Susan/quondame has her nose in a book 2021 - 2

Converses75 Books Challenge for 2021

Afegeix-te a LibraryThing per participar.

Susan/quondame has her nose in a book 2021 - 2

1quondame
Editat: març 24, 2021, 4:16 pm



Now that getting out and meeting with vaccinated people seems to be a possibility I’m trying to cut sugar out of my diet. Too many candies and cookies have featured on my kitchen table over the past year when a few years back I hardly ever snacked on sweets. We’ll see how that goes.

I am for the present still in my early 70s, living with my Mike, my husband of over 30 years, and my daughter Becky who is approaching 30, though not this year, and 3 dogs, one for each of us. But we all know Nutmeg is the best. When I am not on eBay or Facebook or LibraryThing I’m reading or eating or both, with scraps of time for tracking the reading, acquiring the books and occasional self care.

2quondame
Editat: març 24, 2021, 4:13 pm

64) A Conjuring of Assassins



A pretty decent action adventure caper with increasing stakes, and an expanding set of characters. A bit more disjoint in approach if not in actual plot than the initial volume.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #16: Read a book you've had to return to the library unread

3quondame
Editat: març 24, 2021, 4:15 pm

Mumble, this was mean for what's in >4 quondame:

4quondame
març 24, 2021, 4:14 pm

65) Fireheart Tiger



In a southeast Asian like kingdom a princess once hostage to an encroaching northern empire is plagued by fire and memories of the burning palace and the young servant she helped escape from the flames. There is a certain charm here, but the character of Thanh had neither western nor eastern strengths to my mind and was unappealing in this mishmash.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book that involves some form of game or contest

5jessibud2
març 24, 2021, 5:45 pm

Happy new thread, Susan. Is that wonderful sculpture in your topper by the guy - damn, I am blanking on his name! - the typewriter sculptor from the documentary film, California Typewriter? If you have never seen that film, find it on netflix or something. It's terrific, and funny and just fun. Tom Hanks, among others, features in it. And this sculptor. I will now not rest until I can remember his name.

6quondame
març 24, 2021, 5:57 pm

>5 jessibud2: Thierry Gal.

Thanks for coming by!

7weird_O
març 24, 2021, 6:24 pm

I blacked out. So now you have started anew. I doubt it is cause-and-effect.

Say Hello, Bill. Hello Bill.

8jessibud2
març 24, 2021, 6:55 pm

>6 quondame: - Thanks for that. He is not the one I was thinking of. I found him, though. His name is Jeremy Mayer and he makes his (often huge) sculptures out of old typewriter parts, among other things.

https://jeremymayer.com/Artist.asp?ArtistID=18688&Akey=23SVCF6T&ajx=1

9drneutron
març 24, 2021, 9:15 pm

Happy new thread!

10PaulCranswick
març 24, 2021, 10:12 pm

Happy new thread, Susan.

I am also trying hard to reduce "bad" things in my diet. My FIL's recent passing has made me realise I need to take better care of myself.

11quondame
març 25, 2021, 2:02 am

>8 jessibud2: Impressive.

>9 drneutron: Hello, Jim, thanks for dropping by!

>10 PaulCranswick: It seems simple, but somehow is not. I doubt I'll reduce calories at all, but I do want to lower the sugar. I have no idea why I went from very occasional sweet binges, to wanting candy about all the time.

12quondame
Editat: març 25, 2021, 2:06 am

66) The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra



Wildly improbable behavior and coincidence aren't my favorite elements in a detective novel, and that's mostly what's on offer here. Mostly harmless.

Read so that I can enter the second novel in a different challenge, it
Meets March TIOLI Challenge #18: Let's brew some coffee, rolling challenge

13Berly
març 25, 2021, 4:48 pm

Happy new thread!

14johnsimpson
març 25, 2021, 5:59 pm

Hi Susan my dear, happy new thread.

15ronincats
març 26, 2021, 1:01 am

Happy new thread!

16msf59
març 26, 2021, 7:45 am

Happy Friday, Susan. Happy New thread! Have a great weekend and enjoy those books.

17SandyAMcPherson
març 26, 2021, 9:21 am

Hi Susan. Just got caught up on your previous thread and here I am on the new one.

I recently bought Books 1 and 2 of the Cate Glass Chimera series. I couldn't resist the deal on Bookoutlet.ca and I was ordering other books anyway.
They're on my TBR pile, while I finish some library books.

Some years ago, I read The Spirit Lens and really enjoyed it (IIRC). I hope I like Cate Glass's writing in these books. I was prompted to pick them up when I saw you mentioned that C. Glass is a name which Carol Berg is using. Can't figure out why she didn't keep her original name, since she's written successfully with that nom de plume.

18karenmarie
març 26, 2021, 10:24 am

Happy new thread, Susan!

>1 quondame: Your description of yourself makes me smile. ‘Reading or eating or both’, in particular, resonates with me.

Ah, sugar. Bill always has cookies and Skittles here at the house, I occasionally buy sweets but try not to. This week I got a bee in my bonnet and made chocolate chip cookies with See’s chocolate chips. Unfortunately, they are wonderful, and I will be making more.

19quondame
març 26, 2021, 1:28 pm

Oh! I almost missed >7 weird_O: Hello, Bill!

20quondame
març 26, 2021, 1:38 pm

>13 Berly: >14 johnsimpson: >15 ronincats: >16 msf59: Good to see you Kim, John, Roni and Mark!

>17 SandyAMcPherson: I think as Cate Glass she is in the young adult market. The tone of the Chimera books is quite different than her other books too and I'm less drawn to them.

>18 karenmarie: Chocolate chips of any sort are dangerous and See's must be deadly. I was about to pop some Porto's chocolate twists into the oven with the rest of the savory pastries for our dinner when I actually looked at the instructions - they require 8 hrs proofing, so I substituted the Guava Strudel (Pastel de Guayaba) which I'd ordered by mistake. Happy mistake. I prefer the Refugiado (Guava and Cheese Strudel), but those were quite tasty.

21quondame
Editat: març 26, 2021, 2:56 pm

67) The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown



Another mystery riddled with ridiculous coincidence and unlikely behaviors. That's quite enough of that.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #14: Help me celebrate my 75th birthday by reading a book with Diamond in the title or subject matter

22FAMeulstee
març 27, 2021, 10:44 am

Happy new thread, Susan!

Sugar is kind of addictive in the long run, good luck cutting it.

23quondame
març 27, 2021, 10:39 pm

>22 FAMeulstee: Thanks!

I can already sense my cells convincing me that this or that isn't really sugar so I should have some. They are lying of course.

24quondame
març 27, 2021, 10:41 pm

68) Between the Woods and the Water



A long look back on an unforgettable and almost unique 1934 tramp in the Hungarian and Rumanian region of the Danube. Polyglot Fermor loves applying his wide vocabulary to passionately recalled arboreal vistas. Also some fun pastoral and urban romps.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #11: Read a book about outdoor activity

25quondame
Editat: març 28, 2021, 4:59 pm

Speaking of outdoor activities, a short walk - about 1 mile, seems exhaust Nutmeg. She loves the adventure and starts out with plenty of energy, but the stamina isn't there. Our little old dachshund Robbie of beloved memory would go for hours with Mike and Becky.



Shortly after this picture was taken she lost her breakfast. Lovely.

26quondame
Editat: març 29, 2021, 6:31 pm

69) Territory of Light



Another exploration of how shitty life is for an average Japanese woman with no particular resources or interests. This young woman is intent on keeping her daughter after her husband left and keeping him out of her daughter's life.

Read for March TIOLI #17: Challenge Read a book with a word in the title or authors name saying what makes you "Mad about March"

27FAMeulstee
març 28, 2021, 6:11 pm

>25 quondame: Have you talked about this with your vet? It sounds like she wants to, but can't excersise for long. She might have a physical problem.

28quondame
març 28, 2021, 6:24 pm

>27 FAMeulstee: She was kept inactive for almost 3mo - first because she was spayed then because she had a broken leg. Also the breed doesn't breath well. The walks will continue and if she doesn't improve then we'll consult the vet.

29richardderus
març 28, 2021, 9:35 pm

>24 quondame: Aren't the NYRB covers lovely? Their design language allows them to stand out and still retain an overall identity.

New week orisons.

30quondame
març 28, 2021, 9:48 pm

>29 richardderus: Um, Kindle? I can't say I noticed the cover much beyond that it emphasized the landscape aspect of the text.

Thank you for a week's well wishes.

31Whisper1
març 28, 2021, 9:49 pm

Susan, I read a recent article that noted because of the quarantine, and perhaps the anxiety it brought, people gained roughly 20 pounds. I gained 15! Recently, I had to be weighted. I could not believe it. I was so very proud of my size ten jeans. No More..at least for awhile.
I laughed right out loud at your comment about reading and eating. I had a small ice cream cone in my hand as I read .

32quondame
març 29, 2021, 6:27 pm

>31 Whisper1: I'm sure I've gained, but no idea how much. My pre-quarantine clothes fit, but they weren't formfitting at all and a good many stretch. But an inch or so off the waist will sure make buttoning waistbands easier. I may put a button extender on my new favorite green woven pants though. Inches are so much easier to add than to shed.
Except for 1 meal a week I mostly eat alone, so I read then too. I don't snack all that much, but yeah, I'm usually reading then too.

33quondame
març 29, 2021, 6:32 pm

70) Count Down



The real horror story - a delve into one aspect, human fertility, of how we are poisoning ourselves and the environment.

The author seems to think declining human fertility is a bad thing and I'm more like good riddance, it's just too bad we're taking so many beautiful birds, mammals, and insects with us.

Read for March TIOLI #4: Read a book about some aspect of fertility

34SandyAMcPherson
març 30, 2021, 4:06 pm

>33 quondame: While Shanna was busy 'counting down', did she have any legitimate statistics to accompany her premise?
I'm appalled at the number of authors blithely adding 'Ph.D." after their names, as if that legitimizes all kinds of pronouncements. Some of the psychology books (and I'm not trained in Psych) commit the sin of anecdotes and personal case histories as 'evidence' but no citations of reputable journal articles for the numbers that are touted.

Yeah, I know. That was a rather snotty comment.
But here's the thing that has currently got me fairly exercised... I recently (like 2-weeks ago) agreed to read over past colleague's paper based on a grad student's data (from when I was still working and that was definitely a good while ago). I may as well have just said, "No sorry, I have some books to review for LibraryThing." That would have been more fun and certainly more satisfying.

In the last decade of my career, I peer-reviewed many journal articles and provided editing and feedback on at least a dozen personal-ask-before-submission requests.

I was disgusted how many submissions went forward without once addressing the shortfall in the data analyses (*and* were published). Insignificant differences, huge variability in the data so that the conclusions weren't validated with reasonable p-values, or simply such small sample sizes that there was no evidence to make any conclusions in the studies.

I had a stats prof who was famous for saying, "An anecdote is not a substitute for a statistical analysis."

And ~ Me Too ~ I'm waistband-challenged, Comfort-Eating-R-Us.

35quondame
Editat: març 30, 2021, 7:00 pm

>34 SandyAMcPherson: Really the notes and references section was about 1/5 the total pages and it wasn't the science that bothered me. It's just that my daughter's preferences have more to do with whether I have grandchildren than what pollution is doing to reproductive capacities. I'm sympathetic with other's dynastic ambitions as long as they keep them in their own line and don't pressure or presume for others, but in general we've made a grand mess and I don't have much hope from what I've seen and it doesn't bother me all that much - well except for polar bears and penguins etc.

36quondame
març 30, 2021, 11:54 pm

71) Romancing the Werewolf
72) The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn't
73) Meat Cute: The Hedgehog Incident
74) How to Marry a Werewolf


Nonsense, but readable.

All of these
Meet March TIOLI #16: Read a book you've had to return to the library unread

37jjmcgaffey
març 31, 2021, 1:55 am

Gail Carriger is writing werewolves now? Oh my. I may have to pick them (or one) up just to see. She's a good writer but her style rubs me the wrong way (in those books of hers that I've read). And yes, fluff. But it should be enjoyable fluff.

38quondame
Editat: març 31, 2021, 1:55 pm

>37 jjmcgaffey: Now? Soulless 2009 starts out with werewolfs. And vampires and preternaturals. I understand about her style.

39quondame
març 31, 2021, 3:15 pm

75) Revenge



A haunting tesseract of a book, each story intersects the next sometimes including it as fiction. Death by murder and accident predominate though they do not overwhelm, as it is the present in almost every story that vibrates.

Read for March TIOLI #1: Read a book of short stories (fiction) originally written in a language other than your native language

And just in time for the next quarter!

40FAMeulstee
març 31, 2021, 3:17 pm

>39 quondame: Congratulations on reaching 75, Susan!

41ronincats
març 31, 2021, 3:35 pm

A belated Happy New Thread, Susan, and congrats on hitting the 75 book mark!!

I just skimmed through the first book of the Chimera series by Cate Glass, An Illusion of Thieves. Were I in a younger age group, I probably would have loved it but I have turned into a hard-to-please curmudgeon in the last year and have difficulty getting into the difficulties of those young things. Interesting premise, though.

42drneutron
març 31, 2021, 6:15 pm

Congrats!

43Whisper1
Editat: març 31, 2021, 6:27 pm

>34 SandyAMcPherson:...I agree with you totally. When I worked in academia for 36 years, there was a member who had her master's degree, but not a Ph.D. This person liked being called "Doctor." She never corrected it.

The assistant that I hired didn't particularly like this person, so every time she answered the phone looking for "Dr."_____. She always corrected them.

She was told not to correct people looking for her. Because this was a temporary position until the student graduated, she continued to let the sparks fly.

44SandyAMcPherson
març 31, 2021, 10:13 pm

>35 quondame: Good answer. I agree esp. with the dynastic ambitions, and 'don't pressure or presume for others' part.

45SandyAMcPherson
març 31, 2021, 10:32 pm

>43 Whisper1: I love it, "she continued to let the sparks fly."
Assertiveness ~ I was never taught and arrived late and clumsily.

I suspect that's why I have a book catalogue tags like,
Strong Female characterization
Strong Female lead
Strong Female characters

These all mean slightly different aspects of the same thing and I like to discriminate the subtleties. I do certainly favour the trait.

46quondame
Editat: abr. 1, 2021, 2:07 am

Journey to the West, Volume 1



I'm not counting this as a book since I'm only a few chapters in, but it is an experience just the same. In the first few chapters we are introduced to the Monkey King who seems to have an endless supply of names, powers, and appetites. His troubled neighbors complain to the Jade Emperor in Heaven and he becomes a series of problems for Heaven and the gods of many pantheons. This is not very close to my first introduction in the movie Alakazam the Great! from before I entered High School.

You have to wonder about the Jade Emperor - almost every time he utters an order a member of his court interjects a counter proposal which is then acted upon.

I cracked this book, the first volume of 4 to
Meet March TIOLI Challenge Challenge #2: Start, and/or read at least five chapters of, a book which is a reading project for you

47quondame
abr. 1, 2021, 2:27 am

>41 ronincats: >42 drneutron: Thanks.

>43 Whisper1: >45 SandyAMcPherson: The visiting UCB faculty members who summered at the navy base where I grew up regaled our dinners with such stories of academic rivalries that I never had a hankering to join that life. Hmm, that might have had something to do with the break up with my college BF who was clearly fast tracked on that path.

48karenmarie
abr. 1, 2021, 9:56 am

Hi Susan!

>20 quondame: I’ve had a Marie Calendar’s Dutch Apple Pie in the freezer for two months now. I’ll probably bake it to celebrate our 30th anniversary later this month. In the meantime, I’m getting up the energy to make more chocolate chip cookies in time for Easter. Not a traditional Easter dessert, but oh well.

Never heard of Porto’s. I just looked online and am seriously trying to resist ordering the chocolate twists.

>25 quondame: Animal urp is just so lovely, isn’t it?

>39 quondame: Congrats on your first 75 of the year.

49richardderus
abr. 1, 2021, 2:21 pm

50johnsimpson
abr. 1, 2021, 4:02 pm

Hi Susan my dear, congrats on reaching 75 books read for the year so far. I am only 52 behind you. lol and wonder whether at the end of the year i will be 152 or 252 behind you.

51sibylline
abr. 2, 2021, 10:41 am

So glad you loved the Fermor -- What a world he passed through, not knowing it was all about to go up in flames.

52quondame
abr. 2, 2021, 5:57 pm

>48 karenmarie: Apple pie in almost any form is great! I'm more a fan of Porto's savories, but the guava-cheese is the best. Thanks.

>49 richardderus: >50 johnsimpson: Thank you Richard and John!

>51 sibylline: I may even go back for more - some day. In the mean time a friend who I told I was reading Journey to the West has sent me a wuxia novel so I can join her in reading Chinese pulp. She also sent me 2 books on Empress Wu, one of which I've read. The other is described as whitewashed fiction so I didn't dive in.

53quondame
abr. 2, 2021, 6:08 pm

76) Wishful Drinking



Though Carrie Fisher writes for laughs this is so sad. Alcohol and street drugs are among the worst things a bipolar person can indulge in and she was addicted before she had any name at all for her vulnerabilities. And seeing stills from SW IV she was so tiny but thought she looked fat because her face wasn't boned like a model's. It's hard to know how to rate such a book readable, sad, funny.

Read for April TIOLI #4: Read a book whose author's name contains the name of an animal or bird

77) The Westing Game



This excellently written well paced gimmick novel lost points with me for it's shift from sarcasm to sentimentality.

Meets April TIOLI #14: Read a book by an author whose first name starts with a vowel

54quondame
Editat: abr. 2, 2021, 7:41 pm

Mike got his J&J yesterday, so that's it for him. Becky is scheduled for vaccination, though I don't know what type on the 19th. I wonder if she'll reactivate plans to move out this year or if she has re-directed to saving up enough for a down payment. I do understand why she doesn't want to stay here where she has so little control of her surroundings (there is a steep price for a full refrigerator), but I enjoy her (and Nutmeg) here.

Also, I've been informed that we will have meatloaf and potato salad from TJ's tonight. They often catch me eating at 4-5PM and don't want me doing my own thing tonight.

Not sure if this is a BB from jnwelch or if I checked it out for March TIOLI Challenge #3.

55mahsdad
abr. 2, 2021, 6:29 pm

Happy New-ish Thread. I love the typewriter peacock. Haven't seen many of the real ones in a while, they're mostly on the PV side of the hill, but we get the occasional hen and her babies walking around the neighborhood.

56quondame
Editat: abr. 2, 2021, 7:35 pm

>55 mahsdad: Thanks!

I haven't seen the peacocks on PV. I've several friends who live in RPV and my brother's place looks south over San Pedro but mostly I don't seem much smaller than horses when I'm driving up or down those slopes.

57quondame
Editat: abr. 2, 2021, 11:05 pm

So I'm supposed to clean my toys, accumulated pretty much since my TIOLI litterature related dolls challenge last year, out of the living room - or at least enough so that we can see the dining table, sit on the love seat and put away the folding table. So I bribed myself by buying some pretty blue storage boxes at Joanns', but then I was exhausted. Then I had to finish cleaning the stove so I could put back the burner grates that I ran through the dishwasher, so Becky could fry up the meat loaf. Then I had to eat the meat loaf. Now I'm exhausted and the livingroom is still teaming with dolls. And their clothing, and their furniture. Oh yeah, this will be fun. Oh I forgot all about the stuff for making their clothing, and furniture and backgrounds.

58SandyAMcPherson
abr. 2, 2021, 11:24 pm

>57 quondame: I feel exhausted just reading your post, Susan.
Your dolls and assorted collections seem like me, with a ton of fabric in piles all over the lower level (bookcase and TV room)and my the studio
I am going to tidy up at least half, and maybe two-thirds of this textile stash to some other place, even if it all goes to a charity.

I am so fed up with a cramped studio space so I have finally decided, since I'm not going to renovate any other space into "studio", I need to pull all the neglected and never attempted projects out and just cut down. It has been exhausting, so far and I haven't even decided if selling is feasible. So many beautiful fabrics but I am definitely done with sewing clothing.

You've got the aspect of collections and display and that's a tough one to allocate to out-of-sight storage. I'm just commiserating and maybe not to any productive pov!

59quondame
Editat: abr. 3, 2021, 12:12 am

>58 SandyAMcPherson: Console yourself with the reality that I have my fabric and trim stash filling a room and a half and that the smaller lengths are 5 yards for making fitted kirtles and tunics and there are many 6-8 yard pieces for gowns and kaftans with wide wide skirts. And buttons. And buckram for stiffening bodices and metal bits for aglets and fastenings. Not to mention beading, beaded jewelry making, weaving and knitting supplies. And a walk in closet full of size 8?-20 regency and steampunk costumes I can no longer squeeze into (well maybe the coats, maybe). I am a serial crafter with weak breaks and lots of acceleration. My yarn stash is relatively small, I admit, if you don't count my 16/2 linen for band weaving, any you could call that thread if you were generous.

60SandyAMcPherson
abr. 3, 2021, 9:56 am

>59 quondame: Wowzer-oonies, Susan! I am indeed consoled.

I've also been reading instead of tidying up the clutter. Just about finished book 2 in the Harbinder Kaur series, (this is much better than book 1, IMHO). I see from my tagged books for this year, I've actually read 27 books.

I'm not reviewing all of them on my talk since I felt I was in a crabby mood (not fair on the books). I blame this blasted pandemic for a very negative-intolerant mind set. The ones I've enjoyed get an airing on Talk, though!

61quondame
abr. 3, 2021, 7:52 pm

>60 SandyAMcPherson: Not that anyone else's hoard difficulties can comfort or console you for your own, but well, we're not alone.

It's worse than I expected - I've filled up all the new boxes and there is still unsorted stuff - not much but still. And somethings I wanted all in one box are taking up two. Not to mention a box full of collapsed boxes. That should be against the laws of nature.

62quondame
Editat: abr. 3, 2021, 8:33 pm

78) The Light Years



A solid, well moving space opera/dystopian future novel with interesting takes on possible future personal choices or lack thereof. I found one of the sub-plots basically inconsistent with the set up as described and there may be a place or two where the viewpoint switches oddly.

Meets April TIOLI #6: Read a book in which someone does math or statistics

63quondame
abr. 4, 2021, 1:11 am

Recently a woman from my home town, a year or so ahead of me in high school, got in touch with me to alert me to the probable tear down of the craftsman house 2 blocks from campus we had both spent time in when we went to UC Berkeley. And that she was collecting facts and anecdotes for an article about the house.
Her sister who was my age also lived there a while and we kept in touch for some years. I was living there with my first significant boyfriend with whom I broke up shortly before my graduation, and memories of those times have always evoked strong emotions that seem strange after 50 years, lots of other boyfriends, a couple of whom I was with longer, and a 33 year marriage.
So I thought about it and my current conclusion is that while I was very attached to him I couldn't be in control of my own life if I succeeded in staying with him. I wouldn't have had a clue that that was the case at the time and there was likely one very good entirely different reason for me to get out of that relationship, but that one it only took me a couple of decades to figure out. Right now I'm feeling a lot calmer about the whole interaction from the past than I was when it first came up. But who knows, if I live another 20 years I'll probably come up with an entirely new take. But I sure do like to feel in control of my life. And am pretty happy to let other people control theirs as long as they don't try to push me out of my comfy chair.

64quondame
Editat: abr. 4, 2021, 3:59 pm

I ate my last hoarded maple cream chocolate egg this morning just in time to get guilted for not providing for the whole family, i.e. Mike. I said that I had left 5 eggs on the table when I first purchased them, but since I told Becky she could have them she assumed they were all for her. That was some weeks ago and it wasn't like they all disappeared in a day.

We were rhubarbed. Last night my brother Eric and his wife Chris brought dinner from our favorite restaurant - they were delayed about an hour because the kitchen was in upheaval - the owner had died and the cousins brought in were not quite up for a Saturday rush. It's so sad and I hope they can stay in business, but restaurants are so precarious. I would very much miss all that tart Bosnian food. As dessert they brought a pastry from their favorite bakery - we eat outdoors so none of us could make out what we were first told was apple then berry crumble crust pastry - then after I was relating the rhubarb is not a berry bit I saw what was unmistakably rhubarb on my fork. It was pretty good pastry, but I still think almost anything makes a better filling than rhubarb.

I'm still sore from packing up my toys and crafts - lots (12-15) of those big Joann's flip top storage boxes, mostly XL & L with a few M and other random heavy paperboard boxes. Each one has a post it label which will fall off and require me to open all of them before finding what I'm looking for and in a month I'll have forgotten about 90% of what's in them.

65SandyAMcPherson
abr. 4, 2021, 4:08 pm

>63 quondame: And the house? Did you have 'anecdotes'? (it nagged at me, that we didn't find out what a "house anecdote" entailed).

Interesting to read your saying this (about how the house sparked all those old memories of your past romances). I liked the idea of a perspective on thoughts, especially àpropos of my recent tidying up:
In pulling bins out of storage cubby holes, I came across a couple Xerox boxes of family papers and photos related to my parents time, early 1920's to 1950's material. I was really meaning to concentrate on fabric stash bashing, as you know (#58).

Nothing worse than having carted this estate stuff to my house when we had to clean out my father's home in short order (we didn't live in the same province). The place needed to be listed and sold to settle the estate. Understandably, I had no mental/emotional energy to make any decisions. Too easy to shove everything away and "I'll do it later".

Perspective on the past needs "a long-time passing (🎼 🎶 🎵)" as the song goes...
There's an old canard about "When the past calls, don't answer. It has nothing new to say."
I have come to dispute that and you've accurately put it into words: about feeling calmer over whatever scenarios we all suffer through long ago. I'm convinced that I need to shed those old memories: too much needless remorse and/or guilt down through the years.

I have also "come up with an entirely new take" on these evocative memories, especially the strongly unpleasant or traumatic ones. I believe as the emotional hold fades, one can mentally review the past again and process the interactions with a stronger perspective. I now understand time (age) can bring this outlook. So, while the past "has nothing new to say", we have every ability to re-interpret it and shelve the whole business, for another 20 or 30 years, anyway. But I also discovered that what was holding up my development was some kind of need to 'grow away' from the very strong bonds that connected me to all this nostalgia. How weird that it took me the best part of 30 years to arrive there!

A long chatter. Thanks for sharing the philosophy.

66quondame
abr. 5, 2021, 12:07 am

>65 SandyAMcPherson: Well, the house was a big old brown shingled place, with a large apartment completely separated on south of the first floor, and a double parlor on the north of the entrance hall with the kitchen behind the parlor and the dinning room behind the stairs. You'd often have to step over the great dane Kahn on the stair landing. There were six bedrooms on the second floor, one shared bathroom and one private one in that was attached to the largest SE bedroom. Richard, who cooked for board the years I hung out there lived in a small room on the east and John and I mostly shared the NE second largest room, well he was there at almost a year at the least before I showed up and probably at least that long after I left. A pleasant bedroom on the NE was on the other side of the shared bathroom - I rented it separately after I broke up with John or maybe for the year though, well, it was the 60s, who remembers! The central west bedroom was pretty tiny, and for sure I remember renting it on my own dime for the summer of 70. The SE bedroom was also small, though that is calculation because I have no memory of it and probably wasn't friendly with whoever was renting it. In the attic were three more rooms, one of which was usually rented as well, one which I stayed in for a couple of weeks later on to finish an incomplete class for my math major. I'd kind of gone to pieces after graduation and left a few messes behind that needed tidying. The third top room was used for storage while I was there.
The radicals who lived at the house called it a boarding house, the more conventional a commune.

My two house anecdotes were:

One story is the night we didn’t go to Altamont. I’m pretty sure that by the time the group I was with had just about decided to go, one or more of those who had already left came back saying the route was too clogged to make progress and we all stayed home and learned that we’d been lucky.

And although I wasn’t even living adjacent to Walnut house in April of 1969, I believe that John M may have been in the group from the physics department that got herded into Sproul Plaza to get gassed - the cops had stepped between me and the others and diverted me south outside the cordon so I headed up to the Physics buildings and was standing on the roof of the bridge between them when the helicopters came from the east and we saw the first plumes of gas come from them.
I don’t think that it was safe to open a book in a Telegraph Ave. bookshop for the rest of my stay at Berkeley because those gas fumes lingered. (I tell this story fairly often and am pretty sure I've done so at least once on LT)

So today, John posted to the group page about planting the poplar trees that still stand in the tiny bit of ground in front of it. And about Bruce, the older bachelor who lived there with his electric trains runing over stacks of newspapers who eventually got the perfect job at Berkeley Hardware just catty-corner across the street at the intersection of Walnut and University.

So much for having reached equanimity. I certainly noticed. Life is ever so amusing.

67quondame
Editat: abr. 5, 2021, 5:51 pm

79) Humiliation



Stories of deprivation - of money, of opportunity, of vision, of resources of all kinds, glimpses of living in the backwaters of society, of people who make hardly a ripple in the lives of other, or who don't even seem to hold tightly to their own lives. Almost nothing is resolved whatever is revealed.

Meets April TIOLI #8: Rolling Challenge - Based on the Number of Words in the Title

68quondame
Editat: abr. 10, 2021, 5:36 pm

80) Ruby Red



Lively YA involuntary time travel - but controllable with unique device - series introduction. The dangerous very limited family specific ability has alway been in the background of Gwyneth's life but when is strikes her everything changes. And she would be wise not to trust anyone, especially herself!

Meets April TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a book whose title includes a woman's name

69quondame
Editat: abr. 8, 2021, 12:11 am

81) Queen City Jazz



Published a year before The Diamond Age this explores a seed mode of nano-based materialism infusing a mental programing throughout the Queen City. It is a fascinating "trip" through a technological dream/nightmare, and if the very structure of what is being relayed prevents it from being relayed smoothly, still there is enough scenery to squeeze you through to the end. And if you are a jazz loving American lit fan, well there's a bit more.

Meets April TIOLI #8: Rolling Challenge - Based on the Number of Words in the Title

Not a direct BB but richardderus brought the author to my attention.

70PaulCranswick
abr. 7, 2021, 2:42 am

I have gotten a bit behind Susan. Congratulations for making it a first quarter 75!

Interested to see that you gave the first couple of Vaseem Khan books a go and slightly worried that the results were so uninspiring.

71quondame
abr. 7, 2021, 3:09 am

>70 PaulCranswick: The books are sort of fun, but don't make a lot of sense.

72quondame
Editat: abr. 7, 2021, 10:09 pm

It's clearly time for another puppy picture. Gertie shows up at about 3 times her relative size due to foreground - Nutmeg is easily 3 times Gertie's size.



Today both Nutmeg and Becky got their shots - Nutmeg the Rabies etc, Becky the J&J after hearing about openings about 40 min away.

73quondame
Editat: abr. 10, 2021, 5:32 pm

82) The Citadel of Weeping Pearls



A war is brewing, a scientist disappears from her laboratory, a general with the Empress's favor but otherwise despised at court investigates the what connection the disappearance has with the long lost exiled daughter of the Empress who had or was a terrible weapon. The feeling come across as real but this can only be a fragment in search of a whole.

Meets April TIOLI Challenge #15: Read a book where the title has an odd number of words

83) The Housekeeper and the Professor



Is this a thin human story covering a corpus of mathematics, or are mathematics the truly unique human achievement among our common stories.

Meets April TIOLI Challenge #6: Read a book in which someone does math or statistics

Mentioned by swynn in a group of books, all of which I have now read.

74quondame
Editat: abr. 10, 2021, 5:32 pm

84) The Truth About Stories



The written version of a series of broadcasts, all but the ultimate chapter which is unique to the book, begin with turtles all the way down and end with the reminder that you have taken on the burden of the chapter's truth -
"Just don't say in the years to come that you would have lived your life differently if only you had heard this story.
You've heard it now."
Some Native American stories, some biographical tales, some horror stories of what North American Europeans have done to, stolen from, made of, Native Americans - and are still busy doing, or not. No sweet nobility here, as his final chapter nails home, Thomas King knows how hollow our ethics are from the inside, as he has lived by them as well as beside them.

Meets April TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book with one of true, useful or kind or a synonym in the title or author's name

75richardderus
abr. 8, 2021, 5:35 pm

>69 quondame: Oh good! ...how did I do that again...?

>74 quondame: He's such a terrific wordsmith, ain't he.

76quondame
Editat: abr. 8, 2021, 8:07 pm

>75 richardderus: You let me know when she died. Yes, he is.

77quondame
abr. 8, 2021, 9:06 pm

This means trouble right here in Westside Villiage!
(that is if one of the 3 local TJs carry them)

78jjmcgaffey
abr. 9, 2021, 3:08 am

>77 quondame: oh my. I'll have to look for those at our TJs...

79SandyAMcPherson
Editat: abr. 9, 2021, 12:08 pm

>74 quondame: I *adore* Tom King. This is one of the best examples of his work.
I'm so pleased you recognized how his experience fits into the "Indian" persona ~ No sweet nobility here.

80RebaRelishesReading
abr. 9, 2021, 12:09 pm

>77 quondame: Oh dear, I'm so sorry I know that!

81quondame
abr. 9, 2021, 2:52 pm

Mike is off to replace the microwave. Last night it died, and this morning after a brief resurrection it stopped in midzap. This is not something we can easily do without, weak creatures that we are. I hope he's back here with a new one before it's time to zap my midday beverage.

82richardderus
abr. 9, 2021, 3:16 pm

>77 quondame: Oh yum! And even better: The TJ's is too far for me to get to!

>81 quondame: Thank goodness it's a trivial matter for you to get a new one.

83quondame
Editat: abr. 10, 2021, 5:28 pm

>81 quondame: It's trivial for Mike to get one. I can't carry that sort of weight. There are compensations for sharing space with other humans.
As for the cost, well, I do enjoy a comfortable middle class life, and Mike, whose parents were not able to build on the prosperity generated by their parents, enjoys it quite as much, but still throws it in my face. There are disadvantages of sharing space with other humans.

84quondame
Editat: abr. 10, 2021, 6:41 pm

85) Cumin, Camels, and Caravans: A Spice Odyssey



There is a lot of interesting anecdotes about spices, their history, and uses, but this is not at all a rigorous study, but a very idiosyncratic view which excludes about the same number of facts as it includes and includes complete speculation as fact.

I got this because of the subject but it has so many issues I only completed it because it
Meets April TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book with a title containing at least 3 words that start with the same letter

BTW it also amply meets: April TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a book with an epilogue which includes a word from the title as Cumin, Camels and Caravans are all used in the Epilogue.

Rants - I spent the two days reading this book ranting to myself, my husband, my daughter and SandyAMcPherson, who at least had the context to know what I was talking about.

Rant 1:
I'm reading Cumin, Camels, and Caravans and while it is full of interesting information and stories, it's driving me bats! Nabhan refers to Istanbul as Byzantine when it was Constantinople/Roman and now that I've reached the sections about the 16th century he's calling it Constantinople when it is properly Istanbul. He entirely left out the Mongols and seems way obsessed with crypto-Jews. And while I'm generally OK with self-insertion in investigative travelogues, his mostly bothers me. Also, I'm not sold that wide ranging trading empires and monopolies are at all the same thing as globalization. An element, of course, but a boat isn't the fleet.
Oh, and so far he makes very cursory mention of dye stuffs, mostly just saffron, which were really big trade items and closely paralleled spices.
On the third hand, some of my favorite historical authors could have used his details to make great characters, backgrounds and adventures even.

After SandyAMcPherson pointed me to a more nuanced use of Byzantine/Constantinople/Istanbul/Stanbul

Rant 2:
Maybe I should give him a pass on the Constantinople/Istanbul naming, but not to mention the plague or the Mongol trade network seems myopic. As a person of mixed ancestry, I've cousins who didn't know they had Jewish ancestors before Ancestry.com and others who remained orthodox Jews. I suspect that all those who went to the Americas from the Iberian peninsula in the early 16th century had similar dietary tastes which persisted while the customs of the homelands changed. After all, before the 16th century, the Spaniards were known for culinary skills in Italy. After that they used their new world wealth to rule as much of Italy (and every where else) as they could and the Italians took over being the fount of European food sophistication.
I like Nabhan's storytelling as long as he is focused on what's right in front of him, but when he gets to context or speculation, his agenda trips him up. Also he is very sloppy with dates and needed a obsessive editor.

All New, additional for this edition only
Rant 3:
Nabhan takes the presence of ✡ as proof of Jews living and trading in north Africa well before it was adopted in the 19th century as a religious symbol for Jews. Yes, it was used decoratively, but not necessarily as a sign. It may hint, but by no means proves. And discusses China without mentioning Confucianism, seeming to assume Buddhism was the primary "state" religion, when the situation was ever so much more interesting.

Oh, and this book came up in the context of culinary cultural imperialism, mentioned by SandyAMcPherson

85SandyAMcPherson
abr. 10, 2021, 8:56 pm

>84 quondame: Love Susan's rants here. And I agree that Nabhan is ridiculously prone to writing speculatively as if his comments are backed by credible observations and underlying scholarly research.

This style of writing was especially evident in Food, Genes, and Culture: Eating Right for Your Origins. I was rather cross with Nabhan's altogether too speculative points of view. Without any credible research citations to support the premise in his book, I think his style is to write provocatively and that only harms any belief in what may be a worthy topic to explore.

Just to clarify some "Sandy McPherson" links which Susan used above:
I would like to make the urls more specific, if I may ~

Clicky Rant 1, is referring to this comment and my reply over on my thread (in case that's of interest).

Clicky Rant 2: is where I pointed to a summary of the confusing (to me, anyway) use of the history in naming Constantinople and renaming this city Istanbul.

Clicky 3: In the context of culinary cultural imperialism, this conversation began on Jim's (drneutron) thread.

86quondame
abr. 10, 2021, 9:07 pm

>85 SandyAMcPherson: Well, I think I'll avoid any more by Nabhan, otherwise I'd be in danger of wearing out my keyboard.

87SandyAMcPherson
Editat: abr. 10, 2021, 9:13 pm

>86 quondame: He just plain wears out my patience. I didn't even bother reviewing the "Food, Genes, and Culture" book. Still, I did enjoy the recipe anecdotes in C C and C. And it was an interesting discussion on Jim's thread, hey?

88quondame
Editat: abr. 12, 2021, 1:05 am

I got a Flippy today! An anniversary (34) present. We enjoyed an excellent meal from the local upscale Mexican restaurant. Mike finally got the Mole he was craving. I'm sort of ashamed I hadn't thought to order from them earlier in the pandemic. There food is always so good, but I think the menu must be more subject to change than any other place I go to, but then I went there less frequently than the restaurants on my regular rotation. At this time about 1/3 of the menu is vegan/vegetarian. I didn't get a chili relleno this time, but now that I know it's on the menu, I'll be back much sooner.
Becky peopled yesterday and is exhausted. She has set up a schedule to slowly get back into peopling.

89SandyAMcPherson
abr. 12, 2021, 9:16 am

>88 quondame: Peopled, peopling ...?

Happy anniversary, btw. Have fun with your Flippy. I never saw one of these before.

90karenmarie
abr. 12, 2021, 10:41 am

Hi Susan!

>54 quondame: Congrats on Mike’s J&J, ditto for Becky’s mystery brand vaccine on the 19th. We didn’t know what we would be getting at our appointments – just showed up and were grateful.

>63 quondame: Very nice to get some good perspective on your first significant boyfriend. Control of one’s own life is so important and I can see why you would have broken up with him even if you didn’t realize the true reason at the time. I broke up with my first significant boyfriend because of my awareness that his drinking problem was going to lead to alcoholism and having an alcoholic mother made me not want to deal with it any more, ever. I also did the breaking up with every other boyfriend ever. Control is empowering.

>64 quondame: I’ve still got a unopened package of Peeps. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they represent Easter to me, along with See’s Jelly Bird Eggs. Don’t internalize the guilt!

>66 quondame: Not going to Altamont was a good thing. I love the other anecdotes, too.

>72 quondame: Yay for the daughter and puppies pic. Also good to hear that Becky got the J&J earlier than the 19th.

>77 quondame: Thank goodness the closest TJs is 25+ miles away, otherwise I'd be in serious trouble, especially with a full-sized freezer in the garage.

>83 quondame: Yay for male housemates. Bill got the 50-lb and 40-lb bags of birdseed out of the back of my SUV the other day. I can drag them to the metal trash cans and scoop out enough seed and then dump the rest in. And boo for male housemates, too, of course. The hardest part of getting married almost 30 years ago was always having someone else around. Still is, for that matter.

>84 quondame: I’m reading it right now, slowly, based on Sandy’s recommendation. We’ll see if I finish it based on your 2.5 stars.

>88 quondame: Way cool, and congrats on your 34th anniversary. Poor Becky and peopling. The pandemic has been horrific but also a boon to introverts.

91SandyAMcPherson
Editat: abr. 12, 2021, 10:54 am

>90 karenmarie: >84 quondame:, "based on Sandy’s recommendation"

Uh-oh... hope you read my caveats >85 SandyAMcPherson:... and here.

92karenmarie
abr. 12, 2021, 10:55 am

Sandy - not to worry. My choice to get a book, and my choice to continue reading it or not. Please do not worry about this at all. It's how things go here on LT. If I like it great, if I don't, oh well.

93SandyAMcPherson
abr. 12, 2021, 11:23 am

>92 karenmarie: *whew*!
Thanks, Karen. I read some out of the way titles and then have a mini-enthusiasm about one aspect. I hate to be influential, especially if someone buys a book I was excited about, and it tanks.

94quondame
abr. 12, 2021, 6:10 pm

>89 SandyAMcPherson: People (v.) - to be in the physical presence of human beings for social purposes.
Peopled - past tense of to people, peopling - gerund of same

>90 karenmarie: Good to see you here! And I'm flattered that you actually had attention for the local antics.

95quondame
Editat: abr. 12, 2021, 9:53 pm

86) The Way of All Flesh



The authors took an interesting period and local and used them with all the finesse of a ham bone. The fictional characters are not likable with better than their times internal monologues and for all Edinburgh seems fascinating outside of this story, they have managed to completely miss adding any of that to this book. I'm dinging a half star because they wasted good materials in the making of this mess.

Meets April TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book with a title word or author name beginning with a letter in "April"

I didn't like it near as much as SandyAMcPherson indicates she did.

96richardderus
abr. 12, 2021, 8:54 pm

That's a very cool Flippy! I considered one before my pillow was purchased.

The Way of All Flesh still reminds me of a porn-movie title.

97ronincats
abr. 12, 2021, 9:42 pm

I got a Flippy for Christmas--love it for my Fire or my Kindle while lying in bed!

98quondame
abr. 13, 2021, 2:58 pm

>96 richardderus: >97 ronincats: I've only used it a bit so far. But I've a couple of Overdrive only books in my queue and I expect it to help with the weight of the iPad.

99quondame
abr. 13, 2021, 3:00 pm

87) Difficult Women



A bouquet of artichoke blossoms in every stage of maturity and preparation. All spiky. Each offering different rewards and perils.

Meets April TIOLI Challenge #8: Rolling Challenge - Based on the Number of Words in the Title

100MickyFine
abr. 13, 2021, 3:39 pm

>99 quondame: That's a perfect description, Susan.

101quondame
Editat: abr. 14, 2021, 4:24 pm

In an effort to get through books I've checked out from the library before they are due in I'm reading Ex Libris. Michiko Kakutani includes Peripheral of which I can remember zilch and does not include The Dispossessed, which forfeited my trust. Her pocket reviews are interesting enough, and some of her choices are easily understood, if not shared, but really - and she includes Eggers who I understand is not a universal favorite.

102jjmcgaffey
abr. 14, 2021, 1:02 am

My dad has one - not Flippy brand but the same thing. It does seem neat.

103karenmarie
abr. 14, 2021, 8:36 am

>99 quondame: I still haven’t read Bad Feminist yet, which stares balefully from my shelves periodically. As always, I love your pithy comments.

104quondame
abr. 14, 2021, 11:07 pm

>102 jjmcgaffey: And it has pocket!

>103 karenmarie: Thanks!

105quondame
abr. 14, 2021, 11:28 pm

88) Ex Libris



Kakutani presents a heavily filtered selection of books, novels, memoirs political discussions, history, very heavily weighted toward the 21st century, with regular call outs against DT(45). Her biggest dud is a lame attempt at verse in tribute to Dr. Seuss. Her aim seems to be educating on current social political and some technical issues in our current mess.

Unless I can find somewhere else to place it
Meets April TIOLI Challenge #8: Rolling Challenge - Based on the Number of Words in the Title

I listed out the books by date and over half are 2000 or later.

4 are pre-19th century,
11 are 19th century,
3 1st quarter 20th
8 2nd quarter 20th
15 3rd quarter 20th
29 4th quarter 20th
54 21st century

These numbers aren't exact and she did more than one book per chapter up to 7 (Harry Potter), where I've only used 1st & last dates.

106quondame
abr. 15, 2021, 7:34 pm

Bad news, good news, some news. Life is really pretty calm and uneventful in my house. Dogs may make messes, tempers may flair, accidents happen from time to time, and the dolls and comics just keep coming in, an occasional physical book makes it's way into the house to be piled or shelved since there's rarely a hurry to read or even consult something we own.
Well today I woke up early with the heartburn I'd gone to sleep with. That was unpleasant and it's still lingering a bit or may it's just that the damage is still uncomfortable if not ongoing. But the side effect wasn't so bad.
I woke with a strange little dark story complete with tiny twist pretty much fully realized. So that was good. I've got the first part written down.
Then I had to clean off my dresser, which has been accumulating, as horizontal surfaces are doomed to, for maybe 3 times the length of the pandemic. Or more. But the blinds need to be replaced and the measurements were to be taken today. So now the dusted piles of all sorts of accumulations are sitting on my bed and there will be no rest until they have been shifted elsewhere. This has to happen again for the "official measuring," (today was just for the quote) and yet again for installation.
Oh well, we're all vaccinated and should be ready to face a slim segment of the world again, right?

107bell7
abr. 15, 2021, 8:08 pm

A very belated congrats on blowing past 75, Susan! Glad to hear you're all vaccinated - I managed to get my first Pfizer shot at a drop-in clinic today, so in a mere five weeks I will be fully vaccinated as well. Phew!

Hope your heartburn goes away. How cool about your short story idea! Do you write a lot? (I used to when I was a kid, but was never disciplined enough to really keep it going)

108quondame
abr. 15, 2021, 8:47 pm

>107 bell7: I write very little. I have characters that have lived in my head for decades, but I don't have any belief in the sorts of conflicts that drive most of the books I read. No dystopias to be destroyed, no lovers who find 853 reasons not to just jump in bed, no detectives that can't say no to a drink or treat those around them with reasonable politeness, no prophesied quest needing to be carried out by a young farm boy who turns out to be the rightful heir.
Those are just not me, and who wants to read about a truly really nice guy whose mother has issues with tall people like him and who is having a hard time satisfying himself and his lover?

109quondame
abr. 16, 2021, 1:57 am

89) Race to the Sun



A current adventure using the Navajo Monsterslayer story, this book is OK, but not particularly true emotionally, as it seems what was in fact the case, written to order.

Meets April TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book whose author's name contains the name of an animal or bird

110quondame
Editat: abr. 16, 2021, 6:21 pm

A new Penric novel, The Assassins of Thasalon is getting ready for publication when Lois McMaster Bujold has finished revising it!

111richardderus
abr. 16, 2021, 7:56 pm

News. Yeah, that's the ticket, news! Takes the musty funk of Kakutani's misfire out of your brain, at least, and new blinds can not but help, can they?

Happy weekend's reads!

112figsfromthistle
abr. 17, 2021, 9:41 pm

De lurking to say hello!

Congrats on reading 89 books so far! Wow!

113karenmarie
abr. 18, 2021, 9:09 am

>106 quondame: Sorry about the heartburn, but glad to hear about new blinds. I didn’t know you wrote – nice to wake up with a story complete. And yay, of course, for all three of you being fully vaccinated.

>108 quondame: That story sounds intriguing, actually.

114quondame
Editat: abr. 18, 2021, 4:15 pm

>111 richardderus: No actual funk, different opinions and agendas aren't actually offensive, mostly.

>112 figsfromthistle: Thank you!

>113 karenmarie: The medication has kept the GERD under such good control that I mostly forget about it. And usually I'm smart enough to notice a warning twinge, take the medication early and keep loading up on water, but I didn't.

I know a fair number of writers and what they do is write quite a lot and research almost as much, and I write only when it is very very easy and never very much. But I make up scenes pretty much all the time, sometimes in the middle of reading if I'm not totally caught up in the flow and something pulls at me to be done differently or aligns with one of my interior-novellas.

Why thank you. My privileged young man goes back to my earliest writing though he's collected an entirely different mileu and set of challenges over decades.

115quondame
abr. 18, 2021, 4:20 pm

90) Spider in a Tree



The characters in this book have almost no other language to describe their interior life than that of the fundamentalist religion of the community and all is seen in shades of sin and grace and openness to god. In a demanding northern landscape offering sparse entertainments religion is it. And it is presented quite organically and believably with out requiring belief or empathy from the reader. An excellent historical in that, for me, it presented a truly different mental landscape, though that might not be the case for a reader who came from a conservative Christian sect. The author does hit some false historical notes on costume, but that's my thing.

Read for first half of April TIOLI Challenge #17: Read a book or two with a shared title word

BB from richardderus
And yes, I appreciated the sensory bits too.

116quondame
Editat: abr. 19, 2021, 1:15 am

91) When Beauty Tamed the Beast



Good as long as it keeps to the silly bantering and the light erotic bits, it's not up to the heavy relationship damages at it's edges.

Read for April TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a book with an epilogue which includes a word from the title

117quondame
Editat: abr. 19, 2021, 1:16 am

92) The Gate that Locks the Tree



Of cats and cabs and why weather forecasts are a good idea but would get in the way of stories.
If you like your Liaden™️ cute at 11, it's here.

Re-Read for second half of April TIOLI Challenge #17: Read a book or two with a shared title word

118quondame
abr. 19, 2021, 9:47 pm

Today doesn't fit right. I woke up late with a tender throat and by the time I was outside of some coffee, a low grade headache had settled in. I'm avoiding pain relievers while my stomach heals from the latest GERD attack.
I did manage to go pick up the library books I'd scheduled and stop at the local India Sweets&Spices for samosa and chana masala and such, but even a tasty meal hasn't improved the day. The Santa Ana wind is the likely culprit. But it doesn't usually muck me up so badly.

119figsfromthistle
abr. 19, 2021, 9:50 pm

>118 quondame: Oh No! Hope you feel better soon.

120quondame
abr. 20, 2021, 9:24 pm

93) A Kingdom for a Stage



This suffers from middle book syndrome and there's no guarantee that the conclusion of the trilogy improves. We know the world and the characters are dealing with the consequences of their vol. 1 deeds and well, they aren't nearly as interesting.

Meets second half of April TIOLI Challenge #18: After sharing Madeleines and coffee, use a dishwasher

121quondame
Editat: abr. 20, 2021, 11:55 pm

>119 figsfromthistle: I am feeling better and today has a little more room in it, thank you.

122quondame
abr. 20, 2021, 11:58 pm

94) Night Sky with Exit Wounds



I read every word but understand only a shattered world of painful shards of cut and held connections and a constant imagery of grenades and their potential to destroy.

Read for April TIOLI Challenge #16: Read a collection of poetry by an author who also writes prose

123quondame
abr. 21, 2021, 6:28 pm

I just picked up The Baroque Cycle, all three volumes, at Amazon for $2.99. With all the flaws and charms usual to a Stephenson romp, but longer.

124msf59
abr. 21, 2021, 7:23 pm

I also loved Night Sky with Exit Wounds, Susan. I like your description too.

125bell7
abr. 21, 2021, 8:08 pm

>122 quondame: I recently finished that book too, Susan, and I think your description is pitch-perfect.

126richardderus
abr. 21, 2021, 8:33 pm

>123 quondame: For my sins, I succumbed to the same come-on. I read them in the Aughties. I remember the sensation of being immersed in a deep pool of World, like always with Stephenson.

I hope to live long enough for the mood to strike and them to make it to the top of the Kindle.

127quondame
Editat: abr. 22, 2021, 3:44 pm

>124 msf59: >125 bell7: Thank you. Everything else seemed framed in opaque metaphor.

>126 richardderus: He can be absorbing, and then there's the WTF was that when you surface.

Mike really needs to find a job, his rapidly approaching 65th birthday not withstanding. He has purchased a new stove & hood, a new drier and just today Becky's first words of the morning were "He bought a couch from Costco without even testing it!" And of course, the bedroom blinds that I mentioned earlier. Really, it seems a bit much.
Meanwhile, one of my refunds for returned purchases seemed to have been lost between the vendor's bank and my credit card account. What fun. Oh, and Nutmeg tore a strip of my pink sheerling slipper. I'll try and reattach if I can find my glovers' needles.

128quondame
Editat: abr. 22, 2021, 4:54 pm

95) The Cage of Zeus



I hope this is a poor translation because the language in both dialog and description is clunky and unnatural. The hack job of plotting is all the author's though, who has clumsily injected a very poor terrorist plot into a potentially interesting situation. The characterization isn't good enough to make full use of the potential of a bigender community living within a standard heterosexual base, though it's a tad, but only a tad, better than 1960s era SF.

Read because Sayuri Ueda is a woman, Japanese SF author (and it was coming due) it
Meets April TIOLI Challenge #18: After sharing Madeleines and coffee, use a dishwasher

129quondame
abr. 22, 2021, 8:45 pm

Ackk! Mike has brought home new speakers! And his taste in speakers is pretty high priced, not in the 6 figure range, but it has been known to approach 5 figures. Also our bedroom is right above where he's putting the speakers, so I can probably expect to feel tonight's movie.

130richardderus
abr. 22, 2021, 9:08 pm

>129 quondame: What the heck!! Find the man some useful work before he starts buying Tang Dynasty porcelains!

131quondame
abr. 22, 2021, 9:42 pm

>130 richardderus: Exactly! The company my daughter works at lost it's network admin person but she's been hesitant to mention him to her bosses. She may have to make a choice between working with (not really) her dad or living with a mother who's being driven to distraction. He can be a bit crusty, but he's a really good network admin person.

132quondame
abr. 23, 2021, 4:20 pm

96) Artemis



OK, this isn't bad, but as moving parts Andy Weir's handling of people does not compare to his handling of hardware and orbits, and if you can't believe the human elements in what is essentially a caper tale, then the machine won't run. And the snark girl in space has better entries.

Read for April TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a book whose spine contains either the full author's name and/or the full title (indicate which) in white letters on a black background

133quondame
abr. 23, 2021, 4:23 pm

>129 quondame: >130 richardderus: >131 quondame:

In his own words of FB!

"My wife and daughter think I've gone off the rails.
We've lived in our house for 22+ years.
Within the last two years I've bought the following
1) Replaced the 30 year old roof.
2) Replaced the air conditioning and heating. The AC had a coolant leak, which meant it had to be recharged once a year. The coolant in the old unit is now banned.
3) New 28 cubic foot refrigerator, which arrived one week before the Covid lock down. The old fridge had a broken ice maker and the freezer drip spout kept icing over, causing water to overflow the drip pan.
4) New, bigger clothes dryer, arrived this week. The bearings in the old one were starting to wear out.
5) New stove and range hood, arriving beginning of June. We all hate the current stove; the oven door doesn't close reliably and we have to use matches to light the front burners. New stove has a 22,000 BTU front burner.
6) Solar Panels. Will be hooked up to LA DWP on May 3rd.
7) Two Tesla power wall battery back up units to work with the Solar Panels. We've had several long blackouts in the last couple of years, which has made it hard to work from home. On back order. Hopefully should be installed by late summer.
😎 New 4k 77" OLED TV. Including new amplifier and UHD disc player. Bought last July when I was having cabin fever from the home quarantine.
9) New B&W 802 D3 speakers and matching center channel speaker. Arriving today. These models were just discontinued; the new models are coming out in July, so BestBuy was selling their demo units at 25% off. I saved over $8k.
Ok the last one was probably related to a middle/pre-old-fart age crisis.
On the other hand everything was paid for using money that was saved up. No loans were taken out for anything.
"

134SandyAMcPherson
abr. 24, 2021, 11:34 am

>133 quondame: O-M-G, I melted over that last item. How could home speakers even "cost 8K"? No don't tell me. My hearing wouldn't be acute enough to detect the need for such quality.

>130 richardderus: Good point.

135quondame
abr. 24, 2021, 1:05 pm

>130 richardderus: >134 SandyAMcPherson: And he left off 1) The Purple mattress, 2) My new powered reading chair and 3) the new bedroom blinds. 1) & 2) would seem to be my responsibility, but I swear I was the excuse, though quite a willing one.
Well, he did send his resume in to Becky's company though not in any way that will bring it to the sort of positively prejudiced eyes that should increase his chances.

136karenmarie
abr. 24, 2021, 1:27 pm

Wow. 77" 4K OLED TV (ours is only 65"). Even my husband would never have spent $20-$30K for speakers. Ever. And it's way too bad that our bedroom is right above where he's putting the speakers, so I can probably expect to feel tonight's movie.

I feel for you, truly I do.

137quondame
abr. 24, 2021, 1:47 pm

>136 karenmarie: I'm really quite a happy clam, though how persistent that will be, well those things that are certain in life aren't generally the ones we want to deal with today.
And he complains about the speaker I have under my desk that vibrates the ceiling when I'm playing a video on my Mac!

138richardderus
abr. 24, 2021, 2:01 pm

>133 quondame: ...I...do not even know what to say.

Maybe if you show up at Becky's company and spread out your book, your sewing project, your crafting project, and a minimum of three electronic devices humming, beeping, and vibrating loudly, she'll get the message?

139quondame
abr. 24, 2021, 2:10 pm

>138 richardderus: She works two doors down the hall from me. I still have to FB message her if she doesn't drop Nutmeg on me to watch while she takes a bathroom break.

140quondame
abr. 24, 2021, 2:12 pm

96) Swallows and Amazons



This is not my thing. Something in the telling annoyed me and siblings that get along frictionlesly are so beyond my ability to imagine that I was kept at a further emotional distance. Susan's assumed assumption of all cooking chores and the basic we're explorers, everyone else is natives speaks to a long history of colonialism.

Read for April TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book from the “Elevenses” list found on LibraryThing

141figsfromthistle
abr. 24, 2021, 7:07 pm

>132 quondame: Sorry to hear that that one did not work for you. Heres hoping that your next read will e spectacular.

142quondame
abr. 24, 2021, 10:06 pm

>141 figsfromthistle: It happen. Thanks for the good wishes.

143quondame
Editat: abr. 24, 2021, 10:19 pm

97) Fairs' Point



Many of Astreiant's citizens have extended credit to the failed claimant to an estate and when his possessions are redistributed Phillip Ellsingen gets one of his dogs just in time to have it entered in the yearly dog races. Meanwhile there are disappearances and thefts plaguing the merchants and bookies at the races, and though it's outside his Points jurisdiction Rathe gets deeply involved. Steady action and good characters and interactions.

Re-Read for April TIOLI Challenge #11: Read a book listed for an award or on a recommended list to improve representation

144SandyAMcPherson
abr. 25, 2021, 11:26 am

>140 quondame: I didn't care for the story either. I hadn't read it until I was looking at reviews of books by Ransome. It was never a childhood read in my family.

I didn't add it to my LT catalogue since it was unrealistically 'idealized childhood' and falls into 'British Empire' literature, a category of which I am generally rather leery.

Such novels date to a certain era which rankles those in countries trying (some successfully) to throw off that Euro-centric yoke. I would never read it to children nowadays but can understand nostalgia for the stories we heard as children. The Enid Blyton stories I loved in my early-reading life, re-read before culling from my 'nostalgia' bookshelf, is rather appalling.

145richardderus
abr. 25, 2021, 12:43 pm

...closing in on triple digits...

146SandDune
Editat: abr. 25, 2021, 4:08 pm

>140 quondame: I think I have a slightly different view of Swallows and Amazons. I think judging it as a book of its time it holds up well. Yes, Susan does the cooking, but the Amazons are both girls and are seen as equal to the Swallows in their abilities. The language reflects how children would have played at the time, but I don’t think Ransome was pushing a British imperialist agenda. His personal life was apparently quite different from what you might expect. He was apparently close to the leaders of the Russian revolution, so much so that he was suspected by MI5 of being a Russian agent. His second wife, a Russian, had been the personal secretary to Trotsky, and was later apparently involved in diamond smuggling to Paris to help the communist cause.

147quondame
abr. 25, 2021, 5:34 pm

>144 SandyAMcPherson: It really is terrifying how much was just assumed and acceptable. But it really was the frictionless siblings that wore at me.

>145 richardderus: Workin' on it.

>146 SandDune: Actually it's interesting to think about how completely Ransome was absorbed in the language of his time and place despite his actual political values. And yes, the girls were equally pirates, and Titty was quite a character, but oh so precious. And Susan should have heeded her mother's advice and made the other clean up. I don't hold with abuse of Susans.

148SandyAMcPherson
abr. 26, 2021, 11:27 am

>146 SandDune: Wowzer-oonies. Those are fascinating facts.
There's an uncle in my hubs family who was a staunch je-ne-sais-quoi associate? supporter? of Trotsky. This uncle exchanged many letters with Trotsky and was still in touch when Trotsky was assassinated. We (the hubs' family) always wondered where all that correspondence disappeared. Some of it is online, but I only know that from my in-laws.

149quondame
abr. 26, 2021, 5:40 pm

98) A Summoning of Demons



I found this a bit on the long side and more Carol Berg than previous entries of the series. A huge additional danger has been added to the life of the Chimera's founder Romy and we end up knowing more about sniffers that we don't like.

Meets April TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book with a title word or author name beginning with a letter in "April"

150ronincats
abr. 26, 2021, 6:41 pm

>143 quondame: I love Melissa Scott but I've never seen this series before.

151quondame
abr. 26, 2021, 9:09 pm

>150 ronincats: She co-authored the first two with Lisa A. Barnett. I also like her The Order of the Air series co-authored with Jo Graham.

152quondame
abr. 26, 2021, 9:13 pm

99) The Dig



Intense and compact this is very much a show not tell sort version of events.

Read for April TIOLI Challenge #7: Read a book or work with a two word title in the format "The ----"

153quondame
abr. 27, 2021, 12:38 am

It's here!

154MickyFine
abr. 27, 2021, 11:54 am

>153 quondame: Enjoy, Susan! I finished it this morning and liked it just as much as I expected. :)

155quondame
abr. 27, 2021, 2:24 pm

>154 MickyFine: Oh yes! I didn't wait that long.

156quondame
Editat: abr. 27, 2021, 2:45 pm

100) Fugitive Telemetry



Murderbot comes up against it's own inner limitations as well as accepted limitations of it's new environment, and an unexpected adversary and must employ it's people skills, so an interesting time is in store for us.

157johnsimpson
abr. 27, 2021, 4:05 pm

Hi Susan my dear, congrats on hitting 100 books read for the year so far.

158figsfromthistle
abr. 27, 2021, 9:15 pm

Wow! 100 books already read! Congrats :)

159quondame
abr. 28, 2021, 6:36 pm

160quondame
Editat: abr. 28, 2021, 7:05 pm

101) All Systems Red



Re-re-re-read:
When I first read this I was delighted by the quirky take on being (in)human with a Murderbot who just wants to be left alone with endless media to peruse. The combination of media addiction and discomfort approaching the panic level at having to deal face to face with humans and human emotion is so identifiable and creates a strong resonance of irony for Murderbot's treasured inhumanity.

So Murderbot doesn't embody the trope of wanting to be human boy, it's finding it's inescapable humanity a constant trial with dubious rewards

Now that I've read 35 sequels it is a delight to come back to this stunning miniature tour de force.

I'm rewarding myself for chapters read in a book that is all awkward bleakness. Needs must.

Meets April TIOLI Challenge #15: Read a book where the title has an odd number of words

161Whisper1
abr. 28, 2021, 10:51 pm

>99 quondame: I recently watched the movie The Dig. It was very interesting.

I enjoy learning about the YA books you read. I own quite a few.

162jnwelch
abr. 29, 2021, 7:56 am

hi, Susan.

congrats on having such a good reading year. That's a lot of books already read!

i had the same reaction to Artemis}. And the snark girl in space has better entries. Ha!

Wasn'r Fugitive Telemetry a fun read? i love this character and series she's created.

163SandyAMcPherson
abr. 29, 2021, 10:53 am

>156 quondame: The reading machine is well-oiled in Susan's house! Onwards to the next 'century'!

164richardderus
abr. 29, 2021, 12:49 pm

>156 quondame: Yay for 100 reads! And what a great one to break the century on.

165quondame
Editat: abr. 29, 2021, 9:38 pm

>162 jnwelch: And here I was feeling slow and like they didn't make books like back in the good old days. But yes, there is Murderbot, and it's a hoot. Thanks.

>163 SandyAMcPherson: Thanks, I'm working on it. Sort of, by avoiding that book.

>164 richardderus: Thanks. Yes. much better than the alternative, so I kept up in the same vein >166 quondame:

166quondame
Editat: abr. 29, 2021, 11:09 pm

102) Artificial Condition
103) Rogue Protocol
104) Exit Strategy



The further adventures of Murderbot. It encounters an AI smarter than it is. A lot. It acquires and works with an ally. It encounters a bot that isn't nearly as capable but is attached to humans who are attached to it. It loses an ally. It rescues a couple of groups of people it admits to liking. Then it goes back to rescue a person it likes even more. There are emotions. There really isn't nearly as much media viewing, except after emotions.

Read because I'm avoiding that book. >167 quondame:

167quondame
abr. 29, 2021, 11:08 pm

105) Terra Nullius



In a harsh landscape a hard conquering race enslaves a tattered remnant of the native population. Bleak and mostly not very interesting. OK, so it is aliens treating humans as Europeans treated native Australians. That was probably bleaker, but at least real, this isn't even consistent enough to convince. And the viewpoint changes suck.

Only completed because a sweep was involved it was
Read for April TIOLI Challenge #10: Read a book for the April CFF Mystery Challenge

168johnsimpson
abr. 30, 2021, 3:51 pm

Hi Susan my dear, hope all is well with you, i am slowly catching up with the threads and want to keep up with them.

We are still waiting for Amy to give birth, her due date was yesterday but no sign as yet, oh well it will come when it is good and ready, lol.

I hope that you have a really lovely weekend and send love and hugs from both of us dear friend.

169quondame
abr. 30, 2021, 4:39 pm

>168 johnsimpson: Waiting past the due date is definitely not the fun part. Best wishes for an immanent and successful addition!

170quondame
maig 1, 2021, 2:21 am

106) Bulge



A wry solid work demonstrating that fitness is relative.

Because it has both LG and GE!
Read for April TIOLI Challenge #18: After sharing Madeleines and coffee, use a dishwasher

171johnsimpson
maig 1, 2021, 3:29 pm

>169 quondame:, Thank you Susan my dear, still waiting.

172quondame
maig 1, 2021, 5:10 pm

107) Network Effect



If possible, the novel has more concentrated action with fewer breathing spaces than the novellas. Murderbot just doesn't stop. And Wells has shipped her own characters. This really is a put the characters through the wringer narrative as the subject directly informs us:
"Being abandoned on a planet + locked up and forgotten with old equipment + no feed access were my top three issues and it was a little overwhelming to them happen all at once." I notice it does not say "At least I don't have to discuss how I feel."

Re-read, I was using Murderbot's adventures to keep me sane from the burden of >167 quondame: and, unless a better fit shows up it. (I knew this challenge would come in handy!)
Meets May TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book from a series

173richardderus
maig 1, 2021, 5:59 pm

...now I feel the need to read Terra Nullius just to see what got you so exercised.

174quondame
maig 1, 2021, 6:32 pm

>173 richardderus: The parallels with the European destruction of Native Australians makes it worthy not worth reading.

175richardderus
maig 1, 2021, 6:33 pm

>174 quondame: Misery porn? or just "not what I want to read right now"?

176quondame
maig 1, 2021, 6:41 pm

>175 richardderus: I somehow forgot to drop that term into the review though it came to mind multiple times while I was reading it. I guess the author's ethnic credentials are considered added value as well. No, really, the book is pretty one note and except for the antipodean connections has been done better if not more realistically. Not just misery porn, dull misery porn.

177richardderus
maig 1, 2021, 6:53 pm

178quondame
maig 1, 2021, 6:58 pm

>177 richardderus: Should have done, but not worth that much energy. Yep, it's pure ugly when one group can do anything it wants, and the hopelessness is accurate, but well, I've already wasted too much time on that book!

179quondame
maig 2, 2021, 1:07 am

108) The Duke and I



Very readable and fun to read. Total mishmash historical, and it uses what is a truly horrific childhood to continually throw wrenches in the relationship which should have been see, grab, hold. And then banishes the the consequences of the childhood when the page count was adequate.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #12: Read some "trash"

180PaulCranswick
maig 2, 2021, 1:13 am

Yikes, Susan, I updated my books read stats yesterday and you added three more already today!

>179 quondame: That TIOLI Challenge is a tad subjective!

181quondame
maig 2, 2021, 1:27 am

>180 PaulCranswick: It does say that, so I trusted that it meant what it said. And really, Valley of the Dolls was way more realistic and at least as well written.

182PaulCranswick
maig 2, 2021, 1:39 am

I haven't done the TIOLI in a couple of months as I have been overwhelmed with all my other challenges. I must go and have a look at the thread!

183quondame
maig 3, 2021, 6:02 pm

109) The Apprenticeship of Big Toe P



A young woman who found the body of her closest friend and business mentor after her suicide, wakes from an erotic dream to find her right big toe is a penis. Whatever little she knows of sex and love and life undergoes radical expansion. Interesting enough and well enough told that the obvious mechanics of the plot are like the minimal set of a well done modern play.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book with a title with three or more words containing at least one article

184richardderus
maig 3, 2021, 6:08 pm

185quondame
maig 3, 2021, 8:42 pm

>184 richardderus: Exactly. While it approximates truth or at least partial enlightenment on some aspects, I felt the homosexual and transsexual aspects were the weakest and the language used for them the most awkward.

186quondame
Editat: maig 4, 2021, 3:19 pm

Well, so no electricity so no LT for hours into the afternoon and then, because the installer was still here I had to drive Becky and Nutmeg to the vet. Nutmeg is just fine, her leg is just a trifle weak from inactivity and her knees no longer dislocate. Becky seems to be doing well too, though that's my own judgement, not the vet's.
Next, no sooner to I get to a thread or two but the Treasure Hunt showed up, and off I went.

187quondame
maig 4, 2021, 3:24 pm

110) Grendel



I enjoyed this in my 20s and in my 40s. Haven't read it for a long time now, though I probably will again now that it has been brought to my attention
210503
Well, the earthy angry sensual book I read in my 20s is the grout of this outsider's metaphysical dissection of human male reality. I remembered it being in verse, but there are only short verse sections.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a book with the same 3 letter sequence repeated in title/author's name

188quondame
Editat: maig 5, 2021, 2:22 am

111) The Stranger Diaries



This doesn't quite come off as a modern gothic tale, but it's an interesting enough story with people who seem more real than most modern mysteries I've encountered, and the setting is also not like the too urban or too village or mansion house of my reading - I like the mix of new and old and locals and incomers all mixed and not at all the point.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book set in a country that starts with a vowel

BB from sibylline

189karenmarie
maig 5, 2021, 8:46 pm

Hi Susan!

>179 quondame: I gave it 3 stars, which was generous of me. It was fun to read, totally agree.

>186 quondame: The Treasure Hunt pretty much has me baffled. I’ve gotten 3 and won’t spend any more energy on it.

190quondame
Editat: maig 6, 2021, 4:00 pm

>190 quondame: I think there is a great hunger for witty dialog, I just wish it was packaged either in modern dress or with real respect for the offered historical period. It would also be great not to give people horrific childhoods without any realistic handling of the results. Decent caring people do exist who have had such childhoods, but I've never encountered one who doesn't require lifelong strategies for themselves and their closest intimates. And getting there is over years of rough ground.

Well, having Becky did connect me to lots of children's lit, and in this one she was a direct help. It's almost worth a decade of Rock-A-Doodle repeats.

191quondame
maig 6, 2021, 4:08 pm

Went to the library(ies) yesterday, am going to the third today. What is it with books anyway. They need to be equipped with drones so they can float to their new readers efficiently.

Whoever took the couch we left in the driveway left a wee mystery thank you packet on the porch. I'm afraid to open it.

192quondame
Editat: maig 8, 2021, 3:45 pm

112) The Coldest Girl in Coldtown



It's a world where Vampires have become something of an epidemic and there are areas where they are contained when they are caught, along with those they have infected and those who are willing to feed them, most hoping to become vampires themselves. The smoothly moving tale of Tana who survives a vampire caused massacre with her infected ex-boyfriend and a mad vampire and goes to Springfield the first and most famous restricted area. Not quite the usual YA heroine among monsters, it hits all the standard notes in its own way and gives a good tale.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #11: Read a book in which the story is told in dual timelines

BB from figsfromthistle

193quondame
maig 6, 2021, 10:34 pm

I have 7 books due in the next 10 days. I might be able to read them all, but then, on the 11th day I have 3 books due, 2 more on the 12th and yet another pair on the 13th. Nothing on the 14th day two weeks from now, but 5! are due on the 21st of May. And I thought I blew through the backlog at the end of April.

194PaulCranswick
maig 7, 2021, 2:26 am

>193 quondame: 20 books in 15 days?! Well you are one of the few who I could imagine polishing them all off.

195quondame
maig 7, 2021, 1:28 pm

>194 PaulCranswick: Well, your imagination flatteringly exceeds mine about that.

196PaulCranswick
maig 7, 2021, 1:32 pm

>195 quondame: :D

You have finished 112 books in only 127 days, Susan, such that my optimistic imagination is not focused entirely without foundation.

197quondame
maig 8, 2021, 7:11 pm

113) Driftless



That Midwestern area that didn't collect geological drift seems clogged with human drift, a diminuative town full of almost adults who can't seem to keep their lives tracked without July Montgomery. Gloriously written, with human characters, but the plotting is fantasy and I'm not the audience for the transcendent stuff.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book set in a country that starts with a vowel

BB from lauralkeet

198quondame
maig 8, 2021, 7:12 pm

>196 PaulCranswick: But I know what's on my TBR and >197 quondame: took 3 days!

199richardderus
maig 8, 2021, 8:00 pm

>198 quondame: Back your mojo will come. Sure of it I am.

200quondame
maig 9, 2021, 4:02 pm

114) Wild Sign



Well paced horror lite, with some of our favorite werewolves Anna and Charles, with significant appearances of Leah and Bran, with Tag along for the ride and a special guest appearance. This tries to get chthonic but tentacles aren't enough when you have series leads going up against the darkness. The witches approached scary though.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #10: Read a book in honor of National Photography Month

201quondame
Editat: maig 10, 2021, 6:51 pm

114) The Bone Maker



Twenty-five years after the five heroes defeated the evil Eklor they find out the victory wasn't quite what they thought it was. We have a real mid-life crisis here, with some interesting not-quite usual, but many that have become more standard, twists and bumps. And an interesting magic system.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book where a color or shade of color is named in the title

202PaulCranswick
maig 10, 2021, 7:55 pm

>197 quondame: That one book-bulleted me last month, Susan and I have it on order as it isn't available in the bookshops here (when they are open!). Pleased to see it was a qualified success.

I guess you may need to renew one or two of those library books? x

203quondame
maig 10, 2021, 8:05 pm

>202 PaulCranswick: That's one of the plans. The other is to just return and save for later, or not.

204figsfromthistle
maig 10, 2021, 9:12 pm

Catching up and delurking to say hello.

>192 quondame: Glad you were able to get to that one. You certainly have quite a number of books on the go!

205quondame
maig 11, 2021, 8:19 pm

>204 figsfromthistle: Good to see you stop by Anita!

I always do. It's pure misery having time and no books.

206quondame
Editat: maig 11, 2021, 8:43 pm

116) Big Girl, Small Town



We spend the week following her grandmother's funeral immersed in Majella's narrow and not particularly deep, but very clearly seen world. Hours are spent at the chip shop where she works and each entry is from the catalog of likes and dislikes. Is a patron of the chip shop the brutal murderer of her grandmother? In a small city you are like to know the person who did it.

I started this book mid-March, and have checked it out or renewed it multiple times now so I'd thought I'd finally read it before it was due yet again.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book set in a country that starts with a vowel

BB from jnwelch

207quondame
maig 12, 2021, 12:57 am

208quondame
Editat: maig 12, 2021, 4:09 pm

117) Ajax Penumbra 1969



A bit cutesy, and all the tension of the usual prequel novella, but not a bit of pain to it, and the re-use of the abandoned ships in SF is delightful.

Read for May TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book that has the word 'novella' on its cover or is tagged 'novella' in LT

This is not next due of my library books, but I needed a break from the misery porn that is The Space Between Us in which Indian women, made wretched by life and men and mother-in-laws, often make each other even more miserable.

209SandyAMcPherson
maig 12, 2021, 5:07 pm

>188 quondame: I liked that book a lot more after I had read The Postscript Murders. Lucy says that authors will often write a very unlikable character (which I thought Harbinder was in Book 1), and then move on to develop the person in book 2.

>189 karenmarie: Yeah, I didn't particularly warm to that treasure hunt. Despite the fact I read a lot of kids' books, the clues seemed more than a bit baffling, as Karen said.

And ummm, I don't understand what Rock-a-Doodle would do for finding children's lit. But then I never heard of Rock-a-Doodle until >190 quondame:.

>208 quondame:, so is that a story that supposed to precede Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore?

210quondame
Editat: maig 12, 2021, 5:21 pm

>209 SandyAMcPherson: I preferred Harbinder to most of the other characters. I liked her pragmatic opportunism and her feisty approach.

Wasn't there a movie that you were way over exposed to due to the presence of a child? I would have had a lot more difficulty with the Treasure Hunt without having Becky, but with Becky came Rock-a-Doodle.

Yes, Ajax Penumbra 1969 is how Ajax met the bookstore.

211SandyAMcPherson
maig 12, 2021, 5:30 pm

>210 quondame: We livied in the 'bush' (very small towns and villages) with small kids. No TV and the cinema was in Nelson (BC) ~ one ferry ride and an hour's drive away. So nope, no Rock-a-Doodle.
Later, when we moved to the big smelly (Vancouver), we had no money to spare for movies. Them were the days of 15% to 20% mortgages and a flat-lined salary plus inflation. The millenials think that'll never happen to them. Ha!

212quondame
maig 12, 2021, 5:41 pm

>211 SandyAMcPherson: The millenials I know are stacked up in apartments or living with their parents and in a continual state of stress over whether they'll be laid off or get sick and are so busy paying off their college loans they can't think of a mortgage.
Becky was about to move in with 2 friends when Covid hit, and is the only one her age without debt, but she has an expensive canine habit now. When she got Nutmeg she was sure she could leave her with uswhen she moved out like she left Manny during college, but Nutmeg is so much better than Manny and Becky is so totally in love with her that she will have a real choice to make.

213karenmarie
maig 13, 2021, 6:00 am

Hi Susan!

>191 quondame: Whoever took the couch we left in the driveway left a wee mystery thank you packet on the porch. I'm afraid to open it. Bomb? Cookies? Gift card?

>208 quondame: I barely liked Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore so won’t bother.

>212 quondame: My daughter has resisted the kitty lure so far - apartment complexes all seem to require a huge deposit AND monthly fees or $25 or more for each animal. I’m glad Becky doesn’t have any debt. Jenna’s also got no debt in large part thanks to Bill’s Mama but in some part due to us, too. I graduated from college in 1975 without debt, having worked full time starting my sophomore year, but my niece and her wife have 6-figure college debt.

214msf59
maig 13, 2021, 8:02 am

Hi, Susan. Glad to hear that you read Driftless. Sorry, it didn't hit the heights it did for me. We are going to read the follow-up Jewelweed later in the year.

215SandDune
maig 13, 2021, 8:25 am

The situation with student debt here is different. It is called debt, but is more a sort of tax and is repaid via payroll. Repayments don’t start until the individual’s salary reaches a certain amount (around £20,000) and is then charged at a percentage of the amount earned over that. If you stop working you stop paying and if you haven’t paid it back by age 60 it’s written off. When Jacob went to Uni the financial advice was that, unless you were expecting your child to pursue a particularly lucrative career (we’re not), it was better for parents to keep any savings that they might be willing to contribute for a house deposit, and for the student to take out a loan.

216quondame
maig 13, 2021, 3:28 pm

>213 karenmarie: Ah, it was a cookie as Mike and Becky discovered - they actually tried it, which I would not have done.

When Manny died Becky, isolated from her friend group, absolutely needed a pet of her own. Zette is barely even a dog and Gertie owns me and is jealous of any attention I give Becky, so Nutmeg (The Nutmeg of Consolation)

When the last tech company I worked at IPO'd I stowed away an amount in Becky's name at our broker. I'm afraid that the absolutely great growth of her account was largely due to the practice of Bear Stearn's sub-prime mortgages as that's where Mike's cousin's husband who was in charge of the account worked. It paid for 3.5 years of the tuition at a small private mid-western college though Becky also got a small scholarship. We were able to help out with that last 0.5 year.

>214 msf59: But then I'm not from that part of the country, even my Wisconsin grands and great grands lived in the NE of the state. Also, the nearly omniscient well doing neighbor thing grated.

>215 SandDune: Our student debt situation is partly a result of the ruling class consciously and actively repressing the growth of the middle class, and is a form of disjointed bond servitude. The owners never have to directly confront the slaves who are enriching them.

217quondame
maig 13, 2021, 8:17 pm

118) The Assassins of Thasalon



Penric and Desdemona have to face murderous sorcery! and twisty politics, and plans as usual don't last through encounters with the enemy, or even with allies. A very satisfying outing for our two in one or 10 in one or n in one protagonist(s).

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book from a series

218quondame
Editat: maig 13, 2021, 8:23 pm

119) The Space Between Us



This book has a solid feel of realism, and gives us women to care about while reading, but in total didn't quite sustain whole personalities for me. And it is pretty relentlessly misery porn. This is not a highlights tour of Bombay*, it is a rub your face in it immersion.

*The city is not called Mumbai within the novel.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book with a title with three or more words containing at least one article

219quondame
maig 13, 2021, 10:52 pm

The man came to install the new bedroom blinds today. 2/3 of them are fine, but the one on my side of the bedroom was made about 2' too short. Ah well, another 2 months and at least Mike has working blinds. I just don't look forward to clearing off my dresser yet again.

Last night Becky implemented her new resolution to cook once a week by making chicken enchiladas. They were pretty good, very tasty. I'd don't much care for enchiladas and am not much for chicken in Mexican food, but I'd rather she make what she likes than that she just nuke hot dogs yet again.

220quondame
maig 14, 2021, 2:13 pm

Exit Strategy re-re-read (>166 quondame:) as a pallet cleanser.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a book with the letter X in the title or author's name

221SandyAMcPherson
maig 15, 2021, 12:18 am

>217 quondame: I've wanted to read these Penric & Desdemona stories for quite awhile now. They sound so wonderful.

Last year, I did have a resolution to read the Penric novels, but couldn't find the first one (Penric's Demon). For free of course, as in, a loaner from the library.

There's a composite volume with 3 of the first stories, I think, like an omnibus (Penric's progress) and now it is available (since the libraries have opened up their holdings to the whole region).

Susan, do you know if that's correct: I could try this omnibus to get started? I normally dislike these cumbersome omnibus editions and I'm leery that they don't combine the books chronologically, but by publication order.

>218 quondame: Hmmm. I had recently added this one to my BB list.
But I just can't do misery-porn, so I think I'll de-list the title. Thank goodness for your perspective.
Reba discussed the next book, The Secrets Between Us very positively just recently, so The Space Between Us went on my BB as a 'read first'. Maybe I'll try the second one sometime, when Mr. Plague is not weighing down my mind.

222quondame
maig 15, 2021, 12:54 am

>221 SandyAMcPherson: Yes, the omnibus that includes Penric's Demon should be a perfect start to this sub-series. They are pretty easy reads, fun and interesting with delightful wee twists of humor.

I saw the discussions of The Space Between Us and the second volume, which is why I checked it out. It's well written and gives a much more real feeling of people with ingrained caste attitudes in a real city of massive wealth disparities than say The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra. The middle class woman doesn't seem to have mentally survived the brutality of her marriage as well as some of the battered women of equal social status and education that I've known - who may have trashed private lives but have not given up on all interests beyond their children, and the Pharsi family may be a factor, though in cultures where arraigned marriages are the norm, I'd expect some cultural ways of dealing with the personal disasters.

223quondame
maig 15, 2021, 1:58 am

120) Chaotic Good



After being harassed on her blog by male nerds, young woman cosplay artist is treated third class at the only comic shop in her new town of Eugene OR, so next time she has to go she dresses as a boy, which gets complicated when she is invited to play D&D at the shop. Some reality, some gloss, a decent read, and I'm not sold on the spark-like costuming mojo, but well I've seen some people work almost that fast.

I can't recall what made me think I should read this, but it's due back at the library and it
Meets May TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book set in a country that starts with a vowel

224SandyAMcPherson
maig 15, 2021, 9:49 am

>223 quondame: I'm always blown away by how many books you read on a weekly basis! Wow, #120... this one looks sort of like a Rainbow Rowell. Just by the review.

>222 quondame: thanks for the insight's on Bujold's series. I have never quite figured out how to enter the Penric realm for reading. I'm personally in favour of chronological and was using the "Core" listing on the LT series page as a guide.

I requested Mr. Omnibus and it may take awhile for it to turn up in my local pick-up PL. I'm looking forward to reading Bujold. I need to find something to get my brain to settle down and fantasy that's well-plotted is usually "my jam" as Amber likes to say.

I hope you have a great reading-weekend.

225quondame
Editat: maig 16, 2021, 1:50 pm

I peopled today! Well personed. My friend Jennifer came by and we spent the afternoon with me showing her my latest doll mania's - I introduced her to the book Hitty so she had see Hitty and her growing collection of furnishings and reading material, and then I introduced her to the book heroines, (Pippi, Pollyanna, Rebecca, Binah, etc) then to Jennifer, a 14" trunk doll I was hoping she might know some background to. After we searched memories and the web, I went back to old catalogs and we searched until we found her - she only appears in 1 year and with mostly different clothing that I've never seen her sold with and she is in the bottom corner of a section with Duffin, and ugly little girl doll. Jennifer is mentioned as a companion, but not specifically for Muffin. Ah well, there must be girl with straight blond hair who is called Jennifer in a book written after 1950 and before 1990, mustn't there?

Jennifer caught me up on her life which is almost as dramatic as usual though since she has, for the first time since I've known her, a single permanent full time job and more financial stability. But her apartment continues to be a source of drama. Nothing was said about her son, which is probably just as well.

226quondame
Editat: maig 16, 2021, 5:14 pm

The Empire in Black and Gold - DNF - dull characters and a guy warning about militaristic conquering empire but not being believed is pretty routine. The different races and their insect affiliations might be interesting but seem excuses for stereotypes and prejudices. Also it's the first in a long series, so real story resolution is iffy.

I liked the two Adrian Tchaikovsky books I read before - spiders and octopuses in space are much more my thing, though again, characters weren't the strong suit in those either.

227quondame
Editat: maig 17, 2021, 1:59 pm

121) America's Greatest Library



The history of The Library of Congress shouldn't be dull. The three different ways of presenting text just made it confusingly dull. Worst, it does not address how the library has been useful to Congress. It obliquely indicates that members of Congress made use of it, but there is no mention of its particular contribution in a legislative context.

The story of Ezra Pound being selected for the first Bollingen Prize is priceless, however.

''The Library announces that its Fellow in American Letters have awarded the first Bollingen Prize in Poetry to Ezra Pound for his book The Pisan Cantos. The Fellows take cognizance of the public knowledge that Pound is under indictment for treason and committed to an institution for the insane, stating that they "are aware that objections may be made to awarding a prize to a man situated as is Mr. Pound." On August 19, the Joint Library Committee recommends that the Library "cancel all arrangements for the giving of prizes and making of awards." Librarian Evans announces the Library's immediate compliance.''

Also note, while a couple of Librarians of Congress were replaced with changes in the party of the President, there was not a specified term until Carla Hayden, the first woman as well as the first African American to hold the post was appointed. Typical.

I really should just have re-read The Library Book for a shared
Read for May TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a nonfiction book about books or libraries

228quondame
maig 17, 2021, 2:29 pm

I was so hoping that the solar panels would be connected today, but no. The grounding which was kludged because the side of the house with the electrical panel is on a slab did not pass inspection. Now the work around to the kludge must be scheduled. When that is complete, then a new inspection must be scheduled.

Maybe by the time we have been inspected the batteries will show up and we will need yet another inspection.

229quondame
maig 18, 2021, 2:29 pm

122) Don't Let Go



Compact and intense this search for answers to multiple deaths both 15 years before and it the story's present the keeps twisting through to difficult truths. The abrupt end leaves a few significant questions as to the lead character's future, though the mysteries are dispelled. Good characters and relentless pace.

I re-read because I couldn't think of a better book to
Read for May TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book with a title containing a verb

230karenmarie
maig 19, 2021, 8:40 am

Hi Susan!

>219 quondame: It’s always something. Sorry about the blind being too short. And yay for Becky cooking.

>223 quondame: Not a book I’d probably choose to read, but I love the reminder about paper dolls on the cover. I loved paper dolls when I was young.

>225 quondame: Yay for peopling!

>227 quondame: Hmm. I have read Jefferson's Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress by John Y. Cole. I gave it 3.5 stars.

>229 quondame: Haven’t read this one yet, and our Library has it. I’m happy.

231quondame
maig 19, 2021, 9:13 pm

>230 karenmarie: John Y. Cole seems to have visited the topic a number of times.

232quondame
maig 19, 2021, 9:15 pm

123) The Hate U Give



A solidly told story with a clear point.

Read for May TIOLI Challenge #7: Read a book that was filmed or adapted for TV within five years of its first publication

233quondame
maig 21, 2021, 1:00 am

124) The Last Coyote



Harry Bosch is off duty for attacking his boss, his house is condemned and he has to see the department shrink. He starts investigating his mother's murder 35 years after the fact. What could possibly go wrong. This is a pretty solid story, and if I didn't have an aversion for maverick lawmen and personal mysteries I would have rated it a tad higher.

It has brief stops in Las Vegas and the Tampa area, but is solidly set in Los Angeles:
Read for May TIOLI Challenge #6: Read a book where at least some of the book takes place within 50 miles of your home

234quondame
maig 21, 2021, 3:30 pm

This is Gertie just back from the vets, not eating. Gertie is not doing well as the usual problem is keeping her from eating anything and everything until she can't fit a bit more in.

235quondame
Editat: maig 21, 2021, 8:16 pm

125) On This Unworthy Scaffold



What's in the book is good and well done, but as a whole it's a bit sketchy for the amount of load the plot bears. The southeast Asian Koschei the undying on steroids with a nod, knowing or not to the most delightful twist in Saberhagen's Empire of the East was retooled well for local flavor.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book with a title with three or more words containing at least one article

236FAMeulstee
maig 22, 2021, 5:02 pm

>234 quondame: Poor Gertie, I hope she feels a bit better by now.

237quondame
maig 22, 2021, 5:48 pm

>234 quondame: >236 FAMeulstee: We had to put down Gertie. She has a torn bowel and even if she survived the surgery would probably have eaten something just as dangerous within a year. Pretty much every year we've had some overeating emergency with her but nothing before where she would not eat.

238FAMeulstee
maig 22, 2021, 6:06 pm

>237 quondame: So sorry, Susan, vale Gertie.
(((hugs)))

239quondame
maig 22, 2021, 9:37 pm

>238 FAMeulstee: Thank you. She was a treasure.

240quondame
Editat: maig 22, 2021, 9:46 pm

126) Point of Sighs



A decent story with interesting twists, but beyond some rather unique city history, not all that interesting. It's good to spend time catching up with old friends, but I didn't feel much of a sense of urgency.
210522 I'm wondering what I was thinking with that last review - maybe Fair's Point. While most of the book eroded from my memory the storage room in the bridge pier and the pump room remained like a volcanic plugs and more than once I have questioned which book one or the other was a relic of. This read it was more interesting and involving than the prior review indicates.

Re-read for May TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book from a series

241ronincats
maig 22, 2021, 10:13 pm

Sorry to hear about Gertie! ((((Susan))))

242PaulCranswick
maig 22, 2021, 10:58 pm

>234 quondame: &>237 quondame: So sorry to read your news, Susan. (((((HUGS))))

243karenmarie
maig 23, 2021, 7:38 am

Hi Susan!

>233 quondame: One of the many reasons I love Harry Bosch is that it takes place in my hometown. I haven’t lived there for 30 years, but most of the references still click. Have you watched Bosch? Titus Welliver does a believable Bosch, IMO.

>237 quondame: Oh, I am so sorry about Gertie.

244Narilka
maig 23, 2021, 8:08 am

>237 quondame: So sorry to hear about Gertie. My condolences.

245AbbieSanders
maig 23, 2021, 8:17 am

S'ha suprimit aquest usuari en ser considerat brossa.

246MickyFine
maig 23, 2021, 10:27 am

So sorry for your loss, Susan. Hugs.

247richardderus
maig 23, 2021, 6:11 pm

>237 quondame: {{{Susan}}}

248msf59
maig 23, 2021, 8:04 pm

Very sorry to hear about Gertie, Susan.

249SandDune
maig 24, 2021, 2:48 am

So sorry to hear about Gertie, Susan.

250quondame
maig 24, 2021, 2:30 pm

>241 ronincats: >242 PaulCranswick: >243 karenmarie: >244 Narilka: >246 MickyFine: >247 richardderus: >248 msf59: >249 SandDune: Thank you all for the sympathy and condolences. She was a wee monster and we have predicted for years that she would eat something that killed her, but the loss is still a shock.

251quondame
maig 24, 2021, 2:32 pm

127) One Day This Will All Be Yours



Morbidly funny in the two teenage boys impressing each other way, this is short enough that that is only a bit wearing.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book with a title containing a verb

252quondame
Editat: maig 24, 2021, 4:51 pm

128) Persephone Station



I guess the title suits the cast where every significant character is a woman, cis, or trans or non-human native or AI, though I'd prefer if I could have sensed something other than a story where all the pronouns could have been he/him/his without making a big difference. It's a fun, high action, high body count adventure, more shoot em up than suits me, and the characters are interesting enough, though they seem to come from a pretty standard play book.

BB from richardderus

253jessibud2
maig 24, 2021, 3:16 pm

Adding my condolences for Gertie, Susan. {{hugs}}

254richardderus
maig 24, 2021, 4:28 pm

>252 quondame: I was *not* expecting that much happy talk from you about that book! I'm glad it got a whole extra star over what I bet myself you'd give it.

255quondame
Editat: maig 26, 2021, 1:12 am

129) Snow in the Desert



People who are trying to kill you get upset when you shoot back. If you don't meet anyone else it's hard not to feel lonely.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book with a title with three or more words containing at least one article

Ricochet via the Love, Death + Robots from richardderus

256quondame
Editat: maig 26, 2021, 9:14 pm

257johnsimpson
maig 26, 2021, 4:39 pm

Hi Susan my dear, so sorry to hear about Gertie, so very sad when we have to say goodbye to a loved pet. Sending love and hugs dear friend.

258quondame
maig 26, 2021, 9:15 pm

259quondame
Editat: maig 26, 2021, 9:53 pm

130) Half a Yellow Sun



After a long introduction to the characters and their situations we are taken through the succession of Biafra from Nigeria, the war, and some weeks after the conflict has ended. I can feel that this book may well be important and it does a good job of creating it people and depicting their lives and setting but I just didn't care much about Olanna and her absorption with the singularly unimpressive Odenigbo, or Richard and his abject absorption with the much more interesting Kainene who we see only through others. Ugwu is more intriguing in outline and arc but I still could only connect with his story at a few moments.

I have been checking this book out from the library and renewing it since February and have finally finished it, at least it
Meets May TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book where a color or shade of color is named in the title

BB from jnwelch

260drneutron
maig 27, 2021, 11:34 am

Just catching up and saw the sad news about Gertie. I’m so sorry this happened.

261quondame
maig 28, 2021, 1:34 am

131) Klara and the Sun



The story of a smart but simple AI artificial friend Klara and the family Klara is acquired by. Klara is a careful and caring observer of her world which is very narrow and centered around a profound self generated belief and faith in the power and attention of the Sun. As limited as Klara's window into human society is the understanding of AIs by humans is shown to be narrower.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book with a title with three or more words containing at least one article

BB from Berly

262quondame
maig 28, 2021, 1:35 am

>260 drneutron: Thanks, Jim.

263MickyFine
maig 28, 2021, 1:17 pm

>261 quondame: Glad to see you enjoyed that one as well, Susan. I'm also fascinated by the difference in the cover art for the American edition in comparison with the cover we got in Canada:

264quondame
maig 28, 2021, 9:05 pm

132) The Galaxy and the Ground Within



An exploration rather than an adventure as 3 space faring people of different species are trapped on planetary way station with a hostess of a forth species and her adolescent offspring. The exploration is both among the species alien to each other and internal to each the individual though not at all evenly spread. In fact it is Pei on whom the stop over will have the most effect though others of the 5 face some trauma. Family and society are what it's about and what's common and unique across barriers.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a book with the letter X in the title or author's name

265quondame
maig 28, 2021, 9:06 pm

>263 MickyFine: Covers are a language of their own.

266jjmcgaffey
maig 28, 2021, 9:30 pm

I hadn't seen that one (the Becky Chambers book) - I'll have to look it up. She writes very weird, very good books.

267quondame
maig 29, 2021, 12:21 am

>266 jjmcgaffey: Doesn't she just!

268quondame
Editat: maig 30, 2021, 7:51 pm

133) The Inheritance



Written when LMA was 17 as if she had the worldly experience of a 13 year old with no sense of humor. She tells and tells and shows and tells and tells and shows some more and the whole thing is so loaded with pure, virtuous, self sacrifice it would sink in a pool of mercury. Oh and the heroine does get the guy, so much for LMA persuing a different sort of ending.

Read for May TIOLI Challenge #15: After all that work, relax or read a European mystery (alternating challenge)

269msf59
maig 29, 2021, 4:14 pm

Happy Saturday, Susan. Yah, for Klara and the Sun! I also recently finished it and really enjoyed it.

270richardderus
maig 30, 2021, 7:21 pm

>268 quondame: Ugh.

Well, it's over at least.

Happy new week's reads. They *have* to be better than that one!

271quondame
maig 30, 2021, 7:52 pm

>270 richardderus: At least it was short.

272quondame
maig 30, 2021, 8:00 pm

134) Paladin's Strength



Way too much time and angst was spent while the protagonists weren't fucking instead of being creative about what would have happened if they were. A predictable way of padding out what had enough story to make a good shorter book and that made the journey tedious. Not bad, but people convince themselves that they should act on lust in spite of good reasons not to and rarely find reasons not to when there aren't any real obstacles.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book from a series

273quondame
Editat: maig 30, 2021, 8:37 pm

Last week was somewhat more eventful than usual, with the solar finally being connected and a fellow because my bathroom vent was spitting insulation about.

But this coming week is way over scheduled - the last of the blinds being installed, the final inspection on the solar, the new stove and hood going in, 3 companies scheduled provide estimates for replacing the problematical vents as the guy the first company sent was a complete jerk in both Mike and my estimation.

Oh, and Mike is going in for his first exam under Medicare and expects it to lead to knee replacement surgery which has been pending for some years now.

I'm checking local dog adoption listings, which are a good deal fuller than they were last year at this time.

274FAMeulstee
maig 31, 2021, 4:18 am

>273 quondame: That is a lot going this week, Susan. And I thought three sceduled works here at home in June was more than enough for me. You get more in a week.

Yes, last year the shelters here were almost empty, only a few very difficult dogs left. Are you looking actively to get a dog soon, or just checking to see what is available? I still do the last sometimes, although we don't want to get a dog again.

275richardderus
maig 31, 2021, 1:29 pm

>273 quondame: I'm tired reading it...off to nap, now that I'm being made a GREAT-grandfather.

g'night

276quondame
Editat: maig 31, 2021, 10:16 pm

>274 FAMeulstee: >275 richardderus: Well of course I was wrong and as today is Memorial Day everything I was expecting got pushed further into the week.

>274 FAMeulstee: I'm sort of looking for real, sort of not. I will get another dog, but Mike's possible knee surgery probably should happen first since he's the primary dog care person - at present he's the one who can get up in the morning without a 15 min warm up routine before moving, and that's after 30 minutes of reconciliation with being awake.
If the perfect wee bitch shows up I may jump for her anyway, or if she needs to be rescued because her person can't anymore and someone lets me know. But that's unlikely, so I'll just keep checking the still shallow dog puddles out there.

>275 richardderus: Well that's news. Bears out gripes of >272 quondame:.

277quondame
Editat: juny 1, 2021, 1:23 am

135) Juniper Wiles



Juniper Wiles liked acting but didn't enjoy the complications of her life as an actress so she returned to Newford some years ago to pursue her other artistic interests. When the young man mistakes her for the teenage detective she played a decade before turns out to have died days before she encountered him, her world and her place in it shift in dependably Newford style.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a book with the same 3 letter sequence repeated in title/author's namehttps://www.librarything.com/topic/330854#

136) Riding Shotgun



Recovered alcoholic Marshall Coe revisits the defining mistake of his life, discovering that mistakes aren't always the worst that could have happened.

This is hands down my favorite ghost story, and one of my all time favorites. Perhaps I should mention that the protagonist spends the majority of the story as a ghost, so it's not a story about the humans who are terrorized by the dead, although the dead are trouble for the living.

Re-read for May TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book that has the word 'novella' on its cover or is tagged 'novella' in LT

278SandyAMcPherson
Editat: juny 1, 2021, 10:05 am

Hi Susan, It was really nice to see you dropped by my thread. Thanks. I felt cheered.
I see here that Gertie went to dog heaven. Much sympathy on that. It was like losing a child when we sent our last furry family member off. Such a hard decision on our part but selfish if we hadn't. And with Gertie, no choice, poor wee soul.

>272 quondame: "people convince themselves that they should act on lust in spite of good reasons not to and rarely find reasons not to when there aren't any real obstacles" --> that is so true in real life too. I've tried reading that author (Ursula Vernon in my notes) and never got far enough into the books to even mention them as DNFs on LT. The best one, which I should give a nod to was The Raven and the Reindeer.

>273 quondame: Yeah, this week you will be busy handling all that activity. I've rather liked the quietness of our pandemic calendar. I miss seeing my friends and hanging out in our favourite coffee spots but it has also been pleasantly serene here.

We have had a good go at the garden renovations that were past due and I was glad we needed nothing fixed or renovated indoors. Now, if only I could get the hubs to act on cleaning the windows, I'd feel we were done. The exterior paint job has 'chalked' over the past decade to the point the lower part of the first floor windows where the rain hits have all been whitened badly. It takes a one-edge razor blade scraper to remove it. We've not found a solvent that budges the chalking at all.

Enough mindless chatter from me. I'm happily enjoying a glut of Bujold-reads at the moment.

279quondame
Editat: juny 1, 2021, 12:55 pm

>278 SandyAMcPherson: I think the hardest thing with Gertie is that there seemed to be a choice - the vet was fairly certain a very expensive surgery could save her life. I was aware that she had been touchy about being picked up with pressure on her gut for a few weeks, sometimes very touchy, so that the blockage, rather than being a recent accidental condition might be the final stage of a disease. I was much less sure that a surgeon would be able to do a complete enough repair and dead certain that Gertie would, upon recovery, just eat the next dangerous thing she came across because, well, Gertie.
Even Mike is noticing her absence and Becky and I do a bit of a freak out when Mike leaves his black exercise shorts on the bed because our eyes register them as a curled up Gertie. Nutmeg has been nosing about where Gertie's upstairs bed used to be.

Yes, in real life people without a great deal of routine momentum behind their chastity can be depended upon to provide subjects for salacious gossip. It's only in (increasingly tiresome) books where they put much effort into keeping the plot suspenseful.

We don't face quite the window problem you have, but that's work we hire out. Dog nose prints are surprisingly stubborn.

I'm glad you're enjoying Bujold. She's not perfect, but she does tell a satisfying story and her humor really does bubble from the characters and plot like souls from life in the world of the Five Gods.

280quondame
juny 2, 2021, 12:10 am

I have a new thread.
En/na Susan/quondame has her nose in a book 2021 - 3 ha continuat aquest tema.