Mary's (bell7) Reading in 2025, Page 1

Hello and welcome to my first thread of 2025! I’ve been a part of the 75 Book Challenge group since 2010 and can’t think of a better group of people I enjoy discussing my reading with.

2025 is going to be a year of a lot of changes. I’m planning on wrapping up dogsitting this summer, and am soon going to apply to be a foster parent. I’ve been working in my hometown library for 25 years and am currently the assistant director - my boss is retiring this summer.

I read widely and eclectically, some for work (I facilitate a book group) and most for fun. I tend to choose fantasy, historical, and contemporary fiction, while also enjoying some mystery and romance, and a bit of nonfiction besides. I typically have a couple of reading goals intended to stretch my reading in some way. In 2024, my goal was to read 12 books by French authors and 12 books by authors from other countries. I didn’t quite get to my goal of books from France, but I was pleased with other countries that were represented in my reading, and noticed that U.S. authors accounted for 58% of my total reading, which is the lowest it’s been since I’ve tracked it. My stretch goal this year, then, is to lower the percentage even further to less than 50%. And my other goal is to read at least 12 books by indigenous authors.

Outside of reading, I enjoy watching sports and knitting. I started a project last year of listening through the Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums list (2023 iteration) and I’ve been going roughly chronologically through it (I’m up to 1969 now). And I have a large family of parents, siblings, and niblings who will be mentioned frequently.

So pull up a chair and a cuppa, and join me!

2025 Book Club Reads

One of my work responsibilities is facilitating one of our book discussions. Here's what we're reading in 2025 (we take a break for the summer):

JANUARY - South to America by Imani Perry - COMPLETED
FEBRUARY - The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
MARCH - Rivermouth by Alejandra Oliva
APRIL - Devotions by Mary Oliver
MAY - Teacher Man by Frank McCourt
SEPTEMBER - The Day the World Came to Town by Jim DeFede
OCTOBER - The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
NOVEMBER - Crazy Brave by Joy Harjo
DECEMBER - The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Favorites of 2024

Fiction
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng
To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose
Foster by Claire Keegan
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
James by Percival Everett
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
The Postcard by Anne Berest

Nonfiction
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie
How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair
Rough Sleepers by Tracy Kidder
Red Paint by Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Inciting Joy by Ross Gay

Poetry
Above Ground by Clint Smith

Random things I'm tracking

Bookish articles:
1.

How to make pretty block quotes (directions from Richard):
{blockquote}TYPE OR PASTE QUOTED TEXT HERE{/blockquote} and replace the curly braces with pointy brackets.

Number of books read since keeping count on LT:
July - Dec 2008 - 65
2009 - 156 (plus over 70 graphic novels and manga volumes)
2010 - 135 (Note: in June, I started working a second part-time job for full-time hours)
2011 - 150
2012 - 108 (Note: accepted a full-time job in February)
2013 - 107
2014 - 126 (plus 8 graphic novels)
2015 - 120 (plus 6 graphic novels)
2016 - 141 (I stopped counting graphic novels separately)
2017 - 114
2018 - 105 (Note: my first full year as Assistant Director)
2019 - 116
2020 - 153
2021 - 138
2022 - 131
2023 - 180
2024 - 131
2025 - ???

Global reads in 2025 (author’s country of origin):
Canada - Victoria Goddard, Heather Fawcett
UK - Adrian Tchaikovsky

All time (since 2022):


Create Your Own Visited Countries Map

Armenia, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Chile, China, France, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Portugal, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States

Rough guide to my rating system:
I'm fairly generous with my star ratings - generally a four is a "like" or "would recommend" for me, while a 4.5 stars is a book I would reread. I break it down roughly like this:

1 star - Forced myself to finish it
2 stars - Dislike
2.5 stars - I really don't know if I liked it or not
3 stars - Sort of liked it; or didn't, but admired something about it despite not liking it
3.5 stars - The splitting hairs rating of less than my last 4 star book or better than my last 3
4 stars - I liked it and recommend it, but probably won't reread it except under special circumstances (ie., a book club or series reread)
4.5 stars - Excellent, ultimately a satisfying read, a title I would consider rereading
5 stars - A book that I absolutely loved, would absolutely reread, and just all-around floored me

I see it more in terms of my like or dislike of a book, rather than how good a book is. My hope is that as a reader I convey what I like or what I don't in such a way that you can still tell if you'll like a book, even if I don't. And I hope for my patrons that I can give them good recommendations for books they will like, even if it's not one I would personally choose.

Currently reading
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
The Broken Blade by Melissa Blair
Power to Yield and Other Stories by Bogi Takacs

Bible/Devotional Reading
Genesis, Job, Matthew

DNFs in 2025

January
7. The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill
6. Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett
5. The Forbidden Book by Sacha Lamb
4. South to America by Imani Perry
3. Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky
2. Terec and the Wall by Victoria Goddard
1. Serving Herself: the Life and Times of Althea Gibson by Ashley Brown

Always close in reading numbers, I wouldn't enjoy this groups half as much if you weren't with us, Mary.

Welcome back, Mary!

Hi Mary, I'll be following along for 2025. Wishing you a happy new year!

Happy New Year! Wishing you a year filled with good books!

Happy new year, Mary!

Let's resolve to do this more.

Happy New Year! And happy new thread!

>8 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul! I certainly won't come close if you successfully read 200 in 2025, but I'll enjoy following along all the same.

>9 drneutron: Thanks, Jim!

>10 charl08: Happy new year, Charlotte! Glad to see you again.

>11 cbl_tn: Thanks, Carrie, and a very happy new year to you, too!

>12 katiekrug: Happy new year, Katie!

>13 richardderus: I like the word and the sentiment, Richard. Hope 2025 treats you well.

>14 foggidawn: Happy new year, foggi!

Happy new year, Mary! Looking forward to seeing what you read in 2025!

Mary, I wish you all good things in the process of becoming a foster parent. I know you will be excellent in this role. Please keep us posted regarding the progress you are making in obtaining a child to love.

Happy New Year Indeed!

Much Love,
Linda

Happy 2025, Mary

Happy New Year, Mary! Sounds like 2025 will be full of exciting new adventures for you - how wonderful.

>1 bell7: A foster parent? Wonderful!

>3 bell7: Oo, another best of 2024 list! I will have to check out those I have not read.

Have a wonderful Wednesday, Mary! Looking forward to see what you are reading this new year!

>16 curioussquared: Happy new year, Natalie! I'll be following along with your reads as well.

>17 Whisper1: Thanks so much, Linda! I looked it up, and the initial step is reaching out and waiting for them to contact me with more. I'm incredibly nervous, but will do my best to bite the bullet over the weekend and do it.

>18 PaulCranswick: Happy new year, Paul!

>19 Crazymamie: Happy new year, Mamie! Nice to see you here.

>20 alcottacre: Thanks, Stasia! I hope you enjoy the books my "best" list prompts you to read as much as I did. We do tend to overlap quite a bit on what we enjoy :)

Happy new year! Hard to believe that 2024 is behind us and 2025 is here.

I'm off today for the holiday and finding myself decidedly unmotivated. I didn't have a long to-do list to begin with, though, so I'm going with it. Of course, for me a lazy morning means I'm doing a load of laundry and changed the sheets on my bed. My other big goal for the day is finishing (or nearly) Serving Herself: The Life and Times of Althea Gibson and starting The Count of Monte Cristo for the group read with Mark (msf59) and others. I will also cook a meal using a new-to-me recipe from Milk Street Simple by Christopher Kimball.

Reading: Serving Herself: The Life and Times of Althea Gibson by Ashley Brown and Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Listening: podcasts from nine months ago

Watching/Crafting: nothing yesterday, though I'd like to pick up the socks I'm knitting today

Happy New Year, Mary. I'm supposed to be scurrying around. Frolicking. I don't know if I am or not. Time will tell. Have a great day and a great year.

>23 weird_O: Happy new year, Bill, whether you rest or frolic today :)

Happy New Year, Mary! It's amazing that you're planning to be a foster parent; I have so much respect for people who do that. Maybe we can have a children's meetup one day!

Happy New Year, Mary. Happy New Thread. Hooray for Monte Cristo!

Happy New Year! Hope you have a great year of reading!

Happy New Year, Mary. Great list of favorites. I hope 2025 is a great year for you.

Happy New Year, Mary!

HAppy New Year!

Happy New Year, Mary!

>22 bell7: I will be curious to see how you like Serving Herself. I am currently reading Billie Jean King's autobiography and she mentions Gibson quite a bit.

Happy New Year, Mary! I just purchased The Frozen River, so I am glad you enjoyed it so much! We adopted a just turned a year old puppy named Muffin December 2, and right now I could use a dog sitter! She is keeping us very busy. We are going to try a half day of dog daycare in mid January, to see if she enjoys a half day a week and see if she can't burn off a little energy. She loves off leash dog parks, so I hope it works out.

>25 _Zoe_: Well, to be honest, I'm just beginning to start the process by reaching out via the website - probably Saturday, because I don't know how long the initial form is (the instructions said click "here" to introduce yourself and someone will reach out to you). But yes, I would love to have a children's meetup one day if everything aligns!

>26 msf59: Happy new year, Mark! I have delayed starting because I really want to finish Althea first, but it should be today :D

>27 thornton37814: Thank you, Lori! Happy new year and happy reading to you as well.

>28 BLBera: Happy new year, Beth, and thanks! It's always fun to reflect on my year's reading and come up with favorites.

>29 kidzdoc: Happy new year, Darryl! Thanks for stopping by.

>30 figsfromthistle: Happy new year, Anita!

>31 ronincats: Happy new year, Roni!

>32 alcottacre: I'll have more to say later tonight when I finish the book (I have about 20 pages left) and review it, but I really did enjoy it, Stasia. Billie Jean King is mentioned towards the end, and I was thinking that All In would be a really good follow up, though I probably won't have time 'til February. I do own a copy of the book from the library when we deleted our second copy after it wasn't so new/popular.

>33 vancouverdeb: Happy new year, Deborah! I hope you like The Frozen River as much as I did - I'll be reading it again next month with my book club, too. I've discovered that puppies are really too much energy for me, so I hope that doggie daycare and the dog parks work out for you and Muffin! Love the pictures of her that I've seen on your thread.

Well, it's Thursday (completely feels like a Monday, so it's going to be a rude awakening for me when I have to work past 2) and the second day of the year. I'm back to work 9-5 and starting a dog walking/sitting gig that will be a blend for awhile until they leave for their regular winter trip. This is the family with six labs - sadly, one of them died a few days ago and two of them have had surgeries and are in cones. So, I will be scheduled to walk the other 3, sometimes in the morning and sometimes in the evenings, sometimes both. And occasionally I'll stay after the walks to dogsit for them so they can get out of the house together and go on dates and such. Tonight starts the walking, and it'll be nice to ease into it a little before walking every morning and night.

Yesterday my SIL invited me over last-minute for a dinner of homemade pasta. It was absolutely delicious (as was her homemade red sauce and pesto)! And it was also fun to spend time with my niece. At almost ten months, she is standing and can walk along behind a push cart that she has, which she can almost maneuver into a turn. I swear, she was bigger yesterday than she had been even at Christmas. I think she had a growth spurt and grew just in that week! She remains a very happy baby and impresses me with how much she'll play independently already. I'll be watching her after work the next couple of Mondays and am very excited for one-on-one time.

Reading: Serving Herself: The Life and Times of Althea Gibson by Ashley Brown and Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I should be finishing the former today and will be starting The Count of Monte Cristo and South to America.

Listening: "Tommy" by the Who

Watching/Crafting: nothing to report

>36 bell7: Thursday orisons, Mary. That almost-a-year point makes such a difference day-by-day.

Happy New Year, Mary!

Happy New Year, Mary! Best of luck with all your 2025 plans.

>37 richardderus: Happy Thursday, Richard! Yep, there's a LOT of changes in the first year, and it's amazing to see when a little one lives close by and every time I see she's STILL doing something new.

>38 norabelle414: Happy new year, Nora!

>39 Familyhistorian: Happy New Year, Meg, and thanks!

1. Serving Herself: The Life and Times of Althea Gibson by Ashley Brown
Why now? Last year the first book I DNF'ed was another Gibson biography, and I really wanted to read this one

If you're not a tennis fan, you may not have heard of Althea Gibson, but as she was the first Black athlete to participate in Forest Hills (now the U.S. Open) and other majors, winning five singles titles and more in doubles and mixed doubles for a total of 11, she's an athlete to know. Ashley Brown, the Allen H. Selig Chair of History of Sport and Society at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, brings Gibson's story to life in the detail it deserves.

Althea Gibson was born in 1927 and grew up on the streets of Harlem, where she didn't exactly conform to "ladylike" behavior, learned how to box, and loved playing sports with the boys. When her athletic prowess was noticed, a couple of men took her under their wing and helped her become a trailblazer, first winning all of the Black tennis tournaments and then working to get her entry into Forest Hills, despite a long-standing unspoken rule not to allow Black players. Unlike some other Black athletes of her time, however, Gibson was reluctant to speak about race and wanted to be known for her talent alone, not as a (to use the phrase of the time) "Negro athlete". Brown gives a thorough, nuanced portrait of Gibson in all her complexity. I couldn't help but admire what Gibson did, both in winning majors, and also in deciding to give up amateur sports - at the time, there was no prize money - and starting to play golf instead. Brown takes you through her entire life before, during and after tennis, and carries along the narrative to other athletes that did indeed follow in Gibson's footsteps, reluctant trailblazer or not. This book is thoroughly researched with a lot of footnotes and is quite dense at times, but for all that I learned a lot and really appreciated the thoroughness of this biography. 4 stars.

This was a much better read for me than the one I tried to read last year. Brown doesn't explain tennis's scoring system any more than Sally Jacobs did in Althea: The Life of Tennis Champion Althea Gibson, but I was much more clear that she expected her readers to have familiarity with tennis. Jacobs tended to get repetitive, and Brown does not. She keeps her chronological story much tighter and though it's still incredibly detailed, I never had the same difficultly keeping track of when I was, despite it taking me over a month to finish the book.

The listening report:

I fairly quickly transitioned from All Christmas Music All the Time to continuing my listen through the Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Albums list. I'm going through listening chronologically. I typically try to listen to an album at least 2 if not 3 times through and write up my brief thoughts (and add favorite songs to my Spotify playlist), then read through the reviews of Brett Schewitz, a music critic who listened through the list by number after it came out and who knows a lot more about music history and production than I do. So I link to his reviews, too. Here's what I've listened to lately:

Neil Young, "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" - This was fine, fairly enjoyable listening but also rather forgettable. There weren't any standout songs for me and I can't remember much about it now that I've listened to a few CDs since. To be fair, I am probably not enough of a musician to get how good the guitar solos were. Brett Schewitz's review. #407 on the list

Isaac Hayes, "Hot Buttered Soul" - I want to listen through this one once more at home, rather than in the car when I do most of my listening. It was very quiet and I had to turn it up a lot to hear it. I liked both the vocals and the music overall, though I wasn't a huge fan of the final song, where it goes on for over 10 minutes and starts as a story of him talking and telling about a man who loved a woman who was unfaithful to him. I'd like to listen once through and see what I think of the lyrics of the first 3 songs, and I may try a different Hayes album, too. I liked "One Woman" the best. Brett Schewitz's comments. #373 on the list

The Kinks, "The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society" - I have a feeling I missed some of the satire and what the Kinks were doing here, plus it was a difficult transition from earnest soul music to this one. Not my favorite, very odd. It reminded me a bit of "The Who Sell Out," where again I kinda felt like I was missing something. So I looked it up, and it's a concept album, telling the story of various people on the Village Green. Brett Schewitz's review (he liked it much better than I did). #384 on the list

Happy new thread, and

Happy New Year, Mary!

How fun to see your 10 month old niece, Mary. Luckily there are two of to keep up with Muffin - me and my husband. So we do three long walks / dog parks each day, but it would be great if the once a week 1/2 day of dog day care works out. Dave and I alternate the walks each day.

Hello, making my first visit here and I see that this is certainly a big year for you. I admire you taking the first steps to become a foster parent, good ones are much needed.

>42 bell7: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere is one of my favorite Neil Young albums. :) Cowgirl in the Sand is probably my favorite song on it but it has some serious competition. I'm not hugely into guitars but I do feel like Neil Young's way of playing speaks to me more than a lot of others.

>43 quondame: Happy new year, Susan!

>44 vancouverdeb: She will keep me on my toes when I babysit on Monday, I'm sure! And I'm sure it definitely helps to have the two of you with Muffin. I hope the dog day care works out really well for you all. The last time I had a puppy, I took him for two 2.5-mile walks and he was still hyperactive around my house. He finally crashed and burned - when he got home after the weekend. I'm sure part of it was being in a new place and all the excitement that comes with that!

>45 ursula: You know, as I read the Wikipedia page and and refamiliarized myself with the album, I'm thinking I should probably do one more listen through with the lyrics in front of me and see what I think then. I liked the sound of "Cinnamon Girl" but thought it sounded like it was making a non-white woman "exotic". Likewise, the music/guitar on "Cowgirl in the Sand" is very enjoyable. I found myself very irritated by the single line "it's the woman in you that makes you want to play this game," but I possibly took it out of context. I think my comment that it was "forgettable" was really more recency bias and simply not remembering - I'll make more of an effort to review sooner after I listen through rather than waiting to have a group to talk about. I like the sound of acoustic guitar very much, but I'm less enthused with electric, as a general rule.

Good morning, all! It's Friday, and I'm looking forward to some rest after today. I started dog walking for the family with the bunch of labs yesterday. One (my favorite) sadly got very sick and passed away just a few days ago, so they are down to five. Two had surgeries recently and are in cones, so I'm not really walking them on a regular basis until those are off, possibly as soon as next week. Everything went smoothly last night after work, and I'm hoping for the same tonight. I'm working 9-5, heading over there to walk, and then going home to make myself dinner and relax.

The weekend does not have a lot of plans to go out, but I'll cook and clean, plan to go to the gym for resistance training, and stay with the dogs for a few hours each evening so the owners can go out, since at least one of them has been staying home at all times to make sure the cones stay on. Sunday I have toddler nursery. I will bake bread.

Reading: Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky and South to America by Imani Perry
Just realizing that I meant to start The Count of Monte Cristo before bed last night and neglected to do so, so I'm bringing it to work as my book to read today.

Listening: "Tommy" by The Who

Hi Mary my dear, I have starred you again and will be more visible this year, dear friend.

>48 johnsimpson: and >49 johnsimpson: Nice to see you, John, and happy new year to you, too!

I see that it's not too late to wish you a happy new year, Mary, so ---- Happy New Year! I wish that your plans may come to happy fruition!!!!!!(!) *grin* (Sometimes I can be so pretentious that I scare myself.)

>51 LizzieD: It is not too late, happy new year, Peggy! And it's okay for you to be pretentious if I can be ambitious in my plans ;)

Happy New Year, Mary. I will be diving into Monte Cristo today. How far in have you got?

>53 msf59: Oh excellent, Mark! It won't take you long to catch up to me - I'm only on chapter 3 and probably going to be slow and steady because I'll also be reading my book club book. Looking forward to enjoying it with you!

My younger son Ned and his wife Sam fostered two youngsters that they then adopted. They are in Camden County, New Jersey, and they worked with the state's social services agency. Their intention was to adopt, but fostering was required first step. Olivia was in diapers but was toddling when she joined them. They were actually recruited to take Lia, who was born with a cleft palate (but not a harelip) and needed special care to avoid having food getting through the cleft. When she was old enough, the cleft was closed up surgically, and at least one subsequent surgery to open her eustachian tube so she could hear properly.

>55 weird_O: Oh that's really neat, Bill! My intention would be to adopt as well, but I'm open to long-term fostering too. I did send my initial form in today - actually quite simple, and now I'll wait for someone to contact me sometime in the next week.

Happy Saturday!

I am feeling good about what I was able to cross off the to-do list today. There's always more, but I did the important things and a few other things besides. I sent in the initial form to express my interest in foster care. I went to the gym and dropped off my recycling for the month. And then I got a few other items in besides, like resetting some mouse traps (always a winter project...) and quitting Twitter and getting the bread dough ready to bake tomorrow. I am feeling accomplished. And now I'm going to rest for a bit before I spend a few hours with the dogs.

Reading: Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky, South to America by Imani Perry, and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Listening: Finished with "Tommy" by The Who, the next to go will be Elvis in Memphis

Watching: I might just find something to watch on TV tonight since deep reading or knitting is not really possible when I'm watching these dogs

Glad to hear your year is off to a decent start. I'm sorry to hear about the passing of your client's dog - that's always sad.

Crossing my fingers for you that the many hoops of fostering go smoothly.

Hi Mary! Happy New Year and Happy New Thread!

I love your plan for fostering. I hope all goes well with the paperwork.

I have been in love with The Count of Monte Cristo since I read it in a high school English class. If I didn't have quite so many books home from the library right now (and always!) I would join the group read.

Sunday orisons, Mary.

>58 MickyFine: It's not the same as when a pet of my own passes, but she was one that I liked particularly, I admit. And thanks for the good wishes and crossed fingers!

>59 streamsong: Thanks, Janet! Happy new year to you. I've never read The Count of Monte Cristo before - which is partly how Mark and I decided to read it, as a classic neither of us had read. It's really fun to see how many people decided to join us.

>60 richardderus: Sunday *smooches* back :)

2. Terec and the Wall by Victoria Goddard
Why now? Stasia's and my choice for the month in our regular joint reads of Victoria Goddard's works

Terec is now in the Wild, given over entirely to his magic and not always consciously self-aware or able to form words. He is continually called north by the Wild, and travels until he meets another man.

I hesitate to give too much away because it's such a short story and the discovery of its revelations is part of the entertainment. The first almost half is very much in Terec's wild mind, and Goddard writes effectively about the swirl of impressions that he has as his rational mind returns. 4.5 stars.

Happy Sunday!

I helped in the toddler class today. We had eight kids, and two of them refused to leave my lap. One is a little boy who usually gets sad when his mom leaves, and will fall asleep on me. The other is a little girl who I've only had in class a couple of times, but her parents know me and she seems to have decided I'm a safe person to just sit with. So it's sweet, though I do feel a little bad that I can't really help with the rest being fully occupied.

Anyway, I'm home again and just did a little baking. I'll pop the bread in the oven soon, and I'm waiting to hear from the dog folks what time exactly I should be heading over this evening while they go out to a movie. I'm going to enjoy a little downtime now and read The Count of Monte Cristo. I'm only about five chapters in, but really enjoying it so far.

Reading: Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky, South to America by Imani Perry, and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Listening: "Elvis in Memphis" by Elvis Presley

Watching: Bruins and a little football last night; not sure what I'll watch today

Crafting: haven't picked up the knitting in a bit

Happy New Year, Mary. I'm planning to make a better showing on your thread this year. I love to see what you are reading a recommending.

>2 bell7: That looks like an awesome line-up of book discussion books. I loved Devotions, Teacher Man, The Beekeeper of Aleppo, Crazy Brave, and The Midnight Library. All those books should inspire good discussions. I can't believe I haven't read The Day the World Came to Town. What is wrong with me? ;-)

From your personal list, I really need to read The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store and The Frozen River. I just haven't gotten around to them yet.

>63 bell7:: Sounds like a lapful at your church nursery gig today. And you still want to foster? That is Great! What an awesome thing to do. I will be following your process. Best of luck to you.

Hi Mary -- Two of my three kids are adopted -- good luck and yay on you for pursuing fostering! I read several of your favorites from last year and liked them as well, so I'll have to pay attention to your reads this year. : )

>64 Donna828: So nice to see you, Donna! I'm definitely looking forward to our 2025 discussions. The ladies in my group (it is all ladies and has been for years) always bring such great perspective and insight into their reading and I leave feeling like they taught me!

I've always loved nursery. It was the first thing I signed up for here once I became a member, and at my previous church I was there so long that one of the children I watched many years ago brought her own child in on a visit. Thanks for the fostering well wishes!

>65 Berly: Happy new year, Kim! I'll look forward to following your reads this year as well. Very cool about your own kids - it's interesting how many people have told me a story about either fostering or adoption when I've said I'm close to getting started on the process. I'm not sure what to expect about the process, but should hear from someone this week.

>41 bell7: Adding that one to the BlackHole, Mary. I am glad to see that you enjoyed that biography of Gibson more than you did the previous one.

>62 bell7: Happy to see that you enjoyed that one so much. I am looking forward to reading more about Terec as soon as Goddard publishes the follow ups.

Have a marvelous Monday, Mary!

Monday orisons, Mama Mary. Hoping it's less icky there, though my icky is far wimpier than your sturdy Massachusettsan one.

>67 alcottacre: Oh good, I hope you enjoy it, Stasia. I think I'm going to try reading All In in February while it's still fairly fresh in my mind, too. And it was fun, as always, to read another of Goddard's works with you. I'm going to be a little sad when we're all caught up!

>68 richardderus: Happy Monday, Richard! It's brisk out, for sure, but fairly seasonal for all that and not snowing like it is south of us. I think it was about 19 degrees when I walked the dogs this morning, but thankfully I didn't see the temperature until after I was back in the car.

Happy Monday, all! It was a pretty packed day today. After breakfast, I walked three dogs (separately), then went to work. I stayed 'til 3 because I'd purposely scheduled myself to work late in anticipation of coming in late from dog walking. I didn't today, but I might still later this week, so I have an hour in the bag in any case. I went from there to babysit my niece.

She amused herself and me playing around in the living room, where she'd pull herself to standing and hold on to the coffee table to walk around it. She loved to jingle my keys and would sometimes crawl after the cats. We ended up playing around in her room for awhile, and I read her a book or two while she crawled or pulled herself up on various furniture. She hasn't exactly figured out walking, but will kind of take one step and then stumble forward to crawl to where she wants to go. Someday she'll figure out walking's faster, though, and then we'll really have to watch out!

I went right from there to yoga, then came home to a late supper and getting all the town gossip by watching the Selectboard meeting. And now I will get myself ready for tomorrow, read my book, and go to bed.

Reading: Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky, South to America by Imani Perry, and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Listening: "Elvis in Memphis" by Elvis Presley, though I've listened 3x through now and am probably going to switch CDs tomorrow

Watching: Selectboard meeting on Zoom

Crafting: worked on my socks some while I watched the above

Good morning! Dog walking this morning, working 9-5, and going over my uncle's for dinner tonight is the agenda today. Depending on what time I get home, I may have some dedicated reading time instead of snatching a few pages before bed like I did last night.

Reading/Listening/Watching/Crafting: nothing new to report since yesterday

That's a full day!

Belated Happy New Year, Mary! I've gotten caught up on your thread. It looks like you've got a busy year ahead. (So what's new?) Good luck with the foster parenting and application process!

>63 bell7: Mary, my granddaughter Kayla works at a day care and is in charge of the "baby room." While she liked the toddler class better, she is enjoying the babies. She was on her way to becoming a nurse, had difficulty with anatomy class, found this job and now is changing her classes to reflect childhood education.

Good luck with the process of becoming a foster parent. I really think you will do well in this! All good wishes.

Walking three dogs separately is tremendous exercise, Mary!

>72 katiekrug: Yes, it was!

>73 atozgrl: Indeed, busy as ever here, Irene. I'm not sure I know how to relax? And thanks!

>74 Whisper1: Aw that's really neat what Kayla's doing. I'm glad she recognized the need to shift gears a little when anatomy didn't really work for her. Thank you for your kind words!

>75 PaulCranswick: Yes it is, Paul, and I followed it up with a gym run this morning (for resistance training) so I'm feeling extra virtuous.

Happy Wednesday! I'm still trying to get to the gym twice a week, though the dog walking schedule means that this pretty much has to be on Wednesdays and Saturdays. So today I walked the dogs as early as usual and went straight to the gym. I didn't have enough time afterwards to do any cooking, so I did a quick grocery shopping run (unfortunately left my list behind, so I had to go by memory of what I definitely needed) before heading home. I'll have a quick lunch of pre-made sushi before I head to work 12-8, and dinner will be a frozen meal I picked up. Tomorrow I will be dog walking in the evening rather than the morning, so tomorrow morning will feel rather leisurely getting ready for work.

Dinner at my uncle's was fun. He has an interest in family history and has a bunch of photographs, old and new. We chatted about some of the things I've been discovering as I research, and he shared some more of the old photos with me. One of my goals this year is to write narratives about some of the people I'm researching, partly to organize what I already have and identify gaps, but also to potentially put it in a format that my family can appreciate and keep in the future. I wrote up a draft of a great-grandmother's story - this uncle's grandmother - and showed him some of what I have done. It's really pretty incredible, she raised 11 children through the Depression, her eldest son served in World War 2 and lived with her for the rest of her life, and she outlived her husband by over 20 years, living so long that she had over 70 descendants that still got together for annual golf tournaments well into the 90s. Quite a legacy, and really interesting to think about all of the changes in the world during her lifetime.

No big thing on the agenda for work today, I'll have a few volunteers come in and need direction, and I'm sure I'll find plenty to keep me busy. Tomorrow is a volunteer training that no one has signed up for, which is just as well because I already have over 30 putting away books, and will soon have more senior tax workers coming in to shelve.

Reading: Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky, South to America by Imani Perry, and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Listening: "Crosby, Stills & Nash" self-titled album

Watching/Crafting: did not pick it up yesterday

Happy New Year, Mary! How WONDERFUL that you are planning to foster parent! I know the need is so great. You are doing a tremendous thing.

Are you thinking that you could be the library director? That's exciting! Is that a job you would want? If so I will thing all the good thoughts for you that all wood and wonderful things may occur for you this year!

I think I'm going to be happy about this for the rest of the day!

>69 bell7: I'm going to be a little sad when we're all caught up! We need Goddard to write faster, lol.

I do hope you enjoy All In when you get to it.

>78 AMQS: Aw, thanks so much, Anne. Yes, I think I could be director, and I do think I'd want it - at least for a time. There are some higher stress aspects of the job that I wouldn't love, but I do find the political aspects of small towns fascinating and I think I would be a good manager.

>79 alcottacre: Well, she did just finish a short story in the Greenwing & Dart universe, so we can add that to our plans!

Happy Friday! I'm off to work shortly and then walking the dogs and staying with them so the owners can go out. I need to get the 2nd quarter materials budget numbers ready for the Trustees' meeting on Tuesday, so that will be my highest priority project for the day. Oh, and I've got a virtual meeting with the foster care folks to see about starting the official process on January 22, so all prayers/good thoughts and wishes are welcome!

Last night the folks I'm dog walking for asked me in the afternoon if I would stay with the dogs for a bit after evening walks. I did so with the caveat that I needed to cook my dinner at their house, so stopped at home to pick stuff up and made a pretty yummy Brussels sprouts dish that will be my lunch today too.

I finished Service Model this morning and will attempt to wrestle my thoughts into a review soon.

Reading: South to America by Imani Perry and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Listening: nearly finished with "Crosby, Stills & Nash"

Watching: Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy and tennis last night because the dog folks have cable. I'll probably put on more tennis tonight of one of the lead-up tournaments to the Australian Open, which starts tomorrow my time

Crafting: haven't picked up the sock in a bit

3. Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Why now? The ARC has been on my Kindle for awhile, and while it's not exactly reached the urgency of "goal" status, I want to read some of the titles that I have accumulated over the last few years - so I borrowed the audiobook from the library and this was my e-book/audio combo

*Free e-book ARC provided by the publisher through Edelweiss Plus - thank you!*

A robot valet kills his master, and then when the (robot) police force doesn't arrest him, he is given the task of going to Diagnostics to figure out what is wrong with him. There, he meets a decidedly defective robot called "the Wonk" who encourages him to leave (Diagnostics is completely backed up and can't do anything until a human with enough authority allows them to handle their backlog) and find free will. Reluctantly, the robot now called Uncharles ventures into the wide world to find his purpose.

A post-apocalyptic tale filled with absurdity and dark humor, Service Model explores what might happen if humans were to imperfectly program their robotic "helpers" and then not be present to override the logical steps they all would take with that programming. Turns out, robots might have just as many problems as we do. As bleak as much of the story is - and the human reader will pick up on implications that Uncharles does not, or in some cases simply accepts as a thing that is without weighing a moral judgment - there are some very funny moments, breaking of the fourth wall with comments about Uncharles and the Wonk taking a hero's journey and lots of literary references, and a glimmer of hope for the future. It's definitely the kind of book that leaves you wanting to talk about it with a fellow reader. 4 stars.

This is the first book I've read by Adrian Tchaikovsky, an author I have heard enough about that I think I would enjoy his best-known works, though from what I understand Service Model was a bit of a departure for him. So it'll be interesting to see what else he's written and compare.

Happy Friday, Mary! I will be keeping you in my prayers and sending positive thoughts as you go through the process of becoming a foster parent - most exciting.

Sending positive thoughts about the fostering! You've made so much progress just in the week since I last visited this thread!

One of my friends started fostering a couple of years ago, and within a year they'd called her up to adopt a baby girl.

I've added Service Model to my TBR list—that sounds like a fun read.

Happy Friday, Mary!

>82 bell7: My husband has been reading Tchaikovsky's Children of Time series recently and really enjoying it. I might give those a try soon.

The robot story sounds interesting, writes the guy with more physical books than he can possibly read in what life is left to him. But if I get a copy, maybe it's one I will read. Ya never know. The author's name brings to my mind a prep-school classmate who pronounced the name Tie-chovsky. (I don't think he knew the composer.)

Hope you have an enjoyable weekend.

I will be sending all the good thoughts and prayers your way as you embark on your fostering journey.

Best wishes on fostering children, Mary. What a lovely thing to do.

>83 Crazymamie: thanks so much, Mamie!

>84 _Zoe_: I may have given the impression I'm further along than I am... To get started with the state, I just filled out a quick form online expressing my interest. This is the initial meeting that they send the application after, and then the actual process of classes, home chairs, etc. can happen.

>85 curioussquared: ooh that's good to know, I may have to add the series to my me TBR list, Natalie.

>86 weird_O: apparently the author's actual last name is spelled differently but he uses Tchaikovsky for his books. Tie-chovsky as a pronunciation would never have occurred to me 🤔 And I can completely relate to too many books!

>87 MickyFine: much appreciated, Micky!

>88 vancouverdeb: thanks, Deborah!

Well I was going to be all busy bee this morning and get right out to the gym, but that didn't happen. I stayed with the dogs while their owners went out, and I wasn't home till 11, then stayed up further preparing overnight oats and washing a few dishes. I turned my alarm off and let myself sleep as late as my body wanted.

I'll be meeting a friend for a walk soon, and hope to get my car inspected this afternoon. I'm going back to the dogs for 4 p.m. so depending on how much time I have, I'm making lentil soup or getting takeout.

Happy weekend, Mary!

Good for you turning your alarm off, Mary. And I'm voting for takeout. Not that you asked. *Grin*

Yay for sleeping in! Sometimes it's just the thing you need. And I'm with Mamie in voting for takeout. 😊

>92 katiekrug: Happy weekend, Katie!

>93 Crazymamie: and >94 MickyFine: Thanks, Mamie and Micky! I somehow am not surprised to see the votes for sleeping in and takeout :P I split the difference and picked up a microwavable pho soup from the grocery store and had leftovers for lunch.

Listening report:

"Tommy" by the Who - on my first listen through, a few songs in I thought, "Oh, this kinda sounds like Pinball Wizard" so I felt a little proud of myself when that song came on a few tracks later. I had to look up the info on the album to actually get it as a concept - Tommy is psychosomatically blind and deaf and does not talk, but responds to seeing himself in the mirror and endures physical and sexual abuse. The album as a whole traces him through childhood and adolescence and then finally he becomes a religious guru. After knowing the parts about the abuse, there were a couple of songs that were absolutely skin crawling and I didn't want to listen to again. On the other hand, as a whole, though it's an odd story, you can see some of the ideas and form they're playing with (they called it a rock opera), which would be developed more fully in Quadrophenia. It definitely works best as a whole, as none of the songs - including, I would submit, Pinball Wizard - doesn't make sense separate from the rest of the album. That being said, the other one I knew was "I'm Free" (a cover version by a Christian band I listened to as a teenager) and would add that to my playlist. Brett Schewitz's review. #190 on the list

"From Elvis in Memphis" - I liked Presley's voice in this one and the overall sound of the album, though I didn't pick out any individual songs to include on my playlist. One that I thought about was "Any Day Now," which has some nice music, almost sounds like a big band with horns and everything, but is basically about expecting the end of a relationship ("Any day now, love will let me down"). "In the Ghetto" was apparently the single of the record, which kinda surprised me. Brett Schewitz's review. #322 on the list.

"Crosby, Stills, & Nash" by Crosby, Stills, & Nash - I've heard of the group, of course, but this was my first time listening to an album of theirs. I enjoyed the sound of both music and the harmony of their voices quite a bit. I will probably listen through once more to see if there are any songs I want to add to my playlist. "Marrakesh Express" was one. Fresh Air interview with Wayne Kramer that was replayed last year after he passed away, as now it will make more sense to me having heard the album. Brett Schewitz's review. #349 on the list.

I'm currently listening to "Willy and the Poor Boys" by Creedence Clear Water Revival and then will be spending some time with Led Zeppelin, as I have both "Led Zeppelin" and "Led Zeppelin II" lined up.

Happy Saturday, Mary. Glad you are having a good time with The Count. I only have to focus on one print book so I am just about finished with the first half. Dumas gets seriously wordy at times but it is certainly keeping my attention.

I love your music report. I am a big Zeppelin fan but that is my era. I hope you at least like some of it.

Thinking good thoughts for you on the steps forward in the fostering process!

>96 bell7: I listened to Tommy again somewhat recently and I enjoyed it overall, more than I remembered liking it in the past. But I didn't keep it in my library.

Crosby, Stills & Nash is in my library, and I looked to see what songs I had favorited on it. Maybe surprisingly, not Marrakech Express. Instead Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, Wooden Ships, Helplessly Hoping, and Long Time Gone.

>96 bell7: I listened to a few songs from "From Elvis in Memphis," including "In the Ghetto," and I really liked it. Thanks for introducing it to me, Mary!

>97 msf59: Happy weekend, Mark! Dumas does get wordy - it was one of those books that started as a serial, wasn't it? Those always seem longer haha. But it moves along for all that, and I'll look forward to reading more of it this coming week. I put Led Zeppelin in today, and am liking it alright so far. It's too early to have a full response to it when I haven't even finished the album, but it also wasn't an immediate dislike either (so far only Velvet Underground has had that immediate, visceral response).

>98 ursula: Thanks, Ursula! I think your description of Tommy matches how I felt about it pretty well. After I listen through to Crosby, Stills & Nash, I'll make note of my own favorites in full.

>99 kidzdoc: I'm surprised I could introduce you to new music, Darryl! I'm glad you liked it. I was impressed with the lyrics showing the social forces that caused the story, it's not something I would have expected from a Billboard popular song from a White artist. Though granted, a lot of the music of the 60s is very socially conscious in a way that a lot of the pop music from my generation was, perhaps, not - or at least not what I was listening to at the time.

Happy Sunday, all! It's been a really busy day. I had nursery, time with my Little, and small group with folks from my church. I am going to run downstairs to put laundry in the dryer, and then I'm reading South to America until I go to sleep, because I have about a hundred pages left and we are discussing it on Wednesday.

It's been kind of tough going. One of the ladies in our group really wanted to read it, and has suggested it for the past couple of years until this year it got enough votes for us all to read it. But it's structured as... well, it's not structured, as far as I can tell. It's sort of a memoir of the author traveling to different places in the south, but it's kind of free association from one thing to the other, whether it's a monument in a place or a conversation she had with someone or historical moment, and I can't figure out how she chooses to tell one story over another. I also can't follow her thought process very well. There are individual sentences or even paragraphs that have some interesting thoughts to wrestle with about American history and race, but for me it's so wrapped up in a narrative that's all over the place, like her thoughts from one thing to another are just spilling out onto the page and you're left as a reader to sink or swim. I am sinking. And I'm not sure how we're going to talk about it, but fortunately as facilitator I get to mostly ask the questions. I'm definitely hoping that the woman who recommended it can make it and share her observations so I can gain some appreciation from her point of view.

Reading: South to America and The Count of Monte Cristo

Listening: "Led Zeppelin" by Led Zeppelin

Watching: I watched some NFL playoffs and tennis last night, and tonight I'll probably put a little Australian Open before I go to bed - it'll be background noise while I read

Crafting: my Little and I experimented with crocheting today, so I learned single crochet and really messed with my brain trying to do it righty (I knit righty but it feels more comfortable to hold the crochet hook in my left hand)

>100 bell7: Thanks, Mary. There is an almost unlimited amount of great music from various genres and different countries, so discoveries such as this one are to be expected. The book I'm currently reading references a famous and beloved Egyptian singer, Umm Kulthum, and after listening to one of her songs on YouTube I'll check out more of her work.

I'll be interested to see what you and your group think about South to America. I was extremely disappointed in it, as to me she came across as a foreign visitor from the North who tries to examine the South but ultimately fails in her approach, and I cast it aside after her poor description of Atlanta. I saw that other reviewers on LT from the Deep South also strongly disliked the book. (Technically I'm not from the Deep South either, but I've still spent more than half of my adult life there, 24 years in Atlanta and 3½ years in New Orleans.) Simone de Beauvoir did a much better job describing the South in her postwar masterpiece America Day By Day, and later this year I'll read South to a Very Old Place by Albert Murray, his account of returning to the newly integrated South after spending his first three decades there.

>102 kidzdoc: There is an almost unlimited amount of great music from various genres and different countries, so discoveries such as this one are to be expected.
This is true. I meant my comment much more as a reflection on myself, that I don't listen to a lot of music and for much of my adult life haven't been hugely adventurous in trying new things, something that this project and my listening in general over the last couple of years has helped me in breaking out of my own rut.

I'll let you know how the discussion on Wednesday goes. I expect the ladies might enjoy the book more than I did (this happens frequently enough for all sorts of titles as I find myself more and more critical of writing style in particular). I reread your comments on it recently, as unlike you and readers from the Deep South, I don't have any personal experience that would come up against her arguments. But in trying to include the ignored stories of history, she does seem to swing a bit too far the other way in emphasizing the downside of almost every place she covers. I would be interested in reading Simone de Beauvoir's take and South to a Very Old Place as well for a comparison. Let me know when you read the latter, and maybe it'll work out to read it together.

Edited to correct my numbering.

Today's agenda:

Working 9-2, picking up dinner for a friend with a sick family member, babysitting, and yoga. I have leftover soup to heat up for dinner and will probably try to make lentil soup to have for lunch tomorrow.

>103 bell7: I commend you for your efforts in listening to music that is new to you, Mary. I'm guilty of having a strong preference for jazz albums recorded in the 1950s and 1960s, although I've recently begun listening to Temple University's jazz station (WRTI HD2), which plays music from the 1940s through the present day and has exposed me to more contemporary artists.

Going to Tulane University in New Orleans in the late 1970s did more to expand my taste in music than any other time in my life. In addition to the free Friday evening concerts by a variety of musicians on the Tulane Quadrangle I was exposed to all sorts of music at the annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in City Park: Dixieland jazz, contemporary New Orleans jazz, music by Indian tribes such as the Wild Tchoupitoulas and the Wild Magnolias, New Orleans funk, gospel, blues, rockabilly, country, zydeco and Cajun music, played in different tents simultaneously; you could walk from one stage to the next and listen to whatever caught your fancy, while dining on fabulous Cajun and Creole cuisine.

I agree, Imani Perry overemphasized the negative aspects of the Southern cities she visited, and she came across as condescending rather than insightful. No place is perfect, but she portrayed cities like Atlanta and New Orleans to be still backwards as compared to cities in the North, from what I recall. I have it handy, and I could revisit the chapter on Atlanta to refresh my memory.

Simone de Beauvoir, on the other hand, reported her observations about the United States in the 1940s without being overly judgmental as Imani Perry was. I've read America Day By Day twice, and I would gladly read it again, but I'm planning to read her six part series Simone de Beauvoir - Autobiography, starting with Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter this year.

I'll definitely let you know when I get to South to a Very Old Place. I have the Library of America edition Albert Murray: Collected Essays & Memoirs, and that book follows the one I'm reading now, The Omni-Americans.

>102 kidzdoc:
Do either of you know about the NPR program Afropop? It was on my local NPR station in Tuscaloosa for years on a Saturday night. I would listen to it while reading before going to sleep. I checked and it is still a program broadcast primarily on NPR stations. It really changed my view about the influence of African music in the music world of today. It is amazing the vibrancy of world music and I greatly appreciated this particular program.

I know it isn't jazz - but it is very interesting music to listen to and NPR should be commended for what they are doing for world music.

Here is the link to the Afropop page.
https://afropop.org/page/about-afropop

>106 benitastrnad: Thanks, Benita; I was unaware of that program so I'll definitely check it out.

>105 kidzdoc: The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival sounds like a good time, and I shall have to add it to my "someday" travel list.
I'll be finishing up South to America today and will go over my notes and highlights to fully respond to it in a review. I think in a way she was trying to be in conversation with (argue with?) South to a Very Old Place, so I just placed it on hold to get from the library mid-February for now but can certainly adjust that date to match your own reading. The other thing that frustrated me is that I never felt like she really defined "South" well, or gave a definition of "North" or any other thing she might be contrasting it with. My own reading (and, I grant you, limited experience since I've lived in very white suburbs my whole life) is that the North is just a racist in practice but hasn't codified it in law in the same way the South did historically (except when it did, like in deeds for housing and HOAs), so if Perry's argument is the subtitle "journey below the Mason-Dixon to understand the soul of the nation", I'm left rather depressed by the state of everything. And don't get me wrong, I do think it's important to have a full picture of history, not just the mythologizing of certain stories we tell ourselves year after year. But one can just as easily pick and choose the terrible to tell an equally incomplete story. For me, Isabel Wilkerson's Caste and Warmth of Other Suns were both stronger stories and arguments.

>106 benitastrnad: I did not, so thanks for that, Benita. Always interesting to hear music that doesn't get a lot of exposure on the pop radio stations.

Happy Tuesday!
Busy start to the morning, I fed and walked 5 labs before going to work, where I'll be 'til 5. I did not cook last night after yoga, so I have to get lunch today and will probably cook that lentil soup finally tonight. More lab walking this evening, and the main task will be finishing my book club book.

Reading: South to America by Imani Perry and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Listening: Finished "Led Zeppelin" and started "Led Zeppelin II" today

Watching: a little of the Minnesota/LA Rams game last night

Crafting: nothing

Jazzfest is A Lot. It's hot, sticky, few places to sit, and crammed with people, so have a plan for all those eventualities if you do go.

Happy Tuesday! *smooch*

>110 richardderus: I'll have at least a few years to build up my stamina 😉 *smooch* back

4. South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry
Why now? This month's book club book

Professor Imani Perry was born in Birmingham though she now lives and works in the north. As an "exile" from the American south coming home and going elsewhere for visits, she takes her perspective, knowledge of history, and personal stories of various places to argue that we should pay attention to the South in the history of race and right the focus on our historical mythologies by acknowledging the full truth - the often ugly truth - of our history.

I had a hard time reading the book and I'm having a tough time fully wrapping my thoughts around it. If Perry had a thesis, it was what she describes in the introduction: "The consequence of the projection of national sins, and specifically racism, onto one region is a mis-narration of history and American identity. The consequence of truncating the South and relegating it to a backwards corner is a misapprehension of its power in American history. Paying attention to the South -- it's past, its dance, its present, its threatening future, and most of all how it moves the rest of the country about -- allows us to understand much more about our nation, and about how our people, land, and commerce work in relation to one another, often cruelly, and about how our tastes and ways flow from our habits" (xix).

She then proceeds to talk about various places in the South that she's visited, and often where her people are from: Appalachia, Virginia, Louisville, Annapolis, Washington DC, Upper Alabama, North Carolina, Atlanta, Birmingham, Nashville, Memphis, "The Black Belt", "The Low Country," Florida (mostly Orlando), Mobile, New Orleans, and finally a chapter on The Bahamas and Havana. Appalachia to Washington DC were all in a section called "Origins," and kind of made sense in a thematic way. But then the rest of the order struck me as very meandering. The chapters themselves were much like that, as well. She would tell various stories - whether of the history or her own personal experiences - in a sort of free association that was very hard for me, who has only visited a handful of the places she describes, to follow as a reader. Perry doesn't define "South" or even "North" as a contrast, definitions that would have been useful for me to wrap my brain around, especially when she argued that Washington DC was "urban South" rather than rural South. And while there is an index, there is no bibliography or notes on any of the historical stories that she tells about the various places. Perry might tell us that "while this book is not a history, it is a true story," (xix) but I personally would have liked to look up some of the references she makes to stories or interpretations I was unfamiliar with. And if you're wondering where, say, Texas is in the story, Houston is mentioned for a few pages in the Conclusion.

Perry argues that our national origin story needs to include hard truths: "A people add and subtract facts as the mythology of making a nation is turned into official story. Although I know the cultural power of myth, I believe honesty is far more useful if you want to do more than justify a nation. If you want to understand a nation, or have aspirations for it that are decent, myth ought to be resisted" (34). I would agree with that. The challenge in her book, however, is that the truths she chooses to highlight are often so ugly that many of the southern places she visits sound awful, backwards, and as one-sided as the happier version she is trying to avoid. The challenge becomes, is any version honest or is it all myth? History in full is messy with unknowns, conflicting accounts, and pure fabrications. Even when we are sure something is true, the details we focus on change the story and its narrative. I don't argue with her experience or her truth. Perry certainly had some insightful comments and ideas to wrestle with, but I had a hard time picking them out after trying to follow several free-flowing paragraphs where I didn't quite get her methodology or structure. That being said, I read it for book club and clearly have plenty to say! 3 stars.

The listening report:

"Willy and the Poor Boys" by Creedence Clearwater Revival - again, a band I've heard of but the first time I listened through an album of theirs. Somehow I thought they were country? There are some country elements, but it was more rock than I expected. "Fortunate Son" was the song I was most familiar with. Brett Schewitz's review includes the official music video of the same. #193 on the list.

"Led Zeppelin" by Led Zeppelin - And yet again, the first album I've listened through from beginning to end by a band I've heard of. I'm going to be saying a lot through this project, aren't I? I seem to remember also saying not that long ago that I wasn't a fan of loud electric guitars and screaming lyrics. Well, I'm still not but I did really enjoy the rhythm in these songs, often as much from the bass and electric guitars as it was from the drums. (Maybe the difference is a studio versus live recording like MC5's, since the studio version usually is a little quieter?) The first song, "Good Times Bad Times" starts off with a distinctive beat that reminded me of the Dropkick Murphys I'm Shipping Up to Boston. I added that as well as "Black Mountain Side" which was instrumental. Their musicality was really incredible, and I'm even more impressed after reading Brett Schewitz's review that explains how short of a time they recorded in and how young the lead singer was on this, their debut album.

>112 bell7: - That's a really thoughtful review, Mary. Thank you for it. I have the book on my Kindle, but I am slightly less inclined to get to it now. I do tend to have very negative impressions of the South from some of the time I've spent there, but that is, of course, only one perspective.

I hope you'll report back on what your book club members thought of it.

>114 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie! I'd been going back and forth between the paper book and my Kindle to be able to highlight and take notes. I felt like I wasn't really able to address what was left out or not because my own personal experience is so limited. Darryl had some specific critiques on how she characterized Atlanta. I'll definitely come back with a book club recap - I'm especially hopeful that the woman who recommended it will be there, as I know she enjoyed it and I'd like to get her perspective.

>108 bell7: Richard is right in saying that Jazz Fest is usually hot, sticky, crammed with people, and devoid of places to sit. I would also add that you have to walk a good way to get to the venue, or at least I did when I relied on buses. Having said that I haven't been to it since at least 1981, so I have no idea what it's like now, but I will say that it was an unforgettable experience, despite the discomforts.

I pulled out my copy of South to America just now, and I read on page 5 that "I'd read many books about the South, and my direct inspiration for this one from the beginning was Albert Murray's South to a Very Old Place, a 1971 travel narrative that captured the changes, consistencies, and sensibilities of the region of our shared birth." Therein lies the problem with this book: Murray lived in the South until well into his thirties, and returned there when he was in his fifties; Perry, on the other hand, was born in Birmingham, Alabama but moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts at the age of five, so her personal knowledge of the South is very superficial, and that comes across in this book. I reread the section on Atlanta, and it reminded me of a conversation I had with two Black British women I was sitting next to after a play in the National Theatre in London; after they heard my American accent they asked where I was from, and when I mentioned "Atlanta" they asked if it was anything like The Real Housewives of Atlanta. When I read Perry's chapter on the city I wondered if she had actually visited here, as she chose to focus on that, the burgeoning rap and hip hop music industry, and the great disparity in wealth between Blacks and Whites. She could have read about that without setting foot there, but what she didn't mention is that there are plenty of professional African Americans who are doing well and making positive contributions to their organizations and communities, more so than in arguably any other city in the United States, many of whom are working to improve conditions for their impoverished brothers and sisters, some of whom I know personally, and solely focusing on the negative aspects of the city without mentioning the thousands of successful and hardworking Blacks is an absolute slap in the face; that's why I stopped reading South to America at that point.

It's very difficult to define the South as compared to the North. Metropolitan Atlanta is far more integrated than Philadelphia is, and there are far more professional Blacks there than here. You've probably heard James Carville's famous (although not entirely accurate) quote that Pennsylvania is basically Philadelphia on one end, Pittsburgh on the other, and Alabama in between. I dare say that I would be far more comfortable as a Black man in rural Georgia than in rural Pennsylvania, despite my lack of a Southern accent and formal manners, and I suspect the same would hold true in most rural non-Southern areas. Perry engaged in oversimplification of what constitutes The South in her book, which greatly weakened her arguments and conclusions, IMO. I agree with you; The Warmth of Other Suns and Caste were far better books, and I assume that South to a Very Old Place will be as well.

>112 bell7: Great review of South to America, Mary; I read it after my comments in >116 kidzdoc:! I take umbrage with her quote "while this book is not a history, it is a true story," as I would argue that it's at best a very superficial story, and at worst not true at all. I didn't finish it, as I mentioned above, so I only gave it 1-1/2 stars.

>115 bell7: Thanks for finding my critique of South to America from 2023! I forgot that I had skewered the book then, especially its mischaracterization of Atlanta.

>112 bell7: As Katie said, Mary, a very thoughtful review. I appreciated reading both your and Darryl's comments so much as you were reading this. Thank you both for sharing.

Hoping your Wednesday is full of fabulous!

>116 kidzdoc: and >117 kidzdoc: I appreciate your thoughts on it, too, Darryl. I think perhaps some of the problem is that "the South" is such a big subject that there's no way to fully represent all aspects of it in one book. I would similarly have problems with a book that purported to be about Massachusetts but focused almost exclusively on Boston and the surrounding areas. "While this book is not a history, it is a true story" strikes me as very... well, English professor of her. It really irked me that there were no notes on any of the (his)stories that she references. And yeah, I looked at the "Conversations" tab on the book to find your comments on it while I was reading, so I went into the Atlanta chapter prepared with your critique. It helped me formulate some of my criticisms as well, so thank you for that!

>118 Crazymamie: Thanks, Mamie! Hope you have a wonderful Wednesday.

Happy Wednesday! I had a busy morning today of walking dogs, grocery shopping, and getting myself to work for the 12-8 shift. I have book discussion tonight and we will be talking about South to America. I will most likely temper my comments some from what I wrote in my review, since I find if I'm too much of a wet blanket as the facilitator it can really put out discussion. But I do want to go through the various points I highlighted in my Kindle book today to prepare, pull out some questions for folks, and have some very specific critical remarks/observations to offer. I'm very much hoping that the person who recommended it will attend, as I'd like to get her perspective in contrast to mine.

And that will just about be my day. Tomorrow is dog walking in the morning and evening, with working 9-5 in between.

Reading: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and I'll start The Forbidden Book by Sacha Lamb on my break tonight

Listening: Led Zeppelin II

Watching: Australian Open

Crafting: nothing, and probably not again for another week or so

>119 bell7: You're welcome, Mary. I agree, trying to paint the South with one broad brush is essentially impossible. I loved the two Atlanta neighborhoods I lived in, Virginia-Highland and Midtown, and the first one was more similar to a compact walkable upscale neighborhood in Boston or any other major non-Southern city, as it was diverse with well educated residents, most of whom weren't Southerners, plenty of young singles and small families, and numerous shops, restaurants and two indie bookshops. Midtown has a combination of high rise apartments, condos and business buildings, along with smaller older homes, the largest park in the city, and it serves as the location of Georgia Tech's campus, so it also has a well educated and diverse population. Several nearby towns are also charming and diverse, especially Decatur, which is just east of Atlanta; I accomplished several out of town LTers to the annual Decatur Book Festival in the downtown square, which is filled with great restaurants, and we all loved it. The city is made even more beautiful by its innumerable hills and old trees, some of which are located in several upscale old money African American neighborhoods west of Downtown. If I still lived there I would gladly show Imani Perry the city which she mainly read about but clearly spent no meaningful time in.

>106 benitastrnad: >108 bell7: You both might enjoy a Search online or Youtube for these websites: Douglas Ewart and/or Roscoe Mitchell,
founders of Creative New Music.

>121 kidzdoc: Well, I see I'll have to make a trip to Atlanta some day as well. I've been, but it was for a conference and I had no time to sight see outside of the events we already had to do. Someday!

>122 m.belljackson: Thanks, Marianne!

Ugh, I'd started to type out a whole long description of our book discussion and managed to navigate away from the post before I'd finished. Let's see if I can come up with it again.

We had a really good discussion of South to America tonight, with four of us, including the woman who had recommended the book in the first place. In my preparation for tonight, I found a PBS interview with Imani Perry that gave me useful context for discussing the book. I used a couple of clips - about 9 minutes in, Perry talked about why she structured the book the way she did; and at about 28 minutes, she discusses some of the works by Black authors and thinkers that she's in conversation with in her book. There's South to A Very Old Place as a whole, but she also mentions the Atlanta chapter specifically as comparisons she was making with the works of W.E.B. Du Bois and James Baldwin, which made me wonder if she specifically focused on what she did because it was what they talked about in works I have not read. Anyway, I thought both were useful enough that our discussion started with that, and then I transitioned into my usual question, "What were your impressions of the book?"

I did not have to ask another question, as we were off and running from there. Three of us had very similar criticisms that I brought up in my review and won't rehash here. The woman who recommended it said she didn't think it was a perfect book, but that since her husband died, a Black man who was very politically engaged, she missed having deep conversations with people about race and racism in America, and hoped we'd be able to talk about it in response to this book. We certainly did - talking about the various experiences Perry recounts as she talks to different individuals, and the ways in which there's still white privilege even if there has been progress over the years. Overall, I think we were all glad we read it. There was certainly plenty to talk about, and if we hadn't been meeting in the library proper and needed to close, we easily could've gone for another half hour or more. I am looking forward to reading South to a Very Old Place, though, perhaps as soon as February to read a different perspective and also get a better sense of what Perry is responding to in her book.

>123 bell7: Early April is a great time to visit Atlanta, Mary. It's usually comfortably warm then, and the trees are blossoming, especially the dogwoods. The city's Dogwood Festival takes place in Midtown's Piedmont Park then, but it's usually packed with people.

>124 bell7: Thanks for your interesting summary of yesterday's book club meeting. Thanks also for the link to the PBS interview. I'll probably listen to the section about Atlanta, to see what else she has to say about it and the books that influenced her to write South to America. I still wonder why she chose not to interview Keisha Lance Bottoms, the city's mayor at the time, Stacey Abrams, newly elected US Senator Raphael Warnock, and other prominent African Americans, all long time Atlanta residents, who could have provided a far more nuanced view of the city.

I've pulled the plug on the novel I've been reading for the past two weeks, Children of the Ghetto: My Name Is Adam by Elias Khoury, so I can now focus on The Omni-Americans by Albert Murray, the nonfiction work by Albert Murray that immediately precedes South to a Very Old Place in the Library of America edition Albert Murray: Collected Essays & Memoirs that I own.

>124 bell7: *aaargh* I hate it when I do that! Sorry you had to go back and redo your work, Mary. I'm glad you did, though. It sounds like the group really got something out of both the read and the talk.

Thursday orisons.

>125 kidzdoc: It's wonder why she didn't mention those in Atlanta as well, Darryl, because later in the book she makes multiple references to Chokwe Antar Lumumba becoming the mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, and how meaningful that was to her. It's almost as if she didn't focus on some of the positive stories thinking people would already be familiar with them? One of the questions I'd like to ask her about :)

>126 richardderus: Indeed, it's frustrating, and often when I get to a certain length of post I'll copy what I've typed just as backup. I was trying to do to many things last night while I was posting, including watching some of the Australian Open. I successfully watched one match only to have ESPN tell me to sign up for an account to watch more. I had to go through Hulu to follow the link to ESPN+ to finally get it to work, and at that point, it was bedtime. Oh well... hopefully everything will go smoothly tonight! Happy Thursday *smooches*

We've made it to Thursday! I've only got one work day and a few hours to the long weekend, which is most welcome.

Today I'm working 9-5, dog walking before and after work, and plan on finally making that lentil soup I've been talking about all week for dinner tonight. Tomorrow will be much the same, though I think the dinner plan will be fish and roasted Brussels sprouts.

The weekend won't be terribly busy, but on Saturday I have an appointment for an oil change and a funeral to go to. I'm glad it's a long weekend, though, and I have no plans on Monday currently and plan on keeping it that way.

Reading: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, The Forbidden Book by Sacha Lamb, and Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett

Listening: Led Zeppelin II

Watching: Australian Open

Enjoy your long weekend, Mary. Nice to see that the book discussion of the book about the author's take on the American South was a good one. Sometimes it's hard to say which books will provoke the most in depth discussions.

Happy Friday, Mary. I am so glad you are enjoying Led Zeppelin for the most part. They are or were fantastic musicians. Did you know that they released these first 2 albums in the same year? They were on fire, right out of the gate. How are you coming with Monte Cristo? I should be crossing the 1,000page mark today.

>129 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg! I definitely find that ones that got a mixed reaction can often be the best discussions. I certainly find that I have more to say than "I loved it" or "I hated it", and that seems to work well to provoke more thought.

>130 msf59: Happy Friday, Mark! Yes, I listened to the first two albums pretty close together and they're both in my "1969" list. I have the last 3 albums that I can get on CD on their way to me at the library, and the remaining 4 or so of the year are ones I have to borrow from an online resource, Hoopla. The Count is coming along now that I've finished South to America, but I am only on about page 244 or so. Dantes has escaped and just got picked up by the ship from the island that he reached.

TGIF! I left my phone behind at work last night, which was annoying, primarily because it means the dog walks last night and this morning were not counted towards my steps :P But I have it back and it's charged, which is lovely.

Working 9-5 today, and doing more cooking tonight in addition to walking the dogs.

Reading: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett and The Forbidden Book by Sacha Lamb

Listening: "The Velvet Underground" by the Velvet Underground - so far I don't instantly hate it like I did the other two, but it won't be making my list of favorites either

Watching: Australian Open - last night, I saw Pavlyunchenkova beat Siegemund and watched the second set of Schnaider vs. Vekic before I went to bed exhausted

Edited for clarity

Happy weekend! The last couple of nights, I've been absolutely wiped out by 9:30. I woke up today feeling very tired and may try to work a nap in this weekend, though today it will be tough to fit one in.

I'm heading out shortly to get my oil change and run an errand or two. Then I've got a funeral to go to for a friend's father. In between and after, I'll be fitting in dog walks. And I'd like to do some cooking since I didn't last night (we had an afternoon library program and there was leftover pizza).

The next two days will be much quieter, and I've purposely not scheduled anything on Monday. I'll still have to dog walk, but in between I'm hoping for more time to read and relax.

Reading: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett, and The Forbidden Book by Sacha Lamb

Listening: "The Velvet Underground" by The Velvet Underground

Watching: mostly Australian Open, though I've also finally watched the first episode of the most recent season of the Great British Baking Show

>133 bell7: s15e01 was...well...you know what's astonishing is this show's impact. If you haven't, I recommend trying out The Great American Baking Show on the Roku Channel. It's free, and with it comes all the prior seasons of GBBO for a history lesson, and all the celebrity/special ones. I love the way this idea has lit the world's imagination.

No one not Breton, f/ex, had ever heard of kouign amann before they baked it S5e07. *drool*

It's been fascinating reading catching up on your thread, Mary. I'm pleased to hear the book discussion was really thoughtful and engaging.

I am thrilled to hear you have a (mostly) do nothing day on Monday. I wish you much lounging about doing whatever fun things strike your fancy.

>134 richardderus: the series numbers on Netflix versus the British numbering have me all confused but it was the one where one of the bakers was under the weather and not part of the last two challenges and then they didn't send anyone home. Episode 2 totally floored me when Jeff took himself out of competition, though I do think they made the right decision sending Hazel home. The showstoppers overall I thought have been pretty impressive in these initial two episodes.

>135 MickyFine: glad you caught up, Micky! Yeah, after the babysitting was cancelled, I was very intentional in keeping Monday free of big plans. I'll be walking dogs a lot, but I'm going to do lots of reading and TV watching otherwise.

Happy Sunday! I had church this morning and am hanging out for the rest of the day watching the snow come down. Great British Baking Show watching and reading coming my way for the afternoon, and a quiet day planned tomorrow as well.

Reading: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett, and The Forbidden Book by Sacha Lamb

Listening: "Dusty in Memphis" by Dusty Springfield

Watching: Great British Baking Show, the most recent season. Bread Week thoughts: I was really impressed by everyone this week. They're a really talented bunch of bakers, and while I agreed that John had the weakest bakes, I was sorry to see him go since he's clearly very good. It definitely appears that anyone could go just having a bad week/bake at any given time because everyone is so skilled. Dylan is amazing, I want to try some of the bread he made! And I love Nelly, she makes me laugh so much.

>137 bell7: Dusty in Memphis was a great album and to think that it wasn't initially successful when first released.

>138 PaulCranswick: I'm enjoying the sound of it, she has a lovely voice.

5. The Forbidden Book by Sacha Lamb
Why now? I really liked When the Angels Left the Old Country, so when I sw they had a new book out, I put a library hold on it immediately

The night before her wedding, Sorel jumps out the window to escape into the village, taking on a male identity and naming herself Isser Jacobs. But it turns out there is a real Isser Jacobs, and people want him dead. She teams up with Sam, a boy she meets up with at her own wedding feast, and Adela, a compatriot of the real Isser's, to find out what happened.

With atmosphere in spades, dybbuks, and secrets, the small Russian Jewish community is brought to life in Lamb's hands. The publishing description "A genderqueer lesbian with a knife" makes it sound a little more active adventure than much of the story it is, but it's a satisfying mystery that the young people discover and it's steeped in Jewish story in a way that not many book are. Recommended. 4 stars.

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! We got a good six inches or more with snowfall yesterday and today. I've walked the dogs and had breakfast and am now looking forward to a quiet day of rest and relaxation. There will be reading and Great British Baking Show watching, and maybe a replay or two of last night's Australian Open matches, since I really only had the energy to stay up for one.

Reading: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett

Listening: probably nothing today, I'm not planning on going out and all my music listening happens in the car

Watching: Great British Baking Show
Caramel Week was almost a little disappointing after how brilliantly everyone did on Bread Week. I watched pastry week today and was pleased to see Gill do so well. Sorry Andy had to go, but he really struggled with every challenge this week.

>137 bell7:
I am a big fan of Dusty Springfield and that is a great album.

Belated Happy New Year wishes. Dropping a 🌟 here and resolve to do better this year keeping up.

Thanks for visiting my new thread!

>142 benitastrnad: I'd never heard of her before, Benita, so I'm enjoying getting to hear a new-to-me artist.

>143 Storeetllr: Nice to see you, Mary! I totally get dropping off by the end of the year, so no worries :)

It's Tuesday... I was so confused at work today between the holiday yesterday and only working 'til 1 to go to my annual doctor's appointment. After finishing up, it was pointless to go back to work, so I'm properly using up my sick time. (I have over 1,000 hours so I think I'll be good)

More dog walking this evening, but otherwise just relaxing and reading and watching more Great British Baking Show.

Reading: Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Listening: just about finished "Dusty in Memphis" and going to pick my next album tomorrow

Watching: Australian Open and Great British Baking Show Autumn Week was interesting, and I'm watching 70s week now.

Happy Wednesday! I'll have my virtual meeting to start the foster care process today and I'm at least as nervous as I'd be for a job interview! After that's complete, it'll be time for me to head out for work.

We hired the last part-time position and she started this week (it's actually someone who had the job a few years ago, so she jumped right in though I'm sure there will be a relearning process for some of it). For the first time in several months, there will be three of us working and not two. I am very excited to pass a couple of programs back to her (Cookbook Club being the big one), and for the flexibility in occasionally taking the night off to go to my local genealogy group's monthly meetings which are also scheduled on Wednesdays. I expect I'll be able to putter away at various tasks and just make sure that we have enough for all the volunteers to do.

Nothing new to report on reading or listening since last night. I finished watching the latest season of the Great British Baking Show. Seems to me it got really tight by the time there were 6-7 bakers, and occasionally they had to take past performance into account to break ties. I truly had no idea who would win the finale. I thought Christiaan had a really good first day, and Dylan was not up to his usual high standard. Maybe the pressure got to him? But Georgie had been very consistent throughout, knew her classic flavors and baking techniques, and her final showstopper was truly marvelous. I was happy for her, though I would have been happy with any of the final 3. I was so excited to see that Dylan got a job at a Michelin star restaurant, I hope he goes on to do great things.

>146 bell7: - Good luck with the virtual meeting! I'm sure you will impress them :)

I found the latest season of GBBO kind of disappointing...

>146 bell7: Just be yourself, Mary, and you'll do great. Sending you positive meeting mojo.

Hooray for having another body to share the workload.

>140 bell7: I'm about 15% in on this read, and so far it's everything you say...yet because it's a revisiting of a setting, it's not quite as punchy for me.

Well, it's still darn good readin'.

Wednesday orisons.

>140 bell7: My local library does not have a copy of this one yet but, like you, I enjoyed When the Angels Left the Old Country, so I am hopeful that the library will get a copy of the new one. I am glad to see that you enjoyed it.

>146 bell7: Good luck with your virtual meeting!

>147 katiekrug: Thank you! I mean, the season as a whole was kind of... I don't know, back to basics in a way? There have been harder showstoppers. I think the main thing in this one was the time crunch, there wasn't time to make a mistake and re-do anything, but most of the time, everything looked really good and it was hard to tell from the TV side whose was better. I liked it about as much as any other, though my absolute favorite season is still the one where they all had to quarantine before it and the youngest baker won.

>148 Crazymamie: Thank you, Mamie! And yes, it's wonderful to have all positions filled. That part-time one had been particularly hard to keep someone in long-term, but I think we're in the clear now.

>149 richardderus: Yeah, I didn't think it was *quite* as good as When the Angels Left the Old Country, but it was still a "thumping good read" as Suz would say.

>150 alcottacre: I hope you're able to get your hands on it eventually, Stasia! And thanks for the good wishes.

Well, everything went well in the virtual meeting (some technical difficulties, but we worked it out) and I have an application to fill out and truly get the process started now! I'll have classes to go to, home visits, etc. And I do still have dogsitting - 'til August 3, when I'm officially closed for business, regardless of whether this all goes through or not.

Otherwise, the last two days have been quite something. I came home from work last night to no heat and my thermostat down to 50, so had to call for an emergency fix. The guy came, heat came back on, and then sometime during the night it started making a weird noise... So I walked five dogs this morning, then went to work and called them for a non-emergency service call. They called me around 3 to say a technician was on the way, so I left work to meet them there. At this point maybe four separate things were replaced on my boiler in the last two days? But my house is a comfortable temperature, the heat is working and no pipes froze. I'm just glad it happened when I was home and not away dogsitting or on vacation. I'm not looking forward to the bill... Oh, and while the technician was working in the basement, I finally took my Christmas tree down, so that's one less thing off my weekend to-do list.

I'm going to grab something to eat, then head out to Bible study. There's a good chance that this will be my last session with this group of ladies. I'm trying to cut back on obligations to add some more margin in my schedule in preparation for, well, not having as much margin, so I'll be as busy as ever hahaha.

Reading: Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Listening: "Stand!" by Sly and the Family Stone

>152 bell7: Oh that's very exciting! I'm so glad it went well and that you can move on to the next steps.

What Ursula said!

>153 ursula: and >154 katiekrug: Thank you!

6. Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett
Why now? I've really enjoyed the first two books in the series and was fortunate enough to get an ARC of the third, which I wanted to read before the on-sale date of February 11

*E-ARC provided by the publisher through Edelweiss Plus - thank you!*

Intrepid Faerie scholar Emily Wilde is back, and she and Wendell are in his realm where he is ready to take his place as king. But all is not right in the land. His stepmother Queen Arna is poisoned but still alive, and causing diseased areas in the land that are only eradicated by burning whole groves of trees. Can Emily find a Faerie story that will defeat her once and for all?

I have enjoyed this series immensely, from Emily's lovable awkwardness in social situations to the world-building. The journal format can be tricky, but Fawcett does a great job of allowing the story to unfold in a way that Emily would believably record for herself and also allowing the reader to get to know her well. The ending is a satisfying end to the story arc of the first three books, while also leaving the opportunity open for more adventures from Emily and Wendell. Highly recommended.

Happy Friday, Mary!

>153 ursula:, >154 katiekrug: What Ursula and Katie said.

>156 bell7: I read the first on that series last year and really enjoyed it. I was wondering how the other two books held up, so good to know you enjoyed them.

>157 Crazymamie: Thanks, Mamie! I hope you do continue the series and enjoy them just as much.

TGIF!

I didn't have to walk the dogs in the morning, so getting up and just having to get myself fed and ready for work felt like a relaxed morning. I got started on bread dough that I'll bake tomorrow afternoon. Worked 9-5, walked the dogs, then went grocery shopping. And I've definitely hit that "I'm done" wall. But I tell you what, tomorrow future me will be very grateful that the grocery shopping is done and I went when it wasn't so busy (if I wait 'til after 6, it's all cleared out from the people who descend right after work).

Speaking of tomorrow, the only absolute must-do is walking the dogs in the morning. I'm planning on doing it about when I'd normally do it on a work day, and then going to the gym for the first time in about two weeks. Then I'll just spend the rest of the day at home with chores and baking, nothing too onerous. I am looking forward to reading, too, hopefully diving into more of The Count of Monte Cristo. I'm about a fourth of the way in and finding it compelling!

Reading: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill

Listening: finished "Stand!" by Sly and the Family Stone and started "Let It Bleed" by the Rolling Stones

Watching: replays of the Australian Open

Happy weekend, Mary! I thought this most recent season of GBB was so good. It gives me an all's right with the world feeling which I find I need more than ever.

>160 AMQS: GBBS is a reliable go-to for that feeling for me, too, Anne! Glad you enjoyed this season too.

Happy Sunday!

I woke up early this morning, so I watched the final set of the men's final of the Australian Open. Annoyingly, they cut coverage before the trophy presentation, but I also don't care enough to watch it on replay.

Church today, followed by time with my Little, and small group in the evening. I made muffins and baked bread yesterday that I'll bring for our potluck.

Reading: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill

Listening: "Let It Bleed" by the Rolling Stones

Watching: Australian Open finals (congrats to Madison Keys! That as a fun match)

Crafting: making progress on a pair of socks I'm making for myself

>161 bell7: I am experiencing a memory sieve moment...did I already tell you that therokuchannel.com has the first seven series of GBBO, plus the UK-only celebrity and seasonal episodes for those years, free to view? If I did not, take this as your alert. Plus I am happy to say their version of the US show is available for sampling.

Sunday orisons, dear Mary.

>163 richardderus: You did, but somehow the first time I didn't realize I could create a free account online without using the app. Wonderful! I shall get on that. And Sunday orisons for you as well, sir.

A good Monday afternoon to everyone! Because I went out with my Little yesterday afternoon, I missed calling hours for a friend's dad (for those following my notes for awhile, yes, two separate friend's fathers died within a couple of weeks of each other). I took today off as personal time and went to the memorial service this morning. It was a fairly small service, but really nicely done, with a couple of the kids sharing about their dad. I had known him as an older gentleman at my church who would occasionally ask me about my reading and loved debating Scriptural interpretation, would walk/run to softball and had to be convinced in his 80s to let the other guys take over pitching duties. They talked about that, but also how he was as a dad and grandfather, and it was really sweet. The internment was private, so I left after the service and was home by noon, even after making a couple of stops to run some errands.

I started a to-do list on Saturday and updated it today, so I'm whittling away at various chores and tasks at home. The big thing I'm going to do today is turning in the application to get started on the foster care process. One of my errands was stopping at the library to scan the document, and now I just have to email it. And of course because it's the most important thing on my to-do list and the most scary, I'm putting it off and doing other things first, like throwing out the compost and folding towels and writing this post. But I *will* do it this afternoon, within the next hour even.

The only other completely necessary thing to do today is going to my evening yoga class.

Reading: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill

Listening: I had the radio on today as I'm between albums, but one of the things on my list today is borrowing a couple of 1969 albums off Hoopla, since the only ones I have left in that year are most available to me digitally

Watching: well, Australian Open's over, and I didn't really watch more than a few plays of the playoff games last night, though neither of the teams I wanted to won. Not sure if I'll put anything on tonight or not

Crafting: knitting a pair of socks

Hi Mary! Sorry about your friends' dads. I hope your friends heal quickly from their grief!

Do you not always have a to-do list? I can't imagine what I'd do without mine. But I have ADHD and generally forget even daily tasks if they're not on my list.

I wanted to let you know that I finished reading Knife by Rushdie. Thanks for the Christmas Book!

>166 The_Hibernator: Huh. Now that I'm really thinking about it, usually my morning post here on LT essentially functions as my to-do list where I'll run through the major things I need to do in a day. I don't usually put a lot into a work day, but there are only certain days that I can go to the gym or cook, for example. And of course, work, Bible study, and other events go on my calendar. So the home to-do list gets written out on a Saturday and I get to what I get to, usually starting with what's annoying me most that it isn't done. Having today off and most of the afternoon free gave me the extra time to get to the things that usually get pushed on 'til the following weekend.

>167 benitastrnad: Oh good, Benita! I hope it was a good read for you.

The listening report:

"Led Zeppelin II" by Led Zeppelin - I have similar thoughts to this one as I did to the first Led Zeppelin album, though I didn't find any individual songs to add to my playlist. I didn't have any objection to hear it, but I wouldn't go out of my way to, either. I confess that I probably don't know enough about drums to appreciate their brilliance the way critic Brett Schewitz does, though in reading his review I'm reminded and assured that I didn't hear incorrectly that one of the songs includes a ramble about Lord of the Rings. #123 on the list.

"The Velvet Underground" by the Velvet Underground - I was not expecting much of this album, as I viscerally, immediately hated the first two Velvet Underground albums I listened to. I... did not hate this one, which is definitely more commercial/accessible than the first two. I didn't love it either, though, nor did I have a song to add to my playlist. Damning with faint praise, I know. Brett Schewitz has more to say about it. It's #143 on the list.

"Dusty in Memphis" by Dusty Springfield - I'd never heard of Dusty Springfield, but I enjoyed listening to this album. Her voice is really pretty and wouldn't have sounded out of place in the pop music I was listening to in the '90s and early '00s, though certainly the music behind her was different than "my" era. I want to listen through again once more with the lyrics and might add a song or two to my playlist. Brett Schewitz's review places it in her career and mentions that it was a flop, which rather surprised me. #83 on the list.

"Let It Bleed" by the Rolling Stones - I recognized the opening song "Gimme Shelter" because of the background singer. That was Merry Clayton, who was interviewed by Terry Gross for Fresh Air, and she talks near the beginning about that experience. I also knew the final song, "You Can't Always Get What You Want" which, weirdly enough, I was introduced to by House, M.D. In between, I've already kinda forgotten what I thought of the other songs. It was fine, just not entirely to my taste. More from Brett Schewitz. #41 on the list.

I still have "Dusty in Memphis" and "Crosby, Stills & Nash" to listen through once more and see if I have any songs to add to my playlist. The rest of the albums from 1969 are available through Hoopla, so I've borrowed and downloaded two onto my phone and have two more to listen to before moving on to 1970.

Congrats on getting the application submitted, Mary! That's huge.

>169 bell7: Dusty's lesbianism caused a lot of critics to harshen their assessments of her, though that album really wasn't her best. (The Look of Love album, and song, get that nod from me.)

Any, as the saying goes, way...glad you're happily listening along and reading good stuff and retiring the dogsitting gig at last.

*smooch*

>168 bell7:
I have been to Chautauqua twice. I even sang in the choir with Reba (Rebarelishesreading). I have a friend who had a summer house in the area and attended Chautauqua lectures and concerts all summer for 35 years. When "The Incident" happened and I saw the photographs, my first thought was that I had been in that amphitheater!

Here is the review of Knife that I posted on the Nonfiction Challenge page.

This book has gotten lots of attention due to what Rushdie calls The Incident. The Incident was the attempted murder of Rushdie in August of 2022 when Rushdie was asked to speak to the members of the Chautauqua Institute about the dangers artists face due to attacks on the freedom of expression. The introduction to the lecture had just started when Rushdie was attacked and stabbed multiple times. This book is Rushdie's attempt to come to terms with what happened to him and a defense of his personal philosophies about art and the suppression of art.

The great strength of the book is in the final third when Rushdie explains his personal belief system and defends the right of artists (and he believes that writing is an art) to express themselves. This section of the book was downright inspiring and encouraging to readers as well as authors.

This book is not lengthy (225 pages) but it sure packs a punch in the battle in defense of freedom of expression. And - it has amazing cover art. The paratext for this book is outstanding. It is compelling. Even the feel of the book cover begs anybody who picks it up to read it.

>170 curioussquared: Thanks, Natalie!

>171 richardderus: Ah, I will have to look up that album at some point then. I'll add it to the "to listen" note on my phone (which fortunately isn't yet anywhere near as long as the TBR list).

>172 benitastrnad: Oh wow, I didn't realize you've been the place The Incident occurred - I had not, but the general idea that it could and did happen is still pretty terrifying. It was one of my "best books" of 2024, so I'm very glad that it was one that stands out for you as well.

Good morning! I've got another full-to-the-brim day, working 9-5 followed by dog walking. I cooked enough on Saturday and Monday that I have leftovers ready to heat up for dinner, though I would like to cook salmon tonight if only to have it prepped for the rest of the week. Tomorrow will be dog walking in the morning, going to the gym, and working 12-8 where I'll be giving a hands-on workshop on searching Ancestry Library Edition. This is the first time I've made it a Wednesday night time frame, and I had all 15 slots taken. So today at work will be some prep for that, making sure I have enough handouts for everyone and the like.

Reading: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill

Listening: "Loo-Ka Py Py" by The Meters

>174 bell7: THE METERS!! Suddenly it's 1970! I'd forgotten that tune, can't really call it a song, but the bass line lives forever in my head. Great memory. Enjoy the album.

Tomorrow's ancestry class should be very interesting, given it's fully subscribed. I hope it's a banger.

>174 bell7: Nice: "Loo-Ka Py Py" is my second favorite song by The Meters, after "Cissy Strut" from their debut album The Meters:

https://youtu.be/_9o7ZSj6axA?si=n9VEHGSEjjjSgJ6q

>175 richardderus: Yeah, wish me luck again on Ancestry tomorrow, as it was an exceptionally busy day and all I did was make sure I have enough handouts. I'd really love to go over my notes on the presentation (but in all honesty, I've given the presentation enough that I'll be fine either way). I have really enjoyed listening through the album and will be looking up their other albums since no others are on the Rolling Stones list.

>176 kidzdoc: Oh, I like that one, too, Darryl. Thanks for sharing!

I am sorry to read about your furnace packing it in on you. I'm glad you were able to get it fixed fairly quickly and I hope the bill was not too bad. I'm sorry to hear about your friends dads. I was quite sad to hear of the passing of a good friend's grandson passing away of a drug overdose about 10 days ago. He was in first year university and seemed to have a promising and happy future. I knew his dad from when my eldest was about 6 months old , and they are both now 40. I don't know why some young people experiment with drugs. Such a tragedy for all involved.

>178 vancouverdeb: I am very glad for the fix - still waiting to hear what the bill is and crossing my fingers it's not too onerous. Definitely not as bad as replacing the boiler is what I keep telling myself.

So sorry about your friend's grandson. Death from OD's seem particularly tragic in their suddenness and the way our brains tend to second guess what might have been in situations like that. As unexpected as one of the two recent deaths was (the other had been on home dialysis for some time), they were both long-lived gentlemen who had lived to see kids and grandkids grow up.

It's hump day! The dogs are walked and I am fed. Slight change in plans, as instead of going to the gym, I'm walking with a friend shortly. I'll then work 12-8, need to finish the desk schedule and give the Ancestry Library Edition training. I always get nervous before we start, but it's a bunch of fun. I give a short 15-20 minute presentation showing some basic searches in the database using my own family tree, and then we spend the bulk of the time in the library proper where everyone searches for their own families and I just help them along.

Reading: finished The Crane Husband last night, continuing with The Count of Monte Cristo, and pondering what might be my next title.

Listening: "The Stooges" by The Stooges will be my next listen

You have a full day today and all I have done is unpack one wardrobe box and sort and put away the clothes it contained. Now I am going to start on making a nice soup for supper because I had the last of my leftovers for lunch.

Happy Wednesday, Mary. Funny, you are listening to so many of my favorite albums for that era including Dusty Springfield, Velvet Underground and Let it Bleed. I am so impressed that you are doing this, regardless how each one lands. The Stooges were very edgy, kind of pre-punk.

>181 benitastrnad: I love soup season! Hope it was a good one. I haven't had a chance to cook and finally put the salmon in the freezer, but I want to make a potato and leek soup this weekend.

>182 msf59: Ah that's great, Mark. I enjoy the education regardless of my immediate reaction to the albums, and I've found some artists I definitely want to keep listening to, which is great.

Happy Thursday! I'm taking a quick pause to post before I layer up to walk the dogs. After that, I work 'til 5 and have Bible study.

Ancestry went well yesterday. A couple of people brought their own computers so we had just enough for everyone. A few people needed regular help, and several were happy looking on their own and seemed to be doing fine. I had enough people on the wait list that I could do it again with just the second bunch. The next Wednesday I could even fit it in would be April, but I might schedule it and contact them all to give them first dibs.

Reading: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and A Broken Blade by Marissa Blair

Listening: "The Stooges" by The Stooges and starting "The Gilded Palace of Sin" by The Flying Burrito Brothers

>184 bell7: How cool about the Ancestry evening! I'll bet the second one gets oversubscribed, too, since we're all interested in who we are.

Stay warm!

>183 bell7:
The soup was a Squash soup, and it turned out to be very good. I have invited my sister over for supper tonight. If she isn't too tired from work, it should be a warm and filling supper for us. I unpacked one small box of kitchen stuff this morning, and have a neighbor coming over this afternoon to help me move some of the big wardrobe boxes so I can get things out of them. Tomorrow should be a big unpacking day.

>185 richardderus: Believe it or not, I've been doing this program for over 10 years so to still get a response like this is mind-boggling. I'll be giving more of a lecture on a bunch of the resources the library has for genealogy research in March, which will be a first-time presentation for me, so wish me luck!

>186 benitastrnad: I hope supper with your sister was good and that you get what you'd like to accomplished over the weekend, Benita.

Good morning, all! I am working 9-5 and dog walking this evening, followed by a run to the grocery store (for at least breakfast items and one meal, if not a full grocery shopping). Tomorrow is dog walking, recycling run, gym, and time with my older Little in the afternoon, and I'll bake bread over the weekend, too.

One of my non-reading goals for 2025 was to write up a dozen narratives about my family history. So far I've done two, a full life story of a great-grandmother, and the story of my great-uncle's World War 2 service. I'm calling each a draft, because in writing them up I'm starting to realize that there are still parts of the story I don't know. For my uncle, in particular, I realized that though I had copies of the documents and medals from my cousin, I hadn't really investigated what his service was and where he would have seen combat. He was a part of the First Special Service Force, which was a joint Canadian and United States group, and was injured on Christmas Day, 1943 when they were fighting in the Apennine Mountains outside of Ceppagna, Italy. I now have a couple of books about the First Special Service Force out from the library, so if you see those listed on "books reading" anytime soon, you know why! Always more to find out... this is part of the fascination for me.

Reading: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, The Broken Blade by Marissa Blair, and Power to Yield and Other Stories by Bogi Takacs

Listening: "The Stooges" by The Stooges and "The Gilded Palace of Sin" by The Flying Burrito Brothers

>187 bell7: People LOVE to talk about themselves, so it doesn't surprise me at all...ancestry is totally part of one's self-image.

Good Friday before Candlemas/Imbolc, Mary!

>188 bell7: What a great idea! I’d love to do that, but, for some reason, I don’t really know much about my recent ancestors, including my dad and an uncle who both fought in WWII and were alive when I was. My dad refused to talk about the war, and my uncle—well, I was a teen when he died, and I did not talk much to him when I saw him. He had been injured in the war (he lost the use of his legs), was an alcoholic and a little weird, and he kind of scared me in a nebulous sort of way.

Hope you have a good Friday and a relaxing, productive, and fun weekend!

>189 richardderus: This is very true! Genealogy is a topic of perpetual interest, for sure. When I was holding it on Thursday nights, however, I tended to get in the 9-12 range, so having a waitlist this large was a new and different experience.

>190 Storeetllr: If you ever decide you want to look into it, I recommend starting by reaching out to your local veterans service agency/representative, if your town or city has one, to see if you can get a DD-214. You can also request it through NARA, though in this case my cousin still had his original paperwork, so I was working from those documents. This would be discharge papers and give info about military enlistment, training, and broadly where he served. My great-uncle was an alcoholic, too, though I remember him as kind enough, if old. My dad says he only talked about the war when he got drunk, and there were only a few stories he ever told.

>152 bell7: So happy to hear that things went well! They are just stupid if they do not sign you up immediately to be a foster parent. I think you would be aces at it.

>156 bell7: I still need to get to the first book in the series! Thanks for the reminder, Mary.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, possible cousin-of-mine :)

>192 alcottacre: Aw, thanks, Stasia, that's kind of you to say!

I hope you enjoy Emily Wilde when you get to the series, and have a great weekend, maybe-cousin :D

7. The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill
Why now? It fit the January TIOLI challenge to read a short book, and has been an e-ARC on my Kindle for awhile now

*E-ARC made available by the publisher through Edelweiss Plus - thank you!*

The narrator recounts what happened when she was fifteen and her brother six, when her artist mother brought home a crane and told them to call him "Father." The girl has always had to be her brother's protector and essentially parent him, but now there's even more challenges. The crane is mean, leaving scratching and bruises on her mother; and her mother, never a great parent at the best of times becomes ever more distant and is not selling art to provide for the family any longer.

This was not pleasant reading by any means. Ostensibly, it's a retelling of "The Crane Wife," but I couldn't for the life of me figure out why the author decided to make the crane the husband instead. It doesn't really shift the meaning of the original, as far as I could tell, and maybe even makes it worse because the woman not only gives of herself, she's abused. The daughter is hard-pressed to change their circumstances, and the ending was as dark as any original fairy tale. Barnhill does, however, have writing chops and she's able to convey a story and atmosphere in a novella. 3 stars.

January in review
7. The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill
6. Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett
5. The Forbidden Book by Sacha Lamb
4. South to America by Imani Perry
3. Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky
2. Terec and the Wall by Victoria Goddard
1. Serving Herself: the Life and Times of Althea Gibson by Ashley Brown

Books read: 7
Did not finish: 0
Rereads: 0
Children's/Teen/Adult: 0/1/6
Fiction/Nonfiction/Plays/Poetry: 5/2/0/0

Because I want to awards:
Fine biography about someone who should be better known - Serving Herself: the Life and Times of Althea Gibson
Book you'll demand your friends read so you can talk about it - Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Satisfying end to the story arc - Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett

YTD stats -
Pages read: 1,972
Avg pages a day: 63
Books by POC authors: 2 (28.6%)
In translation: 0 (0%)
Indigenous authors: 0 (0%)
Countries of origin: US - 4 (57%); Canada - 2 (28%); UK - 1 (14%)
DNF: 0

Thoughts: Well, my first thought is that The Count of Monte Cristo is throwing off my total number of pages, as I've read nearly 700 pages of that, so I'm not reading as little as it looks. Certainly, though, the dog walking responsibilities are having an impact on my reading time. I'm doing well to start out since I only need one book to tip the balance of US authors to 50%, and all three of the books I'm currently reading are by authors from outside of the U.S. I had meant to read The Rediscovery of America early in the year to kick of my indigenous reading, but that will have to wait for a bit yet. I am currently reading The Broken Blade, which is by an indigenous author from Canada. So I'm keeping a good pace with both of my reading goals.

The books I've read to start off the year have been enjoyable, have included long books and short ones, and are a good genre mix. I'm also pleased I read two ARCs off my Kindle. It's not an official goal for the year, but after hovering around 44-45 unreviewed ARCs on Edelweiss and another 14 on Net Galley for most of 2024, I'd really like to get those numbers down to under 40 total. On to February, where I'll most likely have a very long book to report on!

>195 bell7: I'm not reading as little as it looks. LOL. You've finished 7 books this month, while also reading The Count of Monte Cristo. That looks like a lot to me!

I've got The Rediscovery of America on my wishlist. I will look forward to finding out how you like it.

It sounds like you had a great class with Ancestry. And lots of demand. It's kind of surprising that the demand was so much greater on a Wednesday than Thursday.

Delighted to hear it was a good week and that your turnout for your Ancestry program was so good. 7 books and being more than halfway through Count of Monte Cristo is very impressive!

Hello, Mary! The Rediscovery of America looks good - adding it to The List.

>194 bell7: Taking a pass on this - great review, though.

>197 MickyFine: What Micky said.

>196 atozgrl: I'll keep you posted on The Rediscovery of America - I'll probably read it as my next "big book" after I've complete Monte Cristo.

>197 MickyFine: Thanks, Micky, we did have a good time with the Ancestry program. I'll do it again in May (the first time I could get a free Wednesday night). I usually average more like 100 pages a day, which I didn't do in January, but if you add the 700 pages from Monte Cristo it's more like 83. So a little under my typical numbers, but not a slump by any means.

>198 Crazymamie: I got The Rediscovery of America at the National Book Festival last year. Though I didn't hear his talk, I thought it sounded fascinating and I already knew I wanted to read with a focus on indigenous literature this year. Thanks re: the review. It took me a bit of cogitating on the story to be able to write it.

----

And I'll clarify my comments about my January reading a bit here for y'all. I didn't mean to sound like I was down on myself for reading less than usual. It's a little lower than my typical numbers. To expand on that:

Last January, I read 12 books with a total of 3,752 pages.
This year, I read 7 books with a total of 2,672 if you count the 700 pages from Monte Cristo The YTD as I typed it doesn't count those pages because of the way I enter my page number count in my spreadsheet (if I put certain things in before I've finished a book, it screws up the percentages), so it's only at 1,972.
I typically average about 100 pages a day. Because I haven't entered those Monte Cristo number pages, it looks like it's just an average of 63 pages a day. It's more like 83 with them counted.

I was trying to say that it looks like I lot less than I typically read, it's only a little less. Also, the fact that I read a couple of dense books (the classic and two nonfiction titles) impact that as well. So hardly a slump!

>195 bell7: Looks like a great summary to me!

>199 bell7: Glad that you are not in a slump :)

Have a super Sunday, Mary!

Happy weekend!

Today was a busy one. I made bread dough, walked the dogs, then went to drop off my recycling only to discover it wasn't today (it's typically the first Saturday of the month). I came home, made potato and leek soup and had an early lunch, then picked up my older Little and hung out at my place with her for a few hours. She hadn't had lunch so we made taco soup and homemade granola, and played a few UNO games in between. I brought her back home, had leftover taco soup for my dinner, and have been reading and listening to music for the evening.

Tomorrow I get a day off from dogsitting. I have toddler nursery and am hoping to get to the gym afterwards, baking the bread, and going to my small group. Believe it or not, that's a day with some wiggle room and relaxation in it.

Reading has been good. I'm just about halfway in The Count of Monte Cristo and enjoying it immensely. I've read a few stories now in Power to Yield and Other Stories by Bogi Takacs and am really enjoying the various perspectives employed in these speculative tales. In contrast I haven't gotten very far in A Broken Blade by Melissa Blair. I've read a chapter each night before falling asleep and am starting chapter 4 tonight.

>200 alcottacre: Thanks on all counts, Stasia! Hope you have a great day off technology tomorrow.

>195 bell7: You've got a "plus two" on the Monte Cristo summitting, Mary. 1200pp is three 400s.

The ARCs build up, don't they. Like, wowsers. Some People do not make it any easier to reduce the census by sharing paper incitements to bibliosin. *glower*

>203 richardderus: Yeah, it's one of the reasons I never have a number of books as a reading goal. I track and compare the numbers, but I don't really fidget over them too much... I will be a little sad when I can't make 100 books a year, though.

The ARCs do build up, and I'll go whole months without downloading or requesting anything to try to catch up only to find out about a bunch of good ones coming out, and oh look, I can get them! I am down to 41 not-reviewed books on Edelweiss for the first time in AGES. And enjoy the BookPages *smooch*

Sharing this with all and sundry because reading critically is more important than ever: How to Critically Read a Press Release from the Federal Government (about the press release from the Department of Education addressing the book ban "hoax"). By the way, I *highly* recommend following Kelly Jensen's reporting on BookRiot. She's been following book banning since its uptick in 2020 and does not pull punches about what she's seeing on the frontlines.

Happy Monday! I walked the dogs this morning and was a little late to work, so I'll work a little late today to make up for it before walking with a friend and going to my yoga class.

Reading: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (page 842 out of 1462), Power to Yield and Other Stories by Bogi Takacs, and A Broken Blade by Melissa Blair

Listening: radio today, I should get back to my Rolling Stones listening as I'm not quite done with either of the albums I was most recently listening to

>205 bell7: Thanks for the link to the article, Mary. You’re so right—it is vitally important.

>205 bell7: Thanks for sharing. Indeed, an important and useful article

>205 bell7: She's also on BlueSky under her own name if that's easier. @heykellyjensen.bsky.social takes you right to her.

>206 Storeetllr: and >207 figsfromthistle: You're welcome! I know she gets a bit sarcastic in her breakdown, but can you blame her after people in power blatantly say "but removing books from libraries isn't banning"? Ugh.

>208 richardderus: Thanks for that, Richard! I'm not on BlueSky myself, but for anyone who is, I do encourage following her. (I am just about off all social media, Instagram is holding on by a thread.)

Happy Tuesday! I'm working 9-5 then dog walking today. I feel like I'm starting to come down with a cold, not just the winter morning clear out, so I might mask up today and consider leaving early after I finish the desk schedule and any other absolutely necessary tasks. There are enough nasty bugs out there without my bringing more to my co-workers.

Reading/Listening/etc. all the same as last reported

Update: I called out entirely. The desk schedule is for the week after next and out can wait while I get well. There are some things (not strenuous) that I may try to do at home, but I will take my leisurely time and drink lots of tea.

Time for a new thread!