Linda Goes for the Heavy Stuff in 2025 *PART FOUR*

Hi, there! You know me, right? And if you don't, I introduce myself here. Welcome to my final reading thread for 2025.

My goal this year has been to read some of the "heavy" books off my shelves, meaning those that qualify as chunksters, not necessarily those with weighty content. I don't have a formula for which books fit this category, but I know 'em when I see 'em.

The ticker where I will keep track of my numbers, and how pitifully I fall short of my 100 book/year reading goal. (For four years after retiring, I routinely surpassed that goal. The pandemic, for some reason, plunged me back to the low 80s, which is less than I was reading those last several years when I was still working full time. I may have read a lot of children's books in those 100+ years, looking for good stuff for the littles in the family.) I actually made a list of my totals for the last dozen years, and was surprised by the consistency:

2025: 92 WOOT! Best total since 2019
2024: 84
2023: 81
2022: 82
2021: 85
2020: 84
2019: 104
2018: 110
2017: 100
2016: 112
2015: 86
2014: 100
2013: 82

Here will be a list of the books I read in the current quarter of 2025.

I use some shorthand to help me keep track of my reading trends:

ROOT identifies a book that I have had on my shelves for at least a year at the time I read it.
CULL means I put the book in my donation box for the library book sale after finishing it, or otherwise gave it away.
DNF means I didn't finish the book, for one reason or another, usually explained in the related post.
ER means I received the book from LT's Early Reviewer program.
GN refers to a graphic novel, GM a graphic memoir This is not a category I use much.
An * asterisk indicates a library book.
LOA means I read a Library of America edition;
SF means the book was a Slightly Foxed edition, (NOT science fiction, which I so rarely read);
VIRAGO means it was an original green-spined Virago edition from my own collection;
FOLIO indicates a Folio Society edition.
AUDIO and e-Book are self-explanatory, and probably won't appear very often.
AAC refers to the American Author Challenge.
NF indicates a non-fiction read.
TR indicates a work in translation
RR means it's a re-read for me
RLBC Real Life Book Club (A NEW addition to my coding)

Clicking on titles in this post will take you to the message in which I reviewed or commented on that book. This is true of my reading lists for the rest of the year in posts below as well.

OCTOBER

72. The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer NF, CULL
73. Zeke and Ned by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana ROOT, AAC
DNF The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
74. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
75. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens ROOT, RR, RLBC
76. Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki
77. The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt AAC, ROOT

NOVEMBER

*78. Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
79. Prudence by David Treuer AAC
80. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier ROOT, RLBC, RR
81. America's Best Idea: The Separation of Church and State by Randall Balmer NF
DNF Where They Last Saw Her by Marcie Rendon ROOT, CULL
*82. Dear Mrs. Bird by AJ Pearce
83. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
84. In The Springtime of the Year by Susan Hill ROOT

DECEMBER

85. Conundrum by Jan Morris NF, SF, ROOT
86. Man Without A Country by Edward Everett Hale ROOT
87. Frog and Toad Storybook Treasury by Arnold Lobel
88. Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan ROOT
89. To Night Owl From Dogfish by Meg Wolitzer and Holly Goldberg Sloan AAC
90. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
91. The Twelve Ravens by Diana Kizlauskas
DNF Purgatory Ridge by William Kent Krueger CULL
92. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck ROOT, LOA, RLBC

Earlier in the year, I read these:

JANUARY

1. Washington Black by Esi Edugyan ROOT
2. Grandfather Twilight by Barbara Berger
3. Small Town Sins by Ken Jaworowski CULL
4. The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel Folio
5. Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey ROOT
6. All That I Have by Castle Freeman, Jr. ROOT

FEBRUARY

7. A Widow's Curse by Phillip DePoy ROOT
8. The Endless Steppe by Esther Hautzig NF, ROOT
*9. The Ghostway by Tony Hillerman
*10. White Nights by Ann Cleeves
*11. Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger
*12. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini AAC
*13. City of Saints by Andrew Hunt
14. In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin AAC, ROOT, CULL
*15. A Finer End by Deborah Crombie

MARCH

16. Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson
*17. Wish You Were Here by Stewart O'Nan AAC
18. Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century by Peter Graham ROOT, NF
*19. Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
*20. The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green NF

APRIL

21.The Coal Tattoo by Silas House ROOT, AAC
22. Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson
23. Appalachia in the Sixties by David S. Walls NF, ROOT, AAC
24. Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz ROOT, CULL
*25. Time of the Child by Niall Williams
26. Where Trouble Sleeps by Clyde Edgerton ROOT, CULL, AAC
27. The Hour: A Cocktail Manifesto by Bernard DeVoto NF, ROOT, RR
28. I Am One of You Forever by Fred Chappell ROOT, AAC

MAY

*29. Who Is Government? by Michael Lewis NF
*30. Red Bones by Ann Cleeves
31. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck ROOT
*32. Fagin the Thief by Allison Epstein

JUNE

33. The Horse by Willy Vlautin AAC
34. Broken Fields by Marcie Rendon
35. A Plate of Red Herrings by Richard Lockridge ROOT, RR
36. Ike's Road Trip by Brian C. Black NF
37. Death of a Tall Man by Frances and Richard Lockridge ROOT, RR
38. Gun Street Girl by Adrian McKinty CULL
*39. An Obvious Fact by Craig Johnson
*40. The Dog Who Followed the Moon by James Norbury
41. Another Appalachia by Neema Avashia NF
42. Tasting History by Max Miller NF
*43. Blue Lightning by Ann Cleeves
44. The Dixie Limited ed. by M. Thomas Inge NF, ROOT
45. Clear by Carys Davies

And also these:

JULY

*46. Dan in Green Gables by Rey Terciero GN
47. Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson NF, ROOT
48. I Want to Go Home by Frances and Richard Lockridge ROOT
*49. To Save the Man by John Sayles
*50. The Pumpkin Spice Cafe by Laurie Gilmore AAC
51. Don't Trust Fish by Neil Sharpson
*52. The Western Star by Craig Johnson
53. The Hedgehog's Dilemma by Toon Telegen TR
54. Lucy's Christmas by Donald Hall

AUGUST

*55. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
*56. Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez AAC
*57. Land of Wolves by Craig Johnson
58. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson ROOT, AAC, NF
59. Boundary Waters by William Kent Krueger
60. The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey NF

SEPTEMBER

*61. Lincoln's Lady Spymaster by Gerri Willis NF
62. Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall, Il. by Barbara Cooney
*63. When We Flew Away by Alice Hoffman AAC, YA
64. An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo
65. Murders Anonymous by E. X. Ferrars
DNF Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey ROOT, CULL
66. dear Darwin by Jime Wimmer
67. Fortunate Son by Walter Mosley ROOT, CULL
68. Foster by Claire Keegan
69. Of Time and Turtles by Sy Montgomery NF
70. Dance of the Seagull by Andrea Camilleri ROOT, CULL, TR
*71. Poet Warrior" by Joy Harjo NF

My list of new acquisitions in 2025:

1. Small Town Sins by Ken Jaworowski
2. Grandfather Twilight by Barbara Berger
3. The Notebook, A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen
4. Life Work by Donald Hall
5. Prudence by David Treuer
6. Mountain Time by Bernard DeVoto
7. The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells
8. Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
9. Lightning Strike by William Kent Krueger
10. Little Snow Landscape by Robert Walser
11. Kilometer 101 by Maxim Osipov
12. Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson
13. The Night in Question by Tobias Wolff
14. The Stories of Jane Gardam
15. Broken Fields by Marcie R. Rendon
16. When Women Ruled the World by Kara Cooney
17. The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt
18. Conundrum by Jan Morris
19. My Grandmothers and I by Diana Holman-Hunt
20. Portrait of a Marriage by Nigel Nicolson
21. John Quincy Adams: Speeches and Writings
22. The Songcatcher by Sharyn McCrumb
23. She Walks in Beauty by Dawn Powell
24. The Paper Man by Billy O'Callaghan
25. Spencer's Mountain by Earl Hamner, Jr.
26. Ike's Road Trip by Brian C. Black
27. Vinegar Hill by A. Manette Ansay
28. Long Island by Colm Toibin
29. Foregone by Russell Banks
30 Gun Street Girl by Adrian McKinty
31. Old Filth by Jane Gardam
32. Selected Poems of Gwendolyn Brooks
33. An American Sunrise by Jo Harjo
34. Widow of the South by Robert Hicks
35. Our Little Kat King by Patrick McDonnell
36. Amelia Bloomer by Sara Catterall
37. Northline by Willy Vlautin
38. The Thief's Journal by Jean Genet
39. Lucy's Christmas by Donald Hall
40. Elizabeth David's Christmas
41. The Marrow of Tradition by Charles W. Chesnutt
42. String Too Short to be Saved by Donald Hall
43. Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
44. The Survivors by Jane Harper
45. Personal Injuries by Scott Turow
46. Strangers in the Land by Michael Luo
47. Purgatory Ridge by William Kent Krueger
48. The Treasure Hunt by Andrea Camilleri
49. The Potter's Field by Andrea Camilleri
50. The Drifter's Wheel by Phillip DePoy
51. Skinwalkers by Tony Hillerman
52. Exiles by Jane Harper
53. Marce Catlett: The Force of a Story by Wendell Berry
54. Where Old Ghosts Meet by Kitty Conway
55. The Hundred Years' War on Palestine by Rashid Kalidi
56. Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
57. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
58. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
59. When Two Feathers Fell From the Sky by Margaret Verble
60. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
61. Burnt Mountain by Anne Rivers Siddons
62. Tooth and Claw by T. C. Boyle
63. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson
64. Baseball Saved Us by Ken Michizuki
65. The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott
66. Murder with Peacocks by Donna Andrews
67. Native Nations, A Millennium in North America by Kathleen DuVal
68. Queen Esther by John Irving
69. History Matters by David McCullough
70. The Twelve Ravens, A Lithuanian Folk Tale by Diana Kizlauskas
71. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee FOLIO EDITION by Dee Brown
72. FDR's Funeral Train by Robert Klara
73. The Points of My Compass by E. B. White
74. The Calligrapher's Night by Yasmin Ghata
75. Monsters of the Northeast by Jessica Freeburg & Natalie Fowler
76. To Die For A Cookbook of Gravestone Recipes by Rosie Grant
77. Surrender Dorothy by Meg Wolitzer
78. The Devil's Done Come Back ed. by Ed Southern
79. House of Smoke by John T. Edge
80. Don't Trust Fish by Neil Sharpson
81. Frog and Toad Storybook by Arnold Lobel
82. Louisiana's Way Home by Kate DiCamillo

Sure...but sometimes one just has to send a few off to new homes. I'll keep a list of those here.

1. The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel original copy replaced by Folio edition
2. Small Town Sins by Ken Jaworowski
3. The Guardians by John Grisham
4. Disturbing the Peace by Richard Yates
5. The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber
6. The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser
7. In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin
8. & 9. Titus Groan and Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake
10. The Secret History of Las Vegas by Chris Abani
11. Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz
12. 14 Great Detective Stories
13. Where Trouble Sleeps by Clyde Edgerton
14. America Observed by Alistair Cooke
15. Six Men by Alistair Cooke
16. Feather Crowns by Bobbie Ann Mason
17, Hank & Jim by Scott Eyman
18. An Event in Autumn by Henning Mankell
19 Fear of the Dark by Walter Mosley
20. Gun Street Girl by Adrian McKinty.
21. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
22. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
23. His Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
24. Dance of the Seagull by Andrea Camilleri
25. The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer
26. Just As I Am by E. Lynn Harris
27. And This Too Shall Pass by E. Lynn Harris
28. Purgatory Ridge by William Kent Krueger

AMERICAN AUTHORS CHALLEGE

For the second year in a row, I have asked for volunteers to host a few months of this Challenge. As you can imagine, one runs out of ideas after doing it for 10 years, even though my own enthusiasm for American literature remains high. Having someone else step up for several selections is amazing, and I'm really grateful to this year's willing contributors.

Here is the list of choices for the coming year (If you'd like to check out how we got there, the planning thread is here.)


JANUARY Pacific Northwest including Western BC and Southeastern Alaska
The January Challenge thread is here.
Read several Raymond Carver short stories and one essay.

FEBRUARY-- MUSLIM AMERICAN AUTHORS hosted by @PaulCranswick
This Month's thread is here.
Finished The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Finished In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin

MARCH STEWART O’NAN hosted by @KatieKrug
Here's his thread.
Finished Wish You Were Here

APRIL APPALACHIAN AUTHORS
Here is the Appalachian Authors Thread
Finished The Coal Tattoo by Silas House and The Appalachian Trail: Hiking the People's Path photog. by Bart Smith
Finished Appalachia in the Sixties:Decade of Reawakening collection of essays ed. by David S. Walls
Finished Where Trouble Sleeps by Clyde Edgerton

MAY Pulitzer Prize Winners in HISTORY
Here's the thread. Didn't get to anything for the category this month.

JUNE Willy Vlautin, his thread.
Finished The Horse Also read "The Kill Switch", a separate publication of an excerpt from Vlautin's next novel, which works as a short story

JULY ROMANCE hosted by @lycomayflower
Here is her amazingly informative intro to the genre.
Finished The Pumpkin Spice Cafe by Laurie Gilmore and Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez

AUGUST True Crime & its Fictional Offspring hosted by @Caroline_McElwee Here is the discussion thread for August
Finished The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

SEPTEMBER Alice Hoffman
Finished When We Flew Away

OCTOBER The Western hosted by @kristelh
Finished Zeke and Ned by Larry McMurtry
Finished The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt

NOVEMBER David Treuer
The NOVEMBER thread is here.
Finished Prudence
Currently reading The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee, YA edition.

DECEMBER Meg Wolitzer
Her thread is here.
Finished To Night Owl From Dogfish

WILD CARD: Select from the 2016 list, which included Anne Tyler, Richard Russo, Jane Smiley, Ivan Doig, Annie Proulx, John Steinbeck, Joyce Carol Oates, John Irving, Michael Chabon, Annie Dillard, and Don Delillo. (We also did a poetry month, which is why there are only 11 names there.)

Apparently I've really challenged the Touchstone Gods today; I had to fix several when I copied them over. If you notice any more that seem incorrect, please let me know.

And you're welcome to jump in and start chattering now! The bell has rung.

72. The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer Basically this is an extended essay on the philosophy of gift economies vs. capitalism. I found it a bit repetitive, and rather short on inspiration, given how deeply entrenched the buy it/sell it model has become in the world. A few examples of how it is still possible to share our abundance with our neighbors, but nothing I wasn't already aware of, and most of which I do see happening here and there. The salvation of the planet isn't in here, but there is plenty to think about, and it was well worth the short time it took to read it. I'm putting my copy in the Little Free Library in the village. (See?)

Happy new one, Linda!

>11 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie! Have some free zucchini...part of that gift economy thing (See >10 laytonwoman3rd: above).

Happy new one, Linda! Ok, if I filch one of Katie's zucchini?

>13 MickyFine: Go right ahead...I think there are plenty for everybody!

Happy Friday, Linda. Happy New Thread. I never heard of David Treuer. I may have to check him out. It looks like we had similar feelings about The Serviceberry. I am actually a bit surprised at how many readers loved this book. I certainly loved Braiding Sweetgrass.

Happy new thread!

Happy new one!

Happy new one, Linda.

Happy new thread, Linda!

>15 msf59: Hi, Mark! I loved Braiding Sweetgrass too. David Treuer's brother, Anton Treuer is also an author. I read his book, Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians a few years back.

>16 drneutron:, >17 figsfromthistle:, >18 Kristelh:, >19 quondame: More friends! Welcome, everyone.

Happy new thread, Linda. Looking forward to congratulating your looming 75 book milestone!

>21 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul. Daughter home visiting this week will slow down my reading, but I'm not complaining!

BOOKSHOP.ORG



You know what to do.

And if you're looking for a good title, Wendell Berry has a new novel, Marce Catlett, out today!

There may have been book-buying here recently...

>24 laytonwoman3rd: Oh, I love this! one-hundred-and-sixty-eight! The number I usually pull out for “big” is “fourteen million”! But 168 is funnier because it’s slightly more reasonable. Heh.

Karen O

>25 klobrien2: Yeah, @lycomayflower and I laughed about that number too....as if either of us ever were in danger of having fewer than 168 unread books on hand! (She will yelp at me for this, but she may have brought that many along for a 10-day trip...y'know, just in case...)

>24 laytonwoman3rd: Having only 3 books on hand is a horror story.

>27 norabelle414: We take measures to prevent that...it's only wise.

73. Zeke and Ned by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana A lesser-known McMurtry novel, which has been on my shelves for some years. The principal characters, Ezekiel Proctor and Ned Christie, are historical figures, members of the Cherokee Nation whose families were forcibly relocated by the U. S. government from their tribal lands in Georgia to "Indian Territory" north and west of Fort Smith, Arkansas in the mid 19th century. It is now several years after the conclusion of the Civil War, in which both Ned and Zeke fought for the Union. Ulysses S. Grant is President of the United States. Judge Isaac Parker ("the hanging judge") holds sway in Fort Smith, but the Cherokee Nation has its own legal and judicial system to deal with the needs of the People...except when they fall out with White Law. For the most part, relations between Whites and Cherokee are peaceful, respectful of each other's cultures; there are even some untroubled inter-marriages. But Zeke Proctor has taken a notion to bring home Polly Beck as a second wife, to aid his frazzled first wife Becca manage their young triplets, and to continue to provide Zeke with offspring now that Becca may be unable to do so. In an attempt to persuade Polly to leave her white husband (and his cantankerous trigger-happy family) for Zeke's household, tragedy strikes, and all hell breaks loose. The first two thirds or so of this novel resemble a Butch and Sundance caper...there's chaos and mayhem, but it's quirky, just short of cartoonish at times, and the characters are colorful, amusing, sometimes downright hilarious. The story takes a sinister turn, however, with drunken incompetent white possemen chasing down Zeke and his old friend Ned on orders of no less an authority than U. S. Grant himself. If Matt Dillon or even Wyatt Earp represent your image of a U. S. Marshall in the western territories, you'll be sorry to meet this undisciplined bunch of sadistic killers and rapists. They are just as likely to kill and maim each other as to capture their quarry, and they have no concept of following orders. I found the change in tone quite disconcerting, even though I knew a bit of the history of Ned Christie's war, and could not have expected anything like a happy ending. I suspect there is a lot more fiction than fact in McMurtry's version of events, but in any case this is a good solid piece of storytelling which I am glad to have discovered. I'm a bit surprised not to have heard it mentioned here on LT, and to see only six reviews on the site. At close to 500 pages dense with text, this qualifies as "heavy stuff" for my 2025 goal. (See >1 laytonwoman3rd: above).

>28 laytonwoman3rd: What a great book haul!!

>28 laytonwoman3rd: Now that's what I call a nice haul Linda. I only have,and have read, the top one.

So proud of my city.
(This is more or less what I would have seen out my office window if it had been a workday and I wasn't retired!)

DNF The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky Meh. I know this wasn't written for 70-something women, but I can usually appreciate the quality and impact of YA fiction, especially when it has been recognized, applauded, condemned and challenged as much as this one. Still...I gave up at about the half-way point because I just wasn't buying the narrator as a real person. Same problem I've always had with Catcher in the Rye. I've known a fair few teenage boys from multiple generations now, and I can't imagine this book reaching any of them. So.

>32 laytonwoman3rd:. So proud of my city. With good reason. Nice turnout.

Loved your reviews on your old thread about the turtle book and the one about the Irish child. I don't know if I could manage the turtle book because I tend to get distraught over harm to animals but was delighted to learn that they could express gratitude in their eyes.

Your city gave me a much needed boost and >33 laytonwoman3rd: gave me a much needed laugh.

>34 weird_O:, >35 tiffin: When I was a kid, Scranton was where my aunt took me to shop for nice clothes. There were two very nice department stores here then (remember nice department stores?). Later on, I became aware that this area and its denizens were often put down as "da valley", where "coal crackers", "roundies" and "Polacks" lived. When I was in high school a lot of our newly-graduated teachers came from "da valley"; they didn't sound like us. Having now spent about 3/4 of my life in and around Scranton, my respect for it just grows. It's not without its problems, and there's a long history of corruption, organized crime, nasty politics and underhanded dealings, some of which continues to this day. But it's a good place to be, and I kinda love it. And go ahead, test me on pronunciation of Polish, Russian and Ukrainian surnames.

>35 tiffin: The turtle book was quite difficult for me to get through, Tui. I could certainly never stomach dealing with the poor mangled creatures. Glad I could provide a chuckle.

>36 laytonwoman3rd:: I sure do remember nice department stores! Ogilvy's in Montreal as a child where we had to go to get our school uniforms was a wonderland at Christmas, as an entire floor got turned into the North Pole where we rode around the wonders on a train, to be deposited at the line-up to visit Santa on his throne up a miniature mountain. Eaton's and Simpsons in Toronto later in life. And Harrod's in London.

Old Yeller and Black Beauty nearly killed me as a young 'un.

"an entire floor got turned into the North Pole" We had that at The Globe Store! And the other dept. store, Oppenheim's (also known as "the Dry", for its previous designation of Scranton Dry Goods) had a lovely mezzanine restaurant, where you could have lunch while watching shoppers on the main floor. This was big stuff to a kid from the country. Both stores were still in operation in the first years of my work life downtown. Both buildings now house county, municipal and commercial offices.

Oh yes, the restaurants in these places were legendary: heavy white table cloths with real cloth napkins, and the genteel clink of decent cutlery on china. Big stuff indeed!

>29 laytonwoman3rd: Your mention of "a Butch and Sundance caper" fit nicely with my current read, In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin. The pair, together with Etta Place and a number of their cohorts in their U.S. capers, traveled to Patagonia, believing they wouldn't be rounded up and shipped back to the states. They bought land and animals to start a new life. But...well, robbing a bank was an easier and quicker way to get some money. Besides, Pinkertons felt no limits on their jurisdiction and were nosing around.

I was surprised to learn that Butch, real name Robert Leroy Parker, was born to a Mormon couple who produced 10 other Parkers and had a tough time raking a living from Utah's hard-scrabble land. Sundance was Pennsylvania Dutch, named Harry Longabaugh at birth.

>37 tiffin: - Oh my. You bring back memories! I grew up in Montreal and the windows of the major department stores at Christmas were a real destination for us, as kids. Just to see them decorated! Even here in Toronto, where I now live though, sadly, the department stores are all gone now. Travesty, really

>40 weird_O: I have a copy of In Patagonia on the shelf...I've read two other Chatwin offerings (Songlines and On the Black Hill), and I enjoy his writing. I think you'd probably have a good time with Zeke and Ned.

>41 jessibud2:: Oh my indeed: Ogilvy's windows were works of art and wonder. Somewhere in Montreal there is a museum with a collection of their window displays. It is sad, jessibud2. We were lucky to have been part of it.

>41 jessibud2: Oh, the Globe Store's Christmas windows were marvelous! And the interior of the store was so pretty at Christmas time.
If you'd like a little taste, here's a video done by our local PBS/NPR outlet a number of years ago. I remember Rita, and the presenter of this clip is one of my husband's former work friends, a long-time radio host for classical music on WVIA FM. The audio isn't too good, but the pictures are nostalgic, and around 7 minutes Rita starts talking about Christmas...it's worth a look.

Christmas at The Globe Store then (sometime in the 1970s)...


and now --the County does still do a nice job of decorating the front of the building with a nod to the original.

>43 tiffin: - Do you happen to know what museum that would be? I know the McCord tends to specialize in Canadiana (and maybe even Montreal) history. They had a fabulous exhibit of fashion from Expo 67, and a 50 year retrospective of the cartoons (political, mostly but also the sports ones) by my all-time favourite, Aislin (aka Terry Mosher). I wonder if they would have this Ogilvy's collection. I was there visiting last March. I wish I had known to ask. Not sure when I'll get there again, though.

>44 laytonwoman3rd: - Oh, that is so nostalgic and exactly how I remember our own Canadian department stores. My mum's aunt worked in the dress department of one of them and I always remember the feeling of it being classy and elegant, in spite of being a department store where everyone shopped.

>45 jessibud2:: https://www.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/en/exhibitions/christmas-mechanical-window-d...

Ta da!

>46 tiffin: - Oh, thank you for that link! This may require another visit! I'm guessing they only put out that exhibit seasonally. It sure wasn't there when we visited last March. Can you imagine how much fun it would be to create that window(s)!

Happy new thread, Linda. >32 laytonwoman3rd: Nice turn out!

>37 tiffin: Sadly, I didn't get to see Ogilvy's windows in downtown Montreal or, if I did, I don't remember. What I do remember was being taken downtown to see Santa when I was about 6. It kind of back fired though because when he spoke to me in French, I lost my belief in Santa because this all knowing gift giver should have known that I only spoke English.

Happy new(ish) thread, Linda! I hope you have a marvelous Monday!

>48 Familyhistorian: "I lost my belief in Santa because this all knowing gift giver should have known that I only spoke English" Aww...that's terrible! I don't remember how I "grew out" of Santa Claus. I had a brother six years younger than me, so I probably hung on to the fantasy a bit longer than I might have otherwise, for his sake. But I remember being totally freaked out by Santa barging into our Sunday School Christmas program with his sack full of boxed hard candies and coloring books. (I half think the man was tipsy, but that could be a later overlay from when I knew who was playing the part.) I've never been comfortable around adults in costume of any kind...I suppose that's where it began.

>49 alcottacre: Thanks, Stasia! Good to see you making the rounds.

Kind of looks like my reading stalled this month...but that's not entirely true. I've been trudging through Oliver Twist (about which more later) for a RL book club, and read a couple children's books, and quite a lot of selections from the 2025 issues of Slightly Foxed Quarterly magazine, which I had been neglecting. I'm also part way through a collection of ghost stories, which is not my usual fare. I probably won't finish that before the spooky month is over, but I hope to finish The Sisters Brothers for the October AAC.

74. and tango makes three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell; Illustrated by Henry Cole. A nice enough tale of "alternative" family composition featuring two male penguins who bond, and try to hatch a rock, but eventually get a real egg to parent from an understanding zookeeper. This book shows up on virtually every list of challenged and banned books, which is why I bought it and read it. I was a little underwhelmed by the story itself, but my copy is a School and Library Edition, and the extras included for teachers were quite interesting. Also includes a list of resources (websites) for educators and the general public to turn to for support when faced with book challenges.

75. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens It's been decades since I visited this rags-to-riches tale of an orphan's misfortunes and ultimate triumph over all the wicious people who mistreated, exploited and cheated him from birth to adolescence. I've been drawn to a newly formed book club at our library, the thrust of which is to read classics and discuss why they are so considered, and whether we feel the designation is still- or ever was- warranted.
This was the first selection of the group, and I admit to being at least partially responsible for choosing it. Its flaws are many: the melodrama; the wordiness; the casual anti-Semitism; the multiple unlikely coincidences and the too pat ending where everyone, innocent or wicked, gets just what they deserve...and yet there's a darn fine story buried in the pathos and heavy-handed social commentary, and there are brilliant bits of comic relief as well. I'm not sorry to have read it again, and I'm looking forward to the reactions of the other participants in the book club, who so far strike me as thoughtful and perceptive readers.

76. Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki, Illustrated by Dom Lee I can earnestly recommend this story of a Japanese boy in a U.S. internment camp finding comfort and purpose in improving his baseball skills while struggling with a bewildering set of circumstances no child should have to face.

>53 laytonwoman3rd: I love the idea of that book club, and good for you in choosing that particular book. A lot of Dickens's novels annoy me because of similar traits: melodrama, wordiness, pat endings. I do like his more "dramatic" works like Bleak House and Little Dorrit, although as I'm writing this I realize I never actually read them, I just watched very fine television adaptations.

>55 lauralkeet: I'm currently listening to Bleak House (a re-read). Dickens does work well on audio, particularly if you have an idea of the story. Only a handful of chapters in and I'm already detesting Harold Skimpole ("only a child").

Congrats on zipping past 75!

>55 lauralkeet:, >56 kac522: I haven't read either Little Dorrit or Bleak House either, nor have I seen dramatizations. I started reading Our Mutual Friend a few years back, but set it aside (don't remember why, now). My favorite Dickens has always been Great Expectations, and I might consider a re-read of that one of these days, hoping not be disappointed as I recall less melodrama in that one.

>57 drneutron: Thanks, Jim. It kinda feels more like I stumbled past it, but still...

IN the nick of time....The NOVEMBER thread for the AAC is finally up. David Treuer is our penultimate author for the year.

77. The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt Charlie and Eli Sisters, professional killers (not "gunfighters", mind you) are hired by a wealthy man simply referred to as "the Commodore" to kill a prospector named Hermann Warm. We don't know why the Commodore wants the man dead, although it becomes apparent that Charlie does know...and isn't sharing that information with his brother just yet. Eli narrates the tale of their journey from Oregon Territory to California, where the search for gold has made a lot of men lose their good sense. Given the set-up, this story is quite a hoot and surprisingly funny, filled with the sort of wry, almost philosophical humor that delights me. It's also full of realistic, sometimes graphic details of death, injury and stone-cold violence, but none of that occurs until the reader has gotten to know Eli and, to a lesser extent, Charlie, and seen the practical nature of their approach to life. Eli is not a fan of his work, and spends a lot of time imagining what life could be like if he could save enough money to give it up. Eli is so likeable, almost innocent in his appreciation of the new-fangled idea of brushing your teeth with a minty-tasting powder, and in his decision to lose a few pounds to impress a woman he fancies...we want him to realize his dream, killer or no. Yet somehow, it is still possible to keep some emotional distance from the misery that afflicts nearly every character in the novel, not excluding the animals. You know your own triggers...I won't try to convince anyone that the tone of this book will make it OK for you if you just don't want to ride along with two men intent on murder. It worked for me---I loved it.

I also loved The SIsters Brothers when I read it way back when!

>61 katiekrug: Me too! It's really unusual and "fun" despite the subject matter.

>61 katiekrug: >62 lauralkeet: Ditto!

Stopping by to say hi, Linda. I really loved Fagin the Thief earlier this year, which I see you read too. It's always great to find a book at the library that , in my case, I had never heard of and find it's a great read. Oh, I loved The Sisters Brothers back when it was first out. I didn't expect to as " Western's" are not my thing, but the title got to me,and the fact that is was Canadian. It was dark, but very humourous , I thought .

>61 katiekrug:, >62 lauralkeet:, >63 vivians:, >64 vancouverdeb: Glad to see so much love for The Sisters Brothers here. I know someone on LT put it on my radar years ago, and it was given to me in the 75ers Santa exchange in 2015! I'm so glad I finally got around to reading it.

>64 vancouverdeb: We had our book club discussion of Oliver Twist on Sunday, and I recommended to everyone that they should now read Fagin the Thief. I even printed out my LT review to share! This was our first real meeting (one with a common book to discuss) and there are only 4 of us so far in the group, but I hope we can keep it together, because we had a very good exchange of thoughts and ideas over Twist.

Congrats on reading 75 books!

>66 figsfromthistle: Thank you!

78. Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall Well. This one sounded SO good in reviews by people whose judgment often aligns with mine. But somehow it just failed to ring my bell. I never trusted or sympathized with the narrator. I was always aware of being misdirected, in a way that tended to throw me out of the story. I couldn't just let it wash over me the way I prefer this type of fiction to do. Maybe I've read too much of this sort of thing....seen too many TV "murder shows" where it's the person no one even considers, so THAT's how you know. Maybe it's lack of authorial skill. Or maybe I'm just cranky about women who have good options and don't choose them. YMMV.

>68 laytonwoman3rd: aw rats. Sorry this didn't ring your bell like it did mine, Linda. I agree with your spoiler -- I often look for that in shows and books -- but in this book even when I thought that way, I didn't identify whodunnit.

>69 lauralkeet: No worries, Laura. On to the next! That trick is absolutely essential to any deciphering of Midsomer Murders...and even there it doesn't always work.

>78 msf59: I am about 50 pages into Broken Country and so far so good. I won't read your spoiler. Fingers crossed that I enjoy it more than you, Linda.

>71 vancouverdeb: I'll cross my fingers for you too, Deb.

Good on yer for reaching 75! I'm teetering on the fence about reading Broken Country but having Maggie Atwood's chunkster of a memoir sitting here, I guess I can teeter for a while longer.

>73 tiffin: Broken Country won't take you long at all...so. I hate to discourage anyone just because I was jaded and cranky about it!

79. Prudence by David Treuer For the AAC.

A beautiful and disturbing novel set in the 1940s and early 1950s on a family resort in rural Minnesota, where a camp for German POW's across the river set the stage for tragedies that would befall both the wealthy Washburns who owned "The Pines", and their Indian neighbors on the nearby reservation. Told from multiple perspectives, this story touches on so many social issues it could have felt preachy, uber-topical or tailored for a women's club book discussion group. It is definitely none of those things. Excellent characterization; the right amount of narrative tension; twisty plot elements; a structure that insists you pay attention, but does not perversely confuse you. Every element is appropriately embedded in Story acted out by characters who rise up off the page as living beings, not authorial creations. After turning the last page I was tempted to read straight through it again---that's praise, not criticism. I thoroughly enjoyed this intricate story of intersecting lives.

Congratulations on passing 75 reads Linda.

Sweet Thursday, Linda. Congrats on hitting 75! Hooray for The Sisters Brothers. An interesting Canadian author. I should see what he has done lately....

His last was The Librarianist. Sounds interesting but has received mixed reviews.

>77 Caroline_McElwee:, >78 msf59: Thank you! I've been contemplating The Librarianist, Mark. It's available at my library, so I'm pretty sure I'll give it a try one of these days.

>79 laytonwoman3rd:: That funny: I just ordered a copy of The Librarianist for myself for Christmas. Yeah, I have to order my own books from Santa to have a book under the tree. Otherwise the family just gives me a gift card "because they have no idea what to get".

>80 tiffin: I don't actually order my own presents, but Santa gets a LOT of hints!!

For several reasons, I have decided that I will "retire" from hosting the American Authors Challenge at the end of this year. I have really enjoyed doing this since way back in 2019, but I'm experiencing a bit of burn-out, and also just feel the need to take a thing or two off my plate. I have been so pleased in the last couple years to have others take on a month here and there---thank you, Caroline, Kristel, Katie, Laura, and Paul for your excellent contributions to running this challenge. Maybe one or more of you -- or some other American literature lover -- will take up the reins for 2026. Or, perhaps it's time to give the Challenge a rest. But there are always new voices and unread books to discover. I won't be neglecting my reading of American authors (in fact, I hope I'll read a bit more next year...but that's nearly always my hope) and will certainly follow along if the Challenge continues.

My genealogy research leads me frequently to old newspapers, and their "Local Happenings" columns. Today, an ad caught my eye. Wonder what ever happened to this miraculous product?

Revive that old love and cheer!

>83 laytonwoman3rd: - Maybe Peil, the druggist, keeled over and expired, taking his tonic with him. ;-p

Nasty stuff that scrofula. Just ask Samuel Johnson.

>84 lycomayflower: And don't forget the lustre of the eye!

>85 jessibud2: Hehehee....I wouldn't be at all surprised.

>86 tiffin: If he had only known about Vin-Tone! (It sounds like the stuff I put on my azaleas...)

80. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier For RL Book Club's December meeting.


Nearly everyone knows "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." The novel begins and ends with a dream and an awakening, forming a perfect circle to embrace what is still one of the best psychological thrillers I have ever read. Even when you know what's coming, you don't catch the author at her craft; there's not a single wasted word or scene, nor a moment when you feel cheated or tricked. Misled, a little, sure. But in a brilliant way. This is how you create suspense, balance tension with relief, feed the reader just enough to make them crave more. It's hard to make me feel OK about rooting for anyone to get away with murder but du Maurier managed.

It's been a long time since I read du Maurier in general, or Rebecca in particular. I'm very glad I revisited Manderley myself, as I had forgotten many of the story's finer points, including just how exquisite some of the prose is. This is literary fiction, in the very best sense of the word. I'm inclined now to re-read some other du Maurier favorites from the pre-LT days---The House on the Strand, My Cousin Rachel, The Scapegoat.

>88 laytonwoman3rd: There's a new edition of her short stories out this year called After Midnight: Thirteen Tales for the Dark Hours which I have my eye on for Christmas. I've never read anything by her except Rebecca but I should rectify that!

>89 norabelle414: Besides a few of the novels, the one story I've read of hers, "The Birds", only vaguely resembles the Hitchcock film and, for me, was MUCH scarier than the film!

>88 laytonwoman3rd: - I remember when I was growing up, my mother had the entire set of Du Maurier's books on the shelf. She loved them. I - probably because I was a teen and not inclined to embrace my mother's taste - never read any of them.
She must have had this set of books since she herself was a teen.

Funny story: after my aunt (mum's sister) passed away in 2020, I found on HER bookshelf, a book my mother gave her from this set (Jamaica Inn). The inscription, from my mother to her sister, stated that it was because my mother lost a bet with her sister:
Reason: The Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup from the New York Rangers (in the second period of overtime in the 7th game of the finals.
I lost the bet."

Dated: May 1950. I never knew my mother or my aunt were hockey fans. But clearly the stakes were high. To part with a volume from a collected set of books.....!

Sorry for the hijack. But you have nudged me to perhaps go and read some Du Maurier.

>91 jessibud2: Great story, Shelley! But I have to say, of the 3 or 4 books of DuMaurier I've read, Jamaica Inn is my least favorite, so IMHO it wasn't a big loss...

>92 kac522: - Ha, Kathy! So, my mother was being crafty, lol!
My taste in books has always been more aligned with my aunt's than with my mother's and my aunt had gifted me several books over the years. My cousin (her son) was gracious in allowing me to take this one home, mostly because of the inscription. lol

>93 jessibud2: Even lovelier that your cousin let you have the copy. I'll agree with Linda, however, that Rebecca is fantastic and My Cousin Rachel is a close second. I'm normally not a big mystery or thriller reader, but these two were well done.

>89 norabelle414: I'll have to take a look at that...I've read a few of her short stories long ago, but don't think I have any on hand. In line with >90 kac522: the only short story I remember is "The Birds". My mother's youngest brother was still in high school when I started kindergarten, so he was a bit of a big brother to me. I spent a lot of time with my grandmother when Uncle Edgar was still living at home. He had some drawing talent, which I always knew. But years later, when my grandmother had passed away, and my mom had a couple boxes of her things to go through, we found a book with short stories in it. I don't think it was exclusively du Maurier but "The Birds" was definitely included, and my uncle had drawn fierce-looking blackbirds in the margins. Those pictures were absolutely more terrifying than the animated phonies in the movie. I wish I knew what happened to that book.

>91 jessibud2:, >92 kac522: I'm fairly sure I never read Jamaica Inn, but I do have a copy that belonged to my MIL, so maybe someday...

>91 jessibud2: I do have most of her novels, and several of them were originally my mother's. It's really special to pick up a book and remember that it was on the bookshelves my Dad made in our living room when I was a kid. (I have those bookcases now.) Mom's favorite novels of all time were My Cousin Rachel, and Jane Eyre. Funnily enough, as a teenager I always wanted to read what my mother was reading. John Steinbeck and Daphne du Maurier made their way onto my favorites list, but I was never much taken with Jane.
BTW, I don't consider your post a hijack in any sense... I love your story about the inscribed copy. And anything that sparks conversation on my thread is a win!

>79 laytonwoman3rd: I must admit that I enjoyed reading all of his books except the Librarianist. I think I gave it 2*. Good idea to get it from the library instead of buying it.

>88 laytonwoman3rd: I loved Rebecca. LT says I read it in 2009 and I think it was my first DuMaurier novel. Ooh, that creepy Mrs Danvers!!

Sweet Thursday, Linda. Sorry to hear you will be stepping down from hosting the AAC but I completely understand that burned out feeling. You hung in there for 6 years. That is admirable. Sorry, I was such a crappy participant. At least you had some loyal followers. Lets see if someone else steps in. Mighty big shoes to fill.

>96 figsfromthistle: The Sisters Brothers is the only one of deWitt's books I've read. I'll have to check out his other works.

>97 lauralkeet: Yes....Mrs. Danvers... I see there is a newer movie version from Netflix with Kristin Scott Thomas playing that role. I dunno.... I've always thought Bebe Neuwirth would do a credible job, though.

>98 msf59: Hi, Mark! Thank you for the kind words. Maybe after a hiatus people might be ready to go back to some of the authors we sampled when you were hosting. There might be new converts!

The Netflix adaptation of Rebecca is terrible. Not worth the time. IMHO, of course 🙂

>100 katiekrug: That's what I suspected, Katie. I haven't been inclined to give it a go.

>99 laytonwoman3rd:, >100 katiekrug: I'm still soooo annoyed that they cast two actors who are only 3 years apart in age as the leads. The age difference is so important to the meaning of the work!! Movies are always casting 25yo women as the husbands of 45yo men but they can't do it the one time they're supposed to??

>102 norabelle414: - Excellent point, Nora.

81. America's Best Idea: The Separation of Church and State by Randall Balmer A quick informative look at the Founding Fathers' process in composing the First Amendment, and historical and recent attempts to challenge or weaken it. The author makes the argument that, far from being anti-religion, the so-called "Establishment Clause" is really religious freedom's best friend. Essential reading.

DNF Where They Last Saw Her by Marcie R. Rendon I've enjoyed Rendon's Cash Black Bear series. This stand-alone, however, I couldn't stand. Flat characters doing stupid things, clunky prose, stilted dialog studded with pointless profanity--it felt more like a first novel, or a first draft, than the finished product of a seasoned author's imagination. A disappointment. Pearl-ruled at 30-some pages.

Hi Linda. I love your comments about Rebecca. I love that novel but, like you, have most certainly forgotten some of the finer details. What remains included a few vivid images and a powerful mood.

And I'm glad to see that you loved The Sisters Brothers. I read that when it was fairly newly out and also loved it.

I read your review of Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead. I liked it a lot more than you did although I totally understand your criticisms of the work.

>106 EBT1002: Hi, Ellen! Glad to have all your comments on my reading...I hope I haven't again forgotten the finer details of Rebecca since I read it for a RL book club that doesn't meet until Dec. 7th!
I have a copy of Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob on the shelf---if anything ever fit the description of "heavy stuff" just based on its size, that's the one. It has a lot of 4 and 5 star reviews, and the historical setting intrigues me. One of these days I think I'll tackle it. It probably would make good companion reading to the non-fiction history There Once Was a World if I ever finish that. I've only been reading it for something like 4 years now.

82. Dear Mrs. Bird by AJ Pearce I borrowed this from the library after reading Shelley's review of book 4 in the series that begins here. It sounded like exactly the sort of thing I need from time to time...entertainment not requiring a lot from my brain when it's tired. The tale of a young woman doing her best to be brave and useful in London during the blitz, taking on a job she mistakenly thought might be an opportunity to embark on a career in journalism, turned surprisingly moving and ultimately delivered more emotional substance than the somewhat flippant tone of the first few chapters led me to expect. I loved it and stayed awake much too late reading "just a few more pages". I'll try to pace myself, but I really do want to know what Emmeline Lake gets up to next.
THANK YOU, SHELLEY!!

So happy to hear that you enjoyed it, Linda!

83. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt I somehow missed reading this when @lycomayflower was the age for it, and I'm not sure if she did. I picked up the 50th anniversary edition in a recent bookstore excursion, and rectified the oversight. A heck of a discussion-starter for the middle school set, I would imagine, as Winnie Foster learns what it might be like to live forever without aging, and makes some pretty tough decisions about when to break the rules. This edition came with an Afterword by the author's daughter (who is, or has been, a middle school teacher), as well as an extra bit about the editorial process of getting the story to print.
Highly recommended.

>108 laytonwoman3rd: Already in the BlackHole or I would be adding it again!

>110 laytonwoman3rd: I read that one eons ago with my girls. I probably should give it another read at this point.

Have a super Saturday, Linda!

84. In the Springtime of the Year by Susan Hill I never know what to expect from Susan Hill...but I almost always enjoy what I find. This is the intense, perceptive exploration of the grief of a young widow, Ruth Bryce, who has almost no support and rejects most of what is offered, when her husband is accidentally killed. Her father is her only immediate family. She has been moderately estranged from him, and relieved to be so. Her in-laws, with the exception of her husband's 14-year-old brother, have had no use for her in the past, and disapprove of her lack of emotional display now. Her mother-in-law is a particularly heartless, self-centered piece of work. Throughout the spring, summer and fall following her husband's death we see her ups and downs, her progress toward understanding who she is now (at the terrible old age of 20!). The boy, Jo, who offers her help she can accept, and acceptance she especially needs, becomes a true friend. We also get insight into other people in the community, and what a popular young man's death has meant to them. A foreseeable, but satisfying ending.

>109 jessibud2: Thanks again, for putting this one on my radar, Shelley!

>111 alcottacre: My daughter just confirmed that she has long been aware of Tuck Everlasting, but has not read it, and doesn't recall it being a "thing" with any of her friends back in the day.

I was a big fan of Tuck Everlasting as a kid. I re-read it a few years ago and thought it held up really well. I don't remember crying over it as a child, but I certainly did as an adult!

>114 katiekrug: I kinda wish I could have read it as a kid (it came along too late for that), because I think it would have worked really well for me then.

Another bit of lagniappe from my Newspapers.com grazing
from the Wayne (County, PA) Republican:

>116 laytonwoman3rd: What is the year of that newspaper.

>117 Kristelh: Wow...I swear I edited that before to say: I forgot to make note of the year, but it was probably from the 1930s some time.

ETA: I found it again...it was from 1923. That census was taken by rural mail carriers at least throughout the 1920s and 1930s. I think there's a book in this somewhere...

>116 laytonwoman3rd: Huh, a Pig Census. Wonder if those records are on microfilm anywhere...

>116 laytonwoman3rd: Looks like they're still doing it by random sample of producers, luckily for the mail carriers:

https://esmis.nal.usda.gov/sites/default/release-files/rj430453j/8k71qc09p/1z40n...

>120 kac522: They also do random counts of wildlife seen along their routes, apparently. Isn't it amazing what sends us down the Googletubes--and what we find there?

>121 laytonwoman3rd: Interesting...who does the counting? (your link goes to the top of this page)

>122 kac522: Sorry, 2 letters transposed in the HTML...fixed now. Well, no...it isn't. Please stand by. We are experiencing technical difficulties....

OK....now?

>123 laytonwoman3rd: Yep, all good--I wonder if Mark knows about this? He would have been the perfect postal "enumerator."

Happy Sunday, Linda. I love the rural carriers/pig story. Wow. Glad I missed that one.

Were you still joining us on Strange Flowers? I may start it tomorrow.

>125 msf59: yes, Mark....thanks for the reminder. I'll be finishing my current read, Conundrum by Jan Morris, in a couple days, I hope, and then will grab the Ryan.

>124 kac522: Well, you mentioned his name and he appeared! (I think there's an idiom at work there...)

The December thread for the AAC is up. Our final author is Meg Wolitzer.

Interesting Article From LitHub. It's all about selections from independent small presses, and there's a lot to investigate. I'm partial to several small publishing houses myself, none of which seem to have made this list, but that's OK. Always looking for new sources of good books without the hype.

>128 laytonwoman3rd: Not sure if you're a booktube person, but Sarah from EyesOnIndie dedicates her channel to Independent, non-profit & University presses:

https://www.youtube.com/@eyesonindie

If you're not into watching content, she has a newsletter of new releases from indie presses that comes out every couple of months or so.

She's got to be good because she's based in Chicago and lives steps away from our best Independent Bookstore: Women & Children First.

>129 kac522: Thanks, Kathy! I took a look at the link, and right away she mentions one of my favorite little presses, Coffee House Press (I just got an e-mail from them today), so I agree...she must be good!

>130 laytonwoman3rd: Sounds like a good fit! Her email newsletter alone is worth it.

>131 kac522: I also buy a few books regularly from various university presses, which she highlight also. I'm really glad you mentioned her here--thank you!

85. Conundrum by Jan Morris A highly readable memoir by one of the earliest high-profile transgender women to undergo the physical transformation from male to female through surgery. James Morris was a respected journalist and foreign correspondent for The Guardian, among other publications, and was part of Sir Edmund Hilary's Mt. Everest expedition, climbing with the party, and running dispatches down the mountain to a messenger who conveyed them to "civilization" where they could be transmitted worldwide. Having left prep school at 17 to join the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers, Morris enjoyed his "excursions into {the} male society" of the Army, but could not feel totally a part of it. From early childhood he had felt he was inhabiting the wrong body--that he was meant to be a girl. After leaving the Army, he resolved to try to understand the ambiguity he had felt all his life---why did others see him as virile and in all ways unequivocally a man, while he, healthy and sane, with no desire to be "cured" of anything, knew himself to be a woman. Yet he fell in love with and married a woman, fathered 5 children with her, and despite long separations and a legally mandated divorce when he changed from “M” to “F” on official documents, remained devoted to her throughout their long lives. In fact, the couple re-married when it was legal to do so….in their 80s. First published in 1974, my Slightly Foxed edition contains a 2001 preface by the author, addressing the great changes in “conceptions of sexual identity” that had taken place in the intervening years. As Morris says, “This book is already a period piece.” And now, with another quarter century’s distance, even more changes strike the current reader. But the prose is exquisite, the insights enlightening, the narrative moving. Highly recommended.

>133 laytonwoman3rd: That looks interesting.

Good to see you liked Dear Mrs. Bird, Linda. The other three books in the series are also good. I found The Sisters Brothers in my LT library but I'm not sure that I ever read it or where it is, come to that. I'll have to see if I can find it.

>134 quondame: It was a very interesting read.

>135 Familyhistorian: You have books that wander about, and hide from sight just when you want to put your hands on them? I often think..."I just SAW that...where could it have disappeared to?"

86. Man Without a Country by Edward Everett Hale A tattered old small format copy of this, missing its spine, has been hanging about for decades. I believe it belonged to my FIL, or perhaps his mother. Originally published in The Atlantic in 1863, the copyright date on this edition is 1907. (If not for that date, I might imagine it had been in the family even longer, given that several of my husband's ancestors were Civil War vets, and the family homestead was built by one of them.) It is the fictional tale of a man called Philip Nolan, who was tried and convicted in 1807 of association with Aaron Burr, who himself was on trial for treason. During the trial Nolan damned his country and expressed the wish to never hear the name of the United States again as long as he lived. His sentence was to have that wish granted, and he was ordered to spend the rest of his life aboard Navy ships, where he would be accorded the privileges of rank, but never allowed to hear a word about his country again. He died, therefore, unaware of the civil war which threatened the continued existence of the country he once renounced. Fanciful, implausible, intended to stir up patriotic fervor, and full of holes, yet I am glad I read it before consigning it to some box of heirlooms or other.

>137 laytonwoman3rd:- OK, here is how my little pea brain works. I looked at the author's name and thought, didn't he narrate the *Fractured Fairy Tales* segments on the old Rocky & Bullwinkle show (I was a huge fan of that program, as a kid and as an adult). Didn't exactly jive with your review but who knows.

So I googled. I was wrong (big surprise, lol). The R & B guy was Edward Everett Horton. Close but no cigar... :-D

>138 jessibud2: A very understandable leap of thought, Shelley! Oh how we loved Fractured Fairy Tales...AND Rocky & Bullwinkle. I had to go check out Horton's bio---did you know F. Scott Fitzgerald rented Horton's guest house and that's where he wrote The Last Tycoon? Love these little snippets of trivia.

87. Frog and Toad Storybook Favorites by Arnold Lobel Out Christmas shopping yesterday for grandnieces, mostly, and I found this lovely hardbound collection at B&N. Perfect for the youngest one, I thought. AND, I've always been partial to Frog and Toad. So yes, I read it myself before it gets wrapped up and given away. I was careful--no tea stains or crinkled pages, I promise! Simple stories of the joys and pitfalls of friendship with irresistible illustrations.

>139 laytonwoman3rd: - Too funny! Several years ago, I bought a boxed set of the Rocky & Bullwinkle series on dvd. There is a booklet. I adored the show as a kid but, honestly, I think more and more now that they were truly written for adults! So clever and subversive!

>137 laytonwoman3rd: In the schools at the military base where I grew up, a recording of The Man Without a Country was played at least once a year and never with any indication that it was fiction. Old Plain Buttons is a fixture in by back brain.

>141 jessibud2: My father-in-law was a big fan of Rocky & Bullwinkle. He had a sweatshirt with a picture of Bullwinkle and a "Wossamatta U" logo.

>142 quondame: The introduction to this copy went on for a while about how most people believed it was all a true story when it was first published, and then pointed out all the reasons why it could not have been true. Apparently there was a living man named Philip Nolan who was associated with James Wilkinson, one of the accused Burr conspirators, but the character bears no resemblance to him.

88. Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan A multi-generational story featuring a very non-traditional Irish family. I was thrown off at first by a rather abrupt shift in focus from the people I expected to be at the center of this novel, but once I recalibrated, I enjoyed the ride. Not my favorite of the Ryans I have read, but lyrical and insightful as usual.

89. To Night Owl from Dogfish by Meg Wolitzer and Holly Goldberg Sloan An epistolary YA novel comprised of (mostly) e-mails between two 12-year-old girls who initially do not know each other, but are being sent to the same summer camp by their respective Dads, who hope the girls will get to know and like each other, easing the way into a potential blended family situation. Sometimes hilarious, as the girls start out annoyed and defiant, but slowly come to a "Parent Trap" moment when they decide to actively promote the romance between their single, gay fathers, and then start plotting all sorts of other stuff, which turns out.....well, no. That would be spoilery. Suffice it to say you might not see the end coming. Fun.

90. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan Oh, my, what a brilliant little gem. When, in the ordinary course of business, delivering coal to the convent above on the hill, Bill Furlong makes an appalling discovery about the nuns and their charges, it takes him some time to work out what, if anything, he will do about it. It's his busiest time of year, and a crisis of conscience is the last thing he needs. A Christmas story without a shred of sentimentality, this one will tug at your heart, should you have one.

91. The Twelve Ravens, A Lithuanian Folktale by Diana Kizlauskas Gorgeously illustrated verse adaptation of a Brothers Grimm folktale (The Twelve Brothers) which the author/artist has updated and enriched for a modern audience without losing any of the soul of the original. The message of love conquering evil--because evil cannot understand love--is mighty welcome these days.

>146 laytonwoman3rd: I've made Small Things Like These an annual Christmas season read, along with A Christmas Carol.

I also loved the Keegan. I can see re-reading it often around the holidays (though not annually like a certain Stewart O'Nan title 😉).

>148 kac522: I can see why, Kathy. And a re-read is surely warranted.

>149 katiekrug: I wonder what you could mean...

I think we had very similar feelings about Strange Flowers. I am still looking forward to reading more of his work.

>151 msf59: "I am still looking forward to reading more of his work." So am I, Mark.

I don't encourage much politics on my thread, but this is too good not to share

Happy Jane Austen's birthday, Linda3rd! Have you roasted your feast-day goose yet?

I fear I am an outcast from the Jane Austen Society, RD. I have read Pride and Prejudice. Once. Under stressful circumstances. (I actually enjoyed it quite thoroughly.) I Pearl-Ruled Northanger Abbey, noting I found it "tedious beyond belief". There will be no roast goose chez moi today or any other day. I do enjoy watching others enjoy this anniversary so merrily, and I acknowledge the importance of Austen's work...it just hasn't drawn me further in. So far.

>155 laytonwoman3rd: Tsk

>146 laytonwoman3rd: ooh! ooh! Since you enjoyed the book and it's that time of year, I really must recommend the film starring the amazing Cillian Murphy. It captures the spirit of the book perfectly.

>156 lycomayflower: seconding this!

Also Linda, unrelated to anything you've posted, I wanted to let you know I'm currently reading the latest Julia Spencer-Fleming. Have you read it yet?

>157 lauralkeet: I have not read the Spencer-Fleming, nor have I decided whether I want to. I got to feeling less than enthusiastic about that series with the last couple books, and now it's been SO long....How is it sitting with you?

I may need to see the movie of Small Things, for sure.

>156 lycomayflower: I know your feelings about Jane Austen.
(>157 lauralkeet: I have @lycomayflower's copy of Jane Austen's Bookshelf here, but haven't tucked into that yet either.)

>157 lauralkeet: Thank you for posting about the new Spencer-Fleming! I had given up looking for any new ones; it’s been so long. Hopped on the list at the library right away!

Karen O

>156 lycomayflower:, >158 laytonwoman3rd: *tsk*

And you're just saying that to avoid getting publicly enthused by Wild for Austen by Devoney Looser over on my thread. Might so well as get that goose with chestnut/oyster stuffing a-roastin'.

>160 richardderus: I'll take a substantial portion of that stuffing....hold the goose.

>159 klobrien2: Hi Karen!

>161 laytonwoman3rd: Who knew a pound of chestnuts, two pints of oysters, a bunch of tarragon and white wine in a pound of cornbread and some veggies would take center stage over a goose?

>153 laytonwoman3rd: - And sharing it I am, thanks. Now, if only...

For what it's worth, I have also only read Pride and Prejudice, once but I have seen it on screen and I did love it. Just never got into the rest, though I still feel I *should*. Someday.

>158 laytonwoman3rd: I’m enjoying the Spencer-Fleming book so far Linda, mostly because it’s nice to reconnect with the characters. I’m also kinda sentimental about the series, because it proved to me that not all series are formulaic rubbish which had been my experience up to that point. And I’ve found so many great series since!

>163 richardderus: It sounds better and better. I've only eaten goose once, but I was distinctly not impressed.

>164 jessibud2: Ah, another deprived soul. Sit here by me.

>165 lauralkeet: I really did love the early entries. Claire trudging around blindly in a blizzard while heavily preggers kind of put me off...

>157 lauralkeet: I'm so surprised to see another entry in that series - it's been so long! I'll likely read it soon (sometimes being a completist is such a struggle!)

>163 richardderus:, >166 laytonwoman3rd: We made goose for Christmas one year; I distinctly remember bustling around the kitchen very pregnant with my first. My parents were visiting and goose was new to all of us. It was ... okay. But gamey. Thankfully we followed it with a delectable dessert and the goose was forgotten.

>167 vivians: I know what you mean, Vivian. I just *had* to read this one, especially because it's been so long.

>168 lauralkeet: Goose is gamey indeed. I like it well enough but it's something reserved for feasts unlike turkey. Imagine eating it once a week! *shudder*

>168 lauralkeet: We went through a few years of Christmas game birds when I finally convinced my mother that Turkey once a year was quite enough. I enjoyed all of them, and remember it was the sauces that made them work - and my mother was very good at sauces.

>167 vivians: I have sort of forgotten where we left Claire and Russ...but I don't think it would take long to get back up to speed.

>168 lauralkeet:, >169 richardderus:, >170 quondame: I don't object to gaminess. I love venison, pheasant, quail, duck, rabbit ...I seem to remember the goose was dark and greasy. It's possible it wasn't properly prepared and roasted. If anyone were to invite me to a holiday meal and promise a well-cooked goose, I'd be game myself.

>171 laytonwoman3rd:, >167 vivians: I have sort of forgotten where we left Claire and Russ...but I don't think it would take long to get back up to speed.
That was true for me as well Linda, and it didn't take long at all. I read the previous book, Hid From our Eyes, in 2020 shortly after it was published. My review begins, "Fans of Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne have waited a long time for this book". Guess what I wrote next?

I was worried it might be difficult to reconnect, or the book wouldn’t live up to previous books in the series. Well, I had no need to worry. I dropped into the town of Millers Kill, NY like I’d never left, and there were Clare and Russ acting for all the world as if time hadn’t passed them by, either. Julia Spencer-Fleming gave just enough detail to remind me how things stood for the pair, which would also be sufficient for anyone new to the series (but if that’s you, it’s still best to start at the beginning).

That's exactly what happened to me with this book! FWIW, Hid From our Eyes was published 6 years after Through the Evil Days, and this latest book took "only" 5 years.

Linda3rd, as y'all celebrate this year remember:

>172 lauralkeet: I'm still "meh" about reading this latest Millers Kill entry...someday, maybe.

>173 richardderus: Well, thanks, Richard, but I'm pretty sure that's a lie dipped in sugar. I can already feel the waistband tightening from the cookies and get-togethers.

>174 laytonwoman3rd: Nonsense! None of them count, the human body is pre-programmed to reject them by that beneficent all-loving god, remember? And nowadays we're edging closer to not being able to question the entity again, so start with the fun stuff first!

Merry Christmas, Linda!

>175 richardderus: Mmmffff.....ok.....*stuffs another anise cookie in her mouth*

>176 quondame: Thank you, Susan! And may yours be delightful.

And Christmas greetings to all my friends here, from my 4-year-old self:

>177 laytonwoman3rd: *baaawww* such a smoochiepweshus!

Merry Christmas, Linda.

Have a lovely festive season, Linda

The discussion of the Spencer-Fleming characters sounded vaguely familiar so I checked. I read the first in the series in 2020. Maybe I should continue.

>177 laytonwoman3rd: Nice memento of a Christmas past, Linda. Thanks for the thought.

>177 laytonwoman3rd: - Love that pic, Linda! Happy holidays to you too!

Thanks, everyone, for the holiday wishes and kind comments about the old Christmas card.

DNF: Purgatory Ridge by Wiliam Kent Krueger I enjoyed the first couple Cork O'Connor books, but after reading about half of this one I found I wasn't enjoying it very much, and THEN....then he started to go somewhere I really didn't want to follow, so I quit.

92. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck My RL book club chose this for our January discussion, which, of course, meant reading it in December. I'll be interested to see if everyone actually finished it, as it certainly isn't an uplifting holiday read. I DID, however, and I enjoyed it. I've always favored Steinbeck's work, but it's been decades since I read this, IF I ever read it in its entirety before. I think I was introduced to it in high school but it must have been abridged, bowdlerized, or merely sampled; the sexual references and some of the language were most surely NOT the kind of thing we would have been given to read in my high school. Much of my memory of the story comes from the film, and my impression was of some pretty melodramatic over-acting, and maudlin scenes. The content certainly lends itself to that sort of treatment, and there are segments that could have been trimmed or lightened up, but it's much, much better than I remembered, and there's a lot of true grittiness in it. The plight of people driven off their land, where they never had much, into cross-country flight where they have next-to-nothing but baseless hope is really hard to contemplate. And I think there’s a tendency now to believe it couldn’t possibly have been that bad, or anyway it’s history now and could never happen again...well, that’s why a book like this is often on Great American Novel lists. It may be fiction, but it reveals a lot of truth. There is amazing prose here, and the structure was appealing to me—chapters which moved the Joad family’s story along, alternating with chapters which laid out the historical circumstances in more general terms (there was a Faulknerian quality to the prose in some of those chapters, and naturally I lapped that up). Recommended.

Happy New Year to you. I look forward to following what you are reading. I send all good wishes for a peaceful end of the year.

>184 laytonwoman3rd: Not a word about the turtle. Tsk.

>185 Whisper1: Thank you, Linda. I hope 2026 is a good year for you, in reading, and in all ways.

>186 lycomayflower: You and that turtle. It was a bit player.

>187 laytonwoman3rd: LIES! It just kept coming back!

>188 lycomayflower: No...it just kept going where it meant to go in the first place, despite being carted around under somebody's arm, and put down where it didn't want to be, STRUCK BY A TRUCK, and always, of course, carrying its "house" with it.

I have seen the turtle, and the turtle is us (to paraphrase Pogo).

>190 tiffin: Sayeth the Joads?

>188 lycomayflower: OK, OK, the turtle and its struggles--all full of symbolism. Perseveres in the face of dire challenges, from red ant to malicious truck driver.

>189 laytonwoman3rd: A bit on the nose, I feel.

>184 laytonwoman3rd: Not to detract from the turtle love, but ...
The Grapes of Wrath was the first book I read and reviewed on LT, in January 2007, and I gave it 5 stars. My thoughts were similar to yours, Linda. And sadly over the years I've completely forgotten about the turtle.

>193 lauralkeet: How about that? I wonder what the first one I read and reviewed was...

ETA: I looked, it was Bayou Farewell by Mike Tidwell, and I gave it 5 stars.
A fairly good lead-in to my end of year round-up, I guess, so here it is:

Best Books Read in 2025 (in reading order)

The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel
The Endless Steppe by Esther Hautzig
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
Who is Government by Michael Lewis
Tasting History by max Miller
The Dixie Limited ed. by M. Thomas Inge
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey
Of Time and Turtles by Sy Montgomery
Foster by Claire Keegan
Zeke and Ned by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana
The Sisters Brothers by Patric DeWitt
Prudence by David Treuer
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
America's Best Idea" The Separation of Church and State by Randall Balmer
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

PLUS, these wonderful illustrated children's books:

Don't Trust Fish by Neil Sharpson
Lucy's Christmas by Donald Hall
dear Darwin by Jime Wimmer
Frog and Toad Storybook Treasury by Arnold Lobel

in 2025, I read 27 books from the public library; 33 that had been on my own shelves for a year or more at the time I read them; 39 books by women and 53 by men, with another 3 written by a man/woman team. A total of 17 were non-fiction. I gave 7 of them 5 stars, of which 3 are in that children's book category. I Pearl-ruled 5 books, which seems to be about average for me.

Best reading months, by the numbers (7 or more books finished) February, April, June, July, September, November and December.
What Happened THERE month: MAY only 4 books completed.

Total books IN in 2025----81
Total books OUT in 2025 ---28 (sigh) That's a net gain, which I'm supposed to be working against.

New Year greetings from Kuala Lumpur. My project is at least physically completed and an addition to the city scape.

Look forward to keeping up with you in 2026

>194 laytonwoman3rd: For New Year's Eve we watched "The Quiet Girl" which is the movie based on Foster. It was good, although quite slow.

Linda, you had a really nice list of good reads in 2025. Wishing you the same in 2026.

>195 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul. And I see you've already found my new spot.

>196 kac522: I didn't know about the movie...I'll have to look for that. Thanks, Kathy.

>197 Kristelh: I'm looking forward to some free-wheelin' reading this year, Kristel.

Y'all come join me in my newest hang-out, here in the 2026 group.