Kathy's (kac522) 2020 Reading Projects

Welcome to my Reading Projects for 2020!

This year I'll be continuing My Projects from 2019, so the format is going to be much the same. I think I did fair to middling on my projects and challenges last year--some were successful, some not so much. In 2020 I'll be adding a couple new projects and participating in several challenges around LT.

Once again I’ll join ROOTS to get those TBRs out of here.

And naturally, I’ll have a “catch-all” category for those books that don’t fit anywhere else—from the “New Books” shelf at the library; book bullets; gifts; titles read for my RL book club; just because, etc.

I’ll be keeping a chronological "book by book" list in the 75ers group https://www.librarything.com/topic/315034#
I also have a "decade by decade" thread in the Read It, Track It! Group here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/303114#
And my "Big Fat Books" will be recorded here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/314590

Thanks for stopping by. My projects begin below, in alphabetical order by author last name.

Project Austen: Jane Austen, Belknap Annotated Editions

I own 5 of these gorgeous annotated editions; I’m only missing Emma. I read two in 2013—Pride & Prejudice and Persuasion. I didn't make any headway on this project in 2019, so 2020 is the year for Austen:

DONE 1. Sense and Sensibility: an annotated edition, annotated and edited by Patricia Meyer Spacks (Mar)
2. Northanger Abbey: an annotated edition, annotated and edited by Susan J. Wolfson
DONE 3. Sanditon, Jane Austen (Jan)
DONE 4. Mansfield Park : an annotated edition, annotated by Deidre Shauna Lynch (May)

NEW in 2020: Project Brontes: Anne, Charlotte and Emily

I've been reading the Brontes on and off all my life, starting with Jane Eyre at age 11 or 12. Between them, the sisters wrote only 7 novels, 5 of which I have read (some multiple times). Here are the two left for me to finish in 2020:

DONE 1. Anne Bronte, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848) Completed Jan
2. Charlotte Bronte, Shirley (1849)
3. Charlotte Bronte, Five Novelettes: "Passing Events" (1836), "Julia" (1837), "Mina Laury" (1838), "Captain Henry Hastings" (1839), "Caroline Vernon" (1839)

NEW in 2020: Project Cather: The Works of Willa Cather

I love Willa Cather's novels; I've read 4 (O Pioneers!, My Antonia, One of Ours, Death Comes for the Archbishop).

This year I hope to read at least 2 more, maybe 3:

DONE 1. Alexander's Bridge (1912) (Jan)
2. The Song of the Lark (1915)
3. A Lost Lady (1923)

Eventually I hope to read all of her novels, several collections of essays, and her short stories. I have yet to find a complete list of the short stories, so that is a project to work on for 2020.

COMPLETE: Project Dame Agatha: Agatha Christie Mysteries

This was one of my successful projects last year; I read 7! I'll try for 6 again this year and as best as possible to stay in chronological order. Next up:

DONE 1. The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) (Poirot) (Jan)
DONE 2. Partners in Crime, stories (1929) (Tommy & Tuppence) (Feb)
DONE 3. The Mysterious Mr. Quin, stories (1930) (Mar)
DONE 4. The Sittaford Mystery (1931)
DONE 5. The Peril at End House (1932) (Poirot) (May)
DONE 6. Lord Edgware Dies (1933) (Poirot)
DONE 7. The Boomerang Clue (1934) (Oct)
DONE 8. The Hound of Death and other stories (1933) (Dec)
DONE 9. Three Act Tragedy (1934) Poirot (Dec)

Project Dickens: Charles Dickens' novels

I love Dickens, but I got nowhere with dear Charles in 2019, except to re-visit an audio version of David Copperfield. We'll try again to finish off the last 3 that I have left to read of his major novels:

DONE 1. Barnaby Rudge (1841) Aug 2020
DONE 2. Dombey and Son (1848) May 2020
3. The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870)

Project Eliot: George Eliot's major works

Another favorite author, but in 2019 I only completed 1 on my list: Scenes from Clerical Life. We'll try again in 2020 for these to complete my reading of Eliot's major novels:

1. Romola (1863)
2. Felix Holt, the Radical (1866)
3. Daniel Deronda (1876)—a re-read

COMPLETE: Project Miss Read (Dora Jessie Saint): Reading Fairacre in 2020

I did pretty well with this series in 2019 and plan to continue with the Fairacre series in 2020; these are up next:

DONE 1. Farther Afield (1974) (Apr)
DONE 2. Village Affairs (1977) (May)
DONE 3. The White Robin (1979) (May)
DONE 4. Village Centenary (1980) (Aug)
DONE 5. Summer at Fairacre (1984) (Aug)
DONE 6. Mrs Pringle of Fairacre (1989) (Nov)

COMPLETE: Project Stevenson: Reading D. E. Stevenson

This was another successful project in 2019, finishing the 4 Miss Buncle Books. I'm going to attempt the 3 novels of the "Dering Family" series, but as they are more obscure, it may take some doing to acquire copies:

DONE 1. Listening Valley, 1944, (Feb)
DONE 2. The Young Clementina, 1935, (Mar)
DONE 3. Smouldering Fire, 1935, (Apr)
DONE 4. Rosabelle Shaw, 1937 (Apr)
DONE 5. The Baker's Daughter, 1938 (Sep)
DONE 6. Green Money, 1939 (Nov)

Project Taylor: Reading Elizabeth Taylor

This project did not get far in 2019; here's hoping for more progress in 2020:

DONE 1. A View of the Harbour (1947) (Jun)
DONE 2. A Wreath of Roses (1949) (May)
3. A Game of Hide and Seek (1951)

COMPLETE: Project Trollope: Anthony Trollope's novels

I'm pleased with my Trollope progress, and am back in 2020 to fill in more gaps of my reading of his 45+ novels, which should put me past the half-way point:

DONE 1. Castle Richmond ( 1860)
DONE 1a. Castle Richmond --re-read in July-August via audiobook, read by Simon Evers
DONE 2. Orley Farm (1862)
DONE 3. The Struggles of Brown, Jones and Robinson By One of the Firm (1862)
DONE 4. Rachel Ray, (1863)

I'll also follow along lyzard's group read of The Bertrams, which I read last year.

COMPLETE Project Virago: Reading Virago from my TBR

When I first started on LT in 2009, I stumbled upon the Virago Group, (https://www.librarything.com/groups/viragomodernclassics) and since that time I’ve slowly been collecting Virago editions as I find them at used book shops. I love the dark green covers! I read 4 in 2019, and hope to pick 4 more from my shelves in 2020.

DONE 1. Lady Audley's Secret, Mary E. Braddon (1862)
DONE 2. The Pastor's Wife, Elizabeth von Arnim (1914)
DONE 3. Plagued by the Nightingale, Kay Boyle (1931)
DONE 4. One Fine Day, Mollie Panter-Downes (1946)
DONE 5. The Doctor's Family and Other Stories, Margaret Oliphant (1861)--my library copy not a Virago edition
DONE 6. Elizabeth and her German Garden, Elizabeth von Arnim (1898)
DONE 7. The Misses Mallett, E. H. Young (1922)
DONE 8. Anderby Wold, Winifred Holtby (1923)

Monthly Reading Projects: British Author Challenge and Nonfiction

No commitments, but these two projects from the 75ers match many books on my shelves:

Paul's BAC Challenge
Jan -- DONE Graham Swift: England and other stories
Feb --DONE the 90's: Swift and Fitzgerald
Mar --DONE Austen & Scott; Sense and Sensibility: an annotated edition
Apr --DONE Caryl Phillips: A View of the Empire at Sunset
May --DONE Wildcard--drama--The Silver Box and Other Plays, John Galsworthy
Jun --DONE Penelope Fitzgerald, The Gate of Angels
Jul --DONE Comfort reading--The Crossing Places, Elly Griffiths
Aug --DONE Brontes--The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Sep --DONE WWII --One Fine Day, Molly Panter-Downes (1946)
Oct --DONE Wildcard playwrights: "Major Barbara", Shaw (1907)
Nov --DONE Fay Weldon: Letters to Alice (1984); Rebecca West (1985)
Dec --2010-2019

75ers Nonfiction Challenge
Jan--DONE Prizewinners--The Light of the World, Elizabeth Alexander
Feb --DONE Heroes and Villains--Lincoln Reconsidered, David Herbert Donald; Young Men and Fire, Norman Maclean
Mar --DONE--Food--The Great Irish Famine, ed. Poirteir
Apr --DONE Migration Paper Love, Sarah Wildman, ebook
May --DONE--comfort reading--A Tale of Beatrix Potter, Margaret Lane; Jane Austen: Bloom's Major Novelists, Harold Bloom
Jun -- DONE--By Journalists --Fighting France, Edith Wharton; Hiroshima, John Hersey
Jul --DONE--18th Century--Bach: Essays on his Life and Music, Christoph Wolff
Aug --DONE--Books about books-Confessions of a Bookseller, Shaun Bythell
Sep --DONE--Sci/Tech --Letters from an Astrophysicist, deGrasse Tyson; The Wright Brothers, David McCullough
Oct --Byzantines
Nov --DONE--Group Biography--Great Expectations: the Sons and Daughters of Charles Dickens, Gottlieb
Dec --Catch-all

More Monthly Reading: Reading Through Time and RandomCAT

Reading Through Time https://www.librarything.com/topic/311330 (historical fiction &/or nonfiction) I may need some suggestions with some of these topics.

Jan --DONE 19th century Ireland: Castle Richmond, Trollope
Feb --DONE Crime & Mystery--They Called Us Enemy, Takei
Mar --DONE Mother and Daughters -- The Summer of the Great-Grandmother, L'Engle
Apr --NONE Off with her Head--queens and martyrs
May --NONE Explorers
Jun --DONE Religious life -- The Pastor's Wife, von Arnim
Jul -- DONE On the shore -- Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life, Melville
Aug --DONE Epidemics, Famines, Health Disasters -- Year of Wonders, Brooks
Sep --NONE General Economics
Oct --NONE Deception
Nov --DONE: Author Biographies --James Joyce, John Gross; Shields' Jane Austen
Dec --NONE Predicting the Future

2020 RandomCAT https://www.librarything.com/topic/312875

Jan --DONE Challenging Read --Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Feb --DONE Published in a Leap year --Stevenson, Listening Valley (1944); Salt to the Sea, Sepetys (2016); Castle Richmond, Trollope (1860)
Mar--DONE Seasons --The Summer of the Great-Grandmother, L'Engle
Apr--DONE Showers and Flowers --The Johnstown Flood, McCullough
May--DONE Off the shelf -- Dombey and Son, Dickens
Jun--DONE the sea -- A View of the Harbour, Taylor
Jul --Picture books -- working on William Morris
Aug --DONE Music -- Bach: Essays on his life and music, Wolff
Sep --DONE Recommendations -- Elizabeth and her German Garden, Elizabeth von Arnim
Oct -- DONE Healthcare Heroes -- The Doctor's Family and other Stories, Margaret Oliphant; Scales to Scalpels, Lisa Wong, M.D. (2012)
Nov --DONE Veterans Country Place, Ann Petry (1947)
Dec --Bye bye 2020: 1) color: Green Money), D. E. Stevenson (1939)
2) number 3)D 4) Joe 5) Obama years: My Beloved World, Sonya Sotomayor (2013)
6) all year

Andrew's Separated by a Pond Challenge (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, USA, Canada)

England: Bristol: The Misses Mallett, E. H. Young (1922)
England: Cambridgeshire: The Gate of Angels, Penelope Fitzgerald (1990)
England: Cornwall: Three Act Tragedy, Christie (1934)
England: Cumbria: A Tale of Beatrix Potter, Lane (1946)
England: Derbyshire: Year of Wonders, Brooks (2001)
England: Devonshire: The Sittaford Mystery, Christie (1931); Sense and Sensibility: an annotated edition, Austen (1811); Rachel Ray, Trollope (1863)
England: Dorset: Green Money, Stevenson (1939)
England: East Riding of Yorkshire: Anderby Wold, Holtby (1923)
England: Essex: Lady Audley's Secret, Mary E. Braddon (1862)
England: Hampshire: Miss Read's Fairacre books
England: Hertfordshire: Howards End, E. M. Forster (1910)
England: Kent (St Mary Mead): The Mystery of the Blue Train, Agatha Christie (1928)
England: Greater London: Partners in Crime, Agatha Christie (1929)
England: London: The Mysterious Mr Quin, Christie; The Young Clementina, Stevenson; Dombey and Son, Dickens (1848)
England: Manchester: North and South, Gaskell (1855)
England: Merseyside or Cheshire: The Doctor's Family and Other Stories, Margaret Oliphant (1861) (Carlingford based on Birkenhead)
England: Norfolk: The Crossing Places, Griffiths (2009)
England: North Yorkshire--The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte (1848)
England: Northamptonshire: Mansfield Park: an annotated edition, Austen (1814/2016)
England: Somerset, (Exmoor) England and other Stories, Graham Swift (2015)
England: East Sussex--Lady Susan, Austen (pub post 1871); audiobook re-read
England: West Sussex--Sanditon, Austen (1817) Sanditon probably based on Worthing (Sussex named, but not divided at that time); One Fine Day, Mollie Panter-Downes (1946)
England: West Yorkshire (Leeds)--Orley Farm, Anthony Trollope 1862
England: Wiltshire: Northanger Abbey, Austen, (1817)

Ireland: County Cork: Castle Richmond, Trollope (1860)
Ireland: Dublin: James Joyce, John Gross (1970)

Scotland: Borderlands--The Baker's Daughter, D. E. Stevenson (1938)
Scotland: Drumfries and Galloway (Wigtown)--Three Things You Need To Know About Rockets, Fox (2012)
Scotland: Lothian (Edinburgh): Listening Valley, D. E. Stevenson (1944); The Geometry of Holding Hands, McCall Smith (2020)
Scotland: Lowlands: Rosabelle Shaw, Stevenson (1937)
Scotland: Somewhere in the Highlands: Smouldering Fire, Stevenson (1935)

Wales: fictitious coastal town of Marchbolt: The Boomerang Clue, Christie (1934)
Wales: Clwyd: Abergele: The Moorland Cottage, Elizabeth Gaskell (1850)

Canada: Ontario: Lady Oracle, Atwood (1976)
Canada: Prince Edward Isle: Emily of New Moon, Montgomery (1923)
Canada: Quebec: Still Life, Louuse Penny (2005)

USA: Arkansas: They Called Us Enemy, George Takei (2019)
USA: Connecticut (New Haven): The Light of the World, Elizabeth Alexander (2015); Country Place, Ann Petry (1947)
USA: Florida: The Summer of the Great-Grandmother, L'Engle (1974)
USA: Illinois: Chicago: Passing, Nella Larsen (1929)
USA: Massachusetts (Boston): Alexander's Bridge, Willa Cather (1912); Scales to Scalpels, Lisa Wong, M.D. (2012)
USA: Montana: Young Men and Fire, Maclean
USA: New York: My Beloved World, Sotomayor (2013)
USA: Ohio: The Bluest Eye, Morrison (1970); The Wright Brothers, McCullough (2015)
USA: PA (Johnstown) The Johnstown Flood, McCullough (1968); (Pittsburgh): Fences, August Wilson (1986)
USA: Washington DC: Lincoln Reconsidered, Donald

COMPLETED: John's Big Fat Books Challenge (500+ pages)

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte (Jan)
Castle Richmond, Trollope (Feb)
Dombey and Son, Dickens (May)
Mansfield Park: An Annotated Edition, Austen (May)
Barnaby Rudge, Dickens (Aug)
Orley Farm, Trollope (Oct)

Everything Else

This America, Jill Lepore (January)
What to Read and Why, Francine Prose, essays (April AAC)
Howards End, E. M. Forster, ebook (April) -- monthly author for March
Fences, August Wilson (April)
DNF: The Time Traveler's Wife, Niffenegger (May)
Marriage and Morals, Himmelfarb (May)
Mrs 'Arris Goes to Paris, Gallico (June)
Three ebook stories by Alexander McCall Smith: The Perils of Morning Coffee, (2011); At the Reunion Buffet, (2015); Sweet, Thoughtful Valentine, (2016). (September)
Monthly Author Reads-November-Chinua Achebe: The Education of a British-Protected Child, essays, (2009)
Country Place, Ann Petry (1947) (Nov AAC)
Passing, Nella Larsen (1929) Monthly Author Read Dec20

Ambitious reading projects! I’m planning on reading Shirley this year too along with some Dickens but not the ones you have listed. Good luck with your challenge!

Dropping a star to follow your progress. I've read many of the ones you aim to complete!

>16 LittleTaiko: We'll have to compare notes on Shirley. Which Dickens are in your plans? Mine are the only ones I have left to read.

>17 thornton37814: Thanks, Lori--any memorable titles from the ones you've read?

Good luck with your 2020 reading!

I always enjoy following your reading - looking forward to 2020!

Good luck with your reading projects.

Have fun with your reading projects this year!

Wishing you a year of good reading in 2020. It looks as though you have some interesting projects and reading plans.

I have several in my plan that you also have on your list, The Song of the Lark for one. I'm trying to stick to my TBR and I think that's the only one of hers I have unread on the shelf. I don't think I've ever read anything by Elizabeth Taylor and the couple of reviews I've just read sound like someone I'd like to try.

Whoa, visitors!

>19 Tess_W:, >20 japaul22:, >21 hailelib:, >22 rabbitprincess:, >23 This-n-That:, >24 clue: Thanks for the encouragement & stopping by! Cheers to everyone's 2020 reading!

>20 japaul22: Back at you, Jennifer...I am continually amazed at the vast amount of important reading you do, while working AND with 2 young whipper-snappers around...have a wonderful holiday with them!

>24 clue: I'm looking forward to reading more Cather. If you want to try Elizabeth Taylor, I'd recommend starting with Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont; there's a movie of the book, too. Although Taylor is always good, I think this book stands out for me (so far) as one of her best.

We have many "projects" in common as I too explore authors like the Brontes, Dickens and George Eliot as well as Agatha Christie and Miss Read. Looking forward to following along in 2020.

I also love every category! I collect green Viragos too, but they are becoming so hard to find. I love Elizabeth Taylor - she is my comfort read.
Happy reading in 2020!

>26 DeltaQueen50: Thanks for visiting, Judy. Miss Read was an LT discovery for me, and it was getting harder to find the books in order at libraries here. But I got lucky at a used book sale in 2018 when someone donated a large number of Miss Read books, so I have almost a complete set. I am making my way through the Fairacre books, and then will move on to Thrush Green.

>27 JayneCM: Yes, the green ones are hard to find especially here in the States, but I have my daughter-in-law snooping around in charity shops in the UK. I hope to bring home a small pile after my next visit to Sheffield to see the grandchildren this Spring.

>26 DeltaQueen50: I stopped by your new thread and found the Folly-->Roulette idea so much fun! I had not used that before. I think it will be particularly useful to pick random books from my shelf to read. I wish the Roulette feature "Book of Yours" had a way to limit the search, since I have put all my TBR books in the "To Read" collection. But it's still fun--I just have to run it a few times until it gets to a "To Read" book, rather than one I've already read.

>28 kac522: That would be so exciting! I have often wished I could do a trip to the UK just to go to all the bookshops!

>18 kac522: I’m planning on reading Hard Times and Little Dorrit next year. I’ve been trying to read one a year in order but failed to get one in for 2019. Doubling up for 2020.

>18 kac522: I loved Miss Read back when I read them. They were just the perfect fit for me at that time. I've read all the Bronte and Austen books multiple times. I love Willa Cather's work too. Of course, anything by Dame Agatha is a great read. I've read most, but not quite all, over the years, but since I didn't keep track some of the years I read, I'm not quite sure which ones I'm really missing. I've read one of the Dickens books, but it wasn't "memorable" for me.

>31 LittleTaiko: Little Dorrit is one of my favorites, along with Bleak House. And I love the BBC 2008 version of Little Dorrit with a young Claire Foy in the title role. Hmm...maybe it's time to re-visit that series...

>32 thornton37814: I always choose a Miss Read after a long or difficult book; it's like coming home after a long journey. And yes, I think the reason I have these Dickens' novels left to read is because they are less than memorable for most people. But I'll Carry On.

>33 kac522: I love that version of Little Dorrit too - until you had mentioned it, I did not remember it was Claire Foy! She is fabulous.

Lots of good reading to follow along with! I'm trying to get more Trollope read this year, too.

>35 NinieB: Thank for stopping by. Around January 15 Liz (lyzard) of the 75ers Challenge will be hosting a group read of Trollope's The Bertrams. I read it last year, but it's always worthwhile following along, as Liz gives such great background to the book. Also, it's one of the few novels of his I haven't liked much, so it will be interesting for me to see what she can add or enlighten me on the tale.

>36 kac522: I'm considering doing a reread as I barely remember the book!

>33 kac522: - Dombey and Son is my second favorite Dickens novel right after A Tale of Two Cities. Barnaby Rudge was also a delight so I'm envious that you still have them to read.

>39 kac522: Well, thank you for that. I recall starting Dombey many years ago, and dropped it--perhaps it just wasn't the right time. I will definitely get to at least one Dickens this year.

>11 kac522: Orley Farm is on my list too. You're reading Trollope in order of publication?

>40 pamelad: Yes, I'm reading all of his works (that I haven't read previously) in publication order. I've read the Barsetshire and Palliser series, and a few odds and ends, and am now filling in the gaps. Trollope has become comfort reading for me.

I don't think I have met a Trollope that I didn't like, so I agree with you about comfort reading.

Ohhh, so many favourite authors here! Enjoy!

>43 MissWatson: I will! And most of these books are staring me in the face from my book shelves. Hardest part is figuring out which to read first.

So many interesting books lined up, that looks promising. Enjoy your reading! :)

Love your project reading! I see that you have two Willa Cather reads "on deck" for possible reading that I haven't read yet: Alexander's Bridge and A Lost Lady. Looking forward to seeing what you think of them.

Good luck with your 2020 reading projects!

January tentative reading plans:

Updated--it's only January 6 and I've already changed my plans:

DONE: Three Things You Need to Know about Rockets, Fox
DONE: Sanditon, Austen
Castle Richmond, Trollope replacing with The Absentee, Maria Edgeworth--for Reading thru Time--Jan--19th cen. Ireland
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, A. Bronte--for my RL Book club and my Bronte Project
England and Other Stories, Graham Swift--for January BAC
Whose Body?, Sayers have decided not to participate in this group reading of Lord Peter Wimsey
Alexander's Bridge, Cather--for My Cather project
The Light of the World, Elizabeth Alexander OR Jane Austen, Carol Shields--for January 75ers Non-fiction Challenge--Prizewinners

CURRENTLY READING This America, Jill Lepore

I've updated the Bronte Project (>3 kac522:) to include Charlotte's Five Novelettes: "Passing Events" (1836), "Julia" (1837), "Mina Laury" (1838), "Captain Henry Hastings" (1839), "Caroline Vernon" (1839).

I had never heard of these, and found a Folio Press edition on the shelf at the library downtown, so I've added them. Apparently these were pieces written by Charlotte in her 20s, prior to her major novels, but not considered "juvenilia".

Looks like a good plan for January. Interesting find re Charlotte's novelettes!

>49 rabbitprincess: Right, it was a surprise. I think several of these are from the "Tales of Angria" pieces, which were the fantasy stories the Brontes created as children/teenagers. But I think a couple are just stand-alone, and from what I can gather several had not been published prior to this Folio edition in 1971.

Love your projects! I think I got my 'completist' idea from you, and I think I will need to add Willa Cather and Elizabeth Taylor to my challenge in a future year.

I love the VMCs too - I am always looking for them in used book stores in my travels - and I also have a category for them this year.

I look forward to following along!

>51 LisaMorr: Thanks for stopping by! I just had to add Cather this year; every time I read another Cather, I realize how under-appreciated she is. I mean to get to Alexander's Bridge this month or next. As to VMC's, I've got my daughter-in-law in the UK rummaging through charity shops to add to my collection! They are so hard to find here (Chicago).

>51 LisaMorr: >52 kac522: I found a few green VMCs recently on eBay. But they are becoming near impossible to find in op shops (thrift stores, charity shops) here in Australia. Everyone must be hanging on to them! And quite expensive to purchase on eBay.

>53 JayneCM: It's weird the places I find them in the US - I found a ton on a business trip to Bellingham, WA, have found a few in various bookstores in the Houston area.

I am regularly more successful on my trips to the UK where I always try to find time to browse bookstores. I'm going to be in the Richmond, UK area next weekend and will be looking around!

>54 LisaMorr: Happy hunting! Hope you come up with some good ones.

>54 LisaMorr: Ooh, exciting! I hope you find some good ones - and have a lovely trip.

Your discussion of the VMCs reminds me that I've got a few on my shelves as well, that I hope to get to this year. They are hard to find in my area also, but I do keep an eye out for them every time I'm in a used bookstore.

>57 mathgirl40: Just this past weekend, I was in a used bookstore and spotted about 5 or so on the shelves, but none were the old "dark green" covers (which I love). I did buy one of the newer (2006) ones--Edith Wharton's The Children:

>58 kac522: Yes, I love the original covers too, but many of the newer ones are really nice as well.

I'm pretty satisfied with my January reading; I met all of my goals in >11 kac522: except for one. AND 7 of the 8 books were "Roots" (off my shelves and acquired before 2020).



1. Three Things You Need to Know About Rockets by Jessica A. Fox
Year Published: 2013
Type: memoir
Acquired: Chicago Public Library
Challenge Category: Separated by a Pond: Scotland (Dumfries)

Interlibrary loan. Disappointing book written before Bythell's Diary of a Bookseller. The author becomes Bythell's extremely needy and annoying American girlfriend. I am so glad I read Shaun's book first because 1) if I read her book first I would have hated him and 2) they break up at the end of his book anyway. I only gave it as high as 3 stars because of her descriptions of Scotland. Also thinking back to his book, except for jabs about being American, I felt he treated her fairly in his book, whereas she seemed to be constantly complaining about him in her memoir. I suppose he felt he needed to write his memoir in response to hers. And it has nothing whatsoever to do with rockets.



2. Sanditon by Jane Austen
Year Written: 1817
Type: fiction
Acquired: hardcover from my shelves since before 1989.
Challenge Category: Project Austen

I read this back in 1989, and I wanted to re-read it before the Masterpiece Theater presentation in January 2020. In January 1817, Austen began work on a new novel she called The Brothers, later titled Sanditon, and completed eleven chapters before stopping work in mid-March 1817, probably because of her illness. The main characters and the village of Sanditon are introduced, but very little happens, except for our heroine Charlotte being invited to the up and coming seaside resort of Sanditon. Not much to review or comment upon, except that the TV presentation has gone way beyond the book (and Austen's) usual comfort zone.



3. This America: the Case for the Nation by Jill Lepore
Year Published: 2019
Type: nonfiction; political essay
Acquired: hardcover from my shelves acquired 2019.
Challenge Category: Everything Else

Small but powerful. Liberalism and nationalism are not mutually exclusive. We cannot let the "nationalists" define what our nation is, was or can be.



4. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
Year Published: 1848
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves acquired in 2015; several weeks after reading the book, I listened to the Audiobook, read by Alex Jennings and Jenny Agutter (better known as Sister Julienne in "Call the Midwife")
Challenge Category: Project Bronte; January RandomCAT--challenging reading

Anne Bronte (writing as Acton Bell) was the youngest of the Bronte clan. This was her second (and final) novel which startled her better known sister Charlotte--so much so that Charlotte did not allow the book to be re-published for some years after the second edition. The story is rather clumsily told between a gentleman's letter to his brother-in-law, and inserted in the middle is "the tenant's" personal diary. It was hard to follow the timeline and figure out what happened when; it dragged in spots and was often melodramatic (as only the Yorkshire Brontes can do). Finally the religious overtones made it a tough one to swallow.

BUT--now that I'm done with the drawbacks, the positives were many. Some have called this the first "feminist" novel. Anne raises questions about how boys are raised; how girls and boys are raised differently; on what makes a "good" marriage; on the inequality of marriage (and divorce) in the Victorian age; on constantly avoiding unwanted advances by men (#MeToo in 1848); on alcoholism, drug abuse, infidelity and domestic abuse in the 19th century; on the overwhelming odds that a woman had to overcome to be independent of a man. Some of the scenes are based on Anne's own experiences with her sad brother Branwell and her experiences as a governess. To me the religious overtones were a bit much, yet I can understand how Anne used this moral basis to justify her commentary on inequality, marriage, and temperance; this is not unlike what the Abolition movement was doing during those years. And told under the grey skies of Yorkshire in a small and gossipy village.

Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre may have smoother plot lines and more refined writing styles, but Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is a social commentary way ahead of its time, unlike the other more famous books of her two sisters.

5. England and Other Stories by Graham Swift
Year Published: 2015
Type: short stories
Acquired: gift from my husband in 2015; signed hardcover
Challenge Category: Paul's January BAC author

I hadn't abandoned a book in quite a while until England and Other Stories. I stopped reading half-way through, and only made it that far because I had really wanted to complete the book for Paul's British Authors Challenge. But the stories were, frankly, boring, and the characters were not sympathetic or likeable. It just seemed like a chore to go to the next story.

I flipped through the second half of the book, and the only one that I read in the second half was the last story (from the title) "England", which had a bit of a plot to it and a couple interesting characters. Best of the lot. I'm not sorry I didn't finish it. And I even have a signed first edition. Off it goes to the library sale.



6. The Light of the World: A Memoir by Elizabeth Alexander
Year Published: 2016
Type: memoir
Acquired: paperback from my shelves acquired 2019
Challenge Category: 75ers Non-fiction reading for January: Prizewinners

I finished in one sitting The Light of the World, a memoir by the poet Elizabeth Alexander, which was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist in 2016 for biography. Alexander's husband died suddenly in 2012, and this little book is about love, loss and finding light. It is poetic prose, full of family, food, friends, flowers, cultures, grief and love. I couldn't put it down.



7. The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie
Year Published: 1928
Type: mystery
Acquired: paperback from my shelves acquired 2018.
Challenge Category: Project Christie

Interesting characters and typical crazy Christie/Poirot twist at the end. First reference to the village of St Mary Mead, future home of Miss Marple, who won't appear until 1930.



8. Alexander's Bridge by Willa Cather
Year Published: 1912
Type: fiction
Acquired: hardcover from my shelves acquired in 2016
Challenge Category: Project Cather

This novella was Cather's first piece of fiction, heavily influenced by Henry James and Boston, where she was living. Long reflective passages are interspersed with Cather's beautiful descriptive prose. Loosely based on the collapse of a real bridge in Quebec in 1907; or perhaps, more of a "jumping off" point for her story.

This edition is a lovely over-sized hardcover with photographs of early 20th century Boston; published by Simon & Schuster and produced by CommonPlace Publishing, I snagged it at a library sale where it had been withdrawn from circulation.

February reading plans:

-- The Absentee, Maria Edgeworth (carry-over from January)*
DONE Castle Richmond, Anthony Trollope (carry-over from January)*
DONE Young Men of Fire, Norman MacLean (for 75ers Nonfiction Feb--Heroes & Villains)
-- The Book Thieves, Anders Rydell (for Reading Through Time Feb--Mystery & Crime)
DONE Listening Valley, D. E. Stevenson (1944) (for RandomCAT Feb--book published in a Leap Year)
-- England, England, Julian Barnes (1998) (Paul's BAC Feb--the 1990s)
DONE Partners in Crime, Agatha Christie (my Project Christie)
-- Farther Afield, Miss Read (my Project Miss Read)
DONE The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison (my RL book club--and a re-read for me)
-- Old Filth, Jane Gardam (Monthly Author Reads--Gardam) https://www.librarything.com/topic/314996
DONE They Called Us Enemy, George Takei, library book
-- Volume Control, David Owen, library book
DONE Salt to the Sea, Ruta Sepetys, library book

*The January challenge I didn't meet was for the Reading through Time challenge: 19th century Ireland. I had planned either The Absentee by Maria Edgeworth or Castle Richmond by Anthony Trollope. So I'm putting both of these books on my February list--hey, there's an extra day in February this year, right?

I'm very glad for the extra day in February this year!

>63 rabbitprincess: Oh yeah! And only a few hours left here in the Midwest for Palindrome day: 02/20/2020!

>61 kac522: I'm glad I read a different Graham Swift book. Hard to go wrong with Christie and Cather.

>65 thornton37814: Yeah, the Swift stories just hit me the wrong way. The Cather book (novella, really) was her first attempt, and is a little stilted, but still good.

Read & finished 8 books this month; started another but couldn't finish.



9. Listening Valley by D. E. Stevenson
Year Published: 1944
Type: fiction
Acquired: library paperback for my Project Stevenson; Feb RandomCAT: published in a leap year

Lovely but realistic story of WWII, set in Edinburgh, London and the fictional border town of Ryddelton. Even has a mystery aspect. Continues some family members from Celia's House. I am slowly making my way through Stevenson's books (the ones that I can find), and I've enjoyed them all.



10. Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
Year Published: 2016
Type: YA fiction
Acquired: library hardcover; Feb RandomCAT: published in a leap year

This YA fiction book is set during WWII, and is told from 4 different first person accounts, switching from one to the next. It tells the story of the evacuation of Eastern European refugees fleeing the Soviet invasion in Prussia, Poland and Lithuania, and the story of the ship Wilhelm Gustloff. This piece of WWII history was completely new to me. In the beginning I found the 4 accounts confusing, and had to reference back to be sure I had the history of each one straight in my head. Eventually it made sense, although I didn't always find that the separate accounts "felt" separate--that is by language or style, with the exception of Alfred. Well worth it just to learn this overlooked event in history.



11. Partners in Crime by Agatha Christie
Year Published: 1929
Type: mystery
Acquired: paperback from my shelves acquired 2019; for my Project Christie

I love the banter in the Tommy & Tuppence books. In this book T&T solve multiple cases, most are 2 chapters long. And in homage to great detectives, they take on their characteristics, like Holmes & Watson, Father Brown, and Poirot. I wasn't able to identify all the famous story detectives of the time, but it was still great fun!



12. They Called Us Enemy by George Takei
Year Published: 2019
Type: graphic book, nonfiction, memoir
Acquired: library paperback

Takei, most famous for his role as Sulu on Star Trek, was born in California, but spent 4 years of his early life in Japanese "internment" camps in Arkansas and California during WWII. The story is very powerful and one that every American should read and know. The graphics are good, but didn't knock me out the way some recent graphic books have.

And one DNF:

Did Not Finish: for the February AAC I read 5 stories from Grace Paley's Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (1974). I didn't understand much, and what I did understand felt like one of her character's quotes: "she was a woman with a bag of spitballs for the world." Spitballs of spite is how each sentence felt. So I stopped; I think we have enough spitballs being fired around in this world right now, so I didn't need more in my reading.

And Books 13 through 16:



13. Castle Richmond by Anthony Trollope
Year Published: 1860
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback on my shelves since 2015; RandomCAT published in a leap year; Reading through Time (Jan): 19th century Ireland

I love Trollope, but this book had some troubling aspects. Let us begin to say that it is set during the Irish Famine, and the years covered in the book are approximately 1846-7. Trollope wrote this in 1860, and he was living and working in County Cork, Ireland during these famine years. The story concerns itself mostly with two Protestant land-owning families, their fortunes (or lack of them), blackmail, inheritance, and young love. These are all themes that are familiar to Trollope readers. I enjoyed the characters and the main story, and although Trollope was unsatisfied with the book, it still makes a great read. Plus, the story is set only about 40 miles from the small village where my own Irish Catholic ancestors lived in County Cork; they left for America in 1852, so would have been living in their village during the timeframe of this book.

Although most of the book is dedicated to the blackmail/inheritance/love stories, Trollope does describe the real poverty and hunger of those less fortunate, and there are some devastating scenes that are hard to forget. It is perhaps because of this realistic portrayal of "the Hunger" that this book, although not one of Trollope's popular or literary successes, graces the 1001 book list.

Troubling, however, is Trollope's own attitude toward the famine--he feels the British government did everything that it could do, and that the famine was an act of "Providence." He does show our characters working and organizing to help their poor neighbors, but it is only a minor thread in the story. My own fuzzy historical knowledge tells me that I can't accept "Providence" as the perpetrator of millions of deaths and the British as completely blameless. What it has prompted me to do is read a 20th century nonfiction account of this disaster, and I hope to get to that book in March.



14. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Year Published: 1970
Type: fiction
Acquired: re-read of a paperback on my shelves since 1992; read for my RL book club and Black History Month

This is Morrison's first novel set in her home town of Lorain, Ohio. It is difficult; it is complex and uncomfortable; it takes time to understand; and it is heart-breaking. I am sure I got more out of it on this re-read, and from our book club discussion. I will leave summaries of the book to others, but one reading is not enough.



15. Lincoln Reconsidered by David Herbert Donald
Year Published: 1956
Type: nonfiction; essays on history
Acquired: paperback from my shelves acquired 2018; 75ers Nonfiction Feb Challenge: Heroes and Villains.

These were interesting and varied essays written by Donald in the 1950s, to (as he says) "solve problems" in preparation for his 1995 epic biography Lincoln. There were 12 essays in the book, ranging in topic from Lincoln as myth, Lincoln's education, Lincoln and abolition, Lincoln and Mary Todd, Lincoln and War. Each essay was a in-depth look at the topic in a dozen or so pages, and they were interesting and well-written. Highly recommended if you want a readable book about Lincoln that's not a tome. (228 pages)



16. Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean
Year Published: 1992
Type: nonfiction, firefighting
Acquired: paperback on my shelves since 2017; 75ers Nonfiction Feb Challenge: Heroes and Villains

Maclean tells the story of the August, 1949 Mann Gulch forest fire in Montana, in which 13 young parachuting firefighters ("Smokejumpers") perished and only 3 men survived.

Maclean, a retired university professor of English literature at the University of Chicago, is perhaps best known for his little book A River Runs Through It, which was made into a movie with Robert Redford. Maclean grew up in Montana and worked as a forest service firefighter as a young man before pursuing writing and an academic life. It is obvious that he was completely immersed in this story: he spent his retirement in the 1970s and 1980s gathering interviews, documents and re-visiting the site of the fire with 2 of the survivors. He had written most of the book before his death in 1990, and in 1992 with the help of his children, the University of Chicago Press published the available manuscripts. This means that there is some duplication of content that Maclean may have edited out in a final version, but overall the chapters work well.

The book is intense, as a book about fire and death should be; I had to stop reading several times and take a break. And even though much of the technical talk of fire, winds, slope and terrain was beyond me, Maclean frames the story as a kind of Shakespearean tragedy. The writing was more like a novel than a book of non-fiction. I will be thinking about those young men for a long, long time.

March reading plans:

I read a lot of good books in February, but I still have some left overs that I hope to read in March, and are all on my shelves:

CURRENTLY READING--The Book Thieves, Anders Rydell (Feb Reading through Time)
--England, England, Julian Barnes (Feb BAC)
--Old Filth, Jane Gardam (Feb monthly author)

for March:
DONE--Young Clementina, D. E. Stevenson (library book)
--The Wright Brothers (library book) and The Johnstown Flood, David McCullough (on my shelf), for Mar AAC and my RL book club
--The Great Irish Famine, essays and lectures edited by Cathal Poirteir (1995), library book
DONE--Summer of the Great Grandmother, Madeleine L'Engle (Mar RancomCAT: seasons; and Mar Reading through Time: mothers & daughters)
--Waverley, Sir Walter Scott (on my shelf), Mar BAC
DONE--The Mysterious Mr Quin, Agatha Christie (library ebook)

and if I have time left:
DONE--Sense and Sensibility: an annotated edition, Jane Austen, annotated by Patricia Meyer Spacks (on my shelf); book is a re-read, but the annotated edition is new to me.

>69 kac522: The Book Thieves is on my reading list for March as well. You have a lot of reading ahead of you!

>70 JayneCM: Yeah, I may be a bit too ambitious, but I'm looking forward to all of them. I even am an eyeing a couple more not on that list.....

My March reading has been abysmal. I have picked up & stopped several books; finished a meager five, and spend most of my time online.

Here are the books I've finished:

17. The Mysterious Mr Quin, Agatha Christie
Year Published: 1930
Type: mystery stories
Acquired: Chicago Public Library ebook
My Project: Christie

This is the next book in my Agatha Christie chronological reading challenge. These are a set of stories published in magazines between 1923 and 1930 which feature Mr. Harley Quin, a semi-supernatural character (harlequin?) who mysteriously "comes and goes" and seems to bring "drama" with him. The stories are told from the point of view of Mr. Satterthwaite, an acquaintance of Mr. Quin. There are many references to harlequins in the stories, and these are not so much crime-solving stories as curiosities. Sort of reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock type tales.

18. The Young Clementina, D. E. Stevenson
Year Published: 1935
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback, Chicago Public Library
My Project: Stevenson

This is the first serious (non-comic?) Stevenson novel for me. It was good, and I liked the story and characters, but the ending was unbelievable, as well as some aspects. Without giving away spoilers, certain complexities of relationships were ignored.

19. The Summer of the Great-Grandmother, Madeleine L'Engle
Year Published: 1974
Type: memoir
Acquired: paperback on my shelf from 2015
Challenges: March RandomCAT: seasons; March Reading-through-Time: mothers and daughters

This is volume 2 in the "Crosswicks Journal" memoir series by L'Engle. In this book, L'Engle recounts the summer that L'Engle's mother come to live with L'Engle and her family. Her mother has recently taken a steep decline into dementia, friends of the family are hired to help care for her. The book explores her mother and father's lives, L'Engle's childhood memories, and her complicated relationship with her mother. As the summer goes on, we also get glimpses of daily life at the big house in Connecticut, about L'Engle's own daughters and son, and their children. I found this very moving, and very much a critical self-examination of complex relationships, and well as forgiveness and love.

20. Sense and Sensibility: An Annotated Edition, Jane Austen; annotated by Patricia Meyer Spacks; read the annotations along with listeneing to the Audiobook, read by Juliet Stevenson
Year Published: 1811
Type: Fiction, with literary annotations
Acquired: Hardcover book acquired in 2014; a lovely coffee-table book, that includes the entire text.
My Project: Austen annotated editions

Read the annotations while listening to the Juliet Stevenson audiobook. The notes were very helpful, and I particularly appreciated where Meyer Spacks pointed out the various instances of "sense", "sensible" and "sensibility." Also where Elinor and Marianne seem to reverse roles. Took me a bit longer than expected to finish, but was worth it.

21. The Struggles of Brown, Jones and Robinson, Anthony Trollope (1861); R from 2015
Year Published: 1862 in serial form; first published book form was in 1870
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback on my shelf from 2015
My Project: Trollope

This is a satirical look at "business" and specifically, advertising. It's not long, it's a bit atypical Trollope, in the sense that one can see this as a "side" story to a larger work. I can't say I'll remember this one down the road, but I'm not sorry I read it. I've been trying to read Trollope novels (that I haven't read before) in chronological order, but I did jump ahead into this one, just because I thought it might be a bit comical. Also it is under 200 pages; I'll need to backtrack to Orley Farm, which is over 500 pages, but I don't have the stamina for it right now.

I'm not making any plans for April, and I don't even want to look at all the books left unread in March. Whatever I do read will be easy-peasy.

I have one thing to get off my chest:

Around LT I've seen a person use the term panicdemic in reference to the current COVID-19 crisis. As if this were all a big hoax, made-up, we're running around like crazy people, and way over-reacting. This just makes me boil every time I think about it.

I hope if this person thinks that it's no big deal, that he/she is doing his/her part and volunteering at a hospital or nursing home or food bank, to give the truly heroic front-line people some needed assistance.

Maybe it's not affecting this person's city right now, but it will. In New York City, someone is dying every 5 minutes of COVID-19. Here in Chicago a 2 month old infant died of COVID-19. More people have died from this virus than died on 9/11. The world will be hitting one million confirmed infected people by this weekend. All of the grocery stores I visit have had at least 1 person sickened with the virus.

Hang in there you heroic people. It's VERY real, but we'll get through it.

End of rant.

>73 kac522: Thank you for sharing and I appreciate your rant.

I also appreciate your thoughts. I can't imagine how anyone could deny what is clearly happening - as a mother of two essential workers, I am extremely worried and frightened.

>74 LisaMorr: Thanks, I'm feeling a lot better after letting off steam!

>75 DeltaQueen50: Oh, I do feel for you! I've tried to thank the store clerks the few times I've been out, but I know it isn't enough.

It's hard not to obsess on the overwhelming doom of it sometimes. I get a little bit of grounding by watching daily updates from Dr. John Campbell from the UK on YouTube. He gives you the science with compassion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1aoULlMpn0

>73 kac522: Your post is worthwhile. I know some people who don't take it as seriously as they should. My rant is about the people who arrived back from vacation and the first thing they did was go to the grocery store, even after vowing to go straight home.

>77 VivienneR: Part of my irritation is that I saw this term on LT from a reader who is older and possibly at risk, and who one would think would be a relatively educated person.

I made a quick run to Target today (we desperately needed Drano!), trying to avoid as many people as possible. I went to a small "urban" Target, that had more employees in the store than customers. However, there was STILL a family (group?) of about 4 or 5 adults and teenage kids, wandering around the store together, and they were hard to avoid. Sheesh--does shopping really have to be a group project?? Are we afraid to shop alone?? Couldn't one (or maybe 2) people have done this Target run, and avoided dragging out the whole household? I feel most sorry for the employees, who are risking their health so people can get their daily Cheetos and soda pop.

>78 kac522: I read that Target is going to go to allowing only a certain number of people in the store at a time. That may just be for Knoxville. I know that many places using this model will allow one person to enter at a time--after another person comes out. It discourages the family shopping model. I know I'll need to get out at some point. I'd planned to get my extra Splenda (actually the store brand generic version) from the office when I went in next Tuesday, but as of about 4:30 yesterday, I'm not even going in the one day a week, and we aren't supposed to go onto campus until the executive order expires. I'll run out in the next few days so I need some. I can get it at Aldi if that's the only thing on my list. If I have a larger list, I'll probably do curbside pickup or InstaCart.

>79 thornton37814: I don't shop at Costco, but I've heard that Costco is limiting the number of shoppers in my area (Chicago). I am not surprised if this becomes more widespread. I know it's been standard practice in Italy for some weeks.

>80 kac522: I read Walmart will be doing it beginning tomorrow too.

We are doing Walmart pick-up now; getting our second order tomorrow. Jim doesn’t have to go inside and there’s contact with only one person.

>82 hailelib: We may need to resort to pick-up, now that that our governor and the CDC are recommending masks. How the heck am I going to find masks when I still can't find tp or hand sanitizer anywhere?

>73 kac522: I agree totally. Here is Australia, people are definitely thinking that we are all fine compared to other countries so are happy to continue with business as usual. If I have to go to the supermarket, I am astonished by how many people I see out and about, chatting on the street, etc. as though it is all a lot of hype. I can't even imagine what it must feel like if you live in one of the places badly affected. Hope you are keeping well.

I'm planning to read Castle Richmond later this year, or whenever Liz does a group read for it. I was interested to read your thoughts - sounds like it will be a different reading experience than the typical Trollope novel.

I'll also be interested to hear what you think of the annotated Sense and Sensibility. I have that book and it really changed my view of Sense and Sensibility. I loved it already, as I love all Austen novels, but it helped me understand some of the aspects of the book that have made it one of my less favorite of her novels.

April reading:

22. Smouldering Fire, D. E. Stevenson



Year Published: 1935
Type: fiction
Acquired: Chicago Public Library paperback
Project Stevenson
A wonderful portrait of Scottish life post WWI. But the ending was disturbing, not unlike a sad Scottish ballad. Enjoyed Alexander McCall Smith's introduction, which captured why Stevenson is so appealing.

23. Lady Audley's Secret, Mary E. Braddon



Year Published: 1862 (Virago)
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback R from 2017
Virago chronological read project
A 19th century page-turner. Kept my mind off the coronavirus. Seemed a bit unnecessarily long. Many thanks to Liz for leading the discussion on this book, and pulling back the layers to reveal Braddon’s insights and contribution to the genre.

24. What to Read and Why, Francine Prose



Year Published: 2018
Type: essays on literature
Acquired: ebook from Chicago Public Library
Read for the AAC

I mostly finished What to Read and Why, a 2018 collection of 32 book reviews, book introductions, and a few literary essays. I like Prose's prose. And I especially enjoyed those essays that were about works and/or authors I have read: Austen, Great Expectations, Middlemarch, Little Women, Frankenstein, Charles Baxter, Rebecca West, Mavis Gallant, to name a few. They were insightful pieces, and gave me new light on authors and works I thought I knew well. I'd say I was familiar with about half of the works and/or authors mentioned. There were several literary essays (on short stories, writing clearly and a couple others), that helped me to understand the process of writing and the writer.
But I skimmed about half of the essays featuring authors and works I didn't know. There wasn't a single "new" author that I've added to my "Wishlist" or that I have any desire to pursue. Still it was worthwhile to spend the time to read her perspective on some of my favorites.

25. Howards End, E. M. Forster



Year Published: 1910
Type: fiction
Acquired: ebook from Chicago Public Library

A look at class and gender in pre-WWI Britain. I loved this book, and can’t really say why. I wanted to go back and read it all over again. I wanted to be in the middle of it, and in the middle of the Schlegel household, to listen to the conversation fly across the room. The dialogue is more like a play than a book; I love that the old house is a main character; and I appreciated the discussion of class and gender from that time period. The movies are excellent as well.

26. Farther Afield contained in Fairacre Roundabout, Miss Read



Year Published: 1974
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback on my shelf from 2018
Project Miss Read

Lots of accidents and illness in Fairacre, including measles; Miss Read goes to Crete; and Miss Read contemplates the pros and cons of marriage vs. the single life. Rather introspective for Miss Read.

27. Fences, August Wilson



Year Published: 1986
Type: drama
Acquired: paperback on my shelf from 2019

About the boundaries we make: in our communities, in our families, in ourselves.

28. Rosabelle Shaw, D. E. Stevenson (1937)



Year Published: 1937
Type: fiction
Acquired: hardcover; ILL via NEIU library
Project Stevenson

Warning: Spoilers ahead...just had to make these comments, as some things about this novel just bothered me.

Overall I enjoyed this next entry in D. E. Stevenson's work, but I have some reservations. So beware of the spoilers...it's rather impossible for me to talk about what bothered me without them.

The novel begins in 1890s rural lowlands of Scotland on the North Sea coast, where the John and Fanny Shaw have begun their life together. Shaws, John's estate, occupies much of his time. Their first child, Rosabelle, is named after a strong independent ancestor of John's. When Rosabelle is a toddler, a terrible storm throws a wayward ship against the rocky coast. As John and others go to help any survivors, John pulls out a 3 year old boy out of the sea, barely still alive. The Shaws raise this child, called Jay, as their own; his frail, fussy and spoilt by Fanny. He will bring sadness and turmoil to the family. He grows up to be charming, but deceitful. In fact he nearly seduces Rosabelle and later gets a poor teenaged Irish lass in "trouble." The story ends as World War I begins, Jay flees to escape his responsibility, and Rosabelle marries "the boy next door", a solid farmer of the neighboring estate. The story in general is a good one, and entertaining, but....(feel free to bail out here)...I had three main problems with this novel:

1) The portrayal of bad-boy Jay reveals that it's obvious Stevenson believes that some people are just inherently "bad", no matter what--today we'd say it's in his DNA. He is "dark"; his parentage is never known; he must come from evil beginnings and will never be like the rest of the Shaws.
2) There is an overtone of anti-Irish sentiment; the young Irish girl is the daughter of a belligerent Irish laborer who has been fired from Shaws, and who John Shaw suspects of luring the wrecked ship into the rocks years ago. I found this troubling.
3) My last objection is a major scene near the end of the novel. Bad boy Jay has wronged (and left) both Rosabelle and the poor Irish lass Reena (who has lost her baby). A year or so later Reena brings a necklace to Rosabelle. This necklace had been "lost" by Rosabelle, but actually Jay had stolen it, and given it as a gift to Reena. Reena takes the initiative to return the necklace to its rightful owner.

This whole encounter, as Stevenson relates it, was very unsatisfying; almost wrongful, in my opinion. Here are two girls who have been wronged by the same jerk, and yet Rosabelle, the daughter of an estate owner and supposedly our heroine, cannot show proper empathy or compassion for a poor girl who has suffered greatly at the hands of her "brother" Jay. She barely accepts the necklace back, and hardly acknowledges the girl's presence.

This seemed so wrong to me, and I compared it to Austen's Sense & Sensibility, where Willoughby has wronged both Marianne and Col. Brandon's ward, Eliza Williams. Although there is no scene of the two young women meeting, we know that Marianne has great sympathy for Eliza. So if Austen can portray her heroine with a better nature, why not Stevenson, who, coincidentally, was a great admirer of Austen?

I've made it a project to read Stevenson's works, and so far, have not encountered anything so lacking real feeling. I think I'm going to take a break from Stevenson for a while, and hope that her next novel will not disappoint me as this one has.

Not making plans for April, but here's what I'm currently reading:

--Mansfield Park, Austen--audiobook and annotated edition
--Paper Love: Searching for the Girl My Grandfather Left Behind, Wildman
--A Wreath of Roses, Taylor (re-read)

>86 kac522: I will eventually get around to reading Howard's End. I love the world of Fairacre. The D. E. Stevenson book sounds interesting.

>89 kac522: I am not sure if I loved Howards End so much because I saw the movies first, or if the book was that good :/ now that I think about it. And I need to catch up on Fairacre...at least I feel like in April I've got my reading "mojo" back; March was a tough month for reading. And have already finished 2 books in May--The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough and A Wreath of Roses by Elizabeth Taylor.

>87 kac522: >89 kac522: I love Elizabeth Taylor. I often reread her books as well.

>90 JayneCM: I hope to get to another one soon, probably A View of the Harbor.

May reading, part 1:

29. The Johnstown Flood, David McCullough



Year Published: 1968
Type: nonfiction, history
Acquired: paperback on my shelves since 2017
Project: AAC May

This was McCullough's first book, published in 1968. McCullough used archival material, many newspaper accounts, court records and personal memoirs of townspeople to write this history of the disastrous May 1889 flood in western Pennsylvania.

But most interesting were the stories told to him first hand from living survivors, because McCullough worked on this project for many years before it was published. These stood out from the hundreds of names and stories in the book. So many people, in fact, that it became hard to keep them all straight. This is where McCullough's later books shine--when he can focus and zero in on a handful of characters to tell a story. And where this book got a bit muddled.

Still, it gave me perspective to read about such a massive disaster--2200+ lives and several whole towns--completely wiped out in a matter of minutes. And to get a close-up look at the contrast between the struggling townspeople, railroad workers, and mill workers versus the railroad owners and wealthy Pittsburgh elite as a microcosm happening all across the country at the end of the 19th century.

30. A Wreath of Roses, Elizabeth Taylor



Year Published: 1949
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback on my shelves from 2018
My Project: Elizabeth Taylor

This was a re-read, which I read in 2013, and didn't always understand what was going on. But the book evoked much the same tense feeling, as if something bad is going to happen, although I think I understood more of the dialogue. It is like a play.

31. A Tale of Beatrix Potter, Margaret Lane



Year Published: 1946
Type: nonfiction, biography
Acquired: paperback on my shelves from 2019
Read for 75ers Nonfiction May--comfort reading

A charming comforting read, in an easy conversational style. Impressed with Potter's great energy in her later years and her commitment to the National Trust.

32. Paper Love, Sarah Wildman



Year Published: 2014
Type: nonfiction, memoir, Holocaust
Acquired: ebook from Chicago Public Library
Read for 75ers Nonfiction April--Migration

Sarah Wildman, a journalist, discovers a box of letters after her grandparents' deaths. Through these letters and much research, Wildman discovers a different man from the stories she had heard of her successful grandfather, who appeared to have no worries or hurdles in his life. Her grandfather, a young Jewish doctor, had fled Vienna in 1938 to come to Massachusetts.

The book becomes Wildman's research about her grandfather's life in Vienna and in the US; the life of young Jews in Vienna, Berlin & Prague in the 1930s; and a desperate attempt to find a woman who has signed many of the letters in the box. Her letters, along with many others, beg her grandfather to help them get out of Europe and to America before it's too late.

As a journalist, Wildman appears to have access to European archives and people that most of us don't have, so she tells a large story, often taking the reader far from her search. I tended to skim through these parts, wanting to get back to the story, since I've read a fair amount of Holocaust books and memoirs. Also Wildman inserts herself often in this book, which got annoying after a while (how tired she is--she is pregnant; her critiques of people's dress, makeup & hair; her musings about her grandfather that seem to get way off-track).

If you've don't know a lot about life for Jews in German-occupied lands in the 1930s and 1940s, you will learn much from this book. But the story itself seems to get muddled, and often just feels like a very, very long NY Times Magazine article, getting in as many deadline-required words as possible, rather than a polished, focused book.

33. Peril at End House, Agatha Christie



Year Published: 1932
Type: mystery
Acquired: paperback on my shelf from 2019
My Project Agatha Christie

I followed along until the end, when everything changed. But that's nothing new. Good diversion during COVID-19 AND no internet/phone.

34. Jane Austen: Bloom's Major Novelists, Harold Bloom, editor



Year Published: 2000
Type: nonfiction, literary criticism, Austen
Acquired: hardcover on my shelves since 2019

Good comfort read during COVID-19 and no internet/phone week. Bloom does a good job of summarizing the action and providing a short intro to the major characters. But I can't say that many of the essays were that insightful, except for Sir Walter Scott.
Book indicates published 2000.

35. The Silver Box and other plays, John Galsworthy

Year Published: collection published 1912
Type: drama
Acquired: hardcover on my shelves from 2019
BAC Wildcard--British drama

All three plays involved questioning 19th century values. "The Silver Box" (1906) questions whether justice is the same for the haves and the have nots. "Joy" (1907) questions the role a woman must play when she is married and has a child--who comes first: the husband, the child, one's friends, or one's self? "Strife" (1909) is a confrontation between workers, union and management during a workers' strike. All three had something to say about society and much applied to today, more than a century later. I have to make reading more Galsworthy on my priority list.

May reading, part 2:

36. Dombey and Son, Charles Dickens



Year Published: 1848
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback on my shelves since 2008
Read for: My Project: Dickens; Big Fat Books challenge

This will not be my favorite Dickens. The middle seemed to drag a bit. As with any Dickens there are all kinds of mysterious side stories that don't seem to be related, but in the end, they all come together. The first third (from the point of view of little Paul) & last third (lots of action) of the book were the best.

37. Village Affairs, Miss Read



Year Published: 1977
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback on my shelves from 2018
My Project: Miss Read

Dwindling enrollment puts the future of Fairacre school in doubt; Mrs Pringle's niece and poor Mrs Coggs have multiple issues. OK, not her best.

38. Mansfield Park: an Annotated Edition, Jane Austen, Introduction and annotations by Deidre Shauna Lynch; accompanied by listening to the audiobook, read by Juliet Stevenson



Year Published: 1814; this edition published 2016
Type: fiction, literary criticism
Acquired: beautiful over-sized hardcover (Belknap Press) purchased in 2016
Read for Big Fat Books challenge

I've always enjoyed Mansfield Park, perhaps because I can relate to young Fanny. I listened to the audiobook (read by Juliet Stevenson), and then every few chapters read the annotations in this edition. This annotated edition is a treasure, as is the whole series. I especially appreciated Lynch's introduction, where she talks about the concept of Mansfield Park and "home." There is a particular section somewhat early in the book where Fanny notices all the particular objects in her attic room and their meanings for her, which Lynch points out is something Austen only does in this book. Fanny has to adapt to Mansfield Park at around age 10; she has been wrenched from the only home she knows. Then, as a teenager, she looks forward to her first visit back "home" to her parents in Portsmouth. But this is no longer "home" and she longs for Mansfield Park.

But Fanny isn't the only one who wrestles with the concept of "home." Sir Thomas doesn't appreciate his family, Fanny or his home until he's been away for a year. Mary and Henry Crawford have no real "home"; they flit from one relative or friend to the other. Tom Bertram doesn't appreciate home until he's close to death and nursed to health at Mansfield Park. So what is home, really? Interesting thoughts to ponder on this reading.

39. Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians and Other Essays, Gertrude Himmelfarb



Year Published: originally published 1986; this paperback edition published 2001
Type: nonfiction, essays, literature, philosophy, social criticism
Acquired: paperback from Chicago Public Library

This collection of 11 essays by Himmelfarb, a noted Victorian scholar, includes topics that span pre-Victorian times all the way into the mid-20th century. Besides the title essay on marriage, there are essays on the Bloomsbury group, Social Darwinism, 2 on Jeremy Bentham, William Godwin, Disraeli, Fabianism and the Webbs. The Social Darwinism essay went a bit above my head, but I very much enjoyed the essays on the Bloomsbury group, Disraeli and the Webbs. These are complex essays that are thoughtful and require the reader to actively engage in the thought process.

40. The White Robin, Miss Read



Year Published: 1979
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback on my shelf from 2018
Read for My Project: Miss Read

This is the next in my Miss Read Fairacre reading. Just a little over 100 pages, this was shorter than most of Miss Read's books. But I thought she carried the theme well, and it was tighter in construction and plot, making it one of the more satisfying reads in the series.

...and one DNF:

The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger--read about 60+ pages and decided it just wasn't for me, even with all the interesting Chicago bits.

June reading plans:

--Lady Oracle, Margaret Atwood (currently reading)
--The Great Irish Famine, essays ed. by Poirteir
--How the Other Half Lives, Jacob Riis, for 75ers Nonfiction challenge--books by journalists
--A View of the Harbour, Elizabeth Taylor, for June RandomCAT "by the sea"
--I, Claudius, Robert Graves, for Reading through Time Quarterly
--The Pastor's Wife, Elizabeth von Arnim, for Reading through Time June
--The Wright Brothers, David McCullough

maybe Orley Farm, Trollope

and if the library opens this month:

--the next Agatha Christie on my list
--a Caryl Phillips book and a Penelope Fitzgerald book for May & June BAC

Looks like some good reading for June!

>95 Tess_W: Thanks, I hope so!

June reading, part 1:

41. Lady Oracle, Margaret Atwood



Year Published: 1976
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback on my shelves since the 1990s
My Project: Another "Root" completed

An early Margaret Atwood, with lots of good lines about girls and women, relationships and romance writing. I found the early background chapters went on too long, especially the relationship between Joan and her mother. Once that was over, the book quickly improved, and had quite a few funny lines and scenarios.

42. A View of the Harbour, Elizabeth Taylor



Year Published: 1947
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback on my shelves from 2017
My Project: Elizabeth Taylor; another "Root"

This was a little more difficult to get into and to keep the characters straight at first, but it grew on me as the book progressed. Another of Taylor's books that seems to have a barely perceptible, but edgy tension under the surface. Nothing much happens in this dead seaside fishing village, but we get the perspectives of various characters and their relationship to each other, and in the end, their view of the harbor and that life. Lots of perceptive dialogue; you have to read it slowly. It is like a play.

43. Mrs 'Arris Goes to Paris, Paul Gallico



Year Published: 1957
Type: fiction
Acquired: hardcover from Chicago Public Library
My Project: comfort reading

A charming 1950s fairy tale about a London charwoman; perfect reading to take one's mind off a pandemic.

44. The Great Irish Famine, Cathal Poirteir, editor



Year Published: 1995
Type: nonfiction, essays/lectures, Irish history
Acquired: paperback Chicago Public Library
My Project: 75ers Nonfiction March--Food

This book is a series of academic lectures in 1995 given in Ireland to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the famine. Given the intensity of the topic, I could only read 1 essay at a time; hence it took months to finish. But I think it was easier to take in pieces.

Some of the essays were a bit hard to understand, as they were given as academic topics and used colloquial language to describe Irish agricultural and economic terms. Later essays in the book were more accessible; I enjoyed the essay on the famine through literature, an essay on the famine in cultural memory, and a comparison of the Irish famine to more recent famines.

Three major points for me: 1) an estimated 1 million died, and 2 million emigrated during the famine years; I had not realized that emigration reduced the population more than the famine; 2) that most people died of disease (fever, dysentery, typhus, diphtheria, cholera, etc.), with malnutrition/starvation as the "co-morbidity" (to put it in COVID-19 terms); 3) the prevailing British idea that the famine was an act of "Providence" and therefore nothing could be done about it. Imagine today if our governments thought that corona viruses were acts of God to be endured....

June reading, part 2:

45. The Pastor's Wife, Elizabeth von Arnim



Year Published: 1914
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback on my shelves since 2018
My Project: Virago reading; another "Root"

I love von Arnim's writing. Ingeborg, the daughter of an English bishop, finds herself the wife of a German pastor. Her struggles to be good and obedient to her father and husband, and yet to be herself, collide. When I finished, I wanted to go back and read it all over again.

46. The Crossing Places, Elly Griffiths



Year Published: 2009
Type: mystery
Acquired: ebook from Chicago Public Library
My Project: BAC July--comfort reading

Mystery with middle-aged archaeologist Ruth Galloway of Norfolk. Interesting comfort read, but not sure if I will continue the series. I did figure out the "who done it" early in the book, although there were a few twists and turns. At least everything a reader would need to "solve" the mystery was in the book, rather than thrown at you in the last few pages, which was satisfying.

47. Fighting France, Edith Wharton



Year Published: 1915; my edition from 2010 with intro by Colm Toibin
Type: nonfiction; WWI journalism
Acquired: paperback on my shelves from 2018
My Project: 75ers Nonfiction June--books by journalists

Wharton was living in Paris and asked by the French Red Cross to report on the needs of their hospitals in early 1915. She made 6 expeditions through small towns and to the front line trenches in 1915. These became essays that were published in 1915 in Scribners and eventually re-published as the small book Fighting France. Wharton describes the devastation of the small towns and the make-shift hospitals to care for the wounded civilians and soldiers. Here she describes Dunkerque after a bombardment:

We wandered down the street behind the hotel to the graceful Gothic church of St Eloi, of which one aisle had been shattered; then, turning another corner, we came on a poor bourgeois house that had had its whole front torn away. The squalid revelation of caved-in floors, smashed wardrobes, dangling bedsteads, heaped-up blankets, topsy-turvy chairs and stoves and washstands was far more painful than the sight of the wounded church.

Wharton also describes life in abandoned Paris, all empty except for the streaming refugees from the smaller bombed towns; churches turned into hospitals with only beds of piled straw for the rows of wounded; life in the trenches and the sight of real battles. My 2010 edition includes an introduction to Wharton and her war work by Colm Toibin.

48. Hiroshima, John Hersey



Year Published: 1985
Type: nonfiction, WWII journalism
Acquired: paperback from my shelves from 2017
My Project: 75ers Nonfiction June--books by journalists

John Hersey takes a different approach to war journalism. While Wharton focused on the towns and the buildings and the life and general livelihoods of the people and soldiers, Hersey follows 6 individuals who survived the August 6 atomic bombing. He tells the story of the bombing day-by-day, going back and forth between the survivors to tell their stories. Included are a mother, a German priest, a young woman, a businessman and 2 doctors. The first four chapters are from Hersey's original reporting for the New Yorker in 1946; my edition included a fifth "Aftermath" chapter from 1995, the 40th anniversary of the bombing. Hersey goes back and follows the lives of the 6 survivors since 1946 and up to 1995. This book is written in a simple, newspaper style, but is never hyped or over-emotional.

Mid-year stats:

Well, staying at home has been a help to my bulging shelves: so far I've read 33 books off the shelves. Also read 15 library books, 5 of these were ebooks downloaded while the library was closed.

Total books read: 48; 1 did not finish
Total "Roots" read: 33
Total library books: 15
Total ebooks: 5 (from the library above)

Total male authors: 15
Total female authors: 33

Total fiction: 32
Total non-fiction: 16

Breakdown by years published:

before 1900: 8
1900-1939: 12
1940-1999: 18
2000-2020: 10

Status of My Challenge Projects:

DONE: D. E. Stevenson--I'm still plugging away at her novels, but met my goal for this year. I may get to one or two more.

Almost complete:
Austen Annotated editions: currently working on the last one, Northanger Abbey
Christie: Currently reading The Sittaford Mystery, which will give me 5 out of 6 complete
Miss Read: completed 3 out of 4
Elizabeth Taylor: completed 2 out of 3

I've also read 4 BFBs (Big Fat Books--over 500 pages) for John's challenge. I had hope to read 4 in the year, so I should exceed that goal.
75ers Nonfiction--amazingly, I've read a nonfiction book for each month, and even started July's selection
75ers British Authors Challenge--moving along, although I have 2 books that just came in from the library to catch up on
RandomCAT--finished a book for each month, and have a book set for July.

So feeling pretty good about my reading overall. Notably, I have stayed away from "current events" type books; I feel that I'm reading about that all day, every day, when I check the news each morning and evening. So somewhat escapist reading, but there you go.

Some possibilities for July reading:

--The Sittaford Mystery, Agatha Christie (currently reading)
--Northanger Abbey: an annotated edition, Austen (currently reading)
--Bach: Essays on His Life and Music, Christoph Wolff--for the 75ers Nonfiction July--the 18th century
--Typee, Melville; for Reading Through Time July--By the Shore
--William Morris, Linda Parry; for RandomCAT July--picture books
--A View of the Empire at Sunset, Caryl Phillips--for BAC
--The Gate of Angels, Penelope Fitzgerald--for BAC
--How the Other Half Lives, Jacob Riis--leftover from 75ers Nonfiction challenge--books by journalists
--The Land of Green Ginger, Winifred Holtby--from my Virago collection
--The Song of the Lark, Willa Cather--for my Cather project

Ooh, exciting that you're on the last Annotated Austen! Which one has been your favourite?

>101 rabbitprincess: So far, Mansfield Park: an annotated edition, annotated by Deirdre Shauna Lynch. She doesn't "over-annotate", and her introduction gave me new ways to look at the novel over-all, even though it's not my favorite Austen.

Actually, I don't own the annotated Emma; I may have to take care of that omission....

The smallest things can give one such pleasure!

Last night after dinner my husband and I took a stroll through the neighborhood. We stopped at the Little Free Library near us (only 2 blocks away). I occasionally look in here, but not always, since most of the books are usually for children.

But this time I found FOUR Virago Modern Classics paperbacks, all by E. H. Young:

The Curate's Wife
William
Miss Mole
The Misses Mallett

I've read lots of good things about this author on LT, and currently I own 1 book of hers, Jenny Wren, which I have not yet read. And after reading the blurbs on the back of the books, I have learned that the author, Emily Young, lived in Bristol and set most of her books there--she calls the city "Radstowe" in the novels. I'm so excited, because my grandfather was born in Bristol, and I have yet to read a novel set in Bristol!

To share my good fortune, today I left 3 Viragos I've read and completed in the LFL; hope it catches the eye of the person who donated the E. H. Young novels.

>103 kac522: That is an amazing LFL find!

Looking back, I also love your description of Elizabeth Taylor's writing. Spot on!

>104 japaul22: It is so amazing, because in my retired life I spend my time every weekend going to used book stores and library sales to FIND Viragos, and only once in a great while do I find one. Of course all of those venues are cancelled now, so to find these 4 was incredible!

I donated Lady Audley's Secret, The Semi-Attached Couple and the Semi-Detached House, and one Elizabeth Taylor: Palladian. It was an OK novel, but not my favorite Taylor, and I need to make some room around here...

>103 kac522: Oh what a marvellous find! I have very fond memories of the TV version of Miss Mole which made me hunt down the book (which I liked even better). Haven't found affordable copies of her other books yet.

>106 MissWatson: Oh, I didn't know there was a filmed version of any of her books! I just checked my library (Chicago) to see what books the library has, but they only have Miss Mole, so I feel tripley lucky. I really want Chatterton Square, so that is one I will look out for.

I was checking my usual sellers and found out that the British Library has recently published this: https://shop.bl.uk/collections/british-library-women-writers/products/chatterton...
But the Virago editions would be so much nicer to have. Sigh.

Quite a list you are reading and some heavy ones. The Irish one reminded me of a book I read about The Great Hinckley Fire in Minnesota. It was translated from Swedish. It was so descriptive and hard to read but I did finish. Hinckley is about 40 minutes north of me.
Leona

>108 MissWatson: Thanks for that link--plus there are several authors I have read and enjoyed (Molly Panter-Downes, Elizabeth von Arnim, D. E. Smith)--with lesser known titles.

My library doesn't have the Miss Mole TV series--I believe it was called "Hannah"--and produced by the BBC in the 1980s. When inter-library loan opens up again, I'll have to see if I can track it down somewhere.

>109 mnleona: Yes, I read the The Great Irish Famine because earlier this year I read Castle Richmond, which is set during the famine, and it gave me more background. And also more perspective for re-reading it this month in the Group Read.

Another disaster book I read this year was Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean (see >68 kac522: ), which was about a forest fire in Montana in 1949. Maclean was a writing professor at the University of Chicago, but had grown up in Montana, and was a fire-fighter in his younger years. He didn't write a lot; probably his most well-known work is A River Runs Through It, which became famous because of Robert Redford's film.

Young Men and Fire is an intense book, and you have to read it in bits, but Maclean is a magnificent writer...this book was sort of his life's work...it took him many years to write, and in the end it was his son and others who actually had the manuscript published after he died.

Coming from Chicago, I'm a bit embarrassed to say I've never read an entire book about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 (aside: why are big disasters always called "Great"?). Have heard about it all my life and seen TV films and museum exhibits and heard stories from ancestors. Probably something I should get around to one of these days.

More good fortune! Fellow LT Chicagoan Elaine (Liz1564) offered me any Virago books from her collection that I'd like! So I ended up with 19, including authors Mary Hocking, Elizabeth von Arnim, Winifred Holtby, Dorothy Richardson, E. M. Delafield, Pamela Frankau and more E. H. Young, so I am well set for All Virago/All August!

Many thanks again, Elaine.

July's reading:

49. The Sittaford Mystery, Agatha Christie



Year Published: 1931
Type: fiction, mystery
Acquired: paperback from Chicago Public Library
My Project: Project Christie

This was rather whimsical, although a lot of characters to keep straight. Everyone does a lot of dashing about on trains. This is a stand-alone (not Poirot or Miss Marple) and I wasn't overly thrilled with the heroine investigator, Emily. But it was still fun.

50. Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life, Herman Melville



Year Published: 1846
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my library
My Project: Reading through Time for July: On the Shore; R from 2019

This was Melville's first successful book, and his most popular during his lifetime. Written as a memoir, it describes his life after jumping ship with a mate on a small island in the Marquesas in the South Seas, where they are taken captive by a supposedly cannibalistic tribe and their eventual escape. Twentieth century research has shown that the events may have been partly based on Melville's experiences, but that much of the book was lifted from other travel books and some just pure invention by Melville. The beginning and endings of the book were exciting, but I found the middle sections with descriptions of the life of the natives lagged for me. I was expecting it to be more racist and paternalistic, but Melville surprised me with his mostly objective observations of the natives and their culture.

51. Lord Edgware Dies, Agatha Christie



Year Published: 1933
Type: fiction, mystery
Acquired: ebook from Chicago Public Library
My Project: Project Christie

Almost didn't continue with this next Poirot case, as there was some blatant anti-Semitism and the "n" word and other ethnic stereotypes in the beginning; fortunately it didn't continue, except that the Jewish character, of course, was motivated by money. I did finish and Christie kept me off-balance as usual Included was an actress who does imitations, which made a nice twist to the story.

52. The Gate of Angels, Penelope Fitzgerald



Year Published: 1990
Type: fiction
Acquired: hardcover from Chicago Public Library
My Project: BAC June author

This book would make a great movie: I can see the opening sequence being the bicycle crash in Cambridge of Daisy & Fred (our heroine & hero, who at this point are unknown to each other). Next scene they are unconscious after the crash and wake up in the same bed, courtesy of the family who rescued them and live nearby. Then we have flashbacks to fill in Fred's (a Fellow at Cambridge in physics) and Daisy's (a poor London nurse's aide student) backgrounds up to the crash, and how they came to be on the same road at the same time.

I found Fitzgerald surprising, sometimes not accessible, other times very lucid. Meticulous detail on 1912 Cambridge, London, physics, working women, and always the smallest details without over-kill. I've been thinking a lot about this book since I've finished reading it.

Other random thoughts: our Daisy goes to the local Borough Library:

The Library was connected with the public wash-house by the municipal fumigation rooms, where books could be disinfected after an outbreak of disease and old clothes could be boiled before redistribution to the needy. The three long low buildings, lettered in white on their grey and red brick, were a powerful image of compulsory cleanliness, inner and outer.

Seemed not unlike our COVID-19 world.

Also loved the scene where Daisy goes to the newly opened Selfridge's department store, because she CAN; no longer was it just for the wealthy, and she is amazed at all the goods out and available for customers to see and touch, no longer hidden from view.

There is an arc to the story--Daisy meets Fred in a bike collision; the book ends on their "accidental" meeting. It's about the very different classes colliding in ways they could not before. There is mention of women's rights and suffrage; but unmarried Daisy wears a wedding ring on transport to discourage unwelcome advances from men. Throughout the book the men are talking a lot about "important" theoretical work, but in the end, it is always women who do the caring work, the real day-to-day living.

Reminds me in some ways of the clash of the classes in Howards End. A lot to ponder in this book, and yet the story itself is still good romance, with a fun ghost story along the way. As far as I can tell, it's never been made into a movie; I hope it will someday.

53. Emily of New Moon, L. M. Montgomery



Year Published: 1923
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from Chicago Public Library
My Project: none

We meet young motherless Emily as her father is dying; after his death she is entrusted into the care of 2 aunts, one kindly, one very difficult. I didn't like Emily too much at first, but she improved as the book went on, especially as she works on her writing. L. M. Montgomery has said there is more of herself in Emily than in any of her other characters. I have to admit I prefer Anne of Green Gables as a character and as a book.

54. A View of the Empire at Sunset, Caryl Phillips



Year Published: 2018
Type: fiction
Acquired: hardcover from Chicago Public Library
My Project: BAC April author

Fictionalized story of the writer Jean Rhys, from her youth in the West Indies, through her visit back to her island home as an adult after decades in England. The writing is very good, but I never felt that I got to know who "Gwen" was until the very end. The first 2/3 of the book Gwen rarely speaks; we only hear from everyone around her. The narrative only refers to her as "she" or "her"; she is never called Gwen, except by others speaking TO her. I felt like I knew the other characters (her parents, her friends, her teachers, her husbands, etc.) better than I knew her. Another aspect of the writing that annoyed me is that the narrative flipped back & forth between the present tense to the past tense--I couldn't figure out the significance of these changes.

The parts in the West Indies--her childhood and her short return as an adult--were the most interesting and readable. The large middle section in England dragged and I had to force myself to continue reading. Amazingly, there is only passing mention of Jean Rhys as a writer--we never see her reading or writing or even thinking about books. This was a disappointment to me because I read Cambridge years ago and enjoyed that novel. I may or may not try another Phillips novel.

Currently reading:

--William Morris, Linda Parry, ed. -- July RandomCAT -- books with pictures
--Bach: Essays on his Life and Music, Christoph Wolff -- Jul 75ers Nonfiction: the Long 18th century
--Village Centenary, Miss Read my Miss Read project

Possible reads for August:
--Year of Wonders, Geraldine Brooks -- Aug Reading Through Time: Disasters
--Shirley, Charlotte Bronte -- BAC August
--Barnaby Rudge, Charles Dickens -- Monthly Author Read -- Dickens
--Imagining Characters: Six Conversations about Women Writers A. S. Byatt -- Aug 75ers Nonfiction--books about books
--The Misses Mallett, E. H. Young -- All Virago/All August
--Anderby Wold, Winifred Holtby -- All Virago/All August
--One Fine Day, Mollie Panter-Downes -- All Virago/All August
--Song of the Lark, Willa Cather -- Aug RandomCAT: Music

Rather ambitious; we'll see...

>112 kac522: Hurray for more book acquisitions, especially when giving books a home from a fellow LTer!

>113 kac522: I read The Sittaford Mystery in university and remember nothing of it. Must read it again.

>114 kac522: An ambitious month indeed. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on the Holtby if you get to it. The only one of hers I've read is (perhaps obviously) South Riding :)

>115 rabbitprincess: Yes, and my daughter-in-law just picked up ANOTHER Virago for me while on holiday in Scotland: Margaret Laurence's The Diviners. I have her on the look-out at any used bookshops that they wander into.

I decided on Anderby Wold from my new books because it is Holtby's first novel (I think). I have Poor Caroline, The Land of Green Ginger and South Riding on the shelves but have not read any of them yet; I loved the TV production of South Riding from some years ago. Also from this recent goldmine I received The Crowded Street, so now I have all her major works, and am going to start this month. My son and daughter-in-law have lived in South Yorkshire (Sheffield) for several years, and I've been once, so I'm looking forward to reading about 20th century Yorkshire.

>116 kac522: Now that you mention it, I did read Poor Caroline as well! I had forgotten.

The South Riding adaptation was the reason I read the book :D

Yorkshire sounds lovely. I hope to get there someday!

August's reading:

55. Village Centenary, Miss Read



Year Published: 1980
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves
My Project: Project Miss Read; R from 2018

I found this book in the series delightful and well-structured. The chapters span one year from January to December. The focus was on the 100th anniversary of Fairacre school and preparations for a celebration at the end of the year. It also gives Miss Read an opportunity to describe the changing seasons and country nature over a year's time, and a look back by locals at school life over the century. One of the better books in the Fairacre series.

56. Letters from an Astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson



Year Published: 2019
Type: nonfiction, science, letters
Acquired: hardcover from Chicago Public Library
My Project: 75ers Non-fiction: Science/Technology

Entertaining little book of letters from children and adults to deGrasse Tyson and his usually lengthy and respectful responses. Covers a wide range of science and thought.

57. Castle Richmond, Anthony Trollope



Year Published: 1860
Type: fiction
Acquired: audiobook from Librivox, read by Simon Evers
My Project: Project Trollope; re-read

This was a re-read for me via audiobook. My original take on the book last February was mixed--loved the story, disliked Trollope's finding the British had done "all they could." Since I knew the story, I think this audiobook re-read brought out more for me Trollope's sympathy with the Irish people, despite his Providential view about the famine. And after reading more about the famine since my first reading, I have learned that Trollope's view was quite the accepted official British view for the times. What Trollope tried to do was show more compassion for the people, but it gets lost in the story, especially on the first reading. I appreciated his effort more on this second reading, but it still didn't quite satisfy in terms of weaving the personal stories in with the historical event of the famine.

As for this audio recording from Librivox, the reader, Simon Evers, wasn't bad, but there was a lot of annoying background sounds (birds, pages turning, someone knocking).

58. Barnaby Rudge, Charles Dickens; edited, with an Introduction and notes by John Bowen



Year Published: 1841
Type: historical fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves
My Project: Project Dickens; Monthly Author Read; R from 2011

Where Trollope fails to mesh a fictional story within historical events in Castle Richmond, Dickens triumphs in Barnaby Rudge. Dickens' least known and least liked novel was a great read for me. The story is set just before and during the Gordon Riots in London in 1780. These were anti-Catholic riots urged on by the actions of Lord George Gordon. Gordon is one of the few characters from life in the book; the rest are all from Dickens' imagination. Dickens skillfully weaves the stories of several families during this time period and how they are impacted by the growing unrest and riots. There are quite a few characters to keep straight and none really get developed completely, except for our unlikely hero, Barnaby Rudge. I found the book exciting, and Dickens especially shines in describing the riots and the atmosphere of London during the riots, some of which rings true even today. I can understand why it's not popular, as it doesn't have a particularly convincing romantic interest, but it is mysterious and a page turner. And, of course, the essential Dickens plot twist: a character's secret biological parent is revealed near the end. Also critical to understanding the background to the time and events was my 2003 Penguin Classics Edition, with an Introduction, notes and additional material by John Bowen.

59. Summer at Fairacre, Miss Read



Year Published: 1984
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves
My Project: Project Miss Read; R from 2017

This was a good break after Dickens. Miss Read is always a delight, and this tale of summer fits right in with our very warm weather this year. I am ready to go "back to school" any day now.

60. Lady Susan, Jane Austen



Year Published: 1871, post.
Type: fiction, letters
Acquired: my audiobook; various readers for the several letter writers
My Project: re-read; R from 2016

Needed some good humor, and this short audiobook presentation was perfect. Two memorable quotes:

Letter of Lady Susan to her friend Mrs Johnson, about Mrs Johnson's annoyingly ill husband: "My dear Alicia, of what a mistake were you guilty in marrying a man of his age!--just old enough to be formal, ungovernable & to have the gout--too old to be agreeable, & too young to die."

Letter of Mrs Johnson to Lady Susan, when Mrs Johnson tries to cover for Lady Susan, but gets caught: "What could I do? Facts are such horrid things!"

61. Year of Wonders: a novel of the Plague, Geraldine Brooks



Year Published: 2001
Type: historical fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves
My Project: Reading through Time: August; R from 2015

This novel is based on the Plague in 1665-66 in which an English village with plague decides to quarantine for the duration (a little over a year), in order not to bring the disease to those outside their village. It is based on a true event in the village of Eyam in Derbyshire, England.

For the most part, I enjoyed this novel. Several of the characters are based on known residents of Eyam, and for other characters Brooks used names of persons known to be in the village at the time. It was well-researched, especially in period detail; the writing was excellent and historically accurate; and the main thrust of the book was good. There were several scenes that seemed unbelievable to me (Anna's first midwife experience; Anna in the mine). I thought the ending just didn't fit with the rest of the book, but it didn't bother me, so much as, again, seem unbelievable and/or out of left field, so to speak.

What did bother me about the book is at no point does Anna, our narrator, ever question or try to understand in a practical sense why she and the Rector and his wife never get the plague, despite the fact that they seem to spend 24/7 taking care of others with the disease. Why? Why did 2/3 of the town die and they survived? Not even a religious justification.

And I had to laugh at this: my copy (from 2002) is a paperback with "Questions for Discussion" at the back. The last question is:

9. "Can we relate the story of this town's extraordinary sacrifice to our own time? Is it unrealistic to expect a village facing a similar threat to make the same decision nowadays? What lessons might we learn from the villagers of Eyam?"

Oh, boy, little did this editor realize.....

Plans for September:

STILL reading...

--William Morris, Linda Parry, ed. -- July RandomCAT -- books with pictures
--Bach: Essays on his Life and Music, Christoph Wolff -- Jul 75ers Nonfiction: the Long 18th century
--Imagining Characters: Six Conversations about Women Writers A. S. Byatt -- Aug 75ers Nonfiction--books about books
DONE--Plagued by the Nightingale, Kay Boyle, Virago

Possible other reads:

--The Wright Brothers, David McCullough -- Sep 75ers Nonfiction: Science & Technology
--A Conspiracy of Paper, David Liss, Sep Reading through Time: Economics
--One Fine Day, Mollie Panter-Downes -- Sep BAC-- WWII
--Elizabeth and Her German Garden, Elizabeth von Arnim --Sep RandomCAT--Recs
--Shirley, Charlotte Bronte -- Aug BAC--Brontes

and a host of Virago titles on my shelf, that I never got to in All Virago/All August.

>118 kac522: That quote from Lady Susan made me laugh out loud! "Too old to be agreeable, too young to die" is my new life motto.

>120 christina_reads: I know, isn't that the best? I've read it in book form, but this audiobook from Naxos is just superb--the various letters work well with different readers. It's not long--just 2 CDs. It was a gift to myself--a complete audiobook set of all the novels, plus Lady Susan and the Watsons. Juliet Stevenson reads most of the other novels, except P & P.

>118 kac522: In a strange coincidence, I just finished reading a Doctor Who novel, Plague City, set in Edinburgh during the Great Plague of 1645! I suspect my book was slightly less historically accurate than yours was ;)

>122 rabbitprincess: In the afterword Brooks explains she stumbled on Eyam on a Derbyshire hike, became fascinated with the story, and did lots of research. The narrative language was particularly authentic. She did take liberties with events and timing, but overall the book was well done (except for the out-of-nowhere ending).

Today there is a small museum about the plague in the village, which by chance my granddaughter visited on a primary school outing a year or so ago (they live in Sheffield).

>121 kac522: I don't normally do audiobooks, but I may have to splurge on that Naxos set of Austens...by all accounts, it's great!

>124 christina_reads: Juliet Stevenson is just magnificent. She does the BEST character voices. Like Miss Bates, Mrs Elton and Mr Woodhouse in Emma; brings out all the irony of Northanger Abbey; has that tinge of melancholy in Persuasion --"only Anne." She doesn't do Lady Susan or P&P in this set, but P&P is done by (forget her name!) the actress who plays Georgiana in the Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle 1995 P & P, so it's still pretty good.

Other audiobooks by Stevenson include Jane Eyre and a brilliant reading of George Eliot's Middlemarch. Her voice for Mr Casaubon is absolutely perfect. It's a LOT of CDs, though...

>125 kac522: I love Juliet Stevenson's reading as well. And fantastic about all the Viragos - I loved The Diviners.

I liked your review of Year of Wonders. I find Geraldine Brooks hit or miss.

>126 japaul22: Right, I sort of felt the book itself was hit or miss all on its own. Great research, authentic feel, but some very questionable scenes and sometimes missing larger inconsistencies. The only other novel of hers that I've read is Caleb's Crossing, and looking back I had some of the same problems with it, and it also was an unusual story based on a true event.

I've read 3 Brooks' now: Year of Wonders, Caleb's Crossing, and March, and I think you have hit the nail on the head: there is just something missing from each book. I have found that the first 3/4 of each book is interesting and I think that by the end the basic question(s) will be answered-but they aren't really. Or sometimes the ending isn't as realistic as the book, it seems disjointed. I don't think I'll pick up any more Brooks unless somebody can convince me to do so.

>128 Tess_W: Right now I have People of the Book and March on my massive TBR pile. They are both library sale finds, so I didn't break the bank, but I will be more wary. I love the writing; it's just where she takes the stories is sometimes confounding.
The other curious thing is that none of her novels are set in her native Australia.

September reading:

62. Plagued by the Nightingale, Kay Boyle



Year Published: 1931
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves
My Project: Virago; R from 2017

A book doesn't need to be happy for me to enjoy it, but this book had nothing positive for me. Bridget, an American, has married a man from a French family. Her husband has a degenerative genetic disease and they move back to Breton country to live with his smothering family. From beginning to end this story was just oppressive and negative, as Death hangs over all with little hope or light. I'm glad I'm done with it.

63. The Geometry of Holding Hands, Alexander McCall Smith



Year Published: 2020
Type: fiction
Acquired: hardcover from Chicago Public Library
My Project: next in the Isabel Dalhousie series

McCall Smith is always gently reminding us to be kind, to think the best of others, to apologize for wrongs in all the small things of life, to be our best selves. A gentle break during difficult times. And I love the cover, even though it has nothing to do with the book.

64. Bach: Essays on His Life and Music, Christoph Wolff (1991)



Year Published: 1991
Type: nonfiction, essays, music
Acquired: paperback on my shelves
My Project: 75ers Nonfiction Challenge for July: The Long 18th century; RandomCAT August: Music R from before 2009

Included here are 32 essays by Wolff from 1963 to 1988, most published previously, some in German, some in English. The beginning and ending essays were very enlightening on Bach’s family, life and legacy. Many essays in the middle were more technical and more appropriate for Bach scholars; it was sometimes difficult to absorb their content in print, without hearing the music. Several essays, for example, examine minute details in the original scores, to determine when and where they were written. What comes across in every essay, however, is that nothing Bach wrote was by chance, by fluke. Every note was carefully and precisely placed. And how more than any other composer of his time, Bach studied and incorporated the music of other great composers, both those before him and his contemporaries.

65. One Fine Day, Mollie Panter-Downes



Year Published: 1947
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves
My Project: BAC August: WWII; Project Virago; R from 2019

It's 1946 in a small village in southern England and this little book is one day in the life of Laura, married to Stephen, mother of Victoria. In an almost stream of consciousness style, Panter-Downes shows a marriage, a village and a way of life that have all changed drastically after the war. Very good--but need to read it again to really appreciate, I think.

66. The Baker's Daughter, D. E. Stevenson (1938)



Year Published: 1938
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from Chicago Public Library
My Project: Project D. E. Stevenson

Except for a rather rushed ending, I enjoyed this story of Sue, simple baker's daughter, who slowly opens up with an iconclastic artist. I thought the story had a good arc to it, characters I liked and a happy ending. There were a few questionable lines about Franco and racial purity that gave one pause, as it was unclear from the context how these were meant to be taken. On the other hand, a 20-something woman marrying an older divorced man no doubt had its naysayers in 1938.

67. The Doctor's Family and other Stories, Margaret Oliphant (1861)



Year Published: 1861
Type: fiction, 2 stories and a novella
Acquired: paperback from Chicago Public Library
My Project: Virago

This edition contains the first 3 stories of Oliphant’s Carlingford series: "The Executor", "The Rector", "The Doctor's Family" (novella). Carlingford is probably based on Birkenhead, formerly in Cheshire, now part of Merseyside.
These were interesting stories of life from a woman's perspective; much of Oliphant's life appears in these stories. “The Executor” centers around a will; not particularly effective, but does give an introduction to the doctor. “The Rector” is a study of a man doing the wrong kind of work and feeling out of his element. “The Doctor's Family” returns to the doctor as he encounters the strong and almost martyr-like Nettie. Not sure I loved any of the characters, but they were all interesting. Oliphant is clearly writing much about herself in Nettie. I will continue with this series, but probably won't read other of her books unless they are stand-outs.

68. Three ebook stories by Alexander McCall Smith: The Perils of Morning Coffee; At the Reunion Buffet; Sweet, Thoughtful Valentine



Year Published: 2011, 2015, 2016
Type: fiction, short stories
Acquired: ebook stories from Chicago Public Library
My Project: completing my read of the Isabel Dalhousie series

To complete my reading of this series, I read the 3 stories issued only as ebooks that are now available from my library. The first story was OK but I didn’t find it outstanding; the second story was good and about forgiveness; the last story, the best of the 3, focused on promises—breaking and keeping them—and doing the right thing when that promise puts one in a moral dilemma.

69. Elizabeth and her German Garden, Elizabeth von Arnim



Year Published: 1898
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves
My Project: Virago

The book that started a successful writing career for von Arnim. At once it is lush and humble, funny and sometimes biting. Although the garden plays an important part, it’s also about Elizabeth’s new life in Germany, her husband (“the Man of Wrath”), her children, her friends, her books. Read in one evening.

Looking ahead to October reading:

Currently reading:
--Imagining Characters, A. S. Byatt and Ignes Sodre
--The Wright Brothers, David McCullough

Possibilities:

--Rules of Civility Amor Towles
--A Game of Hide and Seek, Elizabeth Taylor
--The Misses Mallett, E. H. Young
--The Jane Austen Society, Natalie Jenner
--How the Other Half Lives, Jacob Riis
--Scales and Scalpels, Lisa Wong, M. D.

and perhaps the next Agatha Christie or Miss Read or both to lighten the load.

October reading:

70. The Wright Brothers, David McCullough



Year Published: 2015
Type: nonfiction, biography
Acquired: hardcover from Chicago Public Library
My Project: 75ers Nonfiction for September

There seems to be a wide variety of opinion about this book. For me, it was perfect. It was just technical enough to explain the concepts, but not too technical to lose the casual reader. As always McCullough concentrates on the men, who they are, where they came from, what forces influenced them and how character played the most important part of their achievements. I loved the descriptions of Dayton, the family, the house, their family and most especially how the two brothers were self-taught and how they worked together. I feel I got to know the men as hard-working inventors who were inspired by the flight of birds.

71. Orley Farm, Anthony Trollope



Year Published: 1862
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves
My Project: Trollope; R from 2013

The next in my quest to read all of Trollope's novels, this was just the perfect Trollope novel. There's all sorts of different people, some with rank, some not. There's a moral question at the heart of the plot; there's a love story or two; there are lots of lawyers and a court scene near the end; and an eye on British justice, or lack of it. I was completely immersed in the story and characters throughout the book.

72. The Boomerang Clue, Agatha Christie (also known as "Why Didn't They Ask Evans?")



Year Published: 1934
Type: fiction, mystery
Acquired: hardcover from Chicago Public Library
My Project: Christie

So-so. For once I had a clue about the possible suspects. However as newbies, Frankie and Bobby were too good to be believed. And not as appealing as T & T.

73. Scales to Scalpels, Lisa M. Wong, M.D.



Year Published: 2012
Type: nonfiction, medicine, music
Acquired: hardcover from Chicago Public Library
My Project: October RancomCAT: Healthcare heroes

I learned about this book in a short piece on the PBS NewsHour featuring the author and her group: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/search-results?q=Longwood%20Symphony

Dr. Wong gives us the history and mission of the Longwood Symphony Orchestra, located in Boston's medical district. Founded in 1982, it began when a group of medical professionals realized that many of their colleagues were also musicians. It is a volunteer group where medical professionals can release their emotions at the end of the day. Additionally, the group's mission is to serve the community by putting on fundraising concerts for medically-related non-profit groups in the community (like local health centers, food banks, and other organizations that meet the critical medical and humanitarian needs of the community).

The book itself is not quite as focused as I would have liked, going over all different ways that medicine and music interact. She does this mostly through stories of orchestra members.

The orchestra is an interesting idea, but the book seemed like it has not been edited--duplicate paragraphs, often repetitive, uneven writing and typing errors. But the mission of the group is very admirable. There's also a list at the back of the members' favorite pieces to deal with stress, grief, etc.

74. The Misses Mallett, E. H. Young



Year Published: 1922
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves acquired this year
My Project: Virago

Originally titled "The Bridge Dividing" this book is based on the Clifton area of greater Bristol. The "bridge" that figures prominently in the book is clearly the Clifton Suspension Bridge. I enjoyed the setting because my grandfather was born in Bristol. The bridge comes to represent the divide between city and country life, the divide between classes and the divide between generations in the early 20th century. I'm not sure any of the characters were entirely likeable, but they were all interesting. This is my first E. H. Young novel, and I look forward to reading the others on my shelves.

75. Still Life, Louise Penny



Year Published: 2005
Type: fiction, mystery
Acquired: paperback from my shelves
My Project: R from 2015

I wanted so much to love this author, but I was underwhelmed with this mystery. It seemed to drag on for me. I know lots of people love Louise Penny, but she just didn't click for me. Plus, she randomly throws in pop culture phrases and asides, as well as random poetry quotes, that didn't seem to fit the characters of a small town in Quebec. Or at least, she hadn't filled out the characters enough in this book for these asides and quotes to feel authentic. I think it was when somebody quoted Abbie Hoffman (spelled incorrectly, by the way) that seemed entirely out of context, that I just pushed through to the end. And I had guessed the correct suspect nearly from the point of the crime. Oh well--here's one series at least that I don't feel compelled to read.

So far, I'm fairly satisfied with my reading. I've hit my 75 books goal and my 45 Roots goal, so it's all icing on the cake from here on.

November reading possibilities:

DONE: Great Expectations: the sons and daughters of Charles Dickens, Gottlieb for 75ers Nonfiction November Group biography

DONE: Mrs. Pringle, Miss Read--next in my Project Miss Read
DONE: Country Place, Ann Petry, for the November AAC
--The Jane Austen Society, Natalie Jenner
DONE: Monthly author read group: Chinua Achebe: The Education of a British-Protected Child, essays
DONE: biography of Jane Austen, James Joyce, Rebecca West or Anthony Trollope; for Reading through Time author biography
DONE: Letters to Alice, Fay Weldon, for BAC
DONE: Green Money, D. E. Stevenson, next in my Project Stevenson
Currently reading: The Hound of Death and other Stories, Agatha Christie--next in my Christie project

and a few bits and ends.

November reading, Part 1:

I had a good month of reading (for me) and met most of my goals, so I am pleased with my progress.

76. Mrs Pringle of Fairacre, Miss Read



Year Published: 1989
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from Chicago Public Library
Read for: My Project: Miss Read

Next in the Fairacre series, and one of the few I don't own. All about Mrs Pringle. The beginning background I didn't remember, but much of the book was re-telling prior bits. Still enjoyable to have in one place about this curmudgeonly school cleaner.

77. Great Expectations: the sons and daughters of Charles Dickens, Robert Gottlieb



Year Published: 2012
Type: non-fiction, biography
Acquired: hardcover on my shelves from 2015
My Project: 75ers Nonfiction Challenge: Group Biography

Very readable, but not scholarly. In fact, it appears the author did no original research of his own, but rather compiled information about each of the children from previously published books and letters. The book is divided into two sections: the lives of each of the ten children until Dickens' death in1870 and their lives after 1870. In retrospect, I think I learned just as much about Dickens himself through his relationships with his children, as I did about his children.

78. The Education of a British-Protected Child, Chinua Achebe



Year Published: 2009
Type: nonfiction, essays
Acquired: paperback from Chicago Public Library
Read for Monthly Author Reads

A collection of essays and lectures from 1988 through 2009. These are on a wide variety of topics, but almost all include some thoughts on Africa. A few are personal (the title essay, one on his daughters), there's an essay about his book Things Fall Apart, reflections on other writers, on language and on his people. All very interesting and engaging. I'm glad I chose this example of Achebe's writing for the monthly read.

79. Letters to Alice: On First Reading Jane Austen, Fay Weldon



Year Published: 1984
Type: ?? fictitious letters to a fictitious niece about reading Austen and writing novels
Acquired: hardcover from Chicago Public Library
Read for: November BAC author

Despite that these letters are made-up letters to a made-up niece (a la Austen's real letter of advice to her real novel-writing niece), this book actually worked. Weldon gives us background on Austen and her times; on reading Austen; on writing and techniques that Austen used in her novels; and interesting looks at Austen's books and characters. This isn't the best book I've read about Austen, but it was readable and chatty and gives a sense of the whole person/writer. Probably geared to a YA audience.

80. Country Place, Ann Petry



Year Published: 1947
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback on my shelf from 2020
Read for November AAC

Set in post-WWII Lennox, Connecticut, a small-town similar to Petry's home town, the novel starts with the narrator, the town pharmacist. He admits to being an unreliable narrator. The story begins with soldier Johnnie Roane returning home with much anticipation to see his wife for the first time in 4 years. The novel follows various characters in the town, with the narrator dipping in and out--sometimes successfully, sometimes not so much.

The writing was good, the descriptions of the town and the New England weather were wonderful and the plot moved briskly, as each character brings a part of the story. All of the major characters in the book are non-ethnic whites, with the exceptions of a Black maid, a Portuguese gardener, and a Jewish lawyer, all with minor roles in the story. I believe this may be the only book that Petry, an African-American, wrote without a major character of color.

Although well-written, I had a hard time liking this book, probably because I couldn't come to like any of the main characters. Some were downright evil, others irritating enough to not get my sympathy. I need to like or at least feel sympathetic about someone in the book, and none were appealing to me.

I will say that the end of the book brings some humanity and "justice" to the town, and indeed the town itself is probably the real main character. In that sense, it is probably an interesting piece to compare with The Street, which I have not read, but I understand is also about "place."

November reading, Part 2:

81. Green Money, D. E. Stevenson



Year Published: 1939
Type: fiction
Acquired: hardcover from Chicago Public Library
Read for: My Project: D. E. Stevenson

Next in my reading of D. E. Stevenson's novels (that I can find). This would have made a typical 1930's movie and the theme reminds me of one: finding your heart's desire in your own back yard (a la Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz"). Our hero George, a likable twenty-something, has a series of small adventures and meets a few interesting characters along the way. Not much of a plot, and what "intrigue" there is becomes pretty obvious right away. It's the characters that are front and center here. A gentle read, but not one of Stevenson's best for me.

82. Confessions of a Bookseller, Shaun Bythell



Year Published: 2020
Type: non-fiction, memoir, humor
Acquired: hardcover from Chicago Public Library

More entertaining reading about a year (2015) of trials and tribulations of a used bookseller in rural Scotland. Easy to dip in and out (I read one month per day), and it provided a much-needed chuckle during the post-election day drama here in the U.S.

It made a good alternative book while reading these 3 short author biographies to end out the month:

83. Rebecca West, Fay Weldon



Year Published: 1985
Type: fiction, but labeled as "biography"
Acquired: hardcover from Chicago Public Library
Read for November BAC: Fay Weldon and Reading through Time: November Author Biographies

Disappointing read, because despite its label in the catalog, it was not a biography at all. Structured as letters to Rebecca West around the time she gave birth to her son, the letters deal mostly with West's relationship to H. G. Wells. Conversations are completely made-up between West and Wells, her mother, and her sister. Weldon mostly analyzes their relationship and attempts to give West encouragement. Where Weldon's made-up letters to her made-up niece about Austen worked well (see book #79, above), this is just completely speculative and got more irritating as the book wore on. Particularly irksome is that this was written only 2 years after West's death.

Here is Weldon's introduction/justification:

"I have no shame, though, in what comes next, of having simple made a lot up, of having invented conversations, of being a fly on the seaside boarding-house wall -- on the grounds that what is made up, invented, is often truer than what happens in reality: the latter, drifting, chaotic, without shape or form, and usually open to so many interpretations as to make nonsense of any attempt to understand or define from the outside what was actually going on in the inside.....Better, if the biographer has a glimmer of the single thin consistent thread that runs through a life, to give up fact and take to fiction. It is as honourable a course as any."

When I was finished, I realized it would have made an interesting play, where imagined dialogue and speculation are acceptable. But biography it is NOT.

84. James Joyce, John Gross



Year Published: 1970
Type: nonfiction, literary biography
Acquired: paperback from my shelves R from 2013
Read for: November Reading Thru Time Author biographies

Small book (89 pages) that covers a lot of ground. Although biography is only one chapter, the events of James' life surface in the 3 chapters about his works. I can't comment on how well or thorough the writer is, but it did give me a good sense of what Joyce was about, what literary techniques and references he uses, and made him seem a little less obscure. Would have been good if there had been a final chapter summing up Joyce's influence on the 20th century.

85. Jane Austen, Carol Shields, part of the "Penguin Lives" series



Year Published: 2001
Type: nonfiction, literary biography
Acquired: hardcover on my shelf R from 2019
Read for Reading Through Time Author Biographies

Fairly decent and short biography. I enjoyed the way Shields weaves Austen's life through the works, although I can imagine if you have not read any of the novels, you would be missing quite a bit here. This is not a scholarly work; it relies heavily on Austen's surviving letters. Shields makes quite a few assumptions, but usually tells us when she is doing that. Overall an informative read for those who have read an Austen novel or two and would like a quick read about her life. The end of the book deals with Austen's illness. Shields wrote this book after her own cancer diagnosis, and just a couple of years before she died, and I think that struggle and sadness come through in the ending section.

Books to end the year:

Currently reading:
DONE: North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell, audiobook read by Juliet Stevenson (re-read)
DONE: The Moorland Cottage, Elizabeth Gaskell
DONE: The Hound of Death and other Stories, Agatha Christie

For the challenges:
RandomCAT:
--Dean's December, Saul Bellow
--Two-Part Invention, Madeleine L'Engle
Currently reading: My Beloved World, Sonia Sotomayor
--His Excellency: George Washington, Joseph Ellis

Monthly Author Reads:
DONE: Passing, Nella Larsen

BAC catchups:
--Electricity, Victoria Glendinning (1990s)
--Mrs Robinson's Disgrace, Kate Summerscale (2010s)

On the TBR that I've been wanting to read in 2020--we'll see:
--The Jane Austen Society, Natalie Jenner
--How the Other Half Lives, Jacob Riis
--The Song of the Lark, Willa Cather
--A Game of Hide and Seek, Elizabeth Taylor
DONE: Rachel Ray, Anthony Trollope
DONE: Anderby Wold, Winifred Holtby

Should keep me busy....

I have 3 books that I'm trying to finish before the end of the year:
--My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor
--His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph Ellis
--Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen, my zillionth re-read

When I picked up Pride and Prejudice a few days ago, it was to end the year on a positive reading experience. I started to look back at my reading this year, and without intending to, I will have re-read every major Jane Austen this year, except Emma: Sanditon and Pride and Prejudice were re-reads of physical books, and Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Lady Susan and Persuasion were on audiobook.

I fell back on these favorites as my comfort reads in 2020, without any realization that I was doing so, until now. These were not my only comfort reads in 2020, but it's still somewhat of a wonder to me that I come back to Austen again and again.

>137 kac522: I totally agree with you on Austen as comfort reading. Shockingly, I don't think I've reread any of her novels this year -- although I've watched several adaptations of Emma. I'll have to remedy that in 2021!

>138 christina_reads: Yesterday I picked up the new (2020) Emma adaptation at the library, so that will be my viewing for New Years Eve.

I love listening to them on audiobook; I really think Austen is meant to be read aloud, as she did to her family. Northanger Abbey in particular gets better every time I listen to it, especially listening to Juliet Stevenson read.