All About Books discussion

OVERVIEW:
Chomping at the bit here to set my 2022 goals! This is always my favorite part of reading. Ha ha! Seriously, planning is half the fun (or more.) I love making lists!

It's basically the same from year to year. There are book club books - those are the only must reads. Everything else is a tool for deciding what to read next. I like to have a theme to work on (or several themes.) I pick 30 or so random reads from my TBR ocean every year in six different categories. In the past I have listed these all together, but this year I am wanting to organize everything differently. I'll still have lists for non-fiction, Welsh and Arthurian fiction, historical fiction (pre-20th century), other fiction (20th/21st centuries, sci fi, fantasy), old themes from previous years, and series (divided into new series started and old series continued).

I'll be drawing more than 30 of these "random reads" so that every list has a dozen choices. No, my goal is NOT to read every book in these lists. One from each list would be ambitious enough! I always want to read far more than I will ever accomplish. Realistically I'll read about 48 books. But I am feeling unrealistic this year, so I'm setting my goal at 60 books! I add an alternative cumulative pages goal and if I succeed at one or the other, I will be happy (and amazed! Ha!) So my pages goal this year is 17,520 (which is also a multiple of 12, in case you wondered...)

Finally, I don't like the limitations of Goodreads 1-5 star rating system, so I add colors to my ratings to give it a little more nuance. Here is my rating scale:
Ratings
5 + stars = Gold (Gold medal, nothing higher. Well maybe Platinum but let's not go there....)
5 stars = Purple (Grand Champion ribbon)
4.5 - 5 = Blue (Blue ribbon, 1st prize)
4 stars = Red (2nd prize ribbon)
3.5 - 4 = Pink (tickled pink, in the pink, ...but not quite red?)
3 stars = Green (Green for Go, not outstanding, but I'd read more by this author - or not)
2.5 - 3 stars =Yellow (Caution)
2 stars = Orange (Hazard Warning, LOL!)
1 star = Black (Black-balled and also probably not finished)
DNF (not rated) = Gray

BOOK CLUBS
These are the only must reads, so I'm listing them first...
My face to face group, Daytimers, is a guaranteed 12 books.

I also added a new book club in November 2021 - I joined my church book club, Perspectives. They read about 9 books a year, monthly except for a bigger book during the summer. Of course, I want to read everything the group has read previously, but that isn't realistic. I'll pick a few and make an even dozen of it.

A Good Yarn - Reading the Alphabet
This is another face to face book group that I am in, but we pick monthly themes or challenges rather than titles. We started a new alphabet in 2021, and decided to pick geographical places for our "theme". So this group is listed under Challenges below.

Daytimer's Book Club
READ 1. Jan: Foreign author: Anxious People
READ 2. Feb: Romance: The Return
READ 3. Mar: Prize Winner/Nominee: The Vanishing Half
READ 4. Apr: Non-fiction: Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
READ 5. May: Minnesota author: The Lager Queen of Minnesota
READ 6. Jun: Woman author: An American Marriage
READ 7. Jul: Historical fiction: The Four Winds
READ 8. Aug: Memoir: Somebody's Daughter
READ 9. Sep: Classic fiction: The Grapes of Wrath
10. Oct: Mystery fiction: The Thursday Murder Club
READ 11. Nov: Suspense fiction: American Dirt
READ 12. Dec: Domestic fiction: All Adults Here

Perspectives Book Club
READ 1. Jan: The Philosophical Baby: What Children's Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life
READ 2021 Feb: The Book of Lost Friends (This was read by me last year, but I am leading this one, and the rule is we can't suggest a book for the group that we haven't already read, so it is unnumbered)
READ 2. Mar: meeting cancelled, but reading The Urgency of Awareness: Unlocking the Power within Individual, Organizational, and Community Efforts for another church group.
READ 3. Apr: Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope
READ 4. May: Behold the Dreamers
READ 5. Summer (Sep.): The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
6. Oct: The Day the World Stops Shopping: How Ending Consumerism Saves the Environment and Ourselves
7. Nov: meeting cancelled
READ 8. Dec: Not a Nation of Immigrants: Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion
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Previous group reads:
9. Cantoras
10. This Is How It Always Is
11. Sing, Unburied, Sing
12. The Year of Magical Thinking

Online group reads:
1. The Crystal Cave The Reading Loft, March 2021 (reread)
2. The Devil and the Dark Water The Reading Loft, August 2021
3. The Midnight Library The Reading Loft, Sept 2021
4. Corrag The Reading Loft, Jan 2022
5. Frenchman's Creek The Reading Loft, Feb 2022
READ 6. Winter Solstice Life of a Book Addict, Dec 2021
7. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell Reading the Chunksters, April 2022
8. The Lost Wife - On the Same Page, Buddy Read for April
9. The Apothecary Rose (reread) - History Mystery Lovers featured author May 2022
10.
11.
12.

THEMES
I like to pick an annual theme every year. And then there are always leftovers! I never seem to be able to let go of a theme. I keep adding new titles year after year! I'm moving my "Random Reads" old themes here this year. I also usually have several mini-themes. Location and time period can also be a theme, but I'm giving those separate categories this year.

"Book of" titles" (Continued from 2021)
1. The Book of Joby
2. The Book of Lost Things
3. Book of a Thousand Days
4. The Book of Speculation
5. The Book of Fires
6. Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin
7. The Book of Uriel: A Novel of WWII
READ 8. The Book of Unknown Americans
9. The Book of Air and Shadows
10. The Book of Dreams
11. The Book of Strange New Things
12. The Book of Lost and Found

1. Winter (continued from 2021)
1. Midwinter of the Spirit
2. The Winter Soldier
3. Minds of Winter
4. Winter's Tale
5. The Winter Guest
6. A Wild Winter Swan
7. The Winter's Child
8. Winter Counts: A Novel
9. The Winter King
READ 10. Winter Solstice
11. The Winter Vault
12. Winter in Madrid

The Odyssey I keep listing this one, and never starting it! Maybe this is the year? Obviously, I have to start with
The Odyssey and The Iliad so those aren't part of this list...
1. The World of Odysseus
2. An Orchestra of Minorities
3. Ulysses and
Ulysses: Complete Text with Integrated Study Guide from Shmoop
4. An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic
5. Omeros
6. Olympus, Texas
7. The Penelopiad
8. Homer's Odyssey
9. Ilium
10. Ransom
11. Over the Wine-Dark Sea
12. The Siege of Troy

Old Themes: Revisiting Moby Dick
1. The Whaler
2. The Widow's War
3. Railsea
4. The Movement of Stars (also stars)
5. Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer (also stars)
6. Ahab's Return: or, The Last Voyage
7. Hannah Rose (Ahab's Legacy #2)
8. The Rathbones
9. The Great Floodgates of the Wonderworld: A Memoir
10. The Art of Fielding
11. We, the Drowned
12. The Whale: A Love Story

Old Themes: (formerly Random Reads) - carried over 6, drew 6 new
1. Bel Canto (music)
2. Orfeo (music)
READ 3. The Forest of Vanishing Stars (stars)
4. An Irish Wife: A Novel (wife titles)
5. 142 Ostriches (birds)
6. The Plover (birds)
7. The Railwayman's Wife (wife titles)
8. Mozart's Sister (music)
9. Swallows of Kabul (birds)
10. Sparks Like Stars (stars)
11. The Jewels of Paradise (music)
12. The Other Bennet Sister (P&P)

TIME AND SPACE
In previous years, I have drawn 30 titles from my TBR lists to highlight as Random Reads each year. This has been no guarantee that I will read many of them, but it gives me something besides leftovers to read, and brings long buried items to the fore. In fact, I only read ONE of my random picks last year. So this year I am breaking up this category, AND I am trying to keep all my lists to a dozen titles! Old themes are going under themes. Series are going under Series. And I think Wales will be going in a new Location category, so that leaves Historical fiction (pre-20th century), 20th century fiction, Non-fiction, and Fantasy/Other lists. And some of my mini-themes were historical time periods, so those might get moved here too....

Macbeth/Thorfinn/Vikings:
1. King Hereafter
2. Lady Macbeth
3. Macbeth: A Novel
4. Macbeth
5. A Sacred Storm
6. Tomb for an Eagle
7. Flight of the Wren
8. The Golden Horn
9. The Half-Drowned King
10. The Whale Road
11. Viking Warlord: A Saga of Thorkell the Great
12. The Swan's Road

The Plantagenets/Wars of the Roses
1. The Summer Queen
2. Queen By Right
3. Bloodline
4. Eleanor de Montfort: A Rebel Countess in Medieval England
5. The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors
6. Blood & Roses: the Paston Family and the Wars of the Roses
7. Blood Sisters: The Women Behind The Wars Of The Roses
8. Edward IV and the Wars of the Roses
9. Cecily Neville: Mother of Richard III
10. The Queen’s Rival
11. The Game's Afoot
12. The Adventures of Alianore Audley

Historical Fiction: (Random Reads) - keeping 6, 6 new
1. Courting Mr. Lincoln
2. Wolf Hall
3. The Pillars of the Earth
4. Juliet
5. Minds of Winter
6. Season of the Raven (12th cent. England)
7. The Winter Isles (12th cent. Scotland)
8. The Fatal Crown (12th cent. England, #1 of trilogy)
9. Searcher in the Dawn
10. The Stolen Crown: The Secret Marriage that Forever Changed the Fate of England
11. By Honor Bound
12. A Matter of Interpretation

Other Fiction: (Random Reads) - keeping 7, 5 new
1. The Cornish Coast Murder
2. Margot
3. The Secret Keeper
4. The Evening Chorus
5. The Murmur of Bees
6. The Eight
7. Letters from Skye (dual timeframe, 1912, 1940)
8. The Crown Jewels Conspiracy (#1 of 2)
9. The Farm at the Edge of the World
10. The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
11. The Tolstoy Estate
12. Baker Towers

Non-fiction: (Random Reads) - keeping 2, 10 new
1. Decoding the Celts: Revealing the legacy of the celtic tradition
2. Agincourt: Henry V and the Battle that Made England
3. Homer's Odyssey
4. The Hills of Wales
5. The Grammarians
6.The Pattern in the Carpet: A Personal History with Jigsaws
7. Tudor: The Family Story
8. She Wolves: The Notorious Queens of Medieval England
9. The Shepherd's Life: A People's History of the Lake District
10. The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome (#1 of 3)
11. Whiskey Distilled: A Populist Guide to the Water of Life
12. Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph

LOCATION, location, location!

Wales/Arthurian list
and any other location specific lists

Wales/Arthurian:
1. The Snowdonia Killings
2. Crimson Shore
3. The Chinese Sailor
4. Ygerna: A Pendragon Chronicles Prequel Novel
5. The Story of the Champions of the Round Table
6. The Book of Joby
7. To Carry The Horn
8. None So Blind
9. Joan, Lady of Wales: Power and Politics of King John's Daughter
10. Eve Green
11. Hidden Company
12. The Wheel Spins

Prague/Vienna
My women's choir is traveling to Prague and Vienna in June, so this seems like a good opportunity to read a few books set in those locations!
READ 1. The Prague Sonata
2. Bohemian Gospel
3. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
4. A Woman of Note
5. Compass
6. Ecstasy
7. Exile Music
8. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
9. The Prague Cemetery
10. Austerlitz
11. Time's Magpie: A Walk in Prague
12. The Piano Teacher

SERIES and AUTHORS
Series has taken on a life of its own this past year, so I am putting my "Random Reads" series picks here, as well as a lot of leftovers trying to complete or focus on a few specific series. Sometimes I also pick an author or two to focus on.

Next-in-Series: - starred titles are within 1 or 2 of finishing the series
1. 44 Scotland Street - Alexander McCall Smith
READ Bertie's Christmas #6.5
READ Bertie's Christmas Journey #7.5
READ Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers #9 of 15
The Revolving Door of Life #10 of 15

2. Corduroy Mansions - Alexander McCall Smith
*A Conspiracy of Friends #3 of 3

3. Mrs. Murphy - Rita Mae Brown (rereading, #18 will be new)
Cat's Eyewitness #13 of 31

4. Flavia de Luce - Alan Bradley (rereading - #5 will be new)
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie #1 of 10

5. Meg Langslow - Donna Andrews
Owls Well That Ends Well #6 of 30

6. Finfarran - Felicity Hayes-McCoy
*The Month of Borrowed Dreams #4 UK, #5 US of 5 (so far)

7. Hermann Preiss - Morley Torgov
Key Witness #2 of 6 (chronologically)

8. Anne Easter Smith
A Rose for the Crown (not really a series, but the next book chronologically...Wars of the Roses)

9. Slough House - Mick Herron
Real Tigers #3 of 8

10. The Morland Dynasty
The Dark Rose #2 of 35

11. Lucy Morgan - Victoria Lamb
*His Dark Lady #2 of 3

12. Somershill Manor - S.D. Sykes
*City of Masks #3 of 5


New Series:

1. A Song of Ice and Fire - George R.R, Martin
A Game of Thrones #1 of 7

2. Millennium - Steig Larsson
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo #1 of 6

3. Vorkosigan Saga - Lois Bujold
Shards of Honor #1 of 16

4. Nosey Parker - Fiona Leitch
READ A Brush With Death #2 of 6
A Sprinkle of Sabotage

5. DI Tudor Manx - Dylan H. Jones
READ*Anglesey Blue #1 of 3
*Doll Face #2 of 3

6. Thomas Cromwell - Hilary Mantel
*Wolf Hall #1 of 3

7. Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman
*The Thursday Murder Club #1 of 3 (so far)

8. The Valley Trilogy - Helen Bryan
*The Valley #1 of 3

9. Crispin Guest - Jeri Westerson
Cup of Blood #7 (but comes before #1) of 15

10. Isle of Man - Diana Xarissa
Aunt Bessie Believes #2 of 25

11.

12.

LEFTOVERS and LIBRARY BOOKS
A combination of old and new. Sort of a catch-all for anything that doesn't fit above. I have leftovers from 2021, mostly from A Good Yarn, and finishing up my previous alphabet challenge. Books that are the oldest in my TBR ocean. Books that have been started but abandoned, and then of course there is new stuff that catches my eye and gets checked out from the library....

2021 Leftovers not finished:
READ 1. Anglesey Blue
2. One for Sorrow
3. Wolf Hall #1 of 3
4. The Valley #1 of 3
5. The Chocolatier's Ghost
6. Neverhome
7. Queen By Right
8. From Hand to Hand: the Welsh novel O Law I Law
READ 9. Every Living Thing - to finish series
READ 10. We Gather Together: A Nation Divided, a President in Turmoil, and a Historic Campaign to Embrace Gratitude and Grace
11. Outlander - reread
12. Yseult: A Tale of Love in the Age of King Arthur - title beginning with Y

2021 Leftovers not started:
1. Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer
2. Untimely Death - A Good Yarn, U is for Un-
READ 3. Aunt Bessie Assumes - A Good Yarn, X
4. Treasure Island
5. The Xenophobe's Guide to the Welsh - Title beginning with X
6. The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise - A Good Yarn, Z
7. Zorrie - title beginning with Z
8. The Plum Tree - A Good Yarn, T is for Tree
9. The Crystal Cave (reread) - The Reading Loft group read
10. Independent People - A Good Yarn, I is for Ice
11. The Heart Of A Samurai - A Good Yarn, J is for Japan
12. Into the Jungle - A Good Yarn, J is for Jungle

The 12 Oldest in My TBR Ocean:
1. The Long Walk Home (owned)
2. Within the Fetterlock
3. Thirteenth Night
4. Kilt Dead (owned)
5. The Tale of Hill Top Farm
6. Her Royal Spyness (owned)
7. The Last Troubadour
8. The Book of Joby (owned)
9. The Fall of Atlantis (owned)
10. Mozart's Sister
11. Vivaldi's Virgins
12. The Expected One (owned)

Shiny New Things:
1. The Mozart Code - Location: Vienna AND Prague - pub. date March 2022
2. The Book of Cold Cases - Themes: "Book of" titles
3. Daughter of Smoke & Bone - Location: Prague
4. The Lost Wife - portions set in Prague and Terezin.
READ 5. Behind the Scenes with Burt: A Breaking Cat News Adventure - just published
DNF 6. Here We Go Again: My Life in Television - because I am really enjoying watching The Golden Girls
7. A Brilliant Night of Stars and Ice - Stars theme, A Good Yarn I location (iceberg), Audible daily deal
READ 8. The Ink Black Heart - next in Cormoran Strike series, just released and purchased on Audible

CHALLENGES
A Good Yarn:
Reading the alphabet geographically. Every two months is a new letter, with the choice of reading a specific location, or a generic place, or both...
December 2021/January 2022: C (bonus: C + Christmas)
The Cornish Coast Murder (Cornwall AND a coast)
READ 2021 Murder on the Menu (Cornwall)
READ 2021 A Cornish Christmas Carol (Cornwall + bonus Christmas)

February/March: D
READ The Book of Unknown Americans (Delaware)
A Gathering of Ghosts (Devon, Dartmoor)
Women of the Dunes
READ The Hound of the Baskervilles (Devon, Dartmoor)

April/May: E
READ Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers (Edinburgh)
READ Bertie's Christmas short story. (Edinburgh)
READ Bertie's Christmas Journey short story. (Edinburgh)
Her Royal Spyness (England)
READ Crocodile on the Sandbank (Egypt)

June/July: F
The Summer Queen (France)
READ The Forest of Vanishing Stars (a forest)

August/Sept: G
The Evening Chorus (Germany)
The Wild Inside (Glacier National Park)

Oct/Nov: H
Murder at Honeychurch Hall


Dec/Jan: I
A Brilliant Night of Stars and Ice (iceberg)


Alphabet (A-Z titles) challenge.
Sort of contemporaneous with A Good Yarn...but I'm still working on some A titles and A Good Yarn is up to C. The only rule here, is that I have to read the alphabet in order. And no rule on how long to spend on each letter. As long as there are still A titles I want to read, I'll stick with it...

Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer
READ 2021 The Alehouse Murders

READ 2021 All Things Wise and Wonderful
READ Anglesey Blue
READ Anxious People
READ Aunt Bessie Assumes
The Apothecary Rose (reread)
...And Ladies of the Club
READ Awayland
READ All Adults Here
------------------------------
READ The Book of Unknown Americans
READ Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers
READ Bertie's Christmas - short story
READ Bertie's Christmas Journey - short story
READ Behind the Scenes with Burt: A Breaking Cat News Adventure
READ Behold the Dreamers
The Book of Joby
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek - reread
The Book Woman's Daughter - Netgalley
READ A Brush With Death
-------------------------------
Corrag
Cup of Blood
City of Masks
A Conspiracy of Friends
The Chocolatier's Ghost


Rebecca's List:
This is a group challenge on LibraryThing's Club Read 2022 to collectively read all the books on a late member's reading list. This is not a promise to read all of these, but potentially to read...These are some that are of interest to me, that no one else has read yet. Not counting The Philosophical Baby: What Children's Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life on her list, since I am currently reading it.
1. The World of Odysseus - a likely candidate because of my Odyssey theme this year!
2. The Bear: History of a Fallen King
3. The Reindeer People: Living with Animals and Spirits in Siberia - someone else has read this one...
4. Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
5. The Power of Music
6. Genes, Peoples, and Languages
7. Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages
8. The Singing Life of Birds: The Art and Science of Listening to Birdsong
9. The Fairies Return, or New Tales for Old
10. Stars of the Long Night
11. The Romance of Tristan
12. The Romance of the Rose


Laurel's One From Each List Challenge (On the Same Page 1st Annual Reading Challenge - 12 + 4):
Since I have roughly 16 lists going, I thought I would pick one book from each list. I think there's a few more than 16, but there are some titles that are on more than one list, so this works. I'm hoping to make at least a Baker's Dozen here, 12 + 1.

1. The Book of Joby - this one is on at least 3 of my lists...
READ 2. Winter Solstice
3. The World of Odysseus
4. Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer
5. Queen By Right
6. The Evening Chorus
7. Homer's Odyssey
READ 8. The Prague Sonata
READ 9. Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers
READ 10. Anglesey Blue
READ 11. Aunt Bessie Assumes
READ 12. Every Living Thing
-------------------------------------------------------
13. A Sacred Storm
14. Wolf Hall
15. Ygerna: A Pendragon Chronicles Prequel Novel
16. The Fall of Atlantis


On the Same Page cover color challenge:
READ January - White or Dark Gray
READ February - Rust or Pink
READ March - Spring Green or Lemon
READ April - Tangerine or Lavender
READ May - Blue or Brown , , READ and
June - Green or Silver and maybe
READ July - Yellow or Fuschia
August - Red or Black
READ September - Lime or Purple
October - Orange or White or Black
November - Teal or Gold
December - Sky Blue or Khaki

Happy New Year! I just finished my 2021 goals with 20 minutes to spare. Time to think about my January reading plans!

READ 1. Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times - overdue and has a hold waiting. I need to read this in the next two days, or return it and re-request it to read later...

READ 2. Winter's Bite - I finished 2021 by seeing what short stories I had on my Kindle. Didn't get to this one, but I can knock it off my TBR in a day, and it fits my "Winter" theme.

READ 3. Anxious People - started this today (well yesterday now) on a run to the grocery store (audiobook). It's our Daytimers book club read for January. Loving it already!

READ 4. The Philosophical Baby: What Children's Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life - My other book club book for January.

READ 5. Anglesey Blue - still reading and need to get back to this. And I'm still working on A titles for my yearly challenge...

6. Queen By Right - paused and need to get back to this.

7. Wolf Hall - paused, long term read, will get back to this

READ 8. Every Living Thing - audiobook - after I finish Anxious People - this will finish my reread of James Herriot's books

READ 9. A Brush With Death #2 in the Nosey Parker series, and another C book (Cornwall) for a Good Yarn.

10. A Sprinkle of Sabotage #3 in the Nosey Parker series

11. A Cornish Christmas Murder #4 in the Nosey Parker series, and another "Christmas" bonus if I actually finish them all, which is doubtful.... More likely I will relist it when I get to C in my annual alphabet challenge.

12. Outlander - long paused, but I'm still planning to do a long term reread of this entire series....

#1 Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times
4.5 blue stars
Themes: Winter

There is some really good writing here. My rating reflects the fact that I could see myself rereading this book, and underlining passages that resonate with me. What it is NOT, is a self-help book. What it IS, is a memoir - to quote from the inside book flap: "A moving personal narrative shot through with lessons from literature, mythology, and the natural world... Illumination emerges from many sources: solstice celebrations and dormice hibernation, C.S. Lewis and Sylvia Plath, swimming in icy waters and sailing arctic seas."

Critics will say here is an entitled rich, white woman with the luxury to quit her job and take expensive trips hunting the aurora borealis, and having the leisure time to pursue things like baking and crafts, and taking voice lessons. And this is true. I was hard-pressed, myself, to understand her circumstances compared to my own chronic health issues and job losses (definitely NOT voluntary), but I certainly understand that life has tough moments for all of us, and that we sometimes need to give ourselves permission to retreat, to find activities that distract us, and to learn how to sing again.

I hope to take an aurora hunting trip "some day" so I enjoyed hearing her experience. I loved learning more trivia about dormice, and bees, and wolves, and European robins which have become a spiritually significant "totem" for me lately. And as the "Welsh Bookworm" I delighted in her tale of retraining her voice using Dylan Thomas's "Under Milkwood." Other literary inspiration included Philip Pullman's Golden Compass series, C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, and even "The Game of Thrones." And I must look for Alan Watts - the name is familiar and I think I have read something of his, but I don't remember what...

I really appreciate the confident way you list lots of books and have no problem accepting you won’t read most of them. Even when that is my intent I always feel I’ve failed somehow if I don’t tick most off. Happy reading!

#2 Anxious People
5 purple stars - I loved it!
Book clubs: Daytimers

“This is a story about a bridge, and idiots, and a hostage drama, and an apartment viewing. But it’s also a love story.” And I would say it is a story about life, about how we all make mistakes, but we do the best we can. These people are absurd, but oh, so relatable. I was rooting for every one of them, but especially the "bank robber." There might also be some serious messages here - about failure, about loneliness, about fitting in, about suicide, about parenting, and more. I'll say it again - it's a story about life. And fireworks.

Cumulative pages: 582

#3 The Philosophical Baby: What Children's Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life
2.5 yellow stars
Book club: Perspectives

I would call this more philosophy than psychology. There wasn't very much presented in the way of scientific evidence for the ideas presented here. I did find things that were very interesting and thought-provoking, but it felt like a slog getting there. I wasn't entirely sure who this was written for either - students? lay people? parents? There's plenty of scientific jargon here. And lots of lots of either repetition or meandering thoughts. I think the general ideas could have been coalesced into an essay or a 30-minute TED talk. The first chapter or two was quite interesting, presenting how children learn to imagine possibilities, and to see how the world could be different, which gives humanity the unique ability to change ourselves and to change the world. The ideas here have applications for psychology in general. It's not just about children, although that is the reference point.

Cumulative pages: 870

I've already abandoned the rest of my January plans. Currently listening to Winter Solstice on audio, and postponed the rest of the Nosey Parker series in favor of knocking some A titles out of the way for my Alphabet Challenge. So I've started Awayland, which I have had checked out from the library for an embarassingly long time, and Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer, which I read half of a long time ago (2015?) when I was doing my Moby Dick theme. Now I'm debating whether I want to reread Moby Dick along side it. I listened to it on audio, and I'm pretty sure my brain let large portions of it sort of slide on by without too much attention. We'll see. Could be interesting to do that. Moby Dick has 135 chapters, and Ahab's Wife has 157 or something like that...

I've added a new list to message #3 above:
Old Themes: Revisiting Moby Dick

It turns out that I read Moby Dick 10 years ago. This was the first year I started doing themes. I moved 3 titles from the Old Themes list and added 9 more from my TBR. Now I have to pick 3 more old themes, which I'll do later tonight. What's another dozen books? Ha ha ha.

And I decided to reread Moby Dick. So probably my Odyssey list is postponed until at least September.... I'm reading Moby Dick at http://www.powermobydick.com/ I may also listen to the Moby Dick Big Read at https://www.mobydickbigread.com/

Mid-February and I still haven't done a February update. I shouldn't take the time now, but I'll feel better if I do. I'm three books behind on my goal, soon to be four. Haven't been reading at all for weeks, except for the audiobook in the car which has about 3 hours left to go... I have been cleaning and decluttering like mad so that the landlord can show the house. I took 4 days off work last week and did nothing else. Now he says someone has made an offer, but wants to see downstairs here next weekend. It sounds promising for me getting to stay here as a tenant, so think good thoughts! I've been in this limbo since August, and it will be a relief to know one way or the other.

Anyway, finishing up
READ 1. Winter Solstice - car audiobook

For book clubs:
READ 2. The Return - that will also be audio, to start right after I finish Winter Solstice.

READ 3. The Hound of the Baskervilles - For A Good Yarn, books with a D location - this one is Dartmoor and Devonshire, and seems short enough that I can do it by the end of the month... "D" locations continues through March, so I'll probably just do the one for this month.

Still working on "A" titles for my personal challenge:
READ 4. Anglesey Blue

READ 5. Awayland

6. Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer

along with a reread of
7. Moby-Dick or, the Whale - these last two might be stretched out over a few months. No, make that they will be stretched out over several months.

That's all for now - got to get back to cleaning!

#4 Winter Solstice
Themes: Winter

3.5 pink stars. A predictable, though too good to be true, Hallmark-style, Christmas comfort read. I enjoy the long drawn-out descriptions of people doing fairly ordinary things. A bit dated perhaps - until Elfrida reveals her age you might think she was 82, not 62... I liked the mix of generations, although when the narration first switched from Elfrida's story to Sam's story, it was so abrupt, and no clue who this person was and how he was going to fit into the story. Nothing special here, but I would read more of this author.

Cumulative pages: 1,563

#5 The Return
3 yellow stars.
Book clubs: Daytimers

It got off to a VERY slow start. I don't know if that was supposed to ratchet up the mystery aspect involving the two women, but it really didn't work. I did like the fact that there WAS a mystery, since there wasn't much to the romance. And I'm a sucker for medical mysteries. The bees added a much needed hook to tie everything together. I might have enjoyed this more told from a woman's point of view, but who knows. I'm really not the audience for this kind of book, but it made my book club ladies happy.

Cumulative pages: 1,918

March update time, and not much change since the last update... Still behind, but all the major cleaning I had to do is done.

For Daytimers:
READ 1. The Vanishing Half

For Perspectives:
READ 2. Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope

For A Good Yarn:
READ 3. The Hound of the Baskervilles (Dartmoor and Devon)
READ 4. The Book of Unknown Americans (Delaware)

Still reading:
5. Moby-Dick or, the Whale - long term project.
6. Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer - long term project

Other "A" titles (still reading...)
READ 7. Awayland
READ 8. Anglesey Blue

For February's color challenge:
READ 9. A Brush With Death

#6 The Vanishing Half
4.5 blue stars

4.5 blue stars. This isn't just a story about a black person passing as white. It's about all the different ways we create our identity: race, gender, marital status, career. It isn't just about twin sisters. It's also about mothers and daughters, husbands and wives. It's about being different, and how we try to fit into our families and our communities. The lies we tell. The choices we make. And everything is about contrast: white/black, male/female, poor/rich, introvert/extrovert. I liked this story a lot, but I do think the author tried to include too many things, and so we kind of lose the story of the twins. The plot relies on several coincidences, many of the choices made seem inexplicable, and the whole leaves many questions unanswered. But that will make for lively book club discussions.

Cumulative pages: 2,261

#7 The Book of Unknown Americans
4 red stars
Book Clubs: A Good Yarn (D is for Delaware), Perspectives (previous group read)
Themes: "Book of" titles

I'm not sure what I feel about this book. Is it a young adult romance? An examination of the lives of Latin American immigrants? Is it the author's intent for us to get to know these "unknown" Americans? To understand something of their struggles - acquiring jobs, learning a new language, overcoming prejudice and injustice? A political commentary, or a psychological domestic drama about cause and effect, blame and guilt? This book had the potential to be something really powerful. It is unsettling to be sure. Is the ending a tragedy that could have been prevented, or just something that "happened"? Rather than being about the two main families, and especially the two teenagers, this ends up feeling like it is more about the community, and their collective hopes and dreams. The ending offered no resolution to anything, only the need to keep moving on, to keep hoping that things will get better.

Cumulative pages: 2,547

April plans:

Audiobooks:
READ 1. Crocodile on the Sandbank - Color Challenge for April and A Good Yarn (E is for Egypt)

READ 2. Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope - Perspectives Book Club

READ 3. Every Living Thing - while traveling to see Mom and finish up this series.

READ 4. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents - Daytimer's Book Club

Finish reading:
READ 5. Aunt Bessie Assumes]

READ 6. The Hound of the Baskervilles - A Good Yarn (D is for Devon)

READ 7. A Brush With Death

READ 8. Awayland

Continue reading:
9. Moby-Dick or, the Whale

10. Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer

11. Wolf Hall

To start:
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (3-month Reading the Chunksters group read)

#8 The Urgency of Awareness: Unlocking the Power within Individual, Organizational, and Community Efforts
3 yellow stars

This was used by our church as a Lenten discussion guide. We divided into small groups led by a "facilitator" - someone who had attended some kind of training with the author. I really can't say much about the book. It's short, and only focuses on a few simple ideas. I wouldn't recommend this book on its own - I think it would have been pointless without the discussion of the group I was in.

Cumulative pages: 2,685

Really looking forward to going to see my mom this week. It's an 8 hour drive, so I'll get through at least one audiobook, and most of a second. Just need to finish up
READ Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope which is an excellent book but really depressing! I need comfort reads next! In my April plans I said I was going to listen to
READ Crocodile on the Sandbank and
READ Every Living Thing.

Crocodile is a reread for me, and knocks off two challenges - April cover challenge and A Good Yarn "E" location (Egypt). On my previous trips I listened to James Herriot and I want to get to that one to finish the series, but I've realized that another book
READ Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers would knock off another 3 challenges: a B title, A Good Yarn "E" location (Edinburgh) and it's on my 12 + 4 challenge. So I'm substituting that one, and hopefully will get to Every Living Thing next month. It's also on my 12 + 4 challenge...

#9 Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope
4.5 blue stars.

This is a deeply personal and depressing account of what has gone wrong in the lives of a small-town community: loss of jobs, drug addiction, teenage pregnancy, lack of health care and social safety nets, and the inevitable breakdown of the families involved. The authors do not deny that individual bad choices are part of this complex picture. But they also make the point that too many people simply demonize and dehumanize those who find themselves in these circumstances. While some reviews outright rejected the liberal political views of the authors, I felt that they aimed for a balanced view without singling out one political party over another. They did call out the specific policies of certain administrations. It is clear that those policies have failed us, and have contributed to what is happening all across this country. They have tried to point to programs and individuals who have made some small difference, but on the whole, I am left with the feeling that outside of what small actions we can take as individuals, the solution will require a change of heart and a willingness to enact legislation that overcomes political partisanship, and that addresses the huge income gap between upper and lower classes. I am not as optimistic as the authors that we are anywhere close to being able to accomplish this.

Cumulative pages: 2,989

#10 Crocodile on the Sandbank

3.5 pink stars. This was a reread of a series I have enjoyed in the past, but I have to admit it is showing its age! There is humor and romance, and it's a pleasant enough cozy diversion, but the actual mystery (plot) was highly predictable, if not glaringly obvious. The mummy is eye-rollingly hilarious / awful, and the colonial racism, while true to the 19th century, is a bit offensive today. I do like Amelia and her independent spirit very much though!

Cumulative pages: 3,251

#11 Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers
4 red stars

Continues the long-running saga of the residents or former residents of 44 Scotland Street in Edinburgh. If you haven't read any in the series before, you might want to start at the beginning. These books move at the glacial pace of a soap-opera, but there is an arc to the characters. Bertie is finally (the title of book #6 not-withstanding), finally turning seven. Matthew and Elspeth look at a new house and hire an au pair for their au pair. Bruce gets only one small scene in the whole book. Pat, just maybe, might have found a boyfriend. Angus and Domenica must put up with a visit from Antonia. Big Lou takes a big step and applies to become a foster mother. And Bertie, as always, steals the show. Fate steps in to give him a break from his mother (I won't say more), which means that Bertie gets to go on a cub scout camping trip and do other normally forbidden things (like eat pizza.) His mother is still away at the end of the book. Can Bertie look forward to having more freedom in the next installment? As usual, McCall Smith manages to combine the mundane and the absurd with humor and wisdom.

Cumulative pages: 3,546

#12 Bertie's Christmas

#13 Bertie's Christmas Journey

Discovered there were a couple of short (very short) Christmas stories in this series, published in the Scotsman. Both feature Bertie, of course - who is still 6 two Christmases in a row.... Bertie apparently exists outside of normal time. :-)

#14 Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
5 purple stars

This is an impressive and important book that I think everybody needs to read. (Everybody "white" that is...) I certainly learned a great deal. Be warned, that parts of the book are disturbing and gruesome. The links between America, Nazi Germany, and India are interesting, but I'm not convinced that "caste" is the right distinction to make. Where is South Africa and the practice of Apartheid in this discussion? Humans have ALWAYS created social hierarchies, whether based on race, class, gender, wealth, or something else. Racial inequality and oppression is a sad fact of 400 years of American history. Nevertheless, a Black American became President of the United States in 2008. And was elected to a second term. Blacks and whites intermarry. White people make up the majority of those in poverty in this country. I could think of other examples that are inconsistent with a true caste system. But labels aside, whether you want to call it caste or something else, prejudice exists. Inequality exists. Humans have perpetrated a sickening litany of cruelty, injustice, and oppression, all in the pursuit of power and wealth. The point the author makes about how such a system hurts the health of society in general is valid. Now, what do we do about it?

Cumulative pages: 4,050

#15 The Hound of the Baskervilles Alma Classics (not the right cover shown)
4 red stars

I probably have read Sherlock Holmes before, but long enough ago that I really don't remember. Certainly I am familiar with the canon through movies. This is the 3rd of 4 novels about Sherlock Holmes that Conan Doyle made famous in his short stories. As described below, this edition is aimed at younger readers and contains some added material, including "Legends of Wild Beasts in Britain." I would have liked a few pictures, perhaps some photos of Dartmoor. The style takes a little getting used to, but I do think it is quite accessible to younger readers. I was pleasantly surprised at the vivid descriptions of everything, especially the moor. Here is an example:

"Every minute that white woolly plain which covered one half of the moor was drifting closer and closer to the house. Already the first thin wisps of it were curling across the golden square of the lighted window. The farther wall of the orchard was already invisible, and the trees were standing out of a swirl of white vapour. As we watched it, the fog wreaths came crawling round both corners of the house and rolled slowly into one dense bank, on which the upper floor and the roof floated like a strange ship upon a shadowy sea."

Marvelously atmospheric. The first part of the story dragged a bit, but once we get into it, it unfolds a bit like peeling an onion, revealing the truth bit by bit. Of course, Sherlock Holmes makes it all seem so obvious in the end. Part of the charm is the relationship between Holmes and Watson. I just might have to read more of these.

Description: When the corpse of Sir Charles Baskerville is found on the grounds of his Dartmoor estate next to a mysterious animal footprint, thoughts turn to a fabled family curse: that of a hellhound set out to avenge a crime committed by one of Sir Charles's ancestors. As the only surviving heir of the Baskervilles is terrified for his safety, Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are called in to investigate. The most famous novel in Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes cycle, The Hound of the Baskervilles is a masterpiece of terror, suspense and mystery which has enthralled readers young and old since it was first published in 1902.

ABOUT THE SERIES: Alma Junior Classics series of illustrated classics includes some of the greatest books ever written for younger readers and new translations of unjustly neglected international works. Our aim is to give our list an international feel and offer young readers to opportunity to connect with other cultures and literatures – this applies not only to the titles we chose but also to the illustrators we commission – so that we can bring a bit of novelty into the canon of British children’s literature. All children’s classics contain extra material for young readers, including a profile of the author, a section on the book, a list of characters, a glossary and a test-yourself quiz.

Cumulative pages: 4,306

#16 Aunt Bessie Assumes
3.5 pink stars

3.5 pink stars. First of a cozy mystery series set on the Isle of Man. The author is American, but lived on the Isle of Man for about 10 years. Aunt Bessie is quite likeable. She likes her routine, and her murder mysteries, she knows all the locals and is best friends with Doona, who works at the police station. Aunt Bessie is also keen on local history, and I hope that future books will tell us more about her "research." She apparently is something of a local authority, writing a book and giving lectures. That doesn't really have any bearing on the story, except that it establishes that she knows and is known by a lot of people. Aunt Bessie is coy about her age, but if I had to guess, I would say somewhere around 75. Not too young, but not too old either. The plot was not bad for a first of series. The glue, I think, is going to be the relationships between Bessie, Doona, the young constable Hugh, and Inspector Rockwell, who is from "across", but by the end of the book is one of those who is there to stay. The author has several other series. In fact Aunt Bessie (deceased) is introduced in one of her romance novels Island Inheritance. I'm not much of a romance reader, but that one is going straight onto my TBR. Aunt Bessie is probably not the only character that crosses over between series.

Cumulative pages: 4,520

#17 Winter's Bite

3 green stars, only because it left me wanting more. If this is meant to be a teaser then it served its purpose. It really is much too short, so I can't say anything other than I liked the writing. I do not think it is a prequel to anything. I did not read the "bonus" 5 chapters of book:A Heart in Sun and Shadow|10714047, which really made up the bulk of this ebook, but I will be adding it to my TBR, because it is set in "a Cymru that never was".

Description: Many years ago, Ysabon made her living by the sword as a skilled mercenary. Now she lives in Westedge with her brother's children, tending to the animals and afraid of dying old and useless. When a horrible winter storm drives monsters down from the mountains, Ysabon can save her family and her village if only she can find the strength and take up the sword for a final battle.

Cumulative pages: 4,574

#18 Behind the Scenes with Burt: A Breaking Cat News Adventure
5 blue stars

Even though this contains a number of redone strips from the first book, Georgia's style has changed a lot from the "old" days, (i.e. before newspapers). I liked the framing of going behind the scenes with Burt. The "Our IX Lives" Christmas special was a bit underwhelming, and it was a little hard to follow. Hey, I know! Georgia should do a whole book just on Our IX Lives! Loved the paperdolls, and if I were younger, I just might copy them onto tagboard and cut them out to play with. Laughter is the best medicine and this gave me a very pleasant hour away from the real world.

Description: It’s big changes for the kitties at BCN! Burt is bringing this news station up a notch. Join Burt behind the scenes as he updates some of our favorite broadcasts from the past, with better imagery and brand new footage! Including a trip to the vet, exploring the cupboards, hordes of trick or treaters, the action packed "Our IX Lives" Christmas special, and Puck daring to believe in the elusive, mythical Mailman. This book welcomes some of the first BCN newspaper strips as Breaking Cat News made the jump from web to newsprint! Enjoy classic strips with beautiful updated artwork and never before seen broadcasts! Includes a “More to Explore” section with paper dolls and a real-life behind the scenes peek into when BCN first rolled out in newspapers.

Cumulative pages: 4,766

May update:

We are one third of the way through the year, and with some effort this week, I have managed to catch up quite a bit. I am only one book behind schedule! Of course, three of my reads this past month were short stories and one was a graphic novel. But since I have a number of ongoing chunky reads, I don't feel one bit guilty!

Ongoing reads being
1. Moby-Dick or, the Whale
2. Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer
and just added
3. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Up-coming book club reads for May will be
READ 4. Behold the Dreamers
READ 5. The Lager Queen of Minnesota
I don't need anything new for A Good Yarn, so perhaps I can catch up on
READ 6. A Brush With Death

Currently reading
DNF 7. Here We Go Again: My Life in Television

Will try and finish
READ 8. Awayland - the last of my A titles not counting Ahab's Wife...

Debating whether or not I want to reread
9. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
before diving into
10. The Book Woman's Daughter

And I'm sure some other random reads will claim my attention by mid-May, so I'll post another update then.

It seems I'm a glutton for punishment, not even mid-May but I've already added another book. And it's another Chunkster. Aughhh! But it's an "A" title, and darned if that alphabet challenge isn't pushing me to do it. I've started it several times in the last several years, and this is a push I need to finally get it read:
...And Ladies of the Club

My grandmother gave this book to me many, many years ago, because it was one she liked. So even though I'm already reading 3 other Chunksters I'm going to do it. At 20 pages a day, I can finish it by the end of June. Anyone want to do a buddy read?

#19 Anglesey Blue
4 red stars.

Definitely gritty/gruesome - not for the faint of heart. So if you can't read detailed descriptions of violence, this isn't for you. This reminded me a lot of the Cormoran Strike series by "Robert Galbraith." But without the humor and love interest. Tudor Manx is hard-boiled, jaded even, and carrying a lot of baggage from his past. Despite all that, I think he is likeable. There is hope for him! Other characters are well-developed and I hope they will become regulars: officers Morris "Minor", Kevin Priddle, Maldwyn Nader, and potential future love-interest (?) bar-tender/ beautician Gwen and her son Owain. I enjoyed the Anglesey setting, and all the references to things Welsh. Yes, there were errors and inconsistencies. I hope the sequels will be better edited. (Yechid dda? Not quite.... But then, Manx has been away from Wales for a long time...)

I started this on Kindle last year, and then decided to start over with the audiobook narrated by Malk Williams. I've tried other books set in Wales with narrators that had no clue how to pronounce Welsh place names, never mind replicate a passable Welsh accent. Malk did a pretty good job, although not so much on the North Walian local characters. Close enough for jazz, as they say, and close enough for a character that has been gone from Anglesey for many years.

Description: Recently transferred from the London Met to the North Wales Constabulary, Detective Inspector Tudor Manx has returned to his childhood home Anglesey hoping for a quiet life. But his hopes are dashed when a brutally mutilated body is found crucified to the bow of a fishing boat sending shockwaves through the peaceful community. Manx faces pressure to solve the case quickly equipped with an inexperienced team. Is the body a message or a premonition of more murders to come? Adding to his mounting problems, Manx’s troubled past returns to haunt him. Can Manx solve the case before the body count rises? How will he cope when he is forced to choose between his family and his duty as a police officer?

Cumulative pages: 5,224

#20 Knight Owl
5 purple stars

This little owl is adorable. The illustrations are detailed and wonderful. (There's even a nod to the Bayeux Tapestry.) I love owls, I love dragons, I'm a night owl, and I love anything medieval. So an enthusiastic 5 purple stars. The text is quite simple and the message is one of determination, finding and doing what you are good at, and making friends.

Description: A determined Owl builds strength and confidence in this medieval picture book about the real mettle of a hero: wits, humor, and heart. Since the day he hatched, Owl dreamed of becoming a real knight. He may not be the biggest or the strongest, but his sharp nocturnal instincts can help protect the castle, especially since many knights have recently gone missing. While holding guard during Knight Night Watch, Owl is faced with the ultimate trial—a frightening intruder. It’s a daunting duel by any measure. But what Owl lacks in size, he makes up for in good ideas. Full of wordplay and optimism, this surprising display of bravery proves that cleverness (and friendship) can rule over brawn.

#21 Behold the Dreamers
3 green stars

My rating for this book keeps going up and down. I'd say it shows great promise as a debut novel. The writing is good, the ideas are good. I like that it looks at the American dream from two extremes: the poor black immigrant family, and the wealthy white family. I found all of the characters hard to like, except maybe the children. I had sympathy for them, but I was really appalled at some of the choices they made. I "think" the author is saying at the end that family is the most important thing, and that wanting or having wealth is often not worth the sacrifices that are made to obtain that dream. I really wanted to rate this higher, but it just didn't have the hook that should have drawn me into the story and the plight of the characters. I wasn't convinced by the ending, and didn't really care what happened to them. On a different day I might rate this 4 red stars, but for now I will give the author room to grow.

Cumulative pages: 5,672

#22 The Lager Queen of Minnesota
5 blue stars, rounded up

Minnesota. Lots of local references. Craft beers. Pie. Gutsy women. What's not to like? I loved it. We follow the lives of three women - two sisters and a grand-daughter. Women just trying to follow their dreams and deal with whatever life gives them. And life isn't always a bowl of roses. I especially liked Edith. She did what she loved. She had a big heart. And life wasn't fair to her. But she persevered. She raised her grand-daughter after her daughter and son-in-law were killed in a car accident. She works two jobs and a third volunteer job well into her 70s because she has to. Meanwhile, sister Helen, kept all the inheritance to herself in order to further her dream of brewing beer. She rests her laurels on a mediocre but popular "light" beer, and spends her life haunted by guilt, estranging herself from her sister. Then we have Diana. Resorting to stealing tools and equipment from garages to sell just to help support her grandmother. She has inherited Edith's big heart. Luck and a lot of hard work puts her also into the brewing business. And in my favorite part of the book, she enlists her grandmother (the former pie queen who knows a thing or two about recipes) and her grandmothers friends, and they have a ball following their hearts in this new late career change. 5 blue stars, despite the open-ended and somewhat weak ending. The style reminded me a lot of Fredrik Backman. Audiobook narrated by Judith Ivey, who grew up in Michigan and Illinois, so her accent was more Midwestern than Minnesotan, but it was passable.

Cumulative annual pages: 6,021

Late May update:
I was doing SO well at the beginning of May, and outlining a "schedule" whereby I would finish 3 chunksters by the end of June and another one that goes into August. But my roller-coaster life has taken a deep downward swing yet again, to be followed by an upward swing in June (trip to Prague and Vienna). I haven't felt much like reading (except for the audiobooks in my car), and I know I won't get any reading done on the trip.

The second week of May my beloved nearly 20-year-old cat reached the end of her long life. And how do you say goodbye to an intimate companion of nearly 20 years? On top of that, we had had a major storm (winds and tornado warnings) the night before. The vet was still there when my upstairs neighbors came home and asked if I knew about the hole in the wall.... It seems the wall of my root cellar had caved inward in the storm letting in lots of rain, mud, etc. And that is the room where I had been storing all the boxes of stuff that I had hidden away so the landlord could show the apartment without so much clutter. I knew it was a very bad idea - okay while it was still cold and things remained frozen, but now that it was spring I needed to get stuff out of there. Too late. The wall collapsed, and I had boxes of books on plastic book cases along that wall. Well now those books were buried under huge cement blocks and a good 6-inches of mud and water. I didn't even have 5 minutes to grieve. I had to find people to help me get everything out of that room before we had another storm that would cause the wall to collapse even more. My sister was working until 6 pm and couldn't come out until about 7:30. The landlord couldn't help - said he had a prior commitment and I should ask the neighbors. To say I was pissed is putting it mildly. Anyway, I did manage to get everything I could get out that evening. But several boxes were buried in mud and bricks and I didn't know if it was safe to try and get to them. A few days later I went back in and was able to get to those boxes. Amazingly, there were still some books I could save, but I ended up throwing out more than 50 books. Mostly, they were ex-library books that I had accumulated and wanted to read, but nothing that I felt I needed to replace, except for one book The Illuminated Desert with beautiful paintings of desert plants and animals that reminded me of my grandparents, who spent their final years in Arizona.

Then I had 4 performances over that weekend as well with my two choirs. No time to grieve or even relax. I was sad, angry, exhausted, etc. etc. Then the following week there is water in my furnace room. The landlord said someone would be out right away - well, a week and a half later, after umpteen loads of wet towels in the washer and drier, and the realtor telling me she was showing the house on Friday, I called her up and said no way was he showing the downstairs. The landlord hadn't told her about the water, and probably thought his guy had come out and fixed it by then. Ha ha ha. Anyway, he finally got out here and brought a little pump with a hose which now snakes through the bedroom to the bathroom drain. The culprit seems to be the water tank from the well, or the pipes underneath. He'll be getting someone out to fix it this week (I'll believe it when I see it.) In the meantime, I plug in the pump periodically to deal with the slow leak and keep the water at least contained to that room... And I need to move stuff out of there (mostly in plastic tubs - Christmas stuff, etc.) but they'll need room to get back in there to do the repairs. Needless to say, I don't think he'll be showing the downstairs in the next couple of weeks.

He'd better have it fixed by June 10th however! That's when I leave for Prague with my women's choir. I'm trying to get excited, but honestly it feels like one more major source of stress to be "gotten through." I haven't been abroad in over 20 years - I had to get a new passport, I got a new phone with a great camera (though I think I'm still going to take my DSLR. My carry-on bag is too big for international requirements, so I've been searching out luggage, and trying to figure out what else I need for the trip.

Needless to say, my entire reading plan has gone out the window, and I don't even know if it will resume at the end of June. The writing is probably on the wall, so AFTER my trip to Europe, I'll be house or apartment hunting. I honestly don't know what I can afford - I'm frankly expecting to be underwhelmed at the choices that might be available to me on a part-time income. So I don't know how much reading I'm going to be able to get done over the summer. My comfort entertainment right now is turning on the TV and watching Men in Kilts or some other diversion.

I really, really hope things will settle down! It's been a very long year since my father's death last July, and my mother's move into assisted living in March.... And being in limbo over the whole house thing since August - hoping I would get to stay as a tenant with the new buyer. I never thought it would drag on this long. I should have been looking last fall when mortgages were 3% instead of 6% which it's heading toward now...

Sorry for the long, drawn out, and mostly non-bookish update! But that's where I'm at.

#23 The Illuminated Desert
5 gold stars

I treasure this book because it reminds me of my grandparents who spent their final years in Arizona, and loved the desert and all its natural wonders. It is also patterned after the medieval illuminated manuscripts known as "A Book of Hours." The page for the letter A might say Antelope, but there is so much else going on: ants marching across the page, arrowheads, aspen leaves, a red rock arch, and more. There is a glossary in the back describing all of these things, as well as the poetic text under each picture. An exquisite book. I am pretty sure I have past lives in the four corners area of the southwest. I have studied both North and South American spiritual traditions and many of these animals have significance to me: bat, badger, golden eagle, hummingbird, jack rabbit, owl, prairie dog, raven, stag.

Description: The Illuminated Desert is a stunning dialogue in painting and prose by two daughters of the Colorado Plateau: Terry Tempest Williams and Chloe Hedden. This is more than an abecedarian, or alphabet book. It is an exquisite rendering of life in the red rock canyons of Southern Utah and the natural history that evokes a poetry of place. The audience for this book is the audience of the desert itself, from children to adults who share in discovery and delight.

June plans:
The water issue is almost resolved. It was a hole in the water tank, and the tank has been replaced. The old one is draining and will be taken out tomorrow. No more new water is there, so I have turned off the pump. Will probably have to do more mopping with towels to finish up tomorrow.

The ongoing reads that I had planned to finish by the end of June, won't get picked up again until after my trip, so I'll redo the reading schedule for those when I get back. Before I go, I hope to finish
READ An American Marriage - audiobook. Book club isn't until the end of June, but I wanted to be sure I got it out of the way.
READ Awayland - if I read a story a day, it'll be done before I go.
DNF Here We Go Again: My Life in Television - Maybe...

For the trip, I have downloaded on Libby
READ The Prague Sonata - audiobook for the plane ride...
The Summer Queen - green cover challenge for June, and F is for France for A Good Yarn book club.

I have a couple other Prague books lined up, but probably won't get to them
The Lost Wife - takes place in Prague and Terezin, which I'll be visiting
Time's Magpie: A Walk in Prague

For later in June, I hope to get to
Queen By Right - half-read but long stalled...
The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors

And somewhere in there, I'd like to add a reread of
The Apothecary Rose

Too ambitious, as usual, but I'm REALLY hoping things will settle down, so I can enjoy my summer!

#24 An American Marriage
3 green stars

I've been reading quite a few books relating to the theme of what it means to be American this year. This one tells the story of an already somewhat rocky marriage tested by the separation of a wrongful conviction, and a love triangle. I read books like this to try and expand my empathy and understanding of people different from myself, but I'm not sure how much the implied racial injustice depicted here actually had to do with the story. As a single woman, I can't relate to the kinds of choices needed to make a marriage work, I couldn't relate to the affluence of the characters, and while I felt the writing tried to depict honest and heartfelt emotions, the characters themselves came across as very shallow at times. I am left feeling that I am not the right audience for this book.

#25 Awayland
3.5 pink stars

I loved, loved, loved the cover of this book so I really wanted to love the stories, too. It was... interesting. I like quirkiness, so 3.5 pink stars, but a few of the stories were just too weird. My favorites were "You Can Find Love Now" and "The Animal Mummies." Looking a little deeper, I'd say these stories are an exploration of death, loss, longing, and loneliness. Wanting love, wanting children, wanting connection.

Description: Acclaimed for the grace, wit, and magic of her novels, Ramona Ausubel introduces us to a geography both fantastic and familiar in eleven new stories, some of them previously published in The New Yorker and The Paris Review. Elegantly structured, these stories span the globe and beyond, from small-town America and sunny Caribbean islands to the Arctic Ocean and the very gates of Heaven itself. And though some of the stories are steeped in mythology, they remain grounded in universal experiences: loss of identity, leaving home, parenthood, joy, and longing. Crisscrossing the pages of Awayland are travelers and expats, shadows and ghosts. A girl watches as her homesick mother slowly dissolves into literal mist. The mayor of a small Midwestern town offers a strange prize, for stranger reasons, to the parents of any baby born on Lenin's birthday. A chef bound for Mars begins an even more treacherous journey much closer to home. And a lonely heart searches for love online--never mind that he's a Cyclops.

Cumulative pages: 6,609

July plans:
Here we go into July. I have some hope that life is going to settle down for awhile. Rick is taking the farm off the market, at least until October (so he says). Barring any new crises I might be able to get my reading mojo back. I revamped my May/June schedule on the 4 chunky long-term reads for July and August. I won't relist them here, but those are my priority.

Still reading:
DNF Here We Go Again: My Life in Television which is kind of stalled and kind of boring. I'm not very far on it and it may get abandonned. We'll see.

Current audiobook:
READ The Prague Sonata
When I finish that, it will be time for my Daytimer's book club book for July
READ The Four Winds

A Good Yarn:
July is still reading F locations.
Currently reading
The Summer Queen (France)
Other selections are
READ The Forest of Vanishing Stars (a forest)
Knit One, Kill Two (Fort Connor - based on Fort Collins, Colorado)

July cover challenge (something yellow or fuchsia)
The Fall of Atlantis

To finish up my A titles
The Apothecary Rose (reread)

Still unfinished, and would like to get to this sooner rather than later
Queen By Right

#26 The Prague Sonata
4.5 blue stars. This review may contain spoilers.

Having a graduate degree in musicology, and having just been to Prague, I enjoyed this a great deal. I could picture the places mentioned: Wenceslas Square, Old Town Square, the Charles Bridge, etc. I wouldn't call this a thriller, because it moved too slowly, and the "villain" really wasn't necessarily dangerous, just a bit unprincipled and unethical. Sort of a dual time-frame story, it alternates between the lives of the people involved with the manuscript during and after WWII, and Meta's search for it and for the original owner. I enjoyed the music talk, and now I think I need to read a biography of Beethoven. I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more of a "family" connection with the manuscript in the end. I kept waiting for some reveal between the names of Beethoven and Bartova, but it never happened. The love interest was pretty low-key, and the sex scenes (thankfully brief) did nothing to add to the story. I really enjoyed Otillia's story more than the contemporary mystery, moving from Prague, to New York City, to finding new love among the immigrant Czech community of rural Nebraska, and of course, finally being reunited with the music manuscript that she had believed to be lost forever.

Description: In the early days of the new millennium, pages of a worn and weathered original sonata manuscript—the gift of a Czech immigrant living out her final days in Queens—come into the hands of Meta Taverner, a young musicologist whose concert piano career was cut short by an injury. To Meta’s eye, it appears to be an authentic eighteenth-century work; to her discerning ear, the music rendered there is commanding, hauntingly beautiful, clearly the undiscovered composition of a master. But there is no indication of who the composer might be. The gift comes with the request that Meta attempt to find the manuscript’s true owner—a Prague friend the old woman has not heard from since they were forced apart by the Second World War—and to make the three-part sonata whole again. Leaving New York behind for the land of Dvorák and Kafka, Meta sets out on an unforgettable search to locate the remaining movements of the sonata and uncover a story that has influenced the course of many lives, even as it becomes clear that she isn’t the only one after the music’s secrets. Magisterially evoking decades of Prague’s tragic and triumphant history, from the First World War through the soaring days of the Velvet Revolution, and moving from postwar London to the heartland of immigrant America, The Prague Sonata is both epic and intimate, evoking the ways in which individual notes of love and sacrifice become part of the celebratory symphony of life.

Cumulative pages: 7,128

Well, I said at the beginning of the year (see post #1 above) that a goal of 60 books was unrealistic. It might have been doable if this hadn't turned into the year of hell - okay there have been a few bright spots - but all of it entirely too much stress, and I don't need my reading goals to be another source of stress. So I have changed my Goodreads 2022 goal back to 48 books. That puts me only one book behind schedule instead of 5.

I have 4 definitely chunky books on the go, and really have not done much reading this summer at all. I just took a one week vacation, which coincided with Welsh Heritage Week held in Madison, WI this year. It was a much needed break seeing old friends, and having lots of fun with Welsh language classes, singing, and folk dance classes, plus activities every evening. Not a vacation for reading! Anyway, if I get those 4 chunksters finished by the end of the year, I still might reach my page count goal.

I finished one book so far for July, and I will finish my Daytimer's book club book. No idea what August will bring, since I am now investigating mortgage approval, figuring out what I can afford re buying a house versus renting, and beginning the search for a new place to live. My rent was just increased $300 per month, and surely I can find better for what it will now cost me.... Wish me luck. I don't want to spend another winter in this basement of a farmhouse. Would like to be out of here by the end of October.

General plans for the rest of the year

Daytimers book for July (almost finished):
READ The Four Winds
Next up for August:
READ Somebody's Daughter

Next Perspectives book club read (Sept.):
READ The Warmth of Other Suns: the Epic Story of America's Great Migration

Next up for A Good Yarn (Aug/Sep) - G locations:
Perhaps I shall make an effort to read The Odyssey (Greece) - I had planned to try and get to it by Sept. anyway.

Still reading these chunksters (over several months...)
Moby-Dick or, the Whale
Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
...And Ladies of the Club

Other books I need to get back to and finish:
Wolf Hall
Queen By Right

Various challenges:
To finish off my A titles:
The Apothecary Rose (reread)

B titles planned so far (will add more):
The Book of Joby
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek - reread
The Book Woman's Daughter
READ A Brush with Death

Monthly cover challenge:
July (yellow or fuchsia) - The Fall of Atlantis
August (red or black) - TBD

12 + 4 challenge (not already listed):
The World of Odysseus
The Evening Chorus - ooh that could count as a red cover... AND it is set partly in Germany
Homer's Odyssey
READ Every Living Thing

Checked out from the library just for fun and an EASY 3 books:
READ Max and the Midknights
READ Max and the Midknights: Battle of the Bodkins
READ The Tower of Time

And that right there would be 48 books for the year....

#27 The Four Winds
5 blue stars

5 blue stars (which is really 4.5 rounded up). I think Kristin Hannah is really beginning to hit her stride here. Strong women characters fighting to find their voice against social injustice, all the emotions of a desperate time in our history, impeccable research (but with the tendency to throw EVERYTHING at her characters, stopping just short of making them into caricatures). Her style is a bit overwrought, but sometimes a good emotional, heart-wrenching journey is just what you need. I really have to disagree with the knee-jerk reaction of some reviewers over "Communist propaganda." The Communist Party and other left-wing "socialist" groups were influential in the 1930s and 40s. These groups formed coalitions that worked hard to promote programs of social justice, leading to strong labor unions, pensions for workers, and unemployment insurance. In the 1940s their efforts were largely aimed at fighting against Fascism. Seems to me we have the same knee-jerk reaction today against the "socialist" policies of far-left groups. And we have the same dangerous lurch today toward authoritarianism and Fascism among the far-right. Maybe we could use a few strong women to stand up and say "No more!"

Description: Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman’s only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows. By 1934, the world has changed; millions are out of work and drought has devastated the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as crops fail and water dries up and the earth cracks open. Dust storms roll relentlessly across the plains. Everything on the Martinelli farm is dying, including Elsa’s tenuous marriage; each day is a desperate battle against nature and a fight to keep her children alive. In this uncertain and perilous time, Elsa—like so many of her neighbors—must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or leave it behind and go west, to California, in search of a better life for her family.

Cumulative pages: 7,667

August plans:

I have officially marked Here We Go Again: My Life in Television as a DNF. I never read enough of it to rate it at all. I was attracted to it when Betty White died and I started watching Golden Girls which I had never watched before. Loved it, and I loved her in the Mary Tyler Moore Show. But the moment has passed, and I have been struggling to read anything of late except for book club books. Hard to say if I will ever pick it up again. So many books - so little time....

I think I am also postponing a couple of those chunksters for later in the year, and just focus on finishing
Moby-Dick or, the Whale and
Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer for now.

Book clubs:
READ Somebody's Daughter for Daytimers. Just started this on audio. Then I will start
READ The Warmth of Other Suns: the Epic Story of America's Great Migration for Perspectives, which won't be meeting until mid-September.
The Evening Chorus for A Good Yarn (set in Germany) and it is also a red cover for the August cover challenge.

Leftovers:
The Summer Queen and
Queen By Right
Would really like to finish both of these sooner rather than later.

Checked out from the library just for fun and an EASY 3 books:
READ Max and the Midknights
READ Max and the Midknights: Battle of the Bodkins
READ The Tower of Time

Postponed (for now):
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - although.... a black cover also fits the August cover challenge...
...And Ladies of the Club
Wolf Hall - also a red cover (August is red or black) hmmmmm.... but who says I have to read them within the month!

My mid-August update has not much to do with books! Except that in about two more months my life might be starting to look like something approaching normal! Good news after a year of being in limbo on the housing situation, and the recent round of water issues and collapsed wall, etc. But all of that gave me the push I needed to make a different decision about staying and hoping that a new buyer would keep me as a tenant. So after my trip to Prague and Vienna in June, I began to explore mortgage options with my credit union. Yes, I could get pre-approved but what I could now afford was looking much more limited than a year ago when rates were much lower. And they did not do first-time home-buyer programs. Also, the down payment would be more money than I had. I was very depressed and discouraged. So I went to Welsh Heritage Week in July to cheer myself up. I had not registered, but planned to go for a day or two since it was being held in Madison (5 hours away) AND I happened to be off that week for vacation. Well, they offered me a scholarship to come for the whole week. That did wonders to cheer me up.

So, last week of July and back home, I contacted a realtor friend of my sister who recommended a mortgage person who was very knowledgeable about first-time home-buyer programs. Yes, I qualified, and it would cover the entire down payment of a house, but knowing how slim the options were at my price level I was still quite in a quandary about what to do. I had seen some wonderful houses at around $200,000 but my price range was more like $150,000. At that rate I could buy some very dodgy looking places, or I could expand my search area and be farther away from the Twin Cities which would mean I would have to give up my women's choir, and church, with the way gas prices were going. Or I could look for a much smaller place to rent and put stuff in storage (not really a price savings over buying) or I could continue to be in limbo (Rick had taken the farm off the market in July while he made a lot of repairs) and all of the stress that went along with that.

Then a week ago, a house that I had quite liked the look of online and with a wonderful yard for gardening, though a little farther out than I wanted to be (but doable), dropped $10,000 in price and was only slightly more than I was thinking I could afford. So A) I had to adjust my thinking on how far out was too far, and B) what monthly mortgage payment was I willing to pay. I contacted a realtor and looked at the house. More adjustments in my thinking - but the bedrooms are so small! but it's on a highway! But it also ticked almost all of my want list buttons, so I went and looked at it again. And made an offer. It was accepted. The house inspection is Monday. I'm in shock!

Now today, the landlord says he is 80% sure he has changed his mind about selling the farm. Hahahaha haaa! Too late, dude! He's also been showing it this week. In fact, just this minute an "investor" came through to look at it who told me "Don't worry, if I bought it you could stay." Yeah, but I'm going to have MY OWN PLACE! For the first time in my 67 years! Getting excited and still pinching myself. It will be above ground (well, there's a finished "family room" in the basement), a lovely new deck on the back, a garden shed, practically new doors and windows, not to mention that yard and I can continue to do the gardening of my dreams. So I'm not going back now!

So now I work on downsizing, and packing and digging up plants to take.... And come November, I am going to be reading up a storm in my own house!