Joe's Book Cafe 19

Trolls by Danish artist Thomas Dambo http://canyouactually.com/giants-made-from-wood/?fbclid=IwAR0aTqN3T8aF13yRN__KKy...

Welcome back to the cafe!

Books Read in 2019

Touchstone = particularly good

September

124. Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts
125. Straight by Dick Francis
126. Odds Against by Dick Francis
127. To the Hilt by Dick Francis
128. Whip Hand by Dick Francis
129. Come to Grief by Dick Francis
130. Danger by Dick Francis
131. Decider by Dick Francis
132. Vendetta in Death by J.D. Robb
133. The Unkindest Tide by Seanan McGuire
134. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez
135. To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
136. Murder in the Blood by Anne Cleeland
137. Shattered Warrior by Sharon Shinn*
138. Mythos by Stephen Fry
139. The Other End of the LIne by Andrea Camilleri
140. How to Love a Country by Richard Blanco
141. Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
142. Oceanic by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
143. Come Closer and Listen by Charles Simic
144. 1919 by Eve Ewing
145. Land of Wolves by Craig Johnson (Longmire)

October

146. Magical Negro by Morgan Parker
147. Lazarus Third Collection by Greg Rucka*
148. SLAY by Brittney Morris
149. Fortune's Favor by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (Liaden)
150. Shout of Honor by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (Liaden)
151. Halfling Moon by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (")
152. Misfits by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (")
153. Skyblaze by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (")
154. Eidolon by "" "" ""
155. Technical Details by "" "" ""
156. Legacy Systems by "" "" ""
157. The Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie
158. Bob by Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead
159. The Flowers of Vashnoi by Lois McMaster Bujold
160. With Stars Underfoot by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
161. Heirs to Trouble by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
162. A Fortune for Your Disaster by Haruf Abdurrraqib
163. Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
164. Bolt by Dick Francis
165. Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
166. Don't Eat Me by Colin Cotterill
167. Courier Run by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
168. Record of a Night Too Brief by Hiromi Kawakami
169. Blue Moon A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child

November

170. The Can Opener's Daughter by Rob Davis*
171. The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace
172. Orphans Truth by Roberto Rechhio*
173. Third Girl by Agatha Christie
174. Sleeping with the Enemy by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
175. Maggy Garrisson by Lewis Trondheim*
176. Shattered by Dick Francis
177. Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry
178. The Librarian by Salley Vickers
179. Sight Lines by Arthur Sze
180. Dominicana by Angie Cruz
181. Be Recorder by Carmen Jimenez Smith
182. Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri
183. The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Myerson
184. Later, at the Bar by Rebecca Barry

December

185. Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer
186. Exhalation by Ted Chiang
187. Felon Poems by Reginald Dwayne Betts
188. The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman
189. The Foundling by Georgette Heyer
190. The Wimsey Papers by Dorothy L. Sayers
191. Cultivar by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
192. Necessary Evils by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
193. Destination Unknown by Agatha Christie
194. Floating Brilliant Gone by Franny Choi
195. Optic Nerve by Maria Gainza
196. Charity Girl by Georgette Heyer
197. A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit
198. Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass by Mariko Tamaki*
199. Daughters of Cain by Colin Dexter
200. Bowie: An Illustrated Life by Maria Hesse
201. The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giorno
202. A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote
203. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Everisto
204. The Path to Tranquility Daily Wisdom by Dalai Lama

Illustrated Books

80. Philip K. Dick NBM Comics by Laurent Queyssi
81. Stumptown Volume 4 by Greg Rucka (re-read)
82. Kill or Be Killed Volume 4 by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
83. Sleeper 2 by Ed Brubaker
84. Under the Moon: A Catwoman Tale by Lauren Myracle
85. The Magic Order by Mark Millar
86. Criminal Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Ed Brubaker
87. Bttm Fdrs by Ezra Clayton Daniels
88. Blue Monday by Chynna Clugston Flores
89. Invincible Iron Man: Ironheart Riri by Brian Bendis
90. Altered Carbon Download Blues by Richard Morgan
91. Ironheart Those with Courage by Eve Ewing
92. Invincible Iron Man Ironheart Choices by Brian Bendis
93. Generation Zero We Are the Future by Fred Van Lente
94. Doctor Who The Thirteenth Doctor by Jody Houser
95. The Graveyard Book Volume 1 by Neil Gaiman (re-read)
96. Moon Called Volume One by Patricia Briggs
97. Catwoman Copycats by Joelle Jones
98. This Was Our Pact by Ryan Andrews
99. Middlewest Book 1 by Skottie Young
100. Jessica Jones Purple Daughter by Kelly Thompson
101. Old Man Logan by Jeff Lemire
102. Batwoman Volume 4 by J.H. WIlliams
103. Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell
104. Silk Vol. 0: The Life and Times of Cindy Moon by Robbie Thompson
105. Skyward by Richard Evelyn Byrd
106. Summit by Amy Chu
107. Abbott by Saladin Ahmed
108. The Sinners by Ed Brubaker
109. Die Fantasy Heartbreaker by Kieron Gillen
110. Whiteout Compendium by Greg Rucka
111. The Graveyard Book Volume Two by Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell
112. The Nobody by Jeff Lemire
113. Firefly: Unification War by Greg Pak
114. Birds of Prey Volume 3 by Chuck Dixon
115. Sins of the Father Dr. Who by Nick Abadzis
116. Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki
117. Username: Regenerated by Joe Sugg
118. Descender Volume Three by Jeff Lemire
119. Runaways Vol. 2 Best Friends Forever by Rainbow Rowell
120. Naomi Season One by Brian Michael Bendis
121. Descender Volume 4 by Jeff Lemire
122. Birdsong by Julie Flett

Favorite Books of 2019

The Long Take by Robin Robertson
Milkman by Anna Burns
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
Lord of the Butterflies by Andrea Gibson
Tap Out by Edgar Kunz
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horowitz
The Rosie Result by Graeme Simsion
Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev
Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver
Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton
They Called Us Enemy by George Takei
Mythos by Stephen Fry
Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Be Recorder by Carmen Giminez Smith
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki
A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit



Overall favorite so far: Good Talk by Mira Jacob

With my favorite little guy, and the lovely Bolita

The Chicago part of the clan, including the lovely Miss Indy

By Kyung-Yeon Park

Street art by Seth

OK, the new cafe is open!

Happy new one, Joe! Have a great slide into the weekend!

Have a great weekend, Joe, and happy new thread!

So, I put my money where my smart mouth was and started a new thread too.

>8 MickyFine: Hiya, Micky! Thanks - I hope you have a great slide into the weekend, too.

Hmm. How about a photo of a beautiful library for being the first one in?



I'm not sure where this one is located. Maybe some cafe patron knows.

>9 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie! I hope you have a great weekend, too!

We've got a Bulls game tonight, and a Sondheim musical (Company) tomorrow, so that makes for a good start.

>10 richardderus: At least we can commiserate, Richard. I'll zip over to your new one now.

Happy new thread!

>7 jnwelch: Oh wow, just wow.

>11 jnwelch: All that space where books could be......

>11 jnwelch: I'm fairly sure that's a digital fantasy work, Joe. It's glorious no matter what!

Happy new thread!

Love the wooden Trolls.

Hi Joe, happy new thread mate and great photos once again mate.

Happy New Thread, Joe! Hooray for the Troll Toppers! I hope you are having a good day. I am enjoying The Alice Network!

>13 quondame: Thanks, Susan. Isn't that street art cool? We can have a book-reading picnic in all that space . . .

>14 richardderus: I like that idea, Richard. A dream library. OK by me. It is glorious, isn't it?

>15 figsfromthistle: Thanks, Anita! Aren't those wooden trolls great? Thanks to Mark, we saw some in our local arboretum (Morton).

>16 johnsimpson: Hey, buddy. Thanks; I'm glad you like the photos. What a great gift Dambo's giving to all of us.

>17 msf59: Thanks, Mark! Hooray for the Troll Toppers! We are having a good day. We're off soon to see the Bulls play the Warriors; the Bulls are playing well and on a bit of a win streak, so I'm hopeful.

Oh, that's great news re The Alice Network. Such a cool book.

Happy new thread Joe.

>1 jnwelch: I'd love to meet those trolls in the woods. And they are child-friendly!

My library just let me know that The Bookish Life of Nina Hill is in! Your review was just what I was looking for. I had a tight deadline on a 10 hour audiobook and after that, my reading mojo took a dive. (It happens.) This sounds like just the thing to get it going again. Thanks Joe!

I've got a great spot for one of those trolls. Right up on the septic system drain field. Overlooking our little valley. Those knotheads are just so cool.

My sister and I went book shopping tonight. I bought A LOT of books, including two copies of Bookish Life. I also sold one - a friend of mine happened to be in the shop and I told her it was just the book she needed to read over the holidays!

Joe! Hi. How are ya?

I absolutely love those trolls!

There is a troll in Seattle, too.



He lives under a bridge on Troll Avenue N., in the Fremont neighborhood.

I loaned my copy of Good Talk to a colleague today, along with my ARC of A Ladder to the Sky. Poor woman. I not only said about Good Talk that I wanted it back, but that I wanted it back in good condition. One of those moments when my intention to be good-naturedly teasing a beloved colleague perhaps backfired.

I really loved A Ladder to the Sky, by the way. Such a great antagonist.

Happy new thread, Joe!

Joe - From your Link to Thomas Dambo, my new favorite Troll is Isak Heartstone
in Colorado. I love that he is creating - a stone pillar?

>19 EllaTim: Meeting the trolls in the woods is really cool, Ella. As you can see, they're very child-friendly! According to that article, he has put them in four places, one of which is Korea - so maybe some will show up near you some day.

>20 NarratorLady: Hi, Anne. Oh good, I'm glad the timing was helpful. The Bookish Life of Nina Hill should be just what the book doctor ordered.

>21 weird_O: Aren't those knotheads cool, Bill? If we're going to tempt our Danish friend to locate one there, we need to come up with a better description than septic system drainage field. Enchanting fairy kingdom overlook?

>22 alphaorder: Bought two Bookish Lifes and sold one, Nancy? You had a very successful day right there. Great gift idea! I should figure out someone(s) to give it to.

Any other notable purchases in your bookish visit?

>23 EBT1002: That is some troll in the Fremont neighborhood in Seattle, Ellen, and I love that there's a Troll Avenue! Also, that he's in a favorite troll place, under a bridge. He looks like he's made of sandstone?

Ha! I love that you explained to your co-worker that Good Talk needs to come back to you, and in good condition!

I'll have to take a look at Ladder to the Sky. I read something else by him that I liked.

>24 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg!

>25 m.belljackson: I'm with you, Marianne - I love that Isak Heartstone one. I don't know whether that's a stone pillar or whatever, but it's so fun to see him playing like a little kid or an adult with some time.

Happy New Thread, Joe! Love the trolls and the toppers!

I just finished Nina Hill and enjoyed it, too. Like you, I appreciated the humor, but I did have a quibble: Nina started out as an introvert with a few valued friendships and morphed into a people person with her large extended family and boyfriend. In other words, I felt the author didn't see introvert as a character trait, but as something that could be 'corrected' leading to a more fulfilling life.

>28 streamsong: Thanks, Janet!

I get your Bookish Life quibble, but had a different take on it: I took Nina to be an introvert-extrovert, or whatever we call it, from the get-go, with her trivia team and bar competitions in the limelight, and her friends at work. We knew she'd had love affairs before, so Tom made sense in that context, and she started to trust her new family members, as she did her older friends. Plus, of course, it's a bit of a fairy tale, right?

Hi, Joe! I've decided to take a new tack with your thread. Whenever I get a book bullet, I reserve it at the library (assuming it's owned by the library) and that way I remember to read it. Lots of reserves since the last time I read your thread!

the Trolls are WONDERFUL! So sorry they are far away from me. How long do you think they will be around?

And I love the (partial) family photo. Your daughter certainly looks like you!

Happy Saturday, Joe. A mix of chores and reading. We are hosting a birthday party for my FIL, at 4. Grilling up steaks too. I know that is not appealing to you, but it sure is to me. Grins...

Enjoying my time with The Alice Network and the Levine collection. I will probably dip into The Lost Words too, which I am sure I will be warbling it's praises to you, since this is your cuppa.

Have a great time at your goddaughter's play! Sounds fun.

>29 jnwelch: I had the same take as you Joe. And when it bothered me at first, I decided to let it go and take the book for what it was - a thoroughly enjoyable and smart read.

>31 msf59: Party sounds fun and the meal sounds terrific.

Shawn is taking advantage of the mild weather and making a grilled chili tonight - grilling the steak and pork and all the veggies and putting it together and then cooking it into chili. He has never made it before - but let me tell you it sounds incredible. I can't wait to devour it during the Badger game.

Happy Sunday, Joe. I am hoping to read Tokyo Ueno Station today.

Shelley and I agree: Grant Snider is wonderful! I'm torn...do I love Tom Gauld or Grant Snider more....

Happy Sunday.

Hi Joe, I love checking out all the trolls you have on this thread. I brought along a picture of a couple of troll dolls to add to the festivity!

Happy new thread, Joe! I love the sculptures (trolls). Very ingenious use of wood.

Hi Joe, I'm now about more than halfway through the audio of Nina Hill's Bookish Life and have no quibble so far. I'm enjoying it.

I love the trolls.

Happy new thread!

Technically, any trolls caught out in the sunlight should be stone..but these guys are SO charming, I'll definitely give them a pass! Happy New Thread, Joe!

Happy new thread! Love all the photos.

Morning, Joe! I hope you had a nice Sunday. You must have been laying low yesterday. I did not see you around. I had a good weekend but now I am looking at long 6 day work week. Ugh! I will persevere. I did not read as much of The Alice Network, as I would have liked, at least yesterday, but I will get back into it.

I think we are giving up on Watchman. It is too much work, without enough payoffs. We are still continuing to enjoy His Dark Materials, though.

Happy new thread, Joe!

Happy new one, Joe! OMG! Those wooden sculptures are absolutely amazing!!! I hope they are weather resistant. The website mentions that Chicago has or will have one. Have you come across one in your city?

>30 ffortsa: Ha! I love your new tactic, Judy. When you can, as they come up I'd love to hear what ones you put on the reserve list. Spreading the book love is always a good feeling.

>31 msf59: Happy, oops, it's Mmphmumble Day, Mark. Sorry to hear you have a 6 day week!

That sounds like a good Saturday. I hope your FIL's birthday party went well. I envy you in one way - we have zero relatives in the area once we get beyond daughter Becca. I know on Facebook they have suggestions for how to avoid chores and read instead. I've studied them carefully.

I'm glad that you're enjoying The Alice Network, and that Lost Words is all positive so far.

My goddaughter's play (I guess I can say "our goddaughter's play" - her father has decided to call Debbi her "god-aunt") was unexpectedly terrific. Our timing worked well - we got to see her before and after, and sit right in front of her during. "Company" is a Sondheim play we love anyway, but didn't expect a lot from a college production. Man, were we surprised. Great voices for the most part, well done acting for the most part, and clever staging.

>32 alphaorder: The Bookish Life is a smart and thoroughly enjoyable read - well said, Nancy. I'm glad you agree with my take on the spoiler quibble. It's interesting that it came up for you, too, at the beginning; I just sailed along.

>33 alphaorder: I thought those Badgers were going to pull it off. Too bad they had to play a second hafl! Tasty vittles made by someone else - what's not to like?

>34 alphaorder: Oh, good, Nancy. I'll look forward to hearing your reaction to Tokyo Ueno Station.

>35 richardderus: Ha! Thanks for the lovely holiday cartoon, Richard. Grant Snider eh? I'm not familiar with him and will have to peruse his oeuvre.

>36 DeltaQueen50: Ha! Thanks, Judy. We can always use more trolls, right? It's hard to get the perspective, but these seem a little smaller than the wooden ones. ;-)

>37 lkernagh: Isn't that an ingenious use of wood, Lori? He's got quite a talent. The vision and the talent to execute it, so we get these big friendly trolls.

>38 brenzi: I'm glad you're having quibble-free enjoyment of The Bookish Life of Nina Hill, Bonnie. So did I, and the quibble is more thought-provoking than troublesome, I'd say.

Go Trolls!

>39 drneutron: Thanks, Jim! Happy Solar Probe!

>40 ronincats: Ha! Thanks, Roni! Yes, I think the trolls are too charming to play by the rules. :-)

>41 banjo123: Thanks, Rhonda!

I'm having a tough go with Bookish Life. The tone is my obvious ouch.

>42 msf59: Morning, Mark!

It was a good Sunday. Yeah, sometimes getting to LT just isn't in the cards. I know, shocker! Man, my sympathy re the 6 days. I used to do those, and even 7, and that was the pits. I'm glad at least you got a good break before it.

You must be reading The Alice Network in print; it calls to you, doesn't it.

We haven't watched Watchmen in a while; your comment inclines me to drop it. Too bad - that was quite a start. I'm still watching His Dark Materials, too - in contrast to Watchmen, for me anyway, it keeps getting better.

>43 scaifea: Thanks, Amber!

>44 Carmenere: Aren't those wooden sculptures amazing, Lynda? Yes, they're in the Morton Arboretum here, and we've seen them, thanks to a meet-up with Mark.

Here's one:

>48 quondame: You may want to Pearl Rule The Bookish Life, Susan, because the tone is a big part of the fun, seems to me. Then you may want to set up a date with The Grinch - ha! No worries. There's yet to be a book that everyone likes.

Rafa was very happy with the Pittsburgh Steelers win yesterday.

He looks chuffed.

Now, head back to my thread like a good consumer and cast your vote!

>51 jnwelch: The picture of Rafa is delightful and I'm sure he is happy with the Steelers' win, though I wouldn't gather that from his expression.

>30 ffortsa: >45 jnwelch: Putting BBs on hold at the library sounds like it should work well in theory. That's what I was doing for the BBs on more than one thread. It was working great for a while but then I had to pause some when I was traveling now I'm going to the library every week to pick up between 3 and 4 books which have to be read in 3 weeks because other people have holds on them. At one point I had 12 books out, 9 of which had to be read in 3 weeks. Be prepared to read quickly!

>29 jnwelch: Hey Joe! I enjoyed your take - and the others- on Nina Hill. I am much more of an introverted cynic than you - whom I see as more romantic and gregarious.

Nevertheless, I did enjoy Nina Hill as well as several of the other light hearted books I've read recently such as The Fire on High. It's nice to be pulled out of my cave and into the sunlight. :)

One of the bits I'm contemplating is how Nina's little sister was only allowed 6 TBR books on her nightstand. I currently have more than 20 (of the physical 500+ TBR books) in the pile of 'must read next' on the end table in the living room. While 6 is extreme, I'm going to think about how to reduce the living room pile next year. This may just mean requesting less library books at a time ..... It certainly won't mean not pursuing book bullets from LT friends!

>54 Familyhistorian: Meg, I've been in the same place as you this year with stacks of library holds coming in and only two weeks to read them since other people have holds. I've found I can suspend my requests and only release them one or two at a time. But when I lose track, and a pile become 'unsuspended' all at once, I'm back in the same boat with floods of books that I must read quickly.

>54 Familyhistorian: >56 streamsong: This month I think I'll have to return more books than usual to the library unread - I've around 30 checked out or hold, partially due to BBs and partly because I can't settle on challenge books.

BTW, I love that Trilobites of New York: An Illustrated Guide is the #1 review on the Home page. It's a good review, too - thumb from me.

>52 richardderus: Rafa's chuffed and having a celebratory drink, RD. It'll be interesting to see how he sorts out his fandom. His parents follow the Chicago Bulls, the Houston Rockets and Texans, other Pittsburgh teams, and I'm probably missing some. His mama is a sports nut, and will have an article coming out soon for ESPN (I'll link it).

I'll have to find out more about this "cast your vote" after these responses.

>53 quondame: That's Steelers gear he has on, Susan, and he's having a celebratory drink after laboring hard to support the team. He's a delightful little fellow. I don't know how they got that black background, but I love it.

>54 Familyhistorian: I know the problem, Meg. I've moved to mostly getting GNs from the library, as timing doesn't matter as much to me. We've got so many folks looking for and reading the newer non-GNs that it just got too tough - I'd have a bunch come in at the same time, with little time to finish them, as others were waiting, and meanwhile I'd be in the middle of still others. GNs work well. They also can be expensive, and can't be relied on to show up in used bookstores.

I originally got Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me from the library, and ended up buying a copy from our closest indie because I liked it so much.

>55 streamsong: Hiya, Janet.

I found the word for the introvert-extrovert types: ambivert. It's all on a spectrum anyway, isn't it, but here's an interesting article on ambiverts from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/travisbradberry/2016/04/26/9-signs-that-youre-an-am... Among other things, it posits that if most of these apply to you, you're an ambivert:

"1. I can perform tasks alone or in a group. I don’t have much preference either way.

2. Social settings don’t make me uncomfortable, but I tire of being around people too much.

3. Being the center of attention is fun for me, but I don’t like it to last.

4. Some people think I’m quiet, while others think I’m highly social.

5. I don’t always need to be moving, but too much down time leaves me feeling bored.

6. I can get lost in my own thoughts just as easily as I can lose myself in a conversation.

7. Small talk doesn’t make me uncomfortable, but it does get boring.

8. When it comes to trusting other people, sometimes I’m skeptical, and other times, I dive right in.

9. If I spend too much time alone, I get bored, yet too much time around other people leaves me feeling drained.

The trick to being an ambivert is knowing when to force yourself to lean toward one side of the spectrum when it isn’t happening naturally. Ambiverts with low self-awareness struggle with this."

Intriguing, yes?

Oh, The Fire on High. The big question with new authors often is, do they have more than one good book in them? Acevedo sure answered that one with TFOH. As did Angie Thomas with On the Come Up.

See if you can get Mark to come out of the cave for a little bit, would ya?

I'm not a nightstand guy (as our dining room table will confirm), but I agree that six for Nina's little sister is too stingy. Why have a limit like that? When she grows up, it'll only make her want to have inflated tbr shelves that go on and on and on , , , oh, wait, that happens regardless, doesn't it?

>56 streamsong: Hmm, I haven't tried suspending holds like that. The unpredictability for popular books still makes it a bit of a gamble on timing, doesn't it. Besides requesting GNs, where the timing doesn't matter so much to me, and they're pretty easy to complete if people are waiting, I tend to snatch up popular ones that are displayed in the New Arrivals section of our library; at least that allows me to think about timing rather than being unprepared when one comes in.

My being a mood reader also factors in - I may not be in the mood for a particular book when it comes in, but would only have the two weeks to fit it in.

>57 quondame: I know that problem, Susan. It doesn't feel good to return requested ones unread, does it.

I thought the Trolls were wonderful. I went to the sculptors web site. That was amazing as well. I noticed that some of the sites where he has work are in the Southeast U. S. To my amazement there are several of them in the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Center in Clermont, Kentucky. That is right up the road from here. I have been thinking that a road trip on the Bourbon trail is in the works for next spring and this site is right on that route. I see a Spring Break road trip on the horizon. Complete with Bourbon and trolls.

Whoa, I nearly mised the jump to the new thread! Love those trolls.

>61 benitastrnad: I see a Spring Break road trip on the horizon. Complete with Bourbon and trolls. Ha! I love it, Benita. Sounds like a great plan.

>62 foggidawn: Oh, I'm glad you figured it out, foggi. I'll go back to the old thread and say something to help lead folks here.

Morning Joe!
A few more potential poetry collections for you: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/10/books/review/new-this-week.html

>59 jnwelch: Ambivert! Thanks for sharing that article, Joe. Whenever I've done the Myers-Briggs thing I've come out an Extrovert, but just that side of center. And many's the time I've made choices that are decidedly introverted. So many of the ambivert descriptions ring true for me. It's kind of nice to see it "legitimized" in writing!

I am most decidedly an introvert. I can *play* extrovert, -- well, sort-of -- but can sustain it for about 5 minutes, if that.

It's a baked-apples kinda day. Spend it wisely, by which I mean reading instead of engaging with the outrages and icks of what we laughingly refer to as "real life."

>64 alphaorder: Thanks for the link, Nancy. Sharon Olds is a favorite o' mine (we got to see her perform - great), so that's a definite, and there are others I'll look into. I don't know what to make of Paul Muldoon. Any thoughts on him or any of the others?

>65 lauralkeet: Right, Laura? You're welcome. Ambivert - those hit home for me. I definitely need the recharge time, and enjoy time on my own, but I'm pretty used to the extrovert world. My favorite on the list was "small talk". It doesn't make me uncomfortable, but it does get boring. Unless it's small talk about books! Sports and the arts will get me, too.

>66 jessibud2: Introverts are some of the best folks around, in my experience, Shelley. I don't know if you had time to read the article, but it has some interesting thoughts on the whole thing. A lot of it, in my mind, is sensitivity. What feels "normal" to some can feel like an incessant barrage to others. Like someone who loves playing the music loud?

>67 richardderus: Thank you for the lovely baked apples, Richard. It is that kind of day.

Ha! You caught me - I'm going into work, so I'd better work on my laughing at "real life". At least my train ride will be full of reading. It's colder than a witch's bahdootie here, too (not sure where the bahdootie is located anatomically, but it's really cold here). I hope you can spend the day reveling in warmth and reading.

Son #1 (Jesse) and his bride Adriana at the Amazon holiday party

>68 jnwelch: Oh dear, slithering off to the office, are you? Sad. Well, it's only a day.

>69 jnwelch: Happy smiles!

>70 richardderus: I've arrived in my slithery spot, RD, and it's delightfully warm, cuddling here with my fellow slitherers (Slytherins?)

Those two are happy campers, for sure. Lots of good things happening for them, including Adriana just winning a Creative Achievement award for her work in Pittsburgh, with a nice chunk of money attached. Go Adri!

>51 jnwelch: Ha, I thought he was smoking a pipe!

>69 jnwelch: Lovely couple. And congratulations to Adri >71 jnwelch:.

Ambivert - yes that describes me. But all it really does is fill in a name for the middle of the scale, right? And give us mixed-use folks a label.

>71 jnwelch: Oh happy day, indeed! Yay for Adri's success!

You and your Slytherins wished tomorrow's 20-degree drop in temperature on us, didn't y'all? *tsk*

Well, at least I knew in advance and got my shopping done. Food in the fridge = feet not in the fridged out-of-doors.

>69 jnwelch: What a gorgeous couple! And that's amazing news about Adriana's award - fantastic!!

>51 jnwelch: What a good-looking kid, despite the jersey. Go Rafa!

>69 jnwelch: Nice-looking couple!

Happy Tuesday, Joe. I hope work went smoothly. Bitter cold out there today. Glad it is over. I am really enjoying my revisit with Gilead and The Alice Network continues to entertain. Still 200 pages left. Big Boy!

I am about to finish An American Marriage by Tayari Jones and I am liking this one. The author uses all the tropes there is in the genre but does it in a wonderful way. I can see why Oprah picked this book.

I went to the library tonight and got two children's books for the trip home. Crenshaw and Wishtree by Katherine Applegate. I am about to finish the book on the Pentagon Papers and I have learned a great deal about that sordid episode in our history. Then I will start listening to the kids books. The Applegate books are for Middle Grades and I am looking forward to these short novels for the drive.

>71 jnwelch: This is terrific!

>68 jnwelch: No opinions, unfortunately. I am still a poetry novice. But I like to share articles with you because I know you appreciate good collections.

>48 quondame: >50 jnwelch: Grumble, grumble, gripe, gripe, Abbi Waxman is sooo not a native of Los Angeles! There has been one great line though.

>72 Caroline_McElwee: Ha! It does look like Rafa's smoking a pipe, Caroline. Not yet. I'm still waiting for him to grow a beard like his Dad's.

Thanks re the lovely couple and Adri. They went to a gala Monday for her to receive the award. They looked lovely again!

>73 ffortsa: Ambivert: But all it really does is fill in a name for the middle of the scale, right? And give us mixed-use folks a label. Well said, Judy! Yes. I'm just happy that it's no longer either/or. I certainly have a lot of introvert, like you, but calling myself one never seemed right, and I'm certainly not an extrovert, looking to socializing for a battery recharge. It's a spectrum, as you say, and we're in the middle. "Middlevert"? Ha!

>74 richardderus: Thanks, Richard! Adri's so good, as an writer, performer and organizer. Plus she's a peach of a person. You can tell I'm a fan. Because of the wee guy and one on the way, she's not working full time, so every money award helps.

Sorry about the 20 degree drop! Sometimes you get our west to east weather, and sometimes not. I would've wished "not" for this one! It's even colder today. Relief supposedly comes tomorrow.

Just don't get mixed up and put your feet in the fridge, and it'll all be all right.

>75 scaifea: Thanks, Amber! As Adri says, they clean up good (and she's a grammarian).

>76 msf59: Ha! He's a good-looking kid "despite the jersey". Right - one of the tough parts of being a grandparent is all these different fan loyalties. We considered offering to raise him in Chicago so he'd get it right, but we didn't think his parents would go for it.

Aren't they a good-looking couple? Happy Tuesday/Wednesday, Mark. Work went smoothly indeed; I even enjoyed it, although I'm happy to return to the non-work life. What a smart idea to revisit Gilead; you've got me thinking about doing it. I'm glad Alice Network continues to entertain but sorry it feels long; for some reason it didn't feel long to me. I got caught up in the action, I guess.

Stay as warm as you can today! It's even worse out, isn't it.

>77 benitastrnad: Those all sound good, Benita. I've thought about reading WIshtree more than once, so I'll particularly look forward to your reaction to that one.

>78 alphaorder: I do appreciate good poetry collections, Nancy, and I'm grateful for the links. I think we're all poetry novices to one extent or another. There's a lot of excellent recent ones out there, and I still feel like I'm catching up on the oldies but goodies.

>79 quondame: I give you credit for sticking with The Bookish Life of Nina Hill, Susan, despite it not being all you'd wish for. As you can tell, I found many more than one great line in it; I hope more turn up for you.

No hurry, but some time it would be interesting to know some of your favorite books; I feel like I know more about what you don't like than what you do.

A cedar waxwing. These beauties show up in our part of the world. I got to see one with brother Mark.

Congrats to Adri, Joe, and thanks for continuing to post photos. I feel like we are watching Rafa grow up, too! He will be a great Big Brother.

>82 jnwelch: - Wow! They are not only gorgeous, but just look so silky smooth, they make me want to touch them.

>82 jnwelch: Isn't that waxwing gorgeous? Wow!

Morning, Joe. Without the chilly wind, it feels better today. The snow caught me by surprise, though. It shouldn't be around long.

Just to clarify, The Alice Network is long for a novel, but it's length is not bothering me in the least...at least, so far. Enjoy your day.

>82 jnwelch: Pretty bird.

>81 jnwelch: Well, Jane Austen and Ursula Le Guin, always, recently Becky Chambers, Ann Leckie and in a lighter vein Jodi Taylor. And I always seek out Tim Powers and Gene Wolfe.

>59 jnwelch: Interesting quiz on the ambivert, which is a new word for me. Hmmm, ole Nina might have been one. For me, while some of the statements are true, I think I lean to the introv side of life.

>60 jnwelch: Limiting books in childhood might produce unread hoards of books libraries of possibilities? I hadn't thought of that. I remember vividly not being able to check out chapter books when I entered second grade, and whipping through the entire pile of what I was allowed to check out for the week in an hour or two.

I usually have a new book or two requested and then release the older books one or two at a time from the 'suspended' list. I currently have 5 checked out and a graphic novel, Neil Gaiman's Only the end of the world again to pick up. Did you recommend that one?

>82 jnwelch: Ooo aaah pretty dinosaur!

Happy Frosticles Day!

>59 jnwelch: - Ooohhh... I love the idea of ambivert. Personally, I see myself as an introvert that comes across, if I need to interact, as an ambivert. I like how ambivert rolls off the tongue. ;-)

>36 DeltaQueen50: Those trolls are wonderfully cute!!!

>82 jnwelch: I have seen just a few Cedar Waxwings and they are magnificent.
I'm thinking about my next tattoo being a Black-Capped Chickadee. Maybe.

I like the description of an ambivert. I think it's real. I'm technically an extrovert but I also fully believe it's a spectrum. I also believe that context matters. I have a job that involves interpersonal contact almost constantly for 9+ hours every day. When I come home, I am ready for quiet alone time. But after a day all by myself, I'm desperate for human company.

I'm reading both The Crow Trap and The Starless Sea right now. They could not be more different and neither of them is going to flirt with my best-reads-of-the-year list but they are both engaging enough.

Happy Thursday, Joe!

>83 jessibud2: Thanks, Chelle. I'm glad you're enjoying the photos. I feel the same way about Chelle's kids - we get to watch them grow up. I have the same feeling you do; I think Rafa's going to be a great big brother.

They probably should be called Cedar Silkysmoothwings. Ha! I like your description. They do make us want to touch that silky smoothness.

>84 msf59: What a photo of a beautiful bird, isn't it, Mark. The one at Montrose Harbor was one of the highlights for me of our visit there that day.

It started getting much better here even last night. We went to the Art Institute for the Andy Warhol exhibit around 5 pm, and it was better when we came out than when we went in. Mid-40s today should be a lot more comfortable.

Good - you kept commenting on the length of The Alice Network, and that sometimes means a book is a labor to read, rather than a pleasure. I'm glad it's continuing to work well for you. Can't wait to hear what you think when you're done - not just the book, but that slice of history!

>85 quondame: That's a pretty one, isn't it, Susan.

Thanks for the faves - those are authors I've read a lot of and greatly enjoyed, although I've only read one Tim Powers. I fell off the Jodi Taylor train a few books ago, but had a very good time with those I read. All right, now I've got a better sense of your reading - thanks again.

>86 streamsong: I love the introv side of life, Janet. It is a spectrum, and I'm just glad we've progressed in our thinking from you're either an introv or an extrov. I liked that quiz, too. Nina did have a mix, and maybe she was an ambivert who became very introv when anxiety struck.

I can't believe they didn't let you read chapter books when you entered second grade! How foolish is that? We all develop at different rates, and some kids are more than ready for that in second grade. I grew up in a college town (Ann Arbor), so we had none of that nonsense, even though the cars looked like something from a Richard Derus thread (i.e it was a long time ago!)

I'm not the one who recommended that Neil Gaiman GN, and in fact had not heard of it! He's so prolific, I can't keep up with him. I've now added it to the WL.

>87 richardderus: That's one of the most amazing stories on the planet, isn't it, Richard - that >82 jnwelch:'s ancestor was a dinosaur. I keep reminding myself to find a good book about all that. Mind-boggling.

We've progressed from Frosticles Day here to OK, This Isn't So Bad Day. I hope it makes it to you.

>88 lkernagh: Isn't that a good word, Lori? Ambivert rolls off the tongue much better than Middleofthespectrumvert, or even Mixedvert.

>89 EBT1002: If Judy could just find some of those >36 DeltaQueen50: trolls made out of wood, and blown up to the size of a hayride, we'd be all set. (Hayride? Yeah, I'm a Midwesterner all right).

Hi, Ellen. OK, now we need a photo of a black-capped chickadee. Here we go.



Nice!

Good point about how context matters for introv, extrov and ambiv. Probably most readers are some kind of mix? Do full-on extrovs read much?

When I was working fulltime, I was talking all day, too, and remember being ready for alone time after that. Kids, of course, need that not to happen. I was just telling someone that I let the kids know, when they were growing up, that they had to get their homework to me before 8 pm, as my brain would start to go away after that.

I've only read one Ann Cleeves, and should fix that, probably with that Shetland series. I still don't know quite what to make of The Starless Sea, but I suspect I'll read it at some point.

Happy Thursday, Ellen!

Happy newish thread, Joe! Please give my best wishes to Debbi and Becca.

>51 jnwelch: I'm glad to see Rafa supporting the Black & Gold. He's gotten so big!

>59 jnwelch: Very interesting excerpt from that article about ambiverts; based on those questions I'm definitely one of them, as I agree with all except #5, as I can almost never have too much down time, although that was true until fairly recently. My preferred setting is a meal or other social gathering with 1-3 dear friends who are good conversationalists and share similar interests, such as these three people who you might be familiar with:



>69 jnwelch: Great photo of Adriana and Jesse!

>91 jnwelch: Oh, that's a cute li'l teenysaur!

Try The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World for dino-tainment. It's a breezy, fun, yet informative look at what we know, and why we think we know it.

>90 jnwelch: I don't really think Jodi Taylor has earned a spot among those other authors, but she's given me a lot of fun lately.

>92 kidzdoc: Hiya, buddy. Are you still at your folks' place?

I do recognize those three in the photo who joined you for a meal. Nice of Claire to slide in behind; she probably should've been front and center.

Yeah, when I think of downtime, I sure don't think of you. You've got more uptime than just about anyone I know, and when you have a break, you tend to go to some cool place and have escapades.

Glad you're joining the ambivert gang; My preferred setting is a meal or other social gathering with 1-3 dear friends who are good conversationalists and share similar interests. Well, you know that sure works for me, too! We've been lucky to have had that wonderful experience in a lot of locales, haven't we. (Speaking of which, we miss you!)

Isn't that a great photo of Adri and Jesse? I've got another one from that gala where she got the award:



They're so cute!

>93 richardderus: Teenysaur! Oh man, that's a good one. Wasn't that a Mae West and W.C. Fields movie? "My Little Teenysaur"?

The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs - got it, thanks. Adding it to the WL.

>94 quondame: I had a lot of fun with the Jodi Taylor books, too, Susan.

At the dog park by Keith Taylor

>95 jnwelch: Hey! I'm not at my parents' place at the moment, but I was there for Thanksgiving, and will be there again soon for Christmas.

>98 foggidawn: Oops! I meant an upside down six. >92 kidzdoc:, not >62 foggidawn:. Good to know where you'll be for Christmas though, foggi. :-)

I'll go fix it.

>99 jnwelch: I did wonder. :-)

Hi Joe and a very belated happy new thread.

Lovely pic of Rafa, and a lovely pics of his parents.

>92 kidzdoc: Great pic of you, Debi, and Darryl.

>100 foggidawn: I'm pretty sure I started out standing on my head when I typed that one, foggi. Thanks for catching it. Poor Darryl would've wondered why I was ignoring him.

>101 karenmarie: Hi Karen. Thanks - never too late - except, I guess, when we move on to the next one.

Thanks re Rafa and his folks. Madame MBH and I were just talking about how lucky Rafa is to have them as parents. They have their own interesting lives, but take great care of him and love him dearly.

We have lots great memories with Darryl and Claire. I'm glad you like that photo. Somewhere I have a funny one of Darryl and Debbi arm-wrestling over the bill at a cafe in Amsterdam's train station. (She won, of course).

That's all right. We have other folks here who are still in the pie game.

Rhubarb! Yowza.

How's the weekend shaping up? New reads, old watches, what?

>104 richardderus: Hey, RD. We may need to break out some strawberry rhubarb pie.



The weekend looks good. I've still got my old Timex, and I'll be reading Optic Nerve (novel), A Field Guide to Getting Lost (essays), and Floating Brilliant Gone (poems). Oh, and the sixth Paper Girls GN, which is a time travel tale. Got a pro basketball game tonight with a bud, and after that I'm not sure. I know I'm going to watch some more C.B. Strike, which is based on the J.K. Rowling/Robert Galbraith mysteries featuring Cormoran and Robin. How about yourownself? Anything with tentacles? Anarchy?

Love the black-capped chickadee, the photo of Jesse & Adri and the lovely strawberry rhubarb pie!

Happy Friday, Joe. Sorry, Debbi isn't feeling well. Is she doing any better? A nice day in, Chicagoland, right? I was even a bit overdressed. I finished The Alice Network. It was a good, entertaining read and I liked the way she mixed the fiction, with the actual wartime events and characters. I will start Later at the Bar next. See, how I follow my buddy around? Grins...How is the Choi collection? Something I would like?

Love Rhubarb yum, thanks Joe.

Sick at the thought of Boris til I retire! More reading will help perhaps!

>106 msf59: Hey, buddy. I'm about to take off with your pal Keith for some dinner at the Billy Goat (that good Mexican restaurant is gone, darn it) and the Bulls game against the Hornets. Thanks re the well-capped chicadee, J & A and the lovely pie.

Happy Friday. Debbi is still feeling crummy, unfortunately. She's got a fever, and it may be a bit of the flu. Luckily we were able to clear the schedule, and she's taking it easy. James Patterson and magazines until her brain revives.

Oh good, I'm glad you enjoyed The Alice Network. What a story, eh? I'm glad she explained the actual events in that afterword - as I said, some of the details I thought were farfetched turned out to be true to life! Ooo, Later at the Bar - you're going to eat that up with a spoon, or drink it with a shot, or something like that. Thank Katie - she kicked it all off as far as I'm concerned.

Yes, I think you'd like the Choi collection a lot, based on being about halfway through. Not a long one. I can see why she won that prize. Very promising for a young 'un.

>107 Caroline_McElwee: Ha! You're welcome, Caroline. I need the strawberry in there, and then I love that pie. Without, I don't know whether I would or not.

So sorry about Boris. Not what I expected! I thought so many people were sick of him the vote would go the other way. Labour has a lot to figure out, doesn't it. "Sad", as our U.S. Boris might say.

More reading always helps, doesn't it? Maybe something lighter than usual? That's what I do when life gets to be a bit of a downer.

Sorry, to hear that Debbi is still struggling, Joe. Have a good time at the game with Keith! You keep perfect company! I will have to request the Choi collection.

It was Star Wars night at the Chicago Bulls game last night. The Bulls couldn't have successfully thrown a basketball into the ocean, unfortunately, but the Storm Troopers were much better dancers than I had remembered.

They helped protect the sidelines, too.

That's hilarious! Poor Bulls. I'm wondering if the Nets will find the arena in time for the next game.

Happy weekend!

>105 jnwelch: Oh, that looks SO good.

>64 alphaorder: Stephen Dunn is a poet I like. Olds and Muldoon are particular favourites too - the former for visceral brilliance and the latter for technical excellence.

Have a great weekend, Joe.

>111 richardderus: Happy Weekend, Richard! It sounds like you've been having a good one, with that surfer dude visiting.

There's always the next game in the NBA, isn't there, and, sure enough, the Bulls played well and beat a good Clippers team last night. Wish they'd played like that while we were there.

I'd take the Nets' record over the Bulls', but that's not saying a lot for either team. :-)

>112 laytonwoman3rd: Doesn't that strawberry rhubarb pie look good, Linda? I may have to track some down in RL. Yum.

>113 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul. Good to hear about Dunn, Olds and Muldoon. I've read some Dunn, and some Muldoon. The latter hasn't grabbed me yet. Hope you've been a good weekend, too.

Rhubarb is good for only one thing: ruining an otherwise perfectly wonderful strawberry pie.

xo

Very belated happy new thread, Joe!
Lovely trolls at the top, and streetart, and family pictures, I almost got an overdose of happy and beauty with cathching up ;-)

>115 EBT1002: Ha! But what do you really think about rhubarb, Ellen? We've got a lot of beet supporters here; I wonder whether we'll hear from any Defenders of Rhubarb?

>116 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita! We could all use some happy and beauty, couldn't we. I'm glad you're enjoying it all.

It's a carrot cake muffin kind of morning

Morning, Joe. Happy Monday. You know I am off when I use that expression. Grins...I just got a full workout in, something I haven't done in awhile, with my shoulder issues. It feels good. Entertaining, Bears game yesterday. I just wish they could have hung in there and won that one.

Not much planned for the day, other than a few chores and a couple of errands. I am sure it will involve lots of reading. I will finish up Later, at the Bar, which, of course, I am enjoying. I also just have a few pages left in the gorgeous, picture book, The Lost Words, which I highly recommend you check out. I may even dip into American Dirt today. I am really trying to finish the year with a bang.

>119 msf59: Ha! Great - I thought you had today off. Well-deserved! You made it through a tough week last week.

Glad to hear your shoulder is improved enough for a full workout. I'm off to one after this - poor Debbi is still laid up. Yes, she's frustrated.

It was an entertaining Bears game, and I wish they could've pulled off a win, too.

I've got to get my tail in gear (is that even possible? let me rephrase) I've got to get my act together and take care of some errands today. I'm used to doing them with Debbi, but that ain't happenin'. I will track down Lost Words; with your thumbs up, I'm looking forward to it. I forgot you have an early copy of American Dirt, you lucky dog; I hope it lives up to its promise.

>11 jnwelch: I thought I recognised the picture. Had to search a bit to find it, it is the library of the Strahov Monastery in Prague (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strahov_Monastery), that we visited back in 1988.

>95 jnwelch: Hi, Joe! Yes, I'm still at my parents' house, and I'll return to Atlanta tomorrow evening.

The four month stretch from November through February is definitely my uptime, as I'm working a 1.0 FTE (full time equivalent) during our busiest time of the season. I work a 0.8 FTE over the entire year, though, and I hardly work during the summer months, when our census is lower and we don't need as many hospitalists, and I have a vacation free month in June, when I'm off for the entire month. I pay the piper in advance, as the time off I'm allotted in those months come from days I've worked the previous autumn and winter. I have requested a decrease to a 0.7 FTE for 2020, so my schedule will be lighter once my request is granted, hopefully sometime in the spring.

Adriana and Jesse are especially cute in this photo! That's the best one I've seen of them together.

>103 jnwelch: Yes, indeed. One of the nurses I work with found frozen rhubarb at Sprouts Farmers' Market last month, so I'll probably buy some soon and make another strawberry rhubarb pie next month.

>105 jnwelch: Yes!!! 😋

>106 msf59: I hope that Debbi is feeling better today. The flu is no joke.

>110 jnwelch: Nice photos at the Bulls game. I was shocked that they beat the LA Clippers this weekend, but my red hot 76ers lost by 20 to the Brooklyn Nets yesterday as well.

>111 richardderus: A-yup. The Nets definitely found the arena on Sunday, and soundly spanked the 76ers, although Joel Embiid's absence certainly helped.

>115 EBT1002: 😱 Heresy!!!

>117 jnwelch: I stand with rhubarb. And beets. And definitely cilantro.



>118 jnwelch: Yum!

>120 jnwelch: Poor Debbi. Please give her my best wishes.

>120 jnwelch: Sorry to hear Debbi is unwell. Hope that changes soon Joe.

>122 kidzdoc: HONK!

>117 jnwelch:, >122 kidzdoc: HONK! HONK! My grandmother had a robust patch of rhubarb (the secret is to pull it, never cut it when harvesting), and she called it "pie plant".

Strawberry rhubarb pie is one of my favourites so you can count me on the pro rhubarb side, Joe. Enjoy The Lost Words. I hope Debbi feels better soon.

Hey Joe! excellent Rafa pics as usual, but >51 jnwelch: takes the cake.

I too am sorry to here that Debbie is feeling icky. I hope she recovers soon.

I'm going to take a run at a Parker novel by Richard Stark. Maybe something mindless will stir my months long drought.

>122 kidzdoc: In a rare instance, I agree with you, Darryl, about food: rhubarb is delicious! My parents used to have a *huge* patch of the stuff, and oh goodness, the pies. *happy sigh*

Morning, Joe! I sure hope MBH is feeling better today.

>121 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita! Good detective work for >11 jnwelch:!

Hmm. We're planning to go to Prague. Maybe we should stop there . . .

>122 kidzdoc: Hiya, Darryl. You're probably on your way back to Atlanta. Looked/sounded like a good visit with your folks.

I didn't realize your schedule is so much lighter in the summer, and that you're off for all June. So there's an oasis up there in the desert, or a barrel of whiskey in the snow, or something like that. But tough in the uptime. I hadn't thought about how many more folks must use our hospitals during fall and winter - even in more moderate Atlanta.

Good idea to cut back a little bit in F2020! Is your plan to steadily decrease as you head toward retirement?

Right? Great photo of Adriana and Jesse. What a couple of cuties.

Your 76ers have legit prospects of going a long way in the playoffs, and maybe all the way. The Bulls? Not so much. Young, young, young. They lost another tough one last night, by three to OKC.

I thought the rhubarb supporters would rally, and I should've known you'd lead the charge. Luckily, I have no stake in this one. In strawberry rhubarb pie it's fine by me, and I don't encounter it anywhere else. Bonus points for the apposite photo, man.

Debbi is doing better, but this is one of those darn lingering ones. She sees the doc today for an already scheduled appointment, and we hope to get her back on her feet for the whole day tomorrow. She says thanks for your concern.

>123 Caroline_McElwee: Ha! I could hear that HONK all the way over here, Caroline. Debbi's doing better, and I passed on your sympathy.

>124 laytonwoman3rd: Hee-hee! We're starting to get lots of rhubarb-honking. I love "pie plant", Linda, and how great that you had it fresh from the garden. My bride waxes rhapsodic over corn fresh from her aunt's garden when she was a kid.

>125 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg. Yay for strawberry rhubarb pie. I'd forgotten that you were a strong and early Lost Words advocate. It'll be in my future.

>126 brodiew2: Hey Brodie! Good to see you back on the LT campus. Isn't that a great photo of Rafa in >51 jnwelch:? I don't know how they blacked the background like that, but it sure looks cool.

You know, I've read the Parker novels in graphic form. Darwyn Cooke did some stellar adaptations before he died - I still re-read them on a regular basis. Parker: The Hunter and others. I hope you enjoy the original.



>127 scaifea: Morning, Amber! Rhubarb enthusiasts unite! Sweet(!) memories . . .

I do like a nice strawberry rhubarb pie -- can't say I've had rhubarb in any other context.

>128 jnwelch: Prague is a beautiful city, Joe, or at least it was 30 years ago. We visited just before the Iron Curtain went down. We want to go again ever since, but haven't yet. Someday....

Darryl speaketh sooth: Defenders of the Faith in RhuBeeLantro!

>130 foggidawn: Rhubarb crumble! Rhubarb custard pie with meringue! Rhubarb sauce over ice cream! the delights you've been missing... (Oh, and whatever sort of tart that is RD posted....I really want that now.)

Morning, Joe. How is Debbi doing? I hope much improved. Chilly out here but the sunshine sure feels good.

Yep, it sounds like your Bulls are having a tough season. I know you had high hopes. Maybe, they could turn it around?

>133 laytonwoman3rd: It's a honey and rhubarb gallette. Rich, flaky, buttery puff pastry layered with Sauternes-poached rhubarb, then the poaching liquid reduced, buttered, and honeyed before spreading its voluptuous velvety scrumptiousness over the rhubarb itself.

>128 jnwelch: Hey, Joe! I'm taking an early evening flight from PHL to ATL, so I won't leave my parents' house until a little before 4 pm. I'll make them one last meal, jalapeño chicken cream cheese enchiladas for lunch, before I leave. I have to work almost continuously over the Christmas and New Year's Day holidays (Dec 23 to Jan 3, with two off days on the 27th and 28th), so this will be my last trip of the year. The only reason I had this past week (Tue to Tue) off is that I used my last week of vacation to make this trip.

If I do the math I work a 1.0 FTE from November through February, and a 0.7 FTE the remaining eight months of the year. Our needs are much lower during those months, so I probably work closer to a 0.6 or even 0.5 FTE, especially from June through August when I am there for no more than 10 days in a month. Getting through the dog days of winter is often a burden, but the light at the end of the tunnel in March is a welcome relief.

That's a great thought about progressively cutting my hours as I head toward retirement. I'll need to work at least 50% of full time to keep my benefits, but working half time would allow me to spend more time with my parents and still travel abroad. Hmm...I'll check with the head of my group and my practice manager to see if I can cut back to a 0.6 FTE for 2020; if not I'll plan to do so in 2021.

The 76ers, despite the loss of Jimmy Butler to the Heat, are a better team than they were during the 2018-19 season. Tobias Harris has stepped into Butler's role and has been playing magnificently, scoring more than 20 points a game, and Josh Richardson, who they acquired in the Jimmy Butler trade, Matisse Thybulle, a largely unheralded rookie, and others are performing well in secondary roles. They need reliable three point shooting to go along with their interior game, and if they can get that they will challenge Milwaukee for Eastern supremacy.

Strawberry rhubarb is my favorite pie, so I'm happy that I stumbled upon a tasty and easy recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Custard Pie that I can make whenever I can find fresh or frozen rhubarb.

I'm glad that Debbi is getting better, albeit slowly. My father has been dealing with a sinus infection for nearly a month. I spoke to his GP last Tuesday to express my concern for my father's condition, and he agreed to give my father a 7 day supply for an antibiotic, Augmentin. He's doing much better, although he continues to have headaches and sinus drainage.

>135 richardderus: Thanks....now I REALLY want it.

>132 richardderus:, >135 richardderus: Ooh...

>137 laytonwoman3rd:, >138 kidzdoc:

I'll circle back and respond soonish, but I really wanted to post a review of an extraordinary book that I just finished, A Field Guide to Getting Lost,

Those of you who don't like reading poetry, please don't let the following bit put you off. It took me a while to figure out how to read A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit. Her writing is so exquisite, I found myself dwelling upon sentences and paragraphs and ruminating about them. Letting myself get lost, I guess she'd say. Then, as I mentioned to our brother Mark, I realized that her essays were like poems. They required that level of attention, and gave back similar substantial rewards. E.g.,

"Children seldom roam, even in the safest places. Because of their parents' fear of the monstrous things that might happen (and do happen, but rarely), the wonderful things that happen as a matter of course are stripped away from them. For me, childhood roaming was what developed self-reliance, a sense of direction and adventure, a will to explore, to be able to get a little lost and then figure out the way back. I wonder what will come of placing this generation under house arrest."

Getting lost, of course, is important inside ourselves as well as outside. We learn about her travels in remote parts of our country, and the world. "I leaned over the side of the raft and stared straight down for hours at the floor of that river whose name almost no one knows that flows into another little-known river, stared at thousands of stones, hundreds of thousands of millions of stones sliding by, gray, pink, black, gold, under the clearest water in the whole world, floating for miles and days on water I drank straight out of the river."

Being willing to be lost means being open to whatever may come. She is fascinated, as most of us are, by the exploration of the wild American west. "The vast spaces of the American West, so little known to immigrants even now, have always invited travelers to lose their past like so much luggage, and reinvent themselves." Mapmakers long portrayed California "as a huge island just off the west coast of North America, and the northwest coast of that continent remained undrawn, one of the last expanses of Terra Incognita to the Europeans mapping the world."

She casts a wondering eye in so many surprising directions. One of four essays she has entitled "The Blue of Distance" covers, among other things, the artist Yves Klein; artists who disappeared or used themselves up at an early age; Rosicrucianism; judo;the color blue; the famous photo of Yves Klein "Leaping into the Void":



his obsession with painting with "International Klein Blue", a unique color he invented by mixing in synthetic resin, so that it would never lose its brilliance; immaterial paintings bought and sold - that is, nothing but an incorporeal concept sold for money, and the receipt burned; maps in the 1500s; the map of Las Vegas that has to be regularly changed because the city grows so fast; Borges; Ptolemy; and, of course, more. The ending of that essay dazzles me:

"Movies are made out of darkness as well as light; it is the surpassingly brief intervals of darkness between each luminous still image that make it possible to assemble the many images into one moving picture. Without that darkness, there would be only a blur. Which is to say that a full-length movie consists of half an hour or an hour of pure darkness that goes unseen. If you could add up all the darkness, you would find the audience in the theater gazing together at a deep imaginative night. It is the terra incognita of film, the dark continent on every map. In a similar way, a runner's every step is a leap, so that for a moment he or she is entirely off the ground. For those brief instants, shadows no longer spill from their feet, like leaks, but hover below them like doubles, as they do with birds, whose shadows crawl below them, caressing the surface of the earth, growing and shrinking as their makers move nearer or farther from that surface. For my friends who run long distances, these tiny fragments of levitation add up to something considerable, by their own power they hover above the earth for many minutes, perhaps some significant portion of an hour or perhaps far more for the hundred-mile races. We fly; we dream in darkness; we devour heaven in bites too small to be measured."

There's an old exclamation for when one sees something striking and unexpected: "Will wonders never cease?" If that's taken as a question, the answer is, if the sense of wonder never ceases, then wonders won't either.

>141 jnwelch: I loved this book too Joe. I love all her books though. Her writing is fine and her perspective always sharp and inciteful. Her memoir comes out early next year, it's already in my holding basket.

>141 jnwelch: Oh, the dreaded and must-be-avoided p-word has been uttered in connection with this book! I'm already feeling my upper lip forming a curl, my hairs horripilating in disturbing locales, my snotlocker assuming the snorting position....

Hi Joe, sorry to read that Debbi is unwell at the moment mate, please give her a hugs from us and sending spcial Yorkshire love and hugs dear friends.

>141 jnwelch: Wow that sounds like one I must read Joe. I follow her on Twitter but for whatever reason I've never read any of her actual books although I've read some of her essays in various publications.

Every year in late May/ early June I make two rhubarb pies, one to eat immediately because my family demands it and one to freeze and bake at a later date for a pleasant dinner surprise. Nothing quite as good as warm rhubarb pie with vanilla ice cream melting into it.....gah.....just soooooo good. Elite palettes all agree.

>141 jnwelch: Fantastic review of A Field Guide to Getting Lost, Joe. Big Thumb! Love those quotes too, especially the movie one. I will have to read this one.

>130 foggidawn:, >132 richardderus:, >133 laytonwoman3rd:, >135 richardderus:, >137 laytonwoman3rd:, >138 kidzdoc:, Rhubarb would be so happy to see this enthusiasm, foggi, Linda, Richard, and Darryl, and that's a toothsome honey and rhubarb gallette, Richard, with excellent preening on the side (>138 kidzdoc:).

>131 FAMeulstee: I know, we've been "some day" about going to Prague, Anita, and decided to finally do it. Unless things change, we expect to go next fall.

>134 msf59: Debbi is on the upswing, Mark. We went to that Ladysmith Black Mambazo play at Steppenwolf last night, and she's coming to the workout this morning, although she expects mainly to stretch. The play, written by Eric Simonson, was too simplistic and, with one character, way over the top, but the music and dancing were wonderful. Debbi and I think they'd have been better off doing a concert. The first time around, with The Song of Jacob Zulu, the play was excellent and did well in NYC, too. Not happening with this one.

The Bulls are just too young. Mistakes add up. They are getting better as the season goes along, so maybe they can turn it around. We'll see. A significant win streak would help.

'Morning, Joe, and happy Wednesday to you.

I'm glad to hear that Debbi is on the upswing.

>136 kidzdoc: Man, your parents must be sorry to see you go for the food if nothing else, Darryl. I'm sure they feel lucky that you're such a chef. And that you're a pretty good son, too, I imagine. :-)

I remember that you have a heavy schedule during the holidays. Yikes. I'm glad it balances out with time off. I'm glad you like the idea of progressively cutting back as you head toward retirement. You deserve some extra free time.

The 76ers are fun to watch. Embid is awesome when he's able to play; I hope he steers clear of any major injury. I can see what you mean about needing more three-point shooting. I wonder whether they'll acquire another player for that before the season's over.

Sorry to hear about your father's sinus trouble, but I'm glad the Augmentin is helping. Debbi's finally doing much better, I'm glad to say. As I mentioned to Mark, we went to a play last night (Ladysmith Black Mambazo is such a treat), and she's going to our workout this morning, to do at least some stretching.

>142 Caroline_McElwee: I remember that you're a comprehensive Rebecca Solnit fan, Caroline. I found A Field Guide to Getting Lost on display at Daunt Books. Is there one you'd recommend I try next? I was thinking about Men Explain Things to Me, out of curiosity. Smart men would let her explain things to them, but "smart" and "men" sometimes can be an oxymoron, can't it.

>143 richardderus: Wait a minute, Richard - what's going on with your snotlocker? Can the horripileating be encouraged to inch toward fetchingpileating?

I hope the p-word didn't discourage you from reading the rest of the review. She strikes me as your kind of author.

>148 karenmarie: 'Morning, Karen; thanks. Happy Wednesday to you, too. Debbi is much improved. We were just talking about the many people in our area suffering from tenacious bugs.

>144 johnsimpson: Thanks, John. Debbi appreciates the special Yorkshire hugs and love, and says we're sending special Chi-town hugs and love back to you and Karen. She's feeling much improved.

>145 brenzi: Thanks, Bonnie. Oh yeah, if you follow her on Twitter, this one's a natch for you. I've read her in the New Yorker, but appreciate her awesomeness much more now after immersing in this collection.

Elite palettes all agree. Love it! I can imagine you make a great rhubarb pie, and adding the vanilla ice cream . . . I wish I had it here for breakfast.

>146 msf59: Thanks for the Big Thumb for the A Field Guide to Getting Lost review, Mark. I hope a lot of folks pick up on it; such a good book. Isn't that movie quote outstanding? It gets me every time. Yes, you'll love this one. I thought of you with her wild West musings.

I'm a rhubarb fan, too. I love the idea of making one and freezing one for later - although for me it would be some sort of crumble-on-top rather than pie.

My grandma also called it 'pie plant'. They lived on a North Dakota homestead during the great depression and were always glad when the first edible plant of the season, the rhubarb, came up and provided fresh notes to their home canned veggies that they lived on through the winter.

>128 jnwelch: Judy and I had a great time in Prague a few years back.

Saw the castle and the bridge and drank beer and the town clock and went on the river and listened to music and got out of town to a local spa town and to a local (and breathtaking) glassworks.

(did i mention the beer?)

Hope you have a great trip

>129 jnwelch: love the Parker books in the original have to find me the GN's

>141 jnwelch: was it Yoko Ono who did a performance piece called "Draw a Map to Get Lost in"?

I hail from the Rhubarb Triangle in Wakefield so I grew up with the stuff literally!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhubarb_Triangle

>149 jnwelch: Hope in the Dark and The Mother of All Questions both got 5*s from me Joe. Men Explain Things to Me is also very good.

>151 streamsong: So far the rhubarb lovers are carrying the day, Janet. Poor Ellen. She must feel like some guy who doesn't like beets.

We have a good nearby bakery for pies, although I've never tried a strawberry rhubarb one from there. I love calling rhubarb the "pie plant".

They lived on a North Dakota homestead during the great depression and were always glad when the first edible plant of the season, the rhubarb, came up and provided fresh notes to their home canned veggies that they lived on through the winter. Wowsers. There's a whole lot of story there. That could not have been an easy time. We can count our blessings.

>152 magicians_nephew: The love for Prague seems universal, Jim. It sounds like you and Judy had a great time there. I may follow up with you about the glassworks. That sounds like our kind of adventure. Debbi won't be excited about the beer (how's their chai? :-) ), but I will.

If you loved the originals, I think you'll get a kick out of the Parker GNs by Darwyn Cooke. I wish he'd been able to do more of them; the atmosphere and Parker's character grabbed me throughout.

I don't know Yoko Ono's work well enough to answer about "Draw a Map to Get Lost In", but that sounds like itwould fit in A Field Guide to Getting Lost.

>153 PaulCranswick: the Rhubarb Triangle in Wakefield. Who knew? Well, you sure did, Paul. I wonder whether we'll get 75ers pilgrimaging there now? Is it anywhere near the Strawberry and the Pie Triangles? Is there a Rhubarb Festival?

I love the Yorkshire name for it - "tusky". The Tusky Triangle sounds good, doesn't it.

>154 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks for the tips on Rebecca Solnit books, Caroline. I was thinking about reading Hope in the Dark - sounds appropriate for our times, doesn't it. I didn't know about The Mother of All Questions, but it sounds like a natural for philosophical moi. Ah, I see. It's more feminism-directed. I may read HITD as my next one.

Sweet Thursday, Joe. It's very sweet with all the rhubarb desserts around! Good to hear that Debbi is getting out and about again. Have to be in tip top shape for the coming festivities!

>156 jnwelch: Ha, this made me laugh out loud Joe.

>155 jnwelch:, Hi Joe, we do have a three day Rhubarb Festival in Wakefield and we also have a Liquorice Festival day in Pontefract in August. Hope Debbi is a lot better mate, sending love and hugs to both of you from both of us.

>155 jnwelch: I grew up with rhubarb pies, but am pretty indifferent. If I want pie, it is a custard or pecan rather than fruit, excepting only rarely apple. I love tart foods, even deserts, but something in the rhubarb flavor, or my memory of the last, sugar-free version of my mother's, just removes it from my menu of desires.

Oh, sorry to hear that Debbi has been unwell, and glad to hear that she's getting better. Sick is miserable.

I checked my ebook list, and I already have the Rebecca Solnit book! Now I just have to make time for it.

>156 jnwelch: Like!

Sweet Thursday, Joe. Little better today. The sun sure felt nice. Loving American Dirt. It is shaping up to be a top read of the read. No surprise there.

>157 Familyhistorian: Sweet Thursday, Meg. Debbi's doing better each day, and, you're right, she wants to be in tip top shape for next week, when we'll be with her beloved Rafa.

>158 Caroline_McElwee: Hee-hee! Right, Caroline? It's amazing how much dogs love their human families. Of course, there's also food and walks and playing with toys when the humans show up - not to mention warm bodies to lie on or snuggle up to.

>159 johnsimpson: Thanks, John. I thought there must be a Rhubarb Festival. The Artichoke Capital of the World, Castroville, has an Artichoke Festival, and I'd bet most towns/areas known for their particular vegetable and fruit have their own festivals.

Gosh, who would've guessed; my own state of Illinois has three rhubarb festivals. Who knew?

"Aledo Rhubarb Festival - the first Friday and Saturday in early June
Central Park, Aledo, IL. This unique festival, which is celebrating our 27th year, will feature more than 3,000 homemade Rhubarb Pies for sale, Rhubarb Sampling, 12,000 free Rhubarb seeds given away, crafts, music, entertainment and more all set in our historic downtown. We're so serious about our Rhubarb that Governor Pat Quinn officially named Aledo the Rhubarb Capital of Illinois!
Kankakee County Museum Annual Rhubarb Festival - Sunday, May 20, 2018 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
801 South 8th Avenue, Kankakee, IL. Phone: 815-932-5279. Join us as we celebrate the pie plant, this is our 28th year. There will be vendors, rhubarb and strawberry-rhubarb pies for sale, a baking contest, dime toss, tours of the Taylor One Room Schoolhouse and historic Doctor Small Home, and more.
Rockton Township Historical Society Rhubarb Fest - a Saturday in June
Rockton Township Historical Society, 529 Green Street, Rockton, IL 61072. Phone: 815-624-8200. Alternate Phone: 815-629-2210. We sell the best of our homemade rhubarb items including pies, cakes, breads, cookies and jam. People waited in line in rainy weather for over a half hour before our opening. This is an annual event and our main fund raiser for the year. Thank you to all who support us by contributing baked goods and those who come to buy. You may also order our Rhubarb Cookbook."

I love that last one - people even stood in the rain for a half hour waiting to get in. I see a reference to "pie plant" in the second one

Love and hugs to both of you, mate.

>160 quondame: I'd rather have a pecan or apple pie myself, Susan; I don't normally eat custard pies, but I sure wouldn't turn down a tasty one.

>161 ffortsa: Thanks, Judy. Debbi's doing much better, but yes, sick is miserable, and she was frustrated by how this one hung around. I hope you and Jim are doing okay healthwise.

Oh good, glad to hear you already have A Field Guide to Getting Lost. It should be just your cuppa.

>162 msf59: Ha! Now we just have to figure out how Alexa learned to understand dog questions, Mark.

Sweet Thursday, buddy. Have I mentioned how lucky you are to read American Dirt early like this? I mean, more than several times already? I'm glad it's living up to the buzz.

>164 jnwelch: I count pumpkin pie as a custard pie and like it enough to make it myself.

>141 jnwelch: Nice review of a really intriguing book. :)

Hope Debbie continues to feel better. And there seems to be a lot of rhubarb talk. I love me some rhubarb pie!! Just saying.

>165 quondame: Works for me, Susan. I'm sure your pumpkin pie is delish.

>166 Berly: Thanks re the review, Kim. I had no idea she was that good and that smart. I should've, from reading her in the New Yorker, but A Field Guide to Getting Lost really brought it home. Per Caroline's recommendation, I think Hope in the Dark will be the next of hers I read.

Ha! Yes, there's been a lot of rhubarb talk. It reminds me of all the beet talk we've had in the past. I've never tried rhubarb pie without strawberry, but I sure like the two together.

For those with a sweet tooth this morning, cream puff donuts

Joe - re the rhubarb festival which is held across Wakefield in February - here is the link so that you can book your tickets early!!

https://www.wakefield.gov.uk/events-and-culture/events/festival-food-drink-rhuba...

Wakefield is famous for heavy engineering, coal mining - the National Coal Mining Museum is in Wakefield, sculpture (Henry More and Barbara Hepworth are both from the city), Rugby League, rhubarb, great ales and two - I repeat two 75ers.

Have a wonderful weekend.

>169 PaulCranswick: Ha! Thanks for the link to the Rhubarb Festival, Paul. I'm not sure I'm going to succeed in talking Debbi into this one!

I am a big Henry Moore fan; did he install any sculptures in the area?

>170 jnwelch: Yes, Joe, there is a large sculpture park at West Bretton just on the outskirts of the city strewn with Hepworth and Moore works.
https://ysp.org.uk

>168 jnwelch: Mmm, those look yummy! For a moment, I thought, "Wait, isn't it a couple days early for sufganiyot?" but on the other hand, I'm out of town for Hanukkah, so am making latkes for my housemate tonight in anticipation of the holiday, as it were.

>171 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul. I shall peruse when we get back.

Ha! I hadn't thought of sufganiyot, foggi. We'll have to bring some jelly donuts out in a couple of days. We'll be out of town for Hanukkah, too, in Galveston, TX. We'll be celebrating it with Christmas, as our DIL's folks do. Several years ago, because of schedules, we started having a latke party in January rather than at Hanukkah time. So many folks travel during the holidays. Everyone liked it, so January has become a yearly tradition. I'm sure your housemate will appreciate the latkes!

>173 jnwelch: Really, as far as I'm concerned, both jelly doughnuts and potato cakes are year-round foods. ;-)

Happy Friday, Monsignor, and may the weekend be delight-filled.

Morning, Joe. Happy Friday. You guys are probably out, doing your workout. Another decent day out here. I am still having an amazing time with American Dirt. I should be dipping into the 2nd half today.

My New England aunts made a lot of rhubarb pies - rhubarb and this and rhubarb and that.

But it was mostly to stretch a filling rather than to rejoice in the glory of rhubarb (if any).

As the guy said "Mostly harmless". That sums it up for me.

>168 jnwelch: Those look good, Joe. From Mark's post it sounds like you are having good weather. Could you send some this way?

ICYMI: NYTimes best poetry of 2019:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/20/books/review/the-best-poetry-books-of-2019.ht...

>174 foggidawn: Ha! I like your thinking, foggi. Like other staples, such as chips and cookies.

>175 richardderus: Happy Friday/Saturday, Keeper of the Heights. May your weekend be filled with delights as well.

>176 msf59: Happy Friday, Mark. Apparently that workout continued overnight, and here we are in Saturday.

American Dirt - great to hear it continues to be excellent.

I'm picking out books for the trip - The Testaments will be one of them. I always want engaging ones while traveling, and I tried that one, and it is.

>177 magicians_nephew: Do you pronounce aunts as "ants" or "ahnts", Jim? My New England wife pronounces it as ahnts, and her Midwestern hubby pronounces it as "ants". I have to admit, hers is more elegant.

"Mostly Harmless" rhubarb would be a good brand name, wouldn't it? Although you'd have those difficult customers who'd say "What do you mean, 'mostly'?" Take a chance, people, live life on the edge, that's what I say.

>178 Familyhistorian: Don't those creampuff donuts look good, Meg? They'd call for careful eating though; I can just see cream ending up on the table and floor.

We are having pretty good weather; sunny and not too cold. We're leaving for Texas on Monday, so we can try to send it along to you then. The wind seems to have a lot more to say about it than we do, though. And, unfortunately, it never seems to head your way from ours, does it. We may need to use trucks or somesuch.

>179 alphaorder: Thanks, Nancy! I was going to say I get the NYTBR and I've seen the list, but this linked one from David Orr is quite different. It must be a newer issue than I've read. I'll have to try some of these. In the "Best Books" issue, it was ones I've read, like Tradition by Jericho Brown (very good). I haven't read any of David Orr's!

>182 jnwelch: - Clever! And cute!

"ahaunts" is the New England Pronunciation that I grew up with, Joe.

>182 jnwelch: imaginative. Like.

>182 jnwelch: Ha! Love that.

Soviet Santa says "Happy Yule!" Solstice Greetings to all. Read more here: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/soviet-santa

>183 jessibud2: Right, Shelley? I loved how talented folks can take the drab and unloved and turn it into something lovely.

>184 magicians_nephew: Hmm, that's got an extra syllabubble in it, doesn't it, Jim. Let's go with Debbi's? That one's too Halloween-y for me.

>185 Caroline_McElwee: Me, too, Caroline. Let's make our environs beautiful, don't you think?

>186 richardderus: Doesn't >182 jnwelch: make you wanna dance, RD?



That Soviet Happy Yule is outstanding! I want one. I will read more there, as instructed.

P.S. Whoa, that's way more than I want to know about Santa in the Soviet Union! But I did enjoy the photos.

OK, time for some quick reviews of books I liked but didn't have time to review yet. Here we go.



I got a kick out of the YA book Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer. It has two narrators, teenager Steph and an artificial intelligence (AI) who is maintaining (unknown to its participants) her favorite internet community under the username CheshireCat. Steph has been on the move her whole life, as her mother hides from her abusive father. Her newest school has a ridiculously conservative sex-ed robot who says, "You'll have to discuss that with your parents" to any difficult question. With CheshireCat's help, Steph and her LBTGQ Catnet friends hack the robot, and hilarity ensues. So does a fast-paced thriller, as the now-candid robot makes the national news and events start closing in on Steph and a schoolmate. The characters are realistic and imperfect, and the story rips along nicely.

>188 jnwelch: That sounds like a good one, Joe. We are down to drizzle today so maybe you inadvertently sent a bit of the good weather our way. It is the tail end of the Atmospheric River we have been dealing with. I think the weather people are channeling comic book vocabulary.

>189 Familyhistorian: LOL! Oh, you cracked me up, Meg, with I think the weather people are channeling comic book vocabulary.

I've sure never heard of an "Atmospheric River", but I give them bonus points for creativity. I'm glad your weather has improved.

Catfishing on CatNet is a good one, for those open to reading YA. Apparently, a large percentage of adult readers do read YA, for various reasons.

Exhalation: Stories isn't as consistently great as his first collection, Stories of Your Life and Others, but it's pretty darn good, and two of the stories are knockouts. Two could've been left out as far as I'm concerned, one of them urging us to talk to parrots to find out about alien intelligence(!), and one extrapolating from proof that there is no free will. Both, mercifully, are very short. There's a worthwhile one about "digients", virtual intelligent pets that allow the owner to educate them and raise them like a parent, raising interesting ethical questions as humans do what humans do - some wanting, for example (of course!), to have attractive digients as sexual partners. The problem with this otherwise thought-provoking story is it could have used editing - 110 pages could easily have been a better 80 or 90..

One clever story features tech that records every moment of our lives, so that instead of memory we can resort to digital video - which has its own ramifications as, e.g., rosy memories may turn out to be not so rosy, and arguments about what happened or was said can be definitively resolved when leaving them alone might be better. And what if we could communicate with our selves in alternative universes, and compare choices and even try to coordinate across the divide? That one's called "Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom."

The two stories I loved include the title one, featuring an alien world bounded by chromium steel, in which human-like robots have intricate brains that mainly work via airblown gold leaf. One character in it cleverly operates on his own brain to understand consciousness better, only to find out a fundamental truth about his environment, and its place in the cosmos. The other one, "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate", has fascinating stories within stories like the Arabian Nights, and involves a type of time travel which has surprising results.

Optic Nerve, a debut novel by Maria Gainza, centers around an Argentine art critic named Maria, like the author. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I think its target reader is someone who has a lively interest in art and art history, particularly painting. It's Maria's life story, and each chapter has an art experience intermingled with Maria's life at that time. “Isn’t all artwork—or all decent art—a mirror? Might a great painting not even reformulate the question what is it about to what am I about? Isn’t theory also in some sense always autobiography?”

Gainza has a dab hand with quotations, and that's one of the enjoyments in the book. “I never used to resort to quotations very much but in these past months I have read like a convict—yes, a convict, that’s the word. I have also realized that being good with quotations means avoiding having to think for oneself.”

This one has popped up on a lot of the "Best Books of 2019" lists, so the quality is there for you if it sounds appealing.

>188 jnwelch: >191 jnwelch: >192 jnwelch: Those all sound so interesting. And Stories of Your Life and Others too. Not that I need more books to read now, but there's always later.....

>193 quondame: Thanks, Susan. I'm glad! Yes, Stories of Your Life and Others definitely is worth adding to that teetering TBR, too. :-)

I'm just about to review another one by Mariko Tamaki, whose Laura Dean book you just enjoyed.

I've never been a big Harley Quinn comic book fan - think Margot Robbie's character in the so-so Suicide Squad movie. The comics have had scattershot plots with often lame jokes; lots of flash with not much substance. But it always seemed unfortunate to me, because her rebellious, compassionate, funny character has so much potential.

Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass is a reinvention of her origin, set in high school. The reason I'm writing favorably about it is its author Mariko Tamaki. She wrote Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, the GN I recently reviewed and liked so much I bought a copy of it, and the award-winning This One Summer (with cousin Jillian Tamaki as co-author), which I also loved and own.

Under Tamaki's pen, the plot makes sense and grabbed me, the humor is often hilarious, and there's a lively cast of LGBTQ characters that will make you want to read more of these. When Harley's mom gets a job on a cruise ship, she sends Harley to Gotham City to live with her grandmother, but unbeknownst to them, her grandmother has died. Harley is endlessly resourceful, if sometimes naive, and she ends up living with "Mama", a large and compassionate drag queen. Mama's colorful friends from the cabaret adopt Harley as well, and she becomes schoolfriends with Ivy, a biracial community activist trying to save their neighborhood from gentrification and takeover by the unsavory Kane Corporation.

So this book has plenty of politics, and social issues. Harley's character finally gets the kind of story she deserves.

I didn't realize that Debbi has been laid up. As one whose heel has been interfering with walking and running, I totally sympathize. It has been a sedentary several months and I hate how I feel in my body when I'm not able to run or at least walk. Hopefully acupuncture will do the trick.

I've just added Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me to my wish list; I'll start there.

And I love >182 jnwelch:!!!

>196 EBT1002: Sorry your bum heel continues to keep you sedentary, Ellen. Fingers crossed that the acupuncture helps. As a guy with two bionic hips, I can sympathize with your situation. Debbi's bug has lingered beyond reasonable, but she does get better every day, and she was able to do limited workouts at the end of last week.

Oh good, I think you'll enjoy Laura Dean when you get to it. Debbi's reading it right now.

Isn't >182 jnwelch: fun?

Happy Sunday, Joe! Happy Hanukkah! Love the flurry on mini-reviews. Perfect way to catch up. Good review of Exhalation. I will give that one a try at some point. I am also going to keep Optic Nerve on the back-burner too. I hope to spend more time with Laura Dean today.

On the poetry front, I have to recommend The Octopus Museum. At first, I thought it was just sailing over my head, this is a smart, highly ambitious collection, but it grew on me, as it went along and I was quite impressed by the end.

Not a whole lot planned for the day. I hope it will be mostly reading.

>198 msf59: Brenda Shaughnessy - okay! I'll get it on the WL, Mark. Happy Holidays! We'll start the Hanukkah celebration tonight, and mix in a Merry Christmas in Galveston.

Thanks re the reviews. I know you loved Stories of Your Life and Others, and you'll have a good time with Exhalation when you get to it. Optic Nerve has the quality of writing you like. Very good translation. Go Freddy! I'm glad you're giving Laura Dean a go.

We just had a great time with our godson (he calls us his uncle and aunt). Such a smart, good kid - although he's a successful, married lawyer now, and I've got to let go of the idea that he's a "kid" any more. Now we're going to goof off a bit and at some point I have to pack. Arggh. I'm reading Girl, Woman, Other now, which has started well, and I'm going to take on the trip Rosewater (a sci-fi-er that a Brit friend recommended) and A Christmas Memory, Capote's book that I've never read.

Great visit this morning with godson Jimmy Bryant. He's a busy guy who lives in Los Angeles, so it was a special treat to see him today.

Photo courtesy of Madame MBH.

Bargain: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin is a available today on e-readers for $1.99. It's a sci-fi classic. It's been a long time since I read it, but it was a powerful experience when I did.

A Christmas Memory is an all-time favorite of mine. I cannot read it without choking up at the end.

Glad you had a good time with the godson. He is a handsome young man. I also have Girl, Woman, Other waiting in the wings. I might kick the new Year off with it. Glad to see you are enjoying. Funny, for a guy who is not a big short story reader, you sure have been reading a lot of them, of late. Grins...

I also loved A Christmas Memory. I should reread it each year, at this time.

>200 jnwelch: He has your smile. You should sue to get it back.

Happy Sunday!

>199 jnwelch: >200 jnwelch: Ha, making that adaptation from kid to adult.. takes a little while. Glad you had a good time together Joe.

I have Girl, Woman, Other in the pile. Evaristo read it beautifully on the shortlist readings evening. It will be an early read in the new year.

Hey, Joe, thought you might want to check this out. Neal Gaiman reads A Christmas Carol! How could you beat that?

http://forreadingaddicts.co.uk/reading-excerpts/christmas-carol-read-neil-gaiman...

(Although I'm planning a screening of The Muppet Christmas Carol later today.)

Also took a BB today for the Kritzer book. I read one of her first books, a dark epic fantasy with a bloodthirsty religious establishment persecuting the protagonists, which didn't do anything for me. That was a long time ago and this one sounds like a lot more fun.

>191 jnwelch: I think I benefited from not having read his other book first, Joe, and I'll have to add it to the TBR list now. I have only two stories left to go in Exhalation, and I agree with you that the digients one would've been better a bit shorter. I thought the parrots one quite funny, however. Happy reading and have a wonderful Christmas if I don't *see* you before then!

>202 laytonwoman3rd: I'm looking forward to reading A Christmas Memory, Linda.

>203 msf59: Thanks, Mark. He and his wife Norma both look like models. He's basically working two fulltime jobs right now (general counsel for a company and partner in the late Johnny Cochran's firm), so we were lucky to get some time with him.

I'm looking forward to reading A Christmas Memory. I have no idea how our time is going to go in Galveston, but I'm sure there'll be some reading time. This will be a new one for us.

>204 richardderus: Ha! Man, I wish I looked as good as he does, RD. If our smiles match, I'm thrilled.

Happy Sunday, buddy.

>205 Caroline_McElwee: Part of the problem, Caroline, is Jimmy's 40, and he looks half that age. We should all be so lucky. He's a sweet guy, too, although he can turn on the fire for the job(s).

>206 ronincats: Thanks, Roni. Neil Gaiman reading anything is a treat, and I bet that's a great rendition of A Christmas Carol.

Ha! A Muppet Christmas Carol! I remember those days from when our kids were young.

From what I've read so far, I can imagine Girl, Woman, Other being very good out loud. I'll bet she never guessed it would take off like it has.

I haven't read anything else by Naomi Kritzer, but I can vouch for the fun factor and page-turningness of Catfishing on CatNet. Publisher Weekly's rave review got me tipped off to it.

>207 bell7: Thanks, Mary. Have a great holiday!

I was probably too humorless (or ill-humored!) with the parrot story in Exhalation; I'm glad you got a kick out of it. Did you like the title story and the Arabian Nights one?

Safe travels, Joe, and enjoy the holiday celebrations.

Your godson is a handsome young man, Joe. He looks pretty kid-like to me but that might be the clothes.

You got me with a BB for Breaking Glass: A Graphic Novel. Warbling from both you and Mark got me for Laura Dean already. At least they are graphic novels so should be quick reads. I say that but I just hefted From Hell home yesterday. That is a heavy GN!

>209 jnwelch: ha, nope, would not guess he was 40. Must have great genes Joe.

Have a great festive season.

Hi Joe, I came by to wish you all the best of the season. I hope Debbi is feeling better. I have a sudden craving for a piece of rhubarb pie - I wonder why??

>210 jessibud2: Thanks, Shelley. I hope you have a great holiday, too.

>211 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg. Their whole family is good-looking. I know, I have to remind myself that Jimmy's not a kid; I've known him since he was a little one, and he doesn't look much older than his teen years.

>212 Caroline_McElwee: It is great genes, Caroline. His younger sister and brother are like that, too, the lucky ducks. I hope you also enjoy the festive season.

>213 DeltaQueen50: Hi Judy. Thanks! Debbi is way better, and ready to see her grandson today. Her son and our DIL and our DIL's parents, too, but oh, that grandson.

Rhubarb pie, huh. Why oh why would that come to mind? Have a great holiday season!



No, I don't know who that skinny chick is (per the comment at the bottom)

I'll be checking in every once in a while. Happy Holidays!

>209 jnwelch: I really liked the opening two stories, Joe. I'll attempt to write up a review sometime today, as I finished the collection this morning.

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your family!

>208 jnwelch: Ooh, I forgot about Norma. She is stunning. Gorgeous couple.

Safe travels, Joe. Check in when you can. I am sure you will have a great holiday, with the family in TX.

Joe I think that Harley Quinn - especially in the movies - ugh - has gotten a bad rap.

Starting out as the Joker's psychotherapist at Arkham and empathizing with his madness and falling in love with him and becoming in the end as insane as he is is a tragic story and a story about love and redemption (I think).

Will have to have a look at the new GN..

Or in other words, Happy Christmas! And have a great New Year as well.

Have a comfy, caring, and very

Merry Christmas!

Seriously behind here, Joe, but want to wish you happy holidays.

Merry Christmas Joe, Debbi and family from both of us dear friend.

Here's a fitting book to wish you a Very Merry Christmas!



Happy holidays to you and yours, Joe!

Merry Christmas and Madam MBH. Have a great holiday.

I know you're off on travels, Joe. Wishing you and Debbi and the whole family the very best of holidays.

From Hawaii...

Have a great time today, with the family, Joe!

Merry Christmas, Joe and MHB too!

And on Earth Peace, good will towards men.

Hal Foster (from the Prince Valient comics) drew this in wartime - still seems relevant today.

Merry Christmas from Montana!

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, some other tradition or none at all, this is what I wish for you!

Thank you for keeping me company in 2019.......onward to 2020.

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

calm and I could use some friends over here in this new joint...

The 2020 Group is up!

Joe, I hope you enjoyed A Christmas Memory. It is a sweet book that I try and read every year. I heard about it here on LT a few years ago. Love this place!

I saw some great pictures of you and the family in Galveston. Raphael makes is such a cutie. Will you be home for the new year? I think you're missing out on some spectacular unseasonable weather in Chicago. It was 70 degrees in Springfield, MO yesterday. If we can't have snow then I'll gladly accept some warm sunshine in December.

If my ever-worsening memory serves me, you're a fan of Netflix's show Derry Girls...well, the main cast is going to be the featured bakers on The Great Festive Bake Off on New Year's Day! Netflix will get it soon thereafter, I hope, but that there's some smart stunt casting.

Best wishes this holiday season!! See you in 2020!

I hope you and Debbi are getting in lots of Rafa time, Joe!

Thank you for the holiday wishes Chelle, Rhian, Susan, Karen, John, Ella, Caroline, Ellen, Mark, Jim, Janet, Roni, Paul, Anne, Jim, and Kim! I hope you all have been having a peaceful and enjoyable holiday season.

>218 msf59: Right, Mark - Norma is gorgeous! She and Jimmy flew to Dubai and then Ghana for the holidays (I think I'm missing a stop); those two get around.

We did have a great time in TX, thanks. Maybe tomorrow I'll get up some photos of the little man. We already miss him, especially the first thing in the morning when he'd join us while we let his parents sleep in. What a great way to start the day.

>219 magicians_nephew: I like that Harley Quinn storyline a lot, Jim. They have multiple ones for her and many other comic book characters now. You'll see that in Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass she meets the Joker in high school.

So happy for you that you were able to spend time with Rafa at Christmas, Joe. My grandson is 20 and we still love getting to spend time with him - just can't help wondering how he grew up so fast! Although we will be spending it quietly, I am excited for 2020 to arrive!

>234 Donna828: Hi, Donna. I did love A Christmas Memory. I can see why people re-read it so much; it took me a while to get oriented with who his "friend" was, and how much older she was. It was sweet, with lovely writing. I liked the other two stories, too - One Christmas and The Thanksgiving Visitor. Yes, without LT I doubt I would've even known about it. Wonderful holiday reading.



We're back home, and will be here for the New Year. It was lovely in Galveston. What a treat to walk around and enjoy weather in the 60s. That little guy is really something, isn't he? I've got some photos of him dressed up in a bow tie for an event that I'll post soon. We've returned to that mild Chicago weather; no one expected this, but we'll take it!

>235 richardderus: I've never seen Derry Girls, RD, but now you've got me thinking I'd better take a look! I'm sure we'll be having holiday baking shows on at some point, and Debbi and Becca will make sure we don't miss The Great Festive Bakeoff when it appears on Netflix. Do you ever watch Nailed It? We enjoy the silliness of that baking show.

>237 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg. We did get in lots of Rafa time in Galveston. As I mentioned up above, we loved started the day with him while his parents slept in, and we had lots of good times with him while there. His concentration and persistence with puzzles and and building blocks and toys continue to impress me and make me smile. Twenty months old now.

>239 DeltaQueen50: Thanks, Judy. It was wonderful to spend time with young Rafa. I can't even imagine him at 20. This is going to be quite a journey.

We're looking forward to 2020, too. The granddaughter-to-be, Fina, is very large and viable; she originally was due in early February, but now the plan is late January because of her size. Adriana just doesn't want her born in "the firestorm that is 2019"; 2020 sounds much better to her. And to us.

Glad to read that your family get-together was happy and rewarding. We had a couple of great get-togethers.

Now it is quiet time for the olds.

Yay! The proprietor's back! Let's break out the Spanische Windtorte to celebrate:

>242 weird_O: Now it is quiet time for the olds. Ha! So true, Bill. As much as we enjoyed it, we are happy to be home in our own beds, and enjoying quiet time together after the full-on buzz of the family get-together. I'm glad you had a couple of great FGTs.

>243 richardderus: Hurrah! The most excellent pastries are back! Ha! The Spanische Windtorte is a work of art, and I'm sure there's much deliciousness beneath that frosting.

Bargains: Children of Blood and Bone, Dominicana, The Dry and the YA novel Speak are all very good and available on Kindle today for $2.99.

*attempts to visualize Joe sitting on his porch in Chicago in late December wearing a short sleeved Hawaiian shirt and reading for more than five minutes*

*fails*

>244 jnwelch: No frosting, only French and Italian meringues! And the "Spanische" is from Austria! And the crème Chantilly it's filled with is full of yummy fruits.

I gained four pounds just typing that.

>245 jnwelch: Ha!!

>246 kidzdoc: No lie....

>243 richardderus: That looks amazing. Have you tasted it, Richard?

>246 kidzdoc: Ha! Today I almost could sit on the porch in a short sleeved Hawaiian shirt for quite a while reading, Darryl. It's going up into the 50s. I'd probably add a light hoodie, but that ain't bad!

On our walk this morning we passed a guy wearing shorts. Typical Chicagoan. :-)

>247 richardderus: I gained four pounds just typing that. LOL!

Thanks for the explano, RD. Mmm, French and Italian meringues, creme Chantilly filled with yummy fruits. Now I've got to see a slice!



Oh yeah!

>248 kidzdoc: Joining your curiosity, Darryl.

>249 jnwelch: Wow, that looks amazing. Wishing you and the family a fab new year.

Rafa dressed up to go out to Cirque Joyeux in Galveston

>249 jnwelch: Doesn't that cake look great, Charlotte? Thank you re the new year; I hope you and yours have a fab 2020, too.

Great to hear the vaca was such a delight, Joe. And that little man is so classy! :-)

>245 jnwelch: - Oh, this is hilarious! I brought back one book to the library today (had hoped for 2 but haven't quite finished the second), and brought home 2. Only 3 more holds to go! If I were that guy, you wouldn't see me behind the piles! LOL

>249 jnwelch: That's quite balmy for Chicago in late December, right? It's been warmer than usual here in Atlanta all week, with high temperatures ranging between the low 60s to low 70s. Christmas Day here was gorgeous, which made it tough to have to spend all day indoors.

Whoa...I want Spanische Windtorte now. (Dang you, Richard.)

>251 jnwelch: Please tell me that Rafa is wearing a black bow tie...YES!!!

>251 jnwelch: Poor Rafa doesn't look overjoyed about Cirque Joyeux....was he hoping for Disney on Ice instead?

>255 laytonwoman3rd: It's because he wants a slice of cake, but his parents won't let him eat it in his nice clothes. ; )

>256 Berly: LOL! Very likely!

>251 jnwelch: Snazzy! What a dresser that Rafa is!

Great photo of Rafa in his fancy duds. I hope you are enjoying the down time, Joe.

>248 kidzdoc:, >249 jnwelch: Bizarrely, I have. I don't much like meringue so of course that was my birthday cake one year. At least it wasn't chocolate! Although...I wonder what ruby chocolate

chips, or even a ganache on the bottom layer!, would taste like...yes, it's real chocolate made from recently discovered cacao beans, and it is very tasty!

>252 jnwelch: *baaawww*

>251 jnwelch: Love it! Rafa is stylin'!!

Welcome back, Joe. I barely had enough time to get home today, to shower, before I was whisked away to another family gathering. We did end up finishing the evening, at a favorite watering hole, with Bree & Sean. Good times!

Glad you had a great time in TX, with the family and good to hear you have been enjoying the books. I am close to wrapping up Savage Country & Underland, both have been very solid. I will also be getting to Girl, Woman, Other very soon.

>253 jessibud2: Isn't that little man classy, Shelley? He was so great that night (as usual); he was fascinated by all the acts at Cirque Joyeux (I'll try to remember to post a pic or two), and then stayed wide awake way past his usual bed time as we walked their festival of lights afterwards - beautiful. And this was after a full day of enjoying Galveston, including his rearranging all of the pieces of a walkable-size chessboard into a sculpture of his own creation.

Ha! Yes, the cartoon guy with the in and out boxes containing books must be very efficient - my piles in each (particularly "in") would be much higher, too!

>254 kidzdoc: Yes, that is an aberrational December for us, Darryl; the temps have been quite balmy for here this time of year. Today it's going into the 60s! That's life per usual with you Atlantans, it sounds like. It was in Galveston, too. We'll take it!

I think RD has won a lot of new fans for Spanische Windtorte. Mmm.

Ha! Yes, Rafa is wearing a black bow tie. I've got a couple of other pics of that I'll post at some point. Now we just need to find him a right-sized fedora. :-)

>255 laytonwoman3rd:, >256 Berly:, >257 laytonwoman3rd: I think Rafa was just working on his smoldering James Dean look, Linda and Kim. I've got a photo that really shows that.

>258 brenzi: Right, Bonnie? His parents find the coolest clothes for him. I always love his shoes, too.

>259 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg. We are enjoying the down time - today we're going to see the new Little Women movie in 35mm at an art movie theater near us.

>260 richardderus: A little bit of chocolate is A-OK by me, Richard. The Spanische Windtorte club should thank you for recruiting many new members. Isn't that a cutesome photo of our Rafa?

>261 msf59: Ha! Rafa was stylin', wasn't he? He's a stylish little guy.

Thanks, buddy. It's good to be back. In the 60s?! Man, it's already nice out. We'll be taking a long stroll to the movies to see Little Women.

I remember the whisk-away days, particularly when the kids were younger. It doesn't happen much now that my schedule is more open. I'm glad you got some pub time with Bree and Sean afterwards.

I've got to catch up on your reading - I've heard a bit about Underland, but I'm not sure about Savage Country. Girl, Woman, Other has gone from being "good", to "whoa, this is really good."

Hi Joe!

Welcome back. Seriously cute photo of Rafa.

>264 jnwelch: Perfect. Just...yes.


Ruby chocolate and strawberry mousse cake, anyone?

>263 jnwelch: Hope you enjoy “Little Women” as much as I did Joe. I was skeptical about Ms. Gerwig producing a fresh take on such an old and much-loved tale but I should have known, after “Lady Bird”. What a brilliant filmmaker she is!

By the way, can anyone steer me to LT lists of fave books of 2019? I usually get pretty interesting ideas for future reads from them. Thanks!

>267 NarratorLady: can anyone steer me to LT lists of fave books of 2019?

Is this the list you're referring to?
https://www.librarything.com/list/21246/all/Top-Five-Books-of-2019

I'm so glad you mentioned it, because I always enjoy these too and had forgotten about all about it.

>245 jnwelch: Perfect.

>251 jnwelch: More perfect.

>265 karenmarie: Hi Karen! I've got a couple more photos of that seriously cute Rafa. He's a fine little fellow, that one.

>266 richardderus: Thanks, Richard. I think even Paul Hollywood would like that ruby chocolate and strawberry mousse cake. Impressive!

>267 NarratorLady: Hi, Anne. We loved "Little Women". Gerwig nailed it, didn't she. Wonderful performances. That Saorsie Ronan, whose first name I can't spell or pronounce, was so good as Jo, and Florence Pugh as Amy - wow. A sympathetic Amy - that's tough to pull off. Eliza Scanlen as Beth was excellent, I always like Emma Watson, and Timothée Chalamet made for a really good Laurie. You're right - after Lady Bird, we should've known. Some of the time hops were a bit challenging - both Debbi and I a couple of times were thinking, wait, what time are we in now? But it came around quickly when that happened.

A really good movie like that is exciting to see, isn't it. You're right, Gerwig is brilliant.

Hey, how did The Bookish Life of Nina Hill turn out for you? I hope it turned out to be a good bookfunk-breaker. I saw you're reading the new Kingsolver now.

>268 lauralkeet: Oh, thank you, thank you, Laura, for that link. I struggle both with remembering those Top 5 lists are there, and finding them when I remember. That's very helpful.

>269 EBT1002: Thanks, and more thanks, Ellen. :-)

This is my holiday book haul. The top left is the new Liaden Universe book, Accepting the Lance, and the bottom right, Wandering Star by Teri S. Wood, is an almost 500 page classic sci-fi graphic novel. Above it, photo-bombing, is a bag of Kona coffee our son gave me.

Nice haul! I am curious about the Birdsong book...

That's an impressive haul!

>270 jnwelch: The cake probably tastes "gorgeous" in the Hollywood's words. I know it makes my mouth water.

>270 jnwelch: I'm glad to see the love for Little Women. We (family of 4) went to see it the other day and thought it was fabulous for all the reasons you mentioned. I agree with you about the time hops although at least for Jo, her hair was much shorter in one period vs the other, which helped.

We weren't able to get tickets to 'Little Women' at MOMA, so we will have to go to a commercial theater for it.

Joe, I'm going to miss the trolls at the top of this thread in 2020. How long will they be where they are IRL?

Morning, Joe. You are probably off doing your workout. I am doing my own workout, on the the route today. A bit heavier load. I am off the next two days, though. Yah!

BTW- I did snag the Solnit collection, you recently warbled about, both on ebook and audio. I hope to get to it next month. I am starting another essay collection today- Late Migrations, which has received a lot of positive buzz. I love the diversity out there, right?

So! The new theme is up! Y'all got plenty interested when I asked which of the two themes, the Ladies of Science Fiction or the year 1960 in the world's doings, so I'm happy to announce the decision:

It's the Ladies of Science Fiction...AND 1960 in Kulcher. Each month I'll alternate between the themes. This thread, it's Andre Norton, and I focus on her 1960 book Storm Over Warlock. January's thread(s) will all be Ladies. February's will be the year 1960 in some way or shape or form...whatever is bright and shiny and catches my eye. A lot happened that year in politics and film and business, so...well...it's fertile ground.

Come take a look!

>273 alphaorder: Thanks, Nancy. Birdsong is a children's book by Julie Flett; it's the story of a Cree mother and young daughter who move to a new house, with the daughter becoming friends with the elderly woman next door. The neighbor does ceramics, and the daughter draws, including, yes, birds. :-) The illustrations are quietly lovely. Door by Jihyeon Lee is another special children's book.

>274 richardderus: Thanks re the haul, RD. This cake might've gotten a PH handshake, yes?

>275 lauralkeet: Right, Laura. What a good movie Little Women is, isn't it. They handled the shorter hair for Jo beautifully, didn't they. Great choice of actor to play her.

>276 ffortsa: We love to support our local arts theater, Judy, and I'm sorry you couldn't get tickets to see Little Women at MOMA. Once it starts, I imagine you'll be as mesmerized as we were, wherever you see it.

I haven't heard anything about moving the trolls from any of their locations, so I'm hopeful they'll be there for a long time. They're not intrusive at our Arboretum; they fit in well, and could be there permanently as far as I'm concerned.

>277 msf59: Hiya, Mark. You're right; we were off working out. Tough today, after the holiday. I'm glad you get the next two days off! Perfect.

Oh good; I was just telling someone that the Solnit collection (A Field Guide to Getting Lost) was the first five star read from this year that came to mind. Good Talk, of course, would be another.

There is a heartwarmingly diverse group of well-written books out there, aren't there. You've mentioned that we're in a Golden Age of Nonfiction, and I wonder whether that isn't true for a lot of genres. It certainly is for graphic works. I don't remember there being this many well-written books coming out on a regular basis during my bookselling days.

>278 richardderus: What a Solomonian solution, Richard! My vote was for Ladies of Sci-Fi, so I'm glad you'll be alternating that with 60s kulchur. The vote was pretty close, last I looked, so that solution makes sense.

I never took a shine to Andre Norton, so that starter will be educational for me.

Thanks for the link. I'm still catching up on 2019 (!), so it may take me a bit to get over to the new year one.

Much to my surprise, I loved the Little Women movie, too.

A couple years ago, the RLBC read March and I decided to reread Little Women because of that. It didn't stand up to my childhood reading of it; I thought it rather preachy and banal.

I went with my friend at her urging. Wow - they managed to both stay close to the canonical story line and injected new life into it.

I haven't been to many movies this year, but this is one of my favorites.

>270 jnwelch: Handy hint: Saoirse rhymes with “inertia” (although that’s the last word you’d attach to this amazing girl).

I enjoyed The Bookish Life of Nina Hill pretty well although it’s as close as I’ll ever want to come to chick lit. The ending was a little too neat and this LA neighborhood seemed to resemble the utopian Stars Hollow from The Gilmore Girls! Still, right book to awaken my reading mojo and I have adored Barbara Kingsolver’s Unsheltered and The Lacuna immensely. I was given Ann Patchett’s The Dutch House as a gift so I’m looking forward to that.

Considering your profession you probably know that Wednesday is Public Domain Day, when works from 1924 can be utilized by the public with no copyright fee. I’ve narrated many PD books and am currently prepping The Home-maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. And wow! Almost 40 years before The Feminine Mystique identified “the problem that has no name”, Canfield Fisher wrote this rich novel about a woman tied to home when her personality and talents were monumentally unsuited to it. Can’t wait to start recording next week!

Birdsong sounds lovely. Adding it to my wish list. And A Field Guide to Getting Lost, too. Sigh. (happy sigh)

>272 jnwelch: Looks like a good book haul there, Joe. I always expect GNs to be quite thin but there are some hefty ones out there. I was surprised when I picked up From Hell at the library. It weighs in at 572 pages.

Joe - I saw this post and immediately thought of you. I don't know any of these poetry collections...
https://fivebooks.com/best-books/poetry-books-2019-simone-white/

Happy New Year my friend! I better get reading. I need to finish two books today to hit 100.

OMG, Rafa in a bow tie is almost more than I can bear. Just when I think he can't get more adorable...

Happy New Year, Joe!!

Lucky Joe - got to see Giannis in Action!

I remember Michael Jordan vs The Bucks in Milwaukee.

Happy Tuesday, Joe! I am enjoying the day off. Ran a few errands this morning. Slipped in some reading and soon, we will be off to see Little Women. I know you both recently saw it and enjoyed it. Like you, I also adored Ladybird. We will then go for an early dinner and then have a low-key time at home. How about you?

BTW- I had a couple hours to spare, for an audiobook, so I started Exit Strategy. Such a fun series. Did you know she is coming out with a full length Murderbot novel?



^It comes out in May. B.A.G.

>281 streamsong: That's fun to hear about the Little Women movie, Janet. I went into it expecting to like it (I read the book for the first time in recent years, but the preachy parts just seemed old-fashioned, and didn't bother me). I didn't expect to love the movie the way we did. I'm still replaying it in my head. I'm glad it ended up one of your favorites, too.

>282 NarratorLady: Ha! Thanks, Anne. It would help if she spelled it "Sinertia" instead of "Saoirse", but I imagine it's ever been thus in her part of the world. That does help a lot - at least I'll now know how to say it.

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill: I think I'm used to a little too neat endings from reading YA books; that's often a standard feature, isn't it. The enjoyable ride, for me, often makes up for the sometimes overly neat endings. My daughter has also accused me of being a fan of chick lit, particularly after I thoroughly enjoyed Shannon Hale's slight offering Austenland and its sequel (as well as many other Shannon Hale books). In return, I often accuse her and her mother of being "jocks", i.e. way-too-knowledgeable sports fans. Anyway, I'm glad TBLONH was a good funk-buster.

I need to read more Barbara Kingsolver, and I've read nothing but good things about The Dutch House. Please let me know your reaction to the latter; I'm still uncertain whether the subject grabs me enough to read it. (I particularly admire Ann Patchett for her bookstore, which I hope to visit some day).

I've heard of Dorothy Canfield Fisher, but not The Home-Maker. Makes me think of Nora in that Ibsen play, A Doll's House.

>289 jnwelch: - Joe, I heard an interview where she was asked how her name is pronounced and it sounded more like "Sher-sha" to my ears. Just saying. Her name also came up this past week on one of the Jeopardy episodes and the person who rang in just said her last name! I laughed out loud! Alex Trebek, who rehearses everything before the games air, repeated the question using the full name and that's also how he pronounced it.

>283 EBT1002: Hi, Ellen. Birdsong is lovely; I'm glad it sounds appealing to you. I suspect you'll be among the top appreciators of A Field Guide to Getting Lost; it sure fits you to a T, IMO. Happy sighs are the best sighs. :-)

>284 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg. It's certainly a diverse book haul, isn't it. Yeah, some GNs are ginormous, particularly when they collect years' worth of material. I feel a bit guilty saying I still haven't read From Hell. Our daughter LOVES it; she's our true crime and Jack the Ripper aficionado. It's considered a classic. I just, so far, haven't been able to gear myself up to read it.

She also wants Madame MBH and me to read Donna Tartt's A Secret History. Same problem, so far.

>285 alphaorder: Happy New Year, Nancy! I'm happy I finished Girl, Woman, Other today. It was a five star book for me.

You're so good about providing these lists. Don't stop! Jeesh, I haven't read any of these either. We know the author of neckbone: visual verses (huh, no touchstone), Avery R. Young, very well, from Young Chicago Authors. I'm happy for him that he made this list. He's a deliberately over the top performer; it's not my style, but others love it and him.

>290 jessibud2: Many thanks, Shelley. That actually makes more sense to me, as I wondered how the "n" sound got in there. In Anne's defense, "Sher-sha" does rhyme with inertia. I'll try to get "Sher-sha" stuck in my mind, as she's already one of the best actors out there.

>286 scaifea: Happy New Year, Amber!!

Check out the new cafe tomorrow, as I plan to put up two more of Rafa in his bow tie, and maybe ones of him assembling his chess sculpture in Galveston, too. He's the dapper-est, isn't he. :-)

>287 m.belljackson: Giannis was terrific, Marianne. I do feel lucky to have seen him. That's a very good, confident Milwaukee team. I'm glad you got to see Jordan play Milwaukee; seeing him play a number of times is a highlight in my life. I even successfully begged my wife, back in the day, to let us get cable tv (ha! way back in the day) so I could watch him play on that. Anyway, Giannis is a "unicorn", as they say now - what a unique and wondrous talent. Plus I love his graciousness and unselfishness in the way he plays. (I'm a fan of LeBron off the court, but not on).

>288 msf59: Go Murderbot!

Happy Day Off, Mark. You're going to love the Little Women movie, especially since you enjoyed Sher-sha (!) Ronan in Ladybird. She's a perfect Jo.

We're trying to organize our 2019 donations, but one of us keeps goofing off on LT. Guess which one? Tonight we head to a friend's house for our traditional New Year's Eve outing, followed by a late night viewing at home of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir movie. (We like to do old black and white classics on NYE).

I'm chomping at the bit and eager to read Network Effect. I've been onto it since I finished the last one, lo those too many days ago. May seems awfully far away, doesn't it. I'm making do with that Liaden Universe one and some others until then.

>292 jnwelch: - LOL, Joe. *Sher-sha* doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, either, does it? Every time I see her name in print, I have a sort-of snapshot moment, making the word what we teachers call a *sight word* so that I see it but don't actually have to try to say it. Which could explain why I don't read many Russian or Icelandic novels; too many of those names are unpronounceable and too many *sight words* just tend to confuse my little brain. :-)

>292 jnwelch: I know what you mean about Russian novels in particular, Shelley; I often have to work to keep the names straight, and then they make it harder with diminutives, or whatever they call them, like Misha. I'm not so well-versed in Icelandic novels. I'm hoping that now, every time I see "Saoirse", I'll think "Sher-sha" and "inertia". :-) We'll see.

I loved The Dutch House but then maybe because I really like reading Ann Patchett! It is about an obsession, really

>295 torontoc: Thanks for chiming in, Cyrel. I know you have a lot of company in loving Ann Patchett and The Dutch House. I thoroughly enjoyed Bel Canto, but none of her others has called out to me.

>296 Ameise1: Thank you, Barbara. Happy New Year! I wish the same for you and yours in 2020.

>291 jnwelch: I loved Girl, Woman, Other and am so glad you did, too. I was really impressed with the way she wove all those stories together.

Wishing you 12 months of success
52 weeks of laughter
366 days of fun (leap year!)
8,784 hours of joy
527,040 minutes of good luck
and 31,622,400 seconds of happiness!!

Hi Joe mate, wishing you, Debbi and family a very Happy New Year from both of us dear friend.

>298 lauralkeet: Agreed on Girl, Woman, Other, Laura. I sure did love it. Her wide-ranging empathy for her characters really got me, and you're right, she did a beautiful job of weaving it all together.

>299 Berly: Happy New Year, Kim! Wow, your math skills are really paying off. That's a lot of success, laughter, fun, joy, good luck and happiness. This should be a good year!

>300 johnsimpson: Thanks, my friend. We wish you and Karen and the clan a Happy New Year.

All right. Here are my top 5 for the year, followed by my five favorite graphic works and five favorite poetry collections.

Top 5



Favorite Graphic Works



Favorite Poetry Collections

>302 jnwelch:

Happy New Year, Joe!

Looks like 2019 was a great year of reading for you. So happy to see Girl, Woman, Other in your best of! I have read a few other Solnit, but not this one, which is on my shelf. I guess i should take it off and add it to my stack!

Speaking of stack, I hope you saw that Magical Negro is in my early 2020 pile I posted on FB yesterday. As is Bookshops of Yesterday, which I found out about from you.

Good Talk and They Called Us Enemy both made the rounds of my family this holiday season. They are favorites of mine too.

(Note: Touchstones weren't working for me on this post, so I gave up.)

Glad to hear you like watching Giannis play. It is fun having such a great Milwaukee team. I have yet to go to Fiserv, so we are planning on a Bucks game sometime this month.

I made it 100 books last night! Off to set up my 2020 thread...

Have a great day, and a great year!

Happy New Year, Joe!

BB for Girl, Woman, Other:-)

>302 jnwelch: Great list Joe. I've several in my pile. And thanks for getting me into Andrea Gibson's work. Lord of the Butterflies is a stunning collection, and seeing her perform it was a wonderful treat.

>303 alphaorder: Happy New Year, Nancy!

Girl, Woman, Other was pretty awesome. She's written several other books, but I'd never heard of her before. Wowsers. Yes, dust off that Solnit. I'm going to be reading more of hers, with Hope in the Dark next.

Oh good - I missed Magical Negro in your stack. Bookshop of Yesterdays is a good one for bibliophiles like us. I just picked up Little Paris Bookshop, in the hopes that it's another.

Yay for Good Talk and They Called Us Enemy being favorites and making the rounds in your family! They're making the rounds in mine, too.

That is such a good and fun Bucks team you have. They've assembled a really good group. We miss Robin Lopez here - the wild-haired twin of Brook. Great veteran pickup for the Bucks. Giannis is one of my favorite NBA players, and has grown into such a force on the court.

Congrats on reaching 100 on the last day. That is most excellent.

Have a wonderful day at the start of our new decade. I'll post the link to the 2020 thread below.

>304 EllaTim: Happy New Year, Ella! I hope it's a healthy and joyful one for you and your hubby.

That's a BB worth having - I think you'll be pleased to read Girl, Woman, Other.

>305 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks, my friend. I'm so happy you're a fan of Andrea Gibson and Lord of the Butterflies, and got to see her in concert. Megan Falley (Drive Here and Devastate Me) is her partner, and not yet at Andrea's level, but her book is exciting and good.

We're seeing Andrea again next month at a different venue here. I feel like I could see her perform once a week; she's a wonderful treat, as you say.

Happy New Year! The 2020 cafe is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/314868