Sandy's 2021 Reading Odyssey ~ #3 ~

I'm ready to move into the Merry Month of May. We are emerging from the threat of serious snows and possibly some rain. Saskatchewan is in serious drought-mode, so whatever moisture appears in our region is welcome.

To brighten my day, I was thrilled to little mint balls by having won an Early Reviewers book:

The Rock from the Sky!

Oh Frabjous Day, I adore the Jon Klassen stories. Those who read to children are bound to enjoy this one. The story appears to be somewhat like the Hat trilogy, a huge favourite in our family.

So my "win" is a great start to thread #3.

Here's a record of my APRIL reading:

1. Elly Griffiths ~ The Postscript Murders ~
2. CS Harris ~ What the Devil Knows ~
3. Wendy Mass ~ Bob ~
4. Nev March ~ Murder in Old Bombay ~
5. Jane Harper ~ The Survivors ~
6. A. M. Stuart ~ Singapore Sapphire ~
7. Jane Harper ~ The Dry ~
8. Bel Kaufman ~ Up the Down Staircase (rapid dip & skim; not rated)
9. A. M. Stuart ~ Revenge in Rubies ~
10. Marija A. Gimbutas ~ The Language of the Goddess ~

Currently reading

Frivolous, escapist reading ~
~ Psychic Eye Mystery Series, Book 2, Victoria Laurie.

Still soldiering through ~
~A Winter in Arabia.
This one is slow-going for my rather pedantic inclination to unfold huge (48 x 36 inch) maps of Saudi Arabia so I can understand the geography of places travelled. I am enjoying the travelogue but realize that the book is unlikely to be a widely-appealing narrative.

Book review (finished 2), so more to come here.

Hi Sandy! Happy new thread, and congrats on winning an ER book from an author you love so much.

thrilled to little mint balls i love this phrase.

>4 SandyAMcPherson: Hi Karen. Welcome and so 💖 heart-warming 💜 to see you here.

That 'little mint balls' saying was an enjoyable phrase a very good colleague of mine used. She would say "chuffed to little mint balls" when an experiment provided good data (in the lab I supervised).

I had to ask what chuffed meant. I think it is a very British phrase. She was from Scotland and I miss her greatly since she doesn't live in Canada now.

Happy number three, Sandy.

Great to start a thread with a book win!

Happy new thread, Sandy!

Happy new one!

Happy new thread!

Starred, and following!

Happy new thread, Sandy!

Klassen is a favorite here, too.

Greetings to Paul, Shelley, Jim, Susan, fuzzi and Amber. So nice to see that you're keeping my thread warm.

I'm not a "reading machine" this year. Trying for the life-work balance type of thing. In this case, it is more of a need to fulfill the obligations I initiated last year. Our family is rather spread out in a global sense. As the elders pass away or have to move into care, I seem to have been 'appointed' to the role of "archivist".

The good news (for me) is that I've found two archives where I can donate the greater part of the historical material. There were photographs and other papers and letters of interest plus all my father's wartime-related materials.

It's strange, isn't it, how we accumulate so much "stuff" and then as the previous generations pass away, the memories become second- and third-hand, ultimately becoming memories of people you didn't really know. I wanted to draw a line in the sand because the physical burden of preservation is too much. It's a case of specialized storage and lending meaning to the accumulated family archive.

It takes an amazing amount of consultation (some family members care too much to let things go and then discover, oh yeah, I don't look at this stuff); others send me boxes of old documents and little explanation of the relevance.
Then there's a lot of back and forth with various curators who manage Special Collections in Archives.

This is really satisfying to us all ~ finally 80% of the paper ephemera is donated, although staff at one repository are still in a WFH situation, so I have to wait on sending anything.

I took this opportunity here this morning on LT to clarify what is keeping my attention otherwise involved. I do flit around and read many threads, just not posting much.

I'll post some "lightening reviews" later today, of the April books plus a book in May just finished last night (finally!).

Happy new thread Sandy. You sound busy!

>14 mdoris: Hi Mary. Indeed, for a retired person, I now wonder how I ever managed to find the time to do anything else beside the Daily Grind.

It's amazing what one accomplishes when it Must Be Done, innit?

Happy new Rock from the Sky! I mean, thread.

>16 richardderus: The Must Be Done syndrome is how I got through grade school.
You know? Sunday night and a book report or an essay was due on Monday?
I shudder remembering all the term papers at Uni I kept putting off until the final week before they were due.

I hated assigned topics. God bless the profs who put up a sign up sheet for topics (usually limiting only two or three students per title).

I'm still a "put it off, I'd rather (____ fill in blank) than sort old paperwork and photographs". You got me pegged for sure, boyo!

An abbreviated review of my recent reading:

April reading
~ Up the Down Staircase
gallows humour, truly dysfunctional school administration, truth in fiction. Unrated (out of fairness to a vintage novel I've outgrown).

~ Revenge in Rubies
historical fiction, British army life, mystery with attendant intelligent woman as amateur sleuth. 3½***

~ The Language of the Goddess
insightful interpretation (pottery) overly speculative, neolithic/pre-Christian eras, archaeology. 3***

May reading
~ Better Read Than Dead
chick lit, amateurish writing, two-dimensional characters, predictable plot. 2**

I am so cynical about speculative archaeology and anthropology now...I just mentally class it as fiction and go on with my life!

First May read sounds like a TV-equivalent experience.

Onward and upward to better "no, I don't fancy that complex task, I'll just read" books!

>19 richardderus: Agreed. My reading has certainly fluctuated between genre-enthusiasm and topics.

I waded into deep water with undercurrents when I tackled Gimbutas' tome. I sure didn't read it thoroughly. I did a lot of that dip & skim. I'm glad to have had a go at it though.

If nothing else, when I hear someone extolling all this new-age hand-embroidery symbolism (yes, it is out there), I'll know they're away with the fairies (as I said on the review for the book's main review page).

>17 SandyAMcPherson: I hated assigned topics.
As a prof, I don't like them either, mostly because they result in stilted, unimaginative papers/essays. Over the years I've discovered that if I leave the topics wide open, there's a much better chance of getting papers that are much better written and much more interesting to read. It turns out that if you let students write about what they're actually interested in, the whole thing works much better...Shocking, right?

>17 SandyAMcPherson: and >21 scaifea: And yet, given that so many of us have or will work in jobs that aren't always perfect and will have to do things in those jobs we don't actually jump up and down about having to do, I think that the discipline of having to buckle down and apply oneself and produce something good about something one doesn't care about is a good life experience.

>22 karenmarie: Well, I'll leave that for other professors to endure.

>21 scaifea:, >22 karenmarie: I'm with Amber on this one.
Students aren't yet employees and need to learn how to write, as well as how to research a topic and develop the theme for the topic.

Although Amber recommended "leave the topics wide open", it wouldn't mean that students could literally write about *anything*, the essay would be relegated to a subject area.

I know what you meant, Karen. In a workplace one has to write reports and cover b-o-r-ing subject matter, but that's the adult world of employment and by then (one hopes) some maturity has set in.

Having said that, in my experience students may also discover something unexpectedly different in workplace culture that differs widely from expectations at university, so no matter assigned topics or not, the daily grind is going to be something to get used to.

Thanks for stopping by to expand on my comment about 'must be done'.

Happy new thread!

An Abandoned read...

~ Ben Macintyre

Yeah, I know. Sad isn't it, when someone doesn't finish a Ben Macintyre? He's such a good historian, meticulously researching his topic, citing the sources. And best of all, Macintyre is so readable, a great writer.

Kim Philby was quite the topic with the adults around our dinner table when I was a kid. In the 1950's, wartime experience was still very fresh for my parents. Much discussion was bounced around at dinner parties and afternoon drinks gatherings. "Us kids" were always fascinated, listening in on this adult conversation,

When I started reading 1960's spy novels, I found the references to Philby a bit obscure, so I read some early accounts. When Anthony Blunt was disgraced by Thatcher 'outing' him, even more accounts of the Cambridge Five appeared.

These preface remarks are by way of saying, yes, I did know what I was getting into by reading A Spy Among Friends. What I hadn't realised was that Macintyre's writing would paint such an evocative picture of the day. This was a Britain where "I knew his people" (Valentine Vivian, deputy chief, MI6) sufficed to lift the veil of suspicion from Philby. I was repeatedly devastated by the evident lack of unbiased, critical evaluation which led to so many disastrous intelligence operations. By the close of Chapter 16, I laid the book aside. Maybe I'll read it further some year. Maybe other books will call to me instead. Maybe the pandemic will go away and I'll not feel so easily overcome. Maybe Hell will freeze over. Whatever, let me say: Macintyre is one splendid author!

>26 SandyAMcPherson: Heh, that stuff is best a arms length. With a long spoon. I like Tim Powers riff on Philby in Declare.

>25 foggidawn: Hi Foggi! How's chainsaw man?

>27 quondame: Hi Susan. Yes, a long spoon or not at all.
I haven't read any Tim Powers. I know you've suggested him as a "good read" awhile back. It was for The Anubis Gates wasn't it? I looked at his book list and that was the only familiar title.

>28 SandyAMcPherson: Powers does urban fantasy in a way all his own - and this includes historical periods for his first two The Drawing of the Dark about the Turkish invasion of Austria and The Anubis Gates about a dark underworld Regency London. The Anubis Gates has some screamingly funny bits as everything adds up to a sort of cascade of elements. After those two he's mostly in the 20th/21st century, well, his own versions of them anyway.

Happy New Thread, Sandy. Yep, a little late to this party but I am back and slowly catching up on the threads. I loved A Spy Among Friends. I hope you can return to it someday.

>28 SandyAMcPherson: Chainsaw Boyfriend is good -- working a lot, but I am going to see him this weekend!

Somehow May 12 has arrived. I wasn't looking...
The garden is doing okay (please send rain) and my seasonal allergies are mostly responding to the prescription stuff (also, please send rain) (the air is *full* of pollen and fine dirt).

I have been reading but abandoning. 'Nuff said. I think my patience with books that don't draw me in fairly quickly are just not my jam right now.

I received Jon Klassen's The Rock from the Sky storybook yesterday. Despite my wild enthusiasm for Klassen's books (The Hat Trilogy is brilliant), this one was a total clunker. I was really disappointed. Review is on the book page, but not worth posting on Talk.

Thanks for the visits, Susan, Mark and Foggi.

I sure could have used Mark peering into our back garden last week. We had a very distinctive small thrush-sized bird. It almost looked like a Hermit thrush, but the necklet feathers were very pronounced and the rest of the lower body was buff with no speckles. It was very easily spooked so I never had a hope of taking a photo.

Hi Sandy.

Sorry that your reading is ending up in abandoning books. I do hope you find something worth finishing soon.

>32 SandyAMcPherson: Perhaps it was a Veery thrush? Their spotting is indistinct below. Or a Rock Wren?

The juveniles are often confusing, don't have the adult markings yet.

Here's a nifty site I found while searching: http://www.saskbirder.com/

Good goddesses it's darn near halfway through May in a year I never expected to live to see.

Two duds in a row isn't happy-making, either.

More better sooner.

>33 karenmarie: Hi Karen.
Well, happy days ahead in the reading, Blind Justice is here from a library request. How fun is that?!

>34 fuzzi: The local, neighbourly birdie person tells me it was likely a young Swainson's thrush. You're correct, that juvies complicate identification, though.

>35 richardderus: Hi RD, while a couple dud-reads are disappointing when I want escape reading, I always have a few books on my own shelves that can save the day.

The library holds that sat (with my being about 20th or more in the queue) suddenly started showing up as 'ready to borrow'. I betcha this cascade is related to the local gardening frenzy taking off.

I my-own-self spend a lot of the day outside puttering around and admiring the sprouting herbaceous perennials. Which explains no doubt, why I then have itchy eyes and a runny nose later in the day.

>36 SandyAMcPherson: nice. I've not seen a Swainson's.

I hope you are finding books that are more to your liking, Sandy. Enjoy your time outdoors!

I checked what Bujold you'd read and your reviews - I think you might want to try Paladin of Souls next, as it introduces an aspect that is of key importance in Penric, though that's not necessary.

Also, the Vorkosigan books change tone somewhat as Miles career progresses (or regresses). In some ways Mirror Dance does highlight aspects you mentioned as problematical and to a lesser extent the next one Memory, but both are excellent and the rewards are substantial, as well as the absolute romp that is A Civil Campaign.

>39 quondame: Thanks, Susan.
I went to add Paladin of Souls to my WL on my local public library website and yup, already had it there. I think I had added it after reading The Curse of Chalion. Probably after your original recommendation when I loved C of C so much! I put P of S on my TBR-N (to be requested-next) list. I have 3 requests in my queue and just suspended a 4th while I finish a Tom Holt book.

Vorkosigan books ... I got off to a bad start with those. So far I am not beguiled with the space-age, alien or off-world books. I know you love them. I have so many others that call for my attention. But I appreciate your enthusiam and recommendations.

>40 SandyAMcPherson: Oh, I got a bit hung up that you mentioned aliens and Vorkosigan in the same paragraph, since what Bujold is mostly playing with, both in Five Gods and Vorkosiverse is what people are like in situations she can imagine. While the space opera elements are well enough done, I always felt her emphasis is on human limits and possibilities even when the humans are modded or god enhanced divergent. But then I grew up on a mixed and mulched diet of F and SF and like them both as long as there are people I can get inside.

It's very quiet here. I do hope you have found interesting things to engage you these days.

Hi Sandy!

I hope you're doing well and enjoying your gardening, reading, and etc. time.

Hey Sandy. It's summer. You need to come out of your hibernation now.

*smooch*

>42 quondame:, >43 karenmarie:, >44 richardderus: ~ Thank you for leaving messages. I'm grateful to see my LT-friends dropped by and let me know you were here.

I have wandered through your threads, as well as a number of others, but couldn't get motivated to write anything because my thoughts were just not focused on books or even doing much reading.

Have you read Spinning Silver? That's what it has been like here → spring showed up for a few days and then it was snowing and no sunshine; cold, frosty overnights and blighted gardens. You'll wonder why we live in such an extreme climate! I wonder if Ms. Novik took a writing retreat trip to Saskatchewan to plot her novel?

Added on to this miserable May, just really crummy news of a friend having a pancreatic cancer diagnosis. I've known her since we were in Grade 1 together. I would find it distressing no matter what, but I'm here and she's thousands of kilometres away, there. This same scenario hit me last year as well. A similarly long-long time friend became ill and her death last last year (in May) meant I never had any last farewells or conversations and visits. So ~ a bit of a heavy trip to lay out but I did draw comfort from the light-hearted banter and the lovely snarky observations on life, books and the state of your lives. May is so not a favourite month just now.

Before the end of the month, I'll put together a little synopsis of my reading that I did manage to soldier through. Some were meh, one was lukewarm and one was a 5* bonanza of adventure and amusement. 😘

>45 SandyAMcPherson: Good to hear from you. I read Spinning Silver but details of the weather didn't stick with me.

I'm so very sorry that you have to face the loss of yet another friend. I do hope she will be one of the luck few to fight it off more than temporarily. These days can be so difficult.

Hi Sandy, I'm really happy to see you here but so sorry to hear about your friend's illness. As always, don't feel obligated to engage in our lighthearted bookish banter. It's totally fine to simply absorb the good feelings that come from lurking.

I look forward to reading about your 5* bonanza!

Hi Sandy.

Ah, I'm sorry to hear about your friend's pancreatic cancer diagnosis. And the death last year of another dear friend.

As Laura says, don't feel obligated to engage in our lighthearted bookish banter. It's totally fine to simply absorb the good feelings that come from lurking.

*long-distance hugs*

>45 SandyAMcPherson: If you also have an evil-but-handsome frost king lurking around your house, pm me your address and I'll be there ASAP...

Also, I'm so sorry that you're grieving for your friend's news. *hugs*

Sandy!! My spring is not as tough as yours, weather is up and down, but milder. I've had some losses and some complications that have made hanging about on LT impossible. I'm so sorry to hear about your friend. If you were down here you could go and see her now. So unfair! Good job too dealing with the family archive. That's a lot of work.

Everything in my immediate circle of family and pets is ok, that's the main thing.

I, too, keep dropping books. Well, the occasional book. What I seem to do most often these days is let some books languish (yuh, the tougher ones) while I obsessively read the escapist ones. Sigh. Every now and then I get it together for a few days but then all that disintegrates and I'm back to knitting and light reading. Not sure what this is about. On the other hand I didn't work at all for several months (at revising an already written novel) so . . . maybe I am getting somewhere.

Love the Novik weather comparison -- that was the hit of Christmas around here this year, everyone wanting a grab at it!

>45 SandyAMcPherson: Oh that rots on ice, Sandy, I'm so sad with you for this crappy news.

Whatever it takes to manage the feelings, you do with all of our understanding.

*smooch*

I'm sorry to hear the bad news.

Cherish the good time you have with people while you have them.

Thanks everyone for dropping some comforts off. Much appreciated.

On Saturday, we heard through the grapevine that Pfizer Dose 2 immunizations were available at the drive-thru facility set up on our exhibition grounds.

So Sunday morning we got in a a line-up at 6:40 a.m. (some folks apparently arrived at 04:30!). The clinic opened at 08:30 and we were done and dusted, back home by 09:30.

Today, about +30 hours, I now know --> woah, wiped out by the jab all without warning. So I will do a round up of May reading, such as it was, and then lie low again.

Heh. What a month, but at least there was vaccine available (the staff closed the line up about the time we arrived home, so many cars had arrived in a massive onslaught that were enough to use all the day's vaccine available).

>53 SandyAMcPherson: What a month indeed! My daughter, 41 on Friday, was at the beach with her kids over the weekend...her oldest son announced she was to be a grandmother by early December.

Which means I shall be a GREAT-grandfather.

*eep*

Imma go lie down a while

The May round up of books: brief commentary with some snarks → because tastes vary and I'm not always captivated...

1~ ~2~ ~3~ ~4~ ~5~

~6~ ~7~ ~

1. Victoria Laurie ~ Better Read than Dead ~
• amateurish writing; weak female lead • one box ticked (clairvoyant tarot-card reader helping police)

2. Tom Holt ~ The Portable Door ~
• pithy little vignettes relieved a glacial plot • next to no engaging characters

3. Jon Klassen ~ The Rock from the Sky ~
• utterly bizarre plot (was there even a theme?) • kids will be bored silly • Klassen can do better than this!

4. Ben Mcintyre ~ A Spy Among Friends
• no rating; DNF • Philby was such an amoral, utterly corrupt person*

5. Freya Stark ~ A Winter in Arabia ~
• excellent vignettes of the Hadhramaut and its people • snarky caricatures of travelling companions

6. Lois McMaster Bujold ~ Penric's Progress ~
• adventure and magical action written with great finesse (3 novellas sequentially combined) • likeable characters and enchanting demons

7. Louise Miller ~ The Late Bloomers' Club ~
• cardboard-character stereotypes • wordy-overly repetitive writing style • tedious, selfish family dysfunction

*Some more thoughts on Macintyre about Kim Philby.

I'm glad you've gotten your second dose, Sandy, sorry that you had such a strong reaction to it.

And at least you had one 5* read for May!

>54 richardderus: So, how long did you have to lie down? Or was it actually a swoon?

>56 karenmarie: Hello Karen, I didn't mind exploring those other titles. They'd been on my BB list for awhile and at least I satisfied my curiosity.

I would have liked to spend more time with Freya Stark's adventures. She wrote of the people along the way so eloquently (library loan, and I raced through the last third of the book because I ran out of renewals). I have a 'want' registered at the used books shop for the title. It does turn up from time to time. I stipulated only that it was to be a hard cover copy with decently reproduced illustrations.

We went from snow on May 22 and frosty nights to a heat wave that culminated in a 36 oC high on Tuesday and nearly as hot on Wednesday! Yesterday it was all thunder showery, so I guess June is officially on target for the roller-coaster weather.

I'm reading the last of the Penric and Desdemona escapades ~ Penric's Travels. The 3 novellas (the last one being The Prisoner of Limnos) feel very 5*-ish, even if simply rollicking tales of medieval politics and sorcerous hijinks. Matches my reading needs these days.

>57 SandyAMcPherson: Lois McMaster Bujold gets my vote no matter the genre she's working in. Her stories are deeply humane and always come out on the side of the best person getting the best result...eventually.

Enjoy your week-ahead's reads!

>57 SandyAMcPherson: - Hi Sandy. Yep, pretty much the same here in Ontario. Snow on May 23, then a few days of perfect weather (in my opinion) low 20s, then the heat hit us yesterday. Today we hit 35C I think, feeling closer to 40C of course because of the humidex, with more of the same tomorrow. The only thing you had that we didn't was the rain. We had a day of it, hardly enough. I feel so badly for farmers. As it is, my little garden is thirsty. I am only going outside to water, until this heat breaks. I truly hate this weather.

>58 richardderus: Thanks, Richard. I have really enjoyed my reading this past week.
I'm still happily working my way through Bujold adventures.

Our PL (and Overdrive e-books) do not have some of the Penric and Des novels (Masquerade in Lodi, The Orphans of Raspay, The Physicians of Vilnoc or The Assassins of Thasalon (which just was released somewhere, 2021-05-10, but not in Canada as far as I can tell). Maybe I'll just *buy* the whole series and have them available for re-reading when I need to escape current realities!

>59 jessibud2: Hi Shelley. The weather moved to over 30 oC really fast but has settled back (here) to lovely June drizzles and everything greening up beautifully. I like the cooler days but of course feel anxious about the rather cold nights. We planted out the tomato, squash and cucumber plants started indoors and those don't thrive at 8 degrees very well.

I've not visited the threads very much this year and definitely can't keep up, so I quit trying... just lurk through when time allows. I'm really focused on being active out of doors as much as possible. Helps so much with our self-imposed isolation during this pandemic. Too many people in our province are anti-vaxxers and not wearing masks.

Hi Sandy. It looks like our tropical weather may be breaking. We had some rain yesterday (though not nearly enough) and while it's still hot, the humidity is down and that makes a big difference. So many of my plants are burning. :-(

My reading is in fits and starts lately. Oh well.

We are set to begin stage one of opening up here in Ontario tomorrow. I am a bit nervous but I will just be selective about where I go and if there are too many people, I just won't. The best news for me is that I am set to get my second shot this afternoon, way ahead of my original date of August 8 that was scheduled. As for masks, I won't be ditching mine any time soon. Even after total open up (if we ever get to that), I think I will just feel safer wearing a mask. Especially around others who aren't.

I hope to get back to walking and other outdoor stuff once this disgusting weather allows me to. Yesterday morning, it was so hot and heavy, I found it difficult breathing. I basically have been going out just to water the gardens.

>62 jessibud2: And people give us a hard time about our prairie climate!
I love our summers here. They really are glorious ~ I can't abide the humidity of Eastern Canada. I fully agree our winters are too long, but then I grew up on Vancouver Island, so no surprise there.

I also will be wearing a mask for the foreseeable future. How ever did we arrive at a society that rejects the common sense of immunizations for such dastardly diseases? Do folks really forget the horrors of measles? Of polio? Smallpox? I am a believer in requiring all children of school age to be inoculated before kindergarten admission.

>57 SandyAMcPherson: For Bujold adventures in a completely different world there is The Sharing Knife quartet of novels and a novella based loosely on North American geography but nothing like real history - it is deliberately anti-epic fantasy and alas, what is Canada in our world is an area that has had some very harsh experiences.

Now I'm stopping by in return. I've turned hopeless about following threads mainly because I can't seem to manage my time well enough to do even half of what I hope to every day and that includes urgent things . . .

I'm thinking you might enjoy the Paul O. Williams series I read last year. Very imaginative but also very down to earth, I really loved them. All available as E-books.

Hi Lucy. Nice to see you. I was just blathering over on your thread about umm, (whisper) ticks.

I am an acknowledged non-reader of Sci-fi. But thanks for the PO Williams suggestion. I didn't recognize any specific titles so maybe there's other genre in the list. My bestie here in town devours Sci-Fi and I've seen Williams' titles around her place.

Halfway through the month and I wanted to post about an enjoyable book-research project just completed.

Kid's fascination with building "things that work" is legion, so we weren't surprised to discover that our grandchildren imaginatively utilize cardboard-anything in their play. With summer looming and day camps being very chancy, we wanted to send a summer parcel to contribute to constructive activities ~ hence I undertook to read through over half-a-dozen books from our library system.

Most books were rather boring and didn't really address the STEM* aspects which happen to really engage our family, the parents included.

Here's the top winner ~

Cardboard Box Engineering
Subtitle: Cool, Inventive Projects for Tinkerers, Makers & Future Scientists (Jonathan Adolph, 2020)

After evaluating publications in the area of creative cardboard construction projects, Jonathan Adolph's book is a standout. It is the only one that ticked all the necessary boxes: ✔︎scientifically interesting, ✔︎do-able without complex resources, ✔︎informative background and ✔︎engagingly clear directions.

Many books in this subject area are boring crafts projects, catering more to busy-work handicrafts at a rather junior level. Adolph's book will capture kids' interest at the junior to the young end of YA level and maybe even prompt older kid's to explore some of the more advanced engineered applications mentioned. Short background histories of the original inventors added an educational dimension that was fresh, factually relevant material.

The projects result in constructions which generate an extended imaginative play value. In the less satisfactory publications, we found most projects largely resulted in a "now what" situation or were too uninteresting to even consider. Sometimes not all the suggestions in a book will have successful outcomes to follow on afterwards, but Adolph's selection of activities had by far the best engagement potential and scored the highest level of enthusiasm in the 7- to 11-year old range.

*Science Technology Engineering Mathematics

>67 SandyAMcPherson: Yay for *usable* projects! I'm always puzzled when the end result of Making a Thing is that...you have a Thing. That just sits there and Is.

(Not a big knick-knackerer, me.)

>68 richardderus: Thanks for that awareness, Richard.
I'm not a fan of the "Making a Thing" results in, ...now you have a Thing. If that was the object, to have a whatever item to posses, it would have to be functional in the long term or a 'thing of beauty'. In my world, cardboard whazits are never going to be in either category.

The LD made a Tardis out of cardboard and many many other marvelous items over the years . . . We are great fans of cardboard construction.

What is 'LD' Lucy?

So it's July and I didn't make it here to review anything.
Just to update my valued friends on LT, and apologies because I don't want to ruin anybody in a happy mindset, but this is a rather sad time in our family.

You may have heard that Western Canada has been under tremendous heat stress? Temps running into the mid to high 40's in locales that usually don't see such extreme heat particularly in June.

You've possibly seen reports in the USA, of the 'heat dome' in the Pacific northwest, so that's what has happened. In BC, at least 486 people died suddenly over the past five days. Two of my cousins were prostrated by this phenomenon and one has died. The other is on life support in a Surrey hospital. These were very close cousins and we shared a happy childhood.

Anyway, my mind seems all to pieces and I seem ridiculously distracted. I know you'll understand and possibly keep my thread 'warm'. I'm probably going down to the lower mainland for a week or two. I'll not be taking my computer.

I'll pop round to everyone's threads but likely just to see the news. Be well and promise me that you'll drink lots of water! 💖💖💖

{{Sandy}}. Heartbreaking and sending condolences your way. Climate change is here and it is so difficult, isn't it?

Be well, stay safe, take care of you...

>72 SandyAMcPherson: Oh, how dreadful, Sandy. I'm so sorry to learn of the losses.

You take care of you, and come back when you can.

>72 SandyAMcPherson: I'm so sorry for your loss, Sandy. I hope your cousin in hospital recovers. *hugs*

I am so very sorry, Sandy. I'm keeping you and your family in my thoughts and hoping for the best. Take care, friend.

Sandy, may you find grace and peace in this time of loss.

Oh no! That's just devastating. I'm so sorry about your cousins and hope the one recovers.

Sandy, I'm so sorry for your loss.

Edited to correct spelling (darn typing on a phone...)

*hugs* I'm so sorry, Sandy. I'll be keeping you in my thoughts, friend.

Sandy that is such sad and hard family news. Take care!

>72 SandyAMcPherson: So sorry to hear that Sandy.

I am so sorry for your loss.

Dear All,
Thank you for the very kind wishes and for leaving comments. You have probably wondered if I read them or if your leaving a remark helped...

Indeed, I read everything (when I could) and I am so grateful for the sentiments you left here. They may be commonplace expressions, but when one is struggling to make sense of the events such as my family faced, I was very much comforted. Thank you again.

I've read at least 5 books in June and 3 so far in July. I need to write my reviews and some I will share here soon. I noticed that I've already started to lose the high points I wanted to mention so I must make this a priority. Mostly decent stories and one interesting non-fiction.

>84 SandyAMcPherson: Welcome back and good luck getting through the reviews!

>85 quondame: Hi Susan. We cross-posted.... you've supplied me with some potential book-bullets.

Welcome back, Sandy.

Sandy, I'm just getting caught up and am so sorry about your cousins. I hope the cousin on life support is on the road to recovery.

{{hugs}}

>84 SandyAMcPherson: That's the hellish thing about not getting to the reviews, isn't it..."now why was I so over-the-moon about this again...?"

A quick flip and you'll get most of it back, though, if you're like I am and all it takes is a bit of a nudge.

>72 SandyAMcPherson: I am just seeing this sad news, Sandy, since I haven't been by in awhile. My deepest condolences for the loss of your beloved cousin. I hope the second cousin is recovering. Wishing the best for you.

So sorry to see that your family members were among the people prostrated by the heat in BC, Sandy. There were 777 people lost in the unprecedented heat wave, many of them seniors who lived alone.

Hi Sandy! Weekly welfare check.

I haven't been here in a little over two weeks, so I did not see your news about your cousins. I am so so sorry -- we are so unprepared for what is happening in every way, both emotionally and in practical direct ways.

Thinking of you - - -

Gosh, I blink, and 11 days have gone by.

I hope you're hanging in there.

*hugs*

Well you darlings! Laura, Karen, Mark, Meg, Richard, Lucy, and earlier, Rhian and Foggi. Thank you for the dropping by to see how we're managing with our family drama.

I am back in town and here, to let it be known that my cousin is back in her home as of today. I could not do much in a personal sense, as I was too newly second-dose vaccinated, but there was the bureaucracy to deal with, due to the lack of a will for the cousin who didn't make it.

Apologies if I missed important events on your threads. I know I'm so far behind that I'll have to just accept that skimming the end of June and then the looming end of July will at least update me on your reading.

Reading: I agree fully with >89 richardderus: that I may have lost the high points in my book reviews but I'll note a list of titles just to satisfy my quirky detailed mindset.

I hesitated to rate the books → this point in time is so strange, distracting anxieties over viral pandemics, poor political management of same, and then resounding evidence of the effects in accelerated climate change.

But I did award stars knowing that my reading has been skewed ever since this crazy pandemic was declared and we went into severe isolation.

So going back to JUNE~

1. Sara Rosett ~ An Old Money Murder in Mayfair ~
A fun romp, engaging characters; murder mystery aspect ruined with a clumsy plot.

2. Lois McMaster Bujold ~ Penric's Travels ~
Adored Prenric's Progress (reviewed in May) and this sequel (3 novellas together for 'Travels') was just as enchanting and easy to enjoy.

3. Lois McMaster Bujold ~The Hallowed Hunt ~
Disappointed in the writing style; the plot and characters' roles in action often baffling; after awhile, I just didn't feel engaged with the story.

4.Lois McMaster Bujold ~ Paladin of Souls ~
Well-plotted and character development intriguing. High adventure, although not very subtle management of the mechanics.

5. Jonathan Adolph ~ Cardboard Box Engineering ~
For anyone who likes construction projects with kids. More fully reviewed at >67 SandyAMcPherson:.

A swift overview of my July reading so far.
This will remind me that I haven't posted reviews on the book pages.

JULY
1.
Charlie Mackesy ~ The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse ~
Likeable philosophical commentary; whimsical artwork to illustrate the story; very esoteric as a children's book; went on too long for my taste; BB from Linda (laytonwoman3rd), who appears to like cake as much as I do and wrote a great review.

2.
Cate Glass ~ An Illusion of Thieves ~
Wonderful writing in a fantasy genre that felt very historical; excellent plot and well-developed characters. BB from Susan (quondame).

3.
Cate Glass ~ A Conjuring of Assassins ~
Storyline begun in Book 1 (An Illusion of Thieves). Not quite as well plotted and some very strange situations which are not resolved and guessing not a lead into the next book (A Summoning of Demons, either).

4.
Elly Griffiths ~ The Night Hawks ~
Ruth and her complex life, academically and romantically, wobbles on. Not as engaging as previous sagas. Cathbad is still my favourite character.

5.
Barnhill, Kelly ~ The Girl Who Drank the Moon ~
For a Newbery award book, this somewhat mythopoeic plot was very strange (not a children's genre, IMHO). Luna and Antain engaging characters. The novel's concept was excellent, but the story drags on too much.

6.
Emily Tesh ~ Drowned Country ~
Lacked the vibrancy and mythological atmosphere of Silver in the Wood. The prose seemed to drag out every detail and the cohesion between all the players was superficial; perhaps I just didn't like how Tobias was portrayed in this sequel.

It's good to see you back and to know you cousin is out of the hospital.

Mike is back in the hospital due to his knee being infected at the surgical site and is likely to be there for at least the weekend.

ADD: I see we cross posted!

Great to see you Sandy, and see what you've been reading. I'm very happy to hear your cousin is back home. I recently picked up The Night Hawks from the library and will start it once I finish my current book. I'm glad you enjoyed it, even if it wasn't one of your faves.

>98 quondame: Yeah, we did cross-post but I'm okay with that. I hope Mike's knee is clearing up. Kind of scary that it got infected. Hopefully the day of the week and time isn't surgically risky.

>99 lauralkeet: Hi Laura. Thanks for your kind thoughts about my cousin. Those childhood bonds are strong!

I hope you enjoy the latest Elly G novel. I think I'm kind of burned out with the theme. But addicted, you know?

>100 SandyAMcPherson: Oh yes, I do know, Sandy. I had that experience recently with the Sandhamn Murders series. I was annoyed by some aspects of the most recent book, but I'm so invested in the stories of the recurring characters that I'm pretty sure I'll read the next one when it comes out next year.

>101 lauralkeet: I think it is the comfort aspect in this time of isolation and not-normal socializing (leading us onwards in following novel series).

I kept reading the continuing stories about Sebastian St. Cyr (by CS Harris) for the same reason. They're not as fresh and engaging anymore, but I do find Elly's Ruth Galloway sequels still draw me in. I think it's her ability to 'paint' such an atmospheric narrative.

>100 SandyAMcPherson: He said he'd rather have a surgeon who stayed up past 3AM to make sure the site was clean than one who was comfortable waiting for tomorrow, and I can see the point.

>103 quondame: I agree. I caught up on the saga over on your thread, Susan. Prognosis looking good ~ hospital stays are so difficult, too (and $$$)!

I wrote a longer review on the book page for Cate Glass' Illusion of Thieves and hit "save review". Navigated away and then saw that my review was not apparent. Arggh!

>104 SandyAMcPherson: I could see your review of Illusion of Thieves, Sandy.

>105 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita, I am glad you could see it.
I did have to rewrite it and funnily (weirdly), I think it was an improved comment on the novel (compared to the first write up I posted).

>104 SandyAMcPherson: Mike might be free as early as tomorrow. He's really must be improving if he admits as much himself. He put off requesting the knee replacement until he was on Medicare. The last insurance he had did not cover his long time physician's practice, so he basically kept up his medications and held out til 65. So he's back with the practice he's been with pretty much as long as we've been married, though I left to go to Kaiser. We'll see what the bills are like soon, I suspect.

>107 quondame: Great to have this update, though the prospect of American hospital bills puts a pall over rejoicing. All best wishes for sure.

Finally posted my expanded book reviews on the book pages. This feels more like my normal self. I do love writing these posts to remind me what I've read and thought about the story.

To reward myself for such an achievement in actually remembering some highlights, I'm posting a silly cartoon (I've held off the sillies of late)

I was chided a bit (privately) about posting a cartoon that lampooned Hemingway's Across the River and into the Trees.

Apparently it was a "...poignant, bittersweet homage to love", and I see (in the reviews), it is claimed to be the author's defiant response to the great dehumanizing atrocities of the Second World War. Well, I don't know. I haven't read the book, I was just having a laff.

So I stand corrected in my light-hearted attention to the play on words (of the title), in suggesting (at >109 SandyAMcPherson:) that the cartoon was worth a laugh. I'm leaving the post intact, however because I do not agree that I blithely demonstrated disrespect for (quote) this great author. Sometimes it's worth remembering to lighten up and let a minor annoyance slide.

>110 SandyAMcPherson: *sigh*

Sympathy.

(I got a chuckle.)

>111 richardderus: I'm feeling the better for your chuckle! Thanks.
Weird thing humour. One never quite knows how a funnie will go over in a mixed crowd.

Your thread, your cartoons. chided???? Seriously?

>113 karenmarie: Yes, I know, like *seriously*?
I was feeling narked at getting told off and on a PM, too. Took me awhile to put it in perspective. I was probably acting a bit like a snowflake over it yesterday but now I think it is rather hilariously silly.

I hope lots of people will pile in here and post equally goofy cartoons (if they have them). I deleted the conversation. But you know, it just occurred to me, I wonder if it was one of those spam messages or fake account postings. Sock puppets I think it is called, yeah?

>113 karenmarie: My thoughts exactly. Sorry that happened to you, Sandy.

>113 karenmarie: >115 lauralkeet: Yeah, me too. I got a smile from the cartoon.

>115 lauralkeet: Well I was being overly fragile, Laura. I don't really feel like that now. I must be regaining my usual laissez-faire equilibrium. Helped by seeing my literary pals swoop by and offer a few 'there, there' pats and sympathy. 💖

>116 drneutron: Hi Jim. I posted just seconds later than you and didn't see you had visited the thread of "Snowflake McPherson". 😄
Thanks for leaving your footprint.

>109 SandyAMcPherson: Personally, I think Hemingway is quite a good author to blithely disrespect, but that’s just my opinion. Hope you’re feeling better.

Oops...

>119 SandDune: laffing my head off! Thanks for your visit❣️

>120 msf59: This here is Sandy's thread!
But I'm sure Rhian will like that you wished her a thread full of joy.

I am happy to see that you stopped by, too.

Well, happy weekend, Sandy. You must have been just below her. LOL. I hope you are doing fine.

>110 SandyAMcPherson: Jeepers creepers. Who could have guessed! I am following Andrew Doyle (comedian, intellectual, advocate for free speech) and he has lots to say about humour in our present moment. Do you know about his Titania McGrath persona on twitter?

Just catching up here

>72 SandyAMcPherson: I'm so sorry for your loss.

Hi Mary and Anita.
>124 mdoris: Mary, I confess I've never heard of Andrew Doyle and I don't (gasp!!) follow twitter. So, what does Doyle say about the present moment in terms of humour?

>125 figsfromthistle: Appreciate your condolence message. I'm regaining some equilibrium, thank you.

>126 SandyAMcPherson: Hi Sandy. I am not a twitter member either but do look at some accounts on occasion and out of interest. Doyle says we have just become WAY too PC and we need to be open to mock and be critical which is much the role of humour, to poke fun. and to see things from a different point of view. The comedy world is being silenced. Doyle has just written a book Free Speech and Why It Matters which I have asked the library to purchase and i am now on a hold list.
https://www.amazon.com/Free-Speech-Matters-Andrew-Doyle-ebook/dp/B08P1JW2W5

>127 mdoris: OIC!
Thanks. I agree whole-heartedly. There were (and are, still) really inappropriate jokes and humorous skits that transgressed common sense, that denigrated people's gender or ethnicity. But yes, I think Doyle has a valid point, especially so that the wider society can see things from a different perspective.

The art world has gone ridiculous on this cultural-appropriation thing, as well. It is one thing to use someone's design or style without attribution, but when a piece is in the public domain, I do not believe it is wrong to incorporate the elements of design.

I especially encountered this approach when making textile hangings having Tlingit design elements. I had paid a royalty fee to the person who licensed the design via purchase in an art fabric outlet for first nation people's work. I had a signed attribution and permission document by the original artist. Yet I was forbidden to display this piece in a quilt guild show because "You're not Indigenous". That was sheer nonsense having attributed the design element correctly. Additionally ironic, one of my ancestral grandmothers was Mik'Maq (also spelled, Mi'gmaq). I know, but where is it reasonable to draw the line?

Ooops. Rant ended now.

I think I'll have a look for Doyle's book Free Speech And Why It Matters as a hardcover. The topic will be informative, I am sure. Thanks again.

Last night, I finished my 57th book of 2021.
I was surprised how many I've read, because I wasn't all that focused on reading and not at all aggressive in the sense of a reading-number objective.
It was a great book, an older (vintage) spy-chase, escape adventure. I liked being able to escape into this story and awarded .

Snare of the Hunter (Helen MacInnes)
I'm a glutton for vintage stories written about espionage, cold war era shenanigans and political machinations. As written elsewhere, Helen MacInnes certainly belongs to the pantheon of spy novelists, and deserves a place alongside novelists such as LeCarre, Ambler, early-Ken Follet, Freemantle and Deighton. I've read many of MacInnes' oeuvre and this is one of the cold-war settings that I've enjoyed the most. In my view her more human approach in her writing has aged well unlike Len Deighton's and some of Brian Freemantle's.

MacInnes' novels feel really well-pulled together and she's an expert at building suspense without the story feeling contrived. Admirably, the narrative in this book doesn't feel dated, even though, historically, it is set in bygone times. While I had a few niggles (Jo Corelli seemed poorly-described as to her inclusion in the group and David's participation was overly reliant on a very long ago military career and friendship with Irina), the plot was captivating and had a few not-so-surprising developments that didn't detract from the story as a whole.

Well, I'm way behind, and have missed a lot, but I want to extend my condolences on the loss of your cousin. I also suddenly and unexpectedly lost a cousin I grew up with earlier this year, and I was so surprised by how hard it hit me. We haven't been especially close as adults, seeing each other once a year or so in the best of times. But she was a contemporary, you know? That isn't supposed to be happening yet. I hope your good memories are sustaining you.

Thanks for the nod re the Charlie Macksey book.

>109 SandyAMcPherson: is definitely funny, and I don't see how it hurts Hemingway. Anyway, he was a tough guy, and he could take it. Sheesh.

I can't catch up, Sandy, but please add me to the list of chucklers at >109 SandyAMcPherson:. Even if I loved, adored, respected Hemingway and revered that particular book, I'd think it was funny. I don't, and I did.

Going back a little further, I see that you lost a dear cousin to the heat. I'm sorry. That's frightening as well as sad! As an only child, I have only cousins as family besides my husband, my mother, and one aunt. They are precious to me, and that makes me wish more for your comfort and peace. Come here often where you know you're valued!

>130 laytonwoman3rd: Hi Linda and >131 LizzieD: Peggy. Thank you so much for your kind wishes.
The unexpected death was a surprising sense of loss. I hadn't seen either cousin for many years, but you know how that goes, those connections to family seem permanent, until they're not.

Glad you perhaps had a smile or even a chuckle over the Hemingway funny. I have had a number of very amusing (to me) cartoon illustrations in recent months, sent in emails from friends. I save only a smidgen of the ones received and try to share judiciously.

We are a small group who agreed long ago, while still in our working lives, that the last Friday of every month was the day for comics and jokes. This was an effort to trim the amount of social e-mail with no purpose except to laugh. It was a brilliant approach because the instigator said "I will delete all cartoon/joke emails if you send them on any other day". That was back in the 1990's when internet humour was being forwarded in great quantities and I (like many) had only a professional work e-mail address. How things have changed!

>132 SandyAMcPherson: Until you mentioned it, I'd forgotten all about those joke lists that were in constant circulation.

>133 quondame: I hadn't thought of hat for quite some time, either. The whole rigamarole got tedious, as I recall; and overwhelmingly repetitive as so many of the same jokes and cartoons made the rounds.

Chided for a cartoon? (which is, by the way, funny enough if you are into golf jokes). Hemingway was no saint anyway, sexist b. . etcetera. Innovative as a stylist, certainly and truly, but the content? Men and their love affair with violence (and, oh woe, the aftermath)? And I've read pretty much everything he wrote -- not speaking out of ignorance.

I totally agree that PC has gone too far -- and suspect gives fuel to the altright's indignation and contempt for 'the left' (whatever that is, I can't figure that out anymore either).

>135 sibylline: PC is entrenched when folks are afraid to speak out... it takes courage to swim against the tide of public opinion when the opinions are fanned with falsehoods and lack of critical thinking.
Not that I'm trying to justify perpetuating stereotypes, or the like.

I finished one of my recent books which was in progress for too long.
Why do I feel like I have to finish reading novels that are unsatisfactory? Perhaps bcause it is an author I have enjoyed many times and I just recently started re-visiting spy thrillers on my bookshelf ...Not expecting an answer.

The book was a Helen MacInnes, one of her less plausible scenarios, I think.
Warning, I didn't hide the spoilers so if this author is your jam (as Amber likes to say), and you want to enjoy the suspense, READ NO MORE of my review ~~

While Still We Live ~
This is off my shelves and didn't have an ISBN. Yellowing pages and originally was titled The Unconquerable (I think in the British market). I decluttered it yesterday at the local bookshop where I enjoy trade credits and find vintage novels.

While Still We Live is one of those narratives that had me going on and on in my head, "Fer crying out loud, you dumb woman, get out of Poland right now".

Sheila is British and winds up being co-opted into being a double agent. That led to a wtf moment, no indication ever that she's trained in spy craft, that she thinks quickly and assertively, that she has the foggiest notion of the political situation. Yeah, really a dimly-conceived story.

My memory of this tale (caveat: having read it some 40 years ago) was that it was exciting and how courageous the heroine was. Funny thing how time and distance lends a different interpretation to stories like this. Other thriller-espionage books by MacInnes are better crafted.

I awarded 3*'s because other than the major implausibility niggle which I mentioned, it was a good espionage-chase-and-escape story.

>137 SandyAMcPherson: I believe girls of that era Rose To The Occasion, as the saying has it, and Discovered Hidden Talents a lot.

Not one I'd seek out because MacInnes did so very much better. Assignment in Brittany leaps forcefully to mind.

>138 richardderus: Thanks for the title, RD.
Assignment in Brittany likely a dandy, so unfortunate that I don't own that one. A look on Overdrive and my PL catalogue returns zilch, so I'll add the title to my Second hand book shop search. I know I could probably find it online but old paperbacks are unreliable as to condition and the prices are ridiculous.

Kind of sad in't it, that Helen MacInnes is not in the pantheon of her contemporaries for espionage thrillers. I've only recently been re-reading her work and the available books have been scarce.

One day one will float past you, and you'll do well to mentally rehearse your "bUY THIS BOOK WHEN YOU SEE IT" self-talk. Worry about why and who and what later!

*smooch*

>140 richardderus: Sensible advice, thank you ... I am so frugal though. A lifetime habit.

A psychological thriller 'Book-Bullet' from Reba ~

The Guest List (Lucy Foley)

An Agatha Christie type of mystery (remote, isolated) but very adroitly handled for this drama: the oh-so-perfect rich couple getting married on a largely deserted island off the coast of Ireland.

Much is revealed of the characters' past history during the backstory. Each chapter switches perspectives between different wedding participants, guests and the wedding planner. As well, the time frame slides back and forth as the narrators change.

The format worked for me... I was surprised! Normally, I am not a fan of first-person narratives or a mixture of flipping to the distant past, recent times and the present , but Foley managed it very well. The subtly-escalating tension and menace was quite gripping, even as I recognized the threatening-storm device as a bit over the top. While I did guess one or two of the twists early on, I was surprised by the dénouement. This was a very good pandemic-escapism read for me.

>142 SandyAMcPherson: That looks interesting. I'm not currently in a mystery mood, but it's a mood I visit fairly regularly.

>143 quondame: The Guest List was indeed a lot more interesting than I expected, Susan. I hope you give it a whirl. I found it quite a departure from my first experience with Foley's style of writing (The Book of Lost and Found).

While not as stunningly a thriller as An Anonymous Girl for example, Foley's writing was kind of sneaky the way she builds the tension into the story. By the last few chapters I did not want to quit reading. It wasn't entirely without its flaws but I had an enjoyable time reading this book.

An amusing, light read in the British murder mystery genre:

~
The Egyptian Antiquities Murder (Sara Rosett)

This is Book 3, in the High Society Lady Detective series. I had previously read only book 5 and was very meh about Rosett's plotting, finding the narrative improbably silly and the characterizations shallow.
However, a friend convinced me to try the Egyptian Antiquities story and this push was fortuitous. The novel was a cheerful romp with period flavour from the excitement over British excavations in the Valley of the Kings lending interest.

The character development was more accomplished than in Book 5, and the twists in the mystery were not obvious although not unexpected. I like the slow development of a potential romance between two of the characters that appear (I am guessing) throughout the series.
Recommended if you enjoy British society tales with a murder to be solved, but don't expect more than the mildest of suspense. It was good for my state of being ATM.

Hi, Sandy. I'm feeling nostalgic with your reread of the MacInnes. I read the ones I own at about the same time you were reading her and took them down like popcorn at the time. Strangely enough, I don't have a copy of *A.Brit.* either.

Read on, my friend, read on!

>145 SandyAMcPherson: That's a series I don't recall having encountered before! Off to investigate...

>142 SandyAMcPherson: That one, blessèdly, already squats on my Kindleshelves.

Happy new week's reads!

>146 LizzieD: Peggy, how gratifying to see that you dropped by. I was tickled to find out that you were also reading the same type of espionage-adventures as I was, back in the day. I've been trying to find the oldies to put back on my bookshelves because libraries are culling those old paperbacks (and for all I know, maybe the hard covers too).

In my early reading, I had most of these now-vintage authors on hand, largely from my parent's personal library (Eric Ambler, Nevil Shute, Des Bagley, Hammond Innes, Alistair MacLean etc. etc.). I've been rebuilding some of these timeless stories, because many of them don't feel all that dated (to me) and they're such great reading.

>147 richardderus: Hey RD, nice to see your footprint here. I'm surprised that Sara Rosett would be writing in a style that might grab you. Her plotting isn't all that subtle, but I do like her snarky-sparky main character, Olive Belgrave.

Rosett's work may not always be a well-crafted read, but I'm going to try another (Murder in Black Tie) for the airport-waiting-room scenario which I find distracting and boring. I can't concentrate in those departure 'lounges' as they are so-misguidingly named.

Also >147 richardderus:, I'll look forward to your thoughts on The Guest List (Lucy Foley). I hope I don't lose sight of when you review it. I did lose seeing the review (awhile back now) of The Truth About Stories. Was it not a great read? Do hope you'll point me to where you posted the review, if you got around to reading the book.

I'm thrilled to little mint balls ~ The Goblin Emperor (paperback) has just come available via my holds request. I saw lots of acclaim in this group (the 75-ers, I mean) for the series and Lucy (sibylline) in particular encouraged me not to dive into The Witness For the Dead until I had read T-G-E.

Now I have to decide whether to pack an actual physical book for this trip coming up. I've become very attached to the weight- and space-reducing attributes of my e-reader. Decisions, decisions...

>148 SandyAMcPherson: A lot of the classic mysteries I've read, mostly in my teens and twenties, were due to an early introduction to Dorothy Sayers, Naio Marsh and Arthur Upfield. I think my dad disliked Agatha Christie so while I branched out I didn't go that direction. Of course my mom's love of Somerset Maughm was also in play.

>151 quondame: Hi Susan. A Shocking Confession:
Until I started participating in the 75-group, I didn't know about Dorothy Sayers. In fact, I believe I hadn't ever run across her books, certainly not in my folks library. Arthur Upfield doesn't ring a bell either.

Funny coincidence, my Dad also didn't like Agatha Christie. I had heard about her because several of my friends, who also read out of their parents' library as we reached our teens, liked her stories. I didn't ever care for Christie's mysteries at all. I especially disliked that smug Hercule Poirot.

Yes, Ngaio Marsh!! I'd forgotten her although I read maybe just a couple of her novels. I looked at the titles, and only remember Artists in Crime, because I still had the book until our last move (1986). I am sure there are other authors that will float to into my consciousness, if someone twigs my memory.

Edited to add that I bucked the trend my friend's followed and didn't take to reading much Arthur Conan Doyle. The only one I ever thought was 'good' was The Hound of the Baskervilles.

>152 SandyAMcPherson: Hi Sandy. A friend put me on to Arthur Upfield years ago. His mysteries take place in the Australian outback and his detective is "Bony" Napoleon Bonapart a mixed race Indigenous Australian. Like Jane Harper his mysteries take you into heat and natural settings of isolated outback. I really liked them!

Our hearts continue to beat as one, Sandy. >148 SandyAMcPherson: I still have all of those in my library except maybe for N. Shute and the Bagley person, whom I never heard of.
As soon as I finished Nancy Drew and the Dana Girls, I picked up Dame Agatha and never looked back. A. Upfield was a relatively late find for me, but I love and adore both Sayers and Marsh. Fun and Games! (Unlike lots of this group, I never could be patient with Margery Allingham. My fault, not hers, I'm sure.) Josephine Tey, otoh, is another of my gold/silver age idols.

>154 LizzieD: Hi Peggy, simply a quick comment: if Desmond Bagley is new to you, I recommend Running Blind as a great starter to see how you like his work.

Dropping in to say hello. Hope all is well.

Hi Sandy. Terry Lynn Fenton painted this in 2003. It's called "Legend (Nightfall, West of Saskatoon)" and it's just heart-meltingly beautiful.

If you've never seen it, your province couldn't have a better ad for its splendors.

I learned about Arthur Upfield somewhere -- a little dated but good!
And fascinating setting for a non-Ozzie.

Oh, I hope you enjoy Goblin! My daughter is home for a bit and LOVED it, dove in and didn't emerge until she finished. Now she is reading Witness much more slowly . . .

>156 figsfromthistle:, >157 richardderus:, >158 sibylline: ~~ Hi Anita, Richard, and Lucy, I'm just back from a trip to New West and seeing family.
It was so splendid after no visiting for over a year and a half. Thanks everyone for your messages ~ it's lovely that you didn't "give up on me"!

RD, I do know Terry (Fenton). I like his work although I haven't seen that specific piece.

Lucy, I finally started The Goblin Emperor when I got home last Thursday. A lot to do around here as summer winds down so I'm not very far in to the story. It is indeed an engaging story. I am so far at a 5* rating level of happy.

I hope to start a new thread to honour the start of September. And maybe skim a ton threads. 😃

>159 SandyAMcPherson: That whole skimming process...whew, I don't envy you! I know how daunting it can be after some time away.

¡Suerte!

>159 SandyAMcPherson: It's good to hear you're back home and had a good time. The Goblin Emperor is good stuff!

Hi Sandy!

>150 SandyAMcPherson: I'm thrilled to little mint balls I love this phrase. It makes me smile.

I thought I had posted several times in August, but alas. Good intentions but never pushed Post Message.

I’m glad you had a good time visiting your family.

>159 SandyAMcPherson: The Goblin Emperor is such fun!

>160 richardderus:, Yeah... didn't skim very many threads; or rather, I *did* skim a ton, but not in depth. And added very few comments. I hope folks understand. I couldn't string more than a few words together that were coherent. The trip home was really difficult, such a fraught process that I am only beginning to feel a sense of self and good relaxed muscles now.

>161 quondame: Hi Susan. I'm thoroughly enjoying The Goblin Emperor, to the point I've added it to my "buy" wish list which is the highest of acclaims around here.

>162 karenmarie:, Karen that 'mint balls' saying derives from one of my best of besties. She introduced the phrase when I first knew her and it seems always so apt.
I'm very glad you pushed the post message button this time. I visited your thread but I don't remember that I posted anything 😄

>163 SandDune: Hi Rhian. I know I looked at your thread because what really struck me was your photo of the old Singer sewing machine. That is nearly identical to the first one I ever had! At the age of 12, my Dad didn't want me to have a treadle or an electric (controlling it by hand crank was less risky, I guess). Anyway, I will go back and read more thoroughly later this week. Thanks for visiting.

I'm supplying over on thread #4, in case you're interested...

>110 SandyAMcPherson: catching up on July threads, when my life got really, REALLY busy.

I liked the cartoon.

When something bothers me, I just usually scroll on. Life's too short to be offended so easily...shake it off and move on I say!

>129 SandyAMcPherson: wow, I gave this one 4 stars too!

Check out works by Hammond Innes and Alistair MacLean; they're similar but different to MacInnes' books.