Chatterbox Begins a Second Decade in the 75ers in 2020: Act II

The Pont Mirabeau (The Mirabeau Bridge)

by Apollinaire
1890-1918

Under Mirabeau Bridge the river slips away
And lovers
Must I be reminded
Joy came always after pain

The night is a clock chiming
The days go by not I

We're face to face and hand in hand
While under the bridges
Of embrace expire
Eternal tired tidal eyes

The night is a clock chiming
The days go by not I

Love elapses like the river
Love goes by
Poor life is indolent
And expectation always violent

The night is a clock chiming
The days go by not I

The days and equally the weeks elapse
The past remains the past
Love remains lost
Under Mirabeau Bridge the river slips away

The night is a clock chiming
The days go by not I

Both the poet, Apollinaire, and the artist responsible for this evocative landscape above, were born in 1890; both died in the autumn of 1918 and both succumbed to the Spanish flu pandemic.

That virus claimed so many millions of people -- more than had been killed in the trenches and elsewhere during the Great War -- including countless people who had survived the conflict (like Apollinaire, who suffered a horrible head wound) and some, like Schiele, who had only received his first major commissions in the weeks before his death.

Sorry to start this thread on a gloomy note, but I do hope that we manage to avoid a repetition of that magnitude of cataclysm.

Well, the rules of the road have really changed for all of us since we launched our new threads in January. Few of us, I suspect, could have imagined where we'd be within two or three months. Thank heavens, we have our community and our books to help us deal with the stress. We're very, very, very lucky.

I'm still reading but struggling to concentrate, as I know many of you are, too. Still, I'm keeping my pace, kinda sorta, in spite of a really bad rash of migraines, triggered in part by some really lousy weather. (Today was the first day temperatures went up above 60 F and seemed to stay there; we're supposed to hit 70 for the first time tomorrow, albeit with MORE RAIN.)

Went into social distancing/lockdown/quarantine with lots of books -- the ARCs I got at the ALA midwinter meeting in late January, a whole bunch I was able to get from the Athenaeum before it shut on March 14, and access to a dozen e-books or audiobooks each month via Hoopla, set up by the Athenaeum. I've also been approved for some e-galleys on NetGalley and Edelweiss.

My reading tastes remain catholic: I've been devouring a lot of non-fiction, ranging from history to current affairs (and oversee the non-fiction challenge, drop in and visit that thread!); some accessible popular science to philosophy. I'm delighted by a lot of mysteries (just finished the last novel to feature Siri Paiboun, the Lao coroner, by Colin Cotterill, to my sadness), as long as they add great characters to the mix. I still read chick lit as lighter fare, and my fiction reading runs the gamut from Very Serious and Intense Works to the novels of the day. On my plate as I open this new thread are some very heavyweight older reads (Russian novels dating from Tolstoy to Vassily Grossman) and contemporary serious stuff like The Overstory by Richard Powers. I'll be taking a look at award nominees this spring & summer, but usually I'm averse to dubbing something an insta-classic just because it's won an award or two. I always have one or two audiobooks on the go, as I can listen to those even when my migraine is too bad to let me read.

My ideal book? Anything in which I can completely immerse myself, and at the end, wish I hadn't read it, so that I could read it again for the first time... Which is why I like to re-read some favorites each year.

This will be the fifth year that I'm also hosting the non-fiction reading "challenge" -- challenge may be a misnomer, since the goal is to simply give people a forum to talk about non-fiction books, share ideas and reactions, and perhaps propel folks into reading more non-fiction and books written about topics they might not usually explore. Every month has a different theme, and for May, we're turning to non-fiction books that we define as "comfort reads."

As always, the only "rules" of the road for this thread: please treat each other and everyone else's views with courtesy and thoughtfulness. Let's leave the drama for FB and Twitter and other social media sites and instead focus on what we DO share. Especially right now; who needs it? Happy reading!

I always read far more than 75 books a year and so just keep a single ticker to track my total reading. I'll try to start new threads in a timely manner, and I will try to keep the list current. That said, keeping up with mini-reviews of the books I read, with capsule comments, has defeated me in the past. So, this year, I will simply acknowledge that it's not possible, and ask you to bear with me. I'll make comments on some books as I go.

This year I'm setting my goal at what for me is a more modest level: 401. Hmmm....

If you want to see what I have been reading in real time, your best bet is to go to my library on LT, and look at the dedicated collection I've established there, under the label "Books Read in 2020". As I complete a book, I'll rate it and add it to the list. I'll also tag it, "Read in 2020". You'll be able to see it by either searching under that tag, or clicking on https://www.librarything.com/catalog/Chatterbox/booksreadin2020.

I do have some reading objectives -- I refuse to call them challenges or targets or anything else -- ranging from specific books to themes and even authors I plan to re-read. I'll note those down in the coming posts.




My guide to my ratings:

1.5 or less: A tree gave its life so that this book could be printed and distributed?
1.5 to 2.7: Are you really prepared to give up hours of your life for this?? I wouldn't recommend doing so...
2.8 to 3.3: Do you need something to fill in some time waiting to see the dentist? Either reasonably good within a ho-hum genre (chick lit or thrillers), something that's OK to read when you've nothing else with you, or that you'll find adequate to pass the time and forget later on.
3.4 to 3.8: Want to know what a thumping good read is like, or a book that has a fascinating premise, but doesn't quite deliver? This is where you'll find 'em.
3.9 to 4.4: So, you want a hearty endorsement? These books have what it takes to make me happy I read them.
4.5 to 5: The books that I wish I hadn't read yet, so I could experience the joy of discovering them again for the first time. Sometimes disquieting, sometimes sentimental faves, sometimes dramatic -- they are a highly personal/subjective collection!

My reading in the third quarter of 2020 (July 1 to September 30)

The July list:

204. Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook by Celia Rees (finished 7/1/20) 3.6 stars (A)
205. *Conclave by Robert Harris (finished 7/2/20) 4 stars (A)
206. A Home From Home by Veronica Henry (finished 7/3/20) 3.7 stars
207. The City Under Siege by Michael Russell (finished 7/4/20) 4.2 stars
208. *Anything for a Quiet Life by Michael Gilbert (finished 7/5/20) 4.2 stars
209. The Falcon Thief by Joshua Hammer (finished 7/5/20) 4.15 stars
210. A Woman Like Her: The Story Behind the Honor Killing of a Social Media Star by Sanam Maher (finished 7/5/20) 4 stars
211. *The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran (finished 7/6/20) 3.8 stars (A)
212. The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde (finished 7/7/20) 4.35 stars
213. Seven Lies by Elizabeth Kay (finished 7/9/20) 4.2 stars
214. *Death Has Deep Roots by Michael Gilbert (finished 7/10/20) 4.1 stars (A)
215. Shakespeare's Library by Stuart Kells (finished 7/11/20) 4.35 stars
216. The Shape of Night by Tess Gerritsen (finished 7/11/20) 2.7 stars
217. The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty (finished 7/11/20) 3.7 stars
218. The Education of an Idealist by Samantha Power (finished 7/12/20) 4.7 stars (A)
219. *A Place of Execution by Val McDermid (finished 7/12/20) 4.5 stars (A)
220. A Symphony of Echoes by Jodi Taylor (finished 7/13/20) 4.1 stars
221. No Going Back by Sheena Kamal (finished 7/13/20) 4.15 stars
221. A Second Chance by Jodi Taylor (finished 7/14/20) 4 stars
222. A Trail Through Time by Jodi Taylor (finished 7/15/20) 3.85 stars
223. *Dear Laura by Jean Stubbs (finished 7/15/20) 4 stars (A)
224. No Time Like the Past by Jodi Taylor (finished 7/16/20) 3.8 stars
225. *Death in Captivity by Michael Gilbert (finished 7/16/20) 4.2 stars
226. The Order by Daniel Silva (finished 7/17/20) 3.75 stars
227. The Roommate by Dervla McTiernan (finished 7/17/20) 4.5 stars (A)
228. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? by Jodi Taylor (finished 7/19/20) 4 stars
229. *At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie (finished 7/19/20) 3.7 stars (A)
230. Lies, Damned Lies and History by Jodi Taylor (finished 7/20/20) 3.9 stars
231. The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan (finished 7/21/20) 4.5 stars
232. And the Rest Is History by Jodi Taylor (finished 7/21/20) 4 stars
233. An Argumentation of Historians by Jodi Taylor (finished 7/22/20) 4 stars
234. Hope for the Best by Jodi Taylor (finished 7/24/20) 4 stars
235. The Clocks by Agatha Christie (finished 7/24/20) (A)
236. Plan for the Worst by Jodi Taylor (finished 7/25/20) 4 stars
237. The Garden of Forgotten Wishes by Trisha Ashley (finished 7/26/20) 4.15 stars
238. *The King's Witch by Tracy Borman (finished 7/26/20) 4.5 stars (A)
239. The Right Sort of Man by Allison Montclair (finished 7/28/20) 3.1 stars
240. *The Devil's Slave by Tracy Borman (finished 7/29/20) 4.5 stars (A)
241. Inside Jobs by Ben Winters (finished 7/29/20) 4 stars (A)
242. Agent 355 by Marie Benedict (finished 7/29/20 2.85 stars (A)
243. 25080908::Fallen Angel by Tracy Borman (finished 7/30/20) 4.4 stars
244. Ecstasy and Terror: From the Greeks to Game of Thrones by Daniel Mendelsohn (finished 7/30/20) 5 stars
245. Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid (finished 7/31/20) 4.5 stars

The August list:

246. Feline Philosophy: Cats and the Meaning of Life by John Gray (finished 8/1/20) 4.5 stars
247. The Chestnut Man by Soren Sveistrup (finished 8/2/20) 4.1 stars
248. *Found Money by James Grippando (finished 8/2/20) 4 stars (A)
249. This is not a Book About Charles Darwin by Emma Darwin (finished 8/4/20) 4.35 stars
250 *Dictator by Robert Harris (finished 8/6/20) 4.4 stars (A)
251. The Mimosa Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu (finished 8/7/20) 3.7 stars
252. *The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre (finished 8/8/20) 4.5 stars (A)
253. *Case Histories by Kate Atkinson (finished 8/9/20) 4.5 stars (A)
254. The Girl Before by J.P. Delaney (finished 8/9/20) 3.2 stars (A)
255. Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie (finished 8/9/20) 3.25 stars (A)
256. *Kelly Park by Jean Stubbs (finished 8/10/20) 3.7 stars
257. Intimations: Six Essays by Zadie Smith (finished 8/10/20) 5 stars
258. She Was Like That: New and Selected Stories by Kate Walbert (finished 8/11/20) 3.3 stars
259. A Silent Death by Peter May (finished 8/11/20) 4 stars
260. Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World by Joan Druett (finished 8/11/20) 4.15 stars (A)
261. Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie (finished 8/12/20) 3.9 stars (A)
262. Sea of Spies by Alex Gerlis (finished 8/14/20) 4.1 stars
263. The Grove of the Caesars by Lindsey Davis (finished 8/16/20) 4.15 stars
264. Dead Man's Folly by Agatha Christie (finished 8/18/20) 3.3 stars (A)
265. Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America, a Recent History by Kurt Andersen (finished 8/19/20). 4.6 stars
266. Playing Nice by JP Delaney (finished 8/19/20) 4.1 stars
267. The Enigma Game by Elizabeth Wein (finished 8/20/20) 3.7 stars
268. Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep (finished 8/21/20) 4.35 stars
269. *The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (finished 8/22/20) 3.1 stars (A)
270. Murder Flies the Coop by Jessica Ellicott (finished 8/22/20) 3 stars
271. *A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss (finished 8/23/20) 4.65 stars (A)
272. The Last Tourist by Olen Steinhauer (finished 8/25/20) 4.3 stars
273. *The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw (finished 8/26/20) 4.5 stars (A)
274. The Scientist and the Spy: A True Story of China, the FBI and Industrial Espionage by Mara Hvistendahl (finished 8/27/20) 4.6 stars
275. The Exile: the Inside Story of Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda in Flight by Adrian Levy (finished 8/30/20 4.2 stars
276. Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlin's Most Dangerous Hackers by Andy Greenberg (finished 8/31/20) 4.5 stars (A)
277. The Winter Agent by Gareth Rubin (finished 8/31/20) 4.35 stars
278. *Remembrance Day by Henry Porter (finished 8/31/20) 4.3 stars

The September List:

279. Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism by Anne Applebaum (finished 9/1/20) 4.6 stars (A)
280. Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie (finished 9/2/20) 3.8 stars (A)
281. A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes (finished 9/3/20) 4.8 stars
282. *Destination Unknown by Agatha Christie (finished 9/4/20) 3.6 stars (A)
283. The War of the Poor by Eric Vuillard (finished 9/4/20) 4.3 stars
284. The Quiet Americans: Four CIA Spies at the Dawn of the Cold War--a Tragedy in Three Acts by Scott Anderson (finished 9/5/20) 4.7 stars (A)
285. *The Queen's Lover by Vanora Bennett (finished 9/6/20) 4 stars
286. The Boy in the Field by Margot LIvesey (finished 9/6/20) 4.6 stars
287. 24527799::House of Correction by Nicci French (finished 9/8/20) 4 stars
288. *72564::The Silent Witness by Richard North Patterson (finished 9/8/20) 3.7 stars (A)
289. *Exile by Richard North Patterson (finished 9/10/20) 3.7 stars (A)
290. Solemn Graves by James Benn (finished 9/11/20) 3.7 stars
291. One By One by Ruth Ware (finished 9/12/20) 3.9 stars
292. *Nothing Ventured by Jeffery Archer (finished 9/12/20) 3.3 stars (A)
293. The Bookseller's Tale by Martin Latham (finished 9/13/20) 5 stars
294. *Conviction by Richard North Patterson (finished 9/13/20) 3.25 stars (A)
295. The Buried: An Archaeology of the Egyptian Revolution by Peter Hessler (finished 9/16/20) 4.3 stars
296. Hickory Dickory Dock by Agatha Christie (finished 9/16/20) 3.7 stars (A)
297. Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans (finished 9/17/20) 4 stars
298. *Cleopatra's Shadows by Emily Holleman (finished 9/17/20) 3.85 stars (A)
299. Still Life by Val McDermid (finished 9/18/20) 4.3 stars
300. Rage by Bob Woodward (finished 9/19/20) 4.4 stars (A)
301. *My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell (finished 9/20/20) 4.5 stars
302. The Secrets Between Us by Judith Lennox (finished 9/20/20) 3.75 stars
303. Taken at the Flood by Agatha Christie (finished 9/20/20) 3.6 stars (A)
304. 24992617::V-2 by Robert Harris (finished 9/21/20) 4.1 stars
305. Death in the Air by Agatha Christie (finished 9/21/20) 3.6 stars (A)
306. Killing with Confetti by Peter Lovesey (finished 9/23/20) 4 stars
307. *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling (finished 9/24/20) 4.3 stars (A)
308. 24162822::A Royal Affair by Allison Montclair (finished 9/24/20) 3.6 stars
309. The Custodian of Paradise by Wayne Johnston (finished 9/25/20) 4.4 stars
310. How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa (finished 9/25/20) 5 stars
311. For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz Age Chicago by Simon Baatz (finished 9/27/20) 3.85 stars (A)
312. Dear Miss Kopp by Amy Stevens (finished 9/28/20) 4.4 stars
313. Travelers by Helon Habila (finished 9/28/20) 4.35 stars
314. Liberation Square by Gareth Rubin (finished 9/28/20) 4.1 stars
315. The Power Couple by Alex Berenson (finished 9/29/20) 3.75 stars
316. On Fascism: 12 Lessons From American History by Matthew MacWilliams (finished 9/30/20) 4.3 stars
317. *The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth (finished 9/30/20) 4 stars (A)

The October list:

318. *Faithful Place by Tana French (finished 10/1/20) 4.4 stars (A)
319. Three's a Crowd: The Dynamic of Third Parties, Ross Perot, and Republican Resurgence by Ronald Rapoport and Walter Stone (finished 10/1/20) 3.25 stars
320. V for Victory by Lissa Evans (finished 10/2/20) 4.2 stars
321 *A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal by Ben Macintyre (finished 10/2/20) 4.6 stars (A)
322. The Body in Question by Jill Ciment (finished 10/3/20) 3.7 stars
323. Second Sister by Chan Ho Kei (finished 10/6/20) 4.3 stars
324. Revelations by Mary Sharratt (finished 10/9/20) 4.15 stars
325. *In the Enemy's House by Howard Blum (finished 10/9/20) 4.3 stars (A)
326. Swallowtail Summer by Erica James (finished 10/10/20) 3.2 stars
327. Our Bodies, Their Battlefields: War Through the Lives of Women by Christina Lamb (finished 10/11/20) 4.7 stars
328. *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling (finished 10/12/20) 4.2 stars (A)
329. All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny (finished 10/13/20) 4.45 stars (A)
330. 24191950::Confessions on the 7:45 by Lisa Unger (finished 10/14/20) 3.4 stars
331. Towards Zero by Agatha Christie (finished 10/14/20) 3.3 stars (A)
332. 23557595::You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen (finished 10/15/20) 3.55 stars (A)
333. *The Huntress by Kate Quinn (finished 10/19/20) 3.8 stars (A)
334. A Reasonable Doubt by Philip Margolin (finished 10/21/20) 3.4 stars (A)
335. The Drowning by Camilla Lackberg (finished 10/23/20) 3.65 stars
336. Citizen Reporters: S.S. McClure, Ida Tarbell, and the Magazine That Rewrote America by Stephanie Gorton (finished 10/23/20) 4.5 stars
337. Christmas at the Island Hotel by Jenny Colgan (finished 10/24/20) 3.75 stars
338. A Question of Betrayal by Anne Perry (finished 10/25/20) 3.45 stars
339. Parisian Lives: Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir and Me by Deirdre Bair (finished 10/25/20) 4.2 stars
340. Greeks Bearing Gifts by Philip Kerr (finished 10/26/20) 4.2 stars (A)
341. 25540928::City of Spies by Mara Timon (finished 10/27/20) 3.2 stars
342. Cemetery Road by Greg Iles (finished 10/28/20) 3.1 stars
343. Ring of Spies by Alex Gerlis (finished 10/28/20) 4 stars
344. The Last Flight by Julie Clark (finished 10/30/20) 4.2 stars
345. The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson (finished 10/31/20) 4.2 stars
346. *The Best of Our Spies by Alex Gerlis (finished 10/31/20) 4.1 stars (A)

The November list:

347. *The Ambassador's Women by Catherine Gaskin (finished 11/2/20) 3.65 stars
348. A Promise of Ankles by Alexander McCall Smith (finished 11/5/20) 3.8 stars
349. Square Haunting: Five Lives in London Between the Wars by Francesca Wade (finished 11/6/20) 4.85 stars
350. *Belgravia by Julian Fellowes (finished 11/8/20) 4 stars (A)
351. Hidden in Plain Sight by Jeffrey Archer (finished 11/8/20) 3.6 stars (A)
352. The Ratline: The Exalted Life and Mysterious Death of a Nazi Fugitive by Philippe Sands (finished 11/9/20) 4.75 stars
353. The Mystery of Three Quarters by Sophie Hannah (finished 11/10/20) 3.7 stars
354. Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble by Dan Lyons (finished 11/11/20) 4 stars
355. Love Your Life by Sophie Kinsella (finished 11/12/20) 3.3 stars
356. War Lord by Bernard Cornwell (finished 11/13/20) 4.25 stars
357. The Sea of Lost Girls by Carol Goodman (finished 11/13/20) 3.75 stars (A)
358. Antisocial: Online Extremists, Techno-Utopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation by Andrew Marantz (finished 11/15/20) 4.8 stars
359. Corpus by Rory Clements (finished 11/16/20) 4.1 stars
360. Nucleus by Rory Clements (finished 11/18/20) 4.2 stars
361. *The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory (finished 11/20/20) 4 stars (A)
362. Nemesis by Rory Clements (finished 11/20/20) 4.2 stars

* -- Re-Read
(A) -- Audiobook

My reading during the first quarter of 2020. (January 1-March 30)

The January list:

1. Under Occupation by Alan Furst (finished 1/1/20) 3 stars
2. The Five: The Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold (finished 1/4/20) 4.6 stars (partly A)
3. *Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (finished 1/5/20) 4.8 stars (A)
4. A Cruel Deception by Charles Todd (finished 1/7/20) 3.65 stars
5. *Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (finished 1/8/20) 5 stars (A)
6. The Sacrament by Olaf Olaffson (finished 1/9/20) 4.1 stars
7. The Season of Change by Sheila O'Flanagan (finished 1/9/20) 3.1 stars (A)
8. D-Day Girls by Sarah Rose (finished 1/10/20) 4 stars
9. Sweet Little Lies by Caz Frear (finished 1/10/20) 3.7 stars
10. Falling Glass by Adrian McKinty (finished 1/12/20) 4.3 stars (A)
11. Older Brother by Mahir Guven (finished 1/13/20) 4.5 stars
12. *The Grey Adventurer by Geoffrey Trease (finished 1/13/20) 3.2 stars
13. Autumn Light by Pico Iyer (finished 1/13/20) 4.25 stars
14. *The Death of Kings by Rennie Airth (finished 1/14/20) 4.2 stars (A)
15. Lullaby Road by James Anderson (finished 1/14/20) 5 stars
16. The Poison Garden by Alex Marwood (finished 1/15/20) 4.15 stars
17. The Godmother by Hannelore Cayre (finished 1/15/20) 4.2 stars
18. Sorry for the Dead by Nicola Upson (finished 1/16/20) 4.3 stars (A)
19. Rogue Justice by Geoffrey Household (finished 1/16/20) 3.3 stars
20. Song for an Approaching Storm by Peter Fröberg Idling (finished 1/18/20) 4.35 stars
21. Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown (finished 1/19/20) 2.2 stars
22. Deep State: Trump, the FBI and the Rule of Law by James Stewart (finished 1/19/20) 5 stars (A)
23. *An Episode of Sparrows by Rumer Godden (finished 1/19/20) 4.5 stars
24. *The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist (finished 1/22/20) 4.45 stars (A)
25. Heaven, My Home by Attica Locke (finished 1/23/20) 4.5 stars
26. Stone Cold Heart by Caz Frear (finished 1/24/20) 4.1 stars
27. The Outlaw Ocean: Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier by Ian Urbina (finished 1/27/20) 4.35 stars
28. A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America by Phiip Rucker & Carol Leonnig (finished 1/28/20) 4.4 stars (A)
29. Master Class by Christina Dalcher (finished 1/29/20) 4.3 stars
30. The Mitford Scandal by Jessica Fellowes (finished 1/30/20) 3.25 stars
31. The Book of Lost and Found by Lucy Foley (finished 1/31/20) 3.9 stars

The February List:

32. Disturbance: Surviving Charlie Hebdo by Philippe Lançon (finished 2/1/20) 4.4 stars
33. The Noble Path by Peter May (finished 2/2/20) 2.6 stars
34. *Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (finished 2/2/20) 4.75 stars (A)
35. The Rhythm Section by Mark Burnell (finished 2/3/20) 3.6 stars
36. A Door in the Earth by Amy Waldman (finished 2/4/20) 3.85 stars
37. *The Private Patient by P.D. James (finished 2/5/20) 4.35 stars (A)
38. The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles (finished 2/5/20) 3.4 stars
39. The Decent Inn of Death by Rennie Airth (finished 2/6/20) 4.3 stars (A)
40. The Last Time I Saw You by Liv Constantine (finished 2/7/20) 2.9 stars (A)
41. One False Move by Robert Goddard (finished 2/8/20) 4.2 stars
42. The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You by Dina Nayeri (finished 2/9/20) 4.5 stars
43. Crucible: The Long End of the Great War and the Birth of a New World, 1917-1924 by Charles Emmerson (finished 2/10/20) 4.6 stars (A)
44. A House in the Mountains: The Women Who Liberated Italy from Fascism by Caroline Moorehead (finished 2/11/20) 4.35 stars
45. *Family Affairs by Catherine Gaskin (finished 2/11/20) 3.5 stars
46. From Russia With Blood by Heidi Blake (finished 2/12/20) 3.7 stars
47. The Runaways by Fatima Bhutto (finished 2/12/20) 4 stars
48. Cane and Abe by James Grippando (finished 2/13/20) 3.8 stars (A)
49. House of Trelawney by Hannah Rothschild (finished 2/14/20) 4.1 stars
50. *The Tightrope Walker by Dorothy Gilman (finished 2/15/20) 3.85 stars (A)
51. Privilege: A Novel by Mary Adkins (finished 2/15/20) 4 stars
52. *One Way to Venice by Jane Aiken Hodge (finished 2/16/20) 2.6 stars
53. The Age of Light by Whitney Scharer (finished 2/16/20) 4.4 stars
54. Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry by Mary Higgins Clark (finished 2/17/20) 3.3 stars
55. Immigrant City by David Bezmozgis (finished 2/17/20) 4.45 stars
56. Lenin: The Man, the Dictator, and the Master of Terror by Victor Sebestyen (finished 2/18/20) 5 stars (A)
57. The Rise of Magicks by Nora Roberts (finished 2/18/20) 3 stars
58. Russians Among Us: Sleeper Cells, Ghost Stories and the Hunt for Putin's Spies by Gordon Corera (finished 2/19/20) 4.6 stars (A)
59. Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero by James Romm (finished 2/20/20) 4.2 stars
60. *The Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir (finished 2/21/20) 4 stars (A)
61. The Benefit of Hindsight by Susan Hill (finished 2/22/20) 4.25 stars
62. MBS: The Rise to Power of Mohammed bin Salman by Ben Hubbard (finished 2/23/20) 4.4 stars
63. Cruel Acts by Jane Casey (finished 2/23/20) 3.85 stars
64. Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World by Michael Lewis (finished 2/24/20) 4.3 stars
65. The King at the Edge of the World by Arthur Phillips (finished 2/24/20) 4 stars
66. Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America's Most Powerful Mobster by Stephen Carter (finished 2/25/20) 4.1 stars (A)
67. 23538271::The Big Lie by James Grippando (finished 2/26/20) 4 stars
68. Three Hours in Paris by Cara Black (finished 2/26/20) 3.7 stars
69. In the Shadow of Vesuvius by Tasha Alexander (finished 2/27/20) 3.8 stars
70. The Lies That Bind by Emily Giffin (finished 2/27/20) 3.6 stars
71. *Jane Seymour by Alison Weir (finished 2/28/20) 3.9 stars (A)

The March list:

72. One Fatal Flaw by Anne Perry (finished 3/1/20) 3.7 stars
73. The Delightful Life of a Suicide Pilot by Colin Cotterill (finished 3/1/20) 4.15 stars
74. Crime in Progress: Inside the Steele Dossier by Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch (finished 3/2/20) 4.3 stars
75. The End of October by Lawrence Wright (finished 3/3/20) 4.1 stars
76. *Anna of Kleve by Alison Weir (finished 3/4/20) 3.8 stars (A)
77. *Anna, Where Are You? by Patricia Wentworth (finished 3/5/20) 3.2 stars
78. The Summer Country by Lauren Willig (finished 3/5/20) 3.75 stars
79. Katheryn Howard by Alison Weir (finished 3/6/20) 3.6 stars
80. The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism by Katherine Stewart (finished 3/7/20) 4.2 stars
81. Everything Under the Heavens by Dana Stabenow (finished 3/8/20) 3.65 stars
82. By the Shores of the Middle Sea by Dana Stabenow (finished 3/9/20) 3.7 stars
83. 16888798::The Land Beyond by Dana Stabenow (finished 3/9/20) 3.6 stars
84. The Secret Guests by Benjamin Black, aka John Banville (finished 3/11/20) 3.7 stars (A)
85. The Girl With the Leica by Helena Janeczak (finished 3/13/20) 3.4 stars
86. A Stain on the Silence by Andrew Taylor (finished 3/15/20) 3.85 stars (A)
87. Mengele: Unmasking the "Angel of Death" by David Marwell (finished 3/16/20) 4 stars (A)
88. Grandmothers by Salley Vickers (finished 3/17/20) 4.4 stars
89. The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel (finished 3/17/20) 4.65 stars
90. The Nazi Menace: Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin and the Road to War by Benjamin Carter Hett (finished 3/19/20) 4.7 stars
91. The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton by Elizabeth Speller (finished 3/19/20) 3.7 stars (A)
92. The Shanghai Free Taxi: Journeys with the Hustlers and Rebels of the New China by Frank Langfitt (finished 3/21/20) 4.1 stars
93. *The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie (finished 3/22/20) 3.2 stars (A)
94. No Relation by Terry Fallis (finished 3/22/20) 4 stars
95. Unfinished Business: Notes of a Chronic Re-reader by Vivian Gornick (finished 3/22/20) 3.35 stars
96. 24401803::Prince of Spies by Alex Gerlis (finished 3/23/20) 3.65 stars
97. Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout (finished 3/24/20) 5 stars
98. The Scandalous Lady W: An Eighteenth-Century Tale of Sex, Scandal and Divorce by Hallie Rubenhold (finished 3/26/20) 4.2 stars (A)
99. The Brothers York: An English Tragedy by Thomas Penn (finished 3/28/20) 4.35 stars
100. Augustus by John Williams (finished 3/30/20) 4.5 stars

* -- Re-Read
(A) -- Audiobook

My reading in the second quarter of 2020 (April 1 to June 30)

The April list:

101. Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie (finished 4/3/20) 3.6 stars (A)
102. Fresh Water for Flowers by Valerie Perrin (finished 4/4/20) 4.6 stars
103. Shakespeare in a Divided America: What His Plays Tell Us About Our Past and Future by James Shapiro (finished 4/5/20) 5 stars (A)
104. The Paladin by David Ignatius (finished 4/6/20) 4 stars
105. Thérèse Raquin by Zola (finished 4/7/20) 4.2 stars
106. The Forgers by Bradford Morrow (finished 4/7/20) 4.1 stars
107. Landskipping: Painters, Ploughmen and Places by Anna Pavord (finished 4/9/20) 4.5 stars
108. Mrs. Mohr Goes Missing by Maryla Szymiczkowa (finished 4/10/20) 3.6 stars
109. Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World by Laura Spinney (finished 4/11/20) 4.35 stars
110. *A Life in Secrets by Sarah Helm (finished 4/11/20) 5 stars (A)
111. Musical Chairs by Amy Poeppel (finished 4/12/20) 4.1 stars
112. Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie (finished 4/12/20) 3.2 stars (A)
113. A Bitter Feast by Deborah Crombie (finished 4/13/20) 4.2 stars
114. The Rook by Daniel O'Malley (finished 4/14/20) 4.2 stars (A)
115. Sweet Lamb of Heaven by Lydia Millet (finished 4/15/20) 4.4 stars (A)
116. Eddie's Boy by Thomas Perry (finished 4/15/20) 3.5 stars
117. *The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey (finished 4/17/20) 5 stars (A)
118. *The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey (finished 4/18/20) 5 stars (A)
119. Eat the Buddha: Life and Death in a Tibetan Town by Barbara Demick (finished 4/18/20) 5 stars
120. *Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey (finished 4/19/20) 4.7 stars (A)
121. *The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer (finished 4/19/20) 4.3 stars (A)
122. All Day and a Night by Alafair Burke (finished 4/20/20) 3.8 stars
123. Hitler's Last Hostages: Looted Art and the Soul of the Third Reich by Mary Lane (finished 4/21/20) 4 stars (A)
124. Whispers of Betrayal by Michael Dobbs (finished 4/21/20) 3.7 stars
125. Sweetshop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan (finished 4/23/20) 3.6 stars (A)
126. Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley (finished 4/25/20) 4.2 stars
127. *Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico (finished 4/26/20) 4 stars
128. A Castle in Wartime by Catherine Bailey (finished 4/27/20) 4.1 stars (A)
129. Mrs. Harris Goes to New York by Paul Gallico (finished 4/27/20) 3.8 stars
130. Malice by Keigo Higashino (finished 4/28/20) 4.3 stars
131. Mrs Harris MP by Paul Gallico (finished 4/28/20) 3.6 stars
132. Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition and Compromise in Putin's Russia by Joshua Yaffa (finished 4/28/20) 4.5 stars
133. The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary (finished 4/29/20) 3.8 stars
134. 16334::Harlequin by Bernard Cornwell (finished 4/29/20) 3.95 stars (A)
135. *974971::Mrs Harris Goes to Moscow by Paul Gallico (finished 4/30/20) 3.7 stars

The May list:

136. The Last Protector by Andrew Taylor (finished 5/2/20) 4.3 stars
137. August Folly by Angela Thirkell (finished 5/3/20) 3.4 stars
138. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman (finished 5/4/20) 4.8 stars (A)
139. Ride a Pale Horse by Helen MacInnes (finished 5/4/20) 3.7 stars
140. Notes from an Apocalypse: A Personal Journey to the End of the World and Back by Mark O'Connell (finished 5/5/20) 4.25 stars (A)
141. The Good Assassin by Stephan Talty (finished 5/5/20) 4.2 stars
142. The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane (finished 5/7/20) 5 stars (A)
143. *White Boots by Noel Streatfield (finished 5/7/20) 3.7 stars
144. *Fidelity by Thomas Perry (finished 5/8/20) 3.8 stars (A)
145. The Body in the Castle Well by Martin Walker (finished 5/8/20) 3.9 stars
146. The Geometry of Holding Hands by Alexander McCall Smith (finished 5/9/20) 4 stars
147. *Day of Atonement by David Liss (finished 5/10/20) 4.6 stars (A)
148. Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? by James Shapiro (finished 5/10/20) 4.65 stars (A)
149. *The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (finished 5/12/20) 4.25 stars (A)
150. *Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (finished 5/13/20) 4.1 stars (A)
151. *Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (finished 5/14/20) 4.2 stars (A)
152. Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie (finished 5/15/20) 3.5 stars (A)
153. *Cashelmara by Susan Howatch (finished 5/17/20) 3.85 stars (A)
154. 23902641::A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight (finished 5/19/20) 4 stars (A)
155. Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West by Catherine Belton (finished 5/20.20) 4.35 stars
156. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins (finished 5/21/20) 4.1 stars
157. *A Nun in the Closet by Dorothy Gilman (finished 5/21/20) 3.85 stars (A)
158. *Dominion by C.J. Sansom (finished 5/23/20) 4.5 stars (A)
159. Double Agent by Tom Bradby (finished 5/23/20) 4.15 stars
160. Excellent Women by Barbara Pym (finished 5/24/20) 4.2 stars (A)
161. The Hour of the Assassin by Matthew Quirk (finished 5/24/20) 3.4 stars
162. Cinderella Rebel by Adam Hochschild (finished 5/25/20) 4.4 stars
163. Trumpocalypse: Restoring American Democracy by David Frum (finished 5/27/20) 4.3 stars (A)
164. One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie (finished 5/27/20) 3.35 stars (A)
165. North From Rome by Helen MacInnes (finished 5/29/20) 3 stars
166. Hideaway by Nora Roberts (finished 5/30/20) 3.2 stars
167. Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld (finished 5/31/20) 4.35 stars

The June list:

168. The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths (finished 6/3/20) 4.2 stars
169. *An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris (finished 6/4/20) 5 stars (A)
170. The Lark Ascending: The Music of the British Landscape by Richard King (finished 6/5/20) 3.9 stars
171. The Shadow of Vesuvius: A Life of Pliny by Daisy Dunn (finished 6/5/20) 4.15 stars (A)
172. The Bohemians: The Lovers Who Led Germany’s Resistance Against the Nazis by Norman Ohler (finished 6/6/20) 4.75 stars
173. Surviving Autocracy by Masha Gessen (finished 6/7/20) 4.85 stars (A)
174. A Divided Loyalty by Charles Todd (finished 6/8/20) 4.2 stars (A)
175. Never Turn Back by Christopher Swann (finished 6/8/20) 4.25 stars
176. A Cornish Summer by Catherine Alliott (finished 6/9/20) 3.6 stars
177. Faster: How a Jewish Driver, an American Heiress, and a Legendary Car Beat Hitler’s Best by Neal Bascomb (finished 6/10/20) 4.2 stars
178. *The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie (finished 6/10/20) 3.5 stars (A)
179. Night of the Assassins: The Untold Story of Hitler's Plot to Kill FDR, Churchill, and Stalin by Howard Blum (finished 6/11/20) 3.9 stars
180. Agent Sonya: Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy by Ben Macintyre (finished 6/12/20) 4.2 stars
181. *Painting the Darkness by Robert Goddard (finished 6/13/20) 4.1 stars (A)
182. A Burning by Megha Majmudar (finished 6/13/20) 4.4 stars
183. The Plot Against America by Philip Roth (finished 6/15/20) 4.65 stars
184. Outsider by Linda Castillo (finished 6/15/20) 3.8 stars
185. Mortmain Hall by Martin Edwards (finished 6/16/20) 4.1 stars
186. The Increment by David Ignatius (finished 6/18/20) 4 stars (A)
187. The SS Officer's Armchair by Daniel Lee (finished 6/19/20) 4.2 stars (A)
188. It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump by Stuart Stevens (finished 6/19/20) 3.8 stars
189. Our Malady: Lessons in Liberty From A Hospital Diary by Timothy Snyder (finished 6/20/20) 4.35 stars
190. *The Face-Changers by Thomas Perry (finished 6/20/20) 4.15 stars (A)
191. Summer Half by Angela Thirkell (finished 6/21/20) 4.1 stars
192. 24060391::The Measure of a Man by Marco Malvaldi (finished 6/22/20) 4.8 stars
193. Symposium by Muriel Spark (finished 6/22/20) 3.7 stars
194. *Vanishing Act by Thomas Perry (finished 6/23/20) 4 stars (A)
195. The Girl From Kathmandu by Cam Simpson (finished 6/24/20) 5 stars
196. The Divinities by Parker Bilal (finished 6/24/20) 4.4 stars
197. Street Music by Timothy Hallinan (finished 6/25/20) 4.1 stars
198. The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue (finished 6/25/20) 5 stars
199. *Dance for the Dead by Thomas Perry (finished 6/26/20) 4 stars (A)
200. Pomfret Towers by Angela Thirkell (finished 6/27/20) 3.85 stars
201. *A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey (finished 6/28/20) 4.2 stars (A)
202. A Shot in the Dark by Lynne Truss (finished 6/29/20) 3.9 stars
203. The Twelfth Transforming by Pauline Gedge (finished 6/30/20) 4.2 stars

What I want to read in 2020!

Providence Athenaeum Books That I’ve Been Renewing and Not Reading:

Symposium by Muriel Spark Read
Our Towns by James Fallows & Deborah Fallows
Death in Provence by Serena Kent
Refuge by Dina Nayeri
The Age of Light by Whitney Scharer Read
Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli
The Rage of the Vulture by Barry Unsworth
A Terrible Country by Keith Gessen
The Parisian by Isabelle Hammad
The Promise of Elsewhere by Brad Leithauser

Reading Globally

The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste (Ethiopia)
Travelers by Helon Habila (Nigeria) Read
The Runaways by Fatima Bhutto (Pakistan) Read
The Secret Sister by Fotini Tsalikoglou (Greece)
The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar (Iran)
2084 by Boualem Sansal (Algeria/Germany)
The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa (Japan)
The Capital by Robert Menasse (Austria)
The Ditch by Herman Koch (Netherlands)
Cantoras by Carolina de Robertis (Argentina)
The Goose Fritz by Sergei Lebedev (Russia)
The Measure of a Man by Marco Malvaldi (Italy) Read
Acts of Infidelity by Lena Andersson (Sweden)
Like a Fading Shadow by Antonio Munoz Molina (Spain)
Amnesty by Aravind Adiga (India/Australia)
The Mountains Sing by Que Mai Phan Nguyen (Vietnam)
The Disoriented by Amin Maalouf (Lebanon/France)
The Convert by Stefan Hartman (Belgium/Flanders)
The Good Life Elsewhere by Vladimir Lorchenkov (Moldova)
Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry (Ireland)
Second Sister by Chan Ho Kei (Hong Kong) Read
Soviet Milk by Nora Ikstena (Latvia)
Priceless by Zygmunt Miloszewski (Poland)
Like a Sword Wound by Ahmet Altan (Turkey)

Canadian Content

No Going Back by Sheena Kamal Read
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
Beirut Hellfire Society by Rawi Hage
Immigrant City by David Bezmozgis Read
Dual Citizens by Alix Ohlin
Dazzle Patterns by Alison Watt
The Shoe on the Roof by Will Ferguson
The Wagers by Sean Michaels
Greenwood by Michael Christie
Five Wives by Joan Thomas
The Break by Katherena Vermette
No Relation by Terry Fallis Read

The Second List...

ARCs from ALA, or, reducing the TBR mountains

Akin by Emma Donoghue
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok
The House of Brides by Jane Cockram
The Idiot by Elif Batuman
Love and Ruin by Paula McLain
Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
The Ventriloquists by E.R. Ramzipoor
The Missing Years by Lexie Elliott
Strangers in Budapest by Jessica Keener
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Nonfiction!

Diderot and the Art of Thinking Freely by Andrew S. Curran
The Mutual Admiration Society by Mo Moulton
The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books by Edward Wilson-Lee
The Outlaw Ocean by Ian Urbina Read
The Making of Poetry by Adam Nicolson
Empress: the Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan by Ruby Lal
The Falcon Thief by Joshua Hammer Read
Furious Hours by Casey Cep Read
The Buried: An Archaeology of the Egyptian Revolution by Peter Hessler Read
Square Haunting: Five Lives in London Between the Wars by Francesca Wade Read
White Mountain: a Cultural Adventure Through the Himalayas by Robert Twigger
Out of Istanbul by Bernard Ollivier
The Shanghai Free Taxi by Frank Langvitt Read
Down to the Sea in Ships by Horatio Clare
Makers and Takers: The Rise of Finance and the Fall of American Business by Rana Faroohar
The Girl from Kathmandu by Cam Simpson Read
Parisian Lives by Deirdre Blair Read
The Shadow of Vesuvius: a Life of Pliny by Daisy Dunn Read
Vassily Grossman and the Soviet Century by Alexandra Popoff
The Course of History: Ten Meals that Changed the World by Struan Stevenson
Landskipping: Painters, Ploughmen and Places by Anna Pavord Read
The Road to Unfreedom by Timothy Snyder
Free Speech by Timothy Garton Ash

Series & Sequels:

August Folly by Angela Thirkell Read
Solemn Graves by James Benn Read
Big Sky by Kate Atkinson
The Custodian of Paradise by Wayne Johnston Read
The Drowning by Camilla Lackberg Read
The Legacy of Grazia dei Rossi by Jacqueline Park
Whispers of Betrayal by Michael Dobbs Read
In the Shadow of Vesuvius by Tasha Alexander Read
Greeks Bearing Gifts by Philip Kerr Read
Malice by Keigo Higashino Read
Chimes of a Lost Cathedral by Janet Fitch
Laetitia Rodd and the Case of the Wandering Scholar by Kate Saunders
A Bitter Feast by Deborah Crombie Read
The Benefit of Hindsight by Susan Hill Read

The Third List!

NetGalley/Edelweiss TBR of Shame:

The Department of Sensitive Crimes by Alexander McCall Smith
Cemetery Road by Greg Iles Read
The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson Read
The Man in the Red Coat by Julian Barnes
A Door in the Earth by Amy Waldman Read
The Paper Wasp by Lauren Acampora
Paris, 7 A.M. by Liza Wieland
Empire City by Matt Gallagher
Apeirogon by Colum McCann
The Body in Question by Jill Ciment Read

Light(weight) Reading

Swallowtail Summer by Erica James Read
A Home From Home by Veronica Henry Read
Musical Chairs by Amy Poeppel Read
A Cornish Summer by Catherine Alliott Read
The Lies That Bind by Emily Giffin Read
The Season of Change by Sheila O'Flanagan Read
The Summer Country by Lauren Willig Read
Christmas at the Island Hotel by Jenny Colgan Read
Seven Days in Summer by Marcia Willett

Mystery Mania

The Missing American by Kwei Quartey
The Chestnut Man by Soren Sveistrup Read
Murder Knocks Twice by Susanna Calkin
The Body in the Castle Well by Martin Walker Read
Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama
Murder Flies the Coop by Jessica Ellicott Read
The Divinities by Parker Bilal Read
The Poison Garden by Alex Marwood Read
A Shot in the Dark by Lynne Truss Read
Killing with Confetti by Peter Lovesey Read
Conviction by Denise Mina
Street Music by Timothy Hallinan Read
The Decent Inn of Death by Rennie Airth Read
The Delightful Life of a Suicide Pilot by Colin Cotterill Read

Europa Editions

Hear Our Defeats by Laurent Gaude
The Girl with the Leica by Helena Janeczak Read
Fresh Water for Flowers by Valerie Perrin Read
Shadowplay by Joseph O’Connor
Older Brother by Mahir Guven Read
A Strange Country by Muriel Barbery

Audiobooks!

The Secret Guests by Benjamin Black Read
Unquiet Ghosts by Glenn Meade
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
Crusaders by Dan Jones
The Silvered Heart by Katherine Clement
A Divided Loyalty by Charles Todd Read
Liars Paradox by Taylor Stevens
Troubles by JG Ballard
Kim by Rudyard Kipling
Crucible: the Long End of the Great War and the Birth of a New World by Charles Emmerson Read

happy new thread!

Happy new thread, Suz.

Failing to concentrate but still 135 done!

Happy new thread!

delurking to say hello and happy new thread, Suzanne.

It seems that there are many who have been having trouble concentrating on reading. I have not been one of them. I am reading like a house afire. I read 12 books in April. Of course some of those were novella or small books (things under 120 pages) but still it was 12 titles. TOR.com has put out an amazing list of novellas by, mostly unknown authors, in the last couple of years and I got started on them and then I went through my collection of books and pulled all the small books off shelves and out of boxes. I have been reading one every weekend since April 1st. Of course, it also helps that I have been staying at home. Pretty much trapped in my own house, except for weekly forays to the grocery store.

The other factor in the increased reading reasons, is the balmy weather here in Alabama. We had some rainy dreary days early in the month, but the weather the last two weeks has been pleasant. I have been eating my meals and drinking my morning coffee on my patio. For the most part it has been perfect and it probably culminated in my reading experience today. It was perfect with a hazelnut cappuccino from Starbucks in hand, and the only problem was I finished my book before I was ready to come inside. I will head out later this afternoon in hopes of a repeat after the sun has started down the other side of my house and will start reading a Donna Leon mystery.

Alabama has done something called a "safer-at-home" thing and I am not sure what that means. We had a big library wide zoom meeting on Friday and we were told that we would not be going back to work until late in the month, so I have a few more weeks at home. At any rate, I should get more reading done.

Happy new thread!

happy new thread!

Lovely new thread, Suz, despite the informative and pertinent but depressing topper/info!

>16 ronincats: Sorry about the depressing element -- I did choose some accessible and hopefully non-depressing exemplars of the work of both Apollinaire and Schiele!!

Oh, no, it's okay. The depressing part is that they both succumbed to the flu after surviving the war. I loved their work and wasn't aware of either of them previously, so thank you.

Happy new thread, Suz!

So, a friend of mine and his team named as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for public service journalism -- the NYT team covering science. Celebrating...

<20 Cool beans!

And Colson Whitehead's The Nickel Boys won for the best novel -- richly deserved.

Looking forward to this next thread, Suzanne, and thank you for keeping on!

>22 Chatterbox:
I have tried and tried to complete a Colson Whitehead novel and just have never managed to do so. My head tells me I should like and read his novels, but my reading mind just can't go there. The same with Cormac MacCarthy.

>24 benitastrnad: Well, hopefully one day you'll find the right book AND your head will be in the right place! I think he's a brilliant novelist. The Nickel Boys is a very straightforward book to read (no tinges of the surreal, as in his previous book), it's succinct, elegantly written and vivid.

He just seems so whinny and at the same time vituperative. I tried to read Sag Harbor and it was boring. I read the reviews of his books and I think - that's a novel I can skip. I think it is the subject matter. I also think I am getting to the point where I want to be immersed in a good story and I don't want to have to work to get there. Perhaps I am getting lazy in my old age.

Happy new thread, Suzanne.

I really enjoyed The Nickel Boys and The Underground Railroad too, although I was a bit thrown when it was a real railroad.

Sag Harbor is a different kind of novel from The Underground Railroad or Nickel Boys. That said the former can be more difficult when it comes to one's willingness to deal with magical realism. He's clearly passionate and excited in telling these stories, which also are less, erm, pedestrian in their focus than Sag Harbor. I found both of these to be good stories and so vividly written that I simply didn't want to put them down. What will people think of them in 50 years? I don't know. They may be viewed as artifacts of our time rather than great novels that endure the passage of time.

>24 benitastrnad: I could never read Cormac MacCarthy either - I've tried a bunch a times.

A Distant Mirror was (late) introduction to the work of Barbara Tuchman. I've gone back and read almost everything she's written since then.

A good historian writing knows "It's always about then - and it's always about now"

I just finished A Thousand Ships and would love to pass it along - I know you had been interested. Just PM your address! How are you holding up?

>30 vivians: Ooooh, thanks, yes! Did you enjoy it? Will PM you my address.

I'm coping, kinda sorta. FINALLY got approval for my Aimovig for migraines today; will pick up first dose tomorrow. Ostensibly, I'm now approved until next May, so hopefully no more of these interruptions, which cause massive migraines...

Oh, I've been "re-listening" to the Hunger Games books on audiobook, ahead of the release next week of the prequel to the series. They're good to listen to when I have a migraine, as I don't have to pay nearly as much attention to them as to more weighty tomes!!

I am delighted to hear that you're going to be getting your Aimovig again. GOOD!
Take care of yourself. I hope that the Aim. will make that easier.

Happy new thread, Suzanne.

>1 Chatterbox: Lovely art up there. I did know Egon Schiele died young, but what a waste, both of them only 28.

>20 Chatterbox: Congratulations.
>31 Chatterbox: And more Congratulations!

Heading over to the non-fiction challenge.

>34 EllaTim: Thanks! I had known that both succumbed to the Spanish flu, but not that they were exactly the same age and that they died within weeks of each other. I was more familiar with Apollinaire (thanks to reading Alcools for my IB French class eons ago...) but when I was in my 30s I made a brief swing through the Czech Republic and found an exhibit of his works on display in Cesky Krumlov. His mother was born there, apparently, and they have a big permanent collection of his work. Then two years ago I saw an exhibit at the MFA in Boston his works, those of Klimt and another artist whose name I'm forgetting right now (sigh) -- all works on paper.

It has been a slow week thus far but I actually had a somewhat productive today. My friend/business partner and I are on track for what could be a very lucrative ghost-writing project, in addition to the rather time-consuming and not so lucrative (but very interesting) one that we're already engaged in, so we're going to form an LLC and a formal partnership agreement. Very exciting. Hoping this works out...

>35 Chatterbox: Applauding Wildly

I'm slowly wending my way through threads and I so enjoyed reading through your booklists just now. Lots I haven't read and never will, but lots I have or plan to. What I love is the variety and range --

I'm glad you have (fingers crossed) found a partner to work with on projects.

This is a strange new world we live in. Many things have to be let go, other new possibilities seem to offer. I wish the media was focussing more not just on how to cope, but how to think and talk about what is happening.

I've had a renewed interested in the work Charles Peirce and John Dewey and the pragmatist way of approaching life. (A couple of years ago I read The Metaphysical Club and that re-sparked interest from earlier times and philosophy classes in the remote past.) One aspect I'm mulling is how we talk about ourselves and others, regard the past, present, and future has a powerful effect on what happens. That is, the language we use really matters.

Whoa, I'm blathering. I'm in bed, leg elevated, ankle broken.

Wishing you a restful long weekend, Suz.

>38 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul -- same to you.

>37 sibylline:, erm, you buried the lead. A broken ankle??? OK, I'm feeling VERY out of touch.

I should really try again to read The Metaphysical Club. The first time, I bogged down completely.

I have seen some articles on how to think/discuss about what's happening and what could happen next, mostly in the form of opinion pieces or personal essays. It's tougher to write that stuff, as news coverage, by definition, is about what is happening and how people are reacting to it, and discussions about think/talking about a crisis are kind of second- or third-order ones when we're still in the midst of a pandemic. It's what do we do know, rather than how we might change the way we view the world.

I'm doing a lot of thought about how this might change our attitudes to our consumer-based economy. I was very overly positive about the aftermath of the financial crisis, in terms of how it changed attitudes (I think it simply hardened people in their views, and made it less possible for folks to reach the kind of consensus that leads to real transformation). So I'm intrigued by all the discussion about stuff like UBI, but wary of drawing a premature conclusion.

I do have a stack of books lurking around that could loosely be linked to Piketty's writings on economics and capital, and I want to see what the state of the debate is.

****

On a completely separate note, I found it interesting to read somewhere this week that book sale patterns are shifting. Fewer people appear to be interested in purchasing dystopian fiction (in the midst of a real crisis) while there's more interest in historical fiction (is the past a safer place??)

And I'm really struggling to read some of the serious fiction and non-fiction that is stacked up here. Audiobooks are OK; re-reads are OK. Light stuff is OK. But it's tougher to spend multiple hours at a stretch reading than it used to be. A worrying side-effect of the pandemic???

>39 Chatterbox: re: lack of serious attention span

Everyone I know (except one person researching her own family) is having the same problem. I'm trying to sneak up on more meaty stuff myself, but there's a lot of distraction. I keep thinking I should be sewing masks or doing something else to help, something that doesn't put me in harm's way. That makes it hard to indulge in reading, alas.

>39 Chatterbox:
On-the-other-hand, I am loving the extra time at home, because I am burning through the books. 400 pagers in 2 or 3 days. Of course, I am doing half the work I usually do, because much of my work is with the walking public and there has been no public to walk in.

I am very afraid of the aftermath of this whole thing. I think the shutdown was poorly planned and I see absolutely no planning for the come-back-to-life of this. Therefore, I think economically this is a disaster of greater proportions than the Great Depression. I think when it is all over with - 5 -7 years from now about 50% of the jobs that were filled on March 1, 2020 will be gone. GONE! I think we will learn to live with 20% unemployment and 50% underemployment. I think that small businesses will continue to disappear and that the ripple effects of that combined with the loss of minimum wage jobs will continue to reverberate through the economy for many years.

As you can see - I am not optimistic about the future. There will be no return to normal.

I'm very afraid that you're right, Suzanne. As we all know, it would have helped to have adult leadership at the top.

Suzanne, stopping by to look at your book lists, always awe inspiring. I've added a number of books to my wish list. Thanks!

Happy new thread!

>43 Oregonreader: love it when I land some book bullets; hope you enjoy them!

>44 ChelleBearss: Thanks! Hope the girls aren't driving you nuts...

So, I finished reading Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld, the "what if" novel based on an alternate biography of Hillary Clinton. Now, this won't be to everyone's taste, but I found it a fun read as someone who lived through ALL the Clinton years (moved to NYC two years into Clinton's first term), and recall all the stuff, from Vince Foster's suicide to Hillary's unusual profits from futures trading (in live cattle, if I recall correctly.) Indeed, it was the latter that finally got me a job at the WSJ in NYC, after years of trying to make such a transfer happen from Toronto. The guy who had been covering the commodities beat ended up working full-time on the Clinton story, and they needed someone to do the daily column and features. (That was back in the glory days of the WSJ, when there were budgets for this kinda stuff...) So, in April 1994 I started doing the column and in June I moved to NYC.

But, back to the book. It's not The Overstory, a book that transforms the way we think and introduces an array of memorable characters from thin air, who live and breathe. But it is a sly look at US electoral politics, the dual standards for men and women in every aspect of life, and Clinton's own struggles to be a politician able to glad-hand as comfortably as the likes of Clinton and Obama, even as she becomes an exceptionally effective policymaker and thinker. It's quite sympathetic to HRC, but I imagine it probably would make uncomfortable reading for her in light of the choices that she DID make.

>45 Chatterbox: They are lol. It’s a constant stream of “Moooooooom” lately. I am enjoying the extra time with them but I also really miss them going to school and daycare!

>46 ChelleBearss: and unlike our ancestors, you can't send them out to work in the fields or to "free roam" as I remember doing as a kid, wandering the neighborhood.

>45 Chatterbox: I read her American Wife book the one sort of about Laura Bush and it never came to life for me. Despite all the research she must have done into the Bush's the book just lay there and it was a job to finish it.

Maybe I'll look in on Rodham one of these days. TOO TOO many books analyzing Mrs. Clinton over and over beating the story to death without much new insight

>47 Chatterbox: Ha, that's true. No free roaming for 6 year olds any longer. I'm sure I was allowed to walk to my friend's house down the street by this age but there is no way I would let Chloe yet. Even in our very safe and boring neighbourhood

>48 magicians_nephew: Yes, that's what I thought at first. I found it surprisingly entertaining, perhaps because it's an alternate history book. Not surprising or revolutionary, but entertaining. And perhaps part of the reason was that I've read relatively few of the HRC books out there (of which there are indeed far, far too many.)

Went for my Covid test yesterday since I've had lots and lots of symptoms over many weeks. Though when I talked to my doctor today she worries that (a) I might no longer be shedding the virus since the symptoms started in late March and (b) that antibody tests won't pick up anything since she has had patients who had positive tests and negative antibody tests. Sigh. So I may never know. At least I'm still reasonably healthy, other than my damn annoying cough, persistent fatigue and occasional fevers (that never go above 101, so there's that...)

>50 Chatterbox: Oh, even if it's not the dreaded disease of the moment, clearly you aren't well. So sorry to hear that. What a drag. I hope your doctor can figure it out and you get appropriate treatment.

>50 Chatterbox: Best wishes on a negative test, but whatever it isn't affecting your reading too much!

I'm sorry you've had this stuff for so long. I hope it's not the thing, and that when you are well, you will stay well!

Some news came over the weekend that put everything in context. On Friday, a former colleague and friend, whose wife also is a friend, finally died of an illness contracted due to his exposure to the toxic dust cloud following 9/11. He nearly died at the time, and was in the hospital for a LONG time, but pulled through, only to face other major health issues subsequently. I'm grieving his loss and the news has triggered a lot of my 9/11 bad memories.

Here's his obit:

"Rich scoffed at having his photo appear at work (except on his ID), so he might not have been happy that he is at the top of the Journal's NewsNet intranet this morning. But he deserved a tribute. The all-staff note from Editor in Chief Matt Murray includes some of your great comments made here: IN MEMORIAM: Richard Regis 1952-2020

Richard Regis, a Wall Street Journal editor on Page One and Heard on the Street, and one of the last of the traditional What's News columnists in a 35-year WSJ career, died on Friday.
Here is Matt Murray’s note to staff:
Over the weekend we heard the very sad news that Rich Regis passed away on June 12. A New York native, Rich was a WSJ editor for decades—and a teacher, protector of standards and gruff mensch. Among other places, he worked on Page One, Heard on the Street and the old national news desk, which he anchored with his firm presence and delicate, no-nonsense touch for many years under different editors. He was the sort of character who many of us went into journalism to meet.
Despite the first impression he made as an old-school, no-BS newsman (he referred to most people by their last names, including himself), Regis had a generous, husky laugh and quick wit. He was as adept at discussing the New York Knicks as he was the history of jazz--so long as it wasn't on deadline.
Lisa Vickery recalls how Rich relished "a wonderful blend of culture —jazz, art, literature, travel, cuisine— and F-bombs." Mike Siconolfi remembers his wicked wit: "I still remember some of his brilliant flashlines as an editor on Page One. He also riffed on jazz like few could."
When the Journal created the markets desk, Bill Power grabbed him as slot editor, knowing there were no better final eyes on a story. Tim Annett, who was the deputy on that desk, recalls that Rich had "wit and no tolerance for nonsense on deadline. He took every detail seriously. He had tremendous pride in the paper and cared about every word."
Rich's serious, often impassive face also hid a secret: He was kind. When my wife and I moved to New York in 2004, and I joined the news desk as an editor for the first time, Rich went out of his way to help us find our house and got me set up on the desk. He made a major life and career change much easier for us.
When he retired four years ago, Rich sent an all-staff email consisting of just his personal email address. The subject line was "-30-."
Rich was only 67 when he died at New York Presbyterian Hudson Valley Hospital, with his wife, Jan Brandstrader, and daughter, Nora, at his bedside. The cause of death was pulmonary disease that traced back to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York, which occurred across the street from the Journal's then-headquarters in lower Manhattan. Amid the horrors of that day, we were forced to abandon our office, with many editors and reporters setting out for our New Jersey facility.
"In the frenzied aftermath of 9/11, when he was exposed to the clouds of debris from the fallen WTC towers, he made it to work in South Brunswick," recalls former Journal editor Marcus Brauchli, "before the first of a series of mysterious medical ailments sidelined and nearly killed him. None of us have ever forgotten the courage he showed and dedication to returning to work." That return was a year later.
Rich shared in the Pulitzer Prize the Journal won for producing its Sept. 12, 2001, print edition. We believe he is the first working American print journalist to succumb to injuries sustained on 9/11. His family says there can be no service because of the pandemic.
Rich never had a byline here that I know of, he never went on TV and his name never appeared in the masthead. But talented, dedicated leaders like Rich Regis are what allow institutions like The Wall Street Journal to thrive and endure--and make newsrooms a hell of a lot more fun than most places.
Matt "

So sorry for your loss, Suzanne.

What an amazing life, Suzanne, full of dedication and a kind heart. It sounds like he'll be truly missed by you and others.

A good friend and co-worker passed away last year. He worked downtown Manhattan after the 9/11 attacks and died of a number of things including a lung problem and a tumor pressing on the brain.

His sister is working through a claim he put in to the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund - seems like the Fund meaning well has become just another bureaucratic set of hoops people have to jump through to have reasonable and just claims reviewed and processed. A pain.

>97 PaulCranswick: That's awful. I think Rich got something from the fund, but not much. It covered his medical costs, at least.

>54 Chatterbox: I am so sorry to hear about your friend's death, Suzanne. He sounds like an awesome person!

I'm a nincompoop. I tripped over a jutting piece of uneven pavement when I went for a walk yesterday, and went splat. Cut up my knee (thankfully only superficial but initially lotsa blood), bashed head and most seriously, sprained (probably, acc. to EMS) my right wrist and arm. Will prob go for x-ray tomorrow. Makes typing v.v. slow. Also wrenched my bad ankle-- icing on the cake. This year has been all about being nibbled to death by ducks.

Finished the latest novel in the Barsetshire series, Summer Half, which was very entertaining and a BIG improvement on August Folly.

Minka the kitten is celebrating her first birthday, and is emitting plaintive "meep" sounds from the corner of the bed, looking for head scratches. I must obey, with my left hand, and don the big sling so I can sleep in discomfort rather than pain tonite.

Sympathy to you, Suzanne. It seems to me that everybody is a loser in the death of a man like Rich Regis.
Again, I'm sorry about your fall. You're getting through several years worth of big ducks, maybe geese, it seems to me. Hope you and Minka were able to get some rest last night!

Fractured elbow. Requires surgery. Sigh.

Eeek Suzanne. Sounds painful and scary.

Oh dear. That's bad news. "They" do wonderful things with elbows (my mom shattered hers on her 90th birthday, and it's in good working order 8 years after the fact). I'm afraid you're in for some intense PT that I wish you didn't have to face. You'll do it though.

Next time I fall, I will try to ensure it's my left arm that I use to break said fall.

OH my, hope you don't have a next time! Hope you heal quickly.

>62 Chatterbox: Hope you make a full recovery, Suz, and that it doesn't stop you turning pages.

I am 80 pages into Glass House and can't figure out why this book hasn't had more readers. It is the kind of book that makes you mad reading it. Maybe that's why? Instead Hillbilly Elegy got all the press. I have to say I am very impressed with this book so far.

At the end of Chapter 3 the author analyzes how the decisions made in the head office of Anchor Hocking had long reaching consequences. Reading this section reminded me of the round robin cake walking game that the NFL and the NCAA plays with their coaches each spring. The losers get fired, but then get hired by another team because some board of trustees can't figure out that the coach was losing for a reason. They should be hiring outside of the box, but NO! They keep hiring who they know instead of promoting from within or going completely rogue and hiring somebody totally new.

In this difficult year with an unprecedented pandemic and where the ills of the past intrude sadly upon the present there must still be room for positivity. Be rightly proud of your country. To all my American friends, enjoy your 4th of July weekend.

Suzanne, how are you?
Has anybody heard from her?

Oh dear, I am so sorry that you've fractured your elbow and need surgery. I dodged a bullet with my ankle by not needing surgery. Your fall is so much like mine, not even a moment of inattention, although had I been meticulously watching my footing? Yeah, but who does that?

Re reading: I have found that now, as I pull out of the broken bone haze I am eager to read more challenging books, and less satisfied by the entertaining ones unless they are really really good!

>70 LizzieD: I'm Ok-ish, very anxious and a bit headachey. Due back at the orthopedist on Tuesday. Thank heavens for the resident felines.

>71 sibylline: At least I can still walk, even if I feel as though my balance is off. But my right thumb is completely numb, which makes me anxious. Shall get new x-rays and see what's indicated.

So sorry to read of your accident. I hope you recover quickly.

Hope the healing is happening apace, Suzanne. Glad that the fur babies are keeping you company.

Going for MRI a week from today (the 24th) Orthopedist worries that there is a second wrist fracture he can't see yet, and is talking about a cast. The horror....

Have had to postpone MRI, as in order to do it sedated (which is a must for a 45-minute MRI for someone with claustrophobia and PTSD) they require that I be escorted and that someone wait there while it's done. It's now scheduled for August 3.

Meanwhile, I'm kind of inhaling the St. Mary's Chronicles by Jodi Taylor, because that level of escapism is about all I can tolerate right now.

Suz, have you read the Murderbot novellas? I think you'd love that level of escapism too.

>76 Chatterbox: The Chronicles of St Mary's has been my lockdown 'comfort' reading too, although my lockdown is very comfortable compared with that of many others.

>78 CDVicarage: My lockdown is vastly more comfortable than that of others, too. I don't like the isolation -- but being locked down with one other person would be like Sartre's version of hell in "Huis Clos" -- "l'enfer, c'est les autres." I have a decent amount of space and can run one A/C at a time, whether I'm in the bedroom or living room area. (both at once trips the breaker swtich!) I have a lot of books to read. I do wish I had a dishwasher, as then I wouldn't be stuck with a stack of dishes that I have to use my fractured arm to try and wash -- but hey, I have dishes and food. So....

>77 ronincats: two more books to go in the St. Mary's series, and then the collection of shorts, which I'm going to use an Audible credit for and listen to. Have not heard of murderbot but will check it out. I think I will move from these to historical fiction and some thrillers, as well as the new mystery by Peter James in the Roy Grace series.

Waiting for thunderstorms to start

I had a MRI that was one hour long about 10 years ago- I closed my eyes and listened to the sounds- which were like jazz- I probably was somewhat drugged as well ( I was in the hospital at the time)

I haven't read any of the St. Mary's series. I do have them on my TBR list.

I should take another look at the St. Mary's books. First time i tried it the world building seemed leaden and slow, and i put it down and didn't pick it up again. So maybe now is the time.

Normally i LOVE time travel stories

>82 magicians_nephew: Connie Willis is much better at world-building, etc. But they are so entertaining that they make me LOL. The first one I read and put down. But I've been cantering through the remainder.

Have been reading a lot of mindlessly entertaining stuff. Finished the St. Mary's chronicles by Jodi Taylor, and re-read (via audio), the first two books in the historical fiction trilogy by Tracy Borman set in Stuart England and featuring a strong female heroine who isn't royal and some good writing. Next up is the third book in that trilogy, via e-galley.

Hi..just stopping by to see how you are.

I’m very sorry to learn of injury and that it’s a bad one. I hope the kitties are continuing to bring you comfort. And the Taylor books would be just right, I think.

Keeping you in my thoughts, Suzanne.

>85 Whisper1:, >86 Matke: Thanks for dropping in and for the words of support. It really has been a pig of a year, hasn't it? Thank heavens for books.

I've only read one of the Man Booker longlisted novels, or at least up until today, when I finished Such a Fun Age by debut novelist Kiley Reid. A lighter-weight book, but such an assured style and a great way to delve into the intersection of race and class and money. Reid has a contract for a second book, though she's still writing it (sigh). I really enjoyed this.

The other longlist book was the final one in Hilary Mantel's trilogy about Thomas Cromwell. The next two I read will be the books by Maaza Mengiste and Colum McCann.

I can't feel any of the Booker long list calling except the Mantel. The Reid has mixed reviews, but then each person is looking for something different in a book. (I don't know whether that's diplomacy or idiot-stating-the-obvious.)
The Nonfiction Challenge VIII thread is up, but only Marianne has found it.
I wish you a pain-free weekend!

>88 LizzieD: Did you post the link at bottom of July challenge? I can do that. I'll look for it tomorrow.

I'm not a big Anne Tyler fan, but I have an e-galley of "Redhead", so I can read that. I DO like the Mengiste novel, and usually like McCann's novels. I may listen to that on audio, though.

I'll take a look at some of the other debut novels to see what grabs me (and what I can find easily...) and take it from there. But I also want to read Hamnet, the new Graham Swift novel, and some other stuff. And reading the essay anthology by Daniel Mendelsohn, which included a lot about the ancient Greeks and his own fan correspondence with Mary Renault, made me want to try another book by her. I remember attempting the first one when I was 11, and on a cruise with my family in the Mediterranean that started and finished in Athens. But I think I was expecting something different, and the writing wasn't approachable for me. Also, other than the Trojan War and the very basics about Socrates, I knew very very little about Athenian history or the Greek classics, which would have curtailed my appreciation. So it's time to start again!

At least, in spite of the pandemic, I will not run out of books to read. Money, definitely. Energy, intermittently. Food; it's not impossible eventually. But not books. Unless the new landlord evicts me.

>89 Chatterbox:
I have actually checked out a couple of Mary Renault's books from the library in the last 5 years or so. When it came time to select something to read they just didn't call out to me, but I do want to read Bull From the Sea and the other book from the Theseus series at some point. I recall my cousin reading some of her books back in the 1970's and that is part of the reason I want to read some of them.

>90 benitastrnad: I'm going to start with The Last of the Wine as I'm interested in that era.

Sorry to hear about your injuries. Hope the MRI went well and the books and kitties are helping you to a quick recovery.

Recovering from MRI (pain due to keeping arm in pianful position for 40 mins), sedation and post-MRI migraine (prob caused by sedation. No results yet. Can't read much. Relying on audiobooks (the series about Cicero by Robert Harris) to get me thru. No unemployment money this week. Argh.

estimated recovery date -- by Thanksgiving. US tksgiving, not Canadian -- alas. I did ask. :-)
we're all trying to avoid surgery, so will try six weeks of physio followed by a test of nerves (which doc thinks were damaged) first.

Just checking in, Suzanne. You're going to have to be careful when you finally get back not to ruin the arm trying to catch up on all the reading/listening you've done. I miss you though!

>95 LizzieD:
I second that. I am missing your pithy comments about the books you are reading. You are missed.

(((((((HUGS)))))))))

Hope things are faring better for you. Hope things heal well without surgery.

>89 Chatterbox: I'm not a big Anne Tyler fan
Me neither.
I have abandoned A Spool of Blue Thread now- I started it on audio and found the tone very whiney, and was surprised to see that that carried through to the print version. So, I can only deduce that it is a whiney book :)
Interestingly, I stalled on *exactly* the same page as I had stalled on another book! (p. 86 or close to it!). I wonder about the significance of that!!

>99 LovingLit: That's funny, Megan. Page 89 is often the decider for me. I either love it or put it down.
Hi, Suzanne!

>99 LovingLit: if thats "Pearl Ruling" you're older than you look !

Thanks for keeping me in mind, folks. It's been a tough few weeks, but hopefully getting a bit better. From the unpleasant (the ongoing wrist dilemma, a nasty rash and now skin biopsies) to the absurd (turning my ankle on an ACORN, would you believe it...)

So far no surgery, thank heavens. Nerve regeneration is a slow biz, however. One of my physio exercises involves brandishing a lightweight hammer. That one is lots of fun, as I keep imagining the various people things I could smash with it. Another involves doing the royal wave, rotating my wrist.

Have been listening to audiobooks of Agatha Christie tomes, which has been interesting. Surprises me how many I never read in the first place! And how dated they are...

Really enjoyed A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes as well as Pat Barker's take on the same issue, women in the Trojan War. Kurt Anderson's new book about politics, political economy etc. is a good and accessible way into the broad topic of popular discontent.

Also a shout-out to This is Not a Book About Charles Darwin by Emma Darwin, a historical novelist who wrestles with trying to write a novel based on some of her ancestors. Kind of meta non-fiction? And Anne Applebaum's new book about the collapse of democracy in Poland, Hungary and elsewhere is jarring, even though her own starting point (as a conservative) isn't one that I share. Still, to have voices of that ilk speak out so eloquently on this topic is valuable.

That's all I can type for tonight... xox

Good to hear from you. I figured that as long as I didn't hear otherwise you were doing OK. I hope you are back to your more talkative self soon. There has been so much that I would like to hear your pithy comments about.

Here at UA we are all to be back to work starting on Tuesday half-time in our offices on campus. Those who are teaching have to be in their offices for their posted office hours. It is clear that the administration is trying to get people back into work, but it is also clear that they are meeting resistance. People have become accustomed to slacking off because they were at home.

As for me, I have been back to my office full time since August 1. I was ready. There is only so much I could do from home. There are plenty of projects I need to work on but most of them are not the kind that I could do remotely. I am worried in general about the whole state of academe. I believe this is the death knell of the University as we know it. My colleagues have simply refused to address the issue of remote work in a realistic way. If we can work from home why should the state pay for any of us? Why do they need a billion dollar campus? If we can teach remotely then 1 chemistry professor can teach thousands, so why would they have a department with 25? And then what does this do to research? What new models are out there for doing research, or will it devolve to the days of the Bell Labs when companies paid for their own R & D departments?

Then there is the matter of Zoom etiquette. If I see one more sloppy top knot hairdo, I am going to ask those people to go get a pixie cut. I don't want to see the bed in somebody's bedroom, or their closet. No more backlit silhouettes. I do want to see their bookcase and somebody who is dressed somewhat professionally. At least in a polo shirt and sitting up in a chair.

>103 benitastrnad: That backlit silhouette drives me nuts. They can see themselves, surely. Instead they look like some informer on an episode of 20/20.

I've been re-listening to some middlebrow legal books available very cheaply/for free on Audible by Richard North Patterson. First read these in the 90s and haven't revisited any of them in the last 20 years or thereabouts.The one I'm listening to now, set in a small industrial town in Ohio, on Lake Erie, makes me think that some of its characters probably would be Trump voters today, and that this would be quite a different book and much less straightforward.

A shout out to two recent books I've just finished. The Quiet Americans is the latest by Scott Anderson, who wrote an excellent book about Lawrence of Arabia and other key figures in the Middle East at the time today's borders were being set in stone and who were much less known. This is somewhat similar. I'd heard of one or two of these names before -- it's a history of the early CIA, from its OSS origins until the Hungarian revolution -- but the level of detail is remarkable and fascinating. From the "whys" of the Cold War (yes, there really were Soviet spies, including at least Julius Rosenberg) to the incredible arrogance of the Americans who began believing only in the intelligence that supported their pre-existing beliefs and objectives, it's fascinating and damning.

The other book is the latest by Margot LIvesey, The Boy in the Field. Three teenagers stumble across the body of a boy left to die in a field near their home in England, and the book addresses all the threads that spin out from there, directly and indirectly. Livesey doesn't do a great job of creating distinctive voices for each of the three, but then it's third person not first person, so that's not as much of a problem as it might have been. Though the kind of tidy conclusion caused me to raise my eyebrows, I really enjoyed reading something that is fundamentally a domestic drama but that is honest.

Was it Woodrow Wilson who rather grandly stated that "Gentlemen do not read other gentlemen's mail"?

Times have changed since then

>106 magicians_nephew: I think it was FDR's secretary of state? A bit later on, anyway.But yes, that anecdote came up in the book...

I keep wondering what they might have thought of the NSA, and every phone call, e-mail, etc. being read/monitored -- the surveillance society.

I've found some audiobooks by Richard North Patterson to listen to. I read them for the first time in the 90s, and they were long and had enough twists to be satisfactory, which means I can use them as ways to get off to sleep without worrying about missing out on much.

Good to see you posting again. That is a good sign that typing is not as painful? Even though I want you to keep in touch - Don't over do it.

>108 benitastrnad: Voice activated software, mostly.

Still alive.

Sending out a shout-out for a new book of stories by a Laotian/Canadian writer, How to Pronounce Knife. They are elegantly written gems.

Listened to the audio of Rage by Bob Woodward. It was very entertaining to hear Alexa pick up the book by saying "Resuming "Rage" "... As if my rage level has really abated at all this year...

Good to see you posting, Suzanne. We’ve missed you here.
The Quiet Americans sounds really good, so thank you for that BB. (Not the first I've been struck by here on your threads).

>110 Chatterbox: How to Pronounce Knife is one of the books on this year's Giller long list.

>112 Familyhistorian: Ooooh, i should check out that list. there usually a couple of great books there. I hope this one makes the shortlist.

>112 Familyhistorian: ashamed to say i don't know the Giller list? who compiles it and what does it consist of?

It's Canadian version of the Man Booker Prize -- the biggest literary prize in Canada. I've discovered some great books this way.

Here's the link:

https://scotiabankgillerprize.ca/the-scotiabank-giller-prize-presents-its-2020-l...

Two of the books on this year's longlist already on my personal best list for the year -- Emma Donoghue's new novel and the short story anthology by Souvankham Thammavongsa.

Last year, one of my fave nominees was Lampedusa by Steven Price, but I also really liked the anthology by David Bezmozgis. The 2018 list includes Washington Black and also French Exit by Patrick DeWitt. Bellevue Square by Michael Redhill won in 2017, but I also LOVED Ed O'Loughlin's book about the arctic and exploration. Us Conductors won in 2014, and Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay. One of the books by Cape Breton author & journalist Linden Macintyre (whom I knew slightly) won, The Bishop's Man. Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden won -- richly deserved (how I wish he hadn't done one of the racial appropriation things, because he's a brilliant author.) Annabel Lyon's new book is on the current list and I'm going to figure out a way to splurge on this for myself since I think she is brilliant.

Hi Suzanne. I am simply stopping by to say hello and let you know I am thinking of you. I understand migraines, though mine do not seem to be as intense as yours.

How I wish I could wave a magic wand to make the pain go away.

>116 Whisper1: Thanks, Linda. For now, I have my aimovig again which is making the head more manageable, though I worry about what's going to happen at the end of October, as I think I'm losing Medicaid. Sigh. I certainly can't fork out $600 a month!!

How is the arm doing? More properly are you recovering from that unfortunate accident?

Glad to see you back, Suzanne, and glad to hear that you have aimovig working.
Take care of yourself!

Struggling to concentrate. Some very bad news about a friend's health, and some difficult decisions looming. Sorry to be vague, but privacy...

Still, Chan Ho Kei's novel of vengeance, justice, etc., Second Sister, is worth a look. Yeah, it requires some leaps of imagination (a few improbable twists) but it's good.

Reading an advance copy of Mary Sharratt's upcoming book about Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe. Intriguing, if not as good as her novel about Hildegard of Bingen.

>120 Chatterbox:
Hummm - Margery Kempe? Sounds interesting.

>121 benitastrnad: It's pretty good, or at least interesting. I knew very little about her, and my only disappointment is that there was less about Julian of Norwich. But then Margery had a more dramatic life. It was a big challenge to write a novel like this from the first person POV of a female mystic in the early 1400s...

This has been the Annus Horribilis, hasn’t it? I’m sorry for your ongoing troubles, Suzanne.

The Giller short list was announced. How to Pronounce Knife made the short list.

>124 Familyhistorian: Woot!!

I just finished listening to the audiobook version of Louise Penny's latest, All the Devils Are Here. So far, it's my fave in the series -- possibly because it doesn't revolve around Three Pines. I'm more than a little tired, I realize, of this implausible place and the proliferation of crime/murders in its vicinity. The murder rate there probably exceeds the murder rate of the entire province of Québec.

Still struggling tremendously with RL. Tried all the strategies I know to sleep last night (relaxation tapes/white noise, breathing exercises, finally turned to sleep meds) and fell asleep at 7 a.m. I went to bed at 11 p.m. This is absurd.

Sorry to hear, Suz

Me too.

thanks, folks. Last night was better. It only took 3.5 hours to get to sleep, and I think I got about 4 hours!

So sorry to hear about your sleep problems. I know how that can suck all the energy out of you. Hoping it gets better.

There is a cute photo of an early LT meetup in NYC that has you in it. Hope you can stop by and take a look. It is in Joe's latest thread. I think the photo was posted by Daryl.

Welp, I am not going outdoors today. It is SNOWING.

Snow is finally melting, but it remains COLD out there (just above freezing). Ventured out to the Athenaeum to pick up some books (and return a few).

I've been reading a remarkable number of espionage novels lately. I suspect it's escapism. And speaking of escapism, The Last Flight by Julie Clark was a better-than-expected domestic suspense novel, albeit very genre specific. A good twist in the epilogue, combined with a few improbable plot elements, but the author gets the suspense level spot on.

A big shout out to Citizen Reporters, about McClure's magazine and Ida Tarbell, one of the early breed of investigative reporters whose work forced the breakup of Standard Oil. It's very far from hagiography, and an excellent look at the progressive forces from the 1890s to World War I, when government cracked down on anything it determined was "subversive". Balanced and fascinating; it deserves a wide readership.

I've been looking for comfort reading as well as escapism this past month, and am now re-reading some novels by Catherine Gaskin first read in the 1970s and early 1980s that are slowly appearing on Kindle. I'm also going to be re-reading some historical fiction by Reay Tannahill, including some books that (shamefully) are OOP and NOT available on Kindle.

I have stacks of books sitting here, so am in no danger of running out, even if the pandemic lasts until spring.

Belated thanks as I think you might have alerted me to Michael Gilbert years and years ago. I finally read and enjoyed his Smallbone deceased. Last year three of his novels were republished and I'm currently reading his Death in captivity.
My mother (92yrs) has been urging me to try something by Mignon G. Eberhart, who I'd never heard of till now.

I have been reading spy novels, thrillers, and mysteries like crazy as well. I know it is purely recreational on my part. I confess - I have become a thrill junkie. But it has been great to have more time to read than I had in the past.

Right now I am reading the last in the Barcelona quartet, Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and loving it. It is perfect Halloween reading because it is so gothic. It has the same feel that Shadow of the Wind had. It is a big'n at 800 pages, but so far it has been worth the number of pages.

Zafon died in May, and I decided that I would get his novels read this year. I don't think I will get all of them read by December 31, but I will be close.

>133 avatiakh: I'm a big Michael Gilbert fan. In fact, I'm slowly replacing some old paperbacks with reprinted trade editions that should last longer! Track down Mr Calder and Mr Behrens if you can -- a great series of linked short stories. I have a couple of audiobooks, too, but wish more were readily available.

>135 Chatterbox: Thanks, I've requested this from the library. My library has quite a few of his books available on Overdrive.

>134 benitastrnad: Incredibly good storyteller, Benita, I love his books.

Finished the first book for the November non-fiction challenge, Square Haunting by Francesca Wade. It's fascinating. Five women who lived in the same square in Bloomsbury from about 1915 to 1941, starting with HD (Hilda Doolittle) and ending with Virginia Woolf. It's not just about the Bloomsbury group, though. Others include a classicist and thinker, Jane Harrison, a pioneer of women's education; Dorothy Sayers; etc. Wade does a great job of developing common themes linking these lives without being too heavy handed about it and forcing the narrative.

>138 Chatterbox:
That is a book I have on my wishlist. Now I have to read it.

I am probably the world's worst person to buy books for -- or at least the most difficult. So my wonderful friend Freya really pulled it off, sending me Blaze Island by Canadian author Catherine Bush. I loved her Rules of Engagement and I'm really looking forward to this one. Sorry, touchstone doesn't seem to work for the first novel...

I just came across Square Haunting and Charlotte's thread and checked the library. As soon as I finish one of my current Overdrive books I can check it out.

Some time I will have to look for Square Haunting because, as mentioned, you're not the first person to make this book sound interesting, and I assume it's not a bestsller type book. The title (incl subtitle) really grabs my attenetion too.

>142 elkiedee: I think it's one of those books that may not be bestsellers but could end up on awards lists and become better known that way? It's certainly a book that deserves some more buzz.

>142 elkiedee: and >143 Chatterbox: That would be great. Awards lists also really help to get books to be available beyond buying new online, and especially to sell books to whoever chooses for libraries. I'm sure my libraries can't buy and stock every award winner ever but they clearly buy longlist and shortlist books as well as winners, that many people would never come across otherwise. And if they buy a single copy and get lots of reservations because of award publicity, they will get more. And they probably buy at more than the special offer and aggresssively discounted prices that I you and I make so much use of! I sometimes tell people that they are still supporting books and authors by borrowing from the library, and it doesn't prevent them buying thier own copy later when and if they can.

This is what I miss most now that the Athenaeum's new books and stacks are closed to browsing yet again -- the serendipity factor. I always stumble across books I hadn't heard of or wasn't aware of. I'm also lucky in being able to ask that they buy some books that they might not otherwise purchase or be aware of, and I've never had one of those requests rejected. Yes, curbside access is good for stuff I know I want to read, and my TBR is overwhelming anyway -- but I miss the surprise/joy of a discovery.

I had read the "Shakespeare" series of historical mysteries by Rory Clements a while back, and have just started to nosh my way through his 1930s/WW2 historical mysteries. Thumping good reads. The central character is a Cambridge don, whose specialty is the history of Elizabeth espionage, so there's kind of a fun link to Clements' previous novels. There are four books in this series now, and with the fifth due out in January, I figured it was time to start reading. Related to Luci's point above, I managed to acquire all of them at deep sale prices. (Less than 2 pounds each for my UK Kindle...) Good pandemic lockdown reading.

We're going into a "pause" in Rhode Island AFTER Thanksgiving. It's infuriating but my 20-something top floor neighbors are still planning to spend all of next week in Pennsylvania with their families for the holiday, in spite of the state's ban on socializing outside your household. (In my case, that means me, Sir Fergus and Minka...) I even interact with my landlady, who lives a floor upstairs, via phone -- she'll be outside raking leaves and we'll talk on the phone. I'm preparing to completely quarantine myself, especially as there's an outside chance that I'll have to go either to Canada to cope with some of my father's stuff, or to LA, where a friend of mine is struggling badly (cancer has spread, is now stage IV). Sigh. I HATE THIS YEAR WITH A STRONG PASSION.

>146 Chatterbox:
Oh No!!! Two Book Bullets. Or should I say 12 book bullets. One for each title, or two for the series? I looked them up on Amazon and the both sound like great recreational reading.

I've heard good things about Rory Clements -- time to give him a look see

And while I'm sending book bullets out -- Smallbone Deceased is a kindle daily deal in the US today. See the discussion above re Michael Gilbert's books.

>149 Chatterbox: I've read the first story in Mr Calder and Mr Behrens, very enjoyable. I'm going to read one story per day as I'm listening to Alan Moore's amazing Jerusalem which is taking most of my time.

>146 Chatterbox: I am sorry to hear about your friend and about how difficult it is for you.

I picked up Martyr by Rory Clements today when I made my library run this afternoon. They have the first two in this series, but non of the titles in the other series by this author. I also checked out Friend by Sigrid Nunez. The second book will be going with me on my Thanksgiving Solitare - that is the drive that I take on Thanksgiving day or on Friday after Thanksgiving to someplace within a 5 hour drive. This year I am thinking it will be Natchez, Mississippi. But we will see what strikes me on the day of I decide to make the trip. Then the rest of the weekend will be devoted to my holiday baking. I need to get it done and distributed before I leave for Kansas.

My friend in LA is now in the ICU on a ventilator. There's a chance he'll pull through, but it will take 48 hours to know, probably.

>153 Chatterbox: Thinking of you, Suzanne.