Norabelle414's Trilogy in One Part

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Hello and welcome! I'm Nora. I live in Washington DC. This is my eleventh year of having my own thread in the 75ers group! Aside from books, I also love:

animals - on the weekends I volunteer at Smithsonian's National Zoo
TV - scripted only, mostly science fiction and fantasy, especially anything based on a book
feminism
theater - I have season tickets to Arena Stage but I often go to shows elsewhere as well
podcasts - especially about books
knitting
travel

You can find me on Twitter @ norabelle414

A selection of books I have finished recently:

The Truth About Animals: Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and Other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife by Lucy Cooke - 5/5 stars
Captain Marvel, Vol 1: Higher, Faster, Further, More by Kelly Sue DeConnick with art by David Lopez - 4/5 stars
Bunny by Mona Awad - 3/5 stars
Loki: Where Mischief Lies by Mackenzi Lee - 4/5 stars
The Wangs vs. the World by Jade Chang - 3/5 stars

For a full list of books I have read this year, click here: https://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=norabelle414&collection=590642

2019 Statistics

In 2019, I read 20 books.
4,134 pages, plus 15 hours and 48 minutes of audiobooks.
I averaged 9 days per book, 11 pages per day, 1.67 books per month.
Average book length was 207 pages.

The longest book was The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet at 443 pages. The shortest was Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats at 56 pages.

I acquired 65 books.
I bought 49 books.
I deaccessioned 33 books.

16 (80%) of the books I read had female authors/artists (for graphic novels I am counting only the artist, not the author).
11 (55%) were marketed for adults, 5 (25%) for young adults, and 4 (20%) for children.
8 (40%) had authors/artists of color, and 3 (15%) had a main character of color.
6 (30%) had LGBTQ authors/artists, and 3 (15%) had an LGBTQ main character.
1 was translated from another language.

8 books (40%) were purchased by me. 8 (40%) were checked out from the library. 0 were free. 0 books were borrowed from another person, 3 (15%) were gifts and 1 (5%) was a free early review copy.
18 books (90%) were physical books, 0 were digital, and 1 (5%) was an audiobook.

13 (65%) were prose books. 0 were plays. 6 (30%) were comics. 1 was poetry.
18 books (90%) were fiction, and 2 (10%) were non-fiction.

3 books (15%) were rereads. 3 books (15%) were published in 2019. 17 books (85%) were published before 2019, and 5 (25%) were published before 2009. The oldest book I read was Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, first published in 1939.

My best reading month was August, in which I finished 6 books. My worst reading months were February, March, April, and December, in which I finished 0 books.

My most-read genre was speculative fiction/science fiction/fantasy/horror, of which I read 10 books (50%). 4 books (20%) were general fiction. 2 books (10%) were adventure/mystery/thriller. 2 books (10%) were science nonfiction. 1 book (5%) was historical fiction & fantasy. 1 book (5%) was romance.

My Top Five Books of 2018:
Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat!, Vol 1: Hooked on a Feline by Brittney L. Williams
My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
The Truth About Animals by Lucy Cooke

Dishonorable Mention:
The Wangs vs. the World by Jade Chang
Bunny by Mona Awad
(neither of these were that bad)

2010s Decade Statistics

From 2010 through 2019, I read 525 books.
139,583 pages, plus 36 days, 0 hours, and 19 minutes of audiobooks.
I averaged 20 days per book, 38 pages per day, 4 books per month.
Average book length was 321 pages.

The longest book was War and Peace at 1,482 pages. (Followed by A Clash of Kings with 1009 and The Pillars of the Earth with 1008). The shortest was the short story Cat Person at 23 pages (Followed by the one-act play No Exit with 26 and Catwings with 40).

267 (51%) had female authors/artists (for graphic novels I am counting only the artist, not the author).
318 (61%) were marketed for adults, 138 (26%) for young adults, and 68 (13%) for children.
55 (11%) had authors/artists of color, and 68 (13%) had a main character of color.
39 (7%) had LGBTQ authors/artists, and 50 (10%) had an LGBTQ main character.
14 were translated from another language.

207 books (39%) were purchased by me. 241 (46%) were checked out from the library. 17 (3%) were free. 16 bookw (3%) were borrowed from another person, 22 (4%) were gifts and 22 (4%) were free early review copies.

432 books (82%) were physical books, 3 (1%) were digital, and 90 (17%) were audiobooks.

446 (85%) were prose books. 9 (2%) were plays. 65 (12%) were comics. 4 (1%) were poetry.
468 books (89%) were fiction, and 57 (11%) were non-fiction.

25 books (5%) were rereads. 260 books (50%) were published within the decade. 265 books (51%) were published before 2010, and 126 (24%) were published before 2000. The oldest book I read was The Odyssey, unless you don't count modern translations of ancient works, in which case it was A Midsummer Night's Dream, first published in 1600.

On average, my best reading month was August, in which I finished 12% of books. My worst reading month was November, in which I finished 6% of books.

My most-read genre was speculative fiction/science fiction/fantasy/horror, of which I read 249 books (47%). 86 books (16%) were historical fiction & fantasy. 70 books (13%) were general fiction. 41 books (8%) were adventure/mystery/thriller. 22 books (4%) were biography/memoir. 18 books (3%) were science nonfiction. 16 books (3%) were romance. 10 books (2%) were general nonfiction. 8 books (2%) were short stories. 4 books (1%) were history nonfiction. 1 book (0.2%) was essays.

My Top Five Books of the decade:
LOL I could never narrow it down to five

Another resolution is to keep up in 2020 with all my friends on LT. Happy New Year!

Happy 2020 everyone! I'm starting the new year with new carpet in my apartment. I've (mostly) unpacked all my stuff and hopefully this can be a fresh start.

Compiling my statistics for the whole 2010s decade was wild! I graduated from college, I started listening to audiobooks, I read a lot of books per year, I started listening to podcasts and stopped listening to audiobooks, and I read very few books per year. I read some really incredible books, some memorable stinkers, and a lot of books that I barely remember. I'm so thankful to have LibraryThing as a place where I can keep these kinds of records to go back to whenever I want.

>6 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul! Welcome!

1. Mind of the Raven by Bernd Heinrich

Nature writer and researcher Bernd Heinrich describes several years of his experience with ravens. Based mostly in western Maine, he raises ravens from chicks, observes and experiments with wild ravens, and travels to Germany to collaborate with raven researchers there. He observes things such as how his captive-raised ravens interact with wild ravens, what kind and quantity of food adult ravens feed their babies, and if ravens will notice if you add or remove eggs from their nest.

In contrast with the previous book read for my book club, The Truth About Animals, this is 360 pages of excruciating detail about just one animal. I didn't have a problem with anything about it, but it's just a lot. Heinrich's observations are very thorough, and he's an excellent science communicator. His prose is easy to read, enjoyable, and never jargon-y. The book was enjoyable to read in small chunks but I had to read it quickly for book club and that was not easy. I skimmed a lot. I think the book does a good job of capturing the tedium of scientific research - trying the same thing or slight variations on a thing over and over again to see if you get a different result. Like the science itself, this can be thrilling if the reader is interested in the particular research topic, but I can't recommend more than skimming if you're not.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ♥ (3.5/5)

Happy New Year Nora!

I'm so intrigued by your decade stats and wish I was organized enough to do mine. I haven't even been organized to do my end of year stats for a couple of years.... Oh well!

Happy 2020!

>1 norabelle414: That looks like a lovely, sunny place to relax, read and cuddle kitty!

Happy new year, Nora!

Happy new year and happy new thread!

>10 leahbird: Happy New Year, Leah! Thankfully, I have a spreadsheet that compiles all of the stats for me. (I think it originated as a BookRiot spreadsheet that somebody (Katie?) pointed out to me a few years ago and I have extensively revised.) All the data itself is held in LibraryThing so it just took some time to transfer to the spreadsheet. The only data that I did not have was the length of audiobooks listened to more than 4 years ago, but since I get all of my audiobooks from OverDrive that was pretty easy to look up.

>11 ChelleBearss: Thanks Chelle! Happy 2020!

>12 katiekrug: Happy New Year, Katie!!

>13 foggidawn: Thanks foggi!

Lovely to see your thread pop up in the group, Nora. Best wishes for 2020!

>16 lkernagh: Thanks Lori! Happy New Year!

Happy new year, norabelle414! I hope all is well with you. Happy reading in 2020!

Welcome back!

Thanks Brodie and Jim! Happy New Year!

Happy reading in 2020, Nora!

Love the decade statistics, clever!
I have my stats for the decade in 10 spreadsheets. I am looking now how to integrate them, as I changed some through the years.

Dropping a star, because I just *know* you're going to overflow my TBR pile. Happy new year!

>21 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita! I did have some changes between my 2019, 2018, and 2017 spreadsheets, but I was able to transfer them all to the same spreadsheet by copying one column at a time and pasting it in the appropriate column in the new spreadsheet. I did have to fill in some blanks of data that I had not been collecting earlier, but it at least solved the problem of columns that had been rearranged.

>22 London_StJ: Thanks London! Happy New Year!

Happy new year, Nora! I hope everything is so far, so good with the new carpet and all.

I started using a BookRiot spreadsheet last year, and I started another one this year because I like all the stats things that is already set up for me.

>24 bell7: Thanks Mary! So far, so good.

I liked the initial BookRiot spreadsheet I started in 2017, but I have made some improvements to the formulas.

A few more things I learned from my decade statistics:

1) I am doing much better at gender parity now, because I had a long way to go. My average over the decade was about 50/50, but that's because in recent years I have made an effort to read mostly female authors (usually 70-80%), while early in the decade I was reading mostly male authors.

2) It can sometimes be difficult to determine if authors are queer! I didn't want to pry too much into their personal lives. Some authors I learned were (are) non-straight in this process, that I didn't know before:
Ann M. Martin
Daphne du Maurier
George Selden
Virgil
James Howe (I knew this at some point but had forgotten)
E. M. Forster

3) I read a lot of books 5-10 years ago that I don't remember anything about. This was also at the peak of my reading. Was I reading so many books that I couldn't retain the information? Did I remember them for awhile but now I've forgotten as I get older? Were they just not memorable books?

4) My reading spikes *significantly* every August. Why? Probably a) less TV and b) icky weather. It dips every November, probably due to a) more TV and b) my annual work conference and other social events.

5) I am very bad at continuing series that I have started and enjoyed, and am only getting worse about it.

Thoughts?

I resonate with your second point. I thought about tracking that as well, but decided not to because the data out there is unreliable and, really, how much of that is my business anyway?

I tend to start strong, then hit a wall in March, then another in September/October. Don't know why that would be the case.

Number 5 is sooo true of me too.

>26 norabelle414: >27 drneutron: It's an interesting data point, though I understand the desire to respect privacy. But queer content is something I look for; in recent years I've grown more and more desperate to find representation of myself within the genres I love. I found too much queer-bashing in cozy mysteries, for example, though I love the genre.

I read a lot of horror in the summer - perhaps because things are otherwise so bright? I dip in the fall because it's my personal and professional busy season, and pick up in the winter when it's too cold for everything else.

I love the stats.

Great stats, Nora. Thanks for posting them.

re, your #3, I think that happens to most people, and I'm pretty sure there's some kind of neuroscience that explains why. I'm too lazy to Google right now, but I definitely find myself forgetting things even about books I love.

I found too much queer-bashing in cozy mysteries

Well, that's just awful. I've mostly lost my taste for cozies because they're pretty retrograde overall.

>26 norabelle414: I have also found that I have drastic reading spikes and lulls. October and November usually finds me bookless but January I get right back into reading and planning my challenges

>26 norabelle414: -
#1 - I seem to read a lot more women authors than men. I am trying for parity in the opposite direction from you!

#2 - Yeah, this is not something I bother to track, though I do appreciate the comment at >28 London_StJ: regarding content. That is something I'd like to try to seek out more as a way to diversify my reading.

#3 - I'm terrible at remembering books period. Even ones I read a few months ago...

#4 - I have hills and valleys, too. This past fall saw a significant up-tick in my reading, but I'm not sure why.

#5 - Oh, series. There are a few I follow faithfully, and ones I am making steady progress in. And then there are the rest....

Interesting stats!

I used the Book Riot spreadsheet for the first time last year, but I'm not doing so again. I thought some of the data points were weird (I don't care who published my books), the options for genre were sadly lacking, and the main stuff I was interested in tracking, I already do in my own spreadsheet.

>27 drneutron: I have had some good luck with a few wikipedia lists, such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LGBT_writers and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_bisexual_people and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_with_non-binary_gender_identities. They are not by any means complete, but they are well-sourced. The information is not always on the author's page itself, though, so sometimes you have to just skim the lists for names you recognize.

>28 London_StJ: I definitely look for queer content primarily, but I do think it's important to consume queer content by queer creators. So I keep track of both metrics. (Same with non-white content & creators.) Around mid-decade I found myself reading a lot of queer stories by straight authors and non-white stories by white authors. Of course there's nothing inherently wrong with that, but I want to make sure I'm reading Own Voices stories as well.

>29 libraryperilous: Thanks Diana! I do think I retain information about books more when I write a review after reading (plus, then I have a review to go back and read if I forget the book!), but it turns out I've only been reviewing books systematically since 2017??? That's, like, yesterday!

>30 ChelleBearss: I was so surprised to see a significant jump in August reading across 10 whole years! When compiling the stats I had assumed all the months would even out.

>31 katiekrug: I was feeling bad about the past few years being 70-80% women but not anymore! I know it would only get worse if I went back further.

I made a *lot* of changes to the BookRiot spreadsheet, and I am still using the one from a few years ago that I have updated myself. I deleted the columns that had to do with the BookRiot-specific challenges, changed all the genres around, etc.

>32 norabelle414: An excellent point, and I agree.

Probably my last stats for the decade, unless I feel like doing more.

Most read authors/artists, 2010-2019: (includes rereads)

28 - Charlie Adlard (the Walking Dead series)
12 - J. K. Rowling, L. A. Meyer
11 - Jasper Fforde
10 - Gail Carriger
7 - Terry Pratchett
6 - Scott Westerfeld, Cassandra Clare, Orson Scott Card
5 - Lucy Maud Montgomery
4 - Patricia C. Wrede, Maryrose Wood, Laini Taylor, Stephanie Perkins, Naomi Novik, Seanan McGuire, Madeleine L'Engle, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, Brooke A. Allen

>36 norabelle414: Ooh, that's an interesting one. I might try to find mine out, too.

>26 norabelle414:
1: Although I do try to read more female authors, male authors are still the majority of my reads.
2: I don't track LGBT+ authors in my spreadsheets.
3: Some books I forget within a week, some stay with me forever.
If I read a lot some books need time after reading to process what I have read. Doing other things helps to make space for a next read.
4: My reading goes paralell with my thyroid values.
5: I keep a list on my thread for series. Most of them are read to the end.

I, also, don't like prying into sexuality of the author. That's one thing that has bothered me about the Read Harder challenge. It ALWAYS has a prompt or two about the sexuality of an author.

2. The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge by M. T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin
(LT Early Reviewers)

Two academics, an elf and a goblin, meet as representatives of their eternally-warring kingdoms to learn more about each other. At least, that's what they think. But really, the elf Brangwain Spurge is disliked by his peers and was sent to the Kingdom of Goblins to get rid of him. The elves are using the "research" about goblins that Brangwain transmits back home as intel to plan an invasion. In the Kingdom of Goblins, Brangwain is such a bigoted jerk to all the goblins that he and his host, Werfel the Archivist, goblin historian, have to go on the run together or face execution. But they'll be fine, because the other elves will totally come rescue Brangwain, right?

This story is told in three forms. Some scenes are beautiful, black and white, wordless illustrations by Eugene Yelchin which represent the images that Brangwain transmits back to Elfland, other sections are letters from Brangwain's boss to the King of Elfland, and the remaining scenes are straightforward prose narrative from Werfel's point of view. While a fascinating premise, which made the pages fly by, the result felt a little lop-sided. The story is about two educated men realizing that they have been fed propaganda their whole lives, and learning who their "enemy" really is as a person. But that message is a little undercut by having two-thirds of the book from elf POV and one from goblin POV. Brangwain is presented as having a lot more growing to do than Werfel. Also, the goblins are led by a giant octopus that came from another planet specifically to be king of the goblins and this is just never examined??

Overall, a very enjoyable read with a great message, though not as poignant as it could be. I'm not sure what age it's exactly written for, but adults will definitely appreciate it.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ♥ (4.5/5)

>40 norabelle414: Sounds like a truly odd read. Glad you enjoyed it. :)

3. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Melanie is beginning her freshman year of high school, but after what happened over the summer, she does not want to be there. Her former friends all hate her, she can't keep up with classes, and she just really doesn't want to talk to anyone. At all. So she doesn't.

This account of depression in high school is much closer to my own experience than I have read before. I especially related to Melanie's relationship with her parents, who are off in their own worlds without much concern over her except when her bad grades are sent home. I liked that Melanie didn't totally refuse to speak, which would have set off alarm bells, but she just did not share her thoughts or her world with anyone. I also liked that she didn't settle for having a bad friend just because that's better than having no friends at all. I found the story sympathetic and relatable, though the ending was a little unrealistic.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ♥ (4.5/5)

Currently reading:

I've recently become obsessed with a podcast called You're Wrong About, where they talk about (recent-ish) historical news stories and pop culture phenomenon that have been misinterpreted. They've covered topics like the Satanic Panic, Yoko Ono, human trafficking, and are currently in the middle of a long series of episodes about the Nicole Brown Simpson murder trial. The hosts do a lot of research, much of which involves reading lots of biographies and memoirs that came out contemporaneously (or soon after) the pop culture event and parsing out the relevant information. The podcast is very enjoyable and I have learned a lot, both about the subjects of the podcast and also about how to find the truth in the pop culture narratives that we're fed (step 1: wait 20-50 years, step 2: read a lot).
With recent pop culture news, I found myself wishing I knew more truth about Princess Diana. I remember her death when I was 9 but I don't really know much about her life before that. Someone online recommended The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown and I figured, "I can read a celebrity expose critically, too!". My local library did not have a paper copy, but another library I have a card for had the audiobook! Which is probably for the best because I don't know if I would get through all 561 pages in paper. So I'll be listening to that for 22 hours, narrated by Rosalyn Landor, who is excellent.

The book club that I lead for zoo volunteers is meeting again in March and we're reading Raising America's Zoo: How Two Gorillas Helped Transform the National Zoo by Kara Arundel. It's a locally-published book about a man (the author's father-in-law) who donated two baby gorillas to the National Zoo in 1955 and continued to be involved with the zoo's transition to a more conservation-focused institution. So far I have read about the subject's childhood up to his acquisition of the gorillas, and I am most struck by the similarity of his early life to that of Elizabeth Holmes, of Theranos infamy. They grew up in the same neighborhood (though more than 50 years apart) and had similar upbringings by rich, important parents who told them they could do anything, expected them to be Great and gave them everything except limits. They had very different outcomes, obviously, but it's still an interesting comparison.

Last night I started reading Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero. It's good so far, but right before I put it down there was a scene that twice used a slur for someone who is intersex which left a bad taste. I'll keep reading, but with caution.

Sounds like an interesting mix of reads going on Nora.

How's Rory (and you) liking the new flooring?

>36 norabelle414: Ooh that is a great stat, Nora.

I think that without limiting it to just the last decade I would be interested to check my own stats on this. I know that I have read so many of the Doctor Who books as a boy (and re-read subsequently) that means that Terrance Dicks would feature high. I have read most of Graham Greene and Somerset Maugham. All bar one or two of Hammond Innes.

In modern times, Henning Mankell, Lee Child, Andrea Camilleri, Peter Robinson and John Sandford must be up there too. I think:

64 Terrance Dicks
35 Graham Greene
28 Somerset Maugham
23 Hammond Innes
22 Lee Child
22 Andrea Camilleri
22 Peter Robinson
20 John Sandford

>33 norabelle414: I've been writing private comments as reviews on LT since 2018. I also have a one-line description on my annual spreadsheet for each book. I use that as a memory prompt.

Hello Nora! I finally found your thread. I had The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge on my ordering list but took it off because it seemed a little mature for my population. I would still like to read it myself.

>43 norabelle414: Oh my goodness, I recently binged nearly all of that podcast. It's so much fun - I'm glad you've enjoyed it as well!

>43 norabelle414: Looks like you've got some great reads happening! I've been catching up on The Crown and it's made me want to read a biography of Elizabeth II (honestly, I'll be amazed if I make that happen this year), so I'll look forward to your comments on the Diana book.

>40 norabelle414: Adding that one to the BlackHole!

>42 norabelle414: That one too!

Regarding your comments on tracking gay/straight authors, I was thinking about this earlier today, although my thought were more along the lines of white/people of color. Basically, I decided that I am going to read what I am going to read, whether the author is white, gay, or purple with pink polka dots. I am not going to not read a book based on the author's characteristics, nor am I going to seek out every author of a particular gender, color or sexuality. This is just not a thing for me, although I understand why people do it. I guess that for me, the book is more the thing than the author. I hope all that makes sense, lol.

>44 MickyFine: The new flooring is fine for me. I like having the sheet flooring in the entryway, though I had expected it would match the kitchen flooring but it does not. I think Rory is still making up his mind!

>45 PaulCranswick: My top authors would have been VERY different if I had gone back just a few years further. There were several that I read just one or two books from in 2010 but had read many more in the preceding years. I tend to read one or two books from authors now, even ones I really like, instead of inhaling their entire oeuvre.

>46 libraryperilous: Before I started reviewing all the books I read, I would often leave comments here, but not always.

>47 AMQS: Hi Anne! I would definitely recommend reading it yourself before ordering it for your library. It's an odd book and hard to classify.

>48 London_StJ: Hey fellow You're Wrong About fan!!

>49 bell7: The end of Season 3 of The Crown does overlap with the beginning of The Diana Chronicles. There was/is so much going on that I had no idea about! The book provides a lot of context for what Diana's early life was like that would otherwise be completely incomprehensible to me. For example, it was very cool at the time for rich young people to have very trivial, low-paying jobs (like cleaning houses or walking dogs) because the fact that you could work hard and get paid almost nothing for it showed how much money your family had. While she was first dating Charles, Diana was a nanny for an American family living in England and they had zero idea who she was.
(So far the book is very biased against Charles and I don't hate that...)

>50 alcottacre: Hi Stasia!
I have thought in the past that I should just read whatever books I want regardless of the identity of the author. But when I do that I end up reading almost only straight white wealthy male authors. Unfortunately, we do not live in a society that treats people equally, and when I leave my book selection up to the forces of the world around me (advertising, library availability, bookstore displays, book reviewer recommendations, etc.) then I do not end up being exposed to a very wide variety of voices. This was very apparent when comparing my early-2010s stats to my late-2010s stats. Thankfully, now that I have been making an effort for several years, reading a wide variety of voices comes more naturally to me, and I only need to keep a few stats to check at the end of the year to make sure I'm not being too myopic. It's a huge benefit for a small amount of work (if that), because I enjoy reading much more when I get to read new and different viewpoints.

I've watched a lot of TV lately, some of which I gave up on immediately:

Awkwafina is Nora from Queens - meh but I'll keep watching
Everything Is Gonna Be Okay - I find Josh Thomas very off-putting but I think I eventually liked his previous show, Please Like Me, so I'll give this one a few more episodes
Twice Upon a Time - A man receives a wooden cabinet which lets him crawl in between the present day and the past, before his girlfriend died. Not bad, but not good enough to hold my attention enough for subtitles.
Vienna Blood - Good, though I am disappointed that it's a season-long mystery and not individual episode mysteries.
Sanditon - So good!!!!!
Soundtrack - kind of like This Is Us but occasionally there's lip-syncing to dance-pop songs? I enjoyed the first two episodes but I have other things I want to watch more.
Virgin River - too sentimental for my taste.
V-Wars - unoriginal.
Three Days of Christmas - not interesting
Party of Five - I never watched the original, but so far I am enjoying this remake
Daybreak - A send-up to Ferris Bueller about a guy living in the aftermath of a biochemical attack that turned adults into zombies and left him and his high school classmates to fend for themselves. Very clever and funny, and Matthew Broderick plays the high school principal! Of course, it's already been cancelled.
Living with Yourself - Paul Rudd gets cloned. He does a fine job playing a middle-aged man who is disappointed in his life, but it's Aisling Bea as his wife who really shines.
Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist - Good enough, but after four years of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, a musical show without original songs feels disappointing.
Deputy - laughably bad
Dare Me - Too teen soap-y
Reprisal - Too confusing?
Dublin Murder Squad - I'm sure this is a great adaptation if you loved the books, but I did not.
Dollface - Enjoyable, but feels a little out-of-touch. It would be wittier if it came out 3-5 years ago.
Vida - Really good!
The Spanish Princess - Great!

A few more:

Outlander, season 4 - I could not possibly care less about Brianna and Roger.
The Boys - I liked it more than I thought I would!
Star Trek Discovery - The first season was good, second season kind of blah. I like the Short Treks a lot though!

Plus still watching the usual stuff!

>54 norabelle414: Bummed you don't like Bree and Roger more, although I think a lot of my affection for them comes from the books.

Thought I'd stop by and wave hello since I've made my thread now :)

4. Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero

TL;DR - transphobic, not recommended

In the summer of 1977 in Blyton Hills, Oregon, four thirteen-year-olds solved spooky mysteries - it was always an adult in a mask! Years later, in 1990, the former kid sleuths are not doing so hot. Andrea "Andy" Rodriguez (the tomboy) breaks out of prison and picks up Kerri (the brains) so they can break Nate (the dreamer) out of a mental health facility he's been locked in for having hallucinations of Peter (the handsome leader) who committed suicide a year earlier. Andy explains that nothing has been right with them since their final mystery in 1977, and they have to go back to the haunted mansion on top of a mine shaft in the middle of Sleepy Lake in Oregon. And this time the villain is definitely not just a normal adult in a mask.

The general idea of this book is very good, but the writing and the execution are awful. The close-third person narration is completely inconsistent, bouncing between characters within the same paragraph, sometimes within the same sentence. Randomly, the dialog is occasionally presented as lines from a script, complete with camera directions, for no discernible reason. I assume that this is meant to be clever, as are the heaping piles of references to disciplines that the author does not understand. These range from the very minor (two 26yos who barely know each other would not have an argument about Captain Planet within a few weeks of its TV premiere) to complete misrepresentations of mental health (Nate keeps admitting himself to an in-patient mental health facility just because he likes the slow pace of life there, and goes on and off his anti-hallucinogenic medication willy-nilly, with no side effects), sciences of all kinds (Kerri has a bachelors degree in biology and zero work experience, which qualifies her to perform a police autopsy, and she has studied insects but has never owned hiking boots), women and sexuality (Andy has been in love with Kerri since they were 13 and is constantly creepily ogling or touching her while they're supposed to be running for their lives or whatever. She ends up being in a relationship with Kerri at the end, despite the fact that Kerri says many times that she is not attracted to women and might not ever want to be physically intimate, and Andy says she's fine with that? What??).

All of that is small potatoes compared to the most egregious: this book is very transphobic. It starts at the beginning, with unnecessarily referring to a one-sentence background character only as "the H********dite" (a slur for intersex) and continues through the end where the villain turns out to be an immortal witch who changes their gender through surgery every 30-ish years so no one will realize they have been causing trouble since Salem. Gender reassignment surgery presented as a means to trick people for nefarious reasons. The author kind of tries to counterbalance by hinting that the main character, Andy, might be trans herself. However, the only vague evidence for this is 1) she wants to be called Andy, NOT Andrea; 2) she has short hair; 3) she gets mad at the idea that girls can't do things that boys can do; and 4) she is attracted to women. Mostly irrelevant and unconvincing.

There's little of value here to balance what is objectively offensive. Where was this author's editor??
Very much NOT recommended.

Rating: ❤ ♥ (1.5/5)

>55 MickyFine: It could be because I binge-watched the whole season in a row but I am so tired of Roger's whole "you're going to think that I left you but actually I didn't!" thing.

>56 Esquiress: Hi Es! Welcome back!!

>58 norabelle414: That is completely fair. They drew that out a bit too long for my tastes.

>59 MickyFine: I wish they had left Roger with the Mohawk instead of Ian.

>60 norabelle414: Ian's experience with the Mohawk is super fascinating though. Lots of good plot stuff for Ian ahead.

>61 MickyFine: Oh ok, as long as he's not off the show it's fine.

>62 norabelle414: He'll be back (with Rollo). I just can't remember if he's gone for an entire book or if he comes back late in book 5. Of course, the show definitely changes some things so who knows what they'll do with Ian exactly. Spoiler for season 4 and Voyager In the book, Murtagh dies (at Culloden or in the aftermath, I can't quite remember) but of course they brought him back in season 4.

I'm currently reading:
Raising America's Zoo (for book club)
Sanditon (unfinished

I'm going to pick out another "fun" read, since Meddling Kids turned out to be not-so-fun.
Once I'm done with Sanditon I think I'll pick up a short story collection and read/review them one at a time, like I used to.

Still listening to The Diana Chronicles, which requires exactly the amount of attention I have (i.e. not full attention). I will not be able to finish all 22 hours in the 21 day check-out period but hopefully I can renew it right away.

>63 MickyFine: Oh good. I knew about Murtagh's fate being different, because when I watch Outlander on-demand they always have a little behind-the-scenes clip at the end and in one the writers said they liked him too much and decided not to kill him off. Fair enough!

More upcoming reading:
I'm going to read Exhalation by Ted Chiang as my short story collection since I got it for Christmas, once I'm done with Sanditon.
One of the podcasts I listen to is going to be talking about The Westing Game, and I own it, so I'll probably re-read it soon.
Another podcast is going to talk about Z for Zachariah, which I have never read and don't own, but I'm trying not to check out any books from the library at the moment. (I did some math and realized I only finished 5 of the last 20 books I checked out!) None of the FOUR libraries that I have OverDrive access at have an audiobook either! I requested that a couple of them purchase it but I don't know if that will work or how fast.

Currently watching:
The Witcher
Anne with an E, season 3
This week's Doctor Who - OMG JACK HARKNESS!!! OMG ANOTHER DOCTOR!!! WHAT IS GOING ON??????
Series finale of Arrow - lots of crying.
Outmatched - a sitcom about two "normal" parents raising 3 gifted kids. Bad.
Vikings - they killed off Lagertha, so I'm done.
Also I found out that seasons 1 and 2 of The Nanny are streaming for free on Roku and I might have watched a few episodes....

Currently knitting:
My purse knitting (for public transit, boring teleconferences, etc.) is a purple wool scarf. I have the pattern memorized so it's good for when I'm out and about. I am not making it for anyone in particular but I will probably give it away because wool makes my neck too hot.
At home I need to knit something more fussy to keep my interest, so I'm making several pairs of fingerless gloves to give to my coworkers (kind of an inside joke since they all think our office is too cold and I think it's too hot)

>57 norabelle414: I loathed this book so much. It read like a cishet dude's wet dream about a lesbian romance, among many other problems with it. Also, there was absolutely no reason for the author to use "sinusoidal" more than once—or even once. A better editor would have cleaned that up.

I can make allowances for the author writing in his second language, but it was hella dudebro, and there's no excuse for that.

>67 libraryperilous: I'm glad I'm not the only one! I couldn't find any published reviews that did anything but praise it. Though once I searched for "meddling kids transphobic" I found many blogs with negative reviews. Even most of the negative reviews on here and GoodReads only mention the bad writing and not that it's SO GROSS

Last night I went to see the play A Thousand Splendid Suns by Ursula Rani Sarma, based on the book by Khaled Hosseini. It's about two different women in Afghanistan, one older and from a disreputable family, the other very young and well-educated, who find themselves married to the same horrible man after the fall of the Soviet Union, allegedly for their own protection. The play was wonderful, very moving. Acting and sets were perfect. It did not really make me want to read the book, though, because it was very depressing. Personally I find the theme of men/society using the unnamed "other" as an excuse to oppress women under the guise of "protecting" them to be especially infuriating. And certainly not limited to Afghanistan.

I was able to renew my audio of The Diana Chronicles. It might seem slow but this is more audiobook listening than I've done in a long time! I recently stopped listening to a podcast that I enjoyed but released FOUR times a week! That's too much! Now that I've stopped listening to that one, I can keep up with all my podcasts AND have time to listen to an audiobook.

Speaking of Diana, Netflix announced today that The Crown will be ending with season 5. Unless the timeline of seasons 4 and 5 is accelerated, that will take them up to roughly 1997. A lot has happened since then! But at least then they won't have to engage with any current events. The cowards!

I'm going to try to finish Raising America's Zoo this weekend, more than a month before the book club meeting, in case any members of the book club can't locate a copy and want to borrow mine.

>69 norabelle414: - Re: The Crown - I think 1997 or shortly thereafter would be a good stopping point. Deal with Diana's death and the aftermath and how the Queen "learned" the benefit of showing a softer side. I am bummed, though, there are only two more seasons...

The play sounds good. I'll have to keep an eye out for it up here. I have the book but haven't read it yet.

>70 katiekrug: They've always advertised the show as "1947 to the present day" and I don't see how they can do that and end the show almost 30 years ago. There is so much after 1997 that they've laid the groundwork for - Charles and Camilla's marriage, Princess Margaret and the Queen Mother's deaths, becoming the longest reigning British monarch? My guess is they'll try to squeeze them all into the final season. I doubt they'll touch the Afghan and Iraq wars or the Scottish Referendum or Brexit.

>71 norabelle414: - Oh, I didn't know they'd touted it as covering through the present day. Then yes, that seems a bit odd if they do cut it off. But I'd also hate for them to rush through a bunch of things. Maybe the final season could be more than the usual 10 (? is it 10?) episodes!

I finished Raising America's Zoo; I'm going to take my time to write a good review since it will be the first one on LT. Sanditon (unfinished) is slow going because as a rough draft it's really hard to read!! Editing is important.

Raising America's Zoo was my purse book, so now I need another. I picked up Less by Andrew Sean Greer (mostly because it is the right size), but haven't started it yet because there were several loud talkers on my bus this morning.

Dropping some TV shows from my rotation:
Vikings - Lagaertha is dead
Bless this Mess - this was always on the fence. has some redeeming qualities but not enough
Project Blue Book - Season one had a small side-plot where a femme fatale Russian spy was seducing the lonely housewife of the professor main character, which was entertaining enough to keep my interest. In season two the spy has pivoted to seducing the Air Force main character instead, which is so boring.

along with some shows that have ended recently:
The Good Place
Arrow
Mr. Robot
(all had great endings)

Mr. Fine and I started No Tomorrow last night (re-watch for me and first viewing for him). I wanted a quick show we can get through quickly before I pick something longer. So far he's liking it.

My internet/cell phone provider has a rewards point system and I recently redeemed some for a free year's subscription to Amazon Prime so Marvelous Mrs. Maisel will be coming into rotation soon, I think.

Hi Nora!
I love that you keep track here of TV and podcasts in addition to books. I might have to check out You're Wrong About. It sounds similar to one I've been listening to, American Hysteria.

I'm glad you also enjoyed the A Thousand Splendid Suns play. I agree, very depressing. And I did read the book--also depressing, although the book had a more developed and satisfying ending.

>52 norabelle414: I hear you! One of the things I appreciate about this group is the wide variety of points-of-view and the wide variety of books. I find that by choosing books from different threads, I will inevitably read books that I would never otherwise have heard of or considered reading.

>57 norabelle414: I will give that one a pass and not regret it one bit.

>73 norabelle414: Your spoiler is a bummer, Nora (I have to go and read them!) but I will continue watching. I was sad at the relatively quick deterioration and death of Ragnar and didn't really enjoy some of the forays off to Sicily and Iceland but I still enjoy it overall.

Have a nice weekend.

5. Raising America's Zoo: How Two Gorillas Helped Transform the National Zoo by Kara Arundel

When Nick Arundel was 8 years old he solicited the National Zoo to exhibit giraffes, through his self-printed newsletter. When he was 27 he traveled to Congo and brought back two young gorillas to be exhibited at the zoo. Later in life, he served as president of the Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ), the newly-created non-profit partner of the National Zoo. Nick Arundel's life serves as a jumping-off point into the 130-year history of the National Zoo and its role in shifting the focus of zoos from amusement to force for good.

This is a thorough, nuanced, well-written and organized history of the zoo, but the parallel threads of Nick's life, the history of gorillas at the National Zoo, and the history of zoos in general don't quite stand on their own. For example, Nick Arundel went on to invent the 24-hour news cycle in his non-zoo life, but that is not mentioned here at all. There are a few good (infuriating) animal care factoids, though, such as the animal care community's realization in the 1970s that maybe inbreeding animals is bad, despite thousands of years of knowledge that it's bad for humans.

This book is definitely interesting reading for those familiar with the National Zoo and the DC area, but I'm not sure if I would recommend it to those who are not.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ (4/5)

6. Sanditon (unfinished) by Jane Austen

As thanks for nursing his sprained ankle after a carriage topple, Mr. Tom Parker and his wife invite young country girl Charlotte Heywood to summer with them in Sanditon, a developing beach town that the Parkers are invested in (in more ways than one). Charlotte meets the rest of the Parker family - Tom's handsome brother Sidney and their hilariously hypochondriac sisters and brother - as well as the rich widowed financier of Sanditon, Lady Denholm, and the various relatives trying to get their hands on her fortune.

I read this along with watching the current PBS adaptation, because I was interested to compare the two and see how much of the show was directly from the original text and how much was new. This fragment has almost no plot - it's mostly just Charlotte hearing about people and then meeting them. But boy is it riotously funny! Charlotte is, to this point, fairly passive and mostly just observes the world around her. In true Austen heroine fashion she lets the buffoons around her speak for themselves. There are several scenes I would have loved to see in the tv show, such as one where hypochondriac Arthur Parker tells Charlotte that if he drinks any green tea his whole right side gets paralyzed for hours, and Charlotte tells him he should go see a doctor who specializes in right sides and green tea consumption. But I'll have to be content to merely read them here again.

It was an enjoyable read, though the very unedited nature of the draft took some getting used to - there are randomly capitalized words, abbreviations, and misspellings galore. My mind is still reeling to think of the many possible ways Austen could have taken this story.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ♥ (4.5/5)

>74 MickyFine: Oh no how dare you remind me that No Tomorrow existed! RIP.
Oooh, I hope you like Maisel! I loved season 3 a lot. If you need suggestions of other Amazon shows, Fleabag and Forever (the Maya Rudolph one) are very good. I also enjoyed The Boys but it is very violent.

>75 AnneDC: If I only talked about books this would be a very quiet thread, unfortunately. And lots of the TV and podcasts I consume are related to books! I will have to check out American Hysteria; thanks for the recommendation!

>76 alcottacre: You're welcome for making the Black Hole just one book smaller! Teehee!

>77 PaulCranswick: I was okay with Ragnar's death in season 4 of Vikings because I found Lagertha much more interesting anyway, but now she is dead too and I don't find any of Ragnar's sons interesting at all.

>80 norabelle414: Glad to hear you liked Maisel. Mr. Fine watched The Boys and enjoyed it but I'm not a fan of excessive violence (I could not do American Gods) so I gave it a pass. I've got Carnival Row, Modern Love, and the Julian Fellowes series Dr. Thorne all earmarked for trying. Plus Parks & Rec which is not on Netflix in Canada.

>81 MickyFine: I figured you would not like The Boys but thought I would mention it anyway. I forgot about Carnival Row! I need to watch that. I watched Dr. Thorne when it came out and I found it enjoyable while I was watching it but ultimately forgettable.

>82 norabelle414: Excellent to know.

>80 norabelle414: I know what you mean - I suppose only Ivar the Boneless really adds that much in terms of his manic-ness.

Happy weekend, Nora! I've finished The Crown and will have to decide on a next series to get into - any recommendations?

7. Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien (and Sally M. Conly and Leslie Jane Conly)

Almost-16-year-old Ann Burden is the last person on Earth, after her parents left their secluded valley to search for survivors in the post-apocalyptic outside world and never returned. She has lived alone for almost a year by maintaining their small family farm when she sees it - a thin tower of smoke in the distance, and coming closer every day. A strange man arrives in the valley, very sick with radiation poisoning. Ann must nurse him back to health...but if he survives, then what?

It's hard to read this 1975 book objectively, knowing everything that comes after it. What is now a very familiar story was at the time brand new. Ann is no Katniss Everdeen or Georgia Mason or similar characters from Room or How I Live Now. She's not particularly feisty or scrappy or clever. She knows survival skills from her farm life before, but never mentions anything like a telephone or TV (nor a car?? Only a tractor) and does not seem to think much about romance or sex aside from animal husbandry. There are no books anywhere in her valley, aside from a Bible and some religious children's books. I found Ann's life pre-apocalypse to be much more of an enigma than post-apocalypse. (Side note: the very bad title of this book is a reference to a children's book that Ann reads listing Bible characters in alphabetical order. It's obviously connected to the idea that she's the last person in the world, but oof! It's such a turn-off.)

As with Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, O'Brien wrote a revolutionary idea that has been oft-imitated, but the logic of his world-building leaves a lot to be desired. I found the ending particularly unsatisfying - She just lets him have the valley? For no reason? She could have killed him a hundred different ways but instead she leaves the valley with zero proof that anything has survived outside of it. She won't last a month.

Another note: The author bio at the end of the book states that O'Brien's wife and daughter finished the book when he passed away, based on his notes. To me, "based on his notes" means they had a much larger role in the book than just the "editor" role they are usually recognized for.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ (4/5)

>85 bell7: Hmmm...
If you're looking for more historical shows, I'd recommend Call the Midwife, Anne with an E, Outlander, or any of the "girls" shows (Bomb Girls, Cable Girls, Land Girls)
Things I've enjoyed that are not necessarily similar to The Crown would be The Magicians, Unbelievable, New Girl, Schitt's Creek, Haven, Babylon Berlin, and Jane the Virgin.

8. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

A motley crew of long-time Milwaukeeans get suspiciously good deals on apartments in a new building next to the haunted old Westing mansion. This proves very convenient when millionaire Sam Westing turns up dead and all of the building residents are named as potential heirs. One pair of them will inherit two million dollars, if they can figure out which one of them is the murderer. But Sam Westing and the apartment residents have a lot more secrets than just that.

Having read this many times as a kid, it has lost some oomph. But I still appreciate the double-triple-quadruple twists, and the constantly changing point of view. The characters are diverse, interesting, and endearing. The views on gender roles and race hold up well (at the end of the book a black woman is appointed to the Supreme Court .... a thing which is still nowhere close to happening 45 years later) but the views on disability, particularly intellectual disability, definitely do not. Read with caution. I enjoyed revisiting this story as an adult, but now that I know all the secrets I don't think I need to read it again without good reason.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ (4/5)

>87 norabelle414: My tastes in TV shows are somewhat eclectic yet somehow more picky than books. Case in point: the only two shows I'm currently following are This is Us and Supernatural. So thank you for the recommendations! You remind me there were a couple of shows I was interested in checking out - Call of the Midwife and Anne with an E. My brother and his fiancee recommended Schitt's Creek. I'll probably try one or more of those soonish, after I finish rewatching Sherlock.

>88 norabelle414: Oh I haven't read that one since middle school, I think, but I really enjoyed it then. I wonder if it would hold up to a reread for me.

>89 bell7: It's very interesting to compare The Crown and Call the Midwife. They take place at the same time, a few miles apart, but the lives of the characters are very very different.

I feel that, like Z for Zachariah, The Westing Game has been so often imitated/referenced/remade that it doesn't feel as special anymore.

Stories from Exhalation by Ted Chiang

The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate - A man visits an alchemy merchant who has a doorway that a person can go through and visit 20 years in the past or future. After some convincing, the man goes through the gate, but what he finds on the other side is not what he expected.
This is a very "1001 Nights" style of story, with the main character telling his story to a king, and within that story the alchemy merchant also tells several stories, and in one of those stories a character tells a story. Very enjoyable, with a good lesson about living in the present instead of trying to game the system to get a better future.

Stories from Exhalation by Ted Chiang

Exhalation {short story} - A curious android scientist dissects his own brain to figure out how he and his fellow citizens function, and discovers an unfortunate truth about the future of their society.
A simple and beautiful allegory for climate change and our own future.

Dropping by to wish you a lovely weekend, Nora.

I have been meaning to read The Westing Game for quite awhile, even more so after reading The Parker Inheritance, which I loved, and which refers to The Westing Game throughout.

The Westing Game is the only Ellen Raskin book I've read, and I only read it once in elementary school. I remember thinking at the time that I didn't like the book nearly as much as I had expected based on my reading tastes. I mean, I'm sure I didn't phrase it that way, but it's one of my earliest memories of "Not quite the favorite you expected it to be" reading disappointments.

>86 norabelle414: Dodging that BB as I have already read it.

>88 norabelle414: That one too. I never read it until I was an adult and did not particularly care for it, although for the life of me, I cannot remember why now.

>88 norabelle414: The clue regarding "America the Beautiful" stuck with me for some reason... It's been at least 25 years since I read The Westing Game -- possibly 30 -- and I can still recall it!

>93 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul!

>94 AMQS: I'm reading another book now which is inspired by The Westing Game, which is why I decided to re-read it.

>95 libraryperilous: Interesting. I don't remember thinking it was *amazing* as a kid but I do remember enjoying it.

>96 alcottacre: I don't think there's anything to find objectionable about The Westing Game, but I do think as an adult you can see most of the clues before the characters do, which can be annoying.

>97 Esquiress: Yep! I listened to a podcast about The Westing Game and one of the hosts said he thought he had never read the book before but then as soon as he started reading he remembered all of the character names very vividly. It's that kind of book!

I never encountered The Westing Game while growing up. I read it a few years ago and remember it as kind of meh.

TV updates:

Emergence, season 1: Very good for a puzzle-box show (and obviously written by women). Probably going to get cancelled.
The Witcher, season 1: Finished season one, will definitely watch more.
The Neighbor: A Spanish show about a deadbeat man who accidentally gets superpowers. Watched one episode, did not care for it.
Anne with an E, season 3: Very good; very sad it's been cancelled
Evil, season 1: Fantastic! Excited it's been renewed.
Miracle Workers, season 2 "Dark Ages": The first season was a contained story about a low-level employee (Daniel Radcliffe) of god (Steve Buscemi) who tries to convince god not to destroy Earth in a fit of childishness. It was good writing, and I was concerned about how they were going to make a second season. Then, they announced that the second season would be the same actors in different roles, and set in the dark ages. Great! But then I watched it and it's not very good. There's no real plot, it's just a bunch of played-out jokes about pretending life in the dark ages is the same as life now.
Home For Christmas: A cheesy-sounding, but actually fantastic Norwegian show about a 30yo woman whose family treats her terribly because she's not married, so she tells them she will be bringing a boyfriend home for Christmas dinner. But she doesn't have a boyfriend. So she goes on a bunch of dates with a bunch of guys who are not bad! In the end she invites a ton of friends over to her family's house for Christmas and tells her family to fuck off. But also she has several romantic prospects because she actually put her self out there It's great!
Astronomy Club, season 1: I love sketch comedy shows with a very specific point of view, and this is no exception.
You, season 2: Not quite as good as season 1 but still very good! I probably would have liked it better if I had not gotten the ending spoiled by the internet due to being so far behind on Netflix shows. I will be interested to see what season 3 looks like.
Katy Keene: Boring. The "young creative people trying to make it in New York" trope is done so much better by The Bold Type, Pose, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and even The Carrie Diaries. Katy is supposed to be a fashionista but the clothes aren't that great. The only interesting character is Pepper, who is allegedly very rich and well-connected but is actually a scammer. I'm still watching but only for Pepper (and her associate played by Bernadette Peters).
Briarpatch: Political thrillers are not my thing. Not even a bunch of random escaped zoo animals are enough to make me watch more.
Tommy: A lesbian from New York becomes the chief of the Los Angeles police. Infinitely better than the FOX show "Deputy", about a cowboy(??) who accidentally becomes the chief of the Los Angeles police. Tommy bucks the system by refusing to do favors for the mayor's friends. The guy on Deputy bucks the system by refusing to fill out paperwork. Notice the difference???
Indebted: Despite the serious-sounding name, this is a sitcom about Fran Drescher and her husband spending all their retirement money and having to move in with their adult children and grandchildren. I love Fran Drescher and this is almost good but not enough.
Medical Police: A satire of medical and police procedural tv shows. Not for me.
For Life: A man who was wrongfully convicted of murder and is serving life in prison becomes a lawyer for other people who are wrongfully convicted. Not for me.
Dracula: (The new one with Claes Bang) Blah.
Messiah: A political thriller about a man in the Middle East who might be a new messiah and a CIA agent who is investigating him. Not for me.
Spinning Out: A young woman with bipolar disorder is an up-and-coming figure skater but also has to take care of her mother, a former figure skater with bipolar disorder. Not for me.
Thieves of the Wood: Belgian historical fiction about a Robin Hood-type young man in the 1700s who gathers a following of the poor and leads them to rebel against the rich. I enjoyed the 2 episodes I watched but had trouble following so I might come back to it later.
AJ and the Queen: A professional drag queen played by RuPaul loses all their money in a scam and goes on a national tour - but a homeless neighbor child has stowed away in the RV. Not terrible but neither RuPaul nor the child are good actors. Maybe I'll come back to it later.
Grace and Frankie, season 6: Funny and good, as usual.
Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist: I mentioned this earlier but now I've watched episode 2 and I really enjoy it. I think it's a weird fun show that grows on you, like No Tomorrow or Kevin (Probably) Saves the World.
Sex Education, season 2: Great! Even better than the first maybe? But more serious.
October Faction: This show about a family of demon hunters is kind of a mix between Supernatural and the Umbrella Academy, but unfortunately does not work. The writing is bad and I can't tell who knows what secret demon-hunting information and who doesn't. Sometimes I think the teenage kids know that their parents are demon hunters and sometimes I think they don't? Not great.
Sanditon: OMG that finale!!!

Currently watching Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, season 3. I'm so close to up-to-date on Netflix shows!

>99 katiekrug: I did not find it as inspiring as a kid as other people obviously did, but it does have a special place in my heart as the only kids' book set in Wisconsin (where my mom is from) I've ever read that was not some insipid prairie homestead nonsense.

I'm currently reading:
Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts
Daring Darleen, Queen of the Screen (LTER book)
In the Shadow of Man (Zoo volunteer book club book for May, checked out from the library)

Yay for books!

I'm blitzing through Paper Girls right now and I feel liked you'd enjoy it...

>103 MickyFine: I have the first one! I'll get around to it eventually.

I forgot to mention that I went to see Birds of Prey last weekend, and it was amazing. Go see it! Especially if you love egg sandwiches.

>102 norabelle414: I won Daring Darleen too. I'll look forward to your thoughts.

>100 norabelle414: I have caught up with The Witcher after reading the first book and thought it got much better as the series went along.

I watched the new Dracula and liked the first of three episodes but thought that it got progressively more ridiculous as it series went on.

I have just finished watching (almost in one sitting) I am Not OK With This which I liked even though it was a tad awkward.

I will be happy shortly as the fifth season of Outlander is starting.

>106 libraryperilous: I really enjoyed Anne Nesbet's previous book The Orphan Band of Springdale, but I'm not enjoying this one as much (so far). I don't have any particular interest in early cinema, which might be why I'm not connecting with it. But I'm only about 50 pages in, plenty of time to turn it around.

>107 PaulCranswick: Have you seen the 2013 Dracula series with Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Paul? I think that one is my favorite. It's a bit cheesy but VERY fun.

>108 norabelle414: That's about as far as I've managed so far, too. I love early cinema, so I thought I'd enjoy it from the jump. Fingers crossed it gets more interesting for at least one of us. The Orphan Band of Springdale sounds charming.

Last Tuesday I voted in my state's Democratic primary for the presidential election. For me the choice was easy, because there is no one I appreciate and trust more than a woman with a plan. Now that Warren has dropped out I would much prefer Sanders over Biden, but don't feel the need to weigh in further until after the Democratic nominee has been selected.

At Arena Stage on Thursday I saw Mother Road, a modern-set sequel to The Grapes of Wrath in which the Mexican grandson of Tom Joad is located by the last remaining Joad in Oklahoma to inherit his farm. I haven't read The Grapes of Wrath so I am sure I didn't understand every reference or allusion, but I still enjoyed the story. I don't think my dad, who is from Kansas, liked it as much because he was being very critical of the word choices of the characters from Oklahoma (he also called the Oklahoma Joad "Joad" even though both main characters were Joads which is....very telling and definitely the point of the story). I did not much care for some of the production of the play, with human actors acting as inanimate objects. I thought it was cheesy and distracting. But overall the play is worth seeing.

Saturday was the bi-monthly meeting of the zoo volunteer book club. We had five people at the meeting, including myself, to discuss Raising America's Zoo: How Two Gorillas Helped Transform the National Zoo by Kara Arundel (see >78 norabelle414:). Everyone enjoyed reading the book and we even discussed the idea that it should be required reading for every zoo volunteer. Surprisingly, we didn't find much to discuss about the book itself, aside from that it was well-researched and mostly unbiased. But we had a good time chatting about various other things. Next meeting will be in May and the next book will be In the Shadow of Man by Jane Goodall.

Since I was already up in that direction, after book club I went to Politics & Prose, which was having a member sale over the weekend, and also I had some store credit. I planned to get three books but only one of them was in stock so I got that one plus several others (of course):

Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? by Franz de Waal
Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey
Severance by Ling Ma
The Bear and the Nightingale by Elizabeth Arden

The de Waal is for the zoo volunteer book club in August. The Bear and the Nightingale will be covered by a podcast I listen to later in March.

I finished Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts on Sunday (I read almost half the book in one sitting) but I'm struggling to write a review. It's just really good! Go read it!

I'm about halfway done with Daring Darleen, Queen of the Screen and I have Scythe out from the library, which was recently covered by a podcast I listen to. A different podcast will be reading Under the Skin, which my library did not have but I requested that they order it and they did! So I'll check that out as soon as it's available. I have In the Shadow of Man (May book club book) out from the library already, and while it is free to read and has tons of lovely photographs, it is too big to fit in my purse and so I think I'll buy a copy.

The only TV I've really been watching lately is re-watching seasons 1 and 2 of Babylon Berlin and the new third season. The re-watch went quickly because I watched it dubbed but the first time through the new season I'm watching with subtitles and have to give my full attention so it's slower.

>110 norabelle414: I have a non-March primary, and I suspect that Sanders will be well out after either tomorrow or next week. Sigh. Castro was my first choice, but I like Booker, Sanders, and Warren a lot as well. I have many thoughts on the general "how we got here, picking between these two" vibe. Like you, I don't think it's productive to weigh in. The Senate races probably are more important, tbh.

(I like Sanders and happily will vote for him if he remains valid or even just stays in the race as a gadfly. I like his policies, and his stans on Twitter are not him. I voted for him in 2016 as well.)

I'm glad you enjoyed Tuesday Mooney. That was the one that you returned by accident, no?

>111 libraryperilous: Ugh, please don't remind me of all the good and interesting people who have dropped out already!

Sanders is close enough to where I stand on the issues, but I think his plans for implementation are lacking. And I think he could be doing a lot more to chastise the most toxic of his supporters. No! No more weighing in!

Yes! After I accidentally returned Tuesday Mooney to the library, I bought myself a copy and then did not read it for several months, because it didn't have a due date. I played myself, because it was fantastic and very Boston-y, and would have been so delightful to read while I was there in November.

>112 norabelle414: I agree! I think D leadership would help him implement plans and also constrain his ego. I hope, anyway. Bad Diana. Very Bad.

Ha! Anne Fadiman calls reading on location "You Are There Reading." But "You Are Going There" and "You Have Been There" readings are magical, too. I've put this on my TBR. It sounds super fun.

>110 norabelle414: there is no one I appreciate and trust more than a woman with a plan
Sadly this seems not a sentiment shared by the general public. I get to vote on April 28 and am contemplating a protest write-in... which will have as much clout as anything else I do at that point. Super pissed off at all these 80 year old men who think the world can't manage without them.

>114 qebo: I have to say that I agree with you entirely, Katherine.

The best three democratic candidates were women and they are all out already.
I am voting for one of the two women in the British Labour Party election. The consensus in the immediate aftermath of the General Election was that we needed a lady leader and one from the traditional Labour heartlands. So that is of course why we have a male from London as the overwhelming favourite now.

I'm still around. On Tuesday all of my coworkers had a collective freak-out and have been teleworking since. All the other departments are here but my department is empty except for me. People freaking out around me triggers my anxiety, as does lack of social interaction. I am perfectly ready to telework at a moment's notice if needed (if I feel sick or might have come into contact with someone who is sick), but for now I don't think there is a need as long as I am washing my hands and aware of my surroundings. Some of my coworkers are planning to come into the office tomorrow, and then Monday I guess we will play by ear.

Politics & Prose is offering free shipping anywhere in the US through the end of March, so I've bought the two books I was looking for last weekend (https://www.politics-prose.com)
The zoo is still open, except for the primate exhibits. Next week's Friends of the Library book sale is cancelled. I have a theater ticket for next Thursday, status TBD.
I bought myself a ticket to see They Might Be Giants in concert for my birthday next month, but that tour has now been postponed to December.
I have a ticket to see Welcome to Night Vale on April 2, status TBD. Same with an event I am supposed to attend at American University on April 1.

I don't like uncertainty.

>116 norabelle414: It is an anxious time, for sure. And I know from experience that working in an empty office is weird, though this outbreak hasn't had that effect on mine yet. Take care! We will get through this eventually.

Sending virtual hugs (germ-free, guaranteed!) and well wishes. I feel you on the uncertainty - a lot of my life is feeling that way lately.

Hope things at work have calmed down. We've closed to the public but are still coming in to work - this is the only time that's happened when there wasn't some sort of construction going on in the library, so today was super weird. It's like a vacation but not really, and I feel like I should be reading more than I am. I'm right with you not liking the uncertainty.

>116 norabelle414: I am with you on the "I don't like uncertainty" train too, Nora.

>116 norabelle414: Just curious - why is only the primate exhibit closed? Is it because that one’s inside a building?

>121 drneutron: Briefly, only the primate exhibits (not just the great ape house but also Amazonia and small mammal house) were closed because it's likely that primates can contract COVID-19, being so closely related to humans. As I'm sure you have seen, the zoo (and the rest of the museums) are now fully closed to the public. I believe the keepers are still being extra cautious while caring for the primates, but I'm not totally familiar with their practices since there aren't any primates in the area where I volunteer.

Ah, that makes sense.

I'm teleworking full time now. Trying to keep a normal schedule.

Today I got up at my normal time, showered, put on clothes, and walked outside to the (closed) library and back, a 25-minute round trip.

I cleaned off the whole dining room table (much to Rory's chagrin - the small pile of plastic bags there was his favorite napping spot) and am working there. I am required, per my telework agreement, to document what I plan to work on at the beginning of the day and what I have worked on at the end of the end of the day, which is helpful. I'm trying to keep my expectations low, because I work so much less efficiently at home than in the office.

Rory is very confused.

9. Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia

A rich, eccentric old Bostonian dies and leaves his fortune and collection of bizarre objects to anyone who can follow the clues he left around the city. Tuesday Mooney, black-clad introvert, loves a good puzzle, but to solve this one she'll need help from her friend Dex (whom she's always kept at arm's length), her tween next-door neighbor Dorry, and a handsome mysterious millionaire. Wait, why would a millionaire care about inheriting a fortune?

I'm not sure what to say about this book except that it hits me in exactly the right spot. The characters are complicated and relatable, and the plot is fun. Very Boston-y. The plot twists are twisty. And there are real consequences for the stupid things people do in the name of figuring out the mystery! What more could you want?

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ (5/5)

I stopped by the library on Friday after work, just before they announced they would be closing indefinitely. I snagged a copy of The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern - a special, non-hold-able copy which would normally be due back in 2 weeks with no renewals but now is due back ????. And also The Fire Never Goes Out, Noelle Stevenson's brand new graphic memoir.

Here's my current TBR stack:



I have not gotten much reading done so far, because my anxiety levels are too high, but I did read about half of Locke & Key yesterday because Rory sat on my lap and I didn't want to disturb him.

Stories from Exhalation by Ted Chiang

What's Expected of Us - A warning from the future against the use of the Predictor, a fidget-like toy which lights up a second before you press its button.
Short, simple, and thought-provoking, like the Predictor itself.

>125 norabelle414: Ooh, that one's going on the list.

>126 norabelle414: That's a good stack! I just snagged Magic for Liars on a Kindle deal. Theoretically that brings me closer to actually reading it, but in practice it just means it joined the 80 other unread books on my Kindle.

>126 norabelle414: Excellent stack. It looks gorgeous.

Also, I'm impressed you can keep plants with Rory in the house. I brought home a bouquet of tulips on Sunday and have to hide it in a closed room when we're not home so the cats don't chew on it.

>126 norabelle414: You have some excellent books on the stack, and I look forward to your thoughts on it.

We're currently reporting to work, but have no idea how long that will last.

Glad that you are able to work from home!
Good library haul! I don't have any books out and our library closed too :( Hoping I can start taking my ereader to work as our online resources are still available

How have you been enjoying Locke and Key? That's available as an online graphic novel through Hoopla and I was considering picking it up

>128 curioussquared: I picked up Magic for Liars because I was looking for a different book by Sarah Gailey, but they didn't have it. So I bought that one AND ordered the one I was looking for. That's how it works, right?

>129 MickyFine: Rory does eat about 50% of the plants that come into the house. All the ones that are left have been here for several years, so I think he's gotten bored of them.

>130 bell7: Thanks Mary! I hope you get sent home soon! I'm glad to see you have vacation time coming up.

>131 ChelleBearss: Locke and Key was confusing at first but I think I've got the gist of it now. I don't know if I like it enough to read more, but I wanted to get a taste before I watch the Netflix show.

Wednesday and Thursday mornings I took the same 25 minute walk. It makes me feel a lot better.

Last night I had a bit of a boredom meltdown. I would love to read more but I'm too anxious. I'm regretting playing so much video games in January/February, because now all the games I have seem boring. Animal Crossing for Switch comes out today and as much as I hate paying a full SIXTY DOLLARS for one video game, I will probably end up with it by the end of today. Maybe also Breath of the Wild? I've heard good things about that one (not that I know anything about it) and have been waiting until it goes on sale but it hasn't yet.

This morning I got up early to get to the grocery store when they opened at 7am. It didn't do me a lot of good. They are completely sold out of milk, yogurt, meats of all kind (except 20lb frozen turkeys), mac & cheese, potatoes, onions, frozen pizza. (they're also out of toilet paper, paper towels, and bottled water, but I don't need any of those things). They did have eggs, some bread, and cat food.

I finished Daring Darleen, Queen of the Screen and wrote half a review but I lost it so I'll have to write it again.

>133 norabelle414: Yes, my dad's local grocery has been out of staples for over a week. It's hard not to worry about supply chain disruption when the stores haven't been able to restock.

Things in the US would be horrible but not this disastrous with someone else in charge. Trump is an active evil, and 90% of the fallout here in the US is on him. I don't know how to get past that anger and do something about it, because wtf is there to do about it? (Sorry for the rant. I can't rant about politics on my Green Dragon reading thread. Group rules forbid it!)

Yay for feeling better after your walks, and I hope your brain settles a bit soon and you can read. I'm having the same problem and have been playing Fishdom. I'm going to try to reread The Perilous Gard today. Perhaps a reread of an all-time favorite will soothe.

>133 norabelle414: I'm trying to decide if I would like Animal Crossing. I've never played one before but it seems like it might be the kind of soothing game I need right now?

I LOVE Breath of the Wild and really wish I hadn't beaten it so darn thoroughly last year... I beat the final boss, discovered every shrine, and completed every single side quest. Considering starting a new game now just because I miss playing it so much.

>135 curioussquared: Maybe the plague will spur Nintendo to release the sequel sooner?

I played the original Legend of Zelda as a kid. I was not a patient gamer, so I don't think I did well. Iirc, the only games I ever beat were the three original Mario Bros. and the first Spyro. Oh, and Legend of Gaia.

>136 libraryperilous: I would LOVE that -- but I don't think it's going to happen. I've heard of other games that have been delayed because teams in China were unable to continue work. So if anything, I think it might be delayed :(

>134 libraryperilous: I think I'm just so beyond frustration. Nothing anyone does or says is going to make him change, or make his supporters think less of him. He's the same person he's always been, since long before the election. All we can do now is do the best with what we've got, what we've got being a literal pile of garbage in charge. But due to his incompetence he's not actually able to get much done, good or bad. We can act at the local level, sue every time he warrants it, and don't give him more attention than we have to, because he likes it.

>135 curioussquared: You probably would like it. If you want to try out something similar I believe the mobile game is free (I got it right when it came out and I don't remember if I paid a few dollars for it, or if it was free). It's called "Animal Crossing Pocket Camp". I don't know exactly what the Switch game is going to be like, but I've enjoyed the other animal crossing games and it's getting great reviews so I'm sure it won't be different.

>138 norabelle414: Agree. Trump's a known quantity at this point, and the credulous media takes about "He's becoming presidential" and "The GOP is outflanking the Dems on the left" are noise I need to ignore as well.

Grateful to Governor Cuomo for modeling leadership. He's a real asshole, and his political machine is corrupt af and needs a takedown. But he also is a serious public servant providing real-time information, transparency, and comfort. And accepting of responsibility for the hardships his policies will enact. POTUS is treating this like a Choose Your Own Adventure novel.

Same as usual here. Bought Animal Crossing on Friday afternoon. Did nothing all weekend. I did continue to go for a walk every day. Saturday's walk was in the late evening, around 9pm. I frequently go for walks at this time of night, since I live in a well-lit area with lots of commercial plazas and (well-behaved) nightlife. But now everything's closed, and it was kind of creepy. I will be keeping my walks to the morning from now on!

The weather here has been typical March - a mess. 83 degrees on Friday, Saturday in the mid-50s, then dipped down to freezing Saturday night. Yesterday was 50s and dry, today is 40s and pouring rain. This morning's walk was very unpleasant.

I got an email from our county today stating that all county parks, fields, sports facilities, dog parks, playgrounds, etc. are closed. That doesn't seem like a great idea? Parks are large open places where people can exercise without getting close to each other. Dog parks are where people go to exercise their dog who is stuck in the house all day. My morning walk route goes through a park and every day it has been sparsely-populated with people and dogs exercising far away from each other. Now are we all going to move onto the sidewalk?

They closed our county parks last week, and it caused a lot of confusion. People understood the playground parts being closed, and the dog parks (though I didn't really get that), but why close the walking/jogging paths? I think they are just trying to make any place where people could congregate off limits. In any event, people have apparently been ignoring the closure, because the nice recent weather brought people to the park in droves (from what I heard; I am staying in).

>141 katiekrug: Yes, this morning there were the same number of people in the park as usual so I just continued my walk along my usual route. This afternoon they released a clarification that "crossing through parks to get to non-park destinations is allowed" which I'm going to use as an excuse.

Hi there, Nora! You got me with Tuesday Mooney. Is that the book you were talking about earlier inspired by The Westing Game? Is Tuesday a children's book?

Hang in there - things are really scary. I am inclined to think of our leadership as a vacuum but somehow it seems even more malevolent than a vacuum. Ugh. I am remote learning now also, though mercifully on spring break this week after pulling about 15 hour days during and leading up to our first week of remote learning.

>143 AMQS: Yes, it was definitely inspired by the Westing Game, but not in a way that is referential, or like a remake. You can just feel some of the connections if you've read The Westing Game recently. Tuesday Mooney is not a kids book, the main character is in her late 20s/early 30s. I was surprised when I reread The Westing Game that it didn't feel like a kids book, either. Though Tuesday Mooney mentions (adults) drinking and sleeping together (no graphic descriptions) so it wouldn't even be marketed as a kids book.

>142 norabelle414: We are in the same boat here. Parks, playgrounds and even beaches have had to close. I didn't really understand the beaches because it's cold here and people won't be close to each other just walking the shore line, but apparently people were meeting groups on the beach and the piers were crowded so they had to shut it down.

Slow going because I do not like my current book, and it is very long. But I'm more than halfway through and will finish it.

>146 norabelle414: You can do it!

Have a lovely, peaceful, safe and healthy weekend, Nora

I'm still here. This weekend was not so great. I went to bed too late on Friday night (just goofing off) and then woke up at 9am on Saturday (usually I get up at 7 but I like to not set an alarm on the weekends when possible) to a reminder that I had a zoo teleconference at 10am that I had forgotten about. Whoops! The teleconference was good and we came up with some good ideas to keep volunteers engaged and socializing while we're all cooped up. But by the time we were finished it was too crowded outside (relatively speaking, of course) for my morning walk so I just gave up on having a schedule.

Then Saturday night my neighbor (the bad one) had a *party* in his apartment until about 2am so I couldn't sleep. Then Sunday was shot too. Last night I went to bed at a decent hour but laid awake in the dark for a long time.

Today it's back to a normal schedule! Woke up, took my walk, bought a croissant (I've decided that I will get breakfast from the cafe across the street on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays), called into my monday morning staff meeting, then went to the grocery store around 10:30.

The grocery store has been an adventure the past few weeks. There is always plenty of food but they are out of random things every time I go. 2 weeks ago there was no milk at all, so I bought half-and-half instead. Last week there was plenty of milk but no yogurt, plenty of eggs but no potatoes or romaine lettuce (I had to get fancier, tastier lettuce, poor me).
Today there were half-gallons of milk but no whole gallons. Potatoes were back but apples were gone. I still have plenty of milk and apples from last week. The vegetable section was very bare but they did have Brussels sprouts which is what I was planning to make. The store is restricting popular items (including pasta sauce) to two per person, so I got two jars of pasta sauce and next week I'll get another and then I can make a lasagna. I really hate cooking under the best of circumstances and this is not that. If I could just eat frozen pizza or a bag of microwavable vegetables for every meal I would, but everyone else is cooking so I feel like I should too.

I've decided Tuesdays are laundry days. The laundry room is the only public space still open in my building, but so far I have not had any issues with social distancing as long as I do my laundry during the work day.

I did read Strega Nona this week, but nothing else. Maybe I'll get on it during the week now that I have a schedule. It would be nice to finish a book this month.

I feel like I need to have something special (or just different) to designate the weekend, besides waking up late. Any ideas? I don't really want to deprive myself of things on weekdays, I just need the weekends to feel *different*. Maybe I could wear something different?

>150 norabelle414: Special breakfasts on the weekend? Spend some time on a different hobby you wouldn't normally on weekdays - crosswords, puzzles, etc.?

>150 norabelle414: PJ days? Coffee and being lazy in bed late?

>150 norabelle414: If you're a fan of skincare, you could designate one of the days as mask or scrub days. I've been doing that with a tube Aveeno's Postively Radiant 60-second mask.

Since you don't like cooking, perhaps you also could make one of the days a frozen pizza or bag of frozen vegetables day and fix those for a treat.

Something I'm planning on experimenting with this weekend: Reading from my poetry books here and there on the weekends. I don't like to read too many poems in a row, so I'm going to have the books on my desk and dip into them on the weekends. Then re-shelve them for the week and bring them out again the next weekend.

Nora, I'm worried about smaller zoos and aquariums and how they are going to raise the funds they need over the next several months. If you hear of any small things I can do on a limited budget, please let me know. I don't have a lot of spare cash to contribute, but I'm going to try to adopt one and send a monthly donation. I'd be willing to learn how to phone/text bank for a fundraiser or participate in other volunteer efforts. Thanks in advance!

I wanted my message this year to be fairly universal in a time we all should be pulling together, whatever our beliefs. Happy Celebration, Happy Sunday, Nora.

Happy Easter!

Happy Birthday, Nora!

Happy birthday to you, Nora. xx

Happy birthday!

*waving* a quick hello and hope you're doing well. I'm back to the library on Tuesday (no patrons, social distancing from co-workers in shifts) and not exactly looking forward to shifting my routine around again. How is your knitting going? That's been one thing I can reliably concentrate on the last few weeks.

Happy weekend Nora!

Enjoy your long weekend, Nora.

Miss you, Nora. Hope you're doing ok.

Also missing you, Nora.

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.

I hope you are reading more than me, Nora! (but I can relate if you aren't)

I'm still here. Nothing is new. Here's the books I've read since March.

10. Daring Darleen, Queen of the Screen by Anne Nesbet

Darleen is a film reel actress in 1910s New York/New Jersey. In order to drum up interest in her latest reel, Darleen’s aunt & uncle (who are also her managers) come up with a plan to fake her kidnapping. But things go awry when Darleen is picked up in a REAL kidnapping of a young heiress who looks exactly like her. Can Darleen use the skills she’s honed as an action movie actress to save the day?

This book did not really speak to me, I think possibly because early film is not something I’m particularly interested in. The bulk of the book was perfectly fine, but Darleen’s manager aunt and uncle are very abusive, and her co-star tried to actually kill her during filming several times, and no one seemed to really care. There’s also a through-line of Darleen recalling her late mother warning her not to “fly away”, without any explanation of what that is supposed to mean. The book isn’t objectionable but not as enjoyable or engaging as the previous Nesbet book I read, The Orphan Band of Springdale.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ♥ (3.5/5)

11. Strega Nona by Tomie DePaola, illustrated by Tomie DePaola, read by Tomie DePaola

Strega Nona has a magic pot which will make as much spaghetti as she wants. One day, when Strega Nona is out of town, Big Anthony sneaks into her house and makes the pot start cooking spaghetti. But he doesn’t know how to make it stop!

One of my favorites when I was a kid. I watched it as a YouTube video that showed all of the illustrations and Tomi di Paola reads the book himself. Highly recommended!

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ (5/5)

12. In the Shadow of Man by Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall (then Jane Van Lawick)’s account of her groundbreaking work with chimpanzees in Tanzania in the 1960s. She observed and interacted with chimps in a way that no Westerner had before, and documented and published them for the world to see. Her work completely changed the way that scientists, and eventually the general public, viewed both apes and humans.

I’ve come to realize that narrative scientific observation published well before I was born is not for me. I have grown up knowing the things that Goodall discovered, like that chimpanzees have individual personalities and can use tools. I appreciate the lifetime of hard work that Goodall had to accomplish in order to provide me with this knowledge basically from birth, but the book was very tedious for me to read. I read a copy from the library, which turned out to be a first edition, and then later bought my own copy. Apparently this book is not very popular anymore? My large library system only had the one copy and the bookstore did not have it in stock.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ♥ (3.5/5)

13. Scythe by Neal Shusterman

In the future, the "cloud" of shared data grows to become the Thunderhead, a limitless AI that enables humanity to live the best possible life. Among the improvements the Thunderhead develops is immortality - everyone can live forever, they won't even die from horrible maiming accidents. But population growth still needs to be kept under control, so in come the Scythes. They're an elite class of killers sanctioned by the Thunderhead, but independent of it, authorized to kill a certain number of people per year. Citra and Rowan are teenagers offered exclusive apprenticeships with a Scythe, where they will learn what it takes to be a killer.

This is another one for the pile of "kind of interesting ideas poorly executed." Nothing about this world makes sense. Sometimes people are selected randomly to be killed by Scythes but sometimes they are selected statistically. People don't fear death but also they do fear being selected by a Scythe. What is the point of learning a million different ways to kill people? I was expecting a magical, essence-snuffing kind of humane killing but no, it is guns and electrical shock and forty different poisons and thirty different weapons. Why??? And wouldn't it be easier and more humane to reduce the birth rate than to kill so many people? To start with, how about the Thunderhead stop allowing people over 70 years old to de-age back to their 20s and have more kids?
Why do Scythes have a security force? Security from what? Scythes can't be killed but they can kill you and your whole family.
Scythe law says "thou shalt kill with no bias" but then says "thou shalt grant an annum of immunity ... to anyone else you deem worthy" which is the definition of bias.

Though the world-building is a frustrating mess, there is a twist in the plot about halfway through that was interesting enough to keep me going through the end. I will not be reading any more books in the series, however. I would definitely recommend this book if you enjoyed They Both Die At The End, but that one was not for me either.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ (3/5)

14. Locke & Key, Volume 1: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez

High school guidance counselor Rendell Locke is murdered by one of his students, so his wife and three kids have no choice but to move from San Francisco to the abandoned Locke family home in Lovecraft, Massachusetts. The mansion is full of secrets, including a bunch of keys that have magical abilities.

I did not care for the drawing style, which seems to focus mostly on grittiness and shock value (did you really need to draw a 6-year-old boy with his buttcrack constantly sticking out of his baggy pants? no). The story is also told with many flashbacks which I found extremely confusing. However, I did watch the first season of the Netflix adaptation and liked it a lot. I will continue with that and not with this comics series.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ♥ (3.5/5)

15. My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett, illustrated by Ruth Chrisman Gannett

A boy talks to a cat who tells him about a secret jungle island where he can find a dragon. He packs a backpack full of useful things and heads off in search of adventure. He finds a lot of wild animals along the way, but each item he brought in his backpack comes in handy in finding his way to the dragon.

This was my absolute favorite book when I was a kid. I didn’t have my own copy so I would always go over to my friend’s house just so I could read her copy. It has beautiful illustrations by the author’s stepmother, including a spectacular map with tiny animals on it. Highly recommend if you like old kids’ adventure books.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ♥ (4.5/5)

16. Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? by Frans de Waal
(Read partly as audiobook narrated by Sean Runnette)

De Waal deconstructs every myth that humans have invented about how intelligence sets humans apart from animals. From tool use to language to anticipating the future, there is no metric that humans can devise (and they do keep changing the bar as often as possible) that can prove that human intelligence is greater, in any way, than that of all other animals.

I really enjoyed the first part of the book, which talks about the oldest history of cognitive science, both of humans and of animals, and the very weird things that humans used to think about animals. (It’s so odd to me that anyone who has ever interacted with a pet could think that animals can’t have personalities). Once you get further into the book, it feels reactionary. When the proponents of “humans are definitively more intelligent” move the bar, de Waal proves them wrong, and they just move the bar again. It’s a losing battle. I’d much rather the book talked about cool types of intelligence that animals have, especially those that humans DON’T have. Overall it was a very enjoyable book. I listened to part of it as an audiobook narrated by Sean Runnette, which was very good. I would warn, however, that although there is a leopard on the cover of most editions, there is no discussion of leopards in the book and in fact most of it is about chimpanzees (if I had known this I would not have scheduled my book club to read it right after the Goodall book.)

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ♥ (3.5/5)

NORA!!! I'm so happy to see you!

I have several TV things to share:

1. I finished the reboot season 1 of Veronica Mars last night and I have feelings. Have you watched it?

2. I've also finished season 2 of Legends and Rory remains my all-time fave, especially when he does the episode recap intro.

3. I rewatched all of Agent Carter with Mr. Fine a while back and it remains awesome as ever. Watching it makes me think of you. :)

Sending massive virtual hugs your way.

Ok, I'm caught up on reading most people's threads.

I'm still working from home, and likely will be until January or so. I do not like it at all. I don't think I mentioned this but I actually have a different role at work that started in mid-February. The role is now written explicitly into our contract as being a combination of things that I was already doing - special projects, light IT, as well as serving on some inter-departmental committees. I won't be traveling for work anymore (I wouldn't be under normal circumstances, I mean) and I now only write internally facing reports, not external reports that have strict deadlines and go through a million rounds of revisions. I have to do a lot of data-crunching, which would be easier with my full desk setup at work, but the nice thing is that since this is a brand new position, there's no one to compare me to. When I turn in a report no one knows that it could have been 20% better if I was "working harder" (whatever that means) but me.

I've bought a lot of video games. I started doing cross-stitch so I've bought some cross stitch kits. I bought a ukulele and have played it about 3 times. One of my friends invited me to a Discord server of some of her friends who play Animal Crossing so I have a lot of people to chat with, which has been very nice. I don't know how I would have got through all of this without them to talk to.

My mom and her husband moved from western Wisconsin to eastern Wisconsin in April. Two of my mom's siblings and their spouses were traveling (completely separately) in March and caught what they believe to be COVID-19 (this was before widespread testing) but have since recovered. I found out about this last week because my mom is not great at communicating important information.

My brother and his wife decided in May that living in their small condo with their large dog was not sustainable with the dog park closed and sidewalks crowded, so they went up to her family's summer house in Maine (appropriately quarantining for 14 days). They came back for a few weeks in late June/early July when the new infection rate here was very low, and we ate dinner outside (in their parking spot!) for my dad's birthday. That's been my only in-person social interaction since mid-March. August is when my brother and sister-in-law normally go to Maine, so they've gone back again now. Both of them are teleworking until at least the fall, probably January.

The theater I have season tickets to is closed. They're hoping to reopen (with distanced seating) in January. My They Might Be Giants concert from April has been rescheduled to December. My Welcome to Night Vale show from April was rescheduled to September, and now is rescheduled again for May. The zoo has, obviously, had enormous financial trouble. Though they are open now, in an extremely limited capacity, they have had to lay off their entire education department, including all of the volunteer coordinators, and have ended the volunteer program. We've been assured that they will start it up again as soon as their budget has recovered a bit, but it likely will not be until next summer. The mission statement of the volunteer organization that I am on the Board of (and run the book club for) states that it is for current and former volunteers, so we are going to continue to maintain the organization and plan online activities and newsletters that will hopefully keep everyone engaged.

While the area is slowly adapting to outdoor activities and social distancing, I am not comfortable taking public transit unless very necessary, which means that I am limited to a ~2 mile radius around my apartment. I did go to a small Black Lives Matter march in June, but it was a 2 mile walk to get to the beginning of the march and their route was headed in the opposite direction. I stuck around for a bit to see what was going on but when they started marching I walked back home.

One of the library branches in my county is open for curbside pickup, but it's not within walking distance of me. But that's okay because I own enough unread books to last me until *checks notes* the end of time.

>174 MickyFine: Hi Micky!!!
1. Yes, I watched it when it came out. I'll go back and find where I put my thoughts.
2. Rory is absolutely the best, and he only gets better. You won't BELIEVE what his arc is in season 4; you will LOVE it!
3. Yay! Have you been watching Agents of SHIELD?

Socially and Virtually distanced hugs back at you!

>174 MickyFine: Veronica Mars reboot feelings are here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/309874#6890724

Surprising exactly no one, I've been watching a lot of TV.

Shows I watched a few episodes of and then gave up:
The Baker and the Beauty, Bloodride, Breeders, Charmed (season 2), Dave, Devs, Dispatches from Elsewhere, The Dress-Up Gang, Freud, Ghostwriter, Gentefied, The Gift, High Fidelity, Hollywood, In the Dark (season 2), Katy Keene, Killer Camp, NOS4A2 (season 2), On Becoming a God in Central Florida, Outer Banks, The Plot Against America, See, Space Force, Tommy, United We Fall, Unstoppable, Utopia Falls, War of the Worlds

Shows of note:
The Baby-Sitters’ Club - So good!!!!!!!!
Beecham House - PBS drama about pre-colonial India
Beforeigners - great fantasy show about people (normal people, not famous people) from different points in history that start popping up in Norway in the 2010s and have to adjust to normal life...and modern people have to adjust to them.
The Bold Type (season 4) - continues to be the wildest fantasy show on TV
Barkskins - miniseries about life for settlers in early French Canada
Burden of Truth (season 3) - a very thoughtful Canadian lawyer show. Season 3 focused on the separation of Indigenous women from their children under the guise of welfare.
Cursed - Arthurian legend from the perspective of young Nimue (Lady of the Lake). Pretty fun.
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (season 5) - Still the greatest show on TV
The English Game - Cheesy but fun period piece about the invention of modern soccer/football
Grantchester (season 5) - I don’t mind the replacement of Sidney with Will, but all the mysteries this season seemed to conveniently center around Will’s backstory as a rich college bro, which doesn’t fit with the premise of a small-town mystery series
Harley Quinn: The Animated Series (season 1) - Sooo good!!
Into the Night - Something happens that makes sunlight kill anything it touches, so a group of misfits have to fly a plane around the earth over and over again. Good if you like dumb apocalypse stories
Little Fires Everywhere - Not my thing but I kept watching because I wanted to find out who set the fires. Disappointed.
Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD (season 7) - omggggg Agent Souza!. I haven’t watched the series finale yet because I don’t want it to be over.
Motherland: Fort Salem - a YA show about a military made of teen witches. Cheesy fun
Never Have I Ever - Definitely recommended if you like YA rom-coms, though there is a completely ancillary fatphobia running joke that left a very bad taste in my mouth
Prehistoric Road Trip - a cute little PBS show about dinosaurs and fossils
Quiz - A mini-docu-series about a family who may or may not have cheated at Who Wants to Be A Millionaire. Very interestingly made! After the first episode I was sure they cheated, and after the second I was sure they didn’t.
Ragnarok - A really fun show about teen brothers who move to a small town in northern Norway and develop...interesting powers
Self-Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker - Really good, fun biopic. Highly recommend!
Vagrant Queen - very fun, of course it was canceled.
What We Do in the Shadows - season 2 was even better than season 1!
World on Fire - A very good show about more personal, less familiar stories during WWII. Season 1 has the Polish underground, a gay doctor in occupied Paris, and a German family with a disabled daughter. Pleased it’s been renewed.

Other good shows I have no particular comments on:
#BlackAF
The 100
Avenue 5
Back to Life
Batwoman
Belgravia
Broke
Coroner
Dead to Me (season 2)
For All Mankind
Good Girls (season 3)
I Am Not Okay with This
Kim’s Convenience (season 4)
The Last O.G. (season 3)
Letter for the King
Little America
Locke & Key
Mixed-ish
Mrs. America
Mystic Pop-up Bar
One Day at a Time (season 3)
Roswell, New Mexico
The Sims Spark’d
Snowpiercer
Stargirl
Tell Me a Story
Tuca & Bertie
Unorthodox
Work in Progress
Workin’ Moms (season 4)
Wynonna Earp (season 4)
Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist

Movies:
P.S. I Still Love You
The Thing About Harry
The Old Guard
Palm Springs
Desperados

The next zoo volunteer book club pick is A History of Rock Creek Park by Scott Einberger, a local-interest book. That meeting is in September. The last book for the year will be Oryx and Crake, which is a re-read for me. I might try the audiobook. Has anyone listened to that one?

Voting for the 2021 selections is open until October but here's how it's looking:
Mr. Hornaday's War: How a Peculiar Victorian Zookeeper Waged a Lonely Crusade for Wildlife that Changed the World by Stefan Bechtel (William Hornaday founded the National Zoo)
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer (This book and many others were added to the list during our discussion last year about nature books by authors of color; thank you again for the good ideas)
American Zoo: A Sociological Safari by David Grazian
The Zoo: The Wild and Wonderful Tale of the Founding of the London Zoo: 1826-1851 by Isobel Charman
The Overstory by Richard Powers (the one fiction pick for the year)

For the last book there's currently a three-way tie between Song of the Dodo, Poached: Inside the Dark World of Wildlife Trafficking, and The Sixth Extinction. If I had to break the tie right now I would probably go with Poached, since that's unlike anything else we've read so far.

I admit I sometimes forget how hard quarantine is for other people, but I'm glad you've found people to talk with through Discord. I've been using it a lot lately myself, despite my aversion to socializing.

I have to ask, which video games have you been playing?? I haven't had time to play games since I started editing videos, but after buying a new laptop I've really gotten back into gaming. Minecraft has been all-consuming (as always) and I'm very tempted to try Fall Guys as I've been seeing that all over the internet.

>181 Ape: Living by myself has always felt to me like a refuge, someplace I can go to relax where I'm not beholden to anyone else, can't bother anyone else, can't let them down. But a refuge I can't leave doesn't really feel like a refuge. Especially when my next-door and across-the-hall neighbors keep having big maskless parties.

I got Animal Crossing when it came out in March, and then when I started talking to my new friends on Discord I started paying for the Nintendo Online service so I could play with them. Now that Animal Crossing is less new they have been playing Fall Guys and that squid painting one that I can't remember the name of. Those aren't my kind of game but we still chat about other things.

I've been playing the Pokemon expansion that came out in June, which is very nice with Nintendo Online since I can actually have a chance to truly Catch 'Em All. I bought several expansion packs for The Sims 4 which have done nothing but remind me that after three years The Sims 4 is still an unplayable mess, good only for designing. I played Stardew Valley on the Switch, and really liked it, but it got to the point where I had full friendship with everyone in town but I couldn't decide who I wanted to marry so I put it away.

>176 norabelle414: I'm excited for seeing where Legends goes. We're now wrapping up season 5 of Arrow. We were watching the whole Arrow-verse in airdate order but swapping discs every episode is starting to wear thin so we've decided to just go straight through for the tail end of each season we're currently on (Supergirl season 2 and Flash season 3). We're trying to figure out a system where watching the crossover won't spoil any of the shows but where we don't have to do quite so much swapping. But of course then there's the mini crossovers (the musical Flash and Supergirl crossover was delightful!) and... why is this universe so big?

I haven't watched AoS since I cut off cable shortly before I got married (almost 2 years ago now) so I think I gave up midway through the season (or fall season anyway) when they were all kidnapped and in space. I read your spoiler for this season though and I must admit I'm intrigued. The part of Avengers: Endgame that bugged me a little was that Cap travelling back in time to spend his life with Peggy completely erased her relationship with Sousa and by extension Agent Carter's entire plot from the timeline.

I can imagine how rough it is to be stuck in your apartment all the time with just Rory for company and I'm glad you've found some virtual hangouts that work for you. My home library has been doing a virtual crafting circle on Monday evenings which I've been going to and it's kind of lovely to work on my own project and chit chat with the other people in the group and see what they're working on but with really low stakes. Most of us don't look at the webcam for large chunks of the hour. :)

>183 MickyFine: Trying to watch the Arrowverse crossovers is really tough. Even here where they're all on Netflix, each episode is embedded in whatever show it was aired as, even though the plot might not have much to do with that show at all. And apparently in some countries no one has picked up the rights to air Batwoman yet so people have no way to legally watch the entirety of last season's crossover. Annoying! I'm so glad you liked the Flash/Supergirl musical episode! I have the soundtrack and listen to it all the time. If you think the universe is big now, just wait until you get Black Lightning and Batwoman and Stargirl and next year's Superman and Lois.

We might have talked about this but I can't remember - did you watch Vixen, the animated webseries? Also have you watched Constantine?

Re: AoS - Ahh I'm sad you looked at my spoiler because it's a really amazing surprise! It kind of ties into the annoying thing from Endgame (not that I acknowledge Endgame as cannon.)

This weekend I watched Normal People, based on the book by Sally Rooney. It was VERY good. I've never read the book.
I watched part of Signs, a Polish small town conspiracy murder mystery. Not my thing, though I did appreciate the extremely weird music choices (e.g. Bad Mood Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival while the townspeople are searching for a body)
I watched a few episodes of Get Even, a British teen drama based on a YA book series. It's like Pretty Little Liars but not as good.
Now I'm watching The Great, a stylistic, semi-factual depiction of young Catherine the Great. It's entertaining but not as similar to Dickinson as I was hoping it would be.

Aside from the book club book, I'm not really reading anything at the moment. I'd still like to finish Exhalation. I have The Starless Sea and The Fire Never Goes Out out of the library from March, still, but they'll be due back in early September. During the pandemic my library has fully gotten rid of late fees (love it!) which now somehow makes me feel even guiltier about keeping library books past the due date??

I'm still listening to The Diana Chronicles, though only when I run low on podcast episodes, so very infrequently. I have almost finished listening to the entire backlog of You're Wrong About, though, so maybe I will finish the Diana book soon.

>184 norabelle414: But there's no Arrow anymore so it's only grown by two shows... :P

I haven't watched animated Vixen or live-action Constantine.

Maybe Mr. Fine and I will eventually tackle AoS but we've got so many shows on the go it will be a while. I've got him watching Once Upon a Time on my TV nights right now - we're into the second half of season three already.

>185 norabelle414: I've seen nothing but good things about Normal People so I'm happy you're enjoying it. I've been doing more audio plays so I'm behind on the handful of podcasts I usually keep up with. Do you listen to David Tennant's podcast? He just started a new season.

Nora's back!

Your TV list reminds me that I need to get to Season 2 of 'Dead To Me'....

>175 norabelle414: I'm also working from home, though I go in one morning a week to handle the things I can't do remotely. Despite having long advocated for having the ability to work from home, I don't like it much, either. If I were just doing it for two or three days a week, it would be great -- but as things stand, even when I do go in, I only see three or four people because of course we stagger our days in. I can see how public transit would make you uncomfortable. I'm glad you've found people to socialize with virtually.

Enjoying your TV updates, Nora. I have not been watching much, though I did finally get to The Arrival yesterday. At some point I may ask you for recs, but I'm mostly not in the mood. I'll tend to put on sports as background noise and read or knit or putter around getting stuff done at home. Sorry that work-from-home is a pain and I don't blame you for not wanting to use public transportation right now. I'm working some hours from home now, and it's nice to get certain things done where no one's around, but I wouldn't want to be doing it all from home through the end of the year. Would any of your local libraries offer delivery? We're doing that for people who can't use curbside, but already had a delivery system in place for homebound folks pre-covid.

>186 MickyFine: Vixen I think got released on DVD as "Vixen: The Movie"? The entire two seasons came out to about 2 hours. I know in the US you can rent it on Amazon for a couple bucks. Constantine is super fun and I think you would like it, but since it was only added to the Arrowverse posthumously it's not essential viewing for the rest of the shows.
I listened to a lot of celebrity interview podcasts when I first started listening to podcasts, but now I've settled into a place where I'm more into smart laypeople and/or journalists talking about media and pop culture.

>187 katiekrug: Season 2 of Dead to Me is really good! There's a great twist in episode 2 and Natalie Morales shows up later, and I always love to see her.

>188 foggidawn: Our office is technically open and if I had a reason to go in, I would probably be allowed to. But I don't really have a good reason except that I hate working from home. It's a weird place to be in because I feel like I don't want to admit to my coworkers how absolutely unproductive I am when I'm at home so I have to pretend like everything is fine.
Is your housemate working from home as well, or are you all by yourself on the days that you do telework?

>189 bell7: I've been rewatching some favorite shows as background noise too. I can usually knit or cross-stitch while watching a new TV show, though some of the shows I watch are subtitled which takes a little more focus.
Our library doesn't have delivery, but they do have books-by-mail. It's currently only open to people who were signed up before the library closed. I really do have hundreds of books here that I haven't read, though. I'll be fine.

>190 norabelle414: My poor housemate is an essential worker at his miserable convenience store job, so no working at home for him. Lately, they have him working a lot of nights (which he hates) because their usual night shift person quit, so he mostly sleeps while I am working. We see each other mostly in the evenings.

>190 norabelle414: Mr. Fine is a HUGE DC fan so animated Vixen may be hanging out on our shelves and I've just not noticed (he's got many of the DC animated films and the organization system for those is his own - it only makes me a little crazy). I know he's got Constantine but we haven't tackled it. I think after Arrowverse and Supernatural (the shows we're watching on his TV nights) he's got plans of doing Smallville.

>191 foggidawn: Oh dear. I hope he can keep safe!

>192 MickyFine: Oh, he's going to LOVE all the crossovers then. I would recommend watching at least one episode of Smallville before the most recent Arrowverse crossover (Crisis on Infinite Earths). Also there's kind of a Supernatural crossover in season 5 of Legends of Tomorrow. You'll love it.

>193 norabelle414: Yes, we've reached the point where he hasn't watched the seasons yet because he was rewatching the early seasons with me (and dating me and then getting ready to marry me, etc.). He'll be psyched about the SPN and Legends crossover.

Hi Nora! Glad to make a visit to your thread and see that all is 'reasonably' well (understanding that working from home is not an ideal situation for you). Keep well and keep safe!

Just stopping by to wish you well, Nora.

>195 lkernagh:, >196 PaulCranswick: Thanks Lori and Paul! Glad to see you're reasonably well too!

17. The Diana Chronicles (Audiobook) by Tina Brown, read by Rosalyn Landor

Published in 2007 and written by one of her close friends, this (very long) biography dives into the details of Princess Diana's life, from her ancestors to her funeral.

I decided to read this now (well.... in January) because of the big to-do about Prince Harry and Meghan (kind of) leaving the royal family. (Remember back in January when things like that counted as news??) I found myself wishing I knew more truth about Princess Diana. I remember her death when I was 9 but I don't really know much about her life before that. I had a vague sense that she was treated pretty badly by the royal family and surprise! I was right. The book provides a lot of context for what Diana's early life was like that would otherwise be completely incomprehensible to me. For example, it was very cool at the time for rich young people to have very trivial, low-paying jobs (like cleaning houses or walking dogs) because the fact that you could work hard and get paid almost nothing for it showed how much money your family had. While she was first dating Charles, Diana was a nanny for an American family living in England and they had zero idea who she was. Ah, life before 24/7 news media.

One must obviously be very careful when selecting a book to read about such a big (and profitable) pop culture figure/event. The 90s were a golden age of cheap fan publications and "unauthorized biographies". The things I think make this a worthwhile pick are:
Firstly - It was published 10 years after Diana's death. It's obvious that Brown was not trying to capitalize on a recent event, and also a decade of hindsight really changed what the public knew about her life and death, and the way we view it.
Secondly - Tina Brown was Diana's close friend and had a view of her private life that many others don't, but she is also an award-winning journalist and editor of Vanity Fair, the New Yorker, and creator of The Daily Beast. She's a highly-credentialed, very good writer.

In conclusion, I highly recommend reading books about events published 10 or more years after the fact, and if you're going to read a book about Princess Diana I recommend this one. And Rosalyn Landor is a good narrator.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ (4/5)

TV:

I finished watching The Great, and liked it less as it went along. Catherine is an incredible and fascinating historical figure, and there should be a million shows about her. But the historical changes made to this series make it feel so flat. Starting with...her husband in the series is the son of Peter the Great, which he wasn't in real life. A weird change to make. I can deal with timeline changes such as Catherine and Peter getting married without having met each other first (they knew each other since they were 10) and Peter already being Emperor when they married (they were married for almost 20 years before he became Emperor). But some of the choices just don't make any sense. I absolutely do NOT believe that the Emperor of Russia would give his young wife an officially-sanctioned lover before she gets pregnant with his heir. In real life Catherine had many lovers, at least one of them before her marriage was consummated, but with the blessing of her husband, while they are trying to conceive? No way. That, among many other changes, make Peter into a kind of hip, misunderstood brat as opposed to cranky and mean (as history books portray him), or "depraved and dangerous" as the show description claims. The show seems much more interested in making Peter young and sexy and having him say "pussy" a LOT than any kind of fleeting interest in history. We know so much about Catherine's life because she published her memoirs and it's a tragedy to see her truth treated with such disregard. The show is stylized in a way that clearly wants to be Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (including turning Catherine from brunette to blonde) but it's actually much more similar to The CW's Reign. The screenwriter (who wrote the play its based on) also wrote the movie The Favourite, which I had been very interested in watching but am now much less.

I gave up on Get Even (I've just discovered it's based on a book series). It just doesn't quite scratch that Pretty Little Liars itch.

I finished season 2 of Umbrella Academy. I liked it a lot! It's a bit less confusing than the first season since we already know what the deal is with the Commission. I've seen some critics complaining about the music cues but really! That's the best part!

Now I'm watching season 2 of Ramy, and then Love, Victor, the spin-off of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda.

On Friday two of my friends drove over and we had a socially-distanced picnic in the park by my house. It was the first time I've seen my friends in person, and the second time I've seen anyone in person, since March 13th. So what happened?

The giant panda at the zoo gave birth, while I was out socializing. Of course.

Glad to see you got to have a social outing even if you did miss a panda birth.

I watched Isn't It Romantic? on the weekend and was surprised by how much I liked it. I'm a long-time lover of rom coms but sometimes Rebel Wilson's sense of humour doesn't tickle my funny bone. However, it was really a delight from start to finish and while poking fun at all the tropes, it was also a pretty satisfying rom com.

>201 MickyFine: That's good to know! Rebel Wilson doesn't wow me either (although I did like her sitcom a few years ago) but I'll add the movie to my list

I also enjoyed 'Isn't It Romantic.' I think it definitely helps to be very familiar with rom-coms and associated tropes...

>182 norabelle414: That makes sense. A refuge isn't a refuge if you're forced to stay in it.

Splatoon? I've never played it, or watched anyone play it for that matter. A few streamers I've watched play Fall Guys and it looked interesting but the more I watch it the less interested I am.

I've only ever played the original Pokemon game on the Gameboy but it was a lot of fun.

My sister is a huge fan of the Sims games. I've only played the console version (forget which one) and I hated it, but she swears it has to be played with keyboard and mouse. Sim City, on the other hand, is more my style. I have Cities: Skylines downloaded on my PC but I haven't opened it yet. I know I'll be opening a can of worms that I might not emerge from for months, so I'll put it off until I have a bit more time. :)

>203 katiekrug: Another point in the "pro" column!

>204 Ape: I played Pokemon Gen I and II (blue/red/yellow and silver/gold/crystal) on Gameboy when I was a kid and then didn't play again until I got my Switch and got Let's Go Eevee (Gen VII, a remake of Gen I yellow) and Pokemon Sword (Gen VIII). Skipping over the middle installments is crazy! There's a lot I don't understand. (Most of which has to do with competitive battling, so I don't actually care)

The Sims is *definitely* a mouse game. (there are keyboard shortcuts but I use a mouse for almost everything). I don't even know how it would work on a console.

I can tell you how it works on console - it doesn't! :P

An Important Announcement:

Witch, Please has rebooted and the first new episode launched today. I have not yet listened to it but I'm still very excited.

>207 MickyFine: Yaaaaaaas! I'm a Patreon supporter!

>208 norabelle414: Sweet! I'm tempted to do Patreon but it's not really in the budget, especially since we're saving to replace our shingles next summer. Enjoy the unedited episodes! :D

I sent The Starless Sea back to the library today, because there are holds on it and there's no way I'm going to get through it anytime soon (though I did like the first 2-3 chapters). The last library book I have from March is The Fire Never Goes Out, Noelle Stevenson's graphic memoir.

Book club is tomorrow afternoon. I have only read about half of the book (A History of Rock Creek Park: Wilderness & Washington DC) but running this book club has made me very good at skimming non-fiction books that I find boring.

Also I received two books last week that I had ordered earlier in the summer:
An Unkindness of Ghosts and
Dread Nation

I look forward to adding them to the giant shelf of books that I will read as soon as I am capable of reading

Books are great that way. They'll be ready whenever you are and won't judge you for however long that takes. *hugs*

>211 norabelle414: I loved An Unkindness of Ghosts, and have Dread Nation waiting for me on my shelf.

We will read books again someday, Nora! In the meantime, I see no reason to stop buying them. :)

Hope you feel a bit better soon, Nora. Sorry to hear of the zoo's financial woes.

>212 MickyFine:, >213 curioussquared:, >214 Ape:, >215 libraryperilous: Thanks for the support, everyone!

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