February HomeCAT - Living Room

In February we are reading books associated with the living room.

The living room is a place of relaxation and cosiness, where you can wind down after a long day or gather with family or friends to spend time together.
It is a room where you can have a chat and enjoy tea and snacks or where you can pursue some of your hobbies: Reading, handicrafts, games (traditional or online), solving riddles,... Many people also keep books in their living room, and often it's the room where the TV is kept and they watch films and series and also play video games.

Therefore, items found in the living room are typically armchairs and sofas, bookshelves and a TV, a coffee table and side tables, and floor lamps and table lamps for some soft light. During Christmas, many people keep their Christmas tree in the living room as well.

For this month, you can read any book connected to the items or activities described above, and of course new ideas are always welcome!

The wiki is here.

(Credits: Picture by Anna Tylor on Unsplash)

The living room seems an appropriate place to solve jigsaws and crosswords, so I might read The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers by Samuel Burr.

I have been meaning to read Time Shelter since it won the International Booker Prize a few years ago. Many living room items on the cover and searching out furniture from various decades is part of the storyline.

We keep most of our books in our living room, so I plan to read The Echo of Old Books by Barbara Davis.

In many living rooms there is a cat. I plan to read The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over The World.

My living room is where my Mah Jongg table is setup.
I'll be reading a Mah Jongg mystery - Back against the Wall (The Mah Jongg Mysteries) by Barbara Barrett

I used to host a Bible study for women in my home. We met in the living room. I will read Hearts Of Fire: Eight Women In The Underground Church And Their Stories Of Costly Faith which is from Voices of the Martyrs.

I am reading The Year of the Dog by Grace Lin. Dogs are often found in the living room, and also in the story, Pacy is writing a book for a contest and I have a lot of books in my living room.

Checked Out a Rickie Rydell Mystery Book by Abby Matthews. I read books I check-out from my library in my living room.

I stitch samplers in my living room. This was a re-read for me. (This is my original review.)

I've finished Chateau en Suède by Françoise Sagan, a play that is entirely set in the castle's main living room. It was a dark comedy but I felt it lacked substance.

I choae All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle for this month as the scene on the cover could be part of a living room. First 5* read of the year. Highly recommend.

I finished Time Shelter - it was intriguing and took a completely different direction than I was expecting from the blurb.

Extra Cheesy Zits by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman ★★★½


A hilarious treasury of the beloved comic strip, featuring the daily struggles of an Ohio teen and his family. Teenagers are unpredictable creatures. They don't seem to follow a schedule or observe rules (of the road or basic logic), but occasionally, they make a surprising amount of sense. Extra Cheesy Zits is here to shed light on the always confounding, often amusing experience of parenting teens. Join the Duncan family—Connie, Walt, and Jeremy—as they grapple with modern technology, confront homework deadlines, and learn to bridge the cultural divide between parents and teenagers. Extra Cheesy Zits offers a light-hearted yet insightful look into the multifaceted lives of modern teens and their families, complemented by annotations from the creators. From mood swings to the perils of sharing a car, this collection broaches many familiar topics with humor and compassion.

Some of the jokes did not age well; however, most of the ones that missed are mainly because Jeremy reminded me so much of my son when he was growing up that I enjoyed them immensely at that time. Now, as a grown-up with children of his own, we are removed from the teenage humor, at least for a few more years.

I selected this book because they are in the living room on the cover, and several of the comics take place there.

>14 lowelibrary: oh gosh! I remember reading this in the newspaper funnies :D good times, indeed!

The penthouse suite the orphans move into in this book has 71 rooms, including many, many unnecessary living rooms that they must pass through (and get lost) many times throughout the book.

The Ersatz Elevator

I rather enjoy Tim Curry's narration of this tragic series for kids. The basic conceit is that after a mysterious fire which kills both their parents, the Baudelaire orphans are shunted from house to house, guardian to guardian, as one adult in their life after another proves themselves incompetent, naive, or downright evil, and they must rely only on Violet's inventing skills, Klaus' book smarts, Sunny's strong biting baby teeth, and their own sibling bond to avoid the schemes of Count Olaf, who is desperate for their family fortune and willing to cheat, lie, and even kill to get it. The narrator, a researcher of the Baudelaire orphans with a mysterious connection to an oft-mentioned Beatrice, has a very unique and engaging voice.

I think for some kids, especially those who have gone through inexplicable tragedy of their own, will find comfort in a series where everything goes wrong and yet these siblings always have each other.

The living room seems the obvious spot to do crosswords, jigsaws, etc so I am going to include The Fellowship of Puzzle Makers by Samuel Burr here.

I read Cancerqueen by Tommaso Landolfi. Originally published in Italian 1950, it just got translated to Danish last year, which is why I thought it might be an interesting take on science fiction. Having read it, I do wonder why it was singled out for revival.
The narrator is living in a half machine, half organic vehicle orbiting Earth as he tell us the story of how that came to be. In a rambling manic fashion, borrowing from Poe and Zola, he tells about the way he got recruited for the expedition, how he lost his travel companion and the imaginary creatures he is haunted by.

The living room is literally a living room, as he can’t survive outside the vehicle, the titular Cancerqueen.

An important part of Skipper Worse are the Haugian and pietist religious groups who usually meet in someone’s living room.