The Read goes ever on and on...MrsLee 2020 chapter 2

Odd and inconsistent place to start a new thread, but I just realized how long the old one is, so, here's a brand-spanking-new one!

Currently reading:

Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan (a long-term ongoing read, good, interesting, a bit nauseating, but I do like the writing and thought process, whether I agree with all the conclusions or not.)

Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis (reread, I began yesterday when I realized it was May already and there was a group read going on that I had intended to participate in. I remember none of the first 3 chapters from my first read of it about 30 or so years ago.)

The Noma Guide to Fermentation by René Redzepi (loving this, although I may never get around to "ant sauce" and "grasshopper garum."

Mostly, I am not reading, because I'm working very diligently (compulsively?) on sorting my family history, photos and memorabilia.

Yipes! Gotta leave for work now!

Odd and inconsistent place to start a new thread, but I just realized how long the old one is, so, here's a brand-spanking-new one!

Currently reading:

Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan (a long-term ongoing read, good, interesting, a bit nauseating, but I do like the writing and thought process, whether I agree with all the conclusions or not.)

Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis (reread, I began yesterday when I realized it was May already and there was a group read going on that I had intended to participate in. I remember none of the first 3 chapters from my first read of it about 30 or so years ago.)

The Noma Guide to Fermentation by René Redzepi (loving this, although I may never get around to "ant sauce" and "grasshopper garum.")

Mostly, I am not reading, because I'm working very diligently (compulsively?) on sorting my family history, photos and memorabilia.

Yipes! Gotta leave for work now!

It is a perfect place to start a new thread.

I like new threads, and old ones too...

A perfect place to start.

I hope you managed to get to work on time.

>3 pgmcc: - >5 Busifer: Thank you, one must begin somewhere.

>5 Busifer: Two minutes early!

I'm in a quandary. Reading Out of the Silent Planet, I have thoughts, but I don't want to go into that reading thread yet because I'm so far behind, I've forgotten all but the feel of the book, so I don't want spoilers.

Guess I will record thoughts here so I remember them, then when I'm further along I'll look in there and comment as needed.

First thought, I had to check my man-into-space time because the copyright on my book is 1965, and the technology seemed very far out of date when we actually did go into space a couple or so years later. Then my husband informed me that this book was actually published in the 1930s and that C.S. Lewis died before we sent men into space. Huh.

Second, I'm liking it. There have been other thoughts, but I can't remember them. Sigh.

>6 MrsLee: Whew!

>6 MrsLee: I'm glad you're joining the group read of Out of the silent planet! I'm reading it for the first time and really enjoying it. I would say the comments on the specific thread are fairly vague, but probably best to stay away just in case something spoils the reread for you.

>8 Sakerfalcon: I accidentally peeked in there yesterday. I read it up to the chapter I was on, then zipped out. :)

>9 MrsLee: Good move!

I have not dug out my copy of Out of the Silent Planet yet but the urge is getting stronger.

The copy I speak of is the copy I read at school in 19-blah-de-blah*. Yes, I still have it.

*68 It is not hoarding if it is books.

>11 pgmcc: the word "hoard" should never be used in reference to books, just as the word "cull" is not appropriate.

>12 fuzzi: Even if one is culling the hoard?

(I'll see myself out...)

>11 pgmcc: Is it a herd, perchance?

>14 -pilgrim-: perhaps he's herd of culling before?

>13 ScoLgo: out! Out, Dratted Spot!

Finished up Out of the Silent Planet today. Guess I will go ahead and continue the series since I can't recall any of this first story. The only memory I have left of reading them is more an impression.

I also typed up a journal of a trip to Canada my grandparents, mother and her brother took in 1947. If I didn't know it before, this, plus my curly hair and plump body, prove beyond doubt that I am descended from Hobbits. They mention on at least three different days that they stopped for "second breakfast." They are constantly seeking out wild berries, crab to eat for lunch, places they stop such as two different cheese factories in Oregon and two breweries, one in Washington and one in B.C. I come from a long line of food lovers.

>16 MrsLee: some people eat to live, some live to eat. I'm in the latter category, with you I think...

Happy new thread, Lee. Thank you for welcoming me into the group.

>18 PaulCranswick: Thank you, I look forward to meeting you now and again in the pub. :)

>16 MrsLee: The real clincher is the hairy feet.

>20 pgmcc: I knew I shouldn't have posted that photo of me in sandals on FB.

>16 MrsLee: Sounds like the perfect way to travel, IMO!

I've begun Perelandra and I am finding this world much easier to envision than the one in Out of the Silent Planet. Interesting to see Lewis try to portray First Woman.

In other news, I found a list my grandmother made in 1923 (she was 17) of her favorite authors and books. I listed them in the TBSL group (Tattered But Still Lovely). There were 24 works listed, her favorite authors being,
Oscar Wilde with four books
Rafael Sabatini with four books
George Eliot with two books (although she had miscredited Eliot with one of Thackeray)
William Makepeace Thackeray with two books

Of the 24, I have read 6. Here is a link to the list in the TBSL group, https://www.librarything.com/topic/320886

Here is a photo I found of a library in a Camp Fire girl's camp she attended in 1925 or 1926. I thought I had a better image, but I can't find it. If I do, I will share, but I'm afraid even the better one will not show us the titles. I'm just loving the idea of a library like this in a summer camp.

>23 MrsLee: She had good taste! That photo is wonderful.
(Though I have to admit I am completely unfamiliar with Sabatini.
Edited to add: I take that back. I saw some of the movies made based on his books in my youth!)

>23 MrsLee: Like Clam, I'm interested in Rafael Sabatini. I've had brief dealings with one Richard Sabatini, who wrote The Book on Kimberley Tramways and turns out to be a rail nut. I wonder if the two are related.

>24 clamairy:, & >25 hfglen: I have not read his books either. I believe they may be shameless adventure romances, but I have no evidence for that. He wrote Scaramouche, which was made into a movie. My grandmother went to it on her 18th birthday. That was one of her favorite books she listed.

I put a link to the thread in the TBSL group in post >23 MrsLee: if anyone is interested. :)

>26 MrsLee: They are indeed.

Captain Blood is about a doctor sentenced to indentured labour for life in the Americas for assisting wounded rebels from the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion, who turns pirate.

The Sea Hawk is about an Elizabethan privateer.

Lots of swash.

I started looking for the novels after realising that half the films that I remember watching on TV in my childhood had "from the Novel by Rafael Sabatini" in their credits.

>28 -pilgrim-: Lol. Well, I like a good swash now and then! I may have to try one just for fun. I would rather read the Oscar Wilde books she listed. I have read The Importance of Being Earnest and that just might be my favorite play ever. There is no end of perfect goodness to it. Thackeray on the other hand, I will probably do without. I couldn't finish Vanity Fair.

>29 MrsLee: *pssst* I had the same reaction to Vanity Fair.

>30 -pilgrim-: The copy of it I had was in very poor condition (a paperback), I took great pleasure ripping pages out of it as I finished them, at least until I quit reading it.

Yikes! I just typed this from my grandmother's letter. Her phrasing makes it good target practice for a bit of fun, but one can tell she was writing along as she thought it rather than precomposing in her head.

"We had a most terrible murder out in back of our place day before yesterday. (out in the claim.) A tramp was found with his head all smashed in. The authorities have taken a man into custody but he won’t talk. They were both drunk the night the murder was committed & they had been put out of a show for fighting & this man followed the dead man over the railroad track & that was the last seen of the man alive. It kind of gets on your nerves."

>31 MrsLee: I think it would be rather harsh to criticise someone's style under such circumstances! She sounds in a state of shock (hardly surprising).

She does however demonstrate an enviable ability for the understatement. (That final sentence.)

>32 -pilgrim-: LOL, yes. I just enjoyed the sentence about following the dead man over the railroad track. :)

I'm sorry, I can't help sharing another paragraph from the same letter. After all, this is what I seem to be reading most of these days, but I love this one.

"Our Pioneer Party is over, thank goodness! If they want to give another one this year they are going to have to find a new leader. I never was so near a nervous wreck as I was last night. Imagine thirty girls & thirty boys from the ages of 12 to 15 at a Hallowe’en party! It is perfectly terrible. We tried to tell ghost stories after refreshments & so we turned the lights out for about 2 minutes & then some one snapped them on all of a sudden – Oh my land, I wish you could have seen the scrambling! We decided to tell our ghost stories with the lights on! I should have known better, but I didn’t. I think they had a nice time though, so that was all that was necessary. But honestly, I never saw a bunch of kids that age that were as boy & girl struck, too, as these kids are.

Of course, grandma was all of twenty when she wrote this in 1926.

>34 MrsLee: The mind, madame, she boggles. But then some things never change.

>33 MrsLee: Following the dead man over the railway tracks is what struck me as a bad idea.

:-)

>36 pgmcc: One wonders which one got their head bashed in? The zombie, or the one who followed him? lol.

>31 MrsLee:
There's no backspace key when you are hand writing.

>38 suitable1: Ayup. What amazes me, is there is very little scratching out, or correcting in these letters. When I try to hand write a letter I frequently write the wrong letter, etc.

>23 MrsLee: love the photo, and what a treasure to find a list of her favorite books.

I read Captain Blood several years ago, and while I enjoyed the Errol Flynn movie very much, I really liked the book, especially the verbal exchanges, the dialogue. Imagine that.

I just went back and snagged my review:

Another classic bites the dust!

This week my intent was to read "Captain Blood", considered a classic, and a book that's been sitting on my shelves/e-reader for far too long.

I enjoyed "Captain Blood", partly for the story, and partly for the verbal fencing. I loved how the title character was able to handle those who were under the impression that they were "somebody". Even the uncle of the love interest, Arabella, can't match wits or swords with Peter Blood.

The arrogance of the aristocracy of the time period is well portrayed, and the passages describing the battle tactics and life on the ship were interesting. None of the descriptions were distracting from the plot, which sailed right along. I was surprised to discover that this book was over 300 pages...it read much like a substantially shorter story.

Recommended.

>40 fuzzi: I bought the audio with Simon Vance as narrator. Your review makes me want to find a time to listen. Oh! I will be driving for about 4 hours next weekend, I can do it then!

>41 MrsLee: super! Glad to be able to encourage you.

Gave up reading Perelandra. Too much blah, blah once the antagonist got there. I don't have it in me at the moment to listen to pontificating, no matter who is dishing it out.

I decided to rescue some more books off the floor (they sit on the floor because these particular shelves are made of bricks and boards). My cats keep scattering them in their games.

First up is The Bell Ringer by Brett Harte. Published in 1894. I had thought i didn't enjoy Mr. Harte, but I have enjoyed both of the stories I've read thus far.

>43 MrsLee: I didn't like Perelandra when I tried to read it years ago. I don't remember if I finished it or not. Can't remember anything about it except I was disappointed because I loved Narnia so much.

>43 MrsLee: Your cats sound like ours.

I love the excerpts from the letters!

I'm not to sure on Oscar Wilde. I really wanted to like his books, but the misogyny in The picture of Dorian Gray had me stewing. I tend to take the time in which a book or play was written into consideration. But that one was just too much.
Maybe that's just me being over-sensitive, or maybe I had expected him to be something that he definitely wasn't.
(I'm not sure that I had reacted the same way had I read in the 70's. But modern-day me absolutely could not stand it.)

Whelp, sister canceled her visit because the d*@#m virus is spiking again. I know she did the right thing (she has to have surgery the end of the month), but I am so disappointed. So is she. We were going to go through mom's things together and hope for some closure, but it is not to be.

I'm still not able to get enthusiastic about reading, but I am enjoying the Brett Harte stories.

Weather has finally decided to give us a visitation of triple digits, so yuck.

Even so, life is good.

>47 MrsLee:
That is so disappointing. I hope your sister’s surgery goes well and that you will get together in the not too distant future.

>47 MrsLee: Bummer. Still, that's the times we are living in. Best wishes to her, and hope for better times to come.

>47 MrsLee: aw shucks. I'm sorry.

When my mother passed, everything went into storage, for a year. The following summer both my sisters came to visit, bringing U-Hauls, and our mother's things were divvied up. It actually worked well.

>50 fuzzi: My mother lived with me, so I'm going through things at my pace. I do a lot of checking with siblings before I get rid of anything. Thank goodness for smart phones, I can take pictures and send them to family members to see if they want their name on anything. We are blessed in that our family is not contentious about "stuff." Everyone begins with, "if no one else wants it, I would like..."

Most of mom's things were gone through and distributed when my mom moved in with me, now there are just a few things.

I finally managed to sort through all the large bins of photos. Had no idea my mom could stash so much in her tiny apartment, but I should have known, she was a long-time camper/RV traveler!

My son and his wife decided to visit this weekend and we are going to visit a lovely waterfall tomorrow and have a picnic.

>51 MrsLee: I reckon you've earned some fun.

Sorry about your sister's visit, but enjoy that solstice waterfall jaunt!

>51 MrsLee: sounds like you have siblings who handle possessions well.

Have a good time on your picnic.

I saw your waterfall photos, what a gorgeous spot! Looks like you had a lovely day.

>55 Sakerfalcon: Thank you, it is lovely indeed. The water is snowmelt from Mt. Shasta, COLD! Very refreshing now when we are expecting triple digit heat for the next few weeks/months.

>51 MrsLee: I guess those were the waterfall visit pictures on Facebook? Looked really nice!

>47 MrsLee: So sorry about your sister's not-visit, but I hope everything goes well for her with the surgery.

>56 MrsLee: I still do not understand why you did not dive in from the cliff like the others were doing.

>56 MrsLee: they were lovely pictures. What a beautiful hike!

>58 pgmcc: Believe me, after our hike, I wanted to. In a vague sort of way (if I were 30 years younger), but I made do with taking my shoes off and wading-briefly-in the river. It felt delicious, but so cold I couldn't stay in much longer than to dampen my neck, face, and arms. My feet were numb when I got out, which explains why some of the divers, not all, had wetsuits on. There was a tiny toddler, maybe one an a half years old, next to me and she had been in the water much of the morning. I guess children are immune to cold. I know I was when I was young.

Not much time for reading on my five days off. Or should I say, I'm still not in the reading mode where I snatch every minute to read? I'm still moseying through the two books I'm reading though, one of short stories by Brett Harte, and the other by Michael Pollen. Enjoying both in their own way.

>60 MrsLee: Enjoying both in their own way.

"Enjoying" is what it is all about.

Keep well!

>60 MrsLee: Yes, our skin thins or something! Your photos were wonderful, and I'm glad you enjoyed your hike. And I second what >61 pgmcc: said. It's not a race to see how many books you can finish, so savor what you can.

I finished a book! The Bell-Ringer of Angel's and other Stories by Bret Harte. Actually, I enjoyed this book a lot because the pacing was easy and loose and didn't demand anything from me. My favorite stories were near the end, they seemed to have a sly humor that caught me off-guard. I'm kinda sorry there weren't more stories in it, but on the other hand, like a good guest, it left me wanting more. ;)

I am reading Fatu-Hiva: Back to Nature by Thor Heyerdahl next. Chain of reading coincidence,
Fatu-Hiva written by a Norwegian who wants to go completely back to nature and leave "civilization" behind.
Noma Guide to Fermentation written by a Dane who firmly believes in eating local and eating what you can find in nature.
The Omnivore's Dilemma written by a man who feels civilization has taken a wrong road on our eating path and needs to stop and evaluate.

This was not intentional. I grabbed the Heyerdahl off of the "floor" shelf blindly. That's the one I'm trying to clear completely to enable easier cleaning of the space behind.

>63 MrsLee: Intentional or not, it looks like a theme. I'd expect the Heyerdahl to be quite different to the others, though, as it has some years to it.

>64 Busifer: I am enjoying the Heyerdahl. His boyish enthusiasm is refreshing in this day of cynicism and cosmopolitan boredom.

>65 MrsLee: I'd expect so! I haven't come across something from him since my teens: my dad (born in 1936) had, like most young boys of his generation, a copy of Kon-Tiki. It was considered appropriate adventure reading for boys, I guess.

>66 Busifer:
I had one too. I found it fascinating, but not in an adventure style; more interesting in a nerdish way. I also had a book on ocean currents, winds and ocean fauna. Not many of my peers would have had such a combination of reading materials.

>67 pgmcc: My dad went on to science fiction, and to eventually start work as an editor of encyclopaedias, so there's probably some connection between Heyerdahl and an interest in knowing things, at least.

>43 MrsLee: I'm just catching up with everyone's threads at this point and I just wanted to suggest that you might find That Hideous Strength, the third in Lewis' trilogy to be more to your taste. Like you, I had to struggle to make it through Perelandra, but That Hideous Strength has less pontificating and moves much more quickly.

>66 Busifer: I have read several of Heyerdahl's books and enjoyed them.

>69 jillmwo: Thank you, in my memory, That Hideous Strength was the hardest to get through, but my memory seems to be shot to *#ll, because I didn't remember ANYTHING in the first two novels. I may try it one day, if my reading mojo ever comes back. Right now nonfiction seems to be suiting my fragile interest in reading. I just can't read much at a time. This will end. This will end. One of these days this will end.

Something which has been flitting through my mind of late, and I can't go into details because it would disobey pub rules, I'm finding myself identifying more and more with the dwarves in The Last Battle. I've always despised those dwarves, unwilling to join or take a side. However, my mindset is getting more and more like them as I see people I respect on both sides of every issue ranting at the "fools" who don't agree on the other side, holding forth the experts who support their view (each side seems to match expert for expert). I'm becoming very bitter and the desire to dig a hole and crawl into it is almost overwhelming. I hate this. I've probably been on FB more than I should again. Dammit! Why can't people try to see where others are coming from instead of dismissing them as fools?

>70 MrsLee: With regard to the dwarves and the current environment, I am right there with you.

>70 MrsLee: social media is extremely polarized. I avoid anything of a political nature on Facebook.

I can't recall anything about that CS Lewis trilogy. I do recall liking it, but not enough to keep the books for a reread.

I stopped reading news in any form after the referendum in the UK, and I don’t do social media at all. Basically, it’s all too depressing and the signal to noise ratio is too low, and the general unpleasantness is too great.

>73 haydninvienna: Sensible, but you do occasionally miss a "source of innocent merriment", like this offering today from the Cape Argus:
Not Much Rain Predicted for Cape Town this weekend, which brings to mind the classic Edwardian Times offering, "Small war in Afghanistan, not many dead".

Love this pub and I'm sticking to it.

The Pub is almost the only sane place left.

>75 MrsLee: & >76 haydninvienna:
I think we are all of one mind on this matter.

>78 ScoLgo: Is the pub melding into an egrogore?

>77 pgmcc:

PGGBs do tend to keep things calm.

>66 Busifer: My first solo carpentry attempt was a scale model of the Kon-Tiki, based solely on the technical information given in that book. It was not great, but it was done with love.

>70 MrsLee: I found the isolationism of "Dwarves are for Dwarves" intensely depressing - if a realistic portrayal of a certain mindset, both then and now

>80 -pilgrim-: Yes, that is what I always disliked about them, but with the other groups all at each other's throats, both giving out partial, twisted or erroneous information, I understand how they might have become like that better.

So, so tired today. Still not sure if I'm getting sick, the heat is getting to me, or if I have justifiably done enough to actually be tired. Went to bed after 10 due to loud explosions from those celebrating the 4th. Was up at 6 am. I made a lentil dish, a ground lamb dish, naan and hummus, then we went to the grocery store. I've tried to type letters from the grandparents, it hurt my head. I've scanned a bunch more photos, but I just can't get to the end of it which I wanted to do today. All I want to do is go close my eyes.

I did finish The Noma Guide to Fermentation yesterday. Such a lovely book with big wonderful photos, lovely fungal and microbial artwork, an introduction to the hows, whys and history of each method of fermentation, then step-by-step instructions for a basic recipe, then ideas for using that ferment in your everyday kitchen cooking. Several more recipes of the same style fermentation using different ingredients, each with their own suggestions for use. I have to say that many of the recipes are not necessarily the way I would cook in my kitchen, but if I made a miso or shoyu from this book, I could happily figure out how to use them.

One recipe in particular made me long for my daddy to be alive so I could make it for him, although I will not be making it for myself anytime soon. When I was young, dad always called soy sauce "grasshopper juice" I think because grasshoppers insides have that color when smashed, maybe. Anyway, here in this book is a recipe for Grasshopper garum! The equivalent of grasshopper juice for sure. If there is ever a plague of grasshoppers (and this year why not?), I might try this, but I'm not going to buy bugs to make a sauce out of.

>81 MrsLee: You can bugs? Intentionally? I remember, from when I was a boy reading a biography of Lord Baden-Powell, an incident when he was besieged inside some town or other (not necessarily Mafeking; he seems to have made something of a habit of being besieged). There was a locust plague, and B-P somewhat relieved the food situation by deciding to eat the locusts. My juvenile response was "ewww"! Not rational I know. Of course I eat prawns and other crustaceans, which are not all that different.

Hope you're feeling better BTW.

>82 haydninvienna: Pretty sure you meant "You can eat bugs?" right? Yes, they are the up and coming politically correct form of protein. Tribal peoples have eaten grubs and such forever. I have friends from Africa that love a certain kind of grub cooked a certain way "tastes like buttered popcorn". I have eaten fried grasshopper before, but it was a novelty food item, cooked to death. It was like crunching on chips I suppose. All I could taste were the seasonings though.

I can picture the rows of jars with MrsLee's canned insects.

>84 suitable1: To go nicely alongside the corncob jelly I made this morning. Oh! Here's a thought! I can put one of the little caterpillars that love corn so much and end up in the tops of the cobs into each jar of corncob jelly! Novelty item. ;)

>81 MrsLee: grasshoppers spit out "tobacco juice" and it stains.

I got it on my hands as a child when I'd collect bugs and stuff.

It's probably a defense mechanism, though you don't have to squash them to see it.

>84 suitable1: >85 MrsLee: For some reason, I am now picturing the cellar full of preserves from We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

>83 MrsLee: Whoops! I actually meant “you can buy bugs?” Sorry about that. I come from a land down under where the aboriginal people used to gather at certain times of the year to feast on Bogong moths. Plus witchetty grubs. I also knew about the current fad (or whatever it is) for eating insects. There’s been quite a lot of that on Atlas Obscura recently.

Once again, hope you’re better.

>88 haydninvienna: Ah, that was my other choice of meaning, because I was pretty sure you would know about eating bugs!

Anyway, apparently you can buy bugs to eat. I will not be spending my money on them any time soon.

>86 fuzzi: Oh that's right! I'm sure I knew that at one time in my life, having captured many a grasshopper as a child, but I had forgotten.

>87 ScoLgo: A book I've yet to read. Sounds appetizing! ;)

Last night I finished The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, which in my head I re-titled the "Privileged" Omnivore's Dilemma. Even though I disagreed with some of Pollan's conclusions or assumptions, I very much enjoyed his telling about his own journey and discovery of the food he eats and where it comes from. At least he did acknowledge that he was looking at the issue from a point of privilege.

This isn't meant to be a treatise on the "right" way to grow/raise food, it is meant to shine a light on what is and take a look at it to see if there isn't a better way. To know where our food comes from and how it is raised, what goes into producing it for our tables. There isn't a farmer I have known (and I was raised on a farm and live in farm country) who wouldn't agree with that.

If anything was missing from this book, it was the many smaller farmers around the country who work their whole lives to raise food because they love their land. In fact, Pollan gave the impression there were only the mega farmers and the small organic local farmers. I understand, he was going for the extremes and making a point, but he really gave an uninformed picture of the many hard-working men and women in America on smaller farms. In fact, he described them as uneducated, greedy fools. My father, my brothers, my sister, her husband, their children, and most every farmer I know has been to college and are some of the most intelligent people around. People who not only have book smarts, but also understand practical living, the land, the plants, animals and weather. You have to be smart these days in order to navigate the business aspect of farming, not to mention the nutrients, climate, and other requirements of whatever crop you are raising.

That offense aside, I did enjoy this city boy's journey to find out where his food came from, and the last chapters on his experience hunting and gathering were quite entertaining. I think he understood his own hubris in the matter. As a girl who grew up among hunter-gatherers as well as farmers, I found his experiences entertaining.

Will this change the way I eat? I doubt it, because I already have chosen to eat only food I can identify, not highly processed "flavored" food. I do go to the Farmer's Market because I want to encourage local people to grow food. I will also buy food at the grocery store because life is hard and I don't need one more thing to burden my load. Sometimes a person just has to make life simpler. I am not worried about the baby greens in a box. I think it is a miracle that humans have figured out a process to grow and harvest them and make them available to people in cities or far-flung locations so that we too can have delicious salads.

Book I am starting now: High Tide in Tucson: Essays from Now or Never by Barbara Kingsolver. I have read one other collection of her short stories which were for the most part depressing, if I find that is the trend of these, I won't finish it, but it was on my shelves to read, so I'm going to try it.

Great review of Pollan's book - it's been an age since I read it, but I agree with your assessment.

>90 MrsLee: Ouch - that attitude towards farmers must hurt. Here it is accepted that farming is such a multi-skilled and financially precarious activity that you need an agricultural degree, or masses of knowledge transmitted from farming predecessors, to make a go of it.

I could go on a rant about how smaller scale farmers are being forced out of viability by supermarket demands for standardised produce, and the resulting tastelessness of food compared to the range of varieties (of meat, of fruit, of vegetables), by the forced specialisation in those varieties that produce the most uniform yields.

I can imagine that there are ignorant city dwellers among the younger generation nowadays, but my grandfather was a Londoner born and bred, who nevertheless grew his own vegetables and had kept chickens. (Almost all Londoners of his generation would have some experience of this, due to the strict rationing during the war years.) I grew up in a more rural environment, where we were taken to visit farms early in our schooling, so that we understood how they work. (The "petting zoos" in some of our major cities are an attempt to ensure that inner city children likewise understand where wool comes from!)

I think the allotment system (whereby people living in towns and cities, in houses or flats without attached land, can rent small plots where they can grow either flowers or produce) helps to keep people in touch with the realities of food production. Do you have a similar system in America?

But then again, the strict EU regulations on how did can be processed mean that there is a less clear dichotomy between mass-produced and "locally grown" produce - and the differences are clearly indicated on the label (as well as in the price!)

And now I am salivating at the thought of local cheeses again...

>92 -pilgrim-: Hear, hear.
I haven't read the book, and am unlikely to do so, but I have no patience with that kind of attitude. I think your complaint is an important one, Lee, up in >90 MrsLee:

I find that in Sweden while many try to buy local produce, local meat, etc, and despite Sweden being an agrarian society up until the end of wwII, most don't have a clue about what it takes to run a farm, even a smallish one. I'm sure in the larger cities many would take such a polarized depiction for truth, without ever questioning for ulterior motives.

>90 MrsLee: So I never picked up any anti-farmer bias in my reading of that book at all, with the exception of the factory farming of animals & giant agribusiness farms. But, as I said to you on Facebook, I read this over a decade ago. I really loved what he had to say. I'm not ready to go shooting my own wild boar, but I wouldn't mind paying extra for that meat if it were readily available locally.

>92 -pilgrim-: My understanding, from other sources is that Europe in general has much better laws regulating sources of food and labeling. Here it is a nightmare for consumers to sort through truth and fabrication on labels.

>94 clamairy: It was in the section where he was talking to the big corn farmer. A short mention, but as you can imagine with my background, my radar is probably more sensitive than others not raised on the farm. I do not disagree with the author that corporation farming needs to undergo some changes. I would like to know how other countries produce the mass amounts of food for their consumers, because Pollan said America was the worst but I don't know about that. I wonder about China, etc. The truth is, I like that people who are not near wonderful little farms can still have fresh produce and affordable meat, but can we not find a better way to do that?

In Sweden many of the farmers are members of some kind of co-operative: a diary co-op, a grain co-op, a meat co-op, and so on. These organisations (I've worked for one of the diary co-operatives, and the largest grain co-op as well) then own companies that produces the consumer products, such as breakfast cereals, yoghurt, breads, granola, cream, butter.
Some farmers are members of more than one such organisation, fx if you have milk cows, but also grow grain beyond your own need for animal feed.
In some cases the name of the farm is marked on the packaging as place of origin, but that's not that common.

Finished Fatu-Hiva last night. I enjoyed it to the end. Today I read a bit more about Heyerdahl. It did not surprise me that he and his wife divorced. That was a helluva ordeal they passed through. That may not have been the reason for the divorce, but since the book was written looking back, there were passages which made me wonder. I don't think it would be easy to live with a starry-eyed idealist.

And now for something completely different. I do not know where this next read came from. One of my TBR shelves, but where before that? After doing a bit of research, I am dubious about whether I will care much for it. It is possibly a first edition, but no cover. The endpages are yummy. There is an inscription in the front in a hand I don't know which says, "What a book! This plot deals mainly of the wonderings and episodes of a man's evil and filthy life." Jeepers! Gotta see what this is! The Private Life of Frank Harris by Samuel Roth. After reading about Samuel Roth and Fran Harris, it's quite possible that the inscribed is not too far off...but one must see for ones self.

In other news, I have hit the wall with my grandparent's letters. They are all typed, Yay! Pictures are mostly entered. For kicks, I tried to see what it would be like to publish it on lulu. First I had to save as a PDF, which I managed to do but don't ask me how. When I uploaded it to lulu they said there were font issues, transparency issues and possibly pixel issues. That's when I hit the wall. I remember someone told me to get it the way I want it to look in Word first, so I'm going to play a little more there before I try to climb the Adobe wall. I want to see what it looks like with one letter per page, and different fonts for grandma and grandpa. Formatting may be the death of me.

>97 MrsLee: If there's font issues, be sure to click the checkbox for "include fonts" when you print/save the file to PDF.
For the pictures, even if they are high resolution printing to PDF wants you to compress the images, ie reduce their quality. Reduce too much, or start with too low a resolution, and the pictures will print as very pixly.
I'd recommend a test print of a page or two, with pictures on them, on an ordinary printer, to ensure the quality, and repeat until you're happy with the result.

>98 Busifer: Thank you!

Finished The Private Life of Frank Harris and I'm really not sure it deserved the reaction of the inscriber, although, if the inscriber lived and read it in 1931, I'm sure it was much more shocking at that time. Now it wouldn't even titillate a YA audience. In fact, it was slightly ho-hum. Seemed that the author was trying to make a Paul Bunyan figure of Frank Harris. There wasn't an important moment in history, or place that he missed and had the vital "role" in. Seemingly. He didn't strike me as evil per se so much as a psychopath. Or is is sociopath? I looked both of them up, but I still can't tell. Anyway, I was right tired of him by the end. This would be a good moral tale for young women to read as it shows the mindset of a man who only wishes to bed them, not have them as a partner for life. Those men can be very convincing until the moment happens, then good-bye. That's about all the use I found in it. I won't be keeping this. Didn't really inspire me to read more of either Samuel Roth or Frank Harris, not because of smut, but because of hubris.

Next book I grabbed off the shelf because it would fit in my purse to take to work, The Book of Kells by R.A. MacAvoy. I am not hating it, not sure I'm loving it, but it is interesting enough to keep me reading. I'm sure lots of you have read this, or this author and have opinions, I wouldn't mind hearing them. The only other work of hers I've read is Tea with the Black Dragon which I clearly had mixed feelings about. Here is my review for that work:

"This was a quick and fun read, I enjoyed it, although it was clearly a debut novel. The character of Mayland Long was a terrific one, and one I would like to read more about. Martha had promise, but was missing for most of the novel. The villains and daughter felt like set decorations. I would hope that the author has found a set of proof-readers for her subsequent novels, because this one was full of grammatical errors, not to mention typos. My favorite was, "It was warm in the house and as he ran his hand through his head, releasing a spatter of drops,..." The character had come in from the rain, but the zombie implications of this sentence were intriguing."

Now I know, the author was not a new author, but had written many books before. Perhaps I meant a debut for for the characters in the book?

Well, we shall see.

>100 MrsLee: Oh, The Book of Kells is one of my all-time great loves! It has a slow start, but the memory of it has started with me for over 35 years. I do hope that you enjoy it, and come to love it as much as I do.

>101 -pilgrim-: I'm glad to hear that, as I respect your opinion a great deal!

The Book of Kells is finished. I enjoyed the read without being swept away. Perhaps this is a book I would have enjoyed more in my twenties or thirties? Before I had read many other fantasy novels. Yet it was an enjoyable plot and I loved the location, or dislocation of the main characters.

Now I have a dilemma. My copy of Peace Talks has arrived. I tried to get a recap of the Dresden world so far, since it has been several years since I read it, but that only made me want to go back and read it again. So many books, and my reading mojo is in a delicate place. I could go just one or two books back, but I'm afraid that will only make me want to start from the beginning again. What to do, what to do?

I think I'm going to begin at the beginning and see what happens. :) So, goodbye cruel world, I am in the Dresden verse where there is always a hero to set things right against impossible odds, or at least as right as he can. Storm Front begin!

YAY! Enjoy your Dresden reread :)

Enjoy your time with Harry!

>103 MrsLee: Maybe a comfort read spending time with Harry and the gang again will help get your reading mojo back on track. Here's hoping!

>106 AHS-Wolfy: Seems to be working so far! I've finished Storm Front and Fool Moon and begun Grave Peril. This time around, I believe this is my fourth journey through the Dresden files, I am making notes of which characters appear in the novels, what happens to them, and any introductions of plot points for future novels. Cliff notes, if you will, in case he writes another Dresden novel a few years down the road. :)

I also began Bright Young Things: Life in the Roaring Twenties, as an added bit of research while I type my grandparent's letters from 1925, '26, '27 and '28. My grandparents were neither wealthy or "fast" so little of this book applies to them, but it is interesting none the less. It isn't what I thought it would be, more a book of little bits of information given in sound bites and clips or something, rather than a cohesive front to back story of the Twenties.

My grandfather wrote to my grandmother that he visited the Coffee Club (a notorious speakeasy which had many cross-dressing customers) in S.F. in 1928 and stayed until 4:00 am. He was taken there by a friend of his brother. He said it was interesting, but that they had a "Broader Mind" than he did. Grandpa didn't mind a bit of a drink now and then, but grandma was thoroughly against alcohol at that time of her life. She was disgusted by the "wet" politicians and such.

>107 MrsLee: With two new Dresden novels releasing this year he just might be back in the groove :)

I just picked up a Dresden Files from the library. Looking forward to it.

I'll just drop this here...

Jim Butcher Talks 20 Years of Harry Dresden

>108 Narilka: Two?! I only heard of the one. OK, Battle Ground pre-ordered. Thank you.

>110 AHS-Wolfy: Nice link. I'm not going to watch the video though. I haven't read Peace Talks yet so I had to dance around the writing in the article as well. Spoilers.

>109 catzteach: First time? Or have you read Dresden before?

>111 MrsLee: I’m on book 8. I just started it this morning. I’m on chapter 3.

Finished Grave Peril, and am on to Summer Knight. I am having to intersperse other reading a little though. Dresden is so intense. I use the essays in High Tide in Tucson to get my blood pressure back to normal between Dresden novels.

>113 MrsLee: But they are humorous, aren't they? I only listened to the first one, and it was hilarious. (Or am I just more twisted than everyone else.)

>114 clamairy: I love the humor, but that doesn't mean you aren't twisted. It might just mean we both are. ;) Yes, the humor is why I read them. I'm not very fond of fantasy, scifi or mysteries that don't have humor in them. Dresden reminds me of Archie Goodwin from Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe mysteries. I love the wise-guy character when it is well done.

Finished Summer Knight and have begun Death Masks. So many of my favorites are introduced in this one.

Also finished Bright Young Things: Life in the Roaring Twenties by Alison Maloney. At first I was put off by the way it was put together, bits and pieces of information here and there, very light reading material, but it was still interesting tidbits. Don't look here for a thorough documentation of the Twenties though. It really does just focus on the bright young things, and lightly at that. I found it a good complement to Murder Must Advertise, and several other mysteries from the Golden era which take place in the Roaring Twenties.

A couple of my favorite quotes found in this book:

Greta Garbo, 'I never said, "I want to be alone." I only said, "I want to be left alone." There is all the difference.'

Rudolph Valentine, "Women are not in love with me but with the picture of me they see on the screen. I am merely the canvas on which women paint their dreams."

I've begun The Household Tips of the Great Writers by Mark Crick. It's pretty hilarious, especially when it concerns a writer one is familiar with. The author has taken regular recipes and tips and written them in the style of famous writers from history. I'm still in the recipes at the moment. My favorites thus far are the recipes a la Raymond Chandler and Homer. I'm not reading this in a straight shot, just a bit at a time, which I think helps it not to be tedious. Also, if I am completely unfamiliar with a featured author, I skim. The recipes actually sound decent, if one could winnow out the instructions from the prose. The one by Raymond Chandler was short and easy, the one by Jane Austin was easy, but not short, however, some like the one by the Marquis de Sade take a lot of wading through to get the instructions. :)

>116 MrsLee: I think your Mark Crick book must include the recipes from his book Kafka’s Soup, which I have. I remember that “Kafka’s Soup” is a miso soup. I thought the recipes looked reasonable too, although I’ve not cooked from it.

>116 MrsLee: Yes, Kafka's Soup is in this one. It sounds delicious, although I would prefer mine served with less angst. :)

Finished Death Masks yesterday, moving on to Dead Beat, one of my favorites.

Dead Beat was finished a couple of days ago, and I'm almost done with Proven Guilty. very much enjoying my time in the Dresden-verse.

Also finished The Household Tips of the Great Writers by Mark Crick. Amusing. I'm torn whether to keep this one or not. It isn't something I actually want to read again, but I might write down some of the recipes! Loved Machiavelli's lawn care tips. We are in the midst of a full-on rebellion and may be resorting to a great purge of lawn citizens soon. It might leave us with a barren, sandy and rocky plain, but the few anarchists which raise their heads will be easier to cut down than a whole population of disobedient citizens.

Still working on High Tide in Tucson by Barbara Kingsolver.

>120 MrsLee: There's a lot of Harry Dresden reading (or watching) going on around here lately! I think I'm in the minority, I've only read 1 book that my brother loaned/suggested.

>121 Karlstar: I read the first two, given the popularity here, but decided they weren't for me. So while a minority you're not totally alone ;-)

>121 Karlstar: I've never read or watched the Dresden series; in fact, I've probably only heard of it within the last two years. But then again, with the exception of the Harry Potter series, which I only read last year, I'm behind on all the modern books.

(ETA: Modern meaning 1980s and after.)

>121 Karlstar:, >122 Busifer:,>123 Majel-Susan: This has been my first foray into the field, prompted by the enthusiasm shown here by people like Mrs Lee.

I would probably have continued watching the TV series, as comfort entertainment, because although it started very blandly, it was starting to show some real warmth by the end. (And, unlike a lot of crime dramas, not invested in detailed gore.)

The book was OK, but I probably would not have continued, except that it is a debut novel, and AHS-Wolfy assures me that the series takes time to get into its stride. So I will probably pick up the next one if I see it on offer somewhere, but it is not a priority, and not at full price.

>120 MrsLee: This is at the fourth or fifth time of reading the series for me. Prompted by the 2 new books published this year.

What makes this possible? They are wise-cracking fun for one. I love a wise-ass narrator. Archie Goodwin in the Nero Wolfe novels, Miles Vorkosigan, too. Harry isn't just a wise-ass though. He is a man who struggles mightily with himself to to the right thing and we see him grow and learn over the course of the novels. The world broadens as they go. Perhaps not Great Literature, but exactly what I need right now. A hero to kick supernatural evil ass.

I also love the other characters in the novels who change and grow as they experience more and age.

>125 MrsLee: I think for me, the only problem was that while I enjoyed the book I read, it was in the middle of the series and it just felt like Harry was constantly in over his head doing world-affecting things. I should have started at the beginning.

>126 Karlstar: "it just felt like Harry was constantly in over his head doing world-affecting things."

LOL, well, that is the overall theme of each book.

Moving on from Proven Guilty to White Night. Merrily we read along, read along, read along!

I am now to the part of the Dresden series where I have purchased them as hardcovers (knowing I would read them again and again), so I am unwilling to take the heavy thing to work in my purse.

Plucked the thinnest book off the bottom "shelf" (read floor) that I am trying to clear out. Charlemagne by Manuel Komroff. It is a YA book, and should go quickly at work during my 10 minute breaks.

>128 MrsLee: off the bottom "shelf" (read floor)

We obviously get our bookshelves at the same place.

>129 pgmcc: Here's a happy note, my husband snagged a nice bookshelf for $50 at a yard sale this weekend, so we have loads of potential! I just haven't sorted through it all yet.

>130 MrsLee: Excellent! How many books do you have to acquired to fill it?

>131 pgmcc:, I'm thinking at least 100, probably more if I double stack! Problem is, the new bookcase is in my husband's space and he thinks it should have HIS books on it.

>132 MrsLee: How dare he? ;o)

>132 MrsLee:
Things are a lot simpler in our house. In relation to my wife and the ownership of things in the house What’s mine is hers and what’s hers is her own.

>133 clamairy: & >134 pgmcc: :D

>132 MrsLee: well, HE did find and buy the bookshelves...possession is 9/10 of the law. 😉

>136 fuzzi: That's okay, because if I shift all his books onto his shelves, that leaves empty spaces on mine. :)

>137 MrsLee: It is when your books start to migrate, along with his, that your should start to worry.

Finished White Night and will begin Small Favor tonight. I start this one with a real reluctance because it makes me sob.

I took a break from my project of the grandparent's letters, but now I've started up again. Would love to have it ready for Christmas. Don't know if that is possible, but it is a goal. I've gone through and fixed the margins, along with putting photos inside of margins, changed the font (i'm using 3, one for grandpa, one for grandma and one for me and everybody else), and I'm adding in some other letters which pertain to their lives at this time and add a bit to the story.

When I'm done with that, I will have to research about the photos and how to save them all in the same format so when I upload the document I won't get all those error messages. I hope. :)

>139 MrsLee: what a lovely project.

I really hate learning curves. I just started a free trial subscription for Adobe. Trying to get it downloaded now.

Hopefully this will enable me to flatten my layers, get rid of transparencies, embed my fonts and do whatever the hell it is they want me to do to my photos. All this to prepare my PDF for publishing.

>141 MrsLee: I sometimes think that software designers lose sight of the fact that the majority of their users do not want to spend their time marveling at the range of "cool" features. They have something that they want to get done, and simply want the software to enable them to do it.

>142 -pilgrim-: Amen to that!

On the very happy side, for better or worse, I SENT IT OFF TO THE PUBLISHERS!!!! I ordered 10 copies for my family as Christmas gifts. Hope they come out decent. Now I don't know what to do with myself!

>143 MrsLee: go read a book! 😁

>143 MrsLee:
That is fantastic. What a brilliant Christmas gift.

>143 MrsLee: Congratulations on a major achievement. Shows that some of us can still get stuff done despite the lockdown-induced lethargy and lassitude.

>143 MrsLee: Will you open the bubbly now or when the finished product appears? Either way, well done (as >146 haydninvienna: says)!

>143 MrsLee: Congratulations!

>143 MrsLee: A massive achievement. Congratulations! Have you considered that a local museum may be interested in your project too?

How wonderful that you have produced such a great thing. I'm sure everyone will love it and appreciate your work and dedication.

>143 MrsLee:
What is the ISBN?

>143 MrsLee: What a lovely gift for your family :)

>143 MrsLee: CONGRATULATIONS!! That is a wonderful piece of history that you have created.

I really would like a copy. Please tell me how I can find it.

Thank you all. :D

>147 hfglen: I guess I need to lay in some bubbly to partake in on arrival, but yesterdays celebration consisted of a shower (tepid since our outdoor thermometer read 115°) and a couple of TnTs. Tequila and Tonics for those not into abbreviations.

>151 suitable1: & >153 -pilgrim-: I chose to do this book for private use only. Not because of any particular unsavory bits for the public, but because it is my first. I am toying with the idea of doing a copy for the public as well, because I didn't realize how complicated it would be for friends and family to purchase a copy of it. To make it a public book I have to get a copy write (no idea how) and insert a title page along with a couple of other things. See post >141 MrsLee: about my attitude to learning curves. I suppose I would have to proof-read it again as well, because many of my comments were for personal or family reference and would likely be superfluous to the public at large.

>149 AHS-Wolfy: I'm not sure which museum it would be good for. My local museum, well, there isn't one. My grandmother worked at the library here for a few years when they first moved here in 1954, and my grandfather was the manager at the local B of A, but hardly anyone remembers them. The actual towns they mentioned in the letters didn't always get great press. :) Oroville, CA did, as my grandma liked living there and it was the town they were married in. I suppose if I were to offer it anywhere, it would be there.

Well crap. I just looked at the document again and found a typo on the first page. Grrr. Oh well, if it was perfect, it wouldn't be me. It had the word "decedents" instead of "descendants" so no bright red lines to scream error at me.

Oh, another reason this book must remain out of the public venues; there are quotes and photos from many authors, webpages about places and such which were not properly authorized, so, I can't publish it properly. Just copies for family, I think.

>153 -pilgrim-: Would it be possible for me to send you the Word Document? Do you have a computer that will hold a document of 198 pages, with images? 104502 words? I don't think it would work on a phone, but perhaps on a tablet? I also have the PDF if that would work better.

In other news, I finished the YA biography of Charlemagne by Manuel Komroff. This was quite dry, yet managed to hold my interest, perhaps because I have been taught/remember little of Charlemagne other than his name. Always seemed more of a legend to me. Very interesting man, and times.
For Peter's sake:
I will not read this again
I could only recommend it to an eight to possibly 15 year old who loves to learn about history and isn't that fond of fiction and doesn't know much of the reign of Charlemagne or his times.
I cannot think of anyone specific to give it to, but will probably be putting it in the LFL in our neighborhood. Pretty sure I bought this at some sale or other when I was teaching my kids at home, but I'm not sure if any of them ever read it.

My new go-to-work-in-my-purse-and-read-on-my breaks is More Dusty Trails by Glorianne Weigand. A collection of memories from the families who settled the area of California I grew up in. Something about the writing doesn't appeal to me, perhaps it gushes? Not sure, but it makes interesting skimming if nothing else because I knew many of the people in it and am very familiar with the place.

>153 -pilgrim-: Thank you very much Lee. That is very kind of you. At the moment I have only a phone and an Amazon Fire. Might the latter be adequate? If not, I am trying to set up better complete access, so hopefully my situation will improve.

>156 MrsLee:
For Peter's sake:

I am glad you found the questions worth considering.

My sympathies about the dreadful fires and heat in California. I wish you well and hope you and your keep safe.

>154 MrsLee: You may have made the right decision about public or private. To go public, you'd also need some extra copies that you're expected to donate to whatever the legal deposit libraries are in your neck of the woods, in return for which you get an ISBN number. Here there are five such libraries; I'd expect for you that'd be Library of Congress, the equivalent for California, and who knows how many others?

And may I join Peter in offering sympathy about the heat, fires, smoke and other problems.

ETA: There's a "law that isn't a law" of publishing that says no matter how careful the proofreading and how many times the text is corrected, the first thing the author sees on opening the book randomly is ALWAYS a great hairy typo! It happens to everybody.

I am only just getting back to catching up properly on other people's threads.

Re >103 MrsLee: I have just read your review of The Book of Kells. I agree with you about the two 20th century characters, but then I realised that I didn't have to like them. My attachment was to our ollave. At first he seemed so obnoxious, but then you realise that this is the result of cultural norms; his basic personality is both ready to learn and extremely idealistic. MAJOR SPOILER: What I loved so much was is demonstration of how culturall norms have evolved. John comes across as a "waster" in modern terms, but in earlier times his inability to engage with the mundane realities of life, because his head is full of dreams, would not have been viewed as incompetent. Instead he would have been revered and looked after by the community. And I loved the way the final pairings show how intellectuals are intellectuals, and thrive when bouncing off each other - even when coming from very different cultures! It was the level of understanding of the different mindset of the period that lifted this above the ordinary historical novel for me. And, despite the music elements and the time-travel involved in the setup, this always felt as much history as fantasy to me.

After the Harry Dresden discussion, I was wondering if you have read any of the Alex Verus novels by Benedict Jacka?

And, after hearing about the heatwaves and fires - do keep safe!

Oooo, I've been spammed. Darn it. I would love to make that much money working from home, but I will never click on the link. So it goes. I am doomed to work elsewhere for piddling wages. Oh well.

>139 MrsLee: What a great project to pull together for Christmas. I know a librarian who is currently going through her family's letters generations back and organizing them for purposes of preservation. Your project reminds me a bit of hers, some of which centers around a family wedding dress.

>163 jillmwo: We have a handkerchief which has been carried by brides in our family since the early 1800s. It was made by one of my great-something grandmothers. Fine lace boarder. So pretty. It's photo and story are in my book! :)

My next project is my mom's calendars. She was very sporadic about keeping a calendar. Generally only on trips did she jot things other than appointments down. There are two early ones, one from 1964, the other from 1967. I have typed those out because they have fun family history for my siblings and I. I'm just going to share it with them by email.

The rest are from the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, mostly the trips to the southwest that my parents took together. I have quite a few photos to go with, if I can straighten them out and make sense. Not sure what that project will develop to be.

I have to admit a great deal of satisfaction as I finish typing from a calendar and then throw it away. I usually scan one page where mom has written a great deal, just to save her handwriting.

Congrats! I'm sure you feel at least a little bit of a weight removed!

Congrats, that's a huge project accomplished! On the software side, unfortunately software with a lot of features ends up being complicated. Someday there will be more advanced algorithms to help with that.

>164 MrsLee: perhaps you could do this sort of thing for others...? Hobby turned into part-time employment?

Finished Small Favor by Jim Butcher. Wept through the last couple of chapters as I knew I would. We had ordered a pizza delivered, and I told my husband he would have to go to the door and take care of it because I wouldn't be able to control my tears. He gave me a Look. Turned out that I finished in good time, mopped up the tears and was able to take care of the delivery fella too. Pizza was great, I see why the little fae are addicted.

Today we went for a drive to collect rocks for our front yard which we are turning into a rock landscape instead of lawn.

I managed to finish High Tide in Tucson by Barbara Kingsolver. I enjoy her way with words, even when I don't agree with everything she says. We do agree on many things though, and her writing is almost poetry/song at times.

Next books up are: Turn Coat by Jim Butcher, a reread for me. Also The Log from the Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck. I've wanted to read this one for a long time and decided that today is the day to start. I've been several of the places he went, although much later than he was there. I will be interested to see his take on it. Already the introduction has charmed me.

Checking in on old threads and I just want to say congratulations on the book, Lee!! What an accomplishment. And how wonderful to have such insight into your family. Great gift for all.

>169 littlegeek: Thanks for stopping by! Always good to "see" you. :)

I am loving The Log from the Sea of Cortez. So far, they are still preparing the boat, I have laughed numerous times and smiled more. Steinbeck's humor is dry, just the way I like it. Very interesting project they were on as well.

Adding this so you can see my bookcover. Letters of Charlotte E. Cronk and R. Goodson Craddick not sure if touchstones will work for only one copy of a work, or it may be too early.

Looks excellent! Great job.

>172 MrsLee: Fantastic.

>173 Bookmarque: & >174 pgmcc: Thank you. I was very impressed with lulu.com, the production value and how fast they did it from start to finish. I wish they had a few more resources of instruction for complete know-nothings like myself. There are several things I would change were I to do it again, but for the project it is, I'm very happy.

>172 MrsLee: Very nice indeed.

>172 MrsLee: A good cover for what I'm sure is a great work. Now about that bubbly ...

>177 hfglen: I will be buying bubbly today! Although I plan to save it for when (hopefully) escrow closes this coming week. :)

Finished reading Turn Coat last night. On to Changes.

>172 MrsLee: such a treasure for your family!

>172 MrsLee: That came out great!

>172 MrsLee: That looks wonderful! What a special book for you and your family.

The Log from the Sea of Cortez is my idea of a perfect vacation book. Taking a journey, reading beautiful/apt/amusing descriptions of the participants, their actions, thoughts and the places they go, interspersed with lovely insights into human nature. Sadly, I am not on vacation and am only able to read it in bits and pieces of time. Still loving it.

>172 MrsLee: The cover looks great and the touchstone works fine! Congrats again, that is really nice.

Thank you all for your encouragement. I am happy that my nieces and nephews all want a copy, as well as a few cousins. :)

>184 MrsLee: I am not at all surprised.

Finished up Changes by Jim Butcher, and starting on Ghost Story today.

I also finished reading More Dusty Trails by Glorianne Weigand. These are stories of long-time families from the area I grew up in. The stories about the families I personally knew were readable, but many of the others I skimmed. I admire the author for collecting and putting these stories into written form, but something about her writing makes it extremely difficult for me to read. I wish I had the words to better critique it, or at least be more accurate, but I don't. All that comes to mind is choppy, disjointed and somewhat stilted. Yet I hate criticizing her, because she is the one that got the job done.

My next "work-break" book will be The Private Dining Room by Ogden Nash. A collection of poems. I enjoy his work, so this should be good, and I needed room on the shelf I removed it from because my reading journal is nearly full and that is where they live when they are full.

>186 MrsLee: I've a number of Ogden Nash collections I really should dust off and finally read. I've loved his works since I first read "The Panther" as a child.

I rejoiced when I found Nash's Verses from 1929 On in Edinburgh, since I could make the acquaintance again of Jabez Gravel, who hated spring, and Mr Sponsoon, who joined the Foreign Legion to forget, and forgot.

>187 fuzzi: & >188 haydninvienna: I do enjoy his wordplay, but I find I enjoy it more in small portions. Too much at a time and it wearies me.

Finished Ghost Story Not my favorite, I became impatient with it for some reason. Perhaps because of the lack of interaction Harry had with his friends? I realize that the friends do a lot to call Harry out on his guilt-ridden egotistical self and I miss them when they are not there to keep his nonsense and ego in check.

Have begun Cold Days.

I didn't go to work yesterday or today because I am not feeling great. Any other year and I would say it's the beginning of a cold, then take meds and muscle through it. This year has a whole different aspect to it. In the morning I didn't have a fever, just felt "off" cold, and if anything my temperature was low. By the evening I had developed a low fever 99+ and my chest felt tight. So I'm staying home today as well, then I have Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully by Monday it will be clear whether or not I am actually ill, or having a low spell. I think if I get worse, I will probably go get tested for the damn Covid-19 before I go back to work. I don't want to go anywhere around people right now, because even if I don't have it, my immune system is possibly not up to snuff so I would rather not be exposed.

I hope you have no more than a mild cold that will clear up in a couple of days. Hugs!

>190 MrsLee:
As someone who is more or less permanently immunocompromised, I am very conscious how most young people don't wear masks (even in places where it is currently illegal not to do so). Because of their expectation that Covid-19 will not affect them seriously, they wilfully expose others to risk.

Yours is a very public-spirited response. You should not feel guilty at all for not "muscling through".

Take care of yourself. And I hope with all my heart that it is just a cold. Or simply being run down - it is often AFTER a prolonged period of stress that our bodies take revenge.

*safe, virtual hugs*

>190 MrsLee: What >192 -pilgrim-: said, with emphasis.

I find the attitude to masks puzzling. I dislike them, but I see the necessity andiwear them, and are annoyed by people who can't be bothered. Mind you, here, not wearing a mask in public could get you a prison sentence (yes, really), and I am extremely unwilling to see the inside of that.

>193 haydninvienna:
That sounds draconian. But then, having had my mask forcibly pulled off my face by someone who insisted "I know I'm not infectious" and been ill for two weeks as a result, thus endangering my chemotherapy... I think I could get behind that!

>190 MrsLee: Hope you feel better soon!

>190 MrsLee: I hope you feel better soon.

>190 MrsLee: I hope you feel better soon!

Thank you all. I don't seem to be exactly ill or exactly sick. Chest is a bit tight, and I have a mild cough, but I don't think the fever has come back since the first day. If I do go to work on Monday, I am certainly going to wear my mask and face shield for the sake of others. In our town, we have so many elderly stubborn old folks who won't wear a mask (the young customers seem to be more conscientious about it), but I don't want to be the one that infects them. I don't feel political or religious about masks, but some do. Hope it doesn't become one of "those" topics! :)

Although I don't feel great, I am able to read, so that's good. Finished Cold Days yesterday. I know I've read that at least once before, but I didn't remember much of any of it. Today I will begin Skin Game, and after that, the new books!

P.S. Heh, I just went and read my review for Cold Days and although I didn't remember much of the book, the review hit my feelings for it on the head. :) I carefully avoided my review of Skin Game to avoid spoilers. All I remember of that is PARKOUR!

>190 MrsLee: & >198 MrsLee: I hope you feel better soon.

>199 BrokenTune: Thank you.

I decided to pick up If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino. My daughter loaned it to me with the imperative that I HAD to read the first chapter, though I probably wouldn't enjoy the rest of it. I can see why she wanted me to read the first chapter. Any booklover would identify with it. After reading the second chapter, I can see why she thought I probably wouldn't enjoy it. Actually, it amused me, but I doubt my patience would hold to read more than one chapter now and then. So I will be picking at it now and then until it doesn't amuse.

>190 MrsLee: Feel better soon!

>200 MrsLee: I found it interesting to read as an intellectual exercise, but not as a satisfying narrative. More about the novelty than the novel, I guess you could say.

Yikes! Hope you're improving. At least you're bale to read.

On masks: on the effectiveness of masks (TL;DR: if everyone wore reasonably effective masks correctly there would be no epidemic)
and on penalties in Qatar: QR200,000 = US$55,000. I noticed that some of the news articles in the other countries in the region (eg Bahrain) asserted that Qatar's healthcare sector was close to collapse. Certainly it got pretty severely stretched, but I think "close to collapse" is blockade propaganda.

>202 SylviaC: That is the impression I am getting from it. I tried to look through the reviews for one by someone I knew, but couldn't find any (so many reviews!). Thank you for sharing your view of it.

>203 clamairy: I feel guilty. How twisted is that? :) Still enjoying the reading though. I think the guilt is, that normally to stay home from work it would take an illness bad enough that I couldn't read, and this one isn't that, but due to current circumstances, I don't want to risk it, either. Ah well.

>204 haydninvienna: Nice link, thanks. It didn't mention face shields, or at least I didn't see it. I only wear the fabric masks, but I think their efficacy will be increased with the use of a shield as well. Anyway, I'm still waiting to hear if my boss wants me to get tested before returning to work or not. Either way, I will return as protected as possible to avoid being the cause of others getting ill no matter what I have.

On the family history front, I have sorted the miscellaneous travel photos of my parents that weren't in an album by year. Now as I type mom's travel journals I can add a few appropriate photos to them. I don't know if I mentioned this, but I have a niece who wants to write children's stories using the family stories for inspiration. I told her I would give her the family stories. :)

>205 MrsLee: On the family history front, I have sorted the miscellaneous travel photos of my parents that weren't in an album by year. Now as I type mom's travel journals I can add a few appropriate photos to them. I don't know if I mentioned this, but I have a niece who wants to write children's stories using the family stories for inspiration. I told her I would give her the family stories. :)

The old travel photos and your mom's travel journals sound fascinating. What years are the journals from?

>206 Majel-Susan: Other than a couple from the 1940s, they are mostly recent, late 1980s to about 2008 or 2010. She and dad traveled all over the southwestern states each winter for about 3-4 months. They are not necessarily journals of thoughts though. More like daily notes of what was done on these trips, written in calendars. A few she kept in notebooks. I keep finding more as I go through things. There were a few years which she compiled into photo albums, so that helps. They loved rocks, history, geography, cultures, etc.

Going through them makes me very happy for my parents that they were able to enjoy those years together exploring. They worked hard all their lives on the farm and ended in bankruptcy, but in a way it was a blessing or they never would have had the freedom to take those trips. Many of the trips were made to travel to craft fairs selling items they had made such as wood burl clocks, rock jewelry, and other home decorations. Dad also sought out handyman work in some of the towns they stayed in to earn a bit of cash. He was a skilled carpenter, sheetrock man, and all round fixit guy.

>207 MrsLee: That's lovely, and very adventurous!

I've given the earlier part of your thread a skim, and I must say it's quite a bit of family history that you have from parents and grandparents, letters, and even bridal handkerchiefs. The book cover for your grandparents' letters looks absolutely charming, by the way. Whew!

>208 Majel-Susan: Thank you :) My daughter's roommate was telling me the last time I saw her how it seemed like everything my daughter had, had a family connection. That rug? Yes, my great-great aunt wove it. That martini pitcher? A gift to my grandparents for their wedding. That book? My grandfathers. And so on. I guess we hang on to stuff. ;P

>209 MrsLee: in my family we call it heritage. The mirror by the front door was a wedding present to my parents in 1955, the wooden lamp that stands next to my recliner was handmade by my maternal great grandfather, and the apothecary jars that hold my flour, sugar, etcetera belonged to my grandmother.

>207 MrsLee: Those pictures from the '40s are undoubtedly already valuable historical documents, and the later ones will be in time. Is there an archival collection near you that will house digital copies and make them available (with your permission) to researchers? In this country the Railways (!) built up a collection of pictures of everything that now numbers some 250 000 items, of which just over 23 000 (and rising) are to be seen on the internet. Many historians, ecologists and other researched of my generation remember well that prints of these were standard decoration in compartments in long-distance railway carriages, and are now valuable documents attesting to the way towns, vegetation and more looked 50, 100 or more years ago. This is one of the projects our friend Johannes is involved in.

And >210 fuzzi: is absolutely right. Those things are important Heritage, not by any means junk.

>211 hfglen: I don't know about any such institution here. I'm sure there are historical societies, or at least there used to be. I don't live where my parents grew up or raised their families, so I would have to look further abroad to find appropriate ones. I may do that one day, but for now I want to get the information for my own uses first. At least I am saving it in some form instead of tossing it all out. Two of my 4 siblings would have tossed it. One probably wouldn't be able to get rid of it, but would box it and store it and never do anything with it. Different strokes for different folks. :)

Last night I finished Skin Game and so I am ready to embark on Peace Talks! First read of a new Dresden book in a long time. I am looking forward to it. Highly effective remedy for hiding from the world and its sorrows.

Testing, and if this works, I LOVE the changes to the site. I think I can add photos from my phone or notebook directly to my junk drawer, which I never could do before.
This is my Napoleon Dynamite impersonation from 1974. Possibly why that movie was so painful for me to watch the first time.


This is my new standing desk for working on my family's papers.

Oh I have many a terrible school pic like that so I feel your pain.

Nice workspace!

>214 MrsLee: oh does that photo take me back...

Covid test came back negative, so it is back to the grindstone tomorrow. For one day. If I were smart I wouldn't have said anything until Friday afternoon, but we just bought a house. I need that paycheck. Won't be getting any compensation for days off because I have no sick days, can't take vacation days until end of November because that's when one year with the new company will be up, and since the test was negative I can't get worker's compensation. Not really complaining, at least I have a job to go back to. We will be okay.

Glad about the results, not so much about the stingy benefits.

>214 MrsLee: Glad I had already swallowed my mouthful of wine, or it might have been on the screen. Not that the photo is bad, but because of the Napoleon Dynamite comment.

>217 MrsLee: Glad it was negative, but yeesh.

I forgot to ask - do you have moon boots?

>217 MrsLee: Delighted about your result. Pity about leave situation.

>214 MrsLee: LOL :) I’m always impressed by people who can manage to work at a standing desk. I get too distracted by standing to be able to think about what I’m doing.

>217 MrsLee: I’m glad the test came back negative! And I agree with >218 Bookmarque: that the benefits seem really stingy.

>217 MrsLee: glad the test was negative!

>217 MrsLee: That is really good news about your test result, but a shame about your lack of benefits.

>219 clamairy: I didn't even have to say "Napoleon Dynamite" to my boys when I sent them the photo! :D

>220 Bookmarque: No, but I had a plastic, metallic shiny gold jacket that I wore to look like C3P0. I was rail thin back then.

>222 YouKneeK: I guess I'm not prone to that, it's never been a problem. For me, it's a matter of posture and keeping all the bits aligned. My hips, back, shoulders, neck and feet are much better now. Although, I had something go wacky with one hip on Monday. Just leaned forward to wash my hands at the bathroom sink and ZING! Pain. Ah the wonders of aging. :/

Thank you all for the good wishes. The lack of benefits are due to the fact that I work in a low level job in a small town. I made my choices which resulted in me being here, so I can't complain. There are other benefits such as normal hours, weekends off, lack of stress and such.

Yes, the new owner is a penny pincher. He will hand deliver a bill rather than spend the .55 to send it, but he isn't mean in an unjust way. He is older and comes from the school of hard knocks and works like a dynamo, so he expects everyone else to do that as well. In an ideal world, everyone would have lovely benefits, but this world, as beautiful as it is, isn't ideal. :) Happily, Mark and I are not suffering. We have savings and his retirement. My job is so we don't have to scrimp to get by.

So, there seem to be interesting connections between The Log from the Sea of Cortez and the Dresden Files series Steinbeck speaks of many mystical and philosophical things, some of which seem to go along with Harry Dresden's theories of magic and the supernatural world. Especially when Steinbeck speaks of certain islands in the Sea of Cortez which have been "burned." When he says burned he doesn't mean with fire, but with a dark presence which seems to make all life avoid it. Anyway, pretty odd to see such parallels between the two books, in a good way.

Also, my family are hoping (if the world allows) to go away for a few days to a house somewhere in the Bay Area during the holidays. Like we did last year which was such a success. We are in the process of looking at airbnb and vrbo homes. One of them had me all excited because the description mentioned not one, but TWO libraries in the home! Turns out their definition of library is a bookshelf, and a rather small one at that. By that definition (a room with a small bookcase), I have at least SIX libraries in my home!

>226 MrsLee: I think the only room in my house that wouldn't qualify as a library by that definition is the single bathroom upstairs. Every other room is well-supplied!

>226 MrsLee:, >227 jillmwo: I share your definition of a library, not the house owner's! What a let down!

Finished Peace Talks. Is it just me, or did some of the battles in this one seem superfluous? Or have I read too many of the books in a row? Still enjoyed this one, but found myself skimming some of the sex and battle bits.

Forging ahead into Battle Ground by Jim Butcher, let the pieces fall where they may.

I also finished reading The Private Dining Room by Ogden Nash. I think my grandfather would have understood the poems and cleverness better than I, but there was enough to entertain me as well.

Started reading a book on my Kindle at work (on my breaks), Curses! by Aaron J. Elkins. Haven't read anything by him before. I chose this book at this time because of the skeleton on the cover. It seemed timely to the season.

Yesterday my friend's children asked me to come and go through her cookbooks to take the ones that interested me. They also let me have one of the quilts she had made. I chose her favorite quilt (her children didn't like the bright colors), named Rainbows and Lollipops. It is a quilt which gave her much joy, she smiled whenever she saw it, and I will hold it dear.

I will list the 8 cookbooks I chose when I have more time.

>229 MrsLee: Massive hugs to you, Lee.

>229 MrsLee: I would love to see a photograph of that quilt, if you are willing to share one.

>229 MrsLee: I have that Nash on my shelves, only dipped in never read in its entirety. Think I need to do that.

I love how you took the quilt that gave your friend joy, may it give you joy as well.

>229 MrsLee: I hope the quilt gives you comfort. I can imaging being wrapped up in it and memories of your friend keeping you warm. Many hugs to you.

>229 MrsLee: That is a beautiful way to commemorate your friend.

Thank you all.

>231 -pilgrim-: I will post a photo as soon as I overcome the technical difficulties of getting it from my phone to this site. It worked once before, but yesterday at work I couldn't do it.

Her cookbooks, which are a reflection of our love of exploration of flavors:
50 great Curries of India by Camellia Panjabi
The Chinese Cookbook by Craig Claiborne and Virginia Lee
The Yan Can Cook Book by Martin Yan (I used to love watching his show)
The Silver Palate Cookbook by Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins
The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean by Paula Wolfert
The Great Curries of India by Camellia Panjabi (huh, just realized there are 2 very similar by this author)
Chinese Technique by Ken Hom with Harvey Steiman
World Food Thailand by Judy Williams

The only thing I don't have, and we never got around to giving me a lesson of, is her recipe for Kung Pao Chicken. I could eat buckets full of that, it was so delicious and addictive. Her son is going to look and see if she wrote it down. Gah. I miss her.

I will probably be reading a lot of cookbooks in the days to come. :)

>235 MrsLee: I remember the Yan Can Cook show.

How nice to have your friend's favourite quilt, I hope it feels like a hug from her. The cookbooks look interesting. I remember watching Yan Can Cook too! Hoping for success with the Kung Pao Chicken recipe!

>236 fuzzi: yes! he was really funny. we used to watch him on PBS on weekends, right after the Frugal Gourmet.

>235 MrsLee: That list is making me hungry :) What a nice way to remember your friend both the cookbooks and the quilt.

User etrainer shared this link in The Black Orchid group. It is a stellar article about Rex Stout and his Nero Wolfe series. Now I can't remember who was wondering if they should try them, or where the discussion was. If after reading this article, you aren't interested, you can eliminate that question.

https://crimereads.com/rex-stout-a-crime-readers-guide-to-the-classics/

>240 MrsLee: interesting article, thank you. I've never read anything by Rex Stout.

>240 MrsLee:, >241 fuzzi: Yes, indeed. The TV version seemed very generic and bland. That article made the books sounds a lot more interesting.

>240 MrsLee: Thank you for the link! (I was wondering about Rex Stout a few days ago.)

>242 -pilgrim-: & >243 BrokenTune: Rex Stout is in the same category as Dorothy L. Sayers on my bookshelves. For entirely different reasons, and some of the same reasons. I agree with the author of the article when he says the Nero Wolfe series is a perfect blend of Golden age and hard boiled noir.

I added my "reviews" for Peace Talks and Battle Ground, for what they are worth. More like my opinions because I don't take time (or have the knowledge) to fully analyze. Anyway, they are done and I can move on. I will be happy to sink into The Log of the Sea of Cortez by Steinbeck and hopefully finish it by the end of October, although I plan to sit with it next to my phone and look up all the various critters mentioned in it, which will be quite a feat.

Here is the review I put on Battle Ground.

"The Peace Talks didn't go so well. I don't think that is a spoiler when the following book is titled Battle Ground. Chicago is threatened by the last Titan who has a deadly gaze. All the Accorded nations are working together to defeat her, as well as the humans who remain. Harry, of course, is in the middle of it all.

Perhaps I've read too many in a row? Or perhaps I don't care for detailed battle descriptions? This book wasn't quite a slog, but I tired of it by the end. Some predictable losses occurred, some heroic actions on the part of other characters, some questionable alliances and typical misunderstandings between those who should be allies. I miss Harry Dresden, wizard and private eye. I miss the noir feel of the detective novel which drew me to this series in the first place. Will I read another? I suppose, but it is getting very close to losing me at this point. When series go full-blown world apocalypses on me and don't let up, I tire of them."

Inserting an image of the quilt my friend made, which I treasure now:


Also a couple of shots of our trip to gather lava rocks for our garden last weekend. This is the far northeastern part of California. No beaches to be found.



Huh. These images are crystal clear on my phone, but apparently don't load on the app to LT with a good resolution. :/ I will leave them for now, if you squint, you can get an idea of what they are. Guess I have to get more familiar with how to get photos from my phone to my laptop. My current issue is that my phone wants to transfer EVERYTHING rather than letting me select which images to transfer. I get so tired of technology. The minute I figure out how to do something, they update everything so that I have no clue again.

Love all the colors on the quilt.

The quilt looks super.

The other pictures show just how lovely the place was and how loaded your car was.

Are those rocks riddled with little bubbles? Are they lighter than one would expect them to be judging solely on the basis of their size?

>246 MrsLee: Oh, that quilt is truly beautiful. Your friend had real taste and style. You have many reasons to treasure that quilt - both for the memories it will always connect you to, and for its own sake as a thing of beauty.

>247 Narilka: Thank you
>248 pgmcc: The rocks on the top are more airy than those on the bottom. Guess which site we will return to? The heavier ones were at a higher elevation, closer to Mt. Lassen. I loved the bi-colored cinder hill.

>249 -pilgrim-: Thank you. My friend was an artist with fabric. She loved it.

>246 MrsLee: The colors are lovely, but you're right about the poor resolution. That's too bad. LT must do some serious shrinkage of the files.

>246 MrsLee: even though the resolution isn't quite what you wanted, I'm still going to show this to my husband as proof that I am NOT the only person who comes back from a trip with a carful of rocks...

Somehow LT is distorting the image sizes. If you right click and view image in a separate tab they're perfectly clear. If you edit your post above is there something like height="##" and/or width="##" in the image tags? If so try deleting those and previewing the post before saving to see if that's the fix.

Edit to add that image tags look like this <img src="url" height="##" width="##">. If height and width is specified within those tags, just delete them so all you have is <img src="url" > to see if that corrects the sizing. I hope that made sense.

>246 MrsLee:

Lucille Ball - The Long, Long Trailer

>253 Narilka: Is that any better? I can't tell on my phone. I wonder if I should have resized them before I uploaded them? We used to have to put in the height and width parameters to control size so the thread didn't become burdened.

I love the quilt. The colours are beautiful.

>253 Narilka: thanks for pointing that out. I've been using the image code a lot in my threads and only use the width option.

So it should be img src="image url" width=500 with the arrows at the ends, space before width, no space after 500.

It fits the image nicely in the page, most of the time.

>255 MrsLee: Yes looks better. No longer distorted.

>246 MrsLee: Love the quilt. What a beautiful piece of fabric art!

I'm another one who has come back from a drive or a trip with a bunch of rocks.

I didn't want to write up The Log of the Sea of Cortez on my phone, but here I am. Waiting for trick-or-treaters, and my albondiga soup is too hot, so here are a couple of thoughts.

I loved it while reading the main log, all the philosophical musings, mixed with humor and detailed descriptions of Baja and the critters that reside in the inter-tidal regions. Then I read the appendix, which was Steinbeck's tribute to his friend Ed Ricketts, a biologist from Monterey. Steinbeck was able in his prose to touch the heart of my grief. Very personal. The glossary was helpful, and I used my phone to look up images for many of the animals I was unfamiliar with. After that I read the introduction and learned quite a few things about the whys and how's of the writing of the Log, and other details of the two men's lives.

Interesting to read about these men and their trip. They are full of contrasts. Seeing the environment as a whole organism needing protection, yet they spear manta rays without a hope of capture for entertainment. Possibly this comes as a result of the fact that the story is always told in first person plural and there were six men on the boat (Steinbeck's wife at that time was also on board, but is never mentioned).

Anyway, I find that as usual I love Steinbeck's nonfiction better than his fiction.

I decided that I am not equipped with what it takes to read If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino at this time. I probably won't every be. It is a thing I would have enjoyed when I was younger; playful, artistic and clever. At this point in my life I find myself gravitating more and more to nonfiction and familiar fiction. Not sure why, I'm just going with it.

I have begun reading Yan Can Cook by Martin Yan, and already I have learned something so simple I can't believe it never occurred to me before. When cooking on an electric range with a ring for the wok, put the narrow end of the ring down and the wok will be closer to the burner. Well duh! Can't wait to try some stirfry again so I can be a bit better off than before. How I wish I had a gas stove. In the back of my head I toy with the idea of getting a propane burner to keep outside and wok with, but the practical side of me says nonsense. Also, we don't have a pickup and are not allowed to carry propane tanks inside a vehicle. Oh well.

>261 MrsLee:
I grew up in a house with gas. When I got married there was only electricity mains in the area. It took me quite a while to get used to the electricity.

There was a stir fry dish that we used to love but hadn’t had it in years. Beef with ginger and spring onions. I remembered it about six months ago and looked up the recipe. I have made it four or five times since. A tasty memory.

>262 pgmcc: Sounds delicious! I wonder if it is what we call Mongolian Beef? One of my favorites, although I haven't tried to make it.

Finished reading Curses! by Aaron Elkins. I enjoyed it enough, though the mystery was not difficult to parse. I would read another for fun. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys light mysteries which take place Mayan ruins among archeologists.

dang im both hungry for food and a book

Began reading Buried Cities and Ancient Treasures by Dora Jane Hamblin, which is a nice follow up to the fictional Curses!, even though it is on a different continent. I do enjoy reading about archeology, especially when it is more about the story of the dig rather than the findings.

For fun, I grabbed Making Waves by Catherine Todd, off the TBR shelf. It is fluff, and I'm not sure where it is going or whether I will like it. It seems as if it could be a mystery, although it could devolve into bitterness against men, which isn't my style. Too much bitterness in any book annoys me. We shall see. It is making me glad that I live a simple life with a man who is content.

>266 MrsLee: I remember enjoying James Michener’s The Source many years ago. It was about an archaeological dig in then contemporary Israel. Every other chapter was part of a a contemporary story. The alternate chapters were short stories set in the the periods the dig was going through, albeit oldest to most recent. It had stories from pre-history to then present day. It traced the origins of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. I found it fascinating.

>267 pgmcc: That does sound fascinating. I'm afraid to say that I've never had the courage to tackle a Michener book, in spite of the fact that my mother and grandmother were huge fans (although grandma thought he needed an editor who was more forceful).

Catching up on some 150 messages in your thread alone I'm out of sync with just about everything... but wonderful quilt, and what a wonderful memory to have from your friend.
And now that I'm on level I might start to exist in the same time-frame as you, which is nice!

>269 Busifer: Thank you, I have been sort of keeping up, but not responding a lot in threads because it's hard to type on my phone. Thinking of you a lot though as you tread the path with your parents.

>270 MrsLee: Thank you. As my dad said to me: "I have nothing against death as a principle. But I do object when it gets personal."

>268 MrsLee: I found it easy to read because of the structure. The linear story was every other chapter so it was basically half the book. When you finished a chapter of the story you had a break with an interesting short story. It made reading the book quick and I found the history fascinating.

>271 Busifer: That is a beautiful quote from your dad. I admire his wit.

>271 Busifer: What >273 -pilgrim-: said.

>273 -pilgrim-: >274 pgmcc: He's always had this wry wit and he still has his senses with him.

>271 Busifer: Hear, hear!

So, all this time I thought the book/opera, etc. Was about a lady named Camille. Nope. Her name was Marguerite.

I finished Camille tonight. More thought tomorrow, or sometime.

Thoughts may have to wait, company coming this weekend.

I have begun a book called San Quentin Quail: A Girl Behind Bars by Margaret Ada McAleer. It is a memoir of a woman whose father worked at San Quentin, and her life growing up within the compound.

So far behind, and so little time.

Here are my thoughts on Camille by Alexandre Dumas fils
"A major spoiler here at the beginning. Fifty-seven years of my life and I never realized that the lady wasn't named Camille.

This is a romance from the mid-1800s set in France. A woman who is a courtesan has died and the rest of the book is about her lover coming to terms with it. Much of it reads like a young girl's diary full of emotion, angst, despair and elation. There are moments though when the narrator speaks trying to explain his compassion for women who have "fallen" that are full of human understanding.

This was a quick read, although some of the angsty bits became annoying (I really wanted to give the young man a good shake), it was an interesting glimpse into a culture and time very unfamiliar to me, although thoughts of the movie Gigi kept popping into my head.

I doubt I will read it again, although I wrote down several quotes in my reading journal. I will possibly read something else by this author if it falls into my lap. I recommend it to those who enjoy reading classics because it is a reference to so many other works since its time. Also to anyone who likes a good romance."

The Yan Can Cook Book by Martin Yan
"This feels like the Julia Child of Chinese cooking. Martin Yan's recipes are written to be simple and easy to follow, he encourages substitutions, so long as you understand the method of cooking. I enjoyed reading it and am inspired to try many of the recipes. The two I did try (Sunshine Soup with Dumplings and Watercress Salad Plate) were delicious. I appreciated the introductory chapters which gave an overview of regional Chinese cooking, the tools and how to use them, etc.

There are many lovely and in-depth cookbooks out there on Chinese cooking, but this is user-friendly and the simplicity leads one to think that indeed if Yan can, so can I."

Another review for an unexpectedly fun read.
Buried Cities and Ancient Treasures by Dora Jane Hamblin
"Dora Jane Hamblin is a journalist who travels to archeology sites and digs telling the stories of the past, the present and those who are trying to connect the two through science.

This book was a hidden treasure on my to-be-read shelves for years. Always getting passed over because I feared it would be a dry read or trite. It was neither, and quite engaging! Even though written in the 1970s, I read along with breathless anticipation as the archeologists dug, with despair as treasure seekers ruined the stories that otherwise may have been found, and with anticipation as new methods and techniques were found to care for the antiquities and give better understanding of the peoples who have gone before. Google helped to bring me up to date on the hoaxes mentioned, as well as the progress of various digs. There are black and white photographs throughout.

This is a book written for the general public, possibly to ignite the curiosity of young adults. Professionals will not be as excited as I was to read this. I will be looking for her other books because I enjoy traveling with her."

Making Waves by Catherine Todd
"A pretty sour look at the lives of the upper middle-class as represented by the lawyers in a Southern California city. I have given the book away already, and so details of plot are skimpy. A woman in her late forties is faced with divorce and her attorney husband is using all the lawyerly intimidation techniques on her to give her as small a settlement as possible. The mystery comes about as another ex-wife of one of the partners is found dead.

I actually didn't hate this as much as I thought I would, although the lead character made some really stupid choices and did some highly improbable things to move the plot along. The characters were engaging enough that I wanted to know how it resolved. I can't say I found this "Sassy, Irreverent and Smart" as one of the quotes on the back of the book said, but it was a good story of mild suspense, with quite a few literary references. It made me happy for the life I've led with the man I've shared it with. Possessions, power and upward-mobility have never been our thing.

This would be a good beach read or sitting in the waiting room or on an airplane if you need it. Not taxing to the brain, but an interesting ride."

Darn it. This thread is long, but we are almost to the end of the year, so bear with me, folks. I may start a 2021 thread in mid-December.

>279 MrsLee: How would you rate Camille against his D'artagnan romances? I've been meaning to read more Dumas.

>281 Narilka: This was actually written by the son of the Alexander Dumas who wrote The Three Musketeers. It confused me, too.

As for the comparison, it is a different animal. This is a slow build of emotional tension, sprinkled with morality and rebellion against morality.

Finished San Quentin Quail: a Girl Behind Bars by Margery Ada McAleer last night. My thoughts:

"A memoir written by a woman who grew up on the San Quentin Prison reservation. This covers the time from about 1930 to 1955. Her father was a guard in the prison.

The prose can be forceful and compelling when she puts aside her flights of fanciful metaphor meteorites. Gut-wrenchingly honest, as when she describes her experience being molested by one of the prison guards, her father's friend. She eloquently expresses the shame the victim feels and why so many remain silent about it . McAleer manages to convey how it felt as a young girl experiencing so many things beyond her comprehension in the prisoner's lives and actions, and how as an adult, she has processed the things she saw .

Written in her later years, this memoir doesn't always track in time, occasionally the reader loses track of the story she started with when she becomes caught up in magniloquence. Written by a woman in her 90's, one can forgive a bit of repetitiveness and uneven telling. The insights into the way of life of the families of prison guards is interesting in itself, but Margery also was a young woman when WWII began and shares a bit of her experiences of that time.

As the daughter of Irish immigrants, we learn how it was to be on the outside, and a bit of the conflicting emotions of those who loved their homeland but wished to identify with their new home as well. Bits of wisdom gained only by experience are dribbled throughout this book, not as morals, but simply as life. A quote I wrote down regarding death: "...prayer can never heal, ...it just delays the pain until eventual acceptance by the soul."

I'm going to try to read in The History of the Lord of the Rings: Part Three: The War of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien again. I set this aside a year ago or more when life became difficult. Life hasn't quit being difficult, but I feel like I might be able to dip into it again. We shall see.

Next read for work breaks: French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork and Corkscrew by Peter Mayle

>282 MrsLee: I completely missed that. I'll probably pass for a while then and stick with Dumas Sr.

Made my final decision to DNF The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part three: The War of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien. Here's why.

"No rating for this one since I didn't finish reading it. In spite of my love of all things LotR, this was more scholarly than I cared to go into.

If you want to see all the iterations and thoughts Tolkien had while writing his classic, you may love this. For me, all the detailed dissertations on how far one place was from another, which character was going to say what, etc. put me to sleep. Also the print was small which is not as easy for me as it used to be. I will stick to the stories themselves; these are for readers who want to study how writing happens."

>285 MrsLee: I was concerned for a moment, I just put Peoples of Middle-Earth on my wishlist when I found out it contained 13 pages of a book Tolkien started that followed LoTR. Luckily, not the one you DNF'd and hopefully not as dry.

>268 MrsLee: Good luck! I think if anything has a hope of not being dry, it should be the People.

Caving in to peer pressure, and waiting for it to warm up enough to go work in the yard, I will attempt to answer the quiz questions which have been circulating in the group recently.

1. Name any book you read at any time that was published in the year you turned 18:
The Glass Blowers by Daphne du Mauier. A book I wanted to recommend to one of our members who is reading du Maurier books, but couldn't remember the title of. I very much enjoyed reading this one.

2. Name a book you have on in your TBR pile that is over 500 pages long:
Two for the price of one. The Gormenghast Novels by Mervyn Peake (I probably won't be finishing this one, but haven't made the final decision) and Mr. Lear: A Life of Art and Nonsense by Jenny Uglow. Purchased several years ago while in a bookstore in Philadelphia with >jillmwo and >Jim53. I WILL begin it soon.

3. What is the last book you read with a mostly blue cover?
Camille by Alexandre Dumas fils I really enjoyed this one, but wouldn't read it again.

4. What is the last book you didn’t finish (and why didn’t you finish it?)
The War of the Ring: history of the Lord of the Rings, part 3 by J.R.R. Tolkien. As a friend and one of the co-founders of the Green Dragon pub, jpb, mentioned on FB: It is like getting a tour behind the scenes at Disneyland, only to find that the tour is an excruciating 8 hour lecture in the accounting department.

5. What is the last book that scared the bejeebers out of you?
I avoid that category of books as much as possible. The memorable one is a collection of Daphne du Maurier which included "The Birds" oh-so-creepy and sticks with you, and "Don't Look Now."

6. Name the book that you read either this year or last year that takes place geographically closest to where you live?
More Dusty Trails by Glorianne Weigand. No, this is NOT the story of my house.

7.What were the topics of the last two nonfiction books you read?
Currently reading one on the French and their eating habits, and an autobiography of an American pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps man from 1900. Most recently finished: Autobiography of a young woman raised in the reservation (prison compound) of San Quentin, California in the early 1900s, and a Chinese cooking book.

8. Name a recent book you read which could be considered a popular book?
Popular in which century? For this decade, either Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch or Artemis by Andy Weir. Then of course all the Dresden Files books.

9. What was the last book you gave a rating of 5-stars to? And when did you read it?
Ginger East to West by Bruce Cost, in November of 2019. I'm not counting the Dresden Files I read this year because they were rereads.

10. Name a book you read that led you to specifically read another book (and what was the other book, and what was the connection)
Now you are testing my memory, and it mostly fails. There have been many books I've read and jotted down the title of books mentioned within to read, but few I have followed through on. The most recent was not a book, until I made it one, the letters of my grandparents, and my grandfather highly recommended The Foolish Matrons by Donn Byrne, but I haven't finished it yet. It holds promise. The other one, as so many have already answered is To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis, led me to read Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. Unlike others, I preferred the book by Jerome, but did enjoy Willis'.

11. Name the author you have most recently become infatuated with.
Peter Mayle Can't really get enough of his writings about France.

12. What is the setting of the first novel you read this year?
Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch

13. What is the last book you read, fiction or nonfiction, that featured a war in some way (and what war was it)?
Putting aside all the wars in the Dresden novels, I suppose Charlemagne by Manuel Komroff. Lots of wars.

14. What was the last book you acquired or borrowed based on an LTer’s review or casual recommendation?
French Lessons by Peter Mayle, recommended to me by >hfglen

15. What the last book you read that involved the future in some way?
Artemis by Andy Weir. The ONLY book I've read this year about the future. Most of my reading is firmly rooted in the past.

16. Name the last book you read that featured a body of water, river, marsh, or significant rainfall?
Featured being the key word here (the book I'm currently reading American in the Rough by W.M. Coffman, is at a part where he is on a clipper ship, but it is only a portion of the story), I suppose it would be A Passage to Juneau by Jonathan Raban. That was all about the voyage on the water. Loved it.

17. What is last book you read by an author from the Southern Hemisphere?
No lo sé. My interests seem to lie to the north, east and west. I'm not clear if I have any Australian authors in my library, but I probably do.

18. What is the last book you read that you thought had a terrible cover?
Either I'm lucky, or not too picky, but I rather like all the covers of the last two years in my catalog.

19. Who was the most recent dead author you read? And what year did they die?
Read how? Phrenologically? Ew. Most recently dead author? or most recently read book by a dead author? This is why I'm no good at test taking.
The book I am currently reading is an autobiography written by a man who is now dead. I can't find when he died though, but he was 17 in 1900.
Fatu-Hiva by Thor Heyerdahl is a book I read this year and so far as I can tell the author died the most recently of those I have read this year, he died in 2002.

20. What was the last children’s book (not YA) you read?
That's what's wrong with my reading life this year, I haven't read any children's books! The last one I read was in 2019, The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson. Highly recommended.

21. What was the name of the detective or crime-solver in the most recent crime novel you read?
Gideon Oliver in Curses!, a series I would like to pursue.

22. What was the shortest book of any kind you’ve read so far this year?
Probably Camille.

23. Name the last book that you struggled with (and what do you think was behind the struggle?)
High Tide in Tucson by Barbara Kingsolver. This author and I see many things in common, but some subjects I would like to give her a good shake on.

24. What is the most recent book you added to your library here on LT?
American in the Rough by W.M. (Bill) Coffman

25. Name a book you read this year that had a visual component (i.e. illustrations, photos, art, comics)
Two most recent are: Buried Cities and Ancient Treasures by Dora Jane Hamblin (black and white photographs) and Yan Can Cook by Martin Yan (amusing illustrations)

BONUS QUESTION!
26. What is the title and year of the oldest book in your physical library that you have reviewed on LT?
I'm going to say The Ingoldsby Legends books 1 & 2 by Richard Harris Barham. They are 1885. There may be some older books around here, like a dictionary, some Bibles and schoolbooks, but these are two books I love.
I also have a very old copy of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens with a soft leather binding, but no date of publication. I love it, too.

Interesting list, MrsLee. I think I'll have to check out Aaron Elkins's series.

>288 MrsLee: LOL, your answer to #19 made me laugh. Some of the questions were worded rather ambiguously!

>288 MrsLee: I loved reading your answers.

Is The Glass Blowers the one she based on her ancestors?

>291 pgmcc: Yes, sort of historic fiction.

>289 Jim53: This is the first book I've read in the series. I enjoyed it more for the archeological setting than the mystery, but the characters were good.

I see that I completely muffed the answer to 12. The setting was London in a parallel universe that has magical policemen and loci goddesses in the rivers. I can't remember if this one was actually set in London, some aren't.

>288 MrsLee: Another fun list :)

>288 MrsLee: I really enjoyed your answers and explanations for them! Don't look now is an amazing story and very disturbing. And I love jpb's description of The war of the ring!

>288 MrsLee: bwahaha! (#6)

Finished American in the Rough by W.M. (Bill) Coffman last night. I couldn't put it down all day. Had to find out how this ne'er-do-well managed to become the man he did! Here's my review:

"This is the autobiography of W. M. (Bill) Coffman. A man who left home at the age of 17 to make his own way in the world and ended by causing several millions of dollars to be donated to the Shriner's Hospitals.

Coffman's life is the classic Horatio Alger tale come to life (only perhaps with less moralizing, I haven't read Alger yet). After a childhood of getting into one trouble or another, he sets out to discover the world and what is in it for him. He tries the hobo life, ends up in the slums of New York City, then travels across the country trying his hand as a Shepherd along the way. When he finally makes it to his dream of San Francisco, California, he manages to get Shanghaied onto a British sailing vessel headed back to Britain by way of the Horn.

This book reads a bit like a suspense novel in that well over half way through, the reader can't imagine how this young man will survive, let alone become a man who could contribute so much to the Shriner cause. He makes about every wrong choice a young man can. In typical sailor fashion, losing any money he earns the same night he is paid. He managed to be present during the earthquake in San Francisco in 1906, and live to tell about it, then go on to help rebuild the city.

Coffman mentions that he kissed the Blarney Stone at one point in his travels. It must have worked. He managed to talk himself out of one trouble after another, and into jobs he was in no way qualified for. Then he excelled at them. It shows also in the writing of this book. It is a straight telling of the life he lived with no apologies for bad behavior. He manages not to glorify or vilify his early years and there is no moralizing. The story of his life is gripping. I didn't want to put it down. I do happen to love sea adventures, and Coffman focuses on 1902 - 1910, the years he spent at sea on sailing ships. After that, he talked his way into jobs and volunteered with service organizations until he became the Pacific District Manager of the Underwood Corporation and the Managing Director of the annual East-West All-Star football for charity game sponsored by the Shriners. The football team rosters and play-by-plays in the last chapter were a bit of a snooze to me, but perhaps would appeal to anyone interested in the early years of football.

This review in no way covers all of Coffman's jobs and adventures, but I tried to show the variety of his experiences."

My next read will be The Greek Myths: Vol. 1 by Robert Graves

Think I will start a new thread tomorrow, but no promises.

>297 MrsLee: I had considered Grave's Greek Myths before settling with Edith Hamilton's, which had more recommendations for noobs like me, but I am interested in what you might have to say about Grave's collection.

>297 MrsLee: >298 Majel-Susan: If I could chip in a little ...

I read Graves's The Greek Myths years ago, and probably still have it somewhere. My recollection is that he slants a good deal towards his thesis about prehistoric matriarchal societies as expressed in The White Goddess, so proceed with caution. I don't know what Graves's reputation as a poet is these days, but I still regard him as a great writer.

>297 MrsLee: I will be interested to hear how you approach reading Robert Graves (since its segmented rather than linear narratives) and what you take away from his re-tellings.

>298 Majel-Susan: I am also a noob. However, and I will be honest here. This is my bathroom book and it is fine to dip in and read a little at a time. I have an interest, not a passion about myths. I have not the scholarly background to critique, and I won't pretend to understand all of what he says. I am glad that I recently read Ancient Cities and Buried Treasures as it gave me an inkling of the archeological background and controversies over the interpretation of the relics. Having only read his introduction and begun the first chapter, I can say that it is interesting thus far.

>299 haydninvienna: Yes, I can see that.

>300 jillmwo: I am reading it as it comes, following footnote leads as I come to them, gleaning what I may. This may well take me months to finish. I am not in a hurry.

For work breaks, I have begun Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe, which promises to be much more compelling than The Greek Myths. The original title alone was fascinating, and quite the spoiler as titles from the 1700s tended to be. This is a book I have heard mentioned frequently, but not read yet.

I will start a new thread on the weekend I guess. This one is lengthy, but no time to spare now. I'm working all my spare moments in the mornings typing my mother's and grandmother's calendars. Working on 1996 at the moment. A particularly difficult year as my uncle died of pancreatic cancer. Mom and grandma didn't write much of their feelings and thoughts, but if you knew them, you can read the sorrow. I am finding it emotionally hard to relive it through them. Grandma lived with me at the time and I can remember her devastation which she bravely tried not to give in to.

>301 MrsLee: I have an interest, not a passion about myths.

Same, which explains how I've been reading Hamilton's Mythology since May. Each story is pretty short, so I find it perhaps too easy to put the book down for weeks at a time. Haha, I don't think I'm even a third way through yet.

>301 MrsLee: Hugs to you for working your way through the calendars. Sounds as if it could be painful, but I suspect you and others will be very glad to have them.

Apologies, I'm not going to start a new thread until January. It hurts my sense of order too much to have part of December tacked on to the new thread. I tried, and couldn't do it. Not like I'm contributing a ton to this thread anyway.

On the mythology, I am enjoying it a little at a time. I hope I finish it in 2021. I like how he presents the myths and the sources they are from, then goes on and tries to interpret them into the actual history of that area. The phrase that runs through my mind is from Steinbeck and his friend when they would wander into philosophical ponderings; "It might be so." It is a serviceable phrase for so much of life.

Moll Flanders I have only dipped into, still in her childhood, but I am enjoying it so far.

Busy this weekend with food, cleaning and decorating. Not much reading.

>304 MrsLee: I don’t blame you for not wanting to start a new thread this month. Mine’s at 209 right now, so not nearly as many posts, but I’m not going to do it either.

Others’ experiences may differ, but I’m not seeing any loading slowness with your thread anyway.

Oops, my review for French Lessons.

"An exploration of France's celebration and veneration of food items many think odd; such as snails, frog's legs and blood sausages. Mayle spends a year traveling to the various celebrations throughout France which feature one special ingredient. Rather than any grand analysis, this seems a really good excuse to travel and eat delicious things. His humor is fun, poking fun at himself and others and humanity at large, but not darkened by heavy sarcasm or ridicule.

I very much enjoyed this, probably as close as I will ever get to enjoying road trips in France."

>304 MrsLee: me neither...not that my threads are that busy 😉

>305 YouKneeK: Good to know. I don't post a lot of photos, so maybe that helps.

I can certainly see why the men were anxious to get rid of the matriarchal worship system, if Graves is telling anything close to the truth. One year of heavenly sex would not make up for being flayed alive at the end of it in my view. YMMV

>304 MrsLee: Sounds like a perfectly reasonable decision to me. I too have not noticed any delay in your thread loading.

I remember enjoying Moll Flanders when I read it some years ago. It's still the only book by Defoe that I've read.

>309 MrsLee: >309 MrsLee: "YMMV"

Ok, this made me laugh.

I wonder if anyone has ever tried to graph the genealogy of all the Greek gods? That way lies madness says I.

This book would be more fun with illustrations and photos of the relics that have the pictures on them he refers to.

>312 MrsLee: This might be the sort of thing you mean.

>312 MrsLee: There is Wikipedia's Family tree of Greek gods, but that's quite a headache to look at too.

>312 MrsLee: Guilty.

I was that sort of child.

>315 -pilgrim-: Ah, that explains a lot. ;)

Re The Greek Myths.
It makes a lot more sense to me that the ravishing's and rapes represent the Patriarchal tribes overtaking and defeating the Matriarchal tribes. An allegory of history so-to-speak, and a way that history has become mythology through the ages, rather than perverted stories of gods people worshiped. I mean, they are that still, but possibly not only that.

Still working on Moll Flanders, only not so much time to sit and read. I am enjoying it, although I do wish it wasn't quite so drawn out. Very interesting insight to the age, the view of women in that age, and the fact that the author, a man who is telling the story from the woman's perspective, is so sensitive to her plight and that of all women. The only thing which doesn't ring true (unless Moll is a sociopath) is her total lack of concern about the various children she bore and their fates.

I began reading The Chinese Cookbook yesterday.

>317 MrsLee: There was a PBS adaptation of Moll Flanders that my husband I really enjoyed, and it had to have been many decades ago. (I looked it up, and this was a four episode miniseries that aired in 1996!) I have not read the book, though I know I have a copy somewhere. I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Amazon has found my weakness and is taking advantage of it mercilessly. Yesterday it offered me $5 toward any Peter Mayle book, which of course I could not turn down and so purchased My Twenty-five Years in Provence. Today it offered me $5 toward the purchase of a specific book on my wishlist, The Haunting of Hill House. Again, who could resist? Bad enough you all throw book bullets here, but when they throw them along with $5 credits, I am doomed.

>319 MrsLee: Did you purchase the Jackson book? I haven't ordered it yet but have had this Library of America volume on my wishlist for a while and plan to order it soon.

>320 ScoLgo: Yes. It has been on my wishlist for awhile because of recommendations. I held off buying it because the Kindle version was more money than I wanted to spend on an ebook that I wasn't sure I would love. The $5 credit tipped the scales for me.

>321 MrsLee: I will be interested in your views on The Haunting of Hill House. I will say no more until you have read it.

Do you read with your back against the wall, in a well lit room, with other people around? Just curious.

>321 MrsLee: Hard to believe the kindle version is $3.00 more than the trade paperback. E-book pricing makes no sense to me.

I rarely purchase e-books but have used Prime shipping credits to grab backups of print books I already own, (mostly Gene Wolfe titles where the quick lookup of unfamiliar terms comes in handy ;). I do borrow a ton of e-books via Overdrive and I have been known to take advantage of freebie give-aways, (TOR.com, Rebellion Publishing, Book Gorilla, etc).

I hope you enjoy The Haunting of Hill House. I liked that book and am leaning toward purchasing the LoA edition since it also includes We Have Always Lived in the Castle and a passel of her short stories.

>322 pgmcc: No promises as to when I get it read. My daughter also wants me to read it. As to your other questions, yes yes and yes. I also have cat guardians.

>324 MrsLee: It's relatively short. (It's usually part of a collection.)

>324 MrsLee: Cat guardians are good.

Finished Moll Flanders last night. Glad to be done with it, but did not mind the reading of it. Just a very long story about a sociopathic pragmatist and I was tired of her by the end. That may discourage some from reading it, and that would be a bad thing because it was very interesting to read such a straight-forward story written in the early 1700s. Yes, she gets religion, but like everything else in her life, whether she knows it or not, her morals come about because they are profitable to her. Does this make them less real for her? Not necessarily.

I have only just become aware that there are people in this world, I think the word is Pragmatist, who live for neither beauty, love, or fellowship. This doesn't mean that they do not love, or have friends, but they see these things in a profit (not always monetary) and loss sort of way. I have a coworker like this. He is a kind man. Funny, and can be a good friend if you understand him. He is not the person to talk to about grief (get on with it) or history (more than 50 years ago is meaningless to me) or beauty (I plant things that are useful, food or cash value, no interest in flowers) or pets (they take resources without return of value). This is the sort of person Moll Flanders was. Her relationships, even with her children were viewed through the lens of benefit to her. Her scope of the world was narrow in that sense, but she was not necessarily a horrid woman.

Anyway, I found the story interesting, but am ready for something different.

A few days ago I began reading Lost and Found: Why Losing Our Memories Doesn't Mean Losing Ourselves by Jules Montague as recommended by pilgrim. It is perhaps not what I was hoping for, I have not progressed very far into it, but very interesting none the less.

Also began The Chinese Cookbook by Craig Claiborne which I am dubious of because his first words are something like "Up until a year and a half ago I never tried cooking Chinese food." However, his co-author is Virginia Lee, so hopefully the recipes and practical knowledge are hers.

My review for Moll Flanders
"Moll Flanders is a young woman without prospects during the early 1700s in England. The book was published in 1722. Early on she is offered two paths; she must choose which way to go. The path she chooses and the results thereof are the remainder of the story.

To say this book is about Prostitution is not quite accurate. The main character, "Moll," certainly goes that route, but I believe the book is more about survival in a time where there were very limited options for young, unattached women. Moll is given an option, but she sees that the other way holds an easier prospect for more gain. In fact, she is always on the lookout for what will bring gain to her. Having stood on the edge of the abyss of poverty, she wants to stay as far away from that as possible, whatever it takes. Her character is an extreme pragmatist, even when it comes to her children and spouses. Are they good for gain? I will love them, they are dear to me. Will they be a drain on me, or offer no gain? They are dead to me and I will be rid of them.

I enjoyed reading this. Daniel Defoe pulls no punches and writes in a straightforward way. You will not find flowery descriptions, no lengthy chapters about nature, architecture or other distractions from the plot. In fact, no chapters at all. Some of the conversations drove me to distraction, people talking all around a thing, but I believe social etiquette required that verbal play at that time. It reminded me of Jane Austen's novels in that way. Not in any other way. This was a good insight into the lives of those not so nice as the characters in Austen's novels in the 1700s. I probably won't read it again, but glad to have done so once."

>328 MrsLee: Excellent review!

>329 clamairy: Thank you! :)

>328 MrsLee: Intriguing. It's not a book I've ever considered reading, but now perhaps I will.

>328 MrsLee: I have always intended reading this book and your post has increased the possibility of my doing so.

One more book finished this year. Lost and Found: Why Losing Our Memories Doesn't Mean Losing Ourselves. Finished this on Christmas Day. My review is below. However, I have an issue with this and I'm pretty sure it is an issue with the publisher. The actual title is: "Lost and Found: Memory, Identity and who we become when we're no longer ourselves." This is what appears in the touchstones when you type in the title on the cover of the book, which is: "Lost and Found: Why Losing Our Memories Doesn't Mean Losing Ourselves." Why the two different titles? As you can see, the second title which is on the cover (and it isn't on all the covers, so it makes me wonder if this is for the "American" version) carries a slightly different meaning. I doubt I would have bought the book if it had the original title on the cover, because that wasn't what I was searching for. I was looking for a book which was more specifically about dementia, which is only a small part of this book. I am not disappointed to have read the book, it was fascinating, but not what I was looking for based on the cover title. Anyway, a slight annoyance, because as I say, I did enjoy the book; in the way people enjoy looking at a car wreck in that perverse mesmerized way. I say that because it is quite frightening to read about all the things that can go so wrong with our brains.

Anyway, here is the review I wrote:
"I purchased this book in the hopes it would help me understand the process of dementia. Perhaps in understanding, to better relate to those who have the condition. This is not that book. It is, however, a very interesting book about the brain and how it functions, or more particularly, how it malfunctions.

Through case histories, the author describes several types of brain malfunction and explores the question: Who are we when our brain no longer remembers who we were? That is the focus of the book, defining personality, soul, spirit or whatever it is that makes us who we are. As a complete novice to medical literature and terminologies of brain function, I still found this book compelling and interesting. Admittedly, I did not stop to look up every medical term, but the author went into enough detail in lay-person terminology that I was able to follow the meaning.

The cover is quite misleading giving the title as "Lost and Found: Why Losing Our Memories Doesn't Mean Losing Ourselves; when the actual title is: Lost and Found: Memory, Identity, and Who We Become When We're No Longer Ourselves. I would recommend this to anyone interested in the definition of "self," or in the function of the brain for that aspect."

>333 MrsLee: The title on the review copy that I received was the "Memory, Identity and who we become when we're no longer ourselves" version. I do not know at what point it was changed; I agree that it is the better title for the book.

I did try to warn you that any specific type of brain malfunction would only be a small part of the book, and to give some idea of its breadth.

I am sorry that you did not find it helpful, and glad that you enjoyed it (if that is the right word) nevertheless.

>334 -pilgrim-: Yep, I remembered what you told me, but thought I would try it anyway because of that cover title and because your review made it sound interesting. I have no regrets.

Having visited The Black Orchid group (a Nero Wolfe/Rex Stout fan group) I've made up my mind how to spend the rest of my reading time this year. Will be rereading the books published in the 1930s, beginning with Fer de Lance. Then will read the Bujold book with this group in January.

>336 MrsLee: My husband adores Nero Wolfe. He is swimming through them at a great rate at the moment. And good for you in getting thru Moll Flanders. I'm not sure I'm ready to take her on, but your review does provide an intriguing assessment.

>337 jillmwo: You can tell him we would love to hear his take on the Nero Wolfe series in The Black Orchid. At least I would, it's always fun to hear from a co-fan.

Finished Fer de Lance 1934, on to The League of Frightened Men 1935.

Sitting here with a glass of port and some Christmas (Hogfather*) cookies. Intending to read the rest of the day, but I doubt I will finish another book. Probably 60 for the year which is actually more than I thought I would have due to a very long dry spell in reading. I'm going to try to do my final count and statistics tomorrow, but my son and his girlfriend are coming, so there has to be some serious housecleaning first. She is allergic to cats.

*Hogfather because they are gingerbread pigs, with white icing, and red icing drizzled/slashed over it. Also what my family calls Mexican wedding cookies, which is a kind of short bread made with ground pecans, flour, butter and sugar.

>340 MrsLee: love the idea of Hogfather cookies! Happy new year to you and all of yours.

>340 MrsLee: Enjoy your New Year visitors and celebrations.

My younger daughter and her family came to stay with us for a couple of weeks at Christmas. She was always complaining that she was allergic to cats and stayed away from our cats whenever she was here. She blamed the cats for her sneezing when she visited.

Before coming to us this year, she and the family isolated in a cottage in the West of Ireland for two weeks. They had to isolate because they had travelled from England. For the first couple of days, due to a storm induced power outage, the only heating they had was a fireplace in which they burned turf. For the first couple of days my daughter was sneezing. Once they stopped using the fire her sneezing stopped. When they arrived here she was not sneezing although we had the cat about. Half way through their stay her husband asked if he could light the fire. Her sneezing started when he started disturbing ash after the first day's fire. She has concluded that it was the dust from the fire that was making her sneeze and not the cat at all. She became quite friendly with the cat after that.

Have a fantastic 2021.

Warmest wishes for a much happier 2021, MrsLee!

>341 haydninvienna:, >342 pgmcc:, & >343 jillmwo: Thank you, and may each of you find the new year to be better and happy and fulfilling.

>340 MrsLee: Happy New Year to you! Let's hope that 2021 is an improvement in all ways. My family also calls those cookies Mexican wedding cookies, though no one has made them in a couple of years.

My final stats for 2020:

Mystery: 25
Fantasy: 20
Fiction: 7
Western:
Graphic Novel:
Drama:
Children:
eBook: 13
Audio:
Short Stories: 5
Novella: 1
Scifi: 3
Comics:
Humor:
Poetry: 1
Pamphlet:
YA:
Cookbook: 2
Reread: 18
DNF: 4
Fiction: 39
Nonfiction: 23
Total: 62

Ratings:
Loved it, will probably reread, definitely keep***** 4
Liked it lots, will recommend, possibly keep to loan**** 25
Liked it, will probably not keep*** 29
Didn't like it, but others might** 4
Hated it, probably didn't finish, would like to shred*

Stats:
62 books read, 39 fiction, 23 nonfiction
47 by men, 13 by women, 02 combined male and female, ** Anonymous
20 by authors I’ve never read before
52 physical books, ** audio, 10 ebooks
Oldest writing was by Monkey, by Wu Ch’eng (in 1570), oldest physical book from 1894 (The Bell Ringer of Angels by Bret Harte).
Oldest illustrations The Bell Ringer of Angels (1894) by unknown.

Not counting ebooks, audio books or rereads
Books Retained After Reading: 20
Books Rehomed: 14

Average date of original book published: 1975
Average date of book I read published: 1996
Median date of original book published: 2001
Median date of book I read published: 2005

This year had almost 1/3 of rereads by me, which probably skewed the star ratings, authors, etc. It is what it is though. I don't choose books particularly whether they have a male or female author, only by whether they sound interesting to me, but I like to keep track for fun.

I also read about 1/3 nonfiction and gave many of them high ratings. This was a very difficult reading year for me, stressful. I couldn't get my mind to settle and try to get involved in fictional worlds, but of the nonfiction I read, many were travel logs, sailing adventures and cookbooks or food related.

Of the older books, honorable mention goes to Camille and Moll Flanders. I enjoyed both of those more than I thought I would.

Thank you all for living this year with me and allowing me to share your reading adventures as well.