Clam Reads Books & Dreams of Cheese ❂ 2022 ~ Part III ❂

I usually wait until my threads tops 200 posts before I start a new one, but it has been suggested I should not wait. ;o)



I am not 100% sure, but I believe I read about The Bangalore Detectives Club by Harini Nagendra* in the NY Times Book Review. I really enjoyed this one, even though I found it more than just a wee bit implausible. It's just lots of fun.

I started Otherlands today.

* Just adding that I noticed a bunch of ecology books by this author on LT and looked her up. From Wikipedia: She has a PhD in Ecological Sciences, and is an "Indian ecologist who uses satellite remote sensing coupled with field studies of biodiversity, archival research, institutional analysis, and community interviews to examine the factors shaping the social-ecological sustainability of forests and cities in the south Asian context. Her areas of interest include Urban sustainability, Ecology and development, Land change, Biodiversity and conservation." I did notice that talks about plants a lot in the book.

>Happy new thread and have fun with Otherland! That first book is a lot of character intro, a lot of pages of it, so settle in.

>2 Karlstar: Oops. I spelled it correctly, but it went to the wrong touchstone and I didn't check it. It's "Otherlands," and it's non-fiction!

And thank you for your good wishes!

>1 clamairy:
It's just lots of fun.

That is the main thing.

Happy new thread.

Nothing like hitting folks with a book bullet in your first post!

ETA: Might be awhile for this one, $17.95 for the Kindle version!

>5 MrsLee: Wow! The paperback is cheaper than the e-version.

Bookfinder.com located an even lower price

>3 clamairy: That Otherlands does look interesting too!

>7 Karlstar: That was a bullet from LibraryPerilous!

>5 MrsLee: & >6 ScoLgo: I borrowed the ebook! Free is good.

>9 clamairy: Overdrive/Hoopla FTW!!

I too borrow a lot of e-books from the library. I even borrow books that I already have in print because I can continue reading on the go without having to carry the physical book with me.

>10 ScoLgo: I've done that too, just because my eyeballs (and arms) prefer my Kindle.

I think I would have loved Slouching Towards Bethlehem if I'd read it 40+ years ago. I still enjoyed it, but some of the essays seem dated. I did truly appreciate Joan Didion's writing style, and Diane Keaton's naration.

Happy new thread!

>12 clamairy: Hmm, I have always meant to read this but somehow never did. (I love the title.) Perhaps it's time, though some of the essays MUST be dated. Published in 1968! Yikes!

>13 Storeetllr: Yeah, Meredy's review gently nudged me to get to this one. I listened, because I am sure reading would not have worked for me with several essays in this book.

>12 clamairy: I read this on a literature course at university, many years ago. It was the first I'd even heard of Didion, and her prose captivated me. She was such a great writer.

>15 Sakerfalcon: Yes, she was gifted. Her prose is crystal clear, it's just that some of the subject matter was no longer of great interest to me.

I am taking a break from Otherlands as it's been 2 weeks and I'm only at 14%. The book is fascinating, but it is so information dense that I'm only getting through about 5-10 pages a day. And it's Summer, so I want something a bit lighter right now. I started The Bird and the Sword last night, and I am enjoying it quite a bit so far.

>16 clamairy: I'm guessing it was Didion's title essay in particular that had lost its relevance a bit. Certainly the mood of the time and place has passed.

I enjoyed that one the most, though, because it was such a riveting evocation of that time and place. At that time, I was inhaling the smoke from the Boston/Cambridge equivalent of the Haight. So I could project into all those scenes and see things I recognized. It was like a magic carpet trip back to a familiar place that I had never visited before, or only in a dream.

>17 Meredy: That one and the Joan Baez* essay both weren't of as great interest to me as most of the others. Had some issues with the John Wayne one, too.

* Mainly because it was less about her and more about the issues her CA neighbors were having with her having her school there.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to John Green's The Anthropocene Reviewed read by the author. He's got a very distinct voice. It's a bit vulnerable sounding, if that makes any sense. This a collection of essays from a podcast, I believe. I enjoyed some of them more than others, but he's just so sincere and relatable.
Four and a half stars, for sure!

Editing to add: I clicked on the author to sort his books by rating so I'd know what to look for next, only to discover he was a LibraryThing member (sparksflyup) waaay back in the early years, and added over 1,000 books to his library. For obvious reasons this makes me appreciate him even more.

Editing a second time to add this: Someone in here (who is no longer active) posted a video of John Green back in the day when he has just added his LT library. I do remember watching this, but I didn't remember which author it was! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy1M5VHF3no

>19 clamairy: - sounds interesting

>19 clamairy: Funny video, thanks! I have not read a book on how to organize my library.

Sorry that I haven't been on much. Both of my kids came to visit , and my son brought a carload of people. So for the last week I was busy preparing for the visit, then enjoying the visit and now I'm recovering from the visit.



I finished The Bird and the Sword and I enjoyed it. It reminded me of Uprooted, thought I didn't like it quite as much. There is a sequel, but it's mainly about a character from the book that I didn't love, so I'm holding off on that.

Now I am reading Playing with Myself which is mostly fun, but a little sad in places.

>22 clamairy:
Enjoying the anticipation of your kids' arrival, enjoying their presence, and recovering from the travails of their visit should not be pursuits you need to apologise for. I am sure you had a wonderful time with them, and they with you.

I, on the other hand, went off on holiday enjoying myself, and scarcely had time, or Internet access, to post. You do not see me apologising for having a super time. :-)

>22 clamairy: Glad you had a good visit with your family! Guests are tiring but definitely worth it.

>23 pgmcc: & >24 Karlstar: Thanks. It was indeed worth the all the fuss and exhaustion.

I read Brideshead Revisited probably 40 years ago, after watching the PBS miniseries and I enjoyed it way back when. I decided I needed to revisit it (pun intended) after it was part of a Twofer sale on Audible. I don't think I loved it quite as much as I had back then, but I suspect I appreciated the writing more this time around. I did find some of the heavy-handed Roman Catholicism to be a bit much. Oddly Waugh's protagonist makes a lot of very well-reasoned arguments against the church during the book. I read somewhere that the author, who had converted became very disillusioned with his new church in later years, so that may be why.

I think two times was probably enough for this. I did appreciate that Jeremy Irons was the narrator, since it was he who played the lead back in the 1980s.

Playing with Myself is mostly hilarious and sometimes heartbreaking. I cried like a proverbial baby during one chapter. The dude can write! Many thanks to tardis and Catzteach for the reviewing this and thus reminding me to borrow it.

Moving on to the The Grief of Stones!

>27 clamairy: I bet I know which chapter. I’d love to meet him and his mom!

>27 clamairy: You're ahead of me on Grief of Stones, I have at least one other book to get through before I can get to that one.

>29 Karlstar: I will tread carefully regarding spoilers, then! And I've been reading so slowly you might be able to catch up.

>28 catzteach: Yes, I'm sure it's the same chapter all pet lovers go to pieces over. I'd like to have cocktails with him. He and I have so much more in common than I ever would have suspected.

Ahhh, I loved The Grief of Stones. I think this is my favorite Katherine Addison yet. My eyeballs still stumble over the place/people names, and I often have to rely on context to figure who is being referred to since so many of the names are similar. I really hope she keeps going with these books. Celehar is just so human. (Yes, I know he's not.)

Edited to add: I have moved on to Clouds of Witness and it is wonderful so far.

>32 clamairy: There has been so much good fantasy released this year! I'll have to get to The Grief of Stones soon, but I just finished a brand new hardcover and I'm almost done with another, time to go back to my library sale books for a bit.

>33 Karlstar: Yeah, I borrowed the ebook. When it eventually goes on sale I'll snag it.

>32 clamairy: I thought this one had a lot more depth (re: Celehar's character development) The ending was both pitch perfect, in terms of the narrative arc, and also a serious gut punch. I really hope there's a book 3.

>32 clamairy: Yay! Your Sayers journey has begun!

>35 libraryperilous: Agreed, and I love his apprentice.

>36 MrsLee: I actually started it a few months ago with the first book. It was delightful!

>32 clamairy: I am so looking forward to this!

>38 Sakerfalcon: You're going to love it!

Sharing this article from The Washington Post about current issues with libraries lending ebooks in the US as a gift so there won't be a paywall:
https://wapo.st/3Oxn9WM

>40 clamairy:
I read the article through the link you posted on FB. I find this quite a difficult issue. From pre-e-book times I recall small presses selling books to libraries and charging an Enterprise Price that would have been about five times the list price for the book. (Net book agreement was in place in those days that prevented retailers selling new books at anything other than the Recommended Retail Price.) The Enterprise Price was an approach to compensate the publisher for possible loss of sales due to the book being available through the library. Also, the book sold to the library was going to be used by multiple people. In pricing theory the seller would be looking at value to the customer, and if X borrowers read the book they each got the value of the book.

Small Press is an interesting example to look at as most Small Presses are not making a lot of money and are generally in existence through the passion of one or two individuals who are following a dream.

When looking at the authors, and here we have to consider living authors, the majority of them receive very little for their work. The proportion of a book's sale price that goes to the author is very small, so any reduction in the sales price will significantly impact the authors involved. It is only the handful of mega-name authors that get the big advances.

In the middle we have the publishing houses that are working for profit. Like any business they are going to want to increase their revenue and decrease their costs.

Librarians are trying to do their best to promote the spread of knowledge under stringent budgetary constraints.

Budgeting authorities vary, but many of them try to minimise the spend on anything they do not consider a vital priority, or a vote-catcher. On the other hand, few budgetary authorities have limitless funds to spend on everything.

This is not an easy issue to resolve as we have two victim groups, the librarians and the authors, who are subject to pressures outside their control; the librarians working under constrained budgets and the authors with a limited income stream from their creative output. There are very few authors who make their full income solely from their writing these days.

I think the majority of people on LT will proclaim the benefits to society as a whole from more libraries and the promotion of reading material to the population, but I do not see many people in power pushing the cost-benefit analysis. (Not meant to be a political statement; just an observation.)

The most vulnerable are the authors. Worst case for librarians is that they will not be able to provide the service they would like to provide. Worst case for the author is that they cannot pay their rent.

Publishing houses have a whole other set of issues to address.

>40 clamairy: Thanks for the article and >41 pgmcc: thanks for the analysis. Seems like we're dangerously close to authors not being able to make a living doing what they do. Seems like this is trending towards the 'royalties' paid by streaming services for music.

>41 pgmcc: >41 pgmcc: All good points/thoughts. When it comes to e-books, the issue for me is the seemingly exorbitant cost and lending restrictions when compared to physical books. A library can purchase a physical book once and lend it out until it falls apart or sits on the shelf un-borrowed long enough that they put it on the resale shelf. Reading the comments in the linked article, I noticed this (excerpt):

Would be nice if this article was explicit about the cost of ebooks to libraries. That ebook you got on Amazon for $2? The library paid $60 and has to pay $60 again after 24 people have read it. Or in Hoopla’s case, the book costs $2 for every check out and you don’t get to select what books are in the collection.

I get that e-books don't wear out so different lending guidelines may be needed but... I'm sort of getting stuck on that $60.00 price point. 60/24 = $2.50 per lend. I cannot conceive of physical book lending having that sort of costing ratio. I therefore cannot help but feel that my tax dollars are not able to be put to their best use for the good of all.

>41 pgmcc: & >42 Karlstar: I agree with everything you say. I am not an author, but I know that unless they reach a Stephen King-type level popularity they don't make much money. I also know firsthand from the librarians' PoV how expensive buying digital rights to books can get. When I lived in CT I had to wait so long for popular ebooks that I often forgot I'd even requested something by the time I got it. That is not an issue where I now live, but I think that's only because my current library belongs to a much larger (and much better funded) consortium of libraries.

>41 pgmcc: & >43 ScoLgo: As a comparison, I also know that physical library editions are more expensive than the books one buys in book shops because they are also constructed differently. (Or at least they used to be.) They use much sturdier materials for the bindings, etc to withstand the wear and tear of multiple uses. https://bindery.berkeley.edu/campus-libraries/library-binding-vs-publishers-bind...

If you listen to authors, the vast majority of them loudly support libraries and are delighted when new readers find them through the library.

The vast majority of authors also don't make their only living through book sales and never have. They sell other types of rights if they're lucky, and they almost always have day jobs. They should get a higher cut of the profit, for sure, but not on the backs of libraries.

>45 reconditereader:
My point exactly. The article pits authors against libraries. Libraries and authors are the victims in this situation. Saying more would verge on political, so I will stop there.

Yesterday I started looking up the salaries of the CEOs of publishing companies. I was horrified to see how much the CEOs of textbook companies are making. Millions, with millions more in stock options as bonuses. The salaries of the regular publishers is nothing like that, thankfully.

Clouds of Witness was good fun. (Perhaps even more fun than Whose Body?.) I won't be diving right into another Sayers, though. I do find some of the jargon in the courtroom scenes to be a bit tiresome.

I've just started The Chuckling Fingers, which I think was a NY Times recommendation. It only has a 3.4 rating on here, so I'm a bit more cautious than I would be if it were higher. I borrowed the ebook, so I will have no issue if it isn't up to snuff.

>48 clamairy:
I am glad you enjoyed the Sayers. I am about half-way through the Lord Peter Wimsey stories and must get back to them.

>40 clamairy: and >41 pgmcc: The issues that are put forward in that Wapo article are being munged and misrepresented in some ways. The Internet Archive is trying to push the market practices in broader ways, but they may have put a toe too far over the legal line (see https://www.niso.org/niso-io/2020/04/playing-stickball-canarsie-better-learn-bro.... They're a designated library within the confines of the State of California, but in a digital environment, ebooks can go all over the place. Brewster Kahle and the IA are amazing, but the law isn't on their side as yet.

Libraries (being very conservative in the interpretation of copyright) are carefully working on how best to implement controlled digital lending but given that shifting copyright law means shifting an international treaty or two, they can't just blast ahead. Which is what IA did and there are librarians who really wish IA hadn't because it's making their lives really difficult.

The pricing of ebooks to libraries is a different issue -- more of a business model issue. The publishers (and the authors) would really prefer that those who can afford to buy books do so and thereby support content creators. It's a a question of balancing budgets, demand and expectations as both libraries and publishers try to work out what's sustainable.

>48 clamairy: May I recommend instead that you try either Strong Poison or Murder Must Advertise? Clouds of Witness might not have been one of her best.

>50 jillmwo: & >48 clamairy:
I second the recommendation for Murder Must Advertise. Strong Poison is one I have not reached yet.

ERRATA: Apparently I read Strong Poison in 2019. Senior moments keep cropping up.

>48 clamairy: IIRC, there are only a few Sayers novels with courtroom scenes. I am a strong proponent of taking breaks from authors you know you enjoy. Especially when they aren't writing anymore. That way you can enjoy them longer, and always have a dependable book on your shelf when you need one. By the way, Strong Poison, while excellent, is mostly courtroom scenes. It is still one of my favorites.

>50 jillmwo:, >51 pgmcc: & >52 MrsLee: I was just going to do them in order. Hopefully I'll live long enough to get through them all. :o)

I had to give 4½ stars to The Chuckling Fingers by Mabel Seeley, which is a book I borrowed thanks to the NY Times 'Read Like the Wind' newsletter. She wrote this in 1941. I have to say that once again* the lack of technology made this one very enjoyable. I think the characters in this book have less depth than Du Maurier's books do, but the pacing of the action was awesome.

*I know I said the same thing about The Scapegoat.

>54 clamairy: I need to get away from detective stories for a bit, but I've noted this author and title very carefully for future reference.

>55 jillmwo: Yeah, mysteries can get tiresome. I rarely do two in a row.

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner has been on the NY Times bestseller list for a looooong time, and though I don't usually read memoirs by people I've never heard of before something (that I possibly read in the NY Times Book review?) made me borrow this one, and I'm so glad that I did. Michelle lost her mom in her mid-20s and this book is about that loss, the pain it brought and her desperate need to reconnect with mother partially through cooking and eating some amazing food. I was only about a third of the way though this before I found myself buying that giant jar of Kimchi I've always eyed in Costco. (Not to mention the industrial sized bag of organic pot-stickers I bought to go with it.) I've also been frantically googling for a Korean restaurant near me. Ha ha...

I do recommend this one, though it's not without a fair bit of navel gazing.

>57 clamairy: Were it not for that last sentence, I might have looked for the book straight away. Now I will still keep my eyes open for it, but can wait.

>57 clamairy: & >58 MrsLee:
What is wrong with looking at ships?

>59 pgmcc: Dagnabbit... Let me fix that typo, or spellcheck error, or whatever it was...

>59 pgmcc: I suppose if sailors are involved it might be ok.

>58 MrsLee: I would recommend borrowing and not buying, for sure.

>61 MrsLee: True!

i prefer valencias. They're less showy but better for juicing. Plus they have flavonoids.

>64 MrAndrew: Don't they ALL have flavonoids?

That's what Big Navel wants you to believe.

>59 pgmcc:, >60 clamairy:, >61 MrsLee:, >64 MrAndrew: I'm very confused now. Do all of our sailors have flavonoids and is that a treatable condition? Or is this confined to gazing at ships of the Merchant Marines? Are we talking about organic being better than those non-organic marine thingamajigs? (There is a company called Orange Marine, I know.)

On a more serious note, my son was raving about Valencia oranges, having been in Spain recently so I gather that those are quite, quite special.

All I know is that I have grown organic heirloom tomatoes known as Valencias. I have no clue about their flavonoid content.

Signal Moon is a short story/novella that I got from Amazon last month, and it seriously blew my socks off. This would made such a great movie. A WREN doing radio surveillance during WW II picks up a dispatch from Yank who's ship is under attack... in 2023. I loved how this one played out.

The World That We Knew was a book bullet between the eyes from Meredy, and oh boy! Seldom do I have two such awesome reads in a row, but this was fantastic. I tend to run away screaming as soon as I hear the word 'Nazis' but I'm so glad I gave this one a go. This is Magical Realism at is finest, in the same category as Colson Whitehead's best work. I can't believe this didn't win a bunch of awards.

Thank you, Meredy and (I think) catzteach.

>70 clamairy: I did read this one and loved it! Glad you liked it, too! Oh, and you totally hit me with a BB for >69 clamairy:. It sounds great!

Edited to add: sadly my library does not have Signal Moon. Guess I’ll just have to buy it. :D

>69 clamairy: Direct hit. You had me at, "... in 2023".

>71 catzteach: & >72 pgmcc: It's very short, so I'm hoping it's cheap!

I just looked and it says it's Free if you have a Prime membership.

>73 clamairy: It was €1.99 on Kindle. To get it free you have to join Kindle unlimited which is another charge on top of Prime.

>74 pgmcc: Maybe an American Kindle thing, but it was free to me with my Prime membership. Yes, who can resist a free book with that kind of praise?

>74 pgmcc: I think I can loan it to you, if you want to save the €2!

>76 clamairy:
Thank you for the offer, but I would be happy to let the author of a good book/story get something for their effort, even if it is only the pittance Amazon will give them. Your offer is much appreciated.

Okeedokey! It's only about 60 pages long, just an FYI.

>73 clamairy: I don’t have a kindle. I’ll see if my local Indy store has it or can get it.

>79 catzteach: If you put the kindle app on a phone, tablet or even on a PC then I can loan it to you. I don't think it is available in print.

>69 clamairy:
Signal Moon was excellent. As a Prime member, it was a free download so I read it last night. I admit to misting up a bit at the end. I will definitely look for more from Kate Quinn. Thank you for the BB!

>79 catzteach: E-readers are not strictly required. Once you buy a kindle book, a 'Read Now' button appears on the product page, (also found under the 'More Actions' button in 'Manage Content & Devices', which is found on your Amazon.com account page). Online reading is not ideal but Signal Moon is relatively short.

>81 ScoLgo: I'm so glad you enjoyed it. Don't you think it could make an awesome movie?

>82 clamairy: Yes, I would definitely watch it!

Thanks all, after all the encouragement and advice, I went to Amazon and downloaded it into the Kindle app. :) Thanks!

I think I picked up Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy back in January when it was on sale via Book Riot or BookBub or one of those other emails I receive. I usually check a book's rating here on LT first before I buy it, and this was a 4.1, so I snagged it. I kept eyeing it on my Kindle and then putting it off, until last week. I ended up enjoying it, but it was tough going in places. Set in a not-too distant future where almost all of this planet's mammals and birds have gone extinct Franny convinces the captain of one of the last legal fishing boats to follow some of the few remaining Arctic Terns on what she fears will be their final migration. She has banded three and is tracking them. We find out a lot about her through flashbacks, and just about all of it is painful. I did end up caring about her, and her journey... but I am not sure I can recommend this to anyone. I still gave it four stars, as the writing is beautiful, and the descriptions of Galway are lovely.

Not sure what's up next. I got a few pages into Captain Blood, but it wasn't working for me. I will try again another time. Perhaps I'll start an Edith Wharton.

I borrowed The Kingdoms of Savannah when I popped onto the OverDrive website the other day because they were offering it as a popular new book with a 7 day loan period. I figured "Why not? If it stinks I can return it." It most definitely did not stink. The book is part dark unwritten history of Savannah and part mystery. The writing made the two halves meld quite nicely. A lot of research went into this one, and as you might suspect, a lot of that hidden history is painful or just unsavory. And yet the book is neither. I gave it 4.5 stars.

I use the Libby App for most of my ebook borrowing, and I just realized I might be missing out on other gems like this one by not signing into OverDrive on my PC more often.

I think I might try The Blessing Way next.

Sorry I haven't been around much. A woman I considered a friend and that I used to work with at the East Granby library was murdered by her husband Sunday night, and I really haven't felt like posting much since then. I was in shock at first, and now I'm mostly just VERY angry.

I did finish listening to the 8th in the Outlander series, though.



I did enjoy Written in My Own Heart's Blood, maybe even a little more than the last few. I'm still toying with throwing an extra half star at it. (I gave it four.) There are two things I want to quibble with. One, there is still too much sex in these books for me. LOL Other people's sex lives are just not interesting to me. And two, these books are a lot funnier than the TV series on STARZ. They have spent a small fortune on the show, and someone somewhere made the decision to remove quite a bit of the humor, which I do not understand. At any rate, there is only one book left, but I won't be listening to it right away. I started listening 11 years ago, and she just finished the series recently, so I don't feel any pressure.

>87 clamairy: Very sorry to hear that happened to your friend, that is a tragedy.

>i7 I’m so sorry that happened to your friend.

That is awful, C. I hope he hangs himself in prison.

>87 clamairy: Oh, that's horrible. I'm sorry for you and your community's loss.

>90 Bookmarque: He was a retired police sargent, so after shooting her multiple times he turned the gun on himself. It just keeps getting worse. He apparently did this at the dinner table with one of their daughters present. I know I'm supposed to be forgiving, because I'm sure there was seriously mental anguish on his part. But I'm not feeling very magnanimous towards this man. His wife was only 48. Their daughters are in college, and this kind of trauma will take years to heal.

Thank you all for your kind words. I do appreciate it.

>93 clamairy: There are surely no words for this! Clam, all one can do is offer sympathy.

Even worse. I'm so sorry. Seems the #1 killer of women just keeps on keeping on no matter what.

>87 clamairy: Oh no! I'm so sorry for your loss.

>87 clamairy: and >93 clamairy: Utterly appalling. As Hugh said, there are really no words for this. My deepest sympathy to all concerned, including you, Clam.

>87 clamairy: I have been grieving for you and your community. May you find the healing you need. I can never understand how a parent would do such a thing.

>93 clamairy: This is a horrific tragedy, and so senseless. Sending healing thoughts and wishes to you and your community.

>93 clamairy: (((Hugs)))

Thank you, everyone. I am feeling a bit more human again. I went to the beach and bobbed in the water almost every afternoon last week. I only skipped Friday because I went wine tasting at One Woman Vineyard with family. https://foodschmooze.org/one-woman-wines-on-the-east-end/



I finished another book, We've Got to Try, about the history of voting rights violations in Texas, and the amazing people who have fought and are fighting back, by Beto O'Rourke. I am glad I read it, but it was not a 'feel good' read.



I also finished a Great Courses Audible Original called Books That Cook: Food & Fiction by Jennifer Cognard-Black that was very enjoyable, but made me hungry every time I listened to it.

I have started The Hands of the Emperor and I am LOVING it. (I have to add this book appears to have the highest rating of any recent fiction that I have ever seen on LT. A 4.73!)

I finished Kindred which was mostly good, but I felt it got bogged down (for me, anyway) in the section on stone tool & spear knapping. It's easy enough for my concentration to flitter off into the ether under the best of circumstances. I stopped hitting the back 30 seconds icon and just drifted through that bit. Overall though it's fascinating. Most of us have .5% to 2% Neanderthal DNA, and we can sort of glean some of their behaviors from the scarce remains we've found. Obviously they were human, and some significant cross breeding occurred. Some of the less savory details of their remains implies they consumed their dead. A lot of human cultures appear to have done this at some point as well. I guess it's a great way to keep a little bit of that special someone with you forever*, but the idea made me feel more than just a little ill.

Overall a great listen, and worth the time.

And I'm still working my way through The Hands of the Emperor, and loving it. (But I can't recall the last time I read a book this long!)

*Stranger in a Strange Land!

>102 clamairy: I'm thinking that might work well as a Christmas present for a family member! Is it targeted to a reader who already has a bit more familiarity with the topic than the average bear?

And just out of curiosity, clam, how did you find out about it? Did you read a review or did you come across it on a library shelf?

>103 jillmwo: Yes, probably slightly more familiarity. I only had what knowledge most omnivorous science nerds have. A few of my notions were slightly out of date, but not most of them. I think a physical copy of this would be wonderful, with maps of the digs/finds, etc. I was stuck with my spotty age-addled mental map of the areas mentioned.

I found it on the Audible website, during one of those buy one/get one sales, I believe. I tend to go for the Great Courses, and similar listens. I then checked the ratings here on LT before I snagged it. (Doesn't everyone do that with unfamiliar titles?)

>104 clamairy:
I then checked the ratings here on LT before I snagged it. (Doesn't everyone do that with unfamiliar titles?)

Guilty as charged.

>105 pgmcc: I've had quite good luck with this technique. I will very rarely purchase anything below a 3.7...

>104 clamairy:, >105 pgmcc: Ratings, reviews ... if any GDers have praised it then I'm much more likely to acquire it.

The Hands of the Emperor was a direct BB between the eyes from Claire, and I'm so glad I got hit. It would be a five star, but I felt a few parts went on longer than they needed to. So it's a 4½, but I have to talk about just how much I loved Kip and his Emperor. I am looking forward to the second book in this series. In fact I'll probably read some of the other books set in this world sooner rather than later, but I just want to wallow in this one a while longer.

Not sure what I'm reading next. I am partway into several other books, so I may pick one of those up again. I was toying with the idea of reading Caste before next week's library book club discussion, but I don't know if I can handle that right now.

>108 clamairy: I really want to read this!

>109 libraryperilous: It's just under 1,000 pages and took me a while to get through because of real life stuff, but I loved it.

I just finished The Return of Fitzroy Angursell and loved it, too. It's a different tone than The Hands of the Emperor -- more adventuresome and way shorter.

ETA: very fun!

>111 reconditereader: Oh, that's good to know! I was eyeing that one. I still might wait a bit. I have a couple of OverDrive books that are just about ready for me to download. (I kept having to push them back a bit because Hands took me so long to read.)

>108 clamairy: I'm so glad you loved it as much as I did! I want to move to this world and hang out with the characters and (especially) eat the wonderful food!

>113 Sakerfalcon: Yes, the food! And I want to live in a world where ALL cultural differences are appreciated. (Which wasn't true of this world either, but they were working on it!)

Last night I finished Klara and the Sun. I enjoyed this one quite a bit, though it doesn't hold a candle to The Remains of the Day, IMHO. I still wonder why Ishiguro swerved so hard from realistic books into SciFi. I wish he's go back. LOL That said, I was completely sucked into this one by the halfway point. I am giving it 4 stars based on how immersed I became.

I am moving on to The Uncommon Reader.

Ooops. Forgot to mention I also finished Legends and Lattes, which was recommend by several people in here including sakerfalcon and tardis, I believe. Loved this one. More like this, please. I will be making cinnamon rolls at some point in the near future!

>116 clamairy: Hmm, I made cinnamon rolls this last weekend, and had eyes on that book because of what I had read here, but didn't succumb. Maybe I better go look at it again.

>117 MrsLee: I would borrow and not buy, if you can. It's relatively fluffy.

>118 clamairy: Good to know.

>115 clamairy:
This is the book that caused my book-club colleague to flare up at me with the comment, "IT IS NOT SCIENCE FICTION! IT IS AN ETHICS BOOK!"

:-)

>120 pgmcc: Yes, it definitely is! Well, it's both...

>121 clamairy:
That was my question to him, “Can it not be both?”
His response. “It is not Science Fiction. It is an ethics book. That is my opinion.” This response was shouted aggressively.

>122 pgmcc: Yikes! Don't sit next to that guy!

I found The Uncommon Reader on a list of books to read after HRH passed, and this one looked the most interesting. It was quite humorous and inventive, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. My only quibble is that QE II was supposedly a voracious reader her whole life, and this fiction only 'works' if you pretend she wasn't.

I am now reading Red Like Wine which is a murder mystery set where I live. I'm only about ten percent of the way in, but it's actually good so far.

>124 clamairy: I found An Uncommon Reader to be a fun but also a challenging book to think about. It's kind of an alternate universe in which the reader is supposed to be operating -- I mean, Sir Kevin from New Zealand? But as a meditation on how we read (or think about reading) and the associated long term process of how the experience creates change in the individual, the novella makes its point quite well. I had originally passed my paperback copy on to others, but then had to go back and find a different copy to hold on to.

>125 jillmwo: I agree. It was totally unrealistic, but still hilarious and wonderful in its own way.

Red Like Wine was recommended by a friend of mine, who received it as a gift and enjoyed it. If it hadn't been set out here where I live (but in the fictional town of North Fork Harbor) I doubt I would have kept going. Interestingly there is a decent book in there somewhere, but it could use some serious (and I mean SERIOUS) editing. I felt like it took me forever to get through. So... yeah, it's set locally and there's informative talk of wine and wine-making, plus some of the characters have goofy names like Shanin Blanc and Dr. Lambrusco.

The only people I would recommend this one to live in the area.

I've already started Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman because it's getting close to Halloween!

>127 clamairy: Oh, and here I was thinking that you were about to recommend a fun mystery in a novel setting to me. Darn!

>128 jillmwo: No, it was self-published, and it showed. Honestly, it wasn't terrible, but wasn't really good either. Ha ha. I generously gave it 3.5 stars, but that was with an extra half of a star for 'setting.' The book Plum Island was a lot more fun, but I'm not sure if it has aged well.

I picked Magic Lessons because it's Halloween Month. Loved it, but it was not as good as The World that We Knew, IMHO. Still I found some notable lines to highlight:

First they burned the books, then the people who wrote them, then those who read them.

This is how you begin in this world. These are the lessons to be learned. Drink chamomile tea to calm the spirit. Feed a cold and starve a fever. Read as many books as you can. Always choose courage. Never watch another woman burn. Know that love is the only answer.

That was my witchy read, now I'm working on my ghost read, The Rose Garden. After that I might go looking for a vampire read.

>130 clamairy: I have only read The Ice Queen by Hoffman. I enjoyed it, (7/10 rating).

I just finished two vampire novels in a row... Sunshine and Certain Dark Things. Both also received a 7/10 rating and, if you have not yet read them, I would recommend either one. If I had to pick just one of them, I would lean toward the Moreno-Garcia - only because it felt more grounded in the real world, as in less metaphysics/magical realism. The McKinley was also very good too though so YMMV...

>131 ScoLgo: I have read Sunshine. The stream-of-consciousness writing style gave me a headache a few times, but I did enjoy it. I will look up the other one. Thank you.

Thanks to Meredy I used an Audible credit for Confidence Man and I have been listening when I'm driving or working outside in the yard. That way I can murmur expletives without disturbing anyone.

>133 clamairy: I think it would take extraordinary endurance for me to tackle a long and dense work like that as an audible book, at read-aloud speed and with no way to flip back and forth for reminders such as "Who was that guy?" and "When was this?" I use the index a lot--and annotate it--as well as adding marginalia to the text. Do you just glide along with it and not worry about all the little particulars?

There are so many insights in that book, though, and also so many threads that go back way further in time than I suspected, such as the idea of rejecting election results and claiming the win was stolen. Whatever happens in the next few weeks, I'll be seeing it differently because of this book and Franzese's Mafia Democracy.

>133 clamairy: I'll have to look for that one from the library, sounds great.

>134 Meredy: I haven't had any trouble yet, and most of the people he's interacted with so far are known to me. I spent the first 30 years of my life in NY, and much of that time I was close enough to NYC to know all the mayors and strong men, etc. I've only made it to Chapter 5 so far. Hitting the "back 15 second" thingy is easy enough, when I feel like I've missed something.

>135 Karlstar: I have frequently found myself laughing out loud listening to this, but I'm still in the 1980s.

I hope you enjoy it.

I borrowed The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley under the mistaken impression that is was another of her ghost stories, only to discover that was about time travel. I still enjoyed it, but it wasn't very frightening, or Halloween-ish. I've moved on to Those who Hunt the Night on the recommendation of several people in here, most recently Karlstar. I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far.

Several people recommended Those Who Hunt the Night by Barbara Hambly, and it was an excellent choice for a Halloween Season read. Thank you, Karlstar and whoever else it was that recommended it. I'm not in any rush to get to the second one. Perhaps next October!



Because the first book about ghosts that I'd picked turned out to be about time-travel (and I still wanted something spooky to read) I just typed the word 'ghost' into my Kindle search bar to see what it revealed. Much to my surprise I owned a book called Ghost Gifts, which must have been a Kindle First Read back in 2016. It had a 3.8 rating here on LT so I had nothing to lose. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and even got scared enough that I had to turn some lights on instead of finding my way to the bathroom in the dark like I usually do while I'm reading in bed late!

Now I'm reading The Legend of Sleepy Hollow because it's still Samhain for us Celts.

>139 clamairy: Urk, I think you might have winged me with Ghost Gifts. As it gets chilly, a nice spooky read makes me feel, uh, chillier. (Why do we do this to ourselves?)

>140 Meredy: There's a romance which you might find distracting or off-putting, just an FYI.

>141 clamairy: Thanks for the warning. Is it gooey and intrusive, or does it remain decently restrained while we get on with the story? I would set my maximum-tolerance marker at about the Lord Peter-Harriet Vane level.

Ah, the LPHV measurement scale. Unfortunately i exceeded the maximum tolerance that time i read Twilight, so my needle is permanently bent.

>142 Meredy: It's not gooey, but it's very much at the forefront of the last third of the book or so.

>143 MrAndrew: Ha! So now that needle matches your sense of humor.

For the last half a dozen years or so I have tried to read or listen to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow near the end of October. The last two or three years I believe I've listened, and since it's a short story I wasn't keeping track so well. Now I've decided I'm counting EVERYTHING, and logging it in here.

It's just such a great story, with Autumnal East Coast atmospheric details that I really love. (Both the New Yorker in me, and the former New Englander appreciates it.) But... there are a couple of mildly racist comments in it, that seem a little more jarring each time I encounter them. It only slightly detracts from the pleasure of the book, and now I'm starting to wonder if they were removed from the Audible copy I have been listening to. I am going to have to do the audio version next year, and (if I remember) listen for them.

I bought a couple more of Marissa_Doyle's books last Fall, and I finally got around to reading What Lies Beneath, and it was a lot of fun. Selkies! I'm not sure when I became aware of the legends concerning them, but now I've read two of Marissa Doyle's selkie books. Then I had to go read on Wikipedia about the legends. Fascinating stuff.

You had me at "Selkie".

>146 clamairy:
Ken MacLeod’s Selkie Summer is very good.

>146 clamairy: I really enjoyed that book! I need to read the others. :)

>148 pgmcc: Interesting! There are submarines (well, U-boats, to be more exact) in this one, too.

>150 catzteach: I liked her Skin Deep quite a bit, too.

The Bookstore Sisters is actually a short story by Alice Hoffman and not a novel, but it was another of the Amazon First Reads selections that hit my sweet spot.



And Hoffman's Everything My Mother Taught Me was free on Audible. I listened to this about a month or so ago but completely forgot to log it or even enter it into my library. It's also quite good, but a bit more of a painful read.

Not sure what's up next yet. I have two books on hold with Libby/OverDrive, one of which I passed on to the next borrower so I could finish what I was reading. I'm happily finding stuff I already own to read, because I have been on a buying jag for the last, oh... 40 years or so.

>153 clamairy: "...because I have been on a buying jag for the last, oh... 40 years or so."

Same here... but I still keep borrowing and buying. Send help!! ;)

>154 ScoLgo: I will be of no help. One of the best (and worst) things about the Kindle is that the newly bought book stacks are no longer visible. The plus: I don't have to explain/rationalize them to anyone! The minus: I don't get nearly as much satisfaction looking at the covers on a screen as I did from the columns of books scattered around the house. :o/

Sorry I haven't been around much. The weather got nice for a long stretch and I was spending as much time outside as I could. And then I had to get ready for Thanksgiving. I was cooking this year because my sister's husband has his knee replaced. It's been a while since I did this, so I started preparing as far in advance as possible. It definitely paid off. I have also been having internet issues, and I finally had someone from Optimum come in and replace some connection hardware. (When I was troubleshooting I discovered a splitter outside that water had gotten into.) So far everything is working like it's supposed to. Fingers crossed!

Anyway I think I've only finished one book since my last post.



I'm so glad I chose to listen to Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America by Maggie Haberman, because somehow I was able to find humor in some of the more ludicrous words and actions of you-know-who. I'm not sure that I would have found any humor if I had been reading it. I don't know what I can say without wandering off the straight and narrow here, so I'll be brief. The author does an incredible job of summing up the life of this man and many of his antics. My only problem is that the people who really need to read this won't.

I'm still reading Blitz and though I had a bit of trouble getting immersed in this one I am now fully invested and plowing through the last third of it.

>156 clamairy: Glad you got your internet fixed.

>157 Karlstar: Thanks. It was so annoying. The connection would just just randomly drop while I was in the middle of something. I have a lot of smart devices in my home that were unusable or inoperable until the modem would reconnect. I have about a dozen smart bulbs and half a dozen plugs. Some can just be turned on manually, but I use color and dimmer settings on the bulbs, and if I lose WiFi I can't change them. First world problems... I know.

Trying to navigate a world w/o Internet is really so much harder than people anticipate, isn't it? We lost our Internet for five days before Christmas a few years back and it was one minor nuisance after another because we couldn't CONNECT.

Glad you're back, >158 clamairy:

>156 clamairy: Glad to hear you have gotten over your Internet issue. It is scary how dependent on it we have become.

>156 clamairy: If you can find a copy and feel like doing so, I would be very interested in hearing your comments on How to Steal a Country as compared to the book you note here. (by PM if you feel you're too close to infringing Pub rules.)

>159 jillmwo: Thank you. I'm happy to be back. It wasn't out continuously (like it was for over week back in 2019) but it meant that I couldn't type up posts on my PC, which is what I usually prefer to do. The risk of losing it all when I hit Post was just too high.

>160 pgmcc: Yes. I'm overly dependant...

>161 hfglen: Perhaps after the holidays. This book was more about one man and his nefarious influence, and not so much about his enablers.

>162 clamairy:
I have not done it much recently, but because of the risk of hitting the wrong button and losing a post I started typing up my posts in a Word document and copying them in. I haven't done any really long posts recently, and I am probably getting too lazy to do the whole Word and copy operation. :-)

>164 pgmcc: On a laptop, PC, tablet? My phone is so much faster than my tablet that I tend to use it more than I probably should... and so I miss a lot of typos (or swipos, to be more accurate.) I really should start using my laptop now that it's gotten cool again.

>165 clamairy:
Laptop. I still have a relatively big laptop. 17 inch screen. Too big to carry around these days.

I find the phone too small for long posts.

>165 clamairy: Have you tried The Dublin Trilogy books yet?

>167 pgmcc: Yeah, my laptop is the same size. It was Pete's, and was brand-new when be passed. I've barely used it. I should really get a smaller one, but I doubt I'd use that much either.

>167 pgmcc: No. Only the audio was available to borrow through OverDrive, so I've been putting it off, while waiting for the ebook to go on sale.

Edited to add: the first book is only $2.99, so I snagged it!

>165 clamairy: swipos. I like that.

I think you will enjoy the Dublin trilogy as well.

>156 clamairy: A new Rook novel!? Yay! I’m putting it on my list!

As far as dependence on the internet: I can’t imagine teaching without it anymore. Most of my lessons are now on Google Slides and others I have to open programs to even teach. Crazy how much it’s changed since the 90s when I started.

It took me at least 1/3 of the way before I got invested in Blitz. It switches timelines and POV quite often, and it took me a while to get to know and like the three characters. (Two are part of the same timeline.) I did end up loving it, and sitting for hours to finish it, which I rarely allow myself to do. I gave this one 4½ stars. It's better than the 2nd book in this series, and possibly almost as good as the 1st.

And now I'm on to An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong.

>170 catzteach: I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! I borrowed the ebook from OverDrive.

>171 clamairy: I still haven't read Stiletto yet, probably because of the negativity surrounding it. It's good to see the 3rd book in the series raising the bar again so might push me to pick them both up at some point.

>173 AHS-Wolfy: Stiletto wasn't bad. I think I still gave it 4 stars, though that was probably a stretch. It just wasn't as good as The Rook. It appears he took a bit more time writing this one and it paid off.

>174 clamairy: Definitely agree that Stiletto wasn’t as good as The Rook. Glad to hear the third one is just as good as the first! I have Blitz on hold. I’m next in line.

I liked the Rook quite a bit as I recall, but stayed away from the second one for the same reason I haven't watched any of the other Matrix movies.

>156 clamairy: So glad you found it a worthwhile read. I am still reading it. I do find some of the revelations stunning. I've had to put it on pause to read Healing Back Pain, by John Sarno, but I'll get back to it. It behooves us to try to take in the full scope of this horror story, and I think Haberman has a better grasp of it than most.

>176 Bookmarque: just curious: have you watched the second alien movie, the second terminator movie, or the second Mad Max movie? Watched/read the second Harry Potter or Lord of The Rings? I'm genuinely interested about a possible life choice that i have never considered, and it's potential ramifications. Good call on the Matrix movies, i must say.

Break the wrist and walk away...well, not that extreme, but sometimes you just have to cut your losses or preserve the good things you love about a first book or movie that just got it so right. And if you know the break the wrist and walk away bit comes from, you get a gold star.

Yes, I have watched some or all of franchises before, but there is a limit. For example the first two Alien movies are great. The rest...well...not so much. Mad Max...ugh, that third one is just a train wreck, but fun to watch in a self-loathing kind of way. The first two Terminators are perfect parallel fits to the Aliens even though they have the same director for both (Ts not As, Cameron only directed the second A), but clearly different budgets. Love them both for different reasons as I do the Alien movies. Watched all of the Potter (except the last) and Rings movies and wish I hadn't all of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Knew better when it came to Jurassic Park and Robocop and kept it to just the first, but screwed up with pushing through to the last Austin Powers. There just comes a time when the gag is finished, the drama achieved and the makers should quit while they're ahead.

>177 Meredy: I think Haberman impressed me the most with her calmness. Some of these tales would have had me screaming into the mic while recording the book.

>179 Bookmarque: Perfectly stated. Though I suspect he wasn't looking for a real answer. I often watch second and skip third films. I don't think I've ever seen the third Aliens movie. Or the third Matrix. Life is short, and movies sometimes aren't.

I know he wasn't, but in the interest of presenting an alternative life choice seldom seen in the wild...

>180 clamairy: Yes! In fact, even just reading her reporting, never mind the book, I've wondered how she has stood following this assignment for so long--and (presumably) kept her sanity.

Hey, i love real answers. Especially considered ones. They're so rarely encountered. Thank you.

>184 MrAndrew: This is good to know. It's hard to tell with you when the lion's share of your posts are humorous. :o)

I'm taking a break from the Ed Yong book. It is fascinating stuff, but I think it might be the wrong time of year* to read this. I might just snag the audible version.

*I have a bit of Yule on the brain, so I started Mr. Dickens and his Carol. Libby had about a zillion seasonal reads to borrow instantly, but they all looked like "Hallmark Channel" fare. This is decent so far. I did watch the movie version of The Man Who Invented Christmas last year, and even though I adore Dan Stevens I did not love the film.

gosh

I opted to do the Audible version of The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times read by the author, Michelle Obama. I enjoyed it very much, and will probably listen to the end of it again, because she spoke about not just giving lip service to political beliefs, but living up to them and encouraging others to do the same. She does an amazing job on the audio, with a lot (but not too much!) of her heartfelt emotion coming through. I have nothing but admiration for this lady, and I feel a bit of a bond because she lost her dad to the same disease that took my husband.

I'm still working my way through Mr. Dickens and his Carol and I will begin listening to Amanda Gorman's Call Us What We Carry.

I got bogged down a couple of times reading Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva, but ultimately ended up enjoying it. This is similar to The Man Who Invented Christmas, but it's fiction, so there's a lot more room for embellishment. And there is one hell of a twist (not an Oliver!) at the end, which made it a bit more magical for me. Four stars. An excellent pre-holiday choice.

I wanted to save my annual rereading of A Christmas Carol for next week, but I am sure I'll be much too crazed to enjoy it, so I might just start it now.

I received my second shingles vaccine yesterday (trying to be proactive) and I slept badly because of it. So I finished off A Christmas Carol at about 5:30 AM this morning. It's funny, but as a younger adult I found this book a little less accessible than I do now. Probably a result of reading it so many times in the intervening years. I highlighted a few passages, but this one really caught my eye:

“Man,” said the Ghost, “if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered what the surplus is, and where it is. Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die?

Isn't that last sentence Gandalf's line in FotR? I know, not exactly. I actually think Tolkien said it better.

(This isn't my cover. It's just very pretty.)

I'm on to This Is How It Always Is which was a bullet from catzteach and Sakerfalcon. I'm enjoying it so far, though the vaccine has given me a headache and a low-grade fever, so I am only reading a little at a time.

>189 clamairy: I think he did say something like that. So after reading Dickens, do you find yourself thinking or writing in Dickens' style?

>190 Karlstar: Not this time, because it's so short. But it happened after listening to Bleak House! I do find myself pondering the popularity of an almost 200 year old book.

I think Gandalf says:

“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement.

>191 clamairy: I love that quote.

>191 clamairy: Where in the course of things does that remark occur?

>193 Meredy: In the movie, it is in the mines of Moria when they glimpse Gollum. In the book, I think it is in Bilbo/Frodo's home at Bag End when Gandalf is telling Frodo the history of the ring at the kitchen table.

>194 MrsLee: Thanks. Oddly, that's not one that stuck with me.

>193 Meredy: I had read the books at least 20 times before the films were released, and as >194 MrsLee: points out the comment was moved from The Shire to the Mines, where I think it had much more impact. Also Ian's delivery was perfect.

There's a lot to unpack when hearing Amanda Gorman read her poems in Call us What We Carry. Highly recommended, but be aware that many of the poems are painful and/or thought-provoking... But it does include that uplifting beauty from the 2021 inauguration.

My Yule gift to myself is to listen to The Lord of the Rings read by Andy Serkis. I snagged these with my audible credits months ago, but I have been saving them. Just awesome so far.

>198 clamairy:
That sounds like a delight.

>156 clamairy: I’ve been thinking of reading Confidence Man.  It’s shown up in recommendations for Why We Did It and Weapons of Mass Delusion.  I was kinda surprised that Miller didn’t narrate his own work, but he found a good substitute, and Draper’s narrator had wry wit to go along with his straight-lace reading.

I remember making fun of this sort of person as a child, but I keep going back to Jane Austen as a palate cleanser. ^^;  I don’t really believe those were simpler times (I don’t believe in any “simpler time”), but there’s comfort in 20/20 hindsight.

>198 clamairy: I'm really curious. Is it the full length title that Serkis reads? Or is it abridged at all? Seems like LOTR would be a really, really long read-aloud. One that you carry you through to springtime!!

But a nice thing to be enjoying this week.

>201 jillmwo: I listened to the other audio version, and I don't believe it took me months, because it's so good! These are full length. And I have to say I greatly prefer his narration style to the other dude. (Even though the other dude was also great.)

>200 justjukka: That Miller looks good, but I'm taking a long break from that topic for a stretch. And I definitely understand the Austen breaks.

>199 pgmcc: It is!

>202 clamairy: I loved his narration as well. I'm listening to The Hobbit with his narration right now. Just got to Smaug. Sounds like Cumberbatch is reading!

>205 MrsLee: I listened to The Hobbit last year, and I was blown away. I think that was released first, because I snagged these three pretty soon after they became available.

>198 clamairy: >205 MrsLee: You folks keep aiming at me with this recommendation, I may have to pick this one up! I don't listen to a lot of audiobooks, except sometimes on long drives, but I may have to give this one a listen.

I think This Is How It Always Is was BB from catzteach, with a backup round from sakerfalcon. This book addresses an issue I'll admit I hadn't thought much about. Most of the trans young adults I know didn't start to transition until high school or college. One person I worked with didn't transition until she was in her 50s. Poppy (Claud) always identifies as female, and their parents let them go with it. I'm sure there are a lot more kids like Poppy than I realized. This book is told mainly from the parents' perspective. They are struggling to do what they think is best for their child, and not always getting it right. I enjoyed this book quite a bit, mainly because there is a lot of humor in it. I did feel like it went on a smidge longer than it should have, but that was probably just my adult onset ADD kicking in.

“You can’t tell people what to be, I’m afraid,” said Rosie. “You can only love and support who they already are."

And now I'm starting Babel, Or, The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution. I'll be back to start my new thread soon.

>208 clamairy:
Your comments on This Is How It Always Is reminded me of my reading My Name Is Philippa. It was fairly intense, especially as I knew Philippa from before transition, but was not aware of her transitioning during a critical period as she had limited her social contacts while starting the process. I found it quite an emotional read.

I am looking forward to your comments on Babel. It is one of the books I picked up on my excursion to bookshops in Limerick a couple of months ago.

>209 pgmcc: I will be adding that to my wishlist. Thank you. As difficult as it must be to transition as an adult, when your life is set, imagine what it must be like for children (and their parents) trying to find the best path through that maze. In the afterword the author said:

I wish for my child, for all our children, a world where they can be who they are and become their most loved, blessed, appreciated selves. I’ve rewritten that sentence a dozen times, and it never gets less cheesy, I suppose because that’s the answer to the question. That’s what’s true. For my child, for all our children, I want more options, more paths through the woods, wider ranges of normal, and unconditional love. Who doesn’t want that?

I'm not so sure I'm going to continue with Babel, as I got to the part that I suspect was the one that almost made jillmwo put it down.

>211 clamairy: It does have segments that are dark and uncomfortable. Was it the scene in the library over the boy reading his brand new book? Or were you further along than that?

>211 clamairy: & >212 jillmwo:
You have me worried about BABEL now.

>212 jillmwo: That was the scene, and I went back and read what you'd written. I did keep going because even though I'm only 10% of the way into the book I've grown attached to the boy.

>213 pgmcc: Sorry, Peter!

>215 clamairy:
>212 jillmwo: has Babel listed as one of her top five books of 2022, so I may still enjoy it. The "Necessity of Violence" part of the title does give me some concerns, but I am willing to learn from whatever argument is in the book.

>214 clamairy: I currently have Babel on my Overdrive hold list. In 2021, I managed to finish The Poppy War but I can't say I fully enjoyed it. Very grim and violent. I understood during the read that it was a re-imagining of the Sino-Japanese wars, and that the portrayed atrocities were based on real events, but that didn't actually help my enjoyment. Add to that the angsty YA-ish narrative with a main character that made bad decision after bad decision and, well... suffice to say that it didn't really work for me. Babel has received many accolades though so I am willing to give the author another chance. It worked out for me with Walter Jon Williams. I really disliked the first book of his that I read but subsequent titles have turned me into a fan.

>217 ScoLgo: I have trouble with violence, but I can usually muddle through for a good story. This was violence against a child, so I almost didn't make it. The torture scenes in The Three Body Problem were enough to make me bail. I guess we all have our lines in the proverbial sand... and sometimes those sands shift a little.

Well, I don't think you've started a new 2023 thread just yet, so let me just say that while I trly believe that Babel is a well-written and worthwhile book, it may not be the right one for your current mood, clamairy. Be kind to yourself and if need be, put it aside and find something lighter to begin your new year with!!

>219 jillmwo: Too late! I'm invested! But thank you for your kind words. I'm going to start the new thread soon... ish.