August 2026

 

 A very good reading month.

 

I started the month with some short reads - a novella and some short stories:

 

Wide Sargasso Sea by Rhys, Jean 

One I should have read years ago!

Apeiron by Cadwell Turnbull

The Velvet Chair by Nina Schuyler

Muse by Nancy Schoellkopf

 

Then I moved on to some longer fiction:

 

Some People by Shroff, Parini  

Elderly woman has a fall and her soon to be ex son-in-law ends up as her care giver.

French Exit by deWitt, Patrick 

Odd cast of characters in Paris.  Started out slowly but I'm glad I stuck with it.

Sunrise by Obreht, Téa 

Three timelines, three stories merge in a Wyoming Badlands ghost town. I liked this.

The Plague of Doves by Erdrich, Louise 

Really good (but tedious at times). 

The Painting by Schuyler, Nina 

Excellent!

 

And, of course, I read a book with the word "last" in the title:

 

The Last Days of New Paris by Miéville, China 

A surrealist  adventure in an alternate WW2

 

Then a short story collection, some light verse, and a look at Connecticut town halls:

 

The Persimmon Tree and Other Stories by Barnard, Marjorie 

A collection of twenty short stories by the Australian writer, Originally published between 1943 and 1985.

 

 A cat book by E. V. Lucas; illustrated by Pat Sullivan

 

Nonfiction:

Connecticut town halls ranked: See where all 169 landed by By Philip Bump, Annie Xia, Luca Powell, Patrick McCaslin

Not at all surprising that our town hall ranked very low, but not last. 

July 2006

 

Some really good reads this month although not as many as usual. The two nonfictions took a lot of time to read. I also spent a lot of time with the book of short stories.

Fiction:

Walter Benjamin Stares at the Sea by Rose, C.D. 

Nineteen short stories. Loved it!

The Fig Eater by Shields, Jody

A Murder in Vienna. This was really good. A debut back in 2000 and she's written more which I can get from local libraries. One of my "Christmas Mystery Books"  (The one in the middle of the bottom row}.

Main Characters by Palmer, Bobby 

Liked this story told from multiple points of view--but never the POV of the two main characters. 

Five Weeks in the Country by Prose, Francine 

Charles dickens and family host Hans C. Andersen for too long a visit. 

Man Overboard! by Rooney, Kathleen 

Neither bad nor good. Man reviews his life as he tries to keep afloat. 

Villa Coco by Greer, Andrew Sean 

Too many characters trying too hard to be quirky and mysterious. It's all silly and not in a good way.

The Last Page by Holt, Katie 

Lame love story about a bookstore. 

 

Mbiu Dash by Okwiri Oduor

 (Kenya)

The Woman Next Door by Ha Seong-Nan and Janet Hong (translator)

(South Korea) 

North Winds Blow the Leaves From the Trees by Yu Miri; Translated by Morgan Giles 

(Korean author writing in Japanese)

Date Nights by Mateo Askaripour
"A story about desire, voyeurism, and obsession set in Brooklyn."  

   

Nonfiction:

A Kingdom and a Village: A One-Thousand-Year History of Moscow by Morrison, Simon 

Tigers Between Empires: The Improbable Return of Great Cats to the Forests of Russia and  China by Slaght, Jonathan C. 

Clara the Rhino Art 

A nice collection put together by  Jillian Forsberg, author of The Rhino Keeper (which I read in September 2024).

JUNE 2025

    

June was a mixed bag--a mostly enjoyable one. In addition to what is listed here, I read 120 pages of Simon Morrison's hefty (400+ pages) A Kingdom and a Village: a One-Thousand-Year History of Moscow. I'm enjoying it. I was enjoying Babylon, South Dakota until I was about 1/3 (116 pages) into it when it began to disintegrate. I may not finish it.

 

I continue with the seemingly never ending reading of books with the word "last" in the title. I've read over 40 since I accidentally started this in February 2025.  I picked up and  rejected or DNF about ten others. I have one currently checked out and another on my holds list, so they will keep on coming like the donuts in Homer Price (by Robert McCloskey).

 

Fiction:  

Palaces of the Crow by Ray Nayler 

Really, really good! 

Hunger and Thirst by Fuller, Claire 

Enjoyed it while I was reading it, but two weeks later I couldn't remember anything about it?! 

Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block by Sutanto, Jesse Q. 

I liked this story of an Chinese/Indonesian rediscovering herself at age 63 after her marriage falls apart. I read a book in Sutanto's  Aunties series a couple of years ago and was lukewarm about it. But maybe I'll try another of her non-series books.

Down with the Shipmans by Moore, Meg Mitchell 

Another author I decided to give a second try (DNF Mansion Beach). I'm glad I did because I enjoyed this story of threes sisters revisiting the childhood summer home.

Porcupines by Fabriczki, Fran 

Single mother, an undocumented Hungarian immigrant, in Los Angeles. 

A Perfect Hand  by Waldman, Ayelet 

A lady's maid and a gentleman's valet scheme to get their employers matched in marriage so they (the servants) can also marry and live in the same house.

The Haunting of Paynes Hollow by Armstrong, Kelley

What a strange one. It kind of switches genres as it goes along. It's a bit of a mishmash and I was sucked in. Did I like It? Sort of....

Livonia Chow Mein by Savitch-Lew, Abigail 

Maybe it was the writing or the subject (I'm growing weary of books about small groups of residents trying to keep or gain control of their neighborhoods) but I never really got into this novel. 

The Butler (The Butler, #1) by Mackintosh, Clare

A formula mystery that checks a lot of boxes: a glamorous setting (a Cannes mansion), an assorted group of house party guests,  a victim everybody hates, and a butler who didn't do it. Add in motives (everybody has at least one} money, infidelity, blackmail, sexual harassment, etc. Not great lit, but a pleasant bit of fluff for a summer afternoon.

A Good Animal by Maurer, Sara 

Coming of age while sheep farming on the Upper Peninsula. Well written but I wish I hadn't read it.

     
Last One Out by Harper, Jane 

One of the better of the word  'last'  in the title books.  A town in New South Wales is dying because a mining company is buying up all the land.

13 Things Your Mail Carrier Won’t Tell You by Layden, Sarah 

 “Tobacco Road Revisited” by Rita Welty Bourke

Nonfiction:

 Centenary of Claude Monet’s passing a list of exibitions and events honoring Monet.

 "On 5 December 1926, Claude Monet, the master of Impressionism, died in the village of Giverny in Normandy. One century on, the Paris Region and Normandy, so the two French regions where he was born and brought up, where he lived and created, pay homage to this icon of modern art."

 

10 fun facts about Monet by The Good Life France

Monet Spinners by Marie-France Boyer

About those water lilies. 

 

May 2026

 

May was a mixed reading month but there were too many DNFs. Of the six novels I managed to finish two were meh. Then there was a disappointing short story collection and an online story I liked. But I started the month with a great book (Gospodinov) and finished with a great book (see Image at the top of this post) so all is not lost. 

 

I continue with my "books with the word 'last' in the title personal, accidental challenge (see my February 2025 post). It has turned out to be a rewarding challenge. I've found some really good books with it. It's also contributed to the DNF and Duds piles since it's a mostly blind selection. Maybe I should compile a list rating them but that sounds like work!

 

The list is shorter than usual because other things got in the way of my reading:  house repairs, WNBA, and better weather & health so I'm getting out and about more. 

 

Also I spent more time reading reviews in a effort to improve my book selection. 

 

Fiction: 

Death and the Gardener by Gospodinov, Georgi; translated from the Bulgarian by Rodel, Angela 

Excellent! 

The Kindness of Strangers by Garman, Emma

British mystery set in a 1950s boarding house. Enjoyed!

Looking for Tank Man by Jin, Ha

Chinese grad student (at Columbia) researches the Tienanmen Square massacre.  Meh

The Wondrous Life and Loves of Nella Carter  by Nwosu, Brionni 

Too much insta-love. Meh

 

Last Letter from Istanbul Foley, Lucy 

Istanbul during the Allied Occupation following WW1. Really liked this one.
Last Night in Brooklyn by Gonzalez, Xochitl

I liked this but not as much as I liked  Anita de Monte Laughs Last by the same author.

      
Stories: The Collected Short Fiction by Garner, Helen; Foreword by Escoffery, Jonathan
I started out really liking these but the more I read the less I liked them. By the time I got to the last four or five I was skimming and skipping, 
Contents: Foreword -- A happy story -- Postcards from Surfers -- The dark, the light -- In Paris -- Little Helen's Sunday afternoon -- La chance exite -- The life of art -- All those bloody young Catholics -- A thousand miles from the ocean -- Did he pay? -- Civilisation and its discontents -- My hard heart -- The psychological effect of wearing stripes -- What we say.

 

Incident at San Juan Bautista by Ray Nayler

I need too read more by Naylor. 

 

Nonfiction:

Big Fan: Two Friends, 82,490 Miles, and the Wild, Wonderful Sports We Love by Schur, Michael and Posnanski, Joe

Wow! This kinda makes me a fan of fandom. 

Kutchinsky's Egg: A Family's Story of Obsession, Love, and Loss by Kutchinsky, Serena  

 

Cookbook Week shows why cookbooks still have shelf life by Peluso, Oliva

April 2026

 

 Willoughby Wallace Memorial Library, Stony Creek, CT April 27, 2026

Lots of reading this month. Some good books and a few duds. Also some library visits.

Fiction:

The Director by Kehlmann, Daniel; translated from the German by Benjamin, Ross 

Fictional account the life of German film director G. W. Pabst during WW2  in Germany and Austria.

The Decagon House Murders (House Murders, #1) by Ayatsuji, Yukito; translated from the Japanese by Wong, Ho-Ling

Saltwater by Hays, Katy 

Family drama, set on Capri. 

Home of the American Circus by Larkin, Allison

Family drama set in Somers, New York. 

Our Numbered Bones by Balen, Katya 

Writer dealing with writer's block and grief retreats to an isolated cabin in bog and gets mixed up in an archeological investigation. 

Anna O by Blake, Matthew 

Are there any characters in this novel of revenge that don't breach professional ethics? 

Other People's Houses by Waxman, Abbi  

Neighborhood drama. 

The Forbidden Notebook by de Céspedes, Alba: translated from the Italian by Goldstein, Ann

Family  drama in Post WW2 Rome.

The Beheading Game by Lemann, Rebecca

Anne Boleyn rises from the dead and seeks revenge.

After Life by Forman, Gayle 

A YA novel on grief and death.

Life: A Love Story by Berg, Elizabeth 

Maudlin.  

The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Dixon, Glenn

Dystopian. Somewhat sentient appliance (they aren't all small - one is a refrigerator and one is a car)  try to aid their house's humans face a crisis. The concept is interesting but there is no depth to the plot or characters. FSeems like a first draft.

Upward Bound by Brown, Woody

  

My Dear You by Khong, Rachel 
Very good collection. I liked them all. 
Contents: My dear you -- The freshening -- Slow & steady -- Tapetum lucidum -- The family O -- Serene -- Red shoes -- Good spirits -- Colors from elsewhere -- D Day.

Python's Kiss by Erdrich, Louise; illustrated by Abe, Aza Erdrich

I liked the first four stories but didn't care much for the rest.  I prefer erdrich's longer works.
Contents: Python's kiss -- Wedding dresses -- The hollow children -- Love of my days -- Domain -- Asphodel -- Borsalino -- Asassin -- December 26 -- The feral troubadour -- Big cat -- Amelia -- The stone. 

 

Last Seen Wearing: The First-Ever Police Procedural by Waugh, Hillary 

Police procedurals are not my favorite mysteries but this is historically interesting.

The Last Letters of Sally and Walter by McGovern, Cammie The "letters: are Scrabble tiles, not written correspondence.

 

City Limits by Hannah Smart 

Window Seat by Watkins, LaToya 

  

Nonfiction: 

The Secret History of French Cooking: The Outlaw Chefs Who Made Food Modern by Barr, Luke

Covers 1965-1998 

True Color: The Strange and Spectacular Quest to Define Color—from Azure to Zinc Pink by Stamper, Kory 

I kinda expected this to be more about color than it is. It does address the problems of defining colors for the dictionary  (Webster's). But there's too much about the egos and infighting among the editors and wanna-be editors. Lexicographers aren't especially colorful people, btw.