WHAT ARE YOU READING? - Part 4

The last thread is getting too long so time to restart :)

How is everyone doing? How is your reading year going?

Stop by to tell the group what you are reading (and/or had read) and to see what everyone else is up

posted in the last thread, posting here in case it got lost

so a book forced its way in between my Wilkie Collins and practically demanded that I read it. So I took the challente and started reading james last night. (touchstones not working; author is percival everette) stayed up way to long in the morning and having trouble putting it down. Love Mark Twain and loved the way the author put Jim front and center with Huck along for the ride. This is the first Ive read from this author and it will not be my last.

One caveat; there is a lot of italizied dialect; I get why hes using it, But ive always had trouble reading that. Not having as much trouble with this, but if you are the same way, be aware of making an extra effort. its certainly not going to take any star away for this.

ok back the the book, its calling me

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto.

I'm continuing my exploration of Chinese history. I just finished the excellent Mao's Great Famine by Frank Dikötter and have ordered his book on the Cultural Revolution. In the meantime, last night I started Half of Man is Woman by Zhang Xianliang, the author of Grass Soup. I continue to pick away at Dictionary of Maqiao but have lost a bit of steam.

I finished The Silver Bone by Ukranian author Andrey Kurkov today. It's due back at the library Monday. And I started Crooked Plow by black Brazilian author Itamar Vieira Junior, due back Saturday, in a week. Both are on the International Booker longlist, and Crooked Plow is on the shortlist (and gets lots of positive responses).

I'm listening to A Brief History of Japan, but I'm not really taking much in. Too many unfamiliar sounds and complex associations flying by too fast.

I'm straggling to the end of The Parson's Tale in Canterbury Tales. It's the last tale, and it's really long, and all prose. A sort of translation of several works to guide in penitence, combined together.

I finished Jamel Brinkley's short story collection Witness on a work trip—it had been sitting on my e-reader half read for more than half a year. I'm glad I picked it back up. I didn't think it packed quite the punch as his first book, A Lucky Man, but he's a wonderful writer and I liked his difficult characters a lot.

Now reading Alice Winn's In Memoriam—lots of people I know, including some here, liked it, so I put a library hold on it months ago and here it is.

I'm finishing up The Easy Life in Kamusari which is good but not great. I think I am going to read some Zola next - I have Ladies' Paradise on my kindle that I haven't gotten to yet.

For nonfiction, I tried Soil: A Black Mother's Garden and though I could tell it's an interesting memoir, I wasn't in the mood for something quite so introspective and poetically written. Instead I'm starting Shakespeare's Sisters that tries to uncover several Renaissance era English women who were writers to bring their work to light.

I'm now about 3/4 of the way through the very interesting The Mountains Wait by Theodor Broch. Broch was the mayor of a small, far northern Norwegian town when the Nazi invaded. This book is his memoir of the years preceding that invasion and of the invasion period itself. We're told on the first page that the Nazis eventually put out an order for his arrest, causing him to flee into Sweden. The narrative begins with him crossing the border, high in the mountains. This book was published in 1942, so while the war was still ongoing.

I’m reading short stories again. Though I prefer novels I do enjoy short stories by novelists I like. I’m about to start Interpreter Of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri.

I am reading The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir by RuPaul.

I finished What I'd Rather Not Think About by Jente Posthuma, my second book from this year's International Booker Prize shortlist, and reviewed it not long ago (hint: I liked it).

I've read the first chapter of Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward this afternoon, and I've returned to Black AF History: The Un-whitewashed Story of America Michael Harriot.

I’m reading My Husband by Maud Ventura. Very French, very amusing, and looking good, so far. Hoping it will lift my spirits.

>2 cindydavid4: There was little chance I could get a physical copy of James from the library, so I opted for the audio on Audible. I'm usually not the biggest fan of audiobooks but the narrator, Dominic Hoffman, is absolutely perfect IMHO. After reading your post, I'm glad I went the audio route. Like you, it's got all my happy reading attention!

I'm still working my way through Robert Caro's massive biography (The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York) for a year-long book club read. I finished Mary Roberts Rinehart's 1931 mystery novel, Miss Pinkerton and am now about to start Magda Szabó's The Door.

I'm working on Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship which is slow going; I can't seem to settle into it. The subway read is Sometimes a Great Notion which is wordy and discursive and requires a fair bit of attention, so I also have a short story collection on going when I need a break from the former two, Lake Like a Mirror.

>13 avidmom: OMG this book is amazing! I love how he weaves twains Jim and Huck together with these characters and turns it upside down. I read this in two days. its still not letting me go. Highly recommended review coming

review for James by Percival Evertte is here

https://www.librarything.com/topic/359757#n8508678

Reading too many books at the same time as always, but currently especially enjoying Saint Death’s Daughter.

I’ve finished Crooked Plow by African Brazilian writer Itamar Vieira Junior, my first read on the International Booker shortlist. This extraordinary novel was a 5-star read for me, and after some reflection, I’ll try to write a review.
I’m hoping to read at least two more of the Booker finalists, possibly all of them, and will read either Kairos or Mater 2-10 by Hwang Sok-Yong next. I’m still so under the spell of Crooked Plow, though, that it’ll take some time before I can give my attention to another novel.

I’m reading Kate Jenning Crooked Seed. It’s set in the near future in South Africa. I have high expectations as I loved The Island.

>19 dianelouise100: great to hear! I’m working through it

I flipped audiobooks this morning. I finished A Brief History of Japan which was certainly not written to all tastes. And i started A Memoir of My Former Self, which is not a memoir at all but a posthumous collection of essays by Hilary Mantel. The 1st two are spectacular - “On the One Hand” (2007) and “Once I stole a Book” (2009).

>21 dchaikin: I love her short stories and essays. Have you read Mantel Pieces?

>22 kjuliff: no. It’s my 1st nonfiction by her

>23 dchaikin: I think you’ll enjoy it. I reviewed Mantel Pieces on my thread. She’s so spot on.

>21 dchaikin: I dont think I have that Mantel sounds familiar; Ill have to look. akways eager to find new reads by her evern if they are posthumous

I've just finished The Mountains Wait, a memoir by Theodor Broch. Broch was the mayor of the far northern Norwegian town of Narvik when the Nazis invaded in 1940. The book begins with Broch getting away over the mountains into neutral Sweden, having escaped arrest for his resistance activities several months after the Nazi's arrival. But then, quickly, we go 10 years back in time to Broch's arrival in the town with his wife. He is a young lawyer intent on starting a practice away from the bustle (and competition) of Oslo. Pretty soon, Broch finds himself on the city council, and then the town's mayor. In the meantime, war clouds are gathering over Europe, though the folks of this sleepy town somehow assume they'll be spared.

But, of course, they aren't. In April 1940, German destroyers show up in the fjord. Broch describes the Nazi's arrival and occupation of the town, their temporary departure when the English attack, and then their return. He describes well the town's day-to-day life during this time, as well as the dangers and tragedies of the various bombings and naval bombardments that take place. Broch eventually had to flee Norway. He made his way to the U.S. where he was engaged in lecturing and fundraising on behalf of occupied Norway. This memoir was very well written, although, published as it was in 1943, its intent as a propaganda tool is evident. You can find a somewhat longer review on my Club Read thread.

Next up for me will be re-read of Harlem of the West: The San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Era. The Fillmore District was an African American/Latino/Asian neighborhood that was a hotbed of bebop through the 1960s, when it was deemed blighted and made a victim of urban renewal. Harlem of the West was originally published in 2004. Almost 20 years later, it was updated, expanded and republished. I've read the original edition, and I'm very much looking forward to reading this expanded edition.

I'm a little ways into Beyond the Wall: A History of East Germany by Katja Hoyer and it's very good so far.

>27 mabith:

Ha, I'm on page 76! Yes, very good, and so much stereotypical junk done with already.

I just found a nice used copy of north woods by Daniel Mason will probably start it tomorrow. looking forward to it

I just returned from a business trip combined with a short vacation, and managed to break my rule of only having a non-fiction book, a novel, and an audio book going at the same time. So, in addition to Organizing Information: Principles of Data Base and Retrieval Systems (started before trip), I'm reading Structured Analytic Techniques for Intelligence Analysis by Randolph Pherson for non-fiction; and Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (started before trip), Slay Ride by Dick Francis, and The Poacher's Son by Paul Doiron. I finished listening to Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate and immediately started listening to Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons.

I'm reading Yet We Sleep, We Dream which is a riff on A Midsummer Night's Dream (not my favourite), set in space (generally I love). I very much want to like this because it's written by a member of my bookclub.

oh pls tell me how it is!

In light of what's happening in the Middle East (SSDD, as teenagers would say), I cracked open Said's treatise The Question of Palestine. Although first written in the '70s and updated in the '90s, it's still a timely read, considering where Said comes from (he is Palestinian) and the personal angle he takes with issues of place and identity that remain unresolved.

I found both Kairos and Mater 2-10 too dense for now and have started Sympatía, a BI longlisted novel from Venezuelan author Rodrigo Blanco Calderón that I can add to my global reading challenge. And I continue to listen to the Iliad and to read from the Collected Essays of James Baldwin.

I finished Crooked Plow yesterday. It got a lot of praise in a Facebook Booker Prize Book Club. I liked it. Not sure what’s next. Might finally be time to start The Sound and the Fury.

Finished Beyond the Wall: A History of East Germany (for which my only complaint is that I'd have loved an even longer book), and I've started Epitaph by Mary Doria Russell.

finished north wood there was so much I loved about this book, but about 3/4 through it just stalled for me, too much telling and not showing. But then the end made up for it. Review coming

My book club is reading Apeirogon, and since I had made so little progress with the audiobook, despite starting over at one point hoping it would be easier the second time around, I bought the book. Wise move for me. Not only is it easier for me to follow, but there are also photos inserted in the text a la Austerlitz.

to follow up >35 dchaikin: , I did start The Sound and the Fury today.

Thanks to all the driving I have been doing this month I am 4 books ahead of schedule in my annual reading goal.
Audiobooks just finished:
Secrets of the Sprakkar
The Witch's Vacuum Cleaner
The Wolf Den
The Seed Keeper
The Cloisters
How's that for variety? The new bluetooth speaker is just perfect. I am no longer a victim of the vagaries of a wonky SYNC system in the car.

Just started:
To Shield the Queen - 1st of a mystery series featuring a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I. I am liking it so far.

Also reading, but not audio:
The Unquiet Bones - on hold on Libby for a long time. I probably would have postponed it, but I forgot it wasn't audio when I checked it out. Oh well - my other print books in progress will just have to wait.

\ Now reading the bird king, the diary of a provincial lady both recommended by folk hereabouts. and a Douglas Adams book starship titanic which just has to be fun

I finished Harlem of the West: The San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Era by Elizabeth Pepin Silva and Lewis Watts

From the 1930s through the late-1960s, the Fillmore district of San Francisco was an ethnically-mixed working class neighborhood, alive with minority-owned businesses, a with a bustling neighborhood feel where different groups got along as a matter of course. Starting in the early '40s, the Fillmore became a hotbed of blues, R&B and jazz clubs where local musicians flocked and famous musicians came to jam after their paid downtown gigs, blowing until dawn in bars and cellar sessions alike. This book contains dozens of short oral histories by the musicians who played in the clubs, as well as pocket histories of many of those landmark night spots, as well as many, many beautiful photographs of the people and places that made the neighborhood jump and the community so vibrant. A reading of this book is a visit back in time to a wonderful era of jazz and inclusiveness in San Francisco history. I've posted a longer summary and review on my Club Read thread.

I've got a couple of baseball histories lined up to read next. First will be Crazy '08: How a Cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads, and Magnates Created the Greatest Year in Baseball History by Cait Murphy. After that I'll be reading The Miracle at Coogan's Bluff by Thomas Kierman, about the wild National League pennant race of 1951. For the non-baseball fans in the crowd, yeah, I'll see yuz in a while.

Started The Children by Edith Wharton, for my Litsy Wharton group.

Finished Alice Winn's In Memoriam, which was very engrossing—a really strong first novel, well done for such a couple of big, big subjects. I had a few issues with the pacing, but it kept my attention all the way through. Now (finally!) reading Daniel Mason's North Woods, which is so far delightful.

>43 dchaikin: That looks interesting. I’m in need of another Wharton, but this one doesn’t seem to be on audio. Reminds me of the Kevin Barry short story I recently review.

>43 dchaikin: I just started this and am loving it! that wharton can write children so well just makes her more wonderful for me to read. think Ill try to drop in for the Litsy group; when does it start?

Lois is reading Born Into This (stories) by Adam Thompson (Indigenous Australian writer)

Michael is now reading Transition by Iain M. Banks (SF)

>47 avaland: I liked Thompson's book when I read it.

>46 cindydavid4: hi. Wharton’s having fun. We discuss book 1 Saturday (book is The Children) I’ll tag you on the litsy post.

I began today (25 April, 2024) the book The Woman In Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. This will be the third book that I have read by Ruth Ware.

>50 dchaikin: thanks; I just finished and wow, she just continues to knock it out of the park. Ill wait to review it but Im pretty sure Ill be rating this a 5

I am trying to finish the worst book I’ve read for a while. I was hoping I’d discovered another good Moroccan writer but sadly this one is not delivering. The Other Americans.

Oh, Ive always confused that author with Leila Aboulela who has written the kindness of enemies one of my fav HF about the background of russia and checnya in the middle ages. I tried reading Lalami but for some reason just didnt take

I am reading Butter by Asako Yuzuki which is the 'it' murder mystery right now. It was a mistake. It's 60% about food and I'm hungry constantly.

>55 rasdhar: oh that sounds perfect for me. I love a good murder mystery and need to put on weight!

>56 kjuliff: Three full pages dedicated to a loving, voluptuous description of butter with rice and soy sauce. Enjoy!

the library lent me an audio book - Lost on Me by Veronica Raimo from the International Booker longlist. So, I've set Mantel aside to listen to this.

>9 kjuliff: I'm suddenly reading short stories as well. Partly it's because I picked up an audio Great Courses on short stories ( or short fiction - some selections are pretty long), and am diligently reading the item to be discussed before each session. Luckily I've already read the title for the book group meeting on Monday - Myra Breckinridge. If I can call that luck.

The next piece of short fiction is Pantaloon in Black, first published in Harper's as the touchstone indicates, but actually part of Go Down, Moses, which has been languishing on my Faulkner pile for many years. I'm pleased to be led to read it.

I finished Epitaph by Mary Doria Russell, now I've started Ignition! An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants.

my review of the children here https://www.librarything.com/topic/359757#n8519655

now trying crooked plow and the new Haynes divine might

I set myself a goal at the beginning of the year to read more short stories from my shelf of anthologies and short story collections. I finished The Three Strangers by Thomas Hardy this morning before work. I've read longer works by Hardy, so this was not a surprise for me as it's set in his fictional Wessex countryside. It's a tale of three strangers who "crash" a christening party at an isolated shepherds cottage, and revolves around the identity of the first stranger.

>63 janoorani24: After realising how many anthologies I have on my TBR shelves, I'll be adding it as a "category" for my monthly planned reads from May.

I read A Prayer For The Crown-Shy in one sitting this afternoon. So lovely.

I’ve just finished When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut and What I’d Rather Not Think About, my second read on the IBP shortlist. I was surprised that I really liked the first so well—it’s a “novel” focussed on physics and physicists, so not my interest. I was going along with a well trusted Indie bookseller’s recommendation, and she was right. Labatut’s approach to his subject reminds me of Eric Larson’s books. The second I cannot rate as high as Crooked Plow, but I liked it well enough.

I’m now about a third of the way through Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje, which I’m really enjoying, and continuing my read/listen of Emily Wilson’s translation of The Iliad. And I’m having a Hoopla Binge with a Great Studies Course, “The Greek World.”

I’m reading my first Graham Green - The Heart of the Matter. Hadn’t realised he could be so depressing.

I finished Apeirogon and System Collapse, the most recent Murderbot book. I love the series and need to purchase them so that I can reread them while waiting for the next one. Next I want to finish Half of Man is Woman and A Dictionary of Maqiao. I also have a library book, A Faraway Island, in the queue.

>65 dianelouise100: I loved Anil's Ghost when I read it many years ago. The line (paraphrased), "I would tell the truth if I thought it would make a difference," has stuck with me.

>67 labfs39: I’ll be finished with Anil today and that line you remember seems a theme that pervades the book. I have close to 100 pages left, but at this point the mood of sadness is so strong…

>67 labfs39: loved that book as well as the english patient and the cats table

I started The Good People yesterday. I've tried reading this before and stopped around about where I'm up to now and I can see why I put it aside previously - it's making me quite uncomfortable. I'm determined to see it through this time.

>70 rhian_of_oz: sounds interesting.

I’m thinking of reading some Rafael Sabatini. Today is his birthday.

Now reading crooked plow hesitant about this because the snopsis made it sound too much dread, but well passed the Pearl Rule mark and enjoing it very much. There was a confusing moment when suddenly the voice changed; but I fingured it out. Thanks to those of you who encouraged me to try just 50 pages....

I just finished my first Graham Green - The Heart of the Matter and have started Graeme Macrae Burnet’s Case Study - the latter inspired by the review by@rasdhar here

>72 cindydavid4: glad Crooked Plow is working for you!

I finished The Sounds and the Fury tonight. I somehow thought I had a lot more to go so I was little surprised. Sometimes it's hard to tell with ebooks. So, I picked up Western Lane by Chetna Maroo - not an ebook.

Inspired by a recent discussion on a CR thread, I’m reading Claire Keegan’s debut collection of short stories, Antarctica, which to my surprise came out in 1999; Keegan’s only been on my radar for a couple of years, if that. The first story, Antarctica, is possibly one of the best short stories I’ve ever read.

>75 rachbxl: It’s a great short story and although I’m not sure it’s the best ever written, it’s certainly up there in the top 10. It’s so unlike the Keegan stories we are used to and the ending is such a surprise.

I’ve finished reading Anil’s Ghost, which I liked very much. I began Mater 2-10 by Hwang Sok-Yong this afternoon, another book on the International Booker Shortlist, set in South Korea.

I read A Faraway Island and have requested the next one in the series from the library. It's about two Jewish sisters from Vienna who are sent to Sweden in 1939 to escape Nazi persecution.

I finished Susan Casey's The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean (depressingly mediocre), and Kalpana Mohan's An English Made in India (really good) and am now getting on with Magda Szabó's The Door which I began some time ago and still haven't finished.

Ah - The Door is on my list to read this year. I just finished The Enchanted April and watched the 1991 movie tonight. Both were charming. The movie is mostly quite faithful to the book. On audio, I am now listening to #2 in the Ursula Blanchard mystery series, The Doublet Affair.

>80 WelshBookworm: The Door is a gem of a book. Im sure you will enjoy it. Thanks for the information on The Enchanted April being a film. I’ll be watching it. I had no idea this novel had been made into a film.

New month, new books! I started When Women Were Dragons and Doomsday Book with the hope that they'll help offset the grimness of The Good People.

>82 rhian_of_oz: Well, Doomsday Book isn't exactly uplifting, but it's an excellent book.

>82 rhian_of_oz: There is at least humor in Doomsday Book, and lots of good people doing their best. I read it initially pre-pandemic, then re-read it last year and that was certainly an experience.

I finished Lost on Me autobiographical fiction by Veronica Raimo, on the International Booker longlist. Written in chatty affected self-deprecating language. I’ll have to think past that to get something out of it. That was on audio. So I’ll return back to Hilary Mantel.

I’ve started the introduction to Silence - late 1200’s Old French poem attributed to Heldris of Cornwall.

In the middle of North Woods and enjoying it so much—it's like a river cruise (or like I imagine one to be, not having been on any kind of cruise myself), with engaging stops along the way that build on each other... anyway, a lot of fun.

For those who do ebooks and/or Amazon, it's on sale right now for $1.99. I hope that means Daniel Mason's got something new coming out soon.

>86 lisapeet: Thanks! I just bought North Woods.

Happy May!!!! Finished crooked plow which I really liked.
For this month I need to find a book for the RTT theme "International Labour Day" and find a book for the Monthly Author challenge by Maggie O Farrell that I havent read yet! and a book for this quarters RG theme Landlocked countries think Ill try something from south amercia. Any suggestions?

decided on the fawn Ive loved her other books.

for the non fiction challenge of Wild Wild West, a book by Oliver de Farge that I havent read yet. Loved his laughing boy which won him a Pulitzer prize in 1929 and his short stories all from the navajo tribes around Az and NM. given the time period, his empathy for the culture of the tribe and the land, and development of his characters were so ahead of his time

>86 lisapeet: >87 FlorenceArt: Me too!

>88 cindydavid4: Maybe one of those?

https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/red-may-at-verso

>90 FlorenceArt: wow what a great list! decisions decisions

>81 kjuliff: It's streaming free on Pluto TV...

>82 rhian_of_oz: Doomsday Book is kind of grim, but it's a great book!

>92 WelshBookworm: Thanks. I already rented it on Applee TV - only a couple of dollars and well worth it.

my review of crooked plow is here https://www.librarything.com/topic/359757#n8524714

>76 kjuliff: I had an awful sense of foreboding as I read Antarctica, couldn’t shake it off despite repeatedly telling myself I was being silly. Then the ending proved my instincts right but it was still a shock as I didn’t expect to be right.

>96 rachbxl: The ending came as a complete shock to me. I didn’t see it coming till it was upon me. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that story. Ever.

>83 labfs39:, >84 mabith:, >93 WelshBookworm: Hah yes! I think I assumed (without realising) that it was going to be similar in tone to the Chronicles of St Mary's.

I started reading Notes From The Burning Age for my bus book. Also not a light-hearted book.

I read The Best of Archy and Mehitabel - not fr the frst time. I am currently reading Followed by the Lark by Helen Humphreys. It’s a very quiet book about Henry David Thoreau.

>99 dianeham: Oh I love her books! definitely adding this to the list

I'm into Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin by Megan Rosenbloom.

Also having a little reread of the second Freddy the Pig book, Freddy Goes to the North Pole, in part because I'm annoyed we're into hot weather.

I've just finished a fun baseball history, Crazy '08: How a Cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads, and Magnates Created the Greatest Year in Baseball History by Cait Murphy. Murphy makes a pretty good case for the "greatest year in baseball history" hyperbole in the title for the action of the 1908 season, with 3-team races that came down to the final days in both leagues and featured many of the great names in early-20th century baseball. My somewhat longer review is up on my Club Read thread.

Next up for me will be Lady in Armor, a murder mystery first published in 1941 by the very prolific Octavus Roy Cohen.

just received fawn for the RG locked in lands theme

>99 dianeham: The Humphreys book sounds interesting. And I'm always drawn to "bird" titles...

I've just started two books. I picked the next Persephone title on my shelf, Family Roundabout by Richmal Crompton, which seems to be about contrasting two families in a British village - one an "old money" family with no more money and one a "trade family" with lots of money. Takes place in that 1920-1940s time frame that I really enjoy.

I'm also reading How to Say Babylon, which finally became available through my library. This memoir of a young woman raised in a very strict Rastafari household in Jamaica has grabbed me right away. I think it's going to be a favorite.

It's a rainy Sunday and both of my kids' sports events were canceled, so I'm hoping to get some good reading time today.

I finished Daniel Mason's North Woods, which I just loved—such a great complex journey across time, written with palpable wonder and delight.

Now reading Waubgeshig Rice's Moon of the Crusted Snow.

Followed by the Lark by Helen Humphreys was wonderful. It’s about Henry David Thoreau but more about his everyday inner life then any accomplishments. IT’s a very quiet book. Henry is an observer of nature and nothing gives him more joy. Every change of season seems new to him and throughout his life he sees things he hadn’t observed before despite being in the same spot over and over - like the details of a blueberry bush. I don’t think I would enjoy any other book about Thoreau as much as this one. This book was so tied to nature and a love of nature. The ending was so perfect that I gave it 5 stars. Sometimes a last sentence can push a book from 4.5 to 5 for me and this one did just that.

>105 japaul22: So happy you’ve had a good start on How to Say Babylon.

Have been reading Born Into This stories by Adam Thompson. The young author is an Aboriginal from Tasmania.

John Scalzi starter villian for a RL book group.I dont think Ive read another by him, but am enjoying this one so well see if I read more

A Spider’s House by Paul Bowles - the French get kicked out of Morocco

I finished reading The Heart: Frida Kahlo in Paris by Marc Petitjean yesterday, which was okay but uneven in spots, although anything that provides more information about Frida and her life is worthwhile, IMO. I'm nearly halfway through Black AF History: The Un-whitewashed Story of America by Michael Harriot, I'm steadily reading Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward, and I'm proceeding step by step in Self-Care for Black Men: 100 Ways to Heal and Liberate by Jor-El Caraballo, as I'm slowly heeding his advice, alongside my psychotherapist.

The Third person by Emma Grove. Honestly the material is very dense and sometimes hard to follow, but enriching nonetheless.

>110 cindydavid4: I keep forgetting how much I like Scalzi - then picking up one and binging for a while before I get distracted. Starter Villain was excellent but I _loved_ The Kaiju Preservation Society. He does some really neat worldbuilding, in most of his books. The only one I've really disliked was Fuzzy Nation - because I have loved Piper's Fuzzy books for decades and Scalzi's take was so weirdly twisted from Piper's.

I finished The Trees by Percival Everett and am still reflecting on it. It seems to be growing more and more powerful to me. I’m still reading The Iliad and as I near the end I realize I’m staring at a new rabbit hole. I’ve ordered a different translation of The Aeneid by Sarah Ruden and will order Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey when it comes out in paperback. I’m loving her translation of the Iliad.

>115 dianelouise100: I was most impressed by The Trees. I tried his other books but couldn’t relate.

>115 dianelouise100: >116 kjuliff: The Trees left me so confused on how I should feel (which means my actual feeling was confusion. 🙂). Diane, enjoy the Iliad. And I'm so jealous you get to read the Wilson translation of the Odyssey.

I finished Western Lane by Chetna Maroo - I loved this book. Wonderful prose that mixed in squash rhythms with grief and life. And i've started Asphodel by H.D., written in 1922/1926, published in 1992. And I've also started Undiscovered by Gabriela Wiener, which discussed a lot how her great great grandfather, a Jewish Austrian from Vienna who tried very hard to be French, looted Peru, impregnated her ancestor, and almost discovered Manchu Pichu, but apparently got lost and took a wrong turn. Wikipedia says a lot of this is true.

>117 dchaikin: >115 dianelouise100: Re The Trees - I didn’t get confused. I thought it was brilliant. I’ll have to go back and read your review, Dan. I really loved The Tress and found it one of the most intelligent books I’ve read this century.

I finished The Doublet Affair and have started The Secret Garden. Next will be Anne of Green Gables for audio.

>114 jjmcgaffey: thanks, I am enjoying it thus far (and being a cat lover, enjoying their part in the story. ) Ill keep my eyes out for his other books

>117 dchaikin: And I'm so jealous you get to read the Wilson translation of the Odyssey.


Why can't you read it, Dan?

>121 labfs39: I was just thinking that it wasn’t available when I read the Odyssey.

I have both those Wilson translations—I'd like to get to at least the Odyssey this year. I read the first page and was transfixed.

After weeks and weeks, I've finally finished the phenomenal Sometimes a Great Notion. It should have been a vacation book -- it requires longer and more focused reading sessions than the subway commute provided. Impressive storytelling -- reminiscent of Dos Passos and McGreggor.

Oh gosh I read that in HS and despite not really thinking I knew what it was about, I liked it.

>114 jjmcgaffey: I'm reading The Kaiju Preservation Society right now! Only halfway through, but some very interesting stuff.

Be ready to tip over in amazement and surprise as not only did I finish my second book of the year, but I also finished my third!

Middlemarch is finished!
And in only 4 days I read Jon Krakauer's latest nonfiction, Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town.

Three books finished this year. I think that officially makes me a book worm.

>127 lilisin: Congratulations on finishing Middlemarch. I have had that on my to-read list for a while now. I know it will be a long read and don't want to abandon it halfway through; I'll have to take my time with it as you seem to have done.

I finished the Chinese novel I've been picking away at for a while, Half of Man is Woman, and started a memoir I picked up over the weekend, When We Were Colored.

>124 ELiz_M: Oh, how I loved Sometimes a Great Notion when I read it during my college years. And I'm glad to read, as per your comments, that it holds up well. I found it to be even better than One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, though I think relatively few folks agree on that point. There's a movie with Paul Newman, but I don't recall ever seeing it.

>130 rocketjk: OFOtCN is more tightly plotted and, imho, has a greater emotional punch. But I think the expansiveness and the narrative structure of SaGN is a more impressive achievement.

Read Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. The authors narrative style kept me reading plus reinforced some of the history of the time periods I had learned.

>131 ELiz_M: Yes, I buy that (although it's been decades since I read either work), and very well put, too.

I finished Lady in Armor, a 1940s crime novel by Octavus Roy Cohen about a woman who, after being elected sheriff, takes on the corrupt and deadly leadership of a small southern town. It's implausible but entertaining, or would be if not for the demeaning racial stereotypes of blacks common for the era. My longer review is posted on my Club Read thread.

Next up for me will be another baseball history, The Miracle at Coogan's Bluff by Thomas Kiernan about the 1951 National League pennant race between the Dodgers and Giants.

Now that I've finished Middlemarch as my on computer PDF read, I have now started The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins as my next at-work read. It's been a slow week at work so I've already read a lot and am having fun with it as I expected.

I'd picked up a free fantasy romance - a retelling of Beauty and the Beast - on Amazon a while ago. I wanted some good fluff so I read it tonight - very much worth it! The Rose Gate by Hanna Sandvig - it's a nice retelling (with modern characters), rich characters and complex emotions and a fascinating setting. And a very good ending - true to the story without being simplistic. Also, it's a solid ending for _this_ story but there's clearly a series arc - much more to come.

And then I found out that the author is the daughter of my (author) sister's good friend...and I _think_ my sister is in the acknowledgements. I'd told her (my sister - and my other sister, and our mother), in our family video call, about this great book I was reading...and she said oh yes, she'd read it. She didn't tell me she had edited it! Cool connections.

I've now picked up several other stories in the series. This should be fun.

oh I love fractured fairytales, dont know that one, will have to take a look

If you get on her newsletter you can get a short one, Lily Gate, which is a really nice Frog Prince story, for free. Or you can buy it on Amazon. Her stuff isn't in the library as far as I can tell.

>87 FlorenceArt: Loved North Woods and just about anything else by Danial Mason. I've started his book of short stories, A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth. So far, not so good. Maybe he's just better at novels. I'll stick with it for a while.

>107 dianeham: This one goes on the wish list. I love Helen Humphreys, and this one sounds like quite a diversion for her.

I'm reading Daniel Mason's short story collection, A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth. I generally love his work but these stories aren't really grabbing me. And I haven't yet figured out how they relate to the title. Prior to this, I finished The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. I was drawn to it because the main character is Martha Ballard, a real historical character who was a midwife in Maine in the eighteenth century. You may know her from her diaries, the basis of A Midwife's Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. It's a historical mystery, set from November 1789 when the river freezes to April 1790 when the thaw begins. Martha is involved in several court cases, one involving what she believes is the murder of a man found frozen in the river, the other a charge of rape. Lots of details about colonial life and the court system in a country under its new Constitution.

>140 Cariola: Deborah, I read that Mason but clearly I didn't write a review. (love Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, your mention brings back the pleasure of reading it. ).

I’m reading A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry. WWI, Irish, the trenches … it’s been done before and though Sebastian Barry is such an excellent writer, did I need another WWI anti-war novel?

The answer is yes I did. For in A Long Long Way we see what can happen when an army turns on its own. Many of the Irish volunteers in WW! broke away from the King of England’s war, and the Irish servicemen who had just embarked on a ship bound for Belgium to confront the German army, were ordered tu turn around, to disembark, and to mow down their own.

Told from the pov of an uneducated teenage soldier who knows nothing of Home Rule or Irish or Irish nationalism the order to kill his countrymen is incomprehensible.

Living in America I thought of Jan 6. Not having been raised in a country that had a civil war I’ve really not understood its impact on not only the participants, but on future generations.

Well I didn’t intend to write so much, but I suppose I can use some of it in my review.

Last night I started reading Travelers to Unimaginable Lands: Stories of Dementia, the Caregiver, and the Human Brain by Dasha Kiper, a clinical psychologist who works with and focuses on caregivers of people with dementia. Her focus is dissimilar from most books on this topic, in which the main goals are to provide the best care for the affected ones, and she examines the cognitive-emotional biases that many of us caregivers have that cause us to have unreasonable expectations and frequent frustrations towards our loved ones. I'm a member of a dementia support group that meets regularly, and I plan to discuss the book when we get together the week after next.

I started Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doer Thursday. It's a unique sci-fi fantasy story. Liking it so far.

I'm reading The Feast by Margaret Kennedy which I'm enjoying. And still reading How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair which is a really fantastic memoir of a young woman raised in a strict Rastafari Jamaican family.

It's taking me a while to finish these two because the whole family was sick with a stomach bug this week. So I of course chose to watch the 1995 Pride and Prejudice miniseries instead of reading. I've done this so many times when sick that my (also sick) 11 year old reminded me I should be watching it. :-)

>144 avidmom: Ill be curious what you thik of it; I started liking it, then didnt for a bit.then the ending redeemed himself He is doing what David Mitchell did with cloud atlas interesting book and in many ways quite powerful

The author did a reading at our local, where I learned that the title was actually a book from ancient times. fascinatin

Finished Amanda Lee Koe's short story collection, Ministry of Moral Panic (very good) and also Bianca Bosker's Get the Picture: A Mind-Bending Journey among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See (very bad).

Now on to 912 Batu Road by Viji Krishnamoorthy, a novel set during the Japanese invasion of Malaya in World War II.

>144 avidmom: This novel is a favorite of mine. Doer is a very versatile author—CCL could not be more different from All the Light We Cannot See, and I loved both.

Finished When We Were Colored and am halfway through The Lily Pond, the second in the Faraway Island series.

Finished Moon of the Crusted Snow on a cross-country flight—enjoyed the story and cultural background, though I thought the writing was a bit flat—and am about 3/4 of the way through We Make Each Other Beautiful: Art, Activism and the Law, which is woman of color and queer of color artists and artist collectives who engage in direct political action as a part of their art practice... a niche-y interest of mine. Also about to start Janet Hobhouse's The Furies for my book club.

I finished A Far Cry from Kensington by Muriel Spark. I thought it was really boring. Glad to be done it.

>123 lisapeet: exactly the same here. I’ve had Wilson’s Odyssey for a few months, read the first page and wanted to abandon everything else and dive right in. I resisted because it wasn’t the right time, but I’m going to make sure the right time comes very soon (I was on holiday in Greece last week, which made me want to read it even more).

I was in the mood for a big sweeping read, and yesterday I started The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese. I’m already hooked.

I have to get to The Covenant of Water this summer! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, Rachel.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Moonstone and now I've started The Ends of the World, about earth's past mass extinctions.

>153 kidzdoc: you and me both! its been sitting on the shelf glaring at me as I skip over it. I think this summer will be a good time. Maybe a group read?

I've been having fun with my directionless reading lately and so have dived into Butter by Asako Yuzuki, which is both fascinating and pointedly going after sexism and fat phobia in Japanese society. It also goes hard for butter.

I'm also reading Portraits of a Few of the People I've Made Cry: Stories by Christine Sneed, which I would have bought just for the title alone, even if Sneed weren't an author whose short stories delight me. I'm also reading Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan, which is excellent.

And I'm reading a few brand new books as well, having slipped off all restraint around starting new books, namely We Were the Universe by Kimberly King Parsons, about a very young mother of a toddler who is kind of a mess, and First Love: Essays on Friendship by Lilly Dancyger.

I needed something gentle and quiet and at such times I usually turn to Japanese literature - there’s soothing about it that I can find no word for. I’m trying, for me, a new writer though her books turn up in a number of my LT Interesting Libraries - Mieko Kawakami’s All the Lovers in the Night.

>156 RidgewayGirl: I’ll be interesting in reading your thoughts on Butter. Rasdhar @rv1988 gave it such an excellent review but I am not sure how I’d cope with all the food descriptions.

I'm on a streak of excellent books, first Eastbound by Maylis de Kerangal, which had me glued to my seat until I finished, and now The Book Censor's Library by Bothayna Al-Essa. It is fantastic so far and full of passages that I am dying to share, but I don't want to spoil others' enjoyment when they read it. Which you should!

>153 kidzdoc: One of my book clubs has chosen that for this fall. We take the summer off, but pick a BIG book to read over the summer.

>155 cindydavid4: I'm in, Cindy!

Currently going on an expedition during the 19th century, A expedicion do pacifico by Marilar Aleixandre. There was a rocky start but now I'm enjoying and, at the same time, keeping the places in a map.



A 12 year old girl just sneaked into the ship (spanish: goleta / sutil), now she has to pretend she's a boy in order to be part of the expedition, the anthropologist got too close to a scorpion already! The good news, so far, is that the doctor responsible for everyone's health has the same treatment for everything: lemonade!

>162 dicentra8: That sounds fascinating!

Cool! My parents lived in Cabo Verde for a few years, and I visited them there. Which island(s) has the expedition visited? And is this available in English, do you know? Not as far as I can find...

After much dithering I am finally reading The Hands of the Emperor, and loving it.

>164 jjmcgaffey: São Vicente, Fogo and Santiago. It doesn't seem to be available in English. The original is in Galician, and I found a small review post from 2010 that said that it was translated to spanish (castelán) and portuguese.

Pity, it sounds like fun but I can barely limp along in Spanish (and less than that in Portuguese, and not at all in Galician). I forget what São Vicente is like (Wikipedia says a desert), Fogo is a(n intermittently active) volcano and Santiago has the capital...and probably my experience was _very_ different from theirs, it's been almost completely deforested when it used to be heavily overgrown. The climate has also changed because of the deforestation (of multiple islands) - a lot drier and hotter.

>153 kidzdoc:, >155 cindydavid4: Hmm, I'm afraid I've abandoned The Covenant of Water. I was drawn straight in and really enjoyed the first 50 pages or so, about an arranged marriage in a small Indian community in the very early 20th century. Then the focus shifted to the British expat community elsewhere in India in the same period and I lost interest, but I stuck with it because I thought I might get back into it when the original characters came back. Come back they did, but the spell was broken. I read on anyway to try to find the magic again, but I gave up about a third of the way through. I'm really enjoying my reading in general at the moment and have too many books crying out for my attention to give more time to a book I'm not convinced by. Shame, as I was really in the mood for a big sweeping saga.

Instead I decided that the moment has come for Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey.

>168 rachbxl: I’’ve just finished Wilson’s translation of the Iliad and am into the Introduction of her Odyssey. I found that her translation was very effective and enjoyable on audio, so I read/listened, and will do the same with Odyssey, once I get to the poem itself. Enjoy!

I’ve been reading L. Frank Baum books. I read The Enchanted Island of Yew and am now reading Queen Zixi of Ix. Both books are about fairies and mortals. This article got me interested https://www.publicbooks.org/b-sides-l-frank-baums-the-enchanted-island-of-yew/

I finished Yxta Murray's We Make Each Other Beautiful: Art, Activism and the Law, which I liked very much—interviewed the author for Bloom, and liked her very much too. Now I'm reading Janet Hobhouse's The Furies.

>168 rachbxl: I had exactly the same experience as you, except that I gave utter the second generation of the Indian family. I wanted to like the book but just couldn’t relate to it. I love most Indian lit but a getting tired of multi-generational stories, and in this ase the water accidents recurring over generations seemed a contrive thread upon which to link them.

Stigmata Colin Falconer The second book in his Epic Adventure Series. A pretty interesting take on Crusade against the Cathars.

>168 rachbxl: I'm sorry that The Covenant of Water didn't work for you, Rachel. I definitely respect your opinion, so I'm even more curious to get to it than I was before, to see what I think of it.

I finished Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward, which was very good but not quite up to the brilliance of Salvage the Bones and Sing, Unburied, Sing, her two National Book Award winning novels, although I would still recommend it wholeheartedly.

Next up is James by Percival Everett, and I'll continue reading Traveling to Unimaginable Lands: Stories of Dementia, the Caregiver, and the Human Brain by Dasha Kiper.

ETA: I received a free copy of Medgar & Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America by Joy-Ann Reid from Harriett's Bookshop, and I'll read it this weekend as well.

>174 kidzdoc: Percival Everett is such a great writer. I was blown away by The Trees But having no feel for early post-white “settlements “ American history and literature I had a problem fully appreciating James and the I am not Sidney Poitier.

American history was not taught at schools in Australia, and there was, and still is, a lot of anti-US sentiment there. I tried both James and I am not Sidney Poitier, but all though I could see they were both brilliant, I couldn’t relate.

In addition to Emily Wilson’s Odyssey I’m reading White Nights, a collection of short stories that was longlisted for the Booker International by Polish writer Ursula Honek and M. I. Finley’s The World of Odysseus, a classic study of Homeric culture.

>175 kjuliff: Interesting. Why is there so much anti-US sentiment in Australia, Kate?

>177 kidzdoc: There are several reasons -

The US is seen as over-materialistic and having a poor health system, with inadequate social welfare. There is a fear that such policies will come to Australia, along with below-average tv shows.

There’s also a lot of anti-war sentiment - Vietnam, Iraq

As well, in WWII while Australian forces were deployed in Europe and the Pacific, American GIs had R & R in Australia and wooed Australian women with Nylons and chocolate. They were seen as “taking our men”. Many Australian women including my father’s first wife went off with GIs and married them, emigrating to the US and leaving family. American men tended to be far more polite and brought flowers to the mothers. Aussie men were either no match, unable to buy chocolates etc, or overseas fighting. The women who left to marry in the US were known as “war brides” .

and the saying was
‘ There’s nothing wrong with Americans except
They’re over-sexed
Over-paid
And over here’

There are other more cultural reasons it I’ve listed what I see as the main ones.

Edited to add “re the anti-war sentiment” most Australians blame the US for the Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan wars although Australia is an ally and participated in these wars.

I finished The Miracle at Coogan's Bluff by Thomas Kiernan. This one's more or less for baseball fans only, as it is a history of the famous National League pennant race when the New York Giants made up a 13 1/2 game deficit over the last 6 weeks of the season to catch the Brooklyn Dodgers and force a playoff series that was decided in most dramatic fashion. The second half of the book is comprised of interviews with most of the principle members of that Giants team and many of the conversations get at the dynamics of team sports in general. I am away from home right now, visiting family, and will post a review in the usual spots upon my return.

ETA: My review is now up on my Club Read thread.

I've just started Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica by Zora Neale Hurston. Originally published in 1938, this is Hurston's work of travelogue/anthroplogy I've not read anything of Hurston's except Their Eyes Were Watching God, so I'm very much looking forward to this.

I’m reading a book set during an actual conflict that I’m aware of but know little about. It’s about the Basque independence movement, specifically the terrorist group ETA.

Homeland by Fernando Aramburu caught my attention while looking for more South American novelists after reading the brilliant The Woman from Uruguay.

It’s a very strange reading journey for me as I’m reading with no background context at all.

I had to pause my enjoyment of The Book Censor's Library at page 242 because the book was misprinted after that (only even numbered pages printed). I'm waiting for a replacement copy. In the meantime, I read Village School by Miss Read, a charming read until racial slurs pop up. Now I've started The Door by Magda Szabo.

Am I the last person who loved Station Eleven to read Emily St. John Mandel's The Glass Hotel? Very possibly, but at least I've finally gotten to it now and am enjoying it so far.

established in my hotel room, with neat things like A/C and lights and wifi...I'm reading Asphodel by H.D., which is both difficult and entertaining. And I've started The Years by Annie Ernaux.

Meanwhile, I finished The Children by Edith Wharton (ok), the 13th-century Roman de Silence (light and fun and quick), and, on audio, Hilary Mantel's posthumous A Memoir of My Former Self (which isn't a memoir). My new audio is The Books of Jacob by Olga Takorczuk, but I haven't really gotten into it yet.

And I bought more books.... Cleopatra's Daughter by Penelope Lively, Moon Palace by Paul Auster and The Buccanneers by Edith Wharton

>183 dchaikin: Hooray for modern conveniences. I hope you can return home soon, but in the meantime enjoy the amenities.

>183 dchaikin: Glad you're getting a chance to cool off, Dan

>182 bragan: You're not! I loved Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility, but haven't gotten to that one in between the two yet.

>184 labfs39: >185 RidgewayGirl: power came back this evening. Yay! Hotel canceled. (I had to pay a half rate since I used the room.)

I'm just starting The House of Mirth.

>187 dchaikin: YaY!

I finished the audio verson of Cold Comfort Farm last week review here .

Started the audio book, The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec, and still reading The Labyrinth of the Spirits, Organizing Information: Principles of Data Base and Retrieval Systems and Spice: The History of a Temptation. The three paper copy books are taking a long time to get through, but I am enjoying them.

I have two new books The Minotaur at Calle Lanza by Zito Madu and Nipponia Nippon (Japanese Novellas) by Kazushige Abe. Abe is husband of Mieko Kawakami.

I temporarily set aside Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica by Zora Neale Hurston. The copy of The Three-Arched Bridge by Ismail Kadare that I had on order from the library came in, so I switched to that. The Hurston book is very enjoyable (I've read about the first 40 pages), but my wife and I leave in abut 10 days on our cross-country drive back to California to pack up our house there, so I'll read the Kadare first and save Tell My Horse, which I own, for the drive.

>190 janoorani24: Book bullet for Spice - I greatly enjoyed The Taste of Conquest about how the spice trade started and morphed over time, this one sounds equally interesting. One of my libraries had it as an ebook.

>193 jjmcgaffey: It is very interesting. I especially like the beginning where he talks about how the spice trade began, and how it spread throughout the Roman Empire, but also the race to get easier access to spices, which of course led to Columbus and his quest for the Spice Islands, and an epic error in navigation.

Spice does sound very interesting !

>197 GlencoeTraveler: so far, I like it, though sometimes the narrator doesn’t give enough difference between Loki’s voice and the witch’s. I love Norse mythology, and this is basically a retelling and re-invention of Norse mythology. I have a special fondness for Loki, primarily because of the Marvel universe. It isn’t nearly up to snuff to my last two audio books, especially Cold Comfort Farm, but if you like fantasy and above average narration, I recommend it.

reading a book by a local dr, 103 years old the well lived life not usually into self help books but been having some issues ....I think the secrets arent secrets, lots of common sense and holistic medicine, mindfulness, love for your self and others. Not new but just what I need right now.

>196 GlencoeTraveler: I loved The Long Ships when I read it years ago. Never knew I was into Vikings!

Working full time is both time consuming and tiring, add in trying to watch all the Stanley Cup playoff games equals me not spending much time online.

I read The Inheritance Games last week which was a nice, light counterpoint to Doomsday Book which I finished today. I started 36 Streets yesterday which is my bookclub book, and started Isaac and the Egg which my friend wants me to read so we can discuss it when we go away next weekend.

You watch the hockey games in Australia?

we have hockey in Phoenix!

I am reading the tales of the Alhambra and the conquest of Granada for the June RTT wonders of the world.I am so glad this theme popped up: I have always loved the story and history of Granada and the Alhambra. So the book I chose is tales of the Alhambra and chronicles of the conquest of Granada.

I have only read two books by irving in HS Rip Van Wrinkel and the Headless horseman. Thought it was about time to read this. Ive always wanted to make a trip to see this but it wasnt in the cards I am not far in, but I already feel like Im part of this journey. The descriptions, the people he meets, the history is more then I could imagine. I suspect I will be spending a while with this book. I may be some time

>203 cindydavid4: but the Stanley cup in Australia?

>205 dianeham: You can watch major sporting events in Australia. Foxtel, ESPn. I don’t know about hockey but I cant see why it would be excluded.
https://www.foxtel.com.au/watch/nhl.html

>205 dianeham: Yes indeed, I watch it on Foxtel (pay tv). I'm glad we're up to the conference finals because I should be able to keep up with only one game a day.

>205 dianeham: it’s the time of day that makes live northern hemisphere difficult to watch in Australia, and other southern countries - we have to stay up v late.

>201 rhian_of_oz: go Panthers 🐀🙂

>207 rhian_of_oz: my father - who was from Ireland - loved hockey.

Just started Martyr! and really liking it so far. The mc is an Iranian American author - as is the author Kaveh Akbar - and an alcoholic. In the book he goes to AA and he is writing a book about Martyrs. I think the main difference between the author and the mc is his name.

I am in the middle of a few things. The Thinking Reed began well, but devolved into a who will she marry type romance story. Then I tried Extinction which is so much more readable than Wittgenstein's Nephew but wasn't right for a busy vacation with little reading time. The Juniper Tree was much better suited, a charming story until a momentous event near the end that I am not sure about. Finally, in the stress of trying to get back home in the middle of the Amtrak failure, I needed the easy, compelling read that is Writers & Lovers.

>209 dchaikin: My team is Boston so I'm barracking for the enemy of my enemy 🙂🗽.

>213 rhian_of_oz: ha! I felt bad about the Boston series last year, but this year I was just relieved. Intense series. So far, the Rangers series is looking easier on FL then the Boston one. I'm ok with Dallas or Edmonton. I like them both. (But, I really hope the Dallas Mavericks loose. Yuck. I don't like Irving. Sorry, NBA.)

Ok, back to the books. I finished Asphodel last night. A curiosity... demands the reader invest.

I put aside 36 Streets aside for a few days because I don't want to finish it too early for bookclub. I'm finding Isaac and the Egg a bit stressful to read so I started The Kingdoms as a relief book.

I've just started Love Novel by Ivana Sajko, which was shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. I'm grateful to awards focused on works in translation that introduces me to so many great novels that I otherwise would not know of.

I'm also reading First Love: Essays on Friendship by Lilly Dancyger, which is really a memoir about grief, but it does focus on her friendships. I'm not generally that interested in memoirs, but this one has my attention.

I'm also still reading Butter by Asako Yuzuki and Memory Piece by Lisa Ko, as well as a book of short stories by Christine Sneed called Portraits of a Few of the People I've Made Cry.

>214 dchaikin: frustrated again with the Suns; last few years they traded so much talent, and the coaching was lousy. this year I didnt even wear my tshirt . New coach, next time should be better

I want Celtics; born in Boston; I had trouble choosing sides in the 70s when they were in the finals with phx! hope they make it.

I'm on an amusing historical fantasy, Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall to restore my heart after finishing The House of Mirth.

>218 mabith: love House of Mirth. And completely understand