Sandy's Books Read in 2023, #4

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High summer and life with family visits made the end of spring and early summer fly by. My garden renovation activities cut heavily into my reading and my presence on the 75-Talk group. We're pleased with the reno-garden results and notice renewed flowering in the divided plants. The dragon flies are visiting frequently and the mosquitoes have not been in much evidence!

I also was astonished that my round up summary in June never was posted and here we are at the end of July!

For those having an interest in the numbers game, I've read 66 books so far (counting one DNF and a few skimmed somewhat).
I included my re-reading, because, "I'm not the person I was when I first read the book, so it is a new read" (thanks to Susan, 'quondame' for this insightful philosophy).

To review the best of the lot, I selected only the ones I rated more than , because life is too short for unsatisfying reading.

June

Royal Airs (Sharon Shinn) (a re-read)
Troubled Waters (Sharon Shinn) (a re-read)


Me Three (Susan Juby)
The Sinister Booksellers Of Bath (Garth Nix)
Unquiet Land (Sharon Shinn) (a re-read)


Jewelled Fire (Sharon Shinn) (a re-read)
Solstice Wood (Patricia McKillip) (a re-read)
Unplugged (Gordon Korman)

Lots of comfort re-reading this month. The Susan Juby was an early reviewer's book. Took a few chapters before I warmed up to it, and glad I stuck with the story because it was a great YA read.

July (July total reading = 8)

A Lady's Guide to Scandal (Sophie Irwin)
Jacques Pépin Art Of The Chicken
The Apothecary (Maile Meloy)
Shadowland (Meg Cabot)


Decision at Delphi (Helen MacInnes)
Court of Fives (Kate Elliott)
Sensitive: The Hidden Power of the Highly Sensitive Person in a Loud, Fast, Too-Much World (Jenn Grannerman & Andre Sólo)

New authors to me:
Maile Meloy, Kate Elliott, and Meg Cabot.

Meg Cabot created a really distinctive character in her Mediator series, so I'll be reading some sequels. The books are YA which I've explored more often than the adult genre this month. These 'Mediator' adventures are the first time I've enjoyed a contemporary, urban fantasy with a subgenre paranormal plot.

Jacques Pépin's book was a gem. I thoroughly enjoyed his anecdotes that accompanied the imaginative artwork.

Books-read list (continuing from July reads)

August
67. ~ Izzy Hoffman is Not a Witch (Alyssa Alessi)
68. ~ Ninth Key (Meg Cabot)
69. ~ Reunion (Meg Cabot)
70. ~ An Illusion of Thieves (Cate Glass)
71. ~ Stargirl (Jerry Spinelli)

Plus ☔️☔️ 2 DNFs which we will not waste time moaning over

Looking ahead, I am glad I read in a more leisurely fashion this past few months. I could absorb the 'atmosphere' so much more effectively. The Sharon Shinn re-reads were especially rewarding.

I also read a number of books not listed above (in posts #2 and #3) that were close to , but fell into my lesser 3-star rating: "sporadically engaging and readable, although flawed workmanship". Several were very amusing and worth reading but left me unenthused in retrospect.

If you're looking for some BB's, and enjoy non-spoiler reviews, all the books listed here are reviewed on the book's review page.

I hope I am not too soon to wish you a happy new thread, Sandy. Very strong return to the group with four threads already - you were missed by so many of us. xx

>5 PaulCranswick: Thanks for the compliment, Paul. I am a chatty soul and should have reserved an extra message spot! I'll continue shortly...

At the risk of being tedious, I want to keep the information available regarding the shocking name change of the historic Kate Greenaway Medal.

I added some new information about the progress of this petition to include some follow-up commentary by some of the signatories.

The urls of interest are (should this furor over a literary award interest you):
Petition: https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bring-back-the-kate-greenaway-medal

Further commentary:
The backstory to the name change (last year), was apparently a behind-the-scenes decision without any wide-ranging consultation. The information filtered out very slowly to great dismay and is summarised in the petition itself, along with additional commentary.

The originators of the petition, Dr Rose Roberto, librarian and lecturer in history (https://www.bgu.ac.uk/staff/dr-rose-roberto) and Tamsin Rosewell, Illustrator and bookseller are the two women behind creating public access to a hidden decision surely do deserve our support.

Welcome to thread #4, so happy to see you.
Please do feel free to rant and rave about your favourite books, authors and literary shenanigans.

Happy new thread Sandy!

Your garden looks amazing!

>9 quondame: Thanks, Susan.
I hope my thread IS happy. I'm feeling on more of a roll with good books waiting on the hold list.

>1 SandyAMcPherson: Lovely pictures! Happy new thread Sandy. I signed the petition!

>3 SandyAMcPherson: I've read one Helen MacInnes and have several waiting on the shelves for the "right" time to read them. I don't have Decision at Delphi though.

>1 SandyAMcPherson: New 🧵 orisons, Sandy!

Those irises are such a gorgeous shade of purple.

>7 SandyAMcPherson: shame, shame on them!

Don't these people (those who are dictating a name change) have something better to do?

Happy new thread, Sandy. Your topper is gorgeous!

Happy new one!

Happy new thread!

>11 mdoris: Super! I'm glad you joined the "Bring back Kate Greenaway" movement.

>12 fuzzi: Hi fuzzi, I liked Decision at Delphi more than some of her others.
They're sort of old-fashioned style and harken back to the Cold War era, I guess, but fun reading. 'D at D' was a particularly interesting espionage tale. It's the one MacInnes paperback I've kept on my "mysteries" bookshelf.

>14 fuzzi: The thing that really rankles is that CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) is yammering on about re-branding as if they are short of funding. I think they are "empire building".
According to one of the comments on the petition, CILIP spent some £30K in a failed attempt in renaming themselves. I think the CILIP is a different renaming, but still, that type of activity isn't what their mandate should be.

Great to see you here, thank you >13 richardderus:, >14 fuzzi:, >15 jessibud2:, >16 figsfromthistle:, >17 foggidawn: for visiting. I'm hoping I will be around to your threads this week, too. Way behind!

Happy new thread Sandy

Juussst drifting along. Maybe I'll get caught on a plan. You seem to be doing quite well. Good oh!

Happy new thread, Sandy! Nice pics of your garden up top. I hope that you are getting more rain than we are to keep those flowers blooming.

Your garden photos are lovely, Sandy. Happy new thread.

Hi Arlie, Bill, Meg.
I'm reminded *again* how few threads I kept in sight this past couple months.So splendid you left me your greetings.

Happy New Thread, Sandy! Your garden photos are lovely! I'm finding high summer and family are keeping me busy too, though my gardening is minimal , I confess. We have a hanging basket in the front and that is the extent of my gardening right now.

>27 vancouverdeb: Thanks, Deb. One hanging basket sounds like a minimalists joy.
I am slowly going for the drought tolerant species like stonecrops and sedum.

The Siberian Iris (purple flowers) have faded now and the clump desperately needed dividing. Mr. SM has since dug them out and I actually decided to give the pieces to our neighbour with a shadier garden. The plant didn't like the dry, sunny south exposure. Less work going forward and giving a nod to water conservation in the garden frontage, at least.

Happy new one, Sandy!

Happy new thread, Sandy!

>1 SandyAMcPherson: Lovely pictures of your garden, and good to have dragonflies.

>26 SandyAMcPherson: So many threads. So little time.

>31 ArlieS: Indeed! I just spent a fair chunk of time catching up on yours.
As usual, I wrote my opinions with gay abandon and hope no one was offended. *grin*

I, too, am trying to read through the unread pile of TBR's on my own bookshelves.
The most difficult were the ones I decided against finishing because I obviously have had years to read them and kept abandoning the book(s).
In a successful manoeuvre, I re-read books this year that I plan to keep and several that I traded afterwards to the used bookshop. I love doing that, because I earn credits towards finding out-of-print or like-new recent books that I *do* want to keep.

>29 drneutron: & >30 FAMeulstee: Thanks for visiting and leaving a foot print so I knew you were here!

Yes indeedy, Anita, I always am cheered by the dragonflies because it is a sign of a healthy garden and they're so pretty. My favourites for beauty are the bright-neon-blues but I haven't seen many so far.

>32 SandyAMcPherson: And here am I casting about for tomes to pile onto my TBR. This year I slacked off noting down books that caught my interest, so I'm hovering them up as I see them this month.

>34 quondame: Sounds a readerly productive activity.

Nature also abhors an unfilled bookshelf...
I look forward to seeing the book list from your 'hoovering'.

So finally I am posting a book review on my talk thread. I fell off the wagon in keeping my thread filled with reviews, defaulting to simply a list of just titles and stars.

This is for an e-book I won in the July batch of ER awards. A very short novella aimed at the so-called 8-12 "Tween" audience.

Book 67

~ Izzy Hoffman is Not a Witch ~

Author Alyssa Alessi’s story used an interesting theme, setting the Eastern seaboard locale in current times, but historically referencing the 17th-Century era of witch hunting and hangings. The basis for the story and historical details provided an engaging framework without descending into horror or grisly detail. However, the writing style was choppy and often made very clunky use of the first person voice.

The main character and her best friend (Izzy and Nat) carry most of the story forward in talking to each other and in Izzy’s first-person voice to herself about her episodes with paranormal appearances in her dreams. Regrettably, the character development is too thin to be satisfying, especially for providing any clarity as to whether Izzy is from a ‘white family’ background or some other ethnicity. There were vague references to skin colour which does not fit with a 17th-century ancestry of colonials and witch hunts. One feels that some kind of back-handed acknowledgement of non-white was artificially being worked into the narrative.

Readers are later given a sense of who these ancestral family members with interesting details, such as why the handwritten journals of the earlier generations were so valuable. Indeed, these historical diaries of day-to-day life were in existence and largely kept by the women ‘holding household’ as it was called then. The story could have built a more solid background on this aspect to bring forward the importance of hanging onto family books (which more correctly were blank pages bound as journals).

As the story unwinds, Izzy’s dreams move closer to reality. Unfortunately, this action is written rather confusingly, so it was hard to visualize what the scenario intended to show. ‘Muddy writing’ aptly describes this part of the novel. Readers deserve a well-crafted story that provides an historically-accurate setting with sound writing to convey a well-plotted story. This novel doesn’t deliver that standard, which is essential for a younger audience. After all, the influence of excellent early reading promotes a lifelong love of books and stimulates imagination.

Hi Sandy. Thanks for this review. I'll skip this one.

>36 SandyAMcPherson: Thanks for taking one for the team, Sandy. I can recommend some good witch books, if you like. It's not usually my genre, but I have read some great titles.

>37 Whisper1: Hi Linda. Yes, no loss in skipping this YA novel, though the idea for it was quite intriguing.
In this morning's bright light of day, perhaps I went overboard? I am not sure this short novella deserved such a long review. However, it does no one any good to gloss over the less than, at least, satisfactory writing.

>36 SandyAMcPherson: I wasn't in danger of picking anything aimed at this market slice for my bedtime reading anyway, but it won't make my Yule gifting to the grands list either.

>38 vancouverdeb: Hi Deb, I have been on a reading journey in the Middle School genre. Most of the motivation was to discover worthwhile novels for a visiting granddaughter.

Some of the YA books for the Tween end seem very childish, yet back in the day (1950's and '60s) there were more stories around that were written so well and didn't rely on ditsy kids. I guess society has become a bit more sophisticated, too, but the writing in this particular book was not refined and the subject matter deserved a more erudite treatment.

The Apothecary (published in 2011) was a particularly good read, for example. The novel was exciting plus also had some 'urban magical' aspects. I rated it 4*'s.

>40 richardderus: Hi RD. Yeah I can see that the Tween-YA was never going to be a realm you'd spend time inhabiting.
In my YA-reading, I've discovered Meg Cabot and in the one book I've read so far, really like her style. That's also a slightly paranormal read, so I was surprised how well it was woven into an urban setting with a tang of fantasy.

>41 SandyAMcPherson: Many books in fantasy and science fiction were shelved in my library's YA section during the 50-60s time I used it, that really weren't today's YA at all. Though today's YA often has staggeringly high body counts to my mind, especially since the carnage of bad guys seems to carry no moral weight. But maybe that's only in the F&SF genres.

>43 quondame: I have found that "today's" YA genre often seem more childish or very unsuitably dark compared to the novels of the '60s and 70's. Do teenagers really benefit immersing their thoughts in tales of death, dystopian civilizations, and destruction?

It's a precarious time in Tweens-Teens inexperienced lives, rampant with hormones (all of them, not just the advent of puberty), and navigating such destructive social pressures that are prevalent in those age ranges (exacerbated by social media crap).

The deterioration in our kids' schooling is a hot button for me.
From what I've now seen happening in schools these days, the dumbing down of the Canadian school age curricula (Grades 1 to 12) has contributed to a very warped preparation for critical thinking and does not address the individual learning needs of students.

The acquisition of general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning (how else do you have good judgment?) and intellectually preparing the student cohort for mature life isn't helped by the crop of rubbish presented as novels for the YA audience.

>35 SandyAMcPherson: That made me smile.

>44 SandyAMcPherson: Very good points Sandy!

>45 BLBera: So happy to know the old Larson comic gave you a smile.

>46 mdoris: Hi Mary. Thanks for letting me know my mini-rant had 'good points'. One benefits from an outside viewpoint to validate such perspectives.

I feel that many of us who aren't in touch anymore with what's really happening in grade school (the deterioration of teaching excellence, especially) don't realize how poor schooling has become.

It wasn't until I saw what my grandchildren were assigned (or not) that the reality hit. And overcrowded? OMG, it's reminiscent of the early 50's when schools weren't prepared/staffed for the post war children arriving for Grade 1 (Kindergarten wasn't a thing to the extent it has become now).

In my home province (SK), the lack of funding and loss of classroom support (teacher's aides they used to be called) have resulted in ridiculous class sizes. More regrettably, classes are layered with more than 1 grade shoved into the rooms with only one teacher and more than 35 students.

OKIES. I'm off the soap box now.

>44 SandyAMcPherson: I ducked the whole school/schooling issue and sent my daughter to a private "liberal" school in which she learned that the kids with rich-famous (donating) parents got the good roles in the school dramas. And how to write essays and indirectly how to give a really entertaining presentation. The last was because if she didn't she'd have been bounced to repeat 10th grade, but she turned her rather massive shortfalls and screw-ups into good entertainment at the end-of-year review and left her critics nothing to say.

>48 quondame: Good for Becky. I bet her education helped her navigate post-graduation life to advantage.

>49 SandyAMcPherson: It took her a few jobs and jobless periods before she felt "on her feet", but she mostly likes what she's doing now and most of her co-workers. But nothing's perfect.

Hi Sandy, I find myself with nothing to add to the discussion but wanted to de-lurk to say hello! Hope you have a great day.

>51 lauralkeet: Lovely to see you here. Always welcome delurking even if the current discussion is not your 'thing'.

Book 68

— — Ninth Key (Meg Cabot)

Book 2 in the Mediator series was not as well-plotted as the first book, Shadowland. Extravagantly implausible difficulties encountered by the MC (Susannah, a.k.a. as 'Suze') subverted this story for me, but I'm still liking Meg Cabot's writing. Although the pacing seemed rushed in this book (compared to Book 1), her characterizations are fun and in many instances she nails that angst of a 16-year-old girl. An amusing read for teens, especially those navigating the social hierarchy of high school.

Just popping by to say hello here too, Sandy! 😁

HI Sandy! Happy new thread.

Skippety-skip skip – from your last thread.

The Nonesuch is a 5* read for me. I’m glad you don’t despise Laurie any more. He’s pivotal in the HEA, obviously, but he can do the right thing even if it might benefit him, too.

I've learned that I'll be too stressed if I try to stay on top of commenting on every unvisited thread, so I do a skim and lurk approach. I try to put a priority on my own thread first and then allow myself only a few talk thread visits. Good advice for yourself and me, although I really want to get caught up on all the starred threads I’ve got out there. For some reason this year has been pulling back, and I don’t really like myself for it.

I wanted a vegetable garden this spring, but husband didn’t communicate with our gardening guys in time to clear out the 4’ x 16’ raised/enclosed bed. Next year I’m determined to have a summer veg garden.

Ah, Sandra Boynton. I have a photocopy of a card I sent a friend in 1987 that I can’t find anymore. She sent the photocopy to me for my birthday in 2019. I've looked for this card and can't find it.

On a scale of LIMA BEANS (1)
To CAVIAR (10)
You are a HOT FUDGE SUNDAE,
(open card)
Which is an 11.

I didn’t have a TV for years, then bought my brother’s significant other’s old Sears color portable. I used it ‘til I married my husband in 1991. TV’s very important to him, and we’ve graduated from his then-high-end 35” color TV to our 65” flatscreen OLED 4K TV. I must admit that I like the quality and streaming features. My mother called TV “The Idiot Box” when I was growing up and would randomly turn it off and say the equivalent of “play outside, play a game, read a book, do something better”.

>1 SandyAMcPherson: Yay for the renewed flowering and the dragonfly.

>3 SandyAMcPherson: Sorry that your August reads have been low star and 2 DNFs.

>55 karenmarie: Hi Karen, so fun to see you here.

I was pondering about who "Laurie" is and what HEA means. It's an acronym I don't recognize.

I looked through the posts on thread 3, and am now reminded that he was a supporting character in The Nonesuch. Yes, the one who was so annoyed at the way Waldo inherited the estate from a family relative known to be an old pinchpenny.

As I re-read my Heyer collection, I find nuances I'd missed in previous readings. I'm surprised how some of my original 3-star ratings were not reflective of how I perceived the novels in these more recent visits to the books.

Sandra Boynton is a hoot. I love reading to little kids ~ both Boynton and Munsch are great authors for this age group.

My fave Munsch book is Pigs. The background to the story is quintessential Bob Munsch, too (https://robertmunsch.com/book/pigs). We all laugh and laugh when an adult is reading to the younger set.

I'm okay with my August reading, it is looking up. Lately, I am enjoying the urban, contemporary fantasies that Meg Cabot wrote for her Mediator series. It's a world of high school girls' teenaged angst, and paranormal suspense. Kind of surprised, because I usually find the paranormal genre silly or a misbegotten attempt to uptick the suspense.

Book 69

— — Reunion (Meg Cabot)

This is Book 3 in the Mediator series and the plot continues as an interesting storyline having paranormal aspects in a high school world. Gina, Suze's bestie, visits and chaos in the matter of boyfriends, step-brothers and rivalry develop. Gina's visit was somewhat unsatisfying since interactions with Suze were strangely less like a close friendship and more along the lines of a nuisance cousin visiting.

Although the narrative was a bit sameish as the earlier ones, the story was a fun read. I think the foreshadowing is becoming evident where the Jesse thing is going, so that seems to disrupt whatever the next novels turn out to be like. However, for sheer fun and mild suspense, I decided to simply enjoy the story as a YA reader probably would.

The last 3 days have been too smoky to head outside so I indulged in the fine old tradition of rainy days activity, and slothfully hogged the sofa to read.

I cleared 2 of Meg Cabot's books from my library loans and re-read one from my fantasy shelf. The fantasy revision follows and I added it to my book count because >1 SandyAMcPherson: "I'm not the person I was when I first read the book, so it is a new read".

This is a re-read from two years ago. I was going to loan it to a Tween but thought, "H'mmm better re-read it for appropriate content". Good thing I did, 'cause Nope. I forgot about the brothel-training of young girls and a some other such details.

Book 70 ~ — — An Illusion of Thieves (Cate Glass)

In fact I was disappointed by a few glaring aspects. Normally, I am often rewarded with re-reading my previously-rated 4-star novels, but sadly, not this time.
Here's my re-reviewed commentary. There may be spoilers, so perhaps skip the rest of my post (though no twists or conversation about reveals are present).

Post-re-reading deflation:
I first read this in 2021, so you can take a gander on the book page at the full July 27 post with original starry-eyed thoughts.

Originally I rated the novel 4½ stars. Now I rate it 3½ — while my original reading was heavily influenced by that what happens next enthusiasm, this second excursion into the book was more sobering.

Romy's loyalty and adoration of 'the shadow lord' is so misplaced. This powerful man had her in his keeping through her very young girl to older teenager years (?) (it isn't clear), then banishes her right at the beginning of the story because of her brother's idiocy .
Sure, later Shadow Lord' trots out some payment for the dangerous activities that he asks of her, but that hardly alleviates the poverty she and her brother must endure (after being cast off by her lover).
All the while, it's as if she's somehow expected to become self-sufficient with no introduction to this independence, as if she should be loving her new 'freedom'. So yeah, I still like the character and the adventure, but the basis for the plot is on quicksand.

>58 SandyAMcPherson: Oh dear, the curse I experience all too often on re-reading has struck you on this one.

How I dread those let-downs...it feels a lot like falling out of love, which is horrible.

>59 richardderus: I'm looking back on what I wrote about my re-read of Illusion of Thieves ... and in retrospect, I don't feel as much let- down as a sense of loss.

Which is okay, because the adventure in the book was really the predominant theme. I did enjoy the shenanigans and can see now, for me, the character's backstory is important. I've learned to look more closely at the underpinnings, which is a sort of improvement in my evaluations. This is a perspective that I didn't expect.

I delurked over on Bill's Thread #2 tonight.
I want to re-post a quote from his link to a book critic's thoughts.

Leave old books as they are
Any bowdlerization, “sensitivity editing” or rewriting of older literature is absolutely wrongheaded. Books aren’t something one approves or disapproves of; they are to be understood, interpreted, learned from, shocked by, argued with and enjoyed.

Moreover, the evolution of literature and the other arts, their constant renewal over the centuries, has always been fuelled by what is now censoriously labelled “cultural appropriation” but which is more properly described as “influence,” “inspiration” or “homage.” Poets, painters, novelists and other artists all borrow, distort and transform. That’s their job; that’s what they do.

~~~~~~
Bowdlerized literature has become highly thoughtless censoring. My most recent difficulties are related to efforts to find the 2019 translation of Dumas' The Three Musketeers by Lawrence Ellswoth.
This is a completely accurate translation using Dumas' original manuscript. Ellsworth wanted to provide the story in its original format, instead of the bowdlerized versions so prevalent in libraries.

My requests (several times) for a copy of this exact translation via our library has yielded: twice a children's classic and then a Victorian era (heavily sanitized) edition, all of which I turned down.

Finally a really helpful librarian e-mailed to say, "A search via Worldcat for this translation yields no Canadian sources, so we will be unable to get this edition for you via interlibrary loan."

No surprise that I don't feel inclined to pay over $100 to buy Ellsworth's translation from another country.

Amazon has the original manuscript of The Three Musketeers if you are interested in that. It is this is one here on LT. https://www.librarything.com/work/3745066

From amazon ca site "Our edition uses the William Barrow translation first published by Bruce and Wylde (London,1846)." My local library has it too, as well as Indigo books but I cannot say for sure if they use the original text. I think so though.

>61 SandyAMcPherson: In all fairness, bowdlerization has been going on since there's been literature. And what else are Reader's digest condensed books?

In our profligate world, a bowdlerized version is unlikely to even noticeably replace the original work if it gained enough attention to be bowdlerized. I'd like to see the outrage directed toward textbooks and let literature live its own life.

>62 vancouverdeb: Certainly, Amazon's looks to be an old translation, but not the original as Dumas' wrote it.
Someone on LT reported that Lawrence Ellsworth taught himself the French language of Alexandre Dumas' time. He then translated the truly original story with all its bawdy and fighting scenes plus the great puns that were part of the original work.

I didn't make a note, but the conversation came to my notice on Jim Henson's thread. The later editions were as I said, censored for the apparently unacceptable swashbuckling and raucous behaviour. It is not a kid's story.

>63 quondame: Hi Susan,
Very true, bowdlerization is not a new thing.
Nevertheless, I'm a strong believer in that removing passages thought to be objectionable is inappropriate in literature as much as in textbooks.

In textbooks, I am remembering those which were banned in certain educational systems because the theory of evolution was included, for example. So yes, in text books (by which I mean, academic and scholarly works used to inform, as well as in teaching at schools and universities), it is critical to be accurate and unbiased in presentation.

There's an historical context to all writing. As time passes, the context changes, such that the views in original works are lost if they're modified because some segment of society thinks the concepts are unsuitable to the current day. It's a type of censorship I deplore, because it is an action taken without respect to the original work. And often taken on the basis of a narrow viewpoint which may hide a truth that disagrees with other perspectives.

Certainly there is culturally inappropriate, racist, and hateful literature out in the world. Seems to me that we are also losing classical stories and legends that are edited to cater to an intolerant segment who "disapprove" rather than taking a more tolerant view. I think it silences some very legitimate writing.

I don't mind such disapproval and alternate publications, as long as the writer addresses counter-arguments by acknowledging the complexity of the material. Then the publication becomes stronger and more persuasive.

I gained respect for this concept of maintaining memory in reading some of Penelope Lively's literary fiction. In her memoir, plus other stories, her descrptionsof family dynamics were instructive to life in general. Not exactly academic work but certainly persuasive, I was influenced by her wry exploration of the view from old age in Dancing Fish and Ammonites. I especially appreciated how she refers to Memory — the vapour trail without which we are undone.

Yes, I've written at length and perhaps lost my readership.

>65 SandyAMcPherson: The problem with bowdlerizing something is that it minimizes offense. In that, it both magnifies the saddening trend to make milk-toast out out of viennoiserie...turning something into a worse version of itself.

As to cultural context, what the hell happened to an introduction to some troubling artwork by an expert to offer guidance about the work, the world it appeared in, the point of its creation in that time and place?

Interesting chats around here, Sandy! *smooch*

Sure is interesting discussion here of the whole issue of bowdlerizing literature. I remember discovering that the version of Faulkner's story "Two Soldiers" that was included in our high school literature text had been messed with, years later as I was reading it in a collection. I knew there were bits in it that I had not read in school, and furthermore was sure those bits would not have been put in front of us, innocent little chillen that we were! I'd love to see the textbook again, and make a line-by-line comparison because of course I don't remember specifically what was changed.

>66 richardderus:, >67 laytonwoman3rd: Hi Richard and Linda,
I'm loving these conversations and pleased you've made some additions to the other members' comments.

In fact LT-talk is a great place to discover different viewpoints and I'm happy to read both the agreed-upon and the argued-against. This is very enlightening.

RD, you bring forward such a good point, an introduction to some troubling artwork by an expert to offer guidance about the work.
Indeed, why isn't there any academic or scholarly input? We're not talking quantum physics or brain surgery procedures...

Linda, I think our school also had some highly abridged literature. We did however have Catcher in the Rye in Grade 10 Lit. Many schools had it banned. It was one of the most boring books I ever read, even when I tried it at Univ. It would indeed be interesting to compare unabridged and bowdlerized editions, except I'd prefer, personally, to read new stuff. *grin*

And also, for interest on this thread, >7 SandyAMcPherson:, the support which the petition has received (for the return of the name for the Kate Greenaway medal) now has 2595 signatures. *does the happy dance*

Yeah, I couldn't get through The Catcher in the Rye, and I don't think I was ever in the target audience for that story. I have a singular interest in Faulkner, so for that reason I'd love to make the original vs. corrupted version comparison of that story. I wouldn't revisit much else that I read in high school, either voluntarily or as part of the curriculum, but there are notable exceptions.

Finally read the e-book, since the library request for the physical book seems to have disappeared into the ether.

Book 71 ~ — Stargirl (Jerry Spinelli) —

I wasn't sure what to expect in this story. So all unwitting, before I knew it, I was on an emotional roller coaster. As well, a feeling of this isn't going to end well kept pervading the narrative.
Apparently, middle school is very much like this novel: unconventional is dissed as 'weird' and challenging the local school community beliefs on social behaviour is unwelcome. Because it's scary to see a free-thinker, no?

What didn't resonate for me was how intolerant the senior grade population was. Isn't there some change in maturity in the jump to senior high school? I know student cliques are all-powerful and social pressure exists to conform to the school's dominant starlets parading their popularity. But still, the degree of an entire school shunning? Spinelli was writing about a small-town high school, so maybe that's not so surprising. What the author neglected was developing Leo's character to the extent written about Stargirl. I would have liked a less wishy-washy balance for the co-main protagonist, but he seemed more like a supporting character.

Exceptional passages are sprinkled throughout the book. These paragraphs lifted the novel (novella, actually) to the 3½ rating, though I was tempted by 4-stars. Despite the stars or lack thereof, this story is worth reading: the zen of being one with the desert (where Stargirl takes Leo to her 'enchanted place'); the conversations with Archie; the scenario preceding Stargirl's stellar speech after she's taken a short walk on the way to the competition. I have no idea whether the intended audience would relate to how the book develops, or even if the theme of "being who you are" will be convincing. Could be a good talking point in an enlightened high school classroom Lit class.

Hello Sandy. I've seen your comments on other threads and decided I should pop by your own thread. I'm glad I did, having discovered a very interesting discussion on bowdlerizing literature. I agree with your comments in >65 SandyAMcPherson: as well as >66 richardderus: Richard's.

>61 SandyAMcPherson: I had recently heard about Lawrence Ellsworth's translations of Dumas and have wishlisted them on Amazon. I haven't yet ordered a copy or read one. I'm surprised it's so expensive to find a copy to send to Canada.

>70 SandyAMcPherson: I read Love, Stargirl for the cover color and rather liked it, but didn't pick up the original.

>71 atozgrl: Hi Irene, How nice to see you here. Thanks for your comment_support re bowdlerizing literature.

I looked at the Amazon.ca listing again and I would be able to buy it, were I so frivolous to invest $78.27 (CAD) in book I have no idea whether I'd want to own. When I was first looking, Amazon.com was the only website listing this publication (other than Pegasus, the original publisher). So now the shipping isn't fraught with customs and out of the country shipping.

>73 SandyAMcPherson: I am so sorry to hear that it's so much more expensive to ship to Canada! I do remember my days when I was working in the acquisitions department in the library, and I was trying to find replacement issues we were missing for various periodicals. There were some times when only a Canadian library had a spare copy of what we needed. In the exchange that we were using at the time, all we needed to do was send postage for the issue in question, and the library would send us the issue. But I discovered quickly that postage from Canada was really excessive, especially for heavier items. I guess that's still a factor. It still doesn't seem right that you would have to pay so much for something that costs much less here. I hope you'll be able to find a copy in Canada eventually.

Well, my husband was getting an order ready for Amazon a few days ago, so I went ahead and ordered the Ellsworth translation of The Three Musketeers. It showed up today. The book is 791 pages, so that might explain some of the cost. It's not a small book! However, I was able to get it at a very reasonable cost, so I hate that you cannot.

Whooooo --791 pages! Daunting to say the lease. Our bookclub chose The Covenant of Water for next January and when my copy arrived I was shocked (yes, shocked - lol) to see it's 724 pages!

Such interesting discussions, Sandy. Starting with bowdlerization and then on to Canadian postage rates. Those certainly have crept up over the years until it often costs as much as the book in question to send it from one side of Canada to the other.

>74 atozgrl: I'm bugging our University (USask) library to ILL a copy for me, since the PL has no connection to libraries out of province that have loan-able copies.

>75 atozgrl: and yes, I did know it was chunkster of a book, which may also account for the library not wanting it since I understand that fiction in chunky books tend not to be borrowed.

>76 RebaRelishesReading: 724 pages would entirely intimidate me for a club read.
How are you doing with it?

>77 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg.
Indeedy, a lot of conversational threads here.
And yes, postage has basically become an annoying charge for residents while favouring commercial junk mail with bulk pricing. Are we subsidizing that? Mr. SM says, "Without a doubt".

I must drift by and delurk on your thread soon. Been entirely distracted trying to keep grandchildren entertained with sheltered outings due to wildfire smoke and heat. I would say the visits were generally enjoyed but I sure need a lot of down time right now.

>78 SandyAMcPherson: After reading The Three Musketeers on Kindle I checked out a HB copy which is supposed to have all Maurice Leloir's 19th century illustrations - but some at least are 2 to a page which doesn't help.

>78 SandyAMcPherson: I hope you can obtain it on ILL! Since I didn't work in a public library, I wasn't aware of big books not circulating, but I guess that's not a surprise.

>79 SandyAMcPherson: I don't like to read too far ahead of a meeting where the book will be discussed so I haven't started yet (it's for January meeting). It just sits there in my stack staring at me :)

Hi Susan, Irene and Reba:
Thanks for the visiting. I was pleased to see you kept the thread active for my return!

I have been quite distracted from LT these days, having so little energy for computer time after the visiting and the demands of garden maintenance. I always prioritize these precious family visits and summer is such an outdoors time of year for us.

Our smoky/hazy ays have been really prolonged and the fires seem to be a constant presence in the north of our province, affecting the air to the south as our prevailing winds are northwesterly and due west. British Columbia and the NW Territories have it the worst. I think this is going to persist always for the rest of our summer conditions.

I'm way behind on updating my books read, and here we are at the end of August.

I reviewed a few books this month, and here's the most recent:

A Bone from a Dry Sea, (review is on the book page, a YA novel).

I've tallied my books-read to date: 78 !

I'm off on my own journey this weekend (Vancouver Island, BC). Hopefully (when I return in mid-September), I'll catch up reviews of the other books I've read this past month.

Stay safe, Sandy! The whole situation is so worrisome, isn't it? Enjoy your time away.

>85 SandyAMcPherson: Brava for a very solid annual result, Sandy. I love that title though I'm unlikely to read the book in question.

Happy weekend-ahead's reads.

>84 SandyAMcPherson: I hate to hear that the conditions in Canada have stayed so bad all summer. I wish I could send you some rain. Here's hoping for a better fall and winter!

I can understand being distracted by family visits and gardening. I didn't manage to get much planted this year, so my garden hasn't been as much of a drain on my time as it would have been otherwise. Family is obviously the most important, and I'm glad you had time with them!

>85 SandyAMcPherson: Congrats on reaching 75

Well done on passing 75 already, Sandy. x

Congrats!

Congratulations on reaching 75 books , Sandy! 📚

Congrats on reading 75 books!

Wow, way to go for 75!

Congratulations on 75!

I hope that as the fall takes over you will be able to be more frequently among us.

Congrats on hitting 75! I made it there yesterday.

*smooch* for a happy weekend-ahead's reads, Sandy.

Congratulations on reading 75, Sandy. I hope the wildfire smoke has dissipated somewhat. It would be nice if some of the fires disappeared and there was rain, in reasonable amounts, of course.

Congratulations on hitting 75 so early, Sandy.

Hi everybody, thanks so much for keeping my thread warmed up with greetings and commenting on my making it past the 75-reading challenge. I surfed a few threads and am thoroughly intimidated by the explosion! So many increases in the number of threads people have added. I'll never get through them 😳

Vancouver Island visiting was great, especially that there was no forest fire smoke. The views across Haro Straits to the Olympics and Mt. Baker were shrouded in smoke unfortunately, so no stellar 'sea and mountain' vistas.
Lots of hiking, discovered some new-to-me cafés which had the best-snack-food-ever (I learned quickly to eat a light breakfast of fruit and yoghurt).
These were the kind of cafés I like best (sign posted in a café).

It was wonderful meeting up with friends I haven't seen in yonks, and two that I'd not seen since way before the pandemic, actually.

Visited bookshops ~ resisted buying anything. However, I did take a paperback and my e-reader loaded with some Early Reviewer books, so got in some reading time, mostly delayed in airports. I am so done with airline travel.

Need to catch up on book reviews now.

>100 SandyAMcPherson: It's good to see you back on your thread. At least airports are reading opportunities, but geeze, there are some better ones for sure.

>101 quondame: Thanks, Susan.
Indeed, "airports are reading opportunities" ~ so true.
The books mentally take me somewhere else, so handy for when the flight is delayed yet again ~ Perky voice: flight #XXXX is delayed and has not yet left its originating airport (...blah blah blah).

Congratulations of hitting 75 books, Sandy! Perhaps the autumn months will allow you a little more time on the threads.

Welcome back, Sandy! Congrats on 75. I wouldn't worry about catching up on the threads; rather, just draw a line in the sand and start fresh. It will be fine!

>103 vancouverdeb: I think after the first frost when the garden is "put to bed" for the winter is when I'll be spending less time working outside. That will be any day now...

>104 lauralkeet: Hi Laura. Great to see you popped by with those words of encouragement.
Thanks!

OK everyone, I am taking Laura's advice and invite you to stop by here and drop a line about your latest greatest-fun-insightful sorts of reading!

Also, activity updates are welcome, too. I'm hoping for simply a retrospective answer for August-September. It will help me feel like I can clue in quickly on what's doing.

I do plan a book review because I did read a number of ERs and a library cascade hit. However, we still have tomatoes ripening in the garden and in the house to encourage a final burst of flavour. So for the rest of this week, I know I'll be distracted with outside and kitchen chores.

Gotta hand out kudos to Mr. SM ~ while I was away, he cooked down several pots of tomatoes. That's a lot of work!

>105 SandyAMcPherson: Having the tomatoes processed is great.

I'm enjoying the stories in Zen Cho's Spirits Abroad rather more than her fairy-regencies.

Calloo-Callay ~ 🍁 September 🍁 round up of reading (new reading total, 86)

79. The Dressmaker (Kate Alcott) ~ ~

Having seen the Movie (Titanic), I was a bit iffy about reading a novel with this event front and centre as a theme for the characters' becoming acquainted. However, Alcott wrote an exemplary re-telling of this disaster and brought forward some of the factual background that was based on original transcripts of the sinking.

There was less fashion and sewing than I expected, but the story revolving around the investigation into the sinking of the Titanic more than made up for that. Ultimately the romance aspects seemed artificial and all too swiftly developed. The novel would have appealed more strongly to me had these relationships been couched in more realistic terms.

I've had a lot of difficulty in the last 2 days succeeding in posting the cover images on Talk, though I am using LT gallery links. Is this happening to anyone else?

80. Darkest Hour (Meg Cabot) ~ .

Way less enjoyable story compared to the earlier novels in this series. This continuing saga of Suze and her ability to interact with the ghosts is turning into a silly teenage romance trope, with a romance triangle thrown in for good measure. I guess I'm the wrong audience, but I'll try the next book to see what happens next, always a hook if I'm even slightly engaged.

Deleted post ... tried something different in next post.

Fed up with this messy set of book reviews.
!!!!!
I removed the contents of this post and added the corrected links to my final post of September (see the last post on this thread at #151).

>110 SandyAMcPherson: Those look like good books, Sandy. Great work with the HTML too.

>110 SandyAMcPherson: Your new technique makes sense to me. I'm glad there were two four-starrers in the bunch, and disappointed that Murder at Wedgefield Manor was not a better read. It's one I've got lurking on my Kindle, but might not make my Deathtober mystery/thriller blogfest. (I need to clean up a LOT of unreviewed stuff and theme months seem to be the way forward.)

Enjoy putting the garden to bed for the season, Sandy.

>111 vancouverdeb: Hi Deb, always nice to hear that someone thinks my HTML capabilities are not so incompetent.
Of course I'm "fooling" everyone and save a plain text note with the codes, from when my very expert geeky daughter helped me.

This method works well until I goofed up and used an M$-Word page to type up my longer posts. I now have discovered that the quote marks in Word are _not_ the same as what's required in html, and look different in plain text. Took me (off and on) all day yesterday to finally discover this little factoid.

>112 richardderus: Hi RD, thanks for dropping by.
I was particularly pleased about the Carol Fisher Saller book. It was an early reviewer's copy. While it took me a little time to get into the meat of the story, I found it a compelling narrative.

Definitely a YA novel, though I found it a very good story for adults, too. I know the variable sensitivities of the 'Tween set might need a gentle caution, considering there's such an unjust death of a close family relative to the protagonist.

On the ER topic ~ I think I am done with requesting books.
When I first joined the Early Reviewers group (2017), there were lots of good authors there and publishers seemed to send books that had a polished version and yet were often not close to being released. It was as if we, the LT folks, were volunteer copy editors given a final pre-pub version and could actually help authors change a few niggles that might improve the story.

Well, in my experience, the whole publishing industry has apparently done away with the idea of polished work and copy editors (as you have time and again confirmed).

I have 3 more ER reviews to write and honestly, the stories are so poor and smack of beginners that need to either attend writing workshops and learn to 'kill your darlings' as Stephen King wrote (On Writing). Or, fuggetabutit.

I think too many of the current ER titles are by unpublished or newbie-published authors and really decent writing has not been presented for review. It's as if the publishers ask exactly one question: is it marketable? Seems like that's an opinion their editors, if they even use them, should answer *after* the author has submitted revisions.

>113 SandyAMcPherson: Sandy, I can sympathize with your quotation mark quandary. I have run into that too, and it's really difficult to spot. Like you, I have a document with HTML strings for common scenarios like book covers, and I *know* that document has the correct quotation marks so I'm good as long as I copy/paste from there.

All of this headache is because Apple introduced something called "smart punctuation" which converts straight quotation marks to curly ones, and two hyphens to an em dash. You can turn that off in your settings, but if you're like me you'll then find yourself wanting curly quotes somewhere ...

>115 lauralkeet: Laura! Thank you so much for your comments.

I had no idea this was an Apple-thing. I used an older Mac until 2021 and I've really disliked a number of OS (?) changes to common applications. iPhoto was a great image managing program. The new Mac has a default program, Preview and nothing resembling iPhoto.
And of course now I realize that my problem originated by simply transferring an old file from my 2012 Mac to the 2021 Mac.

As a professional CSer and code-knowledable person, it is comforting to know that the experienced computer/HTML users can be troubled by these idiosyncratic auto-settings (until you deliberately turn off those functions).

Hi Sandy, I'm glad that information was useful. I am also a "professional CSer and code-knowledgeable person," which is definitely a help in these situations but geez Louise, it still can be difficult. I feel for the everyday user who is suddenly beleaguered by errant quotation marks.

>114 SandyAMcPherson: +1 on everything you said about ER.

*smooch*

>114 SandyAMcPherson: I requested a few and won two. They never arrived though so I just gave up requesting. Books available for Canadians are limited as it is. Sounds like I am not missing much.

Happy week ahead!

>113 SandyAMcPherson: Oh, I've run into that problem with different "'s over applications - though I'm not sure if M$ is the only offender.

>120 quondame: and >117 lauralkeet: Thanks for these comments.

I mistakenly wrote (in post #116), As a professional CSer and code-knowledable person....

I was actually meaning to acknowledge that Laura was the professional CSer person. The comfort was in knowing she had a glitch like mine as well, despite *her* professional background.

I am definitely not a CS-trained researcher/professional in any sense.

I can't figure out how to size my books covers on LT, so , indeed I am impressed at your HTML proficiency. I have also given up on Early Reviews on LT. As Anita said, there are few available for Canada, and I would just as soon chose my own books.

>119 figsfromthistle: Anita, I sure understand that and have seen other folks being of the same mindset because it was too frequent that the books didn't arrive.

It's so frustrating because if you win something that's not delivered for whatever reason, it means you lost out in that batch.
I will acknowledge that the ER staff here like Abigail, go the extra mile to nudge the publisher to resend the book.

I have sometimes wondered if sending out books from the publisher is halted due to an excessive number of negative reviews. I have only personal evidence of this, but "a sample size of one does not a valid statistic make".

>118 richardderus: Richard, thanks for the +1 (*grin*)

I'm seeing a lot of comments (not just today on my thread) about disenchantment with the quality of Early Reviewer book selections, especially those books available widely enough to include Canada.

This includes e-books, so postage isn't so much the issue as perhaps the difference in population size:
Canada (38,930,000) vs the USA (333,288,000)

So if the book review assignments go out North America-wide, the potential pool of the reading/reviewing population is probably an order of magnitude larger in the USA.

Whether this disparity affects books distributed, is an interesting question (to which I have no answer, just curiosity). Judging only by the longer lists of ER books if I select USA as "my country", I would say Yes, Canadian readers are less likely to have the same chance at a greater breadth of choices.

Though I've only been on LT for 5 years, I noticed awhile ago that the 'Available in Canada' titles were heavily weighted to YA and Children's genre (OK by me, I like those); but also, the writers were mostly complete unknowns in my experience.

>122 vancouverdeb: I pm'd you to provide an example, but apparently there's some geeky trick that CS - HTML experts on this group know how to do: the 'trick' allows someone else to look at your post and see the actual HTML.

I think Susan (quodame) did that once, to explain to me why some of my book covers were defaulting to my chosen "blank default cover".

>125 SandyAMcPherson: I explain things even before the hat has left the hand, I do.

I use the formula:

<img height=200 src="image url">

I like to have my cover images be the same height so that's what I control, the width is always proportional so I don't worry about that. 200 makes them big enough for me to see on my disply though it might not work for others.

>121 SandyAMcPherson: well that's funny. I totally accepted your claim to "CS" qualifications!

Hi Sandy. For the same reasons you and others mentioned, I chose to stop trying for ER books. For one thing, as you all said, the selections available for Canada were slim pickins'. And I realized that I should better focus on reading the books I already own since I will never live long enough to get to them all anyhow (though that point has not seemed to stop me from buying books, apparently...). Also, I am very much a mood reader and I always felt badly if I didn't read an ER book right away in order to review it. But sometimes, I just didn't feel like it. Anyhow, no big deal.

>124 SandyAMcPherson: The Canadian publishing landscape's one that's got complexities the US doesn't have, including a formal second-language protection that mandates resources be spent on it. The Anglophone market there's about the size of Texas...Canada as a whole is about the market size of Texas plus Oklahoma...spread out over a country bigger than the lower 48. When I worked at Delacorte, we were always considering the warehousing and shipping premiums that publishing a title in Canada would impose without adding many sales, so often just skipped it for simple shipments of finished books...taxed by your Federal Government there to discourage just such profit-driven decisions. Canadian publishers don't compete with US publishers on our home territory very often because the costs are ENORMOUS compared to the additional profits when using ye olde system of print, ship, distribute and try to sell.

What irks me mightily is that the US bookselling and publishing industry is absolutely against adopting tech like the Espresso Book Machine at the retail level because it affords consumer control and circumvents their gatekeeping. Jason Epstein's probably still whirling in his grave because sixteen years on the damn thing's still unused. IMAGINE the Canadian, Kiwi, Aussie presses whose work could come take .001% of their sales! The Horror, The Horror.

I've been exercised about this since the 1990s. Sorry for taking up thread room on your patch.

>129 richardderus: Don't need to apolgise!
I always welcome discourse here from other's experiences (and I've used your thread as a platform a few months back, too. Recall the renaming of the Greenaway Medal furor?)

>126 quondame: Hi Susan,
When I copy/paste what you posted...


I get the famous blank square with the broken page icon in the upper left (of course because there's no image url).

The point is what's the secret to getting the sentence with the sideways angel brackets to show to explain the way to manage posting (in this case) a height-controlled image?

>131 SandyAMcPherson: I almost always use images on LibraryThing and mostly they show.

In order to display < you must type:
&#060; or &lt;

In order to display > you must type:
&#062; or &gt;

These are specific HTML character entities

Which I look up every damned time in the back of HTML The Definitive Guide which sits on the small bookcase behind my huge MAC screen, just below the shelf with all my Dunnett historical novels and a my Tepper Land of the True Game omnibuses.

>127 lauralkeet: And yet when I was first on LT, you were a major help to showing me how to upload photos to my Gallery and Junk drawer as well as how to post images on Talk threads.
However that was 5-years ago and I remember such kindness, but likely you have helped dozens of members with no HTML background.

One thing I've never managed is to do more than the Wiki explains, which is an indication that I am not on a learning curve.

>132 quondame: Hey, thanks for that geeky answer.
I 💖 the trick. I pasted the codes on my computer's Sticky Notes.

WRT HTML: The Definitive Guide, there's a copy at my local PL, but it's 1998 and Bill Kennedy isn't apparently one of the authors.

What version do you recommend? Our province-wide system has this title in holdings not locally, so I could hunt for the version suited to my capabilities.

>134 SandyAMcPherson: My HTML guide is from the 1996. But the edition shouldn't matter much the basic codes are an appendix in the back and while they're may be more of them, the old ones stay the same. And the link in >132 quondame: leads to most of the ones I've used.

>128 jessibud2: Hi Shelley. Thanks for stopping by.
I took awhile to get back here because (ahem!) someone posted a link to such a fun brain teaser, https://metazooa.com/

Helluva good thing there's only 1 game available per day, huh?

As for ER, I am of the same mindset, also being very much a mood reader. I don't like the grind of having to read something that is what I would rate less than (3★'s being defined as readable, sporadically engaging, 'though flawed workmanship.
In recent years, definitely the title choices have hit the lower rungs of quality in accomplished plotting, along with the writing .

>135 quondame: Good to know. I love the idea of the appendix. Perhaps even scan-able to save to my computer. 😊

>133 SandyAMcPherson: 5 years? Wow, time does fly around here. Well, I'm sure glad it was helpful. I wish LT had more user-friendly ways of posting images and doing other HTML formatting in Talk. In my early LT days I was hopeful they might improve that eventually but I guess not.

>130 SandyAMcPherson: I do remember the Greenaway Medal kerfuffle...it's not a problem for me for others to come ride hobbyhorses on my threads, but not everyone feels the same way. Better safe than sorry...

>138 lauralkeet: Yup, doesn't seem like 5-years here, but the pandemic apparently skewed my sense of time.

I don't mind the need for HTML formatting but then I'm not such a stranger to weird requirements for running programs on all kinds of lab instrumentation.
Some of the machines used in analytical work had the *most* byzantine requirements for entering the commands. I don't miss that aspect of my career at all !

>139 richardderus: "...hobbyhorses on my threads..."

For me, respectful hobbyhorses and the ensuing conversation are one of the attractive aspects to the Talk threads.

I don't often request books from LT's ER offerings these days, but "the writers were mostly complete unknowns in my experience" is not a turn-off for me. I discovered a couple excellent new-to-me authors through the program in the early years, as well as receiving new books from more well-known names. I just think the overall quality of the give-aways has gone down. Or maybe I've grown old and picky...that seems to have affected my reading choices across the board!

>141 SandyAMcPherson: We completely agree about this...others, not so much.

>114 SandyAMcPherson: I'm moving in the opposite direction; I posted my first ER book review a few days ago. The author was (fairly?) new, but he wrote decently, and the book was interesting. I gave it 4 stars. OTOH, it was the *only* one that appealed to me that month to request, and there were none at all appealing enough in the following month (September 2023), so there's that too. But on the third hand - I'm always picky about what I read, even among LT's recommendations. So no surprise that most of the ER choices totally failed to attract me.

>115 lauralkeet: >116 SandyAMcPherson: Was it Apple that started this lunatic fad, or Microsoft? I think I first encountered it from MS$, but that could simply have been because that was the only one I was using at the time.

>145 ArlieS: I'm happy to blame MSFT for anything, Arlie! I have only experienced the phenomenon on Apple but that doesn't mean they invented it.

End of the month. Where did the summer go? (Yes, rhetorical question).
We had a touch of Frost last night ~ the neighbour's roof was twinkling in the early morning dawn.

We've spent the last 10 days or so readying the veg plot for the rototilling man to turn over the surface layer. Lots of sand hauled in by pails-full to lighten the soggy clay-heavy garden soil.

So nice to see visitors to my rather moribund thread.
I intend to reply to the new posts as soon as I recuperate from unaccustomed heavy yard work. I am sorry I haven't the stamina like I used to enjoy. TTFN 👋

>142 laytonwoman3rd: Hi Linda,
In ER wins, I used to succeed in finding satisfying new-to-me and debut authors. The good discoveries have mostly faded of late and in my last 2 years of 'wins', only a couple were stand out novels, in the Children's or YA genre. Adult reads were 'crickets'.

I haven't found a new (or new to me) author with only one, maybe two books under their belt ER or otherwise. I have read new series by an author whose work I liked in a different genre. So yes, I've definitely grown old and picky too!

>144 ArlieS: Hi Arlie, I skip many months-worth of ER offers because *nothing* seems appealing. I have collected several BB's this summer though (from other folk's thread and reviews), so that's a happy-reading prospect.

>146 lauralkeet: Yup, agree with that, Laura (... only experienced the phenomenon on Apple but that doesn't mean they invented it.)

To me, it's strange that website programming and operating systems seem to move in concert irrespective of whether the bass of the technology in the device is Apple or the PC/Windows.

While security issues may drive some similarities, I believe that many developments are not assessed at all for a 'user-friendly' aspect.

End of the month round up
September, books read = 11. Review groups by genre.

1. Early Reviewer wins
(catching up this month with one from summer that didn't arrive until a few days ago)

Maddie's Ghost (Carol Fisher Saller) ~

This Tween-YA story was woven around a young girl's race to solve a 1930s mystery involving her great-grandmother. Compelling read with nuances of a paranormal nature which spiced up the narrative.

Stone Soup (E. B. Mann) ~

A mid- to older-YA story, with a Cinderella-like main character ('Green Eyes') held in thrall by a supremely unpredictable, nasty mother. In the first half of the book, the MC is an engaging protagonist and we care about her destiny. The rest of the story, muddled writing and the adventure was not compelling.

A Donnybrook Affair (Robert E. Kearns) ~

Vintage-style murder mystery and a reasonably engaging theme. A contrived hiring of a private investigator (the MC) by a scheming woman hoping to escape her marriage. Predictably, events go awry and the culprits' plans trap them in their own machinations. The writing style was choppy with a ridiculous amount of detailed description that does not move the story along.

Calvin and the Sugar Apples (Ines F. Oliveira) ~

Told in the first person voice (a whinging main character), which didn’t enhance the tale about life's lessons (a pet chinchilla dying and the rough road to friendship), so no joy in a narrative that could reach children at their level and simply doesn't cut it as a book to engage kids.

2. Mysteries, Middle School and Older YA =

Darkest Hour (Book 4) ~


Haunted (Book 5) ~


Twilight (Book 6) ~


These three books are in The Mediator series (Meg Cabot). Although there are 2 more in the series (so far), I'm finished for now. The first 3 stories were intriguing, but the chronicle got stale, Cabot didn't keep the characters fresh, or move the story along in an interesting way using the mediator theme. Glad I read a few of the books, and would recommend them to a bored YA readership who might like the paranormal flavour.

3. Murder Mysteries, in the cosy-style

Murder at The Mena House (Erica Ruth Neubauer) ~


Murder at Wedgefield Manor (Erica Ruth Neubauer) ~ ~


These two Neubauer mysteries (part of a series) were not especially distinctive as vintage murder mysteries. Ultimately, I didn't enjoy the story as the MC character blundered through one episode to the next with faint regard for subtly or any hint of common sense about her actions. Other readers may find that this lightweight adventure perfectly fits their taste.

Jade Dragon Mountain (Elsa Hart) ~

An interesting story set in the 17th- and 18th-century period of China's history when the transition from Ming to Qing (Manchu conquest of China) occurred. These historical backstories were handled well, though the story's pacing was stodgy in moving the theme along. The narrative developed so slowly while painting the political implications (and potential circumstances with respect to the reasons for the victim's demise), that reader interest is lost and one doesn't 'live the adventure' while Li Du solves the murder.

The Tightrope Walker (DorothyGilman) ~

A young woman seeks justice based on the flimsiest of clues to the people involved in the wrong-doing. I was captivated by this old-fashioned style of telling a story in a way that draws on the characters and their actions. An excellent tale of the MC becoming a confident adult.

Despite rather a lot of low-star ratings, it was a good reading month. I have a couple other books on the go but they won't be finished for awhile. I have been indulging myself in some DVDs that came in while I was away in early September.

Sunday *smooch*, Sandy.

>152 richardderus: Thank you RD. Kind of you to check in. I've been very pressured lately by RL and haven'ylittered up hardly any of the Talk threads.

I've discovered I was way behind on listing my reading and now feel *totally* flustered.

It's hard when some of the books I read were when I borrowed from a friend's library in Victoria. I did indulge in a few reads of an evening and I was so sure I wrote down the titles somewhere. I guess the books were not very memorable.

I'm going to say sc*w it and throw in the towel... starting a new thread.