CBL reads and knits in 2024 Row 2
This is a continuation of the topic CBL reads and knits in 2024 Row 1.
Talk75 Books Challenge for 2024
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Hi! Welcome to my second thread! My name is Carrie, and I've lost count how many years I've been in this group. I know it's been more than a decade! I'm an academic librarian living in Seymour, TN with my 12-year-old fur baby, Adrian. Life has kept me from being as active as I would like to be on LT. I'm hoping to find a balance that works for me this year. My other interests include family history research, music (I play the piano for church), and knitting. I tend to watch Acorn or BritBox shows while I knit. I spend a lot of time outdoors when the weather is warmer, walking for exercise and helping to care for the flowers and shrubs at our subdivision's entrance.
My toppers usually feature my sweet Adrian. Here's a recent photo from Mardi Growl. Adrian loves to give kisses, whether you like it or not!
My toppers usually feature my sweet Adrian. Here's a recent photo from Mardi Growl. Adrian loves to give kisses, whether you like it or not!
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Best of 2024
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, translated by H. T. Willetts (5) - Review
Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse (4.5) - Review
Poseidon's Gold by Lindsey Davis (4.5) - Review
All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny (4.5) - Review
Jane Austen's England: Daily Life in the Georgian and Regency Periods by Roy Adkins & Lesley Adkins (4.5) - Review
Beyond the Body Farm by Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson (4.5) - Review
Woman, Captain, Rebel: The Extraordinary True Story of a Daring Icelandic Sea Captain by Margaret Willson (4.5) - Review
Tevye the Milkman by Sholem Aleichem (5) - Review
Home by Marilynne Robinson (5) - Review
Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza by Adina Hoffman & Peter Cole (4.5) - Review
A Passage to India by E. M. Forster (5) - Review
Holes by Louis Sachar (4.5) - Review
The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis (5) - Review
The Woman Who Split the Atom by Marissa Moss (4.5) - Review
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, translated by H. T. Willetts (5) - Review
Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse (4.5) - Review
Poseidon's Gold by Lindsey Davis (4.5) - Review
All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny (4.5) - Review
Jane Austen's England: Daily Life in the Georgian and Regency Periods by Roy Adkins & Lesley Adkins (4.5) - Review
Beyond the Body Farm by Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson (4.5) - Review
Woman, Captain, Rebel: The Extraordinary True Story of a Daring Icelandic Sea Captain by Margaret Willson (4.5) - Review
Tevye the Milkman by Sholem Aleichem (5) - Review
Home by Marilynne Robinson (5) - Review
Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza by Adina Hoffman & Peter Cole (4.5) - Review
A Passage to India by E. M. Forster (5) - Review
Holes by Louis Sachar (4.5) - Review
The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis (5) - Review
The Woman Who Split the Atom by Marissa Moss (4.5) - Review
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Books Read in April
33. The Late Mrs. Willoughby by Claudia Gray (3) - completed 4/5/24
34. The Fire Dance by Helene Tursten (3.5) - completed 4/7/24
35. Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie (4) - completed 4/12/24
36. Less than Angels by Barbara Pym (4.5) - completed 4/13/24
37. Tevye the Milkman by Sholem Aleichem (5) - completed 4/19/24
38. The Unexpected Guest by Agatha Christie (3) - completed 4/20/24
39. Vermeer's Hat by Timothy Brook (4) - completed 4/20/24
40. Home by Marilynne Robinson (5) - completed 4/23/24
41. The Consequences of Fear by Jacqueline Winspear (3.5) - completed 4/27/24
42. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (3.5) - completed 4/27/24
43. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (2.5) - completed 4/30/24
Books Read in May
44. Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke (3.5) - completed 5/3/24
45. A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters (3.5) - completed 5/9/24
46. Mischievous Creatures by Catherine McNeur (4) - completed 5/14/24
47. The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz (4) - completed 5/17/24
48. Ancestors by William Maxwell (3.5) - completed 5/19/24
49. Trouble in Triplicate by Rex Stout (4) - completed 5/23/24
50. The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever (4) - completed 5/31/24
51. Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey by Lillian Schlissel (4) - completed 5/31/24
Books read in June
52. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling (3.5) - completed 6/2/24
53. The Black Angels by Maria Smilios (3) - completed 6/9/24
54. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (3.5) - completed 6/18/24
55. Between the Woods and the Water by Patrick Leigh Fermor (4) - completed 6/24/24
56. Last Act in Palmyra by Lindsey Davis (4) - completed 6/29/24
57. The Beige Man by Helene Tursten (3.5) - completed 6/30/24
Books read in July
58. It's All Relative by A. J. Jacobs (4) - completed 7/7/24
59. The Second Confession by Rex Stout (3.5) - completed 7//8/24
60. The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams (2.5) - completed 7/10/24
61. The White Mouse by Nancy Wake (3) - completed 7/19/24
62. Time to Depart by Lindsey Davis (4) - completed 7/22/24
63. From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming (2) - completed 7/22/24
64. Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner (3) - completed 7/26/24
65. An Island of Our Own by Sally Nicholls (4) - completed 7/29/24
66. A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power (3) - completed 7/31/24
67. Avenue of Spies by Alex Kershaw (3.5) - completed 7/31/24
Books Read in August
68. My Dog Tulip by J. R. Ackerley (3) - completed 8/2/24
69. Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women who Challenged a Nation by Tiya Miles (3.5) - completed 8/3/24
70. Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare (3.5) - completed 8/7/24
71. The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff (4) - completed 8/14/24
72. A Slant of Light by Jeffrey Lent (2.5) - completed 8/15/24
73. Wandering through Life by Donna Leon (4) - completed 8/24/24
74. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (3.5) - completed 8/29/24
75. Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza by Adina Hoffman & Peter Cole (4.5) - completed 8/31/24
Books Read in September
76. What You Are Looking for Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama (4) - completed 9/5/24
77. Three Doors to Death by Rex Stout (4) - completed 9/8/24
78. American Flygirl by Susan Tate Ankeny (4) - completed 9/15/24
79. The Treacherous Net by Helene Tursten (3) - completed 9/18/24
80. A Passage to India by E. M. Forster (5) - completed 9/20/24
81. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (3.5) - completed 9/24/24
82. Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes (4) - completed 9/30/24
Books Read in October
83. The Devil's Novice by Ellis Peters (3) - completed 10/8/24
84. The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman by Margot Mifflin (4) - completed 10/13/24
85. A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman (4) - completed 10/16/24
86. Holes by Louis Sachar (4.5) - completed 10/19/24
87. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (4) - completed 10/20/24
88. The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis (5) - completed 10/23/24
89. The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter by Katherine Anne Porter (3.5) - completed 10/31/24
90. A Dying Light in Corduba by Lindsey Davis (3.5) - completed 10/31/24
Books Read in November
91. The Secrets of Wishtide by Kate Saunders (3.5) - completed 11/5/24
92. In the Best Families by Rex Stout (3.5) - completed 11/11/24
93. Women in the Valley of the Kings by Kathleen Sheppard (3.5) - completed 11/13/24
94. Who Watcheth by Helene Tursten (3) - completed 11/17/24
95. Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara (4) - completed 11/22/24
96. Love That Dog by Sharon Creech (4) - completed 11/22/24
97. The Woman Who Split the Atom by Marissa Moss (4.5) - completed 11/23/24
98. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (4) - completed 11/30/24
Books read in December
99. Excursion to Tindari by Andrea Camilleri (3.5) - completed 12/5/24
100. The Man Who Invented Christmas by Les Standiford (4) - completed 12/11/24
101. What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust by Alan Bradley (3.5) - completed 12/22/24
102. Oddfellow's Orphanage by Emily Winfield Martin (3) - completed 12/22/24
103. Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser (3.5) - completed 12/23/24
104. Protected by the Shadows by Helene Tursten (4) - completed 12/26/24
33. The Late Mrs. Willoughby by Claudia Gray (3) - completed 4/5/24
34. The Fire Dance by Helene Tursten (3.5) - completed 4/7/24
35. Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie (4) - completed 4/12/24
36. Less than Angels by Barbara Pym (4.5) - completed 4/13/24
37. Tevye the Milkman by Sholem Aleichem (5) - completed 4/19/24
38. The Unexpected Guest by Agatha Christie (3) - completed 4/20/24
39. Vermeer's Hat by Timothy Brook (4) - completed 4/20/24
40. Home by Marilynne Robinson (5) - completed 4/23/24
41. The Consequences of Fear by Jacqueline Winspear (3.5) - completed 4/27/24
42. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (3.5) - completed 4/27/24
43. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (2.5) - completed 4/30/24
Books Read in May
44. Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke (3.5) - completed 5/3/24
45. A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters (3.5) - completed 5/9/24
46. Mischievous Creatures by Catherine McNeur (4) - completed 5/14/24
47. The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz (4) - completed 5/17/24
48. Ancestors by William Maxwell (3.5) - completed 5/19/24
49. Trouble in Triplicate by Rex Stout (4) - completed 5/23/24
50. The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever (4) - completed 5/31/24
51. Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey by Lillian Schlissel (4) - completed 5/31/24
Books read in June
52. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling (3.5) - completed 6/2/24
53. The Black Angels by Maria Smilios (3) - completed 6/9/24
54. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (3.5) - completed 6/18/24
55. Between the Woods and the Water by Patrick Leigh Fermor (4) - completed 6/24/24
56. Last Act in Palmyra by Lindsey Davis (4) - completed 6/29/24
57. The Beige Man by Helene Tursten (3.5) - completed 6/30/24
Books read in July
58. It's All Relative by A. J. Jacobs (4) - completed 7/7/24
59. The Second Confession by Rex Stout (3.5) - completed 7//8/24
60. The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams (2.5) - completed 7/10/24
61. The White Mouse by Nancy Wake (3) - completed 7/19/24
62. Time to Depart by Lindsey Davis (4) - completed 7/22/24
63. From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming (2) - completed 7/22/24
64. Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner (3) - completed 7/26/24
65. An Island of Our Own by Sally Nicholls (4) - completed 7/29/24
66. A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power (3) - completed 7/31/24
67. Avenue of Spies by Alex Kershaw (3.5) - completed 7/31/24
Books Read in August
68. My Dog Tulip by J. R. Ackerley (3) - completed 8/2/24
69. Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women who Challenged a Nation by Tiya Miles (3.5) - completed 8/3/24
70. Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare (3.5) - completed 8/7/24
71. The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff (4) - completed 8/14/24
72. A Slant of Light by Jeffrey Lent (2.5) - completed 8/15/24
73. Wandering through Life by Donna Leon (4) - completed 8/24/24
74. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (3.5) - completed 8/29/24
75. Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza by Adina Hoffman & Peter Cole (4.5) - completed 8/31/24
Books Read in September
76. What You Are Looking for Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama (4) - completed 9/5/24
77. Three Doors to Death by Rex Stout (4) - completed 9/8/24
78. American Flygirl by Susan Tate Ankeny (4) - completed 9/15/24
79. The Treacherous Net by Helene Tursten (3) - completed 9/18/24
80. A Passage to India by E. M. Forster (5) - completed 9/20/24
81. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (3.5) - completed 9/24/24
82. Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes (4) - completed 9/30/24
Books Read in October
83. The Devil's Novice by Ellis Peters (3) - completed 10/8/24
84. The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman by Margot Mifflin (4) - completed 10/13/24
85. A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman (4) - completed 10/16/24
86. Holes by Louis Sachar (4.5) - completed 10/19/24
87. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (4) - completed 10/20/24
88. The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis (5) - completed 10/23/24
89. The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter by Katherine Anne Porter (3.5) - completed 10/31/24
90. A Dying Light in Corduba by Lindsey Davis (3.5) - completed 10/31/24
Books Read in November
91. The Secrets of Wishtide by Kate Saunders (3.5) - completed 11/5/24
92. In the Best Families by Rex Stout (3.5) - completed 11/11/24
93. Women in the Valley of the Kings by Kathleen Sheppard (3.5) - completed 11/13/24
94. Who Watcheth by Helene Tursten (3) - completed 11/17/24
95. Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara (4) - completed 11/22/24
96. Love That Dog by Sharon Creech (4) - completed 11/22/24
97. The Woman Who Split the Atom by Marissa Moss (4.5) - completed 11/23/24
98. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (4) - completed 11/30/24
Books read in December
99. Excursion to Tindari by Andrea Camilleri (3.5) - completed 12/5/24
100. The Man Who Invented Christmas by Les Standiford (4) - completed 12/11/24
101. What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust by Alan Bradley (3.5) - completed 12/22/24
102. Oddfellow's Orphanage by Emily Winfield Martin (3) - completed 12/22/24
103. Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser (3.5) - completed 12/23/24
104. Protected by the Shadows by Helene Tursten (4) - completed 12/26/24
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Books Read in January
1. Too Many Women by Rex Stout (3) - completed 1/3/24
2. So Shall You Reap by Donna Leon (3) - completed 1/6/24
3. Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken (4) - completed 1/6/24
4. The Girls Who Fought Crime by Mari K. Eder (3) - completed 1/14/24
5. The Golden Calf by Helene Tursten (4) - completed 1/23/24
6. 1812: War with America by Jon Latimer (3.5) - completed 1/24/24
7. The Poison Belt by Arthur Conan Doyle (2) - completed 1/26/24
8. Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain (4) - completed 1/28/24
9. The Dead Alive by Wilkie Collins (3.5) - completed 1/29/24
10. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, translated by H. T. Willetts (5) - completed 1/31/24
Books Read in February
11. Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall; illustrated by Hugo Martinez (4) - completed 2/3/24
12. Nina Balatka by Anthony Trollope (3.5) - completed 2/10/24
13. Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse (4.5) - completed 2/11/24
14. Poseidon's Gold by Lindsey Davis (4.5) - completed 2/11/24
15. Illness as Metaphor by Susan Sontag (4) - completed 2/11/24
16. All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny (4.5) - completed 2/16/24
17. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (4) - completed 2/20/24
18. The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan (4) - completed 2/21/24
19. Caprice by Ronald Firbank (2.5) - completed 2/28/24
20. Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie (3) - completed 2/29/24
21. Jane Austen's England by Roy Adkins & Lesley Adkins (4.5) - completed 2/29/24
Books Read in March
22. Maybe by Morris Gleitzman (4) - completed 3/2/24
23. Skellig by David Almond (4) - completed 3/5/24
24. Half a Crown by Jo Walton (4) - completed 3/5/24
25. Beyond the Body Farm by Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson (4.5) - completed 3/9/24
26. The Longmire Defense by Craig Johnson (3.5) - completed 3/15/24
27. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (3.5) - completed 3/17/24
28. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (2.5) - completed 3/23/24
29. Skirts: Fashioning Modern Femininity in the Twentieth Century by Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell (3.5) - completed 3/24/24
30. Deep Sea by Annika Thor (3.5) - completed 3/25/24
31. The Salt Path by Raynor Winn (4) - completed 3/26/24
32. Woman, Captain, Rebel by Margaret Willson (4.5) - completed 3/31/24
1. Too Many Women by Rex Stout (3) - completed 1/3/24
2. So Shall You Reap by Donna Leon (3) - completed 1/6/24
3. Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken (4) - completed 1/6/24
4. The Girls Who Fought Crime by Mari K. Eder (3) - completed 1/14/24
5. The Golden Calf by Helene Tursten (4) - completed 1/23/24
6. 1812: War with America by Jon Latimer (3.5) - completed 1/24/24
7. The Poison Belt by Arthur Conan Doyle (2) - completed 1/26/24
8. Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain (4) - completed 1/28/24
9. The Dead Alive by Wilkie Collins (3.5) - completed 1/29/24
10. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, translated by H. T. Willetts (5) - completed 1/31/24
Books Read in February
11. Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall; illustrated by Hugo Martinez (4) - completed 2/3/24
12. Nina Balatka by Anthony Trollope (3.5) - completed 2/10/24
13. Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse (4.5) - completed 2/11/24
14. Poseidon's Gold by Lindsey Davis (4.5) - completed 2/11/24
15. Illness as Metaphor by Susan Sontag (4) - completed 2/11/24
16. All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny (4.5) - completed 2/16/24
17. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (4) - completed 2/20/24
18. The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan (4) - completed 2/21/24
19. Caprice by Ronald Firbank (2.5) - completed 2/28/24
20. Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie (3) - completed 2/29/24
21. Jane Austen's England by Roy Adkins & Lesley Adkins (4.5) - completed 2/29/24
Books Read in March
22. Maybe by Morris Gleitzman (4) - completed 3/2/24
23. Skellig by David Almond (4) - completed 3/5/24
24. Half a Crown by Jo Walton (4) - completed 3/5/24
25. Beyond the Body Farm by Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson (4.5) - completed 3/9/24
26. The Longmire Defense by Craig Johnson (3.5) - completed 3/15/24
27. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (3.5) - completed 3/17/24
28. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (2.5) - completed 3/23/24
29. Skirts: Fashioning Modern Femininity in the Twentieth Century by Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell (3.5) - completed 3/24/24
30. Deep Sea by Annika Thor (3.5) - completed 3/25/24
31. The Salt Path by Raynor Winn (4) - completed 3/26/24
32. Woman, Captain, Rebel by Margaret Willson (4.5) - completed 3/31/24
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Books Acquired in April
14. Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke (free ebook)
Books Acquired in May
15. The Names of Our Tears by P. L. Gaus (library book sale)
16. The Care and Management of Lies by Jacqueline Winspear (library book sale)
17. Whispers of the Dead by Peter Tremayne (library book sale)
18. Some Danger Involved by Will Thomas (library book sale)
19. Run Afoul by Joan Druett (library book sale)
20. Two for the Lions by Lindsey Davis (library book sale)
21. The Jupiter Myth by Lindsey Davis (library book sale)
22. Under Occupation by Alan Furst (library book sale)
23. Broken Harbor by Tana French (library book sale)
24. Under Orders by Dick Francis (library book sale)
25. Comeback by Dick Francis (library book sale)
26. Field of Thirteen by Dick Francis (library book sale)
27. Knit Scarves & Shawls Now (library book sale)
28. Getting Started Knitting Socks by Ann Budd (gift)
29. Sweaters for Dogs by Debbie Humphreys (gift)
Books acquired in July
30. Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes (purchased)
31. Open Sea by Annika Thor (purchased ebook)
32. The Provincial Lady Goes Further by E. M. Delafield (purchased ebook)
33. Britain By the Book by Oliver Tearle (purchased ebook)
34. Our Great Canal Journeys by Timothy West (purchased)
Books acquired in August
35. All the Single Ladies by Rebecca Traister (trade credit)
36. Dearest Friend: A Life of Abigail Adams by Lynne Withey (trade credit)
37. Eastern State Penitentiary by Francis X. Dolan (trade credit)
38. Index, a History of the by Dennis Duncan (trade credit)
39. The Book on the Bookshelf by Henry Petroski (trade credit)
40. Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed by Philip Hallie (trade credit)
41. The McDuff Stories by Rosemary Wells (gift)
42. American Flygirl by Susan Tate Ankeny (purchased ebook)
Books acquired in September
43. Mr. Monk Helps Himself by Hy Conrad (gift)
44. The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman by Margot Mifflin (purchased ebook)
Books acquired in November
44. The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius; translated by Robert Graves; revised by J. B. Rives (purchased)
45. Women in the Valley of the Kings by Kathleen Sheppard (purchased ebook)
46. Lost in Paris by Betty Webb (gift)
14. Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke (free ebook)
Books Acquired in May
15. The Names of Our Tears by P. L. Gaus (library book sale)
16. The Care and Management of Lies by Jacqueline Winspear (library book sale)
17. Whispers of the Dead by Peter Tremayne (library book sale)
18. Some Danger Involved by Will Thomas (library book sale)
19. Run Afoul by Joan Druett (library book sale)
20. Two for the Lions by Lindsey Davis (library book sale)
21. The Jupiter Myth by Lindsey Davis (library book sale)
22. Under Occupation by Alan Furst (library book sale)
23. Broken Harbor by Tana French (library book sale)
24. Under Orders by Dick Francis (library book sale)
25. Comeback by Dick Francis (library book sale)
26. Field of Thirteen by Dick Francis (library book sale)
27. Knit Scarves & Shawls Now (library book sale)
28. Getting Started Knitting Socks by Ann Budd (gift)
29. Sweaters for Dogs by Debbie Humphreys (gift)
Books acquired in July
30. Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes (purchased)
31. Open Sea by Annika Thor (purchased ebook)
32. The Provincial Lady Goes Further by E. M. Delafield (purchased ebook)
33. Britain By the Book by Oliver Tearle (purchased ebook)
34. Our Great Canal Journeys by Timothy West (purchased)
Books acquired in August
35. All the Single Ladies by Rebecca Traister (trade credit)
36. Dearest Friend: A Life of Abigail Adams by Lynne Withey (trade credit)
37. Eastern State Penitentiary by Francis X. Dolan (trade credit)
38. Index, a History of the by Dennis Duncan (trade credit)
39. The Book on the Bookshelf by Henry Petroski (trade credit)
40. Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed by Philip Hallie (trade credit)
41. The McDuff Stories by Rosemary Wells (gift)
42. American Flygirl by Susan Tate Ankeny (purchased ebook)
Books acquired in September
43. Mr. Monk Helps Himself by Hy Conrad (gift)
44. The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman by Margot Mifflin (purchased ebook)
Books acquired in November
44. The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius; translated by Robert Graves; revised by J. B. Rives (purchased)
45. Women in the Valley of the Kings by Kathleen Sheppard (purchased ebook)
46. Lost in Paris by Betty Webb (gift)
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Books acquired in January
1. Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain (free ebook) - 1/14/24
2. Caprice by Ronald Firbank (free ebook) - 1/21/24
3. Nina Balatka by Anthony Trollope (free ebook) - 1/21/24
4. Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall, illustrated by Hugo Martinez (purchased) - 1/22/24
5. The Poison Belt by Arthur Conan Doyle (free eaudiobook) - 1/23/24
6. The Dead Alive by Wilkie Collins (free eaudiobook) - 1/25/24
Books acquired in February
7. Contemporary Worship Classics arranged by Mark Hayes (purchased) - 2/7/24
8. The Under Dog and Other Stories by Agatha Christie (library book sale) - 2/22/24
9. Venezia 1957-1986 (library book sale) - 2/22/24
10. Warwick Castle (library book sale) - 2/22/24
Books acquired in March
11. The Macdermots of Ballycloran by Anthony Trollope (free ebook)
12. La Vendee by Anthony Trollope (free ebook)
13. The Tiger in the Attic by Edith Milton (free ebook)
1. Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain (free ebook) - 1/14/24
2. Caprice by Ronald Firbank (free ebook) - 1/21/24
3. Nina Balatka by Anthony Trollope (free ebook) - 1/21/24
4. Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall, illustrated by Hugo Martinez (purchased) - 1/22/24
5. The Poison Belt by Arthur Conan Doyle (free eaudiobook) - 1/23/24
6. The Dead Alive by Wilkie Collins (free eaudiobook) - 1/25/24
Books acquired in February
7. Contemporary Worship Classics arranged by Mark Hayes (purchased) - 2/7/24
8. The Under Dog and Other Stories by Agatha Christie (library book sale) - 2/22/24
9. Venezia 1957-1986 (library book sale) - 2/22/24
10. Warwick Castle (library book sale) - 2/22/24
Books acquired in March
11. The Macdermots of Ballycloran by Anthony Trollope (free ebook)
12. La Vendee by Anthony Trollope (free ebook)
13. The Tiger in the Attic by Edith Milton (free ebook)
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American Author Challenge
JANUARY
Mark Twain - Life on the Mississippi (4) - completed 1/28/24
FEBRUARY
Susan Sontag - Illness as Metaphor (4) - completed 2/11/24
MARCH
Truman Capote - In Cold Blood (3.5) - completed 3/17/24
APRIL - Nonfiction
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (3.5) - completed 4/27/24
MAY
William Maxwell - Ancestors (3.5) - completed 5/19/24
JUNE - Queer authors
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (3.5) - completed 6/18/24
JULY
Mona Susan Power - A Council of Dolls (3) - completed 7/31/24
AUGUST
Jeffrey Lent - A Slant of Light (2.5) - completed 8/15/24
SEPTEMBER - American by choice
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (4) - completed 10/20/24
OCTOBER
Katherine Anne Porter - The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter (3.5) - completed 10/31/24
NOVEMBER - Jewish American authors
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (4) - completed 11/30/24
DECEMBER - The Heartland
Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser (3.5) - completed 12/23/24
JANUARY
Mark Twain - Life on the Mississippi (4) - completed 1/28/24
FEBRUARY
Susan Sontag - Illness as Metaphor (4) - completed 2/11/24
MARCH
Truman Capote - In Cold Blood (3.5) - completed 3/17/24
APRIL - Nonfiction
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (3.5) - completed 4/27/24
MAY
William Maxwell - Ancestors (3.5) - completed 5/19/24
JUNE - Queer authors
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (3.5) - completed 6/18/24
JULY
Mona Susan Power - A Council of Dolls (3) - completed 7/31/24
AUGUST
Jeffrey Lent - A Slant of Light (2.5) - completed 8/15/24
SEPTEMBER - American by choice
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (4) - completed 10/20/24
OCTOBER
Katherine Anne Porter - The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter (3.5) - completed 10/31/24
NOVEMBER - Jewish American authors
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (4) - completed 11/30/24
DECEMBER - The Heartland
Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser (3.5) - completed 12/23/24
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British Author Challenge
JANUARY
Joan Aiken - Black Hearts in Battersea (4) - completed 1/6/24
Arthur Conan Doyle - The Poison Belt (2) - completed 1/26/24
FEBRUARY
Ronald Firbank - Caprice (2.5) - completed 2/28/24
MARCH - Welsh authors
Half a Crown by Jo Walton (4) - completed 3/5/24
APRIL
Barbara Pym - Less than Angels (4.5) - completed 4/13/24
MAY - Portal fantasy
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling (3.5) - completed 6/2/24
JUNE
JULY - Animal tales
My Dog Tulip by J. R. Ackerley (3) - completed 8/2/24
SEPTEMBER - The 1980s
Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes (4) - completed 9/30/24
JANUARY
Joan Aiken - Black Hearts in Battersea (4) - completed 1/6/24
Arthur Conan Doyle - The Poison Belt (2) - completed 1/26/24
FEBRUARY
Ronald Firbank - Caprice (2.5) - completed 2/28/24
MARCH - Welsh authors
Half a Crown by Jo Walton (4) - completed 3/5/24
APRIL
Barbara Pym - Less than Angels (4.5) - completed 4/13/24
MAY - Portal fantasy
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling (3.5) - completed 6/2/24
JUNE
JULY - Animal tales
My Dog Tulip by J. R. Ackerley (3) - completed 8/2/24
SEPTEMBER - The 1980s
Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes (4) - completed 9/30/24
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Nonfiction Challenge
JANUARY - Prize winners off the beaten track
1812: War with America by Jon Latimer (3.5) - completed 1/24/24
Society for Military History's Distinguished Book Award
FEBRUARY - Women's work
The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan (4) - completed 2/21/24
MARCH - Forensic sciences
Beyond the Body Farm by Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson (4.5) - completed 3/9/24
APRIL - Globalization
Vermeer's Hat by Timothy Brook (4) - completed 4/20/24
MAY - Wild Wild West
Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey by Lillian Schlissel (4) - completed 5/31/24
JUNE - Middle Europe
Between the Woods and the Water by Patrick Leigh Fermor (4) - completed 6/24/24
AUGUST - Being Jewish
Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza by Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole (4.5) - completed 8/31/24
SEPTEMBER - Essays
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (3.5) - completed 9/24/24
NOVEMBER - Too small to see
The Woman Who Split the Atom by Marissa Moss (4.5) - completed 11/23/24
DECEMBER - As you like it
The Man Who Invented Christmas by Les Standiford(4) - completed 12/11/24
JANUARY - Prize winners off the beaten track
1812: War with America by Jon Latimer (3.5) - completed 1/24/24
Society for Military History's Distinguished Book Award
FEBRUARY - Women's work
The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan (4) - completed 2/21/24
MARCH - Forensic sciences
Beyond the Body Farm by Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson (4.5) - completed 3/9/24
APRIL - Globalization
Vermeer's Hat by Timothy Brook (4) - completed 4/20/24
MAY - Wild Wild West
Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey by Lillian Schlissel (4) - completed 5/31/24
JUNE - Middle Europe
Between the Woods and the Water by Patrick Leigh Fermor (4) - completed 6/24/24
AUGUST - Being Jewish
Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza by Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole (4.5) - completed 8/31/24
SEPTEMBER - Essays
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (3.5) - completed 9/24/24
NOVEMBER - Too small to see
The Woman Who Split the Atom by Marissa Moss (4.5) - completed 11/23/24
DECEMBER - As you like it
The Man Who Invented Christmas by Les Standiford(4) - completed 12/11/24
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HistoryCAT
JANUARY - North & South American wars & conflicts
1812: War with America by Jon Latimer (3.5) - completed 1/24/24
FEBRUARY - Georgian/Regency Britain
Jane Austen's England: Daily Life in the Georgian and Regency Periods by Roy Adkins & Lesley Adkins (4.5) - completed 2/29/24
MARCH - Science & medicine
Beyond the Body Farm by Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson (4.5) - completed 3/9/24
APRIL - Riots, revolution, & mayhem
Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke (3.5) - completed 5/3/24
MAY - Middle Ages
A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters (3.5) - completed 5/9/24
JUNE - Historians
The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams (2.5) - completed 7/10/24
JULY - Spies
The White Mouse by Nancy Wake (3) - completed 7/19/24
From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming (2) - completed 7/22/24
Avenue of Spies by Alex Kershaw (3.5) - completed 7/31/24
SEPTEMBER - WWI / WWII
American Flygirl by Susan Tate Ankeny (4) - completed 9/15/24
NOVEMBER - Ancient & Classical History
Women in the Valley of the Kings by Kathleen Sheppard (3.5) - completed 11/13/24
DECEMBER - Religions & religious festivals
The Man Who Invented Christmas by Les Standiford (4) - completed 12/11/24
JANUARY - North & South American wars & conflicts
1812: War with America by Jon Latimer (3.5) - completed 1/24/24
FEBRUARY - Georgian/Regency Britain
Jane Austen's England: Daily Life in the Georgian and Regency Periods by Roy Adkins & Lesley Adkins (4.5) - completed 2/29/24
MARCH - Science & medicine
Beyond the Body Farm by Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson (4.5) - completed 3/9/24
APRIL - Riots, revolution, & mayhem
Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke (3.5) - completed 5/3/24
MAY - Middle Ages
A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters (3.5) - completed 5/9/24
JUNE - Historians
The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams (2.5) - completed 7/10/24
JULY - Spies
The White Mouse by Nancy Wake (3) - completed 7/19/24
From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming (2) - completed 7/22/24
Avenue of Spies by Alex Kershaw (3.5) - completed 7/31/24
SEPTEMBER - WWI / WWII
American Flygirl by Susan Tate Ankeny (4) - completed 9/15/24
NOVEMBER - Ancient & Classical History
Women in the Valley of the Kings by Kathleen Sheppard (3.5) - completed 11/13/24
DECEMBER - Religions & religious festivals
The Man Who Invented Christmas by Les Standiford (4) - completed 12/11/24
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PrizeCAT
JANUARY - Long-running prize
1812: War with America by Jon Latimer (3.5) - completed 1/24/24
Society for Military History's Distinguished Book Award
FEBRUARY - Prize from your own country
The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan (4) - completed 2/21/24
Merze Tate - Elinor Ostrom Outstanding Book Award - American Political Science Association
MARCH - Prize new to me
Maybe by Morris Gleitzman (4) - completed 3/2/24
(KROC: Kid’s Reading Oz Choice Award)
Deep Sea by Annika Thor (3.5) - completed 3/25/24
(Nils Holgersson-plaketten)
The Salt Path by Raynor Winn (4) - completed 3/26/24
(RSL Christopher Bland Prize)
APRIL - Women's writing
Home by Marilynne Robinson (5) - completed 4/23/24
(Orange Prize)
MAY - Books that won two or more awards
The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever (4) - completed 5/31/24
(Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award)
JUNE - Book lists
The Black Angels by Maria Smilios (3) - completed 6/9/24 (Los Angeles Public Library Best of the Year - Nonfiction 2023)
JULY - Prize from a country other than your own
An Island of Our Own by Sally Nicholls (4) - completed 7/29/24 (Independent Booksellers' Book Prize)
AUGUST - Prize for a genre
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (3.5) - completed 8/29/24 (Hugo Award)
OCTOBER - One that missed out
A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman (4) - completed 10/16/24 (Nominee - Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery (Macavity); nominee - Simon & Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award (Edgar))
NOVEMBER - Children's book awards
The Woman Who Split the Atom by Marissa Moss (4.5) - completed 11/23/24 (Dogwood Readers Award, Grades 6-8)
DECEMBER - Prize of your choice
Excursion to Tindari by Andrea Camilleri (3.5) - completed 12/5/24
JANUARY - Long-running prize
1812: War with America by Jon Latimer (3.5) - completed 1/24/24
Society for Military History's Distinguished Book Award
FEBRUARY - Prize from your own country
The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan (4) - completed 2/21/24
Merze Tate - Elinor Ostrom Outstanding Book Award - American Political Science Association
MARCH - Prize new to me
Maybe by Morris Gleitzman (4) - completed 3/2/24
(KROC: Kid’s Reading Oz Choice Award)
Deep Sea by Annika Thor (3.5) - completed 3/25/24
(Nils Holgersson-plaketten)
The Salt Path by Raynor Winn (4) - completed 3/26/24
(RSL Christopher Bland Prize)
APRIL - Women's writing
Home by Marilynne Robinson (5) - completed 4/23/24
(Orange Prize)
MAY - Books that won two or more awards
The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever (4) - completed 5/31/24
(Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award)
JUNE - Book lists
The Black Angels by Maria Smilios (3) - completed 6/9/24 (Los Angeles Public Library Best of the Year - Nonfiction 2023)
JULY - Prize from a country other than your own
An Island of Our Own by Sally Nicholls (4) - completed 7/29/24 (Independent Booksellers' Book Prize)
AUGUST - Prize for a genre
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (3.5) - completed 8/29/24 (Hugo Award)
OCTOBER - One that missed out
A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman (4) - completed 10/16/24 (Nominee - Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery (Macavity); nominee - Simon & Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award (Edgar))
NOVEMBER - Children's book awards
The Woman Who Split the Atom by Marissa Moss (4.5) - completed 11/23/24 (Dogwood Readers Award, Grades 6-8)
DECEMBER - Prize of your choice
Excursion to Tindari by Andrea Camilleri (3.5) - completed 12/5/24
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CalendarCAT
JANUARY
The Dead Alive by Wilkie Collins (3.5) - completed 1/29/24
Author has a January birthday (Jan 8, 1824)
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (5) - completed 1/31/24
FEBRUARY
Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall, illustrated by Hugo Martinez (4) - completed 2/3/24
Black History Month
Nina Balatka by Anthony Trollope (3.5) - completed 2/10/24
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (4) - completed 2/20/24
MARCH
Skirts: Fashioning Modern Femininity in the Twentieth Century by Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell (3.5) - completed 3/24/24
Woman, Captain, Rebel: The Extraordinary True Story of a Daring Icelandic Sea Captain by Margaret Willson (4.5) - completed 3/31/24
APRIL
The Late Mrs. Willoughby by Claudia Gray (3) - completed 4/5/24
(Autism Acceptance Month)
MAY
The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever (4) - completed 5/31/24
(author born in May)
JUNE
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (3.5) - completed 6/18/24 (Audiobook Appreciation Month)
JULY
It's All Relative by A. J. Jacobs (4) - completed 7/7/24 (Family Reunion Month)
Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner (3) - completed 7/26/24 (author died 7/29/1974)
AUGUST
Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare (3.5) - completed 8/7/24 (Antony and Cleopatra both died in August of 30 BC)
Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza by Adina Hoffman & Peter Cole (4.5) - completed 8/31/24 (Cole has an August birthday)
OCTOBER
The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis (5) - completed 10/23/24 (Halloween)
NOVEMBER
The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner by Marissa Moss (4.5) - completed 11/24/24 (Meitner born 11/7/1878)
DECEMBER
The Man Who Invented Christmas by Les Standiford (4) - completed 12/11/24
JANUARY
The Dead Alive by Wilkie Collins (3.5) - completed 1/29/24
Author has a January birthday (Jan 8, 1824)
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (5) - completed 1/31/24
FEBRUARY
Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall, illustrated by Hugo Martinez (4) - completed 2/3/24
Black History Month
Nina Balatka by Anthony Trollope (3.5) - completed 2/10/24
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (4) - completed 2/20/24
MARCH
Skirts: Fashioning Modern Femininity in the Twentieth Century by Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell (3.5) - completed 3/24/24
Woman, Captain, Rebel: The Extraordinary True Story of a Daring Icelandic Sea Captain by Margaret Willson (4.5) - completed 3/31/24
APRIL
The Late Mrs. Willoughby by Claudia Gray (3) - completed 4/5/24
(Autism Acceptance Month)
MAY
The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever (4) - completed 5/31/24
(author born in May)
JUNE
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (3.5) - completed 6/18/24 (Audiobook Appreciation Month)
JULY
It's All Relative by A. J. Jacobs (4) - completed 7/7/24 (Family Reunion Month)
Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner (3) - completed 7/26/24 (author died 7/29/1974)
AUGUST
Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare (3.5) - completed 8/7/24 (Antony and Cleopatra both died in August of 30 BC)
Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza by Adina Hoffman & Peter Cole (4.5) - completed 8/31/24 (Cole has an August birthday)
OCTOBER
The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis (5) - completed 10/23/24 (Halloween)
NOVEMBER
The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner by Marissa Moss (4.5) - completed 11/24/24 (Meitner born 11/7/1878)
DECEMBER
The Man Who Invented Christmas by Les Standiford (4) - completed 12/11/24
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Reading Projects: 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (5) - completed 1/31/24
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (4) - completed 2/20/24
Skellig by David Almond (4) - completed 3/5/24
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (3.5) - completed 3/17/24
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (2.5) - completed 3/23/24
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (3.5) - completed 4/27/24
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (2.5) - completed 4/30/24
Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke (3.5) - completed 5/3/24
The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever (4) - completed 5/31/24
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (3.5) - completed 6/18/24
The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams (2.5) - completed 7/10/24
From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming (2) - completed 7/22/24
My Dog Tulip by J. R. Ackerley (3) - completed 8/2/24
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (3.5) - completed 8/29/24
A Passage to India by E. M. Forster (5) - completed 9/20/24
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (3.5) - completed 9/24/24
Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes (4) - completed 9/30/24
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (4) - completed 10/20/24
The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter by Katherine Anne Porter (3.5) - completed 10/31/24
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (4) - completed 11/30/24
Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser (3.5) - completed 12/23/24
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (5) - completed 1/31/24
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (4) - completed 2/20/24
Skellig by David Almond (4) - completed 3/5/24
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (3.5) - completed 3/17/24
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (2.5) - completed 3/23/24
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (3.5) - completed 4/27/24
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (2.5) - completed 4/30/24
Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke (3.5) - completed 5/3/24
The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever (4) - completed 5/31/24
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (3.5) - completed 6/18/24
The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams (2.5) - completed 7/10/24
From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming (2) - completed 7/22/24
My Dog Tulip by J. R. Ackerley (3) - completed 8/2/24
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (3.5) - completed 8/29/24
A Passage to India by E. M. Forster (5) - completed 9/20/24
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (3.5) - completed 9/24/24
Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes (4) - completed 9/30/24
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (4) - completed 10/20/24
The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter by Katherine Anne Porter (3.5) - completed 10/31/24
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (4) - completed 11/30/24
Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser (3.5) - completed 12/23/24
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Reading Projects
Agatha Christie
Ordeal by Innocence (3) - completed 2/29/24
Cat Among the Pigeons (4) - completed 4/12/24
The Unexpected Guest (3) - completed 4/20/24
Jane Austen
Jane Austen's England: Daily Life in the Georgian and Regency Periods by Roy Adkins & Lesley Adkins (4.5) - completed 2/29/24
The Late Mrs. Willoughby by Claudia Gray (3) - completed 4/5/24
Rex Stout
Too Many Women (3) - completed 1/3/24
Trouble in Triplicate (4) - completed 5/23/24
The Second Confession (3.5) - completed 7/8/24
Three Doors to Death (4) - completed 9/8/24
In the Best Families (3.5) - completed 11/11/24
Agatha Christie
Ordeal by Innocence (3) - completed 2/29/24
Cat Among the Pigeons (4) - completed 4/12/24
The Unexpected Guest (3) - completed 4/20/24
Jane Austen
Jane Austen's England: Daily Life in the Georgian and Regency Periods by Roy Adkins & Lesley Adkins (4.5) - completed 2/29/24
The Late Mrs. Willoughby by Claudia Gray (3) - completed 4/5/24
Rex Stout
Too Many Women (3) - completed 1/3/24
Trouble in Triplicate (4) - completed 5/23/24
The Second Confession (3.5) - completed 7/8/24
Three Doors to Death (4) - completed 9/8/24
In the Best Families (3.5) - completed 11/11/24
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Group Reads
So Shall You Reap by Donna Leon (3) - completed 1/6/24
The Girls Who Fought Crime by Mari K. Eder (3) - completed 1/14/24
The Golden Calf by Helene Tursten (4) - completed 1/23/24
Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall, illustrated by Hugo Martinez (4) - completed 2/3/24
Nina Balatka by Anthony Trollope (3.5) - completed 2/10/24
Poseidon's Gold by Lindsey Davis (4.5) - completed 2/11/24
The Longmire Defense by Craig Johnson (3.5) - completed 3/15/24
Skirts: Fashioning Modern Femininity in the Twentieth Century by Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell (3.5) - completed 3/24/24
Woman, Captain, Rebel: The Extraordinary True Story of a Daring Icelandic Sea Captain by Margaret Willson (4.5) - completed 3/31/24
The Fire Dance by Helene Tursten (3.5) - completed 4/7/24
Mischievous Creatures by Catherine McNeur (4) - completed 5/14/24
The Black Angels by Maria Smilios (3) - completed 6/9/24
Last Act in Palmyra by Lindsey Davis (4) - completed 6/29/24
The Beige Man by Helene Tursten (3.5) - completed 6/30/24
Time to Depart by Lindsey Davis (4) - completed 7/22/24
Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women who Challenged a Nation by Tiya Miles (3.5) - completed 8/3/24
Wandering through Life by Donna Leon (4) - completed 8/24/24
American Flygirl by Susan Tate Ankeny (4) - completed 9/15/24
The Treacherous Net by Helene Tursten (3) - completed 9/18/24
The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman by Margot Mifflin (4) - completed 10/13/24
A Dying Light in Corduba by Lindsey Davis (3.5) - completed 10/31/24
Women in the Valley of the Kings by Kathleen Sheppard (3.5) - completed 11/13/24
Who Watcheth by Helene Tursten (3.5) - completed 11/17/24
Protected by the Shadows by Helene Tursten (4) - completed 12/26/24
So Shall You Reap by Donna Leon (3) - completed 1/6/24
The Girls Who Fought Crime by Mari K. Eder (3) - completed 1/14/24
The Golden Calf by Helene Tursten (4) - completed 1/23/24
Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall, illustrated by Hugo Martinez (4) - completed 2/3/24
Nina Balatka by Anthony Trollope (3.5) - completed 2/10/24
Poseidon's Gold by Lindsey Davis (4.5) - completed 2/11/24
The Longmire Defense by Craig Johnson (3.5) - completed 3/15/24
Skirts: Fashioning Modern Femininity in the Twentieth Century by Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell (3.5) - completed 3/24/24
Woman, Captain, Rebel: The Extraordinary True Story of a Daring Icelandic Sea Captain by Margaret Willson (4.5) - completed 3/31/24
The Fire Dance by Helene Tursten (3.5) - completed 4/7/24
Mischievous Creatures by Catherine McNeur (4) - completed 5/14/24
The Black Angels by Maria Smilios (3) - completed 6/9/24
Last Act in Palmyra by Lindsey Davis (4) - completed 6/29/24
The Beige Man by Helene Tursten (3.5) - completed 6/30/24
Time to Depart by Lindsey Davis (4) - completed 7/22/24
Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women who Challenged a Nation by Tiya Miles (3.5) - completed 8/3/24
Wandering through Life by Donna Leon (4) - completed 8/24/24
American Flygirl by Susan Tate Ankeny (4) - completed 9/15/24
The Treacherous Net by Helene Tursten (3) - completed 9/18/24
The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman by Margot Mifflin (4) - completed 10/13/24
A Dying Light in Corduba by Lindsey Davis (3.5) - completed 10/31/24
Women in the Valley of the Kings by Kathleen Sheppard (3.5) - completed 11/13/24
Who Watcheth by Helene Tursten (3.5) - completed 11/17/24
Protected by the Shadows by Helene Tursten (4) - completed 12/26/24
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Best of 2023
Parallel Journeys by Eleanor Ayer with Helen Waterford & Alfons Heck (4.5) - Review
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (5) - Review
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff (4.5) - Review
Hiroshima Diary by Michihiko Hachiya (4.5) - Review
The Third Man by Graham Greene (4.5) - Review
The Complete Poems, 1927-1979 by Elizabeth Bishop (4.5) - Review
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (4.5) - Review
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi (4.5) - Review
Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton (5) - Review
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
The Dress Diary by Kate Strasdin (4.5)
The Iron Hand of Mars by Lindsey Davis (4.5)
Parallel Journeys by Eleanor Ayer with Helen Waterford & Alfons Heck (4.5) - Review
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (5) - Review
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff (4.5) - Review
Hiroshima Diary by Michihiko Hachiya (4.5) - Review
The Third Man by Graham Greene (4.5) - Review
The Complete Poems, 1927-1979 by Elizabeth Bishop (4.5) - Review
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (4.5) - Review
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi (4.5) - Review
Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton (5) - Review
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
The Dress Diary by Kate Strasdin (4.5)
The Iron Hand of Mars by Lindsey Davis (4.5)
17PaulCranswick
Happy new thread, Carrie. I will follow suit shortly.
18laytonwoman3rd
Found your new digs!
21FAMeulstee
Happy new thread, Carrie!
Give Adrian a hug from me.
Give Adrian a hug from me.
22cbl_tn
>17 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul! I'll come find you!
>18 laytonwoman3rd: Hi Linda!
>19 atozgrl: Thanks, Irene!
>20 drneutron: Thanks, Jim!
>21 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita! I will do that now since Adrian is sitting right next to me!
>18 laytonwoman3rd: Hi Linda!
>19 atozgrl: Thanks, Irene!
>20 drneutron: Thanks, Jim!
>21 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita! I will do that now since Adrian is sitting right next to me!
23thornton37814
I only looked at your overall rating for the book club selection for this month. I'm hoping my ILL copy arrives in the next day or two. I'll at least have a chance of finishing it if it does. I was happy to see such a high rating.
25cbl_tn
>23 thornton37814: My review isn't spoilery at all. I hope you like it as much as I did!
>24 mstrust: Hi Jennifer!
>24 mstrust: Hi Jennifer!
26cbl_tn
33. The Late Mrs. Willoughby by Claudia Gray
Following the events at Donwell Abbey as recounted in The Murder of Mr. Wickham, Juliet Tilney has been invited to visit Colonel and Marianne Brandon at Delaford. Meanwhile, Jonathan Darcy and several of his former classmates have been invited to spend a month at Allenham Court with Mr. Willoughby and his new bride. Mr. Darcy and Miss Tilney are surprised and pleased to see each other at a dinner party at Barton Park, but the evening ends in tragedy with the sudden death of Mrs. Willoughby, apparently from poison. Mr. Darcy and Miss Tilney have successfully investigated a murder before. Can they do it again?
I like Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney as sleuthing partners. Jonathan has personality traits characteristic of autism or Asperger’s. Juliet accepts Jonathan’s differences, and she is very protective of him in social settings where others might not be as understanding. Even so, the book drags on too long. I listened to the audio version, and there is nearly an hour more of the recording left after the murder is solved. The author seems compelled to include all of the major characters from Sense and Sensibility, but one set of characters has a story line that is completely independent of the murder plot. Since it doesn’t advance the murder plot, it doesn’t belong in the book, and the author and her editor(s) should have resisted the temptation.
3 stars
27cbl_tn
34. The Fire Dance by Helene Tursten
When a dancer/choreographer disappears and her body is later found in the charred ruins of a fire, Goteborg detective Irene Huss is taken back fifteen years to one of her earlier cases. The current fire victim was eleven years old then, and she was the last person to leave the house where her stepfather died in a fire. Irene and her colleagues were never able to get the neuro diverse Sophie Malmborg to speak about the fire or what she witnessed. Is her death in a fire related to her stepfather’s death fifteen years ago?
Irene investigates largely on her own in this case because most of her colleagues are tied up with a gang-related murder. In some ways this made the plot tighter. Irene’s daughter, Jenny, has been featured in a couple of the earlier novels. This time around it’s Jenny’s twin, Katarina, who spends more time with Irene. Many readers will figure out the answer to the fifteen-year-old fire
3.5 stars
29cbl_tn
>28 PaulCranswick: I'm sorry, Paul! A small group of us started reading this series together last year and I am really enjoying it.
30thornton37814
>28 PaulCranswick: >29 cbl_tn: I'm one of the "drop-outs" for that series. It just wasn't working for me.
31cbl_tn
35. Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie
International intrigue comes to a girls’ school in this classic mystery with a hint of espionage. After spending a few weeks in the Middle East with her mother visiting her uncle, Jennifer Sutcliffe begins a new term at Meadowbank School for Girls. Unbeknownst to Jennifer and her mother, Jennifer’s uncle hid something in their belongings. Someone is aware of it, and this person won’t hesitate to kill to get hold of the hidden items. But who is it? One of the teachers, or maybe even one of the students? Eventually someone has the wits to summon Hercule Poirot, who quickly makes sense of all the strange events.
This is one of my favorite Poirot novels, even though Poirot doesn’t appear until very late in the book (about 2/3 of the way through, in fact). The clues are more heavy-handed than I’m used to from Christie. I am puzzled by the lacrosse sticks on the cover of the audio version, and the mention of lacrosse in the Overdrive book summary. As far as I can recall, lacrosse isn’t mentioned in the book. There are frequent mentions of tennis, however. I don’t know how you confuse the two sports, and it makes me wonder if anyone at the publishing company bothered to read the book.
4 stars
32cbl_tn
>30 thornton37814: Hi Lori! I'm sorry that series didn't work for you. It's not my favorite, but there are aspects of it that I really enjoy.
33cbl_tn
36. Less than Angels by Barbara Pym
Pym observes the observers in this novel populated mostly by anthropologists and anthropology students. Tom Mallow returns from two years of field work in Africa to finish writing his thesis. He resumes his live-in relationship with writer Catherine, only to soon take up with first-year student Deirdre.
This book raises the question of who is better equipped to observe and describe human nature – the anthropologist or the fiction writer? (Advantage: fiction writer. It’s obvious that Catherine understands Tom and his behavior better than Tom understands himself!) Pym gives several nods to her earlier novel, Excellent Women, with the reappearance of Esther Clovis and repeated mentions of Everard Bone and his wife Mildred. At a point of crisis, Catherine reflects that “I’m not one of those excellent women, who can just go home and eat a boiled egg and make a cup of tea and be very splendid…but how useful it would be if I were!”
4.5 stars
34cbl_tn
37. Tevye the Milkman by Sholem Aleichem
On the surface I have little in common with a 19th-century Russian Jewish peasant, yet these stories resonated with me. Tevye’s faith and his knowledge of the Hebrew Bible and teachings help him endure the hardships he encounters. Tevye’s love for his daughters reminds me of my own father. It must have been daunting to take on the job of narrating the audio version of such a well-known character. Listeners can’t help but compare this performance to Topel’s portrayal of Tevye on stage and screen. Neville Jason’s delivery far exceeded my expectation. I don’t often do rereads, but this one is worth a revisit.
5 stars
35cbl_tn
38. The Unexpected Guest by Agatha Christie
The Unexpected Guest is one of Christie’s plays that wasn’t first a book or short story. Even though it’s original, it still feels like Christie has recycled past plots to create this play. A stranded traveler arrives at a remote Welsh home to find a woman holding a gun while her husband sits in his wheelchair, dead from a gunshot to the head. Did the woman kill him as she freely admits to the stranger, or is she shielding another member of the household? I listened to a BBC radio performance, and I suspect that it was abridged to fit the allotted radio timeslot. I don’t feel a need to read the full version, even though I own it in an omnibus edition of Christie’s plays. Recommended only for Christie completists.
3 stars
36cbl_tn
39. Vermeer's Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World by Timothy Brook
Historian Brook uses the Delft of Johannes Vermeer as the reference point for examining the expansion of globalization in the seventeenth century. Brook identifies objects or persons in 17th century Dutch artworks that link Delft with the wider world. Since Brook specializes in Chinese history, it’s not surprising that most of the paths he follows lead to China. While the term “globalization” may have entered common usage only in the late 20th century, it’s clear that its effects have been visible since at least the seventeenth century.
4 stars
37cbl_tn
40. Home by Marilynne Robinson
There is a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead
To heal the sin-sick soul.
After twenty years of estrangement and exile, Jack Boughton returns to his childhood home in Gilead, Iowa. Jack’s widowed father, a retired Presbyterian minister, is in failing health. Jack’s sister, Glory, the youngest of the eight Boughton siblings, has returned to the family home after a failed relationship. As the siblings care for their father’s needs, their kindred wounds and vulnerabilities form them into a unit apart.
Jack, and to a lesser extent Glory and their father, first appeared in Gilead in relation to his namesake, the Congregational minister John Ames. Home gives readers a different perspective on the fraught relationship between Jack and Reverend Ames.
5 stars
38laytonwoman3rd
>37 cbl_tn: I want to revisit all the Gilead books one of these days. You certainly nailed it in your spoiler.
39cbl_tn
>38 laytonwoman3rd: I can see myself rereading at least Gilead and Home. I'm eager to read Lila and Jack now.
40cbl_tn
41. The Consequences of Fear by Jacqueline Winspear
Maisie Dobbs has her hands full balancing work and family life with her adopted daughter. Her routine has her spending the first part of the week in London, juggling her private investigation business and her war work for an intelligence agency, assessing the psychological fitness and readiness of agents being trained to infiltrate occupied France. Her latest investigation crosses over into her intelligence work. A young boy who works as a courier for the government has witnessed a murder while delivering a message during an air raid, and he turns to Maisie for help. The trail leads to members of the French resistance.
The plot relies on too many coincidences, and the murder takes a back seat to intelligence operations. The developments in Maisie’s personal life are the highlight of the book. Maisie consoles her daughter, Anna, and her best friend, Priscilla, as they face the loss of those dear to them, and Maisie and her beau, American diplomat Mark Scott reach a crossroad in their relationship.
3.5 stars
41cbl_tn
42. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Author and humorist Bill Bryson writes about his experiences hiking the Appalachian Trail in the mid-1990s. This tale has been charming readers for nearly three decades, but it fell a bit flat for me. Unlike Grandma Gatewood, whose walk I read about last year,
3.5 stars
42cbl_tn
43. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
“When will this bad dream end,” the woman thought as the faded star’s voice droned on and on about the big fish that pulled the old man and his boat through the blue water. “This is as bad as A Farewell to Arms but at least it is not as long.” The woman woke from her daze as the small dog licked her hand. The dog’s eyes said to her “I am still here, and I want to go out.” The woman rose from her chair, hooked the dog to his leash, walked out into the bright sun and the green grass, and shut the door.
2.5 stars
43cbl_tn
April Recap
Books owned: 2
Books borrowed: 1
Ebooks borrowed: 2
eAudiobooks owned: 1
eAudiobooks borrowed: 5
Best of the month: Home by Marilynne Robinson (5); Tevye the Milkman by Sholem Aleichem (5)
Worst of the month: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (2.5)
Books owned: 2
Books borrowed: 1
Ebooks borrowed: 2
eAudiobooks owned: 1
eAudiobooks borrowed: 5
Best of the month: Home by Marilynne Robinson (5); Tevye the Milkman by Sholem Aleichem (5)
Worst of the month: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (2.5)
45cbl_tn
>44 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks! I am not feeling it for Hemingway so I think I'm done with him. I gave it my best effort!
46cbl_tn
I went to the Friends of the Library book sale this morning and came home with a stack of books, because I need more books. You know how it is. NOw I have to find room on my shelves for:
The Names of Our Tears by P. L. Gaus
The Care and Management of Lies by Jacqueline Winspear
Whispers of the Dead by Peter Tremayne
Some Danger Involved by Will Thomas
Run Afoul by Joan Druett
Two for the Lions by Lindsey Davis
The Jupiter Myth by Lindsey Davis
Under Occupation by Alan Furst
Broken Harbor by Tana French
Under Orders by Dick Francis
Comeback by Dick Francis
Field of Thirteen by Dick Francis
Knit Scarves & Shawls Now
47cbl_tn
44. Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke
British philosopher Edmund Burke’s critique of the French Revolution could be summed up with the adage “don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.” As events progressed, Burke could have followed this up with “See, I told you so!”
3.5 stars
ETA: I left out a word!
48FAMeulstee
>45 cbl_tn: I like Hemingway way better than you, Carrie.
I did like your review, I hope Adrian enjoyed his walk.
>46 cbl_tn: Nice haul!
I did like your review, I hope Adrian enjoyed his walk.
>46 cbl_tn: Nice haul!
49thornton37814
>42 cbl_tn: I liked that much better than you. I said Hemingway "painted pictures with his words."
50cbl_tn
>48 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita! As far as liking Hemingway better than me, it's a very low bar.
>49 thornton37814: I think we are viewing different pictures. My mental images involve crayons...
>49 thornton37814: I think we are viewing different pictures. My mental images involve crayons...
51mstrust
Congrats on your book haul!
>42 cbl_tn: Ha!
I've liked other books from Hemingway, but The Old Man and the Sea bored me so much that I didn't even get halfway through such a slim book. It's appeal goes over my head.
>42 cbl_tn: Ha!
I've liked other books from Hemingway, but The Old Man and the Sea bored me so much that I didn't even get halfway through such a slim book. It's appeal goes over my head.
52cbl_tn
>51 mstrust: Thanks!
What I don't like about Hemingway is what a lot of others love about him. His minimalism is too much like the Dick and Jane readers that were sadly still in use in my elementary days in the early 1970s. They were boring, too.
I think it's possible to be both minimalist and interesting. In the early reader genre, Dr. Seuss and P. D. Eastman wrote interesting stories with a limited vocabulary.
What I don't like about Hemingway is what a lot of others love about him. His minimalism is too much like the Dick and Jane readers that were sadly still in use in my elementary days in the early 1970s. They were boring, too.
I think it's possible to be both minimalist and interesting. In the early reader genre, Dr. Seuss and P. D. Eastman wrote interesting stories with a limited vocabulary.
53lindapanzo
>52 cbl_tn: The P.D. Eastman who wrote Go, Dog, Go, which was my first ever favorite book, along with Don and Donna Go to Bat by Al Perkins? Mom enrolled me in a Dr Seuss book club when I was learning to read and I read and re-read both of these two books.
54cbl_tn
>53 lindapanzo: Yes! Go, Dog, Go! was my favorite book, too! I don't think I ever read Don and Donna Go to Bat. It sounds like I need to get hold of a copy!
55lindapanzo
>54 cbl_tn: when my now 23 year old niece came for a visit, just learning to read, I read it to her. She said “Auntie Linda, this is stupid…girls can do anything they want.”
I explained that, back when I was her age, or a little older, I wanted to play Little League baseball. I’d play with the boys during the day but could never join them in Little League.
That’s why the book was so meaningful but, to her, even at that age, she assumed she could do anything she put her mind to.
I explained that, back when I was her age, or a little older, I wanted to play Little League baseball. I’d play with the boys during the day but could never join them in Little League.
That’s why the book was so meaningful but, to her, even at that age, she assumed she could do anything she put her mind to.
56cbl_tn
45. A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters
Prior Robert of Shrewsbury Abbey convinces his fellow monks that they need the bones of Welsh Saint Winifred as a relic for the Abbey. Several of the brothers are selected to go to Wales to retrieve Saint Winifred’s remains, and Brother Cadfael is chosen because he speaks Welsh. The Shrewsbury party meets with some opposition from Rhisiart, an influential landowner, and then Rhisiart is killed. Brother Cadfael believes there is more to the murder than meets the eye, but he must tread carefully in his quest to unmask the killer lest his efforts cause more harm than good.
I started reading this series with the second book, One Corpse Too Many, because it was the first one that came into my hands. I was told by other LT members at the time that this was probably a good thing, because this first book lacks some supporting characters who make their first appearance in One Corpse Too Many. Having finally read the first book, I now know that the advice I received was spot on. This turned out to be a great way to experience this series – start with book #2 and treat book #1 as a prequel to pick up somewhere along the journey.
3.5 stars
57cbl_tn
46. Mischievous Creatures: The Forgotten Sisters Who Transformed Early American Science by Catherine McNeur
Historian McNeur rescues two nineteenth-century women scientists from undeserved obscurity. Sisters Elizabeth and Margaretta Morris spent most of their lives in their mother’s home in Germantown, on the outskirts of Philadelphia. The family was prosperous enough that Elizabeth and Margaretta were able to pursue their interests in the natural world, with Elizabeth focused on botany and Margaretta on entomology. The women’s social circle included prominent names in the sciences such as Asa Gray, Louis Agassiz, William Darlington, and Thaddeus William Harris. The sisters regularly published in scientific journals, although often anonymously or using initials to disguise their sex. Margaretta Morris was among the first women elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Both women made discoveries in their fields only to have doubts raised by male scientists who questioned the accuracy of their observations, and usually with credit for their discoveries given to male scientists.
This is a particularly timely read for me since one of Margarette Hare Morris’s discoveries is a species of seventeen-year cicada. I live in a county where Brood XIX of the 13-year cicadas are expected to emerge this spring.
4 stars
58FAMeulstee
>56 cbl_tn: I even started further into the series, with book 5 The Sanctuary Sparrow. It was an impulse loan back in 2011 at the library, not knowing it was part of a series.
I recently read the last book, and was sad my reading journey with Cadfael was done.
I recently read the last book, and was sad my reading journey with Cadfael was done.
59alcottacre
>34 cbl_tn: Is this the one on which the musical Fiddler on the Roof is based? I have never even seen the movie, let alone read the book! I will have to see if I can find a copy of Tevye. Thanks for the recommendation, Carrie.
>36 cbl_tn: Glad to see that you ended up enjoying that one too, Carrie. I thought it showed remarkable insight and imagination for Brooks to extrapolate from Vermeer's paintings to the world at large and what was going on it.
>37 cbl_tn: I need to re-read that entire series at some point. It has been far too long since I read them.
>40 cbl_tn: I am a long way from that one in my series re-read, but I will get to it eventually. Too bad it is not a better book.
>46 cbl_tn: Nice haul! Congratulations, Carrie!
>57 cbl_tn: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendation.
>36 cbl_tn: Glad to see that you ended up enjoying that one too, Carrie. I thought it showed remarkable insight and imagination for Brooks to extrapolate from Vermeer's paintings to the world at large and what was going on it.
>37 cbl_tn: I need to re-read that entire series at some point. It has been far too long since I read them.
>40 cbl_tn: I am a long way from that one in my series re-read, but I will get to it eventually. Too bad it is not a better book.
>46 cbl_tn: Nice haul! Congratulations, Carrie!
>57 cbl_tn: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendation.
60thornton37814
>57 cbl_tn: I don't think I am going to get that one read by Sunday. I'd have to drive to the Farragut branch to pick up a copy, and it just doesn't seem worth it. I don't think I'd finish it anyway. I may come for the discussion, but I'll have to trust everyone on it. I should have ordered it via ILL but the end of the semester timing was just off.
61cbl_tn
>58 FAMeulstee: I think I've read about 2/3 of the series so I have several more new-to-me Cadfaels.
>59 alcottacre: Apparently all the Tevye books are short story collections, and it seems that some stories are repeated in different collections. I'm really not sure which stories the movie is based on, but it's definitely the same Tevye!
I don't like the Maisie Dobbs books that lean too much toward the espionage end of the spectrum. The slower pace of the novels isn't suited to the espionage genre.
>60 thornton37814: I quite liked this one. Maybe you'll be able to get hold of it to read later.
>59 alcottacre: Apparently all the Tevye books are short story collections, and it seems that some stories are repeated in different collections. I'm really not sure which stories the movie is based on, but it's definitely the same Tevye!
I don't like the Maisie Dobbs books that lean too much toward the espionage end of the spectrum. The slower pace of the novels isn't suited to the espionage genre.
>60 thornton37814: I quite liked this one. Maybe you'll be able to get hold of it to read later.
62alcottacre
>61 cbl_tn: I have not really seen Maisie in espionage mode yet. I am only up to book 5. I did not originally read after that, so a lot of the book are new to me yet.
Have a super Saturday!
Have a super Saturday!
63cbl_tn
47. The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz
When author and screenwriter Anthony Horowitz is approached by a police consultant to collaborate on a true crime account of a murder investigation, Horowitz’s curiosity overcomes his initial reluctance. Just hours before the murder, the victim, mother of a famous actor, had visited a funeral home where she planned and paid for her funeral. Did she suspect that someone wanted her to die? Daniel Hawthorne, the former police officer turned private detective, gets under Horowitz’s skin, and to be fair, most people find Hawthorne highly annoying. But Hawthorne is brilliant, and the unlikely pair make a 21st century Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.
The line between fact and fiction blurs in this novel. Horowitz drops tidbits throughout on his real life projects, particularly Foyle’s War. Arthur Conan Doyle did it first with his fictional Dr. Watson as the first-person narrator of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Horowitz gives it a new twist by inserting himself into the story. I think it’s fun. YMMV.
4 stars
64cbl_tn
48. Ancestors: A Family History by William Maxwell
Novelist and long-time New Yorker editor William Maxwell’s family memoir tells of his childhood and his family’s long connection to Lincoln, Illinois. Maxwell and my small town Illinois-born grandmother were contemporaries, so the setting interested me. Several generations of Maxwell’s family belonged to the religious movement now known as the Stone-Campbell Movement, which includes the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Churches of Christ, and independent Christian Churches and Churches of Christ. Maxwell digs deep into the history of the Stone-Campbell Movement in order to understand his family and the way that their faith shaped them.
Maxwell’s memoir wouldn’t pass muster as an example of genealogical methodology since it’s undocumented. However, this doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t be useful to genealogists and family historians. Maxwell views his ancestors through the lens of a fiction writer and gets to the heart of the personalities, motivations, and individual decisions that make up his family story. Many families with Midwestern roots likely had at least one branch that belonged to the Stone-Campbell Movement. Maxwell’s memoir offers a good starting point for readers with an interest in this movement since he includes references to several standard histories. Maxwell references Haynes’s History of the Disciples of Christ in Illinois, 1819-1914, which I’ve consulted for my own family history research.
3.5 stars
65cbl_tn
49. Trouble in Triplicate by Rex Stout
These three Nero Wolfe novellas all have one thing in common:
4 stars
67cbl_tn
>66 tymfos: Hi Terri! I would count Gilead among my very favorite books as well! And do give the Anthony Horowitz books a try. I think the author writing himself into the book will put off some readers, but if you don't let that bother you it's really a nice mystery.
68cbl_tn
50. The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever
For the most part, the stories in this collection are character studies of individuals facing a moral dilemma or a psychological crisis, and they left this reader feeling unsettled. They make you wonder what is going on underneath the surface presented by strangers and casual acquaintances, and maybe even one’s close friends. The stories seem to be a product of their time, written over the decades of the mid-20th century from post-World War II through the mid- to late 1970s. In a way, they seem like the literary equivalent of mid-20th century television shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone. Many of the stories evoke the same kind of atmosphere as these television shows.
4 stars
69cbl_tn
51. Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey by Lillian Schlissel
What was the journey like for the women who migrated west to Oregon and California in the mid-19th century? Historian Lillian Schlissel analyzes diaries, journals, letters, and memoirs of dozens of women who made this journey to form a picture of the journey from a woman’s perspective. Most of the women were young adults, quite a few were pregnant during the journey, and most were less enthusiastic about the journey than the men in their family. Schlissel breaks down her account by decade, allowing readers to see how the experience changed over time as the later travelers benefited from more settlements and sources of support along the trail than the earliest travelers. The book includes dozens of illustrations (photographs and maps), transcriptions of four representative diaries, and a table categorizing each of the women whose diaries are referenced by date of travel, age during the journey, marital status, number and ages of children, etc.
4 stars
70cbl_tn
May Recap
Books owned: 1
Books borrowed: 3
Ebooks owned: 1
Ebooks borrowed: 1
eAudiobooks borrowed: 2
Best of the month: Mischievous Creatures by Catherine McNeur (4)
Books owned: 1
Books borrowed: 3
Ebooks owned: 1
Ebooks borrowed: 1
eAudiobooks borrowed: 2
Best of the month: Mischievous Creatures by Catherine McNeur (4)
71cbl_tn
52. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter is back for his second year at Hogwarts (despite a bit of trouble getting there), and mysterious things are happening at the school. Students are being attacked, just as they were decades earlier when the mysterious Chamber of Secrets was opened. The Heir of Slytherin is said to have the ability to open the Chamber of Secrets and unleash its horror, and many at Hogwarts suspect that Harry may be the heir. Harry, with the help of Ron and Hermione, will need to find the narration real heir of Slytherin in order to acquit himself.
The setting and characters are the stars of the story rather than the plot. I guessed where things were headed fairly early on, although there were a couple of twists that surprised me. Despite the by the outstanding Jim Dale, my mind would wander, and I would find that I hadn’t missed anything important. The house elf, Dobby, became a sentimental favorite for me because my grandparents had a dog by that name when I was a child, long before Harry Potter’s creation.
3.5 stars
72mstrust
I was reading the Potter books as they were being published. I enjoyed them so much that I keep telling myself it's time for a revisit. I know Jim Dale's voice, it's perfect for the series.
73cbl_tn
>72 mstrust: I am very late to the party with the Potter books, and I'm enjoying seeing what I've missed!
74atozgrl
>73 cbl_tn: Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I read the first couple back not long after they came out, and purchased the rest, but didn't find the time to read them, so they're still on my shelves unread. I need to get to them, but all these challenges on LT have had me picking other books, so they're still patiently waiting. One of these days...
75cbl_tn
>74 atozgrl: I am in good company then!
76cbl_tn
53. The Black Angels by Maria Smilios
In the early to mid-20th century, Staten Island’s Seaview Hospital treated tuberculosis patients at a time when there wasn’t an effective cure. The nurses at the facility were mostly African American, and they were referred to by their patients as the “Black Angels.” Smilies relied on interviews with the families of the “Black Angels” and with the few surviving nurses to tell the history of Seaview Hospital from their perspective. Many of the nurses came from the Jim Crow South, looking for better opportunities in New York, only to be faced with the same kind of racism they thought they were leaving behind. These nurses were at the right place at the right time to take part in the clinical trials of the drugs that finally made a difference in the tuberculosis public health crisis.
This is an important story and one worth reading. However, it needed better editing. It’s padded with so much trivial social and cultural history references to popular music, television, current events, etc., that I became increasingly annoyed because it took so long to get to the point of the book. Unless authors are paid by the page, there is no reason for wasting so much of the reader’s time.
3 stars
77cbl_tn
54. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
Everybody in the past few years knew there wasn’t any real God. When she thought of what she used to imagine was God she could only see Mister Singer with a long, white sheet around him. God was silent—maybe that was why she was reminded.
From the moment I heard this sentence, I placed this book in my “silence of God” category – books I’ve read in which the author wrestles with God’s silence in the face of human misery and suffering. Tween Mick Kelly, African American Dr. Copeland, alcoholic Marxist/socialist laborer Jake Blount, and diner owner Biff Brannon all gravitate to the deaf and mute John Singer and confide to him their innermost thoughts and feelings. Not only is the God they speak to silent, he is also deaf.
My interest waxed and waned with the uneven writing. The children are the strongest characters in the novel, and their voices seem the most authentic. The adult characters are a little more wooden, maybe because McCullers had more lived experience as a child than as an adult at the time the novel was written.https://www.librarything.com/privacy
3.5 stars
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55. Between the Woods and the Water by Patrick Leigh Fermor
Leigh Fermor takes up right where he left off in A Time of Gifts, having just crossed into Hungary in his journey across Europe on foot. His journey across Hungary includes stops at various castles and estates belonging to friends of the friends that he made in earlier stages of his journey. Leigh Fermor seems reluctant to leave his new friends and acquaintances behind. The Leigh Fermor who wrote the book several decades after the Holocaust and World War II, as well as his readers, are aware of an added melancholy because we know what the young Leigh Fermor and his acquaintances did not – how much destruction lay ahead in the not-too-distant future.
4 stars
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56. Last Act in Palmyra by Lindsey Davis
Informer Marcus Didius Falco has two commissions that take him east. The first comes from the emperor by way of Falco’s nemesis, Anacrites. Not wanting Helena Justina to know about the first commission, he accepts a second from Thalia. It seems that Thalia’s water organist ran off with a young man, and Thalia wants her back. The last news of her -came from the Decapolis. After a misadventure in Petra, Falco and Helena fall in with a group of traveling players headed for the Decapolis. Since there is strength in numbers, Falco and Helena join the troup, with Falco replacing the recently deceased playwright. Falco can look for the missing water organist as the group tours the Decapolis, and he can also look for the murderer who dispatched his much-disliked scriptwriting predecessor.
Although the plot has some deficiencies (including a dropped story line early on), I particularly enjoyed its setting. Petra is always fascinating, and the Decapolis is familiar to me from Sunday School since Jesus traveled there. It’s an unusual setting even for historical fiction, but it really worked for me.
4 stars
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57. The Beige Man by Helene Tursten
Göteborg police inspector Irene Huss’s latest investigation takes her into the shadowy world of sex slavery. On a brutally cold night, a couple of car thieves hit and kill a pedestrian as they flee from police pursuit. They abandon the car, and the officers searching for them find much more than they bargained for – the body of a young girl bearing marks of strangulation. Change is afoot in the department with Irene’s boss on his way out in a matter of days. On the home front, Irene has to negotiate a health crisis with her aging mother, the possibility of an empty nest as her twins have reached adulthood, and a potentially serious health issue with her senior dog.
The author uses this book to raise awareness of the sex trade that affects so many thousands of people worldwide. Unfortunately, the awareness-raising is at the expense of the plot, which is a little thin.
3.5 stars
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June Recap
Books borrowed: 1
Ebooks borrowed: 3
eAudiobooks borrowed: 2
Best of the month: Between the Woods and the Water by Patrick Leigh Fermor (4)
Worst of the month: The Black Angels by Maria Smilios (3)
Books borrowed: 1
Ebooks borrowed: 3
eAudiobooks borrowed: 2
Best of the month: Between the Woods and the Water by Patrick Leigh Fermor (4)
Worst of the month: The Black Angels by Maria Smilios (3)
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58. It's All Relative by A. J. Jacobs
I am a cousin! Author Jacobs adopted this phrase as a marketing slogan as he planned what he hoped would be the world’s largest family reunion. Jacobs looks at the “why” of genealogy and family history in brief chapters about various aspects including DNA, privacy, black sheep, family feuds, and biological families vs families of choice. In between topics, Jacobs slips in a few paragraphs about the event planning with a countdown to the big day. The final chapter reflects on the event – what went well, what didn’t, and what it all means.
I am a cousin! If Jacobs’ goal is to foster connections and a perspective of shared humanity, then he succeeded with me. One of the people he met while promoting his event was Donny Osmond, who happens to be a distant cousin. (Really!) I also know a couple of the genealogists that Jacobs consulted while planning the big reunion and writing the book, so there are just two degrees of separation between us.
Even though this book is a “why” rather than a “how to” for aspiring genealogists, the appendix provides useful tips for getting started, and it includes a decent annotated bibliography.
4 stars
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59. The Second Confession by Rex Stout
In the belief that his youngest daughter’s boyfriend is a member of the Communist Party, a wealthy businessman hires Nero Wolfe to find proof of this affiliation before his daughter does something rash like marrying him. Before long, the boyfriend is dead, and Wolfe is looking for a murderer. This case once again brings Wolfe into contact with a mysterious mob boss that Wolfe refers to as X, and also as the only person he is afraid of.
This book would have been timely in its day since it was published just as the “red scare” was getting underway. It hasn’t aged well, and it has more the air of sensation than the sophisticated wit I’ve come to expect from Stout.
3.5 stars
84alcottacre
>82 cbl_tn: I am going to have to find a copy of that one. I love watching shows like Finding Your Roots, Who Do You Think You Are?, and Our DNA Journey, so it sounds right up my alley. Thanks for the recommendation, Carrie!
85laytonwoman3rd
>82 cbl_tn: You got me with that one too, Carrie!
86cbl_tn
>85 laytonwoman3rd: Great! I hope you enjoy it!
87lindapanzo
I'm always excited when I see you read a Rex Stout whose title doesn't seem familiar to me. Alas, I read this one 15 years ago.
88cbl_tn
>87 lindapanzo: I am attempting to read them all in order!
89mstrust
>82 cbl_tn: How great would it be to find a teen idol in the family tree? I'll look for this one as I liked Jacob's The Know-It-All.
90cbl_tn
>89 mstrust: It was such a fun discovery! My next door neighbor was a huge Osmonds fan when we were in elementary school. We used to pretend to be the Osmonds and perform in the back yard. My neighbor was a year older than me so she always got to be Donny. I got stuck as Jay. But hey, he's my cousin, too! Little did I know all those years ago that I am actually related to them. Our common ancestor died 200+ years ago.
91mstrust
It still counts! Just think, if you ever murder someone and they have to build a DNA family tree, Donny Osmond will find out what you've done :-D
92cbl_tn
>91 mstrust: Yes he will! And I've discovered that Donny and I have another new-found cousin. Without getting into topics that I don't like to talk about either here or in person, let's just say that I've discovered that Donny and I are also related to an author who has been in the news in the last couple of days. Given my roots in a particular geographic location, I thought it was highly likely that we might share an ancestor a few generations back, and I discovered that my hunch was correct. Yet one more illustration of Jacobs's "I am a cousin" slogan.
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60. The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams
Henry Adams’ memoir is a mixed bag. It’s interesting because Adams was the grandson and great-grandson of two early presidents. Adams dabbled in politics in his early career but, unless I missed something, he never held elected office. He spent time in the bureaucratic ranks and voice political commentary.
Adams refers to himself in the third person throughout his memoir. This struck me as false humility. He bemoaned the years he sought but did not find education to prepare him for the future. Again, this struck me as false humility and arrogance. Isn’t he really saying that he wasn’t teachable?
Framing his memoir in terms of education conveniently allowed Adams to omit any mention of his wife and their troubled marriage, while talking at length about other women who contributed to his education. Adams kept his cards close to his chest, revealing only those that supported the public image he wanted to maintain.
2.5 stars
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61. The White Mouse by Nancy WakeAustralian Nancy Wake was part of the French Resistance in World War II. After being forced to leave her Marseilles home due to the attention she had attracted from the Gestapo, Wake made her way to England where she received special operations training and returned to a different part of France and served under British direction.
Wake isn’t a particularly good writer, and if her memoir were published today, the publisher would likely have her work with a ghostwriter. However, the lack of polish does give her writing an air of authenticity.
Wake unashamedly reveals herself to have been something of a “party girl” in her youth. She didn’t lose some of those characteristics as she aged, and she continued to have a reputation as a heavy drinker into her senior years. She comes across as a potentially unreliable narrator, so readers would do well to seek out works written by her contemporaries and more objective biographers to assess her achievements.
3 stars
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62. Time to Depart by Lindsey Davis
After several months in the east, informer Marcus Didius Falco lands in the midst of an organized crime investigation immediately upon his return to Rome. The corruption may have infiltrated the ranks of the vigiles, so Falco is tasked with investigating the investigators. This pits Falco against his best friend, Petronius “Petro.” Will their friendship survive? On the domestic front, Marcus and Helena search for new lodgings in anticipation of an addition to the family.
I like the way that Davis alternates the settings between Rome and its provinces. The books set in Rome allow Davis to develop the secondary characters, including Marcus’s many sisters and their children and Helena’s parents and brothers. The books set in other locations allow Davis to explore the far reaches of the Roman Empire. This pattern works well for me.
4 stars
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63. From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming
I’ve watched many of the Bond movies, some multiple times. This is my first and last experience with the books. I listened to three hours of the audio before Bond showed up. I’ve read and enjoyed many other Cold War era spy novels, so I don’t think the genre is the problem.
Skip the book, watch the film.
2 stars
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64. Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner
Emil’s mother sends him to Berlin on the train to visit his grandmother. She gives him 140 marks for his grandmother and himself. While Emil sleeps on the train, the only other occupant of the compartment steals the money from Emil’s pocket. When Emil discovers his loss, he follows the man through Berlin, enlisting the help of a gang of boys. Together they devise a plot to catch the thief and retrieve Emil’s money.
I would have liked this book more if I had first read it in my childhood. It may suffer a bit in translation, but there are also issues with the plot that the translator can’t fix. Children had more freedom in the 1920s than they do a century later, but Emil and the other children’s actions strain credibility even for the 1920s. This is another instance where I liked the movie better than the book. I like the 1964 Disney film for its plot and its view of Berlin.
3 stars
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65. An Island of Our Own by Sally Nicholls
Orphan siblings Holly, Jonathan, and Davy are barely getting by after their mother’s death. Jonathan has given up on university in order to care for his two younger siblings, but he struggles to pay the rent and cover other expenses like clothing and school supplies. When their eccentric great aunt Irene dies, the three learn that she has left them something in her will, but she has hidden her valuables and important papers. The only clues they have are photographs of the places where the valuables are hidden. The siblings set off on a treasure hunt to find their legacy with the help of some of their friends.
Even though the characters confront a lot of sadness head-on, this is ultimately an uplifting story of family, community, and discovery. The makerspace community that the children are a part of provides an interesting twist to a familiar treasure hunt theme. I would love to read a sequel to this story and see these children blossom.
4 stars
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66. A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power
Three generations of Native American women endure childhood trauma through the protection of their dolls. Narrated in turn by the childhood versions of the three women, the historical sections of the novel are the most powerful. The only real flaw is that the voices are too sophisticated for children who are still young enough to carry a doll with them everywhere they go. The fourth and final section of the novel is overwritten, and it undoes what the author so carefully crafted in the first three sections.
3 stars
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67. Avenue of Spies by Alex Kershaw
American doctor Sumner Jackson, his Swiss wife Toquette, and their teenage son Phillip lived on Avenue Foch, in the midst of the Nazis who occupied Paris during the Second World War. Sumner and Toquette eventually joined the French resistance, and the family paid a high price for their opposition to Hitler’s Nazis. I listened to the audio version, and I found it difficult to follow because of all the details like address numbers, names and positions of officials, etc. I may revisit the print edition at some point to pick up on things I missed from the audio.
3.5 stars
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July Recap
Books owned: 2
Books borrowed: 2
Ebooks owned: 1
Ebooks borrowed: 2
eAudiobooks borrowed: 3
Best of the month: An Island of Our Own by Sally Nicholls (4)
Worst of the month: From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming (2)
Books owned: 2
Books borrowed: 2
Ebooks owned: 1
Ebooks borrowed: 2
eAudiobooks borrowed: 3
Best of the month: An Island of Our Own by Sally Nicholls (4)
Worst of the month: From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming (2)
102Chatterbox
I saw that you plan to read From the Holy Mountain by William Dalrymple in August for TIOLI and had to shout out that it's one of my fave books of all time. I read it when it first appeared (when I was living in London; then I heard it as a BBC book of the week and was able to listen to chunks of it read) and was absolutely fascinated. So much so that it prompted not one but two separate trips that I'm now VERY glad to have made when I did -- a two-week trip through Turkey that included Cappadocia, in March of 1999 and 2.5 weeks divided between Jordan and (at the last moment) Syria in the summer of 2001. Petra! Krak des Chevaliers! Aleppo! The two latter ones, tragically, smashed to bits in the civil war. I met so many fascinating people in Syria, from a Syrian woman archaeologist working on a dig around the Assassins' castle to an army recruit who spoke nothing but Arabic who appointed himself as my guide to an otherwise completely deserted ancient Graeco Roman town. And then I sat down to read the whole epic by John Julius Norwich about Byzantium!
103cbl_tn
Thank you for sharing those memories with me! It sounds like you got to see and do things that most tourists wouldn't get to see and do. What a wonderful experience! And at just the right time, too. The world has changed so much since then.
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68. My Dog Tulip by J. R. Ackerley
German shepherd Tulip’s owner is a middle-aged single British man. After recounting their initial adjustment to each other and his attempts to find a suitable vet, Ackerley devotes a chapter to peeing and pooping (a problem for city dogs in a time before picking up after them became the norm), and then he spends the rest of the book telling readers about his difficulties managing Tulip when she is in heat. He just skips over all the months that she’s not in heat.
Readers learn even less about Ackerley’s life. He lives alone. Has he ever been married, or is he a confirmed bachelor? The only relative readers meet is a cousin. Ackerley goes to work and comes home on weekdays. Where does he go and what does he do? He doesn’t tell us. (Although, to be fair, the book was initially published in a limited edition, and the intended audience probably knew Ackerley and his work without needing to be told.)
Were this book written today, it would be much shorter. Etiquette for dog owners now requires picking up after them, and many dog owners acquire their pets through adoption, with neutering or spaying a condition of the adoption.
3 stars
105laytonwoman3rd
>104 cbl_tn: I'll just pass on that one, then.
106cbl_tn
>105 laytonwoman3rd: You're not missing much!
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69. Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women Who Challenged a Nation by Tiya Miles
Historian Tiya Miles explores how the experience of outdoor life shaped the lives of influential 19th and 20th century women such as Harriet Tubman and Louisa May Alcott. Miles points out to readers that women faced fewer social restrictions in the outdoor world, and some women saw the outdoors as a way to push against the boundaries that constrained them.
I’ll remember this book for two reasons. First, Miles unearthed several eyewitness accounts of the Leonid meteor shower of 1833, including Tubman’s. Many observers believed they were witnessing the apocalypse. Secondly, Miles devotes most of a chapter to the Fort Shaw women’s basketball team and their demonstration of women’s basketball at the St. Louis World’s Fair. I had just recently finished a novel partly set at an Indian boarding school, and this book provided a deeper dive into an unusual aspect of the history of Native American boarding schools.
3.5 stars
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70. Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare
I was able to follow the gist of the plot in the audio recording, but I need to read it one of these days to pick up on what I missed. It bears a lot of similarities to Romeo and Juliet. Just swap Egypt for Italy and political factions for a family feud. The ending is especially similar to Romeo and Juliet. Cleopatra has word sent to Antony that she is dead, he believes it and fatally wounds himself, then Cleopatra joins him with the help of an asp.
3.5 stars
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71. The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff
In Roman Britain, young kinsmen Justin and Flavius share adventures while defending their homeland from a traitor’s rule. Justin is a doctor while Flavius is a soldier, and their success depends on each one using their skills. Sutcliff hints at what was going on at this point in time in the greater Roman Empire while keeping a tight focus on the plot. The characters are believable and sympathetic without the virtue signaling that too many 21st century authors use to draw attention away from their plot weaknesses.
4 stars
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72. A Slant of Light by Jeffrey Lent
I wanted to like this book more than I did. It felt overwritten. The author spent too much time in the characters’ heads telling readers what they were thinking, rather than leaving it up to the reader to infer from their actions. Even then, the explanations were insufficient to explain the motivations of most of the characters. The ending seems abrupt, as if the author didn’t allow any of the dust he’d stirred up to settle.
2.5 stars
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73. Wandering through Life by Donna Leon
Donna Leon is the author of a long-running crime series set in Venice, so I expected her memoir to focus mainly on Italy. It takes her a long time to get there! After talking a bit about her childhood and early life, she moves on to her years teaching English in the Middle East and Asia. I found those chapters especially fascinating, particularly the years she spent in Iran leading up to the 1979 revolution and her time in Saudi Arabia. I wasn’t surprised by the pages she devoted to bees and bee culture since it found its way into one of her mystery plots. Her lifelong love of music, especially opera, also wasn’t a surprise, since music has featured in several of her mystery plots and the epigraphs in her books are nearly always from a libretto. The audio narrator’s delivery is a good match for the tone of the book, and it’s a great way to experience this memoir.
4 stars
112laytonwoman3rd
>72 mstrust: I gave up on that one earlier this month...I thought it was because I was reading an ARC, with many unedited errors, and the physical books was an awkward size to hold...maybe there was more wrong than that!
113cbl_tn
>112 laytonwoman3rd: It has a lot of the makings of a great book, but for whatever reason it just doesn't work.
114laytonwoman3rd
>113 cbl_tn: I admire Lent's talent and story-telling skills. I just finished Lost Nation, which is extremely powerful, but a tough read. I'm trying to work up a decent review for my thread.
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74. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
In an alternate version of San Fransisco, change is in the air, and Americans (both Jews and non-Jews), Japanese, and Germans weigh decisions about their futures. In their world, the Axis powers won World War II, and both individual society and international relations operate in a vacuum of trust. Japan controls the U.S. West Coast and the Americans who still live there have adopted Japanese customs. Japanese and Americans alike consult the I Ching as an oracle to make decisions and foretell the immediate future. Everyone is morbidly curious about a book the Germans have banned, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, an alternate history of World War II in which Germany and Japan were defeated.
The theme of free will vs determinism resonated most with me. The characters, with a couple of brief exceptions, have a fatalistic view of the world and of their individual lives within the larger whole. By consulting the I Ching for even the most inconsequential of decisions, they cede their free will and personal responsibility for the consequences of their choices. If you take determinism to its logical conclusion, this book would be completely implausible because it would be impossible for history to have turned out any differently than it has.
3.5 stars
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75. Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza by Adina Hoffman & Peter Cole
For centuries, Jewish communities disposed of worn out or no longer useful documents by placing them in a geniza, a storage room in a synagogue or sometimes in a cemetery. Through a series of events at the end of the 19th century, the contents of a geniza in a synagogue in Fustat (Old Cairo) made their way to Cambridge and other centers of higher learning. Through painstaking cleaning and close examination of documents from the disorganized mass, scholars discovered works and authors that had been “lost” for several centuries.
Successive generations of scholars have built on each other’s discoveries. For instance, where one scholar focused on recovering the original text of palimpsests (reused parchment), a subsequent scholar recognized that some of the overwritten documents were authored by Yannai, a Jewish liturgical poet from the early Middle Ages whose works were thought to have been lost to history. Scholars continue to make new discoveries in the preserved documents with the assistance of advanced technology.
4.5 stars
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August Recap
Books owned: 2
Books borrowed: 1
Ebooks borrowed: 2
eAudiobooks borrowed: 3
Best of the month: Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza by Adina Hoffman & Peter Cole (4.5)
Worst of the month: A Slant of Light by Jeffrey Lent (2.5)
Books owned: 2
Books borrowed: 1
Ebooks borrowed: 2
eAudiobooks borrowed: 3
Best of the month: Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza by Adina Hoffman & Peter Cole (4.5)
Worst of the month: A Slant of Light by Jeffrey Lent (2.5)
119cbl_tn
>118 drneutron: Thanks, Jim! I'm glad #75 was a book I loved!
121cbl_tn
>120 mstrust: Thank you! :-)
122lindapanzo
Congrats on reaching book 75, Carrie!!
123cbl_tn
>122 lindapanzo: Thank you! It's always a good feeling when I hit that mark!
124cbl_tn
76. What You Are Looking for Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama
Five people vaguely dissatisfied with their lives make their way to the library at the community house where they encounter the librarian, Mrs. Komachi. Her book recommendations and bonus gift (one of Mrs. Komachi’s needle felting creations) inspire each of the five to explore new opportunities and try new activities to add more meaning to their lives. The audio version uses five different narrators for the five people whose stories are told, and I enjoyed the variety of voices. This book will leave many readers eager to explore the treasures in their local libraries to find inspiration for their own lives.
4 stars
126thornton37814
Congrats on getting past 75.
128PaulCranswick
Sorry, Carrie - I have been pretty feeble getting around the threads. Congratulations on reaching 75 books already. We managed it at about the same time this year.
129cbl_tn
>128 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul! I am certain that you've been doing better than I have at visiting threads. I haven't managed it at all during the summer months. I'm not sure where all my time goes.
130cbl_tn
77. Three Doors to Death by Rex Stout
Nero Wolfe and his sidekick Archie Goodwin solve three more cases in this collection of novellas. The first case involves the fashion world and a supposedly long dead man who turns up as a fresh corpse. Wolfe takes the second case at the request of his friend, restaurateur Marko Vukcic, who wants Wolfe to prove that a chef accused of murder is innocent of the crime. Finally, Wolfe ventures out to Westchester to hire a horticulturist to take care of his orchids during Theodore’s extended absence. When the man Wolfe wants to hire becomes the prime suspect in a murder, Wolfe must prove him innocent for the sake of his prized orchids.
The novella format continues to work well for the Wolfe mysteries. Archie’s rapid-fire dialogue sets a brisk pace, and it seems like a natural fit for the shorter format.
4 stars
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78. American Flygirl by Susan Tate Ankeny
The first time Chinese-American Hazel Ying Lee flew in a plane, she was hooked. She spent the rest of her life pursuing her dream of being a pilot. Hazel was one of only a few women accepted into a Chinese American pilot training program in the 1930s. Afterwards, she spent several years flying commercial aircraft in China, while her male colleagues flew as part of China’s air force. Lee eventually returned to the US. She was accepted into the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) training program. The WASPs ferried military aircraft to locations where they were needed, freeing male pilots for combat.
Many of the primary sources the author cites are housed in the Women Airforce Service Pilots official archive at Texas Women’s University. Scans of many of these documents and photographs are available in a digital archive, including photographs of Hazel Ying Lee and oral histories and correspondence of some of the women in Lee’s WASP classmates.
4 stars
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79. The Treacherous Net by Helene Tursten
Irene Huss and her colleagues in the Violent Crime Unit have a new boss. Huss’s former boss, Andersson, is spending the few months left before his retirement investigating cold cases. Irene and her colleagues are searching for a serial killer preying on young teens that he meets on the internet. Andersson and his colleagues investigate cold case with roots in World War II and a mysterious group known as The Net.
The two investigations are unrelated, and the verbal tie of “the net” feels forced. The cold case should either have been a spin-off from the series, or it should have been omitted entirely. The author set up some interesting dynamics between Irene and her new female boss, who uses her sexuality to manipulate the men in the department. She missed an opportunity to explore Irene’s attitude toward her former boss in light of the changes in the department and the potential for Irene and Andersson to consult each other concerning either of their current cases. I think this would have added more interest to the book.
3 stars
133cbl_tn
80. A Passage to India by E. M. Forster
This 100-year-old classic still has a timely feel with its exploration of issues of class and race. The novel seems to have been a harbinger of the end of the British Raj. It makes a political statement without compromising the elements of plot and character that can seem contrived in works by less talented authors.
5 stars
134cbl_tn
81. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
One of the interesting things we learn about Coates in this book is that he was trained from childhood to put his thought processes and feelings into words. That’s great training for a journalist! Through his gift of words, Coates speaks for a large segment of society with similar lived experiences. Reading (or in my case, listening) is the first step toward understanding.
3.5 stars
135cbl_tn
82. Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes
There is a story here, but if you blink, you’ll miss it. On its surface this book reads like a literary analysis, biography, and trivia about Gustave Flaubert. Every now and then the first-person narrator drops tidbits of personal information about his marriage and his late wife that gradually take shape into a tragedy. Parrots appear frequently enough to serve a symbolic purpose, but not so often that the symbolism seems heavy-handed. It’s hard to find the line between fact and fiction in this novel. It works for me, but it might not work for everyone.
4 stars
136laytonwoman3rd
>133 cbl_tn: That's on my Re-read list. I think I read it about 50 years ago! Good to know it holds up.
137cbl_tn
September Recap
Books owned: 1
Ebooks owned: 1
Ebooks borrowed: 2
eAudiobooks borrowed: 3
Best of the month: A Passage to India by E. M. Forster (5)
Worst of the month: The Treacherous Net by Helene Tursten (3)
Books owned: 1
Ebooks owned: 1
Ebooks borrowed: 2
eAudiobooks borrowed: 3
Best of the month: A Passage to India by E. M. Forster (5)
Worst of the month: The Treacherous Net by Helene Tursten (3)
138cbl_tn
>136 laytonwoman3rd: I love fiction from that era. Authors really knew how to write then!
139mstrust
>135 cbl_tn: I loved that one and keep intending to reread it. It's true, not for everyone, but so interesting.
140cbl_tn
>139 mstrust: I donated my copy to the library where I work. Hopefully other likeminded readers will discover it there!
141cbl_tn
83. The Devil's Novice by Ellis Peters
Brother Cadfael is troubled by the novice whose father leaves him at the Shrewsbury monastery. Young Meriet professes that he comes of his own free will, yet his troubled dreams disturb the entire monastery. When word reaches the monastery of a priest gone missing during his travels, Cadfael wonders if the disappearance is linked to Meriet’s troubled conscience.
The plot is characteristic of this series, without anything special to make it stand out. My mind wandered as I listened to the audio version, yet I discovered I hadn’t missed anything important when my focus returned.
3 stars
142cbl_tn
84. The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman by Margot Mifflin
In 1851, the 9-member Oatman family were part of the Mormon westward migration. The Oatmans were part of a sect headed for California rather than Utah. After falling out with their traveling companions, the Oatmans were on their own somewhere in what is now Arizona when they were attacked by a group of Yavapais. Thirteen-year-old Olive and her younger sister, Mary Ann, were kidnapped, while the rest of their family were massacred. Their older brother, Lorenzo, miraculously survived, and he never gave up on hunting for his missing sisters.
After a year of enslavement with the Yavapais, Olive and Mary Ann were traded to a group of Mohaves, who took them to California. Mary Ann was never strong, and she died during a famine. Olive spent about four years with the Mohaves. After rumors of a white girl living among the Mohaves reached American outposts, Olive was traded back to the US in 1856 and was reunited with her brother. Somewhere along the way, the siblings met Methodist minister R. B. Stratton, who wrote Olive’s captivity narrative and took her on the lecture circuit. Olive eventually broke free of Stratton after meeting the man who would become her husband. The couple settled in Sherman, Texas, where Olive died at 65.
Author and journalist Mifflin looks behind the legend to examine what really happened to Olive Oatman. What was the meaning of her facial tattoos? Was she tattooed against her will, or was her tattoo evidence of her assimilation into Mohave culture and society? Did Olive want to be repatriated, or would she have preferred to stay with the Mohaves? Mifflin suggests answers to these questions while leaving it up to readers to draw their own conclusions.
4 stars
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85. A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman
American Frances Wynn was a “dollar princess”, whose husband, Reggie, was the Earl of Harleigh. After Reggie’s death, Frances is ready to get out from under the thumb of the new earl, her brother-in-law, George, and his wife. Frances doesn’t announce her purchase of a leasehold property in London until it’s a fait accompli. To Frances’s surprise, her new neighbor in London is George Hazelton, the brother of her best friend, Fiona. George is also one of two besides Frances who know the true circumstances of her husband’s death. When questions are raised regarding the possibility that Reggie was murdered, Frances must investigate the rumors to clear her own name. Meanwhile, Frances is serving as chaperone for her younger sister, Lily, whom their parents have sent to London for the season to find a husband. Lily has no less than three suitors, one of whom may be the thief who has been stealing valuables from wealthy homes.
The audio reader’s voice and tone perfectly capture Frances’s affability and gentle sarcasm. Since Frances is a first-person narrator, audio seems a great choice for experiencing this series.
4 stars
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86. Holes by Louis Sachar
When Stanley Yelnats IV ends up at Camp Green Lake, a Texas reformatory, endlessly digging holes in the dried lake bed, he knows it’s all his great-great-grandfather’s fault. His great-great-grandfather was cursed, and Stanley’s bad luck is evidence of the curse. Stanley didn’t do what he was accused of, but no one believed his story. As the days go by, Stanley realizes that there may be something sinister behind the hole digging, and the warden is in it up to her neck.
This story reminds me of the movie and stage play, Annie. The adults at Camp Green Lake, and particularly the warden, are larger-than-life evil characters, and the child hero, Stanley, uses his agency to change his circumstances for the better. Readers will root for Stanley as he adjusts to his circumstances and finds his way out.
4.5 stars
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87. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
I had a hard time getting started with this family saga set in an unnamed South American country that strongly resembles Chile. Patience paid off in the end. Once I’d read about a quarter of the book, I was invested in the family and how their story would unfold. I had reservations about the magical realism because of past experiences with this genre, and I found Allende’s brand of magical realism more appealing than that of other authors I’ve read.
4 stars
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88. The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis
In a series of letters written from one demon, Screwtape, to his nephew and trainee demon, Wormwood, Lewis exposes the nature of temptation and how easy it is to rationalize sin. It didn’t take me long to realize that Lewis had “stopped preaching and started to meddling”. I didn’t like what I saw reflected in my own life. Lewis died before I was born, yet his theological, philosophical, and cultural observations still feel fresh and relevant.
5 stars
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89. The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter by Katherine Anne Porter
This collection of stories represents most of the author’s literary output over the course of her life. It’s really not a large body of work. I expected what it lacked in quantity to be made up in quality, but it didn’t work out that way. The early stories had an air of immaturity. The stories that resonated most with me were the last two in the collection – “Holiday” and “The Leaning Tower”. Porter worked on “Holiday” over several decades, and the final product is worthy of the author’s efforts. “The Leaning Tower” reflects Depression-era Berlin and the influences that led to World War II. From this side of the war, it’s chilling to see how accurate Porter’s perceptions were.
3.5 stars
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90. A Dying Light in Corduba by Lindsey Davis
When Falco’s nemesis, the chief spy Anacrites, is attacked and left for dead after a dinner party that they both attended, Falco is commissioned by the head of Anacrites’ rival agency to investigate the attack. The investigation centers on politicians and dignitaries from the province of Baetica, in what is now Spain. Falco needs the income, but he is troubled by the strong possibility that he will let down the love of his life, Helena. With the impending birth of their child, a trip to Baetica and back will be cutting it close, and Falco knows that Helena will never forgive him if he misses the birth. The problem is partly solved when Helena decides to go to Baetica with Falco. Her aristocratic connections might prove useful in solving the crime, but there’s still the problem of getting Helena safely back to Rome in time for the birth.
This book followed Davis’s established pattern for the series. Since the previous book was set in Rome, it was time for Falco to travel to one of the provinces. I’m finding that I enjoy the books set in Rome more because the secondary characters add so much to the stories set there. Falco’s relationships with them have developed over the course of several books. When Falco and Helena travel to the provinces, they’re interacting with a different cast of characters each time. These characters aren’t as well-developed as the series regulars.
3.5 stars
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October Recap
Books borrowed: 2
Ebooks owned: 1
Ebooks borrowed: 1
eAudiobooks borrowed: 4
Best of the month: The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis (5)
Worst of the month: The Devil’s Novice by Ellis Peters (3)
Books borrowed: 2
Ebooks owned: 1
Ebooks borrowed: 1
eAudiobooks borrowed: 4
Best of the month: The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis (5)
Worst of the month: The Devil’s Novice by Ellis Peters (3)
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91. The Secrets of Wishtide by Kate Saunders
After her clergyman husband’s death, Laetitia Rodd now works as a private investigator at the behest of her barrister brother, Frederick. The latest case calls for Mrs. Rodd to go undercover in the household of Sir James Calderstone to dig into the background of the widow with whom his son and heir has fallen in love. The case takes some unexpected turns with tragic consequences.
I listened to the Booktrack edition because that’s the audio version that was available from my public library. I didn’t enjoy the experience. According to the marketing material, the soundtrack is supposed to enhance the experience. I found it distracting. The music was loud enough to make it difficult to focus on the narrator, and the mood often didn’t match what was happening in the book. Based on this experience, I’m unlikely to listen to another Booktrack audiobook.
3.5 stars
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92. In the Best Families by Rex Stout
Nero Wolfe finally has a showdown with the master criminal he encountered twice previously, in And Be a Villain and The Second Confession. It all starts with a wealthy woman who wants to hire Wolfe to investigate her younger husband. Wolfe’s assistant, Archie Goodwin, has a cover story that will allow him to ask questions of the woman’s family, employees, and friends. Before he can make any progress, the woman is murdered, and then Wolfe disappears.
Wolfe’s head-to-head with Arnold Zeck is the culmination of a plot developed over the course of two previous Wolfe novels. Stout gives readers enough of the background so that this book could be enjoyed as a standalone, but I think most readers would find more satisfaction in reading the whole Arnold Zeck trilogy in order.
3.5 stars
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93. Women in the Valley of the Kings by Kathleen Sheppard
This collective biography explores the lives and careers of the women who helped to establish the field of Egyptology in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. For the most part, these women were not household names even at the peak of their careers. Men such as Howard Carter and Flinders Petrie received more acclaim. However, women such as Amelia Edwards and Marianne Brocklehurst provided much-needed funding for archaeological exploration in the 19th century, and Edwards was one of the founders of the Egypt Exploration Fund. After her early site experience with Flinders Petrie, Margaret Alice Murray became an educator who trained a generation of archaeologists in the methodology and background knowledge for their fieldwork.
Sheppard has organized the book in chapters about one or two of the women Egyptologists, rather than in a strictly chronological approach. The inevitable repetition had me turning back to earlier chapters to refresh my memory about the women who were minor characters in another woman’s chapter, and who later featured in a chapter of their own. The photographs are disappointing. They ought to be both larger and printed on higher quality paper so that the important details are visible to readers.
3.5 stars
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94. Who Watcheth by Helene Tursten
Irene Huss and her colleagues in the Gotebörg police department are looking for a serial killer who preys on middle-aged women. The police narrow in on a suspect who fits the profile, but there is frustratingly little evidence. All they can do is wait for the killer to make a mistake. Then unexplained things start happening at Irene’s home. Is Irene the killer’s next target, or is someone from Irene’s past out to get her?
I’m torn about this series. Irene’s home life and her relationships with her colleagues are at the heart of these novels. Many readers will relate to the ups and downs in Irene’s life, such as her mother’s death, balancing motherhood with a career, becoming an empty-nester, losing a much-loved pet and bonding with a new pet. However, the mystery plots are weak and may disappoint readers who are well-read in the crime genre.
3.5 stars
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95. Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara
Aki Ito’s life changed with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the onset of World War II. Aki, her parents, and her older sister, Rose, were forced to leave their home in Los Angeles and they were detained in Manzanar. Eventually, Rose was sent to Chicago, where the rest of the family was to join her in the Japanese American community near Clark and Division. Shortly before the family arrived, Rose was killed by a subway train. The official ruling is suicide, but Aki is convinced that Rose wouldn’t have killed herself. There must be more to Rose’s death, and Aki is determined to find the truth.
This mystery is more character driven than plot driven. Its strong sense of place and time will appeal to many historical fiction fans. Readers discover World War II era Chicago along with Aki as she explores Clark and Division and beyond.
4 stars
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96. Love That Dog by Sharon Creech
Over the course of a school year, Jack listens to his teacher read poems in class, reads poems that his teacher assigns, and learns to write his own poems. He finds inspiration in his dog Sky, whose story is gradually revealed over the course of this novel, and in the poetry of Walter Dean Myers. This novel illustrates how poetry helps both its writers and readers explore their emotional world.
4 stars
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97. The Woman Who Split the Atom by Marissa Moss
Physicist Lise Meitner was an Austrian born Jew. Meitner’s work was underfunded and underrecognized in comparison with her male colleagues. Meitner collaborated closely with German chemist Otto Hahn over several decades. When Hahn consulted Meitner about the unexpected results of an experiment, it was Meitner who understood that Hahn had observed nuclear fission, it was Meitner and her nephew who published the explanation in Nature, and yet it was Otto Hahn who received credit for the discovery. Meitner and Hahn’s partnership would not survive the Nazi era.
Moss’s YA biography of Meitner is in part a graphic novel. Each chapter starts with a single page panel followed by text. The story is compelling, and the science is clearly explained. Moss includes a chronology of Meitner’s life, a glossary of scientific terms, one-paragraph biographies of the scientists mentioned in the book, and a selected bibliography. This book belongs in most middle and high school libraries.
4.5 stars
157PaulCranswick
I trust that you will have a wonderful long weekend and I am thankful as ever for your friendship and kindness always in special group.
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>157 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul! It's been a great weekend!
159tymfos
Hello, Carrie! Belated congrats on reading well past 75 books! I am way behind on threads, but it looks like you've done some great reading. I'm glad to read you had a great Thanksgiving weekend.
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>159 tymfos: Thanks, Terri! I am way behind on threads, too. It seems like I can either read books or read threads, but not both. I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving, too!
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98. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
This character-driven novel exposes the absurdities of war through a group of men thrown together in a World War II aerial combat unit in Italy. Catch-22 describes the predicament of the protagonist, bombardier Yossarian, who needs to be relieved from combat duty for psychological reasons, but his self-recognition of his psychological unfitness for duty is paradoxically considered as proof of his sanity. Although the characters are fictional, I get the sense that the characters and situations are drawn from the author’s experience. The novel has a familiar feel thanks to the TV series MASH, which explores the same themes in a Korean war setting.
4 stars
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November Recap
Books borrowed: 3
Ebooks borrowed: 1
eAudiobooks borrowed: 4
Best of the month: The Woman Who Split the Atom by Marissa Moss (4.5)
Books borrowed: 3
Ebooks borrowed: 1
eAudiobooks borrowed: 4
Best of the month: The Woman Who Split the Atom by Marissa Moss (4.5)
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99. Excursion to Tindari by Andrea Camilleri
Inspector Montalbano and his colleagues are investigating the murder of a young man in front of his apartment building when a man shows up asking them to investigate his parents’ disappearance. Coincidentally, the missing couple live in the same apartment building as the murdered man. There is no apparent connection between the murder victim and the missing couple, but the timing is suspicious.
Montalbano’s sarcasm can be laugh-out-loud funny, but his self-absorption makes him seem like someone I would avoid in real life. I much prefer Donna Leon’s Commissario Brunetti as a character, but I have a feeling that Montalbano is probably the more realistic character of the two.
3.5 stars
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100. The Man Who Invented Christmas by Les Standiford
What makes this different from other biographies of Charles Dickens is that it’s written through the lens of what is perhaps his best-known work, A Christmas Carol. Dickens’ early life leads up to its writing, goes into some depth regarding Dickens’ financial situation and his inspiration for the beloved Christmas classic, and Dickens’ later work when he never quite managed to recapture the magic of this tale. Ebenezer Scrooge and his ghostly visitors are so much a part of popular culture that they may be more well known than their author. Standiford credits Dickens with popularizing Christmas traditions such as turkey dinners and Christmas trees. This book would be a great choice for the readers on your gift list.
4 stars
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Adrian disappeared while I was fixing his food the other night. This is where I found him.
166thornton37814
>165 cbl_tn: Hi Adrian! My cats wish you a meowy Christmas!
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>166 thornton37814: Adrian says to tell your boys Merry Christmas!
Adrian will have his second appointment with an animal chiropractor on Saturday. I took him to his first appointment last Saturday. He is 13 and he has some spinal degeneration. I'm pleased with the results from the first treatment and I hope it keeps helping him.
Adrian will have his second appointment with an animal chiropractor on Saturday. I took him to his first appointment last Saturday. He is 13 and he has some spinal degeneration. I'm pleased with the results from the first treatment and I hope it keeps helping him.
168Linda_Mcgregerson14 
This user has been removed as spam.
169PaulCranswick
>165 cbl_tn: Love that!
Adrian (my namesake since my middle name is also Adrian) knows full well he will get something for Christmas.
Adrian (my namesake since my middle name is also Adrian) knows full well he will get something for Christmas.
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>169 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! How nice that one of my favorite LTers shares a name with my sweet pup!
172PaulCranswick
Thinking of you at this time, Carrie.
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>172 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul.
I want to let all my LT friends know that I had to say goodbye to Adrian today. His health had been declining for quite a while, but things turned bad very quickly this week. His estimated age was 13, but he could have been older since he was a rescue. He was my faithful companion for 11 years. He was dearly loved and he'll be missed.
I want to let all my LT friends know that I had to say goodbye to Adrian today. His health had been declining for quite a while, but things turned bad very quickly this week. His estimated age was 13, but he could have been older since he was a rescue. He was my faithful companion for 11 years. He was dearly loved and he'll be missed.
174lindapanzo
>173 cbl_tn: Oh no!! I'm so sorry to hear this, Carrie.
175bell7
>173 cbl_tn: oh I'm sorry to hear that, Carrie. I'm glad he was such a faithful companion as long as you had him.
176figsfromthistle
>173 cbl_tn: I am so sorry for your loss!
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>174 lindapanzo: >175 bell7: >176 figsfromthistle: Thank you everyone for your expressions of sympathy. Adrian had many friends, and I count you all among them.
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>178 drneutron: Thanks Jim. It was a day I knew would come eventually but I hoped I would have more time.
