to present the prize to the winner of the murder hunt. The perceptive Mrs. Oliver’s fear is realized when a real body turns up where the corpse is supposed to be.

Mrs. Oliver is one of my favorite supporting characters in the Poirot novels. This is at least the third time I’ve read or listened to this novel, so I remembered some of the clues but not the whole solution. It’s a clever plot, and Christie makes good use of her red herrings.

4 stars

>99 cbl_tn: That's one I have basically no memory of, so it might be time for a reread!

>100 christina_reads: Apparently Christie set the novel in a lightly disguised version of her family home, which makes it all the more interesting!

Group Reads
Phoebe, Junior by Margaret Oliphant

Phoebe, Junior is the granddaughter of the Tozers, pillars of Carlingford’s dissenting congregation, Salem Chapel. Phoebe is the daughter of Phoebe Tozer and Henry Beecham, a dissenting minister who has risen about as far as a dissenting minister can go. Phoebe, Junior is well-educated, well-traveled, and used to London life. An extended stay in Carlingford to care for her ailing grandmother is a shock to her sensibilities, but she rises to the occasion.

Phoebe had made the acquaintance of Ursula May in London. Ursula is a poor relation of the Dorset family, who are also related to the Copperheads. Ursula’s father is the rector of St. Roque in Carlingford. Ursula and Phoebe overcome the class barrier to form a friendship. Their social circle includes Ursula’s clergyman brother, Reginald, Salem Chapel’s interim minster, Mr. Northcote, and Clarence Copperhead, whose father is an influential member of Henry Beecham’s congregation in London.

The novel explores social, economic, and religious differences. The elders in the novel set great store by these differences in status. However, the young people discover that their peers on the other side of the divide aren’t quite the ogres they’ve been warned against all their lives, and they form “unsuitable” attachments before they quite realize what’s happening. The novel could easily have been a romantic comedy if not for the financial pressures that weigh heavily enough on Mr. May for him to succumb to temptation.

3.5 stars

African Authors
The Kindness of Enemies by Leila Aboulela

Natasha, a history professor at a Scottish university, has a research interest in Shamil, a mid-19th-century Muslim military leader who fought against the expansion of the Russian empire into the Caucasus region. One of Natasha’s students, Oz, is a descendant of Shamil. Natasha and Oz discover just how difficult it can be to research a Muslim military leader without arousing suspicions of terrorist activity. Natasha’s story is intertwined with the story of Shamil and one of his captives, Georgian princess Anna.

This book combines two elements that I usually try to avoid in fiction – a dual timeline and historical fiction about a real person. Natasha’s story interested me more than Shamil’s, and I wanted to rush through the historical parts of the book to get back to the present day.

Natasha’s internal conflict between her Sudanese heritage on her father’s side and her Russian heritage on her mother’s side is a major theme in the book. Aboulela is too heavy-handed with Natasha’s psychological makeup. A self-aware Natasha describes her fears of mythological half-human, half-beast creatures and recognizes that her biracial, bicultural heritage is at the root of this fear. A more subtle approach would make for better literature, but apparently Aboulela hasn’t learned to trust her readers enough to make this connection on their own.

3.5 stars

>99 cbl_tn: I'm quite fond of Dead Man's Folly myself, as it was one of the first (if not the very first) Agatha Christie mystery I'd read as a teen and contributed to a lifelong love of mysteries. I too love the novels that feature Ariadne Oliver.

>104 mathgirl40: Sounds like we are kindred spirits!

Everything Else
All God's Creatures: Daily Devotions for Animal Lovers

This devotional collection lives up to its subtitle – devotions for animal lovers. The devotions consist of a Bible verse, a life application in the form of an animal story, and a brief prayer. The only oddity is that the dates run from May 1 to April 30 rather than on a calendar year.

4 stars

April Recap

American Authors

British Authors

African Authors
The Kindness of Enemies by Leila Aboulela (3.5)

Nonfiction
The Pirate’s Wife: The Remarkable True Story of Sarah Kidd by Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos (3.5)

ClassicsCAT
Dead Man’s Folly by Agatha Christie (4)

GeoCAT

SeriesCAT
Dead Man’s Folly by Agatha Christie (4)

KiddyCAT
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (4.5)
Matilda by Roald Dahl (4)

Group Reads
The Pirate’s Wife: The Remarkable True Story of Sarah Kidd by Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos (3.5)
Night Rounds by Helene Tursten (3.5)
Phoebe, Junior by Margaret Oliphant (3.5)

Reading Projects
Matilda by Roald Dahl (4)

Everything else
All God’s Creatures: Daily Devotions for Animal Lovers (4)

Books owned: 1
Books borrowed: 1
Ebooks owned: 1
Ebooks borrowed: 2
Audiobooks borrowed: 3

Best of the month: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

GeoCAT
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene

At a time when the Mexican government has outlawed the Catholic church, the last priest in an unnamed state (apparently Tabasco) wanders hopelessly one step ahead of the officials who would end his life. An alcoholic with an illegitimate child, the priest is consumed by his unworthiness for his office, yet his sense of duty compels him to perform the rites of the church when asked to do so. Who else is there to do it if not him?

The priest reminds me a lot of the priest in Endo’s Silence. Both priests wrestle with the perverse choice they must make between their obligation to God in the form of religious duty and their duty to their fellow sufferers. Fulfilling their religious duty means death for those to whom they would minister, while renouncing their faith will spare the lives of their fellow sufferers.

The audio was more difficult to follow than most audiobooks I listen to because of the slow pace of the novel. When I’m ready to revisit this novel, I’ll read a print version so I can pick up what I missed the first time.

4 stars

American Authors
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi

This sweeping novel, set in a German town on the banks of the Rhein, reckons with German history between World War I and World War II. Trudi Montag was different from the moment of her birth in 1915. Trudi is a Zwerge, a dwarf, and her birth seems to send her fragile mother over the edge of sanity. Trudi’s father, a disabled veteran who runs the town’s pay library, is sensitive to Trudi’s needs and finds creative and loving ways to accommodate them. Trudi and Leo run the library together, with Trudi taking over more of the responsibilities as her father ages.

Trudi has a gift – or perhaps a curse – of sensing others’ unexpressed thoughts and emotions, and this knowledge gives Trudi a feeling of power. She weaves her secrets into stories that both fascinate and repel her neighbors. The young Trudi is often cruel and manipulative, but as she matures, she learns to forgive and extend kindness. As the Nazi party gains a foothold in the town, Trudi uses her stories to protect her Jewish neighbors and others whose lives are endangered, and to force Nazi sympathizers to reckon with the truth.

The novel talks about the baby boom of 1946, following the soldiers’ return. Hegi was born in Germany in 1946, so she was part of that baby boom. She would have experienced the silence of the post-war years, and like Trudi, she uses story to bring truth to light.

They did not understand why Trudi Montag wanted to dig in the dirt, as they called it, didn’t understand that for her it had nothing to do with dirt but with the need to bring out the truth and never forget it. Not that she liked to remember any of it, but she understood that—whatever she knew about what had happened—would be with her from now on, and that no one could escape the responsibility of having lived in this time.

4.5 stars

Group Reads
Women in White Coats by Olivia Campbell

Journalist Olivia Campbell tells the story of the earliest women who received medical degrees in the United States and the United Kingdom. Campbell follows the paths of three groundbreaking women – Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States; Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, the first woman to qualify as a physician in the United Kingdom, and Sophia Jex-Blake, whose persistence in demanding women’s access to medical education eventually opened the doors for women medical students in the United Kingdom.

Elizabeth Blackwell was the oldest of the three women, and the early chapters of the book focus on her education and early career in New York. The geographical focus shifts to the United Kingdom when Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Sophia Jex-Blake are brought to the fore, and the focus remains on the United Kingdom after Elizabeth Blackwell moves her practice to England to join forces with the women physicians there.

It's surprising (or maybe it’s not) how quickly the door shut behind Elizabeth Blackwell in the US and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson in the UK to keep other women out of the medical profession. They seem to have found loopholes that quickly closed to prevent other women from enrolling in medical school. These women viewed coed medical education as vital for the status of women physicians to avoid the charge that women’s medical schools were less rigorous than the schools for men. After years of rejection of women applicants to the established medical schools, Elizabeth Blackwell in the US and Sophia Jex-Blake in the UK eventually started medical schools for women, recruiting well-respected male doctors as lecturers for the school.

Inevitably, this book covers some of the same ground as Janice P. Nimura’s The Doctors Blackwell. Nimura’s book is more narrowly focused on the Blackwell sisters, their family, and their careers, while Campbell covers broader territory regarding women’s medical education in the mid-nineteenth century with an emphasis on the United Kingdom.

4 stars

ClassicsCAT; GeoCAT; SeriesCAT; KiddyCAT
Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery

Orphaned Emily Byrd Starr is taken in by her mother’s estranged family after her father’s death. Emily will live with her mother’s sisters, Aunt Elizabeth and Aunt Laura, and Cousin Jimmy at New Moon Farm at Blair Water. Emily has to adjust to school and make new friends. She has to share a room with Aunt Elizabeth. Emily pours out her grief and frustration in letters to her father. Emily dreams of becoming a writer.

This book has a lot of similarities to the author’s beloved Anne of Green Gables. While Emily had a circle of friends in Teddy, Ilse, and Perry, she is more of a loner at heart. She’s not the kindred spirit that Anne is.

3.5 stars

Group Reads
Shadows in Bronze by Lindsey Davis

Picking up where the first book left off, Falco is cleaning up after a failed conspiracy against the emperor Vespasian. His tasks include taking an inventory of the villa of Gnaeus Atius Pertinax, one of the conspirators and ex-husband of Helena Justina, the out-of-reach love of Falco’s life. Vespasian is ready to make peace with the remaining conspirators, but someone is murdering them to prevent a reconciliation. As informer to Vespasian, Falco’s investigation takes him to Pompeii and Herculaneum in the company of his best pal, Petronius, and his family, and Falco’s nephew Larius.

Rome comes to life through the adventures of Falco and his comrades. Even though I loved the narrator of the first book, it was somewhat difficult to follow the story in the audio format. I read this one because the unabridged audio wasn’t available from my library, and I found it was easier to keep the characters straight when I could see their names in print. Falco’s cheeky personality was just as endearing in print. I look forward to seeing what Falco will get up to next.

4 stars

Everything Else
Great Short Books by Kenneth C. Davis

During the pandemic, author Davis, of “Don’t Know Much About…” series fame, found relief from anxiety through short fiction. He selected his top 58 to profile in this book. With only a couple of exceptions, the books are less than 200 pages in length. The book profiles include the opening lines, a non-spoilery plot summary, an author bio, a case for why you should read the book, and recommendations for what to read next.

Although the featured books are short, they’re not what I would consider light reading. The authors include Chinua Achebe, Margaret Atwood, Albert Camus, J. M. Coetzee, Ernest Hemingway, Kazuo Ishiguro, Thomas Mann, Toni Morrison, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. This book would be a good guide for readers who want to sample the works of lots of heavyweight writers within a relatively short span of time.

3.5 stars

Nonfiction
The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

The multi-volume Oxford English Dictionary, or OED, is the gold standard of English dictionaries. How did the editors research and compile such a massive work? With lots of help. One of the volunteers who made a tremendous contribution to the work was William Chester Minor, an American who spent half his life in Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum. Winchester examines Minor’s life, from his birth in Ceylon to missionary parents, his medical training, his experience as a Civil War physician, and his subsequent descent into the madness that resulted in murder. The biography of James Murray, editor of the OED, stands in contrast to that of the mentally ill Minor. The two men found common ground in their dedication to the OED over multiple decades.

Winchester’s narration of the audio version is as good as that of many professional narrators I’ve listened to. The audio version includes a bonus interview between Winchester and John Simpson, who at the time was an editor of the OED. I would call it a conversation rather than an interview, since it was hard to tell which was the interviewer and which was the interviewee. They seemed to switch roles a lot. I got a chuckle out of Winchester’s recommendation to use the CD-ROM version of the OED. References to technology tend to date a book.

4 stars

African Authors; Reading Projects
Ake: The Years of Childhood by Wole Soyinka

Nigerian Nobelist Wole Soyinka (b. 1934) gifts readers with a glimpse of his African childhood from his earliest memories until he’s on the brink of leaving for boarding school. Soyinka writes from his younger self’s perspective, so his interpretation of people, places, and events is a bit distorted by his childhood innocence and inexperience. He was a precocious child whose thirst for knowledge had him following his older sibling to school at just two years old. Thankfully, the adults and older children in his life didn’t squelch his curiosity, and the literary world is all the better for it.

4 stars

Everything Else
The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer

Tozer opens this book on God’s attributes by making a case for “why we must think rightly about God”. Each chapter focuses on what the Bible teaches about a particular attribute of God – his self-existence, his self-sufficiency, his eternity, his infinitude, his immutability, his omniscience, his wisdom, his omnipotence, his transcendence, his omnipresence, his faithfulness, his goodness, his justice, his mercy, his grace, his love, his holiness, and his sovereignty. The book lends itself well to devotional reading and meditation.

4 stars

May Recap

American Authors
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi (4.5)

British Authors

African Authors
Ake: The Years of Childhood by Wole Soyinka (4)

Nonfiction
The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester (4)

ClassicsCAT
Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery (3.5)

GeoCAT
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene (4)
Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery (3.5)

SeriesCAT
Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery (3.5)

KiddyCAT
Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery (3.5)

Group Reads
Women in White Coats by Olivia Campbell (4)
Shadows in Bronze by Lindsey Davis (4)

Reading Projects
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene (4)
Ake: The Years of Childhood by Wole Soyinka (4)

Everything else
Great Short Books by Kenneth C. Davis (3.5)
The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer (4)

Books owned: 1
Books borrowed: 2
Ebooks borrowed: 3
Audiobooks borrowed: 3

Best of the month: Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi

Group Reads
To Kill a Troubadour by Martin Walker

St. Denis is preparing for a concert by a local folk music group when one of its songs goes viral, and not in a good way. The song has lyrics in Catalan and Occitan, and its composer, Joel, becomes a target for Spanish nationalists. Bruno and his law enforcement colleagues have reason to believe that there is a sniper in the area, and Joel seems to be the most likely target. Meanwhile, Florence’s ex-husband is out of jail and wants to see his children. Bruno and his circle of friends look for a way to help Florence keep her ex at a distance.

It's not surprising that terrorists have once again appeared in the Dordogne. This gives the author a reason to bring Isabelle back. I am not a fan of Isabelle, so I prefer the books in the series with a narrower focus on St. Denis and its immediate surroundings.

3.5 stars

KiddyCAT; Reading Projects
Little Fur Family by Margaret Wise Brown

A little fur child’s mother sends him off into the forest to play. He meets other furless animals that he catches and releases, and he’s finally overjoyed to find a smaller fur child, which he also catches and releases. After a long day of exploring the outdoors, his mother welcomes him home with a hot meal and tucks him into bed.

I’m sure I must have read this book at some point in my childhood, but it didn’t make an impression on me. It gives me a melancholy feeling, and I’m not sure that’s what the author intended. The fur child seemed lonely.

3.5 stars

Group Reads
Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Even if you don’t recognize her name, you’re most likely familiar with historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s most famous sentence: “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” This sentence is part of a scholarly article that Ulrich published in 1976. Decades later, Ulrich revisits her viral meme and the many ways it has been interpreted, often by women who proudly proclaim it as their slogan. Ulrich uses works by three women authors as a lens to examine how this statement has been true for women from the Middle Ages until the present day: Book of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pizan, Eighty Years and More by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf. Ulrich’s writing hits the sweet spot between scholarly heft and popular appeal.

4 stars

British Authors
Ha'Penny by Jo Walton

In 1949 in an alternate England where the government made peace with Hitler’s Germany following the Blitz, a young actress gets caught up in a plot to kill Hitler. It’s Inspector Carmichael of Scotland Yard’s job to foil the assassination plot, even though the fascist government threatens his private life with his partner, Jack, and the lives of his Jewish colleagues. Walton imagines a theatre world where cross-casting is in fashion, and the actress at the heart of the plot has been cast as Hamlet in a production that Hitler and the Prime Minister will attend on opening night. The actress, Violet Lark, is one of the six Larkin sisters, who bear more than a slight resemblance to the real-life Mitford sisters. The unpredictable plot kept me in suspense right up to the final page.

4 stars

ClassicsCAT; Reading Projects
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

Jim Dixon is a young lecturer at an unnamed university half-way through his probationary period. His primary goal is to survive and advance while navigating academic politics and romantic entanglements. Jim has drifted into a relationship with Margaret, but then he falls in love almost at first sight with Christine. Problem is, Christine already has a boyfriend, who just happens to be the son of Jim’s academic superior whose support Jim needs to secure a permanent position at the university.

I was mostly disappointed with the humor in this novel. While I did find some scenes funny, for the most part, the humor in the book is at others’ expense. Rather than laughing with Jim at the situations he found himself in, readers are invited to laugh at all the people that Jim doesn’t like, and there are rather a lot of them. I enjoy a good laugh at my own expense (and I have frequent opportunities for this), but I’ve always been too tender-hearted to laugh at others’ discomfort.

3 stars

Group Reads
Where There's a Will by Rex Stout

After learning the unusual terms of their late brother’s will, the notable Hawthorne sisters, June, May, and April, turn to Nero Wolfe to help them contest the will. Although Wolfe doesn’t usually get involved in matters of this sort, money is tight and his expenses are mounting, so he’s inclined to accept the case. When it becomes a question of murder, Wolfe is on the spot to prevent Inspector Cramer and the police from a miscarriage of justice by identifying the real killer. While the eccentric characters and the witty dialogue kept me turning the pages, they overshadowed the mystery plot to the point that it was hard to follow Wolfe’s reasoning to its logical conclusion.

3.5 stars

SeriesCAT; Reading Projects
4:50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie

While traveling by train to visit an old friend, Mrs. McGillicuddy is distressed to witness the murder of a woman on a train traveling parallel to hers. The railway officials don’t seem to take her seriously, but her old friend, Miss Marple, does. In the absence of news reports of the discovery of a body, Miss Marple sets out on a hunt. She engages a young paragon, Lucy Eylesbarrow, to take a temporary domestic position in a household near the site where the body must have been dumped. But why hasn’t the murdered woman been reported missing? Who was she, and what is her connection to this place?

This is one of my favorite Christies. I love mysteries involving trains, and I love the plot twist of a witness to a murder with a missing corpse. I like that Christie doesn’t ask her readers to suspend their disbelief in Miss Marple’s stamina by bringing in the young and intelligent Lucy to do all the physical investigation while Miss Marple puts her brain to work. And the dramatic ending is just perfect.

4 stars

>124 cbl_tn: That's one of my favorite Christies as well!

>125 christina_reads: I even love the campy Margaret Rutherford film version. Really fun!

You've done a better job of keeping up with posting than I did over the last few months. Hoping I can keep up now.

>127 thornton37814: I'm a little behind, but I'm still doing better than I did a couple of years ago!

African Authors
No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe

This novel opens with Nigerian civil servant Obi Okonkwo in the dock for taking a bribe. The rest of the novel tells us how he got there. Achebe explores the clash of cultures between Nigerians and British colonial administrators, with Obi as a tragic hero. Readers will come away with a better understanding of the negative effects of colonialism and the cultural tensions in the years leading up to Nigerian independence.

4 stars

Group Reads
Black Orchids by Rex Stout

This is a twofer as it includes the title novella as well as a second novella, Cordially Invited to Meet Death. Black orchids form the connection between the two novellas. In the first story, Nero Wolfe sends Archie to visit a flower show on successive days. On the final day, Wolfe himself is present when Archie discovers a murdered man in one of the displays. In the second story, a party planner consults Wolfe regarding a series of poison pen letters. It soon turns into a murder investigation. While Archie does the leg work, Wolfe and Fritz receive instruction on the proper way to make corned beef hash…from a woman! The novella format works well for this series with Archie Goodwin as its narrator. Archie is quick-witted and quick-tongued, and the novella length seems like a natural fit.

4 stars

June Recap

American Authors

British Authors
Ha’penny by Jo Walton (4)

African Authors
No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe (4)

Nonfiction

ClassicsCAT
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis (3)

GeoCAT

SeriesCAT
4:50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie (4)

KiddyCAT
Little Fur Family by Margaret Wise Brown (3.5)

Group Reads
To Kill a Troubadour by Martin Walker (3.5)
Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (4)
Where There’s a Will by Rex Stout (3.5)
Black Orchids by Rex Stout (4)

Reading Projects
Little Fur Family by Margaret Wise Brown (3.5)
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis (3)
4:50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie (4)

Everything else

Books owned: 3
Ebooks borrowed: 2
Audiobooks borrowed: 4

Best of the month: 4:50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie
Worst of the month: Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

Reading Projects
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

6-year-old Ender Wiggin comes to the attention of the military, and they whisk him away to battle school. Ender is soon recognized as a prodigious war gamer who is always multiple steps ahead of his opponents. The adults push Ender and the other children to their breaking point as they prepare this generation to defend Earth against the “buggers.” Ender is a reluctant hero and a pacifist at heart, and his inner conflict mounts as the stakes increase.

This apocalyptic novel is filled with religious overtones. Ender is a Messiah figure as the world’s only hope of salvation from the enemy. His brother Peter is his opposite in nearly every way and can be seen as an antichrist.

The increasing difficulty of the battles and the creative strategies Ender devises propel the book. It lost its momentum after the last battle, and the story seemed to drift along and then suddenly stop. The ending made more sense after I listened to the author’s postscript at the end of the audio version. The author was struggling to write Speaker for the Dead and realized that he needed to expand his short story, “Ender’s Game,” into a novel to set up Speaker for the Dead. Card was really writing two novels when he adapted “Ender’s Game,” so the end of the first book is more of a pause than a resolution.

4 stars

Reading Projects
Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton

In his old age, retired teacher Arthur Chipping (known to all as “Chips”) reflects on his life and career at a second-rate public school (private school if you’re American). The faces and names of his former students float through his memory as he sits by the fire with his tea. While the content of his lessons didn’t change throughout the decades, his relationships with his students and with one influential person shaped his classroom management skills and endeared him to generations of Brookfield students.

Mr. Chips’ career spanned the mid-Victorian era to the close of the Great War, and his retirement years stretched into the Depression era. These were momentous times in British history. Many of the Brookfield students went on to positions of power and influence while Mr. Chips’ career seemed to stagnate. He wasn’t aware that his words and example helped to shape his students’ later success.

The audio version read by Martin Jarvis added a special touch to an already special story. The audio producers made an inspired choice for the incidental music, using an instrumental version of the hymn “Jerusalem” for the interludes and concluding with a choral version.

5 stars

>133 cbl_tn: I"ve had Good By Mr. Chips on my ILL list for literaly years. I've just requested it, I was glad to see it is still in print.

>134 clue: It's a good one! I hope you enjoy it!

>135 cbl_tn: I must have been asleep when I wrote 133. I meant to say I hadn't read To You Mr. Chips, the second Mr. Chips book. A reread of Goodbye Mr. Chips would be nice to do at the same time.

>136 clue: That sounds like a great idea!

>115 cbl_tn: I have this one on my TBR as well as his follow up book of his adult life, You Must Set Forth At Dawn.