June 2021

I wasn't planning on listing my non-reading, used to be routine, activities but getting my hair professionally cut for the first time in sixteen months was a really Big Deal! I cut it myself three times (with in between trims on the bangs) during quarantine: the first time I did a really good job but who could see it? the second time was so-so but it looked OK for a medical visit; the third time was a real mess and by the time I was fully vaccinated it looked terrible! 

Another biggie! I resumed my water exercise class. Ahh, did it feel good to be back in the pool! 

As for the reading...some surprises, a couple of disappointments, but mostly good reading.

Fiction:

 Abide with Me by Strout, Elizabeth
  Always reliable Ms Strout

The Lost Book of Adana Moreau by Zapata, Michael

 I loved this!

Summer : a novel by Wharton, Edith 

  One of my "Twenty Books of Summer 2021"

  Unusual Wharton - it's not about the gilded privileged set.

Checkmate to Murder: A Second World War Mystery by Lorac, E.C.R.
 So enjoyable to read the classic mysteries from the British Library/Poisoned Pen Press. Ah the world without smartphones!

Maids by Skelly, Katie
  A graphic interpretation of a real crime (murder) that took place in France in 1933. Grisly but good. 

They Were Found Wanting - They Were Divided (The Writing on the Wall: The Transylvania Trilogy #2-3) by Bánffy, Miklós; translated from the Hungarian by Thursfield, Patrick and Bánffy-Jelen, Kathy
   The Trilogy has been on my to-read list for ages, I'm glad I finally got to it.

 

Turbulence by Szalay, David 

 Linked short stories. One of my favorite reads this month.

A Passage North  by Arudpragasam, Anuk
  I really liked the author's The Story of a Brief Marriage so I was looking forward to this. I received an electronic review copy from the publisher and it was a real struggle to read in that formatI think I need to get a print copy and read it again.

The Charmed Wife by Grushin, Olga  

 I enjoyed this modern day look at the aftermath of the Cinderella story, but I liked Grushin's Forty Rooms more.

Migrations by McConaghy, Charlotte  

 An Irish/Australian woman breaks her parole to follow the migration of arctic terns from Greenland to Antarctica. 

How Beautiful We Were by Mbue, Imbolo 

 An African village vs American Oil interests. This one fell flat for me.

Christmas at The Mysterious Bookshop edited by Penzler, Otto

 Seventeen short mystery stories, each by a different author, set in and around Penzler's Manhattan bookshop.  A fun "summer" read.

 Authors:  Charles Ardai, Lisa Atkinson, George Baxt, Lawrence Block, Mary Higgins Clark, Thomas H. Cook, Ron Goulart, Jeremiah Healy, Edward D. Hoch, Rupert Holmes, Andrew Klavan, Michael Malone, Ed McBain, Anne Perry, S. J. Rozan, Jonathan Santlofer, Donald E. Westlake.

 

Juvenile fiction:

A Tale of the Summer Holidays by Mockler, Geraldine

  One of my "Twenty Books of Summer 2021"

  I was surprised. This was written in the 1890s. I expected tame and sedate. I got a contest the resembled the grass-bomb wars we had defending our "forts" in 1940s rural California.  Good fun.

 

Poetry:

Mortal Summer by Van Doren, Mark

 One of my "Twenty Books of Summer 2021"

 What a mishmash! Greek deities and Christian archangels journey to America and mess with rural (hillbilly?) society. Why? Not Van Doren's best effort.  It made little sense.

Nonfiction:
Footnotes: The Black Artists Who Rewrote the Rules of the Great White Way by Gaines, Caseen

 A learning experience.

 

The Battle of Versailles: The Night American Fashion Stumbled into the Spotlight and Made History by Givhan, Robin 

  High fashion never made much sense to me. Still doesn't.

 

Letters to Camondo by Waal, Edmund de 

  Well worth the read..

 

Free the Beaches: The Story of Ned Coll and the Battle for America’s Most Exclusive Shoreline by Kahrl, Andrew W.

 Some Connecticut history. Wish it had been better organized because it's an important story.

 

Bounty from the Box: The CSA Farm Cookbook by Lipe, Mi Ae 

 Great book but its 4.1 pound weight overwhelmed me even more then the overabundance of collards, chard, lettuce & other greens in our very own CSA box!

My Summer in a Garden, and Calvin: A Study of Character by Warner, Charles Dudley 

  One of my "Twenty Books of Summer 2021"

  Warner was a neighbor of Stowe and Twain in the Nook Farm area of Hartford. Similar writing style to Twain. Fun to read. Gardening is not easy in these parts which is why I don't do it.

Online:

Enough with Copenhagen! It is Time for U.S. Cities to Learn From Models Closer to Home by Juan Miró 

Six Degrees of Wikipedia: Find the shortest path between any two Wikipedia pages

 

Several short pieces at New World Writing (published on June 11):

 

   Mary Grimm ~ Her Sketchbook, Found Among Her Things
   Maria Robinson ~ The Requirement
   Mike Itaya ~ Rasthole Flats
   Laurie Blauner ~ Four Pieces
   Daniel Adler ~ The Lion Tamer

 

The Filing Cabinet by Craig Robertson "The filing cabinet was critical to the information infrastructure of the 20th-century. Like most infrastructure, it was usually overlooked."

 

20 Best Zucchini Recipes We signed up for a CSA subscription and expect the zucchini will soon be filling the box. I do know lots of zucchini dishes but more is more. In addition to the recipes, this site has tips for handling (including freezing) the squash.

Mary Grimm ~ Her Sketchbook, Found Among Her Things

Maria Robinson ~ The Requirement 

Mike Itaya ~ Rasthole Flats

Laurie Blauner ~ Four Pieces

Daniel Adler ~ The Lion Tamer

High Voltage

Mary Grimm ~ Her Sketchbook, Found Among Her Things

Maria Robinson ~ The Requirement 

Mike Itaya ~ Rasthole Flats

Laurie Blauner ~ Four Pieces

Daniel Adler ~ The Lion Tamer

April 2021

So much coming and going this month. Two (2)- count them -Picnics! Getting back to the usual stuff.

4/5  Post Office; CVS; Stop&Shop (first time in a supermarket in over a year!)

4/6  (am)Mah Jongg; (pm) library; JC Farms: Uncle Bob's Garden Center for roses 

4/7  Picnic! Gillette Castle (food from River Valley Provisions)

4/8  Dentist; Lino's Market

4/13 Mah Jongg

4/16 Em (housemate) 2nd Pfizer dose; Neils donuts

4/20 CVS; Mah Jongg; Neon Deli

4/22 Library (indoor); Lyman Orchards

4/23 Stop & Shop

4/27 Vote (fire district budget); Mah Jongg; Istanbul Gyro & Kabab

4/28 Robert's Food Center; picnic Chatfield Hollow 

4/29 Gassed car; library

  

And, of course, plenty of reading. Most of it good with a couple of disappointments. 

Fiction: 

5 of 5 stars;

The Liar's Dictionary by Williams, Eley

 lots of word fun...

Eleven Sooty Dreams by Draeger, Manuela; translated from the French by Mahany, J.T.

Leapfrog and Other Stories by Rosales, Guillermo; translated from the Spanish by Kushner, Anna
Madrid Tales by Constantine, Helen: translated from the Spanish by Costa, Margaret Jill

A Thousand Ships by Haynes, Natalie
Northernmost (Eide Family, #3) by Geye, Peter

   Liked this better than #1, haven't read #2 yet.
Cobble Hill by Ziegesar, Cecily von

4 of 5 stars:

Bangkok Wakes to Rain by Sudbanthad, Pitchaya
Transcendent Kingdom by Gyasi, Yaa
An Elegant Woman by McPhee, Martha
The Lighthouse Road (Eide Family, #1) by Geye, Peter 

3 of 5 stars:
The Sculptor by McCloud, Scott 

 graphic novel
The Sirena Quest by Kahn, Michael A. 

 somewhat silly adventure by somewhat grown-up former college boys
Half Life by Cantor, Jillian

 Alternative lives of Marie Curie. 

The Killing Tide (Commissaire Dupin #5) by Bannalec, Jean-Luc; translated from the French by Millar, Peter

 Not a bad diversion, may read a couple of more from the series when the mood strikes me.
 

2 of 5 stars:

Sarahland by Cohen, Sam

Afterlife by Alvarez, Julia

Nonfiction:
Sobremesa: A Memoir of Food and Love in Thirteen Courses by Caminos Oria, Josephine 

  A modern romance set to food and place (4 of 5 stars)
Fortune's Many Houses: A Victorian Visionary, a Noble Scottish Family, and a Lost Inheritance by Welfare, Simon

 Interesting house, interesting lives but too much detail of the houses and not enough on the lives. Loved the historical footnotes. (3 of 5 stars)
de Gournay: Art on the Walls: Everlasting Beauty, Hand-Painted Interiors by Gurney, Claud
 Beautiful to look at but I couldn't live in most of these rooms (3 of 5 star)

The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames by Cowan, Justine

  Psychological damage in a childrens home... (3 of 5 stars)

Online:

 

Not your "what I had for Lunch" on Instagram food shots: Family-meal image wins international food photo contest.

 

From Project Gutenberg some lovely Floral Illustrations of the Seasons by M. Roscoe

"Consisting of The Most Beautiful, Hardy and Rare HERBACEOUS PLANTS, Cultivated in the Flower Garden, from Drawings by M^rs. EDWARD ROSCOE"

 

Looking into Lost Persian Architecture through Safavid Manuscripts 

Noor Completes Reconstruction of the Mirror Palace in Iran 

March 2021

Now that I'm fully vaccinated I've resumed some activities but I'm still sticking to essentials. Next month I'll have a dental check-up and resume my mahjong games. Also can do more as my housemate will also be vaccinated. I read plenty this week--lots of library books plus one off my "owned-but-unread" shelves. Once again I think I added more to the latter than I read...

Activities:

3/1   Library to pick up holds and browse! Yes, I went inside but only for about 5 minutes. 

3/4   Library (book drop only); JC Farms: Lyman Orchards 

3/10 Lab Work

3/11 CVS Cromwell

3/12 Eye Dr 

3/15 DR; Library; gas

3/16 Tree removal. I didn't leave home for this (other than moving the cars to neighbor's driveway) but I did have to interact with tree guy who was probably not vaccinated.

3/24  Library pick up & browse; Durham Dari-serv

3/24  Took E to Uconn (Munson) for 1st dose vaccine; Neil's Donuts

Reading:

 

Fiction (roughly in the order I liked them but The Rib King was the only real disappointment among the fiction):

Dear Child by Hausmann, Romy; translated from the German by Bulloch, Jamie
Lost Girls: Short Stories by Morris, Ellen Birkett 

 A fine collection.

Elemental International short stories by various authors and translators (my copy)
The Caretaker by Arbus, Doon
Indelicacy by Cain, Amina

Mona and Other Tales by Arenas, Reinaldo; translated from the Spanish bt Koch, Dolores M.
The Bass Rock by Wyld, Evie
Inheritance from Mother by Mizumura, Minae; translated from the Japanese by Carpenter, Juliet Winters
The Glorious Ones by Prose, Francine 

Archipelago by Roffey, Monique

The Last Garden in England by Kelly, Julia
The Rib King by Hubbard, Ladee

  Started out fine but bogged down...I admit to a bit of skimming...

 

Nonfiction (three good, one meh, and a bomb):

Finding Dora Maar: An Artist, an Address Book, a Life by Benkemoun, Brigitte; translated from the French by Gladding, Jody
The Chiffon Trenches by Talley, André Leon
A Most Beautiful Thing: The True Story of America's First All-Black High School Rowing Team by Cooper, Arshay

The Next Great Migration: The Beauty and Terror of Life on the Move by Shah, Sonia 

  this was kind of disjointed and, not exactly to the point (of the title), wish I hadn't bothered..

Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park by Knighton, Conor 

  Too much "I" more a memoir than a travelogue, he tried to give a thematic presentation but ended up just wandering. His skipping all over the place made me want to do the same with his book.  Didn't make me want to visit any park I haven't already visited (and some that I have visited were barely recognizable). 

 

Online:

 I somehow stumbled onto to the site Olive Oil Times which has a lot of good stuff of interest to the industry and the consumer, see:  Remains of 2,500-Year-Old Mill Discovered in Italy  and Volunteers in Italy and Spain to Track Spittlebug Activity both by Paolo DeAndreis. In addition to news there are producer profiles, health info, and a bunch of recipes.

 

Paolo DeAndreis

Paolo DeAndreis

The Mystery of New England's Gray Corned Beef  by Anne Ewbank

 I was wondering about this as we ate our boxed take-out St Pat's dinner.

Yaupon: The rebirth of America's forgotten tea by Matt Stirn

 Humm..wonder is this stuff will grow in Connecticut...according to the USDA apparently not...see  Plant Guide: Yaupon and Plants profile: Ilex vomitoria Aiton yaupon and Willis Orchard Company: Yaupon Holly Tree

 

Iceburger No, not some crazy frozen dessert. This is an oddly compelling site that lets you create an iceberg an see how it floats. 

How Cats Walk In case you were wondering...

10 Incredible Women of Route 66 by Candacy Taylor (Moon Travel Guides). Interesting sidelights for a road-trip. A couple of the links are broken but easily found by Googling. The hotel in Winslow, AZ is where I want to stay if I ever go to the area again. (We stayed at a Holiday Inn in Williams on our cross country trip in 2001.)

Evolution of the House Plan in Europe: from the Industrial Revolution to the Interwar Period

 by Hana Abdel & Christele Harrouk

October 2020

 Another exciting (ha) month of quarantine....but some really good reading

Activities:

10/1 Library curbside drop off/pick up; JC farms for produce.

10/3 Furnace guy

10/5 Doctor 

10/6 Furnace guy

10/9 Library curbside drop off/pick up; JC farms for produce; Durham Market for cold cuts; mailed ballot

10/15/ local foliage drive; short walk at Miller's Pond 

10/23 Library curbside drop off/pickup; JC farms

10/27 Drive to Old Saybrook

10/29 JC Farms Closed!; Lyman Orchads

Reading:

Fiction:

 A Million Aunties by McKenzie, Alecia

   A novel told from several points of view making it read like very closely linked short stories

 How to Pronounce Knife by Thammavongsa, Souvankham 

   short stories

 That Time of Year by NDiaye, Marie; translated from the French by Stump, Jordan

 The End of the Day by Clegg, Bill
 Here We Are by Swift, Graham

 Verena in the Midst by Lucas, E.V. (on Project Gutenberg) 

 The Gathering by Enright, Anne

 The Perfect Nine: The Epic of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o; translated from the Gĩkũyũ by the author 

 The Silence by DeLillo, Don

Poetry:

 Home: New Arabic Poems by Hawwash, Samer Abu and others; various translators

Nonfiction:
 This Tilting World by Fellous, Colette; translated from the French by Lewis, Sophie
 James Monroe: A Life by McGrath, Tim

 Wandering in Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots by Jerkins, Morgan

 Having and Being Had by Biss, Eula

Online:

Marmalade: A Very British Obsession by Olivia Potts

June 2020

 Books in the Time of Quarantine

Durham, Connecticut, June 2020

Even though the state is slowly reopening I continue, because of my age, to self quarantine. It's been warm and humid so I haven't been getting much exercise. Outings have been limited in June. Two for library curbside pickup which I combined with a trip to a farm market. Another was also a produce run combined with a stop at a fish market. Then, on the most comfortable day weather wise, we had a picnic!

Reading:

Lots of good books this month...

On Lighthouses by Barrera, Jazmina; translated from the Spanish by MacSweeney, Christina - 3 stars
I enjoyed these essays but this didn't give me much that was new to me.

Gathering of Waters by McFadden, Bernice L. - 4 stars
I liked this a lot but not as much as her The Book of Harlan which I read in 2016. I think when interlibrary loan opens up I'll be reading more of her work. I also enjoy following her tweets. 

b, Book, and Me by Kim Sagwa; translated from the Korean by Sunhee Jeong  - 4+ stars
A kind of  "almost coming of age story." It's worth a re-read.

Big Machine by LaValle, Victor - 5 stars
The Craft Is All the Same: A Conversation with Victor LaValle; Ayize Jama-Everett interviews Victor LaValle. Another author to add to my list of writers to read.

Conjure Women by Atakora, Afia - 5 stars
A Conversation with Afia Atakora, Author of Conjure Women

Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions (Auntie Poldi #1) by Giordano, Mario; translated from the German  by Brownjohn, John - 4 stars
Fun, but not sure about following the series...

Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Washburn, Kawai Strong - 5 stars
How Kawai Strong Washburn Opened Up the Legends of Hawaii for Mainlanders author interview with Anderson Tepper (Vanity Fair)

The Man in the Red Coat by Barnes, Julian - 4 stars
Dr Samuel Jean Pozzi was the man in the portrait but this gossipy book is about so much more...

Berkeley Noir edited by Thompson, Jerry -  4 stars
One of the better anthologies in the Akashic Noir series.

Seven Samurai Swept Away in a River by Jung, Young-moon: translated from the Korean by Jung Yewon  - 4 stars
Korean writer Texas culture.

Online: 

Rayuela by Hugo Passarello Luna
"This is a series of portraits, taken in Paris, of friends and readers of Argentine writer Julio Cortázar to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth.

Depicting Writing
This was a double treat: a fine, nicely illustrated essay AND my discovery of The Crews Project! Thanks to The Literary Saloon (29 June 2020 blog) for leading me there.

Whonamedit? - A dictionary of medical eponyms
I found this when I was looking for more information about Dr. Pozzi. (See The Man in the Red Coat in my reading list above.)

New World Writing
I'm finding lots to like at this lit magazine.

Transformations
A new online site featuring narrative essays.

Breaching the Levee of Rage
A moving piece on taking a knee at a peaceful George Floyd protest/vigil. By David Abrams.

Joie de Vivre in Joyce's Garden
Another private garden tour by Jana Milbocker. This one, in Natick Massachusetts, is especially colorful.

Providence Pedestrian Bridge
A place I want to visit when I'm ready to expand my circle of comfort...

Collecting Guide: Wayne Thiebaud
Thiebaud turns 100 in November! That calls for cake and ice cream!

Cake Rows (1962)

 

Three Cones (1964)

October 2019 Reading

A nice mix this month. Yesterday I hurt my hand carrying an especially heavy bag (of books, of course,  what else is there?). So I couldn't do anything but read, hence I read One Day in one day.

 

Fiction:

The Women’s Courtyard by Khadija Mastoor; translated from the Urdu by Rockwell, Daisy (5 stars) The Shadow King by Mengiste, Maaza  (5 stars)

Frontier by Xue, Can; translated from the Chinese by Gernant and Chen Zeping  (5 stars)

Girl, Woman, Other by Evaristo, Bernardine  (5 stars) 

We, the Survivors by Aw, Tash  (4+ stars)

The Memory Police by Ogawa, Yōko; translated from the Japanese by Snyder, Stephen  (4+ stars) Hollywood North: A Novel in Six Reels by Libling, Michael (3+ stars) 

Grand Union: Stories by Smith, Zadie (2 stars--so disappointing because I liked Swing Time so much)

Women Within by Parrish, Anne Leigh (2- stars--the rather abrupt ending really bothered me)

Nonfiction:
Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat's Jewel Box by Albright, Madeleine K. (4+ stars)
Saving Jemima: Life and Love with a Hard-Luck Jay by Zickefoose, Julie (4 stars)
One Day: The Extraordinary Story of an Ordinary 24 Hours in America by Weingarten, Gene 4 stars)
Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith (4 stars)
Plagued by Fire: The Dreams and Furies of Frank Lloyd Wright by Hendrickson, Paul  (3+ stars)
Scholars of Mayhem: My Father's Secret War in Nazi-Occupied France by Guiet, Daniel C. and Smith, Timothy K (3+ stars)
To Feel the Music: A Songwriter's Mission to Save High-Quality Audio by Young, Neil  (3 stars)

Reading notes:   

I love it when stuff like this happens.

While I was reading The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste, a novel set during Mussolini’s 1935 invasion of Ethiopia:
   Abiy Ahmed Ali, the current prime minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.
   and A new Ethiopian restaurant opened in my town

Then, while I was reading the Frank Lloyd Wright bio, I serendipitously stumbled on this cool map from Home Advisor: A map of Frank Lloyd Wright homes in (nearly) every state.

September 2019 Reading

Another good reading month, mostly from public libraries. (Ma Bole's Second Life is from my collection.) No review copies in this bunch.

Fiction:
5 stars 
Quichotte by Rushdie, Salman
Ma Bole's Second Life by Hong, Xiao; Goldblatt, Howard (Translator)
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Harrow, Alix E. 
The Song of Everlasting Sorrow: A Novel of Shanghai by Anyi, Wang; Berry, Michael and Egan, Susan Chan (Translators)

4 stars
Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Khorram, Adib 
The Body in Question by Ciment, Jill

3 stars
This Tender Land by Krueger, William Kent
Sing to It: New Stories by Hempel, Amy

A Single Thread by Chevalier, Tracy

Nonfiction: 
London in Fragments: A Mudlark's Treasures by Sandling, Ted
Bagehot: The Life and Times of the Greatest Victorian by Grant, James 
Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World  by Druett, Joan 
Five Days Gone: The Mystery of My Mother's Disappearance as a Child by Cumming, Laura Freestyle Embroidered Mandalas: More than 60 Stitches and Techniques in Inspiring  Combinations by Blomkamp, Hazel

Online:

Community Plumbing: How the hardware store orders things, neighborhoods, and material worlds by Shannon Mattern

The Hooker Family of Kew by Judith M Taylor 

From Project Gutenberg:
The Sisters Rondoli and Other Stories by Maupassant, Guy de; Boyd, Ernest (Translator)



Oregon the Picturesque: A Book of Rambles in the Oregon Country and in the Wilds of Northern California; Descriptive Sketches and Pictures of Crater and Klamath Lakes, the Deschutes River Canyon, the New Columbia Highway, the Willamette and Rogue River Valleys and the Cities and Towns of Oregon; also of the little-known Lakes, Rivers, Mountains, and Vast Forests of Northern California, to which is added a trip to the Yosemite and to the Roosevelt Dam and the Petrified Forest of Arizona, by Motor Car. by Thomas D. Murphy; illustrated with paintings, photographs, and maps;  Page Company, 1917.

A LACK OF BALANCE.

A Wheel Within a Wheel:  How I learned to ride the bicycle, With some reflections by the way
By Frances E. Willard;  Illustrated with photographs; Fleming H. Revell company, 1895.

Frances Willard  (1839-1898) was an educator, temperance reformer, and suffragist.

August 2019 Reading

Fiction 
these I gave 5 stars out of 5
When the Plums Are Ripe by Nganang, Patrice; Transleted from the French by Reid, Amy Baram
  Giveaway Goodreads
Bright by Pimwana, Duanwad; Translated from the Thai by Poopoksakul, Mui
  From my collection 
From the Shadows by Millás, Juan José; Translated from the Spanish by Thomas Bunstead, Thomas and Hahn, Daniel
  Giveaway from LibraryThing 
Tales of Japan: Traditional Stories of Monsters and Magic by Chronicle Books
   Giveaway from LibraryThing

these got  4 stars 
Blood Ties by Fradkin, Barbara
  Giveaway from LibraryThing
Illuminations on Market Street: a story about sex and estrangement, AIDS and loss, and other preoccupations in San Francisco by Shepard, Benjamin Heim
  From public library
Hunter's Moon: A Novel in Stories by Caputo, Philip
  From public library 
Chances Are... by Russo, Richard   
  From public library 
The Hotel Neversink by Price, Adam O'Fallon
  From public library

these got 3 stars
Who are You, Calvin Bledsoe? by Clarke, Brock
  Giveaway from LibraryThing
The Century World's fair book for boys and girls: being the adventures of Harry and Philip with their tutor Mr. Douglass at the World's Columbian exposition by Jenks, Tudor
  From Project Gutenberg 
The Lightest Object in the Universe by Eisele, Kimi
  From public library

Periodical  
 5 stars
Two Lines 30 edited by Evans, Cj
 From my collection 

Nonfiction
these two got  4 stars
Schumann: The Faces and the Masks by Chernaik, Judith
  From public library 
Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War  by Matzen, Robert
  From public library
 
this one got only 2 stars (boring)
Hungry: Eating, Road-Tripping, and Risking It All with the Greatest Chef in the World by Gordinier, Jeff
  From public library

Some online reading

Gertrude Jekyll - Sedate revolutionary By Judith Taylor
Colour in the flower garden by Gertrude Jekyll
 and then there's this place where we went on a day trip in June The Glebe House Museum and Gertrude Jekyll Garden.

After 53 Years, Athens’ Kentrikon Restaurant Serves its Last Meal By Philip Chrysopoulos
 A bit of nostalgia for me. This was our favorite spot when we stayed in the neighborhoodmany years ago.

How Tree Trunks Are Cut to Produce Wood With Different Appearances and Uses by José Tomás Franco
 This kind of stuff fascinates me.

Croatian Tales of Long Ago by Ivana Brlic-Mazuranic; Translated by F. S. Copeland; Illustrated by Vladimir Kirin
  I haven't read this yet, but the illustrations are super.

Swamp skiing competition held in northern Finland  Photos by Matti Matikainen/Xinhua
 and, closer to home, SEEN: Mud Volleyball Tournament 2019 by Jenna Seward; photos by Lisa Nichols

A Day at the Beach and Some Other Interesting Times at the 2019 Venice Biennale by David Ebony

June 2019 Reading

An enjoyable bunch of books this month, only a couple I didn't much like. Only online reading was the Ibsen play.

Fiction 
Exposed; Blondel, Jean-Philippe; translated from the French by Anderson, Alison *****
City of Jasmine; Grjasnowa, Olga; translated from the German by Derbyshire, Katy***** (advance review copy through LibraryThing)
77; Saccomanno, Guillermo: translated from the Spanish by Labinger, Andrea G. *****

A Brightness Long Ago; Kay, Guy Gavriel ****
The Porpoise; Haddon, Mark ****

Lifelines; Diehl, Heidi **** (advance review copy through Goodreads)

Southernmost; House, Silas ***
The Spies of Shilling Lane; Ryan, Jennifer ***
The Electric Hotel; Smith, Dominic ***
All the Ever Afters: The Untold Story of Cinderella’s Stepmother; Teller, Danielle ***

Mistress of the Ritz; Benjamin, Melanie **

Short Stories
The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories; Rubin, Jay, editor*****

Orange World and Other Stories; Russell, Karen *

Play
The Lady from the Sea; Ibsen, Henrik ****  (on Project Gutenberg)


Nonfiction
Madame Fourcade's Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France's Largest Spy Network Against Hitler; Olson, Lynne ****
1941: The Year Germany Lost the War; Nagorski, Andrew ****
A Foodie's Guide to Tuscany: Places, Flavours, Itineraries, Must Do for the Epicurian Explorer ; 20 Fabulous Recipes; Lepore, Gabriella **   (Kindle freebie)

Online Goodies

The Necklace of Princess Fiorimonde, and Other Stories by Mary De Morgan  on Project Gutenberg



Mary de Morgan: Subversion through Fairy Tales by Marilyn Pemberton







The Orchid Album, Vol 1  ; The Orchid Album, Vol 2 by Robert Warner and Benjamin Samuel Williams and Thomas Moore
There are over 40 colored plates in each of these two volumes.
On Project Gutenberg.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Pomological Watercolor Collection
This is an amazing collection. There are over 7,000 images in this searchable database.

Perusing Project Gutenberg

            Oats and Vetch


From...
Wayside and Woodland Blossoms; A Pocket Guide To British Wild-Flowers For The Country Rambler
by Edward Step (Published:1898)

Motoring Skills

Photo. H. W. Nicholls.
THIS LITTLE DRAWER IS THE GREAT SECRET

 The Woman and the Car: A Chatty Little Handbook for the Edwardian Motoriste
by Dorothy Levitt,
C. Byng-Hall (Editor, Introduction)
(published 1909)


And what should one keep in the secret drawer (the forerunner of the glove compartment)?

"This little drawer is the secret of the dainty motoriste. What you put in it depends upon your tastes, but the following articles are what I advise you to have in its recesses. A pair of clean gloves, an extrahandkerchief, clean veil, powder-puff (unless you despise them), hair-pins and ordinary pins, a hand mirror—and some chocolates are very soothing, sometimes!"

Some light Verse

The Motley Muse (Rhymes for the Times) by Harry Graham; Illustrations by Lewis Blumer (published 1913)

Many of these refer (in a light manner) to the politics of the time. There is also a section on clubs and another of seasonal verses. Clever rhymes although some of the terms used are considered unacceptable by today's standards.

Campy Camp Tales

Gutenberg has no cover image, but there are plenty of illustrations in the work

Romance of California Life by John Habberton; Illustrated By Pacific Slope Stories, Thrilling, Pathetic And Humorous

Was Habberton ever actually in California? It's not clear from his Wikipedia entry. In the book's introduction he writes "Although at present mildly tolerated in the East, I was "brought up" in the West [Illinois], and have written largely from recollection of "some folks" I have known, veritable men and women, scenes and incidents, and otherwise through the memories of Western friends of good eyesight and hearing powers."

All Over the Map

Six books in the second fourteen days of the year. Excellent reading and mapping them was fun. Last year's World of Reading map has no markers in Africa and the 2019 map already has three!

All of these were from my "owned-but-unread" shelf. The last two on the list were Christmas presents. 🎁

Sydney Noir edited by John Dale
This is one of the Akashic Noir Series so there is a map showing the fourteen sections of Sydney where the crimes are committed. Review Copy through LibraryThing giveaway

Adua by Igiaba Scego; translated from the Italian by Jamie Richards
This story of a Somalian emigrant takes place in Rome with flashbacks set in Somalia and Ethiopia.
   
Gesell Dome by Guillermo Saccomanno; Translated from the Spanish by Andrea G. Labinger
Only one place in this one--a small, corrupt, Argentine resort town.
   
The Elusive Moth by Ingrid Winterbach; Translated from the Afrikaans by Iris Gouws
Set in the Free State Province of South Africa

🎁The Flying Mountain by Christoph Ransmayr; Translated from the German by Simon Pare
The author is Austrian, the story is set in Ireland and Tibet.
   
🎁The Sad Part Was by Prabda Yoon; Translated from the Thai by Mui Poopoksakul
Short stories set in modern Thailand.

Fourteen days, fourteen books?

I set my Goodreads goal at 200 books--the same as last year even though I didn't meet it last year. Today it shows that I have already read 14 books this year. That's a book a day, right? Uh, not quite. Three of these are ones I started before the year started; two of the nonfiction ones were highly pictorial; and one of the novels (by McGregor) was short with lots of white space.

All of this was good reading with the exception of the disappointing Italian food one (some of the pictures were good).


Short Stories:
The Future Is Not Ours: New Latin American Fiction by Diego Trelles Paz (Editor), Janet Hendrickson (Translator) I've been reading this anthology off and on for a couple of years.
Vertical Motion by Can Xue; Karen Gernant (Translator), Chen Zeping (Translator) I started this one in December 2018
Florida by Lauren Groff

Poetry:
Whipperginny by Robert Graves
New Hampshire--A Poem with Notes and Grace Notes by Robert Frost
Read both of these on Project Gutenberg

Fiction:
Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl by Uwe Johnson; Damion Searls (translator)  This is over 1650 pages long--I started it in October 2018
She Would Be King by Wayetu Moore
Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon
The Reservoir Tapes by Jon McGregor
Disoriental by Négar Djavadi; Tina Kover (Translator)
Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller

Nonfiction:
The Push: A Climber's Journey of Endurance, Risk, and Going Beyond Limits by Tommy Caldwell
Why did I read a book about rock climbing? Because it was reviewed on that curious wrapping paper I received a couple of weeks ago. (That wrapping paper may have been the last thing I read in 2018.)
Pasta, Pane, Vino: Deep Travels Through Italy's Food Culture by Matt Goulding
Actually this wasn't especially deep.
City Farmhouse Style: Designs for a Modern Country Life by Kim Leggett
I really enjoyed the pictures, but my farmhouse will never classify as a city one.

End of Year and all that

I didn't meet my Goodreads goal of 200 books and I don't care because I have cookies!

I got behind on my "Deal Me In" short story challenge so have been trying to catch up. (I also had to fill in some dates.)  I finished this morning with the Queen of Clubs: Bernard Hœpffner, Portrait of the Translator as Chameleon
I didn't enjoy this challenge as much in 2018 as I did in 2017. The randomness began to get to me toward the middle of summer. I don't know if I'll do it again this year. I still read plenty of short stories, but on a different schedule.

Some things that cut into my reading time were the day trips and generally being more physically active this year (a big plus especially if you have cookies).

Goals for next year?  A smaller Goodreads challenge, continue exploring the Northeastern neighborhood, try to reduce the "owned-but-unread"* list, and eat a few cookies.

*had 331 books on it at the beginning of the year, it now has 341.

October (third week) 2018 Reads and day trips

These posts are getting briefer and briefer...

Sunday - roamed back roads, checked out Hidden Lake and  Robert's Food Center at the 79/80 Rotary Circle

Wed -  Milford - Silver Sands State Park - walked on boardwalk and a short stretch of sand for lunch at The Greek Spot Cafe and Grill, 726 East Broadway, Milford. Then drove around Milford and headed home trying to hug the coast (not easy) to Madison and then cut inland.

Read this week:

The "Deal Me In" card this week is the King of Hearts; the selection is Transcription of an eye by Carmen Maria Machado (in Watchlist)

from the library....

In the Café of Lost Youth by Patrick Modiano: translated from the French by Chris Clarke

online...
The Literature of Inequality by Nicolas Léger

October (second week) 2018 Reads and day trips

Saturday - a return to Rodgers Orchards in Southington. In addition to an apple pie for home we got an apple cider slush and an apple cider donut each. Couldn't wait to get home so we stopped by Memorial Boulevard Park in Bristol for a snack.

Sunday - Picnic - food from River Valley Provisions (95 Bridge Road, Haddam); Picnic at
Hurd State Park, East Hampton.

Wednesday (an unseasonably warm day) - Picnic -  Food from The Bronx Deli in Oxford CT. Picnic and walk at Southford Falls State Park Southbury. And on the way home ice cream at Sweet Claude's Ice Cream in Cheshire.

Saturday - Leaves are turning so we explored Suffield, Granby, and a little of the part of Massachusetts that dips into Connecticut. Lunch at Three Figs in Suffield. Went for dessert at Lost Acres Orchard in North Ganby. Too full from lunch to eat more so we got some apple dumplings, some gingersnaps, and a loaf of cheese bread. Had the dumplings for supper at home. Delicious.

Read this week:

The "Deal Me In" card this week is the Eight of Hearts; the selection is Viewer, Violator by Aimee Bender (in Watchlist : 32 stories by persons of interest)

Gutenberg find...
Hawaiian Flowers by Loraine E. Kuck and Richard C. Tongg; Illustrated by Ted Mundorff
Pretty to peruse.

from my shelves...excellent issues of two of my favorite periodicals...

Korean Literature Now (Vol. 41, Autumn 2018) edited by Agnel Joseph
Two Lines: World Writing in Translation (Issue 29), The Japanese Vanguard edited by CJ Evans

October (first week) 2018 Reads & day trips

Two neat walks this week
Thursday - revisited Chatfield Hollow to walk the boardwalk and picnic (food from home)
Friday - Picked up picnic stuff at The Cooking Company in Haddam and went to Ferry Landing State Park, Old Lyme for picnic and walk on boardwalk.

Reading this week:
The "Deal Me In" card this week is the Nine of Diamonds; the selection is Bartleby (in The Piazza Tales  by Herman Melville) 


from Project Gutenberg... 

The Orkneyinga Saga, edited by Joseph Anderson, translated from the Icelandic by Jón Andrésson Hjaltalín and, Gilbert Goudie 

from my shelves...
 
Bogotá 39: New Voices from Latin America,  introduction by Gaby Wood, edited by Juliet Mabey.
Excellent! I won this on LibraryThing.

An anthology of short stories by thirty-nine Latin American writers under forty, from fifteen countries. The featured authors are: Carlos Manuel Álvarez, Frank Báez, Natalia Borges Polesso, Giuseppe Caputo, Juan Cárdenas, Mauro Javier Cárdenas, María José Caro, Martín Felipe Castagnet, Liliana Colanzi, Juan Esteban Constaín, Lola Copacabana, Gonzalo Eltesch, Diego Erlan, Daniel Ferreira, Carlos Fonseca, Damián González Bertolino, Sergio Gutiérrez Negrón, Gabriela Jauregui, Laia Jufresa, Mauro Libertella, Brenda Lozano, Valeria Luiselli, Alan Mills, Emiliano Monge, Mónica Ojeda, Eduardo Plaza, Eduardo Rabasa, Felipe Restrepo Pombo, Juan Manuel Robles, Cristian Romero, Juan Pablo Roncone, Daniel Saldaña París, Samanta Schweblin, Luciana Sousa, Jesús Miguel Soto, Mariana Torres, Valentín Trujillo, Claudia Ulloa and Diego Zúñiga.

September (fourth week) 2018 Reads & day trips

Sunday afternoon drive: back roads around Chamard Vineyard area of Clinton, CT (did not go for wine tasting, it's not a good idea if you are exploring twisty, narrow, pretty roads).  A few leaves are already changing and there is a nip in the air but still not to cold to give up on an ice cream stop at Ashley's in Madison, CT.

Thursday drive - a short one to Rocky Hill CT - picked up picnic stuff at West Side Marketplace
and ate it at Dinosaur State Park. No ice cream because the place we planned on has closed for the season. So we had some fruit for dessert.

Reading this week: only finished one book because I'm simultaneously reading two books of short stories and a saga. 

The "Deal Me In" card this week is the Three of Spades; selection is
At the Amusement Park by Jung Young Moon (in A Most Ambiguous Sunday, and Other Stories)

from my shelves....

Crux: A Cross-Border Memoir by Jean Guerrero
A journalist searches for family roots in Mexico.

 

September (second week) 2018 Reads

This week the "Deal Me In" card is the Seven of Spades; the selection is The Wife Killer (in Singer Collected Stories I)

from the library...

White Houses by Amy Bloom


Peculiar Ground by Lucy Hughes-Hallett

The Age of Eisenhower : America and the World in the 1950s by William I. Hitchcock


from my shelves...  

The Queen of Palmyra by Minrose Gwin

August (fifth week) 2018 Reads

I had planned to be away from home most of the week, but the place had no air conditioning.  Monday night was quite pleasant, Tuesday night was miserable so we gave up and came home on Wednesday morning. It was too hot to do anything but read so I made a dent in the owned-but-unread stack.

This week the "Deal Me In" card is the Seven of Hearts; the selection is The Provincials by Daniel Alarcón (in The best American short stories, 2013, Kindle ed.)

Online...
The Illegal Ramen Vendors of Postwar Tokyo: Black markets and American wheat imports popularized ramen. By Hunter Lu
Two of my favorite topics - Postwar Japan and Food.

from my shelves...

When Adam Opens His Eyes by Jung-Il Jang; translated from the Korean by Sun-Ae Hwang and Horace Jeffery Hodges
 Coming of age...

Lost Cities Found Objects, linked stories by Robert Fagan
 OK, but it was my least favorite of this week's reading

The Animal Gazer by Edgardo Franzosini; translated from the Italian by Michael F. Moore 
 bio-fic inspired by the life of sculptor Rembrandt Bugatti

Brother in Ice by Alicia Kopf; translated from the Catalan by Mara Faye Lethem    
 A young woman muses on her family relationships (including a disabled older brother) whilst engaging in research on the polar regions and other icy things. Excellent!


Sight by Jessie Greengrass
 Advance Review Copy. As in Brother in Ice, a young woman muses on her life and family (especially pregnancy and mother/daughter/grandaughter relationships) whilst researching. This time the research involves Freud, Rontgen, and William and John Hunter. Also Excellent!
Allmen and the Dragonflies by Martin Suter; translated from the German by Steph Morris
  Underhanded shenanigans in the world of art collectors and thieves. In this case the art is five missing Art Nouveau glass bowls created by renowned French artist Émile Gallé. Fictional account of what might have happened the the bowls.

The Baklava Club (Yashim the Eunuch #5) by Jason Goodwin 
 A pleasant mystery--not nearly as much fun as Allemen (above)--but OK.  I haven't read the others in the series, I might pick one up at the library when I want a not too demanding diversion.

The Endless Summer by Madame Nielsen; translated from the Danish by Gaye Kynoch
  Had trouble getting into this but it turned out to be a favorite. It just took a while to click.