Beth's Reading Spot (BLBera) - Part 3

Library at Dunrobin castle
I'd lose the rugs but otherwise, I could read here.

My name is Beth, and I am a recently retired English instructor. I love retirement, especially being able to travel during the school year! This year I have been to Scotland and Iceland. Besides travel and reading, I also like to sew and spend time with my granddaughter Scout -- who is ELEVEN. She is almost as tall as I am.

I read eclectically, mostly fiction, but I do tend to always have a volume of poetry and a book of essays going as well. I belong to a book club that has been going since 2002, and I do group reads here on LT. Otherwise I don't plan my reading. I always resolve to read more from my shelves, but those shiny new library books do distract me.

In 2025 I plan to continue my rereading of Shakespeare's plays and I hope to read some books set in Scotland and Iceland as well.

Currently Reading

Plans?
Book Club
July: The Marriage Portrait ✔️
August: Hell and Other Destinations ✔️
September: The Safekeep ✔️
October: AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future
November: Foster
December: Persuasion

Shared Reads LT
June: The Mighty Red ✔️
July: The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida ✔️
August: Saint Mazie ✔️
September: THe Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois
October: Solito

Women's Prize for nonfiction longlist - alphabetical order by author surname:

Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World by Anne Applebaum
Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age by Eleanor Barraclough
The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV by Helen Castor
A Thousand Threads by Neneh Cherry SL
The Story of a Heart by Rachel Clarke WINNER
Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton SL
Ootlin by Jenni Fagan
Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller
Agent Zo: The Untold Story of Fearless WW2 Resistance Fighter Elżbieta Zawacka by Clare Mulley SL
By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land by Rebecca Nagle
Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin by Sue Prideaux
What the Wild Sea Can Be: The Future of the World’s Ocean by Helen Scales SL
The Peepshow: The Murders at 10 Rillington Place by Kate Summerscale
Sister in Law: Fighting for Justice in a System Designed by Men by Harriet Wistrich
Tracker by Alexis Wright
Private Revolutions: Coming of Age in a New China by Yuan Yang SL

Plans - part 2

The Women's Prize for Fiction longlist for this year!
https://womensprize.com/prizes/womens-prize-for-fiction/

Tell Me Everything SL ✔️
Nesting ✔️
Birding
All Fours SL
Dream Count ✔️
The Ministry of Time ✔️
The Dream Hotel ✔️
The Persians SL
The Safekeep SL WINNER ✔️
Somewhere Else by Jenni Daiches
A Little Trickerie
Amma
Good Girl SL
Fundamentally Nussaibah Younis SL ✔️
Crooked Seeds
The Artist Lucy Steeds

The Booker Prize 2025 longlist

• Love Forms by Claire Adam
• The South by Tash Aw
• Universality  by Natasha Brown
• One Boat by Jonathan Buckley 
• Flashlight by Susan Choi SL
• The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny  by Kiran Desai SL
• Audition by Katie Kitamura  SL
• The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits SL
• The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller SL
• Endling by Maria Reva 
• Flesh by David Szalay SL
• Seascraper by Benjamin Wood
Misinterpretation by Ledia Xhoga 
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Read in 2025
🎓June🎓
46. Three Days in June 🎧
47. The Mighty Red*
48. Going Rogue 🎧
49. The Dream Hotel 💜
50. Visitation*
51. The Wedding People
52. Small Bomb at Dimperley*💜
53. Richard III*

June reading
Books read: 8
By women: 7
By men: 1

Novels: 7
Play: 1
Translation: 1

From my shelves: 4
Library: 4

⛱️July⛱️
54. Fundamentally
55. Love's Labor's Lost*
56. The Creak on the Stairs*
57. The Marriage Portrait* REREAD
58. Romeo and Juliet*
59. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida*
60. To Track a Traitor
61. Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio*
62. J Is for Judgment 🎧
63. The Elements* 💜

July reading
Books read: 10
By women: 5
By men: 5

Novels: 8
Plays: 2
Translation: 2

From my shelves: 7
Library: 3

☀️August☀️
64. The Small and the Mighty 🎧
65. Saint Mazie*
66. The Paris Express 💜
67. Hell and Other Destinations*
68. 33 Place Brugmann
69. Plaid and Plagiarism*
70. White Nights🎧
71. Theory & Practice
72. Scotland: The Story of a Nation*
73. Nesting 💜
74. The Eyes and the Impossible* 🎧 💜
75. A Midsummer Night's Dream*
76. Prince of Darkness*

August reading
Books read: 13
By women: 10
By men: 3

Novels: 9
Play: 1
Nonfiction: 2
Memoir: 1

📗September📗
77. The Safekeep*
78. Richard II*
79. A Life of One's Own*
80. Tilt
81. French Leave*
82. The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin 🎧
83. A Game of Sorrows*

* From my shelves
💜 Favorite

Read in 2025
❄️January❄️
1. The Shadow Murders
2. The Serviceberry 🎧
3. Three Guineas*
4. A Small Place
5. There Are Rivers in the Sky 💜
6. The Ministry of Time
7. The Philosophy of Modern Song*
8. The Measure* 🎧
9. Framed in Fire
10. Blackwater Falls*
11. The Two Gentlemen of Verona*

January Reading
Books read: 11
By women: 8
By men: 3

Novels: 6
Translation: 1
Essays: 3
Memoir: 1
Play: 1

From my shelf: 5
Library: 6

💌February💌
12. Catalina 💜
13. The Children of Sisyphus*
14. The Comedy of Errors*
15. Lud-in-the-Mist*
16. Glass Houses
17. My Good Bright Wolf 💜
18. Locked In*
19. Another Life
20. A Presumption of Death 🎧
21. James 💜

February Reading
Books read: 10
By women: 5
By men: 5

Novels: 7
Play: 1
Memoir: 1
Poetry/memoir: 1
Translation: 1

From my shelves: 4
Library: 6

* From my shelves
💜 Favorite

Read in 2025
🍀March🍀
22. How to Solve Your Own Murder*
23. A House for Mr. Biswas*
24. The Attenbury Emeralds* REREAD
25. The Night War 🎧
26. Silas Marner
27. Titus Andronicus*
28. The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies 🎧
29. Gliff 💜
30. Novelist as a Vocation*
31. Passiontide 💜
32. Henry VI, Part 1*
33. Creation Lake 💜

March Reading
Books read: 12
By women: 8
By men: 4

Novels: 9
Essays: 1
Plays: 2

Library: 6
From my shelves: 6

☔️April☔️
34. Henry VI Part 2*
35. Lethal Prey 🎧
36. Dream Count
37. Henry VI Part 3*
38. The Husbands*
39. Humanly Possible* 💜
40. Game On 🎧
41. Oh Pure and Radiant Heart* 💜

April Reading
Books read: 8
By women: 5
By men: 3

Novels: 5
Plays: 2
Nonfiction: 1

Library: 3
From my shelves: 5

🪷May🪷
42. Macbeth*
43. In This House of Brede* 💜
44. 1979*
45. The Redemption of Alexander Seaton*

May Reading
Books read: 4
By women: 3
By men: 1

Novels: 3
Play: 1

From my shelves: 4

* From my shelves
💜 Favorite

You Must Read This
I read this earlier this year and am disappointed that it wasn't on the longlist for the Women's Prize for Fiction. It is better than any of the novels from the list I've read to date. Here are my comments.



Passiontide
The morning after the end of carnival on the island of St. Colibri, a young Japanese woman, a steel pan player, is found dead, murdered. It's a common occurrence on the small island; murders of women are common and usually go unsolved and unpunished. But this time, some of the women on the island want a different outcome, and Lent becomes a time to demand justice.

Monique Roffey, in her author's note, says all the characters are fictional, but the novel was inspired by the death of steel pan player Asami Nagakiya in 2016 in Port of Spain, Trinidad. She also notes that femicide is a world problem.

Roffey makes me care about the women in this novel: Gigi, a middle-aged prostitute who is trying to organize the sex workers of the island; Tara, a gay activist; and Sharleen, a journalist who is tired of writing the same story over and over. Roffey shows how a movement can start with small actions.

It's an important story, and I found the novel engrossing and important.

I LOVE the cover.

This is my first novel by Roffey, but it won't be my last one.

Some photos from my recent trip to Scotland and Iceland:

One of my favorite spots was Skara Brae and the Stone Age ruins.


One of the most beautiful places was the Isle of Skye

Sounds like a great trip Beth. Welcome home!

Great pictures from Scotland, Beth!

Happy new thread Beth. Love the pictures of your trip!

Your trip to Scotland looks and sounds amazing, Beth. My husband and I were blown away by our trip there way back in 2001 when our daughter and her husband were living and working in the London area. We visited them twice and go to see many wonderful things, but Edinburgh was our favorite.

I see where In this House of Brede got the purple star for May. I still have my book sitting on my bedside table and will try to read it when I get through my little haul of library books.

>10 BLBera: Looks like a wonderful place to visit! Such a fantastic landscape.

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread, Beth!

>7 BLBera: In This House of Brede I read long ago, but I still recall a few details, which is very unusual.

>8 BLBera: BB!

Happy new thread, Beth.

Thanks for the lovely photos. The Isle of Skye is indeed beautiful.

>1 BLBera: Great topper. I think I would spend hours pouring over the tomes rather than reading......but eventually............

Gorgeous pictures, Beth. Your trip sounds amazing! Hard to believe we are coming up to halfway through the year already!

Happy new thread, Beth!

>11 markon: Thanks Ardene. It was a lot of fun.

>12 banjo123: Thanks Rhonda. Now I need to organize them.

>13 Familyhistorian: Thanks Meg.

>14 Donna828: Edinburgh is amazing, Donna. I would like to spend more time there. I think In This House of Brede is one that you will like. I hope you are doing well.

>15 figsfromthistle: Hi Anita. The landscape was very dramatic, certainly a change from Minnesota, which is very flat.

>16 quondame: Thanks Susan. I am still thinking about Passiontide.

>17 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul. Yes, I had fun trying to read the titles of the books. Most libraries we saw had a lot of Scott.

>18 DeltaQueen50: Thanks Judy. Yes, time is flying by again this year.

>19 alcottacre: Thanks Stasia.

I hope I didn't miss anyone.

Happy new thread!

Thanks Jim.

Was THE OUTLANDER Tour mentioned in Scotland?

The online Scotland shop has just released an OUTLANDER Tartan.

Yes, people did mention The Outlander. Since I have never seen it, it went over my head.

I love seeing your photos from your trip, Beth. I agree that Isle of Skye is breathtaking. I've never been to Skara Brae but it looks fascinating.

Making note of In This House of Brede....

Happy New Thread, Beth! I shall go back to your previous thread and check out more of your gorgeous pictures of Scotland. I am so glad you had such an enjoyable time. I've read 6 books from the Longlist , 4 of them made the short list as well.

I love seeing the photos of Skara Brae. The girls and I studied it a bit, earlier in our history course.

>25 BLBera: Both THE OUTLANDER book and movie are challenging fun!

>26 EBT1002: I would love to spend more time on the Orkneys, Ellen. The ruins are amazing.

>27 vancouverdeb: Thanks Deborah. I had a great time. I am way behind on Women's Prize reading, but I will get to the ones that appeal eventually.

>28 labfs39: It was an amazing spot, Lisa. The ruins are older than the pyramids!

>29 m.belljackson: I will check it out.

Happy new thread! I loved seeing the Scotland and Iceland pictures on your previous thread. An old friend bequeathed me her collection of Scotland magazines to use for collage and it is a fascinating country.

Your travels must have been wonderful Beth! Love the photos! I’ve recently been to both Iceland and Skye in my books, but alas, only in my reading. Some day!

Three Days in June

"That's something you forget when you've been on your own awhile: those married-couple conversations that continue intermittently for weeks sometimes branching out and doubling back and looping into earlier strands like a piece of crochet work."

Anne Tyler's genius is in portraying character and relationships. In the short novel Three Days in June, she gives us a character study of sixty-two-year-old Gail Baines as she prepares for her daughter's wedding. Gail is the narrator and though the only real description we ever get of her is that she's not a "people person," by the end, we know Gail very well.

I am a fan of Tyler and enjoyed this novel very much. Recommended for those interested in character studies.

>31 witchyrichy: Thanks Karen. Scotland is a beautiful country with lots o fascinating history. I would love to go back.

>32 Copperskye: Hi Joanne. It is wonderful to travel in books, but I do enjoy seeing places I've read about.

>33 BLBera: Don't think I've ever read anything by Tyler -- sounds like I'll have to rectify that.

You should give her a try, Reba. She has written quite a few novels.

Macbeth
Macbeth is a short play, filled with action. Some people believe there are missing parts. It is regarded as an unlucky play.

The play shows the dangers of unlimited ambition. Macbeth and his wife are willing to murder to get what they want, but as a result, Macbeth can’t sleep and Lady Macbeth goes mad.
The play has wonderful language, lots of familiar phrases. Maybe my favorite speech is Macbeth’s response to hearing of his wife’s death:
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out brief candle.
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

The play is difficult to stage; I’ve seen it a couple of times and have never found it satisfying.

What the critics say:

W. H. Auden
Auden says it’s Shakespeare’s “best known play” and that it’s hard to say anything new about it.
He focuses on three threads that run through the play:
• Murder
• Nature of time and fate
• Three communities: (light; darkness and malice; humans)
Murder sets the murderer apart from society.

In Macbeth “the streak of goodness…causes pathos and suffering…What Macbeth does can only be done without suffering if it is entirely malicious.”

There is a difference between classical and Christian ideas about fate/prophesy – “the Christian view is that man has free will…that what will happen is not the same as what ought to happen.”

Macbeth tries to control the future: “The whole sequence of past, present, and future is broken for them, and so, too, is the circular revolution of natural time, of sleeping and waking.”

Lots of darkness in the play and we see lots of contrast between darkness and light, both internal and external.

Auden says the motivation for Macduff’s flight is not clear, a sign, for him, that something is missing from the play.

Frank Kermode – Shakespeare’s Language
The only authoritative text is the 1623 Folio – yet the songs in Acts III and IV are not by Shakespeare and there are indications that things have been cut.

Topical allusions place the play at around 1606.
Kermode, like Auden, mentions that time is a preoccupation of the play: “Macbeth is a play of prophecy focused, with great concentration, on the desire to feel the future in the instant, to be transported ‘beyond the ignorant present.'"

“The Macbeths, and the reader, are pinned down by an urgent poetry to a present moment that has no content or meaning save in its fantasies of the future."

Kermode points out important words/themes in Macbeth:
• Time
• Man(lines)
• Done
• Blood
• Darkness

Shakespeare and Modern Culture - Marjorie Garber
Macbeth has often intersected with political events and stage history. There was a riot in NYC in the 19th century over interpretations of the play. It was Lincoln’s favorite play.
Lady Macbeth seems to be a prototype for women with power, e.g. Hilary Clinton, Margaret Thatcher, Condoleezza Rice, Nancy Pelosi…
“…Lady Macbeth has become the modern day macro for a powerful woman who scares men.”

“Interpretation and its risks and dangers are at the heart of the play." What the witches say demands multiple interpretations.

Shakespeare After All by Marjorie Garber
The play’s setting and the witches are meant to appeal to King James.

“The witches are both inside and outside the mind of the protagonist.” The witches are ambiguous and impossible to “interpret.”

Equivocation is a key idea of the play.
Doubleness is everywhere.

“The play becomes an examination not of whether he will do the deed, but of whwat the deed will do to him.” There is internal debate at the beginning but then Macbeth turns into a monster. The opposite happens to Lady Macbeth. She is certain at the beginning but guilt overtakes her.

Garber says Lady Macbeth is the strongest character in the play.

The play contrasts Scotland (bloody Macbeth) and England (saintly Edward).

Kenji Yoshino
Yoshino focuses on the idea of natural justice in the play, which he says doesn’t exist in real life. This focus, Yoshino says, makes the play oddly comforting: “Justice is not a natural phenomenon but a fragile human achievement. We seem to need constant reminders of this simple truth. I seek to provide such a reminder in posting that the play is much brighter and the world much darker than we seem to think.”

Yoshino mentions that Shakespeare deviates from historical fact quite a bit in the play – in reality Duncan wasn’t as good and Macbeth wasn’t as bad.

Yoshino says the play is propaganda meant to flatter King James, and he says it’s important to read the play in context. One possible context is that of the Gunpowder Plot.

“In works of art like Macbeth, justice is an expression of the natural order of the universe. But to import that assumption into our daily lives is to invite complacency. If we are sure that justice will be done, we are much less likely to take action.”

Next: Richard III

>33 BLBera: I loved Three Days in June too, Beth. I liked this comment, "Gail is the narrator and though the only real description we ever get of her is that she's not a "people person," by the end, we know Gail very well." Tyler does that sort of thing very well.

>35 RebaRelishesReading:, >36 BLBera: Seconding Beth's recommendation, Reba!

Hi Laura. Tyler is great with characters, isn't she?

>37 BLBera: Thanks for taking the time to summarize the criticism for us, Beth.

>37 BLBera: What a wonderful post. And thank you for sharing that quote. So many of his most famous phrases all in one relatively brief speech.

>36 BLBera:, >38 lauralkeet: Ok she's on the list for the next trip to the bookstore

>40 labfs39: You are welcome, Lisa. I am a bit of a nerd; I really enjoy reading the critical essays about things I've read.

>41 EBT1002: Thanks Ellen. It is a rewarding play to read; I would like to see a good version staged.

>42 RebaRelishesReading: I will watch for your comments.

I hope you're still enjoying The Mighty Red.

>33 BLBera: Another Tyler fan here, Beth. I hope to get to her latest fairly soon.

>44 EBT1002: I really enjoyed it, Ellen. But I almost always do with Edrich.

>45 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul. I will watch for your comments.

The Mighty Red
The Mighty Red refers to the northern Red River that runs north and is the border between Minnesota and North Dakota. Once an extremely fertile place, the concentrated cultivation of sugar beets and the chemicals used to increase production have decimated insect and bird life along the river. In her latest novel, Louise Erdrich uses the environment as metaphor. As with the environment, people may have done things to make their lives toxic, but both the earth and people can bounce back.

The story centers on Gary Geist and Kismet Poe. Gary, quarterback and privileged son of some of the biggest land owners in the community, has made a disastrous mistake, and he sees redemption in Kismet. Kismet's mother Crystal hauls beets from the fields to the factory. When Gary decides he wants to marry Kismet, Crystal is opposed, but her personal life has been upended as well, so she is distracted.

I liked the people although usually I find it hard to care much about teen angst. Erdrich, though, is so generous with her characters that she makes me care about them as well.

I really enjoyed the novel although I still like her early work better. I found the novel hopeful.

My book club chose our books for the rest of the year:

Book Club
July: The Marriage Portrait
August: Hell and Other Destinations
September: The Safekeep
October: AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future
November: Foster
December: Persuasion

I've read The Marriage Portrait, Foster, and Persuasion but I am fine with rereading them.

>48 BLBera: I have read The Safekeep and Foster and many years ago, Persuasion from your book club list. I hope you enjoy all of the books, and glad you don't mind a re- read , Beth.

>33 BLBera: Adding Tyler to the TBR list. I love her work.

>37 BLBera: This is a terrific review of the play. Thank you for taking the time to put it together.

>48 BLBera: Great list. I love that you all selected Persuasion. I've never read an Austen for a book group and it seems like it would be interesting. I loved Foster and The Marriage Portrait and liked The Safekeep.

We should have an interesting discussion about The Mighty Red!

>49 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah. I often have to reread books for book club, Deborah. Most of the time I don't mind.

>50 witchyrichy: Thanks, Karen. It helps me to write about the criticism I read.

>51 EBT1002: I am happy with the list, Ellen. I kind of wish they would choose more things I hadn't already read, but this happens quite a lot. At least this time the ones I will be rereading are books I have loved.

I am looking forward to our conversation about The Mighty Red. How is your visit with your sister going? Are you getting a lot of reading done?

>48 BLBera: - That is a good list. I wish my book club would choose books for multiple months at a time, as it would make my planning easier :)

I keep forgetting about the Albright memoir. I really liked her Prague Winter.

>48 BLBera: I have read four of those Beth, the three you mention (just reread Persuasion), plus Safekeep.

>52 BLBera: I suppose this is what happens when you are such an avid (and, I might add, rather speedy) reader!

>52 BLBera: I'm going to get more reading done in these two weeks than I have been getting done in any other two weeks this year. It helps that my sister is an avid reader and that there are just fewer distractions. We are having dinner with various friends of hers most evenings but otherwise our schedules are rather open. It will be interesting to see how things are after the surgery. I imagine she will sleep a lot for the first couple days so that will be good reading and painting time.

>53 katiekrug: It is nice to have several months' books to plan for, Katie. I haven't read any of Albright's memoirs, so I am looking forward to this one.

>54 Caroline_McElwee: I am looking forward to The Safekeep, Caroline. And I don't mind rereading the others.

>55 EBT1002: I think you are right, Ellen. It always seems like I've already read about one fourth of our choices. It's great to have concentrated reading time. Since I came back from Europe with a respiratory infection, I have had quiet time to read, and I was ready to make up for not much reading while on my trip.

The Dream Hotel

I haven't loved Laila Lalami's fiction - both The Moor's Account and The Other Americans were OK, but I found they were not novels I thought about after I finished them. I did love her collection of essays Conditional Citizens so I decided to give The Dream Hotel a chance, plus the description piqued my interest. I am so glad I read this novel, perhaps in part because it is so relevant to the time in which we currently live, but also because the protagonist Sara Hussein is such a great character.

Sara is stopped at Customs as she returns to LA from London after attending a conference. She has been away five days and is eager to return home to her husband and twin babies. Sara is detained because her "risk" score is too high. She hasn't committed a crime, but various factors gathered from electronic surveillance and from her dreams lead officials to believe she might harm her husband. She is committed to a facility for twenty-one days for observation. Although the officials at the facility are quick to say it's not a prison -- it's a prison. Sara has limited access to outside communications and a lawyer and is subject to discipline for breaking arbitrary rules. This maybe wouldn't be so chilling if it weren't happening now. Although the novel takes place in the future and we might scoff at laws enabling the detention of people who "might" commit a crime, it doesn't seem unrealistic:

"That they have committed no crime is beside the point. In any case crime is relative, its boundaries shifting in service of the people in power."

Lalami keeps the tension high as Sara starts to understand her situation. She is a likable and believable character, and I enjoyed following her progress through the novel.

Recommended for those who like speculative fiction and have the stomach to read about a system of injustice that seems all too real.

This is my favorite read so far from the Women's Prize longlist.

>58 BLBera: - Good comments, Beth. I'm glad it was a winner for you, too.

>58 BLBera: Sounds excellent, Beth, but also sounds nightmare producing! I'm angry/worried/upset enough as it is ... will have to give it more thought.

>58 BLBera: This sounds excellent and entirely not what I want to have more of in my head during these times.

>59 katiekrug: Thanks Katie.

>60 RebaRelishesReading: I understand, Reba. On the other hand, it might not have been such a powerful book if we weren't where we are right now.

>61 quondame: Hi Susan. I get it.

>58 BLBera: I am glad you enjoyed The Dream Hotel, Beth. I'm not really a fan of speculative fiction, but this sounds interesting and a little too true to life. Great comments.

Sorry to hear about the respiratory infection but I'm glad you feel well enough to read.

I'm putting The Dream Hotel on hold at the library....

>58 BLBera: I'm reading (and loving) The Light Pirate, but it's giving me similar ominous vibes about climate change. So despite your tempting review, I will hold off on reading The Dream Hotel.

>63 vancouverdeb: I love speculative fiction, Deborah and thought The Dream Hotel was really well done.

>64 EBT1002: Thanks Ellen. I am improving. I think you will like The Dream Hotel.

>65 lauralkeet: I know what you mean, Laura. I can't read a lot of speculative fiction at once. Read something happier after The Light Pirate. I am so glad it is getting some recognition.

Beth, the news out of Minnesota is so terrible.

It is terrible, Rhonda. I hope they catch the guy before he kills anyone else.

Thinking of you and all our compatriots in Minnesota. I hope they catch the guy; it's worrisome to have him at large. It was otherwise a relatively peaceful day of protests (I saw something about a killing in Utah, also by a right-wing assailant, but haven't been able to get confirmation). Sigh.

I hope you have a good Sunday. I've been reading the Patchett essays with a short break for a tiny watercolor painting.

Thanks Ellen. It was/is terrible. Because he had fliers for the "No King" protests in his car, they wanted to cancel them, but they went ahead with it here. I didn't go because of this darn virus I can't seem to kick, but my daughter went, so I was worried. I hope they find him before he kills anyone else.

Best sign my daughter saw: No Faux King Way. :)

>58 BLBera: Thanks for the review of The Dream Hotel. You reminded me that I had this one on my radar but it looks like a lot of other people did too. It's going to take a while to get from the library. I hope you feel better soon, Beth.

>70 BLBera: Sorry you're not well, Beth.
The news is so shocking.

The Dream Hotel felt very plausible to me, and even more scary for it.

I loved the Tyler, but am quite glad my bookgroup didn't decide to choose it for next month's read.

>71 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg. I did wait for it for a long time, and the check-out time was shortened because there was still a long list.

>72 charl08: Hi Charlotte. I agree about The Dream Hotel. We are living in a dystopia. I am feeling better. It's just annoying to have a cough that doesn't seem to want to go away.

>70 BLBera: I heard about that sign (or it's twin somewhere) and have written it down to make a sign for the next protest. So clever!

>70 BLBera: I saw that sign in Portland, Maine at a rally too. Others I liked were a picture of the Statue of Liberty that read "I'll with Her", "We the People are Pissed", and "My grandfather fought fascism, now it's my turn." And my favorite: "It's so bad even the introverts are here."

I also love that more than 80K people reportedly marched in protest in Minneapolis-St. Paul. It took courage and it was an important message: "We will not be silenced by fear!!"

>74 RebaRelishesReading: Yes, it is very clever.

>75 labfs39: I love all of those, Lisa. I also saw one that said, "Not a paid protester. I hate Trump for free." The one about introverts would be my sign.

>76 EBT1002: Yes, and thank goodness they caught the guy.

Visitation
This novel is aptly named. It works with the same concept as The Red Garden and North Woods, taking a place and following it through history, but Erpenbeck's execution is better than either Hoffman's or Mason's books. Her focus is the place, never the people, who are mere visitors.

This lovely poetic little novel tells the story of people's brief visits to a forested lake outside of Berlin. The only character who recurs through the novel is the Gardener, whose main concern is the land. We see the changes that occur during the twentieth century, witnessing the inhumanity of war. And while people and their manmade structures come and go, the land is always there.

The translation is excellent; it captures the poetic language and the reflective tone perfectly.

I love the cover. What a gem.

>78 BLBera: looks like a great read! Happy rest of the week

>78 BLBera: Sounds interesting, Beth. I'll keep a look out for it.

>78 BLBera: Have you read Kairos, Beth? It's been on my list for a while but I haven't gotten to it. I'm really interested in reading about East Germany.

>78 BLBera: That one sounds so interesting and good Beth but sadly my library system does not have it.
But, I have put in a purchase request so thank you!

>79 figsfromthistle: I really liked it, Anita. If you don't need a plot, it might be for you.

>80 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah. It is beautifully written.

>81 vivians: I haven't read Kairos, Vivian. I started it, but the young girl/older man thing wasn't working so I returned it to the library. I might give it another try. I do like Erpenbeck's writing.

>82 mdoris: It's an older one, Mary, and translated, so libraries might not have it.

Bibliotherapy!

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250616-how-bibliotherapy-can-both-help-and-...

I was thinking of you this weekend, Beth, such a terrible thing to have happened. A relief that he was caught.

>33 BLBera: I’m glad to see you enjoyed Three Days in June! I’m thinking about rereading A Patchwork Planet this summer.

>84 BLBera: That was an interesting article, thanks for sharing it!

>85 Copperskye: Thanks Joanne. I don't think I've read A Patchwork Planet...

Hi! I was wondering how your trip was... that looks amazing! I'll have to wheedle more details out of you.

That was a great criticism roundup for Macbeth. Did you ever see the Coen Brothers' The Tragedy of Macbeth? We saw that a few years ago (on New Year's Day!) and I remember wishing I had read deeper into that kind of background materials. It's a dense play.

>87 lisapeet: Hi Lisa. Belated Happy Birthday. My trip was great. Scotland is beautiful with an interesting history. I especially loved the highlands. Perhaps the Orkneys was my favorite place. The Stone Age ruins are pretty spectacular.

I am really enjoying my reread of Shakespeare. I never saw the Coen Brothers' Macbeth. I will look for it. I've seen it on stage a couple of times and was never wowed by the plays I've seen.

51.The Wedding People
I really enjoyed this story of forty-year-old English professor Phoebe Stone. I am a bit of a sucker for novels about English teachers...

Phoebe is going through a transition; Her husband left her after having an affair with Phoebe's best friend; her book that might get her a tenure-track job is not going well; COVID has not helped her loneliness or depression. So, after an encounter with her ex on the first day of class, Phoebe runs away. She books a flight to a super expensive hotel on the East Coast, intending to kill herself in luxury.

When she arrives, she finds herself in the middle of a wedding party.

As Phoebe becomes more and more involved with Lila, the bride-to-be and the groom, Gary, she starts to feel that her life can change.

Espach creates characters that are likable and real, and also made me laugh. This would be a great book for the beach or a summer break.

Hello Beth! Your thread(s) are wonderlands of glorious photos and great books. It looks like your trip was wodnerful, and though you said it was cold (Orkney) from the photos it looks like you had good weather? Or at least dry weather?

Here are the books I saw on your thread that I now have on my list:
Dream Hotel
Visitation
The Wedding People
Passiontide

I hope your weekend is a good one.

Hi Anne! They are all good ones. I hope you enjoy them. Orkney was really the only cold day. The weather was perfect, sunny and not too hot.

My daughter just told me that she and Scout are reading The Night War -- thanks again -- and loving it. I told her about Fipps and the banned book novel and she thought that Scout might like both of those. They are going to check out library copies, I guess.

52. Small Bomb at Dimperley
I love Lissa Evans. In Small Bomb at Dimperley, she once again takes a moment in history, and through her sympathetic portrayal of character, shows us the effects of a great societal change.

WWII is over, and Corporal Valentine Vere-Thisset has just learned that his older brother is dead, and he is now the baronet, responsible for the huge, falling-down house at Dimperley. There are estate taxes and no money. Valentin'e mother, Irene, thinks the solution is the traditional one; Valentine must marry money. But times are changing, and Valentine looks for help outside his class for a solution.

This quest makes for an entertaining story, while at the same time showing us that in times of change, there are possibilities.

>92 BLBera: Sharing the love for Lissa Evans, Beth! This one is on my UK purchase list for next month. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I just finished The Redemption of Alexander Seaton and thought it was terrific - thanks again! I'll be looking for the next installments and will gladly share them with you.

>92 BLBera: Glad you loved this too. I tried to delay reading this for as long as I could, knowing it would be a good one.

>93 vivians: Thanks Vivian. I purchased the ebooks of the Seaton series. It is SUCH good historical fiction. The Lissa Evans book is so clever, such a good picture of the time, with such generosity to her characters.

>94 charl08: I know, Charlotte. I think I heard about this on your thread. I still have V for Victory to read; I am saving that one. Maybe.

Sorry to hear you have been sick. Rest and read and paint if you have the energy.

>92 BLBera: >93 vivians: Added to my TBR along with the Seaton series.

>92 BLBera: I also really enjoyed Small Bomb at Dimperly, Beth. V for Victory is very good too.

>96 witchyrichy: Hi Karen. My cough is finally better; I think it took longer because of the poor air quality. I love Lissa Evans.

>97 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah. Evans is great. I am looking forward to V for Victory.

I'm sorry you've been ill too, Beth. I'm glad that you can finally see some improvement!

I'm also a different grade of sorry for not having visited in so long. You do so much interesting reading that I've cheated myself by not coming here. Nor did I know that you have recently traveled to Scotland and Iceland. Wow! My biggest block (but not as big as I thought it was) of genes comes from Scotland, which I knew, but I also have 2% from Iceland, a fact that I didn't know. How on earth????

Hi Peggy. I am better, thanks.

Richard III
The play
The character of Richard dominates the play, which makes the actor who plays Richard so important (kind of like Hamlet). I’ve only seen the play on stage once, and the actor who played Richard wasn’t very convincing, which ruined the play for me.

From the beginning, from his first soliloquy (“The winter of our discontent”) in the first scene, we see Richard scheme to gain the throne. He hides his motives from those around him very well, many of whom underestimate him because of his appearance. He seems to thrive on challenges, such as wooing Anne in the presence of her dead father-in-law.

This is a long play, and Act IV with Richard’s mother, sister-in-law, and Queen Margaret goes on forever.

W. H. Auden
Auden mostly talks about the character of Richard and what motivates him. Auden has an interesting take on this; he thinks Richard is motivated by challenges: “He’s not interested in becoming king for the position of power, but because becoming king is so difficult.” The same goes for winning Anne.

Auden also says that Richard is very self-aware. He knows he’s a villain.

Marjorie Garber Shakespeare After All
Garber also focuses on the character of Richard in her comments. She says, “Shakespeare’s Richard is the creation of a powerful political as well as dramatic imagination.” What we know or think we know about Richard mostly comes from this play. In reality, Richard wasn’t a hunchback, didn’t have a withered arm, and wasn’t born with a full set of teeth – all inventions of the Tudors.

Richard is an actor, in the play he speaks in two voices, “two personae, public and private.”

Themes for the play are present in the opening first soliloquy:
• Sun and shadow
• War and love
• Men and women
• Virtue and villainy
• Proportion and deformity

Margaret’s curse becomes the plot of the play and is referred to over and over.

We see a medieval view of tragedy (Fortune’s Wheel) in the play. For example, once Richard is king (at the top of the wheel), he begins to lose his power and to descend.

“Richard III, is in fact a new kind of character for Shakespeare, a character with a complex, fully developed, and internally contradictory ‘personality’ – in short, a character conceived in terms recognizable from the standpoint of modern psychology.” Richard was one of the characters that Freud analyzed.

At the end, the real war is within Richard, rather than between him and Richmond.

Garber ends with “…readers and audiences are perpetually fascinated and spellbound, captivated by the unique personality that is Richard III.”

Marjorie Garber – Shakespeare and Modern Culture
In this essay Garber focuses on the modern relevance of Richard. She begins by asking, “Which is more powerful, fact or fiction?” She goes on to say that in our time we should be especially aware of the “temptation of rewrite history.” Note: 2020 elections.

Her point is that the “facts” we know about this period of history mostly come from Shakespeare, many of which were invented by politicians and courtiers of the time. Shakespeare wrote during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, granddaughter of Henry VII, and it was in the interest of the Tudors to delegitimize Richard’s claim to the throne.

In fact, “The debate about truth and fiction, truth and lying, truth and interpretation, is staged within the play."

“What his play suggests is that literary truth and literary facts are, or can be, as compelling as historical truth and historical facts, or even biographical truth and biographical facts. Literature creates and inhabits its own reality and reference points. Fictional characters…often have as much influence upon how we behave as do models from ‘real life’ and history.”

A big question is why has Shakespeare’s account of historical events superseded other accounts?

Garber talks about the Richard III Society, which was founded in 1924 by amateur historians convinced that Richard has not been treated fairly by historical accounts. The biggest “boost” to Richard’s defense came from Josephine Tey’s novel The Daughter of Time, published in 1951.

Besides telling Richard’s story, “Tey’s book is in fact a series of reflections on history and on the reliability or unreliability of ‘fact,’ ‘truth,’ and apparent biographical detail, as filtered through a set of genres, times, writers, and readers.”

Modern politicians have been compared to Richard, most notably Nixon, another Richard.

Next: Love's Labour's Lost

>84 BLBera: The article on bibliotherapy was interesting. Thanks for that. You got me with Small Bomb at Dimperley.

I'd not heard of The Daughter of Time have added it to the wishlist. The plot reminds me of an Inspector Morse story where he tries to solve a 19c crime whilst in hospital. Now wondering if this was a Tey nod that I completely missed.

>102 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg. Thanks.

>103 charl08: The Daughter of Time is great, Charlotte. I think you will like it.

54.Fundamentally

When Nadia Amin, a newly hired lecturer, is chosen to work with ISIS wives in an attempt to reintegrate them into their societies, she has no idea what she is getting herself into. Once she arrives in Iraq, she finds that most of the aid workers are struggling although some of them are less naive than Nadia.

Told from first person point of view, Nadia's voice is refreshing, and I really enjoyed accompanying Nadia on her journey. The UN and the various aid agencies don't appear in a very good light, but this novel makes me think about aid in a different way -- and about unintended consequences. This is a good debut novel, and deserves its place on the Women's Prize list.

>105 BLBera: You remind me that I have this on the shelf to read. I got distracted by shinier books.

I am shocked, Charlotte! You usually have the list read long before I do. I am really slow this year. Of the five I've read, Fundamentally and The Dream Hotel are my favorites. I will read The Safekeeping with my book club in a couple of months.

>107 BLBera: Ah, thank you. I've just been reading about the digital surveillance of the Uyghur in China. I knew it reminded me of a novel I'd read recently as speculative fiction, just couldn't remember it was The Dream Hotel . A Stone is Most Precious Where it Belongs describes so much awful stuff. The author explains community members are made to collect points for "good behaviour" vs infractions, and if you fail to get enough you end up in a "re-education camp" or sent to work in a factory.

I think that's why The Dream Hotel had such an impact; it is realistic.

I will look for that memoir; it sounds like one I would like.

I was thinking this morning, Beth, that it's Orange July, and I really need to head over to that group because I haven't paid much attention at all to the prize list. Fundamentally and Dream Hotel both look intriguing. Thanks!

>109 BLBera: It's not going to win any writing awards, and there were no grey areas in her account. But given what she and her family have been through (and the genre), not surprising really.

>110 LizzieD: Those are my two favorites, Peggy, but I've only read a handful so far.

>111 charl08: I wonder how it would be on audio? I see my library has a copy...

The Dream Hotel sounds good.

>113 banjo123: It is chilling, Rhonda, and not as farfetched as one would hope.

There is still quite a wait at my library for The Dream Hotel. I'm hoping to get to it soon. Have a wonderful week, Beth!

56. The Creak on the Stairs
When police detective Elma returns to the small city of Akranes after living in Reykjavik for years, she expects a quiet time. Soon after she starts, however, a woman is found murdered, and her investigative skills are put to work. She finds that there is a lot going on beneath the tranquil surface of the city.

This is the first novel in a series, and the author is obviously setting the scene for future novels. The plot kept me guessing, and I would pick up the next one in this series.

I enjoyed revisiting the scenery of Iceland after my recent visit there.

>115 Familyhistorian: Thanks Meg. I had to wait a while before I got my hands on a copy as well.

Hi Beth, doing a return visit. Lots of interesting stuff going on here!

Isn’t Scotland wonderful. Living in a flat country like you (Holland) I get the special attraction. We first travelled to Aberdeen, by boat. Later from Inverness, to Oban on the west coast by bus. There’s a point where you can see the sea for the first time, and all the islands. It was so beautiful, I felt jealous for a landscape!

Unfortunately most of the Women’s prize books you are enthusiastic about, can’t be found in my library.

Hi Ella. Yes, the mountains and scenery of Scotland were spectacular.

I hope the library will soon have the books available.

Love’s Labor’s Lost
There isn’t much plot in this play, and, rarely for Shakespeare, there doesn’t seem to be a source. Critics think it was revised by Shakespeare at some point.

The play takes place in a park, where the King of Navarre and three of his friends want to found a neo-Platonic academy; they vow to devote themselves to study for three years. During that time they won’t have anything to do with women, they will eat and sleep sparingly. Then, the Princess of France arrives with three companions and the vows go out the window.

There are clowns and pedants and lots of word play here. I had to rely heavily on the footnotes for this one. The interactions of Berowne and Rosaline remind me of those of Beatrice and Benedict from Much Ado About Nothing.

W. H. Auden
Auden praises the play, “Love’s Labour’s Lost is not the greatest of Shakespeare’s plays, but it is one of the most perfect.” He says the subject of the play is education and culture.

Auden discusses Plato’s Symposium and how Plato outlines the journey to knowledge. Auden states that the four young men in the play want the knowledge, without the journey: “Plato was puzzled by those who did not choose the contemplative life. The source of evil was considered to be the passions of the body.”

Auden says the play is preoccupied with sight: “Sight is the most intellectual of the senses; you can see possibilities, your sight is under the control of your will, it is the organ of choice.”

“The four men in Love’s Labour’s Lost must learn to love people and not the idea of love.”

Instead of marriage, at the end, each of the four men is given a task to complete over the next year in order to win the ladies.

Marjorie Garber – Shakespeare After All
Garber says “…this early play contains themes, embedded art forms, social laws, and character types that will recur over and over in later and better-known plays, from the idea of losing oneself to finding oneself to the play-within-the-play that mirrors, and mocks, the pretenses of the aristocratic audience on and off the stage."

Garber says while the play is fun to watch, it can be hard reading because of the topical humor and references, that “For Shakespeare and his audience many of the classical allusions and grammatical niceties would have been familiar stuff, since the references come from set texts in the grammar school curriculum.”

In the very first scene, we the audience understand that the King and his friends have made vows they can’t keep. Berowne comes to understand that “love is the best tutor, for moral as well as for aesthetic education:
From women’s eye this doctrine I derive.
They sparkle still the right Promethean fire.
They are the books, the arts, the academes
That show, contain, and nourish all the world. (IV.3.301-327)

The play is framed by thoughts of mortality although as in all of Shakespeare’s comedies, death only takes place offstage.
Shakespeare’s comedies often end with the promise of marriage, after people have proved themselves worthy.

Next: Romeo and Juliet

Read 154 Sonnets of Shakespeare - connected with only 11 of them.

>121 m.belljackson: I haven't read all of the sonnets, but I loved the ones I've read. I will move on to finish those when I finish my rereading of the plays.

The Marriage Portrait
I reread this for my book club, and I am so happy I did. I upgraded it from 4 to 5 stars. It is great historical fiction.

This is, in part, what I wrote when I first read it:
Maggie O'Farrell's latest novel consolidates her on my list of favorite writers. In The Marriage Portrait, she does an excellent job of bringing to life, not only Lucrezia di Medici, but also sixteenth century Italy.

When she is fifteen, Lucrezia marries Alfonso, the duke of Ferrara. One year later she is dead. Lucrezia is the third daughter of Cosimo and Eleanora di Medici and is often overlooked. Her mother doesn't know what to do with this girl who can't sit still and who only wants to draw and paint. I was worried that knowing Lucrezia dies young would cast a pall over the novel, but O'Farrell has created a lively, talented character in Lucrezia. She has structured the story in such a way that I found this novel hard to put down.

Highly recommended -- a wonderful example of historical fiction.

I would add that her ability to create an atmosphere of dread helps the reader keep turning the pages.

I look forward to my book club's discussion.

>123 BLBera: I enjoyed this one too Beth. Being gluttonous though, I wanted a bit more about both Italy and art.

>123 BLBera: I read Marriage Portrait some years ago and remember enjoying it but hadn't thought about it for a long time either. Thanks for reminding me of it.

>123 BLBera: Beth, I gave that one 4.5 stars so obviously loved it too. What made you decide to upgrade your rating?

>123 BLBera: Sarah Dunant is doing a series of radio talks about her books set during the Italian Renaissance. I've only listened to the first one so far....
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/m002f8lz

>127 charl08: I haven't heard that name for years Charlotte. Thanks for the link.

>124 Caroline_McElwee: It would have been cool to get more info about the art, Caroline, but I think she made a choice to focus on Lucretia -- and the novel is long.

>125 RebaRelishesReading: I think I liked it even more as I reread it.

>126 lauralkeet: I think I appreciated it more the second time, Laura. It was a long novel, but I never felt it dragged, the characters were SO well done, I loved the writing, and I think she structured it to keep the reader turning the pages. How difficult is that to do when we know from the beginning that Lucretia dies a year after her marriage?

>127 charl08: Thanks for the link, Charlotte. I will listen.

>116 BLBera: I have read several in that series and really loved them, Beth. I think you enjoyed Fundamentally more than me. I wasn't too keen on it.

>130 vancouverdeb: I think I must have heard about the series from you, Deborah. Thanks!

>123 BLBera: I've had The Marriage Portrait on my virtual shelves for years, but I don't think I realized that was the time period it was set in. My great unwritten historical fiction novel is set then—a period I don't know a ton about, which is why the novel will probably stay unwritten—so I'm bumping this up the queue.

Hi Beth, I think I had read about The Marriage Portrait here on LT but your review got it on my list. Thanks!

>132 lisapeet: Hi Lisa. O'Farrell does a great job with the time period, but she doesn't hit the reader over the head with research. She is such a good writer. I can't wait to see what she will do next. You should write your novel.

>133 AMQS: Hi Anne. I liked it even more the second time I read it, so enjoy. It is really good.

>123 BLBera: It must be the mark of a book with depth when it is appreciated more on a second read. I thought The Marriage Portrait was well done too.

Waving hello. I've stopped by a few times, but have not commented. Your review of Dream Hotel sounded right up my alley so I am reading it now. It's a bit too plausible in a very uncomfortable way so my reading is going slowly.

>135 Familyhistorian: Meg, our book club met and discussed it yesterday. All really liked it and we had a good discussion. We spent some time looking at portraits.

>136 streamsong: Hi Janet! So nice to see you. I know what you mean about Dream Hotel. I still think about it.

I saw The Comedy of Errors at the Great River Shakespeare Festival today. The production was excellent, and I enjoyed the play more than I have ever done. The young women who played Dromio was quite wonderful. I went with a friend who had never gone before, and she said she would go again, so I have another play-going buddy.

Stopping by to say hi, Beth. I own The Marriage Portrait but have not yet read it.

>10 BLBera: We visited Skara Brae some years ago and I agree -- it was most interesting

You've inspired me. I've added a quick trip to Inverness to my usual catch-up with friends trip to Edinburgh.

>138 vancouverdeb: It is wonderful, Deborah. I think you will like it.

>139 RebaRelishesReading: It is astonishing how well preserved everything is.

>140 charl08: It is a charming city, Charlotte. I wish we could have spent more time there.

RIP Paulette Jiles, for those fans of News of the World and Chenneville.

>142 BLBera: Thanks for making me aware of that, Beth. It also prompted me to look up her on-line bio because I really didn't know anything about her. Interesting life. Good books.

Hi Reba. You are welcome. I am sad there will be no more books.

A shout out to Minneapolis Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, who said in response to Stephen Miller's claim that Minneapolis's parks are unsafe because of all those terrible criminal immigrants, “If we wanted a white supremacist’s opinion, we’d ask. But we don’t. So we won’t.”

She added that "Minneapolis is great."

Hooray for Ms Moriarty!!

Dangerous thread here, Beth. The Dream Hotel is on my hold list at the library. I’m also a fan of The Marriage Portrait. I gave it 4 stars when I read it two years ago. I often find myself upgrading my rating when I reread a book.

Oh my, I am going to have to find out more about Paulette Jiles. She is a Missouri native and I have loved the 5 books I’ve read by her.

I will watch for your comments on The Dream Hotel, Donna. I will read anything O'Farrell writes. I am sad that there will be no more books by Jiles. The article said she had started a new one.

>145 BLBera: Ugh. That is a great response, though. Denver and surrounding suburbs are liberal cities and are often spoken of similarly.

>149 AMQS: Hi Anne. Her response made me smile. Short and to the point.

59. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

I ended up admiring this novel more than I expected to, but it is not an easy book to read. The narrator, Maali Almeida, is a witness to the atrocities of the Sri Lankan civl war. He saw many things that never leave him. Yet, the novel is also funny, and it has an interesting structure and point of view.

The story begins with Maali waking in a waiting room -- I immediately thought of the DMV -- long lines and bureaucrats. He soon discovers that he is dead, and he has seven moons to decide whether he will go to the Light or hang around to become a haunt.

Maali is a gay Sri Lankan photographer who worked for many different employers: army, rebels, foreign press, etc. Having a dead Maali narrate is an interesting way to allow us to see and know things that we wouldn't know with first person narration. The second person "you" point of view drew me in as well; I felt like I was having a conversation with Maali as he flies around Colombo, trying to take care of unfinished business. He also wants to know how he died. He doesn't remember. These two things keep us turning the pages, and if I had to pause now and then because of the violence, well, Maali is a witness. As he says, "All those sunrises and all those massacres existed because I filmed them." He sees the beauty of the world as well as the ugliness of war. He discovers, "We must find pointless causes to live for, or why bother with breath?" This attachment to pointless causes make me like Maali.

I am left with questions at the end of the novel and may reread it at some point. I think this would be a good book club discussion book if people could get past the violence and discuss some of the characters (I'm thinking of Crow Uncle) and their significance.

I am glad I read this. I love the cover.

60. To Track a Traitor
In this latest novel in the Lane Winslow series, we finally meet Lane's grandparents and sister Diana. The novel starts with a phone call from Lane's grandmother telling Lane that her grandfather has had a heart attack. She feels she has to go to Scotland. She leaves her husband to investigate a missing persons case.

Whishaw's formula of using separate cases from two timelines makes for a complicated plot. While I enjoy this series, I would like to see her change things up a little and focus on one timeline.

Still, overall this is an enjoyable series with a great setting.

>152 BLBera: I’m going to start that series eventually! :) Glad to see it’s holding up.

>152 BLBera: There is a new book out in the Lane Winslow series, Beth. I'm trying to recall the name. I own it , but have not read it. It is The Cost of a Hostage: A Lane Winslow Mystery . I hope to get to it later this year sometime.

>153 Copperskye: The setting is great, Joanne. I just wish she would change up her formula...

>154 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah. I think I have another one to read before the new one. I probably won't pick it up soon. I like spacing series books.

>152 BLBera: You're further ahead in the Lane Winslow series than I am, Beth, although most of the rest of the series is waiting on my shelves.

It's a good series, Meg. I love the setting. It's nice to have them in reserve when you want to read something you are pretty sure you will like.

Romeo and Juliet
Everyone knows the story of Romeo and Juliet, the “star-crossed” lovers. I hadn’t remembered that Romeo kills Paris at Juliet’s tomb before he poisons himself. (I don’t need spoilers for this, do I?) There is some wonderful poetry in this play. I look forward to reading what the critics say. After I finished reading it, I watched Shakespeare in Love again. I love how they intertwined Shakespeare’s love story with that of Romeo and Juliet. It is a brilliant film.

W. H. Auden
Auden mostly discusses literary love in his lecture. He says in the literary tradition, there must be insurmountable obstacles to love: “That is to say, their union must be possible only through their deaths.”

He also points out that Romeo and Juliet don’t really know each other, but that they have “made each other divine,” which is never a good thing in Shakespeare’s world.

Fate and choice work together in the play. He quotes from Kirkegaard and from Dante’s Divine Comedy, relating them to the play.

Marjorie Garber – Shakespeare After All
We see a lot of antithesis and paradox in the first acts of the play – “civil blood makes civil hands unclean” and “My only love sprung from my only hate,” etc. The play is built on oppositions: light/darkness; prose/verse; youth/age; Capulets/Montagues.

Romeo’s love for Rosaline is a parody – “a deliberate onstage caricature of the sonnet-writing lovesick, moon-struck lover who places his lady on a pedestal and is really in love either with the idea of love, or… with the idea of himself as a lover.”

However, when Romeo falls in love with Juliet, his language changes; he becomes more inventive, original. There is lots of light imagery when Romeo and Juliet speak to and about each other. In her discussion of the light imagery, Garber points out that in Shakespeare’s time plays were performed in daylight, and “The sense of foreboding night and pervasive blackness is conjured up entirely by and through language.”

Nurse is a great comic character. Friar is to Romeo as the Nurse is to Juliet, but in the end they are “inadequate to the tragic world of reality…unable to respond to time, history, and change.”

There are images of ascent and fall throughout, lots of verticality – think balcony scene.

Tybalt and Mercutio are opposites. “Tybalt is a warrior of the old school”; there’s no room for diplomacy or shades of gray with him. He’s a man of few words. Mercutio, on the other hand, enjoys language and plays with it.

Juliet changes the most in the play; in the beginning she is a submissive child but by the end she becomes an adult.

Garber states that those left alive haven’t learned anything – she notes the competing statues that are going to be erected by the families.

Garber- Shakespeare and Modern Culture
Garber mentions many modern references to Romeo and Juliet, beginning with Shakespeare in Love, which she notes doesn’t pretend to be historically accurate. However, she does feel compelled to correct the idea that Shakespeare’s success begins with Romeo and Juliet. He was an established playwright before that one.

For a long time the “star” roles were Mercutio and the Nurse. One problem was that the actors who played Romeo and Juliet were often too old for the part. This really continued until the twentieth century.

David Garrick (18th century) rewrote the ending, so Juliet wakes up before Romeo dies – this version was performed until the 19th century.

Many of Shakespeare’s plays have been transformed into ballet, but Romeo and Juliet was much more successful than any others, especially Prokofiev’s ballet though it wasn’t performed as Prokofiev originally composed it until 2008.

The big question Garber wants to answer is how did Romeo and Juliet become the “unquestioned modern cultural shorthand for romantic love”. There were other well-known “star-crossed” lovers before Shakespeare wrote the play; for example, Troilus and Cressida and Anthony and Cleopatra were better known as lovers in Shakespeare’s time.

Garber suggests that Romeo and Juliet eclipsed love stories that were more established and better known “because these were unknown, relatively ‘new’ (and insistently ‘young’) lovers so their story could be adapted to numerous romantic situations.”

She discusses West Side Story, which was more about social tolerance. Later adaptations such as Zefferelli’s (1968) and Luhrmann’s (1996) would focus more on the generation gap. Garber mentions Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are a-Changin’” could also be applied to Romeo and Juliet.

Next: A Midsummer Night's Dream

61. Clash of Civilizations over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio
I picked up this novel because the title made me smile, but I am glad I read this book whose flawed characters offer insight into the struggle to find a home.

The people of Piazza Vittorio all get to speak their "truths" in this polyphonic novel by Amara Lakhous. The tenants try to answer the question of who killed "the Gladiator," a tenant disliked by everyone who lived in the building. In the process of trying to find the killer, we learn about the diverse group of people who live in the building and about their struggles to understand each other.

This timely novel looks at the misconceptions people have about people and places they label as "different."

A typical observation: "I'm sure the murderer ... is one of the immigrants. The government should hurry up and do something. Soon they'll be throwing us out of our own country...Living with them is impossible. They have religions, habits, and traditions different from ours." This is a quote from the Neapolitan caretaker, someone who is also looked down on as an outsider in Rome, a southerner who may have ties to the Mafia.

One of the immigrants points out that "Labeling any immigrant a criminal without distinction, is a déjà vu. Italian immigrants in the United States were accused of being in the Mafia, and suffered tremendously. Certainly, the Italians don't seem to have learned anything from the lessons of history."

I really enjoyed this very relevant novel. I have to thank Katie; she sent it to me about a year ago. I am glad I finally got to it. Thanks, Katie.

I am happy to send this on to anyone interested. PM me your address and it's yours.

I'm glad you also enjoyed the read, Beth!

It took me long enough to get to it! Thanks. I hope to be able to return the favor one of these days.

>Thanks for the reminder about the Lane Winslow series...it's been on my radar but I have to finish some other series first.

I loved our Scotland trip and would like to go back someday to see some of the other islands - we only made it to Skye. Driving was interesting...so many "one-track" roads! The people were uniformly welcoming (despite the unfortunate overlap of a certain convicted felon's golf vacation) and the food was terrific. All in all, a great trip.

I think you would like the Lane Winslow series, Vivian. It has an interesting setting. Supposedly the character is based on the author's mother.

I would love to see more of the Hebrides as well; isn't Skye beautiful? Yes, I think driving would be a challenge. So sorry your visit overlapped with the felon. I was happy that the people were so friendly; I was a little worried before we went.

Welcome back.

I started Seven Moons but ended up giving up. (it was due back at the library, also) Maybe I should try again.

I don't know, Rhonda. It did start slow for me as well, but I know that some others who read it didn't like it as much as I did. Some didn't like the magical realism. So....

Hi Beth. The Lane Winslow series looks interesting. Unfortunately my library doesn't seem to have it. I am nearing the end of the Shetland Mystery series and need something to replace it. I think I have a few more in the Adrian McKinty Belfast series to tide me over for a while.

I was able to reserve The Dream Hotel and will be reading it soon. Keep those book bullets coming!

Hi Donna. I think you would like the Lane Winslow series. My library has only a couple, but I could request them through interlibrary loan. You might want to check that out if it's available at your library. Also, you could request your library to purchase them.

I will watch for your comments on The Dream Hotel.

I wonder if The Dream Hotel will be on the Booker Longlist , Beth. Not long now until we find out.

Hi Deborah. When is it announced? I haven't really been paying attention.

Here it is!

The Booker Prize 2025 longlist

• 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 Ben Markovits
• The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller
• Endling by Maria Reva 
• Flesh by David Szalay
• Seascraper by Benjamin Wood
Misinterpretation by Ledia Xhoga 

Thanks Vivian. I haven't read any of them. A couple are on my WL.

I've read Audition and The Land in Winter and will try to read the rest!

Do you recommend the ones you've read? I am on the library list for Audition and Endling also sounds good.

I am still working on the Women's Prize list.

I haven't yet read any of the Booker nominees. I'll have to see what's available at the library now that World Watercolor Month is almost over!

I haven't either. I have a couple on reserve at the library. But I am still working on the Women's Prize list.

63. The Elements
The novel is divided into four sections, with each section focusing on one person/element. We begin with water and Willow, a woman fleeing her life to spend time on a small, isolated island. As her story unfolds, we meet Evan, the main character from the next section. As each section unfolds, we meet the main character from the next section.

Boyne does a fabulous job with the characters, showing how different people respond to trauma. There are parts that are hard to read. Normally, with a book like this, there might be one character or section that is stronger than the others, but I loved all the parts of the book, and each section builds on the previous one, leading to a satisfactory ending.

The writing is wonderful; Boyne knows how to tell a story. He is becoming one of my favorite authors.

I received this as an ER book and would be happy to pass on my copy. PM me your address if interested.

>177 BLBera: Hi Beth - I'm surprised to see the Boyne as a single volume! I just purchased all 4 separately when I was in Scotland because I had been frustrated that there was no pub date in the US. I'm looking forward to reading them as I'm also a Boyne fan (except for the travesty of his Striped Pajamas book).

>178 vivians: That is really interesting, Vivian. Are the volumes numbered, because the order does matter.

Just checked: my library has them as separate books too.

Hmm. Are they numbered?

>181 BLBera: Doesn't look like it, Beth.

From the catalogue:

Air
Boyne, John, author
From internationally bestselling author John Boyne, a contemplative story about one man trying to move forward from the trauma of his youth to become a better father to his son. Being in limbo, 30,000 feet in the air, offers time to reflect and take stock.....

Hardback, Book. English. Narrative theme: Journeys and voyages. Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945). Fiction: special features. Family life fiction. Narrative theme: Love and relationships. Narrative theme: Interior life. Modern and contemporary fiction: general and literary.
Published London: Doubleday, 2025

Details
Statement of responsibility: John Boyne
ISBN: 0857529854, 9780857529855
EAN: 9780857529855
Note: Hardback. Text.
Biography: John Boyne is the author of.....

Physical Description: 176 pages ; 22x14x2 cm
Other Number: 9780857529855
Subject: General Fiction.

Well, my volume is in this order: Water, Earth, Fire, Air, and I think you have to read them in that order for it to make sense. This is so weird. Unless the separate volumes are different from the compiled one?

I think that's the order in which they were published...I had planned to read them in that order.

>184 vivians: that makes sense, Vivian. The main character from earth appears in "Water," and so on. Also, there are spoilers about what happens to the people in the previous story so it would make sense to read them in that order. It is so interesting that they are published separately in the UK. I loved the novel. You are in for a treat.

I have vigorously avoided Boyne since reading Striped Pajamas. How interesting that he is now one of your favorite authors. Perhaps I need to swallow hard and try something else by him.

I know Vivian really hated the Boy in the Striped Pajamas as well, but she is also a fan. His adult fiction is pretty great, at least the ones I've read. I will give him a pass on the YA fiction. Also, he is a big proponent of women writers.

64. The Small and the Mighty
My daughter recommended this audiobook, read by the author. McMahon is a very animated reader and she has chosen a group of fascinating people who have done fabulous work in education and civil rights. Some of the people are well-known such as Daniel Inouye. But others, like Quaker philanthropist Anna Jeanes is less known. I really enjoyed listening to this.

Besides profiling the various people, McMahon gives us background information about the times in which the people lived. It's a hopeful book, showing that you don't have to be famous to make a difference.

One of the people who stood out was Julius Rosenwald, who worked with Booker T. Washington and the Tuskegee Institute and Black communities to build 5000 schools. McMahon says that 90% of the Black students in Alabama, from 1917 to the 1960s, were educated in Rosenwald schools. This was a time when states spent no money on education for Blacks. I had to pause this and write down these statistics. People like Maya Angelou and John Lewis went to school in Rosenwald schools.

Hi Beth, Boyne is one of my fav. authors too! I have one more in the elements series to read. He is such a good writer!

I think I can recommend The Land in Winter and Love Forms, from the Booker Longlist, Beth. Those are the only two I have read so far.

>187 BLBera: I didn't love The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Beth, but I certainly didn't hate it either - there were unbelievable elements to the story but I would support his right to write on the subject because, as harrowing as it is in reality, he was writing a work of fiction.

I have only read his The Thief of Time apart from that and liked the premise more than the execution. I have heard good things about his elements quartet though.

Julius Rosenwald sounds pretty fascinating. When we were in South Carolina, we visited the Penn Center, which was one of the first schools for formerly enslaved people. (run by Quakers from Pennsylvania). It was fascinating.

>189 mdoris: I will watch for your comments. His characters are so alive.

>190 vancouverdeb: Thanks Deborah. I will continue to watch for your comments on the list.

>191 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul. Besides The Elements, I've read A Ladder to the Sky and The Absolutist, both of which are excellent.

>192 banjo123: Hi Rhonda. There are a lot of people involved in educating Black students in The Small and the Mighty. I wouldn't be surprised if Anna Jeanes were involved with the Penn Center. She was a Quaker from Pennsylvania.

65. Saint Mazie
Mazie Phillips is based on a real woman who, during the Depression, helped the homeless men of New York City's Lower East Side. In the novel, Mazie sees the people of New York through the window of her "cage" at Venice Theater. This novel tells the story of her life to a biographer through parts of Mazie's diary and interviews with people who knew her. This structure may have helped keep a distance between the characters and the reader because Mazie is really the only character with any kind of life, and I didn't get a good sense of the setting at all.

This may have suffered in comparison with John Boyne's excellent The Elements, but I found the novel only OK.

Sorry you didn't like Saint Mazie more. I really enjoyed it when I read it several years ago.

Happy weekend, Beth!

I remember that you are a fan of Attenberg, Katie. I will give another by her a try. Any suggestions?

I liked The Middlesteins and All Grown Up. Didn't like The Melting Season. Still have a few to read...

The Middlesteins was hilarious!

>197 katiekrug:, >198 banjo123: I will give youThe Middlesteins a try.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sweet Scout, who is 12 years old today. It is hard to believe.

12?!?!?! Holy schnikeys. If I'm this flummoxed by that, I can't imagine how you feel :)

Happy birthday, Scout!

She is growing up WAY too fast, Katie. I am happy she still seems happy to hang out with me.

Time sure flies, doesn't it. As someone who lived far away from all of her grandparents (and repeated that sin with my own kids), I think it's fabulous for both of you to be able to spend so much time together.

It's great to live close to my daughter and granddaughter.

My daughter saw this and asked me how many books I have on my list. https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2025/08/07/what-dan-read

I have 4200+

>204 BLBera: Wow! Do you keep a spreadsheet and how long have you been keeping it? I've been tracking my reading since 2008 and have fallen five years behind on my spreadsheet. I have to go through all my LT threads to update the spreadsheet but I will get there. I'd estimate I'm only at about 1500.

12! Wow. Where does the time go? (And did you get her books for her birthday?)

>205 japaul22: I don't have a spreadsheet. I have been tracking books I read in notebooks. I started when I was 13, but when I moved back to the US when I was 30, the list from years 13-30 got lost, so my current notebooks start from 40 years ago.

>206 charl08: I know! We had pizza and cake and I did get her a book, one that Anne had recommended Not Another Banned Book.

A slightly belated birthday to Scout, Beth. It's great that you live close to her and your daughter.

>207 BLBera: That's so great. Inspiration to get my spreadsheet up to date!

I have a spreadsheet of my reading since 2001. It's fun to go back and see what I was reading at a particular point in time - like what was I reading when I had my first date with The Wayne... Or maybe I'm just a dork :)

>208 vancouverdeb: Thanks Deborah. I think she had a good day.

>209 japaul22: It's easier for me to just write it down when I finish, so I have never had a spreadsheet. If I wanted to search for a title, the spreadsheet might be nice.

>210 katiekrug: You've kept it up for a while, Katie. What were you reading when you had your first date with the Wayne?

>211 BLBera: - Well, our memories are slightly inconsistent as to the actual date. If he's right, I was reading Just the Way You Are by Christina Dodd, a contemporary romance; if I'm right, it was Snow Angels by Stewart O'Nan.

Hi Beth, Happy Birthday to Scout. I remember when she was learning to read and I remember you telling lots of Scout stories and they were so good!

12?? Time flies. Happy belated birthday to Scout!

>210 katiekrug: I love that, Katie! I have spreadsheets going back to 2007 (my first year tracking reading on LT) but never thought about looking back on them in that way. Fun.

>212 katiekrug: What fun. I don't track the exact dates, so I could only approximate.

>213 mdoris: Thanks Mary. Scout is becoming a young lady.

>214 Copperskye: Yes, Joanne, she is growing up way too fast.

>215 lauralkeet: I remember some books tied to events, but I don't track them by exact dates, just the year. I could look at LT for a better idea, I suppose.

Twelve! That's amazing.

66. The Paris Express
The Paris Express, Emma Donoghue's latest novel, is based on a true train wreck in Paris in 1895. As the train sets out from the Normandy coast, we are introduced to the passengers in the various cars. As one of the passengers muses about the scenery, "(It's) going by so fast, it's hard to catch all the architectural details. That's the paradox of trains, he supposes; they show you what you'd never have seen otherwise, but only for a tantalizing second." Just as with the scenery, on a train, we come into contact with people we will only glimpse for a short time.

Somehow, though, in these brief portrayals, Donoghue manages to bring to life the passengers of the Paris Express.

I enjoyed the notes on the real passengers at the end of the novel as well.

I really liked this novel. Donoghue is becoming a favorite.

>207 BLBera: I also have been keeping track of books that I have read since I was in grade 8. It's interesting to read my thoughts and see the progression throughout the years.

>218 BLBera: I have enjoyed everything by Donoghue so far. Cant wait to get my hands on this one.

Happy week ahead

>219 figsfromthistle: It is interesting to see how interests change over the years, Anita. I will watch for your comments on The Paris Express.

67. Hell and Other Destinations
This memoir was a book club selection and provoked a good discussion. Most people liked the book, but we all agreed that it would have benefitted from less policy points and more personal stories. Albright was a remarkable woman with a good sense of humor, but she doesn't allow the reader to get to close to her. The memoir is more focused on the world than on her internal life, something she acknowledges.

It does make me nostalgic for a time when those working in government were competent.

Albright reads the audiobook. I started listening but stopped because she isn't a good reader. She reads in a very monotone voice. Others who listened to the entire book agreed but said they got used to her.

I am interested in Prague Winter, so I will probably read more by her at some point.

>218 BLBera: I'm familiar with the photo of that wreck -- sounds like the book would be a good read too.

Hi Beth - I hope Scout had a wonderful birthday.

You got me with The Elements.

>221 BLBera: Her time in office does seem like a *long* time ago. I didn't know she had this post-politics career: sounds like a great book for discussion.

I just read Daughters which in some ways (quite gritty depiction of modern German life, although humorous) reminded me of Marzahn Mon Amour. I keep wanting to call it Sisters for some reason, and then wondering why the touchstone is wrong!

>222 RebaRelishesReading: It was a very good read, Reba. I think you would like it.

>223 AMQS: Hi Anne. I think Scout had a fun day. I think you will love The Elements.

>224 charl08: Hi Charlotte. It was a little depressing reading Albright's memoir about a time when Cabinet secretaries were competent...

Marzahn Mon Amour has been on my WL for a while. I need to get to it. Daughters also sounds like one I would like.

68. 33 Place Brugmann is a very good historical novel set in WWII Brussels. 33 Place Brugmann is the address of the apartment building that is the center of the novel. Each of its tenants has a chance to tell a story. There is Masha, a refugee from Russia, and talented seamstress; the Sauvins, father and daughter and their neighbors on the fourth floor, the Raphaëls, to mention a few of the people who inhabit the building.

Austen has managed to give each person a distinct voice and to allow us to see events from distinct points of view, which leads to a few surprises. As one character points out: "No one sees anything the same way. When we stop trying to understand how others see the world, when we lose our compassion, our empathy, we become animals. Worse than animals."

A lesson we need to keep in mind.

>226 BLBera: Wishlisted. Sounds wonderful.

>227 charl08: I really liked it, Charlotte. I would have liked to learn a little more about the Flemish v. French conflict, which is hinted at.

>226 BLBera: I have looked at 33 Place Brugmann in the stores and it sounds interesting, even more so with your review, Beth. My library doesn't have it though. I may put in purchase request or buy it.

69. Plaid and Plagiarism is a pleasant cozy mystery set in a fictional town on Scotland's west coast. Four women, incomers, have bought a bookstore, and while they are preparing to take over the business, find a dead body. Of course, they want to find the murderer.

This was enjoyable, with likable characters and a plot that kept me guessing.

>226 BLBera: That's the prettiest cover I've seen in a long while.

>231 AlisonY: It is a great cover, Alison. Of course, we don't judge a book by it. ;) But it was a pretty good book, too.

70 White Nights
This is the second book in the Shetland series, and I enjoyed it although I did have the characters from the TV show in my head as I listened to the audiobook. I missed not having Tosh in the book, but Perez is a quiet, thoughtful character, just as he is in the series, and the sense of place is also key in the novel.

In this novel, a stranger is found dead, murdered, and no one seems to know who he is. Once his identity is discovered, Perez is convinced that the answer to his death lies in his connection to Shetland. The novel is well plotted; I didn't figure out the identity of the murderer.

I will probably pick up the others in the series; they do complement the TV show.

Way up there, interesting conversation about Boyne's Elements. (Wrong touchstone but I don't have the patience to search for it.)
Anyway, it sounds like a collection I'd like to read.

>234 EBT1002: I lent my copy to a member of my book club. If she returns it, I will send it your way.

Stay safe. I hope the fire stays away.

71. Theory & Practice
I really liked this novel, but I have to admit that I am a sucker for a first person narrative when the narrator sounds like someone I would like to hang out with. Add that to an academic setting, and I can pretty much guarantee that I will like the novel.

There's a lot going on here with commentary on literary criticism in academia, feminism, and colonialism. Oh, and it's the 1980s and the AIDS epidemic is starting.

The narrator is a graduate student in English (in Sydney, Australia) and is focusing on Virginia Woolf. As she is writing her thesis, I was reminded vividly of my own grad school days. "Theory" is always capitalized and "To mark its arrival, Theory had taken book, essay, novel, story, poem, and play, and replaced them all with text. Theory rejected binaries, exposed aporias, and posited. It posited that meaning was unstable and endlessly deferred...Theory took words I knew and used them in startling new ways... After a day spent with Theory, I'd come away from the library feeling headachy and crushed."

When the narrator, a child of Sri Lankan immigrants, notes the racism in Woolf's diaries, she is troubled, but her white adviser doesn't really want to explore that aspect of Woolf's writing. She is also questioning the meaning of feminism. She is having sex with the boyfriend of an acquaintance, and wonders if she can be a feminist while betraying another woman.

I know this won't appeal to everyone, but if you like an academic novel that pokes fun at the Theory du jour, this may be for you.

Next: Nesting. I am still working my way through the Women's Fiction longlist.

Happy belated birthday to Scout!

>238 labfs39: Thanks Lisa. She is growing up way too fast.

72. Scotland: The Story of a Nation

Finally! I have finished the 700 pages of this good, general overview of Scottish history, ranging from the Stone Age to 1999 and the return of the Scottish Parliament. Magnusson has a conversational style, which made this a pleasure to read. I also liked that as he discussed historic events, he pointed to monuments to the events and their locations. I have ideas for places I'd like to visit on another trip to Scotland.

Great quote from Borges:
“Dictatorships foster oppression, dictatorships foster servitude, dictatorships foster cruelty; more abominable is the fact that they foster idiocy.”

>240 BLBera: The tour guide to Skye suggested there were lots of places tourists (often) miss including beautiful islands. Not sure if I'll ever get to them, but I do like the idea of going off the beaten track a bit.
At the moment though I'm looking at ideas for train trips in France. Just ideas for now though!

>242 charl08: The planning is part of the journey, Charlotte! That sounds like fun. Do you speak French?

Where did the summer go? Classes started today. Besides piano, I am also taking a music theory class.

73. Nesting
This first novel about a woman trying to leave an abusive marriage was hard to put down. O'Donnell puts us in Ciara's mind and we feel her fear and uncertainty as she tries to escape from her manipulative husband. The struggles to find a place to live, to take care of her small children, and to find herself again feel so real. I wanted to keep reading to find out whether Ciara manages to escape.

Set in Dublin, the novel also highlights the lack of resources available to women who leave their home and husbands. And, unfortunately, Ciara's case is not uncommon.

I love the cover, and it fits the story.

Wow, 12 years old! Is that considered a teenager?

I remember liking Plaid and Plagiarism

>246 Familyhistorian: I think it's a tween, Meg. Although her mom tells me she is edging toward the teen attitude. :)

Plaid and Plagiarism was an entertaining cozy.

A belated happy birthday to Scout!

I'm impressed with how long you've been tracking your reading. I started in a notebook in May 2006 and eventually moved it all over to LT.

>248 bell7: Thanks Mary. I guess I have more faith in pen and paper. I know it won't just disappear. :)

74. The Eyes and the Impossible
Anne recommended Ethan Hawke's narration and the audiobook of this young reader novel, and she was so right! Hawke was a great dog narrator.

Johannes the dog is the Eyes of the Park. He gathers news and conveys it to the bison who maintain the Equilibrium of the park. Johannes has assistant eyes: Bertram the gull, his best friend; Sonja the squirrel; Yolanda the pelican; and Angus the raccoon. Together they keep watch for trouble in the Park, mainly from humans. They take care of each other. Each animal has its strengths and it is heartwarming, and often funny, to see how they help and protect each other. Except for the ducks. Don't mention the ducks.

This could easily become a classic; it is certainly deserving of the Newbury Medal. The art is wonderful as well. There are selected illustrations of landscapes, with Johannes added to them.

>245 BLBera: I really enjoyed Nesting when I read it earlier this year, Beth. Glad you liked it too.

>240 BLBera: Good idea to get ideas for a trip, reading a history book. I've only been to Scotland once - we did two weeks by train a few years ago, but so many places there wasn't time to see. We did manage to visit Iona for some Celtic spirituality and monastery experience. But want also to visit Isle of Skye and some walks in the highlands.

>251 vancouverdeb: The subject matter of Nesting is difficult, but Ciara was such a great character that I was cheering for her as I read.

>252 ctpress: It may have been better to have read it before my trip, but oh well. I loved Iona. The Isle of Skye is lovely. I loved the Orkneys and would like to see more of the islands.

Prince of Darkness
In this final Justin de Quincy mystery, Justin is forced to work with Prince John to help him discover who is trying to frame him for treason. Queen Eleanor is working to free her son King Richard, and if Richard finds that John is working against him, there will be trouble.

The medieval setting is well done. While it's obvious Penman has done her research, she doesn't hit the reader over the head with it. It is also interesting to read about historical figures as characters. We even have some sympathy for John in this novel.

Although Penman says Justin will be back in her author's note, this is the last one, unfortunately.

This reminds me of The Mistress of the Art of Death, so if you liked that series, you might like this one.

>254 BLBera: That last sentence caught my interest, Beth. I've enjoyed that series and like historical mysteries in general (St Cyr, Shardlake, etc.). Alas, my library doesn't have this series, but they do have another of hers set in a similar time period. The Henry II/Eleanor of Aquitaine series begins with When Christ and his Saints Slept. Have you read that one?

I haven't read the historical books, Laura, although I am interested in the Henry II/Eleanor series. I think the mysteries might be harder to find.

>254 BLBera: That sounds good - I've recently enjoyed The Mistress of the Art of Death series - and when I looked at the series page for Justin de Quincy, discovered I have the ebooks - unread - in my library already!

>255 lauralkeet: I have read all of Sharon Kay Penman's historical fiction. The Henry II/Eleanor of Aquitaine series is not my absolute favorite of hers, but it's still very enjoyable. I loved the Welsh series that starts with Here Be Dragons most, and also the stand alone Sunne in Splendour.

>257 CDVicarage: I will watch for your comments on them, Kerry. I you enjoyed The Mistress of the Art of Death, I think you will like them.

>258 japaul22: Thanks Jennifer. I will probably read them at some point -- you know, the "too-many-books-too-little-time" problem?

It's been a while since I posted a Scout story, but last week I was on goat and chicken duty while they went to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) in northern Minnesota. My daughter mentioned that they should get something for me in appreciation, and Scout told her, "Just give me to her for a week." :) I am so happy that my soon-to-be-teen still likes to hang out here.

>260 BLBera: Aw, that is so sweet!

>261 labfs39: Lovely. Hope she can come to stay.

>254 BLBera: I've not come across these, and do like the Mistress... series, so will have a look. Reminds me I have Mere out from the library to read as well, too.

>258 japaul22: thanks Jennifer. Unfortunately it looks like my library only has the Henry II / Eleanor books. I'll start with those and who knows, maybe I'll find the others used or on Kindle at some point.

>240 BLBera: Looks like a good read before my next Scotland trip (which is not yet planned). First, New Zealand!

>261 labfs39: She is a sweetie.

>262 charl08: The summer flew by; school is starting, so she will be busy. Still we do have piano lessons, so I get to see her once a week for those. Mere looks interesting. You would love the Penman mysteries, Charlotte.

>263 lauralkeet: I think Kindle is probably your best bet, that or used book stores. I am interested in the Henry II books as well.

>264 EBT1002: I feel like it gave me a good overview, Ellen.

Love that Scout story!

Granddaughters are a wonderful gift, aren't they?

>260 BLBera: That is a wonderful story. I predict your relationship with Scout will remain super close even through her teen years. You're a step removed and you give her permission to be herself, two really critical elements for those adolescent years. ❤️

A Midsummer Night's Dream
I've read and seen this many times, but it is still an enjoyable play. I understand its enduring popularity.

This play is magical with wonderful poetic language and really funny scenes. As the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta approaches, Bottom and friends rehearse a play to present as part of the celebration. Hermia’s father Egeus wants her to marry Demetrius, but she is in love with Lysander. Hermia and Lysander make arrangements to elope into the forest. Helena, who is in love with Demetrius, tells him about the planned elopement, so both couples end up in the forest, along with a quarreling Titania and Oberon, queen and king of the fairies.

Puck makes mischief and gives Bottom the head of an ass, and both Demetrius and Lysander are bewitched and fall in love with Helena. Lots of lovely confusion and fun, and musings about dream vs. reality.

And the lovely poetry.

W. H. Auden
“It is the first play to show Shakespeare’s unique contribution as a dramatist, presenting not only the sense of the relations of human characters to each other but also to objects, to nature.”

Auden discusses nature, mythology, and religion in general before relating his discussion to the play. This makes the reading a little disjointed and reminds me that these “lectures” were taken from notes.

Auden says that in the play “mythological characters are used to describe certain universal experiences that we cannot control.” For example, Puck is responsible for a bad day...

The play was written to celebrate a marriage, and the “festivities ... mark the pauses between one form of life and another. Hermia, Helena, Demetrius, and Lysander must go through the trials in the woods before they are ready for marriage.

Titania and Oberon’s quarrel makes for chaos in nature.

One of the most interesting comments is about Bottom. Auden says, “Bottom’s relation with the fairies reveals that most unimaginative, prosaic people have aspects we wouldn’t dream of.”

Marjorie Garber
Garber points out that A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet were written in the same year and have a lot in common.

Like Auden, Garber points out that the forest is a place of transformation. It strips people of their identities and can seem like a dream world or maybe the unconscious?

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a journey from the real world of Athens to the woods, where there is a transformation, back to the exterior or real world with new knowledge. If we look at it as civilization/wilderness/civilization, we can ask what is really more civilized, a place where Hermia has no choice in who she marries or the wood, which offers possibilities?

Three parallel worlds exist in the play and they mirror each other; this is often emphasized by doubling of parts. There is the world of Athens with Theseus as ruler, the world of the wood with Oberon as king and the world of the “mechanicals,” the players with Peter Quince as director.

Theseus’ world, the exterior world, stand for law and reason yet reason is constantly undermined in the play.

Oberon’s world, the fairy world, the opposite of Theseus’ world, is a place of enchantment, music, mischief, timelessness.

The actors’ world is one of “anarchic possibility.” As is common in Shakespeare, the ‘low’ characters and the comic plot “point up by contrast the shortcomings of the artistocrats.”

The chaos and confusion in the wood must be experienced for change to happen, but the people can’t stay there. There must be a balance between reason and the irrational. Bottom and the players are the ones who see the dangers of illusion, as they aim to reassure the audience that the death and the danger in the play are not real.

And finally, Garber makes me smile by pointing out, “Bottom is not the only man in the play who is an ass – just the only one who looks like one.”

I enjoyed the break from the histories, but next up is another one, Richard II.

>266 katiekrug: Scout is pretty great, Katie.

>267 RebaRelishesReading: Yes, grandkids are the best. I have only one, but I am so grateful for her.

>268 EBT1002: Thanks Ellen. I think you are right. I don't get a lot of attitude from her and I don't foresee that changing.

I really wandered away from LT in August. You did some great reading.

>230 BLBera: You got me with this series.

>254 BLBera: I had lost track of this series. Thanks for the reminder.

>269 BLBera: Isn't it simply extraordinary that Shakespeare wrote those two plays in the same year?

>272 PaulCranswick: By the way, what a great way to bring up your 75, Beth. Congratulations.

>269 BLBera: I was adding Shakespeare plays to the LT list about books we studied at school, and completely forgot this one. A very ambitious teacher did this with us when we were 12, and then we saw a (very loose) version of it in the West End.

I have a collected Shakespeare edition that I thought would be a "good thing" to have, but it is so heavy, not much good for casual reading.

>271 witchyrichy: Hi Karen. I imagine you are busy with school stuff right now. I am enjoying my retirement from all that although I am taking a class. The Justin de Quincy series was a good one. I am sorry there aren't any more.

>272 PaulCranswick:, >273 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul. I do enjoy A Midsummer Night's Dream.

>274 charl08: Hi Charlotte. Scout also studied it in school last year and really enjoyed it. I hope I can find a production of it nearby soon. I have the collected edition and you are right. It's not something you can carry around. Luckily I have other books like that. I have been lusting after some lovely individually bound editions, but for now I am resisting temptation.

Hi Beth - I've never read Sharon Kay Penman and will add that series to my list. I'm about to start the second S G Maclean Alexander Seaton novel which I bought in Edinburgh. Did you ever continue the series? I'd also like to read her Damian Seeker series at some point.

I have the others in the Alexander Seaton series, Vivian and will probably pick up the next one when I travel to my nephew's wedding. The Justin de Quincy series is SO good. really good historical mystery.

Hi Beth, I enjoyed catching up here. I also keep track of my reading and have a record that goes back to the 1970s. Nowadays I keep this information here on LT and it is fun to be able to scan through my reading past.

>260 BLBera: Nice!!

>278 DeltaQueen50: Hi Judy. It is fun to look back. I wish I wouldn't have lost my high school reading.

>279 Copperskye: Yes, she started school, so now I will have limited time with her.

I am really enjoying 33 Place Brugmann, Beth and it was your review that tipped me into buying it. Thanks!

I am glad you are enjoying it, Deborah.

>275 BLBera: It may be time for me to hang it up completely. I love my University of Richmond class but the weekly drives to the city are getting old, or maybe it's me that's getting old. Teaching online is easier but still a chore. You seem to be enjoying yourself and I think I would love to take a class.

>283 witchyrichy: I wasn't sure at first that I was ready for retirement, but once I told HR, I never had a moment's regret. I am enjoying it so much. But, that time will arrive at different points for everyone. It sounds like you are getting there.

>275 BLBera: Have you looked at the Stratford programmes? The guy from Outlander is doing Macbeth, so I imagine that's going to attract a whole new audience to the theatre!
https://www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/ I saw a version of this on motorbikes during the festival some years ago and it would be hard to beat (although probably drier).

>236 BLBera: I liked this one too Beth. And probably for the same reason, though I don’t think I had thought of it that way before.

>285 charl08: Just looking at this makes me want to move to England. Motorbikes? That sounds intriguing.

>286 Caroline_McElwee: I remember seeing your comments, Caroline. I will have to go back and look at them again. I am a sucker for academic novels.

The Safekeep
I read this for my book club and we had a good discussion. Generally, everyone liked the novel. Things that stand out were the descriptive writing: "The storm had left its marks on the landscape: trees felled, branches tumbled down dikes. In reply, nature screeched into the day: insects rubbing noise out of wings, blackbirds running and cawing, flying and cawing." There was great attention to detail. Another thing that people agreed on was the great character development.

Of course we discussed the sex, and it was really interesting that most thought, as they were reading it that there was too much. But several of us thought that for the end to be convincing, that we needed the extended scenes of intimacy.

One person had a hard time reading it because Isabel was so unlikeable for so much of the novel. It was such a restricted, claustrophobic point of view. We felt relieved when we got to Eva's diary and the point of view changed.

There was general agreement that the ending was too neat, that there wasn't enough nuance about the restitution of the stolen property.

We all will read van den Wouden's next book.

>288 BLBera: What a great discussion, thanks for sharing it, Beth. It's a very thought-provoking book.

>289 lauralkeet: It was a great discussion, Laura. I appreciate the novel even more after talking about it.

79. A Life of One's Own

I heard about this book on LT, so thanks to whoever mentioned it. I enjoyed revisiting the lives of some of my favorite authors through the eyes of Joanna Biggs.

Biggs looks at the authors (Mary Wollstonecraft, George Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Toni Morrison, Sylvia Plath, Elena Ferrante, to name a few) in order to find a path for her own life. In the end she concludes, "Surely the best lesson these women writers, my friends and teachers, have for me isn't that I should copy them, but rather that I shouldn't." Still, I enjoyed her discussions of the women and their work.

Recommended for those who enjoy bibliomemoirs.

>79 figsfromthistle: I like the sound of this book. I wrote about Sylvia Plath in undergraduate and graduate school, and there are several new books on the market that take a longer view of her life and work.

>292 witchyrichy: It was good, Karen. She touched on the lives and works of each of the authors she discussed and also related life lessons she got from each one.

>291 BLBera: I really enjoyed this one Beth.

Well, I must have heard about it from you, Caroline. Thanks!

>288 BLBera: Nice to see a prize winner that regular readers appreciated. Belated congrats on reading 75, Beth!

Thanks Meg.

80. Tilt
Annie, about to give birth, goes to the Portland Ikea to buy a crib. While in the store, there is a massive earthquake. Annie gets out of the store without her purse or keys or cell phone and decides to walk to her husband's workplace. As she walks, she talks to her unborn child. In this way, we learn about Annie's life.

The glimpses of the devastation of the quake, alternating with her conversation with her Bean, works really well, making for compelling reading. This is an accomplished first novel that is hard to put down.

Great cover.

A belated congratulations on reading 75 books, Beth.

Thanks Deborah.

>298 BLBera: This one is on my list, it's so fun to read local books. I did hear her speak at a local emergency preparedness event, and she seems very nice.

When you read it, Rhonda, you'll have to tell me if the geography is right. As Annie, walks, she mentions a lot of places. I don't know Portland well enough to know if she got it right.

Richard II
Richard II
There is a lot of poetry in Richard II, and more character development than in some of the other history plays. We see Richard becoming more and more unpopular as he raises taxes. He is referred to as a spendthrift. When he exiles his cousin, Bullingbrook (how it’s spelled in the play), he starts events that lead to his loss of the throne. When Richard’s uncle and Bullingbrook’s father John Gaunt dies, Richard seizes the estate, disinheriting Bullingbrook. Bullingbrook leaves exile to come back to claim his estate. Because of Richard’s unpopularity, Bullingbrook finds lots of followers and eventually is acclaimed king. However, not everyone thinks it’s right to depose Richard, so we see the seeds of unrest right away.

This was a popular play and forms a tetralogy with the two Henry IV plays and Henry V.

W.H. Auden
Auden says that Shakespeare focuses more on the depiction of a few characters in both Richard II and King John, which Auden says makes us lose the sense of the society. I didn’t find that; I enjoyed the character development.

There is a lot of interest in language in the plays as well.

Regarding the character of Richard, Auden claims that he is an early version of Hamlet, and that “Richard II is interested in the idea of kingship rather than in ruling.” Auden also thinks Richard is stupid.

Marjorie Garber (SAA)
Garber points out that before Shakespeare there weren’t many history plays but that after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, they became more popular.

She points out that the history plays take place in “several time periods at once”: the time of the events depicted; the time in which the play was written and first staged; and in modern times when it is staged. She says that the history plays can be viewed in the context of current events of any time and that the audience can find relevance. The history plays commented on the current day and the plays touched on ethical and political themes as well as moral and religious ones.

The play contrasts the characters of Richard II and Bollingbroke (Garber's spelling). Gaunt “urges the power of the imagination, of poetry and of transforming language,” as a way to deal but Bullingbroke is a realist, not an idealist. This also contrasts him with Richard, who is more of a dreamer.

There is a change of world views in the play. According to the old world view, the King IS the state and is anointed by God. In this view, anyone who deposes a king is curses. When Gaunt dies, this vision disappears although we see the idea of the curse carried through in the Henry IV plays
.
There is a lot of garden imagery related to the state, and a weedy garden is not a good sign.

Up/down imagery and movement is constant in the play, both in words and in action.

We are left with questions at the end of the play. Is Richard a hero or a victim? How does Richard compare with Bollingbroke?

The ending is dominated by Richard’s coffin, ending in “history and in ongoing time, in repetition and reversal.”

This is a good introduction to the Henry IV plays. We see the beginnings of some of the conflicts at the end of this play.

>298 BLBera: Tilt sounds interesting to me too. A different perspective on the Pacific Northwest fear of the next earthquake. I was in Seattle for the last one.

I've added this to my wishlist too, sounds good. Although not sure if I'd recognise anything from my very short trip.

>304 labfs39: I think you might like it, Lisa.

>305 charl08: I didn't know if the geography was correct. I'll wait for some of our Portland friends to weigh in.

81. French Leave
Thanks again to Katie, who sent this book. I read it on the plane as I flew to my nephew's wedding. I left it with my cousin, who will like it.

It seemed very appropriate because the book is about siblings Simon and Garance driving to a relative's wedding. On the way they pick up their sister Lola. Eventually they meet up with their youngest brother Vincent. It's the story of family, love, and the knowledge that siblings can't always be together.

There's also humor in this story abut the value of family.

82. The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin
Augusta and Julia Colehatch are back in this second book of the "Ill-Mannered Ladies" series. As in the first novel, Gus pushes the envelope for acceptable behavior for society ladies. She continues with her efforts to exonerate Lord Evan and to save Evan's sister Hester from their brother. Entertaining audiobook.

>308 BLBera: I loved the first of the "I'll Mannered Ladies" series. Thanks for letting me know the second in the series is out, Beth.

>309 Familyhistorian: The plot is simpler in this one, Meg. If you liked the first one, you will probably enjoy the second one.

83. A Game of Sorrows

This is the second in the Alexander Seaton series, set in 17th century Scotland. In this one, Alexander is happily settled in Aberdeen, doing work he enjoys among friends. He is suddenly confronted by his Irish mother's family. I don't want to include spoilers so I will just say that much of the novel occurs in Ireland. There are many plot lines, and I found this to be a bit of a slog. There is just too much going on. Even though this novel was a disappointment, I will continue the series because the time period is interesting, and the first novel was such good historical fiction.

>83 BLBera: oh no! Expectations lowered, but I'll still read it.

>312 vivians: Maybe my expectations were too high. I look forward to your comments. I still intend to continue the series. And I see that some people gave it five stars, so...

Too bad about A Game of Sorrows, Beth. I own just one book by that author, The Bookseller of Inverness which I have yet to get to. I agree, much of the Booker Shortlist was a surprise.

I still think MacLean is a good writer of historical fiction, Deborah. A Game of Sorrows just had a lot going on.