WHAT ARE YOU READING? - Part 10

And (most likely) for the last time this year: it is time for a new thread (we had been chatty) :)

How is your December going? Are you already tired of all the holiday music (I need to admit that I actually like holiday music although I am probably in the minority)?

Grab a chair and a glass of whatever you are drinking and come tell us what you are reading.

And don’t forget to come at the very end of the year to tell us what book you are closing the year with (and if you are finishing it or you are carrying it into 2023) - sending out the year and this group - before moving over to Club 2023 (everyone is coming to the new Club next year, right?) :)

nvm

I am in the middle of The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell- it is excellent!

Oh William!

Happy December all.

Eager to start 2023. I have my lists all ready to go!

Not sure what I'll manage to finish in Dec. Currently reading Not a Nation of Immigrants, and The Thursday Murder Club.

Next up: All Adults Here for book club, and maybe We Gather Together which I started last year and abandoned. I need to get back to: The Evening Chorus
I have a hold (Libby) on All About Us for a fun Christmas read.

Stanley Ellin, The Specialty of the House and Other Stories: The Complete Mystery Tales, 1948-1978

There's an old joke about a theatergoer who comes out of their first Shakespeare play disappointed because "it was just a bunch of famous quotes strung together." An author doesn't have to be as old as Shakespeare to suffer from the same problem, in which their ideas have been so thoroughly absorbed into the culture that later generations might not recognize how innovative they were. There are moments of that in reading Stanley Ellin, but even if some of his themes and plots feel more familiar than they once did, no one has ever handled them better.

Ellin was not a prolific writer; there are only 35 stories in this 30-year collection (and he published only one more before his death in 1986). The upside of that is that the writing is more polished and graceful than that of some more prolific authors, and there are only a handful of moments in which it shows its age. An awkward attempt to capture the slang of The Hip Young Kids in 1976's "Generation Gap," for instance, doesn't hold up terribly well. And there are, especially in the first half of the book (which is arranged chronologically), a few too many "battle of the sexes" stories about men whose only real problem is that their wives want more autonomy than the men think they deserve.

But at their best -- and Ellin's success rate is unusually high -- these stories are terrifically entertaining. "The Specialty of the House" still feels fresh and modern after 75 years, and it's startling to realize that he was this good in his first published story. "The Blessington Method" (one of two Edgar-winning stories in the collection; three others were nominated) may not have the most surprising conclusion, but its subtle elegance is a delight to read. "The Moment of Decision" suggests "The Lady or the Tiger" as it might have been written by Poe, and "Unreasonable Doubt" adds a deliciously sadistic touch of suspense to a familiar courtroom story.

Ellin is particularly good at endings, and the final paragraphs of his stories often deliver the most memorable twist -- the heartbreaking poignance of "Robert," the droll punchline of "The Seven Deadly Virtues," or the harsh revenge of "Broker's Special."

It can be difficult to read collections of some authors because the stylistic or thematic sameness becomes monotonous. While Ellin certainly has recurrent motifs -- the unassuming potential victim who turns the tables on the more imposing criminal; the duel between good and evil that takes place within each of us -- there is plenty of variety here, and the collection never wore out its welcome. I will be adding Ellin's novels, none of which I have read, to my TBR list.

Reading A World of Curiosities.

I just started Which Side Are You On? by Ryan Lee Wong and it's very good. I'm also reading Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson and also a few short story collections.

I've also been working my way through James Salter's Light Years, which has some nicely written bits, but is otherwise dated and irrelevant.

Moving slowly through Women Write, which (as the subtitle promises) is "a mosaic of women's voices in fiction, poetry, memoir, and essay" that spans 500+ years, limiting itself to women who wrote in the English language. It's slow going because I need to step back often after one of these short pieces (most are 10 pages or less) and think about what has been said. It's rather like a big 5-pound box of Godiva chocolates -- one wants to savor each piece and make it last!

I will probably pick up something faster and lighter as a co-read, just to keep myself from gobbling up the second half of the book over the next couple of days. (More snow is predicted, driving is iffy, and staying at home with my nose in a book is a tempting prospect.) I'm kind of leaning toward The Green Ripper, mostly because it's at the top of my TBR. Just not sure how well MacDonald's mid-20th-century view of his women characters will settle down in company of folks like Flannery O'Connor, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, and Joyce Carol Oates. Perhaps I should look for a more complementary co-read ... a memoir or other nonfiction? Must see what's lurking in the TBR stack.

I started Dust Child by Que Mai Phan Nguyen today. I loved her first novel, The Mountains Sing and so far this one is excellent too. It's about a child born of a Vietnamese mother and Black American GI.

Am reading Mourning by Eduardo Halfon. Still dallying with the Eriksson crime novel but it still hasn't "caught"....

>14 labfs39: Yay, Halfon! My favorite (and only, to date) Guatemalan author.

>14 labfs39: What Lisa said.

My name is Lindy. I think one of my favorite books was called The Obsession. I recommend it to anyone who loves books. It's juicy, it has a lot of twists, and there's a stalker in it! It's a great book.

>17 Bamf102: for me the hook in that book was the story of her young daughter and her own struggles with the system sort a trying to help. I know many families in the same boat. That was one of my fav books the year it came out

I'm starting to read The Glittering Court by Richelle Mead. Sounds good. Fingers crossed it is.

nvm

Nope. It says right here Glittering Court by Richelle Mead

I'm in the middle of several books - oh, but I did just (finally!) finish The Sea Runners by Ivan Doig. Ugh. Mildly interesting adventures written in weirdly opaque language (was he trying for literary? Not my genre). I did want to see what happened, so I slogged through to the end (which was disappointing all over again, the climax is seen only from the outside, no idea what the characters were thinking). Done, and I'll never read another by him. But it was a BOMB, so that's good.

Reading The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory - mildly enjoyable romance, way too much sex/lust for my taste but the characters are really rich. I think she'll be an occasional indulgence rather than a binge.

Also reading A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland - that is _fantastic_. In several senses - it's a fantasy, set in an unfamiliar culture (Turkish-ish, I think), incredibly rich (and therefore occasionally annoying) characters. Also too much lust (wanting), but the complications here are...both fascinating and utterly appropriate for the characters and the situation/culture. I am being able to stop reading and go to sleep/do stuff/go somewhere - but it takes an effort every time.

I'm arguing with myself over rereading. My rules say I can't, unless I've read enough BOMBs to cover it...but I really really want to reread a whole bunch of Victoria Goddard books (having just finished At The Feet of the Sun, the latest book in that...universe, series of series... Her stuff is complicated and deeply interrelated). What I _should_ do is read a whole bunch of BOMBs and finish the year with a bang... but so many of them turn out to be disappointing (and therefore slow slogs). Well, we'll see. Maybe I'll read with a strong Pearl Rule in place, and get rid of a bunch in one go.

>25 jjmcgaffey: Shrug - rules are to be broken and one has a single life to read in. if you feel like reading Goddard just not, read Goddard.

>27 Bamf102: I usually do - I try not to have 2 novels going at the same time (unless there is a format consideration or I need a break so I switch to another one for a bit) but I usually have something alongside my current main book (and sometimes I will completely read another book while still technically reading the one I am supposedly reading).

Mostly I have a couple-three books going - one on my phone, one on my tablet (sometimes these are the same one, I just jump to where I got to on the other device), and often a paper one as well. The last is often a big non-fiction book that I read at the table, something that requires digestion after a relatively short chunk vs the fiction I devour electronically. I also sometimes have several paper books going...theoretically; actually I've put this one down and am actually reading this other one, but the first stays in my Currently Reading collection and hopefully I'll pick it back up soonish. But I've got some books from 2020 in that collection...

>29 jjmcgaffey: A few years ago I made a "Started" collections - for those books which I had technically started but for one reason or another am not actively working on (but plan to return to). :) Keeps my Currently Reading a bit more organized.

Usually only one at a time. Occasionally two, but they have to be very different, mostly likely one fiction and one non.

>27 Bamf102: I've always had multiple books going at once, at least for as long as I can remember. Right now, I want to say that I've got about eight that are fairly active reads, plus another dozen or so that I've started and need/want to get back to.

On any given day I'll typically read up to three of the books I have going--audio during my commute, something print or ebook at lunch, and very often a different something in the evening. As long as I avoid things that are too similar in style/tone I can usually keep all the stories straight. If I find there are similarities, I'll pick one of the books to focus on.

nvm

>25 jjmcgaffey: what Annie said. Its much easier if I don't make rules for reading. I didn't used to reread much, but as Ive gotten older I started to. Some books just lend themselves to be read multiple times (the Mantel trilogy in particular.

>27 Bamf102: I used to have 3 or 4, but now I its closer to 2-3. Usually the books are totally different for example Im reading the years and maskerade

>30 AnnieMod: oh I like that idea. I put such books on my tbr shelf and of course they get lost. A started collection would keep me a little more focused and organized

I'm reading Lolly Willowes which has taken a strange turn at the end. Not sure yet what I think about it. I'm also reading The Menopause Manifesto because I'm getting to that age and know practically nothing. So I guess that answers one of the questions above - yes I usually am reading two books at a time. I tend to read one fiction and one nonfiction. I found that I can never have more than three going or I feel like I'm making no progress on any of them.

I think I also have a plan of what to read the rest of the year:
The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths which is the second in a mystery series I started this year
The Fruit of the Tree by Edith Wharton, one of her novels that I've not yet read
I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O'Farrell because I've been meaning to read this since it came out and Bamf102's comments reminded me

We'll see if I get them all in before 2023. Or if something different catches my eye!

>37 japaul22: Oh Love Lolly Willowes and loved the ending. curious can you tell me more what you are thinking about?

>39 CindaFBC: That's an interesting comparison. It's a book that has generated a lot of love/hate conversations. I haven't read it myself.

>39 CindaFBC: yeah, I like that comparison too. I was on the love side of the love/hate split. Hope you enjoy.

I've jettisoned the crime novel which just wasn't doing anything for me. And while I'm still reading Eduardo Halfon's , Mourning; but, last night when I couldn't sleep, I happened to pick up Sarah Moss's Summerwater, which I had unsuccessfully attempted when it was new (2020).

I can hear The Byrds singing "to every thing there is a season...."

Am just beginning Bob Stanley's Let's Do It, a history of American popular music in the first half of the 20th century. It's a companion to his Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!, which covered the period "from Bill Haley to Beyonce," and which I very much enjoyed.

Finished Glittering Court by Richelle Mead Great book. I recommend it to everyone! 😁

>43 Bamf102: Oh I have the same problem when I finish a powerful book; its like I need to stay in that world a little longer until I finally find something to read. In the meantime, I catch up on my magazines, reread some favorite books. I know Ill never forget that book but I also know Ill find other ones I love.

>43 Bamf102: I tend to go for a favorite author and/or series in such cases - even if the prose does not work perfectly, the style and the known voice/characters usually manages to carry me through it.

>44 KeithChaffee: I may have to try that one, I like reading about musical roots. BTW we just finished a music theme Musically Speaking from Reading Through Time a few month back, it was really interesting if youd like to browse or add anything https://www.librarything.com/topic/343817#n7985483

>44 KeithChaffee: noting Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!. I’ve been working through the albums on RollingStone magazines top 500 album list - the 2020 version. It has me more curious about the history of recorded popular music.

( list: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/a... )

I finished the new Louise Penny book. Now I am reading Treasure Island.

>49 dchaikin: Looks like an interesting list, at first glance. I'll have to go back and dig a little deeper, though I've always been more of a singles guy than an album guy. I live for that great three minute slice of perfection.

>51 KeithChaffee: oh, it’s good and bad and everything in between. But it’s been fun for me. I do like the albums, especially for genres I’m not comfortable in, because I can use some time to get used to it. But also some albums are just really well put together.

>54 CindaFBC: (re: No One is Talking About This) i did enjoy the beginning. Is it realistic or exaggerated? I sensed a scifi-but-actually-true-life game. Anyway, we can relate, I think. it certainly sets a scene.

Meanwhile I finished Oh William! and Braiding Sweetgrass. I’ve started a pocket poetry book i just picked up from City Lights bookstore during a day on San Francisco. And I’m down to less than 100 pages left in my 1671-page ebook edition of Anniversaries.

The ghost of Ferlinghetti

>56 dianeham: yes! Good catch! He’s the editor of the pocket poetry collection. It’s an anthology of, i think, poems originally published by City Lights.

(FYI - I first heard of City Lights maybe ten or twelve years ago from Darryl’s (kidzdoc) posts here in this group. Finally made it back to SF, touring colleges for my daughter before Thanksgiving, and I was able to visit the store, a landmark, for the first time)

>25 jjmcgaffey: Okay, every forum I'm on has its acronyms. BOMB is a new one to me. I'll trade you BOMB for TINK.

>58 LyndaInOregon: Book(s) Off My Bookshelf. Some people on LT say ROOT instead (Read Our Own Tomes) but BOMB works for me because it's the same part of speech in full and in acronym. Both mean "read stuff you've had hanging around forever" - for me, specifically, it's books I own, in paper, that I have not read within a year of acquiring them (and I have _way_too_many_ of them).

Tink as the opposite of knit? Or something else?

>57 dchaikin: I was there in 1976 or 77. Didn’t see Ferlinghetti when I was there. He was the first poet I heard reading his work. When I was in high school I got a book of his from the Philadelphia library and it had a record in the back. That was probably 1967.

Somehow I've been away from this thread for a while. Responses to a couple of the questions posed here that caught my eye:

* I generally only have one book going at a time. Otherwise, I feel my experience of each book is diluted. But in between each book I read straight through, I have a few stacks of "between books," books I read just a chapter, story or entry at a time. There's more about all this on my own CR thread.

* The question of what to read after finishing a very powerful book that keeps me from getting immersed in anything else is also solved in part by my between book tradition. Another strategy I used sometimes is to go the "Random selection of a book from your library" LT function. Probably it's a sign of my own craziness, but I feel like if a book is selected for me by some random selection process, it minimizes the feeling I might have that I've picked the wrong book to follow up that particularly powerful reading experience.

* City Lights is bookstore heaven. I was a regular customer during my 22 years living in San Francisco. I never did meet Ferlinghetti there. I moved to San Francisco in 1986 for an MA in Creative Writing/Literature at SF State University. My goal was to see a book I'd written displayed in the window of City Lights. I never have written that book, but eventually I became a freelance jazz writer. You could see the newspaper rack through that front window, so I at least got to see the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle editions that I knew contained articles of mine through that glass. I try to get there every time I'm in San Francisco.

As for my current reading, I finished Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet A. Jacobs. This is an extremely well written and harrowing autobiography of a woman who, born in 1813, grew up a slave in North Carolina. Jacobs' book, published after her eventual escape to the North, became an important document in the abolitionist fight against slavery. Although not the first slave testimony, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was the first widely distributed slave account written by a woman. Jacobs provides a detailed, horrific picture of chattel slavery. My more in-depth comments are up on my CR thread.

Next up, I'll finally be reading Wolf Hall, as it's this month's selection for my monthly reading group.

>61 rocketjk: "Random selection of a book from your library"

In case someone had not stumbled on this one yet, it is in the "LibraryThing Roulette" module in your Home page (usually hiding under "Folly" unless you moved it). The direct link is
https://www.librarything.com/random.php?type=yourbooks

I'd admit I keep forgetting it is there when looking for a random book to read. :)

>62 AnnieMod: Without that LibraryThing Roulette function, I might have gone my whole life without reading the copy of Tropic of Capricorn that sitting on my fiction shelf. The strange part was that of of the 3360 books in my LT library that the function had to choose from, it picked the 27th most recent entry, as I bought Tropic of Capricorn at a fundraiser (for a local volunteer fire department) booksale just this past Labor Day (early September for the non-United Statesians). First I thought that there had to be a glitch in the system. But of course the odds of the 27th most recent book popping up are the exact same as any of the other 3359 books appearing. But even though I'd purchased the book so recently, I didn't have any strong pull toward reading it. I mostly bought it because it was a beautiful 1957 Obelisk Books edition. The joke was on me, though! :)

>64 rocketjk: I wish we could point to a single collection and not the whole catalog (because of what I had actually entered, my 'read' books outnumber my TBR at the moment). But yeah - it is a fun way to get a nudge towards a book when you do not know what to read next :)

>65 AnnieMod: Right! Maybe a way to only select books from without star ratings, for example. I forgot to mention that in my recent use of the function that eventually turned up Tropic of Capricorn, the first book that came up was one that I'd already read, Selected Tales by Nikolai Leskov. I'd loved that collection and almost went with it as a reread. But I have so many unread books in the house that I gave the big wheel another spin, instead.

>66 rocketjk: Yeah - that's what I do as well. I spin it. If it is a book I had read, I spin again :) Then I go searching for the book around the house (if there is a chance to find it at least). :)

>57 dchaikin:, >60 dianeham: City Lights is still my favorite bookshop in the world, and almost certainly the one from which I've purchased the most books, which must easily number in the hundreds although I didn't list my purchases from there on LT as I have from my other favorite bookshops. I used to go there just after it opened, after having a leisurely breakfast at Caffè Greco, which is also on Columbus Avenue close to its intersection with Stockton Street. Usually Scott, a middle aged African American man and fellow jazzhead, was working at the front counter in the mornings, and we would discuss books and jazz before or after I made my purchases, and it was not uncommon to see Lawrence Ferlinghetti come into the bookshop between 10 and 11 am; I greeted him several times, but never had a conversation with him. I went to City Lights routinely in the 2000s and 2010s, as San Francisco was my preferred vacation spot, but I've only been there once in the past five years or so.

>68 kidzdoc: "I went to City Lights routinely in the 2000s and 2010s, as San Francisco was my preferred vacation spot, but I've only been there once in the past five years or so."

I lived in San Francisco from 1986 through 2008. I wonder if we were ever in City Lights at the same time!

>62 AnnieMod:

Well that was fun. After spinning four times due to it picking books I've already read, it ended up landing on the book I'm currently reading. Fate!

I've finished Fragile Things and moved on to Piranesi.

>70 lilisin: When it is meant to be, it is meant to be. :)

>68 kidzdoc: Loved City Lights whenever I was in SF, but it doesn't match my fav, Powells. Tho the latter does not have the history of the first one so its probably a wash, both are wonderful

>61 rocketjk: >68 kidzdoc: >71 Julie_in_the_Library: I love all these City Lights stories. And Jerry, that’s really cool that you were a SF Chronicle contributor. I was happy and grateful to have a chance to visit the store. I thought about Darryl’s stories and all the SF connections here while i was there (connections which seem to also lead to New Orleans)

Cindy - I would love to browse through Powells.

Powell's is great, but my heart, other than City Lights, is with Strand in NYC.

I am currently finishing Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher by narrated Amara Jasper. I am enjoying a cup of tea with it.

On my walk home from work I will listen to Kingdom of the Cursed by Kerri Maniscalco narrated by Marisa Calin or Reign of the Fallen by Sarah Glenn Marsh narrated by Alex McKenna. I have yet to decide, any suggestions?

I am sorry if my touchstones are abnormal or off. This is my first post.

>76 RandyMorgan: welcome to LT. Enjoy! Nice that you have a walking commute. (I can’t help you decide between the two titles, though.)

>76 RandyMorgan: Love Nettle & Bone! I don't know the other two, though - neither titles nor authors.

Your book touchstones are perfect (one square bracket a side connects to a book). The author ones need two square brackets a side - they're currently connecting to "random book by this author". When you're editing/writing a post, check on the right side to make sure the touchstones are going where you want them to.

Oh, and if you want to connect to a whole series, it's three square brackets a side - like so: Kingdom of the Wicked.

Oh, that's what the three brackets is for! I thought you had to add a pair of brackets for each additional touchstone in your message.

>76 RandyMorgan: Welcome Randy! your touchstones were perfect tho sometines the touchstones can be problematic , feel free to ask for help

Keith, been here a while and never knew that there were three brackets! good to know

It's the newest one...this year or late last it was added. One for books and two for authors has been around as long as Touchstones have, as far as I know. And (I keep forgetting this!) it's actually explained in the Touchstones info on the right of a post that's being written/edited - until you put in your first touchstone in that post, at which point the info goes away. Though the info is a little...brief? scanty? If you know what it's saying, it's a good reminder, but there's plenty of possible misreadings (like Keith's).

for my own challenge I am rereading the Discworld series and just finished Maskerade A bit long in the middle but his books always have great twists in the end. Think Feet of Clay is next. Night Watch books are not my fav and I don't remember reading this one so it will be interesting.

Been busy with this and that and am still working on the years, and winter and would like to start small things like these

>79 KeithChaffee: >81 jjmcgaffey: One note - if you are using Preview before posting, the series (the 3 brackets) will show an author from higher on the page and not the series. It is a known issue in the Preview (they never fixed it to know what to do with the 3 brackets). So don't panic if you see that - it will post and work correctly, it just cannot be relied on in the Preview.

>59 jjmcgaffey: Thanks for the BOMB definition! Yes, TINK is sort of the opposite of KNIT. It's when you pick it out one stitch at a time (rather than ripping out a whole row or more) to find and correct a mistake.

Oh and maybe I should actually post about what I am reading:
- Even the Darkest Night - the first Terra Alta novel by Javier Cercas (which is slow in a good way)
- a horror anthology Dark Stars: New Tales of Darkest Horror (which is ok)
and Alaska Quarterly Review, Vol. 38 No. 3 & 4, Spring & Summer 2022 (the current magazine I am working through - I tend to just go around and get issues from random magazines now and again just to check them and see if they may be something I would enjoy and I did my usual "find a few new ones" a few weeks ago).

>76 RandyMorgan: Welcome, Randy. Feel free to pop over to the Introductions thread if you would like and tell us a little about yourself and your reading. In the first post of that thread I also keep a list of members' real names and monikers (for those that don't use their names), so you would learn that labfs39 is Lisa (that's me)!

I'm reading How We Disappeared by Jing-Jing Lee. It's a novel about a Singaporean woman sexually enslaved by the Japanese in WWII.

>85 AnnieMod: where do you find these random magazines?

>88 dianeham: Depends on what I am doing when I decide I want to go find a new one (or 3). Sometimes I will look up all the magazines an author in a magazine I am reading now had published in (most will list them in the bio). Sometimes I just look for a list of literary magazines online and then look through it and see if something appeals (interesting title, cover or something in the description or with this one - it is from Alaska so I figured why not?). There are a lot of lists out there - from best of the year to simply the lists for writers - as long as I can find the name, I then can go look it up.

Then I hit the magazine’s site and as long as they do not make it very hard to order a copy of an issue (or a subscription if the price is worth it compared to the single issue), it is on its way to me. Plus a lot of them have online content which usually gives you an idea of their overall tone. That’s how I discovered Conjunctions, Glimmer Train and Tin House years ago (the latter 2 had now closed). Plus a few college ones. Now if only I had more time to actually read more of them. :)

>89 AnnieMod: cool, Annie, thanks.

Ha! I subscribe to three mags and getting through all of them every month (one every two weeks) becomes a challenge!

>91 cindydavid4: I can't even get through 1! I'm at least a few issues behind on the only magazine I get, which is Hadassah.

Well, I never said I actually finish reading mine. Although I always plan to :)

Reading an oldie - Stranger in a Strange Land.

>93 Julie_in_the_Library: Being retired helps; I get Smithsonian, Archaelogy Today, which are pretty quite and very interesting reads, and the New Yorker which takes more time but Im choosy which articls I read

>96 Bamf102: I read it back in my hippy days in the late 60s

I love City Lights—it's where I discovered San Francisco–based Paul Madonna, one of my favorite illustrators, and I have sweet memories of browsing there on a pre-conference visit on the Pride weekend in 2015 when same-sex marriage was signed into law. That was a happy, happy time to visit.

I finished Hilma Wolitzer's Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket—super collection.

Now I'm reading her novel An Available Man, plus Dorothy Baker's Young Man with a Horn, for my book group—super writing about young men and music—and my library copy of Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto just came in. Ironically, since I just got bumped up to executive editor of LJ—my boss, the editor-in-chief, is leaving—and I don't think there's much rest in my near future. But it will at least be good to read about.

>99 lisapeet: since I just got bumped up to executive editor of LJ

That's amazing, Lisa! Congratulations!

>99 lisapeet: wow. Congrats Lisa!

>69 rocketjk: It's entirely possible that we were both in City Lights at the same time, Jerry. I usually visited between 10 am and noon whenever I was in San Francisco.

For the record, these are my favorite bookshops in the world, based on the quality and uniqueness of their selections:

1. City Lights (San Francisco)
2. Daunt Books (London)
3. Book Culture (NYC)
4. London Review Bookshop
5. Word Power Books (Edinburgh)
6. University Press Books (Berkeley, CA)
7. The Harvard Coop (Cambridge, MA)
8. Shakespeare and Company (Paris)
9. Strand Book Store (NYC)
10. Foyles Bookshop (London)
11. Harriett's Bookshop (Philadelphia)

>99 lisapeet: Congratulations, Lisa!

>103 kidzdoc: great list

I finished two books. On audio, I finished Afterlives by Gurnah. I really enjoyed it, but note that it's a slow meandering book. But still, I was really happy listening to it and never felt it went too long. And then this morning I finished the last part of Anniversaries. For the record, that's 80 hours (and 39 minutes) of reading for the full set of four books. I started January 2.

I'm not sure what I should try on audio next. I'm thinking about South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry, because it won the nonfiction National Book Award. And I'm also considering The Color of Water by James McBride (a sort of memoir, I think). But I really have no idea what I'm in the mood for next. Maybe I should listen to more from Gurnah.

ETA - suddenly I have four books to review.

>104 dchaikin: Thanks, Dan.

I'm also thinking about reading South to America, for the reason you mentioned and because I lived in the Deep South for nearly half of my life (24 years in Atlanta, along with the better part of three years in New Orleans) before I moved back to Pennsylvania late last year after my father's unexpected death. My reading has ground to a near complete halt this month, so I'll read it in January if I run out of time; I'm still reading Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi, and The Butterfly Hotel by the British poet Roger Robinson. I almost certainly won't finish Black and British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga this month, as I've only read the Introduction so far.

>103 kidzdoc: Yes, that is a terrific list. I've been to very few of those. Strand, of course. I'm sure I was at University Books somewhere along the line during my San Francisco days, though I have no specific memory of it. The Harvard Coop was a regular destination during my college days at Boston University during the mid-1970s, but not for books. I had enough reading on my plate from my class assignments. The Coop had a great music section, which was where we often went to shop for records.

>104 dchaikin: The Color of Water is a terrific book. It is part memoir by McBride about his childhood, but also has fascinating sections about McBride's research into his mother's past. Finally, we get his writing about the interviews he does with her about that past. It has a special place in my heart because my own mother suggested it to me after she read it. It was the last such suggestion she made to me because, soon after, her dementia proceeded to a place where she could no long concentrate well enough to read a full length book. She'd been a reader all her life and early in my childhood passed on that love of reading to me.

I just finished reading Women Talking by Miriam Toews and found it to be an average read. I was bothered somewhat by the spare style of writing in the novel. It simply did not provide me with much information about the motivations of the characters. It also was describing a sect of Mennonites that is not the kind of Mennonites that I grew up around, and while I realize that this is a fictionalized account of a group in another country it doesn't even seem like the same religious group I know about. But then Catholics are different that Methodists so I shouldn't let it bother me.

I am now reading one of the mysteries in the Bruno Courrages series by Martin Walker and contemplating what I will take with me to read on Christmas break.

I recently found some comments i made about The Color of Water and I thought the writing was terrible.

I remember not liking it, something having to do with the Jewish mother and how other jews were treated, but I don't remember anything specific.

Just read a short story in the nyer called a sackful of seeds Its a story from his new book victory city If the rest of the book is as good as this story I must read this book. Doesnt come out till February but I can wait

In the meantime decided not to finish The Years, just really boring despite the wriiting being good. (cant explain how that happened, it just did)

I just bought How to stand up to a dictator The author is from the Phillipines and spent years in prison for her work protesting the goverment. She won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, and Ive heard her speak in several talk shows. So Ill be starting that.

My sister insisted I read all the devils are here by Louise Penny, whom many here have talked about. Im normally not a fan of mystery, but when my big sis hands me a book I must read it. Started it this morning and suddenlly found myself on page 60, so this might be a keeper

I remember not liking it, something having to do with the Jewish mother and how other jews were treated, but I don't remember anything specific.

Just read a short story in the nyer called a sackful of seeds Its a story from his new book victory city If the rest of the book is as good as this story I must read this book. Doesnt come out till February but I can wait

In the meantime decided not to finish The Years, just really boring despite the wriiting being good. (cant explain how that happened, it just did)

I just bought How to stand up to a dictator The author is a journalist from the Phillipines and spent years in prison for her work protesting the goverment. She won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, and Ive heard her speak in several talk shows. So Ill be starting that.

My sister insisted I read all the devils are here by Louise Penny, whom many here have talked about. Im normally not a fan of mystery, but when my big sis hands me a book I must read it. Started it this morning and suddenlly found myself on page 60, so this might be a keeper

I picked up several library books on Richard Wright. And I’ve started Richard Wright : from Black Boy to World Citizen by Jennifer Jensen Wallach - an easy fast-paced biography.

I'm reading Romek's Lost Youth, the memoir of a Holocaust survivor, who was only 19 when he was liberated.

I am reading Limbo by Aldous Huxley.

I'm all caught up with reviews on my thread and now I'm reading The Fruit of the Tree by Edith Wharton and The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman.

>104 dchaikin: >105 kidzdoc: >106 rocketjk: >108 dianeham: >109 cindydavid4: - for my next audio i went with Left Bank : Art, Passion, and the Rebirth of Paris by Agnès Poirier - because it includes Richard Wright as a subject.

I'm reading Best of friends by Kamila Shamsie and listening to Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell.

>114 edwinbcn: Ive read lots of Huxley, but not that one Found it on gutenburg and have been reading it. Enjoyable so far

Still reading Stranger in a Strange Land but not grokking it so much.

Finished my book club's November book, 花束は毒 (The Bouquet is Poison), which is a fun little mystery that I managed to solve which is fun. Tonight I'm going to read the last few pages of the French translation of Keisuke Hada's La Vie du bon côté which actually has the original title of "Scrap and Build" in the Japanese.

Still working my way through the Sandman series. I've also recently finished Home Fire, No One Is Talking About This, and Last Night in Nuuk. I'm now reading Saudade.

I finished Richard Wright : from Black Boy to World Citizen by Jennifer Jensen Wallach. It’s good for the compressed info, and only took me 5 hours to read. Not amazing writing, but certainly adequate. It’s a perfect, easy, first book on him. I found I recognized many of his childhood stories, so I must have read parts or all of Black Boy while in high school.

I can’t settle on anything that really clicks with me. I started Kim Jiyoung Born 1982 last night. It’s very short. It’s basically about how girls in Korea were treated compared to how boys were treated. I started The Hour of the Star and couldn’t follow it. Only 40% done Stranger in a Strange Land.

Continuing to read the short storys in Limbo.

all the devils are here was passable. Liked the charcaters but got bogged in the details

Atwood has a new collection out Burning Questions Looks really interesting.

Also reading sultan of palermo. Really liked the first hundred pages or so. I know some of the history, and finding it interesting,but coming to really dislike Idris. Well see if that continues

>120 Bamf102: I'm definitely choosing lighter reading for next year too. I already have my 2023 ("Keeping it Light") lists ready to post...

Just finished The Forest of Vanishing Stars and ready to start All Adults Here for my book club.

Well, it’s slightly less than a month since my last post and I’ve finally finished Anna Karenina. I’m so glad to have read it, thought lived up to all the praise it’s received over the years. Levin is my favorite character, and I especially loved the last few chapters. I did not expect this book to end on such a life affirming note.

>127 dianelouise100: appreciating your enthusiasm! I loved Levin too.

I finished Dorothy Baker's Young Man with a Horn—really outstanding. My entire book club loved it, and we had a great discussion. Some of the best music (jazz) writing I've read, wonderful dialogue, and some very deft-touch writing on race, talent, and human connection.

On my Richard Wright theme, I’m trying Black Regions of the Imagination by Eve Dunbar. It might be a bit too academic for me, though.

>131 CindaFBC: What did you think of Braiding Sweetgrass overall? I was mixed (and tried to explain in a review). But I really enjoyed that specific chapter on the 3 sisters and how the three plants symbiotically help each other.

>131 CindaFBC: One section I remember was her description of the "three sisters" of squash, bean, and corn.

The Native Americans where I live have had those three sister gardens for a long time. Been wanting to include one in my garden for ages . This might be the push I need!

Gave up on The Killing Moon -- I can see Jemisin's skill at world-building, but just couldn't get into the story, and did a rebound read* with The Green Ripper, which was pretty gloomy, even for MacDonald. I may have to look for a more cheerful read today, before tackling The Family Roe.

*Rebound read: A book you grab for a quick and satisfying read because you've just been kicked in the teeth / plunged into depression / infuriated or disappointed by your last read and/or you need something to settle yourself down before you tackle the next Serious Work in the queue.

I finished Kim Jiyoung Born 1982. It was interesting. I started Winesburg, Ohio last night.

>135 dianeham: amos oz praised winesburg OH so much, I tried an audiobook. But I quit after about 30 minutes. Maybe the reader was bad or i was impatient.

Romek's Lost Youth was excellent, but rough reading in places. I was ready for something completely different, so started my first book by Joyce Carol Oates: A Bloodsmoor Romance. A parody of Victorian gothic novels, it's smart and surprisingly funny. It's a chunkster at 615 pages, but so far I'm cruising along.

I've been reading (but not writing about what I am reading - maybe later this week). Since last update sometime last week, I finished a few books:

Even the Darkest Night by Javier Cercas - a literary police procedural is probably the best description. It is somewhat recognizable as a Cercas book but it is also different from the others of his I had read. It is a slow going book which goes into weird directions and where the crime is almost an afterthought even if it drives a lot of the action. First in a series and I hope they translate the next ones. Although the publisher should fire whoever wrote the description on the flap of the dustjacket - it is wrong in a very obvious way - the detective did not move to rural Catalonia to investigate this murder (as the flap claims), he had been there for 4 years at the point when the murder happened.

Little Siberia by Antti Tuomainen - a village gets a bit crazy when a meteorite falls down in their vicinity and it turns out to be very valuable. Finland in the winter is crazy enough, add people and 1 million Euro worth of a rock and things get hilarious. Not a comedy but definitely funny in a lot of places. Plus people die in... interesting ways. Almost a tragicomedy I guess.

A Clue to the Exit by Edward St. Aubyn - St. Aubyn goes almost meta with a writer who is dying from cirrhosis while writing a novella about characters from St. Aubyn's earlier novels including Patrick Melrose. Considering that Patrick is semi-autobiographical, the novel gets really meta if you think about it (and you probably should because it is not happening by chance after all). It is not one of my favorite novels of his but it was enjoyable anyway - but the backstories of the characters do help a bit and add some body to the thing so not sure if that is a good place to start reading St. Aubyn.

The Night Shift by Natalka Burian - in New York in the early 2000s, a young woman finds out about the "shortcuts" - a way to move in non-linear space (and as it turns out time). Then of course it turns out that nothing comes for free, people disappear and our heroine is the only one who can save the world. Great idea, moderately entertaining execution. Could have been better but oh well.

Have one story left from my horror anthology and meanwhile reading the first Ellery Queen novel The Roman Hat Mystery on the Kindle and Kalmann by Joachim B. Schmidt on paper.

>134 LyndaInOregon: I got turned on to that book from a short story she included in her collection as a preview to the book. I think knowing some of the background helped me make it through. Ultimately I liked it as well as the sequel, but yeah, plunged into depression sounds about right. Thing about her books - they are all like that, but her wrting, characters and world keep me reading, and in the end, there is a gem of hope.

I'm reading Bel Canto by Ann Patchett and really liking the story and the prose.

>136 dchaikin: I need to read some Amos Oz. Thanks

>140 torontoc: I love that book. Think I’ve read it 3 times.

I loved Bel Canto and have kept reading her books up though the dutch house they have all been 4 or 5* for me. Hoping to see another one soon!

>130 dchaikin: I think this sentence may have ended my experiment in trying to read Black Regions of the Imagination:

“ Focusing on the writings of Zora Neale Hurston, then, this chapter explores how she employs ethnography to orchestrate the difficult task of offering a public articulation of African American identity and artistic production in the midst of twentieth-century U.S. global expansion and a growing sense of black modernity, which would eventually help enable the integration of black Americans into a recognized public sphere as equal subjects to whites within the United States. “

Anyway. i’ve moved on to The Colony by Audrey Magee, which has a very entertaining first 40 pages.

>18 madhatta21: I've read about that book! I put it on my Christmas list, and I'm really hoping I get it.

>144 dchaikin: Let me guess... an academic person trying to write trade nonfiction? I would have put that one down too.

>143 cindydavid4: I seriously looked at The Dutch House yesterday in the LBS, and ended up with The Other Family instead, because I was in more of a "suspense" mood. Ah, well, Christmas is coming, and my daughter asked me yesterday what I might like for Santa to bring me. Will probably include the Patchett book on that list!

>146 lisapeet: full credit for your guess. 🙂 I feel like most literary criticism seems to fall into that category, with the exception of books specifically designed for non-experts.

>147 LyndaInOregon: do you use audiobooks? Tom Hanks reads Dutch House, and does it brilliantly.

>149 CindaFBC: yeah, mixed, right? Some great stuff. One of my favorite things she mentions is a teaching story - how her students couldn't appreciate what she was teaching unless they grew things themselves. So she began to start her classes in a garden. I think I could go for that class. : )

Just finished Billy Collins' latest volume of poetry -- this one of very short poems (will post a few over on my thread later today.

Still reading Halfon's Mourning

I finished the excellent and deservedly well-known historical novel Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel's rendering of the story of Henry XIII's reign, as seen through the eyes of Thomas Cromwell. Among other things, it's a study of the capriciousness and, often, the folly of power, and the ubiquity of casual, horrific cruelty in the service of ego and power. I've got a somewhat longer review up on my own CR thread.

Next up for me will be an obscure novel from 1950 called Vinegar Hill by Franklin Coen (not to be confused with the novel of the same name by Manette Ansay) about a conflict in a small southern town. Coen was a well-known screenplay writer, and some of the descriptive prose (I'm 40 pages in) does, I'm sorry to say, have the mark of a writer who is normally concerned with writing dialogue only. I have a feeling this novel will turn out to be of interest as an historical curiosity only, but it's relatively quick reading and only 316 pages, so what the heck!

Whoops! I posted on the wrong thread. Nothing to see here!

Greatly enjoying Margaret Atwoods new collection Burning Questions: Essays and Occasional Pieces, 2004 to 2021Ive been dipping in and out of it this last week and so far haven't found anything less than excellent. Doesnt matter where you start in this hefty collection, you will find gems of writing and food for thought.

I liked this review: "Series of essays written between 2004 and 2021 on topics related to social trends and possible future disruptions. Atwood is a big picture thinker. She takes an idea the relates it to other relevant subjects and themes, making her points along the way. Margaret Atwood’s essays are intelligent and witty. Her self-deprecating sense of humor shines through. She addresses issues such as civil rights, climate change, feminism, and literature. Provides a peek into the process of writing several of her books" (Castle Lass)

>154 cindydavid4: I've had so many distractions I have not been able to get back to and settle back in with the Atwood (but it sits near by taunting me...). Nice review!

About a third of the way through The Family Roe, which may turn out to be my last completed read of the year. This is an astonishing, incredibly wide-angled view of a complex and contentious topic. Written before the recent overturn, it takes a close look at many of the individuals involved in the abortion debate, on both sides, focusing particularly on "Jane Roe", the culture in which she grew up, and the ways in which her participation in Roe v Wade began increasingly to dominate her later life.

Fascination. Thoughtful. Frightening. Huge.

I am reading Shirley by Charlotte Bronte.

It is a partial re-read. I started reading Shirley before going to China, and left abandoning it on page 308. It is remarkable how well I recall those early chapters, and am enjoying the reread as much as my first-time reading in 2000.

I finished reading Shooting at Chateau Rock by Martin Walker and started Parrot in the Pepper Tree by Chris Stewart. I am trying to read it while do lots of Christmas baking. It is an easy book to read in parts.

I finished reading The house on the borderland and The annals of the parish, or the chronicle of Dalmailing during the ministry of the Rev. Micah Balwhidder.

I have started reading Huntingtower.

Finished All Adults Here and loved it. So I've hit 40 books. Now is the time of year when I shamelessly look for the shortest items in my TBR ocean so I can meet my goal for the year. (Already downgraded from 60 to 48 books.) Just bought the new Breaking Cat News collection Pucky, Prince of Bacon so that's an easy one to finish. Still 12 days before the end of the year. None of the audiobooks I have on hold are ready yet, so I had to look for something cozy that was available. So that is going to be Cat's Eyewitness, the next up in my long running Mrs. Murphy series reread. Now I'm eager to get home from work, so I can read! Christmas concerts were this past weekend, so no rehearsal tonight. I can do just that. In print I am hoping to finish soon We Gather Together - it's a bit dry (I abandoned it last year...) but not uninteresting, so I am keeping at it. Also The Thursday Murder Club - a book club book that got away from me in October. And Pucky, of course... (don't let the "middle grade readers" label mislead you. Adults need comics, too...)

I need 2 more to reach my goal of 120.

Have to abandon my Japanese-language book club's December pick because the Japanese level was too hard. Too many obscure vocab words, kanji and expressions that obscured the reading experience. The native-Jpn reader in the club agreed that the words were rather difficult. It's my bad though. I've been checking the language level of all our picks to make sure they were at an appropriate reading level but this is the first one where I forgot to do so.

Rereading Lolly Willowes after a long absence and am finding all sorts of details I totally forgot. Reloving it all over again

>163 cindydavid4: I love rereading! I'm thinking of doing a lot of rereads in 2023.

I finished The Colony by Audrey Magee. It’s terrific. I was really engaged and now i have to rethink it through. Not sure what’s next, but I picked up Musil again this morning - I opened The Man Without Qualities Volume 2. I’m meeting Agathe.

Well, it’s been about a week since I finished Anna Karenina and after reading two of the Russian classics back to back, spending the last two month on them, I thought to finish the rest of the year with some items in the “Best of” lists for ‘22. I’ve since dumped 4 of them, but have finally settled in to Ashton Hall, which at least did grab my attention. I do expect to finish it, hopefully in time to get in a couple of more best of’s before 2023. So far my favorite two novels of 2022 have been Honor and Haven.

I finished an obscure (only 5 copies listed in LT) novel called Vinegar Hill by Franklin Coen, not to be confused with the relatively well-known novel of the same name by A. Manette Ansay. Coen's book was published in 1950. It is the story of a conflict in an unnamed Southern town (in an unnamed Southern state) in the late 1940s between a group of small farmers, most of whom are WW2 veterans, and the entrenched monied interests in the town who are trying to pull off a lucrative land grab at those farmers' expense. The novel was fun in the reading but mostly of interest as a period piece. I've written in more length about this book and its back story on my CR thread.

I have now begun Black Arrow the third entry in I. J. Parker's Sugawara Akitada Mysteries series set in 10th Century Japan.

Finally finished The Family Roe: An American Story and posted a very lengthy review on my thread, for those who are interested. This is not an easy read -- it's very much like Randy Shilts' And the Band Played On, in terms of emotional wallop.

Took me a couple of days to really organize my thoughts, and most of today to get them corralled into a review. I'm now taking a break with Mary Jane Clark's Nobody Knows, a suspense novel. I think my brain needed to rest before tackling Willa Cather's A Lost Lady, which isn't lengthy, but Cather needs to be approached with a calm mind.

I’m reading Christmas at Thompson Hall and Other Christmas Stories by Anthony Trollope.

I'm reading Eileen by Otessa Moshfegh who does a Christmas novel like no one else.

Finished Nobody Knows last night and read the opening section of A Lost Lady before bed.

>171 LyndaInOregon: A Lost Lady is a favorite. Enjoy.

>172 dchaikin: Finished A Lost Lady last night. Cather was so skillful at developing those nuanced characters. Any beginning writer who has been scolded and told to "show, not tell" who your characters are, should read this one as many times as necessary!

I guess I was probably three-quarters of the way through -- when Ivy Peters leased and drained the marsh -- that the underlying theme and the way Cather was utilizing the characters to develop it, broke through for me. (Okay, slow uptake.)

Lest you think I've perished under the physical weight of A Bloodsmoor Romance, I am on page 492 and still chugging along...

>173 LyndaInOregon: Wasn’t she a master at characters? Original dynamic characters captured efficiently and stamped memorably. It’s just one of her strengths. I’m glad you enjoyed.

About Ivy - I could dwell a bit. 🙂I actually found her themes a little elusive. But I really liked Marian and how she perseveres. And i liked the naive narrator (I forgot his name).

>174 labfs39: you’re cruising! (I’m back with Musil and dying. Four days, i’ve made it 59 pages.)

>169 dianeham: I read half of the Trollope Christmas book. It was pretty dull. Now I’m reading The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum.

It’s very unlike me to read a holiday themed book. Not sure why I’m doing it this year. Think I just needed something light.

The only other Christmas related book I’ve read was Auggie Wren’s Christmas Story by Paul Auster. It was adapted and expanded for a film which was called Smoke. Harvey Keitel played Auggie. Great movie.

>177 dianeham: I just read it via the NYT; it was very short; does it expand from there? May have to see the movie!

The Baum one does sound interesting. lemme know what you think

>178 cindydavid4: Yes, the story is very short - the movie is expanded.

I finished reading Parrot in the Pepper Tree: A Sort of Sequel to "Driving Over Lemons" by Chris Stewart. I brought this book with me because I thought it would be good travel reading. It was. I had read the first book some years ago and I have decided to finish the series. Stewart wrote three books about his families life on the farm he bought in the Andalusian region of Spain. Both of these books have been entertaining. If you like travel books this is a good one.

Finished Mary Robinette Kowal's The Spare Man, which was disappointing. Mixing murder mystery and SF is hard to do well, and this one doesn't quite pull it off. Not a horrible book, and Kowal's prose is always pleasant and easy to read, but doesn't quite the targets it's aiming for.

Finished We Gather Together and now I can resume The Thursday Murder Club. Need to finish that one before the end of December so I don't have to carry it over.

>180 benitastrnad: love travel books, thanks for the heads up!

Now reading Salonika Burning by Australian author Gail Jones....

Wishing everyone a joyful relaxing peaceful holiday, no matter which one it is. Wishing you a year of health, happiness, prosperity and most of all, laughter

Oh and wish you lots of great reads in the coming year!

Had lots of time to read yesterday during the storm, and finished The Bloodsmoor Romance. A brilliant (if lengthy) parody/commentary of Victorian American novels.

Now back to the memoir War and Me by Faleeha Hassan.

>170 japaul22: Ha! If I had a glass of something other than water, I'd raise it to that comment.

I finished Hilma Wolitzer's An Available Man—a gentle, funny sort-of romance about navigating love and grief later in life. It was a kind book, but not sentimental or slow-moving—not my usual fare but a perfect novel to read during a difficult couple of weeks.

Now reading Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto, a very fitting end-of-year read.

just wondering, is there new Christmas Eve tradition of setting off fire works? Or is it just that Arizona allows the selling of fireworks without any regulation, in a place known for being very dry. Hearing lots of them just now.

>188 cindydavid4: well, they ended my dog walk in Houston. Didn’t expect them.

I reached my goal of 120 books last night. Then I read some kindle samples. Started Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, Liberation Day: Stories and Great Circle. The last one was from Santathing - it’s much longer than I usually read but I’ll give it a go. I also got Breathing Lessons and Indigenous Continent: the epic contest for North America from my santathing.

Finished Deja Dead today, which was the first book in Kathy Reich's Temperance Brennan series. Her work is similar to Patricia Cornwell's, but with a more likeable main character.

Not sure what will be up next. Got one book for my birthday last Thursday, and Santa will probably bring me a few more, so I'm leaving my options open.

>97 cindydavid4: Being retired helps That makes sense. I definitely got more reading done while I was unemployed at the start of the pandemic than I do now. Still, though, I find magazines more difficult to get through than other things, even though I still enjoy and value reading them - I was behind on the Hadassah for most of that time, too!

I'm back from my vacation, and I've finished another book: Birding Without Borders: An Obsession, A Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World by Noah Strycker.

I'm not sure what I'll be starting next; I bought a few more books for the trip that I didn't end up even starting, and I have a small pile of overdue library books, as well. I definitely plan to continue reading the stories in 100 Creepy Little Creature Stories on top of whatever book I start next.

Review of Birding Without Borders is up on my thread!

I just finished Snow Country by I.J. Parker, the third entry in Parker's Sugawara Akitada Mysteries series. Akitada is a low-level nobleman in 11th-century Japan who's become known, in the series' first two books, for his ability to solve murders and annoy his superiors. Now he's been sent to be the governor of a far northern province where the emperor's authority is but barely acknowledged and a powerful warlord holds sway instead. Akitada's job is to get this situation in hand. He is accompanied by his wife and by his two loyal lieutenants, Tora and Hitomara. Soon, as will happen in murder mysteries, there is a murder. Then the bodies begin accumulating. Plus there is the problem for Akitada of asserting his imperial authority. These books have been fun all along, and I will say that in this third book the quality of the writing has gone up a notch, both in terms of the sentence-level work (many fewer cliches, for one thing) and the the plotting.

I've now begun The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution, C.L.R. James' classic history of the Haitian Revolution.

I'm struggling with Robert Musil (>165 dchaikin:, >176 dchaikin: ). So I bought Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet on Kindle...just find it opens a little dry...a lot dry. Today 12 Million Black Voices arrived, and I've started that too. Published in 1941, it's an essay that is sort of an historical manifesto on the legacy of slavery by Richard Wright, with depression-era FSA photographs.

>195 dchaikin: Case Study took a while to start working for me when I read it - it started working pretty much at the same time you start really realizing that we are dealing with an unreliable narrator (at which point some of what happened earlier started working a bit better as well). Not that it is not clear from the get go that the narrator is not exactly truthful but still. :)

>196 AnnieMod: Thanks. I think it (Case Study) needs more time and focus than I’ve given it.

I gave The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois a DNF (more comments on my thread). Instead I'm reading a fun historical mystery, The Blue by Nancy Bilyeau, that cariola recommended a while back. And I'm started my first Simon Winchester history, Krakatoa, that I picked up at a library sale a few years back.

>198 japaul22: I've had Krakatoa on my shelves forever, I'll look forward to your comments.

I had a lovely Christmas and I hope those of you who celebrate did too! I didn't get any books, but I did get some money, which I promptly spent on books. I purchased:

The Gilded Page: The Secret Lives of Medieval Manuscripts
The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family
Salka Valka by Haldor Laxness

>199 labfs39: have you read Simon Winchester? He's written so many books, but somehow I never have! I've only read the first 20 pages, but he definitely has an engaging writing style.

>201 japaul22: Just The Professor and the Madman, which I gave 4.5 stars. I have Krakatoa and The Man Who Loved China on my shelves.

>200 japaul22: Ha! I intended to post this on my personal thread! Whoops! Should have had more coffee before posting . . .

>198 japaul22: Love Songs was… well I found it only ok.

>203 japaul22: but we love lists anywhere. >200 japaul22: Happy new books. The first title sounds fascinating

>200 japaul22: oh i love medieval manuscripts, saw many first hand in britia n. have a few books with collections,but looks like this book gives more information. and I do love Mary Wellsleys writing. So thats a BB for me!

I put Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto down pretty quickly. Aside from the fact that it's a bit more self-helpy than I like, this is a book that I think is aimed at young women of color, maybe starting out or just getting established in their lives' work while reckoning with generational trauma and the weight of lifetime inequities and the felt need to excel, break patterns, and push past physical challenges/limitations while doing so. That was a quick assessment, so I could find out I'm wrong if I stuck with it, but—as a late-middle-aged late-mid-career white woman with a not inconsiderable amount of privilege built into that—I'm not feeling the need to find out.

Instead I'm winding up my reading year with a gorgeous book sent to me by a good reading friend who is always A+ in her picks, Leave Me Alone with the Recipes: The Life, Art, and Cookbook of Cipe Pineles. Gorgeous volume combining a fascinating biography with wonderful food illustration.

>205 cindydavid4: I'm sure I added The Gilded Page after someone on LT reviewed it. I wanted to buy it in hardcover since it's supposed to have beautiful illustrations.

Labsf39 - maybe we can use a 2023 thread of just book lists, without any other thread direction.

I'm trying very hard to finish at least 2 of 3 NF books I've had on the go for a while: 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson (controversial guy, I know), I Heart Me: the Science of Self-Love by David R. Hamilton and The Proof is in the Plants by Simon Hill.

>208 dchaikin: IMHO I think that would be very frustrating not being able to chat about the list with others. There are a lot of other people that dont have their own threads for whatever reason (and Im reconsidering mine) so the reading thread is the best place to list and to discuss at least on CR

>207 japaul22: I just ordered it from bookfinder, looking forward to it!

>210 cindydavid4: oh, right. A thread without that restriction. Lists naturally lead to discussions. Anyway, just a momentary idea.

For what it might be worth to folks considering an author/title list only thread, many people (not me, though) use their 50-Book Challenge group threads for that purpose. https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/1456/50-Book-Challenge.

>212 dchaikin: :)

>213 rocketjk: that sounds like a good idea, tho I think if I do that it will be on CR. Otherwise Im hunting around to much finding what im doing!

>208 dchaikin: You can always start an LT list for that. Minimal discussion (inside of each entry), it is a list and so on. :)

It's interesting how threads take on a life of their own over time. I think however this mix of folks wants to use this thread is fine. In the past What are You Reading has been more of a place where people just pop in, say I'm reading this, and pop out. Lately it's become more of a cafe where people sit around and chat about books. It's all good, IMO. And as Cindy says, it's particularly nice for folks who don't maintain their own threads on Club Read.

>208 dchaikin: Can you tell me a little more about what you are thinking, Dan?

>216 labfs39: just thinking that book lists are fun and quick to read. And can create conversations. i was thinking we could post book lists we have in mind at the moment to share: could be personal (book hauls, tbr lists, wishlists) or themed or recommendations or award lists or ideas. Could be a list of links. Not sure it makes sense to do that or if it would work.

>217 dchaikin: That sounds fun! Want to curate it on CR2023?

>217 dchaikin: I guess I don't see how thats different from WTYR, or the RTT and RG themes. But thats fine, whatever works.

>218 labfs39: sure

>219 cindydavid4: Not sure what RTT is. RG themes definitely encourage lists.

>220 dchaikin: RTT Reading Through Time

I'm currently reading The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman. It's possible this might not end up being my last book of 2022, either because it takes me too long to finish it or because I do manage to finish it and then slip one more volume in before the first. But I think it probably will be.

I've started Agent Sonya by Ben Macintyre and hope to finish it by the end of the year. So far it's very engaging.

I'm currently reading Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero, and enjoying it quite a bit. I don't know yet if it will be my last book of 2022, or if it will end up my first book of 2023. We'll see!

Started Haven, which will probably be my first for 2023

I finished the amazing history, The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution by C.L.R. James, written in 1938 and republished in 1971. An extremely well-written and multi-layered history of a tragic, bloody, fascinating series events populated by some truly larger than life figures, especially Toussaint L'Ouverture himself. I've posted a much longer review on my own CR thread.

Next up for me will be a short book called Watch Czechoslovakia!, written in 1937 about the dangers that Nazi Germany and the Czech/German conflicts within Czechoslovakia cleared posed to the Czech nation. The book was written by Richard Freund, whom I've seen described as an Anglicized Austrian journalist (there's very little info on him online, at least that I've been able to find so far. From descriptions of the book itself that I've found, Freund seemed to be able to imagine all sorts of possible outcomes other than the one that actually came about: the Munich Agreement.

>226 rocketjk: What an interesting little find Watch Czechoslovakia! is.

I have finished Natasha’s Dance, which I found beautifully clear and thorough in covering its subject. I will be referring back to it as I try to read more Russian literature in the coming year(s). I got a bit bogged down by the section on the Soviet years, but that was because I found it so overwhelmingly sad, and didn’t want to continue. I’m glad I did though—I think this is a very valuable book.

I've finished Meddling Kids. My next book will be Jennifer Mcmahon's The Children on the Hill.

I may finish one other book this year. I started The Winter Guest by W. C. Ryan, a mystery set in Ireland during the Troubles. It’s a very absorbing read and I hope to finish it before Sunday.

I started a mystery, The Body Falls by Angela Carter. But stopped reading during my heat emergency. I will probably finish it before midnight tomorrow. And I was halfway through A Brief History of Time which I am kind of skimming because I’m familiar with the material - mostly interested in his black hole theory.

>227 labfs39: "What an interesting little find Watch Czechoslovakia! is."

Indeed, and I have no idea when and where I found it. It's been sitting on my history shelf since before I first started posting my library here on LT in 2008, as its entry date in my LT collection is March 1, 2008. It's in perfect condition with dust jacket intact. Finally, there are exactly three LT "members" listed as having this book. Me, something called Czech Center Museum (which provides no information on its LT profile page as to where or what it actually is*) and Ernest Hemingway!

* Possibly this place in Houston: https://www.czechcenter.org/

>233 rocketjk: Curiouser and curiouser

My final reading of 2022 was Watch Czechoslovakia!. Written in 1937, it is a short but extremely fascinating study of the country and it's geopolitical problems, especially concerning their Nazi German neighbors. The author, an obviously very knowledgeable journalist named Richard Freund, was able to visualize more or less every possible outcome except the one that actually occurred, the Allies handing the country over Germany via the infamous Munich Agreement. I've posted a more in-depth review in my CR thread.

For my first book of 2023, I'll be continuing my recently begun tradition of starting every calendar year and every month of July with a novel by Isaac Singer. I'm reading them in chronological order as published, so I'm now up to Singer's third novel, The Magician of Lublin.

I did manage to finish The Winter Guest yesterday afternoon. It’s a gripping mystery, filled with all the tension you’d expect in 1921 in civil war torn Ireland. The hero is a World War 1 vet, still suffering all the symptoms of shell shock and concussion, who is now an agent for the IRA. He is sent to investigate the death of a heroine of the Easter uprising of 1916, a death that occurs during an attack on a car by a wing of the IRA. The investigator finds himself up against a particularly sadistic commander of the British Auxilliary Forces, and we are in constant suspense as to who the murderer is and the fate of our detective. This novel should please anyone looking for a satisfying page turner!

My review of Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero, my last book of 2022, is up on my 2022 thread.

I am listening to Ninth House the first in a sci if/fantasy series for adults by. Leigh Bardugo. It is pretty good, but it took way to long to get going. I think the author spent too much time on world-building and not enough on keeping the reader’s attention focused on the story. I almost quit listening to this one because the first two hours were so totally boring.

I know this isn’t a ringing endorsement for the series but I do think it can be rewarding if you have patience. The second book in this series is due to be published in March of 2023. I am not going to stand in line waiting for it, but I will probably read it at some point.