Sibylline's (Lucy's) Quarterly Report 2021: Spring!

JULY's photo: By popular request. Herself. Today she is wearing her special tick repelling scarf (pyrethium infused) and feeling rather pleased with this addition to her wardrobe. Also hot because we just got back from our morning trudge up our hill.

♬

Currently Reading in July
new The Dutch House Ann Patchett contemp fic
♬ On Writing: A Memoir Stephen King literary memoir

Read in July
61. ♬ Another Time, Another Place Jodi Taylor fantasy *****
62. ♬ I Am Spock Leonard Nimoy autobiography ***1/2
63. E The Flame of Sevenwaters(6) Juliet Marillier fantasy ****
64. E Bootlegger's Daughter Margaret Maron mys ****
65. ♬ Don't Panic Neil Gaiman Bio (sort of) ***
66. reread All Systems Red Martha Wells sf *****
67. reread Artificial Condition Martha Wells sf *****
68. reread Rogue Protocol Martha Wells sf *****
69 reread Exit Strategy Martha Wells sf *****
70. ♬ The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (6th of 6) Arthur Conan Doyle Read by Stephen Fry mys classic, mys british *****
71. reread Network Effect Martha Wells sf *****
72. new Fugitive Telemetry Martha Wells sf *****
73. new The Friend Sigrid Nunez contemp fiction ****
74. new At the Pond Margaret Drabble and others. Essays, swimming ****1/2
75. E Men Explain Things To Me Rebecca Solnit ****1/2
76. ♬ What the Devil Knows C.S. Harris hist mys
77. new The Ten Thousand Doors of January Alix E. Harrow fantasy ***1/2



Books Dropped/Paused in June 2021
6. ✔ Maiden Castle John Cowper Powys fiction british -Set Aside for now, not binned.
7. ✔ Sacred Ground Mercedes Lackey fantasy -- trying Lackey out, mayhap a little thin.

Series Tally 2021

Currently reading 2021
rereading the Murderbot (6) Martha Wells Presently on #5
Sebastian St. Cyr (16) What the Devil Knows C.S. Harris

to continue in 2021 or whenever?
Ruth Galloway NEXT UP
Constable Evans (6) Rhys Bowen NEXT UP
Lady Hardcastle mysteries (4) T. E. Kinsey NEXT UP (3) A Picture of Murder (Audio)
Galaxy Outlaws (16.5) Listening to #2
Cass Neary(3) Elizabeth Hand NEXT UP (2) Available Dark
The Craft Sequence(6) Max Gladstone NEXT UP: (2)Two Serpents Rise

Finished/Caught Up in 2021!!
Blackthorn & Grim (3) Juliet Marillier
Kurland St. Mary Mysteries (8) Catherine Lloyd
The Invisible Library(7) Genevieve Cogman
Sevenwaters (7) Juliet Marillier
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (6) Arthur Conan Doyle
The Chronicles of St. Mary's (12 plus 20 stories) Jodi Taylor

Probably won't continue?
Oxford Medieval Mysteries (1 of 6) Ann Swinfen A bit too slow?
Roma sub Rosa (12) Steven Saylor NEXT UP (2) Arms of Nemesis Don't like Audible narrator. Too ponderous. So may switch to E format.
Sister Fidelma Irish medieval, I should love 'em but I don't.

Read in March.
28. ♬ The Something Girl Jodi Taylor mys ***1/2
29. new Resurgence C.J. Cherryh sf *****
30. ♬ Death Comes to the Rectory Catherine Lloyd hist mys ***1/2
31. ✔ ROOT The Book of English Magic Philip Carr-Gomm&Richard Heygate
32. new Divergence C.J. Cherryh sf *****
33. E In Your Dreams Tom Holt ***1/2
34. ♬ In Farleigh Field Rhys Bowen mys ****
35. ✔ ROOT A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again David Foster Wallace essays
36.♬ Little Donkey & Joy to the World (ss) Jodi Taylor fantasy ***1/2

Books Dropped in March
4. 0

Stats
Total: 9
Men: 3
Women: 6
M/W writing together: 0
Non-fiction: 2
Contemp/Classic/Hist Fiction: 0
SF/F: 5
Mystery/Rom (inc hist mys): 2
YA or J: 0
Poetry: 0
New author:
Reread: 0

Book origins/type:
From library or borrowed: 0
Audio: 4
New (to shelves): 1
e-book: 1
Off Shelf/ROOT: 2
Pearled: 0

Books In So Far:
physical-15
E-books-7
audio-?

Books Out So Far:
physical-9

Books read in April

37. E Redhead By the Side of the Road Anne Tyler ***1/2
38. ✔ ROOT Forerunner Andre Norton classic sf ****
39. new The Dark Archive Genevieve Cogman fantasy ****
40. new A Moveable Famine John Skoyles lit memoir ****
41. ✔ ROOT Roadside Picnic Arkady & Boris Strugatsky classic SF *****
42. ✔ Dreamer's Pool Juliet Marillier fantasy ****
43. ♬ The Stranger Diaries Elly Griffiths mys ****
44. E Tower of Thorns Juliet Marillier fantasy ****
45. E Den of Wolves Juliet Marillier fantasy ****
46. ✔ The Melodic Tradition of Ireland James R. Cowdery ****
47. ✔ ROOT Silent Voices Ann Cleeves mystery ***
48. ♬ The Celtic World Jennifer Paxton (Great Courses) history *****
49. E Daughter of the Forest (Sevenwaters 1) Juliet Marillier ***1/2

Stats
Total: 12
Men: 4
Women: 7
M/W writing together: 0
Non-fiction: 3
Contemp/Classic/Hist Fiction: 1
SF/F: 7
Mystery/Rom (inc hist mys): 2
YA or J: 0
Poetry: 0
New author: 3
Reread: 0

Book origins/type:
From library or borrowed: 0
Audio: 2
New (to shelves): 2
e-book: 3
Off Shelf/ROOT: 2
Pearled: 0

Books In So Far:
physical-18
E-books-11
audio-17

Books Out So Far:
physical-9

Read in May

50. newish The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep H.G. Parry urban fantasy ****
51. ♬ The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (5th of 6) Arthur Conan Doyle Read by Stephen Fry mys classic, mys british
52. new Piranesi Susannah Clarke fantasy plus****1/2
53. E Son of the Shadows Juliet Marillier fantasy ***1/2
54. ♬ The Long Earth Stephen Baxter Terry Pratchett sf ***1/2
55. new The People on Privilege Hill Jane Gardam ss ****1/2
56. E Child of the Prophecy Juliet Marillier fantasy ****
57. E The Heir to Sevenwaters Juliet Marillier fantasy ****1/2
58. E The Seer of Sevenwaters Juliet Marillier fantasy ****
59. E Twixt Firelight and Water Juliet Marillier fantasy ****
60. ROOT ✔My Struggle: Book Six Karl Ove Knausgaard contemp fic ***** plus.

Books Dropped in May 2021
4. ♬ The Victory Garden Rhys Bowen
5. A Most Dangerous Book Kevin Birmingham

Stats
Total: 11
Men: 3
Women: 8
M/W writing together: 0
Non-fiction: 0
Contemp/Classic/Hist Fiction: 2
SF/F: 8
Mystery/Rom (inc hist mys): 1
YA or J: 0
Poetry: 0
New author:
Reread: 0

Book origins/type:
From library or borrowed: 0
Audio: 2
New (to shelves): 3
e-book: 5
Off Shelf/ROOT: 1
Pearled: 0

Books In So Far:
physical-21
E-books-12
audio-19

Books Out So Far:
physical-9

Happy new thread, Lucy. I am happy to be up first!

Hi Lucy, I noted your comment about Jodi Taylor (and Susan's) on the previous thread. Thank you!

I see nice green shoots amongst the bullrushes (cat-tails?) in the topper. That's such a lovely area where you live.

Oh, Forerunner! What a fun reread that should be. Happy spring!

>9 richardderus: Indeed, I am loving it!

Happy new Spring thread, Lucy!

Happy new thread, Lucy!

>1 sibylline: First crocus means spring is on its way :-)

Happy new thread!

37. contemp fic ***1/2
Redhead by the Side of the Road Anne Tyler

Micah's has arranged his life into something close to perfection. Only problem with it is, he can't seem to maintain the perfection unless he is entirely alone. Other people, even his girlfriend Cass, just interrupt the flow merely by being present, or worse, when they want something from him. He'll help you, of course, he is a helpful guy, but don't expect more, is all. He is the Tech Hermit, runs his own modest computer aid business. As in most of Tyler's books, he is involved in a business of helping other people take care of things beyond them, so he gets out and about and meets all kinds. Then he comes home and if it is Monday, he vacuums. Or whatever. But then, first his girlfriend is upset and seems to want something from him after her landlady finds out she has a cat and might make her move out. They have a deal. Together but independent, not a thing.
Then a young man turns up on his doorstep with a stunning revelation from the past that shakes Micah up enough that he mishandles the encounter . . . and after that? Stuff just keeps happening to him, until he has to stop and ask himself a tough question. Several actors read, well done. ***1/2

>14 sibylline: I liked that novel a lot, Lucy.
It was my first exposure to Anne Tyler. In my review, I even said so and asked (rhetorically, obvs) 'How can that be?' She's so accomplished in taking a very ordinary existence and adroitly creating interest and engagement. Reminds me of Anita Brookner in that way.

Very happy new thread to you, Lucy! Love the signs of spring!!!

I'm curious that you're reading Elizabeth Hand. Somehow, I wouldn't have thought that she was to your taste. I'll have to take a closer look at Cass Neary (and what an evocative - of something! - name that is). On the other hand, I have really enjoyed the Steven Saylor books. He has done his homework, and Gordianus and Cicero are compelling characters. I hope you continue. Somehow, I haven't read Norton. When will I fix that?????

>15 SandyAMcPherson: I was so wowed decades (scary) ago when I read my first Anne Tyler -- The Clockwinder. And I've been a steady fan ever since. One was made into an excellent movie with Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward -- driving somewhere to see one of their grown children or something Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant is another fave -- and oh yeah, another movie for The Accidental Tourist. Also very good. The book had a corgi in it that they changed for the movie, corgi-like, but not. Her more recent books are leaner, not a wasted word, but I never minded how they were before.

>16 LizzieD: I'm not sure I do like Elizabeth Hand, only I was riveted by the one I read. She can write, that's for sure.

I didn't read a lot of Norton the way some did back in the day, but I am LOVING this one. It is of course, antique, but nonetheless compelling.

38. sf ****
Forerunner Andre Norton

What fun! Simsa has grown up in the Burrows under the care of "the Old One" a wise old woman -- who has advised her to hide her white hair, brows and lashes and to dress to look like a boy. But her caretaker has died. Simsa knows she will soon be attacked (well, raped) and taken to a Guild Lord as a toy and gathers up all the Old One's treasures and goes to meet the next incoming trader vessel from space. One of these spacers, Thom, and she connect and soon Simsa finds herself embarked on more adventure than she bargained for as Thom heads out into the desertlands to find out what happened to his brother. They don't find him but Simsa finds enlightenment about her heritage. Simsa is accompanied by a crippled flying creature, Zass, kind of bat/cat/moth -- a fearful predator at all events -- and her two 'sons'. The story is great. As ever, I get a little weary of Norton's arch and formal prose style, but whatever. ****

>19 sibylline: Like peanut-butter chocolate eggs...one's fine once in a while but the overdose comes quickly.

Zass was a great Norton alien, wasn't she? Eet will always be my favorite, though. Harath, from Forerunner Foray, is up there, too.

39. fantasy ****
The Dark Archive Genevieve Cogman

Some new characters add zip--well--mainly headaches for Irene. Catherine, a Fae, Lord Silver's 'niece' (she's somehow related) is keen to be a librarian, but not so sure about becoming a Librarian, capital L. Then there is Kai's supercilious older brother who invites himself along on an adventure that proves to be much more than he bargained for. (Putting him in the nauseating position of having to respect some of his younger brother's skills.) And finally, Irene learns something about herself that shakes her to her core. And the plot twists on. ****

>20 richardderus: Spot on with the simile, Richard, seasonal and apt! And here's another thing -- Forerunner Foray is available either for $900 in the orig. paperback or not at all. Not on Kindle. Bleh.

>22 sibylline: -- Forerunner Foray is available either for $900 in the orig. paperback

Don't believe that for a minute (the $900 bit).

When RD wrote (last year?) about Andre Norton, and there were great wailings about the lack of Norton paperbacks of yore, I posted that our local bookshop (Westgate Books) had a whole slew of these old titles (some taken there by yours truly for trade credit). I think I got $1.50 trade credit which means the buying public could go in there and buy a Norton for less than $5 (Canadian dollars, doncha know!).

Happy Easter! Are you a chocolate fan, Lucy? And more importantly, shall I mosey on in to Westgate and see if I can score ya a copy (not falling apart) of Forerunner Foray???

>23 SandyAMcPherson:, >22 sibylline: WHAT

I got a 1974 hardcover last month for 6USD!!! That is OUTBLOODYRAGEOUS unless it was Grand Master Norton's personal copy and is attested to be so by three separate reliable sources.

Someone needs to bring all five Forerunner stories into one Kindlebook for $10 or less.

>24 richardderus: That would be whatever family member holds the copyright and that can be a tangle . . . Anyway, lovely offer Sandy -- I am open to help and I will check out the nearby stores too -- and maybe a couple of other places I can think of!

Hi Lucy! I see Roadside Picnic is currently on your radar. I'm very curious to hear your thoughts on it. I am a fan, but it's a very unusual book. Not everyone's cuppa, perhaps. I'm also really keen to see the film - my husband has it but it's a Hungarian copy without English subtitles which might just be too much of a head explosion so I've avoided it thus far!

Hope the jab side effects have worn off. It must be a comfort to have got both jabs secured! My mum had her first dose weeks ago now but hasn't yet been contacted about the second. I'm waiting impatiently for my first dose. They were meant to be getting to us forty pluses around about now but things have stalled somewhat. I have erred on the side of extreme caution throughout and so the thought of being jabbed seems like a lovely oasis on the horizon! Patience - nearly there - that's what I try to keep telling myself.

40. lit memoir ****
A Moveable Famine John Skoyles

When I worked on my MFA Skoyles was the Director of my program -- and as well as being very good at exuding calm and competence, he is a fine poet, insightful reader, and all around decent human being. About ten years older than me, he is part of that last generation of serious roisterers, where to prove you were a poet you drank a lot, often smoked (anything), and slept with anybody who winked at you, including your students. (Such a big no-no by the mid-80's when I started the degree). In his twenties, while at Iowa and later as a fellow in Provincetown, Skoyles did not fully indulge but he partied and was present and had some adventures and downplays how hard he worked at his poetry and reading. What he marvels over (as do we) is the mysterious relationship with language, with words, that poets have, that no others have and that draws them into a tightly knit fellowship even if they are also all competitors. The book ends as he achieves a job teaching at Sarah Lawrence (my alma mater) but the story, of course continues beyond that. I think though that even without familiarity with Skoyles' milieu, if you are interested in the poetry scene of the late 70's and don't mind some mild political incorrectness (he reported what he saw, not what he did) you'll enjoy this read. ****

41. classic SF *****
Roadside Picnic Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

An (unspecified) time ago spaceships landed in several places along the same latitude. They stayed a very short while and then left, but in their wake they left . . . depending on your point of view, potentially miraculous technology or fatally dangerous trash. Not normal trash, but objects and slime that burns, and and spatial anomalies that can tear a person apart and . . . the list goes on and on. But some of the stuff is unbelievably useful even if people have no idea how any of these objects (say, batteries) that never run out of power and, if encouraged even multiply!. In this (unspecified) country, not the Soviet Union, and western culturally, a black market thrives alongside the governmental research agencies despite all efforts to curb them. Stalkers, if they aren't immediately killed, gradually learn their way around and to recognize potentially useful things. The aliens made no attempt to communicate with the humans and Why Not? is a burning issue. Is this a test? Was this just a casual stop, a look around, or even, as is suggested, no more than what humans used to sometimes do in a rest area, eat a picnic and dump all the trash cluttering up their car or camper and take off. Maybe they never even noticed there was anything remotely like a civilization. Maybe we aren't even close yet (if ever). I loved everything in the novel: Redrick Schuhart is a fully rounded person (somewhat unusual in SF until more recently, it must be admitted--and this came out in 1972) and many minor characters are developed exactly as necessary, the dialogue is excellent (in all good translations, Russian dialogue tends to be good), the plot is perfect and intertwines with the thematic/philosophical content. Also -- the novel barely feels dated perhaps because the emphasis on people as they are is so true and ever-unchanging. I've often wondered if we aren't insane thinking that some alien culture might be delighted with us. In this one, it's clear to me, anyway, that we are beneath notice. Just. Wow. *****

>26 HanGerg: It's her co-authors in those cases, she was a childless only child.

>28 sibylline: Oh, goody! I love when someone discovers the Strugatskys! It's a terrific plot isn't it?

>27 sibylline: As you can see from my review I enjoyed AND admired (hugely!) Roadside Picnic. This is a new translation plus the text is entirely restored. Not sure what text Tarkovsky worked with. Well, it's not available so academic anyway. It's kind of amazing that there isn't yet a translating interface that would at least do subtitles for any movie you play connected to your computer.

>29 richardderus: Likely she left her estate to someone? I know from working on the Lanier stuff that it isn't all that straightforward keeping a good book in print. It can be if the publisher's think they'll make money, of course, but if they think enthusiasm is tepid, nuh unh.

Terrific just about everything. Such a joy to read a book that good -- the last novel I finished of this caliber was The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll by Alvaro Mutis. The Knausgaard I am reading now (Book 6) is also astounding.

>28 sibylline: Welp, adding that one to the list - great review!

>31 scaifea: Thank you, Amber! And thank you for stopping by -- I just edited the comments. I've noticed when I am very excited about a book I tend to rush.

>32 sibylline: Ha! I almost always find typos and blunders in my reviews after I post them. I guess we need to try to slow down while reviewing!

>33 scaifea: I've also been hitting the edit button a lot more frequently of late!
Not that I'm reading aggressively. Quite slow going, but it suits me just now.

My currently reading selections are not very compelling ATM.
I seem to fall asleep instantly when I normally read quite a lot at night. I keep wondering if it is a side effect of having dose one of Pfizer or just plain worn out with a year's low level anxiety and isolation.

I noticed a few others on the 75er Talks threads mention similar 'falling asleep instead of reading' scenarios.

42. fantasy ****
Dreamer's Pool Juliet Marillier

Didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did. Blackthorn is a woman, a healer, who has come to the attention the lord of her region because he is a man who takes any woman he fancies and then casts them off (or worse, one fears) when he is done. Furious with her and anyone associated with her, he casts her in a foetid prison. There, her only ally is a fellow she thinks of as "Grim" (everyone else calls him bonehead) a huge man who can't sleep and exercises constantly.
Through a series of circumstances the two of them, aided by the fey, escape the prison, but a geas is laid on Blackthorn that she must assist everyone she meets who asks for help (or even obviously needs help) for seven years and that she must travel north to Dalriada, and take up residence in the cottage of the previous healer. She doesn't want anyone with her, but Grim shadows her, she is his lifeline. And remembering her geas she takes him on. One of the best parts of the book is watching the two of them begin to like and respect one another. The other story is about a young prince and the woman he is to marry -- to say anything about that story is to spoil, but it's nicely done. This is fantasy with almost no magic and that too is well done. There is some repetitiousness that becomes tedious, but other than that (and which I expect she was encouraged to do by the editor/agent/publishers who think we are all that stupid) the writing is very good. ****

>35 sibylline: Awesome review for hooking my interest!
I added it to my WL at the tree-book library.
And delighted to note it is a series. I need me some more series to try out!

I note that Juliet Marillier has written quite a number of fantasies.
Some maybe are stand alone.

Thanks Lucy, this is a "New To Me" author.

She's new to me too, Sandy -- Have had that book on my shelves for yonks. I think I picked it up secondhand someplace, anyway, I'm going to read the next two on the e-book. I am enjoying, but feel no need to keep, plus I doubt my spousal unit will be interested. If he is he can read them in E-format. I confess, I am beginning to like the option to make the print a leetle larger, and it works well when I am knitting something with simple stitches (which is usually the case) I can read books like this without problems.

43. ♬ mystery ****
The Stranger Diaries Elly Griffiths

In this new series Griffiths introduces Harbinder Kaur as the DI, born in Britain, parents from India. The setting is Sussex with Brighton as the nearest large town. In her thirties and still living at home, Harbinder is an interesting case of a person who is extraordinarily perceptive but blind about herself. Bristling with resentments and hurt, but also yearning for connection, Harbinder herself, never mind the murders she'll solve, should be entertaining. In this case a beautiful English teacher has been murdered at the very school that Harbinder attended. Part of the school is attached to the mansion of a Victorian era writer famous for one nearly perfect horror story, "The Stranger." Mysteries surround this man's life and the school has left his library intact on the top floor of the old house. Harbinder focuses on Clare, another English teacher, also beautiful (so Harbinder really wants to hate her) and seemingly cool and possibly capable of murder. Clare keeps diaries and someone has been writing comments, though, and the search shifts. The book is narrated with four voices, one is the Victorian writer reading his story, one is Clare, one is Harbinder and finally Georgia, Clare's daughter. All are superb. This is one of the best multiple narration renderings I've encountered, I tend to dread them because one person is usually heads above the others. The audio version is highly recommended. The story is good enough, the characters are excellent, the setting is also good. ****

>38 sibylline: You reviewed the The Stranger Diaries much more thoroughly (and complimentary) than I. I was hung up on the police taking the diaries under Clare's not wanting (very understandably) these personal entries pawed through. I didn't care for Harbinder in this book.

However I sure enjoyed the next book (The Postscript Murders) and Harbinder seemed more more sympathetic. I'm going to request the next book when it shows up as released...

>39 SandyAMcPherson: I always think I'll just say one or two things and then . . . get carried away. Very glad to hear you like Book 2! Of course you didn't like Harbinder! You have to start out with a character who has some big issue -- so that can be slowly resolved (or whatever) over the next books in the series. Harbinder is a mess even if she won't admit it to herself.

Yeah, the diary thing seemed intense, except -- this is exactly what a detective would demand under the circs. once he/she knew someone else was reading and writing in them.

>38 sibylline: I really liked this one, too. I've heard really good things about the next one, from Sandy of course and also Karen, so I'm eager to read it.

>40 sibylline: Oh,yeah, you're right ("what a detective would demand").
I was getting too involved in the story!

I guess I should confess, when I read a well-written story (for my tastes), I literally live it. I'm in there being freaked out, outraged, sad and tearful or laughing my head off. I'm so into reading at times that... oops it's 2 am.
So, then I miss nuances like seeing the Harbinder character 'in depth'. I also think that reading the action beguiles me and only a second reading reveals subtleties, for me.

>41 lauralkeet: I'm glad Karen was positive on The Postscript Murders. Additional opinions are always a good idea.
My enthusiasms for a book are occasionally quite influenced by particularly eloquent passages that really connect to something in my own thoughts or philosophy. I'm going to see if I can find where Karen wrote about Book 2. Often I avoid reading reviews so that I can enjoy the narrative without prejudiced ideas. If that makes sense...

>42 SandyAMcPherson: I'm in for particularly eloquent passages - I still haven't decided if I like Spider in a Tree but lines like "A letter writer could feel the pull of a true correspondent from the other end of the world." urge me on.

>42 SandyAMcPherson: That is what writers of fiction work for! Pull you in and keep you there. And hard to do well.

>43 quondame: I seek those unexpected moments too!

I had a time-traveling alien-in-a-sitcom dream. She came from Starkweather, and was called Goodwife Hepzibah.

I was a bit gobsmacked that my brain drew those referents for her culture.

>45 richardderus: Whoa. That is seriously weird. And kind of cool! Of course Hepzibah (Pyncheon) is the name of one of the main characters in The House of the Seven Gables a fact which must be stuffed somewhere in your brain?

Hepzibah was also, along with Electra and Alumina, a name my parents liked to say they had considered for me (all names to be found in my father's New England line). And I think they were telling the truth, albeit tongue in cheek.

Also here to say that although I have no excuse for it, all I feel like reading are escape genre type books. It's a struggle to dip into a more serious one, although once I do, I don't regret it.

44. E fantasy **** 1/2
Tower of Thorns (2 of 3) Juliet Marillier

Here Marillier gives the 'uber' plot something of a rest, but not entirely while she and Grim go to solve a mystery for one of the other gentry under Prince Oran's aegis. A lady with her guards comes to Oran's with an urgent request to send a wise woman to help her. Near her home there is an island on which there is a tower surrounded by thorns, for the last two years a monster has been wailing all day long (mercifully quiet at night). Unwilling, but also curious, Blackthorn agrees to go if Grim can accompany her. On their way they encounter a man that Blackthorn knows from her childhood. He convinces her there is a movement afoot to discredit Mathuin and that she can help if she comes with him. She refuses to go until she has solved this other mystery. She knows that going would violate her agreement with the fey Conmael (who is absent, entirely, in this book). Other strands from both Grim and Blackthorn's past are emerging and both struggle with their feelings. The plot of the monster is very sturdy and somewhat twisty -- I didn't get the full twist until it happened -- the story felt rooted in folklore but also very much its own 'version'. Can't quite give a five due to a certain amount of annoying repititiousness, but a good read -- the high marks are because I.couldn't.put. it. down. not because it is high lit or anything! I will seek out more of Marillier. ****1/2

45. E fantasy ****
Den of Wolves (3 of 3) Juliet Marillier

Again, a superb secondary plot carries the story onward and creates plenty of tension as the final part of the 'uber' plot is worked out. Cara, the daughter of a near neighbor and distant relation, Master Tolá, is brought to Winterfall of a sudden. Only problem is that Oran must go to his father's castle and keep an eye on things while his father goes on a trip to see the High King. Cara is miserable at Winterfall and the only people she feels at home with are Blackthorn and her apprentice Emer. Back at Tolá's a strange wild man has appeared, one who disappeared year's ago in the middle of a building project the Master is obsessed with. He is crippled, but Grim is hired to help him. Stuff happens! Meanwhile back at Winterfall some very odd men turn up, especially trained warriors from Swan Island, who give Blackthorn the creeps . . . . no more or I will start spoiling. Enjoy! I did! The repetitiousness bit is still there, but maybe slightly less? After all, if you are reading book 3 obviously you get the plot (and romance) lines.****

These got me through the last few days where we have had four inches of snow and real cold, enough to blast our wonderful daffodils. Spousal Unit and myself picked at least a hundred! That helps. We try not to look out the windows. 52 tomorrow, 62 Saturday so it will just be a bad dream by then.

And finally, noticing now that I have dropped below 100 (to 99) on my 144 book quest for this year!

>48 sibylline: I've read some of Juliet Marillier's books from 15 or more years ago. Have you read her earlier books (Daughter of the Forest) to compare to these more recent ones? I read them because my dad said he liked them, but I was cooler on them.

>49 quondame: I just started Daughter of the Forest enjoying it immensely so far. What left you cool? Except for occasional repetitiousness (reminders of this and that about a predicament or whatever) and, yeah, sometimes kind of blatant idiocy on the part of bad guys (but, hey, that appears not to be so unlikely as all that)--which ensures that the plot will go on-- I don't mind. I do wonder if some of my acceptance is that the comfort aspect of a read still outweighs some considerations . . . but I think Marillier is a good writer, builds a strong world, has great characters and so on.

>50 sibylline: I like the look of Marillier's stories and agree that one's "acceptance is that the comfort aspect of a read still outweighs some considerations".

I added this author to my TBR list of "writers I have never read". I think I already posted that somewhere here, but scrolling didn't reveal; perhaps it was on a different thread. I'm being very sporadic about visiting threads lately!

>47 sibylline: "Electra" is just mean to name a little girl of our generation! The "225" jokes would've been horrible! And then in college the psych majors would've piled on....

Then again my mother was "Winter" so I suppose that's all relative.

Heh.

>51 SandyAMcPherson: Hi Sandy. I'm equally terrible about threads so I am deeply grateful when anyone stops by.

>52 richardderus: I think they were most tempted by Hepzibah.

>50 sibylline: Well, if I'm remembering correctly and not confusing it with another author's work, there was a sort of idealization of ancient Ireland going on and I remember not really being on board for the general plot.

>54 quondame: Yes, that is certainly one way of perceiving what Marillier is about, however as Marillier is clearly so passionate about folk/fairy tales of Ireland and I like that--in one afterword she talks about how she has been inspired by particular tales, many of which have variants. Quite knowledgeable about the medicinal uses of herbs and plants. Her cultural/historical knowledge is solid and I'm not bothered by her romanticization of Ireland--she sure isn't the only one to do so. I do agree wholeheartedly with you that what works the least well is the overarching plot of seeking justice for the bad guy, Mathuin, (a bit too contemporary and wishful thinking-ish) but I didn't really care since I liked all the rest. In the Blackthorn & Grim series it is the secondary stories (often based on tales) that work the best. Not great lit or anything but, for me, fun to read.

46. music, irish ****
The Melodic Tradition of Ireland James R. Cowdery

I've been immersed in Irish music for a couple of decades now and until recently I would not have been able to grasp most (any?) of what Cowdery considers, so not a book for anyone but another Irish music nut like me. Before I say anything else, MToI is not a book that one 'finishes'; one could spend months (more?) going through every variation of every tune here presented hoping to grasp aspects of the music, from the ways traditional musicians approach playing to the ways melodies fit into 'tune families' or use 'recombining' or even if there is a way to determine which melodies are the most ancient. I do feel that somehow his ideas, most of them very down-to-earth and sensible, will improve both my understanding of the music when I listen and possibly even my own playing. One learns Irish music through immersion, by watching and listening and playing. Best also to learn the tunes from someone else's either in person or in a recording, not from sheet music which doesn't capture much of anything of the rhythmic subtleties. I hesitate to use the word practicing as it brings to mind the suffering child playing scales on a piano. One plays, alone but more importantly, with others. Cowdery takes the reader through the basic methods of learning, the instruments then turns to the words of the great sean-nós singer (unaccompanied and deceptively complex) Joe Heaney calls singing a tune well "putting it Over". Then there is the 'pulse' of the tune, not the same thing as the beat and even more challengingly, the 'nea' -- the ground or center--and you need to get to both inside yourself to put the song over. I couldn't have understood a thing he was saying, even ten years ago, but am on the outskirts of getting something now. And can I explain to you? No. In successive chapters he takes venerable melodies such as 'The Blackbird' and looks at some of the ways musicians have rendered it, "If folk tunes are infinitely transformable. . . then any particular tune or performance may be seen as a response to a field of possibilities within successively larger fields of possibilities." In the chapter called "The Whole of It" Cowdery looks at the paradoxical aspects of the music: that each individual musician interprets as they will (and this can mean, adding 'flourishes' or removing them or changing keys, and all sorts of monkey business not permitted in the classical music realm) which, over time, can change a melody into something recognizable but also quite different and entirely acceptable. In the last few chapters Cowdery attempts to discern what, if any patterns within a tune, tend to remain stable and relatively untouched and some ways to recognize tunes that are related. And as with many of the conundrums in Irish music, you can and you can't. You know it when you hear it. Lovely. **** and maybe more.

47. *** mystery
Silent Voices Ann Cleeves

This likely will be my only Vera. My spouse loves Cleeves, but I don't know. There's a moment where she talks with her mouth full of cake, spewing crumbs all about, and I thought, OK, that's a little over the top. I get that Vera is socially inept, easily angered, has an appetite etcetera, but I don't need it ground into me. The actress who plays Vera in the tv version conveys a character a bit more subtle, but I've stopped watching those too, the sadness, gore quotient etc too much. But back to the book. Not a gory one but the plot also was a bit too much of a stretch into improbability for me too. A woman, senior social worker, is murdered at a health club, Vera who has been told by her doctor to exercise swims there herself and discovers the body in the steam room after her swim. I could have stopped right there I guess. I also figured out who the murderer had to be early on. Sorry to any Cleeves fans! ***

>57 sibylline: Geesh, LT was so flaky this afternoon, I posted here and it never uploaded.
Foolish me, should have immediately copied the post to a text file and saved it... but I left it there thinking the LT server was simply busy.

Anyway, what I wanted say was that I read the first four Vera Stanhope novels and by this one, decided I'm done. I was so taken with a televised episode based on The Crow Trap, I was sure I'd enjoy the books.

I am with you in believing that Vera's TV character was more subtle. Often the screen action is more vivid for me in dramas of this sort, so I was disappointed in the novel "getting in my face". I wasn't okay with either Telling Tales or Hidden Depths. I guess I kept hoping the next one would be better. Happily there are other great novelists out there that suit me better.

>57 sibylline:, >58 SandyAMcPherson: interesting comments about the Vera series. I've read the first three, so Silent Voices is next. I've enjoyed the books, but they do fit into a certain British mystery mold, especially those that end up adapted for television. As I read the books I could envision how they'd be done on TV; it almost made me wonder if they were written with that end in mind.

48. ♬ history *****
The Celtic World Jennifer Paxton (The Great Courses)

These lectures tread that narrow margin of TMI and not enough I, and pleasing the likely listeners (e.g. interested but not scholars) but I can give this series an A for being a great tour of the subject. When Paxton simplifies she admits she is doing so, saying (in effect) "I can't tell you the whole convoluted story, so I am telling you the pared down version." Paxton starts in the way back with pre-history and moves through the myths and folklore, trying to distinguish between the made up and the truly ancient and what is just very mixed up. (Like MacPherson's Ossian poems which are based on the old stories, but not written by the poet Ossian who is an entirely fictional person.) There are considerations, must a folkway be truly ancient to count, say, preservation of the gaelic language in your community? Is a mix of old and new ok? Does celticness like every other cultural phenomenon, undergo gradual change without losing its core essence? Folklore, music, arts, literature and a few sports (hurling, for one) how old do these traditions have to be to count as authentic? If not, then what in the world is celtic?

The bottom line (to simplify horribly) is that consensus (of a sort) is slowly being reached by scholars and scientists, at least, that the 'celtic fringe' of Western Europe is more of a cultural choice (or preference or attraction) than anything based on 'race' (a concept growing flimsier by the nanosecond). Some distinct differences, especially Ireland and Wales endured. (I would put music, along with Irish language, at the top of the list.) The nineteenth century saw many revivals and even new customs, such as the wearing of clan tartans, arise. (Back in the day you just whatever tartan was made in your area, had nothing to do with clan). So . . . do they count? Paxton concludes, that if you want to include the clan tartan, go for it.

The lectures cover a lot of geographical ground -- mainly focussed on Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Brittany and a bit on some fringier celtic wannabes, Cornwall, Galicia. They cover a lot of cultural ground too, from the arts to law and everything in between.

I was fascinated by the workings of Brehon law--based on custom, and practiced by 'wandering' lawyers rather than on 'case' law. As Paxton doesn't go into true depth about anything, I don't fully understand it and may well pursue that subject. It was a truly different system of justice from English law, squashed in after the full conquest of Ireland. Lawyers were highly regarded and free to roam the different parts of Ireland to practice (along with the musicians and poets!). Also the Darwinian inheritance practices such that within a kin group the strongest would fight for the chieftanship, no such thing as primogeniture. A madhouse, but no more unfair than primogeniture. Hierarchical but not from the top down, more that within each group everyone had their status defined, however, on the whole you could say that comparatively the Irish hierarchy had a wider spread and also, within each kin group more room for moving upward, than the English method that evolved with one person (king, queen) at the top and then working down to the serf.

I know too much about the music to have been entirely satisfied by the section on music, but Paxton did all right. If you are interested in things celtic and like audiobooks, you'll enjoy these lectures. I wasn't sure of Jennifer Paxton at first, the author and narrator, but she did a terrific job with a huge subject! *****

>60 sibylline: Interesting what you’re saying about the Celtic Fringe being more of a cultural choice. I was just talking on my thread on Club Read about current Welsh and Scottish nationalism adopting a civic nationalist approach (if you live in Wales and identify as Welsh, then you’re Welsh) rather than an ethnic nationalist approach based on ancestry.

Have you read Signe Pike's two historical novels? Setting the Arthurian legend in Scotland and linking it to Celtic/Druidic traditions -- fascinating.

I've spent part of this afternoon scrutinizing Vrbo listings on Cape Cod -- inspired by today's weather! I'm going to promise myself that if I manage to lose all the weight I gained over the last year by August, and manage to boost my income, I'll go somewhere in September. Maybe. Possibly.

Meanwhile, I'm reading a newish book from the Athenaeum about Notre Dame, by Agnes Poirier. A bit of a brisk canter, but interesting.

>61 SandDune: Hi Sandy -- It is interesting and DNA work is proving that and blasting out some other shibboleths as well. Thank goodness.

>62 Chatterbox: Suzanne! How good of you to stop by. I really appreciate visitors. I am putting Signe Pike on the WL.

I lumber about reading threads, most weekends, but have not had much to say most of the time, which I know is true of many folks. I know you've had some trials and tribulations with family, work, pets but I haven't stopped by in some time, so I'll pop over today and get updated.

I hope to get to Wellfleet as soon as next week! I broke an ankle in mid-May and then Vermont seemed snug and safe and happily some long-time folks (who live in a city) were desperate to stay much longer than usual, so in the end I never went at all. First time in decades. I've been going there since I moved there at 25 as the new Library Director. I've missed a couple of years here and there but not very many. Floating in the ocean. Fixes what's broke, innit?

>1 sibylline: Check out the May image if you like.

49. E fantasy ***1/2
Daughter of the Forest Juliet Marillier

Once again, enjoyable, but as this is an earlier book, I can see that the repetitiveness has been there from the beginning and also a couple of the 'plot' devices-- one being the person who just can't believe someone might care for them -- . Also the meme of the talkative bad guy. I realize you can't have a book if everyone behaves sensibly, so OK, but that character could have made her choice in that instance for other reasons, even knowing the other person truly cared for her -- to me -- that would be potentially more interesting, but whatever. This is genre reading and while variation is permitted, not too much of it! So enjoyable nonetheless. ***

I've been listening to Stephen Fry read the entire set of Holmes stories for, well, getting on to a year or more now. I'm on Book 5 of 6, but what I am here to say is that Holmes has a way of turning up in other novels, I wish I had kept better track over the last year, but his doppelganger is a character called Peregrine Vale in The Invisible Library series, and in the book I am reading now, The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep he pops in and out, helpfully, of course. There is something so utterly captivating about Holmes, not to mention useful for sorting out knotting problems, that you want him to participate in your own fiction, eh?

50. fantasy ****
The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep H.G. Parry

Rob has a brother Charley who is one of those polymaths, reading Dickens by the age of three. By 13 he is off to Oxford, but in his early 20's now a published PhD he returns to Wellington, N.Z. his hometown as a full professor at the uni, somewhat to Rob's discomfiture. He has always felt protective of Charley, but also somewhat guilty about . . . well, you'll find out. If you are a fan of the bookish fantasy genre, you'll be happy here. Never mind that there is something peculiar about Charley, who was stillborn but suddenly came to life after 20 minutes, undamaged, but other strange things are happening, characters out of fiction can be summoned, and not only that, here in Wellington there is even a hidden street where they can live: from the Artful Dodger to Heathcliffe and FIVE whole Darcy's -- all of whom have been drawn to 'the Street' from other places. Two Uriah Heeps, when one is already far too many! It's a lot of fun although Rob's lack of self-awareness (or, if he has it, lack of ability to deal) gets tiresome ere the end. Not a huge problem. ****

♬ (5th of 6) mystery *****
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle read by Stephen Fry

No need really to say anything -- I have continued to enjoy these stories, some more than others, and I am always appreciative (understatement) of Fry's command of accents, moods, subtleties.
One more installment to go! *****

52. fantasy *****
Piranesi Susanna Clarke

Piranesi, a young man, lives in a landscape of huge echoing halls and vestibules filled with statues, surrounded by the sea, which enters the lower parts of the building complex with the ebb and flow of the tides. He has only one living human companion with whom he meets once or twice a week. He catches fish and mussels, dries seaweed as both food and fuel, is grateful to the Other for any little gifts, like some sneakers, and will do the Other's bidding with no hesitation. They are friends! Little more can be said without spoiling, the story is densely interwoven, not linear (which one can set forth without fear of spoilage). My guess is that Clarke is exploring the limits of the imagination, that place where the mind and 'reality' (ha! is there anything more subjective?) mix and muddle. Can full-on open-ended belief create reality? Is this what is meant by magic? How does what we think affect what we see? Who we are? Clarke's magic is so so dangerous. Nothing good will happen to those who enter in the wrong spirit. I loved this undercurrent in "Strange and Norell" and I see the same basic questions being explored more deeply here. Thus the reader's ability and willingness to ask themselves where they set that line will determine how they react to Piranesi. The one thing a reader mustn't do with this novel is think they know better than Clarke when it comes to the borders between the imagination and reality. Writers who explore this same region and come right to mind are Calvino and Borges. I might even reread this, something I rarely do. Brava! *****

>69 sibylline: Oooh, so glad to see this is one you enjoyed, Lucy! I reread more frequently than some, but this is definitely one I'd revisit and be sure I'd get more out of each time.

Hmm. You make me want to look at Piranesi at the very least, Lucy. I was so excited about J. S. & Mr. N* that I bought it in hardcover (a thing I very rarely do) and then was seriously disappointed.
Off to research S. Pike's novels.

>69 sibylline: Oh YAY-cubed! We agree again!!

Have a lovely week-ahead's reads, Lucy.

>69 sibylline: I will certainly ne re-reading Piranesi at some point. But then I am a re-reader.

>69 sibylline: Hi Lucy. Nice review.

I like your analysis, particularly, Clarke is exploring the limits of the imagination, that place where the mind and 'reality' ... mix and muddle..
Your question How does what we think, affect what we see? is very thoughtful and holds good insights because 'what we think' can sure develop into preconceived notions, doesn't it?

53. E fantasy ***1/2
Son of the Shadows Juliet Marillier

Second in the Sevenwaters series. Marillier treads a fine line between combining the myths and tales and historical, geographical details. This is Ireland, make no mistake, sometime in the 'dark ages.' Sevenwaters, the small fiefdom, is a remote pagan holdout in the north but slowly they are losing ground. They are most desperate to regain control of three tiny islands off their coast and this makes them vulnerable, not only to the ever expanding Britons, but to the few remaining magical adepts who, as Marillier puts it, have no scruples about exceeding the boundaries and practicing the darker arts. This installment is the story of Sorcha's children, especially the youngest daughter. The family does have a penchant for falling madly in love with the wrong person, and Liadan is no exception. What I truly enjoyed was learning something about the founding of the special island of ethical (sort of) warriors for hire and her love affair was quite a cliff hanger. So, overall, good. As ever Marillier's plots depend totally on the reader suspending judgement about general clunky obviousness, but it's the genre and it's ok! ***1/2

54. ♬ ***
The Long Earth Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter

In this rather odd little novel people have discovered 'stepping' -- that is -- shifting from one earth to another. The difference is that these earths, while mostly full of living creatures, has no other homo sapiens as far as anyone knows. There are some other evolving intelligent creatures, singing trolls, and creepy planet of the apes types who prey on others by stepping in and out and so sneaking up on you. I believe that Pratchett wrote the story about Lopsang and Josh, a 'natural' stepper, who set out to see if the Earths go on into infinity or come to an end. What they find surprises them, of course. Baxter, I am sure, wrote the more practical story of a family who leave to colonize one of these worlds, from the POV of the daughter. I was disturbed by one aspect of this plot, that this family left behind their son who was stepping-allergic. I simply cannot imagine that anyone would do this to their child. I could see, perhaps, waiting for the child to be adult enough and also OK with their departure, maybe? But no, it was a big mistake, one shark in the pool too many for me. The best part are Lopsang (a AI with the soul of a Tibetan monk) and Joshs' relationship and their travels and discoveries and adventures. ***

>70 bell7: I have no doubt I will reread!
>71 LizzieD: What disappointed you? I've read JS and N twice and listened to it once . . . Just letting enough time to pass to read or listen again.
>72 richardderus: Yay indeed!
>73 SandDune: Yes, you are a prodigious re-reader, which I admire!
>74 SandyAMcPherson: I do think that muddle-ground is where the basis for magic, with Clarke, resides.

Sunday update:
I've had to drop Bowen's The Victory Garden -- can't say why, but I'm not sufficiently engaged. Her novels teeter, sometimes, on some indefinable edge. That's a topic, for sure, so many ways a novel can teeter! In this case, maybe, too predictable would be an ok summary.
Indulging now in St. Mary's #12. Bliss, of course. These should also teeter--as in well over the cliff of improbability, but that's the thing, other aspects, characters, dialogue, etc. carry Taylor's tales.

Gardam is wonderful as always, breathtaking short story writer; I'm up to page 900 in the endless Knausgaard, and making slow progress through the final installment of Holmes as read by Stephen Fry. What a gift! I've been very distracted by discovering BBC's Channel 4 on you tube, watching endless archaeology/history type offerings for which I am a total pushover.

In knitting news: I made a change in this knitted top, from top to a pullover, but for the second time I've botched the final sleeve lengthening process. I must learn to write down at least approximately what I am doing when I make a change in a sleeve that I will have to do for the other sleeve too.

55. short stories ****1/2
The People on Privilege Hill Jane Gardam

Short stories, as opposed to novels, are slivers of life, a glimpse of a moment, alone or with someone else, that causes a shift. Maybe not a shift in the persona of the story, maybe a shift in you, the reader, as you watch this person make the same mistake again . . . Gardam is a master of the form. My feeling is that many readers don't like the form because they feel they've just become attached when the story ends, often abruptly. Well, yes, but aren't most of our interactions with people just like that? Anyway, here we get another glimpse of Old Filth and his frenemy Veneering and their joint frenemy Fiscal-Smith going to a luncheon up at the house of the most flamboyant person in their little neighborhood, supposedly a send-off for a cousin or someone who is going off to some obscure island to become a monk. Of course, nothing turns out as expected and umbrellas are involved. In another a young American boy, city-grown, is visiting his grandparents who live in the depths of some pastoral spot -- the lad is overwhelmed and a bit frightened (he has never picked a blackberry from a bush, for example, never seen cows or sheep, or really, anything rural) and just old enough not to want to reveal that, so he bluffs and blusters, but is then when all is said and done, a very small boy and granny's hand is essential. A lad is going off to college, finally, his much older parents (I can relate) feeling tremendous relief as they find him, at eighteen, a mix of mysterious, frightening, and strange. But you see too, they haven't exactly helped him to be responsible for himself, yet have no idea at all the part they played. Some stories are sad, most are funny with a prick of poignant. She's wonderful. *****

56. fantasy ***1/2
The Child of the Prophecy Juliet Marillier

What makes this third book in the series interesting is that this first person narrator is outside the Sevenwaters immediate family. Grandchild of the problematical sorceress, the task of fomenting trouble is dumped on her and she believes she has no choice but to comply. Except . . . well, of course! I suppose the inability to know when a problem is too large to solve yourself is a big piece of adolescence, as well as figuring out who to trust, who to tell, as well. But I wish these characters weren't quite so mutton-headed!
As always, some scenes and situations are gripping and original, in this one, particularly the ending.***1/2

Removed by me as a duplicate.

5. biography DNF
The Most Dangerous Book Kevin Birmingham

Not entirely without merit, I nonetheless cannot continue listening. A) I don't like the reader B) I've read enough about Joyce, Nora and the period that I am aware Birmingham is pulling out choice bits. And, as is typical, women get unexamined short shrift, as in, clichéd and thoughtless statements -- especially about Nora, about Joyce's faithful patron, and so on. In the wake of reading the biography of Nora by Brenda Maddox perhaps I am biased, but it's a necessary corrective bias. Here's an example: The Joyces mostly ate out because a) they usually didn't have a kitchen or if they did, shared, inadequate, etc b) Joyce loved eating out. Nora was an excellent cook. All the biographies by men fail to make this point, they see, eating out on no money and make an assumption that Nora was this lazy slatternly wife who couldn't/wouldn't cook. On the rare times they had a decent kitchen, they had excellent parties with good food. She was not a french chef, but neither am I. Next. Nora was reasonably well educated, especially for the times, she had all the operas she liked, and there were many, memorized, sang well, adored Joyce's singing more than anything--music was something they shared profoundly . . . she was as intelligent as you or me (the continuing myth of stupid peasant unless you are Joyce, especially if you are from the west of Ireland)--she became fluent in three languages besides Irish/English AND reasonably able to bump along in two more. Can you say that of yourself? She also had a fine sense of fashion, and while this is a 'typical' female thing, she really was good at dressing well on a hopeless budget. This biography has a focus to set up Joyce as this unique and extraordinary genius who labored on beset by domestic cares etcetera. The usual male lament. Well he was, but many (I dare say, most) of his problems were of his own making. That was a rant, but I realized that every time I started listening I ended up furious. So time to quit. ****

57. E fantasy ****1/2
Heir to Sevenwaters Juliet Marillier

Marillier hits her stride in this offering. The protagonist, Clodagh, is the 'ordinary' sister of the five children of Sean, Liadan's brother. Johnny's crew from Inis Eala turn up and two of his men are attracted to Clodagh although one of them behaves so rudely she can't figure out why . . . well you know. Anyway, things get complicated when the new child, the new heir to Sevenwaters, vanishes while under Clodagh's care. Really well done this one. ****1/2

58. E fantasy ****1/2
Seer of Sevenwaters Juliet Marillier

Marillier proves she has mastered the form -- good characters, great pacing, interesting plot/story -- Sibeal, druid-in-training is a terrific character and faces some tough choices and frightening obstacles. ****1/2

Hi Lucy,
It was lovely to see you dropped by my thread. Now it is June and a new month, new reading resolutions on my part.

Like you, I let some books languish (Freya Stark's for instance, to which I wanted to pay more attention) while "I obsessively read the escapist ones", just as you said. It was a perfect remark!
I hope the losses you mentioned weren't too painful. You've taken time to review your recent books more in depth on your thread and I appreciate that.

I have yet to move Juliet Marillier up to the top of my reading priorities, having fallen down the LM-Bujold rabbit hole for the moment. I am also trying out a new-to-me author, Sara Rosett. A vintage sort of cozy mystery, written by an American but set in Britain. We'll see how that goes. Sometimes the nuances of British society are not captured very well by non-Brit writers.

>85 SandyAMcPherson: Down that rabbit hole is a great place to be! Marillier doesn't compare except in one area -- her love (and knowledge) of the essential folklore of Ireland is the real deal (shared obsession) and she improves with every novel in the Sevenwaters series, I thought. Still, the work teeters between YA and adult with some of the features of YA I am not fond of, but so be it. Also some folks might dislike that all of her novels are written in the first person present tense -- my theory is that the immediacy engages her and helps her get into the world. Not my favorite choice -- it adds to that YA feel actually. But I'm not reading for literary value, am I?

I read most of Freya Stark's books in the 80's, found her very engaging, I guess I sailed through tedious bits. Her journey through Turkey -- the wealth of ignored roman stuff etc. at the time was great. I think I even kept that one.

>85 SandyAMcPherson: Falling down the Bujold rabbit hole sounds like fun to me!
Marillier is not in the same league -- here and there she gets close (although never with that light and often humorous hand). What is best about her work is her profound love and knowledge of Irish customs and folklore. She sidesteps history, that's fine, it is fantasy after all, but I have no doubt she is aware of that and making choices. I've mentioned the YA aspects of her stories--all the characters are in late adolescence, in those times (somewhere between 800-1100) you were an adult at 16. All the stories are told in first person present. I am guessing Marillier likes to write that way to get totally engaged. I don't love it but I tolerate it. All that to say -- Marillier doesn't need to be a priority unless you really need some serious escaping!

I love Freya Stark, I read several of her books in the 70's and 80's but I've only listed Ionia: A Quest which I still have somewhere about. I found that one thrilling.

I can't believe it is June. Just watched a baby robin fledge from a nest that the parents built in a pile of baskets on a high shelf on the porch just outside our back door. They've been so quiet, the babies, but we weren't even sure if there were any, but there one was this morning on my gardening table, small and disheveled, just looking looking looking around. Gone now. There might be another one because the parent birds are still flying in and out of the nest with gob bets of worm (yuck, there is no other way to describe it!).

Posting my new June topper here since with the new LT method, this is the opening screen.



How things look today, June 1. The sculpture is one that the spousal unit made years ago for a native plant conference and people brought or found little plants and put them in jars all over. We should do that, of course. Otherwise, several cold and gloomy rainy days *(rain much needed). The green is taking on a heavier hue and I hear the farm folk down in the big meadow cutting the first hay. This morning a baby robin fledged from our back porch.

59. E fantasy (novella) ****

This novella fills in and explains a mystery -- Ciaran's raven companion. ****

Hardly counts as a book but it balances out with the next 1152 page cement block I've been reading for FIVE months.

60. contemp fiction ***** and some.
My Struggle: Book Six Karl Ove Knausgaard

At long last I have reached the final page of this saga. As I've mulled over the full experience experience of the work, 1-6, the overarching subject is the emergence of a human (male) (artist) from childhood to maturity. At the same time Knausgaard assumes that while his is particular and further tempered by his personality, he is nonetheless the same in the essentials as everyone else. K believes (and I agree) that human society demands that we not be open about many aspects of our life experiences--even if what is taboo shifts and changes through time and cultures--so that early on we are taught to dissemble, hide, outright lie etcetera, about things we have done or not done that are not 'the norm' and we do not tell the truth about our experiences or how we feel about them.

He attempts to do so here. Ambitious in both the good and bad senses of the word (as in, a worthy endeavour/doomed to failure) So much of the writing in the previous five books had a transparency and flow--I mean simple language, simple sentences, often simple subject matter too. It's easy to scoff and mutter that all he is doing is writing about himself and anybody could do that. But that's the point: WE TURN EVERYTHING WE EXPERIENCE OR FEEL INTO A STORY, A FICTION. And it is impossible not to skew that story in our favor.

Humans crave coherence, need to maintain order in our heads as well as in our homes. Some argue that a biography says more about the writer of the biography than the subject. An autobiography is naturally skewed and we expect and forgive (especially if there are a few unflattering stories to give an impression of balance). A novel can be more truthful than either of the above by honing in on the actual experience creating a person who doesn't 'exist' and therefore doesn't have to observe any norms. (Well, usually there are repercussions for that individual within the novel itself for violating those norms, but we get to be in the person's head meanwhile.)

This need to create order is arguably one of the most distinguishing characteristics of homo sapiens. Not a necessity, but a compulsion.

This final novel brings clarity to the whole. The structure of Book 6 while anchored to a particular time period in K's life (he's around forty, the oldest child is 6ish and about to start 'real' school) is loosely threefold.

First. The issues of the public and family response to the books that have emerged so far (that was confusing to me as here the books came out more slowly)--in particular K's conflict with his uncle over whether he was telling 'the truth' about his father's death and his subsequent role in the aftermath. All else aside, K has violated a norm and has dragging the family name through a tragedy and a disgraceful ending that should have been kept secret.

The second part involves a close look first, at a particular poem by Celan and then at the earlier part of Hitler's life. In the poem K explores Celan's theme--the chilling question, so central to Hitler's success, of turning individuals 'someones' into 'no ones', from 'we' to 'they' and from there to 'other' and therefore not having any rights as human beings at all. Hitler, the frustrated artist, grew up to be a man driven to try to make the vision of a perfect order, the fantasy that sustains him, in his brain come true. He was a man who found his true home and calling in the orderliness of the army life in WWI. K is, of course, putting together his own version of how Hitler came to be but I would say he tries to work forwards making an effort to figure out what the hell went so wrong for this man as a child and young man that he felt obliged/inspired/driven to murder millions of people as a kind of living nightmare/fantasy made manifest, instead of painting landscapes and designing buildings.

Getting through this section of the book was an ordeal. I could not read more than ten or so pages about Hitler at a time and that meant slow going. I felt tainted also reading the actual quotes from Mein Kampf.

K is not comparing himself to Hitler -- not even remotely -- or maybe possibly as an example of the artist gone bad in the most extreme manifestation. (Ok, I am simplifying). There are many questions embedded here, among them the most disturbing: We seem to have to make some individuals into nobodies in order to feel like a somebody. This is possibly the single scariest and tragic aspect of the human psyche.

In the third and last section K returns to his 'ordinary' family life, as he grinds along trying to finish this very last book, his wife succumbs to a major bipolar episode alternating between pure chaos and pure absence. Some feel the episode is triggered by his 'success' overshadowing her own writing life. Well, maybe, but I think it has just as much to do with having had three children bing bang bong, all of them five or under at the start of this book.

There are always very funny and touching moments, as well as some incredibly annoying ones when you want to yell at K (the K's are terrible with money, just shockingly bad). K's aversion to strangers means there's no chance of, say, spending the money wasted on a country cottage (which they trash) on a bigger apartment with room for an aupair or whatever or at least hiring someone to look after the children for a few extra hours, or clean the house, or shop and prepare meals! But whatever. When Linda is in hospital K even refuses the household help that would have been free! They depend on their two mothers (and what a cliché that is, like grandmas have no other lives but to serve their children and grandchildren?). I am sympathetic--small children are a full-time job and you can't imagine ever having an uninterrupted moment and yet you are so in love with your children you have trouble letting others care for them--you lose most of your ability to make rational choices. All understandable.

You see how easy it is to criticize K's choices because he puts it all out there, all the dirty laundry, mistakes, bad days, and so on. That's why we generally don't let on what is really happening!

The whole of this last book circles around the question of the private and the public selves and how they interact, intertwine and affect our perceptions and behaviour. I would say that K's view of the matter would be, as demonstrated by the work itself, that the more that is out in the open, aired so that an attempt to understand can be made, is better.

If I had ten stars to award I would *********.

61. ♬ autobio ***1/2
I Am Spock Leonard Nimoy

While not a hard-core Trekker, I do fall more on the Star Trek as opposed to the Star Wars side of the matter and Spock has always been my favorite of the original series--his character had more complexity and scope than the rest of them--for all his logic and insistence on rationality he was a more rounded character than the others, perhaps because of the potential, always, that he might lapse into humanness. The credit goes to Nimoy, for being enthralled with the possibilities inherent in the character and for steadfastly working on a 'relationship' with Spock. Here Nimoy lays out the development of the character until, in a way, the two, Nimoy and Spock, became one. There are dialogues between the two that at first seemed a bit arch, but gradually felt like maybe the most important part of the text -- Nimoy showing how much Spock helped his development in return. Interesting to get his take on the ins and outs, if you care. And also the other things about his career than I didn't know. ***1/2

62. ♬ fantasy time travel *****
Another Time, Another Place Jodi Taylor

Max is already feeling in her bones that something is 'off' that Time is ever so wobbly and wonders if she has time traveled over some limit when Dr. Bairstow and the mysterious Mrs. Brown are in a car crash, Bairstow gone and Brown badly hurt. Markham has had to scarper off for reasons I won't explain or I might spoil. In his place comes the imperturbable and maddening Treadwell, so badly briefed he doesn't even know who the Time Police are. And worse, Hyssop as the new Head of Security. Two historians are left in a terrible situation in Babylon and Max gets herself fired, then gets a mysterious job offer and that's all you need to know. I love the narrator! *****

>90 sibylline: It has been a while since I finished reading My Struggle, Lucy.
Those are interesting thoughts about the whole saga. Looking forward what more you have to say about it.

>92 sibylline: I am so delighted with the twist...y'know...and long may Jodi beguile us with her madcap looney-tunes lovely time travel!

>90 sibylline: I am defective as a person. I was so miserable reading #1 that I have simply declined to participate any further in Knausgard's mishegas.

Have a gorgeous weekend, with oodles of lovely reads.

Set Aside For Now
6.
Maiden Castle John Cowper Powys

Can't continue with this having just spend five months reading the final Knausgaard. Also, I am . . . non-plussed by the story, as in not really very engaged by it and not expecting to be. The thing about Powys is that the 'story' is sometimes the least important thing: the thoughts and the setting, the odd and eccentric people, but this nonetheless has an inferior work quality -- as opposed to Porius (pure genius) and A Glastonbury Romance (not quite as pure genius but right up there). I may come back to it once I've had some shorter, less challenging reads.

63. E fantasy ****
Flame of Sevenwaters Juliet Marillier

I appear to have reached the end of this series, although Marillier certainly left the door open for more. Here we are with Maeve, the child who was burned in an earlier book, trying to rescue her dog and who has been living with her aunt and uncle in Northumberland. She has a way with animals and has been sent, with an extraordinary but very high strung yearling, to Sevenwaters to help with him until he can be given to a neighboring chieftan who has lost a dozen men and his two sons into the forest of Sevenwaters, some dead, others fates uncertain. Evil doings, no doubt by Mac Dara, the black fey, father of Cathal. A good ending if ending it is. Very intense at the end. ****

>93 FAMeulstee: Thank you, although I have barely begun!

>94 richardderus: Amen to that (re Jodi!)
The Knausgaard ouevre takes a certain sang froid or is it just masochism or simple stubborness?? I assure you though there is/was a method to his madness. Hopefully I will get my act together to write about the book before the experience fades. Or maybe I need it to fade a little before I can begin.

>96 sibylline: This was the first Sevenwater book I read back in 2016. Only because it was available at the e-library and I just got my e-reader. Went on to read the whole series. Glad to see you enjoyed them.

>98 FAMeulstee: Have you read any other of her series? I read a three book series first, Dreamer's Pool etc. Liked them a lot!

>99 sibylline: I haven't read Blackthorn & Grim, as only the first book was translated and then the publisher stopped.
I did read The Light Isles, The Other Kingdom, and Shadowfell.

>100 FAMeulstee: Are they all as good as the Sevenwaters?

I may mess with this a bit -- surely there are typos as I have only just finished.

>90 sibylline: Comments on My Struggle: Book 6

I have to say that having dropped Maiden Castle and finished the above, I feel so freed up!

Wow! Just noticing that the cicadas are really out in force today. How are others doing?

>101 sibylline: I think The Other Kingdom is as good as Sevenwaters. Shadowfell is more YA. I don't remember much about The Light Isles, they were my first books by Juliet Marillier back in 2010, they are more historical fiction than fantasy.

>102 sibylline: I found all "My struggle" books easy reads, even the part you struggled with went fairly easy. Both annoying and funny, and somehow very addictive.

>90 sibylline: Wow, amazingly complex book, so the review must have needed a lot of composing. I'm quite sure I would have not struggled to comprehend the oeuvre and chosen to abandon it.

It sounds like you were very diligent about understanding what the theme was leading to. I valued your comments and that will be my reward for following along with your reading. I'm especially grateful you wrote about Grandparents having their own lives and balanced against the parental part which you explained as
"...a period of life when children are a full-time job--you can't imagine ever having an uninterrupted moment and yet you are so in love with your children you have trouble letting others care for them..." So true.

I'm pleased to say that cicadas don't like the ocean so they might as well be underground still for all of me!

...I feel so uncultured...I just hated that Knausgard stuff...

>104 SandyAMcPherson: Heh, I never was a very good full time mother. Having someone else to care for Becky was always a blessing, partly because her father and our first nanny were so very good with her and to her. Later we had a fine first day care place. There were a couple that weren't up to the others, and she blames her pre-school for turning her against socalizing, but I think it was the inevitable encounter with less than benign others not anything specific to that facility or faculty. There was one truly evil little girl there - she could reduce another child to tears within a few minutes if adults weren't carefully monitoring her.

>105 richardderus: No worries, Richard. To me, this is not so much a matter of culture but that I have a taste for this kind of writer and writing. I was obsessed with James Boswell for awhile in college -- he was not someone I would ever have wanted to know -- but he was tormented by the ephemeral ruthlessness of life and wanted so much to capture something of his own and those he admired and he did spend time on 'big questions' too, which I also am drawn to. Believe me there is so much of contemporary literature I can't read at all, too gruesome or too depressing or too something.

I love that you stop by here, not so many do and I've become rather lax about visiting others, though I try.

64. E mys ****
Bootlegger's Daughter Margaret Maron

Thoroughly enjoyable, Deborah Knott is indeed the daughter of a (former) bootlegger and has six older brothers, so you bet, she's a tough one. Works in the 'family' law-firm (cousins) and has decided to run for a district judgeship when all hell breaks loose. Deborah's asked by a young woman for whom she used to babysit to look into, one more time, her mother's murder and reluctantly agrees. Every bit of the work is solid, characters, dialogue, setting and plot. The first three are what I like best in mysteries, so I was happy. I'll be continuing! ****

65. ♬ Bio, sort of
Don't Panic Neil Gaiman

Not sure what I thought I was getting into. I loved the radio series and the books, never have seen anything on television, vaguely remember the mice in the movie . . . but really, it was the radio series, back in the early eighties that won my heart. This is a book really for hard core fans. If you simply loved or liked the books and wonder how they came about the first half will give you that. The second half goes on and on about the various incarnations of Hitchhikers, with a brief surfacing to tell about other books (like Last Chance to See that I loved). Truthfully? Not really worth it unless you like listening to a delicious English accent (Simon Jones) as you drop off to sleep. Wouldn't have persisted to the end otherwise, in fact, you could say I didn't since I was not fully conscious. Gaiman put a lot of work into it, is a deep fan, clearly. So worth it if Adam's universe is your cup of tea.***

>108 sibylline: Hmmm. New author to me and an intriguing theme. Looks like a BB!
My ever growing list of potential reading...

I'm so far behind!
I'll try to do more than skim the Knaus. review and maybe, if I live long enough, pick up #1. Indeed, I will.
I'm tickled that you enjoyed the Maron. My only correction is that Deborah has 11 older brothers, not just 6. Her own mother was the patriarch's second wife, who had both a single son and a set of twins before Deborah. I'm enjoying this series more than I did the first time through, I think. I was still in love with Maron's Sigrid Harold and resentful that she was no longer writing about her. (She did a rather disastrous book later where Deborah is in NYC and works with Sigrid on a case.)

>108 sibylline: Yay! Another Judge Knott fan!! (They were all pre-LT reads, so I have only the haze of goodwill to go on instead of pointing to facts about the stories as to what worked and didn't.)

>107 sibylline: Old friends are golden, especially in one's golden years, no?

Things can get to be too much, so not visiting is sometimes the only response to stay sane.

66. reread! sf *****
All Systems Red Martha Wells

Reread. Still fabulous. My first comments are on the book page someplace! *****

reread 67. sf *****
Artificial Condition Martha Wells

I'd forgotten about the conversation M-bot has with one of the three of the group that in her 'créche' one of the moms had said fear was an 'artificial condition'. Which, of course, our crusty M-bot scoffs as total hogwash, which it is. So so happy to be rereading these! *****

Just saying hello, so you know I am reading your posts. Not much to add, but hope the summer looks promising for you in terms of family and going further afield.

And hello back and thanks for stopping by!

I'm in Wellfleet on the Cape now (my other home, once I lived here) on a writing retreat and it's definitely different here this year. More than a few people rode out the pandemic here, so it was busy in May on my first trip and is still busy. Lots of reno going on, as folks try to make their houses work a little better year round. I imagine most of them will return to their old abodes for most of the year, but those that are retiring, on the verge of, etc. are here to stay, I think.

But the real news is more of a climate change one -- both the mosquitos and ticks are HISTORICALLY bad. Horrific. Not quite clouds of mosquitos, but not far off -- just to hang up some laundry (yes people I rarely use a dryer) you have to spray a hat and either cover up or spray your exposed bits. Our porch is not screened, but that may have to change. Ugh. I've always walked on the sandy roads and paths in the woods and for now, I've kind of given up on that and am walking on the roads. But even then you can't keep a dog out of the grass by the side of the road. I learned a new trick that helps, besides whatever deterrent you use, drops or collar, and the vaccine you can also get a sticky clothes roller and roll it over your dog every time you come in. I always find at least one tick right now, even after taking Po out for a brief moment.

Thanks for the clothes roller hack. I wish we needed it. Anyway, that's pretty discouraging. Screen that porch!!!

>116 sibylline: Screen in that porch NOW before the demand for screening material makes it more expensive...and buy some extra for patching.

I HATE ticks.
Lyme disease is rife now and here especially because we have a large urban-acclimated deer population. Apparently Canada-wide (in small towns, semi-rural places or large urban parks even), if you come in with a tick bite, the clinicians automatically now prescribe antibiotics.

Meanwhile, Lucy, fascinated with your writer's retreat. Are you running a program or simply finding structured time to write? Will we get to hear details eventually?
And yeah, mosquitoes. Although I am surprised such a marine dominated place has this problem. Confession, I had to look on a map to see where Wellfleet was located (yes, I did know where Cape Cod was...)

68. 69. *****

Read these in 2018, rereading before starting the latest book. Glad I did, even better the second time around! *****

70. ♬ classic mys.
The Complete Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle read by Stephen Fry

I've been listening/reading these since February 11, 2020 six installments of approximately 300 pages each, read by Stephen Fry. In an odd synchronicity I began just as the great Covid Lockdown started. And I am finishing them the very week that my state, Vermont, surpassed 80% vaccination and is safely open for business. By the way, Holmes would have been first in line to get vaccinated.

The stories certainly vary in interest, but the classics remain transfixing (Hound of the Baskervilles, etc.) Holmes himself is such an odd mix of arrogance and charm, (never humility) and Fry captures him. Watson teeters on being ridiculous now and then, Holmes has such an easy time manipulating him, but so be it. I only fast-forwarded once or twice, no regrets, not his best work.

Fry's introductions to each section were sublime. Utterly. He was a fanatic for a brief time in his early adolescence and knows the work inside-out and has such respect and affection for every aspect and that shines through as well as being informative. You could almost get from the East to the West Coast and back again listening to these, I bet. *****

To anyone who happens to stop by in the next couple of weeks . . . I need 30 more comments in order to make my summer thread on July 1! Just say Hi if you can! No worries if not.

>119 SandyAMcPherson: Sandy Oh no, no! Not running or participating in anything formal. Once upon a time I was the library director here and have kept a toehold in the form of a small house which we faithfully rented out in the summers and sometimes a bit off season for decades. I would come off-season to write and clean and close up etc. (While our daughter was a child and teen we usually spent three weeks of August here, of late that has been more like two and not at all last year.)

Lately we've realized we don't need the rental income anymore so we don't rent and what a relief! We have one family who have come for July for decades and so they still come as July is usually a hugely busy travel/music/work month for me. They have corgis! Been friends for yonks and that gives them a lifetime pass. They don't really count (except for the welcome rent) because they take care of themselves and know the place inside-out etc. They don't care if things aren't perfect and I don't charge them anything like what I ought to, so they will buy a new toaster, sans comment, if necessary.

So I come here to work. I rarely seem to get a full two weeks anymore, can't figure out why but so it is that about ten days is all that works, two for travel, seven to work and one for tidying. It's not actually enough because I feel so pressured I can't take a day off anywhere. Of course I still do quite a bit to the house while I am here, but not as much as I used to have to do. This year I was tending curtains and I ordered a new sofa which I am terribly excited about! Maddeningly, the item won't show up until who knows when, late July, early August?

The other 'problem' is that I have a lot of friends here still -- and also some relatives, cousins, who are always here in June and so on and so forth. It's hard to be a curmudgeon! Most people are here on vacation!

All I know is that if I didn't do these retreats, about four a year usually, I likely would never finish anything!

Happy to see the Murderbot re-read hit the spot, Lucy. And congrats on finishing the Complete Sherlock Holmes. That's a major achievement!

>123 sibylline: Nice update. Thanks.

Must get back to Murderbot! Must! Must! Must!

There. That's today's contribution to Polish off June Thread.

Hope you're immersed in the writing!

>122 sibylline: And I don't mind adding to your thread so you meet your objective...

>127 SandyAMcPherson: Kind of like this?
Or is this too much of a misuse of extending the thread numbers?

>123 sibylline: Ah, the life of the landlord...too busy fixing to enjoy!

Spend a happy few-more-days.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I wrote a *positive*review*of*a*poetry*collection* on my thread.

>130 richardderus: *rushes* over to help fan the fainting sybilline

>123 sibylline: I enjoyed reading about your retreat(s), Lucy: how you manage it, and what you do when you're there. It sounds like you have a perfect arrangement with your July friends. Do you travel solo these days or does your other half join you?

And since you asked, I'll add one more to make up for all the lurking I do here, and help you reach your goal! GO GO GO!

>131 SandyAMcPherson: Poor darling, she's so overcome she can't even type! It's so sad....

I'm hoping you're busily manuscripting, Lucy, and not house-fixing.

>133 lauralkeet: A generous and public-spirited offer, and bravo to you for making it!

Good afternoon, Lucy. It's my daily visit until you've added up enough to move on. Hope you're well into your work with time later to swim or walk Miss Po or enjoy friends or laze or do a good mixture.

Thank you one and all for helping out! Today is clean-up day and I feel very rebellious! Can't be helped. I'll be out of here, I hope, by 7 a.m. tomorrow so I really do have to finish up. Naturally the weather has turned perfect, but I will get in my swim and a little lazing at the beach later. The cousins are popping in too, maybe for the swim and I'm just going to give them food prepared by not me and odds and ends of good leftovers.

The spousal unit comes in August -- we actually enjoy and thrive as marital unit with regular time apart -- both being introverted 'creatives' as the saying goes. We were both astonished, really, at how pleasant being together for an entire year has been (have we grown up or something?) but now that we can have our old routine back we are also happy.

>137 sibylline: introverted 'creatives'
I like that. Perfectly explains my personality type and the spousal unit's as well.
We've been managing very well with the isolation. I think this because we have meals together and garden time on the back patio, but indoors, our separate "hobby" areas.

Have you planned your July topper? I (we?) would love to see some views of your Cape retreat and thereabouts.

Just catching up a little bit, Lucy. Glad to see you're enjoying your Murderbot reread. I did something similar in April, though I still have Network Effect waiting for me patiently while I whittle down some library books and ARCs on my Kindle.

>138 SandyAMcPherson: I second the topper photo idea. Also pics of Miss Po are always welcome!

I have been lurking throughout this thread but I'm here to do my bit towards your next one!

After this post, Lucy only needs eight more to pass the magic threshold. Who's next?

Countdown: 7!

Countdown: 6!

Countdown: 5

Countdown: 4

Good morning Lucy!

I'm laughing and appreciating all your help -- of course, now I have ten whole days to go!

Happy Father's Day to all of you out there who are Dads!

>147 sibylline: Thanks, Lucy! We're closing in on the goal....

71. sf *****
Network Effect Martha Wells

Reread -- complex plot involving ART, M-bot's Ship AI chum and his
'researchers', one of the usual greedy corporations and a planet, once abandoned for mysterious but suspect (alien tech) reasons that is suddenly the place everyone wants to go for different reasons. All good! A reread! *****

72. sf *****
Fugitive Telemetry Martha Wells

M-bot is on Preservation Station, keeping Mensah safe as best he can under the suspicious eyes of Station Security and pretty much everyone else except the few who have had adventures with him. He's called in, however, to help Station Security with a murder that might be more GrayCris scheming. It's a good story with solid twists and even if it is predictable, in a way, that the new-to-m-bot folks will come around (grudgingly, most of them) even that is done well, not too much or too little. And M-bot himself is the most endearing anxious and paranoid and curmudgeonly AI you will ever meet. *****

73. contemp fic **** 1/2
The Friend Sigrid Nunez

A novel (sort of), a meditation on grief (totally), a meditation on grief after the suicide of someone you love deeply (as a friend) and a love story between a dog and a grieving person (stunningly) and, finally, a meditation (puzzled) of being a writer and what sort of life you live as a result (I have some quibbles). Stylistically a masterful use of the 'you' (that's the Friend who died).

The dog is a huge Great Dane who belonged to the Friend For a Dane, he is old already at five or so. Third wife says that Friend had mentioned that if ever something happened to him she, the narrator, would be the one who would take the dog. Unwillingly, she does. Issues arise, such as, no dogs in the apartment. Thus the need for the certificate.

The Friend was a writer and also the narrator's mentor (they did sleep together once but recovered from that back to friendship). So some of the book (I would have liked more on this maybe?) is how such a true friendship between a man and woman, with sex, evolves and is managed. Not that easy which is why culture after culture sets up taboos of various explicit and implicit kinds to prevent people from even trying.

From my pov there is more than a little bit of whining about the career of the writer. Everyone wants to be a writer (not true -- you only think that if you live in an academic setting where it probably is true) but the students don't want to do the work (like reading hard books*** -- see note below these comments). I love the quote of her Friend: "Even those aspiring writers your students seemed never to judge a book on how well it fulfilled the author's intentions but solely on whether it was the kind of book they liked." The publishing industry is indeed in a mess, no question, but there are opportunities in the chaos. (me speaking).

The Friend laments the good old days when you could sleep with the pretty students in your classes and while the narrator is ambivalent about that she is not ambivalent about the current atmosphere about who is worthy of being a writer, who can write about what, and all the rest of it. Neither am I. The whole point of imagining things is putting yourself in someone else's shoes. The whole point of reading is to do that too. The narrator mulls over the people she knows who left writing to do other things, all of whom seem happier than her. Hmmm.

The relationship between the narrator and the dog, who she names Apollo, develops slowly but steadily. The narrator's visit to the vet is priceless.

A section on My Dog Tulip was a little hard to get through. I have never understood the fuss and praise. The narrator is kind of torn.
She gets it that Ackerly was cruel to his dog, but she is drawn to the 'beautiful writing' and the 'honesty' She meditates though on how awful we are to these animals that have been bred to love us almost no matter what we do to them. The book she has stopped writing is about women being trafficked, and yes, treated worse than dogs.

Anyway, lots here. Many many layers. And very much worth reading. Brava! ****1/2

***I'm also reading Stephen King's book about writing right now and there is much agreement between the narrator and himself about aspects of the craft. In particular the contemporary writing students' lack of interest in reading.

And Tah-dah, here we are waiting with baited (bated?) breath for the birth of Sybilline's Summer Thread.

I took a LT holiday while revisiting some more Bujold. Paladin of Souls was fun, a well-spun tale. I'll review it before month end.

Edited to confess I spent some time being involved in the latest LT literary hunt game. Just found it today.

Those hunting games are fun -- I'm part of the way through too!

Well, the Summer Thread will start on July 1! The way things were going I thought I really needed a boost, but you all chipped so enthusiastically I am now going to be way over, which is great.

Technically, I suppose since I am based loosely on Equinox/Solstice I could start it any time in the space in-between. The main reason I don't, which may be bogus now that I am thinking about it, I thought it better, more helpful to have three months at a time when I search for some book I have read and forgotten about. That way also I get to the New Year. Uh oh, this sounds incredible anal. Time to move on.

I am trying to think of a good photo for July, perhaps some sort of Posey outside thing would be good, so I will work on that. I didn't get a good Cape photo, will do that when I go back in August.

>152 sibylline: I'd go to the book's Conversations link to find when I wrote about it, but since I usually have the same review on my page as I enter for the book, I've only done it a couple of time.

>153 quondame: Oh! That sounds clever! I'm going to try that out.

Sunny today so maybe I can have a photoshoot with la principessa.

74. ****1/2
At the Pond Margaret Drabble (and others)

A delight! I've always been a swimmer but for the last fifteen years or so an on and off cold water swimmer too, after noticing that when mopey a plunge into cold water is a non-medicated cure. Well, not a cure, but truly helpful for stopping black-hole-thought-spiraling. The essays approach swimming and the pond from the spiritual to the physical, the most awe-inspiring essays being by or about the all-year-rounders (breaking ice if need be) many of whom are octogenarians or more. The rule of thumb for winter swimming (centigrade only!) as laid out in one essay is IC=one minute, max. I made it last year down to 8C and no way was I staying in 8 minutes (that's 48F for us Yanks)! Maybe 2-3 plus a lot of screaming and panting! Cold water swimming has become a thing, but you have to love fresh water since nary a pool is kept that cold. And half the fun is the fact that with the seasons the temperatures vary. Anyway, there's a nice variety of essays too, one by a lifeguard, another by a young woman addicted to her phone, a few by young mothers going mad except for escapes to swim, by artists and by seekers. They all share the experience of reduced stress and the abundance of thoughtful peacefulness and consideration of each other in this almost holy place. Forget going to London for museums and theatre, but I might be convinced to go in order to swim in the Hampstead Pond! ****1/2

Almost at #75... well done, you!

>155 sibylline: What an interesting way to judge time in water. Swimming is sort of a contact sport, just with the medium not the other swimmers. It's hard to feel isolate in water.

One more...one...more....

DNF #7
Sacred Ground Mercedes Lackey

Hmm. Trying her out but this just felt hackneyed. Might get a person through a plane ride, but no more. Apparently the straight fanatasy stuff is better. We shall see.

75. E ****1/2
Men Explain Things To Me Rebecca Solnit

One more addition to the raising of awareness of what is at stake for not only women, but all who are not in positions to protect themselves and men too. The first essay is sharp and funny, those in between make painful points, many of them international, about the slow shifting -- it's almost as if we have different time zones -- I mean centuries long ones, between different parts of the world. The last essay opens out and points the way to new thinking.

My own 'theory' of all this is not that men are awful, but that for thousands and thousand of years the situation was this: young men and women mated, the women got pregnant, the women had babies, the women died having babies or of other things, their children died ditto, the women died of grief (some men too), the women died and died and died. Women just plain were not reliable. That's how it was. Men died a lot too -- any injury no matter how slight was life-threatening. But women appeared to the men, who had to get out there and find stuff to eat, build things and so on, as hopelessly unable to contribute a whole lot more than keeping themselves and the children they bore alive and while they were at that task and hanging about the hearth, they could cook and do stuff near home while keeping the children alive. Ok? Tens and thousands of years. That didn't make women less 'people', but . . . somehow . . . along the way it did. Somebody had to stay home with those children.

There is also the problem of sex. For a brief moment young people bloom, ripen, whatever, and lust abounds (but . . . not for long for women as this results in pregnancy and the round of what was, frankly, terrifying and often miserable for everyone.) Many men have adored their women and their children and have suffered, although not in quite the same bodily way. Solnit like everyone else fails to lay this background out in its brutal reality. The basis for feminism is that given modern medicine and birth control and all the rest, the cycle is broken. At least for now and we can hope forever. This is immeasurably huge, right? Men (and yeah, esp white men here in the US, but men all over the world, not white) are freaked and weirded out. Solnit makes the point in the final essay that the change is happening but slowly slowly.

My point is, these are good essays, all of them, relevant but this background is essential. You have to start from this place and that enables you not to sit and look at men as simply evilly conniving to subjugate and ruin women's lives. I'm not excusing anything!!! I'm looking at the origins, a situation become a cultural bias!! The book I recommend if you are interested is The Woman That Never Evolved by Susan Hrdy. And men don't know what will happen if they do take on women as equal to themselves with all the rights and privileges thereof. They are terrified. That's where, in my opinion, feminism needs to go next. Imagining the future not only for themselves for everyone -- and that is where Solnit ends up too, bless her. I will be reading lots more of her work! ****1/2

A perfect book for the 75th!

76. ♬ hist mys ****1/2
What the Devil Knows C.S. Harris

An awful lot of throats get cut in this one (or were cut in the past) -- Harris puts together a complex mystery of corruption and revenge using original sources in an intriguing way. As ever, the main characters are charming together and earnest in their work. Some good twists, a marriage and a child in need of a home, at the end presaging plenty of new material to come! ****1/2

The new photo of La Principessa is up: >1 sibylline:

In fact we will be awash in our princesses. In home news the Little Darling is suddenly going to be home for a week, arriving tomorrow. We've been talking about when the visit would be but somehow or other things only gelled yesterday.
We're delighted to get a whole week as she has just moved off campus into an apartment with her honey and also has found the perfect part-time job (barista at cafe at a bookstore) and just has these few days before she has to settle down. She lives now in Ashland OR and the famed Shakespeare Festival is re-opening after the 4th and she was as lucky as can be to get one of the nicest part-time gigs you can get. Nice boss and (not enough yet) co-workers, beautiful place with a garden court outside -- (built into a hillside the whole town is). She is filled with wonder -- that after the last year a and a half of living in a dorm room with her honey (I couldn't do that) the world is opening up for her. So so happy for her!

Here's a photo of the cafe. So any of you oregonians or washingtonians or californians who might turn up at the festival, stop in! The indoor part is upstairs in the bookstore and opens out to this.

HOORAY! HOORAY!! for your Little Darling - the visit and the job to go back to.

I know you'll make the best of your tie together.

>160 sibylline: I love your review, Lucy, and especially your analysis of the underlying issues. I hadn't connected the dots in that way and am grateful to you for taking the time to write it all down!!

>161 sibylline: and then THIS! Woo hoo!! I'm delighted you'll be spending a week with the LD, and even more delighted to see she has landed in such a wonderful situation.

And that's obviously more important than Miss Po's tick-repelling scarf, but can you say more about it i.e.; is this something purchasable or did you make it yourself?

Have a lovely day and an even better week!

>160 sibylline: Seventy-five at last!

Yes, it's supposed to be for a birthday but it's so adorable I couldn't resist.

Solnit's essays are supremely important, her writing is trenchant, and I cannot forgive her for spreading the evil, sexist slur "mansplaining."

I got my new thread up in spite of being a sufferer from "Triple A-Double D" as explained in Karen's thread. It is such a relief to have a name for this debilitating condition.

>160 sibylline: Congratulations on 75! Sounds like a great book for it.

Though I don't feel that women were quite so limited to child rearing and dying off - even before civilization when they gathered a great deal of food they were involved in textile making and up until the industrialization of fabric weaving they were the source of the spun fiber and often the cloth that was a huge economic engine as well as a basic necessity. And then they were factory workers. Our Victorian to modern middle class notion as women as homemakers is quite limited, though I admit it pervades the noggins of both men and women as we know them.
It's just that bullies will bully, and lots of men are raised to inadvertently bully their way through life where women are discouraged from making a fuss, almost at any cost. As for white men, well all the stories I've read in the past 3 years set in Nigeria and other nations of Africa tell a different story.

>160 sibylline: Interesting review Lucy. I’ve always assumed that people were so busy just staying alive in past centuries, and so few people had any choice in what they did in life, that most families in practice would have worked as more of a partnership. The eighteenth century working class married woman would have had no choice but to manage the house and look after the children, and probably grow some vegetables and look after some chickens or pig as well. But then her husband would have had very little choice but to have been anything other than an agricultural labourer or a miner or a fisherman either, depending on what they were born into.

>166 quondame: I think what women did in the nineteenth century would very much depend on location. Mr SandDune is from West Yorkshire, and working class married women there (including married women) worked, as you say, in the factories. My family are from the mining areas of South Wales, and working class married women there rarely worked, I imagine largely because there weren’t the factory type jobs available. Unmarried women worked, but they would move away to become servants, or become dressmakers or get a job in a shop. There just weren’t jobs available to women in the heavy industries of the area. And they would likely marry young if they were marrying a miner, as the peak earning years would be younger rather than older.

>160 sibylline: Congratulations on reaching 75, Lucy!

I like your comments on Solnit, and gave me some to think about.
My view on the roots of inequality: when humans started to settle, and the first cities rised, private ownership (land, cattle) became important. With ownership comes inheritance, so man wanted to be sure their children would inherit their wealth (I know I am talking upperclass). So they started to restrict their women, to be sure no other man's child would be raised to profit of their riches. This evolved in patriarchal religions that bound woman even more.

All true enough, but all recent and historical -- I am looking at pre- history and then some. Read the Hrdy! There are others working in this field as well. Nothing is simple, but there is the underlying situtation. And there are marvelous men and awful men as Solnit points out. (Same is true of women.)

The first significant changes for women began historically in the early 19th century -- so it's been just 200 years -- and completely coinciding with the gadgetry and medical advances that make it possible for women to stay alive and to work less hard physically, have more time to think. E.G. the rise of a significant middle class and so on.

I wrote my college entrance essay on tampons, folks, as an example of how of an advance for women made such a difference in what they were able to do and feel about their bodies, able to move freely in the world. You could be a life guard, say, or all sorts of seemingly minor jobs that you couldn't have before. (Yeah I got in, and one of the admissions people told me later that essay was one of their faves, ever!) Ever tried to ride a horse with a huge pad on? Ugh. Beyond Horrible.

No need to labor the point. Often when you peel away enough layers you get to something astoundingly basic.

>164 lauralkeet: Here is a link: https://www.insectshield.com

They've got it all, hats, pants, socks (I love the socks!).

Congrats on passing the goal!

>170 sibylline: thank you Lucy!

77. fantasy ***1/2
The Ten Thousand Doors of January Alix Harrow

Describing how or why 10,000 fell short is painful because the book has some shining moments--description especially and is never terrible. Yet I would, almost in the middle of the sentence, close it up and go off to do something else. As it's not particularly long, I don't know quite why, but perhaps here and there the story slowed in some way? As a longtime Vermont person the Shelburne setting was problematical and distracting, but I will let that be. At some level I don't think I was never really convinced of the basic premise that this group was hell-bent on shutting and destroying the doors to other worlds and found all the 'bad guys' flat. Yet yet yet -- I didn't quit and I read right along and loved the worlds and liked the main characters. Worthwhile read with some bumps. ***1/2

Congrats on reaching and surpassing 75!

And I'm with you, I liked but didn't love The Ten Thousand Doors of January, but I still enjoy her story ideas and will keep reading hoping one will hit just the right way.

>173 sibylline: I confess: I took five weeks, admittedly all COVID-ridden, to finish it. It was...okay...where it could/should have been superb.

>174 bell7: Yes, I will keep an eye on her.

>175 richardderus: Really a mystery! Maybe a combination of small things not working?

>176 sibylline: I think I've figured it out:

“Let that be a lesson to you: If you are too good and too quiet for too long, it will cost you. It will always cost you, in the end.”

Excellent! True! Wrote it into my commonplace book!

...but there's so *MUCH* of this...like she turned on the AphorismGenerator™ and forgot to turn it off.

Exactly -- a similar line I noted was this: "The truth is that the powerful come for the weak, whenever and wherever they like." -- sure, it's true, but it was annoying, right? I do think perhaps an editing issue?

In other news I am nearly done with the King which is a marvelous book, mix of memoir and his experience of what writing is all about. Even so, I will avoid his fiction, although I have a better idea now that he has a total blast writing his stuff.

With the Patchett (Dutch House) what I had to do was more or less skim until the critical moment when the children are on their own (not spoiling since this info is on the jacket cover and kind of obviously going to happen). Suddenly, once the two were out on their own I got interested. That first 75-100 pages was largely superfluous, I suspect, mostly backstory in a way.

I have read an almost crazy number of books this month, or so it appears, mainly because I reread those short Murderbot books and also had two long car rides . . . that'll do it.

75!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW~CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

(Lady Po is certainly ravishing in red!)