Familyhistorian's Reads for 2023 - Part 11

Welcome to my thread. My name is Meg. I am a bookaholic. That’s not a rare thing around here and it might be catching as my fellow 75ers and enablers can attest to. There will be talk about books, reading, Wordling and travel in 2023. Come along and see where my reading and travel take me. Should be an interesting ride.

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I write about genealogy and history on my blog. Follow my blog posts as I embark on another year of exploring and writing about my ROOTs (the family kind). You can see my latest blog posts at: A Genealogist’s Path to History

Challenges
Reading Through Time

Quarterly

January-March 2023 – WWI (1914-1918) - The Somme Legacy by M J Lee - DONE
April-June 2023 – 20th Century: Between the Wars (1919-1938) - The Bee's Kiss by Barbara Cleverly - DONE
July-September 2023 – 20th Century: World War 2 (1939-1945) - The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin - DONE
October-December 2023 – Modern History: 1946 – the Present Day

Monthly

January: Our Feathered Friends - The Evening Chorus by Helen Humphreys - DONE
February: Lions, Tigers and Bears, Oh My! - Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie - DONE
March: Notorious Women - Wild Romance: The True Story of a Victorian Scandal by Chloë Schama - DONE
April: April Fool - Son of a Trickster by Edin Robinson - DONE
May: The Big City – Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow
June: The Fabulous Fifties - The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro - DONE
July: Revolutions
August: Migration and Immigration - We Were Strangers Once by Betsy Carter - DONE
September: School Days - Curse of the Blue Tattoo by L.A. Meyer - DONE
October: Traditions
November: Indigenous Peoples - Indigenous Peoples, Ethnic Groups, and the State by David Maybury-Lewis - DONE
December: Reader’s Choice - The Windeby Puzzle by Lois Lowry - DONE

2023 Nonfiction Challenge

January: Prizewinners and Nominees
February: Hobbies & Pastimes. Gardening, Genealogy, Travel etc. - Trespassers in Time: Genealogists and Microhistorians by Anne Patterson Rodda - DONE
March: Empires - Condemned: The Transported Men, Women and Children Who Built Britain's Empire by Graham Seal - DONE
April: The Sea/Ocean
May: Literary Biography
June: Indigenous/Aboriginal Peoples/First Nations - Northwest Coast Indians by Mira Bartok - DONE - The Face Pullers: Photographing Native Canadians 1871-1939 by Brock V. Silverside - DONE
July: Explorations and Expeditions
August: The World of the Land, Trees and Plants - Holloway by Robert Macfarlane, Stanley Donwood & Dan Richards - DONE
September: Family Ties - Where are the grown-ups? by Ruth Badley - DONE
October: Crimes, Mysteries, Puzzles, Enigmas - Conan Doyle for the Defense: How Sherlock Holme’s Creator Turned Real-Life Detective and Freed a Man Wrongly Imprisoned for Murder by Margalit Fox DONE
November: Matters of Faith and Philosophy
December: As You Like It -Your Future Self: How to Make Tomorrow Better Today by Hal Hershfield - DONE

List of books for challenges

Reading Through Time

Quarterly

January-March 2023 – WWI (1914-1918)
April-June 2023 – 20th Century: Between the Wars (1919-1938)
July-September 2023 – 20th Century: World War 2 (1939-1945) - An Unlikely Spy by Rebecca Starford
October-December 2023 – Modern History: 1946 – the Present Day - Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

Monthly

January: Our Feathered Friends - The Evening Chorus by Helen Humphreys
February: Lions, Tigers and Bears, Oh My!
March: Notorious Women - Wild Romance by Chloe Schama
April: April Fool
May: The Big City – Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow - Sweet Thames by Matthew Kneale and/or The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros
June: The Fabulous Fifties - The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro
July: Revolutions
August: Migration and Immigration - We Were Strangers Once by Betsy Carter
September: School Days
October: Traditions
November: Indigenous Peoples
December: Reader’s Choice

2023 Nonfiction challenge

January - prizewinners and nominees - Having it so Good: Britain in the Fifties by Peter Hennessy - 2007 winner of the Orwell prize for political writing
February: Hobbies & Pastimes. Gardening, Genealogy, Travel etc.
March: Empires
April: The Sea/Ocean
May: Literary Biography
June: Indigenous/Aboriginal Peoples/First Nations
July: Explorations and Expeditions
August: The World of the Land, Trees and Plants
September: Family Ties
October: Crimes, Mysteries, Puzzles, Enigmas
November: Matters of Faith and Philosophy
December: As You Like It

Shared Reads

Peter Ackroyd's History of England series, a shared read of the series with Paul.

A History of England: Foundation
Tudors: The History of England from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I
Civil War: Volume III: The History of England this was also published as Rebellion: The History of England from James I to the Glorious Revolution - I own both titles
Revolution: The History of England from the Battle of the Boyne to the Battle of Waterloo
Dominion: The History of England from the Battle of Waterloo to Victoria's Diamond Jubilee
Innovation: The History of England Volume VI

Group Reads

11/22/63 by Stephen King in May with Kim?
East of Eden by John Steinbeck in July with Mark, MDoris, Linda P, Lynda, Paul, Anita

Little Free Library

Books culled in 2023

January - 16

February - 0

March - 6

April - 0

May - 6

June - 10

July - 3

August - 6

October - 10

November - 5

December - 4



LT Your Library number starting 2023 - 2944

Books read in October 2023

1. The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin
2. On the Way to the Wedding by Julia Quinn
3. The Hidden Thread by Liz Trenow
4. Agent Josephine: American Beauty, French Hero, British Spy by Damien Lewis
5. The Black Cat by Martha Grimes
6. Calculated in Death by J.D. Robb
7. Poppy Redfern and the Midnight Murders by Tessa Arlen
8. No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister
9. Mr. Churchill’s Secretary by Susan Ella MacNeal
10. A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow
11. Book Lovers by Emily Henry
12. Persuader by Lee Child
13. Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
14. Conan Doyle for the Defense: How Sherlock Holme’s Creator Turned Real-Life Detective and Freed a Man Wrongly Imprisoned for Murder by Margalit Fox
15. And Dangerous to Know by Darcie Wilde

Books read in November 2023

1. Festive in Death by J.D. Robb
2. Homecoming by Kate Morton
3. Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon
4. The East Indian by Brinda Charry
5. Something Wicked by Jo Beverley
6. Reykjavík by Ragnar Jónasson and Katrín Jakobsdóttir
7. Breadcrumbs and Bombs by Susan Finlay
8. Marple by various authors
9. Crazy Stupid Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams
10. What She Ate by Laura Shapiro

Books read in 2023

Books acquired in 2023

Acquisitions in October 2023

1. Scars of Independence: America's Violent Birth by Holger Hoock
2. Colonial Comics: New England 1620-1750 by Jason Rodriguez
3. Death has Deep Roots by Michael Gilbert
4. The Wife of Willesden by Zadie Smith
5. Molly Miranda: Thief for Hire by Jillianne Hamilton
6. It Began with the Marbles by Jane Ross Potter
7. ma meilleure amie by Jean-Nicolas Vallee
8. Immersion and Emotion: The Two Pillars of Storytelling by Michelle Barker & David Griffin Brown
9. Mastering Plot Twists: How to Use Suspense, Targeted Storytelling Strategies, and Structure to Captivate Your Readers by Jane K. Cleland
10. Writing 21st Century Fiction: High-impact Techniques for Exceptional Storytelling by Donald Maass
11. I Only Read Murder by Ian Ferguson
12. We Should Not Be Afraid of the Sky by Emma Hooper
13. Sunset and Jericho: A Wakeland Novel by Sam Wiebe
14. White Riot: The 1907 Anti-Asian Riots in Vancouver by Henry Tsang

Welcome!!!

Happy new thread Meg!

>14 quondame: You're so good at being first, Susan! Thanks for the new thread wishes.

Thanks.

Not many on LT this time of night (for us), that's all.

>16 quondame: A yes, we kind of outlast them all but then they're out and posting before we get up for the day. So there is that.

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread, Meg. I am not going to comment on the number of posts between you and Anita but.........................

Happy new thread, Meg!

Happy new one, Meg!

Happy new thread, Meg. Waiting for a word or two about that topper. It's cute

Happy Sunday, Meg. Happy New Thread! I hope those current reads are treating you fine.

Happy new thread Meg. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

184. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery



The real life book club that I attend has started up again after a hiatus and our read for this month was The Elegance of the Hedgehog. A story in translation, the book was a bit of a departure for us told as it was through chapters from the POV of two characters in a building; the widowed and intellectual concierge and the suicidal teenage daughter of a family who were tenants in the building and oblivious to their daughter’s intent. There was a lot of deep and philosophical thought, especially on the part of Renée, the concierge. Things changed when one of the units was sold to a Japanese man who saw beyond the mask that Renée wore as concierge. This also caused a connection between her and the teenage girl.

It was an interesting and different way to write a story. It took a while to get into the rhythm of it but I appreciated it after a while but thought that the ending sent the wrong message. But that was just my opinion while others at book club picked up a different message from the denouement.

>18 figsfromthistle: Thanks Anita!

>19 PaulCranswick: What we're at the same number of posts again, Paul? Maybe we can share and muck up your stats.

>20 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita!

>21 katiekrug: Thanks Katie!

>22 jessibud2: Hi Shelley, that topper is a photo that I took while stopping in Charlottetown on a cruise to see the colours that I took in September/October. There were lost of scarecrows around for their scarecrow festival which is a thing in PEI. According to John's thread, (John Simpson), it's also celebrated in England, at least in his part which is in Yorkshire.

>23 msf59: Thanks Mark, the books are treating me well. So well, I'm behind in reviews and trying to get caught up.

>24 mdoris: Hi Mary, the weekend is going well especially as the weather gods arranged to have our rain fall overnight so it is damp but not actually raining now.

185. Death in a Strange Country by Donna Leon



As I read the second book in the Brunetti series, Death in a Strange Country, I picked up on the mouthwatering food. Thank you to everyone who pointed that out to me. Beyond that it was an interesting case. An American was found floating in a canal and Brunetti’s boss demanded it be classified as a mugging gone wrong. Brunetti embarked on an investigation in spite of this, which led to an American base close to Venice, illegal dumping and further murder. A plus was the view of Italy with all of its different character and baggage, a minefield for the unwary but not for Brunetti.

Happy new thread, Meg.

Happy New Thread, Meg!

Happy new thread, Meg. I read The Elegance of the Hedgehog years ago and really liked it. I hope you continue to savor the Brunetti mysteries. ;)

>30 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks Reba!

>31 vancouverdeb: Good to see you here, Deborah, and thanks!

>32 BLBera: It took me a while to get into the swing of The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Beth. It was a bit more intellectual that what I'm used to. The Brunetti's are good ones and I have a whole series to look forward to.

Happy new one, Meg!

186. Portraits in Fiction by A.S. Byatt



Portraits in words and portraits in paint are opposites, rather than metaphors for each other. A painted portrait is an artist’s record, construction, of a physical presence, with a skin of colour, a layer of strokes of the brush, or the point, or the pencil, on a flat surface. A painting exists outside time and records the time of its making.… A portrait in a novel or a story may be a portrait of invisible things – thought processes, attractions, repulsions, subtle or violent changes in whole lives, or groups of lives.

In Portraits in Fiction the author contrasts the feeling and reality that are conveyed in the different mediums of portraiture, those of paint and words. It was not something that I had thought about in depth before and many interesting points and comparisons were made. As befitting such a work, there were also many portraits pictured in the pages.

>34 drneutron: Thanks, Jim, and thank you for making it all possible!

187. A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Kluz Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan



In Fever in the Heartland, the author focused on the rise and fall of David C. Stephenson, who rose to be Grand Dragon of the KKK. His base was in Indiana and his aim, high political office and, with the spread of the Klan’s power throughout the US, it looked like more and more of a possibility as the ranks of grew in the ‘20s and ‘30s.

In my searches through US newspapers of this era, I had been surprised at the many, many reports of lynchings. This account made it clear that to not be other, a person needed to be white and protestant. Droves of people joined in territories that included the north, Stephenson’s area of influence. But this leader was a man who preached one thing and did the opposite. But then, as he said, “I’m the law in Indiana.”

There were parallels drawn with the present. This made clear from the early pages as the introduction contained this passage:
”No one can deny that the United States is a white Protestant country,” wrote the “Fiery Cross”, the weekly newspaper of the Indiana Klan. Stephenson’s press organ was filled with scare stories of those seeking to find a home in a new land. “We receive at our ports of immigration an ignorant and disreputable omnium-gatherum of scorbutic and vicious spawn, people who possess neither blood nor brain, unclean and uncomprehending foes of American ideals.” The governor of Georgia, Clifford Walker, told a Klan rally in 1924 that the United States should “build a wall of steel, a wall as high as heaven” against immigrants.

Hi Meg, dropping by to admit I was way behind on the previous thread... and dawdled there tonight to admire the travel photos from visiting Atlantic Canada, etc.

My fave trip in the only city you visited was Quebec City. We dined at Aux Anciens Canadiens, too. It certainly is a very picturesque restaurant.

Amazing reading mo-jo, up to #187 now. I've picked up some book ideas, though not exactly BBs, just titles to keep inn mind. I'm trying to be selective about what I add to my BB list this year.

Thanks for the sympathy over on my thread, re the 'flu. As I wrote there, a week of the blahs, a couple days of definite illness and then a surprisingly fast recovery once I was through the worst. I wonder if the virus was losing its virulence having passed through several other members in my social circle first.

>38 SandyAMcPherson: Good to see that you are feeling better, Sandy. Yeah, my reading has been going well this year, mostly it has to do with library holds that need a fast turn around.

I'm glad to see that my travel photos are still holding up. It was an amazing trip and the weather was great, hard to believe right now with the onset of cold weather, that it was only last month.

I also liked Portraits in Fiction, Meg.

>40 BLBera: It was an interesting take on the subject, Beth. I particularly liked the fact that one of the early works cited was a portrait of Elizabeth I that has always arrested my attention when I look at it.

188. Obsession in Death by J.D. Robb



The next book I read in my reread of the in death series was Obsession in Death in which a woman, obsessed with Dallas, started leaving bodies behind. At first these were people the perpetrator deemed to have crossed Dallas in some way. That soon changed and Dallas’ friends became the targets. It was up to the determined cop and her crew to stop the killing and bring the obsessed one to justice. This was book 40 in the series.

This has never happened to me before. I was running out of time to read I Have Some Questions For You which I borrowed from VPL. It looked like I could renew it but when I tried it said there was a hold on it, so I couldn't. I'm returning it today but I still want to read it so I put it on hold again a couple of days ago. And my hold came in. So today, I'm returning the book that I tried to renew and picking up the book that is waiting for me.

189. I Know Who You Are: How an Amateur DNA Sleuth Unmasked the Golden State Killer and Changed Crime Fighting Forever by Barbara Rae-Venter



Researching and writing about family history is one of my raisons d’etre and when I retired in the fall of 2017 I timed when I would no longer be working so that I could attend a genealogy conference on the other side of the country. I opted to stay in the hotel where the conference would be held thinking that there would be nighttime activities outside of the main conference hours. Well, that didn’t happen. So one night I wandered down to the bar in the Lord Nelson Hotel. As I was sitting there another attendee joined me at my table. Her name was Barbara and she was heavily into DNA. The stories she told were fascinating. She was talking about using genetic genealogy to solve crimes which at that time I hadn’t realized was possible.

I remember her speaking about the Lisa Project, trying to find out the origins of a girl who knew nothing about her past having been abducted at an early age and then passed on. The story about finding her past and the other investigations in which Barbara was involved are detailed in I Know Who You Are: How an Amateur DNA Sleuth Unmasked the Golden State Killer and Changed Crime Fighting Forever. I was happy to see that Barbara had written about her investigations because she had clearly wanted to talk about them when I met her.

>44 Familyhistorian: She took a forensic genealogy course I was in right about the time she'd solved the case. She talked about it in class, but we couldn't say anything until her identity became public knowledge. She also talked about other cases.

>45 thornton37814: I'm not surprised that she talked about her investigation in class, Lori. She was so involved in the investigations that I think she couldn't not talk about it. I met her before the investigation to find the Golden State Killer was under way but she had done a lot of other DNA sleuthing before she got into that case and doing the work was a large part of her life.

>44 Familyhistorian: Fascinating anecdote, Meg. DNA has apparently cleared up many cold cases and also revealed wrong convictions. All good, IMHO.
Edited to say, my PL has this! So it's a BB for me and on my TBR list.

>47 SandyAMcPherson: Thanks Sandy. Crime solving with DNA investigations is fascinating but not without controversy as it uses databases to which family historians voluntarily pay to submit their DNA for the purposes of finding family links, not as a means for catching criminals. When law enforcement started uploading profiles engineered from DNA at crime scenes, that opened up a whole can of worms. So maybe not all good from everyone's stand point.

>48 Familyhistorian: WOW, never even thought of that.
Ethics... yeah.

>25 Familyhistorian: I need to read that one again. It has been far too long.

>35 Familyhistorian: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendation, Meg!

>37 Familyhistorian: I really need to get to that one. I have enjoyed all of the books by Timothy Egan that I have read and that one has been in the BlackHole for a while now.

>44 Familyhistorian: That looks like one I need to track down!

Happy new thread, Meg!

>49 SandyAMcPherson: To the extent, though, that DNA helps find criminals and overturn wrongful convictions I'm for it.

>49 SandyAMcPherson: There was a huge controversy over law enforcement's practises once the owners of the DNA database companies found out what the crime fighters had been sneaking on to the DNA sites and an outcry from the owners of the DNA on those sites too.

>50 alcottacre: Thanks Stascia! Good luck tracking all those books down.

>51 RebaRelishesReading: Yeah, I'm for it too, Reba but then most of my DNA isn't from North America so they are unlikely to find anything through having access to my DNA.

Hi Meg,

I've been off LT for over six months and have just started to catch up on threads - got a surprise to see that you've just finished A Fever in the Heartland. I reserved it from the library yesterday and had never heard of it till last week. I will need to be in the right mood for it though...

I'm about 15 books into the Donna Leon Inspector Brunetti series and the food and the descriptions of Venice are great. I read one or two of them a year and at this rate will never get to the end!

Loved the trip photos in your last thread too.

>55 cushlareads: Hi Cushla, good to see that you're back on LT! Looks like you have lots of good reading in store.

>54 Familyhistorian: But then I don't expect they'll be solving crimes using your DNA lol

>57 RebaRelishesReading: But they could use my DNA, Reba. They use the DNA on the databases - everyone's DNA, not just criminals. Then if they find a close cousin match, they build down trees to see how the DNA match and the suspect match could be related until they figure out what family the suspect comes from. So it is everyone's DNA that they use.

>58 Familyhistorian: Ah, I see what you mean

>59 RebaRelishesReading: Yeah, it opened up a whole can of worms.

Went to a greenhouse to make a winter hearty planter for my front porch on Saturday with a friend. Coming home today the planter was on the floor in my back seat. I went for miles driving highway speed and everything was okay until I got close to home and took a couple of corners close to my home. It started smelling earthy and when I looked the planter had tipped over and there was earth on the floor on both sides of the back seat. I got the planter replanted and most of the dirt out off the floor. Can't find the charger for my dust buster though and it is ages old. Looks like I need a new one. Maybe they've improved in the 20 odd years since I bought the last one.

>61 Familyhistorian: - Don't hold your breath, Meg. I have been trying for the last few years to find a new dust buster worthy of its name. Sadly, they truly don't make things of value any more. They make them cheaply so consumers have to replace them sooner. My old one is in the charger all the time and still barely has any suction. The newer ones make a loud powerful sound but just can't hold a candle to the old ones, when it comes to really cleaning up. My dust pan and brush are what I usually end up using. :-(. Let me know if you find a good one!

>62 jessibud2: Truthfully I barely used the one I have that I can't find the charger for. I probably won't use the one I get much more either. I'm not a very good housekeeper but I come by that naturally. My mother taught me there are more important things than keeping up with the never ending cleaning.

Have a marvelous Monday, Meg!

>64 alcottacre: Have a wonderful week, Stasia!

>63 Familyhistorian: - LOL! I am not a very good housekeeper either even though my mother was a cleanliness nut. I think this was my *rebellion*. I generally clean before my pet sitter comes (when I am away) so she won't think I am a total slob but other than that, with 2 cats, why bother. I used to also clean before every time my mother visited but that stopped years ago. I once told her that if she wants my house to be clean, she has to be well enough to visit regularly. Sadly, that didn't happen.

>66 jessibud2: I know that need to clean up before others come. I do that too. Even for when trades people come because the spiders around here are relentless.

190. The Weaponization of Lonliness: How Tyrants Stoke Our Fear of Isolation to Silence, Divide, and Conquer by Stella Morabito



The concept of The Weaponization of Loneliness sounded both interesting and alarming. The author used examples of past revolutions that manipulated the human need for connection to further their own ends. The Puritan Revolution in England, the Reign of Terror in France, Mao’s Great Leap Forward and the Russian Revolution after Stalin took over, were given as examples to make the point of how the state took over weakening all ties to family and community to pursue an ideology. Parallels to recent protests and government actions were then drawn. The recent events were concerning when taken all together although the author’s interpretation of some government policies I took with a grain of salt and others, well I don’t live in the US so I can’t speak to a lot of what was written. So, while I felt that the author made some valid points, I found the narrative went from a world view when looking at the past examples to the view of recent events in one country although there was one nod to something that appeared in The Lancet. I was expecting something a bit more inclusive.

Another foggy day here and I'm trying to figure out which errands I need to run before the rains come. Lost at Wordle yesterday so starting a new streak once again.

Wordle 892 3/6

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abide, slope, scope

Had a doctor's appointment yesterday then met the people I travelled to the anniversary event with for dim sum. It had been a while and we don't eat like we used to but ordered as if we did. Lots of left overs. I got to take the egg tarts home. Love egg tarts. Don't think any of the others did though.

191. A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales



Beatrice Steele was the eldest of three sisters, so should have been the first out there looking for an eligible bachelor to entice into marriage but she had a guilty secret. She was interested in murder. The investigation of it, as read about in the newspapers that were following the exploits of a gentleman detective, Sir Huxley. Not that ladies were supposed to read newspapers. That wasn’t allowed in the book of etiquette that ruled the lives of the upper class inhabitants of the village of Swampshire.

A Most Agreeable Murder was a tongue in cheek send up of historical mysteries set among the mannered classes – an enjoyable read for those not looking for anything too taxing.

>70 Familyhistorian: That one sounds fun! I will have to see if I can find a copy. Thanks for the recommendation, Meg. During the holidays I look for books that are not "taxing."

192. Bloody January by Alan Parks



1970’s Glasgow in the midst of a cold January was a gritty place with graft and evil doing going strong in and out of the city and the police department itself. Harry McCoy was a detective with a troubled past and present, probably future too. In this case he and his green partner, Wattie were looking into the shooting of a young woman at the bus station. The investigation wasn’t about who killed her, that was clear enough as the young man had shot her in front of witnesses before he turned the gun on himself, but about what who was behind the killing.

It was very much a maverick cop type of story with a Scottish twist. Bloody January kept me turning the pages.

>71 alcottacre: "Not taxing" definitely describes it, Stasia. I got my copy from the library where it is popular on the holds list.

>70 Familyhistorian: I have that on my wishlist, Meg. I think my library has it . Glad you enjoyed it. I listed a number of places on my thread where you can find good puzzles. Of course, you may have some good places in Coquitlam.

>74 vancouverdeb: I borrowed it from VPL if your library doesn't have it, Deborah. I'll check out your thread to see the puzzle places. Thanks for that.

>62 jessibud2: and >63 Familyhistorian:, Cruising the threads though hoping I can get sleepy...
When we have to vacuum the mud and crud out of the car/SUV, we drive a couple blocks away to the car wash. There's a coin-operated vacuum outside (and one inside in winter, but you have to be also using the car wash).
Big bolted down cylinder-thing with a long hose and a stiff brush (I think there's a crevice attachment you can ask for, too). Vacuum works like a hot-damn for messes, Meg. Usually costs us only a couple 'loonies'.

I hadn't realized I'd gotten so behind on your thread, Meg, but I'm catching up now! Fascinating how you met the author of I Know Who You Are, and the whole controversy over the ethics of using DNA for crime. I only recently started dipping my toe into the DNA side of genealogy and am still figuring it all out.

>76 SandyAMcPherson: Thanks Sandy. Yeah, I might have to resort to using a car wash vacuum. I hope that cruising the threads made you sleepy.

>77 bell7: The DNA side of genealogy is very interesting but time consuming, Mary. Right now I'm trying to build out my family tree to include siblings of direct ancestors because the descendants of those branches will be the other testers in the databases who will come up as matches. I find Diahan Southard's webinars and classes helpful in figuring out the nuts and bolts.

It will help if most of your recent ancestry is in North America because most of the testers on Ancestry come from there. Finding matches for other places is more problematic although My Heritage's database is more wide ranging. I also have hopes for Living DNA which is UK centric but I wish they would set up the family tree part of their site.

Sweet Thursday, Meg. It looks like you have been reading some very good books. I also thought Fever in the Heartland was excellent. Egan is one of my favorite NNF authors. His roll continues.

>80 msf59: Fever in the Heartland was the first book that I have read by Egan and I thought it was well done. What other books of his can you recommend?

193. Indigenous Peoples, Ethnic Groups, and the State by David Maybury-Lewis



The nonfiction books in my personal library don’t get much action. I pulled Indigenous Peoples, Ethnic Groups, and the State from the shelf to meet a challenge. It was pretty much like reading a history within a history because it was a look at past states and their treatment of their various populations looked at from the point of view of the early 2000s. The state of the world was a lot different then but sadly not that much different in the larger scheme of things.

My acquisitions for November were a bit toned down from other months, which is a good thing. They were:

A Most Wanted Man by John Le Carre
Great-Uncle Harry: A Tale of War and Empire by Michael Palin
Build Better Settings by Eileen Cook + Chrystal Hunt
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons by Charlotte Gray
Live at the Commodore: The Story of Vancouver's Historic Commodore Ballroom by Aaron Chapman

I really want to read the Charlotte Gray book. I love her writing.

>84 jessibud2: I enjoy Charlotte Gray's writing too, Shelley. I have a few of her books on my shelf. The latest one I picked up at Costco.

If I had seen it at my Costco, I would have grabbed it. I always check what books they have. It wasn't there the last time I was there. I will keep my eyes open for it, though. Thanks

>86 jessibud2: The books at Costco are a bit hit and miss. I seem to luck out each time I go, though. It was fairly recent when I picked it up, in November sometime.

194. A Lady Compromised by Darcie Wilde



The latest episode of the Rosalind Thorne mystery series for me was A Lady Compromised. Rosalind was part of a house party ostensibly to help a connection, Louisa, prepare for her wedding but really to see Castle House and determine her feelings for Devon Winterborne, the now Duke of Castlemaine. Rosalind and Devon had been engaged prior to her family’s disgrace. The marriage would elevate her back into the circles of society she was raised to but was that what she wanted. More than that, could she keep herself from investigating the shooting death of the head of a neighbouring estate?

I've just been rejigging my library holds list. How could I have 9 books to pick up at the same time? I knew I'd have a bunch but other ones slipped in there as well. That means I will need to read the ones I have home already faster than I thought to make way for the new reads. No wonder I'm having a hard time getting to my own stacks. I had hoped to read and recycle a lot more this year. I'll need to make that a more definite aim in 2024.

>29 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg. You are reading such great books. I will see if my local library has

Your review is stellar!!

All good wishes to you. And, I love the topper. Are these dolls yours? How fascinating!!! They made me smle.

195. The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn



I was drawn to The Whalebone Theatre by the LT reviews and, of course, by the name. A story about the children of a convoluted family of the English landed class, the amateur theatre productions served to develop characters and memories as the three children grew and came into their own during WWII. It took a while to get stuck into the story but the characterizations gradually drew me in.

>90 Whisper1: Thanks Linda. I hope you enjoy the Donna Leon book.

The dolls in the topper were scarecrows that I saw when I was in Charlottetown in October. They have a scarecrow festival and there were some very picturesque ones.

>89 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg, I know all about the library book pressure but in the world of pressures it is not a bad one to have to deal with! Happy and fast reading to you!

>93 mdoris: Hi Mary, the library book pressure isn't hard to deal with. I'll just have to hope that I can fit in reading them all and that there aren't too many thick hard covers. The hard part is carrying them home on Skytrain.

196. Geared for the Grave by Duffy Brown



I enjoyed the author’s Consignment Shop mysteries so I picked up the first in the Cycle Path Mystery series, Geared for the Grave. The mystery was alright but I wasn’t in tune with the main character so the over the top humourous situations didn’t strike me as very funny.

This morning I hurried out to go for a walk before breakfast because it looked like it wasn't raining and there was a rain warning in place. Of course, as soon as I got a few blocks down the road the rain and wind started. I finished most of my walk without my umbrella turning inside out so I count that as a win and it gave me an excuse to stay in and get some chores done.

Events seem to pop up in the days before the holiday season. On Thursday I attended a ceremony outside Port Coquitlam city hall to bury a time capsule.



You can see the time capsule partially buried behind PoCo Heritage's president (the man with the umbrella) and the Port Coquitlam Counsellor. This week's blog post at A Genealogist’s Path to History is about the time capsule story.

197. The Windeby Puzzle by Lois Lowry



In 1952 workers in Windeby, Germany were using machinery to remove peat from a bog when they dug up some bones that turned out to be human. Further excavation revealed the body of a young person from the Iron Age. The author has used these facts as the basis to tell the story of the person found in the bog to life through her imaginings in The Windeby Puzzle. It was a story told in words and pictures and gave me a new appreciation for the bog bodies that I have seen.

>97 Familyhistorian: My granddaughter and I read this one together, and she really liked it. Of course, she loves the bog bodies, mummies, etc.

>98 BLBera: It was good, Beth. How fun that Scout is interested in bog bodies and mummies. I find them fascinating too. I like how the author told a story that brought the time to life.

The mall was definitely busier when I went there today. I wasn't very successful though so I'll need to go back again. Not something to look forward to at this time of year. I did do something Christmasy on Saturday. I helped out with Santa photos for PoCo Heritage. The reactions of the kids were priceless and Santa and Mrs. Claus were real troopers.

It's funny how the malls and other stores get so busy during December. I went to our local mall the other day just to buy some milk at Thrifty's and I found myself driving around looking for a parking spot. I have to go and do some shopping tomorrow and Thursday and I am not looking forward to it.

>101 DeltaQueen50: The parking lot at Coquitlam Centre was more full than usual but that's not saying much, Judy, as the mall doesn't attract numbers like it used to before online shopping. There were still plenty of places. I hope you find the same in the next couple of days.

198. I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai



Bodie Kane overcame a traumatic youth partially due to her time at Granby, a boarding school for teens. Not that her time there was without its downside. Going back there to teach the basics of podcasting in a mini semester, she was drawn into one of her student’s investigations of a murder on campus of a student who had been her roommate.

I Have Some Questions for You skillfully wove events and memories from the past with the characters' present day concerns. It was at once a puzzling who done it and an insight into things that occur in current lives to derail us and/or led us to reinterpret what we had once thought to be true.

>72 Familyhistorian: That one sounds good. Unfortunately my local library does not have a copy. I will have to look further afield.

>82 Familyhistorian: The state of the world was a lot different then but sadly not that much different in the larger scheme of things. Boy, isn't that the truth? A sad state of affairs to be sure.

>83 Familyhistorian: Nice haul!

>88 Familyhistorian: I have the first book in that series. Maybe one day I will actually get around to reading it!

>91 Familyhistorian: I already have that one in the BlackHole, so I am dodging that particular BB.

>97 Familyhistorian: >103 Familyhistorian: Again, BBs I get to avoid as I have already read those.

>104 alcottacre: Hi Stascia, the Rosalind Thorne series is a fun one, both historic and good mysteries. There are various social taboos that hold Rosalind back so that she has to navigate around them. It feels quite authentic.

Did you ever find a puzzle that suited you, Meg? If you did, which one ( or three ) ? I'm still working on my 1 st 2000 piece puzzle. I have not found much time for puzzlingly this month, so far.

I wandered into Mind Games in Coquitlam Centre shortly after your puzzle post, Deborah, and they had Mind Games Jigsaws on for 50% off so I got 2 1000 piece puzzles for just over $15. I haven't started them yet as other things keep distracting me. You know what I mean.

So, as often happens, especially at this time of year. I had two events scheduled for today. Ones that overlapped and were about an hours drive apart. I was going to go to the get together with the Questers, one of my genealogy groups, and the one that was further away. Only, the weather forecast is warning of snow coming in the afternoon so I decided on the closer one instead. When I emailed the Questers about my change in plans and why, a lot of other attendees didn't want to drive if it was going to snow. (Hey, we're in Vancouver, snow is that heavy wet slippery stuff here.) So now the Questers get together has been changed to tomorrow so I get to attend both events! I just hope they save me a seat for the PoCo Heritage lunch today.

199. A Traitor in Whitehall by Julia Kelly



The title of A Traitor in Whitehall drew me in but I wasn’t too sure about the read. I’d put aside the last book I started by the author, The Last Garden in England, which had been a book we were reading for the Family History Masterclass that I attend on Zoom. Only I couldn’t figure out how to do the analysis when there were three timelines in the book. It seemed like too much work to me.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Whitehall book was told from one POV, that of Evelyn Redfern, with one timeline. It was London in WWII, and Evelyn had been recruited to work in the cabinet war rooms. Only she had been also given a task to keep her eyes and ears open and to report to someone on the outside as there were ongoing leaks. It was worse than that, eventually there was a murder and Evelyn finagled her way into the internal inquiry that David Poole was undertaking as the police were getting nowhere. It was a good mystery and seems to have set up the two characters, Redfern and Poole, for continuing adventures.

When I met up with the Questers group, everyone was happy that we had moved the date. It was evident that it had snowed in the area of the BCGS library. Everyone brought goodies to share and we all rolled out of there two hours later and a few pounds heavier.

Today I stayed home with a cold. Strange how easy it is to pick one of those up during the seasonal gatherings.

200. Shadowplay by Joseph O'Connor



Henry Irving and Ellen Terry were well known in London’s theatre world. He was also the owner of the Lyceum Theatre and needed a manager to make things run and try and keep things in the black, if that could be done with the grandiose plans Irving had for the stage productions. Enter Bram Stoker, a clerk and scribbler from Dublin, to become the manager. It was while he was manager that Stoker penned Dracula. It wasn’t until after his death that it was discovered for the powerhouse that it became.

Shadowplay was a story of the theatre and the turbulent friendship of the three main characters, a tale that brought out the strangeness of the times and the fractious nature of their connection.

Sorry to read that you picked up a cold, Meg. Tomorrow I'm going to head out to Vandusen Gardens and enjoy the lights. I'm looking forward to it.

>112 vancouverdeb: Enjoy the lights, Deborah. I remember heading out there one year and they were spectacular. Lafarge Park in Coquitlam also puts on a light display every year and they have a lake to take advantage of too.

I'm trying to shake off the cold asap. I have lots more get togethers to go to!

>109 Familyhistorian: Hmmm. I may put this on my list. I quite enjoyed The Last Garden in England......

>108 Familyhistorian: Nice that you are able to attend both events. For once the bad weather seemed to work in your favour.

>114 figsfromthistle: I really liked A Traitor in Whitehall. Hopefully you do to. It's very recent and the hold list at the library reflected that.

Yeah, it's not often that bad weather works to my advantage.

201. All the Hidden Truths by Claire Askew



The story in All the Hidden Truths was about the aftermath of a crime, the shooting of 13 young women at a college by a fellow student and gunman who then killed himself with his last remaining bullet. It was not something the Edinburgh police were used to dealing with. They made up the investigation as they went along. The reaction of the parents and public was egged on by tabloid journalists, one in particular delighted in stirring the pot. Newly minted DI Helen Birch had had dealings with him in the past when her brother disappeared. Now he was out to get what he could out of the escalating tension in the shooting’s aftermath.

The narrative took a different tack, looking at those left behind after the tragic deaths, including the gunman’s mother, now a social outcast on the receiving end of threats of death and violence. The ending was satisfying.

>109 Familyhistorian: With both you and Richard recommending that one, I need to get my hands on a copy!

>111 Familyhistorian: >116 Familyhistorian: Adding those to the BlackHole.

I hope you are over your cold!

>117 alcottacre: Looks like my BB aim is true, Stasia. The cold is getting better and it isn't keeping me from getting out and about so all is good.

202. The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman



In ton circles a woman was considered on the shelf if unmarried by the age of 25. How much more invisible then, were those still on the shelf in their early 40s. But, with society’s eyes trained on the younger set of damsels, there were few left to follow the actions of the Colebrook twins, Lady Augusta and her sister Julia who thankfully had their own money because their younger brother and head of the family was more than willing to set them in what he considered their proper place. That was only one of their crosses to bare as the sisters embarked on a rescue mission to free a woman imprisoned in her home by her husband.

The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies was an action packed narrative that included highwaymen and ancient plots that polite society was not about to look into. I rooted for the twins to thwart the bad guys and wanted the story to go on longer so I’m glad to say that it looks like this was the first in a series

I'm slowly working my way through the pile of library book holds that I picked up 10 days ago. Of course, more holds came in while I was working on the original pile and I thought I'd paused the ones that could possibly do that. I might have snuck another in death book into my bag on the last library visit.

203. Your Future Self: How to Make Tomorrow Better Today by Hal Hershfield



Among the nonfiction books in the hold pile (there were a disconcertingly large proportion of those) was Your Future Self: How to Make Tomorrow Better Today. This was a really interesting look at how we treat our future selves. Turns out it’s often by shortchanging them or thinking that they will be into the same things that we are now. It was a commonsense look at how people can improve in this area.

So many events come at once in the lead up to Christmas. This past Wednesday was the Christmas meeting for BCGS but it was on Zoom so I was not fussed about it and went to an in-person meeting of the PoCo Genealogy group instead. There were only 5 of us there but we had snacks and enjoyed genealogy talk and the decorated Christmas trees in the museum space of PoCo Heritage. I don't usually get to meet up with this group as their meeting coincides with the meetings of my woman's group. But this time the PoCo Genealogy meeting was pushed back a week.

The next day I met some friends for lunch at a local restaurant which was very busy. It was good to see these two ladies as we have been trying to match schedules for a meet up for over half a year. So many things got in the way.

Now that it's the weekend, my social events have dried up and I'm trying to catch up with stuff I have scheduled. I was able to get my weekly blog post done. You can see it at A Genealogist’s Path to History.

It is about my Revolutionary War family which I've been focusing on lately. Ancestry has lots of lovely records about my 3 x great grandparents as they both had to go to court at separate times to prove their eligibility for a pension. I've had some of those records in my files for years but I'm now starting to take a closer look.

Great reads over here Meg! I know about the library pressure. i have about 8 waiting for me. Yikes.

>119 Familyhistorian: I have The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies waiting on my TBR piles. It looked like fun to me when I purchased it last spring or early summer, I forget. I need to move that up the stack.

I was thinking today as I was out walking from about 4:15 to shortly after 5pm - not long until the days begin to get longer. A good thought. We've had milder weather this fall/ nearly winter so far. I'm enjoying it.

>123 mdoris: Good luck with your library holds, Mary. I hope that there not all ones that other holds are waiting for.

>124 vancouverdeb: It is fun, Deborah. Well worth bringing up in the stack.

A good thought indeed that days will be getting long again. The days seem so short now when its dark just after 4 pm. It is nice to have warmer weather, though.

Well, that was easy!

Wordle 911 2/6

🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

abide, bacon

Connections, on the other hand, was a wash out.

So I'm not sure how to classify a recent read. It happened because I read the first chapter of Build Better Settings and there was an exercise that asked you to read the beginning of a favourite book to see how they set up the world and what clues they used to ground the reader in it. So, since it is one of my favourites and is written in the future, I reread the beginning of Naked in Death. I noted down the details about the setting but then dove right back into the book once again.

>92 Familyhistorian: I really like the scarecrows.
I am amazed at the amount of books you read this year! And, so many good ones as well.

It's been a good reading year for you.

>129 Whisper1: Hi Linda, those scarecrows caught my eye - so whimsical! The reads kept coming this year which was mostly because of me hitting the library hold button too often and then, of course, I had to read them quickly because the books were in demand. Next year I hope to read more of my own books.

Next year I hope to read more of my own books.
Ha, Ha Ha! Very funny!

>131 mdoris: Yeah, well I can try!

Good luck!

204. Junie by Chelene Knight



Since my RL book club started meeting in-person again, they have been getting book club sets from a local library. The latest book was Junie. A novel set in the 1930s, it followed young Junie who moved with her mother to Hogan’s Alley, a neighbourhood of immigrants and blacks at that time. Junie’s life with her alcoholic mother who sang in bars was rough but she met a close friend at school, Estelle. That helped some but was also confusing, in ways. Her art, though, that always got her through.

This was a coming of age story for a young woman who didn’t really fit but found ways to adapt. It was also a tale of a part of Vancouver which was destroyed in the name of progress.

>133 mdoris: Thanks Mary, something needs to happen to reduce the book stacks that are threatening to take over!

Yup, i know. I was more replying for me than you but we're all in the same boat I guess.

205. Disco for the Departed by Colin Cotterill



The earliest mystery in the Dr. Siri series that I found in the library was Disco for the Departed. It was my introduction to the characters and setting. Both were interesting as was the mix of the strange to me culture of Laos with the overlay of a recent communist takeover. Add to that the supernatural element as well as the mystery and I found it an intriguing read.

>136 mdoris: I think you are right, Mary. We both have a library habit. I'm not sure that your book buying habit is as bad as mine, though.

Or as good as yours Meg. It surely brings you great pleasure!

>139 mdoris: Both pleasure and guilt, Mary. I just need to get some of those books read. They looked so good when I bought them but they're less bright and shiny now.

I had forgotten all about the Colin Cotterill mysteries. I enjoyed them when I read them years ago. I had better get back to more! Thanks Meg.

>141 mdoris: I hadn't heard about the Dr. Siri series until I saw a review posted on Judy (DeltaQueen's) thread. That was my first read of one. Have fun getting back to the series, Mary.

206. Devoted in Death by J.D. Robb



Lovers who found that torturing and killing people added an extra kick to their enjoyment of each other, met in the south and, leaving a hidden trail of bodies in their wake, headed to the Big Apple. Dallas had just come back from vacation when she was assigned to investigate the body of a classical musician found dumped on a New York street. The investigation soon turned into the hunt for the deadly lovers as her team was joined by a deputy from Arkansas also on their trail. His reactions lent a little light relief to the team’s usual comradery in Devoted in Death.

I'm off to the library to pick up more holds. But at least this time, I'll be dropping off more than I pick up and it's lighter fare than the tomes of nonfiction I'm still working my way through.

>144 Familyhistorian: I'm glad you are getting lots of holds coming in. I checked books out of the university library before coming to my brother's house, but mainly because I could control the due date. Our public library's due dates are only 2 weeks, and that's just not enough time around the holidays. It would be okay if I could guarantee one would not be put on hold by someone else before I could get it to the library, but such is not the case. I gave myself a slightly longer date on these from the university library, but I knew I'd be back in my office by the due date.

You are reading to beat the band, Meg. I got Junie out from the library a couple of days ago. I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's on the Canada Reads Longlist, recently announced. I'm prioritizing finished my 2000 piece puzzle and getting gifts wrapped, so my reading seems especially slow these days.

>145 thornton37814: Two weeks! That's way too fast, Lori. Yes, I have lots of holds coming in. Today I got them from two different libraries because I had to track down The Girls Who Fought Crime and, since I had one book on hold there, another one made it onto my hold list as well. Both of those libraries allow 3 weeks to read them, though.

>146 vancouverdeb: I found Junie a good and fast read, Deborah. The chapters are very short which makes it speed along. I guess you need to free up the space where you are doing your puzzle. Good luck with getting it and the gift wrapping finished.

Well, I just have one more small present to wrap, thank goodness, Meg. I don't actually have to free up the space on my dining room table as we are having dinner and Eve at my sister's. I just want to move onto the next the next puzzle :-)

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

>149 vancouverdeb: Good planning to have the dinner at your sister's, Deborah. Best of luck getting the puzzle finished and have a wonderful Christmas! I hope you're planning to have a thread in 2024.

Nadolig llawen a blwyddyn newydd dda i ti!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you!

>151 SandDune: I love those dolls, Rhian!

>152 ronincats: Thanks Roni, best wishes for a Happy Holiday Season!

>153 johnsimpson: That's a cute card, John. All the best to you and yours for the Christmas Season and a better year in 2024!

Merry Christmas, Meg!!

>155 Carmenere: Thanks Lynda. Hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Meg!

Thinking about you during the festive season, Meg

>147 Familyhistorian: I wasn't sure if I was going to get to read it or not, but I found the ebook through Knox County Public Library. Now I just have to squeeze in reading it. I'll look at it later today and see if a chapter a day will get me through it before the book club meeting or if I need to come up with a different plan.

Hi Meg! I hope you post the link to your blog on your 2024 thread so I can go back and catch up! In the meantime,

>157 quondame: Thanks Susan, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

>158 PaulCranswick: Hope you enjoy/enjoyed your holiday feast, Paul, and get to join your family in celebrations soon.

>159 thornton37814: It's a slim one, Lori, 276 pages of text before the back pages. Short chapters too, so they should read quickly.

>160 karenmarie: Thanks Karen and I've drawn up the outline for my first 2024 thread which will include the blog link. Have a wonderful Christmas!

>162 Familyhistorian: Sounds good!

My Christmas Swap Santa sent me:
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
A Romantic Education
Falling Leaves &
The Year of Magical Thinking

207. Foreign Bodies: Pandemics, Vaccines, and the Health of Nations by Simon Schama



In a very recent book, published in 2023, Foreign Bodies: Pandemics, Vaccines, and the Health of Nations, the author looks at the history of various pandemics, the growth of vaccines and organizations interested in managing the health of nations. It looked at smallpox, cholera and plague, all diseases that have grown to pandemic size and the various people who came up with vaccines or other solutions to the problem only to be demonized. It’s a common story which he equated to the treatment of Anthony Faucis in the US as the public turned on him as part of the problem rather than seeing him as part of the solution. It was an interesting history and contained a lot of information that I hadn’t known, including how far people have rebelled against the decisions taken to safeguard their health.

Happy Holidays, Meg. I loved Dr. Siri! One of my favorite crime series books. I think I read the first 10 or so.

>166 Familyhistorian: Meg that one looks very interesting.

>167 msf59: Hi Mark, I hope you had a good Christmas but how could you not with Jack to brighten up the day. I don't remember you reading lots of mystery series so if it has your endorsement the Dr. Siri series must be good!

>168 mdoris: Did I get you with a BB, Mary? About time as I'm always getting nonfiction BBs from your thread, probably why I ended up with so many of them at once to read over Christmas.

208. Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry



The LT reviews of Old God’s Time have been favourable but I had a hard time with it not knowing where I was for a lot of it. That’s probably the point as Tom Kettle was having a hard time processing thoughts and memories due to his isolation and recent retirement. And it did reach me in that way but, as a retired person who lives on their own, it’s not a state that I like to explore, but it was masterfully done. In the end I completed it and appreciated the ending as much for how it tied everything up as for the fact that I was done with it.

>170 Familyhistorian: Meg it is always dangerous over here for BBs!

>119 Familyhistorian: >134 Familyhistorian: >166 Familyhistorian: Adding those to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendations and reviews, Meg!

>137 Familyhistorian: I need to get back to that series. Thanks for the reminder!

>143 Familyhistorian: I think I will be getting to that one shortly.

>165 Familyhistorian: Nice haul! Good on Santa!

>171 Familyhistorian: I am dodging that BB as I have already read it.

I hope you have had a wonderful holiday season, Meg, and best wishes for you in 2024!

>172 mdoris: Good to know, Mary. I feel the same way about your thread!

>172 mdoris: Hi Stasia, glad I piqued your interest with some reads at least. Hope you have a great New Year too!

Hi Meg are you going to join the 2024 Non Fiction challenge? It looks interesting. i think I might give it a whirl!
https://www.librarything.com/topic/356227#n8330158

I see there is an Edna Staebler award for Canadian creative non fiction. I have the three dog eared cookbooks (well used!) of Ms.Staebler. They are Mennonite recipes that she collected over time and they are fabulous. I make so many desserts from her books. They're old now!

>176 mdoris: Hi Mary, thanks for the link to the 2024 Non Fiction challenge. I hadn't looked at it yet. I'll have to have a look to see if I have any prizing winning nonfiction on my shelves. I try to use the challenge to actually read my own tomes. Good luck choosing your book for the first month's category. I find the prize winners a hard one to pick.

209. The Princess in Black by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale



I’m not sure where it was that I saw the beginning panels in The Princess in Black. It was probably a writing workshop of some kind. I found the story of the proper princess turning into a super hero cute and engaging but the workshop just showed the starting images. I wanted to see first story in the series through to the end so I borrowed it from the library. It was indeed an engaging story and the cartooning was fun as were the character’s names.

I did finish my puzzle, Meg! I've moved onto a 500 piece Christmas puzzle. I've ordered 23 and Me DNA test, and I'll let you know the results of that when I get them, which will be a while. My brother was kidding me over the holidays that he thinks one of my Scottish Great grandmother's " got mixed up " with an Indigenous man, and thus perhaps I have some Indigenous blood. I had thought of doing a DNA test last Christmas, because the the kits are on sale. He pushed me over the edge the Christmas. I don't think I actually have any indigenous blood, but just for fun I thought I would give it a try. I hope I can muster up that 1/4 tsp of saliva as I have a dry mouth.

Hi Meg, I am very glad that you enjoyed your first Dr. Siri book. I've been enjoying this series for quite some time although I tend to leave quite a bit of time between books! I am looking forward to settling into January as I have a pile of books that I am eager to get to.

Happy Holidays, Meg!!!

>166 Familyhistorian: - Foreign Bodies sounds very interesting. I'll look for it at the library.

Best wishes for the new year, Meg!

Hi Meg, thanks for all the visits to my thread this year. I was often derailed when I had time to check out the LT talk, so didn't delurk b=very much.

I think The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies will be a fun read, even though I've seen some readers thought it too fluttery. I put in a request for the e-book so can read it on the go.

Best wishes for the coming year ~ have a fun time on LT, too.

>179 vancouverdeb: I wondered in to Chapters yesterday, Deborah, and they had a whole area with jigsaws. Their boxing day sale was still on too. Yes, DNA tests always go on sale at this time of year. Good luck spitting in that tube. It took me a while when I did that for Ancestry DNA.

There was a rumour that my MIL had Indigenous blood which seemed likely as she definitely had Acadian ancestors. My son's Ancestry test showed his ethnicity as 1% Indigenous. So you might be surprised. Even if it doesn't show up, though, you still could have Indigenous roots. It all depends what was passed down genetically.

>180 DeltaQueen50: It was your thread that made me aware of the Dr. Siri books, Judy. Thanks for that. Have a Happy New Year. Good luck putting off diving into that pile of books.

>181 Berly: Thanks Kim. Good to see you out and around. Have a Happy New Year!

>182 katiekrug: Hi Katie, Foreign Bodies is a very recent book, published in 2023. It was in demand at my library. I hope you enjoy (if that's the right word) it when you get to it.

All the best for a Happy New Year!

>183 SandyAMcPherson: Hi Sandy, I had a hard time getting around the threads this year too. It didn't help that I travelled so much, I suppose. If you like Regencies I think that The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies will be a fun read for you.

Best wishes for a Happy New Year and more time and enjoyment for reading and LTing in 2024!

I'll be ready if I get 1% Indigenous, Meg! :-) My aunt did a couple of the tests and she got back 1% Japanese, and she, like my mom and her parents are 100 % Icelandic. Either the DNA tests get a few things wrong, or perhaps somewhere a bit of Japanese blood slipped in. I''ll have fun, at any rate. My aunt told me that her son did a DNA test like she has done, and in so doing he discovered she was actually his mom. Go figure! :-)

Glad you enjoyed your trip to Chapters. They do have some puzzles, particularly at the Granville and Broadway store. Perhaps at others too, but I mainly visit the Richmond Store and occasionally the Granville and Broadway store.

>189 vancouverdeb: Odd that the Japanese showed up with all that Icelandic, Deborah. The companies do update people's ethnicity from time to time as they update information from their reference populations so that might disappear in time.

I got the puzzle from the Chapters in Coquitlam which is walking distance from my home. I don't go there as often as I used to. Probably best not to because I'm running out of book room.

Hi Meg! Hope you had a happy holiday season! You were saying you had trouble getting around to the threads this year. I did too, but that's normal for me. I look but don't touch when I do. Next year I was thinking of mainly focusing on people who come to my thread, and then popping by my starred threads when I feel motivated. We'll see how that strategy works!

>191 The_Hibernator: Good luck with your strategy for 2024, Rachel. It's so hard, isn't it. It doesn't help that I'm a completest and try to read most of the thread (there might be news or good BBs lurking in there.)

Best wishes for you and your family to have a happy 2024!

210. The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy by Anne Ursu



In the land of Ilayria, boys could become sorcerers but girls like Marya were best kept in the background doing chores while their brothers studied to realize their full potential. Sorcerers were necessary in the land to keep the Dread from swallowing up communities. On the day that the team of sorcerers came to test her brother, Luka to see if he had potential to become one of them, Marya, who had been told to stay in her room didn’t because of circumstances beyond her control. She came to the notice of the team of sorcerers. After that she was sent to the Dragomir Academy for troubled girls. But were the sorcerers really the saviours of the land or was something more sinister going on? The Troubled Girls of the Dragomir Academy was an action packed read with a bunch of young women to root for.

Last night my ex-coworkers and I met up for our end of the year/Christmas season dinner at a local pub. It was great to catch up with everyone again. It had been a while since we usually meet in a park when it is warmer but, although it has been warmer than usual lately, it definitely hasn't been park weather.

Cute!

Connections
Puzzle #203
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟪🟪🟪🟪

if solved in this order or any with the same last line it ends up with Happy New Year

My December acquisitions were:

The 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance Comic Book by Gord Hill
Rabbit Hole by Mark Billingham
Sugar and Salt by Susan Wiggs
The Gentleman's Gambit by Evie Dunmore
The Roaring Days of Zora Lily by Noelle Salazar
A Heart Full of Headstones by Ian Rankin
What July Knew by Emily Koch
Get It Together with Sarah's Scribbles by Sarah Andersen

The books I was gifted by my Christmas Swap Santa:

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah
A Romantic Education by Patricia Hampl
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers