Ursula Reads, Listens and Draws

Koper, Slovenia from our trip there in November 2025

Am I attempting this again? I guess so. Last year was a tough one for posting here but I'm going to dust off my hands and just pick up here.

I'm Ursula, and those of you who know me can just skip on down (I can't help but say that in my head like the Sundance Kid robbing a bank). My birthday is in January, so I will shortly be 54. I live in western Germany with my husband, Morgan, and our 3 silly cats, Rollo, Cleo and Archie. In spite of the name and the location, I am not German but rather American and we have bounced around from place to place (academia, not military).

Some years I read a lot, some years I don't read much. Last year was the latter sort. If this year turns out to be one of those years again, I'm going to try not to let it bother me and just post about other things. I listen to a ton of music, and I do quite a lot of drawing, mostly on location. I'll post about those things in addition to books.

Drawing from Worms (obviously!), watercolor and ink, drawn on location

Reading Log

  
1. The Expat by Hansen Shi
2. Woman at Point Zero by Nawal Al Saadawi
3. The Night Always Comes by Willy Vlautin

   
4. Black Water Rising by Attica Locke
5. 22 Bahnen by Caroline Wahl
6. Atavists by Lydia Millet
7. Piglet by Lottie Hazell

 
8. Every Arc Bends Its Radian by Sergio de la Pava
9. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

 
10. London Rules by Mick Herron
11. The Laughter by Sonora Jha



12. We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
13. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Welcome back, Ursula!

>2 ursula: Beautiful drawing, Ursula!!

Welcome to 2026. Wishing you a year of drawing and reading.

Hi Ursula!! Here's to more LT in 2026. xoxo

Nice to see you back, Ursula. Look forward to music and books in '26.

Looking forward to following your reading, music and art once again, Ursula. Happy new year!

I look forward to following along with you again, Ursula. Happy new year!

I hope to visit threads more often in 2026, and yours is one I am aiming to visit. My former partner Will (passed away 6.5 years ago.) joined the military when he completed medical school. He was stationed in Darmstadt Germany where he examined and treated the eyes of the Army base.

He loved Germany. He returned a few times. We intended to visit in the future, but alas, it wasn't meant to be.

I look forward to learning more about you and your experiences in Germany if you care to share.

In the meantime, Happy New Year!

Hello everyone! I'm trying to get to threads while they aren't difficult to find, so hopefully you'll see me over at your home in the 75ers soon if you haven't already.

>10 Whisper1: Thank you for stopping in! I live about an hour and a half southwest of Darmstadt. I've been there a few times, twice to visit the Mathildenhöhe area, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and once to go to a concert.


This is the door of one of the buildings in Mathildenhöhe, the architecture in the artists' colony is really cool.

Hi Ursula. Happy new thread in 2026.

>2 ursula: I loved that drawing, nice!

>12 EllaTim: Thank you on both counts!

I am waiting to put any reading here because hopefully I will finish both my current (not too exciting) reads by the end of the year and then start fresh. The only other reading going on is Crime and Punishment, which Morgan and I have been slowly reading together since June or July. We're about to start the last section.

>11 ursula: That is indeed cool -- must keep it on a list for places to visit when/if I'm ever in German again.

Happy new year. Looking forward to following your reading, life and wonderful sketches.

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

>15 RebaRelishesReading: There are a decent number of places worth a visit in my general area - southern Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz and Baden-Württemburg.

>16 figsfromthistle: Thank you, I'm feeling optimistic about posting this year.

>17 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul. That is certainly a large part of the cityscape.

The Expat by Hansen Shi

I don't know that I'm going to maintain a separate "currently reading" post this year so I'll just post them as I go along. I'm about 40% into this, which is some sort of espionage novel about one of those guys who is the smartest guy in the room and somehow simultaneously also the dumbest one.

Also, let's go ahead and get to my favorite albums of 2025. I usually do a top 10 but honestly this year there was so much good music I ended up with 25. I'll add descriptions for the first 10.

1. Geese - Getting Killed (indie rock) - they're the current darlings. Weird, chaotic but controlled music. It either works for you or it doesn't. Going to see them live in March!


2. Colin Miller - Losin' (alt-country/indie) - He's the drummer for MJ Lenderman's band The Wind and he's a great storytelling songwriter.


3. Pile - Sunshine and Balance Beams (post-punk/post-hardcore) - I was really about these bands with more non-standard song arrangements and sounds this year. Good stuff.


4. Anxious - Bambi (pop punk/melodic hardcore) - punky, but also catchy. I saw them live in July and it was an awesome show.


5. billy woods - GOLLIWOG (hip hop) - horror hip hop, but of all kinds, from the supernatural to the banal. Brilliant lyrics and mood-setting.


6. Racing Mount Pleasant - Racing Mount Pleasant (post-rock) - panoramic soundscapes. Another one of those non-standard songwriting types.


7. God Save the Gun - Militarie Gun (melodic hardcore) - Morgan really hates these guys but I love them. Kinda punky vocals but more emo lyrics.


8. They Are Gutting a Body of Water - LOTTO (shoegaze) - a bit more experimental than a standard shoegaze album, somewhat harder edged than dreamy.


9. Friendship - Caveman Wakes Up (indie/alt-country) - charmingly imperfect in sound, some really good lyrics here.


10. Saya Gray - SAYA (alternative/indie) - like a less whispery Billie Eilish, maybe? I don't know, it straddles the same line between pop and indie. Catchy!

Happy New Year, Ursula. I look forward to following your reading and listening again in 2026.

Happy New Year--that really is a cool door.>11 ursula:

>11 ursula: Thanks for posting such uniquely beautiful architecture! Will returned to that area a few times over the years since moving back to the US. Sadly, he passed away before he made a trip with me. Thus, I very much appreciate your post about that area!

Happy new Year, Ursula - may your year be full of happines health and joy - and of course - books.

>21 BLBera: Happy new year to you as well!

>22 banjo123: Hello and happy new year! Can you imagine living somewhere with a front door like that? Amazing.

Glad you're back Ursula. Happy new year. I enjoy your posts. Happy reading, drawing, and listening in 2026.

>11 ursula: That is awesome! I wish I could see it in person!

>24 Whisper1: I'm sorry you didn't get to make a trip out here with Will. I should remember that people might be interested in the places I go/the area around where I live, and post about it every once in a while!

>25 SirThomas: Thank you! I am hoping for those things too, for both of us. :)

>27 Kristelh: Thank you, I hope you have an excellent 2026 too.

>28 scvlad: Come on over! ;)

Morgan and I have been reading Crime and Punishment together since last June, and we're just about finished, so we're on the hunt for another big, meaty book to read. We previously read Infinite Jest and the pandemic/our international move interrupted our reading of Ulysses, although we would like to start that one over eventually.

I'm looking for suggestions of books for us to take on together! Long, worthy of discussion - classic classics or modern classics. Whatcha got for us?

>31 ursula: - So many possibilities, but I'll throw out one that surprised me with how much I enjoyed it... The Portrait of a Lady.

>32 katiekrug: Thanks for making a suggestion! I read The Portrait of a Lady ... but in 2015 and I had to look it up to be sure I'd read it. So that is definitely a possibility!

Hi Ursula! Happy first thread of 2026.

>1 ursula: Art, music, and books, in whatever order, are a balm to the soul.

>2 ursula: You’re so talented.

>31 ursula: A book I started but didn’t finish, A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. Utopia by Sir Thomas More, or The Canterbury Tales?

>34 karenmarie: Hello! You are right about art, music and books!

I think AP English in high school might have ruined me for The Canterbury Tales, but I'm passing along the others to Morgan for consideration!

The Expat by Hansen Shi

Finished a book, yay. I guess it's supposed to be some sort of corporate espionage thriller? If you find corporations and intellectual property theft thrilling, then maybe. It was fine. It was a quick enough read that I didn't feel compelled to abandon it, but I was very frustrated by how smart we were told the main character was with really very little evidence in his actions. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Happy New Year, Ursula! I'm looking forward to seeing what you sketch this year.

>37 norabelle414: Thank you! I'm looking forward to getting out to sketch when it starts reaching highs above freezing again! I can go somewhere indoors, but that often means museums and they don't like anything but pencil as a medium - not my preference!

Also, I realized I have been remiss in posting a photo of the Dum Dum Crew.



This is how they spend their afternoons - in a dog bed on our bed, cuddled together with hot water bottles. Orange: Rollo, (mostly) White: Archie, Gray/White: Cleo.

Ha! Great photo. Nice that they get along so well :) The Wayne would like another cat, but I am leery, as when we take Leonard to my in-laws, he does not get along with their cats...

A pile of kitties!

>40 katiekrug: They get along amazingly well especially considering that they were all brought in with various gaps. We had Archie for 4 months when we brought Cleo home, and they were both about 3 when Rollo joined us.

I can understand being hesitant to add another cat to the household, but it would be a totally different experience from Leonard being in someone else's house and dealing with other cats. There are lots of good tutorials on introducing cats to each other, and it definitely takes time and watching for/managing any problems.

>39 ursula: Great photo.

I was thinking of you when I was reading Wolf Bells. One of the characters was a punk rocker back in the day, and Zumas references all kinds of songs that I was unfamiliar with. I was thinking that my friend Ursula probably was familiar with either the songs or the artists.

A few:
"Safety Pin Stuck in my Heart"
"Halloween" by Siouxsie and the Banshees
'Values Here" by Dag Nasty

For joint reads, what about Austen? Or War and Peace? Do you want older work, or can it be more recent? Wolf Hall?

>39 ursula: Adorable!

>41 Kristelh: That dog bed is one of the best purchases we've ever made for them.

>43 BLBera: I know of them, I was not into that sort of thing at the time, but more aware of the goth side of things (Siouxsie) than the real punk side (Dag Nasty). Robert Smith of The Cure actually started out as a guitarist with Siouxsie.

I personally don't enjoy Austen (I know), and I think we've decided to wait a bit before revisiting Russia, although I do want to tackle War and Peace as one of our reads eventually. It can absolutely be more recent. What we're really looking for is a book that rewards close reading - themes, symbols, societal commentary, etc. Wolf Hall is a good suggestion, I think.

>44 norabelle414: They're just silly little warm lumps in the winter.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

I'm trying this again. I've never gotten very far into it before but I'm determined. I'm currently at about 10%, which honestly is probably the farthest I've made it.

>46 ursula: Good luck!

>45 ursula: I knew you would at least be familiar with them!

>46 ursula: - @lauralkeet is reading it right now and has inspired me to re-visit it. I think I might try it on audio.

>42 ursula: - I'm sticking to my reasoning because I actually don't want another cat :-)

Hi Ursula- I love your top image, and your 'Worms' drawing, so pretty.
Happy new year of reading, and I wonder if music and art will win out over books (again) for you this year?

ETA: >46 ursula: this is one of the *only*fiction books my lovely other has read. He was een because he loves Kate Bush, so we read it together, and then watched several TV/movies to round it off. I liked it!

>46 ursula: Keep plugging away. It was a slow start for me back in the day.

>39 ursula: What beautiful animals! I've always been a dog lover, but since taking care of my Grand daughter's cat, and helping a neighbor watch her feral cat, I've learned the beauty of these loveable critters. This is the time of night when Meow Meow follows me around the house. She's looking for a snack. She has the reign of the house and when I cannot find her at night, I merely call her name follow by "bed time," and she walks into the bedroom and jumps on the bottom of the bed where she stays till morning.

Do your three roam the house together, or are they separate in their habits?

>47 BLBera: Thanks! :)

>48 katiekrug: I wish I could deal with audio for fiction. But for a revisit, it seems cool to do it in another format.

I totally get that, and support your not wanting another one! We thought 3 was too many, but Rollo was there and although we tried to convince him to go back to the streets, it wasn't meant to be.

>49 LovingLit: Hi, good to see you and thank you! I don't know how the reading will go, obviously, but it's possible that for this period of my life reading just ends up taking a bit of a backseat. I was beating myself up for it for a while but I'm just going to try to ride it out and see how it goes. I've stopped reading so many books at once, for starters. Okay - I'm reading 3 right now but that's because one is super short, and one is in German. The third is Wuthering Heights. :) Very interesting that Kate Bush inspired your lovely other to read it. I was partially inspired by the upcoming movie and the song "House" from the soundtrack by Charli XCX and John Cale (seemed an odd pairing but it works amazingly well).

>50 thornton37814: I'm usually good at continuing to plug away but I've been mostly not excited about pushing through with the Brontes and Austen in the past. I'm continuing to make progress though.

>51 Whisper1: I'm a dog and cat lover! We miss our dog, and would love to get another one someday. It was so incredibly painful when she died, it's been 5 1/2 years and I think only now would we be ready to do it, not that we are in a position to at the moment. Meow Meow sounds full of personality. Cleo also complains when both Morgan and I are not in bed at what she considers to be bedtime. It's a pain when he's away.

These three are not out of eyeball range of each other all that often (partially because we're in a relatively small apartment!). Rollo is a cat's cat and mostly prefers a snuggly place with his siblings. He also initiates the wrestling about 90% of the time. Cleo is the one who needs frequent play sessions with a toy, and she prefers to do that without the other two sticking their annoying paws in there. :)

>49 LovingLit: I remember that song coming out in 1978 and being more than a little blown away. I think I first read the book in its aftermath and after the even more beautiful "The Man With the Child in His Eyes" was released.

All the best for your special day, Ursula - have a wonderful time!

>55 SirThomas: Thank you! So far, so good. Had a lovely breakfast out with a friend. :)

>53 ursula: I think John Cale can go with anyone and make something interesting!

>57 LovingLit: Oh absolutely, and Charli XCX has actually done a lot of interesting stuff herself. Just an odd couple to me!

So yesterday was my birthday, which Thomas knew (clever you and good recordkeeping!).

I got a set of "document inks" (waterproof) from DeAtramentis in CMYK colors and a thinner for them for mixing purposes. I'm excited to be able to use essentially any color I can imagine for line art in my urban sketches even if I'm planning to use watercolor or markers on them. And I also got a brown ink because 1. I wanted it and 2. people say it's a useful one for mixing as well.



Over the years I've more and more wanted to use fountain pens rather than disposable ones for my drawing purposes because I'm tired of contributing plastic to landfills. Also it's obviously way more economical to spend money on a (low end, in my case) fountain pen and bottles of ink rather than €3-5 on non-refillable pens.

>59 ursula: Happy birthday, Ursula! What a great birthday present.

Happy Birthday, Ursula. It sounds like you had a lovely day.

Belated birthday wishes! Look forward to seeing what you create with your birthday present :)

>60 Kristelh:, >61 BLBera:, >62 katiekrug: Thank you!

I did have a nice day, I went out to breakfast with a friend and then just worked on some things here, and went out to dinner with Morgan. I finally made it to a local fixture, the Spinnrädl. Their site says the half-timbered house they're in has been there since at least 1742. They offer generally German food and also some Pfälzisch specialties.

If you can read German or are curious enough to translate, their menu can be found here in .pdf form. I just had the Rahmschnitzel, a schnitzel with a cream sauce, and Morgan had the Spinnrädl-Pfännchen, which is pork medallions with cream sauce and cheese baked on top, over a bed of spätzle. I was debating doing one of the Pfälzisch liver-related specialties, but I'll do that another time.

Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi

I finished this one, and then went back and read the introduction and preface for the context I had been missing. I don't have any regrets about waiting till the end to read them though. Anyway, a brutal look at a woman's life in Egypt, through neglect and abuse at the hands of her family, compelled marriage, prostitution, and ultimately a murder she is brought to "justice" for. Lots to think about here.

>64 ursula:. I’ve read that one.

>63 ursula: That sounds delicious.

>64 ursula: That sounds like a tough read. I don't know if I could handle it right now.

Happy belated birthday, Ursula! Those inks look like a great present, I love a treat that's an upgrade of something I already use.

>65 Kristelh: Cool.

>66 BLBera: It is quite possibly not the read for the moment. But it's also a weirdly inspirational read? Firdaus (the main character) keeps trying to find a way to take ownership of her life. It's not a happy read but that aspect is part of the reason I feel like there's a lot to think about there.

>67 norabelle414: Thank you! Definitely an upgrade, I have only had black, gray and blue in permanent, waterproof inks, and now I can have any color I can imagine and mix!

Black Water Rising by Attica Locke

Started this one last night as it was in my Libby app and currently available. Didn't realize going in that it was a mystery novel, and I thought about quitting it within the first couple of pages for other reasons, but I'm giving it a bit more of a chance, so I'll say I'm tentatively reading this now.

FWIW, I really liked it. But I like crime novels 🙂

>64 ursula: I loved that one, and that new edition is so pretty as well

>70 katiekrug: I'm not opposed to crime novels, or series, in theory! I just don't gravitate that way. It was on page 1, the description of the boat: "But this thing looks like a doctored-up fishing boat, at best. It is flat and wide and ugly -- a barge, badly overdressed, like a big girl invited to her first and probably last school dance." I almost stopped there. 🙃

I've let the plot get started now, so we'll see how it goes from here.

>71 LovingLit: I sometimes pick a cover at random since I read digitally from the library but this was the one the library gave in this case. It's an interesting book for sure.

The Night Always Comes by Willy Vlautin

Also started this one.

>72 ursula: - Oh, yeah, that's a pretty terrible line.

>73 ursula: - I really like Vlautin. Very dark and gritty.

>74 katiekrug: I think at this point I'll probably finish it unless another line like that comes up!

Super enjoying the Vlautin. I checked it out and the digital copy was already marked as "read" so I said to Morgan that he must have read it - he didn't remember and said I probably had. Which was scary because although I don't always remember much about the books I read, I do usually remember at least a couple of plot points or characters or something. Turns out, he is the one who read it. Whew.

One of my other hobbies is Postcrossing, where you send postcards to random people around the world and different random people around the world send postcards to you. Anyway, meetups are part of the fun - people get together and write and send postcards together over food and drink and it's just generally a good time. For these meetups, special meetup cards are designed, which can be sent out in addition to any regular ones you want to send. Anyhow, some friends here are putting on a meetup at the local Japanese garden and wanted to use one of my urban sketches for the card. This is the drawing they chose:



So that's fun!

>59 ursula: Happy belated birthday!

What a wonderful idea to use fountain pens for drawing. Most of the time I have difficulties with fountain pens that they become leaky and end up needing better quality paper to prevent bleeding through.

Happy weekend reading!

>76 ursula:. That is fun. Beautiful card. Your drawings would make beautiful cards. Have you done that before? Happy weekend reading.

>77 figsfromthistle: I haven't really had trouble with my pens leaking. Just about all the paper here seems to be suitable for fountain pens, including cheap notebooks, since kids still use them in school.

>78 Kristelh: Thanks! Yeah, I have put some of my drawings on cards but it is on my agenda to do more.

>76 ursula: That sounds like a lot of fun. I love the card. You should definitely make more cards.

Ursula, Your post on my thread regarding the beauty of Kadir Nelson inspired me to post some of his art work. You, like me, may be amazed at the beauty that comes through him to the canvas! Amazing!

>76 ursula: And speaking of beautiful art work. You are quite talented!!!

>81 Whisper1: Thanks for letting me know, I'll come check it out!

And thank you! :)

>76 ursula: That is lovely, Ursula.

Very belated birthday wishes.

>73 ursula: I goofed. how right you are. You didn't review it. I read other reviews. So sorry for the confusion. Happy Reading

>83 PaulCranswick: Thank you on both counts, Paul!

>84 Whisper1: I haven't reviewed it yet? I haven't even finished it! :)

Reading continues. Also, I know I haven't shared any listening yet this year, but I'm still trying to figure out how exactly I want to do that. I may do it monthly, or I may single out highlights and lowlights? I'm not sure.

Yesterday we went out to a local-ish palace and spent some time doing a little drawing (not much, it was very cold! But warmer than my daughter's weather in Lexington, Kentucky). Other than that, not much is going on around here.

>84 Whisper1: I just caught your edit. No worries! I am often wandering around on threads in a state of confusion so I'm not going to cast any aspersions!

I finished a book!


The Night Always Comes by Willy Vlautin

As Katie said, this was gritty. It's about Lynette, a young woman with an alcoholic mother and a disabled adult brother. She's working multiple jobs trying to buy their (shitty) house from their landlord. Meanwhile, her mother goes out and buys a new car, putting the whole plan into jeopardy since Lynette can't get a big enough loan by herself. She tries to find a way around it all, leading to various situations.

That's the summary, and here are my thoughts: There's a lot here to make you think about heroes and villains, and just getting by. Whether or not the ends justifies the means, especially because often the intended ends aren't even possible. Also, gentrification is its own character here, possibly the biggest villain of all.

>88 ursula: - Bumping that one up the list to get to sooner!

>89 katiekrug: Cool! I didn't realize you hadn't read this one. Which one(s) have you read?

I've read Lean on Pete, which I loved, and Motel Life, which I liked. I have two others, including Night Always Comes on my shelves/Kindle.

Okay cool, I'll put Lean on Pete on the list.

Black Water Rising by Attica Locke

Mystery set in the '80s in Houston. The main character is a Black lawyer who finds himself involved in a case in a not-very-lawyerly way and has to figure out what to do about it. It was fine.

Postcrossing sounds so fun! And your painting is lovely, so it's no wonder it was selected :)

The Night Always Comes- I loved it. I really love Willy Vlautin's style, characters, and themes.

>94 LovingLit: Postcrossing is a lot of fun, although it's getting expensive and therefore also less popular in countries where postage is even more expensive than in Germany. When I moved here, it was €.95 to send an international postcard, now it's €1.25. And that is still far lower than in many countries - I know in Denmark it's over €4!

Thank you about the painting! The people who are organizing the meetup are lovely, I met them at a meetup the first year I was here, in Saarbrücken.

I'm looking forward to reading more Willy Vlautin. (I always say that, it usually takes me yeeeeeears to come back around to authors but maybe it'll be different in the future!)

Oh, I don't think I mentioned that my daughter is finally coming to visit. She'll be here in the middle of April. I haven't seen her since -- around Christmas 2018, I think. Obviously I'm very excited about it!

Morgan and I are closing in on the end of Crime and Punishment, finally. I think we have 3 chapters left to go after our discussion date today.

I watched a few minutes of the opening ceremonies last night. I liked the bobblehead composers. Germany's outfits were atrocious but maybe not as bad as Canada's?

Oh, that is really good news that your daughter will be visiting. Congrats on getting to end of Crime and Punishment. Looking forward to your review. I didn’t watch the opening ceremonies but am currently watching curling. Who knew there was so much yelling in curling.

What great, happy news that your daughter will visit you in mid April! The cover of The Night Always Comes is spooky. I haven't heard of this author. Many thanks for your review!

>97 Kristelh: Yes, I haven't wanted to pressure her for a variety of reasons but I'm glad the trip is booked now.

I think maybe I remember a lot yelling in curling? It's been a while since I last watched it (maybe a couple of Olympics ago) but that sounds familiar!

>98 Whisper1: I didn't really think of the cover as spooky, but now that you mention it I can see it!

>88 ursula: excellent cover but I will pass on the read.

Happy rest of the weekend 🙂

>99 ursula: Yes, I guess there is yelling. The person that starts the stone yells directions to the sweeper. I don’t think I’m using the correct terminology but it is a very loud sport.

>100 figsfromthistle: Weekend is gone already! It was a pretty good one though, we had our Crime & Punishment date, and we worked on a puzzle. Otherwise we both just got some things done that we wanted to. Hope you had a good one too.

>101 Kristelh: I decided not to watch it this time around. I have been watching various skiing events and figure skating. A little luge (Germany won a gold).

While I'm trying to figure out what to do about sharing what I'm listening to, I've started doing a monthly playlist. Just things old and new that I heard during the month that made an impression on me. If anyone is interested and uses Apple Music you can click here to find it. If you don't use Apple Music, I've added the songs to a playlist on YouTube as well, which can be found here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLURN2D4ipWMIARrvs0xucJ4X7Frsua94h (I have not watched most of these videos so I can't vouch for them, but I did try to choose the official video where available.)

This is the track listing for January, 21 songs:

Miragem - Oruã
Can't See - Westside Cowboy
Silently - Blonde Redhead
Sombre Reptiles - Brian Eno
Satellite - Courtney Marie Andrews
Fight Test - The Flaming Lips
Sibling - Big Brave
Been Undone (Dark-Side Mix) - Peter Gabriel
Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime - Beck
steamroller - Better Joy
my stars aligning - big long sun
ozempic (celebrity weight loss anxiety blues) - vegas water taxi
Polari - Lemondaze
I Remember When - The Coral
Low Era - Geese
Stepping out for Air - Bill Callahan
Iona - Sister Ray Davies (*Aidan is the song on the YouTube playlist, the other one wasn't on there)
Got a New Car - Tyler Ballgame
Perfect Storm - Jane Weaver
Drag Me into the Woods - Holy Fawn
Limerick - Bardo Pond

22 Bahnen by Caroline Wahl

My first book in German for the year, my 3rd overall (not counting children's books).

The book is about Tilda, a young woman living in a small town with her alcoholic mother and her much younger sister Ida. The two girls have different fathers, but neither is in the picture. Tilda works as a cashier at a supermarket and takes care of Ida since her mother is often not in shape to do it. Then Tilda gets into a masters-to-doctoral program in Berlin and doesn't know if she can take it since it will mean leaving the sensitive Ida with their mother. The title refers to the 22 laps Tilda swims as often as possible at the local swimming pool - it's her only real time alone and away from everything. At the pool she also runs into the older brother of someone she used to be friends with who died a few years earlier.

Anyway, I can't judge it on writing quality since I'm 100% reading for content only at this point. The story was fine, it moved along at a decent pace. I didn't find anything super unexpected in the plot but it was all right.

I cut my hair the other day. It's the second time I've done it myself. Turned out fine - this time I just went for a "stupid bob". I say that because I swear, every time I go to a salon, I show them pictures and ask for something else and they cut it into a stupid bob. So I figured this way it was what I was expecting, and I didn't have to pay someone €50 and then come home and cry.

Last time I did something a little different and it turned out fine too, but I wasn't in a mood to fuss with it this time, I just wanted it shorter. Of course, it means I have to corral Morgan in to help with the back, and that's somewhat stressful because he alternates between too scared to actually cut anything and hacking away. And when I say "you're doing that like I said, right?" and explain again, he tends to say "ohhhh okay, now I understand." And then I make this face: 😬

>105 ursula: You are brave to cut your own hair.

Kudos to reading in German. I always have good intentions of reading more in Spanish, but last year I did one book. So, it's hard.

How fun that your daughter will visit.

>105 ursula: I have similar haircut problems, so last time I went to a men's barber shop and got my stupid bob for $25 instead of the usual salon for $75. I'm with you on the crying.

>106 BLBera: I don't know if I'm brave or not, but I've learned that people who do this professionally can certainly give me worse haircuts than I give myself!

It takes a long time to read in another language. I don't read as consistently as I should, but at the current pace I can probably hope to read 4 books in German in a year but not more.

Yes, I'm anxious to start nailing down where exactly my daughter wants to go in her time here. I imagine we'll take one or two side trips for a couple of nights each.

>108 ursula: High five for the less-expensive stupid bob! I have a lot of hair, and often no matter how much I explain that to them, they do something unsuitable for it and/or make my head look like a mushroom. They never fix it adequately either. :/

>108 ursula: I have the opposite problem, I have very thin hair but the fancy salon always spends an hour+ trying to manipulate my hair into looking like it's something it's not, usually involving a ton of products that they then insist I have to buy from them.

>109 norabelle414: Oh ugh, the products. I guess it's "good" to know it works in the other direction too. They always blowdry my hair into some sort of rounded monstrosity while I keep insisting that 1. I don't like it like that and 2. it will never look like that again when I leave ... at which point they recommend products.

Atavists by Lydia Millet

I enjoyed this book of interconnected short stories quite a lot. Some of the stories show the good sides of humanity, and some show decidedly the opposite. I think that it would have benefited from reading it in some other manner than 20 minutes before bed each night, because I would have been able to grasp the connections more clearly. Anyway, a few of them stuck with me pretty strongly in spite of the sub-optimal reading conditions, including one with an awkward family dinner for the ages.

Piglet by Lottie Hazell

Started reading this one.

>112 ursula: - I listened to that on audio a few years ago. I liked it okay, but didn't love it. Maybe it will work better for you.

>113 katiekrug: We'll see! I feel like the story is wrapping up but I'm only 1/3 of the way through, so I'm curious where it's going to ultimately go.

>111 ursula: Millet is great at connected stories. I loved this collection as well, and you are right, that dinner was hilarious. I loved the sister helping the seniors with their devices. That rang true!

>115 BLBera: I've never read anything else by her, I didn't realize this was her style!

Last night Morgan and I went to see Hamnet. The original-with-subtitles showing was better-attended than most of the non-dubbed ones are.

I read the book a few years ago and, typically, remember very little so I don't have to feel obligated to make comparisons. I enjoyed the movie. I have read complaints about various choices in the story or direction and honestly, I don't see any of those as problems. And I was completely unable to take my eyes off Jessie Buckley as Agnes.

>116 ursula: I've only read one other story collection of hers, Fight No More, and the stories were also linked. In general, I love her books. Each one is so distinct from others. Dinosaurs was one of my favorite reads a couple of years ago.

>117 ursula: I loved the novel and thought the movie was fine. Jessie Buckley was great.

>105 ursula: good for you, cutting your own hair…….saves some money and at least it's the time of year that if it's not perfect, you can get away with wearing a hat ;)

I have to admit that here in Canada I usually have difficulties - so much so that I just instruct them to cut a certain length with no layers. Most of the time it still turns out lopsided. Last year in Austria, I went to a salon and they fixed it for me. No problems and they spent time seeing how my hair falls and parts naturally and took time finding out what my hair routine is so that they don't cut it in a way that requires a lot of time to style. It takes a while to find a salon that listens to what you need….

Happy weekend ahead!

>103 ursula: The Coral, Beck and The Flaming Lips caught my eye.

>119 figsfromthistle: I realized that my expectations are significantly lower when I cut it myself so it's a lot easier to be happy with it. What do I know about cutting hair anyway? I've watched maybe half of a YouTube tutorial.

I can't have them cut it with no layers, that's actually one of the worst things I have had people do to me. I have so much hair, and it's so thick, that I look like Edna Mode from The Incredibles when they do that (not in a good way). I'm always desperately telling them not only to cut layers but to thin it, for the love of all that's holy.

My favorite cut ever was in Belgium (in 2013) but everything after that has been either just okay or actively intolerable. I've been to three salons here and they were all awful. That's €150 I might as well have set on fire.

>120 PaulCranswick: I'm glad you found something interesting to you! That Beck song was on the soundtrack to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind but apparently wasn't released anywhere else (and if it was on streaming there, it's been pulled some time back). I have always loved it so much, although I didn't realize at the time that it was a cover. The original was by someone called The Korgis. Good bones, but I like what Beck's voice and phrasing adds to it.

Piglet by Lottie Hazell

Piglet is the main character of this novel. It's a nickname given to her by her family, and we don't know her by any other name. She's getting married soon, to a man who comes from the right place and has the right accent, unlike her. Piglet demonstrates what "eating your feelings" can really look like, making people think she's a restaurant critic by ordering one of everything on the menu.

I truly don't know how we were supposed to feel about Piglet, or about food, after reading this novel. Disordered eating is a complicated topic, and I don't necessarily dislike some moments being played for a bit of comedy because look, life is ridiculous. But it was actually more the serious parts, where any discomfort with the methods of eating came externally, rather than from Piglet herself. I often felt like this was meant to be a book about someone who ate more than is socially acceptable rather than someone suffering from disordered eating, but it wasn't. I don't know, maybe there was more seriousness ascribed to it than I'm remembering.

Also, the fiancé confesses something to her a couple of weeks before the wedding (not a spoiler, it's mentioned in maybe the 2nd chapter), but the reader isn't let in on what it was. I guess it's supposed to make it seem universal or you can fill in the blank, but I didn't like it as a device.

And yet after all that, I would rate it as "average" rather than bad. It certainly has things to say about family, good and bad, and how we try to get through things when we want to preserve the outer shell even while everything inside has cracked.

Good review, Ursula. I felt similarly - very ambivalent about the character herself which made it hard to connect.

>123 ursula: Great comments. In fact, they are so good, I don't feel the need to read the novel. :)

>124 katiekrug: Yeah, I feel like I could have been okay with it if it was clearer what kind of book the author thought she was writing, but if she was, it didn't come through for me.

>125 BLBera: I live to serve. ;)

And here is my playlist of songs that caught my attention in February, new and old, familiar and not:

Apple Music playlist
YouTube playlist

Track listing:

Greg Freeman - Curtain
The Wolfgang Press - Kansas
Arm's Length - Tough Love
Mên An Tol - This Land
The Lilys - Elizabeth Colour Wheel
Mitski - I'll Change for You
Daisy Rickman - Bleujen an Howl
Drug Store Raid - Americana
Marina Herlop - La Alhambra
toe - Tremolo and Delay
Shoreline - Sweet Spot
Tony Conrad & Jennifer Walshe - Wake Up
Charli xcx - Chains of Love
Marissa Nadler - Lemon Queen
Sinéad O'Connor - You Cause As Much Sorrow
M83 - Gone
Maggie Rogers - Back in My Body

This month turned out to be heavy on women, and overall mellower than last month's list, although with a few turns into the weird. I do curate the running order, but I don't choose songs intentionally for their tempo or anything - I just add songs to the list throughout the month and at the end, see what's there. I hope you find something to enjoy if you check it out.

>105 ursula: I swear, every time I go to a salon, I show them pictures and ask for something else and they cut it into a stupid bob
This made me laugh, sorry :)
I was swapping hairdresser stories with a friend the other day, and we both couldn't believe how hard-done-by we had been by hairdressers who had totally disregarded our instructions for the hair style we wanted! This is why I rarely go as well.

>121 ursula: >128 LovingLit: My hair is not thick, but I have a lot of it and I always have to get it thinned, too. After COVID I've just kinda let it grow and it is well below my shoulders now. I haven't had long hair for years and I can't figure out what to do with it! Thinking color, perm, cut or a combo. We'll see! But at least I do trust my current stylist. They are so hard to find.

>128 LovingLit: No worries, laugh! It's funny. I used to dread going, and avoid it, and be okay with it for 10 minutes and then stay in the house for 3 days blah blah. But now I'm free of it. I don't care. I was always nervous about cutting my own hair because what if I did something so terrible that I had to go in and have them fix it? I know they hate it when people do that. But then I realized that I just Do. Not. Care. It'll be what it is and I'll save the money. I don't know why hair stylists seem to so often disregard what people want. Not like "oh that's not appropriate for your hair type" or "I think that wouldn't suit you" but just "sure!" and then ... cut something completely different.

>129 Berly: It's good that you have someone you trust. I've had people insist I don't want it as short as I wanted it, that a blunt cut would be "fine", that I should have bangs, that my hair didn't really need to be thinned, that the layers were not actually giving my hair the shape of a mushroom, that my hair would not be wavy when it was shorter, I could go on.

Okay well I'm back. Morgan was gone on a work trip at the end of February, and he brought back the plague for me. I've been so sick for the last week. Yesterday was the first day in a while I was really able to be upright consistently throughout the day. Today I'm feeling better but I'm ridiculously congested and the insane cough I've had the whole time will not quit.

I've barely been reading, unsurprisingly since my concentration has been shot and also there were some days I spent mostly sleeping. But anyway, here's to recovering and getting back to life, whatever that is.

Particularly frustrating to be sick all this time because we have had unseasonably warm weather and it's actually been sunny.

I hope you feel better soon, Ursula.

>132 BLBera: I'm recovering, thanks! Cough is finally going away, which is excellent.

Every Arc Bends Its Radian by Sergio De La Pava

What on earth was this? That's a hard question to answer. The first part was a detective story. The main character, Riv del Rio coming back to his home town of Cali, Colombia to help find his cousin Angelica. She's gone missing and he is a private investigator. This was not the confusing part. Then we transition into the second part, which is a cross between like - hm, maybe the movie Manhunter (original Hannibal Lecter adaptation) and the movie AI. The point is, things get weird. I liked it; it's probably not for everyone though.

I never look at the recommendations but I was cleaning out notifications this morning and I went ahead and looked at them for once. Here's what I had at the top:



Any thoughts on anything here? I have Audition, Flesh and All Fours on my radar already, and I doubt I will read any more Richard Powers, but other than that I don't know anything about the others.

I glanced at my recommendations, but they were pretty 'meh' in terms of just being a lot of popular literary fiction I was already aware of from countless people reading them.

On your list, The Correspondent doesn't seem like your type of thing. I didn't get on with Audition in audio, but it is sort of odd and think-y which I think of as your cuppa (is that fair? I mean it in the best way!). Someone (Laura maybe?) recently read Martyr! and liked it.

Of the list, I've only read All Fours - for book club and there is A LOT to unpack with that one :)

>135 ursula: I think you would like Orbital, it's short and thoughtful.

I don’t think I can pinpoint your reading preference enough to make recommendations.

I just finished seascraper audio and it was wonderful. I think this one might be better than written. The author read the book, he also wrote and sang the songs in the book.

All the books above have been on various long lists or at least most of them.

>136 katiekrug: Odd and think-y is probably a pretty good distillation of my interests! My daughter read All Fours in the not too distant past and I think I should probably get to it sooner rather than later. I've been interested but just haven't gotten to it yet. Thanks!

>137 norabelle414: I feel like I saw that one go around on a couple of threads, thanks for pointing that one out!

>138 Kristelh: I don't know exactly how I'd describe my preferences exactly either, but "(the author) also wrote and sang the songs in the book" is the exact opposite of it. 🤷‍♀️

Interesting list. I thought Audition was meh and I agree I don't see you loving The Correspondent. I think you would love Creation Lake; it is odd in a great way.

Actually, I think the list of recommendations is a great idea, but since I already get so many BBs from this awesome group, I don’t even look at it—it would be too much for me...
As for the hairdresser—I’m glad I only need a clipper and my wife.
Have a wonderful weekend!

>140 BLBera: Odd in a good way is probably right up my alley!

>141 SirThomas: I confess to not reading reviews. I don't like to know a lot about a book so I tend to just skim for the condensed "loved it/hated it" sorts of posts. (And then mostly forgetting to put anything on the library wishlist anyway.)

Well, I have been away! In a few different ways. I was sick for way too long, and then we were away for 4 days in Köln to go to 2 different concerts, and then I was just here at home trying to catch up on life.

The only thing I finished reading in that time was Wuthering Heights, which I did not love! I'm the last one to complain about hating all the characters because likability doesn't rank high on my list of things I require. But I hated everyone and also their actions were mostly incomprehensible to me. I did spend some time thinking about how this was received at the time (skimmed a couple of summaries about that) because I had been wondering if this was groundbreaking in some way. It's the only reason I can see anyone reading this hundreds of years later.

>135 ursula: Well The Safekeep and Flesh both won awards and have much to ponder as well as like about them although not perfect. I didn't like Orbital much although I am very decidedly in the minority and I admired but didn't much like Audition. Misinterpretation misfired for me and I am at a loss as to how it got longlisted for the Booker.

>127 ursula: Unusually I have to admit to being unfamiliar with your entire list, Ursula, so I am going to play them through on Spotify this weekend and see which I will add to my own songlist there.

Hope you are feeling much better and I have a tinge of jealousy as I always enjoyed my visits to Koln or nearby Koblenz.

>144 PaulCranswick: I'm definitely going to read Flesh.

I'm surprised you are unfamiliar with the whole list! You must have overlooked Sinéad O'Connor I would think! I'd be curious if you find anything of interest there, as always.

I am in fact feeling better, but it's taken a long time. Morgan is still muddling through it. Koblenz I only visited on the cruise we took with Morgan's mom last fall, but we are going to go again when my daughter is here next month. I'm looking forward to seeing more of it.

>145 ursula: Of course I am familiar with Sinead O'Connor but not the specific song.

>146 PaulCranswick: Ah yes, of course!

So not too much has been going on here in the reading world. I'm still slowly working through my historical fiction book in German and I'm nearing the end of London Rules, the 5th Slow Horses book.

My daughter arrives in just under 2 weeks. She's an anxious traveler so she is struggling through this part a little, but I know we're going to have a good time once she actually gets here.

We've also been finalizing other travel plans after that. I mean, we have had the plans and hotels booked, but needed to figure out transportation. So now we have our plane tickets to Naples for May (I think), and our train tickets to Toulouse for July. Naples is for a math conference, and I would never miss a chance to go there! Toulouse is for this year's urban sketchers symposium. I feel lucky it's relatively nearby again this year - it's about the same distance from us as Poznań was last year.

I see also that I've been remiss on the "draws" part of my thread title (and maybe the "reads" part too but there's no help for that!). So here is a sketch I did when we were in Köln a couple of weeks ago.

Oh, that sketch is beautiful!

I hope you have a great time with your daughter. Will you be traveling anywhere while she is visiting?

>150 katiekrug: Thank you!

We are going to spend a few days in Munich, and we're staying overnight up north in Koblenz, on the Rhine. We'll do a day trip or two from home as well.

>149 ursula: OMG!!! That's amazing!

Sounds like some great plans coming up.

I love your sketch, Ursula! Your travel plans sound fantastic, and I hope you have a great time with your daughter, too.

>149 ursula:. Like!

Such a lovely sketch!

Enjoy the time with your daughter.

>149 ursula: I love the sketch, Ursula. I hope you and your daughter have a great visit.

>149 ursula: I am so very impressed with your artistic abilities. I cannot draw a straight line with a rule, and thus I am in awe! You are quite talented.

Also, I want to thank you for reaching out to me when my beloved cat Meow, Meow had to be transitioned because of too many steroids taken to help her frequent asthma outbreaks. Thank you for sharing your grief as well. I am having a very difficult time. I see her everywhere. She was so very present throughout the house.

>149 ursula: Your sketch is beautiful, Ursula!
Save travels and have a wonderful time.

Well, I abandoned Something in the Walls. I promised myself I would abandon more books this year if I felt the urge. In this case, I felt the urge after the following instances:

"I put an arm around her narrow shoulders, feeling her bony shoulders shudder as she stifles a sob."

and, within 2 sentences of each other:

"Sam's brow knots together, his face drained of color, and I don't know how I know it but I do, it's a trap set just for him."
"Sam hesitates but only for a moment, his face still drained of color."

I feel like I'm pretty easygoing with writers but oof, vary some word choices please.

>152 RebaRelishesReading:, >153 bell7:, >154 Kristelh:, >155 banjo123:, >156 BLBera: Thanks so much for your lovely comments.

I am looking forward to plans not least because spring is dragging on grey and gloomy and I need to remind myself it will end eventually!

I'm hoping the weather improves a bit while Em is here, but either way it will be fine.

>157 Whisper1: Straight lines are overrated. Also, it is truly just practice. Lots of practice.

I didn't realize Meow, Meow left you due to asthma/steroids. Our cat Cleo has asthma and uses an inhaler twice a day. I feel your pain very viscerally, in a way we were lucky that we moved a month after Penny left us, the change to somewhere she had never been was sad in its own way but also removed those associations from our everyday life.

>158 SirThomas: Thank you Thomas!

I'm looking forward to all our events, definitely.

I also love your sketch and hope you have a great time with your daughter!

Your plans for the summer sound great, Naples and Toulouse. And I love your drawing!
Have a great time with your daughter, will she be staying long?

>161 ursula: Ursula, many thanks for your outreach. I am having a difficult time, especially during the evening when, no matter where she was in the house, she would come to me when I called her to bed. She slept at the bottom of the bed on one of her favorite blankets. She was very present throughout the house.

>163 norabelle414: Thank you! The weather is just starting to show up on the 10-day forecast - the first day shows sunny and 19, which would be perfect!

>164 EllaTim: She's staying for 9 days. So, not that long but we're going to pack it full!

>165 Whisper1: You are so welcome. All I can say is, be gentle with yourself. We had the two cats to help occupy the space that Penny was no longer in, but that brought its own sadness as they navigated missing her too.

Ah, I guess I forgot to post my March playlist here. This time there are kind of a lot of new releases, but also a mix of other things that I was listening to over the course of the month.

Apple Music playlist

Track listing:

Lime Garden - 23
Citizen - Needs
Hiding Places - Waiting
Courtney Barnett - Sugar Plum
Ulrika Spacek - Showroom Poetry
Gladie - Car Alarm
Rosali - Rewind
Craig Finn - Messing with the Settings
Buck Meek - Soul Feeling
The Hotelier - Among the Wildflowers
Owen - Use Your Words
Mandy, Indiana - Magazine
Sam Cohen - Spinning Love
Ora Cogan - Division
Snail Mail - Tractor Beam
Soccer Mommy - Changes
Brown Horse - Everlasting
Claire Ozmun - Always Living Somewhere
Big Brave - Not Speaking of the Ways

I'm back after a long absence. My daughter came to visit, we wandered around various places near here and also in Munich. I went to an urban sketching event for a weekend in Karlsruhe. I finished a few books. I'm going to a concert in a couple of days. Naples is less than 2 weeks away. I came back to all of my photos in my threads being broken, but they all have the same URLs, if I paste them again they come back. But who has the patience for that?

Here is a photo from Cochem, which we visited with my daughter. It's on the Moselle River, and this view is from the castle (which you can only see with a tour so we opted to just look at the outside).

Welcome back, Ursula. Great photo. What a view.

>169 ursula: Wow! A stunning view and a perfect picture

>170 BLBera:, >171 figsfromthistle: Thank you! It was a hike up there on a reasonably hot day but the view was 100% worth it.

>169 ursula: Absolutely gorgeous!! I think my absence was even longer than yours -- glad to see us both back!

>134 ursula: Weird huh? I love it that you liked it but I'm not sure it's for me.
Having said that, I jut finished an odd one called Hunting in America, which was also weird and in a great way!

>149 ursula: I can't see the sketch for some reason, but I am sure it's lovely :)

>173 Berly: Wow, I'm also glad to see you back! I'm still trying to make being back stick. :)

>174 LovingLit: I do like some weirdness!

As for the drawing, LT broke all the photo links a while back for some reason and I haven't bothered to fix them. Here's a re-upload:

>175 ursula: marvelous!

>175 ursula: Lovely! I hope your time with your daughter was good.

>169 ursula: Welcome back. Love the photo!

>175 ursula: Ok so now I KNOW it's lovely :) What a gorgeous artwork!

I've finished some books, but last night I started Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis and quit it after about 5 pages so I'll be starting something different tonight!

>176 Kristelh:, >178 RebaRelishesReading:, >179 LovingLit: Thanks! It was a gorgeous day and Morgan and I took advantage of it to spend some time just hanging out and drawing by the river.

>177 banjo123: Thank you! Yes, the time with Em was good. As expected, it was busy but honestly I don't think we packed it too full. A friend of hers begged to differ, when she heard what we had done in the first few days, she said "That sounds intense!". They went to New York together the week after Em got back home and I imagine their pace was slightly slower on that trip!