What are you reading the week of February 27, 2021?

Still not making much progress. I'm a little over half way through The Landmark Thucydides.

This week's books are Things in Jars, Blood on the Snow, and Miles M.52.

I am into reading historical fiction this week. I finished Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks about the plague contained, devastatingly to one village in England. Now I am reading Loving Frank by Nancy Horan about Frank Lloyd Wright’s affair with Mamah Cheney.

Finished Michael Gorra’s The Saddest Words: William Faulkner’s Civil War. This excellent book presents a thoughtful exploration of how the Civil War figures into Faulkner’s writing. Published just last year, it gives very timely insights into how race relations in the first half of the 20th century South reflected the chaos of the Civil War. As Gorra repeats several times, the War may have ended slavery, but it did not end racism. Ultimately he is attempting with his thoughtful analysis of Faulkner’s writing to understand how successful Faulkner the man was in overcoming the prejudices that predominated in his environment.

This week: continuing to listen to Cernow’s Grant and to Middlemarch; have begun to read Yaa Gyasi’ s Transcendent Kingdom.

Last night I finished Bright Orange for the Shroud, the 6th book in John D. MacDonald's classic Travis McGee series. Once again, McGee is a Paladin, off to right wrongs amid the squalor of the those willing and anxious to prey on the unwitting and vulnerable. When a friend is defrauded of close to a half million dollars by a consortium of clever and brutal ne'er-do-wells, McGee is pried off of his Florida houseboat and into the fray. This entry seemed a bit darker to me than any of the previous five, especially toward the end. MacDonald was a very good writer, and his descriptions of the nature of the Everglades and his observations of American consumer culture, circa 1965 when the book was originally published are all very good.

Next up for me will be They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers.

I finished reading Unsheltered. Looking at comments, it's clear that there are some who did not like the book and I can see why since sometimes the conversations presented almost sound like academic lectures, but I very much enjoyed it. It's a tale of two families, 140 years apart, living on the same plot of land dealing with a collapsing house. The characters were well drawn and had impressive integrity. In both tales, besides their falling down house, they were dealing with a collapsing world view with some championing the new and most hanging on tenaciously to the old.

Still reading The Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors, The Deadly Mystery of the Missing Diamonds, and Shadow of Night.

>6 snash: I really liked Unsheltered, even though the structure (no pun intended!) took a little getting used to. Kingsolver is one of my favorite writers, though admittedly she can get a bit didactic.

I am reading and thoroughly enjoying CoDex 1962.

I am listening to I Am Pilgrim.

I did a lot of reading this week, and got through Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin; The Neuroscientist Who Lost her Mind by Barbara Lipska, and The Midnight Library by Matt Haig.

Am now reading a crime novel: A Darker Domain by Val McDermid.

I'm reading The Butterfly Lampshade by Aimee Bender with my book club. I like it, although I can't tell yet if the main character has mental illness or magical realism.

Martian Time-Slip
Philip K. Dick
3/5 stars
Mars is now a colony of Earth though there are a lot of problems in living there, like having not enough water access. However, it is still valuable land and entrepreneurs are buying up property. The plot surrounds a young boy; Manfred who is autistic and who may be able to see the future. Arnie Kott, leader of the Water Works Union hears about Manfred’s possible ability and takes him to the FDR Mountains on Mars to try and use his mental powers to see if his development plans will come true. Interesting concept!

A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Murder by Dianne Freeman
#3 installment in "A Countess of Harleigh Mystery" series

Uncrowned Queen: the Life of Margaret Beaufort, Mother of the Tudors by Nicola Tallis
Biography of Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII

Now reading: Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

enjoying this OverDrive audiobook ~

Faithless in Death: An Eve Dallas Novel (In Death, 52)
by J. D. Robb

Finished reading the profound & sadly prophetic CoDex 1962.

Next up for reading is Prayer For The Living by Ben Okri.

Almost finished with The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule. Very interesting read.

Nine books read in February with highlights being Mink River and A Promised Land.

Almost finished with Grass, a science-fiction novel by the late Sherri Tepper, which is kind of reminiscent of Dune, in that the background is a very well-realized alien world, with surprising life forms and social customs having arisen from co-existing with them.

Having seen a lecture by the author, I was inspired to read one of her books. Archaeology at the Site of the Museum of the American Revolution was a short but thorough and engaging look at the archeological investigation of a site in Philadelphia which uncovered artifacts from the early 1700's up to the mid 1900's. Emphasis was placed on what the artifacts along with research in the written record revealed about the people living and working at the site through the ages.

I just finished The Unbreakable Miss Lovely, Ghostland and read probably two-thirds of Luster although I wasn't gripped enough to finish it. I had a rotten day so I'm considering rereading Adrian Mole, The Early Years for the nth time or starting Mark Bittman's latest, Animal, Vegetable, Junk but Adrian is probably going to win. I really need to get back into reading novels; the pandemic and about a year of lockdown has oddly really interfered with my ability to read _new_ ones.

Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret – Judy Blume
3***

First published in 1970, this has become a staple of children’s literature, as well as a frequently challenged book.

Eleven-going-on-Twelve-year-old Margaret Simon has moved to a new town and navigates the social pitfalls of a new school, new friends, secret clubs, boy/girl parties and the changes of puberty. She learns that first impressions are not always accurate, and that some people’s word cannot be trusted. She also has to deal with her “lack of religion” – how can she know if she should join the Y or the Community Center?

I think if I had read this at a young age I would have easily identified with Margaret. I certainly recognize some of my own anxieties about growing up, though my situation was very different from Margaret’s.

Linda Hamilton does a fine job performing the audio version. I thought she was believable as a 12-year-old girl.

>9 hemlokgang: I loved from the mouth of the whale

>21 berthirsch: Will have to check it out!

>20 BookConcierge: Didn't Blume update Margaret and other books in the late 90s? Did the audiobook keep the original text?

Finished Grass, and I think this one is going onto the permanent library shelf. That doesn't happen often, but I think a re-read may be in order at some point.

Then, just because I came across it in a UBS and couldn't resist, I grabbed a copy of Richard S. Prather's Strip for Murder -- a classic 1950s detective tale that was part of a wildly popular series -- kind of a Mickey Spillane with a sense of humor.

Now I need to get serious and buckle down with Searching for Sylvia Lee, by Jean Kwok, which is this month's group read in my F2F book club.

Finished The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule. A fascinating look into the life and crimes of Ted Bundy by the prolific crime writer Ann Rule who knew Ted personally from their days working at a crisis call-in center in Seattle. This edition had several afterwards & updates as it was the 20th anniversary edition.

Fun fact: Years ago when I was an editorial assistant, Ann Rule was one of my boss's authors. This was when we published And Never Let Her Go. She was such a friendly and pleasant woman who invited me to take her home number & call her if I ever needed anything as she knew I was quitting to move to Seattle. Was so sad to hear of her passing several years ago.

The new thread is up over here.