What Are We Reading, Page 17

I was disappointed in Shrines of Gaiety. It seems as though Kate Atkinson tried to do too much. The novel is witty in its language and is cleverly referential to itself and to other books and films of the 1920s, but there were too many characters, most of which were not sufficiently fleshed out for me to care about. I plodded on to the ending, hoping that it would redeem itself there, but although most of the plot lines were tied up, it was summarily and clumsily done. One of the characters is an aspiring novelist, and the description of his planned novel, entitled "The Age of Glitter," sums up the unrealized aspirations of Shrines of Gaiety nicely: "The Age of Glitter had rapidly become unwieldy. Yes, it was a crime novel, "but it was also a razor sharp dissection of the various strata of society in the wake of the destruction of war."

I've moved on now to The Book of Joan which is a post-apocalyptic novel which, so far, is quite weird.

I'm reading The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff.

I finished and loved The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and will look for more books by her. I'm just about done with The Book Lovers' Miscellany by Claire Cock-Starkey, am continuing with The 1619 Project and have also started The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

>2 LynnB: That looks like something that I would like. Thanks!

>1 vwinsloe: I have The book of Joan on a TBR pile. I'll look forward to seeing your thoughts.

>5 Sakerfalcon: Is it you who has an interest in medieval women? If so, you will find The Book of Joan more intelligible than I did, I'm sure. The beginning section I found to be brutal and angry; the furious tone reminded me of The Female Man. But as it went on, I saw that there was a good deal of symbolism there, and I didn't find a way in until I did a little research. In the end, I understood it to be about exploitation of the earth and people, as well as about sex, love, and sexuality. I wish that I had read this review before I started. It doesn't really contain spoilers and it provides a clue about the references that the author subtly employs as symbols.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/24/the-book-of-joan-by-lidia-yuknavit...

I'm reading The Forgotten Garden by one of my favourite authors, Kate Morton

>7 LynnB: I have only read four of hers, but this is my favorite one so far. I also really liked The Distant Hours.

>7 LynnB: My first by her was The House at Riverton which I LOVED; I have The Forgotten Garden on my TBR.

>8 Darth-Heather: I'll have to pick up The Distant Hours sometime.

>8 Darth-Heather: >9 LisaMorr: My favourite is the Clockmaker's Daughter. It was the first one of hers I read, and I've since been reading all the others.

I've finally started Know My Name which @Citizenjoyce and @LynnB spoke highly of on the previous page. Chanel Miller writes remarkably well.

I finished Know My Name which I had to read in small chunks because the subject matter was so difficult. Then today I saw that Christine Blasey Ford, who was mentioned in Chanel Miller's book, has a memoir coming out in a few days entitled One Way Back: A Memoir. I'll read it, but not soon.

I really needed a diversion, so I started The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi. I wanted a fantasy read, and I hope that it isn't a cliffhanger because the next book in the series hasn't been published yet.

>12 vwinsloe: The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi does have a full story arc and ending, although I think the author left enough plot open for there to be another installment. I enjoyed it quite a bit, although near the end things get very hectic and I had a little difficulty envisioning exactly what was happening. I am looking forward to the next one though; I like this author's writing style.

I'm re-reading...after more than a decade....Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald, one of my top three fiction books of all time.

FYI, the other two are The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy and the un-girly Not Wanted on the Voyage by Timothy Findley, although I'd argue that the character of Mrs. Noyes (Noah's wife) makes the book a fine choice for this group.

>13 Darth-Heather: Thank you. It is not a short book, and I'd hate to be left hanging.

>14 LynnB: I looked for Fall On Your Knees when I took the last trip to my used bookstore, and they didn't have it. If it doesn't show up eventually, I will order it from an online used bookstore.

My book club has put off our discussion of Fall on Your Knees, so I'm going to put it aside for a week or so. I'm reading The First Day of the Rest of My Life by Cathy Lamb

>6 vwinsloe: Thanks for this, and the link to the review. I've taken my copy off its shelf, which is one step closer to me reading it!

I've just started reading The stargazers, which seems to be a multi-generational novel about the fallout from a toxic childhood. I admit that I fell for this one entirely due to the gorgeous cover.

>17 Sakerfalcon: I haven't heard of The Stargazers. Let us know what you think.

Not by a woman, but a biography of one: I'm reading Anastasia: The Life of Anna Anderson by Peter Kurth. I know that recent DNA evidence shows Anastasia is buried with her family, but I remain interested in the life and times of pretenders.

I finished The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi which was an enjoyable romp as I had hoped.

Now I'm on to the enormously popular Lessons in Chemistry.

I finished Lessons in Chemistry, and I have thoughts. First off, I loved it. It reminded me very much of the Barbie 2023 film, in that it was Feminism 101, and very funny and ironic. Interesting that this may be a trend now, and I don’t know whether it will be a good thing or not yet.

I texted a younger librarian friend and asked if the Dewey Decimal System had a category for “hysterical fiction.” She said no, but that she could get behind it, even though she didn’t like the book that much. She explained that she didn’t actually realize when the time period of the novel was when she was reading it, because not much has changed. Ooof. I get that. (Personally, I was insulted when the book said "historical fiction" on the cover, and then opened with the chapter entitled, "November 1961.")

But just like the Barbie 2023 film, many people would be understandably disappointed if they dislike such serious subjects being taken so lightly. I think that there may also be an age component involved in liking the book. Those of us who are of a certain age understand that Lessons in Chemistry is pure fantasy. Even if a woman were to be so enlightened in those times, there is no way that she could have been so publicly outspoken about it, let alone be that peculiar package of stunningly beautiful, incredibly intelligent, outspoken and athletic. Period. But many women may have been beginning to have glimpses of feminist thought in the late 1950s, and recognize it when the idealized character Elizabeth Zott speaks those thoughts. On a hunch, I looked up Bonnie Garmus’s age. Yup; she’s about 67 years old. (Wow, kudos to her on her first book.) She’s also of the age in which women turn invisible, and has some perspective now. She would have been about the same age as Zott's daughter is in the novel, and it is touching that Bonnie Garmus dedicated the book to her mother.

There is a lot of sexism depicted in this book that should be the subject of outrage and anger instead of humor. Even the plot of the book itself centers men, and the women simply revolve around them. Okay. For those who are still battling against sexism in their lives every day, I can see why they wouldn’t love this book. But for those women who still have not allowed themselves to see things the way that they really are because of their cultural backgrounds, this approach may be something that they can grasp. For those turned off by the emotions of anger and outrage, and those who need a pretty woman who is a mother and a cook, this book may be as enlightening as it is entertaining. The pink chicklit cover is stealthy, and if it leads more women to questioning whether things have to be the way that they are, then I’m all for it.

>21 vwinsloe: Great review! I agree with you entirely.

>22 LynnB: Thanks. I don't write reviews often; only when I find something particularly thought provoking.

I finished The Ride of Her Life and found it to be quite touching in the end. I've read a few of Elizabeth Letts's books and found her writing style to be uneven, but this one was much better.

Now for something completely different, I've started reading Malka Older's first novel, Infomocracy. The world she has built seems a little complicated and it might take me a while to figure out.

I'm starting The Postcard by Anne Berest

>18 vwinsloe: I enjoyed The stargazers a lot. It has strong gothic vibes, with a crumbling stately home, obsession, a disputed inheritance, and Jane Eyre-esque cruelty to children. It takes place in Hampstead in the late 1960s, and at Fane Hall after WWII. Sarah hasn't been in touch with her mother or sister for years; the trauma of her childhood has led her to cut all ties with them and the family home. Her mother was not entitled to inherit the house, yet she is obsessed with it being "hers". This is the driving passion of her life, at the expense of her daughters' wellbeing. Older sister Vic finds her own way to cope, leaving Sarah to rely on the kindness of strangers. These scars haunt her years later as an insecure young mother, married to a charming, flamboyant, careless husband. The books moves between the two times, revealing secrets and showing their effects. There was one plot thread that I didn't think was necessary (although it was quite plausible, if melodramatic), but most of the twists were very well done. There is cruelty to children and animals, but in spite of that I found the book extremely compelling.

>24 vwinsloe: I liked Infomocracy and its sequel, I need to read the third volume. It took me a while to get my head around the worldbuilding.

>21 vwinsloe: I appreciate your thoughts on that one - it was a Christmas present and I haven't quite convinced myself to read it yet. I do need to get to it though.

I finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot a week or so ago, and I thought it was really well done.

I'm a few chapters into The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith - I've never seen any of the movie adaptations, and while I know Mr. Ripley is a con artist, I'm going into it without any other ideas, lol.

>26 Sakerfalcon: I'm putting The Stargazers on my wishlist, and thanks for the encouragement on Infomocracy. Now that I've invested in this interesting world that she's built, I'll probably continue on with the sequels.

>27 LisaMorr: You're welcome. Do read Lessons in Chemistry - if you are anything like me, it's probably not what you expected. Oh, and there is a reason that The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is the #1 biography of notable women, which was the March List here on LT, even though it was not at all a traditional biography.

https://www.librarything.com/list/45354/Best-Biographies-of-Notable-Women

I'm about to start Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

>28 vwinsloe: Thanks for sharing that list!

>30 LisaMorr: You're welcome. I tend to participate in such things.

I've just started Lady Tan's Circle of Women which @Citizenjoyce recommended. I've read several books by Lisa See, and I have always learned something from them. She primarily writes historical fiction that takes place in China.

Finished The Talented Mr. Ripley and it wasn't what I expected at all; a very good read, although being in Tom Ripley's mind was disturbing. I'm continuing with The 1619 Project - for me it's more like a book to dip into, a chapter at a time, rather than one to read through all at once - just finishing the chapter on how as part of the government's quest to civilize the native Americans, they were encouraged to enslave blacks. Have also started some lighter fare, with Nora Roberts' Jewels of the Sun.

I'm starting The Great Stewardess Rebellion: How Women Launched a Workplace Revolution at 30,000 Feet by Nell McShane Wulfhart

>34 LynnB: Ooooo, that one looks interesting, and I hadn't heard about it. On my list! Thanks.

I'm reading Les Femmes qui Lisent sont Dangereuses by Laure Adler and Stefan Bollmann

>36 LynnB: What a great title! If there are any paintings in that book that could be used as the primary photo for this group, let me know. It would have to be a digital image in the public domain, of course.

There are many wonderful images...you'd have to check for copyright.

I found The Great Stewardess Rebellion to be an inspiring read about women who decided to take charge of their working conditions. It is easy for us to take for granted what we now have as rights. So much so that some young women don't see the ongoing need for feminism. It is, therefore, so important to learn about and remember and honour those who fought so hard for our rights.

Labour unions, that bastion of egalitarianism, treated female members as second-class citizens for far too long. Stewardesses were seen as hostesses, there for the enjoyment of predominantly male passengers. They were not recognized as trained professionals there for passenger safety. On top of the unfairness and sexism, think of the implications for public safety if the person responsible for evacuating a crashed plane was starving, dressed in a miniskirt and high heeled go-go boots.

The book looks at history and legal cases. And it focuses on a few women in depth so we can follow their stories. This book is well written, easy to read and so informative.

I'm reading Health for All: A Doctor's Prescription for a Healthier Canada by Jane Philpott, our former Minister of Health.

I'm reading The Speed of Mercy by Christy Ann Conlin

>33 LisaMorr: I think it was a recommendation on Ann Patchett's Facebook page that lead me to Mouth To Mouth by Antoine Wilson. It starts off kind of slow, well someone does save a life so I guess not really slow action, but lots of internal dialogue. I wasn't sure I was going to kick in, but then it grabbed me and became very Patricia Highsmith. People have such clever, rationalistic, devious minds.
In preparation for the Bob Marley move One Love I read How to Say Babylon: A Memoir by Safiya Sinclair about a woman who was raised in the Rastafarian religion. The religion worked for Marley and helped him write some powerful, hopeful songs beloved world-wide. Of course it also lead to his death since he refused to have his cancerous toe amputated. It seems to have done nothing good for Sinclair. The way she describes the religion, every man is the king of his castle and all the other people in it - wife, children - are his serfs. He can make whatever law he wants to govern his home. Some men make liberal laws, some men devise laws so restrictive that women have to confine themselves to a room away from the family for the duration of their menstruation. Sinclair's father was a singer 10 years after Marley's death. He wanted fame and respect but got disrespected by his band, his employers, and the white government. She does a good job of showing why her father was abusive but also shows just how abusive he was to his family, or rather to the females in his family. Like Tara Westover, Sinclair is saved by education, but she's had to fight for her freedom.
So, after singing Bob Marley songs for a month, I read Her Country: How the Women of Country Music Became the Success They Were Never Supposed to Be by Marissa R. Moss. I don't follow music but I had heard of the Dixie Chicks and how they were treated. It seems, for some bizarre reason, country music stations didn't want to play female artists. Their explanation was that country music is like a salad - they need lots of lettuce, which is the male artists, and just a sprinkling of tomatoes - the female artists. They especially wanted their female artists to be compliant and feminine, which did not exactly cover the Dixie Chicks. Aside from their political comments about Bush, country radio found them over all to be too rebellious. You can imagine how the straight, white men reacted to "Good Bye Earl." I'd never heard this happy song about killing an abusive husband, so I'm glad the book directed me to it. It also directed me to country women who won Grammys, and even then radio didn't want to play them because they were queer or of color or just outspoken. So I've been able to listen to people I'd never heard of before that the rest of the work has - Brandy, Mickey Guyton, Maren Morris, Amanda Shires, Natalie Hemby. I don't know if those in charge of country radio have wised up by now, but I think all the kerfuffle about Beyonce going country reflects the same old attitude.

I'm reading Peacekeeper's Daughter: A Middle East Memoir by Tanya Bellehumeur-Allatt

I'm on to Big Shadow by Marta Balcewicz

>44 LynnB: The touchstone is going to a cozy cat mystery, which I don't think is the book you intended!

>42 Citizenjoyce: How to Say Babylon sounds very interesting. I know virtually nothing about the Rastafarian religion, and I probably should. Thanks.

Her Country: How the Women of Country Music Became the Success They were Never Supposed to Be seems timely. I've never had an interest in "country" music, but I like the stuff that they are putting under the label "Americana" which is sort of country, singer-songwriter and bluegrass. Now it seems that that genre may be blowing country up, not just with Beyonce, but with the woman named Rhiannon Giddens who plays the banjo on her album. Did the book mentioned her?

>45 Sakerfalcon: Fixed it, thank you!

I'm reading The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

>46 vwinsloe: It could have mentioned her, there were so many women I can't remember most of their names. I see she's a person of color. One way to deal with these "unacceptable" women was to call their music Americana because they didn't represent "true" country meaning WASP, ladylike country.

>49 Citizenjoyce: Huh. I can't help but think that since music radio is mostly going the way of the buggy whip, the power of county radio stations as arbiters of taste will be diminished. It seems now that Spotify and Pandora and other streaming services are winning the day, and I suppose if there is a demand for white male country western music, there will be a channel exclusively for it.

I just read Femlandia. I liked her book Vox, even though it sort of devolved toward the end, because it had some really insightful, well written scenes. Femlandia is clearly reactionary (the author says as much in the afterward) but in my view, that wasn't what made it a weak story. There was one main character, who drove a lot of the plot, about whom there was no background or description. The character had no backstory and the reader knows absolutely nothing about her. Weird that this obvious flaw should survive the editorial process.

>51 vwinsloe: I gave it only 2 stars but I didn't write a review and don't remember why. I also like Vox. You can't win them all.
I just finished Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto. It's kind of a female version of A Man Called Ove - a competent, lonely old person makes friends and changes lives. It's very pleasant, but those aggressive old Chinese women can be quite offputting on occasion.

>52 Citizenjoyce: I thought that Remarkably Bright Creatures was the female version of A Man Called Ove. A bit too cozy for me, but I do like older people being portrayed as vital members of a community.

Just started Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood - very good so far. I didn't know anything about the murders the book is based on - peaking at the afterword has helped explain a bit more about how Atwood researched and wrote the book.

>53 vwinsloe: How strange. I got so involved with the octopus that I didn't think of the connection with Ove.
>54 LisaMorr: It's been years since I read Alias Grace. I remember liking it. Maybe I should read it again.

I finished Dinosaurs: A Novel and liked it quite a bit. I read it because I liked A Children's Bible, but this one is quite different. It is a quiet, mature book that has a lot going on without much action. The writing is very concise and compels you to read every word. From reading reviews, I guess that there is a lot of allusion to Biblical references, which went over my head. I enjoyed it anyway.

>56 vwinsloe: I've never heard of her. Do you think I should read A Children's Bible first?

>57 Citizenjoyce: You don't need to read A Children's Bible. It is really a very different book from Dinosaurs: A Novel. I had thought that A Children's Bible was YA, but I'm not sure.

I've just read a debut novel by a Canadian First Nations author - And then she fell. I'd class it as domestic horror, as the real and the supernatural combine to haunt Alice after she has her first baby. Alice has married a white husband and left the rez to try and fit in with his middle class life in the Toronto suburbs. But as a Native person she finds herself the subject of suspicious looks and judgemental attitudes. She feels persecuted and is afraid that she'll be seen as an unfit mother and her child taken away from her. The visions she sees and voices she hears add to her fear, although the reader wonders whether they are real or figments of her imagination. At about 80% in, the book suddenly changes to a different viewpoint, disorientating the reader, but eventually tying the past to the present and unveiling the mystery behind Alice's visions. There are some heavy themes here, dealt with effectively through a protagonist who it was easy to empathise with. It's an excellent, unsettling read.

>59 Sakerfalcon: That looks good. My daughter loves horror movies, which I don't because they all seem to be about gore rather than horror. But horror books are different, especially those about fear of one's personhood. I'll check out And Then She Fell.

I read The Wives: A Memoir by Simone Gorrindo and thought it excellent. Gorrindo is the last person in the world you would think could make a successful marriage with a military man. In fact, the only other review of the book is by a "typical" military family member who can't believe how unpatriotic the author is. Gorrindo grew up in liberal Marin County. She considers herself centrist politically, but she's Hillary Clinton centrist as opposed to the current definition of centrist which is Kyrsten Sinema or Joe Manchin. She's a writer. She married an intellectual who decided to become an Army Ranger. I know how I felt when my grandson joined the Air Force. I was horrified. We don't do that sort of thing. That's how she felt, yet she has stuck by him and chronicles the difficulty such an arrangement entails. She lives in her head, he lives at least 75% of the time in his body. As a labor and delivery nurse, I would have bet money that she would have a C-section and be unable to breastfeed. Voila. She is filled with anxiety which can be an impetus to writing but can devastate normal bodily functions. It can also fight against adjusting to the role of supporting a loved one whose career choice involves repeatedly risking his life. She shows a variety of army wives from political liberals to evangelical Christians and how they hold each other up as they support their husbands. It's quite an eye-opener to those of us who would never choose such a path.

>59 Sakerfalcon: & >61 Citizenjoyce: I would definitely read those books and have put them on my wishlist.

I just finished reading The Buddha in the Attic. It's an older book that someone left in my Little Free Library. I was a bit dismayed when I saw that it was written in the first person plural. But it was really well done, almost like a long prose poem about the collective immigrant experience of Japanese mail order brides, and I enjoyed it.

>62 vwinsloe: It's a little book but very powerful. My book club read Hotel on The Corner of Bitter and Sweet a few years ago and I remember being disappointed with it having recently read the well-written The Buddha in the Attic. I don't know why Corner seemed to have reached more readers. Maybe simple books win over well-written ones. That's a bad thought.

>63 Citizenjoyce: I think that most people read for pleasure and don't enjoy a challenging read. I see that I read The Corner of Bitter and Sweet and thought that it was meh. I don't even remember it now. I will remember The Buddha in the Attic.

I finally finished The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story, created by Nikole Hannah-Jones. It was good, and I learned a lot - however it was a bit uneven, which I think is to be expected with a project like this - different chapters written by different authors. The chapters were organized around different issues like citizenship, self-defense, inheritance. Prior to each chapter there was a short historical snippet and a poem or short fiction piece.

It took me a while to read because there is a lot of painful history here and honestly not a lot of hope for change. I'm glad I read it and I have a lot more reading to do in this area.

Before I went back to Alias Grace, which is soooo good, I read a novella by Christine Feehan, Magic in the Wind. the first book in her Drake Sisters witches series. It was kind of ugh, and for some reason I picked up 4 more books in the series when I bought this one... I will eventually try one more to see if gets any better...

I'm also going to start Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy by Rumer Godden, for the Virago Monthly Read.

I'm reading Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

>66 LynnB: I love that book.

>66 LynnB: & >67 Citizenjoyce: How have I not heard of that book? It sounds hilarious.

I'm reading Biography of X which is a widow's exploration of her artist wife's past, in a world where the US was split into Northern Western and the walled-off Southern territories. The narrative includes ephemera and images, which I always enjoy. It's a good read so far.

>69 Sakerfalcon: I read Biography of X because I love alternate realities especially those emphasizing differences in geographical citizenry. I ended up being disappointed, but I find I didn't review it anywhere, so I don't remember why. Let us know what you think when you finish.

I'm reading What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds by Jennifer Ackerman

>71 LynnB: Oh, that looks good. I love birds.

I finished Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy by Rumer Godden and it was excellent.

And continuing with Alias Grace - I decided to finish the Godden book first because it was shorter; I was starting to get a little confused with the two because they both include women in prison.

I am making my way slowly through White Trash, an older book with lots of interesting information, but written in a painstakingly dry style. Accordingly, I am breaking it up with short stories, and some days making more progress than others.

>74 vwinsloe: It's a great book. I am continually amazed at the treatment of poor people who don't know they have any power. If they could combine their individual power they could stop exploitation by the rich, so I guess that's why the rich need to try to crush and divide them continually.

>75 Citizenjoyce: White Trash is certainly important reading, but the academic style can be soporific. So I started Where The God of Love Hangs Out which had languished on my TBR pile with the rest of the short stories, only to find out that it is really a series of related stories and almost a novel. And I love Amy Bloom, but I will try to stick to reading White Trash in the daytime and her book in the evenings.

>76 vwinsloe: I know just what you mean. For my book club, I'm rereading The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear by Kate Moore, and I'm having a hard time getting through it. I first read it in 2021, 8 months before the Dobbs decision making a certain religious viewpoint the law of the land. I loved it the first time around and have recommended it to others, but now I see the oppression of this woman who was confined to a mental institution by her husband for disagreeing with his religious views too much of a current possibility. I'm about 3/4 of the way through because I've had to take breaks to read some uplifting feminist science fiction, the first two books of the Midsolar Murders series by Mur Lafferty . They're very busy books maybe too overful of characters. There's a woman who solves murders with ease even though she doesn't know what's going on in general and is constantly trying to figure out who to trust. Combine this with a weird set of aliens from giant stone creatures, hornets the size of your thumb, and sentient stick-like creatures and space stations all of whom think humans are inferior because we are incapable of forming symbiotic bonds with other species. It's kind of a combination of His Dark Materials and the Wayfarers series and cleanses my mind and restores my hope so I can get back to female oppression.

>77 Citizenjoyce: For some reason, I don't have The Woman They Could Not Silence on my wishlist. I've added it, thanks.
I have read a Mur Lafferty, but mystery is just not my genre for some reason.

The Midsolar murders are a lot of fun! I hope Lafferty continues to write more instalments.

I've nearly finished Biography of X, which I'm mostly enjoying but which isn't as good as I'd hoped it would be. The alternative history of the US, in which the South seceded in 1945, is used as a background and is effective, but I would have enjoyed the book if it had been more in the foreground. The parody of the art scene is good, but X herself is so banal and annoying that I can't understand anyone wanting to spend more than a few minutes with her, let alone becoming obsessed or infatuated. I know that's part of the satire, but i'm not convinced by X as either a person or an artist. Still, I like the inclusion of visual ephemera, and the hints of the alternative history are good.

>78 vwinsloe: It's kind of equal parts mystery and science fiction. The science fiction part is better than the mystery part but, like you, I'm not much interested in mysteries.
I finished Dinosaurs. What a shock, a book about good men.
>79 Sakerfalcon: I agree with your assessment of Biography of X.
I hope Mur Lafferty writes the next installment soon so I don't have to reread. Tina is a hoot, I know people like her.

>80 Citizenjoyce: I read Six Wakes and thought that it was just okay. If the Midsolar murder books are better, I might be interested in looking for them.

Yeah, Dinosaurs: A Novel was really different, wasn't it.

>81 vwinsloe: I haven't read Six Wakes. It looks like she's equally devoted to science fiction and mystery. I like what she does with aliens. Are there aliens in the book? Just as I can't understand why a writer as good as Stephen King would waste his talents on horror, I don't understand why she devotes so much of herself to mysteries, but authors like what they like.

I finished Leigh Bardugo's latest, The Familiar. I enjoyed it but gave it only 3.5 stars because I didn't understand so much of it. I gave both books in her Alex Stern series 4 stars even though there were parts I didn't understand either. However, by the end of those books everything became clear. At the end of The Familiar I was still wondering what happened. It's about a scullery maid in 16th century Spain, the daughter of conversos, who is able to work small magic using Hebrew songs. Of course, big magic and power struggles ensue. At one point I heard the recommendation for people who are being burned at the stake, "breathe deep." I'd just come across that in a very depressing book, The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave - it's better to die of smoke inhalation than by burning. So, a word to the wise witches among us. When I finished The Mercies my first thought was, why do we need to read this stuff? It's about The Witchcraft Trials of Vardø in the early 17th century. What we learn from the book is that proud supporters of the patriarchy who enjoy dominating and damaging women get great joy from dominating and damaging women. What a shock. After reading that I read One Way Back: A Memoir by Christine Blasey Ford. Same thing. How the trump supporters wish they had the freedom of their 17th century forebearers.

>82 Citizenjoyce: As I recall, Six Wakes was a locked room mystery about clones. There was an element of horror (another genre that I feel too old for). I don't remember any aliens. I was surprised that Six Wakes was so highly acclaimed at the time it came out, but perhaps it was because no one had so obviously combined a classic mystery plot with science fiction.

>84 vwinsloe: Yes, for me Lafferty was the first person I noticed combining science fiction and mystery.
I just finished a book that was a big wow for me. Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent is kind of an extended version of Room. What would have happened to everyone involved if psychiatrists and pedophiles were given free rein? It's very disturbing, and I couldn't stop reading. I'll probably read it again at some point because I'll recommend it to enough people that I'll want to join them again. Be warned.

>85 Citizenjoyce: Your recommendation is good enough for me. On my list. Thanks!

>72 Citizenjoyce: I finished What an Owl Knows. I found this book interesting, especially the section on raising young. And the section on owls in our culture, including some of the beliefs that persist to this day. The book is more of an overview than a deep dive into the subject -- perfect for general readers. But watch out...some of the pictures are creepy!

I've enjoyed One Bone at at Time: Tales of an Adventurous Animal Chiropractor by Alison Seely, and The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok. I'm now reading Deliberate Cruelty: Truman Capote, the Millionaire's Wife, and the Murder of the Century by Roseanne Montillo

>87 LynnB: The owl book looks good, I've requested it.
>88 LynnB: Deliberate Cruelty looks good. After watching the series Feud: Capote vs. the Swans I read a bit about the Swans and about Capote and just recently reread In Cold Blood. What a terrible human being he was, yet how attractive. In Cold Blood is beyond excellent. Who wouldn't want to get to know the author of such a work? I saw him on Dick Cavett and was enthralled. I could have listened to him for hours. He was such a great observer of humanity yet seemed to lack empathy. He always thought he would be forgiven whatever he did, yet in the end he became pretty unforgivable.
The Leftover Woman also looks good though it's probably a difficult read. I think I'll give it a try.
And speaking of difficult reads, I just finished And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott. I kept thinking I would abandon it because it is such a good look at the mind of a suffering woman that it overwhelmed me. I think this was recommended by >79 Sakerfalcon:. There's a combination of racism, sexism, and, as the author states "sanityism". All you need to do is enter Alice's mind to know you don't want to live there, but even in her paranoia and self-hatred she makes sense. I'll probably read more by Elliott, but it will be with trepidation.

I took a long drive yesterday and listened to most of No Ordinary Time. It's quite interesting and well read, but now I am currently reading 3 books which is not ideal.

>89 Citizenjoyce: Yes, I recommended And then she fell. You are right, it's a very painful, but powerful, read.

I saw that Alice Munro has passed away. I don't read short stories very often, but a couple of hers really stuck with me.

>92 vwinsloe: I read The View from Castle Rock 10 years ago and liked it very much but haven't read anything else by her. I wonder why. I'm not a big fan of short stories. Recently I read No One Belongs Here More Than You: Stories by Miranda July. I do love a good duck out of water story, which all of these are but she combines them with weird sexual stuff that's just not interesting. I'm sure Alice Munro is better. I should try more of her stories.

>93 Citizenjoyce: The one that I read was Dear Life, and, as always, there was just one or two great ones in the collection.

I finished Where the God of Love Hangs Out and as much as I love Amy Bloom, there was only one story there that I thought was great.

I have a little ways to go with White Trash, so I started Vampires in the Lemon Grove. I think that you, @Citizenjoyce, said that you liked that one.

>94 vwinsloe: I did like many of the stories in Vampires in the Lemon Grove. I hope you do too. I just read a children's book that tore me up, How To Steal a Dog told in first person by a little girl who lives in a car with her younger brother and her mother because they were evicted from their apartment after her father left them. She hates the situation, keeps blaming her mother, and tries to think of a way to make money so they can get another apartment (they've never lived in a house.) The solution is to steal a dog then return it for a big reward. It's truly gut wrenching. The dog doesn't die, which is a must for me to recommend a book.

When I read The Last Neanderthal by Claire Cameron I assumed the author was an anthropologist who just happened to be good at writing. I guess that shows how much I know about anthropology. Cameron is a writer who is also a very outdoorsy person having previously been a teacher for Outward Bound. The novel is about a small family of Neanderthals and about the woman who discovers their bones and is driven to make her reputation off her discovery knowing how undervalued women scientists can be. I was completely captivated, more by Girl, the Neanderthal, but also sympathizing with Ruth, the scientist. The book was very successful, I heard about it on https://fivebooks.com/. What a great site, I'm sure I'll get lots of recommendations there. Caneron's book was listed under Historical Fiction, Five Books Imagining Neanderthals.

>95 Citizenjoyce: I did like the first two stories in Vampires in the Lemon Grove which is way above my average, and still more to read. Thanks.

I finished White Trash and was a bit disappointed because the thesis did not live up to the promise of its title. While the book began with the history of New England and Jamestown colonies, at some point it shifted exclusively to the American south. For me, that raised more a lot more questions than answers, as the result of which, I found the book to be a dissatisfying read.

I've started Ink Blood Sister Scribe which I don't think is considered YA, but it is giving me YA vibes. We'll see.

I'm starting A Great Country by Shilpi Somaya Gowda

>99 LynnB: It looks interesting but tense. Let us know.

I'm reading The Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger for a book club. I first read it for another book club in 2010 and didn't like it much. Let's see what 14 years brings!

>100 Citizenjoyce: A Great Country never got that tense, in my opinion. The issues were there, but largely behind the struggle of a long-term immigrant family trying to make sense of what was happening and how best to protect their children. The story mostly takes place over a two-week period and is an examination of the American Dream. Is it attainable for everyone? How much of history is ignored in the myth of making it good in America? Interesting food for thought. Somehow, though, the book manages to convey the message that everything will be all right for our protagonists even in the darker moments of the story.

>101 LynnB: Often I find it works the other way, a book I loved years ago doesn't live up to my remembered fondness. Let's hope for a different reaction from you. It looks interesting.
>102 LynnB: Hm, I might look into that one.

Hey, everyone. I was thinking about this group and the great books I've discovered and decided to share this one: Not Wanted on the Voyage by Timothy Findley. Yep, the author is a man. But this retelling of the story of Noah's ark features one of my very favourite female characters, Noah's wife. The gin-swilling Mrs. Noyes has reached a point in her life where she's going to do things her way and is a great hero.

>104 LynnB: That looks like an interesting book, and I will pick it up if I see it. Thanks.

But I will say that books written by men tend to languish on my TBR.

>104 LynnB: looks great. I can imagine that Noah's wife might have got pretty fed up.
I started reading Our Kindred Creatures: How Americans Came to Feel the Way They Do About Animals by Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy. It's a topic of great interest to me but the descriptions of animal abuse were too much, so I abandoned it early. Instead, I'm listening to What an Owl Knows recommended by >71 LynnB:. I also got the hardback so I could see the pictures.

I feel overloaded on fiction, so have picked up Indigenomics: Taking a Seat at the Economic Table by Carol Anne Hilton

>106 Citizenjoyce: Our Kindred Creatures looks interesting though. There have been a few controversies about animal abuse in the news lately, and it is fascinating to see how different segments of society feel about it. I will look for the book.

>108 vwinsloe: I think it's probably a very good book, I just couldn't take it.

I'm reading Killjoy: Taking on a Macho Media Empire and Winning by Jo Cheetham, which the author describes as a memoir of her involvement in the campaign.

I'm reading The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections by Eva Jurczyk

>111 LynnB: Oh that sounds good! I look forward to your thoughts when you've finished.

I just finished In A Field of Blue by Gemma Liviero, and was surprised and pleased that it was better than I expected. The story takes place during that strange unsettled time period between WWI and WWII, revolving around a family struggling with the effects the war has had on their way of life. This book takes a little time at the beginning to find it's footing, but ends up worthwhile in the end as the narrator viewpoint shifts between characters and a mystery is revealed.

>113 Darth-Heather: That sounds like a good read. Putting it on my wishlist. Thanks.

I'm reading I (Athena) by Ruth DyckFehderau

I just finished Tom Lake and I was very pleased because nothing has been very enjoyable lately, and I thought that it was me. Maybe it was. Anyway, Tom Lake was only two or three large bites, and it went places that surprised me. Just right.

I'm reading Chorus of Mushrooms by Hiromi Goto

I just finished Company Town. The protagonist is a bodyguard for the United Sex Workers of Canada on an oil rig in the Canadian Maritimes. Her snarky internal dialog reminded me a bit of Murderbot. This book was a lot of fun, even though I thought that it spun out of control a bit at the end.

@LynnB, I assume that you read it, because it was a Canada Reads selection in 2017.

>118 vwinsloe:, yep, I read it for Canada Reads. Didn't like it much.

I thought the plot line doesn't make much sense. I couldn't really understand the motivation, even after the killer's identity was made known. I did like Hwa -- she's a strong character and well developed. The other characters were largely undeveloped -- when they would pop up after not being mentioned for a while, I had trouble remembering who they were. The good and bad news about not remembering is that it didn't seem to matter much. So, as I said, I didn't enjoy this book very much. That said, sci-fi is not my genre, so take my views with a grain of salt.

>119 LynnB:. Ah, I agree with some of those criticisms. The plot did get a bit convoluted, especially so if science fiction is not your thing. Mystery isn't really my genre, either, and Company Town was essentially a serial killer mystery, but I liked it anyway, probably because it was science fiction. I should probably try the Midsolar Murders that @Citizenjoyce recommended.

>118 vwinsloe: Libby doesn't have Company Town but it does have some other things by Madeline Ashby. I may try Take Us to a Better Place a short story anthology that includes her.
I've read some very good books lately. Vagina Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage by Rachel E. Gross has lots of interesting information about reproductive anatomy and physiology. I'd read that the clitoris is bigger than what we see, which is just the tip of it, but I didn't know what that meant. Amazingly it has bulbs that reach around the vagina. To see a good picture you can check google images. The Atlantic shows a plastic copy https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/03/3d-clitoris/518991/. Oh, and she describes the odors associated with bacterial vaginosis as byproducts of putrescine and cadaverine. You don't need to smell it to know what it smells like. The book is well worth reading.
Strong Female Character by Fern Brady is a memoir by a comedian who was finally diagnosed as autistic when she was in her thirties - she was just thought to be a wildly misbehaving child by her family. She mentions several situations that autistic women gravitate toward, one of which is being a stripper. I think this is because these women are in the present, they see a job, figure out how to do it, and don't get all involved in popular ideas of morality. You can see some of her act on YouTube. She really is funny in her act, not in the book.
Lastly, another book about mental illness. I abandoned Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason because the main character is so supremely unlikeable. She could have stepped right out of the pages of Brideshead Revisited which is one of the 2 books I hate above all others. People love her even though she slams her way through life as the ultimate entitled narcissist who is just plain mean. She even bases her career on snark. But, I went back to it and was impressed that the book ends up questioning how morally should a person, despite her mental illness, be expected to interact with humanity. The book doesn't specify her disorder. In the audio version, it's referred to as X, in the printed version it's ___. It also ends up being quite easily treated, so ok, not very realistic. But the question is valid.
Oh, I forgot to mention Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska which was written in 1925 but is still pertinent. Sara Smolinsky is one of 4 daughters of Polish Jews who immigrated to New York. There's not one healthy marriage in the group. Yet, her miserable mother and sisters insist that her ultimate life goal has to be marriage and babies while she insists on education. (Sound familiar?) As her father keeps insisting, a woman without a man is nothing. Well, that's not exactly right. They're workhorses, that's their job, and they take it on. The father refers to himself, and husbands in general, as bread givers, but the book shows who is in charge of nourishing the family if not themselves. How forgiving these women have to be.

>121 Citizenjoyce: I read Bread Givers several years ago and the misogyny was suffocating. Strong Female Character sounds like something I will like.

I see that LT's monthly list is favorite audiobooks. I bet you'd have some to contribute. I don't listen to audiobooks much anymore since I don't drive for work, so I'm trying to remember what I liked best.

I'm reading I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy for a book club.

>123 LynnB: My book club read it too. If you happen to have children one good feeling from the book is that no matter how many mistakes you may have made, you were certainly a better mother than Jennette McCurdy's.

>124 Citizenjoyce: Great comment!

I'm reading Truth Telling: Seven Conversations about Indigenous Life in Canada by Michelle Good.

I'm reading Last Winter by Carrie Mac

>127 LynnB: Looks like you've got the wrong touchstone for Last Winter. It was quite a way down the list. It looks good though!

>128 vwinsloe: Fixed! Thank you.

I'm reading The Water Cure, which was the book that I had heard about but came across a copy of her Blue Ticket and read that instead. Blue Ticket was disappointing, but The Water Cure is interesting so far. We'll see.

>130 vwinsloe: I agree with your assessment of Blue Ticket. Let us know what you think of The Water Cure.

>131 Citizenjoyce: I finished The Water Cure and don't recommend it. It had the same themes as Gather the Daughters but was not as well done. I think that there was some sort of Shakespearean allegory going on, but I'm not that familiar was King Lear. so if there was, it went over my head.

>132 vwinsloe: That's disappointing. For some reason, I've read quite a few books referencing King Lear lately. Maybe that would make it more interesting to me. I guess I'll get around to it sometime.
I did read the book about owls, What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds by Jennifer Ackerman recommended here, it's very interesting and led me to some fascinating videos on YouTube. Then, a few days ago on our morning walk, I saw one, my first ever. The man who pointed it out to me said it had attacked his pit bull a while ago, but I was stupid enough to take my Aussie with me to check it out. Those talons are no joke, I don't know what I would have done if it had gone after Tyson. He is, however a crazy dog. We can walk through gaggles of geese, and he doesn't respond to them at all. The only creatures he reacts to on our walks are other dogs, and he wants to kill every one of them. The owl didn't take his eyes off Tyson, and Tyson didn't pay him a bit of attention, so my stupidity didn't get us into trouble.

>133 Citizenjoyce: We've got quite a few owls where I live, and I've never heard of an owl attacking a dog. Perhaps it was protecting it's nest? Coyotes are another story altogether though. My Bernese Mountain Dog chases them. Sometimes more than one at once. It scares the heck out of me. Of course, he is 117 pounds so the coyotes run when they see him coming. I have no idea what he would do if they didn't run since he is a gentle giant.
It sounds like your dog is aptly named.

>134 vwinsloe: Sometimes I see a coyote on our walk, but if they're in the distance Tyson doesn't notice. He does get very excited when he hears them yipping. I'm sure he'd love to fight one if he noticed it. He's pretty big, but I don't think it would do either one of them any good. The man with the pit bull said the attack happened in the spring when the owl was probably protecting its nest.

I just finished The End of Days. What an interesting book. It's a historical fiction that takes place in Europe in the time period before World War I and through that and the Russian Revolution, and through WWII to the fall of the Berlin wall. The protagonist's mother is Jewish and her father is Christian. It was a very different perspective for this American reader.

The author uses some clever devices in telling the story, For example, she doesn't name any of the characters until the end of the book, so you really have to read it closely. The plot follows the life of a single woman, but it is a different life in each of the 5 sections, depending on the occurrence of some random event. The writing (or translation?) is evocative. It's a short book worth reading.

>136 vwinsloe: It looks pretty confusing.

>137 Citizenjoyce: You'd think so, but surprisingly, it really wasn't.

>138 vwinsloe: Hmm. Well, I'll give it a try.
I just started a new series, The Others, starting with Written In Red by Anne Bishop. It's fantasy with a cast of interesting paranormal characters. The main character is a bit too saintly and childish even though we get a back story telling us why, but she's balanced out by the commanding personification of the seasons and a medusa-like character. I've just checked out the next one, Murder of Crows.

>139 Citizenjoyce: I thought that I had read something by Anne Bishop, but LT says that I don't have one cataloged. If I come across one of her books, I will take a look.

I'm enjoying Space Opera. Although it's been compared to Douglas Adams, the tone reminds me more of early Discworld. Just light and fun.

I just finished Tana French's newest, The Hunter. I love her work, but it's so realistic it's quite a difficult read. Here's my little review: This one didn't grab me as tightly as did The Searcher. There are the same characters but their emotional interaction was a bit lacking, and there were way too many long conversations. However, little Trey is coming into her own. The women in the series are stepping up, and that saved the book for me. Though they all love their little village, nothing could make me live with these people. Though the book is set in Ireland, it's kind of like people telling me how much they love living in the South. There's no compensation for that kind of social oppression.

>142 Citizenjoyce: I've never read a Tana French book; are they mysteries? That's not usually my genre, but I will read them sometimes when they are recommended. What would you say was French's best so far?

I've finished Space Opera, and I thought it was a lot of fun. I believe that she was either pregnant or her son had just been born when she wrote it, and I noticed that there is a lot of kindergarten age cartoon imagery in it, as well as references to toddlers and child birth. This was not generally something that a man would write.

I've now finally started Horse, and, as usual, Brooks draws the reader right in.

>143 vwinsloe: Her first, and best, series is the Dublin Murder Squad series beginning with In The Woods. They're police procedurals following a female detective with all the misogyny you can imagine that entails. I think there's a big difference between mysteries and police procedurals, and I'm quite partial to the second especially when it involves women as the detectives and not the victims. Give the first one a try. I bet you'll like it.
>144 vwinsloe: Geraldine Brooks can do no wrong. Enjoy.

>145 Citizenjoyce: Putting In the Woods on my list. Thanks.

Happy Canada Day!

I'm reading We, the Data: Human Rights in the Digital Age by Wendy H. Wong

>147 LynnB: looks complicated and interesting.

>148 Citizenjoyce: It is interesting and thought-provoking and even a bit scary. It's written in a fairly academic style...not too difficult, but not a quick read either.

I needed a distraction from current events, and I'm hoping that Fourth Wing will do that. It's kept my attention so far.

>150 vwinsloe: Great dragons, nauseating romance that progresses to vomitous in the second book.

>151 Citizenjoyce: Okay, I'm in it for the dragons. We'll see how far I get. Thanks for the heads up.

Fourth Wing was a mixed bag for me. The plot, while not original, was very well executed and the pacing was good. The characters were well drawn, and the protagonist had a strong character arc. The fantasy world building was just so-so, and I was left with a lot of unanswered questions about how the world worked as well as the historical and political underpinnings of the story. The writing was not great. The dialog was good, but the rest was choppy and the descriptive prose wasn’t effective. The thing that really turned me off was the melodrama. I admit that I don’t care much for romance novels, and usually it is a melodramatic narrative that makes me dislike them. Although I am not prudish about sex scenes, these scenes in Fourth Wing could more accurately be called erotica or soft porn, and they were drawn out to the point that they were boring. So overall, the book was a nice distraction, but it had little impact for me.

I own the sequel Iron Flame having picked both books up at a library book sale for $2 each, but I don't think that I will read it.

>153 vwinsloe: But did you love the dragons?

>154 Citizenjoyce: Absolutely! Particularly the young golden one.

>153 vwinsloe: You've made the right decision not to go on. There are fewer wonderful dragon moments in the sequel, and the romance destroys any good feelings you might have about the story.

>156 Citizenjoyce: Thanks for confirming that. I also think that young writers need to learn what the old ones knew. Tension keeps eyes on the page. When your characters have sex, the sexual tension is gone, and it is hard to rebuild. But maybe young readers need to learn that, too.

There was one quote that I pulled from the book that I added to Fourth Wing's LT main page: "One generation to change the text. One generation chooses to teach that text. The next grows, and the lie becomes history."

That really stood out to me, and I wish there was more of that!

>157 vwinsloe: That's a great quote. She can write. It's too bad she gets so badly derailed

I just finished Count The Ways by Joyce Maynard and I'm not sure what to say about it. It's a well written book that kept me reading, but lord, the main character is a glutton for punishment. I like the fact that there's a character who is the victim of physical domestic abuse, and the main character, Eleanor, keeps telling her she has to leave her husband for her own safety while Eleanor herself is emotionally pummeled by her family and never gives up loving and helping them. So Maynard is showing that there are many forms of domestic abuse while working to canonize this mother-martyr. Well, she's not a complete martyr, her art takes her places and, since this is an American book we can hope for a good ending, but sheesh, is this what we expect of "good" mothers?
And speaking of American books, I read The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older, a science fiction mystery set in a ring world somewhere in space. Sounds kind of exciting, but no, there is absolutely no excitement or emotional involvement. At one point one protagonist says to the other, "I would like to kiss you." Whew, stand back. At another point, that same protagonist goes out to procure nourishment bags for them to consume. All the way through this short novella I thought that the emotional detachment resulted from an inadequate translation. Because of the author's name, I thought it was originally written in German. Nope. This is how the American author writes. I guess she does set the atmosphere well, but it's not one I want to spend any more time in. I also checked out her Infomocracy but it's 400 pages, and if it also is bland explanation, I'm sure I won't finish, or even get past the first few chapters.

>159 Citizenjoyce: That's an interesting take on the Joyce Maynard book. I think that even if it is not entirely successful, it's worth exploring these subjects that have long been in the shadows. They are essential women's stories, and we need to think about them.

Regarding Malka Older, I read Infomocracy, and thought that the world building was excellent, and it was really well executed. I started to read her, and a couple of other science fiction authors on the basis that they did some writing in the facfic Orphan Black: The Next Chapter podcast based on the Orphan Black tv series. (Others included Madeline Ashby and Mishell Baker.) I haven't gone back to read the rest of Older's Centenal Cycle, but I will if I come across them. You may like them better, but I haven't read The Mimicking of Known Successes yet so I can't compare. The title of that book and The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles are exactly the same sort of phrasing that was in the title of Orphan Black episodes. From what I know about her humanitarian work, I appreciate her as a person, and will probably read those books on that basis alone.

>161 Citizenjoyce: Older is the kind of person the world needs more of, so I guess I'll give Infomocracy a try.

I finished Yellowface last night, and couldn't help but think that it suffered in comparison to The Other Black Girl which was also a novel about POC in the publishing industry. The Other Black Girl at least had a likeable protagonist, and more dramatic tension. I softened toward Kuang's main character in the middle of the book, but soon another perspective showed her to be greedy and entitled. There was some sort of subplot with her mother that was never made clear and might have made her a more sympathetic character. Perhaps she was not intended to be likeable, but there was no other character in the book who I could root for either. Oh well.

>162 vwinsloe: I read Yellowface the week Buffy Sainte Marie, a beloved Canadian Aboriginal icon was exposed as being neither Canadian nor Aboriginal. So, I plucked Yellowface off my TBR shelves as something topical.

As an exploration of cultural appropriation, this book delivered an interesting display of the issues and emotions that surround the debate as to whether you have to be a member of a marginalized group in order to write in their voices, or even to tell their stories. The book is also a satire on the publishing industry where "bestsellers" are pre-chosen before they hit the market and diversity and inclusion are driving factors. At the end, the book becomes a ghost story, almost gothic in style.

My main problem with this book is that it didn't have a strong enough plot to carry all the issues and genres it was portraying. So, I found myself a bit bored with the story at times, even though I was drawn to the issues.

>163 LynnB: Wait, what? Buffy Sainte Marie? Good lord, I hadn't heard. (Rushing off to Google now. Geez, she was born and raised near me and went to UMass Amherst. Looks like she wasn't outed until 10/23, so I'm not that far behind,)

I agree with your take on Yellowface. It did depict many facets of cultural appropriation, and who gets to tell what stories. The irony was not lost on me that Kuang's protagonist was a white woman. But the plot absolutely lurched back and forth unsuccessfully trying to decide what it was going to be, until it settled on a horror story. I didn't hate it. I just might have liked it better if there was a likeable protagonist or a cohesive plot.

>163 LynnB: Buffy Sainte Marie? Sheesh.
Mona Susan Power is Native American for generations on her mother's side and New England WASP on her father's. She got her JD from Harvard but didn't work long as a lawyer preferring to write, thank goodness. I just finished Council of Dolls about 3 generations of Native Americans and, through magical realism (sorry vwinsloe), their dolls. It leaves the reader feeling that the Catholic Church and the US government will never be able to atone for the damage done to humanity. It's well worth reading.

>165 Citizenjoyce: I may just try that one. I feel a bit guilty that I dislike magical realism, because it seems that many BIPOC authors write in this genre. Perhaps some things are just too painful to write about realistically or maybe it is just to counter the banality of it. Anyway, thanks for mentioning Council of Dolls. I'm putting it on my wishlist.

>166 vwinsloe: That does seem to be a feature of much of BIPOC writing. I hadn't thought of it that way before.

>167 Citizenjoyce: I keep wondering whether some literary critic will notice it and write something about it.

>168 vwinsloe: It could be you. It's so obvious now that you pointed it out.

>169 Citizenjoyce: But I haven't read enough of them, and don't want to. There have been things written about Latin American authors, starting with Gabriel Garcia Marquez (which is where my dislike of magical realism began), saying essentially that it is a cultural thing. But that certainly doesn't explain why so many African Americans and Indigenous people also employ magical realism. Someone who likes it must also clearly see the pattern.

Right now I'm reading Machine which has no realism as far as I can tell.

I'm not a fan of magical realism but it can work at times. Generally, I like my fiction to be realistic.

>170 vwinsloe: I liked Machine very much. I like fiction that doesn't have a touch of magic or unreality, it's grandly other than my known reality, but I also like fiction with just a little magical hope. These days I don't know what can save us, so I like magic even more.

>172 Citizenjoyce: Glad to hear that you liked Machine. She seems to be doing some social commentary with the plot - like an OS Star Trek episode. Science fiction is a great medium for that.

>171 LynnB: I read a lot of science fiction and fantasy. I can suspend my disbelief. It's just when realistic fiction is interrupted by magic, that it often seems like deus ex machina, and a failure of imagination by the author. But, of course, there are sometimes when it works well, only rarely for me.

I'm reading Blood and Salt by Barbara Sapergia about the internment of Ukrainian Canadians during WWI.

>174 LynnB: Looks like you've got the wrong touchstone for Blood and Salt, but the book looks interesting. Who knew that there were Ukrainian Canadians a century ago.

>175 vwinsloe: Fixed it. Thanks!

>175 vwinsloe: Agreed. I'm always amazed now when I read a book about Ukranians since I've only become aware of the country in the past few years. Do you mean the world goes on without me whether I know about it or not?
I've read 28 books so far this month, more than I've ever read in a month, but that's about to end. Whew, I can finally watch the news again.
some of my favorites this month:
The Witch's Heart- Genevieve Gornichec I know a little bit more about Norse gods and goddesses now. Loki doesn't come off so great.
The Goddess of Warsaw - Lisa Barr I was on the fence about this spoiled Hollywood goddess until I got into the book. Hollywood actresses as spies is a reality, who knew there were so many? I just found that Audrey Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Hedy Lamar, and Josephine Baker must have fascinating stories about their exploits.
The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street - Susan Jane Gilman I have recommended this to so many people. My son married into a Jewish family, and it's been quite an eye-opener. Because of my crazy parents, I've always been conflict-avoidant and raised my kids the same. (Now I realize what a mistake that was.) My son's wife's family is just the opposite. His wife used to get irate because he wouldn't fight with her. The main character Malka - Lillian never found a fight she didn't want to win. She's completely sure that her view of the world is right, and she doesn't care how much psychological pain she inflicts on others, even her loved ones, to get what she wants - but you can't help but be on her side.
My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me: A Black Woman Discovers Her Family's Nazi Past by Jennifer Teege - Argh, I have to stop reading about WWII. It's so upsetting. This lovely woman accidentally discovered that her grandfather was the Nazi war criminal Amon Goeth, the concentration camp commandant known to many from the film Schindler’s List. Ironically, she has strong connections with Israel and a history of depression. You can certainly see why.
Having most of my life in cities and towns that cater to tourists, I dove into Bear by Julia Phillips. Two sisters and their dying mother live in a beautiful tourist town in a 1/2 million dollar ancestral home working jobs that barely get them by. They are buried in debt, including medical debt for their mother. One sister devotes all her emotions, work, and money to getting out. The other falls under the spell of a bear. It's a weird book, but what do you do when nothing else in life gives you reason?
Girls and Their Monsters: The Genain Quadruplets and the Making of Madness in America by Audrey Clare Farley about the famous (though I hadn't heard of them) Morlock identical quadruplets. Born to a mother (who was confrontation-avoidant) and a crazy, alcoholic, misogynist father they lived their life being emotionally and sexually abused and were all diagnosed as schizophrenic in their 20s. The book is about the nature-vs nurture controversy with everyone ignoring the abuse they suffered because abuse was thought to come from strangers (or later, Satanists) not family or friends, following Freud's attitude about abuse and hysteria. They came to the attention of David Rosenthal and spent 3 years at the National Institute of Mental Health being studied in every psychological way. The idea was that nature was the culprit, since they were identical quadruplets there must be a genetic cause for their problems. Of course, they also thought there might be a psychological cause - their cold schizophrenogenic mother. They were abused by their father, the boys and men they met at school, their co-workers and bosses but since these were all white men, they were never seen as the cause. The book also covers the rise of psychopharmacology and the abandonment of personal interaction as a treatment. It's a depressing but enlightening book.
The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley is a diversional psychological thriller, if you need diversion.
And I tried again to read Malka Older in the form of Infomocracy. I couldn't do it. She writes like a robot. I know that makes no sense since she herself is such a caring human being, but I don't think any of that humanity comes across.

>177 Citizenjoyce: Wow, that's an amazing number of books. My wishlist is going to grow with the addition of The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street and The Girls and Their Monsters. I think that I will identify with the protagonist in the first, and the second reminds me of Hidden Valley Road, a book by a man that nevertheless made my Top Five Books of the Year list a couple of years ago.

Speaking of lists, everyone one seems to be talking about the NYT's list of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century so far. I had only read about 60% of them, and didn't really quite agree with a lot of them. LitHub took that list and added about 71 more that it felt was left out. I hadn't read many of them, but I own several and intend to read them.

One of the books on the LitHub list was Vampires in the Lemon Grove which I am just about finished with. Speaking of current events, there is a really prophetic story in it entitled, "The Barn at the end of the Term", in which 11 US Presidents are reincarnated as horses who keep trying to organize and govern things at the farm. Hilarity and enlightenment ensues. Perhaps you remember it?

I just finished Slammerkin after it sat on my TBR for 20 years (not kidding), and I'm very glad that I did. I was prompted to read it after I saw Literary Hub's list of books that it thought should be added to the NYT list of the best books of the Century. Many of them I had read, and a few others I own but had not read, Slammerkin being one of them. Here's a link to the list.

https://lithub.com/what-the-new-york-times-missed-71-more-of-the-best-books-of-t...

>179 vwinsloe: I loved Slammerkin. Emma Donoghue is certainly not a one-trick pony. She writes so many different kinds of novels. This one is terrible but wonderful. I'm going to have to check out the NYT site.

I enjoyed The Ten Thousand Doors of January. I can't remember who recommended it or how it ended up on my TBR, but I'm glad that I read it. It was like a portal fantasy on steroids, which is apparently what the author intended.

Now I'm back to reality with Trust Exercise which is another book that was neglected on my TBR shelves, but is on the Literary Hub list of best books of the century so far. Apparently, there is a huge plot twist so I didn't finish reading what LitHub said about it. I'll find out when I'm done reading it.

I finished Trust Exercise, and I can see why it won the National Book Award, although much of it was not enjoyable. The first part was full of teenage angst, and sex and drama (both kinds) and not the sort of thing that works well for adult readers. I knew that it was going to change, but the second part was only marginally better, but extremely clever. The third part, for me, was what made the book worth reading, but you needed the first two parts to understand was Susan Choi was getting at. I have her My Education on my TBR and will get to it someday.

So then I started Light from Uncommon Stars for a change to something lighter, and I swear I have whiplash.

>182 vwinsloe: Light from Uncommon Stars looks great. Who can resist warm donuts? Well, I can, but only because I have to, but I want to read about them. Thanks, I've put it on hold.
I read a great 5-star book, Clear by Carys Davies is historical fiction about a thing I'd never heard of. In the mid-1800s Scottish landowners decided to evict all the humans from their sparsely populated lands and colonize them only with sheep who were expected to take care of themselves. Some of these people had lived there for generations and, of course, had nowhere else to live. One of these island dwellers had lost his whole family. Ivar lived in extreme poverty with only his old animals, a horse, Daisy, whom he loved and communicated with as a friend, and an old blind cow which was the main source of his nourishment - boiled milk with a little grain. He asked so little of life and was about to get less. John, who had left the established Presbyterian church to become a preacher in the free church of Scotland was hired to go to the island and take a month to convince or force Ivan to leave. His animals were even more disposable than he. The book covers the growing relationship between these two men who couldn't even speak each other's language. John's loving wife Mary had her own troubles trying to survive with critical relatives as she waited for her husband. This little book is so full of humanity that it engulfed my heart. I don't want to say any more about it except that I'm certainly going to read more by Davies.
On the opposite end of the literary spectrum is How the Light Gets In by Joyce Maynard. I thought the first book was bad, Count the Ways, because it showed Eleanor to be a queen martyr, but I read this sequel hoping she had gained some self-knowledge. Instead, the book seems to have been designed for fans of the tv show This Is Us. Every possible current topic is smothered in melodrama. The topics get so bad I almost started laughing. Melodrama and martyrdom - they do make a perfect pair.

I've put Clear on my wishlist. It sounds just like my sort of thing.

I haven't read anything by Joyce Maynard since her memoir At Home in the World. I don't think that I will either.

I'm re-reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery for a book club.

>184 vwinsloe: Oh, I forgot that she wrote about her affair with Salinger. Maybe that ties in with her weird ideas about martyrdom.
>185 LynnB: Whatever you think about The Elegance of the Hedgehog, keep reading. It will grow on you.

>185 LynnB:, >186 Citizenjoyce: I liked The Elegance of the Hedgehog, too.

I've finished Light from Uncommon Stars. Some of the themes reminded me of Everything Everywhere All At Once film. It was an entertaining read, but not entirely successful for this reader.

I'm reading The Secrets of Spring Lake by Lynne Blackburn Wren

Has anyone read Who Cooked the Last Supper: The Women's History of the World by Rosalind Miles? Is it worth reading?

>189 LynnB: I have not. It looks interesting though!

>189 LynnB: I haven't, but it looks good. Let us know. I did read The Serial Killer Cookbook: True Crime Trivia and Disturbingly Delicious Last Meals from Death Row's Most Infamous Killers and Murderers by Ashley Lecker which is not quite the same thing.

>191 Citizenjoyce: LOL. Speaking of serial killers, I'm in the middle of Bright Young Women which I believe that I heard about here from you. I don't know how I'll feel about the book in the end, but, boy, can that author write a stunning sentence.

>192 vwinsloe: I'm glad you're liking it, with reservations.
I just finished American Daughter by Stephanie Thornton Plymale which is kind of a Glass Castle memoir though the author is a little less likable. We know hurt people hurt people. These women were hurt terribly, one turned out to be controlling and self-centered, the other of no use to anyone, especially her children. Time and again we see how society's safety nets failed them. I like a good death story almost as much as a good birth story, and the book does succeed in that area.
I also read True Gretch: What I've Learned About Life, Leadership, and Everything in Between by Gretchen Whitmer. If everyone could have her as a mother, like would be much better.

We've been getting "continue this topic" message for a while now, so I am going to turn the page, where, if interested, you can read what I thought of Bright Young Women.