RebaRelishesReading 2022 #5

I need to start a new thread and I like to put a photo or something funny up top but right now I can't come up with anything -- couldn't on the last thread either :( I'm going to reserve this space anyway just in case I do come up with something.

I joined LT in 2007 because I wanted to catalog my library but didn't truly appreciate the full wonder of the place until I found the 75'ers in 2012 (I think that's the year). It's a favorite part of my morning now. I also love meeting other members in person when possible.

For those of you I don't know, I'll introduce my self a bit. I'm a Californian by birth and have lived there much of my life but late in 2020 Hubby and I decided it was time to leave our condo in the Uptown district of San Diego and move to some place quieter and, most importantly, nearer our youngest grandchild. We have two older grandchildren who we adore but Ally is away at college and Kyle is a high school junior so they probably won't be living near us anymore even if we had stayed in San Diego. Quinn will turn four in January so we will have many years enjoying him growing up as we did the other two. So I've added Washington State to the list of places I've lived at various times in my life (California, Arizona, Connecticut, the Netherlands, England, the Netherlands, California, Ireland, California) and I'm enjoying becoming a north-westerner.

I'm a retired city planner who travels a lot (or did pre-Covid). We spent 11 summers at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York but among our recent changes we have sold our place there and will probably not attend the season any more. I will miss it but it's time to move on.

I read mostly fiction with a helping of biography or history thrown in. A couple of years ago I finished a personal challenge to read all of the Pulitzer Prize winning fiction. I've also challenged myself to read the Pulitzer wining biographies but I don't seem to be making much progress on that score.

I recently joined a real-life book club, Women with Spines, and am excited to see what reading adventures this brings.

READ IN 2022

January
1. The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris****
2. Rachel Maddow by Lisa Rogak*** (audio)
3. The Flight of the Maidens by Jane Gardam***
4. The Spy and the Traitor by Ban Macintyre****
5. The Coldest Case by Martin Walker****(audio)
6. My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayer****1/2 (audio)
7. Letters fromBath: Or, A Friend in Exile by Meredith Allay**1/2

February
8. The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber***1/2
9. A Good Yarn by Debbie Macomber ***
10. Susannah's Garden by Debbie Macomber**1/2
11. Mark Twain in Hawaii: Roughing It in the Sandwich Islands***1/2
12. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson***1/2
13. The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa****
14. A Concise History of the Hawaiian Islands by Phil Barnes***
15. Next to Love by Ellen Feldman****1/2
16. Eleven by Mark Watson ****1/2

March
17. The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and /victoria Christopher Murray ****
18. The Fortnight in September by R. C. Sherriff****
19. Tidelands by Philippa Gregory****
20. Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars by Col. Eileen Collins **** (audio)
21. Golden Days by Carolyn See ****
22. The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall ****1/2
23. If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin *****(audio)
24. My Italian Bulldozer by Alexander McCall Smith ***1/2 (audio)
25. The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy ***1/2

April
26. I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai ****
27. The Magician by Colm Toibin ****
28. Mathilda's Geheim by Corina Bomann **** (audio)
29. In Five Years by Rebecca Serve ****1/2
30. Agneta's Erfinis by Corina Bomann**** (audio)
31. The Lincoln Highway***
32. Love & Saffron by Kimi Fay*****
33. The Chancellor: The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel by Kati Marton**** (audio)
34. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf ***
35. Solveigs Beloved by Corina Bomann****(audio)

May
36. Emily, Alone by Stewart O'Nan****1/2
37. The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam ****
38. Last Friends by Jane Gardam ***1/2
39. Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman ****1/2(audio)
40. "B" is for Burglar by Sue Grafton ***1/2 (audio)
41. How To Give Up Plastic by Will McCallum ****
42. De verre horizon by Santa Montefiore **** (audio)
43. Henry, Himself by Stewart O'Nan****1/2
44. She's Not There by Jennifer Finney Boylan****1/2
45. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (audio)
46. Stuck in the Middle With You by Jennifer Finney Boylan****

June
47. Marrow, by Elizabeth Lesser ****1/2
48. The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins ****1/2
49. The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline****1/2
50. The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict (audio)****
51. In the Woods by Tana French (ebook) ****
52. Home by Toni Morrison (ebook) ****
53. The Truths We Hold by Kamala Harris (audio)***1/2

July
54. After This by Alice McDermott****
55. Evans Above by Rhys Bowen ***1/2 (audio)
56. A Drop in the Ocean by Jenni Ogden *****(audio)
57. The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck****
58. Mary Anne by Daphne du Maurier****
59. The Man Who Had Everything by Louis Bromfield****
60. Magnificent Obsession by Lloyd C. Douglas****
61. The Daughters of Yalta by Catherine Grace Katz ***1/2 (audio)
62. In Dubious Battle by John Steinbeck****

August
63. Getting In by James Finney Boylan ***
64. The Planter of Modern Life by Stephen Heyman***
65. A Code to Keep by Ernest C. Brace ****
66. The Joy and Light Bus Company by Alexander McCall Smith
(audio)***1/2
67. The Likeness by Tana French (audio) ****
68. The Plateau by Maggie Paxson****

September
69. Faithful Place by Tana French**** (audio)
70. The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen****
71. Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth****
72. "C" is for Corpse by Sue Grafton ***1/2 (audio)
73. The News From Paraguay by Lily Tuck ****1/2
74. The Girl from the Channel Islands by Jenny Lecoat ****(audio)

October
75. Hell of a Book by Jason Mott ****1/2
76. D is for Deadbeat by Sue Grafton *** (audio)
77. Americanah by Chimamandaa Ngozi Adichie ****1/2
78. Lucy by the Sea by by Elizabeth Strout *****
79. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy ***1/2
80. Sacagawea's Child by Susan M. Colby ****
81. Trains and Lovers by Alexander McCall Smith *** (audible)
82. Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? by Seamas O'Reilly ****(audible)

My ranking system:
Superb *****
Excellent ****1/2
Very good ****
Good ***1/2
Average ***
Don't bother **
Terrible *

I try to keep this in mind when I'm assigning stars but I know I'm also influenced by my current mood, etc. so don't take it too very, very seriously.

Come on in. Let's talk about books...and life...and whatever is on your mind :)

Happy new thread Reba!

Happy new thread, Reba! Have a super Saturday!

Happy new one, Reba!

Happy new thread!

Happy new one, Reba!

Happy new thread, Reba!

>5 RebaRelishesReading: Life is good, weather still rather warm. I long for the cooler days of autumn!

Here you are too with a new thread!

I like that Welsh Evans series even though it is awfully silly! I listen to them though.

I'm on the Cape now and want to post an appropriate pic but I don't have one yet, so I put up the older one with Po.

Thanks for stopping by and dropping greetings Susan, Stasia, Katie, Anita, Jim, Anita and Lucy. I love hearing from all of you and hope you're all having a fine weekend. We're expecting warm but not hot weather and I have nothing on my calendar for the weekend so I'm a happy camper :) I started reading The Plateau last night and can't wait to spend some quality time with it this afternoon.

This didn't hurt either :)
Wordle 427 3/6
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Happy new thread, Reba. Enjoy your "free" weekend!

Happy new one, Reba. x

Happy New Thread, Reba!

Thank you Meg, Paul and Roni! I love starting the day with visitors :)

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Don't love starting it this way so much though...train, cloud, slate, paste, baste, haste

Hi Reba, and congrats on thread *5. We are very close in the number of books read so far.

Free weekends are the best! I had an opportunity to go watch my granddaughters rock climbing this afternoon, but I chose to finish my book instead. I've seen them at the rock-climbing gym and, while it's fun for the first 30 minutes, the afternoon can drag. Besides I had them for a day last week and we have plans for next weekend with them.

Happy new thread, Reba!!

>19 Donna828: Hi Donna! Glad we're keeping pace in our reading :) Grandkids are fun but their activities can, indeed, sometimes drag on. Glad you chose a reading afternoon instead.

>20 banjo123: Thanks, Rhonda. Hope you're enjoying summer.

Wordle 429 3/6
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I went to my new "fitness center" this morning for my introduction to the equipment room. Did better than I feared (I haven't really done anything except walking/treadmilling for aerobic exercise since Covid hit. Now I'm really looking forward to spending some time on the machines again :)

>23 RebaRelishesReading: - That's great!

>23 RebaRelishesReading: Woo hoo! It sounds like the fitness center was a great find. Is it in a senior center or more of a general community facility?

Have a terrific Tuesday, Reba!

Thank you Katie, Laura and Stasia.

It's a general community facility but free to folks with the Silver&Fit type programs so there are a lot of grey heads there, especially since I've only been during week day times. Hoping to make it to the seated yoga class again today.

This is a busy week. D1 is having her kidney donation surgery today. We're waiting to hear from her significant other who is with her there and will be caring for her during recovery. Thursday D2 is getting a new knee. I'll be taking her to her 5:45 a.m. (!) appointment at the hospital, waiting for her and then bringing her to our house for an unknown number of days of recovery. Her partner will be caring for their 4 year-old full-time while mom recovers (he's a great dad, works from home and always does a lot of care-giving but it'll all be on him for a while now). Meanwhile I have some "annual review" sessions with financial people, etc. Totally crazy week!!

Reba, I’m sending good wishes for your daughter’ surgeries. I started going to a gym about a month ago, free with Silver & Fit, and I’m really seeing the benefits. There are a lot of grey heads at my gym as well.

>28 Oregonreader: Hi Jan! I just got back from a chair yoga class at the fitness center. Ouch!! but I know it's good for me.

Daughter 1 is in recovery having "done very well" and donated "a very healthy kidney" (no surprise there because she has always had aa very "healthy" life style. I actually think D2's knee replacement (Thursday) will be much more difficult. But thank you for the good wishes for both of them.

>29 RebaRelishesReading: That's good news about D1, Reba. Hope the knee surgery is equally successful.

You certainly have a crazy week!

>29 RebaRelishesReading: Glad to hear that the kidney donation surgery went well. Good luck to D2 on the knee surgery :)

Thank you Laura and Anita. I think we are pretty much ready for the knee replacement. We just have to assemble a bench to facilitate showers in the bathtub and set the alarm for 4:30 a.m. tomorrow (OMG!!). Someone is supposed to meet us at the door to the hospital at 5:45 a.m. tomorrow.

Meanwhile, today is our 34th anniversary. I'm hoping we may fit a nice lunch-out into the day -- we'll see. :)

Wordle 431 4/6
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#Worldle #215 2/6 (100%)
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South Africa, China

>32 RebaRelishesReading: Happy anniversary, Reba!
Yikes to your early morning wake-up call tho.

>33 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks for good wishes, Laura. I'm not a morning person at all so not looking forward to tomorrow but at least it's very rare that I have to set the alarm at all these days so I'll just have to suck it up this one time and do it :)

>32 RebaRelishesReading: Happy anniversary, Reba!

>33 RebaRelishesReading: I had Wordle in 5 today, Worldle in one! :-)

>36 FAMeulstee: Thank you Anita. We can't do anything to celebrate today but then after 34 years maybe we don't need to celebrate so much lol. Good results for Wordle and Worldle! I took a wild stab first on Worldle just to get a sense of where in the world we were talking about and then I got it right away.

Hi Reba, and happy new thread.

>3 RebaRelishesReading: I have all the Dublin Murder Squad books on my shelves but have only read the first one. I seriously need to consider continuing. I’ve had the second one on my shelves for 13 years…

>29 RebaRelishesReading: I’m so glad D1 is doing well after donating the kidney. Keeping my fingers crossed that her recovery goes well.

>32 RebaRelishesReading: Happy 34th Anniversary. You weren’t kidding about a busy week.

>35 RebaRelishesReading: I hope D2’s knee replacement goes well. I’m hoping to have both knees replaced next year, although probably as separate surgeries, given some of my health issues. I just found your post on one of my previous threads about having both done at the same time in 2014 with no regrets.

Good morning Karen! It's 4:44 a.m. and I'm about to leave to pick D2 up for her knee surgery. D1 is still in hospital as they have some concern she may be bleeding internally. She was to get 1 or 2 units of blood last night and doctors hoped that would resolve the problem -- certainly hope so!

>39 RebaRelishesReading: - I hope everything goes well today!

And goodness. Yes, I hope D1 doesn't have any complications.

Hoping for good news soon about both D1 & D2.

Thank you Katie and Laura. D1 is still in hospital which is somewhat worrisome! Too busy with D2 today to keep close watch but heard from D1's significant other that she won't be going home today and isn't very happy about it.

D2's surgery went well. She was up practicing on her walker about three hours after surgery was completed. She and her new knee are currently asleep in the guest room and I'm having a little time for myself. Hubby will go by himself to care for D1's kitty this evening. Aren't we "oldies" supposed to be being cared for BY our kids rather than the other way around lol?

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My usual second guess was VERY helpful today train, cloud, clown

Back to add that D1 just called. They done a scan and there is no internal bleeding (whew) and she's feeling better. Hopes to go home tomorrow.

>43 RebaRelishesReading: I'm so glad to hear your daughters are both doing well. Good healing wishes to them!

>43 RebaRelishesReading: I'm so glad to hear this, Reba. Whew, indeed.

>42 RebaRelishesReading: >43 RebaRelishesReading: Glad to hear that everything is going well for both of your daughters.

Have a fantastic Friday, Reba!

Thank you Susan, Laura and Stasia.

"Going well" seems like a bit of an over statement this morning. D1 is needing yet more blood and D2 is in pain. It's hard to grasp how much recovery from knee replacement hurts until you're there but she's finding out and having a hard time getting past that to do what is needed. I've been there and sympathize but also am trying to impress on her that she has to do what it takes to have a functioning knee :0 In other words, I'm being the best mean step-mother I know how to be at the moment.

Meanwhile, just got Wordle in 3 -- that improves the morning :)
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Less success with Worldle
#Worldle #217 5/6 (100%)
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Oh, I hope D1's recovery improves. Worrisome that she still needed a transfusion. And all for such an altruistic move.

Yeah, I know several people who have had knee replacements, and the recovery is NOT fun, but it does work. Good luck and determination wished for D2.

>48 ffortsa: Thanks for your commiseration, Judy. D1 was released from hospital today. She went to Significant Other's house so he can care for her but says she feels like she could be one her own just fine and may go to her own place tomorrow. D2 is over the nausea from anesthesia so is eating again and up and around more. Her Partner and son are expected to come pay a visit any minute now. So progress on both fronts today :)

I left Hubby on nurse duty and ran errands this morning. Picked up our first case of wine from our new wine club membership (we are obligated to buy three 12-bottle cases per year), hit the farmer's market (corn, strawberries, raspberries, peaches, apricots, plums) and went to the butcher for some salmon, a chicken breast for Hubby who won't eat fish, and hamburger to make spaghetti tomorrow night. Whew! I feel like I've had a whole day already.

Some years ago I set myself a personal challenge to read all of the Pulitzer Prize fiction winners and completed it a few years ago. Recently I was thinking about the fact that I have read very few of the National Book Award fiction winners so I have decided to challenge myself to do that now. I started by creating a list of all of the winners and marking those that I have already read (8 of 72) and then ordering a few of the many I still have to read. I'll keep you posted :)

>49 RebaRelishesReading: I'm glad to see D1 has been released from the hospital. Hoping D2's recovery also continues.

>51 RebaRelishesReading: I love those kind of challenges! I did one with the Booker Prize some years ago myself. I started Pulitzers but didn't complete it. I look forward to watching your progress with the National Book Award winners.

>52 lauralkeet: Thanks Laura. D1 is going home to her own place this morning. She's doing very well. D2 plans a shower in a bit but she still has a ways to go before the pain will be over (i know from experience).

Knowing you're watching by personal challenge will help to keep me on track.
First step, I've purchased a few new ones from the list (any excuse, right? :> ):
Goodbye, Columbus, The Centaur, Hell of a Book.
I already owned, but have not read, Herzog.
I have already read:
A Fable by William Faulkner
The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner
Rabbit is Rich by John Updike
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Shipping News by E. Anne Proulx
Charming Billy by Alice McDermott
The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Wordle 435 5/6

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>53 RebaRelishesReading: I just looked at the books in my library tagged "pulitzer prize" and got really excited because there were seven -- count 'em! -- books that I rated 5 stars:
Gilead
Angle of Repose
A Death in the Family
Interpreter of Maladies
The Road
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Grapes of Wrath

You have some great reading ahead of you.

I am glad that the daughters are recovering--sounds like a worry. Congrats on joining a gym! I recently started to increase my gym days (from once a week to 2-3 times a week). The pandemic was not great for my fitness regime, I did lots of walking but not much else.

>55 lauralkeet: I've read the Pulitzer's, Laura (except this year's which is waiting next to my reading chair). I should count how many of those I gave 5 starts to. I'm looking forward to working my way through the National Book Award winners.

>56 banjo123: Thanks Rhonda. Everyone seems to be doing well. Having had knee replacement I know it will be a tough, long road for D2 but she'll make it.

I've got to get back to fitness too. Covid started my decline (since the gym closed) but the move didn't help much. I haven't even been very good about my treadmill lately (and it's right out there ini the garage). Once D2 goes back to her own home I hope I'll be able to get serious -- of course we're getting house guests on the 12th (through the 21st) -- looking forward to them but I probably won't be using the gym while they're here either. Crikey!

The Plateau by Maggie Paxson****

In The Atlantic, Ann Hulbert describes The Plateau as "a lyrical book, by turns ungainly and graceful, dark and uplifting" trying... “to be good when it’s hard to be good.” I'm inclined to agree.

Paxson is an anthropologist who has spent years in rural Russia studying the culture there. She discovers a family connection with a rural area in France and learns that the area is known for taking in refugees and others in need. She claims to be a social scientist studying peace but what she produced is a collection of lovely stories about human kindness and caring. Overall I liked the book very much but it does roam about a bit and drift into memories and personal reflection fairly often. A great book for making you feel better about (at least some of) human kind.

>57 RebaRelishesReading: Oh duh. I knew that because you had already mentioned it. What was I thinking? I haven't tracked my National Book Award reading; a quick glance at the winners shows I've read more of them from the past 10 years than from earlier in the prize. Anyway, sorry for being a doofus!

I can relate to the fitness discussion too. I was actually pretty good during 2020 thanks to virtual workouts (and, later, outdoor sessions) hosted by the gym we belonged to. It was our move that derailed me. This month I finally decided to focus more on getting active again because I didn't want things to continue in the direction they were going. Good luck with your fitness program!

>59 lauralkeet: No need for "sorry", not a "doofus", and thanks for good luck wishes. I was doing really well with fitness until Covid hit and closed my gym. Then we moved and I was too busy. Then I bought a treadmill and was pretty good about using it. Then it got hot and company starting showing up. Then I started playing pickle ball (although that's not all that much exercise) but then I got tired of the longish drive and, besides, company started showing up. Sort of the story of my exercise life I'm afraid. The new "fitness center" is 1 1/2 miles from home and has a lot of classes I like, "drop in" pickle ball and a great equipment room so here's hoping I can get back at it.

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weird how happy it makes me when I open Worldle and immediately know what country it is

>61 RebaRelishesReading: I knew you would have Worldle in one today :-)

Sounds like your daughters have been going through a lot. Glad to hear that they are both recovering.

>49 RebaRelishesReading: I am happy that at least one of your daughters has been released from hospital. I hope that the second soon follows.

>51 RebaRelishesReading: That sounds like a cool challenge, Reba! Good luck with that.

>58 RebaRelishesReading: Too bad my local library does not have that one!

Have a marvelous Monday, Reba!

>62 FAMeulstee: HaHa -- I wonder why you thought that :)

>63 SandDune: Thanks Rhian. They are both doing better. D1 is at home and D2 may go from our house to hers tomorrow.

>64 alcottacre: Thanks Stasia. Very minor issues here compared with your family. Thinking about you all and sending good thoughts. Hope your day is pleasant too.

>65 RebaRelishesReading: Thank you so much, Reba!

Have a terrific Tuesday!

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Oh for heaven's sake!! train, peony, notes, onset

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D2 is planning to go home today. She had her first PT yesterday and they seemed pleased with her progress. That pretty much puts the entire family back into the category of "healthy". I'll still have to drive her to PT for the next couple of weeks but otherwise we may get back to normal for a while. :)

>69 RebaRelishesReading: Hooray for D2 going home!

Have a fantastic Friday, Reba!

>70 alcottacre: Thank you Stasia. Hope you have a pleasant day today in spite of all you're dealing with right now. Take care of yourself.

#Worldle #224 1/6 (100%)
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Now if Wordle will just be that easy :)

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Hours between Worldle and Wordle because my "to-do" list was very long today. Started with taking D2 to her PT appointment. While she was there I ran to TJ's. Then took her home and started the afternoon of running to grocery store, store for packing materials to send my broken Kitchen Aid mixer for repair, mall to buy some unmentionables, gas station...maybe more, I can't remember. I did get a lot of Faithful Place listening done. I'm getting rather tired of Francis and his family and I'm not thrilled to see I have more than 6 hours left to go.

From an OpEd by Henry Reese in the NY Times today.

"Violence against writers was the topic I was about to interview the novelist Salman Rushdie about at the Chautauqua Institution on Aug. 12. We were being introduced onstage when out of nowhere, like a scene from Mr. Rushdie’s novel “Shalimar the Clown,” a knife-wielding man rushed onto the stage and began to stab him.

Immediately audience members ran to the stage to defend him.

It was a remarkable response. That rush of people leaping from their seats was the opposite of the so-called “bystander effect,” when individuals do nothing, relying on others to help. I would call it “the reader effect.” Reading creates empathy, and Chautauqua is an intentional community of readers. The intuitive response of an empathetic community is to help."

Reasons that both Chautauqua and LibraryThing are so important to me.

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Oh for heaven's sake, Wordle, stop it! alien, coast, lyric, bully, fully, dully

We're planning to go out for dinner to celebrate our anniversary tonight -- only 1 1/2 weeks after the fact but the best we can do with the busy life we've been living lately. Ah well, all good :)

>76 RebaRelishesReading: Enjoy your diner, Reba.
After so many years a late celebration doesn't really matter.

>72 RebaRelishesReading: Yes, Worldle is usually the easiest. Except when it is one of those tiny island states in oceans ;-)

>75 RebaRelishesReading: I was lucky got it at the 6th try.

>53 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, I've read The Shipping News and Herzog, the latter in school. I'll post my own list on my thread. What do you have in mind to read next from this list?

Good morning everyone :) I went back to my usual starting word this morning and very glad I did.

Wordle 442 3/6
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>77 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita. We had a very nice dinner last night and, you're right, it doesn't matter whether our anniversary celebration in on the exact day or not after 34 years :)

>78 ffortsa: Hi Judy. I've read The Shipping News but not Herzog (list of those I've read is at >53 RebaRelishesReading: above). A couple of weeks ago I bought a few more National Book Award winners and slotted three of them into my "read soon" stack: Goodbye, Columbus, Herzog and The Centaur. I'm reading The Netanyahus (2022 Pulitzer winner) at the moment and not making much progress due to crazy life right now but I'd be happy to move on to any National Book Award winner you choose (that I haven't read already) if you'd like to read together.

Faithful Place by Tana French**** (audio)

I lived just outside Dublin from 1981-83 and this book reminded me a lot of the acceptance of violence that was part of working class Irish culture then. I observed this in discussions on the television and in the way the subject was treated in humor. As a mystery I would rate Faithful Place only two stars because there really wasn't much to that part of the story but as a story of family violence and its horrible consequences it's really very good, hence the ****.

Wordle 443 5/6
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I'm starting to not like this game very much train, cloud, peony, swoop, whoop

#Worldle #227 4/6 (100%)
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https://worldle.teuteuf.fr
Cuba, Malta,Bhutan, Nepal

The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen****

Amazon's description of this Pulitzer Prize and National Jewish Book award winner is as follows:

Corbin College, not-quite-upstate New York, winter 1959-1960: Ruben Blum, a Jewish historian--but not an historian of the Jews--is co-opted onto a hiring committee to review the application of an exiled Israeli scholar specializing in the Spanish Inquisition. When Benzion Netanyahu shows up for an interview, family unexpectedly in tow, Blum plays the reluctant host, to guests who proceed to lay waste to his American complacencies. Mixing fiction with non-fiction, the campus novel with the lecture, The Netanyahus is a wildly inventive, genre-bending comedy of blending, identity, and politics--"An Account of A Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family" that finds Joshua Cohen at the height of his powers."

Before looking into the background for this book I hadn't realized that Benjamin Netanyahus' father had been a well-known but rather controversial historian who taught at Cornell University. Cohen sets his book a bit further west in Chautauqua County but portrays the family with actual names and, I believe, accurately describes the elder Netanyahus' perspective on Jewish history.

If this book is ever made into a film it will be a slap-stick lover's dream. Reading it I had the urge to duck and cover more than to laugh out loud but it IS funny and well worth the read.

Wordle 444 3/6
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Thank you and good morning :) train, tangy, taunt

#Worldle #228 4/6 (100%)
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https://worldle.teuteuf.fr
Neither I nor my geographer husband had ever heard of this place but with the help of a map and distance/direction info gathered in first three attempts we managed to find it!

>84 RebaRelishesReading: OMG I got the Worldle in TWO! I had heard of this place, and when my first guess didn't pan out and was far away, I hunted for suitable candidates. Actually, your comment about never having heard of it helped me a little, as it is a little obscure.

>83 RebaRelishesReading: Your comments have piqued my interest, Reba. I knew nothing about the book (other than it won the Pulitzer) and was a bit put off by the title.

>85 ffortsa: I'm impressed, Judy! As to , I would never have read it had it not won a Pulitzer (I'm determined to keep that list complete).

I started Goodbye, Columbus yesterday.

>86 lauralkeet: Morning Laura! I was put off by both the title and the cover but it surprised me.

Well dang, I "copied" something else and now I don't have today's Wordle to show but I will report that I got it in 4 train, cloud, repel, leery

As to Worldle, I used the distance/direction info from my first guess and pretty much got lucky.
#Worldle #229 2/6 (100%)
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https://worldle.teuteuf.fr Switzerland, Bhutan

OK that was weird!! I hit "talk" to move from one thread to the next and was suddenly signed out of LT! It took me a minute to figure out what had happened but when I signed back in it took me right back where I left off -- ?????

Wordle 446 X/6

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Oh well train, royal , adieu, llama, black, clasp

Proving I can't think without pencil and paper in hand...
Wordle 447 X/6
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train, cloud, peony, tweet, these, these That's two in a row :(

But then...
#Worldle #231 1/6 (100%)
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https://worldle.teuteuf.fr :)

Goodbye,Columbus by Philip Roth****

Winner of the 1960 National Book Award for fiction, at face value this novella is a summer love story but, more deeply, it is a portrayal of immigrant/minority assimilation into main stream America. Neil Klugman is from a working class, very observant Jewish family. He has a degree, has served in the Army and now works in the Newark public library. He lives with an aunt, uncle and cousin because his parents have moved to Arizona for health reasons. He meets Brenda, daughter of a wealthy secular Jewish family and student at Radcliffe and they immediately fall in love. This is the story of that love.

Wordle 448 4/6
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#Worldle #232 1/6 (100%)
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https://worldle.teuteuf.fr
Hubby and I sometimes work together on Worldle. I open it and, if I know it immediately or he isn't around, I'll go ahead. Today he was at his desk just 5 feet or so away so I showed him and he got it in one. I didn't think it was an island because of that straight border on the SE side so I was thinking about something with water to the west/northwest but I should know better than to question him on geographic matters -- Madagascar it was!

Hi, Reba, After reading of your completion of all the Pulitzers, I’m going to give it a go. I’m going to start with The Netanyahus. Sounds like a book I would enjoy.

>94 Oregonreader: Hi Jan. Glad to hear you're going to go for the Pulitzers. There were a lot of books in there that I really enjoyed including some of the older ones I wasn't familiar with and might otherwise never have read. The Netanyahus was funny and I didn't even know about the connection with Israel's ex-prime minister until after I'd finished it. Have fun :)

Wordle 449 3/6
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train, toxic, tibia

>81 RebaRelishesReading: Dodging that BB as I have already read it.

>83 RebaRelishesReading: That one is already in the BlackHole as I try (very slowly) to read through the National Jewish Book Award winners.

>92 RebaRelishesReading: Another BB I can skip since I read that one years ago.

My dodging feet are in fine fettle today.

Have a marvelous Monday, Reba!

>97 alcottacre: You are indeed ahead of me on this batch, Stasia! Hope you have a good day too.

Wordle 450 6/6
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train, peony, smoke whole, evoke, booze not a word I use often nor a place my head is so early in the morning :(

>98 RebaRelishesReading: It is a rarity and I will take it! lol

Reba, I'm glad both of your daughters are recovering nicely from their health issues. Now you can concentrate on getting more exercise, although I think pickle ball would be a lot more fun than walking on a treadmill. We have a barely used one in our basement. I would rather walk outside almost any day of the year. Ice is about the only thing that keeps me inside. Also, those really cold days when it's ten degrees or below. Otherwise, we bundle up and go.

>74 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks for sharing that Op-ed piece about "The Reader Effect" regarding audience members jumping up to help after the horrible events at Chautauqua. I hope Mr. Rushdie continues to heal without repercussions. I started reading The Satanic Verses in support, but life interrupted my good intentions.

I look forward to seeing your progress in reading NBA books. I tend to prefer those over the Pullitzer. It seems to me that they are more reader friendly. ;-)

Hi Donna!

Actually I rather like walking on the treadmill because I can keep the speed constant and I always listen to an audio book. I think I'll like the classes and equipment at the "fitness center" too if I ever manage to get there on a regular basis.

Glad you liked "the Reader Effect". I thought it was interesting. I read Rushdie's Midnight's Children after he was at Chautauqua the last time but haven't ever really thought about reading The Satanic Verses -- I suspect I'm put off by "verses".

Wordle 451 4/6

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With a little help from Katie :) train, penis, apply alpha

Company is here but I woke up first so have Chicken Enchilada Soup going in the crock pot for dinner tonight and washed blueberries waiting for waffles. I hear three of the four others up now so can't tarry -- hope you all have a great day :)

Have a wonderful Wednesday, Reba! I hope you are enjoying your company.

Have fun with your guests!!!

Thank you Stasia and Kim -- we've been having a good time, busy but good. This morning, however, two are sick. One was supposed to fly home today but has rescheduled for tomorrow. Other one will be leaving Wednesday and should be well by then. Worst part is that I'm afraid I made the first one sick with chicken skewers I bought pre-made at butcher yesterday :(

Wordle 456 6/6
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Whew!! train, peony, might, stiff, still, stick

#Worldle #240 1/6 (100%)
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OK, That's better :)

>107 RebaRelishesReading: *note to self* Don't visit Reba. She poisons her guests.
Just kidding ... I'm sure it's stressful to have house guests who aren't well. I'm glad it wasn't covid though.

>107 RebaRelishesReading: The same here, Reba, Worldle in one, Wordle in 6. We are Wor(l)dle twins today ;-)
peony, mirth, stair, still, stiff, stick

>108 lauralkeet: Believe me I worried about that, Laura!! One turned out to be a urinary tract infection and I'm sure I had nothing to do with that. She now has meds and is improving rapidly. Second one swears it wasn't food (she could be being nice but then nobody else had a problem and we all ate the same thing -- could have been a tainted piece of chicken on just one skewer though). Anyway everyone is well this morning and the possible food poisoning is going home today, just one day late. Looks and says she's fine. Cousin and husband aren't due to leave until Wednesday evening. I'm feeling less guilty now :)

>109 FAMeulstee: Wondering how you did today, Anita. For me, it was one of those very frustrating days with Wordle.

Wordle 457 6/6
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train, tripe, tribe, trite, trike, trice - I went through the possibilities in alphabetical order at second guess but didn't think it would be trice so tried every other possibility first :(

Couldn't recognize Woordle today so went to the maps. In case you're wondering it was Gabon

>111 RebaRelishesReading: At least you got the word, Reba!
It was a 5 for me today: peony, mirth, tried, tribe, trice

>111 RebaRelishesReading: Frustrating one, eh? How did you do on Worldle, Anita?

>113 RebaRelishesReading: Way better, Reba:
#Worldle #241 1/6 (100%)
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>114 FAMeulstee: Wow, I'm impressed!

We took one house guest to the airport this morning for her flight back to Colorado and then proceeded with the other two (her parents) to Powell's where we spent a lovely hour :)
My hau (mostly for my personal National Book Award Winner challenge)l:

>110 RebaRelishesReading: Sounds like you can be exonerated, Reba. 😊

Wordle was beastly today. Your fabulous book haul makes up for it.

>117 lauralkeet: Thanks for the exoneration, Laura :) She's fine today and now in a plane on her way back to Colorado. Her parents leave on the train Wednesday afternoon. It's been a delightful visit but a quieter day today (airport run, stop at DQ for lunch, visit to Powell's and now everyone doing their own quiet thing at home) is lovely.

Loved your blog re fall garden. I love your white garden with that glorious sculpture in the middle. It's fantastic!!

We're still getting some tomatoes but that's all we got ever, actually. Strawberries are spreading out nicely and the blueberries, gooseberries and raspberries are all doing nicely too, so I have some hope for next year :) Noticed lately that there is a little color appearing in the trees so it looks like my favorite season is on the way.

Thanks Reba. And congratulations on a successful first year with your garden!

>116 RebaRelishesReading: Wow. You've picked up 5 books that I've read and liked: The News From Paraguay, Trust Exercise, Invisible Man, Interior Chinatown, and The Man with the Golden Arm. You're in for such treats!

>116 RebaRelishesReading: Excellent haul!

>111 RebaRelishesReading: Ouch! That was close.

>119 lauralkeet: Thank you Laura. Not sure how successful it was but we did get a lot of tomatoes (in our terms) and the fruits are growing well.

>120 ffortsa: They're all National Book Award winners so will keep me catch up a bit to you on that list :)

>121 figsfromthistle: Thanks Anita. I'm looking forward to starting on it. As to Wordle -- It was nearly as close today :(

Wordle 459 5/6
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train, rages, relax, repay, recap

We've had a wonderful 10 days with my cousin, her husband and (for 7 days) their adult daughter. Delightful people and wonderful guests. The visit prompted us to visit several places we've wanted to go but just hadn't managed yet so now we've seen a lot more of our new corner of the U.S. It did involve a lot of time in cars, however, so I'm hoping to spend the next few days largely at home with a book in hand!

"C" is for Corpse by Sue Grafton***1/2

A pleasant murder mystery in the alphabet series by Sue Grafton. Kinsey's client is a young man who was seriously injured in an auto crash and believes it was attempted murder.

Wordle 460 5/6
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Am I getting worse or are these getting harder? peony, crane, fauna, taint, saint

It's 9:45 and I'm still in my bathrobe, munching on some watermelon and sipping tea :) Must tackle that mountain of laundry before too long plus I'm trying to talk myself into heading to the gym to spend some time with the machines. I'm having my new Covid booster and flu shots this evening. Definitely left-overs tonight (you should see our fridge !!) In between I'm hoping to get some reading time in :)

>126 RebaRelishesReading: I wish I could still be in bathrobe (or even PJs). I'm really exhausted and just need a good sleep-in. Of course, that's impossible to do with 3 cats, but at least, I might be able to feed them and go back to bed.

>127 thornton37814: Hope you find some time to rest, at least!

Wordle 461 4/6
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slate, cloud, blown, glory
Better than average lately :(

I did get the huge laundry done yesterday, got my Bivalent booster yesterday evening and started The News from Paraguay (which I'm really enjoying). Today I must do the floors, make some phone calls and run some errands not to mention FINALLY do some exercise!

Cleaning floors counts as exercise!

>130 katiekrug: Thank you, Katie! I'll accept that :) Actually I did vacuum the whole house, wet-clean the kitchen and bathrooms and then walked on the tread-mill for 30 minutes today. (and now I may have injured my arm patting myself on the back lol)

Wordle 462 4/6

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train, orate, crate, grate

Off to the farmer's market in a few to get some corn, then to clinic for flu shots, then out to breakfast. D2 and family are coming for dinner today, bringing sausage & rolls plus watermelon. She seems to be healing nicely from her surgery. Hope for an otherwise quiet day and more time with The News from Paraguay.

Wordle 463 2/6
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That's better!! Been a long time since I had a 2 :)
train, admit

\#Worldle #247 3/6 (100%)
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https://worldle.teuteuf.fr
So where is Devil's Island?!?

So I ended up listening to The Girl From the Channel Islands and knitting instead of reading more of The News from Paraguay. Time well spent either way.

During the night and this morning I have been aching all over!! I'm blaming the flu shot and hoping it will sort itself out soon!!

We have tickets to the Vancouver Symphony for Rhapsody in Blue this afternoon. We'll meet friends there and have dinner with them afterwards. Really looking forward to that :)

Hope all y'all have a lovely day too :)

I got my flu shot a week ago and had the same reaction with a bit of chills about 12 hours after I got the shot. I thought it was very unusual as I don't think I have ever had a reaction to the flu shot in the past. I am wondering if it is the result of the COVID shots and all the boosters I have had? The COVID virus may look enough like the flu virus that my body kicked into gear to fight it? I don't know, but I felt bad enough after the flu shot to notice and, as I said, I usually don't even notice that I had the flu shot.

>134 RebaRelishesReading: It is One of three tiny islands about halfway of the coast, so small you can't see them on this scale, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvation_Islands. I thought the same, so did a search :-)

You have been busy lately what with visitors and other stuff, Reba. I hope you have a quiet week this week :)

>135 benitastrnad: Hi Benita. I thought it was probably that the flu expected this season just resulted in a different variety of flu shot. Don't know but I was fine after just the night of aching and now I feel well protected again all comers :)

>136 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita. I know it really is tiny but they have shown some tiny ones in the past so I thought it would be there and rejected the correct answer to start with as a result Ah, well!

>137 alcottacre: Thank you Stasia. I've been busy, but with happy things, so it's OK. I do have a few very quiet days coming up (at least they look quiet from here) so I'm sure I'll be fine. I know you have a lot more (and more difficult) things on your plate so here are the good wishes right back at you. Take care of yourself.

Wordle 464 3/6
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This makes up for some days when it takes forever to find one last letter :) train, peony, brisk

#Worldle #248 2/6 (100%)
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We had this one not long ago! North Macedonia, Mali

#Worldle #249 5/6 (100%)
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https://worldle.teuteuf.fr
Another one we've had not long ago (obviously didn't mean I recognized it until I solved it with a map)

Wordle 465 6/6
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train, peony, cloud, hobby, foggy, soggy

Tough morning!!

I finished two books yesterday, one paper book and one audible. Both very good.


The News From Paraguay by Lily Tuck - winner of the 2004 National Book Award****1/2

Ella Lynch is a beautiful Parisian courtesan who has reinvented herself several times since since she left Ireland at age ten and changed her name from Eliza Alicia Lynch to Elisa Alice Lynch and then to Ella Lynch. At fifteen she had married a French army officer and then sat nineteen was divorced and living with a Russian count. In March 1854 she meets the "Ambassador at Large" son of the Paraguayan head of government who plies her with gifts including a young mare she desperately wants and can't afford. She follows him to Paraguay where the story blends the history of the country with Ella's life and loves.

In the author's note, Ms Tuck says:

I have tried to keep to historical facts where I find them to be important and necessary. The events that take place, especially those dealing with the war, are complicated and, for the most part, not well known, which means that the need to explain and the need to dramatize are often at odds. What then, the reader may wonder, is fact and what is fiction? My general rule of thumb is whatever seems most improbable is probably true.

This is an engaging story with enough history of a little known place to be somewhat informative as well.


The Girl from the Channel Islands by Jenny Lecoat**** (audio)

Hedy is an Austrian Jew who flees the Anschluss by taking a job as a nanny in the Channel Islands but then finds herself in danger again when the Islands are occupied and her employers flee. At the suggestion of her only friend she takes a job with the occupying forces as a German/English translator. Life for Hedy gets progressively more complicated and dangerous and the war goes on.

According to Goodreads, Ms Lecoat was born and raised in Jersey, parents were raised under German Occupation, and both families were involved in resistance activity.

A great read - part historical novel, part suspense story, part love story.

NEXT UP:

winner of the 2021 National Book Award

>141 RebaRelishesReading: Good reading, Reba. *The News from Paraguay* is going on my TBR list.

>142 Oregonreader: Hi Jan1 Hope you enjoy it :)

>141 RebaRelishesReading:
I read News From Paraguay in 2015 and liked it. I gave it 4.5 stars and for me that's alot of stars. I thought it was much like some of the work of Isabella Allende in that it told much of the history of some of the countries of South America. I think we American's tend to think of South America only as it relates to us and forget that it has a history all its own. And a long history all its own at that!

>144 benitastrnad: Hi Benita. Good point about the comparison with Allende. Nice to hear from you :)

Wordle 466 4/6
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desperation! train, cloud, peony, usurp

Shetland s7 e3 OMG NO!!

Wordle 467 5/6

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train, peony, sugar, slack, scald

#Worldle #251 1/6 (100%)
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in one -- Hubby wasn't even in the room :)

Wordle 468 4/6
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train, peony, sworn, scorn

#Worldle #252 1/6 (100%)
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https://worldle.teuteuf.fr Greenland

Pretty good start to the day :)

Wordle 469 6/6
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train, cloud, whelp, leaky, leafs, leave

It's not quite 11 a.m. yet and I've finished all of my morning computer "stuff" except DuoLingo. I spent about 11 hours at my desk yesterday so I plan (and hope) to spend a good bit of today in my reading chair with a book!!

Hope you all have a great day too :)

Your day with a book sounds like a day we’ll spent, Reba. I know you love to entertain, but catching up with the books has therapeutic rewards.

DH and I are getting flu shots and Covid boosters on Thursday. I have nothing planned for Friday just in case I get a reaction. Maybe I’m asking for trouble by getting a double whammy?

I hope you enjoyed your reading time today, Reba!

Wordle 470 3/6
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train, tinge, twine

Hello, Reba! You've has a very eventful couple of months with your daughters' surgeries, out of town guests, your anniversary and more! This is retirement? For a time my father and stepmother were the busiest retired people I knew. They've slowed down some. My mother is still working at 79!

You've also done some great reading and your next one will be 75!! Congratulations! You did get me with The Girl From Channel Islands. My grandmother had dear friends on both Jersey and Guernsey and traveled there often. I hope to go one day.

I'm glad your daughter seems to be over the worst of the knee replacement pain. I have heard those are very painful. You helped to keep me on track with my rehab, and i hope your daughter's goes well also.

>152 Donna828: Hi Donna. I did it!! I spent the entire day in my bathrobe and the entire afternoon reading Hell of a Book. It was wonderful.

We had Covid one day and flu the next because we had to go to two different places to get them. Neither one caused any problem (I was rather tired after the flu shot but it could be I was just tired) so I don't think getting them together will be a problem either. I've been telling people I feel invincible after getting both which is almost true :)

>153 lauralkeet: Thank you Laura. I did indeed!

>155 AMQS: Yep, Anne, this is my retirement. Actually I like being busy and connected so, although sometimes I need a "sea day", I love my life.

The book about the Channel Island WWII experience was excellent and you should definitely go there. We visited Jersey, Guernsey and Sark a few years ago and really enjoyed it.

Daughter seems to be doing well with her new knee. I think she will be released to drive next week which will make life easier for her and for her partner. I'm happy to hear I played a role in keeping your rehab on track :)

I'm about to post #75 which was excellent. Check it out :)

#75 Hell of a Book by Jason Mott ****1/2
2021 National Book Award winner for fiction

An African-American author has written a book (called Hell of a Book in the story as well) and is about to go on a nation-wide publicity tour. The story alternates between actual things happening on the tour and a second story involving (possibly imagined) people and events that may or may not have happened in the near past.

From the book jacket:

As these characters' stories build and converge, they astonish. For while this heartbreaking and magical book entertains and is at once about family, love of parents and children, art, and money, it's also about the nation's reckoning with a tragic police shooting playing over and over again on the news. And with what it can mean to be Black in America.

It is, indeed, one hell of a book!

So, 75 in 9 months and a day -- I may actually make my secret goal of 100 this year. It's been a while.

Next up:
for RL bookclub. It's a chunk, must get started!

Currently listening by Audible:

Hi Reba, glad you got a day to rest. All those house guests sound fun, but exhausting.

>157 RebaRelishesReading:. Sounds like a good read! I will look for it.

>159 banjo123: Hi Rhonda! Well next houseguest arrives a week from today to stay for a week so not so much rest but at least I have a fairly quiet week between now and then.

Hope you like Hell of a Book

>157 RebaRelishesReading: Congratulations on reaching 75, Reba!

Congrats!

>161 FAMeulstee:, >162 drneutron: Thank you Anita and Jim!! (now I can move on to my secret goal of 100)

Wordle 471 3/6
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train, night, sting

Congrats on hitting 75!

>164 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie :)

Congratulations on 75 and well wishes for 100!

Congratulations on reaching 75 Reba :)

Congrats on reading 75 books!

Thank you Susan, Adrienne and Anita :)

D is for Deadbeat by Sue Grafton***

Fourth in the Kinsey Million series -- great for listening to while doing something fairly mindless -- walking, knitting, etc.

Wordle 473 5/6
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train, cloud, pares, harsh, marsh

#Worldle #257 1/6 (100%)
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https://worldle.teuteuf.fr
another repeat Namibia

>171 RebaRelishesReading: Repeat is unavoidable in Worldle, Reba. A quick search finds 210 (or 196) sovereign states, and 52 (or 66) not independent states. But they should not appear so soon again ;-)

>172 FAMeulstee: Interesting numbers Anita. Looks like things will have to repeat more than once a year. I was pleased I remembered that one because I'm pretty sure I didn't get it in one the first time :)

Wordle 474 4/6
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train, peony, stock, sloth

And to prove your point, Anita, here's another repeat:
#Worldle #258 2/6 (100%)
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https://worldle.teuteuf.fr
Croatia, Costa Rica

Not a terribly busy day today (I hope). I need to change the bed and do the laundry today and then hope to finish Americannah for real-life bookclub on Monday. I like it but at nearly 600 pages it's quite a chunk. I may also go to the gym today for some time with the machines -- or maybe walk on the treadmill in the garage -- or not. We'll see :)

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie****1/2

Ifemelu is a high school student in Nigeria, daughter of a middle-class couple, when we meet her. We follow her story in two ways until she is a young, independent woman. On the one hand this is the story of her emigrating to the United States to finish her college education and then to work, ultimately earning a good living writing a blog about being black in America, and then returning to Nigeria. On the other hand it is about her love life in highs school, in America and back in Nigeria. The book is also about America, and about being an immigrant and about going home. It's a complicated story (using all of its almost 600 pages fully) but interesting and compelling. A book I will be thinking about for a while.

>175 RebaRelishesReading:
My book discussion group read this book a couple of years ago and I loved it. It caused me to do lots of thinking as well.

>175 RebaRelishesReading: I'm glad to see you liked Americanah, Reba. I read it some time ago, but rated it as highly as you did.

I've had Americanah on my Kindle for years. I'll have to bump it up the mental priority list :)

Mornin' Benita and Laura -- always nice to hear others feel the same way about a book as you do :) It's a chunk but worthwhile. Yes, Katie, I think you should bump it up that list :)

Wordle 475 6/6
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one of "those" train, peony, candy, sandy, dandy - whew!!

Lucy by the Sea by Eliizabeth Strout*****

Elizabeth Strout understands people and writes about human experience, relationships and feelings better than nearly any other author. IMO, in Lucy by the Sea she has perfectly captured the experience of life in the time of Covid while at the same time making worthwhile comments about relationships.

>181 RebaRelishesReading: I couldn't agree more, Reba!

>182 lauralkeet: Mornin' Laura! "great minds" and all that, right? lol

Wordle 476 4/6
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slate, peony, comic, vigor

>181 RebaRelishesReading:. Glad to hear that you liked this one!

Wordle 477 5/6

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Oh Please! train, peony, cloud, dowdy, howdy

>185 banjo123: I forget, Rhonda, have you read it? Sounds like you have and liked it -- which I can totally understand :)

Interesting afternoon! We picked Hubby's second cousin once removed up from this airport this afternoon. I was driving and stayed behind the wheel while he hopped out and helped her put her suitcase in the "way back" of the car. They got in and we drove away. A hundred feel or so further we realized that people were yelling at us, then discovered that the hatch hadn't been closed when they put the suitcase in, so I pulled over into a handy spot and Hubby went back and closed it. We drove the 20 minutes or so home, into the garage, opened the hatch only to find there was no suitcase there!! A few minutes later cousin received a call from the airport that her suitcase had been turned in so-o-o-o-o we turned around and drove right back to pick it up from the baggage folks. How nice of everyone to try to warn us as it happened AND to rescue the case and turn it in AND for baggage people to call us AND for the pickup to be so quick and easy I was able to wait for her at the curb while we went in to collect it.

>188 RebaRelishesReading: Isn't it nice to realise that there are still so many good people out there, Reba? I'm glad it all turned out fine.

>188 RebaRelishesReading: Such adventures make better telling than living. Chalk up a good story. I might borrow it.....

>188 RebaRelishesReading: oh my goodness. What a wild ride! I sure am glad it all worked out in the end.

>189 PaulCranswick:, >190 quondame:, >191 lauralkeet: Thanks Paul, Susan and Laura. Alls well etc, right?

Wordle 477 5/6
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train, peony, enemy, envoy, enjoy

#Worldle #262 2/6 (100%)
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https://worldle.teuteuf.fr

Another interesting bookcase idea:

Wordle 479 4/6
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train, peony, cloud, valid

>193 RebaRelishesReading: Like!

>195 FAMeulstee: :) Morning Anita.

Wordle 480 5/6

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train, cloud, sonic, tonic, ionic

Wordle 481 4/6

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train cloud laugh equal

My sister has alerted me to a new word game. Semantle.com. Take a look. You start from nothing, and the game tells you how far away you are from the word of the day. It sounds random, but it's not. Today took me 42 moves, but I found it. And there are hints.

>199 ffortsa: Thanks, Judy. i will indeed give it a try :)

Don't know why this popped into my head as soon as I saw the first two results but I'll take it :)

Wordle 482 3/6
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train, cloud, floor

>199 ffortsa: Gave it a try this morning -- got to 110/1000, but no closer, in 21 tries. This game might be bad for my blood-pressure lol.

Wordle 483 4/6
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I totally couldn't see this one so ended up getting help. train, peony, cloud, catch

Worldle, on the other hand, was almost too easy
#Worldle #267 1/6 (100%)
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https://worldle.teuteuf.fr

We're having D2 and family over for brunch this morning so she can spend some time with the (distant) cousin who has been visiting us for a week then, this afternoon, we take cousin to the airport. End of houseguests for the foreseeable future :) It's been lovely seeing these people we care about but I'm also ready for some "just us" time!! (not to mention some time to read).

Wordle 484 6/6
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train, slate, shame, suave, space, spade whew!!

>205 RebaRelishesReading: At least a nice pattern, Reba, and no yellow ;-)

Makes me feel less bad about my Wordle in five today (peony, mirth, lapse, space, spade), and the Woordle took me six (plein, schut, droog, koord, zwamt, fjord)

>206 FAMeulstee: Good morning, Anita! Thanks for pointing out the good side of yesterday's puzzle. Today is much better!!

Wordle 485 2/6

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I really didn't think it would be that word but I just couldn't think of anything else that fit my first results so tried it -- mostly hoping to get more information :)
train, stein

A Mama moment:

My son will be singing God Bless America at the first National League playoff game tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. (PDT I assume since it will be played in San Diego). This is the most recent of several times he's been asked to sing the National Anthem, God Bless America or both for Padre's games but it's extra special this time because it'll be the first NLCS game ever played at Petco Park. If you happen to be watching the game ... :)

All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy***1/2
winner of 1992 National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award

John Grady Cole is 16 when his grandfather dies and John Grady is told that the Texas ranch where he grew up will be sold. He decides to head to Mexico to find his future and convinces his friend, Rawlins, to go with him. Trouble starts when they meet a third young man and allow him to join them.

In spite of being a story full of adventure and romance, I found it rather slow going. Hence the ***1/2 rating. Part of this had to do with McCarthy's use of dialogue in Spanish with no hint of the translation. I can read a little bit of Spanish and could sometimes make out the meaning but often I had to grab my phone and ask for a translation. Partway through the book I learned that there is a Cliff Notes on it which includes translations for the Spanish but I didn't have one and didn't want to subscribe to Cliff Notes for this one book so I just looked up words and phrases I didn't know. It's an interesting way to write and somehow added to the atmosphere but it made it pretty slow going sometimes.

In addition to the Spanish issue, I'm just not really a western adventure story lover which is also reflected in the ***1/2 rating from me for this very well written book.

>208 RebaRelishesReading: Oh, that is so wonderful. You should be a very Proud Mama. No one in my family can sing on that level. 'God Bless America' is one of my favorite patriotic songs.

Did you know that Cormac McCarthy is releasing two new (connected) books this fall? I just read about it today and my library already has a long list of patrons ahead of me.

>210 Donna828: Hi Donna. I didn't know about the books but I did notice that All the Pretty Horses is the first of a series of three. Not sure I'll tackle them though. The only other book of his I've read is The Road which I thought was powerful but so far I haven't really connected with his stuff.

>208 RebaRelishesReading: Wow! Congratulations to your son. That's quite an honor.

I'm also impressed with your Wordle-in-2. 😊

Very cool about your son!

Thank you Katie and Laura. He's a big Padre's fan so he always enjoys doing this and has a great voice, if I do say so myself, so he gets asked fairly often but this is the first time he's done a play-off game (actually first NL playoff there has been at Petco Park).

Wordle 486 5/6
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train, cloud, peony, eight, exist

Wordle 487 4/6
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train, peony, birch, quirk

#Worldle #271 1/6 (100%)
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https://worldle.teuteuf.fr
As Anita pointed out recently, there are fewer countries in the world than days in the year so...we're on round two here. Spain

We've been having an unusually warm fall breaking the previous record of 6 days over 80 degrees by doubling it to 12!! After a warm, dry summer this had led to a string of fires in the mountains. Yesterday and today we've awakened to a very dense grey mixture of fog and smoke...most unpleasant. However, the temperatures have dropped to something nearer normal and the forecast is for rain by Friday. I hope and pray that fall has finally arrived!

Wordle 488 4/6
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train, cloud, indie, denim

Hi Reba, I share your prayer about fall coming soon. The air quality here was over 200 yesterday and for a short period we had the highest AQI index of any city in the world. I think we’re getting smoke from both Oregon and Washington. So there’s a good reason to stay home and read!

Sacagawea's Child by Susan M. Colby****

Hubby has developed a real interest in Lewis & Clark since we moved to the Columbia River Valley and he bought this book in the gift shop at Fort Clatsup when we visited there with my cousins last month. It's a really well-researched biography of Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, the baby Sacagawea bore and carried with her on the way west with the Lewis & Clark expedition. Jean-Baptiste had a most interesting life living in St. Louis, Germany, the American South West among other places and living as a "mountain man" for much of his life after having a well-rounded education in the classics and languages (he was fluent in English, French, German and Spanish as well as several Indian languages). Well worth a read.

Wordle 489 5/6
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train, cloud, proof, gross, groveWHEW!

Wordle 490 4/6

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train, cloud, spite, spiel

The first rain since last May started falling yesterday and is still with us today - HOORAY!! Good for the plants and for the fire fighters and for my soul :)

Congrats for the proud mama moment and for reading and exceeding 75 books, Reba!

>225 Familyhistorian: Thank you Meg.

Congrats to your son! That's so cool.

I haven't read Lucy by the Sea; but I am a Strout fan, so will probably get around to it eventually.

Trains and Lovers by Alexander McCall Smith***

I seem to never like any of McCall Smith's works as well as I like the Ladies #1 series (which I like a lot) and this one worked even less well for me than the Scottish ones. Six strangers are seated together in a train carriage which I imagine is an old-fashioned one with individual little rooms for each six seats arranged three facing three. They begin to talk and end with each telling a story from their past -- so six short stories masquerading as a novel. If I liked short stories better I might have appreciated the approach but it all just fell a bit flat for me.



Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? by Seamas O'Reilly**** (audio)

A delightful memoir of growing up in a large Irish Catholic family, this book is both sad and funny. When O'Reilly was 5 his mother died of breast cancer leaving his father to raise 11 children on his own and apparently doing a wonderful job of it. O'Reilly does a great job of conveying the confusion he had as a small child understanding what had happened and of describing the warm, loving household he grew up in. His Irish sense of humor allows him to describe fairly mundane events in a way that led me to laugh out-loud at times. A delightful little book.

Hi Reba, I think we both jumped on Katie's accolades for Did Ye Hear Mammy Died?. I have it on my Kindle and expect I'll get to it in the next few weeks. I'm glad to see another positive review.

>229 lauralkeet: Exactly, Laura. Are you going to listen to it? It's only something like 5 hours on Audio so I walked on the treadmill and knitted and ran a couple of errands in the car and it was done.

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Ugh! train, cloud, queer, fuzzy, jumpy, gummy

We have finally had some rain !! :) !!. There's a chance that fall may have arrived. The garden and I are VERY happy. (Hubby not so much)

Wordle 492 4/6
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train, cloud, vault, fault