ffortsa reads and hopes in 2021

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ffortsa reads and hopes in 2021

1ffortsa
Editado: Jan 1, 2021, 6:47 pm



A hopeful picture to start out the year.

Hi, I'm Judy. Maybe we haven't met. In 2020, I read 78 books! There's another year right on the doorstep, and I hope to do more.

As is true for most of us 75ers, I have too many unread books on my shelves, in my Kindle library, in my mind to read. I belong to two book groups, neither of which is actually CALLED a book group, so that slows down my browsing a bit. Still, that should only account for 24 titles a year. Lots of room for more.

Happy 2021, everyone!

2ffortsa
Editado: Jun 24, 2021, 8:13 pm

Here's a hopeful ticker:



January:

1. ✔ The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon
2. ♬ The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
3. ✔ The Map Thief by Michael Blanding
4. ✔ Where Crime Never Sleeps edited by Elizabeth Selvin
5. @ Cat of the Century by Rita Mae Brown
6. @ Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout
7. @ Force of Nature by Jane Harper

February

8. @ Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie
9. @ The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lilian Jackson Braun
10. ♬+ Stiff by Mary Roach
11. @ Grey Mask by Patricia Wentworth
12. @♬Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry
13. @ The Case is Closed by Patricia Wentworth
14. @ Paradise by Toni Morrison
15. @ Lonesome Road by Patricia Wentworth
16. @ The Tenant by Katrine Engberg

March

17. @ Emma by Jane Austen
18. @ The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths
19. @ Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke
20. @ The Red and the Black by Stendhal, trans. by Horace B. Samuel
21. @ From Doon With Death by Ruth Rendell
22. @✔ Still Midnight by Denise Mina

April

23. Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter
24. @A Question of Belief by Donna Leon
25. ✔Beautiful Girl: Stories by Alice Adams
26. @Gun Street Girl by Adrian McKinty
27. @Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor
28. The Long Call by Ann Cleeves

May

29. Interior Chinatown by Charles Wu
30. @The Cat Who Saw Red by Lillian Jackson Braun
31. ✔Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen by Alix Kate Shulman
32. @White Corridors by Christopher Fowler
33. The Drop Edge of Yonder by Donis Casey
34. ♬Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton read by Judy Kaye
35. @The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
36. Paint the Town Red by Harold Adams

June

37. @The Golden Calf by Helen Tursten
38. @The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin
39. @The Summons by Peter Lovesey

And another one, for culling:



Where Crime Never Sleeps edited by Elizabeth Selvin
Stiff by Mary Roach
The African Trilogy by Chinua Achebe
Beautiful Girl: Stories by Alice Adams
Through a Glass Darkly by Donna Leon (two copies!)
Uniform Justice by Donna Leon
Drawing Conclusions by Donna Leon
23 as listed in #213 and #215 below

Icons denote ebooks, library books, off the shelf, etc. modified from Bianca's list
♬ audiobook
✔ off the shelf
@ e-book
✿ TIOLI
↩ reread
✗ dnf photo

3DianaNL
Jan 1, 2021, 11:05 am

Best wishes for a better 2021!

4drneutron
Jan 1, 2021, 11:21 am

Welcome back!

5Crazymamie
Jan 1, 2021, 11:24 am

Dropping a star, Judy. Happy New Year to you!

6takenby05
Jan 1, 2021, 11:47 am

I can relate Judy. Our bookshelves are jammed packed with books as well. We keep saying we are going to read and get rid of some of the books and then we go to the library and see new books on the shelf that I want to read. And I end up picking up those books instead. Here's to cleaning off some books of the shelves this year.
Therese

7katiekrug
Jan 1, 2021, 11:55 am

Dropping off my star, Judy...

Happy reading!

8karenmarie
Jan 1, 2021, 1:15 pm

Hi Judy! Happy New Year to you and Jim.

9brenzi
Jan 1, 2021, 3:05 pm

Happy New Year Judy!

10FAMeulstee
Jan 1, 2021, 4:51 pm

Happy reading in 2021, Judy!

11ffortsa
Editado: Jan 1, 2021, 6:47 pm

Anew year and new visitors! Thank you all!

And now here is a tip. Save yourself two hours and
---------------------DO NOT SEE WONDERWOMAN84.------------------------

It's dreadful.

eta: I finally got that picture to show up!

12Berly
Jan 1, 2021, 7:06 pm

Happy 2021! May it be brighter, better and bookier! (And, dang it, I wanted to watch that Wonderwoman...thanks for saving me!)

13thornton37814
Jan 1, 2021, 7:33 pm

Happy 2021 reading!

14PaulCranswick
Jan 1, 2021, 8:02 pm



And keep up with my friends here, Judy. Have a great 2021.

15AMQS
Editado: Jan 1, 2021, 9:09 pm

Happy New Year, Judy! Every year I am determined to read more of my own books and every year I seem to come up short (29/102 in 2020). I *need* to read the books in my work library, of course, but I'm sure my own piles are feeling neglected.

As for WW84: thanks for the warning! I might be able to escape it, but I have a superhero-loving-feminist daughter at home who isn't supposed to be (she's a college freshman but her school was online only in the fall) and if she decides she wants to watch it I will with her. For her. And then I may come roll my eyes over here:)

16EllaTim
Jan 1, 2021, 8:54 pm

Happy New Year, Judy!

17Berly
Jan 1, 2021, 8:56 pm

>15 AMQS: Everything you said is...true!! Except my daughter is a junior. LOL

Hi Judy. : )

18jessibud2
Jan 1, 2021, 9:01 pm

Happy new year and new thread, Judy

19SuziQoregon
Jan 1, 2021, 9:07 pm

Happy New Year Judy!

>11 ffortsa: totally agree with your tip. Such an underwhelming movie. I’ll happily watch the first one again but Ikll never watch the second again.

20BLBera
Jan 1, 2021, 9:18 pm

Happy New Year, Judy. I hope 2021 is full of good books.

21RebaRelishesReading
Jan 2, 2021, 7:26 pm

Here's to a good 2021, Judy!

22banjo123
Jan 2, 2021, 8:06 pm

Happy New Year, Judy! Here's to reading more of the books on our shelves.

23EBT1002
Jan 3, 2021, 6:52 pm

Happy New Year, Judy!

24weird_O
Jan 5, 2021, 1:28 pm

Stopping by the spread my cheering for 2021. And for reading.

My older son warned me about WW84, appending a comment to an email to say, "We watched Wonder Woman 84 last night so you don't have it." Of course, there wasn't even the slimmest chance we were going to watch it. Heh heh.

Have you finished The Yiddish Policeman's Union? I have liked a lot of Chabon's books, including that one.

25ffortsa
Jan 5, 2021, 4:32 pm

>Hi, Bill. Yes, finished the Chabon Sunday night for our discussion group tonight. Making a detective story is a clever cover for the sideways history, isn't it?

26magicians_nephew
Jan 5, 2021, 4:48 pm

Fascinating to me that "Yiddish Policeman" won a Nebula Award for "Science Fiction"

Alt-History I would give it, but "Science fiction"?

27cbl_tn
Jan 5, 2021, 4:54 pm

Hi Judy! One benefit of staying home for Christmas instead of traveling to my brother's is that I didn't have to watch WW84 with them on Christmas Day. I knew there had to be a bright side!

28ffortsa
Editado: Jan 16, 2021, 3:50 pm

1. The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon

I've had a hardback copy of this book on my shelf for some time, but kept shying away from it. What a mistake.

Part detective story, part alternative history, part romance, part discussion of religious dogma, this enchanting book held my attention like the best suspenseful mystery, so that I read it almost in one sitting. What would have happened if Israel had never taken hold in 1948? What would happen if you gave a whole people a 20 year lease on which to lick their wounds? And what would happen when one kind of hope collides with another? Some of the Jews in the borrowed land of Alaska want to try to win back Palestine, some want to stay, some are fearful of eviction, again, as has happened for millenia. And in the midst of this, a chess wizard is found dead in a seedy hotel, in which a guilt-ridden police detective spends his non-working hours drinking his sorrows. The classic Chandler-esque noir plot melds perfectly with the deeper discussions to produce a book that is very hard to put down.

2. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

I hadn't read this book when young, but it was a delightful companion during this restricted time.

29Crazymamie
Jan 7, 2021, 9:37 am

>28 ffortsa: A direct hit, Judy. You got me with "...Chandler-esque noir plot... " Nice review.

30streamsong
Jan 7, 2021, 1:06 pm

Hi Judy! I hope I'm not too late in wishing you a Happy New Year!!

Congrats on 78 books read

I haven't read The Yiddish Policeman's Union either, but it sounds like a good one. It's a gotcha for later this year - after the pile of library books is somewhat diminished.

So many books to read - so little time as the saying goes.

31ffortsa
Editado: Jan 9, 2021, 11:28 pm

3. The Map Thief by Michael Blanding

I've had this on my shelf forever, and I don't even remember why it caught my eye. But I'm glad I did, because it is a very readable story of a map dealer in our own recent history subverted by his own grandiosity and greed, ultimately ruining his career and damaging the collections of many libraries, both prestigious and obscure.

E. Forbes Smiley III is from a middle class family, despite the very upper-class sounding name, and finds himself working in the rare books division of B. Altman & Co. on 5th Avenue in New York, displaying a rare affinity for collectible maps. From there he pursues a career as a map dealer, helping others develop premier private map collections and becoming a true expert on early maps. But somewhere along the way, his various ambitions steer him off the rails, and he spends years stealing maps to sell to clients and other dealers to keep up with his own spending.

Blanding's book is a biography, a case study of antiquarian knowledge and art crime, a catalog of institutional carelessness, and an education on the history of maps and the exploration of the Americas from the 16th century onward. Recommended.

Eta: one odd thing about the typeface. The capital letter l, complete with serifs, was also used as the number 1. It jolted me each time I saw it to reconcile the alphabetic with the numeric.

32ffortsa
Editado: Fev 13, 2021, 4:44 pm

Several folks here have set up lists of prizewinners they would like to read, and I thought I'd try that too. Here is the Pulitzer list, chosen because I've read quite a few of them and thus am less daunted to pursue completeness.

2020 - The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
2019 - The Overstory by Richard Powers
2018 - Less by Andrew Sean Greer
2017 - Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
2016 - The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Hguyen
2015 - All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
2014 - The Goldfinch by Donna Dartt
2013 - The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
2012 - NO AWARD
- Swamplandia by Karen Russell - Nominee
2011 - A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
2010 - Tinkers by Paul Harding
2009 - Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
2008 - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
2007 - The Road by Cormac McCarthy
2006 - March by Geraldine Brooks
2005 - Gilead by Marilyn Robinson
2004 - The Known World by Edward P. Jones
2003 - Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
2002 - Empire Falls by Richard Russo
2001 - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
2000 - The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
1999 - The Hours by Michael Cunningham
1998 - American Pastoral by Phillip Roth
1997 - Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer by Stephen Millhauser
1996 - Independence Day by Richard Ford
1995 - The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
1994 - The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
1993 - A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Owen Butler
1992 - A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
- My Father Bleeds History (Maus) (Special Awards & Citations - Letters) by Art Speigelman
1991 - Rabbit at Rest by John Updike
1990 - The Mambo Kings Sing Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos
1989 - Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler
1988 - Beloved by Toni Morrison
1987 - A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor
1986 - Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
1985 - Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie
1984 - Ironweed by William Kennedy
1983 - The Color Purple by Alice Walker
1982 - Rabbit is Rich by John Updike
1981 - A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
1980 - The Executioner's Song by Normal Mailer
1979 - The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever
1978 - Elbow Room by James Alan McPherson
1977 - NO AWARD
1976 - Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow
1975 - The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
1974 - NO AWARD
1973 - The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty
1972 - Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
1971 - NO AWARD
1970 - The collected Stories of Jean Stafford by Jean Stafford
1969 - House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday
1968 - The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron
1967 - The Fixer by Bernard Malamud
1966 - The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter by Katherine Ann Porter
1965 - The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau
1964 - NO AWARD
1963 - The Reivers by William Faulkner
1962 - The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O'Connor
1961 - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
1960 - Advise and Consent by Allen Drury
1959 - The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters by Robert Lewis Taylor
1958 - A Death in the Family by James Agee
1957 - NO AWARD
1956 - Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor
1955 - A Fable by William Faulkner
1954 - NO AWARD
1953 - The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
1952 - The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
1951 - The Town by William Faulkner
1950 - The Way West by A.B. Jr. Guthrie
1949 - Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzins
1948 - Tales of the South Pacific by James Michener
1947 - All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
1946 - NO AWARD
1945 - A Bell for Adano by John Hersey
1944 - Journey in the Dark
1943 - Dragon's Teeth by Upton Sinclair
1942 - In This Our Life by Ellen Glasgow
1941 - NO AWARD
1940 - The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
1928 - The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder

33RebaRelishesReading
Jan 9, 2021, 7:18 pm

>32 ffortsa: I finished a personal challenge of reading all of the Pulitzer fiction winners a couple of years ago. I liked most of them and found it interesting to note the difference between the early ones and more recent. I hope you enjoy doing it as much as I did.

34bell7
Jan 9, 2021, 7:27 pm

Happy 2021, Judy!

Sorry WW84 wasn't a good one. I'll give it miss.

I've read more of the recent Pulitzer Prize winners and liked them, so I'll be interested in seeing your thoughts as you pursue reading the list.

35magicians_nephew
Jan 10, 2021, 10:40 am

My first cheap-o cheap-o typewriter had no key for the number 1 - the little manual explained i was expected to use the lower case "L" for that. Huh?

Took me a long time to adjust to a full keyboard when one finally came my way.

36vivians
Jan 11, 2021, 12:17 pm

>31 ffortsa: B. Altman - what a blast from the past. I used to work on Madison and 29th and spent many lunch hours there. I can totally visualize the shopping bag logo in my head. That's definitely a BB for me!

37AMQS
Jan 12, 2021, 9:55 am

>31 ffortsa: I literally JUST sent that off in the mail yesterday for my dad's birthday. I'm glad to see your review.

38katiekrug
Jan 12, 2021, 10:21 am

Good luck with the Pulitzer list, Judy!

39LizzieD
Jan 12, 2021, 12:14 pm

I'm awfully late but not for lack of interest. I look forward to your reading and commenting in the Happier New Year - I devoutly hope that it may be.

40ffortsa
Editado: Jan 16, 2021, 3:51 pm

4. Where Crime Never Sleeps edited by Elizabeth Selvin

I think I picked up this slim volume of short stories from my buildings swap shelves. According to the cover, it is the 4th in a series called "Murder New York Style", although I'm the first to list it.

The 17 stories are very short (the longest is 20 pages), all but one are written by women, and all involve murder, although sometimes the murder had already happened and sometimes seems to be about to happen. Few involve detection, except by the reader, and in that way are not true detective fiction, more noir, reminding me of earlier times when writers got their start in monthly magazines and sometimes went on to significant careers. So if you like reading early work by writers who might someday be household names, you might take a look.

41ffortsa
Jan 16, 2021, 3:06 pm

5. Cat of the Century by Rita Mae Brown

I usually go to this series for a little thinking break, but this entry was rather dismaying. Aside from an indifferent plot, the story takes multiple breaks for Brown's characters to talk political philosophy of the simplest and most irritating form. Having seen this trend in other books of hers, I must assume the philosophy is the author's own. As I once said to one of my bosses, who hated all taxes and was teaching that to his children, make sure they know where the bucket of asphalt is so they can personally repair the pothole in front of your driveway. He did get the point.

42ffortsa
Jan 16, 2021, 3:48 pm

I added the touchstone brackets and authors to the list of Pulitzer Prize winning novels in post 32, and because I started from the top, the process got me thinking about what we value today verses what we valued decades ago. Some of the older books are true treasures, like The Grapes of Wrath, but some authors are completely unknown to me, suggesting that their value may have diminished over time. What differences are there between the early works and the more recent ones?

On a more technical note, I did the updates in one post modification, and I hope not to have to open that particular post again, because I'm sure to lose all those links. Am I doing something wrong? Losing the links is very annoying.

43FAMeulstee
Jan 16, 2021, 6:54 pm

>42 ffortsa: You are not doing anything wrong Judy, the touchstones are sometimes a bit off.
If you edit a post it can take a long time before all touchstones load. If you get a 504 time out, then you can remove a bracket from the first touchstone, that usually helps to load the others. If you put the bracket back all touchstones should be okay again.

44ffortsa
Jan 16, 2021, 9:58 pm

>43 FAMeulstee: Thanks for answering. I wish that had been my experience, but much of the time touchstones do not reappear even when I retype the entire line. Today, after working on them again, they seem a little more stable. My long list in post 32 was correct after I entered the brackets, which I did all at once, and I didn't dare reopen it to add or change anything! Right now the only one missing is in post 40, and I know the book is catalogued because I added it myself.

My old program testing instincts make me itch sometimes to work on the code (ha, not my language skill set). Oh well. I'll try to be less cranky about it. And thanks again!

45Whisper1
Jan 16, 2021, 10:06 pm

Hi Judy, Like you, I have a copy of The Yiddish Policeman's Union. Unlike you though, I haven't read it. Your review temps me to find the book somewhere in the various stash piles throughout the house!

It is a very cold day. I stayed in all day and read and watched Hulu. They have some very interesting documentaries.

I send all good wishes for you and Jim for a bright, and happy New Year!

46Familyhistorian
Jan 17, 2021, 4:22 pm

The touchstones are very touchy these days. I had them all set in a long list when I realized everything was in bold. When I changed a character to fix that all the touchstones disappeared and I couldn't get them back again.

All the best of the New Year to you, Judy!

47ffortsa
Jan 18, 2021, 9:23 am

>46 Familyhistorian: Thanks for the confirmation, Meg. It's exactly the symptom I've been describing.

48ffortsa
Jan 18, 2021, 11:06 am

Well, my most recent foolish ocd-ish project is done. I've gone to everyone's (first) thread and tried my best to determine whose I would star for the coming year, based rather arbitrarily on how many books we share and what genres they represent. As I indicated, a fool's errand, because I have probably starred half the list. Given that I can't even keep up with some of our more popular individuals, it's ridiculous to think I can keep up with these. (While I was at it, Paul started his third!) But I am eager to meet more of you, so... And yes, I know this might initially prevent me from finding newer members. I'll find you as we go, I hope.

And I managed to keep reading. Now half-way through Olive, Again. Wonderful.

49ffortsa
Jan 18, 2021, 11:40 am

It's amazing what you can learn if you read your own notes. I read a book on the Little Ice Age this past year, couldn't remember who recommended it and also which of the three titles at the library was the one recommended. So I finally LOOKED at my recommendations list and found a) the recommender was Chatterbox and b) I read the wrong book. Sigh. Well, that just means there may be another view of the Little Ice Age coming along some time this year.

50LizzieD
Jan 18, 2021, 12:12 pm

Hi, Judy. I've given up hope that I'll ever be a good presence here, but I do like to try to keep my hand in. I've looked at and rejected for now that Little Ice Age book that was a Kindle deal this past week. Otoh, I'd appreciate your putting your two titles on your thread just in case my mind changes. It will. Meanwhile, I'm kind of sneak-reading Underland and will likely make a go of it sooner rather than later.

51RebaRelishesReading
Jan 18, 2021, 12:22 pm

Congratulations on trying to systematically organize your 75er life, Judy. It sounds like a great idea but you're a braver women than I. Especially early in the year I find it almost impossible to keep up with the 20 or so people I've been following for a few years now.

52katiekrug
Jan 18, 2021, 1:20 pm

>48 ffortsa: - Oh my, Judy. That was ambitious!

I just star my regulars, and if I see someone new posting interesting comments around the threads, I'll go and check theirs out. I find most new people drop off very quickly, so I don't think I miss a lot with my strategy. I would be interested in how many individuals I actually do have starred - I want to say around 15 or 20 maybe?

53ffortsa
Jan 18, 2021, 1:23 pm

I do anticipate dropping some of those stars as the year progresses, but I thought I'd give some new people a try. Of course, I can never keep up with Mark or Paul or Amber or Joe or Katie (that's you, Katie)!

54katiekrug
Jan 18, 2021, 1:26 pm

>52 katiekrug: - Welp, I was way off. I tried counting and got to about 35 across several groups (75ers, Category Challenge, Club Read, and ROOTS) before stopping.

>53 ffortsa: - There's not much to keep up with me - random food chatter and complaining about this, that, or another thing! You can safely skim A LOT.

55ffortsa
Editado: Jan 18, 2021, 5:39 pm

>54 katiekrug: Ah, but your wit and charm make it all worthwhile.

eta: corrected for grammar. (Really, Judy, how could you?)

56katiekrug
Jan 18, 2021, 1:43 pm

>55 ffortsa: - Aw, shucks *blushes*

57ffortsa
Editado: Jan 27, 2021, 12:58 pm

6. Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout

What happens next? After Elizabeth Strout left us with Olive at the end of Olive Kitteridge, she must have asked the same question we all asked., so she had to answer. Sort of like John Le Carre, who said that Smiley was persistent in demanding his own book.

This volume of connected short stories (or is it a novel?) picks up more or less where the first one left off, when Jack asks Olive to stay the night. So we learn how that turns out, and how other people in the town lead their own lives, of how the Burgess boys turn out, for instance, and how some of Olive's students turn out, and finally how Olive herself turns out.

Olive has mellowed a little, or mellows, depending on where in the chronology of her life each story takes place. She is still observing herself, worrying about how she affected others - Henry, Christopher - and still showing her ability to handle what comes along. And what comes along for her and others is loneliness, and the realization that we are all solitary prisoners within our own skin. How can we understand each other, accept each other, help each other get through the lonely lives and certain ends we have?

Lovely, and especially relevant in this year of actual isolation.

58RebaRelishesReading
Jan 19, 2021, 4:41 pm

>57 ffortsa: Thanks for your comments in 57. I've been wondering if I wanted to read Olive, Again but I don't really like short stories (connected ones are better but still..) and I liked, but didn't, love the original Olive. You've made me think I may want to give it a go.

59jnwelch
Jan 19, 2021, 5:04 pm

Happy New Year, Judy. Looks like your reading is going well in the new year. Inauguration eve - we're almost rid of the orange gas bag, and back to our country's true values.

60ffortsa
Jan 20, 2021, 2:03 pm

>58 RebaRelishesReading: I really don't think it's better than the first book, so maybe you don't have to convince yourself to read it.

>59 jnwelch: Well, we got through the inauguration. And the speech was pretty good, down to earth and all that. Now to see how the country reacts.

61ffortsa
Jan 24, 2021, 1:44 pm

Ooo - all my touchstones are back, at least on my tablet. Rejoice!

62PaulCranswick
Jan 24, 2021, 8:19 pm

>61 ffortsa: Yes, the site has been playing up these last couple of days.

Have a great week, Judy.

63ffortsa
Editado: Jan 27, 2021, 1:04 pm

As usual by this time in January, I realize I can't keep track of as many people as I've starred. So if I haven't horned in on your thread in a while, please know that I'm doing my best. I'm always too ambitious, and too curious, to keep the number down.

7. Force of Nature by Jane Harper

I'm really glad I've started this series set in Australia. A good, tight mystery with tangled motives and interesting red herrings, it is set in one of those dreary team-building exercises in the wilderness, which of course goes wrong in devastating ways. Some of that wrongness has nothing to do with the wildness of the Australian bush, but instead the wildness of present-day teenage lives and the pressures of family loyalty. A nice peeling of the onion to get at the truth, and no artificial sweeteners.

64ffortsa
Editado: Jan 27, 2021, 1:13 pm

Late last year, Jim and I read W.G. Sebald's first novel, Vertigo, for one of our f2f reading groups. The discussion was postponed to this month, so it's on my mind. Jim (magicians_nephew has a good review on his thread for this year, so I'll just say that the deliberate mix of truth and fiction, the use of almost random photographs, and the narrator's own disconnection to make for a vertiginous perspective. The themes of memory and the simultaneity of history of place seem to predominate, but below them all is Sebald's own experience of post-war Germany and post-war Europe. It is interesting that Sebald sets the narrator as a restless travelor from England coming to the continent where he grew up, as Sebald did.

65ffortsa
Jan 27, 2021, 5:03 pm

sigh. We've been living without hot water now for oh - about 5 days. Old plumbing finally gave up in this huge building, at least on our west side. It looks like maintenance was put off as long as the relevant parts were working, and now the parts are not available because the system is so old. Reminds me of the voting machines I used when younger.

We do belong to a very bare-bones gym right across the street, so we can shower there if a) we don't hit the max number of people inside in this covid world and b) if we take all the fixings - soap, shampoo, towel. It's not been too bad, but I have heated water on the stove to do the dishes. Shades of Little House on the Prairie. It makes me grateful for the advances in basic technology. I don't think we will see a return of our scalding hot water until next week, and that will be only a temporary fix. So glad I'm not an owner in this building, because it sounds like an assessment is in the works!

66katiekrug
Jan 27, 2021, 5:11 pm

>65 ffortsa: - Well, that sucks. Thank God for the gym membership, but really.

67Oregonreader
Jan 27, 2021, 5:42 pm

Hot showers are too basic to do without, so I agree with Katie, you're lucky to have that gym membership!

68RebaRelishesReading
Jan 27, 2021, 7:12 pm

>65 ffortsa: EEE Gads -- that sounds awful!! Do you have no water at all , or just no hot water? If none at all you must be getting your exercise lugging bottles home. Hope they get it fixed soon and that you have a long-term lease they can't raise to cover that assessment!

69karenmarie
Jan 28, 2021, 12:37 pm

Hi Judy!

>28 ffortsa: I loved The Yiddish Policeman’s Union. I also loved The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, but tried others by Chabon and abandoned them.

>32 ffortsa: I love lists! I’ve read 19 of them and have another 15 on my shelves just waiting for the right time, which sounds much better than that I forget that I have certain books. Thanks for the reminder!

>63 ffortsa: Keeping up with threads has its ups and downs. Here I am and realize I have only visited once, and that was on New Year’s Day.

Jane Harper’s books are so good. Looks like she’s got another new one due out next Tuesday, The Survivors. I’ve already bought so many books this month that I’ll just keep this on my wish list for a while.

>65 ffortsa: What >66 katiekrug: Katie said. I hope you get the hot water back soon.

70ffortsa
Jan 28, 2021, 3:06 pm

water update: supposedly the fix is in for some time tomorrow, but before it's complete they will have to shut off all water again. grump. My housekeeper is supposed to come tomorrow, but without water she can only do half the job, so we will touch base before she leaves her place. No point making the trip if she can't work, and I'm not buying gallons of water for her to wash the floor with.

>69 karenmarie: Jim is a big fan of Kavalier and Clay, but I haven't gotten to it yet. so it's somewhere on my list along with the usual zillions. Right now I'm reading Foreign Affairs for one of my f2f groups meeting via zoom next week.

I'm really glad I found the Jane Harper books. More, more!

And don't fret about not posting. Another thing I have zillions of to read. But it is nice to hear from you from time to time.

71ffortsa
Editado: Jan 28, 2021, 3:28 pm

Jim and I needed to pick up a repaired chair near the Javits Center, so we went there first to see if there was any chance of a walk-in vaccine. No dice, but to get to chair, we walked through Hudson Yards. Here is Jim with a new friend:



and here's another picture, of the Vessel, which has been closed as an attractive nuisance - in other words, a tempting spot for suicides. Sheesh, there's even a central target on the floor inside! Irrisistible.


72RebaRelishesReading
Jan 28, 2021, 4:50 pm

Cool structure -- too bad it's found a sad use though.

73katiekrug
Jan 28, 2021, 5:13 pm

Love Jim and his friend!

I hope they figure out a way to solve the Vessel problem. I would love to go up it...

74brenzi
Jan 28, 2021, 10:08 pm

Hi Judy, I loved The Yiddish Policeman's Union when I read it back in idk 2012 maybe. At any rate it was such a good book. I read about The Vessel being a magnet for suicides. Terrible but maybe the design needed a rethink. Geesh.

I don't follow many more than ten or fifteen people because I just find it impossible to keep up. I do the best I can but that's often not enough. Oh well.

75ffortsa
Jan 29, 2021, 12:53 pm

>72 RebaRelishesReading: , >73 katiekrug:, >74 brenzi:, I did go up in the Vessel last summer with a friend. It's a great Escher-like structure on the inside, and very pretty on a sunny day. There is some sort of mirror in the floor that can be used as a selfy with the structure above you, but of course it makes a great target.

76Whisper1
Jan 29, 2021, 4:46 pm

>57 ffortsa: Your review of Olive Again is incredible. I am on a short list to obtain it from the local library.

I'm so glad I retired when I did. I have so much more time to read. I'm trying to read from my shelves, but as you know, there are always books that we add to the tbr pile from excellent recommendations.

All god wishes to you and Jim. I'm hoping that by summer, I'll be able to take my granddaughter once again to the Natural History Museum. She is 17, and the last time we were there, she was 8.

77ffortsa
Editado: Fev 2, 2021, 7:09 pm

Trials of a high rise building resident: 13 days without hot water. I just discovered it's back, and I can stop playing Little House on the Prairie to wash the dishes. And my hair.

I've started reading 1177 B. C. about the end of the Bronze Age. And I'm listening to Stiff. But I'm trying out Duck Duck Go and the keyboard isn't displaying our beloved touchstone brackets. A mystery.

Eta: might just be my phone keyboard. Same omission in Google.

Eta: spoke too soon about the return of civilized water temperature. Sigh.

But I found the rest of the special characters. And Jim bought Samoas.

78LizzieD
Fev 2, 2021, 3:24 pm

Hi, Judy. That's about it for me. I can tell you straight that nothing is going on at my thread because I'm reading very little and commenting almost not at all. There. That's one you don't even need to consider.
I'm happy to be here though and will keep Olive K. in mind!

79ffortsa
Editado: Fev 2, 2021, 9:05 pm

>78 LizzieD: Ah. You're on my starred list in any case. I'll keep an eye out.

80FAMeulstee
Fev 3, 2021, 2:17 pm

>77 ffortsa: Glad to read the hot water is back, Judy, oh no, now I see it isn't back, sorry!
Nice to see you are reading 1177 B.C., I learned a lot from that book.

81ffortsa
Fev 3, 2021, 5:52 pm

>80 FAMeulstee: Ah, I've totally confused my friends and family now - hot water is tentatively back, but I expect disruptions until the entire system is replaced, years from now.

1177 BC is surprisingly engaging, considering how little background I have in ancient history. I have picked up a little from books like Sapiens and other histories I've dipped into, and a Great Courses audio on Egypt that is surprisingly engaging (the professor loves to talk about 'my man Sneferu').

82ffortsa
Fev 3, 2021, 6:08 pm

8. Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie

When I started this book, it felt like a typical 'Americans in London' or 'academics on holiday' story, and I didn't hold high hopes for it. But it got better, and better, and I even began to like some of the characters. Our reading group discussion started in much the same vein, but people kept talking about it, and I ended the evening thinking I needed to read the whole book again to get under the plot.

Two academics, one toward the end of her career and one at the beginning of his, fly off to London to work off grants in their respective fields. The first could be described as a spinster, although there's more nuance in her life than that word describes, and the other a particularly good-looking young man fleeing a rift in his marriage. Their paths cross in London, and he gets caught up in her circle of London friends. She evades an Oklahoman who talked to her on the flight in; he falls for a beautiful actress. Complications and enlightenments ensue, to varying degrees, for both our protagonists. At least one of them will change.

The novel plays with the idea of surface, depth, the idea of self, and (I think) London as an urban Forest of Arden, where it is possible to 'feeling pursuade' those who visit it what they are, which is why I need to revisit it.

83ffortsa
Editado: Fev 6, 2021, 1:10 pm

Yesterday I needed a destination for my walk, and headed for the Mercer Street used book store. Of course, I ended up buying two books, one by Robert Pinsky, Sadness and Happiness, and a collection by Alice Walker, Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth. I'm trying to get back to reading poetry.

In the meantime, I'm continuing reading 1177 B.C.E.: The Year Civilization Collapsed. My knowledge of Mediterranean ancient history is pretty thin, and the book is somewhat academic, but I'm hanging in. And I'm also listening to Stiff, but my mind tends to wander a bit.

84ffortsa
Editado: Fev 6, 2021, 10:15 pm

So I had to return 1177 BC to the library and expected to be able the check it out electronically again immediately, but NO! twelve holds already. Oh well. I may actually spend money and buy it.

I couldn't bear to stay home today, so Jim and I went up to the Museum of Modern Art to see an exhibit of works on paper, and then spent some time on the top floor, which now holds the earliest parts of the collection, real classics of Matisse and Cezanne and Picasso and O'Keefe. Franz Kline's work started off the exhibit.



A black work on paper by Gunter Brus, a painter I am completely ignorant of, just about leapt off the wall to me. My photograph of it doesn't do it justice.



It was so nice to get out of our neighborhood and uptown, on a lovely day, and see something new. I was completely overwhelmed by the stimulation.

I had forgotten that it was Saturday, and lots of people had the same idea I had. I can't say the museum did much to promote social distancing, alas. The subway was pretty crowded too, at least relatively speaking. Everyone was masked, but it ended up feeling just a little risky.

85karenmarie
Fev 7, 2021, 11:38 am

Hi Judy.

>82 ffortsa: And, on to my wish list it goes!

>84 ffortsa: So nice that you and Jim got to go to a museum, sorry things were crowded on the subway and in the museum.

86ffortsa
Fev 7, 2021, 6:28 pm

I forgot to mention that we saw the movie 'The Dig' last night. Excellent, excellent and moving story. And based on a true happening! Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan are wonderful.

87FAMeulstee
Fev 7, 2021, 6:37 pm

>84 ffortsa: Thank for sharing these works, Judy.
Museums here are closed because of the lockdown, so it is good to see some art here.

88ffortsa
Fev 7, 2021, 6:58 pm

>84 ffortsa: My pleasure. I was so glad to not have to crop them into dots to load them right side up!

I was really excited by the art I saw, enough to call my cousin, an artist in Portland, to ask her how I might start some artistic work. She used to teach art, and still does some seminars sometimes. We had a really good conversation, another joy in this isolating time.

89katiekrug
Fev 8, 2021, 10:14 am

Good to hear 'The Dig' is worthwhile. It's in my queue.

And thanks for the museum/subway report. We'd been idly thinking about going into the city for a change of scenery, but I think not now. We'll just continue to wait.... BLERG.

90ffortsa
Fev 8, 2021, 11:26 am

>89 katiekrug: hm. MoMA used to have member hours, but I don't see that on their website just now. Weekdays are less in demand, of course, and we could go early in the morning (10AM?) and bring you along as guests for $5 a piece. Let me know if you and TW are interested, although I realize he might not be able to get away during the week.

91katiekrug
Fev 8, 2021, 11:34 am

Thanks, Judy. Getting away during the week is hard for both of us. Maybe once we're vaccinated, I'll feel more comfortable and willing to venture out.

92ELiz_M
Editado: Fev 8, 2021, 11:46 am

>84 ffortsa: MoMA isn't doing reservations/timed tickets anymore? I went in Sept and it didn't feel crowded due to the limited capacity. Even in the Judd exhibit it was possible to walk around and keep 6' distant from others.

>89 katiekrug: If you like sculpture and large Artworks, I highly recommend Dia: Beacon. It's a huge space and they're still limiting capacity so it's easy* to be the only person in a room bigger than my studio apartment.

*The torqued ellipses are tricky -- if one spent more than a minute inside it would be hard for other people that just entered the room to know that someone was inside, leading to awkward backing up to let the other person enter/exit the sculpture. I guess one should not lie down on the floor and rest inside them.

93katiekrug
Fev 8, 2021, 11:58 am

>92 ELiz_M: - Dia is on The List. I'm actually thinking of going to Storm King, since at least it's outside. Of course, I'll need it to warm up a bit....

94magicians_nephew
Fev 8, 2021, 2:00 pm

Dia:Beacon is quite a mind-blower. REALLY big pieces yes to walk around inside of and get lost in.

95ffortsa
Fev 8, 2021, 2:28 pm

>92 ELiz_M: MoMA is still doing timed reservations, but evidently they sold a lot of them this weekend. We got scanned and temperature-checked, and in the exhibit of works on paper, people were pretty well spaced, but on the 5th floor where we also had to wait on line to go into the exhibit area it was relatively crowded. Not so much that I had to fight to see the work, which usually happens when there is a museum crowd (or a parade!), but enough so that no one was really paying attention to distance. It caught me when I realized there was a line along one wall of the exhibit and people were rather nonchalant about distance. Maybe, since the exit is not near the entrance to the exhibit, the traffic was controlled by what the museum guard could see in the first area, and viewing backed up after that.

>92 ELiz_M: >93 katiekrug: Dia is great. We haven't been to Storm King yet. Maybe this summer?

96ffortsa
Fev 8, 2021, 2:34 pm

9. The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lilian Jackson Braun

This series is my go-to for dumb reading. But this early entry was unusually interesting, and without some of the tics that accumulate in the later part of the series. Qwilleran is assigned to a home decor supplement, but the weekly assignments seem to lead to burglary and death. This is back when Q was still working, still living in a city, and just in the process of acquiring his cats. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

97ffortsa
Editado: Fev 9, 2021, 12:26 pm

10. Stiff by Mary Roach

I listened to this while exercising or walking outdoors, and that's probably the only reason I finished it. Someone told me to check for footnotes, that they were the funniest, and I had a paperback copy so I did. It was not enough. Roach couldn't make me care much, especially through the second half of the book, except for the chapter on the Swedish woman campaigning to make us all fertilizer, which sounds find to me. so this one is going out the door.

98katiekrug
Fev 9, 2021, 12:38 pm

>97 ffortsa: - Sorry that one didn't work for you, Judy. I listened to it several years ago and found it very interesting and very funny. Different strokes and all that! Onward...

99ffortsa
Fev 9, 2021, 5:30 pm

Jim found out by accident today that Walgreens has covid vaccines and appointment available, at least in NYC. We are set for Friday (assuming they don't cancel - should I throw some salt?).

100AnneDC
Fev 9, 2021, 11:21 pm

Harking back to the beginning of your thread, I loved your comments about The Yiddish Policemen's Union. I've had that one on the shelf for ages, and I loved Kavalier and Clay--I don't know why I've never gotten to it but you've convinced me!

And I've been interested in The Dig so glad to hear it's good.

Good luck with the vaccine!

101ffortsa
Editado: Fev 10, 2021, 2:09 pm

11. Grey Mask by Patricia Wentworth

Ah, the best laid plans. Several LT mystery lovers have talked about Miss Silver recently. I've read one or two later titles, according to my LT records, but beginnings are always interesting. So I thought I'd read one more easy-to-digest mystery before my next planned books, and ended up finishing at 2:30 AM.

Miss Silver's debut mystery is classic English upper class in form and substance, but somehow I couldn't stop reading it. Completely enigmatic, she is always one step ahead of our hero, politely letting him take on all the exciting bits and romantic rewards. Love and justice win out. Did you doubt it?

102ffortsa
Fev 10, 2021, 7:28 pm

Hooray! We have confirmed appointments for our first and second vaccine shots! First one is Friday.

103RebaRelishesReading
Fev 11, 2021, 5:21 pm

>102 ffortsa: Congratulations, Judy!! I know that wonderful "finally" feeling :)

104ffortsa
Fev 15, 2021, 11:32 am

Hm. February's half over and I'm not keeping pace. On the list for the next couple of weeks:

Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry - for a zoom meeting next Tuesday
Emma by Jane Austen - for a zoom the last week of the month
Paradise by Toni Morrison - for the read together thread here on LT.

My task list at home is piling up and it's hard to ignore, so my reading time has been sporadic. And thread-reading of course. Sigh.

105ffortsa
Fev 15, 2021, 2:15 pm

My poor sister in San Antonio is suddenly faced with winter. Temperatures in the single digits, ice on the roads, a house with no insulation because, hey, it's hot down there! She thought she was escaping when she moved from the upper midwest. Meanwhile, here in NYC, it's just winter as we know it. Another month to go and we'll be near the equinox, and all will be well. Good thing she's a reader and can read about warm places.

106katiekrug
Fev 15, 2021, 2:19 pm

>105 ffortsa: - Yes, my family and friends in Texas are Not Amused...

107RebaRelishesReading
Fev 15, 2021, 2:44 pm

>105 ffortsa: Rather amused to read that your sister's house in San Antonio has no insulation "because it's hot" -- I would have a LOT of insulation in my house if I lived in San Antonio because it's hot there. (besides I've been snowed on in Austin which isn't that much further north).

108ffortsa
Fev 15, 2021, 11:46 pm

>107 RebaRelishesReading:. I've often thought that a cost benefit analysis of insulating her house might prove she could save enough in the summers to make it pay, but she may have checked that already. And I'm not sure if it's the whole house or just the additions put on before she bought it.

Good news is she doesn't have to get in the car and go anywhere until the roads are ice free.

109ffortsa
Fev 18, 2021, 10:43 am

12. Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry

Review shortly

13. @ The Case is Closed by Patricia Wentworth

I should never start a romantic English mystery story at 10PM.

110Berly
Fev 20, 2021, 3:05 pm

Hi Judy! Okay, random thoughts as I try to catch up here....Love the museum photos. Haven't been to ours in 6 months. Hope your sister gets power soon--mine was out for a few days. I really need to find my copy of Paradise. And...

Laughing at with you: "I should never start a romantic English mystery story at 10PM."

111karenmarie
Fev 20, 2021, 9:58 pm

Hi Judy!

>86 ffortsa: Bill and I watched The Dig last week and loved it.

>102 ffortsa: Congrats on getting scheduled for your Covid shots, and I hope that you were both able to get your first one already.

112LizzieD
Fev 20, 2021, 10:37 pm

Catching up, enjoying your trek to MoMA and movie, and taking BBs for *1177* and the Lurie. I'll also want the Rome Burning book. I'm confused though.... Amazon shows BC and Rome as books 2 and 3 in the series, but nothing for book 1. Do you know?
Glad you got your first shot, I hope! We are both complete and will be as protected as possible next week. My ma gets her second shot on the 26th. Whew.

113BLBera
Fev 22, 2021, 1:29 pm

Hi Judy: Michael Chabon is one of my favorite writers. I was also a fan of Yiddish Policeman's Union.

Good luck with the COVID shots - I am also waiting for mine.

Stay well. I hope your water is back and sufficiently hot.

114ffortsa
Fev 22, 2021, 1:41 pm

>111 karenmarie: We got our first shots, and are due for the second in the middle of March. Greatly relieved.

>112 LizzieD: I didn't realize 1177 was part of a series. I'll look around for the first one. Incidentally, I returned it to the library on time, assuming I could get it back quickly, but not luck. I finally used one of my many Audible credits for the audio.

>113 BLBera: about the shots, see above. We were very lucky to discover the supply before it became widely known. I hope you get a slot soon.

Water remains iffy, sometimes wonderfully hot, sometimes only warm. We are in a line that has had more trouble than the rest of the building, and supposedly a special valve is on order. We live in hope.

And thanks all for visiting.

I'm neck-deep in Paradise at the moment. Didn't realize it was so long. It will bear rereading at some time, just to get the families straight.

115ffortsa
Fev 22, 2021, 1:50 pm

Today I trekked uptown for my semi-annual glaucoma check (all satisfactory) and by the time I got out, it was snowing those big, wet, picturesque flakes. Since it wasn't cold I walked over the Central Park just to see the trees in the snow. By the time I got downtown, it was raining those big, floppy raindrops, and I took my life in my hands (really sneakers) to walk over to 5th Ave. to take a picture of a tree that looks pretty interesting in the snow. If it looks good enough, I'll post it. It was so nice to get out in this gentle weather.

116RebaRelishesReading
Fev 23, 2021, 12:29 pm

>115 ffortsa: Your walk today sounds lovely (as does having water that is at least warm)! Congratulations on "passing" your glaucoma check and on getting your first Covid shot. I relate to that relieved feeling. We're due #2 a week from today :)

117ffortsa
Editado: Fev 23, 2021, 3:30 pm

14. Paradise by Toni Morrison

There's a whole group thread for this book this year, but I copy my remarks here:

Great discussion. Sorry I wasn't able to start the book sooner, and add my two cents as the thread went on. I finished about an hour ago, and I'm relieved that others found it confusing, not just me!

I found the writing quite powerful, the characters as well, although I wish I had Pat's genealogy to guide me! Next time I read it, I will at least keep track of who married whom and which children belonged to which family.

As for the reality of the women at the Convent, I never doubted it. How their bodies disappeared is certainly a mystery, as is (to me) that door or window that Richard and Anna sense in the garden. I think Mavis might be alive at the end - when her daughter embraces her she winces - but maybe not. I think Pallas is certainly dead, as is her baby, because she doesn't answer or look at her mother later when she comes back for her shoes, carrying the baby. I don't know if Lone was able to employ her power to restore any of them, but it's a possibility.

The story of exclusive communities is very old, of course, and we still carry that in some parts of our society today. It's meant as a bulwark against change and contamination, but without change thoughts and habits ossify. The nine families recoil from the hurt of exclusion (no room at the inn for them) into themselves. I was a little surprised that the young men of the latter generation went off to war - so little mention was made of the government I thought the town was itself invisible. But of course, once the boys see the realities of the outside world, it's harder to keep new ideas out. And then the very personal damage that can be caused by exclusion becomes overt. See Richard's quoted remarks in >102 ffortsa: katiekrug: above.

Much more to be said, if I can think of it. This book certainly bears careful rereading, but I don't expect that to explain things.

I'll go check other's posts on their own threads now. I've been passing them by until I'd finished my own read.

118katiekrug
Fev 23, 2021, 3:49 pm

Great comments, Judy.

119ffortsa
Fev 24, 2021, 9:30 pm

15. Lonesome Road by Patricia Wentworth

Oops, I did it again.

120ffortsa
Fev 26, 2021, 1:30 pm

A moment to step away from books to recommend (to anyone who hasn't heard her) the Thursday talks of Heather Cox Richardson, in which she discusses her specialty as a Harvard history professor, Reconstruction. It has been a wonderfully presented story, and yesterday she arrived at the crux of the dismantling of the program, and it sounds JUST LIKE TODAY. No joke. The same arguments, the same tactics, done of course by the party that was then called the Democrats, but who had substantially the same motives and reasons as the current Republican Party. The history is really enlightening.

Her posts are available on Facebook; not sure of the videos.

121ffortsa
Fev 27, 2021, 7:13 pm

16. The Tenant by Katrine Engberg

Great start to a series. And not without its humor, in spite of rather grisly doings. I laughed out loud when one of the detectives asked "Tell me, are we in the middle of some f*****g crime novel, or what?" to which the answer, of course, was yes.

122ffortsa
Editado: Fev 28, 2021, 6:11 pm

I just returned to my quixotic project of reading all saved my New Yorkers, and came across one issue with goodies in it. Daniel Mendelsohn reviewed three books that base themselves on classics, and one I think might be really interesting is David Malouf's Ransom, based on the last book of the Iliad. Has anyone read this?

123magicians_nephew
Mar 1, 2021, 4:20 pm

>121 ffortsa: Professor Richardson's Facebook page has a section that links to all the Thursday Videos, going back to last year.

Also links to her Tuesday talks which are more Q&A and more to do with modern current events.

124ffortsa
Mar 2, 2021, 11:10 pm

17. Emma by Jane Austen

125ffortsa
Editado: Mar 3, 2021, 5:57 pm

17. Emma (Jane Austen: The Complete Novels)

This was my second reading of Emma, and my disposition must have changed since the first time, because I didn't find it anywhere near as funny as I once did. But oh, the fine class distinctions to be made! Austen has a finely calibrated eye. An additional interest - the effect of the industrial revolution on that class ladder. Mr. Coles has made his money in Birmingham! How could anyone make money in Birmingham?

126ffortsa
Editado: Mar 4, 2021, 4:46 pm

We paid a good bit of money some years ago for a convertible couch for the living room. It's a really nice pullout bed, but the couch cushions were getting flatter and flatter, and I was recommended to a place that works almost entirely with foam for couches, pillows, beds, etc. It was very reasonable to get the seat cushions refilled, and I wanted a firm seat.

Well, we definitely got what we asked for! Maybe just a little too firm. But a victory for action over procrastination.

Now I'd better stop procrastinating and practice my E Major scales.

127Whisper1
Mar 4, 2021, 8:34 pm

>115 ffortsa: Your walk sounds lovely!

128EBT1002
Mar 4, 2021, 11:00 pm

>120 ffortsa: I read Heather's newsletter every day. I haven't listened to the Thursday talk but might give it a try. I think she is really insightful.

>114 ffortsa: I get my second shot this Sunday. Light at the end of this terrible tunnel.

129PaulCranswick
Mar 6, 2021, 6:16 am

>125 ffortsa: Made me smile Judy. I went to the University of Warwick in the English midlands and lived during the time in Coventry. It is overshadowed by its noisy and polluted neighbour, Birmingham and I developed a curious dislike for Birmingham which seemed common for all inhabitants of Coventry!

130ArlieS
Editado: Mar 6, 2021, 1:30 pm

>49 ffortsa: What's the name of the good little ice age book? It sounds like something I'd want to read.

>102 ffortsa: Grats on the vaccine

131jnwelch
Mar 6, 2021, 3:07 pm

Hi, Judy.

I hope you liked Night Boat to Tangier. I thought it was great. Did Samuel Beckett come to mind while you were reading it? It struck me as a funny and much talkier SB in places.

If you get a chance to see Anya Taylor-Joy's "Emma" on tv (it's the newest one), she's really, really good in it. I sought it out after she was such a marvel in The Queen's Gambit.

132ffortsa
Editado: Mar 6, 2021, 7:02 pm

>129 PaulCranswick: Hi, Paul. I could imagine a belching industrial city was not well appreciated in the countryside. I did appreciate how Austen slipped the comment in to show the shift. Much of what we see on British TV shows the lovely country villages, as if nothing much has changed in the last 100 years, but Birmingham is just over the horizon for Emma and the town.

>130 ArlieS: Hi Arlie. There are two, one that I read was The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History 1300-1850 by Brian M. Fagan. Its main focus is Europe, and I found the story gripping. It must have been so hard to live with such uncertainty - at one point I got rather upset.

The other is called Nature's Mutiny: How the Little Ice Age of the Long Seventeenth Century Transformed the West and Shaped the Present by Philipp Blom. I think that's the one Suzanne liked (could be wrong - there were three titles in all.)

>131 jnwelch: Oh, we all liked it very much. Of course it reminded us of the Becket, but the backstory of the two men and the two women put a weight behind the present story that I really appreciated. It's no wonder they didn't recognize Dilly - they were so absorbed in their own past.

133RebaRelishesReading
Mar 6, 2021, 8:02 pm

Congratulations on reviving your couch!!

134ffortsa
Mar 7, 2021, 12:18 pm

>133 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks! I finally feel like I've gotten something done. Maybe now I'll repaint the bathroom.

135ffortsa
Editado: Mar 7, 2021, 4:19 pm

18. The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths

Ah, how nice to be back with Ruth G. and the Saltmarsh and all that. The knots in the romantic part of this ongoing story are ongoing, of course. In the mystery part, young, tall women are being killed with remarkable regularity. The whole cast is present, and a few little twists add spice.

And what a pleasant day. The apartment building we live in has two tall bookshelves in the laundry room, and people are free to bring down their unwanted volumes and take whatever they find. A few months ago, the woman who volunteered to keep the swap shelves neat had a fight with the board, and she's quite old and frightened of covid, so the shelves were not managed. I bought some shelf anchors to replace the missing ones, and spent about an hour resetting the shelves and making the book titles as visible as possible. There are a lot of good books down there (someone has given up an entire set of Trollope paperbacks, for instance), more than we should have, and there were precious few I felt could be tossed out (how about a Zagat guide from 2008?). The only one I took for myself was a vegan cookbook, because I never know what to do to add vegetables to our admittedly animal-heavy diet. But my mind will be circling back to the titles down there, I know. Whatever isn't on my Kindle already is fair game.

And we listened to 'Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me' and the first lesson of a series on Bach, and finished the laundry, and the sun is shining, even if it is cold out, and I read my book.

136RebaRelishesReading
Mar 8, 2021, 1:56 pm

Glad you had a pleasant, productive day and how nice you got the laundry room book exchange sorted out. Hope today is going well too.

137FAMeulstee
Mar 9, 2021, 2:28 pm

>135 ffortsa: Good work on the bookshelves, Judy. Are you the designated volonteer now?

138ffortsa
Mar 9, 2021, 2:31 pm

>137 FAMeulstee: I really don't know. One of the building staff passed and told me that the super had asked him who was responsible for the bookshelves, so I might end up neatening them up from time to time, either officially or unofficially. Either way it's ok with me!

139ffortsa
Mar 9, 2021, 2:37 pm

I think age has a way of catching up, even when one still feels 35. My hemoglobin count is in question, and that's never been the case before. Of course, my doctor wants to rule out dire straits, but while various tests are percolating, I looked up iron uptake with Dr. Google, and the contradictory information abounds. The one constant - coffee and tea interfere with iron absorption. Now that might be REALLY bad news! I'm hoping the more refined test comes back better, and I can simply add back into my routine some of the delicious dinners I've left behind these days. Big dinner salads, chicken livers, etc. I am mindful more and more that my mother must have spent quite some time thinking about what she fed us, as all the advice I hear, except for the frequency of steak, reinforces her habits (in spite of the fact that we often had vegetables for dessert, because she left them on the stove!)

140PaulCranswick
Mar 9, 2021, 2:58 pm

>139 ffortsa: Yikes if the coffee and tea interference is correct then I really should be anaemic!

141RebaRelishesReading
Mar 9, 2021, 3:55 pm

>139 ffortsa: I loved "vegetables for dessert because she left them on the stove" -- I may smile about that off and on all day :)

142karenmarie
Mar 10, 2021, 9:37 am

Hi Judy!

>114 ffortsa: Yes, relief was, and is, major. I’m officially fully vaccinated today, 2 weeks after my second shot.

Couch cushions, library shelves, etc.

>139 ffortsa: I hope the reason is minor and easily fixable.

143ArlieS
Mar 10, 2021, 1:36 pm

>140 PaulCranswick: Me too - Coffee is currently one of the simple pleasures I can still enjoy, unlike most sweets (sadly, I'm "pre-diabetic", and was forced to cut way back - the sweetest thing I eat these days is ripe fruit).

144ffortsa
Mar 11, 2021, 1:02 pm

>143 ArlieS: I suspect I am too, since I've gained back weight this year, although it's not really showing up on any tests yet. I'd like to get these 10 lbs. off!

>142 karenmarie: Ah, you're a few days ahead of me on the vaccine. Friday is the big day.

>141 RebaRelishesReading: It's one of many fond memories of her

>140 PaulCranswick: And so should at least half of the people in this group!

145ffortsa
Mar 12, 2021, 5:21 pm

Shot number two done! Yay! Jim gets his tomorrow. Another Yay!

Currently reading The Red and the Black by Stendhal, a reread for our uptown book circle, and also Bluebird, Bluebird. The library copy of the Stendhal is the Norton Edition, but the type is so small I will have to use Jim's Kindle copy. The footnote type is even smaller, of course. Too bad. At least the walk down to the library on Mulberry Street was nice. The librarian was very put out that I hadn't remembered to request it before I went to pick it up (covid rules), and he had to go down to get it from the shelves RIGHT THEN. Maybe I interrupted some very important work of his. Or he just didn't want to have to hand it to me. My bad.

146RebaRelishesReading
Mar 13, 2021, 6:25 pm

Hooray for second shots!! I'm so glad that "I've just had my second shot" is becoming a pretty common statement!!

147ffortsa
Mar 14, 2021, 1:19 pm

>146 RebaRelishesReading: Yes, I'm glad I was able to complete the regimen, even though the second shot flattened me for a day. Small price to pay, I think.

I'm not really happy with Bluebird, Bluebird, but I'm not sure why. Certainly the racism portrayed is real enough, but I think the central character is not resonating with me on other levels. And I'm sorry that I'm committed to The Red and the Black. The last time I read it, my review indicates I liked it. Maybe I'm just not interested in this kind of novel, or age of novel, at this moment. Oh well. Nothing forcing me to finish either of them.

148RebaRelishesReading
Mar 14, 2021, 1:55 pm

>147 ffortsa: Hope whatever you choose next works out better for you, Judy.

149ffortsa
Mar 15, 2021, 5:59 pm

So I went downstairs for something and found two or three of those bookshelves I had neatened up completely empty. I suspect someone gave books to one of the street book venders; we have a lot of them, as they are protected by the rules of free speech from being hassled by the cops. The timing amuses me.

I'm crawling through the Stendhal, but it's marginally better in type I can read. What an unpleasant central character.

150BLBera
Mar 18, 2021, 11:30 am

I'm behind here, Judy, but I enjoyed your comments on Paradise.

>120 ffortsa: The Richardson talks sound good; I'll search them out.

I'm also happy to see another Ruth Galloway fan. I'm waiting for the new one.

151jnwelch
Mar 20, 2021, 9:42 pm

Congratulations on you and Jim getting fully vaccinated, Judy. What a load off the mind, right? Just as better weather is coming around.

152ffortsa
Mar 21, 2021, 8:59 pm

20. The Red and the Black by Stendhal, trans. by Horace B. Samuel

Maybe it's the translation, maybe just the span of years, but 10 years ago, according to my notes, I found this book rather fun. This time around, I was impatient with what felt like a soap opera, in spite of the introspective analysis. Discussion tomorrow night.

21. From Doon With Death by Ruth Rendell

This first Wexford police procedural shows its age; its 1964 moral stereotypes date the story badly. I had the answer way before the plodding detectives figure it out, and then, oh horrors! the truth is revealed. I shouldn't make fun of it. At least Rendell acknowledged such things could happen. But she conforms to the hysteria of the day, alas.

153ffortsa
Mar 21, 2021, 9:14 pm

Spring has hit NYC exactly on time! I took a long walk through Soho and Tribeca (areas south of me) and then over to the park on the west edge of Manhattan before heading home. It seemed like half of the borough was outside today. I didn't have any books I wanted to listen to on my iPod, so I hit the podcasts instead. I don't recall Freakonomics being so boring EVER, but Hidden Brain came through. I need some new podcasts. Any suggestions?

154karenmarie
Mar 22, 2021, 8:18 am


>152 ffortsa: I’d already read quite a few in the Wexford series by the time I read From Doon to Death in 2010. It’s my least favorite of the series. My absolutely favorite book by Rendell is A Judgment in Stone.

155ffortsa
Mar 22, 2021, 3:33 pm

>154 karenmarie: good to know! Thanks.

156Berly
Mar 23, 2021, 1:06 am

Hurray for the second shot! I am scheduled for Sunday. Can not wait. : )

157ffortsa
Mar 23, 2021, 11:20 am

>156 Berly: Oh, that's great.

158LizzieD
Mar 25, 2021, 12:06 am

I've sort of caught up, Judy. Glad for spring and for vaccine! Sorry about *Bluebird 2*.

I came looking for the hairdo. How is it???

159ffortsa
Mar 25, 2021, 5:51 pm

>158 LizzieD: oh, I'll try to get a pic of it later today, when Jim is back from his Queens sojourn. No good trying to do it myself. My hair is substantially more curly than A.B.'s hair, or else she has a lot of gel in it to make the curls individual on the top. It's pretty good.

160ffortsa
Mar 25, 2021, 6:29 pm

I was walking back from the midtown branch of the library today, in a t-shirt and chinos, amazed at all the people still in their puffy winter coats, completely zipped up, when it was 64F and blazing sun. Weren't they just a little bit warm??

As some of you may know, I have a terrible quixotic project of reading all the New Yorkers I have saved over the years, even as I slip farther and farther behind. I thought when I retired I'd surge ahead, but it hasn't happened yet. However, once in a while, I remember why I am doing this. The April 19, 2010 issue (Journeys) is so crammed with wonderful essays it feels profligate, especially as the the issues on either side are so meh.
There are the following:

- a story of a Swede, S.A. Andree, who in 1897 decided to sail over the North Pole in a hydrogen balloon, with predictable results
- an essay on what it was like to come back to the U.S., especially the Western U.S., after 15 years in China
- a food safari in which a Turkish-American seeking his roots encounters a chef, Musa Dagdeviren, determined to rescue the distinctive regional varieties of Turkish cuisine, which includes the acquisition of four turkey hens; after the first one is dispatched in the midst of the flock, "The other turkeys seemed to view these developments with mild concern. Those which had been walking in the direction of the creek casually changed course and walked elsewhere..."
- a profile of George Steinmetz, many of whose breathtaking aerial photographs we've all seen in National Geographic and elsewhere, who is in love with the Sahara desert and flies above it and other places in a single wing kite-like contraption of his own making
- a profile of the life of tugboat pilots, and one in particular who built his own boats and works the ports in Louisiana and the Caribbean, as well as anywhere else he gets work, including a circumnavigation of the globe
- an article on the feud between Harold Ross, founder of the New Yorker, and Henry Luce, founder of Time, Life, Fortune, etc.
- a scathing review of Kitty Kelly's rather unsuccessful bio of Oprah Winfrey

IN ONE ISSUE.

161ffortsa
Editado: Abr 12, 2021, 11:54 am

As I said, I don't look like Annette Bening.





I especially like the shape of the back.

162Familyhistorian
Mar 26, 2021, 12:27 am

>161 ffortsa: Looks good, Judy.

I read Nature's Mutiny: How the Little Ice Age of the Long Seventeenth Century Transformed the West and Shaped the Present and thought it was a good one. It was interesting how he linked the little ice age to what is happening today.

163ffortsa
Mar 26, 2021, 12:49 pm

>162 Familyhistorian: Good to know. I'll get to it - eventually!

164RebaRelishesReading
Mar 26, 2021, 1:00 pm

>161 ffortsa: Love it!! Wish my hair would do that.

165ffortsa
Editado: Mar 28, 2021, 1:27 pm

22. Still Midnight by Denise Mina

Something of a rescue from a book funk, this is the first in a series, by an author whose other work, starting with Garnethill, I really adored. Gritty Scottish police procedural in which everyone is carrying their own personal pain. Nicely complicated by unexpected family ties, too.

First of the Alex Morrow books, dealing with immigrants in Scotland, mixing in organized crime, Morrow's personal grief at losing a child and almost losing a marriage, systemic misogyny and grim police work.

And already on my ebook shelf! Hurrah.

166ffortsa
Editado: Abr 7, 2021, 12:43 pm

23. Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter

Placeholder for after our discussion tomorrow. I'm very interested to hear what others find in this novel.

eta: I feel that I read this book without much analytic effort, and the discussion we had put me back in that frame. It's a pretty wild ride, in which we meet a woman with wings and hear her story, or stories, told to a young reporter. She performs in a circus, and he decides to join the circus to learn more about her and the circus world - or does he join for other reasons he can't articulate? As they travel from London to St. Petersburg to Siberia, the reporter joins the troupe of clowns, participates in an act with tigers, and is rescued by Siberian tribesmen and coached to become a shaman. The winged woman, having spent much of her life posing for the male gaze, flees a magical entrapment, frees other women from strange entrapments, and almost loses her power (as does her dresser/companion). Magic, music, time control, female freedom and power, and the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries, all figure in this wild ride in which the characters move from artifice to authenticity, or civilization to nature.

One of our readers found an article analyzing the story against the career of Margaret Thatcher, but I haven't seen the details. You certainly don't need that to follow the story. The language is wonderful, and I will look for more Carter in the future.

167ffortsa
Abr 6, 2021, 5:47 pm

I've drawn a line under all the threads that I couldn't get to, holding on to only the most current. I'll try to keep up from here, but most likely I'll be doing the same thing at the end of the second quarter of the year. It does seem that everyone is reading fascinating stuff! Happy Spring!

168karenmarie
Editado: Abr 6, 2021, 7:42 pm

>161 ffortsa: I love that cut, Judy! It’s shaped beautifully and looks like it’s easy to maintain.

169ffortsa
Abr 7, 2021, 12:29 pm

>168 karenmarie: I do absolutely nothing but comb it a little when wet. It's great. Thanks.

170ffortsa
Abr 8, 2021, 3:18 pm

24. A Question of Belief by Donna Leon

A solid entry in the series, this story sticks close to Venice, confronting the murder of a model civil servant and the effects of a fraudulent spiritual and medical advisor on the elderly. The murder derails a part of Guido's participation in a family vacation in the mountains during a terribly hot season, and as usual the reader can feel the implacable heat and sun.

171ffortsa
Abr 8, 2021, 5:30 pm

I'm about to give one of my old New Yorkers to a friend with whom I've read both the Iliad and the Odyssey, because it has a review by Daniel Mendelsohn of three modern books that play with these classics. They are

The Infinities by John Banville
Ransom by David Malouf
The Lost Books of the Odyssey by Zachary Mason

I haven't read any of them, but they sound very interesting, and Mendelsohn is very complimentary about their complexity and themes. So I'm listing them here so I'll remember them. The magazine was from 2010!

172ffortsa
Editado: Abr 9, 2021, 9:48 pm

A small obsession today. I had listed a variety of books on my wishlist collection, and then never looked at them again, and I don't even recall where the recs came from. So I transferred them to a spreadsheet I've been keeping, and deleted them from my collections. It just made me annoyed with myself when one of the titles showed up in 'books you should borrow' or other comparisons. So they are cleared now. And the titles are a little fresher in my mind.

Part of my obsession for doing that is my disgruntled-ness about reading choices. I just don't know what I want to read next. There is a title due for one of my book clubs later this month, but it won't fill the time, of course. Maybe it's the comparative isolation (I mean, it's not like I'm all alone as many of us are - I've got Jim!). But I'm restless.

Lots of books 'to read' in house, of course.

And my violin teacher suggested I might like to take part in a student recital in June. NO NO NO NO NO. Sheesh. (I know it was a compliment, but I'm not in this for the pressure!)

173ffortsa
Abr 11, 2021, 5:05 pm

25. Beautiful Girl: Stories by Alice Adams

It's been a long time since I've read anything by Alice Adams, and I pulled this book off the shelf because of that, and because it was the first alphabetically in my fiction section.

It is a set of stories about women, most, but not all, white women from the south; most, but not all, divorced or many times married, most sad in some defined or undefined way. It is most often a picture of a time when marriage was a social goal, career an afterthought or discouraged, children freer than they seem today, or less cared for. In those set in the south, the awareness of race and class are prominent themes. Many of the stories are told by or about children as witness to the adults in their lives.
That makes the stories sound unredeemably sad, but not entirely. Happiness is sometimes thwarted, or sometimes offstage, or sometimes reported after the fact. It's not the interesting part.

The earliest story is from 1959, the last from 1978, and the social fabric changes in a way I recognize, having lived through it, albeit without the prevalence of alcohol and divorce. They would certainly fail the Bechtel test - but then, I think the whole era would have, wouldn't it?

174ffortsa
Editado: Abr 12, 2021, 11:56 am



Found on a walk on 5th Avenue on Saturday

175katiekrug
Abr 12, 2021, 12:04 pm

That's beautiful, Judy!

176ffortsa
Editado: Abr 12, 2021, 12:06 pm

>175 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie. Amazing what one can do with a cellphone these days. All real credit, of course, to Mother Nature.

177jessibud2
Abr 12, 2021, 3:22 pm

Gorgeous shot! I believe that is a ranuncula, one of my faves!

178ffortsa
Abr 12, 2021, 6:03 pm

>177 jessibud2: Thanks! I don't take my camera out as often as I should, but the phone is always a resource. I didn't know the name of this flower, but it's a beauty.

179jessibud2
Abr 12, 2021, 7:14 pm

Google ranuncula. You will see they come in a wide variety of colours. My favourites are the deep reds and the yellows. I have also bought them in white and placed them together in a planter. They don't last very long but it's worth it for the beauty they show while they last.

180ffortsa
Abr 16, 2021, 2:05 pm

26. Gun Street Girl by Adrian McKinty

This series gets better and better. I love the way McKinty weaves through known historical events, and in this case what we know as history makes the story stunningly believable. It's 1985, Belfast is blowing up, and arms dealers are sniffing out opportunities for materials, but which way are they going, and to whom? And what does a double murder have to do with anything? And how does Sean contend with all the substances he puts in his body?

181vivians
Abr 16, 2021, 4:27 pm

>180 ffortsa: I've been loving this series too, Judy. I know he has some stand alone books but I haven't read any. I follow him on Twitter - he's a New Yorker now!

182ffortsa
Abr 17, 2021, 1:20 pm

Every once in a while, I try to get rid of books. Not easy, but the mystery shelves are a prime target, as most of the series books I read I can get at the library anyway, digitally. Today I gave away two Donna Leon books with the same title - how did that happen? I was going to keep two others I found that I haven't read yet, but the library has the e-books, so I'll give them up too. Every little bit counts.

183karenmarie
Abr 17, 2021, 2:38 pm

Hi Judy!

>174 ffortsa: Beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

>180 ffortsa: I acquired the first 6 in this series from a member of the Friends of the Library who said I could take whatever I wanted from her 32-bag book donation in January as long as I’d take the rest of the books for the Friends so she wouldn’t have to ‘recycle’ them. *shudder* Guess I should start the series soon.

184brenzi
Abr 17, 2021, 8:50 pm

>174 ffortsa: Wow! That is beautiful Judy. On 5th Avenue?

I've just got caught upon your thread finally. I love your haircut and am very jealous of the curls. I want to start the Adrian McGinty series. Everybody seems to love it.

185ffortsa
Abr 20, 2021, 11:31 am

>184 brenzi: Thanks for the curl love. Sometimes they get ahead of me, so to speak. And thanks for the comment on the flower.

Yesterday I went uptown to meet friends at a tulip festival in a vest-pocket park on W. 89th Street. Glorious. There wasn't quite enough sun to get the best pictures, but I have some I might share.

The McKinty series is really interesting. You can miss the history unless you're looking for it, until the end when it all comes together. And you really get the feel of Northern Ireland in the Troubles. Unfortunately, it looks like he may have more history to weave in these days!

186ffortsa
Editado: Abr 27, 2021, 10:07 am

27. Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor

We discussed this in one of our Zoom book circle sessions last night. Lots of variable response.

Hazel Motes comes back from war totally abandoned, and the guilt he carries is transforms him into a preacher of the Church without Christ, a stubborn rejection of salvation. He encounters false preachers, one presumably blind, one eager to gull people out of their money; women who are easy, or manipulative, or both; a young man desperate for meaning, all vividly portrayed.

I must say I was mesmerized by the intense , grotesque characters, and the magnificent language. The novel stitches together several short stories, which are O'Connor's forte, but it flowed well for me. And the portrayal of intense guilt struggling with faith was very powerful.

Each character is intensified, even the minor ones, so that it is as if the reader entered a nightmare world where people pursue their objectives with single-minded determination, finding nothing but obstacles. One character becomes something of a saint; another something of an animal. I couldn't look away.

187ffortsa
Abr 24, 2021, 5:25 pm

I've suddenly noticed how many people praise Val McDermid, whose work I've never read. Might someone suggest where I should start?

188karenmarie
Abr 24, 2021, 8:50 pm

I've recently read the first three in the Karen Pirie series by McDermid and can recommend them highly. I literally just got the fourth - Out of Bounds - in the mail today and will probably read it in a week or so. I read The Grave Tattoo in 2012, and although I can't remember anything about it rated it 4*.

189ffortsa
Abr 25, 2021, 1:00 pm

I posted this on Beth's thread, but it really belongs here, as it's all about ME.

Hi, Beth. Your discussion on your last thread, about what to do with items left behind by one's family, is much on my mind. I've gotten rid of a lot of things now that both my parents are gone, but some items linger. Most of the paper is gone. I've scanned most of the pictures, sometimes wondering why I was doing it and who would look at them down the road. There's only one child, now grown, among my siblings, and I doubt he is interested.

As for true artifacts, my father's little medals for honor society awards in middle school and high school - who knew about them? His wedding band, which he never wore. His father's naturalization certificate! A few other small things like that. My maternal grandfather's accordian-style corkscrew. My mother's china, which is simple and beautiful, but I don't give dinner parties.

I'm also in the process of getting rid of my own things, slowly but surely. No children to inherit. Not much of value except my violin and some limited edition books. I suspect it would be nice to 'travel' light.

190Familyhistorian
Abr 27, 2021, 12:46 am

I've just started reading Val McDermid myself. I began with the Karen Pirie series. The first one was The Distant Echo and I recently finished A Darker Domain which was the second in the series and also very good.

191ffortsa
Abr 27, 2021, 10:11 am

28. The Long Call by Ann Cleeves

I found this first of the Matthew Venn series on our building's swap shelves. Venn is an interesting character with the requisite personal damage every good literary detective needs. The unravelling of the crimes is well-paced, but the evil-doers were pretty obvious. Still, I might read the next one.

192ffortsa
Abr 30, 2021, 9:50 am

It's Friday, my housekeeper is back from her family emergency, the sun in shining, and I've just about cleared my desk.

On the electronic side, I'm taking a newish approach to my emails, which otherwise consume me, and we'll see how it works. The idea is to have nothing in the inbox, and a few things hanging around for a week or two in another folder, and everything else either deleted, unsubscribed, or lumped together just in case. I do have more folders than that, but I've cleared most of them, so my technique is a little hybrid.

I'm about half-way through Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu, finding it very affecting and a little claustrophobic. How hard is it to work your way out of the immigrant experience into the larger society? I'll never know, born white and raised in a Jewish/Catholic middle class suburb. My defects were my own and quite enough to deal with, and I only now see how clumsy and ignorant I've been regarding the stresses on other people. Never as offensive as the people in this book, but still... I'll probably finish it tonight for a book discussion on Tuesday. It's such a brisk read, I may read it again before then.

193ffortsa
Maio 1, 2021, 6:44 pm

I refuse to consider myself an old lady, but I did trip and fall down yesterday with an armload of groceries. Skinned my knee, tore my jeans, did something to my hamstring that it's still complaining about, broke three eggs (out of 24 - not bad), lost half a pound of blueberries (hope the birdies liked it). Lots of people ran to help - maybe it's the red hair.

194RebaRelishesReading
Maio 1, 2021, 8:14 pm

Oh no!! So sorry to hear about your fall Judy. I've taken a dive a couple of times in recent years and know it can hurt (especially my pride in my case lol). Hope you heal quickly.

195ArlieS
Maio 1, 2021, 9:54 pm

>193 ffortsa: Ouch! I hope you aren't feeling too sore now, and don't do anything similar again for a very long time.

196ffortsa
Maio 2, 2021, 12:16 am

>194 RebaRelishesReading: And >195 ArlieS: Thanks for the comments and concern. I'm much better today, but it will take a few more days before I can do my squats again! Next time I go shopping I'll take a cart.

In my weakened state, I managed to finish interior Chinatown. Can't wait for the reading group discussion on Tuesday.

197PaulCranswick
Maio 2, 2021, 1:28 am

>193 ffortsa: Whilst the image of you falling is a disturbing one, Judy. I'll bet your reaction was most interesting. Were you most concerned about:

a) the knee & hamstring;
b) the eggs and the blueberries;
c) the jeans; or
d) the splendid reaction to your hairdo

Three fairly negative ones with one huge self-confidence booster! You are definitely not an old lady, Judy, but you are most certainly a lady. x

198ffortsa
Maio 2, 2021, 1:07 pm

>197 PaulCranswick: As we have never met, alas, your assessment is gratefully accepted a priori. Now to the answer: the eggs, I think. And the blueberries. I didn't even realize I'd torn my jeans. And I assumed the leg would stop hurting with a little ice, which it eventually has done.

New Yorkers are far nicer and more helpful than our reputation. Our range of attention is necessarily small - too many stimuli in the wider view - but close up we are one for all and all for one.

199karenmarie
Maio 3, 2021, 11:41 am

Hi Judy!

>189 ffortsa: Interesting and timely. It’s something I think about a lot. The only reason I keep so much of what we have here at the house is because I do have a child, a sentimental 27-year-old child, and am mindful that she loves hearing about her ancestors and likes having things owned by them. (Un)fortunately, I have lots of closet space so don’t have too much incentive to get rid of things yet.

>192 ffortsa: Good luck with your new email approach. Maybe it will inspire me to not let things hang out in my Inbox as long as they do.

>193 ffortsa: Sorry that you fell. And, in your >197 PaulCranswick: comment, most especially sorry about the eggs.

200ffortsa
Maio 5, 2021, 12:11 pm

29. Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

We had an interesting and lively discussion last night about this book. Since we do this online via Zoom and Meetup, some books bring in new faces, and last night this was so.

Precis: Willis Wu presents his life and struggles in a screen-play format, where Chinatown is the setting and we get to see both the 'backstage' and TV set of a typical Chinese restaurant in a typical police procedural show. He aspires to progress from unnamed 'Asian man' through various rungs to 'Kung Fu Man', the highest he thinks an Asian can get in the entertainment business, and a role his father played when younger. Much of the novel satirizes the telegraphed racial attitudes of the entertainment industry as a stand-in for the larger country. Will he break out of the stereotype he himself has embraced? Will he be able to defend his choices?

Some of our members rejected the screenplay format and complained about lack of character development, which I think means they didn't care for the satiric approach. I disagree - I think we see characters deeply in these strobe-light episodes of their lives, especially if we imagine ourselves in their place. Others loved it, or at least liked it. It's easy to read - lots of white space on the page and short 'scenes' - and I'm afraid I rushed through it just because it went down so easily., and maybe because it sometimes made me very sad. If you read it, take your time. It merits an immediate reread in my case.

One of our members, an immigrant himself, objected to what he saw as 'America-bashing', because he said other countries were at least as bad. (Not much of a recommendation, is it?) A woman living in Queens, New York, New York born and raised, related her experience of Asian ethnic stereotyping - she is now afraid to leave her apartment because of the many reported attacks against Asians, even here in New York. The rest of us (comfy white folks) learned something about the country and ourselves and others. Definitely worth the read. Recommended.

201katiekrug
Maio 5, 2021, 12:47 pm

Sounds like a great discussion, Judy.

202PaulCranswick
Maio 5, 2021, 1:00 pm

>202 PaulCranswick: Great review and summary of discussion, Judy. I must read it fairly soon.

203EBT1002
Maio 6, 2021, 3:22 pm

>200 ffortsa: Great review, up-thumbed by me. I just finished reading Interior Chinatown this morning and I agree with your comments. The "strobe-light" episodes contributed to the themes of identity and stereotypes. The screenplay format highlighted the narrow "roles" into which those of Asian descent are pigeonholed and prescribed. And, while some other countries may be "just as bad" as the U.S. in this territory, we are lost if we stop critically examining our past and present attitudes and actions toward immigrants.

By the way, hello and >161 ffortsa: Nice haircut!!

204ffortsa
Maio 6, 2021, 5:49 pm

>203 EBT1002: Great additions to my comments! and thanks about the haircut. Enough time has passed that I go under the scissors again tomorrow, but I do think this shape has worked pretty well.

Thanks for visiting.

205brenzi
Maio 6, 2021, 6:15 pm

>200 ffortsa: I've gone back and forth about reading this one Judy just due to that screenplay format but I think after reading your excellent review and your book club's reaction I may reconsider that.

I know so many retired people who have fallen for one reason or another so I really think it just goes with the territory.

206SqueakyChu
Editado: Maio 6, 2021, 11:40 pm

*tossing a star onto this thread*

Maybe I can keep better track of you this way! :D

Sorry you won't be heading down to DC soon, but I'll probably be in better physical shape when you finally get here. I also hope that the effects of the pandemic will be much improved later this year. Our past meetups in DC have always been fun. In the event that you or LT friends meet up in Philly, that's a reasonable enough distance from DC that I think I could convince my husband to drive us up.

I'm not sure if you know this, but three years ago, I finally got to meet jessibud2 after having been friends with her on Bookcrossing for years and years and years. She invited us (my husband, my friend Barbara and me) to stay with her for a few days. That was in 2018, I believe. We attended both a BookCrossing meetup AND an LT meetup while we were there, plus she took us to several Little Free Libraries. It was bibliophile heaven. :D

Ptivate message me your maiing address, and I'll send you The Polish Boxer. I'm pretty sure you'll like it.

207ffortsa
Maio 7, 2021, 11:53 am

>206 SqueakyChu: Do you remember the handle or name of the bookcrosser in Charleston or Savannah who had been a nurse, and became allergic to latex? I'm annoyed not to remember. Did she ever come over this way? (I sure hope that wasn't you!)

208ffortsa
Maio 7, 2021, 12:07 pm

I seem to be in the middle of a lot of non-fiction books right now, not my usual pattern. Aside from the ones marked 'currently reading', I've picked up Think Like a Feminist and another titled Confronting the Classics. Non-fiction sometimes holds me over a long stretch, where I can dip in and out, and that's what happening now. I should probably mark a few on the currently reading list as dnf, as they've sat around a long time.

209jessibud2
Maio 7, 2021, 12:16 pm

>207 ffortsa: - Hi Judy. Her name (screenname, that is) is bookczuk. If you want her real name I can PM you. I met her at the bookcrossing convention in Charleston many moons ago.

I do believe that she is on LT though I don't know that she has a thread.

210SqueakyChu
Editado: Maio 7, 2021, 4:06 pm

>207 ffortsa: The only BookCrosser in Charleston I know is BookCzuk. I follow her on Instagram. Is that whom you mean?

BookCzuk actually came to the DC area and left a book in my Little Free Library (on the lawn in front of my house). I found the book after she was gone! I never got to see her then, but I did meet her in person at a BookCrossing meetup many moons ago.

211ffortsa
Maio 7, 2021, 5:26 pm

>209 jessibud2: and >210 SqueakyChu: That's her! Thanks for refreshing my memory.

212ffortsa
Maio 8, 2021, 12:22 pm

30. The Cat Who Saw Red by Lillian Jackson Braun

Just vamping in place until my next fiction read. This one is not even up to her usual standards.

213ffortsa
Editado: Maio 8, 2021, 9:42 pm

I found myself staring at the lowest bookshelf of fiction yesterday and today, and finally went through the books there, for a purge. The rule as simple - if the type is too small, the pages too foxed, the binding shot - out. This is what I'm deaccessioning:

Earthly Possessions by Anne Tyler
Letters from the Earth by Mark Twain
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
Beggar on Horseback by Sylvia Thorpe
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Pearl & The Red Pony by John Steinbeck
The First Circle by Aleksander I. Solzhenitsyn
Nightwork by Irwin Shaw
The Last of the Just by Andre Schwarz-Bart
The Human Comedy by William Saroyan
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction by J.D. Salinger
The Poorhouse Fair by John Updike
The Centaur by John Updike
A Month of Sundays by John Updike
Roger's Version by John Updike
Museums and Women and other stories by John Updike
Marry Me by John Updike
The Hearts and Lives of Men by Fay Weldon
The Signet Classic Book of Southern Short Stories edited by Dorothy Abbott and Susan Koppelman
American Short Story Masterpieces edited and with an introduction by Raymond Carver and Tom Jenks

20.

Some of them, when opened, fell apart. Some were just too difficult to read. I read about half of them, back when paperbacks could still fit in a woman's decorous purse. and remember them fondly. I've listed them so I will know where they went and maybe I will replace a few over time.

One shelf at a time.

Clearly, there was a time in my tender womanhood when I was very impressed with John Updike!

214katiekrug
Maio 9, 2021, 9:20 am

>213 ffortsa: - Well done you!

215ffortsa
Maio 9, 2021, 10:50 am

>213 ffortsa: Three more - I seem to have run out of steam, or maybe the other books are newer

Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
The Late George Apley by John P. Marquand
Only Yesterday by Frederick Lewis Allan

I suspect more non-fiction will hit the floor over the next month or two, but for now I'll let things be.

And thanks, Katie.

216ffortsa
Editado: Maio 10, 2021, 5:32 pm

31. Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen by Alix Kates Shulman

I guess I should have read this book when I was in college - although I was already out of college when it was published in 1972. In quite engaging prose it presents the mythology of girls and women in the 1950s and 1960s, a little ahead of my own years. There were sections I had to skip if I didn't want to rip the book to shreds - I know they are true for some women but who wants to live through any of them, even vicariously?
I hope this book is as dated to all as I found it.

Why did I read it? Well, it was one of those on my shelves that I had never read, and I thought before I dumped it I might find out what was in it. Turns out I should have read some reviews first!

For good writing, I'll award 2 stars. But don't read it. We've moved on. Or at least I hope we have.

Of course it goes out.

I knew that type was too small. I can't see past my nose.

217ffortsa
Maio 10, 2021, 5:49 pm

A small rant about people who don't know when to stop talking. I met a friend for brunch today, and somehow the last half-hour (at least) was spent listening to her rapid-fire review of her family genealogy, in which I have absolutely no interest. She was impossible to stop without being unforgivably rude. Why do I collect these talkers???

218SqueakyChu
Maio 10, 2021, 8:19 pm

>217 ffortsa: Two of my dearest friends are talkers like this, but I am interested in what they're saying, They can go on and on forever! LOL!

219LizzieD
Maio 10, 2021, 11:14 pm

Oh, talkers! My first cousins, whom I do love dearly since I have no siblings, have all - every one of them - turned into talkers. They call Mama (and me) periodically and talk for 45 minutes to an hour non-stop. Some things I care about, but the rest is just too much, and Mama's hand gets tired holding the phone.

>161 ffortsa: LOVE the hairdo!!!! It's hard to see how your current one could be better. I want it, but my top and side hair are probably too thin for it to work. The back would curl like that though.

>213 ffortsa: Congratulations on culling that many of your old books. I do hope that you read The Last of the Just though. It was an important book for me in my late teens, and I reread it some years ago and was just as touched as I had been the first time.

220torontoc
Maio 11, 2021, 4:56 pm

Yes- that happens to me on some Zoom meetings- some people don't know when to take a breath and let others voice their opinions.

221karenmarie
Maio 12, 2021, 12:11 pm

Hi Judy!

>213 ffortsa: Congrats! Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction is one of my favorite books of all times. I need to get either hardcover or trade paperbacks of all the Glass Family books and get rid of my mass market paperbacks, too. Although… maybe I’ll read new ones and keep the old ones for sentimental reasons.

>215 ffortsa: I have two copies of Only Yesterday in my catalog although the very ratty paperback is currently MIA.

>217 ffortsa: Too bad. If she’s this insensitive to what might interest you, maybe she wouldn’t recognize the unforgivable rudeness. My rant is when people don’t know how to get off the phone.

222ffortsa
Maio 15, 2021, 1:04 pm

Somehow I'm too restless to read, but new books come in the door anyway. Thanks to Madeline (SqueakyChu) for her copy of The Polish Boxer by Eduardo Halfon. And, my purchased copy of The Drop Edge of Yonder by Donis Casey came as well. It was impossible to find in the library, and I saw one for a reasonable price through ABE, so I grabbed it. And lo and behold, it's a first edition. Very exciting.

Today, however, is too beautiful to stay indoors, and having no garden, I will have to walk somewhere. Jim is going to the gym (ha) but I hate to waste these perfect spring days indoors. I've got some audiobooks to keep me company.

223SqueakyChu
Editado: Maio 18, 2021, 6:30 pm

True. It was a gorgeous day down in Maryland as well. I was out potting up some plants this afternoon.

There's no time limit on your reading The Polish Boxer as the book is now yours. On thing that will get you reading it sooner rather than later is that it's kind of a short book. :D

224ffortsa
Maio 18, 2021, 12:45 pm

32. White Corridors by Christopher Fowler

The Peculiar Crimes Unit series has been entertaining in the past, but this book took a long, long time to set up. I put it aside a few times, but it was from the library, and I felt I should give it one more chance. So I finished it, but it's not my favorite in the series.

33. The Drop Edge of Yonder by Donis Casey

I had to chase down a copy of this book, as it was no longer available in the library. Nice hardcover first edition, not too expensive, and worth the price for a chance to join Alafair's early rural world again. This time, a member of the family is murdered, and Alafair has a reason to find out who did it that is more pressing than just curiosity. Some interesting characters join the large family, and there's a satisfying denouement.

225ffortsa
Maio 21, 2021, 5:03 pm

34. Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton read by Judy Kaye

I hadn't listened to any of the Kinsey Millhone mysteries before, but I thought I'd try this one. Judy Kaye does a wonderful job of voicing Kinsey and all the other characters in the story.

I notice different things when I listen. Grafton puts in a LOT of description, more than I realized, some of it valuable, some not. Actions are described in step-by-step detail, homes are described by style and content. Did she do this in the earlier books? I can't recall.

The story is OK, but I was frustrated being constantly ahead of her. It's like someone screaming 'Lock the door' in a scary movie because the heroine is so careless. Kinsey puts many of the pieces together late, and Grafton pulls some punches to create what I must admit is a scary and funny denouement.

This is the last in the alphabet series. Grafton didn't quite make it to Z, unless her publisher has a last manuscript. It's been a fine ride.

226LizzieD
Maio 22, 2021, 1:37 pm

Kinda/Sorta catching up, Judy.....
>222 ffortsa: Please, please read The Polish Boxer as soon as you can get to it. I can't be the only Halfon fan here. I think he is brilliant, and I think that's more than my attraction to meta-fiction speaking.
>225 ffortsa: As to Grafton, I stopped reading before I stopped buying. I should pick her up again, but when I am in the mood for her brand of detective, I usually find an unread V.I. Warshawski, and I've always preferred Vic to Kinsey, her Chicago to Kinsey's LA, and Paretsky's writing to Grafton's. More than you wanted to know, as usual!

227ffortsa
Maio 24, 2021, 12:01 pm

Possible meetup alert.

Jim and I will be in Tiburon, across the bay from San Francisco proper, over Labor Day weekend, and then we are thinking of flying to Portland before we go home. So Reba, Ellen, Kim, and whoever else is in range of Portland, are you available anytime between September 7 and September 14? I'm not sure we will stay the whole time - that may depend on availability of everyone, and availability of an AirBNB or hotel.

If this doesn't work out, we may come back to see my cousin Bonnie's art installation in the fall. Would that be better timing? I'll get the dates. We would love to see you all.

228RebaRelishesReading
Maio 24, 2021, 1:07 pm

How exciting, Judy!! First, I'm a bit jealous of you being in Tiburon. I worked for Sausalito for 2 1/2 years and I adore that area. Next, we'll be here from mid-June until Feb 2022 as far as I know and I'd love to see you and the Portland group. Kim, I think you mentioned starting a meet-up thread -- must go and look.

229RebaRelishesReading
Maio 24, 2021, 1:16 pm

Yep, Kim has put up a thread called "Oregon Visitors!!".

230ffortsa
Maio 24, 2021, 1:59 pm

>227 ffortsa: Revised Meetup Alert

I just spoke to my cousin the artist in Portland, and she would be much happier if we came in October, so October it is. More precise planning to come when we have the exact opening date of the installation.

231ffortsa
Maio 28, 2021, 12:12 am

Why oh why is travel so confusing? I've spent the better part of two days trying to get reasonable fares to my nephew's wedding. After hours online, and then talking to a travel agent friend of mine, I finally talked to American Airlines ear-to-ear, and got exactly what I wanted, using my miles. It took me until almost midnight to get through, but now that it's done, I'm much relieved. And this is after a year where the airlines were running empty!

232Oregonreader
Maio 28, 2021, 1:16 pm

Hi Judy, I sympathize with your travel problems. It can get very frustrating being sent in circles online but finally talking to a real human being is such a relief.
I live in the Portland area and would love to meet with you in October.

233katiekrug
Maio 28, 2021, 1:40 pm

>231 ffortsa: - Prices have skyrocketed and apparently there is a shortage of rental cars in some places because companies sold them off during the pandemic to raise cash (or something like that). I was appalled at the price of my ticket to Dallas in July, and the rental car will be even more. I mean, it's not my money since it's a work trip, but still. The principle!

234ffortsa
Maio 28, 2021, 7:54 pm

>232 Oregonreader: Thanks for the sympathy. At least this one is settled. My sister will try to extend her stay as well, and that will be nice, if we are all together for a few days.

>233 katiekrug: Travel demand must be very high. I couldn't get to AA for hours. And it is discouraging to see how high the prices have gotten. I have to keep reminding myself that we can afford this if we want to, and relieved that we were able to use points that were going to expire next year! Good thing your Dallas trip is for business.

We don't have to rent a car for this trip. The hotel is just a short walk from the Tiburon ferry, and once we are in San Francisco proper, we take public transportation. My brother will drive us around if need be for the wedding in Tiburon.

And just to set things in perspective, a friend of mine had an ischemic incident ( which I thought was called a TIA, but maybe not) and spent two days in the hospital. She's home now and on her feet, but wisely doesn't want to walk anywhere by herself, so I've been escorting her to the bank, the pharmacy, etc. Tonight I'll check her blood pressure for her before she goes to bed, not that there's much to do about it. I worry.

Many of my friends are older than me, and I worry about all of them, even the annoying ones. We try to support each other, but so many of us are accustomed to being independent that asking for help is a little alien. Jim and I have each other, of course, but most of my friends live alone. It's tough to get old alone.

235ArlieS
Maio 29, 2021, 4:07 pm

>234 ffortsa: I sure hear you on getting old - alone or otherwise.

There's got to be a better way, but I sure don't know how to find it.

236ffortsa
Jun 2, 2021, 2:18 pm

35. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson

We had a rather lively discussion of this novel last night. Some people hated it, for one reason or another. I had trouble in the first part of the book, because the main character is so 'not there', as one attendee described him, a 'no-where man'. And that is one of the themes of this book, not knowing where you belong or what you want.

This character, Treslove, is a Londoner of no particular handsomeness who earns his living as a stand in at look-alike events for any celebrity. His fantasies are all about beautiful women dying in his arms, while the women in his life are anything but that fantasy. Curiously, he is one of three friends, two of whom are actually widowers, both of whom are Jews, and in this they seem to belong to clubs Treslove cannot join. Treslove and Finkler were in school together and studied philosophy, under the third friend, Libor.

'the Finkler question' is Treslove's term for trying to understand his friends, and whether he can find a way to belong. It is also the term for Finkler's struggle with his feelings toward his Jewishness, toward Israel, toward Britain. For Libor, it is a question of the benefits of survival.

Many people found this book very funny, especially in the first half, but death and loneliness predominate for me. And the book gets darker as it goes, ending with a depth of feeling that shocked me and affected me deeply.

237ffortsa
Jun 3, 2021, 11:32 am

36. Paint the Town Red by Harold Adams

This is the second entry in the Carl Wilcox Mystery series, and it feels a little like a book pulled from the reject pile before the first one was published. Instead of the grit of the first one, there's a lot of b-movie dialog, and while the plot is busy, the story feels ham-handed. Oh well.

238ffortsa
Jun 5, 2021, 4:04 pm

Busy week. A medical appointment where I swallowed a tiny little camera and carried a recording device around for the day, and then returned the device the next day. Before that I picked up a friend after eye surgery at the same location (big ambulatory care site). Violin lesson yesterday that launched me on a search for a better shoulder rest (seems that a lot of players do this constantly. YouTube is full of advice!) Watched a concert of Victoria Clark singing Broadway songs.

Then today in the immoderate heat, I ran errands, donated clothing, excavated my storage locker and captured the rest of my summer clothes (yay dresses!), read some of the Times, made reservations for tomorrow's brunch, set the table for a casual dinner tonight after the Belmont, started to record the May 2010 New Yorkers I've read - and the list isn't over. More admin to do on Monday.

I'm seriously thinking life would be much calmer if I threw out half of what I own and stopped doing half of what I do.

239katiekrug
Jun 5, 2021, 4:35 pm

"I'm seriously thinking life would be much calmer if I threw out half of what I own and stopped doing half of what I do."

Yup. Same here.

240ArlieS
Editado: Jun 6, 2021, 5:26 pm

>238 ffortsa: "I'm seriously thinking life would be much calmer if I threw out half of what I own and stopped doing half of what I do."

Me too, with emphasis on the part about half of what I own.

I've lived in the same house since 1997, and things have accumulated that I'd never have packed and moved ;-(

241ffortsa
Jun 7, 2021, 10:55 am

>240 ArlieS: My problem as well. I've lived in the same apartment since 1995, and even though the storage is finite, I seem to have more STUFF. I'm slowly giving away things, but I should probably hire someone to go through things a closet at a time and lend me some determination!

242ffortsa
Jun 7, 2021, 11:38 am

I cannot settle down to read. Don't know why - it's a perfect day for it, hugging the air conditioner.

243ffortsa
Jun 11, 2021, 9:19 am

My reading funk may have changed. I'm currently reading an Irene Huss mystery, The Glass Devil as well as Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed. Lots of non-fiction is languishing half-read, but that's ok. Most of them are more leisurely reads.

We are venturing out to MoMA this morning to see the Calder exhibit. It should be a nice change.

244ffortsa
Editado: Jun 12, 2021, 1:38 pm

37. The Golden Calf by Helen Tursten

A reasonable entry in the series, at least until the end.
In this procedural, one rich man's murder is followed by several others, all of them connected to his widow by business dealings.

The ending is rather contrived, as a beautiful American from the FBI arrives like a deus ex machina to fill in all the gaps with tales of the mafia.

245Oregonreader
Jun 12, 2021, 4:45 pm

Hi Judy, I've read one Irene Huss novel and enjoyed it. I'll have to try another one. Like you, I have a couple of non-fiction books I'm slowly reading but lately I've mostly been drawn to mysteries.

Enjoy your weekend.

246Berly
Jun 12, 2021, 9:58 pm

>230 ffortsa: October it is! Can't wait to see you. I updated the Portland thread, but let us know exact dates as you get closer.

>234 ffortsa: I am trying to go see my parents this summer in MN and just looked at airfare--man it's pricey!! And I haven't even checked rental car availability. Hmmm...we'll have to see.

>238 ffortsa: I used to move every year or two as a kid, so we always had to purge. But now I have lived in the same house for over a decade and I definitely have too much stuff!! LOL. Yesterday I cleaned out one drawer of my dresser. Time to get a new bathing suit!! My old one makes crinkly sounds which means the stretchy parts are a lost cause! Sigh.

Happy weekend!

247ffortsa
Jun 14, 2021, 4:33 pm

>245 Oregonreader: The Irene Huss mysteries combine the essential mystery with the personal life of the police, and I always find it pleasant to think of Huss married to a professional chef!

>246 Berly: Air fare has gotten expensive, and I'm pleased that I've been a hoarder of frequent flier miles over the last few years, gained mostly not by flying! I haven't tried to rent a car, but I hear the prices are nuts. One note I recently got - don't try to rent at the airport. Prices away from the airports are significantly lower. Funny, I think it used to be the other way around.

As for cleaning out, one drawer or shelf at a time is the maximum I can do. Some of the stuff I have in excess I can give away, some I can't. And today I had a minor underwear malfunction (no crinklies left in that elastic!) that tells me some of my stuff is just a little too old. It's just hard to choose what to let go of.

Portland will be some time after October 6th, when my cousin's show at the museum opens. She's promised us a private viewing and discussion if we want it, we being all of those who want to meet. She's quite delightful and it should be fun.

248RebaRelishesReading
Jun 15, 2021, 1:13 pm

>247 ffortsa: re private viewing: "yes please!"

We're planning a trip to Hawaii in February with friends and have been looking at cars. We found best prices at Priceline and with Budget. Then friend who is in charge of the cars called Budget directly and got the same price along with some good info about ways to reduce the cost of additional drivers, etc. I haven't rented a car for a long time so I'm not sure about how much the rates have risen from Covid but they didn't see toooooo awful.

249Oregonreader
Jun 16, 2021, 1:57 pm

>247 ffortsa: The private showing sounds wonderful. I'm looking forward to meeting you!

250ffortsa
Jun 17, 2021, 12:05 pm

Drastic steps. I've cancelled my violin lessons and physical training for the rest of the month, just to give myself some open time. Too much socializing, too much scheduled appearances, these things get me down. How did I get through work as such an introvert?

I'll run some random errands today, getting my walking in. Then decide what to do next. It's a beautiful day out - maybe read in the park. What an idea.

251katiekrug
Jun 17, 2021, 12:16 pm

>250 ffortsa: - Good for you for taking some time to slow down a bit, Judy. And reading in the park on a day like this should be mandatory :)

252ffortsa
Jun 24, 2021, 8:11 pm

Well, I survived another New York election cycle volunteer gig (not really volunteer - I get paid, but it's probably not minimum wage). I was assigned a new task this time round, 'scanner inspector', which means I had to set up the scanner, assist voters scanning their ballots, and pull the stats at the end of the night before closing the scanner. There are about 2,427 steps involved, and I spent most of the time in between on my feet, working from 5AM to 10:45 PM with a lunch break and a dinner break. Next day, flattened. Today, almost flattened.

I might be too old to do this in November. Still recovering.

253RebaRelishesReading
Jun 25, 2021, 12:19 pm

>252 ffortsa: Wow, Judy that sounds grueling!! Hooray for you volunteering to do it though. Hope you're recovered today.

254ffortsa
Jun 25, 2021, 1:14 pm

>253 RebaRelishesReading: Just about recovered, Reba. For some reason, I think because I was on my feet a lot more, this was MUCH more tiring than other episodes. Oh well.

I'm going to start PT for a shoulder problem tomorrow. Is there no end to the fixing up of this old body? Oh well again.

My uptown book group will be discussing The Dispossessed Monday evening, after which I will write something. In the meantime, I finished a Lovesey mystery rather mindlessly. Info to come.

255ffortsa
Jun 25, 2021, 5:33 pm

I sometimes wish I were a little more OCD, not that a little would do much good - not my current problem. But looking at the list of books read by my downtown book club, I realized that at least 13 books were somehow missing from my LT collection, although I had read them at one time or another and owned all of them. Then I discovered that I sometimes used an 'ebook' tag and sometimes an 'ebook' category. Or mis-categorized a title. Or failed to copy my thread review into the review box. Or, or, or. I finally figured out I had joined LT after I had joined the book group, and didn't really start a thread until more than a year after my LT debut. Oh, the little annoyances of an unregulated life!

It's especially annoying since I frequently don't remember the details of a book I've read until I see my own review. If then.

Oh well. More to read later.

256ffortsa
Jun 25, 2021, 5:41 pm

My nephew's wife-to-be has registered her china preference, and seems a little upset that people aren't filling the registry. The dinner plates are $90 and the dessert plates are $80. Grey with gold. Very classy. I wonder which ambassadors she plans to invite for dinner.

That snark said, Jim and I will probably buy her a dinner plate and two dessert plates, since someone already bought a dinner plate. Then she will have service for two. Or we'll buy her three dinner plates. We may give them some cash too. She can do with it as she wishes.

I guess it strikes me as odd because people these days can't give away their fine china. Their kids don't want it, their friends don't want it, if it can't go in the dishwasher, it's just going to collect dust. I've been washing my mother's silverplated utensils by hand only because I love the weight and shape of them, but if I ever find a stainless steel set with a round (cream) soup spoon and a good balance, I might never use them again.

257LizzieD
Jun 26, 2021, 12:10 pm

Can't catch up, but OH! The joy and pains of good tableware!

258katiekrug
Jun 26, 2021, 12:55 pm

>256 ffortsa: - I don't get the registering for china thing, either. We didn't. It's so ridiculously expensive and there's the danger of ending up with too many random pieces that don't have matching pieces. I do wish my father hadn't sold off my parents' wedding china and silver. It was lovely.

259jnwelch
Jun 26, 2021, 3:12 pm

Hi, Judy. I hope a Labor Day weekend meetup works out.

I think you missed me way up there at >151 jnwelch:.

I resisted reading Night at the Circus because I’m not a circus fan. Debbi and our daughter convinced me that I must read it. I’m glad they did. It really cast a spell on me, and Infound it a great ride.

Gravity’s Rainbow, on the other hand,?was hard and not very enjoyable work. I don’t envy you taking on that one.

260Berly
Jun 27, 2021, 5:05 pm

>256 ffortsa: My daughter just got engaged, so we shall see what winds up on her list!

261ffortsa
Jun 27, 2021, 6:05 pm

>259 jnwelch: Joe, I must have missed you! So sorry!

I got rid of Gravity's Rainbow without reading it. I had no urge to tackle it, and the print in the paperback was pretty small.

But I'm glad to have read Nights At The Circus. Often I develop a prejudice against a title for no conscious reason, or perversely because of a slew of recommendations that feel a little breathless, but then something else - a thoughtful review, a book club choice - leads me back. Jim once joked that if he wanted me to read something, he just had to leave it in the bathroom.

262ffortsa
Jun 27, 2021, 6:10 pm

>257 LizzieD: Peggy, if you can't catch up to me, we are all in trouble. Think of Amber, Laura, Katie, Mark, Karenmarie, Joe!!! I'm perpetually drowning, trying to keep up with the gregarious posts as well as the strictly literary ones. HOPELESS!

And I'm sure I left out a dozen threads I struggle with. Don't hate me!

263ffortsa
Editado: Jun 30, 2021, 7:15 pm

38. The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin

Rats. I dropped my mouse and lost a long review of this book I hadn't yet saved. Grr.

This book describes a society of 'anarchists', created on a planet's moon to quell a rebellion of philosophy. The moon's settlers have created a society of equality, communal work and responsibility, sexual freedom, and complete lack of ownership of anything, coping with a harsh desert planet and literally walling out all contact with the home planet or any other planet's people. One of their number, 170 years on, becomes a theoretical physicist, but finds his progress blocked by the dogmas and prejudices of his society.

Le Guin builds her worlds meticulously, with great attention to detail, as she also builds her characters and competing philosophies. Personal choices have far-reaching consequences even within the communal framework. Back on the home planet, she models the main political systems of our world: capitalist, communist, dictatorial. And she creates a marvelous love story.

Not only couldn't I put this story down, I couldn't stop rereading it, and I'll probably return to it many times.
It is part of Le Guin's 'Hainish Cycle', so there are more books to read!

39. The Summons by Peter Lovesey

A typical combination of police procedural and rebel detective, quite enjoyable, in which wrongs are rectified and crimes solved. A man who escapes from prison insists on talking to the detective whose work convicted him, to prove his innocence. And it just so happens that the detective in question is moldering in forced retirement and itching to get back to work.

264ffortsa
Jul 3, 2021, 10:48 am

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Este tópico foi continuado por ffortsa reads and hopes in 2021 - still.