Beth (BLBera) Reads in 2026 - Part 4

by Winslow Homer – one of my favorite women reading pictures – I love it so much I am using it again.

My name is Beth, and I am a retired English instructor. I love retirement, especially being able to travel during the school year! In 2025 I went Scotland and Iceland to celebrate my 70th birthday. Besides travel and reading, I also like to sew and spend time with my granddaughter Scout -- who is TWELVE. She is almost as tall as I am.

I read eclectically, mostly fiction, but I do tend to have some poetry or nonfiction going as well. I belong to a book club that has been going since 2002, and I sometimes do group reads here on LT. Otherwise I don't plan my reading. I always resolve to read more from my shelves, but those shiny new library books do distract me.

In 2026, my goals are to continue my rereading of Shakespeare's plays and to read books from my shelves.

Read in 2026 - Q3

68. Gliff* REREAD
69. The Unselected Journals of Emma Lion Volume 2 🎧
70. Visitations: Poems*
71. Endling*
72. City of Spies*
73. Much Ado About Nothing*

*From my shelves
💜 Favorite

Read in 2026 - Q4

Read in 2026
Quarter 1


1. Emmeline, The Orphan of the Castle*
2. Wolf Bells*
3. Bog Queen
4. Atavists: Stories
5. Dreams from My Father*🎧
6. Sacrament 💜
7. The Unswept Room*
8. The Fifth Season*
9. Wild Dark Shore 💜
10. Charlotte Smith and the Sonnet
11. The Lark*

January Books
Books read: 11
By women: 10
By men: 1

Novels: 7
Poems: 1
Memoir: 1
Short stories: 1
Nonfiction: 1

Library: 5
From my shelves: 6

Best of the month: Sacrament and Wild Dark Shore


12. Give Unto Others*
13. Mecca 🎧 REREAD 💜
14. At Midnight Comes the Cry
15. One Aladdin Two Lamps 💜
16. Audition
17. The Life of Harriot Stuart Written By Herself
18. Trickster's Point* 🎧
19. Fonseca 💜
20. The House of the Spirits*💜

February Books
Books read: 9
By women: 8
By men: 1

Novels: 8
Essays: 1

Library: 6
From my shelves: 3

It was a good reading month. I loved One Aladdin Two Lamps, Fonseca and The House of the Spirits. Mecca held up well on rereading. The biggest disappointment was Audition. It left me cold.


21. Dirty Thirty 🎧
22. Helm 💜
23. The Last of Earth
24. Dominion
25. The Stone Gods* 💜
26. Kingdom of Olives and Ash*
27. What Darkness Brings*
28. Isola* 💜
29. Sandwich*
30. Gloria Don't Speak*
31. Guilty by Definition*
32. All the Water in the World*
33. A Guardian and a Thief

March Reading
Books read: 13
By women: 12
By couple: 1

Novels: 12
Essays: 1

Library: 5
From my shelves: 8

It was a good reading month. Highlights were Helm, The Stone Gods and Isola.

*From my shelves
💜 Favorite

Read in 2026
Quarter 2

34. Hungered*
35. The Life and Death of King John*
36. When the Cranes Fly South*
37. Ship Fever* 💜
38. A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing
39. The Correspondent*
40. The Killing Stones
41. Moderation 💜
42. The Keeper
43. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion 🎧
44. You Glow in the Dark

April Reading
Books read: 11
By women: 10
By men: 1

Novels: 8
Short stories: 2
Play: 1

In translation: 2

Library: 6
From my shelves: 5

Best of the month: Moderation and Ship Fever


45. Lightning Strikes the Silence
46. Butterflies in November*
47. Shakespeare in Bloomsbury*
48. Platform Decay 🎧
49. Revenge Prey
50. The Mercy Step* 💜
51. The Merchant of Venice* REREAD
52. So Shall You Reap* 🎧
53. Raising Hare
54. Language as Liberation

May Reading
Books read: 10
By women: 8
By men: 2

Novels: 6
Drama: 1
Memoir: 1
Nonfiction: 2

Translation: 1

Library: 5
From my shelves: 5

Best of the month: The Mercy Step
Most disappointing: Language as Liberation - these lectures didn't work as essays


55. Flashlight*
56. Ruins 💜
57. Crucible of Secrets*
58. French Ways and Their Meaning*
59. Roman Fever and Other Stories*
60. Winter: The Story of a Season 🎧
61. Wreck🎧
62. Last Night in Brooklyn
63. On Tyranny*
64. Pericles, Prince of Tyre* REREAD
65. The Painted Drum*
66. Whistler* 💜
67. A Flower Traveled in My Blood

June Reading
Books read: 13
By women: 11
By men: 2

Novels: 7
Short stories: 1
Play: 1
Essays: 2
Nonfiction: 2

Library: 5
From my shelves: 8

Best of the month: I LOVED Whistler. Last Night in Brooklyn was my biggest disappointment. I loved both of Gonzalez's other books, but this one, not so much.

Plans/Goals
Book Club
January: Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo 📌
February: The Lark by E. Nesbit 📌
March: Kingdom of Olives and Ash ed. Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman 📌
April: Ship Fever by Andrea Barrett 📌
May: Butterflies in November by Auður A. Ólafsdóttir 📌
June: Edith Wharton month – read anything by Wharton 📌
July: A Family of Spies (I'll miss this one)
August: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
September: Hello Beautiful
October: Autumn
November: Lafayette in the Somewhat United States
December: Heidi

Shared LT reads
January: The Fifth Season 📌
February: The House of Spirits 📌
April: When the Cranes Fly South 📌
March: The Stone Gods 📌
May: Raising Hare 📌
June: The Painted Drum 📌
July: Endling 📌
August: Gut Symmetries
September: Atmosphere

Wishlisted from others
The Poppy War - Lisa
There Once Lived a Mother Who Loved Her Children Until They Moved Back In - Alison
Coming Up Short - SqueakyChu
The Little White Horse - Joyce
Keats: A Brief Life in Nine Poems - Jennifer
The Sleeping Car Porter - Betty
Cursed Daughters - Vivian
📌A Flower Traveled in My Blood - Vivian
Written on the Body - Rhonda
Rules for Visiting- Katie
Hagstone - Alison
Another Marvelous Thing - Vivian
Angel Down - Vivian
Indigenous Continent - Jennifer
How to Kill a Language - Rhian
Forbidden Notebook - Lisa

Lists
Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction
(Thanks Vivian)
Venetian Vespers John Banville
The Two Roberts Damian Barr
Eden's Shore Oisín Fagan
Helm Sarah Hall 📌
The Pretender Jo Harkin
Boundary Waters Tristan Hughes
The Matchbox Girl Alice Jolly
Edenglassie Melissa Lucashenko
Benbecula Graeme Macrae Burnet
Once the Deed Is Done Rachel Seiffert
The Artist Lucy Steeds
Seascraper Benjamin Wood

Climate Fiction Prize Longlist
Dusk by Robbie Arnott
Every Version of You by Grace Chan
The Tiger’s Share by Keshava Guha
Helm by Sarah Hall 📌
Albion by Anna Hope
Awake in the Floating City by Susanna Kwan
The Price of Everything by Jon McGoran
Hum by Helen Phillips
Endling by Maria Reva 📌
The Book of Records by Madeleine Thien
Juice by Tim Winton
Sunbirth by An Yu

Dublin Literary Award
Gliff 📌
In Late Summer
Live Fast
Perspective(s)
The Emperor of Gladness
What I Know About You

Women's Prize for Nonfiction Longlist
Daughters of the Bamboo Grove: China’s Stolen Children and a Story of Separated Twins by Barbara Demick
The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People’s History of Afghanistan by Lyse Doucet SL WINNER
Don’t Let It Break You, Honey: A Memoir About Saving Yourself by Jenny Evans
Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health by Daisy Fancourt SL
With the Law on Our Side: How the Law Works for Everyone and How We Can Make It Work Better by Lady Hale
To Be Young, Gifted and Black: Creativity and Race in the 21st Century by Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason
Artists, Siblings, Visionaries: The Lives and Loves of Gwen and Augustus John by Judith Mackrell SL
Ask Me How It Works: Love in an Open Marriage by Deepa Paul
Death of an Ordinary Man by Sarah Perry
The Genius of Trees: How Trees Mastered the Elements and Shaped the World by Harriet Rix
Hotel Exile: Paris in the Shadow of War by Jane Rogoyska SL
Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy (published by Hamish Hamilton, Penguin General, Penguin Random House UK) SL
Finding Albion: Myth, Folklore and the Quest for a Hidden Britain by Zakia Sewell
To Exist As I Am: A Doctor’s Notes on Recovery and Radical Acceptance by Grace Spence Green
Nation of Strangers: Rebuilding Home in the 21st Century by Ece Temelkuran SL
Indignity: A Life Reimagined by Lea Ypi

International Booker Prize Longlist
The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran by Shida Bazyar, translated from German by Ruth Martin SL
We Are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated from Spanish by Robin Myers
The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje, translated from Dutch by David McKay
The Deserters by Mathias Énard, translated from French by Charlotte Mandell
Small Comfort by Ia Genberg, translated from Swedish by Kira Josefsson
She Who Remains by Rene Karabash, translated from Bulgarian by Izidora Angel SL
The Director by Daniel Kehlmann, translated from German by Ross Benjamin SL
On Earth As It Is Beneath by Ana Paula Maia, translated from Portuguese by Padma Viswanathan SL
The Duke by Matteo Melchiorre, translated from Italian by Antonella Lettieri
The Witch by Marie NDiaye, translated from French by Jordan Stump SL
Women Without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur, translated from Persian by Faridoun Farrokh
The Wax Child by Olga Ravn, translated from Danish by Martin Aitken
Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, translated from Mandarin Chinese by Lin King SL

Women's Prize for Fiction Longlist
Gloria Don't Speak 📌
Paradiso 17
Moderation 📌
Flashlight 📌SL
Dominion 📌SL
The Benefactors
The Correspondent 📌SL WINNER
The Mercy Step 📌SL
The Others
Kingfisher SL
Heart the Lover 📌 SL
Audition 📌
A Guardian and a Thief 📌
Wild Dark Shore 📌
The Best of Everything
A Beast Slinks Toward Beijing 📌

Eighteenth-century women writers from Jane Austen’s Bookshelf:
Fanny Burney
Evelina
Cecilia
Camilla

Ann Radcliffe
The Mysteries of Udolpho 📌
The Romance of the Forest
The Italian

Charlotte Lennox
The Life of Harriot Stuart📌
The Female Quixote
Henrietta

Charlotte Smith
Emmeline 📌
Elegiac Sonnets 📌
The Old Manor House
Desmond

Elizabeth Inchbald
A Simple Story

Maria Edgeworth
Castle Rackrent
Belinda
The Absentee

Shakespeare
King John
The Merchant of Venice
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Much Ado About Nothing

Weeded/Acquired
In an effort to read from my shelves and to keep myself accountable.

Weeded


Acquired
1. The Roof Beneath Their Feet
2. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
3. Sandwich 📌 Weeded
4. We Love You, Bunny
5. Mother Mary Comes to Me
6. The Lion Women of Tehran
7. That Affair Next Door
8. Maggie; or, A Man and a Woman Walk into a Bar DNF Weeded 📌
9. The Stone Gods 📌
10. The Mercy Step 📌
11. Gloria Don't Speak 📌 Weeded
12. The Others
13. What Darkness Brings 📌 Weeded
14. The Mires
15. The Last Man
16. The Autobiography of Cotton
17. The Benefactors
18. The Best of Everything
19. Virginia Woolf
20. The Unfinished Clue
21. Why Shoot a Butler?
22. Post After Post-Mortem
23. Glyph
24. Learn Faster, Perform Better
25. The Names
26. Once the Deed Is Done
27. Agent Zo
28. The Illustrated Letters of Virginia Woolf
29. Land
30. Whistler 📌
31. Visitations: Poems 📌
32. Go Gentle
33. Paradiso 17
34. Haunt Me Still
35. Interred with Their Bones
36. What's so Great About the Great Books? 📌 DNF Weeded
37. John of John
38. Run for the Hills
39. When the Museum Is Closed
40. A Year of Marvelous Ways
41. Questions 27 & 28
42. Gut Symmetries
43. Weight
44. Atmosphere

You Must Read this


The Dream Hotel

I haven't loved Laila Lalami's fiction - both The Moor's Account and The Other Americans were OK, but I found they were not novels I thought about after I finished them. I did love her collection of essays Conditional Citizens so I decided to give The Dream Hotel a chance, plus the description piqued my interest. I am so glad I read this novel, perhaps in part because it is so relevant to the time in which we currently live, but also because the protagonist Sara Hussein is such a great character.

This seems remarkably prescient, as are many dystopian novels in this moment.

Sara is stopped at Customs as she returns to LA from London after attending a conference. She has been away five days and is eager to return home to her husband and twin babies. Sara is detained because her "risk" score is too high. She hasn't committed a crime, but various factors gathered from electronic surveillance and from her dreams lead officials to believe she might harm her husband. She is committed to a facility for twenty-one days for observation. Although the officials at the facility are quick to say it's not a prison -- it's a prison. Sara has limited access to outside communications and a lawyer and is subject to discipline for breaking arbitrary rules. This maybe wouldn't be so chilling if it weren't happening now. Although the novel takes place in the future and we might scoff at laws enabling the detention of people who "might" commit a crime, it doesn't seem unrealistic:

"That they have committed no crime is beside the point. In any case crime is relative, its boundaries shifting in service of the people in power."

Lalami keeps the tension high as Sara starts to understand her situation. She is a likable and believable character, and I enjoyed following her progress through the novel.

Recommended for those who like speculative fiction and have the stomach to read about a system of injustice that seems all too real.

I may not be the greatest LT participant, but at least I'm the first to say Happy New Thread!

ETA: Just looked back through your last thread and I have a lot of what you've read on my endless virtual pile—I'll bump Whistler up though.

Hi Lisa! You are number one...

Whistler is great, and it's a quick read.

And, here's a prize, another list
https://lithub.com/lit-hubs-most-anticipated-books-of-2026-part-two/?single=true

You are welcome.

>14 BLBera: Darn it, Beth, I don't have time to read all of these great books! That's quite a list.

>14 BLBera: That's a fun list—lots of stuff I want to read.

Happy new thread, Beth!

Happy new thread Beth. I always love coming for a visit and checking out your lists of books. Happy July 4th to you and family!

Happy new thread, Beth!

Happy new thread, Beth.

>15 japaul22: I know, Jennifer. I skimmed it and was thrilled to see that Kate Atkinson has a new one coming. There goes my resolution to read more from my shelves.

>16 lisapeet: I know Lisa!

>17 katiekrug: Thanks Katie. I hope you are staying cool.

>18 mdoris: Thanks Mary. The door is always open.

>19 quondame: Thanks Susan.

>20 jessibud2: Thanks Shelley.

I am enjoying tennis this afternoon and thinking about my upcoming trip to Portland to see some LT friends.

Happy new one, Beth!!

Happy latest thread, Beth! Thanks for the list - I’ve put a few on library hold.

Happy new thread, Beth.

Happy new thread, Beth!

Gliff

These were the comments I made when I first read Gliff last year. I even looked at some of the same quotes again. It seems chillingly prescient.

Ali Smith takes today's world and imagines what could happen if tyrants have their way, turn lies into truth, and change the meanings of words.

Briar and Rose are siblings, left alone, unsure where their mother and her partner are. They are remarkably resourceful children, mainly because their mother has kept them off the grid: "There are different realities, she'd say, and the net is a reality with designs on general reality, and I'll prefer it if you both experience the real realities as your foremost realities." But people who aren't connected and who don't follow the "net reality," become "unverifiable" in this brave new world. They have red lines drawn around them and are subject to reeducation and disappearance.

When Briar and Rose are split up, Bri wonders what happened to Rose and whether she is being forced to accept another reality as well.

The story is chilling, yet also inspirational. It shows that individuals can make a difference if they refuse to accept lies as reality. Words are important and harm us if used to support lies: "They were largely unverifiable because of words. One person here had been unverified for saying out loud that a war was a war when it wasn't permitted to call it a war. Another had found herself declared unverifiable for writing online that the killing of many people by another people was a genocide..." And so it goes.

It's easy to disappear people and change reality if no one speaks the truth.

Smith has written another amazing novel, and this is one I will come back to. It is certainly relevant today.

Oh, another book with a horse on the cover!

>22 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks Reba.

>23 Copperskye: You are welcome Joanne. I am excited to see that Kate Atkinson and Naomi Alderman both have new books coming.

>24 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul.

>25 banjo123: Thanks Rhonda. See you next week. :) I will bring Flashlight with me.

I'm looking forward to the new book by Kate Atkinson , too, Beth. I have a hold on a number of books at the library that are to be purchased, but I don't think her book is on the purchasing list yet.

>14 BLBera: 258 Books We're Looking Forward to...
258 ???
Beth, you're killing me!! But yes, I'll take a look and undoubtedly add to my wish list.

>28 vancouverdeb: My library has ordered the Atkinson, Deborah, but I might have to buy it...

>29 lauralkeet: I know, Laura. My wish list is ridiculous already, but it is fun to skim through to see if any favorites (Kate Atkinson) have new books coming.

>26 BLBera: Is this a companion novel with Glyph? I've been seeing these two titles floating around and I'm confused!

Happy Sunday, Beth. Happy New Thread. I hope you had a nice 4th. Hooray for Visitations! What a lovely collection.

Happy new one Beth. Thanks for mentioning Atkinson, I have gone and reserved a library copy. I'm only 4th in the queue, so fingers crossed it comes soon...

>29 lauralkeet: I haven't made it through the whole 258 yet, but already added 4 to the wishlist!

>31 japaul22: Yes Gliff is the companion to Glyph. :)

>32 msf59: Thanks Mark. I love Alvarez's poetry -- and her prose. Visitations is a great collection, really a kind of journey through her life.

>33 charl08: Thanks Charlotte. The Atkinson will be published in the fall here, so I have time to do some other reading before this one is available.

>34 rhondak101book: It is the kind of list you have to go back to. I skimmed through but I know I will revisit it.

Egad! Two reviews and two book bullets. Happy new thread (I think) lol

Playing catch-up on threads and posting. I think I'm caught up on the second; now I just have to make rounds.

Happy new thread, Beth!

>36 labfs39: I hope you enjoy any book bullet you get from my thread, Lisa.

>37 thornton37814: Hi Lori. Thanks for stopping by.

>38 atozgrl: Thanks Irene.

Visitations: Poems
In the afterward to her poetry collection, Julia Alvarez explains that the poems were written over a long time period. The narrative begins when she was a child in the Dominican Republic and bring me vividly to the world of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. If you like narrative poetry, these should appeal to you.

My favorite one is "The Four Girls," a long poem about her sisters. In one section, she writes:

Somehow men together suggest slaughter
or drunks fumbling for lost car keys,
getting schnockered, as I read somewhere,
upchucking, fucking up, up to no good.

But women together want the radio on,
the windows open, they want to hone
an idea down to insight with talk.
Perhaps, in the past, women together
suggested a nest of weakness, a harem
to be trusted only to eunuchs.
But even with broken, bound feet,
or veiled, with children underfoot,
no matter how seemingly weak,
such womanly gatherings had the power
of transformation, so that it was always after
the women arrived with pots, pans, prayer books,
brooms, bubblegum, and hula hoops
that a civilization got started.

I will return to this collection, and to her other poetry and prose as well.

The cover is gorgeous.

Happy new one, Beth!

>40 BLBera: I want to read some Julia Alvarez this year, Beth. The poem is a good teaser!

>14 BLBera: What a great resource that is, Beth. I could happily add most of them to the shelves!

>40 BLBera: I just acquired How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. Your comments make me eager to crack it open. Just want to finish up Waiting for Snow in Havana first.

>41 drneutron: Thanks Jim.

>42 PaulCranswick:, >43 PaulCranswick: I highly recommend Alvarez, Paul. Glad you enjoyed the list.

>44 labfs39: Enjoy. I loved that book. It's been a while since I read it. Maybe I am due for a reread.

Great Atlantic article about reading: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/08/reading-crisis-postliterate-age/687...

>46 BLBera: This frightens me much. We have great students who amaze me all the time, but I do think the expectations and habits for reading level and volume are falling on average. Mathematics is facing a similar adjustment of expectations. The story about the student who couldn't read "Old English" and turned out to be struggling with A Clockwork Orange, reminds me of a colleague who told me about a student who told her they struggled with "higher mathematics." Knowing the student was not a math major and wouldn't be taking analysis or abstract algebra, the colleague asked what they meant. It turned out the student could add and multiply single- or two-digit numbers but "like, thirty-nine thousand plus two hundred seventeen thousand is really hard."

One laughs not to weep.

>47 swynn: I know, Steve. I am glad that some teachers are pushing back and having students read entire books, but I stopped asking students about their favorite books because too many said they had never read one. It's the loss of ability of critical thinking that is really frightening.

>46 BLBera: Thanks for sharing this article Beth. It reminds me of stories from my friend Jennifer who teaches high school English. Sigh.

Paraphrasing, but the idea that resonates most with me is that we write to figure out what we think.

The loss of critical thinking is scary.

Adding to this discussion, it shocks and appalls me (though I guess it shouldn't) that young people these days who work at cash registers, don't seem to be able, or know how, to make change, unless the machine tells them how much change to give. Of course, so few people use cash any more anyhow, but still, it is a basic arithmetic skill. And it seems to have gone the way of the dodo. I find this rather scary. This is the future...

The state of education for our kids in the U.S. is an interesting dichotomy. My personal experience for my boys, who are 16 and 13, has been very good overall. They do read whole books, though not at the pace I read in school and with more modern novels thrown in, which I think can be a good thing. They have "socratic seminars" that they are graded on and write decent length papers. Their courses for history have been excellent in my opinion. There are so many AP courses available - even as a sophomore, my son took AP human geography and learned so much. He's really fun to talk with about current events now. And I think their math instruction has been exceptional. From a young age they really learn the "why" behind math concepts and definitely have a much deeper understanding of math concepts than I ever got learning by rote. Science seems good as well, though it's not my area of expertise. They also have amazing electives available - way more than I had in the 90s.

However, there are gaps. Writing instruction is weak unless you happen to get a teacher who really drills it. And because so few kids read on their own, they aren't picking up writing skills through reading. Cheating is rampant and use of AI is troubling. Attendance is ABYSMAL! Since covid, much more course content is available on line and kids don't feel they need to attend in person. But of course we all know they aren't learning the same way by just reading lecture notes. And families don't seem to be prioritizing attendance. Everyone vacations whenever they want.

So it's a mixed bag. I feel, as a parent, that I have done a lot of supplementing. Not everyone has that. We live in a highly diverse area, both economically and culturally. I know that even in our local high school, the experience and outcomes are wildly different.

Thanks for letting me rant on your thread, Beth!

>46 BLBera: Really interesting article. In the UK students are still expected to study full texts, thank goodness. I was also reading a worrying article a few days ago about how many white disadvantaged children are not learning to read fluently enough in primary school to be able cope with the curriculum when they arrive at secondary school (at age 11). In particular boys: the performance of white working class boys is a real issue here.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/jul/04/third-white-disadvantaged-pupi...

Happy new thread, Beth. I'll have to look for the new Atkinson now that you've let me know there is one.

>46 BLBera: Hi Beth, The Atlantic won't let me in but I will try and find it another way as this topic interests me greatly!

>46 BLBera: and >52 SandDune: I have a subscription so I'll go check out those articles

Happy newish thread, Beth. I've been AWOL for the past few weeks as they had me in hospital putting in a pace maker. It's made an amazing difference and now I am ready to jump into my summer reads!

>46 BLBera: Thank you for sharing that article, Beth. I too lament the decline in critical thinking skills. Fortunately both my nieces are fluent and enthusiastic readers... when their devices are not to hand, i.e. at my house. However, when faced with a choice between screens and books, the screens win every time. It's hard to compete.

As a homeschool teacher, with the freedom to teach what I want, it's hard sometimes to know where to spend my energy. There's what I think they should know to be educated humans, and there is what they need to know to thrive in this new age. Ancient history, handwriting, and spelling struggle against keyboarding, digital literacy, and computer skills such as coding for primacy. There are only so many school hours a day sadly.

>49 markon: You are welcome, Ardene. Teaching gets harder and harder.

>50 jessibud2: Yes, but those same kids are probably whizzes at solving some kind of tech problem! :)

>51 japaul22: Thanks for your insight Jennifer. Of course, each student and school is different. I think I feel for teachers because they get so little appreciation for the difficulty of their work. And our public schools need help instead of never-ending criticism.

>52 SandDune: Thanks for the article, Rhian.

>53 Familyhistorian: I am so excited about a new Atkinson, Meg. SO MANY great books this year.

>54 mdoris: Sorry, Mary. I thought I gifted the article.

>55 EBT1002: We'll have to discuss when you've read them, Ellen.

>56 DeltaQueen50: Welcome Judy. I am so glad the pacemaker is working for you.

>57 labfs39: Kids do have so many challenges, Lisa. And I am not sure giving elementary school kids tablets is the way to go...Maybe wait until they are older?

I think the article is a good discussion starter.

I am back from Portland where I had a wonderful time, visited the rose garden, discussed books with my LT friends, visited two bookstores, bought some books, saw a David Hockney exhibit at the art museum. Planes were on time, even if my luggage took some time in Portland.

I have a couple of books to discuss and my new acquisitions to enter. Tomorrow.

It is HOT here, so it will be good indoor reading time.

>59 BLBera: I'm glad you had a great time in Portland, Beth. sounds lovely. Sorry it so hot there. I read your article about reading. It's hard to say why some read for pleasure and some do not. I think of my own family. My parents read / read and so do all my four siblings . We were encouraged to read, some finished university, some did not. But I look at my own two sons , and neither reads for pleasure. I encouraged them to read, I read to them and read myself. One is a university grad,the other is not. The university grad is married to an elementary school teacher, and yet neither of them reads for pleasure. They have two kids,and one is interested in reading, at least for now and the other less so, though they are still 5 and 8 years old. I don't think screen time is factor for my kids , nor their kids . Then my nieces and nephews. I have eight on my side of the family. All encouraged to read, almost all university grads. I know three of them read books for pleasure , but they have graduated. The others I am not certain of. I know that is very limited, but it does make me wonder. Why some read for pleasure and others are too busy ? not interested ?

>59 BLBera: Glad you had a good time in Portland. I have been carrying around my Powell's bag this week at the book festival with pride.

I wonder how many of those who bought Pasternak (with the long sentences) actually read it?

>60 vancouverdeb: It's hard to know why some people don't read. Today there is a lot of competition for people's free time...I don't know.

>61 charl08: It was so much fun, Charlotte. I can't wait to hear more about your book festival.

>46 BLBera: I read this article and was so shocked that I went out and bought my 13 year old a book and imposed mandatory reading time. He has not been pleased.

>63 Oberon: I sent it to my daughter because my granddaughter loves her screen time...I need to talk to her about it. It is pretty shocking.

Endling
I have been trying to come up with comments about this complex novel, but there is so much to think about packed into this story that it is hard.

In a blurb, Percival Everett says, "I love works that are smarter than I am, and this is one." I agree with him. The novel begins with Yeva trying to preserve endangered snails and funding her project by going on dates with foreign men in the Ukraine for "bride tourism." Then it changes to the war in Ukraine and the author's concern about family that want to stay. We also have two sisters searching for their mother.

The question is how all of the elements fit together. We discussed this in Portland, and I don't think we came to any definitive answers.

One thing my mom has done with my boys is do a summer book club. They pick a book to read and then get lunch and discuss it. It's a fun grandma/grandson activity. My 13 year old is reading Secret Soldiers because he was really into learning about WWI this year in school. Both of my kids don't like reading books unless they have someone to talk to about it.

>66 japaul22: That is a cool idea. I might run it by Scout to see if she is interested.

City of Spies
This spy novel is set in Lisbon during 1943. This book may have suffered in comparison with my previous read, but it didn't work for me. I found the characters shallow with outlandish plot devices (too many skin-of-the-teeth escapes from death), and a romance that is unbelievable.

Thrillers in general aren't my thing, though, so others may like this more than I did.

Books I bought in Portland:
Run for the Hills
When the Museum Is Closed
A Year of Marvelous Ways
Questions 27 & 28
Gut Symmetries
Weight
Atmosphere

I think I only brought home one more than I took. I did take some to give to my LT friends...

I hope you love Run for the Hills as much as I did, Beth!

I also have that Winman on my TBR stack...

Hi Katie. I didn't know that Winman had a new one out, so I was very excited when I saw it.

>71 BLBera: - It's not new. I think it was her second book, after When God Was a Rabbit and before Tin Man. I'm pretty sure Still Life is her most recent...

Glad it was a good trip! And I like your book haul.

I used to have a little book club with my son—I remember us reading This Boy's Life and Empire of the Sun, which were both hits with him, and having good dinnertime discussions about them. But that was a whole different time, before ubiquitous screens. We didn't even have a TV, because I was that kind of mom, though I think I finally relented when he was about 11.

>72 katiekrug: I didn't know that Katie. Darn. I wonder why it was in the new release section...And in hard cover.

>73 lisapeet: Thanks Lisa. I love the idea of a book club with Scout. I will have to talk to my daughter about it.

So much happening over here, Beth.

On cognitive issues in succeeding generations, I do think that technology is "teaching" younger minds to be lazy. They are starting to become dependent upon the aids that were meant to improve them.

Have you noticed how you used to remember so many phone numbers of friends and family members. How many of your friends and family numbers do you retain in your mental filing cabinet these days?

There is a profound decline in mental arithmetic skills due to the reliance on the pocket calculator (and now the function on the "smart" phone).

Followed your trip up to Oregon with no little envy. Isn't it lovely to give books as well as receive them?

>69 BLBera: Nice Portland book haul. I also enjoyed Run for the Hills and Atmosphere was pretty good too. Enjoy.

I think maybe that Winman title was originally only released in the UK maybe.

It was great to see you, Beth! Thanks for the book.

>75 PaulCranswick: It's a thought-provoking article, to be sure, Paul. Yes, Oregon is great. I always have a good time there.

>76 msf59: I have heard Wilson recommended by so many people that I decided it's time to give him a try.

>77 katiekrug: Thanks Katie. I hope it's as good as her other books.

>78 banjo123: You are welcome, Rhonda. It was great to see you again. I always have such a good time in Portland.

Looks like you had a great time in Portland and bought some interesting books, Beth. I enjoyed Run for the Hills. Hope you do too!

>65 BLBera: I just finished Transcription Beth, I have yet to make any comments, but I think Transcription is like Endling, a work that is smarter than I am, or else a very bad book. So disappointing. Perhaps you will get more from it than I did .

>80 Familyhistorian: Thanks Meg. I've heard lots of good things about Wilson. I hope to get to it soon.

>81 vancouverdeb: It's too bad when a book doesn't work, Deborah. I hope your next read is better.

Much Ado About Nothing
Beatrice and Benedick have captured the imagination of readers and viewers, but their story is meant to be a subplot of Claudio and Hero’s story although both are necessary to the play. Like most of Shakespeare’s comedies, there is some kind of confrontation with death before the characters win their happy endings.

The play takes place in Messina as the men return from war, triumphant. Claudio, although young, has acquitted himself well and now eyes Hero. Benedick and Beatrice renew their acquaintance. After Claudio and Hero become engaged, Claudio and Don Pedro determine to unite Benedick and Beatrice.

W. H. Auden
Auden says that the Beatrice/Benedick subplot takes over. He mentions that there is a serious plot involving Don John.
“How does Shakespeare keep the tragic plot from getting too serious? He treats it perfunctorily as a background. This draws attention to an artistic point – the importance of boredom. In any first-class work of art, you can find passages that in themselves are extremely boring, but try to cut them out, as they are in an abridged edition, and you lose the life of the work.”

Auden says the play is not one of Shakespeare’s best but the Benedick and Beatrice “are the most lovable, amusing, and good people – the best of combinations – he ever created.”

Auden compares Benedick and Beatrice to Katherine and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew but says that Benedick and Beatrice are more evenly matched.

Dogberry and his watch raise the issue of mercy v. justice.

Marjorie Garber – Shakespeare After All
Garber points out that this play is the forerunner of screwball comedies of the 1930s and 1940s.

Like Auden, Garber points out that there are dark moments in this comedy.

Shakespeare often uses pairs of lovers (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Love’s Labor’s Lost) but that in Much Ado About Nothing, the emphasis is on the differences between the two couples. Hero and Claudio barely speak, while Benedick and Beatrice talk all the time.

In many ways, this is “Shakespeare’s great play about gossip. Everything is overheard, misheard, or constructed on purpose for eavesdropping.”

The importance of words and language is present throughout the play, even with the character of Dogberry, who has some of Shakespeare’s best malapropisms.

This is a fun play to read and watch.

Next: Henry V