Sandy's Books Read in 2023, #1

Hello 75ers! I missed you ~ more than I expected.
However, I enjoyed the year away from writing on my own thread.

A sabbatical is a fine and wonderful strategy to manage the events of the Life Happens type, including the mental anguish of coping with a pandemic. I lurked often enough to more or less keep on top of only a few of the threads I usually haunted. This was a well-chosen approach to keep myself sane. OK, as sane as I usually am...

I'm reserving a few more message boxes to tell you who I am (for the "new to the group" members) and to tell all the seasoned LT-ers what my objectives are for this year.

A little about me and my reading tastes, because my approach to reading has evolved since I joined LT (2017). I think my reading enjoyment is fine-tuned and honed.
A few book images from my library to enliven the intro ~

I live in Canada, in the province many folks have trouble pronouncing: Saskatchewan. North of Montana and south of the Territories

~ ~ ~ ~

I grew up playing on the seashores of Vancouver Island and was, what I am told, "a wild kid" who loved the countryside and learned a lot about the out of doors, fishing and (yup) hunting, hiking, canoeing, and what plants I sure as heck better not eat.

~ ~ ~ ~

I lived in the Near East for 2-years when I was a teenager (in the 1960's, now so historically different today); travel influenced me more than ever I realized at the time.
An amazing immersion ~ ~ ~ ~

I spent too much time earning 3 University degrees, the last one concurrently with working in several areas of scientific research, mostly "at the bench" ~ running an investigation from a desk never worked for me. Nowadays, I pursue the artwork I had to fit in around employment. Retirement rocks!

2022 was a peaceful year, with longer reading breaks as I resumed neglected artwork, participated more fully in visiting our local art galleries, and craft council public artists' talks.

I took on some hefty reading, relieved by exploring new books in my favourite fiction genre. Of my 85 books-read in 2022, here are my favourite to books which inspired and/or distracted me from the isolation of the on-going pandemic:

Non-Fiction

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

1. Walt Harrington ~ Crossings: A White Man's Journey Into Black America
2. Kate Davies ~ Wheesht - Creative Making in Uncertain Times
3. Danial Kahneman ~ Thinking, Fast and Slow
4. Jenn Granneman ~ The Secret Lives of Introverts: Inside Our Hidden World
5. National Geographic ~ Women: The National Geographic Image Collection

Fiction
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

1. Molly Fader ~ The Sunshine Girls
2. Sally Hepworth ~ The Younger Wife
3. Elly Griffiths ~ The Locked Room
4. Lois McMaster Bujold ~ Penric's Progress
5. Tamora Pierce ~ Trickster's Queen

Bujold and Pierce were two of several comfort re-reads from my shelves of 4 and 5 star books.

My 2023 reading objectives ~ First round of titles
Choose unread books from our combined home bookshelves to prompt me out of the murder-mystery and fantasy rut.

The Non-Fiction ~ ~ Fiction ~

The NF books look intimidating but I enjoy the exploration memoirs and consider it acceptable to skim. I am also very attracted to the vintage stories in marvellously-bound books of the 19th and early-20th centuries.

Titles top to bottom (NF):
1. T. S. Steele, 1880, Canoe and Camera: A 200 Mile Tour through the Maine Forests ✅
2. W. A. Baillie-Grohman, 1882 Camps in Rockies: Being a Narrative of Life on the Frontier
3. E. P. Stebbing, 1912 Stalks in the Himalaya: Jottings of a Sportsman-Naturalist.
4. F. G. Aflalo, 1904 The Sportsman's Book for India
5. R. F. Burton, 1862 A Secret Pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina (Folio Society 2004 ed).
6. J. G. Millais, 1895 A Breath from the Veldt (Briar Patch Press 1987 ed).

I was deliberate in looking over the NF choices on Mr. SM's bookshelves. I wanted to step out of my tendency to choose female authors, having read a few adventures written by intrepid women explorers in Africa, Arabia, and North America. Burton's book is bound to be the most astonishing because I have read some of his other work. I like his writing style.

Titles left to right(F):
1. E. Nesbit, 1906 The Railway Children (Children's classic) (shown, paperback ed, 1963) ✅
2. Penelope Lively, 1994 Oleander Jacaranda
3. Penelope Lively, 1980 Judgement Day
4. Penelope Lively, 1984 Next to Nature, Art
5. Alice Munro, 1968 Dance of the Happy Shades
6. Carol Shields, 2001 Dropped Threads - What We Aren't Told

Except for Nesbit's title, all the others are Literary Fiction and have sat on my bookshelf, unread for an embarrassingly long time. Alice's Dance of the Happy Shades is the longest-owned. I have no idea why I never got around to reading it, but this is the year for absolute sure.

I'm guessing some might argue that Shields' book is NF. My flip-through prompted me to feel it was lighter fare. So time to read it and I can reclassify it later.

Order of reading, you perhaps wonder?
See that handmade pottery jar with lid to the right of the fiction book titles? I put small slips of paper with 1 title on each and when I finish my current book, I'll draw a new title. No dithery twaddle about choosing the next book.

Reading Log: * indicates my star rating.
This is a dynamic list, which I will update here as I add my review and chat on the thread below.

I also review all my books on the main book page, sometimes more succinctly than appears on my thread.

Sometimes there are spoilers, only here (behind tags), but never on the main reviews.

January
1. Fuzz (Ed McBain) ***½
2. A Murderous Grudge (JM Roberts) ***
3. Stormbreaker (Anthony Horowitz) ***
4. A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting (Sophie Irwin) ****½
5. My Lady Judge (Cora Harrison) ****
6. The Black Swan (Nassim Taleb) ***½
7. Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques (Peter Reinhart) ****
8. Evolutions in Bread (Ken Forkish) ****
9. Breaking Bread: A Baker's Journey (Martin Philip) ****
10. Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques (Jeffrey Hamelman) ****
11. Bleeding Heart Yard (Elly Griffiths) ***½
12. The Maid of Ballymacool (Jennifer Deibel) ***½

While I dither around with the book lists up above, the coffee's on in the back, so drop in and browse the virtual bookshop.

Happy new year Sandy!

I'll see you next year!

>7 quondame: Yay, a visitor already. Off to a good start...

Wishing you a comfortable reading year in 2023, Sandy.

I am so pleased to see you back and deciding to do your own thread. xx

I'm finally making my rounds! Hope you find lots of good books in 2023!

Hi Sandy, it's nice to see your thread this year. I totally understand your need for a sabbatical, but you've been missed. Happy New Year!

..don't mind me, I'm fine here...

*flipflip*ugly typeface, really*flipflip*why'd she choose *that* for an epigraph? lame-o!*flipflip*hmmm good first sentence though
Oh, um Hi Sandy!

>9 PaulCranswick:, >10 thornton37814:, >11 lauralkeet:, >12 richardderus: So fabulous to see you all here. Thanks for your greetings.
Richard, at first I thought you were referring to ME! with your epigraph comment ~ then my morning coffee kicked in, ha ha ha.

Happy New thread and new year and welcome back to the fold. I guess >6 SandyAMcPherson: makes us co-proprieters at the cozy welcoming book magnet (see my thread😉)

Hiya. I'm one of those relatively new people, and I'm dropping a star.

Happy New Year, Sandy! I love the topper image that you chose.

Happy New Year, Sand. I look forward to following your reading this year.

Hi Sandy, I have you starred.

>14 jessibud2: Sheesh.
"My" bookshop has an espresso/latté bar in the back (heh) plus a pet Labrador retriever. Does yours have kitties?

Kidding aside. Is your graphic actually from a magnetic book marker?

>19 SandyAMcPherson: - LOL! Of course, the cats sleep in the window and on the comfy chair in the back. And I bake cookies! ;-)

Honestly, I can't remember where I found the picture. I just love it, though. What I meant by *magnet* is that this pic is a magnet for the likes of us!! Right?

>15 ArlieS:, Relatively being a sliding scale. I checked your profile and saw Joined Aug 29, 2014! I didn't join LT until 2017 and 2019 was my first time to join any group. The 75-er's party, er ... group... is the only place I have a thread.

>16 Crazymamie:, Hey Mamie, thanks. I recently snagged the book-village topper from a non-LT bookish website 'cause I have a really cool wooden jigsaw puzzle of book shelves with all sorts of 'houses' and creatures amongst the books. I'm planning on using a photo of the puzzle on my next thread (hopefully I'll get to do a 2nd thread this year...)

>17 BLBera:, Hi Kim. Thanks for dropping by. I must visit you to find ideas to gather for swamping my BB list *grin*

>18 kgodey: Hello Kriti, you are "new" to me in this group, so thanks for visiting. Like you, I end up mostly reading fantasy (and historical mysteries) with a token effort of the occasional non-fiction. I'm making a bald statement of intent (at #4) to climb out of the rut this year.

>20 jessibud2: Absolutely correct.

And Sandy’s made it back! yay!

>23 drneutron: Hi Jim. I posted widely on the threads today to make sure my familiar people in the group could find me.

I'm chagrined to have picked "Chatterbox Sandy" (true as it is) because there turns out to be an actual LT 75 group member called 'Chatterbox'.

I didn't know that because I hadn't checked back to earlier thread books to determine whether the name was taken.

I guess it is too late now, but can you cross-list me in 'C' and in 'S'. When I get to thread 2, maybe I could drop the conflicting name.
Unless you have a better suggestion?

looking forward to visiting your thread often :) Happy stress free 2023!

Happy New Year, Sandy!

>24 SandyAMcPherson: I can edit your thread title - just let me know what you’d like it to be. Also, I only list in the Threadbook by user name, so no confusion there!

Very nice to see you back Sandy! Have a wonderful year of reading in 2023.

Hi Sandy. It's good to see you with your own thread this year. I've starred it and will happily follow your journey this year.

>4 SandyAMcPherson: found and starred your thread!

I'm intrigued by your book Canoe and Camera: A 200 Mile Tour through the Maine Forests. I'll be watching for your thoughts.

Glad to see you have a thread again this year, Sandy. Starred.

All done, took about 30 seconds, no bother at all.

Good to see you back officially, Sandy. Dropping my star to follow along.

>21 SandyAMcPherson: But I didn't join the 75-ers group until 2021, which makes me feel new here.

Hi visitors,
Great to see everyone found me. I had to ask Jim (aka drneutron) for a modification of my thread header-title, so I took a break from my talk-thread to cruise other threads a bit. Caught a few BBs already.

>25 figsfromthistle:, >28 mdoris:, >29 karenmarie:, >31 MickyFine:, >33 Familyhistorian: It was worth taking 2022 as a no-thread year but I did chafe towards the end. I found myself hijacking other folks' threads with my thoughts. Thanks for the warm welcome.

>30 fuzzi: Hi fuzzi, I can see that Steele's Canoe and Camera would appeal to you. I haven't done more than flip through it a bit when I was making my NF choices.
We both have a liking for the outdoors genre and adventure, I think (like Gary Paulsen, RM Patterson, and so forth). The NF books I hope to get through definitely will have a flavour of 'back in the day' type of narrative.

>34 ArlieS: I didn't notice that you meant this particular group, so misinterpreted the "new". I joined so recently relative to many 75-ers that I still feel very recently here.

I've seen the most recent instalment of the Harbinder Kaur series (Bleeding Heart Yard, Elly Griffiths) mentioned on several threads so I put in a hold request at my local PL. I found the Kaur character very interesting and liked the first 2 books well enough to carry on in the series. I'm at 31 of 34 in the queue.
Okaaaay, well at least the other request (The Black Swan) is shipped. An older (2010) publication and a rather esoteric topic, so not surprised I'll receive it quickly.

The BS (ha, not) was an e-book I checked out in December. I found Taleb's writing very engaging. He examines the role of the unexpected, discussing why improbable events are not anticipated or understood properly. I really liked where Taleb was going with this idea but my 3-weeks loan expired so I decided a physical book was the thing to borrow.

Sort of a revelation for me... that I can easily engage with e-books when the story is a novel, but non-fiction is slower and harder to read as an e-book. Do brains "neurox" (as in 'copy') paper-based works more readily or what? Mr. SM says that novels often rely less on hefty concepts you need to grasp in order to follow the story. I think that's very true of much of my fantasy and murder-mystery reading.

Happy new year! Glad to see you posting on your own thread again -- hope it doesn't become too onerous.

Deleted by author

Hello, Sandy! Interesting observation about fiction vs. non-fiction in digital format. I read both on my Kindle, but I do prefer a print book for anything that I might want to page back and forth in whether it is for maps or character charts or footnotes.

>36 SandyAMcPherson: I have a hard time with e-books because I end up treating them like a webpage--I tend to scan, instead of reading slowly and in-depth. There's something about it being digital and on a screen that flips my brain into scanning mode and I don't retain the material as well.

>36 SandyAMcPherson: I don't mind eBooks as a format but because I read them on my phone, I find I'm more likely to be distracted by other apps/the internet when I want to be reading. As a result, I do most of my reading in print and only opt for eBook if that's the only format or if I'm traveling and it's more convenient.

>36 SandyAMcPherson: These days I prefer to read fiction in ebook format - but only on an ereader, not a tablet or phone - although that doesn't mean I shall be getting rid of all my paper books, but anything with maps, diagrams and other illustrations (usually non-fiction) is better on paper for me.

>42 CDVicarage: I also prefer my ereader, a Kindle Oasis, to my tablet - too heavy, and without the case still too heavy but also edges, or my phone - not enough words per page at a readable size. I do like the occasional paper tome for illustrations, but mostly have contented myself with what the Kindle will display, though I have gone to the iPad for some that have shown well in color on other's reviews.

>39 Crazymamie: Mamie that's for sure. I'm also a great one for paging back and forth.
I find it difficult on my e-reader (a Kobo) to flip back to a previous chapter to remind myself of whatever.
And let's face it I'm a very nerdy reader, with little post-it tabs sticking out of the book as I go along. Mr. SM insists he can tell how good the book is (that I'm reading) based on the amount of flagging tabs.

>37 foggidawn: Hi Foggi! So fab to see you visited.
We had great fun back and forth when you had the "Chainsaw BF". I lurked a bit last year to be totally nosy to see how everything played out. I *must* get over to see you and star your thread.

>40 kac522: Kathy, so glad you visited. You're a new starred-thread for me.
I had a great revelation when I looked at what you said on your thread, about TBRs because your 2023 reading objectives certainly resonated with mine.
I noticed a number of other 75-ers setting TBR's as one of, if not the year's objective. Thanks for visiting.

Re the e-book discussion, I grouped this reply because it was so nice to see a number of other comments. I answered Mamie >39 Crazymamie:, and then realized there was *more*.

So -- I don't own a tablet and I never read books on my phone.
>41 MickyFine:, I don't know how folks can see the print on a phone. Even with reading glasses, the print is too small. Oh wait, I forgot that Micky is a spring chicken with young eyes. Sigh... one forgets.

>43 quondame:, I'm with Susan, not enough words per page at a readable size if you enlarge anything.

Like >42 CDVicarage:, I'm especially frustrated with my B&W e-screen and forget it when it comes to maps. I will open an extra copy of the ebook to look at the maps on my browser. Thank goodness my library let me have an extra copy of the e-book so I can do that.

>40 kac522: The most revealing insight is hearing that Kathy says, she ends up treating e-book pages like a webpage. That was an Aha moment for me.
Precisely, I tend to scan as well and from some neuroscience thingy I read ages ago, the brain takes in digital images (which the letters in the words are really) differently to what's on a page in a book.

Hi Sandy!

I read e-books mostly on my Kindle, but just two days ago I read a short story that I had trouble downloading to my Kindle but easily downloaded it to my laptop. Go figure. *smile*

I rarely, if ever, read nonfiction on my Kindle.

>44 SandyAMcPherson: And let's face it I'm a very nerdy reader
Well you're in good company here, Sandy! Although we each have our own nerdy quirks I think it's fair to say most of us can relate to that statement. I love that Mr SM can judge the quality of a book by your flags! Our nerdy splurge is Book Darts which are made of metal and very pretty/shiny.

On the ereader topic, I have a Kindle Paperwhite which I use for a) very long (heavy) books, b) some library loans c) impulse purchases, especially deals. I try to avoid books that are heavy on illustrations or maps because the Paperwhite doesn't render them well. In a pinch I can use the Kindle app on my iPad but the Paperwhite (in its case) feels more like a book in my hands so I don't usually read on my tablet.

For reader, I have an iPad Pro (the big one) since I often use it for work stuff. It makes for decent text size and is as big as a hardback book. But it is heavy - heavier than a book, for sure. I'm not a fan of the Amazon infrastructure, so don't do much Kindling. And really, I only use it for Overdrive and Hoopla loans from the library, reading-wise.

I was a serious holdout, but once I tried e-reading, it quickly became a must. About 60% of the books I read every year are electronic.

>48 karenmarie: Hi Karen, I finally remembered to star your thread.
Blathered away at great length over "there" too. Thanks for sharing the e-reader story. I will probably stick to reading non-fiction on my lap top or else finding a PL where I can request the tree book.

>45 SandyAMcPherson: As you probably saw, he got upgraded to "chainsaw husband" last September! :-D

>49 lauralkeet: I love that we can be as individually nerdy or geeky on LT as inclined, and feel in good company. I think the 75-ers are a wonderful group. I'm making a big effort to look at more member's intros this year so I can decide where else I might fit in to the talk.

I like that aspect of e-readers for the hefty doorstopper books. The thicker novels worked well for me on my Kobo (e-reader). Tanya French's books come to mind.

>52 foggidawn: Yes! I saw that. I am very happy for you.
Is Lottie happy to share you and all?

>54 SandyAMcPherson: It took her a while to warm up when we first started dating, but he's now one of her two favorite people (and, to tell the truth, there are probably less than ten people in the world that she actually likes). He plays with her a lot, and takes her outside with him when he does some chores around the farm, so she really appreciates that. She loves being a farm dog.

>55 foggidawn: This great to hear. Some dogs can be very 1-woman/man pets.

On the non-fiction topic, I prefer tablet reading of most NF because it's often illustrated/mapped/in color and the Kindle isn't so great at that. Tremendous strides have been made re: footnotes and endnotes on the Kindle but I still prefer the tablet on its stand to the Kindle for those tomes.

Happy weekend-ahead's reads, Sandy! Wordle on, soul sibling.

>57 richardderus: I am indeed a Wordle soul sibling. I mostly don't post about it, but am as addicted enthralled as so many others on LT.
There's a numerical puzzle that my grandchildren are absolute whizzes at, even the youngest. I can mostly do it, but rarely get "all Ten". I stopped accessing it, though because, despite my inner science geek, I am not attracted to numerical play. I think it is how my brain is wired.

Thanks for popping by. Always happy to see visitors here. I certainly am chewing up all my mornings this week spending the time on LT. So many kind people keeping my thread warm. 💖

The one advantage I've logged for checking out paper books from the library rather than e-books is that the paper ones automatically renew 2x if no one else has a hold on them. But then eventually I do have to cart them in and wait about a week if I want them back.

>59 quondame: Hi Susan. You're right!
I forgot that physical books can be renewed for 2 further check out periods, assuming no holds.
So dandy, all from at home on the computer. Additionally, since the pandemic, our PL system (in Saskatchewan) extended the physical-book loan period to 4 weeks. W00t 😍
Another #fail for NF on e-readers. Max loan is 3-weeks which is fine for my comfort reads but rarely for NFs.

>60 SandyAMcPherson: Depending on your library's settings, Sandy, you may be able to renew material in Overdrive as well (as long as there are no holds). The feature exists, it just depends on whether your library system has it turned on.

>60 SandyAMcPherson: My library system (Chicago) allows for 15--yes, you read that right--15 renewals of 3 weeks each (i.e., 45 weeks max) on physical items (books, DVDs, CDs, etc.), as long as no one else puts a hold on them. It's dangerous. My pile of library books is astounding. Or overwhelming.

It is great to see you back in the group groove, Sandy.

Have a wonderful Sunday.

>61 MickyFine: Thanks for the tip. I couldn't see any adjustable setting beyond a drop down menu for the loan period when a hold is entered. I think simply putting in another request is all there is. I'll have to go into the PL to see the right staff member.

>62 kac522: That is indeed a lot of weeks for a loan. We get to have only 2 renewals likely possibly based on the provincial system having fewer books overall.

>63 PaulCranswick: Thank you Paul.

I've been lurking here and there, but not finding much to say. Mostly because I'm skimming the threads. As is typical in the new year, the conversations expand so rapidly that I am not feeling au courant.

I also had 5 books to finish and needing a swift return to the PL (see conversation >62 kac522: and >64 SandyAMcPherson: about the angst over renewal limits.) I'll review them and post some of the interesting parts on my thread as well as the book page.

I really struggled with an Early Reviewer novel (from last November). I picked a mystery which wasn't as I expected for writing style. It's hard to provide an unbiased review when a book is crippled with poor style and inaccuracies. By Friday I hope to have decided how to handle this without sacrificing my penchant for being candid.

>65 SandyAMcPherson: I think it's important for a reviewer to mention things like poor style and inaccuracies, so other potential readers may be aware.

>65 SandyAMcPherson: I do wish warnings for various things like poor style or cardboard characters were more common in LT reviews. So often the majority of reviewers are total fans of the work and well, we are all fans of different things or different aspects of the reads.

>65 SandyAMcPherson: >66 foggidawn:, >67 quondame: Thanks Foggi and Susan for the support: I think honesty in reviews is what makes one's reading choices more suitable.

I try to frame my comments relative to my expectation that the plot is tightly written without tedious tropes, the character development succeeds in engaging my attention such that I can immerse in the story and I'm not struggling to envisage what is happening.

Nice plan, but lets me down now and then when I am thrown out of my usual milieu.

Happy reading in 2023, Sandy, glad to see you back with a thread.

>69 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita, it's great to see you here. I did need an LT thread-break. However, it is nice to have a 75-er home again.

I'm not reading voraciously so the book reviews are slow to appear but I hope you'll come back to visit again soon.

Well, that was strange. The first book I finished this year was quite unexpected. Right title, different author, as this post explains. I discovered Mary Roach's Fuzz on Katie's thread and was more in the mood for that book, instead of following my plans for reading this year.

The librarian said a number of glitches (wrong book) turn up in the search results, and it is actually the wrong book shown as available. I'd hate that job (combing the search engines to find mismatches). I guess the PL staff just hope patrons will alert them to the errors.

~ ~ by Ed McBain

The official blurb by the publisher:
The detectives of the 87th Precinct are confronted with a call - clearly a crank call - that threatens the life of the city's parks commissioner, unless a ransom of $5,000 is paid. The deadline soon passes and the parks commissioner is shot in the head as he leaves a rock concert. Soon, another …

My opinion:
Good characterisation and amusing NYPD detecting in the flavour of the 1950's. The mystery was complex and engaging, though not completely plausible in its development as the story unwinds. Lost stars because some of the police bumbling was overdone and unrealistic; lost me at the dénouement because the main criminal seems to just float out of the story.

I had a relaxing time reading this mostly amusing story and my brain had a good nap rest. Recommended if you like vintage American procedural and detecting adventures told with a wry tone.

An early reviewer's award from last November finally made it into my possession after a little LT nudge to the author.

A Murderous Grudge (J. M. Roberts)
...

My succinct one-liner review: sporadically engaging and readable, although hampered by flawed workmanship.

I am probably the wrong audience for this type of murder mystery; the review here is not precisely what I wrote on the main page for this book.
I don't like tropes (mild romance derailed by a sequence of misunderstandings); I lose interest really quickly if there's too little character development to engage me until well into the plot. I hate stereotyped women, such as the deliberately malicious tattle-tale gossiping in the women's weekly social circle.

My main gripe these days with many of the "cosy mysteries" is where in the heck are the editors? Is it possible that the publisher took a look and said, "Yeah, we can make money off this", and pushed it through with no editing? No one checking for continuity and consistency in the plot? A dearth of research to correct inaccurate statements in the story? Not that such publications are a new thing in the world, I simply want to avoid them.

I'm ranting here because I think the Early Reviewer's offerings are not a good choice for me to spend time reading. I have one more ER to receive (from the December batch) and then I'm done.

>72 SandyAMcPherson: I'm beginning to think they don't teach good writing and editing any more.

Hi Lori, thanks for dropping by. I continued this writerly commentary on your thread. I'm not sure about whether teaching students is the problem so much as publishers by-passing editors and even copy editors. The publishing industry seems like a black hole these days (at least in Canada).

>74 SandyAMcPherson: It probably is. It seems to be very agenda-driven at the moment also.

I've been following the chat on a number of threads about old classics in movies. Those oldies are totally my jam (like Charade and Enchanted April).

Now that I know there's a cohort of LTers for classics, maybe someone can come up with a movie title I haven't remembered: It's not How to Steal a Million or Charade, which is also one of my faves (I'm a big fan of Audrey Hepburn), but similar. Also similar to To catch a thief, except stars Grace Kelly.

Hepburn is in the movie (IIRC), but I can't remember the male lead (Rock Hudson? or one of those fellows of 'the day' anyway). I think it may be set in Italy and the male lead is an investigator but pretends he's a thief as well.

In the denouement, the girl (who's fallen in love with the investigator, of course) decides to return the stolen art to the authorities and then discovers it's the man she thought was her thieving partner. I saw an Audrey Hepburn movie-listing which included a title I may misremember, "Fine Point". But I clicked away from the website and couldn't find the title again! Arrrgh!

Any suggestions?

>76 SandyAMcPherson: Going through Audrey Hepburn's IMDB roles, I couldn't find a good match.

>77 quondame: Me neither - IMDb was my first go-to place.

>77 quondame: >78 SandyAMcPherson: But when I entered "movie art theft romance", How to Steal A Million popped up, and I don't think I saw it on the link I gave.

>67 quondame: Sometimes the very things that reviewers praise can tell me I won't like it myself. That's particularly true when the reviewers are professional - they tend to be positive about everything, and a mere 3.5 stars (out of 5) might be code for "this is terrible, but I don't want to offend the advertiser/publisher who gave me a review copy".

An experimental reading choice here, because I was intrigued with what Meg and Mamie were posting about Anthony Horowitz's newish series with Susan Ryeland as MC.
Now I am in a request line up for Magpie Murders. The stories sound right up my alley.
In the meantime, Meg's #156 post, led me to this unusual book (for me...)

Stormbreaker
~ a frenetic, action-packed adventure, but not my jam

I was hoping for something more sophisticated, I guess. Mr. SM and I avidly watched every episode when Foyle's War was featured a few winters ago on Masterpiece Theatre. Wrong basis for my expectations obviously.

>81 SandyAMcPherson: I remember my daughter reading Alex Rider at a young age (10-11 maybe) so they might be considered YA lit.

I looooove Foyle's War.

>76 SandyAMcPherson: Your description reminds me of The Thomas Crown Affair, although the thief/investigator roles are gender-swapped and Audrey Hepburn wasn't in it. I've only seen the remake, though.

>82 lauralkeet: Hi Laura. Glad to see you 💖 💖 Foyle's War, too.
Also, I can can see that some 11 y.o kids would think the Alex Rider stories are great adventures.
As an adult, not so much. I do love me an atmospheric, character-driven story.

>83 kgodey: Hi Kriti, I liked that movie a lot (The Thomas Crown Affair). But not the one I'm trying to discover, as you recognized.
Went to the PL today and the librarian suggested I log into Kanopy (movie streaming via our PL) to search. Wonderful people these librarians... I hadn't thought that would work, but worth a try.

>81 SandyAMcPherson: I'm not sure how you came up with the Alex Rider books from my post, Sandy. Same author but a YA series. He has other series which are for a more adult audience.

>86 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg.
We originally discussed Anthony Horowitz (mentioned for the Magpie Murders) and I knew the name was fammiliar, just needed a nudge where I'd seen the author's name (Foyle's War).

In post 155, I asked about the first Alex Rider book, it being acknowledged it was a YA series.
I can see how you were perplexed, because I had wandered in earlier in your thread (about writer's changing up their story to get out of their usual groove).

BTW, your review of The Bangalore Detectives Club was intriguing. Another BB for me. I'm posting the link here to remind myself where to look for the review on your thread again. My PL is still processing the book, so obvs really recent arrival.

A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting (Sophie Irwin)

~

I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Georgette Heyer fan. In my reading of many authors who have tried to write similar Regency adventure and social escapades with strong female leads, I have never encountered a single one that could hold even a guttering candle to Ms. Heyer.

However, author Sophie Irwin has accomplished this feat in her story of Miss Kitty Talbot seeking a rich husband to keep her family from losing their home and facing destitution. I enjoyed every bit of this story because the writing was splendid, the gentleness soothing but always intriguing, and the Regency society fairly accurately portrayed in a Heyer-esque fashion. Was the novel exactly true to factual early 19th Century norms? Was the aggressiveness of Kitty and her supporters reminiscent of the day? Perhaps not entirely.

But think on this: Kitty and Cecily were very much modelled on the impecunious sisters, Maria and Elizabeth Gunning. The Gunning sisters took Georgian society by storm with Elizabeth becoming the Duchess of Argyll, in a similar fashion to the way Irwin wrote her story of Kitty and Cecily.

>88 SandyAMcPherson: author Sophie Irwin has accomplished this feat You've convinced me to add it to the Wishlist.

>88 SandyAMcPherson: You got me with this one, too.

>88 SandyAMcPherson: BB!

>89 SandDune: Rhian! Great to know you'll give this a try.

>90 foggidawn: Hi Foggi, Glad you are joining us in this reading adventure.

>91 quondame: Hi Susan, I think Sophie Irwin's book will tick many of the required boxes for you, in the same way mine were filled.

Me, I loved the snark between Kitty and Lord Radcliffe. It's a simple romp in some ways and I indulged it at bedtime on my e-reader, so a perfect story to read before sleeping.

Y'all will maybe remember that back at >76 SandyAMcPherson:, I was lost in the classic movie genre looking for a 1960's movie with Audrey Hepburn. All I could specifically remember was that there was skulduggery, thieving and the dénouement.

Lots of suggestions from the 75-er talk threads suggesting that it sounded like, amongst others, Charade. And indeed I finally learned two things:
(1) How to stream movies via Kanopy (*fist bump*)
and...
(2) That indeed, it was the movie Charade.
I re-watched and it was great fun. I was surprised how much I'd forgotten. The movie description I first read had not sounded correct. As my kid brother used to say, that'll larn ya'.

>95 SandyAMcPherson: I never heard of Kanopy. My library does have hoopla though. I shall have to see about Kanopy. I love discovering new things via the 75ers!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Hello, Sandy! Glad that you figured out that the movie you were thinking of was indeed Charade - such a great film!

>88 SandyAMcPherson: You also got me with this with the Georgette Heyer comparison - adding it to The List!

Hoping your Sunday is full of fabulous!

>96 figsfromthistle: Hi Anita, great to see you dropped in to comment.
The person I've come to rely on for all things library in Canada is Micky Fine.

She has enlightened me about Hoopla (IIUC, costs the library money every time an item is borrowed) versus Overdrive for e-books and also, I think, Kanopy.
The best thing about Kanopy is that the number of titles to choose from is much more expansive than Hoopla ~ at least in our province. Saskatchewan apparently is rather different to most PL systems in Canada, but I forget what the differences are besides our inability to request ILL's widely.

**ILL = Inter-Library Loan

Edited to mention, I copied this post's link and asked Micky, if she has a moment, to wade in and clarify.

>97 Crazymamie: Hello Mamie, it was a total delight watching Charade. For tonight, I have Enchanted April lined up.
I hadn't heard of this movie until I read about it on LT, your and Katie's threads, IIRC.

>88 SandyAMcPherson: As well, after I posted about Sophie Irwin's book, I'm so pleased to have heard of Love & Friendship, a film with a similar theme. Have you watched this 2016 movie?

I recently discovered that there is a monthly limit to how many Kanopy films you can watch. Last month I was rather binging a bunch that I just couldn't get enough of when a pop up appeared informing me that I had reached my limit. I phoned my library to ask about it as I had had no idea. She told me it would start fresh when the new month began. Good to know and I also love Kanopy for the films I never even knew were out there.

>100 jessibud2: That is correct, Shelley. In our province (possibly this might vary by jurisdiction), it appears I can get only 4 play credits per month.

I have yet to figure out how to earn more credits or how to find out which series uses 1 credit per episode or 1 credit for a the entire season's worth.

Since I have to return books this week, I'll be asking this very question while I have a chance.

>88 SandyAMcPherson: This one sounds like fun, Sandy.

I believe my library allows 8 credits per month but your question about series is a good one. Let me know.

>102 BLBera: Beth, I was delighted with Sophie Irwin's book. Ihope you enjoy it, too.

>98 SandyAMcPherson: Kanopy uses the same pricing model as Hoopla (in the industry we call it cost per circ), which shouldn't discourage you from use if it has content you want. We subscribe to these services to provide the content to our users. Just use responsibly. ;)

Micky, you have to pay for Kanopy? Here in Ontario, well, at least, Toronto - it's just a feature of my library membership, which while having to be renewed annually, is free.

>106 jessibud2: Shelley, I believe that Micky meant Kanopy is paid by the library for each loan so the 'fee' comes out of library funding.

I checked out the explanation (on Kanopy) to understand play credits. The info indicated that per month usage is dictated by whichever library you use to sign in to access the Kanopy website. I guess my PL isn't as well-funded as the Toronto PL, so we have only 4 credits/month.

Edited to say that the info I found was under the Kanopy home page but I had to be logged in via my own library patron number and password to see it.

I copied the relevant piece here, for convenience...
Just as your library buys books to add to their collection for you to borrow, your library offers a variety of digital resources too - Kanopy is one of their more popular digital resources. Kanopy does not charge you because your library covers all associated costs, allowing you to watch for free with no ads.

Oh, thanks for that, Sandy. To be honest, I simply never thought about how it all works
I guess I just took for granted that the Toronto PL was an endless source of free food for my mind. Ask for the Kanopy films, last month was the first time I ever just binged, I guess I just assumed that there was no limit, especially since I get the weekend email newsletter telling me what's available to watch this weekend.

Now I know and will be more selective and aware of where I stand, points -wise. Thanks for doing the leg-work here

>87 SandyAMcPherson: According to what I found out, The Bangalore Detectives Club is the start of a series and the second book Murder Under a Red Moon is due to be released in March.

I really enjoyed A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting. Sophie Irwin has a second book out as well, A Lady's Guide to Scandal. I hope it's as good as the first.

After reading your thread, I checked out Kanopy. The Vancouver library has it but it is only open to residents. I looks like my local library has it too and I have a library card for it but have no idea what my password or pin number are. I bet they have a lower amount of films per month than the VPL which is 5 per month.

I just checked the canopy site out. Signed up. I have ten credits a month but unfortunately, my library only allows a certain total amount of credits so even though I have not seen one movie, the bank is empty so to say ( or reached it's limit). I guess I will have to watch a movie right at the beginning of the month so I don't get the "Access is currently limited per your library's request." message.

>110 figsfromthistle: - If you just signed up and haven't watched any yet, call and ask your library if they can adjust that. You shouldn't have an empty if you haven't used any credits!

>111 jessibud2: Libraries can put a cap on the total amount that they spend on a service per month (or per day with Hoopla -- I've gone on Hoopla late in the evening and found that my library has hit its limit). So, it's not that she doesn't have any credits, it's that her library has hit its spending limit for the month. If it's a constant problem, the library needs to adjust its spending limit or reduce the number of borrows every patron gets so that they don't run out as quickly, but perhaps there's been a surge of usage this month and they haven't adjusted for it yet.

>112 foggidawn: - Oh, I hadn't realized that was how it worked. Thanks.

>50 drneutron: I stopped reading on my iPad in bed. While reading I would start to doze off only to be rudely and abruptly awaked by a hard smack on the head! My iPad has raised bumps on my forehead.

>114 fuzzi: That! It's just too heavy for that use.

Nice to see visitors, keeping the thread warmed up. Thanks!

>108 jessibud2:, >110 figsfromthistle: Thanks for all the info on managing library apps like Hoopla and Kanopy.

>50 drneutron:, >114 fuzzi:, Ouchies! I forgot that Jim mentioned how heavy those tablets are for e-books. My kobo is small and lighter than a 300-page paperback. >115 quondame: Susan is correct, too heavy for bedtime reads.

>109 Familyhistorian:, I really wanted to put in a request for A Lady's Guide to Scandal. So far our PL hasn't shown this title as even on order. I put in a recommendation.

>5 SandyAMcPherson: I have finished several books this month and will review them in batches I think. They're quite diverse what with all my bread baking experiments and mystery novels for evening reading.

>109 Familyhistorian: Meg, I think the touchstone for "A Lady's Guide to Scandal" leads to the wrong book. I looked for the title in the NWPL and VPL ~ the same book comes up that your touchstone showed.
I wondered if you were able to reserve it because you can log in and see the 'on order' titles?

I submitted a request to my SK library system to order it. I hope they do!

>114 fuzzi:, >115 quondame:, >116 SandyAMcPherson: Yeah, I’ve had a few close head-iPad contacts!

My Lady Judge (Cora Harrison)

~

This story was a compelling read for me, without being overly suspenseful. The historical setting in 16th-century Ireland was fascinating. It was especially enlightening to learn about the Brehon laws that governed this region before English-style law took over. The characterisations were fully engaging, leading to an absorbing tale of ancient beliefs, medieval customs, and a complicated murder mystery.

The main character, Mara, endears one to her strong feminist personality. Yet Mara is a balanced woman of her day, with an adroit ability to reconcile her place in judging crimes based on the constraints of men as head of the family and the grip of priests on the population.

A BB from sybilline's thread, I hope to find the next title somewhere. My PL seems to have only a few of the Burren mysteries, frustratingly not in a sequence.

The Black Swan (Nassim Taleb)

~

Amusing, anecdotal, insightful, and for the first while, sparkling: the narrative promotes new ways of thinking about how foolish it is to predict anything. Taleb was certainly prescient (it was just prior to the 2008 financial crash): an amazing example of his "Black Swan" metaphor for predicting the highly improbable event, an outlier, an unnoticed negative "what if" aspect, to evaluating probable outcomes. Ultimately, we get the message.
I for one, do agree ~ that good research with appropriate mathematical models to predict a trend, a possible endpoint result, etc., can all be flushed down the loo if a Black Swan appears.

Taleb's book on the idea of improbably predicting the future was an unusual choice for me. With recent world events that struck down the predictabiltiy of the future (a global pandemic, the war in Ukraine, unstable governance in the USA), looking at how outliers can derail predicting trends was very appealing. Most, if not all of society had to readjust their travel plans, lower financial expectations for earnings, and watch in horror as these devastating events swept across so many unprepared nations.

It was an enlightened approach to read that, mathematically, predicting trends does contain an uncertain chance of the outlier upsetting expectations.

>118 drneutron: so I'm not alone, ha!

>121 fuzzi: Hi fuzzi. I bet it feels good to know you've unknowingly had company in the tablet-head bonk! I had no idea tablets were so big and/or heavy...

And now for a rather unusual book review chez moi.
This story is an early reviewer's award ~ I ventured into a genre that I habitually avoid.

The Maid of Ballymacool (Jennifer Deibel)

~

Jennifer Deibel's story was a departure for me in that I do not normally choose 'Christian' literature to read. However, it was a gentle love story reflective of a Cinderella tale, and I surprisingly enjoyed the narrative. There were historical perspectives about the incursion of British rule in Ireland of which I previously did not know.

The main protagonist, Brianna, suffered treatment in the boarding school that was uncomfortably described. Such a narrative perhaps reflected realities for servants, though the harassment was so pointed. Michael Wray, a member of the gentry, was a guardian angel in that respect. However, the subsequent storyline of Michael’s involvement seemed somewhat unrealistic. Despite these observations, the chronicle of Brianna was engaging and could easily suit reading tastes in the YA category, where adventure and strong female characterisations are welcomed.

Bleeding Heart Yard (Elly Griffiths)

~

On the book's review page, this is what I wrote ~
Oh come on Elly Griffiths, you can do better than this. While I certainly enjoyed previous books in The Postscript Murders series, the plotting in Book 3 is a disappointment, never equalling the wonderful twists and reveals of Book 2. Harbinder isn't the same feisty character. The biggest flaw was Griffiths' pulling illogical actions out of the blue and she evidently understood nothing about the limitations of using a hand gun to shoot at a distant victim. Not a satisfying story for me at all.
***

I may take some heat for this review, but in comparison to how Elly G wrote previously, I do believe this one was rather stereotypical. Perhaps she was pressured to tone something down. However, there were eye-rolling "where did that come from?" plot developments from which I don't intend to give the author a pass.

Do feel free to discuss my take on the book. Perhaps I need enlightening? Differing pov's? That's the value of off-main page input, no?

>122 SandyAMcPherson: They are heavier than Kindles, but the danger is that they fall off support pillows or just tire the wrists out so that with a moments failure of concentration - bap, tablet on the nose - and those iPad edges are noticeable.

>124 SandyAMcPherson: A very interesting review, Sandy. I enjoyed the book and thought Griffiths had really hit her stride, in terms of developing Harbinder into a character that could be sustained over a series. I found the plot sufficiently twisty and when I thought Griffiths was heading towards an eye-rolling predictable conclusion, she took it in a different direction so I was glad about that.

But hey, your opinions are equally valid! One thing I love about LT is that we can share differing views without devolving into an argument. I hope you enjoy your next book more than this one.

>126 lauralkeet: I love that folks can wade in with opinions and not be reticent about why their's differ. It's helpful, especially when I miss the point of the narrative. I like to see it from a different perspective, too. I do plan on following up on the next one in the Harbinder series, too.

I enjoyed Elly G's writing as a whole. She sometimes goes down a road that works less well in retrospect, and then pulls back and writes the next book which is different, engaging and hey...
I kept on reading all the Ruth Galloway books, despite occasionally rolling my eyes so much they darn near fell out of my head!

Earlier, I was over reading the Off to a Good Start on your Willow Greens website. I never post over there but the stories are so interesting. I loved the Jan 23 one with the house layout drawn for us to understand how all your plans will affect these spaces.
I'm still wondering exactly what a "Hessian room" actually was meant for, both "back in the day" and the immediate previous owner's use.

Unsolicited input about your tiny fireplace... I grew up in an 1880's house (so a new one relative to yours). The 'public rooms' and a family sitting room had small fireplaces like that and were meant for burning coal. We used compressed sawdust logs ('Presto-logs' brand) for burning. The fireplaces all had glazed tiles in front and as a surround. There was a cast iron grating with a higher front piece that was somewhat decorative. The one in the main 'drawing room' (the Lounge, my mother called it) had a beautiful brass hood that extended slightly.

OK. Sorry, I got on a nostalgic roll and probably it was irrelevant!
Thanks for popping by.

>126 lauralkeet: I enjoyed it more than Sandy, but didn't feel like the solution worked as well, maybe as the eye-rolling predictable one, or what I thought would keep all police officers cleared and still be an old style murderer. As to the romance, I was pretty clear what was on offer, but it annoyed my too easy to be real nerve.

>127 SandyAMcPherson: Hi Sandy, thanks for your comments! I'm glad you enjoy our newsletter (feel free to comment over there sometime, we read and respond to all comments!). The Hessian outpost would likely have been a sort of barracks for the Hessian (German) soldiers who were mercenaries for the British army during the American Revolutionary War (aka War of American Independence). They were, shall we say, unpopular with the locals. As for its use in modern times, when the previous owners bought the house in 2000, the ground floor room in the Hessian section was the kitchen. Around 2010 they added on to the house, creating a new kitchen and converting The Hessian room into a home office. We use it as a TV/family room.

I also appreciate your comments on the fireplace. It makes sense that it could have been used for coal. Glazed tiles would be nice ... hmm ... (sound of wheels turning).

Have a great day!

>129 lauralkeet: Thanks for the clarification about the Hessian room, Laura.
Happy that the fireplace discussion was of interest.

>128 quondame: An apt saying, Susan: "... it annoyed my too easy to be real nerve."
Yup.

An end of the month roundup, really, just to keep myself organized.
The star ratings and book links are at post #5, if you are curious.

~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~

I have worked my way through 6 bread-baking books since last December.
These four were read this month and it was at times repetitive and onerous. I experimented with some of their recipes and added a few new favourites to my repertoire.

~ ~ ~

I plan to write up a more expansive overview, though all have been reviewed and rated on the book pages.

>132 SandyAMcPherson: I love the colorful overview of December and your bread books have just reminded me that it is lunchtime here.

>133 PaulCranswick: Hello Paul. Thanks for dropping by.
The bread book overview is actually from January. There were additional books which I read in 2022, not shown. I am now rather saturated with new ideas for bread-making and will have to take a break in recipe reading!

I admire bread bakers, Sandy. That is something I have not done much of. Maybe in retirement although I don't use much bread...

>134 SandyAMcPherson: Having read so many bread books, do you have a favorite to recommend?

>136 foggidawn: Yes, Foggi... I was writing this up and revising to make it useful for both the bread baking at home folks and the don't have time, have to go to work people. Except, I think I can write only from my own perspective (well, duh!)... hope you will find the next post useful.

>132 SandyAMcPherson: A composite review of a few books on bread-baking

The pandemic and worries about Covid recalled my hippie days of baking bread all the time in contrast to recent decades, occasionally or for seasonal reasons, like Christmas. A short backstory and bread book commentary:

I was fortunate to learn two approaches to mixing bread dough from when I was a child: my mother's (throw it together and knead it a few times, with lots of sporadic attention) versus my grandmother's whose use of a teacup with a broken handle as a measure for dry ingredients, liquids in a measuring cup, always preached that time was the most important ingredient. Both ways work for me, except nowadays, I weigh all my ingredients.

Time referred to giving the dough enough time to hydrate. In those days, we had only an old-fashioned dry yeast that had to be activated separately in warm water, and that was always the first step along with its immediate use mixed into about half the flour portion. I now know, that was a pre-fermentation and lead to a quicker first rise.

Nowadays, there's instant dry yeast (IDY) and in the best artisanal format, only 3 other ingredients: flour, water, salt are added (+ yeast and time, of course).

The books in #132 followed on from 2022 reading and in all of them, the key thing to note is what kind of bread is your objective? *And*, do you have a good understanding about mixing bread dough and the development of gluten?

Books like Ken Forkish's uber-successful "FWSY" (Flour Water Salt Yeast), plus his more recent Evolutions in Bread, Martin Philip's Breaking Bread, and Jeffrey Hamelman's Bread have excellent techniques laid out.

On a personal level, I liked Philip's Evolutions in Bread and Hamelman's Bread much better for instructions. If you already know how to handle dough, I would suggest Hamelman's as a go-to reference. He covers the technicalities very clearly and discusses a few points, such as the all-important scoring just prior to baking, which none of the other books explain.
Forkish was entertaining but for me I didn't find the layout of either of his books as easily assimilated for technique and guidelines. However, his journey to becoming a top notch baker is very engaging and full of encouragement as he writes about the trials and errors ~ I recognized mistakes I was making, too. So a win.

Since my objective this past winter was to develop a successful hearth loaf with multi-grain components, my favourite book in this regard is Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads. This is the book to choose first, if you are looking for a reference for bread-making with an emphasis on incorporating whole grains and manipulating pre-fermentation techniques. Straightforward instructions, and nice tables of ingredients for the recipes.

Maybe WFH was a blessing because you could head into the kitchen when the dough needed attention and then baking. In Canada, the 10-kg bags of flour were disappearing at a rate of 400% over the usual stocking requirement. The IDY disappeared at the same rate, too. Fortunately, I live in a town with a huge milling capacity and I buy my yeast in a ‘Industrial’ baker’s brick (454 g). We survived the shortage and I learned to make bread in a way that took little attention, no fancy machines or acessories.

I hope you enjoy my photos of tasty products.
~ Cheese loaves -- ~ Hearth boule
~ Rustic oval -- ~ Cinnamon buns -- ~ Fruit --
~ Rye-whole wheat rustic

>138 SandyAMcPherson: I think I'll hit the bakery tomorrow. Even if they don't have cinnamon rolls....

>138 SandyAMcPherson: Thanks, that’s very helpful. I’m drooling over those pictures, especially the cheese loaves and cinnamon rolls!

>138 SandyAMcPherson: I enjoyed reading this, but the photos are making my tummy rumble. I did a fair bit of sourdough baking in 2020 and "graduated" to yeast breads the following year. I kept us in regular supply for a while but then fell out of the routine. I enjoyed it though.

That's some great looking bread!

>139 quondame: laughed at your comment, Susan. I know the feeling... we don't have a bakery here (that I've found) that doesn't slather that gooey, over-sweet icing all over the top, so I have to resort to homemade if I want yummy cinnamon buns.

>140 foggidawn: Thanks Foggi. I'm glad the pix were a hit. I did a lot of experimenting these last few months. The cheese bread was actually amazing. I made the recipe that also incorporates roasted red peppers (skinned afterwards) and does that ever seem to supply some nutrient that caused the loaves to rise like crazy. That recipe was actually in one of my 2022 books.

>141 lauralkeet: I've never been that big of a fan of sourdough breads. I think it's the idea of the feeder culture in the fridge doing unregulated microbial growth ~ reflective of my microbiological background, I guess. I do enjoy the homemade bread and thanks to my daughter and SIL, I've learned a lot about how undemanding the activity can be.

>142 drneutron: Thanks Jim. I appreciate that you took the time to pop by. It was a longish post and I wondered if it was TMI for a book blog!

Hey Sandy, we were chatting recently on someone else's thread about maintaining TBR/BB lists on our respective libraries' websites. You mentioned segmenting your lists (by year I think), and I want to thank you for inspiring me to make a minor tweak to my list. I created a separate list for "next book in series," separate from the list of recommendations/BBs. I like to "tee up" the next book so it's easy to find when I feel like visiting that series again. This doesn't work for series where I'm waiting for the next book to be published, but I now have 6-7 books on my "next in series" list and they're not all mixed up with other book recs.

>143 SandyAMcPherson: The local donut shop occasionally has a baked cinnamon roll and while it is frosted, it mostly has what I consider an inadequate amount, but still it's one of my favorites. I wish I knew their schedule for the baked ones, as it seems hit or miss to me. They more often have ones that are yeast donut dough fried and not properly bread-like at all. But while the donut shop is usually worth the trip they get low so low on stock after 11AM I'm not sure why they stay open much later.
But I was thinking of picking up the sesame whole grain bread and maybe the country loaf and the bakery my sister-in-law introduced me to. But no car today not tomorrow probably, or at least not in time for me to find what I want in stock.

The bread looks good. A friend was offering a starter of a sweet bread when I checked into Facebook this morning, but with me being just me, I have trouble justifying trying to keep a starter fed and continuing for as little as I would need it. I'd be constantly either throwing out or giving away starters so it's just not worth it for a single person.

>147 lauralkeet: Laura, it was great to hear this worked for you.
I confess I was making one long, long list on my library account and then finally realized they had *gasp* (!) new software. Now I can create labels for anything I wanted to segregate into separate lists, which for my liking which is by genre.

The frustrating thing is that there's no "drag and drop", so I have to re-select a title in the main catalogue to add it to my new list and re-save it there.
Then I need to go back to the old "My List" and delete the title. If you have a short cut or a tweak to suggest so that I can be more efficient, maybe I'll get the rearrangement finished before the end of the year!

>148 quondame: Re bread or bun (rolls) in baked goods desires, can you not pre-order your faves and have (ahem) Mike run by to collect them... just a thought... you've probably got a reason not to do it this way.

One thing I adore is the dessert canneloni that a local baker makes only for Saturdays. So when I feel we are deserving of a special Saturday nummy, I phone in the order first thing Friday (and prepay on my credit card). Mr. SM is an early riser and is back by 08:30 with the BEST treat in the city. I make cappuccinos and even froth the milk in a paean to the occasion.

>149 thornton37814: Hi Lori, that's another reason I don't indulge in "starters". The darn things do need a fair amount of 'minding' and I often take bread-baking holidays, especially in the heat of the summer. So I'd be throwing it out, too. Not sure who would want a starter anyhow.
I can sure see that if Mr. SM wasn't such a keen one for bread at least twice a day, I'd probably only have to make bread twice a month (bake 3 loaves, freeze two). I'm a whole grain breakfast food person. Lunch is sort of optional for me. I think I have a very slow metabolism or something.

>151 SandyAMcPherson: Aside from the delicate judgement required in making use of spousal time, I don't think the donut shop is accepting of 1 or 2 item holds - they might set aside donuts by the dozens, but have a certain first come attitude toward low volume customers. And the French bakery was declared out of the way after the first visit. It's far enough from the freeway and our normal stops to make it awkward and while it has a parking lot, that always seems to be full when their stock is. I do place orders online there and pick them up when I figure the lot won't be overwhelmed, but they don't do cinnamon rolls. They have a sort of cross between puff pastry and brioche that's cinnamon sugar saturated, but it's weird. In general the bread is very good, but the pastry at best adequate.

>153 quondame: Well, that all makes sense. We're lucky that phoned in small orders are acceptable. Hadn't thought about that aspect.

I love the 'delicate judgment required' part. Uh-huh.

>151 SandyAMcPherson: I have the same problem with moving items between library lists, Sandy. It sounds like our library systems might be using the same software!

>155 lauralkeet: Re: "our library systems might be using the same software", I think so. There's a universality about the images that are the similar across American websites (what I call 'token imagery'). These appear here as well.

Not trying to start a flame war, just an observation. For the large part, the people don't look much like the diversity in (for example) western Canada. So I would expect libraries buy 'ready made software' and don't customize the visual presentation for the communities where it is used.
I've an Inuit friend who says she sees the same images in the Northern library where her parents live that she sees in the Saskatchewan system and generally online.

The comment arose because she works with several Muslim women who drew her attention to something about the library having brochures in Farsi as well as Arabic and they were pleased. So we got to talking how important imagery is as well. We've perhaps correlated something that doesn't substantiate the idea that the software is all cross-border, but still... and yeah, I got off topic (again).

Let's ask MickyFine to see if she cares to wade into my alligator-laden swamp, huh?

>112 foggidawn: And this is one of many reasons why I prefer physical books, physical DVDs etc.

>156 SandyAMcPherson: No insight to offer here. At my organization that's all managed by our marketing department.

>117 SandyAMcPherson: Okay, weird. According to Google the next Sophie Irwin book is "A Lady's Guide to Scandal" but my library has her 2023 book at A Spinster's Guide to Danger and Dukes.

ETA All of that bread looks good and, yeah, I like my cinnamon buns without icing too but heavy on the cinnamon.

>158 MickyFine: Thanks Mickey. You're the one who originally alerted me to the difference between SK library management with the province-wide accessibility versus our different agreement for inter-library loans. I'm never sure who manages what in our provincial system.

>159 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg. Yes, we have those sorts of mis-filed entries in our system too.
And I'm with you on the 'heavy on the cinnamon' for the buns.

Here's my weekend bake for breakfast today (cooked yesterday)


This is my lazy way of not needing to cope with individual buns. Toasts beautifully, though.

>161 SandyAMcPherson: Oh, toast, what a wonderful idea!

>161 SandyAMcPherson: looks delicious and fancy at the same time :)

>161 SandyAMcPherson: that looks delicious, Sandy! Any leftovers? 😀

>162 quondame: I best love the toasted, buttery slices of cinnamon bread❣️
>163 figsfromthistle: It is deceptively fancy, Anita. We use these as gifts at Christmastime.
>164 lauralkeet: Leftovers? What are those, Laura?

>165 SandyAMcPherson: I live in hope, Sandy!

>166 lauralkeet: Well, it is a very long drive or an awkward airplane trip to get here, but home baking is a thing here in our home. Also, this town is a lovely place to visit (in July...).

There's a new thread now... so if you want to talk about something from this one, pop on over to #2, OK?