Mabith's 2017 Reads (Meredith) Part II

I meant to start a new thread after the first third of the year, but spaced and dislike breaking it up in the middle of a month.

2017 Reads June-September
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum
The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish
Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali
Duende by tracy k. smith
The ACB With Honora Lee by Kate de Goldi

Mountains of the Pharaohs by Zahi Hawass
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Chronicle of a Last Summer by Yasmine el Rashidi
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
Mister Monday by Garth Nix

Leaving Yuba City by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty
Circling the Sun by Paula McLain

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken
Believe Me by Eddie Izzard
The Cracks in the Kingdom by Jaclyn Moriarty
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
One Hundred and One Days by Asne Seierstad

Grim Tuesday by Garth Nix
The Vanishing Velazquez by Laura Cumming
Four Against the Arctic by David Roberts
The Marriage Bureau by Penrose Halson
The Jesuit and the Skull by Amir D Aczel

Drowned Wednesday by Garth Nix
Roots, Radicals, and Rockers by Billy Bragg
A Tangle of Gold by Jaclyn Moriarty
Lydia, Queen of Palestine by Uri Orlev
Sir Thursday by Garth Nix

The Hoboken Chicken Emergency by Daniel Pinkwater
Lady Friday by Garth Nix
Freddy and the Perilous Adventure by Walter R. Brooks
Venice by Jan Morris
China's Long March by Jean Fritz

Trials of the Earth by Mary Mann Hamilton
The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Final Exit by Derek Humphry
The Book of Emma Reyes by Emma Reyes
Freddy the Politician by Walter R. Brooks

Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
What the Witch Left by Ruth Chew
All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
The Curse of the Blue Figurine by John Bellairs

When They Severed Earth From Sky by Elizabeth Wayland Barber
Superior Saturday – Garth Nix
The Boston Girl – Anita Diamant
The Mummy, The Will, and the Crypt – John Bellairs
Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? - Frans de Waal

The Philadelphia Adventure – Lloyd Alexander
Lord Sunday – Garth Nix
The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull – John Bellairs
Five Little Pigs – Agatha Christie
Love in Vain – JM Dupont, Mezzo

A Little History of the World – EH Gombrich
Last Things – Marissa Moss
Imagine Wanting Only This – Kristen Radtke
Dinosaur Empire – Abby Howard
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents – Terry Pratchett

First Bite by Bee Wilson
The Xanadu Adventure by Lloyd Alexander
Orientalism – Edward Said
The Lost Crown of Genghis Khan – Carl Barks
The Island on Bird Street – Uri Orlev

The Indifferent Stars Above – Daniel James Brown
Beneath the Lion's Gaze – Maaza Mengiste
The Importance of Being Earnest – Oscar Wilde
The Book of Five Rings – Miyamoto Musashi
The Drunken Botanist – Amy Stewart

The Turtle of Oman – Naomi Shahib Nye
The Alleluia Files – Sharon Shinn
Gut Feelings – Gerd Gigerenzer
The Secret of Hondorica – Carl Barks
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight – Alexandra Fuller

Black Flags – Joby Warrick
Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm – Thich Nhat Hanh
Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8 – Naoki Higashida
To the Bright Edge of the World – Eowyn Ivey
Why? - Mario Livio

Just One Damned Thing After Another – Jodi Taylor
The Yellow Wallpaper – Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Blindness – Jose Saramago
The Book Thieves – Anders Rydell
Reality is not What it Seems – Carlo Rovelli

Cranford – Elizabeth Gaskell
The Witch Family – Eleanor Estes
Sister Mine – Nalo Hopkinson
La Vagabonde – Colette
Becoming Nicole – Amy Ellis Nutt

The Golden Notebook – Doris Lessing
The Children's Book – A.S. Byatt
The Fire Next Time – James Baldwin
Under the Udala Trees – Chinelo Okparanta
Who Killed These Girls? – Beverly Lowry

Running for my Life – Lopez Lmong
Radium Girls – Kate Moore
News of the World – Paulette Jiles
The Red Pony – John Steinbeck
An Edible History of Humanity – Tom Standage

A Woman in Arabia – Gertrude Bell and Georgina Howell
Founding Gardeners – Andrea Wulf
Anatomy of a Disappearance – Hisham Matar
The Book of Night Women – Marlon James
Ground Zero – Kevin J. Anderson

Acorna – Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball
A Girl Named Zippy – Haven Kimmel
The Age of the Vikings – Anders Winroth
The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction – Helen Graham
A General History of the Pyrates – Captain Charles Johnson (suspected Nathaniel Mist)

Clouds of Witness – Dorothy L. Sayers
The Lonely City – Olivia Laing
No Time for Tears – Judy Heath
The Unwomanly Face of War – Svetlana Alexievich
Gay-Neck - Dhan Gopal Mukerji

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane – Lisa See
Get Well Soon – Jennifer Wright
The Testament of Mary – Colm Toibin
The Roman Way – Edith Hamilton
Understood Betsy – Dorothy Canfield Fisher

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Vicente Blasco Ibanez
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH – Robert C. O'Brien
SPQR – Mary Beard
Ballet Shoes – Noel Streatfeild
Hogfather – Terry Pratchett

The Sorrow of War – Bao Ninh
Drowned Hopes – Donald E. Westlake
Selected Essays – Michel de Montaigne
Vietnam: A History – Stanley Karnow
The Snake, The Crocodile, and the Dog – Elizabeth Peters

Guests of the Sheik – Elizabetha Warnok Fernea
Stone Butch Blues – Leslie Feinberg
Wicked Plants – Amy Stewart
Life in a Medieval City – Joseph and Frances Gies
Under the Sea Wind – Rachel Carson

The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia – Mary and Brian Talbot
Brat Farrar – Josephine Tey
The Treasure of the Ten Avatars – Don Rosa
Escape From Forbidden Valley – Don Rosa
Nightwood – Djuna Barnes

Here Comes the Sun – Nicole Dennis-Benn
Over My Dead Body – Rex Stout

Favorites Read in Jan-June 2017

Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi
Middlemarch – George Eliot
The File on H – Ismail Kadare
Passing – Nella Larsen
Station Eleven – Emily St. John Mandel
Patience and Sarah – Isabel Miller
Sorcerer to the Crown – Zen Cho
The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake – Breece Pancake
Zorro – Isabel Allende
Poor Cow – Nell Dunn
Pavilion of Women – Pearl S. Buck
The Return of the Soldier – Rebecca West

Colored People – Henry Louis Gates Jr.
My Mother's Sabbath Days – Chaim Grade
Stammered Songbook – Erwin Mortier
Bone Black – bell hooks
The Spiral Staircase– Karen Armstrong
Reading Lolita in Tehran – Azar Nafisi
The Gulag Archipelago Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
The Man Without a Face – Masha Gessen
Cannibalism – Bill Schutt
The Chinese in America – Iris Chang
The Death and Life of Great American Cities – Jane Jacobs
Come as You Are – Emily Nagoski

Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum RE-READ

The fourth book in the Oz series, and still my favorite. Dorothy is in California, taking a train to visit her uncle's ranch. The train is delayed due to a series of earthquakes, but her cousin is still there to meet her (and her kitten Eureka) at their stop. Another earthquake as they're riding in the buggy causes a huge crack in the earth, which they fall through. Of course they fall into a fairy country (Dorothy knows this is a fairy country as her kitten and the buggy horse can talk) and soon after the Wizard of Oz falls through as well, in his hot air balloon.

It's my favorite because of the lands they travel through and people they meet trying to get back to the surface. The first place is a city of glass where the people are vegetable in nature and grow on bushes. Then a valley with invisible people and invisible bears. Then a wooden land with wooden gargoyles and inside a mountain there are baby dragons. They eventually make it to Oz where Dorothy's kitten Eureka is put on trial for eating one of the Wizard's mouse-sized piglets.

It was just so much fun to me as a kid, and it still is. I love the little lands Baum takes us through, I love Eureka, and I love Dorothy.

The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish

Written in 1666 this is a satirical, utopian, proto-science fiction work. It was quite interesting, and worth reading, I think, though I can't say I absolutely loved it. Pretty sure that experimental philosophy is never going to be my sweet spot, reading wise.

Interesting to read such an early forerunner of science fiction.

Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali

A classic Turkish novel by a prominent socialist who was imprisoned many times and eventually killed as he was trying to leave Turkey. This was the pick for my online book club, one of the leaders of it has lived in Turkey for some time and it's a favorite of hers. Really glad it was picked, as the book was very interesting.

While I liked the writing style very quickly it took about halfway through the book for me to feel really invested in it. From there I read it almost in one sitting (it's quite a short work). The book follows a young man whose office mate begins to intrigue him. He is very reserved and private, and older yet still in quite a menial position. The young man sees him reading a book in German and sort of takes the older man on as a philosophical guide. Partway through we switch to a long essay written by the older man about the experiences in his life that made him withdraw so whole-heartedly.

Really well worth reading. It was first published in 1943.

Duende: Poems by tracy k. smith

Smith is our latest poet laureate so I thought I'd pick up one of her volumes. I absolutely loved it and sped through the collection. She will be a poet laureate we can be proud of, and I hope is capable of holding a mirror up to the currently dreadful state of affairs in the US (on many fronts, not just the political).

Recommended.

The ACB With Honora Lee by Kate de Goldi

This is a juvenile fiction work with a fair few illustrations about a young girl's relationship with her granny who is suffering from dementia. It's really a beautiful little book, one which doesn't try to force a moral lesson or solve any major problems. Perry is simply finding a way to interact with her grandmother and the other residents in the nursing home. De Goldi also touches on the way Perry's parents deal with her gran, and how they now view time with her (simply as a duty). Perry cannot fix her gran's memories, but she can find pleasure in their interactions and in the unique qualities all of the residents of the home have.

I really liked this, and I think it's a perfect way to introduce young readers to the issue of dementia and nursing home visits. It's definitely geared toward the younger end of juvenile fiction but I think an older child could find a lot in it as well, particularly if they have a close relative dealing with Alzheimers or dementia.

The Mountains of the Pharaohs: The Untold Story of the Pyramid Builders by Zahi Hawass

I knew there was some reason I hadn't read anything by Hawass before, but read this book before I looked him up and remembered, oh right, virulent anti-semite (and yes, those views can and do infiltrate academic works).

While Hawass is a top Egyptologist, there are a lot of very good books about ancient Egypt around (more than about 20th century Egypt, certainly) and you'll find the same information elsewhere minus the bias (hopefully). I'd advise finding a different book and due to the author's hateful views I'm not really going to review the book. If you must read his work try to get it in a physical copy from a bookstore or other method that won't give money to the author.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

I hoped I'd really like this book, but I found it only mediocre and never felt invested in the characters or the events surrounding them. It could be an issue of translation, but I also wonder if Tolstoy just doesn't have the same group on realistic psychology that, say, Elizabeth Gaskell and George Eliot do.

I didn't hate reading it or anything, I just sort of went along with it though and didn't feel much.

Chronicle of a Last Summer: A Novel of Egypt by Yasmine El Rashidi

Wow, I LOVED this. It takes us through three stages in the narrator's life and biggish events in Egyptian history, 1984, 1998, and 2014. We're told a lot more than what happens in those three years, but it all feeds into the history from 1966 or so onwards. I loved the style of writing and it was a really powerful little book, one of those relatively short books that pack a punch.

I certainly recommend it and I'll be looking for more by the author. It led me to search for some books about recent Egyptian history, but I couldn't find ANYTHING on audio. If you know a good title that applies, let me know!

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann

The Osage were left better off than many native groups where land rights were concerned. When initially looking for a spot for a reservation a far-sighted leader said they should choose a rocky, inhospitable area which the white men would never want to take back for farming, etc... This land happened to be teeming with oil, and a far-sighted Osage had reserved the rights to the minerals, etc.. under the land when parts were sold/rented through an allotment scheme. So they quickly became extremely wealthy. The oil rights also could NOT be sold, only inherited and suddenly many Osage (most with white spouses) are being killed or dying in suspicious ways. At least 24 were murdered, including the entirety of one woman's family.

Investigations were made in only the loosest sense until a second (I think) FBI agent was sent. The conspiracy was wide spread and incredibly disturbing (along with all the awful rules where the tribe member did not even have access to their own money so couldn't really hire many private investigators (which I think it partly why so many had married white people, because then at least their spouse controlled their money). The whole thing is so horrible.

Really good book, recommended. It's written in three sections, one focusing on the Osage community and the family who were targets of many of the murders, one focusing on the FBI's involvement and Hoover's building of the FBI found mythos, and a final one focused on the revival of interest in the subject and treatment by journalists.

Mister Monday by Garth Nix RE-READ

Starting my fourth reread of Nix's Keys to the Kingdom series. I really really love this books. Love the characters, adore the world, it would make an amazing mini-series if done well.

The books are juvenile/intermediate fantasy, and some of the finest fantasy for the pre-YA age group that I've come across. Seven books in the series, all very fast paced and leading immediately into each other. If you've got a reluctant young reader in your family, trying giving them these (maybe reading the first aloud).

Arthur is sucked into a fantasy quest against his will as it's the only way to stop a deadly epidemic in his world (a flu epidemic killed his parents when he was a baby, and his adopted mother is a doctor). Nix makes it clear that this is incredibly difficult and dangerous, and in no way a fun adventure.

Leaving Yuba City by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Another really enjoyable selection of poems. Divakaruni has a wonderful gift for turning news stories, paintings, many things which aren't particularly personal to her, into beautiful poems.

Recommended.

Loads more marvellous books, here, Meredith. I am especially intrigued by The Killers of the Flower Moon and shall definitely be looking out for that.

It's definitely worth a read, James! I wasn't totally convinced by the way the he organized the book, but looking back I think it was for the best (and it didn't negatively impact my reading).

The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan

Really enjoyed this history focusing on the paths of commerce between the east and west. Hard to go wrong with such a varied, fascinating history, but I found it well written and well organized as well.

I have waited far too long to review this, so cannot summon compelling enough words, but it was a great read and goes up to modern times.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Finally read this after decades of meaning to read it. Fun little book of course, though honestly probably not something I'll be that inclined to re-read. Compared to Discworld or the humor of Donald E. Westlake's Dortmunder novels the Adams just feels too shallow or more dated or something.

Still a good read and glad I read it though.

>16 mabith: I loved The Silk Roads too, and found it a compelling approach to telling history.

Definitely, and it was done so well. I'll certainly be looking for his other books.

A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty RE-READ

While my volume of reading hasn't dropped I've had a hard time feeling excited about my reading or getting involved in it. Current events have left me clinging to numbness. So I decided to reread a YA fantasy trilogy by a favorite author. On my first read I liked the first book well enough but didn't really get drawn in until the second book. It was interesting to reread this knowing what happens later. Moriarty is such a tricky one. I couldn't find any really solid clues of things to come, not that a first time reader would notice, which makes it better, in my opinion. I'd rather be truly surprised by a book than have predicted it hundreds of pages before. Maybe someone who focuses on YA fantasy would spot things I don't though.

In the book a teenage girl who's life has been totally uprooted from a life of luxury to a life of poverty notices a letter sticking out of a parking meter. She responds, and in another dimension a boy sees it and replies. Madeleine assumes it's a joke written by a lonely boy, but plays along.

I really like the fantasy world Moriarty created, and it has some original features. Plus a fair dose of the humor that's the reason I love Moriarty in the first place.

Circling the Sun by Paula McLain

Historical fiction focusing on aviatrix and horse trainer, Beryl Markham. The trouble is, the period this book covers is drawing so heavily on rumor alone (it doesn't actually get into her flying until the last like, twenty or fewer pages). McLain is taking an entire cast of REAL people and writing as if these details are all hard fact.

If you don't know that these are real people it's not a bad book. If you DO know... and if like me you read Markham's memoir earlier this year... Plus, I really dislike this type of historical fiction. It's not okay to mess around with real people this much (and basically every character in the book IS a real person, it's not like Markham is the only one). I understand being inspired by Markham's story and letting that influence a fictional novel, but keep it at just inspiration. Or write a novel about a fictional character who would have interacted with Markham in some smaller way (a girl she went to school with, someone who worked on their farm, etc).

Not recommended.

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken

Picked by my non-fiction book club as they thought Radium Girls would be too depressing to read without a break. They're not big non-fiction readers and are much more sensitive than I am.

Franken sometimes rubs me the wrong way (casually sexist language, lots of ableist language), but it was a surreal read what with the current political atmosphere. It is unbelievable the scale of lying that goes on in politics and how little of it gets checked plus how hard it is to get the corrections down to the people who believed the lies in the first place. In general I think I found it much more depressing than Radium Girls will be.

Believe Me by Eddie Izzard

Memoir by comedian Eddie Izzard whose stand-up I've long enjoyed (and quite liked him in The Riches). Izzard worked extremely hard over a long period to become an actor and comedian, and to figure out what worked best for within those activities. Izzard's mother died when he was six, and he is open about how much he's carried that loss. He also talks about his journey with gender identity and expression which he first started opening up about in 1985. He calls himself an action transvestite (the common words used in the 1980s) but his ideal visual expression would be akin to what we might call "hard femme" (from what I can tell he still prefers use of he/him pronouns). His view of it is dated compared to what I've seen as an adult, but the language he uses is very common for his youth and early adulthood.

It's a good read, and interesting to have used the audiobook as he can't help himself with going off on asides and extra footnotes. So there's content that's ONLY in the audiobook. Recommended if you already like Izzard.
Believe Me by Eddie Izzard

Memoir by comedian Eddie Izzard whose stand-up I've long enjoyed (and quite liked him in The Riches). Izzard worked extremely hard over a long period to become an actor and comedian, and to figure out what worked best for within those activities. Izzard's mother died when he was six, and he is open about how much he's carried that loss. He also talks about his journey with gender identity and expression which he first started opening up about in 1985. He calls himself an action transvestite (the common words used in the 1980s) but his ideal visual expression would be akin to what we might call "hard femme" (from what I can tell he still prefers use of he/him pronouns). His view of it is dated compared to what I've seen as an adult, but the language he uses is very common for his youth and early adulthood.

It's a good read, and interesting to have used the audiobook as he can't help himself with going off on asides and extra footnotes. So there's content that's ONLY in the audiobook. Recommended if you already like Izzard.

The Cracks in the Kingdom by Jaclyn Moriarty RE-READ

Book two, where things really get going. The three books really read as one long story. Elliot and Madeleine work together to find some missing people who went from Elliot's world, Cello, to our world ("The World") through "cracks." There's a lot of interesting bits about Isaac Newton and his theories and work with color, so one could say these are educational.

This the book that got me really hooked on the trilogy. Great fun for the YA fantasy fan.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg RE-READ

This movie and then the book had a huge impact on me during middle school. It was a grown up movie, of course, but has some really nice lessons on life, self-esteem, kindness, etc...

The book is greater-than, but I still love the movie (and somewhat prefer the movie's slightly happier ending, re: Ninny). It was nice to finally re-read this.

A Hundred and One Days by Asne Seierstad

Seierstad is a Norwegian journalist who worked like hell to be in Baghdad when the US attacked the country. She jumped through many hoops and then struggled to stay alive and find stories for her time there.

It's an incredibly important book, and very well written/translated. Highly recommended.

Grim Tuesday by Garth Nix RE-READ

So many re-reads! Book two in this series, and quite a fun one. We meet the Mariner, a sailor who has traveled every sea. The Will also manifests as a very stroppy sun bear, which is fun. Love these.

The Vanishing Velazquez: A 19th Century Bookseller's Obsession with a Lost Masterpiece by Laura Cumming

I put this on my to-read list after reading torontoc's excellent review.

Cumming's descriptive power in regard to paintings is kind of amazing, it feels so right and accurate and actually enlightening. The story was interesting as well, if not uniquely riveting. It's a great little window into this period of the art world and into Velazquez.

Recommended.

Four Against the Arctic: Shipwrecked for Six Years at the Top of the World by David Roberts

I'm a sucker for arctic survival/exploration stories, so this was an obvious read. This party of four were shipwrecked in 1743 on a tiny island. This island had a hut in fair condition on it from a previous expedition and the sailors had about 20 lbs of flower. It is somewhat of a mystery that they managed to survive and not develop scurvy.

Roberts is a dogged pursuer of their story, but unfortunately there's just not much of it available. Most of the book is his investigations and travels, history of exploration and survival around that region, and whaling history. It was still a good book, and I enjoyed it, but if you ONLY care about the survival story I wouldn't pick this up.

The Marriage Bureau by Penrose Halson (also titled Marriages are Made in Bond Street

This is the history of a matchmaking business and its founders, which was started just before England entered WWII and continued until at least 2000. It's written by a woman who partnered with someone to take over the agency in 1992.

A nice little book that's mostly stories of clients who were matched (or not matched) through the bureau during WWII. Sort of a Call the Midwife for the marriage industry. Fun, light, non-taxing.

The Jesuit and the Skull: Teilhard de Chardin, Evolution, and The Search for Peking Man by Amir D. Aczel

For once the subtitle does very well in describing the book! Teilhard was a Jesuit priest whose writings on evolution were suppressed by the church.

Interesting account, well written and well organized. Enjoyable read, recommended.

Drowned Wednesday by Garth Nix RE-READ

Third book, and one of my favorites as we meet the Raised Rats, plenty of pirates, and Arthur's friend Leaf gets involved. This is my fourth time re-reading the series and I still love it.

Highly recommended for juvenile/middle grade readers.

Yours is the 3rd review of the Velázquez book that I've seen. Now I have to read it. I'm also tempted by The Silk Roads book.

Jennifer, it's almost worth it JUST for how she describes paintings!

I am very behind on reviews, so the next twenty or so will be relatively short.

My mother's been having health problems for five or so weeks and was admitted to the hospital where she stayed for a week. Long story short, she has cancer, relatively widespread. I thought I wouldn't get as much reading done, but when I'm not helping her I'm devouring books, especially juvenile fiction re-reads. I imagine the pace may slow soon, as wherever she goes for treatment I'll go too, at least part of the time.

Roots, Radicals, and Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World by Billy Bragg

I haven't felt like getting an ER for a while, but still look at the list and request some so I can later add them to a list of books to look for. Then I go unrequest them before the month ends. Only I forgot to do that so ended up with this one!

It was quite a good read for a subject I'm only partly interested in. I never had much exposure to skiffle, but music history tends to be interesting and blues music has had SUCH wide ripples. It's well written, and there are some really fascinating details regarding musician relations between the USA and UK that I was unaware (like a pretty long period where the US just wouldn't grant visas to UK acts so the UK did the same thing in return.

My only criticism would be the wish for a few more chapters to take us more thoroughly into skiffle's legacy.

A Tangle of Gold by Jaclyn Moriarty RE-READ

The final book in this YA fantasy trilogy. I really love this, and it's such a great ending. Moriarty gives us a unique world and our real world, and manages to bring in an astonishing amount of science to boot. She doesn't lose the humor that marks her other books, but the tone is very different. The surprises were really surprising to me on the first read, and I almost wanted to start another re-read as soon as I'd finished.

Lydia, Queen of Palestine by Uri Orlev RE-READ

My favorite teacher from my childhood read this book to our class when we were in fourth grade. She always said not to get a copy and read ahead which of course made me get a copy and read ahead. Sorry, Mrs. Perrine. Orlev says this was based on a real person's story. I loved the book so much and it really started my life-long focus on WWII history.

Lydia grows up in Romania. Her parents have divorced and she spends her time engaged in imaginative games and schemes to rid herself of her governesses, her father's new wife (That Woman), or break the rules of the kibbutz where she ends up. She's a firecracker, and she certainly felt and feels real to me.

Sir Thursday by Garth Nix RE-READ

This fourth book in the Keys to the Kingdom series throws us for a bit of a loop. Instead of searching for the fourth part of the Will and the fourth key incognito, he has been forcible drafted into the Army of the House. He is given a fake name, but quite early he's given a washing between the ears and loses his memory.

As I've said, I love this series and Nix's worlds.

The Hoboken Chicken Emergency by Daniel Pinkwater RE-READ

The first Pinkwater novel I read as a kid. It's a short one, perfect for kids who are beyond the shorter early reader books but not ready for anything longer. I do much prefer the earlier editions with Pinkwater's art. His style is very simple, but it's so perfect for his writing.

This is still one of my favorites. Who doesn't love a giant chicken and the message that reacting fearfully to the unfamiliar will often make the situation worse. I also love the sort-of sequel, The Artsy Smartsy Club. I highly recommend Pinkwater for reluctant readers, and this title especially.

Lady Friday by Garth Nix RE-READ

Leaf is heavily involved in this one, and I really like her. Arthur is a fine protagonist, but Suzy and Leaf really make the books for me. As we go deeper into the house the denizens become more and more interesting.

Freddy and the Perilous Adventure by Walter R. Brooks RE-READ

A short stunt trip in a hot air balloon goes awry when the vent valve gets stuck. Freddy is adrift in the skies along with the ducks, Emma and Alice. Helped here and there by a friendly eagle, they realize Freddy has been accused of stealing the balloon, getting Mr. Bean in trouble too.

Really a favorite book in the series, especially with the surprise appearance of the ducks' oft-mentioned Uncle Wesley.

Venice by Jan Morris

I enjoyed parts of this, but other parts felt so hopelessly dated. The history of bits of Venice were my favorite parts. The imposition of Very British seeming stereotypes and styles of observation were not so much to my liking.

China's Long March by Jean Fritz

This is a juvenile/middle grade non-fiction book, originally published in the 1980s. Fritz was born in China and lived there until age twelve. I've read three adult non-fiction books about the Long March, and I think this is a great introduction. Fritz does a good job explaining the appeal of the Communist party and things the Kuomintang did which almost guaranteed that the peasants would be against them.

Recommended for young readers. By high school adult non-fiction should be perfect suitable.

Trials of the Earth by Mary Mann Hamilton

An early draft of this memoir was submitted to a contest in 1933. The author died in 1936 and the memoir recorded life as a pioneer in the Mississippi delta. It is unclear to me how much editing her descendants did.

It is definitely for the adult reader, not for young Laura Ingalls fans. It was interesting, but not something I loved.

The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of American Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin

LOVED this book, all 910 pages of it. It flew by, and was fascinating from start to finish. I knew basically nothing about Taft, other than his girth, and that was a real shame. I wonder where we'd be if he'd stuck with his life as a judge, where he was extremely well-respected, rather than going near political office. He was a quiet man, who appeased and placated and compromised, as a politician.

So looking forward to reading her other books.

The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin

LOVED this book, all 910 pages of it. It flew by, and was fascinating from start to finish. I knew basically nothing about Taft, other than his girth, and that was a real shame. I wonder where we'd be if he'd stuck with his life as a judge, where he was extremely well-respected, rather than going near political office. He was a quiet man, who appeased and placated and compromised, as a politician.

So looking forward to reading her other books.

Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying by Derek Humphry

I'm not sure what it says about me that my mother was diagnosed with cancer so I decided to finally get round to this book, which I've been wanting to read since I became disabled. Does it say something negative that I'm able to read such a thing at this time? My mother hasn't started treatment yet, we have no idea what her prognosis will be. Plan for the worst, hope for the best, I guess?

The Book of Emma Reyes by Emma Reyes

Reyes was born in Colombia in 1919. She lived in extremely poverty and was eventually left at a convent which she fled at 19. She traveled as much as possible and became an artist, becoming friends with Frida Kahlo and other well known artists and writers. She left the convent functionally illiterate and was embarrassed at her lack of learning.

When a friend encouraged her to writer her life story she decided to write it in letters to him. He showed some to Gabriel Garcia Marquez who wrote to Reyes praising them, causing a gap of 20 years in the letters.

Very interesting little treasure.

Just getting caught up here. I've added The Jesuit and the Skull to the wishlist, and also will check out the YA trilogy by Moriarty--hadn't heard anything of it but the library has all three. And also the first nonfiction book. Yay!

Since it is a reread for you, I'll go ahead and comment on the Keys to the Kingdom series. I loved and adored the first five books but felt seriously let-down by Saturday and Sunday. Is that just me?

I hope you enjoy the Moriarty! I'm not a big YA reader, much preferring children's/juvenile novels, but I love Moriarty. Her relationships between kids and their parents are frequently interesting too.

I'm not sure I felt let down by Saturday and Sunday, though I think the pacing got a little messed up and wonder if the publisher thought some of the earlier books were too long for the juvenile market?

Freddy the Politician by Walter R. Brooks RE-READ

If you want to give your kids a little extra political education in the current climate I'd honestly recommend this book. I know that might seem odd, but it was originally published in 1939, and well, there are similarities.

Freddy and the animals decide to start a bank in order to show the Beans (the couple who own the farm) how responsible they are, as the Beans will be leaving the animals in charge when they go to Europe. It's classic Freddy, but from a bank they go to deciding to form a government as well. Things start to go wrong when a bird accidentally blown in from Washington DC decides to run for President, pitting some animals against others, making wild promises, and using the rats as enforcers.

I love these books more and more.

Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey RE-READ

Thought I'd have a non-children's book re-read. I read McCaffrey's Pern trilogy about Menolly as a middle-schooler but didn't delve into other Pern books until relatively recently. I stopped after a few books and I think I've remembered why... The sexism in the book is just so unpleasant. It's extremely typical of SFF of this period, but that doesn't mean it's worth wading through. It's such a perfect example of how women internalize the sexism of a culture as well.

Granting, the Menolly books feature far FAR less of that, so I'm probably safe with other Pern books (though those books were specifically written with young women in mind as the audience). I enjoy the presentation of science and technology and the way McCaffrey introduces things. She doesn't over-explain anything, but lets context speak for itself. The pacing of this first book isn't the sharpest, but it's an interesting start.

What the Witch Left by Ruth Chew RE-READ (sort of)

Sort of a re-read since I read this a fair few times as a kid, but probably never after age 10. Chew wrote a whole series of early-reader chapter books focusing on magic, mostly published in the 1970s and 80s (1973 for this one), but we only had this title.

Two friends are hanging out in the other's house, looking through some random drawers. The bottom drawer is locked, as it contains things a friend of their granny's was keeping there. They 'borrow' the key and open it to find a strange collection of things. An old robe, beige gloves, a broken mirror, a tin box, and red rubber boots. Of course they're all magic and the girls gradually discover their powers. The girls are a bit slow on the uptake, but it is an earlyish-reader text and kids do love to feel ahead of the characters.

A fun little re-read, basically being as I remembered it. Not the best book in the world, but nice enough as a kid that I re-read it several times.

All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West

I wasn't sure what to expect from this, but I really enjoyed it. It focuses on an older woman's life after her husband dies. Her children expect to make her decisions for her but she goes in her own direction and refuses to give her life over to others.

In some ways it reminded me of The Pavilion of Women by Pearl S. Buck, which also deals with a woman trying to wrest control of her own life.

Very good classic, recommended.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Finally read something else by Wilde rather than just rereading The Importance of Being Earnest for the nth time.

It was an interesting read, and the whole portrait ages and sours while you do not thing happened in a very different way than I was expected. I'd assumed it was specifically sought after and then oh no, the curse of hubris, sort of thing, but no!

Much better read than I expected, honestly.

The Curse of the Blue Figurine by John Bellairs RE-READ

The first book in the Johnny Dixon series, which includes some of very favorite reads from childhood. I read and re-read this with great intensity. Bellairs really nailed conveying a creepy, scary, antsy feeling and I loved that Johnny was a history nerd. They also end up using a lot of Catholic dogma and the more mystical bits.

Johnny has not yet met his eventual best friend Fergie, and his absence is felt. Definitely not my favorite of the series, but a good start.

When They Severed Earth From Sky: How the Human Mind Shapes Myth by Elizabeth Wayland Barber

Really interesting text, and written well for the general audience. I found it fascinating how Barber works back to extrapolate about certain myth commonalities and what we've learned from the geologic/etc record.

I'm too many reviews behind to go into much depth, but it was quite a good read for me.

Superior Saturday by Garth Nix RE-READ

Penultimate book in the series. This one is especially fascinating to me due to the nature of Saturday's tower. However, I think the pacing went a bit out of the window. These last three books all needed to be longer, in my opinion (okay, partly just because I love them). They lack the depth of some of the earlier books. On the other hand they are meant to seem frantic and harried, so maybe it works.

Still exceedingly enjoyed the re-read (my fourth!).

The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant

Historical fiction following a Jewish girl in Boston in the early twentieth century (goes about through the depression, mostly, with a few more recent asides). I liked it well enough, but didn't love it. The format is as though she's recording an oral history of her life with her granddaughter, and the random sentences spoken to the granddaughter (but only one-sided) felt very odd. I feel like they would have bothered me more if I had been reading it in print.

A good read if you go into it looking a single person's life experience. Do not expect an all encompassing book, or some deeper history of Boston. The book evokes both the depth and shallowness of a single life.

The Mummy, The Will, and the Crypt by John Bellairs RE-READ

The second Johnny Dixon book, which introduces Fergie. Johnny becomes obsessed with the puzzle of a rich man's will which he leaves hints to. Some members of the family don't want it found as it could reverse the money they got.

Plenty of spooky stuff again, though along with the first book they're probably my least favorite in the series. If you're starting a kid on these I'd recommend going with the third book (The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull).

Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? by Frans de Waal

Interesting book about animal brains and how we go about determining intelligence (and the dangers of looking at it with the bias that we're obviously special with special gifts). We tend to say "X is what makes humans different" then when we find that trait in an animal we move the starting line to a different trait we haven't found yet.

The very obvious problems with the way we test animal intelligence compared to how we test babies and toddlers is also very telling. Fascinating book, highly recommended.

The Philadelphia Adventure by Lloyd Alexander

Another penultimate book in a series. Unlike the earlier books I didn't read read this one as a kid. It's the only one set in Philadelphia, the city Vesper and her guardian Brinnie hold in such high regard. This one also features Ulysses S. Grant, and of course that fiend of fiends, Dr. Helvitius. The grandchildren of the Emperor of Brazil have been kidnapped and Vesper is called to help.

Great fun.

Lord Sunday by Garth Nix RE-READ

Nix ends the series in a way that felt so surprising for a juvenile novel, and still impresses me, honestly. As I said before I think these last few books needed to be at least 50-100 pages longer. Still fun, still interesting, still an incredibly unique fantasy world.

The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull by John Bellairs RE-READ

One of my absolute favorite books of the series. The copy I own is the one my brother was bought/given at a book fair, I think. I relished the sheer spookyness of this one when I was a kid, and I still do. Also the Professor is especially good in this. I'm pretty sure I wanted to be a crotchety history professor myself due to these.

These really do get quite spooky (they primed me to be a very young X-Files fan), so keep that in mind if you're giving them to a kid. Maybe tell them to read them at noon or so... This one has a healthy dose of possession by an evil spirit.

Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie RE-READ

I really enjoy this Poirot and the format of it. Having Poirot listen to everyone's versions of an event that happened years ago. My online book club picked it and that format definitely didn't work as well for most of them. Though a fair few had never read any Christie before, and this isn't a great place to start, I feel.

Love in Vain: Robert Johnson 1911-1938 by Jean-Michel Dupont, illustrated by Mezzo

Graphic biography of legendary blues musician Robert Johnson. It is only chance that he was recorded at all and became a legend after his death at age 27. This is a very sympathetic biography (using sympathetic in the same way we say 'sympathetic restoration'), giving us the facts we know but also just the author's vision (as the subtitle states.

The art in this is absolutely glorious and works so well with the story of Johnson's life. An interesting and enjoyable read.

A Little History of the World by E.H. Gombrich

This history aimed at young readers (but not 'dumbed down') was first published in German in 1935. The author was corresponding with the child of friends of his as she wanted to know what was keeping him from visiting. He had to explain his work in a clear, simple way that she would understand.

The result is really a gem, and only translated into English very recently. It was not really edited in the translation, but the author provided some notes about the danger of using personal memories and some mistakes he made in the book. The one place I think it falls down a bit is when he talks about Islam as there seem to be some biases and mistranslation there. With a note in that section though, I'll certainly be giving a copy of this to my niece and nephew. It's quite a good pocket history for adults as well.

Last Things: A Graphic Memoir of Loss and Love by Marissa Moss

Moss' husband is suddenly having strange health problems and is eventually diagnosed with ALS (aka Lou Gehrig's disease). Not just ALS but the far more rapid bulbar-onset ALS which usually starts with throat and speech issues as well as breathing issues. Because it was the more rare type it took longer to get a diagnosis. The time between his diagnosis and death was incredibly short, and harder than it needed me due to his stubborn attitude and the effect it had on his brain. He spent most of the seven months totally withdrawn from his family and seeming like an entirely different man. It later turned out that it caused him to lose basically all empathy and to be unable to distinguish smiles from frowns.

I don't know how Moss got through it, and in a way she doesn't quite know either. It was all so fast, and they had three young children on top of this. She was torn between pleasing him and taking proper care of herself and their children. Not a beautifully drawn work, but extremely affecting.

Imagine Wanting Only This by Kristen Radtke

Radtke's young uncle, who she was always very close to, dies due to a heart condition that runs in their family. This triggers a sudden interest in abandoned places and things which takes Radtke all over the world.

Interesting book, I liked the art, but it really didn't stick in my memory. I had to remind myself what it was about and I only read it nine or ten days ago (granting that I've got a lot on my mind right now with my mom's health and all).

Dinosaur Empire! (Earth Before Us #1): Journey Through the Mesozoic Era by Abby Howard

I was introduced to Abby via a web-based reality show for comic artists called Strip Search. She was an early favorite (despite being the youngest) and made it to the final though didn't win. It did give her enough exposure to crowdfund her big comic project The Last Halloween. She was studying to be a paleontologist and still loves the subject (her strip comic is called Junior Scientist Power Hour and often strays into that territory).

This graphic non-fiction is very dense with facts but will be a great book for a child to grow on. I bought a copy to give to my nephew at Christmas. He'll be nine and I think his reading is good enough to enjoy it. It was a really fun read and I learned quite a lot myself.

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett RE-READ

One of my favorite stand alone Discworld books (okay, most of them are my favorites). Pratchett just writes cats (and animals in general), so well. The audio book of this one is also worth it just for Maurice. Briggs does a wonderful job with it.

The rats represent such a perfect microcosm of changing culture as well.

First Bite: How We Learn to Eat by Bee Wilson

Really interesting little book about our habits, disorders, and how or why we expand our palates. It's not limited to eating disorder or not eating disorder, but deals with extremely restricted eating, children who will only eat a small number of foods and adults who are extremely picky.

I didn't see my own eating path reflected in it, but humanity is extremely varied. I ate pretty normally and then got extremely picky when my older sister got picky. This started to fade when she went to boarding school and totally faded once *I* went to boarding school. I didn't want to look picky in front of my peers so suddenly became a gourmand.

It was similar for an ex of mine who swore she hated hated hated Indian food. Then she started working in an office with a number of Indian employees. They'd sometimes bring food to share and she didn't want to be seen as picky, so tried everything and loved it (which I found super annoying). I would like to say that she was 27 at that point and I was 14 when I rejiggered my eating. Now I'll try pretty much anything, so long as it doesn't have lots of green peppers (I have a theory there's a taste divide with green peppers as there is with cilantro, where it just tastes foul to certain people).

If you're a parent of under-18s, no matter their eating habits, I recommend this book. If you have a young adult with a suspected eating disorder in your life I'd also read this book.

The Xanadu Adventure by Lloyd Alexander

The last in the Vesper Holly series, this was originally published seven or eight years after the previous one (a much larger gap than in the rest of the series).

I enjoyed this book less than the others. I think Alexander wanted to further the Sherlock Holmes connections but having her enemy not really be dead and it all gets a bit silly. Plus Vesper gets a beau and they get married and blech (that's what child Meredith would have fun if I'd read this one as a kid).

Orientalism by Edward Said

Are there other books on the subject which are more up to date or more expansive? Yes. This is such an important classic though, and has had such a long impact on post-colonial thought and studies.

Unfortunately, a lot of this book is still incredibly relevant. There is still a depressing amount of 'scholarship' based on the idea that the west is the be-all end-all of knowledge and culture.

Important book, still worth reading.

Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge: The Lost Crown of Genghis Khan by Carl Barks

Newest volume in the Carl Barks library, with some particularly good stories in it. Very odd that they went with that title comic vs the much better known (and loved) "The Second Richest Duck."

The Island on Bird Street by Uri Orlev RE-READ

I am glad the Orlev is the author who started my path of reading everything I could about the Holocaust (fiction, non-fiction, written for children or adults). He was a Polish Jew, born in 1931. He lived in the Warsaw ghetto and when his mother was killed he was sent to Bergen-Belsen. His books are not all based on his personal experiences but they inform his work in a way that another background could not duplicate.

This book draws the most from his experiences. After various selections Alex is a young boy hiding in the ghetto (one section of the Warsaw ghetto) with help from his father. When they decide to totally deport all the people another man helps Alex escape the group and hide in a half-demolished building. His father says to wait and he'll come back. So Alex must survive on his own, finding a safe space to sleep and enough food to eat while he waits and hopes.

I read this book so many times, almost every month between fourth grade and eighth grade. It's been quite a while since I've re-read it, but I still think it's a very well-done book. Alex is kind and resourceful and strong, and I need to reinforce those traits myself right now.

I am loving your September reading, Meredith! John Bellairs is a long-time favorite author of children's books, as is Lloyd Alexander. The Prydain Chronicles are among the top children's fantasy series of all time, and I regularly reread Bellairs' only adult book, The Face in the Frost. Throw in a Pratchett and finishing off the Nix series (and I agree that the pacing went crazy and the last two books especially need to be longer and more consistently paced), and you've a stellar cast.

The library just got in all three of the Jaclyn Moriarty books as well as The Jesuit and the Skull--I should pick them up tomorrow or Thursday and I am looking forward to them.

The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown

A good, general book about the Donner party. Well written, well organized, great for the casual non-fiction reader as well as those of us who read lots of non-fiction.

Review has waited long enough that I forget what criticisms I might have had. Good read, anyway.

Beneath the Lion's Gaze by Maaza Mengiste

Really enjoyed this novel about recent Ethiopian history. It's set in 1974 at the end of Haile Selassie's rule and the beginning of rule by the Derg, a military junta. The focus is on a single family but extends through the sons' friends.

It's a good, well written novel about a period that isn't well represented in literature available in English. Recommended.

>78 ronincats: My rereads have definitely been the highlights lately and I'm glad I have a great set of books to call on vs having read crappy stuff as a kid!

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde RE-READ

Always wonderful to re-read this as it's one of my very favorites. I saw a few performances pretty young, and my dad directed a high school production of it. Since I went to most rehearsals with him I used to have the play basically memorized.

This re-read was listening to a nice BBC radio edition.

The Book of Five Rings by Musashi Miyamoto

Japanese classic text of swordsmanship. I used to take aikido which was derived from the sword art iaido where each move is designed to be a killing move. Aikido, however, is extremely non-violent and purely defensive (but designed to neutralize an opponent in one action). We did iaido once every week for class and it was very interesting so I thought I'd pick this up.

There are a lot of amusing parts that are very much counter to the idea of excessively 'fair' and noble fighting. This author recommends blinding your opponent with dirt or striking from behind etc...

Interesting, and short, read.

The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart

Book focusing on the plants that create various and sundry types of alcohol. Better as reference (it includes drink recipes and popular cocktail histories) than as a straight read-through, but interesting either way.

My mother passed on the 19th, not quite two weeks after being admitted to MD Anderson. She was already too weak for chemo or surgery. My sister, brother, and I got down there when she was still able to speak a few words, but she was basically unconscious the last four days in the palliative care unit. We're not sure why this went so quickly, much faster than any doctors even remotely guessed it would. It is still very surreal and impossible feeling.

Oh, Meredith, I am so sorry for your loss. I know you are all in shock. {{{{{Hugs}}}}}.

Meredith, I am very sorry to hear about your loss.

I am so sorry for your loss, Meredith.

Thank you all. I am still absolutely shell-shocked. I still catch myself a dozen times a day thinking of something I need to ask her or tell her, even when I've just been making plans for a wake or sorting through things in her house. I have a feeling that's going to last a long time.

I know it might seem strange to go on with book reviews but it's a comfort for me. We're a book family anyway, this is what we do.

The Turtle of Oman by Naomi Shihab Nye

This is a really sweet little children's novel about a young boy's impending move from Oman to the US. It only follows his feelings finding out about the move and thinking about everything he'll miss and the reasons he wants to stay.

I was very impressed by this as a non-preachy book that could actually help kids ahead of a big move or life change. It's definitely one I'd give to my nieces and nephews.

The Alleluia Files by Sharon Shinn RE-READ

The third book in Sharon Shinn's Samaria trilogy (there are five books set there). These are pure comfort reads for me, but I also just loove the progression of the trilogy and how they reveal the religion and technology of this place. Even with plenty of hints in the first book I don't really read looking for hints so on my first reading the revelations to in the further books were a surprise.

For me these are a great example of SFF, with traditional fantasy elements mixed with science (and a lot about technological development in the second and third books). I really like those mixtures.

Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious by Gerd Gigerenzer

Good popular science book about intuition and unconscious decision making.

Solid book, interesting studies and experiments, but not hugely memorable in my current stress-ridden life.

The Secret of Hondorica by Carl Barks

Another volume of fabulous Duck comics. I had comics books with a bunch of the stories in this one so it was extra familiar and cozy.

Don't Let's Go the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller

I have very mixed feelings about this book. It is an interesting slice of a life during a very eventful time and region. On the other hand the arrogance and racism of her parents just seemed so shocking. How does anyone feel so entitled to land stolen with so much blood shed? How can one of those same people run a clinic for the people they so devalue?

The horror outweighed the interest for me, in the end.

Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS by Joby Warrick

Really good, important book about ISIS, goes back a number of years to really give the full picture of things over a wide spectrum.

Highly recommended.

Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm by Thich Nhat Hanh

If I'm not in a storm now I don't know what one is.

I found the message that nothing is destroyed, only transformed reassuring. I said that in the hospital, but in the aftershocks of coming home I'd forgotten again. It will not always be a comfort, I will not always believe it, but sometimes is enough.

That's often my reaction to Hanh's books, sometimes it's a help, sometimes they're too slow and philosophical for me and grate because chronic pain doesn't let you relax or let go, it forces you to live in the moment in a bad way. But sometimes is enough.

To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey

An interesting story and concept that didn't quite gel for me. Honestly that's probably mostly my problem right now vs the book. This wasn't the right time to read a book like this one. I am not all here, and I need fiction that I don't need to get totally wrapped up in.

Also it has some magical realism elements which felt somewhat pointless to my current brain. Admittedly magical realism is a love/hate genre for me (I like semi-anthropomorphized houses best, it seems).

The format also felt somewhat jarring. Normally I'm a big fan of epistolary novels, but this jumps you around from the 19th century to two history minded 21st century people. I didn't feel like the modern day letter chain was really that necessary.

Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8 by Naoki Higashida

The second memoir by a young, Japanese, autistic man. He is largely speech blocked and wasn't able to communicate well with his family until he was a teenager. He can communicate via a keyboard or keyboard like card, one letter at a time.

The novelist David Mitchell became aware of his first book (which had not been translated into English at that point), and it was extremely helpful for him as a parent with an autistic child. These direct statements and insights from someone whose autism manifests in so many ways is incredibly important. Frequently, organizations that represent people with disabilities or those who aren't neurotypical (the two things are not interchangeable) shut people with those issues out of the leadership and out of having a voice in the organization. Autism Speaks is especially guilty of this. They are entirely 'cure' focused and parent/caregiver focused and very specific silence actual autistic people.

>91 mabith: I'm a big Shinn fan. Have you read Wrapt in Crystal? I see it gets mixed reviews here on LT, but I really enjoyed the science fictional mystery.

Roni, I haven't yet! I think the book summary didn't appeal to me as much, but I know my sister liked it. Definitely need to get to it, since I do love Shinn and I feel like I need lots of fantasy right now.

Have you read any Juliet Marillier? If you like Shinn you'll probably like Marillier. Her newest trilogy/series is basically historical fantasy mystery, I love the genre mixing.

To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey

Historical magical realism type of book. I liked the writing and the setting and some characters but never felt very invested in it or impacted by it.

Why? by Mario Livio

Popular science book about curiosity and its benefits. Good, interesting, nothing very life changing.

Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor

Meant to be a humorous time travel book, somewhat in the vein of the Thursday Next novels, but it didn't work for me.

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Such a quietly powerful novella. The highly popular 'rest cure' for women suffering from almost any mental or physical ailment is potentially one of the worst ways to treat mental illness especially. For my own chronic pain and for the grief I'm going through after my mother's death, lack of distraction and light activity makes me feel so much worse in such a short time.

This is still a very relevant book. Recommended.

Blindness by Jose Saramago

This was on my list already and then my bookclub chose it. It was pretty disappointing. People suddenly start going blind and it seems to spread like a virus so the first groups are imprisoned. One woman can still see, but pretends to be blind in order to stay with her husband. There's a sort of Lord of the Flies devolution and soon food and medical supplies are no longer being delivered. The husband and wife gather a small band of the earliest cases of blindness and eventually leave the compound to find that everyone has gone blind.

It reads like it's supposed to be an allegory that I can't grasp due to knowing nothing about Portugal, but my book group leader said the author stated it wasn't an allegory. All in all it was an annoying reading with a ridiculously unsatisfying ending.

The Book Thieves: The Nazi Looting of Europe's Libraries and the Race to Return a Literary Inheritance by Anders Rydell

Good, popular non-fiction and who here doesn't like a book about books? Well written, though maybe not perfect direction or pacing or something. I'm so behind on reviews I can't remember what my little quibbles were.

Reality is not What it Seems by Carlo Rovelli

Popular science book about quantum gravity (and Quantum in general) finding and theories and history. Interesting, and kept making me think of Discworld and the wizards branching into quantum physics. Good, and relatively accessible.

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell RE-READ

Trying for a comfort read. I love Gaskell's humor and this second time around I was able to appreciate some more of the pathos in it. I love this volume of vignettes.

The Witch Family by Eleanor Estes RE-READ

One of my favorite Estes books, about two little girls who imagine up an old head witch and banish her to a glass mountain insisting on good behavior if she's to be allowed a hurly burly on Halloween. They gradually give the old witch a little family and become friends with the Little Witch girl.

It has some especially fun details about witch school and the different way witches do math and have spelling bees.

Sister Mine by Nalo Hopkinson

My first read by Hopkinson, dictated as that's the only one my library had on audio! This was a very unique world, and a really unique story. I'm not sure I 100% loved it, but I liked it and found it very interesting, and just loved the world building.

La Vagabonde by Colette

Novel about a divorcee who becomes a music hall dancer. Said to be autobiographical, and the first novel by Colette without the claimed collaboration of her first husband, and apparently her best known pre-WWI novel.

Good, but I just drifted through it, much like the protagonist!

Becoming Nicole by Amy Ellis Nutt

A really well written biography of one American family with adopted twins, one of whom turns out to be transgender. It doesn't sugar-coat Nicole's acceptance by all family members as 100% perfect from the get go, and deals with serious struggles at school from one bully encouraged by his guardian.

Extremely worth reading.

The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing

There was a lot that I really liked in this book, though didn't finish having loved it. I'm not sure if that's me and the mood I'm in lately, or the fact that the characters felt quite walled off due to the writing style.

It was interesting, and worth reading, and has grown in my estimation in the weeks since I finished it.

The Children's Book by AS Byatt

Another long novel that didn't quite hit home with me and unlike The Golden Notebook has perhaps shrunk in my estimation. It is a wandering book that doesn't really go anywhere or have a very clear resolution. In many ways it's unremittingly grim and unpleasant and I don't think it gave the reader much.

Though, again, mood-wise I'm not in the best space for this kind of long fiction.

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

A short book featuring two important essays by Baldwin. Been meaning to read more Baldwin for a while, and wanted to read this before the new essay collection The Fire This Time.

Required reading for Americans.

Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta

Loved this story of the coming of age of a gay woman in Nigeria, and also enjoyed the way it was told, in sections of time not strictly chronological. Highly recommended.

Who Killed These Girls?: Cold Case: The Yogurt Shop Murders by Beverly Lowry

The story of the 1991 murders of four girls in Austin in a frozen yogurt shop. It is still unsolved, and the book focuses on the way police handled the case and the young men who were hounded to the extent that they gave false confessions and were convicted. The book talks about the cases to get their convictions overturned.

The crime rate in Austin was very low at the time of the murders and the city was incredibly shocked by them. My aunt has lived in Austin since she was 17, and I'll have to ask her more about the case then. In 1991 her oldest niece was 13, the same age as the youngest victim, and I wonder if she thought about that.

Very well written and well paced.

Running for My Life: One Lost Boy's Journey from the Killing Fields of Sudan to the Olympic Games by Lopez Lomong

Lomong was kidnapped around age 6 from church, the intent to make him into a child soldier. He was held for a very short amount of time, as some older boys watched out for him and helped him escape.

He spent ten years in a refugee camp. He assumed that his family was dead and he was adopted by an American family. However, he was not really told that he was being adopted vs hosted and the family were ridiculously ill-informed about what his life had been.

Interesting memoir, though I admit I found myself a bit gobsmacked when Lomong professed to know the god had a plan for him and was looking out for him, given how many of his peers god apparently had no time for. To believe in that personal lookout for yourself how do you reconcile the hundreds of thousands who appeared to never have anything remotely good happen for them. That's just one of those things I'll never quite get though.

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore

Really wonderfully presented history of two sets of radium workers, their lives, their health struggles, and their participation in lawsuits against the companies that employed them. Moore does a wonderful job balancing the stories and giving a picture of these women for themselves, something other works haven't really done.

Highly recommended.

News of the World by Paulette Jiles

Good but not amazing historical fiction. A traveling news reader agrees to return a child who was captured by an American Indian group at age six and lived with them for four years. The girl does not speak English and the route they must travel has been very dangerous.

Quiet, easy read, nothing very complicated, but a nice atmosphere and good, spare writing.

I'm working my way through Baldwin's essays this year, too, and they're wonderful. I agree that he should be required reading for all Americans. I hadn't realized that there is a new collection coming out - thanks for the heads up!

>121 jfetting: Jennifer, it's an anthology of essays about race by various writers which uses The Fire Next Time as a jumping off point, edited by Jesmyn Ward.

>122 mabith: Oh got it - I had hoped it was a previously unreleased collection, but The Fire This Time sounds wonderful.

The Red Pony by John Steinbeck

A nice little novella about a boy and his burgeoning love for horses. Good, because it's Steinbeck so I love the writing style, but it won't really stick in my head.

An Edible History of Humanity by Tom Standage

I really enjoy Standage's books, which are certainly popular histories but generally pack a ton of information in, more than you'd expect from the light tone. I loved A History of the World in Six Glasses, and was fascinated by The Victorian Internet.

This one wasn't quite as engaging for reasons I can't really put my finger on. It was still interesting and a nice light read though.

A Woman in Arabia: The Writings of the Queen of the Desert by Gertrude Bell

The main body of the book consists of excerpts of Bell's writing with background information and some extensions (and quotes from those who knew Bell) fill in the rest.

Well balanced and very interesting.

Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation by Andrea Wulf

I didn't like this as much as The Invention of Nature, but frankly the US founding fathers were awful in many ways whereas Alexander von Humboldt was ahead of his time and kind of amazing.

I'm trying to catch up on my gardening knowledge since I finally have one of my own (first time since 1999), so it was an interesting read from that point and certainly well written.

Anatomy of a Disappearance by Hisham Matar

Strange little novel of a child's life after their mother's death and their father's re-marriage to a much younger English woman. Good writing, but it didn't really hang together for me or have much impact.

The Book of Night Women by Marlon James

I loved A Brief History of Seven Killings, and I loved this book just as much though they're extremely different. James is just so incredibly skilled.

This one is set on an 18th century sugar plantation in Jamaica. Lilith is a beautiful girl with green eyes, orphaned at birth with no one wanting to raise the baby with strange green eyes. We follow her through a lot of tribulations, as well as other slaves and the white plantation owners. It's wonderfully realized and all the characters felt so purely human.

Highly recommended. This one is probably more accessible than A Brief History of Seven Killings.

Ground Zero by Kevin J. Anderson RE-READ
I started watching X-Files when it was brand new in 1993, though I was really too young for it. This was the third novel based on the show, but the first that Anderson wrote. The first two X-Files novels are by Charles L. Grant, but I found the first, Goblins so bad I skipped the second by him. You can tell he wasn't a fan of the show, and possibly had barely seen any of it.

The Anderson novels, on the other hand, I read when I was in middle school and ADORED them. Anderson was a fan of X-Files already and it really shows. He's very good at working in the characters specific mannerism and some of their humor. I still really like this novel, about unexplained deaths that look like they're caused by nuclear bombs but are isolated to a single room. The reader knows what's going on before Mulder and Scully, much like in the show. There are some problematic elements here, but in general it's still a fun read.

Acorna: The Unicorn Girl by Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball RE-READ

Another re-read from my middle schools. Three asteroid miners pick up a small escape pod which contains a baby of a different species. They have a bit of a time adjusting to parenthood and a very hard time keeping Acorna safe while figuring out how to look for her people.

Nice sci-fi/fantasy mix, the way McCaffrey often does things, and a good story. I definitely still enjoy this.

I must read Book of the Night Women. Why do you say that it is more accessible than Brief History (which will end up in my top 3 books of 2017, if not my top 1 book of 2017)?

Jennifer, I think the setting is more familiar to a lot of people and overall there's a lot less slang, fewer threads to keep track of, and of course it's a good bit shorter.

A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel RE-READ

I love this book so much. It was recommended by a dear friend and I've read it at least once a year since the first time. The audiobook especially contains layers of priceless comedy and some pathos as well (it's read by the author).

If you need a sweet, funny read, get this. It's about her childhood, and even if her family was somewhat dysfunctional, that's not the focus of the book at all. This is a wonderful tonic for anything ails.

The Age of the Vikings by Anders Winroth

When in doubt, read a book on vikings, right? Decent book, but nothing to really love about it. I found Neil Oliver's Vikings much more compelling and interesting.

The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction by Helen Graham

Very good book. As the title states it is both short and an introduction. If you want a great overview but don't want to explore the subject further this book is for you. Likewise if you want the background being reading more detailed histories, this is also the book for you.

A General History of the Pyrates by Captain Charles Johnson

Reputed to be written by Daniel Defoe no people seems to learn more towards Nathaniel Mist as the true author of this work, originally published in 1724.

Accuracy aside it was a fun read, particularly after having finished the TV series Black Sails (set towards the end of the pirate age), which uses a mix of real and fiction pirates.

Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers RE-READ

Started a planned reread of the Wimsey books a while back but then didn't keep up with it.

This one is particularly fun as it features Wimsey's brother as the suspected murderer. I'm sure many dislike the near-perfect detectives (Wimsey, Poirot, etc), but I find these books to be so much fun.

The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone by Olivia Laing

A book partly born of Laing's own sense of loneliness while living in New York City, but largely focused on several artists based their and their own loneliness. It was a very interesting read, especially since I knew almost nothing about any of the artists.

I do think that Laing tries to blow up her own experiences and common stereotypes into larger trends than they are, especially relating to technology. Internet related technology has been an incredible boon to SO many of us. Kids who feel out of place can find communities, people with anxiety can have some relief in public, we can keep in touch easily and (relatively) cheaply with friends and family all over the world, those of us with uncommon chronic illnesses can find our peers and those of us who are often stuck at home due to disability can still socialize. Technology is simply technology, and it will have differing effects on people for good and ill. Sweeping generalizations based on your own experiences and what you're told is the truth (by people unrelated to the action) is just not a great idea.

Two aunts and uncles were up here with me recently and they were way more glued to their devices than I was (all 1950s babies), so I'm feeling especially eye-rolling about Millennials This Millennails That.

No Time for Tears: Coping with Grief in a Busy World by Judy Heath

First loneliness, now grief. I'm on a roll. Given that I have spoken sharply to pictures of my (deceased) maternal grandparents about the fact that they shouldn't have my mom yet, even though I don't believe in any afterlife, I thought maybe a grief book was in order.

There's a lot you likely won't relate to, as the person you lost and your relationship to them can differ so much. Losing a parent as an adult isn't the same as losing a parent as a young child, let alone the difference if the loss is a spouse, child, sibling, etc... There are some good things in here though, and I'm pretty glad I read it.

The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II by Svetlana Alexievich

Originally published in 1985, another wonderful and incredibly valuable archive of oral history. Alexievich also speaks to men who were sent women during the war or generally commanded them. The audiobooks of these oral history volumes are really well done, with lots of different readers doing different voices so each person stands out.

Highly recommended.

Gay-Neck: The Story of a Pigeon by Dhan Gopal Mukerji

Originally published in 1927, Mukerji was the first person of color to win the Newberry Medal. I learned about this book and Mukerji after reading an Atlantic article about the book. I was pleased to see that my library had a copy.

It was a bit of a strange read, especially since I really don't like birds much and definitely don't like pigeons, but rewarding in the end. It weaves in so many things, aspects of Hindu and Buddhist religious practice, the effects of fear, and even PTSD. Fascinating book, and would be interesting to see how younger children react to it now.

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See

Set almost in the present day, this new title by See focuses on the Akha people, an ethnic group in China, Myanmar, and Thailand, one of the hill tribes. The Akha were isolated enough in China that they weren't really known about until the Cultural Revolution.

It's a fascinating look at an uncommonly focused on group and how current events in China and worldwide have effected their lives. It also deals heavily with overseas adoption or Chinese babies. Not my favorite by See, but very good.

Get Well Soon: History's Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them by Jennifer Wright

I absolutely loved this book and Wright's writing and humor. It's just the kind of book I enjoy, popular history with lots of snark and gory details.

If you like Mary Roach, I think you'll like this book (I think I like Wright MORE than Roach even, shhhh).

The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin

A novella about Mary's experiences with Jesus and reactions to situations, nestled up against what his disciples want to believe and insist happened in spite of her denials.

Fascinating little book. The characters are rendered so incredibly human, and I love that. Recommended.

The Roman Way by Edith Hamilton

An exploration of Roman personal and family values drawn from the writers of the day (versus historical research). Originally published in 1932. Interesting, though I disagree a bit with Hamilton's statement that you can understand more about a period by reading the fiction and plays and such written in that period. What if all we had from the Victorian period were penny dreadfuls? What about all those writers who believe the poor were solely to blame for their poverty or that the workhouse was a totally humane system? All writers aren't Elizabeth Gaskell. And given how little we have from various periods of Rome...

It was still a fun little read, and a nice prelude to SPQR by Mary Beard, which I've just started.

Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher RE-READ

A nice little diversion with one of my favorite older children's novels. It really was part of a new age of children's literature, one where readers weren't spoonfed lessons but given the pieces and expected to mostly put the puzzle together themselves. It's such a wonderful book, and if you have young ones in your life or an interest in children's literature you must read it.

Betsy is brought up by her great aunt Harriet and second cousin Frances, a smothering, worrying, anxious figure who imparts her own fears into Betsy. When Harriet takes ill Betsy must be sent to live with other family members and ends up going to the Putney cousins, who Frances has constantly degraded. They are a loving family and their very different, but gentle, methods of child-rearing make a drastic change in Betsy and her belief in herself.

Always love re-reading this.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by Vicente Blasco Ibanez

First published in 1916, this book by a Spanish author follows a Frenchman who has been settled in Argentina for decades. He brings his family to Paris and they settle there before WWI starts. His wife's sister has married a German man and the two families are set against each other as the war starts.

Always interesting to read a book about the war published at the midpoint of the conflict. Not my favorite work, but very good and just fascinating.

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien

This is one of those family favorite books that I was too young to even slightly remember when it was read to us. Then I never got to it later since we didn't own it and my parents didn't really recommend books to me (since they saw me reading on my own all the time). I would advise recommending books to your kids frequently regardless of whether they read any right then or not. It sticks in the brain one way or another (and I adored reading books my parents had read as kids).

Anyway, this is a wonderful book, as I knew it would be. The reputation it has is deserved, and it's too bad O'Brien himself didn't write any sequels (though I hear the first by his daughter is quite good). Now I need to watch the movie!

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard

Wonderful, no-nonsense, accessible overview of Rome. Really great read, as I knew it would be. Beard is a great writer, and this was great for someone who's read a lot about ancient Rome but I think it would be equally good for a first or only Roman read.

Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild RE-READ

Streatfeild's first children's novel, and a runner up for the inaugural Carnegie Medal, a British children's book prize (lost out to Arthur Ransome's Pigeon Post, which is fair enough).

It's still a wonderfully fun book. I'm a late Streatfeild devotee, as they looked too impossibly girly when I was a kid (they're really not, most have male main characters too) due to terrible 70s-80s cover art. Also my mom never mentioned that they were childhood favorites of hers, a fact that would have made me read all of them immediately.

>150 mabith: I have just read Mary Beard's Women and Power: A Manifesto which is also marvellously written - very clear, and she puts forward a compelling argument.

>149 mabith: They ruin the movie by introducing magic and glitzy effects for the animation and completely obscuring many of the important points of the book. It is an excellent book, yes.

>152 Eyejaybee: Excellent! Glad to have another scholar to follow.

>153 ronincats: Ah, that's too bad.

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett RE-READ

My seasonal re-read of a particular favorite Pratchett book.

I love basically everything about this book, especially the Raven, the wizards' roles, and the take on various Christmas stories (King Wenceslas, the little match girl, etc).

The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh

Interesting novel of the Vietnam War focusing on a North Vietnamese army soldier. It jumps through time back and forth, in a way that's really effective for evoking the chaos of war and the aftermath.

The novel stands out among other similar books for being a simple story of life, without espousing ideology for one side or the other.

Highly recommended.

Drowned Hopes by Donald E. Westlake RE-READ

The first nine Dortmunder books by Westlake are among my favorite books on the planet. They are clever, plotted very tightly, and bloody hilarious. After book nine something happens and they never quite feel as good, but those initial nine are just golden.

The books are comic crime novels. The main recurring characters (barring one) are pretty strictly non-violent, and the probably have little in common with what most would think of as crime fiction. Also, pretty much all the main and recurring female characters are wonderful. Super fun, grounded, and independent.

Highly recommended.

The Essays: A Selection by Michel de Montaigne

A short selection of Montaigne's essays. Interesting, sometimes amusing, sometimes tedious. A random little "can't decide what to read" read.

Vietnam: A History by Stanley Karnow

While this book of course includes background information about the history of Vietnam as a country, it's focus is the Vietnam War. Was just thinking that if I were Vietnamese I might be kind of annoyed that a book about the war was simply subtitled A History.

It's a classic non-fiction text for very good reasons. Incredibly readable and detailed. This conflict was such a defining part of my parents' lives, and I've been meaning to read it for some years.

The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog by Elizabeth Peters

The seventh book in Peters' Amelia Peabody book series. I love these and find them so amusing. The mysteries are often very easy to figure out, but I read them for the atmosphere and Peters' wonderful humor.

Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea

Interesting work originally published in 1965. The author has moved to a small tribal village in Iraq with her husband, an anthropologist. While not trained herself, she seems to have had a nature interest and was also picking up slack for her husband who would never have access to the women's circles.

Really interesting and a generally kind and respectful book.

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg

I've been meaning to read this LGBT classic novel for a long time, and since my online book club picked it for December I had ample motivation. That bookclub is so good at picking books and authors that I've been meaning to read.

The book follows Jess, a girl who has always been drawn to masculine activities and dress. It starts in the 1940s or 50s in a working class town in upstate New York and follows Jess into the 80s and maybe very early 90s. There's a lot of heartbreak in the book, but joy as well. It deals with labor unions as well, and was just a joy to read. I went so slowly with it because I didn't want it to end.

Feinberg was an anti-capitalist and eventually put the book online so that people could download and read it for free.

Highly recommended.

Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities by Amy Stewart

These really aren't meant to be audiobooks as they're much too factoid-y. It was a slightly diverting read though, and very interesting. Perfect coffee table or bathroom book.

Life in a Medieval City by Joseph Gies and Frances Gies

Originally published in 1969, very accessible and interesting, though I'm not qualified to form an opinion on accuracy. Very much a proto-type for the Time Traveler's Guide books by Ian Mortimer in style/layout, with less humor. Admittedly a Medievalist I know hates Mortimer's books with a passion.

Still worth reading though, and maybe a nice gift to an older child with a growing interest in history.

Under the Sea Wind by Rachel Carson

This was Carson's first book (published in 1941). It follows different plants and animals in and around the ocean, treating certain individual animals as main characters. It's written as though it's a novel, but does not anthropomorphize the animals.

A little silly seeming to an adult reader, but a nice departure from recent reads and holiday stress. Definitely recommended for older kids though.

The Red Virgin and The Vision of Utopia by Mary M. Talbot and Bryan Talbot

Great graphic biography of Louise Michel, a prominent member of the Paris Commune of 1871, an anarchist, teacher, medical worker, and writer. Michel's story is being recounted to Charlotte Perkins Gilman who has arrived in Paris on the day of Michel's funeral. The daughter, Monique, of a comrade of Michel, Elianne, has met Gilman at the station and tells Michel's story.

She was a fascinating figure, and I can't wait to read a deeper book about her. The art in this volume is also fantastic, and extremely good at evoking atmospheres.

Recommended.

Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey RE-READ

A strange title, for a strange type of mystery. I loved this book just as much as the first read, even without the suspense of not-knowing the full picture.

Brat is an English orphan returning from years working in the US. A stranger mistakes him for a friend and pulls him into a scheme to inherit a country home. Twin brothers were to inherit, but the (slightly) elder of the two disappeared at age 13, thought to have committed suicide. Brat is convinced to pose as the boy and enters the world of Latchetts and the Ashby family.

As always, Tey's mysteries are always just a bit different, feeling more realistic than Christie or Sayers, and I found this one especially good.

The Treasure of the Ten Avatars by Don Rosa
Escape from Forbidden Valley by Don Rosa

Volumes 7 and 8 of the Don Rosa Duck comics library. In some ways I treasure Rosa's works more than those of Carl Barks. Rosa is less problematic, generally, and did not have to stick to the strict Disney formula of art. Materialistic though it was, I also treasured his comics because they were given directly to me, not hand-me-downs that had been sitting around the family house since I was born.

Rosa is such a talented story teller. I laughed so much reading these volumes, which had more comics I didn't read as a kid than the previous volumes. So happy these are being published.

Nightwood by Djuna Barnes

I was very excited to find an audio version of this 1930s novel with gay characters. Sadly, it was not a great read. It's ever-so-Modern in how it jumps around and I had an extremely difficult time following it. Maybe partly due to audio (but I'm used to listening to all types of books via audio) and partly due to my mindset and partly the writing. I'm not sure. Very curious what any of you thought of it, if you've read it.

Not recommended in audio form at least. It's a fairly short work, at least.

Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn

Enjoyed this novel centered on a Jamaican family and the web tangling around each other due to secrets and distrust.

A very good book, but not quite five stars for me. Pretty remarkable skill for a debut novel though.

Over My Dead Body by Rex Stout RE-READ

Squeezed in one more book to finish the year on a nice round number. I read through the Nero Wolfe books reading one or two per month for a few years, and sometimes regret finishing them so quickly. However, since I rarely hold onto how mysteries end up (particularly Stout's which seem extra complicated), and since I read them for the first time starting over ten years ago, it's definitely time for a reread.

This is maybe the first that brings up Nero's life and doings in Yugoslavia, making it sort of doubly interesting.

Books Finished: 262
60% Non-Fiction to 40% Fiction
49 re-reads
65% of authors read were from the USA, UK, Canada, and Australia.
53% of authors read were women.


(This image is cropped, there were at least six older reads but the image was too cumbersome. I'd like to focus more on older books next year though it's hard to do and maintain my optimum amount of non-fiction and books by worldwide authors.)

2018 thread:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/280528