Sally Lou's reading in 2023

Once again, no fancy themes. In 2023 I want to read more for pleasure, and not be so serious and CATs and KITs. (However, I have never thought I had to read all months for any CAT/KIT except for this year's CATWoman which I organized.) I'm only hosting one month (September for ClassicsCAT) which is much fewer than usual.

Once again, I will be reading by months.

Reading in January

1. (1) The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray -- Colonnades Book Club and BingoDOG 2023 -- finished Jan. 6th -- 4 stars.
2. (2) True to Form by Elizabeth Berg -- BingoDOG 2023-- finished reading Jan. 8th -- 3 stars
3. The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey, illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren, a Little Golden Book BingoDOG 2023-- read Jan. 10th. -- 5 stars
4. (3) Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell -- Northside Library book group and BingoDOG 2023-- finished reading Jan. 16th -- 3.5 stars
5. (4) Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan --BingoDOG 2023-- finished reading Jan. 17th -- 4 stars.
6. (5) Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution -- Todd S. Purdum -- BingoDOG 2023 and AlphaKIT 2023 -- finished reading Jan. 24th -- 5 stars
7. (6) Silver Alert by Lee Smith -- LT ER and BingoDOG 2023 -- finished reading Jan. 26 -- 4 stars
8. (7) Plain: a Memoir of Mennonite Girlhood by Mary Alice Hostetter -- BingoDOG 2023 -- finished reading Jan. 28th -- 4.5 stars
9. Hillbilly Quaker by Jennifer Elam -- Pendle Hill pamphlet 475 -- BingoDOG 2023 read Jan. 29th -- 4.5 stars
10. (8) Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (science fiction) -- BingoDOG 2023 -- finished reading last 19 p. after midnight Jan. 31st -- 4 stars

Reading in February:

1. Hot Dog by Doug Salati -- Caldecott Award Medal for 2023 -- read Feb. 4th -- 5 stars
2. (9) Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie -- RandomKIT 2023 and BingoDOG 2023-- finished reading Feb. 10th -- 3 stars
3. (10) Second Time Around by Melody Carlson -- LT ER -- finished reading Feb. 12th -- 4 stars
4. (11) Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain -- ClassicsCAT 2023 and BingoDOG 2023-- finished reading Feb. 14th -- 3.5 stars
5. (12) Bleachers by John Grisham -- BingoDOG 2023-- read on Feb. 18th -- 5 stars
6. (13) Horse by Geraldine Brooks -- BingoDOG 2023--finished reading Feb. 3rd -- 5 stars
7. (14) The Guest Cottage by Nancy Thayer -- GeoCAT -- finished reading Feb 28th -- 4 stars

Reading in March:

1. Short stories mainly set in New Zealand from The Complete Stories of Katherine Mansfield or Stories by Katherine Mansfield read for GeoCAT
a. "The Voyage" -- read Mar. 6th (very early morning) -- GeoCAT, BingoDOG and RandomCAT (water)
b. "Taking the Veil" -- read Mar. 6th -- GeoCAT
c. "The Fly" -- read Mar. 6th -- GeoCAT (set in New Zealand?)
d. "The Canary" -- read Mar. 6th -- GeoCAT (set in New Zealand?)
e. "Her First Ball" -- read Mar. 8th -- GeoCAT
f. "Millie" -- read Mar. 8th -- GeoCAT
g. "The Wind Blows" -- read Mar. 9th -- GeoCAT
h. "The Young Girl -- read Mar. 9th -- GeoCAT
i. "The Singing Lesson" -- read Mar. 9th -- GeoCAT
j. "The Woman in the Store" -- read Mar. 9th -- GeoCAT
k. "The Daughters of the Late Colonel" -- read Mar. 9th -- GeoCAT
l. "Life of Ma Parker" -- read Mar. 27th -- GeoCAT
m. "The Stranger" -- read Mar. 28th -- GeoCAT
n. "The Doves' Nest" -- read Mar. 28th -- GeoCAT

2. (15) The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman -- Colonnades Book Club -- finished reading Mar. 7th -- 2 stars
3. (16) Daughters of Nantucket by Julie Gerstenblatt -- BingoDOG -- finished reading Mar. 20th -- 5 stars
4. (17) How to Not Write Bad: the Most Common Writing Problems and the Best Ways to Avoid Them by Ben Yagoda -- recommended at high school class reunion on zoom -- finished reading Mar. 23rd.
5. (18) Book of Delights: Essays by Ross Gay -- JMRL and VA Book Festival's Same Page selection (community read), AlphaKIT -- 2 stars
6. (19) Stories by Katherine Mansfield -- GeoCAT -- finished reading Mar. 28th

Reading in April:

1. (20) The Poetic Justice: a Memoir by John Charles Thomas -- RandomKIT -- finished reading Apr. 1 -- 4.5 stars.
2. (21) The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz -- Colonnades reading club -- finished reading Apr. 6th. -- 3 stars
3. (22) Benjamin Banneker and Us: Eleven Generations of an American Family by Rachel Jameson Webster with Edith Lee Harris, Robert Lett, Gwen Marable, and Edwin Lee -- LT ER -- finished reading Apr. 9th -- 4 stars
4. (23) The Organ Thieves: The Shocking Story of the First Heart Transplant in the Segregated South by Chip Jones -- Northside Book Group -- finished reading Apr. 15th -- 4 stars
5. (24) My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson -- CFM Big Read, BingoDOG -- finished reading April 22nd -- 4.5 for cover story (novelle)
6. (25) At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie -- BingoDOG and ClassicsCAT -- finished reading Apr. 28th -- 3 stars
7. Cat Tales: Snippets on Life from Our Favorite Felines -- by Charles Wysocki -- read Apr. 28th -- 3 stars

Reading in May

1. (26) Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown by Anne Glenconner -- Colonnades Book Club -- finished reading May 3rd -- 3 stars
2. (27) Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery -- ClassicsCAT, KiddyCAT, and GeoCAT -- finished reading May 9th -- 4.5 stars
3. (28) Trailed: One Woman's Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders by Kathryn Miles -- MysteryKIT -- finished reading May 14th -- 4.5 stars
4. (29) Eastern Shore Shorts by Gail Priest -- reread — finished rereading May 19th — 4.5 stars
5. (30) Little Lindy is Kidnapped: How the Media Covered the Crime of the Century by Thomas Doherty -- BingoDOG -- finished reading May 27th -- 2.5 stars.
6. (31) Sea Star: Orphan of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry -- read May 29th for June KittyCAT -- 4 stars

DNF: Hiss & Tell by Rita Mae Brown: read first 62 p. but stopped because I could not get interested in the story -- also getting tired of settings in two different time periods and reading the author's views as spoken by some of her main characters.

Reading in June:

1. (32) The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation by Anna Malaika Tubbs -- finished reading June 2nd -- BingoDOG and AlphaKIT-- 4 stars
2. (33) Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, translated by Lucia Graves -- book group and BingoDOG -- finished reading June 10th -- 3 stars
3. (34) City of Darkness and Light by Rhys Bowen (Molly Murphy Mystery) -- SeriesCAT and AlphaKIT -- finished reading June 12th --4 stars
4. (35) Dancing with History: A Life for Peace and Justice by George Lakey -- finished reading June 24th -- 3.5 stars
5. (36) Here is Your Band: A Centennial History of the Municipal Band of Charlottesville, Virginia, 1922-2022 by Fred O'Bryant --- AlphaKIT -- finished reading June 24th -- 3.5 stars
6. (37) Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting by Lisa Genova -- BingoDOG -- finished June 26 -- 3 stars
7. (38) Lilli de Jong by Janet Benton -- pleasure (although a very sobering book) -- AlphaKIT -- finished reading June 29th -- 3.5 stars

Reading in July

1. (39) Misty's Twilight by Marguerite Henry -- KiddyCAT (for June) -- finished reading July 1 -- 3 stars
2. (40) Horse by Geraldine Brooks -- reread for Colonnades book club -- finished reading July 6th -- 5 stars
3. (41) Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry -- read for pleasure -- finished reading July 9th -- 4 stars
4. (42) The White Lady by Jacqueline Winspear -- GeoCAT (Western Europe)(England and Belgium) finished reading July 14th -- 3 stars
5. (43) Resistance Women by Jennifer Chiaverini -- Colonnades Book club (August book) and GeoCAT (Western Europe) (Germany) -- finished July 27th
6. (44) In Spite of the Consequences: Prison Letters on Exoneration, Abolition, and Freedom by Lacino Hamilton -- LT ER book -- finished reading July 31st.

DNF Matrix by Lauren Groff -- read 150 out of 257 pages -- Northside Book Group -- 2 stars

Reading in August. --- Set up September ClassicsCAT (nonfiction)

1. (45) Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters by Jennifer Chiaverini -- AlphaKIT (M) and BingoDOG card 2-- finished Aug. 6th -- 3.5 stars
2. "Tonio Kröger" by Thomas Mann and translated by David Luke found in Death in Venice and Other Stories -- ClassicsCAT (translated classic) and AlphaKIT (M) finished Aug. 8th -- 4 stars
3. (46) All That Is Hidden (a Molly Murphy mystery) by Rhys Bowen and her daughter Clare Broyles -- MysteryKIT and BingoDOG card 2 -- finished reading Aug. 13th -- 4 stars
4. (47) Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood -- Northside Library Book Club and BingoDOG card 2 -- finished reading Aug. 13th -- 4 stars
5. (48) Standing Up To Hate: The Charlottesville Clergy Collective and Lessons from August 12, 2017, edited by Michael Cheuk -- BingoDOG card 2 -- finished reading Aug. 17th -- 4.5 stars
6. (49) On the Banks of Plum Creek -- Laura Ingalls Wilder -- RandomKIT and KiddyCAT -- finished Aug. 20th (reread)
7. (50) My Old Kentucky Home: The Astonishing Life and Reckoning of an Iconic American Song by Emily Bingham -- BingoDOG card 2 -- finished Aug. 23rd -- 3.5 stars
8. (51) Cat Watching by Desmond Morris -- BingoDOG card 2 -- read Aug. 24th -- 3 stars

DNF -- The King of Torts by John Grisham -- read 52 p. out of 372 -- was reading for BingoDOG card 2, best seller from 2003

Reading in September. -- hosting ClassicsCAT (nonfiction)

1. (52) Kate Remembered by A. Scott Berg -- BingoDOG card 2 -- finished reading Sept. 3rd -- 4 stars
2. (53) Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout -- Colonnades Monday book club -- finished reading Sept. 5th -- 3 stars.
3. (54) Holsinger's Charlottesville: A Collection of Photographs by Rufus W. Holsinger by Cecile Wendover Clover and F.T. Heblich, Jr. -- BingoDOG 2023, card 2 -- Sept. 9th -- 4.5 stars
4. (55) Poetry Matters: For Better and For Verse: Essays on the Art and Craft of Poetry by Sara M. Robinson --BingoDOG card 2 -- finished reading September 12th -- 4 stars
5. (56) Wonder Drug : The Secret History of Thalidomide in America and Its Hidden Victims by Jennifer Vanderbes -- BingoDOG card 2 -- finished reading September 16th -- 4 stars
6. (57) 24 Hours in Charlottesville: an Oral History of the Stand Against White Supremacy by Nora Neus -- BingoDOG 2023 card 2 -- finished reading September 18th -- 5 stars
7. (58) The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty -- Northside Book Group --- finished rereading Sept. 19th
8. (59) Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls -- Colonnades Wednesday book club -- finished reading Sept. 23rd -- 3 stars
9. (60) Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie -- GeoCAT and BingoDOG card 2 -- finished reading Sept. 24th -- 4.5 stars
10. (61) Driving Home Naked: and Other Misadventures of a County Veterinarian by Melinda G. McCall -- BingoDOG 2023 card 2 -- finished reading September 30th -- 5 stars

Short stories for OLLI short stories course in September:
First class:
1. & 2. "The Frog Who Wanted to be an Authentic Frog" & "The Eclipse" by Augusto Monterroso (Honduras, Guatemala). 1959
3. & 4. "The Lord of the Flies" & "Apocalypse" by Marco Denevi (Argentina). 1966
5. "Borrowing a Match" by Stephen Leacock (Canada). 1910
6. "Thank You, M'am" by Langston Hughes (U.S.). 1958
Second class:
7. "The Story of the Bad Little Boy" by Mark Twain (U.S.). 1865
8. "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin (U.S.). 1894
9. "The Adopted Son" by Guy de Maupassant (France). 1882
10. "Continuity of Parks" by Julio Cortazar (Argentina). 1964
Third class:
11. "Sin of Omission" by Ana Maria Matute (Spain). 1961
12. "Sanctuary" by Nella Larsen (U.S.) 1930
13. "The Ethnographer" by Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina) 1969
14. "The Youngest Doll" by Rosario Ferre (Puerto Rico) 1972
Fourth class:
15. "The Namesake" by Willa Cather (U.S.) 1907
16. "Happy Endings" by Margaret Atwood (Canada) 1983
17. "The Fifth Story: by Clarice Lispector (Brazil) 1964
18. "The Train from Rhodesia" by Nadine Gordimer (South Africa) 1952

DNF: News of the World by Paulette Jiles -- not able to get interested in it -- decided not to take OLLI class even though my friend Anna, who is an excellent instructor, is teaching it

Reading in October

1. (62) The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, edited by Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler and translated by Susan Massotty -- September ClassicsCAT (nonfiction) and KittyCAT (biography) -- finished reading October 4th -- unrated
2. (63) The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf -- BingoDOG card 2 and ClassicsCAT -- finished reading October 14th -- 3 stars
3. (64) Hospital Sketches by Louisa May Alcott — ClassicsCAT, GeoCAT, and AlphaKIT — finished reading October 20th — 3.5 stars

For OLLI short story course, October (2 classes, continuation of 4 classes in September):
5th class:
19. "Little Things Are Big" by Jesus Colon (Puerto Rico)
20. "Saint Manuel Bueno the Good, Martyr" by Miguel de Unamuno -- a novella (Spain)
6th class:
21. "Sweetness" by Toni Morrison (U.S.)
22. "Emma Zunz" by Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina)
23. "The Night Face Up" by Julio Cortazar (Argentina)
24. "The Falls" by George Sauders (U.S.)

Read most of The Annotated Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, annotated and edited by David M Shapard

DNF: The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak -- Colonnades Wed. book group -- was on trip whole week prior to book group meeting -- did not like reading about talking trees.

Reading in November:

1. (65) The Annotated Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, annotated and edited by David M Shapard -- Northside Book Club and BingoDOG card 2-- finished reading Nov. 4th -- 5 stars
2. (66) Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus -- Colonnades Book Group and AlphaKIT (L) -- finished reading Nov. 9th -- 3.5 stars
3. (67) Kitty Language: An Illustrated Guide to Understanding Your Cat by Lili Chin -- AlphaKIT (L) -- finished reading Nov. 9th -- 3.5 stars
4. (68) Holding the Net: Caring for My Mother on the Tightrope of Aging by Melanie P. Merriman -- finished reading Nov. 11th -- 4 stars
5. (69) The Tall Book of Mother Goose, illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky -- BingoDOG and AlphaKIT (T) -- finished reading Nov. 13th-- 4 stars
6. (70) Second-Chance Horses: True Stories of the Horses We Rescue and the Horses Who Rescue Us, edited by Callie Smith Grant -- LT ER -- finished reading Nov. 15th -- 3.5 stars
7. (71) Third Girl by Agatha Christie -- BingoDOG card 2 -- finished reading Nov. 18th -- 3 stars
8. (72) A questionable Death: and Other Historical Quaker Midwife Mysteries by Edith Maxwell — finished reading November 25 — 4 stars.

Reading in December:

1. (73) Generous Women : an Appreciation by Earl Hammer -- finished reading Dec. 2nd -- 4 stars.
2. (74) An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott-- ClassicsCAT (reread) -- finished Dec. 10th -- 3.5 stars
3. (75) Stronger: Courage, Hope & Humor in My Life with John McCain by Cindy McCain --finished reading Dec. 11th -- 4 stars.
4. Christmas with O. Henry by O. Henry (2 short stories) -- read Dec. 19th -- 4 stars.
5. (76) White House by the Sea: A Century of the Kennedys at Hyannis Port by Kate Storey -- finished reading Dec. 28th -- 4 stars
6. (77) Marguerite, Misty and Me: A Horse Lover's Hunt for the Hidden History of Marguerite Henry and Her Chincoteague Pony by Susan Friedland -- finished reading Dec. 31st -- 3 stars

BingoDOG card



Second BingoCAT card at https://www.librarything.com/topic/346043#8188204

BingoDOG reading
1. Music or Musician: Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution -- Todd S. Purdum (6th book read) -- finished reading Jan. 24th -- 5 stars
2. Inn or Hotel: At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie -- 19th book read - finished reading Apr. 28 -- 3 stars
3. cats or cat family: Cat tales by Charles Wysocki -- 20th book read -- read Apr. 28th -- 3 stars
4. Next in series you've started: True to Form by Elizabeth Berg -- 3rd and final book in Katie Nash saga (2nd book read) -- finished reading Jan. 8th -- 3 stars
5. Author with your zodiac sign (scorpio) -- Silver Alert by Lee Smith (7th book read) -- finished reading Jan. 26th -- 4 stars
6. Memoir: Plain: a Memoir of Mennonite Girlhood by Mary Alice Hostetter (8th book read) -- finished reading Jan. 28th -- 4.5 stars
7. Best seller from 20 yrs. ago: Bleachers by John Grisham (13th book read) -- read on Feb. 18th -- 5 stars -- 1st Bingo -- 2nd horizontal line
8. Plant on cover: Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell -- Northside Library book group -- finished reading Jan. 16th -- (4th book read) -- 3.5 stars
9. Switched identities: Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain (12th book read) -- finished reading Feb. 14th -- 3.5 stars
10. Taught you something: Hillbilly Quaker by Jennifer Elam (9th title read) -- read Jan. 29th -- 4.5 stars
11. Book on the cover: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, translated by Lucia Graves -- (24th title read) -- finished reading June 10th -- 3 stars -- 10th bingo
12. Art or craft related: The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray -- (building a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and art works) (1st book read) -- finished Jan. 6th -- 4 stars.
13. Read a CAT (Feb. GeoCAT, place would like to visit): Guest Cottage by Nancy Thayer (Nantucket) -- finished Feb. 28th (15 title) -- 4 stars
14. small town setting: Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan -- finished reading Jan. 17th -- (5th book read) -- 4 stars
15. STEM topic: Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting by Lisa Genova -- finished June 26 -- (25th book read -- 11th and 12th bingos and card filled) -- 3 stars
16. 4+ rating: Horse by Geraldine Brooks -- (4.33 rating Feb. 23rd) --finished reading Feb. 23rd -- (14th book read) -- 5 stars.
17. Local author: My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson -- finished reading April 22 -- (18th book read) -- 4.5 for cover story (novella) -- 2nd bingo -- diagonal lower left to upper right
18. Involves an Accident: Daughters of Nantucket by Julie Gerstenblatt (fire that is accidentally set destroys much of town) -- finished reading Mar. 20th -- (17th book read) -- 5 stars
19. Journalism square: Little Lindy is Kidnapped: How the Media Covered the Crime of the Century by Thomas Doherty -- finished reading May 27th -- 22nd book read -- 5th, 6th, and 7th bingos -- 2.5 stars
20. Popular author's first book: Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery -- (21st book read) -- finished reading May 9th -- 4.5 stars
21. topic you don't usually read: Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (science fiction) -- finished reading after midnight Jan. 31st -- (10th book read) -- 4 stars
22. number in title: The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation by Anna Malaika Tubbs -- finished reading June 2nd -- (23rd book read) -- 8th and 9th bingos -- 4 stars
23. Author under 30: Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (29 year-old-author) -- finished reading Feb. 10th (11th book read -- 3 stars
24. Takes place in ship: "The Voyage," short story about New Zealand by Katherine Mansfield -- read early morning Mar. 6th (16th title read) -- excellent story, 5 stars
25. Over 1000 copies: The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey, illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren, a Little Golden Book -- 5 stars -- read Jan. 10th --as of 1/11/23, in 4499 libraries (3rd book read).

CAT reading:

KiddieCAT January (picture books) and ClassicsCAT (adventure): The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey, illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren, a Little Golden Book.

KiddieCAT January: Hot Dog by Doug Salati -- Caldecott Award Medal for 2023 -- read Feb. 4th (had on hold at library) -- 5 stars

February ClassicsCAT (prior to 20th century): Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain -- finished reading Feb. 14th -- 3.5 stars

February GeoCAT (place you would like to visit -- Nantucket): The Guest Cottage by Nancy Thayer -- finished reading Feb. 28th -- 4 stars

March GeoCAT (Australia ad New Zealand) -- read 14 stories by Katherine Mansfield, including most of those set in New Zealand.
Finished reading Stories by Katherine Mansfield with an introduction by Jeffrey Meyers.

April ClassicsCAT (mystery): At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie -- finished reading Apr. 28th.

May ClassicsCAT, KiddyCAT, and GeoCAT: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery -- (set on Prince Edward Island) -- finished reading May 9th -- 4.5 stars

June SeriesCAT (favorite author): City of Darkness and Light by Rhys Bowen (Molly Murphy Mystery) -- finished reading June 12th -- 4 stars

July GeoCAT (Western Europe): The White Lady by Jacqueline Winspear -- finished reading July 14th -- 3 stars and Resistance Women by Jennifer Chiaverini -- finished July 27th -- 3.5 stars

August ClassicsCAT (translated work): "Tonio Kröger" by Thomas Mann translated by David Luke.

August KiddyCAT (series): On the Banks of Plum Creek -- Laura Ingalls Wilder -- finished Aug. 20th (reread)

September GeoCAT (Africa): Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie -- Nigeria-- finished reading Sept. 24th -- 4.5 stars

September ClassicsCAT (nonfiction) and KiddyCAT (biography): The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, edited by Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler and translated by Susan Massotty -- finished reading Oct. 4th

October ClassicsCAT (female author): The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf -- finished reading October 14th -- 3 stars

December ClassicsCAT (reread a favorite): An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott -- finished reading Dec. 10th -- 3.5 stars

KIT reading

AlphaKIT January (S): Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan -- finished reading Jan. 17th -- 4 stars.
and Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution by Todd S. Purdum -- finished reading Jan. 24th -- 5 stars
and Klara and the Sun -- by Kazuo Ishiguro -- finished reading Jan. 31st -- 4 stars

February RandomKIT (2 or second): Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (second novel) -- finished reading Feb. 10th -- 3 stars

March RandomKIT (water): "The Voyage" by Katherine Mansfield -- read early morning Mar. 6th.

April RandomKIT (stages of life): The Poetic Justice: a Memoir by John Charles Thomas -- finished Apr. 1st -- 4.5 stars.

May MysteryKIT (true crime): Trailed: One Woman's Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders by Kathryn Miles -- finished May 14th -- 4.5 stars

May MysteryKIT (true crime) and RandomKIT (royal name): Little Lindy is Kidnapped: How the Media Covered the Crime of the Century by Thomas Doherty.

June AlphaKIT (B):
The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation by Anna Malaika Tubbs
City of Darkness and Light by Rhys Bowen
Here is Your Band: A Centennial History of the Municipal Band of Charlottesville, Virginia, 1922-2022 by Fred O'Bryant
Lilli de Jong by Janet Benton

August AlphaKIT (M):
Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters by Jennifer Chiaverini
Tonio Kröger, by Thomas Mann and translated by David Luke found in Death in Venice and Other Stories -- finished at 1:00 a.m. Aug. 8th -- 4 stars

August MysteryKIT: All That Is Hidden (a Molly Murphy mystery) by Rhys Bowen and her daughter Clare Broyles -- finished reading Aug. 13th -- 4 stars

August RandomLIT (something good): On the Banks of Plum Creek -- Laura Ingalls Wilder -- finished rereading Aug. 20th.

September AlphaKIT (V): Wonder Drug : The Secret History of Thalidomide in America and Its Hidden Victims by Jennifer Vanderbes -- finished reading September 16th -- 4 stars
September AlphaKIT (E): Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout -- finished reading Sept. 5th -- 3 stars

November AlphaKIT (L): Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus -- finished reading Nov. 9th -- 3.5 stars
November AlphaKIT (L): Kitty Language: An Illustrated Guide to Understanding Your Cat by Lili Chin -- AlphaKIT (L) -- finished reading Nov. 9th -- 3.5 stars

Assigned reading (bookclubs, classes, early reviewers, etc.)
1. The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray -- Colonnades Book Club and BingoDOG -- finished Jan. 6th -- 4 stars.
2. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell -- Northside Library book group and BingoDOG-- finished reading Jan. 16th -- 3.5 stars
3. Silver Alert by Lee Smith -- LT ER-- finished reading Jan. 26th -- 4 stars
4. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro --- Colonnades Book Club -- finished reading last 19 p. after midnight Jan. 31st -- 4 stars
5. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie -- Northside Library Book Club -- finished reading Feb. 10th -- 3 stars
6. Second Time Around by Melody Carlson -- LT ER -- finished reading Feb. 12th -- 4.5 stars
7. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman -- Colonnades Book Club -- finished reading Mar. 7th -- 3 stars
8. Book of Delights: Essays by Ross Gay -- JMRL and VA Book Festival's Same Page selection (community read)
9. The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz -- Colonnades Book Club -- finished reading Apr. 6th.
10. Benjamin Banneker and Us: Eleven Generations of an American Family by Rachel Jameson Webster with Edith Lee Harris, Robert Lett, Gwen Marable, and Edwin Lee -- LT ER -- finished reading Apr. 9th -- 4 stars
11. The Organ Thieves: The Shocking Story of the First Heart Transplant in the Segregated South by Chip Jones -- Northside Book Group -- finished reading Apr. 15th -- 4 stars
12. My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson -- CFM Big Read -- finished reading April 22 -- 4.5 for cover story (novella)
13. Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown by Anne Glenconner -- Colonnades Book Club -- finished reading May 3rd -- 3 stars
14. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, translated by Lucia Graves -- Northside book group -- finished reading June 10th -- 3 stars
15. Horse by Geraldine Brooks -- reread for Colonnades book club -- finished reading July 6th -- 5 stars
16. Resistance Women by Jennifer Chiaverini -- Colonnades Book club (August book) -- finished July 27th
17. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood -- Northside Library Book Club and BingoDOG card 2 -- finished reading Aug. 13th -- 4 stars
18. Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout -- Colonnades Monday book club -- finished reading Sept. 5th -- 3 stars
19. The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty -- Northside Book Group --- finished rereading Sept. 19th -- 3.5 stars
20. Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls -- Colonnades Wednesday book club -- finished reading Sept. 23rd -- 3 stars
21. The Annotated Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, annotated and edited by David M Shapard -- Northside Book Club -- finished reading Nov. 4th -- 4.5 stars.
22. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus -- Colonnades Monday book club -- finished reading Nov. 9th -- 3.5 stars
23. Second-Chance Horses: True Stories of the Horses We Rescue and the Horses Who Rescue Us, edited by Callie Smith Grant -- LT ER -- finished reading Nov. 15th -- 3.5 stars.

Short reads (short stories, essays, etc. for which I do not read the whole collection):
1. The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey, illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren, a Little Golden Book.
2. Hillbilly Quaker by Jennifer Elam -- Pendle Hill pamphlet 475 -- read Jan. 29th -- 4.5 stars
3. Hot Dog by Doug Salati -- Caldecott Award Medal for 2023 -- read Feb. 4th -- 5 stars
4. "The Voyage" by Katherine Mansfield -- read Mar. 6th
5. "Taking the Veil" by Katherine Mansfield -- read Mar. 6th -- GeoCAT
6. "The Fly" by Katherine Mansfield -- read Mar. 6th -- GeoCAT (set in New Zealand?)
7. "The Canary" by Katherine Mansfield -- read Mar. 6th -- GeoCAT (set in New Zealand?)
8. "Her First Ball" by Katherine Mansfield-- read Mar. 8th -- GeoCAT
9. "Millie" by Katherine Mansfield-- read Mar. 8th -- GeoCAT
10. "The Wind Blows" -- read Mar. 9th -- GeoCAT
11. "The Young Girl -- read Mar. 9th -- GeoCAT
12. "The Singing Lesson" -- read Mar. 9th -- GeoCAT
13. "The Woman in the Store" -- read Mar. 9th -- GeoCAT
14. "The Daughters of the Late Colonel" -- read Mar. 9th -- GeoCAT
15. "Life of Ma Parker" -- read Mar. 27th -- GeoCAT
16. "The Stranger" -- read Mar. 28th -- GeoCAT
17. "The Doves' Nest" -- read Mar. 28th -- GeoCAT
18. Cat Tales: Snippets on Life from Our Favorite Felines -- by Charles Wysocki -- BingoDOG -- read Apr. 28th -- 3 stars (48 p.)
19. "Tonio Kröger" by Thomas Mann and translated by David Luke found in Death in Venice and Other Stories -- finished at 1:00 a.m. Aug. 8th -- 4 stars
20.-37. 18 Short stories read for OLLI short stories class (see Sept. reading)
38-43. 6 short stories read for OLLI short stories class (see Oct. reading

Read a biography, autobiography, or memoir -- try to average at least one per month
January: Plain: a Memoir of Mennonite Girlhood by Mary Alice Hostetter -- BingoDOG -- finished reading Jan. 28th -- 4.5 stars
January: Hillbilly Quaker by Jennifer Elam -- Pendle Hill pamphlet 475 -- read Jan. 29th -- 4.5 stars
April: The Poetic Justice: a Memoir by John Charles Thomas -- finished reading Apr. 1st -- 4.5 stars.
April: Benjamin Banneker and Us: Eleven Generations of an American Family by Rachel Jameson Webster with Edith Lee Harris, Robert Lett, Gwen Marable, and Edwin Lee -- finished reading Apr. 9th -- 4 stars
May: Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown by Anne Glenconner -- finished reading May 3rd -- 3.5 stars
June: Dancing with History: A Life for Peace and Justice by George Lakey -- finished reading June 24th -- 3.5 stars
September: Kate Remembered by A. Scott Berg -- BingoDOG card 2 -- finished reading Sept. 3rd -- 4 stars
October: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, edited by Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler and translated by Susan Massotty -- finished reading Oct. 4th -- not rated
November: Holding the Net: Caring for My Mother on the Tightrope of Aging by Melanie P. Merriman -- finished reading Nov. 11th -- 4 stars.
December: Generous Women: an Appreciation by Earl Hamner -- finished reading Dec. 2nd -- 4 stars
December: Stronger: Courage, Hope & Humor in My Life with John McCain by Cindy McCain --finished reading Dec. 11th -- 4 stars
December: White House by the Sea: A Century of the Kennedys at Hyannis Port by Kate Storey -- finished reading Dec. 28th -- 4 stars
December: Marguerite, Misty and Me: A Horse Lover's Hunt for the Hidden History of Marguerite Henry and Her Chincoteague Pony by Susan Friedland -- finished reading Dec. 31st -- 3 stars

Welcome to my thread!

Looks like you're all set. Good luck!

>21 majkia: Thanks.

Happy reading in 2023!

Good luck with your 2023 reading!

Have a good reading year!

Enjoy a relaxed year of reading in 2023!

Reading for pleasure is the way to a relaxing, book filled year! May 2023 bring you plenty of reading joy.

Good luck with your 2023 reading

Hope you have a good year of reading.

You've got a great goal of reading more for pleasure! Good luck with your reading year.

This looks like a really good plan. I especially like >19 sallylou61: (short reads), I'm thinking about doing something like that in my thread as well.

Good luck on your reading goals in 2023. I have not read 1984 in years and may read again. I do have a copy on my shelf.

>31 MissBrangwen: >19 sallylou61: I also like your short reads category. This would also include poetry for me, since I rarely read a book of poems straight through.

And if you ran and read every month in a cat last year, I totally get your reading only for fun this year! The cats help me stretch my reading, but I never can read every month. In fact, this year I'm planning to post reads in cats and kits that fit, whichever month I read them.

Welcome back and have a great reading year! Although I won't officially read books for the CATs, I will probably still write down ideas for them before the year begins. I love a good list.

Stopping by with best wishes for your 2023 reading.

Hope you have a great year of reading in 2023!

>23 JayneCM:, >24 Tess_W:, >25 MissWatson:, >26 pamelad:, >27 DeltaQueen50:, >28 lowelibrary:, >29 dudes22:,>30 NinieB:, >31 MissBrangwen:, >32 mnleona:, >33 markon:, >34 rabbitprincess:, >35 lkernagh:, >36 thornton37814:. Thanks to all of you for stopping by my thread.

>31 MissBrangwen:, >33 markon: I have had short works on my thread for at least several years. I belonged to a short story group until the leader died a couple of years ago; the rest of us were unable to make "a go" of the group. I still enjoy reading short stories, essays, etc.

I'm selective in the CATs/KITs which I read.

The first book which I read this year is The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, a book club read for our meeting next Monday. This is the story of Belle da Costa Greene, a very light skinned black woman who passes as white, who is hired by J. P. Morgan as his personal librarian. Her duties include procuring rare manuscripts, books, and art work and managing this private collection without her true background being discovered. It involves many travels to Europe where she meets auctioneers, sellers, and collectors and their agents.

4 stars

For the next book in a series square of BingoDOG I've read True to Form by Elizabeth Berg, the third and final book in the Katie Nash saga. I had purchased the books in this series last fall for an OLLI adult education course, which was cancelled at the last minute. I think that the instructor was planning to offer this course because the series is about a young girl whose father is in the military and thus moves often. Our instructor shared this same experience; this semester she is planning to teach a course for people in experienced moving a lot in their childhood.

I personally did not enjoy this novel as much as the first two in the series although I did not have any of the growing up experiences which Katie had in any of the books except for the loss of friends. (In my case, they moved away.) In all of the books, Katie did things which I would not have done; I did not feel a relationship with her.

3 stars

>38 sallylou61: This sounds really interesting. I had listened to a novella by the author, Agent 355, which i had really enjoyed, and have been wanting to try one or her novels. Think I will keep an eye out for this one.

>39 sallylou61: - I've had that on my TBR pile for a long time and by the time I read it, I'm sure I'll have forgotten the first two books.

>40 staci426: Which author did you mean -- one of the authors of The Personal Librarian or Elizabeth Berg mentioned in >39 sallylou61:?

>41 dudes22: As I mentioned, I enjoyed the first two Katie Nash books more than the third although it was a fun read.

For the KiddieCAT, I reread the Little Golden Book, The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey, illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren. This was one of my very favorite books as a toddler; I can remember my father reading it to me. I loved the pictures of the five puppies. I think that it was the American History Museum in Washington, DC, which had a special display of Little Golden Books around Thanksgiving time in 2013. I told my sister about it, and she bought me a copy of the book for Christmas that year.

Happy 2023 thread...I'll be along for the ride.

>38 sallylou61: After my experience with one of Benedict's other books, I wasn't sure if I wanted to read this one. I'm curious to hear what your book club thinks of it.

>43 sallylou61: Who doesn't love The Poky Little Puppy? I enjoyed reading it to my nephew.

>45 thornton37814: Our book club is made up of women in our retirement community, and I'm probably the youngest member being in my late 70s. Although the coordinator sends us monthly messages about what book we are reading, somehow members ended up reading 3 different books! (This has not happened before.) The people who read The Personal Librarian generally enjoyed the story, but some thought the book was not particularly well written. There are some love scenes in the book between the librarian and one of her male friends which some people thought detracted from the story; however, I do not agree with this. I feel that one member of the group misinterpreted the novel which was written jointly by Benedict (white) and a black novelist. As a white person, Benedict did not want to write the book without the insight of a black person.

For one of my book clubs I read Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. Very little is known about the family life of William Shakespeare. This is an historical novel imaging what it would have been like for William Shakespeare, his wife, and two surviving daughters following the death of their only son/brother. Although the cause of the death is not really known, Ms. O'Farrell imagines it must have been caused by the plague. Prior to the death, the story describes what Shakespeare's and his wife's upbringing, courtship, and marriage might have been like. Shakespeare is never mentioned by name in the novel, which felt awkward to me. The story keeps skipping around in time, something which a lot of novels seem to do now, but which I do not particularly like.

3.5 stars

For the Small Town/Rural setting square of BingoDOG, I read Small Things Like These, a novella by Claire Keegan, which is set in a small Irish town in 1985. The book beautifully describes life in a small town around Christmastime. It shows the view of some of the town residents concerning the lives of those less fortunate unmarried women and girls who become pregnant, and the way the Catholic Church mistreats them. One man discovers the living conditions of these women and rescues one of them. The story ends without telling us what becomes of the rescued girl -- or her rescuer: are they accepted by the man's family and the wider community? How is the man's business affected?

4 stars

For the Music or Musicians square I've just read the excellent Something Wonderful; Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution by Todd S. Purdum. I have loved the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, and really enjoyed reading about their careers creating this music, especially the lyrics (and earlier drafts of some of them). As I read the examples of lyrics, I could hear them being sung in my mind. In addition to Rodgers and Hammerstein's challenges of working together, Mr. Purdum writes about the workings of the theatre including the challenges with various people such as actors and actresses, producers, etc.

5 stars

I've read my LT ER book which I received recently.

Silver Alert by Lee Smith, one of my favorite authors, is a novel both about aging and about finding a home and family. It features Herb Atlas and his third wife Susan, who has dementia, as an older couple and Renee (Dee Dee), a young woman who uses different names, lives various places different times with different people some of whom are abusive. Renee comes to give Susan a pedicure and ends up often coming to help Herb take care of Susan. Renee has a special way of understanding Susan and what she wants. However, the adult children of Herb and Susan think they should be moved into an institution where they can get the care they both need.

At the beginning of the story, it can be hard to keep all the various people, especially the former spouses, adult children and their families straight. However, the story is very compelling. Dee Dee is an uneducated young woman who is continually learning new vocabulary words (after which "word" appears) and about things she should have learned in school. We learn more about the backgrounds of the characters Herb and Dee Dee through unstated thoughts, especially when they are taking a final ride in Herb's car, which he is not supposed to be driving. The "silver alert" from the title of the book refers to this drive when a large silver alert message giving a description of Herb's car appears on highway signs in Florida.

4 stars

>50 sallylou61: I'm glad to see she has a new one coming out, it sounds good and I'll definately read it. Thanks for the head up!

>51 clue: The publication date is listed as April 18, 2023. Hope you enjoy it; I certainly did.

I just finished reading a very enlightening memoir, Plain: a Memoir of Mennonite Girlhood by Mary Alice Hostetter, who has been attending our Quaker Meeting in Charlottesville for many years. Last week our local small bookstore featured her reading from her book and being interviewed about it by one of her writing instructors. The event was well attended both by Friends from our Meeting and from a group with whom she had taken memoir writing. This memoir is comprised of a collection of essays, some of which had been published earlier in slightly different versions. (I had not read any of them.)

Mary Alice grew up in a large Mennonite family (the tenth of twelve children) on a farm at the edge of Lancaster County. Mary Alice's parents were strict; she was not allowed to dance or go to the movies, and the family did not have television. The whole family worked on the farm. Mary Alice was exposed to a much larger environment when she left for college, and especially when she accepted her first teaching position in the Greater Philadelphia area. She constantly tried new things.

The final section of the book pertains to her finding her sexual identity (as a lesbian) in her 50s. A particularly moving experience occurs when one of her brothers tells to their father that he gay, and Mary Alice's admitting to their father that she is also when their father wonders about her. By then their mother has died.

In practically the whole book Mary Alice is searching for who she is and what she should make of her life. She constantly comes through as a very intelligent person.

(I am calling the author by her first name, following the custom of Friends {Quakers}. This is a show of friendliness, equality and respect.)

4.5 stars

I read a Pendle Hill pamphlet, Hillbilly Quaker by Jennifer Elam which I'm counting for the BingoDOG square, book that taught you something. (This is only 1 of 2 squares which actually says book, but this pamphlet taught me a lot. Also, Pendle Hill pamphlets are meant for careful reading and discussion; discussion questions are in the back. Pendle Hill is a Quaker conference center.)

Jennifer Elam spent her childhood in rural Appalachia (Kentucky), and upon the family's moving to the Chicago area when she was a teenager, she was immediately labelled a hillbilly. Life was hard there for her and her sister who were expected to speak standard English in school. She was mute during her time there. Jennifer's message is that people from rural poor areas such as Appalachia and the Ozark region are stereotyped; they are not valued as people. The general population looks down on the rural "hillbillies" and does not respect them or their language; they are viewed as not very bright. Many people laugh or make fun of their way of speaking. Many people do not realize that they are stereotyping these people and their way of life. Jennifer urges the Quaker community of which she is a part to realize this stereotyping, and work to view the people from rural Appalachia as equals. (She says that Appalachian people who live in urban areas are not viewed this way.)

Some people such as Jennifer's father and she herself like being hillbillies. They tried living on the flat midwest plains and did not like it.

In addition to talking about her own experiences, Jennifer interviews some people who left rural Appalachia for elsewhere and briefly describes their experiences.

(I once again am calling the author by her first name, following the custom of Friends {Quakers}. This is a show of friendliness, equality and respect.)

4.5 stars

For my bookclub this month I read Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, a book which I would not have read otherwise since I read no more science fiction than necessary. This is the story of Klara, a very intelligent artificial friend (AF) whose role is to be a friend to and help Josie, her human friend who is very ill, get well. Klara depends upon the son to help her accomplish this.
I was favorably impressed with how this story featured female characters in most of the important roles (i.e. longest appearing roles).

4 stars

>55 sallylou61: no more science fiction than necessary made me smile. Book group, BingoDOG and the Historical Fiction Challenge are about all.

>55 sallylou61: - My book club is reading this later in the spring although I've already read it. I like Ishiguro and managed to get this from the library when it first came out.

Enjoyed catching up on your thread!

>58 VictoriaPL: Thanks.

I just read the 2023 Caldecott Medal book, Hot Dog by Doug Salati which I had on hold at our local library. I think it would certainly appeal to young children; there is very little text, but the text is poetic. The pictures can be enjoyed at several levels.
The story is about a dog and its female owner who leave the very hot city for a day on the beach.

5 stars

>55 sallylou61: I agree with the sci fi--as little as necessary. I also feel this way about fantasy. However, I have taken note of this book, and when I must, will resort to it!

For my bookclub meeting next week, I've read Half a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, her second novel, which was published when she was 29.

This is a beautifully written novel about the Nigeria-Biafra War (1967-70) and the time immediately preceding it (the earlier 60s). It features two families: Odenigbo who is a revolutionary for the Biafran cause, his wife Olanna, daughter Baby and servant Ugwu; and Olanna's twin sister, Kainene and her husband Richard. The book describes wartime living in an impoverished area and the actions of people in such a situation.

Although the writing is beautiful, names of various characters (in addition to the main characters) are similar and it is hard to keep some of them straight, especially since the names are unfamiliar to me. I am amazed that such a young author (29 when the novel was published) wrote such a book.

3 stars

>62 sallylou61: I have this one on the Kindle, so it's good to know that you liked it and that it fits in the Under 30 Bingo Square.

I've just finished my LT ER book Second Time Around by Melody Carlson.

Second Time Around is an appropriate title for this light read book since several people/places are having a second chance: the main characters (who are in their late forties) knew each other as teenagers, a contractor is given a second chance, and the small coastal town in which the story is set is deteriorating, especially in comparison to nearby towns. This book describes life in a small town in which residents appear to know what their neighbors are doing; there is contention about how to renovate the town. The story features the romance of Mallory and Grayson, the two main characters, with other romances suggested. Jealousy around Grayson and jealousy about who should have inherited the rundown tourist shop which Mallory inherited from grandmother and changed into a home decoration shop is also featured. Although there are no sexual scenes, the author does emphasize praying about which I felt uncomfortable.

4 stars

>62 sallylou61: I read that last year and also dearly loved it!

>65 Tess_W:. It appears as if we enjoy some of the same kind of books.

For the ClassicsCAT and the switched identity square for BingoDOG, I read Pudd'nhead Wilson, one of the shorter and later Mark Twain novels. Although this book published in 1894, it is set in Dawson's Landing, a small coastal town south of St. Louis during the days of slavery. The baby boys who were switched were both born in the same house in February 1830; one was 1/16th Negro but the boys looked nearly identical. This novel describes aspects of slavery including selling slaves "down the river." It also includes Pudd'nhead Wilson, a lawyer who is not respected in the community (and has not tried any cases until the murder trial at the end of the book) and what could be considered a "new" scientific discovery. The switch of the babies, who were by then men, was discovered near the end of the novel. Contains a lot of Negro dialect.

3.5 stars

I read Bleachers by John Grisham for the bestseller 20 years ago square. This is one of the relatively few sports books he has written, being about football. It's about high school football in a small Southern town. Many former players have returned to pay their respects to a former football coach who is dying. The story itself occurs in 4 days (Tuesday when the players are returning but the coach has not died, Wednesday when the coach dies, Thursday when the community and the players can come to the football field and pay their respects, and Friday when the funeral is held at the football field). Most of the setting is in the bleachers where players gather all four days and talk about their experiences -- and particularly reminiscence about whether they loved or hated their coach, who worked the players too hard, expected violence, (and was fired after 34 years of coaching). The book is about small town life and attitudes, hero worship, forgiveness, and death.

Beautifully written

5 stars

(I've read Grisham's books about baseball Calico Joe, basketball Sooley, and now football (his first sports book) and prefer them to his legal thrillers.

I just finished reading Horse by Geraldine Brooks, a book I've been wanting to read since shortly after it was published last year. It is a skillfully written historical fiction book about Lexington (formerly Darley) a famous 19th century racehorse who had a relatively brief career racing before he became blind, and then became a breeder of many horses, including many racehorses. The story describes life, particularly in the pre-Civil War South, in which Negroes (the term at that time) could not own horses or be jockeys in races but were depended upon to take care of the horses. It describes the bond between Jarret, the horse's enslaved groom and the horse; Jarret was the person Lexington trusted. Both Jarret and Lexington are sold from the farm where they lived to another slaveowner who took them to another trainer who treated Jarret particularly cruelly and would not let him take care of. the horse. This was before the owner brought both Jarret and Lexington from Kentucky to Louisiana to run on a racetrack he owned. Jarret also helped Thomas J. Scott, a painter, by preparing his palette, holding the horse still, etc.

The story of the living horse is interspersed with the 20th/21st story of discovering the history of the horse. Its skeleton was given to the Smithsonian as well as two of Scott's paintings (one of which became missing). Researchers including skeleton specialists and an art history doctoral student are trying to find out how the skeleton should be pieced together, why the horse became blind, etc. through the use of pictures. Theo, the doctoral student, wants to write his dissertation on Scott's paintings.

Throughout the book, racial relations play an important part. In addition to Jarret's relation with the horse, a young white girl/woman from his first plantation tries to have unapproved relations with him. Theo, the 21st century graduate student is black and works with/has relations with a white professional at the Smithsonian.

5 stars

BingoDOG: 4 or 4+ stars

Ever since I read Lucretia Mott, Girl of Old Nantucket in the Childhood of Famous Series in the 1950s, I've been interested in going to Nantucket. However, it was and is too expensive. Also, Nantucket would be very different now than in the late 18th century when Lucretia's father was often away on whaling trips, and the houses had widows' walks on the roofs where women could go and search the sea for the husbands. Still I enjoy reading about Nantucket. The book which I read in a romance, The Guest Cottage by Nancy Thayer. There is a mix-up in renting a guest cottage and two sets of guests arrive to spend July and August there -- a woman whose husband has just left her and her two children, and a recent widower and his young son. The cottage is very large, and they end up sharing it. Romances are involved with two triangles.

A light but enjoyable read

GeoCAT

4 stars

>70 sallylou61: Took that as a BB!

I read The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman for one of my book clubs. I did not attend book club meeting because of a concussion. I did not like the book as a whole; there were too many marginal characters and lot of confusing deaths at end.

2 stars

>72 sallylou61: I hope you are recovering from the concussion!

>73 Tess_W:. Thank you. I'm getting much better. Fortunately, it was a very mild one.

I just finished reading a terrific book about Nantucket, Daughters of Nantucket by Julie Gerstenblatt, which only came on the market last Tuesday. I was not aware that Nantucket had been nearly destroyed by a fire in July of 1846 before reading about this book. Three Nantucket women and their families are featured in this novel: Maria Mitchell (a real life early female astronomer, who discovered a comet the year following the fire), fictional Meg Wright (a pregnant black woman who has her baby during the fire), and fictional Eliza Macy (the wife of whaling captain who has been out at sea most of their married life). All three of these women lead courageous lives, and are vital to this story which displays the second class treatment of blacks, and the kind of lives women lived during this period, when whaling was an important Nantucket industry. Besides discrimination, this story includes secrets and lovers. During the fire, all three of these women are strong in their actions. After the fire which destroyed the commercial downtown area plus many residences, all of the island people suffered hardships with a lack of food in addition to many being homeless and/or having their businesses ruined. Help did not arrive from the mainland until eight days after the fire, which had been started accidentally during an exceedingly dry summer. The whole novel takes place in slightly two weeks' time although earlier fires are mentioned. This terrible fire was not the first one many of them had experienced.

5 stars

>75 sallylou61: On my WL it goes!

>75 sallylou61: oh that does sound interesting...on to the TBR! Thanks.

>76 Tess_W:, >77 beebeereads:. I hope that you both read the book sometime. I meant to mention in my comments that although we do not know what happens to the various characters at the end of the book, it ends on a hopeful note. Also, as a result of the fire, one of the three main characters (who is middle aged) "grows up" in her understanding of how to treat others.

I read How to Not Write Bad: the Most Common Writing Problems and the Best Ways to Avoid Them by Ben Yagoda, a book recommended at a monthly high school class reunion on zoom. A classmate mentioned this as being a humorous grammar book when another classmate questioned the colloquialism used in today's speech and writing -- and the use of alternative pronouns such as they for me (instead of she or her). For example, this year instead of having alumni day, we are having alums day. The title of the book is deliberately not proper English. Three alternative phrases after not in the title are crossed out: Right Bad, Rite Bad, and Wright Bad.

Some of the writing in this text is humorous, and the author gives a lot of examples of poor writing he found in his college students' papers, and how the text could be improved. However, the book is aimed at people who are professional writers, journalists in particular. Mr. Yagoda uses many special terms of grammar with which I am not familiar, and don't especially want to be.

(Most of my current writing is for email or writing my views of books such as on this thread.)

3 stars

>79 sallylou61: A BB for me!

>75 sallylou61: And a BB for me! Your review is great and I like the cover, too!

I also see that at the top of your thread that you have been reading short stories by Katherine Mansfield. I read some of those last year and enjoyed them so much. She is an author I definitely wish to read more of in the future.

>80 Tess_W:, >81 MissBrangwen:. I'm pleasantly surprised that both of you are interested in reading How Not to Write Bad. Perhaps more people than I thought are interested in writing well. As a warning, this book does not deal with the current practice of what pronouns a person uses; a conversation about that was what brought me to reading the book.

>81 MissBrangwen: As a whole, I enjoy the stories written by Katherine Mansfield. In several of my OLLI classes we read "The Garden Party" which she wrote. I have taken three short OLLI classes studying her writing. For the March GeoCAT I decided to try to read her New Zealand stories. However, two different lists did not include all the same stories although many listed were the same. I started reading from The Complete Stories of Katherine Mansfield, but that is a large heavy book so that I switched over to a shorter Stories of Katherine Mansfield with an introduction by Jeffrey Meyers which was the text for my OLLI classes.
I plan to finish the shorter book this month.

(OLLI stands for Osher Lifelong Learning Institute which sponsors short classes for older people at approximately 120 universities and colleges in the United States. At least the OLLI classes which I attend, connected with the University of Virginia, are almost always daytime classes.)

I've read The Book of Delights: Essays by Ross Gay, which I certainly did not find very delightful. It was chosen by our local library to be our "Same Page" book this year; a book the library recommends that the community read. It was also featured at the annual Virginia Festival of the Book which was held last week. The book contained 102 "essays" on 271 pages; some of the essays seemed more like short sketches. Also, Mr. Gay appeared to like the word "shit" which often appeared in his book. He even used that word in his introductory remarks at a public program at which he read from several books of essays he has authored. I liked his reading; he emphasized certain words which I had not when I was reading the book.

Part of the problem might be that we are of different generations. Mr. Gay referred to music, etc. that I was not so familiar with.

3 stars

I've read The Poetic Justice: A Memoir by John Charles Thomas, the first black justice in the Virginia Supreme Court. When he was in this early 30s, he was appointed to the court by Governor Chuck Robb. I have heard him speak twice in the last couple of years -- in the 2022 Virginia Books Festival when he interviewed Robb on Robb's autobiography, and last month when he was interviewed on this book -- and found him charming both times. Judge Thomas's memoir primarily covers his early life with special emphasis on his childhood, and times when he experienced discrimination based on his color. He grew up in poverty in an unstable household in segregated Virginia in the 1950s and '60s; his father drank and John Charles feared for his mother's safety. John Charles was sent to a nearly all white high school for integration purposes since he was one of the best students in his all black school. In that school an English teacher returned a poem he had written for an assignment, saying that a Negro could not have written it. Under pressure, a large white law firm accepted John Charles as its first black lawyer. Shortly after he was made a partner at the firm, Robb appointed him to the Virginia Supreme Court. Unfortunately, Judge Thomas only served six and a half years; he resigned for health reasons (a brain tumor), which was caused by an injury at birth. Judge Thomas returned to the law firm as a partner, and worked there many years. Judge Thomas writes relatively little about these later years, which are most of his life. He participated on various committees, and gave numerous speeches. He wrote about the text of two of these speeches. The amazing thing about Judge Thomas is his optimism; although he lived a difficult life, which he says he would not want to live again, he remains optimistic. That showed through on the interviews I heard at the books festival.

4.5 stars

For the bookclub at our retirement community I've finished reading The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz, a book about a dysfunctional family. The triplet children of the family were created by artificial insemination to a mother who really wanted children, and a father who did not seem to care. I could not like the mother, who tried to force the triplets to be "best friends" and want to do things together regardless of their personalities. This led to the triplets being as far removed from each other as possible. Although two of the triplets, Lewyn and Sally, both went to Cornell and lived their first year in neighboring dorms, they did not acknowledge each other. Sally's roommate fell in love with Lewyn, and was not told they were siblings, which caused problems. When the triplets were about to leave home for college, the mother decided she wanted another child, and to have the fourth egg, which had been frozen, inserted into a surrogate mother; this child became the "newcomer" who was not acknowledged as a sister by the triplets. The father was unfaithful to his wife, and had a son with another woman; that was why he stayed away from home many evenings. This overly long book is a story of the family, and the outcome when all five of the children became adults.

3 stars

For LT ER I read Benjamin Banneker and Us: Eleven Generations of an American Family by Rachel Jameson Webster with Edith Lee Harris, Robert Lett, Gwen Marable, and Edwin Lee.

Rachel Jamison Webster, a white woman, learned from a cousin at a family reunion, that she was a distant relative to Benjamin Banneker, a Black mathematician and astronomer who helped survey Washington, DC, at the request of Thomas Jefferson. Black relatives of Banneker, some of whom had been doing genealogical work for years, helped her with research on the book, and told her stories they had heard. The title page reads Rachel Jamison Webster with Edith Lee Harris, Robert Lett, Gwen Marable, and Edwin Lee.

This book is both the story of Benjamin Banneker, beginning with his grandparents, and of the cooperation of the present day cousins and their search for his story. It begins with his grandparents, particularly his white grandmother who came as an indentured servant, and his grandfather who came to America as a slave. Especially in this early part of the story, the author uses conjecture such as what the trip to America in the slave quarters on the ship might have been like if the grandfather had had special privileges, but then says he might not have had the privileges. I much preferred the text when the authors had more information and did not do as much guessing.

The book is written with alternating chapters discussing the story of Benjamin Banneker, an amazing person, and the story of Ms. Webster and her newly found cousins in writing the book. I found the current story particularly interesting; one female cousin who was not involved in the writing did not want a white woman to write the book, and for a while the relationship of Ms. Webster and Robert Lett, the first black relative she had encountered, was strained. However, Ms. Webster and Mr. Lett worked out this situation.

4 stars

For the book club sponsored by our local branch library I read The Organ Thieves: The Shocking Story of the First Heart Transplant in the Segregated South by Chip Jones. This is a story of a heart transplant which occurred in Richmond, Virginia, at the Medical College of Virginia (MCV) in which the heart of Bruce Tucker, a black man, was secretly transplanted into a seriously ill white man. Many MCV staff members and a few other people were involved, but the chief surgeons were Dr. Richard Lower and Dr. David Hume. The surgery was done at night in a guarded room. Although the doctors wanted the donor's family to be notified, and even had the police engaged in the search, the searchers came up empty. However, during this time, a handicapped cobbler, William Tucker, tried valiantly to find his brother; he went to the hospital where he was sent on a wild goose chase and unable to find Bruce until after the transplant had been completed. All this time, William's business card was among the possessions that Bruce had had when he appeared at the hospital with a bad head injury.

Several years later L. Douglas Wilder, a young black lawyer who later became the governor of Virginia, sued MCV and a number of people, especially Drs. Lower and Hume, on behalf of William and the Tucker family in a civil trial. William Tucker was the plaintiff. The trial itself became stacked against the plaintiffs, with rules changing, etc. MVC was an important organization in Richmond and was doing important research into medicine.

The beginning of the book traces the early history of body snatching from graves to be used in for experimenting and teaching at MVC (before it became MVC). The end of the book tells what happened to some of the main characters including the judge at the trial.

I think the trial description got tedious. It was based around the definition of death, and whether Bruce Tucker was actually dead when the surgery began.

4 stars

For our Charlottesville Friends Meeting annual Big read, I read My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson, a local author. This book is a collection of five short stories followed by a novella, My Monticello. As a whole, I did not care much for the short stories but found the novella page-turning. It is narrated by Da'Naisha Love, a black female college student at the university. White people are chasing black people out of their homes and burning the houses down. Da'Naisha and seven other people including her elderly grandmother and two boyfriends (one black and one white) escape to Jefferson's home on a mountain. Later other people join them including some students from the local community college. These people take refuge in the mansion, Monticello, which Da'Naisha claims as her house (My Monticello) since she is descended from Jefferson and Sally Hemings. After they have been there over a week, a white man appears and tells them they have 48 hours to leave before they will be forced out. The refugees decide that they will stay and fight. The story ends at that point; we are not told what happens. Although a number of events, especially since August 11-12, 2017, are mentioned, the story takes place in the future.

The story contains a lot of violence, but also shows how people can cooperate and live together if forced by circumstances to do so.

The unnamed university is the University of Virginia and the community college is Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC).

4.5 stars for the novella.

For ClassicsCAT (classic mystery) and BingoDOG (featuring a hotel), I read At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie which disappointed me. There were not any murders until the end of the book, although several mysteries occurred. I did not like most of the main characters. This is a Miss Maple mystery, but she was not as actively involved as I expected her to be (although the police appreciated her help).

3 stars

For our retirement community Book Club I read Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown by Anne Glenconner, who was a Lady in Waiting for Princess Margaret. I was one of the few members of the club who read the entire book; many of us were tired of the British Royal Family. Also, I would rather not read about wealthy people. The title is a little misleading; although Ms. Glenconner tells about he friendship with Princess Margaret from her childhood through the rest of Margaret's life and a bit about being her lady in waiting, most of the book is devoted to Ms. Glenconner's life with her family. In her early 20s Ms. Glenconner married a man who was probably mentally ill, and who treated her poorly often making scenes in public. Following the practice of the wealthy in her time, Ms. Glenconner's first priority was taking care of her husband; she had nannies take care of her children, sometimes to disastrous results. Ms. Glenconner's first two sons died as young men, and her third son was in a serious accident after which she devotedly took care of him. Ms. Glenconner endured other setbacks; her long life (she is still living) is full of highs and lows.

3 stars

For the ClassCAT, KiddyCAT, and GeoCAT I read Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery. Although I had heard of the book for many years, this is the first time I read it. It is a charming story of an 11-year-old redheaded girl who is adopted from an orphanage by Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, an elderly brother and sister who asked to adopt a boy to help on their farm. As she became more comfortable with the Cuthberts, Anne, who is a very imaginative girl, becomes very talkative. She tries to do the tasks she is asked to do, but often gets waylaid by her imagination. She has a close friend, a neighbor, Diana. In school she meets several other girls who become her friends and Gilbert, a boy with whom she is very competitive but does not view as a friend since he teased her about her hair. This story covers Anne's life through her going to Queen's Academy (along with some of her friends) to earn a teaching license. However, she wins a scholarship to college which she plans to use until her family situation with the Cuthberts changes, and she ends up teaching after all.

4.5 stars

>91 sallylou61: I'm glad you enjoyed this one! It's a beloved childhood favorite of mine, but it's been a while since I've read it.

>92 christina_reads: I'm thinking of reading some of the later books in the series.

For MysteryKIT I just finished reading Trailed: One Woman's Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders by Kathryn Miles, of particular interest to me since the book is primarily about the 1996 murders of the lesbian couple, Lollie Winans and Julie Williams, in the Shenandoah National Park near the Appalachian Trail. I remember reading about these murders around the time they occurred, and was amazed to find that they happened over 25 years ago. These murders were never solved; Ms. Miles describes how the case was mishandled from the beginning with officials originally treating the case as a murder/suicide instead of two murder case. When officials finally arrested a man, Ms. Miles shows how it was probably the wrong man. Ms. Miles also mentions other unsolved murder cases which occurred in 1996 and 1997 in central Virginia including Alice Showalter Reynolds and the Lisk sisters whom I also remember reading about. Officials did not seriously try to connect any of the murders together. Ms. Miles also names who she thinks is the murderer. She is very concerned with making national parks safe for women and girls.

4.5 stars

Before our vacation to Chincoteague Island last week, I reread one of my favorite short story collections, Eastern Shore Shorts: Stories Set in Berlin, Cambridge, Chestertown, Chincoteague, Easton, Rock Hall, Salisbury, St. Michaels, and Tilghman Island by Gail Priest. Only Chincoteague is in Virginia; the rest are in Maryland. These stories, each of which could stand by itself, are related to each other since many characters appear in several stories -- as a main character in one, but mentioned in others. My favorite stories are "Homeward Migration" set in Chincoteague and "Peacemaker Puppy" set in Salisbury which are connected since Ben Cooper, the father in "Peacemaker Puppy," is the son of Jim and Lisa Cooper, important characters in "Homeward Migration."

4.5 stars

For BingoDOG (journalism square), MysteryKIT (true crime), and RandomKIT (royal name), I read Little Lindy is Kidnapped: How the Media Covered the Crime of the Century by Thomas Doherty. As the subtitle states, this book is primarily about the news coverage of the case rather than solving the case. Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh were a very popular couple, and the public followed the news closely. The different media, newspaper, radio, and news reels at theaters raced to cover the case. It's amazing to think that in the 1930s, only around 90 years ago, radio was the new technology.

I got bored with all the discussion about the media.

2.5 stars

For the number in the title square of BingoDOG, I read The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation by Anna Malaika Tubbs. I think the subtitle is a bit of an exaggeration. However, Alberta Williams King, Louise Little, and Emma Berdis Jones Baldwin were all very close to their famous sons, and greatly influenced them. Although these three women were all born around the turn of the 20th century, they lived very different lives and just as their sons did. This book is more than the story of these three women; it tells a story of black history.


4 stars

Haven't posted for a while. Reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, translated by Lucia Graves, for my book club. This is a very long book for me (486 p.). Also reading The Cat's Meow by Jonathan B. Losos (the biology, etc. of cats) for the STEM BingoDOG square.

For one of my book clubs, I've read The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, translated by Lucia Graves. This was a very long book for me (486 p.), and something I would not have read on my own. One of the problems for me with the book was that there are many references to streets in Barcolona, and I'm not familiar with that city. There are "red herrings" in the story, and the solving of the mystery does not turn out the way I expected. The main character, Daniel Sempere as a child, is taken by his father to the "Cemetery of Forgotten Books," a hidden library. Daniel takes a book, The Shadow of the Wind, back home with him, and having read the book, becomes enthralled with the mystery of the missing author, Julian Carax, and discovering that all the other copies of that The Shadow of the Wind and Carax's other books are missing. The story is basically his search in which he becomes involved with many other people, and their stories. The section which I enjoyed most was the story from the female, Nuria Monfort's point of view. The book contains a villain, Francisco Javier Fumero, a corrupt policeman who becomes involved in murdering people. Especially near the end of the story, there is a lot of violence. However, I liked the very end of the story.

3.5 stars

For the SeriesCAT (favorite author) and for pleasure I read City of Darkness and Light by Rhys Bowen. After their house is bombed, killing Liam's nanny, policeman Daniel Sullivan wants to get his wife, Molly, and son, Liam, far away from New York City. He sends them to Paris where they have an invitation from their neighbors and friends, Sid and Gus, who are temporarily living there to be in the art scene. When Molly and Liam arrive, they are not met by Sid and Gus; they stay in their friends' rented apartment and Molly tries looking for them. She learns that a fictional American painter, Reynold Brice, whom her friends had gone to see, has been murdered. She tries to solve both mysteries, the murder and her missing friends. She meets many fictional artists and Edgar Degas and Mary Cassett in fictional roles. While doing this she runs into much danger, visiting pubs where women are not to be seen and nearly being killed by a man she is investigating.

4 stars

For pleasure I read Dancing with History: A Life for Peace and Justice by George Lakey, an autobiography of an activist Quaker. As I started reading it, I really enjoyed it; reading about his working class background, going to college against the wishes of his father, and his first arrest for picketing for racial equality. How, George became an activist in many fields -- racial equality, gay rights, peace (including going on the Phoenix boat to deliver food to South Vietnam), ecology (including pressuring the PNC Bank to stop supporting the removing of mountain tops via strip mining), etc. The book seems to evolve around these themes instead of being more in chronological order. It skips back and forth in time, which can get confusing.
George's first experiences with homosexual activity in college is explicitly described. However, he was bisexual, and got married. He and his wife adopted two black children, and were not prepared for the difficulties this brought when their daughter and son became teenagers.
Most of the book is concerned with George's (and Berit's) activism. George was very involved with training activists in how best to carry on their activities; he strongly believed that planning had to be done and carried out. He wrote several manuals concerning this topic.
All of the footnotes, including the references to George's writing, appear at the bottom of the pages instead of being endnotes.

3.5 stars

I just bought and read Here is Your Band: A Centennial History of the Municipal Band of Charlottesville, Virginia, 1922-2022 by Fred O'Bryant. Fred is a good person to write the history since he has been in the band since 1979, has composed some of the music they play, and is a retired librarian. He and I both worked in the same library system (but not the same library) for twenty years.

I found the first part of the book to be rather boring since there was a lot of repetition about when the library was started, and short biographies of all the band directors. It became much more interesting as special aspects of the band were discussed such as when women and then African Americans were admitted as members, the band's playing at special events (often on a regular basis), the band members who are composers of some of the music the band plays, etc. I was especially interested in the recent history such as the forming of the various ensembles which can play to smaller audiences such as in retirement communities; these were allowed to play during much as the pandemic when the whole band was not allowed to play by government regulations.

The concerts of both the whole band and the ensembles are free of charge.

I was rather chagrined to read that in the 1920s (and perhaps later) the band was "the official band of the Virginia Division of the United Confederates Veterans Association" and played at its annual meetings (p. 63). Of course, this is the South.

The book contains nearly 50 pages of appendices. The longest one gives the most important dates in the band's history. However, instead of being chronological, it is by day. For example, for January 17th, an event in 1993 is given; for January 18th, events in 1949 and 2003 are given, etc. I would much preferred having a chronological listing.

3.5 stars

For the STEM topic book for BingoDOG I read Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting by Lisa Genova. This finishes my BingoDOG card. Ms. Genova is well known for her fiction, particularly Still Alice about a woman with Alzheimer's, which we learn in Remember is based on her grandmother's experience. Remember is nonfiction. Ms. Genova explains the science of remembering -- which part of the brain is involved with remembering and what people can and should do to remember better. She also points out that forgetting is also important; one does not remember routine things such as eating a meal (unless it is a special meal), brushing one's teeth, etc. She shows what kind of forgetting is normal and what is not. She often uses some of the same vivid examples over and over since repetition is important. Sometimes I found the book too repetitious. Her discussion of Alzheimer's is useful.

3 stars

I read Lilli de Jong by Janet Benton to read a novel featuring Quakers. Lilli is a young Quaker woman who has just lost her mother to death. Her father marries his cousin shortly after his wife's death, and is disowned by (kicked out of) the Quaker meeting. Lilli is no longer allowed to teach in a Quaker school, is no longer welcome in the Meeting, and is thrown out of her home by her stepmother after she finds out that Lilli is pregnant. Lilli's lover and her brother have left to work in a factory in Pittsburgh without knowing about her pregnancy. The book vividly tells the conditions of poor pregnant women and their babies in late 19th century Philadelphia. The women were frequently used as wet nurses for wealthy women, and those women's babies had priority to the milk over the women's own children. These babies could end up in institutions which did not provide the proper nourishment; many of the babies died. After much struggle, Lilli's story has a happy ending.

I feel that Ms. Benton did a disservice to Quakers by portraying Lilli's family and Meeting members in such a poor light. Quakers were disowned for various reasons, but I think that usually the family members were not. Lilli's father and stepmother were very cruel people.

3.5 stars

For the June KiddieCAT I read Misty's Twilight by Marguerite Henry. Instead of being set at Chincoteague Island, this story takes place in Florida. Twilight is Misty's great-great grandfoal; Misty herself is no longer living. This is more a story of discovering what Twilight will excel at (what kind of shows) instead of her being a companion of children. Moreover, the children's mother is the person most interested in Twilight; as a child, she had been a fan of Misty.

3 stars

For my retirement community book group, I reread Horse by Geraldine Brooks. I enjoyed it just as much as the first time around as I did in February. Both my book groups have picked it as a selection to read. My branch library book club will be reading it next spring.

Comments from before:
It is a skillfully written historical fiction book about Lexington (formerly Darley) a famous 19th century racehorse who had a relatively brief career racing before he became blind, and then became a breeder of many horses, including many racehorses. The story describes life, particularly in the pre-Civil War South, in which Negroes (the term at that time) could not own horses or be jockeys in races but were depended upon to take care of the horses. It describes the bond between Jarret, the horse's enslaved groom and the horse; Jarret was the person Lexington trusted. Both Jarret and Lexington are sold from the farm where they lived to another slaveowner who took them to another trainer who treated Jarret particularly cruelly and would not let him take care of. the horse. This was before the owner brought both Jarret and Lexington from Kentucky to Louisiana to run on a racetrack he owned. Jarret also helped Thomas J. Scott, a painter, by preparing his palette, holding the horse still, etc.

The story of the living horse is interspersed with the 20th/21st story of discovering the history of the horse. Its skeleton was given to the Smithsonian as well as two of Scott's paintings (one of which became missing). Researchers including skeleton specialists and an art history doctoral student are trying to find out how the skeleton should be pieced together, why the horse became blind, etc. through the use of pictures. Theo, the doctoral student, wants to write his dissertation on Scott's paintings.

Throughout the book, racial relations play an important part. In addition to Jarret's relation with the horse, a young white girl/woman from his first plantation tries to have unapproved relations with him. Theo, the 21st century graduate student is black and works with/has relations with a white professional at the Smithsonian.

5 stars

For pleasure I read Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry, one of his novels set in the Port William, Kentucky, region. This novel is narrated by Hannah Coulter, an elderly woman, who describes farm life from World War II through the present (2001). Her first husband, Virgil Feltner, was killed in the war. Hannah lived with Virgil's parents while he was away, and continue to live there until she was courted by and married Nathan Coulter, another young man from Port William, who came back from the war alive. The story is about another time when people in a rural helped each other and handed down farms from one generation to the next; by the end of the story when Hannah was one of the few neighbors still living, the times and way of life were changing. None of her and Nathan's children stayed in the area.

4 stars

I read The White Lady, a stand alone thriller by Jacqueline Winspear, author or the Maisie Dobbs series. The White Lady is set in England and Belgium during World War I and II; Elinor White (the White Lady) participates in both wars although as a child in the first one. This story kept jumping around in time and place from 1947 Kent (England) to 1914 Belgium to 1916 to 1947 to 1917, etc. I did not like the book although I enjoyed the Maisie Dobbs books. I had thought this would be more a mystery instead of a thriller.
Elinor White is a very conflicted person who was taught to kill (and killed) during WWI, lost all of her family during that war, and was particularly intent on trying to protect young preschool girls.

3 stars

After saying several times that I was not going to do a second BingoDOG card, I changed my mind again. Once again, I will not be disappointed if I don't fill it.

Books read for BingoDOG card 2.

1. Topic you don't usually read: Driving Home Naked: and Other Misadventures of a County Veterinarian by Melinda G. McCall -- 17th book read -- finished reading September 30th -- 5 stars (usually don't read because not many vet stories)
2. Next in series you started: All That Is Hidden (a Molly Murphy mystery) by Rhys Bowen and her daughter Clare Broyles -- 6th book read -- finished reading Aug. 13th -- 4 stars
3. Taught you something: Standing Up To Hate: The Charlottesville Clergy Collective and Lessons from August 12, 2017, edited by Michael Cheuk -- 8th book read -- finished reading Aug. 17th -- 4.5 stars
4. Switched/Stolen identities: Third Girl by Agatha Christie -- 22nd book read -- finished reading Nov. 18th-- 5th and 6th bingos (4th vertical row and 4th horizontal square) -- 3 stars
5. Book on cover: The Tall Book of Mother Goose, illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky -- 21st book read -- 3rd and 4th bingos (lower left to upper right diagonal, right vertical column) -- finished reading Nov. 13th.
6. 4+ LT rating: The Annotated Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, annotated and edited by David M Shapard -- 20th book read -- finished reading Nov. 4th -- 4.5 stars
8. Best seller from 20 years ago: Kate Remembered by A. Scott Berg -- 11th book read-- finished reading Sept. 3rd -- 4 stars -- Kate died June 29, 2003 -- book on NYT nonfiction best seller whole month of October.
9. STEM topic: Wonder Drug : The Secret History of Thalidomide in America and Its Hidden Victims by Jennifer Vanderbes -- 14th book read -- finished reading September 16th -- 4 stars
10. Features inn or hotel: The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf -- 19th book read -- finished reading October 14th -- 3 stars
12. Small town/Rural setting: Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry -- 2nd book read -- finished reading July 9th -- 4 stars
13. Read a cat: The White Lady by Jacqueline Winspear -- July GeoCAT (Europe) -- 3rd book read -- finished reading July 14 -- 3 stars
14. Number in title: 24 Hours in Charlottesville: an Oral History of the Stand Against White Supremacy by Nora Neus -- 15th book read -- finished reading September 18th -- 5 stars
15. Local or regional author: Poetry Matters: For Better and For Verse: Essays on the Art and Craft of Poetry by Sara M. Robinson --13th book read -- finished reading September 12th -- 4 stars
16. Author with same zodiac sign: Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood -- 7th book read -- finished reading Aug. 13th -- 4 stars
17. First book by popular author: Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie -- 16th book read -- finished reading Sept. 24th -- 4 stars
18. Art or craft related: Holsinger's Charlottesville: A Collection of Photographs by Rufus W. Holsinger -- 12th book read/examined --September 9th -- 4.5 stars -- 1st Bingo (middle vertical row)
19. Author under 30: Thomas Mann - read Tonio Kröger, translated by David Luke found in Death in Venice and Other Stories -- author was 25 when he wrote it -- 5th title read -- finished reading Aug. 8th
20. Memoir: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, edited by Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler and translated by Susan Massotty -- finished reading Oct. 4th -- 18th book read --2nd Bingo -- 4th horizontal row
September ClassicsCAT (nonfiction) and KittyCAT (biography) -- finished reading October 4th -- unrated
21. Features member of cat family: Cat Watching by Desmond Morris -- 10th book read -- read Aug. 24th -- 3.5 stars
23. More than 1000 copies on LT: On the Banks of Plum Creek -- Laura Ingalls Wilder -- 9th title read -- finished Aug. 20th (reread)-- 10,858 copies
24. Plant on the cover: Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters by Jennifer Chiaverini -- 4th book read -- finished reading Aug. 6th -- 3.5 stars -- flowering plants on cover (as if in garden)
25. Features music or musician: Here is Your Band: A Centennial History of the Municipal Band of Charlottesville, Virginia, 1922-2022 by Fred O'Bryant --- 1st book read -- finished reading June 24th -- 3.5 stars.

Possible reads:
7. Set on plane, train, ship -- Murder on the Orient Express
11. Journalists or Journalism: Undaunted: How Women Changed American Journalism by Brooke Kroeger
21. Involves accident: something about the Triangle Shirtwaist fire

Good luck with your second Bingo!

>103 sallylou61: Congratulations on completing your first Bingo card.

>111 DeltaQueen50:, >112 pamelad:. Thanks.

>108 sallylou61: Well, you did better than I did, I quit reading after about half of the book. What a disappointment!

For one of my August book club meetings, I read Resistance Women by Jennifer Chiaverini, a novel about the resistance to Hitler and the Nazis in Germany beginning prior to World War II through the war. The novel particularly features four women, three of whom were real people: Mildred Fish Harnack, Greta Kuckhoff, and Martha Dodd plus the fictional Sara Weitz. However, men also played important roles in the novel, particularly the husbands of Mildred and Greta and the brother of Sara. The novel describes the harrowing conditions under which the people of Germany and conquered areas lived, but also the popularity of Hitler, and the support he had of numerous people who cheered Nazi parades and speeches. All the resistance participants had to be extremely careful not to be discovered. The novel realistically describes how the Harnacks and other resistance workers in the story were probably eventually discovered, and the sentences they were dealt.

In the author's notes, Ms. Chiaverini tells what happened to some characters mentioned in the story and family members of key characters.

Although the story of WWII is disturbing, the war was dealt with too long according to my tastes.

3.5 stars

For the LT ER program I read In Spite of the Consequences: Prison Letters on Exoneration, Abolition, and Freedom by Lacino Hamilton.

Mr. Hamilton spent approximately 27 years in prison in Michigan for a crime which he did not commit before finally being freed. This book is a small selection of the over 10,000 letters which he wrote while imprisoned. Through these letters he shows how brutal the prison system actually is -- much more brutal than outsiders think. For example, when families visit, they do not see the conditions under which their loved ones live; immediately after the visit the prisoner needs to undress in front of the guard to show that he is not concealing anything.

Mr. Hamilton appears to be a very intelligent man. During his time in prison, he became self educated primarily by reading numerous books. He corresponded with friends, family members, persons interested in justice, and other prisoners since prisoners could not speak to each other. Unfortunately, he never had the understanding and support from his parents. Mr. Hamilton makes many important points in this book.

I am disappointed that none of the letters are dated, and they skip around in time. Also, the recipients are identified the first time they are sent a letter, but not after that. An appendix identifying the recipients would be useful.

Still, Mr. Hamilton has written a very important book, which I highly recommend.

4 stars

After reading Resistance Women by Jennifer Chiaverini, I read her Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters. I knew that Mary Todd Lincoln had a very difficult life, especially during her White House years and after her husband's death. This novel is focused on that time period, and Mrs. Lincoln's troubled relations with her sisters and her only remaining son, Robert. It is a very depressing read. Moreover, Ms. Chiaverini followed the current style of writing, jumping from character to character and from time period to time period.

3.5 stars

For the ClassicsCAT (a translated classic), I read Thomas Mann's novella, Tonio Kröger, translated by David Luke, one of the other stories in Death in Venice and Other Stories. This is another story in which Mann discusses the meaning of art, in this case literature. Tonio is a writer who loves two people, a boy and then a girl, during his teenage years, who do not return his love. He never forms much of a relationship with anyone else until possibly the end of the story, around the time he goes north to Denmark to write (which he does not do).

For the MysteryKIT and BingoDOG card 2, I read All That Is Hidden by Rhys Bowen and her daughter Clare Broyles.
This novel starts out slowly. Without consulting his wife former private detective, Molly Murphy Sullivan, Daniel Sullivan, uncharacteristically accepted an offer to run as the Tammany ticket candidate for sheriff of New York. They move into a large house with servants paid for by the Tammany machine. They are sending their ward Bridie, to a private school paid for Molly's friends, Sid and Gus, at which Bridie is unhappy because she does not fit in with the rich girls. At a birthday party for Blanche whom Bridie has rescued from a fire, Big Bill McCormick, the Tammany candidate for mayor is murdered. Molly helps solve the case; Bridie and Blanche also try to solve it.

Tonight at our book club meeting we discussed Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood, a novel based on two actual murder cases. In the end, Ms. Atwood does not say whether or not she thinks that Grace Marks is guilty. It's interesting because all the women in the group thought that Grace was guilty although there was not enough evidence to keep her permanently in jail; the three men thought she was not guilty. There was some question as to whether or not Grace planned the murders or whether she was an accessory. I was surprised by whom some of our members thought actually committed the murders; it was not James McDermott who was found guilty and hanged.

Personally, I thought that this book was too long as did some others, but we could not agree on what should have been cut out.

I used this book on my second BingoDOG card since Margaret Atwood and I share the same zodiac sign, scorpio.

3 stars

Last weekend was the 6th anniversary of the coming to Charlottesville of the AltRight group demonstrating against the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue from a city park. They held a torchlit march to the University of Virginia grounds (our term for campus) to a statue of Jefferson, chanting slogans such as "You will not replace us," in this case aimed at Jewish students on Friday night, August 11th, 2017. On Saturday, August 12th, they arrived with "weapons" of various kinds; the City officially ended the demonstration before it began. There was a lot of violence in a very chaotic situation in which it was sometimes difficult to tell which group was which -- protestors or anti-protestors although the protestors carried Nazi symbols of various kinds and kept yelling Nazi slogans. One AltRight protestor deliberately drove his car through a group of anti-protestors, and backed up over them again, killed one young woman and injuring many people. Also, two police officers were killed when their helicopter crashed. However, unfortunately during the chaos the police, from several different units, mainly watched and did nothing to stop the violence.

A group of local clergy in a group called the Charlottesville Clergy Collective had been preparing to try to keep peace for some time before the event. I read its recently published Standing Up to Hate: The Charlottesville Clergy Collective and the Lessons from August 12, 2017. In that very informative book approximately 20 religious leaders of various congregations wrote about their experiences concerning those events. Not surprisingly, they had various views. I was particularly interested in reading a black clergyman's reaction to whites' saying "This is not us." He said that it was us because of the way Charlottesville had treated blacks over the years.

4.5 stars

For the RandomKIT and KiddyCAT challenges I reread On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder. My 4th grade teacher, a favorite elementary school teacher, read this book to us in class as a special treat. It introduced me to the Little House Books, one of my favorite series growing up. I enjoyed rereading it.

>120 sallylou61: I started reading recently. My friend also says that it's a little bit too long, but a good reading in general. And I like it so far.

>123 alisonmarks:. I would not have read Alias Grace if it had not been a book club read.

I hope you like it better than I did.

For pleasure I recently read My Old Kentucky Home: The Astonishing Life and Reckoning of an Iconic American Song by Emily Bingham, a woman who was reckoning with the fact that her ancestors had owned slaves in Kentucky. The home in the song refers to slave quarters rather than plantation mansions, and is about a slave being sold down-river (Mississippi) to the cotton plantations in the deep South. Ms. Bingham traces the history of the Stephen Foster song which he wrote prior to the Civil War through current times. Of special interest to me is the connection of the song with the Kentucky Derby and the Stephen Foster memorial in Pittsburgh, his hometown. Although this book was published in 2022, I notice that the tune was played but not sung for this year's (2023) Kentucky. Also, the statue of Stephen Foster in Pittsburgh has been removed; I remember seeing that statue at the Stephen Foster memorial.

Ms. Bingham includes black people's reaction to the song, even with its changed words. Many black entertainers sung it at some point in their careers.

3.5 stars

For the "cats" square on the BingoDOG card (2), I (re)read Cat Watching by Desmond Morris. I first read this book in the mid 1980s shortly after it was published, and really enjoyed it then. However, probably because I have read a number of cat books since then, I found it interesting but not as enjoyable as the first time around. Also, some of the information was dated; for example, I think that pet cats have a considerably longer life span than back then when 12 was considered old.
Mr. Morris gives a brief history of the cat, but most of the book consists of questions which he asks and then answers. I was particularly interested in his comments about older cats since our cats are getting elderly.

3 stars

On book jacket title is Catwatching; on title page Cat Watching

For the best seller from 20 years ago square on my second BingoDOG card I read Kate Remembered by A. Scott Berg. Katharine Hepburn met Mr. Berg, who was 42 years her junior, in 1983 and for the last 20 years of her life met with him, usually in person but sometimes over the phone, telling him about her life, her career, people she worked with and personal friends, etc. She did not want this book published while she was still alive. However, apparently Mr. Berg wrote most of it while Ms. Hepburn was still living. She died June 29, 2003, and the book was on the New York Times best selling nonfiction book for the whole month of October.
Ms. Hepburn talked about the various theatre productions and films she was in during seven decade career. Mr. Berg met many of her siblings and some of the people she had worked with. The book, of course, includes her relationship with Spencer Tracy and the care she took of him, especially during his final years. She helped him get through his final film (with her), "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" when he was having difficulty remembering his lines.

The book does not include any index or list of Ms. Hepburn's theatre productions and films. Such a list would be useful.

4 stars

For my retirement community book club I read Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout. Lucy's ex-husband William took Lucy from New York City to a cottage by the sea in Maine to isolate themselves from the covid. In my opinion, this was a very unsatisfying book: Lucy just could not understand what the covid was in the beginning, and she was very whiny throughout the book.

2.5 stars

>121 sallylou61: This book is on my list too. And you know, I've been postponing its' reading for some time because a friend of mine managed to finish only half and gave rather negative feedback. But you put 4.5 stars, and now I'm curious.
And I know that each of us have different tastes, but for me it's hard to read something after hearing negative feedback, but I'll give it a try

>129 BeverlyMars: Different people have different opinions about books. I found Standing Up to Hate very interesting. However, I've lived in Charlottesville since the mid 1980s, and vividly remember the alt-Right encounter. Moreover, I know or know of a number of the authors.

For the art or craft related square of BingoDOG card 2, I read Holsinger's Charlottesville: A Collection of Photographs by Rufus W. Holsinger by Cecile Wendover Clover and F.T. Heblich, Jr.
Rufus Holsinger was a photographer in Charlottesville, VA, from the mid 1880s to until around 1925. He took numerous photographs of the town and its people during this time. His collection is preserved in the archives of the University of Virginia.
Although this collection shows a history of Charlottesville, it is focused on the buildings and the men who owned various businesses rather than the more common people. This was disappointing to me since I've seen various exhibits of people of all backgrounds over the past 30 years or so. However, this book was published in the mid 1970s. The descriptions of the photographs talk about what the buildings, many but certainly not all of which are no longer standing, were near or would have been near in the 1970s.

4.5 stars

For the local author square of BingoDOG card 2 I read Poetry Matters: For Better and For Verse: Essays on the Art and Craft of Poetry by Sara M. Robinson. This book is obviously aimed to help poetry writers, especially beginning poetry writers, practice their craft. I am definitely not in this category. However, Sara comes weekly to our retirement community to lead a discussion of poetry. We critique the poetry of various poets. I found that a lot of these essays, which Sara had earlier published in a poetry magazine, lined up very well with what we look at in our sessions. Since these essays were originally columns, they are all about the same length, and often refer to each other.

4 stars

For the STEM square of BingoDOG card 2, I read Wonder Drug : The Secret History of Thalidomide in America and Its Hidden Victims by Jennifer Vanderbes, a very detailed story of the horrors of thalidomide concerning birth defects in babies, mostly born in the early 1960s. Although this story centers on the American experience, the effects in Europe are also mentioned; the serious birth defects there gave Dr. Kelsey, a drug reviewer for the FDA, ammunition to not approve the drug in the United States. The manufacturers of thalidomide kept putting pressure on the FDA to approve the drug. Dr. Kelsey would not approve the drug without proof from studies that the drug was not harmful to unborn babies. This information was never given to her. Unfortunately, unknown to the FDA and the American public, the drug companies had given hundreds of doctors unlabeled thalidomide to give to patients as sedatives; hundreds of pregnant women had taken this drug, which was particularly harmful to the fetuses early in the women's pregnancies. Numerous babies with severe birth defects, primarily in the limbs, but also some with internal problems, were born in the United States, but records were not kept of these instances. Not until the last few years were the handicapped individuals discovered, and now have an association and meet together.

Dr. Kelsey's experiences with drug company pressure and her testimony (along with testimony of others) in the early 1960s helped lead to stronger drug testing laws. President Kennedy awarded Dr. Kelsey with the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service in 1962; Senator Kefauver had suggested this but was ignored during the ceremony. I found the whole governmental fight concerning the law very distasteful. Kefauver in the Senate was the main strong advocate for the bill but Kennedy tried to take credit for it.

4 stars

I recently read 24 Hours in Charlottesville: An Oral History of the Stand Against White Supremacy by Nora Neus. It's interesting that two books about the attack by the AltRight has recently appeared approximately six years after the event. Last month I read and reported on Standing Up to Hate: The Charlottesville Clergy Collective and the Lessons from August 12, 2017. Ms. Neus's book covers the 24 hours from 7:00 p.m. Friday, August 11th, 2017 through 7:00 p.m. Saturday, August 12, 2017. That includes the Friday night torch lit march to the University of Virginia campus (called grounds by the University) with the AltRight chanting Jews will not replace us thru the events of Saturday including the deliberate car running through a group of counterprotesters killing Heather Heyer and injuring approximately 25 others.

This account is from the view of those against the AltRight. At the beginning of the book Ms. Neus gives a list of the characters interviewed arranged under labels such as Activists, People of Faith, Journalists, University of Virginia Faculty, Students, Government Leaders, Healthcare Workers, and Community Members. She arranges the comments giving the name and identification of each person commenting, which seems a bit much since they are identified at the beginning and a number of them appear again and again. However, the comments themselves are usually very compelling. From these comments from people at the scene, it is apparent that the various police forces (Charlottesville, State of Virginia, University, etc.) were not coordinated and appeared not to do anything to lessen the attack. Various people including journalists called it chaos.

Included in the account is the preparation of the emergency teams at both of the Charlottesville hospitals: the University of Virginia Hospital and Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital in the event of badly injured people. Both hospitals were ready for the patients they received after the car drove over the counterprotesters.

5 stars

For our local library's book club I recently reread The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty. This is a good discussion book since its ending especially is open to interpretation. This is the story of Laurel, a middle aged professional woman working in Chicago, who returns South to New Orleans where her father, retired widowed Judge McKelva, is having serious eye trouble. Judge McKelva has relatively recently married a second wife, Fay, who is younger than Laurel. Unfortunately, Fay is a very self-centered woman who is mean to other people. Laurel must deal with both her ill father, who dies after an eye operation, and Fay. Both Laurel and Fay go back to the Judge’s home town in Mississippi after his death for his funeral and burial. Laurel is alone in the house where she grew up for several days, finds correspondence from her father to her mother, and learns more about both of them and herself. This is the part which could use better explanation in my opinion.

3.5 stars (same as when I read it for another book club last year.)

For a book club which I'm thinking of joining, I read Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls. This story takes place in Southwest Virginia during Prohibition. The novel is full of family secrets, and includes a lot of violence since the people are involved in making and selling whiskey. There was much too much violence for my taste.

3 stars

I've recently read Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for the September GeoCAT (Nigeria in Africa) and the first book by a popular author BingoDOG square. There are three sections of this novel: Kimbili and her brother Jaja at home with their loving mother and respected father who expects perfection in his opinion and beats his wife and children; the children visiting with their aunt and her family in another community; and the children back at home following a family emergency.
It's amazing to me that such a fine and powerful book was written by an author, who wrote two exceptional novels (this and Half of a Yellow Sun) before turning 30 years of age.

4.5 stars

Last Thursday evening I enjoyed hearing a large animal veterinarian talking about her experiences in her practice. Immediately after the program, I purchased her book, Driving Home Naked and Other Misadventures of a Country Veterinarian by Melinda G. McCall. It was a pleasure to read; some of her stories are funny and others sad. Several of the stories are about removing dead calves from their mothers' bodies; in the stories told, the mothers survived. By the end of the book, Dr. Melinda (as she calls herself), has a young daughter, Lucy, who she had to take with her during covid; Lucy stayed in the truck. Dr. Melinda experienced owning and running a veterinarian practice, thus caring for sick animals at any time in the day or night in a 15 county area in Central Virginia and raising a daughter at the same time. Fortunately, she had plenty of help; her parents stayed with when Lucy was an infant. Dr. Melinda also had other vets and technicians in her practice.
Driving home naked actually occurred at least once during the night. The first such experience she describes in her book.

5 stars

Earlier this month I finally finished reading The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, edited by Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler and translated by Susan Massotty. Anne wrote her diary, in correspondence form with each entry starting by addressing "Kitty", while she and her family along with another family and an additional man (totaling 8 Jewish people) were hiding in an annexe from the Nazis during World War II. The diary ends before they were captured, and eventually taken to Auschwitz. Otto Frank, Anne's father was the only one of the eight to survive. After the war, he was given Anne's diary (which was found scattered in the Annexe), and had parts of it published. However, there were different "editions" of the diary; Anne originally started writing it for herself, but after hearing that after the war, diaries would be published, she wrote for publication.
Mr. Frank did not include some of the sexuality/relationship with Peter passages. The edition I read was an updated version prepared by Mirjam Pressler

The Diary describes the extreme hardships of the eight in hiding. The quarters were small, and there was considerable bickering among the eight. Mrs. Frank and Mrs. van Daan (a fictitious name) did not get along. Anne thought that her parents did not understand her. Mr. Dussel (another fictitious name) did not fit into the group. Anne was a teenager during this hiding, and wrote about the stress of being a teenager. She wrote about her developing sexuality. She and Peter van Daan (another fictitious name) were together a lot, and puzzled over their relationship including their feelings of love for each other. Anne writes at considerable length about this; Mr. Frank became aware of their relationship, and cautioned them about it.

not rated

It's been a while since I updated describing my reading. In October I did not get as much reading done as usual since my husband took a week of vacation, taking the train to Chicago, and then driving back visiting places of interest such as Ann Arbor, Michigan, where John had worked for three years while I worked at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, a graveyard where many of my father's family are buried in Saegertown, PA, and my brother and sister-in-law in Pittsburgh.

For my second BingoDOG card, I read The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf. I had been planning to read this for the first book by a popular author square, but ended up putting it in the feature an inn or hotel square since much of the middle part of the book features a hotel. This is the first book I have read by Virginia Woolf. It contained a lot of conversation, and relatively little plot although it did feature a couple of couples. Some of the characters decided to take a boat trip on the Amazon. Unfortunately, that trip ended tragically.

3 stars

Hospital Sketches by Louisa May Alcott is an interesting book. It is a story in short essays based on her brief experience of being a nurse in a Union hospital during the Civil War. Tribulation Periwinkle experiences the same kinds of conditions, and is a nurse a very short time before getting ill, just like the author.

3.5 stars

A few days ago I finished rereading The Annotated Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, annotated by David M. Shapard for a book club meeting. I have always enjoyed reading Pride and Prejudice although I had not read it for approximately 10 years. I really enjoyed this reading, and looking forward to familiar scenes.

5 stars

For my book club meeting on Monday, I read Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. This is a historical novel set in the early 1960s when many fields of employment were not open to women. The heroine, Elizabeth Zott, is a chemist who is not valued for her research work, especially after her main male supporter (and lover) is no longer on the scene. For much of the book Elizabeth, an unwed mother, works for a TV show, Supper at Six, at which she demonstrates chemistry through cooking. As she is teaching, she gives the chemical substance for each ingredient. Although I liked the feminist slant of the book and the plot, I did not appreciate the continual discussion of chemistry.

3.5 stars

I have also read a short book, Kitty Language: an Illustrated Guide to Understanding Your Cat by Lili Chin. In this book, Ms. Chin gives various drawings of cats, and describes what they are feeling. In the drawings, she points to various features such as the position and appearance of the tail, and says how the cat is probably feeling. She emphasizes that to understand the cat, you should look at the whole cat, not just one particular body part.

3.5 stars

(P.S. Our two cats via me had given the book to my husband for his recent birthday, and he gave it to me when he had finished reading it.)

I've just finished reading Holding the Net: Caring for My Mother on the Tightrope of Aging by Melanie P. Merriman. Ms. Merriman describes how she and her sister cared for their very elderly mother in her last months of life.

4 stars

For my second BingoDOG card (book on cover square), I read The Tall Book of Mother Goose, illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky. My parents used to read this to me when I was a very young child. (I notice it was copyrighted the year before I was born.) I don't think I ever read it as an adult. The main thing I remembered about it was that it had a picture of a bad boy smoking (for "Ding Dong Bell"). I was surprised to find many unfamiliar nursery rhymes, and to find other poems/sayings to be nursery rhymes.

4 stars

I have finished reading a LT Early Review book: Second-Chance Horses: True Stories of the Horses We Rescue and the Horses Who Rescue Us, edited by Callie Smith Grant.

The subtitle: "True Stories of the Horses We Rescue and the Horses Who Rescue Us" accurately tells us what the book is about. "Second-Chance Horses" is a collection of 33 very short stories (none over ten pages long) about the relationship of horses and people. Some of the stories are about people who loved horses from the time they were young children. Some of the horses had been mistreated before they were rescued, and took a while to become trusting. Not all of the animals are horses; mules and a zebra are included. The stories are about everyday people. The only celebrity mentioned is Elvis Presley, who appeared in one story. This collection will interest to "horse people.

For the stolen/switched identities square on my second BingoDOG card I read Third Girl by Agatha Christie. The person with the stolen identity was not the person I thought it would be. Drugs played a major role in this book. In my opinion, it was one of Christie's less interesting books.

For pleasure I read A Questionable Death and Other Historical Quaker Midwife Mysteries by Edith Maxwell, the author of the Quaker Midwife Mystery series featuring Rose Carroll. I enjoyed the novels much more than these short stories, most of which also featured Rose. In the stories featuring Rose, she once again was instrumental in solving the mystery although this time not all the mysteries featured murders. In one of the stories, the postmistress was the heroine.
For the final story, Rose is approximately ten years older, and has at least four children, and is still a midwife but no longer does detective work. She is requested by the police to help solve a case. I did not like this story as much; I was disappointed in her home life.

4 Stars

For pleasure I read Generous Women: an Appreciation by Earl Hamner.

Although Mr. Hamner lived and worked in California much of his adult life, his home, which he memorialized in his 1970s TV series, The Waltons, is located in Schuyler, Virginia (near Charlottesville). Schuyler has a local museum devoted to Hamner and the TV show, which is where I bought this book. This is an unusual autobiography since through his thoughtful discussion of various women who had an impact on him, one also learns about Mr. Hamner himself. The women Mr. Hamner describes range from relatively unknown women such as those in his family, to writers and actresses such as Michael Learned who played the mother in The Waltons, to political women such as Eleanor Roosevelt and Lillian Carter.

4 stars

For ClassicsCAT, I reread An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott which I had not read since being a teenager. I was surprised to find how didactic it is. I remembered some of the plot, but was surprised to find the first section about Polly's visit to the Shaw family so relatively short. Also, I thought the second part dragged at times.

3.5 stars

>151 sallylou61: I am nostalgically fond of An Old-Fashioned Girl, but I definitely agree about the book's didactic nature!

To finish my ROOT challenge, I read Stronger: Courage, Hope & Humor in My Life with John McCain by Cindy McCain

Cindy McCain writes about her life with her husband, Senator John McCain. She met and married him after he had been a POW in Vietnam. Theirs was a love marriage for 38 years, as long as John lived. Both John and Cindy felt strongly about serving their country; both of their sons and a daughter-in-law served in the military as adults. Cindy, a very wealthy women in her own right, became very involved in tackling human trafficking around the globe. She has made numerous trips to Africa to work for women's rights, encouraging women in other countries to become active. However, her family has always been her chief concern.

4 stars

This afternoon I read Christmas with O. Henry which includes two Christmas stories by O Henry: the well-known classic, "The Gift of the Magi" and a hobo Christmas story, "Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking," which I thought got long and tedious. Our local Barnes and Noble has a table of small Christmas story books by various authors including O. Henry, Louisa May Alcott, L. M. Montgomery, etc.

I enjoyed reading White House by the Sea: A Century of the Kennedys at Hyannis Port by Kate Storey, which I received as a Christmas gift. The book is about the Kennedy siblings (Jack, Bobby, Ted, etc.) growing up, about their adult lives (particularly their political careers), and briefly toward the end about the younger generation. The various members of the Kennedy family owned various properties, mostly closely together, there. I feel that the weakest part of the book is near the end when the next generations are discussed.

4 stars

My final book read during 2023 is Marguerite, Misty and Me: A Horse Lover's Hunt for the Hidden History of Marguerite Henry and Her Chincoteague Pony by Susan Friedland. Although Ms. Friedland gave a lot of information about Marguerite Henry and her books and relationship to her readers, the book really centered around Susan Friedland herself. In addition to her research for the book, Ms. Friedland described her own experience going to Chincoteague for the pony swim, and meeting other pony enthusiasts there.

3 stars