BLBera Reads in 2022 - Second Half

My name is Beth. I am an about-to-be-retired English instructor at my local community college (16 August 2022), so 2022 will be a year of change for me. I love books – talking about them, writing about them, reading about them. I also love to read with my granddaughter Scout.

I tend not to plan my reading, other than for my book club, which meets once a month. We celebrate twenty years in 2022.

Each year my goal is to read more books from my shelves, but those shiny new library books often distract me. In 2022, I would like to read more in translation.

As always, though, goals may fall by the wayside.

Please comment, lurk, make yourself at home.

Favorites from 2022 - So far

Currently Reading

Read - second half 2022
🏖July🏖
70. Auē*
71. Pandora's Jar*
72. Woman of Light
73. The Intuitionist* REREAD
74. Swimming Lessons*
75. Vigil Harbor
76. A Match Made for Murder
77. The Locked Room
78. The Hurting Kind
79. Reading Like a Writer*
80. Now Lila Knows*
81. The Blackhouse*

🎡August🎡
82. The Poet's House
83. The Wild Inside 🎧
84. Night of the Living Rez
85. Treacherous Strand
86. A Thousand Ships*
87. H Is for Hawk*
88. The Girl Who Drank the Moon*
89. Bitter Orange Tree
90. The Colony
91. F Is for Fugitive*🎧
92.Lessons in Chemistry
93.One Thousand and One Nights: A Retelling*

📓September📓
94. When I Sing, Mountains Dance
95. Black Cake
96. A Visit from the Goon Squad* REREAD
97. Scary Monsters
98. An Uncertain Place*
99. How to Read Now*
100. In Plain Sight🎧
101. Cloud Cuckoo Land*
102. Squire
103. Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon 🎧
104. Shelf Life: Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller
105. This Time Tomorrow

🎃October🎃
106. Trust
107. Catherine Called Birdy*
108. How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water*
109. Sparked*
110. Little Fires Everywhere*
111. Lucy by the Sea
112. Companion Piece*
113. Tied Up in Tinsel* 🎧
114. Laurentian Divide*
115. Nightcrawling
116. When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through*
117. Afterlives*
118. On Rereading*
119. The Ghost Riders of Ordebec*

🍁November🍁
120. Crushing It*
121. Best of Friends
122. To the Lighthouse*
123. Pitch*
124. Demon Copperhead
125. Righteous Prey
126. State of Terror 🎧
127. Haven*

❄️December❄️
128. The 1619 Project
129. G Is for Gumshoe 🎧
130. The Guest Cat*
131. A Question of Honor*
132. The English Understand Wool
133. Dust Child*
134. Balladz*
135. Flight
136. Unto Us a Son Is Given
137. The White Cottage Mystery*
138. Dearly*
139. The Rabbit Hutch

* From my shelves

Read in 2022 - First Half
☃️January☃️
1. Red Clocks* REREAD
2. The American Agent 🎧
3. The Boat People
4. Dare to Disappoint
5. The Glass Hotel* REREAD
6. These Precious Days
7. A Sorrowful Sanctuary
8. Delivering Death 🎧
9. The Fell*
10. Moon of the Crusted Snow*
11. Words Under the Words
12. No Land to Light On
13. Foster*

💝February💝
14. A Really Good Day 🎧
15. My Monticello
16. Tunnels
17. Artificial Condition 🎧
18. Violeta
19. Rogue Protocol 🎧
20. How High We Go in the Dark
21. Exit Strategy 🎧
22. Poems to Learn by Heart*
23. The Vanishing Half* REREAD
24. The Thirty Names of Night

🌷March🌷
25. The Island of Missing Trees
26. Olga Dies Dreaming
27. Fugitive Telemetry 🎧
28. On the Bus with Rosa Parks
29. Hamnet* REREAD
30. Braiding Sweetgrass*
31. Winter* REREAD
32. The Seed Keeper* REREAD
33. Radio Golf
34. Spring*
35. Creatures of Passage
36. The Trees
37. Oh William!
38. The Taxidermist's Daughter*🎧

☔️April☔️
39. The Four Winds*
40. Beautiful World, Where Are You
41. French Braid
42. Essays on the Self*
43. The Book of Form and Emptiness*
44. Look Alive, Twenty-Five* 🎧
45. Checkout 19
46. Sorrow and Bliss
47. Small Things Like These
48. Unfinished Business*
49. Sea of Tranquility

🥀May🥀
50. The Candy House
51. Clean Air
52. The Hired Man*
53. Mercy Street
54. The Investigator
55. Read Dangerously*
56. Salt Lick*
57. The Beatryce Prophecy*
58. Death at Whitewater Church*
59. Summer*
60. Cobweb*

🍉June🍉
61. Mecca
62. Vermilion Drift*🎧
63. The Midnight Library*
64. E Is for Evidence*🎧
65. Thin Places
66. Love Marriage
67. A Deceptive Devotion
68. Home to Woefield
69. The Sentence* REREAD

* From my shelves

Welcome

70. Auē
Auē is an outstanding debut novel. In it, Becky Manawatu gives us a devastating portrayal of Māori culture in today's New Zealand. So many people seem lost, without resources, victims of violence and addition.This makes the novel hard to read in places, but Manawatu's characters are so engaging that we want to see how their stories end.

We know there's been a tragedy in the family from the first pages when Taukiri (Tauk) drops his brother Ārama (Ari) off to live with their aunt Katy. As the novel progresses, we start to learn about the tragedies that have affected the family. Told from several viewpoints, I found the brothers' stories especially moving. Ari's voice is poignant as Manawatu does an excellent job of creating the voice of a child who is trying to be brave in the face of terrible loss that he doesn't completely understand.

And the prose is breathtaking. One description of Tauk surfing is like a poem: "Drop down the face of the first wave, and turn quick, cut back, up, down. Forgive her. I forgive so much my heart swells full up. like she is, welling up. swelling up over us being back together again. Licked better, like an old bruise and she wants to make it all better now. And the blood in the bruise of me uncrystallises, and decides to swim about again, beneath my kissed-better skin." The novel is full of descriptive, poetic language.

Yet, despite the tragedy, we see hope, if only families can forgive.

>7 BLBera: Oh, this one sounds interesting!
Yesterday I was reminded about Alan Duff's books and figured that I have read almost nothing from this part of the world for so long.
The French translation for Aue will be published in September, as Bones Bay. It will be published by a small Tahitian editor. Tempting!

>8 raton-liseur: It is very good. "Bones Bay" is a good title for it. I don't think I've read anything else by a Māori writer.

>9 BLBera: From the top of my head I can only think of two authors. I've read Once were warriors by Alan Duff. I realised yesterday it had been made into a movie, that's why I was reminded of this book. I read it before my LT time so do not have notes from this read, but remember I liked it a lot 'not an easy read. Your review of Aue reminded me of this book).
I'd like to mention Witi Ihimaera who is a great Maori writer. I read The Whale rider which I loved (it can be read as a child or as an adult). It has been turned into a movie as well (this one, I've watched it and remember liking it. It is the movie that led me to this writer). And I have read White Lies from him a few months ago. Darker, but a good book. It is published by the same Tahitian publisher who is about to publish Aue, Au Vent des îles (something like Islands' wind, but more poetic). Now that it is available in mainland France, I might become a fan of this small exotic publisher.

>10 raton-liseur: Thanks. And you remind me that I did read The Whale Rider; my daughter loved that film.

>9 BLBera: I read The Bone People by Keri Hulme and would recommend it with the caveat that there is a lot of abuse in it. But it also weaves in Maori myth and stories, which is interesting.

Hi Lisa - Yes, I've had The Bone People on my shelf for years. There is a lot of abuse in Auē as well.

Hi Beth! Happy new thread.

I thought The Bone People was terrific, but it's 30-something years since I read it and don't know what I would think now. I do remember the abuse standing out for me, though that could also be because I hadn't read anything quite like that before.

Thanks Lisa. The intergenerational trauma and abuse are very much present in Auē, which make it hard to read at times, but Manawatu writes so beautifully and her characters are so engaging that I would recommend it. I need to get to The Bone People.

71. Pandora's Jar is an examination of ten women from Greek mythology including Pandora, Helen, Medea, Medusa, and Penelope, to name some of them. Haynes knows her stuff; she explains various versions of the myths through time, including modern versions, and examines related art. She points out that "As we change, so these characters have also changed as if to match us." Not so surprisingly, Haynes shows us that misogyny is not limited to ancient Greece.

And why should we care about these stories? Haynes explains, "We cannot hope to make sense of our stories or ourselves (myths are a mirror of us, after all) if we refuse to look at half of the picture. Or worse -- don't even notice half of it is missing."

Haynes has a great sense of humor, and I enjoyed learning about the various versions of the stories. I was surprised at how central some of the women were in the stories from ancient Greece.

>16 BLBera: Haynes also has a podcast that I just discovered. It’s a treat too!

Someone mentioned that. I'll have to seek it out. She is very entertaining.

>16 BLBera: Oooh that looks good. I've seen the cover and I guess lumped it in my mind with all the other Greek myth retellings—not a bad thing, and I've really enjoyed all the ones I've read—but that sounds really interesting.

>17 Yells: And a podcast! Ooh.

>16 BLBera: sounds fun!

>19 lisapeet: A retelling just doesn't seem as interesting as an examination of the myths...

>19 lisapeet: Haynes is very entertaining, Lisa. I've listened to bits of her podcast and appreciate her sense of humor and critical views.

>20 dchaikin: It is very entertaining. I hadn't realized how so many retellings have left out the women.

>20 dchaikin: You might appreciate her podcasts then. I'm relatively new to mythology and learned quite a bit from her discussions on different figures. She has a lot to say about Pandora's jar!

I'm downloading a couple of Haynes podcast episodes to listen to tonight. Thanks for the heads up!

She's very entertaining. And knowledgeable. I learned a lot from her book.

72. Woman of Light
"Pidre came from storytelling people, but as he passed a big top devoted to the reenactment of 'Custer's Last Stand,' he couldn't help but think that Anglos were perhaps the most dangerous storytellers of all -- for they believed only their own words, and they allowed their stories to trample the truths of nearly every other man on Earth."

In this very good historical novel, Kali Fajardo-Anstine, author of the wonderful Sabrina & Corina, tells some forgotten stories of the dispossessed. And in these stories, we can see that history does repeat itself. Her characters, mostly brown people, some Indigenous, some immigrants, are victims of prejudice and violence.

Mostly set in 1930s Denver, this is the story of Luz Lopez and her family. The story goes back to Luz's parents and grandparents, and shows the hardship and prejudice of life for brown people through generations. They eke out a living until white settlers want the land. And in Denver, jobs are scarce and segregation is enforced with violence. People who try for redress often become victims themselves. But in the middle of all this is family. In Luz, we see struggles but also joy, and finally Luz realizes that the only way forward is to keep connected to her family and to remember the stories of their ancestors.

>25 BLBera: I'm looking forward to this one. I loved her collection, Sabrina & Corina.

>26 lisapeet: It is very good historical fiction, Lisa. I like that Fajardo-Anstine is telling a story of women who are often invisible. It's also remarkably relevant, unfortunately. I also loved her story collection.

>25 BLBera: I love that quote. I have not read this author before, but will now look for her. Thanks!

I've really liked both of her books, Lisa. They are both set in Colorado.

Noting Woman of light for later.

>30 markon: I hope you enjoy it.

And here are some more for your enjoyment. :)

https://lithub.com/lit-hubs-most-anticipated-books-of-2022-part-two/?utm_source=...

>31 BLBera: Ooh, more good books coming out.

>31 BLBera: Bad, bad, bad for Mt. TBR!!!

>32 labfs39:, >33 markon: Yes, I must learn to read faster.

>34 BLBera: 🙂

74. Swimming Lessons
I love this novel with its central question of whether it is better to know if someone is dead or to live in uncertainty. Ingrid Coleman disappears twelve years before the beginning of the story. Her body is never found. Did she drown? Or did she just walk away? Before her disappearance, Ingrid writes a series of letters to her husband Gil, which perhaps give us some answers.

The letters alternate with chapters that detail the life of Ingrid's daughter Flora in the present. The structure works well to propel the story, as more is revealed about the family that Ingrid left behind.

>36 BLBera: This sounds intriguing so onto the wishlist it goes.

>37 rhian_of_oz: I really liked it. It did a good job of showing how different people see the same event in different ways.

Oh I’ve had this one on the shelf for ages… sounds like something I’d like, too.

I think you would like it, Lisa. It provoked a great discussion in my book club as well.

I'll join the recommendations for The Bone People. I read it fairly recently (last 5 years or so) and loved it.
Swimming Lessons goes onto the WL.
ETA-No longer on WL. It was $1.99 for Kindle, so it's now on my Kindle and officially part of my TBR.

It's a good one, Deborah. If you want a paper copy, I'd be happy to send mine your way. Just PM me your address. I hope all is well with you and yours.

75. Vigil Harbor is set about fifteen years into the future and shows the world in crisis. Coastal cities are disappearing, along with fish and birds. Vigil Harbor is set on a cliff, an insular peninsula that in many ways is privileged.

Glass uses eight narrators to tell the story. One of her achievements is that each person has a distinctive voice. My favorite is Margo, the English teacher. I love her observations as she wakes predawn: "..I get up, make coffee, stare out the kitchen window and dare the sky not to pale toward that deceptively coy pink of which it is so pompously and perpetually proud. I feel like torching every treacly ode to dawn I ever taught. (Where is Sylvia Plath when you need her the most)?"

The downside to the number of narrators is that there are so many characters and stories that there isn't much depth to some of the characters and it's hard to see why she includes some of the storylines; they don't seem to go anywhere.

Still, even if it was a little long, overall I did enjoy my Vigil Harbor visit.

76. A Match Made for Murder is the seventh in the Lane Winslow series, and I realize my comments are spoilers for earlier books, but the book's description is also a spoiler so I'll continue. In this book Lane and Inspector Darling are on their honeymoon in Arizona, and Sergeant Ames is left in Canada to keep order. Of course, Lane soon stumbles on a murder at the hotel they're staying at.

Some things I liked about the novel is that it explores the adjustments necessary after marriage. It also looks at post WWII expectations for women. And Whishaw has added a black police officer to the Nelson police, and shows us the racism endured by the Hispanic population in Arizona.

However, plot wise, there is way too much going on. The book jumps from Canada to Arizona and then to the past of some of the characters, and it is too much. Also, I missed the people from King's Cove.

I do enjoy this series; this one just isn't the best one I've read.

77. The Locked Room is the latest in the Ruth Galloway series and takes place in early 2020, just as lockdown starts. Griffiths does a good job portraying the uncertainty and confusion that people felt at the start of the lockdown, even if her characters don't do a good job of following the rules. Still, hard to solve mysteries from one's house.

In this one, the team is looking at a series of mysterious suicides. The deaths all involve middle-aged women who had no signs of depression. And then Ruth's new neighbor Zoe disappears. Despite the difficulties of following clues while on lockdown, the team continues to work. Ruth struggles to teach on Zoom and to keep Kate occupied at home.

This is a satisfying entry in the series.

>45 BLBera: Thought I was caught up on Ruth Galloway, but I haven't read this one yet.

>46 markon: It is her latest one, Ardene.

78. The Hurting Kind is another great collection of poetry by Ada Limón, our new poet laureate. Many of her poems celebrate nature. In fact, the book is divided into four parts, the seasons. Yet I also loved the poem about lockdown, "Banished Wonders," and maybe my favorite is the elegy to her grandfather, "The Hurting Kind."

79. Reading Like a Writer
In this book, Francine Prose uses her experiences as a teacher and as a writer. She begins with a discussion of the importance of close reading and attention to words and continues with discussion of sentences, paragraphs, dialog, and characterization, using plenty of examples to illustrate her points.

Both readers and writers could benefit from this book. I added to my wishlist. I wish I had read it before teaching creative writing -- it would be a great resource for that course.

I think I heard about this from Deborah, so thanks!

80. Now Lila Knows
Lila Bonnard is from a fictional Caribbean island. She is a literature professor and receives a yearlong appointment at a small, elite liberal arts college in Vermont. On her arrival, she witnesses the shooting of a black man by the police. She later discovers that the dead man, Ron Brown, was a professor at the college, and Lila is drawn into the protests surrounding the shooting.

The novel has a great premise, but the story suffers from being too didactic. Too often, as I read, I felt I was being lectured about the differences in racism in the States and in the various Caribbean islands. We learn about colorism and the effects of colonialism in the islands. I would have liked to see more in-depth characterization. Even Lila, the protagonist seems flat.

Maybe my expectations were too high -- I've loved the other books by Nunez that I've read.

And the cover is terrible. It looks like the cover of a noir crime novel.

>49 BLBera: That was one of my top reads when I read it a few years ago. It also inspired me to buy the 13 volume Collected Stories of Chekhov and begin my project last year of reading one Chekhov story a day. Alas I only got through the first 4 volumes--I need to get back to that!
She has a new book out that I've dipped in and out of but it hasn't grabbed me yet. (What To Read and Why).
Did I hear somewhere that your retirement is imminent?

Hi Deborah - Yes, I'm finishing up paperwork now. My official last day is Aug. 16. I thought it was you who recommended the Prose book. It does inspire me to pick up the Chekhov stories. I didn't know she had another one about reading out. I'll take a look at it.

81. The Blackhouse is set on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides and is wonderfully descriptive. We get a keen sense of a cold, windy, unforgiving climate. Fin Macleod was born on the island and returns after eighteen years to work on a murder case. As he investigates, he is forced to face his past.

The setting is great, and I liked the way May alternated between first and third person narrative, first in the chapters set in Fin's past and third for the current investigation. There's also a huge twist at the end that I didn't see coming.

This is a satisfying read, and I'll certainly look for the others in the trilogy.

I liked the Peter May Lewis Island trilogy very much. I think the first one was the best though.

Good to know, Deborah. I know I did hear about it on LT.

82. The Poet's House
I'm not always a fan of coming-of-age stories, but The Poet's House won me over, mainly because the protagonist Carla is such a great character. She may feel stuck and unsure about what she wants to do with her life, but she's not a whiner. This sums her up: "Never in my life had anyone accused me of being charming. I wondered it is was something I should try for. I fought my fights the same way my mom did, with a hammer in each hand and my heels dug in."

As the novel opens, Carla lives with Aaron, who works in IT. She works for a landscaper. One day as Carla works in a yard, she meets Viridian, a poet. Carla has an unnamed learning disability and has trouble reading, yet when she hears Viridian read her poetry, she finds herself wanting to be part of a world she thought was closed to her.

She meets other poets (some great secondary characters) and tries to discover where she fits in this world. One of the things that drew me in was the way that Thompson shows us both the magic of poetry and its flawed practitioners. Carla, as an outsider, is well placed to observe the less attractive side of the arts world.

So, the novel ticks a number of boxes for me: interesting protagonist, importance of art, humor -- overall an entertaining novel that left me smiling.

83. The Wild Inside is a mystery set in Glacier National Park. The crime is pretty awful; a man was tied to a tree in the park, and a grizzly bear ripped him apart. The victim was a meth head and a pretty miserable human being, and the investigation goes nowhere for much of the book until the last hour or so of the audiobook.

I love the setting, but the investigation is too long and drawn out and interspersed with the memories of a horrific bear mauling that Ted Systead, the lead detective, suffered when he was a teen. I found myself zoning out for much of the middle of the book.

This is a first novel, and I would be interested in seeing if the author tightens things up a bit in future novels. This one suffers in comparison to the Joe Pickett and Anna Pigeon books.

84. Night of the Living Rez
This is an excellent collection of linked stories set on a Penobscot reservation in Maine. In many of the stories, we follow the narrator, David, as he grows up and tries to make sense of his world. While there are tough times when we see the effects of drugs and alcohol on the family, there are also carefree times when David plays with his friends in the woods.

I will definitely follow Talty to see what he does next.

>58 BLBera: I've got that one, and am looking forward to it.

>58 BLBera: I think my library has this. On my list!

>59 lisapeet:, >60 labfs39: Lisas, it is very good.

85. Treacherous Strand
This is a well-plotted mystery with a great setting. In this second book of the series, Ben O'Keefe, soliciter, is not convinced that a client's death is a suicide. As she looks into it, there are the usual distractions of work, and other clients. Carter pulls it all together at the end for a satisfying solution.

I loved the Francine Prose book too. I must buy it some day, as I read it on loan from the library. It's a book that you need to make notes from and keep returning to.

Hi Alison - Yes, it's one I kept.

86. A Thousand Ships
I really liked this retelling of the fall of Troy, from the women's perspective. Reading Pandora's Jar recently helped; I was familiar with many of the stories. I like Haynes' style a lot; she gets her digs in through Calliope, the muse, in this novel. As we read the story of Oenone, Paris' wife, and one I was unfamiliar with, Calliope asks, "...is Oenone less of a hero than Menelaus? He loses his wife so he stirs up an army to bring her back to him, costing countless lives and creating countless widows, orphans and slaves. Oenone loses her husband and she raises their son. Which of those is the more heroic act?" Good question.

While many of the stories are familiar, those of Hecube, Andromache, Cassandra, and Penelope, Haynes gives each woman a distinctive voice. I especially liked Penelope's letters to Odysseus, with their tone of exasperation that increases as the years pass. Haynes also includes lesser known stories (at least to me), those of Oenone, Laodamia, and Penthesilea.

Some may find the emphasis on the importance of the women's stories tiresome, but I enjoyed this book and look forward to Haynes' novel about Medusa that is coming soon.

87. H Is for Hawk was my August book club read. It provoked some good discussion. All agreed that Macdonald is a good writer. All of us were troubled by the ethics of training a hawk for sport.

I loved the description of the woods and land, and I loved the way that she integrated the discussion of her grief over her father's death, falconry, and the life of T. H. White. One subject seemed to flow into the next. She is honest as she explores her grief, and finally seems to come to terms with it.

88. The Girl Who Drank the Moon
This is a young reader fantasy that Scout and I are reading together. There's a witch, a swamp monster, a Perfectly Tiny Dragon, and magic. I think it's a little long, but Scout seems to like it.

Each year the Protectorate sacrifices a baby to the witch in the woods to keep the village safe. We soon find out that Xan, the witch, has no idea why people are bringing babies to the woods. She takes the baby to a city on the other side of the forest and gives it to a good family. Then one year, a woman tries to keep her baby, and everything changes. The baby Luna drinks the moon and becomes filled with magic, and Xan decides to keep her. Antain, an apprentice council member, never forgets the desperate mother.

There is the mystery of why the babies are being sacrificed, but this is the story of family, courage, and magic. Barnhill builds her world little by little until we understand what is happening, and she brings all the characters together in a satisfying ending, but one that is not without sorrow. Sometimes I wonder if it is a bit intense, but Scout likes it. I think this is most appropriate for older elementary students. This won a Newbury.

>66 BLBera: I really liked H Is for Hawk. That kind of braided memoir, when it works, works very well for me.

>68 lisapeet: Me, too, Lisa. I love your idea of "braided memoir." That describes it very well.

>67 BLBera: I love that cover. I find it arresting every time I see it

It is great, Lisa. I was going to mention it in my comments. Thanks for the reminder.

89. Bitter Orange Tree is a lovely, poetic novel about Zuhour, an Omani student in England. Zuhour feels sad and guilty that she didn't appreciate her grandmother when she was alive. The novel is an elegy to Bint Aamir as Zuhour remembers stories from her life. We also see how difficult it is for Zuhour to find connections so far from home, connections that can understand what her grandmother meant to her.

The language is lovely with rich metaphors: "Why don't words come automatically with threads that we can yank to pull them back inside ourselves?" I will look for more works by Alharthi.

90. The Colony
This is a wonderful novel, one of my favorites this year. In it, Magee explores the various ways that peoples are colonized and the harm that it does.

It's the summer of 1979, and the small Irish island inhabited by a handful of people seems far removed from the Troubles of Northern Ireland. However, the arrival of an English painter and a French linguist upset the equilibrium of the island, and as the novel progresses we see the outside world intrude more and more, and the reports of the violence in the north start to make it into the discussions of the island's inhabitants.

Magee's style enhances the novel. For the painter, she uses short, descriptive stream of consciousness phrases, while for the linguist there are large blocks of text in a complete, linear narrative.

As the summer progresses, we see that the painter and the linguist are both using the islanders for their own purposes, and despite disclaimers, are not much better than the original English colonizers.

Great novel. Highly recommended. I will certainly move Magee's previous novel to the top of my TBR pile.

>73 BLBera: I agree.

Thanks Diane. It was so good.

91. F Is for Fugitive
In this installment, private detective Kinsey Millhone is hired to prove the innocence of a man convicted of a murder nearly twenty years ago. Her job takes her to a small coastal town with a lot of secrets and puts her into the middle of a dysfunctional family.

This is well plotted as usual, but advances in forensics since this was published in 1989 date this. For example, a lot of the questions in the novel could be answered with DNA testing. Still, entertaining and the audiobooks are well done.

Noting The Colony. Will wait for the paperback to be released.

This is the second glowing review I've seen for The Colony. On the wish list it goes.

>77 AlisonY:, >78 japaul22: It is wonderful. I'll watch for your comments.

92.Lessons in Chemistry is the story of Elizabeth Zott. Elizabeth wants to be a chemist in the 1950s, when all of the men who work in the lab with her want her to make coffee. She doesn't. This is an entertaining story of a woman who has to work way too hard to achieve her goals. And in the process, she ends by inspiring other women.

Although set in the 1950s many of the inequities suffered by Elizabeth continue today. So, while I enjoyed this entertaining novel, I also sigh at how some things don't seem to change.

Highly recommended.

>76 BLBera: You can say the same for almost any crime or mystery novel (or story) which is not set in the last decade or 3 - DNA or Google or Facebook and so on can easily solve a lot of them, eliminating a lot of the plot (funnily enough Spenser was brooding on the topic in the latest Spenser novel as well - mainly on the “Google could have solved so many of my early cases” line and not DNA but it is essentially the same. It is not wrong but it makes me wonder why people would read books like that and expect otherwise. Which is partially why I like some of the older series - I miss that kind of plotting in the modern novels (admittedly the better writers manage to get things mixed properly even nowadays but still)…

The alphabet series is designed to use the old techniques and technology - time does not move as fast in there and Kinsey does not really get to use the new methods of detection even in the later novels. They are as much mysteries as they are period pieces. So even these early ones don’t fully use the forensics of their times.

93. One Thousand and One Nights: A Retelling*

In her preface to these stories, al-Shaykh notes that on rereading them, she discovered "that women in those forgotten ancient societies were far from passive and fearful; they showed their strong will and intelligence and wit, all the time recognizing that their behavior was the second nature of the weak and oppressed." And in the nineteen stories she chose, we see that women are central and can hold their own. One surprise as I read this retelling was the open sexual desire expressed by the women. It's easy to see why al-Shaykh found the books under lock and key when she was a child.

This is an entertaining collection. One of the things that resonated with me was that Natalie Haynes in Pandora's Jar also points out that women were central to ancient Greek stories. Modern retellings have erased them.

94. When I Sing, Mountains Dance
This novel, set mostly around a small Pyrenees village tells the story of generations of people who live there, but it is also the story of the place and the stories that go with the place. The mountains narrate one chapter, while deer, a bear, and water sprites narrate others, giving the novel a mythological air. The poetic language makes this seem more an epic poem than a novel.

I loved learning about this out-of-the-way place, but if you want a plot, this novel may not be for you.

95. Black Cake
When Eleanor Bennett dies, her children, Byron and Benny learn that their parents had a lot of secrets. The story alternates between the past and present and eventually we learn the connections between the characters in both timelines. The story is enjoyable although perhaps everything comes together too neatly in the end.

96. A Visit from the Goon Squad
I wish I would have reread this before I read The Candy House. Now I'm going to have to reread The Candy House.

I read this again for my book club. As I had expected, feelings were mixed about this. Some members had tried the audiobook and had a hard time following it, which I can understand. Some who read print copies had similar reactions. They didn't like reading about one person and then abandoning the person in the next chapter. I always thought this compelled me to read on; I wanted to see if there was a connection eventually.

We also discussed certain topics like fame and aging and how fame didn't seem to make anyone happy, and how quickly fads and tastes change.

People generally liked the writing.

So, overall, good discussion that, I think, gave people who didn't like the book something to think about.

97. Scary Monsters is a novel in two parts. There's no indication as to which part to start with; you have to flip the book to read the second part. Both stories, Lili's and Lyle's, show the isolation and loneliness of immigrants, especially immigrants of color. I found both stories engrossing, although only tangentially connected, and the format of the novel is interesting.

I started with "Lyle," set in a future dystopian Australia where the air is unbreathable, and fires rage continuously. Immigrants are barely tolerated and run the risk of deportation at any time. Lyle and his wife and children try to fit in unobtrusively: "I believe it's best for people like us not to aim for the heights. It creates envy and attracts unnecessary attention." It's a scary world.

The second part, "Lili" takes place in France in the 1980s. Lili has immigrated from Australia and experiences a casual racism, even among her group of friends. She is lonely and although she has a group of friends, feels like an outsider, noticing that her white friends don't understand the privilege their race offers them. David Bowie's "Scary Monsters" is referenced in this part.

I will read more by de Kretser.

>86 BLBera: Scary Monsters sounds interesting. I will look for it.

I picked it up from my library shelf, Lisa, and I'm glad I did. I've heard good things about de Kretser, but haven't read anything else by her.

98. An Uncertain Place has a twisty plot that moves from a London cemetery with a pile of shoes with decaying feet in them, to vampires, and government corruption. Commissaire Adamsberg comes across the shoes while on a conference in London. Soon after he arrives back in Paris, he is called to a grisly murder scene that seems somehow connected. Adamsberg and his team are great idiosyncratic characters, and I look forward to the next book in the series with the promising title of The Ghost Riders of Ordebec

99. How to Read Now
In this collection of thought-provoking essays, Castillo uses reading in a wide sense, not just books, but also culture. She has challenged me to think about the way I read. She states that white people read from a privileged point of view, that we take for granted that we are the "expected" reader, that "...even when writers of color tell their own stories, those stories must cater to the needs and wishes of that expected, and expectant, reader: translations, glossaries, indexes, maps, rest stops along the way." I think about all the times I have wished for more information when I am reading writers in translation or from a different culture.

As in all essay collections, some of the essays are better than others. I thought "Main Character Syndrome" was too long, and a bit repetitive, but I really liked "How to Read Now," "Reading Teaches Us Empathy, and Other Fictions," and "The Children of Polyphemus." Her take on "white fantasy" is also interesting; she mentions J.K. Rowling, among others. Other topics include Peter Handke's Nobel Prize award, American Dirt, Joan Didion, Jane Austen, and The Odyssey.

Some quotes that stand out:
"Books, as world-encompassing as they are, aren't the destination; they're a waypoint. Reading doesn't bring us to books -- books bring us to reading. They're one of the places we go to help us become readers in the world."

"Our mainstream literary discourse continues to read writers of color ethnographically -- as if they provide crucial data about a certain subjugated group of people -- and white writers universally."

"We know that the stories we inherit and erase, no different from the ones we produce or ignore, are never neutral or ahistorical, and the force they bring with them is one that influences, consciously or subconsciously, how we read our world..."

I will come back to this collection, and, I hope, become a better reader because of it.

>90 BLBera: Added to my wishlist, it sounds like a must read. Thank you for the review.

>91 MissBrangwen: It certainly challenges ideas I've had about books and has given me a lot to think about. Not a comfortable read.

100. In Plain Sight
In this sixth book in the series, Joe has a new boss, and Opal Scarlett, the matriarch of the powerful Scarlett family, has disappeared. This has started open warfare between Hank and Arlen Scarlett, her two sons. To complicate matters further, J. W. Keeley, who blames Joe for the death of his family, has come to Wyoming for revenge. Action-packed but I miss the game warden aspect and time in the beautiful wild areas. Lots of blood and guts. This reminds me why I paused on this series.

The audiobook is well done.

>90 BLBera: "Our mainstream literary discourse continues to read writers of color ethnographically -- as if they provide crucial data about a certain subjugated group of people -- and white writers universally."

That sentence alone is challenging me...

>90 BLBera: A friend of mine raved about this, so now it's in my pile. She also said Castillo's America Is Not the Heart was excellent—have you read it?

>94 labfs39: Hi Lisa - It isn't a comfortable book, and Castillo doesn't mince words.

>95 lisapeet: Hi Lisa - I have a copy of America Is Not the Heart, but I haven't read it yet. I need to move it to my "read soon" pile.

>94 labfs39: I second this feeling.

It reminds me of an article I read following a link in one of this group threads (sorry that I can't find it anymore) about books written by male and female authors and how they are reviewed (a woman writting about family is seen as normal and maybe even considered as a limited/non universal scope, while a man writting about the same subject is praised for being able to flesh out characters and put himself in other's shoes...).
Being able to appreciate a book and an author without biais is so challenging. And finding the right balance between being blind to an author background and too aware of this background remains a challenge for me as a reader (says someone who just finished this morning one of the only novels translated from a North Korean author, a novel that is strongly marketed based on its origin and that is impossible to read without having this particular cultural and political background in mind).

I'll keep the title of this essay in mind, hoping it will be translated into English (it's unlikely, but her novel seems to have been translated and published earlier this year).

>97 raton-liseur: That's a great observation about writing by women and how it's reviewed. I think it is difficult to read without that awareness of the author. And should we? Lots of good questions. I hope you do find the collection of essays in translation.

>98 BLBera: No, I guess a completed unawareness of who the author is is impossible (and probably not advisable), but it is challenging to know to which extend this should and this will influence our perception of the book.

101. Cloud Cuckoo Land
I loved this sprawling novel, or two or three novels. Besides showing the importance of books, for a number of reasons, the novel also reveals the fragility of the written word:"...books, like people, die. They die in fires or floods or in the mouths of worms or at the whims of tyrants. If they are not safe-guarded, they go out of the world. And when a book goes out of the world, the memory dies a second death." We have lost so much of past literature. And, will technology safeguard the written word into the future?

Doerr takes several characters, and despite the disparate times and places, manages to bring them together. There are Anna and Omeir from fifteenth century Constantinople, Zeno and Seymour from present-day Idaho, and Konstance in a spacecraft somewhere in space. Learning what connects them through these pages is a wonderful journey.

103. Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon
This is a wonderful audiobook, an artistic portrait of Paul Simon by Malcolm Gladwell and Bruce Headlam. They explore Simon's career from the beginning, as a teen singing on the street in Queens to the present day. Simon talks about writing songs, with in-depth looks at "Sounds of Silence," "The Boxer," and "Graceland," to name a few. Even if you are not a Simon fan, this is a fascinating exploration of the creative process.

It's five hours long, distilled from about 30 hours of conversation. I would have happily listened to more.

>90 BLBera: I’ve had this on my wishlist since it was announced. Looks like I should pick up my own copy, rather than borrowing it from the library. America is Not the Heart is a novel that I still remember vividly, despite having read it a few years ago.

104. Shelf Life: Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller
In her memoir, Nadia Wassef recounts how she and her sister Hind and friend Nihal came to found Diwan, an independent bookstore in Cairo. None of the three had experience in business and Wassef tells about her learning curve. For example, she has to get beyond her own reading tastes, which center on literature. At first she resists self-help books, even though they sell. She also recounts problems with censorship and supply.

She also discusses the stratified class system; many of the employees can't afford to shop in Diwan. They sew shut the pockets of the uniform pants to prevent theft.

A fascinating mix of culture and personal life.

>103 BLBera: That sounds like an interesting one. I'll keep an eye out for it.

I found it very interesting, Lisa. There was a lot also about women being in charge -- a lot of Egyptian men had a hard time wrapping their heads around that.

>103 BLBera: I am regularly drawn to books about books or bokkshop, but am usually disappointed. Nevermind, I'll keep my eyes open in case this book is translated into French.

>103 BLBera: That looks like a good one. On the wish list it goes...

>106 raton-liseur: One of the things I found interesting is that Wassef had to go against her personal reading tastes and pay attention to what sold in the bookshop vs. what she would like to read.

>107 lisapeet: Hi Lisa, it was an interesting look at bookstores in a different context.

105. This Time Tomorrow
The protagonist of the novel, Alice Stern, goes to sleep on her fortieth birthday and wakes up the next morning on her sixteenth birthday. She moves through her day as a sixteen-year-old with new appreciation for her youth, her father, and the fact that life is full of future possibilities. But more than time travel, this is really a story about a daughter grieving for her father, a novelist. Knowing that Straub recently lost her father adds to the poignancy of the novel, and one can certainly draw parallels between Leonard Stern and Straub's father. As Alice observes, "...fiction was a myth. Fictional stories that is...the good ones..were always true." So this novel does ring true emotionally. The time travel device is an interesting way of working through that grief.

In some ways, the time travel is similar to The Midnight Library, but Straub handles it more thoughtfully.

>108 BLBera: I can relate to this, as I volunteer at my village library and I find myself recommanding books I did not like... It is odd, but I learn a lot trying to consider a book from another reader point of view. And to a certain extend, it has changed the way I approach some of the reviews I write, being more balanced and starting to be able to see that a book is good for certain reasons, even if it is not a book "that works for me".
I'll definitely need to keep an eye out for this book!

>110 raton-liseur: I've had to consider others' opinions when I choose books to teach. It has helped me to be more objective about books.

>101 BLBera: I also would have listened to a lot more of those conversations.

Working in a bookstore taught me a lot about stepping outside of my own shoes for giving recommendations, etc. And also not to be sensitive about people not liking the same things. I know that kind of sounds like a no-brainer, but realizing that it's not a personal attack when someone doesn't like something I love helped a lot.

>112 ursula: I also did a stint in a bookstore, Ursula, and I was always disappointed if a recommendation didn't work for someone.

106. Trust
Trust is about money and power in the early twentieth century when there weren't a lot of rules on Wall Street. The story follows one tycoon through the century. The novel's structure is fascinating, divided in to four sections, we get various glimpses of the tycoon's life. It's hard to say more without spoilers, but I quite enjoyed this.

As usual, you have read several things that pique my interest Beth. My library has several - Trust, How to read now. Cloud Cuckoo Land. And I'm also intrigued by Shelf Life: Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller. My, how I love to add to Mt. TBR!

>115 markon: It is fun to add to the list! I hope you enjoy whichever ones you decide to pick up.

107. Catherine Called Birdy
Good historical fiction for young readers. In some ways this is reminiscent of the Beatryce Prophecy, although I liked the later better. Perhaps because I read it first. Catherine Called Birdy is set in 13th century England. Birdy is a fourteen-year-old girl who likes to run and climb trees and rebels against the restrictions placed on her. Written in the form of Birdy's diary, this gives us a clear view of the times as well as Birdy's changed point of view as the year progresses.


108. How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water is a brilliant character-centered novel. Cara Romero is a fifty-something Dominican woman who lives in Washington Heights. The novel is a collection of monologues as Cara talks to the workforce program social worker. Interspersed with the sessions are the forms that Cara fills out.

The structure of the monologues works well here. I saw Angie Cruz at the Iowa City Book Festival, and she talked about the various forms the novel took before she decided on the monologue format. She also discussed how incredibly difficult it was to get Cara's voice right; she speaks English as a second language, while Cruz does not, so Cruz had to do a lot of thinking about word choice.

If Cara doesn't capture you from the first sentences, this book is probably not for you. Cara's voice is distinctive from the beginning and doesn't change.

Iowa City Book Festival
Angie Cruz
She read from her new novel How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water. Funnily enough, no one asked about the title. She talked about starting to write it at a time she was very discouraged and thinking about quitting writing. The voice of Cara Romero came to her on the subway, and she wrote most of the novel on different commutes. The finished novel is a series of monologues, sessions Cara has with her social worker. However, Cruz talks about how the novel went though a series of narrators before she settled on the current structure.

Cruz's reading brought the character to life, and the Q&A session with the writing students was warm and encouraging. It took her four years to sell Dominicana.

Alex Kotlowitz
An American Summer is a One Community One Read selection and Kotlowitz was an engaging speaker. He began as a journalist and believes stories are important, and that it's important to understand that there isn't one single story. One thing he noticed about reports of deaths is that often the parents are blamed, which adds to parents' grief. His book focuses on one summer in Chicago in 2013, but he pointed out that the violence hasn't ended. He talked about how we treat violence in neighborhoods differently from school shootings, yet youth in communities with a lot of violence are just as traumatized. He feels strongly that gun violence is a human rights issue. I've read the first couple of chapters and think this is an important book.

One of the questions asked about how he convinced people to talk to him. He said that for one of the stories, he met with the young man every week for eighteen months. He also said that there were stories that he worked on that people later asked him not to include.

Jennifer Knox
Crushing It is a collection of poetry. I was not familiar with Knox, but she was an entertaining reader and speaker. The title of the collection was given to her by Ada Limón. She has a lot of dialogue in her poems, yet she says she doesn't read them aloud when writing them. Also, mushrooms creep into a lot of her poems and she loves Levon Helm. The collection she's working on now has a lot of poems about menopause. One poem that she read from Crushing It:

Wolverine Season
"Oh honey, are you okay?"
I asked the woman in the bathroom,
soaking wet as if she'd just emerged
from the shower. "yeah -- maybe too
mush rum on an empty stomach."
She wiped her mouth with her hand
and left. In the sink, waxy red flecks
of lipstick. "That women over there
just puked up lipstick in the bathroom!"
I yelled in my friend's ear over
the Black Sabbath tribute band.
"Write a poem about that!"
she yelled back and smiled.
We were up late for a school night --
it was all part of the new regimen.
The documentary I'd just seen about death
said rocking out is actually good for you.
And rocking out to Sabbath? Dude,
we were gonna live, like, forever
on the bones other animals passed up.

Knox said people often tell her to write poems about things.

Elizabeth McCracken
The Hero of this Book
McCracken read from her novel, which is about her mother, but is a novel. She was very entertaining and talked about her time as a student at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and her experiences teaching writing. She says she is a very gentle critic except for titles. She is often critical of titles. I can't wait to read the book.

The Festival runs over two weeks, so I had to choose three days, which was hard. I would have liked to see Anthony Doerr and Rebecca Solnit, but they appeared during the first couple of days. Still, I am really happy with the writers I saw.

I added some books to my library and will post about those later.

>118 BLBera: Thanks for posting about the Festival, Beth. It sounds like you attended some interesting sessions.

>119 labfs39: It was fun, Lisa. I'm glad I finally got to go. My first retirement activity.

109. Sparked: George Floyd, Racism, and the Progressive Illusion
This is a thought-provoking collection of essays sparked by George Floyd's murder. The essays are written by scholars, activists, and artists who lived or are living in Minnesota. I found the personal essays the most effective, but I did appreciate the breadth of experience represented. Amy August's "Coloring In the Progressive Illusion" is an excellent introduction to the various shocking racial disparities that exist in Minnesota. We have to do better.

>118 BLBera: Nice roundup of the festival, Beth! That sounds like fun. I just finished listening to Elizabeth McCracken on the fiction/non/fiction podcast, talking about her newest book, and she was great—I'm a fan, and have heard her read before, and she never disappoints.

I also enjoyed your Iowa workshop post, and love the Knox poem Wolverine Season.

How fun to have seen Elizabeth McCracken in person. I've heard interviews or when she was the guest on a podcast and she sounds like a lot of fun.

>122 lisapeet: It was fun, Lisa. Elizabeth McCracken is very entertaining, and I was happy that I stayed to listen to her.

>123 dchaikin: I was happy to discover a new-to-me poet. I will follow her work.

>124 RidgewayGirl: They had a great line-up, Kay. I was impressed with all the authors I saw.

110. Little Fires Everywhere is my October book club selection and I think it raises a lot of interesting questions. Ng does a great job of character development; we learn a lot about characters from their actions. I also found it really interesting that Izzy, the youngest Richardson child doesn't appear until about a third of the way through the novel even though people talk about her a lot.

This is about the Richardson family members, who live in the utopian Shaker Heights. Mrs. Richardson owns a rental house and has decided to rent to a single mom, who is an artist, Mia Warren and her daughter Pearl. The novel begins with the events that result from this relationship, and Ng does a good job of keeping us reading to find out how everyone arrives at that point.

I look forward to discussing this. Some of the questions that I would like to discuss are: What makes a good mother?
Is Shaker Heights a good place to live? Advantages? Disadvantages?

111. Lucy by the Sea
Lucy Barton is back with her distinctive voice. Strout does an excellent job of capturing the uncertainty of the pandemic, especially for older people, who underwent huge changes in their lives. This reads like Lucy's diary, and while I liked this book more than Oh! William, I kind of hope Strout moves on from Lucy. I think she has explored her life as much as she can.

>127 BLBera: I just read an article/interview about the book and Strout says there that she probably won't write about her again. I do think that Strout is interested in how people change when they age -- she show Olive becoming more compassionate as she ages and Lucy seems to have become more tentative and fussy. I'm reading Lucy By the Sea now and I find the way she returns constantly in her mind to her childhood is in keeping with how elderly people think and especially when there was trauma in that childhood.

Hi Kay, I agree that Strout is really good at exploring people (Lucy) in all their complexity; I just hope that she can move on to another character. I'll watch for your comments on this one.

112. Companion Piece
Ali Smith is her usual genius self in this novel that explores the effects of COVID and isolation. Of course, Smith doesn't do this in a linear fashion; she also includes a story of a young apprentice from the Plague years.

Smith also plays with language, demonstrating the dangerous possibilities of words and stories. Wonderful.

113. Tied Up in Tinsel
In an isolated manor house on the moors, Troy Alleyn is painting a portrait of the Halberds Manor's proprietor. When a servant goes missing, her policeman husband is called to investigate.

I read through Marsh's books years ago, but I had no memory of this one. As Patricia Meyer Spacks points out in On Rereading, "...the adult who has read many books over a long period may have memories sufficiently blurred that a book reread after a gap of years offers nothing recognizable." This was certainly true of this novel. The only thing left was the memory of enjoyment of this series, and I did enjoy discovering it again.

The audiobook was very good. My library has other Marsh audiobooks, so I may dip into those as well.

>130 BLBera: The one I read was from the library, but I just bought a copy to send to a friend I think will like it. I really need to go back and read her seasonal quartet now.

I'm sure the seasons quartet is one I will revisit, Lisa. And the book covers themselves are works of art.

114. Laurentian Divide returns to Hatchet Inlet in the second of Sarah Stonich's Northern Trilogy. The first, Vacationland, focused on Naledi, a resort outside of Hatchet Inlet. This novel revisits some of the same families who appear in the first one.

I loved this novel with its focus on small-town life in northern Minnesota. The locals, while depending on tourists, mostly feel contempt for their risky, uninformed, and often dangerous behaviors. Anyone who has ever spent time in a small resort town will recognize Hatchet Inlet.

The community is a close one but also one that is losing its young people; there are few opportunities outside the service industry. There is also the disadvantage of small-town life, brilliantly shown by Stonich, in which everyone knows who drinks and who is having marital problems. Yet, when two young women are killed in a car accident, the whole town gathers to console the families.

I look forward to the final book in the trilogy.

>134 BLBera: that sounds like a great setting. I will put it on my list. Looks like Vacationland is first in the series?

Vacationland is the first of the planned trilogy, Jennifer. I may have liked that a bit more than Laurentian Divide, but both were worthwhile.

115. Nightcrawling
This novel is a disturbing one, not least because it is inspired by real events. Kiara Johnson is seventeen at the start of the novel and lives with her brother Marcus. They are on their own, high school dropouts and underemployed, on the verge of being evicted. Kiara begins to sell herself, the only way she can see to avoid homelessness. In Kiara, Mottley has created a living, breathing character who is more than a statistic.

While the plot is uneven in spots, Mottley has avoided the temptation to tie up all loose ends. This is a remarkable first novel that gives us characters to care about and issues to consider after finishing the book.

116. When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through
"The equating of written languages to literacy came with an oppositional world view, a belief set in place as a tool for genocide. Yet our indigenous nations prized and continue to value the word."

These words introduce this comprehensive collection of indigenous poetry. Arranged chronologically, by region, the collection gives us an idea of the immense depth and variety of indigenous poetry. As with any anthology, I enjoyed some selections more than others, but I learned a lot about the poetry of various regions. Some poets were familiar to me, while I encountered others for the first time. What is clear from this collection is that indigenous poetry has a rich history and that it is still going strong today.

I read through this collection from cover to cover and will probably revisit it in the future.

>138 BLBera: Ohhhh that looks good.

I did enjoy it, Lisa. You wouldn't have to read it cover to cover. :) I probably enjoyed the older poems the least, especially those that used Western poetic forms. But it did give me context.

117. Afterlives
This was my first novel by Gurnah, a Nobel Prize winner, and I have to admit, I was disappointed. I discussed this novel with two friends, also avid readers, and neither of them finished it. I understand I may be in the minority here as there are some four and five star reviews.

Primarily, the novel suffers from a lack of focus. In parts, it seems very much like an anti-colonialism polemic, and when the characters' stories emerge, the characters seem wooden. The narration creates a distance between the reader and the characters; there is detailed accounting of day-to-day activities, but little information about motivations and the insertion of random events that don't seem to lead us anywhere. And then, in the last twenty pages, about ten years pass, in which loose ends are tied up.

I liked learning about the lives of the characters and would have liked to see them more fully developed. I'll give Gurnah another try, but I did find this disappointing.

It's interesting because I am reading On Rereading, and am currently reading the chapter "Books I Ought to Like." This reminds me of how varied reading tastes are, and while I can appreciate reading books set in a different time and place, I didn't love this.

If anyone wants my copy, PM me your address and I'll pass it on.

>141 BLBera: Too bad for Abdulrazak Gurnah. I too have read some good reviews from him, so that's great you decided to give him another try.
I'd like to read this author as well (probably not until next year though) but bought another book (Paradise). I hope I'll like it better than you did.

I think he deserves another try; there were things I liked about the book, and I found the historical aspect interesting.

I've only read one of Gurnah's books - Paradise - and I liked it. It was a good look at the melting pot of cultures that make up East Africa. But I also was a bit lost during some of it and I'm not sure if it was the writing or that I'm just not familiar enough with the culture.

Thanks, Jennifer. I'll definitely give Gurnah another try. I'll make a note of Paradise.

118. On Rereading
I enjoyed Meyer Spacks' exploration of rereading. She looks at a variety of books, from childhood favorites, to various books she both enjoyed and didn't enjoy in the past. Some books hold up better than others. Childhood favorites like The Wizard of Oz and Treasure Island, she still finds rewarding, while The Catcher in the Rye and The Golden Notebooks, books she read when they were published in the 50s and 60s, don't fare as well.

Meyer Spacks' academic approach may not appeal to everyone, but I found a lot to think about, and as a academic, I could relate to many of her experiences.

Two quotes that strike me:

"The discoveries of each new reading of a given text -- 'bad readings' included -- add up to a richer interpretation than a single reading could offer."

"It's a problem for precocious readers that they invariably read much that they're too young for, and they don't necessarily realize that fact."

119. The Ghost Riders of Ordebec
In honor of Halloween, I picked up this novel in the Commissaire Adamsberg series. The mystery surrounds the legend of a "ghostly cavalcade" that, when it appears, forecasts death.

Of course Adamsberg becomes interested in this and when murders of those seen in the cavalcade do occur, he is called to investigate. Other mysteries involve the death of a wealthy industrialist and the question of who tied a pigeon's legs together. Those questions kept me turning pages, and I enjoyed my visit to Adamsberg's squad, with its interesting personalities.

>146 BLBera: "It's a problem for precocious readers that they invariably read much that they're too young for, and they don't necessarily realize that fact."


And unfortunately sometimes write off authors as "not good" simply because they didn't have the life experiences to relate or appreciate.

Too true, Lisa. I found this with The Great Gatsby. I wasn't impressed when I read it in high school. I've read it a couple of times as an adult, and was amazed at how good it was. I've been working my way through some of those books and find that I appreciate them more the second time, even the ones I liked on first reading.

I was the same with Virginia Woolf. I hated To the Lighthouse when I read it in school (or more precisely abandoned it on boredom after a few chapters and answered my exams on the base of the study notes). It blew me away, though, when I tried it again a few years ago. I was just way too immature to get the emotion of it in my teens.

>146 BLBera: >148 labfs39: >149 BLBera: >150 AlisonY:

I've made a point to revisit classics and authors which my teen-age self did not like. Most of the Victorians for example. :) Plus now I can read them in English which helps with some of them I think.

>150 AlisonY: I had the same reaction as you when I (tried to) read To the Lighthouse. But I then was in my late 20's or early 30's, so not sure I would qualify as a precocious reader here. Your comment make me think I should give it another chance maybe.

>150 AlisonY: What a coincidence, Alison. I am going to reread To the Lighthouse for my book club in the next week or so. I'll see how it holds up although to be honest, I don't remember much about it.

>151 AnnieMod: I have also revisited some of my teenage reading, Annie.

>152 raton-liseur: I'll let you know how my reread turns out.

>153 BLBera: I have read very little from Virginia Woolf because of this book, which was the first I (tried to) read from her and disliked to the point I did not finish it. Maybe I need to be talked into giving her another chance. So I'm looking forward to your review of this book!

I loved Mrs. Dalloway.

>155 BLBera: That's the only Woolf book that I have read actually. But I can't decide if I liked it because I have watched and read The Hours before or if I liked it for itself.
I own To the Lighthouse and A room of one's own, both unread and intimidating.

>150 AlisonY:, >152 raton-liseur: Funny. I read and enjoyed To the lighthouse and A room of one's own as an adult - in my 30s? I think. I've started but not finished Mrs. Dalloway twice. I think it's one I'll have to be in the right mood for, as well as have a good stretch of time. I don't think it's one I can dip in and out of.

>156 raton-liseur: A Room of One's Own is a nonfiction essay and not at all intimidating. If you like magical realism, I also recommend Orlando.

>156 raton-liseur: I liked both of those. A Room of One's Own is an essay and maybe more accessible than the novel? But Woolf isn't to everyone's taste.

>157 markon: i loved all of those.

>158 ELiz_M: Orlando is on my shelf. One of these days. I've loved all the others by Woolf that I've read.

>152 raton-liseur: >153 BLBera: I really hope you both enjoy a reread of 'To The Lighthouse'. It really spoke to me as a mother in particular.

>155 BLBera:, >157 markon: Mrs Dalloway I really didn't enjoy. I was so disappointed as I loved The Hours by Michael Cunningham, but it just dragged for me. Between the Acts I enjoyed.

>160 AlisonY: Hi Alison - I only hope my expectations of To the Lighthouse are not too high. I remember loving it, but it has been a long time. Mrs. Dalloway is one of my favorite books of all time. Isn't it funny how our tastes in books vary. That makes book discussions so much more interesting.

120. Crushing It is an enjoyable collection of poetry from an author I saw at the Iowa City Book Festival. Her poems look at everyday life with a healthy dose of humor. She uses a lot of dialog in her poetry, and she was a good reader.

I read both To the Lighthouse and Mrs. Dalloway in my 50s, which I think was a good thing—I wouldn't have appreciated them, nor had the patience for Woolf's style, in my 20s or 30s. I liked them both from different angles—To the Lighthouse struck a more personal note, and I read Mrs. D at the beginning of the pandemic, when it was having a moment, and really enjoyed the conversations online that were happening around it.

I reference A Room of One's Own in my head all the time, and own a copy, but have yet read it. That would be a good 2023 project (not ALL of 2023... I read slow but not that slow).

Hi Lisa - I think you would like A Room of One's Own; I've liked Woolf's essays quite a lot, so different from her fiction. I keep thinking I would like to do a year read of her work in chronological order, maybe a good retirement project...

I imagine, if To the Lighthouse is like other books I read in my teens, that I would appreciate it a lot more now. And, I look forward to a good discussion; her style is not everyone's cup of tea.

So many people talking me into those books from Virginia Woolf. I really need to get to it. I'll wait for my reading horizon to be less crowded, but I'm making a note for it. Thanks all!

Maybe we should do a group read of A Room of One's Own sometime.

>166 AlisonY: I would be totally in for that.

That's tempting!

I wouldn't mind reading it again. Any thoughts about when we should do it?

121. Best of Friends is another great novel by Kamila Shamsie. It explores the complexities of friendship.

Zahra and Maryam are best friends growing up in Karachi until Maryam is sent to boarding school in England when they are fourteen. Thirty years later both women are in London, still friends, each successful. Zahra is a lawyer working for a civil rights organization, while Maryam is a wealthy venture capitalist. The novel explores the dynamics of friendship between people who are very different.

Highly recommended. Lots to think about.

>167 lisapeet:, >168 raton-liseur:, >169 BLBera: Does Feb. 23 sound too far away? With Christmas and New Year busyness it might be nice to approach it with a clear head.

Sounds fine with me. We can discuss on new threads for the new year. I might do a Woolf read in 23.

>171 AlisonY: I'm fine with that, and it's probably not as far away as it sounds...

>171 AlisonY: Feb next year works for me too. I'll have time to mentally prepare for this read and avoid conflicting reading commitments, and the frenzy of end of year family-wise + the frenzy of beginning of the year in LT (remember how busy CR was at the beginning of 2022!) will have vanished.

>166 AlisonY: I'm in!

>173 lisapeet:, >174 raton-liseur:, >175 labfs39: Sounds like a plan. I am loving To the Lighthouse, wonderful writing.

>170 BLBera: I put this on my list as soon as I saw it was coming out. Glad to hear you enjoyed it! I really like Shamsie's writing.

I've loved all the books by Shamsie that I've read as well, Jennifer, but this may be my favorite. There is so much in it, but it is a great portrayal of the complexities of friendship. I'll watch for your comments.

>177 japaul22: >178 BLBera: Which ones have you read? I read Burnt Shadows earlier this year and loved it.

Last post on Woolf (sorry for filling up your thread, Beth). Will set up a group read for Feb once we get the 2023 thread running. Will out a note in Messages in case others would like to join in.

>179 labfs39: I've read Home Fire, A God in Every Stone and Best of Friends. All excellent.

>180 AlisonY: Not a problem.

I read Home Fire. And I thought I'd read Burnt Shadows but it's not in my library . . .

So I guess I'm basing my positive opinion on one book. I'll have to get to another sooner rather than later!

>182 japaul22: Best of Friends is a good one, Jennifer.

>182 japaul22: I've also read and enjoyed Home fire So Best of friends is a book bullet for me.

>180 AlisonY: I'm putting a reminder on my calendar to get a copy of A room of one's own at the end of January.

122. To the Lighthouse
I read this years ago but remembered little. I loved this but can see why people don't. Woolf has written an impressionistic novel in which most of the action occurs in her characters' heads. The novel is divided into three parts. the first part, about half of the novel takes place in one day, mostly from Mrs. Ramsey's point of view. The dinner party scene is amazing.

The second part takes place ten years later, and is very short; we learn the fates of some of the characters. Then, the third part is back at the lighthouse, ten years after part 1.

There is a lot in this novel about the impossibility of knowing another person and about the value of art, to mention a couple of topics.

This is a selection for my book club, and I look forward to the discussion.

>185 BLBera: Did you enjoy it as much second time around?

I think I appreciated it more, Alison. Still, I know that stream of consciousness without a plot is not everyone's thing, so I expect we'll have a lot of people who don't love it at our discussion.

What a great book for book club. I really enjoyed it when I read it as a grownup, maybe six years ago? And would absolutely reread now.

I am a Woolf fan and will definitely reread this one. I always feel I am missing things (not a bad feeling). I am about 100 pages into Demon Copperhead and loving it. This might be Kingsolver's best... We'll see.

My book club had a good discussion of To the Lighthouse. Some people struggled with the language but thought that once they got into it and went with the flow, it was better. A couple of people listened to the audiobooks with Nicole Kidman reading it and thought it was very good.

We talked about gender roles and how they were defined and how visual much of the novel is. Some mentioned that the characters are very well drawn.

All in all, a good discussion, even considering that most did not love Woolf's style. Some who hadn't finished it decided they would go back and finish, while others were going to try an audiobook.

>190 BLBera: That's interesting. I can see how it's not for everyone. Once I got into the stream of consciousness style I found it made the characters really come alive.

>189 BLBera: I started the first few pages of Demon Copperhead and felt like I should reread David Copperfield first, which I haven’t read since high school. What do you think?

>191 AlisonY: I think you're right, Alison.

>192 japaul22: I am in the same boat, Jennifer. But I don't think I need to go back and reread David Copperfield. I am enjoying Demon Copperhead even without recent memories of the Dickens.

>193 BLBera: That's good to know. I don't really want to reread David Copperfield, so I'm glad you're enjoying it without the benefit of a recent reading.

As I read, I remember various parts of David Copperfield, vaguely, but it really doesn't matter.

123. Pitch
This is another good collection of poems by Todd Boss. And I LOVE the cover, with its piano in the road, a reference to "Overtures on an Overturned Piano," one of my favorite poems in this book. Boss's subjects range widely, from farm life, to love, to the collapse of the 35W bridge. His humor and focus on details that make up our lives appeal to me.

A couple of my favorites include "Six Fragments for the 35W Bridge," especially the start of 2:
2.
Like
reading,
crossing
suspends
us
beginning
to
end.

And a hilarious love poem:
"My Love for You is So Embarrassingly"

grand...would you mind terribly, my groundling,
if I compared it to the Hindenburg (I mean,
before it burned) -- that vulnerable, elephantine

dream of transport, a fabric Titanic on an ocean
of air? There: with binoculars, dear, you can
just make me out, in a gondola window, wildly

flapping both arms as the ship's shadow
moves like a vagrant country across the
country where you live in relative safety. I pull

that oblong shadow along behind me wherever
I go. It is so big, and goes so slowly, it alters
ground temperatures noticeably, makes

housewives part kitchen curtains, wrings
whimpers from German shepherds. Aren't I
ridiculous? Isn't it anachronistic, this

dirigible devotion, this Zeppelin affection, a moon
that touches, with a kiss of wheels, the ground
you take for granted beneath your heels?--

I will look for Boss's next collection.

124. Demon Copperhead
Barbara Kingsolver's retelling of David Copperfield in today's Appalachia works remarkably well. Demon, born to a single mother with addiction issues, learns early to count on nothing or no one. As he notes, "A kid is a terrible thing to be, in charge of nothing." Social services, schools, and the foster care system do little to protect children, themes that match the concerns of Dickens in his novel. Kingsolver also gives us versions of some of Dickens' memorable characters: Mr. Micawber and Uriah Heep to name a couple. They fit seamlessly into the story.

My only tiny complaint is that I thought it dragged a little in the middle, but that could just be me and my lack of engagement in the subject of high school football. This is a great novel, and it's not necessary to have read David Copperfield to enjoy it -- although now I am tempted to reread it.

Great quote by Mary Oliver:

“One thing I do know is that poetry, to be understood, must be clear. It mustn’t be fancy. I have the feeling that a lot of poets writing now, they sort of tap dance through it. I always feel that whatever isn’t necessary shouldn’t be in a poem.”

I am going to pause Nights of Plague, I'm about 250 pages in, in the almost-700-page novel and am finding it tedious. I will return it to the library and try again when there is less going on.

>198 BLBera: I love Mary Oliver's quote about poetry. Maybe I have such difficulty with a lot of poetry because it's too "fancy" with lots of unnecessary verbiage. Possibly why I've generally liked what I've read of her (and Billy Collins).

I've gained a lot of respect for this viewpoint after teaching poetry, Deborah. Students respond much more to things they can understand, or at least that don't make them feel stupid.

Happy Thanksgiving. I hope all are well in your world.

126. State of Terror
I listened to this; it was a good audiobook.

Like all thrillers, it required some suspension of disbelief, but the terrorist plot was not unrealistic. Ellen Adams is the Secretary of State and is in disfavor with the President because of an acrimonious campaign and some personal issues that we discover as the novel progresses. However, after some terrorist attacks, they are forced to work together. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep the pages turning.

I kept picturing Adams as Hillary Clinton. I did enjoy the brief visit to Three Pines. This is a good thriller.

127. Haven
In her author's note, Emma Donoghue tells us that Haven is inspired by an island off the southwest of Ireland, Skellig Michael. There's evidence of human settlement there from about 600, and this novel images that first settlement.

This is wonderful historical fiction that immerses us in the inhospitable setting. The three characters are equally well drawn: Artt, who leads the other two monks is charismatic but unforgiving of weakness; Cormac is older and kind, as well as practical; and Trian is naive but appreciates nature.

While the novel is firmly set in the seventh century, we can also see some themes that resonate with us, like the cost of isolation and abuse of the environment.

If you like historical fiction, you will appreciate this novel. I will certainly think about it for a long time.

I love her books, been looking forward to getting it. thats for the review

>203 BLBera: This seems interesting and right up my alley. I am a bit streched in terms of reading time at the moment, but might keep my eyes open for this one.

128. G Is for Gumshoe is one of my favorites so far. This is a well plotted mystery, with Kinsey searching for a missing person and trying to stay alive after someone puts a hit on her. Both storylines move along, and I love the Brontë references.

The audiobook is very good.

129. The 1619 Project
This collection of essays, photos, poetry, and short fiction is a must-read for anyone who wants to be informed about race. I learned a lot about US history, parts never mentioned in school, as well as the insidious effects of systemic racism in our country. The essays are by scholars in a variety of fields and cover topics from religion and music to citizenship and justice. The poetry, photos and short fiction are wonderful as well.

Highly recommended.

I just started Burning Questions, a collection of essays and lectures by Margaret Atwood. This is going to be a winner: in the first essay, I laughed aloud at this:
"I wanted to try a dystopia from the female point of view...However, this does not make The Handmaid's Tale a 'feminist dystopia,' except insofar as giving a woman a voice and an inner life will always be considered 'feminist' by those who think women ought not to have these things."

And in defense of liberal arts:
"'The arts' -- as we've come to term them -- are not a frill. They are the heart of the matter, because they are about our hearts, and our technological inventiveness is generated by our emotions, not just by our minds. A society without the arts would have broken its mirror and cut out its heart. It would no longer be what we now recognize as human."

And these quotes are just from the first essay! I am looking forward to this. This work covers about twenty years, so it will take me into next year, I'm sure.

130. The Guest Cat
If not for my book club, I probably wouldn't have picked up this little book. Translated from Japanese, it tells the story of a couple of writers who befriend a neighbor's cat. Lovely and poetic. I am not a cat lover, and I still appreciated the book, which shows the bond we can have with our pets. I will be interested to see how the discussion goes.

132. The English Understand Wool
This is a wonderful novella, which can be read in one sitting. In it, the first person narrator, a very confident seventeen-year-old young woman explains the lessons she learned from her mother, starting with, "The English understand wool." As the story progresses, we learn that the family has secrets. Very enjoyable.

>210 BLBera: she wrote the last samurai, an incredible book that our online book group at the time chose for discussion. The above book sounds so different, but I know how well she writes, so I believe you!

133. Dust Child
Overall Dust Child is a good story about a forgotten group of people: children of American soldiers left behind when the soldiers left Vietnam. Quê' Mai follows three storylines: Phong, one of these "dust children"; Trang and Quynh, two young Vietnamese women who become "bar girls" in Saigon; and Dan, a Vietnam vet, who returns to Vietnam after fifty years to find peace.

felt the characters lacked distinctive voices, and the novel became didactic in places, making for an uneven tone. However, hearing the story of the war from a Vietnamese perspective is important. I found Phong's story especially moving.

>210 BLBera: You're the 2nd or 3rd person who has recommended this book. My library has it on order, but it hasn't arrived yet and I feel impatient!

>210 BLBera: I read this book from the library because a number of years ago I read her novel The Last Samurai (which is fairly long), and loved it. I was looking for something else by her, and this was the first thing I saw, so I'm not sure if she's written anything else. If you can, I would say it's worthwhile to try to track down The Last Samurai.

I will add it to the list, Deborah.

Fun article about best book covers: https://lithub.com/the-103-best-book-covers-of-2022

134. Balladz has a great cover.
I love this collection. Olds starts with a section titled "Quarantine," and I enjoyed seeing what a poet does with COVID. The book ends with "Elegies," tributes to dead friends and lover. I kind of wish I had started with this section because the book ends on such a sad note. In between, Olds pays tribute to Emily Dickinson, with "Amherst Balladz," and there are also nods to Walt Whitman and William Carlos Williams.

Olds' poetry is very personal, yet she is able to make the personal relatable; we all worry about illness and other daily stressors and we all lose people.

One poem, "New Year's Song," that I liked, ends:

Life is a gift, a gift given
by no one -- given by nothing, as something
may be a gift of nothing, and of
the everything that nestles unknown
in nothing. For a moment the core of my life
was not desire, but the knowledge of my unearned luck.

>217 BLBera: Yes. And if I can rest in that knowledge of my unearned luck more often than in the I want or I wish, i am happier.

>217 BLBera: I’ve really enjoyed Sharon Olds. Nice review and excerpt.

>218 markon: Too true.

>219 dchaikin: This is an excellent collection.

135. Flight
Three siblings get together for the first Christmas after their mother's death. Strong jumps from character to character, giving us a brief look at each person, until we have a complete overview of the family. Although there are conflicts, one of the brothers sees his family "as a small good gift. They aren't perfect: they fight and maybe none of them would have become friends if they'd not been forced their whole lives to be together as a family. But they love each other and they like each other well enough."

Great character study and a timely book as we prepare for the holidays.

136. Unto Us a Son Is Given
I really liked this twenty-eighth book in the Guido Brunetti series set in Venice. It stands out from previous novels because we learn more about Guido's relationship with his father-in-law and we see a more personal side of Patta, Guido's superior. There isn't even a murder until about halfway through the book. And, as always, there is Paola's cooking.

>217 BLBera: I like the concept of unearned luck—something I think about often. Great reviews.

Thanks Lisa. I just finished another collection of poetry, Dearly by Margaret Atwood. It was interesting reading this collection as I read her new essay collection. Her poetry in this collection has a very elegiac tone; the copyright is 2020, so I imagine many of the poems are in response to the death of her partner. There are lots focused on the environment as well.

Really liking Atwoods new collection esp her book and author reviews. Some of the envionmental stories were more of the same, Im not the right audience, but then they wouldnt be reading this. Still excellent writing