CBL reads and knits in 2024 Row 2

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!

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

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

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

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)

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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)

Happy new thread, Carrie. I will follow suit shortly.

Found your new digs!

Happy new thread, Carrie!

Happy new one, Carrie!

Happy new thread, Carrie!
Give Adrian a hug from me.

>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!

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.

Happy new thread, Carrie!

>23 thornton37814: My review isn't spoilery at all. I hope you like it as much as I did!

>24 mstrust: Hi Jennifer!

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

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 from the description of the dance that Sophie choreographed. The symbolism is obvious to the reader, and it should have been immediately obvious to Irene.

3.5 stars

>27 cbl_tn: That series is just not available in Malaysia, Carrie.

>28 PaulCranswick: I'm sorry, Paul! A small group of us started reading this series together last year and I am really enjoying it.

>28 PaulCranswick: >29 cbl_tn: I'm one of the "drop-outs" for that series. It just wasn't working for me.

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

>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.

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

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

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

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

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.

I could point to Jack’s story as an explanation for why I am not a Calvinist. Reverend Boughton has worried about the state of Jack’s soul for his son’s entire life, and he holds out hope that Jack will accept God’s grace. He doesn’t see that Jack’s problem isn’t unbelief, but belief. Jack believes he is a reprobate and not one of God’s elect. He is unable to see himself as worthy of his family’s love. There isn’t a balm in Gilead for Jack Boughton.

5 stars

>37 cbl_tn: I want to revisit all the Gilead books one of these days. You certainly nailed it in your spoiler.

>38 laytonwoman3rd: I can see myself rereading at least Gilead and Home. I'm eager to read Lila and Jack now.

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

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, Bryson didn’t actually hike the entire trail Also, I didn’t appreciate the slightly contemptuous, condescending tone Bryson assumes toward the Southern Appalachians and especially Gatlinburg, a tourist spot for many, but also a stomping ground for locals like me. Bryson bemoans the fact that of the fifteen Gatlinburg tourist attractions he listed in his The Lost Continent, published nearly a decade earlier, only three of them were still there when he returned on his Appalachian Trail journey. I can tell you that at least three of them weren’t in Gatlinburg a decade earlier, either, because they were actually several miles away in Pigeon Forge. I’ve been to Bonnie Lou and Buster’s music theater, although not for the Bonnie Lou and Buster Country Music Show, and it was most definitely in Pigeon Forge. So was Carbo’s Police Museum and the Irlene Mandrell Hall of Stars Museum and Shopping Mall. Bryson claims the missing attractions had been replaced by new ones such as Hillbilly Golf, which was already there the first time he visited Gatlinburg. I guess he just missed it. When I was a child and eagerly anticipating a trip to Gatlinburg, Hillbilly Golf was the landmark that indicated we had arrived. It makes me wonder about what else Bryson missed in places that I’m not familiar with.

3.5 stars

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

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)

>42 cbl_tn: Best review of the year, right there!

>44 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks! I am not feeling it for Hemingway so I think I'm done with him. I gave it my best effort!

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

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!

>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!

>42 cbl_tn: I liked that much better than you. I said Hemingway "painted pictures with his words."

>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...

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.

>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.

>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.

>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!

>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.

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

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

>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.

>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.

>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.

>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.