Laurel's 2021 Lists and Leftovers

Overview:
I always want to read far more than I will ever accomplish. And I have over 2,000 books in my TBR lists. So I like to create various lists from which I pick books. I don't try to read a certain number of books from these lists. Some are fixed lists, and some are random, and there are always leftovers from previous years that I still want to read. This helps these books to not get lost in the ever expanding TBR!

1. Themes
I like to pick an annual theme every year. And then there are always leftovers! I never seem to be able to let go of a theme. I keep adding new titles year after year! These end up as one of my "Random Reads" categories (see below.) I also usually have several mini-themes.

2. Random Reads
I draw 30 titles from my TBR lists to highlight as Random Reads each year. This is no guarantee that I will read many of them, but it gives me something besides leftovers to read, and brings long buried items to the fore. Previous Random Reads either just go back into the TBR ocean or they might be added to the Leftovers list.

3. Book clubs and online group reads
My face to face group, Daytimers, is a guaranteed 12 books. I usually have at least one theme within this group to help me pick titles. Our theme for 2021 is Libraries and titles with "Book" in the title. I read other online group picks as I please.

4. A Good Yarn - Reading the Alphabet
This is another face to face book group that I am in, but we pick monthly themes rather than titles. I'm also reading at least one book for each letter. We'll finish "reading the alphabet" in June with two themes for each letter and then I am not sure what we will do. Probably start the alphabet over again - LOL! Right now I'm leaning toward geographical places "reading around the world."

5. Authors and series
I'm not picking an author of the year this year, but I have a multi-year goal to reread all of the Outlander books. I also like to list some prioritized authors and series that I want to start, continue, or finish.

6. Leftovers and library books
A combination of old and new. Sort of a catch-all for anything that doesn't fit above.

My overall goal is 48 books - I want to be a little more relaxed this year! I hope to read at least 15,000 pages.

Finally, I don't like the limitations of Goodreads 1-5 star rating system, so I add colors to my ratings to give it a little more nuance. Here is my rating scale but it isn't an exact science:
Ratings
5 + stars = Gold (Gold medal, nothing higher. Well maybe Platinum but let's not go there....)
5 stars = Purple (Grand Champion ribbon)
4.5 = Blue (Blue ribbon, 1st prize)
4 stars = Red (2nd prize ribbon)
3.5 = Pink (tickled pink, in the pink, ...but not quite red?)
3 stars = Green (Green for Go, not outstanding, but I'd read more by this author - or not)
2.5 stars =Yellow (Caution)
2 stars = Orange (Hazard Warning, LOL!)
1 star = Black (Black-balled)
DNF (not rated) = Gray

THEMES
I have several ideas for themes this year. So I don't seem to have an annual one. WINTER is a big one, but not sure I'd call it my "annual" theme. A Daytimer's theme is LIBRARIES and books with BOOK in the title, but I don't think that is my annual theme either. The ODYSSEY is a theme I have wanted to do for awhile, but I think it will end up being a multi-year theme... I'm not going to post my lists of titles here (I do that on Goodreads) - just the ones I've read.

1. Winter
READ The Winter Hare

2. Libraries and Books
READ The Library Book
READ The Book of Boy
READ The Lions of Fifth Avenue
READ The Transatlantic Book Club
READ The Book of Longings
READ The Book of Lost Friends

3. The Odyssey

4. The Plantagenets/Wars of the Roses

RANDOM READS
30 titles drawn at random from the TBR ocean... These are all new this year. Previous Random Reads that I still want to keep on the radar are under Leftovers. I draw 6 titles for 4 categories, and 2 smaller categories of 3 titles (I split series into two groups of three. I'll list the titles, and mark them READ when I have read them.

Non-fiction:
Decoding the Celts: Revealing the legacy of the celtic tradition
Agincourt: Henry V and the Battle that Made England
Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History

Wales/Arthurian:
The Snowdonia Killings
Crimson Shore
The Chinese Sailor by Allan Jones

Next-in-Series:
Real Tigers
Demons are a Ghoul's Best Friend
The Dark Rose

New Series:
A Mortal Bane
Hot Tea & Cold Murder
Ink and Bone

Old Themes:
Bel Canto (music)
Black Dove White Raven (birds)
The Odyssey
142 Ostriches (birds)
The Butterfly and the Violin (music)
READ Peregrine

Historical Fiction:
The Game's Afoot
Bertie And The Tinman
Simon the Fiddler
In the Company of the Courtesan
Minds of Winter
The Second Sleep

Other Fiction:
The Cornish Coast Murder
Margot
The Secret Keeper
The Department of Sensitive Crimes
The Murmur of Bees
The Eight

BOOK CLUBS

Daytimer's Book Club
Read all 12.

READ Jan: Non-fiction: The Library Book
READ Feb: Woman author: Mrs. Everything
READ Mar: Prize Winner/Nominee: The Dutch House
READ Apr: Children's fiction: The Book of Boy
READ May: Suspense/Thriller: The Secrets We Kept
READ Jun: Mystery fiction: The Lions of Fifth Avenue
READ Jul: Contemporary fiction: Dear Edward
READ Aug: Memoir: The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir
READ Sep: Historical fiction: The Book of Longings
READ Oct: Laurel's Choice: The Book of Lost Friends
READ Nov: Books to TV: Normal People
READ Dec: Love stories: One Day in December

Perspectives Book Club
Jan: Cantoras
Feb: This Is How It Always Is
Mar: Sing, Unburied, Sing
Apr: The Year of Magical Thinking
READ 2010 May: The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey
READ 2019 Sep: Pachinko
READ Oct: Left Neglected
READ 2020 Nov: The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
(postponed until Jan. 2022) Dec: The Philosophical Baby: What Children's Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life

Online group reads:
The Crystal Cave March pick, The Reading Loft

A GOOD YARN
A book club with monthly themes or challenges. I'll just list what I've finished reading here, but I will list all the themes...

JANUARY:
U is for Un-

U is for Under
Under the Wide and Starry Sky

Title beginning with U:
Under the Wide and Starry Sky

FEBRUARY:
V is for Victorian
Death at Bishop's Keep

V is for Valley

Title beginning with V:

MARCH:
W is for Who, What, Why, When, or Where
Where the Forest Meets the Stars

W is for Wives
The Chocolatier's Wife

Title beginning with W:
Where the Forest Meets the Stars

APRIL:
X is for X marks the spot Read a book about pirates or buried treasure.
Blood and Treasure - not exactly "buried" treasure, but close enough....

X is for any X in the title, author, or location

Title beginning with X (or maybe that contains an X):

MAY:
Y is for Yarn
Murder in a Scottish Shire

Y is for Yellow

Title beginning with Y:

JUNE:
Z is for words in the title beginning with Z

Z is for words in the title containing a double Z
Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon

Title beginning with Z:

JULY:

AUGUST:

NEW CHALLENGE: Geography A-Z
SEPTEMBER: (A)
The Alehouse Murders

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER: (B)
The Bungalow
The Giver of Stars (Baileyville, Kentucky)
Left Neglected (Boston)

DECEMBER: (C and bonus - Christmas)

Leftovers from 2020:
B is for Body Parts

I is for Ice

J is for Jungle

J is for Japan

Title beginning with J

O is for One

P is for Pioneers

Q is for Queens

T is for Trees

AUTHOR AND SERIES

Diana Gabaldon
Reread the whole Outlander series...

Madeleine L'Engle
A "leftover" author. Still want to read more of hers.
READ 2018 Ilsa

------------------------------------------
READ 2019 A Wrinkle in Time
READ 2019 A Wind in the Door
READ 2019 Many Waters
READ 2020 A Swiftly Tilting Planet
------------------------------------------

Other leftovers from previous years:
Alexander McCall Smith:
44 Scotland Street series:
#09 Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers

Corduroy Mansions series:
#3 A Conspiracy of Friends

Rita Mae Brown:
Mrs. Murphy series:
#13 Cat's Eyewitness

Alan Bradley:
Flavia de Luce series (reread):

Next in series of recently read books:
READ The Mistletoe Matchmaker (Finfarran #3)
The Transatlantic Book Club (Finfarran #4)
Key Witness by Morley Torgov (Hermann Preiss #2)
Two for Joy (John the Eunuch #2)
A Rose for the Crown (not really a series, but the next book chronologically...Wars of the Roses)
READ All Things Bright and Beautiful (James Herriot #2)
All Things Wise and Wonderful (James Herriot #3)
The Chocolatier's Ghost
Death at Gallow's Green
Murder in a Scottish Garden
READ Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon
We'll Always Have Parrots
Death of a Squire (Templar Knight series #2)

LEFTOVERS

Themes
Stars:
READ Where the Forest Meets the Stars
READ Under the Wide and Starry Sky
READ Mud and Stars: Travels in Russia with Pushkin, Tolstoy, and Other Geniuses of the Golden Age

Macbeth/Thorfinn/Vikings:

Random Reads
Wales/Arthurian:

Next in Series:

New Series:

Themes (old and new):
READ The Chocolatier's Wife (Wife titles)

Historical Fiction:

Other:

From the library:
READ Boone: A Biography

The 12 Oldest in My TBR Ocean:

January plans:

Currently reading:
READ Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia
READ War and Peace
READ Troubled Blood
READ The Mistletoe Matchmaker
One for Sorrow
Queen By Right
Outlander (reread)

Next up:
READ Mud and Stars: Travels in Russia with Pushkin, Tolstoy, and Other Geniuses of the Golden Age
READ The Library Book (for Daytimers)
READ Under the Wide and Starry Sky (for A Good Yarn)
Untimely Death (for A Good Yarn)
READ Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America's First Frontier (Netgalley ARC)

#1 Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia
Finished Jan 18, 2021
5 gold stars.
Leftover themes: Russia

Can't really improve on the description below, for what this book is about. Non-fiction at its best. 5 enthusiastic gold stars. I read this alongside War and Peace and it was the perfect companion for that great novel.

Book Description:
Beginning in the eighteenth century with the building of St. Petersburg-a 'window on the west'-and culminating with the challenges posed to Russian identity by the Soviet Regime, Figes examines how writers, artists, and musicians grappled with the idea of Russia itself-its character, spiritual essence, history, and destiny. What did it mean to be Russian-an illiterate serf or an imperial courtier? And where was the true Russia-in Europe or in Asia? Figes skillfully interweaves the great works-by Dostoevsky and Chekhov, Stravinsky and Chagall-with folk embroidery, peasant songs, religious icons, and all the customs of daily life, from eating, drinking, and bathing habits to beliefs about death and the spirit world. His fascinating characters range high and low: the revered Tolstoy, who left his deathbed to search the wilderness for the Kingdom of God; the serf girl Praskovya, who became Russian opera's first superstar, won the heart of her owner, and shocked society by becoming his wife; the composer Stravinsky, who returned to Russia after fifty years in the West and discovered that the homeland he had left had never left his heart. Like the European-schooled countess Natasha performing an impromptu folk dance in Tolstoy's War and Peace, the spirit of 'Russianness' is revealed by Figes as rich and uplifting, complex and contradictory-a powerful force that unified a vast and riven country and proved more lasting than any Russian ruler or state.

Pages: 728

#2 War and Peace
Finished Jan 23, 2021
5 blue stars.
Leftover themes: Russia

Despite the length of this classic, it is surprisingly readable. The characters are just so marvelously described and developed. Yes, there's a lot of extra sometimes tedious exposition and interpolation of Tolstoy's philosophies, which kept me from giving it a purple or gold star. My sister asked me "What is it about?" and I struggled to give her a brief answer. But this summary from Penguin Random House is as good as any: "War and Peace broadly focuses on Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812 and follows three of the most well-known characters in literature: Pierre Bezukhov, the illegitimate son of a count who is fighting for his inheritance and yearning for spiritual fulfillment; Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, who leaves his family behind to fight in the war against Napoleon; and Natasha Rostov, the beautiful young daughter of a nobleman who intrigues both men. As Napoleon’s army invades, Tolstoy brilliantly follows characters from diverse backgrounds—peasants and nobility, civilians and soldiers—as they struggle with the problems unique to their era, their history, and their culture. And as the novel progresses, these characters transcend their specificity, becoming some of the most moving—and human—figures in world literature." And even more briefly, I suppose I would say it is about the search for spirituality and meaning. People go through life, and things happen, and they make choices, and they change.

Reading update (April 2020): I've abandoned my Barnes and Noble Classics edition in favor of this Oxford World's Classics edition. Both translated by the Maudes, but this edition restores the French language passages (with translation) and the Russian forms of names. And I think this editor has made some changes with the dialects too. I'll have to compare some passages. I reset the date started to today - I wasn't so far that I couldn't start over. I also have the Pevear translation and I may or may not keep reading that one alongside. That makes a lot of extra reading! My problem with the Pevear is that on the Kobo version I bought long ago, there are two sets of footnotes and one of them is not highlighted, which means going back and forth in a convoluted manner and it's very annoying. I do like the translation though.

Reading update (January 2021): Reading the epilogues, I am particular struck by how current Tolstoy's comments are. I could draw multiple parallels between our political situation here in the U.S. following the election, the insurrection attempt, the divide between Trumpism and the truth. Not hard to replace Napoleon with Trump in his analysis.

Description of this edition: Published to coincide with the centenary of Tolstoy's death, here is an exciting new edition of one of the great literary works of world literature. Tolstoy's epic masterpiece captures with unprecedented immediacy the broad sweep of life during the Napoleonic wars and the brutal invasion of Russia. Balls and soir�es, the burning of Moscow, the intrigues of statesmen and generals, scenes of violent battles, the quiet moments of everyday life--all in a work whose extraordinary imaginative power has never been surpassed. The Maudes' translation of Tolstoy's epic masterpiece has long been considered the best English version, and now for the first time it has been revised to bring it fully into line with modern approaches to the text. French passages are restored, Anglicization of Russian names removed, and outmoded expressions updated. A new introduction by Amy Mandelker considers the novel's literary and historical context, the nature of the work, and Tolstoy's artistic and philosophical aims. New, expanded notes provide historical background and identifications, as well as insight into Russian life and society.

Pages: 2078

February plans:

Still reading:
READ Troubled Blood - paused
READ The Mistletoe Matchmaker
Queen By Right

Started in Jan:
READ Mud and Stars: Travels in Russia with Pushkin, Tolstoy, and Other Geniuses of the Golden Age
READ The Library Book (for Daytimers)
READ Under the Wide and Starry Sky (for A Good Yarn)

Next up:
Untimely Death (for A Good Yarn) - this may have to be a "leftover" for later...
READ Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America's First Frontier (Netgalley ARC)
One for Sorrow - started last year
READ The Winter Hare and
READ Peregrine - just got through ILL and need to prioritize.

Possibly:
READ All Creatures Great and Small - just got on Audible. Been watching the new TV series and it has me wanting to reread these books!

Also need to come up with my V books for A Good Yarn. Maybe:
READ Death at Bishop's Keep or
A Dangerous Duet for "Victorian"
Lonely is the Valley for "Valley"
Veil of Lies for a V title, or maybe
The Valley for "Valley" AND a V title...

#3 The Winter Hare
Finished Feb 15, 2021
Themes: Winter
5 blue stars - Historical fiction for young teens (ages 10-15?).

I thoroughly enjoyed this tale of a young page set during the 12th-century civil war between the Empress Matilda and Stephen of Blois. Young Will, called Rabbit, is enamored of tales of King Arthur recently written by Geoffrey of Monmouth. He longs to become a knight, although he is behind in his training and small for his age, due to a bout with the pox. He sets out with his older brother John to serve with his uncle, the earl of Oxford. Almost immediately they are beset by brigands roaming the countryside, and take refuge at the cloister of Godstone. There he befriends the young Simon, studying to become a monk. Simon is the son of Sir Brian Fitz Count of Wallingford. Later Will becomes a frequent visitor at Wallingford where he becomes fast friends with the youngest daughter Edith. She teaches him how to ice skate, which will come in handy later on. At Oxford, Will discovers that his uncle has designs on his father's estate and that he and John are not particularly safe there. The earl's young wife, the Lady Elaine, take Will under her wing, and helps to keep him safe by leaving Oxford with the earl's children, holding them hostage as surety for the safety of John and Will. Nevertheless, John is almost killed by assassins during a battle against King Stephen's forces. Another older page, the mysterious Torrence of Cornwall, called Turtle, who has become a friend and protector, helps Will to save his brother. I loved all of these characters, especially Rabbit, Turtle, Simon, and Edith. And how Rabbit helps the Empress Matilda to escape Oxford Castle when they are under siege by King Stephen caps this adventure tale. It is dense with history, but not above the understanding of its intended readers, ages 10-15. It could perhaps have used a glossary of unfamiliar terms, but that's what dictionaries are for! The sequel, Peregrine, takes up the further adventures of Edith, who has been betrothed to a much older knight as was often the fate of young noblewomen at the time.

Description: Sent to serve as a page in the household of the earl of Oxford, young Will Belet dreams of becoming a valiant knight for the empress Matilda and her son Henry. But there is treachery within the castle as well as danger from without, as the earl leads his forces to battle against King Stephen, the usurper. Before the adventure is over, Will meets the empress, plays a heroic role in her life, and learns that the way of honor is strewn with uneasy truths.

Pages: 2350

#4 Peregrine
Finished Feb 17, 2021
5 blue stars - Loved it!
Random Reads: Old Themes (birds)

This is the kind of historical fiction I would have loved as a young teen (and still do!) While the plot is somewhat improbable, it isn't outside the realm of possibility, even if it does espouse 21st century ideas about women taking charge of their lives, and people of diverse religious beliefs getting along. It was fun to have Edith meet the gamut of historical women along her journey from England to Jerusalem as a pilgrim, from Eleanor of Aquitance, to the women poets and song-writers of Provencal, to Queen Melisende. The only slightly jarring note was including Marjory Kempe as a character, since she lived in the 15th century, not the twelfth!! The author did know that, and said so in a note at the end, but it had me scratching my head. Naturally I loved the character of the Welsh girl, Rhiannon. Will Belet, from The Winter Hare, did not actually appear in this sequel, but he was very much in Edith's thoughts throughout. I would love to see another sequel that continues the love story of Will and Edith, or perhaps a book about Rhiannon. This one is probably for a slightly older audience than The Winter Hare.

Description: Driven by fear that King Stephen will force her to marry the odious Sir Runcival, fifteen-year-old Lady Edith takes leave of Cheswick Manor. In the year 1144 she and her faithful nurse, Dame Joan, set forth on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In going, Edith hopes to close the door on her secret sorrows. Almost at once the pilgrims are waylaid in the King's Forest by Rhiannon, a wild girl who will play a vital role in Edith's life. As they travel from the abbeys and manors of England into unfamiliar lands, Edith finds herself learning and growing in unexpected ways. And though shrines and relics are not what she'd sought, the Holy City of Jerusalem has something wondrous and important to reveal to her.

Pages: 2590

March: Here it is March already, and I only finished the two books above in Feb. So, I still have everything else to finish, plus some new:

READ The Dutch House - for Daytimers

A Good Yarn themes are Who, What, Why, When, or Where; and Wives titles. Choices are:
READ Where the Forest Meets the Stars
READ The Chocolatier's Wife

Maybe, because it is a group read in The Reading Loft (Yahoo group):
The Crystal Cave

#5 The Mistletoe Matchmaker
Finished Mar 5, 2021
3.5 pink stars.
Authors and series: Next in series previously read

Another slow but pleasant meander into the lives of the inhabitants of Lissbeg, this time with the main focus on a new character, Cassie Fitzgerald, come from Canada to stay with her grandparents. If you haven't read the first two books in the series, you really don't have to. I think it could stand alone just fine. However, there are a lot of characters, so it may be easier to keep track of who is who if you have met them before. Despite the title, this isn't a romance, although some (Americans like me) do tend to have romantic notions about small town Ireland! Nor is there much about Christmas. I'll keep on with the series, but a note for Americans that the next book in the series is actually book #5. The fourth one has not yet been published in the US. Still it continues the story of Cassie, and given the slow nature of this series, I don't think much will have been lost.

Description: The days are turning colder, preparations are under way for the Winter Fest, and everyone is hoping for a little holiday magic on the Finfarran peninsula. And as Cassie Fitzgerald, fresh from Toronto, is about to discover, there’s more to the holidays on the west coast of Ireland than mistletoe and mince pies. Enchanted by the small town where her dad was born, Cassie makes friends and joins local librarian Hanna Casey’s writing group in Lissbeg Library. But the more she’s drawn into the festivities leading up to her first Irish Christmas, the more questions she wants to ask. Why does her sweet-tempered grandmother Pat find it so hard to express her feelings? What’s going on between Pat and her miserly husband Ger? What happened in the past between the Fitzgeralds and Hanna’s redoubtable mother Mary Casey? And what about Shay: handsome, funny, smart, and intent on making Cassie’s stay as exciting as he can. Could he be the one for her? As Christmas Eve approaches, it’s Cassie, the outsider, who reminds Lissbeg’s locals that love, family, and friendship bring true magic to the season. But will her own, fractured family rediscover the joys of coming home?

Pages: 2944

#6 The Library Book
Finished Mar 9, 2021
Themes: Libraries and Books
Bookclubs: Daytimers
4 red stars

4 red stars, though I wavered between 3.5 pink and 4 red. I love trivia and this book is full of it. But it got tiring at times and I struggled to want to finish it. It was not very cohesive, but it did manage to cover the entire history of the Los Angeles public library and bring to life some of its more interesting (peculiar?) library directors. As a librarian myself, I had to chuckle at her depiction of libraries, librarians, library patrons, and reference questions. Over all it was a reminder to me of how libraries used to be in the 80s and how much they have changed since then. And it made me glad I chose to be a librarian.

Description: On the morning of April 29, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. As the moments passed, the patrons and staff who had been cleared out of the building realized this was not the usual fire alarm. As one fireman recounted, “Once that first stack got going, it was ‘Goodbye, Charlie.’” The fire was disastrous: it reached 2000 degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library—and if so, who? Weaving her lifelong love of books and reading into an investigation of the fire, award-winning New Yorker reporter and New York Times bestselling author Susan Orlean delivers a mesmerizing and uniquely compelling book that manages to tell the broader story of libraries and librarians in a way that has never been done before.

Pages: 3261

Great to see you've created a thread, Laurel. Enjoying reading your review as you post them today.

#7 The Dutch House
Finished Mar 24, 2021
4 red stars
Bookclubs: Daytimers

I'm giving this 4 red stars purely on the strength of Tom Hanks' acquiescent and dispassionate reading of the hapless Danny Conroy telling the story of his life. At no point whatsoever does Danny exert any attempt to influence the direction of his life, letting his sister choose his career and even his wife. The story told is highly improbable, but also rather mesmerizing. It is almost a modern retelling of Hansel and Gretel - two children turned out by the wicked stepmother. The Gingerbread House is both the home they can't return to, and the source of temptation that will end up consuming them. Maybe this book is awful, and maybe it is brilliant. I can't decide.

Description: At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves. The story is told by Cyril’s son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from and find that all they have to count on is one another. It is this unshakable bond between them that both saves their lives and thwarts their futures. Set over the course of five decades, The Dutch House is a dark fairy tale about two smart people who cannot overcome their past. Despite every outward sign of success, Danny and Maeve are only truly comfortable when they’re together. Throughout their lives, they return to the well-worn story of what they’ve lost with humor and rage. But when at last they’re forced to confront the people who left them behind, the relationship between an indulged brother and his ever-protective sister is finally tested.

(BTW, it took me a while to cotton on that your page numbers are cumulative. At first I thought you were reading some serious door stoppers!).

#8 Mrs. Everything
Finished Mar 25, 2021
3 green stars
Bookclubs: Daytimers

This would have been a "did-not-finish" book for me, except that it was a book club book so I dutifully kept going. It's not a bad book. It's just not a story I found interesting, and I didn't like any of the characters. Forget any parallels with Little Women, unless the point is to take every stereotype about women in the last 70 years and turn it on its head. "Everything" that could possibly happen to women happens here. Explorations of identity and sexuality, the expectation that all women want to be mothers, that women can happily juggle families and career. There is sexual abuse by relatives, rape, unwanted pregnancies, abortion, drug use, and one bad choice after another. Still, for women of a certain age, this is a trip down memory lane, from the 1950's to the present day. And when all is said and done, I'm not sure that things have changed very much where women are concerned.

Description: Jo and Bethie Kaufman were born into a world full of promise. Growing up in 1950s Detroit, they live in a perfect “Dick and Jane” house, where their roles in the family are clearly defined. Jo is the tomboy, the bookish rebel with a passion to make the world more fair; Bethie is the pretty, feminine good girl, a would-be star who enjoys the power her beauty confers and dreams of a traditional life. But the truth ends up looking different from what the girls imagined. Jo and Bethie survive traumas and tragedies. As their lives unfold against the background of free love and Vietnam, Woodstock and women’s lib, Bethie becomes an adventure-loving wild child who dives headlong into the counterculture and is up for anything (except settling down). Meanwhile, Jo becomes a proper young mother in Connecticut, a witness to the changing world instead of a participant. Neither woman inhabits the world she dreams of, nor has a life that feels authentic or brings her joy. Is it too late for the women to finally stake a claim on happily ever after?

Pages: 4014

>19 AlisonY: LOL! Yes, it is a cumulative tally. My goal is 15,000 for the year.

#9 Where the Forest Meets the Stars
5 purple stars.
Finished Mar 26, 2021
Leftover themes: Stars
Bookclub: A Good Yarn

Definitely 5 purple stars. This will be one of my top ten books this year. It's not great literature, but it's great characters (I'm a sucker for smart children, and "wounded" individuals learning to overcome their pain, fear, past, whatever), and it is a feel-good story with a bit of a mystery to solve or be revealed. Just who is Ursa? Of course she isn't really an alien, but why is she all alone? What horrible circumstances made her run away, and how can Jo and Gabe help her? This smart little girl (spoiler alert - she has an IQ of 160...) knows Shakespeare, and astronomy, and when people are lying to her. She will steal your heart. I will definitely read whatever Ms. Vanderah writes next.

Description: After the loss of her mother and her own battle with breast cancer, Joanna Teale returns to her graduate research on nesting birds in rural Illinois, determined to prove that her recent hardships have not broken her. She throws herself into her work from dusk to dawn, until her solitary routine is disrupted by the appearance of a mysterious child who shows up at her cabin barefoot and covered in bruises. The girl calls herself Ursa, and she claims to have been sent from the stars to witness five miracles. With concerns about the child’s home situation, Jo reluctantly agrees to let her stay—just until she learns more about Ursa’s past. Jo enlists the help of her reclusive neighbor, Gabriel Nash, to solve the mystery of the charming child. But the more time they spend together, the more questions they have. How does a young girl not only read but understand Shakespeare? Why do good things keep happening in her presence? And why aren’t Jo and Gabe checking the missing children’s website anymore? Though the three have formed an incredible bond, they know difficult choices must be made. As the summer nears an end and Ursa gets closer to her fifth miracle, her dangerous past closes in. When it finally catches up to them, all of their painful secrets will be forced into the open, and their fates will be left to the stars.

Pages: 4346

#10 Mud and Stars: Travels in Russia with Pushkin, Tolstoy, and Other Geniuses of the Golden Age
4 red stars.
Finished Mar 27, 2021
Leftover themes: Stars, Russia

"We sit in the mud, my friend, and reach for the stars." ~ Turgenev

4 red stars. If Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia is reaching for the stars, this is the book that pulls us back to earth. It's a bit of a rambling journey, and doesn't follow a timeline. The author has apparently made quite a few trips to Russia and her musings on her experiences are not presented in any kind of chronological order. And while she follows in the footsteps of the golden age writers, this is pretty firmly rooted in Russia today. Not being all that familiar with any of these writers, I most enjoyed her descriptions of her travels - learning the language, shopping and cooking in Russia, getting to know her hosts. I was especially fascinated by the "behind the scenes" look at Sochi when the Olympics was held there. Just a lovely balance to the erudition of the other book.

Description: With the writers of the golden age as her guides—Pushkin, Tolstoy, Gogol, and Turgenev, among others—Sara Wheeler searches for a Russia not in the news, traveling from rinsed northwestern beet fields and the Far Eastern Arctic tundra to the cauldron of nationalities, religions, and languages in the Caucasus. Bypassing major cities as much as possible, she goes instead to the places associated with the country’s literary masters. Wheeler weaves these writers’ lives and works around their historical homes, giving us rich portraits of the many diverse Russias from which these writers spoke. Illustrated with both historical images and contemporary snapshots of the people and places that shaped her journey, Mud and Stars gives us timely, witty, and deeply personal insights into Russia, then and now.

Pages: 4650

April plans: Well here it is April already! I am now fully vaccinated and eager to visit my parents (over 90). Not going until Mother's Day weekend...

Today, I am eagerly awaiting delivery of my new Nook tablet. Didn't even know until this week that they were coming out with a new one. I love my Nook HD, but it was discontinued several years ago, and will no longer update Overdrive. I can't put Libby on it and I had to go through my library website rather than the Overdrive app to get my latest ebook on the tablet, so I was looking. I hope the new one does well enough that it isn't discontinued in a couple of years. I probably would have bought a Samsung Galaxy something, but the new Nook was a very competitive price, so I'm taking the chance!

Okay. Still reading and hope to finish soon:
Queen By Right (owned)
READ Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America's First Frontier (ARC from Netgalley)
READ The Chocolatier's Wife (ebook owned) - leftover W theme (Wife) for A Good Yarn
READ Under the Wide and Starry Sky (audiobook from library) - leftover U theme for A Good Yarn

Next up:
READ Troubled Blood (Audible purchase) - started this, but it got interrupted by book club books that had to be finished. Will resume this as soon as I finish Under the Wide and Starry Sky.
The Crystal Cave (owned) - this is the current choice of an online group I belong to, and have not reread this since probably college days?
READ The Book of Boy (from the library) - this month's Daytimer's book club choice.

After that I have way too many choices. Fortunately Blood and Treasure works for this month's A Good Yarn theme. But I am way behind on previous themes.
Aunt Bessie Assumes - another book for this month's X theme - will need to purchase ebook. Not available through the library
Would also like to read
Treasure Island
READ Death at Bishop's Keep - checked out on Overdrive - this is a leftover V (Victorian) theme.

Have also started
Neverhome

No, I won't get all of these read in April....

#11 Under the Wide and Starry Sky
4.5 blue stars - I didn't know anything about Robert Louis Stevenson's life before reading this. Now I really must read Treasure Island. Can't believe I've never read it!
Finished Apr 7, 2021
Bookclub: A Good Yarn
Leftover Themes: Stars

I previously knew almost nothing about the life of Robert Louis Stevenson and his American wife, Fanny Osbourne. So I found this to be very interesting. I didn't find the writing as "lyrical" as Loving Frank, nor did it have the shocker ending of that book, nevertheless I'm giving it a solid 4.5 blue color rating. Fanny was quite a bit older than Louis, previously married and with 2 children. It started out being strongly about Fanny, but once she married Louis, it seemed to be all about him, and how she took care of him. She lived quite a long time after he died, but there was very little about that part of her life. So I do feel she kind of got short shrift here. I had to go looking for more information online to fill in the gaps. Otherwise, this might have been 5 stars. It has also inspired me to read more of Stevenson's fiction. I loved A Child's Garden of Verses when I was young, but surprisingly, I have never read Treasure Island. I must remedy that!

Description: At the age of thirty-five, Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne has left her philandering husband in San Francisco to set sail for Belgium—with her three children and nanny in tow—to study art. It is a chance for this adventurous woman to start over, to make a better life for all of them, and to pursue her own desires. Not long after her arrival, however, tragedy strikes, and Fanny and her children repair to a quiet artists’ colony in France where she can recuperate. Emerging from a deep sorrow, she meets a lively Scot, Robert Louis Stevenson, ten years her junior, who falls instantly in love with the earthy, independent, and opinionated “belle Americaine.”
Fanny does not immediately take to the slender young lawyer who longs to devote his life to writing—and who would eventually pen such classics as Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In time, though, she succumbs to Stevenson’s charms, and the two begin a fierce love affair—marked by intense joy and harrowing darkness—that spans the decades and the globe. The shared life of these two strong-willed individuals unfolds into an adventure as impassioned and unpredictable as any of Stevenson’s own unforgettable tales.

Pages: 5146

#12 The Book of Boy
5 purple stars. A magical tale, much deeper than it first appears. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Finished Apr 29, 2021
Themes: Libraries and Books
Bookclub: Daytimers

I thought this tale was something magical. It started out being ordinary enough, but by halfway through, it had completely changed. To say more would be a spoiler. I'm calling this a coming-of-age tale, because boy comes to learn much about who he is in the course of his journey to Rome with Secundus. His goodness in a world of wickedness is heart-warming, and who can resist talking animals? There is far more here beneath the surface than meets the eye. Everything from what it means to be human, to how we treat people who are different, to what gives life meaning and purpose and even joy. To the critics who objected to the book's religiosity, there is nothing remotely proselytizing here. And why must the author be required to stick to some narrow view of Catholic dogma? She has created a wonderful character in Boy. I was thoroughly charmed, and wouldn't mind rereading the whole book again immediately.

Description: Boy has always been relegated to the outskirts of his small village. With a hump on his back, a mysterious past, and a tendency to talk to animals, he is often mocked by others in his town—until the arrival of a shadowy pilgrim named Secondus. Impressed with Boy’s climbing and jumping abilities, Secondus engages Boy as his servant, pulling him into an action-packed and suspenseful expedition across Europe to gather seven precious relics of Saint Peter. Boy quickly realizes this journey is not an innocent one. They are stealing the relics and accumulating dangerous enemies in the process. But Boy is determined to see this pilgrimage through until the end—for what if St. Peter has the power to make him the same as the other boys?

A Newbury Honor book.

Pages: 5439

>26 WelshBookworm: Right now I'm leaning toward geographical places "reading around the world."

there is a group here called Reading Globally that you might enjoy (tho warning, you'll find tons of books to add to your list that you will want to read immediately) Go here https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/1244/Reading-Globally

Love all of your themes and categories. I am not near that organized, so I kinda depend on the themes that pop up here in Club Read, or in Reading through Time and Reading Globally. Look forward to more of you books!

>23 WelshBookworm: I felt conflicted about Mud and Stars when I read it. I enjoyed the author's insights on the Russian authors, but she had a tenancy to come across like a sarky teenager at times which wound me up.

>28 AlisonY: Ha! Well, yes. That's why I compared Natasha's Dance to the Stars, and this one to the Mud.... I'm really not into Russian authors, except for reading War and Peace all last year. I think I enjoyed more her insights into modern Russian culture.

Admire your reading programme and enjoying your reviews

>25 WelshBookworm: Not too long ago I read a slew of books about Hawaii, and one of the things I learned was the Robert Louis Stevenson was a friend of Liliu'kalani, the last prospective monarch.

>3 WelshBookworm: Lamentably, The Game's Afoot is the title of quite a few books. Is it about Sherlock Holmes? At present I am reading a number of fictional novels about him that were not written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I'd love to know which book you were referencing. Is the one by Davies?

By the way, I am startled at your well-organized plan. I usually just read what comes to hand until I develop a theme in something that interests me. I chose Hawaii when I did because another Club Reader challenged me. I had read Michener's Hawaii, and he felt that was a biased, white-man's view, which it was, of course, although Michener moved to Hawaii and lived there quite a time.

Welcome Laurel! Your reading plans sound very organised!

Finally stopping by and admiring your categories - they are so elaborate. Enjoyed reading all these reviews.

>32 sallypursell: No, that's not the one. Did it link to the wrong book? It's the Band of Brothers: The Game's Afoot by Richard Foreman.

Love Michener! I liked Hawaii, but it wasn't one of my favorites. Also enjoyed Moloka'i

>33 SandDune: >34 dchaikin: Thanks Rhian and Dan. Organizing is half the fun! Unfortunately, I will only get to a fraction of it. I'm already 4 books behind on my goal this year.

And Dan, I'm impressed by your reading of Petrarch and Nabokov. I enjoyed the discussion of the poem you were trying to understand. You have your work cut out for you there!

>36 WelshBookworm: thanks. I’m still trying to figure out how to read Petrarch and I’m half way through and 3 months in.

A couple years ago I read Plutarch’s Lives (yes, I get these two names confused.). I really didn’t like reading it that much, but pushed through and was relieved to be done. But afterwards I was really glad to read it, especially when reading Shakespeare. I’m sort of imagining Petrarch the same way. (Although some people love his poetry. And, in selected pieces I really like it too.)

#13 All Creatures Great and Small
4.5 blue stars - Just as delightful as it was 50 years ago.
Finished May 12, 2021

After enjoying the new TV series this year, these books have been begging to be re-read. I've been streaming the old series, and so I can say many of the episodes from Season One were taken directly from the book. The new series takes considerable liberties. It will be interesting to see where that goes. Anyway, these tales are as delightful as ever and it is a treat to revisit them.

Audiobook read by Christopher Timothy, who starred as James Herriot in the original series.

Description: Delve into the magical, unforgettable world of James Herriot, the world's most beloved veterinarian, and his menagerie of heartwarming, funny, and tragic animal patients. For fifty years, generations of readers have flocked to Herriot's marvelous tales, deep love of life, and extraordinary storytelling abilities. For decades, Herriot roamed the remote, beautiful Yorkshire Dales, treating every patient that came his way from smallest to largest, and observing animals and humans alike with his keen, loving eye. In All Creatures Great and Small, we meet the young Herriot as he takes up his calling and discovers that the realities of veterinary practice in rural Yorkshire are very different from the sterile setting of veterinary school.

I saw you were reading that and was going to suggest the series (problems with posting for some reason), glad you found it. Its a lovely book.

>38 WelshBookworm: appreciate you enjoyed this so much. Back when I was mid-kid age and not at all a reader I gave this one a shot. I think I liked it but I only got a little ways in and then got distracted. But oddly I still think about it a lot.

#14 The Chocolatier's Wife
4.5 blue stars - Fantasy, mystery, and a bit of a love story.
Finished May 14, 2021
Bookclub: A Good Yarn
Leftover Themes: Wife titles

I thought this was well-plotted. The world building is believable, the mystery is satisfying, and it's a bit of a love story as well. The feel here is perhaps similar to the 17th century, with merchants, sea-faring, and a little bit of magic. William is a merchant and a sea-captain, but after nearly losing his life to pirates and a life-threatening storm, he has decided to go into business as a maker of chocolate. William is from the South, which has lost its magic, except for the wise women in each village who are the matchmakers and use their magical divination to find each person's particular "soul mate." It happens that William's future bride (these divinations are done in childhood) is from the North, where magic is still the norm. Naturally, there is much mistrust, misinformation, and prejudice between the two regions. But William and his wife-t0-be have gotten to know each other through letters during the course of his sea-faring career. Now that William has come home to begin his new business, he is accused of murder. The local Bishop has died, presumably after eating poisoned chocolate. Tasmin learns of this, and bucking the convention of waiting for her fiance to summon her, she journeys south determined to clear his name. I loved both of these characters, and William's complicated family relationships. William is decidedly not complicated. He is a down-to-earth simple man, with simple desires, and a strong sense of both duty and kindness, and he takes his wife's magic in stride, and even her pet wind sprites. I am looking forward to reading the sequel, The Chocolatier's Ghost.

Description: Tasmin has never met her bethrothed, the chocolatier William, but from his letters she knows him to be a good, honest man. When she receives news that he is being accused of murder, she gathers her wind sprites and rushes to his remote town to investigate. Facing suspicious townsfolk, gossiping neighbors, and William's own family, who all resent her kind - the sorcerer folk from the North - Tasmin must learn to tell friend from foe, and fast. For the real killer is still on the loose - and is intent on ruining William's family at all cost.

Pages (cumulative) - 6154 (out of a goal of 15000)

>41 WelshBookworm: I read this last year or the previous one. I liked it too, and I liked the method of choosing mates.

I haven't gotten around to the sequel yet.

#15 Troubled Blood
5 purple stars - I never get tired of Robin and Strike. Really, it is their relationship that holds me, more than the mysteries, although I like the complex plotting as well.
Next in Series

I don't know if this should have been 5 purple stars or 5 blue stars, but I don't get tired of these characters, or the relationship between Robin and Strike. The mystery was solid, and I didn't guess who done it. And when all is said and done, I wanted to start it over to see what clues I missed, so purple it is.

Description: Private Detective Cormoran Strike is visiting his family in Cornwall when he is approached by a woman asking for help finding her mother, Margot Bamborough—who went missing in mysterious circumstances in 1974. Strike has never tackled a cold case before, let alone one forty years old. But despite the slim chance of success, he is intrigued and takes it on; adding to the long list of cases that he and his partner in the agency, Robin Ellacott, are currently working on. And Robin herself is also juggling a messy divorce and unwanted male attention, as well as battling her own feelings about Strike. As Strike and Robin investigate Margot’s disappearance, they come up against a fiendishly complex case with leads that include tarot cards, a psychopathic serial killer and witnesses who cannot all be trusted. And they learn that even cases decades old can prove to be deadly . . .

Pages: 7098

Only two books behind my goal now. It seems I never did a May update...

Still need to finish
READ Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America's First Frontier
READ Death at Bishop's Keep
Queen By Right - long paused
One for Sorrow - even longer paused

This month's book clubs:
READ The Secrets We Kept - Daytimers
READ Murder in a Scottish Shire - A Good Yarn (Y is for Yarn)
Yseult: A Tale of Love in the Age of King Arthur - A Good Yarn (Title beginning with Y) and a LONG time leftover....

I keep hearing about Sarah Moss here and on Goodreads, so I requested an ILL of her first book Cold Earth which came yesterday. So adding that to the mix to read NOW, since I won't be able to renew it...

Hi. Just stopping by to let let you know I’m enjoying your reviews. Curious what you will make if Sarah Moss.

>45 WelshBookworm: I love Sarah Moss and I liked Cold Earth a lot, but of all her books it has the most mixed reviews. Some people seem to dislike it but enjoy other books that she’s written.

#16 The Secrets We Kept
Finished May 26, 2021
3.5 pink stars - The story of how the CIA recruited women in their efforts to spread propaganda behind the Iron Curtain, and how a subversive Russian novel was smuggled out of Russia to be published in Italy and the US, and then smuggled back into Russia secretly. This also tells about the lives of women, both Eastern and Western, during the 1950s.
Bookclub: Daytimers

Kudos for being a little bit different, and for telling the interesting story behind the publishing of Doctor Zhivago and the use of literature as a propaganda tool behind the Iron Curtain following World War II. Told from multiple points of view, this was highlighted by having multiple narrators for the audiobook. I enjoyed the inclusion of the lives of Boris Pasternak and his mistress, Olga. But with so many different points of view, there wasn't much character development. I had some trouble keeping track of who was speaking. I would have liked to have had more detail about the CIA and the women who were caught up in working for them. I liked Irina and the story of the "West" might have been stronger if the focus had been more on her. The way it was told, the love story between Sally and Irina felt more like a distraction than an integral part of the story. Otherwise, I might have given this 4 stars.

Description: At the height of the Cold War, two secretaries are pulled out of the typing pool at the CIA and given the assignment of a lifetime. Their mission: to smuggle Doctor Zhivago out of the USSR, where no one dare publish it, and help Pasternak's magnum opus make its way into print around the world. Glamorous and sophisticated Sally Forrester is a seasoned spy who has honed her gift for deceit all over the world--using her magnetism and charm to pry secrets out of powerful men. Irina is a complete novice, and under Sally's tutelage quickly learns how to blend in, make drops, and invisibly ferry classified documents. The Secrets We Kept combines a legendary literary love story--the decades-long affair between Pasternak and his mistress and muse, Olga Ivinskaya, who was sent to the Gulag and inspired Zhivago's heroine, Lara--with a narrative about two women empowered to lead lives of extraordinary intrigue and risk. From Pasternak's country estate outside Moscow to the brutalities of the Gulag, from Washington, D.C. to Paris and Milan, The Secrets We Kept captures a watershed moment in the history of literature--told with soaring emotional intensity and captivating historical detail. And at the center of this unforgettable debut is the powerful belief that a piece of art can change the world.

Books: 16
Pages: 7466

Wow!!!!!!!!! referring to the page number...

>48 WelshBookworm: sounds good.

>49 cindydavid4: The book is 368 pages. I think 7466 must refer to total pages read in some time period.

>49 cindydavid4: Sorry it's my cumulative total for the year. Goal is 15,000.

>52 WelshBookworm: hee I thought it was a typo, got it now!

#17 Blood and Treasure
Finished June 2, 2021
4 red stars - (how could it not be red, given the title....)
Bookclubs: A Good Yarn (X marks the spot)

Not for the faint of heart - the "blood" in the title says it all. You know what you're in for, when the prologue opens with the gruesome torture and murder of Daniel Boone's 16-year-old son. You might also think the authors display a certain amount of glee at all the mayhem that accompanies the clash of cultures, and the white man's determination to push ever farther westward. But there was plenty of savagery on both sides, and you can't "whitewash" the reality away. To be fair, the authors present a balanced account from both sides, going into quite a lot of detail about the underlying political situation, and the machinations of both Britain and Spain in using the native Americans against the colonists in their power struggles. We also get the backstory of Boone's family first settling in Pennsylvania, and then migrating to the Yadkin Valley of North Carolina. My own ancestors went from Pennsylvania and Maryland to the Yadkin Valley, and followed Boone and his sons into Kentucky and then Missouri. I would have liked more scholarly detail - this is more of a popular introduction perhaps, rather than a biography per se. A very good overall history and it presents Daniel Boone as he was - the man, not the legend.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced reading e-copy of the book. I may update my review, once I have seen a print copy (my hold at the library should be available soon) and can assess whether there are maps and illustrations. The ARC had a lot of typos and formatting errors which I hope have been corrected in the final publication.

Book description: It is the mid-eighteenth century, and in the 13 colonies founded by Great Britain, anxious colonists desperate to conquer and settle North America’s “First Frontier” beyond the Appalachian Mountains commence a series of bloody battles. These violent conflicts are waged against the Native American tribes whose lands they covet, the French, and finally against the mother country itself in an American Revolution destined to reverberate around the world. This is the setting of Blood and Treasure, and the guide to this epic narrative is America’s first and arguably greatest pathfinder, Daniel Boone―not the coonskin cap-wearing caricature of popular culture but the flesh-and-blood frontiersman and Revolutionary War hero whose explorations into the forested frontier beyond the great mountains would become the stuff of legend. Now, thanks to painstaking research by two award-winning authors, the story of the brutal birth of the United States is told through the eyes of both the ordinary and larger-than-life men and women, white and red, who witnessed it.

Cumulative pages read in 2021: 7849

>54 WelshBookworm: Yadkin Valley...hmm Would that be where Boone, NC is?

“Cumulative pages” - nice little edit. : )

>55 dchaikin: Boone is more up toward the Cumberland Gap. The Yadkin Valley is farther south and east.

Every month brings new plans, and the beginning of June seems to invite some all summer long plans. Having just finished Blood and Treasure, I have a couple of other Daniel Boone biographies I want to read:
READ Boone: A Biography
Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer
I'll probably stretch those out over the summer at about 10 pages a day,

Another all summer project is the Wolf Hall trilogy. I'm a little late to the party, but this seems like a good time to tackle it.
Wolf Hall will be for June.
Bring Up the Bodies July
The Mirror and the Light August

This group has also got me interested in Sarah Moss so I requested her first book to read. Since it just arrived via Interlibrary Loan, I have to get it read NOW.
READ Cold Earth

A Good Yarn is finishing up the alphabet with Z this month. So we have a word that begins with a z for one theme and a word with a double z for the second theme. I have several ideas for a z word, but probably won't get to it. My double z book is #4 in Donna Andrews' wonderful Meg Langslow series. I read the first three back in 2007 and always intended to read more. The #4 title has a double z word, so here's my excuse to reread the first three first....
READ Murder With Peacocks
READ Murder With Puffins
READ Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos
READ Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon

And, if I get to it, my z word title is
The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise which has been on my TBR for ages.

My Daytimers book club book this month is
READ The Lions of Fifth Avenue

And I'd better stop there.

>57 WelshBookworm: The discussions never close I think, so come on down when you are ready. Would be esp interested in the welsh view of cromwells actions there. IIRC its not good

Glad you’ve caught the Mantel bug. And interesting about the Daniel Boone biographies.

>56 WelshBookworm: ok, thanks.

Oh, but wait! There are several "Welsh" mysteries I want to read this year. Do I add those to my summer plans, or wait until fall... I guess it depends on whether or not I can keep up with Daniel Boone and Wolf Hall....

But here they are:
Anglesey Blue
The Snowdonia Killings
Crimson Shore
The Chinese Sailor: Catrin Sayor Mysteries #1

Notes on Wolf Hall Part One. Chapter I. Across the Narrow Sea. Putney, 1500.

I started this today. I often take notes on books I'm reading - especially complex literary fiction like this is. I don't promise to keep it up. At some point the book takes over.... but for now, here's what I have. There may be spoilers, so don't read these notes if you don't want to be spoiled...

p.3 First line: "So now get up."
The Wheel of Fortune.
The Goddess Fortuna: subject of Skelton's "Magnificence" referenced in frontispiece.
We shall see the rise and fall of Wolsey, More, Cromwell himself, and others.

Thomas Cromwell, ca. age 15, is being beaten within an inch of his life, by his brutal, violent father.

Use of historical present, pronoun "he" - we are inside TC's head, now, and throughout the novel.

Within a page or two we are shown TC's survival instincts, move cautiously inch by inch, don't attract attention, self-effacement but determination, powers of observation, stoicism, acceptance. "I'll miss my dog." Feels no pain, reasoning ability/logic.

Foreshadowing his death? Or the ever present reality of death?

p.4 Then a jarring sentence puts us briefly in Walter's head: "You've done it this time, a voice tells Walter." Then the omniscient 3rd person: "But he closes his ears, or God closes them for him." Referring to Walter, or telling us that Thomas is hearing/imagining Walter's thoughts? Then: "He is pulled downstream" back to Thomas as he loses consciousness.

p.5 His sister Kat - substitute mother. He wants comfort, but doesn't want to "mess her up" with his blood. She is what grounds him: "He feels as if he is floating, and she is weighting him to earth."
p.4 "Her hands empty, she clasps them in violent prayer." Juxtaposition of violence and gentleness - survivor's legacy?

Morgan Williams, Kat's husband
"Welsh and pugnacious."
"Look at you, boy. You could cripple the brute in a fair fight." Obviously TC is big and strong - a match for his father.

p.6 Kat tells Morgan about her father.
"I wonder what I've married into," Morgan Williams says.
Thomas thinks (maybe for the first time) that perhaps Walter killed his mother. But pragmatic: "Kat's what he's got for a mother" now.

p.7 Morgan, future magistrate, rants about Thomas and Kat's father.

p. 8 Walter comes, shouting and kicking doors "with some of his acquaintance." Thomas realizes he can't stay in Putney. If Walter gets after Thomas again, Thomas will kill him "and if I kill him they'll hang me, and if they're going to hang me I want a better reason."

p. 9 Morgan paid for Thomas to learn to read and write. And for all of Morgan's bluster, he's afraid of Walter.
Thomas shows concern for family: " Who's he going to hit when I'm gone?" Sister "Bet is married and got out of it."
Morgan offers money to help Thomas on his way. Kat doesn't want him to go.
p. 10 Thomas wants to go back for his dog, Bella.

p. 11 Thomas takes the money. Says goodbye (and more) in Welsh.
p. 12 Morgan stares. Thomas savors the surprise of himself having learned Welsh hanging around the house. (We'll see more of his facility with languages...)

p.12-13 "he talks to strangers very easily." He is good with horses.
Reasoning out where to go - decides on Dover to take a ship to France.
How old is he? He says 18, then 15. Probably younger - 13?
He makes money in Dover doing card tricks. Spends some on a prostitute. (His first time?) Boards a ship after helping 3 Lowlanders bribe the clerk.
p.14 They leave at Calais. He is not stopping till he gets to a war.

p.15 He drops Kat's holy medal into the sea - an offering? for luck? (Brings us back to Fortuna.)

Oh I love this! Its like me reading it the first time all over again and remembering my thoughts at the time. Pls continue to post your notes.

Feel free to ask if you are confused by names and places. the 'family tree' in the start of the book actually tells you where everyone is placed. So if Thomas is at the rolls house, its cromwel, not thomas norfolk., Very handy to go refer to.

I also like how she uses the third person but people complained about He said, not knowing who. So in the second books you see 'He, Thomas, said"
I could told them that I do love listening to his thoughts .

And please visit the discussion group, its always open!

Notes on Wolf Hall Part One. Chapter II. Paternity, 1527.

A gap of 27 years. Thomas is now 40-42.

p.16 Stephen Gardiner. Tall and skinny, dressed in black, like a crow. Omen of death?
"I'll pray to anyone, till I'm on dry land." He doesn't like being on water. What are his religious beliefs?
Stephen is condescending, critical, arrogant, resentful. "supposedly some sort of semi-royal by-blow."
Brought up by wool-trade people. Thomas knows too much about his past. He is jealous of anyone else getting close to the cardinal.

p.17-19 Cardinal Wolsey. Easy, familiar, teasing. He treats everyone, servants and visitors, the same.
In contrast to the crow, he is "like a leopard." Tall, regal, impressive, but fat. "Even the candles bow civilly to the cardinal."
Thomas is his man of business. He jokes that the cardinal can control the weather - ask God to make the sun come out. ("It has been raining since last September.")
Thomas has just come back from two weeks in Yorkshire. The cardinal has never been to York (considered something of a backwater) even though he is the Archbishop of York.

The cardinal's project is heartily disliked - to divert income from merging some 30 monasteries into revenue for two colleges he is founding: Cardinal College in Oxford, and one in Ipswich.

p.20 There are difficulties. "The people say they are going to kill me." Is it bluster? Thomas will need an armed guard - the cardinal hates any show of force. Would prefer prayer and persuasion.

p. 21-22 The cardinal would like Thomas to be a spy in the queen's household. "Do you have any Spanish?" Thomas doesn't give a straight answer.

The cardinal to Thomas: "If you ever plan to be off your guard, let me know."

King Henry wants to divorce his wife, Katherine and be free to marry again so he can have a son. "If only he wanted something simple. The Philosopher's Stone. The elixir of youth."

p.23 Thomas doesn't know when he was born - "Kat has assigned him a date."

p.24-26 The cardinal considers sending Stephen to Rome. The cardinal has never been to Rome either. Thomas has. "He knows the money markets." Wolsey hopes to convince Henry to stay with Katherine. But he also is making plans for other outcomes.

p. 27 Wolsey reminisces about Henry VII meeting Katherine. Spanish etiquette requires that she remain veiled until her wedding day. "Why may I not see her, have I been cheated, is she deformed...?" Thomas muses that Henry "was being unnecessarily Welsh."

p.29 Thomas's accomplishments (besides being fluent in Spanish): he knows by heart the entire New Testament in Latin, he is at home in courtroom or waterfront, bishop's palace, or inn yard. He can draft a contract, train a falcon, draw a map, stop a street fight, furnish a house and fix a jury. He knows new poetry (in Italian), Plato and Plautus...

The Duke of Norfolk has complained that the cardinal has raised an evil spirit to follow him around. Thomas is highly amused by this notion.

p.30 Rafe Sadler. Ward of TC since age 7 and now his secretary.

Notes on Wolf Hall Part One. Chapter III. At Austin Friars, 1527.

The Wolseys at home. Wife Liz. Another dog named Bella. He gets a letter from his son Gregory (13) away at school. Compared to Thomas at age 13, Gregory is "dutiful." Not a scholar. His Latin is bad.

p.36 Thomas owns a Tyndale Bible. He has also bought a German book - something to do with Martin Luther? Clearly he is interested in Protestant ideas.

p.37 He employed Liz's father, Henry Wykys, shortly after returning to Putney from abroad. Henry knew the boy Thomas. When asked what happened to change him from a fighter to a lawyer, Thomas replies "I found an easier way to be."

p.38 It is revealed he spent time in Antwerp - den of Protestant heretics and the pox (syphilis).

p.40 Thomas ponders what his wife has said about what women will think about Henry divorcing his wife. "Why should my wife worry about women who have no sons..." Is empathy just something "women do?" He can learn from that, he thinks.

Mantel is making him fully human here. "He gathers his papers for the day. Pats his wife, kisses his dog."
And the sun has come out.

#18 Death at Bishop's Keep
3 green stars.
Finished June 5, 2021.
Bookclubs: A Good Yarn (V is for Victorian theme)

Robin Paige is the pen name shared by Susan Wittig Albert and her husband and coauthor, Bill Albert. They are Americans writing for an American audience, so one must forgive the Americanisms. And although this is a cozy mystery, at times the stereotypes bordered on cliche. While I enjoy "fish out of water" characters, is our American heroine really that provocative and shocking to her English acquaintances? She seems quite well-mannered to me - just intelligent and competent - unlike the spoiled and rich heiress next door. It's true though that Americans, in general, don't understand the peculiarities of the British class system. The authors have certainly done a great deal of research and there are lots of nice details - Sir Charles and his interest in photography and forensic science, the popularity of spiritualism and occult societies at the time, and the inclusion of references to real people like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But the dialect of the servants and townspeople - Is that authentic? I found it very distracting and hard to read. Maybe in audio format it would be perfect. And then (SPOILER ALERT!!!) there is the "convenience" of having both of Kate's aunts murdered so that she inherits Bishop's Keep. I know that this sets her up for the rest of the series, but still... And of course, we know that eventually Kate and Sir Charles will be a couple, but that is not developed much at all here. Indeed, they seem to be mainly at odds, and pursuing their own ideas separately. I'm not sure I found their relationship to be compelling enough to stick with the series, except that a peak at the blurb for the next book, tells us that Beatrix Potter will be a character. And I do love Beatrix Potter....

Description: Kate Ardleigh is everything the Victorian English gentlewoman is not--outspoken, free-thinking, American...and a writer of the frowned upon "penny-dreadfuls." Soon after her arrival in Essex, England, a body is unearthed in a nearby archeological dig--and Kate has the chance to not only research her latest story...but to begin her first case with amateur detective Sir Charles Sheridan. Sir Charles is interested in the developing forensic sciences: toxicology, ballistics, fingerprints, X-ray, and crime scene photography. The investigation provides the perfect research background for Kate’s next novel. But the inquisitive writer may be digging too deep–especially when the trail leads her into a secret occult society known as the Order of the Golden Dawn.

Total books: 18
Total pages: 8145

#19 Murder With Peacocks
4.5 blue stars. A reread. Just as fun now as it was then.
Finished June 13, 2021.
Rereading the series (1-3) before reading #4 for A Good Yarn bookclub for this month's theme.

Just as much fun now as it was then. 4.5 blue stars rounded up, which is really high for a 1st of series cozy mystery. The humor and slapstick never quits, but there's still a pretty good plot here. Add in some romance, too. Meg's father can propose to me anytime! Looking forward to revisiting the next in the series.

Book Description
So far Meg Langslow's summer is not going swimmingly. Down in her small Virginia hometown, she's maid of honor at the nuptuals of three loved ones--each of whom has dumped the planning in her capable hands. One bride is set on including a Native American herbal purification ceremony, while another wants live peacocks on the lawn. Only help from the town's drop-dead gorgeous hunk, disappointingly rumored to be gay, keeps Meg afloat in a sea of dotty relatives and outrageous neighbors. And, in the whirl of summer parties and picnics, Southern hospitality is strained to the limit by an offensive newcomer who hints at skeletons in the guests' closets. But it seems this lady has offended one too many when she's found dead in suspicious circumstances, followed by a string of accidents--some fatal. Soon, level-headed Meg's to-do list extends from flower arragements and bridal registries to catching a killer--before the next catered event is her own funeral...

Books read: 19
Pages: 8457

#20 The Lions of Fifth Avenue
4.5 blue stars
Finished June 24, 2021
Book clubs: Daytimers

I almost gave this 5 stars - I enjoyed all the historical detail. I thought the mystery aspect was a fun puzzle to unravel. And it's a love story to books and libraries. I really thought this was based on a true story, but the author's note at the end reveals that the family was fictional. The family dynamics were interesting, and the author especially used the story of Laura Lyons to explore feminism and women's lives during the early 20th century. On the other hand, this is the third book I've read this year with an unexpected lesbian angle, and it's beginning to feel a little gimmicky! The second half of the book, which dealt more with the mystery of the missing books, was much better, and did lead to a satisfying conclusion. On the third hand, she left aspects of Laura Lyons life unresolved or unexplained, like how did she finally end up in London with her lover, and why was her daughter Pearl so secretive about her mother? I wonder what this book might have been if told from Pearl's point of view instead of Sadie's?

Narrated by Erin Bennett and Lisa Flanagan.

Description:
It's 1913, and on the surface, Laura Lyons couldn't ask for more out of life—her husband is the superintendent of the New York Public Library, allowing their family to live in an apartment within the grand building, and they are blessed with two children. But headstrong, passionate Laura wants more, and when she takes a leap of faith and applies to the Columbia Journalism School, her world is cracked wide open. As her studies take her all over the city, she is drawn to Greenwich Village's new bohemia, where she discovers the Heterodoxy Club—a radical, all-female group in which women are encouraged to loudly share their opinions on suffrage, birth control, and women's rights. Soon, Laura finds herself questioning her traditional role as wife and mother. And when valuable books are stolen back at the library, threatening the home and institution she loves, she's forced to confront her shifting priorities head on . . . and may just lose everything in the process.

Eighty years later, in 1993, Sadie Donovan struggles with the legacy of her grandmother, the famous essayist Laura Lyons, especially after she's wrangled her dream job as a curator at the New York Public Library. But the job quickly becomes a nightmare when rare manuscripts, notes, and books for the exhibit Sadie's running begin disappearing from the library's famous Berg Collection. Determined to save both the exhibit and her career, the typically risk-averse Sadie teams up with a private security expert to uncover the culprit. However, things unexpectedly become personal when the investigation leads Sadie to some unwelcome truths about her own family heritage—truths that shed new light on the biggest tragedy in the library's history.

Total books: 20
Total pages: 8811

#21 Cold Earth
4.5 blue stars
Finished June 26, 2021

4.5 blue stars. I don't know what to make of this author, but I'll be thinking about this book for awhile and definitely want to read more of her. What do I even call this? I had it labeled dystopian fiction and took that off. Epistolary? Well, no, not exactly. And it's not about a plague either, exactly, although that is in the background of the story. Is it about grief? Mental illness? Survival? All of that? Although each section of the book is narrated by one of the six characters "in letter form" - the narrative is really more stream of consciousness/memory while they are writing a letter and thinking about the events they are relating. And in the case of Nina, her "letter" is interspersed with her dreams? visions? hauntings? of the Greenlanders they are excavating. This has elements of a dystopia, of survival fiction (although the survival part is always in the future, if that makes any sense. It could be gothic in the sense that at least one of the characters (and the readers?) is haunted by a particular time and place. So is it going to be a ghost story? That's all I'm going to say about this "sort of" psychological thriller. Will definitely read more by this author.

Description: A team of six archaeologists from the United States, England, and Scotland assembles at the beginning of the Arctic summer to unearth traces of the lost Viking settlements in Greenland. But as they sink into uneasy domesticity, there is news of an epidemic back home, and their communications with the outside world fall away. Facing a Greenland winter for which they are hopelessly ill–equipped, Nina, Ruth, Catriona, Jim, Ben, and Yianni, knowing that their missives may never reach their loved ones, write final letters home. These letters make up the narrative of Cold Earth, with each section of the book composed of one character's first–person perspective in letter form.

Total books: 21
Total pages: 9091

please tell me that the total page is a typo.....sounds interesting

It's almost July, so here's my update.

I've added a second reading of Wolf Hall - on audio - to occur simultaneously with the print book.

Waiting for the audiobook of the next Meg Langslow
READ Murder With Puffins

The next Daytimers book club book is
READ Dear Edward

I have talked A Good Yarn into NOT starting our next round of the alphabet until September. That gives me July and August to finish some themes that I had started and then postponed, and to catch up on some I never got to....
Queen By Right
One for Sorrow
Untimely Death
The Valley
Aunt Bessie Assumes
Neverhome
Yseult: A Tale of Love in the Age of King Arthur
Zorrie

And there were more from last year....but I doubt I'll get to any more than the above.

Still reading
READ Murder in a Scottish Shire
READ Boone: A Biography

>68 WelshBookworm: Nice review of Cold Earth, which is already on my wish list.

>69 cindydavid4: LOL

#22 Murder with Puffins
4.5 blue stars - Not as good as the first book, but still a quirky, fun read. This was a reread.
Finished July 5, 2021

Reread 2021: 4.5 blue stars. This didn't quite have the humor of the first book, and I thought the pacing and plot was a bit meandering, but I still love Meg's quirky family, and her boyfriend Michael takes it all in stride. Even his mother's dog, Spike, is included. None of them really shine here the way they did in the first book, especially Meg's father. Monhegan Island is a real place and has inspired artists for over 150 years. https://www.boston.com/culture/new-england-travel/2012/08/26/the-artists-of-main... Meg and Michael run into a very eccentric and curmudgeonly artist while hiking. He later ends up murdered, and we learn that Meg's mother may have had an affair with him before she met her husband, making Meg's father a potential suspect. Every chapter title is a puffin pun, and of course puffins figure prominently in the story. There's even an amusing author character who writes a series of children's books called "The Happy Puffin Family." Light, cozy fun.

Description: In an attempt to get away from her family, Meg and her boyfriend go to a tiny island off the coast of Maine. What could have been a romantic getaway slowly turns into disaster. Once there, they are marooned by a hurricane and that is only the beginning of their problems. Meg and her boyfriend arrive at the house only to discover that Meg's parents, her brother Rob, and her Aunt Phoebe are all there. When a murder takes place, Meg realizes that she and her boyfriend can no longer sit by a cozy fireplace, but must instead tramp around the muddy island to keep try and clear her father who is the chief suspect.

22 books
9411 pages

#23 All Things Bright and Beautiful
4.5 blue stars - a reread and just what I needed this month.
Finished July 31, 2021

A reread for me. I decided this was just the thing to accompany me across Minnesota and South Dakota to visit my father in hospice. Lighthearted, humourous, and wise. James is now married, and Tristan has now joined the practice as a fully qualified vet. He paints a lovely picture of farming in Yorkshire and the state of veterinary medicine just prior to World War II.

Description: All Things Bright and Beautiful is the beloved sequel to Herriot's first collection, All Creatures Great and Small, and picks up as Herriot, now newly married, journeys among the remote hillside farms and valley towns of the Yorkshire Dales, caring for their inhabitants---both two- and four-legged. Throughout, Herriot's deep compassion, humor, and love of life shine out as we laugh, cry, and delight in his portraits of his many, varied animal patients and their equally varied owners.

Total books: 23
Total pages: 9789

August plans: Did not finish anything of my July plans except for Murder with Puffins. My father (91 with Alzheimers) was hospitalized at the end of June and it was determined that he had aspiration pneumonia. He failed the swallow test, and per his advance directive of not wanting to be on feeding tubes if there was no hope of recovery, he was put on "comfort care" as of July 2. My sister and I took turns being with Mom to help with decisions, etc. I went on Monday the 5th, and after finishing Murder with Puffins, I turned to James Herriot as something uplifting and comforting to listen to on the long drive. My sister and I switched again on Friday and I returned home to prepare for a trip that would take me to Scranton, PA for Welsh Heritage Week. I had been asked to teach the Welsh folk dancing class, since we could not bring in the usual instructors from Wales because of Covid. I am one of very few certified Welsh folk dances instructors in the US, so it was a big honor and a huge opportunity for me. My father died on Sunday, July 11, and I left for Scranton on Wednesday, again with James Herriot for company. The next two weeks was a blur of dawn to midnight activity with NO time whatsoever for reading. Ah well. The books are still there now that I am back home.

What I think I can actually finish this month is
READ Boone: A Biography
Queen By Right
Wolf Hall
READ Murder in a Scottish Shire

In the car, I have just started
READ Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos

Waiting for holds on book club books on audio (last month and this month)
READ Dear Edward
READ The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir
I should be able to finish at least one of those.

Waiting in the wings, but maybe not impossible to at least make progress on
Neverhome
The Chocolatier's Ghost
Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer
The Valley

>74 WelshBookworm: Oh I am so sorry for your loss. may his name be a blessing, and memories bring you peace and comfort and strenght

Similiar experience with my mom (in fact yesterday was her yarzhiet 25 years) I am so thankful that we were able to talk near the end, and so thankful Hospice was there through it all - they are truly angels.

>75 cindydavid4: Thank you. We had a good visit and sang some hymns and it was a good last memory. I am much like him, so he will always be with me. The hospice team was great! I am full of gratitude. We will have a memorial service for him in September. My mom is doing very well, and I think it is a relief for her to not have to worry about him any longer. I am beginning to catch up with things after my trips and eager to get back to a reading routine!

Very sad to hear of your recent bereavement - sounds like a tough few weeks with a lot of travelling as well. I'm sure you're exhausted.

>77 AlisonY: Thank you, Alison. I will admit, I don't have a lot of energy. And I've contacted HR this morning to start gathering information on retirement. Was thinking of next spring, but lately I'm getting very impatient!

Notes on Wolf Hall Part Two. Chapter I. Visitation, 1529.

Not a lot to say on this chapter. Noticing several references to the theatrical nature of the court and the church. I suspect there will be much more of this, given the reference to Skelton's morality play "Magnificence" and the quote from Vitruvius "on the theater" in the frontispiece.

"It's hard to escape the feeling that this is a play... And that it is a tragedy." p. 47

"The river shifts beneath them, dim figures in an allegory of Fortune. Decayed Magnificence (Wolsey) sits in the center" p. 50

"The play has turned into some kind of low comic interlude; that, he thinks, is why Patch (the cardinal's fool) is here." p. 53

I'm very sorry to read of your father's passing, Laurel.

>74 WelshBookworm: I am so sorry to hear about your father. Hugs!

Laurel, I'm sorry for your loss. Sounds like you've got a lot going on—I hope Wolf Hall is a good diversion.

#24 Revenge of the Wrought-iron Flamingoes
4.5 red stars - The humor is beginning to pall a little...
Reread, finished August 9, 2021

Originally a 5-star rating, I'm giving the reread 4.5 red stars. It's the same zany fun and oddball characters, but I found it beginning to pall a little by the end. Now, I love historical re-enactments and craft fairs, and we do finally see Meg at her trade of being a blacksmith. I know that "cozies" are "fluffy" by definition, but this seemed like a lost opportunity at adding some depth and development to her characters. Like the first book in the series, I thought Meg's father kind of stole the show, which isn't a bad thing. Still lots of fun, but I might give it a little time before I pick up the next one.

Book Description: Every year, Yorktown, Virginia, relives its role in the Revolutionary War by celebrating the anniversary of the British surrender in 1781. This year, plans include a re-enactment of the original battle and a colonial craft fair. Meg Langslow has returned to her home town for the festivities--and to sell her wrought-iron works of art. Except, of course, for the pink-painted flamingos she reluctantly made for her mother's best friend--she's hoping to deliver them secretly, so she won't get a reputation as "the blacksmith who makes those cute wrought-iron flamingos."

Besides, she has taken on another responsibility--making sure none of her fellow crafters ruin the historical authenticity of the fair with forbidden modern devices--like wrist watches, calculators, or cell phones. She's only doing it to keep peace with the mother of the man she loves. And Michael himself will don the white-and-gold uniform of a French officer for the re-enactment--what actor could resist a role like that?

Meg's also trying to keep her father from scaring too many tourists with his impersonation of an 18th century physician. And to prevent a snooping reporter from publishing any stories about local scandals. Not to mention saving her naive brother, Rob, from the clutches of a con man who might steal the computer game he has invented. It's a tough job--at least, until the swindler is found dead, slain in Meg's booth with one of her own wrought-iron creations.

Total books: 24
Total pages: 10,077

I don’t know how I’ve missed your thread, but I’ve had a lovely catch up on everything you’ve read. So many of my favorites here, as well as some intriguing ones that may wind up on my wishlist.

Retirement plans maybe just went out the window. My landlord (of 15 years) just up and decided he is selling. I don't know how long I have, but he told me to "start looking." My rent here is VERY low (he only raised it once in all that time) and I have had the freedom to create the garden of my dreams. It is my heart and soul, my sanctuary, the longest I have lived in one place, and I am profoundly grieving. Reading has also gone out the window. I'm 66, work part-time, income is adequate, but I basically live paycheck to paycheck. No savings at all. I will have a pension, so that is good.

My heart has fixed on the idea that I will never be happy if I don't have my own place. So I'm suddenly trying to learn about mortgages, and maybe buying will even be "cheaper" than renting. It sure seems like it. Maybe I'm crazy, but....

Wish me luck.

>85 WelshBookworm: Life does like to throw hardballs at us, doesn't it? I'm so sorry to hear your news. I hate change of any kind so I feel your pain. 15 years ago (ironically), my world fell apart with a divorce and job loss. Ultimately (after many tearful nights and a heck of a lot of change), I ended up with a much better life in a different city and a different job. Maybe the universe has a different plan for you that requires an initial nasty kick in the pants. Can you afford to buy the house if you find a renter of your own?

>85 WelshBookworm: Good luck! FWIW I found home owning much cheaper than renting inPlus you get the added fun of your own yard (or not fun depending) and some distance from neighbors. Depends what you are looking for of course.

In your greiving be very careful not to jump in to something. There are folks that would dearly love to rip you off. Stay away from balloon payments, and other ways they use to take your money. Just saying (and good luck!)

>85 WelshBookworm: Oh I am sorry. Having the rug pulled out from under you is never a good feeling, maybe especially right now. Is your landlord the type to cut you any kind of a deal if you were to buy the place, saving them the trouble of putting it on the market? Could you swing a mortgage? I know what it's like to do the paycheck to paycheck thing, though, and that it's a stretch to imagine... But let yourself grieve a bit and then see if anything makes itself clearer.

One thought: I don't know what kind of relationship you have with your landlord, but you might want to double check renters' rights where you are, and whether they're allowed to make you move when they sell. If it's a two family then probably they can do what they want, but there are some solid laws in place to protect renters. And I know this because I bought my middle-income lottery house with a downpayment I got from a settlement with a skeevy buyer who tried to kick me and my son out when my landlord sold the building, when I was living paycheck to paycheck and was really sure we were going to end up in a welfare hotel somewhere. As it turns out, there are REALLY good renter protection laws in New Jersey... I had no idea. Maybe in your state too? But I found a good lefty scourge-of-evil-landlords lawyer who had him quaking in his boots (I put her fees on a credit card and it was worth every cent of interest).

So... maybe not that scenario, but I hope something good presents itself.

I'm sorry you've had a tough time lately. I don't have any practical advice I'm afraid, but I hope everything turns out okay.

#25 Dear Edward
3.5 pink stars. Not a bad book, but it really didn't live up to the hype it has gotten.
Read Aug. 28, 2021
Book club: Daytimers

I guess I'm going to be in the minority on this one. 3.5 pink stars and that might be generous. It's not a bad book at all. But it isn't anywhere near the hype it has gotten. I liked Eddie and Shay and they had a wonderful relationship. I liked the epilogue, although it was perhaps a bit too HEA (happy ever after.) And all in all, as a coming of age story it was satisfying. The author used two real plane crashes as the basis of her research, and the cockpit scene was believable. But too much else in the book just didn't ring true for me. None of the other characters were well developed or even likeable. I really didn't care about anyone's fate but Eddie's. And even Eddie's story didn't really have a lot of emotional impact for me. If you like Hallmark movies, this might be right up your alley. But if you want a powerful examination of grief, maybe try Hamnet.

Description: One summer morning, twelve-year-old Edward Adler, his beloved older brother, his parents, and 183 other passengers board a flight in Newark headed for Los Angeles. Among them are a Wall Street wunderkind, a young woman coming to terms with an unexpected pregnancy, an injured veteran returning from Afghanistan, a business tycoon, and a free-spirited woman running away from her controlling husband. Halfway across the country, the plane crashes. Edward is the sole survivor. Edward’s story captures the attention of the nation, but he struggles to find a place in a world without his family. He continues to feel that a part of himself has been left in the sky, forever tied to the plane and all of his fellow passengers. But then he makes an unexpected discovery—one that will lead him to the answers of some of life’s most profound questions: When you’ve lost everything, how do you find the strength to put one foot in front of the other? How do you learn to feel safe again? How do you find meaning in your life?

Total books: 25
Total pages: 10417

Now that it has been a couple of weeks, I'm beginning to be able to relax a little. I don't have enough information yet (the landlord said he would "talk to me" last week and still hasn't, so I don't know what his actual plans are, or what kind of time frame I am looking at. And I am waiting on a financial planner to get back to me, so I can figure out what is possible as far as income/ retirement etc. I kind of think retirement might not be in the picture for another year at least. That might be okay. I don't want to have to make two major life changes at the same time.

So - plans for September. My dad's memorial service is Sept. 11 in Rapid City, so driving out there again will give me some extended listening time in the car. I'm a month behind with Daytimers, so I'm going to skip
READ The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir for now and start our Sept. book
READ The Book of Longings
The audiobook is at the library waiting for me.

A Good Yarn discussed plans for Sept. and we decided to go ahead with our new geographical alphabet challenge. I'm going to set aside the unfinished "Reading the Alphabet" challenges for now, except maybe for
READ Murder in a Scottish Shire
I'll forge ahead with my two "A" books
Anglesey Blue for a specific place
and READ The Alehouse Murders for a generic place.

I will continue to try and read
Wolf Hall and its sequels by the end of the year, so having that be a much slower and spaced out read will help.
Ditto on the two Daniel Boone books, and
The Valley trilogy.

And we'll see how it goes.

>91 WelshBookworm: hoping for the best, and wish you well

#26 Murder in a Scottish Shire
3 green stars - a mix of good and bad, but over all I liked the characters
Read Aug. 29, 2021
Book club: A Good Yarn (Y is for Yarn theme, and this had balls of yarn on the cover)

There were things I really liked about this book, but there were also some things that I really hated, so I'm giving this a reluctant 3 green stars. What's not to like? Scotland, knitting, a cute kid, and a dog. Right? This is the kind of slow moving cozy, that invites keeping track of all the characters, because you'll get to know just about everyone that Paislee knows in this touristy coastal Scottish town. I like that, but it isn't everyone's cup of tea. Oh yes, there's a grandfather too - who shows up unexpectedly, and there's a mystery attached to him that won't be solved in this book. This one has Hallmark written all over it. HOWEVER, be warned, there is nothing Scottish here. Americanisms are everywhere, and I could blame that on the publisher, BUT the name Paislee should tell you everything you need to know about this book... And can we lose the atrocious - and I do mean atrocious - fake Scottish dialect. "Sairy," for "sorry," stuck out like a sore thumb, except for the one time sorry was used, (and that really stuck out!) Add in "tae" for "to" and all the willnaes and other naes. Arghh! I did like Paislee and her son Brody and her grandfather and I care about whether or not she gets to keep her shop (also not resolved), but if I continue with the series it will have to be an audiobook.

Description: For a twenty-eight-year-old single mum, Paislee has knit together a sensible life for herself, her ten-year-old son Brody, and Wallace, their black Scottish terrier. Having inherited a knack for knitting from her dear departed grandmother, Paislee also owns a specialty sweater shop called Cashmere Crush, where devoted local crafters gather weekly for her Knit and Sip. Lately, though, Paislee feels as if her life is unraveling. She’s been served an eviction notice, and her estranged and homeless grandfather has just been brought to her door by a disconcertingly handsome detective named Mack Zeffer. As if all that wasn't enough, Paislee discovers a young woman who she recently rehired to help in the shop dead in her flat, possibly from an overdose of her heart medicine. But as details of the death and the woman’s life begin to raise suspicions for Detective Inspector Zeffer, it’s Paislee who must untangle a murderous yarn . . .

Total books: 26
Total pages: 10,721

What do you know! I finished a book! Let's hope the reading slump is over.

>93 WelshBookworm: Sounds positively appalling. I did like the way you worked the knitting vocabulary into your description though.

A reprieve for now! The landlord has said he hopes the new buyer will keep me on, and he is writing it up that way. He is staying at least through December. Grateful to have more time to sort through my options, plan retirement (or not), and save a little more money toward having my own place.

I have started
READ The Book of Longings (audiobook in the car)
and I have the ebook of
READ The Alehouse Murders downloaded from the library and will probably start it today.

I don't have much left of
READ Boone: A Biography so I hope to finish that this week.

So relieved! And it feels good to be able to read again!

yay what wonderful news!!!! Your landlord sounds like a good person. What a relief to you!

Thank you. Yes, he has been pretty good to me for 15 years, though he can be something of an airhead, and sometimes getting things done requires many, many reminders.... There is another tenant moving in upstairs on a month to month basis for now - the daughter of a neighbor or something. I hope she is coming this week! I need someone to feed my cats while I am gone for my father's memorial service.

#27 The Book of Longings
5 blue stars - a compelling and mostly satisfying story of a woman living during the time of Jesus
Read Sept. 9, 2021
Book club: Daytimers AND my "Books" theme for the year

If you are expecting this to be a story about Jesus, you will be disappointed. This is thoroughly Ana's story, and although she marries Jesus, she is in exile in Egypt during most of his ministry. Most of what we see of Jesus here only hints at what he would become. So keep an open mind and take this for what it is - an attempt to bring to life the experiences of a woman during a turbulent time in the history of Israel. An educated woman, yet forced to give up any dreams of her own in order to fulfill the wishes of her father in marrying her against her will. A woman who witnesses her best friend sold into slavery for shaming her family by speaking out about her rapist. A woman treated as both a widow and a whore after the death of her fiance. A woman rescued from stoning by Jesus. A woman influenced by her aunt who spent 8 years among the Therapeutae of Egypt - a Gnostic sect who sought "wisdom" above all else. A woman who prays to the goddess Sophia, not the patriarchal god Yahweh. Her father works for Herod Antippas. Her brother is Judas, an agitator fighting to free Israel from Rome. We do see the contrast between his idea of the Kingdom of God, brought about through the rise of a King who would lead a rebellion, and Jesus's idea of a more spiritual kingdom, preaching love and compassion and social justice. While I don't need Jesus to be the literal "Son of God," he had to have been a most extraordinary person. His followers were clearly changed by his teachings and his presence, both before and after the crucifixion. If I have a complaint, it is that Ana seems unchanged by her marriage to him. She witnesses the crucifixion, but returns to Egypt following the burial. If his death helped her to "find her voice" I didn't see it. Still, I found Ana's story to be compelling and satisfying.

Description: Sue Monk Kidd brings her acclaimed narrative gifts to imagine the story of a young woman named Ana. Raised in a wealthy family with ties to the ruler of Galilee, she is rebellious and ambitious, with a brilliant mind and a daring spirit. She engages in furtive scholarly pursuits and writes narratives about neglected and silenced women. Ana is expected to marry an older widower, a prospect that horrifies her. An encounter with eighteen-year-old Jesus changes everything. Ana's pent-up longings intensify amid the turbulent resistance to Rome's occupation of Israel, partially led by her brother, Judas. She is sustained by her fearless aunt Yaltha, who harbors a compelling secret around the loss of her own daughter. When Ana commits a brazen act that puts her in peril, she flees to Alexandria, where startling revelations and greater dangers unfold, and she finds refuge in unexpected surroundings. Ana determines her fate during a stunning convergence of events considered among the most impactful in human history.

Cumulative pages total: 11,137

#28 Boone: A Biography
3 green stars - a good read, but difficult to sort out fact from fiction.

A dense and well-researched book, but this is more about Daniel Boone, the legend, than it is about Daniel Boone, the man. It lacks the historical context of Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America's First Frontier, and I had trouble sorting out what was presented as fact or fiction. This did go into much more detail about Daniel Boone's life after Kentucky, and I thought the author's musing on Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman was interesting, but it wasn't compelling. It is a good presentation of what others wrote about Boone, his life, and his impact. More philosophical and poetical, than historical.

Description: The story of Daniel Boone is the story of America—its ideals, its promise, its romance, and its destiny. Bestselling, critically acclaimed author Robert Morgan reveals the complex character of a frontiersman whose heroic life was far stranger and more fascinating than the myths that surround him. This rich, authoritative biography offers a wholly new perspective on a man who has been an American icon for more than two hundred years—a hero as important to American history as his more political contemporaries George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. Extensive endnotes, cultural and historical background material, and maps and illustrations underscore the scope of this distinguished and immensely entertaining work.

Cumulative pages: 11,675

#29 The Latehomecomer
4 red stars
Book club: Daytimers

A very personal look at being a Hmong refugee, told through Yang's relationship with a beloved grandmother. The strength of this book is in the stories and customs passed down through oral tradition to Kalia. The audiobook is narrated by the author. Her childlike, high-pitched, tentative voice adds a certain pathos to the stories, especially her remembrances as a child. It provides a look at the complexities of bridging two cultures, making a home in a radically different part of the world, and is a reminder that almost everyone in this country is an immigrant, or has an ancestor who was an immigrant.

Description: Kao Kalia Yang was born in 1980 a Hmong refugee camp in Thailand. Her people had fought alongside the Americans in the Vietnam War, but in the tumult that followed, they spent years without a real home. Though her grandmother was reluctant to journey even farther from her birthplace than they already had, the family convinced her that America was their best option. Landing first in California, they eventually settled in St. Paul, Minnesota. Like so many other immigrants, the adults worked long hours, sacrificing in order to give their children opportunities to succeed and reflect well on their community. But the Hmong faced unique challenges, coming from a rain forest as a little-known ethnic group that did not have a written language of its own. Yet, Yang would eventually grow up to write this memoir—“a narrative packed with the stuff of life” (Entertainment Weekly) that would become a winner of the Minnesota Book Award, a finalist for a PEN Award, and one of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Big Read selections.

Cumulative pages: 11,952

Almost October. I am 6 books behind in my goal. Not impossible, but I'll have to read 6 books a month through the rest of the year.

I got caught up with my Daytimers group. Yay! This month's book is
READ The Book of Lost Friends

Farther behind in A Good Yarn. Nevermind the previous alphabet challenge. I haven't finished the new A books for September:
READ The Alehouse Murders
Anglesey Blue
My B choices:
One for Sorrow - Set in Byzantium. It would also complete "O is for One" from the previous challenge.
READ The Bungalow
and maybe Backyard

Currently reading:
READ The Transatlantic Book Club

And waiting for this via ILL:
READ Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon

Oh yes - my long read of
Wolf Hall

Well that should keep me busy!

I'm home sick this week. Probably a cold, but one can't make assumptions in a Covid world. Couldn't get a test until tomorrow morning... It's mostly head congestion, no fever to speak of, and I take comfort in still being about to taste and smell (!) so....

In between working on genealogy, I'm trying to make some progress on reading. But I can't generate much enthusiasm for cozy mysteries right now, so I've started Anglesey Blue which is billed as "a gripping serial killer thriller" by Dylan H. Jones. Anybody read that one? I'm having fun looking up places mentioned on Google Maps - Moelfre, Cemais, Llangyfni, etc...

never mind, think I answered my own question

>103 cindydavid4: Okay, now I'm going to wonder all night...

>104 WelshBookworm: ha, sorry! Im always amazed when I see Welsh written, and had wondered if it was Gaelic or Celtic. I googled and found out that Welsh is apparently a Brythonic language, meaning British Celtic in origin and was spoken in Britain even before the Roman occupation. Thought to have arrived in Britain around 600 BC, the Celtic language evolved in the British Isles into a Brythonic tongue which provided the basis not only for Welsh, but also Breton and Cornish. Gaelich is Irish and Scottish. The spelling is so incredibly different from English, yet it shares some similarites with Irish. . Just wanted more info on how all this worked

>102 WelshBookworm: >105 cindydavid4: i have just started a course in beginners Welsh a couple of weeks ago. It’s incredibly good value for money at £45 for a year’s course, two and a half hours of tuition on zoom a week and a very comprehensive interactive website for self-study. I’m not 100% a beginner as I studied it at school, and I’m very familiar with how it looks. To me Breton and Welsh look definitely similar, but Scottish and Irish Gaelic look (and sound) very different indeed.

>106 SandDune: What's the website?

#30 The Transatlantic Book Club
3.5 pink stars rounded up - I am still enjoying this series!

This is book #4 as published in the US (#5 in the UK). It continues with Cassie and her grandmother Pat as the main characters. Of course we also see Hanna, Mary, Fury (and The Divil) and the library is featured once again. I thought this story held together a little better than the previous books, with fewer characters and without so many competing story lines. I'll continue reading this series.

Description: Eager to cheer up her recently widowed gran, Cassie Fitzgerald, visiting from Canada, persuades Lissbeg Library to set up a Skype book club, linking readers on Ireland's Finfarran Peninsula with the US town of Resolve, home to generations of Finfarran emigrants. But when the club decides to read a detective novel, old conflicts on both sides of the ocean are exposed and hidden love affairs come to light. As secrets emerge, Cassie fears she may have done more harm than good. Will the truths she uncovers about her granny Pat's marriage affect her own hopes of finding love? Is Pat, who's still struggling with the death of her husband, about to fall out with her oldest friend, Mary? Or could the book club itself hold the key to a triumphant transatlantic happy ending?

Cumulative annual pages: 12,336

#31 Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon
5 blue stars - This was just so much fun!
Book club: A Good Yarn, Z challenge (title with a double z in it)

5 blue stars. This was just so much fun! All the favorite characters are back: Meg and her wannabe-detective dad, her hapless brother Rob, who somehow is the owner of a multi-million-dollar company now that his role-playing game, Lawyers from Hell, has been turned into a computer game. Michael is mostly absent - he's in California filming a movie, and Meg is left with his mother's dog Spike, since she apparently is allergic to it. Meg has injured her hand trying to do blacksmithing in their tiny apartment (The Cave), so she is temporarily helping her brother organize his new company. You can imagine the cast of young, nerdy, computer geeks that work for Rob. Plus they share office space with a bunch of psychotherapists who don't seem to get along with each other. One of them has come up with a talking "Affirmation" bear and created dozens of them. Just wait until the computer geeks get a hold of them! The author also pokes fun at gamers, romance novelists, and karate. Oh - and one more comment - "Nude Lawyers From Hell"....

Description: Poor Meg Langslow. She's blessed in so many ways. Michael, her boyfriend, is a handsome, delightful heartthrob who adores her. She's a successful blacksmith, known for her artistic wrought-iron creations. But somehow Meg's road to contentment is more rutted and filled with potholes than seems fair. There are Michael's and Meg's doting but demanding mothers, for a start. And then there's the fruitless hunt for a place big enough for the couple to live together. And a succession of crises brought on by the well-meaning but utterly wacky demands of her friends and family. Demands that Meg has a hard time refusing---which is why she's tending the switchboard of Mutant Wizards, where her brother's computer games are created, and handling all the office management problems that no one else bothers with. For companionship, besides a crew of eccentric techies, she has a buzzard with one wing---who she must feed frozen mice thawed in the office microwave---and Michael's mother's nightmare dog. Not to mention the psychotherapists who refuse to give up their lease on half of the office space, and whose conflicting therapies cause continuing dissension. This is not what Meg had in mind when she agreed to help her brother move his staff to new offices. In fact, the atmosphere is so consistently loony that the office mail cart makes several passes through the reception room, with the office practical joker lying on top of it pretending to be dead, before Meg realizes that he's become the victim of someone who wasn't joking at all. He's been murdered for real.

Cumulative annual pages: 12,656

#32 The Book of Lost Friends
5 blue stars - Right up my genealogy alley!
Book club - Daytimer's
Themes: "Book" titles.

5 blue stars. This tickled my genealogy funny bone. History, lost family, family secrets, and a believable love story. Maybe two love stories. Lisa Wingate may have a "formula" but there's nothing wrong with stories where you know what you're going to get. I liked Benedetta and her determination to be a good school teacher. Plenty of wounded characters, and they all find healing in the end. It also has something to say about the black experience, and racial inequity.

Description: Louisiana, 1875: In the tumultuous era of Reconstruction, three young women set off as unwilling companions on a perilous quest: Hannie, a freed slave; Lavinia, the pampered heir to a now destitute plantation; and Juneau Jane, Lavinia’s Creole half sister. Each carries private wounds and powerful secrets as they head for Texas, following roads rife with vigilantes and soldiers still fighting a war lost a decade before. For Lavinia and Juneau Jane, the journey is one of stolen inheritance and financial desperation, but for Hannie, torn from her mother and siblings before slavery’s end, the pilgrimage west reignites an agonizing question: Could her long-lost family still be out there? Beyond the swamps lie the limitless frontiers of Texas and, improbably, hope.

Louisiana, 1987: For first-year teacher Benedetta Silva, a subsidized job at a poor rural school seems like the ticket to canceling her hefty student debt—until she lands in a tiny, out-of-step Mississippi River town. Augustine, Louisiana, is suspicious of new ideas and new people, and Benny can scarcely comprehend the lives of her poverty-stricken students. But amid the gnarled live oaks and run-down plantation homes lie the century-old history of three young women, a long-ago journey, and a hidden book that could change everything.

Cumulative pages: 13,044

this last one sounds really interesting, tho I often have trouble with these dual time narratives, I guess to make us relate somehow. Usually the modern one is so much less interesting and takes away from the historical event. Is that at all the case here? or are the two stories solid in their own right and connected in a way that makes sense?

>111 cindydavid4: I loved it. I thought both stories were solid, and they certainly were tied together in the end. I liked this one better than Before We Were Yours. Maybe it should have been purple stars.... Would definitely recommend.

#33 The Bungalow
3 green stars - Good enough for green, but too shallow for me. I'm not a fan of Chick Lit. BUT, for my Good Yarn geography challenge this was a triple score: Bora Bora, a beach, and a bungalow. So there is that. :-)
Book Club: A Good Yarn

A good-enough book, but like a lot of "Chick Lit" it suffers from being too shallow. It's a quick, beach read, and it even tugs a few heartstrings - I just wanted more. More of a love story. More of a mystery. More character development. A fun setting, and the Gauguin connection was interesting, but I didn't really come to care about any of the characters. It would make a nice Hallmark movie, though. So if that is your thing, you will like this book.

Description: A sweeping World War II saga of thwarted love, murder, and a long-lost painting.
In the summer of 1942, twenty-one-year-old Anne Calloway, newly engaged, sets off to serve in the Army Nurse Corps on the Pacific island of Bora-Bora. More exhilarated by the adventure of a lifetime than she ever was by her predictable fiancé, she is drawn to a mysterious soldier named Westry, and their friendship soon blossoms into hues as deep as the hibiscus flowers native to the island. Under the thatched roof of an abandoned beach bungalow, the two share a private world-until they witness a gruesome crime, Westry is suddenly redeployed, and the idyll vanishes into the winds of war. A timeless story of enduring passion, The Bungalow chronicles Anne's determination to discover the truth about the twin losses-of life, and of love-that have haunted her for seventy years.

Cumulative pages: 13,334

November plans:

Daytimers book:
READ Normal People

A Good Yarn: the group decided to continue the B geography challenge for November. This will give me a chance to catch up on my A challenge choices:
Anglesey Blue
READ The Alehouse Murders
and maybe,
The Apple Orchard
and more B books:
One for Sorrow (Byzantium)
Backyard

Because it fits the season:
We Gather Together: A Nation Divided, a President in Turmoil, and a Historic Campaign to Embrace Gratitude and Grace

And various other leftovers, still leftover... Which makes me think I should put together a 12 + 4 list, not that I would finish it this year - I'd be happy to cross even a few off the list... but I'd have those titles front and center to focus on...

I've just joined another book club with members from my church. They started the group in 2013. They posted an invitation for new members, and I had read the book they were reading for November, and a number of previous books they had read, so I thought I would try it. Great bunch of people! I have added this year's list to message 4 above (Perspectives Book Club) and of course I want to play catch up on the books I haven't read. So I just downloaded
READ Left Neglected

>115 WelshBookworm: I liked Left Neglected a lot (the human brain is seriously amazing) but the first part of the book made me feel stressed because the main character's life is so hectic. I kept having to take breaks to calm down :-).

#35 Left Neglected
4 red stars
Book Club: Perspectives

I enjoyed this much more than her first book Still Alice. The author avoided becoming too technical while still giving "lay" people an idea of what it is like to experience this condition. I also appreciated her use of humor throughout. I think she tried to find a happy balance between being too rosily optimistic or too depressing. Nevertheless, I still found her outcomes to be unrealistic. Sarah just "happens" to be offered the perfect job for someone with her condition, for example. Her mother is able to come live with them to help out with the children. And they are quite well off financially. And her husband agrees to find a new job and relocate.... How would this story play out for those who don't have those things? Anyway, aside from that, this book is food for thought that life might be more than constant busyness, and corporate striving, and living a wealthy lifestyle. As someone who has worked part-time most of my life, I can't identify with that. Sarah learns to relax, to quiet her constant brain chatter, and to forge better connections with the people in her life. There's a lot to be said for that.

Cumulative annual pages: 14,048

#36 Normal People
3 yellow stars
Book Club: Daytimers

I don't have a lot to say about this book, because I am not the audience for it. If you are in your twenties you can maybe relate, but I am well past that, and have no desire to be reminded of the awkwardness of my college years. There's an awful lot of sex going on here, so I have no idea how this might translate to TV, and I doubt I will ever watch it anyway. I'll give it three stars with a "yellow" caution, because I think there IS an audience for this book, and it had a satisfying ending. I do know what it is like to feel different from other people and not know how to fit in. In some way I think we all go through that at some point in our lives.

Description: Connell and Marianne grew up in the same small town, but the similarities end there. At school, Connell is popular and well liked, while Marianne is a loner. But when the two strike up a conversation - awkward but electrifying - something life changing begins. A year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years at university, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. And as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other. Normal People is the story of mutual fascination, friendship, and love. It takes us from that first conversation to the years beyond, in the company of two people who try to stay apart but find that they can’t.

Cumulative pages: 14,321

>118 WelshBookworm: hated that book but like you I am not the target audience. I often enjoy YA books. Not this time

>118 WelshBookworm: I also didn't enjoy Normal People although I thought it was very well written.

>118 WelshBookworm: I don't fancy the book at all for the reasons you stated, but the BBC series was fantastic. And yes - a LOT of sex. The two main stars had fantastic chemistry, though.

>121 AlisonY: Well, now you're tempting me to watch....but....

We're into December now, so I guess I had better decide what I can realistically get read by the end of the year. I don't think I'm going to make my goal - that would be 12 more books!

Pretty sure I'll finish these:
READ All Things Wise and Wonderful - audiobook, 21 minutes left
READ One Day in December - audiobook, waiting for hold
READ The Alehouse Murders - library ebook, about 70 pages to go
READ We'll Always Have Parrots - couldn't find audiobook through the library, so I purchased on Audible
READ The Lord God Made Them All - maybe I'll get to this one, since I'm traveling this month....

After I finish Alehouse Murders - starting a series set in Cornwall, for my Good Yarn group (Dec./Jan. is a setting that starts with C, with Christmas as a bonus. Christmas is the 4th book, if I get to it!
READ Murder on the Menu
A Brush With Death
A Sprinkle of Sabotage
A Cornish Christmas Murder

Various other books I've started and not finished this year, that probably won't get finished (this year), and that I may create a 12 + 4 list of them to prioritize for next year...
We Gather Together: A Nation Divided, a President in Turmoil, and a Historic Campaign to Embrace Gratitude and Grace
Anglesey Blue
One for Sorrow
Wolf Hall
The Valley
The Chocolatier's Ghost
Neverhome
Queen By Right
From Hand to Hand: the Welsh novel O Law I Law
Yseult: A Tale of Love in the Age of King Arthur

#37 All Things Wise and Wonderful
4 blue stars

This one bounces back and forth between Herriot's recollections of his practice in Yorkshire, and his experiences in London with the RAF, including learning how to fly an airplane. Not quite as focused as the first two books, and we really didn't get much of Helen and his new son! But still delightful storytelling. This includes some stories that were published separately as children's books like The Christmas Day Kitten and Oscar Cat-About-Town.

Description: Only a couple of years after settling into his new home in northern England, James Herriot is called to war. In this series of poignant and humorous episodes, the great veterinarian shares his experiences training with the Royal Air Force, pining for a pregnant wife, and checking in on the people back home who made his practice so fascinating. As the young men of Yorkshire are sent into battle and farmers consider the broader world they’re a part of, Herriot reflects on the lives—human and animal alike—that make his home worth fighting for.

Cumulative pages: 14,769

#38 The Alehouse Murders
4 red stars
Book Club: A Good Yarn

A good start to the series. Bascot is flawed but likeable. The plot is somewhat slow moving, and the ending was a bit of a let down. The joy is in the historical details. This seems well-researched. If there were inaccuracies, nothing jumped out at me. I thought the author did a good job weaving her details into the story without being too heavy handed about it. I did think the main character was going to be Nicolaa, the chatelaine of Lincoln Castle, at first and was a little disappointed when she sort of got dropped and Bascot took over. I hope we see more of her. Lots of room for character development going forward. Not quite as "light" as the Brother Cadfael books, but similar.

Description: After years of captivity in the Holy Land, Templar Bascot de Marins escapes with injuries to his body and soul. Now on sojourn at Lincoln Castle, he hopes to regain his strength, and mend his waning faith-but not even the peace of God's countryside is safe from the mortal crimes of man... When four victims are found slain in the town alehouse, Bascot discovers that what appears to be the grisly end to a drunken row is in fact a cunning and baffling case of murder. Bascot tracks his quarry from bawdy-house to baron's keep, once again risking his life for the justice of God's will.

Cumulative pages: 15,046

#39 We'll Always Have Parrots
4 red stars
Next in series

Lots of fun. I continue to enjoy this series. Not much more to say that I haven't said in previous reviews of this author. This one spoofs the world of comic books and sci-fi "Cons". I didn't guess "who done it" and Meg's dad is still my favorite character...

Description: In We'll Always Have Parrots, Meg Langslow travels with her fiance Michael to a fan convention for Porfiria, Queen of the Jungle--a cheesy cult TV show on which Michael has a minor role. Michael hopes the weekend will give him a chance to talk Miss Wynncliffe-Jones, the show's temperamental leading lady and executive producer out of enforcing a certain provision in Michael's contract. Of course, Michael's not the only person whose career the dictatorial star has manipulated. So when the star is found murdered, the police have plenty of suspects. Trouble is, Meg doesn't believe they're going to arrest the right one. Soon she finds herself following the murderer's trail through a hotel filled with egotistical actors, costumed fans, and a motley flock of monkeys and parrots who, rebelling against their role as live scenery, have escaped from their cages to take an active (and noisy) role in the festivities.

Cumulative pages: 15,400

>126 WelshBookworm: if you like takes on sci fi cons, have you read the bimbos of the death sun? probably my favorite of Sharyn McCrumb; remember having a discussion in a group of who possibly was the famous sci fi author she was writing about!

>127 cindydavid4: I'd forgotten about that one! Haven't read it, but I've heard of it.

#40 The Lord God Made Them All
5 blue stars - One more book in the series to go....

Home after the war, Herriot tells tales about his children, his practice, and the wonders of new medicines being developed, interspersed with his adventures attending animals on trips to Russia and Istanbul. There is still one more book to go in this beloved series....

Description: When World War II ends and James Herriot returns to his wife and new family in the English countryside, he dreams mostly of Sunday roasts and Yorkshire puddings, but new adventure has a way of tracking him down. Soon Herriot finds himself escorting a large number of sheep on a steamer to Russia, puzzling through the trials of fatherhood, and finding creative ways to earn the trust of suspicious neighbors who rely on him for the wellbeing of their beloved animals. Herriot’s winning humor and self-deprecating humanity shine through every page, and his remarkable storytelling has captivated readers for generations.

Cumulative pages: 15,773

#41 Murder on the Menu
4 red stars
Book clubs: A Good Yarn (C is for Cornwall)

A solid 4 red stars, which is unusual (from me) for a 1st of series cozy mystery. It had me laughing out loud, and I was up until 3 am reading it... Jodie was fun. She drives a van that she bought from a guy that owned a fetish shop in Tavistock. Yeah, that will get you noticed! Ha ha. And my ancestors are from around Tavistock, so I enjoyed the local flavor (no pun intended.) The plot seemed oh so familiar and predictable, but I guess that's what cozy mysteries are.... I would have liked more than one recipe, and why didn't it tie into the book? Something she was making for the wedding perhaps? Anyway, I've already got the next book lined up.

Description: Still spinning from the hustle and bustle of city life, Jodie ‘Nosey’ Parker is glad to be back in the Cornish village she calls home. Having quit the Met Police in search of something less dangerous, the change of pace means she can finally start her dream catering company and raise her daughter, Daisy, somewhere safer. But there’s nothing quite like having your first job back at home be catering an ex-boyfriend’s wedding to remind you of just how small your village is. And when the bride vanishes, Jodie is drawn into the investigation, realising that life in the countryside might not be as quaint as she remembers. With a missing bride on their hands, murder and mayhem lurks around every corner…

Cumulative Pages: 16,059

8 more days and 7 more books to reach my goal. I'll finish
READ One Day in December - audiobook, 2 hours, 41 minutes left.

Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times is checked out from the library, and due back in one week with a hold waiting, so I must start it now.

Just bought on Kindle
READ A Cornish Christmas Carol - it's a novella - 91 p. , so should be a quick read.

That leaves 4 more. I've had a look at my TBR for some other novellas and short stories...
Mayhem Mansion - 101 p. - It's even a Christmas story.
Winter's Bite - 54 p. - and fits my "Winter" theme.
READ A Mind of Her Own - 109 p. Audible Original
READ The Amersham Rubies - 38 p. - a short prequel to the Molly Murphy mysteries.
READ Questing Beast - 30 p, - an Arthurian/Sci Fi short story.
And maybe, just because...
READ Along the Tapajós - children's book - 40 p.

I saw someone reading Bruce Chatwins On the black hill Have you read it? I love his other books and this one is about Wales. Eager to read it!

>128 WelshBookworm: be prepared for rib hurting bursts of laughter!!!

#42 One Day in December
3.5 pink stars
Book Clubs: Daytimers

Mostly light-hearted, but not exactly a rom-com. This is another book that I think will appeal more to younger readers than older ones. I don't think it's a plot spoiler to say the book has a happy ending, and getting there is fairly predictable. I was a little surprised how long it took - the book covers 10 years - but the characters don't age 10 years. In fact, they seem to have changed very little by the end. I got quite peeved especially with Jack a few times. Unfortunately, I think he was still pretty immature by the end of the book. I liked Laurie and Sarah quite a lot. Glad that Sarah got her happy ending too. Yeah, the ending of the book might have been over the top, but by that point you're so glad the characters FINALLY got there, that you don't care. So I liked it, even though I'm generally not a fan of romances.

Description: Laurie is pretty sure love at first sight doesn't exist anywhere but the movies. But then, through a misted-up bus window one snowy December day, she sees a man who she knows instantly is the one. Their eyes meet, there's a moment of pure magic...and then her bus drives away. Certain they're fated to find each other again, Laurie spends a year scanning every bus stop and cafe in London for him. But she doesn't find him, not when it matters anyway. Instead they "reunite" at a Christmas party, when her best friend Sarah giddily introduces her new boyfriend to Laurie. It's Jack, the man from the bus. It would be. What follows for Laurie, Sarah and Jack is ten years of friendship, heartbreak, missed opportunities, roads not taken, and destinies reconsidered.

Cumulative pages: 16, 452 (second highest annual total...)

>132 cindydavid4: I don't know that I have. If I did it was a long time ago. I did see the movie. Seems to me it was rather grim.

#43 Questing Beast
3 green stars.
Short, humorous sci fi story. Read this because of the Arthurian reference. Basically, a genetically engineered bio-unit called Nannybot has been compromised by some kind of computer virus, and thinks it is Sir Pellinore hunting the Questing Beast. It disappears into the woods riding a dwarf cow and waving a broom stick. Unfortunately, it also contains the report of two years of work studying this planet. The evaluation committee is arriving in a few days, and the young researchers' careers will be over if they don't produce the report. What can they do, but illegally bioengineer a Questing Beast for Nannybot to hunt... Of course, in the end, "nature" will have the last laugh.

This was sort of cute, and besides the Arthurian reference, I think there was a bit of a nod to Don Quixote.

This story is readily available free online.

Cumulative pages: 16,482

#44 The Amersham Rubies
3 orange stars
A very short story, and somewhat underwhelming. Half the page count is taken up by a teaser of a later book in the series (which I didn't read). There really wasn't any mystery here, since Molly had already solved it as it happened. I would not judge the series based on this little "introduction" so three stars. I love the Evan Evans series, and I look forward to getting to know Molly.

Description: Before Molly Murphy crossed the Atlantic or even had an inkling that she might someday become a much sought after private investigator in New York City, young Molly lived in Ireland in a small cottage with her father, brothers and little else. While keeping herself and her home together, Molly receives a request from Lady Hartley—the lady of the country estate where Molly lives, and the family that employs Molly’s father and brothers. The Hartleys are hosting a ball at their manor house, and there will be so many fine gentlemen and ladies in attendance that Lady Hartley needs Molly to help some of her guests prepare for the ball. Beautiful debutantes, dresses of the finest fabrics, and sparkling chandeliers are all on display, as are heirloom jewels like the Amersham rubies—a stunning and priceless ruby necklace that has been in the Amersham family for generations. When the rubies go inexplicably missing from Lady Amersham’s neck in the middle of the party, the high-spirited Molly must rely on her wits to solve her first case.

Cumulative pages: 16,520

#45 Along the Tapajós
4.5 blue stars rounded up.

A children's picture book, free (on World Book Day) from Amazon Crossing. This is a delightful look at life along a river in the Amazon rainforest. I would give a gold star for the illustrations - bright and colorful and full of amazing detail. The story is all too short, and it ends rather abruptly. Still there is a surprising amount of info to be gleaned about another culture in this simple tale.

Description: Cauã and Inaê are a brother and sister who live in a small community along the Tapajós River in Brazil. Here, the homes are on stilts and everyone travels around by boat―even to school! When the rainy season comes, they must leave their village and relocate to higher ground for a while. But after moving this year, Cauã and Inaê realize they’ve left behind something important: their pet tortoise, Titi! Unlike turtles, tortoises can’t swim, and Cauã and Inaê are really worried. So the pair sneaks back at night on a journey along the river to rescue him. Will they be able to save Titi? This picture book, first published in Brazil, offers kids a unique look into the lives of children who live along Brazil’s beautiful Tapajós River.

Cumulative pages: 16,560

#46 A Mind of Her Own
3.5 pink stars

An Audible Original short story. A pleasant enough way to spend an hour, but it really should be developed into a full novel. Told from a first person point of view about how Marie got to Paris to study science, and where she met Pierre Curie, her future husband. There are a few weird passages from "beyond the grave" where Marie says things like "It would be another one hundred years before we knew" such and such, or talks about how she died of radium poisoning(!) But on the whole, I enjoyed this little glimpse into the life of Marie Curie.

Description: Marie Sklodowska, 25, is studying science at the Sorbonne—one of the only universities in the world that has begun to admit women. A thousand miles from her native Poland, with no money and the odds stacked against any woman daring to pursue a career in such a rigorous field, Marie throws herself into her studies. She’s certain that to succeed in a man’s world, she will have to go it alone. Her meticulous plans get thrown slightly off-course when Marie attracts the attention of an accomplished physicist, himself on the precipice of greatness. Pierre Curie, famous for his work on symmetry, believes he has found in Marie an equal who shares his devotion to scientific discovery. He offers to help with her work, and soon begins to court her. But to Marie, men have always been an obstacle, love a distraction from her goals. She hasn’t come this far to let either stand in the way of her dreams—dreams Pierre insists they can share.

Cumulative pages: 16,669

#47 A Cornish Christmas Carol
4 red stars
What's not to like? A retelling of Dickens' classic tale set in Cornwall with modern characters. This follows the plot of Dickens quite closely, with a nice (but quite unbelievable) romantic twist at the end. Apparently Scorrier House is a real place (https://www.scorrierhouse.co.uk/). And it was interesting to learn a bit about the resurgence of the old Cornish Christmas carol tradition. I am familiar with the Welsh Plygain carols, but this was new to me. Both traditions arose out of the 19th century mining communities. Dickens even commented on this in the original Christmas Carol:

“What place is this?” asked Scrooge.

“A place where Miners live, who labour in the bowels of the earth,” returned the Spirit. “But they know me. See.”

A light shone from the window of a hut, and swiftly they advanced towards it. Passing through the wall of mud and stone, they found a cheerful company assembled round a glowing fire. An old, old man and woman, with their children and their children’s children, and another generation beyond that, all decked out gaily in their holiday attire. The old man, in a voice that seldom rose above the howling of the wind upon the barren waste, was singing them a Christmas song — it had been a very old song when he was a boy — and from time to time they all joined in the chorus. So surely as they raised their voices, the old man got quite blithe and loud; and so surely as they stopped, his vigour sank again.

Description: Joy to the world? Not if Abigail Scorrier has anything to do with it. She's spent most of her adult life trying to avoid the festive frenzy. She loved Christmas as a child in Cornwall: the colourful stockings hanging above a crackling fire, the excitement of what will be waiting for her the next morning. But ever since her life took a heart-breaking turn, she's buried those memories and done everything she can to avoid her past, her family and most of all, the Christmas season. But on Christmas Eve, Abigail will have three visitors she can't ignore, and what they reveal about her past, present and future might just change her life - and mend her heart...

Cumulative pages: 16,760

Reached my 2021 book goal with 20 minutes to go!
#48 bookcover:Mayhem Mansion|17890831 book:Mayhem Mansion|17890831
3 green stars
More of a novella than a novel at 100 pages. I enjoyed this fun Christmas ghost story (no murders here) and the collection of eccentric relatives that have gathered.

Cumulative pages: 16,861 - second only to last year!

Top reads for 2021:
(not counting rereads of James Herriot and Donna Andrews...)

A rare 5 gold stars to
Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia by Orlando Figes.

5 purple stars to
The Book of Boy by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Troubled Blood (Cormoran Strike #5) by Robert Galbraith
Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah
The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes

5 blue stars to
War and Peace (Oxford World's Classics edition) by Leo Tolstoy
The Winter Hare and Peregrine by Joan Elizabeth Goodman
The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate

4 blue stars to
Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan
The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis

Ive read secret life of bees which is one of my top books when it came out (still remember the storage locker with all her moms hats arranged in designs.) this looks interesting an interesting take on the life of Jesus. What did you like about it?

>143 cindydavid4: If you're referring to The Book of Longings it was not about the life of Jesus. Indeed, Jesus is almost a peripheral figure. My review is in post 98 above. I need to read more by Sue Monk Kidd. Have not read The Secret Life of Bees or The Mermaid Chair.

ah no its not about his life, its a take on it. I love fractured fairy tales and books that make a change of a famous story and go for it. This does look like an interesting one.

btw did you set up a new thread for 2022 or are you continung with this one. Wanted to make sure coz I didn't want to miss anything!

>145 cindydavid4: Yes I did, and I think you've already commented there!