rosalita ROOTs around in 2021 - page 3

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rosalita ROOTs around in 2021 - page 3

1rosalita
Muokkaaja: maaliskuu 28, 2021, 5:12 pm



ROOTs read in 2021
January

  1. Blue Heaven by C. J. Box.
  2. The Silent Pool by Patricia Wentworth
  3. Banker by Dick Francis.
  4. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut
  5. The Silver Music Box by Mina Baites.
  6. The Secret of Terror Castle by Robert Arthur
  7. * Jackie Robinson and the Integration of Baseball by Scott Simon.

February

  1. * This Is How I Lied by Heather Gudenkauf.
  2. Olive, Mabel & Me: Life and Adventures with Two Very Good Dogs by Andrew Cotter.
  3. Whisper Me This by Kerry Anne King.
  4. Echoes by Maeve Binchy.
  5. Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan.
  6. Passing by Nella Larsen.

2rosalita
Muokkaaja: toukokuu 3, 2021, 4:27 pm

ROOTs read in 2021 (cont'd)
March

  1. * The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline.
  2. A Fatal Lie by Charles Todd.
  3. * Long Bright River by Liz Moore.
  4. The Father Hunt by Rex Stout.
  5. The Benevent Treasure by Patricia Wentworth.
  6. Some Buried Caesar by Rex Stout.
  7. Odds Against by Dick Francis.
  8. Quentins by Maeve Binchy.
  9. The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot by Robert Arthur.

April
  1. * Ink & Sigil by Kevin Hearne.
  2. *The Cactus League by Emily Nemens
  3. A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy
  4. The Cost of These Dreams by Wright Thompson.
  5. Poison in the Pen by Patricia Wentworth.



3rosalita
Muokkaaja: maaliskuu 1, 2021, 9:55 am

New acquisitions in 2021

  1. West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge (Amazon Prime First Reads)
  2. The Shadow Box by Luanne Rice (Amazon Prime First Reads)
  3. Fear of Food: A history of why we Worry About What we Eat by Harvey Levenstein (University of Chicago Press monthly free ebook)
  4. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (free audiobook from Libro.fm)
  5. Empire of the Summer Moon by S. C. Gwynne ($2.99 ebook/Kobo)
  6. They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 by Milton Mayer (free ebook from University of Chicago Press)
  7. The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton (public domain ebook from Project Gutenberg)
  8. Passing by Nella Larsen ($3.99 ebook/Kobo)
  9. The Cost of These Dreams: Sports Stories and Other Serious Business by Wright Thompson ($4.99 ebook/Kobo)
  10. Echoes by Maeve Binchy ($1.99 ebook/Kobo)
  11. Zone One by Colson Whitehead ($1.99 ebook/Kobo)
  12. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (paperback gift from Beth)

4rosalita
Muokkaaja: huhtikuu 24, 2021, 5:50 pm

New acquisitions in 2021 (cont'd)

February
  1. Afterthoughts 2.0 by Lawrence Block ($2.99 ebook/Kobo)
  2. A Fatal Lie by Charles Todd. ($14.99 ebook/Kobo)
  3. Three-Day Town by Margaret Maron ($1.99 ebook/Kobo)
  4. Designated Daughters by Margaret Maron ($1.99 ebook/Kobo)

March
  1. The Safe House by Christophe Boltanski (monthly free ebook from The University of Chicago Press)
  2. The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths. ($12.99 ebook/Kobo)
  3. The Lost Man by Jane Harper ($2.99 ebook/Kobo)
  4. Spring by Ali Smith ($1.99 ebook/Kobo)
  5. Quentins by Maeve Binchy ($1.99 ebook/Kobo)

April
  1. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann ($1.99 ebook/Kobo)
  2. Sweet Revenge by Diane Mott Davidson ($1.99 ebook/Kobo)
  3. The Chessmen by Peter May ($6.99 ebook/Kobo)
  4. There There by Tommy Orange ($1.99 ebook/Kobo)
  5. The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson ($1.99 ebook/Kobo)
  6. Land of Wolves by Craig Johnson ($3.20 ebook/Kobo)
  7. Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory by Martha Wells ($1.06 ebook/Kobo)

5rosalita
Muokkaaja: huhtikuu 3, 2021, 8:04 pm

Tentative March reading plans

2021 Read Your Bookshelf Challenge (March = A book with a nature word in the title—wind, rain, snow, etc)
A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy (Irish fiction)
The Spy Who Came In from the Cold by John le Carré (Espionage fiction)
Empire of the Summer Moon (history)
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse (science fiction)
✔︎ Long Bright River by Liz Moore (crime/suspense)

TIOLI challenges
Challenge #7: Read a book with a proper noun in the title
Challenge #8: Read a book to help lindapanzo celebrate her 60th birthday

Shared reads
✔︎ The Benevent Treasure by Patricia Wentworth (shared read with Liz)
✔︎ The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot by Robert Arthur (shared read with Liz)

Other
✔︎ The Fatal Lie by Charles Todd (crime/suspense)
✔︎ The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline (dystopia)
The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths (crime/suspense)

That’s 10 books, which is ambitious compared to my actual reading output so far in 2021. We'll see how it goes.

6katiekrug
maaliskuu 1, 2021, 10:11 am

Happy new one, Julia.

I hope you get to Long Bright River this month. It was a 5-starrer for me.

7rosalita
Muokkaaja: maaliskuu 1, 2021, 10:13 am

>6 katiekrug: That's what I like to hear!

Also, please ignore that there are actually 9 books listed in >5 rosalita:, not 8. I tried to correct it but then all the touchstones went away, so I'll try again later.

8mstrust
Muokkaaja: maaliskuu 1, 2021, 10:45 am

Happy new thread!
I've just read my first Charles Todd, A Pretty Little Box, so I'll be interested in seeing your reviews.

9rosalita
Muokkaaja: maaliskuu 1, 2021, 10:32 am

>8 mstrust: I'm not familiar with that Todd book (and your touchstone goes to a completely different book). Is it a standalone or part of his other series about Bess Crawford?

10scaifea
maaliskuu 1, 2021, 10:45 am

Happy new thread, Julia!

11mstrust
maaliskuu 1, 2021, 10:45 am

I didn't even look at the touchstone, sorry! It's part of The Mysterious Bookshop in NYC's Bibliomysteries series. Short, stand alone stories that all involve books. For some reason I can't get the touchstone to work here though it worked on my page. Hmmm.

12rosalita
maaliskuu 1, 2021, 11:02 am

>10 scaifea: Thanks, Amber!

>11 mstrust: Touchstones are being rather temperamental today, it seems. Would you recommend the book?

13katiekrug
maaliskuu 1, 2021, 11:08 am

>7 rosalita: - I didn't even notice the number discrepancy :-P

Your approach to the TIOLI challenges is what I had started doing, but I haven't slotted in any books in a few months. I think I needed a break. I got annoyed with the overly complicated nature of some of them and it kept putting me in a bad mood. I, perhaps, need to get a life.

14karenmarie
maaliskuu 1, 2021, 11:10 am

Happy new thread, Julia!

15rosalita
Muokkaaja: maaliskuu 1, 2021, 11:30 am

>13 katiekrug: I hear you about TIOLI. At the start of every year I have a wave of enthusiasm and usually by March I am back to "eh, if it fits it fits" mode. Some of the challenges are ridiculously complicated which I'm sure some people find a lot of fun but I just cannot even with that. If I can't understand what it's looking for with one read-through, I just skip it.

>14 karenmarie: Thank you, Karen!

16BLBera
maaliskuu 1, 2021, 1:55 pm

Yes, read Long Bright River; it is great. Happy new thread. I will try to get to Passing before book club.

17connie53
maaliskuu 2, 2021, 1:48 pm

Happy New Thread, Julia.

18rosalita
maaliskuu 2, 2021, 3:05 pm

Thanks, Connie!

19charl08
maaliskuu 3, 2021, 2:08 am

Happy new one Julia! Thanks for answering my query on the previous thread. I need to go check the U of Chicago site I think.

20rosalita
maaliskuu 3, 2021, 10:08 am

>19 charl08: Thanks, Charlotte! Happy hunting.

21rosalita
maaliskuu 3, 2021, 2:20 pm

Words of wisdom on Twitter from the Melbourne City of Literature organization:



I really don't think the fact that this was actually tweeted yesterday should affect anything, do you?

22scaifea
maaliskuu 3, 2021, 2:24 pm

Well, you know they say you can keep the holiday spirit all year round by decorating your house with white twinkle lights, right? I feel that this is a similar thing: I keep International BYaBEIYTBRPITB Day spirit all year round by leaving my books out on shelves 12 months of the year. So, QED...

23rosalita
maaliskuu 3, 2021, 2:34 pm

I like the way you think, sister!

24BLBera
maaliskuu 3, 2021, 3:01 pm

Thanks for the information, Julia. I want to follow the rules.

25katiekrug
maaliskuu 3, 2021, 3:05 pm

>24 BLBera: - Me too.

I haven't purchased a book today, so I'll have to correct that.

26Jackie_K
maaliskuu 3, 2021, 4:26 pm

Isn't every day IBYABEIYTBRPITB Day? Or am I doing it wrong?

27lyzard
maaliskuu 3, 2021, 4:43 pm

Well! - look at you with your third thread, Miss I'm Not Having A Thread! :)

My TIOLI-ing has suffered along with everything else, thanks to lack of library access. In theory I do a mix of "fitting in my definite reads" and "filling the other slots as a way of choosing from the TBR" but I'm so disorganised that I'm not trying as hard at this lately as I like. OTOH I *have* been using it to mix up my reading a bit more, particularly reading some much more modern crime fiction, so there's that.

Definitely up for The Mystery Of The Stuttering Parrot this month, if/when I'm done with the Michener (the way that's going, I don't dare commit to anything more time-consuming!). I'll be interested to hear what you make of The Benevent Treasure: it's a more Gothicky one, like Ladies' Bane.

28rosalita
maaliskuu 3, 2021, 5:17 pm

>24 BLBera: I'm here to help, Beth.

>25 katiekrug: Please do. I'd hate for you to be out of compliance, Katie.

>26 Jackie_K: It certainly should be, Jackie! I've stopped mentioning my acquisitions with posts, but they are all listed up there in >3 rosalita: and >4 rosalita: so you can see I have not been stinting!

29rosalita
maaliskuu 3, 2021, 5:21 pm

>27 lyzard: I am as surprised as you are about the third thread, Liz!

I'm glad it's not just me re TIOLI. I always start with such high hopes and then get frustrated when my reading doesn't keep up with my plans.

And hooray for some Three Investigators! Although if it slips to next month, that's OK — we were planning to do an every-other-month thing with those, right?

I almost forgot about Benevent Treasure until I was writing up that March plans post! I should get to it soonish. I liked the Gothic bits of Ladies' Bane, and of course now that I know Maudie is trolling for clients on the train again, I'm looking forward to reading about that. :-)

30rosalita
maaliskuu 3, 2021, 5:47 pm



13. Passing by Nella Larsen.

This classic of African-American literature is set in the 1920s and explores the practical and emotional ramifications when a pair of black women meet by chance after many years and one discovers that the other has been passing as white ever since she disappeared from the neighborhood where they grew up.

For Irene, who narrates the story, her childhood friend Clare's choice to pretend to be white raises complicated feelings within her. On the one hand, she herself has been known to occasionally present as white in situations where she would not be welcome as a black woman — certain restaurants or businesses, for example. On the other hand, she is proud to be black, and having married a black doctor and living a comfortable life in the Harlem Renaissance community in New York City, spends much of her time working to raise money to help disadvantaged fellow black Americans. She can't help viewing Clare's passing as a repudiation of the pride 'Rene feels about being black.

Despite Irene's disapproval of Clare's life (and the fact that Clare's husband is an unrepentant racist who has no idea his wife is not white) she can't help feeling a begrudging admiration and liking for Clare. There are hints that there may even be some sexual tension between them, although this 1929 book does not explore the topic beyond slight hints and suggestions that may be my 21st century brain imposing current cultural norms on the past.

This is an exceedingly short book — really more of a novella than a novel — and that was a source of some frustration to me. It felt that we never got to the real heart of how and why Clare chose to live her life the way she did. That feeling was compounded by the ambiguous and somewhat abrupt-seeming ending, which I am still unsure of even now. None of that should deter a reader who is interested in exploring the realities of race in 1920s America, though. Short as it is, Passing packs a punch and is well worth spending time with, however brief.

31connie53
maaliskuu 4, 2021, 12:48 pm

>21 rosalita: And I did what the message told me. I bought Het onzichtbare leven van Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab -;))

32charl08
maaliskuu 4, 2021, 12:52 pm

>21 rosalita: Oh no, I missed it!

I love the cover of that edition of Passing. So atmospheric.

33rosalita
Muokkaaja: maaliskuu 4, 2021, 1:06 pm

>31 connie53: That's the spirit, Connie!

>32 charl08: It's never too late to buy a book, Charlotte. I probably don't need to tell you that. :-) And yes, the Passing cover is really beautiful. I'm looking forward to The NY Times discussion with Brit Bennett next week.

34katiekrug
maaliskuu 4, 2021, 1:21 pm

I am still hoping to fit in Passing soonish, Julia. It is sitting on my Read Soon! cart :)

35rosalita
maaliskuu 4, 2021, 1:22 pm

>34 katiekrug: Read it! Read it! Read it! Read it!

36katiekrug
maaliskuu 4, 2021, 1:24 pm

You're so bossy.

37rosalita
maaliskuu 4, 2021, 1:33 pm

:)

38katiekrug
maaliskuu 4, 2021, 1:50 pm

Heh. I will read it next, I promise. I have less than 100 pages left in Love...

39BLBera
maaliskuu 4, 2021, 2:37 pm

>30 rosalita: I skimmed over your comments because I do want to read this soon.

40rosalita
maaliskuu 4, 2021, 6:03 pm

>39 BLBera: I'll look forward to comparing notes, Beth.

41rosalita
Muokkaaja: maaliskuu 5, 2021, 9:48 am


This is not Mr. Mercator’s map projection.

What I’m Reading Outside of Books

In the literary world:

  • The Performance of Racial Passing — I’m really glad I didn’t read this essay by Brit Bennett on the Nella Larsen novel Passing before I wrote my own review. If I had, I would have despaired of ever finding anything useful to say that she hadn’t already said so much better. The subtitle is especially to the point: “Though Nella Larsen’s classic 1929 novel is understood to be a tragedy, it also exposes race to be something of a farce.” Bennett is the featured speaker for the T Book Club’s online discussion of Passing, which will be live-streamed March 9. (via The New York Times)

  • What Walks Alone: Final Thoughts on The Haunting of Hill House — This article examines the various film adaptations of Shirley Jackson’s famous horror novel. I found the novel compellingly creepy when I read it a few years ago and this article makes me want to seek out the various movie versions, even though they aren’t particularly faithful to the original text. (via Tor.com)

  • Ian Rankin: ‘Why does it take celebrity voices for disabled people to be heard?’ — Rankin is probably best known for his mystery series set in Edinburgh and featuring Inspector Rebus. This article captures a more personal side of the author, as he advocates on behalf of his son and other people with learning disabilities who he feels have been neglected by politicians and the media during the pandemic. His son, Kit, lives in a care facility and like many others in similar situations has yet to receive the vaccine despite being at much greater risk than the general population. It’s a poignant read and hopefully shines a light on a problem that’s prevalent in the US as well. (via The Guardian)

And in the real world:
  • Can This New Map Fix Our Distorted Views of the World? — Close your eyes and imagine a map of the world. The picture in most people’s minds is of the world as depicted in the Mercator projection, named after the Flemish cartographer who created it in 1569. Sure, it shows the whole world on a flat plane but converting a three-dimensional Earth into a two-dimension flat image requires serious distortions that have given generations of schoolchildren the wrong idea about the relative sizes of countries and continents. There have been numerous attempts at creating a better map, but they all have flaws. Now a Princeton astrophysicist thinks he’s solved the problem — by creating the map as a double-sided flat disc. Somehow I think I still prefer an old-fashioned 3D globe. (via The New York Times)

  • Living With a Visionary — Fair warning: This story may make you sob like a baby. John Matthias tells the story of life with his beloved wife of more than 50 years, Diana, as medications to treat her Parkinson’s disease cause her to have near-constant hallucinations. As her condition deteriorates, he struggles to care for her as well as his own aging self. Heartbreakingly beautiful. (via The New Yorker)

42scaifea
maaliskuu 5, 2021, 11:15 am

The Haunting of Hill House: I *loved* both the book and the movie from the 1960s. Fair warning, though: it's also possibly the scariest movie I have ever seen.

43rosalita
maaliskuu 5, 2021, 12:56 pm

>42 scaifea: Ooh, thanks for the heads-up, Amber! I was surprised that the book wasn't so much scary (the way The Shining terrified the crap out of me) as just creepy and eerie, at least for me. But seeing things brought to life always makes them scarier so it's a good reminder to be prepared!

I think I'd like to re-read the book before I watch the movie, too, if only so I can be properly outraged at all the changes. :-)

44scaifea
maaliskuu 5, 2021, 1:06 pm

>43 rosalita: It's been a long time since I read or watched it, but I don't remember being too angered about changes. The scary part about the movie is the suspense; it's so tense waiting for something horrible to happen and they're very good at building that up to a fever pitch.

45rosalita
Muokkaaja: maaliskuu 5, 2021, 1:07 pm

>44 scaifea: That's the kind of scary I much prefer to bloody gore! I don't expect to be particularly angry, either, but people do seem to get worked up when adaptations leave out their favorite bits in a book. :-)

46mstrust
maaliskuu 5, 2021, 4:24 pm

The scene where Julie Harris and Claire Bloom sit there, bug-eyed in terror and wait for each bang on the door...

47katiekrug
maaliskuu 5, 2021, 4:32 pm

Making note of the article about Passing - will read it when I've finished the novella.

48rosalita
Muokkaaja: maaliskuu 5, 2021, 4:49 pm

>46 mstrust: Ooooh! I see that it is available for rent on Amazon Prime, so I may need to bite the bullet and watch it this weekend. During daylight hours!

>48 rosalita: I found it really interesting and she articulated some things I felt but couldn't find the words to describe, and then highlighted other things that I hadn't considered but seemed right after reflection. It also made me want to move her own book about passing, The Vanishing Half further up my TBR pile.

49scaifea
maaliskuu 5, 2021, 5:49 pm

50LovingLit
maaliskuu 6, 2021, 7:41 pm

>3 rosalita: well, your acquisitions are still outnumbered by your reads so far this year. That's something :)

>41 rosalita: I love alternative projections of this world we inhabit.

51lyzard
maaliskuu 7, 2021, 12:43 am

>43 rosalita:, >44 scaifea:

...whereas the stupid pseudo-remake will make you laugh like a loon or scream with rage or possibly both.

(Why, yes, I have reviewed it, thank you for asking. :D)

52rosalita
maaliskuu 7, 2021, 8:59 am

>51 lyzard: Which remake do you mean — apparently there are several? The author of the article didn't think much of them, either, as I recall.

53scaifea
maaliskuu 7, 2021, 9:07 am

>51 lyzard: Oh, nopenopenope. I remember seeing the trailer when I came out and thinking, Oh HELL no.

54lyzard
Muokkaaja: maaliskuu 7, 2021, 4:26 pm

>52 rosalita:, >53 scaifea:

:D

The godawful 1999 Jan de Bont version, about which it is still argued that they confused The Haunting Of Hill House with Richard Matheson's much ickier Hell House.

It's bad enough to be funny, if you're in the right mood. (And not gory, though that includes a bloodless decapitation.)

55rosalita
maaliskuu 8, 2021, 7:27 am

>54 lyzard: Hmmm, doesn't sound like something I'll put at the top of my list!

56katiekrug
maaliskuu 8, 2021, 10:22 am

I finished Passing yesterday, Julia, and I've RSVPed for the discussion tomorrow. Thanks for the nudge on this!

I also read the article you linked to above by Brit Bennett, which helped illuminate some of the novella for me. I had trouble figuring out the tone (maybe the wrong word), but Bennett's insights helped with that. So thank you all around!

57rosalita
maaliskuu 8, 2021, 10:30 am

>56 katiekrug: Hooray! Yes, I thought the Bennett article was really insightful. I'm looking forward to hearing her speak more about it tomorrow night.

58rosalita
Muokkaaja: maaliskuu 8, 2021, 2:28 pm



14. The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline.

What happens when we stop dreaming? And what if we could steal the dreams of someone else and take them for our own? Would we do it, even if it meant the destruction of the people we’re stealing from? That question is at the heart of this Young Adult novel (which even adult readers will find compelling) by Cherie Dimaline. It centers the historical experience of indigenous nations in an imagined future where, sadly, not much has changed from the racist past and present.

In that not-so-distant future, rampant climate change has wreaked havoc on the Earth. Coastal regions of North America have fallen prey to the rising seas, and the seismic shifts have ruptured pipelines and sent pollution spilling across the landscape. The resulting hordes of refugees have strained resources in the habitable areas that remain and sparked wars and societal disruption.

All of the chaos has also caused a less obvious problem: People have lost the ability to dream, causing emotional and physical stress to build. It seems only one group has escaped the dreamless void: Indigenous people, perhaps because of their ancestral ties to and respect for the land, continue to experience normal dreaming. But what at first seems like a blessing quickly becomes a nightmare, as white scientists develop a way to extract dreams from indigenous individuals and implant them in the dreamless people. No one seems to care that the restoration of health to whites means the death of the expendable indigenous people.

Frenchie is a 15-year-old indigenous boy when The Marrow Thieves starts. He and his brother Mitch have lost both their parents and are on the run, in hiding from the Recruiters who round up indigenous people and take them to facilities modeled on the 19th century residential boarding schools where native children in both the US and Canada were sent to “cure” them of their native culture. The new versions dispense with the re-education and simply “harvest” dreams from their captives, consigning them to a death sentence. The two brothers are separated, and just when things look most dire for Frenchie he meets up with another group of indigenous people who are also fleeing the white Recruiters. Together this ragtag band of strangers makes its way north, where they hope to find safety in a place where few or no white people, the land is less polluted and they will be able to once again pass on their ancient cultural traditions to their children.

Dimaline doles out the backstory for Frenchie and his companions sparingly, alternating flashbacks into each one’s past life with the perilous day-to-day existence they are sharing in the present. The flashbacks aren’t intrusive and they bring the characters to life in a way that simply expositing their backgrounds would not. By the end, readers will celebrate and mourn alongside the characters we’ve come to know.

Really, the only flaw I could find won’t necessarily be a dealbreaker for everyone (or even anyone) else. Because this is a YA novel, narrated by a teenage (though appealing) character, there’s a bit too much self-absorption and time spent on a secondary romance that distracts from the tension of the main plot line. But even those elements are fairly muted compared to some YA I’ve read, and I have no reservations (no pun intended) about recommending this book to readers of all ages. It’s a wonderful book that shines a welcome spotlight on indigenous culture and people.

59scaifea
maaliskuu 9, 2021, 6:46 am

>58 rosalita: Great review, Julia! I hadn't heard of this one, but it sounds very good.

60rosalita
maaliskuu 9, 2021, 7:06 am

>59 scaifea: Thank you, Amber! I think it's something you'd really like.

61scaifea
maaliskuu 9, 2021, 8:09 am

>60 rosalita: I've added it to the list!

62BLBera
maaliskuu 9, 2021, 9:38 am

Great comments on The Marrow Thieves, Julia. Did you read Empire of the Wild? -sorry, touchstones not working. I really liked that one and was wondering if this one is as good.

Sorry I haven't gotten to Passing - it is on my "read soon" pile. I'll talk to you later.

63rosalita
maaliskuu 9, 2021, 9:48 am

>62 BLBera: There is a touchstone in your post, Beth, but it goes to a book with a completely different title. I wasn't able to find an Empire of the Wild by searching LT so I'm not sure what book you mean or whether I've read it or not.

Have a good Tuesday.

64BLBera
maaliskuu 9, 2021, 10:32 am

It's by Cherie Dimaline as well, Julia. Empire of Wild - oops - user error. I should have left off "the."

65rosalita
maaliskuu 9, 2021, 10:37 am

>64 BLBera: Ah! I have not, but I'll see if the library has it. She is a remarkable writer.

66rosalita
maaliskuu 9, 2021, 5:37 pm



15. A Fatal Lie by Charles Todd.

As A Fatal Lie (2021) opens, it’s three years after the end of World War I and Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge is still in the proverbial doghouse of his Superintendent, Markham. The antagonism between the two men once again sees Rutledge sent to a remote corner of the United Kingdom to investigate an unidentified body found floating in the River Dee in Wales. Through some good old-fashioned detective work (admittedly the only kind available in 1921) Rutledge is able to identify the man, although what he was doing in Wales and who killed him is still a mystery.

In the course of retracing the man’s footsteps, Rutledge is forced to break the news to his wife, on whom this new load of grief weighs heavily atop the still-fresh loss of her young daughter. Could the two crimes be related? And where does the dead man’s possibly mentally unstable sister come into the picture? The Inspector travels hither and yon where northwest England and northeast Wales meet. All the while, he’s got the voice of long-dead Hamish providing a running commentary in his head, as he has ever since the wretched day during the war when the Scotsman died while serving under Rutledge in the Army. Rutledge knows Hamish isn’t really there, but it doesn’t make the ghostly voice any easier to bear ...

This is the 23rd entry in the Ian Rutledge series and it’s a rare series that gets that far along and still produces satisfying mysteries to solve. The mother-son duo writing as Charles Todd manage to come up with unique twists to make each plot unique, even as the characters themselves don’t seem to change overmuch. If you’re a fan of the series, you’ll enjoy this one. If you haven’t yet had the pleasure, start with the first (A Test of Wills) for the full rewarding experience.

67rosalita
maaliskuu 15, 2021, 10:19 am



16. Long Bright River by Liz Moore.

Long Bright River is an unflinching look at the opioid crisis through a dark lens. None of the characters conform to the usual stereotypes. Cops aren't always heroes (or villains); addicts aren't always dangerous or hopeless. Everyone has secrets and people are seldom what they appear to be at first glance. In that way, it's one of the most realistic novels I've ever read, and one of the most moving.

Michaela (but everyone calls her Mickey) and Kacey are sisters who grew up in the kind of family that does not put the 'fun' in 'dysfunctional'. Their young mother dies of a heroin overdose and their father disappears shortly after in the throes of his own addiction. They are raised by their maternal grandmother Gee, who provides them with the bare minimum of food, shelter and clothing but even less love and emotional support.

The two sisters, even while living in the same Philadelphia neighborhood, take different paths in adulthood. Mickey becomes a cop; Kacey becomes a junkie. Their paths cross occasionally, mostly when Mickey runs across Kacey working as a prostitute to support her drug habit. They seldom speak but the sporadic and distant contact serves as a cold comfort to Mickey, who still feels the responsibility of being the big sister and the one who turned out "okay".

Just as it becomes apparent that a serial killer is targeting women, Mickey realizes she hasn't seen Kacey lately on her usual street corner. She tries to find out what's happened to her, even as she flinches every time another unidentified young woman's body is found. Along the way a fuller picture of the sisters' background is parceled out in flashback chapters, complicating what first appeared to be a tragic but common story.

Just like real life, there is no unambiguously happy ending here. Mysteries are solved, story lines are wrapped up, but all of the resolutions seem tentative, capable of being undone with a single slip. All the characters can do — all any of us can do — is just the best we can, one day at a time.

68katiekrug
maaliskuu 15, 2021, 10:24 am

>67 rosalita: - Excellent review, Julia! I loved LBR and your comments remind me exactly why.

69rosalita
maaliskuu 15, 2021, 10:31 am

Thanks, Katie. I'm glad I finally got to it. It's a grim topic but the book wasn't one of those where you dread picking it up because you know you're going to be depressed. I credit the author for prioritizing characters whose humanity shone through even the darkest stretches of plot.

70charl08
maaliskuu 15, 2021, 4:49 pm

>67 rosalita: Great review. That one kept me guessing. I hope she is busy writing her next book!

71rosalita
maaliskuu 16, 2021, 9:24 am

>70 charl08: Thanks, Charlotte. I see on her website she has written three other books, so I'll have to see if I can track them down at the library.

72katiekrug
maaliskuu 16, 2021, 9:40 am

Of Moore's other books, I've read Heft and really liked it.

73rosalita
maaliskuu 16, 2021, 9:53 am

>72 katiekrug: Good to hear! My library only has the audiobook versions of Heft and The Unseen World and I'm not really in a position to read audiobooks right now. I should add her to my BookBub favorite authors list to get alerts when her ebooks are on sale.

74charl08
maaliskuu 16, 2021, 4:18 pm

>71 rosalita: Thanks for the link. I was kind of hoping she might have more crime novels coming! But then all the previous novels sound intriguing. She doesn't seem to write the same genre twice.

75rosalita
Muokkaaja: maaliskuu 16, 2021, 5:02 pm


Bad online bookstore/publisher monopoly, bad!

What I’m Reading Outside of Books

In the literary world:

  • Sign Up for Merriam-Webster’s Book Thing Newsletter — The Twitter announcement was vague (“How about we start a book club? (Or, a non-formal book thing? The Merriam-Webster Book Thing? We'll workshop it.)” but of course I signed up because I am hopelessly attracted to book clubs whose selections I can promptly ignore every month. Sigh. My hope is that they will be spotlighting books about words and language, but I have no idea what they have in mind. Anyway, they haven’t picked their first book yet, but you also can sign up for their email newsletter to be among the first to know. (via Merriam-Webster)

  • Want to Borrow That E-Book From the Library? Sorry, Amazon Won’t Let You — I am a big fan of ebooks and I already knew about the problem with ebooks being priced outlandishly by publishers selling to libraries. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it turns out Amazon also has its hands in the pot, refusing to allow books published through their own imprints to be sold to libraries. Jerks. (via The Washington Post)

  • The Vonnegut Tournament — American readers are familiar with March Madness, as the annual college basketball championship tournament is known. The success of that enterprise, with millions of people filling out brackets with their own predictions, has spawned a million imitators, from contests pitting various cheeses against each other to brackets drilling down to one chemical formula to rule them all. But this year, the Kurt Vonnegut Museum & Library is sponsoring a competition that’s much more in LibraryThing’s lane: A bracket competition to find the great Vonnegut novel of them all. Starting March 18, you can vote early and probably often. (via Kurt Vonnegut Museum & Library)


And in the real world:
  • Why Do Names and How They’re Pronounced Matter? — Everyone has at least one and sometimes they can be hard to pronounce, especially if they are from a culture different than our own. Here’s a good reminder that mispronouncing people’s names, whether intentionally or because you can’t be bothered to try to pronounce it correctly, can be really off-putting to the person who’s being addressed. My first name is pretty straightforward (although my mom would get annoyed with strangers calling me Julie) but I went all through school with teachers calling attendance and saying, “Julia …” and then looking up to see if any of the little cherubs sitting in front of them was willing to save them the trouble of trying to pronounce what is really a very straightforward name other than the capital letter in the middle. Good times. (And don’t get me started on the inevitable conversation afterward: “Oh, is that French?” “No, Italian.” “Oh, Eye-talian. How interesting." Sigh. (via BBC)

  • Why YKK Zippers are the Brown M&Ms of Product Design — If you’re trying to figure out if a jacket or backpack or some other piece of gear is of value, the zipper is a great place to start. One company makes half the world’s zippers, and they are renowned for their high quality.(via The Prepared blog)

76BLBera
maaliskuu 16, 2021, 9:59 pm

>75 rosalita: Love this

Great comments on Long, Bright River. I need to get to her other books. If I manage it any time soon, I'll send my copy your way.

77rosalita
maaliskuu 18, 2021, 7:44 am

>76 BLBera: Did any of the links particularly catch your eye, Beth? I'm disappointed my library only has audiobook versions of Moore's previous books.

78DylanTucker
maaliskuu 18, 2021, 8:02 am

Tämä käyttäjä on poistettu roskaamisen vuoksi.

79scaifea
maaliskuu 18, 2021, 8:15 am

>75 rosalita: As someone who sews, I probably pay more attention to zippers than most normal folks, and a good zipper makes *such* a difference! I loved the brown M&M tidbit, too!

80rosalita
maaliskuu 18, 2021, 9:51 am

>79 scaifea: I can imagine! Do you agree that YKK are the best in terms of quality? I loved that article because I remember when I was a kid I had a winter jacket that had YKK on the zipper and then I started seeing it everywhere I looked and wondered if they were the only company that made zippers!

81scaifea
maaliskuu 18, 2021, 9:55 am

I haven't been able to buy them to sew with, but yes, I agree that YKK are very good zippers.

82BLBera
maaliskuu 19, 2021, 12:38 pm

>77 rosalita: I loved them all, Julia.

83rosalita
maaliskuu 21, 2021, 7:02 pm



17. The Father Hunt by Rex Stout.

I recently picked this up in an ebook sale, and while I have read it before it happens to be one I did not own in paperback so I've probably only read it once, many years ago. It's a fine later (1968) entry in the series. The client is a young woman whose mother died a few months ago in a hit-and-run car accident. After her mother's death, Amy Denovo finds a box full of cash and a note from her mom that says, "This is from your father." But she has no idea who her father is, and she suspects her mother was using an assumed name all these years so how can even the great Nero Wolfe and his trusty legman Archie Goodwin trace her into the past? Complicating matters, at least for Archie, is that Amy works as an editorial assistant for his paramour, Lily Rowan, but Amy insists that he not tell Lily that he and Wolfe are working for her, leading to some semi-comical misunderstanding about why Amy suddenly starts calling him Archie instead of Mr. Goodwin. It all gets sorted in the end, of course, and in a satisfactory fashion. Nineteen sixties Wolfe novels aren't my favorite, as Stout seemed determined to make up for lost time when crafting plots that involve sex and other tawdry topics. Still, an afternoon spent with Archie Goodwin is never wasted.

84rosalita
Muokkaaja: maaliskuu 27, 2021, 12:50 pm



I just saw on Twitter that Beverly Cleary has died at the grand age of 104. I read all of the Henry and Ramona books, but I wore out multiple copies of Henry and Ribsy in grade school through constant re-reading. I know girls are supposed to identify with that "pest" Ramona, but I've always been more of a Henry, myself. What a wonderful gift to make so many children happy over all these years.

85Copperskye
maaliskuu 26, 2021, 9:46 pm

>84 rosalita: Good to know. I was also a Henry girl. (Ramona kind of annoyed me.) But Henry and Ribsy - I loved them both.

Beverly Cleary and Larry McMurtry gone today. So sad.

86rosalita
maaliskuu 27, 2021, 12:51 pm

>85 Copperskye: Yes, sad to hear about Larry McMurtry as well. I feel terrible about still not having read Lonesome Dove though I've wanted to for years and years. Maybe this will finally get me to do it.

87katiekrug
maaliskuu 27, 2021, 3:25 pm

>86 rosalita: - DO IT.

(Hi Julia!)

88rosalita
maaliskuu 27, 2021, 4:43 pm

>87 katiekrug: OKAY I WILL.

(Hi, Katie!)

89susanj67
maaliskuu 28, 2021, 6:42 am

Hi Julia! There are always so many interesting things to read on your thread! I thought I'd better write now before I go and check my wardrobe for YKK zippers...The name pronunciation thing really annoys me too - not so much on my own behalf but when the YouTubers mangle names in their videos. They're planning a video and yet they can't be bothered to type "pronounce" and then the name into Google and practice it a couple of times.

90scaifea
maaliskuu 28, 2021, 8:19 am

>84 rosalita: I was a Henry gal, too, but Charlie is a Ramona fan all the way. So funny.

91karenmarie
Muokkaaja: maaliskuu 28, 2021, 8:48 am

Hi Julia!

>83 rosalita: I’m working my way through the Nero Wolfe books and will be reading #31 soon. It’ll be a while before I get to #43, The Father Hunt. I don’t remember ever reading this one, so I’m glad to know you liked it. The ones I didn’t particularly like are the WWII ones, but my favs are still the earliest ones.

92rosalita
maaliskuu 28, 2021, 9:43 am

>89 susanj67: I hope your closet is full of YKK zippers, Susan — preferably attached to garments.

>90 scaifea: It just shows Cleary's genius, doesn't it? To create characters whose personalities aren't bound up in their gender identities. I'm happy to have you on #TeamHenry!

>91 karenmarie: Most of my favorite Wolfes are from the post-WWII period, I think, though some of the earlier ones are also excellent (Some Buried Caesar and Too Many Cooks come immediately to mind). But there isn't a single one I wouldn't happily re-read!

93katiekrug
maaliskuu 28, 2021, 9:48 am

I was a Ramona girl, probably due mostly to having an older sister and aspiring to being a pest ;-)

94rosalita
maaliskuu 28, 2021, 10:01 am

>93 katiekrug: Funnily, I think I'm more of a Ramona now than when I was a kid. Back then I was extremely focused on following the rules and not causing trouble, possibly because I had an older brother who gave my mom more than enough trouble to be dealing with. I have not quite become a lawless rogue in my old age, but I can see it from here. :-D

95katiekrug
maaliskuu 28, 2021, 10:03 am

I think (hope!) a little Ramona resides in all of us :)

96rosalita
maaliskuu 28, 2021, 10:42 am

97rosalita
maaliskuu 28, 2021, 6:12 pm



18. The Benevent Treasure by Patricia Wentworth.

Candida Sayle and Stephen Eversley “meet cute,” as the kids say, when Candida gets stranded on an English beach as the high tide rolls in and threatens to drown her. At that exact moment, Stephen happens to be out birdwatching in a rowboat, as one does, and finds his damsel in distress clinging to a cliff face. He rescues her, they exchange names and then part, presumably never to meet again.

Oh, but that wouldn’t be much of a book, would it — let alone a mystery. And so our two young people meet again, this time at a very creepy old country house (honestly, is there any other kind in England?) that is rumored to house the Benevent Treasure, brought to England when its aristocratic Italian owner fled Italy centuries ago. Candida is the black sheep of the Benevent family, through no fault of her own — her mother married a man the family did not approve of and cut all ties. Now all the Benevents are dead, except for two strange old sisters, Olivia and Cara, two strange old women who are the sisters of Candida’s long-dead grandmother. They reach out to young Candida to effect a reunion and she goes to visit, although she’s not sure what they want with her.

She meets up again with Stephen, who just happens to be in the neighborhood doing some architecting work (he’s a prime one for being on the spot), and they get reacquainted. But something is amiss inside Benevent House, and Candida seems to be its focus. And if there’s a mystery to be solved, it’s a fair bet that Miss Silver, intrepid governess-cum-private enquiry agent, will root out the truth.

Wentworth returns to her habit from earlier in the series of having Miss Silver acquire her client whilst riding the train. In this case, she is coincidentally traveling to Retley, where Benevent House is, in the same train carriage as the uncle of a young man who had previously worked for the Benevent sisters and disappeared mysteriously, supposedly after stealing jewels from the rumored treasure. Miss Silver agrees to look into the subject, not realizing she will need to solve a current mystery before she can find the truth about the cold case.

There are a lot of gothic elements here, including the way Candida and Stephen are lovestruck at virtually first sight. You know Stephen has it bad when meets Candida in a café shortly after her arrival.
Stephen, waiting in the Primrose Café, saw her come in with a glowing colour and starry eyes. She made a brightness in the shaded place. He had a rush of feeling which surprised him. It was as if a light had sprung up to meet her, and when she came to him and they look at each other the brightness was round them both.

More deaths will occur before Miss Silver wraps up all the mysteries and solves the case, but does it really matter as long as young love wins out in the end?

98rosalita
maaliskuu 29, 2021, 5:54 pm


Those were the days, my friend.

What I’m Reading Outside of Books

In the world of words:
  • How Children Read Differently From Books vs. Screens — I’ve something similar in regards to college students before, but this is the first time I’ve seen it centered on how children absorb what they are reading. Apparently younger children also benefit from print books vs digital, partly because it’s easy for parents to engage in the material with them. (via The New York Times))

  • 50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice — Few things are as satisfying as reading a really scathing book review (except maybe writing one). And when it’s a linguist tearing apart the dubious grammatical advice of the classic Strunk & White Elements of Style, it can exorcise a lot of bad-advice demons. (via The Chronicle of Higher Education; free registration may be required)

And in the real world:
  • The Sense and Nonsense of Ballpark Traditions: From Sausage Races to ‘Sweet Caroline’ — Apologies to my non-North American readers, but the Major League Baseball season kicks off this week, and this article is the perfect way to celebrate. It takes a look at some of the goofier gimmicks and rituals that have developed in the 150+ years that the sport has been around. From traditional sing-alongs to mascots to home-run celebrations, each team puts its own spin on even the hoariest of traditions. (via The Washington Post)

  • The Former Netflix DVD Library Is a Lost Treasure We’ll Never See Again — Way back in the day, before streaming video was even a sparkle in Jeff Bezos’ eye, I subscribed to Netflix for the privilege of having DVDs mailed to me. I could keep them as long as I wanted (for a flat monthly fee), and when I was done I mailed them back in the supplied prepaid envelope and waited for the DVD elves to automatically pluck the next title off my queue and pop it in the mail to me. I explain all this for the whippersnappers who don’t remember those halcyon days. Jim Vorel does, and he’s mourning those days because of how deep that DVD catalog was compared to today’s streaming options (“We traded in a library of 100,000 titles for one that currently has less than 4,000—and we’re never going to get the former back,” he laments). (via Paste Magazine)

99lyzard
Muokkaaja: maaliskuu 29, 2021, 7:11 pm

>98 rosalita:

They still are the days for some of us.

I am still signed up with a DVD rental / mail service company, though their offerings are contracting over time---not because they don't want to supply more stuff, but rather if a DVD gets broken or scratched they don't / can't replace it.

Meanwhile, no matter how often I am told that, "NO-ONE WATCHES DVDs ANY MORE!!!", the fact remains that about 98% of what I own on DVD or have snagged to a DVD-R is available on NO streaming service here---

---our streaming services being predicated on the idea that you ONLY want to watch mainstream material and you're ONLY interested in the NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW.

I also still have about half-a-dozen boxes full of video tapes full of films, again older and rarer material that you just can't get any more...and am living in terror of the day my poor old VCR (and its less efficient back-up unit) finally gives up the ghost.

100rosalita
maaliskuu 30, 2021, 7:09 am

>99 lyzard: Yes, the ever-shrinking availability of DVDs is the part of the article that struck me as particularly unfortunate. Not everyone wants to watch the latest blockbuster, and I hope streaming services find a way to make more of the "long tail" of movies more widely available. .

101mstrust
maaliskuu 30, 2021, 2:20 pm

I too loved getting those DVDs in the mail. Being a major Anglophile, especially stuff from the 60's and 70's, I noticed the huge amount of missing inventory when I switched to streaming. But not just the obscure British shows I liked. Netflix has almost nothing in terms of big stars like Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Elvis.

102rosalita
maaliskuu 30, 2021, 4:10 pm

>101 mstrust: Yes, anything that isn't a recent release is hard to find, especially because streaming has gotten so fragmented. But I recently found a site called JustWatch, where you can search for specific movies and it will tell you which streaming services have them available, either for streaming or to buy or rent. You can make an account if you want to keep a queue or have the results tailored to the sites you subscribe to, but I've found searching for specific titles without signing in works just fine.

103BLBera
maaliskuu 30, 2021, 7:34 pm

I got distracted by the "50 Years of Bad Grammar Advice" -- love it!

104rosalita
maaliskuu 31, 2021, 7:21 am

>103 BLBera: Isn't that a great rant, Beth? I have heard criticism of S&W before, mostly around their advice about passive voice, but this was a comprehensive takedown. Whew!

105mstrust
maaliskuu 31, 2021, 1:26 pm

>102 rosalita: Thanks for the link, that's a handy site!

106rosalita
maaliskuu 31, 2021, 6:12 pm

>105 mstrust: I hope you find every movie you're looking for!

107rosalita
huhtikuu 2, 2021, 3:54 pm


The Merriam-Webster Book Thing that I linked to in >75 rosalita: has chosen its first book — the April read is Topics of Conversation by Miranda Popkey. This is not an author or a book that was anywhere on my radar, and apparently that is also true for most Iowans, because the library had a copy that was available for borrowing right away. Score! Now to fit it in somewhere. The Book Thing will host a conversation with the author Popkey on April 28, so there's my deadline.

108rosalita
Muokkaaja: huhtikuu 29, 2021, 4:53 pm

No new thread this month, so here's the plan:

Tentative April reading plans

          

2021 Read Your Bookshelf Challenge (April = The book that has been on your shelf the longest) — Well, this is just impossible. I have so, so many books that I don’t even remember when I bought them.
* The book with the earliest entry date in my To Read collection on LibraryThing (Oct 9, 2007) is The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan. But can I find it?!
* The ebook with the earliest entry in LT (Nov 28, 2009) is The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. At least ebooks are easier to find!

TIOLI challenges
Deferred until later in the month when I have a handle on what I’m actually reading.

Shared reads
✔︎ Poison in the Pen by Patricia Wentworth (shared read with Liz)

Library books
✔︎ Ink & Sigil by Kevin Hearne (first in a new series set in the Iron Druid universe)
Topics of Conversation by Miranda Popkey (April pick of the Merriam-Webster Book Thing)

Started in March
Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne (American history)
✔︎ The Cost of These Dreams by Wright Thompson (essays)

Other possibilities
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (thanks, Beth!)
✔︎ The Cactus League by Emily Nemens (it’s baseball season!)

That’s 9 books, which could be a little ambitious for my current reading pace. But that’s OK; I’d rather have too many possibilities than too few.

109Jackie_K
huhtikuu 3, 2021, 5:03 am

>108 rosalita: I was surprised by how much I liked Cat's Cradle when I read it - it's not my usual reading fare at all! And as an extra bonus, it's short, so always good for those months when you want to squeeze an extra book in!

110connie53
huhtikuu 3, 2021, 6:42 am

Happy Easter!

111scaifea
huhtikuu 3, 2021, 8:16 am

The Jungle, eh? Ooof. Such a happy read.

112BLBera
huhtikuu 3, 2021, 8:37 am

>108 rosalita: You're welcome! I'll watch for your comments.

The Popkey book sounds interesting.

113mstrust
huhtikuu 3, 2021, 3:55 pm

114rosalita
huhtikuu 3, 2021, 6:54 pm

>109 Jackie_K: Good to hear, Jackie! After reading Mother Night recently, I am eager to read more Vonnegut.

>110 connie53: Thanks, Connie! Same to you and your family.

>111 scaifea: So I gather, Amber. It's feeling very much like an "eat your broccoli" kind of book right now, so I wouldn't bet any money on my actually reading it this month. ;-)

>112 BLBera: The Popkey doesn't sound like a typical book for me but I like being pushed to read outside my usual fare, so we'll see.

>113 mstrust: What a cute little chick!

115scaifea
huhtikuu 4, 2021, 10:04 am

>114 rosalita: But it's also an excellent book! Just not...happy.

116rosalita
huhtikuu 4, 2021, 10:34 am

>115 scaifea: Oh, sure — that's why it's on the list. But (to stretch a metaphor possibly beyond the breaking point) I think broccoli tastes good, but I don't dream about eating it the way I do, say, shrimp tempura or Reese's peanut butter cups. :-)

117scaifea
huhtikuu 4, 2021, 11:33 am

118lyzard
Muokkaaja: huhtikuu 4, 2021, 5:24 pm

Hmm. Looking back I see I called The Jungle "gruelling and upsetting", but I also note that it didn't draw my 'crushed by a book' logo, so there's that. :D

119rosalita
huhtikuu 4, 2021, 7:47 pm

>118 lyzard: Yeah, it's not a doorstopper, at least.

120rosalita
Muokkaaja: huhtikuu 13, 2021, 10:24 pm

    

19. Some Buried Caesar by Rex Stout.
20. Odds Against by Dick Francis.
21. Quentins by Maeve Binchy.

These were all re-reads aimed at lifting me out of a bit of a book funk, so I won't bother with full reviews. I wrote a review of Caesar a couple of years ago and everything I said then still holds true. It's a gem. The Francis book is the first in a series, unusual for him, and is good. The Binchy is one of her weaker books, set in contemporary Dublin (well, contemporary in the 1990s) and comes across as a bit more shallow and blander than her best work.

121MissWatson
huhtikuu 8, 2021, 4:01 am

>108 rosalita: Yeah, April is going to be a difficult challenge, as I have no idea which is the oldest book on my shelves. I may simply settle for something I bought on my first trip to London, way, way back in the 1970s...

122rosalita
huhtikuu 8, 2021, 8:12 am

>121 MissWatson: That seems like a reasonable solution, Birgit. As much as the 1970s seem like just yesterday sometimes (I was alive then; how long ago could it be?) I have to face facts that it was 40 years ago!

Do you have a particular book or books in mind?

123MissWatson
Muokkaaja: huhtikuu 9, 2021, 2:24 am

>122 rosalita: I have taken down Pocket Money from the shelf which I probably bought because it has a film tie-in cover with Paul Newman and Lee Marvin. There are some westerns and SF novels left which do not really interest me right now, but I find it extremely hard to part with anything unread.

(wrong touchstone at first)

124rosalita
huhtikuu 9, 2021, 9:09 am

>123 MissWatson: I've never heard of that one (either the book or the movie) but you can't go wrong with Paul Newman on the cover.

125MissWatson
huhtikuu 10, 2021, 11:12 am

>124 rosalita: I hope so!

126rosalita
Muokkaaja: huhtikuu 14, 2021, 8:13 am


Use a coaster! Were you raised in a barn?

What I’m Reading Outside of Books

In the world of words:

  • In a Word: Making Sense of Coasters — I knew the space between your ribs is known as the “intercostal” but that’s as far as my etymology went. Now I know the same root Latin word also evolved into the “coast” of a land mass and also the “coaster” you put under your sweaty beer bottle. (via The Saturday Evening Post)

  • M-W Staff Reading Picks: Spring 2021 — Do I have a thread in the ROOTs group because I am trying to read the mountain of books I already own? Yes. Do I still check out too many books from the library? Yes. Do I need another list of books to add to my library holds list? Maybe. Maybe you do, too. (via Merriam-Webster)

And in the real world:
  • The 10 Best Apple TV+ Shows to Watch Tonight — Last year right about this time, I bought a new iMac because working remotely revealed all the deficiencies of my 10-year-old MacBook Pro when it came to connecting to the company VPN and working in Remote Desktop. The gorgeous new computer that I love like it was a member of the family came with a free 1-year trial of Apple TV+ which I was happy to have. (The trial has subsequently been extended twice because pandemic and now is due to expire in July.) So it’s been a year, and I’m still struggling to find the good stuff, until this article. (via Esquire)

  • Everyone’s Painting Their Own Abstract Art, And You Should Too — I’ve always wanted to be a painter, but I can’t even draw a good stick figure. But maybe abstract art is the way to go? I’ve been using the free iOS app Adobe Fresco to noodle around, and even though I have yet to create anything I’d ever consider letting anyone else see, it’s a good way to turn off the voices in my head for a little while. (via Apartment Therapy)

127LovingLit
huhtikuu 13, 2021, 9:54 pm

>58 rosalita: ooh, I like the sound of that one. And my library has it!

>120 rosalita: nothing like a reread to get the ole book-readin'-juices flowing!

128rosalita
huhtikuu 14, 2021, 7:26 am

>127 LovingLit: I hope you enjoy The Marrow Thieves, Megan. It's a good one.

129scaifea
huhtikuu 14, 2021, 7:48 am

Coasters! So timely. And so Latin-y! I'm in love.

130rosalita
huhtikuu 14, 2021, 8:11 am

>129 scaifea: It was serendipity when I came across that story right around the time you posted about your felted coaster project! And yeah, I knew you'd dig the Latin bit. :-)

131BLBera
huhtikuu 14, 2021, 1:24 pm

>126 rosalita: Hi Julia - I love book lists, even when, like you, I am trying to read from my shelves.

132rosalita
huhtikuu 14, 2021, 1:36 pm

>131 BLBera: The problem, Beth, is they just keep publishing more books! How's a reader to ever catch up?!

133BLBera
huhtikuu 15, 2021, 9:30 pm

We just have to live forever.

134rosalita
huhtikuu 16, 2021, 7:44 am

>133 BLBera: I will if you will!

135BLBera
huhtikuu 16, 2021, 8:37 am

Deal.

136rosalita
huhtikuu 17, 2021, 11:14 am

One of the authors I follow on Twitter (Adrian McKinty who wrote the marvelous Sean Duffy among other fine crime/suspense novels, recently tweeted the longest for the Crime Writers Association's Gold Dagger award for 2021 (described on the organization's website as "for the best crime novel by an author of any nationality, originally written in English, first published in the UK during the Judging Period. The broadest definition of the crime novel defines eligible books as including thrillers, police procedurals, mysteries, psychological and other suspense novels and spy fiction.").

I think of myself as reading a lot of crime/mystery novels, but there are so many authors and books here that I am not familiar with. I'm excited to try to dig deeper into this category.

Stone Cold Trouble by Amer Anwar
Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby
The Curator by M.W. Craven
City of Ghosts by Ben Creed
Peace by Garry Disher
Arrowood and the Thames Corpses by Mick Finlay
House of Correction by Nicci French
Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith
The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths
The Silver Collar by Antonia Hodgson
The House of Lamentations by S.G. MacLean
The Other Girl by C.D. Major
Midnight Atlanta by Thomas Mullen
Execution by S.J. Parris
Making Wolf by Tade Thompson
The Dead of Winter by Nicola Upson
We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker
The Hidden Girls by Rebecca Whitney

I don't know how many of these have been published in the USA, but I'm off to my library's website to see if any are available.

If anyone has read any of these, please chime in!

137charl08
huhtikuu 17, 2021, 3:54 pm

>136 rosalita: I've read all of the Seeker series (Maclean). This one was ok but rather relies on the earlier ones for character development.
Loved the Postscript Murders.
I didn't know there was a third book in the "Darktown" series about the first Black police officers in Atlanta. The first two were really good, so I'd like to pick up this.
I also like Antonia Hodgson's series but haven't read this latest one either.
So plenty for me to read, not to mention all the ones here I've never come across before!

138rosalita
huhtikuu 18, 2021, 5:44 pm

>137 charl08: Thanks for the tips, Charlotte. I'll look for the ones you mentioned. I do have Postscript Murders and hope to get to it soon.

139connie53
Muokkaaja: huhtikuu 25, 2021, 5:36 am

I've read In hechtenis by Nicci French in 2020 and gave that 4 stars. I buy the books by Nicci French blindly and read them immediately after.

The book by Robert Galbraith is on my to-buy-list. (Robert is an alias for J.K. Rowling). I've read al 'his' books and think they are very good with some dry humor (and they are made into a tv-series)

140rosalita
huhtikuu 23, 2021, 8:23 am

>139 connie53: I read the first several Galbraith/Rowling books and enjoyed them, but I think I've fallen a couple of books behind. I've never read Nicci French despite seeing praise for her work everywhere — I really need to check her out. Thanks for the recommendation, Connie!

141karenmarie
huhtikuu 23, 2021, 9:09 am

Hi Julia!

>136 rosalita: I’ve only heard of 4 of the authors besides McGinty – I acquired the Sean Duffy series in January but haven’t started it yet.

I love Nicci French’s Frieda Klein series, which starts with Blue Monday. This 8-book series must be read in order. Haven’t read anything else by the husband/wife team, but do have Secret Smile on my shelves.

Looks like you’ve already read the first four in the Cormoran Strike/Robin Ellacot series. This one doesn’t disappoint.

The Postscript Murders is the 2nd in the Harbinder Kaur series. I unintentionally read this one before The Stranger Diaries and although there were references to things that had happened previously, I wasn’t particularly upset about reading them out of order. I like this series, but it has a long way to go to get to the level of the Ruth Galloway series. And I read The Zig Zag Girl, first in the Stephens and Mephisto series, but won't continue.

I have the first two in the Darktown series by Mullen on my shelves waiting to be read. I've also got The Last Town on Earth, ditto. I have read The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers, which is very strange and wonderful.

142rosalita
huhtikuu 23, 2021, 4:02 pm

>141 karenmarie: Hi Karen! Another vote for Nicci French — noted. I didn't realize I'd read that many of the Galbraith books; I recall thinking the fourth one wasn't quite up to the level of the others but it's been so long I can't remember why I thought that. I was surprised that Griffiths turned The Stranger Diaries into a series because the detective was not at all the main character in that one, but I did like the character so I'm looking forward to see what she did with it. Like you, I read The Zig Zag Girl and was not compelled to read any more in that particular series. I still love Ruth Galloway, though!

143rosalita
huhtikuu 24, 2021, 5:27 pm



22. The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot by Robert Arthur.

The second book in the classic middle-school mystery series The Three Investigators. This adventure finds them hired by Alfred Hitchcock himself to help a friend, whose parrot has been stolen. Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw and Bob Andrews find out that the parrot, who was purchased from a Mexican street-cart peddler, was trained to imperfectly quote Shakespeare: "To-to-to be, or not to-to-to be."

Further inquiries lead to other parrots sold by that same peddler, all of them trained to speak a particular phrase, and a man who has been systematically stealing them from their new owners. The boys suspect that the unusual phrases each parrot speaks is another clue to the location of a mysterious treasure, but they can't solve the mystery until they find all the parrots and learn their individual phrases.

It's a good setup and a satisfying mystery with a not-so-much-evil-as-misunderstood villain and a chance for each of the boys to show off their particular talents: Jupiter's brain, Bob's research skills, and Pete's physicality. And for a book written in 1964, it offers a remarkably enlightened portrait of the Mexican street peddler and his nephew Carlos. Carlos, in particular, is presented as a character to admire. The boys rely on him to help solve the mystery and are free with their praise of him and his uncle while also finding a way to extend some financial assistance without making it seem like charity.

I'm enjoying re-living my childhood with this series and looking forward to the next one.

144rosalita
huhtikuu 24, 2021, 5:32 pm



23. Ink & Sigil by Kevin Hearne.

Aloysius MacBharrais has a problem. Every apprentice he’s taken on to learn his job as a sigil agent — essentially a human who “writes and enforces magical contracts using sigils, which are symbols infused with power that do some remarkable stuff” — has died in one type of accident or another. Seven of them, in fact, the most recent being Gordie, who choked to death on a raisin scone. What makes this latest setback a more serious problem is that it seems Gordie was trafficking Fae creatures like the hobgoblin he had caged in his apartment when he died.

(Let’s pause here to get this out of the way: Different from pure goblins and more mischievous than outright malevolent, hobgoblins were extraordinarily difficult to capture as a rule, since they could teleport short distances and were agile creatures as well, with impressive vertical leaps aided by their thick thighs. If you didn’t know, now you know.)

What was Gordie up to? Who was he selling the Fae creatures to, and for what nefarious purpose? It’s up to Al to find out, before the delicate détente between the Fae and humans is broken forever.

That’s the set-up for Kevin Hearne’s highly entertaining fantasy novel. It’s the first in a new series (the next book set to be published in August), but it’s set in the same universe as Hearne’s previous Iron Druid Chronicles series. Sadly, Atticus and his amazing Irish wolfhound Oberon have only a cameo appearance here, but I found the new cast of characters — Al, the Scot who runs a printing company in Glasgow between writing sigils for interactions between humans and Fae; his indispensable assistant Nadia, who has her own secret abilities; even that hobgoblin, a three-foot tall pink creature who goes by the name Buck Foi — a fun bunch to hang out with, and I was fully engaged in how Al would solve the mystery at the book’s heart and set things right.

The pen-and-stationery aficionado in me loves the idea of specially formulated inks imbuing drawn symbols with power. I could use a few Sigils of Agile Grace myself, to be honest. It’s especially pleasing that one doesn’t need to be a magical creature one’s own self to _do_ magic — it can be learned, like any other skill. I hope Al acquires a new, less evil, apprentice in a future book and we get more details of the way sigils work.

And while this new cast stands well on its own without needing to lean on guest appearances from the Iron Druid or Oberon, I can’t help hoping we get more glimpses of them in future volumes. Although at least we did get this lovely canine tribute:

“He survived because of a very good dug named Oberon. Dogs are beings of pure love and devotion and broadcast hope to those of us who have only memories of such things, for they demonstrate by their existence that love and devotion still walk abroad in the world, and therefore it’s worthwhile to live in it.”

145lyzard
huhtikuu 24, 2021, 5:59 pm

>143 rosalita:

I remembered every damn word out of those birds' mouths and the twisty bit at the end, despite mumblemumble years between reads. :D

146rosalita
huhtikuu 24, 2021, 6:02 pm

>145 lyzard: Ha! I had no memory of ever having read this one, although I'm sure I must have. Sometimes I appreciate having such a terrible memory!

147BLBera
huhtikuu 25, 2021, 10:31 am

>143 rosalita: Hi Julia. I have to look for one of these. I don't remember ever having read them.

148rabbitprincess
huhtikuu 25, 2021, 10:00 pm

>143 rosalita: I didn't read these as a kid but they would totally have been up my street. Glad you're having fun with them again!

149rosalita
huhtikuu 26, 2021, 8:08 am

>147 BLBera: Hi, Beth. I never really vibed with Nancy Drew (though I read them anyway) but Trixie Belden and The Three Investigators were much more my jam. I hope you can find one and see what you think.

150rosalita
huhtikuu 26, 2021, 8:08 am

>148 rabbitprincess: Thanks! I seem to be regressing in my old age. :-)

151karenmarie
huhtikuu 26, 2021, 8:50 am

Hi Julia!

>142 rosalita: Another detective who was not the main character becoming the star of her own series – Karen Pirie by Val McDermid.

Here’s the thread for the next Dick Francis SHARED Read, just created: Third Race at the LT Racetrack: Book 3, Bonecrack

152rosalita
huhtikuu 26, 2021, 12:22 pm

>151 karenmarie: I have Val McDermid on my list of authors to read, as I have not yet read anything by her. So many books ... And thanks for the link to the Dick Francis thread — excited to revisit this one!

153BLBera
huhtikuu 26, 2021, 1:09 pm

I preferred Trixie to Nancy as well, Julia, but I did read Nancy as well.

154rosalita
huhtikuu 26, 2021, 3:04 pm

>153 BLBera: You might like The Three Investigators, then!

155rosalita
Muokkaaja: huhtikuu 30, 2021, 6:45 am



Reading Update

This has been a weird reading month. I've only completed 5 books despite feeling like I've been reading just as much as usual. Part of it is that I have a nonfiction history book in progress (Empire of the Summer Moon) and those are always slower reads for me. And I started Cat's Cradle and am enjoying it, but it's a trade paperback so not suitable for carrying out and about.

The other book that I am stymied on right now is Topics of Conversation. You may remember I mentioned it earlier as the first selection in Merriam-Webster's new Book Thing reading club. I started it on April 2 and decided to DNF it last week because I realized I never looked forward to my next chance to read it. (In fact, I re-read Maeve Binchy's A Week in Winter while avoiding it.)

The online discussion hosted by M-W was last night, and I signed in even though I hadn't even read half of the book. And hearing the hosts talk about it, and the author talk about it, made me think I was being too hasty to ditch it. What they said is true, and something I had noticed when reading it: The author, Miranda Popkey, uses a very conversational writing style in which she is telling us about various things that happened to her. All of the dialogue between her and other people is filtered through her in this "re-telling" manner, making her something of a possibly unreliable narrator. And there are scattered sentences and ways that she writes about things that I really like. But I just am not vibing with the subject matter, which is a lot of navel-gazing about her bad romantic and friendship choices, and as for the innovative use of language, Ali Smith does it so much better (seriously, if you haven't read There But For The you should check it out).

So I read some more last night and today at lunch, and now I'm up to 60% read. But I am still ambivalent about finishing it, which probably means I should throw it overboard and start fresh with something else. Sigh.

156charl08
huhtikuu 30, 2021, 2:59 am

>155 rosalita: Sorry to read this one isn't working for you Julia. Will the book group post a list of planned books, or are they chosen by the members?

Thank you for posting the crime list >136 rosalita: - I requested The Silver Collar from the library and it's proving a great shift in pace from my previous reads. Although the author writes one character in italics, which annoys me as a rule.

157rosalita
Muokkaaja: huhtikuu 30, 2021, 6:51 am

>156 charl08: Hi, Charlotte! Merriam-Webster seem to be announcing as they go; I do wish they'd post a list of the next 3 or 4 selections so I would have a better shot at getting them from the library in a timely fashion. I was fortunate(?) that this one was instantly available, although maybe that should have given me pause!

I'm glad you found a good one from the crime list. I'm making note of the one you liked, because I want to check out more of those that I haven't even heard of. Surely that's a better use of my reading time than slogging through a book I don't love?

158katiekrug
huhtikuu 30, 2021, 9:02 am

>155 rosalita: - I say ditch it. Life's too short!

159rosalita
Muokkaaja: huhtikuu 30, 2021, 3:16 pm

>158 katiekrug: Maybe ...

160BLBera
toukokuu 2, 2021, 10:04 am

Hi Julia. It's hard to ditch a book you're already halfway through, and I speak as one who has a REALLY hard top DNFing books. But I did it recently with The Other Einstein, and I think I'm with Katie on this.

161rosalita
toukokuu 2, 2021, 1:14 pm

>160 BLBera: Hi, Beth. I haven't officially DNF'd it, but I already started a d finished another book so I know it's not just that I'm in a reading funk. I think it's just a matter of time until I make it official. :-)

162rosalita
toukokuu 3, 2021, 4:59 pm

The new thread is up, sans touchstones (mostly). But come on over and say hi, anyway.
Tämä viestiketju jatkuu täällä: rosalita ROOTs around in 2021 - page 4.