2021*2: Lizzie Reads with New Hope

The only Mrs. R.O. Backhouses we have left, and I was lucky to look for these before they wilted.
Spring is coming!

READ IN MARCH
8. Suicide Run
9. Bootlegger's Daughter (reread)
10. Silence of the Lambs (reread)
11. Square Haunting

Into the House in March
17. Behind Closed Doors: At Home in Georgian England- AMP
18. Medieval English Nunneries - Kindle Freebie
19. Kingdom of Copper - Kindle Deal, BookBub
20. A Life in Secrets - AMP
21. The Road to Middle Earth - Kindle


READ IN APRIL
12. Southern Discomfort (reread)
13. Honor Among Enemies (reread)

Into the House in April
22. The Night Hawks ✔
23. Debutantes - Kindle deal through BookBub
24. Dreamer's Pool - Kindle
25. The Wrong Stars - Kindle deal through BookBub
26, The Galaxy and the Ground Within
27. The Ring of Words - Stasia

READ IN MAY
14. The Silent Corner
15. *Sergeant Salinger
16. The Night Hawks
17. Shooting at Loons (reread)
18. The Goblin Emperor

Into the House in May
28. The Goblin Emperor ✔ - Kindle deal through BookBub
29. The Lost Queen - AMP
30. Bitter Orange - Kindle deal through BookBub
31. Penric's Fox - Kindle
32. The Never-Open Desert Diner ✔ - AMP
33. Lullaby Road - PBS
34. Dear Mrs. Bird - Kindle deal

READ IN JUNE
19. Up Jumps the Devil (reread)
20. The Gathering Storm
21. Killer Market (reread)
22. The Never-Open Desert Diner
23. Other People's Daughters: The Life and Times of the Governess

Into the House in June
35. Mozart: The Reign of Love - Kindle Daily Deal
36. Not at Home - Kindle

READ in JULY
24. Bonecrack (reread)
25. Home Fires (reread)
26. The Overstory


*Review on Book Page

Open for July Reading

BEST OF THE FIRST QUARTER - with best wishes to myself for reading more really good books for the rest of the year!!



---- and I think I'm open for visitors with my apologies for not continuing from my first thread! (What passes for a brain today????) Please star me here anyway!

Happy new thread!

Thank you kindly, Jennifer, first visitor! Come back when I have something to say!!!!!

:-D It's a deal!

Happy new thread! Nice daffs.

Happy new thread!

Happy new one, Peggy.

>3 LizzieD: I hope you do get to some of them at least!

Happy new thread, Peggy. Beautiful daffodils. Live and learn - an heirloom daffodil, introduced the year your mama was born according to what I just read online.

Thank you, Karen. I had never thought to look for the Backhouses online. I appreciate your visit.

I appreciate your visiting too, Paul, (I will get to at least some of them before the year is out!), Susan, and Helen. I like your deal, Jennifer!

This was not much of a reading day. I did spend a bit of time *Square Haunting* and should finish it this month. I've read V. Woolf's diaries and letters, but I'm enjoying what F. Wade chooses to pull from the diaries from the time she and Leonard spent in Mecklenburgh Square during the Phony War '39-'40.

Happy new thread, Peggy!

Hey, Peggy! A new thread! Good for you.

Happy new one!

Nice! I love coming and finding that you've been here, Anita, Judy, and Jim. Y'all are mighty generous.

I continue to snatch time to read just a bit of Deborah Knott #2 and Square Haunting. Reading little doesn't discourage my greed to buy a lot or to add to the pile of READ NEXT books.

Happy Sunday, Peggy.

I finished Southern Discomfort yesterday and am now on the hunt for #3, Shooting at Loons.

Eat 'em up, Karen! *SatL* was the one I heard her read from, but I don't think it was one of my favorites. That's not to say that it's bad, and I'll look forward to trying it again. I'm still poking along in *SD* and Square Haunting.
Restful, restorative Sunday to all of you! (To me too)

Happy new thread, Peggy. I like the daffodils at the top. Things are starting to bloom here. I have a large bunch of daffodils in my backyard which I never planted. Do you think squirrels carry them around? I have lots of those.

I remember picking up A Bootlegger's Daughter several years ago after you recommended it. I'm going to reread that one. I've forgotten enough to have it feel new.

I was in Sanford yesterday, Peggy, having the first post-vaccination meal out, with 3 women who worked at the company I retired from 5 years ago. I stopped in at the used book store on the way to the doughnut shop (which is closed on Mondays, which I'd forgotten about, alas) and asked the clerk if they had any Margaret Maron. Amazingly, she had a mass market paperback copy of Shooting at Loons, tanned yet looks brand new, for $1.60. Serendipity for sure.

I hope you're having a good week so far, my dear.

Happy Day, Jan and Karen, to find your presence here!!!

Jan, I understand that you have had a fall. I'm sorry. I'm some months younger than you, but if I lived alone, I wouldn't hesitate to have an emergency alert setup. I've noticed loss of balance this past year although it's not bad yet. I practice standing on one leg though - can't hurt. Hope you enjoy *B'sD* when you can reread, and hope that you like it enough to keep on.

Good for you, Karen! Eating OUT!!!!!!! I look forward to the day when we feel safe enough to do that. Hooray for *Loons*! and a good deal!! Tanned? A huge proportion of my mystery library is tanned.

I've said it before, but I'll say again that 30 years ago, I preferred Maron's first series, featuring Sigrid Harald, an NYC cop with ties to Colleton County. She's a bit of a darker character than Deborah although Deborah isn't the totally uncomplicated woman that she appears to be in the first books. I wonder whether that will still be the case when I go back to Sigrid. I remember that the writing isn't nearly as tight in the first books, but Maron learned quickly.

SQUARE HAUNTING by Francesca Wade

The square is Mecklenburgh Square in Bloomsbury between the two world wars. The five women who lived there are HD, Dorothy Leigh Sayers, Jane Harrison, Eileen Power, and Virginia Woolf.
I had to slog a bit to get through the introductory chapter, and HD was not my favorite among the five. However, the other four narratives captured my attention when I was able to give it. All of them were feminists of some stripe, and all of them used their time in the square to good advantage. I came away with profound respect for EP and hope to read some of her work on medieval women.
The only place I laughed out loud, I'll tell you!!! When HD prepares her statement for her long-delayed divorce, she said this about Annabelle York with whom her husband had an affair: York was an "illiterate bunny-brained whore." Wade notes that York was "resentful." Touchy! Touchy! Touchy!

Hi Peggy,
I found this new thread by chance... good to see you are in fine fettle.
I've been occupied with some long-delayed tidying up and reading has taken a back seat except a chapter or two before exhausted-brain needs to sleep.

I hope springtime has enveloped you in blossoms by now.

>22 LizzieD: It was an interesting surmise. I'd not heard of 3 of the women featured, so that's a gap in my reading to fill sometime soon.

Helen, I'm pretty sure that you were one of the motivating factors in my choosing to read this now - you and Beth? Oh dear. I'll have to hunt to say thank you. Meanwhile, thank you for your good review!

Hi, Sandy. I'll bet my long tidying delay beats your long tidying delay by years! Spring is becoming gorgeous now, but we have several nights of freezing or below in our annual Easter cold snap. I'm sorry for all the little blooming things that will have to try again or give up. Spring is late already too. May we both get back to reading soon!

Hi Peggy! Happy new thread.

>1 LizzieD: The Mrs. R.O. Backhouses are just *gorgeous*! That delicate color transition on the trumpets is a joy, isn't it?

*smooch*

Many thank yous for the visit, Richard! We love Mrs. ROB in every color transition. The trumpets start out a deep apricot and then fade gradually into what you see in the picture.

Off to sleep because it's now too late to get to bed early.

Happy Saturday, Peggy! Today feels like Sunday because Bill was home yesterday and we did the Saturday thing...

I amaze myself - it turns out that I have the first Sigrid Harald mystery on my shelves, One Coffee With, another tanned mass market paperback, nice and tight like Shooting at Loons. I don't have any memory of acquiring it, although a bit of research into my old threads here on LT says I got it from Amazon.

I hope you have a wonderful day.

>25 LizzieD: I totally ignored the mess around here the last week ~ it has been exhausting making all those sorting decisions. I don't know how Laura and Roni have managed with that *and* then moving house.

On Friday I started the Postscript Murders and I am just about finished it, on a binge read, I guess. The Harbinder Kaur character has totally captivated me! In the earlier book, (Stranger Diaries), I really disliked the way Harbinder was portrayed. But this second book is really interesting, with elderly persons very well-drawn. I haven't read any Ruth Galloway since The Lantern Men, so I'm pleased there's a different series coming from Elly G.

Here's hoping you enjoy Easter-time and the weather settles down for you to feel like spring has truly arrived.

Thank you for visiting, Karen and Sandy!

Karen One Coffee With is very much a first book, too long and getting out scenes that you can tell she'd been saving for awhile. I enjoyed it, especially because it wasn't the first Sigrid I had read, and I was curious to see the beginning.

Sandy, you encourage me! I do have the *SDs* and look forward to them when I can get to them. My friend has let me have a copy of Night Hawks, so that comes first. Hooray for Elly G!

I wish you both and any other visitors a blessed Eastertide or a happy holiday or lovely spring, whichever is appropriate! (Unsettled weather is an unfortunate characteristic of spring here.)

SOUTHERN DISCOMFORT by Margaret Maron

This is one of my favorite of the Maron's Deborah Knott series. We get to see Deborah exercise her judgment during her first weeks in court. She is both competent and pragmatic. I have always admired MM's ability to get a lot done in relatively few words. This is the case here.
Another thing that I like that I failed to notice the first time through is the way MM specifies the race of every single character who plays any real part in the story; that is to say, she does not treat Caucasians as the default and identify only black or brown characters as such. Really smart!
So this isn't a review. There are plenty on the book page, and Karen reviewed it well just this past week.

Hi Peggy, and happy Thursday to you.

>31 LizzieD: I'm glad it held up with the re-reading. I'll have to pay attention to Maron's character descriptions.

I'm dithering. I can't seem to find a good book to sink my teeth into after two excellent ones in a row, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Fup. I've started several, both fiction and nonfiction. I even dipped into Mark Twain's short stories, but to no avail. I'll probably try Gone Missing, 4th in the Kate Burkholder series by Linda Castillo about a banned Amish Chief of Police in Ohio.

Other than that, the yellow-green tide is creeping in, coating everything. Much sneezing.

Courage through the pollen season, Karen! We are nearing the end here, but earlier the river banks were foggy with a yellow-green cloud. Maybe you'll get enough rain to wash it away a time or two.

I'm with you in being unable to settle to anything. I'd like to be reading a good non-fiction, but everything I pick up seems as good as the last, and none of them has grabbed me. Meanwhile, I'm spending a lot of time with Honor Harrington again - it's been almost five years since my reread of #5, and now I'm firmly involved with #6 (at least I think that's the number), Honor Among Enemies. Weber really can't write normal conversation, but pacifist Lizzie can't get enough of the military proceedings or the political machinations. Go figure.

>33 LizzieD: I've never really could get much interest going for Honor Harrington - 3, maybe 4 books - it was before 2007 so no records. Honor just seemed to have mostly guy issues and attitudes and I was already enjoying the Elizabeth Moon books with kick ass women space service officers.

Hi, Susan. I have to say that I like Honor only when she's in military mode; otherwise she's not much of a character - the almond eyes, cool soprano voice, nose rubbing, and hot chocolate are reminiscent of the short cuts in characterization of another writer of long books with cardboard women whom you and I both forgive. I don't really think of her as having guy issues although her dialogue with Paul Tankersley was always embarrassingly bad. Otoh, I love E. Moon's women, especially Heris!

Silly me. I see that I haven't mentioned my favorite character in the Honor Universe. That would be Nimitz, the Sphinxian treecat who bonded with Honor when she was a child. I'll enjoy her discovering his depths with this rereading.

Meanwhile, I seem to be reading Arabella for the first time, I think. I've also been spending some time with the Heyer bio by Jennifer Kloester, which is falling just short of hagiography so far. I don't think that either of these is on my "currently reading" list. So be it.

>36 LizzieD: But isn't she like the third or fourth woman or girl with a special feline. Telzey is the first, for me at least, and I'm sure there are others - I'm very fond of Jo Clayton's Ailiki though it's a sort of cat-primate mix and came into the world a few years before On Basilisk Station.

Maybe so, Susan, but Nimitz is my first, and if you've read only four or so, you haven't come anywhere close to understanding his abilities, which he reveals bit by bit to Honor and to us.

What is it with womanness and felinity? I do actually know women of my own personal acquaintance who do not identify with cats or wish to be their servants. Fantasy authors seem to think all uterus-bearers are, of necessity, cat people.

Grumble over.

Happy weekend's reads, Peggy!

>39 richardderus: On that I agree. I'm all for dogs, of which SF has far too few and fantasy (barring were-wolfs) not too many. Useful they'd be, on a quest.

>40 quondame: Agreed totally. Not that I am as anti-cat as RD apparently has reason to be, but I, myself, fall into the "dog-person" category.

Wooo Hoooo! Visitors!!!! Hi, Richard, Susan, and Sandy! You are all welcome, lovers of fellinity or not. I love both cats and dogs, an equal opportunity petter. My mama is not a cat person, so I was not allowed cats in the house when I was a child; dogs either, come to think of it. I crave in equal measure wagging tails and purrs, with love in the eyes of both species.

>22 LizzieD: I'm very late to say so, but great review. The quote you chose made me laugh. I thought this author did so well in pulling these lives together to make one story. I ended up buying my own copy, hope that I will reread it at some point.

Cat person checking in. Although I can see that a dog might be a little more use if you were off on an adventure of exploration. A cat would be far too sensible to go with you.

Hi, Charlotte and Helen! I love seeing you here!

Thank you for kind words, Charlotte. I was also impressed by how well she blended the stories into a book with a well-managed, central idea.
Helen, you're right. I'm thinking of the wolf that accompanies the heroes through Tad Williams's Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy and embarrassed that I can't remember his name. He was very useful! And the scatter cat was too wise to get mixed up with Simon.

'Morning, Peggy! Happy Monday to you.

As you know, I'm a serious cat person. We had one kitty, Magic, who was a puppy cat - if we went wandering down to the creek he'd lead the way, wait for us to catch up, leap ahead then wait again, then explore. He'd frequently still be at the creek when we got back to the house, but if I stood on the steps and called him he'd come streaking up the fields to be back with his family.

From RD's thread, I didn't realize how bad your allergies are.

Morning, Karen. We've had the puppy cat=kitty dog discussion before. All our males have been pretty much kitty dogs - the ones who run out to greet us when we come home, demand petting, etc.

Our family doctor said when I was a small child, "Well, her nose is always going to be a bit boggy," and I was an early test case with the allergist at Duke when I was also small. New nasal sprays keep me breathing like a normal person, and I'm extremely grateful.

>47 LizzieD: kitty dogs

What an excellent description. We *did* have 2 cats for awhile (until it became obvious I and our daughter were really allergic). They behaved just like that "kitty dog" you described. I always attributed the greeting as 'cupboard love'.

Hey, Sandy! Karen's "puppy-cat" works too - two minds with the same idea. I never attempted to analyze the love although there's a lot of "cupboard" in it, to be sure.

I'm sorry that you and your daughter are allergic to cats. I used to be along with dogs, pine trees, house dust, and everything else under the sun that they tested for back in the late '40. I can still feel my poor little back with every single patch swollen and hurting from the scratch test. I happily grew out of most of them, including the pet dander one.

>48 SandyAMcPherson: Mike and I are both allergic enough to cats that having one was never considered and we both prefer dogs anyway. Becky has shown no signs of cat allergies, but she is a pretty confirmed dog person by now.

I'm another dog person who would love to have a cat but allergies prevent me. I don't think Bobby, my Cairn Terrier mix, would adjust well anyway. He's a 10 year old shelter dog that I have had for 8 years and definitely sees us as a dog-pack of two!

Hello, Jan! Best to you and Bobby! I love shelter dogs and people who adopt shelter dogs!!

ETA: I am reminded of my mama's last dog Wags, who saw me as a rival alpha dog who was allowed to sit on Mama's bed.

Happy newish thread, Peggy.

I'm so glad you liked Square Haunting.

I read the Sigrid Harald books first and thought they were OK, but Bootlegger's Daughter is in a whole different league!

My cat allergy is bad enough that, when I visited a cat person's house for a weekend, after 18 hours I had to go the Emergency Room for steroids.

So, no visits from moi! Y'all're all safe. And hugs kept very brief.

Happy to see you, Beth. I adored Sigrid Harald, as I've said, because I started with The Right Jack, which I thought was very good. I'm enjoying Deborah Knott a bit at the time. I don't know that I'll reread them all, but I am in #3 at the moment. (This is the one that Maron read from when I met her. I took my copy of Baby Doll Games for her to sign, which she did, "To Peggy, who knows what it is to grow up Southern.")
I did like Square Haunting. I feel the need but not the push at the moment to read more non-fiction.

Richard, you are a gentleman! I would not have tried to endure 18 hours with an allergen. If you should ever come down I-95 (and why should you?), I will entertain you at my mother's house where no cat has ever been entertained. She's not allergic; she just doesn't particularly like them.

This is just to say that I am still reading Honor Harrington and liking her a bit less than I used to. I can't stop reading though. I've never understood why my pacifist little person can read Weber with so much enjoyment, but there it is. Tonight I got back to the Heyer bio, and it's pretty interesting too.

Hi Peggy!

Happy Saturday to you, your wonderful ma, and your DH.

I don't have the Kloester bio, but I do have the Jane Aiken Hodge bio. It's only been on my shelves since 2009...

Somehow your new thread never registered anywhere on my radar, but here I am rather belatedly.

Those are gorgeous, those daffs at the top -- we're just getting into the more 'exotic' ones that bloom later. Of course, many were hammered by the snow earlier this week, but I am in awe of the resilience of daffodils! Two different storms, snow rain ice twice and so many of them made it and have popped upright again!

>57 karenmarie: I have The Private World of Georgette Heyer and found it to be excellent.
The Kloester book seemed to be mostly a glossary. Georgette Heyer was such an amazing writer. I wish she had been a little less private so that we might have known more about her personal philosophies and thoughts on the era in which she actually lived.

What a surprise to find visitors, undeserved but most welcome!!!!

All good wishes right back to you, Karen! I had something else by Kloester, and it looked more complete than the Hodge although I value her work. Sandy, I'm somewhat at a loss as to what you mean by "mostly a glossary." It's almost 400 pages of straight biography. At 100 pp in, she is writing about the early, modern works and what was going on in GH's life that sparked those particular books, especially the death of her father and Helen.

Glad to see you, Lucy! I stupidly created a brand new thread one night when I was tired; have no idea where my brain was. Anyway, glad to see you. Enjoy your daffs!!!!! Ours are gone, dogwood and wisteria blooms too, and most of the azaleas although Mama's "watermelon" ones haven't bloomed yet. We have roses, brown Betsy, and honeysuckle right now.

I'm very busily not doing Mama's taxes at the moment. They're straightforward, but I loathe reading those instructions. Oh well. Back to it while a second load of laundry washes, I guess.

>60 LizzieD: Taxes are surely not the fun part. GH is though.

Right on both counts, Susan!

I will just ask in a general way WHY anybody thinks it makes sense to put a form to fill out for line 12 that requires the numbers for lines 13-19?????

I did get through the ordeal for my mama the first time. I'll check it all again another day!

>62 LizzieD: I suspect it's due to accountant's mind. the lines 13-19 are probably indented differently, and line 12 serves as the total of the details. However, so few of us are accountants, it looks weird.

I just hate forms. They annoy me, indented funny or not; if you need this information, go find it yourself, I always think as I fill out the IRS's stuff...you're just testing me to see if I'm honest, not seeking actual new data.

Happy new-week's reads, Peggy, and may the forms be done and dusted and never need your attention again until 2022.

>60 LizzieD: Hi Peggy.
The Kloester book I called "a Glossary" is Georgette Heyer's Regency World .

I probably took away a different impression of the book than was available had I read it in depth. It was a nice resource to have on hand to clarify the regency-era terminology and societal customs of the day.

What did you think of Helen? I'm intrigued, having never encountered the book.

>65 SandyAMcPherson: Oh! That's the other Kloester book that I have on my Kindle. That's what it is all right, a good reference. I'm reading her bio of GH, which is Georgette Heyer with no sub-title at all. I think she maybe had access to more papers than JAH did when she wrote hers. I encourage you to have a look at it. Whew! I couldn't figure how we were talking at cross purposes.

Hi, Judy and Richard! You are a faithful ones to continue to visit here where very little goes on. I was following the line by line instructions and at the point of seeing whether she owes any taxes on her Social Security. There is a worksheet in the middle of the instructions for line 12, and the worksheet requires numbers from lines 13-19. It wasn't hard. It just makes me mad for being so illogical, as when they say something to the effect that you have to know whether you qualify for Y before you can figure X (which is where you are), which they'll tell you how to do later. I did get the first run-through done, but I'll have to check it and do her state return. I loathe the language and the whole doggone thing. Sheesh!!!!!

Having done self assessment when I was self employed, the absolute best thing about returning to full time employement was not having to fill in a tax return.
*shudder*

I congratulate you, Helen! I don't think I'll trade retirement - even with tax forms - for full time employment. Nope. Not even tempted.

Taxes.....yikes my hands are strangely shaking just typing this!

Despite the foregoing, have yourself a lovely what is left of the weekend, Peggy.

Sorry about all the taxes hassle. We're waiting to hear from our accountant since the deadlines have been extended. We always owe money... sigh.

I agree about retirement vs. full time employment.

…
Here’s the thread for the next Dick Francis SHARED Read, just created: Third Race at the LT Racetrack: Book 3, Bonecrack

Hi, Paul and Karen! I have pushed the taxes out of my consciousness for the time being, so it was a lovely day.

Hmm. I like Bonecrack too. I pulled Odds Against, and then didn't open it. I'll plan to finish the Honor Harrington tomorrow and look forward to the new Becky Chambers. Yay!

HONOR AMONG ENEMIES by David Weber

This is military scifi, and David Weber is a political hawk who has set up his star kingdom of Manticore in such a way that the military and their supporters are the only politicos with any sense. Of course, they are in a war with a dictatorship that has put the People's Republic through a season of terror, so they really shouldn't try to pacify Rob Pierre.
Honor is back in Manticore uniform, given a fleet of four (!) overhauled freighters (equipped with massive weapon systems but almost no defense) to patrol the vast Silesian Empire to protect Manty merchants from pirates. Her enemies hope that she will either fail or die; they'd be happy with both. It's a mistake to underestimate Honor Harrington. Nimitz is back with a girlfriend. Pirates are not the only ones preying on Manty shipping. It's all very adventurous and exciting with several interesting sub-plots. I'll go on to the next, which I remember very fondly - but not now!

THE SILENT CORNER by Dean Koontz

This is a thriller of sorts with no horror beyond the horror of imagined future science and greed run amok. Jane Hawk is an FBI agent whose beloved husband commits suicide and leaves a peculiar note. Trying to understand what happened, she notes a startling increase in suicides across the country. When her child is threatened, she takes a leave of absence and goes off the grid completely. *Typical doughty individual fighting all-powerful, shadowy entity, which apparently has the power to control minds* Action! Danger! Revelations!
So why did I read the whole thing? I can't tell you. I can tell you that I won't be reading the next three books in the series and that I would never have read this one if I had realized that it wasn't a stand-alone. Even so, three stars.

>73 LizzieD: You are a brave soul, Peggy. I would have been so outta there. And 3* sounds very ok.
Hope your next book is a soothing read.

>72 LizzieD: I guess it's true what they say about getting older...one's ideas ossify. There's less, if any, room for disagreement. And I am not a fan of right-wingery, never was having been raised among them, so fiction like that just won't even open its covers for me anymore.

Hi, Sandy and Richard! You are both kind to respond to my worthless reading. I am about to finish J. Charyn's Sergeant Salinger, and it's anything but soothing. Review to come soon!

Richard, I can't explain my fascination with the military. I loathe what it does but have to respect the good soldiers (and I shudder to write that) whose integrity has led them down that path 180° from mine. You know that I still live in the middle of the rightest of right wings and despair. I think I hold two ideas in constant tension: we are all flawed, and most of us, if we're not too flawed, do try to do our best with what we have. Pity humanity!
I think I'm going to bed.

Hi Peggy, I'm just stopping by to say hello. The discussion of the GH biographies reminded me that I had a biography on my shelves somewhere. It turned out to be The Private World of GH. I think I need to read the Kloester book. Have a great week.

This is just to say that I've started The Overstory while sitting in waiting rooms for a couple of days. Richard Powers is a favorite, and this one looks to be no exception.
I know I have other things to read, but I needed something on the smaller Kindle. This is it!

>78 LizzieD: I loved The Overstory, Peggy, enjoy!

>78 LizzieD: Peggy, I think you'd appreciate Hench. I wasn't expecting it to be as serious and intelligent as it was, and am glad to be wrong.

Just stopping by Peggy to wish you the loveliest of book filled weekends.

Thank you for your visits, Paul, Richard, and Anita! I'm always surprised and gratified when you visit because I've neglected all threads so abysmally this year.

I wish you the exact same booky weekend, Paul.
Richard, Hench isn't a book I knew of, but I like the looks of it! Thank you.
Anita, Powers is a long time favorite of mine, so I'm pretty sure that I'll love *Ostory* too.

SERGEANT SALINGER by Jerome Charyn

Charyn does very little wrong. I have my copy from Bellevue Literary Press, so I'm still working on my review on the book page. I'll simply say that Charyn will change your thinking and feeling about whatever or whomever he chooses to write. I don't pick up a Charyn book lightly.

Hi Peggy!

I'm falling behind in my ER responsibilities... I can see Sergeant Salinger from here and should really open it soon.

I got The Perilous Adventures of the Cowboy King a couple years ago and loathed it, but to date it's my only Charyn experience. Is Sergeant Salinger one I should pursue?

Karen, I have a lot less trouble encouraging you to go ahead and read this than I do recommending it to Richard. Richard, you and I tend to disagree a lot. I love Charyn's voices. I think, however, that you might better start with In the Shadow of King Saul: Essays on Silence and Song, which was the first that I read. This is something of a memoir as well as reflections on Jewish writers and screen actors who influenced his growing up. He's now a Bellevue LP author, and I know that you have a relationship with Molly, so you might ask her.
But then, I loved his Secret Life of Emily Dickinson, which I felt channeled her voice and made her a flesh and blood woman as opposed to mincing precious living ghost. I can see how somebody might loath that. I was also knocked out by Cesare, which highlights the nightmarish quality of Nazi Berlin. Again, I can see how other people loath it.
Short answer: I don't know.

>85 LizzieD: Well, yes, fiction isn't the place we meet most often, but I do enjoy a wide variety of essayists' voices so I'll dash off a note to Miss Molly. Thanks for thinking of it!

It occurs to me too, Richard, that we both have read Norman Lock. I think that Charyn is the better writer, but they do have a certain experimental approach to fiction in common.

'Morning, Peggy! Happy Monday to you.

I got my hair cut again - this one is even better, I think. Looking in the mirror, with my mask on, I think I might look just a teensy bit more like Annette Benning.

Yay, Judy! I'll check your thread for a picture again.

*sigh* I think I said that my mom's hair person doesn't intend to get the vaccination. She had COVID in August (and is still counting on that immunity???). My DH chopped 4" or so off my braid, so at least I have less to wash and dry.

THE NIGHT HAWKS by Elly Griffiths

The Ruth Galloway books continue to be among my favorite mystery series. This is a pretty good addition. It was comfortable territory with interesting characters and a body or four or five until the last few chapters where the pace and my pulse picked up. I'll look forward to the next one when we may finally see some solution of the Ruth/Nelson/Michelle dilemma.

>91 LizzieD: I'm on the library list for this one, Peggy. I can't wait!

>91 LizzieD: I am slowing working my way through these, borrowing from a friend, who is ahead of me in the series.

>91 LizzieD: I've been on the PL hold list for what feels like a year.
The latest Ruth Galloway has been available for a year in the UK and, (IIRC), since last summer in the USA. There must have been some publishing rights hold up in Canada, because the book is not being released until June 29th here.

...not that I am short of other good series to be getting on with *grin*

I love visitors!!!!

Laura and Helen, I hope you get to the latest RG very soon. It is a pleasure!

Sandy, you too, but I am relieved that you have other series to occupy your time while you wait!!!!!

Meanwhile, I'm getting more into The Overstory, and it is reigniting some reading fire. I'm still reading introductory short stories which introduce the various characters. This isn't quite like any other Powers that I've read.

'Morning, Peggy!

I'm so glad you've got some reading fire reignited. I've been devouring The Widow of the South, although I rarely read Civil War fiction. This is based on the true story of Carrie McGavock of Carnton plantation, Franklin, Tennessee. Have you heard of her or the 1864 battle there at Franklin?

I'm waiting patiently for the new Ruth Galloway, Peggy. :) It's lucky I do have some other things to read.

Karen, you sort of make me want to skip everything to get a copy of *Widow*. I won't do it yet though. For Civil War nonfiction, let me recommend in the warmest terms, Children of Pride, a 3 volume collection of letters by a prominent Savannah family before, during, and directly after the war. I hope to reread it someday. Meanwhile, look below to see what I did reread!

Beth, I have no fear that you'll be fidgeting with nothing to read until you get the RG! (Happy to see you here!)

SHOOTING AT LOONS by Margaret Maron

I liked this one better this time than I did when I first read it (didn't dislike it though). Deborah travels to Harker's Island to fill in for a sick judge, finds a body, and is immediately involved in the local disputes about fishing rights. Maron is a champ at capturing a sense of place. While I still prefer to have Deborah at home in Colleton County, this was another good entry in the series. It's also the one that I heard her read from when we met for the only time about 1994.
I was sneak-reading this at home, and it's likely that I'll go on to #4, Up Jumps the Devil the same way.

Hi Peggy!

Last LT visit this morning before I start making deviled eggs and waiting for Jenna to arrive.

I have no willpower. I just bought a copy of Children of Pride. It will arrive sometime on or after May 25th. Sigh. If I turn my head and look 'way high, I can see Mary Chesnut's Civil War, all 892 pages in hardcover, tbr since it landed on my shelves in December of 2008.

Yay for Shooting at Loons. Maybe it's time to pull my copy out - I acquired it at a used book store in Sanford in March.

Wishing you and yours a lovely weekend.

Hi, Karen! As you might guess, I've pulled Up Jumps the Devil for my random at-home reading. Deborah's back in Colleton County for this one, and we learn a bit about her marriage!

Hope you enjoy Children of Pride. It's an undertaking, but I was fascinated. The only drawback is that you never get to read about the big events first-hand. They were all gathered for weddings, etc., so there was no need to write letters.
Meanwhile, I'm in book acquisition mode. I was offered Lullaby Road from my wish list at PBS and naturally ordered The Never-Open Desert Diner from AMP.
Then, only moments ago, I tracked down Bujold's Penric ommibuses in mass pb. After enjoying the first two novellas, I realized that I was not going to pay $4 a shot for however many more she writes. Even the omnibi (what is plural of "omnibus" anyway??????) (a quick Google check shows -buses, -busses, and -bi non-standard) are a tiny bit rip-off-y with #s 1, 2, and 5 in the first volume and #s 3, 4, and 6 in the second. I can just put #5 on my Kindle when I get to it. I'm guessing the mash-up has to do with book length or maybe chronological order as opposed to published order?

Hi there smoochling! I've been cleanin' up my justdoitdammit shelf...got five out. Four all nice and reviewed here, three on my blog as well. Tomorrow, hell or high water, the fifth too!

*preens*

I love getting stuff done at last. One of these I've had since 2015, one since 2018. I blush to think what those publishers have every right to say to me.

GOOD for you, Richard! I'm envious but unmotivated. I have one pretty bad one for ER that I just can't bring myself to read enough for 25 words of comment and one to read for Bellevue AND my Charyn review to finish. Can't do it tonight though. Anyhow, preen away and consider yourself well smooched.

Meanwhile, I realized sometime this afternoon that with shipping, the pb Penric is going to be more costly than the Kindles. (Well, doh.) I've tried to cancel the order, and I'll just have to wait to see whether I left it too late.

Here's serendipity. I got an e-mail from Amazon this morning saying that the independent seller of the Penric omnibus is sold out. Therefore, I don't have to worry about their shipping it before they get word to cancel it. Now I can buy a Pendric on Kindle at my own pace.

>103 LizzieD: I do so love it when Serendipity shoves us toward goals instead of walloping us off track or ramming us backwards. It's a delight to have a Kindle, too.

Amen to both of those sentiments, Richard.

THE GOBLIN EMPEROR by Katherine Addison

An instant new favorite! It would be a 5-star fantasy for me if Addison had chosen a simpler system for names and titles. As it was, I had to keep checking back in the list of characters to be sure I knew who was who. That said, I do love a central character who is a decent human being half-elf/half goblin. At 18 Maia becomes emperor when his father the emperor and the brothers in the succession ahead of him are all killed in an air ship crash. (And how dumb was that to have all of them on the same ship?) Maia has been at court only once (for his mother's funeral), and he has to learn to navigate society and statecraft immediately. He does.

I recommend the book to any lover of feel-good fantasy.

>105 LizzieD: I've heard so much praise for that book that I'll eventually give up and get it.

Still resisting, though...have a happy weekend!

I'm just stopping by to say hi, Peggy. I just finished reading a Mary Stewart, Madam, Will You Talk, which I think you or your mama has read. I saw her name somewhere and decided to revisit her books. This one was totally predictable but fun to read. Enjoy your weekend!

What a lovely surprise to have both Richard and Jan here! Thank you!!!

Richard, do *Maia* when you need something comforting and light.

Jan, I have read *M, WYT?* several times and always enjoy it. You're right. It is totally predictable, but I'm always impressed with how well M. Stewart wrote. *9 Coaches* remains my favorite, but I look forward to rereading many more when I'm in the mood for her.

Right now, I continue to *Wheel*. As Susan (I think) has said, Sanderson does a lot to be grateful for, but the naive, geeky charm of the first books isn't there. Otoh, Nynaeve just crossed her arms under her breasts, but that's the first time in the whole book so far, and I'm 500+ pp in. The only other things that I'm pursuing with any consistency are Up Jumps the Devil, in which we learn a lot more about the Knott family, and Other People's Daughters. I'm currently reading about Claire Clairmont, not strictly within the scope of the book at this point but interesting.

UP JUMPS THE DEVIL by Margaret Maron

This is a decent enough mystery although not one of the best. I like it because Deborah is back home in Colleton County, and we learn more of her back story and meet more of her huge family. We've now met all but three of her eleven brothers. Kidd Chapin appears again, but his 14 year-old daughter is beginning to make trouble in that relationship.

Hi Peggy! I hope you have a great week.

I need to continue with Deborah Knott but am halfway through the 6th Karen Pirie mystery by Val McDermid.

How many more Wheel books do you have to go?

Hi, Karen! Good of you to visit! To my surprise I see that I have the first Karen Pine. It's now on my mental Mt. Bookpile.

I have 2 more *Wheels* when I finish the last nearly 300 pp of this one. I don't think I'll be reading the prequels anytime soon, if ever.

>111 LizzieD: The prequels are underwhelming.

Thanks for the good word, Susan. I have at least one of them on the shelf, but it's never called my name. Glad to see you here!

Happy Humpday, Peggy! I'm so glad that the Judge Knott books keep pleasing you.

It's almost Carolina-hot here today! Up to 80°! *sweatsweatfume*

Hi Peggy.
Like you I am not keeping up on threads. Since nobody can send me to the headmistress' office or make me stay in detention, I'm just ignoring the situation.
I know I'm missing BBs and what all is going on in people's lives, but I think I'll have forgiveness on that front.

I could post my garden photos, of course... but I decided the year after I joined the 75-er group to confine garden pix to my thread toppers only.

I'm reading The Hallowed Hunt right now because I never got around to anything in that 'world' after reading The Curse of Chalion. Then Susan (quondame) got me interested in the Penric and Desdemona books, so this is a sort of catch up and has so admirably suited just what I needed for reading material.

I see you are reading and on the threads so I am guessing all is well with you.

Richard, I missed you here yesterday! Sorry you're experiencing NC spring and hope you're not getting the humidity with the heat. We have at least been making up a rain deficit.

Sandy, thank you for your visit too. You know I'm a - whatever you call somebody who regrets present action but can't change it. Very few thread visits for me!

I'm tickled that you're back in the Chalion world. I love those books and P&D although I haven't read many of them. I will though. Do check out Margaret Maron when you want a good mystery series set in my RL world, pretty much. Off to bed!

Oh! And I'm about to finish *Wheel 12*! I look forward to reading something else SOON!!!!!

>116 LizzieD: We're by the ocean, so humidity is a given, but so is a breeze & that makes it a lot more bearable.

Windless days are rare, but they can be truly unbearable.

*smooch* Spend a splendid weekend!

Thank you kindly, RD, and the same back to you!

>105 LizzieD: I really enjoyed The Goblin Emperor as well, but agree with you about the names. It would have been better if I had been reading a hard copy rather than kindle as it would be easier to flip back to the glossary.

I'm always happy and grateful to see you here, Rhian. I agree about the glossary. I did bookmark it so that it was relatively easy to get to on the Kindle, but finding a name still involved a lot of clicking. Otoh, I'm glad that I could get it at Kindle price.

Tomorrow! Tomorrow, SURELY, I'll finish *Wheel 12* if I get reading time!! Things always pick up near the end. I've just gotten Egwene installed as Amerlyn Seat in the reunited White Tower. That makes me very happy. I was also happy adding a bit of *Overstory*. Richard Powers remains one of my favorite contemporaries. Yep. Pretty good day!

>120 LizzieD: Good luck finishing Wheel 12, Peggy!
I had Wheel 9 planned, but my reading dropped rather much. So now I hope to get to it next month.

Wow, up to 12! I’m stalled after the second. Again. 😀

Hi, Anita. I feel like the Lone Ranger here in my Wheeliness and then am happy to see that there are others on the journey. I'll tell you for free that #10 is the real test. You can't skip it, but it is the worst.

Jim, I can't tell you how many times I've reread 1 and 2, hoping to make it to the end. This time I'm going for it even if it takes another year. 30 pp!

Hi Peggy!

Your persistence is admirable.

I hope you're having a great weekend.

I can't tell if you're stubborn, determined, goal-driven, or just masochistic, Peggy...the entire Wheel of Time.

Probably all, now I think on it...do you follow along the Tor.com readalong of the whole series? I think it began in 1966 or something....

>123 LizzieD: I've read all but the last one at least twice. That last one was, well, not what I was reading them for as it turned out.

Hi, Karen, Richard, and Susan. My husband calls me ADAMANT. The investment in the world is so great that it would be foolish not to finish. Susan, I'm having a hard time seeing how BS is going to stretch the Last Battle over two more gigantic volumes. Oh, me of little faith! (Richard, I do not follow that Tor readalong, but thank you for the link.)

THE GATHERING STORM by Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson

Whew! This one ended in such a good place that I think I'll let the series rest for awhile. Most of the focus is on Rand and Egwene, and I can only guess that #13 catches us up with Perrin, Mat, and Elayne. But not now!!!!!

>127 LizzieD: And now you can! "Pegamantine" clearly needs to be a new word for those who simply will not countenance dropping a series.

I like "Pegamantine," I guess (as much as I liked "Edenatius" {in competition for "Martyr of the Week" back in the college years; the only other name I remember was Blodgycarp.} We thought we were so clever! ((I feel like the young Steven King)) ), but I have quit many mystery series after I bought faster than I read. *Wheel* though is such a complex world.

What I am reading now:

Other People's Daughters Ho! On my current list above!
The Never Open Desert Diner
The Galaxy and the Ground Within

I'd put them on my list here, but I haven't conquered the new way of getting covers copied to a new location. No inclination to try hard either. Bother!

I'm not reading The Overstory, but I want to be. *sigh*

KILLER MARKET by Margaret Maron

MM's mysteries are always good, but this is not one of my favorites. You know how when insane coincidences happen in real life and somebody says, "If this were in a novel, nobody would believe it,"? That's sort of how this novel goes. I simply suspend disbelief and enjoy Deborah in High Point during furniture market week (a BIG DEAL if you aren't aware of it).

I'll be going on to Home Fires as soon as I locate my copy, which isn't where it's supposed to be.

Meanwhile, back to Pinehurst Eye Clinic for another shot tomorrow. I'm out of here!

I have never been to furniture market week in High Point, but of course realize what a big deal it is.

Sorry about the shot, glad about the shot.

Shot is done, and all is swell! We were in rain all the way home - had to pull over once for a deluge to pass.

Off to bed.

THE NEVER-OPEN DESERT DINER by James Anderson

I really, really enjoyed this little novel. It's not feel-good, but it still hit several of my spots. Maybe I am finally coming out of COVID neediness...

Ben Jones is a semi-independent trucker in the Utah desert, specifically making deliveries to the few denizens along highway 117. He is not Mormon; in fact, he is an orphan, maybe half Jewish and half Native American. His world is inhabited by unique characters, who have no need to fit in anywhere or can't, but who live their private lives supported by Ben's deliveries. Ben is a decent human being. Ben is about to lose his truck and business. Then his world is turned upside-down when he meets a woman who lives in the one house that was obviously meant to be the first in a desert housing development. There's a lot of action and also a lot of psychological depth and the sadness and some joy of being human.

Suzanne recommended the book in 2018, and now I do too. I will read the sequel, Lullaby Road soon.

>134 LizzieD: I remember loving that title, finding it on Kindlesale, loading it up...and there it sits. Sounds like something I should finally get to.

>133 LizzieD: Yay for all being well!

Happy-weekend's-reads *smooch*

Many thanks for weekend good wishes, Richard. I do believe that this would be one that you and I agree on. May you also have a happy weekend of reading and maybe more goodness!

Hi, Peggy. I'm just stopping by to say hello. I've just come back from a week in California for a family wedding and haven't been doing much reading. I returned just in time for the heat wave. We have been setting records for heat for the last several days. Thank goodness for AC! Stay well.

Thank you for the visit, Jan. I've wondered about you and wordswordswords and how you are faring in the heat. GLAD you have AC!!!! Hope it plays out soon and that by the time it gets to us, it's moderated somewhat!

Hi Peggy!

I've added The Never-Open Desert Diner to my wish list. Our Library doesn't have it, and I've already bought so many books this year that I can't justify another one quite yet.

Insomnia has struck, and I blame German Chocolate Cake at 7:30. Caffeine usually wires me about 8 hours after consuming it and I woke up around 3, finished the 46th Nero Wolfe mystery, and here I am, at least for a bit.

Gentle hugs to your ma, kind regards to your DH, and many fierce hugs for yourself.

Oh dear, oh dear, dear Karen. I'm sorry that such good things can do such bad things. At least you finished another Nero. We'll maybe trade mystery series: you'll get into Deborah and I'll revisit Nero and Archie. Anyway, I think that *Diner* is worthy of your $ and time when you get to it. As for me, I'm about to polish off those Governesses, and it's high time. I have a cacophony of book voices yelling, "ME! ME! ME! ME NEXT!" I can't wait to see who wins.

OTHER PEOPLE'S DAUGHTERS by Ruth Brandon

Ms. Brandon uses letters and journals of 19th century governesses as the basis of this book. Of necessity, this restricts what she can do to women who were likely more able than the run-of-the- mill governess in a middle class family at the midpoint of the century. The burden of her book is that these women were poorly educated and guaranteed that their students would be poorly educated too, thus perpetuating the prevailing belief that a woman's place suitable to her abilities would be in the home. A sadness is that even the leaders, with few exceptions in what passed for a women's movement, subscribed to the idea that women should be subordinate to men and, "complet(e), sweeten, and embellish the existence of others." (W.R. Greg in "Why are Women Redundant?", 1862)

Governesses led lonely, bitter, precarious lives. My own quarrel with the book is the length of time she spent with Mary Wollstonecraft and her sisters and with Claire Clairmont because I had already read a fair amount about them. She also spends some time with the Codrington vs Codrington divorce case, which Emma Donaghue fictionalized in The Sealed Letter. That aside, this book is well-researched, well written, yet somehow emotionally detached from its subjects. I took an unconscionable amount of time to read it, but I'm glad that I did and glad to be moving on to something else.

Just a note to keep the thread alive here, and I really could do with a new one for summer soon if only I can get a few more posts..........

I'm back into The Overstory. I do love R. Powers, but this one is so intense that I have to leave it every now and then. I'm with Nick, Olivia, and Adam in Mimas under attack by the giant helicopter and feeling every assault .

Here's another post to get you to the next thread, Peggy.

Happy Fourth of July Weekend.

Helping out to get to a new thread.

>142 LizzieD: My that was a long book! Hope that the regular break strategy is helping with the intensity.

>141 LizzieD: Well, doesn't *that* sound grim! And from there to Overstory! Gracious goodness me, your house is not a cheery place just now is it.

Have a lovely Fourth no matter what.

It sounds like you could use a light easy read about now, Peggy. I hope you have a nice fourth. Just a few more posts and you'll be in the new thread zone!

Mustn't let the threads dawdle about!
See you over in the new one soon.

What a treat!!!!! Thank you, Susan, Laura, Richard, Charlotte, Helen, and Karen!!!! Look! I'm almost there!!!!!

I note that I am reading not only The Overstory but also a M. Maron mystery and Bonecrack to catch up with the Francis group. I also make some progress in the latest B. Chambers, The Galaxy and the Ground Within, so all is not completely grim here in Peezerland.

Will this help? I enjoyed the time marooned on the space stop over.

>150 quondame: we must be close, right? Maybe some fireworks will help.



ETA: YES!!!

YES for sure, Laura! Thank you for coming. Thank you too, Susan, for helping twice! I also am happy to spend time with the people at Five-Hop One-Stop, and not one of them human.

I'll do my best to spin a new thread tonight when I get home to find a picture of my own for a topper.

Nope. No new thread tonight. Too late. Too late.

BONECRACK by Dick Francis

This is vintage Francis, and on this reading, one of my favorites. I really enjoy watching a spoiled teen boy being guided into a responsible young man by a stranger. (My favorite Spenser novel does the same thing, and I don't recall the name of it. Will I care enough to look it up?) I reacted more to the deaths of horses on this reading. I never skipped over them, but somehow they hit me harder this time. In any case, I'm off to the Francis thread to comment.

Happy 4th of July, Peggy. I went with my granddaughter to see the fireworks for the first time in a long time. We had a great spot and ooed and ahed in unison. :)

Hi, Beth! Very nice to see you here and happy to know that you and the little one had a satisfying evening of fireworks. Our town didn't do them again this year, but our neighborhood was a live with bangs last night - 2 that sounded like dynamite going off in our back yard. If they had done one more, I think I would have called the police; the house shook!
Tonight is quiet since I guess people have to go back to work tomorrow. (Not me!)

HOME FIRES by Margaret Maron
This is not the best mystery in the series, but I like it for Deborah's straightforward conversations with her black friends about race relations. I've had some of those in my time. As always, I enjoy Deborah at home in the midst of her family and friends, especially as they are now helping her build her own house on one of the farm ponds. It's still my NC!

Hi Peggy!

Looks like we might have 'interesting' weather tomorrow as TD Elsa passes through. Fortunately we had nothing planned, so can hunker down.

One more, Peggy, to help you toward the end!

Hunkered here too, Karen. We had a couple of t'storms today but nothing scary. Enjoy staying in!

Many thanks for the help, Jan! I just can't get myself together enough to find a topper. That's really the hardest part of my starting a new thread.

Hi Peggy, how are you? My Facebook is rebellious, I could see you but it didn't let me answer.

Hi, Diana. I understand that my account has been hacked, but I haven't been able to get home to my account (can't remember the password to check it here) to say so. I'm glad you couldn't respond!

I've popped the Desert Diner onto my WL.

Nice, Lucy! I'm pretty sure you'll be as taken with it as I was.

Meanwhile, I'm reading *Overstory* - I'm sad most of the time. It's hard to see how he can give us an upbeat ending.

>163 LizzieD: I can just see Macfarlane reading that now..."this 'upbeat' wording not familiar is...please it to me explaining?"

Hi, Richard. Now I'm having trouble. Mcfarlane, I know, but I'm not sure where he fits in. R. Powers often leaves this reader satisfied with the outcome of his novels. I'm at the 92% stage, and the trees are disappearing fast (as they are), and the characters are either dead, imprisoned, old/ill and/or in hiding ....... not satisfying. I love Powers and his writing, but I think I may wish that I had read Finding the Mother Tree instead. Suzanne Simard, its author, was the inspiration for RP's Plant Patty. Meanwhile, tonight I read a bit of Cherryh's *Kesrith*. I'm sure I'll join Lucy in loving it.
Happy Weekend, y'all!

Overstory got mashed up with Underland in my brain-like vacuole, apparently. *sigh*

Welcome to my world, Richard. (Sorry) I am eager to read Underland too. I loved and adored The Old Ways and hope to read a lot more of his stuff before my little vacuole signs out.

THE OVERSTORY by Richard Powers

I am a loyal and loving reader of R. Powers. This one will not be among my favorites although I appreciated it and was touched by a large part of it. In fact, I have no idea what I want to say. I mostly don't want to say anything.

Powers is giving us a taste of the criminal insanity of our species that destroys our beautiful home planet righteously. He tells his story through nine characters who mostly find each other through a childhood affinity for trees which becomes more a mystical commitment and life purpose. Powers isn't afraid to tap into mysticism (not the right word, but I don't have the right word), and I didn't particularly love it either here or in Plowing the Dark. I think that what he ends up saying is that earth will endure and will regenerate over the coming millennia; humans won't.

At least it's not this kind of thing...... When my theology class read Martin Buber's I and Thou, one of the flakier members of the class came by the professors office burbling, "Oh, Dr. Wright! I just had an I/Thou experience with that tree.

Hi Peggy!

>168 LizzieD: Some books just get read and we're done with them.

>168 LizzieD: Re: anecdote...oh dear

Hi, Karen and Richard! Talk about an inadequate response to a book - I gave it, nor can I do better.

>168 LizzieD: I also had a hard time putting my experience with Overstory in words, Peggy. I loved it a bit more than you did and ended up saying "Great book about trees, people, earth, reminded me a bit of Barkskins."