Jennifer's 2020 reading categories (japaul22)

Forum2020 Category Challenge

Melde dich bei LibraryThing an, um Nachrichten zu schreiben.

Jennifer's 2020 reading categories (japaul22)

1japaul22
Nov. 22, 2019, 7:35 am

Hi everyone! Happy to be joining the category challenge for another year. I find it's always a good way to organize my reading. I typically read 70-90 books in a year, a mix of classics, newly published literature, nonfiction, and books from the 1001 books to read before you die list.

I'm going to do 4 categories of 20 this year: 1001 books list, Off the Shelf, New-ish Releases, and Everything Else.

I thought about doing 20 groups of 4, but too many books would fit in multiple categories and I thought it would be too much work to decide where to fit everything. So I'm keeping it simple.

Thanks for following my reading - I also enjoy keeping up with all of your threads!

2japaul22
Bearbeitet: Dez. 24, 2020, 8:11 am

1001 Books to Read Before you Die - 20 books

1. Nana by Emile Zola
2. The Diviners by Margaret Laurence
3. Loving by Henry Green
4. La Reine Margot by Alexandre Dumas
5. Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
6. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
7. Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
8. Castle Richmond by Anthony Trollope
9. Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga
10. Passing by Nella Larsen
11. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson
12. The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann
13. The Commandant by Jessica Anderson
14. Camilla by Fanny Burney
15. La Bête Humaine by Emile Zola

Ideas:
Nana by Emile Zola
La Reine Margot by Dumas
The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann
Claudine’s House by Colette
Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
The Diviners by Margaret Laurence
Camilla by Fanny Burney
Our Mutual Friend by Dickens
Strindberg
Call of the Wild with William?
Three Lives by Gertrude Stein (on kindle)
Passing by Nella Larsen
Murder Must Advertise and The Nine Tailors
Loving by Henry Green
Night by Elie Wiesel
The Golden Notebook
Elizabeth Bowen
Iris Murdoch
Flaubert's Parrot

4japaul22
Bearbeitet: Dez. 28, 2020, 4:01 pm

New-ish Releases - 20 books

1. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett (2019)
2. Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson (2019)
3. The Anarchy by William Dalrymple (2019)
4. Akin by Emma Donoghue (2019)
5. Furious Hours by Casey Cep (2019)
6. Island of Sea Women by Lisa See (2019)
7. Lost Man by Jane Harper (2019)
8. City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
9. Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann (2019)
10. The Five by Hallie Rubenhold (2019)
11. the British are Coming by Rick Atkinson (2019)
12. Inland by Tea Obreht (2019)
13. The Land Beyond the Sea by Sharon Kay Penman (2020)
14. Mary Toft; or, the Rabbit Queen by Dexter Palmer (2019)
15. Long Bright River by Liz Moore (2020)
16. A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet (2020)
17.The Woman in the Photograph by Stephanie Butland (2019)
18. The Lincoln Conspiracy by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch (2020)
19. The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste (2020)
20. Stranger in the Shogun's City by Amy Stanley (2020)
21. The Grammarians by Cathleen Schine (2020)
22. Caste by Isabel Wilkerson (2020)
23. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell (2020)
24. Transcendent Kingdom by yaa Gyasi (2020)
25. Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid (2020)
26. The Searcher by Tana French (2020)
27. Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith (2020)
28. Writers and Lovers by Lily King (2020)
29. The Forgotten Kingdom by Signe Pike (2020)

**Let's say anything published in the last 5 years or so. But it will mainly be brand new books from 2019-2020

5japaul22
Bearbeitet: Dez. 24, 2020, 7:48 am

Everything Else - 20 books

**includes nonfiction and rereads (hopefully 4)

1. The Bertrams by Anthony Trollope
2. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (reread)
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (reread, audiobook)
4. The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
5. I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurdardóttir
6. Persuasion by Jane Austen (reread)
7. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
8. Messenger by Lois Lowry
9. Free to be Ruth BAder Ginsburg by Teri Kanefield
10. Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin
11. American Lion by Jon Meacham (reread)
12. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (reread)

6This-n-That
Nov. 22, 2019, 10:11 am

Sounds like a great plan. Simple is often the best way to go. Wishing you a fun year of reading in the twenties!

7MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Nov. 24, 2019, 5:13 am

Kepping it simple is a great idea. I'm toying with a complex setup this year and will probably envy your choice by mid-year...

ETC

8DeltaQueen50
Nov. 22, 2019, 1:45 pm

Great to see you all set up and ready. I am looking forward to following along.

9katiekrug
Bearbeitet: Nov. 22, 2019, 2:03 pm

I like your simplified categories and will, of course, be lurking along :)

10pamelad
Nov. 22, 2019, 5:03 pm

>3 japaul22: This makes so much sense. I will adopt this rule.

11LittleTaiko
Nov. 22, 2019, 5:42 pm

Nice simple way to organize - happy reading!

12japaul22
Nov. 22, 2019, 7:09 pm

Welcome everyone! Looking forward to following your reading as well.

>10 pamelad: I did this last year where books I purchased that year also counted for my off the shelf category. It was awesome because it got me reading books right when I bought them and was excited about them. And then they don't linger on the shelf and become next year's TBR.

13clue
Bearbeitet: Nov. 22, 2019, 7:49 pm

>12 japaul22: I'm going to count it all as "shelf" this year too. It's so much fun to come home with a new book and immediately begin reading it! I haven't been doing that enough.

14VivienneR
Nov. 23, 2019, 12:00 am

Good idea! A nice simple set up is a good way to get reading instead of planning.

15Tess_W
Nov. 23, 2019, 11:29 pm

Less is more, I like it! Happy reading in 2020!

16dudes22
Nov. 24, 2019, 6:46 am

Looking forward to seeing what you read this year, Jennifer. I know I'll probably be receiving a few BBs from you too.

17majkia
Nov. 24, 2019, 8:37 am

Best of luck with your challenge!

18rabbitprincess
Nov. 24, 2019, 8:43 pm

Ooh, you should do a back-to-back read of The Magic Mountain with Go Tell It on the Mountain! I like the juxtaposition of titles :)

I like your simple setup, too! Looks like you'll have a great reading year!

19thornton37814
Dez. 11, 2019, 10:37 am

Enjoy your reads! My list isn't quite as simple as yours, but it is far simpler than recent years.

20lkernagh
Jan. 1, 2020, 7:03 pm

Stopping by with best wishes for your 2020 reading!

21japaul22
Jan. 7, 2020, 4:06 pm

1001 books (1/20)

Nana by Émile Zola

Wow. That was quite the way to start the year. Nana is Zola's exploration of the world of prostitution and decadence. Nana is a young girl when the book opens, making her debut in the theater. There is tons of buzz about her - everyone knows she'll be a flop in terms of acting and singing, but nevertheless she is a sensation. Why? Because she's beautiful and sensual. Men go mad for her.

Nana is the little girl that we meet in L'Assomoir, daughter to a drunken father and growing up in poverty, who ends up on the streets as a common prostitute. She is "discovered" by the upper class and ends up attracting and destroying the lives and fortunes of every wealthy man in her circle. They cannot resist her and Zola doesn't mince words describing why. He details their sex lives and her attractions and willingness with surprising candor and detail for a 19th century novel.

The writing here is fantastic. The opening party scenes are fabulous and struck me as having influenced Proust's famous drawing room scenes. And the detail about Nana and her escapades and the gruesome endings are unforgettable. I will say, though, that I didn't think this was up to the level of Germinal or L'Assomoir, the other two Zola books I've read. I think it was the topic - it just didn't have the gravitas of those other works. And I got a little tired of reading about these wealthy men who just let Nana run all over them and waste away their fortunes, health, and happiness.

I will try to get to one more Zola book this year, probably La Bête Humaine which is on the 1001 books to read before you die list.

Original publication date: 1880
Author’s nationality: French
Original language: French
Length: 427 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: kindle
Why I read this: 1001 books

22Chrischi_HH
Jan. 7, 2020, 4:14 pm

A good one to start the year with. I still haven't read anything by Zola, but your review pushes him higher up the list.

23japaul22
Jan. 7, 2020, 5:03 pm

>22 Chrischi_HH: If you're going to read just one Zola, Germinal is his best!

24japaul22
Jan. 12, 2020, 6:21 pm

I remember telling a few people that there would be a Trollope group read led by "lyzard" who does amazing group reads. We're reading The Bertrams and it's just starting up now. http://www.librarything.com/topic/315467

25pamelad
Jan. 12, 2020, 9:26 pm

>24 japaul22: Thanks. See you there.

26MissWatson
Jan. 13, 2020, 5:03 am

>24 japaul22: Yes, I found you and will be tagging along. Thanks!

27japaul22
Jan. 13, 2020, 12:06 pm

New-ish Release (1/20)

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

Ann Patchett's latest book follows the lives of a brother and sister, Danny and Maeve Conroy, who grow up outside Philadelphia in a unique, old house called the Dutch House. The VanHoebeeks, the original owners, still hang on the wall and the house is full of glass windows and old-school charm. What happens in the house is not so lovely. Danny and Maeve's father has built a quick fortune and his wife is not ready to live a life of luxury. Maeve and Danny grow up basically parent-less. This creates a strong bond between the two that is the crux of the book.

I liked this book a lot. I don't think it's quite as memorable or unique as my favorite Ann Patchett books (State of Wonder and Bel Canto), but I enjoyed reading this. I love a book that has a house as a character and Patchett gets really close to achieving this, though it could have been done a little more thoroughly for my liking.

Recommended if you already like Patchett's books, but I'd start with one of my favorites if it's your first.

Original publication date: 2019
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 337 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: library hardback
Why I read this: new book from an author I like

28JayneCM
Jan. 14, 2020, 1:17 am

>27 japaul22: I am STILL waiting for this one from the library! I have heard mixed reviews so look forward to reading it.

29japaul22
Jan. 28, 2020, 2:42 pm

Everything Else (1/20)

The Bertrams by Anthony Trollope

I always love reading Trollope, and even more so when lyzard leads a group read. I was particularly grateful that I read this one with the group read, because, being one of Trollope's earlier and more obscure novels, I needed some help to get the most out of it.

Like many of Trollope's books, this centers around money and marriage and what is deemed a success when it comes to the two. There are two would-be couples, George and Caroline and Arthur and Adela and there are plenty of obstacles (real and perceived) to them getting together. This book also includes some travel and the remote settings of Cairo and Jerusalem. There is, of course, a rich old man and everyone is waiting to see when he will die and what his will contains.

Overall I enjoyed this. It shows the germination of some themes that Trollope will later develop. It's certainly not his best work, but I'm glad I read it.

Original publication date: 1859
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 496 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: kindle
Why I read this: group read

30japaul22
Bearbeitet: Jan. 30, 2020, 6:57 pm

Off the Shelf (1/20)

A House and Its Head by Ivy Compton-Burnett

This 1930s book explores the troubled family life of the Edgeworths, headed by Duncan, a controlling and rude father. There are two grown girls, Nance and Sybil, who live at home and an orphaned cousin who will inherit the family property through an entailment. But then the mother dies, and Duncan remarries. The mother's death seems to set off a spiral downward of behavior in the family and drama ensues. It's pretty dark and no one comes out particularly well.

This book consists almost entirely of dialogue, a choice I found fatiguing. Though the characters certainly do reveal themselves through their conversations, I found myself wanting some descriptive passages. Overall, this book didn't really work for me.

Original publication date: 1935
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 287 pages
Rating: 2.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: nyrb
Why I read this: group read on litsy

31japaul22
Feb. 9, 2020, 1:22 pm

New-ish Releases (2/20)

Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson

Despite not liking her memoir Oranges are not the only fruit, something about the description of this new novel by Winterson drew my attention. I'm so glad I read it. This is a smart, timely novel that is a great balance of progressive ideas, humor, and history.

Winterson parallels the story of Mary Shelley's creation of the novel, Frankenstein, and the friends vacationing together in Switzerland with a modern-day setting exploring robots (more specifically sexbots!), artificial intelligence, and a transgender character. The parallels are subtly drawn but also gave me a lot to think about. I loved that there wasn't any preachiness to her ideas about the current state of human affairs or where we might be headed. It seemed more like an exploration of what could be - or not.

I also loved the transgender character whose feelings were explored but again not preached about. It was nice to see novel include a transgender character where that topic didn't have to be the whole motive of the novel.

Anyway, I really liked this and it was just what I was in the mood for. Well thought out and great connections, but not at all overwrought.

Original publication date: 2019
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 343 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: library
Why I read this: LT reviews

32japaul22
Feb. 12, 2020, 1:18 pm

Off the Shelf (2/20)

The Hills Reply by Tarjei Vesaas, translated by Elizabeth Rokkan
This is Norwegian author Tarjei Vessas's last work and he has created a book in poetic prose that explores nature and life experience. The book is a series of vignettes or short stories (not sure what to call them) and there is not much plot or characters to ground the reader. The language is beautiful and some of the scenes are very memorable. I particularly enjoyed the scene with a young girl being buried in snow while waiting for a young man and the scene where a man is swept away in a river and almost drowned. In all of the vignettes, nature and landscape is prevalent and humans fit into the scenery.

This is a slim book, but is dense and takes some concentration to read. I appreciated it, but can't say it was as enjoyable for me as his other books that I've read - The Birds and The Ice Palace, both of which I loved.

Original publication date: 1969
Author’s nationality: Norwegian
Original language: Norwegian
Length: 275 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: purchased archipelago edition
Why I read this: love the author and this is a newly reissued publication that caught my eye

33japaul22
Feb. 13, 2020, 5:32 pm

Everything Else (2/20)

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
This was my third time reading this and I love it every time. I read it in preparation for The Mirror and the Light, the third and final book of this trilogy, which comes out in March. I'm going to read Bring up the Bodies sometime next month.

If you like historical fiction and Tudors, do give these books a try!

Original publication date: 2010
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 604 pages
Rating: 5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: kindle edition
Why I read this: reread

34japaul22
Feb. 15, 2020, 7:58 am

Newish Releases (3/20)

The Anarchy by William Dalrymple
I think I'm calling it on this one and stopping about 2/3 through. This is a dense nonfiction account of the British East India Company and its takeover of India. As an example of a corporate takeover (rather than a country/government/military taking over and colonizing a country), its interesting, important, and relevant. However, the long and confusing chapters on the in-fighting between the various factions native to the region on top of the fighting with the East India Company has left me hopelessly confused.

I was hoping for more of a social history, detailing how the corporation changed India and the ethics of a corporation driving this takeover. While I think this might still be coming, after reading about 350 pages about warring factions and not finding any sort of human connection yet to the participants, I just have to call it a day.

I'm still counting this since I did spend a ton of time on it and read over 300 pages. I don't want to put everyone off of it - it gets great reviews and was on Barack Obama's list of favorites from 2019 - but I just can't.

Original publication date: 2019
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 576 pages
Rating: 2 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: kindle edition
Why I read this: interested in the topic

35japaul22
Bearbeitet: Feb. 16, 2020, 8:56 am

New-ish Releases (4/20)

Akin by Emma Donoghue

This latest novel by Emma Donoghue follows the life of a 79 year old man, Noah, who is planning a trip to Nice, France to explore his past when he is contacted by child services as the nearest relative to his great-nephew, Michael. Michael's father, Noah's nephew, died of a drug overdose, his mother was in jail accused of selling drugs, and his grandmother (mom's mom) who had been caring for him had just died. Noah is also alone - his wife died years ago, his sister (Michael's grandmother) is dead, and he doesn't seem to have many other close connections.

He is reluctant to take on an 11 year old boy, but duty calls and he takes Michael with him to Nice. Their relationship slowly develops and at the same time they try to discover what Noah's mother did during WWII. Noah has recently found a packet of photographs in his deceased sister's belongings that his mother took during the war. They use the seemingly banal photos to piece together a story of the role his mother played in rescuing Jewish children during WWII.

I really enjoyed reading this book. There are several plot points that were a bit of a stretch, but I liked it anyway. The relationship between Noah and Michael is unusual but moving, and I really cared what happened to them.

Original publication date: 2019
Author’s nationality: Irish
Original language: English
Length: 352 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: library hardback
Why I read this: like the author

36dudes22
Bearbeitet: Feb. 16, 2020, 7:47 am

>35 japaul22: - Funny, I read a book by Jonathan Hull called The Distance From Normandy that had almost the same exact theme. But I think I'll take a BB for this anyway.

BTW - Your link goes to the wrong book.

ETA: went to add it and found I already took a BB from RidgewayGirl last year.

37pamelad
Feb. 17, 2020, 12:55 am

>34 japaul22: How disappointing! It's on my wish list and I'll probably give it a go, but will keep your review in mind. I've enjoyed many of William Dalrymple's books, but not equally. My favourite is From the Holy Mountain.

38japaul22
Feb. 17, 2020, 3:37 pm

>37 pamelad: I wonder if The Anarchy would work better for someone who already had a little background in Indian history. I just was getting hopelessly lost in all the warring rivals. I hope it works for you! If it does, maybe I'll give it another try.

39japaul22
Feb. 17, 2020, 3:57 pm

Off the shelf (3/20)

To Bed with Grand Music by Marghanita Laski
Oh my. This 1946 novel turns the image of the dutiful wife waiting patiently for her husband to come home on its head. When Deborah's husband goes off to war leaving her in the countryside with their 2 year old son, Deborah finds herself hopelessly bored. She finds a housekeeper/nanny for her son and takes a job and flat in London, coming home only on the weekends. While in London, she finds man after man to sleep with and buy her things, hiding her new lifestyle from her husband and son.

I'm no prude, but I was pretty shocked by her behavior. She sleeps with A LOT of different men and accepts a lot of money and gifts. And basically abandons her son. There's conjecture that of course the men who are off at war are sleeping around so why shouldn't she? I get that, but I still wasn't sure what to make of this book.

I liked it from the standpoint of being unexpected and making you think about reality for some women rather than just the conventional notions of what happened to wartime marriages. But it was rather sordid.

Original publication date: 1946
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 197 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: persephone subscription
Why I read this: off the shelf

40japaul22
Feb. 23, 2020, 7:47 pm

1001 Books (2/20)

The Diviners by Margaret Laurence

The Diviners is the story of Margaret Gunn who grows up in a small town on the Canada prairie, raised by friends of her father after her parents die when she is five. The people who raise her are Christie and Prin. Christie is the town scavenger, i.e. garbage man, and is looked down upon. He is also deeply scarred from his WWI experience. Prin is eating herself into an early grave. The town in small in thinking and backwards until you get to know the characters. Morag, though, must escape and finds her way through the world as a writer. Before she leaves, she meets Jules Tonnerre, a mixed race boy, who she falls in love with. He will come and go in her life throughout the novel. Morag later has a child, Pique, and their travels and relationship form another portion of the book.

This book isn't linear. It's told through a series of brief flashbacks labeled "memorybank movies" in the text. It's an exploration of memory as well as life through Morag's experience. Somehow it all flows together perfectly, though, and you barely realize the different shifts in time - they just work. I really, really loved this book. The characters were so alive to me and I did not want the book to end. I read another of Laurence's books, The Stone Angel, recently and it was also excellent. This, though, was more complex and I felt a bit more maturely written. I highly recommend reading some Margaret Laurence.

Original publication date: 1974
Author’s nationality: Canadian
Original language: English
Length: 388 pages
Rating: 5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: purchased
Why I read this: 1001 books

41JayneCM
Feb. 24, 2020, 4:42 am

>40 japaul22: I haven't read any of the Laurence books yet, but I recently watched the movie of The Stone Angel and it was great.

42dudes22
Feb. 24, 2020, 7:21 am

>40 japaul22: - I took a BB from you last year for her book The Stone Angel which I am planning to read later this year.

>41 JayneCM: - I hadn't realized there was a movie too, which fits into one of my categories perfectly this year.

43DeltaQueen50
Feb. 25, 2020, 1:25 pm

>40 japaul22: I enjoyed The Diviners as well. I vividly remember back in my teens when Canadian Literature was all about the two Margarets - Laurence and Atwood! Laurence was one of my mother's favorite authors.

44japaul22
Feb. 26, 2020, 3:10 pm

New-ish Releases (5/20)

Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep

So the title makes this book sound a lot more interesting than it is. What Casey Cep has done is write a mini-book about a subject that Harper Lee might have written a book about and then talk about how Lee did or didn't write it.

Ok, it's a little more interesting than that and it does flow along nicely, so don't write it off quite yet, but I'd like you to know what you're getting if you do read it. The first section of this book is not about Harper Lee at all. Instead, it is about a man named Willie Maxwell who commits a series of murders for insurance money. He is tried for several of the murders and his small community all "know" that he did it, but he is acquitted of everything for lack of evidence. But then he gets murdered at the funeral of one of his victims and there is a trial for that man who pleads insanity. So it's an interesting look at insurance practices, the insanity plea, and a small Alabama community in the 1960s/70s. I liked this part a lot.

Then the author starts bringing Harper Lee into it. She backtracks to do a brief biography of Lee, but finally gets to the connection, that Lee intended to use her experience researching In Cold Blood with Truman Capote to create a true crime novel of her own based on Willie Maxwell. Lee does a lot of research, but seems to have never written the book (or any other after publishing To Kill a Mockingbird).

Everyone wishes that Harper Lee had written more books after the wonderful To Kill a Mockingbird and this book is another attempt to pretend that she really did write another book that maybe we just haven't see yet and to delve into the reasons that she might not have written it. Really, though, it's all just speculation. So while this book is easy to read and interesting in it's own way, I think it was sort of looking for something more than was really there to find.

Fans of Harper Lee will probably still enjoy this on some level, but I think I would have been fine if I hadn't read it at all. It did get on a lot of "best of 2019" lists, though, so I think I'm in the minority.

Original publication date: 2019
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 336 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: library kindle book
Why I read this: interested in the subject

45japaul22
Feb. 29, 2020, 8:50 pm

New-ish Releases (6/20)

Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

I went back and forth with this book, but in the end I found it both interesting and moving. I loved all the history and culture that I got from this book. It takes place on the island of Jeju, part of Korea. The focus are the women called haenyeo, who do deep sea diving to harvest food to sell and to feed their families. The ability of these women to provide for their families creates a matriarchal society where the men stay home and watch and children and cook. Of course, the political upheavals of the time interfere with the island's culture. First Japan takes over Korea, then WWII happens, and then America occupies the island during the Korean war. During this time there is mass slaughter of the islanders as the communists and capitalists fight (I'm way over-simplifying here).

Through it all the friendship of Young-sook and Mi-ja is central. It's all told from Young-sook's point of view. The two become friends in childhood and seem inseparable. But marriage starts to drive a wedge between them, culminating in Mi-ja's betrayal of Young-sook during one of the worst mass killings on Jeju.

This book spans about 80 years and it's so interesting to see the island and the culture change. I felt that the characters were a little lost in all the history sometimes, but the author brings the focus back to the characters at the end. I really enjoyed this and it was interesting to read about an area of the world I know almost nothing about.

Original publication date: 2019
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 385 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: library kindle book
Why I read this: sounded good

46japaul22
Mrz. 3, 2020, 8:34 am

New-ish Releases (7/20)

The Lost Man by Jane Harper

This mystery set in the Australian outback kept me up late last night because I couldn't stop reading it at my normal bedtime. I really liked it - better than Harper's last book. This one deals with the ramifications of domestic abuse. The ending is a little too neat, but I find most mysteries suffer from this. Either there are too many loose ends or everything is tied up nicely, but not necessarily realistically.

I like how Jane Harper unfolds the mystery of the murder and the family's secrets at the same time - well-paced. I think I was in the mood for a good, fast-paced novel and this fit the bill.

Original publication date: 2019
Author’s nationality: Australian
Original language: English
Length: 368 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: kindle book on sale
Why I read this: like her mysteries

47pamelad
Mrz. 3, 2020, 3:27 pm

>46 japaul22: I read this last year. Competent mystery, but too lacking in humour to be authentically Australian. Harper was brought up in England, not in the Australian bush!

48japaul22
Mrz. 3, 2020, 3:39 pm

>47 pamelad: Interesting - thanks for the perspective. Do you consider Jane Harper an "Australian writer" or just an author that just uses Australia as a setting? Not sure I'm phrasing that right . . .

49pamelad
Bearbeitet: Mrz. 3, 2020, 4:37 pm

I lump her in with Peter Temple and Arthur Upfield - writers who have adopted Australia but maintained their outsiders' perspectives. To me they're writing inauthentic books, but I'd say the same about some writers who've lived their whole lives here. Chris Hammer!!

Clarifying. PT and AU not writing from the grave. Wrong tense.

50japaul22
Mrz. 6, 2020, 8:28 am

Everything Else (3/20)

#15 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
This was an audiobook reread (for the I-have-no-idea-what-number time). I'm really enjoying listening to Austen as audiobooks. I think I listened to Pride and Prejudice already once before. This time the reader was Rosamund Pike. I liked everything about her reading except her voice for Mrs. Bennet. But, it wasn't bad enough to ruin it or anything.

51japaul22
Mrz. 6, 2020, 8:30 am

>49 pamelad: Interesting. I'm sorry to say I don't know any of the authors you've mentioned either. I looked at my catalogue's tags and I actually have almost no Australian authors read besides Eleanor Catton. Certainly no classics. Are there any you would recommend?

52katiekrug
Mrz. 6, 2020, 8:38 am

I've also enjoyed re-visiting Austen on audio. I have that Rosamund Pike reading of P&P but haven't gotten to it yet.

53pamelad
Mrz. 6, 2020, 4:45 pm

>51 japaul22: Garry Disher, my favourite Australian crime writer, has written two mystery series, the Hal Challis series starting with The Dragon Man and the Wyatt series.

Patrick White is our only Nobel Prize winner. Books of his that I've read and enjoyed recently are A Fringe of Leaves and The Twyborn Affair.

The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas, The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood and The Spare Room by Helen Garner are all thought-provoking books about the way we live now.

Some authors from last century : Elizabeth Harrower, Eleanor Dark, Ruth Park, Jessica Anderson.

For a long, light read Liane Moriarty. I liked Big Little Lies. Or there's Colleen McCulloch's The Thorn Birds.

Better stop for now.

54LisaMorr
Mrz. 16, 2020, 2:18 pm

Lots of interesting reads! I'm taking tons of BBs for Frankissstein, Akin, The Diviners, The Island of Sea Women and even for To Bed with Grand Music, which sounds like a different kind of Persephone!

55japaul22
Mrz. 19, 2020, 9:04 pm

New-ish releases (8/20)

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

This book fit the bill for me right now in that it's entertaining and mindless, but it's pretty forgettable. A woman looks back on her life, writing a letter (yeah, the entire book is one "letter") to a woman named Angela. She tells the story of her life growing up in a privileged and sheltered family and then moving to New York City in 1940 and "awakening". She moves in with her Aunt Peg who runs a small showgirl theater. Her wild behavior unsurprisingly gets her in trouble.

The narrator is funny and the setting kind of fun. I liked a few of the characters. But overall, it just wasn't that interesting. A good way to pass the time, but not special.

Original publication date: 2019
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 480 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: kindle library book
Why I read this: sounded fun

56japaul22
Mrz. 28, 2020, 10:28 am

New-ish Releases (9/20)

Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann

This morning I finished this 1000 page book. I'm so grateful to the Club Read group read that prompted me to read this. I've read many long books, but most are classics, and it was interesting to read a very long modern book with current events at it's heart.

The narrator is a middle-aged woman living in the middle of Ohio. She has 4 kids (ages 2-15) and bakes pies for a living. She is on her second marriage and deeply in love with her husband, Leo. She has had cancer and her mother died from cancer - this "broke her". She repeatedly thinks "the fact that when Mommy died it broke me, I'm broken". She has a typically troubled mother/daughter relationship with her teenage daughter, Stacey.

All of the things you learn about her life come from her interior monologue which runs beneath her daily activity. Only certain real life events make it into this monologue. Instead most of it is stretches of childhood memory, thinking about movies or other cultural references, and chains of related words. She also thinks about current events - mainly pollution, gun violence, and politics (not a Trump fan!). I found it easy to identify with her thoughts and many made me laugh. We had similar upbringings in the midwest - similar foods, movies, and cultural experiences to reminisce about.

Interposed with her rambling thoughts, there is the story of an American mountain lioness. I was struck by the contrast between the human mother and the lioness mother. The first is constantly worrying with mental chatter but is physically comfortable and the other is experiencing the dangers of nature but has a relatively calm interior life. However, as the book goes on these two experiences converge as the lioness has harmful human interaction and the woman's physical life is endangered.

There were several things that bothered me about this book. I never could figure out the timeline and there were times that I was very annoyed by the narrator's mental chatter. However, I loved the inventiveness of the format and I really thought the intersection of the lioness and the mother narrator was unique and moving.

Despite the length and "newness" of this book, I didn't think it was all that challenging to read or understand. And I didn't think it needed to be shorter - I thought the length was right for the topic and form. Overall, I would recommend it. I love that a book so long and different found a publisher!

Original publication date: 2019
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 1020 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: purchased paperback
Why I read this: group read, intrigued

57LisaMorr
Mrz. 28, 2020, 4:36 pm

>56 japaul22: I got that book for Christmas - glad you liked it!

58pamelad
Mrz. 28, 2020, 7:12 pm

A very useful review. You've provided all the information I need to make a decision, and it's a no. Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the book and found the 1000+ pages interesting and worthwhile.

59japaul22
Mrz. 28, 2020, 8:19 pm

>58 pamelad: Glad to be of help! It certainly won't be for everyone.

60JayneCM
Mrz. 28, 2020, 11:05 pm

>56 japaul22: I have had this on my TBR for a while. Need to be in the right frame of mind to read it, I think. Do you think it is best read in longer sessions? Most of my reading has to be done in small snatches of time, which is why I have put this aside a few times already.

61rabbitprincess
Mrz. 29, 2020, 9:11 am

>56 japaul22: Congratulations on finishing this one! A monumental achievement.

62katiekrug
Mrz. 29, 2020, 1:43 pm

>56 japaul22: - Your comments are the first that have made me a tiny bit interested in reading this one. If I do, I'm definitely going for the Kindle option!

63japaul22
Mrz. 30, 2020, 7:15 pm

Well, one good thing that has come of all this staying at home is that my 10 year old son who is a good reader but almost never chooses to read, has been devouring books! He's loving the Spy Camp series by Stuart Gibbs and has been reading 100+ pages a day.

64JayneCM
Mrz. 31, 2020, 6:58 am

Agreed! My two younger boys are reading more - still trying with the 15 year old! Although he is teaching himself to play guitar from Youtube.
I'll have to look for that series - when I can get back to the library.

65dudes22
Mrz. 31, 2020, 7:20 am

>63 japaul22: - I recommended the Mr Lemoncello's Library series to Jayne and she said her boys loved it, so I'll recommend it to you also. By Chris Grabenstein.

66JayneCM
Apr. 2, 2020, 4:42 am

>65 dudes22: Absolutely! A friend also told me there is a movie of the first book. I watched the trailer and it looks like they have changed quite a bit. Have you seen it?

67dudes22
Apr. 2, 2020, 9:14 am

>66 JayneCM: - No, I didn't know there was one.

68japaul22
Apr. 4, 2020, 8:00 pm

Off the shelf/kindle (4/20)

The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel

I thoroughly enjoyed this last novel in Mantel's trilogy about Thomas Cromwell. She brings the 1500s to life in a way that feels both historically true and modern at the same time. In this novel, she subtly shows cracks begin to appear in Cromwell's dominance. But even so, his downfall feels like a surprise.

This novel has the breadth of Wolf Hall but also manages to keep a tight focus on Cromwell as Bring up the Bodies does. I grew to love many of the characters besides just Cromwell, and I will miss them now that this trilogy is done.

I feel like I should say more, but I'll just leave it with a big recommendation for the whole series.

Original publication date: 2020
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 764 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: purchased kindle edition
Why I read this: love the series

69rabbitprincess
Apr. 4, 2020, 8:20 pm

>68 japaul22: Can't wait to read this series! I had planned to borrow the first two books from my mum the next time I visited my parents, but that won't likely be happening for the foreseeable future :-/

70japaul22
Apr. 8, 2020, 8:46 am

New-ish Release (10/20)

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold

I really appreciated this nonfiction account of the women killed by Jack the Ripper in the 1880s. What was moving about this book is that the killer and the murders themselves are not discussed at all. This book is exclusively about the women that were killed and their lives leading up to their murders. As such, it's a fascinating look a the very limited options for women on the lowest rung of the economic ladder in Victorian England. I learned a lot about workhouses, casual wards, and sleeping rough. I also learned about the limited work options and way women's lives absolutely revolved around having a man to provide for them.

These victims are usually portrayed as prostitutes but actually except for one, they were not. Rubenhold tells us about the reality of their lives. She does an amazing job of teasing out the details of these faceless women and giving them back some dignity that was stripped from them in coverage of these murders at the time and over the century since the murders.

I really enjoyed this and highly recommend it.

Original publication date: 2019
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 359 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: kindle library book
Why I read this: interested in the topic

71Chrischi_HH
Apr. 13, 2020, 12:14 pm

>70 japaul22: That's a BB for me. I am currently reading The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly, which is set in this time and the murders feature in it. Would be interesting to learn a bit more about the historical background.

72JayneCM
Apr. 17, 2020, 9:25 am

>70 japaul22: I am halfway through The Five and also really enjoying it. It almost feels like some sort of justice for these women as they have been portrayed for so long as contributing to their own deaths due to their lifestyles.

73japaul22
Apr. 17, 2020, 10:12 am

>72 JayneCM: agreed! I thought it was a wonderful idea to focus solely on the victims. Really interesting to learn more about the lives of poor women in the Victorian era as well.

74japaul22
Apr. 18, 2020, 9:22 am

Off the shelf/kindle (5/20)

Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

I greatly enjoyed this Victorian era detective/mystery type novel. I'm not going to do much of a review, because it would give away too much of the plot. What I will say is that Braddon creates great characters and a plot that may not fool you, but will keep you interested as Robert Audley, the main detective-type character, tries to unveil Lady Audley's secrets and decide how to act on them.

I really liked this novel and it perfectly suited my reading mood for something that didn't take a ton of brain power, but still gave me some things to think about. Recommended if you enjoy Victorian era novels.

Original publication date: 1862
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 496 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: kindle book, penguin edition
Why I read this: group read with lyzard in the virago group

75JayneCM
Apr. 20, 2020, 7:57 am

>74 japaul22: I had this one as a possibility for the Femme Fatale category in MysteryKIT later in the year. Do you think she fits in with that theme?

76japaul22
Apr. 20, 2020, 9:03 am

>75 JayneCM: yes, definitely the Victorian version of a femme fatale!

77JayneCM
Apr. 21, 2020, 3:20 am

>76 japaul22: Perfect! It came up when I Googled books femme fatale, but sometimes these searches are not exactly accurate.

78japaul22
Apr. 26, 2020, 4:52 pm

Off the Shelf (6/20)

The Priory by Dorothy Whipple

This is another of my recent Persephone book acquisitions and I loved it. The Priory is a 1939 British novel about a decaying home and family, the Marwoods of Saunby. Major Marwood is broke but insists upon hosting an expensive cricket tournament every summer. The house is falling apart. He has two beautiful daughters, Christine and Penelope, who have completed isolated themselves and become a fixture of the house. And there's an odd Aunt Victoria who cares only about her painting and neglects any duty toward house or the girls. When Major Marwood makes the decision to marry a local woman, Anthea, life at the house is upended. Christine, the older daughter, falls in love with a man who comes to the cricket tournament which further disrupts the quiet life at Saunby. At the same time that the Marwood family is developed, the lives of the servants are explored. In that way it's a familiar upstairs/downstairs story.

This is a plot-driven book that focuses on character and relationship development and I loved it. It was easy and fun to read but provided plenty to think about. It was published in 1939, and has a now unrealistic happy ending as the threat of war diminishes through diplomacy at the end of the book.

This is the first book by Dorothy Whipple that I've read and I'd definitely like to read more.

Original publication date: 1939
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 528 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: persephone subscription
Why I read this: on my shelf

79JayneCM
Mai 1, 2020, 5:16 am

>78 japaul22: I read that one years ago and I remember loving it. Sounds like it is time for a reread.

80japaul22
Mai 2, 2020, 8:07 am

1001 books (3/20)

Loving by Henry Green
Loving could be a traditional English (well, Irish) countryside estate family novel. But this 1945 book by Henry Green treats the familiar story in an unfamiliar way. The servants are the focus, the book is written in almost all dialogue, and there's quite a lot of sexual tension for this type of novel.

Most of the plot involves the death of the long-time butler and the assumption of the role by Charley Raunce. He struggles to navigate this new role. WWII is going on and the family goes to England to see the son who is on a brief leave. The servants take full advantage of this departure and things get a little crazy.

The magic of this brief novel is the writing style. Because it's virtually all dialogue, there is a lot taking place behind the words that the reader needs to extrapolate. The scattered thoughts of the characters lead to verbal misunderstandings and some of the exchanges are pretty confusing. Green also doesn't use punctuation in a traditional manner. At first all of this annoyed me, but in the end I am surprised at how close I got to the characters and how memorable they are.

Though this was published in 1945, it still feels like a modern take on the Victorian novel and I recommend it.

Original publication date: 1945
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 206 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: nyrb, off the shelf
Why I read this: on my shelf, 1001 books group challenge

81japaul22
Mai 3, 2020, 1:00 pm

New Releases (11/20)

The British are Coming by Rick Atkinson
This is the first in a new three part history of the Revolutionary War. I believe Atkinson won the Pulitzer for this first installment and it's easy to see why. It's well-researched and thorough but still fun to read.

That being said, I think I'm finally ready to admit that reading about war, especially history that focuses on battles and troop movements, just is not for me. I like reading about this era in biography form (I've read and loved biographies about John and Abigail Adams, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, etc.) because I find delving into a life and exploring personality and motivations interesting, but a focus on the actual strategy of fighting a war just does not interest me. So even though this is well done and does balance the war details with society and some more personal stories, it just wasn't my favorite. I don't think I'll continue with this series, but I still would recommend it for anyone interested in the time period.

Original publication date: 2019
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 787 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: library kindle
Why I read this: interested in the topic (I thought!)

82LisaMorr
Mai 4, 2020, 7:31 pm

Two more BBs for me - The Five and The Priory.

83pamelad
Mai 4, 2020, 9:37 pm

>80 japaul22: Good to see Henry Green here again. I also liked Loving, after being unable to get into Living.

84japaul22
Mai 11, 2020, 7:21 pm

1001 Books (4/20)

La Reine Margot by Alexandre Dumas
La Reine Margot is historical fiction written by a mid-19th century French author about the 1500s French King Charles IX and the fight between Catholics and Huguenots. Charles has 2 brothers vying to be next on the throne. He marries his Catholic sister Marguerite (the Queen Margot of the title) to Henry of Navarre, the Protestant King of Navarre. Marguerite and Henry create an unlikely political partnership but both have active love-lifes on the side. Also, the family matriarch is Catherine de Medici who does a lot of political maneuvering and plotting.

I really liked this. It has the typical Dumas swashbuckling scenes, poisonings, and intrigues. It's certainly not as good as The Count of Monte Cristo, but it was good fun. I will say that I read a lot of historical fiction and it sort of bothered me that Dumas takes A LOT of license with the facts to create a better novel. The explanatory notes were detailed and pointed out all the ways Dumas changed the facts. I'm used to historical fiction that really tries to stick to good research, so this was a departure for me. But in the end I was able to let that go and enjoy the ride.

Original publication date: 1844-45, published serially
Author’s nationality: French
Original language: French
Length: 524 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: purchased paperback
Why I read this: 1001 books, group read

85thornton37814
Mai 11, 2020, 8:45 pm

>84 japaul22: I want to read that one, but it's not happening this month.

86japaul22
Mai 21, 2020, 7:54 pm

New Releases (12/20)

Inland by Tea Obreht

I loved this new novel by Tea Obreht. Inland follows two separate storylines in late 1800s America, largely in the arid Arizona territory. The first is of Lurie, an orphan boy who joins up with a group of men journeying across the west with a herd of camels (yes, camels). His story spans the decades of his life and his relationship with his camel, Burke. The other story is Nora's and happens over the course of one day (of course with some memories included). Nora is awaiting the arrival of her husband who is three days late returning with much-needed water. Her two grown sons have also gone missing.

The stories are very different but have some things in common - certainly the setting, but also a communion with the dead which seems natural, not supernatural, in Obreht's talented hands. As often is the case with books with dual plotlines, I preferred one - Nora's - at first, but I grew to love both and understand how the seemingly disparate stories really did connect.

I didn't have any interest in reading Obreht's first book, The Tiger's Wife, but this description appealed to me and I'm so glad I read it. Obreht is a very skilled author and I loved this book.

Original publication date: 2019
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 384 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: library kindle
Why I read this: new release that sounded good

87japaul22
Mai 30, 2020, 8:29 am

Off the Shelf/Kindle (7/20)

The Pioneers by David McCullough
I always enjoy McCullough's writing, and this book had a pretty interesting topic to me, the settlement of the Ohio region in the late 1700s. I learned some good things and about some new people. The Northwest Ordinance, which was signed before the Constitution and outlawed slavery in the about-to-be-settled lands, was something I knew about but was good to review. It was amazing to see how quickly these lands went from complete wilderness to the western idea of cities. Being so close to the developed East Coast and the development of early steamboats and easy access to waterways aided this quick development.

There are a few key people that the book focuses on. Manasseh Cutler, who was instrumental in getting the Northwest Ordinance passed; General Putnam, a Revolutionary war leader who became a leader in the new territory; Ephraim Cutler, Manasseh's son, who settled in Marietta, Ohio and was a huge supporter of continuing the ban on slavery and providing education opportunities; and a doctor named Hildreth, famous for his expertise in helping the region through several epidemics.

Somehow, though, this book felt sort of light on the history. It never pulled together in a cohesive narrative and I wondered a few times what the overarching point really was. Then at the end, McCullough reveals that the impetus for this book was giving a commencement address at a local college. Then it all made sense - the research he did for this speech was subsequently flushed out into a book.

Overall I enjoyed this and if you're looking for some light American history, I'd recommend it.

Original publication date: 2019
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 352 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: kindle
Why I read this: hadn't read a book by McCullough in a while

88thornton37814
Mai 31, 2020, 9:11 am

>87 japaul22: I agree it isn't as strong as some McCullough's work.

89japaul22
Jun. 3, 2020, 10:22 am

Off the Shelf (8/20)

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

I overall enjoyed this collection of essays by Roxane Gay, a young, black, American woman. Her essays are at their best, in my opinion, when she gets personal. I was not as interested in the section that explores media and gender/race. That's just because I haven't seen or listened to a lot of what she comments on. But I loved her essays on friendship between women and about the politics of gender.

My favorite essay was the brief list entitled "How to be Friends with Another Woman". It's easily searchable if you want to check it out.

I really like the trend in feminism right now of being honest about having a wide possibility of what feminism can look like in practice. I think it has potential to get a wider base of support for the things women desperately need available to make progress.

Original publication date: 2014
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 319 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: purchased paperback
Why I read this: it's been on the shelf a while

90katiekrug
Jun. 3, 2020, 1:20 pm

>89 japaul22: - I loved that one. It very much made me think. And I donated my unread copy of The Help after reading one particular essay....

She's a great follow on Twitter, if you are on Twitter.

91japaul22
Jun. 6, 2020, 12:37 pm

New Releases (13/20)

The Land Beyond the Sea by Sharon Kay Penman

Sharon Kay Penman's latest historical fiction tome is set in 1100s Middle East, specifically the European-ruled City of Jerusalem. It is, however, the end of their reign as Salah al-Din (known to the English as Saladin) is a smart and just Muslim ruler determined to regain this city. The Franks, as they are known in the region, are rife with in-fighting as a power struggle begins to see who will reign after Baldwin IV, who finds he's a leper as a child, knows he won't leave an heir. This leaves them vulnerable to Saladin's strength and intelligence.

Penman is amazing at crafting characters you care about and at meticulous research. She's presented a balanced account that doesn't favor the Crusading English over their Muslim foes. If you've read Penman's other books, this is sort of a prequel to King's Ransom, where Richard Lionheart leads a Crusade to try to win back Jerusalem.

I really liked this and fans of Penman will also love to read more by her. I will say that it didn't quite sweep me away as well as some of her novels though. I think she wasn't quite as successful at creating multiple storylines with interesting characters. The couple she focused on were great, but in some of her books she manages many more storylines. I loved it though. I'll read anything she writes; I find her books a great escape.

Original publication date: 2020
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 688 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: purchased kindle edition
Why I read this: desperately waiting for her complete another book!

92japaul22
Jun. 11, 2020, 3:02 pm

Everything Else (4/20)

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
Sadly, this text is still completely pertinent to racism in America today. I found listening to this (it's brief, about 2 hours) to be a very effective way to experience the writing.

A definite must to read or listen to. It's succinct and important even though it was written 1963. Actually, because it's still relevant almost 60 years later, I found it even more moving.

Original publication date: 1963
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 128 pages
Rating: 5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: audible audiobook credit
Why I read this: current events

93pamelad
Jun. 11, 2020, 8:47 pm

>92 japaul22: I've added this to the wishlist. Have you seen the documentary, I Am Not Your Negro? It's available on lots of streaming platforms, including Kanopy.

94japaul22
Jun. 11, 2020, 9:17 pm

>93 pamelad: I have not - I will add it to my list, thank you!

95japaul22
Jun. 14, 2020, 2:16 pm

1001 books (5/20)

Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich

Erdrich has been on my list of authors to read for some time. This, her first novel, was my also my first time reading her. She writes beautifully and I connected to her style right away. However, I wasn't a huge fan of the technique she used of linking short stories in this book. While in some ways I liked how the chapters/stories cycled through time and revealed different perspectives with each, I also thought it made it a little choppy. Being somewhere between short stories and a novel and not being able to define it for myself bothered me. I expect for some people that will be the charm of the book, but for me it was a little distracting. I suspect I'll like her novels that are in a more traditional format better.

Still, this is beautiful writing and an important look at life on an American Indian reservation in the 1940s-80s.

Original publication date: 1993
Author’s nationality: American, Native American
Original language: English
Length: 367 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: library sale
Why I read this: 1001 books

96japaul22
Jun. 14, 2020, 2:26 pm

Off the Shelf (9/20)

Visionary Women: How Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, Jane Goodall, and Alice Waters Changed our World by Andrea Barnet

I loved this nonfiction about four women whose work in the 1960s truly changed the trajectory of how we interact with our environments. The book has an opening section that lays the groundwork for how the four, who didn't know each other, are connected. The gist is that they all were outsiders in their respective fields (mainly because they were women and not allowed in through traditional means) and all saw the beauty of the natural world or natural order of human interaction in contrast to the more widely held beliefs of technology running roughshod over nature to "improve" it.

Each woman has a section that is a biography to highlight her contributions and there are references made to how their approaches were similar to each other. There is an end section that ties it all up neatly.

I really loved this book. It was readable and interesting and had some new ideas, at least to me. Highly recommended.

Original publication date: 2018
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 514 pages
Rating: 5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: purchased
Why I read this: can't remember where, but saw a review that interested me

97dudes22
Jun. 15, 2020, 5:57 am

>95 japaul22: - I have 3 books by Erdrich on my TBR although not this one. But I've heard good things about it and think I may wait and start with this.

>96 japaul22: - My RL book club read this last year and I really enjoyed it too.

98katiekrug
Jun. 15, 2020, 9:41 am

>95 japaul22: - I'm one who LOVED Love Medicine, but your comments make sense and I can see the format not working for everyone.

99japaul22
Jun. 17, 2020, 4:22 pm

1001 Books (6/20)

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

I absolutely loved this family drama about an Indian couple who move to Boston after their arranged marriage. They have children who grow up American and have to navigate their Indian roots but American upbringing. The immigrant experience is a part of the novel and gives it an "otherness" but it's also just a "normal" family experience with secrets, arguments, love, death, and divorce.

Lahiri's writing is just beautiful - simple and profound, not a bit of pretentiousness. I'm sad that I let this sit on my shelf for so many years. Highly recommended.

Original publication date: 2003
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 291 pages
Rating: 5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: purchased at library sale
Why I read this: litsy #bookspin, 1001 books

100pamelad
Jun. 17, 2020, 4:26 pm

>99 japaul22: I really liked The Interpreter of Maladies, so will give this one a go as well.

101katiekrug
Jun. 18, 2020, 9:28 am

>99 japaul22: - I've had a copy sitting on my shelves for.... let me check... 7 years! Like >100 pamelad:, I loved Interpreter of Maladies but haven't read anything else by her. Must correct that.

102japaul22
Jun. 20, 2020, 7:36 am

Everything else (5/20)

I Remember You by Yrsa Sigardardóttir

If you are looking for a legitimately scary ghost story, here you go. I loved this creepy tale of a a group of friends that go to an island in winter to begin renovations on a house they've recently purchased. Their story alternates chapters with one of a doctor whose son went missing three years previously while he was playing a game of hide and seek.

I won't give away any plot and, honestly, if you summarize it sounds kind of silly anyway, but this really worked for me. Probably scary books aren't universally scary - I think a lot depends on your mood at the time - but I loved this.

Original publication date: 2014
Author’s nationality: Icelandic
Original language: English
Length: 370 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: library book
Why I read this: caught my eye

103DeltaQueen50
Jun. 21, 2020, 4:59 pm

>102 japaul22: I Remember You really creeped me out too!

104japaul22
Jun. 24, 2020, 4:47 pm

I probably put this on the list from your review, then. I can never remember where I see books around here! Thanks!

105japaul22
Jun. 24, 2020, 4:47 pm

New Releases (14/20)

Mary Toft; or, the Rabbit Queen by Dexter Palmer

I loved this weird book based on a true event in the 1700s where a woman gave birth to 17 rabbits to the astonishment of her male doctors. Palmer takes this story and turns it into a dive into fiction vs. reality, weirdness vs. normality, and male voices silencing women.

I highly recommend it. I didn't know what to expect and was thrilled with what I got.

Original publication date: 2019
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 310 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: library book
Why I read this: someone's review around here

106japaul22
Jun. 27, 2020, 6:42 pm

New Releases (15/20)

Long Bright River by Liz Moore

Set in the rough neighborhood of Kensington in Philadelphia, Long Bright River is about two sisters, addiction, police corruption, and young, vulnerable women getting murdered. It felt very prescient with the current criticism of police forces. A quote from a character who is a policeman deciding to retire early:

It's easy to forget that the system isn't right. I'm not just talking about these particular homicides. I'm talking about the whole thing. The whole system. Too much power in the wrong hands. Everything out of order. . . . People dying. Not just the women. Innocent people. Unarmed people. I can't sleep."

This is a page turner of a mystery, but what I loved about it is that, though the main character is a police officer, this is more a story about family and addiction than it is about the mystery. Mickey doesn't really act like a police officer for most of the book; she's acting as a sister. That may not work for everyone, but it's what I prefer in a mystery - the human element.

Original publication date: 2020
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 496 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: library kindle book
Why I read this: someone's review around here

107katiekrug
Jun. 27, 2020, 11:09 pm

>106 japaul22: - I loved Long Bright River, Jennifer. Glad it was a winner for you, too.

108japaul22
Jul. 5, 2020, 1:35 pm

Off the Shelf (10/20)

Expiation by Elizabeth von Arnim

This is another book from my Persephone subscription. I really enjoyed von Arnim's Enchanted April so I was excited about this one. In the end, I found it a little uneven.

This is the story of recently-widowed Milly who has married into a family that is the cornerstone of their community (in their minds, at least). They pride themselves on their family's lack of scandals so Milly gets a strike against her immediately when her sister elopes with a Swiss man back at the beginning of Milly's marriage. When Milly's husband dies unexpectedly, his will leaves almost everything to a charity instead of to her and strongly implies that she's been having an affair. Milly's story and the family's reaction to the will make up the crux of the book.

I enjoyed Milly's journey, but when the focused shifted more towards the rest of the family, I felt like it lost some of the intimacy of Milly's single point of view. While the book was pleasant to read, I think it was pretty forgettable.

Original publication date: 1929
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 362 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: persephone subscription
Why I read this: off the shelf

109pamelad
Jul. 5, 2020, 5:37 pm

Like you I loved Enchanted April. I've started a few of Arnim's other books but have finished none of them, possibly because they were free on Gutenberg so there was no need. A nice Persephone edition would make a difference.

110kac522
Bearbeitet: Jul. 6, 2020, 1:21 am

>108 japaul22: Ah, interesting. I too loved The Enchanted April; I enjoyed (but didn't love) Mr Skeffington; and I recently finished The Pastor's Wife, which was a page-turner for me. Not quite as good as The Enchanted April. I want to read Elizabeth and her German Garden, too.

111japaul22
Jul. 12, 2020, 7:28 am

Off the Shelf (11/20)

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

Prep is about one midwestern girl's high school experience at an East Coast boarding school. Lee is "on scholarship", which she hides carefully, and utterly terrified of being noticed but depressed that she's not noticed. A typical teenage dilemma.

The book is about teenage friendships and perceptions of the world which are obviously narrow. Lee is casually racist and sexist, without realizing she is either. She both resists the wealthy East Coast ideals, and desperately wants to be a part of them.

I liked this book, but I felt like it went on a little too long. The main character, who narrates the books, is not likable, but I still could identify in small ways with her teenage experiences. This was Sittenfeld's debut novel - it is full of great writing and insight, but is just a little clunkier than her subsequent novels.

Original publication date: 2005
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 406 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: library paperback sale
Why I read this: off the shelf, litsy #bookspin

112japaul22
Jul. 12, 2020, 7:48 am

1001 books (7/20)

Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin

This book takes place in the 1930s and is an exploration of Black lives as the first generations experience "freedom" and the possibility of movement. John is a teenager trying to find his way to adulthood in New York. His family is complex and their experience forms the bulk of the novel, showing how much family life and complexities influence the path of children.

John's father Gabriel (well, stepfather) is a troubled Pentecostal minister and the book is almost overwhelmed with his ideas of sin and hell and being born again. Despite his strong views (or maybe because of!) he sins again and again with women, blaming them for his sins and leaving fatherless children along the way. John's mother, Elizabeth, had been involved with a man who ended up falsely accused of robbery and who is beaten badly by the police and commits suicide. Because John is born out of wedlock, Gabriel considers Elizabeth a fallen women and treats her as such, though he does marry her and raise John. Gabriel's sister, Florence, has also escaped the South and is living in New York. Her sad, troubling story is revealed as well.

This book was a mixed bag for me. The character's stories were powerful and real. That part of the book was very meaningful to me. And Baldwin's writing is lyrical and confident and memorable. The religious diatribes, though, really put me off. Even knowing that Baldwin himself was making commentary on the damaging nature of this sort of extreme Christianity didn't help. It was painful and annoying to read. I'm glad I persevered though, because in the end this is an important and powerful book that is sadly still relevant today. I'm looking forward to reading more of Baldwin's writing.

Original publication date: 1953
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 272 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: kindle purchase
Why I read this: off the shelf, 1001 books

113LittleTaiko
Jul. 12, 2020, 9:26 pm

>106 japaul22: I have loved the two books I have read of hers and am looking forward to this one.

114japaul22
Jul. 18, 2020, 7:30 pm

New Releases (16/20)

A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet

This was a strange novel that I think I really liked. It starts out with a group of families that do a reunion vacation together in a large beach house. The parents are all wealthy and detached from their kids. They mainly drink. The story is told from the children's point of view, who range in age from about 9-18. The children are left on their own, to the extent that they begin a contest to see which kid can last the longest with out the others identifying which parents belong to him/her.

I loved the first half of the book. Then a massive storm/hurricane occurs and things get weird. The power is off and there is a lot of damage. That's not so strange. But it begins to appear that nothing will be going back to normal. Apparently this wasn't just a local storm, but climate change has hit in full force and the globe is suddenly devastated. How these wealthy people with no "street smarts" will survive forms the second half of the novel.

Overall I have mixed feelings about this book. It was a little too strange for me to give a blanket recommendation to read it. However, it was good enough that I want to read more by this author - it was an intriguing book.

Original publication date: 2020
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 240 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: library kindle
Why I read this: LT review

115japaul22
Jul. 18, 2020, 7:39 pm

Off the Shelf 12/20

Call Them by Their True Names by Rebecca Solnit

I always love Rebecca Solnit's essays, and this collection was particularly good. The uniting focus is that words and labels matter and that small actions can add up to big change. Though times are dark, this collection is surprisingly hopeful. The essays sparked my anger but also made me proud of the way many in our country are standing up and making their dissatisfaction public.

I bought a bunch of Solnit's collected essays and I think I'll pick up another right away. Solnit's writing is always points out the uncomfortable and always challenges me to reassess my biases. Plus her skill in the use of the English language is remarkable.

Original publication date: 2018
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 188 pages
Rating: 5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased paperback
Why I read this: off the shelf

116katiekrug
Jul. 18, 2020, 7:40 pm

>114 japaul22: - Sounds interesting! I might give it a whirl.

117japaul22
Jul. 18, 2020, 7:41 pm

>116 katiekrug: I can imagine you liking this author - I know I heard about this book and author somewhere on LT and I thought it might have been from you!

118katiekrug
Jul. 18, 2020, 7:43 pm

Nope, not me! I don't think I've read anything by her.

119DeltaQueen50
Jul. 19, 2020, 12:43 pm

>114 japaul22: My wishlist is littered with books by Lydia Millet and now I am adding this one as well. It's really time that I actually read one of hers and this one really intrigues me.

120japaul22
Jul. 28, 2020, 2:18 pm

1001 books (8/20)

Castle Richmond by Anthony Trollope

One of Trollope's earlier novels, this one will not rank as a favorite for me. It is set in Ireland during the beginning of the potato famine. On top of that is a more typical Trollope story line which a young woman has to decide between two men whose fortunes are shifting and manage interference from her mother.

I had two issues with this book. One is that the potato famine is there, but it wasn't the focus and is sort of a side story. Though it's more prevalent than that at the same time. And Trollope's attitude to the famine was pretty confusing to me - I couldn't tell if he thought it was God's intent that all these people die, that it was God's will, or how much responsibility the wealthy had to help the situation. Whatever he meant, it wasn't good and was definitely off-putting.

And the the love triangle also, just wasn't up to Trollope's normally excellent look into the human psyche. I didn't feel like I really understood all of the motivations of the characters.

I definitely wouldn't start here if you want to read Trollope! The man was prolific - there are literally dozens of other novels by him that I enjoyed more!

Original publication date: 1860
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 532 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: kindle freebie
Why I read this: group read, 1001 books

121japaul22
Jul. 28, 2020, 7:54 pm

New Releases (17/20)

The Woman in the Photograph by Stephanie Butland

This is one of those books that grew on me as I read. It is unapologetically feminist, following two women in the UK in the 1960s-70s. Leonie is strongly feminist, hard on men and women alike who don't follow her brand of feminism. Vee is living a traditional life, about to be married and just starting photography. Leonie's influence is immediate and Vee's life changes trajectory quickly. She ends up not getting married and pursuing a successful career in photography. Leonie and Vee have a special bond of friendship but also have their share of miscommunication and fighting. A good portion of the book takes place in 2018, when Leonie's niece, Erica, puts together a retrospective of Vee's photography work with Vee's help. It's an effective look at where the feminism of the 1970s has ended up in the present.

At first, I was sort of annoyed by this book because it is SO obviously throwing in all of the "greatest hits" of feminist topics. Seriously, both for the 70s and the 2000s, all the common thoughts about feminism are addressed. This felt a little contrived and came at the expense of character development. But then, by the end of the book, I found myself really caring about the women in this book so the author did do this better than I thought at the beginning.

I'm not really sure whether or not I'd widely recommend this book, but I'm glad I read it.

Original publication date: 2019
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 400 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased paperback
Why I read this: read a review somewhere, LT?

122pamelad
Jul. 28, 2020, 8:50 pm

>120 japaul22: When I read Trollope's autobiography I was taken aback by his point of view on the Irish famine. He seemed to wilfully ignore the consequences in order to remain loyal to the government that employed him. Perhaps he had a callous, self-serving side that didn't come across in his books, or perhaps it was the religious perspective of the times, as in All Things Bright and Beautiful:
The rich man in his castle, the poor man at his gate,
He made them high and lowly and ordered their estate.

123japaul22
Jul. 28, 2020, 9:27 pm

>122 pamelad: yes, you’ve summed it up perfectly. There are several long passages in Castle Richmond where he gives his upsetting views on the famine.

Was his autobiography interesting? I’ve never considered reading it, but I’ve read about 20 of his books, so maybe I should!

124pamelad
Jul. 29, 2020, 1:57 am

A big part of the autobiography was about Trollope's budgeting. He got right into the earnings from each book, his expenses, how many books he needed to write to support his family. He weighed up the potential profits and losses from retiring early: the loss of a pension compared to the potentially increased earnings from writing. He also wrote about his books: those he liked, those he thought were failures, and those that made the most money.

I enjoyed the autobiography, but reading it didn't increase my enjoyment of Trollope's books. You can know too much!

125japaul22
Jul. 29, 2020, 7:38 am

>124 pamelad: Hmmm, I think I might pass on that!

126japaul22
Aug. 4, 2020, 6:47 pm

1001 books (9/20)

Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga

This was a wonderful find. Dangarembga is an author on the current Booker longlist and her book, The Mournable Body caught my eye. On further research I found it's the third in a series of novels focusing on a 13 year old girl, Tambu, growing up in 1960s Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe). So I started at the beginning with Nervous Conditions.

Tambu is growing up in poverty, but in an obviously beautiful setting, loving the river by her homestead. Her father can't afford to send her to the local school (her brother gets to go instead), and she begins to realize before she's even a teenager that her life as a girl will be different than a boy's. Tambu decides to earn her own money to pay her way at school. Then her brother dies while he's away at school at a nearby mission. Tambu's educated and relatively wealthy Uncle, who is headmaster at a mission school, takes Tambu in and she gets the opportunity to go to school.

There are many themes explored in this book, but I'd say the focus is Tambu's path as a woman and her relationships with other women - her mother who is living a traditional and stifling role as an African mother, her aunt who has a Masters from her time in England but in Africa is no more than her husband's wife and caregiver, and her cousin Nyasha who was raised in England and is now deeply confused about who she is. Through these relationships we see different but similar challenges that women face in Africa, but also see that many are similar to sexism in other cultures as well.

Dangarembga's writing is excellent. The novel has an autobiographical feel and tons of detail about life in Rhodesia. There are local foods, customs, naming systems, and descriptions of the land that are not described for American readers, but you can figure out from context or a quick google search. I liked that it wasn't dumbed down or written specifically for non-African readers. It was different to reading someone like, say, Adichie (though I love her writing as well!). I saw in a bio of Dangarembga that she was the first Black woman in Zimbabwe to publish a novel in English.

I highly recommend this book. I've already bought the second book, The Book of Not, and will read This Mournable Body as well.

Original publication date: 1989
Author’s nationality: Zimbabwean
Original language: English
Length: 224 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased kindle edition
Why I read this: from the booker list, 1001 books

127pammab
Aug. 4, 2020, 9:29 pm

>126 japaul22: Never heard of Nervous Condition or Dangarembga before your review, but now I'm quite intrigued. Really nice review.

128pamelad
Aug. 4, 2020, 9:42 pm

>126 japaul22: It sounds really good, so I just bought the ebook.

129dudes22
Aug. 5, 2020, 7:43 am

>That sounds really interesting. I'll take a BB for that.

130japaul22
Aug. 5, 2020, 4:30 pm

New releases (18/20)

The Lincoln Conspiracy by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch

My mom is a huge Lincoln fan and gave me this new book to read. It also has a connection to my hometown of Dundee, IL in that one of the main focuses is Allan Pinkerton, credited with being one of the first private detectives in America.

Basically, the plot revolves around a conspiracy hatched in pro-slavery Baltimore to assassinate the newly-elected Lincoln on his way to his Inauguration. This is what i would describe as "history lite". It reads fast and is engaging, has some research behind it but isn't going to be anything new to most history buffs. Annoyingly, large chunks are written in the present tense, i.e. "A man in his late forties sits at a desk in western New York". Ugh.

I also spent way too much time trying to figure out how and and why these two men wrote this book together. It seems that they are both authors in their own right, so why collaborate? And apparently this is their second book together. They don't reveal their process in the afterward. Did they trade off chapters? Did one mainly research? Is it a ghost writer situation? I wish I knew. That seemed a more interesting mystery than the actual conspiracy theory . . .

Original publication date: 2020
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 368 pages
Rating: 2.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: borrowed from mom
Why I read this: mom told me too :-)

131DeltaQueen50
Aug. 6, 2020, 1:00 pm

>126 japaul22: Great review of Nervous Conditions and after reading I wandered over to Amazon and picked myself up a copy for my Kindle.

132japaul22
Aug. 8, 2020, 8:49 am

>131 DeltaQueen50: Oh good! Fair warning that the kindle edition has some proofreading-type errors - random letters added and such - but I was able to ignore it.

133japaul22
Aug. 8, 2020, 8:49 am

1001 Books (10/20)

Passing by Nella Larsen

This novella was written in 1929 by Black author Nella Larsen, who was part of the Harlem Renaissance. It is a complex look at racial identity in the 1920s. The title refers to the idea of Black women "passing" in society as white women. First off, we need to realize that at this time in America, any amount of black heritage made you Black, or Negro, which was the common term at the time.

The novella focuses on two women who both could pass for white. One is Irene, who identifies as Black, is married to a Black man, and part of her Black community. She does, however, "take advantage" of her appearance sometimes. In the opening scene, she is visiting her hometown Chicago on a hot summer day. She feels faint and a taxi driver, presumably white, rescues her and takes her to a restaurant to get a glass of tea. We can also presume that she would not be allowed in this restaurant if she wasn't "passing" for white. There she meets a childhood friend, Clare, who is passing as white as well. Clare, however, has married a white man without telling him of her heritage. Clare misses her Black community though, and pushes Irene to reintroduce her to this society with disastrous consequences.

This brief novel is an interesting look at race in the 1920s. It was uncomfortable for me to read. Much has changed in the past 100 years, but obviously not enough. I've certainly never read a book that so honestly addressed this single issue. I would say that I enjoyed Larsen's Quicksand more than this, but this is an important book about race in the U.S. and I definitely recommend it.

Original publication date: 1929
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 94 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: kindle
Why I read this: 1001 books group read

134japaul22
Aug. 12, 2020, 12:50 pm

Off the shelf (13/20)

Wanderlust by Rebecca Solnit

In Wanderlust; a History of Walking, Rebecca Solnit creates a series of essay-like chapters that explore walking and what it has meant in human history. Everything from walking for pleasure, exercise, to conquer, as a form of protest, who has the right and luxury to walk, and walking in literature is represented. As might be expected with a book of this nature, I loved parts of this and was bored by other parts. I even skipped a chapter here or there if it wasn't grabbing me. But Solnit's writing is always excellent and overall I found a lot here to think about and enjoy.

Original publication date: 2001
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 324 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased paperback
Why I read this: like the author and the topic grabbed my interest

135japaul22
Aug. 13, 2020, 1:20 pm

New releases (19/20)

The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste

Mengiste's latest novel, The Shadow King, is one that I found on the recently released long list for the Booker Prize. It caught my eye as a novel written by an African woman about the unsung women warriors that fought for Ethiopia against the Italian invasion in the 1930s.

Mengiste is a masterful writer. She develops strong, complex, flawed characters on both sides, the Ethiopians and the Italians. And her Ethiopian female characters are complex as well - they are certainly not perfect role models or heroines. But they are real and strong and human. They have complex relationships with each other, that are realistic instead of glorifying.

I appreciated this book and learning a little bit about this time period, but, as expected, reading about war is brutal and violent. A lot of this book was very uncomfortable to read and I wouldn't describe as pleasant. This book is very deserving of the critical claim it is receiving, but also is a challenging read. However, as the author states, it's so important to give these women a voice and acknowledge their contributions.

Original publication date: 2020
Author’s nationality: Ethiopian
Original language: English
Length: 428 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: library hardback
Why I read this: booker list, description grabbed my attention

136japaul22
Aug. 21, 2020, 7:26 pm

Everything Else (6/20)

Persuasion by Jane Austen

An umpteenth reread. I haven't read Austen in print in a while because I listened to all of her books on audio on my last go-through. I love this one - I think it's one of the most romantic scenes when Wentworth writes the letter to Anne while she's in the same room. Anne is also the most mature and self-aware of Austen's heroines. I do think, though, that this book is just a bit less developed than some of her others. I love it though.

Original publication date: 1817
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 149 pages
Rating: 5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: owned
Why I read this: due for a reread

137kac522
Aug. 22, 2020, 1:41 pm

>136 japaul22: Such a great re-read, even for the umpteenth time. It never seems to get old. I just ordered The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner from the library, so I'll be getting a little bit of Austen soon.

138japaul22
Aug. 22, 2020, 6:54 pm

>137 kac522: I'll have to look at The Jane Austen Society - I don't think I know that book. I am basically constantly rereading Austen. Her novels are a permanent part of my reading life.

139japaul22
Aug. 22, 2020, 6:55 pm

New Releases (20/20) COMPLETE (but there are a lot more I'll still be reading this year!)

Stranger in the Shogun's City by Amy Stanley

In this nonfiction work, Amy Stanley traces the life of one ordinary woman, Tsuneno, through her letters, in order to explore what is what like to live in Edo (later Tokyo) in the 1800s. I like books like these, that give a voice to someone who would normally not be remembered. Tsuneno was an ordinary woman in a lot of ways: not wealthy, member of a large supportive family, married off to a man in a faraway province. But she was also different. After divorcing from her first husband, she submits to being married off by her family once more. After that marriage doesn't work either, she takes off to Edo from her countryside home. In Edo, she struggles. The man she travels with demands that she marry him and she is not interested. So she strikes out on her own. She has no money, no job, no clothes, no connections. She continues to write to her family, which is how her story is known, but they are disappointed in her choices.

Tsuneno goes through many ups and downs and another troubled marriage, but ultimately achieves what I'm sure we should consider a successful life that included more independence than the average woman had. Through the book, the reader finds out what life was like in Edo in the period before Japan opens to the world.

I enjoyed this. I don't know much about Japan, so this was an interesting look at a different culture. And I always love books that reveal the lives of ordinary women. I'm not positive this will work for everyone, but I'm glad I read it.

Original publication date: 2020
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 352 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: library kindle
Why I read this: topic interested me

140japaul22
Aug. 23, 2020, 8:25 am

New Releases (21/20)

The Grammarians by Cathleen Schine

I'm not sure where I found this book, probably in the Washington Post's book section, but I knew that a book about twin girls who grow up with their own language and an obsession with words would work for me.

Daphne and Laurel are identical twins whose interest in words is cemented when their father brings home an enormous, old, dictionary, and places it on a pedestal in their home. They are completely reliant on each other through young adulthood, when their love of words begins to drive them apart. Daphne ends up writing a weekly column about grammar and word usage, and Laurel becomes a kindergarten teacher. They both marry. When Laurel starts to question the elitism of Daphne's column, things begin to fall apart.

What people call 'standard' English is really just the dialect of the elite.

I loved this novel. It was, in some ways, an easy, light read, but it also ended up giving me quite a bit to think about in the end.

Original publication date: 2020
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 258 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: library hardback
Why I read this: a review grabbed my attention

141japaul22
Aug. 26, 2020, 12:00 pm

1001 books (11/20)

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson

This book is a charming (there's really no other word for it!) Cinderella-style novel about a middle-aged woman stumbling into the best day of her life. Miss Pettigrew is jobless and about to be homeless when she answers an ad for a governess at the home of Miss LaFosse. The glamorous Miss LaFosse sweeps Miss Pettigrew into her circle when Miss Pettigrew helps her rid herself of a few unwanted male admirers. Miss LaFosse transforms Miss Pettigrew from a dowdy spinster to a glamorous woman and they go out on the town.

This was a cute book, but not much more, to me. And these 1930s British books always seem to take a dig at Jewish people, don't they? "He had too much the look of a Jew . . ." and such.

I know a lot of people love this one, and it is fun, but it won't be a favorite for me.

Original publication date: 1938
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 234 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: Persephone subscription
Why I read this: 1001 books, off the shelf

142japaul22
Aug. 31, 2020, 7:22 pm

Off the shelf (14/20)

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

Wow, this was an excellent book. It takes place in Mississippi, where, amidst extreme racial tension, Leonie, who is Black, and Micheal, who is White, have fallen in love and had two children. Michael has been in jail and is about to be released, so Leonie brings the kids, JoJo and Michaela, to pick him up. Leonie is a careless young mother, addicted to opioids and prioritizing herself. Jojo and Michaela are, in essence, being raised by their grandparents.

There is a lot going on in this book, told from shifting points of view by Leonie and Jojo and the ghost of a young boy who was incarcerated with Jojo's grandfather decades ago. It all holds together very well, though. It's a complex look at family secrets, racism through a period of decades, and addiction. For me, I really struggle reading books that include drug use. For whatever reason, that is the topic that makes me most uncomfortable and upset (that and violence towards animals) - more than reading about violence, murder, abuse, poverty, etc. So reading this book was not easy for me, but I'm glad I stuck with it because it was very well done. I read in other reviews that some readers didn't like the ghost element, but I thought that was what really made the book special.

Highly recommended.

Original publication date: 2017
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 320 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: kindle purchase
Why I read this: been on my mental TBR and was on sale

143katiekrug
Aug. 31, 2020, 7:35 pm

I also loved Sing, Unburied, Sing thought not *quite* as much as Salvage the Bones. But really, anything by Ward is worthwhile reading, I think.

144japaul22
Aug. 31, 2020, 7:47 pm

I haven’t read Salvage the Bones, either, but now it’s on my list!

145katiekrug
Aug. 31, 2020, 8:00 pm

It's one of my all-time Top Ten books...

146japaul22
Sept. 5, 2020, 2:23 pm

New releases (22/20)

Caste by Isabel Wilkerson

In Caste, Wilkerson presents a description of America as a caste society, where caste position is determined by race. As such, she nests the problem of racism inside of the larger problem of a caste society that few in power have incentive to change. I thought a lot about Rebecca Solnit's series of essays "Call them by their true names" that I read recently. Naming this deep-seated problem is a step in the right direction.

American society was set up before it even existed in name as a caste society by the first European settlers that showed up in what is now Virginia. These early laws were shocking to me. I didn't realize how purposefully and intentionally Black people were put at the bottom from the very beginning. Wilkerson explores American society, laws, and culture from the beginning all the way to the very present day (even discussing COVID-19). She compares America's caste society to two others, India and the Nazi regime.

This is an extremely uncomfortable book to read. It focuses on the negative aspects of American society all the way through. There are many personal accounts of casteism that individuals have faced and that Wikerson has faced herself. I found it moving, upsetting, eye-opening, and Important (yes, with a capital I).

While I highly recommend reading this book, it will not be for everyone - even those who agree with Wilkerson - and I sadly do not think it will change many minds. The book is less of a researched history book and more of an essay or treatise or philosophy. That was my impression anyway. That's not to say there isn't a ton of research that went into this book and it's much more than "just" Wilkerson's opinion, but it's personal and I worry that too many people could dismiss it with an "oh, that's just her opinion, there's no evidence of that".

I'm hoping lots of you read this so we can discuss. For me personally, it was eye-opening and immediately shifted the way I think about what is happening in our country today. It was a monumental book for me, in that way. The book unfortunately, doesn't leave me with many ideas of how to fix all this. In fact, thinking of casteism as ruling more than racism makes me even more scared. It's a more deeply entrenched system and more wrapped up in power than racism alone.

Scary stuff.

Original publication date: 2020
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 496 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: kindle library book
Why I read this: new release and interested in the topic

147japaul22
Sept. 6, 2020, 12:59 pm

Everything Else (7/20)

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

One of the benefits of being home during COVID is that my kids have been reading more. My 10 year old son is often reluctant to choose reading, but when he finds the right book he will devour it. This happened with The Giver. He read it in one morning and loved it! When he found out there were 4 books in a loose series, I bought him the rest of the set. He really liked all of them and wanted me to read them so we can discuss.

Gathering Blue is the second book in this quartet. It doesn't have anything much to do with The Giver except that it's a community where there is obviously something going on below the surface. This book follows Kira, who is discovered as a gifted sewer, and chosen to repair and later sew new material on a robe that tells their community's history. When one of her friends travels outside of their community to find plants that she can use to create blue thread, secrets are revealed.

I liked this, but it isn't as complete, either in the world building or in the plot, as The Giver is. My son says that if I read the next two books, things start to make more sense. So next up for me will be The Messenger, the next in the quartet.

Original publication date: 2000
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 256 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased paperback
Why I read this: to discuss with my son

148japaul22
Sept. 12, 2020, 12:25 pm

Everything Else (8/20)

Messenger by Lois Lowry

The third book in Lowry's Giver quartet continues the story from Gathering Blue and starts to add in elements from The Giver. As in all of these books, Lowry leaves a lot to the individual reader's imagination. I like this - especially in a YA novel. By leaving a lot unsaid, the reader thinks a little more deeply and is forced to do some analyzing in order to really appreciate the book.

I'm looking forward to reading the last in the series.

Original publication date: 2004
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 192 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased paperback
Why I read this: to discuss with my son

149pammab
Bearbeitet: Sept. 17, 2020, 12:17 am

>146 japaul22: I heard the author of Caste talking about it on a program, and I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. I think your review has cemented for me that it'd be useful to read if it jumps into my arms, but maybe the program was enough of a taste for now.

>147 japaul22:
>148 japaul22:
I haven't read any of the other books in The Giver series, so it's very interesting to hear your thoughts on them. I always thought that book was a very good standalone, so it makes sense that the other books would focus on other communities and how similar themes might play out in different ways.

150japaul22
Sept. 25, 2020, 10:04 am

New releases (23/20)

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
This book deserves all the hype it has received. O'Farrell explores the family life of the most famous 16th century playwright without ever naming him. The novel is a devastating look at the grief that comes with the loss of a child. It also delves into family dynamics, the plague, and 16th century life.

The heart of this novel is the character building. It's brilliant. And I know it sounds terrible to read a book full of grief right now, but this book is worth it. It's beautifully constructed and will suck you right in to a different world, which is not a bad thing currently!

Original publication date: 2020
Author’s nationality: Irish (right?, I think so)
Original language: English
Length: 320 pages
Rating: 5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: library kindle
Why I read this: the buzz

151thornton37814
Sept. 26, 2020, 11:57 am

>150 japaul22: Probably my favorite of the year.

152japaul22
Sept. 27, 2020, 7:50 am

Everything Else (9/20)

Free to be Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Teri Kanefield

This biography provides all the "greatest hits" info about RBG's life that you need in simple, easy-to-read language. It did not strike me as an in depth, scholarly biography, but certainly explores her life from beginning to almost the end. The author does lots of writing for children and young adults, and I felt like I could tell. There's nothing wrong with her writing for adults, but it is very straight-forward - simple syntax and somewhat limited vocabulary.

This is a perfect biography if you're looking for something comprehensive but quick to read.

Original publication date: 2016
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 333 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: kindle book
Why I read this: it was a biography that was available for kindle - I also purchased several books either by or about RBG, but they are trickling in as demand is high

153japaul22
Bearbeitet: Okt. 3, 2020, 7:01 pm

New Releases (24/20)

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

In Transcendent Kingdom, Gyasi explores many deep topics in a relatively brief novel. Gifty is a PhD student studying neuroscience, specifically addiction and whether there are ways to rewire the brain of a mouse to stop it from seeking pleasure in spite of pain. Throughout the book she reveals her upbringing that brought her here. Her mother was an immigrant from Ghana. She had moved to Alabama with her toddler son, Nana, and her husband joins her later. They struggle to find employment and her husband ends up going back to Ghana. Nana is a gifted athlete, but a sports injury gets him addicted to opioids. Gifty is also raised in an Evangelical church and her mother's deep belief in God influences and complicates her scientific research.

All of this definitely left me wondering whether coming to America was the best decision for this family. Would the family have been happier and more successful in Ghana? Should the whole family have gone back to Ghana when the father did? Gifty ends up successful, but would Nana have become an addict if he hadn't been prescribed pain killers by an American doctor?

I loved Gyasi's first novel, Homegoing so I had high expectations for this. Overall, I thought it was a good novel, but maybe not a great one. It felt a little unfocused. I'd still recommend it, but I'd read Homegoing first if you've not read something from Gyasi. I think it's the superior work.

Original publication date: 2020
Author’s nationality: American/Ghanaian
Original language: English
Length: 288 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: kindle library
Why I read this: loved her first book

154dudes22
Okt. 4, 2020, 7:19 am

I just read Homegoing a couple of months ago and am looking forward to reading Transcendent Kingdom. Now I have an idea of what to expect.

155japaul22
Okt. 11, 2020, 8:00 am

New Releases (25/20)

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

This is an easy, modern novel that has some deep themes of racism and casteism. The juxtaposition of the page-turner feel of the book and the deeper dive into the racism of "nice people" actually worked pretty well for me.

Emira is a 25 year old Black woman who, like many others her age, is trying to find her way in the world. She's done with college, but doesn't have a chosen career path and ends ups babysitting for a wealthy white family. Alix, the mother, is going through her own crisis, trying to develop her career, having two small children, and recently leaving her beloved NYC for Philadelphia. The other main character is Kelley, a white man who begins dating Emira and who we later find out dated Alix in high school.

Right at the beginning, racism is highlighted when Emira takes her 3 year old babysitting charge to a fancy grocery store late at night (this is at Alix's behest for reasons I won't get in to). She gets accused by a white woman shopper of possibly kidnapping this white 3 year old child. It's caught on video by Kelley, who she doesn't yet know.

So this event is obvious racism, but more insidious is the underlying racism of Alix as she gets to know Emira. This was a hard look at how wealthy, white, "woke", women sometimes still harbor deep-seated racist attitudes without realizing it and even while thinking they are being "un-racist".

Also present is a look at female friendships. Alix has her group of 4 "best friends" as does Emira. The contrast and similarities between how these friend groups work was also interesting to me.

Overall, I think this is a good "book club discussion" book. It would appeal to a wide variety of readers because it is a page turner, is easy to read, and can be read on the surface, but there is also plenty to think about underneath the main plot line. I found it annoyingly modern at times, and a little unfocused, but I'd definitely recommend it for anyone who wants to keep up with talked about books.

Original publication date: 2020
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 310 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: kindle library
Why I read this: the buzz

156JayneCM
Okt. 16, 2020, 10:53 pm

>155 japaul22: I have had this book on library hold for months! It is finally in transit to me. I am the same; I am mainly reading it as it has been so talked about on BookTube, etc. It is always difficult to rate books that have been so hyped as in many cases they are a bit o a letdown. I am still waiting for Hamnet as well, but by all accounts I am confident that will live up to the hype!

157japaul22
Okt. 17, 2020, 3:16 pm

1001 Books

The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann

This is the sort of book that needs two readings, at least, to comprehend. Hans Castorp is a young man about to start a boring family job who goes to visit his cousin who is in a tuberculosis sanatorium up in the mountains. He goes planning to stay for 3 weeks and ends up being diagnosed with TB and staying for 7 years. The closed society in the sanatorium is wonderful to read about - great characters, funny scenes, sadness, and plenty of drama. On a deeper level, I loved the musings on time that run throughout the entire book.

On yet another deeper level, I started to gather that a lot of the characters represent different countries/factions leading up to WWI. There are also quite a few long philosophical discussions that went over my head and made my eyes glaze over. The ending, when Hans Castorp finally leaves the sanatorium and descends from the mountain into WWI, was dramatic and felt like an abrupt return to reality.

I really enjoyed this. I read it slowly, and definitely lost my way a few times, but overall the characters have so much life and there are so many amusing scenes, that it did keep my interest. I'd like to reread this some day to see if I can catch a little more of the deeper levels of writing that Mann has achieved.

Original publication date: 1924
Author’s nationality: German
Original language: German (my edition translated by John E. Woods)
Length: 894 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: library book
Why I read this: group read, 1001 books

158DeltaQueen50
Okt. 20, 2020, 11:19 pm

>157 japaul22: Good review - I agree that Magic Mountain should have a second reading but I doubt that I will ever fit it in again. There is so much to think about and analyze that for me, the story got a little lost.

159pamelad
Okt. 22, 2020, 10:01 pm

>157 japaul22: Thank you for organising this group read. The Magic Mountain was such a thought-provoking book, and I'm glad to have read it. The humour really helped. Like you, I found some of the philosophical discussions tedious. I had to go back and re-read pages and pages because my brain had stopped. The first time I read the book, many years ago, I must have skimmed them, so I got a lot more out of it this time.

160japaul22
Okt. 23, 2020, 7:53 am

>158 DeltaQueen50: I can definitely see that and experienced a little of it myself. But anytime Mann got back to the characters and society within the mountain retreat, I got back into the story.

>159 pamelad: I'm glad you joined in! Your comments were really helpful and interesting. I will put this on my Rereads list - maybe in a decade . . .

161japaul22
Okt. 23, 2020, 7:12 pm

Off the Shelf (15/20)

Leaving Home by Anita Brookner
I always enjoy reading Anita Brookner. Her books are generally smart, concise, and a little sad. Leaving Home was all of those. Emma is in her early 20s on the brink of adulthood. She leaves her mother in England to live in Paris and work on a book about gardens. Emma is a quiet, solitary person. She makes only a few friends throughout the book and tries to strike out on her own. Nothing much happens, but Brookner writes beautiful sentences and I love to dwell in her writing.

This is not an exciting or particularly memorable book, but it's the kind of book that reminds me how much I love the act of reading.

Original publication date: 2005
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 212 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: paperback from a library sale (pre-COVID, of course!)
Why I read this: off the shelf

162japaul22
Nov. 7, 2020, 7:43 am

New Releases

The Searcher by Tana French
I'm a huge Tana French fan and I loved this new book. It is significantly shorter and more compact than her last book, The Wych Elm which was a bit longer than it needed to be. This book is also more focused on the characters and relationships than it is on the mystery.

The book centers around a retired police officer from Chicago who moves to a small town in Ireland after an unwanted divorce. The relationships he creates in this village lead him to investigate the disappearance of a young man.

Like I said, the mystery itself wasn't very exciting, but the book as a whole was great.

Original publication date: 2020
Author’s nationality: Irish
Original language: English
Length: 464 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: library kindle
Why I read this: love the author, new release

163japaul22
Nov. 7, 2020, 7:58 am

1001 books (13/20)

The Commandant by Jessica Anderson

I found this book on the 1001 books to read before you die list. It is Australian historical fiction that explores prison settlements in 1800s Australian. Idealistic Frances goes to a work camp to live with her sister who is married to the officer in charge of the prison, the Commandant.

The premise was really interesting, but this book just didn't work for me. The trajectory of character development wasn't even and I felt like the plot kept shifting focus. At first Frances and her struggle to understand the different political ideologies in Australia was the focus. But then it sort of shifts more to the Commandant and his job security. And then there are a few moments where it seems like it might be heading to a romance novel feel.

If this is a confused review, it's because I really lost interest and lost the train of thought in this book. Maybe I needed a better background in 1800s Australia to really get into this book.

Original publication date: 1975
Author’s nationality: Australian
Original language: English
Length: 339 pages
Rating: 2.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: kindle purchase
Why I read this: 1001 books

164rabbitprincess
Nov. 7, 2020, 8:33 am

>162 japaul22: I've put this on my Christmas list and am looking forward to reading it!

165pammab
Nov. 7, 2020, 10:04 am

You've read lots of books I was curious about in the last few weeks!

Tranacendent Kingdom and Such a Fun Age both sound like I should eventually pick them up. Magic Mountain took more effort than I was willing to put in, so I didn't finish it but I did read your review with high interest. I liked all the characters on the mountain as well -- capital C Characters quite often. I've got my eye on Tana French after seeing so many positive reviews and not having read her, and 1800s Australia sounds quite interesting too (though maybe not in that book...).

Yours is a great thread to catch up on today. Thanks!

166pamelad
Nov. 7, 2020, 3:32 pm

>163 japaul22: I liked it because it showed a piece of Australian history from a woman's perspective. I can see that it wouldn't make a lot of sense if you weren't familiar with Australia's colonial history.

167japaul22
Nov. 17, 2020, 9:08 am

New Releases (27/20)

Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith
The latest in JK Rowling's mystery series was just to my taste. A slower paced, less violent cold case suited my mood perfectly. Not to say this wasn't violent, and there were some really disturbing scenes, but it was less so than some of the previous installments. I was also happy to see Robin awakening to the everyday, small (but pernicious) sexist events that women deal with. I love reading this series - it's just so entertaining.

Original publication date: 2020
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 994 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: kindle purchase
Why I read this: like the series

168japaul22
Nov. 17, 2020, 9:59 am

Presidential Elections and Majority Rule by Edward B. Foley
During the recent election, I felt compelled to do some detailed reading about our Electoral College system, which I've been increasingly dissatisfied with. In looking for a book, I found that it is very difficult to find a book on the electoral college that is not blatantly partisan. This seemed like a best option, and I think it was. Foley keeps his biases largely to himself and seems to rely on the historical record and the Constitution.

The crux of his book is explaining the Jeffersonian electoral college which was amended to the Constitution in 1803 through the 12th amendment and relied on the idea of electing a President with a compound majority of majorities. In simple terms, because the founders had a two party system and had no indication that more than two parties would be involved, they relied on each state to produce a candidate that had majority support and to give it's electoral votes to that majority candidate. In that way, the national winner of the presidential election should have a majority of voters in each state and therefore a compound majority of majorities.

He then goes through every Presidential election, showing the times that this compound majority of majorities has failed. The instances when it has failed have been when there has been a third party candidate that garnered votes making the winner actually a plurality vote winner instead of a majority. There are six times this has happened where it has obviously changed who would have won the majority vote if a third party candidate was not involved. It has been an increasing problem since the 1990s. In addition to those six elections, there have been several more times where a president has won without a majority of majorities but it is unclear if the candidate would have won anyway, even if the third party candidate was eliminated.

Foley does not advocate for removing third party candidates, but instead believes that each state should commit to producing a majority winner who receives its electoral votes. This could be achieved in many ways - the most obvious being an instant runoff. Each state is constitutionally allowed to assign its electoral votes in whatever method it wants, so this doesn't shouldn't face any prohibitive legal/constitutional issues. It also, historically, would benefit both parties as both have faced the opposite party winning with only a plurality of the vote, so it doesn't need to be a partisan issue. Runoff votes actually also give third party candidates a more powerful voice than our current system, but then ensure that in the final count, a winner will have a majority vote from the people of the state.

I personally have been a fan of the national movement of a compact of states agreeing to award their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. Reading this book has give me pause, or at least food for thought. Foley points out that this system has no assurance that the votes will go to a majority preferred candidate. In fact, the winner of the national popular vote is often a plurality vote winner and this could mean a person with 30-some % of the vote could end up winning the Presidency. Consider this from either perspective: for me, I imagine if Trump had his legions of support and the Democrat party had a split vote one year - say a moderate national candidate and then a Bernie Sanders-style candidate who pulled a vote with 35% of the vote and 20% of the vote and Trump won with 45% of the vote. But if we had a run off system, most of those voters who voted for Bernie actually preferred the moderate Democrat to Trump. We would end up with a President who the majority did NOT prefer under our current system. But if each state insisted on awarding electoral votes to a majority candidate, this would not happen.

Amending the Constitution to get a Presidential election based on a national vote requiring a majority winner is basically a pipe dream. There is no shot of it happening any time in the near future, but a state movement to require electoral votes go to a majority winner is not a long shot. It would benefit both parties and work with our current Constitutional requirements - in fact it would match the founders' intent more closely than what is happening now.

This book gave me so much to think about. I don't know that it really presents the ultimate answer and I would like to read some alternate views, but I highly recommend it as one piece of the puzzle to thinking about how we can make our Electoral College system work in the way it was intended - to produce a President who wins with a compound majority of majorities.

Original publication date: 2020
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 256 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: kindle purchase
Why I read this: interested in the topic

169japaul22
Nov. 26, 2020, 7:19 pm

Off the Shelf

The Bird's Nest by Shirley Jackson

I randomly stumbled upon a biography of Shirley Jackson while I was picking up a hold from the library and it immediately reminded me that I should get back to reading her work. I ordered the last 3 novels of hers that I hadn't read and started with The Bird's Nest.

This book is about Elizabeth, a young woman who is disturbed to find a large hole in her museum office when the building is being remodeled. The destruction of her work space seems to set off, or at least parallel, a mental breakdown. In fact, Elizabeth is also Beth, Betsy, and Bess - her alternate personalities. She lives with her Aunt Morgen - there is some mystery as to what happened to her mother - and Aunt Morgen gets her set up with a psychiatrist, Dr. Wright.

As with all of the Jackson novels I've read, the writing is just perfect. Subtle and clear and precise. And the creepy factor is always there, below the surface of what could appear normal. I was a little annoyed that the (male) doctor's voice becomes prevalent for a while in the middle of the book, and I felt like (female) Elizabeth was being overshadowed, but Jackson brings things back around to her women characters satisfactorily.

Original publication date: 1954
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 272 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased paperback
Why I read this: a favorite author

170japaul22
Nov. 26, 2020, 7:38 pm

Miscellaneous

Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin
I picked up this biography on a whim at my library and it has reinspired my interest in Shirley Jackson. This is a solid biography of Jackson. It spans her whole life and focuses on her troubled relationships with her mother and her philandering husband. The first third of the book focused a bit too much on her husband for my taste, but then the author brings it solidly back to Jackson herself.

Franklin looks deeply at Shirley Jackson's writing - both her process and her overarching themes. She also spends a lot of time trying to decipher her mental health, which was something Jackson struggled with throughout her life. I also was interested to know that Jackson was a mother of four and did all of her writing while raising her children and supporting the family with her income. Her husband never brought in enough money for them to live on and her income was their primary source of money.

All in all, this is a decent biography of a fascinating person and writer. I'm excited to read the two remaining novels that I've not yet read in Jackson's oeuvre.

Original publication date: 2016
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 499 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: library book
Why I read this: on a whim

171japaul22
Nov. 28, 2020, 7:55 am

Question about the LT talk changes:
Does anyone know if there's a way to change the settings so that if I click on a thread with no unread messages, I stay at the top of the thread? It always automatically jumps me to the bottom which is annoying. I like to visit my thread and update some of my top posts where I keep lists of books I have read or intend to read. And there is a "jump to the bottom" feature at the top so I don't understand why it autodirects to the bottom when there aren't unread posts!

172katiekrug
Nov. 28, 2020, 8:35 am

>171 japaul22: - I also find this annoying, Jennifer. I don't know of a work around, though.

173dudes22
Bearbeitet: Nov. 28, 2020, 10:02 am

I tend not to go to threads from the "topics you've starred". I go to the challenge page and then click on the thread I want to read and it goes to the top of the thread. Then I hit the bottom arrow to go to unread posts.

ETA: I think that was mentioned in one of the threads on Talk about the new changes, but I don't remember what happened.

174japaul22
Nov. 30, 2020, 10:01 am

Off the shelf

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne by Brian Moore

I loved this sad book about a 40 something spinster in 1950s Ireland trying desperately to find a place in the world. Judith Hearne was tied to an ill, controlling aunt through her 20s and missed her chance at marriage. Her lack of money and plain looks don't help either. What begins as a Barbara Pym-type story about a nice, lonely, poor, Catholic woman deteriorates to more desperate events as the reader learns more about what all this loneliness has led Judy to.

The author doesn't sugar coat anything and leaves the ending as it realistically would be. I thought this was a brilliant look at the limited options for a middle aged woman without family or funds in this time period. Despite the sadness, I loved this book and rooted for Judy Hearne with all of her faults.

A great find and highly recommended.

Original publication date: 1955
Author’s nationality: British/Northern Ireland (another one of these, correct me if I'm wrong!!)
Original language: English
Length: 223 pages
Rating: 5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased nyrb
Why I read this: bought for a litsy group read ages ago and finally getting to it

175japaul22
Nov. 30, 2020, 10:02 am

>172 katiekrug:, >173 dudes22: Someone tipped me off that there's a little arrow with a line at the top in each post that takes you automatically to the top of the thread. Somehow, I had never noticed that! So that makes it much more tolerable that we're always jumping to the bottom when a thread is open.

176katiekrug
Nov. 30, 2020, 10:04 am

>174 japaul22: - Oooh, I have this one on my shelf!

>175 japaul22: - I knew about that thingy, I just still find it annoying that I can't open to the top of a thread :)

177japaul22
Nov. 30, 2020, 10:08 am

>176 katiekrug: I really loved it! It's sad, but so well written.

And, yeah, it's still annoying that threads open at the bottom. Harder to keep my lists at the top of the thread up to date.

178katiekrug
Nov. 30, 2020, 10:13 am

I love sad books. If you haven't read it, you might take a look at Academy Street by Mary Costello. I really loved that one - your review of Judith Hearne made me think of it, even if the stories don't exactly align.

179japaul22
Nov. 30, 2020, 10:15 am

>178 katiekrug: I will check it out!

180japaul22
Dez. 8, 2020, 2:49 pm

Reread (4/4)

American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham

Reading about the electoral college made me want to revisit Andrew Jackson, our 7th President. I actually read this book back in 2010, close to when it came out, but I had just had my first son and was getting no sleep with a newborn. So though this is technically a reread, I remembered almost none of it.

Jackson is a controversial president. He greatly expanded presidential power and viewed himself as a direct representative of the people. He believed this was in contrast to Congress, which until then was viewed as having the most power of the three branches. He used his veto power in a much more expansive way, vetoing bills he didn't agree with whether because of a firm-held belief or simply for a political statement. While in some ways, Jackson felt that because he was the direct representative of the people he should have expanded power as President, in other instances he believed in States' rights. These inconsistencies are a bit hard to understand from a modern point of view.

Three major issues are explored in this book: South Carolina's desire to nullify a federal tariff (a state's rights issue) that could have led to greater state power (and the ability to keep slavery), the removal of the Native Americans from huge swaths of land previously granted to them in treaties, and the break up of the federal bank which dispersed federal money to state banks instead of the centralized federal bank. Jackson is credited with preserving the Union by compromising the tariff in a way that allowed SC to accept it. On the Native American issue, posterity has judged him more and more harshly - rightly so in my mind. And on the bank issue? Well, I'm still a bit confused. He was supposedly combatting corruption and did balance the budget, but the country also entered a depression shortly after this move. I'd need to read more.

Jackson was a President who spoke to the average American and viewed himself as their voice in a Capitol filled with wealthy, out of touch, elitist congressmen. I'm still not sure what I think of him. This biography admits to being less of a scholarly work, and more of a look at broad topics and Jackson's relationships during his Presidency. In this way, I really liked this as an introduction to Jackson. Some day I'll tackle a more scholarly biography that gets into more detail.

Original publication date: 2008
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 369 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: library
Why I read this: reread, interested in Jackson

181japaul22
Dez. 12, 2020, 7:56 am

1001 books (14/20)

Camilla by Fanny Burney

I loved Evelina, liked Cecilia, and just couldn't connect with Camilla, the three books I've read by 18th century author, Fanny Burney. This novel centers around a young woman named Camilla who is a favorite of a rich Uncle who moves to their community. His fortune ends up shifting from Camilla to her younger sister when Eugenia contracts smallpox on the Uncle's watch. However, this uncle still wants to play matchmaker for the girls and his ward, Indiana.

In this very long novel, many dramatic scenes unfold - crossed lines of communication, debt, kidnapping, elopement, and finally marriage. It was all a little too much for me. I loved the more tightly constructed Evelina, but this was too over-dramatic for me to truly enjoy.

Original publication date: 1796
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 369 pages
Rating: 2 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: kindle
Why I read this: 1001 books, liked other books by the author

182japaul22
Dez. 12, 2020, 9:17 am

New Releases (28/20)

Writers and Lovers by Lily King

I loved this new novel about Casey, a 31 year old writer who is going through a rough time. Well, I loved it until the end - but more on that later.

Casey is writing a novel. Her mother just unexpectedly died while on vacation and Casey is grieving. She also has tons of student loan debt, only a waitressing job for income, and is living in a tiny garage converted to almost apartment. She has not had health insurance for years so hasn't seen a doctor in years. And she has a troubled love life. Don't all people who are struggling that much have trouble beginning relationships?

I loved Casey and was strongly rooting for her. Creating an income in any of the arts is stressful and difficult and demands discipline and perseverance. Even in a time of personal turmoil and doubt, she continues her pursuit.

However, I had a big problem with the relationships and outcomes. Throughout the book, Casey is dating two very different men and awakening (as many women in their 30s do) to the systemic sexism present in our culture. I was absolutely disheartened that she ends up choosing one of these men at all. I felt very strongly that the character was at a point where she should have chosen to leave both and focus on herself before beginning a new relationship. The issue I've hid under the spoiler really ruined the ending of the book for me and takes this from a 4.5 star read to more like a 3 for me. I felt like the ending was the cowardly and appeasing way of ending the book. Sorry to be harsh about a book I was otherwise very impressed with and connected with. Maybe my disappointment in the ending will soften over time considering how much I loved the rest of the book.

Original publication date: 2020
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 320 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: kindle library
Why I read this: buzz, available at the library

183japaul22
Dez. 12, 2020, 4:35 pm

I know quite of few of you on this site are experts in researching your family genealogy. My mom has done a ton of research in years past and my husband's family also has quite a bit. My mom's is all hand-written in a beautiful book with cut outs that lead to further trees. But, it is pretty full and stems from my sister and me, and I'd like to gather her info plus my husband's info for my kids. I'm wondering what the best platform for this is? I'd like it to be digital since I already have hand written family trees. Is there a software that is good and that you trust will last? I'm not sure I want to use a web-based service because I want family to have access to it without having to pay to see it. Plus I worry that I might do a lot of work and then the service will go bankrupt and disappear in a decade or something.

Thanks for any advice on this!

184thornton37814
Dez. 12, 2020, 6:34 pm

>183 japaul22: The app I hear people talking about using most (other than Microsoft Word) is Scrivener. Cyndi's List provides some links about its genealogical use including a short video on using it: https://www.cyndislist.com/writing/scrivener/

185japaul22
Dez. 13, 2020, 7:31 am

>184 thornton37814: Thank you! I wasn't really thinking about using word or scrivener so that's a great resource for me to consider. My first thought was to purchase software, like Family Tree Maker or RootsMagic, or to just use Ancestry.com. I'm interested in looking into this method before I decide.

186thornton37814
Dez. 13, 2020, 11:07 am

>185 japaul22: While genealogical software might allow you to organize things a little, you won't have as much control of the narrative. The best genealogists write and document in Word (or Scrivener) and use software as a tool (if they even use it). RootsMagic offers integration with Personal Historian software (and you can bundle them) which is supposed to help with writing the narrative. I like RootsMagic and Legacy as far as genealogy software, but I really use them as a place to gather things and be able to see the larger picture more than as a means to write things up. I use Word tell a person's story. I make notes (in a red font) about ways I can make the story better by incorporating social history. Then as they are added, I remove these. I do transfer the things in red font to "to do" lists or research logs/plans. I suggest getting trial versions of the software and seeing which you prefer. Trial versions don't offer all the features of the full-fledged versions so realize that as you evaluate them and consult the charts that might alert you to additional features in the full version. I know RootsMagic 7 will give you a free download of RootsMagic 8 when you purchase now. They are working out a few bugs in the update, but it should be out fairly soon.

187thornton37814
Dez. 13, 2020, 11:09 am

>185 japaul22: PS I forgot to mention that RootsMagic is capable of syncing to Ancestry.

188japaul22
Dez. 13, 2020, 11:35 am

>186 thornton37814: Thank you! This is getting exciting!

189pammab
Dez. 14, 2020, 7:57 pm

>168 japaul22: Love this review with so much food for thought about the Electoral College. What's on my mind often is that the country deliberately was designed to give small states more power than a popular vote would give them, so that rural places have a chance to be heard even though they lack the money and population of the urbanly populated states. It sounds like the middle suggestion this author outlines is able to uphold that too, which I do like. Sounds like a very good book. Thank you for sharing.

190pammab
Dez. 14, 2020, 8:02 pm

Love the genealogy resouces too! Got to the bottom of the thread and had more to be thankful for. Good information.

191mathgirl40
Dez. 15, 2020, 10:13 pm

>170 japaul22: I'm taking a BB for this biography. I've read and loved several of Shirley Jackson's works and would be interested in learning more about her.

192japaul22
Bearbeitet: Dez. 16, 2020, 2:52 pm

Everything Else

Chesapeake Requiem: A Year with the Watermen of Vanishing Tangier Island by Earl Swift

Tangier Island is a tiny island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay (between Virginia and Maryland on the East coast of the US) that is getting tinier by the moment. This is true for both the physical shoreline of the island and for the aging population.

The island is visibly sinking into the bay, losing feet of shoreline yearly due to rising sea levels from global warming. However, the islanders firmly believe that it's what they call "erosion", not climate change, that is changing the island and altering their way of life. While the island shrinks, so does the population. This is partially due to the crabbing industry, the main - really only - source of income for the island, falling apart. Maryland Blue Crabs are well known for their deliciousness and are a regional delicacy. But over-fishing and changing environment are making the crab population dwindle. Local regulations have brought back the blue crabs fairly successfully, but they are not as easily found around Tangier Island anymore, so the island's main industry is no longer sustaining families. More and more of the younger generations are choosing to go to college and stay on the mainland.

The author of this book stays on the island for a year, getting to know the people and presenting a detailed history of the island. He discusses the science of what is happening to the island and the cultural significance of physical changes of the island. The author frames this as a larger discussion of what we're going to do as a nation as populated areas of our country are made uninhabitable by climate change. How big does a community need to be for the federal government to save it? Does cultural significance play a role in the decision? Tangier Island is a unique, isolated society with an important local industry, an accent so thick they sound like they are speaking another language, and their own brand of government plus christianity. Do they deserve millions/billions of federal dollars to save their historic island for a population that amounts to about 400 people currently? Is the wildlife and unique habitat reason enough to save the island? Or do we let nature, or at least the trajectory on which humans have set nature, take its course?

I really loved this book. It's a fascinating look at an area and people that live within a few hours of my home, but whose beliefs, customs, and ways of life are totally foreign to mine. It is not at all "preachy" about climate change, it is actually a well-balanced look at the people, the island, and the politics.

Original publication date: 2018
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 382 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: borrowed from my mom who was reading it for her bookclub
Why I read this: sounded interesting - also because my mom told me several women in her bookclub sat out this month because they wouldn't read a book about climate change since they don't believe in it. :-0

193katiekrug
Dez. 16, 2020, 2:47 pm

>192 japaul22: - This one's on my Kindle. I plan to read it next year.

And yikes! to the ladies in your mom's book group....

194japaul22
Dez. 16, 2020, 2:55 pm

>193 katiekrug: I know. The book club reaction really sparked my interest in the book. I found nothing controversial in it. The author really doesn't even push the climate change science (though he doesn't ignore it either). My mom explained further to me that some of these women don't believe in climate change at all and some of them believe it's happening but not because of human actions. My mom and I both live in the same community in wealthy, educated Northern Virginia. It's a good reminder for me that there are many different beliefs even within my relatively worldly community.

195katiekrug
Dez. 16, 2020, 3:00 pm

I think we all need those reminders sometimes.

196japaul22
Dez. 16, 2020, 3:01 pm

>193 katiekrug: Also, fair warning, the people of Tangier Island are hardcore Trump supporters and the book takes place during 2016. That was a lot easier to take considering the political change about to take place.

197katiekrug
Dez. 16, 2020, 3:09 pm

Ha! Glad I put off reading it!

198japaul22
Dez. 24, 2020, 7:48 am

Everything Else - Rereads

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
I read this classic out loud with my 10 year old son, William, this year. He was familiar with the story from Mickey's A Christmas Carol, but I was still really proud of him for understanding the old fashioned vocabulary and syntax. It was fun to read a classic with him.

Original publication date: 1843
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 112 pages
Rating: 5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: a pretty Christmas edition
Why I read this: wanted to try a classic with my son

199japaul22
Dez. 24, 2020, 8:11 am

1001 books (15/20)

La Bête Humaine by Emile Zola
La Bête Humaine is Zola's attempt at a detective mystery. In typical Zola fashion, this book is brutal and insightful and brilliant. Zola really is a master writer. This book has memorable, complex characters and also focuses on the trains and railroads. The trains themselves are personified and become an integral part of the book.

There is still societal commentary, but this book focuses a bit more on the character and motivations of the people in the book. There is a lot of violence, I guess as always in a Zola novel. Somehow, though, the way Zola makes the violence feel true to life and integral to the point of each book, I can accept reading about the violence.

This is my second Zola book this year and every time I read one I want to read more. Luckily, he wrote a lot of novels!

Original publication date: 1890
Author’s nationality: French
Original language: French
Length: 372 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: kindle
Why I read this: 1001 books

200rabbitprincess
Dez. 24, 2020, 1:06 pm

>198 japaul22: Mickey's Christmas Carol is *the* version of A Christmas Carol for me, so it is fun that that is how William knows the story too :)

201japaul22
Dez. 24, 2020, 1:52 pm

>200 rabbitprincess: yes! The Mickey version is surprisingly accurate - and fun! I’m partial to the Muppets. But I like many of the versions out there.

202japaul22
Dez. 28, 2020, 4:00 pm

The Forgotten Kingdom by Signe Pike

The Forgotten Kingdom is the second book of a trilogy set in Wales in 500 AD. It imagines the lives of Lailoken and Languoreth. Lailoken will later be better known as Merlin of Arthurian legend, but his twin sister, Languoreth, who was a powerful queen in her own right, has been largely lost to history. This book is a wonderful mix of ancient culture and history, the mixing of Christianity and the Old Ways, and a touch of fantasy and romance. I love it and can't wait for the third book to come out.

Original publication date: 2020
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 474 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: library hardback
Why I read this: second book in a series that I'm loving

203japaul22
Dez. 30, 2020, 8:31 am

Off the shelf:

The Fortnight in September by RC Sherriff

Another Persephone title, and much in the same style as others I've read. Having read about 8 now, I'm seeing that they tend to publish quiet, family-centered novels that often have drama simmering quietly under the surface.

This novel is about a middle class family who vacations to the British seaside town of Bognor every September. This year feels a little different because the children are older - the oldest two basically adults - and things seem to be shifting. They all realize that the boarding house they always stay in is looking more and more run down. We get a glimpse into each family member's internal thoughts; this isn't the sort of family that would share these thoughts out loud.

I liked this quiet book. But at the same time, I was waiting all the way through for things to come to a head or for some real conversations to happen and they didn't. I suppose that is true to life, but it didn't make for a particularly interesting book. Still, at this time of year, with all the bustle of the holidays, I enjoy a quiet book. This fit the bill.

Original publication date: 1931
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 326 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: persephone subscription
Why I read this: off the shelf

204japaul22
Dez. 30, 2020, 3:59 pm

I read 76 books in this strange year of 2020. That’s a pretty standard number for me, so despite a worldwide pandemic that resulted in significant lifestyle changes, I’m interested to note that my reading stayed pretty consistent.

More stats:
29,938 pages read
388 average book length
55 were by women authors
15 books published in 2020
5 rereads
15 books from the 1001 books to read before you die list (I’m up to 334)

Best Overall:
1. The Diviners by Margaret Laurence
2. Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellman
3. The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel
4. The Five by Hallie Rubenhold
5. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
6. Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
7. The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne by Brian Moore
8. Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga
9. La Bête Humaine by Emile Zola

Pure Enjoyment
1. Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson
2. The Priory by Dorothy Whipple
3. The Land Beyond the Sea by Sharon Kay Penman
4. I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurdardottir
5. The Grammarians by Catherine Schine
6. The Searchers by Tana French
7. Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith
8. The Forgotten Kingdom by Signe Pike

Books That Broadened my Understanding
1. Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
2. The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
3. Call Them by Their True Names by Rebecca Solnit
4. Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
5. Visionary Women by Andrea Barnet
6. Presidential Elections and Majority Rule by Edward B. Foley
7. Chesapeake Requiem by Earl Swift

Good Books With Wide Appeal
1. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
2. Akin by Emma Donoghue
3. Island of the Sea Women by Lisa See
4. Long Bright River by Liz Moore
5. Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
6. Writers and Lovers by Lily King

Weird but Great
1. Mary Toft; or, the Rabbit Queen by Dexter Palmer
2. A Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet
3. The Bird’s Nest by Shirley Jackson

Challenging to read but glad I did
1. Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
2. The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste
3. The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann
4. Loving by Henry Green

Books I remember liking but now remember nothing about:
1. Lady Audley’s Secret by M.E. Braddon (I even did an awesome group read and still can barely remember the plot!)
2. Inland by Tea Obreht
3. Castle Richmond by Anthony Trollope
4. Leaving Home by Anita Brookner

Bottom of the bunch:
1. The Anarchy by William Dalrymple – I had high hopes for this nonfiction about India and British interference, but it ended up being too focused on war and not enough on culture/society for my taste
2. The Hills Reply by Tarjei Vesaas – I’ve loved other books by this author, but this was so poetic that I couldn’t grasp the point
3. The British are Coming by Rick Atkinson – another one that, for me, was too focused on war and troop movements to grab my interest
4. The Commandant by Jessica Anderson – this sounded appealing (woman-centered historical fiction set in Australian penal colonies) but it had too much of a 1970s vibe for me
5. Camilla by Fanny Burney – just too long and melodramatic, read Evelina instead!

205katiekrug
Dez. 30, 2020, 4:07 pm

I like how you grouped your reads, rather than just picking a Top 5 or something. I fear most of mine would fall under "Books I remember liking but now remember nothing about"!

206VivienneR
Dez. 30, 2020, 9:30 pm

>204 japaul22: That's a great year of reading! As >205 katiekrug: said, top marks for how you grouped reads.

Happy reading in 2021.

207japaul22
Dez. 31, 2020, 8:04 am

>205 katiekrug: >206 VivienneR: Thanks! I had so many great books that I wanted to mention this year and it seemed like a good way.

I hope to see everyone in 2021. These are my two main threads. I will also continue my reading with the 1001 books group.

Please join me in Club Read 2021 http://www.librarything.com/topic/327952#n7361970
or the 2021 Category Challenge https://www.librarything.com/topic/326585#