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

Song for Autumn
Mary Oliver

Don’t you imagine the leaves dream now
how comfortable it will be to touch
the earth instead of the
nothingness of the air and the endless
freshets of wind? And don’t you think
the trees, especially those with
mossy hollows, are beginning to look for

the birds that will come—six, a dozen—to sleep
inside their bodies? And don’t you hear
the goldenrod whispering goodbye,
the everlasting being crowned with the first
tuffets of snow? The pond
stiffens and the white field over which
the fox runs so quickly brings out
its long blue shadows. The wind wags
its many tails. And in the evening
the piled firewood shifts a little
longing to be on its way.

The painting above is by Paul Sérusier (1864-1927), a member of the "Nabi" group of post-Impressionist painters, who adopted a kind of distinctive palette and approach to the construction of his work. This group is sandwiched in between the better-known Fauvists and the Cubists, but I find Sérusier's use of color and his insistence that there's no single way to capture an image to be particularly compelling.

The poem, by Mary Oliver, captures my feelings at this time of year, in the waning weeks of a dreadful 2020, full of loss for me and for so many others.

I wish I could be more upbeat, but I'm starting this new thread on a particularly difficult day, waiting to hear whether one of my closest friends will live or die. He's on a ventilator right now (not COVID...) and we have been warned that even if he makes it, his quality of life is likely to be severely compromised. We don't know what the "best" outcome is here, and I wish I could pray. On top of all that 2020 has brought to me, to those I love and to others in general, this is... painful. Beyond painful.

G would be the first person to ask how my reading is going, though, so here we are. I continue to struggle to concentrate, but am on pace to meet my reading target by year-end in spite of fractured elbow/wrist, deaths, and pandemics. I also have a big TBR stack, so am not worried about that.

I've been having a lot of good luck with my non-fiction, although less of it than I had hoped ties into the themes I set up for this year's non-fiction reading challenges. It has, however, inspired new categories for 2021, so check those out. On the fiction side, I find many "serious" nonfiction books either too emotionally taxing or requiring too much concentration to really appreciate. So my refuge has been mysteries, spy stories and lighter fiction in general. I'm also doing a lot of re-reading, and listening to audiobooks.

My ideal book remains 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.

We're now in the fifth year that I've hosted the non-fiction reading "challenge" and are heading toward the sixth. 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 in November, we're reading group biographies (biographies of two or more people, linked by some kind of family relationship, experience or theme.)

Just asa reminder, the only "rules" of the road for this thread: please treat each other and everyone else's views with courtesy and thoughtfulness. Leave the drama for FB and Twitter and other social media sites, especially in the aftermath of a contentious election battle in the U.S., 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. I haven't done a terribly good job with some of these, but maybe in the remaining weeks I'll pick up the pace.



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 fourth quarter (October-December) of 2020:

(once again, problems with touchstones; my apologies...)

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
363. Hitler's Secret by Rory Clements (finished 11/23/20) 4.2 stars
364. The Steam Pump Jump by Jodi Taylor (finished 11/24/20) 3.8 stars (A)
365. Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan (finished 11/25/20) 5 stars
366. This Is Not Propaganda by Peter Pomerantsev (finished 11/25/20) 4.7 stars
367. Imperfect Union: How Jessie and John Fremont Mapped the West, Invented Celebrity and Helped Cause the Civil War by Steve Inskeep (finished 11/26/20) 4.35 stars
368. Stay of Execution by Michael Gilbert (finished 11/26/20) 4.25 stars
369. The Dead of Winter by Nicola Upson (finished 11/28/20) 4.4 stars
370. Three-Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie (finished 11/29/20) 3.85 stars (A)
371. The Missing Years by Lexie Elliott (finished 11/29/20) 3.9 stars
372. The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown (finished 11/30/20) 5 stars (A)

The December list:

373. The Mitford Trial by Jessica Fellowes (finished 12/01/20) 3.5 stars
374. The Black Swan of Paris by Karen Robards (finished 12/01/20) 2.9 stars
375. *The Butcher's Boy by Thomas Perry (finished 12/02/20) 3.7 stars (A)
376. Doing Time by Jodi Taylor (finished 12/04/20) 4.2 stars
377. *Sky High by Michael Gilbert (finished 12/05/20) 3.9 stars
378. Down to the Sea in Ships by Horatio Clare (finished 12/05/20) 5 stars
379. *The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (finished 12/06/20) 4.25 stars (A)
380. Real Life by Brandon Taylor (finished 12/06/20) 3.7 stars
381. Hard Time by Jodi Taylor (finished 12/08/20) 4.1 stars (A)
382. The Lost Queen by Signe Pike (finished 12/9/20) 4.15 stars
383. Why Is Nothing Ever Simple? by Jodi Taylor (finished 12/09/20) 3.6 stars (A)
384. The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett (finished 12/09/20) 3 stars
385. The Forger's Daughter by Bradford Morrow (finished 12/10/20) 4.2 stars
386. *A Place in the Hills by Michelle Paver (finished 12/10/20) 4 stars
387. Chimes of a Lost Cathedral by Janet Fitch (finished 12/11/20) 4.3 stars
388. Call Me Markham by Jodi Taylor (finished 12/11/20) 3.7 stars (A)
389. House of Brides by Jane Cockram (finished 12/12/20) 3.8 stars
390. Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-Up and the Reporter Who Revealed it to the World Lesley M. M.Blume (finished 12/13/20) 4.65 stars (A)
391. The Long and the Short of It by Jodi Taylor (finished 12/14/20) 3.85 stars (A)
392. *The Long Journey Home by Michael Gilbert (finished 12/14/20) 4.1 stars
393. *The Doors Close by Michael Gilbert (finished 12/16/20) 4 stars
394. *Banishment by Deryn Lake (finished 12/18/20) 3.45 stars
395. Ships and Stings and Wedding Rings by Jodi Taylor (finished 12/18/20) 3.85 stars (A)
396. Box 88 by Charles Cumming (finished 12/20/20) 4.15 stars
397. The Mountains Sing by Que Mai Phan Nguyen (finished 12/21/20) 3.8 stars
398. How to Think Like a Roman Emperor by Donald Robertson (finished 12/22/20) 4.2 stars (A)
399. A Time for Mercy by John Grisham (finished 12/25/20) 4 stars
400. Perestroika in Paris by Jane Smiley (finished 12/26/20) 4.5 stars
401. Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok (finished 12/26/20) 4 stars
402. Spies in the Family by Eva Dillon (finished 12/27/20) 4.15 stars (A)
403. When Hell Strikes Twelve by James Benn (finished 12/28/20) 3.9 stars (A)
404. The Killer Next Door by Alex Marwood (finished 12/29/20) 3.4 stars (A)
405. Now You See Them by Elly Griffiths (finished 12/29/20) 4 stars
406. Unquiet Ghosts by Glenn Meade (finished 12/30/20) 3.8 stars
407. Our Towns by James Fallows and Deb Fallows (finished 12/30/20) 4.15 stars
408. Death in Provence by Serena Kent (finished 12/31/20) 3.9 stars (A)
409. The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel (finished 12/31/20) 4.5 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

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

Reading in the third quarter (July-September) of 2020:
(still no luck with touchstones working)

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)

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

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 Read
Death in Provence by Serena Kent Read
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)
19570140::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) Read
The Disoriented by Amin Maalouf (Lebanon/France)
The Convert by Stefan Hartman (Belgium/Flanders)
The Good Life Elsewhere by Vladimir Lorchenkov (Moldova)
Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan (Ireland) Read
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 Read
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 Read
The House of Brides by Jane Cockram Read
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. Read
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 Read
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
22424076::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 Read
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
23440865::A Strange Country by Muriel Barbery

Audiobooks!

The Secret Guests by Benjamin Black Read
Unquiet Ghosts by Glenn Meade Read
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

And a final one, just in case....

I would normally say "Happy new thread," Suzanne, but it seems inappropriate. I'm so sorry about G. Sending virtual hugs.

>10 Chatterbox: Thanks, Katie. Have a good Thanksgiving with the Wayne and the critters.

Sending wishes for a better outcome for your friend than you expect - whatever that may be. Sending wishes for some peace and renewed energy for you. Hardest year of our collective lives, I think. At least, I hope that's the case.

>13 LizzieD: Thanks, Peggy. Yes, if 2021 is worse, we're all in for really big trouble. We need a vaccine, we need sanity, we need a space to breathe.

>14 Chatterbox: All that and support in all its forms (not just government etc but obviously funding is an issue.

I can understand when the money simply isn't there to fund programs, especially at community/municipal levels. I CANNOT understand Steve Mnuchin allowing programs to lapse at the federal level. Yes, this is a massive fiscal challenge, but choosing between people starving and homeless and finding $$ at federal level to pass down through the system should NOT be a tough choice.

I think the pandemic here has really exposed what's wrong with government policy (not just this government, either). I'm very angry and sad and anxious at the moment.

Programmes here could be funded at community/muncipal level if government policy (and the ideology behind it) hadn't been to strip away resources and fragment them, in a way that involves chucking public money at the private sector. There have been spectacular examples before and since this crisis, from contract awards (the ferry company with no ferries or means to fulfil the contract) to personal protective equipment (PPE).

I can't think of anything but to wish, with everyone else, that we get done with this year and that next year is better.

Nice to see you with a new thread, Suz, but I wish the circumstances were happier. x

Happy new thread!

>2 Chatterbox: So sorry to hear about this. Sending lots of hugs your way

I just hope that the new year brings more focus and organization to government. That is one thing that this country has proved in the past - that focused organization and the WILL to make things happen works its way from the top down. (I am thinking of FDR and the gear-up for WWII.) I just hope that Congress gets on board and helps instead of hinders. Which is why Moscow Mitch must go.

Here's the Thanksgiving social distancing readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/326629.

(((((Suz)))))

>23 ronincats: (((((Roni)))))

Against the odds (and characteristic for him, thank heavens) G continues to fight. They removed the ventilator yesterday evening and as of the last report, he was still breathing on his own, and conscious (when not sedated; they want him to sleep and fight whatever horrible infection in his lungs this is.) It feels like a miracle. So far, anyway.

So, my 365th book of the year was Donal Ryan's latest novel, Strange Flowers, which was wonderful, lyrical, exceptional (as I've become accustomed to with this writer.)

This Brit wishes to express his thanks for the warmth and friendship that has helped sustain him in this group, Suz.

>26 PaulCranswick: Happy "Friendsgiving", Paul...

I am just home from a small (3 people from the library) gathering for Thanksgiving. It was not my most enjoyable Thanksgiving ever, but it was a chance to cook and get out of the house for a couple of hours. I had planned to go to Natchez, Mississippi this Thanksgiving because I want to get there before I leave the South. However, I decided that this was not the year to do so. I may never make it.

>28 benitastrnad: Maybe a winter roadtrip??

Grateful to have found a WHOLE BOOK of Michael Gilbert short stories I hadn't yet read, Stay of Execution. Hadn't even realized that there was such a thing in existence. Weird kind of comfort reading, but gentle mystery/puzzle stories (revolving around legal offices, crimes tied to conveyancing, estates, trusts, etc.) were just the ticket.

Minka is prowling all over, haven given up on finding a comfy place to snooze atop me while I remain seated upright.

So, G, after having had 1 1/2 feet in the grave, just phoned me. He's out of ICU. It's enough to make me believe in miracles. And yes, I yelled at him for scaring us all so badly.

So glad to hear about G's improvement, Suz.

>30 Chatterbox: Great news, I hope he continues this miraculous recovery.

So glad to hear your friend is improving!

Realistically, this is short term. They will discontinue chemo, and provide only comfort care for the growing tumors (spreading from his colon cancer 4 years ago, into lungs and liver). But it gives us all a kind of grace period, for which I'm deeply grateful.

Great news for now, but your caveat is noted.

Thanks for the update Suzanne

I am a bit miffed at my favorite TV channel - PBS. Masterpiece Theater is doing an updated version of All Creatures Great and Small. Like we need another remake. I understand the economics of the situation, but I wish they would do more original productions. Look what hits they had with Victoria and with Call the Midwife. I know that the market for purchasing the rights to books has gone up due to all the various networks that want to develop properties, but still there are millions of great books out there that would make great series. I am tired of the recycles.

>37 benitastrnad: I was surprised when I saw that a re-make was underway. It will have to go some to better the original and utterly wonderful series.

I get that they want a "sure thing", and that perhaps enough decades have elapsed since the original. (And hey, the new "Poldark" was a winner, however good the old one was!) I agree that I'd like to see more interesting new stuff, and that this is a time in which there's a lower risk of people shrugging that off, because we're all stuck at home and desperate for SOMETHING to watch.

Just finished Down to the Sea in Ships by Horatio Clare, and loved it. The author writes of two voyages on modern cargo ships, firstly one of the largest behemoth container ships, super-modern and on a very long voyage from Europe through the Med & Suez Canal down to SE Asia, China and across the Pacific to Los Angeles. (The owners make him get off from Suez to Singapore because of pirate threats...) He juxtaposes/contrasts that with a shorter but probably more hazardous trip on an older workhorse ship crossing the North Atlantic from Antwerp to Montreal. It's particularly fascinating (to me) when he ruminates on the hazards of such a winter crossing, the odd and wildly varied nature of the cargo (origins and destinations) and the economics of global cargo shipping these days. Highly recommended.

I'm struggling with one of the Man Booker longlist tomes, Real Life, by Brandon Taylor. The writing is good, but it's one of those books that I describe as "self conscious" -- i.e. I can see the author peering over my shoulder and suggesting that I admire particular imagery , or a particular turn of phrase. It's also almost exclusively character-based, and I'm finding I can predict exactly what the main character's personal torments are (since he is male, Black, and gay, this kinda surprised me). I was excited to read this, as a new novel by a first-time novelist capturing a marginalized experience, but it's so heavy-handed that I'm slogging through it. Sigh. It's not bad, just precisely the kind of book that feels like something I should read, rather than something I want to read.

>39 Chatterbox: you should have a look at John McPhees
Looking for a Ship following an American sea-faring man on a long voyage

Has a lot to say about the maritime unions and the reasons why so few ships fly the American flag any more.

Of course it's McPhee so it's beautifully written and observed.

>40 magicians_nephew: Took the words straight out of my mouth, Jim. In fact, I think it was you who put me onto the McPhee. Thank you!

>40 magicians_nephew:
Oh - Book Bullitt. I read John McPhee frequently. I try to read one a year. He is a great writer.

>40 magicians_nephew: I have read some John McPhee, but not that one (about shipping). I think I've read something he wrote about the West, and about transportation more generally? It's been a while, so I should go back and take a look for more by him.

>43 Chatterbox:
I like McPhee's writing and always find something to get excited about in his work. I have been trying to read something by him every year.

>44 benitastrnad: I stumbled into McPhee years ago with his The Curve of Binding Energy and then The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed and after that I was hooked. The man is incapable of writing a bad sentence

Here we go again. G is back in hospital, with very poor vitals and struggling to breathe. We've signed off on a DNR.

On a positive sign, I'll give a shoutout to Lesley Blume's book about John Hersey and the writing of his famous book about Hiroshima: Fallout. It's an excellent look at the New Yorker, at Hersey, at wartime censorship, at the immediate aftermath of the dropping of the nuclear bomb. I remember visiting Hiroshima for the first time in 1981 (and then again for the ceremony in August 1984), and writing an editorial column about what it's like to see the legacy of the bomb in human terms, comparing that to the fact that the best-known image remains the mushroom cloud itself, not anything that happened on the ground in 1983. I got a lot of angry mail about that. I understand both sides of the argument, but equally feel strongly about the PR spin that people within the government tried to put on what had happened, in large part for geopolitical reasons. It's also a great reminder of what's at stake. Climate change is at the forefront of global debate now, but Blume makes the point that this is related to the threat of war and usage of nuclear weapons, as people struggle for land and resources to cope with climate change, and clash with neighbors. Thought-provoking, if occasionally a bit adulatory of Hersey.

Thanks for the update Suzanne

My dear friend G died earlier this evening.

I am so sorry for your loss.

Oh dear, Suzanne. I'm sorry and wish with you that it could have been otherwise.

Very sad to hear this news - I know you were so close. I'm very, very sorry.

I'm sorry about the loss of your friend.

Oh, Suz, I'm so sorry. (((Hugs)))

Sorry Suzanne

Very sorry to hear that Suzanne.

I'm sorry for your loss, Suz. (((((Suzanne)))))

Sorry for your loss, Suzanne.
(((hugs)))

So sorry for your loss.

I am in Kansas so just now read your news. I am sorry.

My mother was diagnosed with Covid so I decided to travel home to deal with this and make sure things are going well. I will be in Kansas for about a week to 10 days. My mother has been on steroids and when I first got here she was on an up. She told me she wasn't sure what all the fuss about this "Covis Thing" was about. The home health care nurse warned me that she would crash and today she did. She has been in bed all morning. I am now thinking I may be here longer than a week. sigh!

I'm so sorry for your loss, Suzanne.

Thanks, everyone. I'm in NYC until at least Tuesday. The funeral keeps being postponed due to difficulties/delays transporting G back from California. I'm largely offline, as the apartment now has no Internet/wi-fi, and I maxxed out my phone's data plan. Gah. So don't expect me back until sometime next week

>59 benitastrnad: Good luck with your mother. Thinking of you both and hoping for a rapid recovery.

Home again. Re-reading some Michael Gilbert and some Terry Pratchett, which require little to no serious thought and don't require all of my brain to be present. Which is a Good Thing.

Or in other words, Happy Christmas! And have a great New Year as well. Here’s hoping 2021 is better than 2020.

I hope you get some of those at least, Suz, as we all look forward to a better 2021.

Merry Christmas to all.

Got two Amazon gift cards, one from a lovely LT friend, and one from my neighbors' cat, who I am caring for while they are away. Used some of the funds already to buy a book by Horatio Clare about J.S. Bach and a walking trip to Lübeck in his footsteps that I had wishlisted.

A calm-ish day, though I managed to crack a tooth while grinding them in my sleep last night, and the pain woke me up. I do really hope that's the last blow of 2020! I'm very ready to kick it to the curb.

Ouch!

If you need a feel-good book, seek out Perestroika in Paris by Jane Smiley. It's warm and heartfelt without being sentimental. The characters are a racehorse trainer, a small boy -- and a raven, a race horse, a dog, and a black rat. The latter four have clear voices, and it feels natural, not strained. A delightful escape from "real life".

Well, I made it through the Christmas holidays, but it was a near run thing. My sister is in a bad way. She has multiple health issues that are exacerbated by an inept husband and her increasingly stressful financial situation. My mother doesn't help. Of course, my mother is 85 and shouldn't be of help to my sister. I am now so thankful that I never married. At least taking care of a man isn't one of the things on my to-do list. If I sound angry, I guess I am. I am going to bake another batch of Oatmeal Dinner Rolls to take my mind off of the situation and leave my mother with something useful.

Of course, now there is the major winter storm that may delay my leaving by one day. And of course, there is the usual returns of Christmas gifts to deal with, since my mother has abdicated all responsibility for this. Especially now that the lassitude aftereffects of Covid is setting in. She is very tired and now has the joint aches that accompany a bout of this disease. I need the comfort of a good book - so I started Golden Egg by Donna Leon on Christmas Day and finished it this morning over the second-to-last batch of coffee I will ever drink that has been brewed in that obsolete excuse for a coffeemaker that my mother has. I ordered a new one on Christmas Day and it should arrive tomorrow.

I brought with me Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares and old book of LatinX short stories that I found on a couple of book lists, so I will start that book later today after the County Health Nurse makes her visit to see my mother.

>65 Chatterbox: sleep-time teeth grinding!? Yikes. That's a hard one habit to break, given your state of consciousness at the time...roll on 2021 (in which it is assumed none of the 2020 things will be repeated).

>68 benitastrnad: sometimes oatmeal dinner rolls and a new coffeemaker are all you can do... My mother and brother have basically written me off.

Migraine back again. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to set up the 2021 thread and non-fiction challenge.