foggidawn's Thread of Mystery 2021, Vol. 2

Welcome, friends and strangers, to my second thread of mystery!

If you have come seeking a kindred consumer of whodunits, I fear you will be disappointed, for though I occasionally indulge in a detective story, that is not the source of my thread's mystery this year. No, indeed -- it is the content of the thread itself that will be mysterious...

*drops the Professor Trelawney act* So, here's the deal: As some of you know from last year's thread, I'm serving on a major children's book award committee this year. (I'd prefer not to mention the name, so as to keep off the search engines' radars, but you can PM me if you're curious.) In order to be in strict compliance with the rules concerning social media use by committee members, I will not be listing titles or writing reviews of books eligible for the award: that is, books published for children in the USA in 2021. I'll keep a kind of tally here, so you'll know how many books I've read, roughly (I may lose track at some point). And, of course, I can post as usual about books not eligible for the award -- I'll probably start the year off with several of those, before the other books start pouring in. I also won't be adding books to my LT library that I receive for award reading, at least, not until the award winner (and possibly honor books) are announced in early 2022.

Obviously, I won't be participating in any kind of reading challenges or making any reading resolutions this year. I failed hard at last year's reading resolution, anyway, so if time permits here in the early months of the year, I may try to pick up one or two of those books.

I'm counting on you all to keep my thread alive even when there aren't a lot of book titles to talk about! I'll still post about other things in my life: my darling dog Lottie, pictured above in all her muddy glory; family, friends, housemate, and dating adventures; cooking, gardening, gaming, sewing, and theatre (depending on what the reading load is like, I may not do a lot of those things, but I'll need the occasional break from reading!); and life in general. Plus, I'll tell you as much as I'm permitted about my award committee experience. Serving on this committee is a tremendous honor and it's been one of my "bucket list" items ever since I got my library degree. I know some of you are curious about the process, so if you have questions, ask 'em -- I'll answer them if I can.

Naturally, most of my reading the year is going to be Top Secret, but every now and then I squeeze in a book not eligible for the award, so here are the...

Books Read (That I Can Tell You About) in 2021

1. A Light in the Window by Jan Karon
2. The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
3. The Time of Green Magic by Hilary McKay
4. Little Moments of Love by Catana Chetwynd
5. A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey
6. Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
7. Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
9. Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher

For those of you who would like to put a face with the Chainsaw Boyfriend nickname, here's a picture I took on our date the other day. Neither of us loves being in photographs, but I thought this one came out rather well:

(46 books read)



Award reading count: 37 finished, 6 DNF
Books received: 40 (+29)

I finished another book and DNF'ed two more in quick succession. Also, I received a Very Large Box of books last night, so that count has gone up since last thread.

That's it, you can post below!

Happy new thread, Foggi.

>3 foggidawn: You both look happy - especially as you seem about to enter a concrete tunnel!

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread, happy April! That's a great picture of the two of you! And of course, a wonderful, joyous picture of Lottie.

>5 PaulCranswick: Maybe we were happy because we had just come out of the concrete tunnel! It was a tunnel under railroad tracks at a walking trail we visited.

>6 curioussquared: Thanks -- and thanks, also, for your comment on my previous thread.

>7 AMQS: Thank you! I thought about changing the picture of Lottie (I have many!), but I really like that one.

Happy new thread, Foggi! I know I said it on the last thread but you and Chainsaw Boyfriend are an adorable pair. :D

>9 MickyFine: Aww, thanks again!

Happy new thread, Foggi!

Always glad to see a picture of Lottie, and even better to see the two of you!

Love the picture of you two!

>3 foggidawn: love it!

Happy new thread!

Thanks, Anita, compskibook, fuzzi, and Susan -- glad to see you here!

The deliveryman just dropped off another large box of books! They are really starting to roll in now. I'm planning on tackling several shorter books this evening (and finishing off the novel I'm reading now). Yay, books!

>15 foggidawn: Yay, book mail!

Hi Foggi. It looks like a big rain culvert in the photo at #3). I looked on the previous thread for where you two went, but missed if the info was there.
Don't mind me, just being nosy...

Have a great weekend!

Happy new thread, foggi!

Even more new books, yay!

>3 foggidawn: >5 PaulCranswick: It's nice that you're both so happy. Nice photo.

>16 curioussquared: Indeed! After that big box, I expected I was done with book mail for the day, but then another (more medium-sized) box came in with the regular mail. It was a red-letter day for books!

>17 SandyAMcPherson: It's a walking trail near where John lives. The culvert-type thing is actually where the trail goes under the railroad tracks.

>19 foggidawn: Thanks!

(47-50 books read)



Award reading count: 41 finished, 6 DNF
Books received: 69

And just like that, my books received count shoots up over my books read count, and that's how it will stay for the rest of the year, I imagine. Although it's a false correlation, because I've read books that I have not (yet) received, and some of the books I've received and read (picture books) are not counted in this total. But still.

What are your plans for the books when you're done with them? I assume you're not planning to keep them all?

>21 MickyFine: I will keep my favorites, of course. Last time I was on a committee, I gave some away to friends and relatives (my nephew will be getting books with 2021 copyright dates for the rest of his childhood), I donated some to the library, and I sold some (the ones I deemed not good enough to give away or donate) at the used bookstore. That’s probably what I will do this time, as well.

Nice!

(51-52 books read)



Award reading count: 43 finished, 6 DNF
Books received: 76

(53 books read)



Award reading count: 44 finished, 6 DNF
Books received: 77

Non-reading update: I got my first Covid vaccination today! (Moderna, in case anybody was wondering.) No side effects so far -- fingers crossed it stays that way!

>26 foggidawn: Woohoo, congrats! I got Moderna too -- second dose is on Saturday. I hope you stay side effect-free!

Yay! Congrats!

Woot! Chiming in as another Moderna person!

(54-55 books read)



Award reading count: 46 finished, 6 DNF
Books received: 77

>27 curioussquared: Hope your second dose went well!

>28 MickyFine: Thanks!

>29 scaifea: Yay, Team Moderna!

I did have a sore arm for a couple of days, but no other side effects. I have heard that the second dose is often worse, but I have a few weeks before I have to deal with that.

>31 foggidawn: I get my second shot the day before my last day of teaching for the semester, which is, honestly, terrible timing. I'm *really* hoping I can avoid the side effects. We'll see...

>32 scaifea: I also hope you can avoid the side effects!

Busy week here, with not a lot of reading. My parents are coming for the weekend, so I've been doing some cleaning. While they are here, John is going to come over for dinner, so... that's happening. (Oddly, I'm less nervous about my parents meeting John than I was about telling them that I was dating him in the first place. Not that I had reason to be nervous about either, except that anxiety is my default state.)

I did read one short book, so I'll post an updated count below. No book deliveries so far this week, but I have plenty to be going on with!

(56 books read)



Award reading count: 47 finished, 6 DNF
Books received: 77

>33 foggidawn: I hope John meeting the parents goes well for everyone involved. Poor Mr. Fine got dropped in the deep end when I did that with my family. I had planned to bring him to church with me on a weekend where he'd end up meeting my parents and bunch of close family friends (already intimidating). But my brother and his wife had her sister's wedding that weekend and my SiL didn't want to miss out on meeting Mr. Fine when everyone else did. So she had us all come to her sister's rehearsal dinner so Mr. Fine met my parents, my brother, my SiL, 2 nieces, plus my brother's in-laws and that wedding party (probably another 12 people). And then he still came to church and met everyone else on the weekend. He came out unscathed and, you know, married me so it obviously wasn't too traumatic. ;)

Meanwhile, I didn't meet his family in person until they came for our wedding although we'd waved and chatted a bit via video chat prior to that.

>35 MickyFine: I'm not sure if it was a good thing or not that I only met Mike's mother the day before the wedding. Her best attribute is that she lived in Hawaii, far, far away.

>36 quondame: I can empathise :0)

>35 MickyFine: That's a lot of family to meet all at once!

>36 quondame: I have friends with in-laws like that.

>37 humouress: Oof.

So, the weekend with my parents was great! They and John got along well (though Dad later said that John has a handshake "like a vice grip," and it was all Dad could do not to wince!). I made broccoli cheese soup and chocolate pie, and Mom made fresh bread and baked chicken.

During the rest of the weekend, my parents and I went to a local garden center and bought some nice plants -- stuff to fill my hanging basket and some herbs (they had a great variety of herbs), and a hanging basket that I got for Mom for Mother's Day. We went out to a nearby apple orchard that has a year-round shop and bought cider and warm apple doughnuts. We met up with my uncle and aunt who live an hour or so away and had lunch at a quirky little diner. We watched a couple of movies together at home, and made several tasty meals. All in all, a really pleasant weekend.

I only finished one book, but I made a good start at another, so maybe I will finish that one tonight. I need to get my reading game back, now that my mini-vacation is over. John's going to be working long shifts for the next six weeks because two of his co-workers are out, leaving them short-staffed, so I don't imagine I'll get to see much of him in May. (It's also spring planting time, so any days off he gets will be tied up with farm work, probably.) We have some plans for June, though, the month in which both of our birthdays fall.

(57 books read)



Award reading count: 48 finished, 6 DNF
Books received: 82

>38 foggidawn: So happy to hear that your parents like the Chainsaw Boyfriend. ;) And glad that you got to spend a lovely weekend with them. Hopefully you'll be able to squeeze in some phone or video chats with John during the next little while. Fun that your birthdays are in the same month. My parents are like that and Mr. Fine and I are less than a week apart (although he's several years older than me).

Yay for a fun and successful weekend!!

>38 foggidawn: Hooray for a successful meeting of the parents!

>40 MickyFine: and >41 scaifea: and >42 curioussquared: Thanks! It was a good weekend.

Last night it snowed -- I measured 5 inches on my back steps this morning, though it's been so warm that it didn't stick to the roads, so the morning commute was not bad. Still, ugh.

(58 books read)



Award reading count: 49 finished, 6 DNF
Books received: 88

>43 foggidawn: I echo that Ugh to the 5 inches. We've got it over here, too. Just...what.

Glad the weekend was enjoyable and I can totally relate to not seeing John much when the weather is nice this spring. Our wedding anniversary is the last day of April, and after we got back from a short honeymoon (we took a longer trip later that summer), I basically didn't see my husband for over three weeks due to farm work. Hopefully the weather cooperates this year and everyone can get the planting done early or on time. At least you will will have plenty of books to read :)

I didn't measure how much snow we got, but it was several inches. The drive into town this morning was beautiful! But yeah, the snow can go away and stay away now!

>45 scaifea: Right?!? At least it's gone now.

>46 aktakukac: Yes, it was a beautiful snow, but I'm about done with cold weather for a while. :-)

(59 books read)



Award reading count: 50 finished, 6 DNF
Books received: 89

(60-63 books read)



Award reading count: 54 finished, 7 DNF
Books received: 90

As you can see, I had a pretty good weekend of reading. I expected to DNF more books, but I ended up reading all the way through instead.

It was actually a pretty busy weekend: Saturday night was our first game night in over a year! We played some Sushi Go, and two games that were new to us: Pickles to Penguins (a word/picture association game) and Goodcritters. The latter was a game I purchased during the pandemic when I was really missing game night; it was suggested to me as a good game for a larger group. We enjoyed all three games. Sunday was Palm Sunday in the Orthodox Church, and we had beautiful weather for our procession around the church with the palm branches. Between those events and reading, reading, reading, I kept busy.

>38 foggidawn: ‘John has a handshake "like a vice grip,"‘ - probably the better to control the chainsaw ;0)

Good for you, storming through the award reads - although, sadly for us, that means no reviews to see.

>51 humouress: Your comment made me almost laugh out loud at work! Yes, that is a valid point! :-D

>51 humouress: LOL. Good point, Nina.

>52 foggidawn: >53 curioussquared:

>51 humouress: Snort.

>54 humouress: Excellent gif choice.

Happy to hear you had an excellent weekend, Foggi!

(64-65 books read)



Award reading count: 56 finished, 7 DNF
Books received: 105

Your percentage of books read/tried out of books received is looking pretty good, Foggi.

I assume with Orthodox Easter this weekend you're not going to get quite as much reading time?

>57 MickyFine: I did not! :-) But it was a beautiful weekend. I did listen to one audiobook and part of two others (going to count one as a DNF and will probably finish listening to the other next weekend). I read a few chapters of a paper book that I had started earlier in the week, and will finish it some time during the week when I have time to read in the evenings. Now that Pascha is over and the weather app is predicting rain forever, I suspect my reading time will ramp up, though I'm also hoping to go see John this weekend.

(66-67 books read)



Award reading count: 58 finished, 8 DNF
Books received: 110

Glad to hear you had a good Pascha. Fingers crossed that the trip to see John happens. :)

>57 MickyFine: I just realized I didn't respond to the first half of your comment. The Books Received number doesn't really correlate to the read/DNF numbers at all, because some of the books received are picture books, which I'm only counting if they are exceptional, and some of the books received may be ineligible. And, of course, I've read several books that haven't been sent to me. I should make a count with the number of books sent to me that I have read, except that that sounds like creative procrastination. ;-)

>60 MickyFine: Thanks! If I don't see him this weekend, I will definitely see him next weekend.

*waving* a quick hello, foggi. I'm finding you a little late this year, but hoping to follow along with the life updates and books you can talk about :)

>62 bell7: *waving back* I've been so bad about following other people's threads this year, but I'm glad you've found mine!

(68-69 books read)



Award reading count: 60 finished, 8 DNF
Books received: 110

>61 foggidawn: Cool. I'll just get my pom poms out to cheer you on for all the reading and not getting sucked into data-related procrastination. ;)

>65 MickyFine: Thanks for your support. ;-) I think I have about 40 or 45 unread books that have been sent to me. I started counting, and then realized how much they are starting to take over my house, a pile here, a stack there.

Today I get my second dose of the Covid vaccine. I'm planning on taking it easy for the next couple days -- I expect some exhaustion and a sore arm at the very least. Hopefully I will be able to do some reading in between naps. And on Sunday evening I'm driving over to see John!

(70 books read)



Award reading count: 61 finished, 8 DNF
Books received: 115

>66 foggidawn: Congrats on getting your second shot and wishing you no/mild side effects.

>66 foggidawn: Congrats on your second shot! I'm loving how much vaccine news I'm seeing around the threads this morning :)

Congrats on getting your second shot! (I did too!) Yay for being able to take it easy for a few days, and hoping that mitigates the side effects for you.

>61 foggidawn: You'd need a three dimensional spreadsheet to keep track of that :0)

Congratulations on your second shot!

>68 MickyFine: Thanks for the good wishes!

>69 curioussquared: Yes, I figure every shot is a tiny step toward something more like normal.

>70 bell7: Thanks! I hope your second dose went easy as well.

>71 humouress: True, that! I probably could stand to be more organized, but what I'm doing works for me so far.

So, I got my second shot, and the side effects were manageable. I had a sore arm, of course, and I was exhausted and headachy the following day. I felt a bit like a Victorian lady who had retired to her fainting couch, as I spent a good bit of the day on Friday in bed, reading and napping and drinking tea (and water and Gatorade, which isn't particularly Victorian, but I was trying even harder than usual to stay hydrated).

By Sunday, I was feeling much more like myself. After church, I drove over to John's place. It was a dismally rainy day outside, so we stayed in and watched a movie (Noises Off, which was perfect as we were both in the mood for something to make us laugh) and ate supper together. It will be three or four weeks, probably, before I see him again, as his work schedule is really demanding right now, with lots of overtime. But he's taking some vacation time this summer, so we'll see more of each other in June and July.

(71-78 books read)



Award reading count: 69 finished, 9 DNF
Books received: 144

Big weekend for books read and books received! We did our first round of suggestions, which I can tell you nothing about, except that I'm feeling good about them! We'll exchange suggestions every month from now on. I did a big reorganization of my books, both because of the suggestions and because of the big box o' books that showed up on Thursday. Lots more reading to do!

Congrats on reaching and surpassing the magic number, Foggi! While not seeing John IRL for a few weeks is a bummer, at least you'll have lots of time for all that reading.

>74 MickyFine: Exactly! I plan to throw myself into reading for the rest of this month. I'm also planning on doing some kayaking -- I have a two-person kayak that I haven't tried out yet, so I'm planning on taking it to a nearby reservoir to see how it handles in calm water with just one person paddling, and then in June John and I may do an afternoon out on the river if conditions are favorable. I may even see how Lottie does in the kayak -- but not on the first time out!

Soooooo behind but stopping in to say hi!

>73 foggidawn: Congratulations on reaching 75, Foggi!

Congrats!

Congrats on reaching 75 and beyond!

>76 leahbird: Glad to see you!

>77 FAMeulstee: and >78 drneutron: and >79 bell7: Thanks! I just blew right by it this year. I'm thinking I may do a triple-75, just like the old days of my late 20s/early 30s. Of course, many of the books I'm reading are shorter or simpler than your typical adult fiction reads.

(79-81 books read)



Award reading count: 72 finished, 9 DNF
Books received: 145

Congrats on 75!!

Congratulations on your (first) 75, foggi!

>82 curioussquared: and >83 humouress: Thanks!

(82-85 books read)



Award reading count: 76 finished, 9 DNF
Books received: 154

(86 books read)



Award reading count: 77 finished, 9 DNF
Books received: 155

No Fugitive Telemetry yet? I am trying to read it slow, but it is so good. Murderbot is so relatable!

>87 compskibook: I have my copy on hand, but I just haven’t taken the dive into it yet. Soon, I hope! Glad you are enjoying it.

(87-89 books read)



Award reading count: 80 finished, 9 DNF
Books received: 160

(90-98 books read)



Award reading count: 89 finished, 9 DNF
Books received: 165

I haven't had much to report lately -- I've just been quietly adding books to my count above. But I did find this quote from the late Lois Ehlert that I thought was apropos:

And, you know, you can always hope. As I always say to {children}, "There'll be some day when I won't be able to do artwork anymore and you're the one that's going to have to do the next books in the next generation."

The world of children's literature lost two greats this week, with Eric Carle passing away on the 23rd, and Lois Ehlert on the 25th.

It was a sad week for children's literature for sure. When I told my husband about Eric Carle, I discovered that he somehow has never read The Very Hungry Caterpillar so I'm going to have to fix that.

>92 MickyFine: Wow! I learned that my sister-in-law had never read Where the Wild Things Are when I was reading it to my nephew.

(99-110 books read)



Award reading count: 101 finished, 9 DNF
Books received: 177

I'm still here, churning through the books as fast as I can. I'm enjoying it -- Mom asked me if I was tired of reading yet, and I said "Nope!" There are many months to go, though, so ask again in November or December. ;-)

This weekend, I'm planning to take my kayak out again, probably first thing tomorrow morning since the afternoon looks like it will be hot, hot, hot. Next week will be a busy one at work as we kick off Summer Reading, but the weekend will bring a date with John. I'm excited about that, as we haven't been able to get together for what feels like forever. This long-distance business is for the birds, but we're making it work.

I really wish I could tell you all about some of the great books I'm reading! We just did our second round of monthly suggestions, so I have many more things on my reading list, and probably more bookshelf rearranging to do. I had one bookcase set aside for new acquisitions, and I've exceeded its capacity already, so I'm going to have to do some creative stacking, I think. I considered buying more shelves...

Thanks for the update! So exciting that you are doing this!

>91 foggidawn: We still have the Very Hungry Caterpillar board book around somewhere.



>93 foggidawn: Um ... I may have read that when my youngest was in preschool. (Or not.)

>95 foggidawn: Enjoy the kayaking and your date! How are the monthly suggestion get-togethers going? Ooh - more shelves :0)

Knowing how packed the fall publishing cycle is every year (my carts for work of October and November titles are bursting already) I'd imagine you'll be swimming in books soon.

Glad to hear you've got a date coming up soon. Stay safe while kayaking!

>96 compskibook: Thanks! I'm also still excited that I am doing this.

>97 humouress: We don't do get-togethers with the monthly suggestions -- the chair just compiles a list and sends it to us. But we do have our first official discussion coming up toward the end of the month. I'm really looking forward to talking about some books!

>98 MickyFine: Yes, any time I think that I'm doing pretty well with my number of books read, I remind myself of the fall publishing rush.

I had a really nice weekend: I went out on the lake Saturday morning while the temperatures had not reached their peak, and it was absolutely lovely to just float and listen to the water for a little bit. I did some reading in my hammock later, and bought a couple pair of shoes to replace some worn-out ones. I find myself really overwhelmed by crowds now, so although I was in an area with lots of other shops, a quick bout of shoe shopping was all I was interested in accomplishing. (It's not that I am worried about germs, it's just that I've never liked crowds and now I've gotten out of the habit of tolerating them. Presumably, I can re-condition myself... I hope. Or maybe my introversion, always a strong trait, is just going to increase over time until eventually I have to move to a deserted mountaintop and become a hermit.)

(111-114 books read)



Award reading count: 105 finished, 9 DNF
Books received: 183

>99 foggidawn: Glad you survived shoe shopping. I'm similarly unsure how my introversion will hit me when I go back to working in the office. While my job is mostly just me and a computer, it's been a while since I've had to do that around anyone other than my cats. I'm anticipating coming home pretty wiped for the first week or two. Although no announced date yet on when they want us in the office.

>101 MickyFine: We had so. many. people. in the library today, signing up for Summer Reading. More people in an hour than we've been having in a day most days, and all needing something from us (as opposed to those who just want to browse and don't need any help). I was definitely feeling overwhelmed by lunchtime, and that was with all hands on deck. I hope your eventual reentry to on-site work will be smooth.

>102 foggidawn: Glad to hear you survived the Summer Reading onslaught, Foggi. School here is in session for a few more weeks so our program at work doesn't start until the end of the month. I am looking forward to the start of the program at my home library system as I can actually participate in their stream for adults since I'm not staff. :D

Oooof to the summer reading sign up crowds. I mean also YAY! of course, but yeah, I imagine that was exhausting on various levels.

>103 MickyFine: Onslaught is the word for it! Hope you enjoy being a participant once your local program starts up.

>104 scaifea: Yes, it was. On the bright side, I got a fairly good night's sleep last night, so I'm feeling a little more prepared for today.

(115-118 books read)



Award reading count: 109 finished, 9 DNF
Books received: 238

Slightly belated happy birthday, Foggi. xx

Birthday? Happy birthday foggi!

'move to a deserted mountaintop and become a hermit' - just make sure that the postman can still get there to deliver your books.

>107 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul!

>108 humouress: Thanks, Nina! Yes, book deliveries are essential.

Yesterday was my birthday, and I had a really good one. John came over in the afternoon and we went kayaking at a nearby reservoir, then had pizza and cake and ice cream for supper, watched a movie, and then he headed home and I started reading Fugitive Telemetry -- I decided that my birthday gift to myself was reading a "grown-up" book for a change! I'll probably finish it today and post a review.

Yay! I'm so glad you had a great birthday!

(119-121 books read)



Award reading count: 112 finished, 9 DNF
Books received: 290

I got a huge book delivery on Thursday, so I've now moved to the stage of "stacking them wherever I can" as there are way, way too many to fit on my empty shelves. I probably need to go through and DNF a bunch, but I haven't had a whole lot of luck doing that yet, since I always want to give them a fair shot.

>110 scaifea: Thanks!

Happy birthday -- glad it was a good one, and yay for Fugitive Telemetry!

>113 curioussquared: Thanks!

Happy belated birthday, Foggi. Glad to hear you and John celebrated in style.

Good luck with Mount TBR!

>115 MickyFine: Thanks! And I will need the good luck, but after a little palate cleanser in the form of Murderbot, I am ready to jump back in.

(122 books read)



Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells -- When a body is found in the Preservation Station mall, station security reluctantly accepts Murderbot's help on the case. Another great entry in the series; Murderbot is as delightfully snarky as ever. This is more straight mystery than any of the other books, but it works really well, and I had no idea "whodunit" until the big reveal. Good fun, and a much needed break for me.

>117 foggidawn: Yay! Murderbot is an excellent palate cleanser.

So now I'm wondering what happens to your DNF books. If others also give them a miss for similar reasons I suppose they get bumped?

>118 MickyFine: Indeed!

>119 humouress: If another committee member suggests a book I DNF'd, I'll give it another shot. But if nobody finds a particular book noteworthy, then it doesn't get suggested, nominated, discussed, etc.

(123-127 books read)



Award reading count: 117 finished, 9 DNF
Books received: 300

I had a pretty quiet weekend -- no kayaking, no dates. I spent a lot of time reading, of course, and I worked on John's birthday present. I had a hard time deciding what to give him, so I turned to our default: food. I made three different meals and froze them in portions: meatloaf and scalloped potatoes, chicken broccoli casserole, and lasagna. This way, he can just grab a frozen meal from the freezer and take it to work for his dinner. I also made desserts and froze them in single portions: blueberry-ricotta cake, hand pies, and Nutella cheesecake. I think this is a good gift idea? I'm always trying to get him to eat actual meals -- he's one of those people who will have a glass of milk for breakfast and then not eat anything else until supper time, and I can't comprehend it. If I skip meals, I get either hangry or helpless ("I can't figure out what to eat and I'm too hungry to put anything together, woe is me...").

I'm up to 300 books received, and I really, really need to do some organizing, but it's not happening today. Maybe tomorrow.

>122 foggidawn: That's such a thoughtful gift, Foggi. I'm sure he'll love it.

I'm scared at the thought of 300 books received. Even if they are children's books and in theory on the smaller side...

>123 MickyFine: Some of them are picture books, but yeah, it's still a lot.

>122 foggidawn: That is thoughtful foggi.

As a family, everyone else is too far away to make food for (except for hampers at Christmas, which are usually filled with stuff we don't look at until the next Christmas, to be honest) so it's not something we tend to do. But when my mum comes over, she'll usually make and bring one of her special love cakes for me, which I hoard and eke out for as long as possible. I could buy them commercially made, but no one makes them like my mum. I guess she puts the 'love' in love cake ;0)

I know that feeling: I'm so hungry but anything nice will take too long to cook - and then eventually I just cram some biscuits or waffles down which solve the being hungry part but don't satisfy the taste buds (which are looking for a gourmet meal at that point).

I think your gift idea is very clever and I bet he'll really appreciate it. I can't imagine not eating all day; when I miss a meal, I get noticeably hangry...

>125 humouress: What's a love cake? I tried Googling, but the results were inconclusive.

>126 scaifea: I know, right? He tends to be stoic about things (one time last winter, he walked out into the snow barefoot to help me carry things in from my car), but not eating... well.

Thanks, all, for the affirmations!

(128-131 books read)



Award reading count: 121 finished, 9 DNF
Books received: 305

So, it was a good but busy weekend+ for me.

Thursday was John's birthday, so I took a few hours off work so I could drive over and spend the afternoon and evening with him. We picked black raspberries around his place (they are growing wild at the edges of the hay fields), spent some time reading and cooling off a bit inside (I'm reading Til We Have Faces aloud to him, since he's a C.S. Lewis fan but hasn't read that one). Then we went over to his parents' house (just a few miles away) to pick more black raspberries there, and then to have cake and ice cream. His parents seem very nice and we got along well.

On Friday, I again took the afternoon off, this time because we had our award discussions scheduled for Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon. I can't tell you anything about those, sorry to say, except that I thought they went really well. For the rest of the weekend, my mind was filled with books -- the discussions we had, the books we didn't talk about, how certain discussions might go when we meet in person in January, etc. I found it somewhat draining, so other than some necessary grocery shopping and my usual weekend laundry, and church on Sunday morning, I didn't do a whole lot. I took a long nap on Sunday afternoon.

I did finish a couple more books, and I'm trying to go through my stacks and prioritize, so you may see that stagnant DNF number start to climb as I deal with the reality that I can't actually read All The Books.

(132-133 books read)



Award reading count: 123 finished, 13 DNF
Books received: 307

Sounds like an excellent weekend! I'm glad meeting John's parents went well and that the Newbery discussions are progressing! Like you, I think I would have trouble recognizing that I can't read ALL the books :)

I'm glad you had fun celebrating with John and that meeting his parents went well.

Have fun re-evaluating all your stacks as you head into the heavier end of the publishing year.

>131 curioussquared: Thanks! It was a pretty good, if tiring, weekend. Re: All The Books -- It is difficult, to be sure! But it's also nice to clear away some of the ones that have been languishing. And one reason to have a committee is that, if someone else reads it and is smitten, they can bring it to everyone else's attention, and I would then take a second look.

>132 MickyFine: Thanks! Yeah, I don't want to think much about the sheer volume of books headed my way. We're in a lull at present -- they're still trickling in, but in a while I'll expect more big boxes as publishers send out their fall lists. It's a good time to assert some level of control over the stacks, I think. :-)

(134-140 books read)



Award reading count: 130 finished, 14 DNF
Books received: 328

Hi, all! I hope those of you who had a long holiday weekend enjoyed it! I got to spend the weekend with my parents -- I picked gallons of blueberries and red raspberries, enjoyed homemade doughnuts, and saw a lot of family members at a cookout on the 4th. I drove home yesterday and then worked a half-day, so I'm still dragging today. I managed to read a book a day, even with everything else going on (listening to audiobooks while driving and berry picking helped a lot), and updated my count in the post above. The weekend felt very short, even though I lengthened it out as much as I could, but I'm planning to spend a full week of vacation there in August.

I started doing some organizing of my piles of books, but there's more work to be done! This coming weekend I work Saturday, but hope to spend some time on Friday and Sunday with John.

>135 foggidawn: The berries and doughnuts sound tasty!

Berries and donuts...yum. I need to organize my books after the projects in the house are finished. I'm working on the loft now, and that is the last room left to do. It's taken two and 1/2 years, but I'm proud of the outcome.

How will you organize your books?

>127 foggidawn: Love cake has fruit and nuts in it but as a purée or flour consistency (so that the cake is one texture, if that makes sense). I suppose I really ought to get my mum's recipe and start making it myself.

>129 foggidawn: >135 foggidawn: Your days off sound idyllic. I'm glad John's parents are nice. Did those homemade doughnuts have homemade jam in them?

Not read All The Books? Sacrilege! Although with that number of books coming in ...

>136 thornton37814: They were! I have the last little baggie of blueberries to eat this evening with my dinner at work.

>137 Whisper1: Glad your projects are coming along well and nearing completion! I have an organizing scheme for the books sent to me for the award that involves shelves, piles, and boxes, and is too complicated to easily summarize! However, I did finish organizing them (for now), and they look much tidier. (My other books, the permanent books, are already pretty well organized by genre and then author. When this year is over and I have to add in the ones I want to keep, that's when things will get challenging regarding those books!)

>138 humouress: The cake sounds intriguing! My days off did feel idyllic, and I'm looking forward even more to the week's vacation I'm taking next month, as it won't feel like I have to cram everything into a few days. The doughnuts were just plain glazed yeast doughnuts, and they were delicious. We haven't tried making filled ones yet... hmmm...

(141-146 books read)



Award reading count: 136 finished, 17 DNF
Books received: 329

Hi, all! I had a good weekend; hope you did, too. On Friday I drove over to John's place and helped him organize his books. He had been slowly moving his books over to his house from where he had stored them at his parents' house, and he finally got the shelves moved over. It took us several hours, and the books are not organized at the individual level, though we did get them roughly sorted by genre. It's nice to see them on the shelves -- I know people here on LT will understand the appeal of a room full of bookshelves. He has a large number of books from his childhood, many in rather poor condition. I realized that that's a big difference between the two of us: this house is the second house he's lived in during his lifetime, whereas the house I live in is my 18th, I think (depending on how you count things like college, short term places, etc.). So I've gotten rid of things with each move, including books (especially outgrown and worn out ones), but he's pretty much kept everything. It's not the sort of difference that is problematic, just something that's interesting to note. On Sunday he came over to my place. We had been hoping to kayak, but the weather did not cooperate (we're getting a lot of rain and storms this month), so we watched a few episodes of the recent Ducktales reboot and I made roast chicken breasts with pasta and pesto. The basil in my garden is going gangbusters, as it has for the past couple years. I struggle with growing some things in my containers, but with the basil, all I have to do is keep cutting it back!

My award committee reading continues apace. I'm trying to finish a book a day, and am mostly hitting that target, though I know there will be days when I am working on a longer or denser work, or am just too busy to do much reading. Wish I could tell you all about them!

Sounds like a great weekend, Foggi. Must be fun to get such a comprehensive overview of John's reading tastes - plus just the general joy of organizing books. :)

Way to go on managing a book a day. Hope you're finding some major standouts in the mix.

>142 MickyFine: We've been pleasantly surprised at how many of his children's books I remember having owned or read. Even though we lived states apart, we're very close in age, so I guess a lot of early '80s kids were reading the same sorts of things.

(147-151 books read)



Award reading count: 141 finished, 17 DNF
Books received: 329

So, I just blasted by my double-75, and if I keep it up, I'll easily do a triple this year, maybe even quadruple! Ten more books, and I'll have exceeded my reading totals for the last five years (most of them were somewhere between 150-160 books). Granted, some of the books I'm counting are shorter works, but I've still read upwards of 125 novels by my calculations.

Congrats on the double-75, Foggi!

Go, Foggi go! Think about all those books you have read (and not all those you haven't :)

>146 MickyFine: Thanks!

>147 compskibook: Heh. I was just about to go through my library orders for this year and make a list of ones I wanted to be sure to see!

>141 foggidawn: Ooh, a day organizing John's books sounds great!

>145 foggidawn: Congrats on a double 75! Very impressive no matter how short the books are, especially given that you're on track for a possible quadruple 75!!

Woah, a double 75 - congratulations! Sounds like you had a fun weekend - hope the upcoming one is good as well.

150 Congratulations!

Congratulations on reaching 2 x 75, Foggi!

>145 foggidawn: woo! Congratulations!

>149 curioussquared: >150 AMQS: >151 quondame: >152 FAMeulstee: and >153 fuzzi: Thanks!

I had a low-key weekend -- finished just one book, but made a lot of progress on another (long) one. I played board games with friends on Sunday afternoon, and went to bed early on Sunday night because I've been struggling with fatigue lately. Not sure what that's about, but I'm feeling better this morning, so I'm going to try getting to bed early for the next few days and see if that helps.

(152 books read)



Award reading count: 142 finished, 17 DNF
Books received: 329

>154 foggidawn: I hope the extra sleep helps but if it doesn't I highly recommend having your doctor checking your thyroid hormone levels. As someone whose thyroid is always slightly outside the range of normal, I know it can often be a culprit for stuff like this.

What board game(s) did you play? Also, so happy for you that you got a game night! :D

Hope the books continue to treat you well this week.

>156 MickyFine: I’ve occasionally suspected that my thyroid might be off, but every time I’ve had it checked, it’s been okay. Haven’t had it checked in a while, though, so thanks for the reminder. As for game night, we played Letter Jam, The Game of Things, Quirkle, and (to give the host’s daughter a chance to participate), a kids’ game called Race to the Treasure. Letter Jam was new to all of us, but we all really liked it once we got the hang of it.

(153-161 books read)



Award reading count: 151 finished, 18 DNF
Books received: 339

It's been pretty quiet around here lately, so I thought I'd write something. The thing is, I really am not doing very many exciting things other than reading, which I can't tell you about. (Six months from now, I should have lots to say.) We're in a bit of a summer slump as far as deliveries go, but soon we should be seeing those fall releases arriving (I hope).

This past weekend was pretty quiet -- I had meant to go kayaking, but I woke up on Saturday morning with a sore knee (no idea why; isn't getting older grand?) and didn't want to try wrangling the kayak into and out of the water if it was going to hurt. Hoping for good weather (and good health) so I can go out on the water this coming weekend. I'm planning a short midweek date with John tomorrow evening, just meeting for supper since he's trying to help his father and uncle get the oats in before Thursday's predicted rain. His work schedule is going to be demanding for the next few months, so I imagine we'll have to snatch bits of time where we can, and get by with phone calls and texting in the meantime. And, of course, I will fill up any and all spare time with reading!

Glad to hear the reading is continuing on pace and that you're squeezing in time with John where you can. Does he farm full-time or does he have another job that makes his days so full?

>160 MickyFine: He has another job working at a factory. They're short-staffed at present, so they need him for longer hours until they can get some new people fully trained.

>161 foggidawn: Hopefully he'll have more free time soon. Your dating tales bring me great joy. :)

>162 MickyFine: Aw, thanks! Last night's date was unremarkable but really nice -- we had supper (I made chicken salad sandwiches and brownies), we read a couple of chapters of Till We Have Faces (a favorite of mine -- he likes Lewis but has never read that one), and then just sat and talked for a while about books and plays and movies and such until I had to head home. I was able to find an audiobook to listen to that counts as award committee reading, so I don't feel badly about the time spent driving.

>163 foggidawn: Sounds lovely! And yay for finding an audiobook that makes your driving time useful for your committee work. :)

>163 foggidawn:, Ah, yes, I well remember the days of dating. I remember Ralph, who was incredibly handsome, and likewise not so smart.

Then, Will who made me laugh until my side hurt. My beloved grandmother died one month before I met him. I was so very, very sad. And, Will made me smile, laugh and remember what life was like to be happy. Twenty years of laugher, and sadly he passed away two years ago.

I remember that he knew I loved the aria Nessun Dorma. He found the opera, and took me to New York City to see Turnadot! The rest was history!!!

Keep trying. Perhaps the right one will come along and make you laugh! Good luck.

Hi Foggi.
I've been preoccupied this past month and haven't spent much time on LT. I have been reading but not at the rate a 75-er ought to do!

Slimmed your news and happy to see that your friendship with John is prospering. I am so far behind, am I making the correct assumption this is the same fellow you've been telling us about all along?

>164 MickyFine: Thanks! Finding eligible books on audio can be tricky.

>165 Whisper1: Thanks for sharing your sweet story about Will! Dating during the pandemic has been weird, I suppose (I don’t have a lot to compare it to!). Most of our dates have involved either going for a walk/hike somewhere, or a quiet evening at home (his or mine) like I’ve just described. But I really love that sort of thing, and it’s given us so much time to talk and get to know one another. We both love live theatre, so I’m sure we will do more of that now that it is starting to be an option.

>166 SandyAMcPherson: I don’t think there’s any “ought to” reading level for 75-ers, as we all pretty much do our own thing! Yes, John (aka Chainsaw Boyfriend) and I have been dating for over ten months now.

(162-173 books read)



Award reading count: 163 finished, 19 DNF
Books received: 343

Well, I checked my numbers for July and found that I read a grand total of 37 books! A few of those were picture books, but even if you take those out, I read more than a book a day. I haven't counted all of the book totals up by month, but I'm fairly sure this has been my best reading month so far!

I'm glad I am having lots of good reading time, because not much else is going on at present. I took the kayak out last Friday and saw some pretty water lilies. Work is fairly quiet since we've finished our summer reading program. I'm taking next week off and going to the farm. I intend to take a large pile of books, and also my kayak. It looks like pretty hot weather, but maybe that will mean a lot of reading time indoors, and I'm okay with that!

>169 foggidawn: Impressive!! Enjoy your time off :)

>170 curioussquared: Thanks!

(174-175 books read)



Award reading count: 165 finished, 19 DNF
Books received: 372

>169 foggidawn: Very impressive!! So now I am jealous of your book reading and kayaking! LOL. Enjoy.

>173 Berly: Thanks! I did not do any kayaking on vacation (it was hot, and then the plans I made fell through), but I did have an enjoyable, relaxing time reading, cooking, playing with Lottie, and helping Mom with some of her projects around the house.

(176-187 books read)



Award reading count: 177 finished, 22 DNF
Books received: 385

>174 foggidawn: Sounds like a wonderful staycation, Foggi!

>176 MickyFine: It was a good one -- I don't usually think of vacations where I visit my parents as staycations, but that's basically what they are.

(188-191 books read)



Award reading count: 181 finished, 22 DNF
Books received: 385

>174 foggidawn: that sounds lovely, foggi! I prefer a nice relaxed pace on vacation myself :) My sister's coming up for the weekend, and someone asked about maybe making plans to go to the beach... but the reality is, most of us just wanted to relax and hang out together instead.

>179 bell7: Yes, I prefer vacations with a lot of down-time, myself. Even if I go somewhere new, I like to go at my own pace.

>180 foggidawn: I've really enjoyed my trips to the Outer Banks during their off season. It's too cold to do anything more than walk along the beach or on birding trails down in the preserve. I enjoy going to the lighthouses too. I spend a good bit of the time just "chilling" with my cats. I've found both times that it was the perfect combination of relaxation with a change of scenery. I'm by myself and just do things I want to do. I've found local fish/shellfish markets open. I've purchased little spice pouches so I can put just enough of what I may need for cooking. I take pasta from home. I pick up a few things at the grocers in the area. My Kroger card works at Harris Teeter so I can get the "sale prices" there. I enjoy cooking so it's not a problem, and with fresh seafood so plentiful, I focus on that. With the pandemic, I ate out less this year, but I ate well. I had a dunes view room one time and an ocean view this last time. I loved the ocean view room. My recent trip to the Richmond area was less relaxing because I hate hot weather and because I stayed too busy.

>181 thornton37814: That sounds lovely! I'm not super confident about cooking seafood, since I've lived mostly in landlocked areas, but on that sort of vacation, I might be motivated to try!

(192-197 books read)



Award reading count: 187 finished, 22 DNF
Books received: 395

Hi, all! I had a good weekend and got lots of things done around the house. I worked Saturday, so was off Friday, which was excellent for running errands and such. I did a lot of laundry, some cleaning, and trimmed the front hedge. Lottie got skunked -- ack! -- so Saturday night involved an unplanned bath for her with a big can of tomato sauce. Fortunately, I don't think she got the full brunt of the spray -- when I heard her barking and growling I pulled her back, because I thought she was terrorizing a neighborhood cat. She's still a little stinky around the edges, but not so much as to be unbearable.

I also finished two books over the weekend (added to my total above). Next weekend I have a date with John on Sunday evening to go see a play. I'm super looking forward to that, since it's been a few weeks since our last date.

Oh no! I'm sorry to hear Lottie had a skunk encounter but glad to hear it was mild. When brother and his wife bought their farm and moved out there several years ago, their husky, Simba (RIP), managed to meet a skunk and a porcupine in the same night and had to make a vet trip while reeking to high heaven.

What play are you and John going to see?

The play is a comedy called Empty Nest and was written by a friend of mine at the community theatre where I was active before I moved. They originally staged it just before I moved away, and I was props master and stagehand for that production. They're reprising it with two casts; they did one gender-swapped, which is the one we will be seeing. I think they chose it as a sort of "welcome back" piece post-COVID, partially because they don't have to negotiate rights through a publisher. I really enjoyed the original, and it's nice to get to go back and see it with John. The theatre is about the same distance from each of us as we are from each other, so we'll meet there to have dinner and see the play.

>186 foggidawn: Aww that sounds like a wonderful date night. I haven't done live theatre yet post-vaccination. My likely first shows will be some Broadway Across Canada productions - we're supposed to get Hamilton and Come From Away next year and I really want to see both. I was lucky enough to see Hamilton in Chicago 5 years ago but it's one of those shows that any time it comes to town, I'll go see it.

>187 MickyFine: Yeah, this will be our second date involving a restaurant, and our first time seeing a play together (I also haven't been to a theatre since the pandemic started). All of our other dates have involved long walks (or drives) in outdoor venues (sometimes with a picnic or snacks) or visits to each other's houses. And yes to Hamilton and Come From Away! I'd see both of those again (and I've already seen Hamilton twice)! None of the Broadway offerings around here are tempting me much right now.

>188 foggidawn: Well, In the Heights is out on disc at the end of the month so you'll have to do a movie night in with John and watch it. :)

>189 MickyFine: Ooh, that's a thought!

Boo for the skunking! My last dog, Daisy, LOOOOOOVED skunks and managed to get sprayed with obnoxious frequency on the farm. As she was all white and I never kept tomato juice handy, I found this recipe perfect. Totally killed the stink and she sparkled afterwards. ;)

https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/home-living/get-rid-of-skunk-smell-on-dog/

>191 leahbird: Thanks for the link! The smell is pretty faint now, and I'll probably give her another bath in a day or two with the tomato sauce and then shampoo. I think we were pretty fortunate this time, but I'll keep that recipe in mind if/when it happens again.

(198-199 books read)



Award reading count: 189 finished, 22 DNF
Books received: 402

Yep, I've received over 400 books! They are taking over my house at this point -- stacks on every flat surface!

>193 foggidawn: Oof. How far into the publishing cycle do your received books go? I know for pre-ordering, I'm already into November so hopefully the end is in sight for the onslaught?

>194 MickyFine: It varies from publisher to publisher, as to how far in advance they send things. I'm seeing a lot of books with September pub dates right now, but I don't feel like we have the majority of books published that month yet. It may be that we'll be getting books into November. We do have the opportunity to make last-minute suggestions at the end of December, for books received that month, but I'm hoping there are not many of those. I suspect that I'll have to do some prioritizing as the year winds down, in terms of what gets read.

>195 foggidawn: Fun times. I know for me the big adult non-fiction titles are more heavily weighted to October this year but my co-worker who does adult fiction is seeing a heavier November. Fingers crossed the juvenile market is leaning towards October this year. :)

(200-203 books read)



Award reading count: 193 finished, 23 DNF
Books received: 417

I had a fairly nice weekend, though I didn't get a lot of reading done. I honestly can't remember much of what I did on Saturday -- grocery shopping, I recall, and then some cleaning, and general laziness. John and I had a pleasant date last night -- we walked around downtown, bought sandwiches, and ate them at a park where I used to walk Sophie. Then we went to see the show, which was full of laughs, and I got to see several friends from when I used to live there. Hope you all had enjoyable weekends, as well.

>196 MickyFine: Looking at my order carts, September and October are the heavier months this year, so that's good.

>198 foggidawn: Aww, yay for an excellent show and a lovely date night!

>199 foggidawn: Huzzah! The joys of ordering is that I feel like the year is over by the end of August because most of the fall orders are in. My brain is always confused - although ordering tons of gardening books in January is always the hardest.

>200 MickyFine: Buying kids' titles about winter and snow in early fall is always a bit of a downer, too. ;-)

>201 foggidawn: I bet!

Come on over to the new thread!

https://www.librarything.com/topic/334887#