Anne (AMQS) reads in 2023 - Chapter 2

From a recent weekend in Westcliffe, CO. You're looking at the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Can you spot the Stelios in the second picture?

Hello dear LT friends, thank you for keeping my thread warm while life keeps me so busy. My name is Anne. 53. I live in Lakewood, Colorado with my husband Stelios, daughter Callia, and three kitties. Our two daughters are grown - Callia is home and student teaching and Marina is a senior in college in central Pennsylvania. I am a teacher librarian in a little mountain elementary school, so I read a lot of children's literature, along with adult literary fiction. I adore audiobooks and always have one going for my commutes up to school. This is my 14th year in the group (thank you, Jim/drneutron!)

Now Reading:


Audio:

2023 Reading (2)

July, 2023
43. The Wizards of Once by Cressida Cowell
44. King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender
45. Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
46. As Sweet as Honey by Indira Ganesan
47. Exit Strategy by Martha Wells
48. Swan Lake: Quest for the Kingdoms by Rey Terciero and Megan Kearney
49. Alone by Megan E. Freeman
50. Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
51. Show Us Who You Are by Elle McNicoll
52. Diamond Head by Cecily Wong
53. Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
54. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

August, 2023
55. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
56. The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton
57. Network Effect by Martha Wells
58. Yonder by Ali Standish
59. Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton
60. Maizy Chen's Last Chance by Lisa Yee

September, 2023
61. Normal People by Sally Rooney
62. Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris
63. The Puffin Keeper by Michael Morpurgo
64. Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
65. The Last Mapmaker by Christina Soontornvat

October, 2023
66. Muppets in Moscow: The Unexpected Crazy True Story of Making Sesame Street in Russia by Natasha Lance Rogoff
67. The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater
68. The Late Bloomers’ Club by Louise Miller
69. The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman
70. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

November, 2023
71. Himself by Jess Kidd
72. I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai
73. Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson
74. The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone by Jaclyn Moriarty
75. Persuasion by Jane Austen
76. A Soft Place to Land by Janae Marks

December, 2023
77. Diamond Doris: The True Story of the World’s Most Notorious Jewel Thief by Doris Payne
78. The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart
79. Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
80. System Collapse by Martha Wells
81. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
82. Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson

2023 Reading (1)

January, 2023
1. The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald
2. What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky: Stories by Lesley Nneka Arimah
3. Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? by Seamas O’Reilly
4. Skunk and Badger by Amy Timberlake
5. The American Spirit: Who We Are and What We Stand For by David McCoullough
6. Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
7. Ellen Outside the Lines by A.J. Sass
8. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

February, 2023
9. The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford
10. The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman

March, 2023
11. Amari and the Great Game by B.B. Alston
12. A Rover's Story by Jasmine Warga
13. Good Citizens Need Not Fear: Stories by Maria Reva
14. Clean Getaway by Nic Stone
15. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
16. Magpie Lane by Lucy Atkins
17. The Liars’ Club: A Memoir by Mary Karr
18. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
19. The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander
20. The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman

April, 2023
21. The Windeby Puzzle by Lois Lowry
22. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
23. A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson
24. The Hummingbird’s Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea

May, 2023
25. The Girl Explorers by Jayne Zanglein
26. The Marvellers by Dhonielle Clayton
27. Hannah's War by Jan Eliasberg
28. Northwind by Gary Paulsen
29. The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland
30. The End of the Beginning by Avi

June, 2023
31. The Window Seat: Notes From a Life in Motion by Aminatta Forna
32. Thirst by Varsha Bajaj
33. 300 Minutes of Danger by Jack Heath
34. Louisa June and the Nazis in the Waves by L. M. Elliott
35. Attack of the Black Rectangles by Amy Sarig King
36. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy
37. Forty Autumns: A Family’s Story of Courage and Survival on Both Sides of the Berlin Wall by Nina Willner
38. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
39. Worst-Case Collin by Rebecca Caprara
40. All Systems Red by Martha Wells
41. Artificial Condition by Marta Wells
42. Hummingbird by Natalie Lloyd

News: Today was our school's Halloween party and while usually I go as a book character, this year I was a Google Doc.


This was before the lockdown. My first. All are okay, but rattled, particularly Callia who had front row seats to the action, so to speak, including the massive police response and takedown of our unauthorized guest. It's been a kooky school year this year with several "didn't have that on my bingo card" moments such as the need to support a student who was mauled by an African lion, a family whose children were removed by police in the middle of class so the family could enter police protective custody, and now today: a lockdown. If you know any teachers, give them a hug.

I am struggling to find time to read print books, so thank goodness for audio.



69. The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman, audiobooks narrated by Fiona Shaw

Fortunately I put my hold on this book really early and it came in quickly. I just love these books. I eventually stop paying attention to the crimes because I really just like spending time with the Thursday Murder Club:)

Happy new thread, Anne!

>5 AMQS: I hope you and Callia are okay ((hugs))

Happy new one!

Happy Saturday, Anne. Happy New Thread. Love the toppers! Ooh, The Graveyard Book. One of my absolute favorites and sooooo good on audio.

Happy new thread, Anne.

I can see Stelios in his little cap!

>5 AMQS:. Hugs given of course.

>5 AMQS: My goodness, Anne. Crazy bingo card, indeed! Teachers and librarians are amazing people.

Hugs, Anne. I hope you are all OK. Have a relaxing weekend.

>6 AMQS: Love this!

>1 AMQS: Great photos.

>5 AMQS: OMG!! That's a lot to deal with in, what, 3 months?!? Hope things settle down for the rest of the year.

Goodness. I'm glad to hear you're all OK. Sending the biggest of hugs.

Wow, that’s a lot to deal with!

Happy new thread! *Hugs* for a scary day.

Happy new thread, Anne. Sorry you had such an awful day with the lockdown.

Happy new thread! So sorry things have been scary and rough. Glad you are enjoying the Thursday Murder Club -- I haven't read that one yet. Love >6 AMQS:!!

Thank you everyone for your kind words. What a strange school year it has been. We are all okay - but the events of that day did shake everyone up and while it's easy to say... well nothing happened we're okay I think we were better off acknowledging that we experienced some trauma. We've had a community meeting attended by district security and local sheriff, and we learned some great lessons without having a tragedy. I'm sure the most traumatized of all was the poor "intruder." My school is in a mountain area that was hit hard by hail this summer. Many people are getting new roofs. This poor gentleman was working on a roof in the mountains and did not have access to any facilities and had a bathroom emergency. He came to our school and tried every door he could find (why someone might think it is a good idea to try to gain entry into a school in 2023 is another question, but he spoke little english and probably was focused on his emergency). He finally found an unlocked door. We had had our Halloween party that day and the building was full of parents. That was a door that is rarely used and was shown after to have a hydraulic/pressure issue which has been fixed. So staff had him on the cameras and once we realized he was inside we went into lockdown. He was arrested and 100% complied with the police (he was released). So a traumatic experience for all, but fortunately no tragedy.

The week after our lockdown our district was cyber-attacked, creating something of a digital lockdown and forced password change for first staff and then students. We were asked to change our passwords and then check our direct deposit information. Apparently some people had had their information changed. Scary. The student password change was a monster that ate up about a week. We were forced to change all at once, and a simultaneous change of nearly 70,000 passwords went about as well as you might imagine, and many teachers had to forgo technology for several days. And this all happened during my book fair. Crazy town. I can't tell you how glad I am to be on Thanksgiving break! I started off my break with a crown and a filling. My dentist wants me to address my teeth that have those old fillings. As my teeth and I age the teeth are cracking around the filling so she is encouraging me to take advantage of good dental insurance before I consider retirement. I tell you what, the craziness of this school year is making retirement look better and better.

>8 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita. We're both good, but appreciate your support.

>9 figsfromthistle: Thanks, Anita!

>10 msf59: Hi Mark! The Graveyard Book is a favorite of mine. I waited ages to listen to the Neil Gaiman-narrated version and never was able to get it. I listened instead to the full-cast narration which was outstanding.

>11 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul! Hugs to you, too.

>12 scaifea: Hi Amber! The crazy continues. Hope Thanksgiving break gets us a reset.

>13 BLBera: Hi Beth - all okay. Thinking of you in retirement makes me smile:)

>14 RebaRelishesReading: Hi Reba! Yes, we're hoping Thanksgiving break gives us a reset. We sure need it!

>15 MickyFine: Thank you, Micky - we certainly appreciate the hugs!

>16 drneutron: Thanks, Jim. It's been a time, that's for sure.

>17 foggidawn: Thank you, foggi. I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving!

>18 curioussquared: Thanks, Natalie. Crazy school year!

>19 Berly: Thanks, Kim! The Thursday Murder Club books are so much fun - exactly hitting the spot!

70. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, audiobook narrated by a full cast.

This book was a gift. It is so good, and outstanding with the full cast narration. I just love it. Perfect October read.

71. Himself by Jess Kidd, audiobook narrated by Aidan Kelly.

I have Katie to thank in a roundabout way for this one, for she recommended Mr. Flood's Last Resort by the same author. I found the book strange and compelling and not exactly for me. And yet. I think I enjoyed Himself even more, although it too is strange and compelling and hard to read in some places and not exactly for me. But the author has me in her spell now and so I will probably read Things in Jars at some point. I just can't look away! This is a good mystery set mostly in 1970s rural Ireland, where Mahoney shows up in the village looking for the truth about what happened to his mother. His mother was something of the village scourge, and Mahoney's appearance shakes the town to its core, including its ghosts and supernatural phenomena. Mahoney teams up with a flamboyant aging actress and together they get the pot good and stirred.

72. I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai.

This appeared on many of your best-of lists last year, and so I suggested it to my book club. It is a well-told and slowly unfolding and terribly tragic story of a boarding school murder for which the wrong man may be in prison. Unfortunately for me it came to me at the worst time when I could hardly manage to read a print book and so it was a multi-week slog. Just the wrong book at the wrong time and that was definitely a me problem.

73. Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson, audiobook narrated by Marin Ireland.

I attempted to listen to this book a few years ago and for some reason the audiobook would not download properly and I could never get more than partway through the first chapter. I tried multiple times but to no avail. So I shelved it and was able to successfully download and listen some years later. This book was a treat, and another outstanding narration. Lillian and Madison meet in boarding school - Madison fabulously wealthy and Lillian on scholarship and donations, and they form an unlikely bond that continues even after Lillian's boarding school experience comes to a sudden (and terrible) end. Years later, Madison asks Lillian to consider an unusual job opportunity: essentially nanny her two stepchildren during the intense vetting process her husband must endure as he is considered for Secretary of State. What that means is: keep the kids out of sight so no one discovers that they spontaneously combust when they are emotionally heightened. You wouldn't think that a book about two traumatized children could be so funny but then again, this is a special and unusual book. Recommended, particularly on audio.

To anyone celebrating Thanksgiving this week: I wish you a wonderful holiday! I am thankful for ALL OF YOU!

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I have been behind on your thread, Anne, so a belated happy new one, and wow, you and the teachers and students have been through a lot this year! I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving break and that the rest of the school year is calmer.

>24 AMQS: - I loved that one, too. I thought the audio was excellent.

>23 AMQS: - This was another winner for me, but I get the "wrong book, wrong time" thing...

>22 AMQS: - I'll have to check this one out!

Have a nice holiday, Anne.

Well, Anne, you have had an eventful school year so far. Enjoy your break. Yes, retirement is wonderful. The same thing happened to my teeth; I had lots of fillings, which now have mostly been replaced by crowns.

The Makkai didn't work for me either although I loved The Great Believers. Maybe my expectations were too high? The Wilson sounds good. I might check that one out.

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have a restful break!

>20 AMQS: I'm trying to think what would happen if they had an intruder in Mr SandDune's school. I'm thinking that they probably wouldn't notice, to be honest! His school had a ransomware attack earlier in the year, and it caused issues for a couple of months. They weren't allowed to use any technology at all for a couple of weeks while the consultants dealt with it, so he couldn't even photocopy anything (not that he had anything to photocopy as all the schemes of work were on the system). He said it was like going back in time thirty years!

>20 AMQS: OMG!! What a series of events!! Poor all of you, including the man with the emergency!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have a pleasant, restful time and feel much recovered when school starts again.

Hi Anne,

Those mountain schools are so quiet and peaceful. Yikes! Let's hope that's the extent of the excitement for the year.

I loved The Graveyard Book. I should revisit it on audio and it sounds like I should track down the full cast version. I almost wish (almost) I was still commuting to work because that's when I listened the most.

Dear Anne,



Happy Thanksgiving from an appreciative non-celebrator.

So grateful for this LT community. I have hugged many teachers this year: sorry about the lockdown and hoping you get a good rest over your break. I do think your library seems like a wonderful oasis of fun and learning!

I hope your Thanksgiving break was restful and the countdown to Christmas break goes quickly! ❤️

Hope all is well, Anne.

Nadolig llawen a blwyddyn newydd dda i ti!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you!

Thinking about you during the festive season, Anne, Stelios, Callia and Marina

Wishing you happy holidays, Anne!

Dear friends, thank you so much for keeping my thread warm. It's December 26 and I am enjoying the quiet of being the only one up (despite it being after 1:00 in the afternoon... Stelios has gone for a nap and Marina is sleeping in way late and Callia is overseas). It feels like it would be logical to not make a 2024 thread since I can't seem to keep up no matter what, but LT fills my cup and my heart and my soul and I think I just need to figure out a way to prioritize LT and all of you. So how? That's a 2024 question:)

Lately an unfortunate Thanksgiving "tradition" has me getting sick over Thanksgiving break and having it linger for many weeks. I am still fighting it, so now I am grateful for the post-holiday, school-break downtime. But even with all of the craziness my family did enjoy a nice Thanksgiving and Christmas. Our Thanksgiving was low-key, with my mom, my dad and stepmother, and my nephew. This was the first Thanksgiving after the death of my stepsister last December, so we were fragile but glad to be together. My extended family usually celebrates Christmas night at my mom's house, but we were realizing we hadn't done that since 2019... since 2020 we did not get together, 2021 we celebrated outside at my house (bundled up and around the fire pit), and 2022 my family was traveling. So it felt nice to get back to something like normal at my mom's house after so long and after a year of grieving my stepsister and my uncle, who also passed away late last year.

Except Callia, who is traveling: Callia has reconnected with her high school sweetheart. Between HS and university, they had been together over 4 years before they grew up and apart (and then of course Callia went off the deep end, but that's a whole other story many of you know). She and Sven reconnected in the spring, and it has been really lovely, and wonderful for us because Sven adores her. BUT Sven is moving to Europe for awhile, and Callia went with him to travel there and spend some time together before he goes on to explore and work and she comes back to resume student teaching. Long story, but all good:) Sven's mother has a home near Hamburg, where they stayed for a bit, before traveling south to Munich where they are staying in my mom's flat and were able to celebrate Christmas with my brother and sister in law and nephew and my SIL's extended Germany-based family. Sven and Callia will go to Lisbon for New Year.

It has been a challenging school year. My school is small, high-performing, and has always had a very experienced staff with lots of longevity and very little turnover. And that has always been one of our greatest strengths. Until it wasn't. Within 3 years or so my school will be fundamentally changed. All of us are around the same age and very near retirement (because I started late/second career I am behind in years of service and eligibility in our Colorado public employee retirement). My principal is very burned out and it is starting to affect just about everything. Callia is unfairly receiving the brunt of my principal being stretched so thin as Callia is trying to navigate her dual-roles of para-educator and student teacher without support and with some hostility. At school Callia is a colleague, but her experience has been very hard for me as her mother, and I am completely powerless to do anything. Being such a small school in a district with student-based budgeting, it feels like something of a miracle that I can be full time, when it is actually very painful financial decisions made by my principal that keeps me full time. From year to year I never know if I will be able to remain full time, and I doubt that a new principal would be willing to keep me. So the writing is on the wall, so to speak, and I am starting to look at what else is out there. I am strongly considering a move to either middle or high school. And of course I have very mixed feelings. I love my school and sort of thought I'd be there forever. We'll see what happens. Callia is fortunate to have the support of her program advisor who will assist her in getting a job as she is planning to continue her program and get a masters while teaching, and could possibly end up in another school district.

And that's us. Stelios is very much ready to retire - it's just a question of how. Marina is home and it is so wonderful that she is. She will graduate in May, which I can hardly believe. What's next is unknown at this point. She finds out next month if she made the first cut in her Fulbright application (she has applied for a research scholarship). If she does not get the Fulbright she is planning to go on to graduate school after a gap year. 2024 may be a Cyprus year for us. After essentially our entire adulthood living here, Stelios is increasingly yearning for home, though a visit home usually cures that for awhile, lol.

Merry Christmas to all of you. I am so grateful for you.

>26 bell7: Thank you, Mary! You cannot possibly be further behind than I am. I appreciate your visit!

>27 katiekrug: Hi Katie!

>28 BLBera: Hi Beth! I saw The Great Believers recently. I need to remember to add it to my list.

>29 foggidawn: Thank you, foggi! On another break now, and really enjoying it, now that all of the "to-dos" of Christmas are now over!

>30 SandDune:, >37 SandDune: Thank you, Rhian! I love those crocheted dolls - did you do those? It's hard to imagine teaching without tech - even just the one day was extremely challenging, and it's essentially all I teach!

>31 RebaRelishesReading:, >40 RebaRelishesReading: Thank you, Reba! This is the break I am really enjoying. We got enough snow to make it a while Christmas, while not making for treacherous driving conditions. With the holiday behind us, I am finally giving in to sloth! And even better: LT.

>32 Copperskye: Hi Joanne! Mostly peaceful:) Shortly before Thanksgiving I found a black widow spider in the library. Fortunately I have a colleague who loves that sort of thing who same right over with a jar.

When I am on school breaks I hardly listen to audio at all. I think The Graveyard Book would be worth it, though!

>33 PaulCranswick:, >36 PaulCranswick:, >39 PaulCranswick: Paul, you are such a generous visitor to my thread, and I appreciate you so much! All is well here, and I am enjoying the downtime very much. The health app on my phone is really concerned. On a normal school day I average about 8000 steps just at school, so according to the app I am experiencing a major lifestyle change and not for the better. But is is definitely for the better, though alas only temporary!

>34 witchyrichy:, >41 witchyrichy: Oh, Karen, teachers need those hugs more than ever! And like you, this community is such a blessing and a comfort. I am extremely proud of what happens inside the library, and I feel I am instructionally in a great place. Outside the doors, however... Another blow this year was the loss of my long-time library para. She was amazing. She told me that if she could do just the library part of her job she would never have left, but everything else was getting to her. But we were a great team, and though it's challenging, I am actually doing okay with no para, thanks to the structures and systems we worked together to establish. I appreciate your support!

>35 MickyFine: Thank you, Micky!

>38 ronincats: Thank you, Roni! Loved finally meeting you in 2023!

I am as behind on reporting my reads as I am on everything else.



74. The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone by Jaclyn Moriarty

This was a very fun middle grade read with a just-right old-fashioned feel. Young Bronte receives word that her parents have been killed by pirates, and she must undertake a quest to deliver gifts to all of her aunts, following her parents' instructions exactly. Adventures and misadventures ensue. Initially I was annoyed with the book - too much going on - but t all wrapped up so neatly that I was overall very pleased. Fun read!

75. Persuasion by Jane Austen, audiobook narrated by Rosalyn Landor.

It's somehow really satisfying that book #75 on the year is a reread/listen of this favorite.

76. A Soft Place to Land by Janae Marks

This middle grade author is becoming a sure thing for me. While getting the picture I noticed Mary's review, in which she states that as she gets older she finds herself more and more sympathetic with the parents in children's stories. Same! This is a family experiencing tough times. Dad lost his job, they had to move from their beloved home to a small apartment, Joy has to share a room with her younger sister, and has to put her dreams of becoming a composer of movie scores on hold as there is no longer any money for piano lessons (although sister's ballet lessons were pre-paid, so she can continue). Joy has to struggle with her new circumstances, a new school, new friends, and new family tensions. She meets another girl in her building, and the two begin a dog-walking business to try to make money. But things go wrong, friendships strain, and a super secret hideout for the building's kids is in jeopardy. I highly recommend this author.

77. Diamond Doris: The True Story of the World's Most Notorious Jewel Thief by Doris Payne, audiobook narrated by Robin Miles.

This is a fascinating memoir of Doris Payne, who grew up in a West Virginia coal mining town, and became an international jewel thief. While not always a sympathetic subject, Doris nonetheless led a fascinating life, and her memoir is very exciting.

78. The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise. A colleague pressed this into my hands and told me it was a must-read. A humorous and heartbreaking story of 12 YO Coyote and her dad Rodeo, though she is not allowed to call him dad. Coyote and Rodeo live a life on the road, traveling in their old school bus named Yeager. They are perpetually on the road, eating at gas stations, jumping in rivers, constantly on the move after the accident that took the lives of Coyote's mother and two sisters. Rodeo cannot bear to remember or grieve, so he is only focused on the horizon. When Coyote learns from her grandmother that their old neighborhood park - where she and her mother and sisters buried a memory box - is going to be destroyed and developed, Coyote is desperate to return home and retrieve the box, only home is the one place Rodeo refuses to go. Coyote must contrive to get there somehow, and with the help of some brokenhearted "strays" she has an outside chance of making it. Wonderful book that provides both laughs and an emotional wallop.

79. Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, audiobook narrated by Meryl Streep.

What can I say? Ann Patchett and Meryl Streep: two master storytellers at the absolute top of their craft made for a transcendent reading experience!

80. System Collapse by Martha Wells.

Loved the new Murderbot book - with it even more itself than usual, and with a particularly clever group project of sorts. I "inherited" the set of the first four books I gave to my brother (he lives overseas, so when he visits I can pretend they are still his), and my mom gave me this one, so I broke down and ordered books 5 and 6. Can never have enough Murderbot!

Merry Christmas!
I too struggle with keeping LT and trying to keep up. I love tracking my reading through LT and tracking on a thread, but I haven't been able to stay consistent for years :(

Congrats on blowing past the goal! I hope your 2024 is so much better.

>42 AMQS: Always happy to see a message from you, Anne. 2023 was again no easy year for you, I hope 2024 will have some answers for the future.
(((hugs)))

>45 AMQS: Congratulations on reaching 75!

>42 AMQS: Thank you for the update, Anne. Good luck with your school issues. It must be especially difficult to have an excellent situation go bad so quickly.
Hope your sloth-ing was restorative :)

Well, I managed to miss this entire thread, Anne, but I wanted to drop by and wish you and yours a healthy and happy new year!

>42 AMQS: Yikes, Anne, that's quite a lot to navigate. I hope you are able to get a new job that you also love if that's what's in the cards for you, and that things continue to go well with Callia and Marina.

Happy new year, may it bring peace and joy to you and yours! And though we understand if you need to cut back on LT time or not make a thread, I do hope we'll see you here and there.

>51 ChelleBearss: It's good to see you, Chelle! Do you have a thread? As far as keeping up - at least you have the excuse of two busy kids! I'll look for your 2024 thread. Happy New Year to you!

>52 drneutron: Thank you, Jim! Looking forward to 2024 and to being here more!

>53 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita! Looking forward to 2024. Change is hard, I guess. One thing we're looking forward to is Marina graduating from university. Hard to believe how fast the time has gone by!

>54 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks, Reba. Still slothing and enjoying it very much! As for school - instructionally I am in a really great place but other things are challenging. If I go somewhere else it will be a huge change for me, but given where everyone is retirement-wise, there are huge changes coming for the whole school over the next couple of years. It's just getting to be time, and even if I had no issues I think the days of a full-time librarian there are numbered.

>55 alcottacre: Glad to see you, Stasia! Wishing you and your family a very happy new year as well!

>56 bell7: Thank you, Mary. I appreciate your words of support. Change is hard, that's for sure. I wonder if it makes sense to make a thread given how I've been so challenged to keep up with it, and especially to keep up with friends here, but it does bring me so much joy that I want to make it work. I just need to figure out how. You and everyone else have been so patient with me and my infrequent visits, and I appreciate you.

>42 AMQS: & >43 AMQS: It is always great to catch up, Anne, especially when the news - sickness aside - is generally good. I am so pleased for Callia, though a little envious as I have always wanted to visit Lisbon too! She is an inspiration in how she has got her life back on a very positive track.

>58 PaulCranswick: Paul, thank you. That means a lot to me. Callia and Sven have both been lucky enough to have traveled quite a bit (his mother is German and his father is Swedish). Portugal is somewhere neither have been (me either!) and arriving today, she gives it 5 stars so far:)

>59 AMQS: That is good to know. I will try to visit Portugal in 2024, I think.

>60 PaulCranswick: Paul, so far she's been "waiting all day" each day to be able to text us news and photos and superlatives when she's pretty sure we'll be awake. This is going to be a special place for them, and now the rest of us are envious!

81. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

I saw this on someone's thread (Micky?) and it looked perfect for Marina. I have long had a tradition of giving the girls a book to celebrate the end of the school year, and so I had it waiting for Marina when she came home from Italy. And it was just right. Cozy, witchy, sweet. She devoured it and pressed it on me, and I also thoroughly enjoyed this sweet story.

Mika is a witch and witches are solitary creatures, sworn to secrecy for their own protection, and gathering only rarely. But this is a terribly lonely life so for fun Mika makes witchy YouTube videos pretending to be a witch. But someone sees her and sends an invitation to tutor three young witches living in secrecy, which is against all Rules and makes their magic more dangerous. What Mika finds is everything she's ever wanted and a massively dangerous risk.

Happy Holidays!!! I am looking for another audio book, so on to the list goes Tom Lake -- thanks! : )

Hi Kim! Oh, I think you'll love Tom Lake on audio. It doesn't get any better than Meryl Streep. Happy New Year to you!

82. Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson

Jacqueline Woodson is just an exquisite writer, and that rare writer who writes award winning picture books, middle grade books, YA, adult, novels in verse, and pretty much anything. And she is coming to my school district in April! So excited. I had read everything of hers that is in my library except for this one - a poetic, spare story about a girl on the Black side of the highway and what happens when a boy who looks white arrives new to her school. The frame of the story is the study of the Emily Dickinson poem "Hope' is the thing with feathers". Frannie mulls over the idea of hope as she considers family grief, learning challenges, schoolyard bullies, and the placid new boy the kids have taken to call "Jesus Boy." Like all of her books, it is lovely and gritty and emotional.

>62 AMQS: I've heard so many good things about this one that it's solidly on my list. I'm glad you liked it, too!

>61 AMQS: One of the best things about 2023 has been Callia's return to happiness. I am thrilled that things have worked out so well for her. What news of the Doppelganger?

Glad you and yours are doing well.

Meryl Streep did the audio version of Tom Lake -- that sounds wonderful -- may have to do a re-read (or listen) of that.

>66 scaifea: Hi Amber! I think you'll enjoy it. It was just what I was in the mood for.

>67 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul. The Doppelganger is home for a good long while, which I love. She'll head back to PA in late January, and in May we will travel there for her graduation! Marina has applied for a Fulbright research scholarship. It is ultra competitive, so we have no idea what to expect. Her school is quite proud of their many Fulbright scholars and has an internal application system with interviews and deadlines etc designed to help students prepare the strongest possible applications. She will find out in January if she made the first cut. If she does then she will find out in April if she will be granted the scholarship. If so, she will spend about 9 months in Cyprus researching bi-communal issues and relations (Greek-Cypriot/Turkish-Cypriot). She has an advisor from the University of Cyprus and a mentor who has spent years engaging in bi-communal work. She is using her senior thesis as a bit of a warm up, studying how ethnicity impacts identity. If she does not earn the scholarship her plan is to continue onto graduate school but take a gap year. She'll likely pursue work or internship opportunities offered through her school or through their Italian studies program, or she will come home to work before applying to school. I like this plan. She works so hard and recognizes that she needs a bit of a break. Marina just had her birthday and is now 22! What about Her Doppelganger?

She sent me this picture in September, saying "This is the face of someone who just submitted her Fulbright application!"


>68 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks, Reba! Yes, Meryl Streep and Ann Patchett together made for an amazing listening experience!

>62 AMQS: Twasn't me. 😊 My guess would be Natalie.

Glad it was an enjoyable read for all though.

>69 AMQS: I'll keep my fingers crossed for Marina but it sounds like she is a very strong candidate for that Fullbright and may not need any crossed fingers. Congratulations to her for all she has accomplished and will accomplish!!

>42 AMQS: Appreciate the update! You certainly continue to serve your students in innovative ways despite all.

Happy new year to you and your family!

>69 AMQS: I hope with you that Marina will get the scholarship, Anne. Looks like she is doing well.