RidgewayGirl Reads Books in 2022, Part One

Here we are again. I'm in the middle of a move so this thread might be a little sparse to start out, but I'm here for the year and looking forward to finding out what you all are reading and up to. Let's do this thing!



My categories are largely unchanged, why mess with something that works?

Currently Reading



Recently Read



Books Acquired



Reading miscellany:

Owned Books Read: 12

Library Books Read: 6

Netgalley: 4

Borrowed: 0

Books Acquired: 13

Rereads: 1

Abandoned with Prejudice: 0

Category One.



A Window on the World

Books from around the world


Create Your Own Visited Countries Map

1. Nervous System by Lina Meruane, translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell

Category Two.



Behind Every Window is Another Story

We Need Diverse Books.

1. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
2. My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

Category Three.



Window to Another Country

Expats, Immigrants and Works in Translation.

1. The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang
2. Joan is Okay by Weike Wang

Category Four.



The Woman in the Window

Books by Women.

1. The Bed I Made by Lucie Whitehouse

Category Five.



The Rooster in the Window

Books from the Tournament of Books.

1. Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney (2022 Competitor)
2. In Concrete by Anne Garréta, translated from the French by Emma Ramadan (2022 Competitor)
3. Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke (2022 Competitor)
4. Matrix by Lauren Groff (2022 Competitor)
5. Subdivision by J. Robert Lennon (2022 Competitor)
6. The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki (2022 Competitor)
7. Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart (2022 Competitor)
8. The Sentence by Louise Erdrich (2022 Competitor)
9. Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge (2022 Competitor)

Category Six.



Rear Window

Crime Fiction, True Crime and Various Murders.

1. The Dry by Jane Harper
2. The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

Category Seven.



The Window in my House

Books I Own.

1. Self Care by Leigh Stein
2. The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

Category Eight.



The View From the Train Window

Books on my iPad.

1. Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh

Category Nine.



A Most Familiar View

Books from Authors I've Read Before.

1. The Cutting Room by Louise Welsh

Category Ten.



A Window Open to the Morning Light

Books Published in 2022.

1. The Fell by Sarah Moss

Category Eleven.



A Different View Every Day

Short Stories and Novellas.

Category Twelve.



An Open Window

The Overflow.

BingoDOG



2. Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh
3. The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang
5. The Bed I Made by Lucie Whitehouse
8. The Cutting Room by Louise Welsh
12. The Dry by Jane Harper
18. In Concrete by Anne Garréta, translated from the French by Emma Ramadan
19. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
23. Nervous System by Lina Meruane
25. Matrix by Lauren Groff

Modified Reading Challenge

I take the most interesting parts of the PopSugar, Book Riot, Book List Queen and assorted other challenges to make my own list.

1. A book set on a plane, train, or cruise ship

2. A book about or set in a nonpatriarchal society. -- Matrix by Lauren Groff

3. A book by a Latinx author. -- Nervous System by Lina Meruane

4. A book with an onomatopoeia in its title

5. A book about a "found family". -- Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart

6. A book set in the 1980s. -- The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

7. A book with cutlery on the cover or in the title

8. A book by a Pacific Islander author

9. A book that takes place during Autumn

10. A book with a misleading title

11. An Award winner

12. A book set during a holiday

13. A book set in Victorian times

14. A book with a constellation on the cover or in the title

15. A book you know nothing about. -- Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh

16. A biography of an author you admire

17. A book from the Women’s Prize shortlist/longlist/winner list

18. A book with a bird on the cover

19. A book published in 2012

20. A book with with a name in the title. -- The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang

21. A book by an author from the American South

22. A book by a Midwestern author

23. A book with a two word title. -- Self Care by Leigh Stein

24. A book by a Pulitzer Prize Winner

25. A book with a great title

26. An early book by an author you like. -- The Cutting Room by Louise Welsh

27. A book about Black History

28. A book set in a country you know nothing about

29. A travel memoir

30. A book over 600 pages long. -- The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

Hey, I'm a day early to the Category Challenge! Come in and get comfortable!

Hope your move goes smoothly. Enjoy your 2022 reads! We will miss you in these parts!

Thanks, Lori. With my Dad and friends in Greenville, I plan to be back often enough. And the drive takes me by you, so when I’m not transporting angry cats, we can meet up.

Good to see you set up for another year. Hope the move goes as well as these things can. Looking forward to seeing what you read in 2022.

Good luck with your 2022 reading and with your move!

I love, love, love your photos this year, Kay. And your categories work so well, too. I know I'll be taking some BBs this year. Hope your move goes smoothly.

Beautiful photos! Happy new reading year, and good luck with the move!

Happy New Year! I enjoyed looking through all the windows. I'm sure I'll be taking some book bullets here this year, as I do every year.

Happy New Year. May there be good books and an easy move in 2022.

Happy new year. Hope you get the chance to read amongst/ after the move.

Now I have the Chad and Jeremy song "From a Window" in my head :) Glad to see you back in the challenge, and I hope the move goes well.

I've dropped my star and I am ready to follow along with both your interesting "real life" and the interesting books that I know I will find here!

Love your theme and the images you chose. Looking forward to following your reading in 2022.

Welcome everyone! I hope to have plenty of time for reading -- eventually. We took a few days and drove up to spend time with my in-laws in NJ. After three days where I can't work on the house or make lists, I've managed to settle into my book, a mystery called The Dry by Jane Harper and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. It was also so good to see relatives after so much time apart.

Here's to lovely views from your windows at your new house . . .

Wow, I love these categories!

Glad you are enjoying The Dry - Jane Harper is one of my favourite mystery writers. The Survivors was one of my top reads this year.

Happy New Year, Kay! Beautiful pictures, I can see myself on holiday in picture 1. Enjoy your books, and good luck with the move!

>30 RidgewayGirl: I really enjoyed The Dry when I read it, but I can't say the same about Force of Nature.

Hi Kay, Happy New Year and good luck with your move. As >34 thornton37814: Lori mentioned, I remember enjoying The Dry, but Force of Nature a little less so.

Love the categories & artwork. Happy 2022 and good luck with your reading goals and your move!

>30 RidgewayGirl: - I took a BB for this series from Judy a few years ago but haven't gotten to it yet.

Good luck with your move, Kay! By the way, I noticed that someone had created a new 2022 ToB list on Lt and I thought I'd mention it in case you hadn't seen it: https://www.librarything.com/list/43337/all/2022-Tournament-of-Books

Happy new year, Kay and good luck with your move.

Great category titles and fabulopus pictures. Good luck with your move, Kay!

>31 Nickelini: Joyce, I'm not sure January is the best month to contemplate the views in Illinois. I'm sorry to be selling my house now -- we've done so much work with the yard over the years that there are blooms through from early April to early November. Now it just looks drab. And I planted eighty tulip bulbs just a few months ago.

>32 wandering_star:, >34 thornton37814:, >35 lsh63: & >37 dudes22: -- it was good to get my reading mojo back. I've pulled out some other crime novels and thrillers for the next few weeks. I am hoping the list of things to do gets shorter soon.

>33 Chrischi_HH: At this time of the year, we'd all like to be on vacation somewhere warm and beautiful.

>36 madhatter22: Thanks, Shauna. At this point, I'm not setting myself any challenges, reading-wise. But I hope to soon.

>38 mathgirl40: Thanks, Paulina. I'm embarrassed by how few I've read so far. I have copies of a few and had thought I would have read them by now, but nope. This is a good reminder to pull The Sentence off of the shelf before the movers arrive.

>39 PaulCranswick: Hi, Paul! Lovely to see you here.

>40 MissWatson: Thanks! I'm hoping that by this time next week, things will be calm again.

So today, the carpet cleaner, the window cleaners and the roof guy are here. Tomorrow is the realtor's photographer, Thursday is when the house goes up for sale and our realtor hopes to start viewings on Friday. Meanwhile, the cats are off to kennel at the vet's and we fly off to Illinois to house-hunt while the kids head back to school. But then it should be quiet.

>41 RidgewayGirl: I'm sorry your hard work in the yard won't be seen by prospective buyers at it's best. It takes so much effort, not to mention money, to have a nice yard to enjoy and it's such a pleasure.

>42 clue: My husband was wondering about digging up a few of the newer trees, but I like the idea of the garden revealing itself to the new residents, season by season. And I'll get to watch the new garden for a year and then start planting things. I'm excited to once again live somewhere where lilacs can grow.

Good luck with all things moving related. I still remember the craziness of those days from when we moved from Indiana to Georgia in 2012.

All the best for your move and the days ahead!

I love the pictures you have chosen for your thread and look forward to your posts.

>35 lsh63: I agree, as you and the others have said. I’ve read all four of her books, and I really liked the The Dry and The Lost Man but not as much Force of Nature and The Survivors. Still, I will read whatever she writes in future, because when they’re good, they’re really good.

Glad to see you still have time for your category thread! Your pictures are awesome, I find it too difficult to choose a favourite.

>30 RidgewayGirl: The Dry will put Jane Harper on your watchlist. Like >46 marell: I've since read The Lost Man and Force of Nature. Although all are well-written, I didn't get a sense of Australia in FoN. The Survivors is on deck for sometime this year.

Happy Moving! Happy New Year!

Here you are. I'm still LaLaLa-ing over all this Illinois talk. :)

>41 RidgewayGirl: Joyce, I'm not sure January is the best month to contemplate the views in Illinois. I'm sorry to be selling my house now -- we've done so much work with the yard over the years that there are blooms through from early April to early November. Now it just looks drab. And I planted eighty tulip bulbs just a few months ago.

That's heartbreaking. When I moved to my house 25 years ago, the best book I read was: https://www.librarything.com/work/526895 (the Four Season Landscape). I'm pretty sure it was written with a northern garden in mind. I know colder than my Vancouver garden anyway, but I still got a lot out of it. Maybe you can find a copy, or an updated version of the same idea. A northern garden can be lovely all year.

>49 Nickelini: That looks like an interesting book. I had a lot more gardens at my old house and am still struggling to figure out what I really want in my new gardens. Although I did bring some of my favorite perennials with me.

Unless there's anything you hate with a passion, I'd leave the garden for a year before you do anything. There might be things that you like and it will give you a chance to see what is in there. It'll also give you a chance to get a feel for things like the prevailing wind and the effect of light on the garden.

>44 Crazymamie: There's a reason for the saying, "Three moves are as good as a fire." Sure it refers to getting rid of stuff, but it also applies to the stress of it all.

>45 MissBrangwen: Thanks, Mirjam.

>46 marell: & >47 VivienneR: It was definitely a case of the right book at the right time. I'm grabbing other crime novel/thrillers from my shelf for reading now.

>48 VictoriaPL: I know. I'm going to miss you.

>49 Nickelini: I'm looking forward to finding out what will thrive and what is native to the area. Fewer azaleas and more lilacs is my guess.

>50 dudes22: It is a challenge. But it's easy enough to change things around through the years.

>51 Helenliz: That's the plan, Helen. I have plenty of large outdoor pots to occupy myself with at first anyway.

In The Dry by Jane Harper, Aaron Falk returns to the town he left as a teenager to attend a funeral. That part of Australia is enduring its second year of severe drought and everyone is suffering financially. As he gets drawn into looking into recent murders that involved a childhood friend, Falk also has to come to terms with events that caused him to move away.

This is a fairly standard crime novel/thriller that is elevated by the vivid setting and solid writing. I was in need of an entertaining and yet not too challenging read and this book was perfect.

>1 RidgewayGirl: Love your windows! Best of luck with your reading this year and with your move.

>54 beebeereads: Thanks, Barb. I'm hoping my reading picks up again soon.

>53 RidgewayGirl: Oh, that one sounds good - adding it to my list!

By the time Kate realizes she has to get away from Richard, things have gone too far. Isolated from her friends, scared he'll come after her, she flees to the Isle Wight in the winter, hoping the remoteness will keep him from finding her. But an insular place outside of tourist season isn't the friendliest of places and Kate is both scared and lonely. When she realizes that the woman she spoke with briefly is the same woman who disappeared while sailing, she becomes fascinated with her, to the point of listening in on conversations and watching the husband.

The Bed I Made by Lucie Whitehouse has all the elements of a solid thriller, but ends up being, well, not very thrilling. Whitehouse takes so much time setting up the story that it never really takes off, with the evil boyfriend not really posing much of a threat until the final pages. But the descriptions of island life in winter were lovely and and the story of a lonely woman finding a few friends was well-told. If you're looking for something with pacing and excitement, give this one a pass, but if you're open to vivid descriptions of life on an English island as well as an unconvincing love story, you might enjoy this one. I liked it well enough.

I'm getting my reading mojo back, much to my relief. The house has sold, we go to Bloomington on Sunday (weather permitting) to find ourselves one there. Will have to pull out the winter coat and boots.

YEA on selling your house. Hope you find a good one.

>58 RidgewayGirl: The weather is a definite factor in Sunday travel.

Congrats on selling your house and getting your reading mojo back. I hope the trip is uneventful weatherwise but successful in finding a new home.

>59 dudes22: Thanks, Betty. It was a huge relief to get that done.

>60 thornton37814: Lori, our Sunday morning flight was already canceled. They've found us a Sunday evening flight, so I hope that one isn't canceled, too. The Publix today was a madhouse and the lovely, mild, sunny weather today has me doubting there will even be a storm.

>61 Tess_W: Tess, being about to concentrate on a book again is wonderful. And we have a list of houses to look at, but mainly I'm interested in a specific local architect, Arthur Pillsbury. He designed a lot of buildings, of which more than 400 were houses in the Bloomington area, and about a hundred are still in existence. Two are on the market (one is not yet listed) and I'd like to see us living in an old, drafty house designed by him:



Wouldn't you like a house designed by this guy?

Congrats on the speedy sale of your house, and I will cross my fingers that you are able to get a "Pillsbury" House - and I do mean the architect not this guy:

Good luck with the house hunting.
>63 DeltaQueen50: that would be, um, interesting!

Good luck with house hunting!

>63 DeltaQueen50: That's too funny!

And yes, good luck with finding a new house

>63 DeltaQueen50: Baked goods are always welcome, Judy. We're expecting a snowstorm tomorrow and so I've been baking today to be able to send my Dad home with plenty of food in case the storm is as bad as forecast. I've made granola and a pumpkin spice cake today and I made a batch of tomato basil soup yesterday. I'd like to bake more, but I've already packed the KitchenAid as part of clearing off the counters before showing the house.

>64 Helenliz: Thanks, Helen. I'm not sure we're going to make it to Bloomington next week at all.

>65 MissWatson: Thank you, Birgit. We will find a place. If we have to stay in the temporary housing until we find something that suits us, I'm moderately ok with that.

>66 Nickelini: Joyce, I've been spending so much time on Zillow.

>67 RidgewayGirl:

Congratulations on selling the house. Hope you find a good one soon in your new city!

We've also been preparing in case this storm does turn out to be serious enough to take out the electricity or snow us in for a couple of days.

>68 hailelib: Thanks! Our flight out today was canceled, to no one's surprise. We fly out tomorrow instead, which only leaves us a day in Bloomington, but we'll make it work. This was some storm though. The cats have all opted to stay in today.

>62 RidgewayGirl: I hope you find a house that you fall in love with straight away and that it turns out to be a practical choice. I think you know as soon as you walk in.

>70 pamelad: That has been my experience in the past. You know it when you see it,

Leo and Winnie Chao, immigrants from China, came to the small, midwestern city of Haven, Wisconsin and opened a Chinese restaurant. Of their three sons, Dagou, the oldest, came back home to run the restaurant only to have his father renege on his promise to give him the restaurant. Ming became a success elsewhere and stays away as much as he can and the youngest, James, dutifully fulfilled his parents' wishes and is in medical school. When they all converge the old faultlines fracture and when the Chao patriarch is found dead, the suspicion falls on one son.

Lan Samantha Chang bases The Family Chao on The Brothers Karamazov and it's hugely fun to see where she has chosen to follow that novel and where she diverges. But there's no need to have read, or even be familiar with the Dostoevsky; this novel is wild and fun and full of its own heart. Chang has taken the framework to create her own memorable group of siblings. I've been a fan of Chang's work since I read her previous novel, All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost and this new book shows the same beautiful writing, while being utterly different.

I'm back from a trip to Bloomington in which we bought a house using money we haven't actually received yet from the house we're currently still living in. Feels sketchy to me, but apparently that's how this all works.

Yes, we bought a Pillsbury house, the one I'd been looking at constantly on Zillow. It's a lot smaller in person and felt like a house that has had a lot of kids and dogs running around it over the years.
So now we have to take all the stuff from this house and move it over to this other house and it's so much work. And Illinois is cold! And kind of flat and weird. Our realtor was on vacation, so a substitute realtor took over and she was interesting. We got prayed over and then later on she told us a story about male strippers. She thinks we're nuts for choosing an old house when there are very nice new houses for sale, with new trees and new, modern floorplans. I will need to add bookshelves and paint a few rooms, but I'm thrilled about this old place.

>73 RidgewayGirl: Congratulations on your house purchase! I hope you'll post many pictures once you're all settled in -- especially of the bookshelves! :)

>73 RidgewayGirl: Congratulations! I'm with you on buying old rather than new and wish you happy years there.

Excellent news - wonderful that you got the house you were hoping for!

>74 christina_reads: I will do that. There's so many small details that were preserved, from the push button light switches to the bathroom in the basement - it isn't working, but is exactly as it was when originally installed in the early 1900s.

Here's the backsplash in the kitchen - made out of tiles rescued from old houses before they were demolished or renovated.



>75 clue: It has been surprising to learn that this is not the usual preference.

>76 DeltaQueen50: I know, right? It feels weird.

>77 RidgewayGirl: Oh that is so wonderful!

>77 RidgewayGirl: Thank you! I'm looking at everything in my house with an eye to where it will go in the new one.

>77 RidgewayGirl: Love the backsplash!

Wishing for you no hitches in the sales and a smooth move.

Older homes that haven't been overly modernized can be charming while a lot of new houses are just like everyone else has and remind me of the song "Little Boxes".

The backsplash is wonderful!

>73 RidgewayGirl:, >77 RidgewayGirl: Congratulations that you found a house you like Kay! I absolutely love that backsplash! I like homes that are different, it seems like everyone is doing gray these days, walls, furniture, backsplash etc.

>80 christina_reads: Isn't it amazing? I'm going to enjoy using that kitchen.

>81 hailelib: It seems unlikely that all the different balls in the air will all land where they are supposed to, but here's hoping. After months of intense Zillow scrutiny, I can see why all the houses are are decorated and painted the same way, but I don't like it.

>82 lsh63: Yes, the gray! I like grays. I painted the walls in this house a smoky blue-gray years ago and love it, but when every single house has the same color scheme, it's just so boring. And don't get me started on that gray vinyl wood-look flooring. I'm sure it's very nice and durable, but what's so terrible about wood-colored?

Hurrah for finding somewhere you like.
And I will have to sneak on another 'puter to see the image, mine is locked down so tight I can't see it. boooooo!

>73 RidgewayGirl: Quick work! Congratulations on your new house.

I'm so glad you found something, Kay. There were a few of those old pushbutton lights in the house I grew up in. I hope all your balls land right when they are supposed to.

That backsplash is nice! I hope you'll share more photos of the new house!

Congrats on your house-hounting success. Those tiles look beautiful, what a clever idea!

>77 RidgewayGirl: (sneaking on the work PC - shhh). That's gorgeous. I envy people with that kind of artistic vision and creative imagination.

Thank you, everyone. I can't wait to move in. Unpacking is far more fun than packing, which I have to say I do not care for.

>90 Helenliz: Agreed. So happy that I get to benefit from her vision and craftsmanship.

Congratulations on your new home! Unpacking is lots of fun, and for me, so is the necessary reorganizing that follows. The backsplash is beautiful.

Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh is about Claudia, who has run the clinic on Mercy Street for years, during the winter Boston was hit by snowstorm after snowstorm. She's never been afraid and sometimes argues with the protestors who stake out the entrance and yell at the women attempting to access the clinic's many services. She has a weed dealer named Timmy she visits now and again. Timmy fell into the job a long time ago and now that his son is a teenager, he's thinking that it's past time for him to start a legitimate business and make a life where his son could come and live with him. Anthony also visits Timmy. He hasn't been the same since a workplace accident put him on disability, but the weed helps with the vertigo and the headaches. Anthony found a place to belong in his local church and a priest has him running an anti-abortion website for him. He has a friend he only knows by his internet name, and who has asked him to take pictures of women entering the clinic on Mercy Street for him.

Haigh does a great job with the structure of taking unconnected characters and gradually showing how they relate to one another and putting those characters on a collision course. And while the novel centers on a women's clinic and the people it serves, this isn't a book that exists to drive home a political point. The characters are all so believable and human, from the drug dealer to the guy with very unfortunate views about women. I've read a few of Haigh's novels now and I've enjoyed the thoughtful way she approaches polarizing subject matter in every one.

>92 VivienneR: I like unpacking. Everything is so organized and tidy. And there are no deadlines involved.

I've reached the point in my packing up of my books where each box filled seems like I'm limiting my possibilities a little more. I will be separated from the boxes of books for three weeks, if the move goes according to schedule, so clearly I'm being ridiculous, but my tbr is the size it is for a reason.

Ok, back to intense scrutiny of various paint colors. Farrow and Ball has one called Smoked Trout that I like.

>95 RidgewayGirl: Sympathies on the book separation!

>96 thornton37814: Lori, I am not happy about this!

Look at this cover! I read this one at home.



"To be honest, I grew up working-class in Cupertino. Both my parents worked, like, a lot. My dad is an anesthesiologist and my mom is an econ professor at Stanford. When I tell people I'm from Cupertino, they assume I grew up immersed in tech and startup culture, but I really had zero exposure. Everything I've built, I built it myself."

Self Care by Leigh Stein is a send up of internet social media. Maren and Devin are friends who started a website together, a social media site focusing on women taking care of themselves. Richual, "the most inclusive community platform for women to cultivate the practice of self-care and change the world by changing ourselves," is just as terrible as it sounds. Maren and Devin are scrambling to pull together financing, although Devin leaves plenty of room for the expensive self-care required for her image and Maren is scrambling because she has plenty of student debt and the nominal pay until the site becomes profitable is not enough to support her and her not entirely hardworking boyfriend. Then there's Khadijah, the sole Black employee who is always positioned front and center of any publicity pictures, and who single-handedly writes most of the content, who is trying to keep this job going now that she's pregnant and her partner plans to become a house-husband.

Doug was like fifteen or twenty years older than Evan and I, old enough to have bought a Nirvana CD back when that was the only way to hear music, but not old enough to be our dad.

This novel is ridiculous, but never unbelievable. Richual allows women to compete over how much self-care they engage in along with the idea that self-care is work every bit as important as social activism. None of the characters are laudable or even that nuanced, but somehow Stein gets the reader to care about all of the women, no matter how shallow and no matter how little they learn along the way. If you're even glancingly familiar with millennial/gen Z internet culture, this novel will feel all to close to reality and if you're not, I'm not sure what you'll make of it.

>95 RidgewayGirl: Ok, back to intense scrutiny of various paint colors. Farrow and Ball has one called Smoked Trout that I like.


I love Farrow and Ball paints and they have some great names. If I remember correctly, there is a colour similar to Smoked Trout called Dead Salmon. Make sure you pick the right one! I think those two colours are particularly light-dependant and in the wrong light will look strange. (Says the woman who has made too many paint choice mistakes because I fell in love with a paint chip or a name)

>98 RidgewayGirl: I have that one on my wishlist from when it was published and was splashing itself all over Bookstigram. You're the first person I've seen read it. Definitely sounds interesting but I don't need any more books :-(

>95 RidgewayGirl: Ah, but just think of the joy you will have unpacking your books in your new house!

>101 DeltaQueen50: I haven't moved in 100 years, but YES! That would be the best

>99 Nickelini: A downside of the Farrow and Ball paints is that I can't just have them mix me up a sample pot at the local home improvement store. I'm a big fan of painting swatches on walls to see how they do in the room itself. There was one color I wanted to paint the bathroom that looked great on the card, but looked like baby poop in certain lights. I chose a different color.

>100 Nickelini: Of course you need more books (she says as she weeds out books she knows she'll never reread or read at all as she packs).

>101 DeltaQueen50: That really is the best part of unpacking, Judy.

>102 Nickelini: I'd recommend trying it, but all the other parts of moving are terrible.

>103 RidgewayGirl:

Yes! I used to be the Queen of paint mixing (and my brother was a paint mixer, so he could get me all sorts of magic). The hitch with Farrow and Ball is that their paints have a different base (chalk, I think . . . it's been an age since I was into this) so the North American paint companies can't colour match them.

Just the other day I came across my box of paint fans . . . 2 Benjamin Moore, Farrow and Ball of course, and a handful of Canadian companies . . . and I'm stopped in my tracks . . . what do I do with these? I've lived in my (small) house for over 25 years . . . and I have to get rid of stuff. It seems like a good thing to keep, and a good thing to just toss. I wish I was like you and had moved a lot. Then I wouldn't have so much stuff that has things attached to it.

>104 Nickelini: I'd keep the paint fans, no matter how many times I moved.

>105 RidgewayGirl: I'd keep the paint fans, no matter how many times I moved.

Until recently, I would have agreed with you 100%. But now I'm not sure. My favourite fan was Pratt & Lambert, but they don't even exist anymore. I know, they can be colour matched. You're right. Sigh. See how easily I'm convinced? And I wonder why I can't unclutter things I haven't looked at in over 2 years in a house I've lived in for 26 years.

Today I learned that the Swiss flag is Pantone 485. Just a fact I now have in my brain.

Also, I've been meaning to say how impressed (and jealous) I am of you moving "just like that". My husband and I have been trying to move for over 10 years, and we are still here. At least we are on the same page with what we want . . . but everything else is complicated. Our house would sell in an hour if we put it up for sale, but it's finding the right house that is the problem. And those are rare (I'm not giving up the good things I have now, and we don't want to do big renovations. And location is key). The Vancouver area real estate market is a nightmare. $1.5 million buys you a sad house in need of major renovations. Complications that you don't need to know, but GOOD FOR YOU AND I'M GLAD SOMEONE CAN DO IT. Cheers to you.

>106 Nickelini: Thank you but I can assure you that we would not have decided to move unless my husband had been offered a job opportunity that excited him and Illinois is too far for a comfortable commute. And moving within the same area seems utterly impossible -- sure you'll get a lot for your house, but all the other houses are just as expensive and there's not much to choose from right now. My GP laughed when I told him we had been able to get a much nicer house for the same money and told me that means I'll never be able to afford to move back here, so point to him, I guess (I will miss him. Finding a new doctor who tells me about his life and nags me to read Faulkner will be hard to find.)

>107 RidgewayGirl: Another good Dr. story: I got my first Kindle about a year after they came out. I took it with me when I went to a new Dr. (I had broken my ankle and he was the ortho). He barely got in the examining room when he asked what I was holding and when I told him he literally jerked it out of my hand, sat down, opened it up and started pushing buttons. I was horrified about the lack privacy! I felt a little better when he started asking me about the Kindle itself and I could see he had genuine curiosity as a reader. When he was apparently looking through the few (compared to now) books I had on it he said with reverence and joy "Wally Lamb!" I fell in love with him! Unfortunately, I only saw him once after that so it was a short affair.

>108 clue: I would also want a doctor who liked Wally Lamb. His books are so humane.

Beautiful World, Where Are You centers on two young, Irish women as they exchange emails. Eileen works for a small literary magazine, for which she earns almost nothing. She's unhappy and also unhappy about Simon, her childhood crush, who loves her but she doesn't want to risk their friendship with a relationship. Alice is a famous author who had a break-down and is now renting a home on the coast. She meets Felix on a tinder date and while they don't really hit it off, she invites him to come with her to an author event in Rome.

Sally Rooney is the new Jonathan Franzen when it comes to polarizing authors. Her notoriety came when her first few books were highly regarded and she became (unwillingly) the face of millennial fiction. There was the inevitable backlash, and this novel seems to be part of her working through that through the character of Alice. I'm agnostic on the subject of Sally Rooney (do not get me started on Franzen, I have strong opinions there); I loved her first novel, liked her second one fine, and found this one the weakest, but whether she's the Voice of a Generation or whatever, I don't care, just let me read.

Rooney structures her novel with first an event told in the third person, followed by an examination of that same event by one of the women, usually accompanied with their musings about the state of the world and some intense navel-gazing. I'm all for these things, but the repetitive nature of the structure, as well as the characters's lack of development through most of the novel left me feeling bored. I did think the final scene was fantastic, but I wish that the pay-off had been achieved with less trudging through beforehand. Still, there's something to Rooney's writing and to her project that appeals and so I expect that I will reluctantly pick up her next book.

I'd like a doctor who liked Wally Lamb too! I know my doctor likes Frederick Backman because she gave me one of his books and she is also a fan of Louise Penny.

Choosing paint is my biggest nightmare. I know what colour I'm looking for but useless at actually finding it. The alternative that I choose turns out to be horrible.

>111 VivienneR: I have made many poor color choices over the years, but the thing about paint is that it's relatively easy and inexpensive to change a color that isn't working. And one of my favorite activities is getting a half dozen of the sample pots and putting swatches all over a room to see how it looks in different light. When my son wanted to paint his room, we ended up with four pots of almost identical grays, but when they were on the wall, there was a clear winner, which was fun for both of us.

(And since the buyers are being so unpleasant in their attempts to get us to give them discounts on the house (we absolutely will not at this point) I'm taking the leftover paint from a few rooms with me to use in the new house.)

>108 clue: Going to the net to see who this Wally Lamb is!

Found you! Good luck with your move. I have cousins in Bloomington. I haven't visited them in ages, but I'll let you know if/when I do! And let me know if you need a good groomer in the Bloomington area. I know one. :-)

>112 RidgewayGirl: I'm glad you're taking the leftover paint. You never know when you might need a small amount for one wall or inside a cupboard or something. It's better than handing out undeserved discounts!

>113 Tess_W: Tess, one of my favourite Christmas books is Wishin' and Hopin' by Lamb.

>113 Tess_W: Enjoy the new author, Tess!

>114 cbl_tn: Hi, Carrie! Lori says she has some genealogical work she can do in the area and Victoria does like a road trip. Let me get my guest room set up and I'll be open for visitors.

>115 VivienneR: It will come in useful, I'm sure. I'm spending far too much time looking at paint swatches when I know I can't make a decision until I'm in the house and can assess the light.

My favorite of Wally Lamb's novels is She's Come Undone.

>116 RidgewayGirl: A road trip sounds like a lot of fun!

In Concrete is a playful, word-bending comically absurd novel by French author Anne Garréta, and brilliantly translated by Emma Ramadan. Two girls living in the countryside with their shambolic father and timid mother have adventures, mostly involving their father's activities with laying cement. What is important aren't the hijinks, but the wordplay, which is rapid and full of references and allusions. It's a very clever book. I was delighted with this book as I started it, but as I continued to read, I eventually just got tired of it. There's no substance behind the gloss and I could only read so far before longing for some sort of emotional substance.

>116 RidgewayGirl: to be clear, I don't navigate. My compass is broken. But I’ll be happy to repeat Siri and gesture in a helpful manner.😊

>119 VictoriaPL: But you're good company on the road, and that's all that matters!

>120 RidgewayGirl: 💗

>119 VictoriaPL: - I had to laugh. Actually, I'm a great navigator - I can be had - for chocolates.

Actually, navigating should be pretty easy in Illinois. It's flat, and the roads are aligned NSEW. I grew up in Tennessee, where we have roads that you can travel north and south on at the same time. I can remember being at my grandmother's in Illinois as a child and having her tell me to go get something from the east side of the living room. I didn't understand what she meant. I had no idea which direction was east or why I would be expected to know that. I ended up just hunting around the room until I found whatever it was she wanted me to get for her.

Also true, my grandmother, who spent most of her life in Illinois, was a terrible navigator without a map. I often heard the story of the time we went to a reunion on the other side of southern Illinois. My dad rode back with my uncle because he was having car trouble, and my mother, brother and I rode back with our grandmother. My dad and his brother had been home for ages and were still waiting for us long after we should have arrived. This was before the days of cell phones. As it turned out, my grandmother zigzagged across the state to get back home. She'd see a sign for a town and say "Charles (my uncle) came through here on the way" and she'd head that direction. Then she'd see a sign for another town and say "we came through here on the way" and she'd head for that town. Thing of it is, my uncle lived about 80 miles north of my grandmother at the time so he would have driven through different towns on his way to the reunion. I'm sure it was lots of fun for my mom with two very small children to entertain.

I can get lost easily in Franklin, TN if I have to go through Five Point which is the intersection of five roads! Some places around here are bad for navigating too. Illinois sounds easy.

>122 dudes22: Remember when navigating meant maps, or several pages printed out from MapQuest? It's so easy now.

>123 cbl_tn: Illinois is very flat. That was one of the first things I noticed.

>124 hailelib: Greenville is the same way. Utterly random roads joining up in unexpected ways. On the plus side of that, if you know your way around, you can cut through a neighborhood and be on the other side of town.

>125 RidgewayGirl: I always use real maps first. Then I look at the GPS. I don't trust them completely. I am an excellent map navigator though.

>126 thornton37814: I always use real maps first. Then I look at the GPS. I don't trust them completely. I am an excellent map navigator though.

Yep, yep, yep and yep!

We cockily departed on a trip from Vancouver to San Francisco to Los Angeles in 2011 with our GPS. We didn't need our maps -- we'd driven those roads several times, and I even drove it with my family as a kid. But I was so frustrated with the GPS because it only showed us the next bit of road, and not the big picture. And nothing surrounding where we were. Just the bit of road immediately ahead.

So when we set off to England in 2013, I packed my very large (thin, but like 12" x 24") road map of the UK. My husband said "We don't need that! Don't bring it!" and I said . . . "oh no, I'll never make that mistake again!" . . . and I navigated around Southern England with the large map book on my lap, and I knew if there was a good site to see off the route, and I knew when a white chalk horse or a castle was coming up. Paper maps are great.

>110 RidgewayGirl: I'm working through the ToB list and I'm not sure if I'll get to Beautiful World, Where Are You. So many people loved Normal People but I felt rather lukewarm toward it. I might get to it if I have time but there are a number of other ToB that look more appealing.

>118 RidgewayGirl: In Concrete looks interesting. I'd love to read it in French, but I fear that my command of the language isn't strong enough to get all the wordplay. It would, however, be fun to compare the two versions side by side.

>126 thornton37814: I no longer use paper maps for getting around, but I do like to look at a map. I have a box of old maps from our years in Europe and I'm pondering various ways to use them.

>127 Nickelini: Oh, you definitely need maps to plan a trip. That's most of the fun.

>128 mathgirl40: Paulina, the translator has an account of the decisions involved and the challenges of turning French wordplay into English. It's really interesting.

In 1982, a young woman leaves home intending to pursue acting in NYC. Instead, she ends up in upstate New York, working as the night receptionist at a motel at the edge of town. Before long she notices strange things happening, from locked doors that swing open to the smell of cigarette smoke. Worse, she thinks she may have discovered a serial killer working in the area and when no one takes her seriously, she begins investigating him on her own.

Decades later, a young woman gets a job working the night shift at The Sun Down Motel. She's looking for the aunt who disappeared from that same motel years before she was born. Before long, she's being menaced by the same unexplained events, but she's sure she's on the right track to find out what happened in 1982.

I started this book during a time when I was distracted and having trouble concentrating on any reading, let along an entire book. This was the perfect book to pull me back in. Simone St. James writes with a breezy tone that is easy to read. There's no new ground here and the ending was both unlikely and a little predictable, but the enjoyment of this book was simply in allowing two likable (and largely interchangeable) young women to face the twin dangers of a haunted motel and a serial killer with guts and determination.

I still use a paper map. For walking, especially, you get the see the lie of the land and can place yourself in the landscape far more effectively (I think) than using a device. I will use the sat nav, but usually only if I'm going somewhere I don't know and only really need it for the last 5 miles or so, between turning off the major road and the destination. They're also invaluable when there's an unexpected road closure or accident for avoiding the bit that is shut - that the sat nav doesn't know about.

>131 Helenliz: Yes, exactly

When people start returning to the office, Gerald isn't among them. Somehow, he was sucked into the company's slack channels, or at least his consciousness was. His body remains slumped over his laptop at home. On the bright side, his productivity has never been higher.

Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke is told entirely through messages left on various slack channels. It's a choppy and necessarily truncated way to structure a novel, but if you're used to communicating in this way, it's not too big an adjustment. The structure does hide how weird the story is, with Gerald stuck wherever that is and another employee disappearing entirely, while simultaneously the normal workplace tasks and activities continue.

This book didn't quite work for me, but the story was definitely interesting. It would make a good short story.

Regarding my move; today two of our cats were whisked away to Bloomington. They left in their crates looking very disgruntled and talked much of the way to the Charlotte airport. I'm glad the woman taking them could not understand what they were saying. They landed in Chicago a few hours ago and I'm waiting to hear that they made it safely to my husband and the temporary apartment.

Movers come tomorrow!

>134 RidgewayGirl: I hope it goes well (and that the cats have arrived where they need to be).

I'm a convert to the OS online map - it has the same level of detail as the walking maps here ('Explorer' I think? The yellow ones) but it has the advantage over the paper one in that it tells me where I am on it! My map reading "skills" are not to be relied upon.

Best wishes with the movers today. And I'm sure you'll receive an earful from the cats when you're reunited!

>134 RidgewayGirl: Poor babies. I'm sure mine would not like flying. They really don't enjoy riding as much as Brumley did. I wish my cats had an RV to enjoy as Brumley did when we went with my parents. He absolutely loved camping. He was entertained for hours just looking out the windows at new places and sniffing out the door at the new scents. I hope the cats are forgiving when they saw your husband and that they'll be excited to see you when you come in--even if they snub you as punishment!

>135 charl08: That little blue dot showing exactly where you are on a map is brilliant. I do like google maps -- it allowed me to arrive in a new city and take public transportation like I'd always lived there. It made Naples easy!

>136 cbl_tn: Carrie, they arrived safely. Freya immediately began an intensive exploration. Melmoth, on the other hand, sat in her crate facing away from my husband. And today she goes to a kennel for the rest of the month, poor baby, as the temporary housing only allows two cats.

>137 thornton37814: Lori, Dirk had high hopes for Ollie and bought a cat harness and leash so they could take walks during the drive. Since Ollie collapsed when the harness was put on him, that plan did not last long. I very much am looking forward to finally being in the new house and settling in.

The movers arrived 40 minutes early, which is better than had they come 30 minutes early as I was just about to hop in the shower. They are hard at work and the guy doing the kitchen just stabbed himself with a corn skewer so I hope he doesn't take revenge on my glassware. He already packed the box of granola bars I was going to take with me for the drive and I am not going to say a thing. Hope he doesn't die of tetanus or whatever corn-based disease that lurks on corn cob skewers.

While I love the adventure of falling in love with a new place and learning about all the local authors and literary traditions, the actual moving part is the worst.

At least the weather in the Upstate is reasonable today for movers. I hope everything works out and arrival at the other end is smooth.

Joan loves her job as an attending at a busy teaching hospital in New York. She runs the intensive care units and loves how machines keep people alive, the clarity of the job. She works all the time, cheerfully covering for the other doctors. She lives alone but spends barely any time in her apartment. Then a new neighbor moves in across the hall and his overtures of friendship confuse and annoy her. And her father dies and although she took 48 hours off to fly to and from China for the funeral, her boss doesn't find that adequate and insists she take more time.

Weike Wang is the author of the delightful and surprising Chemistry and Joan is Okay is even better. Joan is a wonderful protagonist; relentlessly literal in her interpretations and single-minded in her devotion to her work, she has trouble figuring out what's expected of her when her mother calls to chat or her neighbor drops by with a pie he made. Wang drops the reader into the point in Joan's life when just being very good at her job isn't enough, for others and for Joan herself. This is a book that is set before and during the beginning of the pandemic. I wasn't sure I wanted to read about any of that, but Wang handles it all with subtlety. Weike Wang is an author I am very eager to hear more from.

>141 RidgewayGirl: Sounds interesting! I'm reminded of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, although that may just be the similar-feeling title.

It sounds like the move is moving right along - hope it all goes well and you & your husband (and the cats) are reunited and happy to be in your new home.

>138 RidgewayGirl: I hope you can visit Freya at the kennel.

I expect you are unpacking already or looking forward to it soon. And I hope you got a better greeting from Melmoth than the one your husband got. Wishing you all the best in your new home.

>142 christina_reads: Christina, that's not a bad comparison. Joan and Eleanor are similar people and they both had childhoods that formed them.

>143 DeltaQueen50: Well, two of the cats are with my husband, one is currently in a kennel and Tarzan and I are at my Dad's house. He took back the cat we took in when my Mom was in her last year a month ago and Homer was not pleased to see his old napping buddy show up. But they were back to just ignoring each other soon enough. I would like to be living with my husband again, but that will have to wait until the 20th.

>144 thornton37814: Would it be more confusing for her if I show up and then leave again? I'll ask when I get there.

>145 VivienneR: Vivienne, this move is happening both very quickly and so slowly. The movers leave tomorrow with our stuff, the house closes on the 17th and then we get the keys to the new house on the 28th and move in the next day. So right now, my house is full of people packing and dismantling. I'm really looking forward to the day when I can ease into the morning with a cup of tea and a book.

>146 RidgewayGirl: I don't really know. I'd call the kennel to see. I don't think I'd be able to stand being apart from any of my cats that long.

>147 thornton37814: I am not enjoying being away from any members of my household right now. It is good to get to spend time with my Mom's cat and with my Dad before I move all the way to Illinois though.

>148 RidgewayGirl: I'm sure that is difficult.

Halfway through the month and I have read two thin books. I can't wait for this move to be over and to have time to read again.

Matrix is the story of a Medieval woman's life, from when she is sent from France to Eleanor of Aquitaine's English Court to the end of her life. Marie is judged to be neither beautiful nor sweet-natured and so is sent off to take holy orders and run a small abbey. On arriving, she finds twenty women on the edge of starvation. What follows is the story of how she adjusted to the life she was forced into.

Lauren Groff writes beautifully of both the harsh realities of life at that time and of the creation of a vibrant community of women, existing outside of patriarchal society they are surrounded by. This is an unusual angle to look at this time and place, from the point of view of an unbeautiful older woman in a position of power.

Subdivision by J. Robert Lennon is a weird one. Set in a place called the subdivision, cut off from the city for unknown reasons, a woman arrives at a bed and breakfast sort of place with no idea of who she is, but she plans to find a place to live and a job. There's a puzzle, and an odd smart device and a little boy and a badger-monster-guy and some other weird people. For much of the book, it feels random and unstructured, like an extended dream sequence in an experimental film. And then all the pieces fall into place, sort of.

I dragged myself through this book but ended up delighted, but also not entirely sure what to think of it all. My least favorite kind of book is the ones were outside forces make random changes (not big on books that rely on magic or elves or powerful forces) so that the reader never has solid ground underfoot and this felt like that, until the moment when it didn't. I'm looking forward to getting to find out what other people think of this one.

When Benny's father dies, Benny's mother grieves and he begins to hear voices in inanimate objects. Sometimes, those objects tell him to do things. Benny is labeled as mentally ill and his mother's coping skills and even her fierce love for her son are unable to deal with everything. Benny finds solace in the library, where he finds friends of a sort.

Ruth Ozeki's novel has an off-putting title and cover that that fails to communicate how approachable and interesting this book is. The Book of Form and Emptiness is the story of a boy growing up with sadness and with the book that narrates his life. It's a deeply humane novel that doesn't feel as long as it is.

So I'm almost in the new house. Tuesday is move in day. Here's the window above the staircase.

>154 RidgewayGirl: Gorgeous! I hope the unloading goes smoothly and you feel at home very quickly!

>155 cbl_tn: We did the walk=through today and I certainly have a lot of painting to do!

>154 RidgewayGirl: That is beautiful!

>154 RidgewayGirl: - That's great, Kay. My mother-in-law rescued some stained-glass windows from a church that was being knocked down and gave us one that we used as a transom over the door into our bedroom in our last house. Unfortunately, my husband wouldn't consider removing it when we moved. I hope the person who bought our house loves it.

>158 dudes22: Betty, I bet they adore it. The previous owner told us that there was a repair done to the window at some point, that was done without removing the window. He's been a great source of information and has given me the names of places where I can find out more.

We have the keys to the house, but will wait until tomorrow as the previous owner is still getting his stuff out. I can't wait to start making it ours.

>154 RidgewayGirl: Love the window!

>160 hailelib: The time we looked at the house back in January I never even noticed it! There's some subtle stained glass about the windows in the living room that I did notice right off, but I'm pretty sure I'll be finding new things for some time.

Wishing you much happiness in your new home! That window is gorgeous. Have fun painting!

>154 RidgewayGirl: Looking at it more closely, it's very similar in both color and pattern to the stained glass in our oldest building on campus, which was built around 1908. I was there just last night for a funeral. I'll see if I can get a picture of one of our windows.

>162 VivienneR: Thanks, Vivienne, I am very excited. Tired, too, but mostly excited.

>163 cbl_tn: I would love to see a picture of that window. I'm going to try to find out who made the one in my house.

The window is so beautiful, I could spend hours just watching it change with the light.

Beautiful window. Hope the unpacking goes smoothly.

I hope the unpacking and cat reunion go well!

And I hope the cats approve of their new home!

That is a beautiful window - lucky you, getting to gaze at it whenever you want! Good luck with the moving-in process!

>165 clue: I hope to someday do that. We moved in today, so right now it's just boxes and trying to find stuff. One of our cats managed to hide in the house and my husband is trying to find where he is. The cats are not pleased with being moved, not to mention being locked in a room all day while movers stomp around outside in a threatening manner.

This odd wee man is attached to end of the bannister. He adds a touch of whimsey.

>170 RidgewayGirl: This man is on your finial post? That's crazy fun. I've never seen anything like that in a house. Also, have fun dusting him

ETA - I love your stained glass window. It's gorgeous. I also have stained glass in my house, which is the first thing I noticed when I viewed it 26 years ago. Now we are looking to move to a completely different style house, and I will always miss it. My house is Craftsman style, so there are the classic two higher windows on both sides of the living room fireplace. But my favourite piece is the vertical 6'x3' window in the staircase that looks out onto the view of the river and Mount Baker in the distance. I'll never be able to replace that at any cost. . . hence why we've wanted to move for over a decade but can't quite find the right house.

Anyway, your window is mostly colour so I'm guessing it's blocking something while letting in light? So much nicer than 1980s glass blocks.

Looking forward to more photos. Your house looks spectacular

>170 RidgewayGirl: So, no sliding down the bannister then?

Your odd wee man is fantastic! I know you will enjoy that house, and the cats will too, given a little time.

For some reason my star disappeared from your thread - I'd seen you on twitter and was wondering why you were posting there and not here! But, you're restarred now, so looking forward to more brilliant reviews. Glad the move went well! :)

>171 Nickelini: Joyce, he's so quirky and not what I expect in a respectable Victorian house. The full stained glass window is in the upper wall of the staircase, so facing the landing on the second floor, but inaccessible for cleaning and curtain-pulling. There are stained glass details on the windows in the living and dining rooms as well. This house has benefited by not having been gutted and modernized (beyond the needed changes to the plumbing and wiring), so instead of modern windows, it still has the old sash windows with the original lead weights.

>172 VivienneR: My bannister-sliding days are long past!

>173 Jackie_K: Thanks, Jackie. This house is slowly becoming our home.

This was a reread for me, since after twenty years, Louise Welsh has finally written a sequel. The Cutting Room is tartan noir at its grittiest. Rilke works for a local auction house and given the task of emptying and selling the contents of a house quickly after the death of the owner. His surviving relative also wants Rilke to personally destroy the contents of the attic office, which consist mainly of a collection of rare pornography, but also some photos that send Rilke across Glasgow's grimmest corners.

I loved the book when I first read it and it has aged well. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel. Books, especially crime novels, often don't hold up well to a second reading or the passage of time, but this one is a lovely exception.

I'm starting to gather book ideas for my 14th Thingaversary in June, so I am adding The Cutting Room to the list.

>175 RidgewayGirl: I have this on hold at the library and just waiting for it to arrive. It will be the 2002 book for my QEII category. Glad to hear it has held up so well.

>176 DeltaQueen50: Your post reminded me that my 15th Thingaversary is coming up in May. I better start making a list of what I want.

>178 VivienneR: My Thingaversary is in June and I pretty much already have a full list! Maybe I started a little early ...

>179 DeltaQueen50: It should be a pretty easy job because I have lists all over the place!

In Our Country Friends, a group of friends, some of whom know each other well, others who are meeting for the first time, gather at the country home of a novelist from Russia at the start of the pandemic. They stay for weeks. As time passes, old fault lines make themselves known, secrets are revealed and old friendships change.

Sure, the description sounds like dozens of other books and movies, but Gary Shteyngart is playing with older inspirations from literature. This is a novel that feels superficial, peopled as it is with often ridiculous characters behaving badly, but there's a heart in there, and Shteyngart is such an intelligent author that I couldn't help but become immersed in it.

My fourteenth Thingaversary was in February, the middle of my move, which is to say that I have carte blanche to go book shopping as soon as I've unpacked and settled in the ones I already own.

>182 RidgewayGirl: A beleted Happy Thingaversary! Enjoy the shopping spree!

>182 RidgewayGirl: Happy Thingaversary, Kay. Have fun in the bookstores!

>182 RidgewayGirl: -Happy Belated Thingaversary. You should buy a few extra as a house welcoming gift for yourself too.

>182 RidgewayGirl: Happy Thingaversary! Enjoy your book shopping when you get to it.

Ha ha, you guys. I don't get my book-a-palooza until all my books are unpacked. It will be awhile. First, I have to unpack everything else and then I need to buy some shelves, as the large wall unit I had been using does not work in this new place. Which is not to say that I have not been unpacking books. Here is a small corner of the house that is fully unpacked. Do not look behind the photographer.

>187 RidgewayGirl: That shelf looks great though! And I love the fireplace.

>188 christina_reads: I love the fireplace, too. There are four of them in this house. One more in the living room, one in the big bedroom upstairs and a very cute small one in the attic.

That's very nice looking. I think I'm Jealous (yes - capital J)

That is a really great fireplace.

>187 RidgewayGirl: All that picture needs is a comfy chair with you curled up in it with a book! I guess that has to wait until you are fully unpacked as well. ;)

It looks like the house has been well kept through the years. I really admire people who preserve buildings. I read where Norm, from This Old House, said all architectural styles have some things that should be preserved but I don't think most people see it that way.

>190 dudes22: Betty, I'd been stalking the house on Zillow for weeks and it still feels a little unreal to be living here. I mean, the cat threw up on the 120 year old floor yesterday, so I'm pretty sure that the house is dealing with a much less refined set of inhabitants than it is used to.

>191 hailelib: It is fabulous and I look at it often.

>192 DeltaQueen50: I have to find the right chair. And sofa. And a few more things.

>193 clue: This is a house that has benefited from having had very few owners. After the Stevensons bought it in 1906, Adlai Stevenson's sister lived in it until she died, after which it was bought and renovated by a historical society, then sold to the guy we bought it from. And he was as interested in the history as we are, so all renovations were made with an eye to preserving as much of the original spirit as possible. Which may be why it sat on the market for so long - the other houses around it have been modernized and made very fancy, and this house is the small (relatively speaking), brown house in the middle. And because it's on the historical register, we can't alter the outside without permission. It came with blueprints, of the original plans, but also all alterations over the years (mostly adding bathrooms), and the plans of the plants in the garden.

Just jumping in to say I'm loving all the info and pics of your new old house

Set in a bookstore haunted by the ghost of a faithful customer, The Sentence is set up to tick all the boxes. But it's also set during the pandemic, which is not something I'm eager to read about, yet or maybe ever, thank you. But the author is Louise Erdrich, so I bought a copy the week it was published. She has never steered me wrong. Spoiler alert: I liked this book a lot (although I didn't love it).

Tookie works at Birchbark Books, Erdrich's own bookstore in Minneapolis. She served her time and since being in prison married the man who arrested her and has settled in to be a wife and an employee at a store that serves as a community hub and a place that emphasizes Native American literature and crafts. As the pandemic shuts things down, Tookie is being haunted by a woman who had been inventing a Native American heritage for herself.

Mainly, this novel succeeds because Tookie is such a wonderful character. And Erdrich writes about all the characters with such compassion, even the borderline Rachel Dolezal character. There's a wide variety of life experiences in this novel, and Erdrich leans into the compassionate interpretation of people's motivations. This is especially noteworthy given that the novel is not only set during the pandemic, but continues through the demonstrations in Minneapolis in the wake of George Floyd's murder. It's a ripped-from-the-headlines novel that doesn't feel exploitative, because at heart, this is a novel about one defensive, loving, opinionated woman living her life and doing her best to love and care for her family, whether at home or in the bookstore.

Your house looks stunning! I hope you have a good bookshop not too far away...

>197 Jackie_K: Jackie, one small part of my house looks stunning, but I'm working on the rest. And the bookstore outlook is just a Barnes and Noble, but there are a few independent bookstores within an hour's drive, so when the house is sorted and the weather good, I may hit the road.

>197 Jackie_K: Thanks, Jackie, but a small corner of my house is in order and the rest is still boxes and figuring out what furniture is needed. So far, the only bookstore I've found is a Barnes and Noble.

>196 RidgewayGirl: Great review. I think I liked this one more than you did (it felt like a bit of a hug of a novel to me), but you've pulled out many of the reasons I enjoyed it. I really liked that Pookie's life wasn't defined by the mistake she'd made. Erdrich's faith in change (or perhaps it's rediscovery of the right self?) felt valuable to me.

>200 charl08: While this isn't my favorite Erdrich (I loved The Round House and found Shadow Tag to be a book I am still thinking about years later), I am certainly glad I bought a copy and am holding on to it because I know I will want to reread it someday.

Kaitlyn Greenidge's second novel, Libertie, follows the story of the eponymous character from her childhood in a rural community near New York City, where she grows up free, but still under the restrictions of what it was to be Black in the United States. Her mother is a doctor, and often cares for people who have managed to escape slavery, not always successfully. Although she is respected, her stand-offish personality make it hard for others to get close to her, and that includes her daughter, Libertie, who struggles to find her place in the world, even as the Civil War ends and, theoretically at least, there are more opportunities available to her. She can't fit into the space her mother wants her to occupy, but when she takes a different path, things don't become easier or clearer.

This is a coming-of-age story with a protagonist we don't usually see in this kind of novel; Libertie flails about trying to find a purpose and she's not always sympathetic as she does so. Greenidge also plays with our expectations for historical novels by omitting white people, who exist on the periphery and always as an untrustworthy and potentially dangerous force. But while Greenidge is doing some interesting things in her clearly well-researched novel, it felt a little saggy in places, like it wasn't sure where it was going. Greenidge is a promising writer and the things she choses to write about are always interesting, but she is still developing her craft. I'm eager to read what she writes next.

Struggling with her dissertation, a woman wishes that she could come down with some sort of injury or disease that would buy her some time away from teaching to finish it. When she becomes ill, leaving her too tired and unable to concentrate to work on it, it's hard for her to not see some sort of cosmic karma at work. Nervous System by Lina Meruane and translated into English by Megan McDowell starts out seeming like a novel about how a woman deals with life with a chronic illness, but that's not what the author is interested in, turning to a larger exploration into the ways our bodies can fail, whether through injury, accident, disease or simply aging.

There's a lot less plot and a lot more ambiguity to this novel than I enjoy. I'm not entirely sure what Meruane was doing here. There were some interesting moments, but far too often, something interesting happened and is brushed aside for something less interesting. I'm glad the Tournament of Books pushed me well out of my comfort zone, but I'm happy to be back in it now that I've read this one.

>203 RidgewayGirl: I'm intrigued. I will see if the library can find me a copy. Thanks for the thoughtful review.