Kidzdoc Takes a New Approach in 2025, Part 3

My reading slowed down over the past few weeks, but I hope to pick up the pace starting this month.

These are the books I've chosen to read preferentially this year, save for the books that fit the Levant region theme:

James Baldwin: Collected Essays by James Baldwin
Black Paper: Writing in a Dark Time by Teju Cole
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.
Collected Essays & Memoirs by Albert Murray
     The Omni-Americans ✅️
     South to a Very Old Place ✅️
The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson
Creating a New Racial Order: How Immigration, Genomics and the Young Can Remake Race in America by Jennifer Hochschild, Vesla Weaver, & Traci Burch
Flood of Fire by Amitav Ghosh
Haiti After the Earthquake by Paul Farmer
Latinx: The New Force in American Politics and Culture by Ed Morales
Life Embitters by Josep Pla
Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by Simone de Beauvoir
The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel
My Struggle, Book 5 by Karl Ove Knausgaard
The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture by Gabor Maté*
Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder
Pessoa: A Biography by Richard Zenith
Preventing the Next Pandemic: Vaccine Diplomacy in a Time of Anti-science by Peter J. Hotez, MD, PhD
Self-Care for Black Men: 100 Ways to Heal and Liberate by Jor-El Caraballo
Signs for Lost Children by Sarah Moss
Someone Like Us by Dinaw Mengestu
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
Tremor by Teju Cole
W.E.B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race, 1868-1919 by David Levering Lewis

I will lead the 2nd quarter Reading Globally theme in the Club Read group, which will focus on countries in the Levant region, namely Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria; a link to the thread can be found here. I'll list books I read from this region below.

Children of the Ghetto: My Name Is Adam by Elias Khoury (Lebanon)
Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza by Mosab Abu Toha (Palestine)
Leo Africanus by Amin Maalouf (Lebanon)

Currently reading:

  

Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah
Yet Here I Am: Lessons from a Black Man's Search for Home by Jonathan Capeheart

January:
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
Children of the Ghetto: My Name Is Adam by Elias Khoury
People from Oetimu by Felix Nesi
Beyond Every Wall: Becoming the 1st Black Female Transplant Surgeon by Velma P. Scantlebury M.D.

February:
Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza by Mosab Abu Toha
The Omni-Americans by Albert Murray
New Prize for These Eyes: The Rise of America's Second Civil Rights Movement by Juan Williams

March:
South to a Very Old Place by Albert Murray

April:
Leo Africanus by Amin Maalouf

May:
Harsh Times by Mario Vargas Llosa
The Harmattan Winds by Sylvain Trudeau

June:
The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna. Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson

July:
The Living and the Rest by José Eduardo Agualusa

This week's earworm is "Too Much Sake," taken from the album The Tokyo Blues by the Horace Silver Quintet, which was recorded on July 13-14, 1962. In addition to Silver on piano the album also features Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Junior Cook on tenor saxophone, Eugene Taylor on bass, and Joe Harris on drums.

https://youtu.be/rsdzGWs_1Ro?si=AzLhnf1YNz-QAg4T

Happy New Thread!

>5 tangledthread: Thanks, tangledthread!

>4 kidzdoc:
Now that is a very interesting album cover. I sense there is an interesting personal story behind your choice of music for this week?

>7 benitastrnad: No, Benita, not at all. I would guess that the album photo was taken during a tour of the Horace Silver Quintet in Japan, as many Japanese were huge jazz fans in the 1950s and 1960s and American bands often toured there; Haruki Murakami, another jazz aficionado, often mentions jazz artists and albums in his novels. Likewise there is no hidden message behind my choice of this song; it's just one that I happen to love.

ETA: I looked up Horace Silver's page on Wikipedia, which mentioned that this album was influenced by his quintet's tour of Japan in early 1962.

Happy new thread, and Happy Spring to you, Darryl!

>9 Sakerfalcon: Thanks, Claire! I have multiple environmental allergies (skin testing by my allergist/immunologist last year showed that I'm most allergic to cat dander (which was no surprise whatsoever), followed by trees, grasses, mold, and, to my surprise, dogs), along with moderate persistent asthma, so I'm taking a steroid nasal spray and an anti-inflammatory tablet every morning plus an oral antihistamine at night for my allergies, and an inhaled steroid combined with a long acting bronchodilator twice a day for asthma, as I'm much more symptomatic at the beginning weeks of spring. Dr Gordon advised me to start this regimen on March 1, to get these medications on board ahead of allergy sesson, and she was definitely right. These medications are definitely helping me this spring, although I'm not completely free of symptoms.

Happy new thread, Darryl, and happy belated birthday! I hope you can wrangle your allergies under control. I get 'em midsummer, not too badly, but they came on when I was an adult and I've never quite gotten a handle on them.

>11 lisapeet: Thanks, Lisa! My allergies, and asthma, are under much better control now that I'm being followed by a top notch allergist/immunologist. I would suggest seeing one if you can.

Hi Darryl. Catching up. Going back to your previous thread, your review of South to a Very Old Place by Albert Murray was fantastic and fascinating. Also your review of New Prize for These Eyes was excellent. Thanks for both. Hope you’re well

Happy new thread Darryl!!



I just saw Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza by Mosab Abu Toha on Ursula's thread. What an intriguing title.

And I feel you on the spring allergy front. Mine are mostly under control thus far, so happiness! In addition to pollens, when I was a kid, I couldn't have breast milk or cow's milk. I had to have goat's milk. Later, I was skin tested for allergies and I reacted to 90 out of 100 (cats and dogs among them). No joke! I was on a rotation diet for food and couldn't even have leftovers or I'd get triggered. My mom was a saint. And she made allergy shots fun--we always got bagels afterwards.

Stay sniffle free! And happy reading. : )

>13 dchaikin: Thanks, Dan; I'm glad that you liked my reviews.

>14 Berly: Thanks, Kim. Wow, you reacted to 90 out of 100 allergens?! That must have been tough, on you and especially your mother. Since you had bagels after allergy shots I assume that you weren't allergic to bread flour!

I'm not sure how many allergens I was tested for but I'll bet that it was at least 50; by the time the last ones were done they were becoming increasingly painful and uncomfortable. I filled out an online form in advance with my appointment with a Sleep Medicine advanced practice nurse tomorrow (I have moderate obstructive sleep apnea and use a CPAP machine at night), which confirmed my recollection that I'm allergic to cat dander, dog dander, mold, tree pollens, and ragweed pollens; I've never had food allergies. My symptoms now are limited to a build up of thin mucus in the back of my throat, which I assume is coming from mucus producing cells in my posterior pharynx since my nasal airway and lungs are clear, a cough to clear that mucus, and a somewhat raspy voice. Needless to say I can live with these minor symptoms compared to what other people with allergies or asthma have to go through; I have never had allergy shots, and neither my allergist/immunologist nor I feel that they are necessary at this time.

>15 kidzdoc: Yes, the wheat was fine, as long as I didn't have any in the next meal!! LOL. Luckily, I have outgrown most of the allergies. The ones I am left with are the 911 fish and nuts and a few milder ones which I can (mostly deal with) including the pet allergies. What drives me nuts are when food products list ingredients as "this/or this/ or maybe this" and I am allergic to one of them. Hard pass. My asthma is mainly exercise induced or when I have a severe food reaction. And I no longer do allergy shots -- thank goodness!

D--Hope you continue to have a successful allergy-free-ish spring!! : )

>16 Berly: That must be frustrating, Kim. I'm similar to a child in that my worst asthma exacerbations are due to upper respiratory tract infections such as RSV, although the one I had last year was due to a lower respiratory tract infection, bronchopneumonia, which is worse than bronchitis but not as bad as pneumonia. After the antibiotic started to work my asthma progressively improved.

I'm not certain, but this may be the best early spring I've had in regards to my allergies, and I give full credit to the regimen my allergist/immunologist has me on and her advice to start taking fluticasone nasal spray in the morning and a cetirizine tablet at night on March 1, instead of waiting until I become symptomatic as I usually did.

Yup. I take both of those meds too. ; ) And stay with that allergist for sure. We've got this!!

Happy New Thread! I love the way you have organised your reading and posts, and the cheerful pictures of children reading are always nice to see. Looking forward to your comments on the very interesting books you've chosen, and hope you're feeling well!

>18 Berly: Definitely, Kim!

>19 rasdhar: Thanks, Rasdhar! I'm enjoying Leo Africanus so far.

Happy New Thread, Darryl. I'm finally catching up with you. I love Horace Silver, of course. A recent album of his I recently purchased in LP format is



It features Art Farmer, Clifford Jordan and Louis Hayes.

It's down in the 30s in NYC this morning, with a considerable wind chill factor added in. With luck we'll get some actual spring soon. I'm almost done with the section of Postwar I'm reading now (3rd of four) and then it's on to James. I'll let you know how well I enjoy it. (I've no doubt the answer will be, "A lot!")

>21 rocketjk: Thanks, Jerry. I own and enjoy the "Further Explorations" CD, and I especially like "The Outlaw" and "Melancholy Mood."

It was in the low 30s here as well, but at least it isn't as windy as it was yesterday. It looks as though it will be at least a couple of weeks before we get back to the 70s again.

I look forward to your final review of Postwar.

This week's earworm is an absolute kick ass version of Billy Strayhorn's composition "Johnny Come Lately," as performed by the equally kick ass Cecil Taylor Quartet, which was performed live during the Newport Jazz Festival in early July 1957. The LP from this recording was released the following year as a combination of the separate live performances of the Donald Byrd/Gigi Gryce Jazz Lab (Byrd and Gryce appear on the album cover) and the Cecil Taylor Quartet. Cecil performs on piano, alongside Steve Lacy on soprano sax, Buell Neidlinger on bass, and Denis Charles on drums. This version automatically puts me in a good mood no matter how I'm feeling and makes me want to dance!

https://youtu.be/kqnM3m4jTi4?si=smxZuG0coykt90KD

Mario Vargas Llosa, the great Peruvian novelist and winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature, died in Lima yesterday. He was my favorite living novelist, and I particularly loved The Feast of the Goat, Conversations in the Cathedral, The War of the End of the World, The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta, and Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter,

Mario Vargas Llosa, giant of Latin American literature, dies aged 89

>24 kidzdoc: I saw that this morning as well, Darryl. I will try to read another of his novels this year. So far I have only read Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter. I own several, however, thanks to you and rebeccanyc.

>24 kidzdoc: Thanks for this - one of my favourite authors too, last read in November / '24. That was The Time of the Hero, his first novel, and mentioned in the article.
I think my favourite of the ones I've read to date is The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta.

I haven't read a single book by Mario Vargas Llosa but have several of his novels on my TBR list. I heard the story and tribute this morning on NPR and was sorry about his death. I was surprised to learn that he ran for president of Peru and lost to Fujimori.

>25 labfs39: The great thing about MVL is that he was a prolific writer; according to my LibraryThing account I've "only" read 11 of the 28 books in my library. I saw that his novel Harsh Times, a fictionalized account of the 1954 coup d'etat in Guatemala that was engineered by President Eisenhower to support the United Fruit Company after President Jacobo Árbenz instituted land reform measures, is sitting amongst the unread books in our living room, a book that's right up my alley, so I'll make room for it very soon.

I also loved The Time of the Hero, MVL's début novel.

I'm all but certain that deebee1, rebeccanyc, or both recommended MVL to me.

>26 SassyLassy: You're welcome, Sassy. My favorite genre is historical fiction, and for my money no one did it better than Vargas Llosa. I "only" gave 4½ stars to The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta; The Feast of the Goat, Conversation in the Cathedral, and The War of the End of the World were 5 star books for me.

>27 benitastrnad: I'll listen to that NPR story about MVL shortly; thanks for mentioning it, Benita. It appears that The New York Times will have at least two articles about him in tomorrow's edition, which I'll read when the paper comes to our house tomorrow. I'm especially interested to understand what led him to support neoliberal and right wing politicians such as Jair Bolsonaro after being a proponent of the left wing as a young man. I looked at the NYT review of Harsh Times, which included this paragraph:

Like many Latin American intellectuals, Vargas Llosa began his career sympathetic to the aims and ideals of the revolutionary left, but by the 1980s he had become a champion of free markets and political liberalism, standing as a center-right presidential candidate in the Peruvian presidential election of 1990. More recently, his rightward drift has become more pronounced, and in 2014 he joined the Mont Pelerin Society, the organization founded by Friedyrich Hayek in 1947 that has become famous as the incubator of the political philosophy known as neoliberalism. Naturally, Vargas Llosa’s interpretation of the turbulent politics of the early Cold War is informed by his own politics. In an interview with El País, given on the occasion of the publication of “Harsh Times,” he identified the C.I.A.-sponsored coup against Árbenz as the moment that persuaded many young Latin Americans that the United States would never allow genuine democratic change, and that communism was the only possible route to liberation, paving the way for the decades of hemispheric guerrilla conflicts that followed. His anger at the Americans for crushing the liberal democratic aspirations of his generation is tempered by his anti-communism, and his conviction that open markets are a precondition for other kinds of freedom. The result is a book with few heroes and many villains, pulled on by a pervasive undercurrent of despair.

A sad reminder I need to read more Llosa. I have only read his The Way to Paradise so far. I loved his writing, and half the book, but found it a frustrating read because I hated Gauguin's actions and attitudes so much it made those sections quite difficult to read. I've got The Dream of the Celt and The Feast of the Goat on deck though.

>29 mabith: I own but haven't yet read The Way to Paradise or The Dream of the Celt, but The Feast of the Goat is absolutely top notch. MVL did receive widespread recognition in the Spanish speaking world, and hopefully his passing will inspire more English speaking readers to explore his works, especially since practically all of his novels have been translated into English. He continued to write until nearly the end of his life, as what was apparently his latest novel Le dedico mi silencio (I Dedicate My Silence to You) was written in 2023.

If I had two books to recommend to readers new to MVL they would be The Time of the Hero, his début novel, and Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, a deliciously funny and largely autobiographical work.

ETA: I just read several articles in El País, Madrid's daily newspaper which is the equivalent of The New York Times. Vargas Llosa was diagnosed with an incurable illness in 2020, and he told his readers that Le dedico mi silencio would be his last work. He wrote columns for El País for many years, and hopefully someone will collect and publish some or all of them.

My reading has slowed down over the past week or two, due to Real Life responsibilities. However, I'm still thoroughly enjoying Leo Africanus by Amin Maalouf, and hopefully I'll finish it by this weekend.

I picked up a novel by an Israeli author for the Levant region Reading Globally theme from my local library this morning, The Wolf Hunt by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, and its description sounds especially interesting:

Lilach has it all: a beautiful home in the heart of Silicon Valley, a successful husband and stable marriage, and a teenage son, Adam, with whom she has always felt a particular closeness. Israeli immigrants, the family has now lived in the U.S. long enough that they consider it home. But after a brutal attack on a local synagogue shakes their sense of safety, Adam enrolls in a self-defense class taught by a former Israeli Special Forces officer. There, for the first time, he finds a sense of confidence and belonging.

Then, tragedy strikes again when an African American boy dies at a house party, apparently from a drug overdose. Though he was a high school classmate, Adam claims not to know him. Yet rumors begin to circulate that the death was not accidental, and that Adam and his new friends had a history with Jamal. As more details surface and racial tensions in the community are ignited, Lilach begins to question everything she thought she knew about her son. Could her worst fears be possible? Could her quiet, reclusive child have had something to do with Jamal’s death?

I'll plan to start reading it after I finish Leo Africanus, which is a fictionalized account of the life of the 16th century Moorish author and traveler, whose book Description of Africa (1550) was the first written exploration of Maghreb (North Africa) and the Nile Valley.

This week's earworm came from a composition I heard on Temple University's HD2 ratio station as I was driving this morning, Aisha by John Coltrane, which comes from his album Olé Coltrane, recorded on May 25, 1961. In addition to Trane on tenor sax the album also features Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, the inimitable Eric Dolphy on alto sax, McCoy Tyner on piano, Reggie Workman on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tr72UkaBdtk&pp=ygUTYWlzaGEgam9obiBjb2x0cmFuZQ%...

My reading has been much slower this year than last, and I am fairly sure that I will NOT reach 75 books this year. Like you, real life has intervened with my retirement plans. I had dreams of sitting around and spending a great deal of time reading, but instead I have found myself with a part time job and a regular gig as the church pianist. I am also ringing bells in the local bell choir and that is also taking some time. Plus I am doing even more cooking than I did in the past for many things. On Saturday the town is having an Easter Egg hunt and a Bake Sale as a fund raiser, so I am going to try to get a lemon bundt cake baked to contribute to that. Today I got the homemade granola baked for the Easter Sunrise breakfast at church, so that is at least out of the way. I am really having to put time management skills into play, and I am getting older so I do get tired easier. All of that leaves me less time to read than I thought I would have.

I am enjoying your listening notes. I love hearing what you have to say about the jazz music you are listening to. Please keep that up. It helps expose me to more music I don't know much about.

>33 benitastrnad: We all have plans for retirement because we all forget what retirement is all about—freeing up enough time to make all our medical appointments! :-)

>33 benitastrnad: Neither will I, Benita. I was first invited to join the 75 Books group by a small number of friends who were the first ones I had when I joined LibraryThing, and because of my work schedule as a hospitalist—I worked roughly half of the days of each month, not counting vacation time—I had plenty of time to read, and I could easily finish 100 or more books in a year. One thing I did notice though is that I was eschewing larger books in exchange for shorter ones far too often, which led to me being less than fully satisfied with my reading, as I looked at my library shelves and regretted not reading some of the tomes there, such as The Mandarins by Simone de Beauvoir and Pessoa: A Biography by Richard Zenith.

It seems that you're fully integrated into your old home town, or nearly so, which I assume is a good thing; unfortunately I can't say the same. My cooking has completely gone by the wayside, as I haven't made anything other than omelettes since New Year's Day, partly because I've been using high protein meal replacement products from the hospital based weight loss center I've been going to for the past 18 months or so. I've been within an ideal weight range for at least the past two months, so my nutritionist and I decided it was time for me to stop relying on those products, and start making my own meals again. I'll continue to weigh myself every day, count protein, carbs and fat daily, and make adjustments as needed to stay within my normal weight range.

I'm glad that you're enjoying my weekly jazz selections. I was going to post a relatively new—21st century!—composition by a guitarist who unfortunately died last year, but Coltrane's "Aisha" really caught my ear yesterday, as I hadn't heard it in several years. I recently discovered WRTI HD2 on my car radio, and since my mothe is also a huge jazz fan I always listen to it whenever I'm driving.

>34 TadAD: Right?! 😂 The number of physicians and other health care professionals I see has exploded in the past three years, along with the prescription medications I take. Other than unfortunate younger people with chronic illnesses I think the first sign that you're old AF is that you need a pillbox to keep your meds in order.

>34 TadAD: Well put. And there I was dreaming of extended stays in Italy, India and Timor Leste, not knowing that my leisure and savings would be spent on medical matters .

>31 kidzdoc: Looking forward to your review of Leo Africanus. I have a copy sitting on my shelves.

Just waving Darryl, behind on threads as usual.

>37 Oberon: I finished Leo Africanus this morning, Erik. I'll write a review of it later today or tomorrow, but for the moment I'll give it a solid 4 stars.

Next up is Harsh Times by Mario Vargas Llosa, which is set in Guatemala City in advance of the United States sponsored coup d'état in the 1950s and overthrow of the country's democratically elected president, which ultimately led to a decades long bloody civil war that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.

>38 Caroline_McElwee: Hi, Caroline!

>30 kidzdoc:

Considering the causes Vargas Llosa championed and the sort of opinions he was trumpeting since the 1970s (at least), one might regret he hadn't thought of silence rather earlier. Given that he spent most of his life on the right wing, I think it's a bit of unnecessary mystification to ponder some great change of heart.

He had some journalism collected in La civilización del espectáculo. Imo the articles collected speak eloquently enough to his makeup and (d)evolution. The tune is by now well known and worn: once upon a time, when white men ruled, the culture was High and civilization flourished. Ever since anyone who is not a white man got a voice, things have been going downhill. The culture is Low, civilization is in retreat, the end is nigh. At any rate, it highly disgusted a patriarchal (wannabe) macho like Vargas Llosa, who -- in his own words -- "refused to read anything by postmodernists and feminists".

And there you have it: personal social, sexual, racial insecurities being allayed by right wing, even fascistic tendencies, the logical destination of liberalism.

>40 LolaWalser: Thanks, Lola. It doesn't seem as though La civilización del espectáculo has been translated into English yet, but I'll look out for it. I would also be interested in reading a critical biography or essays about him.

>35 kidzdoc: Happy that you can get back to cooking for yourself again! Track that weight and enjoy!

LOL to "I think the first sign that you're old AF is that you need a pillbox to keep your meds in order."!! At least I don't have an AM and PM box...yet...!

>42 kidzdoc: Really glad you enjoyed this one so much. Nice review. Wishing you more happy reading.

>43 Berly: Thanks, Kim. I'm still not inspired enough to cook, though.

I'm now taking 11 prescription medications daily, nine of which are pills or capsules, along with an albuterol inhaler as needed and several vitamins and supplements, so I need a morning and evening pillbox; I only take one midday pill, though. I also have a Google Docs file which contains my current medications and names and phone numbers for all of the medical professionals I see, which I can refer to or show to a nurse, doctor or anyone else who needs to know what I'm taking. I got this idea from certain parents of kids with chronic illnesses who I was admitting to the hospital; they would show me this list, which made it easy to enter their medications into their admission orders.

I haven't been inspired to do much reading lately, so hopefully reading a book by one of my favorite authors, Harsh Times by Mario Vargas Llosa, will help.

>44 kidzdoc: I only take 6 pills a day, so I'm way behind you, but I also keep lists of medications/doctors. However, I keep it in two forms: a document that can be printed and an app on my phone (that stores the data locally so I don't need the internet). The latter means I always have it with me, plus it adds the "reminder" feature.

Actually, I've now got a third way since one of the countries I'm traveling to requires a letter on doctor's stationery listing the medications, dosages, and reasons for the prescription to get through immigration. So, I have a piece of paper.

>45 TadAD: My Google Docs file can be printed on a computer, displayed on my mobile phone, or, as I found out last month on a visit to my new optometrist, shared as a text message attachment which can then be printed by the recipient. I would assume that I would need an Internet connection to access my file, though, so printing it out and/or storing it via another method of my mobile phone would make sense. IIRC there is a utility on Android phones which permits users to store information on their phones, so I'll look into that first.

Glad to see the positive report on Leo Africanus. It's one I keep intending to read and then never getting to (I've enjoyed Maalouf's non-fiction previously).

>47 mabith: I'm surprised that my LibraryThing account indicates that Leo Africanus is the only book I've read by Amin Maalouf. I know that I didn't add all of the books in my personal library to LT when I joined in 2006, and I'm fairly certain that I read Samarkand and possibly Origins: A Memoir by him.

>43 Berly: um ive had one of those boxes for over a decade Join the club!

>42 kidzdoc: Great review about an obviously fascinating book. I’ll try to see if I can get an audio version.

>50 kjuliff: Thanks, Kate.

Hiya, Darryl. Happy New Thread!

Hooray for PT! It was great to read that your right leg is so much better, and that you’re working on your balance. Balance is probably my biggest bugaboo since that stroke. Our trainer has worked in some good balance exercises which is making me feel better about it.

“I think the first sign that you're old AF is that you need a pillbox to keep your meds in order.” Well said - ain’t that the truth. I’d still pick this time period over any other in my life. Mortgage paid; kids taking care of themselves; rise and shine whenever I like; good amounts of time for reading and writing; flexibility for travel; cute grandkids. I can handle the meds, the aches and pains, the too-many doctor visits, etc.

Debbi finished her cardio rehab, got through a couple of weeks with a nasty stomach virus, and is doing well again. Her new heart valve and neck artery are doing beautifully, and we’ve been very happy with her medical care - thank goodness for that AARP Medicare supllement; the bills haven’t steamrolled us.

My current reading wouldn’t suit you - two well done fantasies. The best NF I’ve read besides An Unquiet Mind is The Sea Came Alive, a riveting oral history of D-Day, including before and after.

Hope you and your mom have a good week, buddy. We’re thinking of both of you.

>52 jnwelch: Thanks for visiting, Joe! Claire is in the Delaware Valley this week visiting a friend of hers, and we spent the day together here. We caught up over breakfast and tea in a cute coffee shop in Yardley, PA, close to the Delaware River, not far from where I live, went to an equally cute bookshop in New Hope, PA, had sushi and tea in a great Japanese restaurant in Frenchtown, NJ, on the other side of the river, and returned to Yardley to have crêpes and tea before I dropped her off in the town's commuter train station; if we had had time we would have visited the indie bookshop in Yardley as well. I can't remember if you ever visited Bucks County when you were living in, IIRC, NYC, but the small towns and homes here are quite historic, such as Washington's Crossing, PA, where General George Washington crossed the Delaware River to ambush the British during the Revolutionary War. I told Claire that you and Debbi would undoubtedly be quite jealous, but I thought that the two of you would probably see her in London well before I could travel there.

I'll post a description of our day out and photos on Facebook tomorrow.

My right leg is better, as is my balance, but both are definitely still diminished, as I still have mild stumbles and have to ascend and descend stairs and even steps with caution. I admittedly haven't been doing the strength and balance exercises as diligently as I should, but the clumsiness I experienced on this rainy day was a clear reminder that I'm nowhere near where I need to be.

Now that I'm on so many daily prescription and OTC medications and supplements I need to have a pillbox, and I have a Google Docs file with these meds and the names and numbers of my doctors. I nearly forgot to put Tiadylt capsules in my evening pillbox, and if I missed taking that essential medication for more than a couple of days there is a good chance that I would have had a breakthrough episode of atrial fibrillation that may have required me to go to a local urgent care center or emergency department.

I'm glad that Debbi has finished her cardio rehab; I'm sure that's a major milestone she is relieved to have achieved. I saw several of your posts about the infection (food poisoning?) she acquired, but I didn't know if she had fully recuperated or not. I turn 65 in March, so I'll need to explore options for Medicare supplemental coverage relatively soon. A slit lamp eye exam in March showed that I have bilateral cataracts, something I did not have two years ago, and although my optometrist told me that I'll need to have them removed soon she is hoping that this can be put off until I have Medicare coverage. Although I have glasses with new prescription lenses my vision for smaller letters and characters is still a bit blurry.

My reading has fallen off badly the past few weeks, but I hope to pick up the pace in the near future.

My mother is doing well, all things considered, as am I. Give my love to Debbi and Becca!

>42 kidzdoc: Fantastic review of Leo Africanus, I enjoyed reading that. I hope you're feeling better. I read Samarkand as well and it left a deep impression, but I think I have to get around to this as well.

By the way, I picked up People from Oetimu after your review and am reading it at the moment.

>54 rasdhar: Thanks, Rasdhar! I don't own and haven't read Samarkand, so I've added it to my library wish list.

I look forward to your thoughts about People from Oetimu.

Sorry to hear you have more health issues Darryl, but glad you are managing them. I empathise re the walking at the moment as had a fall while in Oxford and bashed a knee and pulled something behind it. It's taken a week, but I am improving and may be ready to venture out at the weekend.

Glad your mom is doing ok at the moment too.

I am currently reading Rebecca Solnit's fine volume of new essays No Straight Road Takes You There.

>56 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks, Caroline. My health problem list has increased significantly over the past several years, but they are all manageable and not serious in the grand scheme of things. I had two falls late last year but neither was as significant as yours; I'm glad that your knee is improving.

I'll have to visit your thread and get your thoughts on the new Solnit, especially since I have read and enjoyed several of her previous books.

I'm about to make breakfast, and after that I'll post info about the three books I bought yesterday, along with the recently released ones I ordered from the bookshop.

Not finished the Solnit yet Darryl, but will probably do so by Saturday, and review then.

Enjoy breakfast.

I had mentioned last week that my dear friend Claire (Sakerfalcon) was visiting a close friend of hers in the Delaware Valley (metropolitan Philadelphia), and last Wednesday was our day to spend together. We shared good food and even better conversation, and, like all proper LibraryThing meetups, we visited Farley's Bookshop, a cute independent bookshop in New Hope, PA, which is close to the Delaware River, the body of water which separates PA from NJ. I came away with three books:

Lovely One by Ketanji Brown-Jackson: The new memoir by the most recent member of the Supreme Court of the United States, which tells the story of her family's ascension from segregation to raising a successful family, most notably Justice Brown-Jackson. The book's title refers to her given name "Ketanji Onyika," which stands for "lovely one" in one of the West African languages. This book was at the top of my list of books to buy during my next bookshop visit, and IIRC Wednesday was the first time I've visited a bookshop this year.

America, América: A New History of the New World by Greg Grandin: This is the first comprehensive history of the New World, encompassing five centuries, which demonstrates the numerous interactions each of the regions (North, Central and South) had with each other and how these interactions shaped their individual histories. This was also high on my list of books to purchase.

Inseparable by Simone de Beauvoir: This short novel caught my attention as a perused the bookshop's Fiction section, as I had never heard of it before. It was written in 1954, the same year as her famous novel The Mandarins, but both she and Sartre felt that it was not worthy of publication. It is an autobiographical novel that was first published in France in 2020 and in English translation in 2021, and it concerns the lives of two women who were friends since childhood, which closely parallels the friendship that de Beauvoir had with a friend of hers. That description was good enough for me to want to read it.

I also ordered a copy of Yet Here I Am: Lessons from a Black Man's Search for Home by Jonathan Capehart, who was a former contributing editor at The Washington Post and appears regularly on the PBS NewsHour and MSNBC. This memoir was only published last Tuesday, and it chronicles his life, career, and personal experiences as an openly gay Black man. I enjoy watching him on television, especially on Fridays alongside David Brooks on the PBS NewsHour, and this was also a book that I wanted to add to my personal library.

Hmm. The touchstones are especially slow this afternoon...

I heard Jonathan Capehart mention this book last Friday on PBS. Actually, it was David Brooks who mentioned it and Capehart then spoke (I thought rather shyly) about it. Capehart said that he wasn't planning on schilling it that night and would let Brooks do that for him. It was a nice scene between two bright men who obviously respect each other.

It is good to see you in a picture and I am so glad that you were able to get to a meetup.

I forgot to mention that, after weeks of jumping from one book to another, I finally found a book that has grabbed my attention, The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson, which is a highly interesting account of the career of one of the key scientists behind the understanding of messenger RNA (mRNA) ribozyme technology that was used in the successful creation of the COVID-19 vaccines and the potential and actual treatments of patients with conditions caused by a single defective gene, including a 9 month old baby at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia earlier this spring. Isaacson, IMO, has been able to navigate a fine line between providing just enough information to keep people without a strong science background from being lost in the details, and sufficient explanation for people like myself to avoid being bored. Hopefully this book will serve as a springboard to a more successful June of reading, as my list of books that I had intended to read this year is starting to pile up.

>60 benitastrnad: Amna Nawaz of the PBS NewsHour had a very nice one on one interview with Jonathan Capehart last week, and the book was also mentioned on Weekdays with MSNBC, the morning program in which Capehart is one of the three anchors. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Capehart gave an author reading at Politics & Prose, the famed Washington bookshop, considering that his television appearances are in the city; I'll look at the bookshop's YouTube channel now.

Yes, Brooks and Capehart have a very respectful and genial relationship with each other, although I sometimes wish they disagreed a bit more. It's understandable, though, as it's all but impossible to defend or make any sense of what Trump is doing or stands for, beyond the obvious.

That photo wasn't the best one, but I've developed a bad habit recently of hunching over like an elderly man.

I don't know if anyone from Club Read has met Claire, although several people in the 75 Books group have.

Oddly enough my Facebook timeline told me that last Wednesday was exactly one year since my previous LibraryThing meetup, when Liz and I spent a few hours together in Philadelphia while my mother was in the adult day center I take her to several days a week. Similar to then Claire and I only spent a few hours together, but they were memorable and enjoyable.

ETA: As I suspected, Jonathan Capehart did speak at Politics & Prose last week: https://www.youtube.com/live/hMyXt1J6b0I?si=6m9wSXo3h0V9PMCv

ETA (2): I should clarify that Jonathan Capehart is on weekend mornings on MSNBC, not weekdays.

>59 kidzdoc: So lovely to see you and Claire together Darryl. And to see how well you have done with your weight loss which you mentioned some while back. Of course very pleased you had a good visit to an independent book shop.

I read the De Beauvoir a while back which I liked.

>61 kidzdoc: Code Breaker is definitely on my list to read too.

>59 kidzdoc: America, América: A New History of the New World by Greg Grandin:

I read another of his books in... 2016, no wonder I don't remember details though I have a positive impression. I want to have this one around for a hypothetical future when I'm reading again.

>61 kidzdoc: I already have this one. Maybe your review will prompt me to pull it off the shelf.

>61 kidzdoc: I read Codebreaker with my California reading group. I thought it was quite good. Hope you're still enjoying it. Cheers!

>63 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks, Caroline. It was great to see Claire and to catch up. We were initially disappointed that the independent bookshop in Yardley, PA didn't open until 11 am, about 35 minutes after we walked there, as it was a cold and rainy day that wasn't conducive to sitting outside, but Claire did remember Farley's Bookshop in New Hope, PA, a short drive away, which was open. The woman that worked there was very friendly and helpful, and since the bookshop is roughly 30 minutes from home by car I'll add it to my list of favorite Delaware Valley bookshops. Presumably the copy of Yet Here I Am by Jonathan Capehart I requested will be available this week.

I'm glad that you liked Inseparable.

I hope to finish The Code Breaker this weekend, and resume reading Harsh Times by Mario Vargas Llosa.

>64 qebo: Looking at his LibraryThing profile Greg Grandin is a prolific author, but America, América: A New History of the New World is the only book of his I've owned or read. It's a doorstopper, as the hardback edition has just over 700 pages with notes, but the general topic is of great interest to me.

>65 rocketjk: I'm glad that you enjoyed The Code Breaker, Jerry.

>61 kidzdoc: I loved The Code Breaker! I read it back in January, and think it might be my favorite book this year. It's more than just a biography as it covers the bio's of many of her colleagues and competitors. I also like the way Isaacson deals with the moral and ethical dilemmas of mRNA technologies.

Did you read Mukherjee's The Gene? It's a good lead in to this book.

>68 tangledthread: I'm glad that you loved The Code Breaker, tangledthread. It's been over 30 years since I worked in a molecular biology lab at NYU Medical Center, which feels like a century ago as I read this book. I'm glad that Isaacson discusses the moral and ethical dilemmas related to mRNA technology, especially now that RFK Jr has announced that the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines will no longer be recommended for healthy people 6 months to 65 years of age without qualifying conditions, despite numerous studies showing the harms that the infection causes, especially on babies whose mothers contracted COVID-19 during pregnancy, those mothers, and everyone else. I took care of a handful of young children who developed multisystem inflammatory system of childhood (MIS-C), a rapidly progressive sequela of COVID-19 infection that was serious and potentially fatal if not detected and treated promptly and aggressively. In addition to his baseline vaccine skepticism I understand that RFK Jr is especially critical of mRNA technology, and I'll bet that he would benefit from reading this book and The Gene, which I also loved.

Have you read Dr Mukherjee's book The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer? I thought it was slightly better than The Gene, although both books earned 5 stars from me.

I love bookshops and am in the middle of planning a LT meetup centered around bookshops. Especially used bookshops. I am so glad that you got to spend some time in a bookshop. They are usually so relaxing and being among books is so uplifting. I am also glad that you found a way to do a meetup. Getting out and doing some of the things that you like to do is so important during this time. Caring for a loved one at the end of life is so very wearing on a person's mental and physical self. Books are a great help, but getting out to see people and have conversation is just as important. Glad you got to do it on this visit.

You should also note that the American Library Association Annual meeting will be in Philadelphia this year. It starts on Friday, June 27 but the first day that the exhibits will be open is Saturday, June 28. Perhaps you can make it downtown for one afternoon of strolling around the exhibit hall.

>70 benitastrnad: Thanks, Benita. Going to that bookshop on its own and meeting Claire without book shopping would have each been pleasurable activities, but combining the two was especially enjoyable.

Thanks for reminding me about the ALA annual meeting. I can look up information about the meeting online, but the only day I could go is the 27th, as the adult day center I take my mother to is only open a few hours on Saturdays. I know that some people on LibraryThing go to the meetings and pick up huge numbers of books, but I have plenty to read at home already! I'll also have to make sure my schedule is free of dioctors' appointments for my mother and myself.

>71 kidzdoc: The only time I ever went to an ALA conference was years ago when it was in downtown DC. I didn't pick up a single book, but I did get to meet Tim and Abby. That was in 2010. Wow!
https://www.librarything.com/pic/194595
It was so worth it! Try to go if you can.

>69 kidzdoc: yes, I've read all of Mukherjee's books, but Maladies is his best IMHO.

You're assuming RFK Jr. reads....my assumption is that it's highly unlikely that he reads anything more than social media.

Another thread in Code Breaker is the trend of creating businesses from academic research which creates a competitive environment. Yet it was collaboration that produced the effective testing and vaccines during the pandemic.

>72 SqueakyChu: I'm not sure if anyone is going to the ALA meeting, Madeline; are you going, Benita? If no one I know is going then I almost certainly won't go. I still need to confirm that my schedule is clear that day. Also, as I've mentioned previously I only a few hours to spend between the time I drop off my mother at the adult day center in the morning and the time I have to pick her up in the afternoon, generally in the neighborhood of six to seven hours at most, including the time it takes to get to Center City, probably by train from the station in the town where my mother's adult day health center is located, which decreases the amount of time I can meet up by an additional two hours. I won't say that I won't go, but if someone I'm close to is going that will increase the likelihood that I will make an effort to go.

>73 tangledthread: Exactly, tangledthread. If RFK Jr reads it's likely studies and opinions by quack practitioners and science deniers.

I'm just at the point in The Code Breaker where Genentech is created. That's a topic I'm very interested in reading about.

>73 tangledthread: You're assuming RFK Jr. reads....my assumption is that it's highly unlikely that he reads anything more than social media.
Haha So true.

>69 kidzdoc: I was shocked when I read about his changes to Covid vaccine accessibility. . I’ll be due to get my next shot soon. I’m assuming I only have to show dob.

Catching up after a long time! Good to see the photo - you're looking very well

>70 benitastrnad:, >72 SqueakyChu: Benita and Madeline, I definitely won't be going to the ALA annual meeting. I was under the impression that there was an attendance fee, especially for non-ALA members, but I had no idea how much it was until I looked at the meeting website just now. The only day I could go to the exhibits is Monday, and that would cost me $190, a fee that I might have been willing to pay if I was still working, or if I wanted to acquire a ton of free books, but definitely not now.

>76 wandering_star: Hi Margaret! It's great to see you here, although it's nowhere near as good as seeing you in London or Edinburgh.
—————

I went to my local American Red Cross Donation Center to donate blood this afternoon. As I may have mentioned I try to donate every 8 weeks, as I have been designated as a Sickle Cell Fighter. My red blood cells display a particular cell wall protein, probably Ro, which make them particularly suited for people with sickle cell disease who require frequent blood transfusions, as they are less likely to have transfusion reactions to my blood than blood from other donors. Only 1 in 3 people of African or Caribbean descent carry this subtype, and since we donate blood less frequently than other ethnic groups I try to give blood as often as I can, which is six times a year. The downside is that I already have mild idiopathic iron deficiency anemia, which is only exacerbated by donating blood. My hemoglobin today (13.1 g/dl) was barely high enough for me to give blood (the cutoff is 13.0 g/dl in men), even though I take iron capsules daily (18 mg of elemental iron), and after donating a pint of blood I am definitely anemic now. As a result I'm pretty wiped out, so I'll go to bed shortly.

>77 kidzdoc: When Tim was there, he got LT members free admission. I would not pay $190 just to enter the venue at this time! :O Life is different in so many ways now. :(

I am not going to ALA this year. I am still in the moving in process and I have a part-time job from which I would have to take time-off. My niece is getting married out in Montana in June and I would have to go to that and then fly from there to Philadelphia to make it to ALA. It is just too much this year. I am still an ALA member so I get into the exhibits free.

I knew that ALA had raised the fees for the exhibit hall, but I didn't realize it was that much for a one day pass.

>79 SqueakyChu:
Yes. Tim did provide free admissions to the exhibits for a number of years. However, since he is now working with ProQuest (with his company Syndetics) he no longer does that. He would have to get approval from ProQuest to do it, and he told me that it was alot of bother, so he no longer provides those admissions for LT members.

>79 SqueakyChu:, >80 benitastrnad: If you're aware of anyone from LibraryThing who is going to the meeting please let me know. I won't pay to enter the exhibits, but I wouldn't mind meeting one or more old friends for lunch outside of the Pennsylvania Convention Center, especially in Reading Terminal Market.

Sad news: Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, who was my current favorite living writer after the death of Mario Vargas Llosa, died yesterday.

Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Writer Who Condemned Colonists and Elites, Dies at 87

>80 benitastrnad: I’m glad I took advantage of that time to actually meet Tim and Abby. It was truly nice! I always feel as if both are old friends of mine now. There is nothing like real life LT meetups.

>81 kidzdoc: Sadly, I don’t know of any LTer attending the ALA convention. However, Darryl, you are still on my list of people to meet in a real life meetup!

>83 SqueakyChu: That's great that you got to meet Tim and Abby, Madeline.

Thanks for letting me know that no one else is apparently going to the ALA annual meeting. Yes, I'm hopeful that we can meet up, especially if we can see Zoë and Mark as well.

>84 kidzdoc: ...and Brandon!

>82 kidzdoc:

I just started a book by him yesterday! My book choices lately seem to be aniticipating everything bad by only a day or two...

>85 SqueakyChu: Right. I couldn't think of their baby's name.

>86 lilisin: Nice! Which one, lilisin?

>82 kidzdoc: Very sad this last day or so, Darryl and I immediately thought of you as I know we shared an admiration for the great writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o.

I am extremely disappointed that much of the world's press have failed to pick up this story or cover the great man's passing with the breadth and respect it deserves.

Like Achebe before him he become another overlooked by the embarrassingly Eurocentric Nobel Committee. Honestly Jelinek, Muller, Modiano, Handke deserved recognition in front of him???

Hope you are ok my friend.

>88 PaulCranswick: Good to see you here, Paul. I mentioned in the All Africa Books that I thought, for several years, that this was going to be the year that Ngũgĩ won the Nobel Prize in Literature, but after years of disappointment and the selection of several lesser authors for the award (Jelinek? Dylan?!) I became sadly convinced that the judging committee would never award him that honor, for reasons that were utterly inscrutable. I also felt that Amos Oz was more than deserving of the honor, and the biggest shame is that both writers will remain relatively unread in most of the world.

I had a great meet up with Claire last week, and now that the weather is turning warmer I plan to get out and do more fun things for myself. I hope that you and Hanni are doing well.

I agree with both of you that most of the writer's of the world whose work will last for a very long time, are not honored, or even recognized by the Nobel committee. It is just plain too Euro-centered to be taken seriously. I had hopes for the widening of the selections for a few years and was greatly heartened by the selection of Abdulrazak Gurnah but I have had trouble in the last few years with the (in my opinion) poor selections made by the committee. The best thing that can be said about some of their selections is nothing, even though my outrage of their continued selection of inferior authors is usually vocal, I have decided that my best recourse is to ignore this prize.

>89 kidzdoc: I read may of Ozs books then stopped for some reason. need to catch up

>87 kidzdoc:
I started Weep not, child but I really mean just started. Just five pages to get a feel for if it’s a book I want to read right now. I think it is!

I've never read anything by Ngugi wa Thiong'o, but I have The River Between on my shelves and will plan to read it in June. Thanks for drawing my attention to this.

>90 benitastrnad: I would love to be able to peek inside the room where the Nobel Prize judges meet, in order to learn more about how this secretive committee works. The prize has always been Eurocentric, although less so now than in its earlier years when far fewer books from non-European countries were available in English translation. I've found roughly half of all the recent laureates to be forgettable at best, and completely unworthy at worst, with Elfriede Jelinek and Bob Dylan—who didn't even want the prize!—at worst. The committee, IMO, also behaves as a god or head of state, whose short one paragraph announcement of the winning author from behind closed doors reminds me of some sort of announcement from a balcony on high by a king or pope to the masses.

Instead of relying on the Nobel Prize committee to reliably tell me which authors I should read—to be fair they do get it right sometimes—I use a variety of sources to inform me of new authors and books, with recommendations from LibraryThing members to be one of those sources.

One great source of international literature is World Literature Today, the bimonthly magazine from the University of Oklahoma. The WLT staff also awards the biennial Neustadt International Prize for Literature, which has been nicknamed the "American Nobel Prize." I believe I mentioned early this year that the Mauritian author Ananda Devi was chosen as the 2024 Neustadt laureate, and the January/February issue of the WLT has at least three articles dedicated to her. The magazine is filled with articles about and short stories from relatively unknown authors, literature from underrepresented countries, and roughly two dozen short book reviews. I have a subscription and I need to read it more often, as it is hands down the single best source of international literature I'm aware of.

>91 cindydavid4: I've read many of Amos Oz's works, but there are several I own that I haven't gotten to yet, including Elsewhere, Perhaps.

>92 lilisin: I was fond of Weep Not, Child, which was his first novel, if I recall correctly. I wrote a review of it here, and gave it 4 stars.

>93 japaul22: You're welcome, Jennifer. I liked The River Between slightly better than Weep Not, Child, and I reviewed it here as well.

I must have missed it on your thread, but I see you have reviewed People from Oetimu by Felix Nesi. I really want to read this book but it’s unavailable on audio. I have a deep interest in East Timor having spent a few months there. It’s unlikely that it will come out in audio because it is such a small country and few know about its history.

I was active in the Free East Timor movement in Melbourne when it was invaded by Indonesia. Now named Timor-Leste, I hope this delightful small nation survives. Note there is oil offshore so its chances are slim.

>95 kjuliff: I couldn't find an audio version of People from Oetimu either, Kate. I checked online and found that several titles from Archipelago Books' catalog have been released as audiobooks, so there is still a chance than this book may be in the future.

That's interesting about your involvement in the Free East Timor movement.

>96 kidzdoc: Thanks Darryl for checking for me.

If I were in Australia I be currently involved in the The Free Papua Movement which resists the colonisation of West Papua by Indonesia.

The small island nations to the north and west west of Australia, get little attention from major news outlets outside of Australia.

>94 kidzdoc: Oooh, I'm glad you mentioned the Neustadt International Prize. I hadn't heard of it before, and I've bookmarked the page for when I'm looking for ideas of new international authors to try. There are only a couple of laureates that I'm familiar with.

>97 kjuliff: You're welcome, Kate.

>98 bell7: I'm also glad that I could introduce a new author to you and others, Mary. I need to read that issue of World Literature Today to read more about Ananda Devi.

The WLT website has already listed the finalists for the 2026 Neustadt Prize for International Literature, along with one of each of their representative books:

Yuri Andrukhovych / Set Change
Elif Batuman / The Possessed
Mei-mei Berssenbrugge / A Treatise on Stars
Robert Olen Butler / Had a Good Time
Safia Elhillo / The January Children
Mathias Énard / Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants
Ibrahim Nasrallah / Time of White Horses
Yoko Tawada / The Emissary
Jesmyn Ward / Sing, Unburied, Sing

I've heard of several of these authors, but the only ones whose books I've read is Jesmyn Ward.

https://www.neustadtprize.org/world-literature-today-announces-finalists-for-the...

As promised, a couple of soup recipes with leafy greens:

Lemony White Bean Soup with Turkey and Greens (there is a vegetarian option using mushrooms instead of the ground turkey) and

Crispy Chickpea Stew with Greens, Lemon and Feta

They're both Melissa Clark recipes so I've linked to the NYT Cooking app knowing they're the same as what I use. I have her Dinner in One cookbook, which I love, and cook from often. She will often give substitutes or ideas for adding more veggies, which I appreciate.

>100 bell7: Thanks, Mary! I have a print and online subscription to the NYT, so I'll check out these recipes now.

>99 kidzdoc:

I had to look up the Neustadt Prize because I never heard of it.
It is considered one of the more prestigious international literary prizes, often compared with the Nobel Prize in Literature. The New York Times called the prize “The Oklahoma Nobel” in 1982, and the prize is sometimes referred to as the “American Nobel”. Since it was founded in 1970, some 30 of its laureates, candidates, or jurors have also been awarded Nobel Prizes. Like the Nobel, it is awarded to individuals for their entire body of work, not for a single one.

Nominating Yoko Tawada and having The Emissary as her representative work particularly made my eyebrow rise as that book, while interesting in concept, I felt lost its way and never came up with any sort of thought on its own idea. One of those books that tries to get the reader "to figure it out" but just leaves us in a vague misty cloud.

>102 lilisin: Interesting comments, lilisin. Are there other books she has written that you think are better examples of her work?

>100 bell7:
I also have that cookbook, but because of the move haven't really started doing much "experimental" cooking. When I try new cookbooks I usually like to have people over to share the experience with them. However, my house is still a mess and so I haven't done cooking like I normally do. thanks for the recipes when I get home I will take a look at that cookbook as the Lemony White Bean Soup sounds delicious.

>103 kidzdoc:
I've only read The Emissary actually as that book didn't inspire me to read more of her books. Which is why I would have hoped that there would be another book to represent her entire work other than that one.

>99 kidzdoc: I’m intrigued by The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa. Her The Emissary looks good too, but I think The Housekeeper and the Professor will be good for my maths.

>103 kidzdoc: I enjoyed Scattered all over the earth. It is a strange but intriging exploration of identity as expressed by nationality and language, in a world where some countries have disappeared off the map due to natural disasters. It has a strong found family vibe as characters become friends and accompany each other on their personal (literal) journeys. It's the first in a planned trilogy, I believe.

>106 kjuliff: The professor and the housekeeper was a 5 star read for me and I think Darryl would really enjoy it, but it's by a different author!

>106 kjuliff: That's a different Yoko (Yoko Ogawa vs Yoko Tawada). I doublechecked the names too, as I had heard of Yoko Ogawa and read several of her books (I really enjoyed The Housekeeper and the Professor, btw), but had not heard of Yoko Tawada.

Darryl, I've just started The Living and the Rest. Lovely writing so far.

>108 labfs39: >107 Sakerfalcon: Thanks for pointing out my error. It looks like I came upon a book I’d like in a rather weird way.

>107 Sakerfalcon: I too enjoyed The Professor and the Housekeeper, and have been eyeing it for a reread soon.

>108 labfs39: >107 Sakerfalcon: >111 Caroline_McElwee: I started reading The Professor and the Housekeeper today - it was free on Audible and so I thought I’d read it before they took it off the free list.

I’m so glad I did as i’m really enjoying it. I’ve never been good at math and I know the joy it can give some people, though I can’t understand how it does. My brother would be in raptures at maths and physics, but I never got it. I suspect reading The Professor and the Housekeeper will be the most I can get to experiencing the purity of mathematics.

Whoa. I go away for two days and I'm pretty far behind on my own thread!

>104 benitastrnad: Now that I'm completely off of the meal replacement products for my weight loss program I'm cooking all of my own meals. I generally have soup for dinner, and most weeks I do try a new recipe, such as the Moroccan harira (lentil and vegetable soup) I made last Monday. I just had a bowl of it for dinner, and I'm very fond of it.

The website Spain on a Fork has become one of my favorite sources of new recipes, although as I mentioned on Mary's thread my Facebook timeline has been pushing me new healthy recipes the last few months, likely because I've been posting photos and recipes of the foods I've made on my timeline.

>105 lilisin: Thanks, lilisin.

>106 kjuliff: Like others I was very impressed by The Housekeeper and the Professor, Kate, as I gave it 4.5 stars.

>107 Sakerfalcon: Thanks for that description of Scattered All Over the Earth, Claire; that book does sound interesting.

>109 RidgewayGirl: Thanks, Kay. I'll start reading The Living and the Rest tomorrow.

>112 kjuliff: I'm glad that you're enjoying The Housekeeper and the Professor, Kate.

Just popping in to say hello and thanks for posting the Neustadt Prize list. I've added several to my TBR. Hope you enjoy the Living and the Rest.

>116 rasdhar: Thanks for visiting, Rasdhar. My reading has slowed to a barely perceptible crawl, but hopefully I'll finish The Living and the Rest today. It's an interesting novel, but I can't say that I'm enjoying it.

>117 kidzdoc: D'oh! I just picked this up on a whim (and because it's Archipelago) from a half-price cart yesterday.

>118 ELiz_M: I still have a little more than 50 pages to go, but it never fully grabbed my attention, at least not yet. I would be interested to get Kay's take on it. I've read three other books by Agualusa, The Society of Reluctant Dreamers, The Book of Chameleons, and A General Theory of Oblivion, which were all superb, and in comparison The Living and the Rest has been a disappointing novel.

>118 ELiz_M: I decided to read the last 50+ pages of The Living and the Rest, and the novel started to come together into a coherent and enjoyable conclusion. I'll bump up my planned 3 star rating by half a star as a result. I suspect it may benefit greatly from a reread, and it's short enough that that would be easily doable in a weekend, or possibly a single day.

Next up is Yet Here I Am: Lessons from a Black Man's Search for Home, the new memoir by Jonathan Capehart.

I'll add my voice to all the others thanking you for recommending World Literature Today and the biennial Neustadt International Prize, none of which I'd heard before.

>117 kidzdoc: I think we'll end up in different places on this book, maybe because it's the first book by Agulusa that I've ever read, but I am enjoying it immensely. I've just got two days to go.

>121 Dilara86: You're welcome, Dilara.

>122 RidgewayGirl: I'm glad that you're enjoying The Living and the Rest, Kay. I now suspect that my initial problems with it had more to do with me not giving it the attention it deserved, which is why I think that I would enjoy it much more if I read it again.

>123 kidzdoc: I can see that. I've been reading each day in one sitting, which means it's taking me a while to read it, because life is busy, but it's really working for me.

>124 RidgewayGirl: That is what I originally had planned to do as well, reading one day in the book at a time, but Real Life got in the way.

ETA: OMG. ABC News is reporting that at least 173 people are missing in the Texas floods, not the two dozen or so that had been reported previously. It also mentioned that the Philadelphia area is under a tornado warning, but thankfully it expired here about 20 minutes ago.

Hi Daryl, you asked about On Call by Anthony Fauci. Here's my reply:
I'm about 1/3 of the way through it. The first part is about his boyhood which is okay. I'm now at the point where he is in his late 40's they are deep into AIDS research and the AIDS deniers have emerged (ugh). So now it is really interesting.

I am listening to it as an audiobook and he is the reader....with his lovely Brooklyn accent.

>126 tangledthread: Thanks. I just replied to your post about it on your thread.

I mentioned in the WHAT ARE YOU READING NOW? thread a few days ago that I have officially decided to retire this month. That may come as a mild surprise to many people, given that I haven't worked as a pediatrician since Thanksgiving Week in 2021, but I continued to hold out faint though unrealistic hope that I could find a part time non-clinical position that I could work at home while caring for my mother in the house or on days that she goes to a local adult day center. Now that I'm 64 and I have, from everything I can tell, enough of a nest egg to retire comfortably, and since I made an appointment with a Fidelity financial advisor this afternoon I wanted a short book to look at this past weekend to prepare for that meeting. I downloaded Emotionally Invested: Outsmart Your Anxiety for Fearless Retirement Planning by Mary Clements Evans on Friday, and finished it Sunday afternoon.

After reading Emotionally Invested I'm ready for a deeper dive into retirement, so I borrowed The New Retirement: The Ultimate Guide to the Rest of Your Life by Jan Cullinane from my local library this afternoon. Any books on retirement that anyone has read and would highly recommmend are greatly appreciated!

>128 kidzdoc: I'm contemplating retirement myself so I'll be interested in your reading and comments. I imagine it's taken you some thinking to make this decision now.

Congrats, Darryl. It's a scary decision, no matter the circumstances. I probably met and talked with my financial advisor more in that first year that in the entire decade before, lol. But he was great, always encouraging and assuring me that I could do it and be fine. Good that you are doing your homework (but that doesn't surprise me). You will be fine but you need to grow into it. Clearly you are ready but you needed to come to that decision yourself.

>130 qebo: I actually hasn't been paying any close attention to my Fidelity 401(a) and 403(b) retirement accounts, as I wasn't getting paper statements and hadn't tried to log on to my account. Once I finally did that last Monday, saw how much was in my Corebridge and Fidelity accounts and looked up what I needed to retire comfortably I saw that I should be in good shape to do so now, especially since I'm in the process of applying for caregiver reimbursement for my mother (@$1000/week, which will come out of my mother's retirement account that she inherited after my father's death), the eventual sale of the house after she dies, and future Social Security earnings (I will likely postpone applying for it until I turn 70). I knew that I had contributed at or near the maximum amount to my employer retirement accounts and didn't touch a dime of it in the 21+ years I worked for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, but I had no idea I had that much in my nest egg. After today's initial meeting with my Fidelity financial advisor, which was spent discussing my immediate goals, we'll have a more detailed meeting on Thursday to discuss my long term plans, and confirm that I have enough set aside in all my accounts to achieve all of them. There are other concerns that I'll need to address in the near future, such as selecting a Medicare plan, creating a will and selecting a power of attorney, and applying for long term insurance (does that include life insurance?)

I met an old friend for lunch just after the meeting with the financial advisor. Craig is a year older than I am, so he's already on Medicare. He's being treated for metastatic prostate cancer, and since his life expectancy is only five years he started collecting Social Security this year; in looking at him I can't imagine him not being here in 2030.

>131 jessibud2: Thanks, Shelley. I would consider this decision to be partly scary, and partly exciting; the closest thing I can compare it to was the day I found out I had been accepted to medical school in 1993, as that also marked a major life change.

I should have been meeting with financial advisors years before. I ignored repeated calls to meet with one when I was working, and until I logged into my Fidelity account and saw how much was there I was scared that I hadn't set enough aside to retire. In Emotionally Invested one group of investors is designated as The Ostrich, which definitely describes, or described, me perfectly until last Monday.

>133 kidzdoc: Best wishes on your retirement, Darryl. My retirement came unexpectedly at age 66 at which time I started taking Social Security because I was afraid of having no paycheck. I never had a financial advisor, but I have had a satisfactory income since losing my job twelve years ago. Those years went by so fast! The hardest part of beginning retirement for me was lack of what to do and experiencing depression over my job loss, but your days will continue to remain as they are now. With your mom in day care, I hope you find retirement gives you some rewarding times and hobbies. I've been worried about my family both here and in Israel all the time over the past few years so I am not exactly in the best of spirits, but I do value visiting with friends and family, my book activities, my activity here on LT, jigsaw puzzling and my Little Free Library. Times are so different now. I hope the years ahead bring you and your mom joy.

Best of luck figuring out retirement, Darryl. I remember doing a lot of research before I stopped working but don't recall any particular advice that addressed my circumstances.

I'm glad you've been in touch with your financial advisor so you can be confident that your decision to retire will not leave you out of pocket. It's a big step, but it makes total sense to do it as you can afford it. It's the end of one era but the start of another; may it bring you many blessings. I am definitely an Ostrich when it comes to my finances so I relate to your previous attitude completely.

Congratulations on this next step, Darryl. I'm sure it must be both exciting and nerve-wracking, so wishing you the best as you meet with a financial advisor to figure out the details.

I can relate to the *ostrich*, Darryl. My financial advisor also did my taxes each year and always did a financial review with me then. I was lucky to have found him. I'd probably be working into my 90s if I didn't have someone like him to keep me on track and aware of my situation. I've been with him for nearly 2 decades and I can only wish someone like him on everyone. Trustworthy, knowledgeable (and funny).

I am happy to hear about your impending retirement. Mine has worked out better than I expected. I contributed money and am surprised at what I do have. I put money into it for 20 years and didn't touch it, but then I didn't have to. I didn't purchase a house, don't have children, so if I am careful, I will have a nice nest egg to work with. It should also allow me to do a bit of traveling, once I get things squared away in my new home. I did take on a parttime job at the Post Office, and I regret doing that. I did it out of a sense of civic duty, but it takes a great deal of time away from getting myself moved into my new home. But other than taking on the parttime job, I don't regret retiring one little bit!

I know that you don't think it is possible, but I would advise that you take a nice trip for yourself. You need the break, and doing something that brings you joy will help in dealing with the daily grind that you have. Taking care of your mother takes a physical and mental toll on a person and you need to do some things that bring you happiness, otherwise you won't be of much help to your mom.

I am starting to think about a trip to Europe this fall. I am thinking of going to Greece or southern Italy in November. I haven't decided on which place yet. Rick Steves says that there are lots of Greek ruins to see in southern Italy, and I have always wanted to see the Amalfi Coast, so right now it seems like the place. However, the prices in some of the Greek islands at that time of year are also very appealing. I will see what I decide.

>128 kidzdoc: Retirement good.

>134 SqueakyChu: Thanks, Madeline. The main difference from being the retirement I had hoped for and was looking forward to is the full time caregiver role I now have, and not knowing how long I’ll have to continue doing this.

The hardest part of beginning retirement for me was lack of what to do and experiencing depression over my job loss, but your days will continue to remain as they are now.

And therein lies my problem, albeit in reverse. I have plenty of things I would like to do, such as traveling to see LibraryThing friends in Europe and North America, and I wouldn’t have felt any remorse over retiring, but I would have enjoyed a nice send-off, which my old team had planned for me during a previous visit to Atlanta until I backed out at the last minute, due to my distress at leaving Children’s that way. Our neighbor and dear friend said my father was a stubborn and proud self made man who went out (died) on his own terms. That may be true to a degree, but he left his beloved wife behind, and left me with the responsibility of caring for Mom, something he assured me would never happen.

>135 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg.

>136 Sakerfalcon: Thanks, Claire. I’m 99.9+% sure that I won’t run out of money, especially since I have what should be sufficient funds in my retirement accounts and now have a financial advisor who I have a good feeling about after our initial meeting on Monday. I’ll have a much better idea on Thursday after we sit down and come up with a long term plan, though.

Unlike me my younger brother is fiscally irresponsible, and has been so since his freshman year in college, dating back four decades. He is a Happy Shopper, as Mary Clements Evans would categorize him in Emotionally Invested, as he is obsessed with cars, leasing at least two of them at any one time, and he frequently makes impulse purchases from Amazon and other online retailers. He was between jobs when we last spoke the weekend before last, a situation he’s been in several times previously, as he chases jobs with the highest salaries, usually in unstable start up firms (David is a pharmaceutical representative). I know that he has drawn heavily from his retirement accounts, especially during this current jobless streak (although I hope he is back to being employed this week). He’s 59, so he doesn’t have much time to get on sound financial footing—I assume from our conversation earlier this month that he isn’t financially stable, even though he is well paid when he does work—and although I’m willing to help him I don’t want him to view me as a resource to tap into whenever he needs, or wants, money.

I failed to mention in my review of Emotionally Invested that your retirement strategies closely parallel with your past or your parents’ personal experiences with money, income, salary, and debt. A good certified financial planner can help discern these patterns and help you, the investor, break through unhelpful and unwise barriers and start the process of creating a realistic and satisfying retirement plan—as long as you didn’t wait too late to see one!

>137 bell7: Thanks, Mary. Thinking of retirement is exciting, but the stress of caring for my mother, which is worse than working, is quite nerve wracking and mentally draining.

>138 jessibud2: You were fortunate to have such a helpful financial advisor, Shelley. I was in Ostrich mode for my entire 21+ year career in terms of my finances, and it’s only because I had a solid salary, an employer that provided good retirement benefits to its employees and lived well within my means that I had enough in my nest egg to retire comfortably. If not I would be up a creek without a paddle, and it’s certainly possible, if not likely, that I would have significantly more money had I met with a financial planner early in my career.

One thing that Emotionally Investing mentions is your parents’ discussions about investing with you before and during your first years of working, and how that can influence your retirement decisions. My parents, particularly my father, never discussed money or retirement accounts at the kitchen table with my brother or myself, although he was very fiscally responsible. I think that discussions would have helped me, although my salary as a physician was far more important; my brother’s lavish spending habits and his unwillingness to listen to advice probably would have kept him from benefitting from my father’s knowledge and experience.

>139 benitastrnad: Thanks, Benita. I’m glad that your retirement is working out well.

I would like to take a long restorative trip, but the harsh reality is that someone needs to stay here with my mother in my absence, which would mean that my cousin Tina from Michigan would have to come and give up part of her time off. She has said in the past that she wants to be able to do that, so that I could go to Atlanta, Pittsburgh (to see medical school classmates)...or even London! She is a very busy defense lawyer who is expanding her practice, and she may still be doing double duty as a IS&T specialist troubleshooting on the night shift for the U of Michigan several days a week. She was able to visit us much more during the COVID-19 pandemic, as judges would allow her to represent clients via Zoom calls in lieu of appearing in court (she could also meet her clients if they were in jail as well), but now that face to face restrictions have been restricted the judges in the county systems she serves in want all the lawyers and their clients to appear in the court rooms.

Having said that I completely agree with you in stating that I need to do things that bring me joy, and respite. Yesterday started out as a good day, with a productive meeting with my new financial advisor and lunch with my best friend from high school, something we had not done in at least a year. Unfortunately my mother aspirated food (a cut up chicken nugget) from Chick-fil-A later that afternoon, and after she progressively worsened at home, with a pulse oximetry level of 84-85%, I decided to call EMS and have her transported to a local ED for further evaluation. Fortunately her CXR was clear, as she must have coughed up all of the chicken nugget fragments from her lungs, and I was able to take her home just past sun up. Unfortunately she has a bad case of “hospitalitis,” as she gets agitated and confused whenever I or her husband have to take her to one. As a result of her continued confusion and inability to follow instructions she slid from her walker onto the living floor on her bum without hurting herself, but she is 140 lb of dead weight and I had to call EMS again to get her off the floor and back onto her couch. Needless to say I didn’t sleep well, and am completely frazzled even though I took one of my psych meds this morning, and now that she has had lunch I’ll go back upstairs and crash for a few hours.

>140 TadAD: Retirement is good, but I certainly don’t feel retired as a result of caring full time for my mother.

>142 kidzdoc:
I completely understand having to call the EMS squad. My mother only weighed 102 pounds. She fell twice in the last month of her life and it was darn near impossible to get her up without help. She and I managed it, but there was a great deal of tears and effort on both sides. I sometimes wonder if I made the right decision to keep her at home until her death. But, I also know that I can't keep second guessing myself, or her, decisions, even though it has been a year and a half.

I know you have been trying to take short breaks. Keep doing that. You do need the respite that those will give you.

On another note, have you seen the new play "Purpose?" There was an in-depth review of it last night on PBS News Hour.

Congratulations on making this big decision on retirement, Darryl. Not an easy one to make at any time.

I have my eye on retirement at 55, but am definitely a FORO person. For some reason, over the past few years I have developed massive anxiety over anything to do with personal finances, which doesn't help as I can't make myself sit down and do the hard graft of ratifying the numbers and reassuring myself that 55 is very much doable. I think I always feel so behind with keeping on top of my personal finances, so any time I sit down to look at it it's an uphill struggle of forgotten passwords and tax stresses (and after a day of dealing with work stresses my brain just goes - 'not now, thank you').

I have put a couple of books on my wish list around retirement, and will certainly be interested in any non-US centred books you recommend. One general one on my list is The Joy of Not Working: A Book for the Retired, Unemployed and Overworked, which I think is more focused on the life side of retirement rather than finances.

If you do Facebook, I'm a member of a very large global group on there that's quite interesting - The Epic Retirement Club. Lots of different perspectives on retirement and interesting questions and answers on all sorts of topics.

Hi Darryl, I don't think you will regret retiring now at all, and with your new financial advisor at your elbow I am sure that you will relax into the decision soon enough.

Of course, it won't be a traditional retirement with the responsibility of caring for your mother, and I hope there will be ways you can achieve some of the things you would like to do, even if your cousin can't manage the amount of time. I think you have suggested before that your brother is not supportive or doesn't put himself forward to spell you, which is disappointing. Unfortunately you can't undo the decisions your father ultimately made, but if you are on solid ground with your financial situation, maybe you can get some help from professional carers occasionally.

What do you think your mother would want if she were to have told you when she was in better health? I would be surprised she would expect you to take full responsibility, giving up all your plans and needs. Trying to find a balance isn't easy, and it can be hard to let go of some of the responsibility once you have taken on the yoke, but your dedication shouldn't have to exclude exploring other possibilities.

On the retirement front I am a year older than you, and don't have the level of financial security of a professional such as yourself, but wanted to give myself the opportunity of some length of retirement having worked full time for 47.5 years, health permitting. I guess there must be a third way to the two your FA suggests, and that's where I am.

Wishing you good luck as you shape your next stage of life.

>145 Caroline_McElwee: I’m having an unusual retirement as well. I had intended to travel. Instead all the money I saved for my travels has gone into health services and I am virtually bed-bound. I haven’t come to terms with it although I’m coping with it. I wish Darryl well but I won’t pretend it’s easy. But it’s a fact of life we didn’t plan for though there are still god things to come. I expect many of us in unusual retirements.

>146 kjuliff: I'm sorry to hear things haven't turned out how you hoped Kate. I hope you find ways to go beyond coping, but 'coming to terms' can take time.

>143 benitastrnad: I probably could have gotten my mother off the floor if there was someone to help me, which a neighbor and I managed to do twice in the recent past. Unfortunately when she does slip she is a dead weight, and she involuntary fights against me, as her agitation and confusion prevent me from getting through to her. On several occasions I can position myself between her and the car seat, couch or other object I'm trying to get her to sit on, but Mom weighs 140 lb, and she feels twice as heavy when she resists me.

Fortunately today has been a reasonably good day, although she's still not back to her mental baseline. She has regretted being such a burden on me on several occasions last night and so far today, and she's following guidance better than yesterday, but still not as well as she was on Monday morning.

I also have to consider the possibility of injuring myself if I try to pick her up, which could greatly impact my ability to function as her primary caregiver. It's just not worth it, especially since a simple call to 911 gets me the help I need in 10 minutes or less.

Unless she dies unexpectedly at home there is certainly a possibility that my mother will need to go to a nursing home. If she no longer recognizes me or if it requires too much support from external caregivers that will likely be my cues to move her to an inpatient care facility. Unfortunately, and as you know, nursing home care in this country is abysmal, and I view it as a place for people to wither and die under subhuman care. Even if I did decide to move Mom to a nursing home I would want to stay in this house, and check on her practically every day, to ensure that she is being cared for adequately.

I sometimes wonder if I made the right decision to keep her at home until her death. But, I also know that I can't keep second guessing myself, or her, decisions, even though it has been a year and a half.

I think the important thing to consider is that you treated your mother with the utmost compassion and love, and by doing that no one, including yourself, has the right to criticize whatever decisions you made. I feel the same about myself, and more importantly my family and close friends and neighbors are grateful for what I’m doing for Mom, and the sacrifices I’ve made to care for her in their home.

I crashed yesterday afternoon and early evening, after being up with my mother all day on Monday and half of Tuesday; as I result I didn’t wake up until 7:30 pm, and missed the PBS NewsHour altogether. Thanks for mentioning the story about “Purpose;” because I donate to my local PBS station I have access to PBS Passport, so I can go back and watch that segment.

Since you’re in what I presume is a rural area in Kansas, have the cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting affected the programs your PBS station will show now, or in the future? My primary local station, WHYY, serves the Delaware Valley (metropolitan Philadelphia), but I also have television access to NJ PBS and Lehigh Valley PBS, and it seems very unlikely that there will be any major cutbacks to local or national programming on WHYY, due to its large service area and regular donations from viewers like me.

>144 AlisonY: Thanks, Alison. I do hope you can retire at 55! Given your comments I take it that you haven’t met with a financial advisor. Needless to say I don’t know anything about retirement in Ireland, but I was able to research via Google how much a single person with no dependents would need to retire comfortably, in order to get a rough sense of the amount I would need in my accounts, and by that measure I’ve achieved that benchmark. Tomorrow’s meeting with my financial advisor will be key in determining if I’m on the right track, or if I need to move some of my money into higher earning accounts, and the best way to transfer some of my funds into an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) in order to pay bills.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts about any retirement books you read, especially if they are more generally focused. Although The New Retirement, the book I borrowed from my local library, does discuss Medicare, the health insurance program for seniors and retirement plans, it also shares some similarities to The Joy of Not Working by discussing what makes a retirement successful; what to do with all of your new found free time; can and should you work in retirement; the possibility of relocating to a more desirable home, and what are the best domestic and international places to consider; and personal health and physical activity to stay “forever young.”

Thanks for mentioning the Epic Retirement Club. I am quite active on Facebook, although I’m in the process of decreasing my activity on it and other social media platforms, so I’ll check it out tomorrow or later this week.

>145 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks, Caroline. My brother has been supportive, more so in the recent past, but he does work full time and his spare time is quite limited, and because I haven’t asked him for much it probably isn’t fair to say that he hasn’t been helpful. Lately he has been more open in urging me to reach out if I need anything from him, which is encouraging, and he does appreciate what I’m doing for Mom.

Others have mentioned the possibility of professional home carers, but I’ve been resistant. I just don’t see the point of paying someone to do what I can, and it’s far better and less costly for me to take her to a local adult day center, where she can stay on weekdays from 8 am to 5 pm, get breakfast and lunch, showers and a change of clothes, and participate in stimulating activities with other people who go there, for a reasonable fee of $100, which would be far less than paying someone to come to the house. Doing that three days a week allows me to run necessary errands, meet up occasionally with friends—including the half day I spent with Claire recently—and engage in other pleasurable activities, such as going to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which I need to do more often.

What do you think your mother would want if she were to have told you when she was in better health? I would be surprised she would expect you to take full responsibility, giving up all your plans and needs.

That’s easy. My mother frequently, if not daily, apologizes for being a burden on me, despite her dementia, and every time she prays she says to God “Thank you for Darryl. He is my son, and I love him very much.” She did and does not want for me to be in this situation, and my mother’s surviving sister is also very grateful for what I’m doing for her.

After working for over 47 years you’ve certainly deserved your retirement, Caroline! Let’s see…I started working full time in 1982, when I was 21. Subtract four years while I was in medical school, but not the three years of my pediatric residency, which should be at least twice that much, based on the 80-100 hours we had to work per week, that makes a 35 year personal work career from 1982 to 2021.

Edited to correct numerous typos.

>146 kjuliff: Your retirement situation is far harder than mine, Kate.

>148 kidzdoc: I'm glad to hear your brother is more engaged than I thought Darryl. I hope you will turn to him when you need to.

my retirement happened because the new program director decided to mainstream all of our sped preschoolers and place them with a large amount of typicals I hated leaving the kids but coulldnt work in that situation I did some subbing, bu tthen came covid spent lots of time reading afterwards I was meant with chronic pain that took a year to fix. i can d ance and garden again having fun keeping up on face book with lots of my former students who are now raising families. the circle of life is fun to watch

>142 kidzdoc: No, I imagine not. We saw that with Julie's father.

>142 kidzdoc: I certainly don’t feel retired
Yeah, you have a more than full time job. We had similar issues with my mother, aspiration and falling and hospitalization and confusion, but she was in a skilled care facility, so it was worry and phone calls and visits, but not 24/7 responsibility. Good that the day care option gives you some respite.

>150 Caroline_McElwee: Right, Caroline. Like my father I'm guilty of not asking for help unless I feel it's absolutely necessary.

>151 cindydavid4: That's a great story, Cindy. I'm glad that you and your former pupils are doing well.

>152 TadAD: Right, Tad.

>153 qebo: I may want to look into skilled care facilities at some point, Katherine, but certainly not yet. My mother gets troubled whenever she is in an unfamiliar environment without me being there with her, and even when I am by her side, as was the case early Tuesday morning when we were in a local ED after she aspirated a piece of a chicken nugget.

Congratulations on this big decision, Darryl. It sounds as if you've done the right things to ensure that it will have a good chance of working out financially. I hope it's what you wish for in other respects too.

>155 Jim53: Thanks, Jim. I did contribute close to the maximum amount to my employer's retirement plans for the 21 years that I worked there. When I looked at the raw numbers in those accounts last week it seemed that I had enough in them to retire, especially since I hadn't touched a dime of that money. I had my a Zoom meeting with my financial advisor yesterday, and we did a deep dive into my accounts, expenses and future plans, and he confirmed that I do have enough to last comfortably until I'm at least 93 yo as long as I stick within a reasonable budget, and my dream of retiring to Portugal after my mother eventually passes away is realistic after all. I don't have an extravagant lifestyle, and I don't have any dependents, so there shouldn't be any reason I can't stay within my current budget.

>156 kidzdoc: I didn't want to ask in case it was no longer possible, but I'm very glad your dream of retiring to Portugal is still feasible.

>157 RidgewayGirl: Thanks, Kay. My financial advisor asked me to name all of my plans and dreams, including the places where I was considering retirement. When I mentioned Portugal his eyes lit up—we were in a Zoom meeting—and he mentioned that moving to Portugal or Spain was absolutely within reach. I had mentioned the possibility of moving to central or northern New Jersey, but due to the high cost of living and state taxes on retirement income distributions, something that Pennsylvania does not do, he said that it would be far more costly to move there than to Portugal or Spain.

I am glad that you have the resources for retirement, though with all the caregiving you are doing, it hardly seems like retirement. I would echo those who recommend taking some time for yourself.

I have just retired myself, though I am hoping to do some part-time work. But I am hoping that retirement will give me time to focus getting things done; getting enough exercise, etc.

We have an excellent financial planner, so things are fine that way.

>158 kidzdoc: Do you have to pay tax in EU countries? I am aware that you’ll still have to pay IRS, but depending on your income did you financial advisor factor in taxes in the EU? I’m assuming they did, but the cost of medical insurance can be quite high for non-citizens of the EU, and medical costs are quite high for non-citizens there.

>159 banjo123: Congratulations on your retirement, Rhonda! I'm glad that you have an excellent financial planner; I've only met mine twice, but I'm pleased with him so far, in large part because he's a very good listener and presented me with options on how to access my funds and move some of it into higher yield accounts, if I wish to. I ordered a subscription to Kiplinger Personal Finance last week, to help me gain more knowledge about the stock market and investment strategies.

>160 kjuliff: We did not discuss EU taxes, Kate, and that isn't even a consideration at this early date; it's not like I'm looking to relocate to Portugal in the next couple of years, and it may never happen. I do know from talking with a longtime but no longer active LibraryThing member who I met when I visited Lisbon in 2018 that Portugal has a Golden Visa program that allows foreign investors to be placed on a fast track to citizenship there, with all the benefits that come with it, including free health care. Questions such as the ones you raised aren't on my radar screen yet!

Congratulations on your decision to retire, Darryl. I am glad you are getting some respite for your mother's care. I understand your desire to keep your mother at home as long as you can. My parents are in their 90s and still living at home, but they are still relatively healthy. I try to visit weekly and cook them meals. In many ways, I feel it's a blessing to be able to do that. Many of my friends no longer have parents.

>162 BLBera: Thanks, Beth. Actually I'm getting very little respite, roughly six hours each day that I take Mom to the adult day center, which is typically 12 or as much as 18 hours out of the 168 hours in a week.

Last night was rough, as she put most of her evening medications into the cup of water she uses to take them, and since she was sleepy after she had dinner I thought she would sleep soundly throughout the night. Wrong; she woke me up just after midnight (she wanted to go "home"), and again at 4 am (she was hungry, in large part because she put most of her cut up dinner sandwich into her mug that she normally drinks tea out of), and one last time around 5:30 am, as she wanted to talk with her "family." By not taking her evening meds she missed two in particular that help her sleep, melatonin and prazosin, and you can best be sure that I'll watch her like a hawk at dinner time tonight.

I'm glad that your parents are in good mental and physical health. I'm hard pressed to think of any of my friends who can say the same thing about both of their nonagenarian parents, and nearly all of my friends that are my age have buried at least one parent.

I think I'll get pick up chicken Pad Thai for lunch now, and get at least a two hour nap before I have to pick Mom; I'm exhausted. 🥱 😴

>163 kidzdoc: Reading about your activities with your dear mom even tires me out! I really like your plans for lunch and a nap, though, Darryl. Enjoy!

>164 SqueakyChu: Taking care of my mother can be utterly painful and exhausting at times, especially when she is mentally out of sorts and can't follow simple guidance. I did get a good hour long nap in, and Mom is having dinner now. I'm both too tired and not hungry enough to have dinner, so after I get her tucked into the couch she rests and sleeps on I'll go to bed early.

>130 qebo: Katherine, et al.: I have been so impressed with The New Retirement: The Ultimate Guide to the Rest of Your Life, the book I borrowed from my local library last week, that I ordered a copy of it from Amazon this weekend. It probably won't be the only retirement book I read or purchase — and I'm all ears if anyone has read one that they like — but this book is one I'll be underlining in and referring to heavily in these first weeks and months of my new retirement.

>164 SqueakyChu: Thankfully my mother slept through the night, as did I, so I'm much more refreshed today.

>166 kidzdoc: Back in the day of my sudden and unexpected retirement, I never thought of reading about it. I'm glad the books you are choosing now about retirement are helpful.

I was always interested in investing and the stock market and loved to fool with it from time to time. I remember having had a subscription to Kiplinger back then. :D Now I don't want to fool with my savings at all (nor do I want the rump regime to affect it in any way). I just want our meager savings to be there for us in the coming years. So far, so good.

Glad that today started out as a better day for your and your mom.

>167 SqueakyChu: I didn't think about reading any books on retirement until two weeks ago, when a review of my Fidelity employee-based retirement plans showed that I have enough money in those accounts and my Corebridge account to last me for the next 30 years (my financial advisor crafted a plan that has my money lasting until I'm 93-95:yo). I now have a completely different mindset than I had at the beginning of the month, and in my Facebook post I commented that I feel now as I did when I was first accepted into medical school at Pitt in 1993; it's both exciting and mildly stressful, and similar to then I want to read as much as I can to prepare for this next, and probably last, phase of my life.

My financial advisor also suggested becoming more knowledgeable about the stock market, so last week I subscribed to Kiplinger Financial Advisor. I should also see if there is a Stock Market for Dummies or similar book for the clueless investor 😂.

I'll also be paying much more attention to the S&P 500, the NASDAQ, the NYSE and other major markets here and abroad, and look at the effects on my retirement accounts at least once a week.

Today has been a great day do far, thank God.

I sympathize with you regarding the ups and downs of living with and trying to help your mother. I had the same problems. It seemed that the demands on my time were endless. Added to the pressure, in my case, was trying to live and maintain my own home in Alabama, so I was constantly on the road. I often thought that moving in with my mother would have made things easier, so I finally did so, only to find out that brought its own set of pressures. In my case, I felt like a guest instead of the person who was doing all the work and paying part of the bills as well. All I can say, is that some of those mornings I didn't think I would get through the day without exploding at somebody. It takes so much patience - and it is relentless and constant - to deal with this situation. It is doubly hard when it is your parent and you love that person, even if they often aren't the same person/parent.

>169 benitastrnad: Thanks, Benita. What helps is that most of our days are good ones, and my mother thanks me for all I'm doing for her, and frequently apologizes that she can't do the things she used to. After I told her that she was a good Mom earlier this morning she replied "I used to be," which made my heart clutch for a moment. Although I don't always succeed, especially over the past week, I have to separate the most important person in my life, my greatest fan and source of support from birth until a few years ago, from the person who struggles with dementia and is a major burden and source of stress and mental anguish. In the past I was a member of a dementia support group, whose members were mostly older than I was and were caring for a spouse with Alzheimer's disease — my mother has vascular dementia, which progresses much more slowly — and most of them were having a harder time than I was, although all of the group members acknowledged that I was having a tough go of it, particularly after I divulged that I had a serious mental health crisis 2½ years ago and was subsequently diagnosed with bipolar I disorder, along with generalized anxiety disorder.

I had a nice phone conversation with my cousin from Michigan the week before last, and, schedule permitting, she plans to spend time with us later this summer. The length of her visit will be dictated by her court schedule —I've probably mentioned that she is a defense attorney in suburban Detroit, who represents clients that need a public defender — so her schedule is based on the court docket, and the schedules of her fellow public defenders. If she can only stay 3-4 days then I'll probably stay here, especially since it's an 800 mile drive from here to Atlanta, but if she can stay for a week than I'll definitely go there.

>168 kidzdoc: I always found the stock market great fun. I never had much to invest, bit I always invested small amounts regularly with a few caveats. Never invest under a bad federal government (like now!). Always buy a particular stock for a good personal reason. Always invest in dividend-paying stocks and reinvest those dividends. Try to avoid selling stock (unless it is really horrible). Don't watch the ups and downs of the stock market with an eye to buy or sell. Never invest more money than you can afford to totally lose!

My fun stock account (I'm the fund manager!) is a very small stock account at Schwab which is not my retirement account. It is an account with minimal investment just so I could and can play in the stock market. It's been great fun to watch which stocks have done well and which have not and try to figure out why. Over many years, its worth has more than doubled, but it is really a pittance and not enough money to live on. Our retirement money/income (pension/SEP IRAs) is in mutual funds in a few large companies.

The reason I got into this at all was because in my youth, I had a mutual fund advisor whom I didn't like. She always had me investing in odd things that were bad. Once she had me invest in an oil drilling firm which went completely out of business and I lost all my money! At that time, I thought I could make better investment decisions than she could so I started reading up on how to do that. I'm fine with what I did. We're not rich, but as long as rump doesn't cheat us out of money (social security, medicare, health insurance), we should be fine. If he does do that, we will not be alone. I pray that day never comes.

>171 SqueakyChu: Thanks for that great advice, Madeline. I'll ideally want to invest in companies who share my personal values, although nothing too risky, and only invest a small portion of my entire portfolio.

My financial advisor wants me to log on to the Social Security website, in order to help determine when is the best time to apply for those benefits. I assumed that I should ideally wait until I turned 70, but that isn't necessarily the case.

I hope that Trump's omnibus bill doesn't adversely affect your retirement plans.

>172 kidzdoc: My original plan was to retire at 70 because I wanted to maximize my social security. Well, in the end it was out of my hands, so I was fortunate to have been 66, at which age I could collect social security (although not at the rate it would have been had I been able to work until I was 70). In the past I have seen people of all ages being "let go" from the same agency. I saw it so many times that I used to joke that I'd get a job at Barnes & Noble when my turn came. When my turn did come, I was already out of clinical practice for many years as I had been working in the auditing department and was already hearing disabled. I could not think of anything else to do then. Fortunately my husband was still relatively healthy and working so I continued to be administrator for our small contracting business. That lasted until 2020 when pandemic and his decreasing health led us to close our business. There is something to be said about choosing to close one's own business (even in stressful circumstances) rather than suddenly discover one no longer has a job! I still bear a deep and unceasing grudge against the corporate entity that RIFed me without advance notice even though I worked there almost 40 years.

My financial advisor wants me to log on to the Social Security website, in order to help determine when is the best time to apply for those benefits. I assumed that I should ideally wait until I turned 70, but that isn't necessarily the case.

If you have enough money saved to do what you would like to do in retirement, pick any age at which you want to start collecting that money. The money that we get from our retirement plans, I put into our checking account to pay our bills. My daughter thinks I should take that money out and invest it in CDs, but the retirement accounts are the ones that should be growing and are the ones that are fully invested. I want to keep a large bit of money liquid for unexpected events. Like now, my car died, and we're shopping for a used car for me. Medical expenses are another reason for having a liquid account into which to dip without having to sell anything, I'm not all into which account pays the highest interest. I'm into how to make our limited money work best for our lifestyle.

I hope that Trump's omnibus bill doesn't adversely affect your retirement plans.

Me, either! I just want to be able to live a normal life, continue to support ourselves, and never be dependent on our children. I have no other grandiose plans. (Hey! Thanks for making me think about this, Darryl, and helping me put it into words!)

While life hasn't quite gone how you hoped, I'm very pleased for you that your finances now allow you to officially "retire", Darryl. While I don't know the ins and outs of the US system (I'm not entirely sure I know much more about the UK), it sounds like you have a good financial adviser, as well.

>173 SqueakyChu: I'm sorry that your company suddenly kicked you to the curb after a 40 year career. I was very fortunate to stay employed by the same organization for 21 years, as I did know a small number of staff physicians who were suddenly let go after the corporate structure changed hands. You have every right to bear a grudge against them. I'm also sorry that José's health has declined.

Sadly I fear that many people, including thousands if not millions of MAGAts, will be deeply hurt by the effects of the omnibus bill on their personal finances, retirement income, or health care.

>173 SqueakyChu: The money that we get from our retirement plans, I put into our checking account to pay our bills. My daughter thinks I should take that money out and invest it in CDs, but the retirment accounts are the ones that should be growing and are the ones that are fully invested. I want to keep a large bit of money liquid for unexpected events.

That makes sense, Madeline. I'll definitely keep that in mind when I talk with Kyle, my financial advisor, next week. I cancelled this week's appointment with him this morning, as I wasn't able to complete the "homework" he gave me last week, due to my mother's health and being utterly exhausted and brain dead all day yesterday.

I have no other grandiose plans.

There is nothing wrong with that! I'll definitely want to travel domestically and internationally, mainly to visit LibraryThing and Real Life friends (although there are well over a dozen people who fit into both categories). I think the most likely landing place for me will be a retirement community either here in SE Pennsylvania or especially in suburban Atlanta, as I have far more friends there than anywhere else. Portugal would be a very nice place to live, as far as I know, but I would have to cultivate a new group of friends. That isn't a deal breaker, since I seem to make friends relatively quickly, but I would certainly want to spend a lot of time in the place(s) I'm considering before I make that jump. One other possibility would be to have a second place to spend time in Portugal, especially since flats are, from what little I know, incredibly inexpensive there, and a primary home in metro Atlanta or Philadelphia.

>174 elkiedee: Thanks, Luci. Yes, at this early stage I am pleased with my new financial advisor, who comes from one of the largest financial services companies in the US, as he is a good listener and so far has not put me under pressure to invest in certain stocks or other options.

I do want to return to the UK in the relatively near future, but that won't happen until my cousin from Michigan can stay with my mother for at least a week. I'm glad that I saw Claire a few weeks ago, but I seriously doubt that anyone else from the UK will come here without a good reason for doing so.

This year's Booker Prize longlist was announced earlier today in London, and from a first glance it looks like an exceptionally strong list of novels, at least in my opinion.

Love Forms by Claire Adam
The South by Tash Aw:
Universality by Natasha Brown
One Boat by Jonathan Buckley
Flashlight by Susan Choi
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
Audition by Katie Kitamura
The Rest of Our Lives by Benjamin Markovits
The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller
Endling by Maria Reva
Flesh by David Szalay
Seascraper by Benjamin Wood
Misinterpretation by Ledia Xhoga

The Guardian: Most global Booker prize longlist in a decade features Kiran Desai and Tash Aw

>178 kidzdoc: I was just coming here to tell you the longlist was announced and it does look good. I've only read one (Audition) and have Flashlight on my list of books I want to read, but the rest are new to me so it will be fun to explore the books. I'm glad it's so globally focused this year.

>179 RidgewayGirl: Exactly, Kay. Even the books written by this year's four American authors are more interesting to me than most in past years. I've requested Audition, Flesh and Flashlight from my local library, along with The South, which is on order. I loved Tash Aw's previously books, so I'm glad that his latest book made the longlist.

>180 kidzdoc: I haven't read anything by Tash Aw, so that looks like a good starting point for me.

Darryl, I said it elsewhere but congratulations on your retirement! Even though you're not exactly a man of leisure sitting around eating bon-bons, it still must feel good to be taking some things out of the equation.

>173 SqueakyChu: I'm also hoping to stick it out at my workplace until 70, but not sure that's going to happen. In my case, the company isn't too secure right now. I guess anything could happen.

That's a good reminder, though, that my company is giving us a free session with a financial advisor this summer, and I should jump on it. Last time I did that, a few years ago, the news was better than I thought it would be. I've always been an ostrich, but also pretty fiscally cautious as soon as I got myself out of credit card debt 15 years ago (including being super allergic to debt, period, now).

Sorry I missed the ALA planning conversation! But I was so crazy busy while I was there, I don't know if I'd have been able to get away. I did swing by and say hi to Tim on the exhibit floor. Next time!

ETA: I love this year's Booker list! Not least because I haven't read any of them, and don't know much about most of them. If I decide to explore it, that will definitely be fun.

>175 kidzdoc: I'm also sorry that José's health has declined.

Jose is fighting COPD and had a heart attack in 2001. As you know, COPD is progressive, but he has been pretty stable on his meds and just takes his activities slowly. His work as a concrete contractor required a lot of heavy work. He still manages to stay busy with household and car repairs as well as helping friends. I hope that helps him maintain good cardiac health.

My local library informed me yesterday that the first book I requested from this year's Booker Prize longlist, Flesh by David Szalay, is available, so after I picked it up this morning I'll start reading it today. I ordered three other longlist titles from the library, and I am planning to start reading The Hairdresser's Son by Gerbrand Bakker, the latest offering from Archipelago Books, with Kay at the beginning of this month, so I'll need to supercharge my reading speed ASAP.

Now that Theft, Abdulrazak Gurnah's latest novel, wasn't chosen for the Booker Prize longlist I'll put it aside for now.

If I didn't say so already, I found The New Retirement: The Ultimate Guide to the Rest of Your Life to be so useful I ordered a copy of it from Amazon, as I'll be referring to it heavily over the coming weeks, months, and possibly years. It will easily earn 5 stars from me.

>182 lisapeet: Thanks, Lisa! No, my new "job" is anything but leisurely, but knowing that having enough money to retire is not a problem, especially since I wasn't sure of that a few months ago and I was trying to figure out how to return to the workplace in some capacity, while caring for my mother at the same time, is a massive weight off of my shoulders, and as a result my mental health is much better now that it was for most of the spring and early summer.

I wish I had taken advantage of the free financial services provided by my employer, even though it may not have changed how I managed my portfolio. Had I done so I would have realized that I could have retired at a much earlier age, and perhaps come back home while my father was still alive to care for both of them on a full time basis, and encourage them to move into a retirement community. However, based on past conversations with them and talks with a dear friend of theirs, who was an invaluable source of support to my father while he was alive, it's very likely that my father would have rejected this help, especially since he was very upset that I cut back my hours at work in order to visit and help them out more often after his first major hospitalization and brush with death at the beginning of 2020. He was a very proud self made man who had a successful career despite facing numerous obstacles along the way, and being dependent on others was still difficult for him, even though he greatly appreciated it from those people he trusted and loved him the most.

>183 SqueakyChu: I'm sorry to hear that José is having major health problems, Madeline. I don't remember much about COPD, as I don't have any close relatives with it and hadn't seen any cases of pediatric COPD during my residency and practice. I do know that the leading cause by far is cigarette smoking, that genetic (alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency) and environmental (toxins, secondhand smoke) are also associated with it, and that it is a progressive disease. I'm glad that his condition is stable, though.

>183 SqueakyChu: Bingo on the smoking! He was a lifetime smoker since his teens until he contracted a bad case of the flu about 1995 in which his breathing was so bad that he gave up smoking cold turkey and hasn't touched a cigarette since then. Both my sister-in-law and Israeli aunt died of lung cancer after a lifetime of smoking. Sadly, I have a dear friend who is battling lung cancer now after a lifetime of smoking. I am always incredulous when I see a young person (or anyone, for that matter, smoking these days). Sure, it'll give you pleasure now, but you have no idea how you'll suffer for that pleasure in the future. Fortunately, none of my kids have ever smoked (one has asthma, so that would not have worked out well, anyhow!).

>185 SqueakyChu: That's also a shame about your friend, Madeline. We have, of course, known about the many risks of cigarette smoking since the 1960s, and the public campaigns that resulted from the famous Surgeon General's Report in 1964 led to a sharp decline in smoking shortly afterward. I vaguely but possibly falsely remember making posters in elementary school about the risk of smoking and bringing it home to show my father, who did smoke until the latter half of the 1960s — I'll have to ask my mother's younger sister if she remembers if I did this or not — but I do know that by the early 1970s my father, and none of my closest relatives, were still smoking. Unfortunately there has been a rise in cigarette use in teens and young adults recently, given the rise in e-cigarette use, and, similar to a current television ad, I did care for several teens who required hospitalization after developing a pneumothorax after vaping.

Although I certainly don't know her entire medical history I do wonder if our dear friend Anita Meulstee's death from a massive heart attack several years ago was related to her heavy smoking habit. I met her and Frank at least half a dozen times on my trips to The Netherlands, and she probably smoked at least 1-2 packs per day. I am very grateful to have spent quality time with her and Frank, as they were great ambassadors to me and other LTers who were equally fortunate to have met her, and her loss is a major one to Frank, especially since he had just retired before she died.

I think this is a good time to start a new thread.

>184 kidzdoc: ooo, a new Gerbrand Bakker, thanks for the heads up Darryl.