Mabith's 2015 Reads Part II

Time for a new thread for the next third of the year. It's a time when I'm stuck inside more due to the heat (I have a chronic nerve pain disease which doesn't tolerate sun or heat well).

Books read May-August

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Let Me Go by Helga Schneider
Rain: A Natural and Cultural History by Cynthia Barnett
Girl in a Band by Kim Gordon
A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
The Ascent of George Washington by John Ferling
The Fair Fight by Anna Freeman
Venus in Copper by Lindsey Davis
Empty Mansions by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell Jr.

Non-Violence by Mark Kurlansky
Dream Angus by Alexander McCall Smith
Lives in Ruins by Marilyn Johnson
Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson
Storming Heaven by Denise Giardina

The Enemy at the Gate by Andrew Wheatcroft
H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Not My Father's Son by Alan Cummings
Between You and Me by Mary Norris

Marbles by Ellen Forney
The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
Clariel by Garth Nix
Blood Work by Holly Tucker

The Trolley to Yesterday by John Bellairs
Puberty Blues by Kathy Lette and Gabrielle Carey
Medicus by Ruth Downie
Here by Richard McGuire
How to be Happy by Eleanor Davis

Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano
Imperial Woman by Pearl S. Buck
Tommy Gun Winter by Nathan Gorenstein
Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
Under the Black Flag by David Cordingly

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson
Barefoot in the Park by Neil Simon
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost

Enemies at Home by Lindsey Davis
The Divide by Matt Taibbi
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
Cat Daddy by Jackson Galaxy
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

Elsewhere by Richard Russo
The Yggyssey by Daniel Pinkwater
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
A Spy Among Friends by Ben Macintyre
The Globe: The Science of Discworld II by Terry Pratchet, Ian Stewart, and Jack Cohen

The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Sipping From the Nile by Jean Naggar
Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum
All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglass Wiggin

Saga Vol. 4 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
Pushkin Hills by Sergei Dovlatov
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

The Bromeliad Trilogy by Terry Pratchett
When Books Went to War by Molly Guptill Manning
In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume
He Wanted the Moon by Mimi Baird
On Second Thought by Wray Herbert

The Greenlanders by Jane Smiley
The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall
The Iron Hand of Mars by Lindsey Davis
Just Babies by Paul Bloom
Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin

Goblins by Charles Grant
Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai
The Sibling Effect by Jeffrey Kluger
The House With a Clock in its Walls by John Bellairs

The Rocketeer by Dave Stevens
The Pixilated Parrot by Carl Barks
Sole Survivor by Ruthanne Lum McCunn
Cousin Phillis by Elizabeth Gaskell
July's People by Nadine Gordimer

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey

Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey
Dragondrums by Anne McCaffrey
Swallow Me Whole by Nate Powell
A Backpack, A Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka by Lev Golinkin
Jovah's Angel by Sharon Shinn

The Upright Thinkers by Leonard Mlodinow
The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry
Servants by Lucy Lethbridge
The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander
Austerity by Mark Blyth

Son of the Shadows by Juliet Marillier
Enabling Acts by Lennard J. Davis
The Lady and Her Monsters by Roseanne Montillo
The Race Underground by Doug Most
Beloved by Toni Morrison

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
Mrs. Adams in Winter by Michael O'Brien
Just Send Me Word by Orlando Figes
The Dust That Falls From Dreams by Louis de Bernieres
The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander

Gulity Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton
The Oregon Trail by Rinker Buck
Coot Club by Arthur Ransome
The Half Has Never Been Told by Edward E. Baptist
Letting It Go by Miriam Katin

The Imposter's Daughter by Laurie Sandell
My Mother's Wars by Lillian Faderman
Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace
Last Act in Palmyra by Lindsey Davis
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

A History of Future Cities by Daniel Brook
Lumberjanes Volume 1 by Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis
Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir by Liz Prince
Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar by Tom Holland
Katherine by Anya Seton

Neurotribes by Steve Silberman
Treasure Under Glass by Don Rosa
Why I Read by Wendy Lesser
Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery

For good measure:

Top Ten Fiction Reads in 2014:
Fledgling by Octavia Butler
The Martian by Andy Weir
Master and God by Lindsey Davis
All Our Names by Dinaw Mengestu
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
The Siege by Ismail Kadare
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Top Ten Non-fiction Reads in 2014:
Why Does He Do That? by Lundy Bancroft
Rez Life by David Treuer
Games Without Rules by Tamim Ansary
1941: The Year That Keeps Returning by Slavko Goldstein
Forgotten Voices of the Somme by Joshua Levine
Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan
Gifts of the Crow by John Marzluff
Mrs. Robinson's Disgrace by Kate Summerscale
How to be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman
Millions Like Us: Women's Lives in the Second World War by Virginia Nicholson

Top Ten Children's/YA Reads in 2014:
The Rescuers by Margery Sharp
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Same Sun Here by Silas House and Neela Vaswani
Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai
Accidents of Nature by Harriet McBryde Johnson
Girls Like Us by Gail Giles
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

This novel sucked me in right at the beginning. It's been on my shelves a while, waiting to be read, but I think I would have gotten less from it if I'd read it five or more years ago.

Some sections in it are still heartbreakingly relevant. One being this idea many white people have that being "colorblind" towards race is good, or helpful. It simply lets them ignore their relative privileges and refuse to recognize that their life is not the universal life, their opportunities not universal opportunities.

Around the middle of the book I did feel things dragged on a bit too slowly, but perhaps because I was impatient for the inevitable explosion (I am a very impatient reader of fiction when I'm gripped by it).

Definitely recommended.

Nice review of Invisible Man, Meredith.

I read that back in the 60s -- maybe I should reread it.

>4 NanaCC: Thanks, Colleen.

>5 rebeccanyc: I'd definitely recommend a re-read. It's that kind of book, but also now we have so much more knowledge of the latent racism we all pick up, and it's so much easier to be educated about what goes on outside our small circle life, and I feel like that must impact it.

Let Me Go by Helga Schneider

This is a memoir of Schneider's interactions with her mother, a woman who was a devoted Nazi and SS member, who abandoned her family in order to go work in concentration camps. She left when Schneider was only four (in 1941), and they did not meet again until Schneider was an adult with a five year old son (around 1971, the exact year has deserted me). This meeting was deeply upsetting and haunting for Schneider (she wanted Schneider to try on her old SS uniform, tried to give her jewelry taken from concentration camp victims, and basically ignored Schneider's son).

In 1998 a worker in the nursing home her mother is in contacts Schneider, encouraging a visit, as the mother cannot live much longer. Schneider agrees to go with reservations and presents an extremely honest account of her conflicted emotions. While her father remarried swiftly, Schneider's step-mother disliked her and had her sent away to boarding school, enlisting the young girl in lying to her little brother about who his real mother was. She has an extreme need for loving parent, and deeply wants her mother to admit her roles in the SS and show some remorse, at the very least about abandoning her. Both try to manipulate the other (Schneider largely in order to get her mother to answer her questions), which Schneider freely admits, also admitting she wants to cause her mother pain about her past. The book is written in a very effective manner, with the non-dialogue also presented as pleas, questions, and comments toward her mother that she did not voice.

I found it a very worthwhile read, and appreciated that Schneider did not try to detach from her feelings but rather lets us feel the full force of them including the deep conflict and sometimes scattered nature of her emotions. The dialogue of their meeting is sometimes interrupted with historical information about the camps her mother worked at. It is not a text that everyone will appreciate reading, but I think it's an important one. This is an also part of the Holocaust and its after-effects which is less represented in fiction and non-fiction.

>7 mabith: This sounds like a really worthwhile read. Another for the wishlist!

Rain: A Natural and Cultural History by Cynthia Barnett

This ranks among the group of particularly successful popular science/history books I've read. It is ordered well, and gifted at covering topics in enough depth to get you interested (vs too little information or too much given to one event/issue) and yet still feel like a full picture. The writing is good, with bits of humor which come across as natural rather than forced.

The book is divided into five sections, which cover different aspects of rain and our relationship with it, with a very good introduction about the origins of rain (why we have it and Mars and Venus lost it, the transformation of earth, etc...). One section deals with the early weather recorders and studiers and the invention and marketing of rain gear. Another covers American Rain with chapters on Thomas Jefferson (and the poor placement of Monticello when it came to water access), the insane belief that 'rain follows the plow' by which the great plains were settled (a region formerly called the Great American Desert before a brief wet period), and the rainmakers that showed up during droughts (including those who tried to practice actual science, not just the outright charlatans).

I really enjoyed reading it, learned a lot of new information and made notes on books covering some topics in more depth (a home run for me and any similarly broad non-fiction work). My favorite factoid being about the origin of the "Neither rain nor sleet nor dark of night..." phrase coming from Herodotus's descriptions of Persian couriers (favorite partly because my mom was a mail carrier for most of my life).

This review is based on an ARC copy of the book, and I do hope the final edition has included some pictures and maps.

Girl in a Band by Kim Gordon

If you're a huge Sonic Youth fan, don't take my review of indicative of whether or not you'll like this book (if that's the only reason you're reading it). I liked some of their music but never really sought out whole albums (granting I did that for almost no band ever, since I didn't want to spend the money and relied on my sister making me mix tapes instead). I picked up the book on a whim when nothing else was handy.

One of the first things that surprised me was that Kim Gordon, born in 1953, is only two years younger than my mom (and they were actually at Santa Monica college at the same time)*. That added a lot to the book for me, as I really enjoy those kind of same-time/same-place connections, and comparing lives and wondering where my mom's would have headed if she'd made different choices.

Gordon seems very honest and straight forward about her life, decisions, and experiences, and I appreciated that. She largely doesn't try to speak for or over others. Her interests and the way her focus on art turned into a musical career was reminiscent of Patti Smith's in her book Just Kids.

Recommended all in all, whether you're looking for memoirs of female musicians or women born in the 1950s or bands of the 80s and 90s or artists or whichever. Really don't feel I can comment on it for big Sonic Youth fans. I enjoyed the book and I think it stands well (though not quite up to the caliber of Just Kids, that's just partly about the different circles they inhabited).

I did roll my eyes when she said something about her daughter never having heard of The Spice Girls unlike other kids on the playground (and Gordon being proud of that), but her daughter was born in 1994 and the Spice Girls were on indefinite hiatus by 2000 so that seems like a ridiculous example. I was born at the right time to love them and I hadn't heard of them until previews for their movie were on the TV (which is nothing to do with musical tastes either way, just depends largely on exposure to Top 40).

*Though there's nothing about Santa Monica on her Wikipedia page, so maybe (though it's unlikely the Wiki has been extensively updated with every little thing since this book came out in Feb) I misheard. I know Santa Monica College and 1972 were in the same sentence.

>7 mabith: glad you also enjoyed Let Me Go. Enjoyed your review.

Great review of Let Me Go, Meredith!

A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix

This is a stand-alone YA science fiction (space opera type) novel. I went into it thinking it was actually the start of a series, so my expectations were a bit different than they might have been. It is a book that could easily have a sequel though.

Prince Khemri is one of many children taken from their parents as babies in order to be raised by priests and given heavily augmented bodies to become princes of the empire, one of whom will become emperor. Once they leave the safe haven of a temple they are targets for assassination by other princes. But of course they're never given the whole story of how the empire works.

As usual, Nix is incredibly gifted at creating unique SF/fantasy worlds. While there are common tropes in this book (giant empire whose high born citizens don't know the truth, etc...), it's still a really neat world. However, I am getting tired of SF where prince, sir, any typically masculine label is used for women too, primarily because it's always done that way. Why couldn't an egalitarian society have had matriarchal roots and use ma'am, princess, etc... for both sexes? It's a fictional world!

This isn't among my favorite books by Nix, but it was enjoyable. It should be suitable for sixth graders and up. Sex is mentioned, but not with any detail at all (just the fact that sex is sometimes had solely for pleasure, which most sixth graders are aware of already).

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

This novel follows a Captain serving the South Vietnamese army as part of Special Branch (think secret police) under the umbrella of the Phoenix Program (a CIA initiative). He has served the General (neither are given names) for some time as a trusted member of the operation, but the Captain is actually a sympathizer, reporting to the communists. As the book opens in 1975 at the fall of Saigon, he is making arrangements for the General's and his family's escape, along with the Captain's schoolyard best friend Bon and his wife and child. The Captain is unmarried, and doesn't expect to be married. His father was a French priest and his life has been marked by the word bastard never feeling 100% accepted in any situation.

From early on in the book it's made clear that he is writing a confession (the whole book is first person narration) for an unnamed Commandant. So while there is an anticipation to know who this is and who they serve, the book really isn't a thriller in sense of being tense and totally driven by a big plot. If you see it referred to as a spy thriller and you love traditional high action thrillers, this may not be the book for you.

The majority of the book takes place in Los Angeles, amid the refugee community. The General is not ready to surrender to this new life where he is a businessman. The book is about the push and pull of two political forces, but also two countries, the difficulty of coming to the US as a refugee, particularly from THIS war, and the host of micro-aggressions and racism faced.

A good book, recommended. A very good debut novel, and I'll be interested to see how Nguyen develops if he continues as a novelist. There were a few missteps, but not many, I am still feeling somewhat lukewarm about the ending. One issue was a statement about the US being a country where they arrest you for slapping your wife or child, which they barely do now, let alone in 1975. There are still huge hurdles for domestic abuse victims to get the help they need. Largely we're still programmed to not poke our noses into others' lives (except when it comes to how people use food stamps or judging someone's relative health by their looks/telling them yoga will cure a serious chronic illness...).

The Ascent of George Washington: The Hidden Political Genius of an American Icon by John Ferling

By "hidden genius" Ferling really just means Washington's skills as a politician (in getting and keeping what he wanted even when he was failing at a task) are largely ignored. Washington is often praised for not being political or partisan (apparently, I've not read many books just focusing on him) but that's really not true. A lot of the politics in question were during the Revolutionary War, so it's a different sort of issue than pure 'elected official' stuff. This also means you get a lot of fairly detailed military history in this, which rarely thrills me.

It was a decent book, but not particularly amazing. Tentative recommendation, as it at least purports to deal with a side of Washington that is more overlooked. I never feel all that driven to read about the founders, perhaps in part because we did the Colonial period and Revolutionary War in school every single year from 3rd grade to 8th grade (obviously that was pellet sized, mashed down stuff, but it's really made me ambivalent).

Still not sure why my dad loves Washington, but maybe it's partly an old man thing (I mean, he used to really dislike Hamilton but now suddenly he's pretty great, so I think I should get paid for the all the times I had to listen to the anti-Hamilton lecture as a kid). I'm pretty sure his criteria for historical figures is now based on what booze they liked best anyway.

The Fair Fight by Anna Freeman

This book centers around boxing at the end of the 18th century, but I don't think the boxing is SO prevalent that a person who disliked the sport would also hate the book (the actual boxing scenes are pretty few and far between). I'm no big fan of boxing, I can somewhat see the appeal, but can also see why it would be distasteful. In any case, the book is about people and attempting to escape their narrow lives more than anything else.

The narration is split between three characters and mostly set in Bristol. Ruth, the youngest daughter of a whorehouse proprietor, who is never destined to go into that business. She begins boxing when her sister's usual client, Granville, sees her fighting and takes her to fight. George, the youngest son of a gentry family who is sent to a boarding school and becomes friends and lovers with Perry and then friends with Granville (son of a prosperous merchant). And Charlotte, Perry's sister who is highborn but pox-marked and somewhat reclusive.

I absolutely loved this book top to bottom. I knew after the first few chapters I'd love it. The characters all felt very real. Ruth and Charlotte are both great and add wonderful depth to the way women are often portrayed in historical fiction (or classics) set in this period. All in all it was an extremely impressive feat for a debut novel and I really look forward to more books by the author. I loved her use of language and slang.

Highly recommended.

Venus in Copper by Lindsey Davis (RE-READ)

This is the third book in Davis' Falco series, and the first where she really hits her stride in pacing and character development meshing evenly with the mystery plot.

One of the things I love most about Davis' works is her ease at including so much historical detail without it feeling forced. She's also funny, and all of the books have some humor. Her characters are all allowed to be very human, in terms of being snarky and sarcastic and not just a straight cut-out character that you often see in historical fiction. She reminds us of things people often don't think about when ancient Rome is the subject - such as the sprawling bureaucracy, real estate scams, the maze that the city was, etc...

The books continue to tighten up and get better and better as the series goes on. She's also quite good at making them read-able out of order, except for the last six or so in the series. She fills you in on past events without it ever feeling like too much or being annoying.

Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell Jr.

The Clark fortune is not one that remained in the American memory (unlike that of Carnegie or Rockefeller), but it was incredibly immense. Huguette was Clark's youngest child, born to his young second wife Anna, when Clark was 67. Huguette was born in 1906 and died in 2011 at age 104. She seems to have always been somewhat eccentric, and became very reclusive, especially after her mother died. She spent over 20 years living in a hospital while owning several residences and having more than enough money to ensure she got the best home care.

It was an interesting book, though not really a five star read for me. She was certainly a character, and a passionate woman with many hobbies and intense generosity. Given how much she disliked the idea of publicity, I feel like it was a sketchy decision to write this book and publish it before her death.

Again, an interesting subject, but far from a necessary one. I feel like the book doesn't serve much purpose, at least not in my life. Again, I question the decision to publish when it was extremely obvious that Huguette rejected all publicity even to the extent of making nearly all charitable gifts anonymous.

Just catching up on several nice reviews, Meredith. Fair Fight and Venus in Copper sound interesting.

Your review of Empty Mansions was interesting. I love when some of these super-rich characters turn out completely eccentric. Puts me in mind of the iconic 'Grey Gardens' documentary from the 1970s.

>19 NanaCC: I encourage anyone who enjoys historical fiction and/or mysteries to read the Falco series. Lindsey Davis is an absolute gem, and should really be more widely read (though I'm a bit disappointed in her most recent series, a spin off from Falco as he was getting rather old).

>20 AlisonY: I think just the fact of living from 1906 through 2011 is so amazing. She would have vividly remembered the WWI and WWII, and the developments of technology over her life was just incredible, maybe especially because they were rich and could afford all the new technology as it appeared (vs my grandmothers whose farms didn't have electricity until the 1930s and one grandmother's insistence that they get one of the five or so houses in a small town that had indoor plumbing - in 1950...).

Non-Violence: Twenty-Five Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea by Mark Kurlansky

This book covers the beginning of pacifism associated with Christian sects, the differences between pacifism and active non-violent protest, and uses various examples through history to show its effects.

A well-written book, interesting examples and just enough background history. A very quick read, as the audio reader was ridiculously slow, even turning the speed up to 1.4x normal some bits still seemed too slow.

I went to a Quaker high school and my dad had a hearing during the Vietnam War to approve CO status (and assign two years of alternative service), so this subject is closer to me than it might be for others. Generally recommended. It's a book that will primarily lead you to deeper reads on the subject/events.

Dream Angus by Alexander McCall Smith

This book is part of the Canongate Myth Series, all of which are quite short, I believe. I've already read The Penelopiad from the series.

Dream Angus is largely a series of vignettes, alternating with Smith's retelling of the myth. In the vignettes there is always an Angus character.

It was an interesting little diversion. Well done, I think, though I wasn't longing for it to last another 100 pages.

Lives in Ruins: Archaeologists and the Seductive Lure of Human Rubble by Marilyn Johnson

I really enjoyed this one and found it very compulsive reading. Fans of Mary Roach should also like this title. It's a wonderful peek into professional archaeology and the pitfalls and joys of making it your career, the pros and cons of amateurs being involved, etc...

Johnson flits around to different digs, talking to people in widely varied specialties. I do wish she'd gone to an experimental archaeology site, such as the Guédelon Castle construction. I felt like those projects were missing from the book (though perhaps it's just my rabid fandom for Ruth Goodman talking).

Recommended for anyone who's ever had the slightest interest in archaeology. Great read.

>24 mabith: Well, that one's going on the wishlist. Seeing as I have at least a slight interest in archaeology. :)

Catching up, a lot of interesting titles that are new to me and sound great: Rain, Girl in a Band, The Sympathizer, The Fair Fight, Non-Violence, Lives in Ruins. Noting your enthisiasm for The Fair Fight.

I read about Huguette Clark in the New York Times when she died, and it seemed odd that someone wrote a book about her -- sounds like it wasn't a book that needed to be written. And I also read somewhere about Lives in Ruins: Archaeologists and the Seductive Lure of Human Rubble and it sounded intriguing.

>25 bragan: I would frankly be very suspicious of any person who didn't have an interest in archaeology, because how could you not!

>26 dchaikin: It's been my month for very recent books! Cue the usual nervousness that someone won't like a book I loved, but I did feel Freeman really captured the period and her subjects so well in The Fair Fight.

Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson

While this is the third Moomin book published it was the first to be translated into English, meaning it got this title (and a foreward) rather than the original The Magician's Hat, which is the star of the book. It's the first Moomin book I've read, as it was the only one I could find!

It covers a season of Moomin life, with the hat causing all sorts of trouble along the way. It was quite fun and random, and I'd definitely look out for the books for my niece and nephew.

I just got back from a few days of camping, taking advantage of a cooler spell (I have a neurological disease that can't do heat or sun or high humidity and end up stuck inside for most of the summer, so I jumped at this last chance to be out in the woods). I always forget how much I miss being in the woods. I am definitely not a city gal at heart.


This is Sandstone Falls, near Hinton, WV.


This is up at Pipestem State Park where we camped. Unfortunately the tram down the mountain (no public road access) wasn't running yet.


And this is how I spent most of the trip! In many ways this is the happiest place for me to be - hammock in the woods with a book.

Now I'm feeling genuinely bereft being back in my fifth floor apartment where I can't even sit and watch a bird feeder. Back to researching small towns to move to.

Storming Heaven by Denise Giardina

I've been meaning to read this for many years, but never quite got around to it. My experience with Giardina was with her 2000 or 2001 campaign for West Virginia Governor. This is the year I've decided to read more West Virginians though. While I felt absolutely completely at home in The Voices of Glory, set in the upper Ohio river valley, I didn't have the same reaction to Storming Heaven which is set in the southern coal counties and eastern Kentucky (fairly foreign compared to where I grew up). It was certainly a place and life I recognized, however (plus the WV Mine Wars are my specialist subject).

The book is a telling of life before and after the railroad came to southern WV, making it possible for the big coal companies to follow. Many people had their land illegally taken from them (in real life history and in the novel), and the ramifications of fighting the railroad or the (usually out-of-state) mine owners, could be death. When I say the land was stolen, I mean that this was often land these families had been on for 6 or 7 generations. Giardina takes us through early union activity and through WWI, with narration changing between several residents of Glory, almost all caught up in the struggle to unionize in some way.

The book is set in a fictionalized Mingo county (Justice county in the book), and two main characters end up in a fictionalized reenactment of the Matewan massacre, and subsequent courthouse shooting. I feel like, honestly, this was taking things a little too far in fictionalizations, but it won't detract from the book for those who don't know the history well. The story culminates in the miner's march from Charleston and the Battle of Blair Mountain. Giardina stays true to history, which means don't expect a happy ending for anyone but the mine owners.

It's a good book, and she gives a variety of perspectives on the struggles to unionize (which ultimately wouldn't happen until 1931). Giardina, while born in 1961, did grow up in a coal camp with veterans of these battles and with the companies still showing little concern for their workers. There were a few little things that bugged me, but all in all I'd highly recommend this book if you're interested in the history of southern WV or labor history in general. This will give you more of the human sides of the conflict than most non-fiction about the mine wars.

I also love that when West Virginians are writing about this period they're giving us fictional towns with names like Glory and Justice. It's so... well, typical for one thing.

The Enemy at the Gate: Habsburgs, Ottomans, and the Battle for Europe by Andrew Wheatcroft

I feel like I should have enjoyed this more than I did. I think for me it was too detailed in the battle history and felt somewhat detached from the human experiences of these times. Probably a more specific book would have suited me, or one following specific leaders or generals more closely.

I don't think it was badly written or particularly dry, just didn't suit me right at this moment.

Beautiful scenery. Your camping trip sounds wonderfully chilled and relaxing.

Love, love, love your pictures!

Somehow Empty Mansions got on to my wish list, although it's more of a "if I see this sometime" rather than "find this book now". I guess if the book was published while she was still alive, the author didn't know what happened to her estate ?

We definitely took this trip to a seriously low-energy key. Largely brought food that just needed heating up and decided not to bother with a fire, since by the time it got dark we were generally ready for bed. I kind of missed the fire (though I didn't have the energy for it), but the main thing for me is reading in the hammock.

This trip managed to be the exact few days one kind of caterpillar were going into their cocoons, and they decided the tent hands, straps, etc... were the PERFECT place to be. I'm sorry caterpillars I accidentally killed, but your instincts shouldn't be telling you to flock to nylon.

>34 Nickelini: Thanks on the picture front! I was mixing things up a bit (though I swear I double checked dates when I wrote the review, lousy brain). His original articles about her, which brought the book about, were published before her death. The book was published in 2013 (two years after), so it covers the early battles over her estate, but not the conclusion of them (if it's been concluded?). The idea of family members who had never met or even spoken to her feeling entitled to comment on her state of mind and feeling entitled to her money is pretty gross.

>36 mabith: The idea of family members who had never met or even spoken to her feeling entitled to comment on her state of mind and feeling entitled to her money is pretty gross.

Yes, well, human nature I think. Also, if she didn't have clear directives in her will, I guess they think it might as well be them. My husband is the executor to his aunt-by-marriage. She is pretty crazy and after his uncle died she got herself married to Jesus (she used to be a nun when she was young). She's left everything in her will to not just the Catholic Church, but specifically to priests. She build a some sort of church in her basement and it's had the proper blessings so they can actually hold mass in it. Although her house is modest and hasn't been updated since it was built in the 1970s, it's in Vancouver proper and thus worth about $1 million dollars. Her family has disowned her over this, and my husband's family doesn't talk to her (other than my husband). I was there when her lawyer did her will and specifically said to her "you realize these priests don't have to follow your directions for the house and can do whatever they want with it, right?" , as he looked at us and rolled his eyes. His uncle had planned to leave everything to his nieces and nephews, and my husband is sort of sad because he knows his uncle would not be happy about all this, but putting that aside, if she wants to give her money to the church, at least give it to an area that needs it--like a Catholic school that's looking to build a new library or a group that helps indigent people or something. Anyway, sorry to blab on your thread -- your comment just reminded me of this. I'm distant enough from this to sit back and watch it like I'm Jane Austen mining material for my next novel.

No worries, that's quite the drama! My aunt spent ages freeing the family furniture (old pieces that were passed on from my great-grandparents mostly) from the grip of a stepmother after my granddaddy died. She made a point to tell us that she's ordered her husband to give the furniture to us, as it's not his (they don't have kids)!

Huguette Clark was pretty specific in her will and had a LONG history of very large gifts of money to people she barely knew (decades and decades back), and she wasn't suffering from dementia or anything like that. Yet she also said no when organizations were blatantly seeking huge gifts and trying to take advantage of her. So, I don't think those distant family members had much of a case other than greed. Some of them didn't know she even existed.

I feel icky doing it, but I've been bugging my mom to make a will. She owns three houses now, and I think it's best not to leave it up to me and my siblings to work out in the aftermath of losing her.

>38 mabith: don't feel icky doing it. We're currently sorting mum's estate. Now with just me and my brother it was always going to be a 50/50 split, but having a will saying exactly that means there's one less legal hoop to jump through. So far pretty much every item concerning money has asked for a copy of the will. Having one means it can all be progressed sooner and we can start moving things on.

It's hard enough to deal with their death, add sorting an estate on top of that and no wonder it's supposed to be the most stressful time in your life. Add dealing with the legal system because there's no will and I should imagine the stress levels hit stratospheric.

Keep heckling her (nicely). It can be as simple as she wants (mum's runs to 3 pages, one of which is the cover page!) Even if it is as simple as an even split between all the siblings, it makes sorting out afterwards easier.

Those are my thoughts exactly, Helen. Also I know things could get ugly regarding one sibling and their idea of entitlement (one who also enjoys holding grudges forever and does not take care of their possessions and has already lost several family things), so... Even if everyone gets along it's better to just be able to follow orders at that time, I imagine. Rational thought might not be high on the agenda.

That slow process of sorting through and wrapping up their accounts and business is pretty frightening to me (but is also likely to end up being my responsibility, so I feel like that's another good reason for me to nudge her along).

H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

Simply put, this is a beautifully written book. It is about wildness, about our ideas of wildness as purity, about violence, about hawking, about anxiety, about grief, and about TH White.

Macdonald has always loved hawks and falconry, which shines through. The book is a journey through a period of her life, and it is both rewarding and painful.

Highly recommended.

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (RE-READ)

If you're a lover of all the Discworld books and that patented Pratchett way with quips and packing in the satire and humor and historical references, it's best to think of this book as a Gaiman book. I always wonder how these partnerships work, especially when one author has a very distinctive style. I've not read enough Gaiman to have noticed if he has a specific style of writing.

It's a fun little book, with an angel and a demon trying to prevent the apocalypse, and losing track of the anti-christ. Not to mention Agnes Nutter and her 100% accurate book of prophecies. It's not destined to be a super favorite of mine, but fun enough to be worth a re-read every ten years or so.

Not My Father's Son by Alan Cumming

I read this after numerous positive reviews, and seeing a snippet of the story after watching Cumming's episode of Who Do You Think You Are? (watched largely for his lovely accent and pretty face than knowledge of his work). I also feel an affection for him as a bisexual actor who insists on being called bisexual and not standing for the erasure of that identity by either the gay or straight community (which happens CONSTANTLY).

The memoir focuses on a short, but emotionally intense period of Cummings life, with flashes back to his childhood. His father had been emotionally and physically abusive to him and his brother almost since Cummings can remember. When word gets out about the genealogy show his father tells his brother than Cummings' is not his son. This sets off a huge range of questions but also a bit of happiness, as Cummings' is relieved at the thought that this abusive man might not be his father, that his mother might have known some love or tenderness.

Cummings writes with fierce honesty (this book was published after his father's dead). He does not deal with theories, turning what he's lived into academic speeches, he deals with his emotions and lets them be raw. It's a powerful book, both about childhood trauma and about healing. Highly recommended. The audiobook comes with the extra treat of Cummings reading it himself, I don't think anyone else could have done justice to the emotions expressed.

Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen by Mary Norris

Norris has spent more than three decades in the copy department of The New Yorker, having started there in 1978. While this book addresses grammar and the correct uses of punctuation, it's also simply about her time at the magazine, starting when things were still much more old fashioned and continuing to see two writers battling for who can get the most profanity published in the magazine.

Norris is relatively flexible about language (though I feel being inflexible about they/their as a singular, gender neutral pronoun is a ridiculous position - English speakers have been using it like that for decades and three made-up pronouns are unlikely to catch on). Language changes, even word definitions change. Taking away that sense of neutrality that many people crave in the name of correct grammar (always a thing of the moment) is kind of immoral. Even when we disagree though, I found Norris to be very likeable. She talks about the flagrantly ungrammatical uses of punctuation by numerous famous writers, and how the way we use those marks has changed (and also that apostrophes aren't actually punctuation marks).

Interesting, fun book about language and life in one of the bastions of the English language press. I loved the parts about working at The New Yorker and her coworkers. Recommended.

Thanks for the reviews!
I tend to think that Good Omens was a successful collaboration because I liked it better than several books I've read by each author.
I still liked it less than Neverwhere by Gaiman and Truckers by Pratchett though.

I loved Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen too. And I've read great reviews of H Is for Hawk.

>46 rebeccanyc: Yeah, I like Good Omens more than I've liked most of Gaiman's books. I'm just not that much of a fantasy-fantasy person or picky within the genre or something.

Rebecca, pretty sure your review is what inspired me to pick it up! But SO many new books in May! I feel very up-to-date and now I'm craving something OLD.

Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me: A Graphic Memoir by Ellen Forney

This is an intense, graphic journey of Forney's life starting with her bi-polar diagnosis and the years it took to find the right combination of medication. She confronts the idea of creativity and if it is linked to mental illness, and she is constantly worried that the medication will dampen her creative spirit or overshadow her true self.

The book is a good refutation of the "medication makes you a zombie" idea, which is generally only true for the unsuccessful med cocktails. It does take a lot of time to work that stuff out, and it involves commitment; with serious mental illnesses yoga and dietary changes are unlikely to cut it. Even with serious physical illnesses too many people are quick to deride medication and encourage strange supplements and yoga yoga yoga. There's a lot wrong with our healthcare system and 'Big Pharma' but medication as a general idea is not bad or evil.

The book also deals with the reactions of her friends and family, including the revelation that many of her friends also had mental illnesses that she hadn't known about. The book returns again and again to the question of creativity and creative geniuses in times gone by. Highly recommended.

>48 mabith: interesting. The problem with medicine in psychology is that it helps somethings but is rarely a perfect fix. There are usually negative consequences and the user has to work out the positives and negatives of the imperfect possibilities.

>44 mabith: already was on my wishlist

>43 mabith: i'll keep Not my Father's Son in mind for audio.

>41 mabith: very appealing review of H is for Hawk.

Good luck finding a nice old book.

That's the problem with medication in any application though. There are always side effects, and not nearly enough long term studies. However, I almost never seen use of medication so vilified as it is in mental health. I have two chronic pain conditions and migraines, and various meds of those that I've had to try have made me zombie-like, having taken the me out of me, but there is not the atmosphere of distrust around meds for those conditions.

Yes, ADHD stuff gets slammed, generally not by parents with ADHD kids though.

The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

I enjoyed this novel of secret pasts quite well. It's definitely not my favorite Hardy, as there was far less to like in the characters (Far From the Madding Crowd is my current favorite), but still a good read. With the audiobook only being 13 hours it seemed rather short for a Victorian novel! The pacing was done well, and while it has the typical predictability and heavy foreshadowing of Victorian novels, that doesn't bother me when the writing is good.

I do really enjoy Hardy's writing style, and his characters generally behave very realistically. Everyone except Elizabeth Jane is always so concerned with what people will think of them, above anyone's happiness, it makes you want to lecture them something fierce.

Recommended for Hardy fans, but I wouldn't make it the only Hardy you read (or one of the few Victorian novels you read).

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See (RE-READ)

I love this novel and it's sequel, Dreams of Joy, so much. It takes place from 1937-1957 and See pulls much from her own family history for the book. Her paternal great-grandfather was Chinese, and she has written a family history, which I highly recommend, called On Gold Mountain. She may be known for Snowflower and the Secret Fan, but it is not her best work by a long shot.

Pearl and May are sisters who grow up well off in Shanghai. They have the money for beautiful clothes, spend nights out dancing and drinking, and they pose for an artist friend who paints 'beautiful girl' pictures for advertising. Their father gets into debt and arranges marriages for them in order to have the debts forgiven. Pearl and May aren't aware of that when they decide not to meet their husbands and father-in-law to go to the US as arranged. Soon after the Japanese invade and they must flee. As their plans shift and change they realize they must go to the US after all, to their husbands.

The novel deals with immigration, racism, assimilation, family secrets, communist witch hunts, reaction to trauma, sibling relationships, etc... It's a beautifully done book which also deals with our perceptions and how two people can see the same event in almost opposite ways. Pearl and May love each other very much, but also experience a lot of conflict due to their different natures and different views on how life has treated them. The story of these sisters and their family of in-laws is always firmly set in the history of the time.

Highly recommend. This and the sequel sent me on a non-fiction reading spree dealing with China in the 20th century, and especially Mao's "Great Leap Forward." For me, that's what successful historical fiction should always do.

Shanghai girls seems quite interesting, thanks for the review!

Clariel by Garth Nix

This book is a prequel to the Sabriel trilogy, which I loved to bits when I first read it. I feel like this one wasn't as strong though. The pacing felt off, and in general it just wasn't as interesting to me. The pacing made it feel that this was the first in a new trilogy, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Nix is also working on a sequel to Abhorsen, the last book in the Sabriel trilogy.

So, I don't know. Maybe I'm missing out since it's been 7 years since I read the other books (and I've only read this once). For whatever reason I didn't feel like this particularly held up to the quality of the others.

Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution by Holly Tucker

I was excited for this book, but in the end felt it was rather drawn out. It seemed like a long article could have served nearly as well, as the book started to feel a bit samey.

English and French physicians start trying blood transfusions from animals to humans as a great cure-all (replacement for blood-letting, basically), argue over who invented it, and don't kill as many people as they might because they weren't really getting much animal blood into the patients. Then transfusion research is basically banned for quite a while.

The book was still interesting, just not particularly gripping or impactful. Tentatively recommend if the subject interests you. It's a relatively short book, if you don't enjoy it then it's low-risk if you're a compulsive finisher.

The Trolley to Yesterday by John Bellairs

As a kid, this was my favorite of the Johnny Dixon books, a series I adored. Unlike the other books in the series it doesn't have that creepy, semi-horror aspect but instead involves history, which is why it was my favorite.

The books are set in the 1950s, during Bellair's own teenage and early adult years. Johnny Dixon is a shy, rather nerdy, boy. He lives with his grandparents and is friends with the old history professor who lives next door. They've gotten into all kinds of supernatural situations, along with Johnny's friend Fergie, who's a greaser-dressing smart-aleck, but a good egg. Together they frequently face evil. In The Trolley to Yesterday it's Johnny who must help save the professor and keep him from enacting his dangerous scheme to keep Constantinople from the Turkish army in 1453 (and of course they all end up there).

I've always said these books are why I've never been tempted to read any horror books. I can't imagine any book being creepier than Bellairs' The Eyes of the Killer Robot (which I still won't read after dark) or The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull (also it's more the characters and the semi-constant focus on history that I loved, vs the creep factor). The downside is they're really bare of women/girls. Other than Johnny's grandmother there are really none to speak of. I guess it's good there's not a parade of "girls used solely as victims" in each book, but it makes me sad. While they're set in the 1950s, they're fantasy books, and it's silly to defend that sort of thing with "being realistic." Bellairs wrote most of this series in the 1980s. I still love the books, but I would have loved them even more if Johnny's same-age friend had been a girl, or the professor a woman. For what its worth, his other two children's series each have female main characters.

I'll add Blood Work to my wish list even though you weren't fond of it, as books about the history of medicine are highly interesting to me.

Darryl, it's probably partly that I didn't read enough of a summary about the book ahead of time, so I was expecting it to cover a broader range. With different expectations it would have been a better read for me.

I've become bored with a subscription snack service I was using and realized that it was $1 more per month (in a four week month) than a two books/month Audible subscription. So I finally signed up to audible. I think it will be a very good deal for me. $11.50 for an audiobook isn't bad, and there's so much (particularly in non-fiction and translated fiction) that my library will never get. I went through my to-read list last night and looked up everything I hadn't found in audio format and everything my library didn't have in any format, so I've got a good wishlist on Audible to draw from.

First two books The Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano and Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea by Mark Blyth, two books I was very surprised were given audio editions at all. Very excited for both of them. Since I get to keep the books forever, I'll occasionally use the credits to buy titles that I love to re-read.

>60 mabith:. I've had an audible account since 2005. While I was working I had a subscription for two books a month. Now I only get one a month because I'm not n the car enough to warrant two. But I love it.

Colleen, I've done their trial subscription (and then got a bunch of titles when my dad forgot to cancel his trial and didn't notice they were deducting money for 18 months...). I love their generous return policy, so if I space and don't vet a reader enough beforehand I can return it and get my credit back.

>62 mabith: Meredith, I take advantage of their sales whenever they have them. And, you are right, their customer service is really good.

Puberty Blues by Kathy Lette and Gabrielle Carey

Last year I devoured the TV show based on this book, found due to my searching out other projects actors from Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries had been involved in. I feel like there aren't actually that many realistic depictions of female friendship during the teenage years out there, but Puberty Blues hit the mark (as does the BBC show Some Girls). I went to boarding school for high school, and those friendships were so intense.

For my fellow Americans, Puberty Blues was published in 1979 and strikes me as the Australian Go Ask Alice except it's (apparently) largely truthful rather than being totally made-up propaganda. I imagine both have the same lure for the average teenager/pre-teen. The more truthful nature makes Puberty Blues kind of terrifying, and I was thanking my stars I still felt like a KID at 13.

It's an interesting artifact, in a lot of ways, and I know I would have read and re-read it constantly if I'd had it as a teen. It made me appreciate the TV show SO much more. I felt like they really expanded on so many things in perfect ways, but since the book is so short they got to include everything (and the additions weren't against the feeling of the book, I don't think). The ending of both really pleased me to bits. I also love that the TV show explored the parents lives (as well it should) and now I want to go rewatch the whole thing.

Medicus by Ruth Downie

I made note of this a while back, when I realized just how few Cadfael books I had left (now all finished, sadly). Mysteries are my easy-read books, but I finished up Dorothy L. Sayers, most of Josephine Tey, the Ngaio Marsh I could find, and Lindsey Davis (queen of my heart) isn't writing any more Falco books. I tend not to like modern mysteries set in our time, so I don't bother trying them.

Ruso is a doctor who has a taken a post in Roman Britain around the time of Emperor Trajan's death. His wife has divorced him and he's generally sour, over-worked, and underpaid. The British weather doesn't help much A few mysterious deaths come across his table and he ends up involved almost against his will. He's a reluctantly decent guy who wishes he wouldn't keep finding himself in situations where he feels he has to be a decent guy.

It was a very good read, though I predicted the villain right away (something I don't try to do, but you can't help forming an opinion). I'll certainly read the others in the series. Downie could stand adding more historical detail, but the lack didn't keep me from enjoying it.

Here by Richard McGuire

This is a graphic novel, each page showing the same spatial coordinates (usually as a living room in a house built in 1907) in a wide range of years (from a million years ago up to a hundred years in the future). Sometimes there are people and you follow them along for a few pages or they reappear in ten or twenty pages. The background year will often have panel inserts from other years.

It was a really neat concept and well executed. For me, this is the stuff I think about. When I'm in an old house, when I'm handling old objects, I think about the people who held them in the past. That might make this a better read for me than others.

How to be Happy by Eleanor Davis

This is a collection of short comics. Davis uses a range of drawing styles and I loved each and every one. Her art was just so wonderful, especially the full color pieces.

The stories often have a fantasy or dystopian theme, and generally kept you off kilter. They were interesting, and fun (if rarely funny), and I appreciated all of them for one or another reason.

Recommended, even just to stare at the gorgeous cover, which certainly made me feel happy in my soul.

>66 mabith: This is the first graphic novel review that I've been interested in checking out. Sounds like a very interesting concept.

Jennifer, I think it's one of the times when graphic novels are really useful. It's a type of experience and story (in the loosest way) that you couldn't tell with an all-text novel.

Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano

This was an intense read, and extremely rewarding. The subject matter is important, and we must make sure we're looking at history not just from the vantage point of the exploiters (I had a very personal experience with this as a teen when our WV history textbooks were produced and approved by a coal company).

Originally published in 1971, Galeano analyzes the history of Latin America from the time of colonizations to the 1970s (depending on the edition). He focuses especially on economic exploitation, and how a region so rich doesn't seem to profit by those riches. This book was once banned in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Galeano's home, Uruguay.

It's a really important read, and I only wish there were an edition that had been brought up to the present day. My paper copy was printed in 1997, but I think the audio version may have been drawing from one of the older texts, as I don't remember it having the introduction by Isabel Allende. Highly recommended, particularly for anyone living in the Americas.

While the author said in 2014 that the language he used in the book was "extremely boring," this reader didn't find that to be the case. The only part where I glazed a bit was a section on banking.

I've had Galeano's Memory of Fire trilogy on the TBR for several years, but this book sounds briefer at least! Thanks for your review.

Wow! Open Veins of Latin America has some enthusiastic supporters on LT. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

It's really worth it. I'm happy I was able to find an audio edition, since it meant getting to the book far sooner than I would have otherwise.

Though, now the Women's World Cup is on my reading time is shot, at least during group stage (four games tomorrow!).

now the Women's World Cup is on my reading time is shot, at least during group stage (four games tomorrow!).

I'm so oblivious, I didn't realize other people are paying attention. We have tickets to the CMR vs ECU (Cameroon vs Ecuador? I'm guessing) and Japan vs Switzerland tonight. You can't leave once you're in the building, and 5 hours of soccer is a bit much even for my husband, so we will probably just go to see Japan play.

Ooh, you're so lucky! I'm sure it will be a great game. I do wish some of today's games were earlier, and more spaced out, but sacrifices must be made in the name of soccer. I assume part of the reason for that is the heat and sun drying out the turf, which really needs to be wet. My mom's an airline employee and flies for free, so she's thinking of trying to see one of the later games in Ottawa or Montreal, or at least going there to watch in a bar or restaurant crowded with fans.

I'll pretty happily watch five hours of soccer, but I definitely get burnt out watching it on my own (plus then there's no one to hear my brilliant commentary and strategical advice). During games I care less about I'll read and just look over when the announcers get excited, but I tend to regret it. There are all those glorious little moments in soccer, a beautiful steal, some brilliant foot work to get around an opponent. Those are the essence of the game for me.

I assume part of the reason for that is the heat and sun drying out the turf, which really needs to be wet.

Ha! Not in the case of Vancouver. They're playing on artificial turf -- yep, huge uproar but it is what it is. The two games this afternoon are at 4PM and 7PM, so on the early side for us.

Yeah, the artificial turf needs to be wet to play more like grass, or so the commentators say. It is just annoying because they'd never have agreed to that for the men, and of course it DOES play differently and most of the teams aren't used to it. If everyone played on artificial turf it wouldn't bug me. I don't think there were any other viable countries (I think there was one other, but they were basically bankrupt, so...) competing to host though.

My time there are games at 4, 7, 7:30, and 10 pm. I don't know whether I'll break out my old laptop so I can have the US game and Cameroon-Ecuador on at the same time, or just watch the latter tomorrow morning. Depends on how interesting a game it ends up being, I guess.

Yeah, the artificial turf needs to be wet to play more like grass,

Oh, I didn't know that. I've never noticed when I've watched MLS games. Although I probably go to about 4 games a year, I'm not actually a fan--I'm just the go along person. So I don't know anything.

I only know what the commentators tell me when it comes to that stuff. They've mentioned it in this Cup, and they talked about it a lot last year during the Women's U-20 Cup, also in Canada. Though it might apply more to one type of artificial turf than another (there are three different types in use among the stadiums in this Cup).

Mine's a hardcore soccer family, though everyone else is too busy to watch all the Cup games.

Imperial Woman by Pearl S. Buck

This is a novel about Dowager Empress Cixi, written long before we had the access to information and research found in Jung Chang's recent biography of Cixi. However, Buck had an interesting advantage in this book. She grew up in China during the last 16 years of Cixi's reign and grew up around people who had lived during Cixi's earlier years and spoke of her fondly. She was also cognizant that female rulers are always judged to a very different standard than men (a few killings for a queen or empress make them hopelessly cruel while a king of emperor's are just a necessary part of the life).

It's a well done book, though certainly not historically accurate for what we know now. Cixi is not perfect, but she always has her reasons for what she does. It depicts a supreme loneliness, as her status and the political realities do not allow for true friends. It depicts her ignorance of the world outside of China at a time when understanding the military disparities between China and England were of extreme importance. She holds no punches when it comes to the English and American pressures and crimes and their total disregard for China as an ancient civilization.

Definitely not my favorite of Buck's novels, but enjoyable. I found her name switching particularly effective, as Cixi starts as Orchid, then as a concubine a family name is used, then when she gives birth she is the Empress Mother, etc...

Tommy Gun Winter: Jewish Gangsters, a Preacher's Daughter, and the Trial that Shocked 1930s Boston by Nathan Gorenstein

First off, I think it was an exaggeration to refer to three men with a short-lived crime spree as gangsters. The word implies rather more scope and wide reaching networks. The main title is great, but also a bit much as I think only one of their crimes used the tommy gun they'd acquired.

It is, however, a well-written and researched book. Two brothers, Murt and Irving Millen, and Murt's friend Abe Faber, beginning planning and executing crimes, largely theatre holdups at first. They scheme to acquire more (and more deadly) weapons before hitting a bank and killing two policemen in the process. This act sent local and state police (often working against each other) and the press into a search that revealed previously unconnected crimes. The final apprehension of the men relied on some very minor clues. Murt's wife Norma also becomes tangled up in the story and trial.

While the book was well done, it's pretty niche. There's nothing in the book that really has any wider impact on the world (versus something like the Kitty Genovese murder). While the trial involved an initial insanity defense the circus around it only served to confuse the issue and make people more suspicious of psychiatry (but again, on a local level). It was relatively interesting, and a quick read, but I'm not sure who I'd recommend it to other than heavy readers of Boston history.

Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown

I sped through this book in almost one sitting (my eyes got too blurry to read, so I slept and then picked it back up in the morning) and really enjoyed it. Well, mostly really enjoyed, three quarters or so through there was a bit that made me roll my eyes pretty hard and dampened my enjoyment somewhat. However, it's something that I most people would find unsurprising (not to say un-annoying) in a book narrated by a straight man (there are other moments like that in the book and its important to think about these double-standards).

It's a LGBT classic for a reason, but anyone reading it should be aware there are problematic, coercive sex scenes. Molly grows up in small-town Pennsylvania. She doesn't fit in and doesn't feel bad about it. After an incident her mother lets slip that Molly is a bastard and adopted. Molly falls in love with and has a relationship with a girl in school which is broken up by her family's sudden move to Florida.

Molly isn't totally reckless about disclosing her identity as a lesbian, but she has a hard time understanding why it matters to anyone. She stays true to herself in moments of adversity and refuses to apologize for who she is or her dreams. The book isn't one big happily ever after, but it differs greatly from the angst and misery that almost seemed a requirement of other LGBT books from this period and the previous decades (Rubyfruit Jungle was published in 1973).

Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates by David Cordingly

A very interesting book about the realities of pirate life and how they came to be seen as figures of romance (largely through literature and films). For a group of people who murdered and raped as a norm, we don't seem to think about that anymore (Vikings are going the same way, or were at least).

Cordingly packs a lot of information into this book, and it can be a little overwhelming. Nice read for the history lover or pirate enthusiast though! Like every other group in history pirates represented a huge variety of personalities and traits. A favorite bit was when Anne Bonny who had been dressed as a man decided to tell another pirate her secret as she wanted to sleep with him. Only it turned out to be another woman, Mary Read, in male disguise. How they must have laughed.

Enjoyable book, perhaps a little dry at times. Interesting to pick through what actual pirates did versus the things we got from literature. Amazing how quickly something becomes 'general ignorance' as they'd say on QI.

Some more nice reviews, Meredith. I think I might get Under the Black Flag for my hubby for his birthday, as he is a history lover and possibly a pirate enthusiast. :)

Enjoyed catching up with your reviews.

" How they must have laughed.
Where's the Disney pirate movie about that?! *snort*

>84 NanaCC: I think that kind of niche topic book is always a nice gift.

>85 avidmom: Thanks! I like to imagine them sharing menstruation strategies or psyching out the rest of the (male) crew that they'd had their genitals attacked during a heavy period if it coincided with a battle.

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

I've read (and loved) all of Willis' other time travel novels, and really enjoyed this one too, though it's probably my least favorite of the bunch. It's a very comic novel, with much less serious drama/fewer ramifications for the present world. The main character, Ned, is sent back to 1888 to fulfill some task and then get some rest as he's suffering serious time lag. However, the time lag symptoms mean he has no recollection of what he's supposed to do. His frequent bemoanings about how in fiction such-and-such would happen to make his life easier, are very enjoyable. Book characters talking about what would happen in a book is something I always love.

One of the things that kind of bothered me about this title is that it feels much more Wodehousian than Victorian, and Wodehouse is frequently mentioned (as well as 20s-30s mystery novels). There were a few other minor things that annoyed me a bit, though nothing serious. It's a good book, and fun, just not my favorite Willis.

Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson

Well, this one was predictably depressing. In short it explores extractive institutions and how they keep countries rich in resources largely in poverty. It talks about countries which overcame extractive governments and colonial regimes, how it happened, and why it's not a given. It's well written and informative, if a bit dry at times.

If you're a US citizen be prepared to occasionally roll your eyes/grumble in anger at a very simplified view of US life. The line about people in the US being able to "choose their occupations" was a particularly egregious example. People who have the privilege of going to college might be able to choose their major, but that's a far cry from choosing your occupation (and this was written in 2012, well into the devaluing of a college degree and simultaneous increases in tuition costs).

Barefoot in the Park by Neil Simon RE-READ

I was assigned a scene from this play for a theatre course in my brief college life (I got sick and had to leave), and fell in love with the play. It's an interesting example of something that is dated, but in a normal, time capsule sort of way. You know it's the sixties, but most of the humor isn't dated and in some ways it really captures living with a lover for the first time, expectations vs reality, etc... Granting I'm someone who at age 14, when making a list of reasons it would be nice to live with a partner, put "someone to put lotion on my back" in the number one spot.

I re-read now because a full cast version was the Audible deal of the day. Even though I did not like the sound of one of the leads in the sample, for 99 cents I couldn't resist and since it's not that long I felt I could put up with less-than stellar actors. The actress reading Corie and the actor reading Victor were doing that "wink wink I know I'm saying something funny" thing, which is rarely good for comedy. I definitely wouldn't recommend the audio edition, but it's a fun play.

The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by J. Maarten Troost RE-READ

Proving that re-reads are a good thing, I finally realized that the title of the book came from a specific thing and refers to Troost and his girlfriend (the title had annoyed me, though I really like the book). On the islands of Kiribati the locals tell naughty children that the I-matang (foreigners) will eat them if they don't behave. I'm still damn sure Troost titled this and his next book specifically to attract attention in an annoying way, given publishing I guess that's not surprising, but I retain my annoyance.

It is a really fascinating book, and often funny, book that's still my favorite of his works. It is a mix of personal experiences and essays on the problems with aid workers, environmental issues on these small islands, and the truly horrible treatment of such places by the US and other governments. Plus a history lesson on the bloody Battle of Tarawa during WWII.

This isn't your average travelogue for many reasons. One being that Troost and his girlfriend lived there for two years, and the other being that this kind of island life is hugely removed from what is familiar to most readers. Highly recommended.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

This was a very good read, and deserving of its place on the classics shelf. The writing reminded of John Steinbeck (who is one of my favorite writers). I am not up to the task of writing a true review of it, so here's some extra information.

From Wikipedia:
The story is set in a Soviet labor camp in the 1950s and describes a single day of an ordinary prisoner, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov.

The book's publication was an extraordinary event in Soviet literary history since never before had an account of Stalinist repression been openly distributed. The editor of Novy Mir, Aleksandr Tvardovsky, wrote a short introduction for the issue, titled "Instead of a Foreword", to prepare the journal's readers for what they were about to experience.

Definitely recommended!

Enemies at Home by Lindsey Davis

This is the second of Davis' Flavia Albia series, a spin-off from the Falco series. Albia is Falco and Helena's adopted daughter who they found in Britain. She has set herself up as an informer.

I am still not impressed/happy with this series. Albia does not act like she was raised by Falco and Helena. While of course that happens in real life (all I have to do is look at siblings...), this is fiction. Albia strikes me as Davis' idea of "young women today," only based solely on negative stereotypes and our inherently sexist media. The books aren't as historically informative and the language is highly modernized. While I don't think the modern language is a problem in general (the phrases that stood out would certainly have equivalent phrases in latin, or any language in any period), it feels very different from the writing in the Falco books and I do not adjust to that kind of thing easily.

I need to search out opinions on these books from people who haven't read the Falco books. I cannot separate the two. I also feel like it would be better if Albia were removed from Rome and her family. The references to Falco and Helena, the scenes with Falco's brothers, I don't think they do the story any favors. It feels too gratuitous, there just to please fans of the Falco series.

I'm not a completist for that many authors, if something doesn't hold my interest I won't keep reading. However, I know that I'll continue to read anything Davis writes (I've loved all the other non-Falco books I've read). Maybe the series will improve, but I just can't help keeping up with Davis.

Lists of Note by Shaun Usher

I was a longtime follower of Usher's website Letters of Note, so I jumped at the chance to request Lists of Note via the ER program.

It's a beautiful, well put-together book. Perfect coffee table/guest room fare, as it's a book one browses through rather than reads for long periods. The only weaker point for me are the lists which are just type-written, and have no picture of an original handwritten or typewriter-written list. It's not a great criticism, of course there are many interesting lists only ever written on a computer screen, but somehow those lists just feel a bit less real.

This book would probably make a good gift for a lot of hard-to-shop-for people. The lists and their writers cover a huge range of topics and professions (the ancient ones are my favorites). It has a lovely textbook look under the dust jacket.

The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap by Matt Taibbi

If you want to hold onto the idea that Democratic leaders in the US fight against the corporate arrogance, market manipulation, and law breaking rampant in the last two decades, you may not want to read this book.

It is a stark look at the different standards for corporations (doing serious damage to every day people) in the eyes of the law, vs the average poor citizen. It covers the lack of action against Wall Street criminals and the heavy handed actions against the poor, particularly the non-white poor. It covers the very real fact that money determines, at least in part, the way our justice system treats us.

Depressing, but necessary and useful information that we could all stand to be more aware of. Recommended.

The audiobook was done well, and you could tell that the reader, Ray Porter, had done a close reading of this book and was really pissed off about what he read.

After a few weeks of highly increased pain and bad brain fog, I'm finally up to date on my reads. These were not all great books for brain fog days, but I always feel like maybe they'll help my thinking skills. Now I'm eager to finish up North and South, as I have a lot of thoughts about it, and the BBC adaptation, that I want to write up.

Hope you have some easier times soon Meredith. Thats a great selection of books and I have enjoyed all your reviews.

Sorry you had so much pain/brain fog, but like Barry I enjoyed all your reviews. I think I liked To Say Nothing of the Dog more than you did, and I keep meaning to read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Hope you feel better soon.

Hoping post 95 means you're feeling better. Wish you well. I just read 15 of your reviews so I'm having trouble processing, or putting down any specific thoughts, but it's a great bunch of books. I requested McGuire's Here from my library.

Barry, Rebecca, Dan, thank you all! Adjusting to higher levels of daily pain will happen eventually, but it's a rough and dispiriting transition. I'm cross-stitching again though and enjoying what I make, so that's usually a good sign. I also saw my niece and nephew last night, and their sweetness always helps. So nice to be the aunt and get all the love without the parental worry/responsibilities.

I quite enjoyed To Say Nothing of the Dog, but you know how it is when you've totally LOVED an author's other books and then like one less, it always gets judged more harshly.

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (RE-READ)

I'm so happy I reread this one now. I really love Gaskell's writing, and I found interesting modern notes in this one the way I did with Ruth. During this re-read I also watched the BBC mini-series (which was my first window into Gaskell) as I got to each episodes events in the book. They changed very little, and mostly I think they were smart changes, in part bringing the book more in line with lived-reality. The one change I disliked was giving Mr. Thornton a love interest to make Margaret more aware of her feelings for him. I really hate that trope, and if someone only decides they love you out of jealousy I say stay the hell away from them.

The book was known for having a somewhat favorable view of labour unions, though that's laughable now. It really speaks to how much the well-off hated unions and how much they sought to suppress them that they felt Gaskell was being lenient to the point of comment. That's changed to be more realistically favorable in the mini-series. Rereading the book was also a reminder for just how well-acted and perfectly cast the mini-series is. Daniela Denby-Ashe IS Margaret, and I feel she must have read the book very closely to achieve that performance. Likewise Richard Armitage, but is he ever anything but excellent? It is surely my all-time favorite book adaptation.

I love the book for all of Gaskell's beautiful little touches. One of the "feels modern" moments is her knowledge the our eyes dilate during emotional situations, regardless of light. I feel like that's barely common knowledge now, let alone in the 1850s. The end is beautifully done, with a kiss that's only implied. In many ways I feel that's a strength we under-rate. When those actions aren't spelled out clearly it gives the reader free reign to imagine what they want. It would have given readers at the time the freedom to imagine something chaste or something more passionate without Gaskell getting in trouble for writing a love scene far outside middle and upper class societal boundaries.

What's interesting with Gaskell, is though her novels are all quite long they don't feel long to me. This is remarkable with North and South in part because the mini-series really doesn't leave much out, despite only being 4 hours in total. Gaskell focuses on the human, and her books feel like they move at exactly the pace they should.

Romance isn't a driving factor in my reading (or viewing) life, but North and South contains one of the few that make my stomach squirm in the best way. I am extremely partial to those that start out disliking/misunderstanding each other (Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe being another firm favorite). Now I'm rather eager to re-read Wives and Daughters too.

Cat Daddy: What the World's Most Incorrigible Cat Taught Me About Life, Love, and Coming Clean by Jackson Galaxy

Jackson Galaxy has/had a show on Animal Planet called My Cat From Hell, which I always enjoyed. Part of the love is that most of the problems came from the owners, who often don't understand even basic cat behavior.

This memoir is about how he got started on the path to being cat behaviorist, but I'd say the dominant theme is about his addictions. Jackson goes from addiction to iillegal drugs, to prescribed meds, to food. I hadn't realized just how severe those addictions were before starting the book.

It's not a bad read, though I'd give a content warning for sexist and ableist language (it's not too severe, and he sometimes scolds himself after thinking something sexist, but still). For me it wasn't brilliant but I have a hard time understanding that kind of severe drug use and also I've not had much experience with cats who had behavior issues. I'd have enjoyed the book more if the focus was a bit heavier on cats and their lives (though my cat is an angel, thank god).

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, translated by Michael Karpelson

I read this at the request of my dad, but it really wasn't the book for me. I have a hard time enjoying magical realism, and I'd say this fits in that category. Partly I just want a book to be firmly one way or the other. The exception seems to be when the fantasy element is particular to one character and integral to their life (as in Life After Life).

The second part of the book was more enjoyable for me, perhaps partly because it felt more like full on fantasy. I am also just a straight forward reader. While I might enjoy more rigorous analysis and examination of a text in the confines of a literature class or book club, it's not something I ever want to do, or naturally do, outside of that. Maybe part of it is just my non-fiction brain, and the deep need I've had since childhood to know things exactly.

Not giving a book summary here, since it's a classic and easy to look up.

Sorry The master and Margarita didn't work out for you. I really liked it (actually I think I liked the first part better than the second one :p) Hope you like your next book better!

I didn't hate it or hate reading it, and I'm glad I did read it. Just one of those that while you can see why others like it you just can't appreciate yourself. I'm in "my parent was mentally ill and maybe I am too and it's hard having aging parents"-memoir territory right now, so generally feeling lucky in having the parents I have and enough older siblings to mitigate any future trouble.

Very interesting to read your response to M&M. It seems you got some value out of it.

I share your love of North and South and enjoyed your excellent review.

I love The Master and Margarita but I have read a lot of Russian literature.

Elsewhere: A Memoir by Richard Russo

This is a memoir of Russo's early life, but the focus is largely on his mother, her mental health problems, and their relationship. It is a little scattered and mostly Russo just deals with the surface. The truth of his mother's problems doesn't hit Russo until after one of his daughters has OCD, when suddenly his mother's (and some of his) behavior is seen in a different light.

It was definitely an interesting memoir, and very illustrative of how there is no "normal," since what we experience we tend to normalize. I don't think it will make my list of favorite memoirs, but I'm glad I read it. Also, it sounds like Russo's wife is an absolute saint.

The Yggyssey: How Iggy Wondered What Happened to All the Ghosts, Found Out Where They Went, and Went There by Daniel Pinkwater

I love Daniel Pinkwater, so I go into his books with some bias. This is one of the few books of his with a female narrator (this book's sequel has one too). I hope he keeps that trend going. This volume is a sequel to The Neddiad and it's followed up by Adventures of a Cat-Whiskered Girl. As usual, Pinkwater is a master at names, as our protagonist here is named Yggdrasil Birnbaum.

As with most Pinkwater books, the journey is somewhat more important than the end point. In this he brings back the idea of alternate plains of existence, a concept which thrilled me when I was 11. Once they get going on the adventure it has overtones of the Wizard of Oz and something else which I can't currently remember. Maybe it will come to me.

Great book for your pre-teens and early teens.

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

This one has been on my to-read list for a while. I picked up Walter's The Financial Lives of Poets some years back on a whim and enjoyed it, so this was on my list prior to the hype it got.

I went into it knowing nothing about the plot, which is generally good for me, I think. The book switches between three or four different times, and goes into the histories of a variety of people. It's somewhat sentimental, but not overly so. I enjoyed it as a relatively light read. It's not taxing but also not complete fluff. The end was a bit.. I don't know, convenient, too happy? But otherwise it was nice.

A Spy Among Friends by Ben Macintyre

This is a book about Kim Philby and his life as a Russian spy through the lens of his friendships. Macintyre writes very well and this felt like an extremely fast read (which is weird when you're listening to an audiobook).

It is probably not the best, most definitive book about Philby, but the angle is on his personal relationships, how he escaped notice for so long, and the fallout for those friends after he escaped (or perhaps was allowed to escape) to

Good book, recommended.

The Globe: The Science of Discworld II by Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart, and Jack Cohen

This volume focuses on evolution, mostly (with a bit of quantum thrown in). It felt like more of a stretch than the first Science of Discworld book. In between these two I read The Folklore of Discworld, which makes more sense to me as an obvious spin off book.

It was an interesting read, but I don't feel like there's any advantage to reading about science through a lens of Discworld. Maybe if I were a teenager it would be different.

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

This was certainly a surprising book. I was only vaguely aware that it was written from the dog's perspective and it was also much shorter than I'd expected. Buck the dog goes from being stolen from his owner and then being trained to be a sled dog.

I really enjoyed it, and felt like the style and the perspective worked well. I can see why it's hung on as a classic. If I can be bothered I'll look up contemporary reactions to it, which must have been interesting in 1903.

Recommended. It's quite short, so even if you don't like it you'll not have spent much time on it.

>113 mabith:

Coincidentally, I JUST read this. I had had it on my shelf for years and knew it was short so I decided to read it. I didn't know what it was about or that it was written from the dog's perspective but I did like that aspect. I didn't like the book as a whole though. I am sensitive when it comes to animal mistreatment. For that reason, I find it hard to understand why so many people consider this a children's book. Maybe when it was published it wasn't a big deal and we have just become soft in our modern-day sensibilities?

>111 mabith: Have you read other books by Macintyre? I haven't read A Spy among Friends (yet), but I loved Agent Zigzag and liked Operation Mincemeat a lot.

I really enjoyed Beautiful Ruins. The narrator on my audio version was very good.

>111 mabith: & >115 rebeccanyc: I enjoyed A Spy a Among Friends, but enjoyed Agent ZigZag even more.

>105 dchaikin: I feel like with any classic there's some value to find, even if only in gaining cultural currency. Thinking about it has helped solidify what I've dislike about most of the magical realism I've read - they seem neither plot nor character driven.

>106 baswood: It's definitely a 'review' for people who have already the book! Always glad to find Gaskell fans out there.

>107 rebeccanyc: I've not read much Russian lit, but it's more the genre than anything else. Timing is interesting since I'd just read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and I'm starting Pushkin Hills (and currently listening to Gulag).

>114 Tara1Reads: It involves animals and there's no sex/extreme violence to humans therefore it turns into a children's novel over time. Same with Black Beauty. I do think it's fine for children though, because I think what they'll take away is that animal cruelty is wrong. Kids are protected from that aspect generally, and I think it makes it harder to vocalize against later on (just due to being a bit stunned that some people don't even treat their pets well, let alone non-pets).

>115 rebeccanyc: I've read Operation Mincemeat and enjoyed that too, though at times it felt almost too detailed, so that made A Spy Among Friends feel a bit more rousing. I've got Agent Zigzag on my to-read list.

>116 NanaCC: Definitely agree on the narrator! I think in some ways I like that kind of fiction better in print where I can speed through it at a faster pace.

Sipping From the Nile: My Exodus from Egypt by Jean Naggar

This is a memoir about Naggar's childhood in Egypt and the months before they had to leave (due to hostility towards Jews after the Suez crisis). I don't remember her mentioning her birth year, but she was around 18 when they left, so she would have been born in the late 1930s.

The book starts with an interaction in the US with an Egyptian cab driver where Naggar says she is from Egypt as well, and is pondering the fact that she does not say she is Egyptian (though her father's family had lived there for 200 years). She grew up in a loving home, near many cousins, speaking many languages. Around age 13 she begins attending boarding school in England which was a largely unhappy experience for her, as she desperately missed her family and was often treated as an 'other' as she was not from England.

It was a good read, largely just a series of remembrances about her diverse family and her early life. Definitely an easy, mostly feel-good memoir about the experiences that built the adult Naggar became. Interestingly, she never visited the pyramids at Giza until visiting Egypt in the 1990s! Recommended.

I first picked this up because my mother and her family lived in Egypt during her childhood. I was incredibly fascinated by this as a child, though it was pulling nails to get my mom to talk about it much. I find it so interesting that her mother (who died while they were in Egypt), a very typical American 1950s housewife in some respects, was willing to uproot herself and four children (ages 12 to 4 1/2) to live in Egypt. She spent her first 18 years in rural Virginia, on land her family had occupied since the early 17th century. Of course she immediately moved to Washington DC to work and live upon graduating high school, which says something about her. When my grandaddy first asked her about it she even said she'd only agree go if he got the five-year contract vs the two-year (and I suppose it says something about him that he left the decision to her). I include a picture for atmosphere, taken in 1964:

Catching up with your reviews here.. We have a few books in common Cat Daddy and Life After Life. I love watching "My Cat From Hell" because it makes the little somewhat tamed wild cats (we have a feral cat problem in our neighborhood.... we've TNR'd most of the ones that hang out here) - in our backyard seem like incredible angels! I liked the book and thought it was a fun read but I read all the reviews before and knew the focus was more on Galaxy than on cats. I wish he would write a book that focused only on cat behavior!

I've never read Call of the Wild and didn't know it was from the point of view of the dog - which makes it seem way more appealing now. It does sound a bit like Black Beauty which I thought was a little brutal for a children's book when I re-read it last year. Of course, these authors didn't set out to write a children's book, so why their books get pegged as that is a mystery to me.

I loved Life After Life. Do you have plans on reading A God In Ruins? I want to, of course, but I would like to re-read LAL first.

That's where not looking up more information about a book can be a bad idea! I didn't expect it to be largely about cats, just less about drug addiction. Given that I have a sibling who is an addict you'd think I'd know what to expect from the phrase "coming clean" but no.

Time just changes what we see as adult literature, I guess. Sewell's whole point with Black Beauty was definitely exposing the cruelty. The things I worry about more are the books like Daddy-Long-Legs, which I loved, but I didn't read it until I was 12 or so. Girl falls in love with and marries guardian (who's been hiding his identity and being a jerk) twice her age is a bit hinky to give to young girls (likewise anything with unhealthy relationships dynamics which there often are in classics).

I do want to read A God in Ruins, and I feel like I should while Life After Life is still fresh in my brain. It makes me kind of nervous since I loved it so much and I've heard mixed things about A God in Ruins.

>117 mabith: I enjoyed Pushkin Hills and it got be started on reading Dovlatov. I thought Gulag (if you mean the one by Anne Applebaum was extraordinarily impressive.

>118 mabith: Sipping from the Nile sounds better than the book I read several years ago about a family exodus from Egypt for the same reason, The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit. Have you read Andre Aciman's book Out of Egypt? I read it a long time ago, but I remember thinking it was excellent.

Yes, the Applebaum Gulag. It was certainly extremely well done, and flew by at a ridiculous pace given that it's a 27 hour audiobook. I haven't read Out of Egypt, I'll definitely put it on the list. Sipping From the Nile is best, I think, when you go in expecting a relatively light, remembrance type of memoir, rather than a book that explores the historical moment in a broader sense.

Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum

This is a remarkable book, covering a wide swath of history, which not only tells us the history but asks us to confront the way we've separated Soviet regimes from the way we treat other, similar, systems. Teenagers can hang vintage propaganda posters and wear shirts with the sickle and hammer, and we will ignore the Soviet concentration camp system in a way totally removed from our view of Nazi Germany. I can think of various things that contribute to that, but Applebaum just leaves us with the facts, not an analysis of that issue, which I appreciate.

The book is a masterpiece, and extremely readable. Don't be put off by the length (and really, it's not THAT long, around 700 pages), as the style makes it fly by. It's an important book, and well worth reading.

>123 mabith: thanks for the encouragement. It seems like a disturbing book. I'm good at buying those but then they sit in my TBR pile for years.

I've been meaning to read Gulag: A History for a while now. I do need to get to it.

I think it's definitely worth getting to. It's been on my list since it came out, as that's when I started working at a bookstore and it does rather stand out on a shelf. It's only been out for twelve years, and I'm sure we all have books on the TBR that have been languishing for longer than that.

Sounds like a great book - this is an area of history I have earmarked for more reading into. But 700 pages - hmmmm. Might be a stretch for me on a non-fiction.

Alison, it might be a good one to read in sections over a longer period. I think the readability would carry you through. Applebaum makes it a very personal book, in a lot of ways, focusing on various individuals' experiences.

Well, I've just downloaded a copy. It seems like longer non-fiction like this work best when I can read over a longer stretch and have it at hand.

Hope you find it to be a good read!

All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld

This book has so many nice covers I had to include three of them. There's a cover for Wyld's first book, After the Fire, A Still, Small Voice, that's in a similar style as the middle cover, and I feel a great need to own both of them only I don't feel like I'll want to reread these anytime soon (like, maybe in 10-15 years when I'm older and wiser).

I've been saving this read for a while, as I was pretty sure I'd enjoy it. However the bad part of trying to go into novels with as little knowledge of them as possible, is sometimes you get involved in a story you're not in a good place for (emotionally speaking). This book involves an abusive relationship, and the way it's written made it feel especially intense, yet it took me some time to realize I needed to put it down for a while.

Wyld takes us through a woman's life, switching between different times and places as we go, and in general working backwards. So if different eras of her life are A, B, and C we start at the end of C, then switch to the end of B, then the end of A, onwards to the beginning of her time in each place. This makes it a slightly better choice in print than as an audiobook, though it didn't take long to figure out where we were (the reader doesn't really add anything to it though). It's a short book, and again I think the structure is very effective. I'm not sure I've seen quite this structure before (skipping around, yes, but doing it while also working backwards through various threads, no).

Wyld's two novels make me extremely interested in what she'll do in the future, and I wonder if she'll end up one of the Great Writers of my generation (she was born in 1980). Both the novels are hard reads in different ways, but All the Birds, Singing has a heart-gripping intensity that After the Fire, A Still, Small Voice did not (granting I read it six years ago).

Recommended with caution? This novel is still taking up a lot of space in my brain. I don't think I could come close to accurately gauging whether or not any person I know would enjoy this novel, it feels like one that will be a very personal read.

I'm interested in Evie Wyld, but to be honest, both of her books sound too intense for my mood right now. I'll keep her in mind, though. Good review!

I definitely don't feel like her first novel was as intense, but I'm not a parent and I'm sure that would make a difference for that one. I'd certainly recommend her sometime when you're in a very stable, grounded, good mood.

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin RE-READ

My first read of this was a couple years back. I am a big fan of the Shirley Temple movie of the same name, but the only thing they have in common is a young girl goes to live with her cranky aunt.

The book is absolutely charming, and it really holds up. Rebecca is one of seven children in a very poor home. Her father has died and her aunts Miranda and Jane offer to take one of the children and put them through school (ostensibly so they can get a job and help the family out financially). Rebecca is a charming, open, good-hearted girl, who, like Anne Shirley, sometimes gets into trouble, though no one can help but love her.

We follow her from age 9 or so up through her secondary schooling. Along the way she wins hearts, even when people aren't quite sure why they like her. When we leave her, there are still troubles, but we know she'll get through them. Rebecca is not presented as flawless, or 100% good, and that's important to me too. She also accepts her aunts as they are, and the book does not try to change them much (only as much as loving any child will change a person).

Highly recommended for any reader of children's fiction classics. As I say, it's held up to the years extremely well. I picked it up as a soothing balm after the harrowing All the Birds, Singing, and it certainly did the trick.

Saga Vol 4 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Another great addition to the series. It's taken a turn I certainly didn't expect. Still eager to read more, still loving the art style.

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

This is a moving and extremely well done children's novel. Sal's mother left her and her father to go to Idaho, soon after which Sal's father moves them away from their farm in Kentucky to Euclid, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. Sal is extremely unhappy, but befriends a girl named Phoebe, whose closeted existence and worrier mother leaves her constantly worrying about ax murderers and that like. Sal is telling Phoebe's story, and her own story as well, to her grandparents as they drive from Euclid to Idaho.

I had this on my list after I put whatever Newberry winners I could find on there. This won for 1994. It's one of those where you could still not-know when the book was set (unlike after widespread internet adoption and cell phone adoption started appearing). It covers a lot of ground, and manages to cover this age (11-12) really realistically. My favorite theme of the book is that of mothers being more than their identities as mothers, and needing to live their own lives and fulfill themselves as individuals, as well as mothers. This one really pulled the heart strings at the end. Recommended for children and adult reader's of children's lit. This will definitely go on my list of suitable books for the nieces and nephews.

You've reminded me to get to All The Birds Singing sooner rather than later. Enjoyed your review!

Thanks, Alison!

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

First published in the 1930s, this is a parody of the "loam and love-child" type of novel especially popular in the late Victorian period, but I think it's been a common genre throughout history. The modern adaptation is more "prodigal daughter returns to her small hometown in her 30s where she learns how to respect country wisdom and finds love with a high school sweetheart or nemesis."

The humor in this still stands up extremely well, and I really enjoyed it. The scenes with Myburg particularly made me giggle (THAT type of man certainly hasn't phased out of society, unfortunately) and I loved Aunt Ada's sections, particularly her thoughts being described as "drowsy yaks."

Well worth a read. Going by the trailer for the 1995 adaptation I think I'll give myself a while to forget the book details before trying to watch that.

Pushkin Hills by Sergei Dovlatov

I picked this one up after reading Rebecca's excellent review, which you should go read as I won't be able to equal it.

It was a great read, filled with dark humor, and I'm definitely going to look for his other books. I feel like the fact of it being semi-autobiographical comes through strongly in the writing.

Recommended.

>140 mabith: Thank you, Meredith, and I went on to read more Dovlatov too. I've read The Suitcase and have The Zone on the TBR.

I, too, liked Cold Comfort Farm enormously. And I've downloaded the film, but I'm waiting to watch it.

Hopefully the film holds up! I love the idea of Stephen Fry as Myburg.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke RE-READ

After watching the BBC mini-series based on the book, I had to reread it. I found i remembered absolutely NOTHING, other than that there was magic and it was historical fantasy. The mini-series was good, and well cast and acted, though of course very changed and condensed, due to the length of the book and only having 7 episodes for it.

The way the book is written, really in a narrative non-fiction style, is extremely effective. While it's quite a long book, it doesn't feel long while you're reading. It feels as real as an alternate universe where we have magic can. I absolutely LOVE all the footnotes.

Highly recommended for everyone, and an excellent example of historical fantasy.

The Bromeliad Trilogy: Truckers, Diggers, and Wings by Terry Pratchett RE-READ

This was the second thing I ever read by Pratchett, and I really loved it. It's a children's fantasy trilogy about Nomes. A group of Nomes living outside in the world need to find somewhere better to leave. They climb onto a truck and are taken to The Store (a semi-old fashioned department store), which has a community of Nomes living in it, most of whom think the Store is the entire world and there is no outside.

It's a wonderful world Pratchett created, full of fun characters. They also seem to have counterparts with the rats in The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents. The store is going to be demolished and they have to leave, but getting hide bound Nomes to risk going Outside is a difficult proposition. The book is interspersed with passages from the Nome bible, heavily influenced by the Store signage (the great enemy being Prices Slashed and the beneficent one is Bargains Galore).

Highly recommended. It's a fun read as an adult, and a great one for your elementary and grade school aged kids.

When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II by Molly Guptill Manning

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book (would it refer to blatant propaganda works or something else, etc...), but figured it would be interesting no matter what.

And it was! This was the book I really needed right now. I think it would be a good read for anyone who likes books. The text focuses on the Victory Books Council and the invention, production, and distribution of the Armed Services Edition paperback books, specially designed for easy use by troops in any conditions. This program brought US publishers into cooperation, helped spur the production of paperback books in general, created a generation of serious readers, and made The Great Gatsby a classic (a book I don't enjoy myself, but oh well).

It is also a love story to the importance of reading and the great emotional rewards we gain from books, particularly when we're in strife. What I found most lovely was the popularity of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (which I ADORED) among the servicemen, even though it's narrated by a young girl. Betty Smith received an average of four letters per day from servicemen and answered all of them. Books frankly became the most valued luxury, with men trading money and cigarettes to move up a few places on a hold list.

It was heartwarming to see how seriously those involved took their role in getting books to our boys (service women were not provided with books, annoyingly). They were also serious about fighting censorship, as they argued part of the purpose of the war was to fight censorship and the banning of books.

Wonderful, relatively light read. Recommended to all readers.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrel. I liked the TV series too and so I might like the book, thanks for the review.

>146 mabith: Thanks for this lovely review! I've added the audiobook to my library wishlist.

Liked your short take on Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I deliberately avoided the BBC series because the book is on my 2015 reading list. On Friday I swore Edith Wharton's House of Mirth was to be read next. Then Saturday I revised my history so that Susanna Clarke's book was what was going to be next all along. I've started it, and have only (only!!!) 701 pages left to read. I'm on a roll.

>147 baswood: Definitely give it a chance. It's one of the more unique types of fantasy books and it's just so well done. In 50 years I think it will be on all the classics lists (I'm assuming people get less snobby about 'genre' fiction in the future).

>148 ELiz_M: Hope you like it! It was nicely validating for me, as a reader.

>149 weird_O: The show came at the perfect time for me. I'd been planning on re-reading the book, and since I'd forgotten it so completely I could watch the show first, without getting nitpicky over changes. Hope you like it!

>150 mabith: If they don't become less snobby about genre fiction, people might just come up with a new term like "historical magicism" or something and pretend it's not fantasy.

I really need to see that BBC series.

>146 mabith: Fun review. I'll keep When Books Went to War in mind.

In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume

Judy Blume was a middle schooler in Elizabeth, New Jersey during the eight-week period when three planes crashed in the town. Her father, a dentist, helped to identify some victims from dental records. This novel is built around those crashes, with a wide cast of characters including adults and children. A list of characters with a brief description would have been helpful, and I hope one is included in the print book. I still enjoyed it via audio with no character list to help though.

The novel merges the everyday and the extraordinary in a way that I found effective and realistic. While three deadly plane crashes in one town is a type of 'close to home' disaster most of us will never know (inshaAllah), our daily lives do exist in conjunction with extreme events in our state, our country, and in the world. The 24 hour news cycle and the internet ensure that we're much closer to the extraordinary than we used to be, but our daily lives and struggles don't lessen because of that awareness.

It was a good read for me (though I've decided to forget that the last chapter exists, as I don't think it was necessary, it's the "catch up 20-30 years later type), if not one that I'm likely to re-read. I don't know how longtime Blume readers will find it, as it's my first Blume read ever! We didn't own any of her books, and I was a non-fiction and historical fiction kid, not given to reading "normal teens with normal problems" books. Still seems ridiculous that I went through chlidhood not really aware of Blume's work.

He Wanted the Moon: The Madness and Medical Genius of Dr. Perry Baird, and his Daughter's Quest to Know Him by Mimi Baird

First, I love this cover. It's so effective and well designed.

Mimi Baird's father was a brilliant doctor who began to study manic depression around the time he began to seriously suffer from it. He was an early believer in a biochemical root for the disorder but was unable to continue research as his illness worsened, his medical license was revoked, and he was institutionalized. His daughter was a young child when this happened, and did not see him again.

As an adult she looks to his brothers for more information about him, and is led to a manuscript her father wrote, a diary of sorts about his actions and experiences in various mental institutions. She lets the book alternate between her narration, her father's manuscript, and his medical records.

It's a short book, one without a satisfying conclusion. The institutions are largely horrific places, her father's life and work are eventually just a footnote in the history of the study of manic depression. It was a very interesting read though, and an important one. Many of the well known stories of mental illness in the 20th century are success stories. They may include poor or abusive treatment in institutions, but through support, new discoveries, etc... the patient finds their way back to the good life. Those are the exceptions, however, and Baird's story is the more common one. It's important to keep that in mind.

Related to the audiobook - Of all the books that have multiple readers (for different narrators), this book needed it the least. It's totally obviously when there's a switch because the style, point of view, and references are vastly different. I found myself really annoyed since there are many books that would benefit from multiple readers. At the very least the reader for Dr. Baird's manuscript could have also read the hospital records portion. I will never understand how audiobook publishers think.

On Second Thought: Outsmarting Your Mind's Hard-Wired Habits by Wray Herbert

I like that it took a second look for me to 'get' the cover image.

If you're going into this book, I'd ignore the subtitle. It's a standard popular science book and spends almost no time on how to avoid our brain's foolish mistakes. The trick there is in the title - give everything a second thought, examine why you've decided on something, etc...

It's another good title in the "our brains really do some illogical things" series. This one focuses on cognitive heuristics, paths our minds subconsciously and automatically take.

Good book, recommended. In the same vein as You Are Not So Smart and Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, but with a slightly different focus.

I can certainly understand how three planes could have crashed in Elizabeth. I grew up in nearby Jersey City, and my father's fishing club was located in Elizabeth. If you take the New Jersey Turnpike between the Newark and Elizabeth exits you will almost certainly see planes flying directly over the highway, which seem as though they are going to land on it instead of Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), which sits directly next to the road. Several of Elizabeth's residential neighborhoods are very close to EWR just to the south, and since many planes take off in a north-south direction many crashes after failed takeoffs would likely end up there.

I'll have to ask my father if he remembers those crashes. He would have been a teenager in the early 1950s living in Jersey City at that time. I'll also add In the Unlikely Event to my wish list, along with He Wanted the Moon.

I've been interested in reading In the Unlikely Event because I loved Judy Blume as a child but I haven't been inspired enough to actually pick it up. Your review has me thinking about it again, though.

>156 kidzdoc: I feel like plenty of airports are or were in similar positions though, in terms of flight paths though (and those were actually changed in 1953 or so, due to action from the residents who managed to get Newark airport shut down for a period in 1952). Three from different planes, different airlines, etc... in an eight week period is certainly far beyond the statistical probability. My grandparents moved to Madison NJ in 1954 the crashes, when my mom was a baby, so it held a bit more interest for me.

My mom has been working for an airline for the last seven years or so, and it kind of makes you surprised there aren't more accidents. They were flying planes that broke down and needed maintenance almost every single week. Nothing like landing in an extremely loud prop plane at our airport (which is on the top of a mountain, so the landings tend to freak people out).

>157 japaul22: The book somewhat focuses on a young teen, so it might bring back some Blume love for you! It's one of those where I enjoyed the book and found it well done, but it's not my favorite thing in the world or something I'll feel the need to re-read.

Still seems ridiculous that I went through chlidhood not really aware of Blume's work.

Well, nothing you can do about it now. I devoured her books when I was 10-12. Haven't been as impressed with her books for older readers. I bought Are you there God, it's me, Margaret (which I read 5 times when I was 10 and loved so much) for my daughter when she was 10 and opened it to any page, and immediately was swept into it again. Sigh. I heard her interviewed on In the Unlikely Event and I found her connections to the background of this book very interesting.

Ah, Judy Blume... I'm back in the first form of grammar school, swept up in Blume's fabulous world of first periods, lesbian parents, and 'Ralph'. If you read 'Forever' back in the 1980s, you'll know who Ralph was. Once read, never forgotten (at least when you're 11).

The Greenlanders by Jane Smiley

This was not a good choice for audio, at least not without a detailed character list. I pressed ahead anyway, but I think I'll try to reread it in print eventually as I believe I'll enjoy it more.

Smiley gives us a book with the style of a Norse saga that sprawls over the difficult lives of the Greenlanders over the course of a few decades.

It's an interesting book, though perhaps not one that would be beloved across the board. It's a hard one to review for me, in part because I'm well behind on reviews, and because I know the audio version impacted it negatively. I absolutely loved the dialogue. There was just something about the way she wrote it that felt true and right.

Recommend for those who a more unique piece of literature maybe? Definitely read it in print.

The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall

This is the second Penderwicks book, and was rather a let-down. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book (though it's been long enough that I don't remember it well), and expected more from Birdsall.

The four Penderwick sisters have lost their mother to cancer (happens right at the start of the book). Per the mother's instructions their aunt gives their father a letter four years later in which the mother instructs him to start dating again. The girls are upset, which is natural, but also decide to sabotage the dating (picking out awful women) so their father will give up. Right there is where I lost my interest. The older girls are also dealing with crushes, etc...

The beginning made me think of Sonya Sones' One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies. I didn't find the children's actions realistic, and I feel like Birdsall is conflicted about her style. The book isn't set in any specific time, but it feels neither fully contemporary nor vintage. I felt like she wanted the book to be like Swallows and Amazons or Ballet Shoes, but didn't commit to setting it back in time.

I probably won't read the third book in the series, and I don't recommend this one.

>161 mabith: I can imagine that's a very difficult book on audio. I ended up really loving the book, but to be honest it wasn't easy in print either. It's a slow burn and I was kind of frustrated during the reading until I sat back at the end and realized the sum total of what Smiley had accomplished and was wowed.

The Iron Hand of Mars by Lindsey Davis RE-READ

This is probably my favorite of the first five Falco books (yes, I have to break it down into fives). As usual for the early books Helena and Falco have a misunderstanding that leads to a fight. Both are stubborn, both want the other to bend, both have difficulty expressing their love exacerbated by the gulf between her patrician class and his plebeian upbringing and life. Both worry they'll only do the other harm. Their tentative relationship always feels very realistic to me.

One of the reasons this is a favorite is for the travel, and firm relationship to past and current (to the book) events in Germany and along the Rhine. The presence of the very poorly behaved Augustanilla (Falco's niece) also makes it quite fun. I feel like Davis captures the way Falco's upbringing, and the society of Rome in that time, with his internal fight against pre-programmed notions about women, foreigners, etc... Historical fiction where men are just 100% feminist all-good guys might be nice from time to time, but it's so unrealistic given that even the best of us are still struggling with internalized sexism, racism, ableism, etc...

It's such a great series. I enjoyed all the books, but Davis doesn't quite hit her stride until the third and fourth books.

>163 japaul22: I imagine it's an underrated book in terms of Smiley's work in general. It is certainly not an easy read. I think post-audio I'll enjoy a reread in print even more though, since I'll know what to expect and will hopefully be able to notice different details.

Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil by Paul Bloom

While I really enjoyed this popular science book, I feel the title and subtitle are a little misleading. While a number of studies with babies and toddlers are mentioned, they generally serve as starting points, with more of the book dedicated to studies in adults.

It does seem that babies are basically born with some sense of right and wrong, or at least fairness, built in, and observable at as young as three months old. And of course the studies in that line are fascinating. True to humanity of course, while a baby or toddler might see lack of sharing as bad in others/puppets/etc... it's a different story when they're expected to share their OWN things.

An interesting, quick read. Recommended to the popular science fans, just take the title as a loose guideline rather than descriptive of the book as a whole.

Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin

Grandin is an autistic woman who has always found animals easier to understand than people. She has spent years working to make slaughterhouses more humane and make the review process simpler so that plants are shut down when they need to be. (Because a 50 item checklist means if a slaughterhouse fails one or two items, no matter how serious, inspectors are more likely to let them slide.)

The book covers some of her work, including various experiments around animal intelligence, the work of others, and how our own human biases can affect the animals we live with (and the way experiments with animals are done). It also talks about why her autism has made it easier to understand animals. There is a lot of "normal people" talk in reference to allistic/neurotypical people, just as a warning.

It's a really fascinating book, and well worth a read for anyone who has pets (especially dogs) or deals with horses. The book covers a large swathe of information, but horses, dogs, and cows probably get the most time.

>161 mabith: I absolutely loved The Greenlanders when I read it, but I did read it in print, so maybe the audio did impact it negatively for you.

Goblins by Charles Grant

I started watching X-Files as a way-too-young kid when it first started. It was one of the few shows I was really really into (The X-Files and Sailor Moon, slightly strange bedfellows). I read some of the novels the sprung from it in middle school and really liked them, particularly Ground Zero and Ruins, both by Kevin J. Anderson. I'd thought those were the first, but then stumbled upon this title (and a second, Whirlwind) by Grant, which were actually the first two published.

Goblins is, unfortunately, not a good effort. I'm sure this is partly because it was published in 1994, and the series started in 1993. That resulted in Mulder and Scully not actually acting much like Mulder and Scully. In Anderson's efforts he really writes the characters as they are in the show, which makes a huge difference. The plot and pacing also just weren't done well. The concept was somewhat boring and not really suspenseful. Putting Mulder and Scully with inexperienced partners for the case also didn't make any sense whatsoever and didn't serve any purpose from a narrative or character development standpoint.

While I'm sure the other X-Files novels prospered from my young age when I read them (12-13), I know I was so engrossed in the show that getting the characterization wrong would have certainly killed the books for me, and they began with more interesting concepts as well.

Not recommended for anyone unless you're doing a dissertation on the development of the X-Files as a cultural phenomenon (I'm sure someone's doing that).

>168 rebeccanyc: I think yours is the review that made me add The Greenlanders to my list. If I'd found a nice character list online the audiobook would have been easier. I did still enjoy it, just feel sure I could have enjoyed more. It will still serve as a nice base for a re-read in print.

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier RE-READ

A favorite book by a favorite author, and my first re-read via the audio edition. This was one of the first long books that I read in one sitting. I picked it up as a teenager, on the recommendation of a family friend I was visiting (a librarian). It was, I think, everything I really wanted in a fantasy novel.

It is historical fantasy, set in early medieval Ireland and England (post Saxon invasion, pre-Norman, vikings not quite in full swing), a bit of fairy/folktale retelling, and extremely character focused with realistic characters. No one is 100% good, no event is !00% happy or sad, good people make mistakes and are held accountable, etc... Our duty of protection towards those who need it is a theme in Marillier's books, and characters' actions are never excused with "oh that's just how they are." The characters also pretty much fit their times, and live within social norms and familial expectations barring a few cases.

Sorcha is the 7th child of Lord Colum of Sevenwaters (himself a seventh son), the only daughter, whose mother died after giving birth to her. Her brothers are kind and protective of her, while their father is largely checked out. Colum and the older boys are caught up trying to regain an island occupied by the English. Life is going relatively smoothly until Sorcha and her brother Finbar rescue a prisoner who has been tortured and their father comes back from a trip engaged to a wicked woman who wants to tear the family apart. The fantasy element comes from elements of their religion and folklore being true, but no mythical creature serves as a main character, and the plot is always a mix of the human and fey issues.

Marillier has a great gift with characters, and with sucking me into a story. Even though I've read this a fair number of times I still felt so anxious and upset towards the end with one of the great villains (he's a real Villain's Villain). I would say her work all strives to build empathy. Even with her recent YA series, which is full-on fantasy, and not something I loved or will read again, I still had to read the last book in one sitting.

Caught up on my reviews now, but hopeless behind on reading other threads. Super stress here, now exacerbated by a sick cat. It's so hard when you can't communicate with the sick one. Feeling concerned that I've dropped all of my usual daily routines (which I generally find comforting).

I'm sorry about your sick kitty cat. Hope he or she gets better soon and things get back to normal for you as well.

>171 mabith: It is wonderful to find a book that you love so much you can read it over and over again. I don't think we ever get too many of those.

Thanks! She's the first indoor cat I've had, and while I'm good at talking the talk about pets not being permanent (plenty of pet death/disappearance growing up), when she's begging me to hold her numerous times a day a not eating much I find myself getting emotional. I adopted her before I got sick, if she hadn't been around and so supportive when I had to totally stop working I'm not sure I'd be around today, if I'm honest.

I've re-read more this year than I have the last few and I'm so happy about it. I reread ridiculously as a kid (same 20 books out from the library every month to re-read along with new books for three years running - my mom was so baffled), but I've never 'counted' them on LT before and found that meant I made less time for them.

At the end of the day, though, all that matters is your little kitty knows you love her. Apparently, she does. :) Have you taken her to the vet? I know that's always easier said than done - especially with a cat!

I went to the library a few weeks ago; two in the stack I checked out are re-reads. There's some comfort in reading the same thing. I just watched a lecture on a book I read recently and that very smart Professor guy said he had read that particular book 20 times or more since he was 14! (I had a hard time getting through it one time. LOL!)

Weirdly my cat who will hiss at family members who are frustrating me, is an angel with vets! I've found the probable issue and consulted a vet online, but for now I'm holding off going in person. Just doing the tests will be so expensive, and the likely issue can only be treated with medication, not cured. Partly it's a money issue, but even if I had the money, I'm not sure I'd spend it. I love my cat, but I feel like that kind of money should go to people in need. I owe her a good, comfortable life, but not necessarily the longest life possible. She was doing much better yesterday, so until it's worse again (if she stops eating all together or is obviously in pain) I'll keep her home. I bought her a rotisserie chicken when she wasn't eating and she will always eat some when I nudge her.

It is amazing the books we can reread that others hate or have a hard time with. I loved The Well of Loneliness when so many people can't get past the first 50 pages! What was the book from the lecture, if you don't mind my asking?

At least you now know what the problem is. that is always the worst part, whether human or four-footed, the not knowing what the problem is. I do hope she gets better.

The book I watched the lecture on was Stranger In A Strange Land. I've never heard of The Well of Loneliness. I'll have to look it up.

Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai

I was so impressed with Lai's first novel, Inside Out and Back Again, and loved her perfectly descriptive writing. She was also so adept at getting into the child's head and keeping her characters believable. In that her narrator is a young girl whose family just manages to get out of Saigon before the fall. Her father was missing, and she, her mother, and brothers are sponsored by a family in Alabama.

In Listen, Slowly our narrator is a 12 (almost 13, thank you) year old girl who has grown up in the US. Her parents came from Vietnam as children, and her father goes back every year to perform surgeries in poor areas. This year she is made to go so someone can stay with her grandmother as she returns to her village for the first time, since a detective has found some news of her husband, who was taken a few years before the family had to flee. Mai is not happy about this. She can understand but not speak Vietnamese and was planning a summer at the beach with her friends. At the same time she loves her grandmother and she is curious about her parents lives as refugees, but frustrated that they would never tell her about it.

It's an accurate picture of life at that age, I think. Wanting to get far from parental authority and being stroppy and dramatic, but caring deeply about your family and still being able to appreciate them. As an adult (and as a youngest child who had to constantly put up with being at events for older siblings) I sometimes wanted to shake her, but it was pretty realistic.

Lai's writing is beautiful, and I really recommend the audio edition so that you can hear the Vietnamese spoken. Her books are the ones that will spur children into wanting to turn a beautiful phrase.

>177 avidmom: Thanks! I've found Heinlein hard going myself due to the sexism (and being less than interested in that type of SF). The Well of Loneliness is an LGBT classic (written in the 1920s), and pretty depressing. It partly gets a bad wrap for the hard horrible life it portrays. Of course we need novels where LGBT characters get happy endings, but Hall is good at getting into the heads of everyone involved in the books and why they do what they do. That's the big strength of it, for me, and I liked her writing (and she hit upon something I was super insecure about when I first read it, which always makes a book a little special to us).

The Sibling Effect: What the Bonds Among Brothers and Sisters Reveal About Us by Jeffrey Kluger

I found this book really interesting, and I appreciated the writer having three siblings he grew up with (and two much younger half-siblings). He covers a lot of ground, including our feelings about only children and whether or not they do face disadvantages. I have four older siblings ranging from five to fourteen years older than me, the oldest two didn't live with us, and the younger two both left home when I was ten (one to live with an aunt to get away from delinquent friends, and one to boarding school). After feeling left behind or lost in the shuffle as a younger kid it was interesting (and good for me) to be a sort of only child for a bit.

He also talks about birth order traits, which I roll my eyes at. My closest siblings and I are basically the opposite of what those traits say we should be. There are so many other issues that impact children's personalities which easily alter that birth order stuff, not least of which are the parents' own personalities and the age differences between siblings. My parents are both oldest siblings, both very independent, and neither one cared at all what their siblings were doing. They had no understanding of the level of teasing (and general harassment) I went through because they couldn't understand wanting to bother with a younger sibling in the first place.

Kluger alternates his own experiences with various studies, and it is quite effective. Recommended to anyone interested in the subject. I don't feel it will be particularly helpful on a parenting level, so I wouldn't get it just for that.

The House With a Clock in Its Walls by John Bellairs

This was Bellairs first novel for children/young adults. It was initially written for adults and then rewritten for children at the behest of a publisher. I feel like this shows in the work, in terms of some odd pacing especially, and I'm wondering if the second in the series will feel different. I was a die-hard fan of Bellairs' Johnny Dixon series but didn't read any of the other series for reasons not entirely clear to me (I think I just felt too devoted to Johnny Dixon).

The pacing and mystery in this one felt odd, but I did like the characters. There are almost no women in the Johnny Dixon series, but this features Florence Zimmerman, a somewhat crochety older woman who I loved. The protagonist Lewis Barnavelt was good too. An over-weight, awkward, bad-at-sports boy with an interest in history, and Bellairs is not afraid to have his male characters cry, something I love. Johnny Dixon is also awkward and a lover of history (the history love is part of what drew me in as a kid).

Bellairs died quite young (51), and I think he'd be doing some really amazing things if he were alive today. I'm going to look for The Face in the Frost, his only adult novel soon. It's a fantasy book that was judged quite good when it was published. I will eventually read the next Barnavelt title, but my heart still belongs to Johnny Dixon, and I do sometimes wish that Bellairs could let his awkward protagonists be friends with OTHER awkward kids (vs popular kids).

The Rocketeer by Dave Stevens

If you were 8 or older when the movie The Rocketeer was released you probably enjoyed it. It's such a solid action/adventure movie, with some great humor, great settings, and the most villainous of villains. I knew it was based on some comic stories, but I'd never been able to find a complete edition. Happily I noticed they'd recently released it, and bought a copy for myself and one for my brother (rather regretting getting two at this point, at least it should be a solid resell to a used bookstore).

The comics have a very different feel and pacing from the movie (not too surprising) and are lacking in the charm and humor of the movie as well. They certainly feel geared toward the young, entitled, adult male audience. Jenny in the comics is basically Bettie Page, including doing nude pin up shoots (Page herself credited the comics, published in the early 80s, with revitalizing interest in her). She really just seems to be there so Stevens has an excuse to drawn a semi-nude woman (and as a reason Cliff needs to keep the jetpack, of course).

All in all, I'm somewhat disappointed. You rather expect the print source of a movie to be something special, but sometimes the movie is just so much better. Even without the movie to compare it to, I wouldn't have liked these comics.

The Pixilated Parrot by Carl Barks

This is the sixth volume of Barks' Donald Duck comics published (though technically it's volume 9 in the series). I wasn't familiar with any of the comics in this album, it didn't seem to have a particularly well known Duck story, but that might just be me.

Still a book full of solid stories and Barks' wonderful humor. I really appreciate the short essays on the various stories in the back of these volumes.

Also, it's sad we've lost the word pixilated in this sense (eccentric, whimsical, etc...) due to the use of pixelated.

Interesting set of reviews.

>180 mabith: As an only child, I'd be interested to see what he thinks the "disadvantages" are. There are disadvantages to being an only kid, but I didn't really see them or feel them until I grew up.

Enjoyed catching up on your reviews. Interesting collection of stuff. My son and his girlfriend are into comics (the new stuff) and patronize the one and only comic book store in town quite regularly. Fun stuff.

How is your kitty cat?

I have no idea if you would like the book or not but I recently read Lark and Termite and it seems like something you would be interested in. Parts of it are set in West Virginia and the other parts take place in Korea during the war. Lark and Termite are half-siblings and Termite was born with some disabilities.

>180 mabith: I am an only child so I am interested in what Kluger has to say about us. I don't think I could relate to the other parts of the book.

I hope your cat is doing okay!

How is your cat?

I read the Penderwick books to my children and I can tell you that the third book returns to the quality of the first.

As for the Rocketeer, I rented it one night when it was just my 11 year old and i and he got bored halfway through. He's usually quite attentive and willing to give a story a chance to build, but this and Top Gun left him cold. I found that Top Gun did not age well. The arrogant guy suffers a momentary setback, but triumphs anyway trope has run its course, thankfully.

Sole Survivor by Ruthanne Lum McCunn

I could have sworn I updated with this book. I have distinct memories of fixing the touchstone.

McCunn is writing about Poon Lim, a Chinese sailor who survived 133 days on a raft in the Atlantic ocean. This is the longest "survival at sea" to date, and all the more impressive given that Poon Lim was not an experienced sailor. He was a second steward on the merchant ship SS Benlomond when it was sunk by a German U-boat in 1942.

This was an early work in terms of non-fiction being written in a more novelized form, and it's very successful. Poon Lim was on an odd sort of raft with no sides, which undoubtedly helped him survive a particularly rough storm. His resourcefulness led him to make fishing hooks out of the spring in a flashlight and one of the nails on his raft. His system of drying and storing fish led to him being in much better physical shape than sailors rescued after shorter periods at sea.

It's an interesting book, and a good read for me. I'm weak for sea survival stories. It's not the most compellingly written book ever, but given difficulties in translation and communication I don't think it ever could have been. Recommended for fellow sea survival lovers.

>184 avidmom:, >185 Tara1Reads: They aren't so much his idea of disadvantages as much as the general societal ideas - less socialized (with other children at least), not as good at sharing, wants/needs a lot of attention, etc... Like anything else it depends a lot on the parents, whether the child has similar-age cousins around, whether the child is spoiled, whether the parents have siblings, etc... The main thing only children seem to feel when young is that they're the only receptacle for parental dreams. Actual studies show that being the only draw on finances and attention and such means only children vs multiples are at pretty even places. Maybe barring only children of very rich parents.

Katze, I've been meaning to read Jayne Anne Phillips, but have been spacing on the name, so I'm glad for the reminder!

My cat basically got better over night (stopped throwing up at least), so now I'm hoping she just ate something odd (she did try to eat a corn husk recently). She's not usually the sort to eat non-cat-food items. Now she somehow got fleas so it's fun fighting that off. Sigh!

>186 RidgewayGirl: Glad to hear that about the the Pendewicks books! Ah, see, I saw Rocketeer in the theatre with family, so I would have been 8 at the oldest (if we saw it in the second run theatre, though I don't think we did) and loved it then. The idea of a rocket pack was just TOO good. Plus fighting Nazis, of course.

Cousin Phillis by Elizabeth Gaskell

This is a novella by Gaskell, the last one she wrote published in 1864. It was interesting, since I've read all of her novels, but won't be a favorite.

A young man, Paul, (our narrator), working in a different part of the country is urged to call on a distant-ish cousin there. He is welcomed into the family and is quite taken by them, especially the daughter, Phillis. It's a simple story mostly about the young people and their attractions (relatively predictable, but two more parts were planned and unwritten, so it's hard to say where it would have ended up).

It is supposed to be the best of her novellas and a fitting run-up to Wives and Daughters. I can see that, certainly, and there's a slight similarity with one plot point. An interesting read for this Gaskell fan, though not one I loved or will feel the need to re-read.

Always interested to read reviews of books by Elizabeth Gaskell.

>190 baswood: I forgot to say in the review, I think it's the only work I've read by her that's written in the first person. It was pretty typical Gaskell in terms of being a bit different/modern, but I enjoy her enough that I'd rather she always write at length!

July's People by Nadine Gordimer

This is a classic banned South African novel. Gordimer gives an alternative world where the white South African establishment has been violently overthrown. July has worked for a white family for some time and helps them escape to his village.

The main thrust of the novel is how even in this situation the white family still feel entitled to whatever they want. The fact that they would have left the country already but they couldn't get their money out in time. Though July is their savior they still treat him as a servant, despite being Good Liberal White Folks. Gordimer's choice to focus on characters who see themselves as opposed to racism but do not examine their choices, words, or actions for casual racism was a good one.

Some aspects of this text haven't aged well, I think, but it was an interesting read.

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

An excellent work, though the length limits its scope. Dunbar-Ortiz examines various policies and acts by the US government against American Indians, and how the legacy of the Indian wars remains in standard military vernacular (referring to enemy territory as Indian country, often shortened to in country, and using the phrase "off the reservation" for a rogue agent/person, among others).

Well done, interesting, important read. Recommended.

>189 mabith: That cover is beautiful, though! Enjoyed your reviews. So glad your cat got better!

What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge

And now for something completely different...

I had such hopes for this classic of the 1870s. The main character, Katy, the oldest sibling, wants to be good but can't help getting into a bit of trouble. So much more spirit than milk-sop Polly of Five Little Peppers and How They Grew.

Things were bad enough with their disabled cousin coming and being that perfect, patient, kind, beautiful trope of disability. Therein included the line "A sick woman who isn't neat is a disagreeable object," which makes me rage (when you have a chronic illness looking neat so people don't dislike you really isn't top of the list of priorities).

Then of course Katy was injured and disabled and oh she was just soo mopey until cousin Goody Two Shoes gives Katy the speech her father gave her when she got ill - basically "this is god's way of making you good and sweet and pleasant, it's god's school of pain." Obviously Katy couldn't stay disabled, so becoming patient and perfect cures her.

An excerpt of a poem Katy writes:
"I used to go to a bright school
Where Youth and Frolic taught in turn;
But idle scholar that I was,
I liked to play, I would not learn;
So the Great Teacher did ordain
That I should try the School of Pain."

I was enjoying this book and then BAM two fists full of ableist nonsense and disabled character tropes.

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

This book deserves all the praise and attention it's received. It is such an important work and I recommend everyone read it. It is a letter Coates writes to his son, about his fears, about his attitudes shaped by a childhood vastly different than the one his son has had, about the difficulty in living in a world of institutional racism.

I'd especially recommend you give it to white people who deny having white privilege because they are part of another oppressed group (female, LGBT, disabled, poor, etc...). I think it will help people understand the nature of privilege and intersectionality. Our lives are never ruled by a single issue.

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Another great non-fiction read, and an important subject for everyone. It's likely that towards the end of your life you'll need help from someone and they may have to make decisions on your behalf or that you'll be the one helping someone else.

Gawande talks about the changes in eldercare, the switch from parents living with their children until death to living independently or in nursing homes, he talks about the ways doctors can do harm in these situations, and includes the backdrop of his own aging parents.

Content warning for a whole lot of ableism and total discounting of the lives of people with disabilities, often of the "I'd rather die than be in a wheelchair," variety. I wish Gawande had brought this up, or at least said "actually once people get to that point they don't kill themselves, they just adapt." Since that attitude is so prevalent you'd think able-bodied people would be more concerned with accessible spaces, but no (I mean, anyone can become disabled at any time, it's in your own best interests to fight for accessibility on all fronts).

The big thing to take from this is that we don't get to choose what kind of life is worthwhile to someone else. These choices are hard, and they may frustrate or anger us, particularly if the person is not set on extending their life, but we don't get to decide for our parents.

>194 avidmom: That's the best thing about finding cover images for all the books - seeing the pretty ones you didn't know existed!

Swallow Me Whole by Nate Powell

This was an interesting graphic novel, focusing on two step-siblings who both seem to have a mental illness which involves auditory and visionary hallucinations (their grandmother seems to as well). The story revolves around that and around extremely ordinary aspects of daily life for teens. It ended very suddenly and strangely. An interesting book, but not quite my cup of tea.

The drawing style was mostly great, but sometimes got way too sloppy in terms of facial expressions. It's a minor criticism, but the rest of the style wasn't really messy and it was very jarring to me.

Between the World and Me is on my ipad, waiting for me. I enjoy his articles for The Atlantic and always learn something.

That's interesting about the ableism in Being Mortal. I had my father read it after I did and we had a good discussion afterwards. My parents have since done a few legal things to make it clearer and easier on my brother and I when the time comes. My big take away was that while I may see the best thing for them to do, they're the ones who get to make the choices, even if I disagree. The safety vs. quality of life discussion was an important one.

Great to catch up with your reading. I read July's People decades ago. It's nice to be reminded of it and interesting that some aspects haven't held up.

So many new book posts here. I enjoyed the Penderwicks, I read the first two with my daughter. I would like to read Coates.

Just caught up with your thread, and enjoyed reading the reviews about different types of books!

>200 RidgewayGirl: It's a message I needed to absorb more in some ways. My mother and I manage to feel the same way about such issues and yet both feel annoyed at each other for not wanting to prolong life in certain ways.

>201 rebeccanyc: I think it's the usual gap in our knowledge and ideas, and learning to unpack such long histories of racism (just as there are some aspects in To Kill a Mockingbird which don't strike as well as they once did).

>202 dchaikin: I read Coates' memoir last year, which was very worthwhile, though Between the World and Me has such an intense focus that I think it's the more important one to pick up.

>203 chlorine: Thanks!

I recently found out that Patrick Stewart played John Thornton in the 1970s adaptation of North and South and was so excited to see that. Only then it was so incredibly awful that I couldn't keep going and had to watch the first episode of the more recent adaptation for the umpteenth time to cleanse my mind. They made Margaret Hale GIGGLY and Stewart just isn't the sort who can easily be relentlessly grim and brooding (at least I can't see him like that). Plus 1970s period pieces the costumes usually scream COSTUME rather than actual clothing, in every show I've seen (poor Upstairs Downstairs suffers from that, at least for the every day clothes).

The costuming in seventies historical mini-series are terrible, aren't they? I liked the current Poldark series and thought it would be fun to watch the earlier series. The main female character's costume looked exactly like the curtains in my grandmother's kitchen when I was a child and I could not continue.

>195 mabith: I remember loving What Katy Did when I read it as a child. I'm not surprised it's handling of disability is extremely outdated and patronising, but I think that's the case with quite a few social contexts in books from that era.

I hadn't really thought about it before, but you're right - even on TV dramas set in that era, disabled children in particular are always portrayed in a very one dimensional way.

>204 mabith: Yes, I reread To Kill a Mockingbird a few years ago after reading an article about it in The New Yorker, and I found some of it hard to take, especially how the black people had to be so perfect.

>206 RidgewayGirl: It seems kind of ridiculous, but I guess there was just less concern for accuracy or less knowledgeable costumers? I don't know. Though there are still issues, including with my beloved recent North and South adaptation. Poor people wearing black clothes, though I'm pretty sure at that point dark colors faded extremely quickly and weren't favored... Though I might be getting my dye-history dates mixed up.

>207 AlisonY: Honestly, it's still a huge issue in contemporary depictions of disability (few and far between as it is). We are either bitter and cruel or inspirational Pollyannas, and our stories largely end in death or cure. (often merely as side stories to develop a main character). Or take literary depictions of autism which nearly always feature white, straight men/boys whose autism manifests in genius abilities with the only negative being awkward/blunt social interaction. I think of older children's stories dealing with disability the best I've read is Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Lost Prince. The disabled character isn't cured, he isn't bitter, Burnett shows that he has to work incredibly hard in order to become more mobile, etc... It's not perfect, but lord save me from sunshine and fresh air cures (those of us with more invisible chronic illnesses are still told yoga and a positive attitude will cure us, so this really strikes a nerve with me).

>208 rebeccanyc: It's depressing how much respectability politics like that still goes on, in numerous circles.

A Backpack, A Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka by Lev Golinkin

This memoir of Golinkin's childhood in Russia and his family's escape was a fascinating read. The attempt to get Soviet Jews out in the latter half of the 20th century is one of those events that don't register in our memories when we think of the refugee experience. Golinkin's internalized anti-Semitism, taking many years to overcome, is so heartbreaking.

My reading of this was also informed by an online friend who recently shared her story of being a Russian Jewish refugee in Germany around the same period as Golinkin. She still struggles to feel at home there decades later, as even now Germans continue to ask where she's really from and compliment her German.

The book mostly deals with Golinkin's childhood perspective with added information about the process of leaving Russia and the way various organizations worked. He did return Austria (their way-station before going to the US) as an adult and attempt to answer questions he had about their particular circumstances.

This is an under-represented part of world history, definitely recommended.

Jovah's Angel by Sharon Shinn RE-READ

This is the second in Shinn's Samaria trilogy. It takes place roughly 150 years after the events in Archangel during a period of upheaval and change. In Samaria the angelic race (who have functioning wings) have specific prayers to sing to the god, Jovah, which effect changes in weather, rains of medicines or seeds, and lightning strikes. Different angel holds support each region of the country, lead by the Archangel (chosen by the god, changed every 20 years).

Samaria is now beset by rain and storms, and Jovah does not seem to hear the prayers the angels send up (for weather intercessions). Only the angel Alleluia is able to reach the god. When the archangel Delilah is injured in a storm and no longer able to fly the god chooses Alleluia as her replacement. Samaria has also advanced technologically, having gas and electric lights, and a newly developed combustion engine. New factories are changing the face of cities and the usual teething problems of industry are present, as well as friction between the nomadic Edori and the settled merchant interests. Alleluia is quiet, dislikes singing in public, and is the last person most want as Archangel (including herself).

I can't say too much about this without big spoilers, but I really love this series and the huge reveal in this book. In my re-read of Archangel I loved picking up on all the pretty darn obvious foreshadowing that I didn't notice in my first read (I live in the characters' moments when I read). It's still a really fun concept, and I love the discussions of technology and religion. Unlike others in the series this one doesn't have a real villain. It's very much a humans vs nature book.

>210 mabith: I love the title too! Dolatov's The Suitcase is a fictionalized version of when he left the Soviet Union, and his Pushkin Hills deals with his character's conflicted views about leaving (in part).

Rebecca, the title is definitely part of why it stood out to me! I've got The Suitcase on my list since I really enjoyed Pushkin Hills. Golinkin and his family left later, in 1989 or 1990.

Dragonsong Dragonsinger Dragondrums by Anne McCaffrey (Harper Hall Trilogy) RE-READ

Forgot to post about these! That's what I get for thinking "Oh I'll post when I've done with all three." If anyone is thinking that Gary (valkyrdeath) and I read a lot of the same books it's because we simultaneously listen to them. It's a very miniature book club.

First read (and listened) to these when I was in middle school. I really love the first two, which should just be one longish book (but you know how publishers are). The third is fine, but pretty removed, and I could never feel comfortable with a main character doing something that would bring disrepute and dishonor to the Harper Hall and those who had helped him. There are questionable medical ethics as well from our otherwise shiningly good characters and it doesn't sit well.

Highly recommend the first two especially to any middle grade readers. I really admire McCaffrey's skill with world building, and the way that she uses familiar language for foreign foods and technology that's immediately understandable for the reader without any extra explanation. I've read a few of the early Pern books and enjoyed them well enough, and really liked at least the first couple of Acorna books. Even if she's not to your taste, she's a writer to be admired.

The Upright Thinkers: The Human Journey from Living in Trees to Understanding the Cosmos by Leonard Mlodinow

I think maybe the subtitle presents this book as having more of straight line chronology than it actually does, but it was a good read. It examines how our minds differ from those of the smartest primates, and how knowledge and research into the universe progressed.

Not bad writing at all, and worth a read so long as you're not looking for something too deep and focused. I'm not stupendously science minded, so as we got to the modern age my brain had a harder time focusing.

The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry

This is a YA novel with a great premise that didn't quite pay off. The headmistress of a small (tiny really) boarding school and her brother die at dinner, both presumably poisoned. While the girls don't care all that much, they also don't want to be sent home, so they try to cover up the deaths when the neighbors come. That hooked me right in, especially since one of my favorite movies as a kid was Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead.

Berry sets this book in the Victorian period, but other than her telling us that there's not much to place it precisely there. She tries to parody Victorian (I'd say more 20s-50s really, or Edwardian at the earliest) girls boarding school life, but the farce doesn't really go far or deep enough. The pacing is strange as well and the end a bit too neat.

Not really recommended for anyone. I was expecting a lot more out of it.

Servants: A Downstairs History of Britain From the Nineteenth Century to Modern Times by Lucy Lethbridge

I found this to be a really fascinating read on a number of levels, and I think it's well written and organized. The upper class being so confused as to why young women would rather slave in a factory than go into service is pretty hilarious. This held a special interest for me when she talks about how awkward people become with servants later on. I qualify for a home health aide and it's a huge struggle (most of us aren't brought up to be sitting while someone cleans our things, for one).

The book brought up some memoirs of servants that I've now put on my list to read (mostly Margaret Powell's). Upstairs Downstairs was my mom's thing to watch after we kids were all in bed, and I greatly enjoyed it once I was 13 or so.

I will say the audiobook is pretty annoying. I wish non-fiction readers would understand they really don't have to do accents for quotes. If they're great at the accent fine, but most of the time it's not relevant that so-and-so they're quoting was American. If it is relevant the text will remind us of that multiple times. So sick of hearing terrible American accents in non-fiction audiobooks.

Recommended if you have an interest in labor history, trends in servants, etc...

Servants and The Upright Thinkers sound like prefect audiobooks (if The Upright Thinkers has an audio version). Too bad about the accents.

Dan, they were good as audiobooks. I seem to be bothered by accents more than many audiobook listeners, so it might not bother you (and it's not like every other quote is from an American). It was a great book for "huh, I didn't know that," facts.

The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander RE-READ

This is my first re-read of this since the single reading I did as a kid. Then and now I preferred Alexander's other work to his very high fantasy series (Vesper Holly, of course, and Time Cat and The Wizard in the Tree). I'd forgotten how old this was, having originally been published in 1964.

The age actually makes the book more impressive, because while it is a high fantasy story, Taran (protagonist, would-be hero, and assistant pig keeper) has most of his expectations of how hero-ing should go dashed. Alexander gives us this story but also pokes fun at it, and there's nothing easier to joke about than high epic fantasy.

It's definitely a fun one, if not a favorite of mine, and I'd recommend it for any child interested in fantasy.

Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea by Mark Blyth

Blyth has written an extremely readable and readily understandable book on one of the most important economic recovery theories we face today. At the beginning he covers the answers you'll find in the book, and divides it up so that if you want to know A just read section A, if you want a quick overview just read section B etc...

You can feel how passionate Blyth is about understanding the recent financial crash and the responses to it, and discovering what really helps a country recover. He gives us historical and current examples and examines the instances when it's claimed austerity worked in detail, pointing out factors that were ignored or erased.

American readers take note that Blyth is Scottish and uses the term liberal in the UK political sense, more akin to libertarian, not how we use it in the US. The book is concise and the writing never feels dry or overly academic.

Highly recommended.

I think I would love Austerity. It is definitely not the way to go.

It's pretty much a nightmare for me. I rely on government benefits, and the prospect of being financially dependent on family again (as much as I love them) is disheartening. Even in the healthiest of family that often breeds resentment on both sides. If I didn't currently qualify for extra Medicaid subsidies (which pay whatever Medicare doesn't) I'd be back to having no disposable income whatsoever. I've lived like that before and it's so bad for mental health.

Have you ever seen Robert Reich's doc. "Inequality for All"? I liked that one.

I do hear you loud and clear about how lack of fundulation wears on one's mental health!

Son of the Shadows by Juliet Marillier RE-READ

This is the second in Marillier's Sevenwaters trilogy, and my favorite of the series (I think it's tied with Wolfskin for my favorite Marillier book). I don't pick up books specifically for romantic storylines (Marillier's books usually have a relationship that's part of the bigger plot), but my favorites are always those that start out with the eventual couple bickering and disagreeing and misunderstanding each other. I'm not sure if this is because I'm fairly emotionally guarded myself or just because I'm an argumentative person!

This is a historical fantasy book, set in a real place and time (old Ireland, maybe 6th or 7th century CE). They focus on the house of Sevenwaters, which has struggled to put itself back to rights after facing destruction in Daughter of the Forest. While that first book focused on Sorcha, the second focuses on her daughter Liadan (and the third moves down another generation). When I first read the book this made me sad, because I was attached to other characters, but after re-reads of most of her books, I think that style of linked book works best for Marillier.

Liadan is the good, quiet daughter who was supposed to give them no surprises (guess how that works out). When her sister, Niamh, chooses a partner the older generation finds disastrous, she is packed off in a hasty marriage leaving Liadon and her twin Sean confused about why the man was so unsuitable. As Liadon travels part of the way to Niamh's new home she is abducted by a band of mercenaries who need her healer's skills to treat a comrade.

I suppose some parts of this are just setting up the third book in the series, but it's a complete story in its own right. Marillier is really exceptional about sucking me into the characters lives and feelings. She doesn't avoid hard questions, she doesn't avoid moral quagmires, her characters are realistically flawed. The characters deal with secrets, anger, jealousy, fear, prejudice, and pretty much every issue we face. As is often the case with Marillier's writing, characters (even the good guys) have to face up to their mistakes. Though in this one the older sister's tendency to cruelly lash out when she's upset is excused way more than I think it should be (I have a sibling who does that, and you know, we all get stressed, we don't all take it out on easy targets and expect them to forget it).

I still love this book, though the audio edition really needed a younger sounding reader (she gets better as the book goes on, but still). Marillier's books have gotten more than their share of poor audio editions. I'm not sure if that's because Marillier signed away rights to them early or she just doesn't care much. Her newest book one of the readers is an American even though it's still historical fantasy set in 6th-7th century Scotland. Her Bridei chronicles books all have editions read by the wonderful Michael Page now, at least.

Enabling Acts: The Hidden story of How the Americans with Disabilities Act Gave the Largest US Minority its Rights by Lennard J. Davis

I was slow in starting this book, in part because of feeling generally depressed about how the ADA has failed in enforcement, particularly when it comes to employment protections. This is especially rich since the Republican justification for it was always “then more disabled people will be employed and won't need benefits.” After it passed the early court decisions totally shrunk the scope of what is or isn't a disability, to the extent that when two pilots were denied employment at United Airlines because they were nearsighted if they weren't wearing glasses/contacts, the court said they didn't have protection under the ADA because their impairments were corrected via glasses. Only they were still denied based on an impairment... This ruling affects wheelchair users as well, and anyone whose impairment is corrected with a device or medication. I know many people who were denied employment because they needed the accommodation of sitting down behind a checkout counter. That tiny thing, which causes no financial impact to a business, is still keeping disabled people from working and keeping us in poverty.

Once I did start the book, it was a good, compelling read, though don't believe the cover blurb about it being “a spellbinding political thriller.” Davis writes well, and with some insight into disability pre-ADA (his parents are both Deaf), but he is not disabled and he does fall into ableist language at times (though being disabled doesn't necessarily prevent that, of course). The organization of the book is good though, and he describes the people involved well. The ADA was unusual in it's formation, as there was a strict agreement that meetings would go on behind closed doors (mostly without any disabled people there, by the by) and no one would talk to the press. That way there would be less press and public pressure and response to specifics of the legislation, meaning more politicians were willing to back it.

It wasn't quite a five-star read for me (and I can't help but wish it had been authored by a disabled person). I recommend this book to everyone, really, in part to increase understanding of being disabled in the US (and keeping in mind this is one of the easier places in the world to be disabled). It's also an important reminder of just how different things are now, post-ADA. Curb cutouts, elevators in metro stations, accessible buses, these are relatively new and now (mostly) ubiquitous things. There are still many architectural barriers to accessibility, but it is so much better now, and it's easy to take those seemingly simple changes for granted.

I made a lot of notes in Enabling Acts, some of which I'd like to share, but didn't want to make the review even longer. First, a few criticisms.

(pg 80) “Feldblum, herself lesbian and bisexual...”
--Uhh... If he didn't know her identity he could have said she was a member of the LGBT community.

(pg 90) “Because Senator Dole had a disability, he didn't have to actively endorse any bill to get the votes of people with disabilities.”
--Because that's how we vote. Riiight. Not to mention that disability encompasses an enormous range of issues (most of which are not embodied in Dole).

(pg 131)
“The idea in the poem was that the lives of disadvantaged people should not be ignored or dismissed “with disdainful smile,” that their existence was as important as those with beauty, power, and wealth.”
--Because disabled people can't be beautiful? We are already seen as sexless in general, we don't need books about the ADA falling into that.

Now for the interesting/infuriating bits and pieces.

He begins with a treatment of section 504 of the Rehabilitation act of 1973, which included these lines to tie it to other civil rights legislation (getting people to recognize that disability was a civil rights issue was an important part of the ADA process):
No otherwise qualified handicapped individual in the United Sates, as defined in section 7(6), shall, solely by reason of his handicap, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.

If there hadn't been intense legal backlash to the protections in Section 504, the ADA might never have been written. A wide interpretation of 504 would have sufficed.

(Pg 33) “When the Office of Management and Budget, headed by David Stockman, well-known proponent of trickle-down economics, proposed further changes that would be coming two months later, these were also leaked. They included a particularly odious provision that said you could weigh the necessity of providing an accommodation against “the social value” of a particular person. Bob Funk commented: “this was a cost-benefit analysis of how human you are.”
This led to a backlash of 40,000 angry letters over a few years, and led to Bush's (George H. W.) first statement of support for disability legislation. Bush's support might well have been what propelled him to victory in the Presidential election, as Dukakis was conspicuously silent on disability rights.

(pg 37) Lex Frieden, who broke his neck in a car wreck and was quadriplegic, applied to Oral Roberts University as it was newer and had a more accessible campus, but was told flat out he was denied because of his disability. This was his first big setback and a spur to becoming a leader in the fight for the ADA. “We were sending men to the moon. It was just another one of those challenges in life that people have. Then, when I was told I couldn't do something—the only thing I thought I could do—that I wasn't able to do it because of my disability, then I felt guilty. I felt like, my God, I screwed my life up worse than I thought here. That was really traumatic.”

(pg 53) I was continually amazed while reading at the ridiculous “logic” used against ADA language.
The case then went to the Supreme Court, which ruled unanimously that “otherwise qualified” was a tricky term. Essentially, the court said that a person might be “otherwise qualified” but particular disabilities would disqualify him or her from taking a job. The court used the example of a blind person who was applying to be a bus driver.”
If you want a job driving a bus then knowing how to drive already is part of “otherwise qualified” since you're not qualified if you don't already know how to drive!

On the employment side I get so frustrated. Stores often aren't willing to let someone sit behind a checkout counter, and they get away with it because of the narrowing of ADA definitions and because generally we disabled people don't have the time, energy, or money to fight this stuff. The other side is healthcare based. For those of us at the very bottom of Social Security Disability payments, you receive help paying for Medicare premiums and co-pays and such from Medicaid. If your income goes up $1 you lose that, and usually we can't make enough to cover that loss in help. If you only break-even on that then it's better not to get a job (and thus have no chance of finding just the right employment opportunity that would help raise us out of poverty).

(pg 86)
“Coelho didn't get the diagnosis of epilepsy until he tried to enter the priesthood in 1964, inspired to do some good in the world after the shock of the Kennedy assassination. His parents, frat brothers, and girlfriend of five months were all aghast. In his physical exam for the seminary, he was properly diagnosed. The physician, John Doyle, told him, “I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that you're unfit for military duty. The bad news is that you will not be able to become a Catholic priest, because canon law, established in 400 AD, said that if you have epilepsy you're possessed by the devil.”
1964!!! What the hell.

(Pg 94)
“Owens ended with a sweeping statement of inclusion. He noted that he had recently learned the term “temporarily able-bodied” could be applied to all “non-disabled” people. The phrase indicates that being “normal” is only a temporary state. He went on: “When you think about it, our entire country is made up of disabled people and temporarily able-bodied people. The people we are protecting are not a mysterious, distant 'them,' but rather ourselves.”

So a lot of religious groups wanted exemption from having to follow the ADA, and that really upsets me. Like, churches, temples, mosques, etc... you should be automatically making them accessible! Come on.

(pg 207) Regarding the Chapman ammendment that would remove protection for HIV+ people:
“The reality is that many Americans would refuse to patronize any food establishment if an employee were known to have a communicable disease.”
I laughed hysterically at this, because in general Republicans don't seem to think restaurant workers deserve paid sick days and encourage “right to work” legislation so workers can be fired for such things as, oh, calling in sick. People with communicable diseases are constantly making our food!

(pg 235)
Case of golfer who couldn't walk the PGA course and wanted to use a cart for the tour was denied it. He sued, won in lower court, PGA tour appealed to the Supreme Court. Court ruled Martin could use the cart because he had a disability, the PGA was a place of public accommodation, the cart was a reasonable accommodation, and walking was not an essential activity of golfing. The only two justices dissenting were Scalia and Thomas.
“Scalia's withering dissenting opinon contested what he called the “Kafkaesque” role of government in determining the rules of sporting events.

This is the kind of stuff that really really gets to me. This is the kind of exclusion that disabled people face on a daily basis, for no good reason. We have a serious problem with internalized ableism, and one way it manifests is discomfort around people with disabilities, and the idea that productivity equals worth and if you're not working you don't deserve the same things working people have.

Very interested to read your review and thoughts on Enabling Acts, Meredith. Thanks for sharing something that I don't know enough about.

Your notes on Enabling Acts were very interesting. You're absolutely right that churches and other religious institutions should have been at the forefront of accessibility instead of fighting it!

I agree completely with >228 japaul22:.

>227 mabith: Stores often aren't willing to let someone sit behind a checkout counter, and they get away with it because of the narrowing of ADA definitions and because generally we disabled people don't have the time, energy, or money to fight this stuff.

This is something I've thought about since realizing that in most European countries, all cashiers sit. And it made me wonder why it's a requirement to stand in the US. I'm positive there are some jobs that can't be done seated, but running a cash register isn't one of them.

I am always happy to bring the disability education. Particularly in this world where people still put quotes about ableism, given that a building's age is considered more important than accessibility. Also I really need the answer to why all new buildings aren't fitted with automatic doors (at least of the push button variety). I've been to pain clinics with ridiculous heavy doors. Social Security, for my disability recertification, sent me to a doctor's office that was completely inaccessible to wheelchairs.

>231 ursula: Someone in the US decided it "looked lazy" to have cashiers sitting and it spread to every business, basically. Standing still in one spot for eight hours is incredibly hard on your legs (harder than walking for that long), but who cares about the actual people...

And from a book specific thing - most used bookstores are totally inaccessible if you use a wheelchair, walker, or even just a cane. It's one of the most depressing things in my life that used bookstores are largely barred to me. Same with a lot of library book sales.

Juat wanted to say that your posts on Enabling Acts are interesting and informative.

The Lady and Her Monsters: A Tale of Dissections, Real-Life Dr. Frankensteins, and the Creation of Mary Shelley's Masterpiece by Roseanne Montillo

This was an interesting read, covering the scientific experimentation happening during Shelley's childhood (mostly galvanism), and a moderate exploration of her life. I do think it's padded out though. Always interesting to read about Burke and Hare and the body-snatching, but Montillo spends way more time than is warranted on that. It doesn't really have a firm connection to what this book is supposed to focus on.

Amusing line about Shelley's father when he'd met his second wife: "The professor is COURTING," his friend Charles Lamb said. "The Lady is a widow (a disgusting woman) and the Professor has grown quite juvenile. He bows his head when spoken to, and smiles without occasion...You never saw...anyone play Romeo so unnaturally."

It's interesting to me that our culture (in the US) generally has a negative reaction to people being head over heels in love. Smiling without occasion, that's just the beginning of the end. And here's Godwin's view on prison.

Godwin told the prisoner he hoped this time alone would allow him to "reflect on his error." Perhaps being imprisoned would let him feel "the beauty of universal benevolence."

The padded out bits didn't bother me hugely, and I think it's an important angle on Shelley's inspirations. Recommended if you like the annals of nutso old science.

The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry that Built America's First Subway by Doug Most

Well, this rivalry wasn't that big, or wasn't represented that well in the book. It was still an interesting book, particularly if you have any interest in engineering. Lots of digging and accidents and "oh no we've run into a dead body."

Again, interesting, though not as dramatic as the subtitle states. A solid history read otherwise.

>234 mabith: Recommended if you like the annals of nutso old science.

You are speaking my language!

It's a great genre of non-fiction! Granting now I'm wondering what experiments being done today will seem absolutely ridiculous in 200 years.

Beloved by Toni Morrison

This was one of my suggestions for my book club, which most of them didn't enjoy. We vote on suggestions though, so I don't feel bad, they all had time to look up more information about the book. Most of them had issues with the style.

I really liked it and pretty much everything about it. I loved the living house, I loved the changes in time, I loved the fragmentation as Sethe's emotional state builds, and the path her character takes. The writing is full to brimming with emotion and it's a novel that must speak to the heart to be loved, I think. All of Morrison's choices made solid character sense to me.

I was one of the last in the bookclub to finish, and was apprehensive after so many people weren't liking it. Looking forward to reading more by Morrison.

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

This is the hot new YA fantasy novel. It was a good read, though I'm not blown away by it (I'm not a huge fan of fantasy though, and it had the "love at first sight, drawn to a person for no reason" trope that I hate). That's what I like about Juliet Marillier (and Sharon Shinn for that matter), her love relationships build over time generally. Difference between YA and adult fiction, I guess.

Marginalized group living under oppressive rule of ultimate evil group, young woman's family is gone, her brother taken before her eyes and to get the rebellion to rescue him she must go undercover and serve the sadistic local ruler who killed her parents. Who can she really trust, etc...

It's one of those that ends in the middle of the story, though from what I can tell it won't be a long series or even a trilogy, just two books. Where it left off it felt like it really wouldn't have taken another whole book to resolve things, but we'll see.

Not a bad read at all, but maybe over-hyped. If you're a big fantasy or YA fan you'll probably want to pick it up.

An Ember in the Ashes is the hot new YA book. I keep running into it, despite not being a reader of YA. Thanks for the review - I may pick up a copy for my daughter. She likes dystopian settings, but generally likes them to be more hard-edged stuff rather than romantic, though.

My book club chose Paradise by Toni Morrison last year and that book split our group. I came down on the side of those that didn't like it. However I believe that Beloved is generally considered a better book, but I guess I will wait until my book cub chooses to read it.

>240 RidgewayGirl: There's not much romance in An Ember in the Ashes more like the seeds of it. I think reading it concurrent with Beloved probably had a negative effect on it.

>241 baswood: Morrison's The Bluest Eye is on high school reading lists here, so I'm assuming it's more accessible perhaps (at least in terms of style). It was recommended to me as a non-Beloved starting point with Morrison, which I'd wanted to read before this month, but the best laid plans and all that.

The Bluest Eye was assigned reading in the core course of my college at UC Santa Cruz. I really, really disliked the book and have not read any Morrison since. I'll get over it one day and read other books by her. (She has a few at least on the 1001 list, so those are sometime in my future.)

Glad you enjoyed Beloved. I think it's one of the best books I've ever read. Of course, it's not for everyone and not exactly a welcoming read and she's not exactly nice and open to the reader.

Paradise is not in the same class. But The Bluest Eye is considered one of her four classics. The other three are Beloved, Song of Solomon and Sula.

I feel like her books are definitely not as suited to the high school and early college ages. I don't think I'd have enjoyed Beloved as much in high school. There's a lot to be said for having more emotional maturity, more life experience, and a better sense of history when reading certain books.

I am very sad the audio edition didn't work for me though, as it could have been even more effective that way. Morrison reads it, but her voice is too whispery and just not clear enough. Since she's the reader I doubt another audio edition will be made for some years (ideally I'd like multiple readers who take on the different time periods).

>239 mabith: I just started a book by Juliet Marillier, Daughter of the Forest, so I'm glad to know you like her. Not very tempted by An Ember in the Ashes on the other hand!

I hope you like it, Florence! Marillier always sucks me into being heavily invested in her characters. Daughter of the Forest was her first novel, and isn't quite as smooth writing wise (that trilogy especially she's writing as thought it's an oral story being told, which works for me) as some of her others. She's definitely someone you read for the characters rather than for beautiful turns of phrase.

Mrs. Adams in Winter: A Journey in the Last Days of Napoleon by Michael O'Brien

I'd initially put this on my list without looking closely, thinking that it was about Abigail Adams. It's actually about Louisa Johnson Adams, the wife of John Quincy Adams, and the only First Lady born outside of the US (English mother, American father, grew up in England and France). Her marriage, while not terrible, wasn't great either, and Adams was not a loving person in general, and didn't believe love-match marriages were a good thing.

The book is part biography of Louisa and part travelogue of her journey from St. Petersburg to London, taking forty days. Not too far into her journey Napoleon escaped from Elba, increasing the chaos and danger of the trip.

It was a generally interesting read, but nothing amazing. Recommended for Presidential/First Lady history readers. Mostly made me want to break out the family tree to see exactly how I'm related to the Adams men.

Just Send me Word: A True Story of Love and Survival in the Gulag by Orlando Figes

This book springs from an almost certainly unique collection of letters. As with many Russians who had been captured by the Germans during WWII, Lev Mishchenko was sent to a gulag after the war ended. His pre-war sort-of sweetheart, Svetlana Ivanova, and he wrote each other for the eight years of his imprisonment in the Pechora labor camp (and they even managed a couple of visits). There are 1,246 letters in the collection.

What is unique is that the letters survived, given the danger in keeping them (especially as many were smuggled in), and particularly that Lev's letters to Sveta survived. Just being related to a prisoner could spell disaster for a person on the outside, let alone being in contact with them. Lev saved and hid the letters from Sveta and when a certain number accumulated they were smuggled out of the camp and back to Sveta. It is an invaluable archive of life in that period and in a labor camp.

I picked this up as it was the only title by Figes my library had on audio (what I really want to read are his books The Whisperers and Natasha's Dance). It was very interesting and, since much of it is quotations from the letters, so personal. I was braced for a very unhappy ending to their tale, but was pleasantly surprised. Lev is eventually released and he and Sveta are able to marry and finally make a life for themselves.

General recommendation if you're interested in this part of history.

>247 mabith: She's definitely someone you read for the characters rather than for beautiful turns of phrase.

That works for me! I'm liking it so far.

Just catching up, Meredith. Some great reviews and discussion going on here.

>248 mabith: The biography of Mrs. Adams doesn't sound like the best book, but yet I was fascinated by everything in your review.

>249 mabith: Just Send Me Word sounds terrific. I've wanted to read The Whispers.

Enjoying your reviews - lurking and reading away at them in the background!

>251 NanaCC: >253 AlisonY: Thanks!

>252 dchaikin: Dan, I think I've read too many really impeccably done history books and the average ones suffer from that. It's probably also an issue of interest, and maybe it focused too much on the biography of her vs the actual coach trip. One of those "not sorry I read it, but it's not one I'll be recommending widely" books. The palpable mutual love and respect in Just Send Me Word really took it to the next level, aside from being such a unique record. It was a nice reminder that decent human feeling can't be entirely blotted out, even in the most insidious and paranoid regimes.

The Dust That Falls From Dreams by Louis de Bernieres (look at that gorgeous cover and yet there's another version which is awful and doesn't fit the time period at all and HOW COULD THEY ALLOW THAT!)

I saw bryanoz's review of this and it immediately went on my to-read list. Thankfully my library obliged me by ordering the audiobook for me, as the readers were very good and brought something extra to this wonderful book.

It's first and foremost a family saga, taking place before, during, and after the First World War. If there's one book that perfectly encapsulates the change of mood (and some changes in society) between pre and post-WWI Britain, this is it. The writing is beautiful, but even more so the characters are so alive. The book seemed so realistic to me that at times it felt like a memoir.

A perfectly stunning read. After finishing I felt the only thing I could do was pick up the trashiest novel I own (well, the first in the only series of trashy novels I own). Trying to pick up another serious fiction title just after would have shone badly on the new book (probably) but I also just wanted to hang on to this one and its characters a bit longer.

Heartily recommended. This is one I'll definitely want to re-read.

Coincidentally, I have just started The Dust that Falls from Dreams. The opening garden party reminds me of the opening of The Children's Book.

Probably not a book for me, but I agree with you -- the cover is gorgeous.

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton

I try not to be embarrassed about anything I read, but the Anita Blake series comes pretty close (especially since I believe more people are familiar with the later books). It has the reputation of being full of sex, but the main character doesn't have sex until the sixth book in the series (and she narrates them, so it's not like we're seeing other characters' sex scenes). I read and enjoyed the first nine and then it just got a little too ridiculous to continue.

Anita Blake is a professional necromancer, raising zombies for a living mostly for the purpose of clarifying wills, telling the family where XYZ is, etc... She is also on retainer with the police department's preternatural crimes unit. In this world vampires have been living opening for two years and while the surface is mainstream the underbelly of vampire politics is not. Blake is a professional when it comes to hunting down rogue vampires who have broken the law and in their community she's known as the Executioner.

The books aren't horribly written, and Hamilton was wise in letting Anita narrate them. They are casual, and Anita's sarcasm is there on every page. Hamilton also lets her be scared, and be realistic about her own abilities vs a vampire's supernatural speed and other powers. Anita has a full life outside of interacting with vampires, she has female friends, she has a history. They're fast reads, with the action rarely stopping and lots of gun talk. I first read these when I was 17 and 18, but they're still really fun reads today, and I've re-read my favorites many times. All the books involve a police case, which usually end up wrapping Anita up in vampire politics.

This was first published in 1993, and it seems like they mark the start of a turning point in vampire fiction (these involve all sorts of preternatural creatures), away from the Anne Rice style and towards the more urban "what if vampires were just a mainstream part of life." When True Blood came out I couldn't help feeling it was a bit of a rip-off of Anita Blake only less well-balanced. I gave the first book from the series it's based on a read but the writing was just so terrible.

>256 RidgewayGirl: Interestingly, if this hadn't come from the library I would have picked up The Children's Book instead. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

>257 rebeccanyc: A good cover is always appreciated. It's seems ridiculous that any book should have a bad cover these days, and yet...

The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander

This is the book that the Disney movie The Black Cauldron was very very loosely based on. Alexander said that as a book movie it's a failure, but just as a movie it's good.

This one is quite as fun as The Book of Three, which happily pokes fun at the epic/high fantasy tradition (perhaps unusual as these were published in the 1960s). The Black Cauldron has less of that and is more of a partial "read the next volume" story. It does have some very fun scenes, particularly with the witches.

>258 mabith: I love the series, no shame! The later books did start getting a bit too carried away but meh, the good stuff was still there too, mixed in. Lol. I love her style.

You have me intrigued with The Dust That Falls From Dreams. I hated Captain Corelli's Mandolin so I've always avoided anything else de Bernieres has written. But it's 20 years since I gave it a go, and maybe if I read it now I'd love it.

I definitely enjoy family sagas, so I think you've convinced me to give him another try.

Very interested in The Dust That Falls From Dreams. I liked Captain Corelli's Mandolin when I read it years ago (though I don't remember much of it) and I love reading about the shift of pre-WWI vs post-WWI.

Alison, it's the first I've read of his, so I can't help too much with an opinion there. Maybe see if you can get the first chapter as a trial e-read? It's very very beginning is more historical than personal, but I think it largely starts as it means to go on.

Jennifer, I'll be interested to see what you think if you read it! The mood/social shifts aren't loud in The Dust that Falls From Dreams, but very personal. Grief and isolation are somewhat central, but not overwhelming. I guess that's sort of a theme really, it's not a loud book that will have you bawling, it's more understated and personal (I don't think, though I'm not a book-cryer), and that's part of what made it seem realistic really.

The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey by Rinker Buck

I feel like the name Rinker Buck predestines you to do something like buying a covered wagon and team of mules, and embarking on the Oregon trail with only your brother who you mildly dislike along to help.

If you're looking for a true history of the trail, this isn't that book. It has a lot about the trail and the periods of migration and issues faced by travelers, but more of the book focuses on the author's journey and his relationship with his family (particularly his brother Nick and his father).

It was an interesting read, and a good enough book. Nothing particularly amazing, but good. I also appreciated that Buck didn't try to be a trail purist and eschew modern gadgets and things. That wasn't the purpose of the trip. While really totally immersing yourself in a period of history can be helpful in learning some things (ala Ruth Goodman's farm programs), that wasn't the purpose of this trip.

I feel like this would be a nice light history travel/beach book.

Coot Club by Arthur Ransome

This is the fifth book in Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series, but this book contains neither Swallows nor Amazons. Instead it focuses on Dick and Dorothea Callum, who met the Swallows and Amazons the previous winter and had great adventures with them. Dick and Dot are eager to learn to sail and assume that staying with a family friend on her rented yacht will give them the opportunity to learn. Unfortunately it's too large to sail with one person and two beginners, but Mrs. Barable enlists three local children to teach them. Tom, twins Port and Starboard, and the 'pirate' crew of the Death and Glory are members of the Coot Club, a bird protection society, whose activities have landed Tom in the drink with some 'foreigners' (people on holiday).

A wonderfully fun and vivid read, I truly love this series (enough that I'm carefully rationing the books. Ransome not only writes children very accurately, but adults as well. I appreciate that Mrs. Barable is not an average adult, but also isn't the stereotypical 'perfect adult' (to children) that you find in some children's books.

When I get that time machine I'm giving the whole series to child-me. I can't wait until my niece and nephew are old enough to enjoy this series.

The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism by Edward E. Baptist

The magazine The Economist, in reviewing this book, complained that slave owners were portrayed negatively, and that says everything about why this book is necessary. When people let guilt over our country's past blind them to historical facts they do as much or more damage than vehement racists.

This is an important book, dealing with an extremely important subject. The past is not simply the past, and telling people they should focus on something else or that "the past is past" (and notice how supporters of current use of the Confederate flag tell people to get over the past while yelling about their 'heritage') is both dismissive and ignorant.

One strength of this book is that it merges the big picture with the every day, human facts of slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. If you have any high school students in your life, get them this book. The way slavery and the Civil War are covered in schools all over the US (IF they're covered at all, which is not a given) ranges between ineffectual and downright false.

Absolutely recommended.

Letting It Go by Miriam Katin

This is a graphic memoir of Katin's reaction to and attempts to come to terms with her son announcing he's moving to Berlin (requiring her to fill out forms stating her Hungarian origins which will allow him to claim citizenship and give him an EU passport). She is a lone voice of overwhelming concern and despair at his decision, and finally agrees to visit Berlin.

Katin is one of those artists whose sometimes scribbly fill style and usually simplistic faces, can temporarily blind you to just how impeccable her drawing skill is. Her graphic memoirs are very quick reads, and it's really worth taking your time over the pages to appreciate her drawing skills.

An interesting read, if the arc of her emotions and the way they're compressed in the book do seem a little too pat and perfect overall (that's life vs the telling of it though).

>267 mabith: You'll appreciate this:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/10/07/some-texas-school-...

The Imposter's Daughter by Laurie Sandell

Another graphic memoir. Sandell's father is the absolute ruler of the household. He is always telling stories of his dramatic past, and while Sandell absolutely worships him, he also has a really frightening temper. As she gets older and he loses a teaching job she's forced to notice the problems he causes in their lives and the way his personality has shaped how she treats her sisters and others. When he takes out a credit card in her name and she intercepts the envelope she is shocked but mollified as he agrees to cut it up and does so in front of her. A while later when she wants to get a card herself she's shocked to find that the card she saw him cut up has been fully maxed out. She requests a credit report and finds multiple cards under her name and it's the same with her sisters. Soon after she discovers he has lied about his college degrees.

While the memoir is about trying to figure out her father and the enormous pile of lies she grew up in, it is equally (perhaps more so, really) about her struggles with relating to others and an addiction to ambien and alcohol. If you only want to read it to find out what her father's deal was or the truth behind the lies, this isn't the book for you (and in the end that is never fully resolved, though it seems likely to me that he simply has a narcissistic personality disorder).

>269 RidgewayGirl: I saw that! It's those little steps in rewriting history that freak me out the most sometimes. Shown to great effect in this article about questions a tour guide for a plantation museum got asked too:
http://www.vox.com/2015/6/29/8847385/what-i-learned-from-leading-tours-about-sla...

My Mother's Wars by Lillian Faderman

This is Faderman's biography of her mother mostly dealing with her decades in the US up until Lillian was born. It's written in a novelistic style, with occasional breaks where the author laments for her mother's hardships and struggles with wishing her mother had severed relations with her father while being conscious she wouldn't exist otherwise. Her mother, Mary (often used in place of her real name, Mereleh), came to the US from Latvia in 1914 when she was 17 or 18 and becomes a garment worker. Sponsored by her much older half-sister and her husband, they soon kick her out due to her desire to spend her nights dancing, basically (she wanted to be a professional dancer). A chance meeting with a younger man begins a relationship that will last, on and off, for over ten years. Morris is educated and from a well off family, and will not marry her while his mother lives. Much of the book takes place in the run up to and during WWII, with Mary growing frantic as there's no way to bring the rest of her family to the US or get them out of Latvia at all.

It was an interesting read in many was, but Faderman refers to her childhood only a few times and in the shortest, most vague ways. I had a hard time buying into the depth of knowledge and emotion in telling her mother's stories without any detail of when or how her mother talked about all this to young Lillian. I constantly expected there to be at least a few paragraphs about that, but there really wasn't anything. Faderman talks of her aunt Rae being the rock to her mother's instability but with no details of that life at all (Mary and Rae were opposite personality types, and Mary shared as little as possible with her, and even avoided seeing her much until the late 1930s, so Rae wasn't the source of this history). The book basically ends at Lillian's birth.

Her mother's struggles with living through the Great Depression and participation in strikes against one of the factories she worked in were the most interesting parts of the book to me. The book didn't go into Faderman's relationship with her mother enough to really sustain interest in it or understand why Faderman felt led to write this book. I could write a novel of my mother's life from what I know of her decisions and the time-line of it, plus snooping through letters and journals. However, it would simply be a novel at the end of the day because getting my mom to share anything about her childhood or young adulthood is like pulling teeth (let alone getting her to share how she FELT about anything during those years). Yet with vague statements I could probably make it appear that my mother had shared her past wildly and fully and that her sisters had added lots of information to that as well.

>267 mabith: A good review of an important book. I heard discussion about this book, I think on NPR and I think with the author. One of the take-aways from that was how much the Yankees benefited financially from slavery in the south. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. The north is complicit. I've added to my shopping list.

>269 RidgewayGirl: Larry Wilmore interviewed (briefly) Roni Dean-Burren on The Nightly Show this week. I wasn't aware of the story until then. But, really?!?!

I think "forced migration" is putting it a little mildly too.

Forced migration is definitely too mild for the stealing of people. It's used in The Half Has Never Been Told but for a very specific period of moving slaves to the deep south away from previous plantations in forced marches. One of the big issues in the book is the act of enslavement specifically as theft, as stealing people's lives, futures, and family, in part as a response to people who want to believe in a kind paternalism version of slaveholding.

>275 mabith: I ran across that "kind paternalism version of slaveholding" in Team of Rivals and then in When the World Ended. Both times the slave owner(s), one a notable politician and the other a young girl, couldn't figure out why their slaves would want to be free when they had the chance. They were really taken aback because they treated their slaves so well. (!) It seemed to me they thought of their slaves more as pets than people. OF course, you'd have to adjust your thinking to own another human being like that. But still, it's really hard to wrap your head around that kind of mentality.

Right? How can being kind and treating people well go along with keeping someone captive? I think it was a new adjustment, in many ways, because it was the beginning of racialized slavery. In earlier eras there doesn't seem to have been so much pretense of "Oh they don't feel like we do, they aren't as smart as we are," etc... (if your slave is your household scribe you can't really pretend they're not intelligent) and of course then any person could be a slave, it wasn't restricted to one race.

Reminds me of this article: http://www.salon.com/2015/07/10/some_of_them_asked_if_the_slaves_got_paid_true_s...

“Some of them asked if the slaves got paid”: True stories from a former plantation tour guide

Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace RE-READ

One of my favorite book series, which follows Betsy from age seven or so up through her wedding. I actually stopped reading them when she got close to teenage, in part because we didn't own the later ones and because the idea of growing up was absolutely repellent to me as a kid. I mostly pretended it would never happen to me.

Betsy and Tacy are great characters though, and the books are based on the author's own childhood (meaning they're more indicative of Edwardian life than the 1930s and 40s when they were originally published). When I worked in a bookstore I pushed this series onto many parents and the kids always liked them, so I think it's fair to say they still hold up for modern kids.

The first four books gradually increase in reading level in keeping with Betsy and Tacy's age. It's a great starter series for your book loving seven or eight year old.

Last Act in Palmyra by Lindsey Davis RE-READ

I suggested this book for my bookclub's historical mystery theme month, and it was voted in. This is the sixth book in the Falco series, and an especially funny one for me (being familiar with the theatrical world). I chose this one in part for the humor, but also because Davis has totally hit her stride by now and Falco and Helena are pretty settled in together. I think the first ten you can skip around quite a bit without trouble, and Davis is good at filling the reader in without being annoying about it.

Falco needs to get out of Rome, and reluctantly takes on a spying mission for Vespasian. Helena goes too, and they head for Petra (in modern day Jordan). While there they discover the body of a recently murdered man who worked for a traveling theatre group. Falco convinces the operators to take him on as he hunts for the murderer (while also working as the theatre's writer) and they travel around the Decapolis. Falco also works on an original play The Spook Who Spoke, which is basically Hamlet, and all the actors have quite a negative reaction to it. It makes for a great running joke.

It's always fun when Falco is abroad, and I just love how Davis packs in the history. Falco is more progressive than many of his peers, but still a product of the time with all the prejudices that implies. Still my favorite historical mystery series and that's unlikely to change. Hope the book club like it, but if they don't it's their loss.

>238 mabith: It's a funny that you proposed it to your bookclub, and that most people didn't like it: I also proposed it to my bookclub.
We will meet in November, so I don't know what the others thought about it, but, unfortunately, I did not like it much. Glad you liked it, though.

Sorry you didn't like it! I guess that is what's interesting about going with classics and big prize winning authors in bookclubs though. Books are so individual I think most of us understand nothing is universal.

Granting, it would be nice to have more book-taste in common with other book club members!

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Mongomery RE-READ

Though I grew up obsessively watching the late 1980s mini-series of this book and the first sequel, I didn't read the books while I kid. I think mostly because the editions we had were mass market paperbacks which I associated with Boring Grown Up Books. I read the first four books in the series around ten years ago, and then got kind of bored with Anne being all grown up and married.

The book is just so wonderful. It is absolutely perfect comfort reading and Anne is one of those characters who captures your heart pretty much immediately and never lets go. Now I have a very strong need to watch the mini-series again, especially since the casting is so perfect.

A History of Future Cities by Daniel Brook

While this title sounds like it might be science fiction, it's actually a history and examination of several purpose-built, instant cities, constructed with the aim of being modern which generally meant being Westernized. It focuses on St. Petersburg, Shanghai, and Mumbai as the historical examples and looks at Dubai as a more modern equivalent.

Pasting from Wikipedia, as it says it better than I can:
For example, "(a)ll of the questions St. Petersburg raises are still with us: Which way should a city face: outward to the globe, or inward to the nation? What is global and what is local? Is cosmopolitanism a threat to native ways and self-sufficiency or a necessary condition of progress? What does modernity look like, separate from its Western conception?"

According to the author, "We need to understand (these cities) because they’re the places that matter today. I describe them as 'dress rehearsals for the 21st century.' People used to be fascinated with them because they were so unusual. Now, we need to be fascinated with them because the project for which they stand — urbanization/modernization of less developed regions — is the project of our time."

It was a very interesting book, and well done. It rotates through the cities focusing on different periods of their development. Since the chapters are divided by city it's also easy just to read about Dubai or Mumbai if you want to focus on recent history.

Lumberjanes Volume 1 by Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, and others

I kept forgetting to pick this one up, but the first volume only came out this year, so I guess I'm not too late.

This is a middle-grade/YA issue comic, originally slated for a fixed one-off storyline but then expanded. It's a lot of fun, and I love the art style. I also love the way the writers use the names of notable women (who are largely missing from school history lessons) in situations where a character is exclaiming, so we get "Oh my Bessie Coleman" etc...

Enormously fun, can't wait to see more.

Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir by Liz Prince

I think I'm officially too old to read anything else where young women are going through the process of unpacking internalized misogyny (anything associated with femininity is bad/worthless, etc...). Prince recounts her childhood of being a dedicated "girls suck," "not like other girls" tomboy.

I have been there, I get it, I just can't keep reading about it apparently. Good book for teens and college age women, probably. In many ways I'm just tired of gender in general, and I don't understand how anyone can talk about gender in this world and mean anything except societal gender norms.

I've never read Anne of Green GablesI nor watched the mini series. It is one of those books that I know I want to read. I need to make time.

>284 mabith: oh I loved the Anne of Green Gables TV series. It was total comfort TV when I was a child. I can imagine the book is a delight.

I think Anne is a character that such a wide range of people (particularly readers, of course) can relate to, and one that appeals no matter our age. I do hope you'll both read it eventually! I certainly appreciate Marilla's dry humor and straight forwardness a lot more now than when I watched the mini-series as a ten year old (as one would hope).

I loved reading the Anne of Green Gable series as a child. I don't really remember ever watching the tv series though. I'd like to reread them sometime.

Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar by Tom Holland

Tom Holland wrote one of my favorite books about ancient Rome, Rubicon, and this one almost measures up to that quality (the others I wouldn't really bother with). I am partly biased as I just love Julius Caesar.

If you want the rundown Julio-Claudian emperors in a more readable style than Suetonius' Twelve Caesars (though that also covers the year of the four emperors and the Flavian emperors), this might be the book for you. It covers the ground well and is helpful in terms of dealing with the aspects of society more alien to to us.

It was good timing, in some ways, as I just recently watched all of the first season of HBO's Rome (practically my favorite show of all-time). Generally recommended. It's a nice refresher on the period without having to read separate books about each of the main players.

>291 japaul22: if you enjoyed the book it's really worth watching. The casting was done so perfectly and it really captures the mood. I went straight into reading the next book (more differences between it and the mini-series).

Katherine by Anya Seton

This is one of the major (dare I say foundational,) works historical fiction, published in 1954. I absolutely loved it, particularly the last two thirds of the book or so. It follows Katherine as she goes from being a sheltered convent girl to marrying a well-placed lord and on to being the mistress of John of Gaunt (third surviving son of King Edward III, born 1340).

Seton was known for her research and given the that she was not a historian and there wasn' the same breadth orfresearch or ease of access in the 1950s, she does a very good job with accuracy, particularly in portraying life in general in this period. It certainly felt more grounded and realistic to the period that most other books of fiction set in this time (though I'm not an expert). While some of her speculations have turned out to be partially or wholly incorrect, I don't think she ever asserted that they were absolutely accurate anyway.

It was a really satisfying read and I'd recommend it to historical fiction fans and biographical novel fans, or those wanting some Plantagenet history without any dryness. If you don't know Katherine's story already I'd read the book before looking it up. More fun if you don't know how her life goes.

>292 mabith: I've had Rubicon on the TBR for years. Sounds like maybe i should read it!

If you're interested in that period of Roman history it's a doozy! I think it's also really helpful when it comes to understanding the significance of Caesar crossing the Rubicon and the general feelings of Roman citizens at the time, since it covers the years leading up to it and the changes in the senate, etc...

>294 mabith: I love historical fiction so this goes on the TBR.

Because of my obsessive drive to know more and more about my grandparents (or any of my relatives, really), I decided that starting next year I should keep a hand written record of my reading which my nieces and nephews can peruse if they're curious creatures like myself. Partly I feel like this sounds very egotistical but really I'd give much to have the reader records of my aunts, grandparents, parents, etc... when they were young. I can't count on them finding or browsing ancient LT groups!

So all that led me to trying to find the perfect book journal. It's been a struggle, and I felt like I really needed to see them in person in order to judge them accurately. Luckily, thrift stores selling on eBay and the used section on Amazon allowed me to purchase eight different journals all for about $4 each. I'll eventually use all of them (many don't have enough room to contain my full year's reading), but thought I'd review them here in case anyone else is in this quandary.

The links go to Amazon, because many of pictures of what the interior pages look like and they're more likely to have reviews to look at. It's worth trawling eBay for cheaper listings. Three of the ones I bought had very minor markings, none of which will hamper my use of them.


The Book Lover's Journal

This is tied with the next one for my favorite. I do wish it were a bit wider, but because of the spiral binding it will lay flat. It has fields to fill in that I like a lot (you can see the inside here or in the title link). It has a 'rank 1-10' bit for plot, pacing, etc... which is a nice touch, I think. At the back it has places to list books you want to read, books you've borrowed or loaned out, and some prize winner lists (including one for non-fiction, which wasn't common in the other journals with prize lists). In the back it also has list prompts for favorite authors, books loved in childhood, and (most importantly) books you'd want with you on a desert island. Nicely, it has a place to list all the books you've entered and which page they can be found on.

It has room for 65 books, though one could use the second page and just enter the same information as on the first page doubling the books you could record. However, because this one is so narrow doubling up would leave you with very little room to say anything about the books.


My Bibliophile

The other favorite. I like the size on this one much better, as it's a good bit wider. It doesn't have as much to fill in as the previous journal, but has a star rating you can shade, and plenty of room. While it's still a pretty small book, it lays quite flat when open. Also I think it has the prettiest cover. The book journal pages are interspersed with sort of reading flow charts to fill in, lists to make, spots for favorite quotes, etc... It also has a bunch of “best book” and prize lists in the back, plus space to record author talks you've been to, to-read lists, borrowed/loaned books, and favorite bookstore addresses.

This one isn't numbered, so I'm not sure how many books it allows for. Since it's wider and has fewer pre-printed fields it would be easier to double up on entries than the previous one.


Books I've Read: A Reader's Journal

This and the next journal aren't bad, but they're a bit too school-ish and would be best for grade school and pre-teen readers. “When I finished this book I felt...” “Message/plottheme:” That kind of stuff. This one is one of the largest journals, lots of room to write, lots of entry space and that's it. No book lists or other falderal.


Readers Journal: Diary for Book Lovers (Exact same interior with a nicer cover here, but the first one was $4 vs $8)

Like the previous one, this is nice, just a bit too book reportish for me to take seriously as an adult reader. This one gives room for 102 books, and each page has a book/reading related quote. It has a couple pages for a to-read list and a place to list all the books you've entered and which page they can be found on.


Read, Remember, Recommend

This is a pretty big book, and the vast majority is taken up with book award lists with fields to check mark if you own them, recommend them, want to read them, or want to own them. Personally, bit silly. Own, read, to-read is more than enough. I bought that one more for the lists (and it was $3!), but it also has a book journal section (the sections are separated by tabs, which is nice, but I wish all of these had ribbon bookmarks as well). Not sure how many books it allows for as there are a mix of formats, allowing for 2 books per page or two pages per book. That's probably a nice feature, but means you might well be filling them out of the order you read them in. It does have a list page where you can write what pg number each book is on though.

It also included general lists of book awards divided by country, region, subject, etc... and website addresses for each, plus lists of book blogs. Have to wonder how many are no longer active now! I don't see this one as being super practical for a book journal purpose.


Books I've Read: A Bibliophile's Journal

This is a pretty little book, with bookish/homey watercolor illustrations scattered throughout. The key word though is LITTLE. It's much too small. It's also the simplest of the ones I bought, each left hand page says “Title_____ Date____” and the rest is blank. It also has award winners, big lists at the back. I'd love it if it were larger. Not recommended.


Moleskine Book Journal, Interior page sample

A pretty book, a good size, lays relatively flat, includes three ribbon bookmarks. Only for some strange reason the journal pages have an alphabet tab system on the side, like an address book. This makes NO SENSE. It doesn't have enough pages to be sensible to cataloging the books you own and you'd never list books as you read them that way. It's like they thought “you'll need a way to look up where a specific book is easily” and no one arrived at the solution in most of the other journals (a page to list the titles and what page they're on). It's just so ridiculous.

It's still very usable, since I'll just ignore the letters and go straight through in the order I read the books, but that really annoys me. It has room for 155 books. Then a third of it is taken up with blank pages with tab separaters. It comes with a sheet of stickers with suggested uses for the pages (to read, my library, wish list, bookshops, events, etc...). I'd so much rather the whole thing be book pages.

Just realized it DOES have a “fill in yourself” index at the back, which also has the alphabetical letters which again you can just ignore. Now I'm even MORE annoyed about the way they did that. In many ways I really like this one, and if it just had book journal pages and the fill your own index and nothing else it would be my favorite of the lot, I think.


Book Life

Very pretty cover, but I was expecting a larger book for whatever reason. The pages won't lie anywhere close to flat so it will be annoying to fill out. Extra annoying since I like the prompts and that it allows for a letter grade vs the star system. Room for about 58 books.

What really annoys me is they try to have all these sections for favorite books, favorite quotes, etc... only they're tiny. So you can only have 15 favorite books, eight books that changed your life, and six favorite quotes. Pointless to have those sections be so short. They also list bookstores by state, but weirdly don't list the one I worked at for West Virginia's. It's ridiculous since if you're stopping in WV you're most likely to be in Charleston (vs Elkins or Wheeling which they do list), the capitol, because of the interstates and such, plus it's a seriously beautiful store.


A Book Lover's Diary

Worst book journal ever. You can definitely tell it was designed by librarians who didn't read much (my dad was a librarian for 30 years and he'd be the first to tell you librarians aren't necessarily big readers). It's small, but also doesn't have room to say anything about the books, just room to list title, author, etc... On top of that, it further minimizes space by dividing each section into three so you can list everything by title, by author, and by subject.

All the other journals I'll use them, even if they're not perfect, but this one really isn't usable at all. If all you want to do is make a list of the books you've read, without commenting on the books at all then a list in a word processor or a blank non-book specific journal will work.


Bookworm Journal

I ordered this for my nephew for his birthday next week. He's turning seven and I think he'll like it. I really liked the format and the fact that it has a place to note if he read the book himself, if someone read it to him, or if it was a combination of both. It has little extra bits interspersed throughout and just seems like a really nice start for early readers. I'd say it's best for 6-8 year olds and after that get one of the two I mentioned above which allow for more room and are a bit more grown up.


Literary Listopgraphy

Not a book journal, but a collection of bookish lists for you to fill out with nice, related watercolor illustrations on each page. My plan is to fill it in totally within the next couple of years, then put it away and bring it back in ten years to add things, add notes if I'd leave something off or had changed my mind, etc... I can just stick new pages in, but trying to stick to a single pen color so I can just use a different color when I revisit it.

Noticeably missing – books I'd want on a desert island.

>298 mabith: How fun is this!

I think the book journaling is a great idea! I am not as ambitious as you, but I have started printing out my main LT thread from each year and collecting them in a binder for much the same reason as you. I would like to be able to have some sort of record of my reading to pass down or share. I also like looking back through them myself.

>298 mabith: The alphabet tabs in the Moleskine journal are probably for organizing the books by author's last name or the book title. My grandma gave me this journal as a gift and it has the alphabetical tabs to organize your books read by author's last name. There's nothing to fill out except title, author, and date read and then a few pages of writing room depending on the letter. Letters like X, U, V, Y, Z got fewer pages on the assumption there were less authors with last names beginning with those letters. So how many books I could fit in each lettered section really depended on how much I had to say about each book and for some of the letters that got less pages I only got to write about one book.

At the start of each letter's section there is a quote from an author whose last name begins with that letter, and I found myself writing on those pages when I started running out of room. I didn't even realize at first what the tabs were for either and didn't pay close enough attention to the detail that each author quoted has the last name of that lettered section. I used the journal as a way to organize my books read alphabetically by title and turned it into an alphabetical title reading challenge. Doing the challenge did help me fill up the journal and stretch myself a bit since I do not encounter many book titles that start with the letters Q or X for example.

I, like you, would much rather have more writing space and be able to have my books in chronological order of how I read them which is why I am back to using the Journals Unlimited A Reader's Journal. I've used this journal for years ordering them directly from the Journals Unlimited website where they are expensive, but since it takes me years to fill them up it's worth it to me (silly me also just never thought of looking at Amazon or ebay!). I guess the prompts are a little school-ish but that has never bothered me. I have never really had a problem with the Journals Unlimited journal until the last couple of years I have been needing more writing space as I find myself having more and more to say about what I read. Also, I never really fill in the "Ideas expressed/message/theme/plot" section so it's either wasted space or I use it to put more of my own thoughts. Sometimes I have so much to say I have to staple in extra pieces of paper that I had to write my comments on. So after I fill up my current journal from Journals Unlimited I will probably just start using a regular old notebook and book journaling my own way. I have many empty notebooks bought as school supplies that I ended up not needing and this would be a way to use them and save money.

Thanks for doing this post! There are sooooo many book journals out there and as you pointed out many of them are not designed for serious readers.

ETA: I forgot to mention that Frances Lincoln Limited journal I linked to also has an annoying page at the end of each lettered section for "Books I Want to Read." I tried using those pages for that at first but found it to be a waste of space and started using it as more space for my comments about the books.

>301 Tara1Reads: I know that's the idea with the moleskine alphabet system, but it's totally impractical unless you're dedicating the journal to a more niche subject. These alphabet tabs are pre-printed, and they are in the book journaling section where you put all your thoughts. The thing is, if you don't fill it out as you read the books you're less likely to do it ever but in order to get things to fit/adequately take more pages from unused letters you'd have to wait until the end of the year of reading.

There are the same number of pages for each letter (comes to six entries per letter), and if you do it as you read it's totally likely that you'll fill up certain letters completely. Then what if you take space from another letter's pages only to find a longer series that you devour later in the year by an author whose name begins with one of the letters whose pages you've already commandeered and filled for another letter? Having that in the index section, fine, that would make sense, having a separate title/author only list that you sort by author yourself and room to write what page it can be found on, that makes sense. But having it within the journal pages is just pointless unless you're using a ring binder where you can insert pages where you need them.

>300 japaul22: I should definitely copy my book posts from LT threads, or at least save them as word documents at some point. Ordering journals to try has been more fun though! I thought I'd already gotten the interesting ones of those easily available, but then I saw another I ordered yesterday...

I'm working on transcribing letters my maternal grandmother sent from Egypt when they lived there, and I am hoping books come up at some point.

What a cool project! And it was a treat to see the different journals and read your comments on them. Have fun!

I hoped it might be interesting or helpful to someone here! Since I had them all in front of me to compare it seemed a shame not to review them.

>298 mabith: I love this! And also you've pretty much shown me that I should never buy one of these because none would really fit what I want, LOL. I'm getting the idea that a nice big spiral notebook where I just write the stuff all out myself would work best. :P I am interested in that one with all the lists, though, I love lists, even if I can never possibly get through them all! xD

I'm dealing with "nothing is exactly perfect!" syndrome with those, for sure.

My idea for a self made book journal would be gluing library book card pockets onto the pages, using the checkout cards to fill in the book information and details about the plot and such. It would be a large blank journal so I could add quotes and things in the blank space around the card. My wildest dreams include using colored pockets that denote genre and becoming a fantastic watercolor artist for doodles around each book (that one seems very unlikely).

A blank book in general probably is best, but I'll have fun with the ones I've bought for a while.

Your comments on book journals was interesting. I like the idea of putting my reading down on paper, but I'm pretty sure LT is all I'm going to do. I'm impressed that you're willing to journal your books. I think it will be worthwhile to look back through your journals years from now.

>306 mabith: Hah, awesome. I think my own ideal would be a stamp with all the pertinent basic fields so I could just stamp that box at the top of the page, and then other ones for like "quotes" "notes" etc that could be stamped where needed so each area would have as much/little space as I wanted to write for that one. :P

>307 RidgewayGirl: Yeah that's part of why I'd like to keep a paper one, I think it would be nice to be able to look through. And also I just love stationery and having reasons to writing in notebooks. XD

>307 RidgewayGirl: I've always been a journaler, only so little happens in my life it doesn't seem to have much point now. Books are about the biggest events, and I just must have a paper record.

>308 .Monkey.: I bet you could commission some lovely stamps on Etsy! That's a great idea, and I'm sure the only way to be truly satisfied and get to note down as much or as little as you want.

It'd probably cost a fortune, for the one with all the stuff anyway. I'll just have to hand-write it all. Not a big deal, I mean I don't actually have to write out "title" "author" "date" etc every time, they'll go in the same order on every one and be obvious what's what anyhow. :) Having the "fields" there would just make it look cooler. :P It is something to look into for the other sections, though, I will have to check that out!

Yeah, the notebook thing. There are so many lovely ones.

Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity

This is a well-written and extremely necessary book for a variety of reasons. One of them being the almost certainly false idea that rates of autism exploded in the US in the last twenty or thirty years (meanwhile girls and people of color are still underdiagnosed).

Silberman gives us the history of the study of autism and the important work of unpacking wrong ideas about the condition and correcting our general ignorance about it. He details some incredibly abusive 'experiments' and they are seriously upsetting.

I wish I had clever or insightful things to say about the book, but I highly recommend it. Anyone with children or who works with children should especially read it, and at least one book by an autistic writer (Temple Grandin perhaps). It's not a children's disease, and autistic adults are often overlooked unless they have some savant ability, so really everyone should read it, but people who work with kids especially need to understand how to adapt their programmed behavior.

Walt Disney Uncle Scrooge And Donald Duck: "Treasure Under Glass": The Don Rosa Library Vol. 3 by Don Rosa

Third volume in the Don Rosa series. Some reprints from the two volumes of Donald Duck cartoons that came out a while back. Pretty confused about the overlap, but oh well. You have to buy these volumes up quick, as often not that many are printed.

Rosa is my favorite artist and writer for Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge, after Carl Barks, of course. However, he sometimes falls into the same casual racism found in the Barks stories. Given the time when Rosa started writing and drawing Duck comics, this is really bothersome. I hope it's only an issue in these early works. In the fourth volume, containing half of his Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck stories, he is more typically overturning the racism of the 40s and 50s stories, so perhaps he got called on it enough to change those issues. It doesn't happen in every story or every other story (I think only in two out of the nine in this volume), but it is so distasteful and depressing.

These stories are all from the early 90s, and there's probably more racism in the Disney cartoon Rescue Rangers (honestly, there are some awful bits), but we do want to hold our idols up to a higher standard than the average person on the street.

Why I Read: The Serious Pleasure of Books by Wendy Lesser

I don't feel the title of this really relates that much to the content. I never got any sense of WHY Lesser loves to read, but instead got "here is what I think makes for a successful book." As she's one of the founders of the Three Penny Review I felt like the title should be "Here are things to keep in mind if you're submitting to the Three Penny Review."

Lesser is a literature dissecter, something I don't think I could ever be with regards to fiction. And during all this dissecting and talk about character vs plot and authority in writing she says right smack in the middle of the book "The work speaks to you or it does not. That is all you can finally say." Then she says a whole lot more.

Admittedly, this was never going to be a book I loved and she rubbed me the wrong way in the beginning. She characterized two female authors as "narcissistic" because they focus on their own voices and experiences. Knowing people with narcissistic personality disorder her usage of that word annoys me, but also I feel like she'd never levy that charge against a male author. Just like women who focus their fiction around women are always getting "but can they write men?" when male authors are excused or even applauded for leaving out women entirely.

Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery RE-READ

It's odd to read this and the following two books and see how and where all the events in the 80s mini-series, Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel, were pulled in. As usual it's wonderful to be with Anne Shirley, perhaps the most beloved character ever, at least for bookish girls.

This volume pales a bit in comparison with the first, but mainly that's due to Anne having to be a bit more serious (and, for my older reading self, there's not enough Marilla). Excellent books though, really excellent.

My maternal grandmother took a long summer trip to Prince Edward Island and I always wonder if she was a fan of the books. She died when my mother was a teenager, so unless she made a big deal about it to my mom or her sisters it's a question that may never been answered. Five Little Peppers and How They Grew was the firm family book on that side (great-grandmother was born in 1878 and was 44 when grandmother was born, so perhaps that's not surprising, Anne may have misbehaved too much for her tastes!).

You're making me want to rewatch the series so much. Megan Fallows was perfect as Anne.

>316 RidgewayGirl: Totally agree! I finally invested in the series and the sequel on DVD. A bit too easy to get sucked into watching the whole thing at once though!

Another book journal to review.


The Well-Read Women Reading Journal

This was just too pretty to pass up. The illustrator did a series of illustrations of book characters with quotes from the books, which was sold as a separate book before being developed into a reading journal.

It's one of the nicer ones, too. The size is good, not huge, but big enough, and the binding isn't bad. Doesn't lie totally flat, when open, but it's pretty good. Through the link you can see what the entry pages and the watercolors look like. The entry pages have title, author, plot notes, character notes, quotes, other books to read by same author, and in the corner a place to put start and finish dates and choose a 1-5 rating. There's room for 52 books. In the back it has a bit of room for wishlists, some blank pages for general notes, a couple awards list, and a place to fill in your own 'winners' for the year/season.

I really enjoy watercolors and the style the illustrator used, so it was a great choice for me. And now I've got this other journal on the way to me. This is getting ridiculous, but I keep telling myself as long as I use all of them it's fine. I can't wait to start using them next year. This is the one to get for high school and college age daughters, nieces, etc...

I'm about a week late on the book journal discussion. I think in loose-leaf terms. And computer files, forms created on the computer, then printed out and filed in a ring-binder. No form is perfect, of course, as people said. I get going on a setup, then realize I should've added this or that characteristic or data point. Then I have to amend the form, etc.

I've built up a reading list by merging various online lists, like Time's 100 top novels, Modern Library's top 100, "50 Cult Novels You MUST Read," "Hot Sex novels," "32 Southern Gothic novels," etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. There are lists here at LT, and at other websites. So I built one huge file and it keeps growing. I've colored type to indicate books that I've read, books that I own, books I want to buy (or get someone to give me). Plot summaries. Dates.

It does pass the time. And then people call ya weird.

>319 weird_O: I love the idea of color coding, though I fear I'd always be forgetting what each stood for! I have a big reading spreadsheet just keeping track of what I've read that includes original publication date, nationality, author's gender, print or audio edition, etc... It's very pleasing to be able to have it do all the functions so I can quickly see what percentage were audiobooks, what percentage were on my to-read list and all that.

The busywork of it is something I definitely enjoy, though once you've got it all set up that aspect tends to go.