2025-3 Susan's (quondame) Record of Reading

My health has been more reliably good, give and take musculoskeletal minor misadventures for the second quarter, and though I started this one with an itchy throat, today I'm doing better.

What follows is a repeat!

I’m Susan, 76, long retired—no, even longer than that—and it wasn’t voluntary, though I came to appreciate it. I live in Southern California, near enough to the ocean to benefit from the climate, in a house with my husband and our daughter, my daughter’s dog, and my husband’s dog, oh and since mid January, my dog a small mutt who sheds short dark hair and is cautious rather than outgoing. She is Aspen.

I read quite a lot, mostly books, but since I spend a good deal of time on LT, Discord, and Facebook (and eBay), and all of those involve reading, it’s come to me that books are not the whole of it.

I spent 30+ years organizing and attending dance and social events lightly based on Regency England and later joined the SCA to do their version of historical recreation. My interest in dress and costume predates those interests but was certainly fueled by them, and I have all sorts of fabric and fiber craft supplies, the collecting of which is a hobby in itself. I also collect dolls from about 1955 to now, but only certain ones, and mostly that’s about wardrobes. Clothing again. Another collection is miniature tools, charm-sized; the more realistic, the better.

My reading is heavily F&SF, within which I have a strong preference for women and gender-queer authors. Given a recommendation from a trusted source, I will, however, read almost anything. I am in my 3rd year of being a total fan of Victoria Goddard’s Lays of the Hearth-Fire series and am attempting a major fic, having written a few small, lightweight bits.

The other part of my online social life is on Discord, the HOTE Support Group server to be exact, where I also discuss books, mostly fantasy, and go over every minutia within HOTE, etc., and every alternative or possibly canon story members have imagined.

There are multiple shared reads and book clubs of which I’m in what I think is the main one.

January’s Book is:
The Monsters We Defy

February's book, Everfair was interesting but didn't really click with me.

March's Each of Us a Desert seems though more sparse, seems deeper.

April's The King is Dead is now on my kindle.
This one is a winner!

May's Even Though I Knew the End is on Hoopla and I think is KindleUnlimited. As it's short we are also reading The City in Glass

June was Tuyo which I had recently re-read, so I finished Tano in preparation for Hedesa

July's book is The House of Rust which I had to finish early for library availability issues.

August's book is The Tainted Cup a reread for me, and I have to resort to the HB, but it remains a good
read and I'm enjoying it.

September's book is The Maid and the Crocodile and a followup book club has been added to read the new releases The Adventure of the Demonic Ox a novella, and A Drop of Corruption for those who require more Din and Ana.

=======my fic tracking ==============
(next quarter it maybe gets it's own entry?)

I have yet to make any progress this year on my fixKip fic, but I think I found a lead Gender Failure about trauma recovery.

250104
918 words of fic. I didn't think things could get worse for the whump'd one who renounced his names (Cliopher/Kip) in CYH, but I have somehow done something even more evil. But! it's to motivate him to go on and agree to leave his refuge.

250302
Yesterday and the couple of days before I put together 889 words, with some redundancy. Captured a bunch of Fitzroy/HR ideas.
The other person's take has proceeded well, but it very much isn't my take.

February's book, Everfair was interesting but didn't really click with me.

March's Each of Us a Desert seems though more sparse, seems deeper.

April's The King is Dead is now on my kindle.
This one is a winner!

May's Even Though I Knew the End is on Hoopla and I think is KindleUnlimited. As it's short we are also reading The City in Glass

June was Tuyo which I had recently re-read, so I finished Tano in preparation for Hedesa

July's book is The House of Rust which I had to finish early for library availability issues.

August's book is The Tainted Cup a reread for me, and I have to resort to the HB, but it remains a good
read and I'm enjoying it.

250424
I've wrote over 2600 words of my fic, some parts of scenes and a sever scattered bits and character notes which feed into those scenes.

250515

865 of an AU followup of TMWYHBT as a side story to my fix for CYH. It turns out there was some trauma for Kip.

250517

Minus 113 words, Plus 677. So 564 to the credit side.

250518

Plus 595.

250527

685 On a different view of the Colhélhé episode - the housekeeper. Currently unnamed.

250531

200 words of Shine on Your Own, which I will probably toss, but hold the place for the idea. Finally an non-CYH related fic!

250626

1229 words Between Amanu and Kip
400-600 of which were from the 24th&25th, but much re-written on the 26th.

250701
Well, I scatter shot another 420 words at it
between 250626 and 250701 before getting distracted by the completion of the fan fic where young Kip meets and attracts Fitzroy Angursell's attention. Last year I managed a series of verses in response to the live ficcing so I attempted something in the same line and managed a few interesting rhymes. 140 words or so for that, but I went too far off predicting the antics and came up with:

Too early did I start my line
of how these two might entwine
for all my knowledge of physique
I was surprised by that technique

The author really did come up with a sex act I'd never heard mentioned. I guess I'd better hit the M/M recommendations a bit harder.

250710

I wrote an 807 word segment, mostly Onaya's early interactions with the Mdangs.
I've done versions earlier, but it finally came together.

250731

479 words of Ginger Biscuits.

250801

Did 2xsprints and Ginger Biscuits has 1100 words - but requires weeding & sorting.

250803

Rework on some of yesterday's ideas - so though there are more words, many will have to go - and I came up with ways to maybe shorten that more.

250808-9

I've been adding scraps of scenes, not meant to be final but to get ideas out there to sort into musings, dialog, description. I want Fitzroy to enjoying living among people, plants, birds, but settled, not wandering and K/C/R/L variously involved with doing not reacting. With K's frustration level rising because he isn't automatically first choice problem resolver.

250827

I got back to the café fic.
200-300 original words and -1000 of different takes on the scene, for 1655 grammar checked words into the work file.

250905

When on 8/30 my massage left my back totally cramped I realized that café fic would not be done by 8/31+5hrs anywhere in the world, I drew a line through it and set out to get the first part in before the deadline, which I did. 2.9K. Now, I have to formulate the conclusion I want which also meets some expectations I inadvertently created. I hope.
But no stress.

As of 9/30/2025

Books I have started and put down for over a week:

Bound to Please
The Carmina Burana: Songs from Benediktbeuern*
The Middle Kingdoms
Navigating the Stars
Time Is a Mother
The Warburgs
Worn

Books I'm currently reading:

The Case of Cem
Emily and the Hollow World

===========

*This is a large trade paperback with 250+ songs (Carmina) from before 1250, and I may get through 1 or 2 a day. Disappointingly this only include English translations with Latin/Middle High German text online(Link not currently working)

I have these books checked out of the Library as of 7/1/2025

As a check, I'm going to leave this list static and update >5 quondame: to see what % just keeps hanging on!

An Academy for Liars
After Long Silence
Bound to Please
The Case of Cem
Dear Wendy
The Everything Box
Equal Rites
The Fedgling
For the Good of All, Do Not Destroy the Birds
Geometries of Belonging
The Golden Thread
Her other mouths
The House of Rust
I Cheerfully Refuse
I Who Have Never Known Men
Ink Blood Sister Scribe
Into the Drowning Deep
The Knowing
The Latina anti-diet
The Lions of Al-Rassan
The Map Thief
Masks and Shadows
The Middle Kingdoms
My Darling Dreadful Thing
Night of the Living Rez
Nightwatch on the Hinterlands
Nightwatch over Windscar
Nobody's Fool
Ocean's Godori
One of Our Kind
The Other Side of Disappearing
Passiontide
Perfume and Pain
Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors
Reign to Ruin
Return to Nevèrÿon
The Spear Cuts Through Water
The Tenfold Tenants
The theory of flight
These Precious Days
Thief's Magic
This All Come Back Now
Time Is a Mother
Wheel of the Infinite
When the Tides Held the Moon

For a new quarter, a newly extracted list, which is, well, pretty much the same as last quarters's list.

I have these books checked out of the Library as of 9/30/2025

Blackheart Man
Bloodchild
Bound to Please
The Case of Cem
Close range
The Color of Distance
The Country Under Heaven
The curious case of dassoukine's trouser
A Drop of Corruption
The Emilie Adventures
Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales
Geometries of Belonging
How We Show Up
Into the Drowning Deep
The Knowing
The Latina Anti-Diet
Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century
Masks and Shadows
Nobody's Fool
Passiontide
Perfume and Pain
The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses
Reign to Ruin
So Many Books, So Little Time
The Tainted Cup
The theory of flight
Thief's Magic
This All Come Back Now
When the Tides Held the Moon
The Witches of El Paso
Wormwood Abbey

Acquisitions for 2025.

250101 Beauty
250104 Memory
250122 The Charm Offensive
250125 Niccolò Rising
250201 The Orb of Cairado
250221 Soul Music
250221 Maskerade
250221 Night Watch
250221 The Fifth Element
250221 Going Postal
250221 Thud
250221 Making Money
250223 Witness for the Dead
250226 Virginia Woolf: The Complete Works
250215 The Grief of Stones
250215 The Tomb of Dragons
250320 Point of Hearts
250322 The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal
250327 Black Wolves
250401 The King Is Dead
250412 Tiffany Aching Complete 5-Book Collection
250416 Drum into Silence
250425 Scenes from the City
250501 Even Though I Knew the End
250520 The Lost Bookshop
250525 Double Life
250601 The Alchemist
250602 Marag
250602 Rihasi
250603 Suelen
250608 Giovanni’s Room
250610 The Witch Roads
250620 All the Broken Blades
250628 Middlemarch: Annotated
250701 Unexpected Twists
250701 Hedesa
250701 Low Dawn
250701 High Dusk
250702 Outcrossing
250702 Ancient Trust
250702 Complementary
250711 The Adventure of the Demonic Ox
250802 Hedesa
250802 Keraunani
250802 Rihasi
250802 Suelen
250802 Marag
250802 Nikoles
250802 Tano
250802 Tasmakat
250802 Tarashana
250808 Stone Speaks to Stone
250812 Eight Doors from Dawn to Midnight
250913 Olive and the Dragon
250929 A Psalm for the Wild-Built

Italic is for Kindle Unlimited - I may no longer have this on my Kindle.
Bold is for titles new to me - the other's I bought because I want them on my Kindle.

@karenmarie
From þe olde thread
I'm at a bit of a loss as to what keeps me attached to Phillip Pullman's Book of Dust, but I do find something in Lyra's journeys.

Yay for food! It's only the consequences of indulgence that occasionally dampens my total enthusiasm! While Los Angeles does have culinary deficiencies, the plenty and frequent quality is quite consoling.

As for today, I'm still stuck in Middlemarch but over 90%, so there's hope!

Welcome!

Happy new thread, Susan and >8 quondame: It looks likr you'll soon be unstuck although that last 10% may not be easy!

>9 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul.

Middlemarch has become more readable >70 quondame:%. Possibly because Eliot has pretty much set the characters and the problems and the act-outs aren't upsetting expectations.

Happy new thread :)

>11 Narilka: Thank you, Gale!

126) Middlemarch

I meant this for June TIOLI Challenge #6: Reading Shame Forgiveness - read that book you feel ashamed not to have read yet

Considering I got over 600 pages into it, that really was a significant sop to guilt.

Still, at least the cover of the e-edition I purchased

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book whose cover pictures leaves

Happy new thread!

I am glad that you are feeling better health wise

>14 figsfromthistle: Thanks, Anita!

127) Tano

For this I added July TIOLI Challenge #17: Read a book has at least one title word of at least 3 letters that has as many vowels as consonants

I went with the old SF gang to the Bower's Museum to see an exhibit of the Terracota Soldiers. It was a sparsely filled set of rooms, interesting but not awesome - the 1/2 sized 4-horse teams wagon and chariot were my favorites - what interesting harnesses and leads. There was more video fill than anything else and a 20th ~1/8 scale sequence of the statue making workshop - 10 feet or so long, but probably more imagination that accuracy.
Lunch at and interesting looking Orange (city) restaurant - but the menu promised much more than the kitchen could deliver.

I was happy to get back to my internet, my dog (she jumped on my lap last night while I was reading so, it being the first time, I had to leave her there for at least 2 hrs. also I'm enjoying Hedesa) and my book.

Happy New Thread, Susan! Congratulations on reading such a big tome as MiddleMarch

Happy new thread Susan!

>18 vancouverdeb: Thank you, Deborah! I'm ever so glad to be quit of it. Others may not feel the judgements so nearly, lucky them.

>19 humouress: Thanks, Nina!

128) Hedesa

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #11: Read a book with a title that starts with the letters BIBLIOPHILE in order (rolling challenge)

129) One of Our Kind

Meets Challenge #15: Read a book with at least two title words that start with a vowel

Timing may not be everything, but it can be a bit of a nuisance.
Two e-books that I checked out were due last week, but meet July challenges:
House of Rust
These Precious Days
and a third I just wanted to read
Wheel of the Infinite
because the loan for One of our Kind had expired before I finished it I still have my Kindle on airplane mode and will hold onto those 3 as well - or at least 2 of them.

Of course that means if The Adventure of the Demonic Ox drops, I'll have to delay the download.

I can't say I'm glad to have this first world problem, but ..

130) The House of Rust

Read for the HOTE Discord July book club. Completed this early in the month because my e-loan has expired and it's 10 wks predicted until it is available again, it

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book with a place to live in the title

It turns out I've already read Wheel of the Infinite, and it doesn't call to me for any other reason so I'm letting it go.

Pearl Ruled The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love, at 6% but I knew I should from the first page. The style of humor doesn't appeal and the inconsistencies appall.

I haven't finished a book today, but I did write a short segment that's been in my head for months. It's fanfic for Lays of the Hearth-Fire,
a bit of Mdang backstory, and a couple of scenes with Kip. The link is to AO3.

131) These Precious Days

BB from @EBT1002

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book having to do with a dog

132) The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book with a title at least six words long

133) The Adventure of the Demonic Ox

Meets Challenge #9: Read a book with a title at least six words long

134) The Map Thief

This one's been hanging around mostly read so I finished it to get it out of my library loans &| holds.

135) Outcrossing

Read for July TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a book whose title, subtitle, author's name, or series name contains a body of water

Happy new thread, Susan! Congrats on finishing Middlemarch. That's one I'm not sure I would have gotten through if I didn't read it in a college class.

>33 curioussquared: Thanks, Natalie! I avoided lit classes in college and the demands of High School lit wasn't enough to spoil any books - well maybe The Scarlet Letter - for me.

136) I Who Have Never Known Men

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #7: Read a work in translation

Happy Wednesday, Susan. Happy new Thread. Sorry for the delay. Hooray for These Precious Days. Patchett rocks. If you haven't read her first essay collection- I highly recommend it.

>36 msf59: Thanks, Mark. Patchett is now definitely on my read-more-by list.

137) Low Dawn

I have enjoyed a great deal of this author's smutty fanfic in the Lays of the Hearth-fire world, and there are echos of Lays here, but not strong ones.

Read for July TIOLI Challenge #3: The “Tic Tac Toe Challenge: An author whose first or last name ends in either X or O”

>35 quondame: That type of dystopian fiction isn't really my thing, Susan, but the book did leave quite a lasting impression on me.

>39 PaulCranswick: It isn't my thing either - it was suggested to fill a square in the current Reddit Fantasy Bingo and looked interesting. It's well written and well translated, but no fun at all.

Today we went an hour north and west to sign the paperwork setting up the trust for our "estate." It seemed there were fewer papers to sign than for a trust deed, but the last time we refinanced was a few years back. Mike has paid off the balance on that, so except for the trivial matters of maintenance and taxes we don't have housing expenses. Well, gas, water, sewage, but solar gives us a net positive on the electricity.
We stopped at a branch of one of the best local deli's for lunch. They had fried pickles, good ones. I am on salt overload now.

Hi Susan. Book Bullets! I’ll be looking up that Patchett you were so happy with. And a new Penric and Desdemona!

>41 quondame: This sounds like congratulations are in order? Is that right?

>42 EllaTim: I hope you enjoy!

Not so much congratulations - it's not really an accomplishment, more like putting up a protective barrier.

138) So Let Them Burn

This would have been late Pearl Rules except that I didn't have anything else that qualifies and this

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a book with something in the title that or subtitle would bring you to a hospital

138) The Unique Lou Fox

Read for July TIOLI Challenge #6: Read an UN book where a title word starts with Un

139) The Man Who Saw Everything

Read for July TIOLI Challenge #16: Read a book that was longlisted for the Booker Prize in the last ten years

>46 quondame: I haven't read that one, Susan, but I have found Levy's fiction a bit dry in the past - too aloof.

>47 PaulCranswick: Yes, I can see dry. Seen from inside the head of a compromised MC, his attempts at attaching others are rebuffed with claims that he doesn't see them, isn't interested in who they are. Perhaps it's exposing that no amount of inner feeling builds a real relationship without engagement with the values of the beloved.

140) The Djinn's Apple

I checked this out for Challenge #12, but there were books I have alread checked out that could meet that so it was

Read for July TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book with a food item in the title

I'm currently reading Lexicon, and so far it is a combo of The Magicians vibe on one thread and on the other any one of hundreds of man who doesn't know what he knows is abducted for a wild chase. And it is almost too tedious with all that for me to want to pick it up again. I'll go through my library loans for another author I haven't read from a country I have not visited. I can't remember Belgium, perhaps our bus didn't go through it. The Google route from Amsterdam to Cologne doesn't, but if we stopped in Luxembourg rather than Lichtenstein then we must have. This was 58 years ago, and the 60s, so it's a wonder I remember the end points, nevermind the route.

My reading took a hit today - I got a new iPad, a mini, which I hope will be easier on my hands and able to support the increasing number of non-Kindle books I read. Of course it can handle Kindle books too, but I'll suspect having a Kindle for the luxury of turning off WiFi and keeping library books past the due date, will still be a draw. Of course I don't need 3 Kindles, but surely at least one of them doesn't work any more ----

The initial attempt at set up ended up in a locked up device. I spent maybe 1/2 hr on a chat with Apple support, after installing the new MAC OS, and still had to reboot and switch cables around (my MAC mini has USB-C ports on the back). The USB distributor I have doesn't have USB-C ports, and none of my cables from it to my iPad Mini worked as a data connection. But at last a connection was made, a reset and software update completed and I have a working device.

My daughter has expressed an interest in my old iPad.

141) Summer in Orcus

BB from @EllaTim

Read for July TIOLI Challenge#10: Read a book with a "summer word" in the title or a summery image on the cover

>51 quondame: Hi Susan. Congratulations on getting your new iPad working. And finally it has USB? Seems an improvement.

>52 quondame: Glad you liked it.

>53 EllaTim: Hi! Oh, it always had USB, it's just that the distributor connected to my MAC mini doesn't have USB C ports and the cable that came with the iPad is USB C at both ends. But! there was an available USB C port on the MAC mini itself, and when I connected the cable to that - and rebooted, I was able to follow directions and it has been working well since.

So now I can, on one device, read Kindle books - most of what I check out from the library - Overdrive books, books that I bought from Apple - several Kate Elliott series or from Smashwords - and read fanfic off AO3 - without needing to change from my kindle, to my old iPad - too heavy and with edges. What's with the edges! My thumbs hate the edges!

Summer in Orcus was worth reading, I wish Kingfisher had managed to avoid violent confrontations for her preteen adventuress, but she did give us A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking.

Kingfisher also gave us Illuminations for middle grade/YA, which I enjoyed more than Minor Mage.

>55 reconditereader: I haven't read either of those. I may never do a complete read of all the T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon books, but 21 isn't bad - I think I'll go light on the hamsters.

>36 msf59: Hello and happy end of July 2025! I agree with Mark in his comments about Ann Patchet. These Precious Days was given to me by a dear friend. It remains on my shelf of favorite books.

>57 Whisper1: Hi Linda! I'm not quite ready to consider July ended - I've 3 more TIOLI books to finish!
I'm certainly glad to have followed the Ann Patchet readers in this group.

>41 quondame: I don't think I've come across fried pickles before. What are they like? And pickled what; gherkins?

>59 humouress: Hi Nina! The fried pickles I've had are dill pickle chips - cucumber - usually the wavy sort, with a flour-liquid-breadcrumb coating. They are tart with the greasy crunchy breadcrumb coating and a lingering dill. I've always had them served with ranch dressing.

142) Lexicon

Meets July TIOLI Challenge#12: Read a book by an author you haven't read before, from a country you haven't been to

143) High Dusk

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #3: The “Tic Tac Toe Challenge: An author whose first or last name ends in either X or O”

144) Ink Blood Sister Scribe

It was not a good idea to read this concurrently with Lexicon. Words, magic, multiple points of view, compulsions, different books, but the overlap was a confusion. Maybe a couple of months minimum if you must.

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #11: Read a book with a title that starts with the letters BIBLIOPHILE in order

145) The Drawing of the Dark

Re-read for July TIOLI Challenge #11: Read a book with a title that starts with the letters BIBLIOPHILE in order

146) Forest Euphoria

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #17: Read a book has at least one title word of at least 3 letters that has as many vowels as consonants

So I've been out of the house 3x this week. The library Tuesday, and the bank & deli today were short trips, but Wednesday I drove down to chat with my sister-in-law and have dinner with her and my brother. That took me down to Palos Verdes - 30 miles & back. That hill is a mass of twisty roads which I do not like driving on in the dark. And the Garmin got stuck on zoom mode so I had to reposition the display while trying not to drive off the drops. And some of those drops are quite real!
It took me as long to get to the freeway as it took to drive from San Pedro to West LA.

I decided to use one of my story ideas in a fanfic bingo challenge for August. Since my story was already going to be set in the specified location and milieu I just have to add the specific elements they required. And a story's usually improved by adding another dimension. So I've got 570 words into that, which I'm hoping will be 1/3 - 1/5 the total length. We'll see. I've never specifically written to a prompt maybe a bit of doggerel, but not something I've thought about.

147) Equal Rites

Re-read for August TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a book with a title containing only two or three words of which at least two of the words have the same number of letters

And I've got 2 more days of leaving the house - yesterday with Mike to finish our business at the bank and track down an elusive grocery (a miss) and today to return and pick up library books - and to TJ's because Mike did find the elusive grocery on his expedition today.

I don't blame you for not wanting to drive through twisty hills in the dark, Susan. I hope you find those groceries that Mike missed.

>69 vancouverdeb: Well, I survived - and the car too! - from the hill descent, so that's all good. And yes, Mike did find the item - Paul Neuman's lite Caesar dressing - at Gelson's where Vons, Ralphs, Bristol Farms, and Smart&Final disappointed. We did not have to resort to Whole Foods (Amazon postage was way high) or head into deepest Brentwood/Upper Santa Monica to go to Vicente.
We do seem to still have some variety of markets for groceries, though anything but Vons is a bit of an expedition for me. And it's been ages since I went in a Costco....

148) The Everything Box

This should have been Pearl Ruled, but it

Meets August TIOLI Challenge #7: The EIEIO Challenge: Read a book with the vowels E, I, and O (in that order) somewhere in the title.

We are off to see a musical Some Like it Hot. For me, the cast made the movie, so color me skeptical.

>67 quondame: I do need to get back to Discworld, Susan.

>72 quondame: I hope your skepticism is unfounded and you have a lovely time.

>73 PaulCranswick: Yes, Discworld is good in itself and good for breaks between less kind works.

The musical had its good points, though an original sounding score wasn't among them. But the music was lively and the visuals were engaging. The actors in the Jerry/Daphne & Osgood roles were the standouts though and the retooling of the plot was welcome.
I was able to hear enough that it was clear Sugar remained an alcoholic but not enough to determine if it was entirely ignored after Jo/Josephine claims her dropped flask as his own.

>74 quondame: At east it was better than you feared it would be. xx

>75 PaulCranswick: Definitely better than stuffing Andrew Lloyd Weber style music down the original 1959 movie plot.

I was almost oblivious of the drama that occurred in the 3 seats to my right. The seat holders came late and about 1/3 into the 1st act I thought the person next to me tried to get my attention by nudging my arm 3 times, but I couldn't figure out what was going on. Some minutes later all three left the theater. They were asked to leave because they were eating and making noise with opening food packets and crinkling them, which I didn't notice but Becky on the other side of me did. At intermission and usher came by to express regrets and ask if we were OK. Aside from the nudges I hadn't noticed at all and was just puzzled. The only thing I'd noticed about my neighbor was that they were large enough so that the two of us were rather pressed together.

149) My Darling Dreadful Thing

Meets August TIOLI Challenge #2 : Read a book written by a Benelux author

>76 quondame: Being constantly nudged would have distracted me and then annoyed me. I'm glad your theatre-going experience wasn't spoiled.

>77 quondame: Interesting! A dutch author, but I have never heard of her. Several people here reading her. So I looked her up in my dutch library. They don’t have her book.
I did some research and it seems she wrote this book in English. She has done English studies in Holland. Apparently she did well, to get a book published!

>78 humouress: All 3 nudges were in a very short period of time during a musical number that rather bored me. I was puzzled, but then it stopped and then the stage took back my attention for the time it took before that party was evicted - I only noticed them leaving, not anyone asking them to leave.

>79 EllaTim: I knew the book was written in English. It takes place in the Netherlands and the main character is supposed to have limited English. I was considering The Tenfold Tenants, as the author info says they live in Belgium, but it's very London, so nope. Also the library reclaimed my copy, though my Kindle hasn't yet relinquished it.
My Darling Dreadful Thing flows well, and remains engaging throughout, but isn't a great deal of fun.

>80 quondame: No, don’t get me wrong, I’m not commenting on you choosing this book. It just feels strange to me that a dutch writer should choose to write her books in English. That surprised me. Of course when someone has moved to the USA for instance I’d be less surprised. There’s an Iranian immigrant here in Holland who has become a well-known writer, writing in dutch.

>81 EllaTim: I didn't think that. It was next up on books I'd already checked out from the library and seeing Van Veen as the author I googled for her nationality. She could have easily been a US or UK citizen. So for me it was a happy accident.

150) The Tenfold Tenants

The reason I finished this was that I was considering it for challenge #2, then noticed it fit #4 and I'd rushed through it a bit as it was due. So I wasted good reading time.

Meets August TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book where the title (not including subtitles) has at least one word with 3 consonants in a row

>82 quondame: OK.

>83 quondame: Hope your next read is better.

>84 EllaTim: May all our reads be better! Thank you.

I'm quite enjoying The Position of Spoons. It too is sort of a happy accident for #2, a collection of very short essays, full of fabulous lines to quote, some already quotes. Now I've got to get it safely loaded so that when the library revokes it this evening I'll have a remnant copy for a couple of days.

It seems like I'm either reading the latest book I've downloaded or the one that's due before I can finish it.

152) Stone Speaks to Stone

Reread for August TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book that has something to do with my son. State what it is.

Today's excitement was misplacing my Apple Pencil and accidentally subscribing to a set of apps one of which was supposed to help me find it. It didn't, I unsubscribed.

I also did a deli run, a result of which is that Becky knows she doesn't like Caprese salad sandwich. It never appealed to me, though I've enjoyed the salad a few times. But we're stocked up for a few days.

153) The Position of Spoons

Meets August TIOLI Challenge #3 : Read a story or essay collection

154) The Tainted Cup

Meets August TIOLI Challenge #11: Read a book where you have more than one book by that author on your TBR

151) Portrait of a Wide Seas Islander

The 151 is correct. I read this just before Stone Speaks to Stone, but did not log it.

Reread for August TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book with a connection to the number 8

Hi Susan my dear, Happy New Thread dear friend.

>91 johnsimpson: Thanks, John! It's good to see you out and about on the threads!

Checking in on you, Susan. It has been a minute, lol.

Regarding your comment on my thread about reading becoming work, yeah it is awful. As a lifelong reader, I hate when this happens. Book funks are one thing, but when reading becomes work for me, I know it is time to find something else to do when reading is work.

I hope you are having a wonderful Wednesday!

>93 alcottacre: Thanks Stasia!

When I don't feel like reading even dear favorites it's time for major anti-depressants. Only those have always switched me to manic, which I've found dangerous.
Fortunately, I have a deep pool of books which blunt the sharp emotional edges or puff up the sagging defenses, and which haven't failed me for decades.

Oh, I just noticed the bare top of my thread and stuffed a pic in. It had been readied for service but was languishing in my junk drawer.

Happy new-ish thread!

>96 foggidawn: Thanks foggi!

155) Nightwatch on the Hinterlands

Meets August TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book you'd planned to read earlier this summer

156) Nightwatch over Windscar

Meets August TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book with a vehicle in the title

After a massage Thursday afternoon, my lower back froze and it became very hard to move. Instead of sensibly lying in my adjustable bed comfortably bent, I did my regular evening online.
Well, that resulted in hardly being able to move at all on Friday, so I remained as comfortably bent all day as is compatible with intake/outgo requirements.
I also exhausted the battery on my iPad mini for the first time.
I'm significantly better today, and here I am!
We'll see if this is a mistake tomorrow morning,
but I'm only online in spurts.

157) The Mountain of Kept Memory



A spunky princess with a kind older brother and a fearsome father learns she's to be offered to an invading prince, then that she's been rudely refused. That's the most conventional part of this edging into SF fantasy, which takes place in a world teetering on the brink of catastrophic plagues and at further risk because of high-powered gadgets distributed among power-hungry princes and magisters.
There are a lot of hurried journeys and not enough convincing time spent with the significant characters and altogether too many invaders.

I was looking for a "break" book to pull me into a better mood than The Slowworm's Song and found this one with the geological feature by an author whose books have up to this one, really pulled me along. Well, back to TSS. Well, new break book is Poets and Murder.

Read for August TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a book whose title features a cartographic, geological or geographic term

So my back was almost back to normal, but my gut decided I wasn't going to enjoy the evening. Which is worrisome, since I usually have to make a real effort to be hydrated as a gout countermeasure and losing all the fluids I conscientiously downed through out the day, unpleasant in itself, adds another layer of worry.
And I still can't finish my story for the August Bingo - I hope I can put something together in time to get beta'd before the end of the month.

158) The Slowworm's Song

Meets August TIOLI Challenge #10: The Booker Longlist will be announced Tuesday, July 29, 2025, according to The Booker Prizes. Read any book by an author from the longlist.

I just told Mike he could buy whatever car he wanted:

Hope you feel better today and is that the car he wants or the one you are telling him he can get? ; )

>105 Berly: He just signed the lease for the Mercedes EQB 250+. He was motivated by the safety features and this one has them, is electric, and will allow him a better view in traffic. It's red so that he can find it in a parking lot. He wanted to get the federal electric vehicle tax credit that's no longer going to be available Sept. 2. And this is less than the BMW, a bit more than the Ford, but the insurance will be less because of the safety features. He hasn't said, but I bet this one self parks. He hates parallel parking.

Now we need to get the charging connections made to our solar batteries.

If I could buy a tiny electric self driving vehicle, I would, but there's no such thing.

159) Poets and Murder

Nothing felt more than generally familiar in this Judge Dee mystery, though I thought I'd read - and reread - them all. I've got sucked into this one as a break from Tell Me Everything which I did not expect to include a murder.
Before I noticed I had a good candidate in My Darling Dreadful Thing I checked this out to

Read for August TIOLI Challenge #2 : Read a book written by a Benelux author

I have Slowworm on my kindle, so I am glad it was an okay read for you, Susan. My son traded his Honda SUV in for a Mercedes SUV, that is an electric vehicle as well. I don't pay much attention to cars, so I don't know the exact model. He told me he is done with gas stations- he is the son that just returned from Europe with his wife and 2 kids.

>108 vancouverdeb: Alas, I won't be done with gas stations - we still have the 2 Prius, V & C, which do need the occasional fill-up. Now that Mike will be driving the EQB, I won't be able to depend on him filling the tank. And I'll have to give it a drive to keep the battery alive. Of course, I could admit 3 cars aren't necessary, but after I've been bitching about not having a car, it wouldn't be a good look.

I hope your grandchildren had enough of a good time on the trip to get a good impression of traveling.

How long has your son had the Mercedes?

I hope you're feeling better in all areas this morning, Susan! I came by to tell you how much I am still loving Tuyo - MUCH! I was interested to see relatively good comments about *Mountain/Memory* since I now have a copy of it from PBSwap. I also got Winter of Ice and Iron. Alas. No swapper wants to give up copies in the *Tuyo* series, and I will continue it.

While I'm hoping, I'll hope that Mike is very pleased with his new car and remains so.

>109 quondame: I think William has had the Mercedes SUV for about 2 - 3 months. William and his wife also have a gas powered car, so they are not free of gas stations either. Their other car is small Kia something I think. Yes, Miles and Melissa do enjoy travelling. They have been to Hong Kong at least three times, as Serenade is from Hong Kong and has extended family there. They seem to go to Hawaii each winter for a week , so I think the kids are used to it. I'm not sure how they have as much money as they do at such a young age, Dave and I didn't.

>110 LizzieD: I am feeling better. My back is back to waterline levels of needing accommodation.
I'm glad you like Tuyo! The series is very strong - especially the Tuyo/Tarashana/Tasmakat trilogy centered on Ryo&Aras. Tano, which I put aside because I wasn't up for "a young man proves himself" adventure at the time, is a sound book of its sort, just not as engrossing as the others.

I'll have to check out Winter of Ice and Iron.

Mike is deep in the owners manual. This auto is deep with features.

>111 vancouverdeb: It's great Miles and Melissa have taken to travel as they get to do it a lot. Becky and Mike went to Hawaii to visit his mother every summer and the only thing she liked were hotel pizza and pool.
I'm glad your son's family gets to enjoy the luxuries of life.

160) Tell Me Everything

Read for August TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book with a title that is a command or instruction

>106 quondame: That sounds like a great car! Hope he enjoys in for years to come. : )

>114 Berly: Well, 3 years. It's a lease. It is so beyond what I ever thought of driving!

Mike's arguments for safety and timing all made sense, and what I would have chosen does not exist. So he gets his dream car. Or at least a car he chooses on his own.

I had a friend who said every woman should get the kitchen of her choice and every man should get the car of his choice. While I don't support the blatant sexism of her statement and rather think every woman should get quite a lot more of her choices than a kitchen, I agree that everyone feels better making a major choice for themselves.

>115 quondame: Yeah, I don't want my choices to be stuck in the kitchen! LOL. But it is nice to make major choices for ourselves. : )

>113 quondame: Tell me Everything by Elizabeth Strout is on my tbr pile since 2024. Time to see where it is located in the house. I beliee I read the other books leading to this one.

>116 Berly: Oh yes, ever so much!

>117 Whisper1: I really should have read the Lucy Barton books first, but read it based on the Olive Kitteridge ones, and here Olive's more comic relief.

161) Dear Wendy

This was recommended on the HOTE Discord server for it's ace/aro/aspec representation, and it does that, as well as I can judge, clearly and well. It is a In the Good Old Summertime/You've Got Mail plot in reverse.

Meets August TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book you'd planned to read earlier this summer

162) I Shot the Buddha

Read for August TIOLI Challenge #6: Read a book where the majority of it is set in a landlocked country

162) The Blind Contessa's New Machine

This hits bull's eye in my annoyance target of something "tragic" happening to upper-crust non-characters somehow being a big deal.

Meets August TIOLI Challenge #15: Read a book by an author with an Irish or Scottish name or descent

163) Eight Doors From Dawn to Midnight

If there had been a single sentence about Vích leaving behind her jewelry making or pottery, or puzzle, or book, a single indication that the woman had a past time, I would rate it an entire star higher.

Meets August TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book with a connection to the number 8

164) Silent Blade

Meets August TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book that has something to do with my son.

165) The Witch Roads

Meets August TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book where the title has at least one word with 3 consonants in a row

My pico-mac-nano, all of 6cm high arrived today.
It powers up, but attaching a mouse, to say nothing of a keyboard, will be a challenge. It has one USB-C port and I don't have a splitter or a USB-C mouse or keyboard.

And I didn't use MacWrite, but I did get some more work done on my Nine Worlds fic - it has a due date of Aug 31, so I need to get through to the gotcha instead of dealing with the challenge and the add-ins, which are more interesting, but I should at least do the min 500 words on the challenge subject while sneaking in the story I wanted to tell.

166) All the Broken Blades

Meets August TIOLI Challenge #3 : Read a story or essay collection

In order to install the 240V connection for our new electric vehicle, my husband emptied out the shelf nearest the garage door. We just spent over an hour going through an ungodly number of dusty plastic bins and random containers, out of which I scavenged 6 grid marked tablets, a few semi-used notepads, a bottle of acid free glue, half a dozen small slabs of amethyst & tourmaline, and one Bonnie Dalzell 1980s 5" high bronze big assed dragon.

So one shelf down, but there are lots more shelves, and piles, and racks, and well, the 2 car garage is really rather full of stuff. 80% of my sewing pattern collection and almost all of his comic book collection, and neither collection is small.

167) The Raven Scholar

BB from @jnwelch

Meets August TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book where the title (not including subtitles) has at least one word with 3 consonants in a row

Yesterday I submitted part one of my Nine Worlds (Lays of the Hearth-fire) fic for the Discord TbyF 7x7 Bingo. With one free square, there were 48 challenges and 48 fics were submitted.
Mine wasn't even the last in late in the afternoon - something like 38th?

The massage I had on Saturday wrecked my lower back, again, in spite of changes in positions and much less time on my stomach. It was almost impossible to move around, and I've learned to minimize sitting at my desktop with my lower back frozen like that.

I had been hoping to finish the fic, but dividing it in two so I can put some more thought into how I'm going to get where I know it's going is good, even if it extends the anxiety. I have a bunch more written, but what I posted to AO3 is about 3K, making it the longest work I have up there.

Is anyone else's household going to be disrupted by the release of Hollow Knight Silksong?

Enjoy your pico - mac-nano, Susan. I don't know much about it, but enjoy!

>130 vancouverdeb: Of course it's just a toy really, though one that addresses a fancy to have a dollhouse sized working computer room - I'm thinking back to the IBM 360 days, my first job working with a mainframe. It wasn't even running the mature OS operating system, but a precursor DOS (but way before MS/DOS).
That room and it's 20 hard drives couldn't compete with my current MAC - except they were less important than the communications controllers and trees of terminals spread through LA & Orange counties. Since my work was really about the communications, I ultimately spent more time and focus on the edges.

>106 quondame: Congrats on the new car! Interesting parameters for choosing a colour-easily visible. I usually go for what doesn't clash with the house and ease of cleaning ;)

Hi Susan. I join Anita in congratulating you on obtaining a new car. I'm looking toward next year to replace my Hyndai Elantra. I hate to give it up as it was Will's car that I inherited. It means a lot to drive his car, but it is a 2008 edition, and even though in only has 65,000 miles, it's time to be replaced.

I smile at your acquisition of a MAC. I remember the first computer I used at work. It was a dual floopy disk computer! I'll never forget that I was writing a proposal for my then boss who was the head of the center at Lehigh University where I was first employed. I rushed and didn't save as often as I should have. I was working like mad because he had a plane to catch and needed the proposal.

I moved my chair a tad and because it was on carpet, the static caused the computer screen to disappear with most of the proposal not backed up.

We've surely come a long way! IT was fun to read your initial experience with a computer. And, I remember well the battle between working on/obtaining a MAC VS a PC.

>104 quondame: What a beautiful car!!!

>132 figsfromthistle: In Los Angeles, easily cleanable means light colored, white, silver, grey, gold, tan, with taupe being my favorite of those. But white, silver and grey are lost in parking lots, and red was the only available non-neutral option in So. Cal. Our house is brown, hard to clash with.

>133 Whisper1: Hi Linda!

Oh, by the time of the IBM 360 I'd been studying or working with computers about 10 years I think - 1968 I was given a Fortran manual, an equation, and instructions on how to use the IBM 1620 down the hall.
I hadn't taken the math that would have made the programming graphs of the equation straightforward, so I went about it and odd and time consuming way, but learned quite a bit.
Like you can't throw any number at a subroutine from a library, but must know what limits it expects of it's parameters and whether it gives an error result or just a mistaken answer.

Susan, I'm very impressed with all the computer knowledge you have!!

>136 Whisper1: Thanks, but I'm as out-a-date as my X-Window manuals.

Wow, 48 (47 if I don't count mine) fics is a lot. Many were ~2-3K, but a number were over 10K. Also many of them were quite good - very intimidating.

168) Giovanni's Room

Meets September TIOLI Challenge #16: Read a book with the name of a European city in the title or on the first page

I don't know that it's ever taken me 4 days into a month to complete a challenge.

Well, I read over 150K of fanfic and left 49 comments, so it wasn't like I wasn't reading!

Alas, I must part with my #1 wisdom tooth next week. It is loose and sheltering an infection, though not an abscess, and there's no hope for it.

Undoubtedly I'll be severely lectured and bullied into deep cleaning of at least the nearby teeth. Oh, ouch, who needs this. But still, having dental care available and being able to afford it are pluses.

I'm enjoying both of the Discord Book Clubs' selections for September:

A Drop of Corruption
The Maid and the Crocodile

It's a bit of a bummer having to stop after each ~25%.

I am not enjoying my aching tooth and the weirdness that drugging myself entails.

>140 quondame: *insert some crack about age and wisdom, I dunno, my brain is not all the way on yet*

Best wishes for pain-free dental work!

I've been flattened by fever, head aches of the do I want to live though this level, ++. I do expect to live through this. I may complain.

So sorry you're feeling miserable! Hang in there.

>143 quondame: Sending feel-better wishes.

>143 quondame: Hope you feel better soon.

>143 quondame: Oh No! Speedy healing vibes your way!

>142 foggidawn: >144 reconditereader: >145 humouress: >146 Narilka: >147 figsfromthistle: Thanks.

I just spent 6 hrs or more in urgent care and emergency. There's no evidence of any infection but my teeth, but no abscesses. After 6 days of fever I'll be getting more powerful antibiotics.

0 reading done. I'm returning to my soft blanket cave until the world feels better.

>148 quondame: Sorry to hear it! Definitely retreat to the blanket cave -- hope you feel well enough to read again soon.

>149 foggidawn: I am beginning to feel better, I'm getting hungry and have begun reading. I do get to feeling overstimulated doing a couple of things, online is just so much. I feel like I'm falling behind more slowly, now.

>150 quondame: Good to know you're feeling better and your appetite is returning.

>151 humouress: Thanks, Nina. I'm still running on 3 disconnected brain cells, but one of those reads occasionally.

169) Olive and the Dragon

Meets September TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book with a blue cover, or a title word blue or sapphire for Sapphire September

170) The Phoenix Pencil Company

Meets September TIOLI Challenge #15: SCHOOL DAZE - Read a book with a word from the school supply list in the title, author, or on pages 25 or 26

Good to see you are reading again, after that fever you had! Here’s to steadily feeling better.

>155 EllaTim: Thank you, Ella! I'm improving slowly, a wandering collection of isolated brain cells with increasing appetite. Of course the CostCo chicken carcass I put on to simmer isn't helping there.

171) I Cheerfully Refuse

Meets September TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book where the title is a stand-alone sentence

Alas, there's more.
For my sins against dental hygiene, I am condemned to getting my teeth deep cleaned. After which I must wait a month when the path toward further oral outrages will be determined by the rate and nature of my healing.
Mumble, grumble, complain, complain, complain.

>158 quondame: Ouch... I worked with a woman who was going through this process...it was clearly an ordeal. Sympathies -- may it be worth the pain and aggravation eventually.

>159 laytonwoman3rd: I am dreading it. Also, I feel herded. Bah!

172) A Drop of Corruption .25

Meets September TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book where at least one title word begins with the letter “D”

173) The Maid and the Crocodile

Meets September TIOLI Challenge #10: Rolling challenge: Read a book with a word in the title starting with the letters WAR EAGLE

Well, I've had my teeth deep cleaned late yesterday, and while it was very nasty getting lots of shots and no fun at all with the scraping and zapping, my mouth seems to have almost forgiven me by this evening.

174) Aunt Tigress

Meets September TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a book by an author whose last name starts with X, Y or Z

175) Brokeback Mountain

Read for September TIOLI Challenge #6: Read a book discussed in any September on the BBC Worldservice Bookclub

Just aa note to say that I am about halfway through a book you recommended, Witch King, and am enjoying it. Thanks for that recommendation!

Have a wonderful weekend!

>166 alcottacre: I'm glad you're enjoying it. A sequel, Queen Demon is scheduled to come out Oct. 7.

176) Lens of the World

Read for September TIOLI Challenge #2 : The Big Mac or Little Mc Challenge ; Read a book by an author whose surname starts either Mac or Mc

177) Full Speed to a Crash Landing

Meets September TIOLI Challenge #7: Read the first book in a series

178) Stop and Go, Fast and Slow

Read for September TIOLI Challenge #3: The Opposites Attact Challenge: Read a book with the at least 2 words in the title which are opposites OR read 2 books that have opposite titles

179) A Dog's Life

Read for September TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book where an animal is telling at least part of the story and the book includes a tag indicating it is for adults

180) Welcome to Washington, Fina Mendoza

Read for September TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a book by a journalist (NF or F), about a journalist or the media

181) A Psalm for the Wild-Built

Re-read for September TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book considered to be Cottage-core

182) Emilie and the Hollow World

Re-read for September TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book by a writer with a set of double letters in their name

>174 quondame: I read that one long before I had any idea who Martha Wells was, and I must admit that I remember nothing about it beyond a faint steampunky vibe.

>175 foggidawn: It isn't anything beyond competent, thought fairness requires that 30 years is a long time back and it might have stood out more in 1994 - though I don't think it did, but I was distracted from books more in the mid-90s than at any other time in my life.