Friday, April 30, 2021

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 Mrs. EDWARD ROSCOE"