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 

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

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.