Streamsong #3 2022 Homestretch for the Holidays

A winter picture from Glacier Park by Jack Bell Photography.

Hi - I'm Janet.

I've been a member of LT since 2006.

I retired in the fall of 2016 from my career as a technician in an NIAID research lab. (Yes, that made Dr Anthony Fauci my ultimate boss .... way up the chain.)

I'm now enjoying all the things I never had time to do.

I live in the Bitterroot Valley of western Montana along Skalkaho Creek. I'm about half way between Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks - so if you're traveling or vacationing in the area, I'd love to meet you.

What do I read? A bit of everything. I enjoy literary fiction, mysteries and the occasional feel good cozy. I'm slowly working my way through 1001 Books to Read Before You Die (actually 1300 + books since I use the combined version spreadsheet). I'm also working my way around the world in a global reading challenge. About half the books I read are non-fiction.

I belong to two in-person book clubs.

I have Appaloosa horses and usually raise a foal or two each year. No foals in 2022, but hopefully one on the way in 2023. Climate change, drought, and being 66 years old are changing how I do my horse business.

BOOKS READ 2022

✅ = Outstanding Book! ❤️ = Favorite

FIRST QUARTER

January

1. Dashing Through the Snow - Mary Higgins Clark & Carol Higgins Clark - 2008 - ROOT#1- acq'd 2021
2. Happiness - Aminatta Forna - 2018 - Global Reading: Sierra Leone author - library
3. Washington Black -Esi Edugyan - 2018 - Global Reading:Barbados (partial location) - library
4. Finding Chika - Mitch Alborn - 2019 - Global Reading: Haiti (partial location) - Newcomers' Book Club - library
5. Decider - Dick Francis - 1993 - library
6. World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments - Aimee Nezhukumatathil - 2020 - library
7. The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern - 2011 - Reread - Library Brown Bag Book Club - library
8. The New Silk Roads: The New Asia and the Remaking of the World Order - Peter Frankopan - 2018 - Newcomers' Book Club - Global Reading - Root #2 purch 2021 - Kindle

February
9. Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done - Jon Acuff - 2017 - 10 pages a day inspirational book - Root #3 - purchased 2021 - Kindle
10. Dirt Work: An Education in the Woods - Christine Byl - 2013 - Glacier Conservancy Book Club - library
11. The President and the Frog - Carolina de Robertis - 2021 - Global Reading - library
✅ ❤️ 12. Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon by Malcolm Gladwell - 2021 - audiobook - library/Hoopla
13. Our Malady Lessons in Liberty from a Hospital Diary - Timothy Snyder - 2020 - library
14. The Man Who Climbs Trees - James Aldred - 2017 - Newcomer's book Club - library
15. Alex's Wake - Martin Goldsmith - 2014 - Library Brown Bag Book Club - purch 2022
16. Ariadne - Jennifer Saint - 2021 - library
17. The Salish People and the Lewis and Clark Expedition - Salish-Pend d'Oreille Culture Committee - 2005 - Glacier Conservancy Book CLub - library
18. Tunnels - Rutu Modan - 2020 - Asia Reading: Palestine/Israel - library

MARCH
19. A Bigger Table, Expanded Edition with Study Guide: Building Messy, Authentic, and Hopeful Spiritual Community - John Pavlovitz - 2020 LTER - ROOT #4
20. Five Little Indians - Michelle Good 2020 - global reading: Canada - library
21. The Dangers of Smoking in Bed - Mariana Enriquez - English translation 2021 - Global Reading: Argentina - library
22. Ines of My Soul - Isabel Allende - 2006 - Global Reading: Chile, Peru - Root #5 acquired 2016 - listened to audiobook
23. Winter: A Novel - Ali Smith - 2017 - British author - library

SECOND QUARTER

April
24. Gravel Heart - Abdulrazak Gurnah - 2017 - Global Reading: Zanzibar, Tanzania - library
25. Last Bus to Wisdom - Ivan Doig - 2016 - audiobook - re-listen for NC book club- library
26. The Devil That Danced on the Water - Aminatta Forna - 2002 - Global Reading: Sierra Leone - library
27. Fight Night - Miriam Toews - 2021 - library
28. Atomic Habits - James Clear - 2018 - library

May
29. Matrix - Lauren Groff - 2021 - library
30. The Bell in the Lake - Lars Mytting - 2020 - Global Reading: Norway - library
31. Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist - Kate Raworth - 2017 - library
32. The Woman They Could Not Silence One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear - Kate Moore - 2021 - library
33. The Paris Library - Janet Skeslien Charles - 2022 - LBB Book Club - purch 2022
34. A Journal for Jordan - Dana Canedy - 2008 - Newcomers' Book Club; purch 2022

June
35. A History of the Rain - Niall Williams - 2015 - library - Global Reading: Ireland
36. The Casual Vacancy - J. K. Rowling - 2012 - Global Reading: England ROOT #6 acq'd 2014 -
37. Land on Fire - Gary Ferguson - 2017 - Glacier Conservancy Book Club - library
38. Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive - Stephanie Land - 2020 - LBBG Book Club - Reread acq'd 2022

THIRD QUARTER

July
39. The Weight of Night - Christine Carbo - 2017 - Glacier Conservancy Book Club - library
40. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu - Joshua Hammer - 2017 - Global Reading: Mali - library
41. The Signature of All Things - Elizabeth Gilbert - 2013 - NC Book Club - purch 2022
42. The Sentence - Lousie Erdrich - 2022 - library
43. The Cat That God Sent - Jim Kraus - 2013 - church library
44. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson - 1886 - Project Gutenberg
45. Driftless - David Rhodes - 2010 - library 4.5 stars

August
46. Three Apples Fell From the Sky- Narine Abgaryan - 2020 - Global Reading: Armenia - library
47. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon - 2004 - Reread - audiobook - acq'd 2022
48.❤️ Mickey7 - Edward Ashton - 2022 - library
49. And a Dog Called Fig: Solitude, Connection, the Writing Life - Helen Humphries - 2022 - library
50. The Cat Who Saved Books - Sōsuke Natsukawa - 2021 - Global Reading: Japan - library
51.❤️Read Dangerously - Azar Nafisi - Global Reading: Iran -2022 - library
52.❤️ Black Sun - Rebecca Roanhorse - 2020 - library
53.❤️ The Fell - Sarah Moss - 2022 - library
54. Memories From Moscow to the Black Sea - Teffi - orig pub 1928; translated 2016; Global Reading: Russia/ Ukraine - purchased 2022

September
55. Beyond Uhura - Nichelle Nichols - 1994 - ROOT #7: ? Date Acquired
56. Trump: A Graphic Biography - Ted Rall - 2016 - Sept TIOLI #1 - ROOT #8 - acquired 2019
56. The Jesus I Never Knew - Phillip Yancey - 1995 - ROOT #9; acquired 2016
57. The Book of Form and Emptiness - Ruth Ozeki - 2022 - library
58. Clean Air - Sarah Blake - 2022 - library
59. Political Suicide The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party - Ted Rall - 2020 - library
60. Fevered Star - Rebecca Roanhorse - 2022 - library
61. Elephant Company - Vicki Constantine Croke - 2014 - Library Brown Bag Book Club - Global Reading: Burma/Myanmar - library
62. Billionaires: The Lives of the Rich and Powerful - Darryl Cunningham - 2021 - library

FOURTH QUARTER

October
63. The Crossing Places - Elly Griffiths - 2009 - library
64. The Dictionary of Lost Words - Pip Williams - 2020 - Newcomers' Book Club - Global Reading: England, Australia, Kindle purchased 2022
65. Book Woman's Daughter - Kim Michele Richardson - 2022 - library
66. Wild River Pioneers: Adventures in the Middle Fork of the Flathead, Great Bear Wilderness and Glacier National Park - John Fraley - 2008 - Glacier Conservancy Book Club - library
67. The Storied Life of A J Fikry - Gabrielle Zevin - 2014 - ROOT #10 acq'd 2020
68. Spring: A Novel - Ali Smith -2020 - library
69. Giant Steps - Karl Bushby - 2005 - Newcomers Book Club - Purchased 2022
70. The Glass Palace - Amitav Ghosh - 2000 - Library Brown Bag Book Club - purchased 10/22
71. Twelve By Twelve - William Powers - 2010 - library

November
72. One Thousand and One Nights: A Retelling - Hannan Al-Shaykh - 2011 - Global Reading: Lebanon - library
73. The Night Portrait - Laura Morelli - 2020 - Newcomers' Book Club - Global Reading: Poland, Germany (US author) - library
74. Celestial Bodies - Jokha Alharthi - 2018 - Global Reading - Oman - ROOT #10 - purchased 2019
75. An Uncertain Place - Fred Vargas - 2011 - Global Reading: French author, Serbia partial location; library
76. Horse - Geraldine Brooks 2022 - library
77. Reservation Blues - Sherman Alexie - 2005 - ROOT #11 purchased 2018

December
78. Reading Like a Writer - Francine Prose - 2006 - library
79. Ancestor Approved - Cynthia L Smith - 2022 - library
80. Bob Son of Battle - Alfred Ollivant - 1898 - ROOT #12 acquired 2016
81. Shutter - Ramona Emerson - 2022 - library
82. Don't Let the Goats Eat the Loquat Trees - Thomas Hale - 1986 - Global Reading:Nepal - ROOT #13 acquired 2007
83. Night of the Living Rez- Morgan Talty - 2022 - library
84. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff - Christopher Moore - 2004 - ROOT #14 Acquired 2013
85. Joseph Anton - Salman Rushdie - 2013 - audiobook - library
86. When Women Were Dragons - Kelly Barnhill - 2022 - library
87. The House in the Cerulean Sea - TJ Klune - 2022 - library
88. Braiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall Kimmerer - 2015 - purchased 2022

****88 BOOKS COMPLETED IN 2022 ****

YEAR CATALOGED OR ACQUIRED
1 - ?
2 - pre LT
1 - 2007
1 - 2012
2 - 2014
2 - 2016
1 - 2018
2 - 2019
1 - 2020
3 - 2021
9 - 2022
63 - library

Total ROOTS read (acquired before 2022)
14

FORMAT
7 - audiobook/Hoopla
5 - Kindle app/Gutenberg/online
75- printed books

GENRE

- 51 - Fiction
1 - 1001
2 - animals
2 - children's
1 - classics
1 - Christian fiction
11 - contemporary fiction
1 - dogs
1 - dystopia
6 - fantasy
1 - feminism
1 - folk tales
22 - global reading
1 - graphic novel
7 - historical fiction
2 - horror
1 - horses
15 - literary fiction
2 - magical realism
2 - Montana
4 - mystery
6 - Native American/ First Nations
1 - nature
2 - noir
1 - political fiction
1 - religion
2 - retelling
1 - satire
1 - science fiction
4 - short stories
1 - YA


- 34 - Non-Fiction (may fit into more than one category)
2 - animals
6 - biography
4 - books
2 - Christianity
1 - dogs
1 - economics
3 - environment
3 - essays
1 - global reading
3 - graphic non-fiction
7 - history
2 - inspirational
7 - global reading
2 - medical
15 - memoir
1 - mental health
1 - Montana
1 - music
2 - Native Americans
7 - nature/outdoors
4 - politics
1 - religion
1 - science
1 - self-help
3 - sustainability
4 - travel
3 - women
4 - writers and writing

AUTHORS

48 - Female Authors
37- Male Authors
2 - Combination of male and female authors

53 - Authors who are new to me
28 - Authors read before
1 - Anthology of 18 authors
----17 authors new to me
----1 author read before

5 - Reread

Nationality of Author:
2 - Argentina
1 - Armenian
1 - Australian
4 - Canada
1 - Chile
1 - French
2 - India
1 - Iranian
1 - Ireland
1 - Israeli
1 - Lebanon
1 - Japan
1 - Norway
1 - Oman
1 - Russia
1 - Sierra Leone
1 - Tanzania
1 - Uruguay
51 - US
13 - UK
1 - UK/Sierra Leone

Birthplace or residence of Author if different from nationality:

Setting of book if different than author's nationality:
1 - Barbados (partial location)
2 - Burma/(Myanmar)
1 - England
3 - France
1 - Greece
1 - Haiti (partial location)
1 - Mali
1 - Nepal
1 - Palestine (partially) - also Israel
1 - Peru, Chile, Spain
1 - Serbia (partial location)
1 - UK

Language Book Originally Published in:

79 - English
1 - Arabic
1 - French
1 - Hebrew
1 - Japanese
1 - Norwegian
2 - Russian
1 - Salish (partially)
3 - Spanish

Original Publication Date
1 - 1886
1 - 1898
1 - 1928
1 - 1986
1 - 1992
1 - 1994
1 - 1995
1 - 2000
1 - 2002
3 - 2004
2 - 2005
1 - 2006
1 - 2007
3 - 2008
1 - 2009
2 - 2010
2 - 2011
1 - 2012
4 - 2013
3 - 2014
2 - 2015
2 - 2016
7 - 2017
7 - 2018
12 - 2020
10 - 2021
16 - 2022

The Global Challenge: Read five books from each of the 193 UN members plus a few additional areas. (Ongoing project over **Many** years!)

Thread here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/188308

COUNTRIES VISITED IN 2022


visited 23 states (10.2%)
Create your own visited map of The World

Countries new for me in 2022
Armenia (BOOK #1) Three Apples Fell From the Sky - Narine Abgaryan - 2020 - Fic: Author, location - library
Mali (Book #1) The Bad Ass Librarians of Timbuktu Joshua Hammer - 2017 - NF (location, US author) read 7/2022
Oman: Celestial Bodies - Jokha Alharthi - 2018 - Fic (location, Omani author) 11/2022
Peru Ines of My Soul - Isabelle Allende -2007 - Fic; location - (also Chile & Spain); Chilean author - read 3/2022
TanzaniaGravel Heart - Abdulrazak Gurnah - 2017 - Global Reading: Tanzania - library
Uruguay (Book #1): The President and the Frog - Carolina De Robertis - 2021 - Fic, (Location -although unnamed, author) 2/2022

Countries Completed This Year with Five Books
Myanmar: (Book #4) Elephant Company - Vicki Constantine Croke - 2014 (location, UK author) NF 10/03/2022
-------- (Book #5) The Glass Palace – Amitav Ghosh - 2000 - Fic (Indian author, locations: Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, India) read 10/22
Norway: Book #5. The Bell in the Lake - Lars Mytting - 2020 - (Fic, location, Norwegian author) - 5/2022

Countries previously visited - working toward 5 books
Barbados: Book 2: Washington Black - Esi Edugyan - 2018 - Fic - partial location - read 1/2022
Columbia: Book 2: Giant Steps - Karl Bushby - 2005 - NF - (British author, travel memoir, many countries) Read 10/2022
Haiti: (Book #3) Finding Chika - Mitch Alborn - 2019 - non-fiction (partial location) - 1/19/2022
Lebanon: (Book 4) One Thousand and One Nights: A Retelling - Hannan Al-Shaykh - 2011 - Fic (location, Lebanese author) - read 11/2022
Nepal: Book 2) Don't Let the Goats Eat the Loquat Trees - Thomas Hale - 1986 - NF (location, US author) - 12/11/2022
Serbia: (Book #3)An Uncertain Place - Fred Vargas - 2011 - Fic/mystery (French author, Serbia partial location) read 11/2022
Sierra Leone (Book #2) : Happiness - Aminatta Foma - author from Sierra Leone/Uk- library - 1/2022
Sierra Leone (Book #3): The Devil That Danced on the Water - Aminatta Forna - 2002 - NF; (location, author) library

Additional books in countries already completed with 5:
Argentina The Dangers of Smoking in Bed -Mariana Enriquez - English translation 2021 - Fic/SS Author & location - library
Canada: Quebec Fight Night - Miriam Toews - 2021 - Fic, (location, author) May 2022
Columbia: Book 2: 2. Giant Steps - Karl Bushby - 2005 - NF - (British author, travel memoir, many countries) Read 10/2022
France Alex's Wake - Martin Goldsmith - 2014 - NF ; multiple countries/ US author - purch 2022
Ireland History of the Rain - Niall Williams - 2014 - library - read 6/2022
Iran: Read Dangerously - Azar Nafisi -2022 - NF, (Iranian/US author, Iranian/US locations) library 8/2022
Japan The Cat Who Saved Books - Sōsuke Natsukawa - 2021 - Global Reading: Japan - library

multiple from US/UK

ALL COUNTRIES VISITED

CUMULATIVE: 102 countries visited

visited 102 states (45.3%)

Create your own visited map of The World

These numbers include the library books that I have at home.

As of 01/01/2022: 530 books on physical MT TBR
As of 01/01/2021: 522 books on MT TBR

37 BOOKS ACQUIRED 2022

13 - Read
3 - Currently Reading
1 - Reference
20 - tbr

**Read** 1. Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys: A Native American Expression of the Jesus Way - Richard Twiss - 2015 - Sunday School Study
***Read***2. Alex's Wake: The Tragic Voyage of the St Louis - Martin Goldsmith - 2014 - Library Brown Bag Book Club; 2-5-2022
**Reading** 3. Winning at Halter - Denny Hassett - 2003
4. World War Z - Max Brooks - Bozeman Meetup 3/2022
**Reading**5. Women Elders Speak - Jo Anne Salisbury Troxel - 2021 - Bozeman Meetup 3/2022
6. ***Read***How to Heal Our Divides - Brian Allain - 2021 - Sunday study
***Reading***7. On the Bus With Rosa Parks - Rita Dove -
***Read***8. A Journal for Jordan - Dana Canedy - 2008 - Newcomers' Book Club - 4/2022
***Read***9. The Paris Library - Janet Skelslien Charles - 2022 - Library Brown Bag Book Club - Chapter One - May 2022
**Read - Bought a copy for my library**10. The Salish People and the Lewis and Clark Expedition - Salish-Pend d'Oreille Culture Committee - 2019 - Chapter One - May 2022
11. The World of Downton Abbey - Jessica Fellowes - gift
12. A New Song - (Mitford) - Jan Karon church rummage sale
13. In This Mountain - Jan Karon - church rummage sale
14. Soul Deep in Horses: Memoir of an Equestrian Vagabond - Merri Melde
15. Songs of Willow Frost - Jamie Ford
16. Dance of the Happy Shades: And Other Stories by Alice Munro
17. A Sharp Solitude: A Novel of Suspense (Glacier Mystery Series) - Christine Carbo
18. The Land of Painted Caves: Earth's Children, Book Six by Jean M. Auel Church rummage sale
***Read***15. The Signature of All Things - Elizabeth Gilbert - 2013 - NC Book Club
19. True Free Spirit : Charles E. Morris: Cowboy Photographer of the Old West by Bill - Larson Morris, Pamela Morris
***Read***20. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon audiobook - freebie BPL
Reference21.First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament - Terry M. Wildman - 2021 - gift from Dan and Iroh
***Read***22. Memories From Moscow to the Black Sea - Teffi - 1936? this version 2016- Global Reading: Russia, Ukraine - Library Brown Bag Book Club.
23. The Frozen Heart - Almudena Grandes - 2007? : Global Reading: Spain; Kindle app
24. Manner of Death - Stephen White - 2000 - library freebie 8/2022
25. Devil's Waltz - Jonathan Kellerman - 1993 - library freebie 8/2022
***Read***26. The Dictionary of Lost Words - Pip Williams - 2020 - Newcomers' Book Club - Kindle - August 2022
27. ***Reading***Braiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall Kimmerer purchased for Indigenous Book Club - Chapter One - Oct 2022
28. Sand Talk - Tyson Yunkaporta - 2020 Rec - Chapter One - October 2022
29. ***Read***Giant Steps - Karl Bushby - 2005 - Amazon used - Newcomers' Book Club - October 2022
30. ***Read***The Glass Palace - Amitav Ghosh - 2000 - Library Brown Bag Book Club - October 2022
31. Daughters of Montana Pioneers: Gallatin Valley Female Seminary - Joanne Verwolf - 2022 - Oct 2022
32. Marie: A True Story - Peter Maas - library freebie - Dec 2022
33.Read 2023 Cold Earth - Sarah Moss - Dec 2022 LT gift swap
34. I'd Rather be Reading - Anne Bogel - Dec 2022 LT gift swap
35. Unholy: How White Christian Nationalists Powered the Trump Presidency - Sarah Posner - Dec 2022 LT gift swap
36. ***Read*** - Wanted for my library The Fell - Sarah Moss - Dec 2022 LT gift swap
37. A Woman's Way West: In and Around Glacier National Park - John Fraley - Dec 2022 LT gift swap

*************

Books Read Monthly Summary Template 2022

SOURCE:
- library
- ROOT
- Purchased this year

FORMAT
- audiobook
- electronic - online/Kindle app
- print books

- Fiction (may fit into more than one category)

- Non-Fiction (may fit into more than one category)

AUTHORS
- Female Authors
- Male Authors
- Combination of Male and Female authors

- Authors who are new to me
- Authors I have previously read
- Rereads

COUNTRIES VISITED

ORIGINAL PUBLICATION DATE

Happy new thread, Janet.

Last review posted on previous thread:

Although I was familiar with the general theme of the 1001 Nights, I had never actually read any part of it. So I was glad to discover this one on (perhaps) Beth’s thread and I was happy to read it.



72. One Thousand and One Nights: A Retelling – Hannan Al-Shayk - 2011
– library
- Global Reading: 4th book from Lebanon – Lebanese author


Shahrayer’s wife betrayed him by taking part in massive orgies. She was seen by Shahrayer’s brother Shahaman who duly reported it. In an act of retribution, Shahrayer not only executed his wife but vowed to take a new untouched virgin each night, deflower her and execute her at dawn.

Until, of course, Shahrazad volunteered to become one of the doomed virgins. She mesmerized the king with her storytelling who agreed to let her finish her story before she was executed.

Stories within stories within stories. It’s a bit like the Noel Harrison song Windmills of your Mind: “like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel - Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel”.

Author Hannan Al-Shayk chose to beautifully retell nineteen of these stories. According to Wikipedia she chose to leave the stories continuing while the traditional ending is that after one thousand and one nights the stories end, and Shahrazad presented Shahrayer with the three children she had borne during the telling of the tales.

A few quotes:

Foreward by Mary Gaitskill:”The action of the stories in One Thousand and One Nights is dark and full of cruelty – especially toward women who are constantly being accused of adultery and then murdered or beat up. But the animating spirit here is light and full of play, especially on the part of the female characters, who are consistently resourceful and witty”. P.x

Author’s Preface : “I heard that a girl in my class had Alf Layl wa layl, (One Thousand and One Nights) and I hurried with her to peer at a few volumes in a glass cabinet, next to a carved tusk of an elephant. The volumes were leather- bound, their titles engraved in gold. I asked my friend if I might touch one, but she said that her father always locked the cabinet and kept the key in his pocket, because he said he feared that if anyone finished the stories they would drop dead. Of course I didn’t know then, and neither did my friend, that the reason her father didn’t want any of the women of the house to read Alf Layla wa Layla was because of its explicit sexuality.” Pxvii

“I felt as if I had opened the door of a carriage which took me back into the heart of my Arab heritage, and to classical Arab language, after a great absence. I was astonished at how our forebears had shaped our societies, showing us how to live our daily lives, through these tales which were filled with insights and moral and social rules and laws, without the influence of religion, but derived from first hand experience and deepest natural feelings towards every living thing. The effect of Alf Layl wa layl was so strong and real that Arab societies shaped themselves around it; the names of its characters were embedded in our language, becoming proverbs, adjectives and eve modes of speech. I was in awe of the complex society the stories evoked, which allowed relationships between humans and jinnis and beasts, real and imaginary.” P xviii

6 - November Books Read - Running Summary

72. One Thousand and One Nights: A Retelling - Hannan Al-Shaykh - 2011 - Global Reading: Lebanon - library
73. The Night Portrait - Laura Morelli - 2020 - Newcomers' Book Club - Global Reading: Poland, Germany (US author) - library
74. Celestial Bodies - Jokha Alharthi - 2018 - Global Reading - Oman - ROOT purchased 2019
75. An Uncertain Place - Fred Vargas - 2011 - Global Reading: French author, Serbia partial location; library
76. Horse - Geraldine Brooks 2022 - library
77. Reservation Blues - Sherman Alexie - 2005 - ROOT #11 purchased 2018

SOURCE:
4 - library
2 - ROOT
1 - purchased 2019
- Purchased this year

FORMAT
- audiobook
- electronic - online/Kindle app
6 - print books

- Fiction: 6 (may fit into more than one category)
-- 1 - classics
-- 2 - global reading
-- 2 - historical fiction
-- 1 - literary fiction
-- 1 - mystery
-- 1 - Native American
-- 1 - retelling

- Non-Fiction (may fit into more than one category)

AUTHORS
4 - Female Authors
2 - Male Authors

4 - Authors who are new to me
2 - Authors I have previously read
- Rereads

COUNTRIES VISITED
1 - France (partial location)
1 - Germany
1 - Lebanon
1 - Oman
1 - Poland
1 - Serbia (partial location)

ORIGINAL PUBLICATION DATE
1 - 2005
2 - 2011
1 - 2018
1 - 2020
1 - 2022

>10 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul and Welcome!

>13 streamsong: Sorry Janet, I hadn't realised I had jumped in sightly too early.

What I'm currently reading:


Reservation Blues - Sherman Alexie - ROOT and sneaking back into Take It or Leave It Challenges with this book by a favorite author.


Reading Like a Writer - Francine Prose


Joseph Anton: A Memoir - Salman Rushdie - audiobook in the car


Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom - Robin Wall Kimmerer - audiobook on my exercise bike


Jesus and the Victory of God - N. T. Wright - very long term read!

and according to my 'Currently Reading' collection here on LT, I have dozens and dozens started but not completed - so I will work on these

>14 PaulCranswick: "A wizard is always exactly on time", Paul, and so are you, Mr Book Wizard! I am honored that you are the first.

It's snowing like crazy here - and once it clears out it it will drop again to the 0 F and below temperature range. This is the second large snow and temperture hit we've taken in November - usually this sort of weather is more common in January.

I plan on reading and trying to catch up on reviews and visiting my LT friends.

Thankfully, I'm well stocked up with leftover turkey and cranberries.

Happy new one!

Happy new thread Janet.

Happy new thread, Janet!

>12 streamsong: Congratulations on reaching 75!

Happy new one! Congrats on reading 75 books :)

Hi Janet and happy new thread.

Congrats on reading 75 books so far this year.

Your weather looks vicious for the week. Stay warm and safe.

Happy new thread, Janet. >11 streamsong: I'm glad you enjoyed this. I was surprised at the amount of sex and the powerful women in the stories and can understand why Al-Shayk had to sneak reads of this when she was a kid.

>17 drneutron: Thank you, Jim!

>18 WhiteRaven.17: Thank you! I'm glad you stopped by!

>19 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita and thank you for noticing the 75. I wasn't sure I would make it this year, due to my mid-summer reading slump. We'll see if I get to 100 this year. If not, it will be the first in many years that I have not made it that far.

>20 figsfromthistle: Thank you Anita, for the congratulations on both the new thread and the 75 books. I'm happy to be in both places.

>21 karenmarie: HI Karen - yes 'vicious' is a good word for the weather this week. The horses always mean that I have to go outside and I am not looking forward to bundling up for their twice a day feeds (three times a day when it gets very cold as they need extra food then).

I also try to drive the three miles into town once a day or so - I need a bit of face to face human interaction even if it's just at the grocery store or coffee bar. I also need to do a quick trip to the library this morning.

>22 BLBera: Hi Beth - One Thousand and One Nights was very different than I had imagined it to be, but it's such a cornerstone of Arabic literature that I am really glad I did so. I had a much more Disney-movie version of several of the stories in my head - although those were the very stories she did not tell. Not a kids' book for sure!

Adventures in microgreens:

Here are the radish microgreens that I experimented in planting:



As you can see, they were about four inches tall when I harvested them.



It yielded about a third of my small container. (I had been paying $6 for this container stuffed full at the farmers' market this summer)

And here's a photo of my avocado toast with microgreens and a spaghetti squash dish.

>1 streamsong: love, love, love looking at it...but glad I'm not there!

I replied in your previous thread, link is here if you're interested: https://www.librarything.com/topic/343510#7988544

ETA
>12 streamsong: link to Horse leads to a Narnia book...

Happy 75+ for 2022!

Happy New Thread, Janet. I love the Glacier Park topper. I hope Sherman Alexie returns to writing, along with an explanation for the allegations that surrounded him. I love his writing.

Happy new thread, Janet! I'm enjoying looking over your maps - I'm thinking that next year I will put more emphasis on my goal to read more books from around the world, and especially in translation, and may use your example of two maps, one for "entirely" and one for the year.

Congrats on reaching (and surpassing!) 75 as well.

>26 fuzzi: Thanks for your reply, Lor. Yes, it's only 14 degrees this morning and while beautiful, it's almost beyond my ability to take care of the horses out there.

I remember as children we used to grow sweet potato vines as a school project by inserting toothpicks in the tuber and partially submerging in a jar of water. The vines were pretty - but eventually got too big to be a house plant. I have a lovely garden window that I have been wondering about growing something that vines up and over it. I may experiment. :) There may not be enough light.

I fixed the link for Horse. It's one of my very favorite books that I've read this year - I'm debating whether to give it five stars. I'm a few reviews behind, but I think you'd like it. Have you read anything else by Geraldine Brooks?

>27 msf59: Hi Mark! Thanks for stopping by my new digs.

Yes, Sherman Alexie, sigh. He's now on my mental list of problematic authors whose behavior is appalling, but whose writing is amazing. In Reservation Blues he makes the statement that Indians laugh about everything, so while, there's a lot of very dark humor, it's one of the saddest of his books that I've read. Abuse follows you into adulthood as must the awful conditions on a res. Doesn't excuse him, but may help explain. He was not included in the Native writers' symposium that I attended earlier this year. His name was never brought up, so I don't know if he was not invited or turned down the invitation.

Have you read his memoir You Don't Have to Say You Love Me which also addresses growing up with mental illness? It's another that brought me to tears.

I think I'll continue to pick up copies of his books as I see them in used book stores.

>28 bell7: Hi Mary! Yes, the maps. I love them, but wonder if I should distinguish between books with a setting in a certain country and those whose author is from the country. And most problematic of all are the books set partially in a certain country, but the author is also not from there. Perhaps I will split them out for the more 'popular' countries.

Will you participate in Paul's African reading challenge next year?

I picked up a flyer at the library yesterday with books suggested by authors from the World Cup Soccer participating. I've found other similar lists online, but not this exact one. I'll keep it as a reference for sure.

73. The Night Portrait– Laura Morelli - 2020
- Newcomers' Book Club
- Global Reading: Set in Poland, Germany and Italy; author from US
– library


Historical fiction with three separate timelines and alternating chapters.

The opening is in Italy in 1476. Cecelia Gallerani has been told she must enter a convent as her brothers have gambled away her dowry. Instead, she seizes a chance and becomes the paramour of Ludovico il Moro, the Duke of Milan. The duke is so taken with her he has Leonardo da Vinci paint her portrait – the famous Lady with an Ermine.

In Munich Germany, 1939, Edith Becker, an art historian and restorer of paintings, is asked to do some research on art in Poland – eventually her research becomes the basis of art seized by the Nazis from condemned Jews, the general public and even churches. As Edith understands her part in the seizures, she is appalled but must continue to work for the Nazis. One of the most famous works seized and ultimately claimed by the man known as the Butcher of Poland is the Lady with an Ermine.

And finally the third timeline begins in Normandy in 1944 as the US military battles its way to Germany. Dominic, a soldier with a proclivity for sketching is part of the liberating forces.

Can such destruction ever be ameliorated? How do two women living five hundred years apart react to authority that gives them no alternatives?

The author is a PhD art historian and professor. Her research makes this infamous chapter of Nazi history as well as the Lady With an Ermine really come alive.

>29 streamsong: I have read absolutely nothing by Geraldine Brooks...

I think you'd like this one!

I purchased this book after it won the International Booker Award in 2019. I was eager to read a book by an Omani author, but other books pushed in ahead of it.



74. Celestial Bodies – Jokha Alharthi - 2018
- Global Reading - Oman: Book #1 – Winner of the Booker International Award in 2019
ROOT #10 - purchased 2019


This is a character and family driven story of contemporary Oman. But no matter how contemporary the plot, there are echoes straight out of A Thousand and One Nights – a wealthy merchant whose wife was once a slave and came to her position after his first wife mysteriously sickened and was imprisoned until she passed away; rich men and street beggars; and three sisters – one going to med school and applying for a divorce, one consenting to an arranged marriage and the third waiting for a man she considers her betrothed who has gone to school in Canada and most probably will never again return.

It's a book of interesting portraits narrated by alternating voices. But the family structures are quite complicated and as the time line is also not always linear, it can be a bit difficult to keep the characters separate. Unless you have an interest in this region or culture, I would only half-heartedly recommend it.

6 - Books Read in November - Summary

72. One Thousand and One Nights: A Retelling - Hannan Al-Shaykh - 2011 - Global Reading: Lebanon - library
73. The Night Portrait - Laura Morelli - 2020 - Newcomers' Book Club - Global Reading: Poland, Germany (US author) - library
74. Celestial Bodies - Jokha Alharthi - 2018 - Global Reading - Oman - ROOT purchased 2019
**75. An Uncertain Place - Fred Vargas - 2011 - Global Reading: French author, Serbia partial location; library
**76. Horse - Geraldine Brooks 2022 - library
**77. Reservation Blues - Sherman Alexie - 2005 - ROOT #11 purchased 2018

**Need to write review

SOURCE:
4 - library
2 - ROOT
- Purchased this year

FORMAT
- audiobook
- electronic - online/Kindle app
6 - print books

- Fiction: 6 (may fit into more than one category)
-- 1 - classics
-- 2 - global reading
-- 2 - historical fiction
-- 1 - literary fiction
-- 1 - mystery
-- 1 - Native American
-- 1 - retelling

- Non-Fiction (may fit into more than one category)

AUTHORS
4 - Female Authors
2 - Male Authors

4 - Authors who are new to me
2 - Authors I have previously read
- Rereads

COUNTRIES VISITED
1 - France (partial location)
1 - Germany
1 - Lebanon
1 - Oman
1 - Poland
1 - Serbia (partial location)

ORIGINAL PUBLICATION DATE
1 - 2006
2 - 2011
1 - 2018
1 - 2020
1 - 2022

Wordle: alien, gourd, petty, these, eject

Wordle 530 5/6

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238 Played; 97 Win %; 15 Current Streak; 32 Max Streak

Total Books Read in December Summary: 10 books

78. Reading Like a Writer - Francine Prose - 2006 - library
79. Ancestor Approved - Cynthia L Smith -2022 - library
80. Bob Son of Battle - Alfred Ollivant - 1898 - ROOT acquired 2016
81. Shutter - Ramona Emerson - 2022 - library
82. Don't Let the Goats Eat the Loquat Trees - Thomas Hale - 1986 - Global Reading: Nepal - ROOT #13 acquired 2007
83. Night of the Living Rez - Morgan Talty - 2022 - library
84. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff - Christopher Moore - 2004 - ROOT #14 Acquired 2013
85. Joseph Anton - Salman Rushdie - 2013 - audiobook - library

86. When Women Were Dragons - Kelly Barnhill - 2022 - library
87. The House in the Cerulean Sea - TJ Klune - 2022 - library

SOURCE:
7 - library
3 - ROOT
- Purchased this year

FORMAT
1 - audiobook
- electronic - online/Kindle app
9 - print books

7 - Fiction (may fit into more than one category)
1 - anthology
2 - children's
1 - classic
2 - fantasy/magical realism
1 - feminism
1 - mystery
2 - Native American
1 - religion
1 - satire
2 - short stories
1 - YA

- 3 Non-Fiction (may fit into more than one category)
-1- Christianity
-1- medical
-2 -memoir
-1- writers and writing

AUTHORS
1 - Female Authors
6 - Male Authors
1 - Combination of Male and Female authors

8 - Authors who are new to me
1 - Authors I have previously read
- Rereads
1 - Anthology of 18 writers:
----17 new to me
----1 author read before

COUNTRIES VISITED
1 - Nepal
1 - Wales

ORIGINAL PUBLICATION DATE
1 - 1898
1 - 1986
1 - 2004
1 - 2006
1 - 2013
5 - 2022

I think I'll try listing the tags I've added for books. For this one it is: fiction, mystery, France, Serbia, London, translated, French author, vampires, police procedural



75. An Uncertain Place – Fred Vargas - 2011
- Global Reading: French author, Serbia partial location;
- library


This is number 6 in the Parisian Commissaire/Chief Inspector Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg police procedural mysteries, but it's actually the first I've read.

While the Commissaire is attending a meeting in London, he and an English policeman discover eight and a half pairs of shoes with severed feet in them. Bizarrely, they are lined up as if wanting to enter the ancient and eerie, much-storied Highgate Cemetery.

After returning to Paris, the Commissaire is called to the site of an incredibly violent murder. The victim was not only dismembered but entirely severed into very small pieces.

The two macabre events converge and part of the answer seems to lie in Serbia at the grave of a ‘centuries old horror’ (quote from back cover) of a still feared vampire.

Lots of nicely written twists and turns kept me guessing; the bit of supernatural horror was just enough to make it interesting, but not necessarily push it into another genre of mystery. It’s a series that I will continue.

>39 streamsong: Glad to see you enjoyed your first Adamsberg, Janet!

Thanks, Anita! I have no idea why I started the Adamsberg where I did. Our library system doesn't have number 1, but does have number 2 so I've put that on hold and then suspended it for after the new year.

Four today for Wordle alien, gourd, roots, torso

Wordle 532 4/6

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AAgh single digits again last night and at 11 am it's up to 10 degrees F.

I'll be working on my review for Horse by Geraldine Brooks which is one of my two favorite books of the year.

I'm reading an oldie, Bob Son of Battle, a dog story published in 1898. I'm using the TIOLI challenges to pick up some of the books that I've had for years and probably wouldn't read otherwise. This is challenge #1 - author's names begin with a vowel and Alfred Ollivant fits the challenge. Wikipedia calls it a children's classic in both the US and the UK, although "most of the dialogue was written in the Cumbrian dialect." I know the content is out of style - it's not a bad dog story, but the boy is abused by his father and the dogs tear people and animals apart. But I can't imagine a kid today wanting to work through the Cumbrian dialogue.

"But I'll mak' it up to him--mak' it up to him and muir. I'll humble masel afore him, and that'll be bitter enough. And I'll be father and mither baith to him. But there's none to help me; and it's bin siar wi'oot ye. And--but lassie I'm wearyin' for ye." p 77

>41 streamsong: I have never understood how that works, Janet. How works putting a book on hold, and suspending?

I first thought it was like it is here, but I can only reserve a book at the library, and have to pick up within a week after it arrives.
If there is a waiting list, I have to wait for my turn. When I cancel my reservation, and still want the book with the waiting list, I have to start over again at the end of the line.

>44 FAMeulstee: Anita, all of what you say is how our library's hold system works, too.

Except, that at the top of my Hold Requests list, I have four buttons:

"Cancel Hold", :"Edit pickup location" "Edit/Suspend Hold" and "Cancel Hold Suspensions"

I can "Edit/Suspend" any hold that's not marked "in transit". When I hit that Edit/Suspend Button, it gives me an option of when to make that hold active again; I can make my hold inactive for 12 months.

I suspect it was originally intended for people going on vacation or 'snowbirding' - heading to the warmer climes of Arizona or Florida for the winter. A lot of people do that here and are only in Montana for the gorgeous summers.

But it works very well for me when I feel like I am getting overwhelmed with too many books that I want to read *eventually* and may not get the news ones that aren't available for renewal read before they are due.

>45 streamsong: That is a nice addition to the system, Janet.

I can put books I want to read later on my wishlist. To keep that in line I have put myself on a limit of 200. The only thing is that sometimes books on that list are culled.
Keeping the numbers of reseved books limited is no problem at all. The maximum for reserved books is 8.

>46 FAMeulstee: We have a 'lists' function on our online library checkout, but it doesn't seem to be working. So everything has to go on my hold list and I often am surprised by what turns up at the library for me to pick up. :)

76. Horse – Geraldine Brooks - 2022
– library

This is a double timeline story.

In the present, Theo a Nigerian-American graduate student in art history at Georgetown University, pulls a painting from a neighbor’s trash pile. It seems to be the very subject he is proposing for his thesis – Civil War era paintings of horses with black grooms or trainers also depicted. The painting is in horrible condition. Could it possibly be real? His research takes him to the Smithsonian Museum where he meets Jess, an Australian articulation (skeleton assembly) specialist and tags along with her to uncover a skeleton of the famous racehorse Lexington which has been forgotten in storage for many years.

The earlier timeline begins in Kentucky in 1850 where a promising foal is born. A slave boy, known as Warfield’s Jarrett is there at the colt's birth and becomes inseparable from him during the horse’s brilliant racing career, his escape to the North during the Civil war and his years at stud until the great stallion passes away.

It’s a wonderful story based on an actual event where Lexington’s skeleton was truly discovered after being forgotten for decades. The skeleton is now on permanent loan to the American Museum of the Horse.

As a horse story, it’s well written. The author is a horsewoman and get the details right.

Other themes include of course, art, art restoration and art history of the horses painted before photography. The abolitionist Cassius Clay is a secondary character (yes, there is a connection with the boxer).

As Ms Brooks said the story is not about race horses but about Racism – capital R writ large. I was intrigued at the twists and stunned by the ending.

Although I always fall for a good horse story, this one is 5 stars.

>39 streamsong: Completely forgot to congratulate you on reaching 75, Janet!

Congrats on hitting the goal!

Thank you Anita and Jim! This will be the first year for many years that I won't make it to a hundred books but it is what it is. According to this article, https://katiecouric.com/culture/book-guide/how-many-books-do-americans-read-per-... the average American reads 12.6 books per year, with a shocking 17% reading 0 books.

That's how I know that LT and this group in particular are the right place for me! Holiday hugs for my fellow book lovers!

Hi Janet, it's been too long since I've posted here. It's hard to keep up around these parts, but I am very interested in what you are reading.

>48 streamsong: I just checked out Horse from the library yesterday, although it might be the weekend before I can dive in. I've had it recommended to me by two personal friends and am looking forward to it. So glad to know that Brooks got the horse details right. I think her research skills are excellent and I've enjoyed everything I've read by Ms. Brooks.

I picked up two poetry books while I was at the library yesterday to help assure that I will make it to 100 books this year. I know the numbers aren't that important...but it gives me a bit of satisfaction to make that goal I've set for myself.

Hi Janet. Brrrr to your weather.

>30 streamsong: JK Rowling is now problematic for me, but not enough to abandon her Cormoran Strike/Robin Ellacott series.

>36 streamsong: Congrats on reaching 75.

>48 streamsong: And onto the wish list it goes. Brooks is hit or miss with me, mostly miss. But, this one sounds quite wonderful.

>51 streamsong: I'm not making 100 for the second year in a row, but yeah, a whole lot better than the average.

>43 streamsong: I tried to read Bob Son of Battle but just couldn't get past the dialect.

>53 karenmarie: Hi Donna! I'm currently catching up on your thread, too.

On the list of my similar libraries (weighted) you're currently listed as my number 1 most similar. :)

I hope you enjoy Horse I'll be interested to hear what you think about it.

I'm glad you'll make it to your goal of 100 books! I do have a box of children's Christmas books that I could work into my reading. But I think right now I'll just keep on, keeping on, and seeing where I end up. I had a very slow reading summer and as I said, it is what it is.

>53 karenmarie: Hi Karen - It's always so good to have you drop in!

The weather is slightly better. It's clear and getting above freezing mark yesterday and today, although the snow is not really melting.

>30 streamsong: "JK Rowling is now problematic for me, but not enough to abandon her Cormoran Strike/Robin Ellacott series."

Thanks for chiming in on the problematic Ms Rowling. I feel the same way about her, but at some point will start her Cormoran Strike series due to yours and others recs. Is it a cop out to say I won't buy new copies of either author? (used, or library) How do other people handle it?

It doesn't help that the Sherman Alexie book that I just finished, Reservation Blues was genius. I'm working on the review now.

I hope you enjoy Horse. I know you have a background with horses, so I hope it appeals.

>54 drneutron: Hi Jim! Sometimes life gets in the way of even such an integral part of it as reading. Thanks for your support!

>55 fuzzi: Hi Lor! I finished Bob Son of Battle yesterday. The dialect was challenging for sure, but became easier as I pushed onward. I can't imagine a modern child enjoying this 'children's classic'. It's not one I'll keep - I'll donate it on to the library or Good Will.

I have been having very bad pain in both my feet and hands. It's been limiting my horse work, and even my reading since by evening it can hurt to hold a book. Finally went to the doc on Tuesday since I had been taking way too much Ibuprofen and my stomach was feeling the effects. He put me on Celebrex which is helping immensely and he drew bloodwork for arthritis panel to determine the specific cause. My mom had very bad RA so I have fingers and toes (gingerly) crossed that is not the result.

My typing should be easier too!

>60 streamsong: I also have arthritis in my hands and feet. I have made dietary changes, avoiding certain foods which can increase inflammation, which have helped.

I also started wearing wrist warmers, what a difference!

Hi Janet!

>57 streamsong: More authors than not are/were either racist, sexist, or otherwise problematic. So far, I haven’t boycotted an author’s books based on these characteristics/issues and honestly don’t think I’ll do so in the future. If I had to do that, I’d have a lot less books on my shelves and a lot less good reading under my belt. Not buying their books but still reading them seems like a cheat in a way, although I do buy quite a few books used so don't always directly support an author.

I boycott an author based on my reaction to their works. In recent years that only includes Louise Penny and Louise Erdrich. Heh. Both Louises. Some authors I’m willing to buy new, like JK’s Robert Galbraith, others I frequently buy used or borrow from the Library.

>60 streamsong: How awful for you. I hope it’s not RA. I remember getting Celebrex when the carpal tunnel pain in my left hand/wrist got so bad in 2005. It worked miracles. I got carpal tunnel surgery in early 2006 so didn't need to take it regularly. I was given it again last year before I had my heart attack for my knees, but I can’t take it any more because of it being an NSAID and my cardiologist says I can’t take NSAIDs.

Happy Friday, Janet. Sorry to hear about the pain issues. I hope you get some relief. Great news about Horse. I am a big fan of Brooks and it is good to hear she has delivered another winner.

>61 fuzzi: Hi Lor! After reading your post, I had to go do a little online research. I had never heard of wrist warmers. I may buy myself a pair to try them out.

Which foods do you avoid? Mom tried avoiding nightshades, but that no had effect on her RA. I know everyone is different, though. The good ole internet suggests that red meat, white foods and processed foods can also trigger inflammation. It sounds like the same diet that is healthy for my type II diabetes might also help the inflammation.

>62 karenmarie: Hi Karen - I agree that if we only read authors whose political ideology exactly matched our own, our reading would be very restricted.

I have very few authors that I purchase new books - my house is overflowing with unread books; and my wallet often looks a bit thin. (Horses, you know). I'll go back to post >9 streamsong: and determine how many of the books I bought this year were new or used.

After all the kerfluffle about artists not being reimbursed for shared music, I sometimes wonder if libraries had not been invented long ago, if they would be permitted today.

I know you disliked The Sentence by Erdrich. That opening chapter was hard to take unless you recognized it as Indian humor: the worse a situation is, the funnier the story you can tell about it. The Alexie book that I recently finished quoted that phrase almost verbatim.

I've only read one Louise Penney. I didn't hate it, but have not yet gone on for more.

Thanks for the good wishes on my current ouchies!

>63 msf59: Hi Mark! Thanks for stopping in and for the good wishes on my hands.

Horse was wonderful! I think you'll like it when you get to it, especially with your bit of a fond spot for horses.

I need to read The Secret Chord - one of the few Brooks that I haven't yet read.

The second of three wonderful books in a row!

Tags: fiction, American Indian, Native Americans, Native American author, blues, humor, magical realism, Spokane, Spokane Indians, Washington, music, bands, cultural appropriation



77. Reservation Blues - Sherman Alexie - 2005
- ROOT #11 purchased 2018


Legendary (isn’t he dead?) blues player Robert Johnson brings his accursed guitar to the Spokane Indian reservation. Although he has tried to abandon it several times before, it has always returned to him. This time however, it latches onto young Thomas Builds-the-Fire who finds himself the lead guitar player of a native band called Coyote Springs, under the tutelage of a mysterious woman called Big Mama. Big Mama says she taught Elvis how to sing and also watched the massacre of her people at Wounded Knee.

The band skyrockets from local to regional success and eventually has the opportunity of a record contract in New York City.

But all is not well on the reservation. People there resent Coyote Springs’ triumphs and failures alike. They are not fond of the band’s two white women groupies or that two of the band members are Salish.

This is an original, searing and sarcastic look at Reservation life, including the white people on the reservation (especially the Catholic church). It’s brutal, honest and original.

It’s also funny as all get out. Because, as the author postulates, if you can’t make fun of your problems, you are not Indian.

I'm glad you are on a good book streak, Janet. Horse sounds good although I am not a horse person. I do like Brooks. I've had Reservation Blues on my shelf for years, time to dust it off, I guess.

I do love Fred Vargas' Adamsberg series. I have a couple more to read.

Hi Beth! The third of the great-books-in-a-row is one you recommended - Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose. I fell hard for the author's name. What else would she be but a writer? Working on my review now - I should have it done as the day goes on.

Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed Horse. I understand your hesitancy, though. The Beartown series is getting such great reviews, and yet hockey just doesn't do it for me.

I'll be interested to see what you think of Reservation Blues. Alexie is still one of my favorite writers.

But ... after attending the Native Writers gathering in Missoula, I decided I need to read more widely. So there will be a spate of reviews of Native writers here at the end of the year as I put several of them on hold and then delayed my hold three months .... which is December. I just read a terrific mystery, Shutter, by Navajo author Ramona Emerson. The first chapter is very bloody as the murder was horrific. But after that blood-drenched opening, the cultural interplays are fascinating. I hope she continues the series.

Did everyone see the newest feature here on LT?

Copied from FB: "Inspired by "plumpes Denkerin" on Twitter, who asked which authors people had the most writing by, in terms of pages, our developers have gone ahead and added a new set of statistics to the Charts & Graphs section on our site! You can see your top authors by pages, as well as top series, top tags, top genres and more! Which author tops your pages count?"

https://www.librarything.com/stats/MEMBERNAME/bypages

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

The first two authors on my list were pre-LibraryThing. I used to find an author I liked and read almost everything I could by them. The next four span LT and pre-LT.

Since being on LT, I've been reading so widely, it doesn't reflect very well what I am reading now. In fact my top two authors, Jonathan Kellerman and Ann Rule seem almost a bit embarrassing to me now. :)

>64 streamsong: Janet, nightshades are on my "no" list, but I've found that trial and error work best for me. If I eat something and I hurt afterwards, then it's clear that I should avoid it in the future. That said, here are the foods I avoid, some due to inflammation, some due to allergies (related):

Nightshade vegetables: tomato, potato (white), pepper, eggplant
Citrus (except pineapple, which is anti-inflammatory)
Corn (it's in EVERYTHING)
Sugar (refined) - I try to use molasses and honey instead
Artificial sweeteners (and colors)
Trans fats like margarine (use butter instead) - they are in MOST if not ALL processed foods, as is corn
Most vegetable oils (olive oil in small amounts is okay, but NEVER expose it to high heat)

Chocolate (more of an allergy, though)
Grapes (more of an allergy) though alcohol is listed as a possible inflammatory agent

I won an ER book back in 2013 which was a big help to me: More Anti-Inflammation Diet Tips and Recipes: Protect Yourself from Heart Disease, Arthritis, Diabetes, Allergies, Fatigue and Pain by Jessica K. Black.

Good foods:
Orange or dark green vegetables: carrots, yams, greens, broccoli, other cole crops
Berries (blueberries and cranberries especially)
Pineapple
Oats
Honey
Turmeric
Coconut oil
Fatty fish, like salmon and sardines

I make my own version of "golden milk" using oat milk (I'm lactose intolerant) and drink a cup of it before bed. I have NOT had leg cramps since I started doing this, more than six months ago. On Saturday evening I was getting hamstring pain (I'd been doing a lot of yard work that day) but after I drank the milk, it went away. Hmm.

Thank you, Lor. I have requested that book through the library and am looking forward to reading it.

My son and his wife are McDougall vegans as outlined in The Starch Solution. It consists of complex carbohydrates, vegetables and fruits. I have dabbled with it, but I need to get more serious.

Posted this on Karen's thread:

Wordle was 5 for me today. alien, gourd, allay, aptly, apply Pre-coffee!

I started trying Dordle (solving two Wordles at once) yesterday and so far have a streak of two wins in place - although I had to look on the net for a list of words with 2 y's.

Daily Dordle 0322 6&4/7
⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟨🟩🟨🟨🟨
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩⬜🟩🟨⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

I also started trying Quordle (four at once) and have a brilliant streak of two failures. :) I did get two words each day.

Here is the place where you can add your top 5 favorite books of 2022 to LT's list:

https://www.librarything.com/list/44209/Top-Five-Books-of-2022

My top 5: (subject to change in these last few weeks)
1. Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon by Malcolm Gladwell
2. Reservation Blues - by Sherman Alexie
3. The Fell - Sarah Moss
4. Horse - Geraldine Brooks
5. The Sentence - Louise Erdrich

Currently the top book is Circe but there have only been a few dozen participants so far.

Hi Janet!

>65 streamsong: Ha. Another way of parsing my book acquisitions – new or used. I’ll start that up for next year. I could go back to my Amazon history and reconstruct those purchases, but …. Nah. Next year’s good enough.

>70 streamsong: Wow! Fascinating. I just looked at mine. Thanks for sharing.

>73 streamsong: Nice to see the visual on Dordle.

>74 streamsong: I’ve made a note to add my top 5 end of December-ish.

Oops, I quickly got a bit behind!

>31 streamsong: It's always a challenge to know how to "count" the books/authors, isn't it? Even when I choose to go my the author's country of origin, does it "count" if they moved as a kid? What if they're writing fantasy and it's not in a "real" country at all? And then I feel weird being the arbiter. I haven't decided if I'm going to fully participate in the African challenge like I did in the Asian book challenge, not that I don't like the idea, but that sometimes I do better meeting my reading goals when I make them myself instead of trying to fit books into an external "challenge" that someone else created. I'd be very curious to know more about the World Cup book list - I may have to make something similar for my library!

>35 streamsong: I had a similar response to this one.

Belated congrats on passing 75 books read for the year!

Sorry to hear about the pain/inflammation, and hope you're able to get a good diagnosis and plan to deal with it. My boss has RA and gets flare-ups every so often, but with medication (and probably diet, too) she's mostly able to manage it.

>70 streamsong: Thanks for calling out this feature - it's really interesting! I'd expected my top-by-pages author to be C.S. Lewis, but it was actually Diana Wynne Jones, followed by a couple of manga writers and William Shakespeare. Lewis was #5.

>74 streamsong: It was hard enough coming up with a top ten; I'm not sure I could narrow it down to 5!

Congrats on reading 75 books!

>75 karenmarie: Hi Karen! I think most of my book purchases are used, but it would be interesting to keep track. I haven't yet sorted out my list that I acquired this year.

Glad you enjoyed the page statistics that LT is now doing. I've never kept track of my pages read. Something else to think about for next year.

Glad you enjoyed seeing the Dordle visual. When you enter a word guess, it applies to both words (or all four on Quordle). Failed at Dordle yesterday, but achieved my first Quordle win - right before heading off to bed.

My brain is stuck on today's Wordle. More coffee, and I'll come back to it later.

I don't think I've paid much attention to LT's top books before. Circe is still number 1 on the LT list, but only has 6 votes. I enjoyed it when I read it several years ago, but I don't think it would have been on my list of top books.

The books in the number 2 position, Babel and the number 3 position The House on the Cerulean Sea both look interesting to me.

>76 bell7: Hi Mary! That's why I like the group The Global Challenge. You can count or not count anything you like. It's totally up to you. Lots of people might judge me for listing An Uncertain Place by the French author Fred Vargas under one of its partial locations, Serbia, but it made me happy. If I am suddenly overwhelmed by Serbian authors, I'll just move it off the list.

I had meant to read along with the Asian challenge, but failed miserably. Perhaps I'll do better with the African challenge.

ETA: I'll see if the library still has copies of the World Cup list.

Thanks for the good wishes on reaching 75 and the good thoughts for my hands. The Celebrex is helping a lot except when it doesn't. :) Yesterday evening was bad-ish. I had moved several 100 pound haybales by grabbing them by the strings holding each together. I'll have to think about how to do this. I am not coordinated enough to trust crawling around on the top of a haystack with hay hooks in my hands. :)

Glad you enjoyed the page feature, too. The CS Lewis books tend to be shorter, I think.

>77 figsfromthistle: Thank you, Anita!

Today is cooking for the women's shelter followed by mulled wine with my group of friends. The chief cook has already posted on FB the adorable reindeer cookies she made, so I'm not sure what I will be doing. I hope my hands will be up to it! (I'm sure the mulled wine afterwards will help! - just holding a warm mug is very soothing).

This book was recommended by Beth. It missed making my top 5 for the LT list by the slimmest of whiskers.



78. Reading Like a Writer – Francine Prose - 2006
– library


I often like a book, but have trouble articulating exactly why it appealed to me.

This book begins at the very beginning with choosing the correct word. Oh my gosh, I thought in reading the first chapter heading, that I would never improve my writing if I had to consider each word!

But the book progressed, through sentences, paragraphs, and subjects you didn’t get in your standard writing class and finally – trusting yourself and breaking all the rules.

I found this book highly readable and very inspirational. I enjoyed it enough that I would like to have a copy in my home library – not least of all for the pages of Books to be Read Immediately at the end.

I read about this children's anthology on Mary/bell7's thread. I enjoyed reading the variety of Native authors. I think the only one I had read previously was Rebecca Roanhorse. One of the things I learned when attending the James Walsh symposium was that although many readers may be able to name a small handful of Native writers, there are many writers representing many genres.



79. Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids – Cynthia Smith - 2022
– library


Eighteen Native American writers each write a story about a child and their family heading towards a pow wow in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Since the eighteen authors are from a variety of tribes spanning the US and Canada, the stories include kids from many indigenous nations.

Many of the stories are somewhat alike as a young person gets ready to compete in dance contests, help their family sell items at the pow-wow, meet far away family members and meet new friends. Sometimes the characters, especially a dog wearing a tee shirt that says ‘Ancestor Approved”, are recurring. A few include a supernatural encounter.

My favorite was “Little Fox and the Case of the Missing Regalia” by Erika T. Wurth. In it, a young detective solves a series of thefts and deals with the wrongdoer in a very Indian way.

These stories highlight the differences and similarities in various tribes and families. All are uplifting and positive – there is none of the uncomfortable grit that characterizes many books by Native authors written for adults. And although, I’ve never been quite certain if white people are welcomed at powwows, while this book does address cultural appropriation, it also makes clear that everyone is invited to attend and participate in particular ways.

The front of the library book I borrowed is marked Grade 4 reading level; grade 4-7 interest level.

Hi Janet - I am so glad you enjoyed the Prose book. I am adding the collection of indigenous kids' stories to my Scout list.

>82 streamsong: Oh yay, glad to see that was a hit for you! I thought Smith did a really good job of getting a variety of authors of different genres and enjoyed being introduced to several that I had not read before.

>81 streamsong: Interesting. I've heard about this book. Probably will never get to it, because there are so many books and I can only get through 20 a year with my family taking so much of my time. But...

I am still considering coming through Yellowstone in the summer, but I need to make some plans and see what the cost will be before I start making reservations. I think it'll actually be towards the end of August.

>83 BLBera: Hi Beth - You are still inspiring better writing even after your retirement through your book choices! :) Perhaps I'll do some actual writing this year.

>84 bell7: Hi Mary - I enjoyed it for exactly the reasons you mentioned. It was a lovely combination of authors from various regions and indigenous cultures.

PM me your email address. Our librarian emailed me the World cup reading around the world document yesterday that I can send you. I had picked up a copy of the youth version of it, but I'll ask for the digital copy of that that one, too. I tend to not think very digitally and had just imagined mailing them both to you. Old brains.

>85 The_Hibernator: Hi Rachel! It's so good to see you posting again. Don't worry about not having time to read right now. This kid time is so precious and goes so fast. It will be a blink of an eye and you'll have time to read and wishing for this time back.

I would love to meet you and your family. I haven't been to either Glacier or Yellowstone since before the pandemic so my knowledge of places to stay isn't very up to date. But let me know what I can do to help!

Yesterday was the library book club's potluck and choosing books for next year. We had lots of yummy food and a huge turnout - I think there were eighteen people.

Here's our list for 2023: (I've read four of them)

January 26 -- The Last Bus to Wisdom by Ivan Doig
February 23 -- The Summer House Party by Caro Fraser
March 30 -- The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn
April 27 -- The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
May 25 -- Horse by Geraldine Brooks
June 29 -- The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict
July 27 -- The Trial of Adolf Hitler by David King
August 31 -- How to Stand Up to a Dictator by Maria Ressa
September 28 -- Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
October 26 -- Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey
November 30 -- The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
December ??? -- Potluck and 2024 Book Choices

I read this as part of a commitment to start reading books that have languished on my shelves for years. I’ll be using the challenges in the monthly Take It or Leave It thread to semi randomly pick books, starting with challenge #1 each month. This was December’s challenge #1 – Read a book by an author whose names (first, middle, and last) all begin with a vowel.



80. Bob Son of Battle – Alfred Ollivant - 1898
- ROOT #12 acquired 2016


---
Wikipedia states that this book, published in 1898, was a popular children’s book in both the US and UK. I feel that it is a good example of the changing styles of children’s books.

It’s a story of two farmers and their dogs. One farmer is upright and fair, loves his family and has a sheep dog named Owd Bob from a beloved line of sheep dogs. The second farmer has become twisted and bitter after the death of his wife. He abuses his son David horribly and even this second farmer’s dog Red Wull has a wicked bad temper.

David finds a measure of peace visiting the first farmer’s house. In this sanctuary, he falls in love with the daughter.

David’s father becomes more and more bitter. The dogs of the two farmers are pitted against each other in sheep dog trials over the course of several years; whichever wins the cup three years will retire it.

There is also a dog that is killing sheep grazing on the fells. This is an unpardonable dog-sin and the culprit must be destroyed. Both dogs have been seen near killed sheep.

In addition to the issues of abuse and the strong morality tale, the dialect is written in Cumbrian which is a challenge for a modern adult, much less a child. ” "But I'll mak' it up to him--mak' it up to him and muir. I'll humble masel afore him, and that'll be bitter enough. And I'll be father and mither baith to him. But there's none to help me; and it's bin siar wi'oot ye. And--but lassie I'm wearyin' for ye." p 77

I would only recommend this book if you are interested in reading a period piece.

This is another of the Native authors that I decided to try after the James Walsh symposium. As I often do, I put books on hold and then suspended them for three months – which means many of books by Indigenous authors have shown up now in December.

This is the first book by Navajo author Ramona Emerson. Besides an author she is a filmmaker who, along with her husband run the production company Reel Indian Pictures.



81. Shutter - Ramona Emerson - 2022
– library


Rita Todacheene is Diné, a member of the of the Navajo tribe. The Navajo have very strong beliefs about avoiding contact with dead bodies, even the body of a loved one, as an evil chindi is left behind.

But, flying in the face of her tribe’s and her own strictly held beliefs, Todacheene has the unusual job of being a crime scene photographer.

The first chapter is incredibly horrific. A woman has dropped from an overpass to the interstate below and has been run over multiple times, shredding her body. Police on the scene believe it is a suicide, but the angry ghost latches on to Todacheene who is there to photograph the literally hundreds of pieces of body parts. The ghost tells her the true story and won’t let go of her.

More angry ghosts attach themselves to Todacheene over the next weeks as she struggles to use her photography to help solve their murders in a way that brings up the evidence for what the ghosts have told her.

Flashback chapters illuminate her childhood on the reservation, her interest in photography, and how she made the unusual career choice.

I enjoyed this and hope it will be the beginning of a series. Navajos solving murders in Navajo country isn’t a new idea; but this has unusual twists and the authenticity of being written by a member of a culture instead of a well-researched onlooker.

>81 streamsong: Hm. LT says I own a copy in paper, so I'll have to look for it. It doesn't say I've read it, which either means I haven't, or that I read it so long ago I didn't say anything about it in my catalog. But you make Reading like a Writer sound quite enticing.

The Ramona Emerson book does sound enticing, and I'm always interested in new mystery series with female protagonists. I'll look for it in the library. Thanks.

eta: the Emerson must have gotten good reviews or good publicity or both. There's a long hold line at the NYPL. I look forward to my turn.

>91 ffortsa: Hi Judy! Reading Like a Writer was wonderful. Since it was recommended by writing meister Beth, I knew it would be good.

I hope you enjoy the Ramona Emerson book. The first chapter, is as I said, very bloody. I'm glad to know there is a list of people waiting for it - I'm rooting for a series on this one.

I've just started When Women Were Dragons - a feminist fantasy of women feeling their power and spontaneously turning into dragons. The first 'mass dragonizing' occurred in 1955 although there were cases recorded before that. It's very original.

But today I'm afraid I won't have much reading time. I know everyone is tired of me griping about the hard weather we've had so far -- but a weather event is moving in. Parts of Montana are expecting temps (not wind chills) of -44 tonight and tomorrow. We're forecast to get down to -20 or -25. So lots to do today making sure the horses will have unlimited hay during this time.

The good news is that my hand and foot pain is plain old osteo-arthritis and not RA or one of the other auto-immune arthritis-es. So hopefully, the Celebrix and non-prescription anti-inflammatories will keep it under control. I'm still looking forward to the book Lor recommended on the non-inflammatory eating.

Woot - Worldle in two today! Wordle 549 2/6

⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

alien, third

Still plugging away on dordle and Quordle

This is the second Root for the month chosen on the basis of fulfilling the next challenge in the TIOLI - challenge # 2. Read a book with a word in the title that can be found on a charcuterie board. My silly sense of humor wanted to highlight both the words ‘goat’ and ‘loquat’ for the board … but well ….. Anyway, I bought this in 2007



82. Don't Let the Goats Eat the Loquat Trees - Thomas Hale - 1986
- Global Reading:Nepal
- ROOT #13 acquired 2007


Thomas Hale had planned a career in politics. Christine was training to be a concert pianist. Both felt God’s call to become medical missionaries and changed their studies to medical school. As the only two prospective missionaries in their medical class, they soon became friends and eventually married.

After finishing school, internships and specialties, the two, now a surgeon and a pediatrician packed up their two young sons, and headed to Nepal. They had assumed they would be in a city hospital where their specialties would be put to the best use. Instead, they ended up in a tiny hospital high in the mountains, accessible only by hiking several days.

When they arrived in 1970, although it was not illegal to be a Christian, it was illegal to proselytize, so they could only show their love of Christ through their actions. They had been taught by their missionary organization that they must be on guard to never let themselves feel that they, their education, or culture were superior to the people they served. The Hindu Nepalese, in turn, regarded all acts of kindness or charity as an effort on the part of the giver to increase their merit for a better rebirth in the next life. The Nepalese felt that they were doing a kindness to the missionaries by letting themselves be treated by them.

This is their story, told with both humor and good humor of having very limited medical options to treat patients, who were often carried for several days to be seen by the doctors. I believe social conditions have changed somewhat since the tourism rush to climb Mt Everest had not yet begun during the time of this book.

The book ends in 1982, with the Hales still in residence in Nepal. The author leaves the readers with some thoughts about Jesus telling his followers to give all their possessions to the poor and how very few in the West make such a monetary sacrifice.

Recommended to Christian missionary work or those interested in remote hospitals.

Hi Janet!

>88 streamsong: Miss Pym Disposes is one of my favorite Tey’s, and Tey is one of my favorite authors. Have you read it before? The Buddha in the Attic is powerful.

>93 streamsong: It was -38F at Karen’s last night and -33F according to the NWS now. Her car’s plugged in, she’s actually turned on the heat, and is wearing, gasp!, a long-sleeved T and has a blanket covering her in the living room. I cannot fathom these temps, weak, California-North Carolina flower that I am. *smile*

I’m glad that your hand/foot pain are *only* arthritis and not an auto-immune disease. I envy you being able to take Celebrex. No NSAIDs for me, alas.

>94 streamsong: Congrats!

>95 streamsong: This is a book that I think Karen’s cousin Helen would like. She was a Christian missionary in ... Cambodia? Thailand?... for many years and only returned to the US because she was required to retire at age 70.

HI Karen! No I haven't read any of Josephine Tey's works. Nor have I read Buddha in the Attic. I'm glad you enjoyed both of them!

The ones I've read from the bookclub's list for 2023 in >88 streamsong: are The Last Bus to Wisdom by Ivan Doig, The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams, Horse by Geraldine Brooks and Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury.

It's cold here but not as cold as Bozeman - the eastern part is getting hit worse than we are. it was *only* -20 when I first got up this morning. And although it's not supposed to get above 0 today, it's only supposed to get down to -7 or so tonight.

That's interesting about Karen's cousin. I chose three books from my shelves this month by using the TIOLI prompts and chose three that I might not have read otherwise and have been hanging around a good while

Was it -20 with or without windchill? It was only -10 here today, with windchill -34F.

>98 The_Hibernator: -20 thermometer temperature. We didn't get the wind that they did further east.

-34 is beyond nasty. Were the schools cancelled?

I have been offline most of the month, busy baking, crocheting, traveling, and reading but didn't want to let the end of the year pass without wishing my LT friends good blessings!



And I feel very bad whining about our 10 degrees last night. Stay warm!

>99 streamsong: Schools were cancelled, yes, but not because of the temperature. It has to be -25F thermometer or -35F wind chill to cancel school. And last year, it was -40F windchill one day, and they didn't cancel school because they didn't foresee it. I actually called up the school like what?! And they said it wasn't their decision - it was the district's. 🤷‍♀️

School was cancelled on Thursday because there was supposed to be a blizzard to end all blizzards. In actuality, it was a beautiful, clear, sunny day. A day where all of us were holed up in the house unable to leave for fear of being squashed by one of those semi-truck sized snowdrifts that Northern and Southern Minnesota were getting.

Did you guys get a blizzard?

ETA: I guess you just said you didn't get wind...that is kind of necessary for a blizzard.

Malaysia's branch of the 75er's wishes you and yours a happy holiday season.

>100 witchyrichy: Hi Karen - I hope you had a good Chrsitmas and a lovely new year! -10 is certainly worth complaining about. I always do when we get that low!

>101 The_Hibernator: Hi Rachel - No blizzard for us either. Just a couple inches of snow, followed by very low temperatures. It's now in the 40's so we are 65 degrees warmer than we were just a few days ago!

>102 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul and Happy New Year to you!

>103 Berly: Thank you, Kim!

Another of my Native authors explorations. If a book can be the opposite of Christmas-y, this one is it. I'll continue my 2022 reviews on this thread.

Author Morgan Talty is a member of the Penobscot tribe of Maine.



83. Night of the Living Rez - Morgan Talty - 2022- library

This follows the lives of several Penobscot tribal members living on the reservation in Maine beginning in their teen age years. The jumps in time make it ‘not quite a novel’ but on the other hand I would call it more than just connected short stories.

This falls firmly into the category of ‘life on the reservation sucks’: drugs, drug dealing, alcoholism and parents choosing their addictions over kids struggling to have enough to eat.

It’s gritty and well written. I enjoyed the details of a tribe that I wasn’t familiar with, although fundamentally so many of the problems were sadly similar to the western tribes in my state.

But then you get to the last chapter, a jump of several decades. I was ambushed. I was heartbroken. Suddenly the description on the back cover that this book “what it means to live, survive and to persevere after tragedy” which had been puzzling to me, came sharply into focus.

I won’t forget this one. But how to rate it? The writing may deserve 5 stars, but I’m not sure I’d ever reread it.

Since I've just finished When Women Were Dragons, I'll now have to revise my list of top 5 books that I wrote in >74 streamsong:.

My top 5 (Original List): (subject to change in these last few weeks)
1. Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon by Malcolm Gladwell
2. Reservation Blues - by Sherman Alexie
3. The Fell - Sarah Moss
4. Horse - Geraldine Brooks
5. The Sentence - Louise Erdrich

New top 5:

1. Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon by Malcolm Gladwell
2. When Women Were Dragons - Kelly Barnhill - 2022
3. Reservation Blues - by Sherman Alexie
4. The Fell - Sarah Moss
5. Horse - Geraldine Brooks

I should also finish Braiding Sweetgrass before the New Year, which means the list will have to be revised again.

Here is the place where you can add your top 5 favorite books of 2022 to LT's list:

https://www.librarything.com/list/44209/Top-Five-Books-of-2022

>106 streamsong: thank you for that list!

This year all my 5 and 4 1/2 star reads were rereads, but I added them anyway.

New reads were 4 stars and below.

You are welcome, Lor!

It's wonderful to have those favorite books that you know will always shine for you!

My third ROOT of the month, chosen by the January TIOLI challenge #3: Read a retelling of a myth, legend or Biblical story. This one has been hanging around unread for almost ten years.



84. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff - Christopher Moore - 2002
- ROOT #14 Acquired 2013

When six year old Levi (also called Biff) spotted six year old Joshua (who came to be known by the Greek name Jesus) bringing lizards back to life, Biff yelled out “I want to do that too!” and the two became fast friends.

In the present time the angel Raziel brings Biff back to life after he’s been dead for two thousand years. Biff is told he must sit in a motel room and write the gospel of Jesus’s missing years (nod to John Prine).

After a boyhood filled with big and small events, Biff and Joshua head east to track down the three magi who had visited at Jesus’s birth to learn what they know. They find a magician, a Buddhist and a Hindu and take in their teachings. Eventually, they return to Nazareth and Jesus’s destiny.

As a teenager, Biff becomes obsessed with bawdy teen age boy explorations and yearning after Maggie (Mary of Magdalene). There is also lots of Biff sex, which I got tired of early on in the story.

But overall, although this is irreverent, it’s also downright funny. It worked for me because, as author Christopher Moore explained in his afterword: “Theologically, I made certain assumptions about who Jesus was, mainly that he was who the Gospels say he was.“ p441

Will you be offended by this? It depends on whether or not you believe God enjoys a good laugh.

Hi Janet!

When Women Were Dragons is now on my list for presents for Karen. She has a passion for dragons and is, of course, a feminist.

>109 streamsong: I actually mentioned this one to Karen the other night and got a belly laugh from her just from the title. Another one for me to add to the list for her.

Hi Karen! Thanks for stopping by!

I'm glad to know that Montana Karen would enjoy those two books. I'm rather a fan of dragons myself. My topper for my 2023 thread will be kinda sorta dragon related - it was a Christmas present this year.

I'd be happy to send her Biff. Or if you have any interest, I'll send it to you and you could send it on. :)

Dragons is the next review I need to write. I'll be working on that and the review for The House by the Cerulean Sea today and tomorrow. I'd like to finish one last book, Braiding Sweetgrass but we shall see. Some of my December reading took a non-serious bent here in December, and it was fun.

I began listening to this soon after Rushdie's attack in August.



85. Joseph Anton - Salman Rushdie - 2013
- audiobook
– library

On Valentine’s Day, 1989 the Ayatollah Khomeini condemned Salman Rushdie to death for what he saw as Rushdie’s insult to Islam in the book The Satanic Verses.

Rushdie was adamant that the offensive portion was only a dream sequence and that most of those vehemently against the novel had never read it.

Immediately, Rushdie was put under round the clock protection by the British Secret Service.

This is Salman’s account of his exile in his own homes and countries for the thirteen years after the fatwa was declared until his protection ended.

Joseph Anton was his alias in hiding – he chose it by combining the first names of his two favorite Russian authors.

It was a time of terror for Rushdie as various members of his publishers were bombed and killed. But as the thirteen years of active protection wore on, Rushdie became impatient with the enforced protection. He writes about this time – the breakup of multiple marriages, the stress of raising a son and then having a second child while his life was actively threatened. Eventually during this time, he was able to resume writing.

There was also some interesting biographical information as he recounted his childhood in India, and the death of his father.

At more than 600 pages, it is a very detailed account. Although interesting enough to keep listening to the end, I would not recommend it to someone like myself with a casual interest in this author.

>109 streamsong: I thought this was hilarious, Janet.

Happy new year. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on books in the new year.

Your book club has some good choices.

Joseph Anton has been on my shelf for a while. I keep meaning to read some Rushdie. Another resolution for 2023.

>109 streamsong: I loved Lamb!! Christopher Moore is a favorite author of mine. And I really enjoyed The House by the Cerulean Sea -- I await your review. : )

I have yet to read a Rushdie. Someday....

Hi Janet!

>111 streamsong: Thanks for the offer of Biff, but I have a copy. If you want to rehome it, you might send it to Karen… I’m sure that she’d love to have it.

>113 BLBera: Hi Beth! Yes, I enjoyed Lamb. The church I belong to is embroiled in a nasty nation-wide split, so I enjoyed the chance to giggle. I just did an online search for the phrase 'merry heart' in the Bible and came up with

'22 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: (Proverbs 7:22a)

and:
Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works” (Ecclesiastes 9:7).

After reading Joseph Anton this year, I may give The Satanic Verses a go. I've only read Midnight's Children which I liked well enough, but didn't leave me scrambling for more.

>114 Berly: Hi Kim! Yay! Another Lamb lover. It's the only Christopher Moore I've read but will keep an eye out for him.

I liked The House in the Cerulean Sea very much, but in a way, it's message was a bit diluted by reading When Women Were Dragons just before it. WWWD was another magical fantasy with a 'be yourself' theme.

>115 karenmarie: Hi Karen! OK, I'll ask Montana Karen whether she would like Biff as well as >95 streamsong: Don't Let the Goats Eat the Loquat Trees.

She made a friend of mine very happy with her review of my friend's book Daughters of Montana Pioneers: Gallatin Valley Female Seminary. Said friend is now undergoing cancer treatments, so Karen's timing was very good.

I've learned that there is gold in my piles of tbr that have been hanging around for years.

December's buried gold included:
Bob Son of Battle
Don't Let the Goats Eat the Loquat Trees
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff

It's hard not to read all the brand new shinies that everyone is talking about! (I just picked up FIVE from the library this week!)

But I'm going to continue with picking a few titles each month, based on the TIOLI challenges to unearth and read.

I've started Death Comes for The Archbishop for January challenge #2: a book in the public domain.

I'd also like to read the books I acquired in 2022 but did not get read, including the gems that my wonderful Secret Santa Stasia sent me:

Cold Earth - Sarah Moss -
I'd Rather be Reading - Anne Bogel
Unholy: How White Christian Nationalists Powered the Trump Presidency - Sarah Posner -
A Woman's Way West: In and Around Glacier National Park - John Fraley

plus one that I have already read, but wanted a copy in my library. I know that I'll be rereadig this one for a bookclub in February:

- Wanted for my library The Fell - Sarah Moss

The last three books that I read in 2022, I did not get reviewed before starting my 2023 thread, so I'll put them on both threads:



86. When Women Were Dragons - Kelly Barnhill - 2022
– library
-

On April 25, 1955, 642,987 women spontaneously turned into dragons and flew away from their previous lives.

It was considered a shameful act and these women were never acknowledged again. It was as if they had never existed at all.

Such was the case with Alex’s aunt Marla, who dragoned on that day leaving her young daughter Beatrice and a shiftless drunk husband behind. Beatrice came to live with Alex’s family; it was never admitted that she had had a previous life.

Scientists were forbidden from studying the phenomena. Those scientists who persisted were actively persecuted.

Slowly it became realized that the new dragons had previously been living lives that were smaller than they were: unfit husbands, careers that were open to women in the 1950’s, even loving other women.

And as the daughters (and the rare son) of this generation of unspeakable women grew up, magical things begin to happen.

I loved this book. Never make yourself smaller than you are!