1LyndaInOregon
Continuation of previous thread.
Contents:
Random thoughts, weird questions, the occasional funny image, and book talk with a purely subjective star rating for reviews, as shown here:
5 = Magnificent!
4.5 = Highly Recommended
4 = Recommended
3.5 = I liked it, YMMV
3 = ~Meh~
2.5 = Okay as a Desperation Read
2 = Obligatory Reading or It Would Have Been DNF’d
1.5 = My Cousin Wrote It
1 = Airborne by Page 20
.5 = Are You F*ing Kidding?
Comments, suggestions, book bullets, and drop-ins welcome!
Contents:
Random thoughts, weird questions, the occasional funny image, and book talk with a purely subjective star rating for reviews, as shown here:
5 = Magnificent!
4.5 = Highly Recommended
4 = Recommended
3.5 = I liked it, YMMV
3 = ~Meh~
2.5 = Okay as a Desperation Read
2 = Obligatory Reading or It Would Have Been DNF’d
1.5 = My Cousin Wrote It
1 = Airborne by Page 20
.5 = Are You F*ing Kidding?
Comments, suggestions, book bullets, and drop-ins welcome!
2LyndaInOregon
#107 - Stitches and Witches, Nancy Warren
3 stars
Cozy mystery set in a British bookshop that's also home to numerous vampires (hence the series title "Vampire Knitting Club".) Fluffy, but fun.
3 stars
Cozy mystery set in a British bookshop that's also home to numerous vampires (hence the series title "Vampire Knitting Club".) Fluffy, but fun.
3PaulCranswick
Happy new thread, Lynda
4figsfromthistle
Happy new thread!
6Whisper1
Lynda, and you know, Jim is always wiling to help with problems, and those tricky issues that are way out of my range of knowledge. I too have sent many help me messages over the years. He never treats me like I am stupid, and has tremendous patience.
We are so very fortunate to have him in our group!
We are so very fortunate to have him in our group!
7drneutron
>6 Whisper1: Thanks for the boost! Nobody's stupid - this stuff is complicated. 😀
8LyndaInOregon
#108 - My Enemy, My Ally, Diane Duane
3 stars
Notable only that it was the first of Duane's Rihannsu series, in which she developed a whole language and culture for one of Star Trek's best-known galactic foes.
3 stars
Notable only that it was the first of Duane's Rihannsu series, in which she developed a whole language and culture for one of Star Trek's best-known galactic foes.
9LyndaInOregon
#109 - Miss Morgan's Book Brigade, Janet Skeslien Charles
4 stars
I enjoyed this "hidden history" novel about a group of American women, led by J.P. Morgan heiress Anne Morgan, who traveled to France in the waning days of WWI to provide hands-on aid to French citizens whose homes, families, and livelihoods had been devastated by the conflict. Charles chooses to follow librarian Jessie Carson in a lightly fictionalized version of Carson's efforts to establish children's libraries in communities still struggling to survive the after-effects of enemy occupation.
4 stars
I enjoyed this "hidden history" novel about a group of American women, led by J.P. Morgan heiress Anne Morgan, who traveled to France in the waning days of WWI to provide hands-on aid to French citizens whose homes, families, and livelihoods had been devastated by the conflict. Charles chooses to follow librarian Jessie Carson in a lightly fictionalized version of Carson's efforts to establish children's libraries in communities still struggling to survive the after-effects of enemy occupation.
10LyndaInOregon
NOVEMBER READS
Nine books and one DNF in November, none of them particularly exceptional.
4 stars:
Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade, Janet Skeslien Charles
Post-Mortem, Patricia D. Cornwell’s first entry in the Scarpetta series
3.5 stars:
The Mighty Red, a below-par offering from by Louise Erdrich
Watchers, an early Dean Koontz that was a book club read
To Keep Her from Harm an LTER by Diana Krantz
Posthumously Yours by Charles D. Braun, another LTER
3 stars:
The Wolf and the Woodsman, by Ava Reid -- Interesting background mythos, but way too long
Stitches and Witches, by Nancy Warren -- part of a cozy/fantasy series
My Enemy, My Ally, by Diane Duane, whose Star Trek novels are generally much better than this one
1 star
The Final Secret, by Jim Sargent, which isn't linking, but no matter. This DNF went flying when the Hawaiian-set novel twice reversed the time difference between Honolulu and New York within the first 35 pages. I based the action on what seemed to me the logical assumption that if the author couldn’t even get that “minor” detail right, the accuracy of his “historical” fiction might somewhat be called into question.
Hope your Thanksgiving reading finished with a marvelous slice of pie, and not a turkey like my DNF! Happy reading and happy holidays as we look ahead to the end of another year of great reads!
Nine books and one DNF in November, none of them particularly exceptional.
4 stars:
Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade, Janet Skeslien Charles
Post-Mortem, Patricia D. Cornwell’s first entry in the Scarpetta series
3.5 stars:
The Mighty Red, a below-par offering from by Louise Erdrich
Watchers, an early Dean Koontz that was a book club read
To Keep Her from Harm an LTER by Diana Krantz
Posthumously Yours by Charles D. Braun, another LTER
3 stars:
The Wolf and the Woodsman, by Ava Reid -- Interesting background mythos, but way too long
Stitches and Witches, by Nancy Warren -- part of a cozy/fantasy series
My Enemy, My Ally, by Diane Duane, whose Star Trek novels are generally much better than this one
1 star
The Final Secret, by Jim Sargent, which isn't linking, but no matter. This DNF went flying when the Hawaiian-set novel twice reversed the time difference between Honolulu and New York within the first 35 pages. I based the action on what seemed to me the logical assumption that if the author couldn’t even get that “minor” detail right, the accuracy of his “historical” fiction might somewhat be called into question.
Hope your Thanksgiving reading finished with a marvelous slice of pie, and not a turkey like my DNF! Happy reading and happy holidays as we look ahead to the end of another year of great reads!
11LyndaInOregon
#110 - Sharp, Michelle Dean
3 stars
Dean provides brief bio and professional highlights of 14 women writers whose works challenged and frequently alienated many of their professional colleagues as well as the public, and looks at the way the lives of these chroniclers of public taste, morals, and psychology interacted and entertwined with one another over most of the 20th century.
This book really made me want to add a rating between 3 stars and 3 1/2. It's better than ~meh~, but doesn't quite reach the level of "liked it", for whatever reason. It is, however, "interesting", though that may be damning it with faint praise.
3 stars
Dean provides brief bio and professional highlights of 14 women writers whose works challenged and frequently alienated many of their professional colleagues as well as the public, and looks at the way the lives of these chroniclers of public taste, morals, and psychology interacted and entertwined with one another over most of the 20th century.
This book really made me want to add a rating between 3 stars and 3 1/2. It's better than ~meh~, but doesn't quite reach the level of "liked it", for whatever reason. It is, however, "interesting", though that may be damning it with faint praise.
15LyndaInOregon
#113 - To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
5 stars
Memory is a strange thing. I would have bet money that I read this when I was in college, and I specifically remember seeing the 1962 movie (though possibly not when it first came out). What I remember most about the movie was the trial, of course, and Brock Peters as the accused Tom Robinson. I remember seeing the film on TV much later and being stunned that a very young Robert Duvall played Boo Radley.
But the book itself? When my granddaughter was in high school, she complained that the book was "pointless" and that she hated it. (This from a kid who taught herself to read at about the age of four and devoured the Harry Potter books the minute they came out. She was seven when the first one was published in the U.S.) Anyway, I re-read it at the time so we could talk about it. So this week was the second, possibly third time through.
And I remembered ... practically nothing about it, except the children's fascination with Boo Radley, and the trial. The actual trial doesn't come onto the page until midway through the book, which surprised me, and takes up less than 25 pages before the verdict comes back, though the backwash from it permeates the rest of the book and propels the conclusion.
Interesting re-discovery of a true classic, and so much deeper and more complex than I remember it. (FWIW, I also re-read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn this year, and again was surprised at how much I had forgotten.
What classics from your youth or college years would you choose to re-read today?
5 stars
Memory is a strange thing. I would have bet money that I read this when I was in college, and I specifically remember seeing the 1962 movie (though possibly not when it first came out). What I remember most about the movie was the trial, of course, and Brock Peters as the accused Tom Robinson. I remember seeing the film on TV much later and being stunned that a very young Robert Duvall played Boo Radley.
But the book itself? When my granddaughter was in high school, she complained that the book was "pointless" and that she hated it. (This from a kid who taught herself to read at about the age of four and devoured the Harry Potter books the minute they came out. She was seven when the first one was published in the U.S.) Anyway, I re-read it at the time so we could talk about it. So this week was the second, possibly third time through.
And I remembered ... practically nothing about it, except the children's fascination with Boo Radley, and the trial. The actual trial doesn't come onto the page until midway through the book, which surprised me, and takes up less than 25 pages before the verdict comes back, though the backwash from it permeates the rest of the book and propels the conclusion.
Interesting re-discovery of a true classic, and so much deeper and more complex than I remember it. (FWIW, I also re-read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn this year, and again was surprised at how much I had forgotten.
What classics from your youth or college years would you choose to re-read today?
16LyndaInOregon
#114 - The Footprints of God, Greg Iles
4 stars
Fast-paced science-fiction thriller based on the attempt to create a supercomputer that mimics the human brain. What could possibly go wrong?
4 stars
Fast-paced science-fiction thriller based on the attempt to create a supercomputer that mimics the human brain. What could possibly go wrong?
18LyndaInOregon
#116 - Black Fire, Sonni Cooper
3 stars
At this point, Black Fire is mostly a curiosity. Cooper was among the first Trek fanfic writers to have a Star Trek novel published professionally, and its fan-based genesis shows in its flamboyant plot, slavering Spock-worship, and some first-novel wobbles. Even so, it was chosen as "the best" Trek novel published in the first 25 years after the series' presumed end. (To paraphrase Mark Twain, "the reports of its death were greatly exaggerated.")
Unless you're a die-hard Trekker (who, me?), it's safe to give this one a pass.
3 stars
At this point, Black Fire is mostly a curiosity. Cooper was among the first Trek fanfic writers to have a Star Trek novel published professionally, and its fan-based genesis shows in its flamboyant plot, slavering Spock-worship, and some first-novel wobbles. Even so, it was chosen as "the best" Trek novel published in the first 25 years after the series' presumed end. (To paraphrase Mark Twain, "the reports of its death were greatly exaggerated.")
Unless you're a die-hard Trekker (who, me?), it's safe to give this one a pass.
19LyndaInOregon
#117 - Present Danger, Susan Andersen
3.5 stars
There's not a thing in this crazy-ex-husband stalker novel that isn't 100% predictable, but the characters are nicely drawn and the sex scenes between the heroine and her hunky new protector are spicy.
3.5 stars
There's not a thing in this crazy-ex-husband stalker novel that isn't 100% predictable, but the characters are nicely drawn and the sex scenes between the heroine and her hunky new protector are spicy.
20LyndaInOregon
#118 - A Hell of a Dog, Carol Lea Benjamin
3 stars
Cozy mystery, part of a series featuring a retired dog trainer turned private investigator. Cluttered with too many characters, most of them so poorly defined that even as the main character was closing in on the killer, I was flipping back and forth in the book to try to remember who everyone (and their dog -- literally) was.
3 stars
Cozy mystery, part of a series featuring a retired dog trainer turned private investigator. Cluttered with too many characters, most of them so poorly defined that even as the main character was closing in on the killer, I was flipping back and forth in the book to try to remember who everyone (and their dog -- literally) was.
21LyndaInOregon
#119 - The Wailing Wind, Tony Hillerman
4 stars
One of the later Leaphorn & Chee novels written by Tony Hillerman. (His daughter, Ann, is continuing with the series.) This one features a lost gold mine, a dead confidence man, and a missing woman. Solid stuff, though I must admit my mind kept flashing to the visuals from the 'Dark Winds" TV series which is **very loosely** based on Hillerman's creations. (Good series, but don't expect a 100% correlation between it and the books.)
4 stars
One of the later Leaphorn & Chee novels written by Tony Hillerman. (His daughter, Ann, is continuing with the series.) This one features a lost gold mine, a dead confidence man, and a missing woman. Solid stuff, though I must admit my mind kept flashing to the visuals from the 'Dark Winds" TV series which is **very loosely** based on Hillerman's creations. (Good series, but don't expect a 100% correlation between it and the books.)
22LyndaInOregon
Happy December Birthday to me. Daughter got me a gift certificate to the local bookstore (smart kid), and today I blasted through it today with Maggie; or, a Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar, by Katie Yee and Close Knit, by Jenny Colgan.
The first has been showing up in "Best of" lists lately, and the second looks like a quick comfort read with a knitting background.
Did Santa bring anyone interesting books this year? If so, what will you read first?
The first has been showing up in "Best of" lists lately, and the second looks like a quick comfort read with a knitting background.
Did Santa bring anyone interesting books this year? If so, what will you read first?
23Whisper1
>15 LyndaInOregon: Lynda, To Kill a Mockingbird is on the list of my three favorite books. I had a wonderful 11th grade English teacher. The book was published that year, and he made it a required reading assignment, at that time I knew nothing about the way in which people of color were treated in the south . Through him, I learned the complexity of this incredible book. Looking back, I realize he was one of the most instrumental teachers I had.
For along time, I made it a point to read that book every year. I did so for many years, but not within the last ten years. I've read a lot of books about Harper Lee. She was a fascinating person.
My other two favorite books remain along with To Kill a Mockingbird, are Jane Eyre and A Prayer for Owen Meany.
Do you have favorite books?
For along time, I made it a point to read that book every year. I did so for many years, but not within the last ten years. I've read a lot of books about Harper Lee. She was a fascinating person.
My other two favorite books remain along with To Kill a Mockingbird, are Jane Eyre and A Prayer for Owen Meany.
Do you have favorite books?
24LyndaInOregon
>23 Whisper1: I'm a major Steinbeck fan. East of Eden and The Grapes of Wrath are frequent re-reads. My daughter got a copy of the latter for Christmas (not from me) and I'll be interested in seeing her reaction. I warned her that it is very, very dark. I also re-read T.H. White's The Once and Future King and James Michener's Hawaii on a fairly regular basis!
25LyndaInOregon
#120 - Leaning, Leaning Over Water, Frances Itani
3 stars
Unexpected, but an enjoyable read. Ten chapters or vignettes (also listed as interlocking short stories) trace the childhood of a girl growing up in a small Canadian village in the 1950s.
This one will wrap up my 2025 list, as I'm going to dive into a 500+ page Leon Uris novel next, so that will be my first 2026 read.
3 stars
Unexpected, but an enjoyable read. Ten chapters or vignettes (also listed as interlocking short stories) trace the childhood of a girl growing up in a small Canadian village in the 1950s.
This one will wrap up my 2025 list, as I'm going to dive into a 500+ page Leon Uris novel next, so that will be my first 2026 read.
26LyndaInOregon
2025 IN REVIEW
I read 120 books in 202, up just one from last year, maintaining last year’s fiction/nonfiction split at 84/16. Total fiction count was 101 titles and the total nonfiction count was 19.
TOP 10 OF 2025 (in alphabetical order)
Any Bitter Thing, Monica Wood – Wood handles loss, regret, growing up, and the perniciousness of rumor in this finely-tuned novel.
Blasphemy, Sherman Alexie – Sometimes darkly funny, sometimes brutal, always honest, Alexie casts his writerly eye over everything from basketball to matrimony, disillusionment to hope, with side trips through drink, dance, and death in this collection of 31 short pieces.
The Frozen River, Ariel Lawhorn - This was the first book I finished in 2025, and I knew immediately that it was going to show up on this list. Based on a true event in the life of a midwife in colonial Maine, Lawhorn spins out a mystery / social commentary / domestic drama that rings true in every line.
The Invention of Wings*, Sue Monk Kidd - Compelling story, based on the lives of early Abolitionists in the American South, embellished by the fictional slaves whose lives are inextricably entwined with theirs. Great characters, lots of little-known information about the early days of the movement, and immensely readable. This was a re-read, for my book club, and has held up well.
Off the Scales, Amy Donnelann – I got to review an advance copy of this thoughtful look at the weight-loss revolution being led drugs like Ozempic. It’s a fascinating, sometimes frightening read, and it raises some uncomfortable questions about who we are as a society, what we ultimately value, and whether a wish come true is really a nightmare in disguise.
The Once and Future Me, Melissa Pace – This is fantasy with a bite, a time-travel story that also hinges on the very real gender-based psychiatric treatment standards for women in the mid-20th century.
The Risk Pool, Richard Russo – Russo's second big novel shows a writer already fully in command of his art and secure in his niche as an observer of the quotidian.
Sea of Tranquility, Emily St. John Mandel - Brilliant in concept, utterly unique in construction, it is a collection of intertwining Möbius strips carrying tales of future and past, of humanity spreading across the solar system while keeping its roots firmly on Earth, of the price of compassion, of reality and illusion and what happens when their multiple layers overlap.
Welcome to Temptation*, Jennifer Crusie – Crusie makes no pretense at anything except funny, sexy, screwball romances, and I re-read this one just for the fun of it. It’s still good enough to make the top-ten list.
The Women, Kristen Hannah – There are certainly some derivative moments in this tale of an Army nurse in Vietnam during the Vietnam war, but it is still a compelling read.
*Starred items are re-reads
HALL OF SHAME Award is a tie between two utterly unreadable LTERs, Fatal Error, by Andy Toal, and Where the North Ends, by Hugo Moreno
DNFs hit an all-time high of 12, up for the second year in a row. I think that the older I get, the less patience I have with banal, derivative tales featuring incredibly dumb characters and totally unbelievable plots.
My most-read author in 2025 was Kathy Reichs, with three titles, all in her Temperance Brennan series.
I read 120 books in 202, up just one from last year, maintaining last year’s fiction/nonfiction split at 84/16. Total fiction count was 101 titles and the total nonfiction count was 19.
TOP 10 OF 2025 (in alphabetical order)
Any Bitter Thing, Monica Wood – Wood handles loss, regret, growing up, and the perniciousness of rumor in this finely-tuned novel.
Blasphemy, Sherman Alexie – Sometimes darkly funny, sometimes brutal, always honest, Alexie casts his writerly eye over everything from basketball to matrimony, disillusionment to hope, with side trips through drink, dance, and death in this collection of 31 short pieces.
The Frozen River, Ariel Lawhorn - This was the first book I finished in 2025, and I knew immediately that it was going to show up on this list. Based on a true event in the life of a midwife in colonial Maine, Lawhorn spins out a mystery / social commentary / domestic drama that rings true in every line.
The Invention of Wings*, Sue Monk Kidd - Compelling story, based on the lives of early Abolitionists in the American South, embellished by the fictional slaves whose lives are inextricably entwined with theirs. Great characters, lots of little-known information about the early days of the movement, and immensely readable. This was a re-read, for my book club, and has held up well.
Off the Scales, Amy Donnelann – I got to review an advance copy of this thoughtful look at the weight-loss revolution being led drugs like Ozempic. It’s a fascinating, sometimes frightening read, and it raises some uncomfortable questions about who we are as a society, what we ultimately value, and whether a wish come true is really a nightmare in disguise.
The Once and Future Me, Melissa Pace – This is fantasy with a bite, a time-travel story that also hinges on the very real gender-based psychiatric treatment standards for women in the mid-20th century.
The Risk Pool, Richard Russo – Russo's second big novel shows a writer already fully in command of his art and secure in his niche as an observer of the quotidian.
Sea of Tranquility, Emily St. John Mandel - Brilliant in concept, utterly unique in construction, it is a collection of intertwining Möbius strips carrying tales of future and past, of humanity spreading across the solar system while keeping its roots firmly on Earth, of the price of compassion, of reality and illusion and what happens when their multiple layers overlap.
Welcome to Temptation*, Jennifer Crusie – Crusie makes no pretense at anything except funny, sexy, screwball romances, and I re-read this one just for the fun of it. It’s still good enough to make the top-ten list.
The Women, Kristen Hannah – There are certainly some derivative moments in this tale of an Army nurse in Vietnam during the Vietnam war, but it is still a compelling read.
*Starred items are re-reads
HALL OF SHAME Award is a tie between two utterly unreadable LTERs, Fatal Error, by Andy Toal, and Where the North Ends, by Hugo Moreno
DNFs hit an all-time high of 12, up for the second year in a row. I think that the older I get, the less patience I have with banal, derivative tales featuring incredibly dumb characters and totally unbelievable plots.
My most-read author in 2025 was Kathy Reichs, with three titles, all in her Temperance Brennan series.
27LyndaInOregon
Abbada-abbada-abbada THAT'S ALL, FOLKS!
For the continuing adventures, check out the new thread right here.
For the continuing adventures, check out the new thread right here.
28LyndaInOregon
I've been reading Mike Rinder's book, A Billion Years, about his many years in Scientology and his ultimate disavowal of it. The thing that strikes me over and over are the echoes of things we are seeing today, but on the national political scale.
Example: In the mid-70s, Hubbard moved his international headquarters to Clearwater, Florida. Mayor Gabriel Cazares objected, and “then became a target of the program to ruin his political career, pursuant to Hubbard’s 'Fair Game' doctrine which detailed specific steps to investigate, harass, and destroy anyone deemed an enemy. … To that end, scientology operatives planted false documents in government files, spread rumors that Mayor Cazares was an adulterer and a bigamist, (and) framed him for a hit-and-run accident.”
Later, Rinder notes that whenever Scientology was attacked for questionable business practices “…it was very comfortable to not have to observe the facts too closely and to merely retreat into the agreed-upon mindset shared by everyone around me. We were right, and evidence to the contrary was just further proof of the conspiracy. We were always right, and absolutely certain about it.”
This is less about Scientology, of course, than it is about cults and/or movements based on personality-worship. I guess they are as old as humankind, and they all start with isolating members, replacing biological family as a source of love and security, elevating its members to a special status, gaslighting, and demanding loyalty with fearsome penalties for apostasy. (Which makes them share an awful lot of qualities with domestic abusers....)
I don't know that there's any special point to the observation except that it's a very discouraging thing to come across at this particular moment in time.
Example: In the mid-70s, Hubbard moved his international headquarters to Clearwater, Florida. Mayor Gabriel Cazares objected, and “then became a target of the program to ruin his political career, pursuant to Hubbard’s 'Fair Game' doctrine which detailed specific steps to investigate, harass, and destroy anyone deemed an enemy. … To that end, scientology operatives planted false documents in government files, spread rumors that Mayor Cazares was an adulterer and a bigamist, (and) framed him for a hit-and-run accident.”
Later, Rinder notes that whenever Scientology was attacked for questionable business practices “…it was very comfortable to not have to observe the facts too closely and to merely retreat into the agreed-upon mindset shared by everyone around me. We were right, and evidence to the contrary was just further proof of the conspiracy. We were always right, and absolutely certain about it.”
This is less about Scientology, of course, than it is about cults and/or movements based on personality-worship. I guess they are as old as humankind, and they all start with isolating members, replacing biological family as a source of love and security, elevating its members to a special status, gaslighting, and demanding loyalty with fearsome penalties for apostasy. (Which makes them share an awful lot of qualities with domestic abusers....)
I don't know that there's any special point to the observation except that it's a very discouraging thing to come across at this particular moment in time.
