Lavinia (PlatinumWarlock) loves reading in 2024

Hi! I'm Lavinia. I'm happy to say this is no longer my first reading challenge! I'm also happy to be here for a second year in a row with all of these delightful bookish people. I have another thread over in Needlearts - it will likely see more action this year than last year, and I'd be happy for you to visit both, if you're interested.

Short-form profile: I live in the Seattle area with my partner of nearly just over (!!) 10 years and our three dogs. I'm a "retired" stay-at-home mom (the kid is in college), a non-retired volunteer, a fledgling gardener, a reader (obviously!), a crafter (mostly stitching of various forms), and a few other "-ers".

I joined LT way back in 2008, promptly dropped off the site for 14 years, came back a little over a year ago, and started over from scratch since I'd forgotten what email I originally used to log in. My reading interests lean heavily towards fiction of most sorts, with the occasional non-fiction title thrown in.

Long-form profile here, if you want to know a little more.

I expect I'll chatter on a bit in this thread about what I'm doing besides reading, and I'd love to have you follow along if you wish. In the meantime, thanks for visiting!

Other challenges (if any)

Favorite Books from 2023

These are the books I gave 5 stars last year - more than I expected, but I read more last year than I ever have, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised.

• Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky (repeat read)
• Themis Files series (Sleeping Giants, Waking Gods, Only Human - Sylvain Neuvel
• The Passage - Justin Cronin (repeat read)
• The Twelve - Justin Cronin (repeat read)
• Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Grams
• Between Two Kingdoms - Suleika Jaouad
• Broken Horses - Brandi Carlile
• The Forge of God - Greg Bear
• Mary Jane - Jessica Anya Blau
• A Psalm for the Wild-Built - Becky Chambers
• The Ride of Her Life - Elizabeth Letts
• Stitches: A Handbook on Meaning, Hope and Repair - Anne Lamont
• This Place of Wonder - Barbara O'Neal
• Unsouled - Will Wight
• Wanderers - Chuck Wendig (repeat read)
• Wayward - Chuck Wendig
• A Wizard of Earths - Ursula K. Le Guin
• The Lost Gate - Orson Scott Card
• The Gate Thief - Orson Scott Card
• Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
• The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap - Wendy Welch

- plus a handful of my favorite mysteries by J.D. Robb, John Sandford, Jonathan Kellerman, Patricia Cornwell, and so forth, many of which were repeat reads

Books Read in 2024

January

The Twelve - Justin Cronin (audiobook)
Day of Atonement - Faye Kellerman
Broken (in the best possible way) - Jenny Lawson
Rough Country - John Sanford
The City of Mirrors - Justin Cronin (audiobook)
Commonwealth - Ann Patchett
Faith - Jennifer Haigh (audiobook)

February

The Measure - Nikki Erlick (audiobook)
An Inheritance of Magic - Benedict Jacka (audiobook)
The Forgetting - Hannah Beckerman (audiobook)

Total so far: 10

In progress (2/13/24):

The Autistic Brain - Temple Grandin
Beyond That, The Sea - Laura Spence-Ash

Welcome! Thanks for stopping by. 😀

Happy New Thread, Lavinia! Glad to see you back!

Welcome back, Lavinia!

Happy reading in 2024!

Happy New Year, Lavinia!

Welcome back and happy new year!!

Welcome back, Lavinia!

Glad to see you back, Lavinia, happy reading (and needling) in 2024!

Welcome back, Lavinia - happy new year and happy new thread!

>6 vancouverdeb:, >7 lauralkeet:, >8 figsfromthistle:, >9 norabelle414:, >10 curioussquared:, >11 drneutron:, >12 FAMeulstee:, >13 SirThomas:: Thanks everyone! I appreciate your stopping by. 😁

Happy reading this year!

Nice to have you back, Lavinia! Happy new year!

Happy New Year, Lavinia. I hope 2024 is good to you.

Happy 2024, Lavinia!

Hi, Lavinia! Hope your year is going great!

Karen O

Happy new thread and new year, Lavinia.

Hello, Lavinia, so glad to see you back! Wishing you a great 2024!

Good to see you back again, Lavinia. I hope that 2024 treats you well.

Sunday orisons, Lavinia!

It's good to see you back, Lavinia, and I've looked at your profile and was pleased to see a photo! It makes it easier fo me to remember LTers if I know roughly what they look like. Having said that, I've never put a photo of myself on my profile!

Hi Lavinia my dear, a belated Happy New Year dear friend, i will be visiting throughout 2024.

happy new year!

>15 Berly:, >16 katiekrug:, >17 BLBera:, >18 libraryperilous:, >19 klobrien2:, >20 jessibud2:, >21 atozgrl:, >22 Familyhistorian:, >23 richardderus:, >24 CDVicarage:, >25 johnsimpson:, >26 banjo123:: Goodness, thanks for all the visits! How lovely of you to stop by. 🥰

I've been obsessively stitching recently, and all of my "reading" time has been on audiobooks. I finally finished Justin Cronin's Passage trilogy, nearly 100 hours of audio - oh, how I loved this series. I had read the first two before and went back to re-read so I'd go into the final book with the story fresh in my mind, and it was worth all the extra hours. The stitching-while-listening thing is working well for me, as it lets me cover two of my great loves at the same time! It does take much longer to get through books, though.

I'm also working on Ann Patchett's Commonwealth for book club this weekend - I really love her stories and am looking forward to seeing where this one goes.

We spent a couple of days in Las Vegas last week for a family wedding... Jeff came home with Covid, so I sent him and the dogs off to our weekend cabin to quarantine there; every time I groan over the property tax bill, I remind myself that this is one of the benefits of a second house. I dodged the Covid bullet, but the past three days I've sounded somewhat like a bullfrog from whatever has settled in my throat and chest... I blame the fact that Vegas is one giant cigarette. *cough, cough*

I hope everyone is staying reasonably healthy and warm (or cool, if you're somewhere tropical!).

>1 PlatinumWarlock: Hi Lavinia,

It took me 12 days to find your thread, but I'm here now.

Happy New Year, Happy New Thread, Lavinia. I finally noticed that you had a new one started. Commonwealth is one of my favorite Patchett novels. I hope you feel the same.

Hope you stay well and Jeff recovers quickly!

Glad you dodged that Covid bullet and hope Jeff is feeling better.

I love to knit and listen to audio books -- two of my favorite activities at one time...and I really don't mind if the book takes a bit longer.

>3 PlatinumWarlock: Thanks for sharing the list of your best reads from last year, Lavinia! I love collecting those lists and trying to find the books to read :)

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

>28 ArlieS: Hi Arlie! Glad you found me, and thanks for stopping by!

>29 msf59: Hi Mark! Happy New Year to you too. 😁 Finished Commonwealth about 10 minutes ago... not my favorite of hers, and I felt like the first half was slow, but I also don't know how she could set up the second half any other way. Plowed through the whole second half this evening... she definitely has a knack for stories about complicated families, with all their joys and sorrows.

>30 Berly: Hi Kim! Thanks for stopping by. 😁 Glad to say Jeff recovered quickly, and he and the dogs are back home. 🏠

>31 RebaRelishesReading: I hear you on that, Reba. It's wonderful to be able to multitask with favorite activities!

>32 alcottacre: You're welcome, Stasia! I borrow from those lists also... love learning what others have loved! Thanks for visiting. 😁

Glad Jeff had a fairly quick recovery from Covid and is now home. Hope you're having a relaxing weekend.

I finished up Faith, by Jennifer Haigh, and Commonwealth, by Ann Patchett, over the weekend - in the end I enjoyed both of them, although given that they're both about complicated blended families (despite otherwise different plots), I kept getting confused as to which story I was reading at a given moment. 🤣 Now trying to decide what to listen to next...

We're having a balmy week here in Seattle... it was a high of almost 60 degrees today (and again tomorrow). A blessing after our frigid temps of a couple of weeks ago, but I expect all the trees will heave a sigh of relief and put their spring buds out, just to have the temps drop again. *sigh* Mother Nature has a sense of humor.

Hope everyone's having a good week!

The same to you, Lavinia!

I think Commonwealth was autobiographical... I really liked it.

>35 PlatinumWarlock: This is why I only read one book at a time; I am too easily confused.

Hi Lavinia! I also read multiple books at once. Two audiobooks and two print. One nonfiction and one fiction each. Of print, one gard copy, one ecooy, alternating between nonfiction and fiction. It's quite the plan, now that I type it out. Do you have a pattern?

>35 PlatinumWarlock: >37 BLBera: Count me in among the fans of Commonwealth as well. I am a huge Ann Patchett fan although I suspect that Bel Canto will always be my favorite of hers.

Have a terrific Tuesday, Lavinia!

>37 BLBera: LOL I think I just need to pick more carefully, Beth! Keep the genres or themes separate...

>38 The_Hibernator: That sounds very logical, Rachel - much harder to get confused that way! Generally my pattern is "whatever sounds good at the moment" - so, no plan. 😀 I was just scrolling through my audiobook list and considered and rejected three before I found one that spoke to me. I think it has a lot to do with mood...

>39 alcottacre: Same here, Stasia - although the ending of Bel Canto still puzzles me (whom she ends up marrying). But I LOVE Patchett's prose!

Hello, hello! You were a wee bit late starting your new thread and I was afraid you might have given up on LT again. I'm so happy that you didn't.

Happy Belated New Year, Lavinia!

>41 clamairy: Hi Clare! Thanks for stopping by - no, didn't give up! Just been balancing my online time with my crafting time, and crafting has been winning out a bit. :) But I'm still here! Happy New Year to you too - hope it's a good one!

I started listening today to Nikki Erlick's The Measure - wow, what an interesting premise. One morning, every adult aged 22 and older receives a box containing a string, and it soon becomes clear that the string indicates the length of the recipient's life. Erlick graduated from Columbia University's MA program in global thought which, according to a review of the book in Columbia Magazine, is "an interdisciplinary degree that challenges students to consider world problems in unconventional ways", and the book is clearly a "thought experiment" along those lines.

The review goes on to say that "Erlick’s book really shines when she tackles the bigger picture, imagining the complicated societal issues that might arise in such a scenario. Long-stringed political candidates pressure their opponents to reveal their strings as they would their taxes. The military decrees that no short-stringers will be deployed, rendering combat units essentially immortal. Mass shootings become even more commonplace, with an uptick in angry people realizing that they have nothing to lose."

I'm a third of the way through it and having a hard time turning off the audiobook. Julia Whelan, whom I've heard and enjoyed as the narrator in other books, does a great job as usual, and the story is quite compelling.

>43 PlatinumWarlock: Wow! That is one heck of a premise. And you liked it on audio...gonna have to get that one. Thanks. : )

>43 PlatinumWarlock: This one's already on my list - I'm so glad to hear that it's as good as it sounds!

Hey! I am actually managing to listen to the audio book of Silas Marner and I'm also have the book out from the library. I wasn't sure it I could do a puzzle and listen to an audio book, but so far, so good. I love your stitching , Lavinia.

>44 Berly: and >45 scaifea: It's fascinating indeed, Kim and Amber. I just wrapped it up today... I gave the book 4 stars and can't quite put my finger on why I didn't give it 5... I found it very, very interesting, mostly as that "thought experiment" I mentioned above. The writing was... fine. Quite acceptable, but maybe fell short of inspired. I'm super-inconsistent, though, about what I consider to rate 5 stars, so take my rating with a grain of salt. It's the kind of book that I think would be amazing as a book club selection, in the sense that the conversations that resulted would be rich and deep. Definitely glad I read it!

>46 vancouverdeb: Thanks so much, Deborah. :) I love stitching, and am DEEP in obsessing over it right now, so you'll likely see more! I hope the concurrent puzzling and listening continues to go well... I love being able to multitask on favorite activities!!

>43 PlatinumWarlock: Wow, that's some premise!! Tempting and a bit off-putting at the same time. I'll certainly be thinking about whether or not I want to read it ... and possibly suggest it to my RL book club.

>49 RebaRelishesReading: Totally understand the "tempting" AND "off-putting" tension... it made for a very interesting read, Reba!

>43 PlatinumWarlock: That does sound like a fascinating premise, Lavinia. I will look for that one.

>40 PlatinumWarlock: And I think you are right about choosing books that are very different if you want to read several at once. I usually have poetry, essays and fiction going, and I can keep those straight. :) Usually.

>47 PlatinumWarlock: Finished The Measure and loved it! A great premise and I enjoyed the discussions about division and what life means that came from it. Thanks for the recommendation!

>52 Berly: Agreed! So glad you liked it. :)

Good to see you, Lavinia! I really love audio books now that I have finally tried them, thanks to your suggestion.

>54 vancouverdeb: Oh, I'm so glad, Deborah! I'm especially loving listening while I do other things (driving, stitching, jigsaw puzzles... 😀) - multitasking!

Hello Lavinia.

One of my all time favourite cycling routes is around Mercer Island. A constantly winding, undulating road with tantalising glimpses of a sparkling Lake Washington through the trees and not much traffic. Beautiful homes too.

I haven't read Ann Patchett yet but am very keen to give her work a try.

>56 Pendrainllwyn: Hello - thank you for stopping by. :) Yes, Mercer Island is indeed lovely... my partner is a cyclist and very much enjoys that loop!

I hope you enjoy Ann Patchett when you get to her... I think she's a wonderful storyteller.

Two puzzles arriving tomorrow, Lavinia! Dave has to go to the dentist, so I'm hoping I might sneak them in.

Just finished plowing through Hannah Beckerman's The Forgetting... wow. Compelling. I did NOT anticipate the twist that Anna and Livvy were the same person, as were Dominic and Stephen - and as such, at the end I was a lot more forgiving of Livvy's being (in my opinion) a pushover. Solid character development and lots of psychological drama - it really kept me engaged.

>58 vancouverdeb: Woo hoo! Can't wait to see the pictures of them completed! 😀

Hello! I dont think we have met! My names Owl or Lily idrc which you call me, how are you today?

>57 PlatinumWarlock: I am glad your husband enjoys the loop. I am guessing he is not persuasive enough to have you join him!

I haven't yet figured out how to know whether someone has replied to a post of mine so in case you haven't either please note I responded to you on my thread too.

I watch Anne Patchett's short "If you haven't read this book it's new to you" youtube clips and have picked up a lot of book ideas from her. I haven't had a buying spree since discovering her on youtube but she is so impressive and her passion for books is infectious.

>62 Pendrainllwyn: Haha - my only concern about the Mercer Island loop is that I ride a low recumbent trike, and there are too many people who drive like idiots around all those curves... I'm afraid I'll get squashed. I save my riding for quieter roads!

I definitely went on a Patchett buying spree at some point... she IS marvelous!

I finished listening to her most recent collection of essays yesterday and immediately started the earlier one. I discovered there are a couple of her books I have missed (plan to correct that very soon). I like her even more now than I did before the essays.

>40 PlatinumWarlock: Mood is a good way to choose. I just get stressed by too many choices and too little variety.

>48 PlatinumWarlock: What kind of stitching? I obviously missed a post as I skim. I cross-stitch veeeerry slowly.

>66 The_Hibernator: Cross stitch, blackwork, surface embroidery (just learning), a little needlepoint... at the rate I'm going, it's going to be ALL the kinds of stitching! Kind of obsessed... 🫢

Just catching up finally, Lavinia and wishing you a wonderful weekend.

>67 PlatinumWarlock: Hi Lavinia! I love doing embroidery and I know cross stitch and needlepoint but have never heard of blackwork and surface embroidery...off to google them.

and back -- blackwork is beautiful! I've done a lot of counted thread embroidery but never in black

"Surface embroidery is any form of embroidery in which the pattern is worked by the use of decorative stitches and laid threads on top of the foundation fabric or canvas rather than through the fabric; it is contrasted with canvas work." -- that doesn't tell me much. Are the pattern thread held down by tiny catch stitches? otherwise, how is it attached to the fabric if not "through the fabric"?

>68 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! Thanks for stopping by! 😁

>69 RebaRelishesReading: I get somewhat confused by the semantics also, Reba. I think of embroidery as being the placing of decorative stitches on fabric. So... embroidery is the overarching craft, and technically cross stitch and needlepoint and blackwork and crewel (among others) are just forms of embroidery. And I use the term "surface embroidery" to represent what you were calling general embroidery. But I suspect there are many different interpretations - mine is definitely not the gospel!

Quick hello to everyone... I've been so obsessed with needlework recently that I've done no reading unless it was an audiobook while I was stitching! I hope you're all well... I'll be here more regularly once the obsession calms down. 😁

Hi Lavinia! Glad you are enjoying your needlework! For me , it's puzzles!

>70 PlatinumWarlock: That makes total sense to me. I have done a LOT of counted thread cross-stitch and can totally relate to listening to a lot of audio and reading little "with my eyes" as a result. These days I do more knitting than embroidery just because I have as many table cloths, Christmas stockings, etc. as I can use or give away and there is a local charity that I can give my knitting to. lol

Obsess away, as long as it is bringing you happiness. : )

Hi Lavinia my dear, Stitch away to your heart's content my dear if you enjoy it, my daughter Amy enjoys doing her Cross-Stitching and always brings it with her along with a book when she comes to visit.

Hope all is well with you my dear friend, sending love and hugs.

A quiet April so far, Lavinia?