Susan(quondame) Reads 2023-1

Ravensburger Magical Bookcase Puzzle

Of course all bookcases are realms of enchantment. And can be very dangerous.

I'm Susan, 74, and have been on LT for a mere 5 years.

I read a great deal of F&SF, some historical fiction, some mysteries, some romances, some classic literature, and even some modern literary fiction, and am always delighted by inventive combinations of 2 or many of the those. If you recommend a non-fiction book I read those too sometimes, pre-1830 history, biology, or food by preference.

My family is my husband of 36ish years Mike and my 30 year old daughter Becky, Becky's dog Nutmeg - best of grandpuppies - and Mike's dog Gizmo, not a good one, but entertaining. We live in an almost large enough house in west Los Angeles with a regrettable kitchen.

I've done historical recreation in the Regency Period - yay for Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer and in the SCA, and have done costuming and crafts for both, filling 1.5 rooms and garage space with craft supplies.

I also like to collect things, not so much books, strange as that is for this group, but dolls with wardrobes and friends - some representing characters in books, and miniature tools, 1:12 - 1:8 scale mostly.

I like a wide variety of foods and really enjoy having so much within a few key clicks and minutes from my doorstep.

I write about all these things, but mostly books, all the books.

And I love my local libraries!

I have a project!

5 years ago I collected from a FaceBook group a list of favorite women F&SF authors. In addition up until 2018 I was maintaining a much longer list of women F&SF authors, many of whom I had only encountered on other peoples' lists or in advertisements. The first has 224 entries and I haven't counted the latter, but many, many more.
It is time to bring them up to date.

If you have favorite women F&SF authors who started publishing since 2015, let me know. I see a lot, but by no means most of what gets published in that field.

I include trans-women and individuals who present as women, though I'm sure I've make some mistakes and welcome corrections based on an individual author's statements.

Project Updates:

230114
I have done updates on my lists, moving the 2017-2022 new authors read to Excel, updating the general list with the information, and collecting more data, in particular from 28 female authors who rule sci-fi and fantasy of whom over half I've read and so are already on the list, so not too many from there.

The general list is a word document which contains close to 1000 names, most of which are still in 1st name(s), last name format, which makes alphabetizing impossible, so that's one major effort, name order flipping. I'm up to "G", having just completed "E" and "F".

What will be harder, I think, will be converting the footnotes which typically look like %^4MoD (name comes from my reading or list, story in Four Moons of Darkover) to + ^{FH91 IJT SFMW BF} (The Book Smuggler - Women SF Authors by Andrea K Höst, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 1991, Where have all the Women Gone, Sci-Fi Mistressworks and Black Feathers read in 2017.

230115
So I'm through "I" of which I only had Eva Ibbotson, so it was mostly "G" and "H".

230121
A few days ago Tor came out with 30 SFF Titles to Look Forward to in 2023 which actually lists 60 titles - supposedly 30 that Tor readers would be anticipating and 30 that might be new to them. These are all coming out before July 2023. Of the authors named 26 were women I did not immediately recognize, 1 specified tran, and it turned out that 24 of the 26 were not on my list of "Women SF Writer List" which I've stuffed with names for years now. 24!
Of the two that were on the list, one I had not recognized as a woman from the name though I had read 3 books by her and even remembered them to some extent. The other I'd never read and only seen on 2015 version of the Reddit list Women in Fantasy.

I have converted J-K, and now have the huge hill of L-M facing me.

230122
I'm into the Ms. And have added some more authors from the twins pages. Gosh, women keep writing F&SF! (I'm in the middle of Rebel of the Sands and had to add Alwyn Hamilton. So how did I even know to check it out if I'd never heard of her?

230125
I've done the Ss and I think the Ts, so I'm getting close to building the spread sheet. I have done a preliminary consultation with Becky who at least knows what pivot table means and has wrangled largish Excel databases - I mean mine will be less than 2000 authors with maybe two dozen source tables to start. She didn't have an immediate answer for footnotes in Excel, but I'm sure that something will serve.

230128
All the names on the list are now in Last, First format, I can now create a name list which can be automatically alphabetized - I know there must be ones out of order, so loading them all into a table will take care of that chore.

Welcome to my 2023 thread!

If I haven't visited your thread and you'd like me to please say hello and I'll drop by shortly!

Wishing you a comfortable reading year in 2023, Susan.

That is a complicatedly beautiful topper. Looking forward to keeping up over here as usual. xx

>5 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul! I'd love to see the picture but the link's been broken in every thread I've visited. Is it to your FB page?

That may work for a while, Susan. Yes it was from FB so it is my stupid fault not picking a more stable method.

Happy New Year, Susan! I haven’t got my thread up yet (got pleasantly interrupted in the middle of it by my granddaughter who wanted some “Mimi time”) but hope to tomorrow. See ya round.

>7 PaulCranswick: An image with impact. Thanks.

>8 Storeetllr: I'll be looking out for your thread! Having granddaughter time is so the priority though!

Happy New Year and happy reading!

Happy New year!

Hi Susan. Great topper.
All best wishes that 2023 is a healthy, readerly year for you, with good eats!

I was telling Mamie about a jigsaw puzzle featuring a bookshelf (with a play-on-words meme for the book titles) and how fanciful the books were for creating an old village scene of buildings. Intricate fun.

Your Ravensburger image might be in the same series, it's so similar. I have to do some digging to find the puzzle so I can feature it later.

I mostly don't do puzzles anymore because it was a family activity and Mr. SM has never engaged in the pastime. TBH, if I have time to assemble a jigsaw puzzle, I'd rather choose to read (unless there's someone around to share the entertainment)!

>2 quondame: I saw this project mentioned at the end of 2022 on your thread. I'm not sure what your precise parameters are for what you want to include (you know... set the sample space, yeah?)
Maybe you can post somewhere publicly (via LT) the part of this list showing what you do have for 2015 going forward? Or can you upload it on your profile and post us interested folks a link? It would be fun to contribute.

Happy New Year, Susan. I'll try to check in more regularly. I'll also try to make a list of the female authors I've encountered in that time frame. You probably already have all the older ones (books, not necessarily authors) although I have a lot of good ones from rather obscure authors in the 70s and 80s.

Happy new year, Susan!

>10 Narilka: >11 figsfromthistle: Thank you Gale & Anita!

>12 SandyAMcPherson: Good to see you! Yes, there was another bookcase picture in this line. I think it was even more (is that possible) obviously books than the one I used.

>13 ronincats: Hi Roni! Good to see you!

>12 SandyAMcPherson: >13 ronincats: Re:(>2 quondame:) I have a lot of work to do on my list(s) before I "publish" - one is mostly firstnames lastnames but interspersed with lastnames, firstname. I have a procedure for converting one to the other without retyping and getting approximately one typo per name, but it won't be quick - and the next couple of days will be pouncing on new threads, of course!

>14 drneutron: Thank you Jim!

Hi Susan, I have you starred.

>16 kgodey: >17 Berly: Thank you Kriti and Kim!

I'm being quite sluggish about reading this year. I'm still comforting myself with At the Feet of the Sun re-reads after the dread The Killing God. WTH happened to Stephen Donaldson?!?! He used to be inventive with some flashes of humor, some notions of beauty or vast weirdness with all his violence and moodiness. That was dull with soaked in bad moods, with only the bad guys able to do whatever they want in the sever snow. The earlier two books were fairly short, but not this one. For now it's a definite DNF. Back to find some comfort with Kip and friends....

Happy New Year Susan - Your Ravensburger Puzzle pic looks to be the work of Colin Thompson. He's written some great books for kids including the picturebook How to Live Forever and a series that my daughter really enjoyed when she was younger, The Floods. He ended up living in Australia after going on a book tour there and marrying the librarian who organised it.

>1 quondame: Happy New Year Susan! I have a smaller (1000 piece) version of your puzzle. I do like Colin Thompson's work - the detail is wonderful. When Jacob was small we had The Paperbag Prince and How to Live Forever.

Happy New Year and happy new thread Susan!



I'll try and keep up with you this year - but no promises.

>1 quondame: >12 SandyAMcPherson: I have a similar puzzle but I don't think it's a Ravensburger; I'd have to check.

>6 quondame: >7 PaulCranswick: Ah; thanks.

Happy New Year, Susan. I love the puzzle.

Happy new year, Susan!

Happy New Year, Susan! Dropping a star.

>19 avatiakh: what a great story! Gee, it could be a book plot.

Hi Susan! I’m here too.

>1 quondame: I love your top picture. I have a different one, as a jigsaw, and it's both maddening and fun.

>19 avatiakh: Thank you Kerry! I'm glad to know the artist's name, which I did not check for in my impatience to get started. That is a good story.

>20 SandDune: Thank you Rhian! I'm not a puzzle person myself but I so liked the bookcase images.

>21 humouress: Thank you Nina!

>22 BLBera: Thank you Beth!

>23 DianaNL: Thank you Diana!

>24 Crazymamie: Thank you Mamie!

>25 2wonderY: It's good to see you here Ruth!

>26 ArlieS: Thank you Arlie!

And here I was wondering why my hair was taking so long to dry.... it's raining here, not just gloomy!

Happy New Year! I hope it's a good reading year for you!

Happy New Year, Susan. We are closing out another wonderful year of books and banter and I am looking forward to sharing another with you.

>29 cbl_tn: Thank you Carrie! I hope it is for everyone!

>30 msf59: Thank you Mark! Aren't we more like opening up the year? I'm so done with 2022.

So, do I remember correctly that your daughter B has the same bday as my daughter's? Dec 30th? J went to San Diego to celebrate hers this year. I was happy for her but I think it was the very first time we didn't get to celebrate in person on her day. A little sadness, but I think I have to grow up. LOL. We are planning to do it next week.

>32 Berly: Yes, 12/30. She was first scheduled for the 28th, but the Dr was flying back to LA on the 27th and so re-scheduled for the 29th. Then the nurse didn't administer the induction medication correctly. After the 2wk past due date stillbirth of my first baby, we were not going to let nature take its course.

Thank goodness that worked out! Mine was the opposite. J was induced a month early due to medical issues. I always told her I waited to get pregnant so she wouldn't be a December baby but she just had to come early so it's not my fault! LOL.

Happy Bday to B. : )

>34 Berly: Absolutely. We are so happy to have her!

Happy new year and new thread! I love the puzzle thread-topper. We just finished doing one, so vacation must be over. (I tend to save my puzzles for when I have lots of free time to work on them.)

>9 quondame: Yes, definitely granddaughter time is a priority!

>33 quondame: I didn’t know we shared that particular heartbreak. I’m so sorry but very happy your daughter was born healthy! Belated birthday wishes to you both!

Just dropping off my star again Susan my dear.

>36 foggidawn: Thank you Foggi! As I'm not a puzzle working person, for me it's just the imaginative imaging of books that delights.

>37 Storeetllr: Thanks. Both the pregnancy and the loss changed much in my life, providing a radically different baseline for what's important.

>38 johnsimpson: Welcome and thank you John!

1) The Saint of the Bookstore



A slight tale of winter miracles.

Meets January TIOLI Challenge 15: 'I liked that author" - Read a book by an author in 2023 who you read a book written by in 2022

2) Little Fires Everywhere



The more I think about this book the less I can find to recommend about it. It is competently written though rather too long for any content I could find in it, and for what I think should be a character driven plot of connections and conflicts centered on mother-daughter relationships in a new girl(s) in town bring conflict to a settled way of life, the characters are not living breathing creations.

BB from alcottacre

As it was due in the wee hours of this morning I guess it
Meets January TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book that came into your possession in 2022

3) Moira's Pen



These little stories, vignettes, and micro-essays are fun but do not satisfy as a whole. Fans of the series will want to read this, but don't expect too much.

BB from foggidawn

Meets TIOLI Challenge January TIOLI #16: Read a book with the three letters of "one" in the title and/or the author's name

Susan, things we have in common

dolls
books
puzzles
LT

I'm sure there is much more we have in common. I received five new puzzles for Christmas presents. The first one I tried, I had to put aside. It is the first time I've ever done that, but to continue would be a futile, frustrating process.

I started another puzzle today. I start with the frame first, and while I'm looking for those pieces, I usually find a space for pieces that are similar.

Like you, I started Little Fires Everywhere but thought it too difficult to muddle through.

Maybe my concentration isn't as sharp as usual given the fact that four days into the new year, I've already re-boxed a puzzle to give away, and stopped reading a book that was too tedious. Maybe now that I am 70, I give myself permission not to waste time.

I've been good about purchasing new dolls, not so good about curbing book buying. Thriftbooks.com is a blessing and a curse. I find great books there at a fair price.

>43 Whisper1: I feel Little Fires Everywhere just didn't have anything deeply real to offer. Too much time was spent elaborating relationships that were arbitrary between characters that weren't well enough developed to engage us, so when very real difficulties were portrayed we felt obliged to feel moved rather than being moved.

As to puzzles, well my topper was misleading. I'm anything but a puzzle person. Not that I'll go looking for puzzles to topple, but they don't get invited home with me either. Books, and dolls, yes, for sure. Craft supplies, and dogs as well, and of course food are other interests.

Returning your visit, Susan, and dropping off a star.

>45 MickyFine: Thanks Micky, good to see you here!

Hi Susan. Belated Happy New Year and new thread.

>1 quondame: Love the puzzle and your header info this year.

>18 quondame: Sorry about Stephen Donaldson’s The Killing God. When I married Bill and moved to NC, I read his copy of Lord Foul’s Bane and liked it, but wasn’t interested in continuing the series. It's depressing when an author you like starts producing dreck.

>47 karenmarie: The only books of Stephen Donaldson's that I'd absolutely recommend are the Mordant's Need duology The Mirror of Her Dreams and A Man Rides Through.

We had a discussion of Little Fires Everywhere in my book club, and one of the complaints was that the characters were superficial. Each one had their place and didn't really change much.

>49 BLBera: Yes. If I don't engage with the characters what happens to them doesn't make much of an impression. Moody seemed promising, but didn't make it an inch out of himself.

4) Deathless Gods .25



Jame goes on bruising egos and showing competence in corners while bringing down the walls. Were I a power hungry ruler I'd avoid the Knorth like the plague.

Should I live so long, I'll keep reading this series as I do Kristen Britain's Green Riders because 1) woman author 2) woman protagonist, 3) investment, but I'm not really a fan. Since, unlike series of which I am a fan, I've done little or no re-reading, I do need the first 3rd of slow re-introduction to have any clue as to who's who and wtf is going on, but still find it slow and ponderous. This book did at least take off and move briskly after that first third.

Meets January TIOLI Challenge #7: Read a book where the author uses initials instead of a first and second name

Since Becky is at AnimeLA, Mike and I have been trying to sleep with Nutmeg. There has been a lot of trying and not so much sleeping. That dog is seriously interactive.

Maybe tonight I'll shift my bedding to Becky's room so Mike can get a full night's sleep. That's what I've done when Becky's been out of town before now.

>52 quondame: Are you a traveler with pillows? Me too. And now both daughters do it too and have stopped making fun of me.

>53 2wonderY: I have so many pillows. And pre-covid what little traveling I did involved bedding from home - no issue camping, but taking the XL dog bed Purple mattress to the Marriott felt a bit strange. Now I have a wedge for my head, pillows for my shoulders and knees and as many layers of down blankets as it takes to keep me warm - 3-5 under 65℉.

Mike still snarks about my mountain of bedding, but ever since I saw an interview with an ex-Broadway dancer in her hotel room deploying pillows everywhere I feel fine about it. I may not have created art in destroying my joints and stressing my tissues, but they deserve all the comfort extravagant bedding can provide.

5) Bee Sting Cake .75



I liked it a tad better this second time through
Jemis encounters one of the two friends who stood by him at the end of his college career when his former lover turned the campus against him. That his friend Hal is an Imperial Duke and knows that Jemis' father was innocent of any treason begins to shift his status in Ragnor Bella so things are looking up until they encounter the dragon that requires Jemis to solve a riddle.

I started just for some lighter reading but Hal kept stopping to look at new plants 2 or 3 times each outing, so it clearly it
Meets January TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book with a character who gardens or loves plants

>54 quondame: I guess I am with Mike on that, Susan. Funnily enough though with Hani away in the UK I have not reverted to a more spartan bedding arrangement as I guess I would miss her even more otherwise. She will be back home next month!

Have a lovely Sunday.

>56 PaulCranswick: Mike, having no ass to speak of can comfortably lie flat on his back if he likes and while he does have a good set of shoulders it's not enough to throw his back out for the day if he lies unsupported on his side. My joints, muscles and tendons are quite ready to cripple me for the day if they feel abused, so my humor is very thin when teased about whatever I've currently arranged for sleeping support.

>57 quondame: I have plenty of ass, I guess, but I have taken a shine to one of Hani's bolsters and often find myself waking up cuddling the thing. Not quite the same as the real thing but definitely keeps me from mischief!

>54 quondame: Ever since I was small, I’ve loved making a nest of pillows and blankets, the softer and more luxurious the better.

>58 PaulCranswick: >59 foggidawn: I am entirely behind whatever makes comfortable sleep more likely. For myself, being chided for my choices as I get ready to sleep is upsetting rather than affirming.

6) Whiskeyjack



Finding himself in jail for the murder of a legendary outlaw in the form of a dragon is a new experience for Jemis, but it's worse that he doesn't remember how he got there across the northern forest from stopping at the crossroads during his morning run. No time is wasted as he escapes with two shady characters and they return to the not so sleepy anymore area of Ragnor Bella. Then things get more interesting. Another headlong rush of an adventure in at which a thing or two - but not that thing - get explained.

It is so hard to stop re-reading these, lucky it
Meets January TIOLI Challenge #14: The "Welcome 2023 Challenge - Let's Read 3" - Read the first, second, and/or third book of a trilogy"

7) Blackcurrant Fool



Jemis and Dart leave Ragnor Bella the business on the east coast, hoping to complete it before being discovered by Jemis' enemies. It turns out that the quietest region on the continent isn't the only place where Jemis gets into deep trouble.

Still re-reading......

Travel, imprisonment, rescue yep it
Meets TIOLI Challenge January TIOLI #13: Read a book of swashbuckling adventure

Happy reading in 2023, Susan!

Hi Susan.

>52 quondame: I giggled at your description of Nutmeg being seriously interactive.

Dropping by on a quick round to aim at sort of keeping up with what's happening.
I guess I should get me a Victoria Goddard novel to see what she's like. I've never read any of her books and until this past while, usually didn't see them on threads. Or shall I say, "notice"?

Edited to ask, she writes Sci-Fi I think, but I am sure a dystopian setting would not suit me. What would you suggest?

>65 SandyAMcPherson: Luckily Victoria Goddard's fantasy is just about the opposite of dystopian. The successful protagonist of The Hands of the Emperor and At the Feet of the Sun has transformed a world to make life better for ordinary people. If you like swashbuckling adventure, a good one to start with is Stargazy Pie. It seems like you're being thrown into the middle of things, but the "unexplained" background doesn't matter much to the story. Til Human Voices Wake Us sort of offers an explanation to some of the background of what I think of as an alternate version of the other novels. The best is Hands, but it is rather long for trying out a new author, though her style is so easy and comforting to read in that book.

>63 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita!

>64 karenmarie: I try to take a humorous slant to what I can't change....and Nutmeg is ever so solidly herself.

Sorry I didn't reply yesterday.

8) Love-in-a-Mist



In a huge departure from previous titles this one is not a pastry, but a beverage. Jemis and companions have moved from high adventure to country house mystery on their way home, and despite vague echos of the dangers to the east we are in a very local, if multiply connected tale.

Still re-reading......

Meets January TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book with the name of a famous leader in the title or author's name

9) Plum Duff



Back in his home barony Jemis is, along with the reader, not surprised that trouble is stirring over Winterfest, the time when the Goddess is most vulnerable.
As in Love-in-a-Mist, this is not a novel of fast action and many developments, nor, though progress is made, do we reach the summer of The Return of Fitzroy Angursell, so there is some sense that the action is being drawn out. Also, it is a bit too obvious that plans made in the previous book will not work out since those plans are given the barest attention by the characters before it becomes clear they will fall through. That is a particular annoyance of mine as real people are pretty dependable in having strong reactions to broken plans, but I rarely see that worked with in fantasy novels.

Still re-reading......

Well, I can't find an unused TIOLI for this so since the first was a short piece but the author is the same so
Meets January TIOLI Challenge #15 Read a book by an author in 2023 who you read a book written by in 2022

Well, that's about it for my Victoria Goddard re-reads. They are so comfortable.

I neglected rounding up reads for the rest of January's TIOLI challenges until yesterday, but my local library looks to have a wealth of books that meet a half dozen, a couple of which are already set aside for me. I still have a few unclaimed, quite rare for me at this point, and neglected to checkout Bleeding Heart Yard when it was ready so may not get to it this month. Or it may not get to me or both. But I will read it.

>66 quondame: This is fabulous, Susan. Thanks for rounding up a few titles for me to try out.
I copied the post link to my LT list (a text file), which I make every year to keep track of WL, BBs, and also discussions I want to revisit.

I have overloaded myself with starred threads this year to explore more members I see posting on the threads I have follwed since joining the group. I think I overdid it! But it is fun to see everyone's hopes and dreams for the year.

>70 SandyAMcPherson: I do check the introductions, but mostly wait until I see a post on someone else's thread that catches my attention. Then I try to keep a list of people whose threads I follow because of the slightly unusual way 75BPY jumps groups. I know I've missed some, but fewer each year.

Susan, you are clipping along at a fast pace. Nine books already into the new year! Congratulations.

>72 Whisper1: Thank you. It does help that 6, well 7, are such easy pleasant books to read, and re-reads (6) at that.

10) The Storyteller's Death



A story about a family damaged by angry controlling parents and the secret arising from them, centered on the mixed background never-fit in young woman who is their granddaughter and great-granddaughter. Each part of this story would work if it weren't for the other parts. It starts of as a damaged child story, veers close to supernatural horror while trying for magical realism, falls into a mystery who done it and resolves as a truth will set you free sweet romantic nonsense. I like the horror section best, and I usually hate horror.

Meets January TIOLI Challenge #18: The last of the first: Read a book related to ending

>74 quondame: I laughed out loud at your description of the book. Not sure if I will read it, but I love your review.

>75 Storeetllr: Thanks Mary.

11) The Spare Man



The plot was dragged through the book kicking and whining about red herrings, the main characters behaved like idiots and one was weighted with PTSD and the need for a pain meds pump, which was constantly distracting and a huge load on the action. But the worst crime was that instead of sparkly champagne we are served flat 7-UP.

I had to cherry pick lists but it
Meets January TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a book on a best of 2022 list

>77 quondame: , >75 Storeetllr: For me, I laughed out loud at the description plot was dragged through the book kicking and whining.
How in heck could The Spare Man have ever been on a "best of" 2022 list? (Best of a bad lot?)

Eleven books thus far! Congratulations!

>78 SandyAMcPherson: Mary Robinette Kowal is the current thing in SF. I'm not as charmed by her as the majority seems to be. It has a great cover and purports to be The Thin Man in space and I guess other readers thought it did a better job of that than I did.

>79 Whisper1: Thanks Linda. And I'm almost halfway through Demon Copperhead but am taking that in a few chapters at a time with other reading in between.

Demon Cooperhead is on my TBR list. I plan to check the local library site to see if I can reserve this book.

>80 quondame: I liked the Glamourist Histories series but have had trouble getting into Kowal's other books. Ghost Talkers was okay, and I read The Calculating Stars but never read the next book despite owning it.

>82 kgodey: I enjoyed the Glamourist Histories and read 2 of the lady astronaut series, but it just felt like living through attitudes I don't have to deal with anymore (mostly) and the story and characters didn't carry me over the ground with sufficient lift.

Hi Susan! I don't read a lot of SFF, but when I do, I lean toward historical fantasy. The Victoria Goddard series sounds intriguing. It seems like there's a bit of mystery in these books?

>84 cbl_tn: Most of Victoria Goddard's books concern a set of 9 "worlds" that are connected by gates, often erratic, and an empire that for a few thousand years maintained regular connections among 5 of them. In all but a few of the stories the empire has fallen, leaving things pretty chaotic. One of the worlds is a version of ours, called Ysthar, and some "historic" figures feature in the Ysthar stories. I like them mainly for the way Goddard tells the story, as she has a great sense of narrative momentum, and her agreeable characters.

Have you read Elizabeth Bear's The Promethean Age books?

Off topic, but is there a place to describe a movie and ask for the title? Kind of like the group "Name that Book" ?

>86 SandyAMcPherson: Since LT includes movies in the database there may be, so maybe do a tag match and look for movies? or Jim might know. I'd start with google, but depending on what you remember that's iffy - unless you know the name of an actor and can go through their work in IMDB.
I'm sure FB has a group for that, but you probably are avoiding that.

12) Karnak Cafe



In the eponymous Cairo establishment an observer is drawn in by the retired belly dancer who runs it and stays for the company of the other men and the young patrons who include a woman. The 1952 revolution is a decade and some years in the past and everyone talks politics - until the young people repeatedly disappear and reappear worn down but not disclosing the reasons for their absence. Eventually our observer is able to collect some of their stories of imprisonment, violence and betrayal all centered around the 1967 defeat. There is no resolution, but only fragments of what happens when a nation believes its own lies and uses power because it has power.
There is a claustrophobic sense to the story, because once the narrator enters the cafe it is almost as if that is the only place the older characters exist and the younger ones have witness to what happened to them outside.

BB from SqueakyChu
Read for January TIOLI Challenge #17: Read a work of fiction by an author born in North Africa

Wow! You've really hit the ground running with your reading in 2023, that's great.

Two more days of rain forecast then 10-12 cloudy days til the next storm. It seems a long long time since we've been this wet. But then my memory isn't all that - it looks like there have been 2 or 3 really wet seasons since I moved into this house, which while not quite on the top of the hill is well situated near the ridge and well above most likely flooding - but we should sweep out that low place on the patio.....

>85 quondame: No, I haven't heard of that series. It's a genre I rarely read.

>91 cbl_tn: I mentioned it because it is historical fantasy.

>88 quondame: That is one of his books not on my shelves so I will keep an eye out for it, Susan.

Have a great Sunday.

>86 SandyAMcPherson: I’ve used the Name that Book group for films. You won’t get yelled at.

>86 SandyAMcPherson: There's a subreddit for that https://www.reddit.com/r/tipofmytongue/, but that's not on LT, of course. I'm curious about what movie you're thinking of!

>93 PaulCranswick: It is an interesting read, I found the narrator created such a deep frame that the picture was overly muted.

13) Kibogo



In colonial Rwanda a drought has driven the elders to seek the help of the outcast bride of Kibogo despite the hold the Catholic church has on the rest of the hillside population and indeed the country. The ravages of colonialism continue to warp and elaborate the Kibogo myth and the lives of the locals throughout the book.

Meets January TIOLI Challenge #16: Read a book with the three letters of "one" in the title and/or the author's name

14) The Secret School



This spunky girl takes on almost more than she can haul tale seriously pushes the bounds of credulity but stays charming enough that we want to believe and doesn't quite cloy.

Read for January TIOLI Challenge #11: Read a book set in, or about, the 1920s

Reader, I bought it.


I have been lusting after this 90th Anniversary Doll set for some months, but the sellers were always dubious and/or the price was in the multiple thousands. I was already pretty determined to bid on it when, last night, in a discussion with Becky, Mike revealed the actual cost of the stereo speakers and other upgrades to the AV center. A small car's worth. So.

>98 quondame: Cool! How fun!

>98 quondame: That does have a lot of character, Susan!

>98 quondame: Sweet!!

>99 cbl_tn: >100 PaulCranswick: >101 2wonderY: Thank you! I'm looking forward to their arrival. Maybe by the end of the week. Those little felt feet really need shoes, though I can sort of guess why they don't have any even if the originals did.

15) A Spindle Splintered



The writing is taut and emotionally controlled for a dying girl has a fairy tale adventure story. Zinnia is able to both handle herself and see beyond herself as she confronts the gross unfairness which classic fiction displays and deplores.

BB from 2wonderY

Just barely
Meets January TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book that came into your possession in 2022

Wow! 15 books already. You're off to a great start.

>104 thornton37814: Thank you Lori!

15! You're flying through them!

>106 Berly: Thanks Kim!

I rested in the wrong position for a bit last night and my back is out. I hope to be enough better tomorrow to catch up on threads.

Hi, Susan. Getting close to finishing Demon Copperhead?

>108 msf59: Closer - but I'm sort of avoiding the depths of the fall. He's met Tommy at the drug store and I can only imagine that the next chapters will be brutal.

>106 Berly: That is what I was thinking, Kimmers!

>110 PaulCranswick: I'm so busy reading to avoid reading. Well, it happens.

>98 quondame: Woo-hoo!!!

16) The Laran Gambit



If you really must re-visit Darkover, you get the chance for a short stay with Bryn in a very contrived plot, but really no one you cared much for is still around and you have to get past the dreadful space tyrant fist.

Meets January TIOLI Challenge #18: The last of the first: Read a book related to ending

Not finding book bullets here, but that's ok. I already have a stack of 'em. Totally derailed my reading plans so far... I had at least good intentions at the beginning of the year.
And promptly went off to wallow in junky escapist literature like A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting. A BB from Meg. It's been great fun, though not a patch on Georgette Heyer.

Hope the issues with your back muscles resolve soon. I suspect that Demon Copperhead would not be relaxing reading material, however.

>114 SandyAMcPherson: There's not much I'd recommend and nothing without reservation. I'm sure something will show up soon-ish. Demon Copperhead is pretty harsh and at 70% plus a bit is seems heading into really dark territory.

My back is good enough today that I'll be dropping Becky off at work and moving about the house a bit. Yesterday it was to the bathroom and back to bed and no fun trip. Fortunately Mike was clued into the "for worse" bit and kept me fed and supplied tea with only a bit of grumbling.

17) Bleeding Heart Yard



The suspicious death at the 21st reunion of a class of a posh London comprehensive school is Harbinder Kaur's first case as a DI and though her viewpoint is important, the real drama comes from two women with very different memories of the tragedy 21 years before that might be the cause of this new death. I found the resolution less than satisfying, but enjoyed the read.

Meets January TIOLI Challenge #14: The "Welcome 2023 Challenge - Let's Read 3" - Read the first, second, and/or third book of a trilogy"

18) Assassination Classroom, Vol. 1



Weird. Super speed alien squid will destroy the earth in a year but gives the loser class of 8th graders the chance to kill it - and even the weapons to do so. Meanwhile trying to nurture their better selves.

Read for January TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a book (F or NF) set in Tokyo, Hiroshima, Osaka, Kyoto, or Numazu

19) Last Stop on Market Street



C.J.'s Nana always puts the best slant on everything and seems to bring out the best in those around her - but she's telling C.J. that what he wants isn't as important, valid, but also a bit Stockholm Syndrome-ish.

Read for January TIOLI Challenge #10 Read a book for the Life Balance Wheel Semi-Rolling Challenge

20) Show Them a Good Time



My first impression was, how could anybody have been looking forward to this. Bleak with lack of agency most of the women in these stories lack that emotional-cultural connection sinew that couples, however painfully or clumsily, our inner life to the society of which we are a part. The language and some grim humor and the truth that the real world is mostly a fiction made by others keeps these readable, but well, this isn't the fun stuff.

Read for TIOLI Challenge January TIOLI #6: Read a book listed on the Millions "most anticipated" lists during the pandemic years (2020-2023)

>98 quondame: Many thanks for the link regarding Madame Alexander dolls. Speaking from one doll collector to another, your doll was well worth the price.

I collect Julie Good Kruger dolls (she no longer produces these dolls.) Last week, I went through all the dolls I own that she produced. Two folders -- "I own", the other "I do not own!"

While I would love the purchase more, my space is limited. Awhile back, I purchased a large size Alice in Wonderland Madame Alexander doll. I paid $99 for it. Recently, I checked ebay to see that the doll is now listed as $345.

>118 Whisper1: I have a list, not too long, of dolls I'd like to own. Occasionally one comes up for a price that seems reasonable at the moment. I try to keep track of high and low selling prices. My unwritten list is more dangerous, and I admit I'm subject to impulse purchases. This month two expensive dolls that I'd been looking for regularly showed up one, the 90th Anniversary doll, just after I had purchased the other, a Hitty carved from black walnut. At least I had a good chunk of my "fun" money from 2022 left after the 401K distribution last year. I think with the markets down I won't include much, if any, fun money in the 2023 distribution.

Is your Alice from the 1950s? Such beautiful dolls.

Hi Susan.

>77 quondame: A particularly engaging review, especially your description of the poor plot and flat 7-UP instead of sparkly champagne.

>98 quondame: Congrats, and yay for putting the cost into AV center perspective.

>116 quondame: Bleeding Heart Yard is on my shelves, borrowed from a friend, just waiting. 4* is not bad at all.

>117 quondame: Sounds like I can probably skip that one.

>120 karenmarie: Good to see you Karen! I'm always willing to make a justification into a foundation.

>121 foggidawn: It's not an upper, that's for sure, but it does say something that is close to inexpressible.

21) Demon Copperhead



The book has at least two strong messages to get across and bears the burden of a modern retelling of David Copperfield but none of that weighs it down entirely. Reading it we are absorbed in the no-choice lives of the rural poor youth, unsupervised and unvalued, except for their ability to work. Drugs are easily available and nearly unavoidable and offer relief from having nothing and no one. And later pain. There are dark paths along the way, though never as dark for the narrator as for some around him, still, dark enough.

Though I'd rather have used it for TIOLI Challenge January TIOLI #6: Read a book listed on the Millions "most anticipated" lists during the pandemic years (2020-2023)
It is a shared read so it
Meets January TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book that came into your possession in 2022

22) Phoenix Song: Echo



Ever so pretty sups, Native American flavor, bash about in the spirit world and visit and nearly destroy ancestors. I'm not the audience for this.

Read for January TIOLI Challenge #9: A little R&R: Read a book where at least TWO title words and/or author names start with R

They came! (>98 quondame:) Very lovely and really in perfect condition. I now know what size shoe fits the miniature "felt" dolls. 1/2"x1/3" of which I have 2 pair belonging to wee OZ Dorothy bears, so red sparkles, so not suitable. But somewhere, somehow there have got to be similarly small dolls shoes.

>124 quondame: Calloo-Callay, break out the bubbly!

Ummm, why not red sparklies? Surely the fancy Madame Alexander deserves dollies with fancy red sparkles, no?

>125 SandyAMcPherson: The glitter on the sparkly shoes sheds. Also the wee Dorothy bears get cranky when barefoot. One is still bugging me for a Toto (3/4").

23) The Raven and the Reindeer



A retelling of the Snow Queen in which, while staying true to her requirements, Gerta gets to go forward without that jerk Kay. This was a re-read, and apparently I was a bit more delighted my first time through, though I remembered very little detail. 🌈

Meets TIOLI Challenge January TIOLI #9: A little R&R: Read a book where at least TWO title words and/or author names start with R

The younger generation gets it!

Susan, Here is an ebay image of the larger Lee Middleton doll that I bought awhile ago. I believe I paid $99.00, now the price is $345.00.

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/DBgAAOSwSwRiuhoJ/s-l500.jpg

Wow, 22 books already! Amazing!!!

>129 Whisper1: She is fine. I think I have a Rabbit but from Madame Alexander. One of the only two dolls my mother gave me - I was an adult at the time - that I still have is an Alice, but very plain and common version.

>130 Whisper1: Oops, it's 23!

>128 quondame: I love it!

Not sure how I missed you at the beginning of the year, Susan, but a very belated Happy New Year from me. It looks like your reading year is off to a grand start!

>128 quondame: Genius! I want this for my next birthday party, too, although I might swap potatoes for various noodle dishes.

>132 BLBera: >134 curioussquared: I know. I'm tempted to throw a party just to do this!

>133 alcottacre: Welcome Stasia! Your life does seem exceedingly wrought at present. I do hope it becomes less so in good ways.

I'm making dibs and dabs of progress on my Women in F&SF projects >2 quondame: reported in >3 quondame:.

Converting names from first last to last, first is a pain for sure and I'm now looking at L-M, so that'll be a slog.

F&SF readers will want to check out 30 SFF Titles to Look Forward to in 2023.

Also liking the potato/book bday party idea! Have a great day. : )

>128 quondame: My kinda party!

>128 quondame: Now that would be a party I would always attend!

>136 Berly: >137 Storeetllr: >138 figsfromthistle: Don't kids come up with the best ideas? My daughter loved the idea - quite charmed that the girl knew exactly what she wanted and that is was to be alone in a group.

Tonight, celebrating Chinese New Year, we went to Animals Aglow for a couple of hours with a group of friends that were mostly dispersed so that we'd encounter them 2-5 at a time. Mike rented a wheelchair for me and got a good deal of his day's exercise pushing me about, though I did walk more than I'm used to these days, and mostly on the steepest uphill or downhill portions. I wouldn't have been able to get to see all the displays otherwise and my hips were nagging for the last 20 yards to the car.

Hi Susan! I need to add Demon Copperhead to my TBRs. I hadn't paid much attention to the publicity because I've had too many distractions lately, but your mention that it's a retelling of David Copperfield caught my eye. I like to read retellings, and David Copperfield is in my top 5 all-time favorite books.

>124 quondame: Instagram miniaturists shop Dollar Tree for accessories. I was guided there yesterday in pursuit of shoes. There are $1.25 dolls with removable shoes.
Here is one pair I bought:
https://pics.cdn.librarything.com//picsizes/9f/84/9f8412175967761636e68553341426...

Also purple sneakers. But there are heels as well, I think.
If they don’t quite fit, they will look cute in the closet or under the bed.

>140 cbl_tn: Demon Copperhead has collected a lot of buzz in 75BPY.

>141 2wonderY: Thank you. That's a great idea - I am planning on going to a doll show on the 28th, which had a few items I was looking for last year, but the dollar stores are almost as dangerous. I frequently look for 1:9 scale items or ones that can be adapted, and DT is often cited as a source.

I picked up a collection of Barbie shoes in the original packaging from the 80s at an antique shop, but I am more in need of shoes for the small Revlon doll which was my favorite. My sister lost all the accessories while I was away in college. (These are both my original dolls from the early 60s.) Not perhaps as valuable as yours, but of value to me.

>143 ronincats: One's own dolls are priceless. And even the Maggie Mixups I got to replace my childhood dolls are precious to me. eBay often has doll shoes available for dolls popular in the 50s and 60s, though they tend to be pricey - usually at least $12 plus postage. Little Miss Revlon's heels seemed to be similar in size to Cissette's which means the price is kept high, so if that's the doll you mean, there won't be many bargains, but there will be some available.

24) The Golden Ass



A collection of tales, mostly of the damages caused by adulterous and otherwise wicked women, collected together as being heard or experienced by the "author" while he was transformed into an ass. The occasional tale features brigands or lascivious man as misfortune's agent. The longest tale, Psyche's, is the exception if one excludes Venus from the company of adulterous and otherwise wicked women because she's a goddess, is rather boring as Psyche just wanders about being an utter dishrag and the very architecture tells her what to do next.

Read for January TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a book in the public domain

I just today noticed the new "Add Book Express" feature that shows up when you put your cursor over a touchstone! And that the Add button on a books wiki page actually brings up a popup for the book that looks to add that book. Cool!

Hi, Susan. It sounds like you had a good time being pushed around on Chinese New Year. I bet it was nice being out. I am so glad Demon Copperhead worked for you. I enjoyed your thoughts.

>147 msf59: It was a pretty display, though it would have to be very special to compare to the first one I saw, not because that one was so great, though it had more variety and less annoying music, but because it was the first.

Demon Copperhead has a lot to recommend it.

>135 quondame: Thanks for that link, Susan. I am trying to read more scifi specifically these days.

>145 quondame: I need to get to that one. It has been sitting on my shelf far too long without being read.

Have a terrrific Tuesday!

>149 alcottacre: You're welcome!
Well, it's not going to go stale. Or more stale as most of the tales don't offer a whole lot that's fresh and much that has been beaten to death as the ass almost is.

25) Rebel of the Sands



A young desert woman in danger of being forced to marry her uncle tries to use her ability with a pistol to win free only to become involved with more trouble than she knew was out there and plunges into adventure and away from the goals she had set herself. Enough different from the sea of girl with something extra to provide entertainment, similar enough to satisfy that appetite.

I'm not sure how I came to check this book out, but it does add a new author to my list (>2 quondame:, >3 quondame:) of women writers of F&SF and
Meets January TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book of swashbuckling adventure

I'm not counting my skim of Nålbindning - The easiest clearest ever guide! as a read which is why my TIOLI count is 1 higher than my books read count for January.

Hi Susan.

>145 quondame: I saw this book on Ursula’s thread and even have had a copy in my Amazon shopping cart, but there are so many translations that I hesitated. Now that I see it’s in the public domain I’ll try to find a free copy of it instead.

>152 karenmarie: Well, there's no real hurry. My library had that translation and I know Graves is readable. While there undoubtedly are stories of equal antiquity that might seem new to me, this collection seemed very heavily weighted on bad women idiot men tropes that felt stale as Pompeian bread and the Psyche-Cupid version was the ultimate dumb blond take.

26) Aunty Lee's Deadly Specials



Singapore citizen Aunty Lee caters a party at the house of a new client and that new client and her son die after eating one of her complex Peranakan specialties that includes a potentially poisonous nut. Her intense curiosity, meddlesomeness, and determination to clear her businesses reputation has her using every resource available to find out the truth. Lots of foodie information is included, but it isn't what diverts the flow of the story which could be a bit more sprightly but does at least move steadily.

A friend recommended this - and I started it not knowing it's the second book. Not much of a problem in reading it but it may be a slight spoiler for the first book.

Meets January TIOLI Challenge #14: The "Welcome 2023 Challenge - Let's Read 3" - Read the first, second, and/or third book of a trilogy"

27) Bathe the Cat



A lively colorful cautionary tale on why feline literacy and magnetic letter to do lists are a problematic combination. The text is entirely generic, the illustrations altogether LGBTQ+. No cats were bathed in this book.

Read for January TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a book on a best of 2022 list

28) from Every Storm



The three stories included are off the mainline and more matters of feel than plot or character, but give good feels for those seeking a passing taste of Liaden Universe® manners or cute-clever.

Meets January TIOLI Challenge #14: The "Welcome 2023 Challenge - Let's Read 3" - Read the first, second, and/or third book of a trilogy"

>155 quondame: You continue to set quite a pace this year, Susan, with 28 books already done and dusted. Slightly in awe.

>155 quondame: I still need to get to some of their books!

Have a fantastic Friday!

>156 PaulCranswick: I don't know how you manage so much diverse reading, what with a busy job, family life, and book shopping!

>157 alcottacre: My favorites are still the early prequels - Local Custom, Scout's Progress and Conflict of Honors, but then I never took to Miri, who seems to be one of the authors' favorite characters. Priscilla has always been mine though she's almost always in the background.

29) Purity of Blood



What strength this book musters comes about from the conflict between portraying the soldier of fortune as much admired while simultaneously deploring his actions and the society which motivates those actions. Otherwise it is a pretty straight violent series of inadequately prepared blundering about, redeemed by a last minute help of friends. All very macho and male gaze.

Meets January TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book of swashbuckling adventure

I went to a doll show up (from West Los Angeles) in Glendale, where I did not find any of the miniature doll shoes I was looking for - last year there were a couple of vendors with a real selection along those lines. I picked up a few small items and learned about a Gene event in May put on by UFDC. Back in the 90s Gene was the first of the 16" designer fashion dolls, supposedly a 1930s star, from the Franklin mint which had produced and continue to produce, similar dolls of specific people or characters like Jacqueline Kennedy, Princess Dianna and Rose from Titanic. I have quite a number of the earlier dolls stored away, but am not sure if I have the interest for Gene only event.


Then the trouble started. On my way home the Garmin kept directing me to exit right across dividers and I ended up east of downtown LA on surface streets with every other turn Garmin told me to take blocked off for some reason. In heavy traffic. I guess I speak an outmoded dialect of Garmin. It took me an extra 40 minutes to work free of the mess. At least it wasn't raining and there was some visibility.

And there is actual, ready for the next step, progress on my Women writers of F&SF project! (>3 quondame:)

30) The Devotion of Suspect X



This is a disgusting display of male egoizing by author and characters at the expense of the woman arbitrarily at the center of the story. If I could throw darts at a crucified "Galileo" I would. What a complete horror that man is, willing to sacrifice friendship and lives to his own sense of right. The author would make a good substitute. If you don't care a zot about the women who are the occasion for all the male fuss, then I suppose this passes as a "diabolically" clever mystery, but it is basically cruelly heartless.

Read for January TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a book (F or NF) set in Tokyo, Hiroshima, Osaka, Kyoto, or Numazu

>161 quondame: And yet you awarded 3* for this appalling-sounding story. H'mmm. I guess your 3* is less complimentary than mine. Which is interesting, not a criticism.

Re the TIOLI challenge, which I don't do, for this one you just did, I would encourage folks to try Supermarket. A friend loaned me her copy after extolling the genre and I found it a 4* read. Not perhaps to everyone's taste.

>162 SandyAMcPherson: My reaction was so focused on the damage all those men enacted upon Yasuko and Misato, which I assume was not the intended focus of the book. I'm quite able to hate a book (and author) while recognizing I missed the point.

Oh, LAPL has an Kindle copy of Supermarket so I have it checked out now.

31) Eloise



Eloise is my favorite childhood heroine. This book came out in 1955, for 54 weeks of which I was 6, and my attachment to Eloise has lasted since my first encounter with her that year.
The narration of Eloise's adventures is great fun, and the illustrations are so charming and sly, from the slight angles of the nostrils of Eloise's understated nose to the guarded glance of the "lady" peeping out the door over the debonair fellow's shoulder.

Read for American Author's Challenge, January 2023.

I went out in the rain today - to Santa Monica Library, a local 99 cent store, my local LAPL branch. I wasn't expecting rain and I was expecting to go out about 3 hours earlier, but Mike, who didn't go to the gym again - a matter of a significant if not serious slash on his thumb - was called to one of the archery ranges to help with an early arrival of a load of hay bales. Well I survived, but the 7/11 cash machine non-functional, so I'll have to fit in a cash run sometime real soon now.

>141 2wonderY: I'll have to check out an actual Dollar Tree, as the 99 cent store is defunct of small dolls with removable shoes.

>164 quondame: I'm fairly sure that I haven't read Eloise but was enjoying Kay Thompson's performance in Funny Face when daughter and I did an Audrey Hepburn dvd binge and had to find out more about her. Was quite amazing to read about her life including that she was that Kay Thompson of the Eloise books.

>166 avatiakh: Eloise is subtitled A book for precocious adults, about a little girl who lives at the Plaza Hotel. It is not entirely a children's book. But it certainly worked as one.

32) Sword Song



16 year old Bjarni is exiled for 5 years for murder and spends them as a hired sword for two sea lords before surviving a shipwreck on his return. While there is some fighting and mention of summers at sea, no stereotypical Viking raiding is more than mentioned in passing. Bjarni himself is a dog loving (the murdered man kicked his nursing bitch) earnest fellow who learns late to foresee trouble.

Read for the British Author's Challenge, it
Meets January TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book of swashbuckling adventure

>158 quondame: I wish I had more free time, Susan, but then with the free time I long to be working!

>169 PaulCranswick: Wishing for more time, what a notion!

33) Knot of Shadows



Penric is given a case which features that were foreshadowed in Curse of Chalion, but with, of course, complications. This is Bujold playing with her world and offering it up to us deftly in delightful knots.

Re-Read just because I needed a sure thing and had forgotten this one, it
Meets February TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book with at least two one-syllable words in the title

It's fairly early, I've been out for coffee & donuts (two stores) and again later to the Italian deli, and I've read through my followed LT threads, visited FB all I want, exhausted my eBay searches. I guess I should go read something......

34) A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting .25



That this somewhat more cynical take on a Regency romance falls short of Georgette Heyer's work is not surprising. Something in the pacing kept the plotting a bit to static and the choice to have the central character spend her time, and therefor ours, chiefly among those who only interest her for their position and fortune, does not add sparkle to her pursuit.

Meets February TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a book whose first letter of its title fits into the following Rolling Challenge – based on “Be My Valentine”

>171 quondame: Ooooh! BB.
Is this part of the Penric's Travels in 'World of Five Gods'?
I'm being lazy in searching it out on LT (your touchstone doesn't lead to the Bujold book).

Edited to add that your review of the book at post #173 is very insightful. I agree with your observations, though I still felt it was a fun storyline that filled my yearning for the Heyer stories.

I've re-read GH's novels so often that I need to give them several year's rest so I can "disremember" them to a degree that makes the reading fresh.

>174 SandyAMcPherson: Drat! Well, I fixed the touchstone. It's the most recently published Penric, and rather staid after The Assassins of Thasalon, a theological mess rather than an adventure.

35) The Silver Pigs .25



In a somewhat distended tale that starts and finishes in Rome but spends some unpleasant time in Britain, we follow Marcus Didius Falco as he learns of a conspiracy funded by British silver and meet two very different women associated with either the conspiracy the silver or both. The storytelling hasn't yet reached an easy stride but is well enough to keep attention on the slowly - from the point of view of the participants - developing solution.

Read for Investigators - Ancient and Modern - Mystery Series Group Read
Meets February TIOLI Challenge #10: Read a book with something you'd find on Old MacDonald's Farm in the title or author's name

36) Ask the Dust



I did not enjoy spending time with Arturo Bandini as a young near-destitute author in depression era Los Angeles. Everything he relates is so filtered through a self with the emotional intelligence of a gnat and only enough residual honesty to know when he is lying. His assumption that how he treats women is what they deserve is particularly distasteful, yet something in the language and the stuttering grasps at connection is compelling.

BB from msf59

Meets February TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book for the Alphabetical Verbs rolling challenge

It's already been a busy Saturday for me with visits to 3 libraries (one was just a drop off), 3 7/11s (2 did not have working ATMs) and my favorite Italian Deli.

Tonight we go to a party for the 80s birthday of a friend I've known for about 40 years and shared the occasional hotel room with at costume conventions. It's kind of harsh when my friends 5+ years older are livelier and look younger than I do, but really that's better than not.

It's strange that while she and her husband have shelves of books, many of which I've read, we never seem to talk about reading.

37) The Paper Crane



A winsome story interestingly illustrated with collage and drawings.

Because I had taken a "C" slot but wanted that book for another challenge I found this to
Read for February TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book for the Alphabetical Verbs rolling challenge

38) Shuna's Journey



A rather high body count tale of a young man who has real reasons for his journey but only one solution to dealing with those who both outnumber and oppose him. Not much cleverness, just head first into the fray. The illustration style is anime, but quality anime, expressive and quirky.

BB from jnwelch

By challenger's dispensation it
Meets February TIOLI Challenge #18: Read a Western

Hi Susan, what's that light table, cutting board you mentioned on Jim's thread?
Can you post a link? I am curious enough to consider buying one, since it sounds very useful.

It's the Cutterpillar Glow Ultra Light Board with Self-Healing Cutting Mat, which seems to be in somewhat short supply at some vendors, and is pricey, the best I found being from Allbrands, and Amazon carries it, but you can probably find a more local source. Also that's the biggest model, with two smaller ones.

>181 quondame: Thanks, Susan. I 💚 💜 💙 💗 this contraption and will ask for it every time there's an occasion for gifts!

39) The Wolf Age: The Vikings, the Anglo-Saxons and the Battle for the North Sea Empire



How pre-conquest England was overrun with northmen multiple times before 1066. The violence of contentiously proud men who left large reputations that had less to do with who they actually were than what the writers of history required them to be. Concentrates mostly on the years 990-1030 and the fall of Anglo-Saxon power. Readable and with a good un-obsessive level of detail.

Meets February TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book with an animal in its title AND that animal on its cover

>179 quondame: I’m glad you reminded me about Molly Bang. Such a lovely book that is!

>177 quondame: It definitely had dated elements, Susan. I really liked the writing but Bandini could have used a good shaking or a slap or two.

>183 quondame: Looks interesting... I think the writers of history often "required" their subject matter to become something grander or more heroic than was the case.

>184 2wonderY: It is, yes.

>185 msf59: Yep, the bad old days.

>186 SandyAMcPherson: Sainting the pirate Olaf was some makeover. But you work with what you have.

40) Clap When You Land



Half sisters a couple of months apart in age, one in NY one in the Domincan Republic, lose their common father in an air crash and learn about each other. We follow grief and disillusionment, fear and anger, and love while they come to grips with a different future than each expected. In verse.

Acquired for February TIOLI Challenge #5 I quickly realized it
Meets February TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book about twins, or told from 2 POV or has a word indicating 2 in the title

41) Clap When You Land



Esther is leaving middle age from the hard end and her son has been kidnapped forcing her to violate the suspension of her HEX to rescue him. She and the 4 other team members venture into the Beyond between realms to confront the hoarding dragon that has taken their Keeper, the foundation of the HEX. This is a fun mix of elements that are fairly current in trans dimensional fantasy these days but throws in some delightful flourishes of Elliott's own to keep it fresh. Short and sweet. And funny if you have pro-union leanings.

Meets February TIOLI Challenge #6: Read a book with the numbers 6 and 0 in the ISBN

>189 quondame: I think the booknumber and title should be '41' and 'The Keeper's Six', Susan.

>188 quondame: I really enjoy verse novels so i'll look out for this one.

Susan, I write to say how very much I enjoy your reviews, some of which create a chuckle. Your writing is stellar!!! Thank You. I admire your courage in driving through LA! You are much more brave than I ever will be!!!

>190 FAMeulstee: Thank you, done.

>191 avatiakh: It's an interesting take on family existing though betrayal and loss.

>192 Whisper1: Thank you so much!

I grew up being driven about LA, a passenger of a very nervous driver, so to me keeping calm in traffic is pretty ground in. Besides, though the traffic is bad, the percentage of really good and competent drivers is very high, while there are entitled bullies and complete idiots, it's nothing to what I encountered in Boston or even New Haven.

42) Radio Silence



Frances maintains a studious, earnestly dull outward life, but privately creates fan art for a podcast called Universe City, whose narrator is Radio Silence. Late in her next to last term she meets Aled, the twin of her disappeared train ride crush of a couple years earlier, and learns he is the Creator of Universe City. Spending the summer immersed in their shared creativity is the best time Frances has ever had, but when Aled's authorship is revealed everything falls apart. Friendship, love, creativity, and the obsessive self centered interpretation of everything by teens is well handled, though Frances' mixture of competence, drive, and ineptness is rather muddled given her loving and rock solid relationship with her mother no hint of real need.

BB from scaifea

Meets February TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book about twins, or told from 2 POV or has a word indicating 2 in the title

43) Mort



Mort is one of Terry Pratchett's earlier half dozen Discworld books that proceeds with almost the same zany heart as the bulk of his later work in the series. While it was Reaper Man that made me laugh out loud and fall in love with Discworld for life, this one is a worthy per-cursor.

Read for the Discworld: Death Novels Group Read it
Meets February TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book with a connection to a book you read in 2022

Now that Los Angeles requires food scraps to be disposed of in the green bin along with yard waste I picked up a free bin to hold the scraps & paper towels at our local waste handler. Then I was of to the Joann's to pick up a few craft supplies - glues in this case, which, however many times I buy some is always lost or unusable before I can make anything.

I also dropped off a book at the library, and checked the holds rack just in case. On a table was about 2.5' of books, unprocessed donations, and on the top was Legends and Lattes but I left it there and didn't even make pleading noises at the info counter next to the stack - my hold is at least 4 weeks out.

44) Encrypted .25



Shards of Honor lite. Intellectual woman among enemies connects with disgraced hero officer. Not a bad story and well enough told in it's own world with a definite character, but not a real lure to read more.

Read for February TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a book whose first letter of its title fits into the following Rolling Challenge – based on “Be My Valentine”

Just catching up, Susan. - Jaw dropping reading feats going here as usual; 44 books in 42 days.

>198 PaulCranswick: Yep still plugging away for lack of better things to do - well I've excavated several caches of craft supplies without finding what I needed for my currently obsessed about project and put in orders for more stuff from Amazon as well as actually going to Joann's ...

45) The Book of Chameleons



Narrated by the Chameleon we are witness to a maker of improved pasts and a client who needs an entirely new identity but still is entangled in his own past in Angola's struggle for independence. Strange but not off-putting.

It could meet 9 or 16 or with the right timing 2 or 5 but it was obtained and
Read for February TIOLI Challenge #11: Read a book translated from the Portuguese or written in Portuguese

46) The Black God's Drum



This alt-history New Orleans comes across moist and dense in the best way, I was thankful for all the rudimentary French my mother left me with in deciphering the dialog which is the okra of the story's gumbo. It really does feel different than other steampunk and uses it's alt-attitude to enhance the agency of the characters.

Re-read for February TIOLI Challenge #7: The Stendahl Challenge - Read a book with either the word “Red” and/or “Black” in the title proper, not the subtitle.

>201 quondame: Definitely adding this one to my wishlist. It looks incredible.

>202 sisyphus_happy: I've enjoyed all the P. Djèlí Clark stories I've read.

Well I've gone through a half dozen caches of craft supplies without turning up any crochet hooks. Even though I know I used them with one batch, neither lot of them - you know the zipped cases with the loops on either side - has appeared. It's getting ugly. I'll have to look under things.

Hi Susan.

All caught up - as always, your pithy reviews are amusing and informative. Sorry about the LA exit adventure - I had several of them over the years, of course, and don't remember them fondly either.

Hey Susan,

I just created a group for discussing our toys:

https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/23924/Toys-Books-Books-Toys

>206 2wonderY: I joined and started Dolls based on books

Oh, it looked like a message but was Recommendations. Something new? I don't remember it happening before and 1000+ Recommendations is too too many to be of any real use.

>208 quondame: Yes, their rolling out updates this week.😝

>205 karenmarie: I've lived here for over 50 years, and was familiar with 2-3 neighborhoods from regular visits before that and there are still many places where I've no idea how to get from where I am to where I want to be without going hugely out of my way. The hills north of Downtown Los Angeles are such a maze.

>209 2wonderY: So we're in for a spate of seeing someone's idea of what's good for us.

My search for craft supplies continues - 3 more caches checked, zip results.

It’s maddening when you know you have something but it’s not where it should be. The story of my life after 7 moves in 12 years. I hope your search turns up the crochet hooks.

>211 Storeetllr: Thanks. Every December Mike and Becky make me pack up the main room and things go random in a big way. So it's kind of like a mini-move every year. And I'm never prepared for it.

A few years back I started working on my own version of Kenneth D. King's Essential Sewing Tool Kit made from a toiletries bag and had gotten close to completion. I wasn't happy with the black and white zebra striped case I found for it - it was missing and internal holder and a useful pouch, so I went for a EDB tactical carrier KickStarter.

This is not Kenneth King's kit from the videos, but one in the new improved bag of his design filled by an associate. It turns out the new bag (empty) is for sale. I'm doomed.

I swear, at the end of last year I could have put my hand on both the semi-full zebra bag and the tactical bag, but so far have only put my hands on the latter. And my work area is getting so crowded that I'm starting to lose track of what I've got already.

Oh, we're not ignoring Valentines Day here. Flowers and chocolates have been exchanged, but not the traditional huge balloons. Nutmeg just can't deal with bobbing helium balloons and besides, helium is getting harder to locate and way more expensive.

❤️🧡♥️💛💚💙❤️🧡♥️
I've got a decent start on the Valentine Day Treasure Hunt, well except for the first clue...which should be obvious.

47) RE: Trailer Trash



On the one hand this is a deep immersion in the pain and intensity of high school and on the other it is a sometimes quite remarkable do-over story of a 60 years of experience landing on a 13 yr old with amazing potential. Tubby Tabby got through most of her life by not attracting any attention and not caring for herself until well into middle age. But a co-incidental MRI scan implants her 60 year old memories in her 13 year old self, motivating her to reshape her mind and body in the summer before high school. No longer invisible she is now the focus of trouble she was never previously aware of. It is well written enough to keep up an almost uncomfortable level of excitement, rarely easing once it gets going. The ending is not at all a cliff hanger, but it is also not a resolution.

Meets February TIOLI Challenge #15: Read a book with a person's name on the page # matching the number of books you read last year

Before I dropped her off this morning I gave Becky a brief description of this book and she named it immediately - she'd read over half of it online before losing track of it. I didn't learn about it from her though - it appeared on a FB F&SF page I follow and caught my attention.

And I found the zebra craft bag (>210 quondame:,>212 quondame:). And no it didn't have the crochet hooks or the titanium ruler or the Florian Pinker or a score of other specialized items I collected for it. Maybe it has a black hole instead?

And I was able to complete the Valentine Challenge(>213 quondame:)

48) The Thin Man



Well, I didn't care for any of the characters in the book, and found them much less amusing than I did in the movie. Narrating detective Nick Charles doesn't paint himself as above the crowd he's among and Nora's repetitively calling him a Greek didn't do her image much good, though otherwise Nick doesn't point out any tarnish. I didn't remember enough to be sure of "who done it" but I pretty quickly figured out who could not possibly have and why but probably due to vaguely remembered movie viewings.

Read for February TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a classic whose adaptation into a movie or play you've seen

I gave up and exchanged my near to expiring 50% Joann's coupon and some cash for a basic set of crochet hooks. Now they're sure to show up - maybe with some of the other supplies I missing, maybe?

>217 quondame: Hah! It usually works that way for me too. Hope the old hooks bring along all the other stuff you’re searching for.

>218 Storeetllr: Well, not yet. But!! I did find an Exact-o knife and something on which to apply it. Once finished I had to figure out how to use the "new" style top - the knife is over a year old, maybe over two and it's been a decade since I last used one. Well the end of the top is about 1/2" square and has 3 words raised on the clear plastic. I had to take off my glasses and get very close to read "WEAR SAFETY GOGGLES"

>219 quondame: Heh. Glad you weren’t hurt! I use an Xacto knife a lot when painting and never knew I needed to use safety goggles. Learn something new…

>216 quondame: Kerry and I followed up my read of the book by watching the movie yesterday. I am sticking with that version from here on out - and that admission is like to sacrilege around here. I almost always prefer the book to the movie.

Delurking so you know I was looking at your recent reading material. I never cottoned onto Dashiell Hammett's style of police novels.

Your misplaced sewing kit bag was a tale and a half! I would be so stressed if I mislaid my sewing gear. You may laugh (and welcome to do so), but some 40 years ago Mr. SM and I won tackle boxes in a fundraiser fishing derby.

I used my win (an awesome 'Old Pal' box) for keeping everything organized and it always sits with my sewing machine cover in the closet if it's not in use.
The thread supplies are in tackle boxes that are more recent ~ I have three of these Flambeau divided boxes (keeps the thread clean and I can group the colours). Deep enough for big spools and you have all the choice of how to place the dividers.

Wishing you well in finding the 'lost' craft supplies.

>220 Storeetllr: >221 alcottacre: Hi Mary, Hello Stasia!

>222 SandyAMcPherson: I am ashamed to say how many sewing kits I have - I really can't say. I have at least 2 for SCA, 2 for Regency, double sided plastic tool organizer for taking to costume conventions one of the compartments should contain my "I have it" box for events I used to put on, but which has gone AWOL.

Then there are the sprang, finger loop braid, and lucet braid bags, the medieval underwear mending bag. The knitting bag hidden at the bottom of the blue bin in the garage. And I could fill more paragraphs.....

49) Sweep of the Heart



To mount a rescue Dani and Sean must host an ultimate version of "The Bachelor" giving the authors lots of leeway to show off Dani and Gertrude Hunt's capacities and describe lots of hot bods wearing clothing that "fits like a glove." Everyone has disguised agendas and the whole bears only light scrutiny, but hey it's a big bag of potato chips.

Meets February TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a book with a body part in the title

I'm enjoying The Overstory, but will probably go read something shorter that is coming due in the next couple of days....

Oh, and the bag for sewing supplies arrived. Maybe I'll even be able to fill it an put it where I can find it and its contents fairly soon. The kit for the sprang class also arrived. With a DVD I'm supposed to watch, well part of which I'm supposed to watch.

The switch from The Overstory to Supermarket is harsh. Totally different head spaces.

>224 quondame: Ilona Andrews has some fun, light reads for sure. : ) And someday I'll get to the Overstory. It's around here somewhere....

Happy weekend!

>226 quondame: So I scrolled back to check, but didn't find if you've reviewed The Overstory. Maybe my eyes are twirly from scrolling. How does a Richard Powers book compare to a Japanese business story? Clearly, I am easily confused these days!

I read Supermarket in 2017 after going to an author's talk about another book during which, he touched on the Japanese business genre in novels.
The gist was about how the drama around business practices apparently became a popular theme for authors in Japan. A lot of post-war changes and cultural behaviour in Japan trying to adapt to a Western culture in retail. I didn't know of a single thing he was talking about and had to ask afterwards!

After that enlightening conversation, I sought out and read the one and only book in our PL system. I rated it 4-stars. Maybe not wildly popular reading material for the masses, but I found the story compelling. Evidently the theme in the book was based on some real-life experiences.

>227 Berly: Hi there Kim!

>228 SandyAMcPherson: I have not finished The Overstory, but I will - just that Supermarket is due in less than 2 days so I thought I'd see if I could finish it off before then. I may, but it is more dense than I expected. The expectations formed by reads like The Devotion of Suspect X and Strange Weather in Tokyo. But then the nationality of the author has less to do with narrative style than most other factors.

As far as I've read The Overstory is poetically told episodic venture into passions, mostly for trees, but there's family as well - then I shifted to the petty politicking, well related but as if under bright fluorescents in a cacophonous interior after the shady canopy of the forest.

Hi Susan!

Drive-by visit, so to speak. I had forgotten that you weren't originally from LA. I was born and raised there, but your 50 years is more than my 36. It's my home, though, and I love reading about it and remembering lots of fun times there.

>230 karenmarie: I was raised a 2+, depending on traffic, hour drive north of LA. We made frequent trips to west LA for Dr.s appointments and shopping and saw ballet, plays, operas and the occasional movie in the evenings. And enjoyed many restaurants that are now long gone. This became pretty much a monthly thing for me in high school. So I was already pretty familiar with some areas - Westwood, Beverley Hills, LACMA & the Fairfax area (Home Silk Shop!) and the Music Center adjacent areas of Downtown, not to mention Hollywood or parts of Santa Monica. So while I officially moved here in 1972, I already considered it mine.

Short Story Girls, at Play



There is no escape from the horrors of middle school. A trio of girls finds a girl they'd rather be with than to be themselves only to realize she wants to play their game. Disturbing.

Read for February TIOLI Challenge #17: Read a short story

Now I'm struggling with both Supermarket, why should I care about these people? and The Overstory, a tangle of strange activists against despicable selfish interests backed by, or at a minimum unhampered by laws or institutions.

And the cold is getting me down. I mean it's not cold cold, officially it's been in the mid-60s, but I thinks that's a bit off, and whatever it is it's scheduled to be up to 10° cooler in a couple of days for the next two weeks. This is weird, because I usually like the cool weather but maybe because I haven't had so long a spell of it for years.

50) A Strange and Stubborn Endurance



In this brisk moving fantasy mystery, wastrel 3rd son Velasin is caught with his pants down in the wrong company and is sent off to the north to marry not the younger daughter, but the son of a lord of another kingdom with very different customs. Can Velasin overcome his trauma and make a working relationship with Caethari, the kind hunk? And who is trying to kill him and break his trust in Caethari? There is sex, not all consensual but not an overload.

Read because I was bogged down (>229 quondame:) and needed a bit of a lift
Meets February TIOLI Challenge #15: Read a book with a person's name on the page # matching the number of books you read last year

I've read a couple of Foz Meadows portal fantasies, quite enjoying them. She uses standard pieces but in her own way to her own ends and I find her a distinct and enjoyable voice. She has only a few books published, and I do hope she writes lots more!

Well, checking for titles with the word "use" (think TIOLI #5) I found Use Me, but Amazon has a large and hmm, interesting, selection of books with that title. My libraries have less selection, though.

>219 quondame: I hate those raised text things; unless they also color them differently from the background, they've been almost impossible for me to read ever since I had my cataracts removed. The worst was the credit card company that gave me a card like that, making transcribing the number very difficult. (If I held it at exactly the right angle with respect to the light, I could read it. Or I guess I could have made a rubbing of it.)

>236 ArlieS: Oh joy, something else to lose when I go in for cataract surgery. I don't think I'll hurry if I don't feel the need.

Well, today was my first Zoom class (Sprang) and we managed to get set up the connection and work area (that was all me) in good time. It's not new to me, but a good refresher and I did pick up on a couple of things that will improve my experience and output if I continue past this series of 6 classes.

51) The Last Mapmaker



A young girl with no status or prospects has lucked into a mapmaking apprenticeship and accompanies her mentor on a voyage of discovery. Improbable encounters and coincidence abound in a story that's interesting enough for a while, moves steadily and then wraps up post haste.

Meets February TIOLI Challenge #6: Read a book with the numbers 6 and 0 in the ISBN

52) The Ten Thousand Doors of January



The beauty of this book is the telling. It is a compelling and almost perfectly satisfying read. The characters are sufficiently interesting to seem real and the settings and portrayed as well as the characters while the plot flows like an ocean currant. The world salt is ubiquitous. The ideas are well worn, and the wrap up rather quick and a bit sly and arbitrary.

A significantly better book about a difficult young woman (and more than one!) than >238 quondame:

Re-read for February TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a book where the first two words in the title begin with the same letter

53) The Goblin Emperor



No one expected Maia, fourth and unwanted son of the Emperor by an unwanted wife, to become Emperor or even to take a place in court. Nor, when at the prompting of a harsh and hostile guardian he rushes to the capital and insists on a near immediate coronation, does anyone really welcome him there. In a crisp, unsentimental but not unhumorous telling we observe the young half-goblin find his own way into the duties and deal with the dangers of his new position. He deals with the cause of the airship crash that killed his father and older brothers, the search for an Empress, the problems of complete lack of privacy, along with the difficulties heading a government he by no means controls. And that's not counting those trying to use or depose him or his Goblin grandfather coming for a holiday visit. We learn watching him of a world and it's fairly subtle magics.

It was also delightful to see Thara Celehar on his first outing where he was important but by no means the center of attention and to be refreshed on his background which is not, or I don't recall being, detailed in the two sequels.

Re-read for February TIOLI Challenge #16: Read a book written from a non-human perspective

54) Afternoon of the Elves



This is almost or maybe is, a horror story. Hannah, a fourth grade girl is fascinated by the neighbor whose backyard abuts hers, which is wild and trash strewn and harbors an elf village. Sara-Kate the neighbor is a ragged difficult girl repeating 5th grade and shunned by the entire school, but Hannah finds something spending time with her tending the elf-village that her well manicured life does not supply. Short, it ends deliberately inconclusively.

Read for February TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book with a title that pays homage to Cole Porter's "Night and Day"

Well, Becky has declared her preference for her 2023 Christmas Lego build and it is not Rivendell!


It is cool and rainy and scheduled to be so for a long few days ahead. I think I'll use up a gingerbread mix and I know I'll be ordering a big bowl of ramen for dinner.

>239 quondame:, >240 quondame: Two of my favourite books in the last two years.
I have re-read The Goblin Emperor twice now and I'm still enchanted with the story.

>193 quondame: Susan, You are right about Boston, MA traffic. Years ago, my former husband and I vacationed often in the New England states. We bought T shirts that noted "I survived Boston traffic."
I'll never forget driving in traffic in the right-hand lane going over a bridge, and the car in back of us decided to try to pass us when there was NO room at all. It was an insane experience and very frightening.

>241 quondame: I read Afternoon of the Elves a long time ago. I think Stasia recommended this one. I liked it.

>240 quondame: Your review is stellar!

>243 SandyAMcPherson: They are full of delights and even have some very general similarities.

>244 Whisper1: Hi Linda! It's good to see you out among the threads. Thank you for your kind words.

I can understand why people don't like driving in Los Angeles, but I believe that the proportion of idiot drivers (unless it is raining) is much lower here than anywhere else I've driven, probably due to the many who have 1-2hr commutes each way, which I always thought was a different sort of idiocy, but produces practiced drivers. Of course with more WFH and even a bit of public transportation improvements that may change.

Apparently Becky and Mike finished off the gingerbread, but Becky baked a new pan this morning, so that's fine.

55) A Dangerous Business



Eliza becomes one of Mrs. Park's girls when her very much unwanted husband is shot a few months after their arrival in Monterey in the early 1850s. Not many months later a girl disappears, then another. It is when she and her lone friend Jane find a body that the two decide to learn as much as they can. A well put together story, well paced and taking every advantage of its setting, it's only that Eliza is, barring her bad marriage and subsequent need, remarkably lucky in her opportunities. A plus is that Eliza is a very pleasant viewpoint character to stay with through the story.

Read for February TIOLI Challenge #18: Read a Western

56) Battleborn



Most of these stories are set in the western part of Nevada, a desert landscape among people as limited and thorny as desert shrubs, with emotional lacunae as vast as the skies above them.

Meets February TIOLI Challenge #17: Read a short story

57) Foster



A young girl experiences a different sort of family life when she is sent to stay with connections of her parents while her mother waits for yet another child in an already large family.

Meets February TIOLI Challenge #6: Read a book with the numbers 6 and 0 in the ISBN

58) Enchanted Beggar



A speculation on what it would mean to be able to make any one wish you wanted, and on the nature of magic, life, the universe and everything. Spike Flecker is a young art student living in Paris on an allowance from his fond shopkeeping uncle in Minnesota who is given a ring by a young witch that will grant him any one wish he makes wholeheartedly. Neither he nor the book is as profound as their conceit, and the young woman would be wise to avoid this man who so frequently raises his hand to strike or grips too forcefully.

In Aspects of the Novel E.M. Foster mentions Flecker's Magic which, as it turns out, was revised and republished, possibly because of the mention, as Enchanted Beggar.

Read for February TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book with a connection to a book you read in 2022

Kerrygold is back on the shelves at our local TJ's! Mike was waiting until Costco carried it but I convinced him that we were all tired of the tasteless butter he'd gotten as a stop gap.

59) The Ox-Bow Incident



If saying the same thing over and over and stacking up a series of co-incidences that keep a group of men determined to see others hanged over a 16hr+ span, then this is a profound examination of man's guilt for being pigheaded wrong. Cutting out all the inner dialog and going by the arresting imagery, yes this is the basis of a great movie.

Once again my intention to actually read a western has been scuppered, this time by literary merit. Or more like de-merit. This was not much more of a western than Enchanted Beggar was a fantasy. And looking for the "real western" I get routed to The Virginian but also told that no, it wasn't the first but that honor should go to the nearly unobtainable - the Los Angeles libraries have no copies whatsoever and Amazon's vendors are holding out for $70+ - The Administratrix. As it was written by a woman, of course it has become a footnote of literature. But I'm sure if I had a copy on my Kindle this moment I'd find it was some how revisionist of all western stories to date.

Read for February TIOLI Challenge #18: Read a Western

>251 quondame: Not that you asked for titles, I am still interested in suggesting This Ol' Drought Ain't Broke Us Yet (but We're All Bent Pretty Bad): Stories of the American West.

It might not resonate with you because the yarns fall into 'memoir fiction' and are unapologetically light-reading. I appreciated the lives behind the stories because my grandparents told similar tales of their childhood and growing up in ranching and farming communities.

>252 SandyAMcPherson: The title is certainly catchy! Even on my dad's side, farming doesn't seem to have been the choice of profession for several generations. The closest to living off the the land that I'm sure of is my great-grandfather deforesting Wisconsin. And my mom's people were Jews, so no farmers there.
I haven't a thing against light-reading though, more the opposite. That one though isn't readily available in my part of the world.

>253 quondame: "...that one though isn't readily available in my part of the world."
I guess I'm not very surprised at that. It is definitely niche reading.
I suppose Who Has Seen the Wind or Jake and the Kid (W.O. Mitchell) are also unavailable. Mitchell is quintessentially Canadian and I guess maybe more 'Western History' than cowboy western titles that your TIOLI genre requires.

>254 SandyAMcPherson: The TIOLI challenge wasn't so strict - my first entry was only a western from the POV of Tibet, but I had noticed that my western reading, which has included a lot of fantasy set in the No. American West, wasn't "classical" and thought The Ox-Bow Incident would remedy that. Nope.

60) Into the West



Kordas and Delia have various adventures as the large party of refugees move further away from the Empire. Episodic and not really a coherent story, certain interactions are entirely gratuitous. Mostly a waste and preachy to boot.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a book by an author that you have read before and given 4 or more stars to

Who'da thunk it? If I spend more time playing with string (well mostly fighting, and if not losing, not wining either) I get less reading done. Well, it never seems to last long, so I'll probably rack up some more reviews before March is a week old.

>256 quondame: Oh, that's too bad, I have this one on hold. I enjoyed Beyond more than the endless series with Mags and his family so was hoping this series would continue to be stronger.

>258 curioussquared: It's not painful, just pointless. I definitely preferred Mags & Co., though it was over extended. ML has been pretty thin on new content for a number of books now.

>259 quondame: Well, that's good. I'll still read it since it's Valdemar but agreed -- I don't think there's been anything I would reread since maybe Exile's Valor. Mags was fun for a bit, I was just very sick of him by the end of his what, nine or ten books?

>260 curioussquared: 11 Mags books, all following Exile's Valor. I have re-read the early Foundation books, but only the first 3. I like the Owl books.

Well, at least my efforts to untangle and re-warp my sprang loom in the correct direction appear to have worked - I'll check the warp tomorrow sometime, I am done with string for the night. I hate it when the warp falls off the tension rods. Weavers need at least 3 hands and 8 would be best.

We tried a new Thai restaurant tonight. It's a bit far traffic wise - too many stop lights make 3 miles 15 minutes, but the food was very good. Now if they hadn't left out two of the items we ordered, doubled one order and added an extra entree... Well, left over Pad Thai makes a good lunch.

Hi Susan my dear, wishing you a lovely weekend my dear friend.

>262 johnsimpson: Thank you John!

61) Bloodmarked .25



Episodic and loaded with revelations and betrayals this is very much a mid-series book, and there isn't quite enough to make up for the intrigue of encountering a new magic system. The pacing is good and the book is a decent read, though ultimately not satisfying for it length.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book with a word dividable into two words in the title

Well, I've managed to salvage two warps from previous Sprang classes. That was a lot of string to untangle, but at least I kept the second one from falling off the tension rods. Tomorrow the steel rods should come from Amazon and I may retrofit my embroidery frame loom to the style supplied for the current class. While it is very simple, adding 2 screw eyes to each cross bar to hold a rod for the warp and a 3rd offset from those to hold the rods to warp the frame.

Because the crossbars can move on the frame, adjusting the tension as the warp gets shorter as the twist adds up is very easy. As a weaver I like a tight tension, but with sprang loose tension is required for even ends since pull that tightens the top loosens the bottom.

62) Maizy Chen's Last Chance



There was just too much stuffed into one 11 year old's summer in the rural town where her mother's parents are the owners of what must be the oldest Chinese restaurant in Minnesota. Maizy's mother has brought her to Last Chance because, though she doesn't say so, her grandfather is fatally ill. There is racism, tales of the gold rush era great-great grandfather who founded the restaurant, a broken friendship to mend, a disappearing stuffed bear to find, fortune cookies to write, friendships to make, people who reveal hidden sides, much more than is needed and all chopped up and mixed together so, however worthy, it just stays lots of pieces.

BB from foggidawn

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book which you did not purchase

>266 quondame: Yes, she definitely had a lot going on all at once!

Stopping by to say Hi as I try to catch up on the 75-er book threads.

>267 foggidawn: Yep!

>268 kaida46: Hi Deb!

63) Legends & Lattes



Brisk and well paced, this is a fun exploration of one adventurer's retirement plan as the first coffee shop proprietor in a city. New friends and old connections mix as she deals with some usual and some very unusual challenges to the new business owner.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book with a title containing two opposite ideas, actions or places

Hi Susan!

>231 quondame: You took more advantage of the cultural/culinary delights of LA living two hours away than we did living in LA. My dad was pretty antisocial, my mom social/cultural but cowed by my dad’s unwillingness to do things. I know in hindsight that he had PTSD from WWII, but it was hard on my mom.

>233 quondame: why should I care about these people? A great reason to abandon a book, IMO.

>239 quondame: I read this in 2020 and also gave it 4*.

>250 quondame: I started using Kerrygold several years ago and that’s all we use, both salted and unsalted. Congrats on convincing Mike. Here it’s twice as expensive as the grocery store stuff, but worth more than twice the cost.

>271 karenmarie: Hi Karen! Isn't always true that if you live in the midst of something you take less advantage of it than visitors - I certainly haven't gone to the theater, ballet, or opera as many times as I did before I moved here - but then my tickets aren't paid for either! The restaurants I have not neglected.

Today we had to go into "the Valley" to get our taxes done. I tried to break tradition and go to a Greek restaurant rather than Brent's Deli, but Mike pushed back to such an extent that it was clear that I wouldn't enjoy the extra time in the car to get there, nor the trip home after. Ah well, the Ruben perked up nicely when I re-grilled it, so it's not a huge disappointment.

I have to run an errand or two this evening and find some yarn for the next sprang class tomorrow, so I'm not getting a lot of reading - or anything else done, seeing as I had a late start due to sleeping in with good dog cuddles this morning.

64) The Australian Boomerang Bonanza



If Flat Stanley hasn't come to your notice before now, count yourself lucky. This book offers nothing to encourage me to encounter him again.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book with a nationality or ethnicity in the title or author's name

I'm strangely annoyed at the use of "American" as a nationality - there isn't a nation called America, or ethnicity - though at a pinch you might say Native American.

>273 quondame: I think most of the world uses 'American' to indicate an inhabitant of the USA, Susan.

>273 quondame: >273 quondame: I think Anita is correct, from the informed-worldview, about this nomenclature. Up north of the 49th parallel, we all say "Americans" to refer to the general population south of the border.
Here, we're all "Canadians". Within the borders we all have our regional nicknames and they're idiosyncratic. Susan, do you call yourself an 'Angelo' or a Californian? I maybe spelt Angelo incorrectly (or that term has a very specific meaning about which you might like to enlighten us).

My "What bugs me" thing is to hear citizens of other countries, esp UK folks (who should know better), call the USA 'America'. The country is the United States of... and the continent is North America. It's rather insulting to be lumped together as a whole.

>274 FAMeulstee: >275 SandyAMcPherson: Yes, of course. We US citizens have spread our arrogance all over the place.
If the founding fathers had come up with a better name than U.S.A. for the country the neighbors wouldn't have to suffer the lumps.
I don't often have reason to call myself anything, being resident in my native state, but I try to say some version of U.S. citizen. I've deliberately done so multiple times in my posts here and it has never been remarked upon. Of course had I written the other word it would have not have been noticed either.

65) Walk on Earth a Stranger +



A deliberately paced story free of angst if not grief, of Leah whose secret ability to douse gold is not as secret as it needed to be. When her parents are abruptly murdered just as news of the gold strike in California reaches her town in Georgia, she decides to head west on her own rather than stay under her uncle's dubious protection. It is no easy trip. It is a girl with something special story, but her special ability is not really what's most important about her.

I had this book on my LT wishlist, probably because it falls in the Weird West category, though the weird part, though motivating the action, isn't a big part of the story.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book with a word in the title that has a connection with walking/hiking

Aggh! That was no fun. I didn't recognize the visual migraine symptoms soon enough to prevent the onset of pain. I did catch that soon enough to avoid agony, but could only hide under the covers and shiver.

Only slight residuals remain, but my back is not happy that I haven't bent over and stretched it as I do every morning - my head is very clearly saying that upside down is not yet an option even if it results in my back freezing up. If it's not one thing......

66) The Prophets



The language of this book is so saturated with the author's articulate expression that brushing against it leaves the parched mind overflowing. I questioned whether I wanted that articulation, sharp or rich, used in service of the brutalities of a slave narration. In this account the stone which wears through the illusion of order on the plantation is the love of the two young men who work together in the stables. At least in this story it is not only the lives of the people enslaved which are destroyed, but that is small enough grace for the plot, as abundant grace is in the language used to bring the lives of those people before our eyes.

I've had this book checked out from the library for months, unwilling to give up on it but not feeling up to proceeding. I certainly shouldn't have continued yesterday afternoon. I thought at the time that the Jones had written Paul's chapter with exceptional opaqueness, but no, it on re-reading today realized it was my mind severely scrambled with a visual migraine.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #10: Read a book set in the nineteenth century or before with characters of colour

67) Five Quarters of the Orange



A look back at an anything but innocent childhood along the Loire in WWII. Framboise is the youngest of three children of a war widow and is involved with her older siblings in interactions with a young German soldier who charms and manipulates everyone securing information used not for the military but for personal gain. Combined with their unstable mother ruthlessly manipulated by Framboise the situation becomes entirely unstable. In the retrospective it is her nephew's journalist wife who wants to write a book about what happened whereas Framboise wants to maintain the secrets she has kept for over half a century. I felt the ending was the weakest part of story and didn't do it any favors.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #7: Read a book whose title or author's name includes the words green, white or orange

Mike is lurking down the hall - his archery tournament was canceled due to rain, the dogs are snoring in the dog bed behind me, Becki is currently working out down in the garage, but will be up and capture their attention in an hour or so. I've managed my online round before noon, if barely, so maybe I'll go downstairs and stare at string a bit.
I did manage to find - where I thought it was - the string I bought specifically for sprang - years back. There was not as many colors a I thought. Are there ever?

68) Purple Hibiscus



If you can bear to enter the day to day life of a family under the thumb of a violent righteously religious control freak, this is the book. The teenage girl who narrates the tale without the concepts and modern language of modern dysfunctional discourse, provides only intermittent relief with the laughter of her aunt and cousins and desperately needed nurturing of a young priest, though the flowers and the constant preparation of food give a sense of life being lived. I was pretty satisfied with the ending.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #15: Read a Debut Adult Novel by an Author born in Africa

That's 3 (>279 quondame: >280 quondame: >282 quondame:) heavy books in a row. I just started The DUFF, which may be too teenage to tolerate, but not, to say the least, heavy.

>282 quondame: If the ending involved the religious control freak being struck by lightning, maybe. Otherwise, not for me.

Hi, Susan. Hope all is well with you.

>284 Storeetllr: Well, not by lightning, and something more dramatic would have been more in-the-moment satisfying.

Thank you, Mary.

69) The DUFF .25



A high school senior "takes advantage" of the promiscuous classmate who was trying to use her to get to her prettier friends as distraction from a bad home situation. Things develop. Readable and well moving it manages not to be a waste of time. Gets an extra 0.25 for literary references well deployed.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book that is the basis of a lesser-known film OR a lesser-known book that is the basis of a film

70) Why is Nothing Ever Simple?



Funny, but a it fails to reach utter mayhem. It seems some set up is afoot.

Re-read for March TIOLI Challenge #6: All or Nothing: Read a book with a word meaning "all" or "nothing" in the title or author's name

Reading my way through Babel is taking some time. I am finding it long winded, but not overflowing with the inane temper tantrums that spoiled R.F. Kuang's other books for me. The world building seems shallow and totally focused to support the anti-imperialist creed, but hey, anti-imperialism is it's own justification, right?

Certainly less objectionable than the cardboard mechanics of the Elmer Kelton short story I read last night.

I ordered some wool worsted yarn. Like I need yarn, but well, colors! for striped sprang. And then from elsewhere some neon nylon line to use as stay strings - need something slippery.

Dropping in to say hello. You are quite close to the magic number.

Happy reads ahead!

Susan...70 books already! WOW! Great Job!

>288 figsfromthistle: Working on it, Anita!

>289 Whisper1: Thank you, Mary.

71) Babel



A readable reliably paced story, with interesting and attractive characters to follow and nasty villains and systems. It is a hate letter to British Imperialism as seen by the privileged but visually foreign Oxford scholars whose language skills are being used to support the Empire. The magic system, based on silver and the betrayal of translation, primarily serves to provide the reason for the foreign raised students financially secure lives but also the inevitably employed weakness in the system. It is not a comfy read for Anglophiles, and does get tiring in its single, well fortified note, but the early 19th century British Imperialists were not all that lovable.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book with settings in two or more countries

Hi, Susan. I hope all is well. Good review of The Prophets. I have that one on the obese TBR.

>283 quondame: Yup, nailed it on the bean. Heavy.
>286 quondame: But Duff?? Really? Actually, rethinking your review, the tone of the book is less "not to be a waste of time" (/quote), so merit and intriguing.

>293 SandyAMcPherson: The DUFF had decent snappy dialog and sort of reminded me of Eligible in which the Lizzie Bennett analog has "hate sex" with Darcey, as a mechanism for the two to remain in contact within a modern setting as well as to add some steam.

The assumption that sex in high school is the norm is different that what I grew up with, not least in the attitude that it doesn't require agonizing over just because "sex" which, since sex did happen in high school, and was pretty common, just not the accepted norm, had to happen. I found I was fine without the agonizing. Other developments and attitudes were decently handled considering it was written while the author was in high school. It's not particularly realistic, but it's not any less so than most contemporary romances, and has clear values.

>292 msf59: Thanks Mark. Pretty well. I could do without the threatening headache, but that's better than a full blown headache. And I have pie to look forward to later.

>294 quondame: Thanks for your further ideas on the actions in DUFF. Just for the heck of it, I plan to give Eligible a try, since it's in our PL's e-book accessions. Maybe I'll do better with a modern take of "Pride and Prejudice".
I never did 'get' the Lizzie Bennett and Darcy thing because for reasons I have never figured out, Jane Austen's novels and I always part ways before page 30. Half the time, I didn't even understand the movies!

>296 SandyAMcPherson: I fell in love with P&P and Jane Austen pretty early, before I was 15, and have read them multiple time - though not for a while after several times in a row about 20 years back. I didn't realize they weren't really romances til sometime in my 30s probably. If I had been an English major someone would certainly have queued me in earlier, but us techies pretty much escaped literary criticism wholesale.

72) Dance of the Happy Shades



The young and very young women in these stories are entering adult life with enough material sustenance for survival but lacking essential emotional nutrients. The landscape, however literally broad, is claustrophobic - often suffocatingly hot and parental trellises are few or fractured for the young climbing vines.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a book with the word "happy", its synonym, or its antonym in the title

>298 quondame: Alice's book has been on my TBR shelf 'since forever'. I even have its title written on a slip of paper in my "draw" jar for TBRs. It's crazy that I haven't read it yet.
When I lived in Victoria, lo these decades ago, I used to attend Alice's "Theatre Games" in her lovely Victorian house. They were fun and I often wondered if she ever used our antics (anonymised) in her short stories. I'm not a short-story fan. I should get over that hang-up ~ I think that's what held me back from reading my copy (first edition, even!).

OK, I digressed.
So relative to some remarks at >294 quondame:, I read Eligible over 2-evenings-worth of book time. It was surprisingly entertaining but I found part 3 pretty poor. I thought the author was sailing along pretty well until then. It was like Sittenfeld lost interest and was lazy in wrapping up the end.

>299 SandyAMcPherson: Well, my favorite character was Cincinnati.

73) Hard Ride: Stories of the Old West



As pedestrian a group of stories as ever rode in, they must have been written for pre-teen Texan boys. Not a single African American, nor a single adult with a mother, only a couple of stories had more than a single woman, and only in one did they converse. Lots of lost tempers and slugging, shot shoulders, shot ranch hands, and firm jawed men.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #11: Read a book where the title sounds naughty but isn't

>301 quondame: Haha, great choice for that title challenge!

>302 Storeetllr: I can't really take credit as @Deltaqueen put it right up there at the top of challenge #11. I decided against choosing among books titled, I something similar to "Take Me" - as that was looking like INCEL wish fulfillment - but now I can't find it.
Edited: It was "Use Me"

74) A Closed and Common Orbit



In this re-read I found myself impatient with the Jane 23 story timeline. My head kept coming up with images from Blade Runner 2049.
On the other hand I did get more into the aspects of Sidra's struggle to make herself understood not as a potential "human" despite the appearance of her kit, but as an AI with very different requirements.

Re-read for March TIOLI Challenge #16: Read a book about Sentient Things

75) Claimed by the Mate, Vol 1



Two different takes on werewolves, but both have them hot for full figured women(BBW). The first, Feral Passions, was better than the second in writing, piloting, and eroticism, but that's just saying it wasn't actually painful, just dull and predictable.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book which you did not purchase

I was following up on some of the smut I encountered among other books sharing titles that would work for TIOLI #11. I probably should have looked out for something more worthwhile for book 75, but this was better than some of the shorts I tried. Well, I hope my memory for them is mercifully brief.

Hi Susan, Simply delurking as I try to catch up on the threads. No BB's for me today.
But yay (not surprised) for your passing the magic 75!

Congrats on 75!

>305 quondame: Congratulations on reaching 75, Susan!

Hi Susan my dear, congratulations on reaching 75 books read for the year so far.

>306 SandyAMcPherson: >307 curioussquared: >308 FAMeulstee: >309 johnsimpson: Thank you Sandy, Natalie, Anita, and John.

76) Red Calvary



Short vignette length pieces plucked from chaotic violence, these are dense and powerful glimpses of life at the nearly starved front of early 20th century war.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a book that has been criticized, banned or burnt

The Kindle version I checked out included extra stories and fragments, Babel's diary, and story notes which, excepting the stories, I did not feel required to read. After all, they weren't included in the banned work. And the stories were substantial enough to be a complete work, however short individually.

OK, The Book of Form and Emptiness should carry a trigger warning for hoarders. Ouch! OUCH! OUCH!!!

>256 quondame: *sigh* I think I was slightly more charitable in my review, but I agree with your criticisms. This isn't a story as much as an exercise in filling in the blank spot in the world history. Plus foreshadowing for things that then didn't happen.

>305 quondame: Besides being mercifully brief, it’s also your 75th, so that’s two good things about it. Congrats on reaching and then passing that milestone, and with a 4-star read!

>314 Storeetllr: Thank you, Mary!

Congrats on reading 75 books. too bad it was a lacklustre read for you.

>316 figsfromthistle: Thank you, Figs. Well, I could have chosen otherwise...

77) The Book of Form and Emptiness



A story about a fractured family, reality, sanity, hoarding, Zen and books. After the accidental, drug related, death of Kenji, Annabelle and 14 year old Benny are left on their own with no family or friends. Annabelle, working from home and having to keep old work, literally buries herself hoarding and Benji hears objects and sometimes knows how they feel. The instability in this occupies most of the book and isn't an easy ride.

BB from jnwelch

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #16: Read a book about Sentient Things

Congrats on blowing past the goal!

>319 drneutron: Thank you, Jim.

78) The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi



Threats to her family and the lure of a fortune lure retired pirate captain Amina out of retirement and run her headlong into collecting her old crew and encountering a formidable new enemy along with encounters with supernatural beings both new and unfortunately familiar. Fast paced and interesting adventure in the little explored realms of 12th century Indian Ocean.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book with settings in two or more countries

79) Shenanagins



An anthology of lightweight (even for) Valdemar stories. The humor isn't the lol, more the painful grin, sort. If you don't like puns bail on the story that starts with cows indoors.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book which you did not purchase

>298 quondame: Susan, The Dance of Happy Shades sounds anything but happy. Your review is excellent! Congratulations on surpassing the 75 challeng goal so soon in the year!!!

>323 Whisper1: Thanks, Linda.

I've been watching my check out list and holds list shrink over the last two months until a few days ago I had nothing checked out or on hold from one of my 3 libraries. So I resorted to seeing what new e-books they had available and grabbing a few. Maybe I'll like one. No expense and no shelf space required, so if I don't no issue.

I love your topper, Susan! My other vice besides books is jigsaw puzzles and I am big fan of Colin Thompson's puzzles. I've not done The Magical Bookcase Puzzle you have pictured, but I have done probably ??? 10 of other puzzles that feature his artwork.

I have Bleeding Heart in my TBR pile. I've enjoyed several other of her novels. I also loved Purple Hibiscus and have Foster on my kindle to be read. I seldom use my kindle, but my public library only had Foster in E - book format. In Canada, public libraries only support Kobo ereaders ( as far as I know ) , so purchasing a short novella like Foster seemed a better choice dollar wise.

Congrats on surpassing 75 books read already this year! Sorry book #75 wasn't better, but looks like some of the reads since have helped make up for that.

G'Morning all. Cruising the threads and eating cinnamon toast plus lots of coffee this morning.
>326 vancouverdeb: Deb, you are correct that for e-readers, the PLs have adopted Kobo format e-readers. However, occasionally Kobo won't download an e-book because the ISBN has to match what Kobo authenticates, has in their database I think that means, (I learned this from Micky Fine, Edmonton librarian).
So I use my computer to read the book on my browser. Since I have a Mac, I download the .acsm file to read with the iBooks app. That's because I hate having to buy e-books which I wouldn't read again and I don't want to use a different e-reader.

Hi Susan - Congrats on reaching and passing 75 already! I loved The Book of Form and Emptiness and will probably read it again.

>326 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah! I do wonder at the choices libraries make - for me it's why some books that are available for Kindle are offered in 2 other formats while most other books are offered for Kindle. But at least they are available.

>327 bell7: Thanks Mary!

>328 SandyAMcPherson: Sounds like a great way to spend a morning. Cinnamon does brighten up a day, and coffee is essential.

>329 BLBera: Thanks Beth. I can't say I'm an Ozeki fan, but I do have another of her books on hold for rather later in the year as the queue is rather long.

80) When the Angels Left the Old Country



From the smallest nameless Shtetl in the pale, and angel and demon who've been companions for centuries journey to the U.S. to aid a young woman from the settlement. In Warsaw they encounter the ghost of a rabbi from a nearby town and a young woman of that town and continue on finding out much about humans and themselves. I found it intermittently interesting and amusing, but a bit uneven.

BB from foggidawn

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book with settings in two or more countries

81) Utah Blaine



Completely not my thing. I was bored by all the fights, the beat him in a fair fight and he'll be your friend fistfight, all the gun fights, and the women being girls, western men respecting good women. It's so clear this is the template from which Elmer Kelton's stories derive. At least it's rather short, though it didn't seem so while I was getting though it.

And here I thought I wanted to read a classic western. I guess I should just go re-read Shane

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book that is the basis of a lesser-known film OR a lesser-known book that is the basis of a film

82) Beauty and the Beast



I hate to say that the Disney movie is a great improvement on this "original" version, with it's dream sequences and postscript of multiple chapters of narratively null contorted explanations for what happened and total disclaimed snobbery. I did love the Palace's television room, though that would bollix a dramatization in no time.

BB from scaifea

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book with a title containing two opposite ideas, actions or places

My reasons for hating Mondays - one of my libraries is closed. Also several of my comfort food restaurants. Becky came back early from work needing to rest and otherwise conserve spoons so since I was going out I offered to bring back ramen. The place on the way was closed. And the second library, usually open 10-8 on Mondays was closed for Caesar Chavez day. So I'll have to venture out tomorrow....

Mike's shoulder pain has turned out to be associated with a bone spur and some tearing - and MRI will be scheduled to determine how bad and surgery will very likely follow. To me he seems quite pleased with himself in some strange way.

I was totally boggled when he revealed that he had expected 100% pain free recovery after his knee replacement and was surprised that the doctors would just let him hurt. The man is 66 and has up to now had pretty solid recoveries from his surgeries. Given, he has worked hard at PT and keeping up with exercise, but he doesn't seem to realize his luck has been amazing.

83) The Kaiju Preservation Society (3.75)



A fun adventure in a parallel world during the COVID crisis. Get up close(r than you want) and personal with Kaiju and make new friends.

The ratings for this are all over the place so I checked a few reviews - one reviewer who gave it ranted about how good vegan cheese is these days. And also complained about the banter. Not appreciating Scalzi's humor would lower the rating.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a book by an author that you have read before and given 4 or more stars to

Mike has his Dr.'s OK to exercise without restriction - at least with regard to his arteries after his stress test which had a hard time stressing him since he routinely walks over 5 miles at a shot and has been working out 3 hrs a 5-6 times a week since his knee replacement healed enough (and was doing so before surgery as he could). So now it's just the joint & tissue pain he has to consider.

Today I finished the 6th and last sprang class of the introduction series and signed up for 3 more weeks of lace work. I learned quite a bit that I didn't get from books and which other classes either didn't cover or didn't get across. Mostly didn't cover since they were at most 2 hours total in person and the teacher was not all that advanced herself. But some my early teacher didn't get across partly because she was sucking up to the "status" students - the SCA does have its arts rock stars, the Laurels, and the sprang teacher (it seemed to me) was Jonesing to be admitted to that group. But hey, those early classes were free for showing up and this series was strictly pay the professional, so I did get my money's worth for both. And I got to buy new toys tools and fibers.

We are not even out of the first quarter and yet my 75 th book celebrations are already belated!

>336 PaulCranswick: Some year I may read more books than you buy!

84) All Done by Kindness



It is not fortunate that Ms. Moore's undoubted talent for creating characters of the type one would avoid at friends' parties is so well displayed in this story of an attempt to acquire a group of old masters for a pittance and the steps taken to retain those painting. The burden of unpleasant characters is matched with the level of coincidence and the sardonic tone.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #6: All or Nothing: Read a book with a word meaning "all" or "nothing" in the title or author's name

Wednesday Becky and I had sushi from the local Mitsuwa for lunch, well Becky had unagiri and 1/3 - 1/2 of my sushi. Inflation has really hit that market so for dinner tonight we are moderating our usual Friday delivery feast to humble hamburgers. Mike, who had no share in our extravagance will share our frugality - in addition to being sent out in the cold wind to fetch the hamburgers home. There is no fairness in the world.

NOTE: Becky has sacrificed her comfort to accompany her father to Hamburger Habit - by way of Vons because we are almost out of (Lees) BBQ potato chips, a local necessary accompaniment to hamburgers.

>339 quondame: "There is no fairness in the world."?

But you got sushi, and >335 quondame: new toys and fibres, *plus* the fitness man fetched the hamburgers. Sounds like a win to me.
I'm way behind on the threads so will simply say, I did manage to post a month-end round up.

I might start a new thread tomorrow, except, I have to scrounge energy and inspiration. I have some ideas for a fun topper but nothing much to say...

>340 SandyAMcPherson: Win for me, but Mike got hamburgers and no mid week feast. He doesn't like sushi, but Becky and I ate through enough to fund quite a nice meal for 3. But I did give him my left over chicken parmigiana, so it's not like he starved or anything.

Oh, yes, tomorrow is mandatory new thread day. I've been inconveniencing my visitors with the excessive length this thread has reached, so tomorrow I'll have to come up with something bookishly droll to feature.

>341 quondame: I didn't feature anything bookish.
I seem to have decluttered or obscurely packed away, my bookshelf puzzle. I wanted to feature that as a topper.

Maybe by mid-month, I'll find it as I edit the storage around here. Much needs to be donated to the charity shops in town. We have a large Ukrainian immigration due to our strong community of immigrants who came in droves until WWI and then again later. The present strife has generated several thousand refugees in our province alone.