Vivian's 2024 reads

Happy New Year to all my LT friends!

For those who don't know me, I'm a mom of 4 and grandmother of 6, and I've been an independent financial advisor for more than 20 years. Reading and traveling are my favorite pastimes.

2023 Favorites

Fiction
The House of Doors
The Bee Sting
Old God's Time
Tom Lake
Birnham Wood
Black Butterflies
Wandering Souls
Dinosaurs
Hello Beautiful
Stone Blind
The Queen of Dirt Island
North Woods

NonFiction
Homegrown
The Leo Frank Case
A Fever in the Heartland
Lady Justice
People Love Dead Jews
Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle

Happy reading in 2024, Vivian!

Happy New Year, Vivian! Great lists of favorites. If I haven't read them, they are on my WL! I hope 2024 is good to you and yours. I look forward to lots of good recommendations here.

Happy new year, Vivian!

Happy New Year, Vivian, to you and your family.

Welcome back, Vivian!

Happy New Year, Vivian! Your thread is always a source of excellent book recommendations. I can't wait to see what the new year brings.

Happy new year Vivian.

Happy New Year, Vivian. I LOVE your 2023 favorite list. I can't believe I never got to Birnham Wood.

Many thanks for all the good wishes, Anita, Beth, Katie, Judy, Jim, Laura, Paul and Mark! I'm enjoying all the activity on the threads and hope to delurk a bit more this year.



#1 The Invisible Hour Alice Hoffman
Read for RL reading group. Mia is a 15 year old runaway from an oppressive cult in western Massachusetts who finds comfort in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. I loved the themes of the power of books and the strength of a mother's love, but I'm just not a fan of the magical realism and time travel. There were too many plot holes that drove me crazy.



#2 The Letter W. Somerset Maugham
After reading about Maugham's time in Penang in The House of Doors, I picked up this play (a later version of the short story by the same name.) It's also a Bette Davis movie, which I have to look up. It's a murder/adultery story about Leslie Crosbie, a British woman living in Singapore in the 1920s.



#3 Strangers to Ourselves Rachel Aviv
This has been on my TBR since last year, when it landed on the NY Times 100 list. Framed by her own history as the youngest patient to have been diagnosed with anorexia, Aviv explores the cases of four people suffering from different types of mental illness. Fascinating look at various forms of treatment, and at the way society treats the patient.



#4 The Vulnerables Sigrid Nunez
I loved this rather rambling work about a middle-aged narrator in NY during the worst weeks of Covid. There are lots of quotes from other writers, many witty references to aging, isolation, loneliness (I know, that doesn't sound funny, but it is!), and wonderful digressions. Highly recommended, even if, like me, you prefer plot-driven narratives.



#5 I Must Be Dreaming Roz Chast
Not quite as good as her last graphic novel, Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant (which was pure genius), but still extremely good. She is a national treasure.

DNF The Custom of the CountryEdith Wharton
I was an hour into the audio when I realized I had read this a few years ago. Brain fog.

Well, Vivian, you have started off the year strong. I will give the Hoffman a try because I do love time travel. I've read the Maughm story, and love his stories. I will read more this year.

#3, 4, 5 all sound good. Darn it! I'm never going to get my shelves emptied.

Hi Vivian. I've found your new thread for the new year and I'm dropping off my star. Your thread is always one of my favorites for book recommendations. The Vulnerables is already being added to the list.

I hope 2024 is a good one for you!

I will look for Strangers to Ourselves.

I've read 5 of your Fiction Favorites up top. : )

Hi Vivian - From now on, I will listen to your comments. I just finished The Invisible Hour and it was awful. The first part started out well, but the time travel just didn't work.

Hi Beth and Ellen, and thanks for stopping by Robyn.

I've had a horrible reading month so far, as I seem to have developed a herniated disc in my neck. So so painful, and sleeping is really difficult, so all I do is go to work (thank goodness for my standing desk) and then collapse. I'm hoping to get some info on pain management in the next day or so.



#6 The Caretaker Ron Rash
I had never heard of this prolific author until I listened to a BBC interview. This is about an Appalachian town during the Korean war. Jacob is called to serve on the front lines, leaving his pregnant wife Naomi home. His best friend Blackburn, an endearing and loyal disfigured young man, is the caretaker for the local cemetery. A really good story of deception, friendship and love.



#7 The Twyford Code Janice Hallett
I thought this was much better and less convoluted than Hallett's first novel, The Appeal. The narration is presented as audiofiles from an early model iPhone, recorded by Steven Smith, an ex-con recently released from serving a prison term he didn't deserve. Very unique and clever, with lots of twists.



#8 The Black Ascot Charles Todd
Ian Rutledge investigates a cold case: an elusive killer who has been at large for 10 years. This was a good installment in the series - very methodical and good character growth.



#9 The End of the World is a Cul-de-Sac Louise Kennedy
I loved The Trespasses but short stories don't work so well for me. Beautiful writing but very bleak.



#10 The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne
A reread for RL book group after our read of The Invisible Hour (which I thought was very flawed.)

Sorry to hear about your neck -- hope you get some relief soon. It doesn't seem to be affecting you reading though -- #10 already!

Ouch! So sorry you're in pain, and as we turn our heads a lot, it must be very intrusive. I hope some standard therapy and/or meds can help.

I hope you can get some relief for the neck pain stat!

I hope you get help for your neck, Vivian. I agree that The Invisible Hour was flawed, but it did make me think about The Scarlet Letter, which I love.

Oh Vivian, I am so sorry to hear about your neck! OUCH!!!! I hope you are able to get some help for it, and soon!

Adding to the chorus here, Vivian. I hope you're able to get some relief.

Thanks for the good wishes Kim, Judy, Katie, Beth, Ellen and Laura. I had an epidural last week which significantly reduced the pain. Now I just have to address the underlying cause with PT (and hopefully avoid surgery).



#11 Spook Street Mick Herron
This series continues to outperform, and I'm looking forward to watching the TV adaptation which is supposed to be excellent. This is the 4th in the series, and focuses on the retired and ailing spy David Cartwright. The writing is wonderfully witty and the pacing is excellent.



#12 The Betrayers David Bezmozgis
Another really good rec from Katie. A legendary Soviet dissident, now an Israeli politician, opposes the government's plan to withdraw from settlements. The opposition attempts to blackmail him about his affair, so he flees to Yalta with his young mistress, where he faces shadows from his past. Great exploration of moral choices.



#13 Frances and Bernard Carlene Bauer
I love epistolary novels and this one did not disappoint. Apparently inspired by the letters of Flannery O'Connor and Robert Lowell, the two fictional characters meet at a writer's colony in 1957 and over the course of the next decade their correspondence covers faith, mental illness, romantic betrayal and creativity. Really worthwhile.



#14 Let us Descend Jesmyn Ward
Incredibly powerful writing about a young enslaved woman Gut-wrenching and harrowing, but the magical realism did not work for me.

>23 vivians: I'm not a fan of magical realism either, Vivian, but I am a Jesmyn Ward fan and should be able to read Let us Descend in February.

I hope your healing continues.

>23 vivians: I'm so glad the pain has been at least mostly addressed for you, Vivian! Good luck with PT.

I'm currently reading Dead Lions, second in the Slow Horses series, and wondering how far into the series I "should" read before I watch the series on television.

I've been seeing mixed reviews of Let Us Descend. Like Laura, I'll probably give it a try and hope it works for me.

I'm so glad you liked The Betrayers!

I got a copy of the new Jesmyn Ward for Christmas, and I'll read it because I've read all of her fiction and nonfiction, but I am trying to temper my expectations...

Glad the neck pain is currenly in abatement.

Good luck with the PT, Vivian. I hope it resolves your neck issues.

Frances and Bernard sounds great. I do have a copy of Let Us Descend and I have loved Ward's other books, so I will give it a try.

>24 lauralkeet: I'll be interested in your reaction to Let Us Descend, Laura. It did not resonate with me the way both Salvage the Bones and Sing, Unburied, Sing did.

>25 EBT1002: Hi Ellen - I've been following your amazing Hawaii trip - what a perfect first post-retirement sojourn. I think it was very wise to give yourself 3 weeks of downtime.

>26 katiekrug: Always grateful for the recs, Katie!

>27 BLBera: Thanks Beth!

Disc pain is improving, but now I have to really commit to strength training. Just have to find a regular time that works. My morning walk is so completely a habit that I don't even think about it anymore. I'd like to find a way to add an exercise routine the same way.

We're in the middle of planning two trips: a work conference to the Canary Islands in May, and a family trip to Copenhagen and then a week in Greenland(!!!!) in July. I'd welcome any suggestions!



#15 Red Queen Juan Gomez-Jurado
The first in a Spanish trilogy about the brilliant Antonia Scott, whose intelligence and forensic mind has helped solve complex and baffling crimes. Although suffering from personal trauma, she and a disgraced police officer, Jon Gutierrez, are determined to solve a highly sensitive murder-kidnapping case. They are a great team, and this international best-seller, although graphic and brutal, is a compelling read.



#16 Night Watch Jayne Anne Phillips
I love historical fiction, and this mother-daughter story set in post-Civil War West Virginia has a lot going for it. Told primarily from the perspective of Conalee, 12 years old and responsible for the care of her traumatized mother, the focus is on the long-term impact of the war on civilians and soldiers. At times I struggled with both the prose and the structure, but overall it was worthwhile.



#17 Absolution Alice McDermott
It seems that the Vietnam war era is now the "in" time period, with many new novels exploring that time. This was mostly about Saigon in the early 60's, told from the point of view of a Tricia, young Irish Catholic newlywed who arrives with her engineer husband before the war erupts. She joins a group of entitled white women, some of whom have sincere charitable inclinations. This is beautifully written and extremely evocative of the pre-feminist period in the U.S. Highly recommended.



#18 Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma Claire Dederer
Very interesting collection of essays about separating art from the artist, particularly when the artist is a "monster" like Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, etc. No real conclusions, and a bit too much of the the author's own biography.

>28 vivians: Does Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma include e e Cummings?

He wrote some of my favorite poems, yet has been named as a racist.

Well, as usual, Vivian, you have made me add books to my WL. Luckily Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma was already there, and I had read Night Watch already.

I really liked the photos and historical artifacts in Night Watch.

Your trips sound like fun; I haven't been to any of those places.

#18 Monsters -- added to my WL! And I am totally jealous of your upcoming trips. Good luck making a habit of your neck workout. : )

>29 m.belljackson: Monsters was not an exhaustive list of truly terrible men, no mention of e e cummings, or Weinstein or R Kelly for that matter. But lots about Hemingway, Nabokov, etc. and surprisingly a chapter about monstrous women, and whether abandoning their children (Joni Mitchell, Doris Lessing, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton) is sufficient reason to classify them thusly.

>30 BLBera: I think I might have enjoyed Night Watch more in print, Beth, as I missed the photos.

>31 Berly: Thanks Kim - seems like it will take some time but I'm trying to stay optimistic.



#19 The Mistress of Bhatia House Sujata Massey
I've really enjoyed this series, and installment #4 is the best yet. Set in 1920s Bombay, the hero is Perveen Mistry, the only female solicitor in the country. This is an action-packed tale that features wrongful imprisonment, arson, unfair dismissal, corruption, a shooting, and fraud. There are also family developments, all very engaging.



#20 Mr. Loverman Bernadine Evaristo
I've been wanting to read more of Evaristo since her Booker win for Girl, Woman, Other. This was an absolutely brilliant novel about an elderly Antiguan couple who emigrated to the UK when they were in their 20s. Most of the book focuses on the 74 year old closeted gay husband Barry (Barrington Walker) but there is enough told from his wife's perspective (Carmel) as well. Poignant but so much humor and wit. Highly recommended.



#21 You Dreamed of Empires Alvaro Enrigue
I was fascinated by this fictionalized version of the 1519 initial meeting between Hernan Cortes and the emperor Moctezuma in what is now Mexico City. Having just been there in December, I found this reimagining of history to be intriguing, darkly funny at times, fairly gory, but really good.



#22 Chain Gang All-Stars Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
A very difficult read about the near-future in which prisoners in a private prison system are given a chance at freedom if they fight for three years in regular death matches, which are viewed by the public with the intensity and fervor of current day sports games. Too many characters and lots of brutality - a very intense audio experience.

I love to visit your thread, but I also have added several books to my WL. I've been hesitating about Chain Gang All-Stars; I picked it up and didn't continue because it was so gory. So, I don't know. It doesn't sound like it gets any less gory.

The Massey books do sound like ones I would enjoy, just what I need, another series. You've already got me going on the C.S. Harris books. I think I'm on # 6 in that series, and there are still lots left.

The Evaristo and the Enrigue go on my list for sure.

I hope your back is better.

It's a day for "E" book bullets! You also got me with the Evaristo and Enrigue books. Nice write-ups and, man, I really need to do some of my own!! : ) Happy weekend!

>33 BLBera:, 34 Both Enrigue and Evaristo were terrific reads - happy to blow up your TBRs for them!



#23 The Glass Pearls Emeric Pressburger
I wish I could remember which podcast recommended this 1966 novel (reissued by Faber) by a well-known Hungarian-British film director. It is the completely gripping story of Karl Braun, a quiet and unassuming London piano tuner. His placid and apparently normal life of concert-going and wooing a younger woman, makes him a sympathetic character until his true identity is revealed. A real masterpiece of slow-burn storytelling.



#24 Happy Place Emily Henry
Pleasant but ultimately frustrating: so much repetition (how many times IRL do we discuss each other's distinctive smell?) plus I hate the trope of miscommunication. A perfect (engaged) couple breaks up for no apparent reason and then is forced to join their friends for a vacation week without revealing their status. The constant banter was completely unrealistic - no one is witty 100% of the time. I know this is a well-loved author but I just couldn't.



#25 Home Reading Service Fabio Morabito
I loved this Mexican novel about a young man whose community service sentence for a minor offense is to read aloud to a variety of elderly and infirm neighbors in their homes. Nothing monumental happens: Eduardo discovers poetry, worries about his dying father, tries to manage the family business and deals with a variety of quirky characters. A short and extremely enjoyable read.



#26 Cahokia Jazz Frances Spufford
Spufford's Light Perpetual was a favorite of mine, and he's outdone himself with this alternative history about the U.S. in the 1920s in which the Native Americans, unaffected by the smallpox virus, have created their own state in the middle of the country. It's a detective story which is combined with intricate and fascinating world-building and a perfect ending. Most certainly will be one my top reads of 2024 - I can't recommend it enough.

The Spufford sounds good. I made note of it after you mentioned it on Laura's thread.

I've liked a couple of Emily Henry's novels, but not HP. I agree about the several flaws with it. I'm sort of surprised you picked it up, as I wouldn't think of her as an author that would interest you very much!

Spufford is an awe-inspiring writer. And you've motivated me to pick up some books my vast TBR list, including all of the Mick Herron tomes, Alice McDermott, and Sigrid Nunez. Life too short; book mountain too large.

Hope the neck is doing better...

>35 vivians: I loved his debut novel, Golden Hill and have Light Perpetual on the shelves too. I will look out for the third as the premise sounds fascinating.

>35 vivians: YOu've done it again, Vivian, with the exception of the Henry.

I thought Light Perpetual was OK but didn't love it. Should I give the new one a try?

Hi Vivian. Oh boy, I have Chain Gang All-Stars on my shelves and it sounds like a tough one. I do want to read it because it has gotten so much critical praise but I'll have to steel myself. Beth and Kim and I have talked about reading Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma together and discussing via zoom. I look forward to that. And Absolution just came up in the library queue so that is in my near future.

I hope you are well!

>36 katiekrug: I keep trying to broaden my reading horizon, Katie!

>37 Chatterbox: Hi Suzanne - I'm feeling the same about my TBR. The prize lists will blow it up even further. I'm trying to be optimistic about my herniated disc and avoid surgery, but it's a very slow crawl to recovery.

>38 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! I liked Golden Hill well enough but I though Light Perpetual was brilliant. Hope you can catch up with Spufford.

>39 BLBera: Hmm, I didn't think Cahokia quite lived up to Light Perpetual. It was really a noir detective story, but set in this amazingly creative world. I think it's worth it, Beth.

>40 EBT1002: So many books, Ellen! I love reading your thread and "watching" you slide into a lovely retirement!

I'm rewatching "Borgen" in anticipation of my summer trip to Denmark. It's a very good and complex political series with no violence or gore.



#27 The Wager David Grann
Read for book group. Very strong narrative non-fiction, with a lot of background details and tangents. I don't think anything can compare with Patrick O'Brian's masterful descriptions of 18th century British naval equipment and battles, but Grann does a good job. Hard to believe what those sailors went through.



#28 The Road to Dalton Shannon Bowring
Good debut about a variety of characters in a small town in Maine in 1990. Everyone knows each other and family tragedies are shared by the whole community. At times bleak and at others uplifting. An enjoyable and quick read.



#29 In the Upper Country Kai Thomas
Another debut, on the 2024 Walter Scott longlist (one of my favorite prizes). It takes place in a small Canadian town, settled by people fleeing American enslavement in the 1800s. Lesinda Marten is a young Black journalist and activist who witnesses the murder of white bounty hunter by an elderly escaped enslaved woman. The two women exchange their stories and find deep connections. The bonds between the refugees and the indigenous people were fascinating. Overall I thought the prose and the timelines were often confusing, and I could have used a family tree, but the premise and characters were interesting.



#30 My Father's House Joseph O'Connor
Another Walter Scott longlist title. I read and really enjoyed O'Connor's Shadowplay about Bram Stoker, but he outdid himself with this one. This was a thrilling page-turner about an Irish priest living in the Vatican at the time of the Nazi occupation of Rome. (The Vatican remained an independent country at this time, with strict borders patrolled by the Gestapo.) Monsignor O'Flaherty and his "choir" of partisans, diplomats and aristocrats, managed an "escape line" for thousands of Allied servicemen and refugees who were hidden and saved. This is based on a true story! Beautiful prose and very vivid descriptions - it would make a must-see movie. I loved it and hope to hear that others will pick it up!

>41 vivians: - So many good-sounding books!

The Grann is already on my wish list, as is the Bowring.

I've not heard of In the Upper Country but will have a look for it.

I really liked O'Connor's Star of the Sea and will keep my eye out for this new one.

>42 katiekrug: Oh I forgot about that O'Connor. It appears that I read it in 2020, and rated it very highly, but I have no recollection! Ugh, brain leakage is frightening.

>43 vivians: - If it makes you feel better, I don't remember much about it beyond the Irish famine ship and a murder :)

Hi! I’m new to 75. I saw above that you liked You Dreamed Of Empires. I had that on an ebook hold for a while and recently took it off because I was unsure if I should read it. So now I’m putting it back on. You have a number of books you’ve read this year that I am interested in. Pleased to meet you.

Glad to hear you liked Night Watch, Vivian. I really liked Lark & Termite a number of years ago and intended to read more of her work. She is an author that is rarely mentioned around here.

>44 katiekrug: Yup, good to know I'm not alone!

>45 dianeham: Hi Diane and thanks for stopping by. I'll check out your thread. I'm mostly a "lurker" on threads but I'll chime in once in a while!

>46 msf59: Hiya Mark! I think you'll enjoy the new Tana French (see below).



#31 After Annie Anna Quindlen
I've always loved Quindlen's non-fiction, and her NY Times column years go was among the best the paper ever printed. So she's an automatic read for me, even though I find her fiction to be a bit uneven. This one was a very good exploration of grief. Annie is a young mother of four when she suffers a brain aneurysm and dies. The novel follows her husband, oldest child (13) and best friend through their first year of heartbreak and mourning. Great peripheral characters, including a meddling and judgmental mother-in-law (I've got one of those) and an inspiring school counselor. Not the best of hers, but very good.



#32 River East, River West Aube Rey Lescure
Women's Prize longlist. This brilliant debut novel moves between two timelines: in 1985 in a small town along the North Korean border, Lu Fang is a bright student whose future is impeded by the country's political reforms. In 2008 Shanghai, Alva is the 15 year old rebellious daughter of an expat American and an unknown Chinese father. An engaging family drama, an exploration of the ex-pat life, racism, prejudice, poverty and hopelessness. Highly recommended.



#33 The God Desire David Baddiel
A respectful and honest argument for atheism: Baddiel argues that it is the very intensity of his, and everyone else’s, desire for God to exist that proves his non-existence. Baddiel has a great sense of humor (he's actually a British comedian) and the book felt like a clever and thoughtful conversation with a family member.



#34 Hangman Maya Bingam
Another Women's Prize longlist debut novel, this one went right over my head. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home in Africa after an absence of twenty-six years, ostensibly to visit his ailing brother. He meets a variety of strangers (all unnamed) and family members, but experiences a strange unease in which he is completely passive and allows himself to be led into bizarre events and conversations. A unique style but too experimental for me.



#35 The Hunter Tana French
This long-awaited sequel to The Searcher follows retired Chicago policeman Cal Hooper and his teenage neighbor Trey during an unusually hot summer in the west of Ireland. This is a character-driven, slow burn as Trey's unsavory father returns with a convoluted scheme and an English millionaire in tow. The pub banter is dark and funny (and beautifully expressed by the audio narrator Roger Clark) and there were lots of twists and turns. I loved it!

Ooh you're reading Women's Prize nominees! I always follow your thread with interest, but will keep a particular eye out for those. I'm also pleased to see you loved the new Tana French. My daughter and I are both fans. I'm "patiently" waiting for a library copy but she bought the book the day it was released.

In the Upper Country sounds good, Vivian.

My library has both River East, River West and Hangman, and I already checked out Enter Ghost, which I will read when I finish Orbital.

Had you read other books on the longlist. The only two I had read were The Wren, The Wren and Nightbloom, both of which I liked a lot.

>48 lauralkeet: As usual, the new Tana French is quite long. She writes beautifully about western Ireland, this time set in conditions of unusual heat and drought. I hope you enjoy it when your turn arrives (even though I failed you in recommending Cahokia Jazz!)

>49 BLBera: I'm planning to read the longlist, Beth, although not all of the titles are available here. So far I've read 4, with River East, River West my favorite so far. I liked The Wren, The Wren but didn't love it. I just started The Blue, Beautiful World last night. So a few more to go!



#36 Lark Ascending Silas House
Recommended on the Book Cougars podcast, a disturbing post-apocalyptic story about survival. Things have gone horribly wrong in the US due to climate change, devastating fires, and militias who enforce religious doctrine. 20 year old Lark and his parents, having lived relatively well in an isolated corner of Maine for several years, decide to flee by boat to Ireland, where conditions are said to be better. There is some kindness and hope, but lots of grief and misery.



#37 Rules of Civility Amor Towles
This was a re-read in anticipation of Towles' story collection being released next month. I didn't love it the first time around, but thought A Gentleman in Moscow was a masterpiece. I enjoyed it much more this time, especially the sharp dialogue and the tour of Manhattan in 1938. I still spent the whole novel waiting for a deeper dive into Katie Kontent's Brooklyn background (how did she rid herself of the accent?) and how easily she was accepted by the social elite. So in the end still some reservations but a good read.



#38 Mr. Texas Lawrence Wright
A really fascinating political novel, written with the expert eyes of a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and native Texan. A powerful lobbyist convinces small-town rancher Sonny Lamb to run for state office. Expecting Lamb to be a pawn, he is thwarted by Lamb's solidly moderate perspective and some ambitious plans that don't' sit well with the oil and gas community. A very realistic portrayal of campaign financing, lobbyists, and political intrigue. I enjoyed how Wright interspersed real characters and events into the narrative.



#39 The Wren, The Wren Anne Enright
Women's Prize longlist. This was the most engaging Enright I've read, but it was far from perfect for me. The premise of three generations of Irish women and the impact of their poet husband/father/grandfather on their lives is compelling. Phil's public persona is a sensitive and tender man (his less-than-brilliant poetry is included in the text) but at home he is a bully who abandons his dying wife and teenage daughters. I love multi-generational stories but I found these characters uninteresting.



#40 Hungry Ghosts Kevin Jared Hosein
Longlisted for the Walter Scott. Debut novel set in Trinidad in the 1940s, in a community of lower-caste Hindus and elite Christians. A rich landowner disappears and his wife Marlee, herself of mysterious origins, lures Hans from his poverty-stricken dwelling (the evocative "barrack" which is so well-described) and his wife and son, to become a night watchman. Very good but way too long. Beautifully written themes of religious bigotry and economic aspirations and great characters.

I just finished Enter Ghost and it is really good.

Hi Vivian. I have The Wager waiting for me at the library this very moment and I brought a copy of The Searcher home with me from my sister's. Your comments about The Hunter make me anxious to get to that Tana French novel.

>51 BLBera: I'm looking forward to this one, Beth.

>52 EBT1002: So great that you have so much more reading time, Ellen!



#41 The Blue, Beautiful World Karen Lord
Long listed for the Women's Prize, a science fiction first-contact novel I was hoping to love. Turns out it's the third in a trilogy, and all the worldbuilding completed in the first two installments was just assumed. I was confused most of the time, about characters, plot and background.



#42 And Then She Fell Alicia Elliott
Another entry on the Women's Prize longlist. An indigenous Canadian woman marries a white professor, and struggles through pregnancy and early motherhood with post partum depression, grief over her mother's untimely death, and life away from her family and traditions. The novel explores the racism that is often unconscious or unintentional, motherhood, and Mohawk myth and legend. Really deserving of its place on the prize list.



#43 Martyr! Kaveh Akbar
Cyrus Shams is a young poet living in Indiana, the son of an Iranian mother who was killed in the (real life) downing of a commercial airline by US forces. As he recovers from multiple addictions, he struggles to write a book about martyrs and he visits a conceptual artist at her "deathspeak" exhibit in order to find some meaning in his own life. This was a tremendously engaging novel, even though elaborate dreams usually are a turn-off for me.



#44 Mexikid Pedro Martin
A fabulous graphic novel about a large family's 2,000 mile road trip from California to southern Mexico in the early 70s to bring home their ailing grandfather. Lots of pop culture references, tons of humor, great illustrations. A perfect palate cleanser after some denser books.

Hi Vivian - I read somewhere that Karen Lord's book was better read after reading the first two, so I have gotten the first one from the library. I am reading And Then She Fell now and am loving it so far. Of the four I've read so far, I think all are very good.

>54 BLBera: I definitely made a mistake by reading the Lord book first. I'll wait to hear what you think and then decide if I will revisit the trilogy.

I'm recovering from cervical spine surgery - no fun but hopefully it has addressed the last three months of pain and weakness in my arm. The surgeon was kind and empathetic and skilled (I hope) but he really minimized the recovery. I've had 4 days of lying on the couch without moving and am finally feeling like myself again. I'll be working from home until I can drive again, another week. In the meantime, just short notes on recent reads:



#45 8 Lives of a Century Old Trickster Mirinae Lee
Women's Prize longlist, a debut novel about a 100 year-old nursing home resident in South Korea. Born into family dysfunction in North Korea, captured during the Japanese occupation, sold into slavery, recruited as a spy, it's unclear which of these stories is true but each is riveting. Highly recommended.



#46 Erasure Percival Everett
Thelonius "Monk" Ellison is a Black academic writer of unreadable works. He pens a bitter satire which is headed for bestsellerdom, while he manages family crises. Funny and poignant. I'm looking forward to the film adaptation.



#47 Restless Dolly Maunder Kate Grenville
Women's Prize longlist. A bright and thwarted girl, born into poverty in 1880's Australia, overcomes multiple challenges and obstacles. Based on the author's grandmother and a pleasant, if not particularly original, read.



#48 Nightbloom Peace Adzo Medie
Another worthwhile read from the Women's Prize longlist, this one in need of a bit of editing. Two Ghanaian best friends, Akofa and Selasi, are torn apart by family conflict and economic disparity.

I'm sorry you had to have surgery, but I hope it addresses the issue(s).

American Fiction was terrific. It made me want to read Erasure.

Oof, sorry about the surgery and recovery. I hope you're up and about as expected next week. Nice reviews.

I hope you recover soon from the surgery, and that it does the trick.

Meanwhile, you've read some books I've never heard of. Looks interesting.

I hope your recovery goes smoothly, Vivian!

>53 vivians: Thank you for recommendation - I got MEXIKID and THE COMFORT OF CROWS
this morning with a Barnes and Noble gift card - also enjoyed a Latte and a big Caramel Cookie!

Hope this surgery does the trick. Good luck on the recovery, Vivian!!

I hope your recovery goes well, Vivian, and that the surgery works. I have found that surgeons always minimize the recovery needed.

>55 vivians: Great comments. I have taken a break from the Women's Prize longlist to read other library books that came in. Of the ones I've read, I have found all to be really good; it seems like it's a strong list this year.

>55 vivians: My thoughts are with you for a full recovery, Vivian.

Hope you're feeling better every day. I think surgeons DO minimize the difficulties and length of time recovery might take because they think it will put people off to hear the truth. Afterward, they'll tell you it's all normal, and to be expected. I'd rather be prepared ahead of time, myself.

Many, many thanks for all the good wishes Katie, Laura, Judy, Ellen, Marianne, Kim, Beth, Paul and Linda.

I'm very sad to share that my mother died this weekend after a fall. She was 99, had 8 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren and lived a totally independent life until her last day. She was a refugee from Nazi Germany, who made her way to the US via Holland, Belgium, France, and then 4 years in Cuba. She spoke four languages, read the NY Times cover-to-cover every day and was shocked if any of us overlooked an article. She had strong opinions and had an impact on all who met her. Really an extraordinary life, and we are all heartbroken.

I'll just add my recent books so I don't forget, but no brainpower to write reviews.



#49 Before the Coffee Gets Cold Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Loved this - a small cafe in Tokyo offers its customers time travel experiences, with a few strict rules.



#50 Brotherless Night V V Ganeshanathan
Women's Prize longlist - a young Tamil girl with four beloved brothers wants to become a doctor, but her dreams are shattered by the Sri Lankan civil war in the 1980s. Really good.



#51 London Rules Mick Herron
Another good Slough House episode about political intrigue and North Korean terrorists.



#52 What Happened to Nina Dervla McTiernan
A disappointing read from a favorite author, partly because it's set in Vermont rather than Ireland, and also because there was very little suspense.



#53 Clear Carys Davies
A short and excellent novel about a Scottish minister who embarks on an errand to oust the sole inhabitant of a northern island during the Clearances of the 1840s. The two men develop a friendship despite the fact that they can't speak the same language. Beautiful writing.



#54 The Berry Pickers Amanda Peters
Immersive debut novel about a 4 year old indigenous Canadian child who goes missing during her family's 1962 annual berry-picking summer in Maine. No mystery involved, just multiple narratives.

Oh, so sorry for your loss. Your mother sounds like an extraordinary woman.

I'm so sorry for the loss of your mother, Vivian. She sounds like a remarkable and fascinating person. May her memory be a blessing.

Vivian, I am so sorry to read about your mother's passing. She does indeed sound extraordinary and fascinating. I am sure you will miss her terribly, and hope that your memories sustain you during this time.

I am so sorry for your loss, Vivian. Your mother sounds remarkable. It's great she was able to live independently until the end.

>65 vivians: I'm sorry for your loss, Vivian. Living independently to the end is what we all hope for, for ourselves and our loved ones. In that, as in many other things, apparently, your mother was blessed. I hope it will be a consolation to you eventually, that she did not suffer a long drawn out leaving as so many do these days. Indulge in the memories.

>65 vivians: What an incredible life for your inspiring beautiful Mother!

How blessed you were to have each other through all these many years.

>65 vivians: I am so sorry for your loss. She sounded amazing! My thoughts are with you as we both grieve our Moms. Hugs.

So very sorry to hear of your loss... Every time I've heard you talk about your mother, she sounded like a force of nature; one of those indefatigible, curious and fascinating people whose final departures we mourn the most.

As always, your thread gives me inspiration for reading; I'm doing well with my non-fiction reading but struggling to find the attention bandwidth for "serious" fiction. I have been eyeing the Walter Scott longlist (I read the Tan Twan Eng book last year, ditto the O'Connor, and loved both of them). And I really want to make time for Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck soon.

I'm so very sorry to hear about your mother's passing, Vivian. It sounds like she lived a rich and long life but it's never -- never -- easy to lose them. Sending you hugs.

So many thanks to all of you for the kind words - Judy, Katie, Laura, Beth, Linda, Marianne, Kim, Suzanne and Ellen. I was so lucky to have my mother as such a force in my life for so long. I really appreciate all the messages.

#55 The Children of Men P.D. James
This dystopian novel was recommended on the Backlisted podcast. Narrated by an Oxford history professor, this 2021 world is one in which no children have been born since 1995 due to unexplained male infertility. It's fairly slow-moving, despite the premise that humanity is ending. I'm looking forward to watching the movie with Clive Owen.



#56 The Winter Soldier Daniel Mason
This terrific novel confirmed my impression after North Woods that Mason is a superb writer. Lucius is a medical student in 1914 Vienna when he is pulled into the war by his own desire to experience surgeries. He serves in a undersupplied field hospital in the Carpathian Mountains, where he struggles with frostbite, lice, rats, PTSD as well as conventional war wounds. This will definitely make my top books of the year.



#57 Sweet Sorrow David Nicholls
Totally enjoyable first love story about Charlie Lewis, a sad and directionless 16 year old trying to overcome his parents' recent split as well as his school graduation, and Fran Fisher, a posh and ambitious amateur actress. Lots of great dialogue, and a truly bittersweet poignant tale.



#58 Enter Ghost Isabella Hammad
Shortlisted for the Women's Prize. A young actress of Palestinian origin travels to visit her sister in Haifa and has a political awakening as she becomes involved with a production of Hamlet in the West Bank. The central character was unappealing to me and I found it a tedious read.



#59 Ordinary Human Failings Megan Nolan
I'm sorry this longlisted Women's Prize entry was not shortlisted. An ambitious reporter who is investigating the death of a small child in a London estate in the early 90s focuses on a desperately unhappy family of Irish immigrants, including a ten year old child who is blamed. Vivid portraits of all the family members - truly brilliant writing and great on audio.

>76 vivians: Some great books, Vivian. I enjoyed Enter Ghost more than you, but I am partial to books that include plays, and I thought it was very interesting how the characters found relevance in Hamlet. I look forward to Ordinary Human Failings, which I've heard many good things about.

CHildren of Men has been on my shelf for years. It's about time I get to it, I think. I really liked all of P.D. James' other books.

Hi Beth - I've never read any of PD James' detective novels but they are on my list!

Just returned from a business meting in Tenerife - a great change of scenery after a difficult few months. And lots of plane reading time!



#59 Good Material Dolly Alderton
NY Times book review "book club." I really enjoyed this novel about comedian Andy's heartbreak after a difficult break-up with the love of his life, Jen. Told mostly from his perspective, there was an ending from her point of view that was very worthwhile.



#60 Frozen River Ariel Lawhon
Historical fiction set in Maine in 1789. Inspired by the life of the real Martha Ballard, a midwife and healer. Very good, with a terrific author's note at the end to put it all in context.



#61 Death Under a Little Sky Stig Abell
Abell used to be the editor of the Times Literary Supplement and I enjoyed listening to their podcasts. He's a great mystery fan, and in this first novel he pays tribute to many of his favorite authors. An ex-London detective moves to a remote village and finds love as well as a cold case when the bones of a young woman are discovered. A good debut, with more in the series to come.



#62 Father of the Rain Lily King
Recommended by Ann Patchett's backlist newsletter, this 2010 novel about a father-daughter relationship was honest, painful and gripping. Daley Armory is 11 when her parents are acrimoniously divorced, and she confronts her father's alcoholism, violence and disdain through her adolescent years. Heart-wrenching and captivating at the same time.



#63 Table for Two Amor Towles
Read for RL book group. I was slightly less enamored than the others, all of whom loved this unequivocally. I'm not a short story fan because I find it hard to remember plot and characters, but found that taking notes on each of the stories really enhanced my experience. In the end I really enjoyed all 6 of them. Towles seems a bit pretentious to me at times, holding forth on classical music, finance, Renaissance art, etc. But I loved the New York references, and the sequel to Rules of Civility was entertaining if not plausible.



#64 The Maiden Kate Foster
Women's Prize longlist. Historical fiction set in 17th century Edinburgh. Christian Nimno, a real-life convicted murderer and victim of the guillotine, tells the story of her uncle's murder. This should have been on the Walter Scott list and I'm sorry it didn't make the shortlist - really good.

So many good books being read over here. Wow! I am currently reading Table For Two and listening to The Searcher. Glad to hear you enjoyed The Hunter. I also loved Clear: A Novel and I have The Winter Soldier lined up for this fall. I have added The Frozen River, The Berry Pickers and Ordinary Human Failings.

>78 vivians: - Every single one of those was on my WL or is now! I really enjoyed ALderton's Ghosts earlier this year.

I"m glad you could get away for a bit, even if it was for work.

>78 vivians: These all sound good, Vivian. I'm glad you could get away. How is your back?

Your reviews are always so tempting, Vivian! The Towles isn't calling to me but the others ... hmm ...

>79 msf59: Hi Mark - I'm following your reading on your thread and am glad to see all your travels as well.

>80 katiekrug: Thanks Katie, I'll add Ghosts.

>81 BLBera: Neck and arm are getting better post-surgery, thanks for checking Beth. I think it just takes longer to recover in an old body.

>82 lauralkeet: Hi Laura - happy to tempt you!



#65 When Ghosts Come Home Wiley Cash
I thought this was a new one and it took about 50 pages for me to realize I had read it in 2021. But since I had very little recall, I just went ahead and read it again. I do love his writing. A sheriff in small town in 1984 North Carolina, who faces a re-election campaign against a corrupt local businessman, investigates a plane crash and a murder. His beloved daughter is dealing with the stillbirth of her son. Very moving but suspenseful as well.



#66 Tales from the Cafe Toshikazu Kawaguchi
The second in a very pleasant series about time travel.



#67 A Divided Loyalty Charles Todd
A very good installment in the Rutledge series, featuring a murder in a stone circle in Avebury. Rutledge is called in after an initial investigation by another chief inspector fails to find the perpetrator.



#68 Chenneville Paulette Jiles
This was outstanding and on a par with News of the World. An injured Union soldier, John Chenneville, returns home to St. Louis to the news of the murder of his sister and her family. His quest for justice involves a journey through harsh weather, encounters with memorable characters and descriptions of a lawless post-war land. Absolutely terrific.



#69 James Percival Everett
Another masterpiece from Everett - I hope this wins every prize.

Thanks for the nudge, Vivian. I just got Chenneville from the library.

>83 vivians: Well, for once I've actually read a couple of these books (Chenneville and James)! I also just read a Wiley Cash novel, This Dark Road to Mercy. I like his writing, too. So ... no new book bullets for me this week but I'm sure you'll get me next time.

>84 ffortsa: I really loved it, Judy, after being somewhat disappointed in Simon the Fiddler.

>85 lauralkeet: Will keep trying Laura!



#70 One Day David Nicholls
Read in anticipation of watching the Netflix adaptation (which I now can't stomach because the leads don't have any chemistry and because the dialogue is lifted word-for-word from the book!). Two university graduates, Emma and Dexter, turn a one-night stand into 20 years of deep friendship, then alienation and finally true love. Very predictable, and lots of unlikeable characters.



DNF Hunting the Falcon John Guy
I loved Wolf Hall and was eager to read more about the Tudors, but this was just too detailed and dry.



#71 What cannot Be Said C.S. Harris
Another solid St. Cyr, with both Sebastian and Hero investigating the murders of an aristocrat and her daughter. Although the duo's 21st century sensibilities about child labor and other social justice issues are a little heavy-handed, this continues to be a terrific series.



#72 Headshot Rita Bullwinkel
I heard about this short novel about women's competitive boxing on a podcast, but it didn't engage me. I found it difficult to remember the back stories of the eight teenage boxers, but I did enjoy the future look at each of their lives.



#73 Joe Country Mick Herron
Slough Horses #6. I'm still enjoying the political intrigue (this one centers on the very bad behavior of one of the royals), the humor and the characters.



#74 Long Island Colm Toibin
read for RL book group. A little disappointing after the marvelous Brooklyn - too much melodrama and annoyingly bad behavior. I imagine Toibin is planning a third installment, which would account for the frustrating ending. The Irish and Italian grandmothers are great characters, and I wish we could witness their meeting.

Copenhagen-Greenland family trip coming up - I'm really looking forward. Lots of transfers and flying time so I'm trying to figure out which books to take (no Kindle for me, but lots of audiobooks).



#75 Close to Death Anthony Horowitz
I love this Detective Hawthorne series and the way Horowitz inserts himself into the mysteries. His ability to introduce a large cast of characters (in this case, an affluent gated community made up of a variety of neighbors) and their back stories goes beyond any other author's. I often find myself halfway into a book and still confused by the players, and that's never the case with Horowitz. Very cleverly plotted and a satisfying ending.



#76 A Rising Man Abir Mukherjee
After surviving the Great War and losing his wife to the Spanish flu, Captain Sam Wyndham of Scotland Yard takes up a new post in Calcutta. He investigates the murder of a senior British official, as the sweltering city seethes with political intrigue against British rule. Very good and I'll continue with this series.



#77 Come and Get It Kiley Reid
Very meh - a college novel about a Millie, residential assistant at the University of Arkansas in 2017, and Agatha, a visiting professor and journalist. I think this was supposed to be about race, power imbalance and journalistic ethics but it got completely bogged down by never-ending dialogue, silly pranks and unlikeable students.



#78 Acts of Desperation Megan Nolan
I really enjoyed Nolan's recent Ordinary Human Failings but this one did not work for me. A self-destructive unnamed young woman narrates her obsession and toxic relationship with Ciaran, who is hung up over his ex. I think I've aged out of this Sally Rooney-esque trope.



#79 Real Americans Rachel Khong
Three generations of a Chinese-American family tell their stories: Lily, American-born and dealing with her mother's ambition and her own ambivalence about her heritage; her son, Nick, who comes of age amid family crisis; Lily's mother Mei and her early life in 1960s China. They are each sympathetic and distinctive voices and each section is well-written (if a bit too long). A bit of magical realism seemed unnecessary, but otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed this.

Your trip sounds exciting, Vivian! Have you been to either destination before?

>88 lauralkeet: First time to both! I spent a lot of time planning the Greenland week, mostly because there are no roads and all travel has to be booked by air or sea. We'll be with our daughter, our youngest son and his girlfriend. For the first week in Copenhagen we're keeping most days loose (except for a food tour one day, and a visit to the Louisiana art museum another) because we'll be with our oldest son, his wife and !!!!FOUR!!!! kids under the age of 5. (They're not doing the food tour with us!) I'm keeping expectations low about how much we'll actually be able to do.

Happy Friday, Vivian. I just finished James. 5 star read. Wow. I want to get to Long Island.

Have fun on your trip, Vivian.

I also enjoyed Real Americans but in the end I thought maybe there was too much going on.

I think I will pass on the Reid.

Starting my catch-up rounds. Your reading summaries are always among my favorites. Have a wonderful trip!! (Four kids under the age of five --- yikes!)

Terrific trip! We loved Copenhagen - such a walkable city (we averaged 9 miles a day!), friendly people, beautiful museums and great food. Greenland was an adventure! Lots of hiking and 24 hour daylight.

>90 msf59:, >91 BLBera: and >92 EBT1002: Thanks for the visits, Mark, Beth and Ellen. It's hard to get back to 95 degrees!



#80 Soldier Sailor Claire Kilroy
Shortlisted for the Women's Prize. Very raw stream of consciousness recounting the early days of motherhood. Very intense and very good, but not for everyone.



#81 Christine Falls Benjamin Black
The first book in the Quirke series, which I'm reading because the widowed and alcoholic pathologist features in John Banville's Detective Strafford series. Well plotted and tremendously enjoyable.



#82 The Ministry of Time Kaliane Bradley
Pretty good time travel about a government employed full-time "bridge" for a member of an 1800s failed Arctic expedition who is brought to the present. Lots of good elements and perfect vacation read.



#83 The Other Side of the Bridge Mary Lawson
I loved this quiet novel about 2 generations in the small farming town of Struan, Ontario, beginning in the 1930s. Two very different brothers, Arthur and Jake, are at odds throughout their lives. Cannot recommend this enough.



#84 Absent in the Spring Mary Westmacott
Written by Agatha Christie under a pseudonym, this is an introspective novel (no crime!) about a rather smug, middle-aged woman who is stranded at a railway station by herself for a few days and begins to really examine what she thought had been a well-loved life. Heart wrenching.

#85 Bear Julia Phillips
A bit of a disappointment after her brilliant first novel, Disappearing Earth set on the remote Siberian peninsula of Kamchatka. This one is about two close and impoverished adult sisters living on San Juan Island off the coast of Washington State. Their relationship is complicated when a grizzly makes an appearance on the island. The pacing was slow until the last quarter of the book, and the ending is startling.



#86 The Comfort of Ghosts Jacqueline Winspear
This is the 18th and last in the Maisie Dobbs series, and a very fitting end. Two new mysteries set in 1945, including secrets revealed about James Compton, provide a backdrop for a very effective 35 year review.



#87 Ordinary Grace William Kent Krueger
Set in 1961 in a rural Minnesota community, 13 year old pastor's son Frank Dunn narrates the tumultuous summer of murder and death. There were a number of times when the plot revolved around Frank overhearing conversations, but other than that annoying recurrence I really enjoyed this coming-of age story.



#88 The Adversary Michael Crummey
I'm a big fan of Crummey's Newfoundland stories, and this was no exception. In the early 19th century the fictional port of Mockbeggar is divided into factions by two siblings: perpetually drunk Abe Strapp, a wealthy and immoral justice of the peace, and his sister, the Widow Caines, who is smarter but crippled by her need for revenge. Very dark, with unrelenting poverty and natural disasters. Really good.



#89 Before Your Memory Fades Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Another installment about the Tokyo café where customers can travel back in time. Clever and enjoyable.

I'm glad you had a good family vacation, Vivian. I so enjoy traveling with my daughter. So many little ones must be challenging at times.

I am waiting for my turn with Bear and Soldier Sailor. I just finished A Sunlit Weapon and now I want to finish the series.

I love Mary Lawson. I wish she would write faster.

Hi Vivian! As usual you are reading some interesting books. I'm glad you had a great time in Copenhagen.

>93 vivians: - I somehow missed these pics before. Thanks for sharing! Glad the holiday was a good one.

Lots of good looking books here. The Adversary in particular appeals.

Hi Vivian!

I'm adding The Other Side of the Bridge to my wishlist and reminding myself that I want to do a focused reading of all John Banville / Benjamin Black works. Sadly, I think my copies of works in that collection ended up in storage for the year. :-|

I read something by Michael Crummey and I remember liking it. I'll need to investigate.

Welcome back and I'm glad your travels were fun. I would love to experience 24-hour daylight.

I read Sweetland in 2016 and gave it 4 stars.

>96 BLBera: Hi Beth - I loved Crow Lake and A Town Called Solace but I think this one was even better.

>97 lauralkeet: Thanks Laura! A great city to visit - so much to see, people are friendly, food is great. I'd definitely go back.

>98 katiekrug: Hi Katie - I really have the travel bug and can't wait to plan the next one. Unfortunately, my next work conference is in...Orlando...not too thrilling. But the good news is that Jason Sudeikis is going to be the guest speaker. (Not sure what his financial advising creds are...)

>99 EBT1002:, >100 EBT1002: I'm never disappointed by Michael Crummey, Ellen, although a lot of what he writes is about darkness and privation. Thanks re trip. We were kayaking among the icebergs at midnight in complete daylight - very weird. It totally screwed up my sleep patterns for a couple of weeks.



#90 Wellness Nathan Hill
I absolutely loved this sweeping chunkster about a couple marrying in 1990s Chicago and their lives after twenty years together. Jack and Elizabeth each have backstories which take time to unroll, and the many tangents (open marriage, conspiracy theories, health & placebos, art & photography, higher education, the algorithms of Facebook etc. etc.) are terrific deep dives.



#91 Enlightenment Sarah Perry
Booker longlist. I admire Perry's writing, but as with The Essex Serpent and Melmoth I found it hard to read despite finding the themes and characters interesting. It feels like the novel is set in the mid-19th century rather than 1990s England. Hearing Perry's interview about her own strictly religious upbringing shed some light on her style. The plot centers around a closeted small-town journalist, Thomas Hart, and his teenage friend Grace maccauley, both of whom worship at a strict Baptist congregation in Essex. Both fall miserably in love, and both are drawn to the story of a 19th century astronomer who lived in a nearby mansion.



#92 Endless Night Agatha Christie
This was the subject of an episode of the Backlisted Pod. Working class, unsettled and uncultured Michael Rogers narrates his meeting and falling in love with a rich American, Ellie Guteman. A creepy psychological thriller that was just ok for me.



#93 Wild Houses Colin Barrett
Booker longlist. Small-time criminals in rural western Ireland, a debut novel by a short-story writer. Doll, a teenager, is kidnapped as a threat to his drug dealer older brother Cillian. Lots of loneliness and grief exposed in all of the characters, including Nicky, Doll's girlfriend, and recently orphaned Dev, whose house used to hold Doll. Very depressing but hard to put down.

I'm glad to see your positive comments on Wellness, as it looks like it will be my RL book group's choice for September. I voted for Demon Copperhead but last I looked, Wellness was running away with it.

Jason Sudeikis *almost* makes Florida worth going to... Just be sure not to spend any of your own money in the state ;-)

I have been wondering about Enlightenment, Vivian. I really liked The Essex Serpent but this hasn't been calling to me.

>102 katiekrug: Oh great Katie, I'll look for your comments. I'm going to add The Nix to my TBR after reading this latest. I'm with you on refusing to support anything in that state.

>103 BLBera: Hi Beth!



#94 Long Island Compromise Taffy Brodesser-Akner
Some chuckles in this one, but overall way too heavy-handed. The wealthy Fletcher family, whose fortune is made in the production of styrofoam packaging, faces the decades-long fallout of the kidnapping and subsequent return of the patriarch. All three children and their mother, uniformly despicable, are haunted by this event. The author really skewers the middle-class Jewish community on Long Island, which seemed like a cheap shot. Plus way too long.



#95 My Friends Hisham Matar
Booker longlist. A naïve and sensitive young Libyan student ends up an exile in London due to events at the the real life shooting spree at the Libyan embassy in 1984. Khaled has left home at the age of 18 to study in Edinburgh, and spends the next 40 years as an onlooker of his country's repression under Qaddaffi and the events that follow his ouster. I learned so much about the conflict and the Arab spring. A profound and intense examination of friendship and exile. Highly recommended.



#96 Wandering Stars Tommy Orange
Booker longlist. This novel begins in 1864 and follows multiple generations until present-day. There is fascinating background about the Sand Creek massacre, the Carlisle school (notorious for its treatment of indigenous children) and the occupation of Alcatraz. I struggled with the multiple POVs and the heavy introspection, but overall thought it was a worthwhile read.



#97 The Coast Road Alan Murrin
A bit melodramatic, this debut novel about a small coastal Irish town in the 1990s, before divorce was legalized, is very gripping. Three women navigate their difficult marital relationships as well as their relationships with each other, all complicated by the small-town betrayals and claustrophobia. Dolores is married to an adulterer, Izzy is married to a politician and Colette is married but separated from her wealthy husband and is prevented from seeing her children.



#98 Godwin Joseph O'Neill
O'Neill is a great sportswriter Netherland whose books are not about sports. There are two threads: Lakesha is the founder of a writers' cooperative that morphs from a supportive, successful group into a toxic workplace. Mark is a frustrated grant writer, who gets sucked into a scheme to recruit a brilliant soccer savant in an unknown location in Africa. I could not put this down, despite some very long passages about agents, the sports industry, famous soccer stars and a variety of disasters. I could have read an entire book from Lakesha's point of view.



#99 We All Want Impossible Things Catherine Newman
I wanted to get to this before reading Sandwich. 40-year best friends Ash and Edi deal with Edi's impending death from ovarian cancer. Very sensitively written, even though Ash's messy life seemed annoying.

Hi Vivian! I'm currently reading Wandering Stars. I'm about halfway through and find myself agreeing with your take on it.

Hi Vivian - I wanted to reread There There before reading Wandering Stars... My Friends sounds wonderful.

>106 BLBera: My Friends was reallyhttps://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/worthwhile, Beth, but my favorite on the Booker longlist is still James.



#100 Held Anne Michaels
The gorgeous prose in this Booker longlisted novel had such promise, but the choppy narrative and puzzling connections made this very hard to read. I know I'm in the minority on this one. The novel opens with a wounded WWI soldier and moves through various European countries and time periods, possibly about the same family although this was not clear to me. Terrific section about Marie Curie, which remained just a fragment. Not enough narrative arc for me.



#101 The Crocodile Bird Ruth Rendell
Katie's recommendation - a really good one! Terrifically atmospheric - this is the story of 16-year old Liza, who has been forced into isolation in the remote English countryside by her obsessive mother. Liza runs away when the police come to arrest her mother for murder. This was a real page-turner.



#102 The Safekeep Yael van der Wouden
Booker longlist. Wow - such a powerful debut novel from a Dutch author. Isabel is an angry and lonely young woman, living in a remote house left to her brother by their deceased parents. It's 1961 and the consequences of the war are still very present in the Netherlands. Isabel has no choice but to let her brother's romantic partner Eva move into the family home. There are explicit sex scenes which will no doubt disturb some readers, but the second half of the novel is riveting.



#103 Count the Ways Joyce Maynard
I always resisted reading Maynard because of her weird JD Salinger relationship (she portrays him as a predator), but Katie recommended this so I jumped in. Great family drama about Eleanor, whose bruised and neglected childhood compel her to nourish and provide for her own children with a bit of a heavy hand. A very emotional read, with themes such as success and failure in marriage, motherhood, domestic abuse, sexual abuse and its far-reaching consequences, responsibility and forgiveness. The story takes place over four decades, beginning in the 1960s, so there was a lot for me to relate to. I really enjoyed this and will definitely read the sequel.



#104 Orbital Samantha Harvey
Booker longlist and next RL book group pick. This was a bit of a puzzle for me: it's a novel about a crew of astronauts orbiting the earth in the space station: 16 orbits over 24 hours. There's no real plot, no conflict and no character development. Just beautiful images of the wonder and majesty of the earth. Magical descriptions of every continent and country and a meditation on the fragility of life.

Ooh, you read two of my recs and liked them both. I should buy a lottery ticket 😉 But seriously, I'm glad they both worked for you. I finished the follow-up to the Maynard recently and think it was just as good, if not better.

>107 vivians:, >108 katiekrug: okay okay, you both got me with Count the Ways. I just added it to my library list.

>106 BLBera: Love the recs but missing your daily updates (even if routine).

>107 vivians: But blame Katie if you don't like it :)



#105 This Strange Eventful History Claire Messud
Booker longlist. A really interesting look at 3 generations of a dislocated French family based on Messud's own history. She successfully evokes the feelings of alienation and rootlessness felt by the Cassars, a family of ethnically French born in Algeria during the colonial rule. Quite a bit of wandering and too many details, but otherwise a good read for me. I was stunned to read long passage about a real-life businessman in Argentina, an associate and friend of my father's, in a whole sequence about the daughter Denise which seemed irrelevant to the narrative. I so wish I could tell my parents!



#106 The Parable of the Sower Octavia E. Butler
Read in anticipation of the Backisted podcast episode later this month. Written more than 30 years ago and set in the year 2025, this is a frightening look at a decayed and dangerous U.S. suffering from climate change and wealth disparity. 18 year old Lauren Olamina, who suffers from hyper-empathy, has ideas about a new kind of society in which faith and community are central. Dark and impactful; I'll probably read the sequel.



#107 The Spoiled Heart Sunjeev Sahota
The story follows Nayan Olak, a British Sikh who is running for secretary of his union. He lost his family in a fire many years before and becomes obsessed with a white neighbor who has returned to their small UK town after a long absence. There's an omniscient narrator (whose role I never fully understood) but overall this is a novel about grief, trauma and racism. The tension between traditional union (socialist) values versus identity-based perspectives was well portrayed. Not a great read for me, but still interesting.



#108 All the Colors of the Dark Chris Whittaker
So much hype about this thriller/literary mystery set in small town Monta Clare, Missouri beginning in 1975. The town is turned upside down when a local boy, Patch McCauley, saves a girl from a terrible fate. He has a 30 year friendship with Saint Brown, and they both deal with the consequences of that act. Lots of short chapters, which work very well. Audio was narrated by Edoardo Ballerini, a real pro. The British author spends a lot of time proving he did his research (every town is named, every major event is mentioned) so there were times when the book dragged. But for the most part very good.



#109 The Darkness Ragnar Jonasson
What - I started another series - not enough titles on my TBR? Well I heard a great interview with Jonasson (Simon Mayo's "Books of the Year") and I was convinced. This is a trilogy about a retiring police inspector in Reykjavik who investigates a cold case about a Russian asylum seeker. My understanding is that the subsequent installments will go back in time looking at Hulda's career. A great perspective on ageism and misogyny. I enjoyed this and will read the rest of the series, now being made into a miniseries.

#110 Creation Lake Rachel Kushner
Booker longlist. I'm still thinking about this days after finishing it, and it's just the sort of book which would benefit from book group discussion. A very cerebral novel about American protagonist "Sadie Smith" who is operating under a pseudonym as she infiltrates a kind of eco-commune in rural France who may or may not be planning acts of violence. There is lots of ambiguity (such as who are Sadie's employers) as Kushner explores anthropology (early human species - fascinating), politics, cults, '68 radicalism and even feminism. Not a typical spy thriller. It's very witty and the audio is extremely well-narrated by Kushner.



#111 The Guncle Abroad Stephen Rowley
Mildly amusing, this sequel lost its steam pretty quickly.



#112 Tell Me Everything Elizabeth Strout
Excellent reunion of all of Strout's best loved characters, from Olive Kitteridge to Bob Burgess. I'm not sure why Strout's writing calls to me - perhaps its simplicity or the emphasis on every day unrecorded lives. This one had a mystery but the focus remained on the characters. Brilliant and highly recommended.



#113 What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust Alan Bradley
This series has also run out of steam for me. Although Flavia De Luce remains a precocious and witty amateur sleuth, the plot twists are ridiculous. I would have DNFed but for the narration of Jayne Entwistle, who is a real master.

The only reason I made it through the Flavia de Luce series was because Entwistle's narration of the audios was so good!

You'll be glad to hear I finished Wellness on audio and ended up loving it :)

Ooh! Sooo glad to see your high praise for Tell me Everything. To my amazement I was the first one to request it from my library system. It's not in circulation yet, but I know it will be soon.

I never hopped on the Flavia de Luce bandwagon, I was turned off by something-or-other the first time I heard about the series. No regrets!

I tired of Flavia after the second or third, I think. Good to know I haven't missed much.

I am looking forward to Creation Lake; it sounds like one I would like.

I'm glad to see your comments on the Strout. After the last one, I was tired of the Lucy Barton world and thought she should move on.

As always, it's a treat to see what you are reading.

I think I'm going to be saving the Strout book for Thanksgiving!

The new Tommy Orange book didn't pack the same 'wow' factor as his debut did, alas. So far, my fave of the Booker shortlist is Orbital by Samantha Harvey, which I think is the first book that I've read by her.

I keep trying to like Rachel Kushner's books, but end up falling back on "admire" rather than enthusiastically love. I respect her writing, the craft that's behind the plots -- but the overall package never speaks to me...

I think my next Man Booker shortlist read will be either Held or The Safekeep. I started the latter, but quickly bogged down, prob. because I just wasn't in the mood for that kind of intensity.

I've never read Joyce Maynard's work either, which I feel somewhat guilty about, as her sister is a friend of mine... (Rona is a Canada-based magazine editor, and more recently a memoirist.)

The Kate Foster was a definite book bullet, though! I'm also starting to dig into the Baillie Gifford longlist; plenty of stuff to read there. I've had Revolusi, about Indonesian independence, on my UK kindle for eons.

Up in Keene, NH for 'Radically Rural" a conference about small communities. Wearing my hat as part of a group of WSJ alumni mentoring small newspapers and community news organizations. That is my 'vacation'! The drive up from Boston was lovely, especially on the long, winding rural highway in the final hour or so of the trip.

>112 katiekrug: Very glad about your reaction to Wellness, Katie. I think I'll try The Nix at some point.

>113 lauralkeet: And so glad to hear your reaction to Tell Me Everything on your thread, Laura.

>114 BLBera: Hiya Beth and thanks as always for your comments. I'm always reading the threads, even if I don't post much.

>115 Chatterbox: So great to hear from you Suzanne! And to see your posts as well. I agree with your Kushner comments - her novels are admirable but they're hard to love. Although the latest worked much better for me than her earlier two. I'm thrilled to hear that Reuters is working out for you.



#114 Slough House Mick Herron
Reasonably good but nowhere near the quality of the first two or three in the series. I'm finding the scatalogical references tiring. The slow horses have been erased from the intelligence service database and are being targeted. I still really enjoy the characters and the references to current events such as the Russian poisonings.



#115 Harvest Jim Crace
I reread this 2013 novel (which was shortlisted for the Walter Scott prize) in anticipation of our annual invitation to see the new film at the 2024 NY Film Festival. A very descriptive and brooding story about a remote English village and the impact of the Enclosure Act several hundred years ago. The outside world suddenly becomes real with the arrival of three strangers, and over the course of one week the village collapses in a terrible chain of events. Both book and film are evocative, powerful and brutal.



#116 The Weekend Charlotte Wood
I read this out of frustration at not having access to the Booker Prize shortlisted Stone Yard Devotional. It's about three 70-something women who gather to clean out the beach house of their recently deceased close friend during a hot Australian Christmas. Resentments are stirred up, as are secrets, lies and betrayals. A great premise but the characters veered a little too much into stereotypes for me (washed-up actress, messy academic, tightly wound and judgmental restaurateur). All in all, just ok.



#117 Her First American Lore Segal
Read because of discussion on Backlisted podcast, and also because I loved reading Segal's "Mitzi" books to my kids. Much of the details (though not the broad story) reminded me of my parents' experiences as young refugees from tortuous escape routes through Europe during the war. Set in 1950s New York, 21- year old Ilke arrives with little English, and embarks on a relationship with a middle-aged Black intellectual and is introduced to his world. Funny, sad and a real American saga. Segal, herself a refugee, is now 96 and her interviews remind me of my mother who died at 99 earlier this year.



#118 Greta and Valdin Rebecca K. Reilly
A very funny debut novel about two queer siblings, half Maori and half Russian, and their family in contemporary New Zealand. I loved it!



#119 The Island Ragnar Jonasson
The second in a trilogy that traces the career and life of police detective Hulda Hermannsdottir in reverse chronological order. Very good mystery (if a bit obvious) and great descriptions of Iceland, one of my favorite travel destinations.

You sold me with Greta and Valdin. I think I will pass on the Wood.

The Iceland books sound good as well. I think I may have read something by this author.

Some really great reading going on over here, Vivian.
Her First American particularly caught my eye and must have had an impact on you considering the parallels with your late mom.

Wow! You are a reading machine, Vivian and so many good books. Thanks for the reminder about The Adversary. I am also a Crummey fan. I also really enjoyed Wellness, Wild Houses, Orbital and I recently finished Creation Lake. So much to chew on there. I can't wait to get to Tell Me Everything. Strout Rocks!

Hi Vivian. Your reading pace is impressive! I also really liked Orbital and My Friends. I'm reading This Strange Eventful History now and finding it quite uneven. Some chapters are compelling, others less so.

So nice to see visitors, since I seem to have abandoned my thread for a while. I was stuck in Orlando at a conference when Milton hit, and ended up driving home - 17 hours in one day! Then a great trip to DC where Oren, son #3, just bought a house.

>117 BLBera: The Reilly book was a real surprise, Beth. Very different and very funny. I hope you like it too.

>118 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul - thanks for stopping by. A few days after I finished the book I heard that Segal had died in NY, age 96.

>119 msf59: I didn't expect to love Tell me Everything as much as I did, Mark. There's something about her prose that made me feel entirely connected to her characters.

>120 EBT1002: Hi Ellen - I'm following your reading as well!

Just a quick catch-up:



#120 Death at the Sign of the Rook Kate Atkinson
Much better than the last Brodie, but not quite up to the first few. I'll read anything she writes though. Lots of humor, art theft, a crumbling manor house, and the return of some favorite characters, including Reggie.



#121 We Solve Murders Richard Osman
A new series begins, with three primary characters: Amy, who works in private security, her father-in-law Steve, recently widowed and very set in his familiar routines, and Rosie, an American best-selling novelist. Very funny, a preposterous plot with to many side characters, but overall a great read.



#122 You Are Here David Nicholls
Alternating points of view between two lovely inroverted people, Michael and Marnie, as they get to know each other on a coast-to-coast walk. A very pleasant read.



#123 Playground Richard Powers
I struggled a bit with this highly lauded deep dive (haha) into the mysteries of the ocean. Beautiful writing about nature as well as subjects like dementia, AI and friendship. There are three narratives: an aged marine biologist who fought through rampant sexism to achieve success in her field, an ailing billionaire, and an American couple living quiet lives on a tiny French Polynesian island. The resolution is surprising and took me some time to understand what was real and what wasn't.



#124 The Reindeer Hunters Lars Mytting
This fell flat for some of my RL book group members, but I loved it. It's the sequel to The Bell in the Lake which we read a few years ago. Rural Norway from 1903 to 1918 changes radically with the arrival of electricity, the war and the Spanish flu. I was completely immersed in the life, culture, social norms and attitudes of the remote community of Butangen. Each character is memorable and I look forward to the final volume in the trilogy.



#125 The Mist Ragnar Jonasson
A blizzard at a remote farmhouse in eastern Iceland and a series of horrific crimes - this is the end of the Hidden Iceland series which tracks policewoman Hulda's life in reverse order. Very intense, atmospheric and well-plotted.

Nice to see you here, Vivian. I can't imagine having to drive home from Orlando under any circumstances, let alone fleeing a natural disaster. I'm glad you made it home safe and sound. You've been reading some interesting books, as usual. I am in a long hold queue for the Atkinson, but managed to read We Solve Murders shortly after its release. That was a fun one!

>122 lauralkeet: Hi Laura! Hope you have a fun weekend in NY - so crazy warm here.



#126 Burn Peter Heller
This was a great twist on dystopian fiction: two childhood friends emerge from their annual week-long hunting trip in rural Maine to find that civil war has erupted. Such a chilling scenario, since it doesn't feel in the least far-fetched. As usual, Heller's prose about friendship and nature is paired brilliantly with tension. My only complaint was the unnecessary (I thought) subplot about Storey's mom.



#127 The River We Remember William Kent Krueger
A small Minnesota town in 1958 is rocked by the discovery of the body of its wealthiest and most hated citizen. The war hero & all around good guy sheriff, Brody Dern, has to manage his racist neighbors, who are convinced of the guilt of native American Noah Bluestone and his Japanese wife. I really enjoyed this.



#128 The Switch Beth O'Leary.
Predictable and light, not quite up to the humor of The Flatshare. Overachiever Lena Cotton, still reeling from the death of her sister, convinces her 79 year-old grandmother to switch homes with her. Just ok but a good break from dystopia.



#129 I Cheerfully RefuseLeif Enger
A 5 star read from one of my favorite writers, although it suffered a bit for me because of so recently reading Burn. This is a little more chaotic but oh my, those characters. This is set in the near distant future swamped by climate change, economic disparity and political decay. Slavery and chemical "therapeutics" keep workers docile. In the midst of the chaos in rural Michigan live Rainy, a musician and house painter, and his partner Lark, who operates a small bookstore supplied by whatever caches of old volumes she can find. Their generosity to a stranger leads to tragedy, and much of the book finds Rainy navigating Lake Superior in challenging circumstances. I loved this, as I did Virgil Wander, but find it heartbreaking that this is where Enger's imagination leads.

>123 vivians: - Geez, Vivian, you hit me with BBs for all 4 of those!

>123 vivians: What Katie said. That is quite a drive - 17 hours in one day. Did you do it alone or did you share the driving?

I have enjoyed Krueger's Cork O'Connor mysteries but haven't read any stand alones.

I've just started reading This Tender Land. I think William Kent Krueger is just about exactly the kind of author I need right now. Like Beth, I also enjoy his Cork O'Connor series (and I have several more to read - yay!).

I hope you are well.

>124 katiekrug: Very happy to return the favor, Katie, you've sent me quite a few!

>125 BLBera: Hi Beth - I haven't read the O'Connor series, but it's on my list. So many series - after FictFact closed down I reverted to a spiral notebook to keep track of all of them, and that seems to be working for me. I use spreadsheets at work all the time and it's a relief to have a manual record.

>126 EBT1002: Hi Ellen - So far I've really enjoyed all the Krueger I've read so I'll definitely continue on.

What a week it's been, and the worst of it is anticipating another 4 years of chaos, cruelty and self-dealing. Gaetz at Justice? A TV presenter at DOD? He's just thumbing his angry little finger at us without any care of the consequences. What a world.

Lots of reading though, and that always helps.



#130 The Siege: A Six-Day Hostage Crisis Ben Macintyre
Excellent narrative non-fiction about the 1980 hostage crisis at the Iranian embassy in London. An incredibly thorough account, using interviews, diaries, memoirs and government sources.



#131 The Silver Swan Benjamin Black
Another Quirke mystery, with the personally-challenged pathologist once again sowing seeds of doubt about a young woman's apparent suicide. The villain is a cliched evil drug addict, and much of the investigation is done by others, but I still found this enjoyable, especially the character development of Quirke and his family members.



#132 Sandwich Catherine Newman
RL book group pick. I've heard some grumblings from two of the members, but I actually enjoyed this very quick read about a family's annual Cape Cod vacation encompassing 3 generations. Very relatable (we've been going to the Cape annually for the last 35+ years) and lots of snarky humor.



#133 A Necessary Evil Abir Mukherjee
Second installment of a series focusing on a British policeman and his sergeant in 1920s India. This one moves from Calcutta to the kingdom of Sambalpore, where the British have no jurisdiction. The plot centers around the assassination of the heir to the throne. This was an entertaining read: filled with humor, palace intrigues, rivalries, deception, politics, opium dens of Calcutta’s Chinatown, religious fervor, a tiger hunt, monsoonal rains and the historically accurate execution by elephant.



#134 The Great Fortune Olivia Manning
Thanks to Laura for finally nudging this off my TBR. British ex-pats and other emigres in Bucharest from 1939 through the fall of Pris in 1940. There's a large cast of characters, including the incredibly irritating Guy, his newly wedded and virtually abandoned wife Harriet, and the wheedling and needy Yakimov. There are constant rumors and the threat of invasion hangs over every meal, conversation and interaction. Loooking forward to #2.

Hurray, you're reading The Balkan Trilogy!!! It makes me happy to see so many people here reading it and I have to give credit where it's due: I read it thanks to a recommendation from Caroline_McElwee, so she's really the one responsible for this "wave".

I got a recommendation for Sandwich from my cousin this summer. I look forward to it.

I guess I need to dust off The Balkan Trilogy as well.

Actually, >127 vivians: all of this sound good, darn it!~

I just took a peek at your reading and now I have so many titles in my head! This is a dangerous place.

And wow to 17 hours drive in one day from Orlando. The aftereffects of the storm couldn't have made it easy.

Hi Vivian. I wonder if you'd like to save the second installment in The Balkan Trilogy for February as there is a group of us reading the three books in the first three months of the new year. :-)

Wow! Always so much to respond to, Vivian. Hooray for Playground. My 2nd favorite book of the year, behind James. Glad to hear you liked the latest by Heller. I also really enjoyed the Enger. I will be reading The Great Fortune in January.

>131 EBT1002: I am in this, as well.

Hope that you will have a lovely Thanksgiving weekend, Vivian.

>128 lauralkeet: You thread is always a good source for me, Laura!

>129 BLBera: You too, Beth, lots of damaging BBs from your thread.

>130 ffortsa: Hi Judy - sorry to weigh you down but hope some of these work for you.

>131 EBT1002: Thanks Ellen - I will wait for the second in The Balkan Trilogy - I'd love to try a group read. Will there be a separate thread? I'll also eagerly await your comments about The Great Fortune.

>132 msf59: Hi Mark - I'm just at a 2-day conference in Nashville (where it's colder than in NY), and ran into a colleague to whom I had recommended James last year. She said she really didn't like it and that she felt it "ruined" Huck Finn. Whaaaaat? So glad to know that you and other LTers were fans as I was.

So far I've loved everything by Leif Enger, but I think Virgil Wander is m favorite so far.

>133 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul! I had the whole family (4 kids, 6 grandkids) plus assorted others and it was a wonderful, if chaotic, weekend.



#135 Alchemy S J Parris
I've loved this series about the real-life Giordano Bruno, a real-life 16th century heretic and escapee of the Inquisition. This 7th book takes him to Prague and the court of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf. An elaborate mystery set in the relatively permissive society where scientists, alchemists and astrologers are given free rein. Bruno is tasked with the investigation of the murder of a court-favored alchemist and is caught up in a complex plot involving the Court, the Jewish community, Spanish strongmen and the Catholic Church. Long but very worthwhile.



#136 Meetings with Remarkable Animals Martin Clunes
I would listen to that man read a phone book. That's all.



#137 Conclave Robert Harris
A novel about the death of a pope and the subsequent conclave to elect a new one. I loved this and raced through it. Fascinating traditions, lots of intrigue and quite a setting. The movie was terrific but I saw it too close to having finished the book.



#138 The God of the Woods Liz Moore
I'm in the minority and just did not feel the suspense of this thriller. There were too many perspectives, and too much time spent on just tracking people down. Two children from the same wealthy family go missing: one in 1961 and one in 1975. Lots of focus on the dysfunctional family and many timeline shifts. Overall it was ok but nowhere near as good as Moore'sLong Bright River.



#139 Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne Katherine Rundell
I've never read a biography like this: an engaging, often funny tone about a man with limited historical information. Donne was a 17th century poet, diplomat and clergyman, and Rundell's passion about his work is a joy to read.



#140 Death in a Lonely Place Stig Abel
Meh. Great homages to detective fiction (Abel drops names and book titles left and right) but this second book in the series of ex-detective Jake Jackson was just too implausible. Plus way too much time spent on repetitive cold plunges, saunas and fire-stoking.



#141 The Running Grave Robert Galbraith
I love the Cormoran Strike series and have no problem with the length. I mostly listened to this through a variety of travels (34 hours!) JK Rowling tells a gripping tale of a religious cult. The entire tome is suffused with an atmosphere of danger and menace. I could not stop listening and hope this series has a long life.

>134 vivians: Alas, Bruno did not escape the Inquisition, and famously was burned at the stake. I cannot get used to the knowledge that people did this to other people.

As for your titles weighing me down, that's like a good blanket on a cold day. I'm all for it.

I enjoyed the biography of Donne as well, Vivian. The Parris books sound like ones I would enjoy. I do love a good historical mystery. I recently read and enjoyed Dragon's Lair, set in the twelfth century, mostly about Queen Eleanor trying to ransom King Richard. It's a good series, and there are only four.

Hi Judy and Beth - thanks for your comments. Beth, I've put the Penman series on the list, thanks.



#142 Colored Television Danzy Senna
This novel focuses on two biracial artists and their family in present-day LA. Jane Gibson has worked on her second novel for 10 years and is devastated when it is rejected by her agent and publisher. She looks for other means of supporting her family and descends into the corrupt world of television development. I found her painter-husband incredibly annoying - he would never stoop to actually earning money. A pleasant read but the name-dropping felt degrading.



#143 Sipsworth Simon Van Booy
Shopping at Parnassus Books in Nashville was the highlight of my trip there this month, and this novel was showcased on the "Ann recommends" table. It's a very quiet and sweet novel about an elderly woman about to give up on life. Very sentimental and reminiscent of (but not as good as) A Man Called Ove.



#144 Everything I know About Love Dolly Alderton
A funny memoir about bad choices and quite a lot of substance & alcohol overindulgence. I can't wrap my head around the self-destructive nature of all that drinking. I loved the focus on female friendship.



#145 The Women Kristin Hannah
Read for RL book group. Sigh, I know I'm in the minority but I don't get on with Hannah's writing. I do appreciate that she chose to write about Vietnam and the women who served. And she captured the setting quite well. But as she did in The Nightingale, she threw in every single conceivable tragedy, while peppering the narrative with song titles, TV shows and fashion choices to provide a historical context. The main character, Frankie McGrath, was entitled and spoiled, and her romances were too centered. And this sounds petty but...I had a business partner who was a very proud Vietnam vet, and I was seated with him at a dinner with an obnoxious loudmouth who was reminiscing about his experiences in "'Nam." When my partner inquired about his service, it turned out this guy spent his entire tour in Ramstein and had never left Europe. My partner later told me that it was a dead giveaway when someone referred to "'Nam" and anyone who had been in country never used that term. Not sure if that's true, but it really bugged me in this book.

>137 vivians: Vivian ... I, too, am a member of the Kristin Hannah not-a-fan club. I've only read The Nightingale but since then, every time I see one of her books in the library I just say "nope". Thanks for reinforcing that decision.

Great comments on the Hannah, Vivian. I am not a fan, either. I always feel her books are superficial.

I might give Colored Television and Sipsworth a try. My library has them.

Sipsworth was already on my radar, or that would have been a BB.

Apparently, there is an adaptation of the Alderton - I think on Hulu. I might have to check it out sometime. I liked the book but agree about the self-destructive tendencies...

Kristen Hannah use to write decent romance/female frienship books, and I think those are the kinds of books best-suited to her writing strength (or lack thereof). Her more recent books always sound like efforts to be taken more "seriously" without the writing chops to back it up.

Thanks for all the Hannah warnings. I have been feeling I should give her a try, but now I won't bother.

Thinking of you at this time, Vivian.

>138 lauralkeet:, 139, 140: thanks for chiming in with Hannah opinions. Glad to know I'm not alone!

>141 ffortsa: Hi Judy - as you can see, other LTers agree, but on the other hand there are legions of Hannah fans out there.

>142 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul, and best to you too.

My daughter and I just spent four wonderful days being tourists in Chicago. It was mighty cold but we were well bundled. Favorite stops: the Art Institute, The Chicago Fed museum, a great food tour, an evening at Second City, the Field museum, Chicago River architectural tour, and lots of great desserts.



#146 The Rose Code Kate Quinn
Another Parnassus recommendation - very good historical fiction about women at Bletchley Park. Perfect plane fare! The author's notes were terrific.



#147 Precipice Robert Harris
By chance I had recently listened to "The Rest is History" podcast about Asquith and the dramatic days preceding WWI. Harris' new book is historical fiction based on the relationship between the Prime Minister, aged 62, and aristocratic socialite (and friend of his daughter) Venetia Stanley, aged 26. He wrote to her several times a day, and the letters are all genuine. Shockingly, he often included confidential documents and reports about private cabinet meetings. There are fascinating portraits of Churchill, Kitchener and other historical figures. And most impressive of all: the capabilities of the British postal service, which had multiple deliveries every day across the country. Highly recommended.



#148 Bad Actors Mick Herron
Another reliably fast-paced Slough House mystery, with numerous satirical commentaries about post-Brexit politicians as Covid recedes. In this installment a Swiss think-tank researcher has disappeared, and the slow horses use their skills to find her and exonerate "the Service." Great characters.



#149 Train Dreams Denis Johnson
I found a beautiful copy of this slim classic in a beautiful Chicago bookstore (I think called Exile in Bookville). It's been on my TBR forever. Robert Granier is a laborer living a lonely life in the Northwest at the beginning of the 20th century. Very atmospheric, with concise writing and not much plot.