Susan (quondame) remains bookish in 2022 - Third Quarter

I am now a very cranky 70+ old lady who would worry more about my almost 30year old daughter Becky if she hadn't became a take no nonsense sort who knows a thing or two about protecting herself. I'm still mostly fooling about on the Internet and reading. I play with the dogs, do occasional food things with my daughter, occasional visits with friends, occasional movies with my husband. Oh, and buy lots of dolls and doll related toys, and more clothing than I need, but then I have enough to last me decades, so I need very little.

And for dessert:

Happy new thread, Susan!
Wow, you even found book themed dresses to start your thread!

A new thread clothed in books!

Happy new one dear lady.

Happy new thread, Susan! I love the photos.

Seems to be that time. Fresh quarter, fresh thread. Have a great weekend!

Happy new one!

142) Zorrie



This book does what it sets out to. It is a charmingly polished bit of manipulative fiction. I can't love it, but I did feel it.

BB from PaulCranswick.

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #16: Read a book with a name in the title

143) Edith and Midnight



The further adventures of Edith, Little Bear, and Mr. Bear, once more on a farm and this time Edith must have a pony.

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book which is the 7th book in a series or later

Yesterday afternoon the larger of our two A/C units stopped working - today it was diagnosed as a wire damaged most likely by our resident rat some months back. It's scheduled to be fixed on Wed. Fortunately the upstairs unit is still working fine and the heat hasn't been overwhelming.

Also, tomorrow our Purple mattress is being replaced. I do hope that in addition to placing the new one they cart away the old. The notification is worded just ambiguously enough to leave doubt - what exactly does "remove the debris" mean?

>7 quondame: >8 quondame: Two times book #140?

Happy new thread, Susan!

>2 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita! Yep, I can't say I love clothing as much as reading, but my passion for clothing became clear before I was much of a reader if not a consumer of stories.

>3 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul! Yup, good threads are important!

>4 karenmarie: Thanks Karen! I've been admiring them for some time.

>5 mahsdad: Thanks Jeff! Wouldn't want to get stale, would we?

>6 figsfromthistle: Thanks Anita!

>10 FAMeulstee: Oops. There, fixed.

>11 drneutron: Thank you, Jim!

Hi Susan my dear, Happy New Thread, sending love and hugs from both of us dear friend.

>13 johnsimpson: Thanks John! Keep the ink colorful and the critters happy!

New mattress on the bed, the old one has been carted away. The back slope has been denuded of inflammable material and the palm trees made tidy. I convinced Mike that further tree trimming should wait for fall. I felt quite guilty when I saw the hedge trimmers brutalizing good nesting territory early in spring.

Squeeee! One of my favorite authors Tim Powers just liked a FB comment I made about another favorite author Gene Wolfe!

144) The Private Life of Helen of Troy



A series of conversations almost exclusively within the house of Menelaus of Sparta between Helen, Menelaus, Hermione their daughter, Eteoneus the doorkeeper and Adraste, Helen's companion, punctuated with reports of murder. Helen is as beautiful as ever, and a more original moralist than Eliza Doolittle's father. While not the whimsical delight of The Brief Hour of François Villon, this only drags a bit do to repetition, unless you absolutely require action.

Purchased on June 27th and
Read for July TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a book you purchased OR borrowed in June, 2022 which includes the letter "J" in the Title or Author's first name - started by Carmenere

145) Olga Dies Dreaming



The characters in this book are good, the pacing mostly works and politics make sense. A central romance seemed treated rather shallowly considering the seriousness with which other inter-personal issues were handled, and a bit of an arbitrary safety net for the interesting Olga.

BB from BLBera

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #9: X marks the spot! Read a book with the letter X in the title or author's name

146) The Frozen Thames



This series of vignettes is like a platter of canapés, which if it doesn't quite make a meal, does leave a good impression of the chef.

BB from EBT1002

This paper book is due back at the library tomorrow and happily it
Meets July TIOLI Challenge #6: Read a book that is set in winter and/or the cold, snow or stormy weather plays a part in the plot

147) The Grief of Stones



A good story, well told, however, since I guessed what must be the problem with the foundlings the pacing for the plot's confirming of it caused the middle to drag, though the Werewolf Hill complications livened things right up again.

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #7: Read a book first published this century or where the lead character does adulting

Happy New Thread, Susan. I hope you had a nice 4th.

>21 msf59: Thank you Mark. It was a very low key day with a bit of percussion toward evening. I'm so sorry about what happened in your region.

148) A Salad Only the Devil Would Eat



This book is full of joys and quirks and is quite fun and easy to read. It does not, however, include any salad recipes or even suggest ingredients.

BB from mahsdad

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #10: Read a book where the title on the cover is written on at least 3 lines or more

Fortunately, the weather hasn't been too hot in this corner of LA, so the lack of full A/C hasn't resulted in any discomfort, but today the wires were restored, so that the thermostats are once more functional. Alas, the actual cooling going on is below specs, so that another visit has been scheduled.

149) The Wrong End of the Telescope



A story of two Syrian/Lebanese immigrants to the US, one trans one gay, told in both first and second person, set mostly on Lesbos during the first January of the refugee crisis there. Sometimes sour, sometimes bitter but with a deep humanity and a wry set of titles for the short sections in which it is told.
Untypically, the issues the two face and have faced seem more to do with where they have come from than dealing with and adjusting to where they have settled.

I queued this title for the Asian Book Challenge some months ago and it
Meets July TIOLI Challenge #17: Read a book that fewer than 2022 members have in their catalog

150) Razorblade Tears



A high body count revenge ensues as two ex-cons, one black and comfortably off and one white and just scraping by, seek out who the murdered their gay sons who were married and left a child. It definitely lost half-points for child endangerment. A message that love is love that has bloody fingerprints all over it is ambiguous.

BB from London_StJ

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book with something that can be annoying in the title

151) The Diary of a Nobody



I don't fancy the "let's condescend to be amused at the clueless narrator" approach to humor. At least it was short.

Selected from spreadsheet of 1001 Books to Read Before You Die and the Guardian's 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read it
Meets July TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book you intended to read earlier this year

Since I had to update my local copies of both
spreadsheet of 1001 Books to Read Before You Die
and
Guardian's 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read for >27 quondame:

I got back to work going through the second to see and mark which ones are common. The last one I've found is King Solomon's Mines going alphabetically by title so I'm a little less than halfway through. There is some difference in how the title used and single book vs series, and the LT list of the Guardian's 1000 has some interesting differences with the one on the Guardian's List Challenges site.

I've pulled my nose from the grit of the TIOLI grindstone to start She Who Became the Sun for my next milestone* book - it's good reading so far.

*Oops, due to multiple duplicates the actual milestone #150 was >26 quondame: or if the intentional skip I unskipped >27 quondame:!

Friday, especially a Friday when Becky is home for the evening, we order in from one of our favorite restaurants. Tonight is was Indian, and I added a couple of dishes to have weekend leftovers. Becky added 3 dishes. We ended up without samosas but with unordered idly. Later I picked up the samosas because they were to be tomorrow's dinner.

Our fridge is stuffed with Indian food, just stuffed. Becky is usually too quick to finish off the bel puri for me to get another helping of that, but there will be enough that I'm hoping for curry on Monday.

>28 quondame: I did that with the English and Dutch version of the 1001 books lists.
For the Dutch list I had the actual book from the library a few years back. For the combined English lists (from 2006 to 2018) I used various sources, here on LT and elsewhere.

>30 FAMeulstee: Did you find that some of the titles were left in the original language like Les Miserables, while some were translated as La Disparition ->A Void?
Guardian's 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read seems to use more originals, but the LT list is more heavy on translations than the 1001 book list.

>31 quondame: It looks like Les Miserables kept the French title in English translation. With most books the titles are also translated.
I use the Dutch LT (librarything.nl), so I get the Dutch translated titles, if available. When in doubt, I go to the work and check editions on first numbers of ISBN (Dutch books start with "90"). The Dutch 1001 book is rather odd, as there are 162 books in it, that are not available in Dutch translation...

I think the later 1001 books editions have far more translated books than the first editions. I haven't studied the Guardian list yet.

>32 FAMeulstee: It would be so nice if the Dutch version reworked the list to supplement with titles that did exist in the language.

152) She Who Became the Sun



A swift paced story of a young orphan determination to have a great fate rather than the nothing one that was predicted for her. Set in the final decade of Mongol rule in China, with just a whiff of magic in the workings of the mandate of heaven, the storytelling and characters are good if spotty, though for me it did not bring a lot new or revelatory, it is a very respectable first novel.

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #10: Read a book where the title on the cover is written on at least 3 lines or more

153) Run, Don't Walk



During the last 6.5 years of the existence of the original Walter Reed Army Medical Center the reader becomes almost immersed into the life of a young physical therapist who wanted to be a journalist but spends hours of pushing recent amputees to gain the strength and skill to manage their newly shaped bodies. The events overshadow the horror of what the administrations - late Bush and early Obama have exposed these men and women to and the shortsightedness of government - and other - budget cutters. The book is well written and keeps the subject changing often enough for interest while maintaining continuity.

Read for July TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a biography, autobiography, or memoir about a person in the medical field

>34 quondame: Congratulations on reaching 2 x 75, Susan!

Hi Susan.

>25 quondame: I have been reluctant to read this book, and even with 4*, your impression of it doesn’t change that. I was beside myself with joy at An Unnecessary Woman, so don’t want to be disappointed with a different book by the same author.

>26 quondame: Sometimes a high body count is just the thing, sorry this was ‘only’ 3.5* for you.

>34 quondame: Impressive – 75 x 2. Congrats.

>36 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita!

>37 karenmarie: I don't view The Wrong End of the Telescope as any kind of a must read, though it does provide an almost palatable view into the entirely unpalatable treatment of refugees in modern times.

Razorblade Tears was way too high on body count for the consequences shown.

Thanks Karen.

154) The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Read for July TIOLI Challenge #18: Read a book someone read earlier this year in a TIOLI challenge

155) Sour Sweet



There are two threads in this book, we start with Chen, a waiter living in London with his wife and sister-in-law and infant son and follow them a few years. The interesting character is wife and mother Lily, who isn't much liked but seems to have the strongest sense of purpose and drive of the family. The second thread is a dead boring gang narrative which motivates some of the action in Chen's story and was probably considered relevant when the book was published, but hasn't any of the life of the internal family story.

BB from amanda4242

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #15: Read a book written by a Chinese born author

156) The Dance of the Seagull



Does Montalbano get through his andropaus or is it going to be a permanent drag on the rest of the series? This installment included no real episodes of gustatory enjoyment and seemed scattershot.

This was next up, but in this case it was
Read for July TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book which is the 7th book in a series or later

Hi Susan!

I loved The Very Hungry Caterpillar when we got it for Jenna when she was a mere infink, and think I've still got that copy tucked in a closet with 80+ books we kept from her childhood. I may need to re-add them to my catalog.

>41 karenmarie: I read it in 2018 for a challenge, and at that time it was Becky's copy, but she couldn't find it last week, and I no longer go in and root through her bookcases, so I just got a library copy - I'd forgotten all the holes and different sized pages.

Today started with the great lost wallet uproar at around 9AM. That took a break while Mike had to do a pick up of some archery gear he loaned out, but resumed not long ago with good results. The wallet was found buried in the folds of the comforter which is of similar coloring. I blame Gizmo. Both Mike and I are feeling rather relieved - he carries more credit cards than I do so it would have been very stressful.

157) See You Yesterday



A fun and generally well paced groundhog-day tale with two college freshmen living the first day of classes over and over. In some ways it's really more of a marriage-of-convenience goes good story than a time travel one, but it does work.

BB from jnwelch

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book whose title includes a first or second person pronoun, singular or plural

Hi, Susan! Congrats on hitting the 75x2+ mark! I'll be lucky to make it to 75 this year for some reason, such as, you know, I am having a year.

>1 quondame: Amazing gown!

WOW! You are cruising through the books! I am also ahead of my usual pace, but nowhere near yours. : ) LOVE the toppers!!

Hi Susan.

>42 quondame: I blame our kitties for things around here. The blame game is a good return on our investment in food, cat box supplies, treats, toys, and the occasional vet visit. Glad the wallet was found.

>46 karenmarie: Oh yes. We grew up with blaming missing items on Yehudi, the dog, when we had one, being an outdoor pet unless supervised, so not liable. Later I was directed blame my mother if I wanted to avoid social/sexual peer pressure. I don't recall doing so, but it made anecdotal fodder.

>44 Storeetllr: Thank you Mary!

>45 Berly: I do seem a bit less frictional lately, even considering the very short entries. Thanks Kim!

158) Because Internet



The evolution of language and communication modes on the internet, no longer to be capitalized. I discover that I am an Old Internet User, and even my daughter is a Semi Internet User since she remembers a time before basic communication was tweeted. Only the most oblique whiffs that OIUs had a strong ham radio element in the first decade. Oh, and meme has gotten shifted from its meta-foundation to include any picture superimposed with text. The book is written in a lively manner, and painlessly shares its knowledge in reasonably sized packets.

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a book about language(s), language learning or translation

I just started Highly Irregular which is all about the history of how the English language got so F%cked up. LOL. Intrigued by Because Internet. Added to my WL.

>50 Berly: Gretchen McCulloch denies that it is F%cked up! She says language isn't a book it's a network, with the subtext that is a growing changing system. And if our spelling wasn't so random we wouldn't have spelling bees.

>49 quondame: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the mention.

>50 Berly: Oo, I have that one and need to get it read!

Happy "new" thread, Susan. Sorry to be so long and getting round to it. Have a fantastic Friday!

>49 quondame: I need to read that one.

Digging my way out from under, the reward for taking a couple of weeks off with my older son and his family. I stop bye to wish you all the best on your (to me) astonishing reading rate, and you...well, you zing me with a bb. Well, thanks. :-)

Oh! Because Internet is the wound you inflicted. Just so you know. I see I'm not alone sporting this bandaid.

>51 quondame: I know, I know. LOL. I just read a really interesting section in Highly Irregular which describes how the word "colonel" came to pick up its "R" sound when it moved from Italian to French to English. Fascinating! Glad I am past spelling bees though. ; )

>52 alcottacre: Enjoying it! Find your copy!

>54 weird_O: I am patched up with you. : )

>52 alcottacre: Thanks for dropping by!

>52 alcottacre: >53 Storeetllr: It does cover a lot of ground.

>54 weird_O: Welcome back from your travels and I hope you shake the COVID quickly.

>55 Berly: English speakers have frequently been mutually incomprehensible long before I couldn't make out the directions given by the train attendant in London in the 70s, so considering it F%cked up is pretty natural. I guess it's when written versions get that way that we will really be branching off.

>49 quondame: Your book bullet has scored. Maybe this can teach me to understand the way kids communicate with each other online ;-)

>57 ArlieS: That will have changed by next week.

159) Mecca



A novel told in disjoint segments, but all of which include on or more people from the Mecca area of California, just north of the Salton Sea. The connections are partly family, partly friends, partly history but the theme is almost entirely what the violence of injustice and bigotry cost people without privilege just trying to live their lives. Most of the action is COVID or adjacent, though backstory is very important to action and character.
This is not my coastal air-conditioned SoCal, but the food sounds good.
There was a bit of a disconnect for me between the POC nature of the characters and themes and the blond university professor author photo.

BB from BLBera

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #3: The "Here, There, and Everywhere" Challenge: Read a book with a one-word title that indicates a place

160) The Law



After the Titan attack on Chicago, Harry's attempts to help a young woman retain her tutoring business have him taking on heavier hitters than he was quite prepared for.
I'd surely be pleased if Harry wasn't constantly proving too stupid/outclassed/unprepared to survive what gets thrown at him. I much prefer a protagonist that really knows how deep the water is - and how quick the sharks are - before diving in.

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #17: Read a book that fewer than 2022 members have in their catalog

>59 quondame: Hi! Glad I found your thread, seems like we enjoy many of the same books/genres and I often find a few suggestions to add to that ever present TBR list. I just read The Law last week and as an incurable Harry Dresden fan I am always happy to have more of those stories to read. I was annoyed at Peace Talks and Battle Ground because it seemed to me to be a shameless play to stretch out into two filler-filled books what should have been one story and I hated being left hanging at the end of Peace Talks, the stakes were getting ridiculous. At least the stakes are a tad bit more realistic in this story. But it seems to me after reading all the books, (and many of them more than once), that Harry has a track record of underestimating what he is getting into. Thanks for pointing out it meets a TIOLI challenge as well. There are too many challenges for me to keep up on sometimes.

At least on this cover Harry isn't wearing a hat!

Have you read any of Butcher's Codex Alera series?

>60 kaida46: Hi Deb, I'm glad you found my thread!

Yes I've read and enjoyed all the Codex Alera books. I'm looking forward to the sequel to The Aeronaut's Windlass.

Robin Hobb pulled off the blinkered headfirst into trouble protagonist by starting him out young and keeping him at one disadvantage or another and it still got too much at times.

161) Widdershins



Well paced story telling with a bit of humor doesn't entirely make up for being a) world at peril (in the first book too!), b) Lovecraft-lite, c) more than a single tab a in slot b sex scene. If any of those are positive qualities for you, add up to half a star for each to the rating.

Read because I'm not quite up Seven Fallen Feathers full time, to my surprise it
Meets July TIOLI Challenge #3: The "Here, There, and Everywhere" Challenge: Read a book with a one-word title that indicates a place.

162) Seven Fallen Feathers



Accounts of the of 7 deaths, the investigations and impact in Thunder Bay, with family and tribal background. It is an accounting of the continuing grinding genocide of aboriginal North Americans via government hostility, outright racism and deliberate neglect. In other words only the details are new. There is nothing pleasant, positive or hopeful as whatever the committees find never seems to be funded or positively implemented.

Read for July TIOLI Challenge #11: Read a book about the history or politics of Canada, the United States, or France

>61 quondame: I've only read about 4 of the Codex Alera, but eventually I plan on making my way through all of them.
Yes, I loved The Aeronaut's Windlass and am happy to hear there will be a sequel. I liked the cat character!
After reading Assassin's Apprentice I went on a quest to read as many of them as I could find, but the stories about Fitzchivalry were my favorites, some of the other tangents the author went on just didn't hold my interest as much.

Happy reading.

>64 kaida46: Since the first Robin Hobb book I read was Ship of Magic (this cover!) I never saw Bingtown or the Rain Wilds or it's inhabitants as tangents. While I did appreciate Fitz's adventures, I indulged in breaks from his type of entitled impulsiveness and tunnel vision.

>59 quondame: I'm looking forward to The Law, although I'm going to wait until my Subterranean Press preorder arrives (not sure when it's due to be printed). Harry wouldn't be Harry if he wasn't a bonehead sometimes, at least he's consistently flawed in the same ways.

>66 kgodey: A time or two I've had my hands on lovely Subterranean Press editions, and I'm glad they exist - but they're not for me. I'm more happy just sucking the story from a Kindle for ~$3 or just getting it from the library - and I have put in requests for Subterranean Press editions to the Library when I couldn't find another path to the contents.

The books are getting completed thick and fast over here Susan. A belated congrats on 2x75, but my recollection of Sour Sweet is a fond one - I did find Mo a very good writer.

>67 quondame: I can deal with e-books if nothing else exists, but I vastly prefer paper copies. I have increasingly become allergic to using electronic devices for anything leisurely, I have to deal with being on my computer all day for work (especially because I work from home).

>69 kgodey: I never did much at home with computers until I was involuntarily retired decades back, and the Kindle is so much easier on my hands - especially when I'm reading something 400+ pages. I dislike reading or watching anything longer than a couple of minutes on my desktop, but I seem to tolerate lots of shallow jumping about.

>68 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul, thank you! I thought you'd lost my address.

As to Sour Sweet, do you recall it as a family story or a gang story?

Oh dear, Mike was/is cleaning out his toss it cabinet looking for device X, and then the dogs were caught chewing up a pill bottle, one that had contained prescription for hypertension. Yelling and chaos (not me) but then Mike found the pills untouched in the back yard. Becky is kind of riled up and likely to remain so for the evening.

Uh oh! But disaster averted and everyone will calm down. Soon I hope. Hang in there.

I have been meaning to get to Razorblade Tears since it came out but it keeps falling off my radar. I really liked his first book.

>72 Berly: We all seem to have survived and are speaking to each other, so it's cool.

>73 msf59: It's the first S.A. Cosby I've read, so I can't compare. Too much unfinessed, violence without consequences to seem valid in anything but a fantasy for me.

163) The Birth of the Pill



A competent presentation of the 10 years it took from initiating research to FDA approval of the first birth control pill, with capsule biographies of the two women Sanger and McCormick who inspired and funded the work, and two men Pincus and Rock who lead and directed the research. And what a close run course it was that it happened at all in that time frame. But not much in the way of wow or sparkle, which I would be surprised if these people did not possess.

Read for July TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book about abortion or contraception F/NF

An extra gripe about the book is that the author often makes statements about normal life as if normal were the most common instead of a mythologized average. It's perfectly normal to get up at noon if it suits you or live in a separate apartment than your spouse. It may not be what most people do, but given enough money it's perfectly normal behavior.

I'm a little behind but dropping into say hello :)

What an accomplishment to read 159 books. Congratulations!
I love the dresses highlighted in your opening image!
I note your comment regarding buying dolls. I've been pretty good at not purchasing any more. I really do not have the space for all the dolls, and all the books. But, there are some Julie Good Kruger dolls that I long to add to my collection.

In addition, I very much like Sasha dolls. I have a collection, but long to purchase more.

>76 figsfromthistle: Hi Anita!

>77 Whisper1: Thanks Linda! I can't say I exactly have a place to put them, much less display them, but I can stash them away or play with them a bit before they go into one of the storage boxes.

Sasha's are particularly lovely dolls, so generically individual and wistful. I found the one I have to be of a size that having more wouldn't suit me. I do have a few of the 21" lady dolls that were the size when I was growing up, even 2 from that period, and lots of the 16" fashion dolls from the 1990-2000s which had sophisticated wardrobes available - which was so my thing. Now it's young girls in literature and I'm trying to find an 8" Sara Crewe and Mary Lennox that have hair consistent with their time period - not 50s bangs and flips.

Pearl ruled Steal the Sky. Nothing caught my attention and another rogue protagonist isn't what I want to add to my collection.

164) The Space Between Worlds



Well paced and well told this is an exploration of self across parallel worlds well balanced between action and contemplation. With a good central character and interesting versions of family and associates it does fall down in spite of its own cautions in the portrayal of the love object. Also the world building is too Hunger Games level, though the tight focus on the single location minimizes that as a flaw.

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book you intended to read earlier this year

Connections in the bookiverse:
The acknowledgements in this book include Susan Straight author of >59 quondame: Mecca and >75 quondame: The Birth of the Pill mentions >17 quondame: The Private Life of Helen of Troy.

165) Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris



I suppose this resourceful charwoman who makes (almost) everyone she interacts with better and helps them all, paean to a 50s myth of femininity is supposed to be charmingly uplifting instead of cynically manipulative. As one who loves a gorgeous gown I could only wish Mrs 'Arris got to keep hers.

I can understand the fun of this book, but if it had been a page longer I don't think I could have borne it parading one pet peeve (of mine) after another down the runway.

Selected from spreadsheet of 1001 Books to Read Before You Die it
Meets July TIOLI Challenge #16: Read a book with a name in the title

>80 quondame: And yet you gave it a 4-star review! I think I'll have to check this one out.

>82 Storeetllr: The Space Between Worlds is well done and I do like what-if tales about individuals much more than tech or politics. Most of the characters had some real heft to one or more of the versions, but I think the choice to keep Dee distanced in her primary instance wasn't overcome in presenting her.

>81 quondame: I remember reading one of the Mrs. 'Arris books back in my teen years, and being amused...I don't think I'll bother to revisit. Sounds like I'd be disappointed in my younger self.

>84 laytonwoman3rd: I have some extra sensitive toes (gout you know) when 'only wants a home with a good man' and 'she brings out the best in everyone' (with no scheming effort) and 'every woman must want' and Paul Gallico tap danced on every one. But it is included on one 1001 list and beloved by many.

>23 quondame: Hey Susan. Been seriously behind in the threads, just saw your post about A Salad Only the Devil Would Eat. Glad you liked it, and that any of my recommendations hit home with someone else. I always feel weird recommending books (well at least to people outside of this group), I know I don't like the same stuff as the huddled masses.

If you don't mind me asking, where did you pick it up? Library, or store? If I hadn't seen it in the gift store in Santa Barbara, I would have never found it.

And thanks for the kind words over on my thread...

>86 mahsdad: Los Angeles City Library had it available on Overdrive and has a couple of paper copies as well. LA County library also carries both forms.

I just realized not too long ago that there is an LA City library system and an LA County Library system. Now I have 3 library cards in my Overdrive/Libby account. Both LAs, and the PV Library District. I usually get my stuff from City. But its very useful if something is about to expire from one library, if you can borrow it from the other. Libby remembers your place (at least with audiobooks) and keep going

>88 mahsdad: The Kindle keeps track of the place in expired/returned books unless you manually delete it from the Contents and Devices list on Amazon. My third library is Santa Monica, which even when they were charging $25 for non-residents was worth it for instant access to a pretty large collection.

>88 mahsdad: I have both a Morristown card (where I live) and a Knox County card ($40/year). I do use some of Knox County's remote databases in addition to their ebook/audiobook collection which is separate from Morristown's. Morristown's is part of the statewide collection, and we have priority on any books our library purchases, boosting our chances of getting them faster.

166) Crooked Kingdon



Similar to the previous volume, with no new virtues. Schemes and setbacks and surprises. The gang of six talented outcasts follows Kaz through the maze of Ketterdam's intrigues involving powers outside and in, all of whom want the young Shu who may have the secret of parem and to take a piece, preferably fatal, of Kaz. It's a bit too long with a few tricks to many, but moves fairly well and offers up a few tricksey battles for those who like.

I originally put this on hold because the author is Israeli born so it would meet the Asian Book Challenge for February: The Holy Land, but it's big, February is short, and so I figured it would do for March's TIOLI #2: Read a book with at least a 4.00 LT average rating so it really
Meets July TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book you intended to read earlier this year

167) You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty



Feyi, beautiful, talented, and for now financially secure is ready to engage in life five years after the accident which killed her young husband. Visiting the island home of the second young man who catches her attention she is overwhelmed with attraction for his father. Credit is due for employing a substantial reason for keeping two people who are hot for each other apart and for solid basis for their compatibility. But the safely in the past same-sex relationships of the main pair, and the ever so perfect setting and the unbelievable amount of available time they have remove this tale as far from reality as Bridgerton. The explorations of grief and love and doing what is right for you don't come off as shallow, but the perfectness of the setting and cast in which they are explored does.

BB from jnwelch

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book whose title includes a first or second person pronoun, singular or plural

Three days now with a painful gout flare-up, this time my left big toe. Unlike last fall when it was the right toe, it doesn't look infected but it feels more painful, so it's painkillers, steroids and whatever Colcrys is, but only one more dose of the last. I don't like how it makes me feel sickish in any case, but this is getting close to cut the leg off pain. Standing in line at Urgent Care and the Pharmacy was no delight either.

Grumble.

Gripe

Grumble, grumble, gripe, gripe grip.

>93 quondame: Sorry to read this, Susan.
My husband also suffers from gout, often in his toes, so I know a bit how painful that can be.
I hope the pain can be managed.

>94 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita. The painkiller seems to work. It's making me feel a bit more like my head's floating off, but maybe I'll get some sleep and in the morning the other drugs will be on duty. I tried really hard not to get dehydrated last week, but it seems I failed.

>93 quondame: Our worship pastor suffers from gout. He's found a gluten-free diet helps him.

>93 quondame: Ugh, my sympathy and empathy. I hope the flare-up subsides and stayed subsided (subsumed? sublimated? subjugated?). Well, that it ends soon.

>96 thornton37814: He has my sympathies for both his afflictions. Only as a last resort ....

>97 Storeetllr: Thank you. It's not being whatever nearly fast enough.

168) The Sentence



I enjoyed spending time with Tookie, her family, friends and bookstore associates. Indigenous Tookie has issues and capabilities and is haunted by the ghost of a white woman with whom she has murky connections. Set in the year before and the first year of COVID, the brutal reality of Minneapolis's unrest both de-focus Tookie's story and deepen it.

Connections in the bookiverse:
A couple of times it is mentioned that the Minneapolis police are known to beat up indigenous people by the riverside which of course recalls the 5 youths found in the river in >63 quondame: Seven Fallen Feathers which pretty much leaves police involvement a broad hint.

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #18: Read a book someone read earlier this year in a TIOLI challenge

Becky has returned from her conference in Las Vegas. Nutmeg is sooo happy. Becky is thinks asking her to self isolate for a few days is beyond unreasonable on my part - we've all (maybe) had this variant of COVID. Well, Nutmeg is keeping her mellow.

The gout isn't much, if any, better and now is gnawing on another toe and the sole of my foot feels all stiff and hot under those toes. My Dr. has been notified.

OK, Nutmeg is now on the dog bed in my bedroom, where I'm on my MAC twisted away from the screen to keep my left leg elevated. She's snoring, and it's kinda peaceful.

169) The Story of China



Obviously a summary, readable and easy to follow, it goes through the dynasties and interregnums, highlights key historical and cultural figures and includes occasional recent discoveries to hint at the depth and texture of the various periods. Useful as an introduction, that it doesn't even mention the one child policy gives an idea of how far it should be trusted as a guide.

BB from drneutron

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #10: Read a book where the title on the cover is written on at least 3 lines or more

>93 quondame: I’m so sorry to hear about the gout flare-up.

>100 quondame: I’m sorry the gout is spreading.

My 15-year old kitty, Inara Starbuck, was hanging out with me at 3 a.m. on the bed and delicately snoring, too. I love kitty snores, and Nutmeg snores must be just as delightful.

Your books-read tally is a century ahead of mine. (!?) Sorry about the gout.

Susan, I am sorry that you are experiencing a nasty gout flare up. I hope that this will end soon!!!

>102 karenmarie: Thanks for the sympathy. Our little friends have so many ways of giving us comfort.

>103 weird_O: Fruit of a quite life. Me too, but thanks.

>104 Whisper1: The gout is slightly faded - or maybe a bit more than slightly as I haven't taken any codeine with my Tylenol today, but it's not feeling as bad as Mon-Wed.

170) The Priory of The Orange Tree



If you are absolutely perishing for a lesbian mishmash wannabe combo of Realm of the Elderlings, Wheel of Time, and Game of Thrones, I guess you can do worse than this. But, oh, you can do so much better. It doesn't become painful until just over half way when the characters begin being jerked through the plot like manic puppets, zipped hither and thither to be where they gotta go. But the book is 800 pages, so that's a lot of pain.
For me there was no depth in the world or it's lore, not so much as a lacquer's layers over a paper box, and the characters, once presented marched only as automatons.

As the climactic events take place on the 3rd day of spring, the winter before was quite busy so in that respect this
Meets July TIOLI Challenge #6: Read a book that is set in winter and/or the cold, snow or stormy weather plays a part in the plot

>106 quondame: I will stay away from that one, Susan, thank you very much!

I did buy Mrs Arris Goes to Paris yesterday though in my completist mode to finish the 1001s not in defiance of your review!

Have a great weekend.

>107 PaulCranswick: We all know my reviews are drenched in idiosyncratic crankiness. Still, staying away will give you time to read 2-4 better books. And She Who Became the Sun is a much better lesbian or tran fantasy.

As for the Paris adventure, it is ever so cute.

Hi Susan.

>107 PaulCranswick: lesbian mishmash wannabe combo Hmmm. I think I’ll pass, although I have quite a few lesbians in my life, all cherished.

>108 quondame: Your reviews are always gems of pithiness and drenched in idiosyncratic crankiness That’s what makes them special.

I come for the thoughtful reviews as well. And I had lost you when you started this new thread. Had to hunt you down, you slippery lil thing.

Sympathy for the toe distress!

>109 karenmarie: As a girl reading shelves full of boy adventures for every spunky heroine I encountered, I love that current and future readers will see themselves more proportionally represented. I remember a number of authors I read in the late 70s who had interesting women, but after a few of their books I got totally disgusted because they were gratuitously torturing these women, making them sort of power fantasy voodoo dolls, even if they eventually overcame.
Still, representation in and of itself doesn't make for good storytelling, character development or thematic depth, though it often contributes.

>110 2wonderY: Thanks. I'm trying to hydrate myself out of this. Limited success at present. At least I can distract myself, though crankiness may remain at 11.

171) The Hope of Elantris



A sweet story in a sweeter frame.

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #16: Read a book with a name in the title

172) Rouge Street



Broken people, the detritus of a broken state nevertheless continue the shards of their lives and selves. These three novellas are full of strangeness that contorts to familiarity in a labyrinth with walls formed by collages of viewpoints. The answers are never as important as the question - often such as where is my parent?, because the answer never satisfies the need that the lack creates.

Meets July TIOLI Challenge #15: Read a book written by a Chinese born author

Happy Sunday, Susan. I am a big fan of Erdrich, so I will get to The Sentence, although I was not crazy about The Night Watchman.

Glad the gout's subsided some.

I too enjoy your cranky pithy reviews. I was eyeing Priory of the Orange Tree but think I'll give it a pass based on your thoughts and instead try She Who Became the Sun.

>114 msf59: Thank you Mark. I think The Sentence is the second of hers that I've read and I'm quite willing to try more.

>115 Storeetllr: Alas not so much. Thank you! I didn't find enough new in POTOT to make it worth 300pgs, much less 800, though if it had ended at 400pgs I might well have read a sequel as it doesn't become ridiculous in its timelines or character zipping about until somewhat after the middle when its real faults are laid open.

173) The Story of Babar



I still feel the same as the last time I read this ():
Charming, but to me, also disturbing.

Re-read for August TIOLI Challenge #6: Read a book from the LT list of "favorite animal fiction"

174) Arctic Dreams



There are some really wonderful descriptions of the arctic and Lopez's reactions the land and the fauna and the people both indigenous and interloper. Also a good deal of history.
What there aren't are images which would enhance readers' connections to the material though several non-relevant images of the author are crammed into the back.
Publication date 2013

Finished too late, it was
Read for July TIOLI Challenge #6: Read a book that is set in winter and/or the cold, snow or stormy weather plays a part in the plot

and I haven't found an August challenge in which it fits.

175) The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles



After and earthquake and fire a young cat walks to the northern end of Japan. Not painful for an animal story, but that's it.

It is possible that I did not pull this from my Kindle in vain so eventually it
Meets for August TIOLI Challenge #10: Read a book with Who/What/Where/When/Why/How in the title (rolling challenge)

On Monday I scheduled and had a phone consultation about the gout, which is not yet reduced sufficiently that I have "quality of life". More and different drugs were offered and I took advantage of the same-day home delivery (for a reasonable fee) so as not to have to spend two hours in line at a Kaiser pharmacy. Worth it!

Mike took me to CVS for needed supplies and took care of returning and collecting library books. I could really use a palanquin or modern equivalent these days. Gout does not go well with a split level house but the stairs aren't really much worse than the distance between my comfy chair and the kitchen.

Hi Susan

You are clipping along at a fast pace in your reading abilities! I haven't read any books by Louise Endrich but The Sentence is very tempting.

>101 quondame: I have that one on my shelf somewhere.....

Ah sorry to hear you have gout. My father used to have massive flare ups where he could not even put a cold compress on it - quite painful. Hopefully, your flare up settles down soon.

>118 quondame: Susan, I'm glad you found new meds to use for nasty gout. I hope each day gets less painful.

>113 quondame: One straight onto the hitlist - it sounds absolutely fascinating.

Now my computer glitches are overcome and my stats are all caught up, I will be back to myself in terms of thread visits again.

>120 figsfromthistle: Its value is directly opposite to how much you know about China - but I knew just enough to be dangerously misinformed, probably still the case though.

Touching is the worst, followed by jarring. Finding a way to sleep so that nothing touches it is one major challenge, and that's just 1 toe joint.

>120 figsfromthistle: >121 Whisper1: Thanks, the new drug seems to help! Yay. Not quite spinning and dancing yet, but ever so much more optimistic. If it is better again tomorrow and Friday I'll start the actual anti-gout drug. But that's two more days and well... I'm not that optimistic.

>122 PaulCranswick: Rouge Street is so worth the time. It will be good to see you out and about!

I just learned about a dish called Hainan chicken from...let's see...what was I reading....Light from Uncommon Stars(loving!!! it!!!). And, there is some available just down the street - well a half mile down the big blvd to the east - at what looks to be a Chinese, Vietnamese fusion via Peru with Cheese Burgers and Szechuan Fried Chicken sandwiches. Maybe tomorrow.....

>112 quondame: I need to get to that one since I just finished the first book in the series last month.

>113 quondame: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendation, Susan.

>124 quondame: Cool beans! Good luck finding some today.

>125 alcottacre: I hope you enjoy them.
Beans? Well, whatever, I'm looking forward to trying a new place that is on the same corner as a former favorite (not the same store front though). It's very close, but the parking is a killer.

176) Light From Uncommon Stars



Violin players making deals with the devil, a Vietnamese Latina trans teen runaway, immigrant donut makers from a failing galactic empire, the woman who inherits the violin repair shop from the male line that didn't recognize her talent, isn't your usual east of east Los Angeles cast of characters, but put some serious twists on the local food scene. But Olive Garden? Really, lost half a star right there! Mostly a fun story which does deal seriously with identity, craftsmanship, differing experiences of discrimination and acceptance, but not so seriously with souls, should you care about such.
Deals with the devil stories have a certain predictability though cutely twisted here, and earth arts as a contributor to galactic well-being isn't stunningly new and over-dials end of book feel goodies. Oh and wasn't that relentlessly telegraphed?! Over doing is a fault but not fatal as the characters and their problems are worth spending a bit of extra time with. And while the Monterey Park/El Monte they inhabit is parallel rather than congruent with the one I used to visit regularly it is entirely recognizable in its variety and dedication, perhaps even obsession, with eating well and widely. If it weren't for the weather, I'd move there.

I mentioned the violinists and the luthier but that doesn't give enough of a weight to how much music pervades this book, mostly classical and game music, but I totally unfamiliar with most game music.

BB from ronincats

Meets for August TIOLI Challenge #7: Read a book in your favorite genre by an author new to you

Self-referentially >124 quondame: >127 quondame: I did indeed order Hainan chicken from the new local Chinese-Indonesian/Vietnamese restaurant that includes Bo Luc Lac Saltado, which I know from Peruvian restaurants. Hainan chicken isn't likely to become a favorite of mine - it is basically a subtle base for a set of seasoning pastes but it was good as were the other ordered dishes - yes the saltado and some very garlic noodles. I liked the carrot and cucumber salad. So yay! An interesting new addition to the neighborhood culinary scene.

177) The Border Keeper



About half a book, more in depth than events. There is something here, bordering on grimdark, that is evocative, but not of what I want evoked. A male character interacts primarily with female entities on either side of a border between here and theres, with identities more obscured than revealed.

Connections in the bookiverse:
Demon violinist! Minor but pivotal #176 >127 quondame:

BB from humouress

Meets for August TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book with a job title in the title

178) A Psalm for the Wild-Built



Reviewed last summer:
In a future that probably isn't ours, robots have gained sentience and have formally separated from humans to vanish into the wilderness. Our monk, searching for fulfilling meaning in their life and crickets, encounters a robot who has volunteered to learn what humanity needs centuries into the separation. The search for crickets seems mislaid, which was a discordant note in a set of explorations and interactions I found otherwise delightful.

Needing a "vacation" from non-fiction and other less engaging reads and wanting to be ready for the sequel it:
Meets August TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a "summer book"

>127 quondame: I will take that BB, especially from you and Roni!

>128 quondame: That is awesome! Glad you found and tried it. The carrot and cucumber salad sounds good.

>130 quondame: Dodging that BB as I have already read it. Glad to see you enjoyed it. I am looking forward to the sequel.

Have a fantastic Friday, Susan!

>131 alcottacre: Good reading, whenever the gravity well relents!

Thank you!

We all collected and watched Sandman. I guess others have been too. Not quite as dark as I was thinking, that is visually dark, but some.

179) Enabling Acts



Lots of information about why, who, and how the ADA was conceived, re-worked, opposed and supported and a fair amount about what it is and isn't and has become - up to 2015 of course.
I feel dirty just reading about the politics of this. It's a very messy kitchen and no cooks are spotless.

Also the author indulges in frequently introducing a woman by describing her looks, where only a couple of men are given an adjective such as tall or lanky.

I put in a recommendation that a couple of my libraries get this for June 2020 TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book about disability rights, hoping to share it with AlcottAcre so when one did acquire it I felt obliged to read it. At least it
Meets August TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book that has the last three letters of your city’s name in the title

180) How to Be Parisian Wherever You Are



Amusing and light with lots of moody pictures of the four authors looking ever so Parisian, but really lacking Paris, what's the point?

Read for August TIOLI Challenge #10: Read a book with Who/What/Where/When/Why/How in the title

181) The Gadfly



In the 1830s a young man, raised in an English family in Tuscany, deceived and betrayed, fakes his own death and runs away. 13 years later, he returns to the area under a new identity, the radical satirist The Gadfly.
At the start of the second section it is clear this is an elaborate set up, but given that, this reverse colored echo of Monte Cristo has somewhat interesting characters. Also, while it was a favorite of revolutionary Russians, it more of a send up of revolutionary supporters than an endorsement. But when it gets where it's going - it's off the rails.
A surreal anti-Christian rant that is excessive for an atheist to read. Perhaps a Stalinist could fancy this, forgiving its rather realistic portions for the brave doom and death of the Gadfly and the final frenzy of regret the following day. Oh, and it's racist as all get out, all in the recollections of said Gadfly.

Not quite short enough,
Read for August TIOLI Challenge #11: Read a book with an invertebrate in the title or author's name

>136 quondame: “ Not quite short enough.”

That’s why I keep coming back!

>137 2wonderY: Snort!
The book was written late in the 19th century, and has a young widow living independently in 1846 in a Tuscan city, socializing on her own, going to restaurants with a man. The man's mistress is not considered suitable company at the married couple's party, but the widow is as she has long been a member of that revolutionary group. It is a very mixed set of social constraints for a fin-de-siécle novel.

182) A Prayer for the Crown-Shy



It was fun to spend more time with Sibling Dex and Mosscap, but unlike the previous book, this one isn't about the satisfaction of just being, achieved or sought, so much as it highlights not getting there, wherever there is.

Meets August TIOLI Challenge #16: Read a book by an author one of whose names is an English noun

183) Vagaries of Life And: Girls' Talk



Stories more like anecdotes one might relate, some to an old friend some at a party, some as object lessons. A couple are very religious and some are crime encounters or both. Lagos sounds like a weird place and definitely hostile to women.

Read for August TIOLI Challenge #17: Read a book for the Dog Days of Summer challenge

184) Outlawed



Alternate history with no magical of fantastic elements it bored me with all its good intentions. Or maybe despite, but that would be generous and I'm angrier at the lost chance of something interesting with a gun-toting midwife against the matriarchy-patriarchy monolith.

I wanted to read it before it was overdue and it
Meets August TIOLI Challenge #17: Read a book for the Dog Days of Summer challenge

185) Aspects of the Novel



This is great! Even without having read all the authors mentioned or even having heard of a couple whose reputations have faded out since 1927 when this series of talks were given, there is so much here! And it is so lightly delivered. Forester does underestimate Austen's capabilities, but then as a man perhaps what he didn't see displayed he assumed didn't exist.

Read for August TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book published by an author who died before April 1972

On Dickens:
Those who dislike Dickens have an excellent case. He ought to be bad. He is actually one of our big writers, and his immense success with types suggests that there may be more in flatness than the severer critics admit.

On Scott's view of Austen:
I used to think this, through misunderstanding Jane Austen’s method—exactly as Scott misunderstood it when he congratulated her for painting on a square of ivory. She is a miniaturist, but never two-dimensional. All her characters are round, or capable of rotundity. Even Miss Bates has a mind, even Elizabeth Eliot a heart, and Lady Bertram’s moral fervour ceases to vex us when we realize this: the disk has suddenly extended and become a little globe.

More on Austen:
All the Jane Austen characters are ready for an extended life, for a life which the scheme of her books seldom requires them to lead, and that is why they lead their actual lives so satisfactorily.

On Beauty in the Novel:
She looks a little surprised at being there, but beauty ought to look a little surprised: it is the emotion that best suits her face, as Botticelli knew when he painted her risen from the waves, between the winds and the flowers. The beauty who does not look surprised, who accepts her position as her due—she reminds us too much of a prima donna.

From The Counterfeiters:
I am sorry to see that reality has no interest for you.” “Yes,” said Edouard: “it interests me, but it puts me out.”

On fantasy in novels:
The power of fantasy penetrates into every corner of the universe, but not into the forces that govern it—the stars that are the brain of heaven, the army of unalterable law, remain untouched—and novels of this type have an improvised air, which is the secret of their force and charm.

Sort of ambiguous, on having a greater theme within a novel, or maybe having transcendence - I changed my mind after reading the section, but I can't say what to:
... the novel through which bardic influence has passed often has a wrecked air, like a drawing-room after an earthquake or a children’s party.

The Prophetic in novels - perhaps Dostoyevsky and Melville aren't for me:
I have said that each aspect of the novel demands a different quality in the reader. Well, the prophetic aspect demands two qualities: humility and the suspension of the sense of humour.

We watched two more episodes of Sandman. So cool. Visually too dark though. But, nighttime, I get it.

>139 quondame: I am hoping my local library gets a copy of that one in soon!

>142 quondame: I would be adding that one to the BlackHole again if it was not already there.

>144 alcottacre: It is a pleasant interval.

>142 quondame: More on my biggest gripe about Aspects of the Novel. Forster says a novel has story, characters, and plot. Hm, wonders I, story & plot wassa diff? He says story is what happened, plot is why it happened. OK, sure though I find that a bit arbitrary I think I understand it.
But then he goes on about how story is primitive and plot, well developed maybe? Any savage can enjoy a story, but plot takes higher levels of understanding. Um, primitive? I don't believe in primitive. I am sure there is no such thing where humans have ever had a culture and group capable of passing on stories.
Clearly the Illiad, originally oral has more than story. It is full of why. So are most myths. One of the major points of myth is why. So plot preceded novels, clearly.

When George Meredith was mentioned, I did not recognize the name, but I do recognize a couple of his titles, The Egoist, and Modern Love though I haven't read them and don't know more than the titles. He seems popular with those who read him, my first guess would be English majors with 19th century focus. Clearly not me. I don't think his books would be as high on my 19th century TBR as Trollope and Hardy (I've read Tess of the d'Urbervilles). And of course I should get to some Melville.

186) Tokyo Ever After



A young adult romance - a small town Japanese-American finds out that her father is Crown Prince of Japan and soon becomes a fish out of water at the Imperial residence in Japan. Pretty much exactly as advertised, the characters aren't worth going out of your way for.

Read for August TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book with the name of a real non-European city in the title

187) Akata Warrior



The story moves quickly, interesting things happen, the characters show some development so that's good. The magic is magical, and almost everything works to get to the conclusion. The final actions in Sunny's big battle did seem a bit arbitrary and contradictory what with all those read beads flying about.

I'm doing a shared read of Akata Woman for a TIOLI challenge and a few chapters in I checked and found I had missed the 2nd book of the series, which I can't fit into a challenge.

I've been feeling a bit loopy and disconnected and am blaming the meds - though I'm not decided on the pain medication or the gout medication. I was hoping that the "few days" mentioned by the doctor were a bit fewer, as the gout pain is still quite distinct 5 days in, so the pain medication is still needed. But I am much more mobile, just that I don't feel like moving. Though I did drop by the library and the Italian deli after my mammogram yesterday.
Today was a phone appointment with the bariatric dept at Kaiser, which was a lousy connection, very echo-y, but it I think it was sort of a pro-forma check the boxes before starting me on another set of meds, weekly injections, for weight-loss not expected to show results for some months. OK.
And I put in an inquiry about a small black&tan minipincher/Chihuahua.

188) Akata Woman



This book is just on the verge of trying too hard. Lots of events, most of them interesting, keep the four young people busy and in difficulties and the eventually are on their way to retrieve the giant spider's mobius strip book and get even busier as they are more in danger.

Read for August TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book where you have heard the author talk about their work

Love the dresses at the top!

So so sorry about your on-going health issues.

>150 sibylline: Thanks Lucy. I know I'm lucky in many ways, though I do gripe a fair amount.

189) Earthly Remains



Commissario Brunetti inadvertently gets himself medical leave and Paola bundles him off to an aunt's vacant villa on a nearby island. And it will surprise no one that after a few days the man he has associated with has gone missing and is found dead. It's the unhealthy environment.

Some day I will read some Brunetti books more or less in order. This one I
Read for August TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book you share with a Legacy Library

Dropping in to say hello. Sorry the gout pain is still lingering. Hope it goes away soon and the medication will help.

>153 figsfromthistle: Thank you. The medication is helping a great deal, but it's taking a bit more time than I was hoping. It's also possible that the toe has some healing to do even if the gout isn't still active. I haven't researched how that works.

190) You're the Only One I've Told



The author does not let the the stories lead, but intersperses related narratives and information throughout them. No single story is told start to finish, and so all the stories become tangled. While all the information is fairly clearly presented I felt mislead in feeling that individual's stories would be the focus of this book.

Checked out for July TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book about abortion or contraception F/NF, it meets
Read for August TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a book with an uneven number in the title

Becky asked me to go out with her to get lunch to be followed by a TJ stop for groceries for her lunches next week. First we stopped to pick up my coffee beans at Peet's then were off with no fixed destination to go into Culver City's restaurant rich center.

On the way we passed Red Chickz, a hot chicken sandwich place and circled around to go there. It was empty when we entered and shortly a guy came and told us they weren't open yet. Becky asked when they would be open - next Saturday, and he said stay, we could have lunch and turned down payment. He also cautioned us that 3 out of 5 was HOT. We, being used to such cautions decided to go with 3.

3 was HOT. After finishing her sandwich - I brought home 1/3 of mine, Becky decided home for milk was a better idea than shopping. My face has almost forgiven me.

191) Last Night at the Telegraph Club



I'm just not the perfect audience for this slow burn lesbian Chinese American in 1950s San Francisco coming of age romance. It's well told and moves steadily along creating the characters and situations and gives some of the ingrown claustrophobic oppression of a small community, and the actions are all consistent. If anything the expression of emotions is somewhat underplayed though not dismissed. And the clearness of the non-conventional feelings, though not crystal, is much more and much so and much less denied than I find entirely realistic, especially for the time period and culture.

I was telling my daughter about She Who Became the Sun and The Priory of the Orange Tree and venting about the latter when she suggested this book, and later brought by her copy - I was delighted because it so nicely meets
Meets August TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a book where the first name of the author has more characters than the last name

But no one in my life pre-Mad Men, ever described a straight skirt (or a sheath dress) with the word wiggle.

192) Busman's Honeymoon



We spend a lot of time in Harriet's mind as she learns about her new husband and well, deals with him. Very fine feelings that woman has but still I'd rather not be an audience for such idealizations. The mystery is lackluster and exposure to the good people of the village and their foibles, in which, well, I no longer really believe, is prolonged and therefore even less interesting than I once might have found it.

It's been a long time since I last read this one, and while my main complaints this time must be quite different from 30 years ago, I can understand that I was left with no eagerness to revisit Talboys.

Read for August TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a book set during the Great Depression

Hi Susan.

>118 quondame: I’m a big fan of drugs for pain and mobility. I hope this batch helps. Yay for home delivery and for Mike going with you to CVS for supplies and getting Library books under control. Heh to the palanquin.

>134 quondame: Also the author indulges in frequently introducing a woman by describing her looks, where only a couple of men are given an adjective such as tall or lanky. I just hate crap like this.

>136 quondame: Yeesh. I have this on my Kindle, fortunately paid $0.00 for it. I don’t remember who I got the BB from, but I’m not inclined to read it now. I don’t mind an anti-Christian rant, but I do mind the racism.

>142 quondame: I’m sure this is not the longest review you’ve written, but it might be the longest one I remember seeing or reading. Fascinating. Onto the wish list it goes.

>145 quondame: I’d disagree with Forster completely and say that plot is what happened, and theme is why it happened. I learned this lesson in 7th grade English in Hawthorne when we were reading The Good Earth. Our teacher had to use a bludgeon to get us to understand the difference between plot and theme.

>147 quondame: I love the cover of this one, although the book itself is not really my cup of tea.

>148 quondame: Ooh, another dog? Do tell.

>156 quondame: Oh my. I’d probably be happy with a 1.5 or 2 for heat, but that looks wonderful.

>159 karenmarie: Hi Karen!

I don't think a novel needs a theme. I know professors disagree, and even plot is somewhat optional though I'm partial to it. It's not that the review was long for Aspects of the Novel, I just included the juicy bits! As Foster has written several novels I enjoy - and will admit to finding thematic - I'll go with his definition.

I think there is a cult of the HOT Chicken Sandwich, of which I am not a devotee, though I do like my spice, I strongly prefer it to be accompanied by suitable flavors and not require gulps of milk between bites. I once had a Thai soup of such heat that I think the restaurant burned down after we left, and the flavor was amazing. A couple months later I went to find the place again and couldn't.

I have stopped the pain medication for a couple of days now and am getting along OK, but my other joints have started speaking up again. Our culture has such absurd notions of dealing with pain/discomfort, especially for people who have retired and should be free to indulge in avoidances of whatever nature - or un-nature - suits us.

Yesterday morning I was greeted with the news that Nutmeg had been using one of my dolls as a chew toy. When I was up to examine it, a 14" Mary Lennox, I found it decapitated and barefoot. I combed out the disheveled hair and left it to deal with for the rest of the day, though Mike couldn't leave it be and capitated it. Which I had to undo and redo because of hair caught in the neck joint.

This afternoon I checked the doll's box on the floor of the closet and found the shoes, one seriously chewed, but only one sock and a hair ribbon worse for wear. The doll does have chew damage to hands and foot (left), but it is a duplicate and has a common head sculpt of which I have many, so I can't say I'm upset.

I may put the Hittys up a bit higher than they are now....

I have just discovered that there is a Madame Alexander Doll Museum about 15 miles from where we live, and 4 or 5 miles from where my husband worked for over 20 years. (Apparently it's only been there since 2019, though.) I believe I must plan an excursion...

>162 laytonwoman3rd: Should you go, take pics! I must admit that my favorites only include a few of the 1950s dolls, but mostly run to the 1990s and the 2010s through current. Over the past 20 years there have been dozens of "patriotic" RWB dressed Wendys and a Maggie or two, and along with the neverending stream of Gone With The Wind dolls leads me to believe that the Madame Alexander purchaser base is quite conservative.

Have you seen this one?

>164 laytonwoman3rd: No, but she is lovely. She looks like she might be a contemporary of my Cissy with the b&w check suit - same chestnut hair and face paint, but I'd think I'd remember peacock feather trim! But then I've always been more into day wear for dolls rather than fancy gowns. Or it could have been a convention special.

>147 quondame: I have that entire trilogy sitting here waiting for me to get to it one of these days. . .

>148 quondame: Sorry to hear that the gout - and the meds - are still giving you issues.

Have a wonderful Wednesday, Susan!

>164 laytonwoman3rd: Peacock Rose Cissy, 2000. Limited edition of 600

I like the fancy dress dolls, because I myself am definitely NOT a fancy dress girl. It's fun to look at them in all their splendor.

>166 alcottacre: It's pretty well done, but it's not going to get onto my favorites list.

The tender joints are a bit wearing, and now that the last of the pain meds has worn off (I hope) I'm back to my former level of aches and ouch.

Thanks.

>167 laytonwoman3rd: Interesting - because of my Regency dance hobby I was able to indulge my fancy for dress up - as long as it was early 19th century - and have a closet full of silk gowns, though sadly none for my current shape. But even from my earliest doll possessions I wanted day time separates, though I may have costumed myself as a princess for Halloween.

Mine is the 1996 Houndstooth Cissy, 2500 made, so nowhere near as exclusive. I have the Cissette too, and they are the only dolls of mine that my daughter actually wants to keep.

193) A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters



A deep rumination on woodworms on the Arc and other related maritime excursions with love and a rather loveless afterlife for spice. Somewhere between nightmare and dream is the strange heart of this biblical group of salted fantasies.

Read for August TIOLI Challenge #15: Read a book by a Longlisted Booker Prize Author but not a book that was Longlisted

194) The Labyrinth Gate



This is a fun portal fantasy, not so much a romance although there are several couples in various phases of romantic tropes who form most of the characters in the story. A sprightly moving plot and interesting characters and complications pulled me through what had to be at least my second read of this book.

As I was reading this to take a break from weightier reads (>169 quondame:) I figure it
Meets August TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a "summer book"

>168 quondame: I don't have any Madame Alexander dolls myself. I do have several "ordinary" china dolls, and two that I inherited from relatives, which may be collection-worthy. I just love looking at them, and haven't been bitten by the bug that makes one an avid collector.

>171 laytonwoman3rd: Not having a collecting bug eliminates trying to find ways to store and display treasures.

195) Horseman Pass By



This is a rather bleak look at Lonny Bannon's final weeks on his grandfather Homer's ranch. Lonnie's step-uncle Hud is a chaotic force at the ranch, and his conflict with Homer, Hud's step-father, is what gives plot to this otherwise slice-of-life in the lonely middle of nowhere story. The paperbacks he reads and rereads, his grandfather, the black housekeeper Halmea and one of the ranch hands, and the land are the positives in Lonnie's life, but that can't be enough for a 17 year old who longs for more, though not yet for much more. The overall flow was a bit lingering for me, but just a bit.

Read for August TIOLI Challenge #18: Read a book/work with a significant part set in/dealing with the period from 1 January 1945 to 31 December 1964

The movie Hud, based on this book seems to have changed some essentials, like focusing more on Hud, the race of the housekeeper, and the relationship between Homer and Hud, and kept much of the details and dialog.

Hi Susan! Stopped by to take a gander. So glad I did, because those book-themed gowns are amazing. Are they "real" or did someone make them for show, but they're not actually wearable?

You were on my mind this past month (in FaceTime conversation with relevant family members) as I finally cleaned out the toy boxes in storage. Too much in there that no one is interested in anymore.
Barbie dolls and associated sisters were the trigger to remind me of your doll searches. Now all the 'Barbies' plus 1 dorky Ken are gone away to thrill some other suitably-inclined kids. All the accessories as well. I know the Barbie dynasty was apparently never in your collections but the dolly world I was cleaning out made me think of your specializations.

Not a bookish post but since I was delurking....

>174 SandyAMcPherson: Hi Sandy! Good to see you here. I hope you and yours are doing well!

Ah well, the Barbie thing..... I have a trunk with vintage (pre-1965) and vintage repros, a porcelain Paris bubble dress, several silkstones, a Bob Mackie Moon Goddess, a Barbie Millicent Roberts and wardrobe, a couple of cabinets full - well, the picture is rather more cluttered than pretty I'm afraid.

I have specializations, to be sure, just several and fashion dolls are way up there, the wardrobes you know.

OOPs I forgot about the book dresses - I think they are more art pieces than wearable gowns as old leather book covers are probably even more fragile than brocades and velvets. Perhaps for the right event, though ----

>169 quondame: Adding that one to the BlackHole. I was surprised it was not already there - so many of Barnes' books are.

>170 quondame: Adding that one to the BlackHol as well.

Have a super Saturday, Susan!

>172 quondame: Oh, I have the collecting bug. Just not the doll collecting bug!

>176 alcottacre: Enjoy! It's quiet today with Mike and Becky out having a social life - kind of restful actually, when Nutmeg is not bugging me to retrieve or toss her tennis ball.

>177 laytonwoman3rd: It is common around here, books being the most common, but by no means only manifestation.

196) The Origin of Storms



For the third volume this one spent a long time on the final battle, a problem of having so many and such powerful adversaries that having pulled of the best emotional coup at the end of the second book this one was left with mere sorcerers and gods to sort out, who we hadn't been quite so eager to see eliminated. Nor was the scenery as fresh and satisfying as previously, but though the story was drawn out it was fairly played and generally satisfactory.

Meets August TIOLI Challenge #16: Read a book by an author one of whose names is an English noun

197) The Lost Man



It takes a couple of chapters for this book to take off but it does and pulls us through a version of "in the outback you're damned lucky if anyone hears you scream." The brutal death by exposure of the middle of the three adult sons baffles the sparse residents and family members because it seems entirely out of character for the most, maybe the only, successful son to either accidentally or deliberately endanger himself. We follow the oldest brother, Nathan, financially struggling, divorced, shunned by the community, and perhaps having his last ever visitation with his city raised son, as he spends the days before and after Christmas staying with his widowed mother, widowed sister-in-law, nieces, surviving brother and an old family retainer. We are pretty sure Nathan and his son could have nothing to do with the death, but anyone else? But why?

BB from lauralkeet

Connections in the bookiverse:
The Texas in >173 quondame: Horseman Pass By seems crowded and cosy in comparison to an Australian cattle station. At least the Australian cattle are doing better! But family drama in and isolated setting, well they both provide.

Meets August TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book that has the last three letters of your city’s name in the title

Nothing much to say but wanted to let you know I stopped by (and have been visiting your thread regularly) so am delurking just to say hi and to wish you a great week!

>181 Storeetllr: Thanks for stopping by Mary!

198) Sinopticon: A Celebration of Chinese Science Fiction



Not a must read, but a should read for SF fans. There a a few stories in the collection that are good, but either hampered by translation or not resonating with my cultural conditioning, nothing that I found outstandingly memorable. And many are quite pedestrian by US SF standards. Again, I think it takes a genius translator to transform Chinese into English and capture or create a style that carries the stories as high as they can go, and these translations fell more in the serviceable to lovely range.

OK, so Ni is the translator/editor of this collection, not the author, but! 7 out of 9 listed authors qualify as well as the average
Meets August TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a book where the first name of the author has more characters than the last name

199) Empty Smiles



The conclusion of the four book set goes at a measured pace with almost a free fall ending. This may have been exaggerated for me because over 20% of the Kindle book is promo for earlier books. A new kid starts the story, but otherwise it was Coco and Ollie's view points in this volume. The clowns are sharp toothed and clawed.

Meets August TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a book where the first name of the author has more characters than the last name

200) The Girl Who Drank the Moon



Every year the youngest child of the protectorate is abandoned in the woods as a measure to protect the region between there and the bog from the witch in the woods. The witch in the woods doesn't know why the babies are left but collects them and takes them to villages beyond. Until one baby has a different fate and everything starts to change. A not entirely credible collection of villains and sweet monsters and a couple of earnest young people move the story along at a steady, slightly slower than optimal for me pace.

BB from BLBera

Meets August TIOLI Challenge #7: Read a book in your favorite genre by an author new to you

201) Travel Light



Published in 1952 this entirely subversive tale of a baby princess raised (after fireproofing) by dragons who later undertakes a journey to Miklagard and beyond is not at all the typical pap for young girls. Nor is old one-eye the patron a modern fantasy writer would provide for such a seeker, but it does work and delight.

BB from sibylline

Connections in the bookiverse:
Baby girl taken from home under threat of death becomes someone much more as in >200 quondame:

Meets August TIOLI Challenge #7: Read a book in your favorite genre by an author new to you

Grumble.

Two ebooks became available at my library, but neither on Kindle. And my lovely iPad is just way too heavy for comfort.

>173 quondame: I am a big fan of McMurtry. I remember liking this one too but I am even a bigger fan of the film version. Newman at his best. Have you read The Last Picture Show? My favorite of his earlier works and also a terrific film.

Happy Friday, Susan.

Hi Susan!

>180 quondame: I read this one in May of 2019 and liked it just a little bit better than you did. I still have The Survivors waiting on my shelves for the right time.

>188 msf59: I remember Hud better than most movies I saw in the 60s and for sure Paul Newman in one of his least attractive rolls. I though the book was much more subtle. What I remember about The Last Picture Show is a wet, glowing Cybill Shepherd. And I confuse it with American Graffiti, who knows why. I haven't gotten to that one though - I downloaded the Kindle Unlimited Thalia trilogy a couple months back, so I may.

>189 karenmarie: I liked The Lost Man quite a bit, but I wouldn't say it's a fun read, and coming after Horseman Pass By I was about done with isolated cattlemen.

202) Flush



The whimsical biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's dog this story lopes along between Victorian life and a dogs impressions of Victorian life as interpreted by Virginia Wolff who would have had a pretty good idea of what that area of London might have been a few decades before her birth.

Read for August TIOLI Challenge #6: Read a book from the LT list of "favorite animal fiction"

203) The One that Got Away



A fill in Lily Bard story in which she encounters a nasty from her past.

Meets August TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a book with an uneven number in the title

204) Coraline



A small tale of terror in a domestic setting which packs disturbing image next to whimsical antic and then loads on more uneasy atmosphere. I can see why adults find it more horrific than children.

I recorded reading this before, so why did everything seem so unfamiliar?

Read for August TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book where you have heard the author talk about their work

206) Elsie and Her Loved Ones

(#205 got skipped, review >200 quondame:)



Shameless drivel. An idealized version of rich white Christian family life with not a single real feeling described. 3 bible quoting sessions, and several episodes of lectures on Revolutionary War heroes (but not that Unitarian Washington) all listened to avidly by the family youngsters and adults, with encores requested.

During the several months over which the book took place not one family member is described as sitting and reading for pleasure nor are any of the big name authors of the late 19th century mentioned (I searched the entire 28 volume set for Dickens, Twain, Alcott, Scott (he is quoted once in a chapter heading!) Defoe, Stephenson - and zip, just zip.

Read for August TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book published by an author who died before April 1972

207) Tinker



Tinker, the 18 year old genius tech wiz in a Pittsburgh that spends all but a day of each month in the alternate world of Elfholme, has her life upended when she rescues an elf just as the city returns to earth. She knew she had family connections to the murdered scientist who developed the star gate technology that caused Pittsburgh's shifts, but that was long before she was born - in human time. And within days present, past, and an undreamed of future are hurling Tinker though adventures and mishaps. Fast, fun, and interesting, this book is very hard to put down.

I absolutely needed a palate cleanser, and though this is my 4th time through it, that was all BLT, so now it's reviewed
Read for August TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book with a job title in the title

208) Miss Spider's New Car



The exuberant Miss Spider tries out all sorts of vehicles and we go along for the rides.

Read for August TIOLI Challenge #11: Read a book with an invertebrate in the title or author's name

209) Wolf Who Rules



Wolf Who Rules the Wind is the rare Elf who takes chances and now everything he's taken a chance for is endangered by a heretofore unknown invasion of oni from a third "dimension" from earth or Elfholme. Tinker, who Wolf has changed from human to elf is, after spending almost a month in oni custody and foiling direct invasion is growing unstable from nightmares. The two viewpoints alternating sometimes with only a paragraph break can be awkward, but the pace remains fast if staccato, with no lingering on the aftermath of actions, but leaps to next events.

Like potato chips, one is not enough and after Tinker it proved impossible not to go on. As does almost every book it
Meets September TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book With a word beginning or ending with one of the following letters

210) Very Cold People



A girl grows up an outsider in a Massachusetts WASP town haunted by Cabots and Lowells, with some friends and more memories of girlish fads than family affection and gradually learns that in her family affection had no good models and pervasive poisonous ones.

Another covered by September TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book With a word beginning or ending with one of the following letters

211) Unravel the Dusk



The girl who pretends to be her brother to compete to be the Emperor's tailor has completed a quest to make the 3 gowns from sun, moon, and stars at the request of the emperor's bride so the marriage can save the land. But the bride is unwilling, runs away, is found and then the dress of stars almost kills her. Then things get worse. Much worse. It's all rather dull because well, the angst, and inconsistencies and lack of a clear vision and simpering need for a happy ending. Just not worth it.

Meets September TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book with one person on the cover, who is looking out at the reader

I'm not really racing through books exactly, I just was reading about 5 in parallel at the end of August, and on top of those read Tinker because I needed to escape the miasma of what I was reading and that and the sequel just pulled me in and through.

Now to finish up the other 3 books I have going......

204) Another Brooklyn

I neglected to enter this book when I finished it a few days back.



Growing up a motherless black girl in 1970s Brooklyn, August has friends who lives get bent or ended in ways she narrowly escapes in part because of her father is a good, if mostly absent man, and she has her love and connection to her brother when her friends troubles overwhelm them. Intense and involving and poetic.

Read for August TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book with the name of a real non-European city in the title

212) The Bruising of Qilwa



Firuz-e Jafari and their family a mother and young brother are refugees on a plague stricken island where they must conceal much of their identity. Firuz is able to provide a meager living by working at a free clinic which is itself under threat from the governor. And then they become aware of a different affliction attacking only those who come to the clinic and it may be connected to their concealed abilities.
A competently told strangers in a strange land story, where the reader's own attitudes are built into the strangeness.

Meets September TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book With a word beginning or ending with one of the following letters

213) Elfhome



New viewpoints are added as Oilcan, Tinker's cousin, discovers the existence of and eventually takes responsibility for a group of young Elves lured to Pittsburgh in hope of creating freely in their chosen fields. They may be artists over 70 years old, but they have fewer clues as to how to get on than a human pre-teen. Then there is the half-oni Tommy who is responsible for his aunts and young cousins all of them victims of exploitation by their, thankfully dead, oni fathers. And we meet more of the Stone Clan, whose difficult reputation seems earned. This story is about what commitment to making a home in a war torn city requires of them.

It looks as if a re-read of Harbinger is inevitable, so I filled in the single missing "H" and added a new set of slots so this and also Project Elfhome
Meets September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book With a word beginning or ending with one of the following letters

Even deeper into the Elfhome books I realize how much I depend on authors who can keep the flow going pretty much full blast. I just fall in and that's that. I do love some authors who (seem to) give all the details like Robin Hobb or Kate Elliott whose books often spend much more time on each event and often absorb me just as fully. Still even though Wen Spencer does have realistically emotional characters, we are seldom inside the brooding ones, and even they are more action prone.

214) Project Elfhome



What’s going on when everything is going on. Some stories I’ve read before with some new material too.
We meet Law, Jane, and Olivia and get much more involved with the bridges of Pittsburgh, along with shorter bits featuring other characters who may have been or will be important to the war to save both Pittsburgh and the Elves.

Like almost every other book on my current reading plan it
Meets September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book With a word beginning or ending with one of the following letters

215) Wood Sprites



Tinker was conceived in vitro and born to a surrogate mother over a decade after her father's death. At a New York fertility clinic a childless couple stole some of the "twin" embryos a decade later and raised Jillian and Louise as their own. The two genius mini-Tinkers have been fascinated with Elves, and learning they are not their parents natural children, naturally embark on finding who they are related to. We find out how dangerous that is in a cascade of alternately hilarious and heartbreaking and always wild adventures.

Meets September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book With a word beginning or ending with one of the following letters

216) Monsters in Our Midst


(no actual cover for the novella, but the cast is the same)

Jane and the teams from PB&G and Chased by Monsters cover a lot of territory from wedding plans to taking out submerged monster nests to well, lets just say there is dynamite and oni, and wedding cookie panics.

The events of this novella from earlier this year are referenced in Harbinger but not, of course, included in the 2016 Project Elfhome
Meets September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book With a word beginning or ending with one of the following letters

Wen Spencer is not an author I am familiar with, Susan, but you seem to be rattling through the author's oeuvre!

>206 PaulCranswick: Comfort reads. I've read the older ones 3x before and support her on Patreon so I've pretty much read all but the really tricksey parts of whatever is next since she shares a lot.

217) Harbinger



Very much a middle of a middle book. We spend a few scattered chapters with the main actors, though the Harbingers are all off stage. Interesting developments, some backstories, and a huge cliffhanger of an ending.
Re-read: It's much better read within days of the other books and stories of the series when every character is fresh and I could tell all the pretty oddball elf females apart - Jewel Tear, Bare Snow, Discord/Stormsong, Thorn Scratch. Being fully aware that Oil Can's kids are all 70 something elves also damps the discomfort level of his scenes.
However, the strategy and tactics that the domana caste elves employ would horrify von Clausewitz and Lao Tzu. But then, the wood elves need to be the winners.

Meets September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book With a word beginning or ending with one of the following letters

The more good news than bad department:
Last week I had a suspicious lump biopsied and today I learned that it was not cancer, but yes, suspicious, and needs to be removed. So both a relief, a big one, and a bother, medium sized. Pretty fair trade.

>209 quondame: You certainly got the best of the trade, Susan, thank goodness. Take care of yourself. x

>209 quondame: Glad it wasn't cancer, Susan, big relief.
When will it be removed?

Definitely got the better end of the deal! I hope the removal goes well.

>209 quondame: WAY more good than bad in that news.

Hi Susan my dear, so glad it wasn't Cancer dear friend.

>210 PaulCranswick: >211 FAMeulstee: >212 drneutron: >213 laytonwoman3rd: >214 johnsimpson: Thank you Paul, Anita, Jim, Linda, and John. I am so much less on edge. The binge reading kept me from dwelling but sleep was still not as easily come by as it, thankfully, has been recently.

218) The Half Life of Valery K



Not science fiction, but dystopia of a very real 1960s (and earlier) Soviet Union, with a strong whiff of something rotten in the west wafting in at the end. Perhaps the most unlikely love story I have every read, the book was to restrained, detailed and deliberate for me to enthuse over currently, but it required every word for me to construct belief in its possibilities.

It is utterly impossible for this to be a re-read, but so much of it was very déjà vu.

Meets September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI Challenge #18: Read a book/work with a significant part set in/dealing with the period from 1 January 1960 to 31 December 1980

219) Anansi the Spider



The illustrations are interesting but this is more of a Baron Munchhausen tale of extraordinary companions than an actual trickster tale.

Read for September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book with the word “trickster(s)” in the title or listed under tags F/NF

220) Wide Sargasso Sea



A rather plausible nightmare history of the first Mrs Rochester. A young woman with no real protectors and very few resources within herself is treated only according to what others imagine of her. Is it any wonder she goes mad?

Selected from spreadsheet of 1001 Books to Read Before You Die and the Guardian's 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read it was
Read for September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI #3: Read a work of fiction set prior to 1922 in a country then (or once) part of the British Empire

None of us had any preference for dinner tonight so I started exploring Grubhub and found a Taiwanese restaurant well within ordering range, with a special offer and beef and mustard green soup. Strangely called Popcorn Chicken, so I ordered some of that too. It was good, as was everything else, so win. And I've plenty of left-overs for the weekend, which is one advantage of our Friday dinner habit. But no Popcorn chicken, that went fast. Becky said she liked a place that would give her a stick to spear the food - referring to the skewer that came in the Popcorn chicken bag.

221) Firebirds



A uniformly good, not great collection of stories, many from authors I've followed. It is the first time in ages that I've read, or heard, a reference to "Why is a mouse when it spins?" That nonsense riddle that seemed to amuse my parent's circle of friends on and off for a few years in the 60s, reviving whenever they found a new victim.

BB from foggidawn

Meets September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI #17: Read a book that completes the verse “See you in September or lose you to……….”

Hi Susan.

>209 quondame: Oh, bother. Glad it’s not cancer, sad that it’s suspicious and needs to be removed.

>220 karenmarie: Thanks Karen!

222) The End of White World Supremacy



Four speeches which, divorced from their time and intended audience, are baroquely surreal, deep and troubling. And proven, in that no, white liberals have in fact done little to change the reality for blacks in the US, and have used the black vote to attempt to maintain their own power. The idea that there is a god protected future for blacks when the whites are finished ruining their world is probably not going to be an accurate prediction, but then I'm a mere unbeliever.

Acquired for August Challenge #2: Read a book where the first name of the author has more characters than the last name, it
Meets September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI #10: Read a book that has part of a college or university's name in the title or author's name

223) Time Was Soft There



An account of the authors flight from Canada to Paris where he found and stayed at Shakespeare and Company for some months as well as stories from the earlier decades of the bookstore. It provides an easy to digest interesting look at a group of young people who haven't yet found where or if they want to build their lives presided over by an octogenarian who has built his life right there but still somehow feels he should be roaming.

BB from jnwelch

Meets September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI #13: Read a book set in Europe in the 20th century

>209 quondame: Excellent news! Glad the lump is not cancerous.

Have a great start to the week.

>224 figsfromthistle: Thank you! I hope your own plans are going forward smoothly, Anita!

224) The Impossible Resurrection of Grief



As species and habitats are lost to global warming and pollution people are increasingly stricken with the Grief, and once stricken, suicide is inevitable. The narrator loses her close friend to the grief and later seeks to know more when sent letters the friend wrote to someone in Tasmania. Brought forward are not only the many human caused extinctions of species but of native populations emphasizing our murderous, uncaring nature. Any resolution brought forward is bleak. Grief indeed.

Meets September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI #9: Read a book that has more than 22 letters in the title

>226 quondame: That looks interesting and certainly is timely, Susan.

>227 PaulCranswick: Somewhat surreal and moody. I'm now into Palimpsest which is even more surreal and moody, though a different set of moods.

So my email address based at my sister's no longer extant company went inactive last week. I noticed a sharp drop in email. She re-activated it temporarily while I clear out years worth of mail (I have copies in my desktop) and try to change lots of accounts not to send to that address. 2 libraries let me make the change, but I haven't received the required verification and 1 won't even let me change at all. I think I've changed eBay, but we'll see. At least I never used that address for LT

>228 quondame: It is such a hassle to change your email address.
A few years back I stopped with my own website, where our Chow Chows resided, and almost all our email. I started a year ahead, and still missed a few.

>228 quondame: Oh, lord. I hope you don't have to deal with financial institutions or federal agencies! They assume you're up to something the minute you try to change anything on your profile, and it can be a nightmare.

>230 laytonwoman3rd: I do hope I don't turn up any. Most of the accounts my husband set up access to and he didn't use that address, so maybe it won't get too hairy.
Already I've noticed that changing the address at the library page doesn't change the Overdrive address.

225) Palimpsest



The dream city of Palimpsest is entered by having sex with someone who has already been, resulting in a spidery black mark representing the area of Palimpsest to which sex with you gives others access. We follow four new immigrants, for access is always in groups of four strangers, as they navigate the difficulties the new realm makes in their lives and their impact on Palimpsest. None of the four has been a sexual adventurer which gives this more late 20th century feel though the pairings, never lingeringly described, include F/F and M/M. It is suitably dreamlike and sometimes sensuous, and only for the over the top surrealism was China Miéville's Bas-Lag constantly in my thoughts.

Meets September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI #8: Read a book first published in the 1990s or 2000s. List in publication year order.

I haven't said a word on your thread in eons, Susan, though I surf through pretty regularly. So it feels sorta wrong to break my silence only to report that the Touchstone for the Palimpsest that you reviewed goes to a Gore Vidal memoir of the same name. Both books seem interesting, however.

Do have a good day.

226) Grass



The story and the story of writing this GN account about WWII comfort woman stolen from Korea after having be sold by her family as a servant. The feisty girl, who longs for an education, goes though years of hell and later two disappointing marriages to become a political advocate for restitution to comfort women and dismissive of lame efforts by the Japanese that have been accepted by the Korean government. Starkly drawn to emphasize the youth, helplessness, loneliness, and danger of the comfort "women", some barely teenage and per-pubescent as starved girls often are.

Read for September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI #11: Read a book about Korea or written by a Korean or ethnic Korean author

>232 quondame: Congratulations on reaching 3 x 75, Susan!

>235 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita!

>234 quondame: Ouch. Hard topic. And another congrats on 3 x 75!! WoW!

>237 Berly: Thank you Kim!

227) My Brilliant Life



Teenage Areum living in a geriatric body, has just reached the age of his parents when he was born. He tells of his parents' lives, how he came to be, his friendship with the old man who lives with his older father and is treated as a child. And of his efforts to write these stories, of his appearance on television to raise funds for his final hospitalization as he is going blind.
This has got to be one of the triumphs of translation for the language is fluid and straightforward and caressing, of this youth trapped in age tale which has so much to say of those who spent so much longer acquiring their aches and pains, but who feel more than just echos of a teenage self.
Only in the last page did I feel the least bit manipulated by the author, but that smarted.

Read for September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI Read a book (either F or NF) about someone with a long standing major problem who grows either because of or in spite of it

>209 quondame: So glad to hear this! I'd take a small (or even moderate) bother over the other option.

>240 Storeetllr: Indeed. Thanks.

Most days I sleep in pretty much as I like though sometimes I do wish I'd started a bit earlier. Today Mike opened the blinds and bustled about until getting back to sleep wasn't an option. Then, stretches done, I go downstairs for breakfast only to have my daughter make use of the kitchen while I'm still trying to console myself with coffee and food. As much I like the two, well, mornings go more smoothly with less interaction.
I did get the bivalent Covid vaccine in the afternoon, which involved more waiting and paperwork than I expected. I consoled myself after by stopping at India Sweets & Spices for Samosa and Chana Masala. Also crunchies.

I am glad you treated yourself to some treats after yet another injection. I am also glad you got the shot. ; )

228) The Remains of the Day



This is gobsmackingly brilliant. A portrait of a person who has all but become an idée fixe told in the reminiscent present as Mr. Stevens, the long time butler of Darlington Hall, undertakes a motor trip to visit, perhaps to recruit, the former housekeeper. It is both slyly and bitingly humorous, absorbing, and heartbreaking.

Selected from spreadsheet of 1001 Books to Read Before You Die and the Guardian's 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read it was
Read for September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI #12: Read a book about a dead laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature OR one written by a living laureate

>242 Berly: I do feel better for having done the shot thing. I still have this year's flu vaccine, but I put that off until next week.

>241 quondame: mornings go more smoothly with less interaction Exactly!

>241 quondame: >245 SandDune: Totally with you on that.

>245 SandDune: >246 Storeetllr: It's good to know I'm not alone in wanting some alone-ness!

229) Never Let Me Go



As science fiction this makes no sense. As an emotional tale of three young people growing into a world where they have no future but to provide others with organs it works emotionally and allegorically. It is powerful in its statements of the human ability to make myth, whether of hope or meaning or others lack of humanity. A measured, melancholy, compelling read.

Read for September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI #7: "S" is for September and Science Fiction: Read a book on The 50 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time located here

Today it was the other side of the coin. I slept in until into the afternoon with no disturbance from man, woman, or dog. I feel rested, if somewhat short changed in hours, and a bit concerned about getting to sleep tonight. I did need to catch up after staying up way way too late with Grass.

Addition: Apparently I was not entirely left alone to sleep, Becky brought Nutmeg in to see if she'd settle in to sleep on the bed but not only did Nutmeg not settle she scratched at the door to get out. And I slept through a couple of attempts. I knew I was tired, but that's tired.

Hi Susan my dear, congrats on reaching 3 X 75 books read for the year so far, sending love and hugs from both of us dear friend.

>250 johnsimpson: Thank you, John.

230) Soul Taken



An ancient evil artifact, an ancient werewolf, a nasty mix of pretty old vampires, with ancient fae not to be neglected makes a pretty heady mixture for a fast moving adventure in which Mercy takes a pretty constant beating but keeps on beating back.

I started Love, Anger, Madness for Challenge 15, but after 6 very serious and mostly depressing books I had to have some relief so I took advantage of the appearance of this urban fantasy from my library and it
Meets September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI #14: Read a book With a word beginning or ending with one of the following letters

231) Babar and Father Christmas



When Babar learns about Father Christmas he leaves to find him and invite him to visit the children of the Kingdom of the Elephants. He shows persistence and resourcefulness in his search which is rewarding for him and Father Christmas - and a good life for a little dog too.

Mike remembers this book as the first he ever ordered from Amazon and that it had to come from England.

Read for September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI #15: Read a book originally written in French by a citizen of member state of "La Francophonie"

232) Umbrella Academy Volume 1: Apocalypse Suite



There is the fascination of making a train wreck of as many of the angsty tropes of the not-so super-hero comic genre, and throwing the end of the world at them. Sticking in all sorts of undeveloped stubs, such as the space alien founder, the missing team member, to keep the reader unsettled. None of the characters seemed much more than spike balls, but the two girls/women were, in both story and art, short changed of agency in the use of their power and as is fundamental to the comic genre, there for the male gaze.

Read for September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI #19: Read a book for the TV Trope Back to School Challenge

>253 quondame: Have you watched the TV series? I binge watched season one a while ago; and found it fascinating.

>254 2wonderY: Not at all. I had heard of it, but I'm afraid the name conjured an entirely different source:


Imagine my surprise at finding this strangely compelling alternate!

233) Book Lovers



Screamingly funny dialog and a non-standard heroine get this story off to fast start and the pace is pretty crisp throughout. Of course while the two mains aren't everyone's cup of tea, they couldn't be more perfect for each other. Still, and the reason why this isn't a 4 star book, is that it plays entirely within the rules - any cons for the guy are situational, and the woman doesn't have to have a thought about how to please him.

BB from MickyFine

I was diligently working my way through more serious stuff when I got snagged by the first page of this. Ah, well, it
Meets September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI #14: Read a book With a word beginning or ending with one of the following letters

234) Alice Walker: A Woman for Our Times



I was left feeling Deborah Plant has presented a collection of her graduate level papers on Alice Walker's publications, pasted a biography of Alice's early life on the front and and inserted mystical bits to round up the joins. Not that any of this is bad, though there are frequent speculations given as facts, and much is interesting. It does not at up to a solid biography, philosophical or otherwise.

Read for September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI #6: Read a book about a person who was born in the same decade as you

235) Brothers of the Wind



The illustrations are lovely, the tale sad and whimsical.

My cousin Barbara Berger sent this to me with a personalized dedication - it was her first publication as an illustrator. She published several other books of which she is both author and illustrator, but I believe this is the only one where she illustrated some one else's tale.
Until yesterday I could not have said who the author was.

It looked like no one else was about to take the W, so I pulled this off my daughter's shelf.
Read for September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI #14: Read a book With a word beginning or ending with one of the following letters

DNF Storm Glass. Goodhearted street urchin with something special comes under the protection of a good rich man with bad servant(s). I'm not utterly against the trope, but this plodded from paragraph one and not just now, thanks, no.

Hi Susan.

>222 quondame: Hmmm. divorced from their time and intended audience. Fascinating and sad.

>226 quondame: Onto the wish list it goes.

>228 quondame: What a tangled web we unintentionally weave. You trying to get email addresses changed, me trying to get phone numbers changed away from our landline to my cell phone. Good luck.

>232 quondame: Interesting concept. Onto the wish list it goes, too. Congrats on 75 x 3.

>241 quondame: As much I like the two, well, mornings go more smoothly with less interaction. Amen, sister. Jenna’s still asleep, the TV’s on in the living room. Jenna starts a new job on Monday, and IF Bill goes to work the 3 days a week he’s supposed to, I might actually have some alone time in the house. Jenna’s less intrusive than Bill to my quiet/alone time, but even having someone else in the house is less pleasant than having the house completely to myself.

Glad to read that you got your bivalent Covid vaccine. I got mine 2 weeks ago, so feel less panicked about having to be at the book sale for 2 days. I’ll still mask up.

>244 quondame: I’ll get my flu shot at the end of October at my doctor’s office. Or perhaps mid-month at the new pharmacy in town.

>253 quondame: I love that bit of Gabriel Ba’s artwork.

236) Night Watch



The pinnacle of the Guards sub-series, this story confronts Vimes with a test of values as he is transported to a dark period in Ankh-Morpork's past and his own youth. Only he's not young and can't even be himself, but can fulfill an important role. Watching Vetinari as a young assassin is an extra delight.

I needed a pinch hitter for Storm Glass (>259 quondame:) and knew Terry Pratchett would deliver a good
Read for September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI #16: Read a book where all the words in the title have the same number of letters

>260 karenmarie: As to Gabriel Ba's artwork, I'd say I appreciate its effectiveness rather than like it.

I did get my flu shot, extra strength 65+ dose, and really it didn't seem to have much of an immediate impact. But I got told to schedule the next shingle vaccine dose. It take a lot of maintenance, this slide into senility.....

237) The Echo Wife



Evelyn is a cutting edge researcher in human cloning and conditioning to provide temporary stand-ins. Evelyn's husband has left her for, well not exactly another woman. This is a story about what it is to be human and to live with the monsters who are other humans, and yes, with the monster who we are.
Well told and solidly paced it spins around the core of Evelyn's self-saving obliviousness to the real necessities of those around her. Evelyn and Nathan are real, familiar to anyone who has had any sort of connection with scientific or technical development.

I loved Gailey's American Hippo books, but this one stays clear of any hints of the zaniness of those and the humor is embedded in the utter absurdity of human complication and obtuseness and is so akin to the horror of those as to form the merest hum.

Read for September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI #7: "S" is for September and Science Fiction: Read a book on The 50 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time located here.

As I've already had more beef and pork this week than I feel advisable I opted for the grilled chicken sandwich from our local small chain hamburger place. Nope. I'm bummed that popularity of fried chicken sandwiches or some other factor has bumped the grilled chicken from Burger King's menu. It's not that they were much better than the one I just had, but less fuss and expense and drive through is always an advantage.
And the fried chicken sandwiches which are decent come from places that don't do fried pickle slices.

238) A Promised Land



An image careful retelling of Obama's campaign for the Presidency and the first years, finishing with the elimination of Osama bin Laden. There is a strong focus on the legislation that he got through congress, and how with the ever present background chorus of GOP opposition. The prose is workmanlike, but never compelling.

I've been trying to read this for well over a year, checking it out again and again. It just isn't a fun read, and while there are some bits that seem straightforward and emotionally believable, this is a legacy building effort first and foremost. Not that the legacy doesn't deserve attention and preservation, at least what's left from the interim administration, but that's not what delivers an involving read.

Completed for September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI #1: Read a book (F or NF) by or about an individual who either ran for or held an elected office

>265 quondame: I've had this on my shelf for over a year and somehow never get around to it. I did read Dreams from My father and enjoyed it.

Anyhow, happy start to the week :)

>266 figsfromthistle: Thanks. Best wishes for your week too!

239) The Vegetarian



Three views of the disintegration of Yeong-hye, abused middle daughter of a violent veteran, unloved wife, lusted after sister-in-law, and misunderstood sister. When bloody violent dreams move her to become vegetarian, the extreme reactions of her family continue a process of disintegration. A dark turgid swamp of views that offers no hope beyond termination.

Read for September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI #11: Read a book about Korea or written by a Korean or ethnic Korean author

>239 quondame: great review, and the ending, well it wasn't the best but it worked for the story. Another novel about a man with this disease is the confessions of max tivoli, thought it quite well done.

>269 cindydavid4: Thanks Cindy. Max Tivoli sounds more like Benjamin Button than Areum who kept getting physically older at an accelerated pace.

Nutmeg's annual skin issue is probably the cause for the scratch on her eye that got her rushed to the vet this afternoon. Hours later she is back in a cone of shame with eye medicine to be given every 8 hours in hope that surgery will not be required. At least she has been give the shot so her rash will likely be gone by the end of the week as it was last year. Gertie had to have a shot every month, so once a year, provided the eye heals OK, isn't too bad.

>270 quondame: they are similar but I prefer Tivoli over Benjamin, and wish theyd made a movie about him instead.

>272 cindydavid4: That would be cool.

240) Love, Anger, Madness: A Haitian Trilogy



Dense and dark, the three parts contract in cast and duration and attachment to reality. The largest first section is of unrealized sexual obsession, the second with land obsession and the last is a purified obsession of unsupported aspiration with nothing to aspire to. All set in a poisonous landscape of reflexive racism, lethal violence, and squandered resources.

Connections in the bookiverse: Both this and >268 quondame: are translated, are 3 separate stories, and deal with insanity.

Read for September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI #15: Read a book originally written in French by a citizen of member state of "La Francophonie"

241) The Thief



A young thief is offered a way out of prison - if he'll assist in a theft. This is a pretty formula start for what turns out to be an adventure that makes the tropes its own and owns every one. There are a few stutters in this first book that are left behind in later volumes, but if this one appeal the whole, long awaited saga is one of the best series reads in fantasy.

Once again filling a single slot to open up more (also in desperate need for something not dismal)
Re-Read for September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI #14: Read a book With a word beginning or ending with one of the following letters

Hi Susan, I took in the last I-dunno-how-many posts and had various thoughts
a few of which I'll share happily.

>265 quondame:, A Promised Land. I thoroughly enjoyed Becoming, (I recall the greater part you had not especially cottoned to) so Barack's book was on my horizon pretty fast. I just_could_not_finish the first quarter even. The man I admired who had such engagement (it seemed) with people didn't convey that at all in his writing. It was way too erudite (for the level of my readability requirements) and I never once felt drawn into the telling the way I did in Michelle's memoir. However, like the manner of Wilson-Raybould's Indian in the Cabinet: Speaking Truth to Power, I sensed how important it is (was) to lay down some perspectives and achievements "for the record". So kudos for finishing the weighty tome.

>268 quondame: This story sounds so grim, how on earth do you soldier through such misery (rhetorical question)? I've had to hedge off of such intense reading because my tolerance fell off a cliff after a few weeks of Covid-related angst. I had Tess of the Road on my reading pile and couldn't handle the story at all last year. The book eventually went to the secondhand shop for credit. Not that T-of-t-R compares exactly to Han Kang's story.

>275 quondame: This was a re-read for me this year and I enjoy Eugenides tremendously. The snarks in the story were amusing and I delighted in the twists and reveals. I think the author navigated the tropes the best I've seen in fantasy writing.

These comments may not jibe with your thoughts too well ~ however just so you know, I'm not trying to be argumentative... just chatty. I am making more of an effort to join in a few talk threads this month. I have been absent most of the summer, not even to read the 75-challenge group's talk. Back largely because I missed finding some new ideas for mystery series and yes, I missed "everybody"!

I also wanted to find what might be discussed in the middle-school reading along the lines of the classics. I'm thoroughly put off how utterly grim a lot of the new YA novels are. The themes are beyond noir and no teenager benefits from such dark and violent stories. I shuddered at many of the lists I found on Good Reads (a website I've abandoned to the point I deleted my account!)

OK. I blathered at length so I guess I'll wander off and see if there's a specific group that is discussing the YA genre and look for good writing and a tight plot without the vampires, thrillers and various other evils.

>276 SandyAMcPherson: Good to see you drop by! It only took me 18 months to get through A Promised Land, though the big push was this month. Fortunately it's 25% end stuff.
I can't say I've ever been into grim fiction and absolutely require HEA in much of my reading for some value of HEA, while sometimes internally deriding authors for not killing off some characters set up as sacrifices but save-at-the-last-minute. OK sometimes I publish such derision.
I remember being amazed that my new friend in high school positively loved dark fiction, the darker the better. My favorites were all so much fluff to her. Since then I've understood that what we get from reading varies so much. I avoid horror and books advertised as scary, but clearly they are great selling across multiple markets. What ticks me off in YA are consequence free super high body counts and narratives that include caste differences with no questioning or dealing with them.

242) Drowned Worlds



Given the tight restriction on the subject matter and that all the stories were written for the anthology, there is some variety of tone and view, but not enough unless read over 3 or 4 months.

It's not too much of a stretch to say it
Meets September TIOLI Challenge September TIOLI #17: Read a book that completes the verse “See you in September or lose you to……….”