Anne (AMQS) Reads in 2024 Chapter 2

Welcome to my second thread, dear friends! Thank you for making LT my happy, safe place.

My name is Anne. 54. I live in Lakewood, Colorado with my husband Stelios, adult daughters Callia & Marina, and three kitties. I am a teacher librarian in a little mountain elementary school, so I read a lot of children's literature, along with adult literary fiction. I adore audiobooks and always have one going for my commutes up to school. This is my 15th year in the group (thank you, Jim/drneutron!)

The picture up top features Marina and was taken by me in 2017 at Kourion, an ancient Roman archaeological site in Cyprus. The picture was actually a complete accident - it was so unbelievably bright I couldn't see anything on my phone so I just pointed and got lucky. I am hoping to manifest Cyprus for us - we have travel plans, tickets, accommodation, etc but things are on hold pending a health issue.

Now Reading:

2024 reads - 2nd half:

July, 2024
42. The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, a Shocking Heist, and the Birth of a Global Celebrity by Nicholas Day
43. The Probability of Everything by Sarah Everett
44. Honeydew by Edith Pearlman
45. The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh
46. 15 Secrets to Survival by Natalie D. Richards
47. Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez
48. A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Moreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel
49. The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages

August, 2024
50. Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
51. Where River Turns to Sky by Greg Kleiner
52. The Turner House by Angela Flournoy
53. The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn

September, 2024
54. Good Material by Dolly Alderton
55. Haven Jacobs Saves the Planet by Barbara Dee
56. A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
57. Max in the House of Spies by Adam Gidwitz
58. The Field Guide: Book 1 of the Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
59. Tales of the Wicked Witch by Hanna Kraan

October, 2024
60. Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
61. Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez
62. Not Quite a Ghost by Anne Ursu
63. Clear by Carys Davies
64. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
65. Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

November, 2024
66. North Woods by Daniel Mason
67. The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh
68. This is Your Life, Harriet Chance by Jonathan Evison
69. J.R. Silver Writes Her World by Melissa Dassori
70. The Outlander by Gil Adamson
71. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
72. Lei and the Fire Goddess by Malia Maunakea
73. The Delta in the Rearview Mirror: The Life and Death of Mississippi’s First Winery by Di Rushing

December, 2024
74. The Golden Dreidel by Ellen Kushner
75. Angels of the Pacific by Elise Hooper
76. Snowed in for Christmas by Sarah Morgan
77. Make Your Home Among Strangers by Jennine Capó Crucet
78. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

2024 reads - 1st half:

January, 2024
1. Thirteen Doorways Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby
2. The No-Show by Beth O'Leary
3. You Are Here: Connecting Flights edited by Ellen Oh
4. Ode to a Nobody by Caroline Brooks DuBois
5. Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor
6. A Long Time Coming: A Lyrical Biography of Race in America from Ona Judge to Barack Obama by Ray Anthony Shepard
7. Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callahan

February, 2024
8. Dinosaurs: A Novel by Lydia Millet
9. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
10. Remember Us by Jacqueline Woodson
11. Two Tribes by Emily Bowen Cohen
12. All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle
13. Finding Junie Kim by Ellen Oh

March, 2024
14. American Mermaid by Julia Langbein
15. The Sea Gate by Jane Johnson
16. An Unfinished Life by Mark Spragg
17. The Liar’s Dictionary by Eley Williams
18. Wandering Star by J. M. G. Le Clézio

April, 2024
19. The Moonflower Vine by Jetta Carleton
20. The Night War by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
21. Those Kids From Fawn Creek by Erin Entrada Kelly
22. Horse by Geraldine Brooks
23. The Skull by Jon Klassen
24. Enemies in the Orchard by Dana Vanderlugt
25. The Labors of Hercules Beal by Gary D. Schmidt

May, 2024
26. Daughters of the Lamp by Nedda Lewers
27. Mascot by Charles Waters and Traci Sorell
28. Day by Michael Cunningham
29. Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen

June, 2024
30. Crying in H Mart: a Memoir by Michelle Zauner
31. Solito by Javier Zamora
32. How to Stay Invisible by Maggie C. Rudd
33. Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
34. Ravenfall by Kalyn Josephson
35. Yellowface by R. F. Kuang
36. Not an Easy Win by Chrystal D. Giles
37. Duel by Jessixa Bagley and Aaron Bagley
38. Parachute Kids by Betty C. Tang
39. What You Are Looking For Is In The Library by Michiko Aoyama
40. The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
41. The Last Beekeeper by Pablo Cartaya

39. What You Are Looking For is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama

This was a very sweet book of semi-connected vignettes featuring people fro all walks of like in varying degrees of aimlessness who find community and direction through chance visits to a community center library and its enigmatic librarian who prints list of books they have asked for plus a random book that captivates the borrower. Soemthing of a comfort read. Marina gave me this book for my birthday this year. It caught her eye in the window display of the amazing independent bookstore in her college town of Carlisle, PA. I'm so glad it did!

Happy new thread, Anne! From your last one, congrats to both Marina and Callia. Their futures look bright! I hope Callia's eye surgery goes well. I'm so sorry to hear of your melanoma diagnosis and hope it can be resolved quickly.

Congrats on your new air conditioning! It's kind of life changing, I know.

Happy new thread!

Happy new one, Anne.

Happy Saturday, Anne. Happy New Thread. I have Solito on my audio TBR. I also loved Yellowface. I hope you are having a great summer.

>5 AMQS: That one is my latest comfort read. I can see myself going back to it several times. I am glad to see you enjoyed it, Anne!

Happy new thread!

New thread orisons, Anne! Cyprus-soon whammys coming west to you. *smooch*

Happy new thread! Crossing fingers for your Cyprus trip!

More Positive Thoughts and prayers are coming to you and Family for a smooth resolution on Wednesday!

Happy new thread, Anne!!

Happy new one, Anne!

Happy new one, Anne

Happy New Thread, Anne!

>6 Copperskye: Thank you , Joanne. Air conditioning is absolutely life changing! These past few days that have been cooler have been nice, too- I do enjoy the fresh air. Callia is really loving the results of her eye surgery. Still a few lingering things, which are normal, but the first moment she could she ran out and bought sunglasses:)

>7 figsfromthistle: Thanks, Anita! Happy travels - I enjoy coming along with you:)

>8 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul.

>9 msf59: Thanks, Mark! Solito is such a moving story. I had it on my audio wishlist but then I went and bought a copy in print. I'm going to suggest it for my book club.

>10 alcottacre: Thanks, Stasia!

>11 richardderus: Thank you, Richard. The homeland is really calling to Stelios, particularly as he gets older and more importantly, his mother and other relatives get older. I'm only able to go for 10 days or so if we can make this happen, but he and Marina are hoping to be there for nearly 6 weeks. I really hope it works, and I appreciate all good wishes!

>12 foggidawn: Thank you, foggi. As I told Richard, any and all wishes very much appreciated.

>13 m.belljackson: thank you so much, Mariane. Tomorrow is my get ready day - I have to shower in special surgical soap and get into clean sheets and clean pajamas, so tomorrow will be laundry. Plus I have a regimen for drinking 40 ounces of grape juice. I don't know that we'll know much of anything until a week or so later.

>14 curioussquared: Thanks, Natalie!

>15 drneutron: Thank you, Jim.

>16 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks, Reba! I saw on Laura's thread that you enjoyeda "sea day" - I love it!

>17 vancouverdeb: Thank you, Deborah!

Well with surgery this week I did have to cancel my trip to Boise with my college girlfriends, and I am very sad to be missing it. They are sharing pictures and will schedule a facetime call with me. The surgery is more involved than i had imagined, and it will be in a hospital with general anesthesia and injections of nuclear medicine about 4 hours before to guide the surgeons to the right lymph nodes. I've been told the scar will look like a shark bite. Tomorrow I'll be getting ready and packing an overnight bag, even though we're not sure if I actually will be staying overnight.

My brother and his family arrived from Germany, and since I'll be out of commission for awhile, I took my nephew Falcon (5) out today as both of his parents are trying to work remotely for a couple of weeks and I had planned to be more useful. We had a terrific day up in Evergreen, CO. We went kayaking on Evergreen Lake, out to lunch at a local restaurant owned by a family from school, played for several hours at a park, went to Baskin Robbins for ice cream, and then went to the newly remodeled Evergreen Library for a giant book haul for him. It was a great day and he is a terrific kid.

40. The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren, audiobook narrated by Cynthia Farrell and Deacon Lee

This book was recmmended some time ago... I can't remember by whom. Katie? Mickey? In any case, thank you. I don't read a lot of romance, but this was light and short-ish, which fits the bill when I am on a school break and not commuting in the car very much. This is an enemies-to-lovers story about Olive and Ethan, whose siblings have just married. When the entire wedding becomes violently ill from food poisoning, Olive and Ethan take the Maui resort honeymoon that the bride, and Olive's twin sister, won in a contest, since it is nonrefundable. Olive and Ethan have detested each other since their first meeting, but neither wants to give up this experience, particularly since the other is going to enjoy it. Fun read.

41. The Last Beekeeper by Pablo Cartaya

This is fast-paced middle grade dystopian fiction that should resonate with its intended audience - if they can follow it. I think the problem with the book is that it tries to do too much in too short a book (but a longer book woud not necessarily have been appropriate.. not too much world building, which is a good thing). This is a world that follows a very dark, very bleak societal collapse, where supplies and technology is scavenged, and the human survivors are at war with nature. It's Big Brother meets Big Tech where control is everything and crushing indebtedness is a tool. So of course the world is ready for a 12 year-old hacker who recently discovered bees.

Not my favorite book of the year, but again, it should grab its intended audience.

>20 AMQS: Thinking of you, Anne.

Best wishes for your upcoming surgery, Anne!

>21 AMQS: - It wasn't my recommendation, as I haven't read it :)

Thinking of you and wishing you all the best for your surgery. ((Anne))

Hugs and best wishes for your surgery, Anne.

You have been reading up a storm.

Sounds like you had a great day up in Evergreen!

>21 AMQS: I picked up The Unhoneymooners at a library sale a few years ago but haven't tried it yet. One of these days.

Sending all good thoughts and healing vibes for your surgery, Anne!

>20 AMQS: Best of luck with your surgery Anne.

>20 AMQS: I hope all is well! Sending all sorts of love and healing energies!

>23 lauralkeet: Thank you, Laura - I appreciate it.

>24 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie. I guess I don't remember who recommended The Unhoneymooners then. It might be a book you'd enjoy?

>25 RebaRelishesReading: Thank you, Reba.

>26 BLBera: Thank you, Beth.

>27 Copperskye: Thank you, Joanne. Falcon and I had a terrific day in Evergreen. I had many more plans with him before I knew I would need surgery. Hopefully we can still spend some time togehter.

>28 SandDune: Thank you, Rhian.

>29 witchyrichy: Thank you, Karen. I can definitely use them.

So my surgery on July 3 was truly an all-day affair, with injections of nuclear medicine some hours before the surgery itself. With the nuclear meds they were able to pinpoint two lymph nodes to remove from my groin and thigh. They were far enough apart that the surgeon needed to make two separate incisions to get them. I'm glad they only needed two because those are pretty painful. And then there's the melanoma excision itself - amazing how a melanoma the size of a pencil eraser led to a 7 inch scar that wraps around the back of my leg. I've been taking things easy and sleeping a lot while my family has been taking care of me. I haven't really had an appetite for reading but hopefully that will change. I so appreciate all of the love and support and good wishes.

42. The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, a Shocking Heist, and the Birth of a Global Celebrity by Nicholas Day

This is engaging, fast-paced middle grade nonfiction that tells the unbelievable story of the Mona Lisa's theft from the Louvre in the early 20th century, as well as fascinating details about Leonardo da Vinci's life and career.

>31 AMQS: I'm glad to hear the surgery went well, Anne, even if it took a long time. Take it easy!

>31 AMQS: Glad the surgery went well. That is quite a scar! I had a hip replacement and the scar was amazingly small considering they inserted and attached a ball joint!

I recommend easy reading: you would enjoy James Patterson's The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians.

I shared my AI slides on my thread but here they are: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Uw1jBlvcYaJRirLPYmvkn0tP28_2gOAjJYKRS0p4...

Glad the surgery went well, Anne! Rest up!

Happy new thread, Anne! Wonderful photo up top! It makes me feel like I’m there! What great good luck !

Glad your surgery went well. That’s a big incision! I hope the pain and discomfort eases soon.

Glad to hear the surgery went well, Anne, and hope you're resting up well and feel like reading soon.

Anne - What welcome news!

Many of us have been clicking back and forth since Wednesday, waiting to be certain your
long, long day went better than endurable.

So good that you are now free from pain and surrounded by Love and Caring - and Good Cooks!

How great that you have good caretakers, Anne. Take it easy.

>31 AMQS: Here's to quick healing and confirmation that they got it ALL.

>31 AMQS: Excellent news, Anne! You focus on healing, please...this community needs you, preferably feeling 100%, so better you relax and heal than push yourself.

Dear friends, we got what my surgeon calls "The Next Perfect News," which was (aside from a melanoma diagnosis), the biopsies of both lymph nodes were negative - with a dye that allows a good view right down to the cellular level there was no cancer found, and none in the excision of the melanoma spot, which means that the original biospy got it all and what was excised was "just margins." We are so very relieved (Stelios actually collapsed), and regrouping after the anxiety of the unknown hanging over our heads for the past few weeks. My brother and his family are cooking dinner for us tonight, and we are well cared for. I am so extremely grateful to all of your for your support, encouragement, and good wishes. Thank you. You have made such a difference for me.

>42 AMQS: yayyyyyy! That's such great news, Anne!

Great news, Anne! I can't imagine what a relief that was.

>33 lauralkeet: Thank you, Laura.

>34 witchyrichy: Thanks, Karen, and thank you for the presentation slides and book recommendation! Short stories are doing it for me now - they are quite short and perfect for my attention span. I am relieved to be looking at my own hip replacement scar, which seemed so gruesome when it was fresh. It's still a scar, but not horrible looking and this one will eventually be so as well. My hip replacement scar is also quite a bit smaller.

>35 curioussquared: Thank you, Natalie, I am indeed getting a lot of rest.

>36 Storeetllr: Thank you, Mary- it was definitely a good luck photo. I feel good most times, but it's still a pain management game. Hearing good news helps a lot!

>37 bell7:, >43 bell7: Mary, thank you. I have had more appetite for reading, and short stories are what's working - I can read one or two and not have to play attention to a longer plot:)

>38 m.belljackson: Thank you so much, Mariane. Free from pain is still an aspiration for me, but I am managing without narcotics which make me feel yucky. I so appreciate you checking in.

>39 BLBera: Thank you, Beth. Taking it easy is not as easy as it sounds - I guess we're just conditioned to do the things. You're probably experiencing some of that yourself.

>40 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, they got it all! We were so relieved to get the biopsy report today that showed no cancer in the lymph nodes or in the excised tissue. My surgeon said that the original biopsy got it all, but melanoma protocol is to do a greater excision to make absolutely sure.

>41 richardderus: Richard, thank you. I so appreciate your encouragement and support.

>44 katiekrug: SUCH a relief! It's been hanging over our heads for awhile so it was such a relief to hear good news. Thank you, Katie.

>42 AMQS: WooHoo!!! Great news! Hope you have a good celebration tonight (and that Stella's has recovered)

>42 AMQS: Best. News. Ever.

>46 RebaRelishesReading: thank you, Reba! Stelios's birthday is tomorrow, and I sent him to a massage today with a therapist he really likes. He was so anxious he really didn't want to go. So being able to hear good news and then go... he said it was the best massage ever!

>47 richardderus: THANK YOU! It is indeed, and we are so relieved. Thank you so much for your encouraging words, Richard.

>48 AMQS: I can imagine that was a very special massage coming right on the heels of a very welcome message :)

>45 AMQS: Anne - What Amazing Good News - and so quick!

Best Birthday Present Ever - Have a Beautiful Celebration!

>42 AMQS: Hooray!! Such great news. So glad you can take a breath and relax.

>42 AMQS: I am sooo happy to read this update, Anne! The waiting must have been really hard. What a relief.

>31 AMQS: I completely understand about the 7 inch scar on your leg! After I had surgery on my arm the first time, I ended up with a long scar and my arm completely wrapped from shoulder to wrist. Why do they not warn you ahead of time about these things? Lol

I am so glad to hear that everything went well!

>42 AMQS: Yay for great news!!

Have a terrific Tuesday!

>42 AMQS: Fantastic news! So glad to hear it!

>50 RebaRelishesReading: it was! He enjoyed it very much:)

>51 m.belljackson: Thank you, Mariane. We are celebrating with Greek food.

>52 curioussquared: Thank you, Natalie - a deep breath was enjoyed. Strangely though, I had a very hard time sleeping. My brain spiraled into other anxieties ... maybe it just needed something to do after spiraling after this for a few weeks.

>53 lauralkeet: Thank you, Laura. The waiting was hard, but not very long, all things considered. We were initially told 7-10 days for results, but it was only 5, even including a national holiday and a weekend.

>54 alcottacre: Thank you, Stasia. I was told it would be a big scar, but it definitely defied my expectations. We're very relieved.

>55 foggidawn: thank you, foggi! Much relief here:)

>42 AMQS: GREAT news!

Absolutely great news!

>42 AMQS: Such great news!

>42 AMQS: Wonderful news, Anne, and such a relief for you all!!

>57 BLBera: Thank you, Beth. It is great news and we certainly celebrated. I am still under surgical restrictions and savoring the rest but I am feeling stronger and stronger. I hope you are healing, too.

>58 drneutron: Thank you, Jim! We all took a huge breath of relief!

>59 SandDune: Thank you, Rhian, we are so relieved!

>60 Copperskye: Joanne, thank you. It has been a very stressful time and we're glad to be on this side of it!

And my reading appetite is coming back... slowly.



43. The Probability of Everything by Sarah Everett

Do you want to cry your eyes out? Then I have the book for you. Oh wow, this book is so, so good. I will be thinking about this book for a long time, and it is a 2025 Battle of the Books selection for my district, so most of my 5th graders will read it. I can't wait. 11 year old Kemi's world is rocked when asteroids collide, sending a big one directly into earth's path with an 87% chance for catastrophic collision in 4 days. Kemi tries to keep her grief at bay by creating a time capsule so any future beings will know what was loved and valued by her loved ones. There's a loving family, racial tension, an unreliable narrator, and a twist. I avoided this one for awhile because I didn't think I could stomach end of the world, particularly in children's literature. But is it so worth it. Highly recommended.

>62 AMQS: Wow—this book sounds great! I’ve got it requested at my library. Thanks for the reccie.

And, you! Keep improving and feeling better!😁

Karen O

>42 AMQS: What a wonderful way to start the weekend for all of us, Anne. I can empathize with Stelios' reaction and what a spontaneous and incontrovertible way of affirming his obvious love for you.

Take your time to get better - don't rush things and heed whatever warnings your body tells you in the process. xx

>62 AMQS: The Probability of Everything sounds so good, but I'm not sure I'm up for a tear-jerker.

>42 AMQS: Wonderful News! And such a relief. I empathize with Stelios; I might have collapsed too.

>62 AMQS: Sounds good; maybe when my emotions are under better control.

>62 AMQS: I may save this one for when I feel like I need a good cry :)

So glad to hear the good news! I am hearing Tom Petty singing, "The waiting is the hardest part."

>64 PaulCranswick: Paul has it right: take it easy!

>20 AMQS: just catching up with you. I hope the surgery went well and that you are now fully recovered

>63 klobrien2: Hi Karen! I'm glad to see you. I hope you enjoy The Probability of Everything when you get to it. I appreciate your good wishes!

>64 PaulCranswick: Paul, thank you. I got clearance from my surgeon to gradually resume activity but to pay attention to my body so that I don't push too much. It's a little hard to give myself "permission" (Americans are all about Doing) but I am glad for the downtime, to be honest. School starts soon and life will be busy enough. I appreciate your good wishes.

>65 foggidawn: Hi foggi, yes, you do have to be in the right place emotionally. When you're ready, it's a good one.

>66 Storeetllr: Oh Mary, I get this completely. I think that since covid - and our family was definitely going through some stuff - my reading has definitely been lighter. The real world can feel bleak so your reading doesn't have to be!

>67 curioussquared: That's definitely a mood, isn't it, Natalie? It's a quick read, so when you do need a good cry you can have one and them move on:)

>68 witchyrichy: Hi Karen, thank you. Yes, the waiting was hard, and it was hard not to let our thoughts stray to the what-ifs! Paul does have the right idea. I think I am doing pretty well at rest:)

>69 figsfromthistle: Anita, thank you. I had some follow up appointments this week and the news has been all encouraging. Fully recovered... not quite, but definitely moving in the right direction!

Hello, friends, after a blistering time, our weather has cooled a bit and we are really enjoying it. I got my stitches out this week in a follow up with my surgeon. She was pleased with how I am doing, and she gave me some practical tips for my upcoming travel and how to manage my care. I will see her again in a month. Yesterday I met my oncologist. He described himself as "the least useful member of my care team," which is good, actually, and I am very glad to have him on my team. I will see him every 6 months or so for awhile, and then provided all is well, every 12 months. He would like me to see dermatology every 3-6 months for now. My first dermatology visit is next week. He also gave me the green light for travel, so the plan is that I will go to Cyprus next week to join Stelios and Marina, who arrived early this week. I'm so excited! Here's something interesting: our locations are shared with each other on our iPhones, and Marina and Stelios show up in Beirut about 50% of the time, and tonight Stelios was in Cairo. I mean... they're close, but not that close. We've been wondering if there's a reason for it. Maybe certain satellites are offline because of the war?

44. Honeydew by Edith Pearlman

I thought when I was recovering from surgery that I would just be reading up a storm but to my surprise I didn't have either appetite or attention for much sustained reading, but after a bit, short stories fit the bill nicely. These are spare, keenly observed small stories which I quite enjoyed - some more than others, of course. I find the story of Ms. Pearlman, who died in 2023, to be fascinating. She was pretty much unrecognized as an author until her 70s, but has since been compared to Chekov and Munro. If you like short stories, this collection is a nice one.

45. The Lost Year: A Survival Story of the Ukrainian Famine by Katherine Marsh

This is an important but intense book for middle grade readers that may help kids put modern day grievances in perspective. Matthew's life is pretty pathetic. Covid has closed everything, school is online, his mother is preoccupied with work, his dad accepted a correspondent job in Paris and is stuck there, and he can't even see friends in his backyard since his 100 year old great grandmother G.G. came to live with them. When his mother confiscates his Switch, she tasks him with helping G.G. to sort through the boxes in her room. G.G. refuses at first, but they slowly build a bond, and as she is able, she tells Matthew the long-buried stories of their family during the Holodomor, the Soviet-engineered famine that killed millions of Ukrainians in the early 1930s, and which was covered up and denied by the Soviet Union for decades. Neither Matthew nor I had heard of the Holodomor - it is absolutely devastating and horrifying, and G.G.'s story of the three young cousins, based on the experiences of the author's family, is heartbreaking.

>71 AMQS: So glad to hear you're cleared for your trip. Have a wonderful time (I know you will)!!

>71 AMQS: Hooray, so glad to hear you can go on the trip and that your ongoing care isn't terribly onerous (here's hoping everything continues to be good so that 3-6 month dermatology goes down to once a year)!

>72 AMQS: I loved her short story collection Binocular Vision and really should add Honeydew to the TBR list.

Edited to correct post number

>73 AMQS: I have added The Lost Year to my TBR list. Thanks!

Oh my goodness, Anne. I fell behind on LT and so catching up on your last month has been a real roller coaster. I'm so glad that everything went well with your surgery and that all the news after the initial diagnosis has been good. Wishing you a lovely and relaxing trip!

Hi Anne. I was horrified to hear about your recent surgery. Thank goodness for good medical care and all the family support...even from a fainting husband!

I am so glad that your oncologist, the least useful member of your care team (haha), gave you the thumbs up to travel to Cyprus. I can't imagine a more wonderful place to recover. Wishing you and your family a relaxing time after all you have been through. ((Hugs))

Delighted to hear your onc is "the least necessary member of your care team," more delighted still that you're on the way to greet the family in Cairo/Beirut/Halicarnassus or wherever else the GPS says you are. Honeydew: Stories slipped past me in 2015, so thank you most kindly for the alert.

Have a safe and sweet trip! *smooch*

Anne, I am so happy you get to travel! Enjoy and take care .

I am so glad you are getting to Cyprus! Just chill out!

>71 AMQS: Hope you’re enjoying your time in Cypress! Can’t think of a lovelier place to rest and recuperate.

I am so happy your path report was negative, and join everyone else in wishing you a lovely time in Cypress.

>5 AMQS: the title says it all!! (What You Are Looking For is in the Library)

The top pic is amazing, I can hardly believe it was a fluke!

>42 AMQS: >71 AMQS: I had no idea you were in need of an oncologist! I'm sorry you've had to go through this, but pleased to see you are well and able to travel and meet the others. Sheesh, life huh? It can throw some curve balls :(

Glad to hear that you are doing so well and that the trip is still on! Have a great time. : )

Hello friends! I apologize for the absence from my own thread and I thank everyone so much for the good wishes. Life is good here in Colorado, just very busy. My trip to Cyprus was amazing, but very short, and I dove straight into school upon my return (in fact, I missed my first two days so it was something of a scramble to get caught up). I am eating lunch at my desk in the library right now as my laptop at home is aging rapidly and is getting harder and harder to use. The school year has started off very well. I had thought last year that I might be ready for a change - specifically to move up to middle or high school, but there weren't any openings that appealed to me, and as it turns out, I am very glad to be in my 12th year at my little mountain school. Over the summer I entered a new world of medical appointments, and I am glad to be somewhere that everyone knows me as I need a bit more flexibility.

Callia is now a 3rd grade teacher at a school close to our home, and is loving it. Overwhelmed, but loving it. I'm so thrilled for her. Marina graduated from Dickinson College in May and traveled to Cyprus with Stelios for about 6 weeks. She had a great time and loved building closer relationships with her cousins and other family. Stelios and Marina came back in late August, and Marina dove right into a new job at the University of Denver. She is a DEI coordinator for their admissions office, and works part time, which suits her well since she is also researching PhD programs and getting her ducks in a row for the GRE, etc.

My brother was here with his wife and with 5 year old Falcon for the month of July, and it was wonderful to spend a lot of time with them. My brother was able to delay his flight back to Germany until I came back to help my dad through a health challenge. My dad was hospitalized for a couple of days in July and the best guess was a series of TIAs. He's now having his heart rate and oxygen monitored to see if he needs a pacemaker or anything like that, but what is clear is that he is in early stages of dementia. So we are now in a new phase of helping to care for parents. The hard thing is that they're far away. My dad lives way up in the mountains at least an hour away from me. Stelios helped his mom with appointments and medical assistive tech and will probably travel to Cyprus more frequently as she needs more care. I know many of you have been through this, so any advice about navigating this new normal of support and caregiving would be welcome.

Best wishes to all!

A couple of pictures from Cyprus:

Stelios and Marina at a village called Lania:


Stelios, Marina, and me at Zygi, a small fishing village with some amazing fish restaurants:

Marina had many cool experiences in Cyprus, but one stands out: Stelios has a friend who works for the ministry of fish and wildlife, and some colleagues of his monitor the hatching of sea turtles. There is a beach in Cyprus that is the only breeding ground for a particular species of Mediterranean sea turtle, and they invited Stelios and Marina (plus Stelios's brother and cousins also visiting from the States) to come to the beach after the main wave of turtles had hatched. The next step is to wait a few days, then go in and dig up the nests. Some eggs are buried so deep they don't have the opportunity to hatch. They dig up those deeply buried eggs, crack their shells, and often they can get another 20-30 turtles to hatch, which is a big deal for an endangered species. Marina was able to observe this, and watch as new baby turtles made their way to the sea! I'll try to post a video of this at some point.

>74 RebaRelishesReading: Thank you, Reba! It was a short but wonderful trip.

>75 bell7: Thank you, Mary - definitely not to onerous so far, and far better than needing treatment. I have Binocular Vision on my list now.

>76 foggidawn: I hope it's a good read for you, foggi.

>77 MickyFine: Thank you, Micky. It was a roller coaster of a summer. I appreciate your good wishes.

>78 Donna828: Thank you, Donna. I had reservations about going so far and spending so much money for such a short trip but I'm really glad I did. It was restorative in a lot of ways, and the chance to see family and friends after not having been in Cyprus since 2017 was really wonderful. The beach and THE FOOD didn't hurt either!

>79 richardderus: Thank you, Richard. Wow, the GPS was actually unusable in Cyprus, so getting around was a trick, and it's good Stelios has such a good memory! Cyprus was just what I needed, I think.

>80 BLBera: Thank you, Beth! How is your recovery going? Back to pickleball?

>81 witchyrichy: Thank you, Karen - that's exactly what I did! And needed it, too - the beginning of the year is going well but so very busy.

>82 Storeetllr: Thank you, mary - it certainly wa a great place to rest. I'm lucky.

>83 ronincats: Thank you, Roni! I was so glad to be able to go.

>84 LovingLit: I know, Megan - I got really lucky with that shot! It was definitely a curveball summer. It wasn't fun to go through, particularly the uncertainty, but the outcome was as good as it could have been, so I'm lucky.

>85 Berly: Thanks, Kim! It was a great trip.

*********
A few books to review, but they'll have to wait... lunch is over and classes are coming!

>88 AMQS: Nice coincidence = just finished Verlyn Klinkenborg's Timothy; abject reptile which tells of his original home in Cilicia where he could view Cyprus.

Timothy is not abject - he's a fun and opinionated philosopher!

He was likely from the same Sea Turtle stock.

So Great to read that you and your Family had an incredible time!

>88 AMQS: That is so cool.

>87 AMQS: Great photos. You all look so happy!

I hope you have a great school year!

I am now cast and splint free, but just as I was leaving the broken bone behind, Scout fell and broke her arm! She is still in a temporary cast, but it looks like she won't need surgery. She starts school on Friday. Luckily, her break is her left arm, and she is right-handed.

Lovely pictures - thanks for sharing. I am glad your summer ended better than it started, for the most part.

Anne, it's so nice to hear from you. I'm glad you rediscovered how much you like your current school, and that both Callia and Marina have found situations that work for them. I'm sorry to hear about your dad. It's not easy, especially from a distance. One thing you might want to look into is finding a geriatric care manager. They can be your eyes and ears on the ground, managing things like appointments and medication changes, and helping to find care and/or new living arrangements, etc. When my parents entered this phase of life, someone from their church put us in touch with a care manager who was worth her weight in gold, especially since my brother and I both lived too far away to just hop in the car. Their care needs often followed a stair-step pattern: okay for a while, and then a sudden change requiring immediate response. Peggy was always able to be there and make things happen, and also helped us decide when we needed to be there in person. I know your dad is "only" an hour away but it still might be useful for you.

>91 m.belljackson: That's great! Thanks for sharing that one.

>92 BLBera: Oh dear, Beth! I hope no one else "catches" the broken arm thing. Poor Scout, though it sounds like she's in good shape even with school starting.

>93 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie! I wish I had more summer. Summer break, that is... we do have summer temperatures coming our way. Hope you have a lovely fall!

>94 lauralkeet: Laura, thank you. I really appreciate this advice, and I will look into a geriatric care manager. My stepmother takes great care of him, but she's getting older herself, and does not drive, does not know how to use a cell phone, etc. even when they have cell service, which is rare. Even though they're only an hour away they are pretty isolated. There's a supportive community of neighbors but not many services. It's 20 miles to the nearest grocery store, for example. Not throwing in the towel, but their remoteness is a challenge at a time when they are losing some independence. He did get cleared by a cardiologist and a neurologist to drive (!). We're all educating ourselves about dementia and what could be in our future. I am probably naively hoping that a pacemaker could make a big difference, as it did, even cognitively, for a friend of ours, but the reality is that even if he gets a pacemaker my dad is in his 80s. I really appreciate your advice, Laura.

46. 15 Secrets to Survival by Natalie D. Richards

I think kids are going to eat this one up. Not only are there real, practical survival tips anyone can use (particularly applicable to our mountian community), but this is a great story about putting them to use in a nail-biting survival education experience that may or may not be going seriously wrong. Along with the work-together-to-survive story is a deeper work together story. The kids are forced together because their parents are friends, but the kids don't actually like one another. They were forced together for a school-based competition that went disastrously wrong because they don't get along, and now their survival will depend on figuring it out. There are hurtful words, harsh accusations, seriously difficult self-examination, and ultimately real, honest transformation that can be rare in a middle grade book. Great read.

47. Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzales, audiobook narrated by Almarie Guerra, Armando Riesco and Inés del Castillo.

This was an outstanding audiobook that seems to begin on the lighter side, but takes on deep and serious topics such as identity, race, class, social ambitions, and the island of Puetro Rico, at the mercy of American colonialism and corporations for generations. I had seen this on many best of lists, but am embarrassed to confess that I put off reading it, not sure I could handle whatever was going to happen to Olga...only to learn the title comes from the poem “Puerto Rican Obituary,” by Pedro Pietri. *blush* So, so good, and I love a book that inspires me to research and learn, which this one does.

Hi Anne;

What age group would 15 Secrets to Survival be good for? Do you think it's one Scout would like? She's currently reading the Penderwick series.

I loved Olga Dies Dreaming -- what a great first novel! I also liked her new one. And I didn't know or had forgotten where the title came from!

>98 BLBera: Hi Beth, I think 15 Secrets to Survival would be good for 4th grade and up. I enjoyed the friendship dynamics and really did find it nailbiting. And refreshing in that so many books we as adults are thinking where are your parents? What are you thinking? And the kids in the book are thinking (and saying) the same thing. It helps it feel more realistic that this survival adventure feels too dangerous to them also. And yet survive they must.

It is definitely not the Penderwicks (one of my all-time favorite series - I hope Scout LOVES them!), but it is a fast and page-turning read.

48. A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel

This is a charming and laugh out loud memoir of Zippy, as Haven Kimmel was named by her parents as she never went anywhere but at a dead run. The perfect airplane ride book of a bygone era.

49. The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages

This is upper middle grade fiction set in Los Alamos, New Mexico at the super secret time of the Manhattan Project. Told by young Dewey, who has effectively lost her father to this project, it does assume some background knowledge of WWII, and is a nice addition to the middle grade WWII canon. Adults reading the book will know the outcome, and will understand the increasingly conflicted feelings of at least one of the adults. The book is named for trinitite, the glass-like residue left after the total incineration of the desert floor where the plutonium bomb was tested. The story is utterly heartbreaking. I took this book to Cyprus with the intention of leaving it behind, but my husband picked it up and brought it back as it became his return airplane book. I have since donated it to the classroom library of our 5th grade gifted and talented teacher, a New Mexico native.

50. Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

Vacation book. I found this modernized (ish... it is nearly 30 years old), epistolary Pride and Prejudice retelling funny and diverting but I wasn't blown away. It drove Marina so crazy she stopped reading. Different generation, I guess:)

>97 AMQS: I'm always glad when a book I really enjoyed makes someone around the group happy, too. Y'all's Cyprus trip sounds like you needed and made the most of it. Happily coming home felt good, too, which goodness knows is the best result of traveling.

Stay well, dear lady, and enjoy the slide into fall.

>99 AMQS: Thanks Anne. I will mention it to her.

51. Where River Turns to Sky by Gregg Kleiner

This book was a long-time resident of the TBR, which I kept because I had heard how special it was, and how special its Oregon setting. While it had its charming moments, it wasn't the right kind of book for the suspension of disbelief required. 80 year old George lives alone on his country farmland following the death of his wife. When his best friend and fellow farmer Ralph has a stroke and is confined to a nursing home, George visits three times a week and promises Ralph he will not let him die alone. Except this is what happens when George is away fishing. Grief crazed and determined to make it up to Ralph, he buys a large and ostentatious house in the center of town, paints it fire-engine red, and renovates it in time to bust out an only semi-willing gang of nursing home residents to live together and do as they please, and cook and clean for each other. Which sounds great until you start asking the kinds of probing questions needed to make a scheme like this work. There's baseball jerseys and roosters and a skunk and some magical realism and... well, if this is on your TBR you can probably let it go.

>103 richardderus: Richard, thank you. There is a particular kind of joy when people you care about love books you love. I appreciate your good wishes and I hope you have a lovely fall. Is it fall, or getting to be? We have very hot weather on the way still, which I find rude in September:)

>104 BLBera: Beth, you'll have to let me know if Scout gives it a try. Hope she enjoys it if she does!

>106 AMQS: Nicely said. Lovely to see you back posting and having had a great trip to almost-home-ground.

>95 AMQS: With your decision to return to CYPRUS, I ordered from Abe what I thought
(not paying enough attention past the word "Traveler's")

was a guidebook to Cyprus and instead turned out to be an extremely well researched & comprehensive history:
A Traveler's History of Cyprus
by Timothy Boatswain.

It is amazing that there were ANY Greek Cypriots alive and well after the 1400's!

>95 AMQS: I'm glad my thoughts were helpful, Anne. It's a challenge, that's for sure.

>106 AMQS: It's VERY rude indeed for the Weather Goddess to smack you with hot weather in September. We're drifting into fall. It's presently 71° down from a high of 73°, so we're clearly in it.

>105 AMQS: oh dear

PU

>107 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul - it's nice to see you here, too!

>108 m.belljackson: They've been through a lot, that's for sure!

>109 lauralkeet: Thank you again, Laura. My struggle now that the school year has started is even just finding time to call. I'm always a bit of a zombie for the first month.

>110 richardderus:, >111 richardderus: rude, indeed! We are having a wonderfully cool and rainy fall-like day today but it looks like heat for the forseeable future after today. And PU for sure.

52. The Turner House by Angela Flournoy

I enjoyed this sweeping novel centered around the Detroit home of the Turner family, where Francis and Viola raise 13 children. The book goes back and forth in time from the present (set in 2008 during the crushing Detroit financial crisis) to stories and memories from the children's lives to the 1940s when first Francis, then Viola and their oldest son Cha-Cha came to Detroit from the rural south. The disintigration of Detroit is heartbreaking, as is the fraying and the struggles of the large family. Recommended.

53. The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn, audiobook narrated by Olivia Vinall.

This is a sweeping (I know I've used this word in two reviews in a row) and melancholy story of a grand English country estate that begins at the close of WWI. We meet a large cast of characters, centered on Christabel, effectively an orphan as her father Jasper, grieving the loss of her mother, marries a young and frivolous woman with "eye-wateringly expensive tastes". We meet the stepmother, Rosalind, the playboy uncle Willoughby, maids Maudie and Betty, a host of French governesses, eccentric visiting artists and poets, feral children, and most important to Christabel, her half sister Flossie and her cousin Digby, the longed-for brother. Christabel figures out early on that boys have "things" which inexplicably give them rights and privileges in the world that Christabel also feels she should have. The title comes from the bones of a huge whale that washes up on the estate's beach. First a curiosity, then a nuisance, then the bones are hauled up to serve as the set and house for Christabel's and her parents' entourage's ambitious community theatre. Christabel is a girl who is determined to make her own path, despite the obstacles. When WWII again turns the country upside down, she, Digby, and Flossie each do their part for the war effort, whether on the battlefield, the homefront, or as agents embedded in occupied France.

Somehow I never tire of WWII stories, but this one is fascinating to watch the evolution and essentially self-education of the children. I know that the period between the wars and following WWII spelled the downfall of some of the most prominent English families and their country estates, as taxes were raised to pay the country's war debts, servants balked at servitude after the wars provided other and more equitable opportunities than service, and families suffered tragic losses. But this one was imperiled also by frivolity and dissipation - a grand estate of consequence partied and drunk into debt and disrepair. The novel may have been a bit overly long at first (and clocked in at a considerable 18 and a half hours), I thoroughly enjoyed it, and thank Beth, Donna, and others who recommended it here.

54. Good Material by Dolly Alderton, audiobook narrated by Vanessa Kirby And Arthur Darvill.

This book was a little outside of my box, but I'm glad I listened to it. This is the anatomy of a breakup, as told by Andy, who was blindsided when his girlfriend Jen called things off after four and a half years of dating. Andy is devastated and at sea, returning home for a bit, seeking solace from his mates for weekend drinking (increasingly difficult as they are all married with kids and commitments), stalking Jen on social media, scrambling for housing, dealing with his failing career as a comedian, and bettering himself with a trainer and a diet. I feel for Andy, I really do, though his story and the wallowing were a bit overly long. I knew that at the end of the book, Jen would get to tell her own story, and I feel for her, too. What has me continually thinking about the book is knowing that Jen got such amazing encouragement from unexpected quarters to live her life and pursue her dream of travel... but couldn't Ms. Alderton set her story just a year earlier? Did Jen have to quit her job in January, 2020 and book a one-way ticket to South America for March 30, 2020?? Of course the reader knows she could not not have gone, and this devastated me far more than the breakup that was the actual subject of the book. Poor Jen.

I'm not quite sure how this book came to be on my list - I think it was because Katie favorably reviewed Ghosts by the same author??

I'm so glad you loved both The Turner House and The Whalebone Theatre. I loved both of them. And it was Quinn's first novel! I read it, but it's good to know that it was a good listen as well.

>115 AMQS: >116 BLBera: I loved The Whalebone Theatre as well. If you both liked The Turner House, I guess I better add it to the TBR sooner rather than later list!

I am sorry to hear about your parents. My parents are in a continuing care community that includes a health center and assisted living. Are those options available, possibly closer to you, making it easier to provide support even as others are there to focus on day to day needs?

I am glad you stayed at your elementary school: you do such a wonderful job with those kids!

Wow, you have been reading up a storm. Anne. I expect The Whalebone Theatre to be in my Top Ten for this year and have fond memories of both Olga Dies Dreaming and The Turner House.

So sorry about your Dad’s recent diagnosis. If he can still drive, he must be in the early stages. I hope the progression is slow…very slow. I went through it with my mother years ago and it was devastating. I think the newest drugs are somewhat helpful in slowing things down. My heart goes out to you and your family.

>116 BLBera: really good listen, Beth. I usually have great luck with audiobooks, but the book has to be good, too.

>117 witchyrichy: Thank you, Karen. That would be my preference for my dad and stepmother but I don't know that they would go for it. They are mountain people to their core. Fortunately we're not there yet, but they're also not getting any younger. I spoke to them today and they both are well and enjoying their cooler mountain weather. It sounds like your parents are in the perfect place, and that has to be a relief.

>118 Donna828: I love it when others love books I also love, Donna! That's why this is such a special place. My dad is early stage, for sure, and a neurologist he saw also told him some of his symptoms could be simply due to age. He will be 82 in January. His episodes definitely scared everyone, so we're enjoying this period of normalcy and trying to learn what we can about dementia and what services may be available when we do need them. I am sorry for what you had to go through with your mother. I know this stage of life is traumatic for family and caregivers.

55. Haven Jacobs Saves the Planet by Barbara Dee, audiobook narrated by Mehr Dudeja.

Barbara Dee is becoming a favorite middle grade author. Probably at the upper edge of middle grade, actually, and she tackles serious, but age-appropriate topics head on and with sensitivity. I saw so, so many of my students in Haven right away and my heart ached for her and for them. Haven Jacobs is a 7th grader who becomes so worried and disturbed while watching a video in science class about warming oceans and loss of habitat for penguins in Antarctica that she loses sleep, can't concentrate in other classes (how could Lewis & Clark possibly be relevant when the planet is in trouble??), and biting her nails until they bleed. The problem, aside from the planet in trouble, is that Haven has been told all her life that she is too sensitive, so her worries are met with derision and teasing rather than compassion and helpful perspective. But alone, the doomscrolling, failing grades, suffering friendships and lack of sleep are taking their toll. She gets an unexpected ally in her older brother when she begins the annual 7th grade river project that collects data about the health of their local river and its ecosystem. Even in just the two years since her brother did the project the health of the river has changed significantly, and she suspects the new factory in town, but cannot prove anything.

Does Haven Jacobs save the planet? Of course not, but she has the right teachers at the right time (a social studies teacher helps her get perspective about the scope of the problem by telling her that if we cannot do great things then we can do small things greatly), she has a come to Jesus moment with her parents, who begin to take her concerns seriously and realize that Haven woud benefit from a therapist to help her cope with her severe eco-anxiety, she discovers that so many of her peers also feel anxiety and helplessness over the climate crisis, and she learns the power of local advocacy. This is terrific middle grade fiction.

>88 AMQS: What a great experience with the baby turtles. When we went to Malaysia we had a similar experience, and it was one of the highlights of my holiday.

>121 SandDune: Marina said it was incredible. I wish I had been there, but I'm so thrilled she had this experience. How cool that you had a similar highlight!

56. A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

I was blown away by Naomi Novik when I listened to her Spinning Silver, so I was game to try this dangerous take on the magical school. It was a mixed bag for me - and I picked a rotten time to start it. We are still definitely at the beginning of the school year which is pretty much zombie time for me. So it took me forever to get more than a couple of chapters into it, then I read like a fiend over Labor Day weekend, and it took me another 2 weeks to read the final two chapters. I am hooked enough to try the next two books, but was a little baffled by some aspects of the story. Perhaps because I like my magic nice and cozy - more Molly Weasley than Voldemort. This is a school where students are constantly under attack by viscious malevolent creatures - not even breakfast is safe. Their school has a survival rate of about 50 percent, which is better than the 40 percent they can expect if they did not go to school. While learning their lessons (which seem to be taught by the school itself rather than teachers) they are also forming alliances and backstabbing each other to try to gain an advantage at their eventual graduation which only some survive, and into more established alliances in the real world. Other aspects of this world I am no clearer on than when I started, so hopefully reading on will get me up to speed:)

Oh you're so lucky to be starting this trilogy when all the books are out, Anne. I will recommend reading two and three close together. Two has a wicked cliffhanger.

>124 MickyFine: so I’ve heard, Micky! I gave books 1 and 2 to Marina for Christmas I think when they were newish and in hard cover. I ordered book 3 while I was reading the first, so the cliffhanger won’t have to sting so much.

The Barbara Dee book sounds great, Anne. I will mention it to my daughter for Scout.

I have both The Turner House and The Whalebone Theatre on the shelves and enjoy sweeping too as long as no brushes are involved!

Just stopping by to say hi and hope you are having a bit more of a relaxed time now that the beginning school rush has slowed somewhat.

I am not even going to try and catch up, Anne, being 70+ posts behind, but I wanted to check in and see how you are doing.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Hope all is well, Anne.

>126 BLBera: Hi Beth! Barbara Dee is turning into a favorite author for me. I hope Scout enjoys this one. I think I am going to use it for First Chapter Friday for a class I will have in two weeks - as I said in my review I see so many of my students in Haven and I hope the first chapter hooks them.

>127 PaulCranswick:, >130 PaulCranswick: Hello Paul - thank you for checking in on me. All is good, excepting my soul wounds from the election results. Fortunately I am a teacher and nothing keeps you in the moment like teaching young children. I came home upset at my school district for not calling a snow day for mountain schools (we ended up with about 17 inches of snow and horrible road conditions all day) while my family was deep in mourning. I am busier than I would like but otherwise OK. Hope you are as well.

>128 Storeetllr: Hi Mary, the beginning of the school year was really busy and it seems that things have only calmed a tiny bit. Hope you are as well as can be expected considering. Hang in there - this is hard.

>129 alcottacre: Thank you for checking in, Stasia. Hope you are doing well.

Hello friends, I have missed you very much. I am having a hard time today, as I am sure many of you are as well. While lying awake throughout the night I thought about how I regret not having time for LT and missing you all so much. Since T was elected the first time in 2016 I have engaged in far too much doomscrolling and obsessive news reading and while I treasure my subscriptions to NYT and the Atlantic I now understand that there is no threshhold. There will never be a rant too far or last straw so I am putting myself on a strict media diet, or maybe budget is the right word, and am vowing to invest some of that time here.

Aside from the state of the country life is good. I love having the girls home and all of us are busy with work. I have been investing in myself with exercise which feels good, and also which takes up time. I always knew but REALLY know why I never could do this when I was driving kids around:) Because of this I am reading less and listening to audiobooks more, but seem to be on track to reach 75. Stelios and I took a wonderful long weekend in San Diego, where we met, and enjoyed many activities we never could as students for lack of time, money, and transportation. The weather was amazing, the food was delicious, reconnecting with college friends was heart-filling, and we enjoyed a much needed break.

My dad had pacemaker surgery last week and I was with him and my stepmother and took them home. I also spent the night. He's doing well, though a little stir crazy from inactivity, and I am hoping the more regular heart rate and oxygen levels make a difference in his cognitive state of being. My brother and family are coming back in February. I think my brother wants to spend time with my dad while he still can, and while my 5 year old nephew Falcon is only in kindergarten they want to take advantage of traveling whenever they want. German schools are very serious about attendance, with police at airports preventing family vacations outside of school breaks, etc. so this is their last stab at travel freedom (the rest of us need school breaks :) If you have read anything about school attendance crisis post COVID it is true. It is very hard to get kids to grow a year's worth when they are not in school, though COVID also taught me that life is precious and fleeting so I understand parents prioritizing family time and life experiences too.

I said I love having the girls home, but Callia is planning to move in with her long-term boyfriend (dated throughout high school and some university before they grew apart and grew up... Callia painfully... but they have been together again for about a year and a half now) over winter break. Sven is lovely and thinks the sun rises and sets on Callia and we really like him. His mother years ago bought three rooms on a luxury catamaran for a Fijian cruise/experience, thinking that by the time the trip rolled around that both of her kids would have partners and she was right. So off they will go to Fiji over Thanksgiving week. Callia jokes that if they make it through their cruise without killing one another they will proceed with the co-habitation. Sven owns a townhome in southwest Denver which he rented while he traveled and now has possession of again. Marina is working as a DEI coordinator in the admissions office of DU, singing with a DU choir, bellydancing, and applying for PhD programs. Given the election results she is now applying to some European schools as well. DU employees can enter into a drawing for a VIP ticket package for DU hockey games (they are the reigning NCAA champions) with luxury suites, dinner and free parking, and she won 4 tickets for a game this week, so between a choir concert and hockey it will be a big DU week for us. It's also my book fair.


This picture is in La Jolla, north of San Diego, where we met at UCSD. I am wearing a hat Anita loved and asked me where to buy so she could have a good hat for her walks. I think of her when I wear it.

>132 AMQS: Taking care of yourself is really important ATM. I hope you find some peace.

Thanks for the update, Anne. I know what you mean about being in mourning. My daughter called me in tears. One of my LT friends shared this essay by Rebecca Solnit:

https://the.ink/p/hope-in-the-dark-election-loss

I love the photo!

Thanks for the lovely update, Anne. Glad you had a good time in my old stomping grounds and delighted to hear everyone in the family is doing so well.

Isn't it nice to have a place like LT to go when life gets tough, the world makes no sense, etc.?

Thank you for the lovely update. Nice to hear what you have been up to.

Nice to hear from you Anne. I always enjoy reading about what you and your family have been up to. Great news all around, I see. Like you, I'm counting on the LT community to get me through this time and am going to try a media diet/budget/whatever too.

>132 AMQS: Glad to hear that everything is going well in your personal life. I agree about limiting my news reading and doomscrolling.

I'm glad that in your family circle things are largely going well. Mr. Fine and I went to Fiji for our honeymoon and loved it so I'm sure Callia will like the locale. Wishing luck to her and Sven as they figure out if they can handle close quarters. 😊

Sending hugs for you.

>133 richardderus: Richard, thank you. And I hope that you may find it as well.

>134 BLBera: Thank you, Beth. I really appreciated reading that.

>135 RebaRelishesReading: Hi Reba, yes, LT is such a gift in good times and in bad. We could not have had a better time in San Diego, I think. The last time we had been there together was when Callia was about 18 months old and she's now 25. I went back for a college girlfriend reunion but even that was probably at least 15 years ago. We have such great memories there. We spend an afternoon at UCSD marvelling at how much it has changed. It's like a small city now!

>136 figsfromthistle: Thank you, Anita, I look forward to visiting your thread as well.

>137 lauralkeet: Thank you, Laura. I will be returning a visit soon.

>138 foggidawn: Hi foggi, yes, particularly when the scrolling feels like all doom, right? I hope you are well.

>139 MickyFine: Hi Micky! They are really looking forward to it. They won't actually be in Fiji for very long, but I think the whole experience will be wonderful!

*******************************************************
After what felt like a forever summer, even into October, winter finally arrived with a bang. We have had snow just about every day this week. And my district dropped the ball big time on Wednesday by not calling a snow day for mountain schools because we ended up with about 17 inches and terrible conditions and massive absences. Yesterday (Thursday) we had a late start for mountain schools and today is a snow day for everyone - all Denver metro districts are canceled. We're in and we're warm, and though I am disappointed, we probably won't be going to the DU hockey game tonight.

Hope all of you are safe and warm!

Some overdue book reviews:



57. Max in the House of Spies by Adam Gidwitz, audiobook narrated by
Euan Morton.

This is a fast-paced, somewhat based on a true story of a Jewish boy from Berlin whose parents send his to safety and a foster family in London. Max is crazy about radios, misses his parents desperately, and finds it hard to fit in. He also has a scheming mind and abundant patience that enable him to exact revenge on those who need it. He is determined to become a spy and defeat the Nazis while also rescuing his parents. Against all odds, he is placed with a Jewish family that is actually involved with secret intelligenge, and Max is selected and sent to training. The book is compelling, if improbable, and would feel triumpant for any child who might imagine their own heroics if they lived in this time period. I am still trying to decide how I feel about the dybbuk named Stein and the kobold named Berg who are perched on Max's shoulders, but they do offer comic relief.

58. The Field Guide by Tony diTerlizzi and Holly Black

This is the first book in the Spiderwick Chronicles, which the girls and I read and loved whne they were younger. Callia was trying to decide on a read aloud for her 3rd graders and this one came up. I just did a quick reread and found it lacking for a read aloud. Best read independently and with the rest of the series, I think.

17" of snow? Wow. You aren't kidding about winter arriving with a bang. I'm glad you're home safe and warm.

59. Tales of the WIcked Witch by Hanna Kraan

This book was originally published in Dutch in 1995 and is one of Callia's childhood favorites. This is the one she ended up choosing to read aloud instead of The Field Guide, and her students loved the gentle tales of the grumpy and mischievous witch who lives in the forest and pranks the animals there. The animals, once they have been changed back from pinecones or had knots removed from their hedgehog spines decide to tackle their fearsome neighbor with kindness, cooking soup for her when she's sick, inviting her to tree decorating and carol singing, and celebrating Witch's Day. This is a sweet collection of gentle stories.

>143 lauralkeet: Hi Laura, yes, that was on Wednesday and up at school. It has been snowing continuously since then and we're expected to add another 12-18 inches overnight down at my house, so even more up at school! Meanwhile, I hear you have very warm temperatures - is that true?

60. Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano, audiobook narrated by Maura Tierney

This one was read for book club, and I enjoyed it with serious reservations. This is a loose retelling of Little Women, with four sisters, and a man who comes between them. I loved the relationship of the Padavano sisters, and dearly loved their father Charlie. I struggled with choices made by the oldest sister, which aren't too different from the harsh choices made by her mother. Why is it that I can somewhat understand an older generation's choices (product of their time and all that) but expect better from a character closer to my age? I will not be at the book club where this is discussed, but I think it will make for a lively discussion.

61. Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez

I have really loved the Rick Riordan label promoting books by lesser-known world mythologies, but this one was a total slog for me, even taking into account that I am not the target audience.

62. Not Quite a Ghost by Anne Ursu, audiobook narrated by Eva Kaminsky

A spooky and disturbing read loosely based on the gaslighting classic The Yellow Wallpaper. When Violet and family move into a spooky old house, Violet is assigned the attic bedroom with the awful wallpaper, soundly rejected as too creepy for her bossy older sister. Sinister supernatural forces combine with illness and friend upheavals to effectively paralyse Violet, who suffers multiple health setbacks dismissed by both friends and doctors as attention-getting.

63. Clear by Carys Davies, audiobook narrated by Russ Bain

Thanks to multiple LT friends for recommending this one. It is short, but there is a lot going on in this one. An impoverished Scottish minister is sent to a remote island to evict the only resident. He suffers a devastating accident and is nursed back to health by the resident - Iver. They cannot speak - Iver speaks the ancient language spoken on this island for generations, but the twist of fate that brings them together muddies the minister's mission and creates an emotional bond between the men. This one should also be a good one for discussion. Beautiful writing.

64. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

I have reread this one countless times, and have been meaning to do so again after recently reading Once Upon a Wardrobe. An old favorite.

65. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande, audiobook narrated by Robert Petkoff

Thank you to Beth for recommending this one. I agree with her that everyone should read this book which looks at end of life issues, how death as a process is considered far differently now than at other periods of human history, and how lifesaving medicine may be the worst and cruelest choice at the end. Modern medicine can do a lot to prolong life, but should it? The book examines both old age and terminal illness and choices that individuals can make and conversations that are necessary to have. The book is deeply personal, recounting the author's experience with his wife's grandmother as well as his father, and reflecting critically on conversations and procedures he has performed as a surgeon. There is an exploration of nursing homes, the rise of assisted living, and hospice and palliative care. This is a book that I will purchase in print, and I will purchase a copy for my brother, who bought me The 36-Hour Day as our father suffers age-related cognitive decline.

66. North Woods by Daniel Mason, with numerous audiobook narrators

I also have the LT community to thank for this one, which is unlike any book I have ever read. An examination of a single dwelling and the woods it sits in over the span of centuries - beginning with two puritan lovers escaping their community, through English settler and Native skirmishes and atrocities, to pre-Revolutionary apple growing and so forth. The house remains, while additions are built and improvements made and the land going between woods to apple orchards to sheep pastures to manicured lawn and more. Some fingerprint of previous dwellers remain, either materially and spiritually, throughout the history and into the future. Frequently humorous and always astonishing, this is a terrific read, and fantastic on audio.

Wowzers that's a lot of snow, Anne. Much luck with the digging out process!

Up here we've had a couple warm days and hit 15°C as a high today. Of course we're supposed to get a rain/snow mix tomorrow. 🤷‍♀️

>145 AMQS: yes it’s been very warm here this week, Anne, temps in the 70s. In November! So weird. It’s supposed to cool off this weekend to more normal mid-50s.

Wow, Anne. I can't believe how much snow you're getting. By the time it gets here, it's rain. We have had such a mild fall, but it has been very dry, so I am grateful for the rain we are getting while it can still soak into the ground.

I am glad you found Being Mortal useful. I loved Clear; it was such a beautiful little book.

Right now I am listening to Kate McKinnon's novel Millicent Quibb; she is SO expressive. I think it is a little over the top, but I am not the intended audience. I am checking it out for Scout. My daughter listened to some of it and thought she might like it.

>153 MickyFine: Hi Micky! It was a LOT of snow, but since it had been so warm it turned to slush and has largely melted in most places. It also meant it was really heavy and wet to shovel - more like spring snow than the light and fluffy stuff we might normally get in November!

>154 lauralkeet: Hi Laura, we are supposed to be in the 50s this week, too. It will give everything a chance to melt.

>155 BLBera: Hi Beth, yes, it was a lot of snow! Everything was closed Friday - all school districts, all highways in and out of the state, etc. But in typical Colorado fashion is it mostly gone.

I have a friend from college visiting. We're noticing that many of the conversations we're having with each other have to do with aging parents. We had both recently read Being Mortal which was so helpful. She also recommended Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals. Have you read that one?

67. The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh

This one's been on the TBR for awhile, and I brought it to read on the trip to San Diego. But since I've been back it's been hard to find time to pick it back up. This book is set in the Sundarbans - a tideland archipelago on the border of India and Bangladesh. A young American scientist of Bengali descent comes to this country to study the river dolphins that inhabit this area. She meets a visiting translator, an impoverished fisherman who catches crabs in the area, and residents of an island with a charity-funded hospital. The story alternates back and forth between the American scientist (Piya) and the translator (Kanai) as Piya experiences the particularities of the area and Kanai revits the past in his mind and through the writings his uncle mysteriously left for him. There is danger, legend, cetology lessons, and an exploration of a place and its history so different from my own.

>132 AMQS: Thanks for your life catch up :) Tough times in the US for sure. One unbelievable thing after another, each seeming to be a harbinger of bad tidings....
LT is a small solace, I hope.

You know, I was googling Air BNBs in San Diego the other day...just another pipe dream of mine. But one day when I have time, money and inclination, I will certainly visit the US. Perhaps buy a vehicle on the west coast and drive somewhere. :)

>151 AMQS: I loved this when I read it, and now, sadly it's all getting too relevant with my dad not entirely well. He is a changed man, and it is heartbreaking for me to see him down about his health, and his fractious family relationships (my siblings had 'beef' with him that I just cannot relate to).

I haven't read Four Thousand Weeks, Anne. I will look for it. Great comments on The Hungry Tide. I'm pretty sure I have a copy around here...

>157 AMQS: - I read this a couple of years ago and don't remember much detail about it, but I remember finding it fascinating.

Loved that you have had a busy week of posting, Anne, with some great reads too. Being Mortal is an important book and though I didn't like North Woods quite as much as you did, I did really appreciate certain sections of it.

Really enjoyed reading the life updates, although I understand the downside of an election result that is difficult to figure. My party won in the UK and I am not overly impressed by the start they have made so I have a similar problem but in a very different way.

Nice to hear that Callia is in such a great place at the moment and that Marina is so busy (I'm not so sure about the belly-dancing!). Thanks for the photo of you and Stelios - I wish Hani and I could spend similar time together (maybe soon, God willing).

>158 LovingLit: Hi Megan, LT is a great solace, and we need it! San Diego is a special place to Stelios and me, and a really fun city to visit, particularly for us landlocked sorts. I think a west coast road trip would be amazing - drive from San Diego to Vancouver and beyond. We're looking forward to trying that in retirement as we never seem to have enough time to pull it off.

I am really sorry to hear that your dad is not doing well. And it is heartbreaking when changes result in harming relationships. I'll be thinking of you.

>159 BLBera: Hope you enjoy it when you get to it, Beth.

>160 katiekrug: It was fascinating, Katie. I can only imagine what the tidelands are like. It was an imperfect story, but the setting was captivating.

>161 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul. I can understand criticisms of North Woods, but as a whole I had never read anything quite like it and I feel like I am harder to surprise than I used to be:)

Marina had a bellydancing showcase this past weekend. There was only one number per class (we always want to see more Marina) but we were really impressed with the dance company - so inclusive, mostly adults, and a focus on world dance made it unlike anything I've seen. I wasn't crazy about the bellydancing idea when Marina auditioned for a group in her second year of university but I've come around. As Marina explained to me, it is fetishized like many eastern cultural traditions, but her college troupe and this one feature a fairly large class of women, and while beautiful and sensuous, the dancing (and the whole experience) really comes across as strong and empowering. She loves it and I love it for her.

68. This is Your Life, Harriet Chance by Jonathan Evison, audiobook narrated by Susan Boyce

I must not have been paying attention when I put this book on my list, because it was not what I expected at all. Harriet Chance discovered her late husband bought an Alaskan cruise, and she decides to take the trip. While on board Harriet experiences (suffers) a series of revelations, and the cruise chapters alternate with flashbacks on Harriet's lifeat various ages, told in the second person. This book made me acutely uncomfortable.

>162 AMQS: I suspect you mean the "other" Vancouver but if you do make a west coast driving trip, we would LOVE to see you here in "our" Vancouver!!

My understanding is that belly dancing is excellent exercise and very difficult to do. I think it's great that Marina has found "her" thing. (and "strong and empowering" is a great thing!!)

69. J.R. Silver Writes Her World by Melissa Dassouri

Not sure what to make of this book. It feels a little old for middle grade and a little too young for middle school. This is a very literate, very New York story. J.R. has a rocky start to 6th grade, as her best friend Violet returns from summer camp with a new friend. Violet and J.R. share a love of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but J.R. wonders if Violet still has room for her in her life. In addition to the friend problem, J.R. is one of the only 6th graders without a phone, and who is not allowed to walk home unsupervised. Sixth grade does start with an enigmatic new teacher who gives writing assignments based on Gothamite (thinly veiled New Yorker) covers. J.R.'s writing somehow seems to come true, which inspires J.R. to right some wrongs, both in her personal life and in the world. Her Mary Poppins-esque teacher gently guides her, cautioning her about unintened consequences and helping her to find her voice. Still, even Mary Poppins should honor her teaching contract! A teacher leaving mid-year, even if "someone else needs help in New Orleans" absolutely clouded this teacher's view of the book!

>164 RebaRelishesReading: Hi Reba! Indeed, I did mean the "other" Vancouver, but a stopover in your Vancouver would be delightful! I am thrilled for Marina. She is quite introverted, so to seek out opportunities (bellydancing, DU choir) is awesome, and best of all, she loves them.

Hello, friends! I haven't been feeling very well lately, which did not surprise me as I pretty much always get sick after my book fair, which closed last week. Not sure why... sixth sense? I decided to Covid test. I was SHOCKED to test positive - nearly 5 years into Covid and I haven't had it until now. I was so surprised I tested twice. Ugh. I don't feel good but I don't feel terrible, so hopefully this is the worst of it. But OMG writing sub plans! I will be out tomorrow and then see how I feel. My district says I can return to work with a mask once fever is gone (I never had fever) and symptoms begin to subside. My biggest worry is for Callia who is going to Fiji tomorrow. Please cross fingers and toes and send good wishes that she stays healthy!

FIngers crossed for Callia! And take care, Anne. I got *it* in February of 2022, but it was pretty mild. The quarantine recommendations then were much more stringent, and it was hard to stay away from others after I returned to feeling normal. My symptoms only lasted a couple of days.

>167 AMQS: Hoping for a mild case for you, and none for Callia or anyone else in your family!

>167 AMQS: Fingers and toes duel crossed for Callia (my goodness she really does some interesting travel!!). I've had Covid twice and only found out because I tested after a known exposure but never had much in the way of symptoms. I hope the same holds true for you.

>152 AMQS: I am hoping to get to that one soon. Thanks for the reminder, Anne!

>157 AMQS: Dodging that BB as I have already read it.

>167 AMQS: I am sorry to hear that you are unwell, Anne. Kick that COVID nonsense soon!!

Fingers crossed for Callia!!

Good luck Anne. I’m glad you have a mild case.

Love that Marina is doing belly dancing! It is just so good when kids (??!- you know what I mean) have an interest, something to do, concentrate on etc. And sometimes as an adult (with kids) you forget what those things are for yourself. Lucky for me I have books, movies and the like :)

ETA: and I just read on to see there is COVID about! I too have it right now, and as I type, can say this is my worst bout. Our whole family has it, and we have all been miserable. (W said he felt like he was going to die- perhaps a tad over the top, but you see what I am saying.)I hope you are clear of it soon, and that Callia does not come down with it!
Also, when will she come back to NZ? Although our place is too small to host her completely, we would love to show her around (and/or Marina, and your good self, obviously).

Fingers crossed for Callia. I got it for the first time this year as well, Anne. I thought I had a cold. I hope you feel better soon.

Thank you to Katie, foggi, Reba, Stasia, Laura, Megan, and Beth for your well wishes. This is yucky. I can't say I feel better yet... maybe a little worse, but no worse than some awful colds I've had before. I am staying in my room - Stelios has decamped to our guest room/my mom's room (she is staying away while I am sick) and he and Marina are taking good care of me and leaving trays of food outside in the hall. I gave up the notion that I would go back to school this week so I spent a large chunk of time today and yesterday writing sub plans. Many teachers find it easier to just go to school sick rather than write sub plans, and if I didn't have covid I would be at school too. Callia had to write three days of sub plans for her Fiji trip, and it was a total of 32 pages. She and Sven landed in Fiji safely after a long travel day and has been sending gushing accounts of the water, the fruit, the temperature, the humidity (it is brutally dry in CO right now and we are all scaly and irritated), and is just beyond excited about their adventure ahead on the boat. Marina tested negative yesterday and hustled out and got her vaccine. I am on Thanksgiving break next week so no more sub plans in my immediate future!

Wishing good health to all.

>173 LovingLit: Megan, we would all love to come to NZ! Callia is probably the closest any of us will get for awhile, but it is a dream of mine. I hope you feel better - I'm sorry this is a rough go for you.

>175 AMQS: >176 AMQS: Glad you haven't passed it around too much. I am on day 4 now, and day 2 was my worst I think. I was up all afternoon yesterday, and all of this morning. Currently back in bed as just attended an online (camera off) cyber security meeting for work.
Sub plans sound a lot like homework!

>177 LovingLit: I think I am feeling better today also. I will test again and hopefully can end my exile in the bedroom.

Sub plans are a lot of homework!

70. The Outlander by Gil Adamson

This has long been languishing on my shelves. I know it was recommended years ago by LT friends, so thank you! This is a fast-paced, action-packed but also dreamlike tale of a young widow on the run through the Alberta wilderness with her brothers in law in pursuit seeking revenge for the death of their brother, the widow's husband. Along the way she starves, freezes, thieves, and meets an incredible cast of quirky characters in the 1903 Canadian wild. The action is interspersed with looks back on her life and her improbable journey from well to do lonely child to frontier wife to fugitive murderess to survivor of an implausable but real life Alberta tragedy that devastated a town. Recommended.

When I picked it up Callia asked me, "That's not THE Outlander is it?" I explained that no, it was a different book but just because I am now reading THE Outlander because how often can you read two nearly identitically titled books back to back?

>178 AMQS: My best 4th grade Sub Plans happened when I knew the subs well enough to know that they liked to improvise!

Nice coincidence - I just finished watching (finally) the 6th episodes of OUTLANDER with the great conclusion.

>4 AMQS: Anne, I didn't know Jacqueline Woodson had a new book. I've read most of what she's written. She is one of my favorite authors!

All good wishes coming you way!

Glad you’re on the mend, Anne, and glad it missed Callia so she could go on her fabulous adventure! I hope she takes lots of pictures.

Being Mortal is an important book for both aged parents (like me) and the children who will have to care for and say goodbye to them (me) when the time comes, which it does for everyone eventually.

>180 m.belljackson: Yeah, some subs love flexibility and some really don't! My sub is my new library para, which is good, but also tricky because he's new. I also see classes for a week at a time and so need to work through projects etc so one group isn't terribly far behind the others, because I won't see them again for another month.

I have been reading Outlander fairly quickly - probably because I am kind of stuck in my bedroom. I doubt I'll read more of the series. I've never seen the show. Thanks for stopping by!

>181 Whisper1: Hi Linda! She is such an amazing writer, isn't she? Last year she came to my district and I was lucky enough to meet her. She did a district-wide presentation virtually and then an evening event in person. It was amazing, and she is a terrific and engaging speaker.

>182 Storeetllr: Hi Mary! Everyone wants to see pictures! Now that she is on the boat she isn't in service very often but last night she said it was amazing so far. Coral reef snorkling, dolphin sightings, amazing food, and moored overnight between two islands and she was treated to a bat show - she said these giant fruit bats flew from one island to the other right at sunset. I am so jealous!

I knew while listening that I would want to have a copy of Being Mortal to keep, and I also bought a copy to send to my brother. It truly is an important book.

I tested positive again today, so more time in the bedroom for me. As frustrated as I am, no one else has become sick yet, so it appears to be worth it. Getting some reading in. Thanksgiving break is usually when I get Christmas cookies baked and frozen but that's not happening yet. I did do some online shopping today. I need to send our overseas packages out soon.

>162 AMQS: Having lived for a year in Egypt I know how a skilled belly dancer can leave a room stunned. I wish Marina all the best with it and I am sure that it is fun to learn.

>167 AMQS: I have some re-insurance friends who often visit Fiji and it is apparently visually stunning. Do tell Callia to be vigilant at touristy spots and in urban areas. Credit card fraud and device skimming is rife there. Please tell her not to wander away too much on her own.

>184 AMQS: I am so sorry to see that you have still got COVID. There are a number of cases here too at the moment but the strain is considered not so serious in terms of mortality. I hope you make a speedier recovery, dear Anne.

Ugh, I'm sorry to see covid hasn't left yet. Hopefully it won't be long. Take care.

I hope you are rid of COVID soon, Anne. Take care. Fingers crossed that no one else gets it.

Here's hoping you will be feeling better soon Anne.

>184 AMQS: Here you are dealing with Covid and still getting Christmas underway. I'm perfectly healthy but still I have NO IDEA what I'm going to get anyone, don't plan on doing any big cooking (we're doing Thanksgiving so I expect the local family with go to the in-laws for Christmas...I hope), try not to think about the fact that the coming weekend is when we traditionally put the tree up and decorations out. I'm in total grinch mode I'm afraid and you're my Heroine!! (get well soon)

Anne, sorry to hear you got COVID, but glad to hear you're on the mend. I hope you're able to get the baking that you want to in!

I tested positive again today and worse: so did Marina. Frustrating because we've been very careful, and I have rarely left my bedroom. Stelios continues to be negative. Callia is on the boat and out of reach, so I can only hope that she's well and having a wonderful time.

>185 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul. I was disappointed to test positive again today, though the line was fainter. With Marina testing positive now we probably won't be able to have Thanksgiving. My mom, at 81, is staying away.

>186 lauralkeet: Thanks, Laura. Not yet and with Marina sick now things are not normal around here. Fortunately it also feels like a cold for her as well.

>187 BLBera: Thanks, Beth - Marina has it now but Stelios does not.

>188 SandDune: Thanks, Rhian. I actually feel like I took a step backwards today. Nothing serious, but not the linear getting better I would have liked. Fortunately I am on my Thanksgiving break, but I hate to spend my break in bed!

>189 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, you are saying what I and I suspect many others are thinking. Christmas is a lot of work and I have less and less appetite for it over the years, particularly since the pandemic started. Give yourself some grace (and be glad eyou won't have to cook!)

>190 bell7: Thank you, Mary. The baking I imagined I'd do with Marina is not going to happen... at least not on break. It's all good... or that's what I'm telling myself! Thanks for stopping by.

71. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Well, this has been languishing on my shelf for a long, long time. I would reach for it before I went on trips and think it would make a good travel book but I always had a thought in the back of my head that I might fall in love with it and want the rest of the series (vacation books typically get left behind). Um... no. It was diverting but didn't inspire me to read more or watch the TV series, even if I could watch it. If you're not familiar with it, it's a chonk at 850 pages of historical fiction, action adventure, time travel, Scottish history, survival fiction, and sex diary. Maybe Covid has addled my brain, but I still am getting a kick out of reading two books with the same title in a row :)

>183 AMQS: Ann, How fortunate that you med Jacqueline Woodson and heard her presentation!

I send wishes to you for a wonderful holiday season!

72. Lei and the Fire Goddess by Malia Maunakea

This was an unexpectedly good middle grade read for me. I get frustrated with the young protagonist who in the face of overwhelming evidence refuses to believe in anything but science (I know how that sounds, but children's literature is ALIVE with magic and childhood should also be.) Anna is in Hawaii for her annual visit to her grandmother (Tutu), who calls her by her Hawaiian name Leilani. It was a difficult year in school with a typical friend problem - the best friend gets a cooler friend and Anna is left trying to bring something cool to the proverbial party, and her grandmother in rural Hawaii, far from anything touristy, is not it. Even worse, this is the year she is supposed to memorize her grandmother's ridiculous stories to keep family lore and Hawaiian mythology alive. Anna is also caught between two cultures - too haole (white) to fit in in Hawaii but too Hawaiian for her Boulder, CO school. And in trying so hard to be accepted by cool friends, she is thoughtless with her steadfast Hawaiian friend, who is kidnapped by a giant hawk when Anna insults Pele, the goddess of volcanoes and fire. Just to make sure Anna got the message, Pele also sends flowing lava directly toward Tutu's house. It will take all of Anna's courage and her embrace of the old stories and traditions to save her friend, her Tutu's house, and Anna's very life.

We are not Hawaiian, but my family on my dad's side has a long history in Hawaii (my great great grandfather set up the first quarantine station there to protect native Hawaiians from European diseases. VIPs like opera singer Dame Nellie Melba could quarantine at the estate, which is how her friend ended up falling in love with my great grandfather before their disastrous marriage that resulted in, among other things, me). We definitely feel a pull toward Hawaii, its lore, and OMG the food. The book is liberally sprinkled with Hawaiian words and phrases and I was inordinately proud to know many of them (mostly related to food, but some other words as well). It may be a tad young for them, but I am going to give this to my nibling for Christmas. I think they will love the Hawaiian aspects, and my cousin, their dad is fluent in Hawaiian pidgin and will also get a kick out of the book.

>193 Whisper1: Linda, it was amazing. The library book I brought her to sign is Harbor Me, one that a fourth grade teacher reads aloud every year. Her inscription is lovely.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season as well!

I am so sorry Marina has COVID. At least you can read...

I had a similar reaction to Outlander. I read the first one and was not tempted to continue.

Happy Thanksgiving? What are you going to do?

Sorry you're having so much trouble shaking the crud and that Marina is now infected. Hope you both manage to shake it soon!!

>196 BLBera: Thanks, Beth. I am certainly reading! Marina has been working on these for months, but she took advantage of unplanned downtime to submit 3 out of the 5 applications she is submitting for graduate school. She feels considerably lighter with those off and in the world. As for Thanksgiving, it will likely be delayed, which is not the first year this has happened. I almost always get sick for Thanksgiving break, and I always blame the book fair which closes just before. This year the book fair was a little earlier and I felt unwell a little earlier which made me think maybe Thanksgiving would be normal? LOL. I am feeling good (and so is Marina) but we are still isolating to hopefully spare Stelios. We'll both test again tomorrow and see what happend.

>197 RebaRelishesReading: Thank you, Reba. The saving grace is that neither of us is very sick, but it's still a bummer. I saw on your thread that you recovered some of your Christmas mojo - maybe that is the spark you needed!

73. The Delta in the Rearview Mirror: The Life and Death of Mississippi's First Winery by Di Rushing

This book was selected by my book club, and I had a hard time both getting my hands on a copy and figuring out why it was selected. (Side note: I have been in my book club for about 30 years. It started with colleagues in the Colorado Children's Chorale and met on Fridays which was a day we had off to help offset all of the weekend work and tours involved in a professional performing organization. All of those colleagues have since retired and I am not, hence I can rarely go). I finally got one through Prospector - the consortium of academic, public and special libraries in Colorado and Wyoming. And while reading it figured out the why: the author must be a friend or neighbor of one of our members who has a home in Ouray, a jewel of a victorian town in the San Juan Mountains.

How Ms Rushing and her family got to Ouray, Colorado from their award winning winery in Merigold, Mississippi is a compelling and devastating true crime story. She writes beautifully and honestly about the Mississippi Delta, the wine and restaurant business, the outpouring of community support for the family, and the terrifying decision to leave it all behind. TW: dogs

Cute story from the book: a favorite customer once brought her grandsons to the restaurant, who had a rather famous father. Ms. Rushing remembers worrying about what it must be like for the little boys to grow up in their father's shadow, but in the end judges that Peyton and Eli Manning turned out OK. I think I remember hearing from my mom, who is also in the book club when she is in the states, that the author will join our March meeting. I may try to attend if I can.

I am sorry about the COVID! Bob is down with a cold so we are home for the holiday. Hoping to get caught up on my LT thread.

>192 AMQS: >196 BLBera: I am glad to hear others did not continue the Outlander series. I am sometime afraid to say that in polite company ;-)

I am also grateful for my LibraryThing family, a little haven of love and peace. Instead of doom scrolling, I watch the Great British Bake Off channel on Roku and make stuff.

Hi Karen! I'm sorry that Bob is under the weather. My dad and stepmother opted out of Thanksgiving festivities and they are happy as clams celebrating with just the two of them. We are optimistically planning to have the meal tomorrow (Friday). In a mystery for the ages, Marina tested negative today - twice. How is this possible? I tested positive again, but many sources say I should not be contagious after day 10, so thats what we're going for.

No shame in not continuing a book series, or even a book if it's not doing it for you! LT has reinforced that for me:) My mom gets impatient with books more and more. If she goes by the Pearl Rule she really only needs to read to 19 pages:)

Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Happy Thanksgiving to LT friends near and far - you mean so very much to me!

>201 AMQS: Sorry to see that COVID has laid its clammy hands upon you and the Doppelganger this holiday period. I do hope Stelios can avoid catching it and that both of you will be in the clear soonest.

Thinking about you and your lovely family.

Good luck to Marina. Where is she applying?

When I got COVID this summer (for the first time), my health care provider told me not to test; she said I could test positive for weeks, even after my symptoms were gone.

Anne, I'm sending COVID-b-gon energies to you and Marina, plus a huge dose to Stelios so he can STAY well.

Happy weekend-to-come's reads (and sleeps)!

Hi, Anne. Yikes, Covid! We went through it earlier in the year, after I went to a big crowd football game and caught it from (most likely) a cougher behind me. I hope it treats you gently. Paxlovid helped me a lot.

I hope that despite its rearing its unfortunate head your Thanksgiving was a good one.

Outlander certainly had me turning the pages. But it was one of those rare books where I thought a woman would probably enjoy it more than I did. I did enjoy her bringing some of her medical knowledge back to that time.

>203 PaulCranswick: thank you, Paul. So far so good for Stelios. We’ve been careful. I’ve felt mostly okay but the last two days I’ve been doing more and discovering how much it’s taken out of me. Hoping to be closer to normal when I go back to school Monday. Love to you and your family ❤️

>204 BLBera: hi Beth! Marina will be the first to acknowledge that she is ambitious. She’s also pretty grounded about what she will do if not accepted. In that way this is much less stressful than applying for undergrad! She has applications in to Harvard, UC Berkeley, and University of Washington. Still to come: UCSD and Columbia. She’s applying directly to PhD programs.

I’m glad to hear it’s possible to test positive for awhile. Were you released into the wild, or were you still told to mask? I am dreading teaching in a mask again so hoping to make some progress.

>205 richardderus: thank you, Richard. We will take as much COVID-b-Gon as you can spare. Marina pointed out that I only to write 3 days of sub plans but it’s really bugging me that Covid has taken up an entire previous school break. I hope you also enjoy a lovely holiday weekend.

>106 AMQS: Hi Joe, I’m glad to see you. I’m not happy about Covid but I am lucky to have escaped until now since I am a teacher. We celebrated Thanksgiving a day late and I ate separately from my family. Still we are glad to be together. I hope yours was terrific!

Hi Anne, I'm sorry you're still testing positive. Beth's information about testing (or not) is interesting -- things have certainly evolved since the early days. It sounds like you'll be able to go back to work on Monday? I hope you're able to build up your strength or stamina or whatever so it doesn't take too much out of you.

It's been a while, but if I remember correctly, the nurse told me to isolate for five days after my symptoms were gone and then to mask for five days after that. I think she was following what it said on the CDC website...

>208 lauralkeet: Hi Laura, I will test again Sunday, but no matter what I will be back at school Monday. I've been up and doing things and it's taken a lot out of me, so I've been napping because I can. Enjoying it while it lasts! Safe travels.

>209 BLBera: I think our local public health department says you can resume work with a mask after no fever and symptoms improving, and masking for 5 days after that. So I'm well within public health guidelines, but was trying to make sure my family, particularly my 81 year old mother stayed healthy!

Anne, I hope you Marina are better soon. A friend recently tested positive to COVID. She had a nagging cough that would not go away. Fortunately, she was not impacted to a great degree, and she rebounded in a fair amount of time. I thought that was surprising given that she is 76.

>179 AMQS: >192 AMQS: i love the reasons we start books. Any reason will do, right!!??
It has been 100 years since I read THE Outlander ;)
I actually loved the series as well (eta: TV series), but each season got less and less captivating for me, until at 4 (or was it 5 or 6) it felt just downright silly.

My COVID was not 2.5 weeks ago, but I am still feeling sniffly and taut in the throat...annoying.

>211 Whisper1: Thank you, Linda. Marina and I are both recovered from Covid, but both on the edge of something new... hopefully just a cold. Marina just shrugged and said "I live with two teachers, so..." It's kind of how it goes:) I am hoping that the new variants, plus more vaccines in the population mean milder cases.

>212 LovingLit: I love them, too, and I always find the "why now" interesting:) It's taken awhile to fully get over, hasn't it? I hope now you are fully recovered. No one want to be sick during the summer!

74. The Golden Dreidel by Ellen Kushner

This is a quick Hanukkah-themed fantasy for younger readers. Sarah is tired of Hanukkah, and how dreary it is compared to the lights and glitz of Christmas. At her family's Hanukkah party, a lame gift from a rarely seen relative causes a fight between siblings and ends up with a broken TV and Sarah in big trouble. Later, the gift, a golden dreidel, reveals itself to be a girl who pulls Sarah through the broken TV to the time of King Solomon wherupon the girl is kidnapped by demons and Sarah must use her quick thinking and riddle-solving skills to save her and return home where she belongs.

Hi Anne. So sorry you are dealing with the dreaded Covid bug. I’ve had it three times and refuse to get it again. Haha. I really like your attitude: I've been napping because I can. way to go!

I’m glad Callia got to Fiji before she got it. Lucky lady…that is quite a trip. Sorry that Marina wasn’t as lucky. Maybe it was good that she had some downtime to make applications to PHD programs. Best of luck to her.

>215 Donna828: Hi Donna! Covid is now in our rearview mirror and we hope it stays there. Really Marina was lucky. Hers was very mild (mine was also) and also short-lived. She was back to testing negative in just a few says where mine lingered. Callia never did get sick and had a grand time in Fiji! She was lucky - I know she'll never forget this trip.

And Donna, thank you very much for:

75. Angels of the Pacific: A Novel of World War II by Elise Hooper, audiobook narrated by Karissa Vacker and Fran de Leon.

Donna recommended this terrific book and I was captivated. Set in the Philippines and opening just before WWII, the novel follows Tess, a US Army nurse who came to the tropics in search of adventure and Flor, a student reluctantly preparing to sail for the States to study. Both of their lives are changed forever when Japan bombs Pearl Harbor and soon after occupies the Philippines. Neither can believe the mighty United States has to surrender the Philippines and are sure that the US military will be back in force, but instead both face years of unimaginable hardship. Tess is evacuated to Bataan and winds up a prisoner of war. Flor does what she must to survive, and goes from providing food to prisoners to actively working for the resistance. Their two stories intersect. I had a passing, but inadequate knowledge of the US in the Philippines (my great great grandfather was appointed surgeon general of the Philippines by President Roosevelt and held that post until he relocated to Hawaii to open the quarantine station I referred to in >194 AMQS:) and I quickly did some research. Filling in my knowledge gaps about the Bataan Death March nearly made me stop reading, but the book is SO worth it, and an excellent and compelling portrait of a lesser known WWII history.

>217 AMQS: That sounds like an excellent but difficult to read book. I'm not sure I'm up to it but I'll keep it in mind for later.

>217 AMQS: that does sound really good, Anne. I'm glad everyone is healthy again.

Glad to hear you and Marina are both over the spicy cough and Callia stayed clear. Mr. Fine and I went to Fiji on our honeymoon so I can imagine just how fabulous a time she had.

Hopefully the final countdown until the holiday break isn't too hectic for you!

Congrats on reading 75 books!

Congrats!

Well done Anne on reaching 75!

Have a lovely weekend. Are all the family together for Christmas?

Solstice cheer, Anne!

Nadolig Llawen, Happy Christmas and Happy Holidays!

>218 RebaRelishesReading: Hi Reba! Many war stories are hard to read. This is a good one when you're in the mood. I learned a lot.

>219 BLBera: Thanks, Beth! Yes, we're all healthy at last! And just in time for a break and some rest!

>220 MickyFine: A honeymoon in Fiji sounds amazing, Micky. They weren't actually in Fiji too much as most of their trip they were on the boat. But she loved all of it (except the bugs).

>221 figsfromthistle: Thanks, Anita! I was a bit worried I would - having Covid over Thanksgiving break helped me get there:)

>222 drneutron: Thanks, Jim!

>223 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul! Yes, we are. Callia and Sven have moved in together nearby - they'll be here on Christmas Day, as will my mom. Marina is here. After Christmas my brother in law will come with his two kids. We saw them last summer in Cyprus, and are thrilled we get to again. They live in Kansas. On the 29th we'll host our large family party. We moved it away from Christmas Day this year and I think most people are relieved! I hope your Christmas is lovely. Do you still have the doppelgänger at home?

>224 richardderus: That's lovely, Richard, thank you. Many good wishes to you as well.

>225 SandDune: Diolch yn fawr iawn, Rhian! Merry Christmas to you as well.

Life news: Calllia and Sven had planned to move in together over winter break, and jokingly said that if they survived a week on a boat together in Fiji (with his family, no less) without wanting to kill one another they would proceed. Well they jumped right on it after their trip and are happily installed in the townhome Sven owns that is not too far away. I was limping and crawling along toward my winter break and Callia, first year teacher, was going to Ikea after school and moving and cleaning and decorating. I want to lie down just typing that:) Last night they lost power for a time. They are big board game types, but don't have Clue, which is what our family breaks out, along with candles, when we lost power. They settled for Bananagrams.

Marina turned 23 this week. She is really enjoying her job at the University of Denver and is relieved to have all of her grad school applications in.

Stelios is working way too hard but as our weather has been so nice, he has been able to get some bike rides in. He is hoping to visit a family friend in Florida in January (we will both go there for my spring break in March) and is planning to return to Cyprus again this year. He says he is homesick, and he has earned it, especially as we are past the driving the kids all over phase of our lives. We're looking forward to hosting his brother and niece and nephew later this week.

I am so relieved to be on break! My reading ground to a halt after Thanksgiving break, so it's been nice to relax a bit and read. I will go to Las Vegas for a college friends trip in February - I had to miss the one last year in Boise when I had surgery. This one's just a weekend, but a friend moved there and will host (and plan)! My brother and his family will be here for almost the entire month of February and I am looking forward to seeing them. This is one of their last "travel whenever we want" trips as Falcon will start 1st grade in the fall and German schools are very strict about attendance.

The sun is shining (no white Christmas here but lovely weather is hard to beat) and life is good!

Winslow and all of us wish you a very happy holidays!

76. Snowed in for Christmas by Sarah Morgan, audiobook narrated by Ruth Sillers.

This was a fun, sweet, and neatly wrapped up Scottish Christmas romance. Not my usual genre, but it was just the thing for commutes to school, wrapping presents, etc. I have Reba to thank for this one.

77. Make Your Home Among Strangers by Jennine Capo Crucet

I have Beth to thank for this one - it was one of her "You Must Read This" books she topped her thread with. My copy was weeded from the collection of a local high school. District policy requires us to post our weeded books in good condition to other district libraries and this one was one I had been hoping to get. The weed lists aren't strictly meant for personal use, but my colleague was happy to send it to me.

This is a frank look at Lizet, a first gen college student - a Cuban American student straddling two worlds - who "abandons" her family to attend an elite private school in New York State on scholarship. Having been "the smart one" in high school, she struggles in college, winding up in an academic hearing to determine if she can stay. College is a language everyone else seems to speak fluently, and the longer she is there, the more "white" she unintentionally becomes and the less she fits in at home in Miami, where her family is neither supportive or happy for her. In the midst of all of this, her mother becomes obsessed with Elian Gonzales (Ariel Hernandez in the book), the Cuban boy rescued from a raft after his mother and others drowned trying to reach the US. The obsession takes over her mother's and the family's life, with Lizet again caught what seems like a world away, unable to help or make sense of it.

>227 AMQS: Winslow is dashing! I have a Russian blue named Moshi who is a little chunkier.

>226 AMQS: Unfortunately they are all in the UK, Anne.

Just me and Erni, the world's best coffee maker. I am typing this to the smell of duck slowly roasting.

Thinking of you at this time, Anne and family.

>227 AMQS: lovely to hear everyone's news. Marina is 23?? Wow, I remember when you posted about her being taller than Callia, and C not being happy about it. Seems a while ago now!!! Although, now that I have a 6'2" teenager, the swift passage of time is highly visible in my own home!

Re a trip away (...he has earned it, especially as we are past the driving the kids all over phase of our lives....)- sounds great to me! I am deep in the middle of the 'drive the kids all over the place phase' at present. Which, of course, is preferable to them taking risks and driving with randoms, but still. It is a phase.

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas, Anne. Have a wonderful holiday with the family. I also appreciate the family update. It sounds like everyone is doing well.

Have a wonderful, healthy holiday, Anne.

Make Your Home Among Strangers! I loved that book; it really spoke to me as our department struggled with how best to serve first generation college students.

>227 AMQS: Nice catch up and glad to hear all is well with your family. Wishing you a very merry Christmas and a wonderful 2025 (can it really be 2025 already?!?)

>230 elorin: Thank you! Russian Blues are beautiful, aren't they? I don't think that's what Winnie is, but when reading about them they seem really cool. Cheers to you and Moshi!

>231 Whisper1: Thank you, Linda.

>232 PaulCranswick:, >233 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul. I'm sure you miss them terribly. Hope the roasted duck was delicious!

>234 LovingLit: I don't think there is a busier phase, is there, Megan? 6'2"???? WOW! Your grocery bill must be considerable! Yes, Marina is 23 and has long surpassed Callia (and me) in height. Callia will be 26 in February, so time really does fly!

>235 msf59: Thank you, Mark. I hope you and your family are all well!

>236 BLBera: Thank you, Beth, and thank you for the recommendation. I know this is hard. Willamette, where Callia went, seemed to have a great program in place to support first gen students and what they said is that what is good for first gen students is good for everyone, which is what education in general is finding. Good practice for special ed benefits everyone, and same for ELL education. But it does require institutions and instructors to think outside the box.

>237 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks, Reba! 2025 seems like an impossible number, doesn't it?

>238 alcottacre: Thank you, Stasia.

78. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Lovely and heartrending story set in 1980s Ireland. I heard about this book from so many LT friends. It is a quick and beautiful read.

Happy New Year, dear friends! Our Christmas Day was lovely and relaxed, which was a change from previous years. I got a wonderful stack of books I am looking forward to and I hope the books under your tree fill your heart and reading hours well! We had a house full of family yesterday for our holiday gathering. We changed things up by not gathering on the holiday itself and that was a welcome change. We are also hosting my brother in law and his kids from Kansas (Stelios's brother). Tomorrow we'll go to the Denver Art Museum to see the Maurice Sendak exhibit and then the redst of the time other Colorado-ish things. So it's looking like my reading year will end at 79 books and that's OK. Best wishes to everyone and I'll see you soon in a new group and new thread!

>240 AMQS: There's now a film adaptation too, Anne, starring the excellent Cillian Murphy. We watched it over Christmas and loved it. It's available to rent on Prime and AppleTV.

>239 AMQS: Yes, it feels like 2000 was last month and here we are a 1/4 of the way through the century already!!!

Let's resolve to do this more in 2025.

>240 AMQS: This is a great Christmas read. And the film is good.

The Sendak exhibit sounds like fun.

Happy New Year!