Catzteach’s reading (and other) adventures of 2019

I actually had enough posts in my thread to do a continuation! I hope I’m doing it right. :)

Here’s to a brand new year with new goals, new books, and new adventures!

I read 85 books in 2018 so I’ll attempt to match that in 2019.

My running goal is to run a marathon. I’ve signed up for a training group which starts this Saturday. The marathon is at the end of April.

I want to ride at least 400 miles this year. I barely made my goal of 300 last year, but I rode 500 miles in 2017 so 400 is doable.

I also want to be more present and on devices less.

Here we go!

Happy new year! I hope 2019 brings you great adventures in books and in real life. Good luck making your goals!

Good luck with the goals. And happy reading!

Happy New Year! May you have a great year ahead.

Well if you're running and biking you probably aren't on your phone! Good luck with all that and have a fabulous 2019!

I am tagging along to peek over your shoulder as you read.

Happy New Year! Following along again :)

Welcome, all! I hope this year brings all of us many reading and other joys.

Started my marathon training today. The group ran six miles. They took us up a rather tough hill, but the rest of the route was fine. It was great to meet other runners. Some were experienced, some are doing their first marathon. I’m excited to learn and improve.

>9 catzteach: Good luck with the marathon training.

>9 catzteach: I look forward to being on your support team when you come here to run the Comrades!

Thanks, gentlemen. Hugh, one thing about running I like is I could find an event anywhere! Cycling events are harder to come by.

Just finished my first book of 2019. European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman it is a sequel to The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter. I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much. It is rather long, 706 pages, and I felt it dragged a little bit. It took some effort to continue with it and I wasn’t super excited to pick it up around the 500 page mark. One other thing that bugged me was the way Diana was talking. She was using phrases that seemed modern, not something someone would say in the 1890s. Things like rolling her eyes and saying “whatever.” Or saying “as if.” This one ended with an opening for a third. Not sure if I’ll read it. I definitely won’t hunt for it, but if I happen to see it on the library shelf, then maybe.

>12 catzteach: There's always the AmaShova-Shova (cycling) here every October ;-)

>13 hfglen: That would be fun! Maybe some day I can save enough to get to your part of the world.

Further to #13, here is the official AmaShova website. I see they are sponsored by Tsogo Sun, our premier chain of overpriced accommodation. Thank goodness yours would be free! (I am reminded of the friend, alas now deceased, who never referred to one of the "recommended" hotels on this site as the "Heavenly Bills".

Happy New Year, catzteach! Best of luck with your reading and your training in 2019. And may all of the humans & felines in your household have a healthy year.
=^. .^=

>15 hfglen: the distances aren't that bad in that race. My longest ride to date is 100 kilometers.

>16 clamairy: thanks, Clam!

Finished As Old As Time yesterday. A different take on Beauty and the Beast. In this one, Belle’s mom is the Enchantress who cursed the Beast. I can’t really say more than that because I’d be saying too much and give spoilers. It was a fun version and I would recommend it.

Finished Everything I Never Told You last night. I read it for my book club. It was very depressing. It's the story of a family whose 15 year old daughter/sister has died. She is found in the nearby lake. The story hops back and forth between how the family got to this point and how they deal with Lydia's death. The family is dysfunctional and sad. I was pretty glad I finished it.

Not a book post, just a what's going on in life post:

Last night my 18 year old cat, Teddi, had an episode. We think it was a seizure or a stroke. We aren't sure. We found her lying on her side in distress. She tried to walk and couldn't. So we took her to the ER vet. I texted our vet tech friend, the one who comes and gives her fluids every week, because I knew she'd want to know if Teddi died. And we really thought we were going to have to put Teddi down. She said she'd come to the clinic to sit with us. We were in the patient room when she showed up. She walked in and then in walked our regular vet! They were out to dinner with some work people so he decided to come, too. How nice is that? Then the ER vet walks in with Teddi. We couldn't even tell she'd had an episode. She was walking around and acting like she was wondering why we were all there. They did blood work, which came back fine, and we took her home. Our friend followed us home and gave Teddi extra fluids. The cat seems normal today. We will watch her and see if it happens again. She is 18, so we are cherishing every day we still have her.

I hope Teddi is ok, and doesn't have another episode. Must have been scary.

>20 catzteach: Sorry to hear about Teddi’s episode. Late nights at emergency vet clinics are not fun.

Hugs to you and cuddles to Teddi. We lost our 16-year-old to a similar "episode" just before Christmas, so I can offer extra sympathy.

>20 catzteach: I have an elderly kitty too and I know what you mean. Each day we still have her is a gift. I'm glad everything turned out OK for Teddi.

Thanks all. She’s doing really well this weekend. She even rushed to the food dish this evening!

Good to hear she have recovered, episodes like that is scary.

All my cats have deteriorated rather slowly into old age, thankfully... or not - sometimes it can be hard to tell when it's time to let go :'(

> 26 most of ours have had cancer so the decision has been a bit more cut and dry. But we've had two that I still wonder if we were a bit early with our decision. :(

This year I've decided to post my DNFs. I haven't ever really kept track of them and I'm curious to see how many books I give up on over a year. The first one is:

Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful Reading the jacket made me think it was going to be similar to Uglies, enhanced humans. Well, it is about medical advances that allow humans to survive major accidents and diseases. But each chapter was a different character's story and there really wasn't any plot that connected the chapters. I don't mind chapters telling different stories or different points of view, but give me a plot that ties it together. Without that, the book was just boring. So I stopped. I'll return it to the library tomorrow.

>27 catzteach: One of ours got lung cancer, that one was easy, as you say. It hurt, but she hurt, too.
Still, we waited for too long, thinking she was old and that's why she were so sedentary. It's been 18 years, and I can still se the hurt in her eyes when we decided to put her down...

>28 Busifer: yeah, that look....

>20 catzteach: I'm glad she improved so quickly. Best of luck with her.

>19 catzteach: I know that one was tough in places, but I enjoyed it. That ending was painful, though. :o(

>29 catzteach: I've been there too many times. But I don't want to live a pet-free life.

>30 clamairy: I don't ever want to be pet free, either. They are just too much love!

I'm in the middle of a very long book and am not sure when I will finish it. I'm rather busy with marathon training and work, I don't get as much time to read in the evenings. But I'm enjoying the training and meeting some runners. I'm hoping it'll carry over into the summer and I'll have some people to run with then.

Teddi is doing fine. She hasn't had another episode that we know of. She's eating and walking around just fine. We do give her rides up the stairs now, though.

Sending stay well wishes to Teddi. I hope she doesn't have any more health scares like that.

Good luck with the marathon training. I am in awe of anyone who rises to that challenge.

>31 catzteach: I'm in the middle of two books like that. :( Enjoyable, but one doesn't get a sense of accomplishment.

>33 MrsLee: that’s what makes long books hard to read. I’ve been reading it forever and am only halfway done. And all the other books on my table are getting ignored.

I finally finished The Queen of Air and Darkness! All 800+ pages. It is a return to the Shadowhunter realm. The third in a series featuring Emma and Julian. There were about three different plots going on, hence the length. I really enjoyed the book and series. I also really like the Shadowhunter world.

I also finished listening to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I don't think I need to leave much of a summary. I am enjoying the books. I've got the fourth audio on hold.

In other parts of life, training is coming along. We ran 12.5 miles last week and ten this week. Part of our route this week had some ice on it. So I went off trail to avoid the ice, but I've done something to my ankle area. It's above the ankle. The Husband thinks it might be a high sprain. It doesn't hurt to walk or run, so I'm going to just keep on keeping on and see how it goes.

And now I'm off to type up my science lessons and read my math lessons for the week.

>35 catzteach: I am in awe of your training. Keep up the good work and don't get hurt! And I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the Potter books.

>36 clamairy: Thanks, Clam! Unfortunately, my leg is bugging me tonight after my run. We did stairs. It wasn't easy. I think I might have to take a couple of days to rest it. Hopefully it'll feel up to running on Saturday. I think we are supposed to do 12 miles.

Well, I just gave up on my third DNF of the year. The second one was Red Moon. It was just boring. The third is The Scorpio Races. I'm really bummed I couldn't get into this one. I've read two of Stiefvater's series and loved them. I just couldn't get into the characters with this one. Hopefully the book I've picked up off the TBR pile is a good one.

In other news, I'm taking the weekend off of training. My ankle was not happy Wednesday when I got done doing stairs. I've decided it needs rest and I've made a doctor appointment for Monday. He's a chiropractor that came highly recommended from others in the group. He's also a runner so he will understand the desire to get back out on the trails/roads.

The 100-year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared this was a book club book. If it hadn’t been, it’d be a DNF. As it was, I skipped a good chunk of it. Allen, the 100, climbs out of his window on his birthday. From there the book is two stories, the current adventure and Allen’s life story. I didn’t really care enough to read the parts that go back in time. The one I tried was quite boring. And I wasn’t enjoying the book anyway. So I read the parts about the current adventure. It ended up not being horribly boring but I’m glad I’m done. I also didn’t like the formatting/writing style. There was very little spoken conversation. Most conversation was in statement form, the author telling us what they said, rather than having them say it. And no quotation marks when they did actually speak. I don’t like either of those.

On a semi-happier note: my marathon training has not been stopped by my injury. Nothing sprained or broken, just muscle strain. I’m seeing a chiropractor for it. I managed to run 13 miles yesterday. I was super slow because of my injury, but I did it! Lots of stretching and foam rolling this week and hopefully next weekend’s 16 miles will be doable. So glad I can keep running!

>39 catzteach: Glad your training is still going well!

I'd heard good things about The hundred year old man and picked up a second hand copy recently, but will lower my expectations. I guess I hoped it would be as good as A man named Ove.

>39 catzteach: Glad you're on the mend. Are you sure all these DNFs aren't because you're just not in a reading state-of-mind? This happens to me a couple of times a year.

>41 clamairy: hmm, I hadn’t thought about that. I thought I just wasn’t liking my books, but it very well could be I’m just not in the mood.

An Assassin's Guide to Love and Treason This one is set during Shakespearean times. Once I was able to let go of the modern language, I really enjoyed the story. Katherine is a Catholic whose father has been killed by the queen's orders. She vows to get revenge and gets mixed up in a plot to kill the queen. Her part in this plot is to masquerade as a boy and get a role in one of Shakespeare's play. During the play, she will kill the queen. Unbeknownst to her, Toby, a watcher, has written the play to trap the assassins. He, too, has a role in the play and is investigating the other players to see which one might be the assassin. They are intrigued by each other and a relationship blooms. But can they get past all the lies they've told each other? And what will happen to Katherine after she kills the queen?

It was a fun read that I needed. Hopefully, the next few on my pile are just as entertaining.

In other news: I think I found the reason for all my leg/ankle pain while running. My shoes! I finally realized the pain didn't start until I started wearing new shoes. So yesterday I wore my old ones. I knew I would get a blister (and boy, did I) but I wanted to see if the other pain would be as bad. It was not. It was still there, I think because it's tender due to the other days I ran, but it wasn't as bad and today the leg/ankle feels great! The blister, not so much. :) So now I need to take the new shoes back and have someone there really analyze my gait to see what I need in shoes. The things we learn while training for a marathon. BTW, yesterday's run was 16.7 miles. My longest ever!

Whoa, I haven't posted since February!? I know I've read more than one book since then. Let me get my journal.

*leaves to get written journal*

Oh, good, I have read more than one book in that time. I just didn't post about them. So here goes:

The Magic of Melwick Orchard Isa's family bought the old Melwick Orchard. Shortly after, her six year old sister gets cancer. Isa feels invisible as her parents deal with her sister's ordeal. While in the orchard one day, she finds a magical tree. The tree, and a new friend, help her through this rough time. It's a good story for the kiddos.

The Lady's Guide Petticoats and Piracy this is a sequel of sorts to the Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue Felicity Montague wants to be a doctor, but in the 1700s that is not easy for a female to achieve. She learns that her childhood friend is marrying one of her medical idols so she travels to the continent to see if she can meet him and get a job as his assistant. Of course, things don't work out the way she had hoped. It was nice to return to the world of the Montague siblings. I like Felicity. She learned a lot about herself in this book.

And then there is Relic. This is a pretty good sci-fi that I picked up at the library on a whim. Ruslan is the very last human in the entire universe. They were all wiped out by a disease. He has been rescued by the Myssari. He goes to live with them. After a few decades, he convinces them to hunt for Earth. They find it and set out for it. He's hoping to encounter other humans. I won't tell you how it turns out, but I really liked it.

I've been busy with school and training. I've been lurking on other people's threads but ignoring my own. I'll be better in the future. Now I'm off to bed to sleep. I have a 20-miler tomorrow.

>44 catzteach: Whew, it is "tomorrow." May your 20-miler go without incident and be a wonderful day for you!

>44 catzteach: All the best for the run.

It went great! I did a better than normal tempo and I ran up all the hills! Then one of the group invited us to a recovery place her friends opened. I experienced compression boots and an infrared sauna. The boots were odd; loved the sauna!

>47 catzteach: Wot? Not a matched pair?

>48 hfglen:

I am proud of you, Hugh.

>47 catzteach:

Well done, Catz!

>48 hfglen: >49 pgmcc:
All those PGGBs can have a permanent effect.

>48 hfglen: took me a minute! :)

Well done on the run, anyway!

I’ve read two since my last post.

The first is Rocket Men: the daring odyssey of Apollo 8 and the astronauts who made man’s first journey to the moon. this was a book club book. It’s not my usual kind of read. It was pretty informative. I did skim it in parts, like the take off pages and the last part.

Discount Armageddon definitely more my speed. Supernatural meets Stephanie Plum. But Verity is definitely more capable and less bumbling. I will definitely be reading the rest of these.

In running news, I have another 20 miler this weekend. I’m a bit more nervous, though, because The Husband was “kind” enough to share his cough with me. Today’s 3 miles were tough. The marathon is three weeks away.

>53 catzteach: I'm really enjoying the Incryptid series. I love the variety of supernatural creatures and how they fit (or not) into the human world.

Good luck with your run! I am in awe of anyone who even attempts a marathon. It is a great achievement.

>54 Sakerfalcon: I think I’m going to like the whole series. I’ll get the next one as soon as I whittle down my current library pile.

Tin a kid’s book. The main characters are mechanicals, a kind of android, and one of them gets taken. The others go looking for him. They find their friend’s creator. It was an ok story.

Running news: did a 22 miler today. I’m super happy with my time and performance. I think I’m ready for the marathon.

>55 catzteach: You amaze me!

The Witch Elm I heard lots of good things about this one. It was a good one. A mystery/suspense novel. Toby is a 20 something. He gets beat up one night when his apartment is burglarized. He gets pretty damaged. So he moves in with his uncle, who has been diagnosed with brain cancer and needs a caretaker. Then one day, a skull is found in the wych elm in the garden. And the mystery begins: who was killed; who is the murderer; how was he killed.

Running news: this week is the taper week. The marathon is Saturday. A few short runs and resting to get ready. I'm a bit nervous.

So you liked that one? I've been a Tana French fan since her first book came out, but I've heard so many mixed things about this one that I haven't taken the plunge. Can you say more without giving away anything? I heard Toby is a drip.

I have never read a book of hers before.

A drip? Yeah, he is not the nicest of people. Toby is a guy who has been rather lucky in life. Privileged and a bit clueless about other's troubles. He is one of those people who, because life was easy for him, doesn't really understand or believe when someone else has a hard time with life, especially his cousins. He was also a jerk in high school, but he didn't see it that way. "It was all harmless." But I still wanted to see who was behind the murder. And I liked Hugo and Melissa.

Finished Grave Peril. It is a re-read I wanted to refresh my memory before I read the next one in the series.

Moving on to An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors. A book bullet from many of you here in the pub.

Finished An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors I started this one three different times. I think those just weren’t the right times. Once I got into the book, I really liked it! It’s definitely not a book where the reader’s attention can wander. I’m glad I got hit with this book bullet.

In other news: my leg is still not working right. I can use a cane around the house, although I stumbled a little while ago so maybe I shouldn’t be using a cane. I have no idea what’s wrong with it. I can’t go back to work until I can walk on it. I go back to the orthopedic in a week. Hopefully I’ll be walking by then.

>61 catzteach: That doesn't sound good. I hope they find out what the problem is.

>61 catzteach: Sending you my very best wishes for some answers to your condition, and a speedy resolution.
Glad you enjoyed Alchemy of masques and mirrors, I really liked it too.

Thanks guys. Looks like I overdid it with the cane yesterday as my leg is sore today. Guess I need to learn patience a little more.

Best wishes from me too.

And from me three

Finished Six Wakes last night. This was a fantastic read! It is set in the future. There is a six man crew on a spaceship heading to a distant planet to colonize it. The crew is made up of clones. During this time, it's not unusual for someone to choose to become a clone. One can live for hundreds of years because they just get a new body when they die. Well, one day the crew wake up from being newly created to find that all six of them had been killed. They have no memory of the last 25 years they'd been on the ship. They need to figure out which one is the killer and how they fix the ship. The characters all have complicated pasts. They were very interesting. I never figured out who the killer was; I like that in a suspense novel. I highly recommend this one!

>67 catzteach: Six Wakes was my first read 2019, and I too thought it very good. I think the level of tech was kind of disappointing seeing as this is an SF story, but the ethical and moral - and the suspense! - parts of the story was very good, as was the storytelling in itself.
Good to find someone else who enjoyed it!

>67 catzteach: I liked Six Wakes too. Nicely wrought 'locked-room' mystery set on a spaceship. Like >68 Busifer:, I had some quibbles with the SFnal elements but the plot was a fun ride.

>68 Busifer: >69 ScoLgo: Six Wakes was a little bit low on the tech part of it. The story itself made up for it.

In running/leg news: I am back from a PT appointment. She really thinks it's all muscular. The most current pain is my quad seizing up. She said part of it is mental, too. I'm scared at this point to trust the leg. Which is true. So while I work on the muscles, I also need to work on my head. I'll be using crutches while I work on both. My new mantra: "nothing torn, nothing broken, trust the leg". With luck, I'll be walking just fine by Monday and the orthopedic will wonder why I'm in his office. :)

Phew. Muscle is the fastest thing to heal besides skin. Tendon and bone = much harder. Good healing and mental strength!

>67 catzteach: I'm also in the enjoyed Six Wakes club. It was a great little mystery :)

>70 catzteach: Good luck with your leg! Hope you heal up fast.

>70 catzteach: Strength to your leg!

>70 catzteach: Glad to hear that it's nothing worse than that. Hoping for a speedy recovery for you.

>67 catzteach: That does sound like a promising premise. I may have been grazed by that one.

E.T.A.: Ok! Ok! Stop. I read all the other comments on Six Wakes and am now admitting to having been hit by your book bullet.

Great to hear your leg is looking like having a full recovery. Keep the mantra going.

>75 pgmcc: you will not be disappointed!

Where the Crawdads Sing this book has gotten much hype in a FB group I belong to. There are 250 holds on it at the library! Although I liked it, it is not the best book I’ve read so far this year. I will gladly recommend it to others. It’s a good mystery and character story.

I’m walking without a cane, mostly.i need it if I want to go faster and when I get tired. So pretty optimistic the doc will release me.

Summer Knight the fourth Harry Dresden. I liked it! Is it just me, or did this one have more humor? I will continue my journey through The Files. :)

>77 catzteach: They only get better!

>76 catzteach: Six Wakes arrives Monday.

>78 MrsLee: that’s what I’ve heard!

>79 pgmcc: I hope you like it!

Leg news: I got the results of my MRI. It’s a grade 3 tibia stress reaction/syndrome. This means had I kept going, it would’ve ended up fracturing. I stopped in time. So a bit shorter healing period. Only 7 - 8 weeks. It’s already been 3. But my two half marathons in June are out. As are any other running events I wanted to do this summer. I might be able to do my cycling events. That remains to be seen. I do get to go back to work on Monday. And at least I will be able to run again.

>80 catzteach: I think that is good news, although difficult to adjust your goals to. May you heal quick and completely.

I will be sending you the first clue tomorrow for your hunt when you get to Newport. Please don't get too excited, due to the possibility of interception by an unknown person, the "prize" will be more in the hunting than the finding. Also short, so as to not take up too much of your resting and relaxing time.

>81 MrsLee: what fun! I hope the “prize” lasts till I get there!

Here's your first clue.

You must find one of the great human joys. Take your time, read what is written in the leaves, signed by MrsLee.

If you discover a potty mouth, you turned left too soon.

Hmmm, intrigued am I.

Imprudence a return to Gail Carriger’s steampunk England. I love these books!

Glad you liked The Witch Elm and Six Wakes. I've been following your post-race issues on FB, and I'm so relieved that you're mending.

>86 clamairy: thanks! I think I’m entering the hard part: my leg feels fine but I still can’t run on it. Three to four more weeks.

Throne of Glass Celeana is an assassin. She gets freed from slaving at a salt mine to compete for the Crown Prince to become the King’s Champion. There’s a bit of a love triangle with the Crown Prince and the Captain of the Guard both being interested in her. There is someone or something killing the competitors. Celeana discovers who/what is behind the deaths.

I read Maas’s Court of Thorn and Roses books and loved them. This one was good, but didn’t keep my attention quite as much. I’ll seek out the next one and see if it’s better.

Yes Please listened to this one. It was good. It wasn’t as funny as I thought it would be. But I liked that she was real and not just trying to be funny.

The Copper Gauntlet the second in a series for kids. I like Holly Black Nad Cassandra Clare. This was good. It’s a good story about a little boy who finds out he’s a mage. He goes to school and fights evil. A very familiar plot in kid’s fantasy but fun anyway.

The Clockmaker's Daughter I finished this one a few days ago and am just now getting around to posting about it. It's a ghost story of sorts. Elodie is an archivist. She comes across a sketchbook from a famous artist. In this sketchbook is a house that is just like one that was in stories told to her by her mother. She pursues the house and its history. Meanwhile, the house has a ghost. We learn the ghost's story by hearing the house's story through the ghost's eyes. So lots of back and forth with present time and the past. This was a good book. I like how Morton weaves so many characters and lives together.

I'm almost 200 pages into City of Brass and liking it so far.

Finished City of Brass the other day. It was good! Especially the last chapter! I will read the second one next week. I had a different library book due sooner so I'm reading that right now.

I'm heading to the coast this weekend. The Husband and I are going to be staying at the Sylvia Beach Hotel. Mrs. Lee stayed there last month and left a surprise for me. Sure hope it's still there! I'm looking forward to a weekend unplugged. The Husband doesn't read much. Not sure what he's going to do. :)

>90 catzteach: That sounds delightful (your weekend plans). I hope you have a wonderful time. And are you allowed to tell us what the surprise is if you find it?

>90 catzteach:
That sounds like a great weekend.
I am reading and enjoying The Kingdom of Copper. I am about 100 pages in.

I am glad you enjoyed The City of Brass.

Finished Crown of Midnight while at the Sylvia Hotel. Oh my, what a lovely weekend! The silence was heavenly! The Husband had a hard time with no wi-fi. He had to use his phone as a hot spot when he was in the room. I enjoyed the fact that there was no tv for him to turn on. :) And I found Mrs. Lee’s hidden treasure! It was hidden behind a book called Dragon Threads. How perfect is that?! Wish I could’ve stayed a week!

>93 catzteach: That sounds absolutely perfect. Especially the quiet part.

Just finished The Kingdom of Copper. It was amazing! Better than City of Brass. I’m so glad it’s summer and I didn’t have to wait all day at work to be able to read it! Peter put it well with his description of it in his thread. Political intrigue that we see today, learning about what drives the characters and their decisions, choices being made that are repeats from the past, just so much in this book! And now the book hangover sets in and the wait for the third book starts.

King of Scars a return to the Grishaverse. I was glad to be back in the Grishaverse. This is the story of Nikolai, King of Ravka. It also has a subplot with Nina from Six of Crows. I did like the way it melded characters from her earlier series. I was disappointed that it is not a stand alone. I thought it was going to be. Although it will be good to continue to visit Ravka. :)

Mindfulness in the Classroom this is an ER. It was ok. It would be really good for those teachers who have not yet implemented mindfulness in the classroom. I would've liked more practical implementation in the classroom as I have already learned quite a bit about mindfulness and need more ways to teach the kids what it is and how to put it into their lives. Overall, a good book.

>96 catzteach: I thought it was a standalone as well. I might wait until they're all released to start this series. I do enjoy that world!

>97 clamairy: I saw on Goodreads that it’s a duology. So not quite as bad. I have no idea when the next one is due.

>98 catzteach: Oh, that is good news. She's a fairly prolific writer, so I'm hopeful that it won't be too long.

Finished The 7 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle yesterday. It started really confusing. Partly because the main character himself was confused. He woke up and couldn’t remember who he was. He just knew he needed Anna and that he saw someone get murdered. Turns out he’s visiting different hosts to solve the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle. He gets one day in each host. So every time he’s in a different host, it’s the same day but a different viewpoint. I really enjoyed this book. It kept me thinking. I couldn’t let my mind wander, though, or I’d miss a detail. I also imagined the author’s room while writing this: it would’ve looked like a tv detective’s room with the bulletin board, pictures of the suspects/characters, and string connecting them all with different details to remember. How he kept it all straight ...

>100 catzteach: This is on my TBR pile so I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. I will try and save it for a time when I'm not likely to be distracted though.

>101 Sakerfalcon: that’s one of the things I love about summer: I can just sit and read and read and read. Which is what I’ve done the last two days. :)

The Rosie Result the third book about Rosie and Don. This one focuses on their 11 year old son. He is starting to have some social issues at school and the school encourages Rosie and Don to get their son assessed for autism. Don decides he can teach/coach his son on these things. Loved the story, loved the characters. The thing I didn’t love was the school/teacher. I don’t care how quirky a kid in my class is, I accommodate things for him/her to the best of my ability. And I would never tell parents to get their kid assessed. Eventually the kiddo gets a different teacher who is more understanding. In mild cases, a diagnosis wouldn’t really change anything anyway. Not in my state, anyway. And this book takes place in Australia. Maybe it’s a bit different there? But highly recommend the book!

>96 catzteach: When I first heard of a series of books based around Russian mythology I was really interested, because at the time the only fantasy novels that I knew of that drew on that background were the World of Watches sequence by Sergei Lukyanenko (I have discovered more since.) But I was put off when I learned that it prominently featured a magical force known effectively as "Greg" (Grisha being the standard Russian diminutive for the common name Grigori)!

https://www.leighbardugo.com/grishaverse/the-archives/tongue-twister/ seems to suggest that the author is not actually drawing on Russian mythology so much as simply aiming, for some reason, to give her own world a superficial sense of "Russianness'.

Since you have evidently enjoyed and spent a lot of time with this world, I thought I would ask: is it fair to describe it as rooted in Russian mythology, or is it simply a generic high fantasy world, in which the author has used Western perceptions of Slavic culture to give her creation an exotic air, and avoid the trap where the vocabulary of alternative universes remain littered with a terninology dragged from popular understanding (and usually misconceptions!) of English history?

>93 catzteach: That sounds like my idea of a heavenly vacation!

>103 -pilgrim-: Wow, good question!! I am not familiar with Russian mythology, although I love mythology stories and would like to know more info on how to learn about Russia's. I'm going to guess the Grishaverse is a generic high fantasy world, but as previously stated, am not the one to make that call. :)

>93 catzteach: it was! I've been able to carry over some of the "just sit and read" feel of it since being back. Oh, how I love summer!

>103 -pilgrim-: I'm not well versed in Russian mythology though I have read her Grishaverse books. I think she tried to give them a Russian flavor more than being actually Russian based kind of like you noted. I've definitely seen criticisms of it in other reviews though I enjoyed the books well enough.

Finding Dorothy finished this one yesterday. I enjoyed it. It's a fiction book based on facts. Maud Baum is wanting to meet the actress who is playing Dorothy. She wants to make sure Dorothy is taken care of. The reader learns about Maud's life and her life with Frank. And there is the story of Maud meeting Judy Garland and being on the set of The Wizard of Oz while it's being filmed. I am a huge Wizard of Oz fan and have read a couple of books about how it was made. The book had those details correct. At the end of the book, the author lets the reader know what parts of Maud's life were accurate and which parts were changed for the book. It was an enjoyable historical novel.

The Silent Patient This one I just finished. It's a psychological thriller. Alicia is a famous artist who kills her husband. She then goes silent and doesn't speak again. Theo is a psychotherapist who wants to get through to her and help her speak again. The story is told through Theo's voice. I have to say there were things about Theo that I didn't like. He seemed kinda jerky at times. And unstable at other times. This book also had a plot twist that was similar to others I have recently read so it wasn't super surprising to me. But it was a good read and, if one hasn't read the other books I have, the plot twist would be really surprising and make the book really good.

>102 catzteach: I didn't realize there was a third in this series. I loved that first one, but the second one didn't get such high praise in here, if I remember correctly. This one has a high rating. Do you remember whether or not you enjoyed that second one?

>108 clamairy: the third one just came out. I heard about it from a group on FB. I liked the second one, but enjoyed this one better, the second one was harder for me because Rosie and Don were having issues. That was hard to read when I liked them so much.

>105 catzteach: I haven't been ignoring your implied question, but it is not an easy one to answer.

The folkloric aspects of Slavic myth -:Vasilisa the Beautiful, Maria Morevna, Koschkei the Deathless, Baba Yaga and so on - are easy to find a lot about. Similarly covered are all the various kinds of household and countryside spirits - my particular favourite is the bannik, who lurks in the bath-house! There were many excellent nineteenth century Russian folklorists, Aleksandr Afanasyev being the pre-eminent source.

But trying to find out about the actual myths of pre-Christian religion is a lot harder. There are a lot of passing references in Russian literature, both classic and contemporary, but they are written from the standpoint of assuming that the (Russian) reader is already familiar with what is being referred to. And literary uses often happily jumble together Baltic deities, Slavic deities and Mongolian demi-gods.

There are Russian neopagan websites, of course, but they can be an uncomfortable place to research. In the same way that in researching Germanic myth on the web, you tend to run into the Aryan supremacists eventually, websites about ancient Slavic region tend to get colonised by pan-Slavic racial supremacists. Since such groups have agenda, I wouldn't trust their information either!

The best sources that I have found are the nineteenth century Anglophone ethnographers, who tend to mix some ancient myths in with their folklore collections. However they are often slightly unreliable, particularly in smithing away more unpalatable aspects of the original, in the interests of telling "a good story". (I have some collections of Russian folktales , collected in the Soviet era, when there was no interest in sugar-coating "outmoded beliefs", which are quite stomach-churning in their ruthless attitudes at times!)

Most of the little knowledge that I have regarding ancient Slav beliefs has come direct from Russians. Hence my interest in Leigh Bardugo's novel - I wondered what sources she had tapped.

>110 -pilgrim-: sounds complicated. I wonder if I could study Russian art and maybe glean some of their myths that way. I know I learned a lot more about Greek mythology when I studied the art. I wonder if my local college library would have some text books on the subject. I may have to wander down to that library this summer.

>111 catzteach: The problem is that you jump from a nineteenth century literary tradition that assumes knowledge of pre-Christian beliefs to an era when mentioning any beliefs could severely harm your health, or at least your job prospects, to an era which promotes the Orthodox Church, but is considerably less tolerant of other beliefs. In such a climate, the beliefs that "everyone knows about but no one actually believes now" just didn't get passed on.

It takes someone with a specific interest, and some of those people have rather insalubrious motivation.

We know so much about the Greek mythology because the plays and poems were preserved by post-pagan society as works of art, rather than being suppressed as blasphemous. And visual art continued to be made about those stories. There was no pre-Christian Slavic literary tradition.

At the folklore level, I do recommend Afanasyev. Excerpts from his collection are widely available in translation.

BTW the first Tsars were descendants of their gods - just as our Queen is a descendant of Odin! ;-)

>112 -pilgrim-: well, bummer! I love learning about the folklore, myths, and religions of other areas. I’ll have to see if my library has any Afanasyev.

Girls of Paper and Fire this one had a pretty common plot: the privileged, a horrible king, and a planned rebellion. The details: there are three castes, the humans, the demons, and the hybrids of demons and humans. Humans are the lowest caste. The Demon King has concubines. They are human and known as the Paper Girls. The main character is forced into the role of a Paper Girl. She eventually gets sucked up into the rebellion. This was an ok read. I’m not really sure why I didn’t like it very much. I guess I felt it moved too slow? Maybe I’ve read too many with this basic plot lately? Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood? The main character was likable enough. But I was ok with it ending. The author left it with an opening for a sequel. I will not be hunting down the sequel if it ever gets written.

And now I’m reading about the ends of the world. :)

The Ends of the World I read this one because of a book bullet. I’m not sure who in the pub read it first. It is making the rounds. :) I found it very interesting and a bit depressing, especially the last couple of chapters. We humans have really mucked things up. Hopefully, with all of us taking little steps, and some big steps, we can prolong the effects of the damage we’ve done.

>114 catzteach: NorthernStar gets the credit for finding this one. I'm one of the people she hit. Then I sprayed a few rounds into the crowd after that. I hope he keeps writing, as I loved his style.

>115 clamairy: I'd love to take credit, but I'm sure I was hit by someone else first. Glad I hit so many others, though!

Edited to add: I did a bit of checking, and it looks like it was a post in the Sustainability group that alerted me.

I can take full credit for all the Green Dragon book bullets!

Heir of Fire: Throne of Glass the third book of the series. Celeana has gone to the other continent. Her aunt finds her and forces her to face her past. Meanwhile, the king of Adarlan is still killing people and being a tyrant.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince I had been listening to these but decided to read this one. I definitely retain more when I read it myself. I’m enjoying the series, but I don’t think it’s as spectacular as other people seem to think.

It’s been an exciting week here. Two days ago, I bought a new car. A 2019 Subaru Outback. I did the whole process myself so it really is my car. I’m loving him! So many cool features! I have named him Alexander.

And then today my new range (oven) was delivered. It’s a convection oven. I will need to learn how to use it as I hear the times will be shorter for cooking. Guess I’ll burn my first batch of cookies.

The Husband says my anniversary gift is taken care of. 😊

>117 catzteach: Excellent - cars should always be properly named. I hope it was done properly (in the same manner as withships)? ;-)

>117 catzteach: Congrats! And I agree with >118 -pilgrim-: that vehicles should be named. (I don't dent mine with a bottle, though.)

>117 catzteach: Congrats on both the car and oven!

Thanks, all! I have always named my cars. The Husband thinks I’m slightly crazy for doing so.

Boy, I haven't posted in a while. Not sure why, I've been around.

So here's what I've been reading:

Real Murders I love the Sookie Stackhouse books so I decided to try a different series by Harris. This is the first of the Aurora Teagarden mysteries. Aurora is in a club that researches and discusses real life murders. It is her turn to give the talk. I forget who she had researched. But one of the members doesn't show to the meeting. She is the member that gets the meeting room ready. The room is ready but she's not there. So Aurora goes looking for her and finds her body. It's clear that the murder is just like the one Aurora researched. Then other members start getting killed, also in ways of the murders they have researched. Aurora gets stuck in the middle of the investigation. It was a fun, quick read.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone Karou lives in Prague. She is an orphan that has been raised by a group of chimeara. She interacts with the human world, but also knows about the world of the chimeara. One day she meets Akiva and learns all about her origins. It's not something she was expecting. This was a good YA book.

An Easy Death Another Harris book I picked up to try. It's a new series she has started. Totally not what I was expecting. I thought it was going to be more supernatural than it was. It really felt more like a western. Lizbeth Rose is a Gunnie. America is no longer and has been parceled out to other countries. A Gunnie is a person hired to help people travel the areas. She is hired by a pair of Grigoris from California, which is now part of Russia. They are hunting down someone to help with blood transfusions for the Russian King. Little do the Grigoris know, Lizbeth has killed the man they are looking for.

The Gone World this one was fantastic!! Shannon Moss is an NCIS agent. The year is 1995 (I think). Shannon uses a secret technology to go into the future and solve her crimes. But something is going wrong with the technology/timeline (of course) and she needs to figure it out. This one kept me on my toes. I was surprised by the outcome and kind of saddened as well. Highly recommend!

Clockwork Princess The third in the Infernal Devices trilogy. It explains how Jem Carstairs becomes a Silent Brother and Tessa's origins. I like the Shadowhunter books so I rather enjoyed this one.

Send Down the Rain I read The Mountain Between Us earlier this year and wanted to try another one of his books. This one is about Jo-Jo, a 61 year old Vietnam Vet who likes to be alone. One night he rescues a family in trouble. Being the kind soul he is, he drives them to a relative. This leads him to return to his hometown and reconnect with his lost love. Her husband has just died and she's having financial issues. He stays and helps her out. But because of this, an long hidden secret comes to the surface. It was good. I didn't know how it was going to end, the characters were likable. I'll read more of his.

Queen of Shadows The fourth Throne of Glass book. Celaena is now going by her given name, Aelin. She has returned to Rifthold to take down the king and get her country back. I'm enjoying the series and have the fifth one on my TBR pile.

Middlegame a new Seanan McGuire book! It wasn't as creepy as it looks. Roger and Dodger are siblings. But they were created by an alchemist. He then separates them and adopts them out. Dodger is in California and Roger is in Boston. But one day, when they are seven, Dodger talks to Roger. Yes, they communicate through some connection in their brains. They were created to be able to manifest and embody the Doctrine, which is just being all powerful and being able to rule the world. The reader is taken through their childhood and their early adulthood to see if they manifest. I'm not sure I'm giving this one the credit it is due. It was really good.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette a re-read for book club. I read this one when it first came out. Bernadette has some issues. Her daughter, Bee, wants to take a family trip to Antartica. This makes Bernadette's issues really come to the forefront. Bernadette eventually disappears. The book is the result of her disappearance because Bee writes it while she tries to figure out why her mom left. Book club decided to read this one. We will go see the movie when it comes out. It was just as good the second time as the first.

Whew, I'm all caught up.

In other news, summer is almost over. I've read 22 books over the last few weeks. I've also finished one model, made a purse, completed four puzzles (one was 2000 pieces), saw Wicked, participated in two bike events, and started yoga. It's been a relaxing summer. On the bummer side, The Husband and I didn't get to go on a real vacation. A few days before we were to leave, he splashed laundry detergent in his eye. This created a chemical burn. We spent a few hours in the ER. He had to get it flushed. He decided he wasn't going to travel with his eye still not quite healed. So we canceled the trip. On the bright side, he has decided he wants to go to Iceland for our 20 anniversary. That's next year! I've started that ball rolling. I haven't traveled internationally in over 25 years! Exciting and a bit scary.

I'm glad you've had some good reading this summer. I bet the time flew by for you. I love Where'd you go, Bernadette and didn't realise they were making a movie of it. I will have to see that! I strongly disliked Real murders - Aurora was not a convincing librarian! - but loved Harris's Lily Bard series although they are quite dark. I hope you have fun planning your Iceland trip; it is a place I've always wanted to visit.

I'm sure the trip to Iceland will be a hit! I used to want to go there, and still do, but there are so many other places, too, so I'm not sure it will ever happen.

>122 catzteach: Glad your reading has been so prolific and satisfying. Sorry about the trip & the eye accident, but Iceland sounds like a wonderful substitute!

>122 catzteach: I am glad your husband suffered no permanent damage - chemical burns are not nice.

You can include me among the number whov have always intended to go to Iceland some day.

Sorcery of Thorns a YA novel about a girl, Elisabeth, you is an apprentice librarian. The library is full of grimoires. She can hear them "talk." She meets a sorcerer, Nathaniel. In order to be a sorcerer, the person needs to enslave a demon. One sorcerer decides he wants to raise the most powerful demon. Elisabeth and Nathaniel team up to stop him. This book felt a little like Beauty and the Beast. I really enjoyed it. And it was a stand alone! If I come across more books by this author, I will definitely read them.

Ghosts of the Shadow Market The latest in the Shadowhunter world. It's a bunch of short stories that fill in details from the characters' lives and stories. There is one theme throughout of Jem trying to find the lost Herondale. I enjoy these books!

And I'm back at work so my days of sitting in the sun and reading are over. But I'm excited for my class this year. They look super cute!

>127 catzteach: Sorcery of thorns sounds great! I am always up for a book about librarians saving the day.

>127 catzteach: Putting Sorcery of Thorns on my wishlist. Thanks for the review.

I'm about halfway through Sorcery of Thorns and really enjoying it!

>128 Sakerfalcon: >129 Narilka: I hope you enjoy it!

>130 reconditereader: glad you are liking it!

Just finished A People’s History of the Vampire Uprising. This is told like a non-fiction book. It starts with a body disappearing from the morgue only for the person to be found alive later. The CDC gets involve immediately as this is being considered a virus. The first vampire infects others pretty quickly. Soon people are choosing to become vampires. General consensus is vampires and non-vamps can live together peacefully. But of course, the vamps are really trying to take over the world. This was a pretty fast read. The ending was unsatisfying, though.

The Secret Life of Cows this is a short, quick read of little essays about the author’s cows. She runs an organic farm in England. She talks about the personalities of her cows (and pigs and chickens). I checked it out from the library because I thought the cover was cute. It was entertaining.

>132 catzteach:
Very mooooving.

>132 catzteach: I haven't herd of that one.

>133 pgmcc: >134 MrsLee: You guys make me grin. :)Wish I was witty enough to come up with a reply, but I'm udderly stumped.

Death Masks A return to Harry and his adventures. Another good read.

You guys are really milking this one.

They've certainly given us the cream of it.

Aw, you are just trying to butter them up now.

Dry The water to Southern California has been cut off. Alyssa, her brother, and their neighbor, Kelton, are trying to figure out how to get water. Alyssa’s parents have disappeared. Kelton’s family has a bug out. The kids’ goal is to make it to the bug out and hunker down until the crisis is over. They make difficult choices along the way.

This is one of those “this could really happen someday” plots. Scary.

It was good, though.

>139 catzteach: Ooh, this is on my tbr pile. Glad you thought it was good.

No book to add, although I do have a DNF: Circe. This one is getting rave reviews all over the place, but I just couldn’t get into it. I read about 80 pages and was bored so I gave it back to the library.

In other news, we surprised my mom this weekend with a birthday party. She turned 80 on the 19th. I had one job: to buy her a new shirt before the party (Mom never spends $$ on her clothes, she finds it wasteful. So some of her shirts are 30 years old! 😯). I get to her place on Friday and she informs me that her new stove is getting delivered “sometime tomorrow.” I was able to talk her into calling the delivery guys and get an ETA on the stove. Luckily it was before the party was supposed to start and gave us time to go get her some new clothes. It was a great party. She had most of her grandkids and great grands there, as well as friends from her senior park and her three remaining kids. And then some of the family went back to her place and visited for quite a while. She was still crying over the surprise this morning when I left her.

I would post a pic but don’t know how now that I no longer do Flickr.

>141 catzteach: That sounds like a truly lovely occasion.

I would post a pic but don’t know how now that I no longer do Flickr.

Having just been talked through that problem myself (in my own thread), I think I can help:
First, upload the photo to the "junk drawer" of your Member's gallery on your profile page.
Then right-click it to open the picture in a new page.
Use the usual (angle-bracket)img HTML to embed the picture in your thread, using the address of the page that you just opened as your SRC string.

I hope that helps!

Empire of Storms I feel like it took me forever to read this book. Two reasons for that. One, school started. I no longer have tons of time to read. Two, this one wasn’t as good as the others. I’m hoping the next one in the series picks back up. I think this book is kind of like the middle chapters. The author took time to set up a few things. But I felt it dragged a bit. Maybe that was because my mind has been preoccupied with teaching, maybe because it really did drag.

>142 -pilgrim-: thanks. I’ve put a pic or twin in my gallery but have yet to put one from there into this thread.

Oh, I'm groaning at all of the cow related puns. Awful... LOL

Sorry you didn't like Circe. I do vaguely remember feeling a bit restless for the story to get going, but once it did I was sucked in.

>144 clamairy: I was really looking forward to reading it, too.

Unsolved I had never read James Patterson. It was good! An easy, fast read and it kept me guessing till the end. Perfect brain candy for this time of year.

Yikes! Has it really been that long since I've posted? Other than reading, what have I been doing? I've built my running miles back up. In fact, ran a half marathon the other day. Fell on the same damn hill I fell on two years ago in the same race. But, hey, this time I was able to move my arm afterward. :) Just a small boo boo on my hand. My time wasn't the best, but I finished. Let's see, what else? Football games. My team is actually doing better than they have in years. Yay! We have two more home games left. And then, of course, work. I have 17 boys in my class this year. They are super sweet and adorable, and they are keeping me on my toes. I'm loving them! The 8 girls are super sweet as well and they keep up with the boys just fine. I love going into work to these kiddos this year!

As for my reading, here goes:
Look Alive Twenty-Five The latest installment of the Stephanie Plum. The usual antics of Stephanie and Lulu. I love these for just a fun escape from reality.

Turn of the Key Ruth Ware's latest mystery/ghost story. This one was creepy! Perfect for October. I had an inkling of what/who the ghost was, but I never knew for sure. The ending was sad but satisfying.

The End and Other Beginnings A collection of short stories by Veronica Roth. Not the most exciting book I've read this year.

Thunderhead This is the second in the Scythe series. It was just as good as the 1st. The main character is now a Scythe and gleaning people as her job. The other main character is gleaning Scythes who enjoy the gleaning. He doesn't feel Scythes should enjoy their job. There is a third book due out soon and I've heard it's the best of the three. Can't wait to read it!

Nevernight Just finished this one. 16 year old Mia Corvere, daughter of an executed traitor, gets into a school of assassins so she can become a Blade and then avenge her father's death. This is a dark book as it takes place in a church of murder and all the characters are killers. But it was super good! I think it's a trilogy. I'll be seeking the others out.

So a great, busy fall for me. I look forward to finishing the year with many more good books read.

I'm glad you're all healed and your running is going well. I follow your progress (with much admiration) on Facebook.

Another plug for Ruth Ware! I have this one on hold. So happy to hear you enjoyed it.

>148 clamairy: I hope you like the newest Ruth Ware! I have liked everything of hers I've read.

Just finished, and I mean just, Recursion. Oh my, what a book! There are two main characters: Helena and Barry. Helena is a scientist who invents a chair that can take a person back to a memory. She wanted to help people with dementia remember their lives. Barry is a detective that is investigating an incident of False Memory Syndrome. This is when someone suddenly has memories but they never lived them.

Last night I wrote more then worried that I’d given spoilers away so I took some things out this morning.

Now to go nurse my book hangover.

Finished a re-read of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. My book club is reading this one for November and it’s been years. The re-read was just as good as the first read. I watched the movie last spring and enjoyed it. We will be watching it when we meet.

In other news, the college football season is almost over. We had our last home game last night. They won! It was a nail biter, though. And if they win one more, they have two games left, they may actually make it into a bowl game! 😯 I guess the new coach is working out. 🙂

>150 catzteach: I loved that one. I only watched the film a few months ago and really enjoyed that as well. Your book club meeting should be a great one.

Best of luck with the rest of your season!

Alas, my book club was unable to meet. One of the members had a family emergency so we canceled and brought her meals instead. Hopefully we will reschedule the movie night.

Winter of the Gods this is a sequel to Immortals. Selene and Theo are trying to figure out who is murdering the gods. They uncover a secret society/cult who is trying to resurrect Mithras. I have the third one on my TBR pile right now but will read a different book right now so I don't overload myself.

My area is preparing for our first snowfall of the season. I'm kinda excited so I can see how my new(ish) car does in the snow.

Ninth House This wasn’t Bardugo’s usual fantasy book. I would consider it more ghost story/mystery. And, Clam, you are right, it is very dark. But good! Alex is a freshman at Yale. She is a runaway and drug user who was offered her spot at Yale because she can see ghosts. Lethe, an organization who keeps an eye on the secret societies wanted her. She’s learning the ropes when a townie gets murdered. Seems one of the societies may have crossed the lines. Alex is determined to figure out who murdered the young woman. I will be reading the next book in the series.

Getting on to update my thread before I start a new one for 2020. I can’t believe I neglected it all month! Oops. I’ve been reading others’ threads, though.

The Merciful Crow Fie is of the Crow caste. It’s the lowest case. They are responsible for taking care of the bodies of people who have died of the Sinner’s Plague. One day her group picks up the bodies of the prince and his body double. Turns out they aren’t dead. They are faking it to get away from the evil queen who was trying to kill the prince so she could take over the kingdom. Through various events, Fie becomes responsible for getting the prince to safety. This was a good one.

Teeth in the Mist my notes in my paper reading journal states “a weird ghost story with witches.” I don’t remember what it was about. I almost didn’t finish it.

Olympus Bound the third in the Immortals series. Selene and Theo are back to continue to fight a deadly cult and free Zeus from Saturn’s clutches. I really enjoyed this series.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August picked this one up from the library when I had some lag time between work and appointments and forgot my book. Harry is a kalachakra- a person who upon death, is reborn as themselves to live their life over again, repeatedly. There are only two rules: never tell anyone your origins and don’t interfere with the big timeline (like kill Hitler). Well, someone starts interfering. Harry goes after this person. Really good book! Glad I picked it up.

Imposters Westerfeld takes us back to the world of his Uglies series. Frey and Rafi are twins. Rafi is the heir of the city; Frey is her body double. She’s been raised in hiding and very few know of her existence. One day their father sends Frey, as Rafi, to be collateral for a negotiation/deal with another city. Of course, things go bad and Frey needs to escape. So good! If you’ve read Uglies, and liked it, you’ll like this one. I have the second book on my TBR pile but am reading a different series first.

And I’m caught up.

In other news, I’ve been dealing with what the docs think is nerve pain in my left arm. The cause? A degenerative disc in my neck. Ah, the joys of getting old. It’s nothing like what Bookmarque is going through, but I can’t lift my arm, I’m in constant pain, and I keep dropping things. I’m on some meds and am hoping they kick in soon. If I’m still in pain in another week, I’ll go back and we will probably discuss physical therapy.

>154 catzteach: Joys of aging, indeed. Seems like something is always hurting somewhere. Hope your pain eases easily!

>155 littlegeek: thanks. I think the meds are starting to work. It no longer hurts all the time and I can get dressed and undressed with less pain.

Just finished The Tropic of Serpents. It may end up being the last book of the year. It’s a return to Lady Trent and her adventures being a naturalist in the Victorian-ish era and her desire to study dragons. It reads more like a memoir than a novel. I enjoyed it. I wonder if there are more of them. If so, I’d like to read them.

This makes the 70th book of the year.

>154 catzteach: >155 littlegeek: Ah, the joys of getting old: still better than the alternative!

>157 haydninvienna: Ha! So true.

Today is even better so the meds must’ve kicked in.

>158 catzteach: that’s one way to celebrate the new year, I suppose. Have a happy one.

Hope the meds continue to help and that they are able to offer some physical therapy help soon too.

>160 Peace2: I’m hoping to avoid the PT altogether as it’s expensive. My insurance only pays part of a PT visit.