December 2024

A good month for reading but not for making notes. Not in the mood to pick a cover either. Maybe I'll come back to edit this psge.

Fiction:

The Secret Keeper by Morton, Kate 

The Once and Future Witches by Harrow, Alix E. 

Rental House by Wang, Weike 

Four Souls by Erdrich, Louise 

The Phoenix Ballroom by Hogan, Ruth 

The Decent Proposal by Donovan, Kemper 

Aliss at the Fire by Fosse, Jon; translated from the Norwegian by Searls, Damion

Brightly Shining by Rishøi, Ingvild H.; translated from the Norwegian by Waight, Caroline

Cutting for Stone by Verghese, Abraham

The Question of Red by Pamuntjak, Laksmi

The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia by Grames, Juliet

The Murders in Great Diddling (Berit Gardner #1) by Bivald, Katarina

The Lake House by Morton, Kate

Maud's House by Roberts, Sherry

The Greenhouse by Ólafsdóttir, Auður Ava 

Territory of Light by Tsushima, Yūko; translated from the Japanese by Harcouty, Geraldine

Poetry:

Mojave Ghost by Gander, Forrest

Nonfiction:

Forged In Fire: Stories of Wartime Japan by Montibon, Rita Tomoko

Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV by Nussbaum, Emily

When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion by Satow, Julie

In France Profound: The Long History of a House, a Mountain Town, and a People by Allman, T.D.

Extinct: A Compendium of Obsolete Objects edited by Penner, Barbara

 

November 2024

 

Several  mysteries this month and what a variety of settings and investigators! A  pony in New York (and LA and points inbetween).  Teddy bears in Japan. A Vietnamese women in Paris searching for the man who may be her father. Three generations of women seeking their roots in a Cornwall garden. Treasure searchers in Nova Scotia. A teenage girl tracking down her stolen bear (live, not plush) in New Brunswick. And true (unsolved) crime in the Galápagos. 

Fiction:

Elevator in Sài Gòn by Thuận; translated from the Vietnamese by Nguỹên An Lý

Wonderful! Wandering the streets of Paris. Very like Modiano. Wish I could get more by her.

Playground by Powers, Richard 

Confusing at times but very good.

Blue Light Hours by Dantas Lobato, Bruna 

A quiet gem. A Brazillian mother and daughter try to stay connected while the daughter is at college in the US.

Our Evenings by Hollinghurst, Alan 

Really liked this, though it's not my favorite of his works.

The Forgotten Garden by Morton, Kate

This has everything: family secrets, mystery, a search, romance, artists, a writer, jumping back and forth in time in place, twists and turns. I loved it!

Pearly Everlasting by Armstrong, Tammy 

A girl and her bear in turn of the century (1800s/1900) New Brunswick. I  waver between three and four stars...

Small World by Evison, Jonathan 

Four families cross paths in the 19th Century and then three generations later in the 21st Century. Irish immigrants,  a Miwok Indian, a fugitive slave, and a Chinese prospector are the forebears. Their descendents are a train engineer, a battered wife running from her marriage, a single mom and her basketball playing son, and a woman who is trying to simplyflify her life. The are all headed to Seattle on a northbound train which has an accident....

The Evolution of the Gospelettes by Oberhausen, Tammy 

A family of gospel singers gets mixed up with a shady evangelist and his mega TV church.

The Boxcar Librarian by Labuskes, Brianna 

Advance Review Copy via Goodreads.  Three women and heir stories come together in 1920s & 1930s Montana.

Friends in Napa by Marikar, Sheila Yasmin

Rich couple who have just purchased a winery invite old college friends for a lavish weekend celebration. Mayhem ensues.

Don’t Forget to Write by Confino, Sara Goodman 

A pleasant bit of fluff, not at all deep coming of age (20 year old sheltered Jewish girl).. Set in the summer of 1960 in a New Jersey resort town.

Pony Confidential by Lynch, Christina

A mostly fun read but maybe could have been a little tighter. The pony had too many adventures,

The Treasure Hunters Club by Ryan, Tom

Another fun mystery, this one set in a seaside village in Nova Scotia.

The Story of the Forest by Grant, Linda 

Family story of Jewish Latvian immigrants in Liverpool. Time period: about 1913-2000.

Ophelia's Voyage to Japan by Clise, Michele Durkson 

Stuffed bears have an adventure.

Dogs and Monsters: Stories by Haddon, Mark 

I didn't much care for these. I'm tired of retellings of classics.

Contents: The mother's story -- The bunker -- My old school -- D.O.G.Z. -- The wilderness -- The temptation of St Anthony -- The quiet limit of the world -- St Bride's Bay.

Nonfiction:

The Position of Spoons: And Other Intimacies by Levy, Deborah 

Essays on women's writing and art plus other subjects.

The Forbidden Garden: The Botanists of Besieged Leningrad and Their Impossible Choice by Parkin, Simon 

Eden Undone: A True Story of Sex, Murder, and Utopia at the Dawn of World War II by Kahler, Abbott 

True crime on Isla Floreana in the Galápagos. 

The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir by Dunne, Griffin 

Sub title is a little misleading since almost everyone in the family was dead when Griffen Dunne published this gossipy book. Most of the people whose names he dropped are also gone so there's not many left who can challenge the reliability of his narration.

The Wall of Life: Pictures and Stories from This Marvelous Lifetime by Maclaine, Shirley 

Everybody was wonderful and (mostly) photogenic too. Gee.

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Bechdel, Alison 

Memoir of a troubled childhood in small town Pennsylvania funeral business.

A Gentleman from Japan: The Untold  Story of an Incredible Journey from Asia to Queen Elizabeth’s Court by Lockley, Thomas 

This might have made a good article in a history magazine but there is not enough information about Christopher (the title figure) to make a full length book, There is a lot of historical background and much "Christopher might have seen..."  or "Christopher must have thought..." and a lot of made up conversatuions and scenarios. It was rather boring.

Online:

Tibet & Nepal: Painted & described  by  Landor, Arnold Henry Savage.  (Published January 1905)

On Project Gutenberg. I've been reading this off and on all year. It's best taken in small doses. 

Santa Maria by Gurba, Myriam

"A youthful obsession with Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother turns to frustration over how its subject, Florence Owens Thompson, an Indigenous woman, has been misperceived."

The Science of Fighting Our Nightmares by Cassels, Pat

Whose döner kebab? Why the beloved late-night snack is at the centre of a meat-fuelled food fight by Ute Junker, Ute

October 2024

So I went to the library to pick up my holds and do a bit of browsing. I found this in the fiction shelves and it looked interesting so I put  it in my stack. I checked out a number of books, loaded them in my tote bag and headed home with a deli stop on the way. When I got home there was a message from the library. It seems I had left this book on the counter. Did I want them to hold it for me or should the check it in and reshelve it? I told them to reshelve it.

Next time I was in the library I remembered to check it out again and remembered to actually take it home. Which is a good sign as it turned out to be about a woman in the early stages of dementia who is having memory problems. So now I wonder if the librarians knew the subject matter and wondered about the memory status of their elderly patron (me). 

I enjoyed the book and also many others in this month's list.  Found a new (to me) author, Katie Kitamura, whose writing I very much liked. Happily the library has more by her. I also enjoyed some mildly creepy stuff because - October.

October is also my birthday month and of course my daughters gave me books! Forged In Fire: Stories of Wartime Japan by Montibon, Rita Tomoko and Amanat: Women’s Writing from Kazakhstan by Batayeva, Zaure. I also purchased a few hard to find ones for myself. Plus I won some ARCs so my TBR list is, well, just where it should be. Long.

And I'm liking my carry-over-to next month read: Richard Powers' Playland.

Fiction:

Suite Française by Némirovsky, Irène; translated from the French by Smith, Sandra

Life in German occupied France in WW2. Excellent. 

The Mighty Red by Erdrich, Louise 

Super good novel set in Red River Valley sugar beet farming area of North Dakota.

Intimacies by Kitamura, Katie 

An interpretor for the International Court of Justice is searching for a meaningful life.

A Separation by Kitamura, Katie 

A woman goes to Greece to confront her etsranged husband but he has disappeared.

Polostan (Bomb Light, #1) by Stephenson, Neal

Haven't read any Stephenson since Snow Crash (1992)  and decided to give this a try.  It's good enough to look forward the numbers 2 & 3.  Maybe I should go back and fill in my Stephenson gaps.

Takaoka's Travels by Shibusawa, Tatsuhiko; translated from the Japanese by Boyd, David 

Strange creatures, strange adventures in the Ninth Century as a prince/monk and his three companions (two monks and a girl disguised as a boy) travel Southeast Asia. I got bored. 

The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Huynh, Carolyn

A sprawling, squabling family of Vietnamese women in Orange County's Little Saigon come to terms with a each other and their family's curse and the fun romp.

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Loigman, Lynda Cohen

An eighty year old retires to Boca Raton only to find the man who deserted her sixty years ago is living in the same retirement community. Silly, sentimental fun as they renew their friendship.

The Mistletoe Mystery (Molly the Maid, #2.5) by Prose, Nita 

Not a who done it, but a sweet Christmas story.

The Night We Lost Him by Dave, Laura 

Meh.

Last House by Shattuck, Jessica 

A "family saga" reaching from 1953 to 2026 told in 325 pages. A "end of the world" retreat house in Vermont is supposedly refuge from the cares of mankind. We get a lot about the restoration of the Shah of Iran, a lot about the protests of the sixties, and absolutely nothing about 2001. And where was this family in 2020?

One Puzzling Afternoon by Critchley, Emily 

Aging woman tries to solve the long ago disappearance of a schoolmate.

The Hitchcock Hotel by Wrobel, Stephanie

A creepy hotel...

The Haunting of Velkwood by Kiste, Gwendolyn

A creepy suburban street...

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow 

A creepy house in a rural town...

The Hundred Waters by Acampora, Lauren 

An arty, but creepy, triangle.

A Sunny Place for Shady People by Enríquez, Mariana; translated from the Spanish by McDowell, Megan

A disappointing collection. Tried so hard to be macabre that the stories were lost.

Contents: My sad dead -- A sunny place for shady people -- Face of disgrace -- Julie -- Night birds -- Metamorphosis -- Hyena hymns --   Different colors made of tears -- The suffering woman -- The refrigerator cemetery -- A local artist -- Black eyes.

Your Utopia by Chung, Bora; translated from the Korean by Hur, Anton 

Enjoyable SciFi short stories involving robots and programmed machines--one is from the POV of a car, another is narrated by an elevator....

Contents: The Center for Immortality Research -- The end of the voyage -- A very ordinary marriage -- Maria, gratia plena -- Your utopia -- A song for sleep -- Seed -- To meet her -- Author's note: the act of mourning. 

There is a Rio Grande in heaven : stories by Reyes, Ruben, Jr.

Hit and miss collection. I didn't care for it.

Contents: An alternate history of El Salvador or perhaps the world -- He eats his own -- Try again -- An alternate history of El Salvador or perhaps the world -- The myth of the self-made man -- Quier Perrear! and other catastrophes -- An alternate history of El Salvador or perhaps the world -- My abuela, the puppet -- The Salvadoran slice of Mars -- An alternate history of El Salvador or perhaps the world -- Variations on your migrant life -- An alternate history of El Salvador or perhaps the world. 

Mixed genre Anthology:

Relations: An Anthology of African and Diaspora Voices edited by Brew-Hammond, Nana Ekua

Includes essays, poetry, and short stories. I read most of it but skipped a few stories and essays.

Contents: Introduction -- Nanyuman / by Ayesha Harruna Attah -- So long and Fuji-san / by Mogolodi Bond -- Body is more than a landfill and less than all that I am / by Sarah Uheida -- To the woman who accused me of breastfeeding the madman's child and by any other name / by Phillippa Yaa de Villiers -- Ezouga and post mortem / by Bahia Mahmud H. Awah -- Daughter of a bedouin chief / by Miral al-Tahawy --   God's plan / by Boakyewaa Glover -- Her sweetie, her sugarcane / by Natasha Omokhodion-Kalulu Banda -- Krifé / by Chiké Frankie Edozien -- Queens and sleeping beauty (of Borehamwood) and waterstones and ode to a discarded face mask and denouement/ by Dami Ajayi -- Finding Descartes / by Reem Gaafar -- Fulbright / by Rémy Ngamije -- Dirty money / by Kim Coleman Foote-- Kilmonger doctrine of color and humanity / by Joe Robert Cole-- Churai / by Fatima Camara -- [Coolitude: ce balisier-mirador] / by Khal Torabully -- This tangible thing / by Yejide Kilanko -- In a yellow dress with red flowers / by Lillian Akampurira Aujo -- A honey-headed child / by Nana Nyarko Boateng -- Napoleao / by Conceiçāo Lima -- Atat / by Arao Ameny -- Sontem and Ne na'a mpurí haalo and en la puerta primavera / by Recaredo Silebo Boturu -- Lagos wives club / by Vanessa Walters -- I am lost! / by Richard Ali a Muti K -- Poor men have too much ego / by Edwige-Renée Dro -- Sundays in Nairobi / by Jacquelynn Kerubo -- Mbuya Baines / by Makananka Mavengere -- Swagger stick man of June fifteen / by Chuma Nwokolo -- Heart of the father / by Enuma Okoro -- Trophy / by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond -- Célebrons la culture / by Salma Khalil -- Word maker. / by Ayi Renaud Dossavi-Alipoeh.

Nonfiction:

Other Rivers: A Chinese Education by Hessler, Peter 

Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting by Hood, Ann 

Essays on the joys (and pitfalls) of learning to knit, knitting, and teaching knitting.

Contents: Knitting pattern: "Banks" fingerless mittens / Helen Bingham -- The pretend knitter / Elizabeth Berg -- The perfect gift / Lan Samantha Chang -- Blood, root, knit, purl / Andre Dubus III -- To knit a knot, or not : a beginner's yarn / John Dufresne -- Home ec / Hope Edelman -- Knitting pattern: "Bingham" cabled head wrap / Helen Bingham -- Soft, warm, and fuzzy / Janice Eidus -- Looped yarn / Martha Frankel -- Teaching a child to knit / Sue Grafton -- Knitting in Kathmandu / Jessi Hempel -- Ten things I learned from knitting / Ann Hood -- Knitting pattern: "Bowden" coffee cozies / Helen Bingham -- Judite / Kaylie Jones -- Where to begin / Barbara Kingsolver -- The one-year marriage / Jennifer Lauck -- Knitting a family / Anne D. LeClaire -- Knitting : epic fail / Marianne Leone -- I bought this pattern book last spring / Elinor Lipman -- Knitting pattern: "Ashworth" ruffled slipper socks / Helen Bin(qham -- The supernatural power of knitting / Alison Lurie -- Straw into gold / Joyce Maynard -- Failing better / Bernadette Murphy -- How knitting saved my life. Twice. / Ann Patchett -- The clothes make the dog / Taylor M. Polites -- Knitting pattern: Clovis's perfect-fit sweater / Taylor M. Polites -- High-strung knitter / Elissa Schappell -- Knitted goods : notes from a nervous non-knitter / Elizabeth Searle -- What are you making? / Ann Shayne -- Crafty critters / Suzanne Strempek Shea -- Found objects / Anita Shreve -- Why bother? / Jane Smiley -- Knitting pattern: "Fisher" lacy wrap / Helen Bingham. 

Online:

Early June by by Flora Qian  (in Asia Literary Review, No. 32, Winter 2016)

and I add a journal to my TBE (to be explored).

Brightly, Brightly a short story by Latham, Kathleen (in The Ilanot Review, Parents: Prose Edition, Spring, 2024.)

another journal for the TBE.

Farmland by Conway, Elizabeth (in New Flash Fiction Review, Issue 33, May 15, 2024)

and yet another journal TBE...

September 2024

Love this cover!

A really good reading month.  There were some disappointments but even those weren't total losses as I did finish them, sort of.

I found some good online stuff this month. Oh, dear - the map thing! 

Fiction:

There Are Rivers in the Sky by Shafak, Elif

A tale of two rivers (the Tigris and the Thames) is mostly set in two eras (1800s and 2010s) but it begins in Nineveh with a single raindrop and a stone tablet containing part of the Epic of Gilgamesh. A good read.

The Life Impossible by Haig, Matt

Good but not as good as The Midnight Library.

Mina's Matchbox by Ogawa, Yōko; translated from the Japanese by Snyder, Stephen B.

A year (1972) in the life of a twelve year old Japanese girl who goes to live with relatives while her mother studies. Her cousin, Mina, has a pet pigmy hippo.

The Rhino Keeper by Forsberg, Jillian 

Advance review copy via LibraryThing. So-so.Split timeline with the historical (18th Century) being more rewarding than the modern one.

Burn by Heller, Peter 

Dystopian novel set in Maine in the near future. Two hunters stumble into a civil war.

Scattered All Over the Earth by Tawada, Yōko; translated from the Japanese by Mitsutani, Margaret

Refugees form a sort of troop and wander around Europe looking for something. I enjoyed the trip.

The Fires of Autumn by Némirovsky, Irène; translated from the French by Smith, Sandra

A French family endures. 1918-1941. 

The Most by Anthony, Jessica

A clever game of marriage.

The Love of My Afterlife by Greenwood, Kirsty 

So. Much. Fun. meta-romance

West Heart Kill by McDorman, Dann

More. Such. Fun. meta-murder mystery.

The Golden Spoon by Maxwell, Jessa

Another fun mystery. In this one six contestents and the hostess/crator of a TV baking competition tell about a week of filming gone horribly awry.  Love the cover! 

Tell Me Everything by Strout, Elizabeth 

Lucy, Olive, the Burgess boys, and all the other flawed folks from Crosby, Maine

Yerba Buena by LaCour, Nina

Sara, at 15, runs away from her Northern California home. Emelie lives a troubled life in Long Beach CA. They meet, part, meet again....

The Examiner by Hallett, Janice 

Six students work an a group project whilst persuing an MFA degree but all are not what they say they are. In fact, nothing about their project is what it's billed to be. There is a mysterious radio, someone disappears, and the plot thickens.

The Library of Lost and Found by Patrick, Phaedra 

Lots of family secrets in this one. Also it's never too late to come of age.

Sandwich by Newman, Catherine

What can I say? The family relationships in this struck me as unreal and creepy.

War by Candlelight by Alarcón, Daniel

Disappointing story collection by an author I usually like. Maybe it was the subject matter but I started skimming and skipping.

Contents: Flood; City of clowns; Third avenue suicide; Lima, Peru, July 28, 1979; Absence; Visitor; War by Candlelight;  Science for being alone; Strong dead man.

Nonfiction:

Portable Magic: A History of Books and Their Readers by Smith, Emma 

A fun read.

Dear Black Girls: How to Be True to You by Wilson, A'ja 

The target audience, obviously, is black girls, but this would be a good read for teachers, coaches, counselors, and others working with black girls. I can see it being read and discussed in a mixed race environment. 

The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Tan, Amy

Interesting at first but there was a bit too much. So she fed the birds and felt good about it. BUT. I was bothered by her horror at how outdoor domestic cats impact wild birds but was gleeful about turning her little dog loose to terrorize the squirrels and other creatures she didn't want in her yard. She also a bit judgemental about which are "good" birds and which are "pests." The pictures were nice.

The Seine: The River that Made Paris by Sciolino, Elaine 

Lots of information about the river from it's source to the sea.  

Online:

What Comes Along by Henry Gifford 

"An arachnid in the corner carefully traipses through the crack, under where the baseboard just fails to meet the worn and oaky floor."

Impressions of the South of France by Hugo von Hofmannsthal; translated from the German by Henry N. Gifford

Interiors of Pastry Shops and Bakeries: Design Strategies that Integrate Functions, Users, and Materials by Agustina Iñiguez; translated by Antonia Piñeiro

The Greek-American Guardian of Neoclassical Athens by Tasos Kokkinidis

Google Arts & Culture

Spent almost as much time here as I did at the train thing.

David Rumsey Map Collection

I'm going to have to set aside a day or two (or more) to explore this. It has a search feature for text on the maps!

August 2024

August was off to a mixed start. It started with a fine romp with The Wedding People  which was a holdover from July. Then I picked up a bunch of holds and some were real bummers. This led  to a lot of skimming and skipping and DNFs until, finally, on August 11th I picked up Fire Exit and read it in one sitting. Excellent! Some other good stuff followed. 

The month is ending with me about one third through Elif Shafek's There Are Rivers in the Sky which I am enjoying. 

Fiction:

The Wedding People : a novel by Espach, Alison

Lots of fun and some romance, growing up, etc. during an especially lavish wedding week in Newport, RI.

The World After Alice by Green, Lauren Aliza

Another wedding; This one is in Maine and not quite as lavish as Newport. And it wasn't nearly as much fun. A disfunctional family function. 

Liquid, Fragile, Perishable by Kuebler, Carolyn 

A year in the life of a Vermont village. A very good debut novel.

Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight by Onda, Riku; translated from the Japanese by Watts, Alison

Billed as a thriller but this more of a psychological game between roommates (brother and sister) who deal with a past event while breaking up house to move off in separate directions. Good Read; good cover.

Silken Gazelles by Alharthi, Jokha; translated from the Arabic by Booth, Marilyn

Childhood friendship and loss as two Omani women go their separate ways. A very good read.

The Keeper of Lost Things by Hogan, Ruth 

A bit on the sentimental side but it was a pleasant read with some fun characters. 

Fire Exit by Talty, Morgan 

What is family? How do we self identify? Should family secrets be revealed? In this fine novel set in Maine on and near the Penobscot Indian Island Reservation a man struggles with his own identity and that of his daughter. 

Our Narrow Hiding Places by Jansma, Kristopher

Locale shifts between New Jersey in 2017 and Den Haag during WW2. It deals with the Dutch Famine of 1944-45 and the transgenerational physical and mental effects of starvation.

The Illegal Gardener  (Greek Village/Greek Island #1) by Alexi, Sara 

A British ex-pat buys a house in a mainland Greek village. It's rundown and the garden is a mess. She hires a Punjabi day worker to help her clear things up. They bond (not romantically) and she ends helping him earn enough to return to his homeland. A bit too simplistic: not sure if I want to read more in this series.

The Unmaking of June Farrow: A Novel by Young, Adrienne 

Confusing time travel which I skimmed a bit just to see how it turned out. Set in North Caroline Blue Ridge area.

James by Everett, Percival 

Why do prize winning books so often disappoint me?

Beep by Roorbach, Bill

Beep is a monkey secretly transported from Costa Rica to Manhattan by an eleven year old girl. He has adventures, he leads a rebellion, maybe even saves the world (sort of). Sounds promising but it wasn't very good.

The Thirteenth Husband by Macallister, Greer 

So many facts were changed to fit the narrative that this biofic of Amy Crocker was a whole lot more fic than bio. Ugh!

Catalina by Villavicencio, Karla Cornejo

Coming of age DACA, Harvard. Meh 

Nonfiction: 

Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius by Courogen, Carrie  

More pop analysis (both psycho and social) than I wanted to read.

Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell by Montgomery, Sy; illustrated by Patterson, Matt

The parts about turtle rescue, rehab and release were very interesting and engaging. The attempts to tie it all to "mending the world" were a bit of a stretch. 

Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women Who Challenged a Nation by Miles, Tiya 

This seems like an attempt to get more milage out of an acedemic thesis by publishing it as a book. Not worth the time it took to read it.

River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze by Hessler, Peter 

Whew! After three disappointing nonfiction reads I finally read one I enjoyed. The two years are 1996-97 and the place is a teacher's college in Fuling in Sichuan province. 

The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church by McCammon, Sarah 

Another winner in the nonfiction categpry.