CBL Reads and Walks in 2022 - Mile 2

Hi! I'm Carrie, a 50-something librarian in East Tennessee. I've been reading everything I can get my hands on since the age of 4. My favorite genre is mystery (especially historical mysteries), but I also enjoy reading literary fiction, history (including social history and biographies of historically significant people), literary travel, genealogy/family history, and art history.

I have a ~10-year-old Shih-tzu, Adrian, who brings me a lot of joy. I adopted him from the Humane Society 8 years ago, so his age is estimated, and he could be a little bit older than ten. I am very grateful for his vet, who pulled him through a gallbladder scare last spring. He seems to have lost most of his hearing in the last year, and he is starting to show some symptoms of dementia, which thankfully seems to be progressing very slowly. He is still full of life and enjoys riding in the car, gazing out the window and napping in the sun, greeting his canine friends on our walks in the neighborhood, and playing with his toys. He is often the cause of canine paralysis while I read or watch TV.

I started walking more in 2020 in an effort to raise my fitness level, and I maintained that habit in 2021. I am thrilled with the results, but it's cut into my reading and LT time. A friend's twice monthly genealogy chats have inspired me to spend more time in family history research. The research is also paying off, but again, at the expense of reading and LT time. I'm also attempting to learn to knit, and this is cutting into my reading and LT time as well. I've made enough progress with the knitting that I don't have to concentrate as hard, so I'm hoping to add audiobooks to the mix while I knit.

Here's Adrian in his favorite seat.

Best of 2022

A Scandal in Bohemia by Arthur Conan Doyle (5) - Review
A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley (5) - Review
Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro (4.5) - Review
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle (5) - Review
Hana's Suitcase by Karen Levine (4.5) - Review
The Perpetual Curate by Margaret Oliphant (4.5) - Review
The Nazi Hunters by Neal Bascomb (4.5) - Review
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (4.5) - Review
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (4.5) - Review
The Liberators: America's Witnesses to the Holocaust by Michael Hirsh (5) - Review
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (4.5) - Review

Books Read in March
48. A Sherlock Holmes Devotional by Trisha White Priebe (2.5) - completed 3/1/22
49. The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb by Arthur Conan Doyle (4) - completed 3/3/22
50. A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro (3.5) - completed 3/6/22
51. The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet by Arthur Conan Doyle (3.5) - completed 3/6/22
52. The Doctors Blackwell by Janice P. Nimura (4) - completed 3/9/22
53. The Nazi Hunters by Neal Bascomb (4.5) - completed 3/12/22
54. Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson (4) - completed 3/12/22
55. The Adventure of the Stockbroker's Clerk by Arthur Conan Doyle (3.5) - completed 3/12/22
56. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (4) - completed 3/15/22
57. Unto Us a Son Is Given by Donna Leon (4) - completed 3/15/22
58. The Adventure of the Gloria Scott by Arthur Conan Doyle (3.5) - completed 3/17/22
59. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (4.5) - completed 3/18/22
60. Diary of a Provincial Lady by E. M. Delafield (3) - completed 3/20/22
61. Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart (4) - completed 3/24/20
62. The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf by Mohja Kahf (3.5) - completed 3/24/22
63. The Fixer by Bernard Malamud (4) - completed 3/29/22
64. The Storm by Frederick Buechner (3.5) - completed 3/31/22

Books read in April
65. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi (4) - completed 4/2/22
66. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (3.5) - completed 4/5/22
67. All That She Carried by Tiya Miles (4) - completed 4/9/22
68. A Familiar Wilderness by S. J. Dahlman (3.5) - completed 4/15/22
69. The Patriarch by Martin Walker (3.5) - completed 4/20/22
70. My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me by Jennifer Teege (4) - completed 4/24/22
71. Reflecting the Glory by N. T. Wright (3) - completed 4/24/22
72. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell (4) - completed 4/25/22
73. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt (3.5) - completed 4/27/22
74. Broken Verses by Kamila Shamsie (3.5) - completed 4/30/22
75. Heaven and the Afterlife by James Garlow and Keith Wall (3.5) - completed 4/30/22

Books Read in May
76. Ethel & Ernest by Raymond Briggs (4) - completed 5/1/22
77. The Women of the House by Jean Zimmerman (3) - completed 5/8/22
78. Richard II by William Shakespeare (4) - completed 5/8/22
79. Fatal Pursuit by Martin Walker (3.5) - completed 5/12/22
80. The Bodies in the Library by Marty Wingate (3.5) - completed 5/12/22
81. Life in the Iron Mills by Rebecca Harding Davis (3) - completed 5/13/22
82. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (4.5) - completed 5/21/22
83. The Liberators: America's Witnesses to the Holocaust by Michael Hirsh (5) - completed 5/22/22
84. The League of Frightened Men by Rex Stout (4) - completed 5/27/22
85. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (4.5) - completed 5/29/22

Books Read in June
86. Imagined London by Anna Quindlen (3.5) - completed 6/5/22
87. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon (4) - completed 6/15/22
88. Miss Mackenzie by Anthony Trollope (3.5) - completed 6/16/22
89. Trace Elements by Donna Leon (3) - completed 6/17/22
90. Miss Mapp by E. F. Benson (3.5) - completed 6/22/22
91. See the Cat: Three Stories About a Dog by David LaRochelle; illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka (4) - completed 6/23/22
92. The Stranger in My Genes by Bill Griffeth (4) - completed 6/24/22
93. Summer by Ali Smith (4) - completed 6/30/22
94. Coriolanus by William Shakespeare (4) - completed 6/30/22
95. Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai (4) - completed 6/30/22

Books Added in March

Books Added in April
7. The Ordnance Survey Puzzle Book (gift)
8. The Easy Life in Kamusari by Shion Miura (free ebook)
9. The Puma Years by Laura Coleman (free ebook)
10. North to Paradise by Ousman Umar (free ebook)
11. Where the Desert Meets the Sea by Werner Sonne (free ebook)
12. To the Sky Kingdom by Tang Qi (free ebook)
13. The Ardent Swarm by HYamen Manai (free ebook)
14. The Caiman by Maria Eugenia Manrique (free ebook)
15. Mother Dear by Nova Lee Meier (free ebook)
16. An Eye for an Eye by Carol Wyer (free ebook)

Books Added in May
17. Housekeeping By Design: Hotels and Labor by David Brody (free ebook)
18. Christmas at Fairacre by Miss Read (library book sale)
19. Open Your Hymnal Again by Denis K. Loock (library book sale)
20. This Night's Foul Work by Fred Vargas (library book sale)
21. Around the World on Two Wheels by Peter Zheutlin (Thingaversary purchase)
22. A Meditation on Murder by Robert Thorogood (ebook Thingaversary purchase)
23. The Killing of Polly Carter by Robert Thorogood (ebook Thingaversary purchase)
24. Grimms' Tales for Young and Old translated by Ralph Manheim (gift)
25. Map It! : Atlas of Brainy Challenges by Rand McNally (gift)
26. The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken by Laura Schenone (Thingaversary purchase)
26. The Pine Barrens by John McPhee (Thingaversary purchase)
27. Slaves in the Family by Edward Ball (Thingaversary purchase)
28. The Magnificent Maps Puzzle Book by Philip Parker (gift)

Books Added in June
29. Miss Mackenzie by Anthony Trollope (free ebook)
30. Miss Mapp by E. F. Benson (free ebook)
31. They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the Civil War by Deanne Blanton & Lauren M. Cook (Thingaversary purchase)
32. By the Grace of the Game: The Holocaust, a Basketball Legacy, and the American Dream by Dan Grunfeld (ebook Thingaversary purchase)
33. 100 Bible Verses That Made America by Robert J. Morgan (ebook Thingaversary purchase)
34. Constable on the Hill by Nicholas Rhea (ebook Thingaversary purchase)
35. The Stranger in My Genes by Bill Griffeth (Thingaversary purchase)
36. Seeking Whom He May Devour by Fred Vargas (Thingaversary purchase)
37. The Listening Road by Neil Tomba (Thingaversary purchase)
38. The Unanswered Letter by Faris Cassel (Thingaversary purchase)

Books read in January

1. Love, Loss, and What I Wore by Ilene Beckerman (3.5) - completed 1/1/22
2. The Adventure of the Cardboard Box by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (3) - completed 1/1/22
3. To the Heart of the Storm by Will Eisner (4) - completed 1/1/22
4. So Many Beginnings by Bethany C. Morrow (3) - completed 1/2/22
5. A Scandal in Bohemia by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (5) - completed 1/3/22
6. The Adventure of the Abbey Grange by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (4) - completed 1/4/22
7. The Man with the Twisted Lip by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (3.5) - completed 1/5/22
8. The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle (4) - completed 1/7/22
9. Silver Blaze by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (4) - completed 1/8/22
10. A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley (5) - completed 1/9/22
11. The Adventure of the Red-Headed League by Sherlock Holmes (short story) (4) - completed 1/9/22
12. The Adventure of the Empty House by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (3.5) - completed 1/10/22
13. The Final Problem by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (3.5) - completed 1/11/22
14. The Adventure of the Yellow Face by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (3) - completed 1/13/22
15. Last Train to Istanbul by Ayse Kulin (4) - completed 1/15/22
16. I Could Chew on This: And Other Poems by Dogs by Francesco Marciuliano (3.5) - completed 1/15/22
17. Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro (4.5) - completed 1/16/22
18. The Adventure of the Dying Detective by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (4) - completed 1/16/22
19. The Adventure of the Norwood Builder by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (3.5) - completed 1/18/22
20. A Case of Identity by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (4) - completed 1/20/22
21. His Last Bow by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (3) - completed 1/23/22
22. The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle (3.5) - completed 1/24/22
23. The Resistance Man by Martin Walker (3.5) - completed 1/26/22
24. Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac (3.5) - completed 1/30/22
25. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (4) - completed 1/31/22

Books Read in February
26. The Adventure of Black Peter by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (3) - completed 2/1/22
27. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle (5) - completed 2/2/22
28. Hana's Suitcase by Karen Levine (4.5) - completed 2/3/22
29. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare (4) - completed 2/5/22
30. The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas (4) - completed 2/6/22
31. The Five Orange Pips by Arthur Conan Doyle (3) - completed 2/6/22
32. A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing in American Life by Allyson Hobbs (3) - completed 2/11/22
33. The Property by Rutu Modan (4) - completed 2/11/22
34. The Boscombe Valley Mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle (3.5) - completed 2/12/22
35. The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge by Arthur Conan Doyle (3) - completed 2/13/22
36. The Perpetual Curate by Margaret Oliphant (4.5) - completed 2/18/22
37. The Adventure of the Red Circle by Arthur Conan Doyle (4) - completed 2/19/22
38. The Children Return by Martin Walker (3.5) - completed 2/19/22
39. The Body Farm by Patricia Cornwell (4) - completed
40. The Reigate Puzzle by Arthur Conan Doyle (4) - completed 2/21/22
41. A Market Tale by Martin Walker (4) - completed 2/23/22
42. The Adventure of the Priory School by Arthur Conan Doyle (4) - completed 2/23/22
43. The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor by Arthur Conan Doyle (4) - completed 2/24/22
44. The Adventure of the Second Stain by Arthur Conan Doyle (4) - completed 2/25/22
45. The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle by Arthur Conan Doyle (4.5) - completed 2/26/22
46. Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari (2.5) - completed 2/27/22
47. The Adventure of the Three Students by Arthur Conan Doyle (4) - completed 2/27/22

Books acquired in January

1. The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle (free ebook) - 1/2/22
2. Book Lust to Go by Nancy Pearl (purchased) - 1/3/22
3. I Could Chew on This: And Other Poems by Dogs by Francesco Marciuliano (gift) - 1/15/22
4. The Property by Rutu Modan (purchased) - 1/22/22

Books acquired in February
5. The Perpetual Curate by Margaret Oliphant (free ebook) - 2/2/22
6. The Storm by Frederick Buechner (purchased) - 2/11/22

American authors challenge

JANUARY - Graphic novels and/or non-fiction
Love, Loss, and What I Wore by Ilene Beckerman (3.5) - completed 1/1/22
To the Heart of the Storm by Will Eisner (4) - completed 1/1/22

FEBRUARY - Wild card
The Body Farm by Patricia Cornwell (4) - completed 2/20/22

MARCH
Bernard Malamud - The Fixer (4) - completed 3/29/22

APRIL - Wild card
A Familiar Wilderness: Searching for Home on Daniel Boone's Road by S. J. Dahlman (3.5) - completed 4/15/22

MAY - 19th century author
Life in the Iron Mills by Rebecca Harding Davis (3) - completed 5/13/22

British authors challenge

JANUARY - Children's Classics
A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley (5) - completed 1/9/22

FEBRUARY - Wild Card
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle (5) - completed 2/2/22

MARCH - Interwar Period
Diary of a Provincial Lady by E. M. Delafield (3) - completed 3/20/22

APRIL
Kamila Shamsie - Broken Verses (3.5) - completed 4/30/22

MAY - Comic books/graphic novels & audiobooks
Ethel & Ernest by Raymond Briggs (4) - completed 5/1/22
Richard II by William Shakespeare (4) - audio completed 5/8/22
Fatal Pursuit by Martin Walker (3.5) - audio completed 5/12/22

JUNE
E. F. Benson - Miss Mapp (3.5) - completed 6/22/22

Asian books challenge
JANUARY - Turkish authors
Last Train to Istanbul by Ayse Kulin (4) - completed 1/15/22

FEBRUARY - Israeli & Palestinian authors
The Property by Rutu Modan (4) - completed 2/11/22
Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari (2.5) - completed 2/27/22

MARCH - The Arab World
The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf by Mohja Kahf (3.5) - completed 3/24/22

APRIL - Persia - Iranian authors
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi (4) - completed 4/2/22

MAY - The Stans
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (4.5) - completed 5/29/22

JUNE - The Indian Subcontinent
Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai (4) - completed 6/30/22

Nonfiction challenge
JANUARY - Prizewinners & nominees
Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro (4.5) - completed 1/16/22

FEBRUARY - Welcome to the Anthropocene
Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari (2.5) - completed 2/27/22

MARCH - Espionage
The Nazi Hunters by Neal Bascombe (4.5) - completed 3/12/22

APRIL - Armchair traveling
A Familiar Wilderness: Searching for Home on Daniel Boone's Road by S. J. Dahlman (3.5) - completed 4/15/22

MAY - From Wars to Peace
The Liberators: America's Witnesses to the Holocaust by Michael Hirsh (5) - completed 5/22/22

AuthorCAT (Category challenge)
JANUARY - Indigenous Authors
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (4) - completed 1/31/22

FEBRUARY - 19th century authors
The Perpetual Curate by Margaret Oliphant (4.5) - completed 2/18/22

MARCH - Authors first published at age 40 or later
The Doctors Blackwell by Janice P. Nimura (4) - completed 3/9/22
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (4) - completed 3/15/22
Unto Us a Son Is Given by Donna Leon (4) - completed 3/15/22

APRIL - Debut authors
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi (4) - completed 4/2/22

MAY - Authors from your own country
The League of Frightened Men by Rex Stout (4) - completed 5/27/22

JUNE - Nonfiction authors
Imagined London by Anna Quindlen (3.5) - completed 6/5/22
The Stranger in My Genes by Bill Griffeth (4) - completed 6/24/22

CATWoman (Category challenge)

JANUARY - Biography/Autobiography/memoir by women
Love, Loss, and What I Wore by Ilene Beckerman (3.5) - completed 1/1/22
Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro (4.5) - completed 1/16/22

FEBRUARY - Women in translation
The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas (4) - completed 2/6/22
The Property by Rutu Modan (4) - completed 2/11/22

MARCH - Women pioneers
The Doctors Blackwell by Janice P. Nimura (4) - completed 3/9/22
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (4) - completed 3/15/22
Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart (4) - completed 3/24/22

APRIL - Women of color
All That She Carried by Tiya Miles (4) - completed 4/9/22

MAY - Classics by women
Life in the Iron Mills by Rebecca Harding Davis (3) - completed 5/13/22

JUNE - Books set in cities or about cities by women
Imagined London by Anna Quindlen (3.5) - completed 6/5/22

ShakespeareCAT
JANUARY - King Lear
Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac (3.5) - completed 1/30/22

FEBRUARY
Much Ado About Nothing (4) - completed 2/5/22

MARCH - Book based on a Shakespeare play
The Storm by Frederick Buechner (3.5) - completed 3/31/22

APRIL - Hamlet
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell (4) - completed 4/25/22

MAY - Shakespeare's kings/medieval history
Richard II (4) - completed 5/8/22

JUNE - Ancient history
Coriolanus (4) - completed 6/30/22

Group reads
The Resistance Man by Martin Walker (3.5) - completed 1/26/22
A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing in American Life by Allyson Hobbs (3) - completed 2/11/22
The Children Return by Martin Walker (3.5) - completed 2/19/22
The Doctors Blackwell by Janice P. Nimura (4) - completed 3/9/22
Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson (4) - completed 3/12/22
Unto Us a Son Is Given by Donna Leon (4) - completed 3/15/22
All That She Carried by Tiya Miles (4) - completed 4/9/22
The Patriarch by Martin Walker (3.5) - completed 4/20/22
The Women of the House by Jean Zimmerman (3) - completed 5/8/22
Fatal Pursuit by Martin Walker (3.5) - completed 5/12/22
Miss Mackenzie by Anthony Trollope (3.5) - completed 6/16/22
Trace Elements by Donna Leon (3) - completed 6/17/22

Reading Projects: Sherlock Holmes
The Adventure of the Cardboard Box (3) - completed 1/1/22
A Scandal in Bohemia (5) - completed 1/3/22
The Adventure of the Abbey Grange (4) - completed 1/4/22
The Man with the Twisted Lip (3.5) - completed 1/5/22
The Valley of Fear (4) - completed 1/7/22
Silver Blaze (4) - completed 1/8/22
The Adventure of the Red-Headed League (4) - completed 1/9/22
The Adventure of the Empty House (3.5) - completed 1/10/22
The Final Problem (3.5) - completed 1/11/22
The Adventure of the Yellow Face (3) - completed 1/13/22
The Adventure of the Dying Detective (4) - completed 1/16/22
The Adventure of the Norwood Builder (3.5) - completed 1/18/22
A Case of Identity (4) - completed 1/20/22
His Last Bow (3) - completed 1/23/22
The Sign of the Four (3.5) - completed 1/24/22
The Adventure of Black Peter (3) - completed 2/1/22
The Hound of the Baskervilles (5) - completed 2/2/22
The Five Orange Pips (3) - completed 2/6/22
The Boscombe Valley Mystery (3.5) - completed 2/12/22
The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge (3) - completed 2/13/22
The Adventure of the Red Circle (4) - completed 2/19/22
The Reigate Puzzle (4) - completed 2/21/22
The Adventure of the Priory School (4) - completed 2/23/22
The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor (4) - completed 2/24/22
The Adventure of the Second Stain (4) - completed 2/25/22
The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (4.5) - completed 2/26/22
The Adventure of the Three Students (4) - completed 2/27/22
A Sherlock Holmes Devotional by Trisha White Priebe (2.5) - completed 3/1/22
The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb (4) - completed 3/3/22
A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro (3.5) - completed 3/6/22
The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet (3.5) - completed 3/6/22
The Adventure of the Stockbroker's Clerk (3.5) - completed 3/12/22
The Adventure of the Gloria Scott (3.5) - completed 3/17/22

Other Reading Projects

Holocaust Reading
Last Train to Istanbul by Ayse Kulin (4) - completed 1/15/22
Hana's Suitcase by Karen Levine (4.5) - completed 2/3/22
The Property by Rutu Modan (4) - completed 2/11/22
The Nazi Hunters by Neal Bascomb (4.5) - completed 3/12/22
My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me by Jennifer Teege (4) - completed 4/24/22
The Liberators: America's Witnesses to the Holocaust by Michael Hirsh (5) - completed 5/22/22
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon (4) - completed 6/15/22

1,000 Books to Read Before You Die
Love, Loss, and What I Wore by Ilene Beckerman (3.5) - completed 1/1/22
Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac (3.5) - completed 1/30/22
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (4) - completed 1/31/22
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (4) - completed 3/15/22
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (4.5) - completed 3/18/22
Diary of a Provincial Lady by E. M. Delafield (3) - completed 3/20/22
Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart (4) - completed 3/24/22
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (3.5) - completed 4/5/22
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt (3.5) - completed 4/27/22
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (4.5) - completed 5/21/22
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon (4) - completed 6/15/22
Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai (4) - completed 6/30/22

Hoping you are done with your posts! Happy new thread!

Happy new thread, Carrie.

>1 cbl_tn: Give sweet Adrian a hug form me.

>17 thornton37814: Yes, I'm done! Thanks!

>18 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita! I will hug Adrian when I pick him up at the vets. I think he has an infection. I dropped him off on my way to work and they'll work him in.

Happy new thread, Carrie! Get well wishes for Adrian

Happy new thread, Carrie. Great to see you so active again in 2022 in the group.

Happy new one!

>20 Carmenere: Thanks, Lynda!

>21 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul! I hope I can keep it up once the weather gets warmer!

>22 drneutron: Thanks, Jim!

Good news about Adrian. His gallbladder still looks great. He has either an impacted anal gland or an anal gland infection or both. It's a chronic problem for him and he's on preventative treatment, but sometimes it's not enough. Poor little guy.

Happy new thread, and tell Adrian to get well soon!

Happy new thread!

A dog is one of the best blessings in life and I hope Adrian will respond well to treatment.

>25 mstrust: >26 quondame: Adrian says thanks for the good wishes! Yes, Adrian is one of my biggest blessings. He's done much more for me than I can ever do for him.

Happy new thread, Carrie! I hope Adrian is feeling better soon, and glad to hear it's not his gallbladder.

>28 bell7: Thanks, Mary! I was so relieved. The gallbladder roller coaster started a year ago yesterday. I am beyond words thankful for this last year with Adrian since I could have lost him so easily a year ago.

48. A Sherlock Holmes Devotional by Trisha White Priebe

This devotional collection should have been right up my alley as a mystery fan, but it failed to meet my expectations. Most of the devotions were weak in application, which is really the whole point of a devotional. Each selection is headed by a short quotation from one of the Holmes stories or novels. It seemed reasonable to expect that the story quoted from would be related to that meditation, so I made an effort to read the Holmes story before reading its connected meditation. I soon discovered that some of the devotions are connected to a different story than the one from which the quotation is drawn. Some of the beginning quotations are drawn from previously used stories, so at this point I’ve only read about half of the Holmes canon. (Actually, I listened to LibriVox recordings for most of them.) I’m enjoying it so much that I’m going to finish the rest of the stories.

2.5 stars

49. The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb by Arthur Conan Doyle

One of Dr. Watson’s patients who works at Paddington Station brings him another patient one morning, a passenger who had just arrived at the station missing his thumb. The young man has a strange story to tell, and Dr. Watson takes him to his friend Sherlock Holmes. The young man is a hydraulic engineer. Work has been scarce, so he jumped at an opportunity that presented itself the day before to examine a machine in a Berkshire village used for processing fuller’s earth. The fee offered seems too good to be true. That should have been the engineer’s first cue to decline the job. He goes where he’s instructed, and he pays for his experience with the loss of his thumb. Sherlock Holmes sees behind the bizarre events of the night before to determine their cause. Conan Doyle uses the descending ceiling trope in this story. Perhaps it wasn’t as much of a cliché then as it has become now.

4 stars

You are making me keen to do a re-read of the Holmes books myself sometime fairly soon, Carrie.

Have a lovely weekend, my friend.

>32 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul! I hope you have a lovely weekend as well. It looks like a gorgeous day out. I think I'm going to go have my car washed as soon as I finish breakfast.

>33 cbl_tn: Reminds me I have to put fuel in the car tomorrow. Bello wants to eat Japanese food tomorrow which is not my favourite - I got outvoted though 1-0 as I don't get a vote!

>34 PaulCranswick: American Japanese food has lots of vegetables, so at least that's good for the diet? But lots of sodium as well.

Hi Carrie: Happy new thread. Are you getting this mild spring weather? It's been in the 30's and 40's, typically, but today, upper 60's, maybe even 70. I think we're planning to grill out tonight, if we can do so before the rains come.

Glad to see how you're progressing on Sherlock Holmes. How many stories are there, in all?

To start the year, I was reading a variety of books but, lately, I've been feeling like mysteries again, for awhile at least.

>36 lindapanzo: Hi Linda! Happy Saturday! Yes, we're having lovely weather here. It's been in the 70s the last couple of days.

I believe there are 4 Sherlock Holmes novels and 56 short stories. I've read all of the novels and about half of the stories.

I wish I could share this gorgeous Saturday with everyone everywhere. I took advantage of the beautiful weather to get my car washed and vacuumed at the new car wash. I got the "Pampered" package, but I think they need to rename it. I don't see how doing your own vacuuming is pampering. But it's good exercise, and I'm physically capable of doing it, so I don't really mind doing it myself.

>38 cbl_tn: I need to get some kind of a car wash, even a basic one, to get all the road salt off my car. Though I'm now back at work in the office two days a week (and working from home 3 days a week), I'm still not putting on as many miles. Even so, I take it in every 6 months for service/check-up. They give a free wash there, unless it's below 25 degrees, I believe.

>39 lindapanzo: Road salt isn't as much of a problem for us here, thankfully. Just mud and tar from the roadwork between home and work.

>39 lindapanzo: >40 cbl_tn: A couple years ago it was snowing when I left for the Outer Banks for our spring break. The roads had been treated here and in the stretches I traveled until I got close to Winston-Salem. I knew I needed to get my car washed, and I found a car wash somewhere in Nag's Head or Kitty Hawk. They wanted to know where the snow was.

>41 thornton37814: Hopefully you won't find snow anywhere today!

>40 cbl_tn: Road salt is the go-to once it starts snowing. In recent years, they pre-treat with beet juice which really helps. Every town seems to have their own secret blend. During one of the recent ice storms, they even put sand down as the storm was hitting but that's very rare here. Usually beet juice before the storm and road salt during and after the storm.

>43 lindapanzo: We had two snows this winter, and both times they weren't able to pre-treat the roads because it started as rain and then turned to snow as the temperature dropped.

>42 cbl_tn: No, but I thought I might need to take cover in the ark as I was driving north through Lexington. I knew the ark would be coming up and might be a good place to shelter from the deluge. Fortunately it stopped before I got there, but then there was a disabled vehicle in the middle of the Brent Spence Bridge going into Cincinnati. The traffic times when I'd crossed at 275 were normal so it must have happened right after I got through that point. It started slowing down just past Buttermilk Pike. A tow truck had arrived by the time I got there. I'd seen it passing on the right and using the shoulder when it could. I was hoping it would get it out of there by the time I made it all the way down the cut in the hill. That didn't happen.

>45 thornton37814: I'm glad! you made it OK! I hope the boys are none too worse for the wear.

>46 cbl_tn: They were getting pretty impatient once we hit the Ohio line. They seem to like it here though. I'm very fond of the chaise lounge. The light is right over the head too. Perfect for reading or stitching. I think this room has been recently updated. They left a couple of paint spots on the floor near the door.

>47 thornton37814: Sounds like a nice home away from home!

50. A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

Two 21st-century descendants of the Holmes and Watson clans meet at a Connecticut boarding school. It isn’t long before Charlotte Holmes and Jamie Watson are blamed for the murder of a fellow student. Will anyone, especially the police, believe they’re being framed? And who is behind it? Perhaps a Moriarty?

Jamie Watson narrates most of the story, just as his ancestor did for Sherlock Holmes’s cases. Jamie is a much more believable teenager than Charlotte. It’s hard to buy into someone as young as Charlotte having so much knowledge and expertise in so many areas. Jamie’s back story had the most appeal for me. Jamie’s parents are divorced. He’s been living in London with his mother and younger sister. His father lives in Connecticut near the school with his new family. Jamie hasn’t seen his father in several years, and his peril provides an opportunity for them to reconnect.

The crimes in the book are taken from the pages of the Holmes canon. The details include spoilers for several of the Sherlock Holmes stories: The Adventure of the Speckled Band, The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, and The Adventure of the Dying Detective. If you haven’t read the stories, the plot details of this book will be spoilery. If you have read these stories, naming them would be spoilery for this book.

3.5 stars

51. The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet by Arthur Conan Doyle

A Streatham banker consults Holmes when jewels disappear from a nearly priceless beryl coronet he was keeping as collateral for a loan. The banker didn’t want to leave such a valuable item in the bank, so he took it to his home for safe keeping. He made the mistake of telling his family at dinner that the coronet was in the house. To his horror, he woke up during the night to find his son in his room, with the damaged coronet in his hands. He’s convinced his son is guilty of theft, but since his son won’t disclose the whereabouts of the missing gems, he asks Sherlock Holmes to find them. Naturally, Holmes questions the inferences the banker has made from the facts at hand. Either I’ve read this story before, or I’m starting to think like Holmes, because I knew instantly which household member must have been involved in the theft of the jewels.

3.5 stars

I am home today with low back pain. I've been to the chiropractor twice today and I think the second adjustment will be effective once the inflammation eases. I am not supposed to sit, so I'll stay home from work again tomorrow. I was in too much pain to read today. Fortunately I discovered octordle, which will let you play as many free games as you want, and that was enough of a distraction to take my mind off the pain.

>51 cbl_tn: Hope you get relief soon.

>52 thornton37814: Thanks! I've read another chapter of The Doctors Blackwell this afternoon. The talk of the Cincinnati medical school rang a bell, and reminded me that my 4th great-granduncle, Pliny Crume, was a professor of obstetrics there for a few years in the mid-19th century.

>50 cbl_tn: Feel better soon, Carrie.

Is that like Wordle? I played that for the first time yesterday and my sister sent me the archives so I can play all the Wordle games there have been. I try to limit myself so it doesn't cut into my reading time.

>54 lindapanzo: Yes! You get 13 attempts to solve eight 5-letter words.

>53 cbl_tn: I'm hoping to read it. I've got it with me. I was going to go to the public library downtown to work on genealogy tomorrow, but I don't think there's anything I need that I can't access online so I'm thinking I may take it easy tomorrow and stay with the cats which means reading and cross stitching. I've got a small section I miscounted that I need to go back and frog. I could probably fudge it, but it's really not that many stitches so I think I'll just frog it and get it right.

Facebook says David Aldrich is calling for a big snow in East Tennessee this weekend, but it said nothing about timing. I need to investigate that and keep an eye on things.

>56 thornton37814: Possibly Saturday.

Well, thanks for the heads up:

Daily Octordle #42
8️⃣9️⃣
4️⃣5️⃣
6️⃣7️⃣
🔟🕚
octordle.com
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 🟩⬜⬜🟨🟨
⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜ 🟩⬜⬜🟨🟨
⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨
⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
🟨⬜🟨🟨⬜ ⬜⬜🟨🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟩⬜⬜⬜
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
🟩⬜⬜🟩🟨 ⬜🟨🟨⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩
⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟩⬜🟨 🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟩⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

>58 ChrisG1: Any time!

>51 cbl_tn: Sorry to hear about the back pain, Carrie, and hope it goes away soon!

>60 alcottacre: Thanks, Stadia! I am already feeling better. I'm getting it stretched out. Taking another day to rest tomorrow to avoid a relapse

>61 cbl_tn: I do not blame you! Take it easy until you are sure it is better.

Feeling much better this evening after another adjustment this afternoon. I will try to make myself get up for frequent short walks tomorrow when I go back to the office so I don't have a setback.

>63 cbl_tn: Good plan!

I hope your back problems are getting better, Carrie.

>64 alcottacre: I didn't get up as much as I should have today, but I'm no worse for the wear. I need to do better tomorrow, though.

>65 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg! I'm making progress every day. :-)

52. The Doctors Blackwell by Janice P. Nimura

“I love mankind...it’s people I can’t stand!!” (Linus Van Pelt, 1959). Elizabeth Blackwell, America’s first woman M.D., wrote something similar to her brother one hundred years before Linus made his famous statement. Samuel Blackwell moved his large family – his wife, their eight children, and other relatives – from England to the United States in the 1830s. The Blackwells were a clannish, intellectual family, who preferred their own company above the company of others.

Elizabeth was the first in the family, and the first woman in the United States, to receive a medical degree. Elizabeth had a low opinion of women in general, and she set out to improve women by setting the example for other women to follow. Elizabeth decided that her sister, Emily, was worthy to follow in her footsteps and assist her in her lofty aspirations, so she pushed Emily into the medical field as well.

This is a well-written biography, with an impressive use of correspondence, diaries, and other archival sources. Its biggest problem is its subject, Elizabeth Blackwell. She wasn’t a likable person. Her contemporaries must have felt the same way about her, because she never achieved the accolades she thought were her due. She earned respect through her determined pursuit of her medical profession, but she was not the inspiration she set out to be at the beginning of her career.

4 stars

53. The Nazi Hunters by Neal Bascomb

Some fifteen years after the end of World War II, Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi official responsible for transporting millions of Jews to their deaths, was spotted in Argentina. After receiving a tip on Eichmann’s whereabouts, Israeli spies tried to confirm Eichmann’s identity. Their first attempt was inconclusive. Three years later, they tried again, and this time they positively identified the man as Eichmann. The Israelis then conceived of and launched a plan to kidnap Eichmann and take him to Israel to stand trial for his war crimes.

This is a revision of Bascomb’s Hunting Eichmann for a young adult audience. It’s a powerful, utterly absorbing account of the Israeli mission. The bibliography and notes provide evidence of Bascomb’s extensive archival research and interviews with participants. Photographs of documents and physical artifacts allow readers to view some of the physical evidence that eventually led to Eichmann’s conviction and execution. Bascomb successfully conveys the emotional impact of the Israeli mission. Unlike the operatives involved, many of whom suffered and lost close family members as result of Eichmann’s wartime actions, I can only claim a general feeling of loss to the extent that the Holocaust was a loss for all of humanity, and this account deeply stirred me.

4.5 stars

54. Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson

The stories in Winesburg, Ohio, tell of a restless longing for something that the characters can’t quite define, but which may be community or connection. It has an aura of disappointment verging on despair. The town is filled with lonely souls who seem detached from everyone around them, except for young reporter George Willard, who seems to be the last remaining thread connecting the people of Winesburg. What will happen to the town when George Willard leaves?

Anderson seems to capture the beginning of the Midwest’s shift from agricultural economy to manufacturing economy and the waning of its small towns. Everyone with Midwestern roots ought to read this book.

4 stars

55. The Adventure of the Stockbroker's Clerk by Arthur Conan Doyle

A young clerk consults Holmes when he develops misgivings about his new employer. He had been laid off from his last position, and was lucky enough to secure a new position fairly quickly. Before he started his new position, he received another offer from a man who, with his brother, was just starting a hardware business. This firm was willing to pay more than the firm where he was due to start the next week, so he accepted the position, and agreed to the odd request that he not resign from the other position he was to start the next week. Holmes and Watson accompany the clerk to Birmingham, where they meet his new employer and Holmes deduces the reason for the young clerk’s suspicion. It’s a good story, but it suffers due to its similarity to the better Adventure of the Red-Headed League.

3.5 stars

56. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

A very young Laura Ingalls (she celebrates her 5th birthday in the book) tells about life in a Wisconsin cabin with her Pa, her Ma, her older sister Mary, and her baby sister Carrie. Over the course of about a year, Laura describes the hard work of frontier life, interspersed with times for play and family gatherings.

My fourth grade teacher read this to the class and I was bored to tears at that age. It didn’t speak to this child of the TV generation. I had no frame of reference for the kinds of chores that were part of the Ingalls family’s daily existence, and Laura was too young to interest a 9-year-old.

My adult self relished the vivid descriptions of farm living. My own Midwestern ancestors likely lived in much the same way. I was struck especially by Laura’s description of her mother, who worked with joy and had just the right blend of firmness and gentleness with her children.

I highly recommend listening to the audio version if you can get your hands on it. Cherry Jones’ superb narration enhanced the experience, as did Paul Woodiel’s fiddle interludes.

4 stars

57. Unto Us a Son Is Given by Donna Leon

Commissario Brunetti’s father-in-law, Conte Orazio Falier, rarely asks his son-in-law for a favor, so Brunetti is both surprised and alarmed when the Conte asks Brunetti to look into the affairs of one of the Conte’s oldest friends. Gonzalo Rodriguez de Tejada, a Spaniard by birth, has plans to adopt a much younger man to allow the younger man to inherit his fortune. Italian inheritance laws don’t allow people to will their wealth and possessions to anyone. The law requires most of the estate to go to a person’s relatives.

The crime is very slow to develop in this book, but that’s OK. Brunetti’s family is front and center in this one, making up for other books in the series where they hardly appear. The identity of the murderer was not a surprise to me, but the motive for the murder was. It’s nice that Leon can still surprise her readers after so many books in the series.

4 stars

58. The Adventure of the Gloria Scott by Arthur Conan Doyle

In this story, Holmes tells Watson about his very first case from his university days. On a visit to a friend’s home, he astounds his friend’s father with deductions made from his appearance. One of his deductions hits a little too close to home, and Holmes takes his leave. A few weeks later, Holmes’s friend summons him back to the Norfolk estate. His father is dying, and his illness was triggered by the receipt of a mysterious letter.

This story has some similarities to The Valley of Fear, with the mystery rooted in the past and the decoding of a secret message. Holmes’s methods seem to require a sidekick to ask questions and receive explanations. The school chum had to do since Holmes hadn’t yet met Watson, but he was an inferior substitute.

3.5 stars

59. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

Alice in Wonderland was the first book I remember reading after learning to read. It was time to revisit it! There’s nothing quite like this fantasy about a little girl who falls down a rabbit hole and meets all manner of strange creatures and adventures. I was just as delighted this time around as I was as a child. I don’t recall ever having read Through the Looking Glass before, although I am very familiar with many of its characters and elements. I’ve had Jabberwocky memorized since high school, when my choir performed a musical adaptation.

The stories might initially seem like pointless nonsense, but both are journey/exploration stories. Alice overcomes a series of obstacles in her first journey of exploration, such as growing very large and shrinking very small. In her second adventure, Alice is trying to reach the eighth square in order to become a queen in the living chess game she finds herself in.

Alice in Wonderland gets a full five stars. Through the Looking Glass doesn’t have quite the same magic, so I give it four stars.

4.5 stars

60. Diary of a Provincial Lady by E. M. Delafield

A diarist writes of everyday life in interwar rural England, where she and her husband live above their means with their two children, a governess, a cook, a maid, and a gardener. I am not sure if Robert, the husband, works or if they’re a member of a social class that doesn’t work. The author’s humor is sometimes self-deprecating, and other times directed at others. The work feels like it’s written for insiders in the author’s social group, and I felt like an outsider. There seemed to be a distance between the author and myself that I couldn’t cross. While I did enjoy some of the episodes recounted in this book, I can’t see myself going out of my way to track down any of this author’s other works.

3 stars

Had to share my personal best score today!

Wordle 275 2/6

🟨🟨⬜🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

61. Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart

In the early 20th century, a widow with a young daughter takes up a homestead claim in Wyoming and writes letters about her life and adventures to her former employer in Denver. Elinore wanted to prove that a woman could ranch on her own. She claimed success in her letters, but she really wasn’t on her own since she married the Scotsman with the neighboring claim almost as soon as she arrived. She did show how much a generous-hearted homesteader could accomplish with the aid of equally generous neighbors. Her down-to-earth descriptions of her home, her neighbors and their homes, her travels and the people she met, and holidays and special events will quickly captivate most readers.

I listened to the audio version. The reader’s voice reminded me of a voice mail assistant or GPS navigator so much that I wondered at first if it was being read by a computer. Since she changed accents when someone else was speaking, I decided it was a real person speaking and not a computer!

4 stars

I've been able to get out and walk more this week now that the weather is warmer and my lower back isn't giving me fits. I've hit 10,000 steps two days in a row!

62. The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf by Mohja Kahf

This is a coming-of-age novel about Khadra Shamy, the daughter of Syrian Muslim immigrants in Indiana. Khadra’s father works at the Muslim center in an Indianapolis suburb, and she is steeped in Muslim faith and practice in her childhood and adolescence. After a brief failed marriage in college, Khadra suddenly sees shades of gray where there used to be black and white. A trip to Syria, the barely-remembered land of her birth, confuses her even more. She discovers customs that she thought were Muslim are actually Syrian/Arab. She begins to see similarities between adherents of different faiths where before she only saw their outward differences. She needs to work out for herself what it means to be a Muslim woman in late 20th-century America.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It’s longer than it needs to be. Eliminating the repetitiveness and a number of the characters would likely make it a stronger novel. However, I identified with Khadra, who shares enough characteristics with the author to be considered at least partially autobiographical. Based on the timeline of the novel, she seems to be very close to my age. I spent a lot of time in Indiana during the years covered in the novel. My family made the trip north several times a year to visit my mother’s parents and her very large extended family. I sometimes felt like an outsider since the rest of the family knew each other in a way that I didn’t since I lived so far away, so I was very interested in another outsider’s view of Indiana. If I had run into Khadra on one of my visits, I wonder if we could have broken through the cultural barriers to find common ground?

3.5 stars

63. The Fixer by Bernard Malamud

During Yakov’s first days in the courthouse jail the accusation had seemed to him almost an irrelevancy, nothing much to do with his life or deeds. But after the visit to the cave he had stopped thinking of relevancy, truth, or even proof. There was no “reason,” there was only their plot against a Jew, any Jew; he was the accidental choice for the sacrifice. He would be tried because the accusation had been made, there didn’t have to be another reason. Being born a Jew meant being vulnerable to history, including its worst errors. Accident and history had involved Yakov Bok as he had never dreamed he could be involved. The involvement was, in a way of speaking, impersonal, but the effect, his misery and suffering, were not. The suffering was personal, painful, and possibly endless.

In early 20th century Tsarist Russia, a restless young Jewish man, a fixer by trade, leaves the shtetl for Kiev. Yakov Bok hopes to improve his mind, earn some money, and maybe immigrate to somewhere better like America. Yakov is not a religious man, but he is basically a moral man. A couple of good deeds involve Yakov in a chain of events much larger than himself. Accused of a crime he did not commit, Yakov spends months, years in jail resisting state pressure to confess for the welfare of all the Jews in Russia.

This novel’s religious themes and the suffering that Yakov endures as the state pressures him to make a statement against his will echo similar themes in Shusaku Endo’s Silence. Both novels wrestle with the silence or absence of God in the face of unrelenting suffering. Interestingly, both novels were first published in 1966. Maybe there’s a thesis there for some aspiring scholar of literature.

4 stars

Hi Carrie!

Skippety-skip skip. Belated happy new thread.

>51 cbl_tn: Oof, lower back pain. I’m so sorry about that and hope it's a thing of the past as I write this.

>61 cbl_tn: Part of the chiropractor’s adjustment of my lower back is the stretching – my favorite part. She also has a roller massage table that is heaven.

>71 cbl_tn: I never read this as a child, but Jenna’s 4th grade teacher read this book to the class and I’ve read it as an adult. I found Wilder’s recipe for gingerbread online – remarkably like my grandmother’s recipe – so Jenna and I made it and took it to the school as her project based on the book. My family are all from the Midwest, too – Nebraska and Iowa.

>76 cbl_tn: Ah, another Wordler!

>81 karenmarie: Thanks! Yes, the lower back pain has gone away. I usually enjoy the roller massage, but I wasn't able to tolerate it when I was in so much pain. They take really good care of me at the chiropractor's office. My current chiropractor inherited me from his father, and I've been a patient there since I was 10 or 12 years old.

I visited Laura Ingalls Wilder's home and museum in Mansfield, Missouri, about 20 years ago and I felt like I was in my great-grandmother's kitchen. Lots of things in her kitchen looked exactly like dishes, utensils, etc. that had passed from my great-grandmother to my grandmother to my mother to me. My Midwestern roots are in Indiana and Illinois.

Yes, I like to start the day with Wordle. I did pretty well with today's word.

Wordle 284 3/6

⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩
🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

I want to ask my LT friends to pray for my community. A wildfire started yesterday near Pigeon Forge on a day of very strong winds. Fire crews have been unable to contain the fire due to the weather conditions. I have friends who live in the evacuation zone, and a coworker who lives just outside the evacuation zone. The evacuation zone expanded overnight to within 4 1/2 miles of my home (a little over 7 km). The wind advisory expired at 6 a.m., and we have about an hour of moderate rain forecast for my location starting just after 8 a.m. I'd love to have a good, soaking rain right now.

If you would like to know more about the fire, it's being called the Indigo Lane fire or the Hatcher Mountain/Indigo Lane fire.

>83 cbl_tn: Sending good thoughts for your community, Carrie, and I hope there will be enough rain to stop the fire.
Stay safe!

>84 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita! I just took Adrian out and saw that we've already had some rain, although it's not raining now. I also found out that a second fire developed overnight, much closer to me, and that's why the evacuation zone is so close to where I live. The second fire is now out.

>83 cbl_tn: One of our faculty members was just outside the evacuation zone, and she decided to leave and go to her sister's house at 10 pm last night rather than staying awake all night wondering if she'd need to evacuate. When she woke up this morning, she discovered she'd been added to the evacuations so she was really glad she'd left when she did. The winds are supposed to kick back in later today. I hope they make significant progress on containment before they do kick back up.

>86 thornton37814: I'm told that the fire closest to me is out. Just texted you some photos.

Just heard from my coworker who is the closest to the fire. He is about a mile outside the evacuation area so that's good, but he has no power.

>83 cbl_tn: How upsetting. I do so hope you and all your friends stay safe and their property too.

>89 quondame: Thank you. I just looked at the map and the fire closest to me, which I thought had been contained, is now 652 acres and 0% contained. I'm not sure I will sleep tonight.

The fire is 5 1/2 to 6 miles from me as the crow flies. Praying that the crews can contain it.

The fire near me is now 800 acres and 0% contained. No more rain in the forecast until Tuesday.

Just got some great news about the fire closest to me! I'm not on Facebook, so one of my friends let me know that the fire chief's wife (a mutual friend) posted that she got to ride along with the chief on his inspection this morning. The fire appears to be 90% contained, only one home was lost and it was the one where the fire started when the power lines went down.

>93 cbl_tn: Much better news! I hope you got some rest.

>94 quondame: Thanks! I did!

64. The Storm by Frederick Buechner

Kenzie and his third wife, Willow, live on a privately developed Florida island. Kenzie will be turning seventy soon, and Willow is planning a big birthday bash. They learn that Kenzie’s estranged older brother, Dalton, will be on the island the weekend of the party. Kenzie and Dalton haven’t spoken in twenty years, since the birth of Kenzie’s illegitimate daughter with a 17-year-old street dweller. A tropical storm may put an end to the brothers’ reconciliation before it begins.

This short novel is a loose retelling of The Tempest. The characters all seem to be loners or misfits. Buechner gives readers a glimpse inside each one’s head. I like Buechner’s style, but I couldn’t get past the ick factor of a middle-aged Kenzie’s infatuation with a barely 17-year-old girl.

3.5 stars

March Recap

Books owned: 4
Books borrowed: 1
Ebooks borrowed: 4
eAudiobooks borrowed: 8

Best of the month: The Nazi Hunters by Neal Bascomb
Worst of the month: A Sherlock Holmes Devotional by Trisha White Priebe

65. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi

This graphic memoir tells the story of the artists’ childhood in Iran starting just before the 1979 revolution, when Marjane was 10, to her departure from Iran at age 14 to study in Vienna. Marjane’s parents allowed her as much freedom as they could, and she felt empowered to stand up for her beliefs. As a 10-year-old, she was reading comics about dialectical materialism, with conversations between Descartes and Marx. She bonded with her uncle, who had been a political prisoner for his communist beliefs. She also loved pop culture like jeans, makeup, and pop music (Iron Maiden and Kim Wilde were favorites). These pleasures provided an outlet from the constant threat of bombs from the Iran/Iraq war and from the revolutionary government and its strict enforcement of Islamic behavior, which for women meant being properly veiled, among other things.

The Iranian revolution and the hostage crisis were a part of my teenage years. My knowledge of these events mostly comes from the daily news broadcasts as the events unfolded. It was interesting to view these events from an insider’s perspective. The bold black and white illustrations perfectly suit the story Satrapi tells. Recommended.

4 stars

Carrie, I have been reading about the fires - so scary. I come from a fire-prone area, and it is a frequent worry and more frequent heartbreak. I will keep your community in my thoughts.

>99 AMQS: Thanks, Anne! I found out at church this morning that my friends who had been evacuated have been allowed back home. I can still see several plumes of smoke from the fire closest to me, but I understand that they're doing controlled burns in that area. I am optimistic that the worst is over.

I'm glad to hear you and your friends are likely out of danger. I did enjoy Persepolis, I just wish I had something as good for April's AABC.

Carrie, I'm so glad you are out of danger with the wildfires in your area. Scary times! Also glad that your back is better and your are reaching your step goal more often. I've been hit or miss on that magic 10,000 step count. I know when those "fireworks" go off on my risk, I am a happy camper walker! I made it today.

Those fires are so scary, Carrie and are doing environmental damage at the same time. Stay safe my friend.

>101 quondame: Thanks! I hope you find something good for this month's AABC!

>102 Donna828: Thank you! Congrats on the walking yesterday! We're still in a pattern of warmer days during the week and cooler temperatures on the weekend. So, the days I have the most time to walk, it's still too cold to lure me outdoors.

>103 PaulCranswick: Thanks! I know that controlled burns are often part of forest managment and can be beneficial. With the fire closest to me, it's been mostly organic material burning (only a couple of structures burned) and they're using backhoes, etc., to create firebreaks and not dumping chemical fire retardants from the air. There are still several columns of smoke on the mountain closest to me, but I believe these are controlled burns. We have rain in the forecast tomorrow and Wednesday and hopefully these fires will be a thing of the past by the end of the week!

I'm catching up a little late, Carrie, but glad to read that in the end there was limited damage as a result of the fires and that you're doing alright. I hope that they stay controlled and don't continue to trouble the region!

>77 cbl_tn: >98 cbl_tn: I have already read that one so I get to dodge that BB!

>78 cbl_tn: Congratulations, Carrie!! Way to go!!

>79 cbl_tn: >96 cbl_tn: I think I will give that one a pass for now.

>80 cbl_tn: You liked that one more than I did. I am not sorry I read it, but I do not ever want to read it again.

Happy Wednesday!

>105 bell7: Hi Mary! I think both fires are under control now. We had rain yesterday and I'm sure that helped a lot!

>106 alcottacre: Thanks, Stasia! I'm glad you gave The Fixer a try, and sorry it didn't really work for you. May your next read be a better one!

I'm so glad the fires are under control and that you're safe! You had some scary days.

>108 mstrust: Me too, thanks! Now all I need to worry about are any lingering effects from the air fryer that fell on my head a couple of nights ago. (Don't ask! I feel really stupid!) No concussion, lump, or bruising. Just sore to the touch. It was a glancing blow, I think, and I didn't get the full impact.

66. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

In this story-within-a-story, a group of travelers sits on a boat on the Thames waiting for the tide to turn for their departure. While they wait, Charles Marlow tells his companions about his time as a steamboat captain on an African river in the employ of a trading company. Things go wrong from the outset, and the charismatic Kurtz dominates the tale long before his “on stage” appearance.

The framing of the story as a tale told at night to a captive audience gives it the feel of a ghost story. I usually do well with audiobooks, but it was the wrong choice for this book. This could be due partly to the distractions I faced during the time I listened to the audio (wildfires within 6 miles of my home), but Conrad’s dense prose could be a factor. I thought I was paying attention, but I missed a lot of important points. I’ll need to go back and read this in print at some point.

3.5 stars

67. All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake by Tiya Miles

My great grandmother Rose
mother of Ashley gave her this sack when
she was sold at age 9 in South Carolina
it held a tattered dress 3 handfulls of
pecans a braid of Roses hair. Told her
It be filled with my Love always
she never saw her again
Ashley is my grandmother
Ruth Middleton
1921

From these few lines embroidered on a nearly 200-year-old cotton sack, historian and Harvard professor Tiya Miles opens up a depth of story and collective memory. I thought this book was going to be about Rose, Ashley, and Ruth. It is about much more than that. It’s about the history of slavery and enslaved women, particularly in and around Charleston, South Carolina. It’s about material culture, especially textiles and women’s history. It’s about historiography, about the historical method for researching and writing about the lives and experiences of enslaved people in the absence of documentary evidence.

If I had it to do over, I would read “Little Sack of Something: An Essay on Process” first. If I had understood how and why the book came to be before I dug into it, I don’t think I would have been as disappointed at the outset when I realized that the book I was reading wasn’t the book I thought I was going to read. I was also annoyed by some repetition of ideas and expressions from chapter to chapter, until a friend pointed out that the book probably originated in chapters that were presented on different occasions. The footnotes indicated that my friend’s observation was correct.

I am drawn to biographies and books about historical events. While the author tells readers about Rose, Ashley, and Ruth, their stories are told in support of a broader and more abstract thesis. The research and use of source material is exemplary. Unusually for a trade publisher these days, this book includes numbered footnotes, and they take up roughly a quarter of the space. I do wish it also included a bibliography, which would have made it easier to add references to my reading wishlist.

4 stars

>109 cbl_tn: Oh no. Glad the fires have improved but hope you're OK after your air fryer injury.

I recently had a Kindle injury. In the dark, I put my Kindle down and it slid and landed on my toe and I thought I broke it. My toe that is. In the end, no damage to either my toe (except for some soreness and a small cut) or my new Kindle.

While waiting at the car service dept this am, I finished the second Bruno mystery. I may start the third one in a few weeks. Maybe I'll get caught up.

>112 lindapanzo: Thanks, Linda! I think I'm fine. Not too much discomfort this evening. I hope your toe is healed now!

I am enjoying the audiobook version of the Bruno books. The reader does a nice job with them.

Catching up with your thread. I'm so sorry for all you have had to go through. It's a bit much for one person, isn't it. But I'm happy to see you did manage to read some good books and enjoyed them.

>110 cbl_tn: Carrie, I have fond memories of reading Heart of Darkness. I looked it up and I read it 20 years ago. It seems like last week. It's funny how some books stay with me and I can forget about others in short order.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. It's warm here today but quite windy. I'm going to look for a protected spot in my yard so I can go outside to read. It's my favorite thing to do on a mild spring day.

>114 Trifolia: Thanks! It seemed like a long week, and I was glad to see it end. Next week will be better!

>115 Donna828: I hope you find your perfect reading spot!

Lori and I finally got around to exchanging our Christmas gifts since we were both at the same conference yesterday and today. This gem was in my box:



The Ordnance Survey Puzzle Book

68. A Familiar Wilderness: Searching for Home on Daniel Boone's Road by S. J. Dahlman

Not long after his wife’s death from Huntington’s disease, the author set out to walk Daniel Boone’s Wilderness Road from Sycamore Shoals park in Elizabethton, Tennessee, to Boonesborough, Kentucky. His conversations with people he met along the way provide a snapshot of Appalachian life and culture in the early 21st century.

Although the author has lived in Appalachia for the better part of two decades as a professor at a small liberal arts college, he is not from Appalachia. His perspective tends more toward that of an outsider rather than a local. His route passed through several college towns – Barbourville, Berea, and Richmond, Kentucky – and his descriptions of these towns and their inhabitants make them seem like oases in a cultural desert.

Dahlman’s observations are incisive. However, he doesn’t offer readers an overarching analysis of his journey and its lessons. Another author might have framed the journey as a grief memoir, but this author avoided that kind of internal focus. For the most part, he kept his gaze outward.

3.5 stars

>110 cbl_tn: Yeah, that is one I mean to get to at some point this year for my "Classics" reading.

>111 cbl_tn: That one sounds good! Thanks for the review and recommendation, Carrie.

>119 alcottacre: As I think I mentioned in my review, I will need to revisit Heart of Darkness in a printed word format (either print or ebook) at some point to pick up what I missed in the audio!

I think you will like All That She Carried.

69. The Patriarch by Martin Walker

St. Denis town policeman Bruno Courrèges is thrilled with an opportunity to meet his childhood hero, a World War II pilot known as “The Patriarch”. The Red Countess has asked him to be her escort for The Patriarch’s party, probably because he’ll look good while handling her wheelchair. When one of the guests is found dead the next morning, Bruno is called in to take part in a cursory investigation. A doctor quickly rules the death as due to natural causes, but Bruno has a kernel of doubt that keeps growing as the story progresses. Meanwhile, an eccentric local with too many deer on her property finds herself in trouble after one of her deer causes a tragic accident. Per usual for the series, cases that seem completely unrelated share common actors.

I’ve come to enjoy this series as a pleasant diversion from day-to-day life, with its idyllic setting and
Bruno’s close-knit circle of friends. I try to overlook most of the flaws, but I found it hard to swallow that, after more than a decade as the town policeman, Bruno had not met any of The Patriarch’s family previously. There was a point in the book when I was searching for something, anything, to throw at Bruno. Despite his suspicion of The Patriarch’s daughter-in-law, Madeleine, he didn’t put up any resistance to her seduction, even though it was obvious she was playing him. And Pamela voiced what all readers have been thinking when she observed that, although he says he wants a wife and children, he is attracted to women who don’t want that.

Readers new to the series should be aware that this book contains lengthy spoilers for earlier books in the series. The spoilers and Bruno’s constantly evolving love life are reasons to start this series from the beginning and read it in order.

3.5 stars

70. My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me: A Black Woman Discovers Her Family's Nazi Past by Jennifer Teege & Nikola Sellmair

Jennifer Teege spent her earliest years in a Catholic orphanage. Teege’s German mother had a brief relationship with Teege’s Nigerian father, but they were no longer together by the time Teege was born. At that time in Germany, it was common for single mothers who had to work to place their children in an orphanage. They still had visitation rights and often the children would spend weekends with their mothers or other family. When she was a toddler, Teege was taken in by a foster family. She still saw her mother and grandmother regularly until she was adopted by her foster family.

Teege’s sense of identity was upended at age 38 when she picked up a random book off of a library shelf. She found she was holding a book about her mother and her mother’s father, the Nazi war criminal Amon Goeth, the concentration camp commandant known to many from the film Schindler’s List. Teege sought out a therapist to help her deal with this new knowledge as well as the abandonment issues stemming from her relationships with her birth mother and grandmother. Also, Teege had lived and studied in Israel for several years in her twenties, and she didn’t know how to tell her Israeli friends that her grandfather had been a mass murderer of Jews.

This book is an odd mix of memoir and biography, with parts written by Teege interspersed with more objective commentary by her co-author, Nikola Sellmair. Teege contextualizes her individual psychological trauma with that of other descendants of Nazi war criminals, descendants of average Germans who sympathized with the Nazi party, and descendants of Holocaust survivors. She also reflects on generational differences between the children and the grandchildren of war criminals and Holocaust survivors. Teege’s personal journey is an example of how one reckons with one’s past and the weight of family secrets in order to contribute to a better future.

4 stars

71. Reflecting the Glory by N. T. Wright

This collection of Lenten meditations includes readings from 2 Corinthians 2-6, 1 Peter 2, Revelation 4-5, the gospel of John (with particular emphasis on chapters 13-17), and 1 Corinthians 15. I’ve noticed that New Testament scholar N. T. Wright tends to publish his works for lay readers as Tom Wright. Since he’s credited as N. T. Wright in this book, I was expecting “meatier” content, and I was disappointed that many of the meditations seem to be little more than paraphrases of that day’s passage. A few of the meditations helped me to view familiar passages in a new, more meaningful way, and for that I am grateful.

3 stars

72. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

This historical novel about William Shakespeare’s family explores the effects of grief over the death of a child/sibling on a marriage and on a family. The first half of the book leads up to Hamnet’s death in a dual narrative alternating between Hamnet’s last day and his parents’ courtship and early married life. The weight of Hamnet’s absence and the family’s grief dominates the second half of the book.

I expected more from the domestic violence subplot than O’Farrell delivered. It’s implied that Hamnet’s death resulted from a blow to the head when he got too close to his grandfather John. O’Farrell teases readers with all the ways that Hamnet’s death could have been avoided, but what’s the point since Hamnet’s mother and other relatives never suspect his true cause of death?

I usually avoid historical fiction about real people, preferring not to get fiction mixed up with facts. I am happy that I made this book an exception to my rule.

4 stars

73. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

Kindhearted ten-year-old Winnie Foster gets caught up with the Tuck family and their secret. Winnie can hardly believe their story, yet when it leads to tragedy, she comes to their aid in a surprising way. The story seems too dark for its intended audience since Winnie witnesses a murder and helps the murderer escape from jail. Yet is it any darker than the fairy tales I loved as a child?

3.5 stars

74. Broken Verses by Kamila Shamsie

31-year-old Aasmaani has a new job at a Karachi television studio, and a new apartment next door to her half-sister and her husband. Aasmaani’s life has been defined by her activist mother’s disappearance 14 years earlier, and the death of her mother’s lover, The Poet, two years before that. It seems like an opportunity for a new start, but soon after Aasmaani’s arrival at the television statement, someone starts sending letters written in a code known only to Aasmaani’s mother, The Poet, and Aasmaani. Does this mean Aasmaani’s mother is still alive?

This novel explores themes of grief, depression, love, parent/child relationships, feminism, and politics. Aasmaani has been so preoccupied by the people and relationships she’s lost that she can’t fully embrace the relationships she has now. This novel will speak to individuals weighed down by grief, as well as to those who do their best to provide social and emotional support for bereaved persons. It wasn’t an easy read, but it was ultimately rewarding.

3.5 stars

75. Heaven and the Afterlife by James Garlow and Keith Wall

What will happen to me when I die? Most of us will wrestle with this question at some point in our lives. Garlow, an evangelical pastor, looks at what the Bible teaches about the afterlife. Heaven is only a part of that teaching. He also looks at biblical teaching on hell, angels, demons, Satan, ghosts and communication with deceased loved ones, reincarnation and annihilationism. Garlow includes a lot of anecdotal evidence from near-death experiences, encounters with angels and ghosts, etc. The stories of other people’s experiences are the major weakness of the book, as readers must decide how far to trust Garlow’s judgment of the validity of these stories and the truthfulness of their original tellers.

I read an ARC that originally belonged to my father, and it included his marginal notes. I learned as much from my father’s notes as I did from the book. It struck me that this is a trustworthy way to receive communication from my deceased father!

3.5 stars

April Recap

Books owned: 2
Books borrowed: 3
Ebooks borrowed: 3
eAudiobooks borrowed: 3

Best of the month: My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me by Jennifer Teege & Nikola Sellmair

>127 cbl_tn: Congratulations on reaching 75, Carrie!

>129 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita!

Congrats!

>131 drneutron: Thank you!

Congratulations on reaching 75 books already, Carrie. I hope to follow suit this month.

Congrats on reaching 75. Carrie. Great job!!

>133 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul! You can do it!

>134 lindapanzo: Thanks, Linda!

>135 cbl_tn: Not if I read many books the length of The Brothers Karamazov which is one of my present reads!

>136 PaulCranswick: I am still up for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay if you are! It's a chunkster, too!

76. Ethel & Ernest by Raymond Briggs
Cartoonist Raymond Briggs tells the story of his parents’ marriage in this sweet graphic novel. His parents met in 1928, when his father was a milkman and his mother was a lady’s maid. Together they weathered the changes of the mid-20th century, including the rise of Hitler, World War II, post-war rationing, and the introduction of modern conveniences like refrigerators and television. Raymond was their much-doted-on only child. I think his parents would have been pleased with this loving tribute to their quiet lives.

4 stars

>137 cbl_tn: Let me know when you want to start it, Carrie, I'm in!

>139 PaulCranswick: I need to finish a book for a book club meeting next Sunday. I can start any time after I finish that one.

OK noted, Carrie and that suits me too with Karamazov on the go!

>141 PaulCranswick: Sounds like a plan!

Congratulations on 75 reads!

Wow, you've already hit 75! Congrats!

>143 quondame: >144 mstrust: Thank you both! My reading is slowing down as the weather gets warmer. I'm spending more time outside walking.

I picked up three books from our library book sale this morning:

77. The Women of the House by Jean Zimmerman

This biography of four Colonial women of the Philipse dynasty spans more than a century between Margaret Hardenbroeck’s 1659 arrival in New Amsterdam to the loss of her great-granddaughter Mary Philipse Morris’s estates following the Revolutionary War. I have mixed feelings about this book. I hate it when biographers tell us what their subjects thought if there isn’t documentation to back it up like a diary or letters. This author does this repeatedly throughout the book. She tells readers what Margaret thought about as she sat on her stoop, and what Mary and her husband talked about as they rode together in their carriage. There are no diaries or letters in the source list. The source list reveals another weakness in the book, as it does not include archival or primary sources. The author relied almost exclusively on secondary sources. Finally, while it’s presented as women’s history, it’s really more of a history of the Philipse family, as there is as much emphasis on the men of the family as on the women.

Despite its flaws, I am glad that I read the book since I have New Amsterdam and New Netherlands ancestry. The book’s main strength is the social history of Colonial New York and families like the Philipses who built fortunes during that era. My ancestors weren’t in the same social circles as the Philipse family, but it’s likely that they would have done business with them at some point. At the very least, they would have used the Philipse family’s toll bridge that linked Manhattan to Westchester County and the outlying farmland.

3 stars

>147 cbl_tn: I'm not sure I'm going to start, much less finish, that one before book club. I'll have to decide whether to attend and get spoilers or not. Your mediocre rating makes me question whether I want to read it or not. I do have it in print though.

>148 thornton37814: You will not be happy with the lack of numbered footnotes/endnotes (there are endnotes, but no indication in the text that there are) and with the reliance on secondary sources.

78. Richard II by William Shakespeare

“Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” might sum up this drama as well as anything. Shakespeare’s play tells the story of Richard II’s deposition by his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, who became Henry IV. There’s a lot of musing on the divine right of kings, as well as on the consent of the governed.

Henry Bolingbroke’s rise begins with a dispute with Thomas Mowbray over the death of Thomas of Woodstock, the king’s uncle (and also Bolingbroke’s uncle), apparently at the king’s behest. The play ends as it began, with Exton’s murder of the deposed Richard because he inferred it was Henry IV’s wish.

4 stars

79. Fatal Pursuit by Martin Walker

This series installment finds St. Denis’s chief of police, Bruno Courrèges, once again juggling multiple responsibilities. He is called to the scene of the unattended death of a researcher. The man was a heart attack waiting to happen, and his doctor would have no problem signing a death certificate to that effect. But Bruno has doubts, and since he’s been right and the doctor wrong before, Bruno is given time to follow up on his suspicions. The participants in a local car rally include a couple of men trying to trace a nearly priceless Bugatti that disappeared during the Vichy regime, last seen in the Périgord. Bruno also steps in to help a juvenile delinquent who is being bullied by a classmate. And somehow he finds time to start a new romance.

I’m neither a racing fan nor a car enthusiast, so this novel’s setting didn’t have as much appeal for me as most of the other books in the series. Maybe that’s why I had a harder time suspending my disbelief when Bruno solved a decades-old mystery in just a few hours’ time.

Just when I thought we’d seen the last of Isabelle, she’s back heading a Eurojust operation in Bruno’s territory. Of all the women that Bruno has been involved with in the course of the series, I like her the least. With time, distance, and a new relationship, it seems like Bruno is finally seeing the flaws in her character.

Finally, a warning to readers new to the series. These novels usually include spoilers for earlier books in the series, although this one has fewer spoilers than most.

3.5 stars

80. The Bodies in the Library by Marty Wingate

As the new curator of the First Edition Society in Bath, Haley Burke has her hands full trying to raise the society’s visibility while keeping peace with its secretary, Mrs. Woolgar. The two women are thrown together a lot, as they not only work together at the society, but also live on the society’s premises. Mrs. Woolgar has a basement flat, while Hayley is upstairs from the library.

The society library houses first editions of Golden Age mysteries. One of Hayley’s new initiatives is allowing a fan fiction writers’ group to meet in the library on Wednesday evenings. Mrs. Woolgar does not approve. When one of the writers’ group members is found dead in the society library, Hayley is forced to take an interest in the investigation to clear the society from suspicion. Did I mention that Hayley’s specialty is 19th century literature, and she’s never read a Golden Age mystery? She’ll get a crash course in detection in the course of the novel.

Although it wasn’t too difficult for me to guess the killer’s identity, the author did a decent job of casting suspicion on several of the characters. The plot is nicely paced, and it’s not overly weighted with character development as so many other first-in-series cozies are. The Bath setting will be a draw for many Anglophile cozy fans, so it’s disappointing that the author doesn’t take better advantage of the location. Hayley spends an awful lot of time in Waitrose, and it’s a chain supermarket not unique to Bath.

3.5 stars

81. Life in the Iron Mills by Rebecca Harding Davis

This short story/novella illustrates the poverty and desperation of iron mill workers in the first half of the 19th century. Its author, Rebecca Harding Davis, sets her story at about the time of her birth. However, she lived in Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia) during her formative years and was likely familiar enough with its iron mills to describe it accurately. Biblical allusions abound, and Davis seems to expect her readers to be familiar with scripture.

The korl statue sculpted by Hugh Wolfe symbolizes the hunger of the poor iron workers for an escape from the hell-like conditions of an iron mill. (The description of the statue made me think of Donatello’s Mary Magdalene.) The name “Wolfe” also evokes the idea of hunger.

I picked this up in order to learn more about the iron industry, since I recently discovered that a branch of my family owned a large iron mill from roughly the mid-18th to the mid-19th century. (My branch of this family were farmers.) I listened to a LibriVox recording, and while their volunteer readers are often amateurs, this one’s reader has many professional audiobook recordings to her credit.

3 stars

>152 cbl_tn: Despite the drawback of not making use of the Bath setting, I'm putting it one my WL because it just sounds fun. Thanks for the review!

>154 mstrust: It's fun escape reading, with lots of allusions to Christie's detectives. Including Tommy and Tuppence!

>152 cbl_tn: That one has been on my TBR shelf for awhile and I keep hoping to get to it.

>156 lindapanzo: I haven't been able to squeeze in many cozies lately, so I was ready for one! It was a fun read.

>157 cbl_tn: I've started reading it and it is fun. Also a shared TIOLI read.

>158 lindapanzo: Wonderful!

82. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Sara Crewe’s mother died when Sara was an infant, and Sara has been brought up by her Army captain father in India. As soon as she’s old enough, Captain Crewe makes arrangements for Sara to enroll in Miss Minchin’s boarding school in London. The wealthy Captain Crewe spares no expense to make Sara comfortable at the school, where she will have a private room with its own sitting room, beautiful clothes, and her own pony and carriage. Sara is a kind and generous girl, and she befriends the girls that the other girls shun. Sara has a vivid imagination and she entrances the other girls with her storytelling. Sara imagines that she is a princess, and she tries to behave as a princess would do. This attitude serves her well when her father dies after losing all his fortune, and Sara becomes an unpaid servant relegated to an attic bedroom. Even in these unpleasant circumstances, Sara is still kind and generous. Things eventually work out for Sara in a way that even her vivid imagination can’t conceive.

Sara seems a little too perfect, especially for a child, yet her attitude is one that I aspire to for myself. Sara’s riches to rags to riches story brings to mind the Apostle Paul’s words in Philippians 4:11-13:
11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (KJV)

I am very familiar with the Shirley Temple movie, which changed the plot somewhat. I love the movie version and the book equally, and Shirley Temple was perfect for the role of Sara.

4.5 stars

83. The Liberators: America's Witnesses to the Holocaust by Michael Hirsh

In the first decade of the 21st century, author Hirsh interviewed many of the surviving U.S. veterans who liberated concentration camps in Germany and other parts of Western Europe. Most of the interviewees were in their eighties and nineties at the time of the interviews. For some, it was the first time they had ever spoken about what they had witnessed. My takeaways from this book:

There were many more camps than I realized. The main camps like Dachau and Auschwitz had dozens of sub-camps.

Camps kept springing up through the final weeks of the war in Europe, as the Nazis were determined to exterminate the Jews and other “undesirable” populations in the camps rather than allow the Allies to liberate them.

Many veterans recalled smelling a terrible odor beginning several miles away from the camps and getting stronger the closer they approached. The veterans who spoke of the odor nearly to a person rejected claims of the local Germans who said that they had no idea what was going on in the camps. The stench made it impossible for them to believe those claims.

Most of the veterans still suffered from PTSD more than sixty years after these events. I agree with the author that the U.S. needs to provide more and better mental health services for veterans.

This book preserves eyewitness testimony from some of the first witnesses to the horrors of the Holocaust. It’s not easy reading, but it’s important reading, and it should be widely available in libraries to keep these memories alive and prevent this evil from being repeated.

5 stars

Wow! 83 books so far. Good going, Carrie. I think I got hit by two book bullets. I might look into A Little Princess to read with my granddaughters on our next sleepover, hopefully in June. They are 11 and 9 and good readers. We like to take turns reading aloud. I'll try and get multiple copies from the library so they can finish on their own if they choose to. I reread A Secret Garden several years ago and loved the experience.

The Liberators: America's Witnesses to the Holocaust looks like one my husband would like to read. I will read it, too, but have to gird my loins first! It does sound like an important book.

>162 Donna828: Thanks, Donna! My mother introduced me to The Secret Garden when I was a child. It was one of her favorite books, and it became one of mine. I think your young ladies would enjoy A Little Princess. Maybe you can read it together and then watch one of the movie adaptations!

>160 cbl_tn: A Little Princess was my favorite book for those years that seemed many more than they were until I encountered Jane Austen. It remains a favorite though, and I loved the magical illustrations by Ethel Franklin Betts

>164 quondame: I can see why! I love Jane Austen too! I will have to look for the illustrated volume. I listened to an audiobook version so I had to imagine my own illustrations. I think Sara would have approved!

>165 cbl_tn: All the illustrations I am especially fond of are in this online version.

>166 quondame: Thanks for the link!

Death in Paradise is one of my favorite series, and I found out this afternoon that its creator has written several companion mysteries. I found the first two available as Kindle editions for $.99 each and snapped them up. I'm counting them toward my Thingaversary purchases since my Thingaversary is coming up next month.

>166 quondame: Wouldn't those illustrations make a lovely calendar? There are 12 of them...

>169 cbl_tn: What a lovely idea!

>170 quondame: I may see if I can find someplace to order one! The images are in the public domain so that shouldn't be an issue.

Hi Carrie, and a very Happy Birthday to you.

Time flies, and once again I’m trying to catch up here.

>110 cbl_tn: I read Heart of Darkness as a teenager and should probably re-read it again.

>124 cbl_tn: Still on my shelves waiting for the right time. I’m not sure I can deal with Hamnet’s death and the family’s grief right now.

>127 cbl_tn: Congrats on 75, and I like hearing that the book had your father’s margin notes.

>172 karenmarie: Thanks, Karen! I took the day off and I hope to spend a lot of it reading. :-)

Hamnet is not an easy read because of the grief, so timing is important.

I received a package in the mail yesterday. I was good and waited until this morning to open it. Among other things, it contained:



I did the Indiana puzzle first thing since Indiana is my second home. (Lots of family there.) And I'll be reading one Grimms tale a day through the rest of the year. If I've counted the days right, I should finish it on Christmas Eve.

I received more gifts in the mail today, including this book. I see a lot of puzzles in my future!

84. The League of Frightened Men by Rex Stout

What does a good private detective do when clients are scarce? He uses his skills to find clients! A newspaper article about an obscenity case in which the book’s author claims to have committed a murder leads to a potentially very lucrative case for Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin. The author in question had been injured in a hazing incident at Harvard. The group of men responsible for his injury had formed a league to atone for their youthful sin. Two league members had died recently, and other league members received threatening poems following the deaths. All of the men are edgy, and their nervousness increases after another of their number disappears. Wolfe will match wits with a very clever suspect who has managed to commit murders while being closely watched without leaving a trace of evidence.

Wolfe’s esoteric eccentricities and Archie’s sarcasm are a great combination. Depression provides a backdrop for this case, as does New York City. Several of the league members are hard up for work, as are Wolfe, Archie, and several of the detectives they frequently employ to assist with the leg work. It may read like a period piece now, but it probably seemed very modern to Stout’s contemporaries.

4 stars

You'll enjoy those puzzles!

I am sorry for neglecting my thread for so long! I had COVID at the beginning of the month, which I experienced as a cold, and I didn't feel like reading while my head was congested. Then I had a virtual conference last week, and I've been catching up on other things this week.

My 14th Thingaversary was the 13th, and I've ordered 15 books to celebrate. Most have arrived, but I'm still waiting on three or four more to get here.





By the Grace of the Game: The Holocaust, a Basketball Legacy, and the American Dream by Dan Grunfeld (ebook)
Around the World on Two Wheels: Annie Londonderry's Extraordinary Ride by Peter Zheutlin
They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the American Civil War by DeAnne Blanton & Lauren M. Cook
The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken: A Search for Food and Family by Laura Schenone
Slaves in the Family by Edward Ball
The Pine Barrens by John McPhee
Soon by Morris Gleitzman
A Meditation on Murder by Robert Thorogood (ebook)
The Killing of Polly Carter by Robert Thorogood (ebook)
The Stranger in My Genes by Bill Griffeth
100 Bible Verses that Made America by Robert J. Morgan (ebook)
The Listening Road: One Man's Ride Across America to Start Conversations About God by Neil Tomba
Seeking Whom He May Devour by Fred Vargas
The Unanswered Letter: One Holocaust Family's Desperate Plea for Help by Faris Cassell
Constable on the Hill by Nicholas Rhea (ebook)

Happy Belated Thingaversary, Carrie. That looks like a nice haul.

Glad you're feeling better.

>178 cbl_tn: I see several of our book club selections in your picks!

>179 lindapanzo: Thanks, Linda! I am happy with my picks.

>180 thornton37814: You are correct! I needed to buy those anyway so I counted them toward my Thingaversary purchases.

>178 cbl_tn: Nice haul, Carrie.

Happy thingamy by the way!

>182 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul! It's about as close to Cranswickian as I'll get!

>183 cbl_tn: I would be proud to put my name to that haul, Carrie! xx

>184 PaulCranswick: :-)

85. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Several decades of Afghanistan’s history provide the backdrop for this memorable novel. Amir and Hassan were inseparable as children, but their friendship was not equal. Amir’s father was wealthy, and Hassan’s father was his servant. Amir went to school, while Hassan did not. When Amir and Hassan were twelve, everything changed, and Amir lived with his guilt long after Hassan was no longer a part of his life. Then Amir is offered a chance to redeem himself. Will he overcome his fear to do the right thing, or will his desire for self-preservation once again prove too strong to resist?

This moving novel explores grief and loss on many levels, from personal to cultural. Its themes include friendship, fathers and sons, coming of age, failure, love, and kites. I flew kites as a child, and even made a few. I had no idea that fighting is a thing.

4.5 stars

May Recap

Books owned: 2
Books borrowed: 3
Ebooks borrowed: 1
eAudiobooks borrowed: 4

Best of the month: The Liberators: America’s Witnesses to the Holocaust by Michael Hirsh
Worst of the month: Life in the Iron Mills by Rebecca Harding Davis

Congrats on doing your Thingaversary right! Great book haul!

>188 mstrust: Thank you! Now I have to find time to read them!

86. Imagined London by Anna Quindlen

Quindlen’s memoir pays homage to a city she loved for decades before she ever visited in person. For most of her life, she knew London only through its rich literary heritage and the description of authors like Dickens and Doyle. London is the city I called home for several years in my early twenties, so it’s a city I knew well once upon a time. I enjoyed revisiting it through Quindlen’s memoir, but, sadly, Quindlen’s memoir didn’t leave a lasting impression on me.

3.5 stars

87. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

When Jewish teen Josef Kavalier needs to escape Prague in the 1930s, his training as an escape artist proves invaluable. He makes his way to the New York apartment of his grandmother, aunt, and cousin, Sam Klayman. Sam dreams of making it big in the world of comics, and Joe is a talented artist. Together they create an action hero who will shape their destiny.

This epic novel brings mid-twentieth century New York to life, as well as the early years of the comic book industry. However, I was most drawn to the first section of the book that describes Josef’s life in Prague, the increasing danger the Jews faced during Hitler’s ascent, and the legend of the Golem. Chabon is a masterful storyteller, and he’s at the top of his game here.

4 stars

>191 cbl_tn: I, on the other hand, living as I do surrounded by comics and GNs loved the later comic book involved sections as I've had, I think permanently, enough Holocaust fiction. But the use that was made of Josef's past was brilliant.

>192 quondame: I read comics as a kid, but I could take them or leave them. On the other hand, I have a strong interest in Holocaust literature, although I generally avoid fiction. I think it's hard for novelists to strike the right balance, and Holocaust fiction can come off feeling exploitative. Chabon does it well.

88. Miss Mackenzie by Anthony Trollope

Until her brother’s death, Margaret Mackenzie’s world had been limited largely to the house she shared with her invalid brother and serving as his caregiver. Her brother’s death opens up a new world to Miss Mackenzie, as she inherits his modest fortune. There’s enough for her to set up a household in Littlebath, with one of her nieces as a companion. Although Margaret is long past the first blush of youth, she is not quite middle aged, and she soon finds herself with several suitors. It doesn’t take Margaret long to realize that her suitors seem to be more interested in her money than in herself. Nothing in her prior life has prepared her for the circumstances in which she finds herself. Then another abrupt change in Margaret’s fortune reinforces just how alone in the world she is.

I find Margaret to be one of Trollope’s most interesting heroines. Her courage and determination to face her problems head on seem to balance her lack of experience and social awkwardness. Several familiar faces from the Barsetshire and Palliser novels provided a pleasant surprise.

3.5 stars

89. Trace Elements by Donna Leon

Venice’s Commissario Brunetti and his colleague, Commissario Griffoni, are called to the bedside of a dying woman. They see the tragedy in the situation, as the woman’s husband has recently died in a motorbike accident, and their two school-aged daughters will soon be orphans. The dying woman is worried about “bad money”. But what does she mean by that? The husband’s death seemed accidental. Is it possible that he was murdered?

Leon weaves environmental concerns into the plots of many of her novels, and this one is no exception. At this point in the series, I feel like Leon has overused the water pollution theme, and consequently the novel feels as stagnant as the water. I had a long and unexpected interruption to my listening time, so it took me several weeks to finish the audio version. It seemed like it was never going to end.

3 stars

90. Miss Mapp by E. F. Benson

Miss Mapp takes advantage of the fortuitous placement of her house to keep an eye on the comings and goings of Tilling. She has a couple of rivals for pacesetter, and she takes advantage of every opportunity to one-up her rivals. She is a proud woman, and will manipulate the truth without a twinge of conscience in order to save face. Occasionally she suspects that her neighbors see through her ruses, but her suspicions are fleeting.

I alternated between the Project Gutenberg ebook and the Librivox recording so that I could listen while I finished a knitting project. I don’t often do that, but it worked OK with this book. I didn’t find any of the characters sympathetic, but I enjoyed the book anyway. It’s really well done. The chapters are episodic, yet they serve a larger story arc.

3.5 stars

>195 cbl_tn: She's definitely overused water pollution, but I guess that's her top concern with Venice. I didn't go so far in my review to say she'd overdone it, but I agree with you. Like you, I did mention that she often used environmental concerns. I ultimately rated a little higher than you did.

>197 thornton37814: I hope the next one is better.

91. See the Cat by David LaRochelle, illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka

This early reader book includes three short stories about Max the dog. Max talks back to the book when it says things he doesn’t like. The playful humor is just the sort of thing that delighted me as a child and still does as an adult.

4 stars

92. The Stranger in My Genes by Bill Griffeth

Genealogy is a serious hobby for CNBC news anchor Bill Griffeth. A number of years ago, he wrote By Faith Alone, which explores the history of his Griffeth forebears through the lens of their religious faith. A genealogical DNA test shook his sense of identity when it unexpectedly revealed that he was not, in fact, a Griffeth. This memoir chronicles Griffeth’s journey from denial through acceptance of the stranger who provided half of his DNA.

This book shares many similarities with Dani Shapiro’s outstanding memoir, Inheritance. Griffeth and Shapiro’s DNA surprises are not uncommon, and both of their memoirs might be helpful reading for others who’ve suddenly found themselves in the same boat.

4 stars

93. Summer by Ali Smith

The final novel in Smith’s seasonal quartet unites and completes the set. Like the previous three novels in the set, its themes include politics, immigration, family, love, loss, language, and the visual arts. It’s the first fiction I’ve read that speaks to the COVID-19 pandemic. Each novel in the quartet reflects on the work of a 20th-century female visual artist, with Italian filmmaker Lorenza Mazzetti as the featured artist in this book.

The elderly Daniel Gluck is a recurring character who first appeared in Autumn, and readers learn much more about his family and his personal history during World War II and the Holocaust. His young neighbor, Elisabeth, also reappears. Charlotte, Art, and Iris return from Winter. Summer introduces teen siblings Sacha and Robert Greenlaw and their mother, former actress Grace. A series of circumstances brings all of these characters together, yet Smith gives her readers the sense that their destinies were already intertwined.

4 stars

94. Coriolanus by William Shakespeare

Roman Caius Marcius is a successful soldier but a terrible politician. After defeating the Volscians at Corioles and earning a new surname, Coriolanus, the tragic hero refuses to pander to the plebeians and wins their wrath rather than their electoral support of his appointment as consul. As the audience sees how the tribunes Brutus and Sicinius manipulate public opinion to their own ends, Coriolanus does not appear as entirely unsympathetic.

4 stars

95. Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai

Tara’s visit to her childhood home in Old Delhi triggers memories of the past for both Tara and her older sister, Bim. The sisters’ different personalities different life choices have set them at odds, but by the end of Tara’s visit they will work through their painful memories to find forgiveness, acceptance, and peace.

This novel transcends the genre of domestic fiction in ways that remind me of authors like Jane Austen. The family home in Old Delhi and the family circle are central to the plot. The action travels no farther than next door, except in memory. The social milieu is confined to the small Old Delhi neighborhood. However, the neighborhood was irrevocably changed with India’s partition in 1947, and the effects of change reverberate in the novel’s present.

4 stars

June Recap

Books owned: 2
Books borrowed: 1
Ebooks owned: 2
Ebooks borrowed: 2
eAudiobooks borrowed: 3

Best of the month: Summer by Ali Smith
Worst of the month: Trace Elements by Donna Leon