Familyhistorian’s Keeping Positive Thoughts for a Year of Change – Part 5

Hi my name is Meg. I’ve been a member of the mighty 75ers since 2013. In that time, I’ve been hit by many a Book Bullet (BB) so I can attest to the fact that this is a dangerous place. In 2020 I had trouble keeping up with the threads as we all moved more online. My hope to do better keeping up this year hasn’t been going that well. But as we know hope is a renewable resource as is the wish for positive change.

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In my blog, I’m currently doing a look back at WWII which had a lasting effect on my family. You can see my latest blog posts at: A Genealogist’s Path to History

Little Free Library

Books culled in 2021

January - 0

February - 6

March - 6

April - 5

May - 7

June - 7

Challenges

Reading Through Time

Quarterly

January-March 2021 - Renaissance/16th Century - The Serpent and the Pearl by Kate Quinn - DONE
April-June 2021 - 17th Century
July-September 2021 - 18th Century
October-December 2021 - Napoleonic Era

Monthly

January: Shakespeare's Children - The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey - DONE
February: Fashion - The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott - DONE
March: Arggh, Matey - Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton - DONE
April: The Sun Never Sets - The Palace Tiger by Barbara Clevery - DONE
May: Meet the Press - The Ventriloquists by E. R. Ramzipoor - DONE
June: Rewriting the Past - The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams - DONE
July: Now We Are Free
August: Food
September: Time Travel/Prehistoric
October: Supernatural
November: Reader's Choice
December:

2021 Nonfiction Challenge

January: Prizewinners - Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson - DONE
February: Minority Lives Matter
March: Comfort Reading - The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards - DONE
April: The Ancient World - Blood of the Celts by Jean Manco - DONE
May: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral - The Potato: How the Humble Spud Rescued the Western World by Larry Zuckerman - DONE
June: Discoveries - Longitude by Dava Sobel - DONE
July: Cities
August: Transportation
September: Creativity
October: Heroes & Villains
November: Business, the Economy and Big Policy Questions
December: Go Anywhere

Books read in April 2021

Death Comes to the Fair by Catherine Lloyd
In the Name of the Truth by Viveca Sten
The Governess Game by Tessa Dare
Golden in Death by J.D. Robb
Outlawed by Anna North
Follow Me In by Katriona Chapman
Striding Folly by Dorothy L. Sayers
Darker Domain by Val McDermid
Girl Town by Carolyn Nowak
Trapped by Scandal by Jane Feather
The Cracked Spine by Paige Shelton
The Palace Tiger by Barbara Cleverly
Blood of the Celts: The New Ancestral Story by Jean Manco
The Serpent and the Pearl by Kate Quinn

Books read in 2021

Books Acquired in 2021

Acquisitions for April 2021

Your DNA Guide: the book by Diahan Southard
The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody
Truth and Lies by Caroline Mitchell
The Hanging of Angelique by Afua Cooper
Hi Five by Joe Ide
Your Career in Animation: How to Survive and Thrive by David B. Levy

Welcome!

Hi Meg, happy new thread. The picture in >1 Familyhistorian: is GORGEOUS! And that sure is a lot of books you read in April. Wow!

>11 mdoris: Hi Mary, you're quick on the draw! That's just one of the many pictures I have of the Coquitlam River from the trail which was super busy the day i took it just like it was today. It didn't seem like that many books read in April but maybe that's because my books read ticker needs to be updated!

Happy new thread!

I hope you had an enjoyable weekend and lot to look forward to the next few days.

>13 quondame: Thanks Susan for both good wishes.

Happy new thread, Meg. Your topper reminds me of the trail where I went walking the other day. I am hoping to post pics of my own soon. We are having such amazing weather these days.

Love the new thread-topper! Happy new thread!

Happy new thread, Meg!

Happy new thread, Meg.

Happy new one!

Happy new one, Meg.

Happy new thread, Meg.

>15 jessibud2: Amazing weather sounds good, Shelley. Ours is off and on. As we still have strict restrictions the outdoor trails are very busy these days. On sunny days it almost seems like Mother Nature is being nice for our benefit. Your restrictions are much stricter than ours. Do you feel that way too?

>16 thornton37814: Thanks Lori re the topper and for the thread wishes.

>17 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita!

>18 BLBera: Hi Beth, and thanks!

>19 drneutron: Thanks Jim re the thread and for all you do!

>20 katiekrug: Hi Katie and thanks!

>21 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks Reba!

Happy new thread, Meg.

66. The Last Detective by Peter Lovesey



The first of the DS Peter Diamond series, The Last Detective was a slow starter for me but once I got into it the mystery kept me turning the pages. There were many people who had a motive for getting rid of the woman whose body was found floating in the water near Bath. But how she got there and which of the possibilities murdered her was difficult to unravel.

I’ll probably read more in the series. It was good once it got going. I also like the irascible Peter Diamond and want to know how it is the Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond series if he leaves the police in the first book.

>25 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul!

>22 Familyhistorian: - Quite honestly, Meg, no. I think it helps that I am such a hermit and introvert. I truly don't feel nearly as bothered as many others do by the restrictions. The garden centres are open and I am sure I'd have felt differently if that were not the case. They are outdoor only and are monitoring and controlling the numbers of people allowed in at a time but I have been doing a lot of gardening so not really going anywhere else (except for groceries). A friend and her dog came over the other day (she is one of 3 others in my *bubble* though we don't get together often), and she is the one who came walking on the trail with me. I have also just been enjoying the great weather to sit outside in the afternoon and read, when I am not puttering in the garden.

The only thing that really makes me feel the restrictions is the inability to travel to Montreal to visit my mum. Ontario's borders with both Manitoba and Quebec remain closed, I believe. Not that I am all that eager to get on a train for 6 hours, but so be it.

>28 jessibud2: You're fortunate to have gardening to keep you outside and busy, Shelley. You have a very nice garden. I don't have that to keep me busy and find, even though I am an introvert, I miss seeing people. It was a treat to run into someone I knew in the grocery store the other day! (I go there more often than I used to. At least its an outing of sorts.)

I hope that this is soon behind us so that you are able to go and see your mum again.

>26 Familyhistorian: That one has been in my TBR pile for a long time. I think I'd read others who said it was slow to start so I never tried to get to it at the time of acquisition. I hope to begin putting a dent in some of those older unread books so I see the fiction piles grow smaller.

>30 thornton37814: Good luck with getting those fiction piles down, Lori. I put my holds on pause at the library to try to get at mine as well. The piles keep growing and I'm running out of places to put them. I really should do something about whittling down the piles if I have to move soon.

>31 Familyhistorian: I'm just thinking they need to be greatly reduced before I retire. I still have a few years, but if I don't start tackling them now, they won't be smaller then.

>32 thornton37814: But when you retire, theoretically you should have more time to read through the piles. Why the need to get them down before that?

Hi Meg, and happy new thread!

>3 Familyhistorian: Fascinating about both sets of grandparents being bombed in WWII. Do you have any written documents or oral histories handed down?

>29 Familyhistorian: Even though I’m an introvert, I really enjoyed meeting with two members of the Friends book sort team yesterday at the Library and sorting the not-supposed-to-be-there donations. We then grabbed a bite and sat outside chatting for a bit. Once a week is enough for this introvert, but still.

>31 Familyhistorian: Any more news on when you might have to move?

Happy Wednesday, Meg! Happy New Thread. Love the woodsy topper.

>26 Familyhistorian: Oh, I enjoyed that series when I read it long ago. It's on my Kindle awaiting a re-read...thirty years later...

Happy new thread! Beautiful topper.

>34 karenmarie: Hey, being an introvert doesn't mean not wanting to meet with people, it just means also wanting not to meet with them all the time!

>34 karenmarie: Hi Karen, my grandparents weren't bombed but both sets lived through the blitz with bombs falling in their neighbourhoods. There will be more about what they went through and how I found it out in later blog posts.

The date for the conditions on the offer for our townhouses to be removed was extended until June 1. I hope they don't extend it again.

I'm and introvert and I miss seeing people in person too. So much better than the one at a time conversations on Zoom!

>35 msf59: Thanks Mark. There are lots of woods around these parts.

>36 richardderus: The detective protagonist is a different one, Richard. You must have enjoyed the whole series if you're considering a re-read.

>37 quondame: And maybe not crowds of them all at once.

>41 Familyhistorian: Yes, that too.

67. Journey to a Star by Barbara Cartland



The blurb on the back of the book boasts of 680 books written by Barbara Cartland. If the book I read, Journey to a Star, was typical, I have an idea of how she did it. This was short, more a novella, and the romance about a rake brought to matrimony at last by a young woman at once pure and unworldly, a well worn one. At least it is one more book off my shelves.

>42 quondame: :-)

Hi Meg my dear, happy new thread dear friend.

Happy new thread, Meg! The Last Detective sounds like a good one.

Fellow introvert here, too, but I'm very much looking forward to resuming in-person book group in the fall!

>45 johnsimpson: Hi John, thanks for the new thread wishes. I've been remiss at visiting your thread and will fix that shortly.

>46 bell7: It sounds like The Last Detective is the start of a good series, if Richard is to be believed.

I find I am less of an introvert the more restrictions are placed on seeing people in person. We're still restricted in who we can see here.

ETA I'll fix the touchstone to the right book once it is not excruciatingly slow bringing up the alternatives.

Am flipping through to catch up after not that long an absence, but wow, lots of new threads or long threads!
BC looks to be improving in number of cases. And good Vax progress. Hope your condo closing is resolved soon. It can't be at all easy with this so long unresolved.

>49 SandyAMcPherson: Hi Sandy, the threads keep getting away from me too. BC's cases are improving but that's because we're basically not able to do anything except go to the store, no socializing.

I'd like the wind up of the strata resolved soon too. Fingers crossed that it will be soon.

>48 Familyhistorian: "IF"?!

*sniff*

>51 richardderus: Ha, knew that would get a rise out of you, Richard.

68. Murder Once Removed by S.C. Perkins



I’m always on the hunt for good genealogical mysteries, a recent subgenre added to the mystery trope. As with most genealogical mysteries, Murder Once Removed had a genealogist as the protagonist. In this case it was a young woman, Lucy, with a more party lifestyle than usually found in these books.

That would have been okay, I read contemporary fiction but I found the genealogical mystery rather convoluted, or maybe just not clearly explained or maybe it was because I kept putting the book down and picking it up again later. I don’t think I’ll be reading any more of this series.

Well, the face on the window worked for over a month but the robin was back with a vengeance today. It could be that the cloudy weather makes better reflections. He was pounding away at the glass this morning even with the curtains closed.

I've put paper on the window. As he was still attacking with the paper on the inside, I've stuck it on the outside. There's an overhang so I hope it will be safe in the rain. The paper impedes my view and makes my living room gloomy.

>33 Familyhistorian: Because I will probably move and downsize at that point. I may even choose RV life.

>53 Familyhistorian: Not to mention she got her big clue from a non-existant census record.

What worked for us last year was hanging netting on the outside of the window. Also he had a perch on the railing opposite so we ran a wire (temporarily) that prohibited his perching. This is just a guess but the combo seemed to work. Good luck with the BAD robin!

>53 Familyhistorian: Welp, that's too bad... I'd bought that for our library and thought it looked interesting, but I think I'll give it a pass. Hope your next read is better, Meg!

>55 thornton37814: RV life with cats would be quite an adventure, Lori.

I didn't pick up on the non-existent census record but I'm not that familiar with the censuses in the US.

>56 mdoris: Mine has a perch on the railing too. It must be a good viewing location. I thought of hanging netting but that could be tricky as its a sliding door. Papering over the window seems to have worked for now. He's come close to the screen over the other window but it obviously doesn't reflect his "enemy" back at him. Did your robin come back this year?

>57 bell7: It did look promising. I really enjoy genealogical mysteries but this one just didn't do it for me. I've already read something I liked better so your wish came true.

>99 Familyhistorian: No he did not return, thank heavens!

>58 Familyhistorian: When my parents were still RVing, we took Brumley (my cat) with us. When I lived in Ohio, I'd often meet them for a weekend. Sometimes they'd come up to stay at a campground near me, so I'd just go over and spend evenings with them even though I was working. I'd just have to get up earlier due to a longer commute and a little more traffic the next day. Brumley got to enjoy camping. The last 6 to 8 years they RVed, I did most of the driving. We'd just plan to go somewhere when I had a break. He loved it. He never tried to get out of the RV. He just enjoyed it when the RV screen door was where he could sniff outside it. The bed over the cab area gave him a perch that he loved to go to. My parents always preferred to use the campsite's showers because there was more room so we put the litter box in the shower but lined it pretty well before doing so.

Hi Meg. I recently started the Peter Diamond series and so far have read the first two, of which I thought the second book was even better than the first. As much as I don't need another series, I really like them and plan to continue. The author, Peter Lovesey also has written some historical mysteries as well. I read Wobble to Death a year or so ago and really enjoyed that as well.

>61 mdoris: There's hope for me yet, then. I'll be glad when the siege is over.

>62 thornton37814: Sounds like you've tried RV life out before, then Lori. It's good that you enjoyed it and have an idea of what it would be like.

>63 DeltaQueen50: I have Wobble to Death on my library wish list, Judy. It must have been a BB from you. Good to hear that the second Peter Diamond mystery is better than the first. I'll have to have a look for it.

Climbed a few stairs today.

>67 Familyhistorian: Exhausting even to look at. Brava.

>68 richardderus: It was an easy walk. I was with someone who needed to stop more than I did.

Hi Meg!

>37 quondame: You’re right, Susan.

>38 Familyhistorian: I must be one of the few people who hasn’t ever participated in a Zoom conversation. I have conducted FoL Board Meetings over GoToMeeting.

>44 Familyhistorian: I went through a Barbara Cartland phase in my late teens/early twenties. My high school friend Lori and I used to look for the place in each book where the hero drew the heroine’s soul from between her lips in a romantic kiss. Her website says she wrote 723 books.

>54 Familyhistorian: I’m sorry the robin’s back.

>70 karenmarie: I spend a lot of my life these days on Zoom and haven't tried many other platforms.

I remember reading some Cartlands when I was younger but even then they were a bit repetitive so you could overdose on them quickly. They could never compete with the Heyers that I discovered around that time or shortly thereafter.

69. The Merry Devils by Edward Marston



I was off to Elizabethan England through the pages of The Merry Devils, a mystery/romance centred on a company of players and their travails. In this case it was the appearance of a third devil on stage when there should have been two. The protagonist and bookholder (he held the only copy of the script/book), Nicholas Bracewell, needed to investigate why this had happened. Was a rival theatre company attempting sabotage or had the extra devil truly been summoned through supernatural means?

The mystery needed to be cleared up quickly for the sake of the theatre company. Many strands of the story had to be explored before this could come to pass showing the reader more of Elizabethan society.

>72 Familyhistorian: Good heavens, it's #30 in a series?! Who is he, Simenon's secret son? Wow.

>73 richardderus: And he has more series too. I know I've read some others by Marston. Goodreads says they have 105 books by him.

70. Holy Terror in the Hebrides by Jeanne M. Dams



I must admit I picked up Holy Terror in the Hebrides because of my interest in things Hebridean due to my family history. I’ve read about the area so was familiar with Staffa where the death took place. The sleuth was Dorothy Martin, a woman of a certain age. It was a good mystery with a believable protagonist. I wouldn’t say no to reading another of this series and it looks like I have another on the shelves. I wonder if I can find it.

I had a problem loading the picture for my blog post yesterday on Blogger. My laptop is old and cranky so I didn't know if something else had gone wrong with this computer or if it was something to do with the website. This morning it worked so maybe this laptop will keep me going for a while yet. The new blog post is scheduled for tomorrow.

71. Sweet Tea Revenge by Laura Childs



Another cozy to add to the reads was Sweet Tea Revenge. There are a lot of these Tea Shop Mysteries but I’ve only read some of them here or there. It’s fun catching up with Theodosia and the gang. In this one she had a new to me beau but he didn’t make an appearance. She spent more time with a friend, a woman whose wedding ended at the last minute when the groom was killed. The why of that event was the mystery.

>75 Familyhistorian: Being of a certain age myownself, I'm likely to cotton on to this one.

>74 Familyhistorian: Surely, surely that includes multiple editions and translations!

>78 richardderus: I only counted 94 titles on his Wikipedia page, or rather the Wikipedia page for Keith Miles, which is his real name. His also written as Martin Inigo, Conrad Allen and David Garland. I think he's what we'd term a prolific writer, Richard.

72. The Potato: How the Humble Spud Rescued the Western World by Larry Zuckerman



I have some different nonfiction books on my shelves one of which is The Potato: How the Humble Spud Rescued the Western World. I finally read it for this month’s nonfiction challenge. It was a surprising and, I believe, comprehensive history. I didn’t realize how many civilizations came to rely on this humble vegetable, if wasn’t just the Irish even though the failure of the crop leading to the years of the potato famine looms large in the history of the western world.

>75 Familyhistorian: I like the older books in the Dorothy Martin series more than the latter ones.

>77 Familyhistorian: I stay fairly current with that series. I'll admit they don't appeal as much as they once did, but I really want to visit that tea shop and taste Haley's food and Drayton's tea.

>81 thornton37814: Are the Dorothy Martin books still being written, Lori?

I haven't read that many of the Tea Shop mysteries. It's an okay series to dip in and out of, I find.

73. The Blitz by Peter Doyle



My current blog posts are about my family in WWII. As part of my research on the subject, I’ve started to read some of my WWII collection. They’ve been accumulating unread for a while now. It’s time to start reading them. I started small with the Shire Library book, The Blitz which told me that the bombing was spread across the UK not localized on London, as current history might make one believe.

>80 Familyhistorian: I went to a talk at Hay many years ago now by an author of a book about the history of the potato. He was so enthusiastic about his subject he ran out of time before he got half way through the presentation, with no time for the Q&A! Unexpectedly fascinating topic though.

74. Mrs. Jeffries Wins the Prize by Emily Brightwell



I’ve read quite a few of the books in the Victorian Mystery series over the years. Probably fewer more recently as the charm of Mrs. Jeffries and the rest of Inspector Witherspoon’s staff and well wishers sleuthing in the background of his cases has begun to wear off a bit. Mrs. Jeffries Wins the Prize was a fun fast read, just as expected.

>84 charl08: Unexpectedly fascinating was the way I felt about the history of the potato as presented in the book, Charlotte. Makes me wonder how many other things we take for granted have long and interesting histories too.

75. Crimson Lake by Candice Fox



There was nothing cozy about this mystery. Crimson Lake paired Ted Conkaffey, a former cop placed in limbo by an incomplete trial that painted him as a violent pedophile, as an investigator along with Amanda Pharrell, a misfit off the wall convicted killer who has done her time. Trawling through the croc infested lands of Crimson Lake they are on the track of clues as to what happened to a well-known author. Did he disappear or was he killed?

Everything was complicated by the vigilantes out for Ted’s blood as he tried to keep his head down in an effort to fit into society. But two Crimson Lake cops were out to make his life a misery. There was more than one mystery to investigate in this fast-moving tale.

Congrats on hitting 75!

>87 Familyhistorian: Yay!!

75! Wow. Congratulations.

Yay! Congratulations! And time for many more!

>87 Familyhistorian: Congratulations on reaching 75, Meg!

Congrats, Meg. And you don't look a day over...... ;-)

Thanks Jim, Richard, Judy, Susan, Anita and Shelley!

Way to go, Meg!

Wow, 75...amazing!

>95 katiekrug: Thanks Katie!

>96 mdoris: I'm lagging behind lots of other LTers, Mary.

Hi Meg my dear, congratulations on reaching 75 books read for the year so far.

>98 johnsimpson: Hi John, thanks for the congratulations.

76. The Ventriloquists by E.R. Ramzipoor



Propaganda was rife in WWII, most particularly in countries held by Germany. One of those countries was Belgium. There a group of people came together to spread their own propaganda to counter the Nazi regime. It many ways it was a quixotic suicide mission. The novel, The Ventriloquists, followed the people involved during the days that the plan came to fruition. It was well told embellishing somewhat on the true story that it was based on.

So I'm sitting here waiting for the registration for SIWC (Surrey International Writers Conference) to open up. At least that hasn't changed. I'm feeling a bit better than yesterday when I think I was having a physical reaction to a change in life circumstances.

For the last year and a half the townhouse complex that I live in has been in the process of winding up. The latest potential buyers found some problems and we were waiting to see what would happen by June 1 when the latest extension of their conditions were up. Because of the water table on site they wouldn't be able to build as densely due to not being able to put two stories of parking in some of the area. They came back with an offer about $4 million less. We had a strata meeting Monday night where we were told what had happened and asked if we wanted to accept the offer or walk. No advanced warning about this at all. The vote? 50/50 so this means the offer was rejected.

That's pretty hard on owners who have been letting things slide in their units as they consider where they could buy. But it's also a blessing in a way in our super hot real estate market (part of the reason the offer looked less attractive.) I'm still not sure how I feel about this.

>82 Familyhistorian: #24 The Bath Conspiracy just came out this past month. I think Severn House is publishing them now.

PS - Congrats on 75!

Congrats on reaching and passing 75, Meg.

>102 thornton37814: I had no idea there were so many of them, Lori. >103 thornton37814: Thanks re the 75.

>104 BLBera: Thanks Beth!

>101 Familyhistorian: All change is stressful, and when that stress is released without the change being made it feel double-weird.

However you end up feeling, I hope it settles in soon and becomes background again.

>101 Familyhistorian: Sorry you're having such a stressful time. It must be especially difficult in this real estate market. Wishing you a good out come and as little stress as possible.

>107 richardderus: Thanks Richard. It has been a long haul and an abrupt end. It's also difficult to know how long it will take until we go through the process again something that is quite likely as our land has been rezoned.

>108 RebaRelishesReading: The craziness of the real estate market and the length of the process we were going through added to the stress. Thanks for your kind wishes, Reba.

This is the weekend of the Ontario Genealogical Conference. Virtual again this year. It started yesterday which was a full day and today is another full day. To make things more interesting I'm triple booked today with a class, a seminar through the BGCS and the Ontario conference all converging around 10:00 am my time. Should be a busy day!

Wow, Meg. Lots of stress there! Don't forget to breathe!

Hope things get sorted out soon. I think venturing into the real estate market VOLUNTARILY these days is nuts. In a word.

Ouch for the real estate mess. I know you were looking for another place already. Maybe another, better offer will come along, considering the real estate climate.

>101 Familyhistorian: Sounds like a roller coaster ride Meg (real estate) and not as much fun. Something will happen soon I bet. Take care!

>112 jessibud2: The whole process started before the pandemic and before the current crazy real estate market. I can remember the predictions that said market would tank because of the pandemic. Just shows how much those doing the predicting knew!

>113 ffortsa: I wish another better offer would come along but it doesn't seem likely. It's not the same as selling individual units although you would think that the developers would be hiking their sales prices to fit the market by the time the units are ready. As far as I know they were still working with the same per square foot price when they worked out their formulas to give us the new offer.

>114 mdoris: Thanks Mary, I still feel like I am in limbo not sure whether to put any money into this place or not. It's probably a good thing that I have plenty to keep me busy.

Hi Meg and congratulations on passing the magic 75 number! So what happens with your condo now? Has the whole thing been shelved or are different deveopers going to be approached? Have you been able to book your second vaccine yet? I made an appointment for my husband and I for June 20th. We couldn't get an appointment for any of the places in Delta so we are going to the South Surrey Rec Centre.

Hi Judy, this was the second set of developers and what they told us about the property and the underground water would have to be disclosed to any potential buyers. I am not sure that anything further will happen but then again I'm not rushing out to get any updates done to my townhouse.

I have an appointment for my second shot next week on Wednesday in the same place as last time. A friend has an appointment before me so we'll meet up afterwards.

Meg, is your complex condo or freehold? Could you sell on your own and move out without having to wait for the whole complex is sold? It has to be nerve-wracking to have to wait. And it must make it awkward trying to find somewhere else to move to.

^I knew you could do it, Meg! We are proud.

>120 jessibud2: I can always sell my own place, Shelley. Selling wasn't on my agenda but the extra money offered by a developer was enticing and the fact that the strata would be wound up made it compelling. I don't really have the time or inclination to move elsewhere especially with the crazy real estate market. I like my place but I used to like it a lot more before we went through this process.

>121 msf59: Thanks Mark!

I'm glad I too my umbrella when I went for a walk this morning. The weather app on my phone said it would be cloudy, didn't mention the cloudburst.

Not a very productive day. It took hours to write my blog post but maybe the time I spend on Amazon was partially to blame.



If you look close you can see the ducklings, there's even a pile of the towards the middle.

>124 Familyhistorian: How good is their camouflage...all I saw was tree stump-y things!

I totally understand your point about blog posts. It can take for-bloomin'-ever to be sure you're typo-free.

Until you hit "post" when, through Satan's malign influence, six of the most egregious unmissable typos **MANIFEST** in the middle of the carefully vetted, rigorously combed text.

...I need to lie down...

>125 richardderus: They looked less tree stumpy in person.

Blog posts, homework, final drafts, it's all the same you don't see the last typo until they're done and just hope you can go back and fix them before someone sees.

Hope you are doing well!

>124 Familyhistorian: I wonder which one of those will turn into a beautiful swan. I can't help but think of the old childhood story.

>127 thornton37814: Hi Lori, good to see you here. A swan would be a nine days wonder in that lake!

77. How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi



The nonfiction work, How to Be an Antiracist, was an exploration of the subject by topic as well as through personal narrative. Kendi explained his discoveries by explaining the history behind each social construct by exploring racist and antiracist stances on each topic. Then he explained how, in his own life, he went from a racist to an antiracist view. It was a very effective and personal exploration.

Hi Meg!

>87 Familyhistorian: Congrats on #75.

>101 Familyhistorian: Up and down with the townhouse complex sale. I’m sorry for the stress. I know the housing market is hot here in the US, hadn’t thought about it in Canada, so perhaps the rejected offer is a good sign. A hot housing market is not what I would have expected right along about now.

>129 Familyhistorian: I read this last year and rated it 4.5 stars.

Happy Saturday, Meg. Hooray for the ducklings! I was also impressed by How to Be an Antiracist.

A belated congrats on reaching 75 and beyond.

>129 Familyhistorian: That was a good one, wasn't it? I could see myself rereading it and getting more out of it each time.

>130 karenmarie: Thanks re the 75, Karen.

Frankly I've become kind of accustomed to being in limbo as far as my townhouse complex is concerned. The deal fell through, the whole complex is up for sale again. We'll see what happens.

>131 msf59: Hi Mark, Happy Father's Day to you. Glad you liked the ducklings and How to Be an Antiracist.

>132 bell7: Thanks, Mary. Did you read his other book, Stamped From the Beginning? I just finished it and am now pointing my thoughts in order to do a write up.

A hot Sunday, just gearing myself up to go for a walk after sending in my monthly article for my genealogy society's newsletter. I'd take it easy for the rest of the day but my final portfolio for the writing program I'm in is due at the end of the week. It might just be time to have a look at what I should be doing for that.

78. The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams



It was an interesting premise, looking at the words left out of the Oxford English Dictionary because they were women’s words. The Dictionary of Lost Words told the story of the development of the Oxford English Dictionary through the eyes of a girl who grew up close to those who worked on the OED ending up working on it herself.

Her interest in words led to her understanding that the words in the official dictionary were biased towards those used by men just as society at the time was biased towards them. The social history of the time was very much in evidence in the story lines about suffragettes and WWI. I suppose as it was a woman’s story it was fitting that the ending was sad; so sad that I had to read a romance novel afterwards to cheer myself up.

>137 Familyhistorian: Definitely not a dose of Mulliner's Pep-U-Uppo. But very wonderfully told and deeply deeply moving.

>137 Familyhistorian: - I am on a waiting list at the library for this one, Meg. Good review, thanks!

79. The Courtship/The Duke and His Duchess by Grace Burrowes



Two novellas in one book delivered two happy endings. Just what I was looking for. The first novella was The Courtship, a familiar trope in the realm of historic romances. The other was The Duke and His Duchess which revisited the same couple later in their marriage when there were quite a few children involved. It was a nice change of pace after my last read.

>138 richardderus: It was very well written and stayed with me, which was the problem.

>139 jessibud2: Keep tissues handy with that one, Shelley.

80. Stamped From the Beginning by Ibram X.Kendi



I had no idea that I brought two books by the same author home when I last picked up my library holds. Stamped from the Beginning was a much heftier volume that How to Be an Antiracist. That’s because it covered the history of racist thought in America from the beginning. Well not really the beginning, but from the time the Puritans landed as the narrative starts in 1635.

The book was arranged in sections around prominent people who had lived in the time period. Because it related to my family, I found the section centred around Cotton Mather the most interesting. I haven’t seen much written about slaves in Colonial America but I know they were there based on the research that I have done.

I knew some of the more recent history but not as thoroughly as I do now after reading this comprehensive (read long and thoughtful) history.

>143 Familyhistorian: I have this one waiting on my shelf. I read How To Be an Antiracist a while back. Kendi is always fascinating and enlightening to listen to--I have seen him interviewed several times on talk shows.

>144 laytonwoman3rd: I can imagine he'd be interesting in an interview, Linda. I was helped in the reading of Stamped From the Beginning by the fact that it was a library book and there were other patrons with holds on it. It had to be read in 3 weeks. It was a stretch because it is a big book.

I really appreciated that he went so far back in time with it. When I was researching my Colonial ancestors there was evidence in a will that they were slave-holders. The family lived in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, not somewhere that I equated with slavery. Kendi's book covered that time period well and included the information that Newport, RI was a major port in the trade back then.

I also admired How to Be Antiracist, Meg, and would like to read Stamped from the Beginning as well. So many books.

I've heard so many good things about The Dictionary of Lost Words; I can't wait to get to it.

Hi Meg, I keep seeing The Dictionary of Lost Words being mentioned here on LT and it certainly sounds intriguing. I've added it to my library list. Are you enjoying this weather? Yesterday was just perfect, sunny, warm but with a light breeze, unfortunately though, I hear this weekend is going to be killer with temps going as high as 30. Stay hydrated and seek the shade!

81. Miss Seeton Plants Suspicion by Hamilton Crane



I enjoy the Miss Seeton mystery series, one that I found by chance in a second hand book store. The unlikely sleuth, Miss Seeton, doesn’t know how she’s helping the police with their inquiries through her strange drawings but help them she does. The case in Miss Seeton Plants Suspicion involved the hunt for a serial killer who was foiled by the innocent and oblivious Miss Seeton.

>146 BLBera: Stamped From the Beginning is a big book, Beth. Allow plenty of time to read it.

I hope you get your hands on The Dictionary of Lost Words soon.

>147 DeltaQueen50: The writer does a good job of bringing the history of the time into The Dictionary of Lost Words. I hope you enjoy it when you get to it, Judy.

I like the heat and have a cool house so I'm enjoying this weather but my weather app tells me it's going to be warmer than 30 on the weekend. It says its going to be in the high 30s on the weekend and on Monday in the low 40s!

Hi, Meg. I liked The Dictionar of Lost Words a lot, too. Among other things, I’d never given much thought to what a project it must’ve been to create the OED, or the male bias that went into it. I loved the way she gathered the lost words, and it made me wish there really was a Women’s Words Dictionary.

Stay safe and cool, if you can, Meg!

Hi Joe, I read one of Winchester's books about the OED so I knew the scope of the enterprise going in. I liked the way the author looked at it from a woman's point of view.

>152 jessibud2: Thanks Shelley. It's a hot one out there. It's currently 37 C. I looked that up and that's 98.6 F. The heat is supposed to peak around Tuesday and Wednesday.

The banks of the Coquitlam River were crowded at 10:30 this morning when I went for my walk in the relative coolness. It was 33C at the time.

82. Longitude by Dava Sobel



I had no idea that navigation was so hit and miss back in the day when ships were plying the oceans on a regular basis. They had latitude down, so had finding their way across the oceans down pat, pin pointing a destination north or south was a different matter. Governments were offering money for whoever came up with a method for determining longitude. Of course, these meant competition and competing methods and factions. Good old rivalry and underhandedness got into the mix as well as was chronicled in the book Longitude.

I haven't been keeping up with my thread or anyone else's very well this year. I didn't even post my acquisitions for May and it's almost the end of June when I usually post the acquisitions for that month.

In May I added 10 new books. They were:

Gallows Thief by Bernard Cornwell
Lost in Paris by Elizabeth Thompson
The Chester Creek Murders by Nathan Dylan Goodwin
The Consequences of Fear by Jacqueline Winspear
To Have and to Hoax by Martha Waters
Ladies' Bane by Patricia Wentworth
Lethal Lesson by Iona Whishaw (I obviously spent a lot of times at the "W" fiction shelves)

The nonfiction items included the updated edition of
The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy by Blaine Bettinger
Race Against Time: A Reporter Reopens the Unsolved Murder Cases of the Civil Rights Era by Jerry Mitchell
Funny You Should Ask: Mostly Serious Answers to Mostly Serious Questions About the Book Publishing Industry by Barbara Poelle

83. Only a Kiss by Mary Balogh



I felt like I was getting bogged down with my reads which is what happens when I get too many library holds with people waiting. So I stuck in something I knew I could read quickly, an historic romance, Only a Kiss. I can race through one of those knowing it has a happy ending. Other books, where the outcome might not be so good, I don’t race to get to the finish.

This was a compelling read set in Cornwall, involving an inheritance and the evils of smuggling. In the end, the couple ended up with each other so I got my happy ending.

Took an early walk again today. There were lots of people out and about at 7:30 am. It was 30 C.

Don't envy you, Meg. Right now we are at 30C but with a humidex of about 36C. Too much for me. I watered my tomatoes but don't plan to go again again. Rain expected later so that's good. 30C at 7:30 am is shocking!

>160 jessibud2: It's supposed to go up to the low 40s by this afternoon, Shelley. Strange weather for us in June. Well, really anytime but especially so early in the summer.

84. Farthing by Jo Walton



It seemed like a regular murder mystery; a distinguished man killed at a house party. Scotland Yard was called in and as the investigation began. But this was a post war Britain that had negotiated peace with Nazi Germany. It may have been peace but at what cost? Poisonous ideas didn’t stop at the Channel.
The events, for the most part, played out like a typical mystery but there were forces at work behind the murder. Ones that it is not clear if the main character and her Jewish husband will be able to circumvent. Nor was it clear if the good guys would win in the end. Chilling.

Hi Meg? Hot enough for you? Even the ocean is crazy warm (37c), top layer that is.

>162 Familyhistorian: Oh yay! An old favorite of mine from Jo Walton's extraordinarily delicious catalog. I so badly want this series to be turned into a TV show.

>162 Familyhistorian: >164 richardderus: Hmm. I like the Jo Walton I've read but was avoiding this and sequels because alt-WWII, Nazis not defeated scenario.
Considering we've ended up with issues do to letting our own flavor of fascism have almost free reign since that war, well, can't the stories be constructed like The Crucible within what did happen? Wasn't Thatcherism it's own horror?

85. World War Two: A Very Peculiar History by Jim Pipe



I have some interesting books about WWII in my personal collection and, as I’m piecing together the story of my family during that time period, I’m attempting to read them. I started this daunting task by tackling the smaller books in the collection first. One of those is World War Two: A Very Peculiar History which contains some strange facts about the conflict, some already known but more that I’d never heard about.

>163 mdoris: The temperatures only got worse after your message on my thread, Mary. I hope you were able to keep cool Sunday and Monday.

>164 richardderus: I didn't realize that Jo Walton had a series of these books, Richard. Thanks for the heads up. I'll have to see if i can source any of the others. It was all so scarily plausible. It would be a great TV series.

>165 quondame: Thatcherism was indeed it's own horror, Susan. But, in the alternative scenario that Walton envisions it was unlikely to have happened, as far as I can tell. So there is that.

>169 Familyhistorian:, >165 quondame: Considering Walton's take on the topic and the time at which they appeared, her stories were pretty bitterly anti-Hayek's-World that those horrible people wished on us.

Hi Meg, I'm dropping by to ensure that you are staying as cool as you can. Yesterday was simply horrible and we finally abandoned our apartment and went for an air conditioned car ride. We also went out for dinner and finally went back to our very hot place around 7:30. Today has been much better, lower temps. and a slight breeze. Boy, if I lived anywhere near the Coquitlam River, you would have seen me rolling around in it!

Farthing sounds interesting, Meg.

Stay cool!

>170 richardderus: Walton does seem to have a jaundiced take on the elite and their need to keep the masses under control.

>171 DeltaQueen50: If you could find a spot to get into the Coquitlam River, Judy. It was super crowded. I was in Mission on Sunday. Some of the restaurants there were closed for dine in because they couldn't get the dining rooms cool enough.

There was nothing cool about the drive I took. You must have had your car in underground parking. When I drove home on Monday it was still hot inside my air conditioned car after a 45 minute drive.

>172 BLBera: Farthing was a good read, Beth. I actually closed some of my windows as it is cooler here today.

86. The Zig Zag Girl by Elly Griffiths



The action in The Zig Zag Girl had its roots in events that happened in WWII. As the book was set in the ‘50s that seemed appropriate as much of what was happening in the early ‘50s was influenced by the war. It was a far-ranging mystery which took the two heroes from place to place in Britain following the down at heels magicians, comedians and their ilk as they followed a touring circuit of doubtful venues.

The protagonists were Max, a magician and Edgar, a police detective. Both seemed unsure of their own paths in life but that didn’t stop their compulsion to unravel the clues to the murders which led back to their war service and a group called the Magic Men.