Threadnsong Has Some Reading Fun in 2024

I have made some decisions (!) about what some more ways I want to expand my reading in 2024. The pictures and categories will come with time; for right now, I just want to put these first ideas on the page. So to speak.

Here are my categories for 2024:

Library Thing Challenges I have gained so much from participating in these challenges. They help me winnow down my TBR list or re-discover something on my shelves.

General Reading Because really, sometimes a book just calls to me. Or I glance at a shelf or *gulp* a bag and think it's high time to read from it.

Book Clubs I participate in one face-to-face that meets at various restaurants and is sponsored by my local library, and one here on LT. Oftentimes these are books I would not otherwise have read and my reading world is expanded.

This Will Take Some Time Life has enough stress, and books don't need to be one of them. If it's a book that I want to savor, or is a big book, or a classic that will take time to read, whatever the reason, this is the category.

Series I've discovered several series, in part through the MysteryKIT challenges, and through gifts from friends or just series on my shelves. This will be an interesting amalgamation of all my reading tastes.

The Arthurian Romance Cycle Inspired by reading a small book at the end of 2023, and realizing I have quite a collection of Arthurian-themed books, I think this year is a good year to pull them all together. I have a feeling that this quest could take a couple of years.

I found myself by the middle of 2023 having read all the re-reads I could do, so I eliminated that category this year, and expanded others.

As the year wanes, and the holidays approach, I'll add to these categories with pictures, longer explanations, and possibly even lists for the year. Or at least for a few months out.

Library Thing Challenges



I have enjoyed participating in these over the years, and they certainly help my TBR list. Or they introduce me to new themes and ideas; always a plus!

One thing I like about this particular blackwork sampler is the variety of stitches involved, and the pause before beginning a segment: will I make it through this design? It is like starting a book challenge on LT: which challenge will I select, and will I manage to read the book all the way through this month?

1) February HistoryCAT Challenge (Georgian/Regency/Victorian Britain): When Gods Die by C.S. Harris (set during the Regency)
2) March HistoryCAT Challenge (Science and Medicine): The Woman with the Cure by Lynn Cullen (about the woman who discovered the polio vaccine)
3) March SFFKit (Space Opera): A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. This became a DNF for me.
4) March HistoryCAT Challenge (Science and Medicine):Girls and their Monsters by Audrey Clare Farley
5) April RandomKIT (Enchanting Garden Visitors): Flower Fairies of the Garden by Cicely Mary Barker, because this idea has always pulled at my imagination.
6) April MysteryKit (Series): : Dropped Dead Stitch by Maggie Sefton became a perfect fit for this challenge.

General Reading



Because I happen to see a book sitting on my shelves that I want to read. I bought it at one point in time, so I'd like to complete the exploration.

And in this image, the style of needlework is the same. Hemstitching, used in the past for pillowcases and linens. Each line and color of fabric and thread color is different, but they all belong to the same method. So in that sense, what I read this year will be something I picked up off my shelves, or decide to re-read, or buy from a store.

1) All That Is Mine I Carry With Me was recommended by a LT friend, and I finished it in 3 days.
2) Mothers of Feminism by Margaret Hope Bacon. While I selected it for Women's History Month (March), it is being moved to April May.
3) Things in Jars by Jess Kidd was loaned to me by a friend. She read it in 24 hours; I'm taking a bit more time since the imagery is quite gripping.

Book Clubs



These might be F2F with my local book club, or here on LT. Either way, readers guide other readers and I am open to new suggestions. And books.

January LT Book Club The Poet by Michael Connelly
March LT Book Club The Malta Exchange by Steve Berry

This Will Take Some Time



We all know these books. They're thick, dense, or full of information that it takes time to absorb. Or, in the case of "Eugenie Grandet," they're in another language and I need to spend good brain time reading them.

1) Pan: The Great God's Modern Return by Paul Robichaud. I've read many books on re-discovered goddesses and re-written fairy tales so they are palatable to modern women. I like how this book centers on this one diety, rather than the multitude in Gods in Everyman.COMPLETED
2) Last Train from Atlanta by A. Hoehling. I found this while on a mini-vacation in a bookstore, and I like the premise: first-hand accounts of the people who lived through this battle.
3) Dangerous Rhythms by T.J. Foster. Several LT friends had read this book and surprisingly, mine was the very first review. The narrative followed the history and intertwining of jazz and the Mafia. COMPLETED
4) The Niebelungenlied. It has always come up in references to J.R. R. Tolkien, and I found a used copy on my TBR shelves. The chapters are short and the writing is very dense and I'm really liking it.

Series



I got pulled into several series last year: the Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries, the cozy knit-shop mysteries by Maggie Sefton, and the Cat in the Stacks mysteries. Which can be a bit odd for an SFF nerd, though there are several SFF series that I can put here. Like the Haimish series by Ursula K. Le Guin, or the Sevenwaters Trilogy by Juliet Marillier (does it really have to come to an end??). Or a long-overdue re-read of Anne McCaffery's Dragonriders series.

The Riddle Master of Hed series by Patricia A. McKillip
The Riddle Master of Hed
Heir of Sea and Fire
Harpist in the Wind

Sebastian St. Cyr Mysteries by C.S. Harris
What Angels Fear read October, 2023
When Gods Die read February, 2024
Why Mermaids Sing
Where Serpents Sleep

Alex Cross Mysteries by James Patterson
Along Came a Spider
Kiss the Girls read 2016
Jack and Jill read 2016
Pop Goes the Weasel read 2017
Roses are Red read 2022
Violets are Blue read 2022
Four Blind Mice read 2024
The Big Bad Wolf
London Bridges

Anne McCaffery's Dragon Rider series
Dragonflight re-read
Dragonquest re-read
The White Dragon re-read
I have some others on my shelves in this series, some of the chronological early ones along with ones written by her and her son, Todd McCaffery.

Ursula K. LeGuin's Hainish series
Rocannon's World
Planet of Exile
City of Illusion

Jacqueline Winspear's series
Maisie Dobbs read 2023
Birds of a Feather
Pardonable Lies

Cat in the Stacks series by Miranda James
Murder Past Due read 2023
Classified as Murder
File M for Murder
Out of Circulation

A Knitting Mystery series by Maggie Sefton
Double Knit Murders read 2023
A Deadly Yarn read April, 2024
A Killer Stitch

The Sevenwaters Trilogy by Juliette Marillier
Daughter of the Forest read and re-read often
Son of the Shadows read 2019
Child of the Prophecy
Heir to Sevenwaters
Seer of Sevenwaters
'Twixt Firelight and Water
Flame of Sevenwaters
I am so glad there are more in this series! I have the first three on my shelf and have hesitated reading #3 because I don't want this reading journey to end.

The Arthurian Romance Cycle



I have lots of these books. As one would expect, given my reading interests. So where better to put this genre in all its magnificence? The Once and Future King, my illustrated, hardback copy of Le Morte d'Arthur, an unread copy of Guinevere, and even some more in Diana Paxson's excellent series.

There are so many versions of this story, and this is a place where they can all go.

The Hallowed Isle by Diana L. Paxson read in 2022
This two-book volumes covers the Arthurian legend from the Saxons who come to Briton's shores. Which is a new take on the legend.

Merlin's Booke by Jane Yolen read in 2023, and the book that gave me the idea for this thread. There are so many stories of Merlin in this slim volume, and so of course there are many stories of Arthur and Guinevere and the Knights of the Round Table. And all of them are valid.

The Once and Future King by T. H. White. I need to re-read this book, and I have skipped several chapters in Section 2 (describing Morgana and the raising of Gawaine and his brothers). Just too much cruelty in those chapters. Currently reading

The Book of Merlyn by T. H. White as an awesome follow-up to the story of Arthur by this author.

Guinevere by Sharan Newman. It may have once belonged to DH but somehow, mysteriously, migrated to my shelves.

Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory is an illustrated edition and was edited by John Matthews. It's the complete and unabridged edition, and I read through Chapter XI. I think I'll re-start it. And do what I can to read it regularly so it doesn't sit and languish.

Also on this list (having just found them packed away) are several books by Chrétien de Troyes including Lancelot and Eric et Enide. I really need to go through my bags of books more often!

I've placed my star and I am looking forward to following along and seeing where your reading takes you in 2024!

Can't wait to see what series and hefty books you get to this year!

Good luck with your 2024 reading. I will be looking at your Arthurian reads for some possible BBs!

Good luck with your 2024 reading!

Enjoy reading in 2024.

I also have a big books category. Good luck with yours and happy reading in 2024.

Good luck with your 2024 reading. I will be popping back in to see the finalized categories and pictures.

>5 threadnsong: makes sense and is similar to my "Doorstoppers" category. I often bypass these books because I know they will take so much time, but if I do read one, it is so rewarding!

I'm placing my star and I'm especially looking forward to the Arthurian books!

>5 threadnsong: - I too have books I avoid because I know they'll take a long time to read. I hope you have good luck with them and all your reading this year.

>11 DeltaQueen50: Thank you! I will be on the lookout for your thread so I can place my star as well.

>12 rabbitprincess: Yay! Thanks, and the list is coming. Added a few more from Christmas presents this year.

>13 Tess_W: Oh awesome! I look forward to sharing them with you.

>14 lsh63: Thank you muchly!

>15 VivienneR: I shall indeed. Meant to add my haul from Christmas today but got distracted (as one does during the season).

>16 pamelad: Yes, that's right, you do, don't you? Well, I look forward to sharing these with you.

>17 lowelibrary: Great - thank you! I'm still figuring out the pictures this weekend.

>18 MissBrangwen: Your "Doorstoppers" gave me the inspiration for this category. So yay! And I am looking forward to sharing the Arthurian books.

>19 dudes22: Thank you. I'm finding that giving myself the time to read them is so important, and glad to know I have the support of the LT community.

I saw the Maggie Sefton knitting series on your list. I started that a long time ago, but I didn't keep up because of other reasons. I suspect I'll revisit it and perhaps the Sally Goldenbaum series at some point during the year to try to read installments. I know some of the series I read last year won't be read this year!

Enjoy your reading challenges this year. :-)

>21 thornton37814: I'm glad to know there's a fellow Maggie Sefton reader here! I dunno why, but cozy mysteries are just filling a spot for me. And the piles of soft, fluffy yarn bring back some lovely memories. Plus, I like how the main character is gradually introduced to knitting as the books progress.

>22 Ann_R: Thank you! I'm glad to have these challenges as a way to stay focused and also read the ever-growing TBR shelf/ves.

>23 threadnsong: It had been a few years since I'd picked up one of the Sefton books, but I'll be glad to be back to them. I enjoy cozies too, although I probably like the ones with real investigators that are on the lighter side (Deborah Crombie, Martin Walker, Donna Leon, Constable Molly Smith, etc.) a bit more than the amateur sleuth ones. Still I love a good one featuring needlework. The Monica Ferris cross stitch series was a favorite while it lasted.

This sounds like a delightful year balanced between cozy and doorstopper with everything in between. Have a great 2024.

You can find me here https://www.librarything.com/topic/357398#8369531
It took awhile to come up with an idea and find the energy to create a thread, but I'm glad I did.

>24 thornton37814: I remember the Monica Ferris cross stitch books fondly. I had always enjoyed a good Christie, and wanted to try some with amateur sleuths. For me, it's a balance between the hard-boiled Alex Cross detective fiction with something more whimsical.

>25 beebeereads: Thank you, and thank you for your link to your own thread. Glad you made one after all!

And . . . here we are in February, and I'm finally carving out the time to post my reviews here! These categories have been a huge help in selecting what I'll read, or not. Still have not made it to the Categories challenge, and I'm enjoying the two big books I'm reading since they occupy my brain.

So to catch up, I'll post my recent reviews, including a book I read at the end of December and it makes more sense to post it here now since we've all moved onto this Category Challenge.

My Effin' Life by Geddy Lee
5***** and ❤️

2023 Category of General Reading

OK, so, yeah. Geddy Lee. A rock legend and the voice of my breaking out of the norms of high school thru prog rock in the early 80's. Rush's audacity of combining lyrical folk-guitarist openings like "Closer to the Heart" or the messaging of "Trees" with pounding drums and break-out rock rhythms was novel in the world of AM and FM radio play. Or not, in the case of Rush. I mean, to end the problems between the oaks and the maples ("The oaks are just to greedy/And they grab up all the light") with the iconic "The trees are all kept equal/With hatchet, axe, and saw" at a time when the North American landscape was being clear-cut for the "Subdivisions" that are part of the problem? So incredibly foresighted.

Geddy has not had an easy life; he reserves Chapter 3 to describe the horrors of the work camp of Wierzbnik, Poland, during World War II where his parents met and, somehow, fell in love is a brilliant piece of research, and he gives fair warning to the reader that *this* is the chapter they may or may not wish to read. And if so, Geddy will pick back up with them in Chapter 4.

Losing a father (and a faith) at such a young age was also traumatic, and the fact that he had music to turn to is a Gift to the rest of us. He describes his earliest band and the fact that he could "apply studs and shiny sequined bobbles" as a nod to his many talents. The book is chock full of pictures, captions, and anecdotes from these and later years.

What also helped humanize Geddy Lee were his stories of the road. This was not the touring band that had girls on every arm and leg, or chartered flights on private jets; this was the band that packed up their gear and took turns keeping the driver awake to the next gig on the tour van. Or the van that had the flip-down beds that they thought would work better but didn't. Or the marriage dynamics of coming home, not saying anything about what might be wrong for the weeks that one is home, and then finally, by the time the tour is ready to start, having *the* fight on the way out the door. His wife, Nancy, whom he met while still very young, plays a central role in this book throughout the years, and Geddy takes time to describe her burgeoning career in fashion, along with their children who take her time, and how he is not really there during most of their marriage.

Each of their albums is covered at length (thank you Geddy!!), with more detail at the beginning of how the lyrics came to be, to the recording, to the mixing, to the producer and the search for a producer, or mixer, or studio, and all these details give me, as a fan and listener, a greater insight when the album notes say "recorded at . . . " "mixed at . . . " "produced at . . . ". Zowie! What a lot of work went into what I used to listen to on my turntable and wonder how I could ever be good enough. Now I know. And I am good enough.

And the tragedies. Holy moly. Geddy is very honest about these as well and goes into great detail about former bandmates, photographers, publicists, friends, and what their loss has meant to him. Which of course brings up the most well-known loss, that of Neil Peart's family's deaths, Neil's new family, and then Neil's death. It's OK - I skipped to the end to read a bit of that part, too. I'm sure Geddy knew that would happen.

This book was written during lockdown and Geddy is honest about the impact lockdown during Covid had on him and on his mom. And how being at home and retired has led him to a new understanding of life and how it continues despite the odds.

For a fan of Rush or prog rock, or how the trauma of the Holocaust is multi-generational, or a burgeoning musician who dreams about life on the road, or a spouse of a traveling musician, or . . . I could go on. If any of these are your checkboxes, I highly recommend this book. It is a treasure, and I am grateful for it.

All That Is Mine I Carry With Me by William Landay
5*****

Category: General Reading

I was not expecting to read this in three consecutive evenings, and I just had to finish it to arrive at the ending. Plus, the family dynamics were incredibly engaging and the writing throughout was top-notch.

The story centers around a family that loses its mother/wife without a trace. The two youngest children, Miranda and Jeff, are the most affected by her sudden disappearance. Their oldest brother, Alex, is the least mostly due to his age. How each child relates to their father, the chief suspect, is the underlying tension in this book.

The question that lasts throughout the book centers on the father/husband, Dan. Did he or didn't he? What was his relationship with his wife, Jane, like? And there is a brilliant section that is told from Jane's POV that leaves no doubt about whodunit.

Yet the focus of the book is more about proving in a court of law who the suspect is and how the children deal with their growing up without their mom. And when they reach adulthood, the battle lines are well-entrenched for who suspects their dad, and who does not.

During the initial investigation, the spotlight on Dan as the chief suspect gradually dims and the DA chooses not to charge him. When a case is finally brought, Dan's skills as a defense attorney come to the fore brilliantly. Jane's sister, who has never liked Dan, plays a behind-the-scenes role in this case and relates incidents that in hindsight show the obvious to any who should be looking.

The ending was incredible and grabbed me and stayed long past when I got to the last sentence.

Four Blind Mice by James Patterson
4 1/2 ****

Category: Series - Alex Cross

This book was a great revisit to Alex Cross' world and into the trauma experienced by soldiers when they return home. It did not get my usual 5 star rating, though, because the book seemed to be relying on too many formulas.

Still, it is a great page-turner. Alex Cross is deciding to resign from his policing job with the Washington, D.C. police force, and instead go into another field. It may be psychology, it may be the FBI and he he leaning toward the FBI. Then his best friend, Sampson, urges him to help clear an old Army buddy from Death Row.

As the two lifelong friends investigate what appears to be a wrongful conviction they come up against the thick grey wall of the armed forces. Seems that Sampson's buddy was accused of a brutal murder of three women, including painting and posing the bodies, and nothing either Sampson or Cross say will change the verdict.

Along with this conviction are more Army men accused of similarly heinous crimes, all of whom plead innocent and all of whom are put to death by the State. All of them served in the Vietnam War.

And then we begin to see the co-plot of three men, veterans of this same War, who seem to be re-enacting something from their days in Vietnam. They have a horrible blood lust and seem to revel in tracking down and killing their victims.

In the personal side of this book, Nana is beginning to feel her age and it takes Alex everything he can do to get her to a doctor. In fact, the Doctor comes to visit Nana and only then does she agree to go to a hospital. And the possible interest from the previous book, Jamilla, begins a long-distance romance with Alex.

By the end, the resolution was just a bit too pat and complete, and the chance to hear the stories from the bad guys didn't happen. I would have loved a confession of some sort from them.

The Poet by Michael Connelly
4 1/2 ****

Category: Book Clubs

An interesting look at an FBI murder investigation from a journalist's point of view. Jack Riley is an investigative reporter with a plum beat with the Rocky Mountain News where he covers the police beat on his own terms. As the story opens, Jack finds out that his twin brother, Sean, has killed himself in a deserted parking lot of a National Park. The thinking was that an unsolved gruesome murder has haunted Sean, and he couldn't take it any more.

When Jack breaks the story, he uncovers details that bring in the FBI to begin to link his brother's suicide with similar suicides by cops. The other side of the story that Jack finds, and that the FBI investigates, are the series of children's murders committed to which these same cops are assigned.

Because of Jack's breaking the case wide open, he is given access to the FBI during its investigation of this case. The common theme of suicide with quotes from Edgar Allen Poe's works begin to point to murders, not suicides. And we are also given the POV of a pedophile named Gladden, released from years-long imprisonment on a technicality, who continues to stalk children now that he is back on the streets.

While the ending seemed like a necessary wrap-up due to the length of this book, the story itself is a good one and kept me and my book group guessing.

>28 threadnsong: Excellent review! We bought this bio for my dad for Christmas and he also really liked it.

I am taking a BB for >29 threadnsong:.

>29 threadnsong: I keep hearing about this book. Your review has pushed it onto my TBR. Thanks!

>32 rabbitprincess: Thank you so much (and for taking the time to stop by and visit). I'm glad your dad liked it, and I was so surprised by how readable it was. I always liked the intelligent rock stars!

>33 lowelibrary: Great! Mission accomplished.

>34 beebeereads: You are most welcome!

>33 lowelibrary: and >34 beebeereads: And make sure you clear your calendar when you pick it up because it's hard to put down.

I'm kind of doing the reverse this month to the past few months of reading: reading two big, thoughtful tomes and no small ones. And I also started The Once and Future King at the same restaurant where I read Jane Yolen's Merlin's Booke which inspired me to start my Arthurian reading challenge. After all, she points out, there are many versions of Merlin; why be limited to one, single narrative of King Arthur?

One of the tomes I'm reading, Last Train from Atlanta, is fascinating and I was not sure I would enjoy it. Or at least be interested in it, because I'm not a Civil War buff. But it's the first time that the Battle of Atlanta is presented as more than just a few paragraphs in the larger war, or the iconic scenes from "Gone With the Wind." The author has searched for diary entries, newspaper articles, and general knowledge about what is basically a seige of a major city. There were lots of people who lived in the city, and lots of soldiers who were fighting to overtake the resistence. The language is as flowery as one would expect. The use of "Negro" is the chosen word throughout, both by Hoehling and the diary writers, which points to the time. Sadly, very little is written about the lives of the slaves who lived through this, at least through August 5 (the book takes on each day as a separate chapter), the current day where I stopped.

I've decided that since I'm reading such big tomes this month (two months??), this evening spent watching the Super Bowl commercials and catching up on threads during the Big Game is a good choice. So, I'll be dropping in and saying "hey!" to my friends here on this group.

In reading news, I'm still working on the same three books: Pan: The Great God's Modern Return, Last Train from Atlanta, and The Once and Future King. I have learned to put down "Last Train" after an hour or so - the subject matter is difficult to read, even with all the time that has passed. "Pan" is quite interesting in its exploration of history through myth, writings, and art from the origins in Arcadia and Greece, through the Renaissance (so much art!), the Romantic poets and writers and artists, and twentieth century classical music.

>29 threadnsong: Off to secure this book!

>38 Tess_W: Yay!

So I decided it was time to read something a bit quicker and smaller. Maybe something that can go into a purse if I go to a coffee shop or have lunch or something?? And that was just the logical exercise I needed to start reading When Gods Die, the next book in the Sebastian St Cyr series. I am glad I'm reading these in order since they speak so well to the character development.

I also spent some quality time with Once and Future King and I am picking up a lot more about the cultural references and even some of the song references in "Sword in the Stone." Like the feast that Sir Ector gives for the royal hunt, and all of the guests who stand up to recite or sing; I had nothing to compare that to when I was 14! The descriptions of nature and Wart turning into the various animals, especially as the narrative progresses (we're with the badger now, and the Snow Geese were incredible passages) are brilliant. They matched the views of nature in both Watership Down and Bambi, two beloved early books in my reading life.

>29 threadnsong: Wow - All That is Mine I Carry With Me is a BB for me for sure!

Looking at your series category, I'm kind of wishing that I had done a series category this year, but series have almost overwhelmed my category challenges in the past, so I decided to skip it this year. However, being reminded about getting back to The Dragonriders of Pern along with Ursula K. Leguin has me pining a bit...if not something I add in later this year - definitely on the list for next year!

>40 threadnsong: I'm not a big series reader unless I can read them in order without straying to other books. However, this one looks like I might like to investigate it.

>41 LisaMorr: Awww, that's great Lisa! I look forward to reading your review of this book. And it's funny - so many of my LT friends are readers of series, and this is the first time I've created a series category. But it's high time, and I fully understand your pining! Of course, I can't decide between LeGuin and McCaffery, but there you have it.

>42 Tess_W: I'm thinking you might. It's set during the Regency which is right up your alley. And Harris is able to explain to readers like me who kind of sort of remember something about that time without being condescending or pedantic. I read my first St Cyr mystery out of sequence, so it is doable, but I'm like you - I want to start at the beginning.

When Gods Die by C. S. Harris
4 ****

Categories: Series - Sebastian St Cyr
February HistoryCAT Challenge (Georgian/Regency/Victorian Britain)

A continuation of the Sebastian St Cyr mysteries, this one takes place in the Regent's quarters in Brighton during one of his outrageously expensive fetes. The people of London are starving, children without mothers beg in the street, and the Regent needs everyone to love him. So he throws this ball.

And as I'm finding with this mystery series, the murder happens right at the beginning of the book with the Prince Regent entering a private chamber for a private assignation with a Marchioness, only to find her dead and his own antique dirk protruding from her back.

Added to the mystery is the lack of blood in the chamber, the access to the Regent's collection of antique swords and knives, and how a medallion belonging to Sebastian's drowned mother was found around the dead woman's body. Woven into the thread of this tale are the suppositions about James II, whose descendants have as good a claim to the tottering throne as the Hanovers do. And the name of the dead Marchioness is Guinevere, her older sister named Morgana, and Gwen's childhood sweetheart whose family lost everything during the French Revolution.

Somehow, Harris manages to keep all these threads well-woven with just enough explanation to instruct but not condescend. I'll be interested to see how these novels continue.

Pan: The Great God's Modern Return by Paul Robichaud
4****

Category: This Will Take Some Time

A well-researched deep dive into the demi-diety Pan, his origins in Arcadia, his following among shepherds, and his listing in the pantheon of Greek gods. One of the currents throughout this book comes from Plutarch, reporting on a ship's journey the words spoken by the ship's pilot Thamus: "Great Pan is dead." This statement is taken up by the early Christians as an acknowledgement that the old gods have died when Jesus was born (or was resurrected, depending on the writer), and later in English Romanticism when the poets seek to re-invoke Pan in their "green and pleasant land."

In addition to Plutarch there is Ovid, linking Pan to the nymph Syrinx, and others who include Echo and Pitys as two more nymphs linked with Pan. Robichaud uses these ancient springboards to discuss facets of Pan's character: panic, elemental, all-encompassing, lecherous, beneficent, seldom seen, guardian to the natural world.

From the ancient writers, Robichaud researches Medieval Pan, up through Pan's Romantic Rebirth with the writers' and artists' seeking of a deeper connection to nature during this time. There is artwork through the ages, there are poems, there are invocations, and there are the stories "Peter Pan" and "Wind in the Willows" that bring in elements of Pan. Robichaud also goes into detail about the chapter in the latter work called "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" that was removed from most American editions of "Wind in the Willows."

And he doesn't stop with the Edwardians. Pan is brought into the 20th century with neo-Pagan ideas and writings, including new rituals and hymns. There is also music (Pink Floyd and the Waterboys), films and television series, and an undercurrent of Pan's many aspects as we move through into the 21st century. Like the "pan-demic" that he mentions at the very end of this informative work.

>45 threadnsong: That looks like an interesting read.

>44 threadnsong: I've been meaning to try this series, and your review gave me the push I needed. Currently enjoying the first book in the Sebastian St. Cyr series, What Angels Fear.

>46 Helenliz: It is interesting. Wide-ranging and well-written.

>47 pamelad: Yay! Glad to bring you into this series!

Well, I went to pick up some books (see above for various series and challenges) and what did I see but a fascinating book: Girls and their Monsters. I did not know there was a set of quadruplets in the mid-century who were all diagnosed schizophrenic, and whom science had a field day in developing their theories about inherited genes that cause schizophrenia.

And per the book jacket, it was not a medical diagnosis, merely dysfunctional family dynamics. Reading the first 15 pages has made this a mystery and melodrama and some tragedy and some triumph.

>45 threadnsong: Pan sounds quite interesting.

>50 hailelib: It was and I hope you have a chance to read it at some point.

>49 threadnsong: Have put this on my WL!

>52 Tess_W: It was a good book and I promise to leave my review of it soon.

Dangerous Rhythms by T.J. English
5*****

Category: This Will Take Some Time

Such a great book and so eye-opening about the intersecting worlds of jazz and the Mafia. I had no idea. There were rumors of Frank Sinatra's involvement with the Mob and Mob Bosses, but the work done by this author brings so much more to light about these two worlds.

In short, the Mafia had the money and they were active during Prohibition, while they also ran the speakeasy's as a chief source of income. And they were familiar with the burgeoning jazz musicians who were willing to play in those same clubs as a way to make a living.

Then once Prohibition ended, these same Mafia bosses had to find a way to keep their income coming in and boy did they. From New York's famed Cotton Club to Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, and Miami, the jazz clubs sprang up, the musicians played, big band music became the new thing, and the money rolled in. Mostly to the mobsters as one would expect.

Very many aspects of the intertwining of jazz and the Mafia are put into history, including the increased use of heroin and the musicians who got hooked, the violence that happened if anyone tried to switch clubs or bands, and the "plantation mentality" of black musicians, white audience till the 60's and early 70's. Also detailed are the years that Havana was a jazz-and-Mob jewel and how Las Vegas came to exist.

Highly recommend this book for music fans and readers interested in 20th century American history.

Girls and Their Monsters by Audrey Clare Farley
4****

Category: March HistoryCAT Challenge (Science and Medicine)

This book is a well-researched history of a set of American quadruplets who grew up in Lansing, Michigan and were part of the burgeoning research into the origins of schizophrenia. Is it nature or nurture? What does the science of psychology gain from these studies? And most importantly, how has the care of the mentally disturbed become so abysmal?

The parents of these quadruplets married in the 1920's, with many warnings pre-marriage that the young bride, Sadie, failed to heed. One wonders what her life would have been had she not listened to her employer, a doctor, who decided that Carl was a "good man" even though her intuition told her differently. And as one can guess, the abuse started early with one bizarre twist: Carl was a biter.

They eventually have their quadruplet girls and like so many children they learned to perform on stage and were the family's breadwinners for several years. But as they began to enter school their differences became much more discernible: Helen became inert and would not finish school, Edna became a second spouse to Carl. Wilma discovered her own body, and Sarah just wanted to be able to have friends outside her family. But Carl would have none of it, and the abuse became more physical and sexual as the sisters entered puberty.

By the 1950's, their story included mental health institutions, which eventually brought all 4 sisters to the attention of a brilliant psychologist, David Rosenthal, and his new facility, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

The four sisters lived on the NIMH campus for several years, their parents were also studied, to see whether their schizophrenia was genetic or tied to their upbringing. The author shows how it could easily be both.

Also presented in the book's timeline are the strides that were made in the care of those suffering from mental illness that came to a crashing halt with 1980's Reaganomics. Once mental health facilities turned to profits for themselves instead of care for the mentally challenged, there was nowhere else to turn but the streets.

I've put Dangerous Rhythms on my wishlist!

>56 hailelib: Yay! I really hope you enjoy it and look forward to your review.

Malta Exchange by Steve Berry
3***

Category: Book Clubs

Having read another book in the Cotton Malone series, and being interested in the Knights Templar and other Medieval organizations, I was really intrigued that there would be discussion of the Knights Hospitaller and the Knights of Malta, and even letters between Churchill and Mussolini. What fun!

Unfortunately, this book was a bit too disjointed. Yes, there was discussion about the structure of the Knights Hospitaller and the mysterious documents case held by Benito Mussolini at the time of his death, but the latter sort of fizzled out on Malta and the former was a bit eclipsed by a cast of characters that were in, then out, then trying to be mysteriously involved.

While I can appreciate multiple chapters with multiple points of view, this one jumped from Cotton Malone to Luke to the mysterious Knight to other events, and all those jumps made following the plot just way too hard. So, while I enjoy this genre, I was left without that wonderful conspiracy puzzle that I had expected.

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

Category: March SFFKit: Space Opera

Sadly, this book became a DNF for me. I think it was a combination of Markady's writing style, the palace-intrigue sort of ruminations from the main character (a young ambassador on her first mission), and the overall structure of the City to which she is assigned. I am glad I read what I did, and it just was not for me.

So we are heading out of town later in the week, heading up to Carbondale, Illinois to watch the eclipse. I've been planning this trip for literally a year, calling various places in Carbondale to get an idea of what to expect, where to stay, and that sort of thing, and we found a campground nearby where we'll be pitching our tent for the weekend!

I spent this afternoon putting addresses of various locales into my trusty Garmin, we've got a hotel on the way up and the way back, and will be looking at our stored camping equipment this week to figure out what we need and what can stay behind.

It really looks like both Southern Illinois University and the town of Carbondale are going all out for the visitors, both scientists and non-scientists alike. There is busking (love it!), a Towne Market that looks like one of those multi-themed eateries with lots of little, privately owned eateries, in addition to brewpubs, a winery, and just generally walking around in a convivial atmosphere. While the University is offering tickets for a stadium group viewing event, I don't anticipate going to that. I figure we'll be able to see it with our glasses, and there will be less traffic if we just stay put.

>59 threadnsong: Sometimes it is just the right thing to abandon a book if it isn‘t the right one for you!

>60 threadnsong: That sounds really exciting! I hope you have a wonderful time!

>60 threadnsong: Have a great time!

I hope you have fun viewing the eclipse. I've seen two and loved them.

>47 pamelad: I really enjoyed that one. It's a historical mystery set firmly in that place & time. On the strength of that like, I've bought (but not read) every one since in hardcover. This year's will be out soon & I've already bought it.

Another historical mystery set firmly in time & place is The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin, who's a historian. Recommended.

>60 threadnsong: Can't wait to hear about your eclipsing!

>61 MissBrangwen: Yes, life is just too short to try to force myself to finish a book.

>62 rabbitprincess: Thank you! I did and really enjoyed the time away.

>63 hailelib: This was my 2nd, plus one in college while I was finishing a German final. They are great, aren't they?

>65 Tess_W: Well, I'll make that happen now!

Thank you all for your messages, and yes, the eclipse was amazing. Like the one in Hopkinsville in 2017, we camped and there is a bit of difference in the temperature between Kentucky in August and Illinois in April. And that's why I'm glad there are rain-proof tents and warm dogs who climb up to escape the cold ground.

The location where we went is affiliated with Southern Illinois University and is an Outdoor Education Center. Meaning, they had cabins and tent space and a dining hall and even live music twice a day throughout the weekend! Lots of activities for the kids, our dog was well-behaved, and the eclipse itself was just awe-inspiring.

One of the things I noticed in 2017 was how the birdsong changed as the light grew dimmer. Almost like the birds are singing their "good-night" songs even though their internal clocks know that it is broad daylight. And as the eclipse grew nearer, the same thing happened every few minutes. I so enjoyed being with a group who were there for the experience since I could share my enthusiasm and sense of wonder with others. And watching the eclipse take place, first so very gradually, just a little corner (?) of the sun, then more darkness covering it. I could see why the mythologies talk about a dragon eating the sun, and why there were drum circles and councils and all the other bits of human history that occur during this time.

Truly, the light grew dimmer and dimmer, and then bam! There was darkness. The shadows changed. I have several pictures of the shadow of the small brick enclosure in front of me, until suddenly the shadow wasn't there. But what was there was my own shadow, being cast from behind by what looked like a sunset. Except it wasn't. And the ability to look up and see a dark circle with white rays emanating from it was really, really awe-inspiring. It was beyond words.

I highly recommend everyone to go somewhere there is a total eclipse because words don't do the experience justice. It just is.

The Woman with the Cure by Lynn Cullen
4 1/2 ****

Category: March HistoryCAT Challenge (Science and Medicine)

A great book that is so very timely, both in its subject matter (the search for the cure for polio) and for its actual writing. Cullen says at the very end of this book that she began it the day that Chinese scientists announced an outbreak of a new, respiratory-centered virus, and only found the coincidence months later.

The book centers on the life of Dorothy Horstman, daughter of German immigrants, who earns her college degree in science because she uses her first two initials. Barely allowed even a fellowship appointment in the 1940's, she has become drawn into fighting the horrors of polio and its attack on the nervous system. And the way it robs people of all ages of their full lives.

Dr. Horstman is competing not just with a narrow-minded group of colleagues, but also the famous Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin, the former of whom is credited with finding the cure. Except he didn't. And his race to get the grant resulted in rushed inoculations with the dead, not the live, virus, combined with shoddy work at the laboratory. Both of these mistakes resulted in another mass outbreak of polio, though they also brought about stricter controls on labs that manufacture vaccines.

The great thing about this book is the way in which I felt drawn into the race, into rooting for Dorothy and her successes, the deft way in which she handles both the egos and the medicine, and her compassion for those doomed to live their entire lives in an iron lung.

One aspect that seemed a little forced was the way in which other noted women who worked around polio patients were introduced to the story, and then shuffled to the side. Granted, this is Dorothy's story, but a bit more interaction or fleshing out of the Australian nurse Sister Elizabeth Kenny, who placed hot, wet wool on patients' limbs, or Barbara Johnson, the research assistant who developed polio due to interacting with the live virus in her work, would have helped the larger story.

Still, this is a timely story that needs to be told, in the way that Lynn Cullen has made women's histories come back from obscurity with her books.

>67 threadnsong: Sounds enthralling! We just had slight darkening of the skies for 5 minutes--no different than a storm. Had I planned better, I would have taken the day off and traveled to a totality location.

>67 threadnsong: Thank you for your story! That sounds wonderful! I witnessed a total eclipse in 1999, when I was only 12 years old, but I still clearly remember the changing of the bird song.

>68 threadnsong: Usually I am not that interested in books having a medicinal topic, but this one sounds very interesting and like something I might like. I'll take note of it for when we have a prompt like this again in one of the CATs or KITs.

>69 Tess_W: I get it! I told people at work that I was going on a trip because, well, work should know these things, and I was thrilled to hear some of them use my going out of town to see it as well. Ditto with some fellow music students.

>70 MissBrangwen: You are most welcome! Yes, eclipses do stay in one's memory, don't they? Glad you also remember the change in the bird song.

And Cullen's book is the perfect melding of storytelling with a topic like medicine. She describes so well the race to find the cure, the effects of living in an iron lung, and the whole dismissive attitude of women in the medical field. I hope you are able to read it when the time comes!

Dropped Dead Stitch by Maggie Sefton
4****

Category: April MysteryKit Challenge (Series)

Another fun romp through the bright shelves of Lambspun Yarn in Fort Connor, Colorado with Kelly and her found family. Two years have passed since the first two books concluded, and Kelly is now happily ensconced with her boyfriend, Steve, her canine companion Carl, and all the staff and customers of Lambspun.

This book opens quite quickly with her friend, Jennifer, calling about being attacked. Jennifer finds help to deal with the aftermath, and Kelly, Jennifer, and Lisa with the shop are all invited to join a knitting and therapy retreat with Jennifer's therapist. The lovely, secluded mountain ranch has many amenities to offer this group of survivors who really open up when the yarns, hooks, and needles make their appearance.

Sefton deals well with the effects of violence, both the physical and the emotional trauma, and her characters show the myriad ways in which healing occurs. Or not, as we find out later in the book. And of course, Kelly wants to rescue her friend and of course, things take an interesting turn (twist?) at the ranch.

A quick Saturday read and looking forward to continuing this series.

Category: April RandomKit Challenge (Enchanting Garden Visitors

A charming little book in this series, full of winsome fairy children and rhymes about familiar flowers to be found in an English garden. I delight in the colors and details in the flowers and the fae.

>67 threadnsong: I've not experienced a total eclipse, your report sounds quite exciting.

>73 threadnsong: This is on my TBR and I want to get to it soon!

>74 Helenliz: Thank you! It was exciting, and I hope you are able to experience one. The next one is slated for 2026 and the path of totality will be Iceland (often a foggy place) as well as northern Spain and northern Portugal.

>75 Tess_W: Oh yay! Yes, it's a fun one to read.

Things in Jars by Jess Kidd
5*****

Category: General Reading

What an amazing, cool, well-written book that fits so many different genres. It was loaned to me by a friend who read it quickly; I had to take it in batches because the panoramas that the language paints are so very rich and full. This story has an Irish waif grown to adulthood on the streets of London; well-to-do families of physicians; Victorian carnivals and their creatures; and an undercurrent of both malice and wonder.

The book opens with Bridie (Brigit) Devine in her widow's cap approached by a well-muscled ghost with tattoos who encounters her in a church graveyard. Bridie is not enamored of Ruby, though she is curious about him, especially because she is investigating the skeletons/corpses of a woman and her child, both with very sharp teeth and other strange anomalies, walled up in the church basement.

Who Bridie is becomes part of the story in chapters that start 20 years before, where she is an orphan from 1840's pre-Famine Ireland taken in by her Gan while he introduces her to anatomy and studies of the human form. The adult Bridie walks the streets of London with her pipe and her mind and her memories, and assisting in the recovery of a very strange, missing child that seems to be more myth than real.

The missing child is the daughter of Sir Edmund and the playfellow of Dr. Harbin, who was sent to hire her for the search. But things are not as they seem, and her new-found friend (and ghost) Ruby is assisting her in her efforts even if no one else can see him. Or his various tattoos that shift and move and communicate his thoughts without words.

There are some cautions in this tale: death is very prevalent, and there is an incident of animal cruelty as well as Victorian operating procedures pre-anesthesia. Most of them take place in the household were Bridie is raised, that of prominent physician Dr. Eames and his psychopathic (also well-described) wife and son, during the Before passages.

How this tale is woven, how language is used, and Bridie herself are quite memorable and it is definitely a book I am glad I read.

I'm really looking forward in May to some lovely weather and time outside. The hanging basket is planted, the rabbits haven't eaten all the dill plant, and I even found some native ferns for the shady area out back. I'm heartened that the local Ace Hardware has native plants and shrubs - it's a small thing to help restore the balance of ecology, even in this little area.

And this afternoon was our music recital at the local folk music school. Our Irish class can be anywhere from 8 students to today's 3 students plus teacher. Kind of nerve wracking with such a small number on stage! We made it through with few stumbles, and a beer at a local brewery was well-deserved.

For reading this month, I'm planning on finishing Last Train from Atlanta and Mothers of Feminism, then reading something sitting on the TBR shelf. I'm feeling drawn to either Birds of a Feather or Dragonquest, and then maybe a Challenge for the month. Will keep everyone posted!

Sounds like you have a lovely May planned out. I, too, am hoping to be able to spend some time outside reading on the deck. We've had quite a cool spring so far but I am in no hurry for the summer heat.

>79 DeltaQueen50: Thank you! Yes, I even spent the earlier part of this evening on the deck enjoying the early evening cool. It kept feeling like it was going to rain so I came inside. Plus, dinner.

So I'm almost finished with The Last Train from Atlanta and the September sections are probably the best yet. They contain letters between Gens. Sherman and Hood, Northern and Southern Generals respectively, and Zowie! To see General Hood whine about the damage the Northern troops wrought on Atlanta and General Sherman slap him right back down by saying, in effect, "Your side is the one who started this war by seceding" is worth the price of the book.

I won't do my book review here, but one thing that impresses me about it is that each day of the Battle of Atlanta is a separate set of writings. It starts with Sherman's movements from Chattanooga to Atlanta, and there are some days where nothing happens. And we know this from the letters written that day, or the news articles that are written (each newspaper is shown as Union or Confederate at the top of the article), or diary entries by (mostly) women who were daughters or nurses or inhabitants of the City of Atlanta at the time.

>81 threadnsong: Definitely going on my WL!

Oh good. I really think you'll like it. I finished it last night (review this weekend??) and it is right up your alley. Love the fact that he found letters and journal entries from the men and women who lived through this time.