April 2023

I had a really good reading month although I didn't get to the two ARCs I meant to read. I had also intended to get to some of my Kindle backup but that didn't happen. 

Library:

The Motion Picture Teller by Cotterill, Colin 

Thai movie buff stumbles on a VCR of a terrific, never released movie. Fun, games, and mayhem follow.

Search by Huneven, Michelle

Adventures of Southern California Unitarian Universalist congregation in search a pastor. Told by a member of the search committee.  

Jamesland by Huneven, Michelle

A descendent of William James, a Unitarian minister, and a failed chef form a friendship.

The Weeds by Smith, Katy Simpson

Two botanist assistants explore the alora of Rome's Colosseum; one in 1854, one in current times. Nicely told. Want to read more by this author.

Beyond That, the Sea by Spence-Ash, Laura 

English girl is sent to live with an American family during WW2

The House Is on Fire by Beanland, Rachel

Richmond VA, theater fire 1811.

The Slowworm's Song by Miller, Andrew

British veteran recalls events during his service in Belfast in the Irish Troubles of 1982. Told in the form of a letter to his grown daughter. Very good. Will read more by this author

The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho by Joseph, Paterson

Bio-fic novel based on the life of an 18th Century black man in London. A really good debut.

The Cherry Robbers by Walker, Sarai

Gothic tale of five dead sisters in 1950s  Connecticut. Well told in what are called "diaries" but they aren't diaries in the daily journal sense. More memoir style as the narration is written (by the sixth and only surviving sister) many years after the events. 

A Very Typical Family by Godfrey, Sierra

Three siblings, estranged for fifteen years, are reunited by their mother's death. So,so.

Online:

Shannon Mattern, “Fountain Society,” Places Journal, February 2023.  (Accessed 02 Apr 2023)

 Because it highlights the social and political as well as the historical aspects of public water fountains.

There She Goes: A Reading List on Women Adventurers by Ailsa Ross 

 Because there is not enough on my TBR list...sigh....

How Cookie Jars Capture American Kitsch by Angela Burke

 Because my last ceramic cookie jar (it looked like a huge chocolate chip cookie) broke several years ago and hasn't been replaced. BUT! We have cookies! 

 

The Zoom Era Inspires a ‘Bookshelf Championship’ in Portugal by Rafaela Ferraz 

 Because - books...

March 2023

Sort of a mish-mash this month. Managed to make some progress on my Kindle backlog. I really don't mind reading on Kindle but I frequently forget I have it and usually have no idea what's on it. Usually I manage to read it in waiting rooms and I spent a lot of time this month in both  hospital and car repair waiting rooms. Managed to read while the car was being repaired. I was unable to concentrate at the hospital so I took a rather long walk. 

Here's the reading for March.

On my Kindle:

Palpasa Café by Wagle, Narayan

Finished Mar 2. Nepalese Civil War

The Island by Matute, Ana María

Finished Mar 2. Coming of age in Mallorca. Spanish Civil War.

From the public library

The Hummingbird by Veronesi, Sandro; translated from the Italian by Pala, Elena

Finished Mar 3. Really good.

Stealing by Verble, Margaret.

Finished Mar 7. Coming of age, Cherokee/White girl, "Christian" boarding school

The Lost English Girl by Kelly Julia

Finished Mar 8. Family story set in WW2 Liverpool.

Everything the Light Touches by Pariat, Janice.

Finished Mar 12. Very good. Botany. Moderns & Victorians in India, Goethe in Italy, some Linnaeus in Lapland.

Woman of Light by Fajardo-Anstine, Kali

Finished Mar 17. Mixed race (Native American/Hispanic/Belgian) sister and brother in Denver in the 1930s. Ok, could have been better.

The Blackout Book Club by Green, Amy Lynn

Finished Mar 19. So, so story of the USA WW2 home front.

Delphi by Pollard, Clare

Finished Mar 20. Meh...Oh, hum....Quarantine was just as boring in London as it was in Connecticut.

Once We Were Home by Rosner, Jennifer 

Finished Mar 23. "Hidden" Jewish children returned to their "families" after WW2. Well told.

The God of Endings by Holland, Jacqueline 

Finished Mar 26. Vampires aren't really my thing but I thought i'd give this a try. Parts were well written but I went back and forth between being intrigued and being bored. About halfway through boredom won out and I started skimming a lot (mostly the gore which definitely got in the way of the story). Not a winner. 

The Dance Tree by Hargrave, Kiran Millwood

Finished Mar 25. Ok story of a dance mania in Strasbourg in 1518. (pure coincidence that I read this alongside the Martha Graham biography--it's a different kind of dance!)

Martha Graham: When Dance Became Modern by Baldwin, Neil 

Finished Mar 27. Very good biography.

Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers by Rodgers, Mary and  Green, Jesse

Finished Mar 29. What a romp!

Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears by Schulman, Michael 

Finished Mar 16. Just what the title promises. Also both serious and gossipy. 

Who Gets Believed?: When the Truth Isn't Enough by Nayeri, Dina

Finished Mar 20

Online:

The value of a pile of sticks in your yard or garden  by Anahí Espíndola, Assistant Professor, Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park.

I often have a pile of sticks in my yard. They add a bit of rustic charm. OK, my entire yard is rustic charm. Anyway, I was right with this article until i came to the part about building the pile of sticks. Who knew it needed to be curated?!  Heck, just tossa bunch of sticks in a sort of pile and see what happens.

February 2022

Some very good reading this month. Also some not so good. All from the public library except for the ARC.

The End of Drum-Time by Pylväinen, Hanna 

Finished Feb 18, Finally finished this Advance Review Copy. (I rec'd two copies of this: one through GoodReads and one through LibraryThing.) I really liked this story of the Sami people of Norway/Sweden/Finland.

Checked out in Feb:

Cocoon by Zhang, Yueran

Finished Feb 24. Two former schoolmates reminisce  about their dysfunctional families, childhood, and young adult years in 1980s-90s Jinan China. Excellent!

In the Upper Country by Thomas, Kai 

Finished Feb 28. Liked this a lot until the last couple of chapter when I totally lost the thread.

Before the Ruins by Gosling, Victoria 

Finished Feb 26. Part coming of age, part mystery in an old manor house.

Clark and Division by Hirahara, Naomi 

Finished Feb 25. Mystery set in the Japanese/American relocation community in 1942 Chicago 

Looking for Jane by Marshall, Heather

Finished Feb 15. Well told story of adoption and abortion in Toronto in the 1960s-1980s

River sing me home by Shearer, Eleanor

Finished Feb 18. From Barbados to British Guiana to Trinidad runaway slave Rachel searches for her lost children. 

Victory city by Rushdie, Salman

Finished Feb 13.  Not my favorite Rushdie

Finna (LitenVerse, #1) by Cipri, Nino

Finished Feb 13. Short & sweet. alternate universes in an Ikeaish store.

Otherlands : a journey through Earth's extinct worlds by Halliday, Thomas

Finished Feb 16. 

Carried over from Jan:

The Torqued man by Mann, Peter

Finished Feb 8. Excellent!

The Shards by Ellis, Bret Easton Mann, Peter

Finished Feb 7. Liked it.

The World and all that it holds by Hemon, Aleksandar

Finished Feb 3. Overwritten war story

Anna May Wong : from laundryman's daughter to Hollywood legend by Hodges, Graham Russell

Finished Feb 2. Interesting bit of film history.

The Best American short stories 2021

Finished Feb 6. Not an impressive selection.

The Miniaturist by Burton, Jessie

Finished Feb 20. Liked it well enough, but reluctant to start the sequel.

The House of fortune by Jessie Burton

Finished Feb 22. The sequel to The Miniaturist was a must faster read than the first book. Not as good but it good enough. There were a couple of unanswered questions so maybe there will be a book three?

Moonrise over New Jessup by Minnicks, Jamila

Passed on this one--it just wasn't that interesting.

Mother ocean father nation by Batsha, Nishant

Returned to library; did not read

Insurrecto by Apostol, Gina

Returned to library; did not read

January 2023

Thirteen books read, and one DNF.  Plus I have eleven carryovers to read next month. Maybe I should slow down on my holds. Or spend less time surfing the net.  Also just rush in the library, pick up my holds and not browse.  I have a stack of there or four ARC's I must get to in February. So many must reads for such a short month!

All of these are library books except the DNF/ARC. 

ARC: did not finish:

This is how we love  by Moore, Lisa

I received this in September 2022 as a Goodreads giveaway.
This did not hold my interest at all. After several starts (and setting asides) I finally read about 100 pages and gave up. I felt like I was at someone else's class reunion and everybody was talking about people I didn't know nor care to know. I left early.

Carried over from last year:

Grand Hotel Europa by Pfeijffer, Ilja Leonard 

Finished Jan 3. Loved it!

The performance by Petrucci, Claudia

Finished Jan 6. Interesting psychological puzzle.

The tally stick by Nixon, Carl

Finished Jan 6. Nicely paced suspense. Set in New Zealand

Checked out Jan 3:

The Villa by Hawkins, Rachel

Finished Jan 22. Murder(s?) at an Italian (Orvieto) villa. 

A quiet life by Joella, Ethan

Finished Jan 10.

Fuzz : when nature breaks the law by Roach, Mary 

Finished Jan 16

Stay with me by Adebayo, Ayobami

Finished Jan 13

The accomplice by Lutz, Lisa 

Finished Jan 29. A bit above "just ok"

The tatami galaxy by Morimi, Tomihiko 

Finished Jan 25. Fun parallel universe set in the university section if Kyoto.

The torqued man by Mann, Peter

Carried over to Feb

Tiny imperfections by Frank, Alli 

Finished Jan 20. Light reading. Black admissions director at an elite private school in San Francisco

Under the whispering door by Klune, TJ

Finished Jan 26. A mysterious village tea shop is also a way station for those passing to the other side. Also has a gay love story. 

Checked out Jan 5:

Murder at the Majestic Hotel  (A Stella and Lyndy Mystery #4) McKenna, Clara

Finished Jan 7. Edwardian, sort of a locked room mystery. Set in York. 

Checked out Jan 10: (all carried over to Feb)

Anna May Wong : from laundryman's daughter to Hollywood legend

by Hodges, Graham Russell

The best American short stories 2021

Checked out Jan 18:  (all carried over to Feb)

The house of fortune : a novel by Jessie Burton

The miniaturist by Burton, Jessie

The shards by Ellis, Bret Easton

Checked out Jan 21:

Insurrecto by Apostol, Gina

Carried over to Feb

Night of the living rez by Talty, Morgan

Finished Jan 28. 

In the Time of Our History by Pari, Susanne

Finished Jan 30. Loved this story of Iranian/American family.

Checked out Jan 27:  (all carried over to Feb)

Moonrise over New Jessup by Minnicks, Jamila

The world and all that it holds by Hemon, Aleksandar

Mother ocean father nation by Batsha, Nishant

December 2022

A very strange month in which I finished only seven books!  But! I almost finished a long one (552 pages) which my housemate checked out on her card thinking I might like it. She was right:

Grand Hotel Europa by Pfeijffer, Ilja Leonard 

After I finish it, I may get around to an end of year wrap up  -  or not.

A Curious Invitation: The Forty Greatest Parties in Literature by Field, Suzette 

Finished Dec 4. An enjoyable read. About time I got around to it. It's been on my kindle since December of 2014

This Is How We Love by Moore, Lisa 

Review copy via GoodReads giveaway. Not enjoying this at all. Probably won't finish it.

Checked out Nov 25

Agent Josephine : American beauty, French hero, British spy by Lewis, Damien

Finished Dec 8. Ok, but not the best.

Deer man : seven years of living in the wild by Delorme, Geoffroy

Finished Dec 10. Interesting read. Roe deer in France. 

Checked out Nov 28

Dogs of summer by Abreu, Andrea

Finished Dec 27. A short book that seemed to take forever to read. I kept setting it aside and forgetting about it. Meh girls coming of age in a boring summer.

Checked out Dec 10

Spaceman of Bohemia by Kalfar, Jaroslav

Finished Dec 12. Liked this one.

Checked out Dec 18

A dangerous business by Smiley, Jane

Finished Dec 20. Disappointing, rather boring "mystery" by an author I usually enjoy reading.

The performance by Petrucci, Claudia --carried forward into Jan

The tally stick by Nixon, Carl               --carried forward into January

Checked out Dec 22

The Bullet that misses (Thursday Murder Club #3)  by Osman, Richard

Finished Dec 26. Slightly better than the first two (which were pretty good).

Abandoned Airport near Athens, Greece, Set to be Transformed into Europe’s Largest Coastal Park by Maria-Cristina Florian