Irene's (atozgrl) Reading 2024 - Thread 2

^Spring in NC - NMP

Hello everyone! Welcome to my second thread of 2024.

In case you missed my introduction on the previous thread, I'm Irene, retired librarian, and I've been on LT since 2008, but I joined to catalog my book collection. Unfortunately, RL intervened, and I still haven't finished cataloging my books, but continue to work on it sporadically. I did not get involved in the social aspects of LT until last year, when I returned to the site after a long absence to track the books I've been reading since I retired. I found the 75ers at that time, and have really enjoyed meeting folks here.

I'm married, living in central NC. No cats, unfortunately, because my DH is allergic. But we enjoy feeding the birds in our backyard. I've grown some vegetables in the past, but haven't gotten much going in recent years. I hope to return to gardening this year. I also hope to make a big dent in the clutter around the house this year. I've got lots of paper to sort, and stuff inherited from my parents that I need to go through and organize or donate. I also love baseball, especially the Cubs.

My work in the library was mostly with systems and websites, not so much directly with books. I also worked for a government library, not a public library, so I don't know as much about current fiction as the public librarians do. I didn't actually have much time to read books while I was working, so I have a lot of recent fiction to catch up on. I've got a large collection of nonfiction, mostly history, that I've collected over the years, and I'm trying to concentrate on reading much of that. I enjoy a wide range of genres but especially enjoy historical fiction. Growing up, I loved reading classics, some for school, but most for my own enjoyment. I also read a lot of science fiction and fantasy when I was young, but haven't kept up with it over the years, so I've got a lot of catching up to do in that genre. I have also realized there are some classic children's books that I somehow missed while growing up, and I need to read them as well. Last year I joined a RL book club mid-year, and this year I'm starting with a second one which reads challenged books, which means I may not get as many books read off my own shelves as I hope to this year.

Looking forward to a good year of reading!

Also participating in:

1. The ROOT challenge
Link to my thread there: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356718

2. 2024 Nonfiction Challenge (75 Books Challenge) 75NF
    - December 2023: As You Like It
    - January 2024 - Prize Winners (prizes that are off the beaten tracks; including shortlisted works)
    - February - Women's Work (what women do or did)
    - March - Forensic Sciences
    - April - Globalization

3. Reading Through Time
     Quarterly Challenges (RTTQ)
        - January-March 2024: Prehistoric
        - April-June 2024: Ancient/Biblical Times
     Monthly Challenges (RTTM)
        - January: Janus
        - February: Aquarius & Amethyst - did not read anything
        - March: Medicine, Epidemics, and Plagues
        - April: Characters with disabilities - did not read anything
        - May: International Labour Day
        - June: Wonders of the World!

4. The War Room (75 Books Challenge) 75WR
    - January: Ancient Wars
    - February: The American War of Independence
    - March: The War of the Roses
    - April: Wars of Religion

5. 2024 Historical Fiction Challenge (Category Challenge) HF

6. 2024 HistoryCAT (Category Challenge) HCAT
    - March: Science and Medicine
    - April: Riots, Revolution, and Mayhem
    - May: Middle Ages

7. Memorial for Rosalita (MFR)

Note: hat-tip to kac522 for most of the challenge codes.

RL Book Clubs:

ASC Book Club (ASCBC)
✔ January - Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
✔ February - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
✔ March - The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
✔ April - Island of Sea Women by Lisa See
May - Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan
June - Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: and other lessons by Caitlin Doughty
July - Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby
August - Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson
September - Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad
October - Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
November - The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

Challenged Books Club (CBC)
✔ January - Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
✔ February - Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
✔ March - Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
✔ April - A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
summer break

ROOTs Counter

Top Reads of 2024 (in order read)

5 stars
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
5-Minute Core Exercises for Seniors: daily routines to build balance and boost confidence by Cindy Brehse and Tami Brehse Dzenitis

4.5 stars
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff
Burning the books: a history of the deliberate destruction of knowledge by Richard Ovenden
1776 by David McCullough
Year of wonders: a novel of the plague by Geraldine Brooks
A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle
The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

Books read in 2024 (1st quarter)

January
1. The little bookstore of Big Stone Gap : a memoir of friendship, community, and the uncommon pleasure of a good book by Wendy Welch - ROOT; 75NF (Dec 2023)
2. The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel - ASCBC; RTTM; HF
3. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger - CBC; reread
4. The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff - 75WR (Jan); HF

February
5. Burning the books: a history of the deliberate destruction of knowledge by Richard Ovenden - ROOT; 75NF (Jan)
6. 1776 by David McCullough - ROOT; 75WR (Feb)
7. Are you There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume - CBC
8. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou - ASCBC; ROOT
9. Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke - MFR; reread

March
10. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - CBC; reread
11. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett - ASCBC
12. Neanderthal: Neanderthal man and the story of human origins by Paul Jordan - RTTQ; 75NF (Mar); ROOT
13. Year of wonders: a novel of the plague by Geraldine Brooks - RTTM (Mar); HF; HCAT (Mar)
14. Wild child by Lynn Plourde and Greg Couch
15. Summer's Vacation by Lynn Plourde and Greg Couch
16. The clown of God by Tomie De Paola

Books read in 2024 (2nd quarter)

April
17. 5-Minute Core Exercises for Seniors: daily routines to build balance and boost confidence by Cindy Brehse and Tami Brehse Dzenitis ROOT
18. A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle CBC; ROOT; reread
19. The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See ASCBC; HF
20. The Wars of the Roses by Alison Weir 75WR (Mar); HCAT

Coding for stars, for my reference.























Instructions at https://www.librarything.com/topic/129158#6620607

My ratings
= Outstanding; exceptional; I loved it
= Excellent; absolutely worth reading
= Very Good; for nonfiction: has an interesting viewpoint, or I learned something
= Good
= Average; for nonfiction: there are some issues with it
= Written well or a classic but I didn't enjoy it
= Writing is hard. I appreciate the work the author did. (borrowed from humouress)
= Bad
= Very Bad
= Terrible; for nonfiction: lots of problems

I decided to try the BingoDog card this year, and am surprised how many squares I've been able to check off so far. A lot of my reads fit more than one square.



2024 BingoDog card:
1. Something themed around food or cooking
2. A book with an ugly cover - Brave New World
3. A book with nothing on the cover but the title and author - Burning the books: a history of the deliberate destruction of knowledge
4. A book featuring twins - The Vanishing Half
5. A book about a topic about which you have specific knowledge or expertise - Burning the books: a history of the deliberate destruction of knowledge
6. First published in a year ending in 24
7. Epistolary or diary format
8. The words "Big" or "Little" in the title - The little bookstore of Big Stone Gap : a memoir of friendship, community, and the uncommon pleasure of a good book
9. A book from one of the libraries listed under the "Similar libraries" featured on your LT profile page - Neanderthal: Neanderthal man and the story of human origins (weird_O); 1776 (weird_O)
10. A book about Friendship - The Island of Sea Women; The little bookstore of Big Stone Gap : a memoir of friendship, community, and the uncommon pleasure of a good book; Are you There God? It's Me, Margaret
11. A three-word title - Brave New World
12. Features a paper based item in the plot - The Book of Lost Names
13. Read a CAT - Year of Wonders (March HistoryCAT)
14. A short story collection / Anthology
15. Title contains a person's name - Are you There God? It's Me, Margaret
16. Set in the city - The Catcher in the Rye
17. A book with fewer than 100 copies on LT - 5-Minute Core Exercises for Seniors: daily routines to build balance and boost confidence; Neanderthal: Neanderthal man and the story of human origins
18. Something written by a person of colour - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings; The Vanishing Half
19. Written by an author 65 or older
20. A book featuring water - The Island of Sea Women
21. Involves warriors or mercenaries - The Eagle of the Ninth; 1776
22. Reread a favorite book
23. A book written in another cultural tradition - The Island of Sea Women; I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
24. Something that takes place in multiple countries
25. Read a current/recent bestseller

Welcome everyone!

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread!

Wishing you a glorious new thread, Irene.

>11 Owltherian: Thanks, Lily.

>12 drneutron: Thanks, Jim.

>13 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul.

So nice to see all of you here!

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread, Irene!
How is your husband now?

Happy New Thread, Irene. I hope you had a nice holiday weekend. Like I mentioned on my thread, I love this time of year for birding- I love seeing the new, incoming birds. I had a male red-wing blackbird stop by my feeders last week.

>15 figsfromthistle: Thanks, Anita.

>16 banjo123: Thanks, Rhonda.

>17 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita. My husband is doing really well. He actually drove us to his PT appointment this morning. That's the second time he has driven, both times for short distances. The leg swelling is going down, although it's slow. And he's moving around really well now. He is not using the cane much inside the house at this point. So lots of good progress.

>18 msf59: Thanks, Mark. We did have a good weekend, although getting up at 5:30 so my DH could get to church to play for the two services was outside my comfort zone. I'm still feeling sleepy today.

How nice that you're getting to see the migrating birds. Hooray for the red-wing blackbird! So far I've just been seeing the same birds that we've had all winter. Although we did see a red-wing blackbird here a few weeks ago, and I haven't seen one since.

Happy New thread, although it was a little late.

Dang it. My Challenged Books Club is reading A Wrinkle in Time this month. I had a copy growing up, and had looked all over for it. I wasn't sure if it had made the move from mom's house or not. I unpacked a few boxes of books that I did move on the last few trips to her house and found other books I had forgotten I had, but not A Wrinkle in Time. So I had finally broken down and bought a new copy back in February. Then today I found my original copy. It must have been the one place I didn't check when I was looking, or else I did look there and just didn't see it. Oh well, the old one was a Scholastic mass market paperback copy, so it probably should be replaced with a better copy anyway.

Happy new thread! >22 atozgrl: I hate it when that happens, but at least you ended up with a copy in better condition!

Happy new thread!

Happy New Thread and Cubs Win in their home opener!

>1 atozgrl: Beautiful topper, Irene! It looks lovely in your area. I was thinking today how beautiful it is in my area as I was out walking, but it seems the same is true for you. I'm glad to hear your husband is doing so well.

>23 cbl_tn: Thanks, Carrie. It was frustrating, but I do have a better copy now.

>24 thornton37814: Thanks, Lori.

>25 kac522: Thanks, Kathy. Yes, the Cubs had a nice win for the home opener, and another win tonight. Go Cubs!

>26 vancouverdeb: Thanks, Deborah. The picture I found was from a botanical garden in this state, one I haven't been to. But that's one of the reasons I love NC-- when the dogwoods and azaleas are in full bloom, it's gorgeous! The azaleas in my yard have burst out already. Everything's blooming here, and we unfortunately broke a record for the pollen count yesterday. Things are blooming 2-3 weeks earlier than they used to.

I've heard that Vancouver is beautiful and has wonderful gardens. I really need to visit some day.

Happy new thread, Irene. Checking in on you before I lose you again, lol.

Thanks, Stasia! I know what you mean, it's hard to keep up with all the threads.

>28 atozgrl: Your foliage is very similar to ours, or maybe the same. Dogwoods are plentiful, and the dogwood is my province's provincial flower. We have azaleas and rhodos in abundance as well. We also have a lot of cherry trees and the same as you , they bloomed ahead of schedule. There is big "Cherry Tree Festival " in my area on Sunday, but most of blooms have already fallen off. These are decorative cherry trees rather than fruit beating cherry trees, though we have those too.

>31 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah, it sounds like we do have a lot of blooms in common. The dogwood is North Carolina's state flower! Fayetteville has had a Dogwood Festival near the end of April every year. It's been going on since before I moved to NC in the '80's, but I think it's been quite a few years since the dogwoods were actually still blooming by the time of the festival. That used to be when they were in full bloom. I guess that's a good indicator of how much the climate has changed.

Same here -- the pollen count is ridiculous and everything is blooming even earlier! Which is also why I lost so many plants with our late ice storm. Grrrrr. Sorry you couldn't find your Wrinkle in Time copy until after you bought another one, but that is one of my very favorites so have fun at your bookclub discussion!

>33 Berly: Thanks, Kim. It is frustrating, but I did come away with a nicer copy of the book. I'll have to pick it up soon, since our book club meeting is in a week.

Interesting day. I went out this morning to my exercise class. When I got back, my DH said he had booted up the computer this morning, but got a message saying no Internet. There were a couple of suggestions of what to do with the router. I tried the reset, which didn't work. Then I unplugged it and let it reboot. Still no luck. Then I noticed something on there about checking for Internet outages, so I tried on my phone. Sure enough, there was a very localized outage for our location. Seems to have hit several neighborhoods here, but it wasn't widespread overall. Unfortunately, it was out from around 10:00 this morning to after 9:00 tonight, so I wasn't able to do much of anything online today. However, when I saw the outage info, they were saying service would be restored by 6:00AM tomorrow, so I'm glad it was back tonight. I was afraid I was going to lose my Wordle streak.

I'll have to catch up on most threads tomorrow.

Nooooo! Not the Wordle streak! (Did you save it?) : )

Happy Wednesday, Irene. We are enjoying a few days of above normal temps. The juncos will be leaving and the hummingbirds will arrive soon. While hanging out with Jackson yesterday, I saw 2 FOY birds- Caspian terns and cormorants. Both can be found here through the summer. I also saw an osprey and a kingfisher.

Go Cubbies! They are off to a good start. Let's keep it going.

Happy mid week. I hope your internet outage is restored soon.

Ten days later, here I am. I understand all too well the microoutage issue. We used to have them all the time before the facility changed providers.

Enjoy the May weather in April we're having!

I didn't realize we shared a state / provincial flower, Irene. Too bad about the internet outage. I hope that is sorted out soon.

WOW! Your opening image is breathtaking!

I hope you have internet ability. When we don't have this, we realize how much we depend on our computer messags.

Happy new thread, Irene--a little late to the party, but that topper makes it all worthwhile--just lovely.

>36 Berly: >38 figsfromthistle: >39 richardderus: >40 vancouverdeb: >41 Whisper1: Oh, yes, our Internet came back, and I did save my Wordle streak. If the Internet hadn't returned, I wouldn't have been on LT. My laptop needs the Wifi, and I don't do LT on my phone. And yes, we sure do rely on Internet these days, and it's a problem when we lose access. Thank you all for your words of commiseration!

>37 msf59: Hi Mark. We've got rainy and somewhat stormy weather today, although the bad stuff has missed us at my house so far, knock on wood. There are trees down in some places nearby. It's going to get hot for April next week, with highs in the 80's and humidity, so it's going to start feeling more like summer. Not what I want for mid-April.

My feeders are staying busy, and we've had a mockingbird visiting again. Fortunately, this one isn't chasing all the other birds away. However, that is a problem that only seems to happen in the winter. I guess I need to get my hummingbird feeder set up. Congratulations on the FOY birds! We get cormorants in the winter in the local small lake. We don't usually see them after the weather warms up. I had to look Caspian tern up, I'm not familiar with that bird.

I hope the Cubs do well! I went to bed the other night with them leading 8-0 in the 5th, only to wake up and find out they lost 9-8. I'm hoping for better results out of Seattle this weekend.

>41 Whisper1: >42 kac522: I'm glad you both like the topper. I was looking for something that shows NC at its peak in the spring. Glad to have you both here!

17. 5-Minute Core Exercises for Seniors: daily routines to build balance and boost confidence by Cindy Brehse and Tami Brehse Dzenitis

I picked up this book last year after it was recommended by the instructor in one of the exercise classes I took at the senior center last year. I hadn't done much with it yet. But with my DH's surgery, I wound up missing my exercise classes at the senior center for three weeks, and I noticed that I was getting really sore, especially in my lower back and hips. After seeing some discussion on another thread about staying active and doing exercises to strengthen the core to prevent problems with your back, I decided I really needed to pull this out and use it. And it has helped! The book includes lots of exercises you can do to strengthen your core. The exercises are easy, and the illustrations and descriptions tell you how to do them. Then the book has a section of routines that put four of the exercises together to help with various problems, such as lower back pain, hip pain, burning calories, building endurance, or moves needed for activities of daily living. You can do just one of the routines for a short exercise session, or do several for a longer session. I have found all of this very easy to use and it has helped me with my aches and pains.

I may have to get those but im probably doing similar at PT
along with your core worry about your glutes esp as you get older Didnt realize how bad I was when I realize I couldnt walk without pain and was diagnoes with tendonitis and bursitis of the hip. Cant walk or stand for any length of time. Been active all my life so never thought about it. so remember your glutes!

>46 cindydavid4: Thanks, that's good advice. One person I know recommends squeezing your glutes while sitting, like when you're stopped at a traffic light while driving. I just have to remember to think of it.

So that's why my back hurt recently. I haven't been doing my TKD because I've been sick lately. So between lack of exercise and too much bed rest, ouch! Now I'll have to work in the glutes. ; )

Irene I have struggled with weight gain quite badly since I stopped active sports after marriage. The only things that I have found really helpful to me is intermittent fasting and swimming. Pulling in your stomach muscles for regular protracted periods also helps as does trying to make sure that your sitting posture is good.

>48 Berly: I guess the older we get, the more the lack of exercise does us in. I need to work on my glutes too.

>49 PaulCranswick: Sitting posture is always a problem. I'll have to try your idea of pulling in the abdominals for protracted periods, that sounds like it would help. I've been doing a modified intermittent fasting, where I don't have breakfast until mid-morning, and I actually did lose some weight without really trying. Thanks Paul!

18. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

I read A Wrinkle in Time this month for my Challenged Books Club, which meets next week. I had to briefly pause my reading of The Wars of the Roses so that I could finish this one before our meeting. I'm reading The Wars of the Roses for the March War Room challenge, and although I started it in March, it's slow going, because there's a lot of information to digest. It's interesting, but not a quick read.

A Wrinkle in Time was a reread for me, but I read it even longer ago than Catcher in the Rye or Brave New World, so I had even less memory of the details of the book. It tells the story of Meg, age 13, her genius young brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin, as they are taken across the galaxy to rescue Meg's missing father from the Black Thing. Three supernatural beings take them to several new worlds via a tesseract (which folds space and time). It's a story of the battle between good and evil. I did not remember the Bible quotes that are included in the text, and possibly I was so young when I first read the book that I didn't even realize that those quotes came from the Bible.

I was surprised to see this book on the list of Challenged Books that we would be reading. Apparently it is the inclusion of religious ideas side by side with the science and fantasy aspects that has caused concern for some people. Some apparently thought it was anti-Christian, or that it promoted witchcraft or new agey stuff. And others have thought it was too Christian. To me, it was reminiscent of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which the Episcopal church I grew up in promoted, so I don't see the conflict.

For me it was a fun read, and you don't have to be a young person to enjoy it. I'm glad to have reread it.

I loved A Wrinkle in Time when I read many years ago as young teen, maybe earlier ? I'm surprised too that it would be on the list of Challenged Books. In Canada, we have Challenged Books month at the libraries, and they put all of the " Challenged Books " on display. Do they have that in the US as well ?

>53 vancouverdeb: The budding Nazis are at it here, too. We have had displays of banned books (adult and youth titles) up in our bookstore.

We have received kudos from some customers. One told me she likes to buy banned books and put them in little free libraries. 😁

But recently one display of children's books with LGBTQ+ characters & topics was emptied by a boy in his teens or twenties. He *hid* the books behind other titles in the reference section.

Over the years we have also had accusations from right wingnuts over political titles that they don't like (usually sitting next to the books that they do, that are apparently invisible to them). And they, also, turn books around or hide magazines (especially during the Obama years) elsewhere in the newsstand.

And a relatively recent bit of reporting:
https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/the-50-most-banned-books-in-america/

Hi Irene, and happy new thread.

>1 atozgrl: Yay for two RL book clubs.

>35 atozgrl: I was afraid I was going to lose my Wordle streak. One of the more important things to do on the Internet, obviously!

>52 atozgrl: I like what you wrote about A Wrinkle in Time. Same experience of reading it for the first time – no understanding of the quotes or the religious aspects, and I loved it. I still love it. I tried reading more in the series but balked at the more recognizable Christian aspects and gave them all to the Friends.

>45 atozgrl: I just looked for this book on Amazon, thinking I should buy it because I’m getting more and more leery of going to the Senior Center to use the treadmill before my rescheduled surgery, and lo! behold! It’s available on Kindle Unlimited so I’ve borrowed it.

>54 ReneeMarie: Our Library is always replacing books borrowed and not returned or stolen by whack jobs. It’s horrible.

>54 ReneeMarie: "No one may think thoughts *I* do not like." It's so very childish. "You're doing it wrong!" is to be expected in the magical-thinking age of development, but among adults it's appalling.

Happy Sunday's reads, Irene. May it be the snake's garters!

>56 richardderus: There's a book I'm waiting for from my holds list: Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller, where a character's personal "morality" has unintended consequences.

On the plus side, attempts to ban books often lead to suddenly surging sales! 📚

I read A Wrinkle in Time many years ago! It's a classic!

>53 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah, there's a Banned Books Week in September, and I think a lot of public libraries do have displays of banned/challenged books at that time. I spent most of my career in a government library, so it wasn't as big of a thing where I worked, but we had some displays as well.

>54 ReneeMarie: That's interesting to hear of your experience in a bookstore. You just never know what people will do. And thanks for the link! The story looks interesting; I'll have to read through the list when I've got more time.

Unfortunately, we just had an incident locally yesterday. The Durham County Library had planned to host a story hour held by an LGBTQ organization, but they got a bomb threat and had to evacuate the library. The program was cancelled as a result. The state of the country right now is just sad.

>55 karenmarie: Hi Karen! I haven't read the other books in the series following A Wrinkle in Time. I didn't realize there were more books when I was young. Maybe someday I'll get to them.

Hurray for finding 5-Minute Core Exercises for Seniors on Kindle Unlimited! I hope the exercises are helpful for you.

I went to the Friends book sale on Friday and came away with a haul. I need to get around to listing them here.

>56 richardderus: Hi, Richard! among adults it's appalling Ain't that the truth! Happy week ahead's reads to you!

>57 ReneeMarie: Attempts to ban books always does seem to bring more interest and curiosity. You'd think the opponents of the books would learn.

>58 thornton37814: Hi, Lori! It is a classic. I am so glad to have had a reason to reread it.

>59 atozgrl: A bomb threat over an LGTBQ hosted story hour ? That is shocking!

not surprising anymore

>63 vancouverdeb: >64 cindydavid4: Unfortunately Cindy is right, it's not shocking in this country any more. Sigh.

I went to the Friends of Chatham County Library book sale on Friday and picked up some books:

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Origin : a genetic history of the Americas by Jennifer Raff
Team of rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
The last chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope
The woman in white by Wilkie Collins
Show boat by Edna Ferber
Alexander of Macedon : the journey to world's end by Harold Lamb
Currier & Ives
The boys from Biloxi by John Grisham
Code girls : the untold story of the American women code breakers of World War II by Liza Mundy
The name of the rose by Umberto Eco
Fear : Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward

When I went to the last sale last September, I was hoping to find a copy of Wolf Hall but didn't find one. This time there were two, so I snagged one of them. This time I was looking for a copy of The Firm because my SiL gave us The Exchange: After The Firm for Christmas. She said you don't have to read the first book to enjoy the new one, and I have seen the movie, but I haven't read the book and I would still like to read it first. Although there were lots of Grisham books at the sale, no copies of The Firm. :-( But I picked up a different Grisham instead.

Code Girls has been praised by several people here on LT, so I decided to get it when I saw it. I had Origin : a genetic history of the Americas on my Amazon wishlist, so I grabbed it as well. And I decided to go ahead and get The name of the rose when I saw it. The copy at the book sale was a full-size hardback and it will replace the mass market paperback copy I already have. That's a book I started once, but didn't get very far. Work and life intervened, and I hadn't gotten drawn into the book enough to push through. Maybe now that I'm retired I can try again.

Looking forward to hear what you think of Wolf Hall!

>66 atozgrl: What a great haul!

--Origin: a genetic history of the Americas--don't know anything about this one, but it is just the sort of book my husband would love--look forward to hearing how you like it
--Team of rivals--I really enjoyed this book. It's long; but it so thorough in the way it explores the complex relationships in Lincoln's cabinet
--The last chronicle of Barset--my favorite book in my favorite series! One of those I wish I could read for the first time again.
--The woman in white--such a great gothic mystery--it's the 200th anniversary of Wilkie Collins' birth, so enjoy! There's a great BBC TV series that came out some years ago, too.
--Show boat--haven't read this one, but the 2 books I've read by Ferber I've enjoyed

And the Currier & Ives should be a treat!

Happy Tuesday, Irene. Great book haul. Wolf Hall and Team of Rivals are fantastic reads. I liked Code Girls too.

Go Cubbies! Just won 3 in a row. Lets finish the road trip with a bang.

>67 cindydavid4: >68 kac522: I'm not sure how soon I will be able to get to any of these, so it may be a while before I can report back. I don't know if they'll fit in any of the challenges I'm doing this year, and several of them are quite long.

I've read The Moonstone more than once and loved it, but somehow haven't read anything else by Wilkie Collins, so I'm looking forward to finally getting to The woman in white.

The Currier & Ives book is short, and might be one I can get to soonest. It's in a slipcover, which is somewhat beat up looking, and the cover of the book itself has water stains, but the inside is in good shape. Looking at it more closely, it says in the front that it's a special edition limited to 950 copies, and I've got #85, so maybe I came away with a find.

>69 msf59: Glad to know you enjoyed all of these books. I'm glad I was able to find them. Not bad getting 12 books for $21.50, and most were hardback.

I hope the Cubs can do better against Arizona than they did last September, when the Diamondbacks knocked them out of the playoffs. I just saw that Suzuki is injured, which doesn't help. But I hope they can win at least one more in Arizona, and finish it off as you say with a bang. Go Cubs!

Wordle was one of those guessy puzzles today.

Wordle 1,032 5/6

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SLATE, SWARM, SNACK, SPANK, SHANK The first thing I thought of at row 3 was SPANK, but decided to try SNACK first. If I'd stuck with my first thought, I would have had it in 4.

Connections
Puzzle #310
🟪🟪🟪🟪 THEATER SECTIONS (BALCONY, BOX, ORCHESTRA, STAGE)
🟦🟦🟦🟦 ON THE SAME PLANE (EVEN, FLAT, FLUSH, LEVEL)
🟨🟨🟨🟨 FLABBERGAST (FLOOR, ROCK, SHOCK, SURPRISE)
🟩🟩🟩🟩 BIT OF JOURNALISM (ARTICLE, FEATURE, REPORT, STORY)

Weird Connections today--I solved it backwards (mostly).

>70 atozgrl: I get about the long books, np

my fav collins is queen of hearts its not so much mystery, but a sweet story about a father helping his son connect with the love of his life through stories. none of the others ive read have quite the gentle and humorous touch this has Not sure how many pages tho...

>66 atozgrl: What a terrific haul, Irene! Enjoy them.

>73 cindydavid4: Thanks, Cindy, I'll have to look for that one. It sounds good!

>74 richardderus: Thanks, Richard, I will! I hope you are having a great week!

Belated happy new thread, Irene

>45 atozgrl: and you've gotten me with this book bullet.

Nice to see you here, Arlie! I hope you find 5-Minute Core Exercises for Seniors as helpful as I have.

19. The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

This book was the choice of my RL book club for April. It is probably not a book I would have picked up on my own, but it turned out to be a good one. It tells the story of the women divers of Jeju, a Korean island. It starts in the 1930's when Korea was occupied by Japanese colonizers and continues to 2008. The culture of Jeju island was unique and "matrifocal," where the mother was considered the head of the household. Due to unusual historical circumstances, the women were the ones who went diving for seafood, the work that supported their families. It was difficult and dangerous work.

At the heart of the story is the friendship between two of the women, and the events that happened to break the friendship. We also see the progress of history and the world events that affected the island. It begins with the hated Japanese colonizers who are eventually replaced by mainland Korean and American occupiers after WWII. As much as the Japanese were despised, the post-war era is worse, with much unrest, fears of communism, and persecution of opposition leading to a massacre, known as the 4.3 Incident, which is a turning point for the story. We see how modernization impacts the unique culture of the island and how a way of life is lost. This story of lost culture is different from what we usually see, where colonizing Europeans disrupt native American/Eskimo culture or, as in the case of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, Africa. In this case, it is their countrymen, Koreans from the mainland, who are the primary agents of the change.

Lisa See does a beautiful job of showing us the way of life on Jeju and the relationships between the women and their families. There are a number of tragedies that befall the inhabitants of Jeju, and some of this is difficult to read. But the story was very engrossing, and I learned about a place and way of life that I had no idea existed.

Last year I had gotten my Wordle streak up to 113 when we needed to leave town to visit relatives and would be staying at my MiL's house with no wifi. The day we left town, I decided to do Wordle on my phone rather than boot up the laptop just to play Wordle before we left. I did another Wordle in the hotel where we stayed overnight, running my Wordle streak to 115. I was logged in on my phone and it correctly showed the streak at 115. Of course I lost the streak after that. But when I got home and got back on the laptop, it showed my streak as 113, which is what it was on the laptop, but that was incorrect for the total. I was quite annoyed. With multiple trips last year, I never got back to such a long streak. I was finally getting close to correcting the problem by reaching the same 115 streak when our home wifi went out (>35 atozgrl: ) and I was concerned I'd lose my streak again and have to start over. Fortunately, after much of the day we got wifi back in time for me to do Wordle and save the streak. After a close call yesterday when it took me 6 to solve, I was finally able to get back to a streak of 115 this morning and correct what Wordle claimed was my longest streak.

Wordle 1,038 2/6

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SLATE, LASER

>80 atozgrl: And then you get it in two today! Took me…six (“phew,” definitely). Great job!

Karen O

>81 klobrien2: Thanks, Karen. Yes, today was a good Wordle day. I was really afraid that I was going to get skunked yesterday, because there are so many words that end with those final 4 letters. It took me 6, but I got it, thank goodness. I would have hated to have gotten all the way to the same streak that the laptop thinks I have, only to get skunked the next day.

>80 atozgrl: Nice Wordling, Irene. It took me 4 today. I have not read The Island of Sea Woman by Lisa See, but I have read tow other books of hers that I enjoyed, Shanghai Girls, Snow Flower and The Secret Fan. She is a good author, I think.

Morning, Irene. Still waiting for some new arrivals at my feeders. I am keeping the thistle fresh for the goldfinch but haven't seen them in the backyard yet. I do see them on my walks. The males in full summer plumage.

Go Cubbies! Lets beat up on some Astros!

>83 vancouverdeb: I will definitely need to read more of Lisa See's books. The Island of Sea Women really pulled me in, in spite of the subject matter that I didn't expect to be so interesting. I'm glad to know you liked her other books.

>84 msf59: Good morning, Mark! I finally put out my hummingbird feeder, but I haven't seen any hummers yet. Of course, that doesn't mean that they haven't visited when I wasn't around to see them. We've definitely got goldfinches in our area. I see them visiting my feeders, though I haven't noticed any lately. They probably are dropping in when I'm not looking.

I hope the Cubs do well against the Astros while they are struggling. I also hope they can right the bullpen. Go Cubs!

My usual second word was the key to solving Wordle today.

Wordle 1,039 3/6

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SLATE, ROBIN, ROVER

My book club met today and we had a great discussion of The Island of Sea Women. Everybody really liked the book and it provoked a lot of discussion on a number of topics, so it's hard to summarize. It was all women in the meeting today, and most were like me in that it was a book they probably wouldn't have picked up except that it was a book club choice, but they were glad they had read the book, even though parts were difficult to read.

I didn't write about the Challenged Book Club meeting last week, where we discussed A Wrinkle in Time. In that case, a lot of us liked the book, but there were some who did not. However, all of the ones who did not like it also said they don't like science fiction. It was interesting to me that several people mentioned that they saw the importance of imagination in that book. Others also commented on the way the book showed how unappealing conformity was, similar to Brave New World. Those comments together made me think of Dickens, where some of his books also show harm from conformity and attempting to drive imagination out of children.

20. The Wars of the Roses by Alison Weir

I read this book for the March War Room Challenge. I started it in late March, but as I suspected, I was not able to finish it before the end of the month. It is dense with a lot of information, and it was slow going, particularly at the beginning, because there were so many names and intertwined relationships that I had trouble keeping everyone straight. The English practice of having personal names and also titles of nobility with no relationship to the person's name, with the book referring to them variously by name or by title, also took some getting used to. I had to keep referring back to places in the book where they were introduced or previously mentioned to try to keep them straight. After I got deeper into the book, it went more quickly, but it was not a quick read. I also had to pause reading twice to read A Wrinkle in Time and The Island of Sea Women for my book clubs. But I have finally finished The Wars of the Roses.

Weir does a great job of setting the stage for the wars. She begins by telling us what England was like in the 14th and 15th centuries, and she goes all the way back to Edward III to explain the roots of the coming conflict. She provides a great deal of detail about all the events leading up to the conflict and the wars themselves. She takes us all the way up to the restoration of Edward IV to the throne, but only gives a brief summary of what happened later, with his death, the accession of Richard III, and Henry Tudor becoming king after the Battle of Bosworth. Apparently those events were covered in detail in her previous book The Princes in the Tower. The book could not have been easy to write, given the convoluted relationships and conflicts of the time. But she succeeded in helping me to understand a period of English history that was very muddy in my mind.

The book includes a set of genealogical tables, which helps with the complicated relationships between the warring families, although the small print and calligraphic typeface were not easy to read. It also includes an extensive bibliography and index. It was obviously very well researched.

This read took me so long to complete that I won't have time to read a book for the April War Room Challenge on Wars of Religion. I don't think there's anything on my shelves that fits that challenge in any case. I did read Tyll a year ago, which was a good one for the Thirty Year's War.

We went to Sylvan Heights on Friday. It was perfect weather to walk and watch all the birds. Unfortunately, my back decided to act up, so I was very uncomfortable all day. The back was worse yesterday, and I basically couldn't do anything, so my plans to take advantage of the nice weather and prune the rose bushes fell through. The back is better today, but still sore. I obviously need to be more diligent doing those exercises regularly, especially during the hiatus from my exercise classes.

Wordle 1,044 3/6

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SLATE, ROBIN, PRUNE