rosalita comes out tonight: Take 3

Hi, I’m Julia and I like to read. Now that I’ve passed the half-century mark (how did that happen??) I find myself becoming faintly obsessed about reading ALL THE BOOKS before I go to the clearing at the end of the path (obligatory The Dark Tower reference for you fellow Stephen King nerds out there). I'll try just about any genre once, though I would say my main focus is mysteries, historical fiction/nonfiction, and literary fiction (ooh, fancy). But really I read just about everything, although very little modern romance unless someone I trust says it’s good. Historical romance, a la Georgette Heyer, is cool, though, so go figure. I am large; I contain multitudes, as my buddy Walt used to say.

I took a hiatus from the 75ers in 2015 after getting over-involved in 2014 to the point where LibraryThing started feeling like a trial instead of a treat. I don’t want that to happen again, so I’m going to be taking it easy and giving myself lots of latitude to enjoy the group to the extent that real life allows me. That means no ticker, no huge list of touchstoned books read so far (I do have a Read in 2016 collection, though, if you ever want to get an overview).

I hope 2016 treats us all like the queens and kings that we are. We’re good enough, we’re smart enough, and doggone it, people like us!

Now that I can cross off “name-check King, Whitman, and Smalley in the same post” from my bucket list, let’s get started!


My Rating Scale:

= Breathtaking. This book touched me in a way that only a perfect book can do.
= A wonderful read, among my favorites of the year.
= A very good read; truly enjoyable.
= I'm glad I read this.
= Pretty good, with a few things done well.
= Average, and life is too short to read average works.
= A bit below average. A waste of time.
= Nearly no redeeming qualities. Really rather bad.
= Among the worst books I've ever read.

77. Lies, Damned Lies, and History by Jodi Taylor.

The seventh full-length novel in the St. Mary's Institute for Historical Research time-travel series. Things go very wrong very quickly and are only put right through much effort and foolishness. In other words, a typical entry in the series. Notable for the appearance of King Arthur, and birth of the Maxwell-Farrell spawn. There are worse ways to while away a Sunday afternoon.

Happy New Thread, Julia! I am on hiatus after the third book in the St. Mary's books--that's all there were when I stopped, and I've never gotten around to continuing even though the next one is on my Kindle.

Nice new thread, Julia. There are definitely worse ways to while away a Sunday. Is that the latest one? I think the last one I read was A Trail Through Time; I'll have to see how many I am behind.

Julia, I've missed you for two whole threads. Good grief! Happy New One!
I think I stopped St. Mary's after only the second book, and I didn't mean to do that either.
Wishing good times ahead for both of us!

>2 rosalita: I'm still reading, and loving, these as soon as they are published and I'm now eagerly awaiting the next short story due next month.

Happy new thread, lady, and congrats on passing 75!! Woot!!

Hi Julia! Happynew thread, and congrats on reaching the 75 milestone!

Happy New Thread, Julia! And congratulations on reaching 75.

I like that topper - that's what I want to be doing.

Like Roni and others, I've been on hiatus from the Jodi Taylor series. I got through 4 of them, plus the short Roman Holiday. Good to know that they continue to be fun.

Happy, happy new thread, Julia! I like the topper too. What a wonderful place to read the hours away!

Thanks for visiting, everyone!

As for the Jodi Taylor, I don't suppose the series will ever reach the delightful heights of the very first book but the stories remain entertaining at least. I think this is the most recent one; I am always behind on these because Taylor publishes them exclusively to Kindle first and only allows other platforms like Kobo to sell them after a considerable period of time has passed.

Congrats from me also on passing 75!

Hi, Julia - Happy New Thread!

Nice work on A Civil Contract. Many people dislike it because it refuses to be the kind of romance they're expecting - you could even argue it's not a romance at all - but I also think it's one of Heyer's best books, albeit not amongst her most "comfortable".

I've said it before, and I'll say it again- I love your rating scale. I should probably steal it and post it on my thread. This would explain why I have so few 5-star reads, at least.

78. Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher.

A jaded English professor at a mediocre Midwestern university writes a series of letters of recommendation — written for students both exemplary and atrocious, for colleagues both esteemed and detested, written to ex-wives, ex-lovers, ex-friends. Schumacher deftly captures the deplorable state of liberal-arts education at modern public universities that are increasingly being run on a "business model", with students as consumers and faculty as contract workers.

I have only written recommendation letters for some of my student employees who were applying for other jobs, but I could relate to some of Jay Fitger's exasperation with the process. Even when you can unreservedly recommend someone, it's difficult to write a reference that adequately conveys how you feel. And if you are ambivalent about the person who has asked for the recommendation, the problems multiply. I, of course, have never dared to resort to the sort of snide but witty sarcasm that the good professor employs, but it's a vicarious thrill to imagine having the freedom to do so.

I have no idea how this book would be received by someone outside of a university setting. I have read many a faculty recommendation letter in my capacity as a member of a scholarship application committee, and while none of them were quite as far from the bounds of propriety as the letters in this book, I could tell you stories:
* I have read recommendation letters that address the student by name in the first paragraph, and refer to them in subsequent paragraphs either by an entirely different name or by the wrong gender pronoun, making it clear that the faculty member is engaging in the old cut-and-paste maneuver.
* I have read recommendations that delicately dance around the fact that the faculty member clearly has no memory of the specific student he or she is recommending. (The dead giveaway here is when the first comment is a precise regurgitation of whatever they found written in their gradebook for that particular student rather than a specific memory of a student's work or class participation.)
* I have read recommendations that went on for so long and contained so much minute detail that only a second readthrough revealed that all the detail was not about the student for whom the recommendation was being written but rather whatever the faculty member's current research project happened to be (which the student in question may or may not have had anything to do with; you'd never know either way from the letter).

Fitger's letters are written over the course of an academic year. As the year progresses, we follow along with the English Department besiegement as building renovations (to create a more luxurious office space for the Department of Economics upstairs) create havoc and hazardous working conditions. Fitger writes a series of increasingly desperate letters trying to find funding for a student who he clearly considers to be the cream of his teaching crop. Other letters are in support of former students seeking work as, variously, RV park managers, data-entry clerks, and paintball facility workers.

What elevates this short novel above the gimmick is the way Schumacher gradually reveals the true personality lurking beneath Fitger's acerbic missives. The more he pretends to disdain his students, his university, and his career, the more clear it becomes that he is at heart a man who can't help being an idealist about the arts, humanities, and the value of a liberal arts education. I wouldn't want to be any of Jay Fitger's exes — wife, lover, or friend — but I understood and sympathized with him more than I expected by the time I read his final LOR.

P.S. I would be remiss if I didn't thank Amy for putting this book on my radar with her stellar review earlier this year. Thanks, Amy!

Oh, I just finished that one yesterday! And LOVED it! So, so, sadly true-to-the-life-of-a-liberal-arts-humanities-professor. And so bitterly funny.

Happy new thread Julia and congrats on reading 75!

From your last thread, really enjoyed your comments on A Civil Contract. I have fallen behind with the Heyer reads but may dive back in this month to read ACC.

>16 scaifea: The little shocks of recognition reminded me of when the Dilbert comic strip first started. It was like Scott Adams was lurking in our newsroom.

>17 souloftherose: I think this one would be a good one to get you jump-started again, Heather. I'll keep an eye on your thread just in case you find a way to fit it in.

BB for me...... Thanks, Julia!

>19 LizzieD: I hope you like it as much as I did, Peggy!

79. Peril at End House by Agatha Christie.

The seventh novel-length adventure of Hercule Poirot finds him and Hastings in Cornwall, in the unusual position of trying to prevent a murder rather than solve one that's already been committed. This one features loads of suspects and Poirot is forced to eat an unusual amount of humble pie, though of course he spits it all back up in the end like the sleek, self-satisfied cat he really is. As usual with Dame Christie, I gleaned bits and pieces of the eventual dénouement as the story progressed but there were enough surprises left in the end to make it enjoyable.

>21 rosalita:

Yes, I find it interesting that he's still swallowing her story so very late in the proceedings! And that is one of the most cold-blooded murders in all of Christie, too.

>22 lyzard: Exactly! I was sure that he was just dissembling and didn't really believe her just so he could do the big ta-da, but she really had him fooled. I guess the little gray cells were a little rusty. :-)

And on another note, this is the seventh of ... let me check ... 40 Poirot books. Do I have that right? I found it amusing how insistent he was that he was retired now when I thought about how many more books he would be "pulled out of retirement" to solve a murder. And I don't think this was the first book that he's claimed to be retired in!

>15 rosalita: - Julia - I'm glad you liked Dear Committee Members. I liked it a lot more than I thought I might, probably because, as you note, it rose above the gimmick. I write my share of recommendation letters, but hopefully a little more skillfully than Professor Fitger!

>23 rosalita:

Hercule's reputation for infallibility rests upon the eventual outcome, not the journey. :)

He "officially" retired prior to The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd, which was published in 1926. Agatha realised very early in the game that she'd written herself into a corner and tried to escape, but her publishers weren't having any of that. She wasn't happy at first but clearly she came to terms with it after a while, as the meta-humour of works like Cards On The Table, with its introduction of Mrs Oliver and her exasperating foreign detective, indicates.

But fear not! - I think it's only 39 books...

>24 porch_reader: It seemed to me as if some of Fitger's letters served as a sort of wish fulfillment for anyone who's ever had to write a recommendation for someone they are ambivalent about, or to recommend someone they value for a job that seems beneath them. I'm sure if I ever get a letter from you for a scholarship it will be impeccable in both tone and content!

>25 lyzard: The ends justifies the means, eh? :-)

So Christie didn't really intend to create such an enduring series character in Poirot? That's pretty interesting. I look forward to seeing how his "retirement" plays out in later books. So glad there's only 39 of them — so much better than 40!

Hi Julia!

1) Love your topper and want to be there right now!
2) I applaud your new and improved approach to reading, especially if it means LT is fun again and we get to have you back. : )
3) I have to get back to Jodi Taylor and the series. Not even sure what book I am on, but they would make perfect summer reading.
4) Having to write letters of recommendations sucks. OF course reading them is not much more fun.

Happy Friday!!

>26 rosalita: Oh, I agree that part of what made me love Dear Committee Members so much was that wish fulfillment aspect. I was hooting right out loud in some spots because he had written just what I would have loved to have done in some of the letters I've had to write...

>27 Berly: Thanks for dropping in, Kim! My new approach to LT and reading has been great for me. I'm especially pleased that I have kept up with my reviews by not feeling like I had to write a thesis for every one. Some books just need a paragraph, you know?

>28 scaifea: I suspected as much! I think the one that made me snort the loudest was the one for the student he had known "for approximately 11 seconds" — I'm sure you and Amy have had that happen many times!

It's sad how accurate some of those recommendations were! Yeesh.

Well, this is great news! I wrote a bit on my last thread about posting all of my reviews now to the book page, so that they show up in TinyCat. My plan is to share my TinyCat library URL on Facebook and with all the people who ask me for book recommendations.

One of the things that has kept me from implementing this plan was that reviews in TinyCat were very badly formatted. Regardless of how they looked on LT, on TC they showed as all one paragraph, no matter how long, and any HTML coding such as italics or bold was stripped out. I had asked the LT/TC powers-that-be back in April if this could be addressed, and I'm happy to say it has been:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/222488

I know most of you have no interest in using TinyCat but for anyone who is, I'm sure you'll be as pleased as I am that the reviews you write will no longer be an unreadable wall of text. (What's that you say? I could just write shorter reviews? Pshaw!)

What's that you say? I could just write shorter reviews?

That's crazy talk!

>32 lyzard: Exactly!

80. Give the Boys a Great Big Hand by Ed McBain.

The 11th book in the long police procedural series finds the boys of the 87th Precinct in possession of, literally, a great big hand — left at a bus stop in a small overnight bag. Eventually the other hand turns up, and then the clothes worn by the man or woman who left the hand on the bus stop bench, but whose hands? And who cut them off and scattered them around the city? There are plenty of candidates for both roles, victim and murderer, and the ending benefits from being both non-obvious and completely believable. A solid entry in the series, despite the sort of casual sexism typical of hard-boiled crime novels of the 1960s. McBain's lyricism as a writer buys him a longer rope from me than other less-skilled wordsmiths.

Hi Julia! Catching up here. I read Dear Committee Members recently and loved it. I enjoyed your review very much!

Morning, bub!

;-)

>35 AMQS: Thank you, Anne! And now I've realized that I've completely lost your thread — must go find it.

>36 katiekrug: Such a troublemaker, you are, KAK! I take it you remain among the friended?

As far as I know, but perhaps I should resign in protest.

>38 katiekrug: Nah. There's been enough overreaction already; no need to compound it. You'll just have to settle for being the sensible one for once!

This seems like something my bookish friends would be interested in — particularly those of you within traveling distance of Iowa City: An original printing of the Shakespeare First Folio is going on tour and will be on display in Iowa City from August 29-September 25 at the UI Main Library. Here's a link to the Iowa City stop info: http://shakespeare.lib.uiowa.edu/

And if you'd like to learn more about the Folger Library's tour to see if it's coming anywhere near you, you can find that info here: http://www.folger.edu/first-folio-tour

>15 rosalita: Great review. I enjoyed this book a great deal - it made me laugh. Your comments about your experiences with the references made me me laugh. And sigh. I've written a few, feeling woefully under qualified to do so!

>41 charl08: Writing recommendations is so hard, Charlotte! I'm glad I don't have to write any more than I do.

    

81. Wait for Signs by Craig Johnson.
Spirit of Steamboat by Craig Johnson.

For the past two years I've been participating in Roberta's Leaphorn/Longmire Reading Challenge, in which we alternate each month reading Tony Hillerman's series of Navajo mysteries with Craig Johnson's series about Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire. And according to that schedule, July is a Leaphorn month (indeed, I reviewed Coyote Waits on my last thread). So why did I also read two Longmire books this month?

The answer is two-fold: Wait for Signs is not an entry in the series but rather a standalone book of short stories from the Longmire universe, while Spirit of Steamboat is a standalone novella. And perhaps more importantly, I just really like this series and only reading one book every other month makes me impatient.

As Craig Johnson explains in the acknowledgments, he wrote the first Longmire short story as a Christmas present to his newsletter subscribers. He intended it to be a one-off, and was startled the following year when people began asking him when "this year's Christmas story" was going to be out. Wait for Signs contains 12 stories. Not all of the stories are mysteries; most are just slices of life in Absaroka County, Wyoming. For Longmire fans, they provide a chance to spend some more time with the characters you love, like Walt and Henry Standing Bear. Like the best short-stories-within-a-series, not reading these stories will have no impact on your enjoyment and understanding of the series — nothing happens in these stories that carries over into the novels.

The same holds true for Spirit of Steamboat, which while having a present-day wraparound, is largely set in the past, shortly after Walt is elected sheriff of Absaroka County. Walt and former sheriff Lucian Connally find themselves defying the winter elements to fly a badly injured young girl to Denver for medical treatment. This is much more action-adventure/thriller material than mystery, but it's done with Johnson's characteristic humor and insight. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

82. The Worst Hard Time: the Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan.

Anyone who's read The Grapes of Wrath knows about the Dust Bowl — an area of the southern Great Plains that dried up and blew away during an extreme drought in the 1930s, leading to a mass exodus of former homesteaders, including Steinbeck's fictional Joad family.

Egan digs into this historical event to trace the series of unfortunate events that led to the dreadful conditions of the Dust Bowl, and uses diaries, contemporary news accounts, and modern interviews with survivors to put a human face on a vast phenomenon. Even though the so-called natural disaster had largely man-made origins, it's impossible not to feel empathy and sorrow for the people who were caught in a hellscape where no rain fell for years and the land itself picked up and moved by the ton. The stories of "black blizzards" of dirt and dust, and the horrific medical conditions that the constantly blowing dust wrought on both human and beast, were heartbreaking. I can't imagine surviving such conditions, and many people didn't, but the ones who did were scarred forever, both physically and psychologically. A powerful tale of unintended consequences and the folly of trying to impose human will on nature.

83. Paper Towns by John Green.

A young man on the verge of high school graduation is consumed with the mystery of why his next-door neighbor and crush object disappeared. He and his friends search Orlando for clues and ultimately set off on a road trip to find her and bring her back. But does she want to be found?

Green is an excellent writer, and this book was fresh and original in all the best ways. Ultimately, I think I'm just a little too old to get fully immersed in adolescent adventures unless they involve some sort of dystopian setting. I can understand why so many people loved this one so much, though.

84. What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman.

In 1970s Baltimore, two sisters aged 12 and 15 go missing. More than 30 years later, a woman shows up who claims to be one of the missing girls, long presumed dead. But is she really who she claims to be? And if she isn't, what kind of dangerous game is she playing?

The woman who now claims to be Heather Bethany is established early on as an unreliable narrator in the segments of this book told from her point of view. Balancing that are chapters seen through the eyes of the main police detective investigating her claims, as well as other characters drawn into her orbit. Lippman also goes back to the scene of the crime, so to speak, to show us the girls' lives leading up to their disappearance, as well as how her parents cope or fail to cope in the aftermath. All of the characters through whose eyes we see the story seem legitimate and sympathetic in their own way, and I never had the experience I so often have with multiple-viewpoints narratives of becoming impatient with one or more of the POVs and rushing through those chapters to get back to the "good stuff".

Two things kept me from rating this otherwise imaginative and well-written book higher. The machination that Lippman employs to avoid having the identity secret solved too soon seems unlikely in the extreme, and the ultimate reveal that seemed fairly obvious to me as a reader (which is fine) seemed to never occur to the professional investigators (not so fine). I get that Lippman wanted to maintain the element of shocking surprise as long as possible, but it just made her otherwise savvy characters seem stupid.

This is the first book I've read by Lippman, and I found it rewarding enough to want to read more. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that for a long time I had conflated Laura Lippman and Elinor Lipman into the same person, which would confuse me whenever I saw Laura Lippman referenced as a writer of mysteries or suspense novels since the books by Elinor Lippman that I have read could not at all be described that way. I like them both, but they are quite different writers. The more you know ...

P.S. for anyone reading this far: Throughout the book, Lippman uses the word 'police' as a singular noun: "He had been a police for a long time" or "That was the way a police would think". I have never seen this sort of construction before, and I wondered if it is a pecularity of the Bawlmer dialect or if it's something Lippman just made up, or if it's used often and I've just been oblivious to it. Every time it appeared (and it appeared a LOT) it jarred me right out of the story, so I don't think it's something I've just never noticed before. Have any of you noticed this usage?

>46 rosalita: It might be a Bawlmer thing-- I've recently been watching "The Wire" (set in Baltimore) and it seems to match usage there.

>47 swynn: Ah, one more reason to finally watch "The Wire". I've been meaning to get to it.

Hi Julia- I may be visiting Iowa City to see the Folio. Wow! What a privilege.

I loved The Worst Hard Time; did you see the PBS special on the Dust Bowl? I think Egan contributed. It was excellent.

I haven't ever read any Lippman. Should I try one? Should I start from the beginning? It sounds like this one is a stand alone. Maybe I'll try it before deciding to start her series.

If I do plan an Iowa City trip, I'll let you know.

>49 BLBera: Howdy, Beth! We would love to have you come to Iowa City to visit the Folio. I saw that the only Minnesota stop is way up in Duluth. I would guess Iowa City is closer to you? Keep me posted on your plans.

I have not seen the PBS special but I very much want to. I'll have to check their website and Netflix.

This Lippman was indeed a standalone, although apparently she also has at least one series. I think starting with a standalone is a good way to get a feel for whether you like an author's style before you commit yourself to a series.

85. After the First Death by Lawrence Block.

I've long been a fan of Lawrence Block's writing. He is astoundingly prolific, and remarkably versatile. Three of his series are among my favorites, and they are very different in tone: The Matthew Scudder series about an alcoholic ex-cop turned private eye is dark and gritty; the Bernie Rhodenbarr series about a bookseller/burglar is lighthearted and comical; and the Hit Man series about neurotic hired killer Keller is somewhere in between. You'd think writing three successful series (actually, he has two other series that I have not yet tackled) would be enough for any one man, but Block also wrote a plethora of standalone noir crime novels when he was starting out in the 1950s and 1960s. He's begun re-issuing these in e-editions under the umbrella title of Classic Crime Library and that's where I picked up this one.

Alex Penn is serving a life sentence for murdering a prostitute when he is released on a technicality. He's lost everything from his previous life — his wife, his job as a history professor, his purpose. So it's not surprising that he goes on a drunken bender, but when he wakes up in a seedy hotel room with a dead prostitute lying on the floor even he can hardly believe it. He has no memory of killing her but he's sure he must have, based on his history and the similarity to his original crime. It isn't until after he's fled the scene and is trying to figure out what to do next that he remembers snippets of the night and realizes that there was someone else in the room. He's been framed — but by who? Who hated him enough to frame him the first time to get sent to prison, and then do it again when he's released? He doesn't know, but he knows his only chance of staying out of prison is to find out.

Block is one of those writers who makes it look so easy. His style is breezy and effortless. There are few if any soaring flights of poetic language, but there is a conversational tone and compulsive readability to his work that reminds in some ways of Stephen King (though without all the supernatural hoo-ha). Unlike King, there's nary an unnecessary word or sidebar to bloat the book into an exercise in reader frustration. Block is lean, mean, and clean.

This early example of crime noir isn't Block's best work, but it's nothing for him to be ashamed of, either. If you like crime fiction of that era, I suspect you'll like this one quite a bit.

>43 rosalita: Those sound awesome!! I am loving the Longmire series and would certainly enjoy more snippets of life in Absaroka County, Wyoming. I have yet to read anything by Lawrence Block, but after your plug I can see I ought to! Great review of After the First Death.

>52 Berly: Kim, I think you'd love these little Longmire side trips. Have you watched the television series at all? It has some significant differences from the books and none of the episodes are directly drawn from the books, but it gets the feel right, if you know what I mean.

I can't believe you haven't read any Block — you must do so, pronto.

I am currently addicted to the TV Longmire series. Just started season 4. I only see little tidbits of the books here and there (meaning actual cases), but it absolutely feels like the books. I think they did a great job casting.

One of my vacation haul books is the first of the St. Mary's series - I thought fondly of you as I picked it up off the bookstore shelf...

I've liked the Longmire episodes I've seen so far. I've only read one book, but the series does have the right feel to it.

I've got nothing, but wanted to say hello!

I do enjoy Longmire, both the books (on audio) and the tv show. Craig Johnson is a likable guy. I was tempted to head up to Buffalo for Longmire Days last month!

Believe it or not, I accidentally clicked the 'ignore' button on MY OWN THREAD! Who does that?! Anyway, I finally found it again and see I have had visitors, which is always fun.

>54 Berly: I think the Longmire cast is just about perfect, Kim. I might quibble that Henry is supposed to be a giant of a man and Lou Diamond Phillips is ... not, but he is so spot-on otherwise that I have decided to ignore that aspect. :-)

>55 scaifea: I saw that in your haul, Amber, and I really hope you like it. I have to confess I was a little surprised to see it in corporeal form, as I had the impression these were e-only books. I'm guessing that means they have been successful enough to print, which is great.

>56 BLBera: I am a latecomer to the Longmire camp, both book- and series-wise, Beth. It's rapidly become one of my favorite series.

>57 Copperskye: Howdy, Joanne! Longmire Days sounds like fun. Craig Johnson was here in Iowa City a month or two ago but I had previous plans and wasn't able to go see him. I was very disappointed.

Hi Julia! I'm looking forward to this month's Longmire. I have the audio downloaded and ready to go as soon as I finish my current audiobook. I agree that the TV show is well cast. I was surprised in one of my recent Longmire reads (maybe Spirit of Steamboat?) to discover that The Ferg has been in the Sherriff's office as long as Walt has. I've always thought of him as a generation younger, but maybe I picked up that impression from the TV series rather than the books.

No BB here for The Worst Hard Time, but only because it's already been on my radar for a while! I'll get to it eventually!

What the Dead Know is one of the first books I reviewed on LT!

>58 rosalita: I was just as surprised to find it in real book form, because I had the same impression! In fact, I've wanted to read it for ages, but had given up hope that I ever could...

>59 cbl_tn: I just went and looked up your review of What the Dead Know, Carrie, and see that we had similar reactions. Except that all the cussing doesn't bother me. :-) Have you read other books by Lippman since then? Any recommendations?

>60 scaifea: I so hope you like it!

Hi Julia, I am loving all the books that you are reading - Agatha Christie and Craig Johnson - two of my favorites! Lawrence Block and Ed McBain bring back many memories. Even Laura Lippman whose Tess Monaghan series I started but somehow let fall off my radar.

Thanks, Judy!

Happy Friday! Glad you found yourself again. LOL.

>61 rosalita: No, I haven't read any more of Laura Lippman's novels. Too many others have crowded in!

86. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehesi Coates.

We have taken the one-drop rules of Dreamers and flipped them. They made us into a race. We made ourselves into a people.

I'm not sure this is really a review. I finished this book two weeks ago and I still haven’t fully processed everything I read and learned about the state of being black in 21st century America. It’s written as an open letter to the author’s teenage son and while Coates maintains the framing device consistently throughout the book it never becomes intrusive or detracts from the message.

The message itself was a sucker punch for me, even as I pride myself on having suitably enlightened views about equality and race relations. Coates does not give credit for trying; there is no A for effort in these pages for progressive whites because, as Coates so eloquently shows, none of us are doing enough to right the lasting effects of our collective historical sin, slavery. In graphic terms Coates demonstrates just how those aftereffects are still being felt, and the ways that “those who believe they are white” lie to themselves, each other, and people of color made me extremely uncomfortable. Which I suspect is at least partly his point:

They have forgotten the scale of theft that enriched them in slavery; the terror that allowed them, for a century, to pilfer the vote; the segregationist policy that gave them their suburbs. They have forgotten, because to remember would tumble them out of the beautiful Dream and force them to live down here with us, down here in the world. I am convinced that the Dreamers, at least the Dreamers of today, would rather live white than live free.

But I fear I am misrepresenting this book to you. It is not an unrelenting jeremiad enumerating all the ways that the majority class has subjugated and made life impossible for the minority. Coates isn’t afraid to turn his critical lens on himself, and he openly relates the ways in which his preconceived notions about race have been upended over time. The turning point for him was attending Howard University, a historically black college that he refers to as Mecca. There for the first time he realized the full spectrum of what it meant to be black:

I saw everything I knew of my black self multiplied out into seemingly endless variation. There were the scions of Nigerian aristocrats in their business suits giving dap to bald-headed Qs in purple windbreakers and tan Timbs. There were the high-yellow progeny of AME preachers debating the clerics of Ausar-Set. There were California girls turned Muslim, born anew, in hijab and long skirt. There were Ponzi schemers and Christian cultists, Tabernacle fanatics and mathematical geniuses. It was like listening to a hundred different renditions of “Redemption Song,” each in a different color and key.

The lessons Coates learned at Howard — few of which were absorbed in classrooms, he readily admits — as well as later insights gained from an extended trip to Paris and his eventual settling in New York to raise his family, helped shape him into the man and the extraordinary writer he is today. A man who can rage, rage, against the injustice that his people have been subjected to, without giving in to despair or acting out in anger. Above all, he is clear-eyed about the the way the world really is.

We are captured, brother, surrounded by the majoritarian bandits of America. And this has happened here, in our only home, and the terrible truth is that we cannot will ourselves to an escape on our own. Perhaps that was, is, the hope of the movement: to awaken the Dreamers, to rouse them to the facts of what their need to be white, to talk like they are white, to think that they are white, which is to think that they are beyond the design flaws of humanity, has done to the world.

I marked so many more quotes in this books, all representing either moments where Coates caused me to see something in a completely new light, or made me rethink an assumption I hadn’t even realized I held until he shattered it. I’ll just leave you with this:

The power is not divinity but a deep knowledge of how fragile everything — even the Dream, especially the Dream — really is.

>86 rosalita: Seems like a review to me, Julia, and an excellent one of a hard book to review (IMO). Thumb from me.

The fact that Between the World and Me is being so widely read makes me optimistic that he's helping a lot of people see the problem(s) more clearly. Systemic remedies remain a challenge, but personal changes in viewpoint mean a lot, too.

>66 rosalita: Excellent report, Julia. I agree with Joe about how difficult that book is to encapsulate in a few paragraphs. I read a library copy, keeping it up to the due date. I worked on a report but was hamstrung by not having the book in hand. (But even with book in hand, I'm not sure I could have pulled a worthy report together.) So I repeat, excellent work.

>15 rosalita: Very good report on Dear Committee Members. I could a BB from a 75er last year, read it, and loved it.

>somewhereupthere You talked about a Shakespeare Folio being displayed for a time at Uni. of Iowa. I had a good friend--he died about 15 years ago--who was given a Shakespeare Folio by his college roommate. The roommate was among the wealthiest Americans (Forbes 400 sort of wealthy). Charlie said he really didn't know what to do with it. "It's in a safe deposit box, and once in a while, I get it out and look at it." Charlie and I were separated by forced retirement--we both got shoved out the door--and I don't know what became of it when he died.

Finally, write your book reports as long as necessary. That's what I say.

>66 rosalita: Yeah, I found that one a great read, too. Lots of quotable stuff there, for sure.

Great, thoughtful comments on the Coates, Julia. I need to get to that soon.

Thank you to Joe, Bill, Ursula and Beth for saying kind things about my review of Between the World and Me. It was a hard one to write, so I'm glad that it resonated a bit with all of you.

>67 jnwelch: Joe, I was thinking last night that there would be great value for communities to select this book as a "group read" and provide facilitated discussion spaces to talk about it. Of course, ordinary book clubs could read it, too, but I think it's the kind of book that would benefit from having someone help guide the discussion because so many of the themes are just flat-out uncomfortable for people to confront on their own. Maybe I'm selling people short, though.

>68 weird_O: Wow, to own a Shakespeare Folio! I think I'd be like your friend, awed to have it but not really sure what to do with it. I hope it went to a good home. And thanks for your kind words about my reviews in general, Bill. I try to keep them short and snappy but some books just need more. And sometimes, like with the Coates book, the review sort of morphs into a personal reflection more than a review, but I reckon since I'm not getting paid for them that's probably all right now and then.

>66 rosalita: Good review, Julia, I added it to mount TBR as it is available in Dutch.

>72 FAMeulstee: Thank you very much, Anita (or Frank?). I would find it very interesting to hear your thoughts as a European about the book after you've read it.

87. The Emperor of All Maladies: A biography of cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee.

I finished this very hefty (more than 700 pages, not counting endnotes and bibliography) just hours before the Overdrive fairy godmother turned my library e-copy back into a pumpkin. While the book took me a while to read (10 days, which is an eternity for me), it was certainly not due to its readability or the interest I had in the material. The book's subtitile, "A biography of cancer," sounds like a gimmick but is actually pretty much right on. Mukherjee ranges from ancient Egypt to modern America as he explores how the diseases we now lump together as cancer have slowly given up some of their secrets to the doctors and scientists seeking "magic bullets" to vanquish them forever.

I am not a science nerd but I found the science-y bits quite easy to follow. Some of the descriptions of the treatments that were thought to be effective in earlier times are gruesome but merely reflect the state of what was known about biology and medicine at the time. It was fascinating to read about how the "war on cancer" has waxed and waned with the political tides, and how elusive that goal of a permanent cure still is, even as we continue to expand the boundaries of our knowledge about what causes cancer to emerge in any given body and how it grows and spreads.

(Optional personal bit: I am a cancer survivor myself, having been diagnosed in 2008 with Hodgkin's lymphoma (one of the "good" cancers to have, as Mukherjee explains). I've been in remission since August 2008 and at this point my odds of staying that way are quite good. The odds of contracting a secondary cancer caused by the chemotherapy I received are slightly less good, and even less remote is the likelihood of developing serious heart problems, also as a side effect of the poisons poured into my body to kill the cancer cells. There were other, non-theoretical side effects as well: I have permanently lost about 40 percent of my normal lung capacity and I have lingering neuropathy in my extremities. Even on my worst days I consider myself exceedingly lucky to be alive, and after reading this book I'm more grateful than ever to the oncologists, scientists, nurses and other people who contributed to my survival when so many others have not been so fortunate.)

>74 rosalita: I've got that one on my Read Soon shelf...

88. Any Other Name by Craig Johnson.

The next in my ongoing read of the Longmire series of Western mysteries. Walt is on the road with mentor, former sheriff and current troublemaker Lucian Connally when he gets himself entangled in a case involving missing young women and possible human trafficking in an adjacent county. The race is on to solve the case and still make it to Philadelphia in time for the birth of his first grandchild. I love these characters, and the storyline itself was very interesting, but I deducted a half-star because I found the premise that Walt would essentially be in charge of solving a case in another sheriff's jurisdiction with minimal local involvement is just so improbable. Extra credit for the return of sexy, foul-mouthed undersheriff Vic, though, and a decent amount of page time for Henry Standing Bear.

>74 rosalita: This is on my to-read list and I really should move it up. My family has had various cancers across generations, and one of my best friends just went through treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma and also has lingering neuropathy. I was a little afraid of reading because of the personal connections, but I think there's enough distance now (my grandmother died of lung cancer a few years ago) that I could.

>73 rosalita: Woo, I didn't know you'd seen the problem up close and personal, Julia. Feeling "exceedingly lucky to be alive" - I'll bet.

I'd seen positive comments about The Emperor of All Maladies, and you make it sound worthwhile. Our mother died of cancer in 2010, so I just couldn't read it before, but maybe it's time.

>74 rosalita: I'm another one who has good intentions about this book. The ancient history of medicine bit in particular sounds fascinating. Great review.

Julia you cracked me up when you ignored your own thread! That sounds like something I would do. You have been reading some awesome books. I loved Any Other Name. I've been watching Longmire on Netflix with my aunt Dora. I tell her, "you ready to watch another episode of our boyfriend?" She just smiles and nods yes. Boy howdy, as Walt would say.

>77 bell7: >78 jnwelch: >79 charl08: Thanks for your kind words, Mary, Joe, and Charlotte. I think it's easier to read something like this when you're the one who had cancer as opposed to having watched a friend or loved one go through it. At any rate, I hope if you all do decide to read it that you find it worthwhile and not too painful.

>80 luvamystery65: I'm such a klutz, Roberta! I binged my way through the entire Longmire TV series on Netflix and now am impatiently waiting until the next season is released, which I believe is next month? Soon, anyway. I can see I'm in good company with you and Aunt Dora on my side. Boy howdy, indeed.

>73 rosalita: It is Anita, but the the library is a joint effort of my husband (Frank) & me :-)

I have put the book on my wishlist at the library and hope to get to it later this year.

>82 FAMeulstee: Ah, thanks for letting me know it's you, Anita. I didn't want to make any assumptions or mistakenly use the wrong name. :-)

Julia - As usual, excellent, thoughtful comments on The Emperor of Maladies - one of these days; the size is daunting...

I read the first Longmire and liked it but then watched a few episodes and liked those as well, so I thought I would ignore the books and just watch the series. Another season coming out? That's good news.

The Emperor of Maladies went on my wishlist some time ago, but after my brother's death last year, I also am waiting for some distance.

>84 BLBera: Thanks, Beth.

>85 ronincats: I understand, Roni.

89. Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters.

In Ben Winters' 19th century America, the Civil War never happens. On the brink of that cataclysmic event that tore a nation in two over the issue of slavery, a president is assassinated and the North blinks. Instead of war, the two sides hammer out a compromise that allows slavery to continue in the states where it already exists and forbids it everywhere else. The compromise is written into the nation's Constitution as a series of amendments, of which the 18th is particularly devastating: it makes it illegal for any law to ever be passed to outlaw slavery in the states that choose to practice it.

In Ben Winters' 21st century America, only four states still permit slavery: the Hard Four of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Carolina (the previous North and South having come together as one entity). Everywhere else, slavery is outlawed and the importation of goods made with slave labor is forbidden. Thus smokers are forced to resort to Pakistani cigarettes and consumers can only purchase goods that are either made in the North or imported from countries that don't subscribe to the international treaty forbidding trade with the United States as long as slavery is legal anywhere within its borders. It's all part of the so-called Clean Hands Initiative, in which northern states make a show of not trafficking in products made by Persons Bound to Labor, or PBs for short. But the squeamishness does not extend to protecting slaves who manage to escape the Hard Four, as Fugitive Slave Laws still require any northern law enforcement officer to capture and return escaped slaves to their owners. When local police are unwilling to do so, the U.S. Marshals step in, and that's where Jim Dirkson comes in. He's a black man working undercover for the Marshal Service. He uses his race and his knowledge of how the network of smugglers who help escapees get to Canada works to find escaped PBs and capture them for return to slavery. The dichotomy between who he really is and what he does haunts him:

I was a monster, but way down underneath I was good. Wasn't I? Wasn't I good? Didn't I have some good part of me, buried deep undergrounds, beneath Jim Dirkson and Kenny Morton and Albie the gardener and whoever and whatever else I was? I was good below it. I was, and I am. Good underground. In the buried parts of me are good things.

Jim soon finds himself forced to choose between his handlers at the U.S. Marshals Service (who literally hold his life in their hands if he fails to do what he is told) and his growing belief that the escaped slave he is seeking, Jackdaw, should be allowed to go free. There is plenty of action in this book but much of the tension is set between Jim's ears, as his conscience wars with his survival instincts.

Alternative histories, when they are well-written as this one is, are fascinating. Winters retains many of the historical figures and events that we know with subtle alterations to account for slavery's ongoing existence. James Brown, Godfather of Soul, lives in Winters' America, where he was born into slavery and defects while on a carefully supervised concert tour in the North and ends up in Canada (reminiscent of the way Soviet or Cuban dissidents used to defect). At first I found the numerous similarities somewhat offputting, but I realized that Winters was making a statement about the realities of life as an African-American in the land of the free. They may not be literal slaves but they certainly don't participate equally in the vaunted equality that we Americans like to pat ourselves on the back for. The black citizens in the supposedly slave-free north of Winters' America are still subject to serious racism, discrimination and lack of economic opportunity, even as they live as ostensible freedmen and -women.

There's a serious message in these pages, but there's also a fine action thriller plot as well. I suspect readers looking for either will find much to like in this novel.

One last quote. Jim has infiltrated a plantation in Alabama in search of information. His cover story is as the personal slave of a white woman, which will allow him to eventually return to the free North, while all the Persons Bound to Labor that surround him here will never leave this place alive.

What do you do with that fact? Do you hold it like a stone in your hand? Pitch it away from this great height and watch it fall? Do you swallow it and feel it in your throat till the day you die?

90. A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell.

I have never read a book by Mary Doria Russell that I did not love, and this one is no exception. I already knew that Russell was an extraordinary historical researcher who combined meticulous details of the past with unforgettable characters, as she did in The Sparrow and Doc, to name two of my favorites.

This book tells the story of Jewish refugees in northern Italy during the final months of World War II. The Nazi regime is in its death throes, but that only increases the urgency of the Jewish extermination it has been carrying out. What they weren't counting on was the warm-hearted Italians, who had lived in harmony with Jews for many decades. They bravely defied the orders of their Nazi occupiers and risked their own lives to hide as many Jews as possible among their farms, churches, and convents. Native Italian Jews, as well as Jews fleeing from the Nazi threat all over Europe, found sanctuary in the mountains and valleys of the Piedmont region.

This book is fiction, but much of it is based on true stories. And so you probably know going in that there won't be a lot of happy endings, even for those who survive the end of the war. But Russell never fails to slip some hope in among the despair, a thread of grace in the tapestry of pain that was created. This book, these characters, will stay with me for a long time.

Two nice reviews, Julia, of two books that I want to read. I've had the Russell on my shelf FOREVER.

Thanks, Katie! You will enjoy both, I believe. I had the Russell on my wishlist for a long time and finally snagged it a couple of months ago in an e-sale. I'm glad I did.

91. The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky, and Death by Colson Whitehead.

Full disclosure: I only read this book because I wanted to read something by Whitehead, who's been on my wishlist forever. Neither Zone One nor Underground Railroad were available at the library, so I snagged this one, which is a memoirish account of his experience playing in the World Series of Poker a few years ago. It was my first Whitehead, but it won't be my last. I learned that he is a marvelous writer, dexterous with language in ways that are both witty and thoughtful. The book and subject are rather slight and not really my bag, since I have never played a hand of poker in my life, but I still enjoyed his tale and look forward to reading another of his books with a little more meat on its bones.

I'm impressed that he made that book interesting and enjoyable for someone who's never played a hand of poker, Julia. The one of his I've read, which shows his skill for sure, is the bizarre The Intuitionist. I can't wait to get to Underground Railroad, although it's going to be a while.

>92 jnwelch: Yeah, he pretty much lost me whenever he started doing play-by-play of calculating how much to bet, when to bet, who to call or raise, when to go "all-in". The only redeeming quality is that while he plays regularly in a game with friends at home, he was nearly as ignorant of the strategic implications as I was. Some of it still went over my head but it could have been much worse. And I suppose I would have read more closely if I were actually looking to pick up tips!

I am also looking forward to Underground Railroad but I wanted to let a little time pass between Underground Airlines and that one. Which is just as well, because the wait list is still fairly lengthy for the Whitehead book. I'll have to look for The Intuitionist next time I go to the library.

Julia, I've been getting hit by book bullets left, right and centre on your thread. Between the World and Me, The Emperor of All Maladies and Underground Airlines have been added to or bumped up the wishlist.

>94 souloftherose: Yay, Heather! That's what I like to hear. I hope you are rewarded with some good reads when you get to them.

    

92. Bones Never Lie by Kathy Reichs.
Swamp Bones by Kathy Reichs.

I'm lumping these together since they are from the same series, featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, but I'm only counting the full-length novel in my reading total. The novel is pretty standard for the series, as Temperance learns that a series of missing children in North Carolina and Vermont may be the work of a serial killer she helped uncover in Montreal several years earlier, who escaped without a trace. I would enjoy these books so much more if Tempe, who clearly has a brilliant scientific mind, would not repeatedly do stupid things like putting herself in mortal danger by trying to solve crimes by herself without informing the police or getting backup. It's like the author has crafted a protagonist who is a forensic anthropologist because that's the field she knows best (and that aspect of the books is consistently excellent), but she can't help wanting her heroine to also be the one who charges in and catches the bad guy single-handed. It just doesn't work for me, so I'm deducting a half-star from the final rating for general improbability.

In the short story, Tempe finds herself in Florida trying to piece together some human remains that get ingested by various Burmese pythons slithering wild in the Everglades. It's a decent story although suffers from the same improbable elements as the rest of the series.

Congratulations, By the Way: Some thoughts on kindness by George Saunders.

Here's another short-short that I'm not counting in my yearly totals, mostly because it took me less than 20 minutes to read. It's a commencement speech that Saunders gave to some university or other, sometime or other (you can see the details escaped me). As a commencement speech, it's probably pretty good: moderately amusing, elements of profundity that don't go too deep, short. In the end, way too short to provide any meaningful reflection, at least for me. I mean, it's not the worst thing I've ever read ...

>96 rosalita:

Hmm... I can't imagine Burmese pythons eating stray limbs (I'm assuming) unless there was literally nothing else to eat...

>98 lyzard: As far as I can remember, it was presented as "well, it was lying there, and it was fresh, so the python was happy to chow down on it." Although one foot was found inside a heron that had been eaten by a python, so kind of a "six degrees of separation" thing there.

I can believe the latter more easily! :D

Wow, Julia - you got me with Underground Airlines, A Thread of Grace and the Whitehead. As always, your comments are thoughtful and give me a good sense of the book.

Reichs seems to get more and more outlandish as the series progresses. Maybe it's time to end it?

>100 lyzard: :-D

>101 BLBera: Three direct hits, Beth! That's a pretty good score for me. I think you'll enjoy all of them. I'm starting to think you are right about Reichs. She hasn't quite fallen into Patricia Cornwall territory for me in terms of ridiculousness, but I think she's running out of ideas. I need to find a new forensic-type series to read, because I do enjoy that genre. If you have any recommendations, let me know!

Just saw a promo for the new memoir coming out by Bruce Springsteen--and guess who I immediately thought of? Titled Born to Run and coming out on the 27th from Simon & Schuster.

I love that Bruce and I are associated in your mind, Roni! And yes, I've already got it on pre-order. :-)

Hi Julia! Just catching up a bit over here and I see you gave 5 stars to Thread of Grace! I had planned on reading it in August but that thing called the Booker Long List distracted me. Maybe later this month or October.
Also, want to read Underground Airlines and I just brought home Underground Railroad by Whitehead. Ugh! So many good books to read!
Hope you're enjoying a nice long weekend!

>46 rosalita: I checked to see that I only gave two stars to What the dead Know. I really didn't care for it. I agree with your review.

Happy weekend to you. I'm sorry it is so long since I visited here. I missed a lot.

Hey Julia - I enjoyed the Beverly Connors series, both the Lyndsey Chamberlain and the Diane Fallon series. I like the forensic anthropology stuff as well.

Julia, I was (and am) a big fan of A Thread of Grace. I love how MDR can write so well in different genres. I am a sucker for good historical fiction and this is one of the best I've read.

So, how have you been? I hope you are getting some of this cooler weather we have now. It isn't going to last long but I am sure enjoying it. Keep up the good work on reading and reviews! Any word on the Iowa Writer's Festival yet?

Hi Julia, I have to admit to feeling a little guilty when I realize that both Zone One by Colson Whitehead and A Thread of Grace have been on my wishlist for years! I really need to push both those books closer to the top, and of course, I have The Underground Railroad on that list as well. Someday ....

>103 ronincats: >104 rosalita: Ha! I immediately thought of you, too, Julia, when I saw that he had a book coming out! I somehow just knew that you already had it on pre-order, though...

Ugh. I have been laid low with a stupid late-summer cold this weekend. We have progressed through the "throat on fire" and "hacking cough" stages and are now holding steady at the "how can one nose hold all that mucus?" stage. It's the perfect way to spend a holiday weekend.

>105 Carmenere: Oh, Lynda, I do hope you're able to read A Thread of Grace soonish. It's awfully good.

>106 Whisper1: I'm glad it wasn't just me, Linda. It just didn't grab me.

>107 BLBera: Thanks for the recommendations, Beth. I will check out both those series.

>108 Donna828: Agreed on Russell. She's great. It is cooler here and I'm enjoying having the windows open but this cold has sucked all my energy to enjoy the weather out of me.

>109 DeltaQueen50: I still have to get to Zone One, Judy. Now I know he's a terrific writer, I'm looking forward to it even more.

>110 scaifea: Thanks for thinking of me, Amber. Yep, you know me so well. :-)

>111 rosalita: - Julia - Your symptoms sound just like mine. I've been blaming allergies. I think we are at a 10/10 on the pollen forecast today. Mine has progressed into a sinus infection. Not the way I was hoping to spend the holiday weekend, but I'm glad for the extra time to rest. Hope you feel better soon!

>112 porch_reader: Maybe it's allergies, Amy? I don't usually get the sore throat and the hacking cough with allergies, though, and this all started on Thursday night. Whatever it is, I want it gone pronto!

Oh, dang, Julia, I'm sorry that you have a cold! I hope it goes away fast, friend.

Stopped by for a lurky look, got interested, spilled my coffee. Sorry!

Get well, Julia. I had an allergy-related cough this summer. I hope the extra day off helps.

Julia I started The Shining on audio yesterday. Chapter five already has me scared! LOL!

Another get well soon from me. Summer colds suck.

>114 scaifea:, >116 BLBera:, >118 charl08: Thank you for the well wishes, Amber, Beth and Charlotte! Things are slowly improving, and I'm sorry to report that I should be able to go to work tomorrow. :-)

>115 weird_O: Hey there, Bill! Happy to have you drop by. No worries about the coffee stains; this place is due for a mop-up one of these days.

>117 luvamystery65: Oh, how fun! If you are scared by Chapter 5 I cannot wait until you get to Chapter 19!

93. Dead Letter Drop by Peter James.

This was a free offer from Kobo. It's the first book written by someone (Peter James) whom I'd never heard of but who apparently has written a metric ton of crime and suspense novels, many of them quite successful. Or, as his homepage declares: "International Bestselling Thriller Writer".

Dead Letter Drop wasn't terrible but it was pretty clearly a first novel. It's a spy yarn featuring a British MI-5 (or is it 6? I can never keep them straight) agent operating in New York City, who has to figure out who is trying to kill him and why before they succeed. It was written around 1980, so the bad guys are Russians, of course (although I suppose that particular trope is coming back into vogue these days). Overall, it's pretty sloppy with regards to details, leaving me to wonder if Mr. James had ever actually visited New York City before writing it. He sends one potential assassin out to sea in a rowboat off Fire Island (which is the south shore of Long Island) and writes that his next landfall would be Nantucket. Which, no; Nantucket is north of New York. Another gaffe concerns the hero walking into a convenience store in Boston in the middle of a late-November snowstorm and watching a baseball game on the television behind the counter. Yeah, no. And the timeline in general is wonky all to hell and back: the book opens the week before Thanksgiving and even though no more than a few days seem to pass before the book ends it's already Christmas. Just weird.

Still, the writing isn't terrible and the plot certainly keeps moving. I might be inclined to sample another James book, if only to try to catch a glimpse of what made him an international bestseller. The one thing I know for sure is this one wasn't it.

P.S. Why are free books so often worth exactly what you pay for them?

Just about to start chapter 19 of The Shining and the chapter title alone is enough to put me off until tomorrow. It's starting to get dark now Julia! I will not listen to this book after dark.

>121 luvamystery65: I hope you had some sweet dreams, Roberta, and you're able to tackle Chapter 19 in the full daylight!

>121 luvamystery65: Peek-a-Boo, I see you!

>122 rosalita: & >123 thornton37814: I listened this morning on the way to work and I laughed out loud when he said, "scaredy cat, scaredy cat, scaredy cat" because that's what I Googled to get this image. Ha ha!

I love your comment on free books being worth what you pay for them. I've become more judicial about what I pick up when it's a deal. Right now I have about 400 books on my Nook, and there are probably 100 I will never read. I need to start deleting.

>125 BLBera: I am much more selective about Kindle freebies now than I used to be. I regularly get emails from a publisher for which I reviewed a couple of the most dreadful books I've ever read. I just automatically delete those. I figure the new ones are no better than the old. I sometimes take a chance on NetGalley titles, but usually only if it is a major publisher. If it's not a major publisher, it really has to align with my interests.

>125 BLBera: >126 thornton37814: Yes! I am much more selective about both freebies (which I have always been fairly immune to unless it was an author I know) but also the $1.99 deals. It seems like such a small amount, but unless I think I'm going to read a book more than once, or it's the sort of nonfiction or history book that I know I will want to read at my leisure, what am I going to do with all those ebooks once I've read them? You can't sell them back at the used-book store, and you can't even give them away to friends who might like them. I will only make an exception if it's a book I really want to read, and the library doesn't have it as an ebook. Even so, I bought one just yesterday: Kinsey and Me, because I do enjoy Grafton's Alphabet Series and this is related but not one of the main mysteries.

>127 rosalita: Most of my read books are stored at Amazon. I remove them from the device. I'm picky about the ones I pay for too.

>128 thornton37814: Oh yes, of course. I don't keep books on my e-reader once I've read them. But they are there in my library online and they will never be read again. It seems such a waste.

94. All Things Cease to Appear by Elizabeth Brundage.

I'm not sure what to think about this one. The blurb calls it a literary thriller, and the prologue sets it up as a ghost story with some good spooky potential. And then ... it turns into a regular old novel, a study of marriage between incompatible people, and the damage it does to the children born into it. "Regular old novel" probably isn't quite fair, because I thought it was really well-written, and interesting, and the author created some great characters who were very memorable and either sympathetic or not, as needed, but ... the ghost is still there, but not at all spooky, and what seemed like it might be a murder mystery with supernatural elements turned out to be much more straightforward than that. So ... yeah. I don't know what to think about this one. My criteria for 3.5 stars is "I'm glad I read this" and I guess I am. So there's that.

95. Sacred Clowns by Tony Hillerman.

Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee investigate two seemingly unrelated murders: one of a high-school shop teacher on the Navajo Reservation, and the other of a "sacred clown" in the religious traditions of the Tano tribe. The working relationship between Leaphorn and Chee is much improved in this outing, although readers who prefer less personal romance mushy-mush and more mystery wham-bam may be disappointed.

I love it, Julia: "less personal romance mushy-mush"!

I know some people get impatient with that sort of thing, Beth! And honestly, Jim Chee's romantic life is pretty dang boring, so I was glad there was at least some minor steps toward resolution in this one. But yeah, still boring.

Look what showed up in my email this afternoon!



That also happens to be Bruce Springsteen's birthday and the day his memoir is released, so a red-letter day all around.

Boy howdy!

I need to catch up on the series. I'm still only on season two!

It looks like I need to get Netflix! I was going to try and get the recordings from the library, but four seasons is a lot to catch up on. I'm not looking forward to reading Sacred Clowns this month…but only because the lone copy owned by my library is Large Print. At least I can read it without my glasses! Have a good weekend, Julia.

Boy howdy indeed, Ro!

>136 BLBera: >137 Donna828: I hope you both have a chance to watch some Longmire soon.

96. Runaway Dream: Born to Run and Bruce Springsteen's American Vision by Louis P. Masur.

Last year was the 40th anniversary of the release of Born to Run, the album many critics consider to be Bruce Springsteen's finest work (for me, the top spot circulates among a handful of albums depending on my mood and circumstances). This book is presented as an in-depth look at the making of that album, including a song-by-song analysis that was really interesting to someone like me who loves music but doesn't play or know much about the particulars.

Unfortunately, that's only one chapter of the book and the only chapter that was completely new to me. The rest of the book is fleshed out with an overview of Springsteen's life and career, both before and after Born to Run, that as a card-carrying crazyfan I was already very familiar with, even to the extent of being able to identify which interviews or articles various quotes were pulled from. And the tense drama surrounding the recording of the album, which took months and months, while reviewed adequately here is better covered in the documentary Wings for Wheels that accompanied the re-mastered version of the album back in 2005.

So superfans won't find a whole lot new in this book. But casual fans or readers interested in musical analysis or the music-making process should get much more value out of it. The writing is fine, and in my limited judgment the musical analysis seems original and accurate (there's lots of talk about how various songs on BTR modulate from major to minor chords and the effect that's meant to give, and even though I listened to each song several times as I read the segment about it in the book, I'm still not sure I could identify a minor chord if one walked up and spit on me).

But really, this was just the appetizer, an amuse-bouche, if you will, in preparation for the release on Friday of Born To Run: The Autobiography written by The Boss himself, which I am eagerly anticipating. (You probably already guessed that last part, right?)

Hi Julia, my hubby and I are counting down the time until Season 5 of Longmire is available. We love that show.

Thought I should let you know that I read a series by Peter James that I love. It's a police procedural featuring Inspector Roy Grace. It's not all that literary, but his stories often keep me on the edge of my seat.

>140 DeltaQueen50: Thanks for the tip, Judy! I will check out that series. It sounds like something I'd really like.

I imagine Julia is busy reading the Boss's memoir.

Congratulations on reading 96 books thus far! I'm lagging behind this year. I'll make it to 75, but I won't have the large numbers of previous years.

Happy Weekend of reading when you may be transported to magical places.

>134 rosalita: Yes! Go Walt! Go everyone on that show!

I'm enjoying your Springsteen crazyfandom. I've been seeing a lot of positive buzz about the autobio coming out.

>144 jnwelch: Joe, I listened to NPR on my way home from work yesterday. There was a fascinating talk about Springsteen's writing. Also, I didn't know he suffered from severe depression.

Hi Rosalita! Like you, I am so excited for the fifth season of Sherriff Walt Longmire, although I did hear it may be the last one. : (

Loving your reviews and your Springsteen love. I am assuming you have pre-ordered the soon-to-be-released autobiography?!

Joe, Linda, Kim:

I haven't started the new Longmire season yet, as I am wrapping up a summer-long bingewatch of The West Wing, which I inexplicably never got around to watching before. I only have 3 or 4 more episodes to go. It's been a nice escape from our current political season.

Hi Julia, we are saving Season 5 of Longmire for when the weather turns cold and rainy. It seems we've been waiting so long for this season to come out that we don't want to rush it.

Hi Julia - Great minds - I've been rewatching 'THe West Wing" as well. Elections always remind me of that show. THe first five seasons are the best.

>148 DeltaQueen50: Judy, that sounds like a good plan, but I'm sure I won't have the willpower to wait that long. I watch so little television that there is no reason for me to hold off on a show that I know I will love. And all too soon, I will be finished with it.

>149 BLBera: Hi, Beth! I watched the last episode last night, so I can take an overall look at the series. I thought it stumbled badly in the third season, after 9/11, and for a couple of seasons was far too obsessed with terrorism and anti-Arab, anti-Muslim rhetoric. Of course, it would have been ridiculous to not address terrorism given what was going on in the real world, but I thought they missed some real opportunities to delve more deeply into what our fear of terrorist attacks led us to do, like the Patriot Act, and racial profiling, etc. Instead, the show (in my opinion) just fed into the paranoia of the day with plotlines like assassinating a foreign government official and Zoey's kidnapping. I thought it got back on track around Season 5, and while I didn't love all the time spent out of the West Wing on the campaign trail during the last two seasons, I still thought the episodes were interesting and well done. So overall, I'm glad I finally got around to watching it.

Yes, Zoey's kidnapping was a little over the top. Was that the third season? I've only made it to midway through the second this time around.

97. Emma by Jane Austen.

Emma Woodhouse is one of Jane Austen's most infuriating heroines. She is rich, spoiled, and as prone to meddling in the lives of others as she is to neglecting her own self-improvement. She should be insufferable, and the fact that she is not is a credit to Austen's clear-eyed ability to create three-dimensional characters, put them into situations where they do not shine, and then redeem them in the end.

Really, Emma's problem is that there is no one who is both her age and her social status in the small English country town where she lives with her widowed father, who is a study in self-centered spoiling himself. Even as she is doing things that make the reader want to slap her, Austen gives us insight into Emma's thoughts that show she is not wholly unaware of where her faults lie and her sincere desire to overcome them, even if she isn't quite sure how to accomplish that.

Many years ago, I read a biography of Rex Stout, who created the ineffable private detectives Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. When biographer John McAleer asked Rex in the final days of his life what Wolfe was doing at that moment, Rex said, "He's re-reading Emma ." Indeed, Stout had that famous misogynist detective declare in more than one book that Austen was his favorite writer, and Emma the perfect novel. I wouldn't call it perfect, and I'm not sure it's even my favorite Austen, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

And finally, I would be remiss if I didn't draw your attention toward the tutored read of Emma led by our great friend Liz/lyzard, which fills in some of the gaps regarding life and customs of the 19th century and makes the book so much more enjoyable to read.

*waving hello*

98. The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer.

Sir Waldo Hawkridge, leading Corinthian in London society, is known as the Nonesuch — as there is none such as awesome as he. Already obscenely rich, he inherits another estate, Broom Hall, from a reclusive uncle and conceives a scheme to set up the second of his philanthropic orphanages in the midst of the Yorkshire countryside. He travels there to set things in motion, stirring up what passes for the local society scene and losing his heart to a governess who has the misfortune of trying to tame 17-year-old beauty and heiress Tiffany Wield, one of the wildest, most spoiled, most selfish, most insufferable creatures that Heyer ever devised — and she's created some doozies.

Looking back at these last two reviews in succession, I can clearly see that at least some of the reason that Austen's Emma got a more sympathetic reading from me is that in contrast to the Terrible Tiffany, Emma Woodhouse seems like a paragon of virtue!

99. Kinsey and Me by Sue Grafton.

This is an unusual book. The first half consists of short stories featuring Grafton's most enduring character, Kinsey Millhone, star of the Alphabet Mystery series. The stories are snappy and well-plotted and lack nothing in the way of Grafton's breezy first-person narration in the voice of Kinsey. My only regret is that due to their brevity there is no room for my favorite Grafton supporting character, the handsome octogenarian Henry Pitts.

The second half is a series of short stories/essays/vignettes featuring a character named Kit Blue, who Grafton describes in the introduction as her younger self. The pieces explore the sense of devastation and loss that Grafton/Blue felt after the death of her alcoholic mother and her father's subsequent remarriage, even as her own marriages fall apart. They are interesting psychological studies but don't really feature much in the way of plot or storyline. Still, Grafton eloquently captures her own pain and confusion growing up with two alcoholic parents whom she loved very much even as they failed to do much if any parenting.

100. Open Season by C.J. Box.

This is the first novel in the mystery series featuring Joe Pickett, a game warden in Wyoming who stumbles into a mystery involving poachers, endangered species, Big Oil. The Wyoming setting invites comparison to Craig Johnson's Walt Longmire, and at least in this first book Box doesn't quite deliver. Pickett is an appealing protagonist, although I found his portrayal at the outset of the story as a sort of bumbling Barney Fife of the High Plains to be drawn a little too crudely to make his intelligence and deduction skills later in the book entirely believable. Still, it's a promising start to a series that captured my interest enough to pick up the next book.

101. The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports by Jeff Passan.

Regular visitors know I always read a nonfiction baseball book to kick off the season in spring training. This year, with my beloved Chicago Cubs sporting the best record in the major leagues and considered the favorite to win their first World Series since (gulp!) 1908, I thought it would be nice to read another baseball book to celebrate the start of the playoffs last week. I had this book on my e-shelf and it turned out to be an inspired choice.

Passan, a longtime sportswriter most recently for Yahoo Sports, spent three years learning everything he could about baseball pitchers, and more specifically, the throwing arms of baseball pitchers. Dominant pitchers command enormous salaries, and this despite the fact that serious elbow injuries are as common for pitchers as houseflies at a garbage dump. Given the enormous amounts of money at stake, Passan wanted to find out what MLB is doing to figure out how and why pitchers get hurt, and how those injuries might be prevented.

The most notorious pitching injury is a torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), which is located in the elbow. The surgery to replace the UCL, usually with a tendon from the player's own arm or leg, or from a cadaver donor, is known colloquially as "Tommy John surgery" after the first pitcher to ever have the procedure done. John went on to pitch successfully for many years after the surgery, and the surgery has been refined and developed to the point where it has come to see almost routine. Passan makes a convincing case that the high rate of success has had the perverse effect of disincentivizing teams from trying harder to find a way to prevent the injury. And the success rate, along with the growing tendency for young players to play baseball all year around, has led to an explosion of players as young as 12 or 13 having what is still major surgery, with a recovery window of 12-24 months.

Passan does a great job of demystifying the medical and biomechanical aspects of what exactly happens within a pitcher's body and arm when they throw a pitch. And while he never uncovers a "magic bullet" of training or predictive diagnosis that could keep pitchers from blowing out their elbows, he follows up on some promising research developments into the problem, almost all of it being done outside of professional baseball itself. It's hard to believe in an era when the Cubs happily agree to pay 32-year-old Jon Lester $155 million over six years that they aren't trying harder to protect such an outsized investment, but the evidence is right there in Passan's fascinating book.

>156 rosalita: The series does get better after that stumbling start, IMO. Joe becomes increasingly appealing, and his friend Nate, a fascinating character, appears.

>158 jnwelch: I'm glad to hear that, Joe! The first book of a series is almost never the best, in my experience, but there were enough good things to make me think it was worth keeping on. And now that I have your endorsement I feel even more confident about that decision.

I've read them all, and I'm looking forward to the next one. So you can tell, I'm hooked. :-)

>152 rosalita:

Great work, Julia!

(Although I don't thank you for reminding me I need to get my own review written...)

>161 lyzard: No criticism either intended or implied, my friend. I will read your review whenever you post it. :-)

And if you happened to also read the review of The Nonesuch just below that one, do you agree with me that reading a book featuring Terrible Tiffany immediately after reading Emma can make one look upon Austen's heroine much more favorably than one might have otherwise?

All caught up here, Julia! I binge watched season 5 of Longmire. I liked the sub-plots in this season much better than the main plot.

I have dipped into several of the Joe Pickett novels out of order as I've run across them, and I like the series a lot. It's not quite as good as the Walt Longmire series, IMO, but still a solid series.

Great review of Emma! The Rex Stout info is interesting. Emma was my favorite Austen novel for a long time, but Persuasion has now taken the top spot.

>163 cbl_tn: It's not quite as good as the Walt Longmire series, IMO, but still a solid series. Agreed.

>163 cbl_tn: I finished Season 5 of Longmire last night. It wasn't my favorite season but I still enjoyed it. Do you consider the lawsuit to be the main plot of the season? If so, I agree it was the weakest link, at least until the final episode, which of course ends up on a cliffhanger. I also didn't lovethe way Walt was in opposition to both Henry and Cady all season. It just didn't seem true to any of the characters, and was not fun to watch. I sure hope there will be a Season 6.

I really wanted to read Emma along with Liz, but I had a priorities mashup that Emma did not survive, I regret saying.

>166 weird_O: There have been many delays in the tutored read so it's actually still going on, Bill. But even if you can't get to Emma now, the book and the thread will be patiently waiting when you can! Do you have a favorite Austen novel?

>165 rosalita: I think the rift between Walt and Henry and Cady is the theme that ran through the entire season, as well as Walt's conflict with Jacob Nighthorse. Do you remember the 1990s series Profiler? A. Maritinez was Ally Walker's love interest on that show. I don't think they've had any scenes together in Longmire.. I would hate for the series to end on this note.

I am so old, I remember watching A Martinez on the old soap opera Santa Barbara, which was one of my mom's favorite "stories". :-)

I really hope this isn't the end of the series, either. The last episode set up some storylines that could be really interesting to see play out. Not least of which is Vic's pregnancy and the comedy stylings of doofus Travis.

OK, so I need to do some Longmire watching. I've read the first three or four of the Box series. Some of them were a bit gory for me, but I'll probably keep on.

Howdy Julia!

>162 rosalita:

(Now that I can come here without guilt...)

I think if you apply the Tiffany-yardstick, you'd never criticise anyone else for anything! :D

>152 rosalita: Another one who enjoyed your review, Julia, and especially the perceptive and spot-on IMO comment from Rex Stout. Liz did do a sterling job as always even though I was unable to keep up given my travelling commitments during the tutored read.

>172 lyzard: Well, now that's a good point — Tiffany is the sort of outlier who can make everyone else look good in comparison. She's one of my favorite Heyer "villains" — along with Venetia's brother's mother-in-law.

>173 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul! The tutored read is still going on, I think, though I had to give up and just finish the darned thing myself. I always learn so much from our Liz.

102. The Bookseller by Mark Pryor.

I was put on to this series by Beth/BLBera, who reviewed it recently on her thread. It's the first mystery/thriller/suspense (I never know what to call this type of book) featuring Hugo Marston, whose day job is as head of security for the American embassy in Paris. That seems like a setup with lots of potential for good plotting, and perhaps it is in future books. This first one, though, finds Hugo freelancing during an enforced vacation, trying to solve the mystery of his missing friend, one of the picturesque bouqinistes who sell books and small touristy items along the banks of the River Seine. I have never been to Paris and had never heard of the bouqinistes but this book made me want to jump on a plane and visit, both the city and the booksellers. Paris is as much of a character as Hugo, and Pryor writes some great descriptive passages that evoke the romance of the city. The plot is a touch predictable but had a good array of potential suspects and enough red herrings to satisfy a mystery fan. Pryor deftly handles the lengthy character exposition that's inevitable in a series debut without dragging the plot to a standstill. I'd like to read more in this series if they are available at my library.

Glad you liked it, Julia. As usual, very thoughtful comments. I loved the Paris of this novel.

102. Savage Run by C.J. Box.

The second in the new-to-me series featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett. As Joe promised, this one was an improvement on the debut, with Joe showing some initiative and not just serving as a comedic foil for the bad guys. I especially enjoy the depiction of his family life; his relationship with his wife Marybeth and his daughters is nuanced and warm. In this book, Joe stumbles across a conspiracy to assassinate leading environmental activists — a situation that creates some awkwardness at home, since one of the first eco-warriors to be killed is a former flame of Marybeth's. The villains are suitably villainous and their comeuppance is a particular satisfaction this time around. Once again, Wyoming's wild beauty is as much a character as anyone else in the book. Recommended.

103. Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie.

A beautiful but dim American actress seeks out Hercule Poirot to extricate her from her unfortunate marriage to a cruel member of the English aristocracy so she can marry a less-cruel and richer member of the English aristocracy. She swears that if Poirot can't help her, she'll have to kill Lord Edgware. Lo and behold, Lord Edgware dies and the actress is seen in the vicinity. But with her ironclad alibi, she can't possibly be the murderer. So who done it, and why? A nice puzzle with lots of suspects and a satisfying denouement.

>152 rosalita:
I suppose I should read that one day, its a must, really. First though, I really want to read A Room of One's Own as that one is referenced in the book I'm reading at present...The Women's Room. (I know they are different authors, but the can be both considered 'old' books, which I normally don't tackle)

>157 rosalita: and that one too would be good for all-round sport and sociological knowledge! Durn this never ending list of books I must read ;)

Hi, Julia! Love the Christie. I need to get back round to her soon...

>179 LovingLit: So many books, so little time! So what are we both doing on LT? :-)

>180 scaifea: I read a lot of random Christie when I was in high school but I never really liked the Poirot books. Re-reading them now, and in order, I've gained a new appreciation for the funny little man with the magnificent moustaches.

104. Dry Bones by Craig Johnson.

An excellent entry in the Walt Longmire series, as the sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming, is confronted with a mystery involving dinosaur fossils, disputed ownership of said fossils, a missing paleontologist, and a weenie U.S. attorney. Walt's personal life takes a dark turn that nonetheless sets up the potential for some improved storylines on that front going forward.

105. This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp.

A small-town high school in Alabama is rocked by a school shooting. There are some good things here, but overall I felt the characters were too one-dimensional, the author tried too hard to convey emotions by telling us what the characters were feeling instead of showing us, and the adults were all either absent or deeply flawed, leaving a plucky band of students to save their school. Maybe I'm just a jaded old lady, but when students and teachers are being murdered right and left, it's hard to care whether a character gets a Juilliard dance audition. Basically, all the faults I find in most less-than-stellar young adult fiction. This is a topic that is crying out for a strong fictional treatment, but I've read nothing that can match the incredible nonfiction of Dave Cullen's Columbine for making me feel like I am right there witnessing horror.

Hah, Julia: Maybe I'm just a jaded old lady, but when students and teachers are being murdered right and left, it's hard to care whether a character gets a Juilliard dance audition. I agree. I'll pass on this.

You're tempting me with the Longmire series though. I had sort of decided to watch the series and forgo the novels...I may have to rethink that.

Frederica by Georgette Heyer.

This was the second Heyer I ever read (back in 2014) and really confirmed for me that I had finally found a romance author I could stand to read. If you like Heyer's Regency romps, you will love this one. Come for the 19th century cant, stay for the Baluchistan hound.

Edited to remove the number, since I am not counting re-reads in my yearly total.

I love the Baluchistan hound! I think I have a copy of this one somewhere...I should have pulled out a Heyer when I was sick!

>184 BLBera: Yeah, it's definitely not worth your time. I think you posted before I edited my post, but I'm still looking for a fictional story of a school shooting that can match the immediacy and horror of the nonfiction Columbine. That's probably a tall order and maybe an impossible standard.

>182 rosalita: I have 3 chapters to go on Dry Bones.

>184 BLBera: Both!

Hi Julia! I'm catching up on LT while watching the Cubs. Things are looking a little rough at the top of the 7th.

I've never read a Heyer, but you are tempting me. I think I have one on my Kindle. Might be a good one to read around final exam time!

>186 BLBera: I think Heyer is great comfort reading, Beth!

>188 luvamystery65: I'll look forward to what you think when you're finished, Roberta.

>189 porch_reader: I think you might like Heyer, Amy. They are great fun even for this non-romance reader.

I agree with Julia - I generally don't read romance either, but Heyer is fun.

Hi Julia. I had plans to read This is Where it Ends next year but I think I may just not bother. Columbine was a five star read for me and it will be very difficult for any book to reach the heights that Dave Cullen did with it. Thanks for letting me know that TiWiE is a lesser contender.

>192 DeltaQueen50: Thanks for stopping by, Judy. I would hate to have someone not read a book solely on my comments, so you may want to poke around for some other opinions before you decide to give it a pass.

>185 rosalita: I'm glad you had a good time with Frederica, Julia. Me, too. It's one of my favorites of hers so far. (The Grand Sophy remains at the top for me).

Joe, The Grand Sophy was the first Heyer I ever read, and it was a great way to start!

    

Regency Buck by Georgette Heyer.
An Infamous Army by Georgette Heyer.

Caught away from home without a new book to read? Horrors! Thank heavens for an e-reader that had a couple of previously read Heyers on it. I started reading An Infamous Army, realized I didn't remember well the back story for the Taverner siblings, so went back and re-read Regency Buck before finishing Army. Good fluffy fun, although Army is penalized 1.5 stars for having pages and pages of military maneuvers that I had to skim to get to the good stuff.

106. The Fallen Man by Tony Hillerman.

Joe Leaphorn has finally retired from the Navajo Tribal Police and Jim Chee has been named acting lieutenant. The young Navajo policeman quickly discovers that greater status mostly means greater amounts of paperwork, while he's still at the mercy of Captain Largo for his assignments. Of course, Leaphorn can't keep his nose out of anything on the reservation, so he ends up back in the thick of it as a newly discovered body on a sacred mountain is revealed to be a man whose disappearance was investigated by Leaphorn years ago. Was it an accident or murder (I mean, you already know the answer to that one, right?)? And who done it?

Once again I have no quibble with the actual plot, but I'm sick of Chee's romantic soap opera and irritated that after mooning after one woman for several books in a row before catching her, he now appears ready to toss her aside in favor of a cute young Navajo policewoman. In other words, I think Chee's a dink. Meanwhile, Leaphorn's love life is strangely nonexistent after having undergone a revitalization in the last book when he was preparing to head off on a romantic trip to Asia with his anthropologist friend. She, like the title victim, has apparently fallen off the face of the earth, a place I'm beginning to wish most of the regular characters would follow her to.

>197 rosalita: Chee is a dink, but I never understood his attraction for Mary or Janet outside of the physical attraction. I also was disappointed that Leaphorn's romance didn't pan out and the relationship was barely mentioned. Boo! I did like the book and I like Bernie. She sounds like everything Chee should be looking for in a woman.

>198 luvamystery65: I agree that Bernie seems to be a much better fit for Chee, but how long will that last? One book? Two? Mr. Hillerman has made me very cranky with inability to write realistic interpersonal relationships! It was bad enough when he killed off Leaphorn's wife.

The mystery was good, though. I'll give him that. I thought it was interesting how the Navajo were insulted by white people's attempts to climb their sacred mountain, while the white people were pretty much oblivious to the cultural sensitivities. It made me feel bad for the Navajo, and wonder what aspects of other cultures I may be obliviously insulting without realizing it.

>199 rosalita: Shall I spoiler it for you? If you read the blurbs for Anne Hillerman's books you will find out.

I did like the mystery and the way Joe Leaphorn and Chee agreed to do the "right thing" in regards to the logging.

>200 luvamystery65: I don't plan to continue with the Anne Hillerman books, just on general principle. I don't care for other writers continuing series, even if it is the original author's daughter. So I don't care about that spoiler, but you can spoiler me on this: Does Chee ever stop being a dink?

>201 rosalita: I don't know the answer to Does Chee ever stop being a dink? That's the way Hillerman wrote him and I won't be surprised if that never changes. As to Anne Hillerman, I am stopping the Project after we finish Tony Hillerman's last book. Don't know if I will continue to read or not. I'm don't usually read a continuation of the series but I decide on a case by case basis. I can tell you that Bernie Manuelito is the lead character in the Anne Hillerman books and she is Jim Chee's wife. If Bernie likes him now, what incentive does he have to improve? Not much.

Good point, Roberta!

>203 rosalita: Should I change the name of the thread next year to Leaphorn and Dink? :D

Ha!

>196 rosalita:

There are, of course, many who think the military manoeuvres are the good stuff... :D

>206 lyzard: And god bless 'em, I say! I've never been able to keep all the right-left-back-forward-north-south-east-west shenanigans straight in my head. :D

Don't feel the slightest concern over steering me away from a book, Julia. I have so many books that I want to read that moving one aside will do me no harm at all! :)

    

Bones on Ice by Kathy Reichs.
107. Speaking in Bones by Kathy Reichs.

A woman shows up unannounced in Temperance Brennan's office, claiming to have information about some unidentified bones that Brennan worked on several years ago. While investigating her claim, Brennan learns about the phenomenon of "websleuths," amateur detectives who try to solve missing person cases, and the sordid truth behind a strange charismatic offshoot of the Catholic Church. It's an unremarkable entry in this long series, as is the preceding novella Bones on Ice which has Brennan unraveling the mystery of a local young woman who ends up dead on Mount Everest. In both, as is usual with the series, the forensic anthropology tidbits are the best part.

108. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins.

I might be the last person on LT to read this runaway bestseller, and I'm glad I finally got around to snagging it from the library. Amazingly, given the high amount of discussion I have seen around and about the threads, I had managed to keep myself completely unspoiled about what the book was actually about. More often than not, that level of willful ignorance about a book serves me well and that was certainly the case here. Just in case anyone reading this also prefers to start a book with sort of clean slate, I won't belabor the plot here, except to say that Hawkins employs skillfully the tactic of multiple POVs as she slowly uncovers the truth about a missing woman. I found myself drawn into the lives of all the characters and sympathizing with each of them in turn as they revealed their sides of the story. I could see this one making a good prospect for a movie à la Gone Girl. Recommended for fans of twisty psychological mysteries.

>210 rosalita: Morning, Julia! I've got that one on my shelves but haven't read it yet. Someday...

>210 rosalita: Yeah, it was well done, I thought. At least until the ending, which I suppose was required but I found kind of ridiculous.

I am curious about the movie.

>211 scaifea: I'm glad I read it. Often once I finally get around to a book that has received a ton of praise I find it underwhelming, but this one was pretty good.

>212 ursula: It was the ending that really made me think: Oh, this is a movie setup. I have no idea if one is in the works, but it wouldn't surprise me at all.

I thought The Girl on the Train was okay, but I preferred Gone Girl. The movie of the former came out earlier this fall (maybe late summer?) - it stars Emily Blunt. I'll probably watch it on Netflix eventually... Though I say that, and I still haven't seen the movie of GG!

Oh, there already is a movie for Girl on the Train? I did not know that! If it's on Netflix I will check it out between my alternating binges of The Crown and The Rockford Files. :-)

I also liked GG much more than GotT, though both were a step above some of the stuff I've been reading lately.

Oh, I didn't realize you didn't know the movie was already made. :)

I watched Gone Girl on a plane. I don't think I would have seen it otherwise. I actually stayed awake for most of it, which is a rarity for me on a plane!

>215 rosalita: - I am looking forward to "The Crown"!

>216 ursula: There I was thinking I was being all forward-looking with the "this would make a good movie" comment, when it turns out there already is a movie! I guess this just proves once and for all that without television it is impossible to keep up on what the current movies are. I can't remember the last time I saw a trailer.

>217 katiekrug: I'd love to discuss it after you watch it. I've watched 5 of the 10 episodes so far, and I can't say I love it unconditionally, but I won't spoil it for everyone by going into detail. One thing that is definitely not a disappointment are the sets and costumes — utterly gorgeous. (Wait, that's two things, right? Math never was my strong suit.)

Oh, dear. The New York Review of Books is having their annual Holiday Sale. I was just idly browsing and now there are 7 books in my cart. I've heard of alcoholics having blackouts, but apparently bookaholics are also vulnerable!

I am not clicking on the link, I am not.

Your comments matched mine with the latest Reichs. Maybe she should move on and call it a day. I do like the forensic stuff, but the last couple have been ho hum.

I haven't read Girl on a Train yet, so you are not the last one...

Hi, Beth! Oh go on, you know you want to click the link ...

I was stubbornly set on getting caught up on the series but now that I've read everything that's currently out I don't think I'll be in a rush to read any new ones that come down the pike. If they take a turn for the better, let me know! Sustaining such long series is very difficult and few authors can do it well and consistently, I've found.

Hey, there, Julia! After falling off the map for awhile, I'm back and trying to catch up. I've favorited a few of your reviews so I can go back to them and wishlist the books, in particular >66 rosalita: and >74 rosalita:. Excellent reviews!

>201 rosalita: I usually agree about continuations of series by different authors, but I thought the first Anne Hillerman (Spider Woman's Daughter) was really good. Not as crazy about Rock with Wings, the second one, but it wasn't terrible.

Girl on the Train was one of my "Did Not Finish" books for this year. I'm not sure why it failed to keep me interested, but it did. Perhaps it's just not my kind of story.

Howdy, Mary! Thanks for reading my reviews. I think you would like both of those books if you can squeeze them in (the hardest part, I know).

I always find it hard to pinpoint exactly why particular books don't resonate with me. Sometimes it's as simple as being in the wrong emotional/mental space for whatever the book is presenting, or the format of the book doesn't appeal. And sometimes, of course, it's because the book stinks. :-) Thank goodness there are a few other books out there — I'd hate to think you were out of stuff to read!

109. So Terrible a Storm: A Tale of Fury on Lake Superior by Curt Brown.

Just before Thanksgiving 1905, a storm that many consider the largest gale to ever hit the Great Lakes sprung up. The high winds, sleet, and snow battered ships that were trying to squeeze in one more money-making run before the season ended. In all, 29 ships out on the water that week sank or ran aground, and more than 30 sailors died.

The heart of the book focuses on the crew of the Mataafa, a massive ore-hauling ship that foundered when it slammed into the north pier of the shipping channel at Duluth Harbor in Minnesota. The boat didn't sink, but half the crew was trapped at the front of the ship (where they at least had some shelter from the wheelhouse), while the other half were exposed to the elements at the stern. The waves and wind were so heavy that the crew aft could not even walk to the front of the boat without risking being swept overboard. Meanwhile, on shore, the lifesaving crew that would normally have been in the harbor had been called out to another boat in distress several miles away, leaving thousands of people crowding the shoreline to stare helplessly at the ship and its endangered crew just a few hundred yards away yet completely unreachable.

That section of the book is fairly gripping, and Brown really impressed on me both the immensity of the ships and the fierce dangers hiding inside the storm. He was less successful in his attempt to illuminate the fates of some of the other ships that were lost, given that their tragedies occurred out of sight or contact with land. Where no survivors were left to tell the story, Brown has to resort to speculation and surmise, which falls a bit flat. Similarly, he spends some time laying out the ownership structure of the time, with huge conglomerates like U.S. Steel owning larger and larger fleets and taking advantage of the reduced competition to also reduce wages and crew. He implies that some of the captains who chose to make one last run in spite of clear warnings from the weather forecasters may have felt pressured to do so by the shipping companies. But he never really provides any solid evidence that those pressures were a factor in this particular set of tragedies.

All in all, I found this to be an interesting but flawed exploration of a time and place that I knew little about. Mostly it's made me want to read more about the Great Lakes, which can't be a bad thing.

And I can't end this review without linking you to a YouTube video about the most famous Lake Superior shipwreck of them all, which happened 70 years after the events in So Terrible a Storm. The video has some great shots of ships very like the Mataafa and gives a sense of the scale of the ore-carriers.

Gordon Lightfoot, everyone:

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Yes. I've had the experience of loathing a book after the first chapter or two, then months or even years later coming back to it for some reason or other and loving it. As for Girl on the Train, I think I was impatient with the main character for a number of reasons and finally decided she was TSTL and I wasn't interested in going along for the ride. Maybe I'll try again another time, but, as you've pointed out, there are so many other books out there!

Anyway, hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend. Happy Thanksgiving!

Julia--Loving your western run and the Heyers. Also your review of Girl on the Train! Hope you have a wonderful day.

Happy Thanksgiving, Julia.

Happy Thanksgiving, Julia.

>224 rosalita: I'm looking forward to delving into our library's selection of nonfiction about Michigan and the Great Lakes. I was surprised to find out there were so many shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. Having grown up near the ocean, I had always assumed they were far less dangerous than the ocean but I'm finding out I was very wrong. I live not that far from the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, and hopefully I'll get out to check it out.

>230 ursula: Oooh, please report back on the Shipwreck Museum, Ursula. That sounds fascinating. The Great Lakes are quite treacherous; more than 6,000 ships have been wrecked over the years, with more than 25,000 lives lost. The larger lakes, like Superior, are really more like inland oceans in terms of their depth and the potential size of their waves and storms.

I may have to come visit you next summer to check out that museum! I've been wanting to visit the U.P. for a while now and this might be the final nudge.

>231 rosalita: It's at Whitefish Point, which is on Lake Superior. When we went out driving, we only went as far as Tahquamenon Falls, which is about 10 or so miles south of where the museum is. I found out in conversation with our neighbors on Thanksgiving that the Great Lakes are actually eligible to apply for all the grants and things that are classified as being for ocean concerns, so your comment about inland oceans is right on.

Relatively soon I guess we'll know if we'll still be here in the UP when the weather improves.

>231 rosalita: Hey Julia, stop and pick me up on the way.

I'd love to go along and show you two around. The waves around Marquette were quite spectacular last week. Julia, are you coming down for the Joplin meetup? It looks like it will be a small but mighty group!

I am indeed, Donna! I'll leave here about 10 a.m. tomorrow. The good news is that unlike last year there is no hint of freezing rain or sleet in the forecast, so the drive should be a (long) piece of cake.

Oh goodie! I was afraid Terri and Sandy would be lonely on their overnighter. If I didn't have Molly coming over on Wednesday, I would be tempted. It's been many years since I've had a slumber party with the girls...er...grown-up girls! See you tomorrow at Changing Hands Bookstore! Safe travels, my friend.

Have fun at the Joplin meetup you guys!!

Actually, as it turns out I won't be at the Joplin meetup after all. I woke up this morning feeling very unwell, and the prospect of 7 hours driving alone did not seem like a wise thing to do. So alas, I am at home, but I am sure everyone in Joplin will have a splendid time anyway.

Feel better, Julia.

Oh, no! I hope you're already feeling better, Julia!

I have hit the worst reading slump that I have been in ever, maybe. I read 6 books in November, all of them in the first two weeks of the month. I'm still reading books, slowly working my way through Halberstam's The Children (a book that deserves a careful read), but also newspapers, magazines and blog posts, and listening to podcasts, too much of it revolving around our recent regime change. I've also been going to bed early and generally feeling anxious and upset by what's going to become of the world we live in. I feel like when the thing you repeat to yourself to calm down is "It's OK, you're not going to live long enough to see the worst", it's sort of not a good sign. So, that's not so great.

On a happier note, I've been thinking a lot about my reading and LT goals for next year, which I assume will show up on schedule unless 2016 has one more horrible trick up its sleeve. I think my recent trend of reading fewer books is going to continue, and I'm OK with that. But it means there's less room for impulse reads and books that are only so-so. It most emphatically does not mean that I'm only going to read Serious Books next year — heavens, no! But it does mean that I'm going to try to make sure everything I read is something I will greatly enjoy.

I don't know exactly what all this means, and I don't know if it will last the whole year. Who knows? Maybe there will be a Festivus miracle and the President-Elect will somehow not end up being the President. A girl can dream, right?

Anyway, congratulations if you made it all the way through this horribly navel-gazing post. I mostly wanted to think out loud and leave a record of what my current thinking is to help me when the calendar turns over and it's time to start 2017. Cheers to everyone!

>241 rosalita: I heart you Julia!

Hi Julia! I hope you're feeling better and that your reading slump ends soon. I'd send Adrian your way to snuggle with you while you read, but I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to manage without him here! I look forward to reading with Adrian in the evenings.

I think many of us are going through the same feelings of anger, denial, etc., etc. My sleep is crap, and I cope by escaping into books. I have also had to ration my news at night.

And yes, let's dream. A miracle, please.

Does it help to know you have a lot of company, Julia? I, too, have been struggling. I have 7 books recently started - 20, 40, 60 pages in and I can't bear to pick them up again. And it's not the books, I'm sure. My husband and I are both long time news junkies and we can barely get through Rachel Maddow these days. He's not online, so when I start reading political stuff, he alternately gets mad at the state of the country or just wanders away to read. I'm reading News of the World, and like it, but I'm finding it slow going (again, not the book). I am loving my Big Book of Christmas Mysteries. It's the only book I've picked up in the last month (has it only been a month???) that I really want to return to.

Trump's mockery of our political system and the changes I fear coming (particularly as I get ready to retire) are heartbreaking. Hugs to you.

Big hugs, friend. I'm struggling with all of this, too.

+1 on anxiety about the whole situation. Take care of yourself, Julia!

>242 luvamystery65: Back at ya, Roberta!

>243 cbl_tn: Aw thanks, Carrie. I'm sure Adrian is a lovely reading companion.

>244 BLBera: It does help to know I'm not alone, Beth! It feels like a nightmare we can't wake up from.

>245 Copperskye: That is exactly it, Joanne. I can't concentrate on anything for long. I have been binge-watching old episodes of The Rockford Files and also Parks and Recreation, which are great escapism. I know I can't escape forever, so I'm hoping we can all figure out a path forward into positive action toward a better future.

>246 scaifea: Hugs back to you and everyone at Scaife Manor, Amber!

>248 rosalita: You too, Steve. Thanks for being here.

110. Finders Keepers by Stephen King.

One of the last books I finished before things went all to hell in a handbasket. This is the second in a trilogy by King, followup to Mr. Mercedes. It reminded me in a way of Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series, because while it's set in the same universe as the first book it's told from a completely different point of view this time around, with the first book's main characters taking a secondary (though important) role.

The storyline also moves back and forth in time, from the late 1970s when a two-bit punk pulls off a robberty-cum-murder of a reclusive novelist clearly meant to evoke J.D. Salinger, to the present day, when a very likable teenager finds the loot from that long-ago caper. When the punk is released from prison he comes after his ill-gotten spoils and thus our young protagonist is in mortal danger.

I liked this book really well, right up until some supernatural elements started creeping in. They were barely mentioned here but will clearly form the foundation of the final book and I'm not excited about that. The older I get, the more I appreciate King when he writes "straight".

>249 rosalita: I was definitely not as much of a fan of this one as I was of the first. The supernatural elements were part of it, but just overall this one didn't feel as engaging to me as the first one. I'm on the fence about reading the last one.

>250 ursula: Yep, I completely agree, Ursula. It was especially disappointing because at first I thought the Salinger/missing manuscripts angle was going to be much better than it turned out to be. For sure I won't be in a big hurry to get to it.

111. Talking to the Dead by Harry Bingham.

I have to give a thank-you shoutout to Mary, who put me on the trail of this series featuring Wales D.C. Fiona Griffiths, who is a crackerjack detective with a penchant for not following orders from her superior officers. There was lots of potential for her personality quirks to make her unlikable but the author avoided the potholes and instead created a fascinating woman who was easy to root for. The book is narrated by Griffith, and she has a strong and distinctive voice. The plotting was also well done, with several seemingly disconnected threads coming together in the end. I really enjoyed this debut and look forward to continuing the series.

>252 rosalita: Thanks, Julia. That sounds good. I just picked it up on Kindle.

>253 jnwelch: I hope you like it, Joe!

Hi, Julia! Thanks for stopping by my lonely thread!

>251 rosalita: Yay! So glad you liked it! I'm always hesitant to warble over a book/series for fear others might hate it not like it as much as I did, but this is one I was pretty confident about.

>241 rosalita: You are definitely not alone in your horror at the political situation. I can identify with what you said ("It's OK, you're not going to live long enough to see the worst") because I more afraid for my daughter and nieces and their children than myself because I'm going to die soon anyway, which you're right is totally effed up. What Jo said (>245 Copperskye:) resonates in me too: Trump's mockery of our political system and the changes I fear coming (particularly as I get ready to retire) are heartbreaking. Unlike you, though, I have done pretty much nothing but read in an effort to keep from obsessing. My reading material hasn't been literary masterpieces, but they have served to help stop my brain from exploding. That and refusing to watch the news or spend a lot of time on social media.

Hi Julia - Talking to the Dead sounds like a good one; off to check to see if my library has it. Have a nice weekend. Stay warm.

>255 Storeetllr: I liked it quite a bit — definitely worth breaking my "no new series" rule for!

>256 BLBera: I hope you like it, Beth! And you stay warm, too! This cold weather just saps all my energy.

>257 rosalita: I couldn't remember where I got the tip on Talking to the Dead, Julia. Thank you! I've started it, and so far I'm loving it.

That's great to hear, Joe! It's fun to discover a new series that is a twist on a familiar concept.

And I am always forgetting where I get tips for books. I need to start making a note so I can go back and give credit where it's due.

I've got what seems like hundreds of series going, Julia, but I have a hard time resisting new ones. My only saving grace is that, if I don't like the first in the series, I'm not likely to continue with it.

You probably heard about it from me or Mark, Joe. He read it and liked it too.

Actually I believe in >253 jnwelch: Joe says he found out about it right here when I reviewed it. And I learned about it from you, so it's all a big circle of books!

Hi Julia, I too, took a book bullet from Mary for Talking to the Dead now I just have to squeeze it into the reading list!

Oops, I missed >253 jnwelch:. You're right about The Circle of Books. Love it!

>262 DeltaQueen50: You will enjoy it, Judy!

>263 Storeetllr: It's a nice thought, isn't it? My reading has expanded so much from being in this lovely group.

112. Yes Please by Amy Poehler.

An entry in the "I don't wanna have to think" category as I try to bust out of my reading slump. I had no interest in reading this memoir of comedian Amy Poehler until I started watching Parks and Recreation on Netflix earlier this year — I didn't even know that she had been a long-time member of the Saturday Night Live cast. Before watching Parks & Rec I had only the vaguest idea who Poehler was, although what little I knew left a positive impression. This slim volume did nothing to dispel that, and I enjoyed learning a little more about how she got started in comedy and acting. It was ... fine, but I was reminded why I generally don't read books written by comedians. The only exception I've found so far was Craig Ferguson's American on Purpose, which I enjoyed a lot.

>265 rosalita: I think I liked Yes Please more than you, but then, I'm an AP fan. I agree it's a "I don't wanna have to think" book.

Have you tried Tina Fey's Bossypants yet? To me, it's the best of the bunch, although I haven't read Craig Ferguson's.

>266 jnwelch: I think that was meant for me, not Amy? I haven't read Bossypants yet, but I may check it out of the library next year. She's another person whose career I only know one narrow aspect of — in her case, 30 Rock — so I'm guessing I might have a similar reaction to it. But we'll see!

>267 rosalita: Oops! Yes, Julia. I took the "112" from the number you gave the book. I'll fix it.

Tina Fey is another one who's hilarious on Saturday Night Live, and when she and Amy Poehler are together, watch out for strained ribs from the laughing. One of the interesting parts for me in Bossypants is what she had to overcome as a woman comic at Second City, which traditionally favored males.

I really like Amy Poehler, so of course I enjoyed the book; and I agree with Joe - maybe think about trying Bossypants, because it's even better. I'll have to look for the Ferguson book, too.

I'm another fan of Bossypants, and I'd really only come across her through her films. I really like her approach to her work.

>268 jnwelch: >269 scaifea: >270 charl08: I probably will read Bossypants someday, but I suspect I will have a similar reaction as to the Poehler book. I like both of them, think they are great comedians, but reading endless pages of the genesis and performance of SNL skits I've never heard of didn't really do much for me. I'm sure if I had seen the original skits I would have found the inside stories very interesting, but I didn't. Chalk it up to my lack of cultural touchstones!

>265 rosalita: Count me among skeptics of books by comedians: a while ago I tried some and couldn't get past the first few chapters. I may just have picked the wrong ones, and should perhaps give Craig Ferguson a try. I'm not crazy about his act, but books by comedians whose acts I do like didn't work for me so ...

Hi Julia

I'm stopping to to wish you a wonderful holiday, filled with love and laughter.

>272 swynn: You might dislike the Ferguson book, too. I liked it because he has a very compelling life story, growing up in Glasgow and really hitting rock bottom personally before climbing back out and finding success in the U.S. But then, I also think he's pretty darn funny, so take that for what it's worth.

Oooh, check out the PBS website for a lovely interview with Bruce. Did you know he was a reader with an admiration for the Russian guys?

I posted this list of my Top Five books of 2016 over in the thread devoted to that in Book Talk (check it out ), so I thought I should put it here, too:

All of these got 5 stars from me in 2016:

• Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. A searing look at the racial biases in the American criminal justice system.
  
• The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally. A beautifully written story about two sisters from Australia who serve as nurses in World War I.
  
• The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks. A fictionalization of the life of Israel's King David. Like David's harp, Brooks' writing sings.
  
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. A contemporary black man's point of view about race relations in America. Some deeply uncomfortable truths for white Americans here, but so necessary to acknowledge and absorb.
  
• A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell. Historical fiction about ordinary Italians coming together to shelter the Jews among them in the death throes of the Nazi occupation.

And I read a couple more 5-star books this year:

• The Summer Game by Roger Angell. Lovely poetic essays about baseball, mostly from the 1960s and early 1970s.
  
• The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan. Narrative nonfiction about the 1930s Great American Dust Bowl.

Great list, Julia. FYI - I gave my son-in-law Just Mercy for Christmas. I figure I'll get it when he's done, so I will get to it next year.

Happy holidays. I'll keep my fingers crossed for a meet up in 2017.

>275 ronincats: I missed your post earlier, Roni! I have not yet seen the Bruce interview but I have it bookmarked to watch this weekend. I knew he was quite the reader and he mentioned liking the Russians, among others, in this little Q&A that was in the New York Times magazine. I remember him telling stories in concerts about his songwriting being profoundly influenced by reading Flannery O'Connor as well. Just one more reason to love him!

>277 BLBera: I will look forward to seeing what you think of Just Mercy when you get to it, Beth.

Great Top 5 list, Julia! Just Mercy is one of those books that has stuck with me, and I love everything by Mary Doria Russell. Between the World and Me is on my TBR list, and The Secret Chord is on my shelf waiting for me, so I'm glad to see you liked those too.

Hi Julia! Just dropping in to wish you a Merry Christmas!

>279 porch_reader: Hi, Amy! I hope you enjoy those as much as I did. I wonder what my top five books of 2017 will be?

>280 cbl_tn: Back at ya, Carrie! And Adrian, too, of course.

Hi Julia!

I just purchased Just Mercy a couple of days ago and I'm planning to read it early in 2017.
And I think your brief comment there about Between the World and Me is spot on --- uncomfortable at moments but SO important.

And leaving this wish for the season.

Wouldn't it be nice if 2017 was a year of peace and goodwill.
A year where people set aside their religious and racial differences.
A year where intolerance is given short shrift.
A year where hatred is replaced by, at the very least, respect.
A year where those in need are not looked upon as a burden but as a blessing.
A year where the commonality of man and woman rises up against those who would seek to subvert and divide.
A year without bombs, or shootings, or beheadings, or rape, or abuse, or spite.

2017.

Festive Greetings and a few wishes from Malaysia!

Merry Christmas Julia!

>276 rosalita: I'm enjoying keeping an eye on the top 5 books thread and list - if 2017 brings me more energy than 2016 then I'm hoping to read Between the World and Me next year.

Best wishes, Julia!

Happy Holidays, Julia!

Merry Christmas, Julia!

This is the Christmas tree at the end of the Pacific Beach Pier here in San Diego, a Christmas tradition.

To all my friends here at Library Thing, I want you to know how much I value you and how much I wish you a very happy holiday, whatever one you celebrate, and the very best of New Years!

113. Night School by Lee Child.

The latest entry in Child's series about tough-guy loner Jack Reacher. This entry flashes back to 1996, when Reacher is still an MP in the U.S. Army. He teams up with a spook from the CIA and an agent from the FBI to solve the mystery of who or what terrorists are willing to pay $500 million. I think Child has been wise in the last several books and novellas to explore Reacher's back story in the Army, as the plotlines of contemporary Reacher saving the day singlehandedly time and again were getting ever more ridiculous. Here both the mystery and the solution are reasonably plausible, and as always the action is relentless. A good entry in the series.

Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer.

A re-read of one of my favorite Regency romances, and so uncounted in this year's totals. The title character is Miles Calverleigh, who was sent in disgrace to India years ago by his straitlaced family after an excess of youthful exploits. Now he's back in England and soon encounters Abigail (please, call her "Abby"), a single woman of the advanced age of 28. She's always chafed against her family's devotion to society's conventions, but she dearly loves her elder sister Selina and the 17-year-old niece they've raised together after her parents died. But Fanny has fallen in love with a fortune-hunting charmer and Abby seems to be the only one who realizes it his true motives. In her efforts to put the kibosh on the budding romance, she tries to enlist the help of Miles, who turns out to be the uncle of the fortune hunter. Miles has spent his entire life utterly uninterested in lifting a finger to help anyone, but has Abby's unconventional nature pierced his armor? And can she find true happiness with a black sheep without becoming one herself?

Happy Holiday Julia!

Happy Christmas week, Julia!!

114. An Obvious Fact by Craig Johnson.

Walt and his Cheyenne buddy Henry Standing Bear hit the road to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. Henry has a date with a motorcycle race up a hill, and Walt is along for the ride, so to speak. But when Henry's long-ago amour Lola (the tempestuous woman for whom he named his beloved Thunderbird) shows up asking Walt to help her find out who caused her son's motorcycle accident, the sheriff from Absaroka County finds himself hip-deep in murder, attempted murder, undercover federal agents, gun-running, neo-Nazis and family secrets.

I enjoyed this entry in the series, although I'm not as much of a fan of the books that are set away from Absaroka County. I miss the passel of vivid secondary characters that Johnson has created there. The consolation here is a hefty dose of Henry and also Vic, who returns from Philadelphia in time to help Walt and Henry run down the bad guys — almost literally.

And now I'm caught up with this series so it's time to shift to watchful mode until the next book drops.

Boy Howdy

Well, well, well! Thanks for the eye candy, Roberta. :-)

I'm sad to be all caught up with both the books and the TV series. What am I going to do next year?! I might have to do some strategic rewatching on Netflix.

Julia-- I feel your reading slump woes. December has been a no-finish month. Good thing I made 75 already. ; ) Wishing you a very happy Day-After Christmas!!

>296 luvamystery65: LOL. I was just listening to chapter 9 of A Serpent's Tooth on my way to work this morning and Walt said the delightful phrase "Boy Howdy." LOVE it!!

115. The Zig Zag Girl by Elly Griffiths.

I've greatly enjoyed Griffiths' other series featuring Ruth Galloway, a forensic archaeologist who has a complicated relationship with the police department in contemporary Norfolk. This one is quite different, featuring Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens in 1950s Brighton, who teams up with a WWII colleague and celebrated magician Max Mephisto to solve a series of murders that relate back to their mysterious wartime posting. Unfortunately, it can't compare for me to the Galloway series. DI Stephens is meant to have a brilliant mind but he acts fairly stupid throughout, and neither the setting nor the other characters caught my fancy. I guess I don't believe in magic. It's fine, but I prefer to wait for the next Ruth Galloway book rather than continue with this series.

Thanks for saving me some time, Julia - I was wondering about her other series. But it does seem like I need to get to Black Sheep - I have that one in the stacks.

>296 luvamystery65: Yes, please!

>301 Crazymamie: So lovely to see you here, Mamie, especially as I've had such a rotten year of keeping up with you and all the other fast-moving threaders this year. Please know I've missed you and I will try to do better in 2017! As for the Griffiths, I really wanted it to be good! And it's not bad enough for me to warn people away from it, but it just didn't catch my fancy. If you get desperate you might give it a try sometime. And yes, do read Black Sheep; it's delightful!

Thank you, Julia, for those kind words. I missed you, too! I was not good myself about keeping up this year - a bit sporadic at best. I read through all of the Ruth Galloway books this year! Now I am waiting for the next one. I am not desperate, as I have plenty of other mysteries in the stacks, so I'll give The Zig Zag Girl a pass. Here's hoping that we can get to some shenanigans in 2017!

You've recently enjoyed three that I did, too, Julia. I enjoyed Night School, and that's a good point that Child made the right choice in going back to Reacher's military days in recent books. Black Sheep was a ton o' fun, and, as always, I had a good time with Walt and Henry and Vic in An Obvious Fact. I do hope he returns to Absaroka County in the next one.

Belated Merry Christmas and happy New Year!

This seems like one of those classic "good news/bad news" situations:



So, there WILL be one more season of the Longmire television series, but then it's adios to the gang from Absaroka County. Soak in those "Boy howdy!"s while you still can, ladies.

Sad about Longmire ending after the coming season, but I still have seasons 2-6 to watch, so I'll be okay. (It's all about me, you know.) ;)

Doing anything special for New Year's Eve, or will you, like me, be having a glass of bubbly while curled under a comforter with a book and getting to bed by 10 p.m.?

Looking forward to your continued company in 2017.
Happy New Year, Julia

>306 rosalita: Well, poop.

>307 Storeetllr: Lucky you, Mary, with all that cowboy goodness left to savor!

>308 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul. Same to you.

>309 Crazymamie: I know, right? So disappointing when good shows go away. But at least there's one more season.

Happy New Year, Julia!

Happy New Year, Julia! May it be filled with many good books and lots of fellow readers with whom to discuss them!

Happy New Year, Julia! Maybe a meet up in 2017?

Happy New Year, Julia!! Have you started a thread for '17?

Just watched the last of Walt Season 5 tonight. Glad there will be another one!!