Beth's (BLBera) Books in 2024 - Chapter 3

My name is Beth, and I am a recently retired English instructor. I love retirement, and last year I was able to travel to Hawai’i, Spain, and Portugal. I also attended book festivals in Iowa City and Portland. Besides travel and reading, I also like to sew and spend time with my granddaughter Scout.

I read eclectically, mostly fiction, but I do tend to always have a volume of poetry and a book of essays going as well. I belong to a book club that has been going since 2002, and I do group reads here on LT. Otherwise I don't plan my reading. I always resolve to read more from my shelves, but those shiny new library books do distract me.

2024 has started out with some good reading: Enter Ghost, Orbital, and Chenneville to name a few.

Currently Reading

Plans??
Book Club
Jan. The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny ✔️
Feb. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer ✔️
Mar. Fresh Water for Flowers by Valérie Perrin ✔️
April The Sentence by Louise Erdrich ✔️
May Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner ✔️
June Square Haunting by Francesca Wade

LT shared reads
January - Vaster Wilds ✔️
February - Chenneville ✔️
March - The Lost Journals of Sacajewea ✔️
April - Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma ✔️
May - The White Rhino Hotel
June - The End of Mr. Y
July -House on Endless Waters
August - Let Us Descend

Some books I look forward to in 2024:

Come and Get It by Kiley Reid
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
The Hunter by Tana French
Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez ✔️💜
Until August by Gabriel García Marquéz
James by Percival Everett
The Morningside by Tea Obreht
Real Americans by Rachel Khong
This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud
The Great Divide by Cristina Henríquez ✔️
Memory Piece by Lisa Ko
The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez ✔️💜
Fire Exit by Morgan Talty
Bear by Julia Phillips
The Palace of Eros by Caro de Robertis
Say Hello to My Little Friend by Jennine Capó Crucet ✔️

Plans/ Possibilities cont.

Inaugeral Women's Prize for Nonfiction Longlist
Young Queens
All That She Carried SL
Doppelganger SL
Vulture Capitalism
Wifedom
The Britannias
A Flat Place SL
Intervals
Code Dependent SL
The Dictionary People
Shadows at Noon
Eve
Matrescence
Thunderclap SL
Some People Need Killing
How to Say Babylon SL

Women's Prize for Fiction Longlist
The Blue Beautiful World
And Then She Fell ✔️
8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster
Restless Dolly Maunder ✔️ SL
Western Lane ✔️
The Wren, The Wren ✔️ SL
A Trace of Sun by Pam Williams
Ordinary Human Failings
Hangman
Soldier Sailor SL
The Maiden by Kate Foster
In Defense of the Act by Effie Black
River East, River West SL
Brotherless Night SL
Enter Ghost ✔️ SL
Nightbloom ✔️

Read in Q2 2024
☔️April☔️
34. And Then She Fell 💜
35. Fourteen Days
36. Anita de Monte Laughs Last 💜
37. The Great Divide
38. Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth* 💜
39. The Lantern's Dance
40. The Best of All Possible Worlds* 💜
41. My Poets*
42. The Sentence* REREAD
43. When Books Went to War*
44. The Cemetery of Untold Stories
45. A Diary of the Plague Year*

🌷May🌷
46. When Maidens Mourn 🎧
47. Lolly Willowes*
48. Say Hello to My Little Friend
49. Land of Milk and Honey
50. Orris and Timble
51. We Loved It All
52. Clear
53. The Book Censor's Library*
54. Restless Dolly Maunder

* From my shelves
💜 Favorite

Read in 2024 Q1
Read in 2024
🎉January🎉
1. Collected Poems Jane Kenyon* 💜
2. Sorry
3. Northwest Angle 🎧
4. The Postcard
5. Space Invaders*
6. North Woods
7. The Invisible Hour
8. I Must Be Dreaming
9. Poems of Akhmatova*
10. Judgment Prey
11. Chenneville* 💜

🌷February🌷
12. Where Shadows Dance* 🎧
13. American Mermaid 💜
14. Hotel Silence*
15. A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women*
16. On Juneteenth*
17. Family Lore* 💜
18. The Vulnerables
19. Normal Rules Don't Apply
20. Homeland of My Body*
21. The Wren, The Wren

🍀March🍀
22. Light in Gaza*
23. Fresh Water for Flowers*
24. Queen of a Rainy Country*
25. The Lost Journals of Sacajewea*
26. Orbital 💜
27. Enter Ghost 💜
28. Word by Word*
29. What You Are Looking for Is in the Library
30. A Map to the Next World*
31. Western Lane
32. Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma*
33. Bach and the Blues*

*From my shelves
💜Favorites

You Must Read This

I read this last year and was impressed by its originality. These were my comments.

The Bandit Queens is an excellent debut novel inspired by a real person, the original Bandit Queen, Phoolan Mallah. The author was inspired by Mallah's story because Mallah refused to give up after suffering abuse and injustice most of her life. In an interview, the author says she wanted to draw attention to the plight of women in rural India, yet she also wanted to add humor and warmth to the novel. She accomplishes this.

As the novel begins, Geeta has been living more or less as a pariah for five years, since her husband disappeared. Rumor has it that she "got rid" of him. Now, people generally avoid her and kids run away from her in the street. Her only social life is attending meetings of her micro loan group. When Farah, one of the women in the group, asks Geeta to help her get rid of her husband, Geeta becomes drawn into the lives of other women in her village with tragic and sometimes hilarious results.

Besides gender inequality, Shroff also brings in issues of caste and religious differences, but this novel doesn't feel didactic. It's a really original debut that I enjoyed.

Notes: Vivian listened to the audiobook and didn't like the novel as much as I did. Also another LT member mentioned some books about the real Phoolan Mallah/Devi: Phoolan Devi, Rebel Queen, inspired by Phoolan Devi's autobiography I, Phoolan Devi: The autobiography of India's Bandit Queen.

Happy new one, TwinB!!

Happy new thread Beth!

>1 BLBera: What a lovely depiction of the flowers of knowledge!

>2 BLBera: Happy new thread!

Happy New Thread, Beth!

Happy new one, Beth. I love your topper image.

Hi Beth! I love that topper too. Even though I don't seem to say much here, I always enjoy following your reading.

Happy new thread, Beth. Great topper!

Thanks TwinK, Susan, Greg, Deborah, Katie, Laura, and Shelley!

Happy new one, Beth!

Happy new one Beth. I enjoyed The Bandit Queens too.

Happy new thread, Beth.

Happy new thread to you, Beth!

Happy Friday, Beth. Happy New Thread. Several of my LT pals have been warbling about Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma. I NEED to get to that one.

Have a great holiday weekend.

Hi Beth, Happy new thread. Enjoy your weekend!

Happy new thread, Beth. Thanks for the review of The Bandit Queens it is somewhere in my stacks and I really should pull it out to read.

Happy new thread, Beth!

I'll be interested in your comments on And Then She Fell. I'm quite sure my library has it, but I have not gotten around to putting a hold on it as yet, as I seem to have quite a few books on hand at the moment.

Happy new thread!

Thanks Jim, Charlotte, Paul, Lisa, Mark, Mary, Meg, Mary, Deborah, and Anita. I hope you all have a great weekend.

32. Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma
In Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma, Claire Dederer asks a question -- and attempts to answer it -- that has bothered me since I was teaching: "How do we separate the maker from the made? Do we undergo a willful forgetting when we decide to listen to Wagner's Ring Cycle...Or do we believe genius gets special dispensation, a behavioral hall pass?" I think anyone interested in art has thought about this question at some point. Remember the controversy when the Nobel Prize was awarded to Austrian Peter Handke, a supporter of Slobodan Miloševič? When it was revealed that Sherman Alexie had sexually assaulted women writers, I struggled with whether to continue assigning his work. I really like Alexie's writing.

I think Dederer addresses some important issues. First, she comes up with the idea of a "stain." That seems to me a perfect way to describe my feelings when I think about the work of some of these artists. I can never think about their work the same way again. For example, I can no longer watch "The Cosby Show." My kids and I loved that show, but Cosby's actions have stained it. This brings up another point -- our reaction to art is emotional. Some people can still listen to Wagner even knowing that he is anti-Semitic, and that Hitler used his music. My daughter read the Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House on the Prairie books to her daughter, although she did address the treatment of the Indigenous people in the novels. But she still loves the books, which are relics from her own childhood.

And do we give Wagner and Wilder a pass because of "the times"? Are we better now than we used to be, more enlightened?

These are all good questions, and in the end, Dederer finds that her response (and our responses) is probably going to be individual. But it's important to bring up these questions. This would be a great book for a book club.

It's not perfect though. There is a lot of repetition and at times I found that Dederer's own experiences took over the discussion. Still, I'm glad I read this and she did give me a new way to think about the "monsters."

One quote: "The very term 'cancel culture' is hopelessly non-useful, with its suggestion that the loss of status for the accused is somehow on a par with the suffering endured by the victim."

>28 BLBera: Well loved old Tennyson reveals both sexist and racist perspectives and long time favorite e e Cummings joins the anti-semitic crew.

Sneaking in to say happy new thread. Nice comments about Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma. I'm glad you suggested we read it.

>29 m.belljackson: It is an issue that comes up over and over, isn't it?

>30 EBT1002: Hi Ellen. Thanks. I look forward to our discussion.

>28 BLBera: I just went all verbal about Monsters on Ellen's thread. It's certainly an issue that has tugged at my equilibrium.

There's interesting chatter on Ellen's thread about Monsters, and your review is excellent too Beth. Lots to think about there; very interesting points.

>28 BLBera: That looks an interesting read Beth!

>32 quondame: It is something we have probably all thought about Susan. And I like that each person will have a slightly different approach. We all come to books, in this case, with different experiences, so our reading will vary.

>33 lauralkeet: This is what is great about books. They give us something to talk about.

>34 SandDune: It is very interesting, Rhian.

>28 BLBera: I have tried all of my life to separate the artist from the work. Bill Cosby was a huge part of my childhood in the 60s. He still is tho I hate the hell he put women through. Woody Allen and this movies, Marian Zimmer Bradley for her books. I cant deny the influence they had on my life. There Van Morrison, his political views rankle, but I still love his music. A friend of mine said "denying myself their art will not remove the victims pain, but will affect my joy" havent decided if I agree with that or not.so ultimately I have no answer

>33 lauralkeet: where is ellens thread, not sure if i am on it?

>37 cindydavid4: Ellen reads more in 2024 - Book 3

Ellen's thread, Cindy.
https://www.librarything.com/topic/358992#n8488101

hi Beth, I have thought about this issue of separating the artist from their work; emotionally I usually can't do it. I have a couple of Sherman Alexie's books, which I meant to read; always liked him, and I tried to give him some grace, since it seems like mental illness is a big part of his story; but the books are still sitting there.

So an interesting topic, I will have to look for the book.

Belated happy new thread, Beth!

>40 banjo123: I have trouble as well, Rhonda. One thing Dederer's book has done has made me realize that I may not always be consistent. I also have several Alexie books on my shelf. I think you would like the book.

>41 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita.

March reading
I had a great month of reading in March.
I read 12 books:
Essays: 1
General nonfiction: 2
Poetry: 2
Novels: 6
Graphic novel: 1

By women: 10
By men: 1
Various editors: 1

From my shelves: 8
Library: 4

The nonfiction and essays were outstanding: Light in Gaza, Word by Word and Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma.

The novels were good as well: Orbital and Enter Ghost were my favorites.

Just hello and Happy Monday!

>28 BLBera: I'm looking forward to reading this one, both because it's something I think about often myself and because I enjoy texts where the writer wrestles with an idea or ideas that aren't easily resolved.

>44 EBT1002: Hi back, Ellen. We're going to see "The Lion King" tomorrow!

>45 lisapeet: I think you will like it, Lisa. It would be a great book club book. Lots to talk about.

>46 BLBera: Oh I love that show! Is this your first time? David and I have seen it probably 4 times in different places, and with better seats each time. Just incredible acting, costumes, music...May have to see it again next time its here

>39 BLBera: got it thx

I hope to start on Enter Ghost this evening. I hope you had a nice Easter , Beth, and enjoy seeing The Lion King.

>47 cindydavid4: Hi Cindy. It will be our first time seeing 'The Lion King."

>49 vancouverdeb: Thanks Deborah. Enjoy Enter Ghost.

>46 BLBera: Oh you're right, that might be a good choice for my book club. We've been reading exclusively fiction, and Monsters could be a really good departure if we wanted to swing that way. Thanks for the thought.

Happy newish thread, Beth!
I have Enter Ghost beside my recliner and hope to get to it soon. I see a purple heart beside the title on >6 BLBera: so that's a very good sign that I will like it too.

>50 BLBera: The Lion King? On stage? You are in for a treat, Beth. We took our kids when they were young (7 & 10 maybe?). I've always loved the film and the music but the stage production blew me away. I'm getting goosebumps as I write this!

>51 lisapeet: You are welcome, Lisa. Our group mostly does fiction as well, but NF can work sometimes.

>52 Carmenere: Thanks Lynda.

>53 lauralkeet: Yes, at the Orpheum, Laura. It's a beautiful theatre, and Scout -- and parents -- will love it. My daughter loved "The Lion King" film so much, she had a dog named Nala.

Hope you have a great time at the show, Beth. That's one I've not seen.

Happy birthday! Enjoy The Lion King—I've still never seen it onstage.

Happy newish thread! Enjoy the show!

Enjoy!!!!!

Happy Birthday Beth. Enjoy the Lion King. I've still to see it on stage.

>43 BLBera: Excellent stats! I may have to look into putting Light in Gaza on my list.

>55 charl08: It was fun, Charlotte. The costumes and choreography are amazing. Scout was captivated.

>56 lisapeet: Thanks Lisa, you are a little early, but I will take good wishes whenever they come my way. "The Lion King" was fun.

>57 witchyrichy: Thanks Karen.

>58 cindydavid4: Thanks Cindy

>59 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks Caroline.

>60 figsfromthistle: Thanks Anita.

For those interested in translations: Peirene books is having a sale:

https://www.peirenepress.com/shop/

Happy kind-of new thread, Beth! Maybe I can keep up better with this one than I did the last. . .

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Hi Stasia - Who can keep up these days? Thanks for stopping by.

It is hard to keep up with the threads, Beth. I am about 1/2 way through Enter Ghost and I am not loving it, but I do like it better than The Wren , The Wren. Next up is 8 Lives of a Century Old Trickster, which I picked up for fro the library today. I'm glad you enjoyed The Lion King so much.

Hi Deborah - You are really progressing through the Women's Prize longlist! I just finished And Then She Fell, which I really liked. So far, I haven't read any duds although I know you didn't like The Wren, The Wren.

34. And Then She Fell is a compelling exploration of intergenerational trauma in Alice, a Mohawk woman who is struggling. She is a new mom still grieving the death of her own mother, and her white husband has removed her from her Six Nations community. In Toronto Alice feels the effects of racism and of separation from her family.

Interspersed with Alice's story is the creation story of Sky Woman that Alice is attempting to write. She hears voices urging her on and part of the tension in the novel is discovering whether Alice has a special ability to commune with trees, animals, and ancestors or whether she is psychotic. Elliott is able to maintain this tension as Alice feels increasingly isolated and desperate as she struggles with both her personal and societal challenges. She feels alienated in the white suburb she lives in: "...here, with these sorts of people, I am the problem. Not Meghan, with her immaculate gift wrapping and perpetual white woman innocence. If she ever says or does anything that offends me, it's not her fault; it's mine for 'misunderstanding' her. She never means to hurt anyone whereas I'm looking to be offended and to offend..." The microagressions accumulate, and because Alice is alone, she has no one to vent with.

There's a change in point of view in the final hundred pages of the novel, and without spoiling anything, I think it works really well. This novel portrays the contemporary challenges of First Nation people, while still telling a good story and giving us a great character in Alice.

I'm happy to see it on the Women's Prize longlist; it's a novel I might otherwise not have discovered. I will certainly watch for future novels by Elliott.

Great review Beth. I want to read the NF book Elliott has written too.

I really like how diverse the list is this year (both in terms of style and author), and how international it is.

Happy belated birthday, Beth!

>67 charl08: Thanks Charlotte. Yes, so far the ones I have read have all been very different -- in a good way.

>68 jessibud2: Thanks Shelley. Actually, you are early. My birthday is in May. :)

Oh, I saw others wishing you happy birthday and thought I'd missed it!

>66 BLBera: BB!

I'm glad you enjoyed And Then She Fell, and a great review, Beth. My library does have it, but I have several books from the Womens' prize ahead of it, so I may not read it before the shortlist is announced. I'll try to remember to wish you a Happy Birthday in early May. My sister in law has a birthday in early May, so that will help remind me.

>70 jessibud2: Not a problem, Shelley. I'll take good wishes whenever they are tossed my way.

>71 quondame: I really liked it, Susan. And it's one I may not have discovered without the Women's Prize.

>72 vancouverdeb: Thanks Deborah. My library has several of the books longlisted. I did ask them to order Restless Dolly Maunder and 8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster, both of which I would like to read.

>66 BLBera: you got me with that review, Beth. My library has it so I've added it to my list.

>66 BLBera: - Sounds really good. Off to check the library catalogue...

>74 lauralkeet: Hi Laura - I really liked it. I've been impressed so far with the Women's Prize Longlist.

>75 katiekrug: Hi Katie - Happy Friday. I hope you find it. I'm lucky that my library has a few of the Women's Prize long-listed books.

>66 BLBera: Definitely going on my WL. Thank you for a great review!

>66 BLBera: I felt the same about this one, Beth. I'm reading Nightbloom now.

>77 Tess_W: I hope you like it!

>78 vivians: I love Indigenous literature, and it's great to explore new writers. I liked Nightbloom, but I read it as an ER book, so it's been a while. So far, I think both Enter Ghost and And Then She Fell are my top picks. But I still have many to go. Luckily, my library has quite a few.

Then She Fell goes on to the WL!! : )

>80 Berly: TwinK! It's a good one. Are we talking this week?

Tomorrow! : )

Yay!

35. Fourteen Days is a collaborative novel with an interesting premise; a group of New Yorkers gather each afternoon on the rooftop to tell stories as they quarantine. This is during the first two weeks of April 2020. Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston are the editors, and contributing authors include writers like Tommy Orange, Meg Wolitzer, Celeste Ng, and Tess Gerritsen. If this premise sounds familiar, The Decameron, written in the fourteenth century has a similar one. A group of people gather in a villa outside of Florence during the plague, and they tell stories.

While the stories are interesting, there are a lot of characters that we really don't get to know all that well, so I think this works better as a story collection than as a novel.

At the end, there is a list of authors and their contributions.

>84 BLBera: - Thanks for reminding me about this one. I had put it on my "Later" list when I first heard about it, pre-publication.

ETA: My local library system has one Kindle copy available and the current wait time is 6 months! Oddly, the NYPL Overdrive doesn't have it. I'm sure it will get some copies eventually but you'd think it would have considerable local interest!

A friend of mine just recommended this to me. I am not generally a fan of short stories so I don't think I will be seeking this out. Thanks for the review, though.

Just stopping by to say hi, Beth. I really enjoyed Ordinary Human Failings. I hope you do too when you get to it. I've just started The Maiden and it is certainly engaging thus far.

Hello Beth, glad to see your enjoyment of the Lion King.

>85 katiekrug: I would think it would be of interest to New Yorkers, Katie. That is weird.

>86 jessibud2: You are welcome, Shelley. The premise was interesting.

>87 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah. You are really zipping through the Women's Prize list. I have some other library books to read before I get back to them.

>88 markon: It was really fun, Arlene. The costumes were amazing. And my granddaughter had fun, so a win win.

36. Anita de Monte Laughs Last
I loved Olga Dies Dreaming and have looked forward to Gonzalez's new novel Anita de Monte Laughs Last. I wasn't disappointed; her new novel is even better than her first one.

The novel follows the lives of two women who are separated by a couple of decades: Anita de Monte is a Cuban-American artist who dies in 1985, and Raquel Toro is an art history student at Brown in the late 1990s. Raquel is from a one-parent family in Brooklyn of Puerto Rican heritage, one of the few students of color in her classes. Both women are trying to find their place in a world that doesn't often see them.

Anita de Monte is a character based on real-life artist Ana Mendieta, who was murdered by her husband, artist Carol Andre in 1985. Interestingly, there is a chapter in Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma about this case. Mendieta's work was forgotten. I certainly had never heard of her before.

The novel is told from three points of view, Anita's, her husband Jack's, and Raquel's. This works really well; I found all of the stories compelling, and they connect in interesting ways. Gonzalez addresses issues of representation, race, and class without being didactic. I cared about the characters, (well, I hated Jack) and found a lot to think about.

I read an interview with Gonzalez in "The Millions," https://themillions.com/2024/03/xochitl-gonzalez-wants-to-reframe-art-history.ht... about this novel. You might want to read the novel before the interview?

Recommended, especially if you read and liked Olga Dies Dreaming.

>90 BLBera: I think I enjoyed Olga Dies Dreaming without being convinced by it, so I'm not sure where that would leave me with this one.

>91 quondame: I think her new one is more thoughtful, if that helps.

>36 cindydavid4: I hadn't seen that Ms. Gonzalez has a new novel released as it isn't in the shops here yet. Very good review, Beth.

>93 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul.

Hi Beth, as always I've enjoyed catching up here. You are reading some very powerful sounding books these days! I, on the other hand, have been picking up mostly lighter reads right now like The Little Shop of Found Things and Moloka'i.

>61 BLBera: Did I conflate you in my head with another friend who got theater tickets for her birthday? Well, wishing you a happy birthday whenever it falls! And I'm glad you enjoyed The Lion King. I've only ever seen clips from the production, but they look really fun.

>66 BLBera: I had another reading friend who really liked And Then She Fell, so I'm bumping it up the pile.

>85 katiekrug: Do you ever use NYPL's SimplyE app? It aggregates a few ebook providers, and Fourteen Days is there in both ebook and audio.

>96 lisapeet: - I haven't used it but will check it out. Thanks for the tip!

>95 DeltaQueen50: Lighter reads are good, Judy. I have some in line after I finish my current one. I have to read the library books that are due.

>96 lisapeet: Hi Lisa. As I said, I will take birthday wishes when they come. My birthday is in May, as is yours, I think?

>96 lisapeet: Multipurpose thread here, Katie. :)

>98 BLBera: Yes, I'm the 31st.

Hi Twin!! : )

>99 lisapeet: May is a good month. :)

>100 Berly: Hi back! Happy Monday.

37. The Great Divide
From the novel: "To them (North Americans), we know nothing and have nothing -- nothing worth knowing or having, as far as they are concerned. I have heard them say that the work they are planning will bring things like progress and civilization and modernity to this place -- as if the tools we have already created, the buildings we have already constructed, the land we have already cultivated, the society we have already organized is not, somehow, progress or civilization or modernity, but outside of those things. As if we are nothing more than primitive people with a few primitive huts that can be so easily moved."

The Great Divide is a good historical novel about the variety of people who helped to build the Panama Canal. Henríquez did a lot of research, and I learned a lot about the history and the times. I hadn't known that people from all over the Caribbean worked on the canal. I also learned that the US "helped" Panama gain independence from Colombia so that they could get access to the land needed for the Canal. More Manifest Destiny.

Henríquez follows a large group of people -- a doctor who wants to eradicate malaria, a fisherman who doesn't want the canal and his son who works on it, and a girl from Barbados who goes to Panama to earn money. The large cast of characters is one reason the novel doesn't entirely work for me. There are so many people that no one is fully developed.

So, while overall, I enjoyed the novel and learning about the building of the Canal, I would have preferred to have more fully rounded characters.

And a striking cover.

>102 BLBera: Nice review of The Great Divide, Beth and indeed, the cover is very striking. I'm reading a library book, not from the Women's Fiction Prize. Seem good so far, a little slow paced but still enjoyable.

>103 vancouverdeb: Thanks Deborah. I am starting a mystery right now, for a change of pace.

38. Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth is another excellent collection of essays by Natalie Haynes. I listened to some of the chapters that she reads, and the audio version is also very good.

Haynes' humor and knowledge are a winning combination, and her reexamination of various female goddesses from mythology is fascinating. In this volume, she discusses the Muses, Hera, Artemis, Hestia, and the Furies, to name a few. Not only does she put them in context of the times by citing the plays and poems from antiquity in which they appear, but she also points to examples of how the goddesses continue to exist in popular culture.

I've enjoyed Haynes' fiction: Stone Blind and A Thousand Ships, but her nonfiction -- this volume as well as Pandora's Jar -- is also excellent.

Recommended for anyone interested in this topic. Haynes' podcast is also very good.

As you can tell, I'm a fan.

>105 BLBera: oh I didnt know she had a new one out!!!! Ill definitely be getting that soonest

>106 cindydavid4: Isn't she great?

A wonderful interview/essay from Julia Alvarez: https://link.lithub.com/view/602eaba9180f243d654b788bkvm95.1n8a/009565ea

>105 BLBera: I'm tempted by this one, I'll have a look to see if the library can help me out. You've reminded me to look up her podcasts again too - I thought I'd bookmarked them, but I seem to have lost track, and I'm sure I had more to listen to! Thank you.

>108 charl08: Haynes is so good, Charlotte! I especially liked the chapters on Hera and the Furies. And I learned about Hestia, with whom I was not familiar. I love her sense of humor.

>107 BLBera: oh my....Im not a writer, but I can so relate; I have chronic illness that is keeping me from doing what I love. This essay is motivating me to rethinking and considering what I will do next. and I do want to read this new book!

>105 BLBera: Divine Might is a BB! Alas it will be a while before it rises to the top of my library holds.

You got me with Divine Might, Beth. I really enjoyed Pandora's Jar; in fact, I think I learned about it from you. My library has it (strangely only as an eBook) so it's on the list.

>110 cindydavid4: I can't wait to read her new one; Alvarez is one of my favorites.

>111 quondame: I not only learned a lot, Susan, but was very entertained as well. Haynes has a gift.

>112 lauralkeet: Hi Laura. If you enjoyed Pandora's Jar, you will like this one.

>107 BLBera: Thanks for posting! I also love Alvarez; and she is such a great person as well. Wendy had a retinal detachment (successful surgery after luckily) so it feels extra relevant.

>107 BLBera: I enjoyed the Alavarez post. I didn't realize she had vision problems. I also didn't realize she had a new book this year - I'll definitely keep that one in mind.

>114 banjo123: You are welcome, Rhonda. I can't wait to read her new book; and it's good to know she's working on another. Retinal detachment is so scary.

>115 streamsong: I hope to read it soon, Janet. I just got a note from my library that it is available.

>28 BLBera: The more posts I see about Monsters: A Fans Dilemma, the more it interests me.

Nice to see that you all enjoyed The Lion King, Beth. I was amazed when I saw the stage production. That was so long ago that theatres in Toronto were offering cut rate tickets because they were trying to get people back to the city after SARs.

>117 Familyhistorian: Meg, I really enjoyed Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma. It's one of those books that gives you so much to think about. The costumes of "The Lion King" were amazing.

40. The Best of All Possible Worlds
I am not usually a reader of science fiction, but I found Karen Lord's The Best of All Possible Worlds hard to put down. Set on Cygnus Beta, the story focuses on the Sadiri people, refugees after their home planet is destroyed. Lord does an excellent job of world building, giving us enough information to follow the story, but not so much that the reader is lost.

I think it helps that Lord really emphasizes the characters. The narrator, Grace Delarua, is likable, and a good lens for viewing the other characters in the story. Delarua is a government employee and liaison to the Sadiri community as it attempts to adjust to life after the catastrophic loss of their home world.

I read this because her novel The Blue Beautiful World is long listed for the Women's Prize for Fiction, and some readers commented that it is good to read the previous two novels first. I will certainly continue and plan to read on.

>119 BLBera: Sounds good, I'll have a look for this one.

>40 banjo123: I also am not much of a science fiction fan, Beth. I'll consider The Best of All Possible Worlds. I'm looking very forward to the short list announcement on Wednesday. That should be interesting.

>120 charl08: I was surprised at how immersed I became, Charlotte. She does such a good job of giving just enough information so the story doesn't get bogged down in details.

>121 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah. Wow, the short list announcement already! Have you read The Blue Beautiful World?

>119 BLBera: Noted. Sounds good (and I'm also generally not a big reader of SF).

>105 BLBera: I've read and loved both Stone Blind and A Thousand Ships. I own but have not yet read Pandora's Jar. This is a good reminder to get to it.

>123 EBT1002: I was surprised how much I liked it, Ellen.

I think you will like Pandora's Jar, and if you are into audiobooks at all, Haynes reads then, and she is very entertaining.

Women's Prize Short List
The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright
Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshananthan
Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad
Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy
River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure

I've only read The Wren, The Wren and Enter Ghost, both of which I loved. I am a little sorry not to see And Then She Fell on the short list.

Yeah, I am way behind again. . .

>119 BLBera: Too bad my local library does not have any of her books!

Have a wonderful Wednesday, Beth!

>125 BLBera: I haven't read any of those but I own four of them, and they're all books I'd like to get to sooner than later. Maybe that'll be my inspiration. And I also want to read And Then She Fell—I've heard such good things about it.

wrong thread

>126 alcottacre: Hi Stasia. We are all behind, I'm sure. My library doesn't have any Lord books either.

>127 lisapeet: I've read The Wren, The Wren and Enter Ghost and I am waiting for the others from my library. I'm hoping I finish the SL before the winner is announced.

>129 cindydavid4: Hi Cindy. No such thing.

Well, you know I wasn't too keen on Enter Ghost nor The Wren, The Wren, but oh well. At least I have already read them. That's a plus!I liked Restless Dolly Maunder, but I didn't expect it on the shortlist. I've just begun Brotherless Nights and I own the other two, so I hope to finish them before the winner is announced. I have not read The Blue Beautiful World, Beth. I was disappointed that Ordinary Human Failings didn't make the short list, as I thought it was an excellent read.

Well, I read about five pages of The Best of All Possible Worlds and I'm not sure it's for me. Admittedly, that isn't a fair trial AND I'm in a bit of a book funk. I'm in the queue for both The Wren the Wren and Enter Ghost.

>131 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah - It's a good list this year, at least the few that I have read have been really good.

>132 EBT1002: Hi Ellen - Well, maybe The Best of All Possible Worlds isn't for you -- or you could put it aside and try again some other time.

41, My Poets
This is a unique volume labeled "poetry/literary criticism/memoir." In it, Maureen McLane discusses poets -- mostly in verse-- who have influenced her. An example:
My Elizabeth Bishop begins with Gertrude Stein.
This is not usual.
Bishop is unusual but not in the way Stein is unusual.
I was not used to Gertrude Stein and found I could not get used
to Stein though I tried.
I was struggling to find a topic for my undergraduate thesis.
This seemed the most important thing in the world.

I found McLane's discussion of poets/her memoir an interesting approach. Poets discussed include Louise Glück, Emily Dickinson, and Percy Shelley. She also includes a couple of lentos. At the end is a nice bibliography that points the reader to other volumes of interest.

I enjoyed this.

It's about a 2.5-hour drive from Portland to Camp Sherman. Just in case you wondered.
;-)

>135 EBT1002: Good to know.

43. When Books Went to War
Book lovers and readers will enjoy the story of the ASEs or American Service Editions, the tiny paperback books published and distributed to soldiers during WWII. I had previously no idea of the extent of the program -- approximately 1200 titles were printed -- and while many of the titles and authors are not familiar, books did include titles by Dickens, Steinbeck, and Twain. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was one of the most popular books, and stories of the letters that Smith received are entertaining. This program prompted the rise of paperback books, which were not widely read in the US before the war.

>137 BLBera: I thought this book was very interesting. I've since collected a dozen ASEs, more for the novelty than to read as they are a little fragile at this point.

>119 BLBera: I think I will see if the library has this one. Sounds like a good one.

Hope you have a great week!

>138 labfs39: How cool that you actually have some, Lisa. How did you find them?

>139 figsfromthistle: I liked it, and I am not a science fiction reader in general.

>137 BLBera: I fell down a rabbit hole looking at images of the ASE covers, Beth. I knew books were sent to soldiers, I didn't realise they had that special format. I'll see if I can find a copy of Manning's book.

44. The Cemetery of Untold Stories
In this novel, Alma Cruz, an aging writer, thinks she is at the end of her writing career, and she wants to put to rest the stories she has never been able to finish. When she inherits a small piece of land in the Dominican Republic, a country she hasn't lived in since she was ten, Alma decides to retire from teaching in a Vermont college and move to the DR to bury her untold stories.

As the cemetery for her stories is being created, we learn about some of the stories she has never been able to finish, and we meet her neighbors in the barrio and learn their stories.

The tone of the novel is elegiac, and it seems like maybe there is an autobiographical element as Alvarez nears the end of her writing career. We also have to ask whether all stories need to be told and we see that even people who are closest to us may have secrets.

I love Alvarez's writing and her snapshot of Dominican life takes me back to my life there. I'm not sure about the ending...But maybe the untold stories of some of her characters is really the point?

I love the cover.

>142 BLBera: - This one sounds good, Beth. And the cover is lovely (I love purple...). I have yet to read any Alvarez, despite hacving two in the stacks.

>142 BLBera: I've put my hold on this! BB!

>140 BLBera: I found some on eBay and some I found in a used bookstore that was going out of business. I have seven. You can see them here.

>141 charl08: I know, Charlotte. I guess the Brits were jealous of the Yanks but your paper shortage was so great that it wasn't feasible. Still, some did get traded.

>143 katiekrug: Which ones do you have, Katie? My favorites are How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and In the Time of the Butterflies.

>144 quondame: I'll watch for your comments.

>145 labfs39: That is so cool, Lisa. I will look for them.

>142 BLBera: definitely going on my WL!

>146 BLBera: - I have How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and Afterlife.

>142 BLBera: That sounds good Beth. I didn't realize you lived n the Dominican Republic at one point. Interesting!

>147 Tess_W: Enjoy!

>148 katiekrug: I think How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents is the better of the two, Katie.

>149 lauralkeet: There are so few books about the DR, Laura, and Alvarez is so great at capturing the life and culture. I lived there for ten years.

45. A Diary of the Plague Year
I started this to read along with Fourteen Days. Illustrator Elise Engler painted the headlines every day from Jan. 21, 2020, to Jan. 21, 2021. Even these few events each day brought back the events of 2020, not always in a good way. It was a good companion to the novel Fourteen Days, which takes place in March 2020 and my reread of The Sentence, which is mostly set in 2020.

I asked my daughter if she wanted to read it, and she said she didn't want to remember 2020. So, there's that.

April Reading

Books read: 12
By women: 11
Various: 1

Novels: 8
Memoir/poetry: 1
Nonfiction: 3

Library: 6
From my shelves: 6

I had a great month of reading in April. I loved And Then She Fell, Anita de Monte Laughs Last, The Cemetery of Untold Stories in fiction and Divine Might, another winter by Natalie Haynes. I also loved The Best of All Possible Worlds, science fiction, which I don't often read. I will continue with this series by Karen Lord.

I didn't read any translated books in April, so I need to improve on that in May.

>151 BLBera: hee no kidding

>137 BLBera: I have one of these Armed Forces Books that my dad received in WWII. It's Jungle Peace by William Beebe. He said he had had several but this is the only one he kept, although he had never read it. Dad was in the Navy in the South Pacific; sometimes they were on shore in the Philippines. I suspect he kept it because of the title - probably a fervent hope and maybe a talisman. :)

I'm glad you had such a great month of reading in April, Beth. I did too, though I have yet to summarize it on my page.

>153 cindydavid4: Hi Cindy.

>154 streamsong: That is so cool, Janet. You might like this book. So much of it talks about how grateful the soldiers were to get the books.

>155 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah. I hope May is as good!

>151 BLBera: I interviewed Elise Engler for Bloom, and ended up doing a studio visit afterward, since she's not far from me. She's lovely, and I'm all for projects like that, that work to make sense of hard times through some kind of regular practice.

It's interesting what we will and won't read, when it comes to that kind of challenging material. I've been interested in pandemic narratives from the beginning because I felt so cut off during that time, and so much of my contact with the rest of the world was through what I read—not only news accounts, but first-person accounts and artwork (I'm not a TV or streaming news person). On the other hand, I don't really want to read narratives from 9/11 at ALL, still.

>157 lisapeet: Lisa, you have such an interesting job! Lucky you. Two events stood out in Engler's illustrated year: the death of RBG and of George Floyd. Those events and the aftermaths were really vivid. It was also interesting to see events whose significance became clearer as time went by.

I am also interested in pandemic narratives and there have been some good ones.

>151 BLBera: I’m with your daughter. It’s still too soon. 2020 is still too vivid in my memory.

ETA that, even so, I’m adding it to my TBR list for when I feel strong enough to remember.

I'm fine with a novel set matte-of-factly during the pandemic, but I do not like the Pandemic Novel, which centers everything on that event. Too soon, indeed, and also they tend to be about people who had the easiest time -- a nice out of town house to retreat to, for example. I would read a Pandemic Novel that focused on the people who had to keep working in jobs that put them into contact with people, from front-line healthcare workers to delivery people, though.

>160 RidgewayGirl: Happiness Falls is a novel about a family undergoing crisis in 2020. The main action takes place in just a few days, so the working through part doesn't quite come into the picture, but the claustrophobic sense of limitations is there and family configuration is very much due to COVID.

>134 BLBera: This looks interesting Beth.

>158 BLBera: I do have an interesting job, but the interview with Elise Engler was for Bloom, my side hustle that is sadly falling by the wayside for lack of time. But it's been a fun vehicle to talk to artists and writers I like.

>159 Storeetllr: It's amazing how a few headlines can put one back.

>160 RidgewayGirl: Hi Kay: I haven't read too many novels, except maybe Fourteen Days where the pandemic was the center. I really liked both The Sentence and Tom Lake, in which the pandemic was a part. A Diary of the Plague Year is nonfiction, and a good companion to some of the novels set during the time.

>161 quondame: Hi Susan - That is on my WL.

>162 Caroline_McElwee: I think you might like it, Caroline. It is an original for sure.

>163 lisapeet: Hi Lisa. I always look forward to see what your next project is.

>142 BLBera: That one is on order at the library. I'm not sure whether I'll read it or not . . . maybe, maybe not. I'll see how the mood strikes me.

>142 BLBera: I think I will pass on this one although the cover is stunning!

Happy weekend reading

I am excited to read the new Alvarez, after reading your review and that interview with the author.

>151 BLBera: might be interesting, I am always a little shocked when I remember how stressful and intense 2020 was.

>165 thornton37814: Hi Lori.

>166 figsfromthistle: Thanks Anita.

>167 banjo123: Well, it did manage to infuriate me all over again, Rhonda. How are you feeling? If you are an Alvarez fan, you will like this one, very elegiac in tone.

46. When Maidens Mourn
This is the seventh in the Sebastian St. Cyr historical mystery series. Set in 1812, it shows the unrest of the people with the regency and the war fatigue. Otherwise, history takes a back seat to this well plotted mystery. It's hard to comment much on these novels without spoiling previous ones.

In this one, Gabrielle Tennyson, a friend of Hero's is murdered, and Sebastian is asked to help with the investigation. Hero and Sebastian both want to solve it but they aren't really working together. Lots of twists and turns. And a dog.

The audiobook is well done.

>169 BLBera: Hi Beth, I just commented on Mary's thread that I keep meaning to try this series. I'm feeling the pressure! :) It does sound good.

>168 BLBera: I am feeling a bit better, Beth. I have the Alvarez on hold now!

Are you reading The White Rhino Hotel?

>170 Copperskye: Too many series, right, Joanne?

>171 banjo123: I'll watch for your comments, Rhonda. Glad you're feeling better.

>172 EBT1002: I plan to, Ellen. Are you reading it?

>137 BLBera: Dodging that particular BB as I have already read it.

>142 BLBera: Adding that one to the BlackHole!

>169 BLBera: I need to get back to that series at some point. Thanks for the reminder, Beth!

Have a marvelous Monday!

>174 alcottacre: Happy Monday to you, Stasia!

47. Lolly Willowes
This was my book club choice for May. It was a small group, but we had a good discussion. Most were amazed by the contemporary feel of this novel, which was written in 1926.

Laura -- Lolly -- Willowes went from her father's house to her brother's. When she was in her late forties, she decided she wanted to live on her own in the country. In this novel, Warner's first, we see the constraints society places on women, and how little they are valued by themselves.

There is an interesting turn to the story -- if you have the NYRB version, read the novel before you read the introduction by Alison Lurie. Spoilers abound.

I loved the descriptions of nature, the humor and the matter-of-fact style. I will search out more books by Warner.

>176 BLBera: The NYRB intros always have so many spoilers! I've learned my lesson with that and only read them after.

I really enjoyed Lolly Willowes until the end, which I thought was a little too out there for me.

>176 BLBera: oh thats one of my fav books, read it so many times

>176 BLBera: Nice review, Beth. I thought I'd read this in a Virago edition, but apparently it was a different Virago with a similar premise (middle-aged woman deciding to go it alone). Viragos, too, have spoilery introductions.

>176 BLBera: My book club read it last year and I really liked it, as did the group as a whole—it sparked a fun, if not very dissent-heavy, discussion. We and our book choices have a feminist slant, so it was a good book to read through that lens.

Agree with >177 japaul22: that the ending is pretty strange, but I thought Townsend Warner took that whole arc, from small scale domestic drama to what-lurks-in-small-town-shadows weirdness, to its absolute conclusion, and I was good with that.

Hi Beth, I also loved In the Time of the Butterflies and plan to read How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents at some point. Now I have also added The Cemetery of Untold Stories to the list.

>177 japaul22: The ending worked for me, Jennifer. Our group thought it gave the novel an original twist, while still fitting.

>178 cindydavid4: It's a keeper for me, Cindy. I will read it again.

>179 lauralkeet: Thanks Laura. I should have known better; in grad school we got in the habit of never reading the intros until after finishing the novels.

>180 lisapeet: It is a fun book, Lisa. I love Warner's rather understated sense of humor. The ending did work for me.

>181 DeltaQueen50: Hi Judy. Enjoy it!

I've had Lolly Willows on my shelf for years, Beth. Guess I should move it up to the Read Soon pile.

I loved it, Katie. I am looking forward to others by Warner. Have you read anything by her?

48. Say Hello to My Little Friend
I loved Make Your Home Among Strangers, Capó Crucet's first novel, and her collection of essays, My Time Among the Whites. I was really looking forward to her new novel, which her publisher describes as "Moby Dick meets Scarface." It is an original novel, with unexpected elements. Certainly, it is a departure from her previous work.

Some thoughts:
First, I love the narrative voice -- Capó Crucet's style is smart and funny. I also loved the setting, although I would go further and say that Miami is very much a significant character in this novel. A description of the sinking city: "Because they are slowly being submerged...It's why the city of Miami Beach raised the roads by a few feet, buying themselves another decade or two of tourism. It's why the first dozen floors of every new building downtown, buildings with owners who live in other countries, all taking out huge insurance policies, waiting to be cashed in with the next big hurricane -- are dedicated to parking. It's why there are roaches everywhere in this city, inside every home no matter how often you clean it or have it cleaned, no matter how much pesticide you ring those homes in -- those 'fucking cockroaches' that Scarface curses by name are just trying to stay above that rising water line."

To this city comes Ishmael Reyes, on a raft when he is six years old. Now, after graduating from high school, Izzy makes a living impersonating Pitbull. When he gets a cease-and-desist letter from Pitbull's lawyers, he decides to take Tony Montana as his role model and begins a quest to follow in his footsteps.

If you remember the Moby Dick reference, yes, there is a whale, Lolita, captive in the Seaquarium for years. Lolita and Izzy have a bond, one of the oddities of this unusual novel, which is really about outsiders trying to find a place for themselves, and the very limited role models that people like Izzy have available to them. In many ways, both Izzy and Lolita are exiles.

The whale's thoughts and the connection with Izzy are a magical aspect to the narrative, and it took me a while to get used to that. There is a lot to think about here -- certainly this novel won't appeal to everyone, but it is imaginative and the Miami setting is stellar. I wonder what Capó Crucet will come up with next.

>184 BLBera: - I haven't, but I have two others by her in addition to Lolly Willowes - Mr. Fortune's Maggot and Summer Will Show.

>185 BLBera: Doesn’t really sound like my kind of book, but the whole whale thing makes me consider it. I’m going now to see if my library has a copy.

>184 BLBera: Not Katie, but I read The Corner That Held Them and liked it, with caveats—it moves slow and isn't heavy on plot. But it's atmospheric, and there are nuns (I like nun books), and there's something dreamy about it, like you're drifting downstream—except it's through time—and watching events unfold on the riverbank. Hard to explain it beyond that, but it hit me in the right place at the right time, and is definitely not for everyone.

>186 katiekrug: I vaguely remember reading the first one, for sure havent the second. will have to check it out

>186 katiekrug: I have the first one you mentioned, Katie. And The Corner That Held Them.

>187 Storeetllr: It was an odd book, Mary. Certainly it won't appeal to everyone.

>188 lisapeet: I knew I had seen someone comment on that one, Lisa. I am up for for by Warner.

>189 cindydavid4: I will look for more by her, Cindy.

Hi, Beth! There's no way that I can catch up, but I miss being in touch with you. It's totally my fault, and maybe by this summer I will have caught up with RL and be able to mend that!

I always mean to read ST Warner and then never quite do it. I have owned a copy of Four in Hand for years. Somehow having it in hand has made me feel safe to put it off.

Hooray for reading and Scout!!!

Hi Twin!! Sorry THe White Rhino Hotel didn't work out for our group read this month. Better luck next on the next one! Talk to you soon.

>191 LizzieD: Hi Peggy. Thanks for stopping by.

>192 Berly: Hey back, TwinK! It sounds like your new job is perfect for you. Talk soon. I might give The White Rhino a try some other time.

49, Land of Milk and Honey
In Land of Milk and Honey, smog has covered most of the earth, creating famine and extinction events. Things don't grow without the sun. A talented chef is offered a job on an isolated mountain in Italy, and once there, she finds that money can buy almost anything. Her employer is trying to keep species alive in underground labs -- but only the rich can share in what comes out of the labs.

The question becomes do the rich have exclusive rights to the products of the labs even though they pay for them? Is there an obligation to share with the rest of humanity? As with any good dystopian novel, this one raises some interesting questions.

I like dystopian novels and this one stands out for its focus on food. Zhang describes flavors, textures, smells so vividly I felt like I was experiencing the food along with the unnamed chef narrator.

I'm a sucker for good dystopian novels, so this one went on my list. As usual, I have waaaaaaay too many books home from the library so it will have to wait a bit.

50. Orris and Timble
I heard Kate DiCamillo read the first couple of chapters in her new novel for young readers today. It's the story of a rat, Orris, who lives in a deserted barn. One day he hears a loud crash, and finds that a young owl, Timble, is caught in a mouse trap. Generally rats and owls are not friends, so Orris is reluctant to help at first. Then he looks at one of his treasures, a sardine can with the legend, "Make the good and noble choice, " and he helps the owl. It's a charming story of unusual friends. I was thinking allegory for our world today, but one of the kids asked her for her inspiration, and she said that during COVID, a friend gave her an anniversary edition of the Frog and Toad books, and she wanted to write a book that made her feel like the Frog and Toad books did.

After reading, DiCamillo answered some questions. She is so patient with her fans; there were a lot of kids there. Scout got her to sign Ferris, which Scout is currently reading, and Orris and Timble, which we read while we were waiting to get the books signed. She's giving Orris and Timble to her best friend for her birthday tomorrow.

I have some notes for Barnes & Noble who were extremely unorganized, but my daughter and Scout told me not to nitpick. Maybe I'll be an event planner in my next life.

>195 streamsong: Hi Janet. I know what you mean. I currently have 8 or 9 library books on my shelf.

Did anyone have a birthday today?? : )

>197 Berly: Well, thank you Beth, I did! (If today is 18th - we're on different time zones.)

>196 BLBera: That sounds like a lovely book, Beth. Lucky for you and Scout, getting to see the author in person. I can just picture you and Scout reading the book while waiting in line, and Scout's excitement about giving the book to her best friend.

Happy (belated?) birthday!

>197 Berly: I did, TwinK, thanks. In the morning we went to the nursery and spent a fortune on plants, mostly for pots because I am not a gardener, but the flowers on my porch make me happy. Then we went to see Kate DiCamillo, and I went home to pot plants. My girls had birthday/graduation parties... As I was potting, one of my sisters stopped by, and I got a phone call from another sister later. It was a good day to start my last year in my 60s!

>198 CDVicarage: Hi Kerry - Is your birthday on the 18th as well? Happy birthday to you.

>199 lauralkeet: Thanks Laura. It was fun to see Kate, whom Scout loves!

Happy belated birthday, Beth!

>142 BLBera: Uh oh. Book Bullet. Like you, my favorites by Alverez have included In the Time of Butterflies and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. More recently, I've also enjoyed Afterlife.

Happy Belated Birthday, Beth.

So glad you got to spend it at an author event (and what a delightful author) with Scout. I loved her comment about nitpicking! I think you would make a wonderful event planner, but please keep the main focus on reading good books because I depend on you for many of my recommendations.

>200 BLBera: Yay! Your day sounds like it was very fun. : ) And now you are plenty-nine!! Happy birthday and I hope you have a great year ahead. Love ya, TwinB!

Happy belated birthday! Hope it was a good one! 🎉🎈🎂💐

Happy birthday! A friend of mine turns 80 today! She is in shock, lol!

Happy birthday, Beth! That sounds like a nice day. I heard Kate DiCamillo speak at the January ALA conference in Baltimore, and got to chat with her for a minute—my friend got a photo of me and her, and I got a signed copy of Ferris too. I just love her... I remember listening to her on (I think) the On Being podcast, driving back from some event up in Binghamton through the rain with tears running down my face, she spoke so movingly.

Plants and pots are what I'm going to buy myself for my upcoming birthday, though I may have also put a few books in various shopping carts too. I feel like if no one gets me anything, which often happens, then I get to buy myself extra. There's a logic to that, I think?

Happy Belated Birthday, Beth! I hope you enjoyed your day.

Happy belated! hope it was grand!

Happy Birthday Beth! 🎂🎉🎁

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! Katie, Donna, Kim (TwinK), Mary, Shelley, Lisa, Deborah, Cindy, and Mary. I had a great day.

Sounds like a good birthday, Beth. Many happy returns.

Thanks Charlotte.

51. We Loved It All
I love Lydia Millet's novels and was happy to pick up her "memoir." After reading it, I would say it's more a collection of musings than a memoir. She jumps around, both in topics and events of her life. But the thread that runs through the work is her concern for the environment. Millet works for a nonprofit, the Center for Biological Diversity and interspersed with memories of childhood and motherhood, she discusses plants and animals that are disappearing.

As she puts it, "When you turn into a mother you lose the power of coldness. Lose it for good, as it happens. You never get it back...To me it doesn't seem like such a stretch for us to see our parenthood -- the sheltering, that deep, abiding love we know to be our legacy and honor -- as a duty of care that reaches beyond the present well-being of our children into their far prospects."

I enjoyed this, but it might not work for anyone who expects a cohesive, chronological narrative -- Millet moves from one topic and event to another, sometimes with little warning. In the end, the overarching concern for our world and its plant and animal life ties her musings together. It works for me.

I love the cover. It's Yggdrasil, the Norse tree of life.

Adding to belated birthday wishes Beth. I hope you did something special.

I am adding my belated birthday wishes too, Beth! I hope it was a grand birthday.

Thanks Caroline and Stasia. It was a fun day.

Happy belated birthday, Beth!

I had signed up to see Lydia Millet a couple weeks ago at the Tattered Cover and was disappointed that she had to cancel the event. :(

Happy belated B day!

>213 BLBera: Hmmm. I am not sure about this one. I will see if my library has a copy.

>217 Copperskye: Thanks Joanne. I would love to see Millet. Too bad she had to cancel.

>216 BLBera: Thanks Anita. I can see that this would not appeal to everyone.

52. Clear is an excellent historical novel. Davies uses just the right amount of detail to describe the setting, which is stunning, and her small cast of characters. I didn't want the novel to end.

The novel is set during the Scottish Clearances of the mid-nineteenth century -- when people were forcibly removed from the land by their landlords. John Ferguson is sent to a remote island in the North Atlantic to remove its last inhabitant. After Ferguson's arrival, he is injured and nursed back to health by the very man, Ivar, he has been sent to evict. The novel portrays their growing friendship as they learn to communicate with each other. Ivar doesn't speak Scottish and John doesn't speak the dialect of the island.

Wonderful novel.

I just put this in my library holds queue after reading Laura's review. (lauralkeet) Seeing two great reviews of it in one day seals the deal for reading it!

I'm glad you enjoyed Clear so much. I've heard good things about it.

>220 BLBera: I recently read Clear, too, and absolutely love it. I'm glad you did, too, Beth!

>220 BLBera: What a great review! I added Clear by Carys Davies to the tbr pile.

I've read a lot of duds this month. Actually, I haven't read a lot this month at all, but couldn't find a very good book, even though I took a lot o books home from the library.

Thanks for posting the images of the wonderful sky.

>221 japaul22: It is just a lovely book, Jennifer.

>222 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah.

>223 Copperskye: Hi Joanne - Davies is going on my "must read" list. I also loved West although I think Clear is better.

>224 Whisper1: Thanks Linda. Sometimes it's hard to find books that click.

>220 BLBera: Hurray for Clear! I'm glad you enjoyed this book as much as I did, Beth. It's a gem.

>220 BLBera: That one is already in the BlackHole thanks to Richard or I would be adding it again. Glad to see that you enjoyed it too!

Have a wonderful day, Beth!

>226 lauralkeet: It is a gem, Laura. I look forward to Davies' next work.

>227 alcottacre: Hi Stasia. I hope you enjoy it when you get to it.

>220 BLBera: I ordered that one for the library, and I've had my eye on it. I was giving others a chance to check it out, but I may have to see if it is available when I get ready to leave tomorrow.

>220 BLBera: I just got a copy of this. I'm looking forward to diving in.

Oh good, bumping Clear up the pile.

>220 BLBera: My library has a copy so I've joined the reservation queue for this one. Thank you!

>151 BLBera: I'm with your daughter---only I remember 2020 all too well! I'm not ready to revisit, yet.

>229 thornton37814: It is such a lovely novel, Lori.

>230 RidgewayGirl: I'll watch for your comments, Kay.

>232 lisapeet: You will love it, Lisa.

>233 charl08: You are welcome, Charlotte. I hope you like it.

>234 Tess_W: That's the nice things about books, Tess. It will be there when you are ready.

53. The Book Censor's Library
I really enjoyed this dystopian novel about the power of books and reading. It reminds me of 1984, which it references, and is just as chilling. The unnamed book censor lives in a society where imagination and original thought are crimes. In this world there are three tenets: 1. Human existence is suffering; 2. The root of suffering is desire; and 3. The root of desire is imagination." Book censors are responsible for removing any book that inspires thought or stimulates imagination, but the job is dangerous: "What if a book swallowed him? What about his ongoing exposure to poisonous thoughts? What if he were to become entrapped by a novel and left unfit to live in the real world?" The more the book censor reads, the more he begins to question his life.

Al-Essa creates an oppressive atmosphere yet also has fun with some of the books deemed "dangerous." I think most fans of dystopias will enjoy this novel.

And there are rabbits.

Clear looks really good!

>236 BLBera: I loved this one as well, Beth. So many fun lines in the opening chapters. And his daughter was such a great character.

"Isn't it obvious?" his wife whispered.
"What is?"
"Our daughter...she's…" She lowered her voice even more, "She's imagining things!"

>237 banjo123: Hi Rhonda - I think you'd like it.

>238 labfs39: I underlined so many lines in the beginning, Lisa! Al-Essa did a great job -- and such a chilling atmosphere.

54. Restless Dolly Maunder is a moving portrait of a woman born at the end of the nineteenth century. This excellent historical novel is loosely based on the life of Kate Grenville's grandmother. Dolly had few choices in life, and the novel shows us what she did with the choices that she had. I didn't always admire her, but I respected her tenacity, and she did the best she could at the time.

I really liked this and although I'm not sure I would put it on the Women's Prize short list, it certainly deserves attention. People who like character-driven historical fiction will like this. This reminds me that I must read more by Grenville; I've loved the novels by her that I have read.

>240 BLBera: Great review, Beth. Count me as another fan of Kate Grenville. This one looks interesting.

Hi TwinB! Clear and The Book Censor's Library both sound excellent. : )

>241 lauralkeet: Thanks Laura. I have a couple of novels by Grenville on my shelf. I should read them sooner.

>242 Berly: Hey TwinK! They were both excellent. Read them!

Hi Beth and a very belated Happy Birthday! As usual your thread is adding to my list - as I am a fan of both dystopian stories and Kate Grenville, I am adding Land of Milk and Honey and Restless Dolly Maunder to my list.

>242 Berly: They are both on my WL!! Happy weeknd. : )

>240 BLBera: I agree, Beth. I enjoyed Restless Dolly Maunder, but I was surprised to see it on the shortlist.

>240 BLBera: I still haven't read The Secret River but I've added this one to my list.

>240 BLBera: I want to go back and read The Idea of Perfection.