rabbitprincess is reading fully and completely in 2020 - Part 3

This year, my category challenge will feature the music of The Tragically Hip, a Canadian band from Kingston, Ontario.

I'll have all of my usual categories, plus a couple of bonus categories that are intended to let me indulge in some of my favourite topics... we'll see how that ACTUALLY plays out :)

The titles of each category contain a hyperlink to a YouTube video with the song.

General fiction – "If New Orleans is Beat"
General non-fiction – "Wheat Kings"
History (fiction and non-fiction) - "Looking for a Place to Happen"
Mysteries – "Locked in the Trunk of a Car"
SFF – "The Depression Suite"
Plays, poetry, graphic novels, other miscellaneous books – "Poets"
Audio – "Thompson Girl"
French – "38 Years Old"
Rereads – "Courage (for Hugh MacLennan)"
Group reads and CATs – "We'll Go, Too"
Aviation-related books: "700 Ft. Ceiling"
Nautical books: "Nautical Disaster"

ROOTs ticker:




Going Through the Stacks ticker:




2-for-1 TBR ticker:




Bingo:



✔ Book that's in a Legacy Library – Ape and Essence (in Aldous Huxley's library)
✔ Book written by an LT author – Here Be Dragons (Sharon Kay Penman)
✔ Book published in 1820 or 1920 – Main Street (get through Serial Reader)
✔ Book published in the year of your birth – Using Tragically Hip drummer Johnny Fay's birth year (1966): Shooting Script, by Gavin Lyall
✔ Book published under a pen name or anonymously - Witch Hunt, by Jack Harvey
✔ Book set in Asia – North Korea Journal
✔ Mystery or true crime – The Bellamy Trial
✔ Book involving a real historical event (fiction or nonfiction) – The Plotters
✔ Book about books, bookstores, or libraries – The Book of Forgotten Authors
✔ Book with at least 3 letters of BINGO consecutively in order in the title – Hollow Kingdom
✔ Red cover (or red is prominent on the cover) – Now We Are Six Hundred
✔ Title contains a pun – ATA Girl
✔ Book about birth or death - The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
✔ Book with a proper name in the title – Gold for Prince Charlie
✔ Book published by a small press or self-published - When Days Are Long (published by Caitlin Press)
✔ Book published in 2020 - Successful Aging
✔ Epistolary novel or collection of letters - Microserfs (told through diary entries)
✔ Book by a journalist or about journalism - Verdict of Twelve (Raymond Postgate was a journalist)
✔ Book not set on Earth – Diary of River Song Series 4
✔ Mythology or folklore – The Mabinogion
✔ Weird book title – The Detective Wore Silk Drawers
✔ Book with "library" or "thing" in title or subtitle – Things Ain’t What They Used to Be
✔ Book with a periodic table element in the title – Gold from Crete
✔ Book by a woman from a country other than the US/UK – Ridgerunner, by Gil Adamson
✔ Read a CAT - Solomon Gursky Was Here

General fiction - If New Orleans is Beat

“The river takes, takes, takes and takes / It doesn’t change, it only changes”

This category was hard to choose a song for. This song is one of my favourite Hip songs at the moment, so that ended up being why I picked it.

1. Solomon Gursky Was Here, by Mordecai Richler
2. The Mystery of Orcival, by Emile Gaboriau (Serial Reader)
3. The Eejits, by Roald Dahl, translated by Matthew Fitt
4. Millions, by Frank Cottrell Boyce
5. In Her Wake, by Amanda Jennings
6. Wives and Daughters, by Elizabeth Gaskell (Serial Reader)
7. The Mill on the Floss, by George Eliot (Serial Reader)
8. The Travelling Cat Chronicles, by Hiro Arikawa, translated by Philip Gabriel (Overdrive)
9. The Stone Angel, by Margaret Laurence
10. French Exit, by Patrick deWitt
11. Main Street, by Sinclair Lewis (Serial Reader)
12. The Coral Island, by R. M. Ballantyne (Serial Reader)
13. Ridgerunner, by Gil Adamson
14. Witch Hunt, by Jack Harvey / Ian Rankin
15. Five Little Indians, by Michelle Good
16. The Scheme for Full Employment, by Magnus Mills
17. Parting Shot, by Linwood Barclay
18. Mary Barton, by Elizabeth Gaskell (Serial Reader and Project Gutenberg)

General non-fiction - Wheat Kings

"Twenty years for nothing, well that's nothing new / Besides, nobody's interested in things you didn't do"

This song is based on the story of David Milgaard, who was wrongly convicted for murder and spent 20 years in prison before being exonerated.

1. North Korea Journal, by Michael Palin
2. Gender and Our Brains: How New Neuroscience Explodes the Myths of the Male and Female Brain, by Gina Rippon
3. The Personality Brokers: The Strange History of Myers-Briggs and the Birth of Personality Testing, by Merve Emre
4. Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA and More Tell Us About Crime, by Val McDermid
5. Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives, by Daniel J. Levitin
6. Is It All in Your Head?: True Stories of Imaginary Illnesses, by Suzanne O'Sullivan
7. Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language: Hereditary Deafness on Martha's Vineyard, by Nora Ellen Groce
8. Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada, by Anna Brownell Jameson
9. Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams, by Matthew Walker
10. Effective Data Storytelling, by Brent Dykes
11. Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death and Hard Truths in a Northern City, by Tanya Talaga
12. The Field Guide to Understanding 'Human Error', by Sidney Dekker
13. Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen, by Dan Heath
14. The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons: The History of the Human Brain As Revealed by True Stories of Trauma, Madness, and Recovery, by Sam Kean (Overdrive)
15. Chop Suey Nation: The Legion Cafe and Other Stories from Canada’s Chinese Restaurants, by Ann Hui (Overdrive)
16. Brewed in the North: The History of Labatt's, by Matthew J. Bellamy
17. Thinking Inside the Box: Adventures with Crosswords and the Puzzling People Who Can't Live Without Them, by Adrienne Raphel
18. Beautiful Scars: Steeltown Secrets, Mohawk Skywalkers and the Road Home, by Tom Wilson (Overdrive)
19. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, by Frederick Douglass (Serial Reader)
20. Any Night of the Week: A D.I.Y. History of Toronto Music, 1957–2001, by Jonny Dovercourt
21. Toe Blake: Winning is Everything, by Paul Logothetis
22. Say Nothing: A Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland, by Patrick Radden Keefe (Overdrive)
23. This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession, by Daniel J. Levitin
24. How Music Works, by David Byrne
25. Twenty Years at Hull House, by Jane Addams (Serial Reader)
26. Remain in Love: Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Tina, by Chris Frantz
27. Bloody Murder, by Julian Symons
28. All Things Consoled: A Daughter's Memoir, by Elizabeth Hay (Overdrive)
29. Sixty Degrees North: Around the World in Search of Home, by Malachy Tallack
30. Livewired: The Inside Story of Our Ever-Changing Brain, by David Eagleman
31. The Big Life of Little Richard, by Mark Ribowsky
32. The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, by Siddhartha Mukherjee
33. The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking), by Katie Mack
34. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!: The Story of Modern Pop from Bill Haley to Beyoncé, by Bob Stanley

History - "Looking for a Place to Happen"

"Jacques Cartier, right this way / Put your coat up on the bed / Hey man you got a real bum's eye for clothes"

An imagined scene in which Jacques Cartier, coming to a land he thinks is uninhabited and seeks to conquer, is greeted as a guest by the Indigenous inhabitants.

Historical fiction
1. Gold for Prince Charlie, by Nigel Tranter
2. Le Roi de fer, by Maurice Druon
3. Ships in the Bay!, by D. K. Broster
4. Here Be Dragons, by Sharon Kay Penman
5. The End of the Line, by Stephen Legault
6. A Rising Man, by Abir Mukherjee
7. La Reine étranglée, by Maurice Druon
8. The Women of the Copper Country, by Mary Doria Russell

Historical non-fiction
1. A Short History of Progress, by Ronald Wright
2. Cardiff Castle and the Marquesses of Bute, by Matthew Williams
3. The Bastard Brigade: The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb, by Sam Kean
4. Four Queens: The Provençal Sisters Who Ruled Europe, by Nancy Goldstone
5. When Days Are Long: Nurse in the North, by Amy Wilson
6. The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America, by Thomas King
7. Daughters of Chivalry: The Forgotten Princesses of Edward Longshanks, by Kelcey Wilson-Lee
8. Uncrowned Queen: The Life of Margaret Beaufort, Mother of the Tudors, by Nicola Tallis
9. Agent Sonya: Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy, by Ben Macintyre

Mystery - Locked in the Trunk of a Car

"I found a place, it’s dark and it’s rotten / It’s a cool, sweet kind of place where the coppers won’t spot it / I destroyed the map, I even thought I’d forgot it / However, every day I’m dumping the body..."

Chilling, like the best thrillers.

1. The Bellamy Trial, by Frances Noyes Hart (Faded Page)
2. The Mystery of the Chinese Junk, by Franklin W. Dixon
3. The Crooked Hinge, by John Dickson Carr
4. Verdict of Twelve, by Raymond Postgate
5. Dread Journey, by Dorothy B. Hughes
6. A Taste for Honey, by H. F. Heard
7. What You Pay For, by Claire Askew
8. Death from a Top Hat, by Clayton Rawson
9. Murder in Mesopotamia, by Agatha Christie
10. The Tiger in the Smoke, by Margery Allingham
11. Gun Before Butter, by Nicolas Freeling
12. Cop Killer, by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, translated by Thomas Teal
13. Beware of the Trains, by Edmund Crispin
14. A Matter of Malice, by Thomas King (Overdrive)
15. Family Matters, by Anthony Rolls (Overdrive)
16. Murder by Matchlight, by E.C.R. Lorac (Overdrive)
17. The Colour of Murder, by Julian Symons (Overdrive)
18. Murder Unprompted, by Simon Brett
19. The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories, ed. Martin Edwards (Overdrive)
20. Surfeit of Suspects, by George Bellairs (Overdrive)
21. Murder in the Mill-Race, by E. C. R. Lorac (Overdrive)
22. Death in Captivity, by Michael Gilbert (Overdrive)
23. The Detective Wore Silk Drawers, by Peter Lovesey
24. A Darker Domain, by Val McDermid
25. Shroud for a Nightingale, by P. D. James
26. Deep Waters: Murder on the Waves, ed. Martin Edwards (Overdrive)
27. Blue Lightning, by Ann Cleeves (Overdrive)
28. In a House of Lies, by Ian Rankin
29. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, by Stuart Turton
30. Gideon's Night, by J. J. Marric
31. Dead Water, by Ann Cleeves (Overdrive)
32. The Mark on the Door, by Franklin W. Dixon
33. The Honjin Murders, by Seishi Yokomizo, translated by Louise Heal Kawai
34. The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman
35. The Inugami Curse, by Seishi Yokomizo, translated by Yumiko Yamakazi
36. Still Life, by Val McDermid
37. Murder in the Crooked House, by Soji Shimada, translated by Louise Heal Kawai

SFF and SpecFic-- “The Depression Suite”

“Bring on the requisite strangeness / It always has to get a little weird”

I agree, SFF should always be a little weird. That's part of its charm!

1. Doctor Who: Twelfth Doctor Vol. 1: Terrorformer, written by Robbie Morrison and illustrated by Dave Taylor with Mariano Laclaustra (ebook)
2. Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor Vol. 2: Fractures, written by Robbie Morrison and illustrated by Brian Williamson and Mariano Laclaustra (ebook)
3. Hollow Kingdom, by Kira Jane Buxton
4. Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor Vol. 3: Hyperion, written by Robbie Morrison and George Mann; illustrated by Daniel Indro and Mariano Laclaustra (ebook)
5. Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of Time Lord Verse, written by James Goss and illustrated by Russell T. Davies
6. Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor, Vol. 4: The School of Death, written by Robbie Morrison and illustrated by Rachael Stott and Simon Fraser (ebook)
7. Doctor Who: Shroud of Sorrow, by Tommy Donbavand (CloudLibrary)
8. Doctor Who: The Plotters, by Gareth Roberts
9. Twelve Angels Weeping, by Dave Rudden
10. The Day She Saved the Doctor, by Jacqueline Rayner, Jenny T. Colgan, Susan Calman, and Dorothy Koomson
11. Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor Vol. 5: The Twist, written by George Mann and illustrated by Mariano Laclaustra and Rachael Stott (ebook)
12. Doctor Who: Darkstar Academy and Day of the Cockroach, by Mark Morris and Steve Lyons (audio, read by Alexander Armstrong and Arthur Darvill)
13. Doctor Who and the War Games, by Malcolm Hulke
14. Doctor Who and the Tomb of the Cybermen, by Gerry Davis (audio, read by Michael Kilgarriff and Nicholas Briggs)
15. Doctor Who: Destiny of the Doctor 1: Hunters of Earth, by Nigel Robinson (audio, read by Carole Ann Ford and Tam Williams)
16. Doctor Who: Lords of the Storm, by David A. McIntee
17. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, by Claire North
18. False Value, by Ben Aaronovitch
19. Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures, Volume 1 (Big Finish audio drama)
20. Doctor Who: Plague City, by Jonathan Morris
21. Dalek Empire 2.1: Dalek War, Chapter 1, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
22. Dalek Empire 2.2: Dalek War, Chapter 2, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
23. Dalek Empire 2.3: Dalek War, Chapter 3, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
24. Dalek Empire 2.4: Dalek War, Chapter 4, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
25. Jago and Litefoot and Strax: The Haunting, by Justin Richards (Big Finish audio drama)
26. Doctor Who: Destiny of the Doctor 11: The Time Machine, by Matt Fitton (audio, read by Jenna Coleman, Michael Cochrane, and Nicholas Briggs)
27. Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor Vol. 6: Sonic Boom, by Robbie Morrison, illustrated by Mariano Lacaustra and Rachael Stott (ebook)
28. Doctor Who: Destiny of the Doctor 2: Shadow of Death, by Simon Guerrier (audio, read by Frazer Hines and Evie Dawnay)

Plays, poetry, essays, short story collections etc. -- "Poets"

"Don't tell me what the poets are doing / Don't tell me that they're talking tough / Don't tell me that they're antisocial / Somehow not antisocial enough"

This choice should be self-evident.

Plays
1. 887, by Robert Lepage (translated by Louisa Blair)
2. King Lear, by William Shakespeare
3. Les Belles-Soeurs, by Michel Tremblay

Comics and graphic novels
1. Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor Vol. 1: Terrorformer, written by Robbie Morrison and illustrated by Dave Taylor with Mariano Laclaustra (ebook)
2. Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor Vol. 2: Fractures, written by Robbie Morrison and illustrated by Brian Williamson and Mariano Laclaustra (ebook)
3. Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor Vol. 3: Hyperion, written by Robbie Morrison and George Mann; illustrated by Daniel Indro and Mariano Laclaustra (ebook)
4. Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor Vol. 4: The School of Death, written by Robbie Morrison and illustrated by Rachael Stott and Simon Fraser (ebook)
5. Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor Vol. 5: The Twist, written by George Mann and illustrated by Mariano Laclaustra and Rachael Stott (ebook)
6. The Little Book of Big Feelings, by Maureen "Marzi" Wilson
7. Kind of Coping: An Illustrated Look at Life with Anxiety, by Maureen "Marzi" Wilson
8. Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor Vol. 6: Sonic Boom, by Robbie Morrison, illustrated by Mariano Lacaustra and Rachael Stott (ebook)

Everything else
1. Tall Tales and Wee Stories, by Billy Connolly
2. Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of Time Lord Verse, written by James Goss and illustrated by Russell T. Davies
3. The Beatles from A to Zed: An Alphabetical Mystery Tour, by Peter Asher
4. Canada and Impressionism: New Horizons, ed. National Gallery of Canada
5. The Book of Forgotten Authors, by Christopher Fowler
6. The Doctors: Time and Space Collection, by Adam Hargreaves
7. Doctor Third, by Adam Hargreaves
8. Doctor Fifth, by Adam Hargreaves
9. The Merry Heart: Selections 1980–1995, by Robertson Davies
10. Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier, by Neil deGrasse Tyson
11. The Mabinogion, translated by Sioned Davies
12. Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature, by Margaret Atwood (Overdrive)
13. The Souls of Black Folk, by W. E. B. Du Bois (Serial Reader)
14. Trans-Canada Rail Guide, by Melissa Graham
15. Things Ain’t What They Used to Be, by Philip Glenister
16. This is the World: A Global Treasury, by Miroslav Sasek
17. Helen McNicoll: Life & Work, by Samantha Burton
18. The Periodic Table: A Very Short Introduction, by Eric R. Scerri
19. Confessions of a Bookseller, by Shaun Bythell
20. Sex Power Money, by Sara Pascoe
21. The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books, by Martin Edwards
22. The Case of the Missing Marquess, by Nancy Springer (Overdrive)
23. Warriors and Witches and Damn Rebel Bitches: Scottish Women to Live Your Life By, by Mairi Kidd

Possibilities
King Lear, by William Shakespeare
The Odyssey, trans. Emily Wilson

Audiobooks -- Thompson Girl

"Thompson girl / Walkin' from Churchill"

You'd need a lot of audiobooks for a walk from Churchill to Thompson. It's such a long walk, Google Maps can't even calculate walking directions.

1. Watership Down, by Richard Adams (read by Peter Capaldi)
2. Moone Boy: The Blunder Years, by Chris O'Dowd and Nick Vincent Murphy (read by the authors)
3. Doctor Who: Darkstar Academy and Day of the Cockroach, by Mark Morris and Steve Lyons (read by Alexander Armstrong and Arthur Darvill)
4. ATA Girl, by Gemma Page, Victoria Saxton, Helen Goldwyn, and Jane Slavin (Big Finish audio drama)
5. The Diary of River Song, Series 4 (Big Finish audio drama)
6. Doctor Who and the Tomb of the Cybermen, by Gerry Davis (read by Michael Kilgarriff and Nicholas Briggs)
7. Doctor Who: Destiny of the Doctor 1: Hunters of Earth, by Nigel Robinson (read by Carole Ann Ford and Tam Williams)
8. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams (read by Stephen Fry)
9. Paths of Glory, by Jeffrey Archer (read by Roger Allam)
10. Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures, Volume 1 (Big Finish audio drama)
11. Partners in Crime, by Agatha Christie (read by Hugh Fraser)
12. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglas Adams (read by Martin Freeman)
13. Dalek Empire 2.1: Dalek War, Chapter 1, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
14. And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie (read by Dan Stevens)
15. Dalek Empire 2.2: Dalek War, Chapter 2, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
16. Dalek Empire 2.3: Dalek War, Chapter 3, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
17. Dalek Empire 2.4: Dalek War, Chapter 4, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
18. Jago and Litefoot and Strax: The Haunting, by Justin Richards (Big Finish audio drama)
19. Doctor Who: Destiny of the Doctor 11: The Time Machine, by Matt Fitton (read by Jenna Coleman, Michael Cochrane, and Nicholas Briggs)
20. Doctor Who: Destiny of the Doctor 2: Shadow of Death, by Simon Guerrier (read by Frazer Hines and Evie Dawnay)

Possibilities:
The Diary of River Song, Series 4 (Big Finish audio drama)
ATA Girl (Big Finish audio drama)
Paths of Glory, by Jeffrey Archer (read by Roger Allam)

French - “38 Years Old”

“They mostly came from towns with long French names…”

That line is the only reason I chose this song for this category. Another solid choice would be "Born in the Water".

1. 1967, le Québec entre deux mondes, by Jean Rey
2. Le Roi de fer, by Maurice Druon
3. La Reine étranglée, by Maurice Druon
4. Les Belles-Soeurs, by Michel Tremblay

Rereads -- Courage (for Hugh MacLennan)

"Courage, my word / It didn't come, it doesn't matter"

Hugh MacLennan is one of my favourite authors, and The Watch That Ends the Night is one of my favourite books -- that book inspired this song.

1. Ape and Essence, by Aldous Huxley
2. Our Man in Havana, by Graham Greene
3. The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Orczy
4. Vampires of Ottawa, by Eric Wilson
5. The Thick of It: The Missing DoSAC Files, by Armando Iannucci, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Tony Roche and Ian Martin
6. Microserfs, by Douglas Coupland
7. Sense and Sensibiity, by Jane Austen
8. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
9. jPod, by Douglas Coupland
10. The Green Gables Detectives, by Eric Wilson

Possibilities
L'Armée furieuse, by Fred Vargas
Our Man in Havana, by Graham Greene

Group reads/CATs -- "We'll Go, Too"

"What can you do / They've all gone / We'll go too"

You want to take a trip down this reading path? We'll go too.

Group reads

La Reine Margot
Wolf Hall

CATs

2020 GeoCAT
✔ January: Paths of Glory, by Jeffrey Archer (set in the Himalayas) -- I have the audio narrated by Roger Allam!
✔ February: Cop Killer, by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö (Sweden)
✔ March: Africa I / Middle East: Murder in Mesopotamia
April: Oz/NZ/Oceania: A Town Like Alice, by Nevil Shute
✔ May: Any place you would like to visit!: Here Be Dragons, by Sharon Kay Penman (Wales -- I've visited there but want to go back)
June: Space: The Final Frontier: A Doctor Who novel, most probably
✔ July: Our Man in Havana (Cuba) -- this will be a re-read
✔ August: Asia II: North Korea Journal, by Michael Palin
✔ September: Polar & Tundra Regions Isvik, by Hammond Innes
✔ October: Gold for Prince Charlie, by Nigel Tranter (Scotland, Rob Roy MacGregor trilogy #3)
November: Africa II All countries excluding those from March: nothing yet
December: Catch up month or read another one from your favorite CATegory!: I'll fill this with whatever I read in December.

2020 Non-fiction CAT
January - Journalism and News -
✔ February - Travel - Winter Studies and Summer Rambles, by Anna Brownell Jameson
March - Biography - Mike
✔ April - Law and Order - 18 Tiny Deaths, by Bruce Goldfarb
✔ May - Science - Space Chronicles, by Neil deGrasse Tyson
✔ June - Society - The Inconvenient Indian, by Thomas King
✔ July - Human Science - The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons: The History of the Human Brain As Revealed by True Stories of Trauma, Madness, and Recovery, by Sam Kean
August - History - Blitzkrieg: The Rise of Hitler to the Fall of Dunkirk, by Len Deighton
September - Religion and philosophy -
✔ October - The Arts - Any Night of the Week: A DIY History of Toronto Music, 1957-2001, by Jonny Dovercourt
✔ November - Food, Home and Recreation - Chop Suey Nation: The Legion Cafe and Other Stories from Canada’s Chinese Restaurants, by Ann Hui
✔ December - Adventures by Land, Sea or Air - Cruising Attitude

2020 RandomCAT
✔ January - New Year's resolution - something that challenges or intimidates you - Solomon Gursky Was Here, by Mordecai Richler
✔ February - Leap into a new year - book published in a leap year - The Tiger in the Smoke, by Margery Allingham (published 1952)
✔ March - Seasons of Love - season in the title - Winter Studies and Summer Rambles, by Anna Brownell Jameson
✔ April - Showers and Flowers - title has to do with rainshowers or flowers - The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Orczy
✔ May - Believe in your shelf - one of the oldest books on your shelf - Beware of the Trains, by Edmund Crispin
✔ June - Take to the Sea! - a book with a sea-related title or plot - Deep Waters: Mysteries on the Waves, ed. Martin Edwards
✔ July - Picture This! - a book with illustrations or pictures as its primary focus - This is the World, by Miroslav Sasek
✔ August - Get your groove on - a book about music - Any Night of the Week, by Jonny Dovercourt
✔ September - Reccies - a recommendation from LT (automatic or from a user) - Confessions of a Bookseller, by Shaun Bythell (automatic rec)
✔ October - Healthcare Heroes - Soap and Water and Common Sense, by Dr. Bonnie Henry
November - Lest We Forget - Stalking Point, by Duncan Kyle
December - Goodbye 2020 (pick 6) - rolled a 4, a book you've been planning to read all year so will read The Ringed Castle for this

BookSpin (Litsy challenge)
✔ March - BookSpin Moone Boy: The Blunder Years (audio), by Chris O'Dowd and Nick Vincent Murphy (didn't do DoubleSpin that month)
✔ April - BookSpin Cop Killer, by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö | DoubleSpin Our Man in Havana, by Graham Greene | TripleSpin Isvik, by Hammond Innes
✔ May - BookSpin Space Chronicles, by Neil deGrasse Tyson | DoubleSpin When Days Are Long, by Amy V. Wilson
BookSpinBonanza: 7 of 20 (6 in order, 1 not in order)
✔ June - BookSpin The Captain, by Jan de Hartog | DoubleSpin Doctor Who: Lords of the Storm, by David A. McIntee
July - BookSpin King Lear, by William Shakespeare | DoubleSpin Quand sort la recluse, by Fred Vargas
BookSpinBingo: 6/25, no bingos
✔ August - BookSpin Witch Hunt, by Jack Harvey | DoubleSpin A Darker Domain, by Val McDermid
BookSpinBingo: 10/25, no bingos
✔ September - BookSpin Bloody Murder, by Julian Symons | DoubleSpin Sixty Degrees North, by Malachy Tallack
BookSpinBingo: 17/25, 1 bingo
✔ October - BookSpin Death Under Sail, by C. P. Snow | DoubleSpin Jago & Litefoot & Strax, by Big Finish
BookSpinBingo: 16/25, 1 bingo
November - BookSpin The Traveller and Other Stories, by Stuart Neville | DoubleSpin The Last Voyage of the Andrea Doria, by Greg King and Penny Wilson
December

Aviation — “700 Ft. Ceiling”

“And I hate that for, for the things I'm thinking / When the clouds are low, 700 and sinking”

I hadn't intended to have an aviation category, but when this song came up on my iPod recently, it clinched my decision to go with this theme over another I'd been considering.

1. The Last Nine Minutes: The Story of Flight 391, by Moira Johnston
2. Flying Beyond: The Canadian Commercial Pilot Textbook, by Chris Hobbs
3. Airline Maps: A Century of Art and Design, by Mark Ovenden and Maxwell Roberts
4. Airport, by Arthur Hailey
5. Jet Age: The Comet, the 707, and the Race to Shrink the World, by Sam Howe Verhovek
6. ATA Girl, by Gemma Page, Victoria Saxton, Helen Goldwyn, and Jane Slavin (Big Finish audio drama)
7. Piece of Cake, by Derek Robinson (Overdrive)
8. The Women with Silver Wings: The Inspiring True Story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II, by Katherine Sharp Landdeck (Overdrive)
9. Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet, by Heather Poole
10. The Ghost at Skeleton Rock, by Franklin W. Dixon (Overdrive)
11. Shooting Script, by Gavin Lyall
12. Lancaster: The Forging of a Very British Legend, by John Nichol

Possibilities
ATA Girl (Big Finish audio drama)
Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet, by Heather Poole
Ted Scott Flying Stories
Airport, by Arthur Hailey

Nautical books -- "Nautical Disaster"

"Now I was in a lifeboat designed for ten, and ten only…”

This song was inspired by the sinking of the Bismarck during WW2.

1. Gold from Crete, by C. S. Forester
2. Strike North, by William Howard Baker
3. Isvik, by Hammond Innes
4. The Grand Scuttle: The Sinking of the German Fleet at Scapa Flow in 1919, by Dan Van der Vat
5. The Captain, by Jan de Hartog
6. Death Under Sail, by C. P. Snow
7. The Last Voyage of the Andrea Doria: The Sinking of the World's Most Glamorous Ship, by Greg King and Penny Wilson
8. The Devil and the Dark Water, by Stuart Turton

Possibilities
Strike North, by William Howard Baker
Gold from Crete, by C.S. Forester

Decided to take advantage of a weekend leading into some vacation to start a new thread. And I'll start it off with a batch of reviews!

Journey to the Centre of the Earth, by Jules Verne, translated by Robert Baldrick
Category: Courage (for Hugh MacLennan)
Source: probably a gift
Rating: 5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/work/41564/reviews/70476083

The front cover and spine of this book demonstrate just how many times I have read it. Someday I'll go back to the original French, but this edition will always be the first one I think of. I love my Puffin Classics editions :)

Death in Captivity, by Michael Gilbert
Category: Locked in the Trunk of a Car
Source: library, via Overdrive
Rating: 4.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/185529071

Tempted to buy a copy of this simply to lend out to people. The premise is original and it draws on the author's own experiences. Because the author himself was a POW in Italy during WW2, I feel a bit irreverent for thinking of Hogan's Heroes when I read this, but that's where my mind went when Hut C was revealed to have a trap door under a stove leading to an escape tunnel!

Chop Suey Nation: The Legion Cafe and Other Stories from Canada’s Chinese Restaurants, by Ann Hui
Category: Wheat Kings, We’ll Go Too (November Non-FictionCAT — food and recreation)
Source: library, via Overdrive
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/185607207

I borrowed this after our most recent takeout of Chinese food, and now I want Chinese food again. Ann Hui tells her own family's story and those of many other families in a way that is easy to read but not without emotional depth. It was based on a news article Hui wrote for The Globe and Mail, so that probably accounts for the accessible writing style :)

Happy thread, Princess! Good start with three reviews!

Happy new thread! I love reading lists again.

Happy new thread! Glad you liked Verne, I liked that one, too!

Happy new thread RP!
>13 rabbitprincess: I am intrigued by the Michael Gilbert - I have only read Smallbone Deceased which I really liked. I'll have to look for that one.

>14 mstrust: >15 VivienneR: >16 Tess_W: >17 leslie.98: Thank you all for the new-thread wishes!

>14 mstrust: Yes, I had a good reading week!

>15 VivienneR: Me too! Although reading the lists again does remind me that I totally flaked out on both group reads that I'd planned to join... note to self: do not sign up for group reads next year...

>16 Tess_W: I can never decide whether this or Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is my favourite. I'm not as fond of Around the World in Eighty Days because the bit at the end where they are worried about being late stresses me out!

>17 leslie.98: The Michael Gilbert has been republished as a British Library Crime Classic, so I hope it will be easier to find :)

Happy new thread, Princess!

Happy new thread, RP!

Happy New Thread, rp! I have almost the same squares left on my Bingo card.

>19 MissWatson: Thanks, Birgit! I hope you've been having a great weekend :)

>20 lkernagh: Thanks, Lori! Have you managed to get out kayaking?

>21 dudes22: Thanks, Betty! The book I really want to read for the birth or death square is not available at my library (Dear Life: A Doctor's Story of Love and Loss, by Rachel Clarke), so I think I might replace it with The Emperor of All Maladies. I have asked the library to purchase the Clarke book, though, so fingers crossed.

Happy new thread! I have Dear Life on my TBR, hopefully the Jar of Fate (or a reading challenge) will serve it up sooner rather than later.

Happy new thread - and you're off to a great start with three highly rated books!

>23 Jackie_K: Thanks, Jackie! I hope it comes up for you soon so that you can let me know what you think of it!

>24 DeltaQueen50: Thanks, Judy! Yes, this week was a pretty good one for reading. Hoping for some more good reads this week, because I am off for three days.

I took a few days off this week to avoid burning out. Working from home full time makes it much harder to switch off; if you're working and living in the same place, there is much less physical separation between work and home.

Fortunately, there are books.

Brewed in the North: A History of Labatt’s, by Matthew J. Bellamy
Category: Wheat Kings
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/186418976

This history is presented in the academic manner, with visible (and copious) endnotes, but it is structured in a way that makes it accessible to the more casual reader. There's also an extensive bibliography for further reading.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, by Claire North
Category: The Depression Suite
Source: gift
Rating: 4.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/184308561

A friend gave me this for my birthday this year and I loved it. I do love the timey-wimey. Perfect for a lazy afternoon or an uninterrupted morning.

>22 rabbitprincess: - No, I haven't made it out on the water yet this year. I have become quite the homebody (big surprise!) but now that the summer weather is finally here, I will probably be pulling the kayak out soon.

>27 lkernagh: Hurray that the summer weather has finally arrived! Enjoy :)

****

Another day off, another few books finished. I should do this more often.

Thinking Inside the Box: Adventures with Crosswords and the Puzzling People Who Can't Live Without Them, by Adrienne Raphel
Category: Wheat Kings
Source: library
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/186418671

I liked this well enough but would consider it more of a library borrow than a buy. And yes I did find I had to take a couple of breaks to do the crossword :)

Beautiful Scars: Steeltown Secrets, Mohawk Skywalkers and the Road Home, by Tom Wilson
Category: Wheat Kings
Source: library, via Overdrive
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/185032324

I picked this up after seeing Tom Wilson on a Juno Songwriters' Circle earlier this year. It is a moving and honest read.

Things Ain’t What They Used to Be, by Philip Glenister
Category: Poets
Source: All Books, Ottawa, Ontario
Rating: 2.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/131147249

This would probably have worked better with more photos, or with fewer topics discussed in more detail.

I'm glad you're enjoying your vacation, RP! I agree, it's so hard to maintain that work/life separation when your workspace is in your home.

Happy new thread. Have a lovely time not working. The boundary between work and home is hard to maintain when they are the same thing. Making sure holiday is holiday is important. >:-)

Happy new thread! I hope you're enjoying your days off.
Taking a BB for The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August.

>29 christina_reads: It might be easier if I had a separate space to put my office computer, but I use the same desk as my home computer (I hook up the monitor of my home computer to my laptop). I do put away the work laptop at the end of the day though.

>30 Helenliz: Indeed! I did use my work computer today for an online course, but I pretended I wasn't in the office; after checking email and making sure nothing had blown up in my absence, I logged out of email and shut off the chat applications we use.

>31 VioletBramble: Thanks, Kelly! I am indeed enjoying having a lot of time for reading. It feels like retirement, haha. Hope you like Harry August!

Another book finished this week, thanks to the genius invention that is Serial Reader.

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, by Frederick Douglass
Category: Wheat Kings
Source: Serial Reader
Rating: 4.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/185924368

This is a brutal story told with quiet strength.

Not much reading done so far today, despite it being another day off. I ventured forth to get my first haircut since quarantine. By a stroke of good fortune I'd had my last pre-quarantine haircut only about a week and a half before everything shut down, so my hair was in OK shape, but definitely getting scraggly 4 months on! I feel much tidier now, and feel confident that everyone took all possible precautions. I was the first person in the shop and happened to be the only customer in there at that time, and of course we both wore masks, and the hairdresser disinfected things periodically. And I was able to get a ride there and back, avoiding the bus.

Then I went out to the library at lunchtime to pick up holds. As of Monday we will not need an appointment to pick up holds, so I will not be hauling huge bundles of books home like I have been the past couple of weeks. Last week I had 7 holds available. Today I picked up 8. It's playing havoc with my plans to read from my shelves ;)

I did finish a library book today, but of course after I had been to the library, so I'll have to return it next week.

Daughters of Chivalry: The Forgotten Children of King Edward Longshanks, by Kelcey Wilson-Lee
Category: Looking for a Place to Happen
Source: library
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/186418734

I had borrowed this back in February and returned it about 60% finished. Couldn't renew it; other people had holds. So I just read the last 100-odd pages on this go-around. It was OK and I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading it, but I found Daughters of the Winter Queen more exciting. I did like making the connection to the Rois maudits series, because Isabella, wife of Edward II and daughter of Philippe le Bel, appears toward the end.

>13 rabbitprincess: I'm glad to hear you liked Chop Suey Nation. I just borrowed this from my library and am looking forward to reading it. I spent much of my own childhood in my parents' Chinese restaurant.

>35 mathgirl40: I'll be interested to hear what you think of it based on your own experiences!

I needed some light humour yesterday, and this book delivered.

Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet, by Heather Poole
Category: 700 Ft. Ceiling
Source: library book sale
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/174491573

Part of me was expecting this book to be a bit frivolous and trashy, but I really liked it. The chapter ragging on pilots cracked me up because I know pilots and could very well imagine their reaction to their profession's portrayal in this book :D I wish Poole would write another book.

Finished another re-read.

Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen
Category: Courage (for Hugh MacLennan)
Source: Serial Reader, even though I own a physical copy
Rating: 4.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/work/2228/reviews/70444150

My thoughts on this re-read: how weird to be reading this when I'm right around Colonel Brandon's age. Apparently I have one foot in the grave, if Marianne is to be believed :)

>38 rabbitprincess: lol!!

>38 rabbitprincess: - I'm so sorry to hear that.

>34 rabbitprincess: Oh, a haircut! I think about that all the time. I didn't get one when we opened up back in May because the COVID rate was still too high, but of course the number of cases went up dramatically from there and who knows when it will be reasonable to get one.

>39 leslie.98: I was most decidedly amused :)

>40 dudes22: Don't worry, my flannel waistcoat will keep me out of the grave for a while yet ;)

>41 RidgewayGirl: Ugh I am so sorry that the case rate is still so high where you are, and worse than it was before! I hope people smarten up soon.

>38 rabbitprincess: Oh that means I must have both feet in the grave :)

About the few degrees of heat you sent me last month - you can have them back anytime, we have 39C of our own! However, it's a good time to stay indoors to read.

>43 VivienneR: Wow, 39C! That's some proper summer heat! I agree, that is perfect reading-indoors weather.

It's been a slow week, so I am only just getting to review the last two books of July now.

False Value, by Ben Aaronovitch
Category: The Depression Suite
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/186418590

More Rivers of London! Yay! Now I'm caught up. Boo! But a new short story collection expected out soon: Tales from the Folly. Yay! Very excited because this collects some of those heretofore ebook-only shorts such as "The Home Crowd Advantage" that I haven't read yet.

This is the World: A Global Treasury, by Miroslav Sasek
Category: Poets, We'll Go Too (July RandomCAT: Picture This)
Source: Christmas gift
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/114940296

Finally got an opportunity to read this massive book! It is gorgeously illustrated and I spent a pleasant hour reading it out loud to myself, because it is a children's book and I am a weirdo :D

July recap coming soon!

July recap

I had a much better reading month this month. I chalk this up to a week of vacation and fitting in more short reads. A grand total of 23 books.

The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America, by Thomas King
Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature, by Margaret Atwood
The Souls of Black Folk, by W. E. B. Du Bois (Serial Reader)
The Captain, by Jan de Hartog
Surfeit of Suspects, by George Bellairs (Overdrive)
Trans-Canada Rail Guide, by Melissa Graham
The Women of the Copper Country, by Mary Doria Russell
Murder in the Mill-Race, by E. C. R. Lorac (Overdrive)
King Lear, by William Shakespeare
Journey to the Centre of the Earth, by Jules Verne, translated by Robert Baldrick (re-read)
Death in Captivity, by Michael Gilbert (Overdrive)
Chop Suey Nation: The Legion Cafe and Other Stories from Canada’s Chinese Restaurants, by Ann Hui (Overdrive)
Brewed in the North: A History of Labatt’s, by Matthew J. Bellamy
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, by Claire North
Thinking Inside the Box: Adventures with Crosswords and the Puzzling People Who Can't Live Without Them, by Adrienne Raphel
Beautiful Scars: Steeltown Secrets, Mohawk Skywalkers and the Road Home, by Tom Wilson (Overdrive)
Things Ain’t What They Used to Be, by Philip Glenister
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, by Frederick Douglass
The Daughters of Chivalry: The Forgotten Children of King Edward Longshanks, by Kelcey Wilson-Lee
Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet, by Heather Poole
Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen (re-read) (Serial Reader)
False Value, by Ben Aaronovitch
This is the World, by Miroslav Sasek

The best book of the month was The Inconvenient Indian. It was the first book I read in July and could not be surpassed.

My least favourite book of the month was the Trans-Canada Rail Guide. It totally did not mention Ottawa at all, and I was insulted. My other half says it’s because international readers planning to do a trans-Canada trip aren’t going to go through Ottawa by train, but I don’t care :P

Currently reading

Safety Differently: Human Factors for a New Era, by Sidney Dekker — Yup, still reading this. Up to Chapter 3. Probably won’t finish it this month! It’s definitely a take-slow book.
Paths of Glory, by Jeffrey Archer (audio, read by Roger Allam) — I’m up to Disc 5. I love Roger’s narrative voice but had to fast-forward through the Mallorys’ wedding night, because that was not relevant to the story IMO.
Sea Fever: The True Adventures that Inspired our Greatest Maritime Authors, from Conrad to Masefield, Melville and Hemingway, by Sam Jefferson - After having this on the on-deck pile all month, I’m finally picking it up. Will definitely have to make The Riddle of the Sands my next Serial Read.
Twenty Years at Hull-House, by Jane Addams (Serial Reader) — This book was mentioned in The Women of the Copper Country as the inspiration for one of the girls following Annie Clements, so I thought it would be a good choice to read now.
Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen (Serial Reader) — There’s a group on Litsy reading all of the Austens in publication order, so I am shadowing their reading. Really enjoying P&P so far. The first chapter is perfect.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams (audio, read by Stephen Fry) — I was having a crappy week at work this week and needed cheering up, and what better than to start this on audio? I got it from the library so will have to hustle to finish it.
Helen McNicoll: Life and Work, by Samantha Burton — McNicoll was featured in the National Gallery of Canada exhiibit “Canada and Impressionism 1880 to 1930”, so when I saw this come up in the catalogue, I had to request it.

August plans

Last month I made three goals:

✔ read the two new library books I have out so that I can return them at my local branch when it reopens in the middle of the month - these were the Trans-Canada Rail Guide and The Women of the Copper Country
✔ get at least halfway through (to end of Disc 4) on Paths of Glory - up to Disc 5
✔ read The Inconvenient Indian, which has been on the pile for quite some time - done right off the bat!

In August I will be spending two weeks with my parents, so I will be raiding their shelves. Before then, though, I have to whittle down the library stacks. So my goals are to

read 4 library books
read Les Belles-soeurs so that I can finish my Plays category
read at least 1 of my brother’s music books that I’ve arranged to borrow
read an Ian Rankin novel (either in the Jack Harvey omnibus I borrowed from a friend or one from my mum's shelves)

So excited you're reading Pride and Prejudice! The first chapter IS perfect! Hope you enjoy the rest of your Austen reading. :)

>47 christina_reads: I read it last about 8 years ago, and the Colin Firth / Jennifer Ehle miniseries has essentially become the "canon" version of the story for me, so it is interesting to experience it as a book again ;) The only Austen I haven't read at least once is Persuasion.

>48 rabbitprincess: That miniseries was remarkably faithful to the book, despite the addition of that one particular scene.

>49 RidgewayGirl: In terms of gratuitous additions, I must say I prefer that one to the addition in the 2008 Sense and Sensibility miniseries, which starts episode 1 off with a scene in which the man we eventually learn to be Willoughby seduces Brandon's ward. I have to skip past that every time I rewatch the series.

>48 rabbitprincess: I know the purists will hate me for this, but the story of Persuasion is pretty similar to Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, without the humour of either, IMO. I enjoyed it, but much prefer both P&P and S&S. I'm yet to read Northanger Abbey and Emma, but I have at least seen the film of Emma (the one with Gwyneth Paltrow) so vaguely know the story.

>46 rabbitprincess: Congratulations on a great reading month!

I'm on the waitlist for The Inconvenient Indian at the library (both ebook and audiobook) but there are so many ahead of me that it might be next summer before it's my turn. I'd prefer the ebook because of the illustrations but I'll be happy with either. Overdrive usage shot up because of library closures and there are no more interlibrary loans that I relied on.

I enjoyed Archer's Paths of Glory but had forgotten about that unnecessary section that I skipped too. I read the print version that I owned but then had to listen to Roger Allam's narration on audio.

>51 Jackie_K: I watched the Rupert Penry-Jones version of Persuasion but don't remember much about it, probably because I was too busy being googly-eyed over RPJ. So I might be inclined to agree with your assessment somewhat ;) I recall Northanger being fun, especially because I visited Bath the year I read it. Helped with the atmosphere.

>52 VivienneR: Oooooh Lorne Cardinal narrates the audiobook of The Inconvenient Indian on Audible! Is that the edition available at your library? I might have to get that too.

I'm on the not really a fan of Austen side, I'm afraid. Although I could help Mr Darcy out of his wet shirt, if needed. >;-)

>54 Helenliz: Haha! I think there would be no shortage of volunteers for THAT particular task!

****

Finished two books yesterday, so I am feeling pretty pleased with my lot.

Helen McNicoll: Life & Work, by Samantha Burton
Category: Poets
Source: library
Rating: 4.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/186419147

For someone who doesn't consider herself an art buff, I found this really interesting. I also convinced my mum to buy her own copy. An Impressionist painter from Montréal ticks two art boxes for her ;)

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams (audio, read by Stephen Fry)
Category: Thompson Girl
Source: library, via Overdrive
Rating: 4.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/186525289

I needed a comfort read last week and this book provided. It was an Americanized version, though, which was weird. Saying flashlight and pedestrian crossing instead of torch or zebra crossing just doesn't work for the jokes in which these words appear!

>53 rabbitprincess: Yes, it is narrated by Lorne Cardinal. Twenty people ahead of me for that one, and just a couple fewer for the ebook version.

>56 VivienneR: Nice! I may have just gone and bought the audio because my library didn't have the book in that format :D

I haven't read Austen since I was one of those young reader girls -- really appreciate the discussion here, as I am trying to figure out just now which book I should pick up again this year!

>55 rabbitprincess: I love the Hitchhiker's Guide. I didn't even realize there was an Americanized version though; seems like an odd choice...

>58 pammab: Will be interested to know which one you pick!

And that was the only audio of Hitchhiker's my library had! I picked it up because of the narrator and felt mildly betrayed, haha. Martin Freeman narrates the rest of the series in the editions I have access to, so I'll see what they do with those ones... or maybe I won't notice because I haven't re-read the later volumes as obsessively as the first one.

****

It's mystery-novel time again!

The Detective Wore Silk Drawers, by Peter Lovesey
Category: Locked in the Trunk of a Car
Source: Book Bazaar
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/130511532

One of several as-yet-unread Sgt Cribb novels on my shelves. This is my favourite Peter Lovesey series. I like the setting and the writing style, and the interplay between Cribb and Thackeray. I didn't like this one quite as much as the other three I've read, but that's more because it's about bare-knuckle fighting, which does not hold much appeal for me.

August will be a month of music books, and here's the first one of the bunch.

Any Night of the Week: A D.I.Y. History of Toronto Music, 1957-2001, by Jonny Dovercourt
Category: Wheat Kings, We’ll Go Too (August RandomCAT)
Source: library
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/186815570

I found this book really interesting, but more for the narrative than for the interviews with bands (especially the ones I hadn't heard of). There's a lot of information in here and I just got tired toward the end. Nevertheless, I recommend it if Canadian music is your jam.

Took me nearly two months to read this audio, but I was able to get it done in one last push thanks to some audio-puzzling.

Paths of Glory, by Jeffrey Archer (audio, read by Roger Allam)
Category: Thompson Girl, We’ll Go Too (January GeoCAT - Tibet)
Source: audiobook on CD
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/106637079

I have this solely because Roger Allam narrated it, and he did a great job. It tells the story of Mallory's life well and has a detailed epilogue explaining what happened to everyone else involved in the story. But I am not left with feelings of glory; instead, I am left with feelings of futility and sadness. Climbing mountains just to be able to say you've climbed them doesn't seem to be worth the great physical cost to the climbers or the great emotional cost to the families of the climbers who don't come home.

>61 rabbitprincess: Hello! Just popping in to wave hi and keep up with your many reading challenges.

While I haven't read Paths of Glory, I did face the same questions as you did with the audio version of Into Thin Air: why go? Was it worth it? Aren't there other problems to solve? I later read (and re-read) the print version, and have several other of Krakauer's books on my shelves.

Oh, and i got my haircut this past Friday. There's a local woman who comes to your home to cut your hair; recommended by several neighbors and like you, I'm glad I'm not as shaggy as I was!

>62 threadnsong: Hello! Thanks for stopping by :D

I have to wonder if reading Into Thin Air first coloured how I viewed this book. As I read Paths of Glory, I couldn't help but think of Everest today: the long queues of climbers clad in brightly coloured winter gear, the piles of garbage left on the mountain, and the terrible working conditions for the Sherpas.

Some of the first-hand observations Mallory et al. made about how humans cope with extreme cold and altitude were probably valuable, and surveying the area may have been useful, but the way the exercise was presented as "conquering" the mountain felt imperialist and more than a little bit creepy, because the mountain was characterized as female.

Yay haircut! I'm good for another four months now ;)

Continuing to work through some library books.

Les Belles-Soeurs, by Michel Tremblay
Category: Poets, 38 Years Old
Source: library
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/186815373

I first read this in its Scots translation (which, yes, exists). It was fun to read the joual out loud to decipher it ("Ohhhh 'Entéka' is 'en tout cas'!"). Less fun were the walls of text that some characters had for lines. Must have been difficult to learn for the actors, and it was hard to follow without losing track of where I was in the paragraph.

>61 rabbitprincess: As mentioned before, I liked Paths of Glory but then I read Into the silence: the Great War, Mallory and the conquest of Everest by Wade Davis which is a much superior book.

My son is a climber, which has me worried sick. This year he won't be able to meet up with his climbing buddy from Alberta. I thought that might be the only benefit from COVID19 but no, he's thinking of going alone, which is even worse. My neighbour went climbing alone a couple of months ago, fell and broke wrist and ankle.

Reading and understanding more about climbing was supposed to suppress my anxiety but I can tell you it doesn't work.

>65 VivienneR: Oh yes I imagine Into the Silence goes into much more detail! I tried reading it but did not have anywhere near enough time to do it justice in the time I had it out from the library.

That would be anxiety-inducing! He should definitely not go alone :(

I'm on vacation, again! This time I'm taking two weeks off. I feel like I've needed more vacation this year, probably because living in a pandemic is stressful (who would have guessed?).

Toe Blake: Winning is Everything, by Paul Logothetis
Category: Wheat Kings
Source: library
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/186815446

Apparently the first full biography of Hector "Toe" Blake, who contributed to 10 Stanley Cups for the Montréal Canadiens (2 as a player and 8 as a coach). Pretty good, but if we're comparing biographies of hockey coaches, I liked Ken Dryden's biography of Scotty better.

The Tenth Doctor Adventures, Volume 1 (Big Finish audio drama)
Category: Thompson Girl, The Depression Suite
Source: Big Finish
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/154346824

This box set is only three stories, but it is a delight to hear the Doctor and Donna Noble together again. I did find the second story too creepy, but the first and third stories were just like an episode of the show, especially the third story, "Death and the Queen".

Enjoy your vacation!

Enjoy your vacation, I hope it is relaxing!

Have a lovely time off. We've got 2 weeks off, seem slike it's been a long stretch with no break. He thinks we'll be relaxing, I have a list of tasks we're going to do!

Enjoy the holidays! We had a long weekend away camping last weekend, a last-minute booking after realising we'd not been away all year and were starting to feel hemmed in by the same 4 walls! Will you be seeing your parents?

>68 Tess_W: Thanks, Tess!

>69 MissWatson: Thanks, Birgit! I plan to do virtually nothing but read, so it should be relaxing :)

>70 Helenliz: Haha I hope both of you get what you want out of the time off!

>71 Jackie_K: Thanks, Jackie! Yes, going to see my parents. I hadn't seen them since Christmas and want to make sure I do get to see them in person in 2020 :S

****

Heading out shortly. Managed to finish one last library book before hitting the road.

A Darker Domain, by Val McDermid
Category: Locked in the Trunk of a Car
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/186815830

I really like the Karen Pirie series, which I have been reading out of order. If you're the read-in-order type, note that this is the second book in the series and does contain spoilers for the first, The Distant Echo (which I've already read, so it's OK).

Enjoy your vacation! Even though my day-to-day life wasn't much impacted by the pandemic in comparison to others, the stress has been surprisingly strong. I hope that you have a relaxing time and come back recharged!

>73 leslie.98: Thanks, Leslie! I think for me a lot of the stress comes from uncertainty about how long this will go on and the fact that too many people are behaving like idiots :S

Have a good visit with your parents! I hope it's very relaxing.

>75 mstrust: Thanks, Jennifer! So far so good. Finished a book already :D

****

I brought this book with me on the train because I knew my mum wanted to read it. Got over halfway through on the train yesterday and finished it up this morning.

Ridgerunner, by Gil Adamson
Category: If New Orleans is Beat
Source: Perfect Books, Ottawa
Rating: 4.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/182637012

This is the sequel to Adamson's previous novel, The Outlander, so readers might benefit from reading that one first. Both are excellent books, though. Adamson excels at capturing the Canadian West in vivid but not flowery prose, and leavening sadness with humour.

>76 rabbitprincess: I just put those two of Adamson's books on my library list. Although I live out west, I've never been a fan of westerns.

>77 VivienneR: I’d consider these more « novels about the west » than Westerns. Hope you like them!

I had considered going outside to do some more reading this afternoon, but it is raining :( Oh wait, it just stopped, but of course the patio umbrellas were folded up so the backyard is all damp. Darn.

Fortunately, indoors has proven good for reading over the past couple of days. Another two books to report.

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland, by Patrick Radden Keefe
Category: Wheat Kings
Source: library, via Overdrive
Rating: 4.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/187561341

My Goodreads notes tell me that RidgewayGirl put this book on my radar, and for that I thank her, because this was excellent. I had heard bits and pieces about the Troubles over the years, but this book helped me put a lot of it together by using the stories of Jean McConnville and Dolours Price as the two anchor points. Very well done.

Shroud for a Nightingale, by P. D. James
Category: Locked in the Trunk of a Car
Source: borrowed from parents
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/188152552

I'm starting to work my way through the works of P. D. James. Two of her books (this one and A Taste for Death) were on my radar thanks to the UK and US crime writers' associations' Top 100 lists, and both were great. This one has a particularly chilling death scene that rivals that of Mrs. Inglethorp in The Mysterious Affair at Styles (which still gives me the creeps nearly 25 years after I first read it).

Still keeping a brisk reading pace while on vacation, Princess! You could be a dear and send some of that rain here...

>80 mstrust: Now we’re supposed to have sun until Sunday! If I find any more rain I will send it over.

I'm glad you liked Say Nothing, it really is very well put together.

>82 RidgewayGirl: It helped me put some of my Irish crime reading into perspective, such as The Ghosts of Belfast. Also, oddly enough, Derry Girls.

****

After taking some reading breaks to watch television, I've finished another book.

This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession, by Daniel J. Levitin
Category: Wheat Kings
Source: borrowed from brother
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/188127509

This is the first of three music books belonging to my brother that I plan to read in the next little while. This provides the neuroscientific perspective on music: what mechanisms of the brain activate when music is played or created, and why do we have music? A good book, heavy going in places, but easier to read if you have music in the background, oddly enough.

A sign of a successful vacation is that I've forgotten what day it is. One could argue that I've been forgetting what day it is most days since the pandemic, but this is the good kind of forgetting.

I had to return this and re-request it, but it was worth the wait.

Deep Waters: Murder on the Waves, ed. Martin Edwards
Category: Locked in the Trunk of a Car
Source: library, via Overdrive
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/188096465

How could I resist a collection of mystery stories involving the sea or bodies of water in some way? This one contains excellent stories by Christopher St. John Sprigg and C.S. Forester, which were my favourites of the collection. Other very good stories as well.

Yesterday... I went to a bookstore! It is a used bookstore and has some interesting things, so this is what I ended up getting.

Nine Coaches Waiting, by Mary Stewart
An old-timey omnibus of two Waverley novels by Walter Scott: The Bride of Lammermoor and Legend of Montrose
Terminal Shock, by Franklin W. Dixon (one of my favourite Hardy Boys books back in the day, now tremendously dated)
Alexandre Chenevert, by Gabrielle Roy
History of the Peloponnesian War, by Thucydides (translated by Rex Warner)
The Rez Sisters, by Tomson Highway
A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry
Ratlines, by Stuart Neville
and my own copy of How to Be Champion, by Sarah Millican, which I read from the library and liked.

Yay for Mary Stewart! I found A Fine Balance a difficult book to read, not due to the writing but the content was quite upsetting in many sections.

>85 rabbitprincess: oh my, an outing! And what a good haul.
>84 rabbitprincess: I've read at least one of the collecitons in that series, by that editor. They're usually pretty entertaining and unearth some unusual authors and stories in each one.

>85 rabbitprincess: Isn't going to a bookstore just the most wonderful experience?

Love the bookstore outing and yes, I think forgetting what day of the week it is is a good sign of a good vacation.

>86 leslie.98: Good to know re A Fine Balance. I probably won't get to this for a couple of years, so hopefully the world will be in a better place when I do...

>87 Helenliz: Yes, it was a fun outing! Also went for ice cream beforehand, so it was a good summer day out. I haven't read all the story collections in the British Library Crime Classics series but will have to get back to them.

>88 RidgewayGirl: It sure is! I had forgotten how hard it is on my knees, though, constantly kneeling down to see what's on the bottom shelf and then getting back up again ;)

>89 lkernagh: It's nice to have a vacation that is a change of scenery but not a go-go-go vacation. We've had great weather, too, so lots of opportunity to sit on the back deck and read in an Adirondack chair.

>85 rabbitprincess: I loved Nine Coaches Waiting! Hope you enjoy it too.

>91 christina_reads: I’m looking forward to it!

Still devouring books at a rate of knots.

How Music Works, by David Byrne
Category: Wheat Kings
Source: borrowed from brother
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/188127623

I really enjoyed reading Byrne's thoughts on music and how it works neurologically, structurally, architecturally and technologically (among other things). And yes, the experience was enhanced by reading with Talking Heads in the background. Had to finish this before going back home, because it's a bit heavy and I didn't want to cart it back with me.

Blue Lightning, by Ann Cleeves
Category: Locked in the Trunk of a Car
Source: library, via Overdrive
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/188096596

Second time was the charm; I'd tried reading this in print but didn't have the right frame of mind for it for some reason. The ebook edition worked a treat. I was totally shocked by the ending! And I've requested the next book in the series right away.

Partners in Crime, by Agatha Christie (audio, read by Hugh Fraser)
Category: Thompson Girl
Source: iTunes
Rating: 4.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/158727048

This audio collection was a hoot! Hugh Fraser was the perfect choice to narrate, given that one chapter parodies Hercule Poirot and Hugh played Hastings in the TV adaptations ;) I think this will be a good comfort audio for re-reading.

Back in my own house, with my own books, after two weeks off. Before I left, I had to stay up late finishing a book belonging to my mum.

In a House of Lies, by Ian Rankin
Category: Locked in the Trunk of a Car
Source: borrowed from parents
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/188580077

I may have devoured this a bit too quickly, but it was a tasty read. I liked seeing Rebus and Fox and Clarke all working together to achieve a result. Have to say though I am not sure how much longer Rebus will be able to sneak into the cases! I am looking forward to finding out with the next book, A Song for the Dark Times.

Checked off a long-standing Serial Reader read.

Twenty Years at Hull-House, by Jane Addams
Category: Wheat Kings
Source: Serial Reader
Rating: 2.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/186787609

Almost liked it, but not quite. I ended up skimming a lot in the second half of the book.

Finished my last book of August this morning. Monthly recap coming shortly.

Witch Hunt, by Jack Harvey (aka Ian Rankin)
Category: If New Orleans is Beat
Source: borrowed from a friend as part of the Jack Harvey omnibus
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/187394014

I started this at the beginning of the month, got about 76 pages in, then put it down until yesterday. I found this book solidly written but with less humour than the Rebus books. I shouldn't really be comparing these with Rebus because they were supposed to be different from Rebus, but their shared author is the reason I read this.

August recap

Two weeks off helped me build a respectable total of 20 books for this month.

Helen McNicoll: Life & Work, by Samantha Burton
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (audio, read by Stephen Fry)
The Detective Wore Silk Drawers, by Peter Lovesey
Any Night of the Week: A D.I.Y. History of Toronto Music, 1957-2001, by Jonny Dovercourt
Paths of Glory, by Jeffrey Archer (audio, read by Roger Allam)
Les Belles-Soeurs, by Michel Tremblay
Toe Blake: Winning is Everything, by Paul Logothetis
The Tenth Doctor Adventures, Volume 1 (Big Finish audio drama)
A Darker Domain, by Val McDermid
Ridgerunner, by Gil Adamson
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland, by Patrick Radden Keefe (Overdrive)
Shroud for a Nightingale, by P. D. James
This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession, by Daniel J. Levitin
Deep Waters: Mystery on the Waves, ed. Martin Edwards
How Music Works, by David Byrne
Blue Lightning, by Ann Cleeves
Partners in Crime, by Agatha Christie (audio, read by Hugh Fraser)
In a House of Lies, by Ian Rankin
Twenty Years at Hull-House, by Jane Addams (Serial Reader)
Witch Hunt, by Jack Harvey

The best book of the month was Ridgerunner. This was a must-buy for me and it lived up to my expectations.

My least favourite book of the month was Twenty Years at Hull-House. I did a lot of skimming toward the end.

Currently reading

Safety Differently: Human Factors for a New Era, by Sidney Dekker — I haven’t picked this up all month! Really got to get back into it.
Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen (Serial Reader) — Almost finished reading this! I’ve enjoyed revisiting it. And the 1995 miniseries is coming to BritBox at the end of September, which is excellent timing.
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglas Adams (audio, read by Martin Freeman) — First time in audio for this book. Martin speaks very deliberately, so much so that I’m tempted to increase the speed a bit. But I did enjoy his Vogon impression.
Mary Barton, by Elizabeth Gaskell (Serial Reader) — Just started this on Serial Reader yesterday. This and the Jane Addams book were mentioned in Mary Doria Russell’s The Women of the Copper Country, which is why I’ve been reading them now.
The Periodic Table: A Very Short Introduction, by Eric Scerri — Planning to start this book this evening. Was in the mood for some science.
Doctor Who: Plague City, by Jonathan Morris — Continuing my trend of Scottish books (started by Ian Rankin and Val McDermid last month) — I wish I still had a Scotland category!

September plans

Last month I made four goals:

✔ read 4 library books: I read twice as many: 5 print library books and 3 electronic library books.
✔ read Les Belles-soeurs so that I can finish my Plays category
✔ read at least 1 of my brother’s music books that I’ve arranged to borrow: I read two, the Levitin and the Byrne
✔ read an Ian Rankin novel (either in the Jack Harvey omnibus I borrowed from a friend or one from my mum's shelves): met the goal with In a House of Lies, which I borrowed from my mum

Looking at the books I have on deck for September, here are my little goals. As always, completing any of these will make the month a success.

read the two Indigenous novels I have out (Five Little Indians and Indians on Vacation)
read the two music books I have out (We Are the Clash and Remain in Love)
read User Friendly, or at least decide once and for all that I’m not interested, because this is the third time I’ve borrowed it
read Bleeding Hearts

Twenty is a more than respectable total!

>99 pamelad: I had a very good January, with 23 books read, so that's been my benchmark for all of the other months of the year (for better or worse).

20 is excellent! I managed 6 in August! :)

Way to go, Princess! Ok, I have to go check out Serial Reader. I belonged to DailyLit years ago.

>101 Jackie_K: I think the four audios helped a bit!

>102 mstrust: I know for sure it's an iOS app, but it might be on Android as well, if you have such a device. I love it! An issue a day really adds up, and it makes some of the bigger classics a lot more manageable. It's how I ended up liking Bleak House.

I've been really dragging my feet on reviews this week. I'm having one of my "stuff my ears with music instead of reading" phases.

The Periodic Table: A Very Short Introduction, by Eric R. Scerri
Category: Poets (it’s a very short book)
Source: borrowed from library
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/186815228

This was an interesting and fairly readable introduction to the periodic table: its history, the various forms it has taken, and the latest developments in discovering new elements. You'd probably need some basic knowledge of chemistry to be able to follow it.

Plague City, by Jonathan Morris
Category: The Depression Suite
Source: Blackwell’s, Oxford
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/146093232

A Twelve, Nardole, and Bill Doctor Who novel is guaranteed to cheer me up. Throw in an Edinburgh setting and I am an even happier camper.

>95 rabbitprincess: I've never read anything by Ian Rankin, but I've seen him come up a few times and keep finding myself looking at them... would you recommend starting with Knots and Crosses or is this a series where the order doesn't matter much?

>106 antqueen: I've been merrily reading them out of order for years, but I do that with most crime series and am a minority in this view ;)

I personally would *not* recommend starting with Knots and Crosses, because Ian Rankin wasn't intending to write a series when he wrote it, and as a result the voice and feel of the series isn't quite in place. Better to jump in at a stronger point in the series and then work your way back through the earlier volumes once you're hooked.

I would recommend starting with at least the third one, Tooth and Nail. By then the series was hitting its stride. This book also introduces Rebus's main foil, Big Ger Cafferty.
You could also start with Black and Blue, one of Rankin's personal favourites in the series.
Or you could try Set in Darkness, which is one of my personal favourites.

Long weekends are pretty good for reading. I polished off a book yesterday and finished a Serial Reader read this morning.

Confessions of a Bookseller, by Shaun Bythell
Category: Poets, We'll Go Too (September RandomCAT)
Source: borrowed from library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/188748462

More contemplative perhaps than the first volume, but still funny in a lot of places.

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
Category: Courage (for Hugh MacLennan)
Source: Serial Reader
Rating: 5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/work/2773690/reviews/70444099

I last read this 8 years ago, apparently. Re-reading it now was just the ticket.

>107 rabbitprincess:: Looks like there's an omnibus of the first 3 too, which would let me read the 3rd first and go back to the first two. Or, let's be realistic, my memory's not that good. By the time I got to it I'd just read the first one in it before it even occurred to me not to. But I'd have to really hate it to not continue on to the next, so probably ok either way ;) I was kind of hoping a friend of mine would have one of them, since these sound like something he would like, but he's never read them either. Oh well.

>109 antqueen: That would be handy to have an omnibus! I do hope you like Rebus, no matter which book you choose to start with :)

Confessions of a Bookseller has been on my WL for so long, but I didn't realize it was the second book from him. Glad you liked it!

>111 mstrust: And apparently he will have a third one coming out soon, The Seven Types of People You Find in Bookshops.

>112 rabbitprincess: I suspect observing people in bookshops provides him with a very rich seam to mine!

>113 Jackie_K: Indeed!

****

It's been a very Talking Heads weekend around here, as I have been reading Chris Frantz's memoir and complementing it with endless plays of the live album, The Name of This Band is Talking Heads.

Remain in Love: Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Tina, by Chris Frantz
Category: Wheat Kings
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/188017491

The drummer of Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club talks about the careers of him and his wife, bassist extraordinaire Tina Weymouth. I found this highly informative and interesting, and I've put the audio, read by the author, on my wish list at Libro.fm for future listening.

>112 rabbitprincess: That sounds good too. I need to check my library system.

>115 mstrust: Hope your library gets it! I'm waiting for mine to place its order too.

****

I have actually been reading this week, but have not felt much motivation to write reviews. Rebelling against the back-to-school feeling perhaps.

Five Little Indians, by Michelle Good
Category: If New Orleans is Beat
Source: library
Rating: 4.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/187981521

This book is heart-wrenching and a must read. Good to see it included on the Giller longlist. It deserves the accolade.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglas Adams (audio, read by Martin Freeman)
Category: Thompson Girl
Source: library, via Overdrive
Rating: 2/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/188424515

I had to bail on the audio of this book. As much as I like Martin Freeman as an actor, I couldn't get on board with the accent he chose for Zaphod: some sort of cod-American from either Brooklyn or New Jersey, at a guess. And because we spend a LOT of time with Zaphod in this book, I was getting really irritated. I've pulled out the print copy to re-read instead.

Bloody Murder, by Julian Symons
Category: Wheat Kings
Source: probably the Great Glebe Garage Sale
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/141824226

An interesting look at the crime genre as it stood in the mid-1970s. Many of the books discussed in it have since been republished by British Library Crime Classics, so I felt a bit like a time traveller reading this book. I wonder what Symons would make of the explosion in crime writing and the fact that we can now get crime stories set in all corners of the world. I think on the whole he would welcome it.

The Scheme for Full Employment, by Magnus Mills
Category: If New Orleans is Beat
Source: Hay-on-Wye, Wales
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/145726327

An offbeat novel that I picked up on the strength of buying and not yet reading The Maintenance of Headway. I was amused and interested, but I didn't find it "hilarious" as the front-cover blurb by the Daily Mail suggested I would.

I'm just stopping by to say hi. You've had a great year of reading so far and it looks as though you are really close to finishing BingoDog. Yay!

>116 rabbitprincess: I love the oddness of Magnus Mills. The Restraint of Beasts is a good one.

>117 This-n-That: Thanks for stopping by! Yep, just two books to go, and both are on the on-deck pile :)

>118 pamelad: All of his books have interesting-sounding plots. I'll definitely read more.

Fighting the mid-month blahs. Crime fiction usually does the job, and this one certainly delivered.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, by Stuart Turton
Category: Locked in the Trunk of a Car
Source: library, via Overdrive
Rating: 5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/188919189

The needle is hovering at 4.75 stars for this one, because I'm not sure at the moment if I would re-read it, but it was exactly what I needed right now, so it gets the full five. I LOOOOOOOVE stories involving time loops and timey-wimey and future actors setting clues for their past selves, and this delivers in spades. I cannot imagine how much work went into keeping all the stories straight. Very well done.

>120 rabbitprincess: Taking a BB for this one! Mystery and time-travel makes a great combination.

>120 rabbitprincess: Me too! Clever plots with clues and time travel sounds like a fun breath of fresh air.

>108 rabbitprincess: I picked up Diary of a Bookseller from the library, the only one of Bythell's books that they had. My husband nabbed it right away and enjoyed it a lot. My turn soon.

>116 rabbitprincess: Five little Indians is on my wishlist even thought it's the type of story I hesitate reading because I know how heartbreaking it will be.

>120 rabbitprincess: - I too was amazed at the effort the author must have used to keep everything straight. Although I had trouble keeping track of where I was.

>121 mathgirl40: >122 pammab: One of the blurbs likened it to Groundhog Day, which might be a more accurate description of the time travel involved.

>123 VivienneR: Diary was a lot of fun. Enjoy!

Five Little Indians is definitely heartbreaking. I had to pick my moment.

>124 dudes22: My copy of the book contained an interview with the author, and according to that interview a lot of Post-it notes were involved ;)

I just watched David Byrne's American Utopia last night and thought of you! Did you end up getting a TIFF ticket?

>126 mathgirl40: Yes! I managed to score one. It was AMAZING! Now waiting impatiently for the Blu-Ray.

>127 rabbitprincess: Glad you got to see it. I too thought it was excellent!

>128 mathgirl40: I may also have a crush on David Byrne now :D

****

I've been reading a lot of short books this week, but not, oddly enough, on Serial Reader. I paused both my serials and will get back to them later. Thinking of bailing on Mary Barton; it's Gaskell's first novel and it shows. And I like Northanger Abbey but am not quite sure I am in the mood for it at the moment.

Anyway, these books were all OK.

Gideon’s Night, by J. J. Marric
Category: Locked in the Trunk of a Car
Source: Friends of Library and Archives Canada book sale
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/89848482

This was the oldest unread Gideon on my shelf, and I had set it aside to read this year because J. J. Marric is the pen name of John Creasey. This is one of the Gideons actually written by Creasey, and it's third in the series, so still feels fresh.

The Ghost at Skeleton Rock, by Franklin W. Dixon
Category: 700 Ft. Ceiling
Source: library, via Overdrive
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/189104187

The main reason I gave this three stars was the planes! I loooooooove planes.

Dalek Empire 2.1: Dalek War, Chapter 1, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
Category: Thompson Girl, The Depression Suite
Source: Big Finish
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/154841381

A solid older Big Finish story. It had been a while since I listened to the first series of Dalek Empire, but this story did a good job of recapping.

This morning I got up much earlier than usual in order to attend the online edition of the Bloody Scotland crime festival. So far I've watched an interview with Professor Dame Sue Black (she has a new book out, Written in Bone, which I will definitely be reading) and a discussion with Peter May and Ann Cleeves. Both sessions were great, although the second one started getting an echo loop just over halfway through and it was impossible to figure out what everyone was saying. I'll hope they're able to sort that out and make the audio intelligible if they post the recording for later consumption.

Later on I'll be attending a session featuring Linwood Barclay, Tess Gerritsen, and Yrsa Sigurdardottir, and then one involving Lawrence Block and Ian Rankin. In between, I had time to drink tea, have breakfast and write a review of a book.

All Things Consoled: A Daughter’s Story, by Elizabeth Hay
Category: Wheat Kings
Source: library, via Overdrive
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/188919266

This is the story of Elizabeth Hay's parents' final years and how she and her siblings managed their end-of-life care. It is honest and vulnerable. It's a bit disorienting as the story shifts between the present and the past. I found the present timeline more immediately resonant for me personally, because the description of Hay's mother reminds me of my grandma; her speech patterns and forgetfulness are eerily similar. I would recommend this, although it is definitely a "pick your moment" kind of book.

>120 rabbitprincess: - Happy to see another very positive review for the Turton book! I purchased it as a kobo ebook deal sometime last year, so will think about moving it forward up my virtual TBR pile.

Enjoy your Bloody Scotland crime festival!

>130 rabbitprincess: I was tempted to attend Bloody Scotland (such a great lineup of writers!) but decided that it would be crazy to do that alongside TIFF. I ended up watching 6 hours of A Suitable Boy on the weekend. Glad you got to see the presentations.

I just received the Toronto IFOA schedule, and it looks like Ann Cleeves and Ian Rankin will be doing readings, so I hope to catch those (among others).

>131 lkernagh: It was great! On Sunday I watched events featuring Mark Billingham and Val McDermid. I have to hope the Denise Mina one is going to be on catchup because I lost track of time and missed it :-/

>132 mathgirl40: Yeah, it looks like a fab lineup! I've pencilled in Ann and Ian, as well as Gil Adamson, Val McDermid, and Damian Rogers. If this had been an in-person festival I would totally have taken the time off to come down. Alas, I don't think I'll be in Toronto before Christmas, and even then.........

*backs up the truck with another batch of reviews*

User Friendly: How the Hidden Rules of Design Are Changing the Way We Live, Work, and Play, by Cliff Kuang and Robert Fabricant
Category: Wheat Kings
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/188847345

I was on my third time requesting this book from the library and decided I really had to read it once and for all. Glad I did. It was really interesting, especially the chapter on personalization (although it was interesting in a creepy way).

Indians on Vacation, by Thomas King
Category: If New Orleans is Beat
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/188847294

I could easily have spent another 200 pages with Bird and Mimi. They were such vivid characters. I love King's dialogue and sharp observations.

And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie (audio, read by Dan Stevens)
Category: Thompson Girl
Source: library, via Overdrive
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/189218383

I got impatient with the audio. I like Dan Stevens, but not his Judge Wargrave voice. I am just really picky about audio voices for some reason these days.

Dalek Empire 2.2: Dalek War, Chapter 2, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
Category: Thompson Girl
Source: Big Finish
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/154841492

This made a satisfying hour's worth of listening. I've been reading so many library books, because I had a lot due back around the same time, and I like to not completely ignore my own books :)

This could have fit multiple CATs: it came to my attention via Jackie, making it a reccie (for the September RandomCAT), and it is about the polar regions, the subject of the September GeoCAT.

Sixty Degrees North: Around the World in Search of Home, by Malachy Tallack
Category: Wheat Kings
Source: library
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/188847456

I liked the travelogue aspects of the book but found the personal side of it a bit repetitive, if I'm being honest. I could put this down to my mood when reading. It's been a long month and it's looking like more long months are in our future.

>135 rabbitprincess: I suspect I'll find it similar to you. I took the same book bullet you did. I found a copy cheap, and it's sitting close at hand although I have others I want to read first. I'm hoping to make it a winter read.

>136 thornton37814: It would probably make a very good winter read! And it inspired me to make an Ann Cleeves Shetland book my next read, and add The Kalevala to my on-deck pile, so definitely a net gain for having read this :)

>137 rabbitprincess: I love the Shetland series. I wish she'd write more, but I think she's done with them. I guess I could re-read them, but I'll probably wait a few years to do that.

>135 rabbitprincess: Glad you got to it! Interestingly, I think I preferred the personal stuff (and the musings on 'northernness' more generally) to the travelogue side of things, but that's me all over! :D

>129 rabbitprincess: Did you end up bailing on Mary Barton? Do you think Serial Reader made the story seem worse, given the smaller reading chunks? I'm going to attempt the book either in November or January. Based on your comments and reviews from other readers, I likely will try an audio version instead. Maybe that will help.

>138 thornton37814: Yeah, I think she said something to the effect that there wasn't really enough room on Shetland to keep killing off fictional characters.

>139 Jackie_K: Between the two of us, then, we loved the book completely! ;)

>140 This-n-That: I haven't yet. I ended up getting it off Project Gutenberg and will try finishing it that way. Normally I like the small chunks on Serial Reader, but for this one, because each chapter begins with a song or verse of some kind, the formatting is a bit wacky.

A couple more books to my credit today.

Dead Water, by Ann Cleeves
Category: Locked in the Trunk of a Car
Source: library, via Overdrive
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/189218250

I had to read this after reading Sixty Degrees North! (Also, it was due back imminently.) Another good installment in the Shetland series, which I've warmed up to, although overall I prefer Vera.

Dalek Empire 2.3: Dalek War, Chapter 3, by Nicholas Briggs
Category: Thompson Girl, The Depression Suite
Source: Big Finish
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/154841590

Was feeling a bit book-snacky, so crunched up this hour-long audio drama while doing puzzles on my iPad. As with the previous installment, which I listened to on Friday, it made good light reading. Will probably read the last installment in this story arc in the next couple of days.

Closing out September with two more books.

Soap and Water and Common Sense: The Definitive Guide to Viruses, Bacteria, Parasites, and Disease, by Dr. Bonnie Henry
Category: Wheat Kings
Source: library
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/188897750

A timely read, this was the updated-for-2020 edition. It was originally published in 2009. Clear and accessible.

The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax, by Dorothy Gilman
Category: Courage (for Hugh MacLennan)
Source: probably a gift, but I’ve had it for so long I don’t actually remember
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/70476199

Still feeling book-snacky so gobbled up a re-read. This was a series I enjoyed as a teenager, although this was not one I read as much as others in the series. I liked it better now than I did then, I think.

September recap

Audio and re-reads (plus a DNF or two) helped me get to 23 books this month.

The Periodic Table: A Very Short Introduction, by Eric R. Scerri
Plague City, by Jonathan Morris
Confessions of a Bookseller, by Shaun Bythell
Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen (re-read)
Remain in Love: Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Tina, by Chris Frantz
Five Little Indians, by Michelle Good
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglas Adams (audio, read by Martin Freeman)
Bloody Murder, by Julian Symons
The Scheme for Full Employment, by Magnus Mills
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, by Stuart Turton (Overdrive)
Gideon’s Night, by J. J. Marric
The Ghost at Skeleton Rock, by Franklin W. Dixon (Overdrive)
Dalek Empire 2.1: Dalek War, Chapter 1, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
All Things Consoled: A Daughter’s Memoir, by Elizabeth Hay (Overdrive)
User Friendly: How the Hidden Rules of Design Are Changing the Way We Live, Work, and Play, by Cliff Kuang and Robert Fabricant
Indians on Vacation, by Thomas King
And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie (audio, read by Dan Stevens)
Dalek Empire 2.2: Dalek War, Chapter 2, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
Sixty Degrees North: Around the World in Search of Home, by Malachy Tallack
Dead Water, by Ann Cleeves (Overdrive)
Dalek Empire 2.3: Dalek War, Chapter 3, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
Soap and Water and Common Sense: The Definitive Guide to Viruses, Bacteria, Parasites, and Disease, by Dr. Bonnie Henry
The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax, by Dorothy Gilman (re-read)

The best book of the month was The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. I devoured it in a weekend.

My least favourite book of the month was the audio of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Couldn’t get on with Martin Freeman’s Marvin voice.

Currently reading

Safety Differently: Human Factors for a New Era, by Sidney Dekker — Yep… once again didn’t get to this…
Mary Barton, by Elizabeth Gaskell (Project Gutenberg) — I’ve switched to Project Gutenberg for this, because each chapter begins with a poem or song, and the formatting was a bit weird in Serial Reader.
Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen (Project Gutenberg) — I started this on Serial Reader and switched to Gutenberg as well. I think the serials were a bit too short for my already-fragmented attention span at the moment.
Parting Shot, by Linwood Barclay — Added this to the pile after seeing Linwood at a panel at the online edition of Bloody Scotland.
Dalek Empire 2.4: Dalek War, Chapter 4, by Nicholas Briggs — A nice short audio that I plan to pair with some audio-puzzling.
The Less Dead, by Denise Mina — A new Denise Mina is always cause for celebration.

October plans

I went 2.5 for 4 on my goals this month:

✔ read the two Indigenous novels I have out (Five Little Indians and Indians on Vacation)
read the two music books I have out (We Are the Clash and Remain in Love)
✔ read User Friendly, or at least decide once and for all that I’m not interested, because this is the third time I’ve borrowed it
read Bleeding Hearts

My adventures in Indigenous literature went great, and I am pleased that both books were nominated for the Giller Prize longlist. Of the two, I would expect Five Little Indians to be on the shortlist, just because it is more serious. I really enjoyed Indians on Vacation but it might be too light for a prize jury.
I read only one of the music books (Remain in Love), and then spent the rest of the month stuffing my ears with Talking Heads music to go with it.
I finally read User Friendly and was glad to have done so.
I did not get around to Bleeding Hearts, so it will become one of my goals for next month.

I’ll scale back my goals slightly for next month (although meeting any of these goals will make the month a success):

read Bleeding Hearts
read at least one of my Serial Reader / Project Gutenberg books
read one historical book (fiction or non)

****

Also how is it the end of September already? Time for a Pool update.



I’ve read 22 of 30 books and have three of the remaining eight on deck. I probably won’t finish the Pool this year, though, because one of the books is at my parents’ place and I did not retrieve it last time I was there. And now with more lockdowns looking likely, I don’t know when I would get a hold of it. Oh well.

Good job on the pool! I'm not a big Austen fan, but I did find Northanger Abbey to be her most enjoyable, for me.

Wow, September was a great reading month for you!

I like your monthly targets, that's a neat idea. As is being forgiving about not hitting all of them...

>145 Tess_W: I first read it in 2015, the year I went to Bath, which really helped with the atmosphere.

>146 lkernagh: Audio really helped!

>147 Helenliz: I just started doing that this year when I was having a hard time focusing and even choosing a book to read. It seems to work :)

You've taught me a new word today and I can't wait to use it! "Book-snacky" perfectly describes that appetite that can only be satisfied with a new read that appeals to the senses!

>149 DeltaQueen50: For me a key quality of it is that it's short and can be plowed through with little effort, like when you think you'll have "just a few chips" and a short while later discover you've eaten the entire bag.

I've added The Less Dead to the wishlist. A potential book-snack.

>151 pamelad: I accidentally returned it to the library unfinished! Now I am in a long hold line for the ebook. Argh.

First book of October in the bag.

Parting Shot, by Linwood Barclay
Category: If New Orleans is Beat
Source: Bouchercon 2017
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/147044639

After seeing Linwood at a virtual panel at Bloody Scotland, I decided to pull this book off the pile. I read it in a day. Very good.

>144 rabbitprincess: Congrats on completing 23 books in September. Wow! Wishing you best of luck with your October reading plans, including Mary Barton. I hope the switch to Project Gutenberg helps. Although it was unplanned, I also started Northanger Abbey but it is an adapted audio version with multiple narrators. I have read the book version before so thought it would be okay to be entertained by an abridged version.

>154 This-n-That: Thanks! I think Mary Barton will be done sooner of the two. A multiple-narration version of Northanger Abbey sounds great! I do like these full-cast recordings because it saves the main narrator having to come up with lots of distinctive voices.

****

Just watched a pre-recorded interview with Ian Rankin as part of the Ottawa International Writers' Festival. Good times as always. I'm fondly remembering the last time he came to town, for In a House of Lies, which I read at my parents' place in August -- the book is signed to me and my mum, so it does not leave my parents' place, haha. I'll pick up Bleeding Hearts next.

Earlier today, though, I was reading about the brain.

Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain, by David Eagleman
Category: Wheat Kings
Source: library
Rating: 2/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/189332655

I must confess to feeling disappointed with this book. The writing style felt like a TED Talk, and I found the discussion of tech to be overly optimistic (just because it may become cheap doesn't mean it will be accessible, and have you thought about ethical and privacy considerations?), and in places ableist (not everyone considers themselves in need of "curing", and society as a whole could do with making design changes at an infrastructure level rather than forcing individuals to take on technological burdens to "fit in"). The actual descriptions of how the brain works were all right, but I felt like I'd seen most of this before.

Another audiobook off the list.

Dalek Empire 2.4: Dalek War, Chapter 4, by Nicholas Briggs
Category: The Depression Suite, Thompson Girl
Source: Big Finish
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/154841692

Finished the second series of Dalek Empire. These hour-long installments are just the right length for a bit of audio-puzzling.

And a short library book now.

The Mark on the Door, by Franklin W. Dixon
Category: Locked in the Trunk of a Car
Source: library
Rating: 2.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/189406548

Not a terrible Hardy Boys book, but not my favourite. I liked it slightly less than The Ghost at Skeleton Rock, so 2.5 it is.

>143 rabbitprincess: I didn't know that Dr. Bonnie Henry had written a book. She has been in the news a lot! Have you seen the Dr. Henry Fluevog shoes? (I'm not really a shoe enthusiast myself, but a Facebook friend of mine is a collector and frequently posts her finds.) Anyhow, this book does look like a timely and worthwhile read.

>158 mathgirl40: I just looked them up and they are a fabulous colour! But nearing seven months of working from home full time, I can't imagine wearing heels ever again ;)

>159 rabbitprincess: I got back in skirt tights & heels for work last week for the first time. I've always found heels comfortable, so it was quite nice. And makes a change from slopping about in slippers. At leat heels make me walk properly.

>160 Helenliz: It's hard for me to find a comfortable pair of heels, but I did find it refreshing to put on a dress occasionally this summer. My telework uniform has been band T-shirts and jeans. Even a collared shirt feels so much crisper.

A slow-ish reading week this week. I bought the Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense *and* the associated soundtrack album, so consuming both those things has taken up a lot of my time.

But I did finish another book.

The Big Life of Little Richard, by Mark Ribowsky
Category: Wheat Kings
Source: library
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/189406119

This is the first bio of Little Richard I've read, and for now probably the most complete; it was published just three months after his death. A good biography.

Picked up a little bit of steam this weekend.

Sex Power Money, by Sara Pascoe
Category: Poets
Source: library
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/189526386

This rating is for the book relative to Pascoe's first book, Animal. This is not a subject I'm very comfortable reading about, so it was more of a challenge (but I am glad I challenged myself).

Mary Barton, by Elizabeth Gaskell
Category: If New Orleans is Beat
Source: Serial Reader, Project Gutenberg
Rating: 2.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/188769814

I've been trying to read this for a month and a half, and it's not just working for me. I am going to ascribe this to pandemic brain, though, and not rule out trying again sometime.

Holiday Monday means holiday reading: short, snappy books.

The Little Book of Big Feelings, by Maureen “Marzi” Wilson
Category: Poets
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/189999999

For some reason that review number makes me laugh. All those nines!

This was a lovely book and I might have to get my own copy.

I've set up the 2021 group, and I was so bored that I decided to set up my next year's challenge thread :) https://www.librarything.com/topic/325300

>163 rabbitprincess: So sorry Mary Barton ended up being such drudgery but congrats on keeping with it. I am bit concerned about trying to tackle it but I do hope the audio version I bought improves the story and my attention span.

>166 This-n-That: An audio would be a good way to tackle it! I think it's just a case of screen fatigue on my part.

>161 rabbitprincess: Heels and comfort don't go together in my world anymore, though I did enjoy them in my 20s & 30s. Now pumps with low heels are my preference for dress shoes.

>165 rabbitprincess: Wow! But I guess it is time to start thinking about next year . . . I'm still busy stumbling through this one.

>168 markon: I've had enough of this year, so on to the next! And yes, I too prefer pumps with low heels if I need to wear heels. Summer is much better for formalwear because I can get away with black wedge sandals that work with pretty much anything.

****

Death Under Sail, by C. P. Snow
Category: Nautical Disaster
Source: Bearly Used Books, Parry Sound
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/134021500

I needed a short, snappy mystery, and this one did the job well enough. A Golden Age mystery from 1932, one of those ones with hand-drawn maps of the scene of the crime.

Uncrowned Queen: The Life of Margaret Beaufort, Mother of the Tudors, by Nicola Tallis
Category: Looking for a Place to Happen
Source: library
Rating: 2/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/189775585

This could partly have been pandemic brain talking, but I found this an irritating slog. I did not need to be reminded three times a page that Margaret was pregnant, thank you. That and other oft-repeated details made this a DNF.

Felt restless and unfocused yesterday, and I'm working on a big non-fiction book (The Emperor of All Maladies), so I thought a short audiobook was in order.

Jago & Litefoot & Strax: The Haunting, by Justin Richards (Big Finish audio drama)
Category: The Depression Suite, Thompson Girl
Source: Big Finish
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/154346993

This was an amusing treat. I love Strax and was delighted to spend a couple of hours in his company (and that of Jago and Litefoot, who were introduced in the Classic Who story The Talons of Weng-Chiang).

Dropping in to wish you good morning, Princess!

>171 mstrust: Thanks for stopping by! Good to see you :)

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Category: Wheat Kings
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/189932160

This is a thorough and well-constructed book. I lost steam toward the end, in the last chapter or so, but overall it was very good.

Kind of Coping: An Illustrated Look at Life with Anxiety, by Maureen “Marzi” Wilson
Category: Poets
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/191020672

As someone with social anxiety and a history of panic attacks, I related a great deal to this book. Some of the situations were making me anxious just reading about them! Good tips and illustrations to help non-anxious people support the people in their lives who do have anxiety.

The Honjin Murders, by Seishi Yokomizo, translated by Louise Heal Kawai
Category: Locked in the Trunk of a Car
Source: library
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/190375764

Pushkin Vertigo has published a couple of new translations of Yokomizo's work, so I requested them immediately -- they're Japanese Golden Age mysteries. I enjoyed the name checks of the Anglo-American classics of the genre and ended up going online to learn more about some of the cultural elements in the book, such as the koto, a stringed instrument that plays a key role in the plot.

>174 rabbitprincess: - Oh, I really need to read this. Right up my alley.

>175 LittleTaiko: I hope you like it! I also have his The Inugami Curse out from the library.

****

Another mystery, this one utterly delightful.

The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman
Category: Locked in the Trunk of a Car
Source: library
Rating: 4.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/190105440

I ended up really enjoying this book and was even unexpectedly moved in places. It was a balm, just what I needed at the moment.

>176 rabbitprincess: The Osman book has been on my wish list sine I read its Guardian review. Pleased to see that you concur.

>176 rabbitprincess: Richard Osman is fast becoming a national treasure.

>176 rabbitprincess: I've seen it advertised, good to hear from someone who has read it.

I just placed an order for Honjin Murders and The Thursday Murder Club based on your reviews. 😀

>177 pamelad: >179 Helenliz: I hope you both like it!

>178 Jackie_K: I haven't seen him on Pointless but he did make an appearance on QI. Seems like a nice bloke :)

>180 LittleTaiko: Excellent! Enjoy!

>176 rabbitprincess: BB for me on The Thursday Murder Club as well!

>181 rabbitprincess: And of course, his co-presenter on Pointless is Alexander Armstrong, the narrator of none other than Hey Duggee!

>182 christina_reads: Hurray! Have fun with it!

>183 Jackie_K: Haha I finally watched an episode now! I watched the one where they make carrot cake for the rabbits :D

Why yes I AM boosting my feelings of accomplishment by listening to short Doctor Who audiobooks.

Doctor Who: Destiny of the Doctor 11: The Time Machine, by Matt Fitton (audio, read by Jenna Coleman, Michael Cochrane, and Nicholas Briggs)
Category: The Depression Suite, Thompson Girl
Source: Humble Bundle
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/139865052

This was a nice blend of single narrator and full-cast audio drama. I liked the Oxford setting of course, and the winks at Hitchhiker's Guide, Dirk Gently, and Shada. (I might have to re-read Gareth Roberts' novelization of Shada now... and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency...)

Agent Sonya: Moscow’s Most Daring Wartime Spy, by Ben Macintyre
Category: Looking for a Place to Happen
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/190557472

Was glad to have started reading this in time to watch an interview with Ben Macintyre at the Toronto International Festival of Authors. It's an interesting book, the first of Macintyre's books to centre on a female spy, and a story I had no idea about. Well done indeed.

jPod, by Douglas Coupland
Category: Courage (for Hugh MacLennan)
Source: gift
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/70475313

This was a re-read that almost felt like a first read because I remembered so little of it (and then some bits I was like "Oh yeah! That was weird."). I prefer Microserfs to jPod, frankly, but it was interesting to revisit this.

I'm off for a week and a half. What better way to start vacation than by reading a Doctor Who comic book?

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor Vol. 6: Sonic Boom, by Robbie Morrison, illustrated by Mariano Lacaustra and Rachael Stott (ebook)
Category: The Depression Suite, Poets
Source: Humble Bundle
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/179425710

I like Robbie Morrison's writing for the Twelfth Doctor. He "gets" his voice. The art was a bit weird in this one, but I did like the stories.

Nice! Enjoy your time off.

>188 DeltaQueen50: Thanks, Judy! I have a lot of books to get through in that time ;)

****

October recap

A busy month at work and the attendant reduction in brain power dropped my reading total this month to 19 books. Again, audio helped me out a lot.

Parting Shot, by Linwood Barclay
Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain, by David Eagleman
Dalek Empire 2.4: Dalek War, Chapter 4, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
The Mark on the Door, by Franklin W. Dixon
The Big Life of Little Richard, by Mark Ribowsky
Sex Power Money, by Sara Pascoe
Mary Barton, by Elizabeth Gaskell (Serial Reader / Project Gutenberg, abandoned)
The Little Book of Big Feelings, by Maureen “Marzi” Wilson
Death Under Sail, by C. P. Snow
Uncrowned Queen: The Life of Margaret Beaufort, Mother of the Tudors, by Nicola Tallis (abandoned)
Jago & Litefoot & Strax: The Haunting, by Justin Richards (Big Finish audio drama)
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Kind of Coping: An Illustrated Look at Life with Anxiety, by Maureen “Marzi” Wilson
The Honjin Murders, by Seishi Yokomizo, translated by Louise Heal Kawai
The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman
Doctor Who: The Time Machine (Destiny of the Doctor, #11), by Matt Fitton (audio, read by Jenna Coleman, Michael Cochrane, and Nicholas Briggs)
Agent Sonya: Moscow’s Most Daring Wartime Spy, by Ben Macintyre
jPod, by Douglas Coupland (re-read)
Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor Vol. 6: Sonic Boom, by Robbie Morrison, illustrated by Mariano Lacaustra and Rachael Stott (ebook)

The best book of the month was The Thursday Murder Club. It was exactly what I needed.

My least favourite book of the month was probably Uncrowned Queen. Of the two books I rated two stars, this one I didn’t even finish.

Currently reading

Safety Differently: Human Factors for a New Era, by Sidney Dekker — Still lurking on the coffee table!
Bleeding Hearts, by Ian Rankin — Designated as “currently reading” a while ago. Not opened yet.
Quand sort la recluse, by Fred Vargas — I started this sometime in October, intending to make it my morning read before work, but I haven’t got back to it because it’s been hiding in my purse.
Doctor Who: Shadow of Death, by Simon Guerrier — I have another short Doctor Who audio ready to go!
The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books, by Martin Edwards — This has been very good so far, and it’s making me want to read all the books listed! Would make a good reading project.
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!: The Story of Pop Music from Bill Haley to Beyoncé, by Bob Stanley — I’ve renewed this twice, because it’s huge, and I want to get a start on it finally. Also, I found Talking Heads in the index :)

November plans

Which of my October goals did I achieve? I’d actually forgotten what they were, haha.

read Bleeding Hearts
✔ read at least one of my Serial Reader / Project Gutenberg books
✔ read one historical book (fiction or non)

I ended up deciding to call it quits on both the Serial Reader books I had on the go. Mary Barton wasn’t picking up for me, and I’d read Northanger Abbey previously but wasn’t in the right mood for it at this time. Also, reading on screens is not easy for me to do these days because I’m at home all the time and working from home all day. Not much opportunity to stretch my eyes (if that makes sense).
I read two historical non-fiction books: Uncrowned Queen, which I abandoned; and Agent Sonya, which I enjoyed.
I’m really not getting into Bleeding Hearts, and I think it’s because it’s in a giant omnibus that I haven’t felt up to reading. So it will not be a goal next month.

I’ll choose three small goals again this month:

read a boat book
read a historical fiction book
read a Very Short Introduction (I have three out from the library)

The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books is good! Many interesting authors I had never heard of.

>187 rabbitprincess: Have fun!

Well, I think you did a very good job for October. In fact, I'm recommending you for a raise!

>190 NinieB: I also like that he avoids spoilers as much as possible! Knowing the solutions to some of them already, I was impressed by how he was able to tap-dance around them for the most part.

>191 MissWatson: Thanks, I will! I have snacks and books galore.

>192 mstrust: Haha thanks! I am very competitive with myself ;)

I'm thinking I'd like The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books sounds good. I'm going to take a BB for that. I read Matchup a few years ago which was a group of short stories by crime writers and liked it. There are a few more in that "series" that I hope to get to also.

>186 rabbitprincess: I didn't get to see Ben Macintyre at the IFOA, but I did catch several other ones. Wade Davis's and Ian Rankin's talks were especially enjoyable. Did you view any other presentations?

>194 dudes22: It makes a good book to read in between other books!

>195 mathgirl40: I watched a few but lost steam toward the end of the festival. I get very Zoomed out these days, even if the events are pre-recorded apparently. I saw Val McDermid, Ben Macintyre, and Damian Rogers.

First book of vacation complete! I started and finished it today :)

The Inugami Curse, by Seishi Yokomizo, translated by Yumiko Yamakazi
Category: Locked in the Trunk of a Car
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/190944322

This is a later book in the Kosuke Kindaichi series but only the second to be translated by Pushkin Vertigo. I think the series has settled nicely into its stride by this point. A good read.

Adding to my plane and boat book categories.

Shooting Script, by Gavin Lyall
Category: 700 Ft. Ceiling
Source: likely the Great Glebe Garage Sale’s used book sale
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/156469260

The back cover promised "plane-lore", and it delivered! I enjoyed this book a great deal. Will have to see if I can hunt up more of Lyall's books.

The Last Voyage of the Andrea Doria: The Sinking of the World’s Most Glamorous Ship, by Greg King and Penny Wilson
Category: Nautical Disaster
Source: library
Rating: 4.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/191020850

I started and finished this today. Partly because of library deadlines, but mostly because I couldn't put it down! It's very well told and researched. If you liked King and Wilson's book about the Lusitania, you may like this as well.

>198 rabbitprincess: Thank you for the Gavin Lyall reminder. He writes a good spy story.

>198 rabbitprincess: >199 pamelad: I agree, Lyall really knows how to write a good yarn. The early books all involve lots of flying.

>199 pamelad: >200 MissWatson: I'm glad to hear endorsements of Lyall's work! I am especially intrigued by the title The Wrong Side of the Sky.

Decided to spend the morning chugging through this book, even though I have a lot of library books with pressing deadlines!

The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books, by Martin Edwards
Category: Poets
Source: Bouchercon 2017
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/147110199

I'm definitely going to return to this book at some point to make a reading list out of it. Lots of good books to check out! And overall a warmer tone than Symons's Bloody Murder.

>202 rabbitprincess: Edwards actually likes the books he's writing about, unlike Symons!

>203 NinieB: And/or he is more diplomatic about the ones he doesn't like as much!

Getting my space groove on with this one.

The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking), by Katie Mack
Category: Wheat Kings
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/191020798

This was an interesting look at the very latest theories concerning the eventual fate of the universe. I'd heard about the Big Crunch and the heat death scenarios, but the others were new to me. Now I feel up to date!

Another quick read!

The Case of the Missing Marquess, by Nancy Springer
Category: Poets
Source: library, via Overdrive
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/191370498

This has been on my list for a while and I was able to grab it in the frenzy for the Enola Holmes Netflix series. I enjoyed the book but am not sure whether I'll watch the series.

Here's a book that took me a while, but was worth the read.

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!: The Story of Modern Pop from Bill Haley to Beyoncé, by Bob Stanley
Category: Wheat Kings
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/189000701

This is an ambitious book and the sort that would reward multiple readings. I'm not sure how much of it will remain for long in my head, but I am impressed by the author's dedication and enthusiasm for the daunting task set by him in this book. I hope I'll be more open to trying new music after reading this!

Once again, hurray for short audios. This balanced out >207 rabbitprincess: nicely.

Doctor Who: Shadow of Death (Destiny of the Doctor, #2), by Simon Guerrier (audio, read by Frazer Hines and Evie Dawnay)
Category: The Depression Suite, Thompson Girl
Source: Humble Bundle
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/139864927

This was all right. Not my fave Doctor Who story, but even an only-OK Doctor Who story is a reasonable use of my time.

Wanted to continue the sci-fi vibe as I wrapped up my vacation.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglas Adams
Category: Courage (for Hugh MacLennan)
Source: I think I bought this for myself a long time ago? No idea
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/70444425

I enjoyed this a lot and definitely pictured the 1981 TV miniseries for most of it. This time around, my favourite part was the grammar of time travel.

>205 rabbitprincess: LOL So nothing will be a surprise!

>210 Tess_W: Exactly! Forewarned is forearmed ;)

Survived my short week of work (two days). The morning started off well because I finished this book!

Still Life, by Val McDermid
Category: Locked in the Trunk of a Car
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/191572801

I really enjoy the Karen Pirie series, and this book is no exception to that rule. I've also enjoyed hearing Val McDermid talk about it at Bloody Scotland and at the Toronto International Festival of Authors.

>205 rabbitprincess: Definitely a bullet for me! This is something I know nothing about so it will be a nice surprise. :)

>213 VivienneR: It's fascinating and a bit of a brain-buster! Whenever I read about physics I always feel like I need to open a tap in my skull and pour out some excess information because it's overloaded, haha.

>214 rabbitprincess: I understand completely. I'm at an age where I feel like that every day.

Well, this was a strange mystery.

Murder in the Crooked House, by Soji Shimada (translated by Louise Heal Kawai)
Category: Locked in the Trunk of a Car
Source: library
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/191572769

This is a homage to the locked-room mystery, particularly as written by John Dickson Carr. I found the solution stretched the bounds of credulity fairly thin for me, but I tend to have a lower tolerance for this sort of tricksy puzzle mystery. Still, I stayed up late to finish it, so I guess it held my interest that much.

>216 rabbitprincess: Another Japanese author of locked room mysteries from the thirties? I wonder how many other Japanese classic mystery writers English speakers are unaware of.

>217 pamelad: There are probably many more! I found a small reading list over at CrimeReads: https://crimereads.com/the-honkaku-and-shin-honkaku-mysteries-of-seishi-yokomizo...

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This week was my first full week back at work after my time off, and I have to say work really cramps my reading style. Took me all week to finish a book (although I have of course started and picked at several).

The Devil and the Dark Water, by Stuart Turton
Category: Nautical Disaster
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/191691188

Speaking of locked-room mysteries, this book has an element of that -- a devil seems to be stalking a Dutch East India Company ship in 1634. Mysterious symbols, whispers in the night, ghost ships on the horizon, dead men prowling the decks. I enjoyed it for what it was and did not compare it to The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, which is really its own thing.

Another one of those library-catalogue-impulse-borrows:

Warriors and Witches and Damn Rebel Bitches: Scottish Women to Live Your Life By, by Mairi Kidd
Category: Poets
Source: library
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/191691263

I liked the idea of this but found the execution a bit wanting. I was expecting something like Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World, by Pénélope Magieu, or The Little Book of Feminist Saints, by Julia Pierpoint and Manjit Thapp, but this didn't hit those levels.

Dementia: A Very Short Introduction, by Kathleen Taylor
Category: Poets
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/190944301

The first of two books I finished on Sunday. I found this a good introduction to the causes, risk factors, and latest treatments of dementia. I particularly liked the emphasis on patient-centred care. Both the author and I have relatives with dementia, so I found this a timely and useful read.

Le Lotus bleu, by Hergé
Category: 38 Years Old
Source: library
Rating: 2.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/191787143

I borrowed this because Ben Macintyre happened to mention it in Agent Sonya. This was actually my first Tintin comic; I vaguely recall watching the Nelvana cartoon when I was a kid. I found the writing hard to read and the bad guy a bit caricaturish, art-wise. Also, no Captain Haddock! I've requested one with him in it :)

The Hog’s Back Mystery, by Freeman Wills Crofts
Category: Locked in the Trunk of a Car
Source: charity bookshop in Edinburgh
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/160561314

After reading The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books, I had to get this off the shelf. It was a solid mystery. I look forward to passing it along to my friend who is reading all the Inspector Frenches in order. (Her plot is being foiled, though, by the fact that the library ordered the Collins Crime Club reprints and the one she just received, Man Overboard!, is out of order.)

>220 rabbitprincess: I have become a Tintin fan in the past couple of years so it is sad to hear that Le Lotus Bleu wasn't very good. There are a few places where they are available online in English & I would guess in French as well. I like Captain Haddock and the detectives Thompson and Thomson :)

>221 leslie.98: I think I was mainly disappointed that there was no Captain Haddock! :D

Took me a few days to get through this one.

Lancaster: The Forging of a Very British Legend, by John Nichol
Category: 700 Ft. Ceiling
Source: library
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/191933412

I was attracted to this by the cover, which is stunning and dramatic. The stories told in this book highlight how young the crews on board the Lancasters were. At the same time, their numbers are dwindling rapidly; two men whose accounts are told in this book died mere months before it was published.

After taking so long with Lancaster, I decided a short book was in order.

The Green Gables Detectives, by Eric Wilson
Category: Courage (for Hugh MacLennan)
Source: Rockcliffe Park book sale
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/135780512

I bought this on impulse at a used-book sale along with a couple of others in the series that I'd read as a preteen. They are dated in various ways. But I like the setting of this one, and the plot is actually darker than I remembered (heroin?!), so it held up OK on this reading.

Going to close out the year with a short new thread. Follow the continuation link to join me there!